Hey all. Sorry; finals this week. I technically need to make a study guide tonight but, ahhh yeah that's not happening. Anyway, those who have been reading this story already may want to go back and re-read the chapters—I added a lot of extra content, because I wasn't really happy with the story initially. I'll also come back and proofread this later. Sorry for any grammar/spelling issues for now.

Gloyd's vision was a bit spotty. Bright splotches covered up the dark forest landscape in front of him. He tried to lift his head, but he felt severely off-balance…and when he tried to shift his body upward there was a sudden, sharp pain that shot up his ribs. Gloyd inhaled sharply. Yikes. That werewolf guy hadn't been screwing around. Wait, why the hell wasn't he dead yet?

Realizing he needed to get a grip on his bearings, Gloyd began to focus his vision. The splotches gradually became less intense, and he was able to discern the wolf's large figure, not far off. At first, Gloyd yelped and tried to move away—only temporarily forgetting that whole broken ribs thing he had going currently. It didn't take much to remind him as he cringed and cradled his side.

"Oh look! You hurt him! You know Maple and Dawn wouldn't be happy about this!"

There were voices. Oh. He hadn't noticed before. The bright splotches were returning due to the pain, but he could tell that the creature had its back turned to Gloyd. Oh, nope. No, it was looking straight at him now.

"Look, Cocoa, I enjoy playing with you, but I have my orders. Besides you clans shouldn't be sending out troops when it's not scheduled during gameplay."

A smaller figure, whose details Gloyd couldn't quite make out, leaned in his direction before responding. "Huh, well I don't know that kid from Drac, Lloyd. He isn't Autumn Clan. Or Spring Clan."

"But…he has a pumpkin…"

"Yeah…" There was a pause. Gloyd's vision was focusing again. The smaller girl had blonde hair. "You'd think with a pumpkin he'd been one of ours, but I've never seen him. Not even as a castle NPC."

The wolf glanced back at Gloyd, and then to the girl. "Well," he ceded, sighing, "I guess if you take him, we can keep this our secret, huh? You figure out which clan he's from."

"Okie-dokie." Cocoa smiled up at the big wolf. "But…what if he's not from this game?"

"Doubtful." Lloyd waved it off. "Malachi sent out a sentry to check out the new place and that vampire didn't come back. Ever since then, we've all been on lockdown."

"Huh…" Cocoa's brows furrowed and she crossed her arms, thoughtfully. "Soooo…is that why Maple has a strict 'Never leave the game' policy?"

Lloyd the werewolf mulled silently for moments before responding. "Yeah, it's possible."

"Hm."

"Now, go on. I don't wanna get in trouble with Malachi."

"Sure thing, Buddy!" Cocoa saluted to her much taller friend before waltzing up to Gloyd. It was then that Gloyd was able to get a much better impression.

The girl was perhaps a bit shorter than he, due to his pumpkin. Her eyes were a very clear blue color, with short, blonde locks that had been pulled back into two childish pigtails. Offset her little sundress was, by a large, dark cape with a nicely-sized collar. Two, small fangs on the sides of her lips did not go unnoticed, however. Gloyd suddenly felt like he had an upset stomach. Like that time he had eaten waaaaay too much Halloween candy, and had barfed it all up. Geez, his ribs must've been making him ill from the pain.

Speaking of pain. Cocoa picked him up brusquely and leapt into a tree, leaving Lloyd behind and leaving Gloyd to scream in pain.

"OH SWEET LORD OF TRICK OR TREATS THAT HURTS!"

"Oh quit yer bellyachin'!" Cocoa smiled down at her little damsel. "You don't wanna be hanging out in the North kid, believe me. Yer lucky Lloyd and I are pals."

Somehow, the method in which she responded was more offensive to Gloyd the extreme pain shooting through his body at that moment. "Kid?! You're as old as I am! And shorter!"

"Only 'cause of yer big pumpkin! Which…" Cocoa sniffed the air, "smells kinda weird if I'm gonna be honest." Cocoa halted her travels on a very large tree branch in a very warm maple tree.

She dropped Gloyd unceremoniously onto the hard surface of the tree limb, seemingly oblivious to Gloyd's pain.

"Sooo," she smiled warmly and unmindful of the situation, "What clan you from?"

"Ugh…" Gloyd held his side and scooted up against the tree trunk nearby. It felt like a massive relief to his poor body to have a support to lean on. "Clan? Is that like…'Vampire Clans'?" he motioned with quotes. After Cocoa stared blankly at him for a moment, Gloyd groaned and elaborated. "You know…the title of this game?"

Cocoa stiffened. She cocked her head back and sized him up. "You're…you're not from this game?"

"Haha, no! Haha—ow."

"Ohhhh. Sorry I wasn't gentle there." She smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of her neck. "I thought I would just stake you and you could heal."

