Chapter 10: Apollo

I bowed. "It is an honor to meet you, Apollo," I told him. "My name is…"

"I know your name, and why you are here. The leader of the Council has already told me. I will go with you. The other Ilios slug will take over for me in my absence." He was no taller than Yang, but his body was a soft orange, had a strange halo-like marking on the top of his head, a belly that was lighter than his body with a strange marking on it, what Eli had taught me was the sun, and there was a flame in the middle of his halo marking. "Now, let us go."

I nodded and held out a hand, which he hopped on. He was warm, not unusual for a fire-element slug, and hopped into one of my slug tubes to be comfortable for the ride back. Yang led me through the cavern to the exit, where I contacted River and had her activate Stryder. She did, and I could hear her chirps of alarm as she held on. The exit was at the other side of the cavern, so it took them a few minutes before they arrived. I thanked River and let her rest in a slug tube as I jumped onto Stryder's back and transformed into sport bike mode, hitting the throttle and taking off, going at full speed to get back to the hidden cavern by the end of the day.

"Was your adventure successful?" Mom demanded when I arrived.

"Calm down, Karina Shane," Apollo told her. "I am the reason he had to leave. My name is Apollo, and I am one of two Ilios slugs in existence."

Her eyes widened. "Who is it that gave you that name? It is a Surface name."

He smiled, nodding. "It is. As to the one who gave me my name, is was your father, Will."

Mom's eyes widened. "Dad knew you? He never told us, though."

Apollo laughed. "Of course not. I met him on accident after exploring Bullseye Cavern. I was about to return to my home when he found me. He gave me my name."

"Cool," I whispered as Mom thought about it.

"Interesting. Well, whatever you are here for, you need to stay with Jake. Other slingers would see you and try to take your power."

He nodded. "I understand," he replied, hopping back into his slug tube.

"Speaking of your power, I need to train so that I can get used to fighting with you," I told him, holding out my blaster. He nodded, so I went over to a training area Luke had put together, loading Apollo into my blaster. I focused on one of the targets and pulled the trigger, firing Apollo. When he reached velocimorph, he looked like an Infernus, but had a glowing halo of fire around his head and his fire was the color of liquid gold. He faced one of the targets and let loose a rain of fiery arrows, destroying a target. He returned to me and I fired him again. This time, he let loose a ring of flames.

"That attack is the reason you were sent for me," he explained upon returning to me. "It can heal ghouls and injure enemies. When in a tri-fusion shot in UltraMorph with Speedy and Yang, the power would be enough to destroy Brimstone in the right conditions, or at least return him to his slug form, when the Elementals and Enchantresses can seal him away. Because of the energy required, though, you need three Gifted to fire at the same time, and the rest of you to keep him still long enough for the shot.

"Why are you so specific it be them?" I asked him.

"There is a plan, do not worry. As long as everyone does as the letters told them, they will be able to help me," he told me.

I frowned, but nodded. "Yeah, yeah," I grumbled before I got a quick dinner from the tent set up for food and got some sleep. To be honest, I didn't like that I had to involve the others. I wanted to keep them out of danger and take on Brimstone myself. I was the strongest of them all, so I could do it.

The next day, I brought up the plan with them, only to be pinned to the ground as my Shadow Walker and Misty were taken to me and I was sent to the caves.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.

"You aren't strong enough to face him alone, despite your strength," Emma told me as Yang stood guard. "We were told of this in our letters. If you face him, you will lose and all of Slugterra will be lost, followed by the Surface. Until you calm down and realize this, you're staying here."

I frowned. I could probably overpower one of them, but not all four of them, and I would never forgive myself if I hurt one of them. The best choice was to just sit there and wait for them to see sense.

I was in that cave for close to a week like that. We ended up losing two more caverns to the Dark Bane's advance.

"Why won't you see reason?" I yelled at them when they told me. "Sending me is the only way to end this without any more lives being lost!"

