Alana sat on the roof of her room, overlooking the mushroom forests of Wild Spores Cavern as the morning Lumino glow bathed everything with yellow light. It was the day after the journey to the Lightwell, and she felt incredible. Her head was clear and she was filled with motivation to work with her energy and figure out new ways to use it to stop Blakk.

Her legs were criss-crossed, and she held Ash in her left hand. Her right hand was in front of her, palm up.

"Okay," Alana breathed, closing her eyes and focusing on Ash's energy and willing her own to mimic it. She felt a tingling sensation in her fingers, and when she opened her eyes, a small orange flame danced above her gloved hand.

A smile broke out on her face, and she turned her hand away from her and focused on adding energy to the flame. Her hands faintly glowed blue, and the fire shot outwards, arcing into the air before dissolving.

Alana lowered her hand and smiled down at Ash, who was chirping excitedly with his own flame burning on his head.

"That was pretty cool. Next time maybe-" Alana fell silent as sirens began to ring out. She sighed and got to her feet as Ash jumped up on her shoulder. "Never mind. Distress call time."

She jumped down into the open panel door on the roof, landing in her room and quickly shutting it before rushing out to the walkway that made up the second floor of the hideout. Trixie was partway to the holodesk, but paused to look up at Alana.

"You look lively," she noted. Alana shrugged.

"I feel lively after the Lightwell. I'm kinda glad we're about to get something to do, I feel like I need to get this energy out. Think I could land on the couch if I jumped from here?" she asked, leaning over the rail and trying to judge the distance. Trixie shook her head as she sat down at the holodesk and opened up the distress signal.

"Don't try. Save your energy for whatever this is," she said. Alana sighed and backed away from the rail, going down the stairs instead and meeting the rest of the gang around the holodesk.

Trixie pulled up the video. It was of a woman with dark magenta hair tied into a bun, and her eyes were wide and tearful. The footage was shaky- her hands were trembling, and she kept wildly looking around her.

"Help me, Eli, Trixie, Alana, Kord!" she whispered, her voice cracking. "I've been captured! I'm being held at Land's End Cavern. Please help me! I snuck in here to send this message, but-"

The woman was cut off when a door behind her suddenly swung open, flooding the room with light. A silhouette walked into the room, and the woman cried out and dropped the camera.

"Wait, no! Please, no!" she cried out, before the video went to static.

Alana gulped, her eyes wide. They got plenty of distress calls all the time, but these more chilling ones always made her a little sick to her stomach. But it also made her determined, and especially after the power-up the Lightwell gave her, Alana was ready for a fight.

"Damsel in distress!" Pronto exclaimed, breaking the short silence that followed the end of the video. "Pronto's specialty!"

"I thought you said your specialty was power napping," Eli noted. Pronto scoffed and waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't try to label me, sir! Pronto cannot be contained!" he said, and then promptly closed his eyes and fell asleep. Trixie rolled her eyes and turned back to the holodesk, bringing up a map that had the transmission's location on it.

"Guys, that's way out," she said uneasily. "There's gotta be someone out there that can help her."

"No hand-offs," Eli dismissed. "She asked for us by name."

"But not Pronto," Alana noted with a small smile. Pronto woke up from his nap and shrugged.

"My heroic reputation makes asking for me by name totally unnecessary," he said, before dropping his head and falling back asleep.

