Author's Note: Thank you to all who have supported this story, especially those who have left reviews. I hope you have all enjoyed this fanfiction and I wish you all the best.
Chapter 9
Kord regained consciousness just as Twist took his final shot.
"No!" Kord yelled.
He was out of slugs and his body still wasn't responding properly to his commands. He wasn't going to be able to stop the shot. A desperate glance around showed him that Trixie was still down too.
He watched hopelessly as Loki hit velocity and spiraled towards Eli.
A Flatulorhinkus intercepted the ghoul.
Loki recoiled from the foul smelling slug and bounced harmlessly to the ground, falling short of Eli by a few short paces.
"Loki!" Twist yelled.
Kord had other priorities. He forced his sore body to twist around.
"Pronto!" he called with a grin.
"Never fear, Cave Troll, Pronto is here!" the Molenoid claimed.
He galloped past Kord, leaving a cloud of dust to choke on behind. Even then, Kord was still happy to see the final member of their party return. A little less happy than he might have been. But still happy.
Pronto stopped his mecha-beast with a clumsy jerk and a skid that somehow ended up majestically in between Eli and Twist.
Pronto spun out his blaster and raised it at Twist, another Flatulorhinkus already loaded.
Twist gathered Loki as he made his way back to his slinger. He straightened with a glare. Kord watched with baited breath. Twist still had plenty of ghouls left to sling at Pronto and there were still a few of Dr Blakk's men left standing too. Pronto had a few Flatulorhinkus slugs, no backup, and a friend to protect. The odds weren't in their favour.
But Twist glanced at Eli and held his hand up.
"Retreat!" he ordered.
There were some confused glances between Dr Blakk's men. Twist rounded on them.
"Gather the fallen and retreat!"
He whistled for his mecha-beast and guided it in a wide arc around Pronto and Eli to retrieve Dr Blakk.
"We'll meet again," he promised the Shane Gang.
And then he, and all of Dr Blakk's men, were gone.
Normally, that would have been cause for celebration but Kord had other concerns.
"Did you get the cure?" he asked Pronto as he pushed himself to his feet.
"But of course," said Pronto, pulling out a small bottle Kord assumed to be the cure.
And by small bottle, he really meant small. He wouldn't even have been able to hold that tiny thing. The pressure between his two most gentle fingers would surely still have crushed it.
Yet another reason to be glad they had sent Pronto on the final leg of their quest.
"Well let's give it to him, then!" Kord suggested.
"I was just about to do that, Kord," the Molenoid defended as he dismounted.
Kord stopped by to give Trixie a hand up as they gathered around Eli.
"That's it?" Trixie asked, pointing at the vial with one hand as she used the other to rub a nasty looking bump on her cheek.
"Indeed. This is Miss Ellow's miracle cure!" Pronto exclaimed, once more holding the bottle high for everyone to see.
"Uh, bro. Please don't do that. I'm worried you might drop it."
Pronto gasped.
"Pronto would never-"
"Whatever," Trixie snatched it from him. "Let's just give it to Eli already."
Kord held Eli up as Trixie uncorked the bottle and looked up to Pronto.
"So do we rub it in or what?" she asked impatiently.
"Of course not," Pronto said, waving a finger at her. "He is to drink it."
Trixie wasted no time and tipped the whole bottle into Eli's throat.
They waited.
Nothing.
Not even the twitch of a finger.
They waited some more.
Still nothing.
Eli didn't even seem to be breathing.
Kord and Trixie looked to Pronto.
"What?" he said. "I'm not the one who made it."
Trixie looked back to Eli.
"No," she said, a hand over her mouth.
Kord pressed on Eli's chest with two fingers, conscious the human was more delicate than a Cave Troll.
"Come on, bro. Don't do this to us."
He pressed again.
And again.
COUGH!
Kord met Trixie and Pronto's eyes with a grin.
Eli was alive!
The Shane's shoulders shook as his fit continued. Kord gently turned him onto his side and patted his back.
"You ok, bro?"
The coughing fit subsided and Kord set his friend back down.
Eli leaned back on shaking arms and grinned at his friends.
"What a caCOUGHany," he joked weakly.
"Watch out!" Kord yelled.
Burpy came shooting towards Pronto and Trixie. They dived out of the way as Eli shot yet another slug at them, dive rolling over the couch to get himself shelter from any return fire.
"You shouldn't move around so much, Eli! You're still recovering!" Trixie called.
"Oh, come on, Trix!" Eli quipped back with a smile. "I've had plenty of recovery time."
He loaded Stunts and ricocheted a shot off the fridge, nearly taking Kord's helmet off with the rebound.
"See?" he bragged.
The rest of the Shane Gang exchanged glances. And the next time Eli jumped out from behind the couch, he found three blasters loaded with Jellyish pointed at him.
He dropped his blaster and held his hands up in chagrin.
"Alright, alright. You guys win," he said. "I think I've had enough slime to last a lifetime."
Sadly, his surrender didn't save him from his imminent sliming.