"What about your life, though?" Emma demanded, everyone else walking away. "Even if you manage to defeat him, what will happen to you? Even with all of your strength, the power required to deal the final blow to Brimstone would be too much, and you'd die!" she screamed, falling to her knees in front of me as I saw tears fall down her face. "Did you even stop to think about that? About what would happen to us if you died? Your mom has lost everyone she ever loved, and I don't want to start with you! Please, I don't care what's going through your mind, just don't do it, please don't do it!" she added before she broke down.

My eyes widened as I staggered back, her words an arrow into my mind. I fell down in front of her and hugged her tightly so that she could lean on my shoulder.

"I won't…I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry…" I whispered over and over to her until we had both calmed down and were leaning against the wall of the cave, silent as we enjoyed each other's presence.

"Is he okay?" Mom asked Emma as we returned to the main camp. She nodded, so Mom let me return to my tent and put away my things as Mark came in and talked to me about schedules for the continuation of Slug Point like nothing happened at all.

Two days later, there was an attack on Bullseye Cavern.

"We need to bring everything we have," Mom told us as we packed our things. "We've already sent a forward squad to slow their advance, but they won't have a lot of time. Mark, how are things with the secret weapon progressing?"

"Slow without Vinyl's help, but I've managed to create a new toy for you," he replied, holding out a briefcase with three slug tubes. In each was a small cylinder. "These load into your blasters and are launched into them, mainly for long-range. If you succeed in pushing them out, use these to push them farther, or if you need to escape, use them to provide space. They won't do much damage, and will mainly shock them more than anything. I wish I could have made them more powerful, but…"

"Don't worry about it, this is enough," Mom told him, although he handed Leo a clip of ten of them.

"Because you have one of the best reloads of the group, I made you a clip full of them. Be careful when using them. Luke already has a clip as well, but only for emergencies. I have no idea of the stress it'll put on the blasters," he explained.

"Hey, have more faith in the blasters I made. They'll work just fine without the accelerators," I told him, so they pocketed the clips and we set off.

"Jake! Wait!" Vinyl called out, running over with a pair of small items. "I just finished this, take it!" she told, me, putting them in my hand before she was left behind to get on her own Mecha. She quickly caught up to explain. "The letter I got told me to make these. Put them on Speedy and Yang!"

I gave her a strange look, but did as she asked, putting the small disks of metal on them. Upon contact with their skin, they lit up brightly. I almost lost control of Stryder as I wobbled and recovered, watching as the disks transformed into very thin suits around them. I could barely see them except for the fact that their skin darkened slightly. When I looked over, I noticed that her Thugglet, Angel, had a similar suit on.

"They absorb excess energy from a launch and uses it to strengthen their attacks," she replied. "I tried it with Angel, and her illusions are far more powerful than before. I'll make one for Apollo after this to help, but it'll take a while."

"Don't worry about it, this is enough!" I told her, Speedy and Yang admiring the suits.

"Amazing, I don't even feel it," Yang told me.

"I wonder what'll change the next time we're launched," Speedy commented.

"We'll probably find out soon," I replied before a small tube landed in my lap. I picked it up and saw that it was one of the special tubes Mark created.

"You should have one, as the leader of the new Shane Gang," Mom told me. "Leo's split off to go ahead with his friends and act as a vanguard for our advance. Do you know the strategy?"

I nodded, clipping the tube to my belt. "Enter formation! We'll be reaching Bullseye in an hour or so, but we need to watch out for ambushes!" I told them. "Vinyl, do you think you can create an illusion to intimidate the Dark Bane upon arrival?"

She nodded. "I'll have Angel take care of it when we get close," she replied as we formed as the five of us formed a V, every student of Slug Point following behind in groups of five, also in Vs.

About forty-five minutes later, Leo's group returned to the main force, albeit without their leader.

"The forward group is barely hanging on, so Leo went to help and sent us back," Garo explained.

"Dammit…" I growled. I wanted to go after the idiot, but if I did, people would break formation to follow. In the week that I was in the cave, they had done a lot of training to keep that formation, but it would be useless if we split apart. "Vinyl, launch Angel!" I told her, so she launched Angel into the air. A moment later, she entered UltraMorph and we were surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands, of illusions.