"Right," Alana said, turning back to Trixie. "It'll be fine. We'll hustle over there, beat up whatever creep took that woman, and then stop at Monarch on the way back and get some root beer floats."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Eli said, clapping his hands together. "Let's move out, gang!"

~~~~~~~~

The ride to Land's End, one of the outer caverns of the realm, was spent trying not to die of boredom. The gang resorted to playing the slug game, where they tried to be the first one to call out the species of a slug whenever they passed one. It took three whole caverns before the others realized that Alana kept winning because she could feel whenever they were coming up on any slugs.

Finally, after a long ride, the gang reached Land's End. The cavern was mostly barren, with ridges and plateaus of brown rock. Finally, a single building became visible on the horizon. It was circular, with only one door and no windows. The walls were dull gray, and there was a large satellite welded to the roof.

"Is that it?" Eli asked. Trixie looked down at the map on her Mecha's screen.

"It has to be," she said. "There's nothing else for miles."

"Doesn't look like one of Blakk's," Alana noted as the gang slowed down in front of the building, jumping off their Mechas and walking up to the front door. "I wonder who took her?"

Nobody offered any answers. They silently approached the front door, ready for security systems to stop them. But nothing happened. Kord looked ready to take a try at breaking the door down, but it swung open automatically. Eli and Alana exchanged a wary glance, but they walked into the building.

The entrance room had a wall completely covered in computer screens. Mathematical equations, strange blueprints, and encoded messages covered the screens. One entire screen was dedicated to finding percentages of some occurrence Alana couldn't figure out. Someone was trying to find the probabilities of something.

"I feel a lot of slug energy," Alana said, looking around at the walls and ceiling. "Like it's humming all around us, but it's not pure slug energy. It's all twisted up and manipulated."

"Then stay on your toes, everyone," Eli said grimly as he looked at the computer screens, a hand rest on his blaster. "Something's not right here."

Trixie stooped down and picked up a cracked video camera from the floor. "Must be where she transmitted her message to us."

"But where is the distressed damsel?" Pronto asked. Before any of the others could offer up an answer, an eerie voice sounded behind them.

"Over here."

The gang immediately pulled out their blasters as a door on one of the walls swung open. A thin man leapt out of the doorway, overtop of the gang and landing swiftly behind them. He wore a maroon and white suit with several slug energy generators attached to it. Blue-tinted goggles were over his eyes, but Alana could still see them, and they seemed extremely excited.

"But I'm not a damsel, and I'm certainly not in distress," the man said, his voice slightly high-pitched. He raised a hand and snapped his fingers, and immediately the door leading outside to Land's End swung shut. Alana gritted her teeth and glanced at the door worriedly. She hated being encased. The gang had been helpful when she'd been in Stalagmite 17- it was hard to be worried when Eli was the next cell over feeding Mr. Saturday some crap about making smoothies- but nobody was relaxed in this situation.

The man looked at Alana with a small smirk. "I knew you wouldn't like that! But I can't just let you leave without participating in the game!"

Alana didn't like how the man talked to her like he knew her. She'd definitely never met him before:

"What game?" Kord asked suspiciously.

"The one you'll play now that I've brought you here," the man said matter-of-factly. Alana's hand tightened around her blaster handle. Alarm bells were going off in her head.

"And you are?" Eli prompted. The man straightened up, looking a little prideful.

"Why, isn't it obvious? I am the master of the game!" he said, dubbing himself the Game Master. "And you know what's really cool about my game? You don't lose points when you fail. You lose everything."

Alana was beginning to question the guy's sanity. She looked over at Eli, who narrowed his eyes and shook his head at the Game Master.

"I think we'll pass on your invitation," he said coldly, firing his Rammstone square at the Game Master's chest.

But the Game Master didn't even flinch. In fact, he actually cracked a smile as the Rammstone didn't slam into him, but instead passed straight through him.

"He's just some hologram?" Alana asked, stepping forward and waving a hand through the Game Master's shoulders. The man scowled and swattered Alana's hand away- or at least tried to, but his hand passed through her arm.

"I assure you, I'm as real as it gets," the Game Master said with a menacing grin. "But did you really think I would make it that easy for you? You're playing against the best brain in the cavern!"

He walked up to the computer screens, and with a flick of his wrist, a holographic brain appeared, and Alana figured it was an accurate model of his brain. He looked at it admiringly before lowering his hands, and the image dissolved.

Alana raised an eyebrow and looked at Trixie, who looked as nervous as Alana felt. This guy wasn't stable.

