Chapter 21: Tracking Rogue Slingers
Hey everyone I'm back with a new chapter. I know many of you were quite eager to see what I have planned next but I needed to do one more important thing before it all went down. I hope you like what I have planned. Please Review and Enjoy.
At Sweet Apple Acres, Luke's family and Sonata were in the living room as Applejack, Big Mac and Granny Smith brought them some ice packs, apple cider and blankets.
"Thanks for letting us stay here while our house is under repairs Granny Smith." Will said.
"Oh think nothing of it. We're really sorry about the fire. Aren't we Big Mac?" Applejack asks.
"Eeyup." Big Mac said.
"Come on, let's get some beds ready for them." Granny Smith said as she and Big Mac walked upstairs when the door opened to reveal Rarity, Sunset, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.
"We got your call Mrs. Shane." Twilight said.
"Is everyone okay?" Sunset asks.
"Darling what happened?" Rarity asks.
"We got attacked, a group of Rogue Slingers broke into our house, stole a dozen blasters I had made for you guys." Will explains.
"And to add insult to injury they set our house on fire after they robbed us." Luke said.
"How did they find any slugs? I thought I got the only one you guys misplaced." Twilight said.
"We're not sure, but we have to do something." April said.
"And put a stop to them." Luke said.
"Who were those people and why would they do such a thing?" Fluttershy asks as Sonata was looking at her reflection in her mug of Apple cider as she remembered seeing Aria among the robbers.
'If Aria was with them that means Adagio was with them too, that's the only way they could know about Luke. I have to tell them the truth…but if I do then I'm basically selling out my sisters and I'd be no better than them when they left me in that alley.' Sonata thought struggling to come to a choice.
"Who cares who they were, we just have to find them, kick their butts and take the slugs and blasters back." Rainbow said.
"Yeah! New Shane Gang to the rescue!" Pinkie Pie cheers.
"Easier said than done, darling. We have no idea who these people are and where they could be." Rarity said.
As they talked trying to figure something out, Sunset looked to see Luke walk out the backdoor.
Looking around Sunset followed him to see Burpy trying to cheer him up.
"I'm not in the mood Burpy." Luke chokes as Sunset walks out.
"Luke, don't worry everything is gonna be alright." Sunset said.
"Just stop." Luke said surprising her.
"Huh?" Sunset looks to see a few tears running down his eyes. "Luke, it's really not so bad."
"Not so bad? Not so bad!" Luke said standing up to face her to reveal the red in his eyes. "It was humiliating! They attacked me in my own house, robbed me of almost everything, attacked my family, burned down my house and I couldn't lift so much as a finger to do anything!" Luke snaps grabbing Sunset's shoulders. "Why does this keep happening?! I try so hard to make things right, but I keep messing up!" Luke breaks crying into Sunset's shoulder. "I-I'm scared and I don't know what to do."
Slowly Sunset wraps her arms around him pulling him in close.
"I must look like the worst leader in the world right now. I don't know how you girls keep putting up with me." Luke said.
"Don't say that. It's from your advice and leadership we all keep going…well you're the one who keeps me going." Luke looks up to see Sunset move in and kiss him on the lips causing his eyes to widen as Burpy looks at them in surprise.
"Sunset?" Luke said as they separate.
"Luke, what happened tonight was a nightmare, but the thing about nightmares is that they're only temporary. They can get better." Sunset said.
"Thanks, Sunset." Luke smiles as they walk in to see Will, Sonata and the Rainbooms looking to them.
"Is everything alright?" Fluttershy asks.
"You two were gone for quite a while." Applejack said.
"Yeah, I just needed a wakeup call." Luke said as Sunset playfully punches his shoulder.
"So what do we do?" Pinkie asks.
"Girls, I need your help more than ever." Luke admits.
"And you got it." Rainbow said giving him the thumbs up.
"You've helped us on more than several occasions." Rarity said.
"And we want to help you." Fluttershy nods.
"Just tell us what we need to do." Applejack said.
Sonata looks over to see the Rainbooms gather to Luke's side and remembered that when things looked their worst for her.
Flashback:
It was the day after the Battle of the Bands and the Dazzlings were sitting by their van and Adagio kicked a trashcan in anger.
"Our one chance to get our powers back and we blew it!" Adagio growls.
"Now we're stuck in this world even more miserable than before." Aria said.
"Well it could be worse. I'm sure if we figure out a plan we can do something about it." Sonata suggests.
"We should have been able to beat those Rainbooms and that Slug boy." Aria said.
"Yes we should have…unless one of us didn't have the guts to finish him." Adagio said as she and Aria turned to Sonata.
"Why are you guys looking at—" Before Sonata could finish Adagio yanks her out of the van and pinned her against the wall in the alley.
"You could have finished him off back there!" Adagio said.
"What?!" Sonata said surprised.
"It's no surprise she couldn't. Sonata kept acting so friendly to that boy, she was all over him." Aria said.
"What? No I swear it wasn't my fault. I wanted my powers back too." Sonata said.
"You're pathetic Sonata, you always were the soft one of the group." Adagio said.
"In other words, the worst." Aria said.
"B-But we're a team, the Dazzlings." Sonata said as Adagio let go.
