Chapter 4: The Hotheaded Cinnamon Girl!

While Sugar was grounded, Aroma offered to take care of the monsters that Sugar couldn't get on her tight schedule. But as Sugar found out a few days later, it was more of a burden than a favor. Aroma got easily scared by the littlest things, like shadows and people sneaking up on her, and was very sleepy-eyed. Sugar was no better, but felt guilty about it when she saw Aroma walk into a tree by accident.

"Maybe I shouldn't have gotten her involved in this, and left her oblivious to her real identity," Sugar said to Hershey later that night.

"But then you would be getting into more trouble than you already are, and besides, it was bound to happen sooner or later, though not necessarily with you," Hershey replied, eating some carrot cake Sugar left for her.

"You were expecting Princess Lolly to awaken them, weren't you?"

"Yes, more or less, in regards to the prophecy."

"What prophesy?" Sugar asked, looking at Hershey with an odd stare.

Dismissing Sugar's stare, Hershey continued to eat her carrot cake while she explained, "It was something that our wise council, Gramma Nutt, told the King and Queen when Lolly was born, saying that 'in a distant land, Lolly will come to realize her true power, awaken the four flavors, and stop the evil that rests on the other side of the Lollipop Woods'. Clearly, the distant land refers to earth, the four flavors refer to the Candy Brigade, and the evil she referred to was none other than Lord Licorice himself."

"Yeah, but just because you can see the future doesn't mean everything will go exactly as planned."

"In your case, this is true, but we must find the rest of the Candy Brigade at all costs, and it'll be much easier thanks to your ability to pick up their Scents."

Sugar shrugged. "Well, I guess, but how am I supposed to distinguish magical scents from ordinary ones, like perfume?"

"Simple. You ask them if they're wearing perfume or not."

The next day, she offered to walk home with Aroma, but she had to go to a book club that night, and the tennis boys weren't practicing either, which was both a disappointment and a relief. She missed Miloe, but wanted to avoid Duke whenever possible. He annoyed her by calling her 'sugar-pie' every time they ran into each other, and people laughed when she yelled at him for it. Luckily, Miloe was never there during those incidents. But Sugar's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a soccer ball flew out of the field she was walking next to and hit her directly on the side of the head.

She groaned in pain, and knelt down holding her head when someone came up to her and asked in a deep, feminine voice, "Are you okay?"

It was a girl with tan skin and burgundy eyes, but her hair was so short and her soccer uniform was so baggy that for a second, Sugar thought she was talking to a guy. But a strong, spicy aroma reminded her otherwise as the girl helped Sugar up. She scratched the back of her head a dozen times as Sugar picked up the cooler where Hershey was kept in.

"I'm really, really sorry about hitting you. Man, my kick just went out of control! I hope you can forgive me," the girl said apologetically. Then she noticed the cooler. "Hey, what have you got in there?"

"Oh, it's nothing, j-just a chocolate bunny," then Sugar felt immediately stupid for saying that out loud.

"A chocolate bunny, in autumn? What are you carrying it around for?"

"Oh, I…I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so I bring it with me in case I feel like having a bite…or two."

"Wow, I have a sweet tooth too!" the girl exclaimed, and pulled out a small bag of cinnamon candy. "That's why I carry these wherever I go!"

"I see," Sugar said, realizing that her ability to smell Scents was off. "Well, I'd better get going."

"Are you sure? You might have a concussion."

"No, no, I'm fine, but thanks anyway."

Then just as Sugar walked away, the girl called after her. "In case you need help, my name is Pepper Chili! What's yours?"

"Sugar Marmalade," Sugar reluctantly said, and crossed the street.

"Whew! That was a close one," Sugar said to herself as she let Hershey out of the cooler in the kitchen.

"Did you pick up a Scent?" Hershey asked, hopping onto the kitchen table.

"I thought I did, but it turned out she had cinnamon-scented candy on her." Sugar put away the cooler, and then stopped to admire Hershey's appetizing skin.

"Well I doubt that the scent from the candy can be that strong, and what happened? I heard a bunch of noises and thought you were in danger."

"The girl with the candy was playing soccer and she accidently kicked the ball far enough to where it hit my head."

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, not really." Then Sugar noticed that the skin on Hershey was cracked slightly, and felt tempted to take a piece out of it. But she restrained herself and said, "Hershey, we should probably put you in the freezer tonight. You're starting to crack."

"Crack? Good Lollypop!" Hershey exclaimed, and didn't struggle when Sugar picked her up and put her in the freezer.

The next day, the girl she met yesterday, Pepper, ran into her wearing baggy, boyish clothes and insisted on taking her out to lunch. Though Sugar initially refused, Pepper managed to convince her to walk to the nearest Mexican restaurant down the block from the school. The food wasn't great, but it brought in a lot of kids wanting a quick meal. So they each ordered a burrito and while Sugar ate silently, Pepper continued to talk even with her mouth full.

"So what kind of hobbies do you have?" Pepper asked, while chomping down on her chicken fajita burrito.

"None, really, I…really like sweets, and was obsessed with them for a while, but not so much anymore," Sugar said, looking down.

"That still counts as a hobby. What made you quit liking sweets?"

"A…boy."

This made Pepper spit out the piece of burrito she just ate and break out into laughter. At first, Sugar didn't understand what was funny, and then she noticed a strange aura hanging above the ice-cream-making machine next to the soft drink machine. Then a white icy substance emerged from the top of the machine, and dripped down till it hit the floor. People watched until the employees came up to inspect it. But then an unexpected thing happened: out of the drooping substance appeared a pair of arms that touched the employees and froze them in place. As the thing grew legs and got up off the counter, people screamed and ran out of the restaurant, catching Pepper's attention.

