Corruption

Rescue

==POV: Liam==
It's Yang who wakes us up and alerts us that Ryuno’s missing. I don’t need to express how bad it is. It’s obvious. Aris squeaks as the half-Shadow Clan slinger shakes me awake.
“I’ve stopped Ouroboros from singing, so we can saddle up and leave for the Citadel now.“ I roll over and bury my face into my pillow.
“She’s tougher than you think, Yang. She can hold out for a few more hours, so go back to bed and let the rest of us sleep till eight.“
The whirring of a blaster power core gets me out of bed.
“Who the hell sleeps with a blaster?!“ Yang opens his mouth to speak, but I interrupt. “Don’t answer that.“ I tug my bandolier over my head, the canisters clinking together loudly. “Alright, we’ll go. But you’re to blame if we get in more trouble than her.“
It doesn’t take long to get geared up and head out, the five-am cavern roof pink like the sky on the surface at dawn. My LK-E model mecha clanks underneath me, Yang leading the way and the new recruits behind us. We don’t have a signal to follow, so we’re running blindly in the general direction of the Citadel in Thundersparks Cavern.

[Seven hours later]
After what seems like a whole day of riding, Hilda suggests that we stop and have some food. Fae gives a cheer, and almost falls off her mecha. Yang looks reluctant to stop riding, and just stays there on his lion mecha watching the others get food out of the sack Leo always brings on long journeys. Lyth murmurs quietly in Nikotus’ bandolier, sad at being separated from Ryuno yet again. Yang fidgets in the saddle of his mecha.
“Can we get a move on now?“ Leo flops back on the ground, and Hiroto strokes his ghouls. I give Aris a piece of lettuce, and she gobbles it up eagerly.
“What’s the rush, anyways, Yang? It’s not like Blakk Gooned her again, or infected her with Dark… oh.“ Yang nods.
“I fished this out awhile ago; it shows the location of Ryuno’s mecha.“ Nikotus sits bolt upright.
“Where is she?“ Yang teleports over to where Nikotus is sitting and shows him the holodeck. “...oh. It’ll take us days to get there.“ Yang nods solemnly.
“Days we don’t have. Saddle up, guys. We’re going to Chillborne Cavern.“

[Eight hours later]
“Yang, slow down. At the speed you’re going, our mechas will break down before we even get to Bullseye Ca-WHOA!“
He smirks and replies, “Well, if you’re not comfortable with your mechas getting a little scratched up, we can always go the Ryuno way.“ I shake my head vigorously.
That was bad enough the first time, and ‘The Ryuno Way’ isn’t fabulous for my mental health. If you really want to know why we all hate it, it’s because being dragged through a forest canopy by a giant manic spider isn’t the funnest experience in the world. Far from it.
Yang didn’t eat any food either of the times we stopped, so he’s operating off pure slug energy now. He says he has enough Shadow Clan genetics to live off their auras, but it’s not… the most believable excuse.
It’s getting dark now, the light from the cavern roof dimming and the Phosphoros lighting up. Yang’s slugs are hanging out on his shoulders, having a nice conversation while we clatter along at speeds fast enough to gigamorph any one of our slugs if we fire them. Heck, if one of them fell off, it would megamorph from the speeds we’re going at. Nikotus pulls up alongside me, holding the holodeck. Six green dots are heading fast towards a small purple dot, having passed Bullseye Cavern awhile ago.
[Thirteen hours later]
We arrive by the purple dot by the time the cavern ceiling is turning pink again. Most of us slept in the middle of the journey, so we’re all pretty well rested, with the exception of Yang, who stayed awake either because he was worried about Ryu, or because he felt we needed someone to keep watch. As we clank up to a mushroom grove, I feel increasingly aware that something’s off. If Ryuno’s here, her slugs would be squeaking and hopping up to us by now. But the only squeaking I can hear is from the wild Vinedrills in the trees. I dismount Lucky and follow Yang into the grove.
We find Ryuno’s mecha, alright. Just not with Ryuno near it. A few strands of Attacknet webs litter the area, cracked slugtubes lie everywhere, and Arrow lies in the center of the mess, with a fallen mushroom lying on her crushed tail. A slug squeals, and Yang turns his head in the direction of the sound. An upturned slugtube is by Arrow’s saddle, and in it sits Noodle; unable to escape, because Narwhaddles in their protoform lack the physical strength to overturn the blue-glass canisters.
Yang picks up the blue tube, and Noodle hops up his arm and shakes her head vigorously, happy to be free of her glass prison.
“If Ryuno’s not here…“ His face turns to a set of mecha tracks leading out of the grove. “Then…“ He goes over to the tracks, and I remember he comes from the Central Caverns; the hub for bounty hunters. “I know these. Chicken, Bull, Duck, and a Horse. The Hunters Four. If they’ve got Ryuno…“ He lets the sentence trail off into the morning air. Or whatever they call it underground. Tracker fidgets in my bandolier.
Yang explained that Elementals can sense the presence of other Elementals; that’s how he found Eclipse and Pendulum. Hiroto bends down to let a silvery slug jump onto his arm. The Earth Elemental chirps at his ghouls, doing exactly what Tracker does sometimes; establishing dominance. It’s important for the lesser slugs to know that an Elemental is leagues above them in strength and power, second only to World Slugs, of which Yang has two. They hid themselves across the Caverns, because with their immense power, clustering in just the 99 would be foolish. Especially the Cores; Morningstar, Eclipse, Creatia and Apocalyte. If anyone got ahold of those, they could destroy all of Slugterra with a snap of their fingers.
Let’s hope they don’t.