As promised, here is the first chapter of the (rewritten) story! Hope you guys enjoy it!

EDIT FEBRUARY 11, 2021: fixed minor grammar errors and eased the flow of the chapter.

As Eli walked home from school, he tried to keep the dopey smile from his face, but it was difficult. He was excited that, one, he was done with eighth grade, and two, he was going to see his older brother again! Why wouldn't he be ecstatic?

'Tomorrow, I get to see Will with Uncle Jimmo!' Eli thought to himself. 'I wonder how he's doing. I hope he's okay!'

Last time he saw his brother, Will was in the process of trying to get Uncle Jimmo to let him learn how to shoot a slug from a blaster. Why? Because of the rule that Jimmo had put in place; Eli and Will had to wait until they turned fourteen to learn, and fifteen to shoot a slug from a blaster. Eli had asked why specifically fourteen as had Will, but Jimmo had merely replied with "thirteen is too young" and "at thirteen, you aren't mature enough" and "at fourteen, you'll understand". At the time, Eli was eight and Will ten. They begged, pleaded with Jimmo to let them learn. It wasn't until their mother came that it was put to an end.

Now, at thirteen, Eli still didn't understand. Wasn't he mature enough now? In the very least, he was much more mature than the jerks in his school. Seriously, how dumb idiots made it to eighth grade will always remain a mystery to him.

"Yo, Elliot!"

Speaking of dumb idiots…

"Are you ready for the summer?"

Eli turned to look at his neighbour. They'd known each other for a few years and got along fine, but it didn't mean that Eli had to like him.

"I'm ready for summer, but I might be moving, remember?" Eli raised an eyebrow. "And my name isn't Elliot, Luke! It's Eli! Eee-lie!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. You tell me that all the time," Luke rolled his honey-coloured eyes, his curly blond hair blowing in the wind. "Anyways, if you do move, can you promise me that you'll stay in touch?"

"You know I can't. Where I might be going might not have good cell reception."

"Then you can send me letters? You're someone I want to talk to, ya know?"

The thirteen-year-old tried not to sigh.

"I get that, but what if I can't? What if I'm not allowed to? What if—?"

"Then let me give you my number in case you're able to talk and my address so you can send me a letter. Please, Eli. You're the only true friend I have."

This made Eli pause. Yes, he hadn't always liked Luke before, but that didn't mean they couldn't start anew. With a soft smile, Eli nodded, and the two boys exchanged information.

"I'll talk to you soon, okay?" Eli promised.

"Sure thing, Eli," Luke nodded.

Both boys chuckled and separated off to their respective houses.

"Uncle Jimmo! I'm home!" Eli shouted into the house.

No response.

"Uncle Jimmo?"

Silence. He plopped his backpack by the door and shivered. Something about the atmosphere was off. He walked a few more steps, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Turning the corner to the living room made Eli gag.

"No, no, this isn't happening," Eli thought aloud.

In the rocking chair was his great-uncle, but he wasn't exactly in perfect condition. His throat had a big red slit, blood oozing down onto his chest area where you couldn't tell the shirt colour anymore. His blue-grey eyes were half-lidded and glassy, his mouth wide open. In his bloodied hand held an envelope. As he reached over to grab the paper, a hand covered his mouth and arms wrapped around his body. He tried to scream, shout, anything, but the figure held fast. A knife was soon pressed against his neck, and he stilled, his eyes widening.

"Good lad. Now, where is Eli Shane?" the figure hissed in his ear.

At first, Eli didn't dare say a word, but a rough hand forced his chin up, so he was looking directly into the eyes of his perpetrator. He couldn't tell who they were, but Eli could see that it was a man.

"I-I d-d-don-n't kn-know!" Eli stuttered while lying through his teeth. "I-I'm ju-ust th-the n-neighb-bour! I h-hear-rd some-someth-thing, a-an-nd c-ca-ame t-to ch-ch-check-ck it-t o-ou-ut-t, I s-s-swe-ear-r!"

The man sneered.

"You better not know, or I will hunt you down."

Finally, the man let him go with a push. Eli gasped as he fell to his knees. The man left afterwards, and the boy let the breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding out. Eli took the letter out from his great-uncle's grasp and opened the envelope. He let out a sigh of relief that the blood hadn't gotten to the letter underneath.

'Dear Eli,

If you are reading this, it means I've fallen protecting Slugterra, your brother, or you and your secrets. It's one of the many risks of being a Shane; a risk you'll someday face yourself. If you decide to follow in my footsteps. A long line of Shane's has made the trip down to Slugterra. If you do choose to go, remember our deal.'

