A knock echoed through the lightly dimmed room as the doorknob turned. I looked up from my knees, and there stood the gang at the door.

No.

There stood Mia, Trixie, Twist, Dana, Kord, and Pronto.

Without Eli, the gang was not complete.

We stared at each other, tears still pouring down our red, puffy eyes. With all the energy left in my weakened soul, I struggled to pull myself up to my feet.

I ran to them and we went in for a group hug, wept.

Things will never be the same again without Eli, and that's just so heartbreaking.

We stayed still in the must needed embrace, crying for the lost of one of the greatest heroes in Slugterran history. It was certainly the saddest day in the Shane hideout.

After what felt like an eternity, Trixie was the first one to pull back from the hug. She forced herself to hold back her tears and looked at us with sorrowful eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I have bad news," she gulped. "Terrible news."

The rest of us pulled away as Trixie pulled out her hologram. It flashed at the press of a button, before a picture of Doctor Blakk showed up, with a play button in the middle. With shaky hands, Trixie tapped onto the triangular button and what was played next traumatised me.

"Greetings, citizens of Slugterra. I know it has been a long time since you last saw me, but I have finally returned, and have humbly brought my gifts to present them to you."

Doctor Blakk gave the introduction and it seemed like the video was taken in the base of the Darkbanes in the Deep Caverns. The camera then shifted towards his left, showing The Goon on Will Shane's shoulder, The Emperor from the Eastern Caverns and Brimstone.

"These people, they are my allies," Doctor Blakk announced with pride, before he glared at the camera.

"I'm giving you three weeks to live before the Darkbanes will rise from the Deep Caverns and conquer Slugterra, with the help of thousands of powerful stone warriors," he drawled, and let out an ear-piercing evil laugh.

"And to the Shane Gang, don't even think about defeating me. I have hundreds of Terraportals set up across the caverns in places where no human can reach. I have already won the war, Alessia. I won, you lost," he drawled, before he turned his back to the camera and walked away.

"Oh, by the way," he paused in his tracks and turned around to face the camera. "Forgive me for forgetting to address the elephant in the room. Eli Shane, the protector of the 99 caverns, is dead. My advice for you? Cherish your last three weeks in Slugterra before I destroy your worthless lives in front of your very own eyes."

And with that, the video ended abruptly. The hologram returned to its transparent screen as the six slingers stood there in shock.

"The video was broadcasted to every electronic devices just minutes ago," Trixie said, letting out a tremble sigh and crossed her arms uncomfortably.

"Eli's death was hard enough already, now this?" Mia questioned with new tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"So this was all a set up? From kidnapping you and feeding you false information that eventually leads to his death?" Twist said in anger.

We exchanged glances; even Pronto did not say a word. My gaze fell onto the ground, my worn out mind trying to process the situation.

Am I dreaming?

Did all this really happened?

From Eli dying to Doctor Blakk declaring war?

"So... what now?" Pronto asked hopelessly. I slowly lifted my head, just to realise that their eyes were on me.

Without Eli, I had to lead the group.

Slugterra's fate was in my hands.

I took in a shaky breath and gathered all the courage I have left in me to look them straight in the eye.

"Before he fell, his last wish was for me to be the next protector, for us to protect Slugterra," I managed to speak without halting. "And that's exactly what we are going to do. He sacrificed his life and in return, we have three more weeks to prepare for the war. Please, don't give up now."

"We ain't quitting, Ales," Kord spoke up as he stepped forward. "We ain't going anywhere, but... how are we supposed to save Slugterra? The five of us plus Twist and Dana are nothing against thousands of stone warriors and Darkbanes!"

"And we probably should do something about the people. Everyone must be freaking out right now," Dana pointed out with her hands crossed at her chest.

Burpy and Phoenix chirped sadly from my shoulders as I let out a deep sigh.

"Declare emergency lockdown. I want everyone in the underground hideouts by tonight," I ordered. They stared at me for a second, before nodding.

...
The familiar gigantic doors let out a loud thump, before they started to creak open. The rest of the Shane Gang, alongside Twist and Dana, were on our mechabeasts, blaster holstered. We remained still in front of the gigantic moving doors.

Twist gasped when he saw the worn out doors moved. He was one of Tad's goons, hence he had no idea that the underground hideouts exist.

