Blakk Industries had developed a super weapon. A weapon that I would take immense pleasure in destroying. I stood on the pile of rocks with Eli as the sleek silver train powered by jets of green flame barreled straight for us. Men in uniform were crouched along the roof.

Blakk was onboard as well. We had chosen this mission as a comeback mission for that purpose so that when Blank realized we not dead he would realize it himself instead of some poor hospitalized employee telling him that amazing fact that I loved. Yes, I enjoyed not being dead.

Who still wanted to work for him was my question. And why were they all male? Get some variety or I'm gonna start calling your fortress a bachelor's pad, Blakk.

Glowing bioluminescent mushrooms provided light in the stone tunnel that the tracks ran through.

"Wish we could see Blakk's face when he realizes we're alive.” Eli said wistfully.

Moans of longing passed through the gang and then snickering at imagined faces that cut off when the train sped up. "So, how do we stop this mighty, mighty train?" Pronto laughed nervously as the silver train streaked towards us like a cheetah.

"That's a good question, Pronto." I said, my tone sarcastic. "Any thoughts, Eli?"

He laughed nervously as the train slammed into the boulders we had spent hours moving and sent the entire Shane gang (except me. I shadow traveled to safety) into the tunnel walls.

"Plan B?" I asked, watching Eli rub his head and stumble to his feet. He swayed like a drunken man.

Shaking off the daze, he mounted his mecha; a white wolf nicknamed Lucky, and helped me aboard. My mecha had taken a grenuker to its sleek profile and for now I was stuck riding with Eli until Kord finished ‘upgrading’ my new mecha in the garage. The garage I was forbidden to enter upon pain of death. For the past week I could hear Kord working on it late into the night. He said that he was building it custom for me and the only thing he needed was a shadow walker. I had hesitantly given it to him and the cave troll hade disappeared into his garage.

“Mount up and slug it out.” Eli said, shaking me out of memory land. He brandished his blaster and revved the engine.

“That really should be plan A.” I suggested, unholstering my own weapon. A black and green blaster made for me by the clan. “Let’s go!” I yelled as we tore after the train.

“Whatever we call it,” Trixe yelled, mounting her purple panther, “Let’s just do it.” She and Kord were on one side of the track while Eli, Pronto, and I were on the other.

The men on the train fired a ghouled hot rock and thrasher at us and Eli dodged out of the way.  “We can’t keep this speed up for long.” I yelled; shadow traveling to Trixie’s mecha under the cover of Yang to get a better shot.

“Then let’s slow that thing down!” Eli yelled. He looked at Kord. “Plan C?”

“Like you have to ask.” Kord mused. The two boys both fired thrashers at the train and the slugs slammed into it and bounced off. I stared at the train. The attack hadn’t even left a dent.

“We didn’t even make a dent in that thing!” Kord yelled in shock.

“No duh, Sherlock!” I yelled.

“Who?”

“Never mind.” I waved him off. “Eli, the wheels!”

“Plan D.” He said. He pulled up on the other side of the train just as Trixie did for me. As one we fired Armashelts at the wheels but shield shaped plates came down and the slugs bounced off.

“Why is everything he makes so cool?” Kord complained.

“I’m thinking derailing might not be an option.” Eli guessed. “Everyone, Plan E!”

“We’re on E already.” I muttered, shaking my head in dismay. I looked up to see Blakk aiming at the Shane from his perch on the roof, his neatly combed hair flapping in the wind. “Eli! Watch out!” I yelled.

Eli quickly fired and his slug hit the ghoul Blakk had shot. “I was sure you perished when you fell into the Great Abysus.” Blakk sneered. “Once again, you have disappointed me.” He and his henchmen fired at Eli.

“That’s what makes our jobs so fun!” I taunted.

He looked at me and my vision was coated in the red hue of anger. “I though you took a direct hit from a ghoul.” He said. “How is it that you are alive as well?”

