An Expedition
"So how was your date?" Sydney teased when Leo returned home after getting smoothies with Christi.
"It wasn't a date." Leo growled "I was just hanging out with a friend, you know to say we're sorry."
"I bet you two kissed!" Tim teased
"No we didn't!" Leo yelled, but Save made kissing noises, reminding Leo of what happened at the duel club & making him blush.
"I knew it!" Tim cheered when he noticed Leo's face turn red. "Leo & Christi sitting in a tree K, I, S, S, I & G!" Tim teased making Leo fume with rage.
"We are not a couple!" he shouted
"Yeah right." Sydney teased
Leo growled & marched off towards his room as his siblings & slugs laughed at his expense. Eli, who did not hear the argument, entered the room. "Hey Leo, how was your date?" he asked curiously.
Leo growled & fumed with frustration as his siblings laughed even louder. Leo shoved past his oblivious father & marched off into his room. Eli looked to Sydney & Tim with a confused expression. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked, but Sydney & Tim just continued to laugh.
"You know sometimes I wish I was an only child." Leo muttered after he entered his room.
"You can always go back to the Shadow Clan." Save suggested
"At least they respected me." Leo responded before calling it a night.
"Morning everyone." Trixie greeted the next morning.
"Morning." Eli & Tim replied, except for Sydney, who had left early that morning, & Leo who was still fast asleep.
Trixie walked over to Leo's room & knocked on the door. "Time to get up." she ordered
Leo rubbed his eyes & he sat up in bed showing his terrible bed head & sleepy expression. He yawned & stretched before getting dressed & getting ready for the day.
"Morning." Trixie greeted when Leo exited his room.
"Morning." Leo yawned
"Are you ready to start the day?" Eli asked as Leo poured himself a bowl of cereal.
"I guess so." Leo answered before having a spoonful of cereal.
"Good because I got a special mission for us today." Eli grinned & passed a slip of paper to Leo.
Leo read the paper it appeared to be a flyer for a Hyper expedition. "An expedition for what?" Leo demanded curiously.
"That's what we're going to find out." Eli answered & Leo grinned revealing that he was ready to start the day.
As Leo finished his breakfast Eli called up the other Shane Strikers & John Jones (A.K.A Twist) to help them out.
"So what's the plan?" Garo asked when he & everyone else arrived to the Hideout.
"We need to attend the Hyper expedition meeting to find out what's it about." Eli replied
"But if it's a Hyper expedition, how are we going to attend it without being sluged?" Quiver questioned
"By using these little guys." John answered, holding out Loki as Leo held out Sorry.
"That's right we'll go in disguise, find out what this expedition is all about, & work from there." Eli said
"So when do we leave?" Leo asked
"Now." Eli replied
They all picked up their slugs, made sure their blasters are working, & mounted their mechas. John's mecha is actually the dilaphasourous mecha he found back when he helped Leo escape Fungus. Kord fixed & cleaned it up for him. It's completely dark green, has orange linings, has orange & green frills, black claws, & its orange label reads H-NTR or Hunter. Once they were set they left for the meeting at the Monarch Inn, home of some of the best root beer floats around. According to Kord.
Once they were set they left for the meeting. When they arrived Leo & John fired their Thugglets to disguise them all before entering the Monarch Inn. The entire place was full of both regular slingers & Hyper slingers, nobody paid the disguised slingers any attention as Garo ordered some root beers & everybody else took a seat around a vacant table. They sat around for about 5 minutes before a scrawny old man appeared onto a small wooden stage. He has pale skin, & wearing an old worn out explores cloths. "Hello everyone!" the old man greeted
"My name is Gar Rivelle." he announced "I've been hired by the Hector Brink to guide an expedition" he then went on about his life's dreams & such.
"Why would they hire him?" Eli asked as Gar spoke on.
"What are you talking about?" Leo asked
"Gar's a failure of an explorer he has never completed or had a successful exploration." Eli replied "Not to mention he has a grudge against me."
