I have no excuse

Previously on Take Back the Light:

The gang continues the "Light as Day" episode sequence. Trixie, Kord, and Pronto battle outside Blakk's citadel, Eli travels to the terraportal, and Alana finds Dana to incapacitate her to ensure the terraportal can be shut down. The Shane Gang's allies fight Blakk Industries and Gray Enterprise workers at Bonnie Springs after the hospital in an attempt to divide the Shane Gang's attention.

When we left off, Alana was breaking into the room where she sensed Dana. Sam Gray and Max Altori were stopped as they attempted to ascend the hospital floors to check in on the patients.

~~~~~~~~

Alana's heart thumped in her ears as she raised her blue and black blaster. Ash growled from the barrel, tensing as his slinger stepped into the room.

It looked like a small laboratory. Blueprints lined the walls, and normally Alana would have been looking at them to memorize intel. But there wouldn't be any more missions to prepare for after today, for one reason or another.

Two long tables were pushed haphazardly to the side walls, beakers and test tubes littered across them among hastily scrawled notes. Four barrels lined the back wall, each labeled as hazardous substances. Alana swallowed nervously when she felt the dark energy radiating from within them - dark water.

And standing in front of them was Dana, radiating dark energy.

She looked worse now that Alana wasn't getting a glimpse of her from a moving mecha. Her ghostly pale skin now had faint black lines just beneath her eyes and creeping up from her neck- her veins. There was a scar running down her right cheek, where a glass shard from the ghouling chamber had cut her after Alana released a wave of energy.

Her long brown hair was tied in a high ponytail, and would have looked beautiful if not for the streaks of red that ran through it. Her scarlet eyes were cast down, looking at the blaster she held in her hand. A bandage wrapped around the right side of her neck, extended down beneath her scarlet shirt.

She didn't have that at Red Hook's, Alana thought vaguely, but she pushed away the thought. It didn't matter now.

Dana looked up, meeting Alana's gaze and feigning surprise, even though she couldn't have ignored Alana's light approaching in the building filled with dark energy.

"You came," she said, twirling her blaster in her hand. "I honestly wasn't sure. I thought maybe you would just avoid me. I would keep the portal open, though, so that wouldn't have worked out well."

Alana took a deep breath, her grip tightening on the handle of her blaster. She didn't want to fight Dana. She wanted to help her. The betrayal Alana felt every time she saw Dana's piercing red eyes was like a knife to her heart. She'd already lost her home and Will. She shouldn't have to lose a friend, too.

Her internal conflict must have shown. Dana smirked, amused.

"So now what? A pathetic last attempt to get through to me?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip. "A rousing speech about how I can get myself out of this, fight back against the dark energy? About how you still believe in me, about how for some reason you still think you can avoid fighting me?"

Alana's eyes narrowed. She felt a surge of light energy, warming her body and clearing her mind as she raised her blaster.

"No," Alana said simply, pulling the trigger.

~~~~~~~~~

The two slugslingers flanking the pair that walked out of the elevator didn't concern Sam.

Well, of course they worried her. She was a lousy slinger, and always had been. When you lived in a secure facility where all extracurriculars were mandated by two very controlling parents, learning how to shoot straight just wasn't a priority.

And speak of the devils themselves.

The man was tall with paler skin and pitch black hair, his dark, narrow eyes peering down at Sam with a familiar condescending look. The woman was just as tall, with dark brown skin and even darker brown hair tied back in a tight bun, with cool gray eyes.

Mr. and Mrs. Gray glared at Sam with a cold anger that made her feel small even after years of enduring it.

"Let's keep this simple, Samantha. You are to return to us immediately," Mr. Gray hissed. "Your behavior is unacceptable. I will not have my daughter out here ignoring her duties as our heiress, stealing from us to fuel her disobedience."

"I didn't steal," Sam replied. It was the only thing that came to mind. "I read the financial contracts. You gave me complete control of the system. Besides, if you're hiring all these mercenary slingers, I think you're fine financially."