The hall at the other side came to sight as the doors departed sideways. Ten guards approached us with proudful smiles, but when they saw Twist among us, they planted their legs to the ground and raised their blasters at us.

"Alessia, he shouldn't be here," the guard that was the closest to us, assumingly their leader, stated, pointing his blaster at Twist.

"I know, I know," I repeated myself in a rather relaxed tone and raised up my hand to not implant anymore fear in those poor guards. They were trying to be strong to defend the innocent citizens in the other halls, but to fight against the Shane Gang and one of Tad's top slingers was simply a suicidal mission. The way their bodies trembled like jellies clearly demonstrated how terrified they were.

The rest of the gang raised up their hands after me.

"Don't worry. Twist is with us," I said. Their leader looked at Twist, then his gaze fell back on me.

"Alessia, are you sure about that? We are not risking everyone's life to have a spy lingering among us," the leader said, and powered up his blaster.

"Please don't do this-"

"You can take my blaster and my slugs."

I turned to look at Twist. He frowned as he threw his blaster on the floor.

"Guard me for twenty-four hours a day. Lock me up. Literally. Do whatever you want to me to ensure that I will not try anything stupid. I'm here to help. I swear."

I looked back at their leader and nodded confidently.

"Trust him. Trust me. He was the one who saved me from the Goon."

The leader narrowed his eyes, before he slowly lowered his blaster, and his guards did the same. We were eventually welcomed into the hideout, with the towering doors closing behind us. We dismounted from our mechabeasts and I shook the leader's hand.

"Millard Milford," he said and shot me a gentle smile. "No need to introduce yourself. It is a great honour to be able to work with you."

I smiled as I pulled my hand back from the handshake.

"So it is true?" he asked, his smile faded instantly.

"Is what true? The war?" I asked.

"What Doctor Blakk said about Eli Shane."

I paused, and broke eye-contact with him. Tears threatened to fall, and they did, no matter how hard I tried to stop them. I heard a few sniffs coming from the rest behind me, with Pronto being the loudest.

"I'm sorry," Millard said as he hung his head, with the rest of the guards started gossiping to each other about the confirmation of the unbelievable news.

"Don't be," I said, wiped away the tears. "It's not your fault."

I looked around the giant hall. It was almost identical to the underground hideout I was in during our mission at Blade City a few days ago. Four towering white walls with a pair of gigantic metal doors: the one we walked through to get into here. There were four surveillance cameras located at each corner of the ceiling. The only thing different about this room was that it was empty. Totally empty.

One of the guards kneeled down and laid out a huge layout of the underground hideouts on the floor. We kneeled down around it.

"This is where we are," Millard said as he pointed at the centre box. "People are still coming down from each cavern, and we are planning to put everyone in their own cavern's hideout for now. We've instructed them to only bring necessary items as your team had instructed."

"But some caverns are more habited than the others," I pointed out immediately. "Caverns like ours, Wild Spores Cavern, only have six people living in it... well now five. We need to sort out the people and assign them to live in vacant hideouts so that it wouldn't be too crowded in caverns like Antimony Cavern's hideout."

Millard looked impressed, before he ordered one of the guards to carry out the order.

"I underestimated you," Millard said with a prideful smile. "You may be only seventeen, but I believe that you are capable of leading the people."

The rest of the gang smiled at me at that comment. I blushed and waved it off.

"In times like this, I don't really have much of a choice, do I? Besides, I have you guys with me in this," I smiled at them. "What else is there to know about these hideout? How's the communication system like down here?"

"Follow me," Millard and his guards led us to the door on our left. It was a human-sized door but it looked heavier than your typical door. There was a keypad attached to the door, and Millard entered a code for the door to open. It led to a private room. It looked like a standard living room, instead of the usual football-field-sized halls.

The walls of the room was black, with a huge discussion rectangular table in the centre of the room, and multiple screens further into the room, displaying the live camera footage of each cavern's hideout. We could see people entering from here.

"Eli intended here to be where the leaders hold their meetings and supervise the hideouts," Millard introduced. He then pointed at another door at the left wall.

"This door leads to the bedrooms and a gym downstairs. We managed to fit eleven private rooms in here, he informed.

I nodded, and it went into complete silence.

I suddenly realised how quiet the rest of the gang was.

No one was in the mood to talk without our leader with us.

