"Dad, I totally respect your decision but... you sure about this?" Eli asked the man sitting behind him on Dalinda. Since Lucky was smaller in size compared to Dalinda and can only fit one grown man, Eli and his father rode on Dalinda while I rode on Lucky.
"I've been thinking about it for a long time, Eli. It is my time to rest," Will said in the passenger seat. "Think about it. I don't have to worry about being possessed by the Goon anymore!"
Eli and I chuckled softly.
"It would have been great with you around, dad," Eli said with a soft sigh. "But I understand, and I'm happy for you. You've defended the caverns for so many years, you deserve to spend the rest of your life not worrying about Slugterra. It's just that ever since I was a kid, I have always dreamed about riding around the caverns with you, and fighting off evil together."
"Aren't we riding around the caverns right now? And didn't we fought together to save Slugterra just days ago?" Will laughed. "Besides, the person you will spend riding around Slugterra with is Alessia. You won't have time for your old man."
"Come on," Eli groaned with a cheeky laugh. "I mean it's true, but you don't have to say it like that."
I blushed, looking away to hide my grin from them.
"So dad, where exactly are we going? We have been in this abandoned cavern mines for so long," Eli asked his father. "If I have to guess, we're heading towards the Gateway, but there is no reason for us to go there."
"The Gateway?" I gasped. Phoenix, who was perching on my shoulder, chirped happily.
"That's exactly where we're going," Will said as the automated metal doors at the end of the hallway retracted. We pulled our mechabeasts to a halt as the mighty ancient Gateway stood in front of us.
The Shane Gang had told me a lot about the Gateway, but I have never seen it in real life. Now that I am seeing it for the first time, it almost feel unreal. The ancient structure has been erected since thousands of years ago. The markings and symbols embedded on the circular rock structure was clear but seemed lifeless without the Elementals powering it.
Analysing the symbols on the structure, I learned that the symbol carved on the outer circle at the very top was the symbol of the 99 caverns. The symbols carved on the inner circle were the distant places where the Gateway can take us to.
Glancing at those symbols, I could identify a sun, that was the most obvious one. I wasn't expecting anything when I was looking through the symbols but when my eyes landed on one of them, it was as if a tiny burden that I couldn't shake off surfaced in my chest.
It was one of the circular signs, with a spiral in the middle.
Why does it look... familiar?
Oh please, don't be silly.
This is your first time at the Gateway.
No way any of these symbols can be familiar to you.
"Why are we here?" Eli asked his dad, getting my attention off the structure. Lucky and Dalinda walked forward, approaching it.
"Have you ever wonder how to get back up to the Surface?" Will asked as our mechabeasts bring themselves to a halt right in front of the structure.
Looking up at the Gateway up close, I couldn't believe how such structure exist. There is no way technology thousand years ago can produce such a unique structure, let alone designed it to perform its magic.
This may be proof that aliens exist.
"Always," Eli answered, taking a secret peek at me, before his expression changed as if he just realised something important.
"Wait."
"Yup," Will mumbled as he dismounted Lucky.
Eli dismounted right after and so did I. I was confused when I saw Eli with his jaw dropping to the ground, probably reaching hell at this point.
"I can't believe you have not figure it out after so many years," Will shrugged with a smirk on his face, teasing his son.
"There's no way," Eli gasped, Burpy laughed on his shoulder. "How have I not thought about this?"
"You're too focused on the drop," Will commented. "You weren't looking at the right place."
It suddenly clicked inside my mind.
"This is the way up to the Surface?" I questioned aloud.
"Yes, Ales. You're slow," Eli said, still in shock, but he still smirked at me.
"She just saved Slugterra. Give her a breather," Will mentioned so casually.
"Since when are you on her side?" Eli pouted at his dad.
"I'm always on the side where I think is right," his dad raised a brow at him teasingly.
"Fair," Eli giggled. "But how? How can this portal take us back to the Surface?"
Will walked up to the Gateway, Eli and I followed closely behind.
"See this?" Will said, pointing at one of the symbols on the Gateway, the one with the sun. "This is the symbol of the Surface."
"WHAT!?" he said it as if it was the most mind blowing thing he had ever heard of in his life. It probably is.