Gloyd stopped. His stomach had that nervous feeling again. "Wait, so…so you would've just killed me?"

"Well…yeah." Cocoa shrugged and laughed. "I mean, with how nasty our battles get we do that all the time."

Gloyd felt his face turn pale. Sure, in Sugar Rush people crashed, died, and regenerated all the time. But he couldn't remember a time when anyone had to be murdered by their friends to help avoid serious suffering. Death had always been pretty instantaneous back home. Not a lot of time to feel pain or think about it. Ugh, he was gonna be sick.

Cocoa seemed to notice this look. "Sooo…you don't do that in your game?"

"Not…not really."

Cocoa blinked and shrugged. "Oh well! Different strokes for different folks!"

Gloyd cracked a weak smile. "H-haaa…"

Suddenly a crystal ball appeared in front of them. It was glowing and surrounded by black mist, levitating off of the branch. Gloyd quickly forgot his pain and felt his curiosity frolicking back. "What is that?!" He could feel his grin crawling back.

"Oh! I guess we've got another player!" Cocoa turned to him. "If my clan gets chosen I'll have to leave you here."

Grin was gone. "What? Nononono. I almost got killed out there! What if something comes to get me this time?!"

"Then…oh." Cocoa chewed on her lip, thoughtfully. "I, uh, hadn't thought of that."

Gloyd looked at her, deadpanned. "You hadn't THOUGHT OF THAT?"

"Hey! I JUST found out you weren't from here! OKAY?!"

Gloyd shrunk back. "Yes'm."

A loud, chiming noise distracted Cocoa and Gloyd. They turned their attentions back to the orb, to see it glow and disappear. Or, that's all it seemed to Gloyd, anyway. He looked back at her expectantly.

"Oh, it's fine. The player chose the Winter clan." She waved it off.

"Oh. So wait, you don't need to be out there?"

"NAWWW. I'm just a captain; I only gotta be out there when our leader gets chosen."

"Oh, huh. In Sugar Rush it's pretty important for us to be there as NPC's even when we're not on the roster."

Cocoa's nose crinkled in confusion. "Sugar…Rush?"

"My game."

"Ah. I'm Cocoa, by the way."

He smiled and adjusted his pumpkin. "Gloyd."

Cocoa smiled. "Well, nice ta meetcha stranger!" Gloyd felt sick again. "…But why does your pumpkin smell so WEIRD?" Suddenly he felt fine.

"Uh, well it's candy." Cocoa blinked. Gloyd was shocked. How could a kid have never been exposed to candy before and be that happy? "Well, uh, here try some. I always have a stash." He grinned mischievously. Removing his pumpkin hat, he began to fish through his various different types of candy. Cocoa leaned in to get a better view of it. After hemming and hawing, Gloyd decided to just let her try some peanut-butter cups. Being that this would be her first candy-trying experience, he decided to go with something classic. Make it special. Or something.

While placing his pumpkin back on, he held out the peanut-butter cups with a grin. "Try these! They're so good!"

Cocoa gingerly picked up the small candy. Eyeing it suspiciously, she sniffed it. Gloyd was pretty sure he had never seen that reaction to candy from a young girl before. Jeez, it really felt like he was getting sick. He hoped he didn't have a virus or something. Mustering up her courage, Cocoa popped a whole cup in her mouth and started chewing. And stopped. Abruptly.

"EUGH! PEW!" Cocoa spit the candy back out on Gloyd's shoes.

"GROSS! Hey, I like these shoes!"

"Well, don't feed me CRAP next time!" Gloyd just stared at her. What the hell was wrong with this chick?!

"It's not CRAP it's the most delicious, magical, tasty stuffs ever to be created by Santa Claus!" Seriously, what the hell was wrong with her?

"Okay, I only understood the first half of that, and that's stuff's so sweet I can't feel my cheeks!" she grabbed he cheeks and squished her face inward.

Gloyd just rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Hopeless."

That seemed to annoy Cocoa. "Oh? Why don't I show you something that's actually tasty." Cocoa made what seemed to be a concentrated blink, and an inventory screen popped up in front of her. "No, no, not that, not this—" she mumbled as she scrolled through various traps, weapons, and food. Finally she found a bottle and a glass. "Here we go!" Smiling, she shoved the glass into Gloyd's hands and began to pour what looked like grape juice into it.

Gloyd swirled it for a moment before taking a large swig of it. Cocoa leaned in, smiling expectantly. "Well? Well?!"

Well…he didn't HATE it but…it wasn't really sweet. Tasted kind of metallic. But he wouldn't let her know that. "UGH GROOOOOSSS. What is it?!"

Cocoa huffed and snatched the glass from Gloyd before downing it all herself. "Well! That's the last time I share my blood supply with you!"

Gloyd froze. "…Blood…?"

"What?" Cocoa cocked her head. "Never tried blood before?"

Gloyd really was gonna be sick.