“Girl’s got to have secrets.” I taunted.

“My job has its perks and secrets as well.” Blakk said ominously. The train opened up and the newly repaired Gatler rose up from the machine like a mounted artillery cannon. Blakk took the handles and unleashed a barrage of ghouls on Eli.

Eli went out of sight on the other side of the train but from Blakk’s continued fire I knew he was still alive.

“How does he have so many ghouls?” I yelled, engaging with the henchmen. “I thought my people decimated his stores.” I fired a Frostcrawler and froze the henchman’s foot in a block of ice.

“Guess he was saving them for this.” Kord guessed his gaze one of awe as he took in the weapon.

“Or…” I shuddered. “He found a new way to make them.” Nurse and Yin were already working overtime to keep me upright but I was still dizzy.

Eli pulled up next to us. “We can’t stop the train from back here.” He reasoned. He looked back at Trixie, Pronto and I. “You guys fan out.” He looked at Kord next to him. “Plan F?”

“All aboard.” Kord translated.

Trixie and I took the left side of the train and distracted the men while Eli and Kord boarded the Train. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Eli grab the ladder and pull himself up. Lucky and Kord’s mecha ran behind the train, rider less.

The henchman scratched his head in confusion before turning to see Eli behind him. “What?” Eli demanded. “Want to get off here?”

The henchman aimed at the Shane but Eli swept his feet under the goon and sent him flying off.  Another man aimed at Eli’s back only to be grabbed by the ankle as Kord threw him off.

Trixie jumped over the man without causing him further harm. Blakk would have run him over but we were the good guys. We set an example by not harming others as long as they’re harmless.

Blakk growled at the trespassers and swung his weapon around, opening fire. Eli did a back flip to dodge and nearly fell off, catching the last rung of a ladder with a lone finger. I readied myself to help by Kord grabbed him and pulled him back up.

The train took a surprising turn into a canyon and Trixie nearly passed it by. She managed to correct our course and gasped. “The Beast Forge.” She said. She pulled up a holographic screen Kord had installed on her mecha.

“If Blakk destroys the Forge…” Eli yelled.

“It sure won’t make more mecha beasts any time soon.” Kord finished.

“Which means Slugterran will be even more dependent on the Slugterran express!” Trixie added.

“And Blakk!” I yelled, my throat felt like I had swallowed a toad.

“Yeah!” Pronto yelled, his finger in the air for a speech. “And… I got nothing.”

“Beast Forge in range in 500 meters.” A man yelled from the train.

“We got to stop this train before the gatler’s in range of the Forge!” Eli yelled. “Call Grendel as a precaution.”

Trixie hit a button and an image of a cave troll with orange hair wearing a green shirt with shoulder pads like the ones Kord has took up a corner of the screen. “You got to evacuate the Forge.” Trixe told him.

“What? Why?” Grendel asked. He had a Slugterran version of a Scottish accent. Trixie flipped the screen around and showed him the train. “How much time do we have?” Grendel gasped.

“Not enough.” Trixie said.

I looked at the magnificent building that was home to countless cave trolls. It was made of stone and had high arching columns for smoke stacks. A brilliant sapphire the size of a city hall clock hung 400 feet in the air on the face of the main building. A bridge of the same alabaster stone crossed a stream, leading in to the forge.

“450 meters…” The henchman said. “200! In range!”

Kord fired a hot rock that blasted two men right off the roof. Eli did a flip over the wreckage, landing on his feet. He glared at Blakk. “This is your last warning.”

“You think you can stop me?” Blakk sneered, whipping the gatler around to face Eli.

“I know I can stop you because I have this.” Eli held up his blaster and the two supporting rods that held the slug container in place widened to accommodate for two slugs. A circular disk lit up with blue light to tell him it was ready. Then I saw the AquaBeeker and Infurnus in the weapon.

