Chapter 3

It had been a cycle and a half since Anan had gotten his name, a cycle was what I was calling the days down here. We had seen several more slug in that time but overall it was like the first day lots and lots of walking, until we reached what looked like an abandoned trail, and not far from where we came out was, what we could only guess, an old bandits victim luckily we found no body so it was mostly just left over goods the the robbers had left behind looking through the old cart we found a few extra items that we could put to use. The first on the list was a futuristic biker helmet it fit me almost perfectly it had some pretty cool stuff in it, it had a side flash light, showed distance, speed, and it analyzed slugs really was just a broken (as in the sense of being overpowered) peice of equipment honestly with this I looked like an edgy mandalorion, the next thing was a supply of slug food which Anan enjoyed to his upmost, some water and old food packages that were still good, a tent, knife, a big bag of money hidden in a secret compartment, and a nifty backpack though it didn't quite fit the color scheme I had going being a silver and blue, it was useful and helped carry all of our new things.

Soon we had everything we needed from the cart and so we moved on, with a silent thanks to the poor soul that had been robbed.

Fallowing the trail was a lot easier than trekking through the forest, we saw less and less slugs finally I decided it was time to ask the difficult question,

"Hey Anan," he chirped to tell me he was paying attention "Do you want to become my slug? And don't feel pressured into answering yes if you just want to part ways when we reach the people then that will be great and I will always be thankful for what you have done." The slug looked confused then excited then exasperated towards the end. "So let's do our typical one squeak for yes and two for no," I waited for the answer anxiously, to be honest I didn't want to let go of the little guy. He was my first and only friend in this world being the one who stuck with the edgy looking slinger, one who obviously had a lot of problems if he di-

*chirp

Interrupting my spiraling thoughts the sound was like music to my ears. A smile that I was sure looked absolutely ridiculously silly. Using my index finger I rubbed the top of his head, getting a purring, chirping sound in response. "You had me worried Anan," I said to the Armashelt, he snorted in amusement and I chuckled.

Getting a great idea I decided to ask. "So do you want to commentate our partnership with me slinging my first slug?" He nodded excitedly and jumped into one of slug shells taking the blue container off my bandolier I slotted it into my blaster making the one already in the blaster fall to the ground, with a sense of rising excitement I pointed my blaster at a nearby boulder. "Ready Anan?" I said

*chirp!

I pulled the trigger. Anan shifted halfway to the rock, one of his crab-claw shaped fists was held out like he was throwing a straight punch, he crashed right through the rock but it slowed him down to the point of where he shifted back to his protoform letting out a cartoonish laugh of joy he started to make his way back toward me.

I was just standing there looking at the broken stone laying everywhere, I had just shot my first slug, with a blaster, and I had the start of my own team. Bending down I picked up the discarded shell, standing up I made my way to my teammate walking towards him. When we were about fifteen feet apart a slight motion in the corner of my vision made me look up a giant slug hound was running at us.