The two slingers exchanged a glance and shrugged, and Sam's parents both rolled their eyes.

"This is what we're talking about. This cockiness, rebelliousness, the disrespect," Mrs. Gray spat. "This isn't how we raised you."

"No, but luckily I found it in myself anyway. I'm not coming back. I did the right thing," Sam said. "What you're doing is wrong. Just leave Bonnie Springs, we were doing fine before you partnered with Blakk. Why can't you go back to before?"

"Because the world is changing, Samantha, and we must change with it," Mr. Gray snapped. "Now come with us, or this will get messy."

The slingers both adjusted their aims to point not at Sam, but at Max, who was still half behind her.

Sam's heart dropped and she quickly shoved Max completely behind her.

She was not letting her parents hurt anyone else, especially not Max.

"Okay, fine. Look, we can talk this out, just let Max leave," she pleaded. "She's not involved with this, and it won't look good for you to be responsible for taking down a defenseless artist."

"Hey," Max mumbled, crossing her arms.

"Fine. Go hole yourself away with the other patients," Mr. Gray snapped. "Blakk's workers will end up taking the fall for whatever casualties occur here. This doesn't involve you."

"Yes it-" Max began, but Sam quickly elbowed her, pushing her away toward the elevator.

"Just go, please," Sam pleaded. "This is my problem, let me deal with it."

Max stared at Sam with wide eyes, at a loss for words as she looked back and forth between her girlfriend and the furious parents and slingers behind her. She sighed in defeat, turning and silently walking back into the elevator. Her black hair hung in her eyes as she stared at the ground in front of her, fidgeting with the fabric of her pink dress as the doors shut in front of her.

Sam relaxed despite the two Gray Enterprise slingers still pointing their blasters at her. At the very least, Max would be safe. Even if enemy slingers were moving up the hospital, Sam had faith in the slingers the Shane Gang had sent to protect them.

If they lost, nothing would matter anyway. So if she had to go with her parents for a little bit until she could escape again, that would be worth it. Maybe they would be convinced to lighten up their attacks on the hospital.

"Thank you," Sam sighed. "Okay. I'll go with you."

Her father scoffed, smirking condescendingly in a way that made Sam's stomach churn.

"Please. As if we would want you back," he sneered. "No, we have no use for you. We would never be able to trust you again. But now, the artist can confirm that you chose to come back. And when the news eventually breaks that you perished in the hospital at the hands of Blakk's workers, no one will know any better."

With that, he raised his hand, and the two Gray slingers stepped forward. Sam's heart thumped in her ears as she stumbled back until her back was pressed against the elevator. She frantically reached for the button, but one of the slingers fired a Frostcrawler at the wall, coating the button in a sheet of ice.

"Wait, no, no-" Sam stammered, looking at her parents desperately. "I- I won't cause any more problems, you'll never hear from me again!"

"We know we won't," her mother said, devoid of any sadness at the thought of her only daughter perishing. "You won't have any more chances to disappoint us."

The other Gray worker aimed his blaster at Sam's head, a Dark Urchin ghoul growling from the barrel.

Sam's stomach plummeted. Even after everything she'd done, and everything her parents had done to her, it never crossed her mind that they would hate her so much that they would want her dead.

At least Max wasn't around to see this.