Before I could yell a warning, Eli fired. Burpy gripped Beeker in his wings and they spun. A wave of fire and water splattered Blakk. A blue light rippled from the blast zone. I fell off Trixie’s mecha. The wave had shorted Nurse and Yin out so I was getting the full effects of the ghoul’s energy.

The train had stopped by the forge so I didn’t hit the ground too hard thankfully.

“What happened?” Kord yelled. He hadn’t seen me yet.

“I don’t know,” Eli said. “Not exactly what I was looking for.”

“Alex!” Trixie cried. She helped me to my feet and over to Eli.

“Are you okay?” Eli asked his slugs.

Owww!

My stomach hurts.

Why?

Didn’t match. Eli’s Enigmo said wearily.

“No good, lazy slugs!” Pronto cursed, shaking a worn out armashelt in its tube. The slug was too weary to protest.

“Not their fault.” I scolded. I was seeing double from a combination of the pulse and the ghouls. “The wave drained their strength.”

Blakk laughed. “Too bad it didn’t have the same effect on my ghouls.” He motioned to the ghouls in the gatler. The monsters roared, eager to fight. He aimed at us. We had foolishly gathered together, making ourselves an easier target. I said a quick prayer in Shadowinsh that my people would have sensed the pulse and come to our aid.

Blakk grinned and quickly swung the gatler to aim at the beast forge. He opened fire, rubble raining down on the last evacuees as they ran from their home. The only good thing was the more ghouls he fired the stronger I became. He laughed the entire time as the forge was decimated; the beautiful sapphire falling to the ground and shattering like a Geoshard under a Slyren’s song.

I covered my mouth in horror as Blakk laughed manically at the destruction he had caused. Plumes of smoke rose from the rubble as Blakk raised his hands to the sky as if to challenge the gods themselves to face him. “I do hope you enjoyed the show.” He laughed. “Because it’s the last thing you will ever see.” He swung the weapon back at us. “Well, Eli Shane, now that you are about to suffer your final fate, do you have any last… Oh, forget that! Goodbye.”

Seeker of Soul. I heard my king say in my mind.

“The Shadow Clan!” A henchman yelled.

Slug knower appeared on the train. He grabbed a henchman by the throat and threw him off. Another one of my people shadow traveled above a goon. He dropped down, using his flexible body to catapult the goon off.

My king and two others ran towards me as Slug Knower and another took on Blakk. We must speak with the son of Shane. My king told me.

 The Shane gang ran for cover behind some rocks but I stayed planted, pretending that I was petrified with fear so that any humans looking at me would assume that I was afraid instead of waiting for a ride. Slug knower and Frost User grabbed me with their tails like they were kidnapping me.  Shadow king and his guards grabbed Eli in a similar manner and carried him towards the shadows in the opposite direction.

“Eli!” Kord yelled, aiming a blaster at my people.

“Stay with Blakk! We’ll be okay!” Eli yelled just before he was shadow traveled away.

As Slug Knower and Frost User released me so I could shift I pondered what Blakk would think. Something along the lines of Eli and I getting a far worse fate than he could have dealt us. Maybe he almost felt sorry for us. Almost. The myths and rumors surrounding my people were the Slugterran equivalent of the boogeyman and Elvis. Well, I think Elvis is scary.

As we shadow traveled to the Dark Periphery I crossed my fingers that the Shane gang would realize that Eli was safe with my people and that they would go after Blakk instead of Eli.

In my home, Eli was surrounded by the Shadow Clan. I knew what he heard were whispers instead of the questions and accusations I heard. He reached into his bag and pulled out a black circlet with green sigils. He placed the Shadow Talker upon his brow and grimaced for a moment before relaxing.

Ever since he had been given the Talker I had been working with him on it, preparing him for such an occasion.

“Son of Will Shane,” My king said. “We sensed the disturbance created by your weapon.  It is reckless to combine two slugs whose auras are not aligned. Did Seeker of Soul not warn you?”

