“The old stories tell of a distant shore. Unreachable by normal means… A world of strange magic and knowledge… and riches beyond belief.  A cavern ablaze with fire… walls stretching into the infinite… The burning World” The man on the stage said. “Lit by the lantern at the heart of creation. Despite what you’ve been told, these tales are not legends. The world above is real.” He said moving his hands to demonstrate his passion. “And after all these years of searching, I, Gar Revelle, Have found the way.” He looked back at the hulking man behind him. The man had only one eye and I found the creepy. “If fame and fortune interest you, I shall lead you to it.” Gar promised. “We will assemble at the monarch inn. Tomorrow, nine sharp. And then we make history.” He jumped down and the crowd dispersed.

“He’s talking about the surface, isn’t he?” I asked Eli. If they reached my old home, the magic of the slugs would die and the Dark bane would rise. Not that I could tell Eli that.

He looked at me nervously. “I think your right.”

“We can’t let him get there.” I said. “We have to stop him.”

“Agreed. Let’s get some gear and go with him.” Eli suggested. “Make sure he makes a few wrong turns.”

“Let’s go.” I said. I grabbed his shoulder and shadow traveled to the hideout.

We tiptoe past the sleeping slugs only to be startled by Trixe as she ate an apple. “Morning, Eli. Morning, Alex.”

I froze. “Trixie?” I asked. “When did you get up?”

“Never when to sleep.” I saw that she had bags under her eyes and the pale complexion you get with sleep deprivation. She motioned to Kord who stared sleepily at the TV, a game controller in hand.

“Your reign of terror is almost over Trixie!” Kord declared groggily.

“And finishing blow.” Trixie said, hitting a button.

“I hate this game!” Kord yelled throwing the controller down. He picked it back up reluctantly. “Another round?”

“You’re on.” Trixe said. She looked at us. “And where are you two off to this fine morning?”

Eli chuckled nervously.  “Alex was just helping me with some errands.”

“Errands?” Trixie asked as he walked past. She snatched the flyer from his waistband. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with this?”

“Come on. Give it back.” Eli protested. He really was a bad liar.

She read the flyer as she walked towards Kord on the couch. “New World Wow? Gar Revelle promises fame and fortune with Burning world expedition…Finishing blow.”

Kord looked at the TV in shock. “No!”

“This isn’t where you’re going, is it?” Trixie asked sarcastically.

“Maybe,” Eli said. “Who cares?”

I restrained a laugh at his failed attempts at deceit.

“You should for one.” Trixe said. “The Burning world is a myth. A dumb kid’s story.” She gave us a look. “Think about it. If there was really a world above, why haven’t we met anyone from it?”

I wanted to say, “You’re looking at two of them.” But I held my tongue. “I’ll admit, it sounds fishy.”

“Don’t waste your time.” Kord advised. “Revelle’s been roping clueless slingers into these dead end expeditions for years.” He dug a spoon into his breakfast.

I heard Pronto gasp from the upstairs bathroom. “Gar Revelle is launching a new expedition!” Pronto burst out of the toilet, forgetting his pants.  “Has anyone else seen this?” He held up another flyer, his night cap flying when he jumped off the balcony in his haste to reach us. He hit the hammock below and face planted by my feet.  “A whole world above Slugterra!” He said excitedly, paying no head to his crash landing.  “Imagine… No slugs, no mechs.” He gasped in horror. “No molinoids.”

“Oh,” Trixe said happily. “I’m imagining it.”

“And the gold!” Pronto continued, staring at the flyer.  “There will be gold of course. We must go and hear this Revelle out.” He pointed in the air like he was leading a charge. “For exploration.” He added, doing a peter pan impression in the chair he stood in.

“We were gonna go alone.” I said, putting empezise in the word alone. “I don’t think it requires the entire team for a reconisense mission.” I said, my tone devoid of any tells.

“Oh, please!” Pronto said, throwing him at my feet and clinging to my ankle. He looked up at me, tears forming in his eyes.

I hissed and he grabbed Eli.

“Well,” Kord said. “If it’s official Shane business… East rift does have the best chocolate root beer floats this side of anywhere.”

I knew then that we were doomed.  Eli was going to protest but Pronto interrupted. “Then it is settled. We will all gold! I mean go.”

“Great,” Eli said sarcastically. “Glad to have the help.” He looked at Burpy. “So much for keeping this on the down-low.”

We all got on our mechas. Kord had gotten me one. It was dark as my home and was shaped like a leopard. The closest to a shadow clan Kord could find. We headed to the monarch inn and I opened the door.