"What a specimen!" the Game Master continued. "You should consider it a badge of honor that I chose you as opponents."

"If you're so great, how come we've never heard of you?" Kord asked, crossing his arms. The Game Master smiled and looked like he'd been expecting that exact question.

"Because the losers of my games can't talk," he replied simply.

"We're not losing because we're not playing," Eli said, turning and heading for the door, the rest of the gang following. "We're leaving."

Please let it be this easy, Alana thought as she followed behind Eli. But the Game Master laughed and pressed a button on one of the computers. A bunch of gears began to whir, and Alana felt a spark of light energy before the room shifted beneath the gang's feet. It did a complete flip, sending the slingers crashing into what was originally the room's ceiling. Alana gasped as Trixie fell on her and elbowed her in the stomach.

"Sorry," Trixie said, rolling over to the side.

"You're good," Alana groaned, sitting up and looking around at the now flipped room. She winced when she started to feel a little nauseous at the idea of being on the ceiling, and forced herself to think of the ceiling as the new floor. The Game Master, however, stayed on the original ground, looking up at the Shane Gang with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Now, what are you doing up there?" he asked innocently. "Oh, I must have pressed the wrong button. Hang on and I'll get you down!"

He pressed another button, and with another small flash of light energy, the room flipped again, returning to its original angle. This time, it was Alana's turn to crash into Trixie.

"This sucks," Alana groaned as she got to her feet and pulled Trixie up. The Game Master looked at the control panel in front of him.

"Hm, now which one is it?" he pondered out loud. He made his decision and pressed another button. Alana tensed, prepared to be flipped around again, but instead, something worse happened. The far wall creaked for a moment, then began to move toward the gang. The room was contracting.

"Uh oh! I seem to have pressed the squisher button!" the Game Master exclaimed with false surprise. "Oh dear, I don't have the override password. Quick! Do nothing! I'll go for help!"

With that, the Game Master jumped up and dove into the computer screens, disappearing when he came into contact with them. Alana took a deep breath and hesitantly stepped back, and noticed her hands were shaking. Once again, there was nothing to distract her from the feeling of being trapped.

Eli fired a Lavalynx at the wall, and Kord tried a Rammstone. Both slugs hit the wall and crashed through it, but instead of stopping, the wall simply glowed for a moment before the holes filled themselves in.

"Floppers," Trixie muttered, and Alana found herself backing up and pressing her back against the far wall, as far away from the approaching wall as she could be.

Suddenly, one of the holoscreens flickered on, revealing a video with the Game Master and his cocky smile.

"About that help, it doesn't look like there's anyone around!" he said, voice dripping with fake pity. "But I did find a DJ!"

"You've gotta be Flopping kidding me," Trixie muttered as the Game Master pulled out a DJ board.

"Yo, yo, yo! MC Mixmaster Game Master in the house!" he announced enthusiastically. "I was thinking about busting some sick beats for you hip cats to get thin to!"

Through unseen speakers, jazz music began to play. Kord immediately began to complain, but Alana ignored him, grabbing her blaster and losing it with a Rammstone.

"We need to stop this thing," she said, forcing herself to walk toward the wall, even though she wanted to be as far away from it as possible. If she felt light energy coursing through this place, then it might be powering the wall.

She rested a hand on the approaching wall, taking small steps backward as it continued forward. Sure enough, she could feel the energy powering it, but she had no idea how to stop it.

"There's a generator behind the wall," Alana said, backing away from the wall and raising her blaster. "Eli, I'll use Sarge to make an opening."

Eli nodded and loaded his Tazerling, understanding Alana's plan. "Got it. And Joules will short it out."

Alana ignored the tremor in her hand and fired her Rammstone. Sarge broke through the wall, and Eli quickly fired Joules. The Tazerling released a wave of electricity that shorted out the motor pushing the wall forward, and it came to a halt. Without the energy recharging the wall, the opening Sarge created wasn't filled in. It was a tight squeeze for Kord, but he and the rest of the gang were able to fit behind the wall.

Alana's shoulders sagged with relief once the threat of being crushed was gone. She felt her heartbeat return to normal, and her grip on her blaster was steady. Eli led the way around a corner and into a long hallway, looking around.

"Joules? Sarge?" he called, but there was no response. Alana realized that they also hadn't seen the Rammstone or Lavalynx from before. But before she could voice her concern, Pronto pointed out two slugs on the ground in the hall, a Rammstone and a Tazerling.

"There they are!" Eli said, relieved. He started to take a step forward, but Alana reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

