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Chapter Text

𝒜 𝒹ℯ𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃ℯ𝒹 ℯ𝓃𝒸ℴ𝓊𝓃𝓉ℯ𝓇

"It's a warm spring morning, the birds are chirping, the wind is calmly swaying, along with the sun shining down at the emerald green grass, brightening the whole street up!" Parker was scribbling notes down in his sky-blue pocket diary. "It's lovely to get to see all this every day, no worries about nasty people out there, living the truth is the BEST!" He soon finished writing and slipped the diary into his messenger bag and kept moving, his walking like dancing, rhythmically moving one leg, then the other.

"I know something exciting will happen just around this corner!" He spun around to the corner of the road eagerly, and.. Nothing was there. But he already knew that.

"Hehe.. I gotta stop thinking something magical will happen here.. Oh! Like, if a magical being fell from the sky and told me I was a superhero or something!" Parker Giggled. "That would be awesome, though."
Little did he know, something magical WAS about to happen. And he'd find out in the weirdest way possible, something was falling out of the sky, plummeting straight down toward the poor child.

"Huh?" Parker looked up at the plummeting book from the sky. "Is that a bird?? No.. Can't be. It looks more like a book. WAIT. is that a BOOK falling from the sky?" Parker stepped back as the book came tumbling closer, til..

"Gah!" It hit him right on the head and it pushed him to the floor. "Ow ow oww.."
Parker rubbed his head as he slowly turned to look at the book. He noticed the golden border of the book shining like the sun and the five symbols on the book, each in different places and colours.

One of these symbols stood out, however. A blue shape, somewhat resembling an ice cream with three circles and a pointed bottom, started glowing!

"What WAS that.." Parker questioned "And why is that shape glowing????" He faced his fears and picked it up to examine it better.
"What is this thing-"

All of a sudden the shape's glow brightened, almost as bright as the sun and before he knew it....

There was a little, tiny, cookie man staring up at him. With hair as cream as vanilla and a calming demeanour, wearing a fashionable cone hat and a long white dress with a sort of waffle-y vestment on top. He looked up at Parker slightly concerned.

"Oh are you alright? I apologise if the tome hit you hard, it wasn't my intention to hit you right on the head.."

What on earth.. a cookie just talked..? There's no way this could be happening..

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Chapter Text

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

The cookie fellow looked up at Parker with a sorry expression,

"My apologies! It wasn't my intention to scare you! Or hit you on the head..." the cookie apologised. "I promise I mean no harm to you.."

Parker's breathing was heavy, a talking cookie..? What was even going on any more??? He soon took a deep breath to calm himself

"It's fine... I'm okay.. but.. who are you? And why did you fall out of the sky?"

The cookie stepped back and sighed of relief.

"I am glad you are alright, but I do owe you an introduction! My name is Pure Vanilla Cookie, and you are?"

"My name is Parker Vallance. Nice to meet you, Pure Vanilla Cookie!" Parker sighed as he wiped some sweat off of his head.

"It is very nice to meet you, Parker." Pure Vanilla cookie smiled as Parker now held the book, examining it in his arms. He soon looked down at Pure Vanilla Cookie quizzically.

"I have a question, what is this book for?" He asked, "It looks quite fancy to just be a normal book."

"Good question, my friend." Pure Vanilla Cookie said. "This book is called The Ancient Tome! Cookies like myself can travel through it, and the Cookie Force can use it to defeat evil."

Parker understood the first bit, but as soon as the "Cookie Force" were mentioned, it was like little question marks flew above his head.

"I see.. But what is the Cookie Force?" He questioned.

"The Cookie Force are ones with the most pure and noble of hearts, their mission is to stop the horrible Cookies Of Darkness from taking over Earthbread, which is where the cookies live, and this world, too." Pure Vanilla Cookie sighed. "At the moment, I am looking for the Ancient Cookie Force, People with the most undenyable truth, passion, resolution, abundance, and freedom. However, I have had no luck finding any of them so far.."

"I wonder if there's anything I can do to help.." Parker thought. "Surely I can do something.." He soon cleared his throat. "If you're alright with it, do you mind if I help you look for them? I'm sure if we work together, we can find them easily?"

Pure Vanilla Cookie gasped, he couldn't believe someone, let alone a schoolchild would offer to help him! He took a deep breath  and looked back up at Parker.

"I am very grateful that you want to help, but it can be very dangerous.. and I don't want you to get hurt. Are you.. sure?"

A smile Parker had on his face soon turned from nervous to reassuring. "Oh don't worry! I'm sure I will be okay, and I'm sure I'll do whatever it takes to make sure things are right in this world. Once we find the Cookie Force, we'll be A Ok! Promise!"

Pure Vanilla Cookie sighed of relief, a now wide smile on his face. "You really would help me..?"

"Of course!" Parker smiled.

"Why thank you!" Pure Vanilla Cookie beamed. "Thank you very much! You don't know how much this means.. with your help, finding the Ancient Cookie Force will be as easy as pie!"

Parker looked at his watch and gasped.

"What is it?" Pure Vanilla Cookie asked. " Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Erm.. I COMPLETELY forgot I was going to school and I'm gonna be late if I don't go now.." Parker mumbled.

"Oh that's no worry!" Pure Vanilla Cookie reassured him. I can just travel back to earthbread, and you can take the Ancient Tome to school with you! But please don't lose it.."

"That's ok! and don't worry! this tome won't be going anywhere!" Parker eagerly promised.

"Well, there's no time to waste now, is it? you have school to get to! Thank you again, and i shall see you soon, Parker!" Pure vanilla cookie waved as he went back into the ancient tome.

"Bye!" Parker waved to him. and once he was gone, he carefully put the ancient tome in his bag, and walked to school.

Chapter Text

Parker had sped up his walking now, he didn't want to be late for school on the first day back from spring break. He soon arrived at a school building, with an abundant amount of windows and many trees surrounding a pathway where bikes have been parked and cherry blossoms had fallen to the ground, sprinkling the grass with a soothing pink colour.

He soon started walking down the pathway, taking in the sounds of busy birds chirping and flapping their wings, looking for food and the smiles on everyone's faces upon reuniting with their friends. However, someone was behind him and he didn't notice until a light tap was made onto his shoulder.

"Morning!" A cheerful female voice came from behind him. He soon turned to see two kids. A girl with brown and pink ombré hair with a boy with curly black hair.

"Oh, hello Holly! hello Dorian!" Parker smiled at the kids now beside him as they walked along. "How are you both?"

"Good!" Holly beamed.

"I've been doing ok, but Holly has been getting on my nerves all morning." Dorian smirked at her.

"Hey, pack it in!" She laughed as she playfully tapped Dorian's shoulder, before they knew it though, there was a ringing in their ears, the ringing of the school bell, the three kids giggled as they rushed into class.

The classroom air was hot and stuffy and kids were talking as usual when Parker sat on his designated desk.

"Morning.." A quiet voice whispered from the desk next to him. He soon turned to the voice and smiled.

"Morning, Willow! How are you today?" Willow was always Parker's favourite person in the whole world, always there when he needed someone to talk to and vice versa, she had always been his childhood friend. Wherever he went, she went. What he saw, she saw. The two were practically inseparable.

"I'm alright, I wonder if anything interesting is gonna happen today." Willow mumbled. "Maybe a fire drill or something-" She couldn't finish her sentence as the teacher spoke up.

"One two three eyes on me!" The teacher shouted, taking a quote straight from elementary schools. "Before I start registration, there's a new student joining our class! Come on in!"

A boy soon came into the room, with brown messy hair. He clearly hadn't washed before, because he stunk up the whole classroom.

"Don't be afraid to introduce yourself! Go on now!"

"H..hi..." the boy whispered. "My name is Josh.. and I harness a magical power. So don't mess with me!" He then growled in front of all the students to hopefully intimidate them, but to no avail. Most students just laughed it off, however.

As Josh walked to his designated seat, he gave Parker a glare. A "I will beat you up" kind of glare. But he just decided to keep his confusion to himself and doodle in his planner.

Time seemed to go quickly in the lesson and before they knew it, it was over. One lesson later and it was time for break! Everyone eagerly ran outside faster than lightning.

Chapter Text

Once break time hit, Parker was sitting under a massive tree writing all his thoughts into his journal. Next to him was a hazel-haired girl who looked awfully bothered.

"Gina.." Parker placed a hand on her shoulder. "How have you been getting on? I know the last week has been rough for you and your family because of the.. unexpected loss of your mom.."

Gina weakly smiled at Parker. "It's been difficult to say the least.. but I'm trying! Everyone is saying I'm doing great at looking after my siblings so that's something. I know it's been hard for my dad as well.. he never really gets breaks from work so he's been under a bunch of pressure.." She sighed.

Parker handed her his biscuit. "Here, and I agree. You're crushing it as this looking after your siblings thing. But just remember, it's ok to be vulnerable too! You have me, our friends and even your own siblings to talk to. You're not alone!"

"Thanks Parker.. you're the best!" Gina happily took a bite out of the biscuit as Holly, Dorian and Willow approached.

"Hey gang!" Holly beamed as everyone sat down by the tree next to Parker and Gina, she handed everyone a bottle of flavoured water each. "Can you believe we only have two months left until we go on summer break? I wish time could go faster.. school is so boring.." She opened her bottle of flavoured water and showed it off in front of everyone. "Cheers, for good health and good grades!"

Everyone opened their flavoured water bottles and held them out all together. "Cheers!"

Chapter Text

After a couple more hours of boring lessons that probably wouldn't help at all, it was time to go home! The children rushed out of the school faster than lightning.

Parker was walking with Willow and Holly while Dorian and Gina had already made it to their close by houses.

Holly noticed the Ancient Tome peeking out of Parker's bag! She looked at it suspiciously.

"Hey Paaaaarker?" She questioned. "What's that cool book peeking out of your bag for?

Parker gasped. She had caught eye of the ancient tome! He tried to cover it up.

"Well.. um..." he soon got an idea. "I'm writing a story about super heroes that save the day from evil villains!"

"So it's a story? COOL! Can we have a spoiler? Please pretty please?" Holly begged.

Parker sighed. He wanted to tell them the truth but surely how couldn't just tell two girls that this book hit him from the sky and this Cookie dude came out! That would be absurd!

"Sorry!" He rubbed the back of his head, "I'm not giving out spoilers.. I want it to be a suprise!"

"Oh! K! It's much cooler when there's a surprise isn't there?"

They soon crossed a road, down the street that they crossed to was where Holly lived.

"Alright, this is my stop! See you two tomorrow! Bye bye!!" Holly waved her hand at the two.

"Bye!" They both waved back and kept going on.

It was kind of nice for it to just be Parker and Willow once again, even if for a little while. However, he felt longing, longing to tell her what had actually happened that morning. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to, as they ended up getting to Willow's house.

"See you tomorrow.. ok?" Willow smiled.

"Yeah! See ya!" Parker hugged her and walked off.

༺Meanwhile, at the Cookies of Darkness༻

"CROCUS!" A sinister voice boomed across the entire lair, filled with passion and anger. "COME HERE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!"

A walk of shame was seen as a reptile had his head down, looking around to see if anyone was watching him. "What?" He mumbled.

"I have a very important mission for you and Dark Pomegranate." She stated, "Someone has found the Ancient Tome. It is clear that they are looking for the Ancient Cookie Force. You two MUST stop them at ALL COSTS." She added.

"Yes master." Dark Pomegranate replied, "But why with..him?" She asked, referring to Crocus.

"He may not be intelligent, but he excels in strength, and that could be useful for situations such as this." The voice answered.

"I see master." Dark Pomegranate muttered under her breath. "But if we fail, it is his fault."

"Hey!" Crocus shouted. "That.. that's so mean-"

"Well what are you waiting for? GET THAT TOME!!"

Chapter Text

Once Parker finally got to his house, he unlocked the door and went inside. His parents weren't home yet so he had the house to himself for a while. He wiped his shoes on the door mat but kept them on as he walked to his garden.

It had all kinds of different plants from daisies on the grass, to rose bushes neatly organised by colour. His favourite spot was a lily garden with a small swing chair as it reminded him of Willow. He sat down and sighed while looking up at the partly cloudy sky, trying to find shapes in the few clouds.

He soon took the Ancient Tome out of his school bag and opened it, and a small light emitted, Pure Vanilla Cookie appearing along with it.

"Hi, Pure Vanilla Cookie!" He smiled and waved

"Hello, Parker." Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled back. "How was school?"

"School was okay, there was this new kid today."

Pure Vanilla Cookie tilted his head questionably. "Why would someone enrol so late into the year? It's only a matter of months before the summer holidays begin."

"I dunno.. but after he introduced himself, he glared at me. I'm wondering if I did something wrong?"

Meanwhile, Crocus and Dark Pomegranate were sitting on a tree, whispering amongst each other.

"That's the tome!" Crocus snickered. "I found the tome!!!! Look at me!!!"

Dark pomegranate rolled her eyes at him. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go and get it. I'll work my magic while you do the hard stuff."

"Erg, whatever. But I'm getting all the credit!" He snarled. Dark Pomegranate just rolled her eyes.

Crocus jumped down onto the swing Parker was sitting on. The swing-set began to crack..

"Hm?" Parker looked up and saw Crocus's big feet.

"Hey. Hand over that tome."

"Gah!" Parker jumped off of the swing and before he knew it, the entire thing collapsed. He looked between the tome and Crocus.

"You mean this?" He pointed to the tome.

"Yeah, now hand it over!"

Parker tilted his head. "Why though?"

"Just hand it over already!" Crocus finally snapped and jumped to attack Parker.

"Gah!" He just managed to dodge Crocus's attack, he looked down at the tome, remembering what it's purpose was in the first place.

"The Ancient Tome... cookies can travel through it, and the Cookie Force can use it to defeat evil..."  he thought to himself. He soon looked up at Crocus and replied with a firm

"No."

Crocus's jaw dropped. He soon clenched his fists. "Heh, your'e such a brat. You don't know who you're dealing with! This ancient tome has great power and that's what Dark enchantress cookie needs!"

Parker held onto the ancient tome tighter. "If the ancient tome is what you want, come and get it." He ran through the house to the front garden, with Crocus and Dark Pomegranate following after.

Once he made it outside, Crocus and Dark Pomegranate had already surrounded him.

"You are one annoying child, not doing what you're supposed to do. You need to learn to respect those in higher power than you. Surely this will prove my point."

She took out her mirror and swiped her hand in circles around it. "𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐦, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦!"

The people walking past had been affected with red magic, dropping all of their things. "There's no reason to go on..." one mumbled. "I will always fail.. no matter how hard I try.." another cried.

Parker gasped as he saw each and every person around him get affected by this eerie magic, clinging onto the tome tighter.

"Now it's your turn." Dark pomegranate spat. "Feel the gloom take over your soul!" She aimed a magic beam at Parker, one he couldn't avoid this time..

"Stop!" A mysterious yet familiar voice called. It was none other than Pure Vanilla Cookie, who had used his magic to make a shield over Parker.

"Pure Vanilla Cookie.." Parker whispered. "Why.."

"Oh great." Crocus spat. "First a brat and now a gingerbread man. Just what I needed. You know what? I'm done."

He walked closer to Parker and Pure Vanilla Cookie, wearing a cocky smirk. "That book, it's pretty useless, all it does is defeat evil." He boasted. "You won't even be needing that once Dark enchantress cookie gets her rightful reign on earthbread and here. Hey! Now that I mention it, it also reminds me of you. Useless. You're just a child, Parker, blissfully ignorant to the cruelty the world truly is."

Crocus aimed his magic at the two, while Parker's eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes, the world is cruel, but the truth is, there is always a shining glow of kindness that never goes out. Going around and deceiving people into thinking they are failures is not how to rule a world properly, and wisely."

"I dunno what you're trying to say, kid but it's all a load of rubbish!"

"What I'm saying is that you're spouting horrible lies! Deceitful acts will only bring sadness." Parker quivered, holding the tome close to him once again. "That's why..."

He took a deep breath and soon screamed.

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬!"

Chapter Text

A powerful glow surrounded Parker and Pure Vanilla Cookie, encasing them in a protective shield. Making the attacks of Crocus and Dark pomegranate futile.

Parker finally noticed a soft blue and yellow glow meeting his gaze. He looked around for a moment and turned to Pure Vanilla Cookie. "Where am I?" He asked.

Pure Vanilla Cookie's eyes widened "Could it be.."

A small, round make up- like compact with a little blue ice cream-shaped charm appeared in front of the two and Parker grabbed them.

"Yes it can!" Pure Vanilla Cookie cheered while he studied the compact in his hands.

"What is this?" Parker turned to him. "Do you know what it's for?"

"It's a cookie pact, and a soul charm!" Pure Vanilla Cookie beamed. "And to make a long story short for you, it turns out you are one of the Cookie Force warriors we're looking for!"

Parker's face turned from confusion to shock. "What? No way.. how do I use these?"

"All you need to do my friend, is open the cookie pact and say 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞! Can you do that for me?"

"I'll give it a go.." Parker opened the cookie pact. "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫!" He soon placed the charm in as well. "𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄!!!!"

A small cookie-shaped beauty blender like object appeared. He tapped it onto the open compact and carefully blew onto it, transforming his whole body.

Parker's hair turned from soft blonde to creamy yellow, and his brown eye turned the same colour. His clothes changed into a white tunic with beige sleeves, and a belt and shorts matching the colour palette. The Cookie Pact got it's own little pocket on his outfit, as well as one for the Ancient Tome. He formed a large white cape and a wizard's hat with blue outlines and put them on. He then did a pose, making a circle shape with his hands.

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚!"

After the transformation, he noticed his change of clothes. "What?" He questioned. "What was I doing, and saying??"

"I can't believe it.." Pure Vanilla Cookie said with shaky breath.

Parker turned to him "Me neither.. wait." Parker had realised something. "If both our names have Pure Vanilla in them won't they get mixed up-" He couldn't finish his sentence as Crocus decided to leap after them, but they managed to evade him.

"That's not what we should be worrying about right now!" Pure Vanilla Cookie reminded him.

During all that, Dark pomegranate scoffed. "Hm. a mere child? a naive one, no less has become a Cookie Force warrior. "Crocus, after him." She demanded, and Crocus soon zoomed after them.

"Get back here!" He growled.

The now-hero Parker (Pure Vanilla) ran away with Pure Vanilla Cookie perched onto his shoulder while holding the Ancient Tome. While running, he was trying to think of something. "There's gotta be a way I can stop the crocodile.."

Soon, something clicked in Pure Vanilla Cookie's mind. "My friend, do you have a lot
of spirit?"

"Spirit?"

"Yes. You can use your spirit and channel it into the Cookie pact and attack Crocus."

"No way.." Vanilla took out the Cookie Pact. "How do I channel my spirit?"

"Think about what you love!" Pure Vanilla Cookie encouraged him. "What you wish to protect with all of your heart."

"I get it now! Here goes nothing.." Vanilla held the cookie pact close to his heart firmly. "Cmon... cmon... Spirit spirit spirit!!"

A powerful blue glow emitted from the pact, blessing the young hero with powers.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞! 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡!" Soon the power was sent to Crocus, it was very powerful as it had now sent him flying!

"No... no no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-" Crocus screamed as he was sent flying, Dark pomegranate scoffed.

"This isn't the last you'll see of me! Count your days, Child!" She soon disappeared, probably to get Crocus back. As she did, everyone and everything went back to normal. Parker de-transformed and sat on the ground exhausted, with the Cookie Pact and Ancient Tome next to him.

"Phew.. That was.. brilliant!" Parker laughed. "I can't believe I DID all of that!" He looked at Pure Vanilla Cookie who was sitting on his leg.

"You did very well, Parker! After all of that you deserve a good rest, don't you think?"

Parker answered, "You have a point, but it was kind of fun. I think I'll keep being a Cookie Force Warrior."

"Really?" Pure Vanilla Cookie asked, he seemed moderately surprised, was Parker willing to potentially put his life at risk for this world?

"Yeah, really! I don't want any goons to get their hands on something as important as the ancient tome." Parker sighed. "Besides, the tome is very important to you and the Cookie Force, you can trust it's safe with me!"

"You.. would really do that.." Pure Vanilla Cookie gasped. He soon had a wide smile spreading across his face. "Thank you very much.. you don't know how much this means.."

Chapter Text

                  𝒷ℯ𝓇𝓇𝓎-𝑔ℴℴ𝒹 𝓂𝒶𝓀ℯℴ𝓋ℯ𝓇

"At the end of the Dark Flour War, the good cookies of earthbread decided to go to the human world to look for force warriors like you to help, But, the evil cookies took this as inspiration to find candidates of their own. That's how the crocodile joined them." Pure Vanilla Cookie was explaining to Parker through the Ancient Tome's speaker. It was six o'clock in the morning and Parker had the ancient tome by his side while he was sitting and getting ready for school.

"I understand, so I'm not the only cookie force warrior?" He asked, "Where do you think the others are?? Will you be able to give them more Cookie Pacts? How many ARE there?-" Parker continued to ask random questions.

"Um to start, there are more Cookie Force warriors than allies of the darkness at the moment which is a relief, but I can't help but worry." He replied. Parker tilted his head in confusion and slight worry. "Why?" He asked.

"There are more Cookie Force warriors to find, and I worry that when we find them all.. it will be too late."

Parker smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, I'm sure we will find them in time. And I'll be sure to look for more!"

Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled back, feeling reassured by Parker's words. "Thank you very much, Parker. I have a lot of faith in you.."

"No worry!" Parker soon looked at his watch, noticing he had to leave for school soon. "Ah, school is starting soon. I'd better get going now."

"I understand. Enjoy your day at school!"

After he neatly packed his bag, school supplies, Ancient Tome and Cookie Pact inside, he slipped his shoes on and headed off to school.

While walking, he spotted Holly waving at him with Willow by her side. He rushed over to them.

"Morning!" Holly beamed. Willow waved to them both.

"Morning you two!" Parker waved back. He soon started walking to school along with them.

"Parker.. there was this weird crocodile outside your house with some wizard-looking kid. Were you inside?" Holly questioned.

"What..?" Willow whispered. She soon put her arms on his shoulders. "Is everything okay? Were you hurt at all?" She asked worry clear in her tone.

Holly must of seen Parker fight Crocus yesterday as Pure Vanilla! He managed to come up with a good lie, as much as he wanted to tell the truth to them.

"Hey hey.. don't worry I'm okay!" He lightly blushed over the fact that Willow was worried about him. "I.. was inside the entire time. I did see that hero though, he was awesome!"

They all soon went into school together.

Chapter Text

Meanwhile on Earthbread in the Pure Vanilla Kingdom, the Ancient cookies were all sitting by a big table, talking over some nice hot earl-grey tea.

"We finally have the Cookie Force warrior of truth!" Pure Vanilla Cookie beamed. "But of course, we still need to find the other ones.."

"Hmmm.." they all thought.

"That pink-haired girl that tags along with Parker sometimes could be a good candidate, don't you think?" Hollyberry Cookie asked. "Just thinking about her, i can feel her passion already."

"I see what you mean, Hollyberry Cookie." Pure Vanilla Cookie replied. "Speaking of that, have any of you found any good candidates?"

"Not at the moment, finding good candidates has proven to be quite difficult." Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, clutching onto his sword.

"Besides, Dark Enchantress Cookie hired a crocodile with dark powers so she must have the upper hand by now.." White Lily Cookie added, concern clear in her tone.

"I wouldn't get too worried about him." Golden cheese cookie spoke with a cocky tone as she crossed her legs. "From what you've told us Pure Vanilla Cookie, Parker was able to defeat him easily enough and besides! We still have plenty of time to look for more Cookie Force Warriors. if you ask me, we're off to a good start."

Pure Vanilla Cookie stood up, now feeling motivated.

"Golden Cheese Cookie is right, everyone." he encouraged. "We must keep our chins up and move forward!"

All the ancient cookies clinked their teacups as a toast to the first Ancient Cookie Force warrior found.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in the cookies of darkness' lair..

"I'm sorry Dark Enchantress Cookie, I-I wasn't expecting a weak child like him to get superpowers okay?" Crocus begged.

"You know you were supposed to take the ancient tome so those Ancient Cookies won't find any allies at all?" Dark Enchantress Cookie said mockingly. "And now look what you've done. you've given us an enemy, a child no less."

"I- didn't mea-"

"QUIET!" She shouted. "I have something for you to do now. Go and try again,  ALONE. I have a feeling they're trying to find another one.."

"Why do i have to go alone?" Crocus questioned but soon stopped as he saw her glare at him. "okay okay i'll go alone.. I'm better off alone anyway.."

"And DON'T FAIL!!" she called before he teleported away.

Chapter Text

It was a free period for Parker, he decided to use his time to walk around the campus and think things through about Cookie Force. "How can i keep such a big secret from the people that mean most to me?" and "Is it really up to me to save the entire cookie world?" were only some of the thoughts in his mind.

Little did he know, Josh was behind him, watching his every move. He soon spoke up to get Parker's attention.

"Parker." Josh mumbled, right by his ear causing him to jump.

"Gah!" he screamed. "Oh Josh, sorry you just scared me there." He soon smiled at Josh. "I was just walking along. How's everything going? Transitioning to a new school must be really hard, especially if you don't know anyone yet. Have you made any friends?"

Josh scoffed. "I don't NEED friends. I am fully capable of doing things on my own. Friendship is a waste of time anyway."

Parker tilted his head questioning what Josh said. "You think so? I think friendship is wonderful and everyone needs at least a friend or two, even people who say they don't! That's just my own opinion, anyway."

Josh glared at him. "You're too nice for your own good, Parker." He soon turned and walked away, leaving Parker alone.

"Huh..?" Parker mumbled as he watched Josh walk out on him.

During the free period, Holly was skipping around the school campus, stopping every once in a while to marvel at the many plants and flowers neatly arranged. Hollyberry Cookie was behind a bush, looking for a good candidate for another cookie force warrior.

Holly was always passionate to help people, from taking time out of her day to volunteer at charities to even doing the littlest things like saving a cat from a tree. Even at hard times her passion would never waver, and Hollyberry Cookie could sense that.

"She's got what it takes, i know she has." Hollyberry Cookie thought to herself. "Something about her makes her the perfect candidate." she clutched onto her shield, which held her soul jam. She peeked through the bush as Holly was about to walk past.

Holly started walking past the many bushes the blooming school campus had to offer, when she suddenly tripped on a large branch that fell down from the gigantic tree above her.

"Gahh!" She toppled down to the ground and landed with a small thud. Hollyberry Cookie saw this and decided it was a good time to speak up.

"Are you alright there?" Hollyberry Cookie asked, concern clear in her tone.

"Ow ow ow.." Holly rubbed her now scraped knee. "Yep, it's nothing much i just scraped my knee-" She realised the voice was unfamiliar to her. "Wait a moment.. who is saying that?"

"Down here" Hollyberry Cookie whispered.

Holly looked around, making sure no one could see her before peeking into the bush where Hollyberry Cookie looked up at her. She let out a small gasp as she noticed the dress Hollyberry cookie was wearing, along with her hair, which was in two buns with braids wrapped around each, keeping them secure. Holly let out a small gasp and stayed with her hand over her mouth for a couple of seconds.

"Is that a talking cookie..?" she mumbled. "You are a cookie, aren't you?" she soon asked.

"May I.." she asked with her hands out, wanting to hold her and see if it was true. Hollyberry Cookie climbed into her hands, letting her look closer.

"See?" Hollyberry Cookie smiled. "I'm crispy and small, I'm a cookie in the dough!"

Holly put her down back on the ground. "So you are a cookie.." she muttered, her confused face  soon turned into glee. "That's SO COOL!!"

"What's your name?" She soon asked, clutching her hands on her thighs covered by her tights and school skirt trying not to burst from excitement.

"My name is Hollyberry Cookie, Queen mother of the Hollyberry Kingdom on Earthbread!" Hollyberry cookie bowed elegantly. "And you are?"

"My name's Holly Baretta! I'm fifteen and I come from Italy! My biggest passion is helping people and making sure they feel happy in life, my favourite drink is berry juice and-" she stopped herself. "Am I saying too much?"

Hollyberry Cookie smiled reassuringly. "Oh of course not! If anything, it's great that you talk a lot! Most people don't really talk all these days."

Holly smiled back. "Well, onto important things now, If you're the mother of the reigning monarch in a cookie kingdom, has something happened? What are you doing in a school like this? Did something happen to your kingdom?" She asked, worry now in her tone.

"Needn't worry, my kingdom is alright! But.. there is a threat coming to all of the cookie world." Hollyberry Cookie cleared her throat. "Long story short, after a horrible war, me and my friends decided to come to your world to look for candidates to be Cookie force warriors. They are people with undenyable truth, passion, resolution, abundance and freedom. Yesterday, a good friend of mine found the cookie force warrior of truth. so there's only four more to go!"

"Ahh..." Holly sighed. "Mind if I help?" She soon inquired.

"A- are you sure?" Hollyberry Cookie asked back. "Don't you have school to worry about? Or a family who would be worried sick for you?" Concern was written all over her face.

"Yeah.." Holly answered. "But if there's a threat in the cookie world, who knows if it'll come here? I want to help stop it, if you'll let me."

Chapter Text

"You're very sure of this.. aren't you?" Hollyberry Cookie thought it over and soon smiled. "Very well then. It's settled! Let's work together, Holly!!!

"Yeah!!!!" Holly smiled back.

All of a sudden, the school bell rang and Holly had to get to her next class. Hollyberry Cookie noticed this.

"You'd better get going, Holly! You don't want to be late, do you?"

"Oh shoot, you're right!" She panicked, standing up and collecting her bag off of the floor. "Will we meet again?"

"You know it!" Hollyberry Cookie waved as she ran off.

Holly's adrenaline rushed as she sprinted to class, she managed to get to Gina and Dorian, almost tripping again but Dorian caught her.

"Woah! Holly! Are you okay? How fast were you running?" Dorian asked.

Holly stood up from Dorian's arms, rubbing her hand behind her neck. "I'm fine.. I just got distracted and lost track of time!"

"I'm not surprised!" Gina teased. "You do get distracted by flowers easily here!"

"Hey!!" Holly laughed. The other two laughed with her.

————-

Lunch time hit and Parker thought it would be a good time to finally tell Holly what was going on. She was very good at keeping secrets, so he knew he could trust her. They were behind a wall in the outdoor area, when most kids were playing football or chatting.

"So Parker, how's telling Willow how you feel going?" Holly smirked.

"One, I do NOT have a crush on her." Parker mumbled as his face turned red. "Two, this is completely different!!!"

"Well, if it's not your daydreams... what is it?"

"Um.. It's easier if I show you.." Parker took the Ancient Tome out of his bag and showed it to Holly.

"Isn't that the book you're writing, Parker? Do you need ideas?" Holly asked, marvelling at the details.

"No.. it's-" Parker couldn't finish his sentence as the sky soon went dark, which distracted them.

"Huh? The weather people didn't say it would rain today! Should've brought an umbrella.." Holly sighed.

"I don't think that's rain, Holly.." Parker warned her as they both peeked through the wall to see.. CROCUS!

Crocus was standing in the air, watching kiddies play their football.

"This is stupid." Crocus snarked. "Why would you want to play with a ball of all things?" He soon sighed. "I'm here to drain passion, so that's what I'll do!"

Crocus lifted up his claw and soon started chanting. "Dark magic heed my call, drain the passion out of them all!" Slowly but surely, people's passion were drained, and they were sitting on the ground covered in a pink haze.

