Protector's Bond (Two-Shot)

Chapter 35: The Days-Long SlugHunt (Kord)

If there's such a thing as manhunt there's such a thing as slughunt...don't judge me!

Funny, Jun slept in. It's 11 in the morning but he's still not awake. These days he's awake at around 7 or 8. But why did he oversleep? He must have stayed up. I think maybe the front door creaking at 1am had something to do with it. Did he go outside? Nobody should be out at that hour. It's too early to be awake.

Just as I was thinking these thoughts, the sudden slamming of a door shot shockwaves down my spine. I was about to yell at Pronto for pulling this off but I stopped because it turned out to be Jun. "You slept in." He laughed. "I know, considering the tiring chase we had last night." I was shocked. "Chase?" I asked. "What tiring chase?" He looked at me with those weak black eyes. "Emphasis on the tiring part." I heard him sigh. Then what he said "under his breath" at first felt like he was recalling fun times but what happened next truly scared me. He complained about Burpy being tough to chase. I asked him if he ever tried. He said, "I did last night after Joo-Joo told me the whole story. Apparently he's running away from home, he said."

Is he saying that the little guy is leading a secret revolution?!

He's running away from our home! He's lost his wits, yes. But if that meant that he wasn't home for literally the whole day, we have to go out and find him. Like Eli would do, I called the whole Shane Gang, instructing them to mount their Mecha-Beasts, and gave the order to split up and keep a look out for Burpy. "No questions, just keep your eyes peeled for him." I added. Now I felt kind of like a Shane saying that.

As I instructed, there were no questions asked. There was silence for such a long time. We were so confused and had not even a single idea of where he went. When the day became too hot and sweltering, we went back inside to keep cool. When day turned into nighttime, we switched out Mechas into vehicle mode and turned on the headlights. We also asked our friends, like Brody, the King, Mario, Dana and the ShadowClan to help. We checked in on them every single day to get updates on sightings. This went on for days, eventually weeks, and, much to everyone's fear, months.

Until Twist updated with news. "I see a bright orange slug," he reported, "It has two antennas on both sides of its head, the tips colored yellow. Got an arrow on the back and front of his head. I think it's Burpy!" That was the most delightful news I've ever had in all my life. What's even better is that Twist found him dozing on the couch like nothing happened! We told our friends all that happened and that they don't need to worry about him anymore. I told the whole Gang to come in quietly. We're so glad he's home! But who pushed him to come home to us? Eli?

We'll find out soon enough.