100 Likes! Thank you guys so much! Ya'll don't know how much it means to me that ya'll love this story! Sorry for the delay, classes have driven me into the ground. Before you all kill me, I can explain! I wanted to release both chapters of my two parter at the same time, but this will have to do. Part 2 should be released on if not before December 31th! Without further ado, please enjoy! And Merry Christmas my friends!

P.S. Sorry if I misspelled Locke's name. I may or may not have spelled it both ways.

"So..what do you guys think happened?"

It was a rather obvious question, though everyone just grunted and shook their heads. Neither the amount of rubble, the random manner in which the trees littered the ground, or even the dismayed slugs who scurried around their disheveled habitat could clue them in as to what happened. The Shane Gang surveyed the turned up soil and scorch marks, which of course suggested that there was a serious amount of slinging involved, but not much else.

"What a mess! It's like they were doing target practice with Grenukers," Trixie said, analyzing the wreckage.

"Doesn't look like there is much here Eli, just a lot of messed up forest."

"I don't think so Kord. Even a couple of numbskulls like Locke and Load don't just go shooting up caverns for the heck of it."

"Really, Eli?" Trixie said, promptly moving closer to where he was looking, "Their like two trigger-happy children.

"They weren't shooting randomly. There was something, or someone, they were after."

"How can you tell?"

"Ahh-ha-ha," Pronto exclaimed, "An astute observation my friend. It is most clear that our large friends were after something...valuable," he murmured, exalting in his fantasy.

Kord examined the tracks carefully, "This doesn't make sense. They go in two different directions."

"We'll cover more ground if we split up," Eli said excitedly, "Trix and Pronto, you guys follow the other path and see where it leads. Kord and I will take this path on the right. We'll signal you with a phosphoro if we find anything."

"Right. Be careful you two." Trixie and Pronto moved on to the other path.

"I don't know Bro," said Kord as they trudged through the defaced undergrowth, "Since when do Lock and Load go shooting up the caverns just for kicks?"

"They don't. Not unless Blakk could have put them up to something and they meant to distract us."

He shrugged, "Hard to say Eli. I'm not an expert tracker, but I think you're right. They were definitely after something and REALLY wanted it."

Eli's face contorted in confusion as he knelt down in the dirt. His fingers stroked the deep footprints which clearly belonged to their suspects. as if it would uncover the answers . It was clear to him that Locke and Load were not tearing up the woods for no reason, but it still puzzled him. What were they after?

He stood up and brushed the dirt off of his hands.

"Come on Kord. Let's keep looking this way."

The cave troll followed suit. They surveyed as much of the wreckage as possible and found nothing.

Eli trudged through the tangled vines and roots that tried repeatedly to grab ahold of his ankles. The trail they walked seemed to go on a ways off. They followed the footprints that unmistakably belonged to the red-haired twins. Still, there was no sign of any other creature or person involved in the skirmish.

The pair finally seemed to come up on a frequently traveled road. Their only visible clue was the series of hoof prints that presumably belonged to some large mecha beasts. They veered on down the road to who-knows where.

"It almost looks like they just gave up and left, or whatever they were looking for took off that way."

Eli groaned in frustration, turning back to his friend and running a hand through his hair.

"There's nothing here. I can't find anything. No other footprints, tracks, or clues."

"I don't know buddy. Maybe we just take this back to the hideout?" he suggested, gesturing back to the hill.

Eli sighed. "Let's retrace our trail and meet back up with Trixie and Pronto. Maybe they found something."

Kord nodded in agreement, and they began their way back up the small hill. They had walked but a distance to a highest point of the slope before the small Infernus leapt from his slinger's shoulder.

"Wha-Burpee?"

The little slug hopped away from the tracks and called out to them with a shrill squeal. He had left the path of destruction that Locke and Load had left and hopped off onto what seemed to be little more than an overgrown animal trail.

"We already checked this side already Burpee. There isn't anything else over here."

Burpee's excited face turned annoyed as he curtly turned his head and hopped away down the overgrown path.

He called after his slug, but got no response. "Kord, I have to go get him. It is tight fit through there. You'd better stay here."

"What are you trying to say Eli?" Kord growled crossing his arms at his teammate.