"N- no way.." Holly mumbled. Parker handed her the Ancient Tome.

"Hold onto this, okay?" Parker asked as he handed her the tome before running off to Crocus.

"Hold on-" Holly pleaded, but he was already on his way.

Parker sprinted up to Crocus, getting his Cookie Pact out while running. He soon stopped once he reached him.

"Stop what you're doing now! Can't you see you're hurting people?" Parker demanded.

Crocus smirked at him. "Oh hello, you. Cookie kid! You'd better show me some strength! I may spare you!"

"You're on!"

Parker opened the cookie pact. "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫!" He soon placed the charm in as well. "𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄!!!!"

After his transformation, he did his epic pose.
"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚!"

"WHAT THE HECK?" Holly looked flabbergasted.

"Yeah.. this is what I wanted to tell you, Holly!" Pure Vanilla chuckled sheepishly.

"Cool!!" Her face changed to glee. "I'm cheering you on from here!!"

Crocus scoffed, putting on a dominant facade. "Heh, so you've brought a little friend along with you? You know what they say, two is better than one.. TO DESTROY!"

"The only destruction you will face is the destruction of your ego after the light of truth puts you in your place!"

"You're oddly sassy! Just know I WILL beat you before you can say anything!" Crocus scoffed. "Scale beam, attack!!!!"

He sent his beams to attack Pure Vanilla, most dodged.

"Grr.. you're good. Too good. Take THIS!" He used some dark magic and trapped him inside a magic circle.

Chapter Text

Pure Vanilla's breathing intensified as he banged on the circle, trying to escape. "I- I can't.. give up yet.. I won't.." he muttered, all the colour slowly disappearing from his eyes leaving a dull grey behind.

"No..!" Holly screamed and dashed back behind the wall, on the verge of tears.

"MUAHAHAHAHA!" Crocus cackled as Pure Vanilla descended to the floor.

"I can't leave Parker like this.." Holly teared up, and then wiped her tears, slowly stepping out of her hiding place. Until she noticed Hollyberry Cookie jump onto her shoulder.

"You again?" Holly asked. "How did you-"

"Nevermind that." Hollyberry Cookie cleared her throat. "Are you sure you know what you're doing? That crocodile is quite the brute.."

"I'll do anything to help my friends." Holly encouraged. Her voice was laced with the purest passion.

Hollyberry Cookie took noticed this passion and sighed. "Your passion is unwavering. Go save Parker, I'll be by your side all the way!"

"Thank you, Hollyberry Cookie." Holly thanked her, keeping the ancient tome in her grasp before running up to Crocus.

"Oh, well looky here! A little girl!" Crocus taunted. "And a cookie too. If you think I'll just hand over that kid, think again!"

"You don't know what you're spouting, scalybrain!" Holly angrily taunted back.

Crocus gasped. "How rude! Besides, you're just a school girl!" He pranced over to her, swaying left and right looking very full of himself. "Go back to class-" He was interrupted as Holly smacked him across the head with the Ancient Tome, still holding it tight while doing so.

"I may be just a girl to you, but know this.." Holly yelled, determined. "𝐌𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫!"

A pink glow surrounded Holly and Hollyberry Cookie, like what happened to Parker. Soon no one else was around them, just the pink light.

"Where am I?" Holly asked in shock. Beside her, a Cookie pact appeared along with a soul charm in the shape of a heart.

Hollyberry cookie eyes lit up with glee as she knew what this meant. "Ha ha! Holly! You've done it!" She shouted in glee.

"What have I done?" Holly asked, now holding the cookie pact.

"You've proven yourself to be the Cookie force warrior of passion! Well done you!"

Holly looked flabbergasted. "All I did was smack some crocodile dude on the head- never mind. What do I do now?"

"See that little charm?" Hollyberry Cookie pointed to the soul charm. "Open the Cookie pact and put it inside, then shout "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!" As loud as you can okay?"

"I don't really know what you're trying to say.. but it sounds like fun!" Holly soon opened her cookie pact.

"𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫!" She put the soul charm in the Cookie pact. "𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄!!!!"

Like Parker, she used a mini beauty blusher to help with transforming. She clapped a couple of times, with the blusher in hand. Sparkles flew all around her. Her clothes became vibrant and pink, and a little pink crown appeared above her. She grabbed it and put it on her head, making her hair turn a vibrant pink, and two buns appeared on her hair too, making a pop sound each time one gets added. She does a heart with her hands after transforming.

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲!"

"NOT ANOTHER ONE!" Crocus groaned.

"What's happening? Why did I-" Pure Berry asked before noticing her new, pink frilly outfit. "AHH SO CUTE!!! I look awesome! hahaha!" She jumped around happily but soon stopped. "Oh yeah! Still need to defeat that guy!"

"You're not gonna defeat me that easily, pinky!" Crocus boasted.

"Think again!" Pure Berry ran up to where Pure Vanilla was sitting and blocked Crocus' view of him.

—

Seeing Pure Berry, something must have clicked in Pure Vanilla's mind, as the seal around him broke and he was able to stand up again.

"What happened..." Pure Vanilla asked, he soon noticed what had happened to Holly. "H- HOLLY? what happened to your-" He soon realised what was going on. "Oh... No way! You've become a Cookie Force warrior?"

"Yep! I'm Glad you're okay! And guess what, I have a cool superhero name to match! Pure berry!!" Pure Berry smiled, relieved that Pure Vanilla was okay now.

"Pure berry.. It has a nice ring to it!" Pure Vanilla beamed. "Let's work together, Pure Berry!"

"Yeah!"

"Blah blah blah. Come on kids, put up a fight!" Crocus sneered.

"Ready Pure Vanilla?" Pure Berry asked.

"Ready."

Chapter Text

Crocus cackled at the two heroes."Watch out you two, cuz you're playing with fire! Taaaaake THIS!" He aimed punches at them several times.

They both managed to dodge his attack, this angered him. "Grr... take THAT! And THIS!" His attacks were coming faster as he  sent beams of dark magic flying at the two.

Pure Berry was deep in thought while managing to dodge most attacks. "There's gotta be a way to defeat that thing.."

"I was able to stop him before with my spirit." Pure Vanilla stated.

"Spirit?"

Hollyberry Cookie, who was still on Pure Berry's shoulder overheard this. "Yep! Spirit!"

"How do I use my spirit to stop him-" Pure Berry quickly dodged one of Crocus' attacks again.

"Well, see the Cookie Pact on your waist?"

Pure Berry looked at her waist and saw the Cookie Pact in a neat case. "Uh huh.."

"You can channel your spirit into the pact and unleash a powerful attack with it!"

"Ah neat!" Pure Berry beamed. "Okay, let's give this a go!" She took the cookie pact out of her case and held it close to her heart. "Spiriiiiiit!"

"What is she doing?" Crocus asked suspiciously.

"Cmon... spirit spirit SPIRIIIIIIT!!" The cookie pact started to glow a pink light. Her powers came to her now.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞! 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧... 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧!" She aimed her attack at Crocus and soon, he was swarmed with flower petals and sparkles so fast he flew away.

"I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME-" He shouted as he was flung away.

—

The sky soon became normal again and so did the students. "What happened.." one of them muttered. Pure Vanilla and Pure Berry detransformed, now Parker and Holly again.

"That was AWESOME!" Holly jumped up and down in excitement. "I can't believe we defeated that guy!"

"YOU were the one that defeated him!" Parker replied. "I owe you a lot now! I don't know what would have happened to everyone and myself! Thanks a bunch!"

"Daww.. don't mention it! Besides, you're not alone now! You have me to be by your side!" Holly soon turned to Hollyberry Cookie, who was still on her shoulder. "Big thanks to you, Hollyberry Cookie.. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to save Parker at all.."

"Don't you worry, Holly! Bravo for being so brave by the way." Hollyberry Cookie cheered up. "Here's to finding the rest of the Cookie Force!"

"YEAH!!" They all cheered.

Chapter Text

                  𝒰𝓃𝓌𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓇ℯ𝓈ℴ𝓁𝓊𝓉𝒾ℴ𝓃

"So THAT'S why we're doing this!" Holly understood. It was a bright morning and the sun was shining down on the school roof. Parker and Holly were sitting on a bench,  looking down at the Ancient Tome in Parker's hands. They were talking to Pure Vanilla Cookie. "Now that I'm also here, how many Cookie Force warriors are left to find for our team?"

"There is only three more Cookie Force Warriors to find now, resolution, abundance and freedom! I say we're doing a good job finding them so quickly." Pure Vanilla Cookie stated. "And thank you again for joining us, Holly. It means a lot." He soon smiled up at her.

"Oh, no worries! I couldn't not help friends in need now, could I?" Holly replied.

The school bell rang as it was now time for class and Parker and Holly stood up.

"You two had better get to class now, I don't want to risk you getting scolded because of me!" Pure Vanilla Cookie reminded them. "See you both soon!"

"Bye!" Parker and Holly waved as the call ended and they walked down the school roof to head to class.

--

While walking, they saw Dorian drawing and walking at the same time. They had the same class, so they walked up to him.

"Morning, Durian!" Holly skipped over to him, placing a cheeky hand on his shoulder. Parker managed to catch up and walked beside them both.

"Dorian." he mumbled back. "I'm not a tropical fruit. You're so silly, Holly." Holly giggled back at him, peeking over at his drawing.

"What are you drawing today?" Parker asked.

"What I usually draw." Dorian showed only a small fraction of his drawing, the hair of a person. The hair was long and curly, and was beautifully sketched on the page.

Holly's eyes sparkled in glee at how good the drawing was. "Waah! it's so good! Just seeing the hair alone.. it's so detailed!"

"I wouldn't expect less from the best artist here." Parker complimented him.

"You two are too nice." Dorian thanked them. "I'm not THAT good, you know."

They all soon walked into math class together with Dorian putting his sketchbook away, spotting Gina and Willow waiting at their desks.

"Morning, slowpokes!" Gina laughed with no malice in her tone. "The teacher is taking a while to come.." The three soon sat on the chairs at their designated desks, Parker being next to Willow and Holly and Dorian each side of Gina's desk.

"What IS taking the teacher so long? He's never late." Parker asked.

"Maybe there's someone violating the dress code or something.." Willow mumbled.

"Or someone wore earrings that were too big.." Holly wondered.

The teacher finally came in with Josh and the student made his way to his desk, which was behind Willow's.

"Okay students, one two three eyes on me!" the teacher instructed, now having thirty odd beaming eyes staring at him. "Today we have an algebra test!" Numerous students groaned out of frustration, Math was the worst in their school after all.

The teacher soon handed out all the test papers and set a timer for an hour, one of those school timers with the cringy music, to be specific. Everyone started doing their tests.

Chapter Text

The clock's ticking rubbed it in at how boring the situation was. Someone clearly forgot to put some deoderant on, as their sweat stank up the room, the cringy music wasn't helping either.

There were some minutes left until the test was over and Parker turned to Willow, who zoned out looking at her test papers which she finished ages ago. But if she told the teacher that, he'd just tell her to read it over even though she had done a thousand times. Parker turned back round to his own finished test and something clicked in his mind, an unpleasant reminder. He started feeling a bit upset about something to do with the Cookie Force.

He couldn't tell Willow, the one person he would have told straight away. They both knew everything about each other thus they were able to tell each other all their secrets. But this was one he had to keep, for earthbread's sake and his own.

After a few more minutes, the timer finally went off and the bell rang at the same time, letting out a pretty horrible sound. This got Parker out of his thoughts.

"Aaalright class!" The teacher announced. "Time's up! please leave your tests on my desk and make sure you have your name on them!"

Students were now running out of the classroom, papers flying onto the teacher's desk. Parker and the others packed their things up and left, carefully placing their tests on the desk as well.

—-Dark Enchantress Cookie's lair..—-

"You keep failing me.." Dark Enchantress Cookie groaned. "I can't trust you with someone or on your own. Now there's two of those brats and not a single one for me yet.."

"Dark Enchantress Cookie.. Forgive me! I'll show you that I will defeat the Cookie Force if it's the last thing I do!"

"The last thing YOU would ever do is take a bath. You reek of body odour." A voice was heard in the distance, itching closer and closer. It was Dark Pomegranate's voice. But she wasn't alone. In her arms was a child with curly purple hair and dark skin. They looked no older than seven.

"Hiiii!" The kid waved at everyone.

"Aw come on! Now a kid is helping me?" Crocus groaned.

"Oh, Dark mushroom!" Dark Enchantress Cookie clapped her hands slowly but joyfully. "Just in time.. Would you care to join Crocus in trying to stop those Cookie Force brats?"

"Okay!" Dark Mushroom was put down from Dark Pomegranate's careful arms. He dashed over to Crocus' side,

"No failing this time, Crocus." Dark Enchantress Cookie sneered.

-----

At break, Parker and the others were sitting at a table talking to each other.

"Have you heard?" Gina asked. "There's a new art contest at school!"

"I've heard about it a bit." Parker answered. "I've seen some posters be put up for it the past couple of days."

"That sounds like something Dorian would like.." Willow pointed out. "He is a very good artist after all."

Dorian was looking at his half-done sketch but looked up once Willow mentioned him. "Everyone says I AM really good..." Dorian thought it over.

"If you win which you most definitely will, I'm sure the whole school will love you and you'll be famous!!" Holly encouraged him.

"I don't want fame, all i want is a good challenge." Dorian sighed smiling at Gina. "I think I will participate, I'll get to test my skills then."

"Yay!!" The others cheered for him, clapping happily but quite quietly as to not disturb the other students. The cheering was quickly interrupted by a voice.

"Dorian."

The gang soon turned to where the voice was heard, It was Josh. He was standing beside them with his shirt untucked and his hair messy, He was eyeing them all down, with a stern expression on his face.

"Oh hi Josh!" Holly waved at him. "How have you been?"

Josh glared at Holly. "I'm not talking to you, Pinky." He muttered. Holly looked at him, slightly offended.

"Watch who you're calling pinky, you selfish pinhead." Dorian scowled while he looked daggers at Josh. "Has no one ever told you it's rude to insult someone you hardly know?"

"Who asked you, geek?"

"I asked you, and I'm not a geek."

"Listen here, dimwit." Josh got up close to Dorian. "This art competition yeah? I'm gonna win it." He soon pointed to Dorian's detailed drawing which was now coming along nicely. "They won't accept this pile of trash! Go throw it out in the trash can where it belongs." This angered Gina now.

"And who asked for your biased opinion?" Gina shouted at Josh.

"QUIET! ATLEAST I HAVE A MOM!" Josh shouted back angrily. Gina let out a shaky gasp, tears now in her eyes after her mother's passing flooded her mind.

"How did you even know.." Gina whimpered. Dorian put his arm around her to comfort her.

"Josh!" Dorian hissed. "How about you go look in the mirror and see how much of a whiny idiot you are, and take a bath while you're at it!"

"GO AWAY!" Josh screamed before running away from them, they all let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Dorian.." Gina finally calmed down.

"Don't worry about it. He had no right to say what he said to you or Holly." He patted her back.

During all that, a cookie was peeking through a bush nearby. The cookie had slate grey armour with a dull violet cape. His hair was long and black with additional white strands. He had a sword close by to him known as the "Grapejam Chocoblade" with a purple diamond symbol shining on it.  After Josh left, he took a deep breath and soon sighed.

"I think I have found who i need.."

Chapter Text

Both Dorian and Gina had a free period. Gina decided to use that free time to check on her siblings over the phone while Dorian was sitting alone on some bleachers finishing his sketch.

"Josh was so rude.." He thought to himself while sketching a left arm. "And over a small competition.. What's his deal?"

Hidden under a bleacher nearby was the cookie from earlier. He poked his head out, observing Dorian with eyes as sharp as daggers. He nodded to himself before hiding again.

"Yes." He muttered to himself. "I'm sure i have found a good candidate. Here goes nothing.."

The cookie jumped up to the bleacher above the one Dorian was sitting on and walked to his drawing. He took a deep breath and mumbled "Excuse me?"

This stopped Dorian from his drawing for a moment. He turned his head left then right, trying to figure out where the cookie's voice came from.

"Who said that?" Dorian asked.

"Down here."

Dorian looked down to where the cookie was looking up at him from. He let out a small gasp.

"What are you? Are you an elf? A wood sprite?"

"Elf? Wood sprite? Where would you get ideas like that?" The cookie looked a bit appalled at Dorian's assumptions at what he was. "I am none of those creatures, I am a cookie."

"Ohhhh... Wait, a cookie? But how-" Dorian sighed. "What's your name?"

"My name is Dark Cacao Cookie, ruler of the Dark Cacao kingdom. And you are?"

"My name's Dorian Clayton."

"It is nice to meet you, Dorian. If I may.. may I ask you about something known as the Cookie Force?" Dark Cacao Cookie asked.

"Cookie.. force..?" Dorian was confused.

"Well at the end of a horrible war, my friends and I decided to go to this world to find the Cookie Force. They are heroes who have the power of truth, passion, resolution, abundance and freedom. We have found the ones for truth and passion, so there's three to go. All I ask is if you would like to assist me in looking for them."

"You're joking, right?" Dorian looked uncertain.

"I am not joking, this is very serious." Dark Cacao Cookie spoke with an earnest tone. "There is evil out as well, and not only are they very powerful, I hear they are looking for candidates of their own. I fear if we do not find them in time, it will be too late for not only cookie-kind, but human-kind as well.."

"Ah..." Dorian's face morphed into a sad one. "I'll see what I can do. No one deserves to live in fear."

"Thank you, Dorian. I appreciate your assistance more than you know." Dark Cacao Cookie smiled with relief. "I must return to my kingdom now, thank you once again for your help."

"Don't worry yourself, when will we see each other again?"

"Soon, I can promise you that."

In the blink of an eye, Dark Cacao Cookie ran. Now that Dorian was alone, he got to thinking. "I have to help, I can't ignore a threat so big, can I?" His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone walking over to him, it was Gina.

"Hey Dorian!" Gina waved as she walked up to him.

"Hi Gina." Dorian waved back as she sat down beside him. "How are your siblings doing?"

"Oh they're alright, Maisie is still sick though, she's using her day-off time to learn more advanced coding." Gina smiled. "By the way.. thanks for standing up for me and Holly today.." She soon went quiet.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I just did what was right. Josh had no right to speak to you the way he did." He tapped her shoulder reassuringly as they both got up and grabbed their bits. He soon smiled at her. "Let's get going, we have class soon."

"Yeah, good idea." She smiled back.

Chapter Text

After more lessons and lunch, home time finally came. Most children were racing out of the school, their shoes hitting the ground faster than light. Parker was with Willow, Holly, Dorian and Gina all walking together. They were all chatting about the test.

"The test was SOOOO long.." Holly groaned. "And not to mention Josh kept looking at me funny."

"No way, really?" Parker asked. "What kind of look?"

"He kept looking at me like he had a problem with me." Holly replied.

"I don't think he's up to anything good with us, guys.." Willow warned them. "We should stay on guard. Especially you, Parker. I don't want him hurting you.." She blushed.

Parker put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll keep my guard up, just know I'll always be there to protect you if he tries to do anything." He soon blushed as well after saying that.

"GAAAAAAAAAH!! HOW ROMANTIC!!!!!!!" Holly squealed.

"We're not in love.. " Parker mumbled, trying to hide his now red face.

"I see otherwiiise!" Holly teased.

——————————————

After a while, Gina made it home and Willow went to the shops to run an errand for her parents, leaving Parker, Holly and Dorian at the park. While they were chatting, two sets of beady eyes were watching them from above, Dark Mushroom and Crocus!

"Wooow! Those guys look like they're having fuuuun!" Dark mushroom beamed. "I wanna join them!"

"IDIOT!" Crocus smacked them around the face. "We're after those brats, and it seems like they're not alone..." He cackled.

The three kids were sitting on a bench when suddenly, multiple purple mushrooms went flying at them.

"Gaah!" Holly squealed. "What's this?"

The sky soon went dark and that's when Crocus and Dark Mushroom appeared.

"One shroomie, two shroomie, three shroomie, four!" Dark mushroom giggled.

"IS THAT A CHILD?" Parker and Holly both screamed.

"Hiii!"

"Hello.." Parker mumbled. "Why are you throwing mushrooms at us?"

"Crocus told me to!" Dark mushroom pointed at Crocus, who was smirking down at the three.

"Hello, you." Crocus sneered.

Dorian was flabbergasted, he never thought a crocodile could talk let alone work with a child.

"H- Hold on a moment! What's going on?" Dorian asked. "Who are you? And why the mushrooms?"

"You must be Dorian.." Crocus snarked, getting up close to him. "I've heard a bit about you and your attitude." Dark Mushroom had no idea what was going on, they tilted their small head in confusion.

"Umm Crocus? Isn't it rude to stalk people?" They asked. "You might get in trouble for doing thaaat.."

"Oh I DON'T CARE!" Crocus shouted, hitting them on the head with one of their mushrooms. "I'm just doing what I've been told to do! Now i want a fight, so give me one!"

Parker and Holly reached out into both of their bags and pulled out their Cookie Pacts with their soul charms at the ready.

"Here goes nothing.." Parker mumbled.

"Prepare for BATTLE!" Crocus cackled, staring the three down.

"What the- uh- HOLD ON!" Dorian screamed. "How are we supposed to fight a whole crocodile-"

"𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑, 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄!!!" Parker and Holly both screamed, placing the charms in their Cookie Pacts, thus beginning their transformations.

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚!!"

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲!!"

They both did their poses.

"𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞!"

"Heh, now the fight can really begin!" Crocus cackled.

"WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?????????" Dorian yelled. "Wh- what happened to you two? Your clothes, your hair! You look so different!"

Pure Berry giggled, "Hehe! I'm still trying to wrap my head around this too!" She took the Ancient Tome out of Pure Vanilla's bag and handed it to him. "Keep watch of this, kay?"

"Hold on a moment-" Dorian tried to stop them but they left to fight Crocus. He took a deep breath and followed them.

"Taaaake THAT! ANNNNNND THIS!" Crocus screamed, stealing Dark Mushroom's mushroom bazooka and started shooting mushrooms at them.

"Heeey, that's mine!" Dark Mushroom whined.

"WUUAAAHHHHH!" The two heroes tried to dodge the attacks, flipping over mushrooms, kicking them back and all sorts. This made Crocus FURIOUS.

"WHY, YOUUUUU!" Crocus yelled angrily. "FACE MY WRATH, BRATS!!!!!!!!" He held a mushroom and used dark magic to make it much, much bigger and slightly heavier. He threw it at the heroes. "TAKE THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!!!"

The gigantic mushroom was too large for the two to dodge, they were about to get hit when suddenly..

"NO!"

Dorian had shielded them as best as he could, trying to hold the mushroom up. Mushrooms don't weigh much, so he wasn't having too much trouble.

"Dorian, what are you doing?" Pure Vanilla asked.

"Run away, save yourself now!" Pure Berry commanded, but she didn't sound stern. Instead, she sounded horrified.

"YOU!" Crocus screamed. "YOU LITTLE BRAT! I ALMOST HAD THEM!"

"You'll.. never have them..." Dorian breathed heavily.

"And what makes you think that?" Crocus sneered.

Dorian panted. " Because.. because.." He took a deep breath.

"𝐈 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐁𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐘𝐎𝐔!"

Chapter Text

A purple beam of light surrounded Dorian, encasing him away.

"OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Crocus groaned.

And soon, like the other two previously, he was all alone. Or was he? Dark Cacao Cookie came at the perfect time and perched on his shoulder.

"Where am I..?" Dorian asked, as a cookie pact with a soul charm in purple shaped like a diamond appeared in front of him. "And what are these?"

"I knew you could do it, Dorian." Dark Cacao Cookie smiled.

"Oh, hello again. Do you know what's going on, and where I am?"

"This is your soul, filled with the purest resolution. And what you have there is a Cookie Pact, you have proven yourself as a Cookie Force Warrior!"

Dorian sighed, trying to wrap his head around this. "So I shouted at a crocodile and now I'm here. That's weird. Sooo... what do I do?"

"All you need to do is open the cookie pact and shout at the top of your lungs, "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞."

"Are you trying to make a fool out of me?" Dorian asked, annoyance clear as day in his voice. "I can't be going around embarrassing myself like-" He then thought about his friends, he had to do it, he had to protect them. That's when he took a deep breath. "I'll give it a shot, for my friends."

He opened the Cookie Pact. "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫!" And he soon placed the charm inside as well. "𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄!!!"

Like the others, a blusher appeared to help Dorian transform. He spun around, holding onto the blusher as sparkles came raining down from it. His hair slowly changed from shorter dreadlocks to much longer ones, most of them becoming a long, ponytail at the back of his head. His clothes turned from normal, everyday clothes to a dark purple suit of armour and a small pocket for the Cookie Pact appeared on his waist. A purple cape and a crown appeared before him, and he put them on in an orderly fashion.

He soon finished his transformation and did his pose, forming a diamond shape with his hands.

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐨!"

"PURE CACAO!" Pure Berry screamed. "YAAAAY!"

Over in a small bush, Willow was there, somehow managing to see Dorian's whole transformation, she clutched her shopping tighter.

"N...no..." she mumbled. "I.." She got up and instantly ran off, breathing heavily.

Back at the fight, Pure Berry hugged Pure Cacao. "I can't believe this! We can work together now!"

"Hold on!" Pure Cacao looked confused. "What's happened to my clothes and hair? Is this what happens to the Cookie Force?"

"Yep, yep!" Pure Vanilla smiled. "Hope your'e happy to tag along with us."

"I still can't wrap my head around it..." Pure Cacao inspected the fabric of his cape. "But it does sound like a good challenge, and getting to team up with my friends is even better."

Crocus threw the giant mushroom away, sending it flying across the park. "How many more of these brats can I TAKE?"

Dark Mushroom looked at Crocus and noticed his anger. They looked concerned.

"Are you okay, Crocus? You look very sad...."

"QUIET, KID!" He pushed Dark Mushroom away from him and used his dark magic to make a huge sword.

"Owch... that really hurt!" Dark Mushroom cried.

"Is that a SWORD?" Pure Vanilla asked. "And did you just HIT THAT CHILD?"

"Who would hit a child..?" Pure Berry sadly mumbled.

"Him, apparently." Pure Cacao sighed. "Anyway, first a mushroom now a magic sword, where can we get these magic weapons..?" He also questioned.

"Can only Dark magic make weapons like that?" Pure Vanilla asked, that's when three of the Ancient Tome's symbols started glowing. He opened it and Pure Vanilla Cookie was inside with Hollyberry Cookie.

"Oh, hello!" Pure Vanilla waved.

"Hi, hi!" Pure Berry came over to his side, peeking at the tome. "We're in a bit of a pickle.."

"Hello, hello!" Pure Vanilla Cookie waved back.

Hollyberry Cookie was waving with him. "And hello, Dark Cacao Cookie!"

"Hello, you two." Dark Cacao Cookie waved back.

"I can see that you're all a bit stuck.. but here's some advice." All three of the warriors gathered around the tome now. "You can use your spirit to summon a weapon to help you. For example, You get a staff Pure Vanilla, Berry gets a shield and Cacao gets a sword."

"A sword, you say?" Pure Cacao asked. "That'll help. Thanks, Pure Vanilla Cookie. Hopefully we can have a proper introduction soon."

"It was nice meeting you, Cacao. We'll be able to talk soon, I promise."

"Go on out there and show that crocodile who's boss, you three!" Hollyberry Cookie cheered.

"You can count on us!" Pure Berry beamed. "Bye bye!"

"Take care now!" Pure Vanilla Cookie bid them farewell.

"Less talking, more FIGHTING! I'm BOOOORED!" Crocus screamed.

Pure Cacao turned to Dark Cacao Cookie in concern. "How do I use my spirit to get a weapon?"

"It is very simple." Dark Cacao Cookie instructed, "Channel your spirit into the Cookie pact, you can do this by holding it close to your heart and thinking about what you want to protect."

"Sounds easy enough, here goes." Pure Cacao picked up the cookie pact out of his pocket and held it close to his heart. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" the power started flowing through, creating a purple hue. That's when a particularly latched sword appeared out of thin air and he managed to grab it. "It worked." He smiled.

"Yay!" Pure Berry celebrated.

"Crocus is fishy, so we'll take care of ambushes and things like that while you fight, k?" Pure Vanilla encouraged.

"Got it." Pure Cacao's face became determined.

"Now THIS is what I'm taking about!" Crocus smirked. "En garde, BRAT!

Chapter Text

Crocus charged at Pure Cacao, trying to find a good place to impale him. The only sound you could hear was swords clashing against each other and Crocus' annoyed screams when his slashes missed.

"I'm gonna need some popcorn.." Pure Berry mumbled while fighting off some dark spell attacks Crocus set off to them.

"I need more... MORE!" Crocus groaned.

"Less talking, more fighting." Pure Cacao echoed Crocus' words, "Do you want to win or not?"

"I was born to win, dork!" Crocus used some more dark magic and made many missiles shoot, making it harder for Pure Cacao to dodge. "You have a lot of nerve for not screaming and running away. I would of left those two alone if I were you."

"I wouldn't say it's nerve, I'd say it's empathy, something you clearly wouldn't understand." Pure Cacao stated before being able to slash at Crocus' scales.

"GAAAAAAAAAH!" Crocus yelled.

"I"

"CAN'T

"𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄!"

He soon screamed. Each time a word came out of his mouth, he slashed his sword. He was finally able to corner Pure Cacao, laughing with cockiness clear in his tone.

"Gah..." Pure Cacao sighed.

"Well looky looky, you can stand up for people you're all buddy-buddy with but can hardly put up a fight! You're weaker than you say you are, 𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐭𝐨𝐧."

Pure Cacao's face morphed into an angry expression. "You're one to talk, you rely on everyone else to do all the hard work for you and then you throw them out of the picture. And I knew it when you hit that child."

He was able to stand up as Crocus backed away. "I see your fears as clear as day, you don't want to lose because everyone will realise how much of a coward you truly are. True winners don't win for attention, They win to protect others, to bring joy and happiness to lives and fulfil their passions. I'll show you how a true winner does it."

He slashed his sword multiple times against Crocus, taking advantage of his vulnerability after being exposed. He soon focused.

"I need to defeat that guy.. I WILL defeat him! For my friends!" He thought to himself, he thought back to what Pure Vanilla Cookie said about spirit. He soon looked down at Dark Cacao Cookie, who was hanging on by a thread to his shoulder.

"Dark Cacao Cookie?" He asked, helping him climb back on to his shoulder with his hand. "Spirit seems like a very handy tool, what else can you use it for?"

"Well.. there is the weapons from earlier and a special attack you can do. The attacks are much more powerful with the weapon and your spirit combined." Dark Cacao Cookie replied to his question.

"I see... that should do it. Do I do the same thing, hold it close to my heart?"

"Yes."

"Thank you very much for your help, Dark Cacao Cookie. It means a lot." Pure Cacao thanked him before taking a deep breath and taking the Cookie Pact out of his pocket and held it to his heart.

He focused all his attention onto what he wanted to protect and soon the pact glowed brighter and brighter, the weapon also joining it's purple gleam. He soon ran up to Crocus, who was out of breath.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞! 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧!" Multiple slashes were made with his sword and spirit combined. Crocus had many cuts and scars from the attack.

"You... you're good... all three of you are.." Crocus panted, out of breath and wounded. "but just wait. I'll get you.. when.. I..."

"Ouchy... that's gotta hurt.." Dark mushroom mumbled. "I will take him back and make him shroomie soup! Bye bye heroes!"

