Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been updating this fanfiction much! Been caught up in my other fanfic and now I've come to a good stopping point so I can focus more on this one!
Chapter 12: A Battle of Wits!
After two days of travel through the Gumdrop Forests and the Molasses Swamp, Princess Lolly and the rest of the Candy Brigade finally reached the Licorice Palace. Up close, the palace loomed tall before the girls, with black and red licorice weaved together so tight to look like stone walls, and the overcast sky was darker here. While the Princess looked up at the foreboding entrance with confidence, the others weren't.
"This place is a lot scarier than it looks from a distance," Aroma said, standing behind Meringue.
"Well it's too late to turn back now," Meringue replied, stepping away from Aroma. "So you'd better toughen up."
"Aren't you being a bit too harsh, big sister?" Crème whined. "You and Princess Lolly are so mean sometimes!"
"We've been over this before," Meringue glared at Crème. "I'm only doing what's right for all of us."
"Quit complaining back there! We have a country to save, you know!" Princess Lolly snapped, making everyone silent.
"If you're so impatient, Princess, then why don't you lead us inside?" Pepper said, folding her arms.
"How should I know how to get in? I've never been to the Licorice Palace before!"
"You could make us an entrance with that big fancy lollipop of yours."
"It's the Rainbow Pop Staff, thank you very much, and it could easily break through this wall!" Then without further delay, Princess Lolly aimed the staff at the wall, and shouted, "Candy Rainbow Beam!"
The blast of rainbow light shattered the licorice wall completely, leaving a gaping hole. Without delay, the girls ran through the hole and found themselves in a crimson-lit hallway with Jolly-Ranchers for lamps, and red licorice interior walls with smooth taffy carpeting. A flash of electric-blue caught Princess Lolly's eye, and she immediately ran to the right, with the others behind her. But once they rounded a corner, there was no sign of Princess Lolly, and the only person there was a girl who looked to be about Meringue's age, with white bubblegum earrings in her electric-blue hair wearing a matching electric-blue dress with pink, white, and yellow polka-dots, and light-blue clogs. She smiled at them serenely, and produced a handful of different-colored bubblegum candies from her left hand.
"Welcome to the Licorice Palace, Candy Brigade! Would you like some gum?" she asked politely.
"You were one of the women who protected Lord Licorice when he tried to attack us!" Meringue exclaimed, causing the other girls to look at her.
"I would prefer you address him as 'King' Licorice, since he is in charge of Candyland now," the blue-haired girl clenched her fist over the candies she offered. "And yes, I was one of the women who protected him during that unnecessary attack on your party. I am Bubblegum, one of his four generals."
"I thought so," Meringue said to herself.
"What did you do with the Princess? And why are you being so honest with us?" Pepper asked.
Bubblegum smiled again. "The Princess is fine. She's just been taken to King Licorice's throne room, where they'll have a long 'diplomatic' talk, and the reason I'm being honest is because…you're all gonna die soon."
Before any of them could react, Bubblegum squeezed the candies till they broke, causing them to emit a cloud of gas that spread quickly throughout the entire hallway and made the girls cough and gag as the poisonous vapor entered their lungs. They soon found themselves struggling to stand, and their vision went blurry. Then the last thing any of them saw was Bubblegum standing over them with a malicious grin that shone through a thin taffy mask she wore over her mouth.
Meringue was the first to wake up, and she found herself in a dark room strapped to a chair made of gingerbread with her hands and legs tied by licorice-woven strings. A life-sized chessboard suddenly became visible under a bright light that shone from the ceiling, complete with chess pieces molded from black and cream-white Jell-O. Then a second light turned on, and showed Bubblegum sitting in a similar chair with her hands and legs also bound up. She smiled as Meringue tried to free herself.
"There's no point in struggling," Bubblegum said calmly. "The chairs are glued to the floor with taffy, and those ropes that bind you can't be broken unless I order them to be broken."
"Why did you bring me here, and where are the others?" Meringue asked, still wiggling.
"I wanted to play a little game with you," Bubblegum nodded to the chessboard, and continued to speak. "As for your friends, they have been taken to different rooms inside the Licorice Palace to be dealt with by the other generals."
"And where is here?"
"This is the ballroom, which also serves as a game-room for children and adults to play life-sized Candy Chess. But for this particular game, I've added a deadly element to make it more exciting. Every time you lose, those licorice ropes that bind you will grow tighter, and every time you win, the straps on my chair will grow tighter, until one of us explodes."
"You're sick."
"I prefer the term 'genius', now let's begin. Since your pieces are white, you move first."