Eli immediately realized what he had implied and stuttered, to which his friend just chuckled and punched his shoulder. "Go on buddy, you're gonna lose him."

The young teenager smiled as he went after his slug, who had completely disappeared from sight.

Alright Burpee, I'll bite. What did you want to show me? He pushed apart the small dense bamboo-like trees that seemed to engulf him. However, they quickly started to grow wider apart from each other. He noticed a little further in that the limbs of the trees on the overgrown trail had been pulled apart and most of them were snapped, the first clue he had found since they had started. Still, he didn't find any footprints.

He then came up on a brushy area and bluff that surrounded the trail. The hill began to sharply slope downwards. He knelt down looking carefully for anything. Other than some of the dirt around the base of the bluff being recently disturbed, there wasn't much else. Even through the density of the trees, he noticed that he was nearly at the common road again. He saw the flicker of his fiery slug at the bottom of it.

"Burpee, there you are! Stay right there, I am coming down to you."

He took a single step over the bluff, his foot ALMOST catching a large root sticking up out of the ground. Digging his heels into the dirt, he carefully made his way down the hill. The ground along the way down had been disrupted with kicked up dirt and broken branches.

"Okay, so they came this way right before-" he murmured before stooping into the dirt.

His heart began racing and the color drained from his face as he hoped that his eyes were deceiving him! His feet carried him fast down the hill to where his slug was waiting, not caring about the rocks he made fall as he slid down!

His little slug perched on a large rock that jutting up from the ground and his heart immediately sank!

It was smeared with fresh blood.

My eyes felt heavy. The sudden angry throb in my forehead told me that I was no longer asleep. I couldn't help but let out a moan as it suddenly felt as if there was a 100 little men with sledgehammers in my head. I could slightly tilt my head, but my arms and legs wouldn't move an inch. I forcefully tried to open my eyes, which made my head ache even more. What happened to my head? And why did it hurt so much?

I must have hit it against something. I was running from those giant freaks when-

I jumped as I heard Banter's squeal!

Feeling a burst of energy in my arms, I quickly pushed myself up when a pair of hand grabbed my shoulders!

"Hey, hey chill out." A male voice commanded, "Just lay back."

"W-what? Says who?! What's going on?" I tried to sit up, but the hands on my shoulders held me still.

"Geez, knock it off!"

Almost instantly, my hands clasped my head and I doubled over from a hammering pain, "Owwww. What happened to my head?"

"I tried to tell you," the voice replied in a very sarcastic 'I told you so' tone.

Something was wrapped around my head. Guess I did hurt myself.

The voice heaved a heavy sigh, hands coaxing me to lie back down. "Just calm down. You trying to give yourself another headache?"

Their grip loosened. I grabbed the hands before they let go, flinching when I did. I blinked through my blurry vision. Blue eyes looked back at me. Blue eyes, but not Eli's.

Then I remembered! "Where-where are they? Where are my slugs?" I asked, trying to see clearly.

"Don't get your hair in a tangle, they're right here."

Something nudged my cheek, chirping happily! "Banter! Are you okay?" He trilled happily, accompanied by two other voices.

"Widow. Shocker! I am so glad you are all alright."

"Never seen slugs that liked their owner that much. They were really worried about you, 'cause they didn't leave your side for a moment."

My eyes finally cleared. I was lying on a couch under an old blanket in a small round room. The boy before me was blonde. He looked an awful lot like Eli and he looked to be about the same age as him, but his face seemed more tough, like a Greaser. His voice was calm and firm and his eyes were a very deep dark blue. There was something in them that disturbed me.

I didn't show it, of course. He did save me from getting nabbed by those trigger-happy red heads. Maybe it was just the fact that I was alone with a complete stranger after being unconscious in a completely unfamiliar place.

I stared at him querily. "What happened to me?"

"You took a hard hit to the head," the words falling off his tongue easily, "You fainted on the way when I brought you to my place. Do you not remember?"

I instinctively raised a hand to my head, my fingers brushing the fabric of a bandage wrapped around my head.

"I-I was running. I was running away from these guys that were shooting at me. And then-" I looked down at my other hand. I remembered rolling down a hill, I was bleeding. A boy swung me up on his metal horse and took me away.

I looked again at him again to be sure as he attentively looked at me, but I shook my head. "Sorry, I can't remember anything after that. Oh, and...thanks for the save by the way."

