Slugterra fanfic
Ch 39: No Going Back

Ksssssshhhhhh-ZZZT
"Ow!" Kaiya yelped as condensed slug-energy zapped her fingers. She pulled them back quickly and sucked her finger. The sting was a small price to pay for Jets survival.
She had shocked herself as she rushed to close the wiring in the leg. She had connected the disk and armoured the leg, weakly, and she had tested the the power exchange.
It had worked. Those pesky slugs had been correct, yet there was little time for celebrating. Once the idea had proven useful, she instantly set to building and constructing the system in record time, with the likely prospect of a blackout breathing down her neck.
Now, the leg was finished. She tucked the last wire away and slowly lifted it up, placing it over the metal stump where the leg connected to the body.
She slowly eased it down, waiting for the telltale click before drilling in the last spinal screw in the nerve armour along the dogs' spine.
She had hated the idea of adding more robotic parts to Jet but she had no choice. the spinal armour would allow Jet better control over the stronger and more powerful leg and eye she was attaching.
There was a slight hiss as she completed drilling the specially designed screw directly into the canines spinal cord, and the lights on the leg flickered on, a first a pale blue but then faded into a dark red.
Fear bubbled in Kaiyas throat as she waited for the light to flicker blue. This was Jets only hope.
So she stood silently and watched.

Eli was rushing as fast as he could with the old man, who needed constant rests to catch his fading breath, but eventually they made it to the large hangar bay.
Explosions and shrieks were heard from behind the metal folding door but other than that, the hangar was empty.
Dim red lighting illuminated huge cargo crates, used to transport big machinery parts, that were stacked everywhere.
The room seemed small, the dull lighting expanding shadows that threatened to conceal an enemy.
Eli pulled out his blaster and loaded Burpy.
He could risk a Phosophoro slug to get a better view of his surroundings but he decided against it. He didn't know what surprises Blakk had or what enemies were lurking around the corners.
"Rest here." He ordered the old man, pointing at a small pile of metal crates, "I'm going to look for a mecha."

Kaiya was working frantically. She had a timeframe of twenty minutes after Jets body had accepted the leg. She had already planned out the design of the robotic eye but the connection had to be improvised along the way as she hadn't had an exact plan of how it would happen.
So here she was, drilling more metal plates along the fragile bones of her pets neck but it was all she could think of.
Slowly, bit by bit, the plates slipped up the back of the neck with blue light until she had reached the base of the skull.
'Now comes the hard part' She thought as she picked up the side mask before slowly placing it down on the metal base of Jet's face.

Mo was terrified. And his infectious fear had gotten Rookie all jumpy too. the Enigmo could sense something was out there, something wrong.
He trembled in Elis backpack as he glanced out the window at the retreating figure of the old human they had helped. he was leaning against the crates trying to get his breath back.
Years in Blakks prison with constant ghoul energy exposure had wrecked his lungs.
Mo could still feel it eating away at his immunity too.
Rookie was putting on a brave face as he stood next to Mo, trying to avoid looking out the window as Spinner eyed them strangely.
Mo glanced behind him at Spinner but as he turned back a blur caught his eye and he pressed his face against the window, searching for the cause.
Behind him, Doc coughed. Rookie jumped but asked Doc what was wrong but Mo could feel it.
It was a serious increase in Ghoul Energy, the air was thick with it, like sludge. It was suffocating to breath.
Doc coughed again and Mo turned back to the window, finally catching sight of the presence he had sensed.
There, lurking behind a cargo crate was those famous red eyes, burning with fury.
Mo screamed and shot out of the backpack and onto Elis shoulder.
"Woah, woah. easy Mo, easy." Eli reassured his slug who had started hyperventilating.
Spinner came over and smacked him across the face, snapping him out of the claws of fear and he squeaked a curse at his friend, who simply eyed him.
That's when everything went wrong.

Skies had been watching the group from afar. Observing their moves, calculating the risks and the success factor.
It stayed at a simple 98% rate of success.
Yet he had no idea what the missing two percent was. he'd never undertaken an action without the success rate being at a hundred percent, never lower unless a manual acceptance was made. And his rider wasn't here to do that.
So he stayed in the shadows of the giant crate, contradicting himself more and more.
In other words, he was beginning to make his own decisions without the direct element of his rider, whom he had been programmed to protect.
Not that he knew any of the above.
He had allowed the percentage to slip down to 90% after he had the probability of being spotted by a slug owned by the human identified as 'Eli Shane.'
This had caused his frustration to rise by 2.0 percent but it was a minor effect to his overall status.
So he remained still and silent in the shadows until the fight of his existence began and his challenger showed itself.