Sam gritted her teeth and screwed her eyes shut, a few tears slipping down her cheeks as she waited for what she could only hope to be a quick death.

~~~~~~~~

As Ash swirled around Dana, creating a tight ring of fire around her, Alana dove to the side and grabbed one of the tables, flipping it on its side to create some cover. Paperwork and glass tubes fell to the ground, and Alana winced, reminding herself to watch for broken glass.

The Infurnus flew back over to Alana, returning to protoform and landing on her shoulder. Dana fired an Aquafreak that spun in the air, spraying cold water on the flames and dousing them. A light cover of steam filled the room.

"What, have I finally driven you over the edge?" Dana taunted, loading a Grimmstone. "Even sweet Alana wants to attack me now? What happened to you wanting to be friends again?"

Alana steadied her breath, trying to focus. She didn't need to be bantering, she didn't need to be falling for any mental games. Dana was an enemy, and she had to stop her enemy before being able to help Eli at the terraportal.

Alana felt a rush of ghouled energy hurtling towards her and dove out from behind the table just in time to avoid Dana's Grimmstone, which punched the table in half with a roar. The wood splintered like a toothpick. She quickly loaded and fired her Tazerling, aiming at the ground around Dana that was still wet.

Dana went to jump out of the way, but still got caught by some of the shock, crying out and temporarily faltering, curling in on herself as the electricity raced through her limbs. Alana fired a Tormato, blowing the remaining steam back at Dana and hopefully clouding her vision.

"Okay okay," Alana breathed, taking deep breaths as she hurried behind the other table.

I can do this, I can do this.

"You really aren't holding back," Dana noted, sounding genuinely impressed. "Now you understand how I've felt. I've had to fight you, I didn't have a choice. You think you're better than me, but you're not - we're the same!"

Anger flooded through Alana and she gritted her teeth, popping up from behind the table to fire a Hop Rock. Dana moved with lightning speed, firing a Hop Jack that tackled Alana's Hop Rock in midair. The slug and ghoul went toppling into one of the barrels in the far corner of the room, and Alana gasped as it teetered precariously before steadying. She could feel the dark water in it.

Dana followed Alana's gaze and grinned wickedly, running to the barrel and flinging the lid off before kicking it over. Dark water splattered to the ground, splashing up onto Dana's boots, but she didn't seem to care. Alana, on the other hand, frantically scrambled on top of the table, narrowly missing the dark water.

Her nerves went ablaze, every muscle in her body wanting to retreat away from the evil liquid, but Alana held her ground, diving further down the table as Dana fired a Barreto that wove around Alana's ankles, tying them tightly together.

"Aw, what's wrong, afraid of a little dark water?" Dana laughed, kicking some of the red liquid like a child at the beach. "I don't know why. I'm feeling great!"

Stop stop stop, Alana mentally begged, but she kept her mouth shut, trying to ignore Dana's remarks. She fired an Arachnet that latched to the ceiling and swung across the room, kicking Dana in the shoulders and sending her sprawling to the ground.

Alana perched on top of a cabinet, trying to map out her moves in the much more dangerous version of the childhood game 'the floor is lava.' Dana didn't seem to mind when she caught herself and dark water hit the tips of her fingers, and instead seemed to find it funny.

"You're out of your element," Dana hissed, firing a Pyringo up at Alana.

In a split second, Alana realized she wasn't going to win this fight by playing it safe and putting focus into the dark water. She leapt off the cabinet to avoid the Pyringo, firing a Lariat in midair that stuck to Dana's stomach as Alana sailed over her.

Alana pushed her arms forward as much as she could to guide the Lariat slime still attached to her blaster, sending Dana crashing into the wall and crumpling to the ground.

When Alana's boots made contact with the floor, she took a second to focus on summoning light energy, feeling it radiate off her body and attack the dark water, neutralizing the spill. Her eyes temporarily flashed bright blue as the energy surged through her body.

Dana coughed and pulled herself to her feet, wiping off some of the Lariat slime on her pants.

"Those megamorphs really make things more high speed, huh?" she laughed, lunging forward and kicking Alana in the stomach, sending her sprawling back. "Unfortunately for you, I've had Twist to help make up for that."

Alana just barely dodged as Dana threw a punch, trying to swing for Dana's face but missing as Dana ducked down and spun her legs, kicking Alana's feet out from under her. Alana cried out as Dana sprung onto her and she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.

I forgot about the dagger, she realized, glancing over at the cut on her shoulder that had probably been meant for her neck. It looked shallow, but it stung like fire.

Alana growled and wrenched her right arm free, screwing her eyes shut before firing a Phosphoro right in Dana's face. Even with her eyes closed, Alana saw the near blinding white light emitted by the slug. Dana shrieked and Alana kicked her off, opening her eyes and quickly blinking spots from her vision.

Dana was more blinded, frantically rubbing at her eyes to try to regain her vision after the blast. Alana winced as her Arachnet hopped up onto her shoulder, spitting out a large mouthful of webs near her cut.

