Shivering cold

Energized

As Eli and Will rode up to the entrance of the lightwell, the shadowclan immediately teleported in front of them. Will quickly took the shadow talker to speak with the shadowclan as Eli picked up Holly from his mech. "We don't have much time to explain, we need to get her to the lightwell." Will said as he dismounted his mech. Though Eli couldn't understand the shadowclan, Will did clearly. "We cannot allow humans to trespass on sacred grounds again." The leader hissed. Will had to hold his anger as he spoke again. "She's the daughter of Vanessa, from the north. She's suffering from energy decay and needs to get to the lightwell or she'll fucking die, you did this same shit with Vanessa!" Will snapped. Eli had to hold back tears at hearing the fact that Holly might die if the shadowclan decide to not allow them to go to the lightwell. The shadowclan leader flicked his ear in annoyance before he spoke again. "We still cannot just allow humans to visit the lightwell." He hissed. "God fucking damnit can you listen for one second! She will fucking die if she doesn't get to the lightwell! Do you wanna be the reason why the northern caverns don't have a protector, or are you gonna deal with us going to the lightwell?" Will yelled. The shadowclan leader glared at Will, thoroughly pissed but seeing the reason in his argument. "We will only allow this for the sake of the northern caverns, make it quick." He then opened the path to the lightwell and both Shanes went in.

As the path opened up to the cave with floating rocks Holly slowly blinked her eyes open and stared in confusion. "Wha-the fuck-?" She questioned when she realized Eli was carrying her. She shivered before Eli gently put her down but kept an arm wrapped around her. "Holly, the portal you failed to open yesterday caused more harm then you knew. It's called energy decay and it'll slowly drain your energy until there's nothing left, your mother dealt with this once before. The way to fix it is going to the lightwell, and we're on the path to it." Will explained. "Wait hold on, energy decay? lightwell? What the fuck did I miss?" Holly asked, confusion in her voice. "Listen, I'll fully explain when you're better, but right now you're life is in danger and we need to keep moving." He said. Holly nodded before glancing at the rocks floating high above water. "We should just use our Bubbaleones to get across, It'll be easier then tryin to hop across." She said as she unhooked her blaster from her belt and loaded her Bubbaleone. "Wish it was that easy, but there's some creature that'll attack you. We'll need a fusion shot to take it down." Eli said as he grabbed his double barrel. He loaded his Tazerling and Dirt Urchin in and took a few steps forward, letting go of Holly. She felt a lot colder despite Burpy warming her and had to hold back from shivering. Flare noticed this and she quickly started warming Holly too. She thanked her Infurnus as she watched Eli lure over what looked to be a giant bat-like creature covered in metal. "Over here you dumb bat!" He yelled. The creature flew over and swooped at Eli, but he fired off the fusion shot and it fell out the sky. "Okay, we're clear." He said as he loaded up his own Bubbaleone. As everyone fired off their slugs, Holly felt herself become more tired and she just wanted to sleep, but knowing her life was in danger, she stayed awake. Once everyone made it across, Eli immediately wrapped his arm around Holly and she suddenly felt slightly warmer. As they all continued down the path, Holly wondered what was next.

As Holly plugged her nose from the stench of a nearby tunnel, she couldn't help but fake gag. "Please don't tell me we have to go through that..." She muttered. "Luckily not, I can drill us another path." Eli said as he loaded up his Crystalyd. As the slug drilled through the ground, it eventually drilled into a small cave and went back to protoform. As everyone walked through, a giant worm suddenly attacked and everyone dodged. "Dumbass thing. Waddle, freeze it over!" Holly said as she loaded her Narwhaddle. She quickly fired and Waddle froze the worm, ending the fight quickly. She felt exhausted after that and had to sit on the ground for a moment before Eli helped her up. She leaned on him more now, her energy fading by the moment. "Hang in there Holly, we're almost at the lightwell." Eli said. "Better fuckin be.." She muttered, tiredness overwhelming her. As everyone continued along the path, Holly was close to passing out. "...Even with 5 fuckin Fandangos I feel so tired..." She murmured. "Hey, we just have one more obstacle to go, then we're there." Eli said, trying to make sure Holly stayed awake. Holly just nodded, opting to stay silent. As the cave grew warmer and smelled sweeter, Holly relaxed a bit. "Don't relax yet, we're about to have to deal with some annoying bugs." Eli said. Holly loaded up her Slyren, Melody, in preparation as they all made it into the hive. She quickly fired before covering her ears and waited until she knew her slug was done singing. However, she didn't need to hear her Slyren's song to pass out, and Eli had to carry her. "Shit, she doesn't have much time, let's hurry." Will said. Eli nodded and they rushed to the lightwell.

As the Shanes ran into the cavern of the lightwell, they wasted no time and immediately got Holly to the lightwell. As Eli put her down next to it and put her hand in, he sighed in relief. "With how close a call this was, she'll probably be out for awhile, but once she's awake again, she'll be cured." Will said. "At least we got her here..." Eli murmured, casting a sad glance at Holly. As time went on, Eli was getting anxious that Holly wouldn't wake up at all while Will had to assure him that she would. Finally, after an hour, Holly blinked her eyes opened and stared in confusion. Eli immediately rushed over and hugged her as she quickly stood up. "Holy shit, how long was I out for?" She asked. "An hour, god I thought you weren't gonna wake up Holly!" Eli exclaimed, his voice shaky. "Hey, I'm awake, I'm better, it's okay." She comforted him, a small smile on her face. As Eli finally let go, Holly pet all the slugs that had helped her out, the Fandangos and Infurnuses, before she spoke to Will. "Okay, now you need to explain a few things. One, what exactly is energy decay. Two, how the fuck do you know about it?" She cast a glare at him. "I'll explain as we walk back, let's go." Will said.

As the three of them walked back, Will started to explain. "Okay, energy decay is just what is sounds like, your energy decaying until nothing is left. The thing is, it only seems to happen when ghouls are involved. Now, how I know about it, me and your mother were close friends, and we often visited each others caverns, but one time she went to go visit the western caverns and a similar thing happened. At first, she just seemed to have the energy drained, then it started decaying. I was desperate to save her and the only thing I thought could work was the lightwell, so I brought her there. Luckily, it did work, and we both wrote it down in a notebook for future reference, but the book seems to have vanished, so you never got the chance to read it. That book also had other sorts of symptoms for things that happened when she failed to open portals, and how to cure them. It also had all the different ways to open portals, including when there is an energy imbalance in a set of caverns." After that explanation, Holly was stunned. There's a book out there that says how she can open a portal to the east, she just needs to find it. "I need to get back to the north, I can find that book and get Junjie home!" She exclaimed, joy in her eyes. "Holly, you just recovered, you need to at least stay a bit longer." Eli said, still concerned for Holly. "Don't worry! The lightwell helped a lot, I've never felt this energized!" She exclaimed.

(A/N)
WASSUP, YA BOI FINISHED ANOTHER CHAPTER! Holly now has a huge power boost from the lightwell and is permanently keeping it! Now she just needs to find that book and she'll be the most OP OC I've ever had! But sadly, that's next chapter's endeavour, so I'll cya there!