"No. Something's wrong with their energies, it feels like the energy in the walls," she said. "All weird and manipulated."

At this, the two slugs snickered, and in a flash, they turned into tiny holograms of the Game Master. They jumped together, expanding until they morphed into the full-sized image of the man. He clapped his hands together, glancing down at Alana.

"Very perceptive! Wasn't that thrilling?" the Game Master asked excitedly. "And that was only your first challenge?"

Out of how many? Alana thought. Eli stepped forward, obviously irritated.

"And our last, gamer guy. Just give us back our slugs and we'll call it a draw," he said. The Game Master scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I've gone through considerable time and expense to match wits with you. I only choose the best contestants, and my research tells me that four of you are," he responded.

Alana, Eli, Kord, and Trixie all instinctively glanced down at Pronto. The Game Master nodded disdainfully.

"I didn't both researching the molenoid," he admitted. Pronto seemed unfazed by this- instead he seemed amused.

"Ah, yes. Pronto remains a molenoid of mystery!" he exclaimed, and Alana couldn't help but crack a small smile. The Game Master ignored Pronto, looking up at the other slingers.

"My rules are simple. Whenever a slug is used, I take it. Survive my challenges, and you'll see them at the end," he said. Alana's eyes widened. The Game Master hadn't been kidding when he said the losers of the game would lose everything.

"Eli, would could lose all of our slugs," Trixie said uneasily.

"We're not leaving Joules and Sarge behind," he said immediately. "We'll play the game."

The Game Master clapped excitedly, but he didn't look surprised. Alana had a feeling that the man had known the second Eli learned his slugs would be in danger, he would agree to just about anything.

"That's the spirit!" the Game Master exclaimed. He glanced over at Alana. "I've never had contestants quite like these before. We'll have such fun! Now, ladies and gents, step right up for your next challenge! Pull the lever and win a prize!"

A panel on the floor opened up, and a large wheel rose up from the ground, and a lever beside it. The wheel was split up into twelve different sections, each with a different symbol on it. There were all sorts- a water drop, a leaf, a snowflake, a gear- even an open door. That one caught Alana's eye. It must mean freedom for the gang, but she knew the Game Master wouldn't let the chances of escape be as easy as one in twelve.

Eli took a deep breath before stepping up to the lever and pulling it down. The wheel began to spin, a pointer at the top clicking as each section passed by. Finally, the wheel slowed down, losing momentum. It reached tantalizingly close to the open door, but Alana didn't let herself get her hopes up.

"Please don't land on freedom, please don't land on freedom," the Game Master said, bouncing up and down on his heels like a child.

Sure enough, the wheel stopped with the pointer on the section right past the open door- the water drop. The Game Master smiled and clapped again, while the Shane Gang all groaned.

"Ah, that was really intense, wasn't it?" the Game Master gushed. "My personal favorite is the tree, but this should be fun with our present company! Well, let's see what you've won."

Then the floor opened up beneath the gang, swallowing them up into darkness and sending them sliding down a tunnel before quickly spitting them out in a new room.

It was circular, and the walls were made of light gray metal. The floor was white and felt cool like marble, and was barely wide enough to fit the whole gang. The room itself was forty feet high, which struck Alana as odd, because there was no way the gang could have fallen down forty feet. The ceiling was the same metal material as the walls, and the tunnel opening the gang had just come out of quickly shut. There were no exits, no panels on the walls. Nothing.

"What is this supposed to be?" Eli asked, walking over and resting a hand on one of the walls. Alana straightened up her bandoleer, which had been jostled during the fall.

"The wheel had water on it," Alana remembered, frowning when she started to feel slug energy run through the floor beneath them.

"Of course it did," Kord groaned. Alana remembered that the cave troll wasn't fond of water. He'd had a rough time the few times the gang had wound up in Deadweed. "First the music and now water."

"Something's about to happen," Alana said, suddenly backing up so she was at the center of the room. She could feel the energy welling up, preparing for something.

Then the water started.

It cascaded down the room's walls, coating every inch in a thin layer, coming from the ceiling. It was somewhat clear as it flowed down, but Alana realized it was like pond water. As it began to gather up at her feet, it turned a more solid teal color.

"Aw come on!" Kord groaned, retreating away from the walls and glaring at the water as if that would stop it.

"This may be a problem!" Pronto said. The water was rising quickly and he was already being raised off the floor.

"How are we supposed to stop the water without using any slugs?" Trixie asked. The floor beneath them was quickly turning invisible under so much water.

