YouKnowMi

 The music softly echoed in the air. Burpy and Eli were unwavering in their focus, as if a cipher hid in its notes. The volume slowly arose, the strings growing higher until they leaped up and quickly lowered so as not to disturb anyone. That unintentionally caused the rate of information to double. You did it, Eli! And you doubted me !~ Never again, Burpy. Never again. Now what? They looked as one at the blackened skull of the courtier for Blakk Industries. The destroyed crispy claw print on his neck was the only evidence of what had happened. Too bad we’re on a time limit; about to have a two-faced visitor with a shot at redemption; and you’d look suspicious, otherwise our arsenal would clean that up flawlessly. The hungry look in Burpy’s eyes and the equally hungry pleads in Eli’s head made him shake it with a grin as he left, his claws re-hidden. You guys, I already feed you fresh meat when I can. Tell you what: next time there’s a dead bad guy and we’re in a remote place, 

They were tired and hungry. Scratch that, they were tired, hungry, and pissed. The number of Slingers hunting for this Enigmo slug and doing devastating damage was… One Slinger too many. Add that to the fact that Trixie was too fuckin’ eager to get to the Jungle Cavern to let anyone else get more than a literal bite to eat… Kord was several hair-thin threads away from snapping, with the only ones keeping him together being his friends. Trixie was too furious to care. Pronto was satisfied with the various bugs he could find, and he used his increased agility to find them much more easily. Eli was taking Burpy’s advice of mentally calling for the slug to focus his frustration from the idiots destroying the place and keeping Trixie’s rage from boiling over. “Eli! I’m not-. Sorry, I am. It’s just-!” “Hi, Cutie! Once I find-?” With an inhuman screech, she blasted the girl with an Attacknet,  which hung her upside down as she stared, speechless and stupefied. “I get it, Trix.

The two leaders thought their fellow slugs/humans would react one way. Most reacted the complete opposite way, to their slight confusion. The slugs not following Burpy were nervous, even as their curious Slingers reassured them. Those following Burpy were completely trusting. Pronto, on the other hand, was outright ecstatic. “Pronto will now be able to truly get in touch with his sluggish side!” The faces everyone gave him, including his slugs, did nothing to dissuade him. If anything, they only encouraged him, and that led to some… Disturbing trouble and unnerving developments.     Riding to Deadweed Cavern, Eli and Trixie withstood the urge to slap themselves, the latter rubbing the bridge of her nose. Kord couldn’t, leading to a minor shockwave. “Pronto, buddy, I’m asking again so you can hopefully wake up… What are you thinking?!” “Come on, Mr. Brave and Mighty Cave Troll! I intend to get in touch with my sluggish side and this is the best way!” Shaking their heads and

She hunts, bleeding me dry- -why?

Pronto’s worry transformed into a prank war that raged for the better part of the week, with Trixie, Eli, and their slugs having to plan around every possibility from both sides. One of those slugs was a green slug Eli had rescued after Billy tried to kill him in sheer terror. As they’d ridden back home, he took this time to get to know this unfortunate Darkened slug and his Slinger. This is very strange. The Darkness inside isn’t corrupting you so much as it… Loosening your restrictions. Both good and bad. That rang alarm bells in the minds of all members, both Slinger and Slug. Unfortunately, when Trixie blasted the self-identified Healer slug at Eli and Burpy so they could say they tried everything, nothing occurred. During the rare downtime Kord’s planning afforded him, Pronto saw a commercial for a weekend camp promising to teach anyone’s slugs new and better moves in a few hours without lifting a finger. Making a silent, one-sided bet with Kord that his slugs could learn more