A mass of people crowded the lobby. They looked like they would just as likely stab you as ignore you.

“This is definitely not worth the root beer.” Trixie said and I nodded in agreement. We sat at a table as Pronto fetched us drinks.

“You see the kind of people Gar’s stories attract?” Kord asked Eli and me.

A dark skinned man growled at us and barked like a dog. I hissed and he whimpered. “Charming.” I snapped.

I saw Pronto run into someone and run away. The man had reddish blonde hair. He wore a green shirt that barely covered his immense torso. I recognized him as the man who Gar was with.  “That’s Andre Geyser!”

“Who?” I asked.

“World-class adventurer.” Kord explained. “Pretty famous too. I wonder what a real explorer like that is doing here.”

I heard a spoon tapped against a glass and my attention shot to Gar, standing on a stage. “Thank you all for coming.” He picked up an ancient, leather bound book with a sun inscribed on it. “As many of you know, the burning World has been my obsession since I was a boy. And I recognize that my previous expeditions were seen as… disappointments to those involved.” He held up the book. “This however will be different…”

“He hasn’t taken his hands off that book since he came out.” I heard Eli whisper to Burpy. “We need to get a look at it.”

“The world above offers more than fame and fortune.  Take their ‘moon’, for example.” Gar continued and my attention peaked.  “A planetary body of vast proportions orbiting literally millions of miles above their heads!”

The crowd jeered. “Oh, come on.” Trixie said.  “People can’t be taking this seriously.”

Andre slammed his fist on the table and stalked over to us. “You got a problem, girly?”

“Nope,” Eli said. “We’re fine, sorry. No problems here. Isn’t that right, Trixe?” He said, clearly terrified.

“My only problem is that you’re all buying this.” Trixe said.

I stared in shook. Andre was at least 5 times her weight. She was either crazy or stupid.

“He’s taking advantage of you.” He slammed her fist and stood up, getting in the hulking explorer’s face.

“Easy, guys.” Eli tried to calm the situation. “There’s no need for trouble.”

“Only an idiot would be part of a bogus expedition.” Andre said, ignoring Eli completely.  “Are you calling me an idiot?”

“I think you just called yourself one.” Trixie smart mouthed.

I glared at her as the crowd laughed. “Stop helping.” I warned.

Suddenly Pronto slammed into Andre with the floats. I would assume he had help from someone. Andre looked downright murderous as he aimed a blaster at Pronto. He fired and hit the table of two slingers when Pronto ducked. 

They growled and fired as one at the explorer. I ducked behind a table with Eli as an all-out slug brawl erupted.  “You just had to say something.” I chided.

“I thought we were here on official business!” Trixe said as we formed a circle. “I just wanted to help these people.”

I was thrown out of the circle as someone smashed into me. I rolled out and shoved him off Eli who was hit by the same guy. Burpy went flying. “Burby!” Eli yelled. I saw the infernus slug smash into a wall and slide down.

I heard Gar yelling at the slingers, but it was so loud I couldn’t make out his words. I fired and dived behind a table, slowly working my way with Eli to the fallen slug. I jumped and grabbed the grateful Burpy and tossed him to Eli. He loaded his best slug up and fired at the ceiling. “Everybody, stop!” Burpy flew in a circle creating a trail of fire the illuminated every slingers face in orange light. He landed in Eli’s hand.

Gar suddenly appeared and hugged him.  “Don’t you know who this is?” He yelled at the stunned crowd.  “Eli Shane.” Gar said, shaking Eli’s hand.  “This is excellent. With a Shane on board, this expedition cannot fail!”

“Newsflash.” Trixie said. “Eli’s not joining your expedition.”

“About that.” Eli said nervously.

“You can’t be serious?” Kord said. “These guys were shooting at us.”

“It’s not that simple.” Eli said.

“Actually it is.” Trixie said. “Either you’re with reason and common sense, or you’re with this guy.”

“I guess we’re with Gar.” I said. I moved next to Gar with Eli.

“We’re joining the expedition.” Eli confirmed. “I’m staying. You guys head back to base. “

I ignored Pronto as he tried to make it about the gold.

“Sorry, Pronto.” Eli said, giving the molinoid a shove.  “I have to insist. I know you guys think I’m crazy.  But I have my reasons for this. You just need to trust me.”

“I have to go.” I said. “I have my orders.”

“We do trust you, Eli.” Kord said. “Just wish you’d trust us.” They left dejectedly.

Why did you do that? Burby asked. “Had to be done.” Eli said. He may not have understood his slug exactly but he was pretty in tune with them.

