Eli's shadow

Chapter 4

After that mortifying ordeal, Eli caught up with his mom over the rest of the day, telling her his own strokes of heroic ventures and daring escapades. She couldn't have been prouder, or more scared. But all things come to an end and night soon fell, so it was time to go back. After a very heartfelt goodbye, Eli took Burpy and returned through the sewers, back down through The Drop. When he arrives there's a radio waiting for him with the Shane logo on it. He turns it on and speaks into it. "Uh, guys?"
There's a moment of silence before his team answers. "Eli, you're back!"
"You're alright bro?"
"Did you get a souvenir for the great Pronto?"
"Oh yeah, I'm great. I'll explain everything when I get back."

After summarising what his mother told him, the Shane gang sat there in stunned silence for a while. Trixie started first. "You're half Shadow Clan?"
Eli nods. "Yep."
Kord continues. "You're not Shane by blood?"
Eli shakes his head. "Nope."
Pronto snickers. "Your mom gave you the talk?"
A glowing red blush overtook Eli's face and he waves off Pronto's question. "Moving on from that horrible experience, what do you guys think?"
The gang look at each other in confusion, with Trixie speaking up. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I'm half Shadow Clan. And ghouled. I can guarantee that everyone in the 99 caverns either wants to kill me or dissect me. I doubt anyone would complain about one less monster to worry about."
Trixie pulls Eli into a bright hug while Pronto and Kord leave to give them space. "You're not a monster Eli. You're a great slinger who does everything he can to right wrongs." Burpy chirps in agreement.
Eli hesitates before hugging back. "Thanks. You're the best."

Burpy rubs his chin in thought before chirping in excitement. Eli looks down as his slugs gather around him. "What's up guys?" Burpy chirps more and gestures to Eli's pods. "No, absolutely not." Burpy tries to reason with him but is cut off. "No Burpy. That's really dangerous and we don't even know if you can change back." In the background, Trixie is looking back and forth between the two like a tennis match. Unknown to Eli, his Armashelt, Banger was on the upstairs balcony above him and leaps down into one of Eli's pods, to his owner's shock and horror. "Banger, no!"

His pod fills with black smoke that sparks with red electricity, and when it clears, Banger has been turned into a Harmashelt. Banger pops out of the pod and stands on a nearby shelf while everyone watches in either curiosity or horror. Rather than going feral, Banger maintains his regular attitude and simply nods at his friends. Sighing in relief, Eli picks him up. "That was really dangerous Banger." Banger just smirks and directs Eli's attention to his other expectant slugs. Eli groans in resignation. "Fine. But only because you insisted." After each slug has been ghouled by Eli, Doc approaches him, but Eli raises a hand in a 'stop' motion. "Sorry Doc, not today." Doc makes a sad noise. "Don't worry. You'll have your turn when Blakk is behind bars and the Darkbane are no longer an issue, ok?" Reassured by his owner's promise, Doc nods excitedly. "In the meantime, this is yours." Eli grabs a slug canister and slots into one of his pods. Doc nods and goes to hang out with his newly ghouled friends.
"I've said it before, but they're cute, in a horrifying kind of way."

Later, the Shane gang are making plans, with Eli taking charge. "First things first, I need a Thugglet," there's an obvious cough from one of his pods, "ok fine. I need a SMUGGLET in order to travel around the caverns without being chased by an angry mob."
Trixie whips out her pad. "Way ahead of you. According to some research, the best place to find a Thugglet is right around here. They prefer mountaintops and alpine meadows."
Eli nods. "That's perfect. Let's go."

After many hours of searching, no luck. Eli groans in frustration. "How have we found nothing?"
Trixie taps her pad. "I don't know. It says that they're at least somewhat common in these areas."
Eli sees a small burrow and looks down it, his night vision letting him see that it's fairly deep. He gets Doc out of his canister. "Think you can see if you can see if anyone's home bud?" Doc nods and hops down the hole.

After a few minutes of waiting, Doc wriggles out of the burrow with a Thugglet in tow. Unfortunately, when it gets an eye full of Eli, it shouts in terror and darts back down. Eli tries lactating the small creature. "Hey, it's ok." It pokes an eye out and hides again. "Yeah I know you're scared, I would be too if I were you. But I promise. I'm not going to hurt you." The slug unsurely pokes its head out of its home and gives Eli a questioning look. When Eli lowers a hand for it to hop on, it hesitates but decides to trust this unfamiliar thing. Eli smiles. "See? I'm not so bad. Say, how would you like joining me and my gang on some adventures? Honestly, I kind of need your help." When it tilts its head in confusion, Eli continues. "Well, most people in the caverns would probably react way worse than you just did when seeing me, so I need your help for a disguise. Is that ok?" The slug narrows its eyes. Eli rolls his eyes playfully. "We have slug snacks." The slug chirps excitedly and nods.