And with dark magic, the two villains disappeared and Pure Cacao returned to being Dorian once again, he was horribly tired and he fell to the floor.

"Dorian!" Holly screamed midway into transforming back to normal. Once she was done, she grabbed Parker's hand and they ran over to him. "Everything ok? You look so shattered.."

"I'm okay.." Dorian reassured her. I.. have no idea about what just went on.. or what I was doing.. but I loved it." He turned over to Dark Cacao Cookie. "Thank you, Dark Cacao Cookie. I owe you a lot. If I hadn't met you, I'd have no idea what I would be doing."

"Do not thank me." Dark Cacao Cookie smiled. "You are a valiant warrior, Dorian. It would be a great honour just to have you join our team of the Cookie Force, if you wish to do so.."

"It would be an honour to join you all. If you all want to have me."

"Hehe!" Parker laughed. "We'd love to have you join us, Dorian. Your resolution is incredible, and valuable. I admire your determination!"

"Then it's settled." Dorian smiled at them all. "Thank you for having me join the Cookie Force! We're a team now."

And thus, two Cookie Force warriors became three.

Chapter Text

𝒢ℴ𝓁𝒹ℯ𝓃 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓀ℯ𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔

On the very same evening that changed Dorian's life, Gina was at home in her room, sitting by her desk. She was looking at a picture with a golden frame. The picture was of her with her mother. They both looked very happy together. If you saw it, you could see how similar the two looked. She soon let out a long sigh.

"Why did it have to get like this.." She mumbled. "I wish I could see you again mom, but I know that's not possible.." She started to tear up. "I miss you so much.. we all do.."

A golden beam of light was zooming past the town, blending in well with it's sunset skies. The beam headed closer to Gina's house by the minute and she had the mistake of leaving her window open. The light briefly stopped moving a moment upon seeing Gina sitting and crying but soon raced into her house.

It bounced across her walls, snapping her out of her sorrow. "Huh..?" She mumbled.

She stood up, noticing the beam of light bouncing around. It was very small, just double the size of a fly. Gina was horrified of flies and bugs, so this caused her to scream.

"GAAAH! A FLY-" The beam of light hit her straight on the head, sending her toppling down to her bed. Both her and the beam of light screamed.

"𝐎𝐰𝐰𝐰!"

The beam of light was revealed to be a cookie with short golden hair and baked-brown dough. She wore a golden headdress which contained her soul jam, a yellow upside-down triangle. Her upper half was half-covered by a wide gold and green collar with outward spikes, while her lower half was covered by a linen skirt with an orange belt. She wore golden bracelets on her hands and wielded a spear with two triangles on its ends pointed in the same direction, with the triangle on the point sporting holes similar to Swiss cheese. She also boasted a pair of golden arc-shaped wings with a green triangle pattern on their edges. The Cookie looked down at Gina, looking a bit offended and also a bit concerned.

"A FLY? how RUDE of you to call me, THE golden sovereign a fly!" She snapped.

"A- A TALKING FLY!" Gina hid her face behind a pillow before slowly peeking her face out of it. "You don't look like a fly."

"That's because I am a 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞. Not a fly." The cookie elaborated.

Gina soon placed the pillow on her lap and pulled it closer to herself instead. She let out a sigh. "Ah, sorry for thinking you were a fly.. Wait, a cookie?"

" Yes! I'll let you off of your mistake, just for once."  The Cookie smiled. "After all you must be pretty shocked that a cookie can talk in the first place."

"Pretty shocked is an understatement.." Gina mumbled. "What's your name, Cookie?"

"My name is Golden Cheese Cookie." The Cookie waved. "Queen of the Golden Cheese Kingdom. And you are?"

"Well, My name is Gina Campbell. It's nice to meet you, your majesty."

"Now introductions are out of the way, I couldn't help but notice something about you." Golden Cheese Cookie flew a bit closer to Gina. "When I was flying in here, I noticed something wrong. If you don't mind me asking, why were you crying?"

"Ahh.. well.." Gina mumbled. She was hesitant to say, but she took a deep breath and composed herself. "You see, I was crying because.. because... I miss my mom, and she isn't here with me or my family anymore."

Golden Cheese Cookie knew what this meant. She flew on over to Gina's shoulder and sat on it. "How cruel." She thought. "How cruel of the world to take away Gina's mother and leave her alone.."

"Oh poor child.." She started rubbing the part of Gina's cheek she could reach. "Losing someone you love horribly hurts, doesn't it?"

"Uh huh.." Gina nodded.

"Don't worry yourself now.. you have me to talk to. You won't be alone, okay?"

"Thank you, Golden Cheese Cookie.."

Chapter Text

On the Thursday morning, Gina was packing for school while Golden Cheese Cookie was standing on her vanity. They were talking about something.

"So... let me recap." Gina stated, "There was a horrible war in your world and the Cookies of darkness's power is getting stronger? So you and your friends came here to look for something known as the "Cookie Force?" Is that right?" She asked.

"Bingo." Golden Cheese Cookie smiled. "We are only missing two, the ones for abundance and freedom! Truth, passion and resolution are already with us."

"Aaaand where can we find these Cookie Force Warriors?"

"Anywhere. Just someone with unwavering abundance and someone with the purest freedom is what counts." Golden Cheese Cookie realised something. "When you said 𝐰𝐞.. you don't mean.."

"I want to help you, Golden Cheese Cookie. I fear if the darkness spreads too much, it will affect people that I or others love.. and I don't want that to happen." Gina rested her hands on her school skirt.

"You.. are.. sure about this, aren't you?" Golden Cheese Cookie mumbled. "You're only a child.. I don't want you to get hurt.."

"Don't worry, Golden Cheese Cookie." Gina smiled down at her. "I'll be ok.. promise!"

Golden Cheese Cookie smiled, albeit with a hint of worry. "Thank you, Gina.."

"Don't worry!" Gina smiled back.

They could hear someone running up the stairs, Golden Cheese Cookie jumped into Gina's bag, as to not get caught.

"We'll talk later, Golden Cheese Cookie!" Gina whispered.

"Alright, talk to you soon!" Golden Cheese Cookie whispered back.

Gina's bedroom door swung open, on the other side were her four siblings, two girls and two boys. The oldest boy had long red hair who looked no older than 13, The oldest girl had brown hair like Gina's who was 12, The youngest boy had black hair and was 10, and the youngest girl looked no older than 7 and had curly brown hair.

"Gina, hurry!" The oldest boy shouted. "We don't want to be late do we?"

Gina laughed. "Relax, you four! We've got plenty of time! But we should get going. Just give me oooooone sec.."

She stood up and grabbed her keys from the vanity and picked her school bag off of the floor.

"Okay!" She cheered. "Let's go!"

—-

Parker was walking to school with Holly and Dorian. Willow was already there doing some research on a special topic, so it was only the three of them until Gina parted ways with her siblings for the day, and walked toward them.

"Morning, Gina!" Holly waved.

"Morning, everyone." Gina smiled at them. "Where's Willow?"

"She's already at school, she told me not to meet her as she's studying something important." Parker stated. "I'm happy for her, but it does feel pretty empty walking without her.."

"I know how important she is to you, Parker." Gina put a hand on his shoulder. "Just one moment without her can feel so wrong."

"That's a good way to word it.. But sometimes I think I worry about her too much.. She's capable of doing her own thing." Parker sighed.

Golden Cheese Cookie was peeking out of Gina's bag, looking closely at the four. "There's something about these guys.." She thought. "A familiar feeling. I like that." She hid back in Gina's bag.

They all finally got to school and saw Willow waiting for them.

"Hello.." she waved.

"Hiya, Willow!" Holly smiled while everyone waved back. "What were you studying?"

"Well... um..." Willow was hesitant to tell them, as she was studying about the Cookie Force after seeing Dorian's first transformation the day before. "Just about plants, per usual. I have a science test coming up so I wanted to revise as much as I could. But then I felt a bit lonely.. I missed you all.." When she said that, her focus was more on Parker than anyone else.

The bell soon rang and the five walked into school together, Parker and Willow holding hands.

Chapter Text

During break time, while Willow decided to keep studying cookies, Gina was sitting at a table with Parker. Holly and Dorian were playing sports not too far from them. Gina wanted to tell Parker her meeting with Golden Cheese Cookie because she felt like she could trust him with things like that.

"Parker.." Gina mumbled.

"Yeah?" Parker tilted his head questionably.

"Can I tell you something weird that happened yesterday?"

"You can tell me anything." Parker smiled.

"Welp. Last evening, I was sitting by my desk thinking about my mom.. then this-" She soon stopped herself and tried to play it off. "This HUMUNGOUS fly flew into my room! It was horrifying! hahahahahahaha.. ha.."

"Gina.." Parker sighed. "There's something else going on, I know it. If you're not comfortable telling me, it's perfectly okay."

"N- no, it's nothing like that! It's just.. uhh..." Gina stuttered.

Golden Cheese Cookie was still in Gina's bag, she was a little annoyed with the fact that she tried to cover up her existence. She is THE golden sovereign after all. She decided to fly out of the bag and onto the table.

"Gina, for the last time I'm not a fly." She crossed her arms.

"GAAAH!" Gina screamed. "What are you doing out? There's no way Parker's gonna believe-"

"Oh, a Cookie!" Parker looked a bit shocked, but soon calmed down. "So Gina, did you want to tell me you've met a cookie?"

Gina just nodded. She soon mumbled, "I met her when I was crying, I thought she was a fly.."

"I see! What's your name, Cookie?" Parker asked.

"My name is Golden Cheese Cookie. And you must be Parker, correct?"

"Yes! That's me!" Parker smiled.

"My friend, Pure Vanilla Cookie told me a bit about you, he said you're very kind and overall a lovely person." Golden Cheese Cookie laughed.

"I'm honoured he thinks of me that way!" Parker beamed.

"So Parker.." Gina asked, "From what I've heard now, it seems like you know a thing or two about the Cookie Force?"

"Yeah, I know a bit. Not a lot though, since I only first found out on Monday."

"Only Monday?" Gina asked. "Golden Cheese Cookie told me that the cookies have found three warriors already."

While they were talking, Holly and Dorian were walking up to them. Holly looked sweaty, like she had been exercising for a long while.

"Hey guys.." she panted.

"Oh, hi you two!" Parker smiled. "How did volleyball go?"

"Dorian is waaay better than me, but we had fun!" Holly smiled back. "Were you guys talking about anything interesting?"

"Just introducing Gina to the Cookie Force-" Parker couldn't finish his sentence as Gina covered his mouth.

"We were just talking about.. ah.." Gina stammered.

"It's ok, Gina!" Parker muffled. "They know."

"Ahh, sorry sorry." She apologised and uncovered his mouth.

"Take a seat, you two!" Parker smiled as he offered a seat to them.

"Thanks!" Holly beamed as they both sat down.

"More friends?" Golden Cheese Cookie smiled up at the new arrivals. "You must be Holly and Dorian, yes?"

"Yep yep!" Holly waved down at her.

"It's nice to meet you. What's your name?" Dorian asked the cookie.

"Golden Cheese Cookie is my name. Hollyberry cookie and Dark Cacao cookie have told me about both of you as well."

They all continued talking until the bell rang and they headed to their next class, Golden Cheese Cookie hiding back in Gina's bag.

—-Dark Enchantress Cookie's lair.—-

"You have two chances left to get me a good Cookie Force warrior, none are good enough so far." Dark Enchantress Cookie peered down at Crocus.

"Blah blah blah!" Crocus mocked. "Give me a break! It's not easy being me, trying to balance two things at once!"

"Do I look like I care about your sob stories, reptile?" Dark Enchantress Cookie sneered. "Anyhow, Dark Pomegranate is busy babysitting Dark Mushroom and Dark Liquorice is on another quest, so you're gonna have to go alone."

"THANK YOU." Crocus cheered. "Those losers just don't understand true strength! I'll come back, with a perfect candidate!"

"You had better find one! Dark Enchantress Cookie commanded.  "Off with you now."

Chapter Text

"Yay! I love basketball!" Holly jumped up and down happily. It was after school and the group of friends decided to work on their athletic skills further in a local basketball court nearby. Willow had already headed home, since she had to make sure the house was clean.

"Okay, what should we work on first?" Parker asked. "I'm not the best at shooting the ball in the hoop, but I want to give everyone else a chance to learn too."

"I think we should practice with the hoop. We'll have a less likely chance of missing, then." Dorian suggested.

"Yeah, yeah!" Holly agreed.

The four trained, each practicing shooting the hoop into the ball one at a time. Once it got to Gina's turn, Dorian passed the ball to her.

"Okay, here goes." Gina threw the orange basketball into the hoop, she was able to get it in. "Yay!" She cheered.

But once the ball hit the ground, it wasn't an orange colour. It was a suspicious dark purple, with a red aura around it.

"Hold on." Gina picked up the ball. "This doesn't look like the ball we brought with us."

"Strange.." Holly commented, she felt a lump in her throat out of nervousness. "I don't like the feeling of it."

"It feels slimy.." Gina dropped the ball out of pure disgust, not liking the texture at all. That's when the ball exploded with purple dust.

"Gahhh!" All their screams echoed across the park.

"Crocus.." Golden Cheese Cookie, who was still in Gina's bag mumbled.

"Well, well, look who we have here." A familiar and unpleasant voice was cockily speaking to the four.

"Crocus." Parker, Holly and Dorian all growled.

"Who is that?" Gina asked.

"If you keep bringing your friends along, I can guarantee one won't be making it out alive." Crocus cackled.

"It's not our fault you like to ruin our fun, reptile." Parker crossed his arms.

"Don't call me names, dummy." Crocus sneered back. "Has no one ever told you it's rude to speak lowly of your successors?"

"What makes you think you're better than us?" Dorian grumbled. "You're cocky, rude and not to mention stupid."

"STUPID?" Crocus shouted? "HOW DAAARE YOU CALL ME, THE ALMIGHTY CROCUS STUPID! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

"W..wait! What's going on?" Gina asked. "How can a crocodile talk?"

Parker put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it." He went to his bag and took out the Ancient Tome. He handed it to Gina. "Look after this, okay?"

"What's this?" Gina asked. "What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Just keep it safe for me."

"Okay, I understand." Gina nodded.

"Quit your yapping!" Crocus snapped. "If it's a fight I want, I WILL GET ONE!"

Parker reached out for his Cookie Pact and grabbed it. "Ready?"

Holly and Dorian soon reached out for theirs too. "Ready!"

They all opened their Cookie Pacts and yelled  "𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑, 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄!!!" They the charms in their Cookie Pacts, their transformations began.

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚!"

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲!"

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐨."

They all soon posed together. "𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞!"

"Now the fight can truly begin." Crocus cackled.

"Hold on a minute!"  Gina intruded. "Can someone tell me what's going on? What's happened to my friends? why have you all got sparkly clothes on?"

"I think there's something more important to worry about than us having sparkly clothes, Gina!" Pure Cacao reminded her. "Just don't worry about it and run to safety, ok?"

"Ok.." Gina started running and soon hid behind a bush, holding the Ancient Tome. She peeked her head out to watch the fight.

"You're gonna GET IT, LOSERS!" Crocus laughed. He conjured up some dark magic, and woven them into spears. He shot them at the three.

They were able to dodge the magic swiftly and easily, without too much trouble. Crocus smirked, replacing his usual anger at their dodges.

"Your team is getting bigger and stronger, more of a fun challenge." He smiled smugly. "I have the perfect thing up my sleeve." He picked up the purple ball and threw it at the wall. Soon all the walls started fading away and turning into a circle of fire around them.

"Watch out kids, you're playing with fire."

"Fire.." Gina mumbled behind the bush. "I don't like the look of this..

Chapter Text

The ring of fire was blazing hot and towering over them, leaving not much room to move nor jump. the three were trying to get around without burning themselves or each other.

"How are we supposed to stop you if we can barely move?" Pure Cacao asked angrily.

"Hush, brat. Crocus snickered. "Don't you think the fire makes it more thrilling, or are you scared to face me with the added danger?"

"It's not that, the fire is harmful." Pure Vanilla shouted. "This is an open area, you could easily cause a forest fire and put yourself and others in danger!"

"And do I care? If anything, all this greenery and silly ball games are a waste of time. Grow up, you three and start thinking about prioritising yourself over puny things like this. And if that just went over your head, I'll just force you!" He used some dark magic and made multiple small but powerful fire balls.

"Not on my watch." Pure Berry warned, she took out her Cookie Pact and held it close to her heart. She took a deep breath and focused, her spirit soon caused a pink, heart shaped shield to appear before her. She grabbed it.

"A puny shield, hm? Stole that trick from Cacao I see. Just know that it won't block THESE!" Crocus sent the many fire balls flying at the three, Pure Berry stood in front of her friends and was able to block the shots.

"Neat, it worked!" Pure Berry cheered.

"You can't use silly weapons against me! I have more power than you can all ever comprehend." Crocus smirked, the ring of fire closing in further on them. "When I'm done with you, I will wipe everything you love off the face of the earth, including your silly friends hiding away."

Gina, who was still hiding behind the bush, gasped. "No!" She thought. "I won't let him do this.." She opened her bag and called for Golden Cheese Cookie.

"Golden Cheese Cookie, I'm going out there." Gina informed her.

"Gina!" Golden Cheese Cookie warned her. "What on Earthbread do you think you're doing? You could get yourself hurt!"

"Listen to me, I can't lose my friends. I've lost my mother already, I'm not losing any more of the people I treasure." Gina argued back.

Knowing all too well what it feels like to lose dear friends, Golden Cheese Cookie sighed. "Very well.." she mumbled. "Just be careful."

Gina picked up the Ancient Tome and slung her bag on her shoulder, Golden Cheese Cookie rested on her head. She started to sweat with how hot the fire was while approaching Crocus.

"MuahahaHA!" Crocus cackled as the fire wall closed in even further. "You cowards, you can't fight let alone move now."

"Stop!" Gina's voice interrupted Crocus' taunts.

"Ah, so you've finally decided to come out of hiding. You should have saved yourself before it was too late." He snarled.

Pure Cacao was watching Gina's confrontation along with the other two warriors. "Gina, what are you doing?" He shouted. "You're gonna get yourself hurt!"

"Run away, Gina!" Pure Berry shouted as well.

"Listen to your friends.. they're shouting at you to go away. Why not listen to them?" Crocus taunted. "You shouldn't worry about them, focus on your hair, makeup and your sparkling gold jewellery! That's what greedy girls like you should be doing."

Gina's eyebrows furrowed. "And leave my friends, the only people that can keep me going? Never. Even if for all the riches in the world." She shook her head.

That's when a symbol on the Ancient Tome, the yellow upside down triangle, started glowing. The glow grew brighter and brighter by the second.

"I won't let you lay a finger on my friends... 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐒."

That's when a yellow beam of light burst out of the Ancient Tome and absorbed her and Golden Cheese Cookie away from the others, now encased in the warm embrace of the abundance in her soul.

"Where am I.." She asked, she soon noticed Golden Cheese Cookie was still sitting on her head, holding onto her hair clip. "Where are WE?"

A Cookie Pact and a yellow Soul Charm in the same triangle shape as the symbol appeared before her, she grabbed them. Golden Cheese Cookie lifted herself up off her head and flew down to meet her eye to eye.

"Do you know what these are?" Gina asked, holding the objects up to the Cookie.

"These.. are very special things called the Cookie Pact and Soul Charm.." Golden Cheese Cookie smiled proudly. "And you have earned them, Gina! You can now call yourself a Cookie Force Warrior!"

"Earned them? Me?" Gina tilted her head. "How did I even do that? What do I do with them?"

"Open the Cookie Pact for me." Golden Cheese Cookie instructed.

"Okay." Gina opened the Cookie Pact. "What's next?"

"Put the soul charm into the Cookie Pact and say 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞! And you can leave it to do the rest!"

"I'll take your word for it, here I go." Gina smiled, determined.

"𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫!" She took out her braid, letting her long hair flow freely, she placed the soul charm into the pact, she soon screamed. "𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄!"

Using a blusher like the other heroes, she picked it up and drew a yellow upside down triangle shape with it. Her clothes changed, looking like ancient Egyptian wear, with a golden neckpiece and a shining winged crown to match. Her hair turned from a hazel colour to a golden blonde, shortening in the process. she let out a little "Oh!" in shock. Long, golden and blue wings settled on her back. She soon finished and made an upside down triangle shape with her hands.

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞!"

Chapter Text

After Gina became Pure Cheese, she noticed her new set of clothes and patted herself around, noticing her new wings and now short hair. "What happened to my hair?" She asked with a hint of sadness in her tone. "I spent ages growing that out.."

"Oh, it'll grow back." Golden Cheese Cookie reassured her, patting her head while resting on it comfortably. "You will get used to it!"

"And where did these WINGS come from?" Gina looked at the wings on her back. She took a deep breath. "I shouldn't be worrying about how I look.. My friends are in trouble.."

But of course, the others were over that tall ring of fire, too tall to jump over. "Oh yeah, I need to find a way to get over there." She thought it over then soon looked up at the cookie. "Golden Cheese Cookie?"

"Yes?" Golden Cheese Cookie replied.

"Are these actual wings, or only for show?"

"Actual wings, of course!" Golden Cheese Cookie answered. "Why on Earth-bread would I give you wings that don't even work?"

"Good point.." Gina smiled, she was forming a plan. "So could I, theoretically, fly OVER the fire and get to my friends?"

"I don't see how that could not work. Give it a go, Cheese!"

Pure Cheese did a small stretch and got herself ready to fly over. "Here goes!" She leaped in the air and soon began to fly, she soared through the air, free as a bird. She soon landed where the other warriors were, making her presence known to them. "Hope I'm not late to the fight." She chuckled.

"Gina?" Pure Cacao looked sceptical.

"I'm Pure Cheese at the moment, Cacao!" She laughed, tapping his shoulder. "I am still the Gina you know and love, though. Just with shorter hair and cool wings!"

Pure Berry cheered. "Now there's four of us!"

"Not more of you brats.." Crocus sighed. "I'm growing tired of you multiplying! If I see ONE more of you join this pathetic group, you're all gonna be toast, you hear?"

"I don't know what your deal with us is, but you'd better watch your mouth." Pure Cacao crossed his arms.

"Why should I watch MY mouth? I can do anything I want! Liiiike this!" Crocus shot another attack at the four, Pure Berry blocking it again with her shield.

"Kinda claustrophobic here, isn't it?" Pure Cheese wondered. "Doesn't that sound a bit unfair?"

"Do you want to be even CLOSER to being burnt alive??" Crocus cackled. "The point is, I've won. And you all are cornered!"

Pure Cheese turned to Pure Vanilla and whispered in his ear. "Vanilla, have you been able to stop him before?"

"Yes, with our spirit and weapons.." Pure Vanilla whispered back.

"Spirit.." Pure Cheese muttered.. "Anything else?"

"Dorian did sword fight him last time, I suppose the bigger, the better." The hero smiled at her.

"What are you two muttering about? I'm getting BORED!" Crocus screamed.

"Who told you it was YOUR business? Give us like, five more minutes!" Pure Cheese argued. "Because I have a plan.." She soon smirked.

She turned to the others and huddled them all up together. "You all are gonna distract Crocus, get him reeeally riled up while I get a thing I need. You can't fight fire with your bare fists now, can you?"

"I like that idea!" Pure Vanilla smiled.

"I'm on board with it." Pure Cacao agreed.

"Sounds like fun!" Pure Berry mumbled. "We'll keep him distracted for you."

"Thanks, guys, I appreciate the help!" She soon zipped off into the air, leaving the three alone with Crocus.

"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Crocus snapped. "And what's this plan of yours? Tell me NOW!"

"None of your business, reptile! Why do you wanna know so bad?" Pure Cacao smirked.

"You need to know what your opponent is planning to destroy them, idiot!"

"Smart, smart. Kind of surprised those words came out your mouth, to be honest. Considering how you've let actual children beat you in the past three days." Pure Cacao chuckled.

This set Crocus off. "NOT THIS TIME!!! GRAHHH!" He jumped at the three, Pure Berry moving him away with her shield.

Meanwhile, Pure Cheese was rummaging through her school bag.

"What on Earth-bread are you looking in there for?" Golden Cheese Cookie asked.

"Oh, just something small, you can't fight fire with your bare fists, can you? But I have one question.. How can you use your spirit to defeat the enemy?"

"Good question." Golden Cheese Cookie smirked. "Needn't worry, I have your answer." She cleared her throat and kept going. "You will need the Cookie Pact on your waist. Hold it close to your heart and focus on what you want to protect, then boom! You can sent that villain where it belongs."

"Thanks a bunch, Golden Cheese Cookie! I owe you a lot." Pure Cheese smiled at her. She soon pulled out what she was looking for. Her yellow, pint sized water bottle.

"A water bottle?" Golden Cheese Cookie tilted her head. "Are you going to make Crocus hydrated or something like that?"

"Not exactly." She smirked. She soon ran over to the water fountain nearby and filled up the water bottle. She soon tightened it.

Crocus was battling the three, now inching the fire to the point where they couldn't move.

"You're trapped. I have you cornered now!" He cackled. "I have to admit though, you are good at fighting-" He was interrupted by a splash of water, becoming soaking wet. This dimmed part of the fire, making it go out.

"Oh." Pure Cacao mumbled while he and the others looked shocked. "That's one way to do it.."

"You, YOU!" Crocus snapped. "How DARE YOU! I'M SUPPOSED TO WIN! IT'S MY DESTINY!"

"Ah, ah, ah." Pure Cheese wagged her finger at Crocus, using her free hand to hold the Cookie Pact close to her heart. It was already emitting a bright yellow light. Soon, many golden arrows appeared around her. "𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞!"

All the arrows shot down at the crocodile, sending him flying away. "I'LL GET YOU, NEXT TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-" Crocus screamed, his voice getting further and further away from the group.

Soon the fire had gone out, too. Pure Cheese landed on the ground elegantly. Pure Berry ran up to hug her, taking the other two with her.

"Bravo, you!" Pure Berry cheered while she squeezed her friend tightly.

Pure Cheese chuckled in surprise, not expecting the hug. "Oh, hehehe.. thanks! That was super weird!"

"But you did it, and that's what matters! Another day is saved thanks to you." Pure Vanilla smiled at her, Pure Cacao nodded his head, agreeing with him.

Golden Cheese Cookie flew down from her head to rest on her shoulder, patting her cheek lightly as a "well done" gesture. "Thank you for helping us, Gina. You don't understand how grateful I am for your help.."

Pure Cheese rubbed the Cookie's head with her finger, to offer comfort to her. "Oh, don't worry about it! And should this happen again, I'm happy to join the Cookie Force and help you out!"

"Since you're happy to join us, we gladly have a spot for you!" Pure Vanilla cheered. "Now there's only one more warrior to go til our team is complete!"

—————————-

Meanwhile, back on Earth-bread, Crocus was moping about his defeat.

"Stupid kids.. with their stupid pacts and cookies.." That's when from the corner of his eye, he saw a cookie with long, white braided hair by a lake sitting next to Pure Vanilla Cookie. It was White Lily Cookie, the last Ancient Hero who had yet to find a Cookie Force warrior. This gave him an idea. "COOKIES!" he screamed.

"Crocus.." White Lily Cookie mumbled, she stood up and turned to him. "I know about the evil you cause, and I will not let you create a dystopian world like you plan."

"Oh, really?" He strutted up to the cookie, holding a mysterious orb-like object. "You heroes, so full of yourselves!"

"If you dare lay a finger on her, I won't go easy on you.." Pure Vanilla Cookie shielded her.

"Oh yeah, lovey dovey? Think AGAIN!" Crocus ran and pushed Pure Vanilla Cookie, quickly using the orb and opening a portal, pushing White Lily Cookie through.

"GAAAH!" Her screams echoed as she got flung into the portal.

Pure Vanilla Cookie cried, "NO, WHITE LILY COOKIE!"

Chapter Text

                      𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓇𝒾ℴ𝓇

"She's MISSING?" Parker asked, shock clear on his face. It was early on a warm Friday morning and he was walking to school, holding the Ancient Tome in his hands. "If she's gone, then how will we find the final Cookie Force warrior?"

"I don't know.." Pure Vanilla Cookie sighed, on the verge of tears. "All I do know is that Crocus has hidden her in this town.. I just hope she's okay.."

"Oh, don't worry!" Parker reassuringly smiled at the cookie. "We'll find her. She can't be that far if she's only here. Who knows? We could find her today."

"You're right.. we will find her." The cookie took deep breaths to calm himself. "Thank you for the reassurance, Parker."

"Then let's start looking! I'll get the others to help too!"

——-

Meanwhile, Willow was walking in the small wooded area near the school, marvelling at the trees that reached to the sky. Her face formed a upset expression, contemplating something.

"Why did my friends become superheroes..? Who were those cookies with them..? I need answers.." Willow questioned to herself as she was walking. "What if something happens to Gina while they're fighting? What if everyone gets hurt? Holly.. Dorian.... Parker..." soon, her eyes began to water. "Everyone.."

Her sorrow was interrupted by the sound of banging on glass, the sound was quite quiet, like the object being banged against was small. She began to look around.

"Who's there?" She asked. She turned left, then right.. Nothing. Until a small, moon shaped crystal, as big as a water bottle, hit her shoe. She picked it up and examined it. "What's this.."

That's when she noticed White Lily Cookie, who was trapped inside, banging on the crystal. Willow gasped softly.

"Pl..se...h.l...p..m...e.." The cookie screamed, the moon crystal muffling her pleads for help. "B..eak.. cr..st..al.."

"Break.. crystal?" Willow asked in worry. "Let me see what I can do." She tried to hit the crystal on a tree nearby, but nothing happened. She sighed and looked around for anything to break the crystal prison trapping the cookie. She soon found a small, but sharp rock nearby.

"Watch out, don't let yourself get hurt." She instructed. White Lily Cookie moved as far as she could to the edge of the crystal, letting Willow use the rock like a pickaxe and try mine her way in. After a short while, she was able to make a little hole and used some scissors from her bag to pry it open and make it bigger, allowing the cookie to crawl out.

White Lily Cookie sighed a huge, relieved sigh. She climbed onto Willow's knee and smiled up at her in appreciation.

"T.. thank you ever so much.." She mumbled. "If it wasn't for you, I might have been trapped here forever. I couldn't of lived with myself if that was the case.."

"Don't worry about it." Willow smiled back at her. "It must be scary being somewhere so.. unfamiliar... Anyhow, I have a little question." Her face formed a perplexed expression and she tilted her head slightly. "Are you.. a fairy? The ones that bring messages, or grant wishes?"

"A.. fairy...? Oh no.. I'm not a fairy.." The cookie answered. "I know them, but I'm not one myself.."

"I see." Willow nodded, looking slightly sad that it wasn't a real fairy she was speaking to. But that didn't last long, as she soon smiled at the cookie. "If you're not a fairy, then what are you?"

"I'm a Cookie. A cookie imbued with life powder." She mumbled as she looked down at herself.

"A.. Cookie..?" Willow looked shocked. She was only studying about the cookies imbued with life powder days ago, after seeing Dorian transform. "I've heard of you."

"Oh!" White Lily Cookie was surprised. She had never met any humans before, only first learning about them a couple of days ago. She wasn't expecting a human, let alone a child, to know about cookie's existence and actively research about them. This led her to ask an important question. "Perhaps, has your research led you to something known as the Cookie Force?"

"I've heard of it.." Willow mumbled. "I saw one of my friends join it.. At least I think he did. His hair changed, his clothes changed, too. He looked like a superhero."