Gar led Eli away and I sipped a float. Gar had wanted a private word and I was giving it to them. I waited outside the office talking to Sabine about the surface world in a hushed voice of the shadow clan. Suddenly I heard something break and I rushed in the office.  Eli was aiming at Gar. He aimed at me and I ducked. He fired a Tazerling and electrocuted the men behind me. I rolled out of the way when someone grabbed me, restraining my arms.

Andre held Eli in a vise. “Gar, listen to me.” Eli yelled. I was carried next to him as Gar appraised us like a prize fish he just caught.

“I owe you a debt, Eli. Every instruction... the precise method to reach the above world... is all in this book.  Along with all the glory I deserve.”

My Flaringo hopped out and lit itself on fire, making my captor release me. I saw Eli fire a slug and I shielded my eyes intuitively from the flash of light the phospero generated. I grabbed the book and followed Eli out while the rest of the men were still stunned.

I jumped on my mecha and raced away from the inn as slugs were shot at us.  We reached the hideout and I grabbed my gear. Trixe and Kord were back at that video game. They looked at us suspiciously. “What’s going on?” Trixie asked.

“Nothing, go back to your game.” I said.

“You’re still playing that?” Eli asked in surprise.

“I refuse to let her beat me!” Kord declared. “I gotta win at least one game.” He noticed our gear. “That’s a heck of an Arsenal.”

“We’ll handle it.” I snapped, heaving the bag of slug containers on my back. I had three slug belts on my arm and a spare blaster strapped to my other leg.

“Yeah.” Trixie said, coming to stand in front of us. “And we’re the Shane gang.”

“I don’t want you guys getting hurt.” Eli protested. “You just stay here.”

“There’s still time to lead them away.” I said.

“Uh.” Pronto said from the window. “I am not certain what you are talking about but perhaps it is too late to leave us out of it.”

I groaned. I hadn’t expected them to get here that fast.

“I think there’s even more of them than before.” Pronto said.

“The auto blasters!” I yelled. I let my slugs race to the tubes as Burby manned it. All of the slugs in the hideout formed into two lines and dove into the tube that would fire them without human help.

“We need to get you out of here!” Eli said, looking franticly around.  “My dad once told me of a tunnel that led into town. If we hurry we can escape.”

“We’re not leaving!” Trixe yelled.

“You don’t even know what you’re fighting for!” Eli protested.

“It doesn’t matter.” Trixie said. “We’re a team. We don’t need to know.”

“Tell them!” I yelled. I fired out a window and teleported outside to fire at the invaders from an unseen vantage point. I ran out of slugs and teleported inside after grabbing fired slugs to re fire. Suddenly the wall was blasted apart.

“Is this what you want, Gar?” Eli said, holding the journal above his head.

“Cease fire!” Gar yelled. “You might hit the book!”

“Why take the diary when you can have me?” Eli asked.

“What is he doing?” I whispered.

“I think I’ll take both.” Gar said, aiming a blaster at him.

“I’ll come along if you leave my friends out of this.” Eli demanded.

I helped Kord scale the roof and take a firing position.

“Now you’re being sensible.” Gar said. “You don’t need friends. At the end of the day, you’re all alone.”

“No.” Eli said. “I told them I didn’t want them involved.” I fired a phospero. “Then again they never listen.”

Pronto fired a Jellyish, trapping two slingers. Suddenly he slipped and Andre got him. Someone fired a Frostcrawler and Kord slipped. I jumped between two and they took each other out. I looked at Trixie who had repeated my stunt. “Suckers.” She said.

“Come on out Gar!” Eli yelled.

I watched in horror as Gar lead Kord over, a lavalinyx in his blaster. “It’s over Eli.”

“Get out of here, bro.” Kord said. “I can handle myself.”

“Not with that slug at point blank range.” Eli protested. “Let him go Gar. You can have the book.”

“Give it to me!”

Eli looked at the journal like he was preparing to do something horrid. He threw it in the air and fired Burpy. The journal exploded and Gar screamed bloody murder. “Why? It’s not fair!”

“Nothing personal.” Andre said to me. “Just business.”  He and the rest of the slingers left the Shane grounds. “This was nothing but a sham. Go away, Gar.”

“I have a feeling Revelle won’t be a problem anymore.” Kord said.

“Listen guys,” Eli said.

“It’s cool, Eli.”

“Shane secrets.”

Eli looked at me for permission. I nodded. “It’s only right.” I said.

I smiled as they walked away. I had no need to see the drop nor answer superior molinoid questions from Pronto. I teleported to my home and reported the safety of the secret. I omitted a few details of course. But the Shane gang deserved to know.