"Why, what did you do?" Leo asked curiously
"That's not important." Eli lied & Leo didn't ask him anymore questions.
Gar continued his speech "This expedition will be to an unnamed & unmarked Cavern." he continued "You see about a week ago a Hyper mining operation discovered a secret tunnel, & so they asked for me to lead the way."
"A Hyper mining operation?" Leo questioned
"A secret tunnel?" Christi asked
"An unnamed Cavern?" Garo asked
"They want how much for a burger?!" Quiver demanded as he read the menu & everyone gave him a confused expression.
Gar continued "If any of you are interested please write your name on this sheet, then start packing for the trip, we meet back here tomorrow at 8am, & then we make history!" he cheered
Some of the slingers & Hyper slingers lined up to sign the sheet as the rest left.
"So what should we do?" Leo asked "Should we just end this now?"
Eli pondered on the thought. "Let's sign up, with fake names, & then join the expedition." he replied
"But wouldn't it be easier to stop them & then look for the Cavern ourselves?" Quiver asked
"But we don't know how to get there & if Hyper knows that we know about this expedition then they'll do anything to stop us & we'll never get the chance." Eli explained before getting up & joining the line.
Everyone else got up & joined him, they signed the sheet with fake names, & then left for their homes to pack.
"What should I take?" Leo asked when he & Eli arrived home.
"Take some rope, a sleeping bag, extra clothes, food, a flash light, & a bunch of slug tubes incase this goes wrong." Eli answered as they walked in & left for their rooms to pack up.
Leo entered his room, picked up a small duffle bag, & began packing as his slugs scattered around the room. "I'm so excited!" Trip cheered
"For what?" Basher demanded
"We get to go exploring!" he answered happily.
"Really, all I'm looking forward to is when they get their cover blown & then we slug it out." Basher responded with a grin.
"But either it way it will be fun!" Mo, Eli's Enigmo, cheered when he entered the room.
"What are you doing here?" Save asked
"I wanted to hang out." Mo replied before losing his balance & falling face first onto the floor.
"Right." Basher said as Mo picked himself up.
As the slugs played & goofed off Leo packed up anything he needed, especially slug tubes. Once he was set he played video games with Tim, dueled Sydney when she returned home, & he did some maintenance on his blaster just so he could use up his day before calling it in early so he could be awake for the exploration.
Leo got up early the next morning, he got dressed, combed his hair, brushed his teeth, ate a full breakfast, & made sure he had what he needed & that his slugs were ready to go too. Once Eli had woken up & made sure he had everything he called up everyone else to make sure they were ready before leaving for the Monarch Inn.
They all arrived at 7:50am so they had enough time to sit down & wait for the other slingers to arrive. Gar eventually came over to them. "Hello there." he greeted "Can I have your names so I can make sure you're supposed to be here?" he requested
"Sure." Eli replied "I'm Will Shadow." he lied
"I'm Neo Shadow." Leo lied
"I'm assuming you're father & son, yes?" Gar asked curiously.
"Yes, we are." Eli & Leo replied before Gar asked everyone else for their names.
They gave him the fake names they wrote down yesterday. Once Gar had them all checked in he thanked them & walked over to another slinger to ask for his name.
Everyone chatted for a few more minutes before Gar spoke up from the small stage. "Ok everyone, it's time to make history." he announced & all the slingers cheered, except for the Shane group.
They all left the building, mounted their mechas, & followed Gar to the secret tunnel. They went through several caverns & in about an hour they had arrived to the Hyper mobbing operation. It wasn't the one Leo destroyed, in fact this one was bigger & had even more Hyper slingers crawling around & staying on guard. They rode their mechas into the mine & Gar led them through it, the Shane group examined the mine as they passed through noticing all the yellow crystals Hyper was gathering. After about 5 minutes they had reached the tunnel where rocks surrounded the sides of the cave wall. Leo could infer that Hyper probably drilled into it on accident or they used a Hyper slug to move the rocks.
Gar stood on top of his mecha. "Ok everyone from this point on we walk." he announced & everyone parked & dismounted their mechas.