"Ah, he must be one, then." White Lily Cookie sighed. "Was he fighting a crocodile-like creature?"

"Yes."  the girl sharply nodded.

"If it's not any trouble, could you help me one more time with something?" The Cookie looked up at her once more, her face morphing into a serious expression.

"If I'm able to do it, then yes, I can help you."

"I'm very close friends with the Cookies that help in the Cookie Force, and I'm still trying to find the final warrior for our team. If you can, do you mind helping me look for them?"

"I.. uh.." Willow stuttered. "I'll help you, yes. Being a part of an important team seems like quite the job, and I'm happy to help you look for a perfect candidate."

"Thank you.." White Lily Cookie's face became a relieved smile. "One more thing, what is your name?"

"Oh, silly me.. My name is Willow Linton."

"It's lovely to meet you, Willow. Your name reminds me of the trees. I love it." White Lily Cookie giggled. Soon, the bell rang as school was about to begin.

"Oh yeah.. I've got school!" Willow panicked, rushing to get back up on her feet.

"I see.. Do you mind if I stay in your bag for the time being?" The cookie sheepishly asked.

"That's okay with me."

White Lily Cookie soon thanked the kind Willow, as she jumped into her bag. Willow soon started running into school as to not be late.

Chapter Text

The first class of the day was starting, it was Math class. Willow had met up with Parker and they were walking to the classroom together, holding hands.

Holly was walking behind them, she soon placed her hands on one of each of the two's shoulders.

"You two are always holding hands!" Holly giggled. "I'm sure the entire school thinks you're together!"

Parker's face was as red as a beetroot, blushing with embarrassment. He still, however, had his happy smile across his face. "Holly! For the last time, we're not going out with each other!" he laughed.

"It definitely looks that way though.. Doesn't it?" Willow giggled.

"Mhm!" Holly happily chimed. "Genuinely though, it looks like you're made for each other!"

They all soon walked into class, sitting down in their designated seats. That's when a familiar, but not exactly friendly face used his hands to tap Willow on the back, seemingly trying to ask her something. She turned over and soon her face morphed into an upset expression.

"Josh." She mumbled.

"Willow." He scoffed back. "Why are you always hanging out with Parker? He's too kind for his own good."

"Too kind for his own good?" Willow questioned. "I think you're just too mean for YOUR own good. What's your deal, anyway?"

"Friendships, especially that bond YOU share with that blonde haired crybaby are nothing more than wastes of time. You're smart, aren't you? you should focus on yourself, not losers who don't even deserve to be noticed."

Willow's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "Listen, Josh. What are you trying to gain with picking on people who've done nothing wrong to you? You're just being rude for the sake of it."

"I'm NOT being rude for the sake of it! It's my job to put everyone in their place you idiot!" Josh crossed his arms defiantly.

Parker was sitting next to Willow, overhearing the conversation. He soon turned over to the two students. "Willow is not an idiot, you glorified oxygen tank." He hissed, an unusually angry face replacing his normal calm one.

Willow let out a small gasp, shocked with Parker's attitude. She soon however, smiled at him, thankful for standing up for her.

Josh's face was hit with irritation, he wasn't expecting the student to actually fight back. He was going to say something else, but the teacher had entered the room with many exam papers.

"Aaalright students, one two three, eyes on me!" The teacher instructed.

"I'm so gonna get you back, Parker." Josh mumbled, as Parker and Willow shifted their focus to what the teacher was saying.

"I have the results for your algebra tests that you completed on Wednesday! I'll go from front to back and hand them out." The teacher did as they said and passed out the tests.

Parker soon had his test passed to him and Willow, hers. He smiled, satisfied with his 95% score. After all the tests were handed out, the students were allowed to talk while the teacher was setting up the lesson of the day.

"How did you do on your test, Willow?" He asked, peeking over to her table.

"One hundred percent, again.." Willow replied smiling down at her test. "It was too easy for me. I asked the teacher if I could work on something harder, but he said no."

"Always going above and beyond, aren't you?" Parker giggled. "For me, I'm just thankful it wasn't about finding the area in shapes.."

Willow chuckled. "You'll get there, keep revising on it. Oh and if you're stuck, don't be afraid to ask me for help. I'm more than happy to lend a hand."

"Thanks for the motivation, Willow! Your kind words always fill me up with confidence." They both smiled at each other before looking at the teacher, who had finished setting up.

Josh was watching from behind Willow's seat and soon scoffed, before paying attention to the teacher. And that's when the boring first lesson of the day started.

Chapter Text

—In Dark Enchantress Cookie's lair..—-

"YOU IDIOT! You weren't supposed to throw her to earth! You were supposed to bring her here! Now that wretched other half of me will surely find a Cookie Force Warrior, and it will be all YOUR fault!"

"I've hidden her deep away in a forest, Dark Enchantress Cookie! No one will find her." Crocus scoffed.

"You hid her near a school, someone's bound to find her." Dark Pomegranate added. She was standing next to Crocus with Pomegranate Cookie. She turned over to the Cookie and whispered in her ear. "If I have to work with that wretched crocodile any more, I am going to flip."

"Do not worry yourself with someone as low worth as him, Persephone." Pomegranate Cookie whispered back, resting her arm on her shoulder. "He will be rendered useless one day, I assure you."

"You're right, Pomegranate Cookie.."

"Listen, you two." Dark Enchantress Cookie commanded, "These Cookie Force kids are one step forward, and we're two steps back! Your mission is to stop them from getting that final warrior, and take White Lily Cookie. If that fails, I do have a plan B."

"What's the plan B?" Crocus asked.

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Dark Enchantress Cookie screamed. "Now go, the faster done, the more free time I'll give you.

"Right away, master." Dark Pomegranate agreed, she grabbed Crocus by the tail and teleported away.
—————-

"How will we be able to find the last warrior if White Lily Cookie is gone?" Dark Cacao Cookie asked, resting on Dorian's shoulder.

"She can't be that far, considering she's in this town.." Hollyberry Cookie mumbled, deep in thought.

"Which is why we should prioritise looking for her, everyone. We don't want Crocus to get his hands on her power." Pure Vanilla Cookie warned them.

"You have a point." Gina sighed, worried.

"We don't want that slimy crocodile to get a hand on our friend's power, now do we?" Golden Cheese Cookie asked, hovering over Gina slightly.

"Where do you think the best place to start looking is?" Holly asked.

"Well, we can start around here while it's still lunch time, can't we?" Parker offered.

"Yes, yes! Let us all look around the school for her." Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled, before they all stood up, and started looking.

—

While Holly was looking around with Hollyberry Cookie perched on her shoulder, she muttered a question. "Hollyberry Cookie, how do you think Crocus joined the Cookies of darkness? It's an odd question, but I'm just curious."

"Well my friend, no one knows." Hollyberry Cookie answered. "My theory is he was promised something he truly desired, like the others. What that desire is, I don't know."

"Power, I suppose." Dorian, who had walked up beside them, commented.

"I think you are correct, Dorian." Dark Cacao Cookie realised. "The need for power can overshadow even the purest hearts."

"That seems like a good reason.." Holly mumbled, lost in thought. She soon looked up at her friends. "Dorian..?" Her face looked quite upset, unlike her usual enthusiastic smile she always had with her.

"Yes, Holly?"

"I'm afraid." She mumbled.

"Of what?" Dorian tilted his head. "You're never scared of anything, well except clowns."

"Dorian, this isn't about clowns!" Holly giggled, but soon her face became serious once more. "You know how I'm a young auntie, and you a young uncle?"

"Yes?"

"With the responsibility of being a Cookie Force Warrior, I can only fear that I might slip up and fail to protect my family, and little Phillip.."

Dorian knelt down and placed a hand on the shoulder that Hollyberry Cookie wasn't perching on, and rubbed it.

"It's quite a responsibility to bear, isn't it Holly? But I know you very well. Your passion to protect and help people is through the roof! No matter what you do and even if you slip up, you will always be there to protect your loved ones from harm. Including your nephew.”

"He's right, you know." Hollyberry Cookie smiled, patting the schoolgirl's cheek as comfort. "You didn't become the Cookie force Warrior of passion for no reason now, did you?"

"Hehe, you're both right!" Holly giggled. "Thanks for the reassurance!"

—-

Parker was with Pure Vanilla Cookie, looking above and below trees. Soon, someone patted him on the back, and Pure Vanilla Cookie rushed to hide in his pocket. It was only Willow!

She soon mumbled, "Parker, can I borrow you for a sec..? It's important.."

"Oh sure!" Parker turned to the others. "Everyone! Willow needs me for a moment, you can keep looking while I'm away, okay?"

"Okay!" The others understood.

"Come with me, Parker." Willow offered a hand for him to take and he gladly took it.

Chapter Text

"So why did you need to borrow me, Willow?" Parker asked as they were both walking to the library. The sky was dark and it looked like it would rain soon, so they speed-walked to the library to hopefully not get wet.

"It's for something important. I only just found out about it myself. I'm supposed to keep it a secret, but I couldn't bring myself to hide it from you.."

That's when Parker got reminded of the fact the Cookie Force was something HE had something he was forced to hide, but wanted to show oh so badly. He kept his lips sealed and let Willow keep going.

They soon reached the library area at the school just as the rain started to pour down and quickly got themselves inside. They made themselves comfortable by sitting down on some bean bag cushions.

The place was tranquil and as quiet as a mouse. The only sounds heard were Willow's nervous breathing.

"Listen, I want to show you something. But you HAVE to promise to keep it a secret. So no telling Holly, Dorian and Gina. Can you do that for me?"

Parker's eyes widened a little. He wasn't too used to keeping secrets, but he was able to cover up his Cookie Force identity for the entire week, so he felt like he could try his best.

"I can do that." Parker smiled.

"Thank you..." Willow sighed, relieved. She reached out into her bag but she soon stopped. "I hope you think I'm not making this up.."

"You never make anything up, Willow!"

Willow sighed with a smile on her face. She soon lifted the secret out of her bag and placed it on the table. It was White Lily Cookie. She looked up at Parker, observing him.

"Oh, hello there." The cookie waved up at him, shyly. "What's your name?"

"My name's Parker! What's yours?" He smiled down at her.

"White Lily Cookie is my name.."

Parker's eyes widened and soon reached down into his pocket, where Pure Vanilla Cookie was poking his head out.

"White Lily... Cookie?" Parker questioned.

"Yes..?"

"I think I know a friend of yours.." The child carefully placed Pure Vanilla Cookie on the table, and watched as he ran over to his friend.

"Oh, White Lily Cookie.." Pure Vanilla Cookie cried as he hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad you're ok..."

"Pure Vanilla Cookie.." White Lily Cookie embraced him back, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Oh!" Willow's heart warmed at the sight of the two cookies warm embrace. "I didn't know that they knew each other, they must be pretty close.." That was when she moved closer to Parker, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Aww.." Parker mumbled, he soon wrapped his arms around Willow, embracing her. "Thanks for reuniting White Lily Cookie with Pure Vanilla Cookie.."

"Don't worry about it.."

———-

The four of them weren't alone in this touching moment of reuniting, Dark Pomegranate and Crocus were spying on them from a window, trying to see them through the raindrops which had fallen onto the pane of glass.

"You know what? They go very well with each other." Dark Pomegranate mumbled. "It's cute." She spun her umbrella, which was keeping her dry from the rain.

"What are you, his sister or something?" Crocus scoffed. "These kinds of moments... disgusting!"

"Let them just have this moment, Crocus." She groaned. "Surely we can attack at a more reasonable time?"

"No way!! There's no friendship allowed, and that includes this cheesy moment!" The crocodile zipped off to try find a way into the library.

"Why do I even try.."

——

During Crocus and Dark Pomegranate's conversation, the Cookies were thanking Willow and informing her and Parker with more information on the Cookie Force.

"I see.." Willow mumbled, still holding onto Parker. "That clears up a lot of questions I had, thank you. I just hope the Cookies of Darkness aren't one step ahead."

"You're very welcome, Willow. We owe you so much, this was the least we could do for you." Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled.

A bang was soon heard on a window nearby, which caught their attention. The moment they looked, there was a crack on the window, then another, and soon more cracks appeared until...

𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐇!!! The window shattered, multiple pieces flying everywhere.

"W- what was THAT?" Parker wondered, shock clear on his face.

Soon, Crocus entered the room through the window, trying to look cool. He misstepped however, and crashed to the floor.

"GAHH!" He screamed, glass went absolutely everywhere.

Willow jumped a little at Crocus' entrance, but Parker held her closer to reassure her.

The group could only watch in utter confusion as the crocodile slowly managed to pick himself up. The silence was finally broken as Parker muttered.

"Oh, hello Crocus.."

"Crocus?" Willow asked. "Isn't a Crocus a type of plant?"

Soon, the crocodile was able to stand up, and he gritted his teeth at the two. "A PLANT? I'm nothing like a WEAK plant that can be crushed instantly! I'm like a Venus flytrap, once you're in my grasp, you can't leave!!"

"They're also plants.."

"QUIET, SMARTYPANTS! Listen, you see that cookie there? She has to come with me." He pointed to White Lily Cookie. "Understand?"

"No way!" Parker's eyebrows furrowed. "You're not taking her away, so buzz off already!"

"Where did THIS attitude come from?" Crocus growled. "It's DRIVING ME CRAZY! You're supposed to be weak, remember? Now, do you wanna do it the easy way, where you hand her over? Or do you wanna do it the hard way?"

"How about the way where you leave us alone?" Parker snapped.

Willow soon picked up White Lily Cookie, and held her close, to try protect her. Parker doing the same with Pure Vanilla Cookie.

"So THAT'S how it is? I see." Crocus snarled. "Well, I won't go easy on you!"

Willow let go of the embrace and grabbed Parker's hand. She whispered to him. "Let's go, Parker. We need to get away."

Parker soon nodded as they both picked up their bags, held the cookies close and ran for it, trying to get away from Crocus.

"GET BACK HERE!" The crocodile screamed, chasing after them. Dark Pomegranate jumping down from the roof to follow.

Chapter Text

Parker and Willow were running faster than lightning, covering themselves and the cookies with their coats as to not get them soaked.

"Inconvenient time for him to show up, it's hammering down!" Parker stated, still holding onto Willow's hand and Pure Vanilla Cookie.

"What's his deal, anyway? Does he work for the Cookies of Darkness?" Willow asked, keeping White Lily Cookie close too. "Does that mean you know him?"

"I think so, he's been up in my business all week!"

They soon managed to get themselves into the main hall, where most students were sent to, those including Holly, Dorian and Gina. Holly and Dorian were playing a game of cards nearby, with Hollyberry Cookie and Dark Cacao Cookie while Gina went to greet the others with Golden Cheese Cookie, who was hiding in her hair.

"Woah guys! You're soaked!" She pointed out, helping them take off their sopping wet coats. "Where were you two, anyway? We asked the teachers and they said they saw you go to the library before it rained."

"We were there, for a couple minutes." Parker informed her.

"I thought you two would of been in there longer." Gina raised an eyebrow. "By the by, what did Willow want to tell you? Can we know?"

Willow turned to Parker and whispered in his ear. "Are we allowed to tell them?"

"Yeah, they know about it. No need to worry!"

"Oh, ok." Willow sighed, relieved.

"You know how we were looking for White Lily Cookie earlier?" Parker asked.

"Uh huh, we had no luck finding her. Did you have any?"

"I didn't find her, but Willow did!" Parker cheered.

"Really?"

"Yes.." Willow mumbled, bringing out White Lily Cookie for Gina to see. "I found her this morning trapped in a crystal."

"I owe her a lot..." White Lily Cookie mumbled happily.

"Nice to meet you, White Lily Cookie!" Gina waved. "I'm sure the others will be relieved to see you." She guided them to where Holly and Dorian were sitting, and they all sat next to them.

"Dorian is too good at cards.." Holly pouted. "This is the fifth time in a row he's beaten me."

"Any luck finding you know who?" Dorian asked, tilting his head.

"Willow found her!" Parker smiled.

"Willow? So she knows?"

"Yes.. I do now." Willow mumbled.

"Bravo, Willow." Dark Cacao Cookie congratulated her, revealing himself.

"Hollyberry Cookie, Dark Cacao Cookie, Golden Cheese Cookie!" White Lily cookie beamed. "I'm so glad you're all okay!"

All the Cookies hopped down from their friends and gave White Lily Cookie a hug.

"We were worried, you know!" Hollyberry Cookie giggled, hugging her tight.

"I'm happy you all care for me, but I'm having trouble breathing!" White Lily Cookie mumbled, chuckling at how tight they were all hugging her.

"But.. we do have bad news.." Pure Vanilla Cookie informed them, releasing himself from Parker's warm school sweater pocket. "Crocus found her as well, and I fear we may have to face him again-"

That's when a window in the school hall crashed, Crocus jumping in along with Dark Pomegranate. This startled the students, leaving them speechless.

"I jinxed it.." Pure Vanilla Cookie mumbled, jumping into Parker's bag.

"Ohoho, this is RICH! The perfect place to cause chaos, a room full of angsty teenagers!" Crocus cackled.

Most of the students were trying to escape, attempting to barge open doors. Crocus used his dark magic to block the doors with chain.

"Get to work, Dark Pomegranate!" He commanded her, pointing at her with his yellow fingernails.

"Alright, alright. Stop being such a pushover." Dark Pomegranate looked around and soon noticed the card game Holly and Dorian were playing. "They look good.." She mumbled.

She soon aimed her mirror at the cards, waving her hand on it. "𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧, 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥!"

Soon, the cards all started to float around Dark Pomegranate, turning into an eerie purple colour. They all then grew in size, crushing students and trapping them in a pile of cards with a sinister purple aura around them. It seemed to take over the students, the light fading from their eyes.

"N-no way!" Holly screamed. "We need to do something!"

Parker placed his hand on Willow's shoulder and smiled at her.

"Listen, you need to take White Lily Cookie and run somewhere safe, we can take care of this!"

"But what about you, Parker? You need to protect yourself too.." Willow gasped worriedly.

"Don't worry about me, focus on yourself." Parker stuttered. "I would of hated to lose the person I held the dearest to me, so please run away, please!"

"I can't leave you! I- I just can't!" Willow cried, now clinging onto Parker. "I can't see you get hurt!"

"Oh boo hoo." Crocus mocked Parker. "Are you scared? 𝒪ℴ𝒽，𝒾 𝒸𝒶𝓌𝓃'𝓉 𝓌ℴ𝓈ℯ 𝓂𝓎 𝓌ℴ𝓋ℯ𝓇! ℐ'𝒹 𝓃ℯ𝓋ℯ𝓇 𝒻ℴ𝓌𝑔𝒾𝓋ℯ 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝓌ℯ𝓁𝒻! WELL TOO BAD!!!"

That's when Crocus zapped his dark magic, trapping Willow in a card like prison, along with White Lily Cookie.

"No!" Parker sobbed, watching as the light faded from Willow's eyes. "Willow, Willow SAY SOMETHING!" He bawled his eyes out, resting his face on Willow's card prison.

"Parker.." Gina mumbled. She rested her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it. "Willow will be okay. All we need to do is transform and beat that monster. It's alright!"

"She's right.." Pure Vanilla Cookie hopped out of Parker's bag and landed on his other shoulder, rubbing his cheek. "We can save her and White Lily Cookie.. I'm sure."

"Yeah.. yeah.." Parker muttered. "You're both right.. I need to do this." Parker shakily stood up, Holly and Dorian holding onto him for support. "For Willow." He grabbed his Cookie Pact out his bag, Holly, Dorian and Gina following his lead.

"Here goes."

They all opened their cookie pacts and placed their soul charms in. They all shouted in unison, "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!" Their transformations began.

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚."

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲!"

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐨."

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞!"

They all did their poses, albeit less fluently due to their emotions. "𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞!"

"Let's HAVE SOME FUN!" Crocus cackled, sending cards flying at them, which they were able to dodge. "Help me out here, Dark Pomegranate!"

"Mmm.." Dark Pomegranate mumbled. She simply used some magic to double the cards sent flying.

Every once in a while, Pure Vanilla would turn over and look at Willow's trapped state, longing for her safety. "Don't worry Willow, you'll be back to normal soon.." he thought to himself.

———

Nothing. Willow saw nothing. Only the dark void was in her field of vision, and in her thoughts, it's like she had gone numb. Feeling nothing whatsoever. Until a small flicker of light came to her vision, a green light which slowly became brighter and brighter.

"Willow..." a voice whispered. It sounded similar to her own, but much more mature. "Crocus' cage.. it can't trap you, it won't trap you. For you are free. Free to try, free to succeed! You have that freedom.. share it with others, seek it, embrace it. The world is your oyster, Willow."

"Embrace it..." Willow mumbled, gaining her sense of self back. "Yes... I will."

That's when the cage started to slowly crack.

Chapter Text

As the cage trapping Willow slowly cracked further, the dark magic was making it's way back into Dark Pomegranate's mirror. The cage soon managed to crack completely, leaving purple glass-like pieces everywhere.

"Oh Willow, you're ok!" White Lily Cookie sighed of relief, hugging her chest."I thought that cage's powers had got to you."

"Don't worry, it will never get to me." Willow smiled. "While I was there, a voice spoke to me. It told me to be free, and embrace my freedom. And that's what I'll do."

She shakily stood up, almost falling but being able to catch herself. She looked over to the Cookie Force, her eyes widening at the fact those were her friends. However, she asked no questions and slowly began to walk.

"N-no." Dark Pomegranate muttered. "Why is it all coming back? Is it not strong enough?"

"What's not strong enough?" Crocus turned to her, ignoring the Cookie Force warriors and Willow.

"The magic, Crocus. Someone's managed to escape from it." Dark Pomegranate muttered, despite her annoyance, she let the magic seep into the mirror.

"This is YOUR fault!" Crocus snapped. "If you hadn't just sat there while I did everything, we would have defeated them!"

"You were the one hogging them! Maybe you should stop being so pompous and get some brains?"

While they were arguing, Willow carefully walked up to Crocus with White Lily Cookie resting on her shoulder. She slowly made way to his tail and yanked it.

"YEAAAAOOOOW!" Crocus screamed in pain.

Seeing Crocus get hurt so easily made Dark Pomegranate chuckle. They both soon noticed Willow and turned over to her.

"YOU! I thought we trapped you!" Crocus screamed. "There's no way you should have been able to escape!!"

"Yet, I did!" Willow smiled proudly, which soon turned into a serious frown. "Listen, I don't know who you are, or where you've come from, but I will not let you get away with hurting the ones I love most."

"And who are YOU to talk?"

"My name is Willow Linton, and I will not let you imprison people for your own gain."

"And what's your reasoning? You're just a girl! A pathetic school girl!!!!!"

"My reasoning... 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞."

A green light surrounded Willow, encasing her and White Lily Cookie in the glow. This shocked all the Cookie Force warriors and the two villains. Willow shut her eyes from the impact of the light.
—-

As the warm green light wrapped the human and the Cookie in it's warm embrace, Willow opened her eyes and looked around.

"Where is this?" Willow asked. "What's going on?"

A Cookie Pact appeared next to her, along with a green fleur-de-lis shaped soul charm. She picked them up and inspected them.

"What are these.." she mumbled.

"Oh Willow.. you've outdone yourself..!" White Lily Cookie cheered.

"What do you mean?"

"You have managed to prove yourself as a Cookie Force warrior! The last one the Cookie Force needs to complete their team.. I'm so proud!"

"I'M the last warrior?" Willow asked, stunned. "H- how do I even become one..?" She looked at White Lily Cookie nervously.

"Don't worry yourself too much, it's very simple to do. Open the Cookie Pact and place the soul charm inside. Then, you need to say, 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞. It's quite simple now that I mention it."

"I didn't understand a word of what you just said, but if it'll help!"

Willow opened the Cookie Pact and neatly put the soul charm inside. She soon shouted, "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!"

Willow used a mini blusher like the others to help her. She threw it up in the air, wind carrying it and releasing sparkles around her. Her hair grew in length, neatly becoming two long, curly ponytails. She soon caught the blusher and placed her hands on her shoulders, making a green cape wrap around her, a neatly-fashioned white bow appeared on the front of the cape, keeping it in place. Her clothes changed from average school clothes to a poofy dress, with a flower-like hemline at the bottom. she soon lifted up her right arm, and a small, green hat with flower details rested on her head.

Once she was done, she posed with both her palms out.

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐲."

-----

"Pure Lily.." Pure Vanilla smiled weakly.

After the transformation, Pure Lily looked at her new clothes, confused. However, her confusion faded as she looked up at the other Cookie Force warriors, who all looked shocked. She started running toward them, more specifically Pure Vanilla.

"Parker!" She called out. Once she reached him, she flung herself into his arms and looked at him face to face. "Parker..." She looked at the others surrounding the two. "You're all okay.. thank goodness.."

Pure Vanilla was startled at first, but soon gladly hugged her back, burying his head in her shoulder.

"Oh Willow.." He mumbled, the sound of his voice being muffled by her clothes. "You look different, the new look suits you very well." He lifted his face away from her shoulders, but still keeping her in his arms.

"Thanks!" Pure Lily giggled. "I was in this prison, the suddenly this voice told me to embrace my freedom, then the prison broke! I went to stand up to that crocodile dude and suddenly became a Cookie Force warrior!"

"Really?" Pure Berry asked, peeking over Pure Vanilla's shoulder. "Does that mean you're on our team, now?"

"I mean.. if you'll have me.."

"Of course we'll have you! We're more than happy to have you!" Pure Vanilla cheered.

"I second that!" Pure Cheese smiled.

"Me too." Pure Cacao added.

"Me threeee!" Pure Berry beamed.

"Then let's fight together, Pure Lily!" Pure Vanilla confidently smiled.

"Yeah." Pure Lily smiled back.

During that conversation, Crocus was losing it. He soon turned to the Cookie force and lashed out at them, not noticing a conversation of mumbles between Pure Vanilla and Pure Lily.

"How do we defeat him?" Pure Lily whispered.

"You could use your Cookie Pact.." Pure Vanilla muttered.

"This?" The hero pulled out her Cookie Pact from a little pocket on her waist.

"Yep, if you put it close to your heart, you can channel your spirit into it. And attack him real good."

"Thanks..." Pure Lily smiled. "I have a plan now."

"Are you five done with your STUPID somber moment?" He bellowed.

"We are now, scalybrain!" Pure Berry crossed her arms, distracting Crocus from the two warrior's chat.

"I hope that inaccurate naming doesn't become a proper nickname, pinky." Crocus lowered himself down onto the ground. "Now, do you think all of you can take ME on?"

"I have a feeling we'll be able to!" Pure Cheese shrugged. "I've heard you're not exactly the brainiest crocodile around."

"YOU'LL REGRET SAYING THAT!" Crocus screamed, rushing toward the warriors. They all managed to dodge, with Pure Vanilla dragging Pure Lily away.

He soon swished his large, yet sensitive tail at them and managed to knock them over.

"Now you're right where I want you." He smirked, before he noticed someone was missing. Pure Lily. "WHERE HAS THAT FLOWERY-BRAT GONE TO?"

Pure Lily had jumped and managed to stand on Crocus' head, holding the Cookie Pact close to her heart. Crocus looked left, then right. And couldn't find her. He jumped at the warriors, getting close to them.

"WHERE IS SHE? I NEED HER HERE, NOW. DO YOU UNDERSTAND, PESTS?"

The Cookie Force just looked up in bewilderment, until Pure Vanilla spoke up.

"She must have ran away..." he looked up at him with a peaceful smile, with a hint of a smirk. "Must of had something better to do.."

"There's nothing better to do than to learn your lesson and get defeated by me." Crocus' eyebrows furrowed. "How do YOU know what's better, anyway?"

"You should ask her, not me." He pointed up to Crocus' head, and that's when the crocodile finally noticed her presence.

"So you were HERE?" He bellowed. "Like getting creative, do we? Just know, I'm going to kick your butt, on my head or not."

"We'll see.." She soon shut her eyes and that's when the Cookie Pact glowed a soft, green colour. She then shot into the air, and prepared to attack as she fell down.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐆𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦!"

Numerous lily petals surrounded Crocus, wrapping him up like a tornado. The crocodile said nothing, only letting out a pained scream as he got whisked away, seemingly back to the Cookies of Darkness.

Dark Pomegranate smiled down at them. "The one thing I like is how you all put that crocodile in his place. Keep that up, you lot. You may actually be useful that way." She soon disappeared too.

The group all soon de-transformed and slowly, all the students were back to normal, and the hall was bustling again. The cards all shrank down and neatly stacked on top of each other before landing in Holly's hands.

"Finally we can work together now!" Holly giggled.

"As a complete team?" Willow asked.

"Yes!" Parker beamed. "Let's use our teamwork to defeat Crocus and the Cookies of Darkness!"

"Yay!" The group and all the cookies cheered, the Cookie Force was now complete, ready to save the day!

Chapter Text

𝒮𝓅ℯ𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓁 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓂𝓈

It was Saturday, the best day of the week! And the Cookie Force were all in Parker's bedroom, sitting on his sky-blue rug near a bookshelf with an array of books. The Ancient Tome was open on the floor, and Pure Vanilla Cookie was inside it. The other cookies were with the kids, either sitting on their heads or resting on their shoulders.

"Question, why do we have pure at beginning of our names?" Holly asked.

"Easy answer!" Hollyberry Cookie laughed. "Putting it simply, it represents the purity in all of your souls!"

"That's sweet.." Gina chuckled.

"On a more serious note..." Parker mumbled. "What do you think the Cookies of Darkness are up to?"

"Ummm..." all the cookies thought to themselves.

"I'm not sure." Pure Vanilla Cookie replied."But it must be something serious. All I know is they're using things meant for good, the soul charms."

"Like ours?" Dorian asked, holding his diamond shaped soul charm.

"Yes. But these charms are different, they can help you out with tools such as growing in size or even disorienting enemies. Us cookies can use them too, which can be bad news with Dark Enchantress Cookie.

"I've done some research on these, White Lily Cookie let me borrow a book about it." Willow took an olive-green book out of her bag and opened it up, swiping through pages until she found what she needed. "I haven't read this page yet, though."

"I can read it out, if you'd like." White Lily Cookie offered.

"Yes please."

White Lily Cookie cleared her throat. "Other soul charms can grant help when placed into the Cookie Pact. Research has shown that when  soul charms are used, the good will gain useful abilities. However in hands of evil, the soul charms can get corrupted, and can become dangerous.."

"That sounds helpful.." Holly muttered. "Is there a way we can get them back?"

"There is, but I'm sure the Cookies of Darkness won't give them up without a fight." Dark Cacao Cookie reminded them. "We must all stay vigilant and keep an eye out for them."

"Sounds easy enough for all of you!" Golden Cheese Cookie bragged. "You all have great power as is, so with the help of these soul charms, you'll surely be twice as strong."

"You're right." Gina played around with her hair. "I think we can all do it."

"Yeah! I'm sure we can." Parker smiled. "But as for what us humans do, can we bear to even keep it a secret.." he soon mumbled, unsure.

"What do you mean?" Holly asked, tilting her head.

"We have to keep the Cookie Force a secret from everyone we know, including our parents.. I've already made a terrible start because you all found out so quickly.." He stopped to take a deep breath, but soon continued. "It's such a big change for all of us to suddenly have the whole world on our shoulders. I wish that Dark Enchantress Cookie never tried to seek out all this power.. I feel so horrible dragging you all into this..."

"Oh, it's alright!" Pure Vanilla Cookie reassured him. "It's out of your control and ours, anyway. But what's 𝐢𝐧 our control is that we can stop Dark Enchantress Cookie and whatever she's up to."

