Chapter 5—First Encounter With The Shane Gang

Thanks for the reviews! Don't forget to leave one at the bottom! I do not own SlugTerra, only my own OC. Elina and her slugs belong to JackieWinters

On the morning of my eighth birthday, Elina and I got ready to go. She had left the cavern before to pick up supplies, but I had never left before. She gave me a small bandolier to wear, my first, and I placed a few slugs that wanted to go with us in the tubes. Alpha was on my shoulder, and in the tubes were Rip Tide, Illusion, and Elina's Rammstone, Rocker.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Elina asked me as we walked to her Mecha, Luna. She had been trying to dissuade me from this, but I wanted to go outside the cavern.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I told her. She nodded and hopped on Luna's back, holding out her and to pull me up as well. I grabbed her hand and she pulled me up in front of her so that she could keep an eye on me. She started the Mecha and we started on our way, slugs waving as we went by.

"Make sure to pay attention to where we go," she told me as we entered a new cavern. I nodded and she hit the throttle, increasing our speed. We continued through the cavern and a few more within an hour and ended at Convertamail Cavern, where a large mall was located. She parked the Mecha outside and we walked inside.

"Whoa," I gasped as I looked around. Countless people were walking around. I hadn't been near so many people as long as I could remember. She smiled at my reaction and led me around the mall. We walked through a few stores, buying supplies and new clothes. We spent several hours there, getting lunch in one of the restaurants before getting ready to leave, strapping bags to the back of Luna.

"Let's go," Elina told me a few minutes later. We were right about to climb onto Luna when we heard explosions nearby.

"Let's check it out!" I yelled, running toward it.

"Jake!" she shouted, chasing after me. I ended up making it to the scene of the explosion, where a guy with hair like Elina's and three other people were fighting some thugs. One of the people with the first guy, probably their leader, was a cave troll with a large blaster. Another of them was a girl with bright orange hair and a green shirt and short. The last one was a short Molenoid with a rifle-like blaster.

"Who are they?" I asked Elina, pointing to them. The leader had an Infurnus on his shoulder, similar to Blaze but it was a guy.

"It's them…" she said to no one in particular. "They're the Shane Gang," she told me. She looked at the leader, who I knew must have been Eli Shane from the stories she told me of them, and he looked at her for a second before launching the Infurnus.

The fight resumed for several more minutes, and when it finished I stared in awe until Elina almost had to drag me away. Eli noticed us, though, and followed.

"Hello," Eli said when we reached Luna. Elina spun around and saw him, blushing almost immediately. He smiled.

"Hi, I'm Jake," I replied, holding out my hand to him.

"I'm Eli," he replied crouching down and shaking my hand. "This is Burpy," he added, holding out the Infurnus.

"This is Alpha," I replied, holding out Alpha.

"Another Infurnus?" he gasped in surprise.

"Yep, Elina gave her to me," I replied. "She has an Infurnus too, names Blaze."

His eyebrows rose.

"Jake, let's get out of here," Elina told me.

"Wait, do you wanna hang out some time?" Eli asked her as we started to climb on Luna.

She was about to tell him 'no', so instead I said, "Sure, we live four caverns n—"

"Maybe another time," Elina said, clamping her hand over my mouth. I glared at her but she shook her head at me.

Eli chuckled. "Well, I hope that time is soon," he commented. Elina blushed as we climbed onto Luna's back and set off for home.

"Why'd you stop me from telling him where we live?" I asked Elina.

"We don't know him well enough to tell him stuff like that," she told me as we left the cavern.

"He sounds like a good guy to me," I replied. "Besides, he's a Shane. You told me that the Shanes are the protectors of SlugTerra."

"Yes, but you still don't know this Shane," she told me.

"You like him, don't you?" I commented, noticing the way she acted.

"Wh-What?" she sputtered. I looked behind me and saw that she blushed deep red. I giggled and she rolled her eyes. An hour later we arrived at the cave. We walked in, but she must have noticed something off because she waved a hand at me, launching me under the bed.

"Blakk's coming," she whispered. "He'll be here any second." She handed me her slugs and walked to the entrance.

"What? Let me help!" I demanded.

"No!" she snapped. A Flaringo hopped up to her and told her something. "He's bringing too many men," she told me. "Stay hidden, don't let them catch you."

I wanted to argue, but the look of fear in her eyes stopped me, so I scrambled back to the wall of the cave, hiding myself in a shell of ice along with all of the slugs.

"What do you think will happen?" I asked Blaze as the slugs gathered together to keep warm. I forgot that I am the only one that the cold does not affect.

"She'll most likely lead them away from here then disguise the cave," Blaze said. "Chances are, though, that they'll kidnap her."

"What?" I demanded. They stopped me before I could break out and help her.

"Don't go!" Alpha told me. "If you go and try to help her, you'll just get captured as well."

It took them over a minute to convince me, and in that time I heard Elina disguise the cave and hide it.

Elina's POV…

When I was sure Jake was well hidden I created a wall of trees in front of the cave, disguising it well before Blakk and his men arrived.

"I'm back, Shae," he growled. His apprentice, a guy my age with blonde hair and light colored clothes, stood by his side.

"And how do you think you'll get me to go?" I demanded. "Send Blondie here after me?" I added, glancing in the other guy's direction. He scowled at me and Blakk raised his hand. His assistant loaded a ghouled Grenuke, a Greneater, and pointed it not at me, but where the disguised cave was.

"Simple," Blakk said. "Either you come with us quietly, or we kill the boy you care for so much."

"If you so much as lay a finger on him, you will regret the day you were born," I growled. I startled myself with my threat, but I didn't care. I raised Jacob, and we were the only family each other had, other than the slugs.

"That all depends on whether you come with us or not," Blakk told me. He nodded and the boy launched the slug at the cave.

"NO!" I screamed, swatting it away with a water whip. They began opening fire on the cave and me. I tried to deflect them all, but I was hit by a Grimmstone near the end.

"Now, I will repeat this," Blakk told me. "Either you come with us, or we kill the boy."

I sighed and sat upright from my position when the Grimmstone hit me. "As long as you promise to not let anyone hurt him, I'll go with you," I said sadly, lowering my head. Blakk smiled and tied my hands behind my back, lifting me onto a Titan Tank. When they had me secured we left for Blakk Citadel.

"Jacob, I hope you're safe," I whispered before someone unseen to me knocked me out.