When no one was looking the Shane group hide their mechas behind a mound of fallen boulders incase their cover was blown then at least no one could take their mechas.
Once everyone had gathered at the entrance Gar thanked them all for coming before he led the way inside. The tunnel was nothing special it was winding but there were no split paths or obstacles only plants & stalagmites poking off the cave walls. They walked for a long time, they stopped for a quick lunch, & continued.
"This is actually kind of boring." Leo said to his friends.
"Yeah it is." Garo responded
Leo then walked to the front of the group where Gar was. "Excuse me, Mr. Rivelle can I ask you a question?" Leo requested
"Why of course you can." Gar grinned
"Don't take this the wrong way, but why did Hyper hire you for this?" Leo asked politely.
"Well you see ever since my last attempt at my last expedition was synch a failure, I've been desperate for a second chance, & so they gave me that chance." Gar explained
"Why was your last expedition attempt a failure?" Leo asked curiously.
"Have you ever heard of the Burning World?" Gar asked
"Yeah, my parents used to tell me about it when I was little." Leo replied "They told me that it's above us, they have a giant ball of light, a thing called a moon, the magic, & that no slugs are there." Leo said truthfully, because Eli & Trixie actually had never told Leo or his siblings the truth about the Burning World/the Surface.
"Yes, well you see I had a very special journey that held the answer to get up there."
"Really?" Leo asked excitedly.
"Yes, but unfortunately that meddling Eli Shane interfered & used that darn Infurnace of his to torch the book & crush my dream."
"Really?" asked Leo who was surprised that his father had never told him about this incident.
"Yes, but let's not worry about the past, we're making history." Gar walked forward leaving Leo to wonder why Eli would have prevented an exploration to the Burning World.
About 30 minutes later Gar ordered for everyone to set up camp for the night. The disguised Shane group set up a fire far away from everyone else & circled their sleeping bags around it. They chatted for a bit, Christi told everyone about how Leo embraced her & how they had eventually forgiven each other, she left out the part where she kissed Leo's cheek, because she noticed Leo's face blushing & getting more nervous & embarrassed as she told through the story.
Eli shared a couple stories like how he & John used to be rivals. Eli shared other stories like his first tournament, how he entered the Slug Run, how he was taught by Mario Bravado, his adventure in the Deep Caverns, & how he discovered megamorphing. Leo wondered if he should ask his dad about what Gar told him earlier that day, but he held it back knowing that his dad has his reasons for doing things, instead he decided to wait until him & Eli could talk amongst themselves.
Leo waited for everybody else to fall asleep & he waited for Eli's turn to be on watch, luckily it was the second shift so he was only up for an hour waiting. Eli had seated himself on a boulder & looked around for danger. Leo got up & walked over to him. "Hey dad." he greeted
"Hey, Leo." Eli grinned "Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"Yes, but I was kind of hopping to talk to you." Leo replied
"Well what do you want to talk about?"
"I talked to Gar earlier today & he told me you destroyed a book that could have led him to the Burning World."
"Leo, let's be serious the Burning World doesn't exist."
"But then why did you destroy the journal?"
"It had secrets about Slugterra." Eli snapped
"Like what?"
"It doesn't matter, go back to sleep."
"But why didn't you just take the book & keep it or hide it?"
Eli sighed. "Leo, things are kept a secret for a reason & sometimes knowledge is a burden not a privilege."
Leo understood that whatever was in that journal it couldn't have been good. "Ok, sorry for disturbing your watch." Leo apologized & left to get some sleep leaving Eli.
"Are you sure it was for the best?" Burpy asked Eli
"Yes, it's the best thing to do." Eli answered "Because if no one else knows about the Surface then we don't have to worry about someone revealing the secret."
"But he's your own son." Burpy said
"But remember how Dr. Blakk was after the Surface too?" Eli asked "What if someone else is after the same thing? And since none of my kids know about it, then that makes them more protected from being interrogated or worse just so someone can get information from them."
"Ok," Burpy chirped "but what happens if Leo does find out?"