"I like the sound of that." Gina smiled. "My siblings never catch onto things quickly, except Seth, but I'm good at keeping secrets from him!"

"We're up for it, for everyone's sake." Dorian grinned while Holly nodded happily.

"So, then!" Willow reassuringly rubbed Parker's shoulder. "Let's all work on getting the soul charms back from those no-gooders, with as little people finding out it's us as possible."

Chapter Text

———-

The gang all soon walked down to the park to think things through in the comfort of nature. Tree leaves as green as emeralds swayed in the calm winds. Holly had brought a picnic basket with her, which had many sandwiches and other goodies.

They all found a nice spot to sit underneath a humungous tree and Dorian helped Holly unpack the food, neatly arranging it. The food was decorated into cute shapes, like a lemon slice as the nectar of a flower with cut up pieces of a strawberry as the petals.

"You're a great cook, Holly!" Gina clapped. "And all these fruits are all so cute!"

"Tee hee! Thank you!" Holly giggled. "It took me and Dorian ages to get just the right fruit!"

"You don't know how long we spent in the store just to find good enough kiwis for Holly's taste.." Dorian chuckled.

"Shut up!" Holly playfully punched his arm lightly, which he responded by shoving her lightly.

"Then again!" Dorian held onto her to stop her from playfully fighting him any more. "It's admirable how much passion you put into the little things, even down to making food look cute, even though it will be gone before you know it!"

"True, true!" Holly chuckled. "It's just nice to enjoy the little things, isn't it? Even if they're only there for a while!"

————-

"Pathetic." A voice mumbled to himself, which the gang couldn't hear. Josh was sitting by the next tree over, seemingly spying on their conversation. "How low are they all? Appreciating things... let alone paying attention to them... gah, they're getting on my last nerve.."

He gritted his teeth and formed his fists into balls. He spat, "I'll get you, sooner than you'll know.. all of you!"

—————

"What's everyone's plans for next week?" Parker asked.

"There's Dorian's art competition on Monday, and my birthday on Wednesday.. My dad's finally off work so I don't have to worry about the house too much."

"You seem already so good at managing the household, and it's only been 2 weeks since it was all left to you.." Parker smiled sadly.

"Well of course, of course." Gina sighed, she soon looked up at the sky. "I know she's up there, watching every step of my way.." She smiled with melancholy lacing her face along with it.

"With a smile!" Holly reassuringly placed a hand on Gina's shoulder.

"A massive one." Gina mumbled, she them faced everyone again. "Onto the art competition, how're you feeling, Dorian? Scared? Excited?"

"Excited." Dorian mumbled with a smile. "I'm ready to test the limits of my potential, and this is a great place to do it."

"You're so gonna win!" Holly cheered. I'll get you a grape ice cream on the way home to celebrate your victory!"

"There's no guarantee I'll win, Holly. Who knows, someone may be heaps better than me."

"Doubt it!" Holly giggled.

"Still, I'm not worried if I win or lose. It's all for fun and challenge at the end!" Dorian chuckled.   "Are you busy, Parker?"

"I wanted to use this week to look deeper into the Cookie Force, and find out what the other soul charms are for."

"Me too!" Willow chimed in.

"How about... we study together on it! I'm sure we'll find out loads more of two brains are working on it instead of just one!" Parker offered.

"I'd.. like that..." Willow mumbled, a small pink hue of blush snuck its way onto her cheeks. "It's be lovely to have a friend to help, especially you.."

———————-

-Meanwhile, in Dark Enchantress Cookie's lair-

"What's taking him so long?" A voice asked, the voice belonged to a tall young fellow, who at the moment had a small puppy cuddled in his lap, chatting with Red Velvet Cookie.

"That crocodile is always late, such a nuisance." Red Velvet Cookie spat.

"How does Dark Enchantress Cookie even cope with him?" The kid asked, petting the puppy that rested on him.

"Our master must have insanely good patience, Roman. If it were me, I would have already sent my army after him."

Roman sighed. "Let's just hope I don't have to work with him today.."

Chapter Text

"I'm here I'm here, geez!" Crocus panted, running into Dark Enchantress Cookie's lair.

"Took you long enough!" Roman spat, standing up and petting the puppy one last time before it ran off to play. "What were you even up to, anyway?"

"I had stuff to do, okay? Now LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"What kind of stuff? Lazing around, shouting at people for no reason?" Red Velvet Cookie wondered.

"Sounds like a him thing." Roman commented.

"STOP ATTACKING ME, I DID NOTHING OF YOUR BUSINESS, OKAY?" Crocus bellowed.

"RRRIGHT!" Dark Enchantress Cookie's voice echoed across the room, she soon appeared floating above the three. "Listen, I want a word with you. Especially that slimy serpent there!" She screamed as she pointed to Crocus.

"What did I do nooow?" Crocus rolled his eyes.

"You let these CHILDREN become heroes to stop us, it's all your fault that my plan may very well fail because of little PARASITES that can't even pay rent yet." Dark Enchantress Cookie scoffed. "However, that green one.."

"Pure Lily? What a pain! She's free and always looking for the truth, she's only just joined, but she's so... BLEH!!" Crocus roared.

"She is free, Crocus. Her freedom can let her endure 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. Which in turn, makes her a good candidate for the rebirth, doesn't it?"

"The rebirth..?"

"Of MY Cookie Force warrior, you fool! How dense are you?" She grumbled at Crocus, clenching her fists.

"I see what you mean, master." Roman spoke up, holding a small pocketknife. "Do you need us to take her?"

"Not yet." The cookie cackled. "Take this charm with you." She handed him a small soul charm in the shape of a potion vial, with a blue liquid inside.

"The giant potion soul charm. It seems very useful..." Roman mumbled just after bowing to her in thanks.

"Useful indeed. Until we defeat the Cookie Force I will hand these out to everyone I send after them. However do NOT let these get into the Cookie Force's hands."

"I understand. I presume you want to send me out with Crocus today?"

"Smart you are, Roman." Dark Enchantress Cookie praised. "Make sure he doesn't screw this all up again today."

"Huh? I, ME, THE CROCUS screwing things up?" Crocus grumbled. "You're having a laugh! I'm just... trying to make the Cookie Force get.. full of themselves! So then I can swoop in and defeat them without them knowing! Yeah!"

"That's not what the others told me.." Roman mumbled.

"Aghh.. shut it, you know-it-all!" Crocus spat. "I'll win this time, for sure!"

"Get to work, you lot." Dark Enchantress Cookie commanded. "Chop chop, now."

Roman nodded and tapped a brooch on his clothes, his regular clothes changing to a black shirt with a matching red coat, pants with Ruby embellishments at the bottom and his hair changed to become red and black. Red velvet Cookie somehow managed to shrink down and fit snug in one of his pockets. Soon them and Crocus teleported away to the park.

At the park, they soon went to the tree Josh was at, but he had left for some reason. They peeked out to see the Cookie Force now eating their picnic bits.

"Disgusting. Fresh air, happiness, what a chore, am I right Dark Velvet?" Crocus mumbled.

"You need fresh air to live healthy, you know. Maybe you've been cooped up in your own, smelly beliefs for too long.."

"I don't play by the rules!" Crocus chuckled. "I'm too good for all that 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 stuff."

"I can tell..." Dark Velvet rolled his eyes, playing with his pocketknife.

"What chaos should we cause today..." Crocus chuckled, malice clear in his tone.

Chapter Text

Crocus snickered as he snatched Dark Velvet's pocket knife and threw it at the gang. The knife flung through the air and dropped to the floor next to Parker.

Parker noticed the knife and decided not to pick it up, so no fingerprints would get on it.

"A pocket knife?" He mumbled as everyone looked down at the knife too.

"What's that doing there?" Holly tilted her head, curiously.

"We should report this to the police.." Willow worriedly sighed, everyone nodding or mumbling "good idea".

However before they could do anything, the sky darkened an eerie purple, which caused Dorian's eyebrows to furrow.

"We know who that is, guys." He muttered.

"Missed me, losers?" Crocus cackled as him and Dark Velvet appeared before them.

"No." Holly muttered, looking annoyed.

"Oh come on! Y'all are all party poopers! Have some FUN, for a change."

"It's more of a nuisance than fun, if you ask me." Gina rolled her eyes.

"See, even they're sick of you!" Dark Velvet pointed out, nudging Crocus' shoulder.

"They won't be, you red velvet cake." Crocus growled. "You'll see. They'll be defeated before you can say 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧."

"I'll be the judge of that." Dark Velvet smirked. "But I'll give you a head start." He reached into a pocket and pulled out the potion charm Dark Enchantress Cookie gave to him. He picked up the pocket knife that was sitting next to Parker and swung it around.

The knife soon grew into a much larger, sharper knife. It was around the size of a Katana, with jagged teeth that would probably really hurt if you cut yourself with it.

"Soul charm, lend me your power." he mumbled as he threw the charm into a nearby bush and pointed his knife at it. The bush soon grew in size and Crocus was tossed into there, seeming to have a control chamber to move it around.

"This is neat!" Crocus cheered, admiring the fancy controls he now has. "IM COMING FOR YOU, LOSERRRRRS!" He soon cackled as he sped toward them.

The gang quickly shoved everything back into the picnic basket they bought along with them.

"RUN!!!!" Holly screamed, ramming things into the picnic basket.

They all ran as fast as lightning and soon managed to hide behind a brick wall.

"What on earth is that thing?" Gina asked, peeking above the wall.

"I dunno, but it's definitely trouble." Dorian gritted his teeth.

Willow opened her bag and pulled out the green book they were reading earlier.

"This has to do with something..." she mumbled, before flicking through the pages til she found what she needed.

"Ah. In the hands of evil, the soul charms can be used to store dark magic. Enough magic stored can make incredible feats possible such as corrupting beings or even destroying whole kingdoms. The only way to return the soul charms to good is to defeat the evil harnessing one. The soul charm will then be pure once more, but it can get corrupted again, so the heroes must stay alert."

"That makes sense.." Parker muttered.

"It also applies to our transformation charms too. If they get corrupted, it can have negative impacts on our physical and mental health and make us far weaker, too.. It must also make us more prone to being controlled by dark magic.."

"Is there a way to stop them from being corrupted?" Holly shivered at the thought of being corrupted by evil forces such as the Cookies of darkness.

"Somewhat.." Willow muttered. "But I'm not sure, I'll ask White Lily Cookie later.

"Let's stay on our toes, everyone. To avoid getting corrupted." Parker informed them.

"Yeah." They all agreed.

————

"WHERE AAAAAARRRREEE YOU, LITTLE BRATS???" Crocus mocked. "DID YOU SEE MY POWER AND THINK IT WAS TOO MUCH FOR YOUR PUNY SELVES TO HANDLE??"

"We know what to do, guys.." Parker instructed, taking out his Cookie Pact, the others soon following.

They opened their pacts and placed their transformation charms inside.

"𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!"

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚!"

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲!"

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐨."

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞!"

"𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦, 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐲.."

Chapter Text

After the transformations, they all stood up and walked away from the wall.

"There you are, brats! Bet you weren't expecting THIS!" Crocus pulled a few switches inside the bush and five vines flung out. Each vine wrapped around their one of their legs up to their knees. He flung them in the air and span them all around.

All the Cookie Force yelled in terror as they span faster than lighting, all trying to remove the vines without hurting their fingers.

"Everyone! Are you all ok?" Pure Vanilla yelled worriedly, aggressively trying to untie the vines, which didn't match his tone of voice at all.

"Yeah!" Everyone yelled.

Pure Cheese screamed, "I'd try use my wings, but I can't! The vine's keeping me on the bush!"

"I'm getting dizzy..." Pure Berry mumbled, closing her eyes.

Crocus scoffed. "This was too easy. Did you all lose your will to go on? Some kid at school get on your nerves?"

Pure Cacao was thinking. If anything could undo these vines it would be something sharp, right? He opened his pouch on his waist where the Cookie Pact was settled and carefully pulled it out with one hand, not even daring to let go.

With his other hand, he reached out and just managed to grab onto the vine holding Pure Cheese, pulling her right next to him. She let out a small yelp at being pulled.

"What was that for?" Pure Cheese grumbled before holding onto his shoulder, so they wouldn't separate. "There was no need to scare me like that.."

"Didn't mean to startle you, it's just that I think I have a plan to get us outta here." Pure Cacao quickly informed her, noticing Crocus now was distracted and decided to act that instant.

"Which is?"

"I'm getting my sword out so I can cut away the vines with that. What I need you to do is use your wings to catch everyone midair, so I'll untie you first." He told her as his Cookie Pact glowed a familiar, comforting purple light, making his sword appear in his hand.

"Sounds simple! I think I'll be able to do it." Pure Cheese eagerly clenched her fists, a snarky smile on her face. "On the count of three, you can cut my vine."

"One"

"Two"

"𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞!"

Pure Cacao started to cut the vine, trying to to hurt her leg accidentally as he cut it. and not long after starting, his sword's blade set her free.

"I'm free, I'm free!" Pure Cheese sang as she flew freely in the air, she fluttered her wings, seemingly preparing them to catch everyone. "Ready to catch everyone?"

"Yes, ready."

Pure Cacao quickly grabbed Pure Berry's vine and released her, he released Vanilla and Lily not long after. Once Pure Cheese safely took everyone to the ground, she flew behind him and caught him once his vine was cut.
---------

After she safely brought everyone to the ground, Crocus noticed that they had all escaped while Dark Velvet was watching from a tree.

"This guy's rubbish.." He muttered to Red Velvet Cookie. "Dark Pomegranate was right after all."

"He's too full of himself to even realise what's going on. Don't follow in his footsteps, focus on the battle rather than your ego." Red Velvet Cookie advised him.

"Got it."

-------------

"Bold of you all using your little swords and wings to try escape!" Crocus mocked them. "But I have a trick up my sleeve." He bellowed as he sent more vines after them, but Pure Cacao swiftly cut every single one, sending Crocus into a blind rage. He charged at Pure Lily, but Pure Berry stopped him, blocking the attack with her shield.

"I hope you guys can trust me on this!" Pure Berry looked over to them, still managing to block Crocus' attacks. "I'll jump, and I want Vanilla and Lily to throw me in the air!"

"THROW YOU?" The other four all gasped in unison.

"Yeah! It's a good plan, promise!" Pure Berry smiled reassuringly. "Cheese, I'm sure you could distract Crocus by flying around?"

"Easy peasy." Pure Cheese assured them. She soon shot into the air and span around Crocus.

Pure Vanilla and Pure Lily crouched down and held their hands out around Pure Berry's feet. She quickly stepped onto their hands, being as careful to not hurt them as possible.

She mumbled. "Here goes."

Chapter Text

Pure Vanilla and Pure Lily lifted their hands and Pure Berry shot into the air getting her spirit ready to attack.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧!" And just like that, her shield smashed into the bush Crocus was controlling, numerous petals falling down with it.

Crocus' eyes widened with horror as he desperately tried to move the bush along, but to no avail. He snapped one of the sticks to control it out of fury.

Pure Berry caught herself once she made it back to the ground, watching as the petals made the bush fade away.

"Nailed it." She proudly beamed, clapping her hands together in glee.

———-

Dark Velvet jumped down from the tree and ran to where Crocus was now sitting defeatedly on the floor, he tried to pull him up.

"Move." He snarled. "Don't give into this one loss. You'll do it next time."

"Don't tell me to move, loser." Crocus grumbled.

"Geez... all I wanted to do was encourage you. Anyhow, I guess 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧." Dark Velvet lightly smirked as he poked Crocus' side.

"SHUT IT!" Crocus bellowed, as soon a purple fog surrounded the two, teleporting them away.

———

The Cookie Force watched as Crocus and Dark Velvet teleported away, confused at their bickering. Soon, the charm that Dark Velvet had used shot into Pure Vanilla's careful hands.

"I think this is a soul charm." He muttered, carefully examining it.

"It looks like it could be one?" Pure Berry pointed out, taking out her soul charm and de-transforming in the process. She held up her heart-shaped soul charm next to the potion-shaped one. "Yep, that looks like a soul charm."

"Seems like it." Pure Lily mumbled, peeking over to it. She soon looked up to the sky, noticing it getting dark. "I think we should head back, our parents will probably get worried.."

Everyone nodded as they all de-transformed.

"Good point.. I've gotta make dinner for my siblings." Gina smiled, grabbing Holly and Dorian's hands. "Parker, do you wanna test out the charm when you get back?"

"Sure!" Parker put the charm in his pocket. "I'll tell you all what happens."

The group soon walked to their houses and parted ways.

————————————————

After Parker got back and had his dinner, he walked up to his bedroom and flung himself onto his bed. He carefully took out the soul charm he had placed into us pocket, and looked at it.

"How do I test this?" He asked himself.

That's when the Ancient Tome, which was laying beside him made a sound akin to a phone ringing. He picked it up and opened it.

"Oh hello, Pure Vanilla Cookie." He smiled, waving to the cookie through the screen.

"Hello, Parker." Pure Vanilla Cookie waved back. "I hope you're doing okay, I heard Crocus was sent after you and your friends, I'm so sorry I couldn't help..."

"It's alright!" Parker reassured him. "We were able to defeat him and another Cookie Force warrior of darkness simple enough. At the end, we also got this soul charm, but I dunno how to test it." He moved the charm up to the screen for Pure Vanilla Cookie to see.

"Don't worry, I know what to do." Soon, Pure Vanilla Cookie appeared sitting beside Parker. "Please, take out your Cookie Pact and place the charm inside."

"Easy peasy." Parker opened his Cookie Pact and placed the charm inside, causing a tiny potion vial, which looked just like the charm to appear in front of him. He handed Pure Vanilla Cookie the potion.

"Thank you." Pure Vanilla Cookie carefully stepped onto the floor and removed the cork of the potion. He started to drink it and slowly, he became bigger and bigger, until he was human sized. He was just that bit taller than Parker. "There. Would you look at that!"

Parker slightly jumped in surprise when he saw Pure Vanilla Cookie's new size.

"No way.." He muttered, slowly walking closer to the cookie. "Now that I think about it, I could get used to you being as tall as me. It'd be much easier to talk to you, without having to look down so much!" They both giggled.

Pure Vanilla Cookie carefully placed his hands on Parker's shoulders, smiling warmly down at him. "And I can finally give you a proper "thank you," too." He wrapped his arms around Parker and pulled him into a warm embrace. "Thank you again, Parker. For bringing the Cookie Force together... and helping me and my friends.."

Parker let out a small squeak of shock before eventually leaning into the warm hug.

"You're welcome.. I'll keep helping as much as I can."

Chapter Text

𝒢ℴ， 𝒟ℴ𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓃！

A new school week had started. The spring sun shined, lighting up the streets. Dorian was walking to school, while also drawing. He stopped once in a while to cross roads and check he was going the right way.

While he was walking, he felt a soft hand rest on his shoulder.

"Morning, Dorian." A worn out voice mumbled. It was Gina, her hair was all over her face and she looked like she had rushed.

"Morning." Dorian mumbled back. "You sound tired."

"I had to rush out of the house this morning, I accidentally slept in and lost track of time! I didn't realise until Seth burst in my room and told me once I was dressed. Thank the stars I pack things the night before.."

"I get like that." He chuckled.

Gina giggled with him as she tied her hair up into a rushed ponytail.

"Art competition today, right? Have you got everything?"

"Tablet, stylus, stand." Dorian mumbled with a worried tone as he checked his bag, it soon changed to a smile as he closed it shut. "Yep, all there."

"I don't get why it had to be digital art and not traditional art." Gina questioned. "It'd make more sense for a place like that."

"It's easier for some to draw digitally, I suppose. Pens and paint can be messy at times, and it's easier on the school money-wise."

"Fair, fair." Gina nodded. "You nervous?"

"A bit." Dorian sighed, packing his drawing equipment back into his bag, along with the picture he had started. "Competitions like these can be very nerve wracking, but I think that's what makes them fun."

"You have a lot of confidence in your talent, I admire you for that." Gina smiled warmly.

"Thank you."

They both soon made it to the school gates, and saw Holly wave at them.

"Hiiii!" Holly giggled, running toward them.

"Good morning, Holly." Dorian did a small wave, soon holding her hands once she reached them.

"Parker and Willow are waiting for us at the garden. You're later than usual today!" She showed a cheeky smile whilst speaking in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Sorry, Holly!" Gina let out an exhausted laugh, playing around with one of the keychains decorating her school bag. "Curse revision and making me stay up late to do it!"

"And curse art block." Dorian chuckled.

"You're fine!" Holly giggled reassuringly. She let go of one of Dorian's hands to rub Gina's shoulder in comfort. "Let's go meet the others, and what say that I braid your hair for you before the bell rings?"

"I'd like that." Gina giggled.

The three all linked arms and ran to go meet Parker and Willow.

————————————-

Parker was sat on a bench near Willow, who was watering some flowers nearby.

"The flowers here are so beautiful.." Parker smiled warmly as he walked up to Willow to admire them up close. "Do you water them every day?"

"Without fail." Willow laughed quietly. "It makes the school look pretty."

"It's nice to see such beautiful flowers after being cooped up in a room learning for hours." Parker giggled. "And it's even nicer knowing that someone as caring and kind.. And not to mention pretty...is making that all possible.." He mumbled shyly, a lace of pink blush resting on his cheeks.

"Y-you're too kind.." Willow stuttered, that same pink blush slowly made way onto her cheeks, too. "But if not for your kind words and your gentle presence I don't think I'd be able to be in such high spirits about.. well anything."

"Thank you.." Parker laughed quietly.

The duo soon heard some rushed footsteps as Holly, Dorian and Gina approached.

"Good morning, you two." Gina waved.

"Oh, good morning." Willow waved back. "Please, take a seat!" She motioned to the bench nearby and the three sat down on it.

Holly immediately took out Gina's ponytail and started to comb her hair, ready to braid it.

"The school's art competition is always so crazy." Parker chuckled. "We get to miss an entire day of learning so we can see some amazing art instead!"

"Good luck with it, Dorian. I think you're going to do it very well." Willow encouraged him, placing her watering can down and going over to the three on the bench, Parker soon following.

"Thank you all for being so encouraging, I really appreciate all your support.." Dorian sighed. "I got very nervous about it last night, so it really helps to hear all these reassurances from you.."

Holly soon finished Gina's braid and tied it up, she turned to Dorian and wrapped her arms around him in a reassuring embrace.

"Dawww.. it's okay, Dorian!" She giggled. "It's normal to be nervous about something as big as this. But take it from me, I KNOW you're gonna ace this, and we'll always be there to cheer you on!"

"Thanks, Holly.." Dorian chuckled as he hugged her back.

Soon, the school's bell rang, echoing across the entire campus. The competition was ready to start.

Dorian and Holly let go of each other and stood up along with the others.

"It's competition time." Dorian eagerly smiled as they all made their way into the school hall.

Chapter Text

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧!" The headmaster's voice blared out from the speakers. "Each and every student that has entered is giving us the joy of seeing their creative passion through their exceptional art work and to that we thank them!"

"That's you Dorian, that's you! You're a student that's entered!" Holly giggled as she bounced up and down on the spot, holding onto his shoulders.

"Please do remember students, whoever we pick that wins is our opinion. It does not mean one is better than the other, all of your art work will be fantastic, I'm sure! So please competitors, make your way to a table and get your equipment ready."

"Wish me luck, everyone." Dorian smiled.

"Good luck!" The four friends waved as Dorian went to a seat.

Standing in a corner far away from everyone else was Josh, he had also entered the competition for his own reasons.

"One is not better than the other.. that's the biggest lie I've heard all year." He mumbled. "There is someone that's better than all these normies, and I know him very well.."

Dorian made it to his seat, as did Josh and many other students. They got their equipment out and were ready to start.

"As for the rest of the students, please feel free to look around the school and see the winning students art from years before." The headmaster instructed. "Is everyone ready to begin?"

"Yes headmaster." Numerous voices stated, Dorian's voice being one.

"Let the competition, BEGIN!"

————————————————-

While the competition was ongoing, many of the other students, including the other Cookie Force warriors, had been lead to see winning artworks displayed from competitions prior. The room they were brought to was filled with the sound of positive chatter and excitement.

"They're all so pretty.." Parker admired them."Everyone's art-styles are all so unique.."

"All created lovingly by hand, traditional or digitally.." Willow mumbled. "It's so beautiful.."

Holly beamed, "I'm sure Dorian will have his art places on this wall! Riiiiight there!" She pointed to an empty spot on the wall with the present year sitting above it. "I'm so sure, if he wins I'll buy him an ice cream on the way home!"

"Watch out, Holly." Gina chuckled. "Dorian is very good at winning!"

"That's why i have the money ready!"

The four of them all laughed as they continued to admire the many other pieces of artwork from years past.

—————————————

Meanwhile during the competition, Josh, who purposefully sat next to Dorian, stopped what he was doing and whispered in his ear.

"I'm going to beat you, no matter what it takes, I'll beat you with no effort or time even needed, you'll see."

Dorian slightly jumped, startled at the whisper. But once he turned around to see Josh, he was right back on his tablet, seemingly working like nothing happened.

"Odd..." Dorian thought to himself. "I could have sworn just a couple of seconds ago he said he would beat me. Maybe I'm getting too nervous.." He wiped the sweat off of his palms and kept drawing.

Josh rolled his eyes at Dorian's drawing, noticing how he started focusing on the small details. He turned back to his tablet and opened an app, typing in specific prompts.

"Generate a scene with a pink sky and a lush waterfall, with rainbow colours reflecting it. Add stones of various different colours and numerous animals gathered there."

His tablet showed a little bubble on the left of the screen, akin to text messaging someone. The text bubble soon moved up and read,

"𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠..."

Chapter Text

Once the image was generated, he looked closer at it. Some of the animal's ears looked different from what they were supposed to and some eyes looked blurred.

"No one will notice, surely..." He muttered to himself, saving the picture to his tablet. He then opened up a drawing app and imported the photo, cropping it to size.

Dorian had heard Josh's certain mutters and peeked over to see what was going on, noticing the AI generator he had open on his tablet. He tensed up and carefully moved back to focus on his drawing.

————————————
"I hope Dorian is doing okay." Gina sighed. "I could tell he's very nervous, even if he looks so happy."

"He's got this, Gina!" Holly reassured her, patting her shoulder. "He's very strong willed, even if he lost it wouldn't affect him that much. Let's just keep letting him know we're there for him!"

"Yeah!" Gina smiled, feeling slightly more sure.

After a good while, the school's bell rang.

"𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞'𝐬 𝐮𝐩, 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬!" The headmaster's cheerful voice echoed across the campus. "During lunch me and the teachers will vote on what artwork is our favourite, so please leave your tablets behind. You can collect them after the announcement of the winner."

Numerous student's chairs were creaking after being moved and many sighs of relief were heard. Dorian had also sighed, but there wasn't a hint of happiness in his tone.

"I don't like what that kid is up to.." He thought to himself, clutching onto his bag. He soon stood up and went to go get lunch, along with many other students.

————————————-

"He's late agaaaaaaaaaaaaain?" Dark mushroom wondered, petting one of Dark Velvet's cake hound puppies. It was enjoying the attention, rubbing against the child as if asking for more.

"Second time in a row." Dark Velvet groaned. "What is taking him so long..."

Dark mushroom tilted their head. "Maybe he's made new friends and is playing with them?"

"No way. He couldn't even befriend a rock if he tried to."

Suddenly, the two heard rushed footsteps make their way into the lair. It was Crocus. His face was redder than a beetroot and he looked exhausted.

"Ignore..." he huffed. "Ignore that I'm late..."

"Can't ignore that." Dark Velvet scoffed. "Dark Enchantress Cookie is busy plotting the plan to use Pure Lily's power to revive her Cookie Force warrior. So she's asked if you and Dark Mushroom can try your hands at defeating the Cookie Force once more."

"Okay, I see." Crocus muttered. "I'll stop at nothing until all those little saps are defeated."

"I like their colourful outfits!" Dark Mushroom giggled, letting go of the puppy as it soon shot up and ran to Dark Velvet's side. They soon ran over to Crocus' side, jumping up and down eagerly.

"Try not to lose this time." Dark Velvet instructed. "And make sure Dark Mushroom doesn't get hurt.

________________________________

During lunch, Dorian was sitting on the bleachers where he first met Dark Cacao Cookie, while the others were off to brave the incredibly long wait that is the lunch line. He opened his bag and pulled out his cookie pact, glancing worriedly at it.

"What do I do.." He thought to himself, clasping the cookie pact tighter. It's purple light began to shine making Dark Cacao Cookie appear beside him.

"Good afternoon, Dorian." Dark Cacao Cookie hopped onto his lap and looked up at his melancholy face.

"Oh hello." Dorian let out a weak smile.

"Whatever is the matter? You look quite melancholy.." The cookie wondered, looking up at him. "Was the art competition overwhelming you?"

"It was quite peaceful, actually." Dorian clenched his hands into fists. "Until I saw Josh next to me cheating with an AI image generator."

"Oh, I see." Dark Cacao Cookies eyebrows furrowed.

"If his disgraceful, machine generated slop wins this art competition instead of an actual piece of human made art, I will not hesitate to expose him in front of everyone." Dorian gritted his teeth, now gripping onto his school uniform tightly.

"Fair." Dark Cacao Cookie patted his leg reassuringly. "What is stopping you?"

"No one will believe me."

"Come on, Clayton! No one likes Josh, I am very sure people will believe you." The cookie encouraged him.

Dorian sighed, trying to calm himself down.

"Okay, I'm sure the other Cookie Force warriors will definitely believe me.. We'll go back to the hall and look at Josh's submission a little closer."

Chapter Text

Dorian was taking his friends along to the hall to see the submitted art on the tablets, a couple of other students were there, admiring the art submissions.

"Look closer at Josh's art, if that's even what you want to call it." Dorian instructed, pointing out specific details that went wrong with the image generation.

“Ah.." Gina mumbled. "The distortion in the eyes, the wrong ears.. This screams AI. Surely the teachers will believe us if we tell them."

“I did tell them, but they said they weren't sure and they'd investigate it further while they vote." Dorian grumbled.

"Hmph!" Holly crossed her arms, "The teachers never listen."

The five all soon left the hall and went to the playground to practice some sports.

—————
"You've done the important bit, now you can just let out your rage in a good game of basketball, yeah?" Holly rested her hand on Dorian's shoulder. "You know I LOVE basketball.."

"We do know you love it, Holly." Parker chuckled. "We even managed to get a Cookie Force warrior out of it." That was when Gina giggled along with them.

“Hehe... let's play some to pass time!" Gina laughed as she brought everyone into the basketball practice area.

"You all can play, I'll keep a look out incase the mean, green, day-ruining machine shows up." Willow informed them, giggling a bit.

"I'll sit out, too." Dorian sighed. "My mind needs a rest after the competition."

So, the three started to play, or at least throw the ball around since that was much only three can do. They were careful to mind Willow and Dorian, making sure to not bump them on the head with the basketball or anything like that.

"Dorian," Willow started. "I've looked into Crocus himself and what he is, if that makes sense."

"Yeah?"

"I don't think he's necessarily an actual being."

“What do you mean?" Dorian wondered.

"I've asked White Lily Cookie and researched myself, i've found out that Crocus is more of a state-of-mind than it's own person.. It says the desire for power and greatness, with no sign of kindness or love, can overtake a person's heart. Thus turning them into Crocus."

“So Crocus can be anyone?" Dorian mumbled worriedly, now resting his hands on his lap.

"Mhm..."