"Thanks," she breathed shakily, wrapping the webs around tightly to stop the bleeding. Her Arachnet hopped into her blaster and she fired at Dana, pinning half of her body against the wall. Alana moved to load an Armashelt, but before she could, Dana scowled and Alana's blood ran cold as Dana's eyes temporarily glowed red and the dark veins on her neck became more prominent.

She ripped herself free of the webs like they were nothing, stumbling back to her feet. Alana gulped at the rage in Dana's eyes and fired the Armashelt, knocking Dana back into the wall. The ghoulslinger's clothes were singed and any exposed skin had to be stinging from the blast, but she got up again with inhuman speed and fired a Briardrill at the ground in front of Alana.

Alana tried to run, but the megamorphed ghoul's vines spread too quickly, entangling her legs tightly and moving up her torso. She cried out as thorns dug into her skin, and as if sensing her distress, the vines seemed to tighten and dig in even more.

Ash leapt off her shoulder and spat out small flames, trying to burn away some of the vines, but his progress was too slow compared to their growth. Alana writhed and tried to free her arms to no avail. Her breath quickened as the vines reached her neck and began to slowly wrap around it.

Dana walked over, seeming to relish in Alana's frantic struggling.

"I gave you every chance I could. Be glad I'm ending it now. This is probably better than whatever fate the Dark Bane have in store for you," she said. The genuine honesty in her tone made Alana feel sick.

"You- please- stop," Alana gasped, her heart racing in terror as her airway began to constrict. Thorns dug in all around her body, making every muscle sting as she tried to wriggle free. "Please, Dana."

Come on, I just need a second to concentrate, Alana mentally begged, trying to summon energy to do anything - break free, cure the Briardrill, affect Dana, anything. Black spots were beginning to dance at the corner of her eyes.

"Just stop struggling, you're making it worse for yourself," Dana cooed, her eyes flashing red as she grinned. "Hey, look at the bright side. You can go be with your parents and your precious Will Shane."

Alana didn't realize she'd moved until she did. Her eyes glowed bright blue and the glow spread down to her left arm, which she yanked free of the thorny vines with a cry. She grabbed Dana by her collar, holding her up and letting her body pulse light energy.

Dana's eyes widened with fear as the thorns of the vines retreated, replaced by bright blue blossoms, and the Briardrill on the ground was covered in a blue glow before transforming back into a Vinedrill.

"What-?!" Dana began, but she was cut off as Alana slammed her to the ground, stepping free of the cured vines. Her eyes still pulsed bright blue as she loaded her blaster and broke her mental promise to stay silent.

"I'm not like you. I never have been, and I never will be," Alana said, her voice booming across the room. "I will never just give up, whether it be against Blakk, the Dark Bane, or you. I will always want to save you, because I believe in you. I always have."

Alana raised her blaster and let out another pulse of light energy as Dana tried to get to her feet. Dana gasped and dropped back to the ground, clutching her head, and Alana could see her eyes shifting back and forth from red to dark gray-green.

"One day I'll help you, but I can't waste my energy on you now," Alana continued, pulling back the waves of slug energy. Her voice wavered as a memory flashed in her mind.

Evanlyn Caelum, shaking her head when offered her husband in exchange for the West's safety. She watched as he died, knowing that no matter how much she loved him, she couldn't give up her realm.

"I can't risk the world for one person," she breathed, squeezing the trigger and firing her Geoshard.

The slug hit Dana at the bottom of her torso, purposefully far enough from her brain and heart, but still enough to incapacitate her. Dana gasped and yelled furiously as the green crystals sprouted from the point of contact. She jumped to her feet just as the crystal encased her legs, cementing her to the ground.

The neon green traveled upward, along the sides of her chest to leave her heart exposed, stopping at her elbows and leaving her arms frozen, her dagger half raised. Dana's eyes watered in terror as the crystal crept upwards, towards her face, but it stopped at her neck.

Dana met Alana's eyes, looking confused as to why the Geoshard hadn't gone for her organs.

"I told you," Alana breathed, holstering her blaster and trying to calm herself at the sight of the Geoshard- she had to keep reminding herself this would not end like her father, that Dana would be fine. "I'm not like you."

For a moment, the room was silent. Dana blinked rapidly, and Alana noticed that her eyes were still switching colors, but before Dana could speak, a low rumble shook the floor. Bits of the ceiling tiles fell down to the floor and both slingers' eyes widened at the wave of dark energy that suddenly raced through the room.

Alana swayed for a moment but steadied herself, jumping when a voice sounded in her earpiece.

"Alana!" Trixie called. "The Dark Bane just started coming, we need you! Are you done?"

Alana hesitated, glancing at Dana, who looked frozen in shock.

Dana was trapped. Alana could fix things, right here. One huge blast of energy and Alana was confident she could eradicate the darkness that had been plaguing her friend. But she had no doubt that she would exhaust herself in the process. She'd be rendered useless in stopping the terraportal.

Alana raised her hand to her earpiece and turned away from Dana, stepping over the rubble and broken glass.

"I just finished. I'm on my way."