"Then I hope he understands why I did it." Eli replied
Burpy yawned, hopped into a slug tube, & fell asleep as Eli continued his watch.
Gar woke everybody up early the next morning. Everyone ate breakfast, packed up their things, & set off down the long tunnel. They hiked until noon when they came upon 3 tunnel entrances one on the left, on the right, & one in the middle. Gar decided they should have a lunch break before they continued. "How much longer do you think there is?" Quiver asked before taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"Don't know," Leo replied "but we have to be ready for anything."
Gar then jumped onto a boulder & announced that he was going to scout ahead & he'll be right back in 30 minutes. He left for the middle tunnel, he walked for 5 minutes before slipping on a slippery rock. He picked himself up & a voice rang out. "You should really be more careful." Eclipse's voice said
"Who said that?" Gar demanded
"Do you know who's part of your expedition?" Eclipse's voice asked
"Why should I care?" Gar demanded
"Because the man who ruined your last expedition is here."
"No he's not!"
"Yes, he is. He's hiding in the 'Shadows'."
"Shadows?" Gar echoed, he then realized the truth & sprinted back through the tunnel.
A smirking Eclipse poked his head out from the side of the wall & he disappeared in a black & red portal.
Gar made it back in record time. "The Shane is here! Eli Shane is here!" Gar shouted
Everyone looked around & pulled out their blasters & demanded where he was.
"Where is he?!" Eli demanded trying to stay in character.
"Funny you should ask." Gar growled, he quickly pulled out his blaster, & fired a Hyper Rammstone that knocked Eli into the side of the cave's wall & his disguise disappeared.
"Dad!" Leo shouted in shock.
He pulled out his blaster, but before he could load a signal slug Gar blasted him with a Hyper Hop Rock. Leo was sent falling to the ground & his illusion disappeared.
"I will not let a Shane destroy my chances at fame!" Gar declared but before he could do anything else he was knocked into a boulder by Christi's Armashelt.
Loki's & Sorry's illusions disappeared & the Shane group open fired on the surprised slingers. Quiver used his Flatulorinkus it made several slingers gag for air before passing out & Garo fired his Arachnet that tied up several others as John & Christi helped the Shanes back onto their feet.
Several of the slinger fired a barrage of slugs & Hyper slugs at them. Leo quickly loaded & fired Warden as Eli fired a megamorphed Buzzsaw. Warden caught several of the attacking slugs in his expanded frills as Buzzsaw cut down the rest. 3 slingers each fired Lavalynxes but they were taken down by John's Aquabeek & Garo's Frostcrawler. Quiver avoided a Grenuke & then fired his own at the attacking slingers. The slingers shot the Grenuke down & continued to fire slug after slug at the good hearted slingers. "There's too many of them!" Christi announced after she took cover behind a boulder.
"Everybody split up!" Eli ordered & he ran into the left tunnel followed by Garo.
Christi & John ran into the middle tunnel as Quiver & Leo ran into the right one. "Hurry, split up & find them!" Gar ordered when he got back on his feet.
Each of the slingers entered one of the 3 tunnels & Gar chose to go through the right tunnel, thinking that if he could use Eli's own son as a hostage than he can be free to explore & get the fame he so desperately wants.
Eli & Garo ran through the tunnel with slingers chasing & slinging at them. Eli quickly turned around & fired his Geoshard in megamorph. The slug blocked the entire tunnel with its green crystals. Eli & Garo grinned but then a Hyper Grenuke blew up the wall. Garo & Eli quickly fired their Rammstones who punched the slingers away. "Let's keep going!" Eli ordered before running down the tunnel with Garo at his side.
When they thought that they were at a good enough distance Garo fired CaveIn who caused a small 'cave in' to create a wall of rocks behind them. "That should stop them." Eli said as he spun his blaster & placed it back on his belt.
"I sure hope so." Garo said before they continued down the tunnel.
