Shivering cold

To the east

As Holly returned to the hideout, she was greeted by her team. They all were suddenly shocked at an older woman following behind. "So, I have a bit of explaining to do." Holly laughed awkwardly. As everyone settled and Holly explained what had happened, leaving out the bits about the surface, her team was stunned. "Well, we have some news too." Annie said. Holly tilted her head in confusion, what could've happened that would give her team news to tell her? "Will contacted the hideout while you were gone, he was trying to talk with you, but I took the call instead. He said that Eli and everyone else had found a portal in the 99 caverns that could take them to the eastern caverns, so they went." Annie explained. Holly paused for a moment, shock on her face. She recovered eventually and sighed. "Well, they're gonna need all the help they can get, so I'm gonna head off to practice openin this portal." She said as she got up. Lily followed behind, ready to help out Holly.

"Holly, you need to focus and stay calm." Lily said as Holly failed for what she thought was the millionth time at opening a portal. She and Lily were currently in the 99 caverns trying to open a portal to the eastern caverns. "Kinda hard to focus and stay calm when I have ADHD and Anxiety, but whatever you say sis." Holly muttered bitterly. As she tried and failed again, she just sat on the ground with a huff. "Is this really the only other way?!" She asked, clear annoyance in her voice. "Yes, it's sucks to learn, but once you do it'll get easier." Lily replied. Holly groaned at that before standing up again and preparing to try again. "Can't you just open the portal? It'd be a lot easier than me failin miserably." She murmured. Lily sighed at that and closed the book, setting it down. "You need to learn how to do this, you can't just depend on me." She said. Holly faced her sister, an unreadable expression on her face. "Listen, my friends are in the eastern caverns dealin with who knows what and here I am trying to learn how to get there when you can just open the portal! I don't have the time or patience to deal with this right now, can you just open the portal to the east one time for me!?" Holly snapped. Lily was taken aback for a moment before recovering. "You're running out of patience!? I have been nothing but patient with you since we've met! Even before then, I had to wait until mom died to even be considered useful! You got to be the protector this whole time while I was waiting on the surface patiently!" She yelled back. "You think I wanted to be the protector!? YOU HAVE NO FUCKIN CLUE WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH!" Holly had to bite her tongue to keep herself from throwing a punch. "Oh yeah, cause you've gone through so much!" Lily retorted. "FINE! YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH! LET ME LIST IT ALL OFF!"

"I HAD TO WATCH MOM DIE!"

"I HAD TO FIGHT OFF THE PEOPLE WHO KILLED HER!"

"...Holly..."

"NO, SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU WANNA BE A BITCH, THEN YOU'RE GETTING A WHOLE TRAUMA DUMP!"

"I WAS CONTROLLED BY ONE OF THEM!"

"I FOUND OUT MOM WAS ALIVE AND HAD TO FUCKING KILL HER!"

"Holly..."

"YOU WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HANDLE HALF THE SHIT I'VE WENT THROUGH!"

"Holly."

"TRUST ME, IF I HAD A CHOICE, I'D GIVE THIS ALL UP IN A HEARTBEAT!"

"Holly! Look!" Lily finally got Holly to stop her rant, and she glanced at what Lily was pointing at. A red portal was swirling there, but it seemed unstable. "Did I-?" She questioned, but she noticed the portal wavering. "Thanks asshole, at least you helped me do somethin." She said as she hopped on her mechabeast. She rode through the portal and it immediately disappeared as Lily cast a sorrowful glance.

As Holly emerged in the eastern caverns, she sighed in relief. She pulled out the cavern comm Star had given her and glanced at it. "Well, now I just gotta find them..." She murmured. Flare let out a chirp from her shoulder and Holly sighed. "No I'm not gonna apologize, Lily wanted to be a bitch, so I'll treat her like one." She replied. She then rode off to try and find the Shane gang.

"Fuck...I feel like such an awful sister..." Lily muttered as she made her way back to Holly's hideout. The second she walked in, she was greeted by Tess. "Woah, you seem upset, what happened and where's Holly?" She asked. Lily sighed as she sat on the couch, tossing the book on the table. "She managed to get to the east...but not the way we were trying to." She replied. Tess tilted her head in confusion, sitting down next to Lily. "...Sometimes when one of us get worked up, it causes out powers to spiral and that's what happened with her. She was reasonably pissed at me and opened a portal while her powers were spiralling." Lily murmured.

As Holly closed her eyes for a moment, she tried to sense the slug energy in the east, only for it to be clouded by the ghoul energy. "...Fuck, I could've found them by doing that..." She muttered. Flare gave her a comforting nuzzle and Holly pet her gently. "Did you ever come here with mom? Do you have an idea where they might be?" She asked her Infurnus. Flare nodded and pondered for a moment, trying to think where the Shane gang could be. She suddenly chirped and Holly pulled out her holotablet so Flare could draw the path. Once Flare finished drawing, Holly smiled. "Thanks girl." She said as she pet the little slug again. She then took off, following the path. Once she arrived, she saw a beautiful cavern with cherry blossom trees around and a waterfall nearby. As she walked into the town, she immediately saw the Shane gang there and waved to them. "Guys!" She called out. Eli was the first to rush up to her, hugging her. "You managed to get here! That's awesome!" He exclaimed as he let go. Holly had to hide her discomfort at the mention of how she got here, but she was quickly distracted by the rest of the Shane gang. "It's awesome that you're here dudette." Kord said. Trixie nodded in agreement as Junjie spoke. "The extra help is appreciated, we may have defeated the emperor, but we still have many things to do." He said. Holly nodded at that. "Well, is there anythin we need to do now?"

(A/N)
AND THATS CHAPTER! This one took a bit more effort than I thought it would, but it was still easy enough. The fact that I started this fanfic in 2022 is kinda mind boggling for me, and how much my writing has changed is insane! I'll probably go back and rewrite older chapters a bit so the writing is more consistent. That's all slug slingers, cya next chapter!