"Not until I'm fifteen," Eli whispered.

But he couldn't stay here anymore. His great-uncle was murdered, his brother alone in Slugterra, and his parents nowhere to be found. His mother left right after Will did, and Eli never saw her again. And it wasn't like he could go to his father since he was no longer alive. Why? It was because of his powers that he remembered any of it. He only got glimpses of it, but what Eli remembered was his father protecting him from a blast. It was supposed to kill him, and he had only been about five or so. Due to that, Will lived in Slugterra with Uncle Jimmo. Jimmo only came up on the weekends or for a special occasion such as getting Eli to bring him down to Slugterra. Very rarely did Will come with him. And very rarely did Eli even see his brother when he did come down.

"Oh, God, Will. He'll be crushed when he hears about this," Eli spoke aloud.

After making a few phone calls about the situation in his house, he slipped out. He took his backpack, the envelope, and the letter with him. He hopped down into the drainage sewers that were beneath his house. As he walked to the Shane Symbol on a button that opened to The Drop (if he remembered correctly), he read some more of the letter.

'I've told you all about my adventures in Slugterra, and you'll have plenty of your own. Getting down there is going to be the easy part. Getting back up, that will be a lot harder for you. If you choose to go, it will be a one-way trip until you learn the secret of how to get back home. I know we've always talked about making your first journey underground together with Will and I, but you'll have to do this one on your own. I've told you so much about Slugterra, but it only scratches the surface of what you'll see. You'll be travelling over one hundred miles beneath the surface of the Earth, to a place only a handful of topsiders have ever seen. You'll be safe inside the carriage, just… Hold on tight.'

Eli stopped there and climbed into the carriage. The carriage locked him in like it was a roller coaster. When he pushed the button to activate it, Eli understood why. He whooped and cheered the whole way down. But, when he saw Slugterra, a parachute deployed causing him to throw his head back. Eli hissed in pain. He'd made the trip once or twice with his Uncle Jimmo and Will, but it was very different doing it alone. After the carriage landed, Eli climbed out of it and nearly fell over from the wave of dizziness and nausea. He shook his head to clear it and read some more of the letter to see what to do next.

'When you reach Slugterra, there will be a Shane hideout within a few hundred yards of The Drop. Inside, you'll find all the gear you're going to need to keep the peace. Your own Mechabeast will be waiting for you inside the Service Bay. Happy Birthday, Eli.'

'But if I go to the hideout, will my brother be there, or will I be alone?'

The thought of being alone made him panic.

'No, no, I won't risk it. I can't risk it. Never again.'

Eli felt the undeniable fear pierce his heart, and he decided right then and there that he wouldn't go to the hideout. He couldn't; not without knowing if he'd be alone or not. So, he began his trip to Quiet Lawn Cavern instead. The skies opened, and it began to downpour (how, Eli wasn't sure).

"This is going to be a long walk," he muttered darkly.

Along the way, he decided to read some more of the letter in his hands.

'I usually keep a few blasters around, but you'll have to find your own slugs. That's going to be your most important task, Eli. The slugs are the key to everything down here. You're going to learn that they're much more than ammo.'

'Slugs, hmm? I'll catch myself a couple, and then I can worry about getting myself a blaster. Or a slingshot. Or something like that. Finding a slug can't be that hard, right?'

'Wrong. I was so, so wrong.'

A few hours of searching on his way to Quiet Lawn Cavern and he found nothing; absolutely nothing. The only thing he caught was a cold. His clothes soaked, chilled to the bone, and sneezing, Eli made his way to a cave he saw just outside of the cavern. As soon as he got inside, he saw three slugs.

"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered to himself.

At his talking, the three slugs glanced up at the boy. Eli froze as did they.

One was light green with a pale green belly, face, and neck. The slug had two antennae that were light green on top of its head and a green eye. The second slug was blue with a brown belly and brown colouring around its eyes. It had two blue antennae on top of its head; both eyes were blue, and it had one tooth. The third one was dark orange with yellow and tan coloured markings. It had a small flame patterned belly which was coloured tan, and it had two antennae at the top of its head with yellow tips on them. The slug had a small, two tipped flame on top of its head going down its back. Its eye colour was red-orange.

Eli was ready to either fight or bolt when the dark orange slug crawled over to him and chirped. It tilted its head in confusion as to why a human was in the cave with them.