Meanwhile, Christi & John ran through their tunnel avoiding velacimorphed slugs & evaded the upcoming rocks & stalagmites. The slingers each fired a Grenuke, the slugs exploded behind the running slingers, making them fall to the ground. As they tried to pick themselves up the slingers surrounded them, aimed their blasters, & laughed at their victory. John & Christi just smirked before red dust puffed around them & Loki laughed at the gullible slingers. Before the slingers could react they were tied up by Christi's Arachnet. "Illusions are fun." Christi commented when they stepped away from the boulder they were hiding behind & John picked up Loki & thanked him for his incredible job.
During that time, the slingers & Gar ran through the tunnel & dispersed out of sight when they turned the corner. "I think they're gone." Quiver whispered as he held on to Leo's back who was hanging on the ceiling of the tunnel, like the Shadow Clan.
Leo hopped down & Quiver got off his back. "Where too now?" Quiver asked
"I guess forward, but let's have our guard up." Leo replied he loaded Avalanche & they crept their way down the tunnel.
Leo peered around the corner that Gar & the slingers disappeared from, no one was there. "It's all clear." Leo said & they walked down the tunnel but Gar & the slingers hopped out. Leo fired Avalanche & he smashed into a couple of them, but then Leo was caught & raised in a net of webbing.
"That one eye needs to be looked at Shadow." Gar jeered when he stepped into view along with the other slingers. "Ops, I mean Shane."
"Let us go Gar." Leo ordered
"Why?" Gar demanded "So you can screw up my chances at fame, like your father?"
"Um, yeah." Leo snapped
"That won't be happening!" Gar yelled "I will not be a failure again. I will not go down in the history books as a nobody, & I will not be stopped by a Shane!" he declared, but then a megamorph Burpy flew by, knocked the slingers away, & them blasted flames at Gar sending him crashing into the tunnel's wall & passing out because of the hard hit.
"So much for not being stopped by a Shane." Eli sassed as him & Garo appeared from a tunnel that entered into the one Leo & Quiver were traveling through.
"What we miss?" Christi & John asked when they appeared behind them.
"Not much." Quiver replied from inside the net.
"Can someone get us down?" Leo requested
John grinned & fired a Thresher to cut the webbing making Leo & Quiver fall to the ground below. "Ow," Leo groaned "you could have given us a softer landing."
"Hey you wanted to get down." John sassed
"So what do we do now?" Garo asked
"We are in an expedition," Eli began "we might as well finish it."
They all agreed & continued through the tunnel leaving the unconscious & defeated slingers & Gar behind. They traveled for 30 minutes before they spotted a bright light at the end of the tunnel. "I think that's the exit." John said as he squinted at the light.
"Race you guys there!" Leo declared & sprinted forward.
"No fair!" Christi grinned & chased after Leo.
"You had a head start!" Garo complained as he sprinted forward & Quiver tried to keep up but he soon ran out of breath.
Leo sprinted towards the bright light & when he passed through it he stopped dead in his trace & awed at the miracles sight. Everyone else joined him shortly after & they awed at the sight as well. "Wow, I mean wow." John awed
"Yeah." was all Leo could say as he awed at the incredible cavern & the slugs that inhabit it. "Are those Enigmos?" Leo asked as he stared at the millions of Enigmos that flooded the cavern from the plants, to the lake, to the ceiling, to the ground, & to the strange white energy crystals nothing but Enigmos enjoying their lives & being care free. "I'm home!" Mo cheered when he hopped out of Eli's backpack.
"Wait, you knew about this place?" asked a surprised Burpy
"Of course I did, silly." Mo replied
"But why didn't you tell any of us that you were from here or that there were other Enigmos?"
"Nobody ever asked." Mo answered, but then he lost his balance & fell to the ground with a grin.
"But we thought that you were the last of your kind."
"Really?" Mo asked as he rolled onto his back & picked himself up. "Oh, so that's why Eli & Stalker were so serious about getting me when we first met. I always thought that they were playing a game."
