"Shoot!" Alana snapped, running a hand through her bangs.

They'd made it back to the camp only to find the remnants of Ali's goo attack. Lime green slime sat in puddles and dripped off mushroom-trees. The grass was torn up where Alana had dueled the workers, but that was the only sign of them.

They were gone.

With Mage.

Alana sighed and pulled up Midnight's holo-screen. "Okay, Midnight, let's track down those slingers. If they get to the Citadel with Mage... I'm not sure we'll be able to get her out," Alana said, her voice trailing off. She shook her head and cleared her throat. "So we're not gonna let that happen! Let's go!"

Alana hit the gas on Midnight and the Mecha shot forward, speeding through the woods once more. Alana's back was starting to ache- days and days of Mecha travel weren't ideal. Not to mention her stomach was starting to rumble.

Quit it, she reminded herself. Stay positive. Mage will be fine.

She pressed a yellow button on Midnight's control panel and leaned back as Midnight took control, looking around at visible tracks like broken sticks and trampled bushes and invisible tracks like lingering scents of Mecha oil and heat signatures. She slowed for a moment, scanning the forest around her, then took off toward the right to follow after one of the workers.

Ash squeaked worriedly from Alana's shoulder. He was Alana's oldest slug, quickly followed by Mage. The two had spent years together, and Alana realized that she wasn't the only one distraught with the loss of her Boon Doc.

"Mage is gonna be fine, Ash," Alana assured. "I promise. We'll catch up to them soon, and believe me, when we reach those guys, they'll regret taking her. If they thought the duel in the clearing was bad, they have no idea what's coming now."

The Infurnus nodded, but didn't smile. He didn't always have his slinger's ever-positive outlook on situations, but it was impossible to find no comfort in Alana's words. Ever since Will Shane had disappeared years ago, Alana had worked hard to keep both herself and her team upbeat.

And, sure enough, Alana could begin to hear the hoofbeats of other Mechas quickly approaching.

"I think we're closing in. Everyone get ready for a heck of a fight. The second I see those guys, we're going all out," Alana said with a smirk. "No holding back."

Ash nodded and hopped in Alana's blaster. Alana urged Midnight onward and the Mecha gave one more burst of speed before the three workers could be seen through the dense vegetation. She quickly grabbed a strap on her right side and pulled it over, clicking it on her left.

When you had ridden Mechas as long as Alana had, the safety belt quickly became obsolete. But during an on-Mecha duel, Alana had quickly learned that it was a better alternative than getting knocked off a high-speed vehicle.

"Let's do this," Alana said, raising her blaster and firing Ash.

The Infurnus transformed and sped ahead of his slinger, flames trailing out from behind him. The workers all turned around, and Alana savored the look of shock on their faces as Ash flew above and in front of them. He ducked down to the ground and flew in a circle around the three Mechas, trapping them in a ring of fire.

"Come on!" one of the slingers yelled as Alana approached. Two of them fired Rammstones at Alana, who fired her Armashelt to knock one of them out of the air and swerved Midnight to the left to avoid the other, slamming on the brakes to avoid a mushroom-tree.

After resteadying herself, Alana turned her attention back to the fire and scowled as she saw one of the workers' Aquabeeks finishing up dousing out the flames. The three immediately took off in opposite directions. Without hesitating, Alana followed after the one going to the right.

"Midnight, lock onto the others' signals! We're gonna take them out one by one till we find Mage!" she called.

Alana took a deep breath and loaded her Negashade, Eclipse, into her blaster. A Vinedrill from the worker in front of her dug itself into the ground in front of her Mecha. Vines sprouted from the ground, weaving across the forest floor. Midnight growled and leapt over the vines, pushing off the side of a mushroom-tree and continuing her chase.

Smirking at her Mecha's moves, Alana fired Eclipse. The black slug sped forward and knocked herself into the worker's Mecha, emitting black gas and causing the Mecha to veer into a mushroom-tree with a loud CRASH!