"Not anymore. As of now the Dazzlings are a duo." Adagio said as Sonata watched the two of them drive off leaving her alone in the alley in the pouring rain.
Dropping to the ground, Sonata started to cry when some footsteps came towards her.
"What are you doing sitting here?" Sonata looks up to see Luke and Burpy looking down at her.
Flashback End:
When times were tough Adagio and Aria abandoned her, but Luke who was her enemy helped her when no one else did. Looking to her slug belt she saw Pieper and all her other slugs. So much had happened to her because of Luke and she had never been happier. She knew what she had to do.
"Wait." Sonata said standing up getting their attention. "Before the house burst into flames, I saw one of their faces…it was Aria." She declared surprising everyone.
"You're old friend from the Dazzlings?" Luke said surprised.
"No wonder they were able to find our home because they knew about Slugterra from their battle with you." Will said.
"Sonata why didn't you say anything?" Sunset asks.
"Well I wasn't sure at first. For so long they were by my side, but being with you guys as the Shane Gang and part of the Rainbooms I've never been happier to be part of such a group." Sonata admits causing them all to smile.
"And we're happy to have you as our friend too." Luke smiles as they all pulled her into a group hug.
Smiling Sonata hugs back when April walks in.
"Uh kids, you might want to see this." She said pointing them to the TV.
Walking into the next room, they watched a news report.
"In the past few days a chain of robberies have shaken the city as a group of masked criminals have been robbing banks, jewelry stores and everything in between. We now show you footage of the criminals on their latest heist." The news reporter said.
All of them looked in shock to see Tempest's crew using their new Shane blasters shooting slugs taking out the cops, security guards and even walls in their way before robbing them blind.
"Okay that's not good." Pinkie cringed.
"Using slugs to rob people. These people need to be stopped." Twilight said.
"Yeah but how are we gonna find them if the police can't?" Fluttershy asks.
"Easy." Will said standing up. "We track their crime sprees and see if we can find a trend in their targets and use it to predict where they might strike next."
"And then we go after them." Luke said.
"Well I don't know if it's obvious or not to you guys but I see a pattern to these crimes." Twilight said getting their attention. "You see look at this, for the first crime they started small with a local bank and with each heist they pulled they moved up in which sights had more profits and so by my calculations their next theft will be at something very big and expensive." Twilight said.
"Twilight you are awesome!" Rainbow smiled as she gave Twilight a nooggie.
"Twilight how long do you think it could take you to figure out their next move?" Luke asks.
"Give me until tomorrow." Twilight said.
"Thank you." Luke said hugging Twilight causing a faint blush to appear on her face.
"Oh uh it's no problem, really." Twilight said adjusting her glasses.
Meanwhile at Tempest's base, Tempest was very happy. Thanks to the new blasters and Adagio's tips their little gang had become very successful.
In the abandoned warehouses, they had piles of loot, electronics, and whatever their hearts could desire.
But not everyone was enjoying their new riches and power. At a table, Aria was sitting down thinking about her encounter with Sonata back at the Shane House.
'To think after we left her in that alley, she would end up with that Slug Boy. She must've been pretty desperate for a roof over her head. Should I tell Adagio and Tempest about her?' Aria thought when she saw Adagio walk over.
"Well this sure beats sleeping a van, doesn't it?" Adagio said putting her blaster on the table. "Maybe we should try going to this Slugterra in the future."
"Well even if it's not Equestrian Magic this Slug power is an okay second." Aria said.
"And it felt pretty good getting back at Shane for helping the Rainbooms take away our magic." Adagio said.
"I guess." Aria said.
Nearby Tempest was having Astral search around for their next heist.
"So what are you feeling next?" Astral asks.
"Let's go for something big, something that could set us for years." Tempest said as Astral typed furiously on his laptop.
"I think I got it." Astral grins turning his laptop to Tempest and saw an for the Canterlot Boat Show causing her to grin.
"Perfect. How long until?" Tempest asks.
"Next weekend." Astral said.
"Make it so." Tempest said. "We'll get a bunch of snooty yacht owners and rob them blind."
The next day at Sweet Apple Acres, everyone was watching as Twilight was examining the newspapers, crime reports and patterns of Tempest's crew.
"Wow, she's pretty good. Probably even better than Dana's dad when he helped me." Will said.
"Yeah good thing we have an egghead on our team." Rainbow chuckles.
"Well in case we do end up facing them soon we better have enough ammo to fight back." Applejack said as they passed around slugs.
"I got it!" Twilight yells startling everyone. Looking around Twilight blushes a little embarrassed. "Sorry."
"Well don't keep us in suspense. Where are they going?" Luke asks as Twilight puts her computer down.
"The Canterlot Boat Show, those things are filled with rich boat owners who those thieves would love to get their hands on." Twilight said.
"Says here it's next weekend." Sunset said.
"Perfect. That gives us a little time to prepare." Will said.
"Sonata are you gonna be okay? What if we run into Adagio and Aria?" Fluttershy asks.
"Then it's payback time." Sonata said grabbing her blaster.
"Alright Shane Gang, let's teach these thieves a lesson when you mess with Slugterra." Luke said determined.