Huntley huffed and wheezed as he watched the young Shane slip off in search for a mecha.
When the boy was out of sight, he heaved himself to his feet and ducked behind the pile of crates, slipping in the tiny gap between them and the wall.
The Shane would find a mecha alright, but not one he would be able to drive.
There was always a Demon in here. Up on the metal platform with a perfect view of the door.
He had looked up when they entered but the darkness hadn covered the entire thing.
he couldn't know if it was there, watching him or somewhere else.
All he knew was that the kid wasn't leaving the hangar alive.

Something slammed into the side of Elis head and he flew backwards into the metal cargo crate, the ridge metal slamming unevenly into his back and sending spasms of pain that stopped him from slipping away.
His blaster was lost and as he opened his eyes to take in the blurry view, he found himself looking at a blurred figure made from the shadows it emerged from.
His first thought was that Black Skies had found him, the shape certainly had the same figure, the same claws and the same eyes.
But as his vision came back into focus his heart skipped a beat when he saw that he wasn't.
This dragon was missing the classic seat. On the back, just behind the robots shoulders, it was smooth metal, no seat, no controls and no rider.
It's horns were curved instead of straight edged and on either of its foreleg shoulders was a bright red 'V'. The mark of Doctor Blakk.
"A demon.." He muttered, slowly trying to scramble backwards, eyes roving the area for his blaster.
He spotted the auspicious orange blaster trapped under the beasts foot.
He wasn't getting that back anytime soon.
The mecha was exactly the same as Kaiyas infamous dragon, minus the seat, and Eli was positive that it could do the same damage.
He was a goner.
Part of him half-hoped that the old man that he helped was going to help but he knew that would do nothing to halt the beast in front of him.

Skies had tried to contact Kaiya for assistance multiple times, but she had not answered.
He was on his own. So he remained in the shadows, watching this new opponent.
Every move the robot made caused red warning lights to flashing in his vision.
This thing was a threat.
To his rider and therefore, to him.
he sifted through the data he had stored in his AI and found the battle with the 'DarkClaw VIII'.
His owner had somehow conveyed that she didn't like the mecha, she'd labelled it a 'threat' to her superiority.
His vision picked up plausible weak spots, unnervingly similar to his own. The biggest was the missing seat area. He had been designed and built by the same person but this thing had been designed by one person, altered by another and built by multiple.
The whole thing was a design flaw.
He ran a matching scan and the 65% similarities between him and the robot in front of him made up his mind.
This thing was going to die. It had too.

Eli watched as the clawed paw was raised slowly above it's head, red eyes trained on his face.
he never knew how scared he could be but this was near the max.
All he could do was sit frozen in fear as a the heavy metal paw, wickedly serrated claws spread out and gleaming, was raised and held above him, waiting to come rushing down and slash his flesh to shreds and crush his bones.
Burps squeal of fear was drowned out by a huge roar that reverberated around the hangar and the Skies-clone turned its draconic head to the area where the sound came from.
The next thing that happened was astonishing.
Something huge and black slammed into the side of the clone and the momentum sent the pair crashing into a huge stack of containers, the metal bending and buckling from the impact.
Elis instincts instantly reacted and he leaped to his feet, diving for his blaster before turning and facing the pile of ruined cargo crates.
Torn sheets of cargo crates flew out from the roiling pile of metal like daggers and Eli took shelter behind a pile of crates to avoid being shredded.
His head was nearly splitting apart from the amplified cacophony of shrieks and roars coming from the two fighters and he clenched his hands over his ears as the clone was thrown bodily across the room, shrieking all the way.
It crashed heavily against the wall, leaving a huge dent and scratches, before getting to its feet and charging at Black Skies, who had pulled himself free of the pile of ruined crates.
Eli had started running backwards towards the exit.
His fear had intensified as he watched the original copy balance his weight out and lower his head.
The difference between the two was obvious. The 'Demon' was simply a mindless robot, doing its masters bidding automatically.

