Shivering cold

Strain

"Hey guys! Sorry it took a week to visit again, Icespikes cavern seems to be a fuckin magnet for trouble." Holly said as she hopped off her mechabeast out front the Shane hideout. "No problem, it's good that you're protecting your caverns." Eli said with a smile. "Well, let's chill out for a bit before we get Junjie home, yea? Frankly it still takes a bunch of my energy to open those portals." She said. As everyone spent the day together, Holly had stayed relatively close to Eli the whole time subconsciously. "Okay, I'm ready to go now. Let's all go and get Junjie home." She said.

As everyone rode up to the edge of the 99 caverns, Eli shivered. "Bad memories?" Holly asked. "...Yea..." Eli murmured. As Holly went up to the wall, she called on 4 of her slugs. She used their energies and tried to open a portal, only to collapse from exhaustion. Everyone crowded around her in concern but she pushed them away. "I'm...fine...give me a minute..." She managed to huff out. Once she recovered a bit more energy, she got up weakly, Eli immediately rushing to help her. She gladly leaned on him, a slight redness making its way to her face. "What happened..? You never collapsed like that before..." Eli asked, concern evident in his voice. As Holly managed to get to her mechabeast with Eli's help, she sighed. "My mom told me that if a cavern's slug energy is too unbalanced when creatin a portal to it could cause devastating affects...I'm lucky I only lost most my energy..." Holly murmured. She then tried to pick up the energy balance in the eastern caverns and almost gasped. "Most slugs are all gathered in one cavern...but I can't tell which one, the ghoul energy is cloudin it..." She muttered. "Hey, you don't need to strain yourself." Eli said, concern lacing his voice. "I'm sure there's some way I can open a portal and get Junjie back though..!" She said as she rested her head on her mechs handlebars. "Holly, it's okay, you tried and that's what matters." Junjie said, despite being upset he couldn't get back home. "I know I can open the portal...I just need to find out how..."

As Holly returned to the Shane hideout, she collapsed on the couch, still exhausted from trying to open the portal. As Eli sat next to her, she felt her face heat up a bit. "You usually recover faster than this, are you sure you're okay?" He asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think it's just cause it failed..." She murmured, still upset. Eli hesitated for a moment before he spoke again. "...Okay. You can rest up here as long as you need to. And don't forget to tell your team what happened." He then got up and walked off, probably to go talk with someone else. As Holly sighed and got comfortable, her mind wandered. 'I know mom went to the eastern caverns even after whatever happened there happened. I only know that cause she mentioned helpin Junjie and I'm assumin that's what with. So how the fuck did she do it?' She was jolted from her thoughts when Will sat next to her. "I heard about what happened. I know your mother had a way to get to other caverns despite the slug energy unbalance but she never clued me in on how." He said. Holly just sighed at that. "Maybe she left somethin hidden in the cabin telling me how..." She muttered. "I'm gonna head back to the north." She then went to get up but her legs immediately gave out and she fell to the ground. "Kid! You're clearly still tired, just stay here and rest up. Someone else will message your team for you." Will said as he lifted Holly back on the couch. "...Fine. But only for as long as I need to, not a moment extra." She said. As the lumio lights darkened and everyone went to sleep, Holly pet a few of her slugs. "...Goodnight guys, I'm gonna sleep now. You can go wherever..." She murmured as she drifted off to sleep. Her slugs exchanged concerns glances, Holly never went to bed this early, but regardless, they all went off around the Shane hideout.

As the next morning rolled around and Eli woke up, he was greeted by Burpy. "Hey buddy, anything interesting this morning?" He asked. Burpy shook his head no as Eli sat up. "That's good. Now let's hope Holly is feeling better and everything will be normal again." He then got out of bed and did his morning routine. As he went downstairs and saw Holly still asleep, he smiled. 'At least she'll get enough sleep.' He thought as he went to get some breakfast. As Doc hopped up on the counter, Eli spoke to him. "Could you check on Holly?" Eli asked. Doc nodded and hopped off. As Eli checked the cupboards for some cereal, he suddenly heard Doc's concerned chirps and rushed out. Doc was on Holly's stomach, concern in his eye. As Eli put his hand to Holly's head, he immediately pulled it back. "She's freezing cold..." He then tried to wake her up, but she just kept her eyes closed, her breathing slow. "...Shit...Burpy, warm her up. Charger, I need you!" Eli called out for his Fandango. The little slug came over as Burpy tried to warm up Holly. "I need you to try and energize Holly, she isn't waking up..!" Eli was fearful, not knowing what happened to her. As Charger nodded and hopped on Holly, the Fandango quickly started giving energy to Holly. As Will rushed down from hearing the panic in Eli's voice, he immediately spoke. "Eli, what happened?" He asked. "It's Holly, she's freezing and wont wake up!" Eli said, panicked. "Shit, energy decay. It's a side effect from trying to open the portal yesterday. This happened to her mom before and I had to take her to the lightwell. We need to get her there quickly." Will said as he quickly rushed to get his gear. "Get every fandango you can! It'll give her enough energy to wake up for a bit!" He added. Eli quickly gathered all the Fandangos, including Holly's, and got them all to give Holly energy before he too rushed off to get his gear. As Will quickly scribbled a note to the rest of the Shane gang, Eli lifted Holly and put her on the back of his mech. As Eli hopped on his mech, Will hopped on his own. Finally, they both took off to the lightwell.

(A/N)

Yoooo!! This chapter flowed so well for me and I finally got over the writers block on the fanfic!! Also, my friend is here with me as I finished this chapter and when I'm starting the next one, so when you read this, hi Bee :)

And goodbye to everyone else!! Cya next chapter!!