“Greetings, Eli Shane. I see my gift to your father made its way to you.” “You’re lying.” “I have no reason to. I want us to work together. But let’s not talk here.” “Too bad. I’m not interested.” “I already see my slug on your shoulder. Give me your slugs, and I’ll return them at the same level of power as him.” “No. Way. You were the last one to see my father. You could answer where he is, but I doubt you’d be willing.” A burst of silence flooded the space between the two groups, with everyone around them blocking out the conversation. Staring at Eli and his slug, he slightly nodded and left, but not before answering in a whisper. “If you’re not careful, your little slug will destroy you. And everyone around you.” Pulling a repeat performance against John Bull, he gained a Frostcrawler whom he called Chiller. Heading back to the Hideout, Eli was intercepted by the trio he fought and bonded with earlier, with Trixie the first to speak up. “So, let me get this straight, Eli

Burpy looked… cutely demonic, to say the least, while packing a far more powerful punch, courtesy of Dr. Blakk and his strange, also demonic-looking slug. That fateful battle was the first and last time he saw it, courtesy of lethal impalement by a broken branch. A few days later, Blakk had another demonic-looking slug. When it was transformed, Will only had seconds to get Burpy to the surface. My son, now! He felt the rage and sadness close to consuming Burpy, even as his mental command echoed through the slug’s mind. But with a final, tearful look between him and a fleeing Blakk, he retreated with a roar. As the Darkfurnus raced his way up, he could hear the younger Shane and his mom having yet another “discussion”. “I don’t want to hear it. I did and am doing something just as important by having given birth to and raising your ungrateful ass.” Then, why do-? “Because raising a child who constantly questions you as a single mother is more difficult in this fucking

She was supposed to go left. They, too, were supposed to go left. He still went right. “We have Variants. One woman, five gargoyles, and one beast.” They screeched to a halt as two light orange rectangles appeared before them, a group of five strange people in S.W.A.T-like armor running out with batons ready. Before they could move, one of them, a slender man who looked uncomfortably close to Xanatos, spoke. “On behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I arrest you for crimes against the Sacred Timeline. Hands and claws up, Variants.” Looking at each other in disbelief, Brooklyn shook his head, grabbed Elisa, and moved to climb the wall, only to get hit by a baton and for both of them to fall back in slow motion. When Broadway, Bronx, and Lexington went to defend them, they too were hit by the same baton. “Last chance.” A growling Goliath raised his claws as Hudson dropped his sword. Clamping collars on the group’s necks, the Trio, Elisa, and Bronx were released from the

She stood triumphally over a falling and screeching Demona, her chest heaving as she’d dislocated Demona’s right wing. Staggering to Puck, who graciously created a chair, she fell heavily into it to catch her breath.  “So, what now, Ms.-?”  Her glare shut him up but left a mischievous expression on his face.  “All humans are supposed to be gargoyles, am I correct?”  She nodded while glaring at him.  “You want every human I’ve trans-?”  He shut up at the sudden lunge that left him hanging in the air.  “Every. Single. Filthy. Human. Back. Into. Majestic. Gargoyle. NOW.”  His grin made her want to punch him.  Then he spoke while bowing.  “By Titania’s Mirror, let truth appear, From stone and night, to wings and might. Humans once, but gargoyles true, Return to form, as I bid you. By Puck’s command, and Eliza’s plea, Let all be as it was meant to be.”  His spin and double snap of his fingers released the magic she needed to revert the horrible changes inflicted on her species.

The Maza family, now known as the Maza-Manhattan Clan, sat in silence, the weight of death and destruction on them. Elisa's apartment, a place of comfort and safety, now felt like a battleground. The global gargoyle backlash against Demona and her recently discovered followers had reached a boiling point, with the gargoyles working to root out any who followed her and honor the remaining humans' part of a Clan. Unfortunately, with the extent of her followers still unknown, her ‘Ten Crowns’ having disappeared, and the pain from her two actions still fresh, it had devolved into a global witch hunt.    Elisa had always strived for justice and understanding. But now, faced with the reality of the situation, she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. Her mother was a source of wisdom and strength, reminding her that the gargoyles had every right to be angry. Her father was a voice of reason and history, adding that it was about justice, not just anger. And her brother, the powerful Mutate