Skies, on the other hand, had a free mind. He was calculating risks and taking the strategical side.
Eli watched as the clone was nearly upon Skies, curled horns aiming for the mecha-beasts head intent on smashing a hole right through.
At the last second possible, Skies slipped his head downwards, his shoulders following fluidly and the clones head flew over the empty space, exposing the weak chin.
Immediately, Skies had whipped his head up, his large horns digging into the chin and flipping the robot right over him.
The robot crashed headfirst beside Skies, rolling onto it's shoulders with its tail flailing madly.
Skies seized this opportunity; he grabbed it in between his huge jaws and started to drag the demon around in a circle. His agile footwork and brute strength helped him build up the momentum to swing the smaller robot around in a circle, void of touching anything to get a grip.
It was like watching a discus thrower preparing to throw.
The only warning was the flash in his eyes before Skies released, sending the clone smashing into and through the bay door as if it was paper.

The hole torn in the door allowed Eli a glimpse of the battle outside. He could see all his friends fighting: Trixie, Elyssa, Elina, Harper, Kord, Pronto.
Even Andi with her vine dragon.
The sight of his friends ignited his determination and he ran towards the nearest mecha beast, mounting it and steering out through the hole and into the battlefield.

It had been hard. It had been frustrating and it had pushed Kaiyas patience to her limits.
The only thing stopping her from crushing the drill was jets life.
But now it was done.
She stepped back and looked at her handiwork, a small part of her conscience telling her that her act was disrespectful as this was a living creature, not a robot, but she was just to relieved to care.
The metal plating on Jets face reflected a dull version of the overhead light and the eye glowed a pale blue. The overlapping plates running along the dog's' spine had their small cervical lights glowing softly.
Jets chest was rising and falling and the monitor showed that her heart and othe rlife functions were stable.
She had connected everything to everywhere. She had done all she could and more.
Now all she had to do was wait.
Kaiya couldn't see what Black skies was doing.
Her gloves were lying on her bed where she had put them, before starting the precision work on Jet.
The light was too weak to catch her attention.

The noise from the fight in the cargo bay had been blocked by the sound of the fight, but when a robot dragon comes flying through the door, somebody's bound to notice.
As the demon exploded through the metal door, it's tail pierced through an unlucky goon and broke his back.
The robot twisted in mid air and landed on all four feet, sending up a cloud of dust and dirt.
The fight seemed to stop as the clone roared in anger and flicked the body off its tail tip before charging towards the cargo bay.
It was meet by Skies who leaped through the hole and locked his tusks with the curled horns, driving the smaller robot backwards before dislodging him into a pile of rocks.
Time slowed down for all fighters as the two robot behemoths leapt at each other; sharpened claws bared and glittering in the red light, maws open wide and ready to crash shut on the closest appendage. Thick metal tails streamed out behind them, the deadly, razored outside of the three-fingered claws on the end twitching, gouging deep into rocks, bodies and metal.
There was a terrific crash as the two combatants locked metal horns: tusks to horns, they were trapped in a deadly dance they circled around each other, often trying to push the other backwards or rearing up to come crashing down on the other. They fought like stags in a rut until Black Skies slipped his tusks free and jumped as the copy pushed forward. Skies then landed on the Demons' back before pulling it over onto it's back and proceeding to tear and claw at it's exposed stomach.

Blakk watched, his lip twisted into a scorn, as he watched Skies brutally slash at the writhing demon, pinning it down and slowly severing it's armour of.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
His eyes flicked around the battle scene. Both sides were running to get away from the dueling tyrants, the rivalry between the forgotten.
A pair of Dark Bane shoved a man aside and into the path of Skies flailing tail which sent him flying into a rock, cracking his skull open and ruining his back. He lay there screaming until a merciful slinger sent a Dirt Urchin his way, snuffing out his life with a well aimed spike.
Blakk grinned.
Nearly forgotten.
He stood atop the rise and watched with cold fury as his men fled below him.
It was humiliating to see his human men running while the Slugterra Slingers simply circled around the edge of the fight, a good distance away from the two dragons but still close enough to fight.
However, he was glad to see his Dark Bane Warriors doing the same, combating the slingers that fought on at the edge of the fight.
But it wouldn't be enough.

Blakk turned to Maurice who stood faithfully behind him.
"Send the other Demons into the Citadel where they are kept. I don't want Kaiya or Skies to find them. And bring me my Gattler. I wish to end this!" He hissed.
Maurice wasted no time and before a minute was up, Blakk had the high-powered Gattler in his destructive hands.

"Night, night menace." He muttered as he raised the Gattler and aimed.

Skies had nearly incapacitated the thing pinned underneath him. He raised his lethal claws up and brought them down hard on the robots neck, tearing away the flexible metal plating and exposing the electronic tendons and wires beneath it.

He allowed himself a low laugh at the close victory, unaware that he was actually capable of such a thing, before opening his mouth as wide as he could and plunging it down.