The heavy smoke lowered and covered the ground as Alana caught up to the crash and leapt off Midnight.

"Mage! Are you here?" she called, looking around and receiving no response. Alana frowned as she picked her way through the Mecha wreckage. Bolts and screws littered the ground, and the Mecha itself was smoking. The worker lay on the ground to the side of the vehicle, groaning.

Alana yanked the groaning worker up by his collar, avoiding some of the goo that still remained on his outfit after Ali's attack. The man winced as it moved and sent more jolts of electricity.

"Where is she?!" Alana demanded.

"I-I dunno! I swear! I don't know which one took the Boon Doc, I was the one who tackled you down... and then I handed her off to one of the other guys!" the worker assured. "I handed her off when we saw you! But then we took off so fast!"

Alana rolled her eyes and let go of the worker, letting him fall to the ground. She straightened up her bandoleer and jumped back up on Midnight.

"Let's go find the next one!"

Before Alana had finished her sentence, Midnight took off once more. Alana let the Mecha go on autopilot as she followed the SPS signal coming from the next Mecha. The Slugterran Positioning System was great way to get around, but it was a great way to get followed, too.

Alana sighed and stretched out, cracking her back in attempt to take advantage of her few moments of peace before reaching the next slinger.

"Okay, we have to assume that Mage is with the last worker. So we're going to go as fast as we can to get this next guy, take him out quickly, and then go for number three. And here we are," she finished as Midnight crashed through a line of bushes and took off down a path, following just behind the next worker.

Alana announced her presence by firing a Rammstone that slammed into the rear end of the worker's Mecha, damaging the back legs and slowing down the vehicle.

"You're awfully persistent, aren't you?" the worker yelled, firing an Arachnet at Midnight as Alana got only a few feet away from the slinger. The Arachnet spat out webs that stuck Midnight's legs together, forcing Alana to stop.

Ash jumped down to the webs and began burning them away as Alana leapt from Midnight to the worker's moving Mecha. For a moment, time seemed to slow down as she hung in midair. For a heartstopping second, she feared she would miss the Mecha. But she stuck the landing and immediately began looking for her slug.

"Mage?" Alana called out desperately as she grabbed onto the worker's shoulders to keep from falling off. The worker scowled and began twisting around, trying to throw Alana off.

"Get off of me!" he yelled, grabbing Alana's left arm and yanking her down. Alana cried out as the Jellyish goo that remained stuck on her arm stung her. The worker had barely any left on him- he must have had his Aquabeek hose him down. But doing so had cost him time that had allowed Alana to catch up quickly.

As the worker's Mecha leapt over a fallen mushroom-tree, Alana lost her balance and nearly fell off. At the last second, she grabbed onto the edge of the Mecha's seat. Swinging herself up, Alana slammed both of her feet into the worker's side. He flew off the Mecha, rolling through the grass and bushes.

Alana slowed the Mecha to a stop and jumped off, running back toward the worker, who was moaning on the ground.

"Mage?" Alana tried as she approached the worker. But she was only met with a scowl and a Tazerling shot.

Yelping and dropping to the ground to avoid the bolt of electricity the blue slug fired, Alana kicked the blaster out of the worker's hands.

"That's enough," Alana scowled, brushing strands of blue hair from her face as she stood up. "You don't have her."

She sighed and let out a high-pitched whistle to call Midnight to her location. As she straightened out and picked some grass off of her blue shirt and dark gray pants, the worker sighed and rolled onto his back, pulling off his red glasses and glaring at Alana.

"You won't accomplish anything," the worker said, panting. "You've already sealed your fate by letting out the whole shipment. A powerful slug like that might have made Doctor Blakk a little less furious, but... now you and the Shane will be on his watchlist."

Every muscle in Alana's body tensed at once.

Shane.

She slowly turned to face the worker, crouching down so she was nearly eye level with him.

"What did you say? The Shane?" she asked, millions of thoughts beginning to run in her head.