"No wonder I found it familiar when I first saw it!" he exclaimed. "I remember now! It is the exact same symbol as the one on Uncle Jimmo's journal!"
"Uncle Jimmo's journal?" Will asked, surprised. "You have his journal?"
Eli looked at his dad, speechless. I bit my bottom lip, knowing what he did to that journal.
"Did you burn it," Will questioned his son as if he could read his son's mind.
"Yeah," Eli admitted, but not with guilt. He knew he had done the right thing.
Will put a hand on Eli's shoulder, giving him a strong pat.
"I don't know what situation you were in, but I knew you've made the right choice," Will said, a proud smile pasted on his lips. "Thank you for protecting the Shane's secrets, son. I am proud of you."
"Thanks dad," Eli smiled at his father.
"You are literally the best dad anyone could ever ask for," I said, smiling at the sight. Will was always so understanding and loving to Eli, and all thanks to him, Eli grew up to be such a great man.
"Thanks," Will smiled at me. "Bet your dad is amazing too."
Hero jumped onto my shoulder and let out a loud chirp before I could react to his statement. The other four Elementals hopped out of Eli's backpack, landing on the mens' shoulders, looking at the Gateway in awe.
"They're ready," Will mentioned at the same time when the Elementals' body glow in a light blue. I gently closed my eyes, feeling the strong slug energy generating from the Elementals, slowly reaching to the Gateway, powering it up. The Gateway gleamed in a light violet glow, highlighting the symbols on the circular structure.
"This is so cool," I mumbled, seeing the ancient structure function was just mind-blowing.
How many people in this world can say that they have seen the Gateway before? Let alone see it work!
"There's one last thing we're missing," Will said, before a familiar screech echoed the tunnel. We turned around to see the Shadow Clan Leader, standing on his rear legs. He got down on all fours before he crawled creepily to us, specifically to Will. Stopping in front of him, they communicated through Shadow Clan.
Can this day get even more interesting?
"Thank you," Will said to the leader, before making way for it to chant to generate the Gateway.
"Babe," I whispered to Eli, softly pulling on his sleeves, not wanting to disturb the Shadow Clan Leader from opening the portal for us. "I didn't know your dad speak Shadow Clan."
Eli diverted his gaze from the Gateway to me, smiling adorably.
"He is fluent in almost all languages," he said. "Sometimes I wonder how I am his son and not have even half of his awesomeness."
"He's the legendary Will Shane. Obviously he's great," I giggled. "And you're Eli Shane. You're amazing in your own ways."
"Nah I'm more amazing," Will murmured out of nowhere. When did he even sneak up on us.
"You know," Will mumbled to us as we watched the Shadow Clan Leader chant. "I still remember when I first encounter the Shadow Clan, I thought they were monkeys. Gosh that was so long ago."
I let out a laugh but quickly hold it back with a hand over my mouth. Now that he mentioned, they do look like monkeys with the long tail and slim body.
"Dad, don't let him hear you or he might shut the portal down," Eli complained when our bodies jolted from the sudden creak from the structure. The inner circular structure creaked towards the left, before turning anticlockwise, rotating a full circle, landing on the symbol for the Surface.
The portal was formed in the inner circle of the structure, glowing a bright violet colour similar to that of the symbols. Rays of purple light were visibly sucked into the portal, where the middle was just a bright white light.
I hold a hand up to shield the sudden light from my eyes, but when they got used to it, I couldn't stop admiring the Gateway.
"Wow..." I mumbled in amazed.
"Dalinda," I turned to my mechabeast and called for her to get her attention. Our gaze fixed, before she nodded at me. Understanding the assignment, she left the cave with Lucky, heading back to the Shane hideout.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Will asked cheerfully as he took the lead to step into the glowing portal. Eli and I exchanged a glance. He reached out for my hand, and we went through the portal together.
As I stepped foot into the portal, I could see the velocity of the rays of violet light traveling at a faster pace around us, as if the portal was using a stronger current to suck us in, but I did not feel it. It was like walking through a door, there was no pulling force from the portal, not what I expected.
