(Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but I do own Dex)
(Dex's POV)
"Nice job Dex!"
"Great duel!"
"Can I have your autograph?"
"How does it feel?"
They crowd of fans and reporters continued to ask similar questions. These were just some of the things I dealt with on an almost daily basis. Yeah, hi. I'm Dex Cane, slugslinger extraordinaire. Me and Amp, my Tazerling and my main slug win competitions all over Slugterra. I'd like to say that we are famous but then I'd be bragging. So I won't say it. But you can think it. 😉
I pushed through the crowd in an effort to reach the Mechabeast garage when a voice called out above the crowd. I'd recognize it anywhere. There's only one person in Slugterra with a set of lungs like that.
"Dex! Dex!" I turned around to see Kate, one of my good friends running towards me with a poster in her hand.
Kate was a short girl with choppy brown hair, and eyes. Really excitable and a HUGE fan girl. Suddenly she trips and pitches forward but I manage to grab her arm.
"Woah, calm down Katie," I said trying to steady her. "Now tell me what's so important?"
"He's coming he's coming He's Coming!" she yelled excitedly.
See, major fan girl.
"Who's coming?" I asked.
"Him," she said and she shoved the poster in my face. I had to back up a step to see it clearly. On it was a picture of a dark-haired boy, a girl with red side buns, a cave troll, and a mollinoid. The words at the bottom read Eli and the Shane Gang.
Now I've heard of these guys. Slugterra's very own doom patrol. Dueling, stopping bad guys, and everybody loves them just cause they have Shane in their name. I don't get it, there are probably hundreds of gangs in Slugterra and yet they still think their so special. Ha, I bet I could whip their butts any day.
I focused on the name at the bottom of the poster.
"Who's Ellie?" I asked looking up at her.
"It's Eli," she answered. "He's the new Shane isn't he cute? I bet he's even cuter in person."
I'll admit it, I've seen my fair share of cute boys down here, and he's pretty up there. But just cause he's cute doesn't mean I'm interested. Though Katie over here seems to be spazzing out.
"He's alright," I said nonchalantly.
"Alright? He's amazing. He and his gang patrol Slugterra stopping trouble and looking totally hot while doing it."
Totally spazzing.
"Whatever," I said shrugging. "If you don't mind I got a new round to go to." and we said our goodbyes and I hoped on Saber, my Mechabeast. She was a leopard with actual spots on its seat. I revved the engine and we darted forward.
The match started in a few hours and I had a lot of ground to cover. I veered of the road into the jungle. It might be tougher but there's always the chance of finding a new slug. It was a quiet ride. Stopped a few times to rest and I eventually made it to the Southern Caverns.
A few Slingers had already made it and were at the target range. They were either practicing or showing off. I chose neither and decided to take a few minutes to choose my arsenal. Eventually I was armed with Amp, Splish, my Aquabeek. My Hop Rock named Rocky, (real original I know) Shard, and a Rammstone named Dozer. I loaded them up and went to check out my competition. Nothing too serious but a few guys did look like they could hold their own. Nothing me and my slugs couldn't handle.
I checked the list and found out I was fighting some guy name Martin Bullwhip. Dude looked tough. He was big with really broad shoulders. Looked a little top heavy though. That could prove useful.
I went ahead and loaded Amp and walked into the arena. Martin walked through the other way and the ref gave the signal. He fired a Hop Rock at me and I fired Amp. He transformed and tazered it before flying past to tazer Martin. The dude lit up like a Christmas tree before firing another slug. This time it was a Rammstone and it crashed near me. I managed to jump clear and fired Rocky right above him and a bunch of rocks fell. Martin had to dive to get out of the way so he was off balance. Easiest duel ever. While he was down I fired Shard and Dozer. Shard froze him in an ice cocoon before Dozer busted it to pieces and knocking into Martin hard. He groaned and fell on the ground.
"Winner Dex Cane!" the ref announced and the crowd erupted into applause. Once again another win, and once again I'm thinking it, not saying it, so it doesn't count as bragging. I walked forward to claim my prize. The guy only had a few tubes of interesting slugs. The others were either, not powerful enough, or too common. I finally decided on an Archanet slug. Not exactly rare, but they make an excellent defensive strike.
"Hey little guy," I said holding out my hand. "How would you like to come with me and be apart of my team. That is if you're up for an adventure." The slug looked at my hand then smiled up at me before hoping into my open palm.
"I think I'll call you Webby. How does that sound?" I have made a terrible habit of giving my slugs cliche names. He nodded and gave an enthusiastic squeak. "Good I'll introduce you to the gang."
"Next round in Lava Fall Cavern!" the ref announced before I could and I mounted my Mechabeast. I shot out of the cavern and onto the road to Lava Falls. Again I took an offroad path. There was this one time I found a Boon Doc, but turns out the stupid thing was already taken.
Yeah, if you haven't noticed I get angry when things don't exactly work out in my favor.
I rode silently for a while before I actually did find something, but it wasn't a slug. It was the Hooligang. Now I had run into these guys before and they weren't much of a problem. Heck, they were running away in pieces, but now they apparently had upgraded their slugs. All of a sudden I had three blasters loaded with all sorts of Ghouls aimed at me.
"It's you!" Billy yelled.
"Yep it me," I said shrugging with a smile. Kinda hard to forget me.
"You're the brat that cost us those Thrasher Ghouls."
"Yeah I remember," I said smirking. "I remember kicking you're guys butts and smashing your blasters. Good times, good times," I sighed.
"Oh you are gonna pay," Billy growled before they all fired. The slugs transformed into a Hop Jack, Grimmstone, and a Tempesto. I fired Amp and he took out the Grimmstone. I had to tuck'n'roll to get away from the other two. I got up and fired Shard, my Frostcrawler and he froze the next assault. They had gotten better and slowly I was being backed up into a rock face. My back hit the rock and I turned just in time to partially dodge an Amrachomp. He broke up the rock and I got thrown to the ground. I looked up to see Billy with a blaster in my face.
"Loser," he said and he fired. I tried to roll away but I ran straight into the cliff so I was stuck. I don't know what he fired but pain shot up my arm. Shakily, I tried to stand up but I was starting to feel the effects. My vision got dark, and I could barely stand. The last thing I saw before I blacked out, was a bunch of lights and the Hooligang running.
