Once I came to, I was relieved that I was still here, at this house inside s tree. I felt something being pressed against my head. I slowly turned around, only to see Taco, with a gun pointed straight at my forehead. I was too scared to move or speak. Well, anyone would be scared if there was a gun pointed at them. Even if I kept up the act, I still would have been scared. Not wanting a bullet through me, I shakily raised my hands above my head, to signal my surrender. She slowly pointed the gun down and looked straight into my worried, lying eyes. Then she spoke.
"Why are you here? I don't have anything that you would want. Now go, before things get messy."
"W-wait..." I had said to her, still freaked out by the gun in her hands.
"I didn't mean to come here, I just...needed some time alone, and stumbled upon this place."
"Not convinced." Taco said, slowly pointing the gun at me again. "What do you want from me? I'm not handing myself over."
"I'm telling the truth, I swear!"
She could sense the pure fear in my voice. I guess that was enough to make her believe me.
"Fine. If you say so. But go, before I change my mind about pulling the trigger."
I got up from the ground, and started to walk away. But I remembered. The masks under her bed, what did they mean? Why did she have them? What were they for? The questions kept piling up. I had to know.
"Hey, what were those masks for?" I asked, determined to not leave without an answer.
"I said go, before you get a bullet to the face."
"Well, everyone could hear me scream your name, or they could hear the gunshot. So, what are they for?" That convinced her.
"Fine. These masks are very special. They draw their power from whom they represent. All I need to do is carve their face, add the eyeholes, and infuse them with the one they are. Fan, for example. I had ripped off a small piece of his paper when he came through the forest one night. With that, I inserted the piece into the wood, and the Mask of Fan was made."
This both confusesand amazed me. Magic masks? But magic wasn't real...right? We knew aliens were, as shown from episode 14. So, why not magic? I kept asking myself those questions. They kept bothering me. I had to know more.
"What happens when I wear one?"
"..."
"I think you know what would happen. You become them, obviously. Just don't get caught by the one you are pretending to be. That will get you busted for sure. Now go, I told you. I'm not very fond of being caught by those imbiciles."
I trudged off, wondering what she could do and had done with them. Just a few days ago, Balloon had gotten into a fight with Nickel. Their fights were always verbal, but not this one. Balloon almost popped, and Nickel had a bunch of scratches on him. OJ threatened to kick them both out if they didn't stop fighting. They kept to themselves more often now. So did I. I knew no one cared about me. I mean, who would like Trophy? The self centered, annoying jock who would always order others around. I bet even Soap just faked caring about me and only did because I had no one else. Well, Cheesy tried to help. His dark jokes about our deteriorating mental health only made me stay away from him. But, I had to make up with him someday. I had to really be me someday. But I was too scared. Scaree of being treated like Balloon, or even worse, Taco. I was scared of becoming an outcast that people mocked and bullied for fun. I couldn't be me. Even my jock act didn't want to. Everyone would hate it too. So, If the fake me and real me were both hated...
Why not be neither? I looked back, only to see Taco running towards me. I held my hands in front of my face to protect myself. She stopped in front of me, holding something in her right hand.
"Trophy, I need your help. I'll repay you later. Just put this on and run. Don't stop. Just run. Don't worry about the mask, I can make another."
She ran off, leaving a mask in my hand. It looked like her. I wasn't fond of having Taco wanting me dead, so I put it on. The moment it touched my face, everything changed. I felt the mask melt into me, my bones creaking and groaning as I shrunk down, my once golden body being turned to baked bread and other things, such as lettuce, meat, and fish. I opened my eyes. I wasn't this short. I looked down and saw Taco's body, bowtie and all. The mask worked. It really worked. I became Taco. I just stood there, thinking. I could barely understand what was happening, or what has going through my head. Then the memories flooded in.
All of Taco's memories had entered my mind, overwhelming me quickly. I curled up on the grass and waited for the assault on my mind to be over. In only a few seconds, it stopped. I remembered everything. Barely losing the race to OJ. Escaping into the Perilous Forest. Teaming up with Microphone. The encounter on the alien ship. Looks like I really was Taco. I spoke, and I even sounded just like her. Then I panicked. Not because I was being hunted down. Because I didn't know how to go back. How to take the mask off. I pulled at my face, but to no avail. I was too worried about breaking my shell that I barely even pulled. Then I remembered what she had said. So I ran. And I didn't stop, just like she had told me to do. Wow, Taco's more agile than I thought. She was fast.
Then I could hear footsteps behind me. I went faster. They only got louder. Then I tripped. I landed on my back. The last thing I saw before everything went black was Knife's fist being sent directly through my face.