“I hadn’t the chance, my king.” I said. “The Son of Shane did not inform me of his use beforehand and I did not see him ready the blaster in time to stop him.” I bowed to the crowned clan member. “Forgive me, my king.”

“It is of no mistake on your part, child.” Shadow king told me.

“Auras?” Eli repeated. “Aligned?” He stared at me. “You guys know why the double barrel blaster didn’t work! You got to tell me so I can use it to stop Blakk!”

“There is no ‘tell’.” Shadow King said. “You either see, or you do not.” He turned away from the human.

“See?” Eli asked. “See what? All I saw were two slugs combining into something really cool, then things went kinda…” he searched for the right word. “Haywire.” He decided.

“An improper combination of slugs can have severe, devastating effects.” I said.

“Like causing all the slugs in the area to short out.” Eli guessed.

“That is but one danger.” I said. “There are others—far worse.” I shuddered as I thought of the other outcomes that could have occurred. I counted us lucky that the result was a pulse instead of…

Sorry. Clan secrets.

“Please.” Eli begged Shadow king. “Blakk has a new weapon and he’s using it to take whatever he wants—no one can stop him.”

Shadow King’s ear flicked in annoyance. We wanted revenge against Blakk but Eli wanted Clan secrets. Secrets we did not give easily.

“You got to show me the right way to combine my slugs so I can.” Eli begged.

A hiss ran through the clan.

“Fine.” Eli said. He held out his hand so that his slugs could hop on. “My friends are out there, probably trying to stop Blakk right now… If you won’t help me, I’ll just go figure it out myself.” He turned to leave.

I hiss in unison with the others as we blocked his exit. We could not let his experimenting devastate the land.

“If you insist on using this weapon, you must prove to use you can master it—no matter how long that takes.” Shadow king said. “Seeker of Soul will supervise you.”

“What? No! My friends are in danger. So unless someone here thinks they can stop me…” Eli stopped talking as we all crowded in close and glared at him menacingly. He held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, then…”

I took his arm and led him over to a flat area for him to try to learn our secrets. All of his slugs were playing in front of him as he sat cross legged. He held Spinner in his hand, studying him intently.

Burby rolled a thresher slug over with a tube as Spinner swung in a web dangling from Eli’s fingers. “Come on guys. Help me out.” Eli begged. He picked up Glimmer and squeezed him. “How do I know which of you match?” He picked up Stinky and the flatuarinkus slug burped. Eli quickly plugged his nose. “That’s just wrong.”

Stinky laughed. Got ya.

His Enigmo hopped on his shoulder. I’m right here.

“No, Enigmo. I don’t want to smell you.” Eli said, looking at his frolicking slugs.

Getting desperate, the Enigmo slug bit down on Eli’s shoulder, causing him to cry out and grab him. “What the heck, dude?”

My laugh made him look up. “I hope you’re here to give me a clue.” Eli said.

“The answer is in your grasp.” I said.

Eli sighed. “Enough with the riddles.” He begged.

“This is no riddle, Eli.” I said. “The answer is in your grasp.” I pointed to the Enigmo.

Eli held the two eyed slug up and it laughed. Bingo.

Eli stood up, realization dawning in his eyes. “Slug me.” He said, tossing the Enigmo to me.

I caught him in my tail and looked at Eli for confirmation. He stood stalk straight, readying himself for the hit.

I crouched and fired. Eli went flying as the Enigmo hit him, sending a cloud of orange, blue and white into the air around the Shane. He sat up, clutching his head. When he opened his eyes they were bright green: The color of the Shadow sight. He looked at his slugs and I knew he saw what I could. Misty waves of varied colors pulsing off the slugs. “I can see your auras.” He said in shock. “So that’s what you do.” He rubbed the Enigmo affectionately. “You were trying to help me all along.”