"Um," Eli mumbled dumbly. "M-my name is Eli. I, uh, just arrived, and I, uh—"

He didn't get much further in his sentence when he clammed up. However, it seemed to be good enough for the slug as it hopped up onto his right shoulder and nuzzled Eli's fever-flushed cheek. The green and blue slugs hopped onto the boy's left shoulder and did the same to his left.

"H-hey, that tickles!" he protested lightly.

The slugs chirped and cooed while licking and cuddling Eli's face causing the boy to giggle. They stopped when Eli began coughing and sniffling, the force of the coughs rattling his lithe chest. He managed to painfully swallow enough to quell the tickle in the back of his dry throat.

"Sorry," he rasped. "I-I'm okay."

The green slug tutted (or maybe Eli imagined it) and glowed light green. He felt his throat pain, chest pain, clogged sinuses, and body aches disappear. The fever remained, but it was not nearly as strong as it was before. He ignored his sluggishness in favour of going back out into the rain to grab some wood, the slugs never moving from his shoulders. If anything, they cuddled closer as if to protect his face from the harsh winds.

That in of itself was another good while, but soon, Eli dragged his soaked body back inside of the cave and took his hoodie, shoes, socks, shirt, and pants off. They were no good to him wet. He kept his boxers on, though. Hey, he had to keep some sort of dignity, didn't he?

"Now to figure out a way to light this," Eli wondered aloud after assembling the pieces of wet wood.

The orange coloured slug hopped from Eli's shoulder to the ground next to it and blew out a stream of fire. Once the wood was lit, the slug burped loudly causing the other two slugs and the boy to chuckle.

"I think I'll call you," Eli paused to think for a moment, "Burpy. What do you think?"

The now-dubbed Burpy nodded. The green slug released a pale green aura once more, and Eli felt his body healing slowly but surely.

"Thanks, Doc."

Doc gave him a grin and a nod as he continued his job. The boy then looked at the last slug and pursed his lips together. What to name this one…

He racked his brain. He remembered what this slug was! His brother had shown him a picture of it when he was younger! It was an Enigmo!

Wait.

"I think I'll call you, Mo," Eli decided with a jaw-cracking yawn.

He got no response due to Mo being asleep. Eli himself was tired, but he didn't want to go to sleep in fear of what he'd dream about. Alas, he made himself lay down on the cool, rocky floor and curl up on his side, his back to the fire. He very nearly sat back up when his stomach protested.

'No,' he thought, 'I'm fine. It's because I haven't eaten in a while.'

As he pulled his legs closer to the rest of his body, he felt Burpy tuck himself under his chin and Doc next to his achy tummy, Mo near his sternum. The calming aura from Doc returned, and Eli's belly felt that much better. Burpy let some heat out from his body to help keep Eli warm. He then realised that Doc, Burpy, and Mo were attempting to lure him to sleep.

What was funny was that he didn't mind it. Burpy, Doc, and Mo drove away the fear, the loneliness, the lostness in Eli. His eyes slipped closed, and he forced them open. No! He was not going to sleep! But the temptation was strong; the heat from the fire behind him, the warmth from Burpy, the soothing touch of Doc, and the reassurance from Mo made him want to relax, to sleep. He allowed his eyes to close and not open. His breath began to even out, but there was one lingering question on his mind.

"You guys will still be here when I wake up, right?"

Burpy, Doc, and Mo all cuddled closer to him in a silent answer. The boy hummed in content and thanks before Eli drifted off to dreamland.

"And finishing blow!"

"Come on! I almost had you!"

"Easy, guys. It's just a game."

Inside a white hideout were three occupants: a cave troll, a teenage girl, and a teenage boy.

The cave troll had tattoos on his arms and a small, orange goatee on his chin. He had dark, brown-black eyes, and he wore a helmet with a spike horn. He was dressed in a white shirt, black armoured pants, and a black armoured vest held together by a strap with three slug barrels.

The teenage girl had fire-red hair tied up into two pigtails, long bangs covering the right side of her face. Her eyes were grassy green, and she wore black fingerless gloves. She was dressed in a black undershirt, green crop-top, and light grey armoured pants.

The teenage boy had short dark blue-black hair that had a bang going down the middle of his forehead. His eyes were blue-purple in colour and wore a white shirt with black shoulder pads, grey armoured pants, and a bandolier with three slug barrels.

Finally, the three teenagers finished the game, and the girl let out a large sigh.

"I hate the rain," she muttered.

"I always figured Kord would be the one to say that," the boy grinned.

The cave troll, Kord, narrowed his eyes at the teen.

"Watch it, Will Shane," he teased lightly.

The boy, now dubbed Will, playfully glared back.