~~~~~~~~

When the explosion shook Sam's bones, she thought she was a goner.

Then she realized she was still breathing.

She wasn't in any pain.

In fact, hadn't the slinger been preparing to shoot a Dark Urchin?

Trembling, Sam opened her eyes, and her hands flew to her mouth.

Max Altori stood twenty feet away, across a gaping, smoking hole in the floor of the hallway. The artist smiled with relief as she lowered her blaster, which was still smoking from the shot that had caused the collapse. Sam's mother and the two Gray Enterprise slingers were nowhere to be seen, but from the shouted curses a couple of floors down, they were still alive.

Sam's father was the only one who remained, coughing and scowling at the Grenuke that Max must have fired. The little green slug stuck its tongue out at the man before hopping back over to Max, who still seemed appalled at her own actions.

Sam met Max's eyes and began to try to formulate some kind of thanks, but Mr. Gray stumbled towards Sam, fuming with rage.

"You insolent-"

Sam moved on autopilot, narrowing her eyes, reaching her fist back, and slamming it into her father's face before she even thought about what she was doing.

Her father crumpled to the floor with a groan. His nose was bleeding and definitely looking crooked, and he made no moves to get up.

Sam hissed in pain and shook her right hand, trying to dispel the ache in her knuckles. She hadn't exactly ever practiced that.

"Wow," Max managed, carefully walking around the hole in the floor and making her way over to Sam. "When Mario gave me that slug I wasn't expecting-"

"What were you thinking?!" Sam cried, running her hands through her hair. "They could have killed you, Max!"

"They were going to kill you!" Max retorted, reaching the edge of the hole and walking straight up to Sam. "I wasn't just going to run away and let you die!"

"They're my problem," Sam argued. "Not yours! I don't want you getting hurt because of something I did!"

Max shook her head, a small laugh escaping her lips.

"If they're your problem then they're mine, too," she said. "I want to be in this together, Sam. No matter what."

"I..." Sam couldn't think of what to say.

She had just been ready to die because of her parents, and now here was Max, someone not related to her at all, but someone who cared for Sam more than anyone else ever had. Max was willing to get tangled up in Sam's messes not out of obligation but by choice.

