Chapter 13: An Unfair Fight!
When Crème woke up, she found herself in a large, crimson-lit hallway with black pillars scattered across a black and red-tiled floor. Then suddenly, a screeching noise came towards her rapidly, and she quickly jumped out of the way from it, before an explosion followed shortly afterwards. The blast made her ears ring, but they didn't completely deafen her from the loud, cackling laughter that shortly followed. Her legs were shaky, but she still managed to stand and pick up her Vanilla Foil.
"What are you laughing about? You could've killed me with that thing you threw!" Crème shouted, looking around. "Are you an enemy?"
"Of course, silly," said an obnoxious female voice. "Why else did I throw that Jaw Grenade at you?"
"Who are you? Why don't you show yourself?"
"I prefer to attack my enemies in the shadows. My name's Sugarplum and I'm one of King Licorice's generals."
"How many of you are there?"
"Only four, but with plenty enough power to stop you Candy Brigade goody-goods from allowing Princess Lolly to reclaim the throne!"
Then with that, another screeching sound followed, causing Crème to turn around. She saw a large white jawbreaker with a fuse attached to it. It was burning quickly as it flew towards her, so she got out of the way once again before it hit the ground and exploded, vaporizing into dust.
"The citizens of Candyland have lost faith in you girls, ever since you ran away from the battle to take the Princess to that other world. They see you as nothing but cowards!"
A screeching noise reached Crème's ears once more, causing her back away as a Jaw Grenade landed in front of her, which exploded like the first two.
"They hoped you would've defended them in that dark hour, but you didn't!"
Another Jaw Grenade was thrown, this time landing next to Crème's feet, causing her to lose balance once it exploded.
"They wait for your return every day, and then cry themselves to sleep in the evenings!"
The Jaw Grenade fell by Crème's Vanilla Foil, which made her use it to fling the Grenade away, causing it to explode near a pillar. This in turn caused the pillar to fall backwards, and lean on the one behind it. But to Crème's surprise, there were some gumdrops visible around the base and the top of the pillar behind the one that just fell. Once the latter pillar leaned on the former, the gumdrops exploded in the same manner as the Jaw Grenades, and fell down as well. A roaring boom followed both pillars as they collapsed onto the floor.
"As you can see, the whole room is scattered with Gumdrop Explosives. If you touch the thing they're attached to, they're set to go off immediately, like that pillar for instance."
Crème, who was not willing to listen anymore, decided to look for the nearest exit. She carefully ran around the pillars, until she came to a pair of black doors made of licorice. However, upon touching them, the doors exploded, revealing the Gumdrop Explosives on the other side. This caused Crème to be thrown backwards, and land on her back. The hard tiled floor made her back ache, but she still got up, and was surprised to see the silhouette of a woman standing in front of the destroyed doors, which let the crimson light in the hallway behind her outline her figure. She was surprisingly short, with thin arms and legs, wearing an army helmet and bandoliers of Jaw Grenades strapped to her chest, which was well-endowed.
"Sugarplum," Crème muttered.
"You also can't leave this room either, not without activating the Gumdrop Explosives on the doors, anyway."
"Vanilla Petal Dance!" Crème shouted, causing her Vanilla Foil to send a blast of white petals at Sugarplum.
But with a few quick hand movements, Sugarplum managed to throw Gumdrop Explosives onto every single petal, causing them to explode before they reached her. In frustration, Crème charged at Sugarplum after getting a boost from her Vanilla Ribbon Drift, causing her to fly with the Foil extended in front of her. But Sugarplum only stepped out of the way, throwing a candy necklace at Crème. It caught around Crème's neck, and immediately emitted crimson sparks that made Crème twitch, causing her to fall midway through the door and land on the pile of splintered wood that were once doors, and roll into the hallway outside, lying flat on her face.
"I don't play fair, unlike you, and it usually works to my advantage," Sugarplum said, stepping over the pile of wood and into the hallway. She had thick purple hair, and wore a green short-sleeved army shirt, matching green shorts, socks, and shoes.
Then to her surprise, Crème stood up, and faced her. She was impaled with a lot of splinters in her arms and chest, but she managed to wobble towards Sugarplum, pulling the splinters out as she did so. Sugarplum didn't move, and folded her arms as Crème prepared to throw her foil at her. But before she could, her knees gave out, and found herself kneeling on the floor.
"That's a good girl," Sugarplum said.
End of Chapter 13