"Anyway, Trixie, why do you hate the rain again?"

"It's just that there's nothing to do."

A molenoid came into the room with snacks in his hands. He was very overweight and had pale purple skin, brown eyes, a scraggly moustache, a yellow helmet, a blue and white striped shirt, and green pants.

"Hey, Pronto! Care to join us?" Will called over.

"Bah. Pronto has no need for these silly games," the molenoid, Pronto, stated.

"Sure, you don't," Kord rolled his eyes.

As he and Pronto got into a light banter, Trixie turned her attention to the Shane next to her.

"Hey, Will? Didn't you say that your brother was done with school?" Trixie asked.

"I did, yeah," Will replied. "Why?"

"Because I want to know when he's coming over. Is that too much to ask for?"

"I suppose not. You just finished eighth grade, right?"

"Mmmhmm. Why do you ask questions you already know the answers to?"

"Because I had to make sure. Besides, my brother just finished eighth grade too."

"Ah. But I've never seen your brother. I mean, kindergarten and first grade go year-round, second grade through eighth grade goes from August to May, and ninth through twelfth grade goes from January to October. You would have thought that I would have seen him by now."

"Haha, yeah, well, he doesn't go to school here."

"Then, where does he go?"

Will eventually realised his mistake and clammed up.

"I, uh, he's… Homeschooled?"

Both humans grimaced at the questioning lilt in his answer.

"I'll leave it be," Trixie decided.

Will smiled gratefully at her. It was no secret that the Shane's had their secrets.

"So, how old is your brother?"

The Shane never had the chance to answer because the alarm went off. They dropped their controllers (or snacks, in Pronto's case) and went to the video phone to see a man with dark brown (going grey) hair on the screen.

"Hey, Red Hook! Does Quiet Lawn Cavern need help?" Will asked the man.

"It's not the cavern that needs attention; it's the cave that's just outside of the cavern. Since no one here has any elemental powers, they cannot see it, but any slug can. The problem is that there is a fire in the cave. Someone's in there, but I don't want to go out to check it out in case it's one of the gang members that hang around here unless I must. Do you think you and your team can check things out for me?" the man, Red Hook, asked.

"I wish we could, but the rain is bad enough that we can't see that far in front of us. Do you think you can confirm if it's a gang member or not? If it is, I promise we will be there as soon as possible."

Red Hook seemed to mull it over before nodding reluctantly.

"I'll call as soon as I know more," the man promised.

Will smiled gratefully.

"Again, I'm sorry we can't be there."

"Bah, it's not like this old man can't defend himself."

The call ended. Trixie and Kord raised an eyebrow at their leader.

"Really, Will?" Kord asked. "You never turn Red Hook down!"

"Or anyone!" Trixie added.

"I know," Will began, "but I can't compromise your guys' safety."

"Maybe we can make those decisions ourselves, Shane."

Will rolled his eyes at Trixie's attitude. He gave up when Kord gave him the same look. Finally, the Shane went to his room. Probably to do homework. Or sneak out to practise shooting slugs. Both were possibilities, to be honest.

"You owe me one, Will Shane," Red Hook mumbled as he ran out of his house in a raincoat.

Will was right about one thing. Unless you were dumb enough to go out in the rain, you couldn't see two feet in front of you. However, the fire from the cave gave Red Hook a good idea of where he was going. Finally, he walked inside and was surprised to see what was in front of him.

Lying on the floor of the cave was a boy of about eleven or twelve. He had fair skin and dark, navy blue, almost black coloured hair. His bangs dropped onto the right side of his face. Snuggling him were three slugs: an Infurnus, a Boon Doc, and an Enigmo. It took Red Hook to get over his shock of seeing the three rarest slugs surrounding a kid.

"Wow…" the man murmured to himself.

The Infurnus and the Boon Doc woke up, and the first slug mentioned growled at them while the other kept its aura near the boy's stomach.

"Hey hey hey, I'm on your side," Red Hook told the growling slug. "My name is Red Hook."

The orange slug looked up at him. Finding what it needed, it stopped growling and backed up to let the older man come close. As he got closer, Red Hook noticed that the boy's cheeks were flushed with fever, his face pale, and his hair damp with sweat. He shivered even with the fire slug and the fire behind him. Something was familiar about the boy; he just couldn't place it.

The boy stirred as the other male rested a hand over the burning forehead.

"Mmm, Uncle Jimmo?" the boy moaned.

Ah ha. That's why the kid seemed so familiar.

"Sorry, kid, but I'm not who you think I am."