“I don’t like the look of that, not at all..”

That's when the sky had darkened once again, and numerous students started running into the school hall nearby. The sudden sounds of the feet thumping made Parker, Holly and Gina drop what they were doing.

“For goodness sake!” Gina sighed, holding the basketball. “How much more of this do we have to take?” She soon gritted her teeth as Crocus and Dark Mushroom appeared before them.

“Oh please, we’ve only fought a couple of times!” Crocus snickered, touching up his long black cloak. “You wanna give up now?”

“We can’t give up.” Holly crossed her arms. “I don’t wanna let some reptile ruin the human world and the cookie world for his own gain, especially if you’re really pushing your luck with it!”

“You’ve a lot of passion, makes for a funner challenge!”

“I really like you guys!” Dark mushroom giggled as they held onto Crocus’ shoulder. “I think I also like the new ones since I last saw you!!”

“Ignore them..” Crocus batted Dark Mushroom away. “I had to be paired with them today… they’re useless, though. They barely contribute anything.”

“Meanie!!!” Dark Mushroom cried, “At least I clean up the place and don’t sit around on my bottom all day!”

“SHUT IT!” Crocus spat. “Just take this soul charm and help me give these losers a hard time.”

“Okay..” Dark Mushroom mumbled as they got handed the charm, they soon lightly blowed on it. “Soul charm, lend us your power!” Dark Mushroom soon threw the charm across the playground, a small swirl of sand soon appeared and became bigger and bigger, becoming a tornado.

Chapter Text

"What on earth is THAT?" Gina screamed.

"I'll put it simple for you knob-heads," Crocus informed. "This tornado will suck all of you whole, it'll be much easier to take over the place without you ruining it for me."

“So you’re trying to kill us?”

“Yeah!”

Dorian quickly grabbed his Cookie Pact out from his bag, ready to transform.

“No time to waste, I don’t want us to become part of a tornado.”

The others all nodded and started to transform.

They all shouted, “𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!“

After the transformation, they didn’t have time to think as the tornado inched closer and closer to them, they all attempted to avoid the tornado while they tried to form a plan.

“What should we do?” Pure Berry panicked, clutching onto Pure Cacao and Pure Lily’s shoulders as they ran.

“Ah- I dunno!” Pure Cheese struggled, her voice laced with anger. “All I DO know is we should NOT get caught into there!”

“Let’s try not to fill ourselves with worry, everyone.” Pure Vanilla reassured them. “We’ve defeated these guys before, I’m sure we can find a way to do it again.”

Everyone nodded to one another, eventually finding a safe spot to formulate a plan.

“I have no doubts Crocus is gonna try to get us face on..” Pure Lily mumbled.

“Maybe with something like that sword fight you and him had, Pure Cacao?” Pure Berry tilted her head.

“Yeah..” Pure Cacao took a moment to think. He was able to prevail with facing him with his courage during that very fight. That’s when he had made up his mind.

“If he’s trying to push us into that tornado, we could just try push HIM in there. I’m sure we could do that, right?”

“He’s very strong, though..” Pure Lily muttered, unsure.

“But we’re stronger!” Pure Cacao encouraged. “He’s stronger physically, sure. But we have something he doesn’t, willpower.”

———————————

“They keep sneaking off.” Crocus grumbled.

“Maybe because you’re such a meanie, and you never give them the chance to talk to you? Maybe they just wanna play.” Dark mushroom pondered, sitting on one of their mushrooms.

Crocus’ eyes widened, he turned over to the child. “Meanie, huh?” He grumbled. “Never give them a chance?”

“Mhm…”

“Why should I have to waste my precious time talking to them when I could just kill em, get my power and respect and boom! I don’t have to worry about their stupid friendship and whatnot.” Crocus lashed out. “You know, I probably would’ve killed these losers 10 times faster if it wasn’t for you, with your “mushrooms!” And your “playing!!” GROW UP!”

Dark Mushroom jumped off of their mushroom and hid behind it, their sniffles were easy to hear.

“Crocus… why are you being so mean..” they choked, clinging onto their mushroom, which now had tear stains rolling down it.

“I’m not mean, I’m just stating facts, coward.” Crocus taunted. “Grow some balls, you’re not gonna survive if you cry so easily at plain facts.”

“Crocus, do you find pleasure in ruining other’s day?” A soft voice called, it was Pure Lily. She and the others had blocked Crocus’ view of Dark Mushroom.

“I thought that tornado had finally got you.” Crocus scoffed.

“We don’t give up easy!” Pure Berry giggled.

Pure Lily had bent down to Dark Mushroom’s height and rested her hand on the mushroom, she spoke warmly as to not scare the child.

“Hello, you don’t need to worry about Crocus, you shouldn’t listen to him, he’s just scared of the time where people find out he’s not so nice. Are you able to go back to the Cookies of darkness’ lair?”

“Mhm.. with the teleporty thing..” Dark Mushroom quietly mumbled as they wiped their tears.

“Good, you can do that and relax, okay? We’ll take care of Crocus and tell him to not bully you again.”

“Okay, thank you!” The child quietly giggled as they soon disappeared.

Chapter Text

Pure Lily stood herself up and dusted herself off once Dark Mushroom disappeared, and faced Crocus with everyone else.

“How heartless are you?” Pure Berry had a sad tone of voice as she looked up at the Crocodile, “To overwhelm a child with your own opinions?”

“Bah.” Crocus scoffed, “It’s their fault they can’t grasp some cold, hard knowledge, not mine.”

“Have you ever thought your “knowledge” could’ve just been your own opinion, and others could have different ones to yours? Did you pay attention in school at all?”

“Never did.” Crocus rolled his eyes. “Why’d I need to know what your CLEARLY inferior ideas are anyway?”

“Because-” Pure Berry was going to talk back, but she soon stepped back, her voice gained an even more upset tone as she mumbled, “Never mind, you wouldn’t listen, anyway.”

Crocus soon recoiled in offence as he clutched his cloak. “HOW DARE, you think I’d even FATHOM the idea of listening to YOU?” He teethed, soon waving his arm and making the tornado from earlier return and spin around the group.

They all stepped back, holding onto one-another’s hands as they thought of a way to stop the tornado from affecting the school more, Pure Vanilla soon taking out the giant potion soul charm from the small carry case that was clipped to his waist.

“We could use this..” he muttered, taking out his Cookie Pact and placing the charm inside, making a palm sized, exactly alike potion appeared in his hand.

“Berry, can you get your shield out” Pure Cacao prompted.

“Sure, but what for?” Pure Berry tilted her head.

“You’ll all see, I have a plan.”

Pure Berry happily obliged, holding her Cookie Pact close with one hand while her shield soon appeared in the other.

“I know Crocus will lunge at us at any moment, so Vanilla, can you use the potion charm to make her shield bigger?”

“Okay!” Pure Vanilla tapped the charm onto Pure Berry’s shield, making it grow twice as large, around the size of a crocodile, which made it difficult for her to keep up.

“A- a little help would be nice?” Pure Berry struggled, it wasn’t long before Pure Cheese held on to her at add support.

“You brats talk too much,” Crocus roared. “TAAAAAAAAAAAKE THIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!” He soon began to lunge at the five warriors.

“Now!” Pure Cacao commanded, “Push him into the tornado!”

Pure Berry and Pure Cheese quickly pushed the shield forward, shoving Crocus into the tornado which had swirled behind him, the crocodile screamed as he was tossed and turned, the whirlwind glowing an eerie purple as he seemingly disappeared, Pure Cheese let go of her friend and rushed to do something about the still ongoing tornado.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞!” She shouted as her arrows and the pressure from her wings flapping sent the tornado off course. Once Crocus had fully gone, it eventually died down and revealed the sand soul charm. The five all transformed and high-fived as a job well done, the sky had returned to a bright-blue colour with no clouds in sight.

Soon, the school's bell rang, it's loud chimes notifying that the results were in, Parker rushed to grab the soul charm and placed it into his bag before they all rushed to see the results.

--------------------

The group hastily made way to the school's hall, where many other students had just entered, The Headmaster soon walked up to them with a smile.

"Hello, you all!" The Headmaster greeted them.

"Good afternoon, Headmaster!" The five all waved.

"Where were you all during the tornado, we saw no sign of you five in the hall and we had gotten worried.."

All five of the group tensed up. It'd be wrong to tell the headmaster the truth, as that would break an important promise of the Cookie Force. Parker had soon managed to put together a little white lie.

"Sorry for worrying you, Headmaster," Parker apologised, "We were all in the library, we had managed to get inside before the tornado had gotten too out of hand.."

"I'm very glad you are all okay.." The Headmaster sighed in relief. "I have to get going now, I have a winner to announce!"

----------

Every student had gathered and sat cross-legged on the floor, eagerly awaiting the results.

"Thank you to every student that has entered the tenth grade art competition!" The Headmaster eagerly announced, holding an envelope with one hand and a sparkling gold trophy with the other. "In this envelope is the name of our winner, which will be revealed as soon as possible!"

All of the students clapped, eagerly awaiting the results. Dorian sat himself next to Holly and Gina and he quickly looked down at his pocket, to which he saw Dark Cacao Cookie.

"There's no need to worry yourself, you've got this." The Cookie whispered reassuringly, quiet as a mouse. Dorian nodded and mumbled a quiet "Thank you" before looking up at the stage where The Headmaster was talking.

"The winner is..." The Headmaster announced, placing the trophy on a stool nearby and surely opened the envelope, he paused for dramatic effect before finally revealing the winner. "Dorian Clayton!"

All of the students cheered in celebration as Dorian made his way onto the stage and carefully took the trophy as he was handed it.

"Thank you very much, headmaster." Dorian mumbled shyly, yet happily as he held the trophy close to his heart.

"You are very welcome, Dorian!" The Headmaster smiled, "Your art is exceptional, it'd be wrong to not give you at least this for your talents!"

---------------------

At home time, after all the shenanigans, the five friends were walking home from school, all laughing and chatting along with celebrating Dorian's victory. During this, Josh had come up to them looking as angry as a hornet.

"How did you do it." He rhetorically asked, malice clear as day in his tone.

"How did i do it?" Dorian repeated his question, his happy face dropping. "I actually put in the effort, that's how I did it."

Josh said no more as he simply walked off, grumbling to himself. The group all sighed of relief at him leaving and they kept going.

"He's starting to get on my last nerve.." Dorian mumbled, clutching onto his trophy tightly.

"Don't listen to him, he's just jealous of you." Parker reassured him.

"Yeah!" Holly agreed, "He'll never be like you, even if he really tried."

"You're both right.." Dorian smiled at the two friends.

"Hey hey, since you won the competition, I'll buy you an ice cream to celebrate!" Holly giggled.

"Where'd this offer come from?" Dorian laughed. "Did you make one of those bets you know you'd always lose to, just to make someone happy again?"

"You read me like a book!"

Everyone all soon laughed as they went to get ice cream, celebrating Dorian's victory.

Chapter Text

𝒜 𝓋ℯ𝓇𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒷𝒾𝓇𝓉𝒽𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝓉ℴ 𝓎ℴ𝓊, 𝒢𝒾𝓃𝒶

The spring morning sun was blaring into Gina's room, it's warm glow illuminating the area. Gina tossed and turned, trying to cram in as much sleep as possible.

She wasn't alone on this fine morning, Golden Cheese Cookie had been preparing some small surprises for the girl, carefully managing to rest a few presents at the foot of her bed. She soon made her way to one of Gina's ears and whispered,

"Gina, I think it's about time you had woken up, don't you agree?"

"Not yet.." Gina muttered quietly, nestling her face into her yellow, velvet pillow. "Please gimme five more minutes.."

Golden Cheese Cookie giggled, "But I, THE golden sovereign, wish for you to arise and enjoy your morning before school! It is your birthday, after all!"

Gina soon quickly stretched and sat up on her bed, looking upon Golden Cheese Cookie, who was sitting on her bedside table.

"How'd you know it was my birthday..?" She yawned, rubbing her eyes, soon looking at the gift pile on her bed in confusion.

"Holly had told me beforehand." The cookie chuckled at Gina's surprise.

"Ahh.. that makes so much sense now!" Gina muttered sleepily, yet happily, now having her eyes on the presents waiting for her on the foot of her bed. "Are these for me?"

"Why of course they're for you! I asked every single one of my denizens to get you a present and they all happily obliged, even Smoked Cheese Cookie, and he's quite the grump at times!"

"Kinda like my brother!!" Gina quietly giggled.

"Is your brother a massive grump, too?"

"He'd win the biggest grump competition if there was one!" she chuckled, "He's just started middle school, so i guess it's just a thing every kid his age goes through!"

"I can confirm.." Golden Cheese Cookie laughed, she soon motioned to the presents. "Well don't keep me waiting, birthday girl! Open the presents!"

Gina made her way to the end of her bed and carefully opened her presents, one by one. They were all cheese-like pieces of jewelry, like necklaces, bracelets, and rings, and they all seemed at all go together to match.

"Waah!" Gina managed to quietly squeal, "These are so cuuute!" she quickly put the jewelry on and admired all the pieces. "Please tell them my biggest thanks!"

"Oh, I will.." Golden Cheese Cookie smiled warmly. "I'm so happy you love them.."

Soon, the two heard many loud footsteps approach Gina's room, getting closer and closer to the bedroom, Golden Cheese Cookie made her way onto Gina's shoulder and mumbled,

"Your siblings?"

"Yeeeeeah.." Gina quietly chuckled, "It's about time I'd get up, as much as I'd love to stay in bed all day.."

"I'll leave you to it, then, and I'll talk to you later in the day!"

"Alright, see you!" Gina giggled as the cookie soon disappeared and she quickly took off the jewelry and hid it under her pillows.

"Gina Caroline Campbell, can we come in?" Seth's voice boomed from one side of the door.

"Yeees!"

That's when the door swung open and all four of Gina's siblings pounced onto her bed, letting out a simultaneous "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"

"H- hey!" Gina giggled as she caught them and held them in her arms. "What's this surprise hug for?"

"Because we love you, of course!" One of Gina's sisters, Maisie, giggled sweetly. "Not to mention you're 15 today, big number, isn't it?"

"Big number indeed.." Gina chuckled back, nuzzling into the four. "It feels like I turned 14 yesterday, time flies.."  She soon pat each of her siblings lightly, with a smirk clear as day on her face. "Now you lot, shouldn't you all get ready for school? It's a busy day for all of us."

Three of the siblings carefully made their way out of Gina's arms and rushed to get ready for school, leaving just her and Seth alone. The girl couldn't help but chuckle, but it slowly died down to a soft smile when she felt her brother nuzzling into her.

"Gina.." Seth mumbled.

"You're not grumbling at me, is something wrong?"

"I do not grumble at you!" The boy mumbled, lifting his face out of his sister's hair and leaned on her instead. His tone became much sadder. "It's a question, a serious one."

"Go ahead.."

"Is today gonna be hard for you? Ya know, since you share the same birthday as Mom.."

Gina's face morphed into a frown, she knew that even on her happiest day, she couldn't escape the grief of losing someone charging at her. She rested her head on Seth's, and let out a small sigh.

"I- I know, but I'll be alright, I promise you that." She gave her brother a light, reassuring hug.

"I'll trust you on that."

"Now off you go, get ready for school, grumpy." She giggled as she carefully let go of her brother.

"I am not grumpy!" He tried to sound angry, but couldn't help letting out a small giggle at his sister as he ran off.

Gina carefully made her way out of bed, and made it neatly, she soon made her way to her big window, which was letting the golden sunlight enter her bedroom. She pulled out her desk chair and sat down, looking up into the sky.

"Happy birthday, Mom." She smiled a bittersweet smile. "I hope you enjoy it, I really do.."

Chapter Text

After managing to get herself dressed and out the door, Gina made her way out the door and off to school with a spring in her step.

After a good five minutes of walking, she heard someone singing to her.

"Happy birthday to youuuuu...." It was Holly, who had rested her hands on Gina's shoulders. "Happy birthday to youuuuu.." she repeated.

"Oh shush!" Gina giggled, lightly pushing her to try shut her up.

"Happy birthday dear G- Ginaaaa.." she giggled while singing, but kept going. "Happy birthday to youuuuuuuu!!!"

"Yippee!" Gina cheered. "You sure a whole song was needed, though?"

"Uh, YEAH." Holly stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "You're fifteen years old! That's a big number!"

"Hehe, I know. Maisie told me when I woke up."

Holly soon sniffled, "I can't believe you're fifteen..." she muttered, holding Gina in a side hug as they walked. "I'm the only fourteen year old now.."

"Oh hush!" Gina giggled, "You've not long to wait, you're fifteen in June!"

"But it's a WHOOOOLE month away!"

The two both giggled and chatted together as they made their way to the campus, eventually meeting up with Dorian.

"Morning, and happy birthday Gina." Dorian waved, handing Gina a special drawing he had made for her.

"Thank you!" Gina happily accepted the drawing and placed it in her bag. "How're you today?"

"Alright, just trying to get rid of the crowds of students congratulating me for winning the competition on Monday, I appreciate the support but it gets too much."

"Fair fair, sometimes too much praise can be overwhelming." Gina laughed, patting Dorian on the shoulder.

"Have you got your overnight bag?" Holly asked, clutching a separate bag from her school one.

"Yeah, all packed and ready." Dorian smiled.

While the three were talking, someone made his way to them and rested his hand on Gina's back, she jumped at the feeling bur immediately groaned upon feeling a miserable presence behind her.

"Campbell."

"You can use my first name, you know." Gina grumbled. "What do you want, Josh?"

"First, why should I? I'm wasting my time talking to people lower than me, like you. Secondly, I need to tell you something."

"Still full of yourself even after your loss on Monday." Gina let out a quiet scoff. "I'm sure you're not here to send birthday wishes, so why are you disturbing us?"

"Ooh! Sassy now, are we?" Josh rolled his eyes, "Listen greedy-face, you and I have problems PE wise."

"Please don't tell me you're signing up for a gymnastics course, I don't want you ruining that for me."

"No, it's a soccer match tomorrow down the park, 1pm. DO NOT MISS IT." He quickly shoved her before walking off.

"Hold on, I'm busy then-" Gina muttered, before letting out a tired groan once Josh didn't look back, and continued to walk off.

"He's a kid of little word, isn't he?" Holly tilted her head.

"Either he's silent as a mouse, or yaps all day." Dorian sighed.

Soon, Parker and Willow had made their way up to them, but Josh had bumped into Parker during his strop, causing them to both let out a small "Agh.."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Josh." Parker apologised sadly, "I didn't see you there.."

"Shut it." Josh snarled, letting out a huff as he had shoved Parker as well before walking off, leaving the two left confused.

"I don't know what's up with Josh.." Willow mumbled, "He must have a problem with us, like he knows something that we don't."

"If he DOES know something we don't, then why can't he just tell us rather than being such a narcissist and a grouch about it."

"Gina, let's not let him ruin the fun day we all have planned." Parker placed a reassuring hand onto Gina's shoulder, "If anything, he's just trying to be a massive party pooper."

"Yeah, he's just super jealous, especially if he keeps wanting to pick fights with everyone!" Holly placed her hand on Gina's other shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze.  And soon, the five all went to school, hand in hand.

Chapter Text

During school, time dragged on per usual. But once home time hit, it seemed to speed by like a race car.

"I've been waiting all day for this!" Holly skipped gleefully, "Finally we're all having another sleepover, we never have time for these anymore!"

"Yeah, especially recently." Gina let out a small sigh, "I've been extremely busy the last two weeks with the unexpected loss and all that.."

"I know.." Holly smiled reassuringly. "You're very strong, taking on so much so quickly. I would've collapsed by the first week! All the responsibilities, and emotion you've gone through and you're still staying strong, I admire you for that."

"You and the others are to thank." Gina chuckled. "If it weren't for you all, I don't think I would've coped with it."

"It is such a big change to go through, especially for someone as young as you and your siblings." Holly gave Gina's shoulder a small, reassuring rub with her hand.

"You always find a way to make others smile."

Holly giggled, "It is my job, if you wanna call it that! Seeing people's smiles always warms my heart.."

Both Holly and Gina exchanged small chatter and laughed before Willow eventually spoke up.

"What do you have planned for us tonight?" She asked, with a warm smile clear as day on her face.

"Well," Gina started, "I've made plenty of cupcakes as well as bought some tea for us so we can have a small tea party. Seth also messaged me saying there's a special someone at home, so we're gonna find that out together.

"That sounds like fun, I'm very excited now!" Willow smiled.

The five soon made it to Gina's house. Despite it's massive size, it held a warm, comforting vibe. Gina unlocked the door and let everyone inside.

"I'm home!" Gina announced, "And I have company!"

"Welcome, Gina!" A warm voice softly called, it belonged to a tall, masculine figure who was approaching them calmly.

Gina's face instantly lit up with glee upon realising who it was.

"Dad!" she beamed, rushing up to him and jumping onto his arms, clinging onto him like a koala. "You're back early!"

"The hospital let me have some days off, we're finally managing to get more staff hired so I won't have to do so many early morning shifts a week."

"Thank goodness.."

"So that means you won't have so much responsibilities crammed onto your plate, you can relax more now." Gina's father smiled as he held her closer and rested her head onto his shoulder.

"Soooo.. Will you be able to spend more time with me and the others?" Gina slightly loosened her grip.

"Yes, I will, I'm also off the whole weekend instead of just one day."

"Yippee.." Gina giggled before slowly letting go, leaving her father's embrace.

"Now, you five can go into the living room while I make dinner, is that alright?"

The group of friends all simultaneously nodded.

"Thank you very much for having us." Parker warmly smiled.

"There's no need to thank me, if anything I want to thank you all for being there for my daughter. Please keep doing so."

"We gladly will."

Gina soon led everyone into the living room. It was quite large, perfect for a family as big as hers. They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting happily.

----------------------------

"Woooow, how low are you?" Dark Velvet's voice was tinged with annoyance, with a gloomy tone lingering in the air. "Poor Dark Mushroom, having to deal with your incoherent and useless yapping."

"Dark Enchantress Cookie just made a new rule that none of the children here are allowed to go out with Crocus, just because of this incident. "Dark Pomegranate muttered while having Dark Mushroom cuddled in her arms.

"Well, so what?" Crocus rolled his eyes. "Not my fault the kid's practically brain dead."

"I can hear you, you know.." Dark Mushroom mumbled while snuggling themselves further into Dark Pomegranate's embrace.

"Don't caaare, I'll eat you all up if I have to."

Dark Velvet scoffed, "Eugh, being eaten by you is by far the worst way to go out.. I'm sure no one would want to smell your horrific breath before they die, I certainly wouldn't."

"SHUT UP!" Crocus bellowed.

"Calm down now." Dark Pomegranate commanded,  "Dark Enchantress Cookie asked me to tell Crocus that he will be going out to try kill the Cookie Force alone."

"YEEEEEES!" Crocus cheered.

"In the dead of night."

"WHAT?" Crocus' cheers soon morphed into a shocked scream.

"The key is to catch them off guard, so we must kill them when they're in a position they can't fight back, like sleeping." Dark Pomegranate informed him, "Go now, and if you aren't successful, things will get very serious."

"Fine, fine!"

Chapter Text

In the dead of night, some of the Cookie Force were asleep. But, two of them were very naughtily still awake, chatting to one another. It was Dorian and Gina.

"So you're telling me we've been fighting a parasite this whole time?" Gina asked, dumbfounded.

"That's what me and Willow think, anyway." Dorian pondered, resting his elbow on his pillow he brought from home, which had a picture of a wolf on it.

"Woooow." Gina muttered. "This Crocus thing goes deep, doesn't it?"

"You can say that again." Dorian groaned, as he ate a small leftover piece of cake. "I actually wonder how long he'll fight us for, considering how he says we're so annoying."

"He won't stop til we're gone, I suppose."

"Greeeeeat.." Dorian grumbled, shoving his face into the pillow.

Suddenly,  some purple magic wrapped around a window's handle like ooze, making the window above them fling open and a gust of wind blew across the room, startling the two and making them hide in their covers.

"The window was locked!" Gina shrieked, trying to warm herself up in her covers.

"Why is it every time we mention Crocus a bad thing happens?" Dorian asked angrily.

"He must be a bad omen or something!"

The loud gusts of wind and the cold night air kept going, managing to wake up Holly, Willow and Parker. Even the Ancient Tome and the Cookie Pacts started to shake.

Four of the Cookie pacts started to glow, and soon, Hollyberry Cookie, Dark Cacao Cookie, Golden Cheese Cookie and White Lily Cookie appeared, all in their pyjamas.

"What on earth is going on..." Golden Cheese Cookie yawned, carefully removing her golden sleeping mask. Another gust of wind swept past before the cookie hid in Gina's blankets. "And w-why is it so c-cold.."

"I think it may be something to do with the window.." White Lily Cookie muttered, curling herself up in Willow's hands.

"H- how could it have opened though?" Willow worriedly asked.

Parker held the Ancient Tome, carefully opening the cover. Pure Vanilla Cookie soon appeared in front of him, clearly waiting for the group, letting out a sigh of relief once they had made their presence known.

The Cookie was dressed in his bed robe, along with a matching nightcap. You could see he was clearly trying to sleep.

"What a horrible time of night to be awake, isn't it?" Pure Vanilla Cookie yawned.

"Mhm..." Parker grumbled.

"I was fast asleep when I heard the sound of the wind through my soul jam. I decided to check on you, and I had gotten a bit worried when I heard the other's worries too..."

Holly's teeth chattered as she scrambled around in her blankets, attempting to get warm. "Sooo... Did the window open on it's own or something?" She asked as she kept Hollyberry Cookie close to her.

"That can't be possible!" Gina latched onto her blankets.

"Well, it could be if magic was involved." Dark Cacao Cookie informed them, resting a comforting hand on Dorian's head

"Magic magic..." Hollyberry Cookie pondered, resting on Holly's arm. "Well it can't be yours, you're not using it!"

Parker managed to sit himself up, wrapping his blanket around himself to keep warm. He then carefully stood up, and slowly made his way to the window to shut it.

"Right, lemme see what's going on, I have a feeling we're not alone."

"Be careful, Parker..." Willow called, worry clear as day in her quiet voice.

He soon peeked out of the window, trying to find anything. "I don't see anything odd at the moment..."

That's when he saw a figure flying closer to the window by the second! In a panic, Parker slammed the window shut making the figure fall down to the ground, landing in a thorny bush

The figure stood up and dusted themselves off, removing the thorns from their body and growling in dismay.

"HEY, YOU!" The figure, who was actually Crocus, screamed familiarly. There was annoyance clear in his tone.

"WHAT?" Gina asked back, moving next to Parker and resting her hand on the window sill. "Pipe it down, or my whole family will wake up."

"Nooot listening!" Crocus mocked. "You should all be in bed!"

"And so should you." Gina rolled her eyes.

"No way, I don't DO sleep."

"Oooooof course you don't.." Gina grumbled, crossing her arms. "So tell me, what nonsense are you trying to plan at this hour?"

"Simple, I'm trying to kill you!" Crocus  snickered.

Gina and the group's eyes all widened.

"That's.. that's blunt." Holly muttered, holding Hollyberry Cookie closer.

Crocus cracked his knuckles and soon put his claws together. "So get down here and let me finish you off."

Chapter Text

"Is that a threat?" Gina asked.

"Yeah. Now get down here." Crocus demanded.

"You... you can get done for threats like that.." Gina faltered. "Like up to 10 years in jail."

"Well they won't catch me.

"We still have a right to decline!" Holly's eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh no you don't," Crocus snickered, "especially not after I do THIS."

The window soon flung open again, and Crocus sent his tail flying, latching onto Gina's arm.

"Get off of me!" Gina grumbled, trying to pull herself away or at least inflict pain onto the Crocodile. But unfortunately, she and the others tried to pull it off, but to no avail as the tail started pulling her and the others down to the ground.

The cookies even used the giant potion soul charm on themselves to help pull them up, but they got thrown down too.

They all let out screams as Golden Cheese Cookie used some of her power to make them all fall onto a pile of sand, making the landing softer.

"Ugh.. he's ruined my pyjamas now.." She groaned, rubbing sand off of her. "Are you all alright?" she soon questioned, carefully sitting herself up as everyone let out affirmative mumbles and one by one, made their way out of the sand pile.

"Being thrown out of a window was NOT what I was expecting my Friday night to include.." Holly yawned, stretching a tad bit to wake up her body.

Parker rubbed some tiredness out of his eyes, "We should probably transform and get this all over with.."

Everyone nodded in agreement, getting out their Cookie Pacts. They quickly placed their soul charms into the pacts and shouted, "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!" beginning their transformation.

After the transformation was said and done, Crocus snuck up behind Pure Cheese and poked her back, causing her to let out a small squeak.

"Let's play a game." Crocus snickered as he started to run off. "Catch me if you can!"

"Scaly wimp." Pure Cacao growled as he pulled everyone up and started to chase Crocus, everyone's feet touching the floor rapidly like heavy rain. They all soon made it to the town square, where a giant clock tower rested in the middle.

The clock's hands were positioned at one o'clock, with one bell toll to accompany it. Crocus had positioned himself on top of the tower.

"I was waiting for you slowpokes!" He cackled, resting his fist on his cheek. "You just never seem to catch up, even if there's ten of you!"

"Know this, Crocus." Dark Cacao Cookie stepped in, pointing his sword at the crocodile. "Your horrendous deeds will not go unpunished, we will put any of your plans to a stop, even if violence is necessary."

"Oohh i'm so scared..." Crocus mocked, dramatically placing a hand on his head. "A mere cookie, threatening the likes of me? Bah!" The Crocodile jumped down and made his way to the group, going ever closer until they could feel his breath on their skin. "Listen, you all have no idea what you are up against. the power I possess is stronger than you will ever comprehend."

Crocus jumped back onto the clock tower and started to make something with a dark purple magic, stretching and weaving it to his own will.

"How about a different game?" Crocus snickered, "This one's sure to be more fun."

"There's more?" Pure Lily asked worriedly, gripping one of Pure Vanilla's hands and one of White Lily Cookie's hands tightly.

Crocus snickered, "This is another moving game, so make sure you're warmed up!"

"We're not playing any more of your games!" Pure Berry grumbled.

"Did I say you could willingly excuse yourself? No." Crocus rubbed his hands together. "Ready or not, cuz here it comes!"

Chapter Text

Crocus soon cackled and sent a purple beam of magic down to their feet. The group jumped, avoiding the attack. He soon jumped down into the ground as well.

"Ah, seems like I don't have to explain the rules, wonderful." The crocodile cackled. "Now let's play... jump rope! How long will you pathetic things last for?"

Crocus sent many more purple beams their way. They dodged one, but then it only got faster and faster until they almost couldn't keep up their dodges.

"Are you trying to torture us?" Pure Cheese cried, trying to avoid the magic heading her way. She eventually soared into the air and got close to Crocus' face. "What's your deal?"

"What's myyyyy deal?" Crocus taunted, "Why i'm just doing what i'm told."

"Sounds like a rare thing to happen.."

"Shut your mouth!" Crocus screamed, "You know nothing!" He soon lunged at the hero. Upon the lunge, she quickly flew above him, causing him to almost trip.

"Missed me!" Pure Cheese giggled, flying around Crocus. "You're gonna want to get your head in this game if you wanna beat me and my friends down there."

"Get back here!" The crocodile swiped his claws, stopping his magic beams and now chasing the flying hero.

"You'll have to catch me first!"

Everyone else was watching below in confusion as the purple magic stopped approaching them. Abruptly, Golden Cheese Cookie's eyes lit up like diamonds.