Burpy shook his head in disbelief as Mo enjoyed the company of some fellow Enigmos when they curiously approached the group of slingers. "Let's each get one." Leo said
"Yeah!" agreed his friends
"Stop!" Eli ordered before they could do anything. "No one is getting an Enigmo."
"What, but why?" they demanded
"Think about it." Eli replied "If people found out about this place then they'll come here, & gather any Enigmo they can get their greedy hands on, & look at these crystals, notice anything about them?"
Leo peered at a nearby crystal. "They're vitalis crystals!" he announced
"That's right so not only will this place be cleared of slugs but it will be destroyed by a mining company." Eli explained "That is why we shouldn't take anything from here."
"Not even a vitalis crystal?" Leo asked disappointedly.
"Not even a vitalis crystal." Eli answered & Leo frowned at him.
"Come on let's have a look around." Quiver suggested & they spread around the cavern.
Leo stayed put & he picked up a vitalis crystals. "Your dad said no vitalis crystals." Save reminded
"I know, but don't you want to be used in a Fusion Shot?" Leo asked "I bet it would be really awesome." he insisted
Save pondered on the idea before saying. "Ok, but when your dad finds out I had no part on this." he stated
"Fine." Leo grinned
Leo put down his duffle bag, which he did not put down back at the lunch break, he reached inside, & searched it for something that he could hide the crystal in. He found an opened potato chip bag that he had used earlier for lunch. He placed the crystal inside just before Christi called him over. He put the bag down by his duffle bag then he ran off towards his friends. As he ran off a curious little slug approached the chip bag & crawled inside.
"What is it?" Leo asked when he joined them.
"We're deciding on a name for this cavern." Garo replied
"I'm in, how about Aura Crystal Cavern?" Leo suggested "Because Enigmos make you see auras & there's a lot of vitalis crystals here."
"I like it." Quiver grinned
"As do I." John smiled
"Me too." Garo said
"So it's settled?" Christi asked
"Yes, this is Aura Crystal Cavern." Eli declared & everyone cheered even some of the Enigmos clapped & cheered.
After that they mapped the cavern & then they all decided to leave. Leo picked up the chip bag, not noticing how much heavier it had gotten, & he placed inside his duffle bag before they left back through the tunnel as Mo waved goodbye to his fellow species.
They passed up where they had defeated Gar but he was gone so they figured that he had ran off to avoid getting his butt kicked again. They continued to where they had had their lunch break earlier so they could gather up their things. Once they has their stuff Eli used a little device to get their mechas to come to them. They continued through the tunnel for 2 hours before their speeding mechas had reached them. They got on them & rode off to the mine. When they got there they were expecting a fight but instead the place had been emptied out of yellow crystals & of Hyper slingers. "Where is everybody?" Quiver asked
"They probably found out we were here," Leo replied "so they took off before we could do anything to stop them."
"Let's go in case they change their minds." John suggested & they continued through to mine.
Once they were out Eli called Cavern Security over to help search the mine for Hyper goons. As they waited for them to show up they decided to sit back & relax. Leo sat in Walker & he searched his bag for some food. He came upon the chip bag from before, he pulled it out, & was about to reach in for a chip when he noticed something else. "Look at what I have here." Leo announced as he reached inside the bag.
Everyone looked at him as he pulled out his hand & held out an Enigmo slug who happened to be chewing on a potato chip. "It's so cute." Christi complimented as the little slug continued riches the chip, completely oblivious if where or who it was with.
"I told you not to take anything." Eli scolded
"I know, but this little guy snuck off & ended up here," Leo defended, "& besides it's too late to head back & return it." he raised the slug up to his face. "How would you like to join my team of friends." he asked the slug
The Enigmo looked at him & replied "As long as we get to have fun." he answered, & Leo could tell that the slug was pretty young.
"Then that's a yes." Leo grinned "I'll name you Chip, since you love my photo chips."
"I love it & I love chips!" Chip cheered as he jumped into the air with joy, but he didn't stick the landing so he fell to the ground.
He rolled around & gave silly faces as everyone laughed & enjoyed the company of Leo's new slug, before they all decided to head home.
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