The slugs cheered. Eli picked up Suds and Spinner. He moved them slowly towards each other. The auras shimmered away from each other. “Nope.” He picked up Chiller and Banger. “Nope.” Stinky and Joules. “Nope.” Buzz saw and Forge.  . The auras vibrated between the two and turned white. “Forgesmelter and thresher, huh?” 

He loaded the two slugs into his double barrel blaster and took aim. A blast of lava wheeled through the air in a spiral.

“Whoa! Did you see that?” He asked me.

I simply smiled. “Ready to go stop Blakk?” I asked.

He nodded and collected his slugs. Taking my arm, I teleported us to the Lumino ore mine where Blakk was about to open fire on some unarmed miners. Eli quickly fired Joules, knocking the gatler off target as I shifted and stepped into view.

“Alex and Eli Shane?” Blakk swore.

“What can we say?” Eli asked. “Guess we’re still a constant source of disappointment.” We stood on a rock above the train as the miners looked relived.

“No.” Blakk said. “I always clean up my own mess.” He and his men opened fire on us and we ran for cover under the train. I fired an armashelt that knocked a henchman off. I heard the screeching of metal as Blakk ripped the gatler off its pedestal and fired at us.

Eli and I ran for the front of the train and I could hear Blakk following us. “My blaster still needs more time to recharge before I can go double barrel again.” He told me.

“But we can still do this.” I said. We ran for the tunnel entrance but Blakk fired at a pillar of rock hanging from the ceiling, blocking the path. We veered right just as Blakk did the same thing. Eli fired a Geoshard and a protective cage of glowing yellow crystal protected us from a direct hit.

“How did you escape the Shadow Clan?” Blakk demanded.

“Escape?” I asked. “They let us go.”

“They’re pretty cool guys once you get to know them.” Eli added.

“Thanks, Eli.” I said.

“Keep your Shadow Clan secrets!” Blakk yelled. “They won’t be doing you any good much longer.” He opened fire on our cave and I shadow traveled with Eli out of harm’s way.

“Did us good right then.” I taunted.  I froze when I saw Blakk aiming at us.

“Again I ask: Any last words?” He asked.

“Nah.” I heard a women say. “We like to let our slugs do the talking.” Just then the rest of the Shane gang rejoined us. The barrage of slugs took out all the goons except for Blakk. They took cover next to Eli and me as Blakk opened fire.

“So,” Kord asked. “Have a nice visit with the Shadow Clan?”

“Later.” Eli promised. “Right now, I’m ready to go Double Barrel.”

“Whoa, whoa, last time you did that it shorted out all our slugs.” Kord protested. “Do it again and we’re dead meat.”

“You have to trust me.” Eli yelled, loading Buzz saw and Forge. He loaded the separate piece into his blaster and stepped out of hiding to face Blakk. The blaster spun in his hands as he took aim. He fired, the two slugs combining to create a swirling disk of lava. It streaked past Blakk, tearing the track to shreds and hit the train in the middle, slicing its way through the formerly impenetrable monstrosity.  

The only thing left was a pile of molten metal. Trixie hugged Eli as we all cheered. “This baby really works!” Kord cheered. “Now we got something that outslugs Blakk’s gatler. It’s a total game changer.”

“So your people showed Eli how to use it?” Trixie asked me.

“Nope.” I said. “He did.” I pointed at the Enigmo slug.

It was propped up on Eli’s palm. It stood proudly before tilting over and falling off and face planting. It rolled over unharmed as Burby rolled his eyes. “It will take some practice with the Enigmo to figure out all the different fusion moves these slugs can do.” Eli said, picking the slug up. “And hopefully someday, I’ll be as powerful as the Unbeatable Master.”

We all stared. “Shanai was trained by my people.” I said. “You have a long way to go.” I smiled wryly. “The Clan might teach you should you prove worthy. Maybe make you like me.”

They all laughed and I looked up the watchers hiding from us. They were reporting to Shadow King on our success no doubt.