"Didn't expect it to go that smooth," Eli said, thinking the same thing. "The last time I went through the portal with the Shane Gang, we fell ten feet from the air."
"You'll have to master traveling through the Gateway. I wouldn't say that I've mastered it myself. Sometimes I still end up at spots that aren't the most ideal. We're lucky this time," Will said. "Trust me. My first time was way worse than yours."
"Where are we?" I asked the father son duo. Under the night sky of the Earth, we were standing in the middle of a random road, with rows of houses along it. A residential area.
It almost felt weird now that I returned to the Surface. It had been so long since the last time I was on the Surface to the point where simple, normal things like the sky felt odd to me.
"Wait," I mumbled, examining my surroundings further.
It's the neighbourhood.
"This is why I chose to live here, Eli," Will said. "It's the nearest place to Slugterra on the Surface."
...
"Thanks, dad. I won't let you down," Eli said, giving him a strong nod. Will smiled at him, before turning to look at me. I was standing right beside Eli.
"You'll do great too. You've already proven to everyone what you're capable of," Will smiled at me proudly. "In the days to come, you will be fighting alongside my son, Ales. My son. It's my son you got there. Please, have each other's back, have trust. I believe in you two."
I returned the smile. Will gave me a strong pat on my shoulder, before he let out a soft sigh.
"This is harder than I thought," Will said with a soft chuckle, looking back at his son. "Eli, I'm only one Gateway away. It's not goodbye. I'll come down to visit."
"We will visit too, don't worry," Eli assured. Will nodded, his fatherly proud smile never left his lips.
"Go," Will instructed us. "Bet you'll never leave if I don't tell you to go."
Eli chuckled softly, before waving at his father.
"Bye, dad," Eli whispered so softly. Will gleamed, before he walked into the house and gently closed the door behind him. The house Eli used to live in. I remember.
Seeing that Eli did not move from his spot after his father entered the house, I held his arm, almost hugging it.
"You alright?" I mumbled. He snapped out of it, and turned to face me.
"That was hard," he commented, laughing softly. "But I guess it's for the best. My dad will be safe here on the Surface."
"Yeah," I agreed with him. "Don't worry, Eli. We'll visit often. Whenever you miss him."
I smiled at him, tiptoed to give him a small peck on his cheek. "We should get going before people see us in our slinging fit."
His face lit up, putting on a handsome smile.
"Not quite yet," he said. "There's somewhere I have to be. We won't be late, I promise."
...
"ELI!" I gasped when I saw the tree in the park. I remember this place vividly. There were other trees and bushes around the area but most of them were dried up and died, but not the oak tree. The one that stood so mightily in the middle of the park.
"Come on!" Eli said with so much excitement in his tone as he jogged like a child towards the tree, with our interlocked hands pulling me along with him.
Is this a dream? Is this an illusion? The memory of my last moment with Blue on this tree had played in my mind countless times for years, and it felt like I was reliving the memory.
When we reached the bottom of the tree, it looked smaller than I remember. Eli helped me got onto one of the strong branches, and it felt so much easier to climb up the tree, to reach the treehouse. I pulled myself up the wooden floor with ease and sat on the edge of the wooden house, allowing my legs to hang freely in the air like how I remembered.
Eli came to sit next to me, our sides slightly touching.
Under the greyish green leaves, we adored the numerous bright stars that lit up the windless, dimmed night sky. No one said a word for a moment. We were both trying to process what was happening to us.
"I remember," Eli suddenly mumbled, I turned to see his ocean blue eyes sparkling underneath the twinkling stars. "Since the day I went down to Slugterra, this scene have played in my mind for more than a millions times. I remember and cherished every second of it."
"Same," I giggled. "I can't believe we're back here again, on this treehouse. Just you and me. This can't be real!"
"But it is," Eli mumbled. He too can't believe that we were on the tree where we shared our promise to wait for each other almost four years ago.
I chuckled, allowing the memory to play in my head like how I always do. My love for Blue, the necklaces, it was like I was watching my favourite movie for the nth time, but we know that the memory did not have a happy ending.
He was gone. He left me.
The corners of my lips fell. I looked down at my feet, gulped.
Will it happen again?