Eli ran his hands through his hair as the water coming down the walls picked up speed. The pool was up to his chest now.

"It's a challenge, there's gotta be a way out," he said, scanning the walls.

"If there's a panel or something on the walls, I'm not seeing it," Kord said, groaning as the water swelled up and lifted him off his feet. Now the entire gang was treading water. "No ridges for a panel and it's all the same material!"

Ash jumped up onto Alana's head to stay dry. She was a decent swimmer, but if the water kept rising the way it was, there wouldn't be much air left pretty soon. She rapidly looked around at the walls and ceiling of the room, but she saw nothing that looked like an exit.

"Maybe it's all just a set up?" Trixie suggested. "And he just wants to see if we'll panic. We could get to the top and it could just open up."

"I don't know," Eli said uncertainty. The water was up to fifteen feet. "He wants challenges, he wants us to be entertaining."

"Well, it would be entertaining for him to see us panic over nothing," Trixie said. "And if we panic too much, we could drown."

Alana forced herself to think, despite the fact that she was starting to accidentally swallow water as it continued to swell up. The Game Master thought they were a challenge, and was counting on them not thinking inside the box.

The water was at twenty feet. Halfway full.

"If we wait until we get to the top and find out it doesn't open, we'll drown," Alana said. "I don't think that's it. Where wouldn't we go? The exit will be somewhere we don't expect

Pronto temporarily was submerged under the water before breaking the surface again. Molenoids definitely weren't made to swim.

"The bottom?" he sputtered, spitting out water.

"Did anyone see something on the floor?" Kord asked, looking absolutely miserable to be so soaked. "Cause I sure didn't!"

"Maybe we have to look again," Alana said. "People wouldn't normally try to go to the bottom."

Twenty five feet.

"I'm a good swimmer, but I don't know if I could make it to the bottom and back in time," Alana said, gasping as more water splashed up in her face. "We might have to use slugs."

Eli thought for a moment, then sighed. "We'll check out the bottom. I'd rather lose a couple more slugs and get them back later than get to the top and drown."

"Whatever you think will get us out of the water the fastest, I'm all for it, bro!" Kord exclaimed, quickly grabbing his blaster and loading a Bubbaleone. He grabbed Pronto's shoulder with one arm, tugging him close. "Me and Pronto will meet you down there!"

Eli nodded, loading his own Bubbaleone, Suds. Trixie and Alana grabbed onto Eli's shoulders as the two slingers fired their slugs in unison. The Bubbaleones transformed, a little cramped in the small amount of air left, but managed to turn back toward their slingers. The trio tucked their knees close to their chests so they would all be able to fit inside the slug's mouth.

In one swift movement, the Bubbaleone swallowed Eli, Trixie, and Alana up. Some water got in, two, but the three could still sit down without having to tread water, so it wasn't bad.

Alana peered outside the pink-tinted slug as it dove down in the water, shivering slightly now that most of her body was above water. Ash and Burpy both lit flames on their head to provide light. Alana could see Pronto and Kord descending in their own Bubbaleone, both looking glad to not be treading water anymore. Kord had a Phosphoro in his hand giving them some light in the dark teal water.

She leaned forward and stared at the water below them, and gasped when a faint square of pale green became visible.

"Look!" she called, pointing at the panel. The rest of the gang peered down at the block on the floor. "It's glow in the dark paint, that's why we couldn't see it before!"

"I'm not sure we should all get out at once," Trixie said. "If it's not actually an exit, we'll be stuck under forty feet of water."

Eli nodded and held up a hand to stop Kord and Pronto, who looked ready to leave their Bubbaleone.

"Good idea, Trix," Alana said, getting to her feet. "I'm a good swimmer, I can go check it out."

Ash chirped sadly, not eager to get soaked again, but Eli nodded.

"Sounds good. Signal to use if you need help," Eli said. Alana nodded and looked up at the top of their Bubbaleone.

"I need you to tilt sideways a bit and let me out," she called. The slug didn't make any noises, but it still obeyed, tilting to the side so Alana would be able to jump out of its mouth.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to slow down her heart rate. Then she yelled,

"Now!"

The slug opened its mouth and Alana took a final breath before diving out into the cool teal water.

When she opened her eyes, everything was blurred, but she could still see the glowing panel. It was just big enough that Kord would be able to fit through, so she was really hoping it was an actual exit. Otherwise the gang was in trouble.

Alana swam down to the panel, Ash swimming next to her face, looking unamused. She brushed away her bangs as she reached the panel and narrowed her eyes to inspect it.

Her heart sank- there was no handle on it. How was she supposed to get it open?

She let out a few bubbles of breath to keep herself at the bottom of the room and rested a hand against the panel. She could feel faint movement, like the faint hum of air moving on the other side.

