Voices

Catching

 "Here, sluggy, sluggy, sluggy!" I sang. "I won't hurt you! I promise!" sighing, I sat under a tree to rest. I'd been wandering around for an hour, but to no avail. I was about to head back when I heard squeaking coming from behind me. I turned around and saw a small slug looking at me. It was blue, with yellow lightning bolt marks on its head that looked like ears, a pale blue under belly, and three yellow dots towards the bottom of its torso. It smiled at me and hopped closer. I put my hand out, palm up, and it hopped into my hand, happily bouncing around. I petted it under its chin and it squeaked happily.I smiled; I was capable of catching a slug on my own, and a cute one at that!

I walked back to where Eli and the others were, I was so happy that I had my very own slug! I just didn't know what its name was...or how to use a slug in a duel. I got back just before Eli came to find me.

"Did you find a slug?" he asked kindly.

"Yeah!" I nodded happily. My new slug popped his head up from my shoulder.

"You found a Tazerling, cool!" my slug, a tazerling, snuggled my neck."He really likes you, what are you gonna name him?"

"Spark," I looked at my slug, "do you like that name?" it hopped joyfully on my shoulder. "I'll take that as a yes." I smiled and petted Spark's head.

"That name really fits his electric nature," Eli said as he walked over to where I was just hours before and picked up a blaster. I cringed. "This is what I'll be using to teach you to be a slugslinger."

"Oh, right," I breathed a nervous sigh of relief, "for a second there I thought you were gonna shoot me."

"Nah, I wouldn't do that," he mumbled something that I didn't hear and headed outside. "Training starts now, let's go." I followed him with Spark on my shoulder. Eli had taught me the basics for slugslinging, and it wasn't as confusing as I thought it would be. He carefully explained what each part of the blaster was and its function, and told me how to load the slug right so that it didn't get injured. Next it was time for shooting practice. "Open up your stance a little bit," he instructed, "relax a little more." I did as he said and relaxed. I aimed the blaster at a target and focused. I rested my index finger on the trigger, and then pushed it. Spark shot out like a bullet and transformed before he hit the lower corner of the target.

"I was way off on that one," I said as Spark hopped back over to me. Wanna try again, Spark?" he nodded and smiled anxiously. "Okay, let's give it another shot." I readied Spark into the blaster and took aim again. I was about to launch Spark when I felt two arms wrap around me. I looked to se Eli behind me, his hands on mine helping me. I blushed a deep red. "E-Eli, what are you doing?" I croaked nervously.

"Helping you. Your aim was good but you lowered the blaster before you shot. Same with the other shots, you lowered the blaster then shot. Here," he placed his hands gently over mine and lifted the blaster so it was level with the target. "Think of the blaster as an extension of your body, it'll help if you do."

"O-okay."

"You all right, Astrus?" he asked.

"Y-yeah! Why wouldn't I be?" I stammered.

"Well, you're stuttering and," he looked at my face, "you're blushing." I looked away. "Are you sure you're okay? It's not because I'm too close is it?"

"N-no! That's not it!" I blurted out before I could stop myself. Of course that was it, but I knew that if I told him that he'd move away from me. "It's um... I'm nervous that I'll hurt Spark," I lied.

"With my help, you won't hurt him. Trust me." He smiled at me and my blush darkened in color, so I looked away again. "Are you sure you're okay?" I nodded. "Alright, now just pull the trigger and hit the target but don't lower the blaster." I did as he said and pulled the trigger. Spark shot out of the blaster once again; only this time he hit the center of the target. Eli stepped back, which made a small part of me break a little inside.

"How was that?" I asked while I walked over to retrieve Spark.

"Great!" he said happily, "You're catching on really quick, how about a duel? Just the two of us, Spark against Burpy."

"Sure," I said as I loaded Spark into the blaster yet again. Eli did the same with Burpy. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy win, especially since Burpy was a powerful slug. And the fact that Eli was more experienced as a slugslinger. I faced Eli and aimed my blaster, as he did the same. We both pulled the trigger at the same time and our slugs transformed and fought. As I had suspected, Eli won. I ran over to Spark and picked him up as Burpy hopped over to Eli.

"You still need a little practice, but you'll get it in time." He smiled again and held out his hand, "Lets go, it's getting dark, and the others are probably worried." We talked the whole time we walked back to where Eli and the others lived. We figured that I was suffering from amnesia, which was why I couldn't recall any of my memories, and that I was hurt pretty badly when Eli found me a week prior. He had told me that when he found me there was a crystal necklace shaped like a heart around my neck and it was covered in blood. I didn't remember what had happened before I woke up the day before, it was all very fuzzy and when I tried to remember I got a splitting headache that took hours to get rid of.

"So, Eli, you've never seen me before you found me?" I asked.

"No, but like I said, when I did find you, you were injured pretty badly."