"Promise me that you'll never leave me again," I mumbled.
Silence.
My heart dropped as I looked up to him. He kept staring in front of him, thinking. I saw him looked down at his feet, before he turned to look at me with a soft smile.
"After what happened four years ago and what happened to us in Slugterra, how I almost lost my life to the Darkbanes, I understand now that I can never make that promise," he said.
I pouted as I dropped my head to stare at the ground.
He was right, and I hated the fact that he was right.
He let out a soft chuckle, before he reached for my face, his index finger lifted my chin, making me look at him.
"But I promise you, no matter what happens, I'll always find my way back to you. That," he paused. "That I can surely promise. Whenever it seems like I'm not coming back, just know that I flopping love you and am trying everything in my power to come back to you. I don't care if you'd do the same but this is my promise to you."
His index finger left my chin to caress my cheek. His eyes stared deeply into mine as he shortened the distance between us, taking in a shaky breath.
"I can promise you this because there is no one else I would rather be with, and there is no place on this planet I would rather be at without you."
The corners of my lips raised before he leaned in for a kiss. My eyelids closed, a tear managed to escape before I felt his soft lips against mine. It was as if he sealed the promise with the kiss.
...
"Hello love birds," Mia called out when she saw Eli and I walking into the hideout, with him holding my hand.
"You guys are back!" Junjie exclaimed as he waved at us from the couch.
"Hi!" I greeted everyone.
"Where's Tad?" Eli asked when he saw that only the Shane Gang was in the living room. "And Twist and Dana?"
"Twist and Dana just went out," Kord replied, focusing on the screen where he was playing video games with Trixie. "Wouldn't be surprised if they're on a date."
"And Tad's no where to be found since last night," Pronto said on the hammock, reading a book upside down. "Nothing new."
"How was the trip back to the Surface?" Mia asked as Eli and I walked to the couches and took a seat beside her. Eli put an arm around my shoulders before Banger jumped onto his lap for pets.
"It was amazing!" I exclaimed. "Mia, we found the tree!"
"The tree?" Mia exclaimed. "It's still alive?"
"Yes, surprisingly," Eli laughed. "Didn't expect it to still be there."
"It must be a legendary tree or something. How did it survive for so long?" Mia exclaimed dramatically.
"Eli, how's your dad?" Junjie, who was sitting beside Mia, asked Eli.
"Probably living his best life on the Surface right now," Eli said with a shrug. "He has connections. He'll do just fine. I'll miss him a lot though."
"You have us!" Pronto yelled from across the living room. "With the magnificent Pronto around, the empty void inside you will be filled to the brim!"
"Oh my Guardian Slugs, Pronto!" Trixie exclaimed with her focus still fixed on the screen. "That's hands down the wisest thing you've said in your entire life!"
"Why, thank you!" Pronto screamed, not realising that the statement was not a compliment.
"Though it's not true," Eli said, looking down at me while I looked up at him, blushing.
Cute.
"Yeah yeah we know. Only Ales can fill that empty void of yours. Get a room," Kord said in annoyance. His eyes were fixed on the screen but I can visualise him rolling his eyes.
"And..." Trixie mumbled before completely demolishing Kord in the game with a single push of a button.
"HOW!?" Kord yelled, his hands grasping his head as the 'game over' sign flashed on the screen. "I was winning! How the flop did you do that?"
"I was toying you this whole time," Trixie smirked at Kord. "You'll never beat me. Give up already."
"Oh trust me I will," Kord said, cracking his knuckles to assert dominance, jokingly.
"Actually, you know what would be cute?" Mia asked, looking at Trixie. "Can we look at the pictures we've taken so far on your camera, Trix? We've taken so many pictures before but we never look at them, if you think about it."
"Pronto's magnificent mind thinks that that's a great idea!" Pronto yelled before he got off the hammock and sprinted to us, taking a seat on the couch.
"Yes please," I nodded.
"I'll get my camera," Trixie said before she went upstairs to get her camera.
While Trixie was upstairs, we made the living room comfortable and cozy, turning down the lights and getting thick blankets. Trixie connected her camera to the TV screen as we snuggled with each other on the couches. When we were ready, Trixie played
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