"I have an idea!" She squealed, her wings flapping rapidly.

"Tell us, please!" White Lily Cookie called, carefully gripping her staff.

"While Pure Cheese is busy distracting that slimy reptile, we can give him a run for his money if we sneak behind him, we can give him a little scare then!"

Everyone nodded simultaneously.

"While we're doing that, Pure Cacao, I want you to stay behind and get your sword ready." Golden Cheese Cookie smirked. "We'll need it for later."

"Alright." Pure Cacao nodded.

As the little cat-and-mouse chase went on with Crocus and Pure Cheese, they both were getting more tired.

"W.. whatever you guys are doing down there please do it quickly..!" Pure Cheese panted, "I don't.. know if I can keep him busy for much longer..."

"We should get going." Golden Cheese Cookie took a deep breath and everyone except Pure Cacao tried to sneak behind Crocus.

"I'n gonna.. get ya, little bird!" Crocus huffed, trying to latch his claws onto Pure Cheese's wing.

The group of eight managed to get behind Crocus.

"Soooo, what's next?" Pure Berry whispered.

"We're going to pick him up by the tail and spin him around!" Golden Cheese Cookie snickered quietly. "If we all lift him at the same time we're sure to be strong enough."

Everyone let out mumbles or nodded in agreement.

"Ready?" Golden Cheese Cookie called, situating her hands underneath Crocus' tail. "Go!"

The group managed to lift Crocus' tail and pulled on it, causing him to shriek.

"GAAAAAH!" The crocodile screamed, his yell echoing across the town.

"Now spin him, everyone!"

Everyone started moving clockwise slowly, but then picked up their speed until they were running. Crocus was twirling in the air.

"My sword is ready when you are." Pure Cacao yelled, gripping his soul power-filled sword kind of like a baseball bat.

"Let him go!" Pure Cheese shouted and soon, the crocodile flung in the air straight to Pure Cacao.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞! 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧!" Pure Cacao's sword slashed across Crocus multiple times before he used it as a baseball bat, sending him flying.

And quickly after that, all remnants of purple magic left the town square, and everyone made their way over to Pure Cacao.

"If that was a proper basketball game, you would've gotten a home run with that hit!" Pure Berry giggled.

"Thank you, I'm sure it would've!" Pure Cacao laughed along with her, "And bravo to Pure Cheese for keeping Crocus busy."

"Thank you! Thank you!" Pure Cheese tiredly bowed as a soul charm shaped like a cloud fell into her hands.

"What one is it today?" Pure Lily questioned.

"A little cloud! Cute!" Pure Cheese squealed happily before handing it to Pure Vanilla. "Keep it safe for us, won't you?"

"I promise I will!" Pure Vanilla gladly took the charm carefully.

The Cookie Force soon de-transformed and all made their way back to Gina's house to finally get some sleep.

Chapter Text

𝒜 𝓉𝒽ℴ𝓇𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝒷ℯ𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒷𝓊𝓈𝒽

It was the Saturday after the sleepover and the group all parted ways back to their homes, except for Holly.

Holly only dropped off her things back at home and took a walk down the the park, the sun was shining down on her, although her mood didn't quite match that.

Was she agitated, angry? It was hard to tell when she could hide it so well.

She made her way to the park and over to the soccer goals, where Josh was leaning on one of them with his arms crossed. His eyes landed on Holly and instantly his face morphed from nonchalant to angry.

"I wanted Gina, not you." He grumbled.

"Gina was too busy to come, so I came instead." Holly muttered, "You would've known before if you didn't up and leave before she could tell you."

"And why should I have wasted my time listening to her ramble?"

"Cuz that's what manners are, if someone says wait you wait. Did that fly over your head?"

"Pshh." Josh scoffed, "I've more important things to worry about than what she has to do. She just needs to wrap around her little head that soon, everyone will be listening to me and doing what I wish."

"I would NOT want to live in a world where everyone has to listen to someone with a potato for a head."

"Very well," Josh lowered his voice and leaned closer to Holly. "Then you'd better leave this world as soon as you can. You know how to do it."

Holly faltered slightly, her expression of uneasiness morphing into faint anger.

"What is wrong with you?" she seethed, backing away from Josh, "Did you never learn that words can affect people, or did that phase through you too?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I offend you?" Josh snickered discourteously, leaning even closer with a menacing smirk on his face, to which Holly backed away further. "If you don't want to do it yourself I'll gladly do it for you."

That's when Holly's anger took over and she ran up to him and slapped him in the face, causing him to flinch back.

"A-Ah.." Josh stuttered, "You're stronger than you look.."

"B- bold to assume I wasn't.." Holly muttered, hiding her anger further. She didn't want to kill Josh, despite her distaste for him she would never go that far, even if she was paid. "Josh tell me," she soon began speaking normally again, "Why are you always going after me and the others? What did we do?"

"Because I hate you. I hate everything about you and your pathetic little group of friends."

"That doesn't explain why you hate us, why not just avoid us if you loathe us?"

Josh's eyebrows furrowed.

"Some things should stay a secret."

“Well this shouldn’t be “some things.” Holly’s tone became sharp, “If you’d just tell me what me and my friends have done wrong to you you wouldn’t have to worry about anything.”

“No.”

“Then I won’t push you to say anything.” Holly muttered as Josh turned to leave her. “Leaving so soon?” She pondered.

“Yeah.”

“Alright then, see you at school Monday.”

As soon as Josh left, Holly grumbled in fury and crossed her arms, she felt a small presence next to her resting on her shoulder, to which she looked down and smiled upon seeing the visitor.

“Hollyberry Cookie.” She quietly giggled, “Wasn’t expecting to see you today!”

“Doh, you know!” Hollyberry Cookie laughed heartily, “I just decided to pay my pal a visit. And besides, you look like something’s on your mind.”

“We must’ve become close already if you can see right through me..” Holly sighed, “Josh has been.. how should I word it?”

“Annoying? Agitating?”

“Agitating is a good one. He likes keeping things secret from what I’ve seen, I’ve tried to ask him why he hates the Cookie Force but he won’t answer anything, not even a “I don’t feel comfortable answering that” just a “no.”

“Does he even know about the Cookie Force?”

“Don’t think so, he just hates every member.” Holly sighed, “I would ask him at school but I probably will get nothing.”

“Just leave it for now,” Hollyberry Cookie patted her cheek comfortingly, “It’s the weekend, have some fun! Don’t focus on some random boy who’s probably just jealous of you.”

“I will..!” Holly giggled, “I’ll get myself an ice cream to make myself feel better.”

“That’s the spirit, Holly!”

Chapter Text

On the Monday, Dorian and Parker were walking to school with Gina and Willow, talking to each other about how all their weekends were since their sleepover.

But they all felt... off. Like something was missing.

"Have any of you heard from Holly much?" Dorian asked, "I've heard little to nothing from her and usually she's always texting or calling me."

"I had a small talk with her," Parker chimed in, "I asked her if she was revising or anything but she said not to worry and that she was just 'resting.' I'm a little bit worried since she always walks to school with us, but of course she's not here.."

"We'll see her when we get there, Parker!" Gina patted his shoulder reassuringly, "Then we can ask her what's up and if there's anything we can help her with."

"Yeah. She'll be okay, she's always okay. And if she's not, she's bound to tell us first thing."

The four soon made it to the school and began to search for Holly before the bell would ring. She wasn't in the gardens or the basketball court where they'd usually find her.

Instead, she was in the school halls, overlooking other children starting their day with their friends, a couple of them would pass by and say hello, and she would wave back lightly.

The group of four made their way to Holly's spot.

"Good morning, Holly." Parker greeted her warmly.

"Morning." Holly's voice sounded less playful than usual, "Sorry I couldn't meet you, I wanted to revise a little extra at school."

"No need to worry, we're just glad you're okay."

"Holly.." Gina soon spoke up and placed her hand on Holly's shoulder, "What did Josh say to you? He must've been pretty annoyed that I didn't show up like he wished."

"Oh yeah." Holly's eyes widened, remembering her encounter with Josh on Saturday. "He was very annoyed with me.."

"Did he say anything rude?"

"Erm..." Holly muttered, slightly biting her lips so she wouldn't just blurt out anything. "Well he told me the world would be under his control and I said I didn't want that. Then he basically told me to kill myself."

"What?" Gina muttered, and the other's faces grew shocked expressions replacing their neutral ones.

"He said, 'Then you'd better leave this world as soon as you can. You know how to do it.' I got so mad at that I slapped him in the face."

"That's fair." Dorian lightly smirked upon Holly's admission "A slap is the least of what he deserves to be honest, I don't think I know anyone so petty."

"I think it might be a good idea if we all keep an eye on him." Willow clutched onto a book she had brought with her.

"Fairrr.." Holly muttered, "We dunno what he's up to."

Soon, the school's bell rang and the five students followed each other to their first class of the day.

———————————-

Meanwhile, in the Vanilla Kingdom, Pure Vanilla Cookie and the other ancient cookies were having another meeting, sipping Earl Grey tea like they always do.

"Sip it slowly, everyone." Pure Vanilla Cookie instructed, "It's still hot."

Everyone listened to Pure Vanilla Cookie and sipped their tea cautiously, not wanting to burn their lips.

"You know, your kingdom is such a beautiful place." Hollyberry Cookie commented, admiring the view from where they were sitting. "We must bring the Cookie Force here some time!"

"Oh I'm sure they would love it here!" Pure Vanilla Cookie giggled, taking a sip of his warm tea and relishing in the taste. "We should take them here one day for a small trip, they deserve the break, after all."

"But they might be exhausted from all the fighting, they must go to the Cheese Fondue Springs in my kingdom!" Golden Cheese Cookie boasted, "They'll get a lovely bath and they'll feel fresh again.."

"Oh.." Pure Vanilla Cookie chuckled, "I think those are both brilliant ideas, the Cookie Force are still children after all, so we must let them relax and have fun some days!"

"Resilient children, they are." Dark Cacao Cookie smiled. "We all owe them a lot, for devoting their lives to making sure Earthbread is safe."

"Mhm.." White Lily Cookie nodded, "We should do a little something, just to say thanks.. Maybe at the weekend when school won't keep them busy?"

"That sounds like a brilliant idea!" Pure Vanilla Cookie's smile grew even wider before carefully pouring everyone another cup of tea upon them finishing. "Here's to the Cookie Force, and for their love and devotion to never falter!"

Everyone shouted happily, "Cheers!"

Chapter Text

"Crocus, I'm beginning to lose my marbles..." Dark Pomegranate grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose in anger.

"Not my fault they're all sneaky.." Crocus growled back, crossing his arms and turning away from the villain.

"It is your fault that you haven't learned their weaknesses yet."

Crocus turned back to Dark Pomegranate and his face of annoyance soon became a wicked smile. "Oh, but I have.."

"Elaborate."

"You have to look closer, Dark Pomegranate. Deeper than just their physical strength." Crocus whispered threateningly.

"Their mental strength, their soul."

"Bingo." Crocus cackled, "My plan, drive them to their limit, until they just can't cope with it anymore."

"Our goal is simply to defeat them, not to cause them emotional anguish. We want the soul charms and Ancient Tome and that's it." Dark Pomegranate sighed.

"But Dark Enchantress Cookie mentioned a candidate to hopefully rebirth-"

"Keep your lips zipped, reptile." Dark Pomegranate grumbled, putting a finger over Crocus' mouth. "Dark Enchantress Cookie is getting angrier at you by the minute, so come with me and go do something about it."

Crocus didn't say anything and simply growled in response. But he did speak up soon enough."I will, but I have stuff to do, be right back."

"Don't take too long."

—————————————————-

The school day soon finished Holly and the other Cookie Force warriors were making their way home, their walking pace much slower and calmer than the other children's.

"That whole Josh encounter been playing on my mind all day." Holly quietly admitted, clutching onto her school bag. "I could barely focus."

"So that's the reason why you were so much quieter at break then usual.." Gina sighed.

"Mhm.." Holly muttered, "It might not seem like a lot, but inside it really is.. Is that normal..?"

Willow turned to Holly and held one of her hands, clutching it reassuringly. "It's perfectly normal to feel that way. I find that a good cry helps me feel a lot better when I feel how you're feeling."

"That makes sense.."

"When you go home, go to your bed and just cry it out. And don't be afraid to seek comfort either, the reassurance of a friend or family member with you always helps."

"I'll do that." Holly smiled weakly, "Thanks a bunch."

The comforting vibes did last for a small while until Josh made his way to them and walked beside them sneakily, as if he was eavesdropping.

"Josh." Dorian's voice sharply dropped, turning to him. "I've heard that you don't exactly have a squeaky clean record with Holly here."

"If it isn't mister 'resolute.' Know I can join conversations when I please." Josh hissed, "I wanted to have another chat with Holly, but looks like you're in the way of that."

Holly merely said nothing, picking up her pace and dragging her other four friends along, with a surprisingly strong grip.

"Holly." Josh followed after them.

"I'm not in the mood to talk, Josh." Holly seethed, "You've left me with enough trouble on Saturday."

"Look at me and tell me that it matters to me."

"It might not matter to you, but it matters to others." Parker stepped in, looking at Josh dead in the eye. "Josh, if you hate us so much, why do you keep following us?"

"None of your business."

"It is our business, I'll say it once more and never again, why do you keep following us?"

"It's nothing for you to worry about, Parker!" Josh growled.

Parker let out a soft sigh, "I won't push it out of you. You're very stubborn for someone who's quiet and fears judgement."

Josh soon scoffed and turned away and began to walk, but not before turning back. "I've got important stuff to do now, good riddance, at least for a little while." He muttered before walking off for good, leaving the five on their own to collect their thoughts.

Chapter Text

The sun began to set, indicating the end of the day, the orange hues in the sky provided a warm and comforting vibe, making Holly, who had just finished her dinner and was now staring out of her bedroom window, smile.

Her smile soon faded as from the corner of her eye, she noticed a purple hue making its way to the sky, one which oozed uncertainty and malice.

"I don't need any more of this." Holly mumbled sharply, her angry tone draining her happiness even further. She quickly walked away from the window and picked up her school bag, which also had some snacks and a drink in there.

She soon ran out of her front door and followed the purple hue.

"I wonder where Josh had to run off to..." she muttered to herself as she walked slowly down a path, going ever so closer to the suspicious hue.

Until a hand rested on her shoulder.

"Holly?"

"GAH!" Holly jumped back at the touch, but let out a relieved sigh and a small giggle upon seeing who it was.

"Parker, Willow! You guys scared me a bit there..!"

"Sorry about that, Holly." Willow smiled apologetically, "We didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh no worry! So, what are you guys doing out here? You notice the odd purple in the sky too?"

"Yeah, we did." Parker said, holding Willow's hand as they walked.

They soon found Dorian and Gina waiting for them by a bush.

"Fancy seeing you all here!" Gina smiled.

"I don't know why the Cookies Of Darkness decided to cause problems at this time of night." Dorian sighed before Gina lightly shoved him.

"It's better than it being in the dead of night, though!" Gina happily giggled.

"Can't say you're wrong about that."

"So.." Willow started, "Where do you think Crocus and the Cookies of Darkness are this time?" Her question made all of the group go silent to think.

"Maybe the park or..." Parker muttered, "They can be anywhere. They fought me outside of my own house once."

"REALLY?" Holly asked, flabbergasted. "That's crazy."

During the groups chat as they searched high and low for the Cookies of Darkness, Dark Pomegranate and Crocus were watching from a tree.

"Crocus, our goal is the charms." Dark Pomegranate sighed, "Nothing more, nothing less."

"But they won't go down without a fight." Crocus grumbled back.

"True."

"Which is why I want to turn it up to the next level." Crocus soon snickered, "Surely if I squeeze their little hearts hard enough, they'll hand the charms and tome over, easy as pie."

"Remember our actual goal, Crocus. Don't get carried away like you always do." Dark Pomegranate warned him. "Now go make yourself useful, I'll handle any magic you need."

"I'll be so useful I'll out-do you, swine."

That's when Crocus jumped off of the tree and used his black cape to perfectly hide himself in an alley way.

"My siblings are gonna get worried if I don't come back soon." Gina anxiously mumbled.

"Oh right.." Parker also muttered anxiously, "The night is on its way so the cookies of darkness will have to hurry up if they want to fight us."

The five soon looked around the park, steering away from the play equipment and skate park, heading straight for the large field with Crocus and Dark Pomegranate close behind. After a good while, Holly let out an agitated sigh.

"Guys, I think we should all go home.." She warned, fidgeting with her shirt collar. "We'll all get in trouble otherwise."

"I think Holly's right," Dorian nodded, "We can all look tomorrow."

That's when the entire sky turned purple, and a familiar, not so friendly voice was heard behind them.

Crocus mumbled, "You're not going home yet." All of the group jumped back in shock. "Better late than never?" He soon asked, not being afraid to let out an evil cackle.

"It should have been never." Dorian seethed.

"Did I make you all mad? Shame." Crocus crossed his arms and chuckled mockingly, "I wanted to play another game with you all today, especially you, 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐲." He pointed to Holly.

"Me." Holly said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yes, you. I want to test how far your passion can really get you."

"I can't deny it, I've no choice." Holly pulled out her Cookie Pact and the others grabbed theirs.

They placed their charms in and shouted,"𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!" Thus their transformations began.

"Now let's have some fun." Crocus' smirk grew to a grin of malice, and he turned to Dark Pomegranate. "Get to work! We have an important game to play."

Dark Pomegranate merely sighed and used her mirror to make around the group and Crocus cover up, and turn into some sort of inter- dimensional hall.

"Pure Berry, the pretty Cookie Force Warrior in pink." Crocus said as he slithered around Pure Berry like a snake. "Let's play a game of how long you can last.."

Chapter Text

"I'm not playing games, Crocus." Pure Berry had a hard stare plastered on her face, "I'm growing tired of you keep ruining people's lives, and for what? Credit? Are you getting paid for this?"

"Oh I WISH.." Crocus grumbled, his angry eyes soon became more menacing. "But I know a girl with pink hair who will pay." He created a purple orb of magic seemingly out of thin air and split it, making it into smaller orbs. He sent them flying toward the heroes.

The Cookie Force managed to dodge the orbs, soon watching as they flew away.

"Underwhelming..." Crocus sighed, before turning to Dark Pomegranate and snatching the mirror out of her hands. He used the magic to create a giant cage the size of one used in a battle in an arena. It loomed above them menacingly.

"Crocus!" Dark Pomegranate growled, "You slimy reptile, you're gonna break the mirror with your grubby hands all over it."

"SHUSH." Crocus interrupted her, hitting her on the head with her own mirror. "Watch, I'm about to get to our goal faster than you, or any of the other lousy Cookies of Darkness will!"

The cage dropped down, and the magic from the mirror separated Pure Berry from the other four Cookie Force Warriors, who were stuck watching from the outside.

"Berry!" Pure Cacao screamed, rushing to the bars blocking them from the hero.

"Everyone!" Pure Berry also ran to the bars. "Everyone..." she repeated, slowly getting more tired.

"Don't worry, Berry." Pure Cheese reassured her, "We're gonna help you get out."

"O- okay," Pure Berry nodded, getting her Cookie Pact out and summoning her shield with her spirit. "Don't worry too much, okay? I can hold him off for a while."

Crocus quickly flew behind her. "Oh really?"

Pure Berry quickly smacked him with her shield, making him flinch back slightly.

"Yes, really."

"Oh heavens, you're strong-willed. You are one of my favourite, yet also least favourite people to come across."

"I find it's good to be strong-willed," Pure Berry told him, keeping her guard up so he wouldn't hit her. "It'll help me have a future and get a job for me. I'll also be able to help my friends in need."

"Oh please." Crocus scoffed, "You can hardly play basketball for the life of you."

"I can play it well!" Pure Berry seethed, "Why are you always so negative??"

"Just how I am, I suppose! It's good to have a different outlook on things. Better than being surrounded by 'encouragement'" Crocus giggled sinisterly, "Now back to the topic at hand, YOU."

"What is your problem with me?" Pure Berry asked, "Did I offend you in any way? How can I make it up to you if I have?"

"𝐎𝐡 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐰𝐝 𝐢 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐰?" Crocus said mockingly in a toddler-like voice. "You won't get an answer to your hardly a question."

"Is that what you think of me as? A little child?"

"Well... the voice is a rough translation of what everyone hears when you yap on and on."

Meanwhile, the other four Cookie Force warriors were trying to find a way to enter the cage to help Pure Berry.

"I'll try and fly over." Pure Cheese eagerly smiled. She shot up in the air and tried to get through the top of the cage. But...

Pure Cheese's agonising scream was heard as she fell from the top of the cage.

"CHEESE!" Pure Vanilla, Pure Cacao and Pure Lily worriedly shouted. Pure Cacao was quick enough to catch her.

"You okay?" Pure Cacao asked worriedly.

"Yeah.. yeah... ow.." Pure Cheese shuddered, "We're gonna have to think of something else, I'm sure."

"Pure Cheese, you okay?" Pure Berry squealed from across the room, holding off Crocus with her shield.

"Yeah!" Pure Cheese screamed back, "The top of the cage gave me an electric shock, it must be protected up there." Her voice softened.

"You guys can do it, I know you can." Pure Berry encouraged them, "You always do."

"So encouraging.." Crocus butted in, holding onto Pure Berry's shoulders. "There's one teeny tiny problem, however."

"Hm." Pure Berry only grumbled.

"That problem is.. you never CAN actually encourage people! You try to make them smile and laugh but you just bore them at best."

"And what makes you so sure?" Pure Berry shoved him away from her. "I've made so many people happy, I've had countless thank yous from classmates, colleagues and most importantly, my family and friends. I won't stop supporting them, even if you don't like it-"

"Yap yap yap yap yap yap YAP." Crocus interrupted, "Don't you ever stop?"

"If you just LET me speak instead of criticising me every five seconds I could actually get my point across."

"Oh silly Pure Berry.." Crocus chuckled. "You need to learn your place and realise you're below me."

"Goodness forbid I'll let myself be below a slimy, rotten, good-for-nothing reptile!"

Crocus smirked, and slowly walked closer to Pure Berry.

"No point in fighting it." Crocus snickered, "All you are is an insignificant, lowly, schoolgirl. You can't do anything, you never will do anything."

"You," Crocus started,

"Are"

"Useless."

Chapter Text

Pure Berry's breathing got heavy, she could feel her heart booming from her chest. Her eyebrows furrowed as a scowl appeared on her mouth.

"So useless you can't even fight back-" Crocus couldn't finish what he was saying as he was thrown to the floor, being hit multiple times with Pure Berry's shield.

"SHUT YOUR HORRIBLE MOUTH!!!" Pure Berry screamed, not stopping with hitting Crocus.

Crocus could barely speak, all he did was let out small whimpers as he got hit. "S- stop." Was all he could cry.

"But when you make me and others feel horrible it's just thrown under the rug??" Pure Berry screamed. "Are you really expecting that you can just treat people badly and NOT get any rude treatment back? That's not how karma works!"

"Get it in your.. head.. you are nothing more than a useless, little, brat..." Crocus panted. "You.. are pathetic..."

"No..." Pure Berry huffed, running back and letting Crocus get up.

"I'm.." She continued.

"NOT!" She then ran to Crocus and slammed him with her shield. "If I am useless, what are you? You're hardly worth anything yourself!"

"I'm strong." Crocus sighed heavily. "I'm stronger than you are..."

"Strength isn't everything, pea brain!" Pure Berry felt the rage boiling in her head, getting hotter until her mind exploded with rage. "LOOK AT YOU!" She screamed. "NOT EVEN TRYING TO GET UP AND FIGHT ME. JUST LAYING THERE SAYING THE MOST UNINTELLIGIBLE GARBAGE LIKE A LOSER. ALL YOU ARE IS A PATHETIC COWARD. NOT EVEN YOUR SO CALLED 'STRENGTH' CAN HELP YOU! IT'S LAUGHABLE HOW YOU THINK YOU'RE SO MIGHTY WHEN ALL YOU TRULY ARE IS A JOKE OF A VILLAIN. A COWARD WHO HIDES BEHIND HIS STRENGTH, 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐑𝐄!"

She used her shield as a sort of digging tool and managed to get Crocus on top of it.

"𝐑- 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄! 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍... 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍!!!" She yelled, using her shield to fling Crocus to the top of the cage, the flowers and wind from the attack helped lift him up.

Crocus, just like Pure Cheese did, got electrocuted. He let out an agonising scream before Dark Pomegranate caught him.

"I'm not done with you yet... little nuisance." Crocus grumbled. "I may have failed but know this. You may have won the battle, but I will win the war."

"You'll never win anything while I'm here." Pure Berry seethed. "I'll always be there to stop you, wether you think I'm weak or not."

"Crocus you're pathetic." Dark Pomegranate scoffed at Crocus, she turned to Pure Berry. "But you, you're good, very good. However, your strengths won't last for long." And that's when her and Crocus disappeared.

The hall had disappeared and all of the Cookie Force has returned to the park and de-transformed.

Five small soul charms appeared in Parker's hands, they looked like small flip phones.

"Five charms?" Gina smiled at the charms, but looked confused that there were multiple.

They all walked up to Holly, who was sitting on the ground, looking out of breath. She was shaking, she had her head down and the rage was still clear as day in her eyes.

"Holly, you okay?" Parker asked, sitting next to her. He handed her one of the charms.

"Y-yeah." Holly quietly chuckled despite her anger, she felt her heart rate return to normal and tiredness take over her. She grabbed the charm and placed it in her pocket, the others putting theirs away too.

"We're so sorry we couldn't help you." Willow sighed defeatedly.

"Oh there's no need to worry, it's okay." Holly looked up at them and smiled weakly. "It was a battle I had to face on my own, one way or another."

"Well, just know you did great." Dorian sat down and gave her a small side hug.

"Ah, thanks.." Holly laughed, resting in Dorian's arms. "It must of been so weird and kinda scary for you all to see me so angry. Sorry if I petrified you!"

Gina grinned and gave her a pat on the head. "No no! It was satisfying seeing you finally put that lousy reptile in his place."

"Well, there's no need to worry now." Holly stood up along with Parker and Dorian. "Let's all go home and rest."

"You especially, Holly." Parker said warmly. "Have a good cry, like Willow recommended."

"If any tears threaten to come out, I will let them!" Holly giggled as they all walked back to their homes.

Once Holly made it back home, all that could play in her mind was the battle with Crocus. 'You are useless' was all she could hear replay over and over in her head.

She rested her head on her bed and tried to talk to herself.

"It- it's not t-true.." she choked, tears welling in her eyes. "I'm n-not.."

Her anger from before dissolved into tears. They ran down her face as all she could hear was her sobs echo across her bedroom and the horrible words in her mind.

She felt troubled, with no one but herself to talk to. She sobbed for a small while until she felt a hand rubbing her head comfortingly.

"Crocus must have left a horrible toll on you, dear Holly." A familiar voice rang through the otherwise silent room.

"H- Hollyberry Cookie.."

"Poor thing." Hollyberry Cookie sighed, not stopping the reassuring touch on Holly's head. She clearly used the giant potion, as she was around the same height as the girl. "It's alright to cry, you've been through so much.."

Holly sniffled, "He... he said I was useless, and that I don't make anyone happy and-"

"Shh.. shh.." Hollyberry Cookie whispered, "The soul charms whisper many things to our soul jams, and I know all about your little situation with Crocus.. You deserved none of that, darling."

"It's all getting to me.. I can't get his insults out of my head.."

"Then let's face them head on." Hollyberry Cookie smiled, cupping Holly's face in a motherly fashion. "You are very useful, and so many people feel joy from your presence. Just ask your friends, your family, your nephew you always talk to me about. They all feel so much joy from you. Don't let a few words from a jealous person get to your head. You're stronger than him. Okay?"

"O-okay.." Holly's shaking didn't stop at all but a smile did come onto her face.

"And my goodness, you're shaking like a leaf!" Hollyberry Cookie worriedly sighed before a cheeky smile appeared on her face. "Say, do you know what a sad girl like you could need?"

"Hmm.." Holly giggled. "You're getting the cogs in my brain turning. Usually I ask for a hug when I'm down."

"Ah! Great minds think alike!" Hollyberry Cookie heartily chuckled before opening her arms wide. "Cmere, you! You look like you need a hug!"

Holly happily accepted Hollyberry Cookie's embrace and giggled once she made it into her arms.

"Teehee.. thank you!!"

"You're very welcome. There's no need to worry now."

And so Holly rested, finally having a moment of peace after possibly the most difficult day of her life.

Chapter Text

𝒜 𝓈𝓉ℯ𝓅 𝓉ℴ𝓌𝒶𝓇𝒹 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓉𝒽

The night was in full swing, the bugs were buzzing goodnight to one-another and most humans were resting their eyes in their cosy beds.

Except for two.

In Willow's home, her and Parker were far from asleep. Somehow, they had managed to convince their parents to let them have a sleepover on a school night.

They were looking through some books White Lily Cookie kindly lent them. While Willow was turning one book's pages, Parker held his phone torch up to it so they could see the writing.

"The curse of Crocus.." Willow read out quietly, "One with the most indubitable hatred for others joys and accomplishments, their heart filled with jealousy and loathing, with no room for change. On only the harshest of nightfalls, where the loudest thunderclaps boom, the heartless individual shall be cursed with a parasite to which will change them forever."

"Sounds very serious." Parker mumbled softly, "Whoever gets cursed must truly deserve it."

"I agree.." Willow nodded as she turned to the next page, "Once the curse has been received, one can transform into the Crocus. Crocus has a strong stature, but it is quite vulnerable and can be attacked easily. The younger you are, the more susceptible you are to being attacked as Crocus."

"That's probably how we're able to defeat him." Parker rested his head on his pillow, keeping his flashlight pointed at the book. "Crocus must actually be quite young.."

"I'm sure he is. I don't want to say that us and the others are weak or anything.." Willow sighed, "But at the end of the day, we're just teenagers. Yes, we have superpowers, but we can all still be so vulnerable. Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

"Yes, I do." Parker held one of Willow's hands and smiled at her.

"It gets me thinking, though.." Willow's face morphed into a small frown. "Crocus could be anyone. Perhaps he's even someone we know."

"Someone we know..?" A frown also appeared on Parker's face.

"Yes." Willow held Parker's hand tighter. "I've been thinking about Crocus' mannerisms lately and I do have a suspect."

"Who is it?"

"Many mannerisms link." Willow's eyebrows furrowed. "I think Crocus just could be Josh."

"Josh?" Parker asked, he recoiled a bit in shock but still kept holding Willow's hand

"Is that too much of a stretch?" Willow worriedly muttered, starting to hide her face away in a blanket.

"Oh no, no." Parker giggled, prying the blanket away from her. "Now that you mention it, it kinda makes sense."

"You think?" Willow peeked out of the blanket.

"Yeah, picture this," Parker smiled at Willow with a knowing look. "Just moments after a new kid enrols into a school with only two months left in the academic year and has a convenient grudge against a group of students he's never seen before in his life. Then, some weird crocodile starts to hang around that same group of students!"

"That is a bit weird, how all that chain of events happened. And it's one of my first reasons that Josh could be Crocus in disguise."

"He said to us when we were with the others on Monday, 'I have important stuff to do. Good riddance, at least for a little while.' Could the important thing be trying to defeat us when we're the Cookie Force?"

"You bring up a good point.." Willow sighed, and threw her head into her pillow. "So many questions, but never any answers."

"We certainly won't get any answers out of Josh, so what's there to do?"

