(It's been a long while... I have been very busy and kind of... unmotivated to write, but I feel like posting a dumb idea I just had!)
As you may know, Slug Fu is a technique that requires a slinger to have a deep bond with their arsenal, this is what ultimately, creates the mental bond that allows the master to command the slug.
But what if this connection ALSO works the other way around?
The slugs are connected to the slinger, but the slinger is also connected to their slugs.
So the slugs could also perfom Slug Fu on their slinger.
As pure and refined the technique may be in lore, I refuse to believe slug fu doesn't have consequences on the slinger.
It is a fun little side effect that Joo-Joo and every slug in the Eastern Caverns never told to anyone, but they are well aware that it is possible, and are able to perform it whenever they want.
This could lead to fun scenarios such as Joo-Joo on top of Junjie's head, slug fuing him while he is asleep in the middle of the night to get snacks at 3 AM.
mario is what i would call an unorthodox master of slug fu
lets start with one of the first things junjie tells eli slug fu: showdown:
Junjie: youre being attacked from several directions.
eli: piece of cake, ive got plenty of slugs
junjie: with only one slug
this is the core of what makes slug fu: one slug, fully understood, is more powerful than a dozen fired blindly.
“90% of trick shooting is half mental.”
slug fu is about the mental connection, mario understands the psychological discipline required to truly sync with a slug.
“figure out the order of the layers.”
he isnt just telling eli to aim with his eyes, hes telling him to analyze every detail of a complex set up and internalize it before acting
"when you start something, always know what it is you want to finish."
every slug fu move is about intention. control the emotion, control the slug.
and even after the lessons he encourages him!
'youre improving, eli- but youve got to relax"
Relaxation is the foundation of any mental discipline
slug fu requires calm, trust, and fluidity to sync with slugs while youre blasting them
and finally:
"youve got a trick shooters heart, eli, and ive never seen someone so connected to their slugs- other than me”
mario sees elis connection and recognizes it because it mirrors his own!
now full disclosure: ive only watched it once all the way through, i was high for most of it. im just watching episodes and jumping around now
if tad was telling the truth, how did pieper end up on the Surface?
if pieper's element is air (as we assume it would be), wouldn't have tad noticed pieper turning into a ghoul temporarily? yet he didn't ask about it
at the end of Into the Shadows, pieper remained in velocimorph form for a while even when they were fully in the Deep Caverns, despite Burpy & Co not being able to transform at all (they had to ghoul them so the dark energy there wouldn't affect them). is pieper not affected by the deep caverns? why?
pieper is the first slug of her kind, but we don't know where she actually comes from.
STUFF I WANTED TO SEE IN SLUGTERRA
tad vs twist
junjie vs twist
junjie vs tad
(he'd destroy both of them so much. i love slug fu shenanigans)
junjie vs dr blakk w/ gatling
(we all know junjie is gonna slug fu the crap out of dr blakk's ghouls, but it'd be interesting to see him slug fu against sheer number instead of another slug fu master. also dr blakk's reaction to slug fu as a Thing that one Can Do)
So I rewatched Slugterra: Eastern Caverns a few weekends ago and there's one thing that still bothered me the most:
Chi.
The way that it is explained in the movie doesn't really... match up to the actual meaning of Chi???
Rant and headcanon below. Lmk your thoughts.
* = footnote at end of post
Decided to add a quick lil drawing. It's just what happens internally with their Slug Energy.
Like, from my understanding, chi is the life force/energy that flows through all living things.
But in the movie, it is said that it's a set of moral code, so essentially the Slugslinger code (that apparently the 99 Caverns have but was never explored truly. I wanna know what the code is explicitly xD cuz I have an idea by how Eli carries himself lol)
But anyways, if chi is just a set of moral code like the Slugslinger code, wouldn't all Eastern slingers follow it? If chi is so essential to Slug Fu, then if everyone follows it, wouldn't anyone and everyone be able to practice Slug Fu? Become a Master even?
If that's the case, then if someone (who isn't a Master) wears a wrist blaster, it would be frowned upon but it wouldn't be such a big insult and Junjie wouldn't feel so strongly about it.
So, I present you this:
Chi - Reworked
Chi —in Slugterra— refers to one's own Slug Energy*.
Slug Fu works by being able to tap into one's own Slug Energy and their slug's energy at the same time. This in turn, creates a connection between slinger and slug, thus allowing the slinger to guide their slug with Slug Fu art forms.
Although fairly simple to understand, applying the concept is difficult, incredibly more so to master. It is why becoming a Slug Fu Master is such an incredible and respectable feat, why it is such a huge deal, and why there are not many...
So if a slinger uses a wrist blaster and isn't a Slug Fu Master, it is an insult to tradition and to the Masters themselves.
Dark Slug Fu works the same way. Only difference is learning to corrupt your own chi, twisting it into something evil and dark... This in turn, allows a slinger to access the dark energy of ghouls. Does take a toll on a slinger's body, the corruption often showing up on their body...
Then, they have to will their chi to become stronger in order to overpower the energy of ghouls in order to, not guide them, but to control them...
NOTES:
The double sight Eli unlocks with Burpy, the way it works is that slinger's energy and slug's must be perfectly synced, thus allowing the slinger to see through their slug's eyes.
A Slug Fu Master is able to guide more than one slug at the same time by splitting their energy into X pieces and connecting each one to the respective slug. This does drain the slinger though and eats at their stamina and endurance.
Mastering Slug Fu takes up a lot of focus and concentration as just being able to be aware of one's own Slug Energy is tricky already.
* per "It Comes By Night, it is implied Slugterrans have Slug Energy, if not, the High Plains monster shouldn't have been able to affect the people.
TL;DR:
I reworked what Chi is in Slugterra. Chi is now the Slug Energy within all Slugterrans. Slug Fu works by connecting the slinger's chi to their slug's chi.
It Comes By Night says that humans (and humanoids) run on the same magic as slugs, which is why that Dark Bane eel thing was able to drain them. And if the assumption that Slug Fu is a manipulation of Slugterra's magical energy is correct... ...does that mean that someone could use Slug Fu to manipulate the body of a person? Like with bloodbending?
