Slugterra 1. Chapter 1

Eli had always had a habit of wandering off, he'd be sitting on the edge of a conversation between his mother and one of her friends, then something would catch his eye. He was easily drawn to small details. This helped a lot when he was looking for things.

Usually this didn't bother his mother very much, as his grades were still pretty good and his focus was astounding if he tried to stay on topic, but today she had made sure to tell the boy to behave.

It was his father's funeral, they couldn't have the boy wandering off and getting into trouble, even if he was 15 he had a tendency to get caught up in things he shouldn't be caught up in. Another worry was that the boy would be called up to say a few words about his father and he'd be missing, or he'd be nowhere to be seen when the casket was lowered...

Eli could easily see through his mother's stern tone, she wanted him to pay attention, but she also wanted him to get distracted and find something to busy himself with, she had a bit of hope that if the boy occupied himself with something he wouldn't be wrapped up in grief for the first time since they recieved the call that Will had been shot while on duty, one of his fellow officers had told the news, choking up as he spoke...

Everyone took their seats, all dressed in black to mourn the loss of a good friend. Eli sat next to his mother, taking deep breaths every so often, trying to stop the stinging in his eyes as people spoke. Eventually his mother stood up to give a speech, barely speaking through sobs and tears, Eli couldn't stand it anymore so he stood up and ran off as silently as he could, very few people turned to see him run off.


	2. Chapter 2

Eli had found a nice place to sit, the base of a large tree from the woods that surrounded the garden by the graveyard. He wiped his tears and snot on the sleeve of his jacket, his suit was already ruined by dirt and mud from all the times he had tripped over low logs and twigs.

Eventually his tears dried out, the drops from his eyes replaced by the faint drizzle of rain that littered the ground in shimmering water droplets. Eli hadn't exactly picked the best spot to sit, he tried to avoid shade since the day was already pretty chilly, so he was soaked to the bone when the weather picked up. Drops became larger, heavier, falling more and more frequently.

With a sigh he stood, realizing people may question his whereabouts, Eli wanted to make it back in time to give one final goodbye to his dad.

Turning to walk, Eli took slow strides down a narrow path, one of many that weaved through the gardens. As he walked, something caught his eye.

Something stood out from the shades and green and brown that surrounded him.

Something tiny and orange.

It was very fast, as he had only seen a blur.

Then it ran by again, Eli noticed the creature to be hopping extremely quickly. At first he thought it was some sort of baby bunny that had been dyed, but upon closer inspection he realized it looked like nothing from this world.

As stated before, it was a tiny orange creature, it's body painted with flames and yellow lines. The creature hopped up onto a mushroom, chittering silently to itself while looking at a watch with big red eyes. The creature shook its head and put the instrument away before adjusting its suit and tie and bounding off. Eli followed quietly behind, even though this animal was quite small the boy had to keep up a decent jog to stay within sight of the thing.

Eli found himself all turned around and lost, out of breath as he came to a halt.

The creature disappeared, leaving Eli lost and about to miss his last chance to tell his father he loved him. Navy hair was slicked down from the rainwater and stayed up in spikes when Eli pushed the locks from his face with a cold hand.

Frustration built up and Eli clenched his fists, eventually throwing and digging one into the side of a tree, at least that was his plan.

He instead rubbed his now bloody knuckles, pretty sure he had just broken his hand as he couldn't move any of his fingers and the pain was horrible.

Just another great thing to happen today! A sarcastic tone drenched the thought.

Defeated, Eli sighed and choked back a sob, once again wiping tears onto the, now soaked, sleeve of his suit jacket.

Something behind him chirped. The orange thing he was chasing hopped into view again, trilling as he landed on the grou-

Wait.

Wait, no.

It... disappeared?

Eli had been watching it the entire time and he swore it just phased into the ground a few feet in front of him.

The boy took cautious steps forward, looking to see where it may have gone.

He didn't hear the crack in time to move.

He should've known to back up from the creaking of wood.

The ground suddenly gave out beneath Eli, he probably could've caught himself and returned to the surface if he hadn't tried to catch the edge of the rotted wooden door that covered the hole with his broken hand.

So, he fell.

He fell...

and fell...

and fell...

Eli thought he'd fall forever, he thought he'd die of old age, or starvation before he hit the ground.

