Key To My Heart || Slugterra

45| Junjie

Two weeks before war...

"Alessia!" one of the elderly chefs called out for me as I was entering the Kitchen hideout.

Today, I promised myself to make an effort to go down to the people and talk to them. The aim was just to let them know that I do appreciate their services and to give them some sense of security and togetherness.

I smiled as I dismounted Dalinda, before the chefs approached me like a wave of tsunami. They gave me bone-crushing hugs, yelling their appreciation and thankfulness, similar to what the children have done when I visited their tents.

"Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your help!" I yelled as loud as possible so that everyone can hear me.

They did not hang around for long. Their ovens were starting to beep continuously and the food was burning. They rushed back to their stations and continued their work. I got on Dalinda before I quickly walked around the hideout, tasting a few food and giving out as many genuine compliments as I possibly could.

"Alessia," Mario Bravado walked towards me after he fired a shot with Ricochet, his Speedstinger, that sent fifty more pizzas into the main oven in the room.

"Mario!" I said, beaming at him. "I've heard so much about you! I'm glad to have finally meet you."

"Likewise," he said, returning the smile. "Thank you for taking your time out to visit us. It means a lot to us, to the people. You are definitely a great influence to everyone."

"No worries," I smiled sheepishly.

I had definitely heard that a couple of times today.

"I'll love to stay but I have to get going. It's nice to meet everyone," I said, and they all bid me goodbye.

Next stop, the trainees.

The entrance door to the Slinging hideout dragged open, and it was apparently their break time. I smiled awkwardly at the slingers sitting on the ground, resting. They were panting, sweaty, with little cuts all over their body. All eyes were on me as I spotted Junjie at the other end of the hall. He waved at me with a soft smile.

I waved back at him before attending to the slingers.

"Thank you for your effort! We really do appreciate it," I broke the silence and drove Dalinda forward with a huge crate filled with water bottles to be distributed to the slingers.

"Yeah. We definitely sacrificed a lot."

A familiar voice echoed through the white walls as a figure emerged before me.

"The question is, did you do as much?"

"Boss Ember-" Straggus tried to stop his master from causing problems, but stopped himself when he received a death glare from him.

"All you do all day is going around the underground hideouts and look at people suffer like you're on a shopping spree. Telling us 'you're grateful for us' and 'we should keep striving'. Why can't you be a bit more useful? Being the second best slinger in Slugterra, after your little boyfriend, and you're not even one of the trainers!"

"Yeah! What's up with that?" another man stood up in rage.

"Why are we the ones who need to train all day and you get to roam around like a lost puppy?"

"That's enough!" Junjie silenced the group of slingers that were about to gang up on me from across the hall, but it lasted for no more than a second.

"Don't tell us to shut up! She thinks she's god and she can do whatever she wants!"