It has to be an exit.

Alana reared back and kicked at the panel. Nothing. Her lungs betrayed her, releasing another round of bubbles. She clamped her mouth shut and tried to ignore the burning sensation in her lungs.

What do I do, what do I do-

Then one of her slugs swam out in front of her. Blue, her Aquabeek. The teal and blue slug pointed to herself, then at Alana's holstered blaster. Alana frowned and shook her head- if they used slugs, they wouldn't get them back.

But Blue seemed insistent. She swam into Alana's blaster, one of the few slugs that wouldn't require a torpedo shell to be fired. Alana's lungs were on fire, and she saw no other way to open the panel without a torpedo shell, which none of her teammates had. Kord might be strong enough, but there was no way he could swim over.

Alana's shoulders dropped in defeat, and she grabbed her blaster and kicked away from the panel. She took aim and fired Blue. The Aquabeek transformed and released a powerful jet of water that slammed full-force into the panel, knocking it loose just as Alana couldn't keep her breath in anymore and took in her first mouthful of water.

Immediately, the room began to drain. Alana was sucked into the panel and thrown into a dry cave, but she didn't fall from a ceiling- she popped up from the ground. Another seemingly impossible feat. Water spewed up from a square hole in the brown ground around her. The rest of the Shane Gang was spat out, along with the two Bubbaleones and Blue, and the panel shut like it had never been there at all, leaving a confused Shane Gang sitting in an enormous puddle.

Alana got on all fours and coughed out water. Trixie rushed over and helped her to her feet.

"Are you okay?" the redhead asked. Alana nodded, wringing out her ponytail.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm glad that worked," she gasped.

"I'm glad, too! What an excellent show!"

Alana immediately scowled at the sound of the Game Master's voice. She and the others turned to see the familiar hologram standing before them, looking as enthusiastic as ever.

"And I'll be taking those!" he added, looking down at the two Bubbaleones and Blue, sitting on the ground in front of him. Immediately, the brown stone beneath the slugs opened and swallowed them up. Alana knew they'd get their slugs back in the end- they had to- but she still felt a little guilty.

"What an excellent first task! I'll even throw in an extra treat," the Game Master said, snapping his fingers. Immediately, gusts of wind came from every direction, but Alana couldn't tell where the source was. The gang was standing in a barren tundra with no walls or ceiling, just black space with cyan lines and pixels occasionally speeding around.

In seconds, the gang was dry, although a little disheveled. Pronto was completely knocked to his feet.

"Smart choice, using the Bubbaleones instead of trying to swim down," the Game Master complimented. "I'm sure you all are hungry after all that work. Here, have an apple."

He held out his hand and an apple formed in mid air, but it looked very solid, unlike the shimmering form of the Game Master. Pronto stepped forward eagerly.

"Pronto would actually love a snack," he said. Before anyone could protest, the Game Master smirked and tossed the apple to Pronto. The molenoid held it up excitedly, but stopped when he saw that the stem was sparking at the end. Almost like...

"An explosive! It's gonna blow!" Kord warned, and everyone immediately stepped back. Pronto shrieked and tossed the apple away. It hit the ground and immediately exploded. It wasn't a very grand explosion- Alana knew her Grenuke could do better- but it shook the entire ground. Alana felt a swell of slug energy as the landscape in front of the gang changed.

A crack opened up in the earth where the apple detonated, and cyan pixels flew down from the air and materialized as an enormous canyon formed. The pixels created two bridges that spanned over the opening. One looked brand new, with handrails and a solid floor. The other was a rickety rope bridge that looked like someone had hit it with Hop Rocks. Several wooden floor panels were missing, leaving gaps to fall through. At the bottom of the pit was a sea of quicksand.

The Game Master reappeared at the other end of the pit, gesturing to the bridges.

"Two bridges, but only one will get you safely across the quicksand pit," he said, and even though he was far away, Alana could still hear his voice perfectly fine. "Better make your decision quick- that barrel of rotten apples is about to tip!"

With that, he dove into the ground, disappearing. The gang looked up above them, and sure enough, a barrel was suspended in the air just behind them, filled to the brim with explosive apples. Pronto peered over the edge of the canyon, unfazed.

"Why don't we just swim across?" he suggested. Alana raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Trixie.

"Because it's quicksand," she deadpanned. Pronto nodded.

"Precisely!" he exclaimed. Trixie looked like she was going to argue, but decided against it. Alana turned toward Eli.

"What do you think, E?" she asked. Eli looked back and forth between the bridges nervously.