"Uh... yeah...?" the worker said, confused. "The Shane kid."

"The Shane?" Alana asked quickly as she heard Midnight's footsteps grow near. "He's here? In Slugterra?"

Midnight burst through the jungle's underbrush as the worker nodded.

"H-he was in the slugslinging tournament, got beat yesterday by John Bull," the worker said as Alana jumped on her Mecha. She didn't respond- she just hit the gas and tried to focus on taking down the final worker, who must have Mage.

As her Mecha took off for the third time in pursuit of Blakk's final worker, Alana looked down at Ash, who sat on the head of the black and cyan Mecha.

"That worker said something about the Shane," she said. "I got so focused on trying to find the slug hunters that I, uh, kind of forgot about Eli."

Ash simply shrugged, gestured toward Midnight's control panel, and turned around to watch where they were riding. Focus on what we're doing now. Not anything with that last name.

Alana had needed Ash to help keep her on track many times in the last few years, but recently, she hadn't needed the Infurnus's laser-sharp focus.

"Yeah, you're right. Focus," Alana said, looking straight in front of her. "But he'll be coming to the hideout... aw man, it's a total mess-"

Ash sighed and looked up at Alana, unamused with his slinger's distraction.

"Sorry. We'll worry about Eli later," Alana promised, pushing thoughts of the new Shane from her mind. "Everyone get ready. When the last worker comes into sight, we're going rapid-fire," she told her slugs. She was met with confident nods and squeaks.

After a few minutes of tense, silent riding, Alana could pick up a second set of hoofbeats in the jungle. She tensed up, grabbing her blaster and loading it with her Rammstone.

"Three, two... one," Alana mumbled, and just in time, she caught sight of the worker's horse Mecha. They weren't the most durable, but they made up for it with their speed and maneuverability.

Alana fired her Rammstone. The slug flew ahead and lunged for the worker's Mecha, but the worker switched directions at the last second, swerving to the left. The Rammstone barely nicked the side of the Mecha and crashed into the ground.

He turned and fired a Phosphoro. Alana gasped and ducked, curling up in a ball and screwing her eyes shut. There was a bright flash, then Alana dropped her arms and fired an Armashelt, blinking spots from her vision.

The Armashelt crashed into the ground just behind the worker's Mecha, causing an explosion that sent it to the ground. Alana was able to gain some ground before the horse leapt to its feet and continued to flee, now running significantly slower. Sparks flew from a few of the Mecha's joints.

"We're gonna focus on more shots to the Mecha. Once we take out its speed, we've got him," Alana said, firing a Frostcrawler, then a Tazerling.

The worker fired a Hop Rock that knocked the Frostcrawler out of the air, but allowed the Tazerling to latch onto the Mecha. It sent out waves of electricity, and the Mecha began to slow.

Growling, the worker fired an Arachnet that threw the Tazerling to the ground and trapped the blue slug in a web net. But the damage was done- the horse was barely moving at a trot. Smirking, Alana loaded Ash into her blaster and fired her top slug.

The orange and yellow Infurnus transformed and flew in circles around the worker, forcing him to a halt. After four rounds around the worker's Mecha, Ash's flames towered nearly fifteen feet in the air. Alana could already feel the heat radiating off of the flames as she approached.

Ash flew through one part of the fire, spinning around and stopping the flames to create an opening just big enough for Alana to leap through on Midnight, then he returned to protoform and landed on his slinger's right shoulder.

The worker seemed to think about reaching for his blaster as he slid off his Mecha, but stopped when he saw the Grenuke in Alana's blaster.

"This has been fun," Alana said truthfully as she slid off Midnight and began walking toward the worker, keeping the Grenuke, Gav, aimed right for his chest. "But you have something that belongs to me."