"What's going on?" she asked, and then saw the thing for herself.

It was completely made of white ice cream mixed with blue sprinkles for eyes and mouth, with a whip cream head, no nose, and solid cold arms and legs that froze anything that it touched. Sugar tried to sneak away to change as Pepper was surprised by the sight of the thing, but was interrupted by Soldier Mint's appearance in the entrance of the restaurant. She tried to stand tall, but the bags under her eyes and her loose grip on the Mint Spear made Sugar realize that Aroma was too tired to take this monster on.

"Leave that citizen alone, ice-cream monster, I'm Soldier Mint...the Champion of…Cool…Headedness, I think," she said in a slur, and aimed the spear at the creature, saying, "Mint Ice Blizzard!"

The blast of icy wind stunned it, allowing enough time for Sugar to get Pepper away from the monster's path. But after a few seconds, it used it's own strength to snap out of the stiffness, and then it opened its empty mouth and released the same icy wind back at her. Soldier Mint tried to retaliate by spinning the spear, but the wind froze her in place.

"My name is not 'ice-cream monster'. It's Frosty!" the monster roared.

"Damn, it can absorb ice-based attacks!" Pepper exclaimed, watching the creature from her and Sugar's hiding place, which was behind a wall that separated the kitchen from a hall that led to the bathroom.

"You know, you're taking this more well than you should be," Sugar said, staring at Aroma.

"That's because she's Soldier Cinnamon, a confident warrior whose always ready for action!" Hershey said, propping her head out of the cooler and staring up at Pepper's perplexed eyes.

"Did that chocolate bunny just talk to me?" Pepper asked.

"Cinnamon? It's just her candy!" Sugar cried, and realized that the monster probably heard them, as its droopy footsteps were coming closer. Then, Sugar smelled the same cinnamon scent from earlier, but it was stronger, like the scent of mint on Aroma. It was then that she knew Hershey was right. As the monster loomed over her, she took out the necklace and said, "Candy Heart Power!"

As the light enveloped her, she heard Pepper follow suit and say "Cinnamon Power!" as they both transformed. When they came out, the monster was standing between them as it had walked through the light thinking it could freeze Sugar. When Sugar turned to face the monster, she looked at Pepper, and was relieved to find another Candy Brigade Soldier. Her short brown hair had turned orange and spikey, as well as her eyes, wearing a red military shirt with an orange tie, matching red shorts, orange stockings, and brown boots with the same red blast symbols as on her white gloves. While the monster was staring at them with a gaping mouth, the two girls nodded and aimed their weapons at the monster.

"Listen up, Frosty, you picked the wrong place to wreak havoc!" Sugar said. "I'm Soldier Candy, the Champion of Sweet Justice, and that means trouble for you!"

"And I'm Soldier Cinnamon, the Champion of Hot Vengeance!" Pepper added, and loaded her shotgun made of Cinnamon sticks and red candy with Hot Tamale candies she produced from thin air, aiming it at the back of its head. Then she clicked the trigger and shouted, "Cinnamon Double Rounds!"

Several small fireballs fired out of the barrel of the shotgun and stunned the monster as parts of its body started to melt in the places where the bullets lodged. As it fell down it became a puddle of soft ice cream, and could barely move. This allowed Sugar the opportunity to aim the Lollypop Wand at it and say, "Candy Kiss Explosion!"

After the monster was absorbed and left a broken ice-cream maker in its place, Sugar and Pepper went to Aroma, who was still frozen. Realizing what she needed to do, Pepper simply pointed the gun at Aroma and said, "Cinnamon Fire Blast" which caused fire to escape from the shotgun and quickly melt the ice. As the ice thawed and Aroma shivered, Sugar hugged her close to warm her up while Pepper went to work on the employees and other people that were frozen. Once they were thawed, they immediately ran out before the people could identify them, and went down the alley behind the restaurant before the police got there. Luckily, not one thing or person followed them, and so they rested on some steps in front of a liquor store.

"You…you saved my life, Soldier Cinnamon," Aroma said, snapping out of the cold shock.

"Well, I was only doing my duty," Pepper said, scratching the back of her head.

"But if you hadn't shown up, we would all be frozen," Sugar said, helping Aroma sit on the steps.

"That's true, and who would be around to protect these innocent people from the Candyland monsters?" Pepper nodded, then she noticed Hershey and asked, "But Hershey, if Soldier Candy is capable of noticing our Scents, how come you were able to recognize mine before she did?"

"Because I too can pick up magical Scents. The Candyland King gave me this ability in case Soldier Candy failed to notice them," Hershey then hopped up into Pepper's lap and asked, "Cinnamon, if you're memory has returned, can you remember what the other two Soldiers look like, and the Princess?"

Pepper thought about it for a few minutes and then she said, "It's kind of fuzzy, but I remember Mint, cuz her hair's blue, and then the other two were blondes. I don't remember their names, but I know one was short and the other was tall. The Princess I remember pretty well. Mint was holding her. She was wrapped in a rainbow-colored blanket, with her little pale face peeking out and had a small strand of purple hair, and brown eyes. We were shocked when we first came here, because this world was so different from our own, and then we…god, I can't remember now."

Pepper's clothes changed back, and the cinnamon shotgun became a bracelet made of solid red balls. The other two changed back as well, and sat contemplating their situation. They knew they had to find the other two, because their memories held the key to what happened to the Princess, and the sooner they found the Princess, the better the chance they had to rid the city of the Candyland monsters and defeat the one who released them, Lord Licorice.

End of Chapter 4