That thought, and the wind, was knocked out of Eli when something caught his side. A rock was sticking out from the wall of the hole and caught the side of his body, causing him to spin and bounce around into other objects on he tumbled down the hole.

He mostly hit things with his arms or legs, occassionally bonking his broken hand against things, he was pretty sure he broke his other wrist or an ankle in his descent.

But then everything stopped all together.

Something extremely hard hit the back of his head.

All he remember before blacking out was the feeling of his teeth clamping down onto his tongue, blood filled his mouth, then he felt light as air.


	3. Chapter 3

Eli really didn't want to wake up, he remembered breaking his hand, and falling down a hole. He didn't want to face either of those things...

But something strange caught his interest when he stirred. The ground was ice cold, and very hard, felt nothing like the floor of nature.

How could he not be dead?

Maybe he was dead?

He probably died on the way down.

Was this heaven?

Was it hell?

Maybe this is the 'nothing' that came after death, the 'nothing' Eli thought to be true... of course he always thought 'nothing' would be a lot more... empty.

He was in a circular room, the walls lined with clocks that all showed different times. They were impossible to read, the hands were all twisted or constantly spinning. Gaze fell to the floor, a red and brown checkered pattern spread out from beneath his feet and traveled up the wall, the walls eventually turned to dirt. Eli looked up to see the hole he fell down, but he also noticed something extremely unnerving.

Things.

Tons of things.

Floating in the air above him.

He saw a few bathtubs, lots of picture frames, and even some beds. Eli figured he must've hit the mattresses on the way down, slowing his descent and providing him a way to live.

The next thing Eli noticed was that the injuries he got from the fall didn't hurt anymore, his hand still burned, but, it wasn't as bad...

His clothes were still a mess, though...

His fancy black suit was all ripped and torn, stained with dirt and blood from previous events.

His mom would kill him for ruining his only good suit... that is... if he ever made it out of the hole.

Eli figured that going straight up wouldn't work, so he looked around the room he was in. He turned around and noticed a very small table. That wasn't there before, was it? Either way it piqued the boy's interest, he stepped forward and noticed two bottles. One of red liquid, the other of blue. Both labeled "DRINK ME!"

He didn't really trust two random bottles, especially two random bottles that sat at the bottom of a hole he had just fallen down. He didn't know what was in them. It was probably alcohol, or something drugged!

But...

the more he thought about them...

the more his throat burned.

What? Why was he so thirsty? He drank a can of soda before leaving to the funeral, and two whole bottles of water before the ceremony.

Eli swallowed hard, cringing as he felt like his esophagus was being ripped apart. He licked his lips, surprised at how chapped they felt, they were perfectly smooth this morning!

Before Eli could ask himself what was going on he grabbed the closest bottle, the thick red liquid sloshed around as he ripped the cork out. He threw his head back and shoved the open end of the bottle into his mouth, instantly swallowing when the cold substance hit his tongue and slid to the back of his throat. He drank, and drank, and drank, feeling something like fizz rise up to his nose. He didn't stop until he ran out of breath.

Strange...

it was a very tiny bottle...

but it seemed to be holding a lot of liquid.

Eli looked to his hand, seeing the glass was still completely full.

What? Was this some sort of infinite drink? That could be useful later... Eli thought about pocketing both the red and blue drinks, but all the pain from earlier suddenly struck him. He thought he was gonna hurl.

Doubling over and landing on his knees, Eli clenched his midsection and tried not to loose the little bit of food he had eaten that day prior to the funeral. He felt his stomach acid bubbling and felt it creeping up and burning his throat. Eli clenched his eyes shut, holding his breath and getting ready to throw up.

Nothing.

The pain all went away at once, leaving his body oddly... tingly?

Eli slowly opened one eye... then the other... blue orbs looked around curiously. Nothing seemed off at first, except for the fact that everything was HUGE.

He yelped and stood up, noticing the tiny table looked to be a thousand feet tall now! The bottles had fallen to the floor, both of them nearly 30 times his size!

Eli ran up to the glass and looked in, checking himself to see if anything else had happened besides the shrinking.

He looked... alright? His skin hadn't turned green. His hair hadn't fallen out. Eli stuck his tongue out and pulled his lip back to the look at his teeth, nothing rotting or wriggling.

So, he was just a very tiny version of himself. A very tiny version of himself whose hand no longer hurt.


End file.

Slugterra, Adventure, Fantasy