That was the wrong thing to say as the boy bolted upright. Immediately, he tried to put as much distance between him and the stranger in the space with him.

"W-wh-who a-ar-re—?" the kid began before doubling over in coughs.

"My name is Red Hook," the older man told him. "I saw a fire in the cave, and Will Shane told me to check it out since he couldn't come out here and see for himself."

"W-Will? M-my br-bro-brother? H-he s-sen-sent y-yo-ou?"

"More or less. Now, we need to get you out of here and into proper clothes."

The kid smiled shyly and huddled his arms closer to his body. Red Hook rolled his eyes fondly and draped his raincoat over the boy and had to keep the grin off his face at how adorable the sight was, the young Shane swamped in the jacket and, dare he say it, nuzzling into it. The elder kneeled to his level.

"It might go quicker if you let me carry you," he said.

The younger paused.

"My slugs come with me," the kid stated boldly, most of the stutter gone.

"Fine by me."

He finally walked over to Red Hook and gently leaned onto the older man's back. Hooking his arms and legs around the other, the elder stood up. He picked up the boy's damp clothes and backpack.

"Ready?"

A hesitant nod later, Red Hook walked back to his house, thanking his lucky days that the rain finally let up some.

"So, what's your name, kiddo?" Red Hook asked.

"Eli," the boy mumbled. "M' name's Eli Shane."

"You certainly look like your brother, that's for sure."

"I do?"

"What, you haven't seen the resemblance?"

"I haven't seen him in years."

Red Hook hummed.

"So, what cavern do you come from?"

Eli tried not to let the surprise show on his face.

"I, uh, far away from here. Y-you wouldn't know where it is."

"Of course."

The boy kept what the letter had said in mind.

'The Shane's have a lot of secrets, but none of them are as important as the one about where you come from. No one can know about the surface, Eli. There are too many dangers on both sides. These two worlds MUST be kept separate.'

Red Hook opened the door to his house and kept the smirk off his face when he saw Eli look around in wonder.

"Like what you see?"

"It's incredible."

"Well, it has to be if I want to be the best blaster smith in all of Slugterra!"

Eli nodded in acceptance. Yes, Red Hook seemed familiar to him, and now he knew why.

"Alrighty, lemme call your brother, and maybe he'll come out and—"

"No!"

Red Hook raised an eyebrow at that.

"No?"

"I mean, no, that's not necessary."

"Look, kiddo, I promised him I would call."

"But you don't have to since it was no trouble, right?"

"Let me rephrase that. I promised Will I'd call once I knew more. And I do."

Eli realised right there and then that he'd have no choice but to follow along.

"Just, maybe you don't mention that it's me?"

"Why wouldn't I? You're all he talks about, you know!"

"Really?" Eli asked in surprise. "We haven't talked in years."

"Well, it's clear that he loves you and misses you."

The boy looked away.

"Eli, it'd make him feel better if he knew where you were, you know? He's expecting you and Jimmo to be there by now, right? Maybe tomorrow morning at the latest."

"Then can it wait until tomorrow morning?"

Red Hook looked Eli over. Nestled inside his raincoat made the kid seem smaller than he was. His cheeks were flushed reddish pink with fever. Dark circles were underneath his glassy eyes. His orbs were a deep, rich sapphire, almost royal blue, with a hint or two of grey. Eli shivered, even while standing next to the heater. The older man made his decision right then.

"Okay," he nodded. "We can wait until tomorrow morning. For now, how about you get some sleep? I could lend you a shirt if you were interested?"

"If you don't mind?" Eli asked.

"Wouldn't have offered it if I did."

It took some manoeuvring, but eventually, Red Hook got the sofa set up for the boy and got him an oversized shirt, a quilt, and a pillow. Eli was out within moments of laying his head down and getting covered by the blanket. His slugs snuggled close to him. The Infurnus was under his chin, the Enigmo at his chest, and the Boon Doc at his torso.

The old man nodded to himself. Yes, he wasn't that great with interactions, but he felt that he'd done a good enough job. He had a soft spot for the kid; Eli had him wrapped around his finger.

And yet, he couldn't find himself caring.

Not that he'd ever admit it out loud, of course.

*"I don't know! I'm just the neighbour! I heard something, and came to check it out, I swear!"

So, what do you guys think? Good? Bad? Meh? Lemme know! I hope this is better written than the other one, but maybe you guys hate it and like the old one better? Reviews help me see that! Again, as I stated before, the other story isn't complete, but that version is. Maybe I'll take it down one day, but for now, it'll stay up.

Until next time!

MegaMon2580