Millard walked us towards the screens, and on the table were six walkie-talkies.

"These were for the Shane Gang," he said.

"Alright," I nodded, before I passed it around. "Here's an extra one," Millard said and handed me another walkie-talkie, so that all of us, including Twist and Dana, each had one.

"Sir!"

Our walkie-talkies sounded in unison, taking everyone by surprise. The tone of the voice sounded urgent. Millard pressed onto one of the buttons and spoke into it.

"What is it?"

"We have intruders at the east entrance!"

"Are they Blakk's?"

"No sir! They are not wearing Blakk's uniforms and are not using ghouls, but they are certainly not from the caverns! Oh my slugs they are attacking us!"

"Take them down then!"

"We are trying sir! They have powerful slugs!"

An explosion sounded at the background, quickly followed by the cries of the citizens. I glanced worriedly at the screens. The one to the very right showed the citizens panicking in the easternmost hideout. The mighty door trembled as a slug hit it. The cameras couldn't film what was on the other side of the door so we had no clue who those intruders are.

"We need to help them!" Trixie exclaimed as she pulled out her blaster.

"Yes, we need to go!" I agreed.

I imitated Millard and pressed on the button on the walkie-talkie.

"Hold on. We're coming."

We exited the room and mounted our mechabeasts. Millard then led us to the right door, which opened up to a long hallway, with numerous doors on either sides of the path.

"It's that hideout! The one at the very end!" Millard said as he pointed at the door furthest away from us. We powered up our engines and sprinted towards it. Dalinda stretched her wings and was soaring in no time, earning a few gasps from the guards.

It took us a whole minute to get there, but in situations like this, a minute can change everything.

The door creaked open even before we reached it, and we dashed through it and came to a quick halt. I dismounted Dalinda as the crowd screamed our names with hope shining in their eyes.

"Get the crowd out of here!" I ordered and the guards that were following us immediately attend to their orders, but there were too many people to handle.

"Mia and I will fight. The rest assist the guards to escort the crowd out!" I yelled, my eyes getting watery. "No one else is dying today."

Pronto raised a finger to voice out his opinion, but before he could do so he was dragged away by Kord.

The crowd was moving, but they were still too slow. A lot of the more foolish ones even wanted to stay longer to see the fight.

"Open the doors," I said, and that finally made the crowd ran for their lives out of the room. The east towering doors creaked open and the exit where the crowd left from was sealed up. I loaded up Phoenix and Hero, detached my blasters and aimed it at the entrance. At the corner of my eyes I saw Mia loaded up her Blastipete, one of her top slugs, and prepared to sling.

The door was fully opened and the detonation immediately died down. Smoke conquered the entrance, making it hard to make out our enemy. Ten guards that were fighting the intruders emerged out of the smoke and ran into the room, to us, with cuts all over their bodies. They went behind Mia and I, taking their stances and their blasters raised up high.

The smoke diminished. Two slingers walked out of the shadows, before five more appeared behind them. They were all wearing a mask to cover their identity.

"Who are you?" I yelled, allowing my voice to echo in the big empty room. The smoke completely cleared up and I could see clearly who they were.

The two that stood forward were a man and an old woman. The man looked around my age, slightly older than me, with a wrist blaster loaded and aimed at us. The woman had a staff blaster, similar to mine. She detached them and was powering them up.

Inside her blasters were a White Boon Doc and a Negashade.

"A fusion shot," I said astonished while the guards behind us wet their pants. The seven intruders fired their blasters without saying a single word, and we fought back. I fired Phoenix and Hero simultaneously, and the group of slugs megamorphed.

With Mia's and the guard's slugs surrounding Phoenix and Hero, my slugs spun together, creating a fusion shot. They transformed into a fused monster and let out a pillar of fire, sending it to our enemies.

The White Boon Doc and Negashade performed a fusion shot, and shot out a ray of slug energy at Phoenix and Hero.

Her fusion shot was powerful, but it was no match against a fusion shot with one of the Elementals. The pillar of fire absorbed the slug energy and grew even stronger. It was so powerful that it was getting out of control.

"Alessia!" Mia screamed as I holstered my blasters and tried to control the fire with Slugfu. There was a sharping pain in my head for focusing too hard after my head injury, but if I don't do anything about this, everyone in this room will die.

