Family Matters • A Slugterra Fanfiction • Eli Shane X OC

Chapter 2

Junxin ran towards camp, her heart pounding as she heard the terrified screams of the people still there. She stood behind a fallen mushroom tree, taking the situation in.

"Grab your slugs!" Eli ordered, standing on the tree trunk.

"They're gone!" Trixie exclaimed in horror. "All of them."

Pronto barged past her. "Stop! In the name of Pronto!" He fired his blaster, but all that came out was a click sound. He made an annoyed sound as he glared at his blaster.

Junxin jumped onto the trunk in time to see the stone warriors fire more ghouls at them. Her brother's eyes widened.

"Oh, floppers," Eli said, leaping off the trunk with her brother.

Junxin narrowed her eyes. She had to stop these things. Exchanging a determined glance with Juo-juo, she loaded him into her blaster and fired.

She saw a ghoul flying at her and sidestepped it, then focused her mind on Juo-juo's. She sent him to take down one ghoul with a jet of fire, then bore down on another with a beat of his wings. Another ghoul approached, too close for Juo-juo to get to. She raised her fists and got into a fighting stance, waiting for it to reach her.

"Mei, get down!" Junjie yelled, not knowing what she was about to do.

Junxin ignored him. When the Grimmstone was inches from her face, she grasped it by the horns with one hand and used its momentum to turn it the other way and with a twist and a kick, straight back at the stone warrior that had fired it.

"Woah," she heard Eli say behind her. "That was awesome!"

Junxin's eyes widened when another hail of ghouls were fired. "Time to retreat," she muttered to Juo-juo, who had returned to her shoulder. Juo-juo chirped in agreement and she jumped off the trunk, taking shelter behind a root with Eli and Junjie.

"Huh?" Eli wondered out loud as Hamengku swung overhead, landing in front of the Underlord.

"You will take no more slugs, Underlord Holt," Hamengku spat at him. Junjie, Eli and Junxin exchanged determined looks and loaded their blasters.

The cretin- excuse me, sorry, Underlord Holt- faked a yawn. "Oh, how scary!" he taunted. Then he snapped his fingers and gestured for his stone warriors to resume fire.

Hamengku spun around and ran towards them. At the same time, Junjie and Eli stepped out from behind the root and fired in unison. Junxin watched in awe as their Geoshard and Frostcrawler both landed at the stone warrior's feet, trapping them. They were a great team.

Hamengku saw what had happened and immediately turned around, using a Polero to bind the two stone warriors together so tightly they were smashed to pieces.

"Haven't you stolen enough slugs yet, Underlord Holt?" Hamengku said scathingly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Junxin saw a stone warrior raise its arm to fire at them. Instinctively, she loaded Ji-ji and fired, sending her to web him up against a mushroom tree. As she was about to fire Hammer to finish the stone warrior off, another Rammstone flew past her and reduced the creature to a pile of rock. The entire process took less than two seconds. She turned around curiously and found Eli giving her a thumbs up. She smiled a thank you, then turned back around as Underlord Holt opened his trap and started to prattle on again.

"Destroying my warriors today is what led me to your horrid cavern, so thank you," Underlord Holt sniffed, looking at his nails. Junxin's heart sank. No doubt the others would blame Junjie and his friends for this. The Underlord spoke again. "Now, I have all your slugs," he said condescendingly.