When I smiled at him, he stuttered and looked away from me. For a moment, he really did look like Eli and it was almost cute. "Oh, it was nothing. You were hurt...so I helped. Oh yeah, I didn't get your name?"

"My name?"

"Don't tell me you also forgot your name too! This day just gets better and better doesn't it?"

Ugh! If only I was not feeling so dizzy I would have punched him. Was it safe to give my real name to a complete stranger?

"Look, I know that you have no reason to, but you can trust me. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, okay?" I only nodded to him.

"Aphaia. My name is Aphaia."

"Wow, that's a strange name. But it's pretty."

Suddenly Banter, flew away from the other slugs and flapped angrily as the boy's face. "Woah, chill out little guy! I am not going to hurt her."

Banter looked to me expectantly. "Banter, let me talk with him. Go play with your new friends. Seemingly a little put out and shooting one more glare at the boy, Banter reluctantly joined the other slugs.

"You name your slugs?"

"Of course, they are my friends. Don't you name yours?"

"Sure, but not everybody does. The people that truly care about their slugs name them."

"Huh. Well, what is your slug's name?

"He's my number one. He's name is-."

Suddenly, the ground shook. Knick knacks on the shelves around the room were knocked onto the ground with a series of thuds. The slugs fled from their play area and to the two of us, squealing in terror. Banter flew around the surrounding windows in a panic!

"Looks like we have trouble!" The boy shouted.

"What?"

"Keep your head down!" he ordered. I obeyed as I moved from my spot on the couch, crawling along the floor. Another bang shook the walls side to side, I almost lost my balance, "We have company."

"Are there people after us?!"

"Yup," the boy said as he crouched beside me, a gun very much like Lock and Load's raised in his hands like a gun slinger.

"But why?"

He looked at me seriously. "My guess? Lock and Load snitched on you."

"The twins? They're after us?"

"No, but they have friends in high places who are. We have to go!"

There were several windows in the room, but only one door. "Go? Go where? There's only one way out!"

"Then we'll just have to make one!" He said proudly as he slid a capsule into the gun, WITH A SLUG IN IT! What is he thinking?!

He aimed his gun at the window. A slug flew out of it, busting the window open!

You shoot them?! This place does NOT skip out on the number of surprises!

"Unless you want to be indefinitely behind bars, take this and go!" The boy screamed as he ran to the door, tossing a gun to me!

"I don't know how to use one of these! I've never shot one before!"

The banging continued! The boy was shoving the door as hard as he could, which already looked as if it would come off of the hinges at any moment! "Load Banter into the blaster and jump!"

"Are you nuts?!"

"Just trust me!"

I didn't even need to load him as my blue slug hopped inside of the blaster. "Banter are you sure about this?" he nodded and growled! "Here goes nothing."

The kick shoved me backwards, but I didn't fall. Banter shot like an arrow out of the building. In a bright blur of light, he grew several times larger! He screeched loudly as he circled back towards me! Just like when I fell down the hole.

I looked back at the boy, still holding door closed! "What about you!?"

"GO! Now!"

I ran to the window! Guys in black suits burst into the house! I stepped off of the edge and onto Banter's back!

I saw the boy who saved me wrestling with two masked men holding him. He just watched as we flew away from the town and to the surrounding forest.

He's the one that picked me after I fell? If he was, then why does he seem so unfamiliar? He was a complete stranger, but I should remember what his face looked like, right? I didn't even get his name.

"Let's get out of here Banter. Maybe we can-" Something right wizzed past us fast! I felt a hard tug on my hair and loud SNAP against my scalp as it barely missed me! Banter twisted hard to avoid it! I slipped off! We were plummeting to the ground! Wind whipped my hair as we fell and Banter, shrunk down to his original size, dizzily flapped his way towards me.

"We're about to drop to our deaths Banter! What do we do?!"

My little spider slug squealed and slid herself into the blaster! I nodded that I understood her.

"Make me proud, Widow! Let's see what you can do!"

I pulled the trigger. Widow bolted straight towards the ground and transformed into a spider! She spun so fast and the wind billowing in my face prevented me from even seeing what she was doing! The earth was coming too close for comfort! I covered my eyes! ELI!