"Thanks," Sam finally managed, enveloping Max in a hug and giving her a quick kiss. "Thanks, Max. I love you."

Max's cheeks flushed and she nodded, resting a hand on Sam's cheek.

"I love you too. Now, I'm pretty sure I saw Mario scaling the side of the building so we should be fine, but let's go check on your patients."

Sam nodded, glancing down at her father who was stirring on the ground, blood on his face from Sam's punch and his clothes slightly singed from Max's Hop Rock.

"I don't think he's going anywhere," Sam said, turning away. "Other than prison when this is all over with."

~~~~~~~~

Alana could feel the terraportal as she ran down the halls of the citadel. Its energy was like a blizzard, a furious icy storm strong enough to have pierced down to the Deep Caverns. Fear made her stomach churn at the thought of being face to face with Dark Bane. Ideally, they would have been able to shut down the portal before the Dark Bane broke through.

But she really shouldn't have been surprised at the Shane Gang's luck.

Despite her body wanting to turn tail and avoid the dark energy, Alana ran headfirst toward the storm, finally slowing down as she reached the doorway into the portal room. The door had been busted down, and she couldn't help but gasp at the sight.

The terraportal utilized spinning canisters of dark water and various ghouls. It spun fast enough to create wind in the room, and a beam of bright red blasted down into the center of the circular room where Dark Bane were crawling out.

Eli and the rest of the gang were scattered around the room, accompanied by Shadow Clan, battling the Dark Bane that were armed with spears and years of pent up ferocity.

"Floppers," Alana breathed, taking a second more to scan the room before loading Ash and firing at one of three Dark Bane that were ganging up on the leader of the Shadow Clan.

The leader ducked down, letting Ash burp out a blast of fire into the Dark Bane's chest, sending him flying across the room. The Shadow Clan let out a mighty roar before slamming the other two with its tail into the closest wall. The leader paused for only a moment to nod at Alana before leaping back into battle.

"Do my eyes deceive me? After all these years, a Caelum?"

A chill ran down Alana's spine and she whipped around, her eyes widening as she looked up at what was easily the biggest Dark Bane in the room. His pale skin was littered with battle scars, and his grin showed off sharp fangs.

"My brethren will love watching you suffer," Brimstone laughed, swiping at Alana with sharp claws. She scrambled back, loading her Rammstone. "We aim to wipe out the midlanders, but we have hated the Caelums since the first."

The first?

Alana wished she could ask what he meant, but instead she fired her Rammstone. It hit Brimstone in his chest, creating a small crack in his chestplate, but other than being knocked back a few feet, the Dark Bane looked unaffected.

"You'll have to try harder than-"

Brimstone was cut off by a Hop Rock to the back, blasting him back into a swarm of Shadow Clan that descended upon him. Eli stood ten feet behind where Brimstone had been standing, panting and giving Alana a quick thumbs up.

"Are you okay?" Alana called over the sound of the terraportal and the battle, running over while ducking a small ball of lava that went sailing by from some Dark Bane. Eli looked exhausted, frazzled by the chaotic battle that just kept growing more and more intense as more Dark Bane emerged from the portal.

"Relatively!" he said, taking a moment to breathe before firing a Tazerling at a nearby Dark Bane.

"Alana! Watch out!" Pronto suddenly screeched, his shrill voice managing to stand out over the nearby roar of a Dark Bane.

Alana looked up and dove out of the way of a large tentacle emerging from the terraportal, grabbing Eli and pulling him down as another one swung around, grabbing a Shadow Clan and throwing him in the air like he was nothing.

"Oh great," Alana groaned, scrambling to her feet as the High Plains monster fully emerged with a roar that shook the ground. "I'll keep it distracted!"

She fired her Arachnet up at the ceiling, clear of where the dark water canisters were spinning, and launched herself into the air. The monster followed her as she swung around the room, temporarily ignoring the Shadow Clan and the Shane Gang.

