STA Studios: The Final Battle Part 2 and 3

Chapter 7: Spirit Animals

(Still Mr. Pepperoni Man's POV)

"Mr. Pepperoni Man?" Mr. Grits asked, surprised that he ever found someone. I have never been so happy to hear his Australian accent in my life. Unsurprisingly, we both thought the same thing. We hugged each other for so long, I forgot how I was even in here for a minute. "How the heck did you even get in here?" I asked after a while. "It's a long story." Mr. Grits replied. "We have time." I said.

Mr. Grits sighed. "Alright. You might want to sit down for this." I did what he asked and he started explaining everything.

"And that's what happened." Mr. Grits concluded his part of the story. "Who's the alien girl?" I asked. "I... don't really know. She said her identity was classified for whatever reason." "Hmm..." I thought aloud. "Maybe she might be someone important, like the king's daughter or something like that." "King?" "Yeah, he's the reason why I was locked in here. He really doesn't make any sense." "Oh, you mean King Saltazard or whatever?" "How'd you know his name?"

Mr. Grits leaned in and whispered to me, "I heard a couple aliens blabbering about him while I was being dragged in here. They said something like, 'The King has ordered us to...' blah blah blah or 'King Saltazard orders us to move this over here' or something like that. Nothing really useful. But, I actually did suspect the alien to be the king's daughter." "Hmm..." I said again.

An uneasy silence filled the room. Mr. Grits cleared his throat. "Should we, uh... maybe, try to-" "Escape?" I interrupted my friend. "Already had that on my mind. Let's go try to find a way." Mr. Grits nodded and began walking towards a vent. "Maybe we can escape through here." " It won't hurt to try." I responded. Mr. Grits nodded again and lifted the vent. "Follow me," he whispered. We crawled through the vent, stopping every now and then to brush cobwebs out of our way. Once a minute passed, we heard voices down below. "We have to do something." someone said.

Mr. Grits and I glanced at each other, then looked back down again. "Like what?" another voice asked. "I don't know. Maybe we should tell the king about this." "The king?!" another voice exclaimed. We saw a glimpse of what was going on because a bright light glowed a few seconds later. Two aliens were pacing back and forth while a third was sitting on a rocking chair, looking like it was having a physical breakdown. Or maybe it was because it was old and had a really long beard wrapped around it. "We can't do that, we'll get in trouble!" one of the pacing aliens hissed. The second alien stopped pacing and looked at the old alien. "O' wise one, what should we do?" The "wise one" slowly looked up, but too far. It seemed like it was looking at us. It raised its finger at our vent. "Those two... are your answers." We both stifled a gasp. "How does he know we're here?" I whispered. "I don't know. It's probably because he's called the wise one." Mr. Grits whispered back. "Who's up there?" an alien asked, looking up. Mr. Grits signaled me to follow him again. "Come on Mr. Pepperoni Man, let's get out of-"

Suddenly, the floor of the vents crashed down, giving up on our weight. There was barely any time to scream or even acknowledge what had just happened. We landed in a heap of metal materials, groaning in pain. "Aha!" an alien snapped. "Spies!"

I gulped. "I-it's not what it looks like..." Mr. Grits nodded. "Yeah, this is just a... a misunderstanding."

"Ah! Finally you have come." The wise one exclaimed. "Us?" I asked. "Yes, come forth to me, young ones." I glanced warily at my friend, who shrugged and slowly got up to his knees. So, I did the same. When we reached him, he gently touched our shoulders. "Now, you have the powers of your spirit animals." The wise one explained. "Powers?" Mr. Grits asked. "Spirit animals?" I questioned. This is weird. First, I met Mr. Grits in the dungeon and now we met this old dude who's talking about spirit animals. I thought.

"Let me explain," The wise one cleared his throat. "I am the wise alien. The master of spirits. I believe you both are the chosen ones and you can spread your powers to your friends as well. Now, these animals depend on your personality. For example," he tapped my hand. "You have the personality of a cunning trickster." "Meaning?" I asked. "Meaning, you have the amber fox and mongoose."

I felt excitement glow inside of me. "A fox and a mongoose? That's so cool!" The wise one nodded and looked towards Mr. Grits. "You are a social being and almost always need others, especially the people you love. But when you get angry, it's like a 'don't poke the bear' situation. So, I am granting you the Timber wolf and the Bengal tiger." "A wolf and a tiger? Wow!" Mr. Grits gasped in astonishment. He glanced at me, a gleam of happiness in his eyes. "This. Is. The. Best!" He shouted. Surprisingly, the other two aliens stayed quiet.

The wise one chuckled and explained, "To turn into your spirit animals, all you have to do is clear your mind and then think of the animal. To turn back, do the same thing, but thinking of yourselves of course." "Thank you so much!" Mr. Grits exclaimed. "We owe you one." I said. Then we raced off, heading towards the rest of our friends. "What about the vent?" I heard an alien shout behind us. "Let's go tell the others." I panted. "Aye aye, Pizza Predator!" Mr. Grits happily said. I giggled and continued running, unaware that it was almost sunrise and the rest of the crew should be up by now. But Mr. Grits isn't with them anymore. And they were going to realize that.