Immediately, Meringue ordered the Foot Soldiers (Pawns), which were represented as walking M&Ms, to all move forward one space. The pieces responded by jumping into the air and landing on the space in front of them on the board. Bubblegum responded by doing the same, and all her Foot Soldiers moved in the same fashion as Meringue's. After a few moves where both sides advanced slowly towards each other, Meringue decided to bring out the Warrior (Knight), who bore a strong resemblance to the Duke of Swirl, to the field. This didn't affect Bubblegum's mood as she calmly allowed her Foot Soldiers to be killed by the Warrior, which moved in a zigzag fashion across the board, swinging the axe it carried left and right. Then at an intersection of black spaces, Bubblegum made her Wall (Rook), which resembled a chocolate bar, smash into the Warrior, knocking it clear off the board along with Meringue's own Wall.
Flinching from the tightening of the ropes, Meringue shouted, "Warrior in the back, move right!"
The Warrior who was next to Bubblegum's Chocolate Wall immediately moved and knocked it out. But Bubblegum only smiled and made her second Chocolate Wall crash into that Warrior. Meringue responded by having her Wise Sage (Bishop), represented as Gramma Nutt, move every other black space and knock out Bubblegum's Chocolate Wall. However, Bubblegum showed no sign of pain as the ropes tightened on her chair, and ordered the remaining Foot Soldiers to move forward once again. After a few small banters, Meringue managed to check Bubblegum's Monarch (King), resembling the Candyland King, with one of her Wise Sages. Then Bubblegum retaliated by using her Lady (Queen), which looked like the Candyland Queen, to fire a beam of light from her Rainbow Pop Staff. As Meringue's Wise Sage was destroyed, the ropes tightened to the point where Meringue's wrists were turning red.
"What's the matter? Getting tired?" Bubblegum asked nonchalantly.
"If these ropes are supposed to be tightening…then why aren't you…showing…pain?" Meringue's head suddenly began to hurt, making her dizzy and lose focus.
"I've had to endure pain much worse than this, ever since I was a little girl. My father wanted me to become a Soldier, just like you, and so he put me through vigorous training. But then when the Candyland monsters got loose, he was killed, so I could not fulfill what he wanted, until King Licorice came to me. He said he was going to make me a Soldier, but to do that, I would have to kill you girls."
"Wall, attack the Lady!" Meringue ordered, causing the Lady to be knocked off the board. "You realize Licorice is just using you. He's not actually going to grant your wish."
"I know, but I don't care. At least I'm being useful for someone else's goals." Then Bubblegum told her Wise Man to move forward, placing it in front of Meringue's Monarch. "Check."
"You have pretty shallow expectations, for being so smart," Meringue said, and then said, "Monarch, move three spaces to your right!"
The Monarch bounced three spaces over. Afterwards, Bubblegum attempted to take out Meringue's remaining pieces, but she managed to put them out of harm's way, and only attacked Bubblegum's when there were no other pieces waiting to take out hers. This irritated Bubblegum, as the ropes continued to tighten on her chair, while Meringue managed to avoid it. But eventually, her pieces were driven into spots that she couldn't get out of, and her Monarch was once again in check.
"There's no point in prolonging it," Bubblegum said, gritting through her teeth. "You're gonna die, right now."
"No! YOU'RE the one who is gonna die!" Meringue cried, despite the immense throbbing in her legs and arms. She ordered her Lady to move diagonally across from the Monarch. "Check."
Bubblegum in turn ordered her Monarch to move three spaces to the right. But Meringue countered by moving her Wall right next to the Monarch. Then Bubblegum ordered her Monarch to move forward, but it was only met by three incoming Foot Soldiers, who all jumped one space ahead to confront the Monarch at Meringue's command.
"Checkmate!" Meringue said, just as the ropes became so tight on Bubblegum's chair that she did indeed explode, causing all her body parts to fly through the air.
But when one of them hit Meringue in the face, she realized it was bits of cherry-red gum. Then when she tried to get out of her chair, it still wouldn't budge, and the ropes didn't appear to loosen. The lights then dimmed on the chess board and the empty chair, but the light over Meringue's chair stayed lit as soft clapping noises came towards her. When Meringue looked up, she saw that it was Bubblegum, with every part of her intact.
"Very impressive, no one has ever beat me at Candy Chess before," Bubblegum said, and held up a candy necklace bound with a thin string of licorice. "But unfortunately, I like to plan ahead of my enemies."
Then in one swift motion, Bubblegum placed the necklace on Meringue, which emitted crimson sparks once it was on her neck. Meringue jolted and twitched in her chair, until her head nodded downward. Next, Bubblegum snapped her fingers, which caused the licorice ropes that bound Meringue to vanish, but Meringue didn't move.
"Now rise, and follow me," Bubblegum said.
End of Chapter 12