As she swung around, she caught a glimpse of Doctor Blakk, who stood at the edge of the room, watching the terraportal in awe. She scowled, wishing she could devote a few moments to slugging him, but the priority had to be shutting down the portal.

"If we want me to shut this down, I'm gonna need this monster to go down!" she yelled, firing a Lariat to continue her swinging, temporarily perching on a vent tunnel sticking out of a wall. "It's solid since it had the portal to get here, but it still seems to like slug energy!"

Alana dove off the vent as the monster lunged for her again, firing a Bubbaleone at the ground and bouncing off it before continuing her run around the portal room.

"That would require us getting a break from these guys!" Kord called, grabbing a spear from a Dark Bane's hands and hitting it across the head, sending it crumpling. "They just keep coming!"

"And I don't think we can stop them," Trixie worried, running up to Alana. The two loaded Tormato slugs and fired simultaneously, blasting the monster back with an aimed tornado.

"Look what you've done!" Eli yelled furiously next to Alana and Trixie, glaring at Doctor Blakk. "You're going to destroy all of Slugterra!"

Doctor Blakk didn't reply, instead continuing to stare at the chaos in front of him.

Trixie fired a Frostcrawler at the ground, creating a wall between them and the terraportal.

"I'll cover you, you can try to cure the portal!" Trixie called, blasting an advancing Dark Bane with a Dirt Urchin.

Alana nodded, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She tried to ignore the sounds of the battle raging around her, tried to ignore the fact that her friends were frantically fighting for not only their lives, but for the lives of all Slugterrans.

Breathe.

She winced as she reached out at the dark energy from the portal, her head immediately aching. But she pushed through it, visualizing the dark water and the ghouls powering the portal.

I've done this before, I can do it again.

Alana's hands glowed blue, and she let the slug energy flow through her body and radiate out around her, trying to fill the whole room. But the glow flicked and shook the farther away from her it got.

"There's too much!" Alana called, screwing her eyes shut and trying to release more energy. She could feel her limbs growing weary as she poured everything she had out, but she couldn't guide the huge amount of energy needed and manipulate it to cure all the dark water and ghouls. Her knees nearly buckled, but she kept her balance.

"What do you need, how can we help?" Trixie asked, firing a Bubbaleone that swallowed up a Dark Bane as it tried to hit her with its spear.

"With everything spinning I can't focus on one canister, I'd have to do it all at once, but I can't guide so much energy," Alana explained, holding out her hands and trying to figure out how she could focus it all. "I- I need help, but I think I need a Boon Doc!"

"But Doc and Mage are at... wait! The guardian gate!" Trixie exclaimed, whipping around and calling out to Pronto, who was helping Kord to his feet. "Pronto, you were at the guardian gate!"

"Wha- I- OH!" Pronto shrieked, grabbing two slug canisters from his belt. "That is what I was forgetting! The Shadow Clan gave me these!"

Alana opened her eyes and gasped with joy, beaming at the sight of Doc and Mage, who waved at her and Eli, who ducked behind the Frostcrawler wall with Trixie and Alana.

"Incoming!" Pronto called, throwing the slug canisters over to their slingers. Alana and Eli immediately loaded the two healers.

"I am so glad to see you guys," Alana laughed, aiming Mage at the top of the portal, Eli doing the same with Doc.

"Ready? Now!" Eli called, and the two slingers fired the Boon Docs simultaneously. Alana holstered her blaster and continued focusing on radiating slug energy for the healers to harness. Her whole body was glowing blue, and the light spread outwards, swirling around the Boon Docs as they spun around the portal.

"We're not just curing it, we're sending these guys back to where they came from," Alana said, swaying on her feet as the glow from her body dimmed. She'd poured nearly everything she had into it, giving Doc and Mage the power to not only cure the dark water and ghouls running the portal, but to reverse it.

"You guys might want to hold onto something!"

~~~~~~~~

If you guys are somehow here reading this after so long, thanks and I salute you o7

cyan out!