Theresa

A once-great Slugslinger, Theresa made a name for herself, rising through the ranks until obtaining almost unbeatable status at a young age. Made famous on her own merit and seemingly coming out of no-where like a weed in the sidewalk cracks, Theresa was an instant hit across all the caverns of Slugterra. She hailed from a relatively unknown cavern, but managed to defeat the then reigning champion, Arc, in a brutal battle when she was just 14. Theresa actually ended up killing Arc during the battle, but was told to think nothing of it.   

Whilst not particularly charming or charismatic, what she lacked in personality, she made up for in sheer brute force, known for often tackling multiple opponents three times her size - and coming out on top. This strength made her particularly alluring for all fans - women especially praised her as "strong", "endearing" and "inspiring" for her role as an up-and-coming star in a sporting world mostly dominated by men. Theresa somewhat strengthened this image by never taking up a partner; staying single for all of her public career. 

However, one thing Theresa is rarely credited for was the birth of one of the next most notable names in Slugterra - Ramen. In her prime, Theresa was often used as a form of "ultra-law enforcement", a last line of defence if a situation became dire. Whilst on a peacekeeping mission to some distant caverns, which were experiencing severe natural disasters at the time, Theresa and her party stumbled upon the ruins of a city. Few survivors remained amongst the wreck, completely decimated by landslides, however, in a far flung corner, a baby, cut and bruised but largely unharmed, lay among the rubble. Upon approaching the infant, he seemed happy enough to let her pick him up and remove him from the debris. It was decided that, since there was nobody to care for the child, that he would be taken in by the state. However, Theresa grew attached, and took it upon herself to look after him.

Theresa actually stepped back somewhat after taking in the child (named Ramen), attempting to care for him as best she could whilst still maintaining her public career and reputation. When he became old enough, she took him on as her protege, kickstarting what was to be Ramen's stellar career in slugslinging. Whilst she was never the most involved "parent", often needing to spend weeks on the road for competitions or on missions, she and Ramen shared an extremely close and healthy relationship for the most part. 

For over ten years, Theresa reigned supreme over Slugterra's competition scene, completely unrivaled. That is, until Will Shane appeared. Theresa was 27 when they first fought, and it was the first time in years that she'd been properly challenged. Eventually, as Shane rose through the ranks, they grew close and began to work together, often tag-teaming on peacekeeping missions. However, over the course of time, their relationship inevitably strengthened, morphing into a romantic one, although they never went public. 

On one such mission, when Theresa was 29, the two encountered a group of pirates, massive fish-men who surrounded and trapped the two, demanding Theresa lend their power to them. Vehemently refusing to give in to their demands, Theresa and Shane decided to battle it out, Shane coming out on top despite being outnumbered. 

However, during the commotion toward the end of the fight, Theresa copped a stray Thresher slug to the neck. She was subsequently thrown from the deck of the ship and into the water below, where she almost drowned. She was placed into an induced coma upon her body's recovery, and spent three weeks in a vegetative state. 

Upon awaking from her coma, Theresa found that she lost a lot of the strength she previously had. Due to the injuries sustained to her neck by the blades of the Thresher and water damage to her lungs, maintaining control of her limbs and breathing were a struggle. For almost two months, the most Theresa could do was stumble out of bed and to the window or the door of her hospital room before becoming excessively exhausted. Despite having large amounts of therapy to rectify her motor control, Theresa never regained full strength, and still struggled to breathe when exercising. 

Through all this, Ramen tried in vain to help Theresa through it. However, Theresa repeatedly turned him down, too stubborn to accept help from others, even her own kid. It wasn't until Theresa had to leave the hospital that she even considered accepting his help, and that was only because the lived at the same address. 

Theresa felt beyond useless in the months following her accident, she couldn't do anything by herself without experiencing intense difficulty. What was more; she had the press on her back. Every time she went outside, there would be throngs of people and incessant questions hounding her at every turn. 

"-Theresa, do you know when you'll be returning to slinging-" 

"-How are you feeling, Theresa-" 

"-Are you going to retire? Is this the end of your career-" 

These questions created a sense of urgency for Theresa, surrounding her return, causing her to push herself to extremes in order to make competitions and public outings. She also began to look for something, becoming increasingly fanatic about finding it, believing it could revive her career. In the long run, however, this training broke her body further, leading to a very harsh loss against Will Shane, putting an end to her career once and for all at age 31. 

Eight years after her career ended, Slugterra heard of Theresa's suicide. According to her will, her final wish was for her fortune to be frozen, and unable to be accessed by anyone, not even Ramen. Ramen however, did receive a set of instructions, which he neglected to open for two years after Theresa's 'death'. It contained the instructions to find an extremely powerful artefact, one that could completely blow the competition out of the water. It was inferred by Ramen that this was what she was trying to find following her accident. 

In her memory, Ramen decided to dedicate the rest of his life trying to find it.