"He wouldn't expect us to use the worse bridge... or would he?" he murmured. The barrel began to tip. The first few apples were falling to the ground, right at the Shane Gang's feet.

"Eli, make a decision!" Trixie said, backing away as more apples fell. Eli sighed and ran for the rickety bridge, and the rest of the gang followed without hesitation. The apples began to detonate, and the explosions shook the ground- and the bridge. It swung around wildly, and Alana had to hold onto the thin rope handles at the edges of the bridge to avoid falling into the pit.

"Ooh, bad choice!" the Game Master's voice sounded. Eli winced and glanced over at the solid bridge, not even ten feet away from them.

"Jump for the other bridge!" he called, leaping off the rope bridge. Alana, Trixie, and Kord followed, and the four safely landed onto the solid bridge. But with all the shaking, Pronto lost his footing, and with no warning, he plummeted down to the sand pit at the bottom of the pit.

"Pronto!" the rest of the gang cried out in unison, leaning over the edge of the bridge. Pronto landed in the sand pit with a small puff of dust, but there was no further sign of the molenoid. Eli was the first to react, scowling and backing away from the rail.

"Game Master! Pronto had better be back with us when we finish this, you hear me?" he yelled. The Game Master's hologram appeared at the end of the bridge, eating an apple (the non-explosive kind) nonchalantly.

"There are consequences for failure," he said simply. "Pronto's challenges are over. Your own, however, are not."

As he took another bite of his apple, Alana felt another change in slug energy behind her. She turned and gasped as she saw the bridge they stood on slowly dissolving into pixels.

"Guys!" she warned, turning to run down the bridge and reach solid ground.

"I thought this bridge was better!" Kord called as the four sprinted down the bridge. The floor was practically dissolving under their feet by the time they reached the end. With one final burst of speed, the remaining members of the Shane Gang leapt to the ground, landing in a heap, piled on top of each other.

As they gasped for breath and got to their feet, the Game Master appeared in front of the gang again.

"What fun! You should have seen your faces. Oh, wait- you can!" he exclaimed. He pressed his hands together, then pulled them apart, creating a holoscreen. On it was a photo taken just as the four were crashing to the ground, all with wide-eyed looks of terror on their faces. Alana rolled her eyes, her hands curled into fists. Now the guy was taking slugs and slingers, and she was getting really angry.

"And now, I'll leave you contestants to catch your breath while I prepare your next challenge!" the Game Master said with a wink before diving into the floor and disappearing. Eli walked up to the spot where the man had disappeared.

"Seems like all the machinery is below us," he noted. "He's gotta be down there somewhere with our slugs. And Pronto."

"We could really use his digging right now," Alana said quietly.

He's okay, she thought. He's gotta be.

"I can practically hear the little mole man now," Kord noted thoughtfully.

Suddenly, Alana heard a burst of static in her right ear. Judging by the others' startled reactions, they'd heard it, too.

"Hello?" asked a familiar voice.

"Pronto?" Eli asked, looking around.

"He's talking to us from the soupy beyond!" Kord exclaimed.

"What? No! From the dark below!" Pronto corrected, and Alana laughed when she remembered the gang still all had their earpieces in. "Someone does not understand the concept of a well-lit workplace!"

"How'd you survive the quicksand?" Alana asked, a smile on her face.

"We molenoids spend our vacations bathing in quicksand! I was able to dig a hole through the bottom of the pit," Pronto said matter-of-factly. Eli looked at Alana with wide eyes, as if to ask Really?, but she just shrugged. She was no expert on molenoid culture. Very few were.

"That makes you our inside operative," Eli said, his anger replaced with newfound determination. "Try and find out where the Game Master's controlling all this and report back. But keep quiet. He can't know you're down their moling around."

"Understood! Agent Pronto is on the move, like a ghost!" Pronto whispered, before going silent. Just as the conversation ended, the Game Master emerged from the ground, looking thrilled.

"Four contestants still standing! You truly are the most impressive I've ever challenged," he complimented. Eli crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe we're not impressed playing against a lonely crackpot with too much time on his hands," he said boredly. Alana fought to keep a smile off her face as the Game Master scowled. If there was one thing Eli Shane was a master at, it was getting on people's nerves in an insanely short amount of time.

"Fine! I had some other fun games planned, but why don't we just skip ahead to a final challenge?" the Game Master said, his scowl quickly replaced with a smile. He took a step forward, and there was a menacing glint in his eyes. "And this one is personal."

Alana felt another burst of energy as the ground beneath her suddenly began to shake. She cried out and held her head as she felt the vibrations in her bones, and her vision turned blurry as she fell to her knees. In seconds, black consumed her vision.