"Ignore them and keep formation!" Vinyl told everyone. "If you touch one, do not panic, they are intangible," she explained as we approached the cavern. The entrance we were going in was untouched, so we left behind a group to keep it that way as we continued through the cavern.

"LEO!" I roared when I heard blaster fire. Sure enough, he was there, fighting Dark Bane alongside a couple dozen duelists. They were vastly outnumbered, though, at least until we arrived. "Fire!" I roared, launching Brisingr as Mom launched Saphira, the signal to attack. The Dark Bane seemed to be intimidated by the illusion, but kept their positions as we opened fire.

"Good job with the suits," I told Vinyl. Angel was still above us, circling as she maintained the illusion. Even an UltraMorph slug would have issues with that, but the suit was helping her.

"Yeah, but she can only maintain it like that for another minute, tops!" she replied. "I loaded extra energy into the shot just to allow her to maintain it this long," she explained as I loaded Speedy, taking aim at a Behemoth. I charged him and launched.

The Behemoth fell.

"Vinyl, when we get back, make more!" Mom told her as we continued firing. The power of the suits was amazing, but Speedy and Yang were starting to tire out as Angel returned to Vinyl, drained of energy. I managed to launch a fusion shot of Tesla and Blaster to take out a hundred or so, but we were still vastly outnumbered as they continued to pour in. I followed up with a fusion of Toxin and Trench, creating a giant moat full of poison that even Dark Bane would avoid. I repeated on the other side, funneling them so that we could concentrated our force. They were still using Ghouls, but it was easier now that they could only use their brute strength at one point. To deal with the Ghouls, a few of us launched Boon Doc/Phosphoro fusions, the light healing numerous Ghouls as Emma followed up with her Tui and La fusion.

"We're holding them back, but how are we going to push them out?" Emma asked. "The slugs are starting to tire out!"

I frowned. "I don't care, use brute force if you have to!" I yelled as Leo launched a fusion of Save and Burpy, taking out a large amount. No matter how many we took down, though, they kept coming. "Leo, explosive gas!" I called out as they surged forward, jumping over the trench. He nodded, launching his Flatulorhinkus and Toxis in a fusion, the resulting gas detonating when I launched Brisingr.

"Jacob, use me!" Apollo told me for the hundredth time.

"I can't, or they'll know about your presence!" I replied.

"It doesn't matter if we can't take this cavern back!" he replied, so I grabbed him and charged him, launching him into the air. He instantly transformed, going straight into SuperMorph. He rose up into the sky. He became encompassed in fire before a giant fireball appeared in front of him. He paused a moment to take aim before he launched it into the front lines, taking out dozens of Dark Bane. He wasn't done, though, flying low over them as he let loose with barrages of fiery arrows. He finished up with an extremely bright light. It didn't hurt, though, instead filling me with energy as the Dark Bane were pushed back further, covering their eyes as they screamed.

"Amazing," I gasped as he returned to me, landing on my shoulder.

"My slugs are back to normal!" Emma called out.

"Me, too!"

Reports started pouring in that his light had healed all of the slugs, so we continued our attack, raining fire, water, ice, electricity…you get the gist of it…onto their heads as our morals were lifted. I followed up with Glacier, my Glacio, and his Rico-Freeze followed by Blizzard. We weren't able to use fire-element slugs during it, but it was worth it as they couldn't use them either, their flames extinguished by the onslaught of ice.

"Good job, Glacier!" I told him.

He smiled brightly as I loaded Blaster and barraged them with bombs.

"All squads, report in!" I called out as everyone surged forward, pushing them back. I took the moment to take a short breather to catch my bearings.

"All of our slugs are healed, so we're still going!" That was the general report coming in, so I grinned.

"Charge! Use this momentum to push them further! Those with Grenukes and those with Hoverbugs, launch them! We will use the Hoverbugs to aim the Grenukes precisely while scouting at the same time!" I told them. Soon after, the sky was full of the slugs.