The worker sighed and reached behind him, unclipping a red slug canister from his belt. It wasn't like the blue ones Alana usually saw slingers use, with an open top for the slugs to enter and exit as they pleased. Instead, this one had a lid that kept the small white Boon Doc in it contained. Mage stared up at the worker nervously, but relaxed when she saw Alana.

"Fine. If you want her... then come take her," the worker said with a sideways grin. Just as he raised his own blaster and fired, Alana squeezed the trigger on her weapon and fired the Grenuke.

Careful not to get too close and injure Mage, Gav landed on the ground a few feet in front of the worker. Alana crouched down and steadied herself as the slug released an explosion. The shockwave nearly knocked Alana back even after she had prepared for it, so she was confident that the slug the worker fired would lose speed and remain in protoform.

And she was right.

Almost.

The worker had been knocked to the ground, dangerously close to the flames.

But instead of returning to protoform, a slug emerged from the smoke of Gav's explosion. Moving faster than Alana had seen any normal slug move before, it looked like a Thresher. But instead of the usual white and varying degrees of teal, Alana could only see flashes of teal, purple, and pale green, all spinning and approaching her at high speeds.

She tried to reload her blaster in time, but was too slow as the strange slug's blades came into contact with her side.

Pain and ice immediately erupted. Alana's entire right side felt like it was both on fire and covered in snow. The pain stayed at the wound, but Alana gasped and fell to the ground as the icy feeling spread throughout her entire body.

She dug her nails so far into the palms of her hands, she was certain she'd be bleeding if not for her gloves.

Blinking through tears, she saw the strange slug on the ground in front of her, staring at her with red eyes and growling. Ash leapt off Alana's shoulder and burped out a burst of flames, driving the slug away. Instead of returning to its owner, it hopped through the opening in the ring of fire and escaped into the jungle.

The worker was recovering from Gav's blast. He was slowly getting up, coughing and brushing dust off his uniform. Shaking violently with tears streaming down her face, Alana turned to face her Mecha.

"Midnight, get Mage," Alana gasped, rolling onto her back and pressing her hands to the wound to try and stop the bleeding. She didn't dare look down, but she could feel her gloved hands slipping in blood. In the corner of her eye, she could see a bit of the grass around her stained red.

Midnight roared and charged at the worker, biting his shoulder, raising him, and then throwing him to the ground. The red canister that held Mage tumbled from his belt, and Midnight quickly picked it up in her mouth and ran back over to her rider.

"Midnight, Protocol Delta," Alana coughed, giving Midnight the signal for medical emergency. The black and cyan wolf ran up to her rider and leaned down. Trembling, Alana lifted her hands from her wound and grabbed onto her Mecha's handlebars. Her legs felt like rubber as she swung them up onto Midnight's saddle. Once she was secured, Midnight took off, leaving through the opening in the flames that Alana had entered through.

Alana leaned back in her seat, blinking tears from her eyes as she took a glance down at her side. She was met with a mess of torn cloth and red.

"Go... to the hideout, Midnight," Alana croaked, closing her eyes. "Webs, I... I need your help. My hands are shaking too much for bandages."

Her Arachnet jumped from her backpack, and Alana lifted her hands from her side. She winced as she felt the purple slug spit out a thick layer of webs that would act as bandages until she got back to the hideout. The cold feeling had faded as soon as Alana had left the strange slug behind, but the pain it had inflicted still remained.

"Thank you," she whispered, resting her hands back on her side. She felt a small nudge at her gloves and opened one eye. Mage had been released from her strange container, and was now sitting at the edge of the Arachnet webs.

Mage closed her blue eye and began to glow. Alana sighed as the slug's healing powers went to work, warmth spreading throughout the wound. The pain still stung, but Mage was able to dull it. Her hands still shaking, Alana reached up and rested her hand against her healer, who nuzzled up against her touch.

With a deep breath, Alana sighed and closed her eyes.

~~~~~~~~

Ayyy next chapter. This one's a little longer than the first one!

I'm really tired so blah blah vote blah blah comment aaaaand yeah

Cyan out!