Phoenix and Hero got the message and went to guide the fire. We watched as the fire ran through the opponent's soaring megamorphs, forcing them to return to photoform, before the pillar of fire was too weak and it died down.

The slugs from Mia and the guards were still soaring towards our enemy and they had little to no time to react. The guards cheered and I smiled victoriously.

We thought we got them, until the man fired his wrist blaster.

A megamorphed Infurnus transformed in midair, and successfully fought off our slugs one by one.

I was truly amazed.

That Infurnus is easily the most powerful slug I have ever came across other than the Elementals.

"Hold your fire!" the old woman yelled, and everyone froze. "Who are you? How is it possible that you have mastered Slugfu?"

I raised an eyebrow as I lowered my blaster. The seven intruders then walked further into the room, shortening the distance between us. They stopped when they were around fifteen feet away from us. The man and woman walked forward.

They looked at me sternly, but they were calm and collective. The Infurnus went back to the man and perched on his shoulder.

I inhaled sharply. That reminded me of Eli whenever Burpy perched on his shoulder, but this was definitely not the time to breakdown.

"You mastered Slugfu, owns a staff blaster and an Infurnus," the woman said. "Who are you?"

"I think that's what we should be asking you instead," I said sternly. "You step into our base and fought our guards. I should be the one asking who you are and what intentions you have."

The man pulled out a hand between the woman and I, before he stepped in between us.

"We bring no harm," he said. His voice was smooth and... kinda hot not gonna lie.

"Yeah, says the leader of seven masked slingers," Mia pointed out. He sighed, before he removed his mask. His companions wanted to stop him, but before they could he had completely removed it.

Who knew under the mask was another handsome guy?

Stop Alessia. You're taken.

Am I now?

"Sorry for barging in. This is my master, Master Lian, and these are my companions: Hamengku, the Outlaws, Swick, Drusilla and Old Man," the man introduced his gang to us, referring to them when he called their names.

"And I'm Junjie. We are from the Eastern Caverns. We have travelled long distances to get here because we have urgent matters to settle with the Shane Gang," he continued, and my jaw dropped to the ground.

"Junjie?" I exclaimed.

"No way," Mia mumbled with a hand over her mouth.

The door that the crowd walked out of burst opened and the rest of the leaders ran into the room. A few gasps were heard when the original members of the Shane Gang saw our unexpected guest without his mask.

"Junjie!?" Trixie, Kord and Pronto screamed at the top of their lungs.

"Drusilla?" Kord called with hearts in his eyes when he noticed the cave troll.

Junjie smiled when he finally saw familiar faces. "It truly has been a long time. Where is Eli? I have extremely urgent matters to discuss with him."

...
Tad's pov
The door slammed open and I barged into the room. Doctor Blakk, the Goon and the Emperor looked up from a map and stared at me expressionlessly.

"Dad! What in Slugterra was that about? To conquer Slugterra with ghouls? You're bringing war to our home!" I yelled at him angrily, with tears forming at the corners of my eyes. "Our goal was always to take down the Shane Gang and conquer Slugterra economically, not destroying this place with Dark Water!"

"Things have changed," my father growled, turning his back against me.

"No. You've changed," I said with tears raining down my cheeks uncontrollably. "Please dad, don't do this. This will only make everyone suffer. There is no need for war-"

"Will you shut it?" the Goon that was using Will's body spoke up, before the Emperor raised his blaster at me with a ghoul loaded. "Get out of here if you have a problem with us. Join the weaklings, as that is what you are!"

The Emperor powered up his blaster at me, but I didn't care. I looked at my dad, at his back. My heart slowly breaking into pieces.

"Dad?"

I hated it. I sounded weak, but what hurts even more was that, my biological father, did nothing to protect me when a blaster is pointed at me.

Defeated, I ran out of the room, not knowing what to do.

...
Okay please hear me out-

As the only person on this planet who knew about Eli's death even before the first chapter of this book was published, it was still surprisingly hard for me to publish chapters 40 and 41. The day before I published them I was thinking so long about this, knowing that I have one day to change his fate, but I knew it must be done. It was hard for me to let go of Eli too :(

I guess I got too attached to Eli and Alessia throughout the entire process, and when I finally reached these chapters, it kinda broke me.

But hey, it is not the end of the story yet so :P

On another note, did you... you know, cry?

Or should Alessia be next? 😈