~~~~~~~~~

It felt like Alana was floating. She couldn't feel anything at all. Her eyelids were heavy, and she couldn't open them. A voice sounded, seeming to come from all directions.

"Alana Caelum, the mysterious fifth member of the Shane Gang."

Alana recognized the voice as the Game Master. She wanted to move, but none of her limbs seemed to work. She couldn't do anything but listen.

"You were the hardest to design a challenge for. I couldn't even find your last name until recently," the Game Master said. "Even so, I have no records of a Caelum family in the 99 Caverns. To make things worse, no birth information! In fact, there's no record of you at all until you were five years old. From there, you lived with Will Shane, so information rarely flowed through the cracks. Very strange."

He paused, and then Alana could practically hear the smile in his voice.

"But I did learn something really interesting. You're not a normal human. You have a bond to Slugterra's light energy. I was left with little data for your challenge, but I'm a creative person. I used what I had an developed something all new that only you can power. It's beautifully ironic! And now, it is time for you to face your... well, perhaps not a challenge. A bit of an adventure, perhaps? You have a habit of burying things, Alana. You don't want to confront your feelings because you're scared of what will happen if you do. That's a dangerous thing, dear."

Now Alana could hear the Game Master's voice coming from right next to her.

"Monsters don't always hide under your bed, Alana. Some of yours are about to come out and play. And remember, some of the worst demons don't look all that dangerous."

And then Alana spiraled back into unconsciousness, her heart pounding in fear.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hey everyone! This week's gonna work a little different than usual. It's Wednesday morning for me right now, and the next chapter (the second half of Thrill of the Game) will come out on Thursday morning, tomorrow!

Cyan out!