Take Back the Light

Chapter 49

Unfortunately, the press conference came sooner than any of the Shane Gang would have liked.

The slingers were given one day of rest after traveling home from Bonnie Springs. That day was spent either sleeping or eating. Pronto enforced the "no distress calls" policy, although Eli did his best to try to sneak around the molenoid a couple times. Naps were taken either in the slinger's room or, as was the case in the afternoon, a heap on the couch.

That's where Alana was around dinnertime. Kord was the unofficial pillow, everyone heaped around him in sweatpants and comfy shirts, content to sleep the evening away. Instead, whatever 'do not disturb' function Pronto had enabled apparently wore off, because pings from the holodesk began to break the silence.

"I am going to slug whoever is sending those," Pronto growled.

"I'm not acknowledging that statement," Eli yawned.

The pings continued for a few moments before Alana sighed and rolled off the couch, stumbling to her feet. She readjusted her arm sling before meandering over to the holodesk and collapsing in the desk chair.

"I'll read these only if you guys promise not to tell Sam that I'm looking at screens while concussed," she called.

"Deal," Kord grumbled.

"Okay- oh. It's not distress calls, it's just messages," Alana said, leaning forward and squinting. "It's news sites. And channels. Pestering us for a press conference. Word's getting around about Blakk, but apparently Slugterra wants to hear it from us."

Eli sighed and finally stood up from the couch, rubbing his eyes. He was in his designated comfy outfit, which was actually just gym shorts and his hoodie from the surface. He pulled his hood down, revealing a truly horrendous mess of black hair sticking up in every direction.

"Okay, fine. I guess that's fair. We're going to have to do it sooner or later, so let's get it over with. Go ahead and post, say we're doing a conference tomorrow at 6," he decided.

A collective groan sounded from the remaining slingers on the couch.

"Got it," Alana said, typing out the message and sending it through. "Sam will probably want to open. I think she wants to start the whole 'transparency' era with Gray Enterprise as soon as possible, so she'll update people on what's been going on there. Then we can wrap it up with the news about Blakk and hopefully leave as soon as possible."

It wasn't that the gang didn't like talking to the public. In fact, they all sort of enjoyed the attention sometimes. But it could get tiring, and they were sure they would be met with questions they didn't have answers to yet, particularly involving the future of Slugterra. They knew what their next moves were regarding the remaining ghouls, but that was about it. The rest would be discovered with time.

After confirming the conference with Sam Gray and eating a dinner that consisted of mostly breakfast foods, the gang dispersed to their rooms to sleep the night and morning away.

~~~~~~~~

Red lightning flashed. First, Alana was in Wild Spores. Then the Blakk Industries citadel. A scarlet and black portal swirled in the middle of the room. Alana struggled to keep herself on her feet. In front of her were two figures, on the ground, scrambling for a grip on the smooth floor.

Will and Eli.

The half of the portal on the right, where Eli was, turned bright blue. Will's half stayed red. But it was still the same portal.

Alana still couldn't know for sure if Will's portal had led to the Deep Caverns. She'd only ever seen three ghoul-induced portals before. They'd all looked the same. Two of them had connected to the Deep Caverns. Was it because of the ghouls, or the location?