The Demon screamed, a high, ear-splitting scream that ceased time. Skies teeth slid through the wires, past the metal pistons and deep into the metal vertebrae, piercing into the very heart of the systems control network. The tips of his teeth touched the micro-thin wires that sent controls throughout the mecha-beasts body and in an instant, all the memories, the whole life of the third Demon flooded into his memory. As the light in the robot's eyes flickered out, his AI automatically created a separate folder for the memories and stored them in there for future access, putting up protective firewalls incase of any viruses

The fight was over. Like a triumphant hunter, he raised his head with the lifeless robot dangling from his jaws and roared loud and proud.
He opened his jaws and let the hunk of metal fall and hit the ground with the crashing.
Bionic adrenalin still flowed through his circuit and he turned and roared again, his serrated mouth wide open.

That was where the first Dark Urchin hit him. It landed in his mouth, cutting off the roar and exploding into a ball of spikes.
Most points shattered as soon as they hit the metal mouth but Skies was unable to shut his mouth.
He thrashed his head from side to side to try and dislodge the creature but he could not.
Blakk fired again and another Dark Urchin exploded in his jaws, peppering the roof of his mouth with spikes.
Another and another.
More continued to hit him dead in the mouth until his jaws were unable to close and had to be opened wider.
He tried to dislodge the spikes by opening his jaws to full capacity but he was too late.
The spines were still growing and the further he opened his mouth, the less he could close it.

Finally, his mouth could open no further. His jaws were prised open at seventy two degrees and he stopped his futile efforts to remove the blockage. He turned and faced the direction the ghouls had come from, lowering his head so he could see past his opened jaws.
Blakk felt a shiver of fear as the red eyes meet his own but he shoved it down to where his other fears were locked away and raised the Gattler.
Now was the hard part.

Three ghouled Fandangoes shot forward, streaming red and black smoke behind them before latching on to the mecha beast.

Skies eyes glowed red as he started to absorb their energy and cracks appeared in the spines as he applied extra strength on his jaws.

Blakk raised his Gattler,carefully aiming the remaining armada of ghouls left at certain parts of Skies.

A cracking sound reverberated as one by one spines cracked.
Two clattered to the ground, splintered in the middle.

Blakk fired five times and five ghouled mega-morphed Buzzsaws flew towards the pistons holding Skies jaws together.
The first two bit deep into the jaws side, cutting deep into the metal.
The third slammed into the dragons forehead, scattering nerves and slashing across the dragons vision. A deep scratch shattered one of his eyes leaving him blind-sided.
The last two hit their mark, biting deep before whizzing away as the bottom jaw hit the ground with a hollow thunk.
The dragon stopped and seemed to sway, staring down at the broken jaw in an expression only known as disbelief.
Sparks zapped out of the shattered eye and the sawn-off hinges as the beast fell forward, its front legs collapsing beneath it.
As its chest hit the ground the back legs collapsed and the King fell down as the red light flickered out of his eyes leaving them as empty as the Dark Caverns.

Blakk grinned as he watched the red light die away before turning the blaster towards the retreating slingers.
The battle was over now that Eli had escaped but Blakk wasn't content until he had a replacement.
He snarled at his ghouls and they willingly jumped into his gattler, eager to be fired.

He aimed the gattler at the retreating band of slingers and opened fire; his henchmen and Dark Bane already running towards the fleeing fighters in a lust for combat.

Ghoul after ghoul slammed into the ground and scattered the remnants of the fleeing slingers yet they still fought back, firing wild rounds of slugs at their pursuers.
A maniacal laugh escaped Blakks pale lips as he fired volley after volley of ghouls at the slingers before halting and watching the scene unfold below him on his dark slate pedestal.

The duo of Neons; blue and red; bathed the ground and earth with fiery jets of flames. They carved scars into the earth with flames both ice blue and dark red.

Nicole was fighting alongside Jazmin Liyana and both ladies were quite happily firing ghouls into the backs of retreating slingers. Blakk had to admire the way his new secretary worked with her blaster, firing off each shot fluidly. Nicole was there as well, violets ablaze with adrenalin and even from up on his rocky platform he could her the click as she reloaded constantly and vigorously.
Twist was leading a small group of organized Goons in a battle charge, multiplying the number with his Illusiolett, Loki.
Even the Dark Bane were enjoying themselves, firing off wild shots and leaping onto the slingers; scratching and clawing and biting with demonic nails and teeth.

Blakk had to agree that today was going to be a good day.