"The front lines are entering the blizzard! It's too much!" those up front stated, so I turned to Glacier.

"How do I stop it?" I asked him.

"Forgesmelter and Infernus combo," he replied, so I loaded Brisingr and Scorch and launched them, a large sphere of fire and lava evaporating the ice to get rid of the blizzard. Without the ice, the Dark Bane seemed to push more, but we did as well.

"We need more firepower up here!" those in the front lines said.

"Mom, are you in position?" I asked her.

"Roger that. The Sharpshooting division has taken up positions in the wreckage of SU," she replied.

"Good. Start with Frightgeists, and while they're running, cook them," I replied. I watched as a group of ten snipers opened fire across the cavern, resulting in screams of horror that caused them to run. They followed up with Flaringos led by a certain Infernus, pushing them back further. Those the furthest back, though, remained unaffected, so I looked to where Mario was positioned. I couldn't see him, but knew he was there. "Mario, Frightningrod trick-shot," I told him, so he loaded the fusion mod I made for him and fired the Frightgeist/Speedstinger fusion. The fusion works so that whatever the fusion slug hits is affected by Frightningrod. It has a better range than a Frightgeist, and terror spread through the ranks further back, allowing for those scared to keep running.

"Are you ready for another round?" I asked Apollo as I loaded him in my fusion blaster with Brisingr.

He nodded, so I launched them. Brisingr increased the effectiveness of his flame attacks significantly, so I watched as they attacked.

"Wait, Jake," Mom told me. "Why is it that no Eels have appeared?"

"Yeah, and there's only been one Behemoth, too," Luke added.

I frowned as Apollo and Brisingr returned after their run. "Good point," I replied before I switched to the frequency used by everyone. "Return to your formations! Continue the assault, but do not break formation! I've a bad feeling about this," I announced before switching to the private frequency. "Leo, Luke, get those fancy clips ready," I told them. I had barely gotten those words out of my mouth when the ground shook. "Crap," I growled as at least a dozen Behemoths charged in, running over even their own Dark Bane. "Luke! Leo!" I roared, jumping off of Stryder's back as my eyes lit up. They did the same as we focused our powers to form a wall of pure energy. They plowed in it and almost broke through it, but it was like our resolve, unbreakable.

"Yang, go with Apollo and contact the Council," I muttered under my breath to them. "Tell them to bring everything they've got. We need everything we can get. Heck, brink the Elementals if you have to," I added before I loaded them in my fusion blaster and launched them toward the entrance. If we lost Bullseye, the chances that they'd find the hidden slug cavern were too high. There was a good chance that it was their target from the stop.

"Where did you send them?" Emma asked me as she, Mark, and Vinyl poured their power into us so that we could maintain the barrier.

"To get backup," I replied. They charged again and again, and almost broke through once before the Eels arrived.

"Phosphoros!" Mom called out, so they were launched and the Eels began falling from the sky.

"Hurry…Yang…" I gasped as my sight began to dim.

"Support squad, focus Fandangos on the Shane Gang!" Mom called out before I had a chance to black out. My sight returned to normal after the fifth Fandango, so we were able to maintain the shield for another ten minutes before I heard a faint call.

"Jake!" Yang called out as he and Apollo hopped toward our forces, leading hundreds, maybe thousands, of slugs, and behind them were…

The Elemental Slugs.

A/N: Hello, readers! Yes, I have finally come up with another chapter, I hope you'll forgive me for being so late! Well, it seems that Jake's ego has reached a new peak, but Emma's able to keep him under control, as always, and a new weapon has been introduced. I wonder what'll happen now that the Elemental Slugs have joined? I don't even know yet, to be honest, but it'll be awesome!

I do not own Slugterra or its characters, only my own. Create-gunner1209 owns Leo, his friends, and his slugs. Aist MoonSun owns Karina Shane. I suggest you check them out, they're amazing writers!

Until next time!