His eyes caught sight of Elina and Eli riding ahead a far distance in front of the defending slingers.
Blakk renewed his grip on the weapon he held and fired off short bursts of Hop Jacks.

Cracks exploded in the ground and spat sharp sharps of stone upwards as they raced under slingers feet towards the blue-haired duo.
Blakk licked his lips in anticipation as he watched the cracks draw closer and closer to the wolf and tiger mecha.
Just as the cracks reached Elis mecha beast they stopped, deflected. Blakk growled at the loss of his prize but his eyes watched Elinas outstretched palm glide in a circle. The cracks continued to try and go beneath the pair but were deflected by a large circle of stone that moved underneath the pair.
Elina was controlling the ground, stopping the cracks from opening beneath them and leaving them to circle like waiting sharks.

He stepped back and thought before he raised his Gattler again, firing off a volley of slugs all around the trio.
He kept his finger pressed down hard on the trigger, eyes gleaming as he watched Elina struggle to deflect each single attack. A wall of dark red flames swept between the two, separating them as the Gattlers tip started to smoke.
Blakk was a veteran slinger but he was too close to his prize to care that the Gattlers tip was turning red.

Elina cried out to Eli as the red flames roared and climbed higher and higher.
The evil energy radiating off them stung and clawed at her skin if she got to close.
"Eli!" She called desperately, moving the smoke out of her way as a Vinedrone smashed into the ground behind her.
"Elina!" Her eyes sought out the vague shape of him on the other side of the firewall.
"Run!" She cried as thick black vines encircled her and pushing her closer to the firewall.

"No! I can help you!"

Elina choked back a sob as the Ghoul Energy sapped her strength. Dark black smoke stung her eyes and the wines lashed at her, the rough skin grazing and cutting her arms.
One large tendril smacked her from her mecha and sent her skidding towards the firewall. It singed off part of her hair and the mere touch caused her to gasp for air.
She crawled to her knees and looked up at the towering wall.
Gathering all of her energy in a last ditch attempt, she pushed a small hole in the flames.
Elis worried face was waiting for her on the other side.
She sobbed as he saw her smoke stained face.
"Run.." She choked before her energy diminished and she collapsed, the firewall engulfing the hole once again.
She curled up in a small helpless ball as her mecha was trashed; smashed against a rock; and her blaster was gingerly removed by a small black vine. The closeness causing her to shudder and squeeze her eyes shut.
The darkness she kept locked deep down inside her was waking up slowly.

Eli steered his mecha straight for the wall of flame only to have it hoisted up and into the air before he smashed into it.
"harper! Put me down! Elina needs help!" he yelled at the driver of the huge T-rex.

Harper stared doggedly ahead, "We've lost to many 'ready, Eli. Elina can look aft'r 'erself, need ta regroup and recoop." She charged her mecha up and out of the Blakk Cavern, the tattered and beaten remains of the Slingers League limping behind her.

Elina woke up slowly. She was lying on the ground with a blaster pointed at her head. A familiar Illusiolett grinned down at her as she looked up. She was lying in the middle of the battle field. Dead bodies were stacked into funeral pyre and torched and the lazy trails of smoke simply mingled with the toxic green clouds causing them to grow thicker.

"Good to see you're awake, Elina." Blakk leered down at her and slammed a heel in between her shoulders sending her sprawling.
"Ugh…" She choked as her hand cut itself on a sharp rock in front of her.
"You won't get away with this Blakk." She hissed over her shoulder.
Blakk grinned down at her, "Take a look in front of you my dear. I can get away with anything."

Elina simply glared at him before launching a glob of spit at him. It landed on his eye.
Blakk scowled and slammed her against the ground, pressing the red hot Gattlers barrel into her back.
Her clothes melted slowly, releasing a pungent choking odour of burning fabric and Elina gritted her teeth, trying to avoid screaming out loud in pain.

After what seemed to be an eternity the burning metal was removed and Elina lay shivering on te ground, tears leaking out of her eyes.

With Blakks quiet laugh ringing in her ears she opened her eyes and saw the rock she had cut her hand on.
Except it wasn't a rock.

She drew in a short, sharp gasp as her brain recieved the image of the severed jaw lying in front of her.
Those teeth...

"No.." She whimpered as she raised her eyes and met the dull, lifeless sockets of the former King of Mecha beasts.

"Oh my God..you...you killed..Oh my God…" She breathed, her heart hammering in her chest.

Blakk leaned down, whispering in her ear, "See? I told you I can get away with anything…"

OCs belong to respectable Owners