"I say we go to sleep." Willow shut her book and placed it to the side of her and Parker's sleeping bags. "We can talk about this along with our theories to the others tomorrow."

"Good idea."

Parker and Willow settled down and fell asleep, still holding onto one-another's hands.

Chapter Text

"Everyone, please pay attention." Willow instructed. "Last night, me and Parker had a theory on who Crocus just might be."

The sun was shining, and the mood of a Friday was enough to make anyone smile. The Cookie force gang were sitting in the school's playground on a bench, all deep in thought.

"Hasn't it been a coincidence that on Monday, both Josh and Crocus were conveniently targeting Holly?"

"That makes sense..." Holly muttered, "Last weekend, Josh did tell me that he wanted to take over the world. That's when he told me to kick the bucket."

"Still think that's super uncalled for." Gina grumbled, before looking up at Willow, a sceptical expression on her face. "So you're saying that Crocus.. could be Josh?"

"Yes, that's what me and Parker think."

Parker carefully took one of the books from last night from Willow's bag, and skimmed over the pages until he found what he was looking for.

"See here," He started, "One with the most indubitable hatred for others joys and accomplishments, with no room for change, shall be cursed with a parasite which will change them forever." He summarised, showing everyone the book's pages with the information.

"It IS a parasite." Dorian muttered, "One that really seems to be taking control of who we think may be Josh."

"I do think Willow is onto something with that guess." Holly sighed, "Hating joys, that can easily add up to him hating our bond together."

"Hating accomplishments can add up to him being mad at Dorian for winning the competition." Parker added.

Gina's mind was racing, trying to piece everything together. "Everyone, do you think we should ask the cookies?" Gina suggested, "Maybe then we'll get some more clues about Crocus himself, rather than our suspect."

"A good idea, Gina." Willow nodded, "We have some more time before the first class starts, so I'm sure we could get some answers and all piece it up together."

Parker took the Ancient tome out of his bag, carefully opening it and calling Pure Vanilla Cookie.

"Why, good morning, Parker!" Pure Vanilla Cookie happily greeted him.

"Good morning to you too!" Parker smiled warmly at him. "We're looking at Crocus, and how one becomes him, White Lily Cookie's books have been very helpful with our research. But we still can't help but have some questions.."

"Don't worry my friend," Pure Vanilla Cookie reassured him, "Me and the other ancient cookies will come and help you right now. I am sure 10 brains can process more than five!"

"Thanks so much, Pure Vanilla Cookie!"

And in the blink of an eye, Pure Vanilla Cookie and the other ancient cookies appeared before them. "So, what are you all stuck on?" Pure Vanilla Cookie asked, tilting his head slightly.

"We need info on Crocus himself, so we can see if it aligns with who we think may be him."

"Ah! Playing detectives, are you?" Golden Cheese Cookie giggled, resting in Gina's palms. "If there's any cookie who would know all about this, it's White Lily Cookie. You're very lucky she is here right now, mhm."

"Do you think Josh is still himself before he may have become Crocus, or has he been affected in some way, and his body may now be a vessel for Crocus to disguise himself in?" Holly wondered.

"Crocus' parasitic relationship harms the host, but does not kill them. It can attack more than one host, reducing each host's control of their mind by at least a small amount, and is only in contact with any one host intermittently." White Lily Cookie recited, reading the book with Willow helping prop it up steadily. "The Crocus parasite usually survives feeding on blood and the hormones created by one's negative emotions."

"Josh certainly has a lot of them." Dorian scoffed.

"We know this much is true." Gina sighed, holding Golden Cheese Cookie closer.

"Maybe, just perhaps.." Parker mumbled, trying to think of a way to get some more answers.  "We could ask Josh himself his opinion." He stated nonchalantly.

Everyone sat there, a little bit shocked, Gina especially looked quite appalled at the thought. "Are you joking??" Gina demanded to know what was going through Parker's head. "All we'll get back is some biased rubbish that won't help a bit."

"Think about it a little more." Parker only smiled at her bewilderment. "We could interrogate him. One of us could ask questions, while another writes down some notes."

"Wouldn't he feel threatened, and think that we're onto him?" Holly's face looked full of doubt.

"Not if we act clueless, like we spotted Crocus out of the corner of our eyes one day." Willow chimed in, supporting Parker's idea. "We can pretend that we saw him at the park or something!"

"I do think it's ironic.. The Cookie Force warrior of truth, making up a lie! But it's for the greater good, so I'll say it's fair." Gina giggled, Parker also joined her and laughed a little as well.

Willow chuckled along with them. "I'm more than happy to do the interrogating. Break seems like a good time to look for him, we won't be constrained with questions, then."

"Very well. I'll hide in a bush and write down some notes." Parker suggested, taking out a small notepad and pen.

"And we'll be moral support!" Holly giggled.

Willow smiled at the other cookie force gang, "While the interrogation is happening, could we leave you six to research a little deeper?"

"Yep, that's cool. It sounds like a plan." Dorian smiled eagerly.

The school's bell rang and each of the group went to class, the cookies returning to Earthbread for the time being.

Chapter Text

After two dull lessons, break time finally arrived. The sun's shining rays from the morning did not hold up, basking the playground in an ethereal glow.

"Psst.. Willow.." Parker whispered, "Have you seen Josh yet..?"

"No, not yet.." Willow muttered back. "But we do know he is in school.. Gina told me he was in her science class this morning."

Parker and Willow, along with Pure Vanilla Cookie and White Lily Cookie were hiding behind a big bush in the playground. While Willow peeked out to see if their suspect could be seen, Parker was getting his notepad ready. Both of the teenagers were shivering in fear.

"I can see him around the corner..!" Willow managed to quietly squeak.

"GAAAH! THERE HE IS!!" Parker alarmed her, shivering in fear, he clutched onto Pure Vanilla Cookie. "Go talk to him!"

"Okay okay! Willow muttered, "Why did I have to tell them that i'd interrogate him-"

"GO WILLOW!!!!" Parker tried to push her out, "I know he looks like a boiled egg but risks must be taken!!!"

Willow dashed out of the bush and made her way to Josh. She was quite nervous, as she had never interrogated someone before, let alone someone who doesn't seem to take 'no' for an answer.

"Willow Linton." Josh snarled.

"Good morning." Willow kindly waved.

"I've been looking for you and your friends. I want to give you a piece of my mind." Josh's eyebrows furrowed, he clenched one of his fists and tried to punch Willow. Parker and Pure Vanilla Cookie were overlooking the situation from the bush and both let out a small gasp, thankfully not being heard, though.

Willow managed to catch Josh's fist with one of her own hands. Both of the kid's eyes widened as he done it, even Willow herself was shocked at her own strength. She didn't let shock overtake her though, as she carefully kept holding the fist aimed at her.

"If you had actually punched me, you would have got a detention. Would you have wanted that?"

Josh lowered his fist and Willow let go, letting him use his hand again. "I didn't think so." was all she mumbled before continuing. "I did want to ask you something, though."

"Go on." Josh glared at her.

"Parker told me he was walking yesterday and saw a crocodile in the park."

"Crocodile in the park?" Josh scoffed, "Wow, he really has gone mad."

"Please, just hear me out." Willow's eyebrows furrowed, a dissatisfied look clear as day in her eyes. "He heard the crocodile's name and it was Crocus. I wanted to tell you this since I heard on your first day that you told the class you had magic powers. Have you encountered him at all?"

"N-no." Josh replied, albeit hesitantly. "But I do have a clue of what you're on about."

"Oh, really?" Willow questioned, "I was just wondering if you knew something we didn't."

"I do know things you don't."

"Then why not tell us..?"

"Because you're idiots, obviously. You can't comprehend it all."

Willow looked saddened, "Geez.. who made you angry today..?"

"The moments when I remember you exist are enough to make my blood boil."

Willow was stumped. She knew Josh would be picky but not to THIS extent. If she wanted answers, she would of had to really get deep into his mind.

————————

Parker was peeking from the bush, keenly observing the situation. He wrote in his notepad 'stutter' as he noticed Josh's nervousness. He was frightened as well, clutching onto Pure Vanilla Cookie for comfort.

"Parker- I- can't exactly- breathe..!" Pure Vanilla Cookie choked, "You're squishing me!"

"Ahh! Sorry!" Parker loosened his embrace on the cookie slightly, finally letting him catch his breath.

"It's alright..." the cookie sighed, snuggling up to Parker once he could actually breathe in his embrace. "I know you're very nervous. Don't worry, I'm here with you."

"I'm nervous for Willow..." Parker shuddered, "It takes a lot of work to stand up to a kid like Josh, that I know. I just don't want her to be hurt by him. And if ever he leaves her in tears or anger, I'll attack him where it hurts.." He soon sighed and hid deeper into the bush, he had countless thoughts swirling in his head, enough to make one go crazy and probably blurt them all out.

But Parker could hide his feelings, better than a chameleon hiding itself in the trees, or a sneaky prey managing to cover from the predator. He sunk deeper into the bush and let out a quiet, shaky sigh. He could hide it from most people, anyway.

"Parker.." Pure Vanilla Cookie gazed upon his friend and crawled even closer to him. "You look very troubled. There is something on your mind, isn't there?"

"Oh, no." Parker bluntly, yet nervously, replied.

Pure Vanilla Cookie simply laughed at his nerves, but no malice was in his tone at all. It was a knowing laugh, one that rang the bells of familiarity with his situation. "Oh Parker, I can see past your facade!"

"I mustn't be very good at hiding my feelings.."

"I can read you like a book, my friend!" Pure Vanilla Cookie quietly giggled. "All of your conflicting feelings.. I know exactly what you're going through. You're in love..."

"Love.. I mean.. I.." Parker stuttered, hiding his face in his hands bashfully.

"It's such a fickle thing, isn't it? It's as clear as day to think, but it gets foggy when you want to express it.."

Parker only nodded at his cookie friend, shrouding himself even further into the bush. He still managed to write some notes down from the interrogation happening, despite his overwhelming thoughts.

"Pure Vanilla Cookie..." he soon put the book down. He hesitated, but kept speaking anyway. "How should I tell Willow I love her..? Like, in a romantic way."

"Oh my, so you are in love..! How sweet.." Pure Vanilla Cookie chuckled before giving Parker a comforting pat on the cheek. "There are many ways to tell Willow that you love her.. You could write her a letter, or maybe invite her out to her favourite place and ask her there. The possibilities are truly endless."

"But the thing is, we've been best friends for so long, I wouldn't want me telling her my feelings to ruin our bond.."

Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled warmly at Parker and nuzzled his cheek lightly, trying to offer the boy some comfort. "I'm sure it won't, my friend. It's deeply flattering to be asked out, and I'm sure Willow would be very happy that you asked her, if she said yes or not."

"You think?" Parker asked.

"I know."

"You are the cookie of truth, I'll very much take your word for it and think it over.."

————————————————-

During all of that, the interrogation did not end. Willow and Josh still were talking about Crocus and if Josh had anything to do with it.

"Parker told me that with this crocodile were some people that seemed roughly our age, fighting the reptile. Do you know them, or at least are you aware of them?"

"Oh the hero kids with the weird outfits and hair?" Josh grumbled, "Phonies. They're all fake. I'm the one who does all of the work."

"Really?" Willow looked skeptical. She knew that he was talking about the Cookie Force, let alone talking TO one of the members. Hypocrisy. "So Josh, tell me something, have you fought this 'Crocus?' What attacks does he use? Is he a threat to the world in any way, or just a nuisance?"

"I'm not answering that."

Willow only let out an agitated sigh, “I won’t push it out, I'll try find out what I can, and I'll get back to you. Please let me know if you've got anything more to say about Crocus, I'm  very curious."

"My lips will be sealed, dimwit. Now I've got places to be, so bless me with not having to be in your presence."

"Rude as ever." Willow sighed, before Josh turned away from her and strutted away.

Chapter Text

In Dark Enchantress Cookie's lair, trouble was afoot. Everyone was staring down at Crocus like he had committed a heinous crime.

"You fumbled." Dark Velvet scoffed rocking a sleepy Dark Mushroom in his arms. "Bad."

"QUIET!!!" Crocus bellowed.

Dark Pomegranate walked to Crocus with no fear despite his monstrous size, she held onto his shoulders and squeezed them tightly, her long ruby nails piercing into his scales.

"If you fail one more time, so help me, I will not be afraid to pluck each and every scale off of your pathetic body until you are nothing but a lifeless shell."

"I won't fail." Crocus grumbled, "Besides, I have a trick up my sleeve, to REALLY send those Cookie Force home!"

"Crocus you don't have sleeves..." Dark Mushroom sleepily mumbled, snuggling themselves further into Dark Velvet's arms.

"Bahhh.. be quiet. Go to bed." Crocus scoffed while the other Cookie Force of darkness let out quite giggles from Dark Mushroom's observation.

After the small laugh, it didn't take Dark Pomegranate's face to instantly snap back into a serious, glaring one. Her scarlet eyes ablaze with annoyance and anger. "You must really get a move on and get those pacts, charms and tome in the easiest way possible. I'm sending Dark Liquorice to help you today."

"Aw RATS." Crocus complained, "He's such a show off! All he does is boss me around!!!"

"He is annoying yes, but he's very useful in the art of humbling you. I quite enjoy seeing your shenanigans." Dark Pomegranate's smile came back for a second, only to one again be gone in the blink of an eye.

"More like you quite enjoy seeing me fail!!"

"That I do.. Go now, before I have to drag you out by the tail myself."

——————————————

"Have you found anything regarding how one's behaviour is AS crocus? That sounds like a good bit to look at, no?" Gina muttered, absentmindedly playing with Golden Cheese Cookie's hair. The cookie was adoring it, leaning into her touch and having a warm smile gracing her face.

"One is susceptible to lie as Crocus, usually to make others feel bad or boost their own confidence." Holly read from a page of the book. "Examples are taking credit for things not done by oneself and antagonising people due to their own actions and feelings. The Crocus parasite is also notorious for making the victim have a negative attitude and makes them uncontrollable by their own anger, as if the victim was being controlled by the parasite."

"Ouch..." Dorian sighed, his slightly frustrated expression turned into a more confused one. "I wonder what that's like for the victim of the parasite.."

"Studies have shown that the victim of the parasite seems to act very similarly or exactly the same as they did before the parasite's attack on them. However, the stress hormones have been heightened, meaning anger is much more likely and much more difficult to stop."

"Makes sense as to why Josh seems so bothered with us."

During the talk, Parker, Willow, Pure Vanilla Cookie and White Lily Cookie were making their way to them. Parker and Willow sat down comfortably while the cookies rested on their friend's shoulders.

"Hii!" Holly stopped reading and waved at the group upon their arrival, "How'd it go? Did you learn anything new?"

"Well.." Willow sighed, "We learned that someone thinks we're a bunch of phonies. I didn't really get any answers out of him. He's a tough nut to crack." Willow sighed defeatedly.

Parker grabbed his notes and a highlighter out of his pocket and gently placed them on the table. He picked up the highlighter and started to highlight important parts of the notes. "Take a look at this. One of the notes I've written is 'excuse to leave due to needing to go somewhere.' We've seen a couple of times that not long after he's said that, Crocus has appeared and tried to attack us."

"Josh's whole anger lines up with the book, so I feel like we are getting somewhere with our guess." Holly informed them, fidgeting with the keychains on her bag.

"Everything is lining up..." Willow muttered, "We're one step closer to the truth, I'm sure."

What the group didn't know was that someone else was there, listening. It was a shorter individual with a tattered, ebony cloak wrapped around them. They had their very own notepad, jotting down notes from the group's conversation. Before long, they nodded to themselves, seeming content with their work before disappearing into the trees nearby, as if they were nothing but a mere shadow.

Chapter Text

After some more dull lessons, lunch time made its way. But instead of being in the playground or lunch hall, every single student was sent to the main assembly hall. Despite the rooms colossal size, it would quickly get filled by the hundreds of students that had to be called there. On the ceiling was a dazzling golden chandelier, illuminating the room in an ethereal glow.

The headmaster was standing on the stage with a microphone in his hand. "Attention to every student here at Golden Valley Academy, I thank you all for coming as this is urgent. As of the recent weeks, students and teachers have been noticing the peculiar changes in the weather and the appearance of strange people in the play areas and even inside the school at points. The teachers and I have decided to evacuate every student should these situations occur. Multiple times a year there will be drills to keep everyone educated about the threats that may plague our school and town."

During the announcement, White Lily Cookie was peeking out of Willow's pocket and listening in on the announcement. Her face was etched with uncertainty as she kept listening eagerly.

"If this situation escalates the town may have to issue a lockdown to keep everyone safe. I'll let you all know as soon as we get more news."

The concerned chatter of students filled the hall as the Headmaster left the stage, everyone had someone to talk to, and so did Willow. She turned to Parker, clutching his hand tightly. White Lily Cookie made her way onto Willow's lap as well.

"Crocus.." the three mumbled worriedly, not averting their gaze from each other.

—————

"Dark Pooooooomegranate!" A snarky voice snickered, slithering it's way closer to the villain. "Just some interesting news for you."

"Crocus is waiting for you, Dark Liquorice." Dark Pomegranate grumbled. "But elaborate."

"I saw five certain people talking about Crocus. They may be onto him.." the voice continued to giggle, fiddling with their ebony cape.

"His disguise is weak, after all. It won't take too long for anyone, let alone five teenagers to figure him out."

"Sooooo... are you going to have punishments in mind, should his identity slip?"

"Yes."

Dark Liquorice tilted his head. "Execution?, decapitation? Stoning? Or maybe something less..."

"Less vulgar."

"Boring. That good for nothing crocodile provides nothing to us. Why haven't you gotten rid of him?"

"His passion for ruling the world, and physical strength is helpful to us." Dark Pomegranate sighed.

"But he's easy to defeat."

Dark Pomegranate's eyebrows furrowed, she looked like she would snap at any moment. "You're not getting the idea. He's good for distracting the Cookie Force while bigger things happen behind the scenes." She growled. "You should be with him, anyway. Go be useful and do what you've been told to do."

"Alright miss bossy-boots. I'll go help the lizard defeat the Cookie Force. But interesting things better be going on when I come back!"

———————

After the assembly and school's finishing, the Cookie Force were all sitting by the lake to calm their minds. Everyone's expressions were either melancholy, or anger.

They all sat in silence until Gina felt a tiny touch on her shoulder. Golden Cheese Cookie had climbed out of her pocket and was now sitting on her school uniform.

"Today is such a lovely day..." Golden Cheese Cookie sighed, "It hurts me and the other ancient cookies to see you all so saddened."

"It breaks my heart." Gina mumbled dejectedly, playing with Golden Cheese Cookie's hair. "Once a happy town now with the fears of a lockdown weighing heavy on it."

"Crocus and the Cookies of Darkness' impact has escalated higher than we realised.." Willow's eyes fogged with tears as she quietly muttered, "We told you what the headmaster said.. there'd have to be a lockdown if situations get worse.. and they will! We all know they will!"

Everyone's saddened expressions did not falter, as Dorian softly nodded. "Especially since Crocus is starting to know how to get under our skins."

The other cookies soon also made their appearance, going closer to their friends and offering reassurance.

"My friends, listen to me for a second." Pure Vanilla Cookie encouraged, "You are all doing so well.. If it wasn't for you all, Earthbread and this planet would be in much greater danger! There's nothing that you can't stop together. Your teamwork and trust in each other has, and will lead you to victory."

"He is right, everyone." Dark Cacao Cookie concurred, "The Cookies of Darkness are becoming angrier, and that does mean danger. But the more you face, the stronger you all become."

"I love the encouraging words so much." Parker smiled warmly, giving Pure Vanilla Cookie a small hug. "You're right. We have a lot of strength under our belts..."

"Holly is proof of that!" Hollyberry Cookie heartily announced, "You put that Crocus in his place on Monday, who's saying you can't do it now?"

"No one?" Holly questioned.

"Exactly!" Hollyberry Cookie laughed joyfully.

"One Cookie Force warrior is strong enough to defeat Crocus. So I know the five of you can do so much more.." White Lily Cookie kindly reassured them.

This encouraging moment was not fated to last, as soon as smiles and laughs appeared on the kids' faces, they heard a strange noise from the water..

Dark Liquorice was watching them with his head peeking out of the river. The Cookie Force and the cookies all looked flabbergasted.

"Who.. are you?" Holly managed to shakily ask, "And why are you in the lake? How are you even doing that?"

Dark Liquorice let out a bothered sigh, "Don't ask questions, I'm waiting for Crocus."

"So you're a member of-"

"Yes yes, geez I am a member of the Cookies of Darkness!! And you're gonna have to fight me. You don't have to tell me twice." Dark Liquorice rolled his eyes at everyone's confusion.

"Then where's Crocus.." Gina tilted her head.

"Dunno. He was supposed to join me but it seems he's too much of a coward to do so!"

"After Monday, I wouldn't be too surprised." Holly giggled, "I'm a beast when I'm angry."

"I gotta admit!" Dark liquorice snickered along with her, making his way out of the lake. "I was told you beat him up, and his sides were hurting for days-I'M GETTING OFF TRACK!" He quickly snapped out of his laughing and glared at the Cookie Force. "Let's get this over with."

The Cookie Force said nothing and simply took their Cookie Pacts out, placed the charms in and screamed "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!"

Chapter Text

"And hey presto! There they are." Dark Liquorice chuckled, but soon let out an exasperated sigh. He started to dig his hand into one of his pockets. "I wish Crocus were here.. I'd make him do everything...."

He soon pulled out a little charm, one shaped like a saw. He snickered, his eyes were mysterious as a hidden cave, holding dark secrets and tricks. He grabbed a compact of his very own and placed the saw charm inside.

"𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧! 𝐇𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥!" Dark Liquorice howled, "𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫... 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 𝐀𝐋𝐋!!"

Purple smoke emitted from the pact, and a giant saw appeared. Dark Liquorice managed to catch it. Dark Liquorice hit the saw on a nearby tree, which made a loud 'BANG!' The tree started to fall, with numerous others following. The sky became an eerie dark purple, not unfamiliar to the Cookie Force. Thunder was rumbling.. Lightning was striking violently and frequently, which meant another hazard for them.

The heroes knew what to do, they ran from the falling trees and lightning, with Dark Liquorice not far behind them, cackling as each tree fell down. The Cookie Force were able to lose him and hide behind a rock. It wasn't ideal, but they could catch their breath, and they were able to get their weapons ready.

"S- so..." Pure Lily huffed, "I noticed Dark Liquorice has a pact quite like we do.. It reminded me of Dark Pomegranate's mirror. Does that mean they also have regular lives.. like we do?"

"I guess so.." Pure Vanilla sighed, "That means they have their own lives. Their own strengths, weaknesses, and like anyone.. Can be under a bigger influence.."

"Could this mean.. they were promised something? and now they're part of a much bigger scheme..?" Pure Berry shivered at the thought."

"Dark Mushroom seems too naive to see the bigger picture..." Pure Cacao sighed, "The others do seem like they were promised something, and they're working hard to get it."

The saw quickly disrupted the conversation, cutting the rock in half. Bits of stone were flying faster than lightning, and some managed to hit the Cookie Force, the sharp points piercing into their skin which they all shrieked at the sudden pain.

But Dark Liquorice wasn't holding the saw.

It was Josh.

"Oh dear, oh dear." Josh scoffed, "How the mighty fall."

"J- Josh...?" Pure Cheese struggled to say the word from all the pain she was in.

"You're aware enough to acknowledge me... That's good. It'll make your demises more interesting." Josh pulled out a brooch which as the shape of a singular crocodile's scale. He gave it a small kiss, his DNA going into the scale and making it shine a bright green.

"You're all so naive." He started. "I knew from the moment I saw you you'd all be trouble to me and my goals. When you all started to get suspicious of me, I knew I had to make up a small, simple lie to attempt to get you off of my tail."

"Y- you are Crocus... aren't you.." Pure Berry stuttered.

"I'll admit, you are smart." Josh scoffed, "But that won't stop my power from outdoing yours."

Josh did a T pose as his whole body quickly was covered by the green light from before. He grew a snout, a tail, and each individual scale appeared on his body one by one.. until he was Crocus.

"We knew it." Willow muttered, attempting to stand up. She helped the others up as well.

"That you did." Crocus cackled, "Now let's have some real fun."

Crocus plucked one of the scales off of his body and collected some of his blood, dripping it onto the end of the saw.

"My blood, after being affected by the parasite of Crocus is highly toxic and flammable! So what say we add a little bit of heat?"

Crocus used the saw to shine at the sun. The saw instantly caught on fire and he hurdled it at the fallen trees leaves, causing a huge forest fire. The blood spread the fire rapidly, as fast as a race car.

He didn't give the Cookie Force a chance to escape, as the fire surrounded them. Pure Cheese tried to fly, but to no avail as the fire only reached higher, and she was getting weaker. She shot some arrows at him, effectively making him retort in pain.

But it was to no avail as she fell out of the sky, that's when Crocus stole Dark Liquorice's pact and used it to send purple magic to tie her to a burning tree.

Crocus managed to use magic to corner Pure Berry in rocks, despite her soul-powered shield she had at the ready, the magic was too powerful, effectively trapping her. "You'll be safe and sound, Pure Berry!" He cackled.

Pure Cacao was next on his list. He tried to fight the Crocodile away with his sword, but Crocus used his magic, and Pure Cacao passed out, his eyes turning an eerie ivory colour.

Pure Vanilla and Pure Lily were left. They held onto each others hands as they attempted to dodge each attack that was coming for them.

"And then there were two.." Crocus cackled as he sent some magic to a nearby nettle bush. He used more magic to grab onto Pure Lily's leg, pulling her into the bush. Pure Vanilla was dragged along with her, but soon the magic separated them.

"VANILLA!!" Pure Lily screamed in agony, her arms still reaching out to his.

"LILY!" Pure Vanilla shrieked back as he was sent flying away, to the tallest burning tree. Fatigue was taking over, he couldn't stay awake any longer. He quickly fell into a deep sleep, amidst the raging flames.

"And then there were none." Crocus cackled.

Chapter Text

                        𝒲ℯ 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃ℴ𝓉 𝒻𝒶𝓁𝓉ℯ𝓇

Darkness, nothingness. The deep black void was all Pure Vanilla could see, he didn't even dream in his cold, long sleep.

After a good few hours he woke up to the sound of Pure Lily and Pure Vanilla Cookie calling for him, and the feeling of raindrops on his skin.

"Vanilla... Vanilla...." Pure Lily choked, sobs overwhelming her ability to speak properly. She held him in her arms, frantically sobbing into his chest.

"Don't cry, Pure Lily.." he managed to mutter sleepily, returning the warm embrace with one of his own. "How long was I asleep for..?"

"A long time." Pure Lily whispered, tears still prickling her eyes. "It's night time now."

Pure Vanilla struggled to lift himself up, but he was able to stand eventually. "What of everyone else..?" He asked, stretching his body to wake himself up further.

"Pure Berry's awake. She managed to get herself out of the stone. Right now, she's helping Golden Cheese Cookie  untie Pure Cheese from a tree." Pure Vanilla Cookie informed him, observing the current situation from where they were.

"We should go and help."

Pure Vanilla, Pure Lily and Pure Vanilla Cookie struggled to climb down from the tall tree, but they managed to get to the bottom by stepping on the individual branches. The branches were thick and sturdy, so they could get down with relative ease.

As soon as they got down, they noticed the unconscious Pure Cacao. They immediately ran to him along with Hollyberry Cookie and Dark Cacao Cookie, who was trying to wake him up.

"Get under this umbrella everyone." Hollyberry Cookie instructed, "It's a downpour of rain right now, and I don't want to risk any of you getting wet or soggy." Everyone obliged and went under the umbrella Hollyberry Cookie held up for them.

"He has been stirring." Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, resting a hand on the hero's forehead. "But other than that, he's been as still as a board. I think he must be too hurt to wake up.." "Words cannot express how worried I am for him."

"If he's hurt, I could try healing him."Pure Vanilla used his spirit to summon his staff, and lightly tapped it on Pure Cacao's heart.

A warm, gentle light shone from the wand, which made Pure Cacao wake up.

"Pure Cacao, how are you feeling?" Dark Cacao Cookie calmly helped him sit up.

"I'm okay.." Pure Cacao whispered, leaning onto Dark Cacao Cookie for support. "D- did we lose Crocus..?" He asked groggily.

Pure Lily looked left, then right. Up, then down. And Crocus nor Dark Liquorice was there. "I think we did lose them."

"They're cowards, not sticking around." Pure Cheese scoffed shakily, walking to the others with Pure Berry and Golden Cheese Cookie.

"But they did leave you all in quite the mess, Pure Cheese's poor wings are all tangled!" Golden Cheese Cookie scoffed.

Pure Cheese looked up in the sky, noticing the darkness of the night, along with the small slithers of light the stars scattered around it provided. "My siblings are probably worried sick about me.." she sighed anxiously. "Should we chase down Crocus, or go home?"

"We should go home." Pure Berry sighed, "There's no point crying over spilt milk."

"Good idea, guys." Pure Vanilla nodded his head in agreement. "After all, I have no doubts he's gonna come back.

"Cheese, my parents are on a work trip at the moment. You can tell your siblings that you were just at my house." Pure Lily reassured her.

"Thank you." Pure Cheese giggled, "I think they'll believe me!"

So the five heroes all stood up and de-transformed. Along with the cookies, they climbed their way through the fallen trees, and parted ways.

——————————

"Rain..." Willow mumbled.

"Rain..." White Lily Cookie repeated.

It was the middle of the night, and after everything, Willow couldn't get to sleep. She tossed and she turned, but just couldn't settle down. White Lily Cookie was next to her, resting in a small bed made out of a matchbox  by Willow.

"You can't sleep, can you?" White Lily Cookie asked.

"No."

"When I can't sleep, it usually means something is on my mind.." White Lily Cookie informed her. "Is there anything on your mind? It might help you to talk about it."

"I think it may be that I was right, and that Crocus is Josh." Willow sighed, immediately dumping all of the information out of her brain through her mouth as much as she could. "I didn't realise how agile he was before he managed to steal Dark Liquorice's item and corner us with it."

"Crocodiles are very fast when it comes to short distances, they are also very agile. When he becomes Crocus, Josh does seem to get the upper hand with those things, doesn't he?"

"Yes.. but this is the only time he's managed to defeat us."

"That is true." White Lily Cookie sighed, crawling out of her little blanket and toppling down onto Willow's bed, curling herself into Willow's hand to try and offer some comfort. "But don't you wonder? What if Crocus didn't take Dark Liquorice's pact? Would he still have defeated you?"

"The forest would still be on fire.." Willow sighed, leaning closer to White Lily Cookie's reassuring touch. "But he would've had to think of a different way to defeat us."

"What I'm saying is, he has the brawn, but not the brain. He has to use other people's items and smarts to get what he wants." White Lily Cookie stated, "He may be agile, but by no means is he knowledgeable. You know it's true because you and the others have proved it, time and time again."

"Do you think he will be much of a threat?" Willow yawned, throwing her head into her pillow further.

"Under the right circumstances, yes." White Lily Cookie sighed, "But that seems very unlikely.." she let out a small giggle as she saw Willow yawn tiredly. "Now, you should really go to sleep, we can talk about this with everyone in the morning, okay?"

"Okay." Willow groggily muttered, "Goodnight, White Lily Cookie."

"Goodnight, Willow."

Chapter Text

The group were all walking to school after a whole weekend of contemplation. Rain was pouring down, the dull skies perfectly matched their expressions.

"Do you think Josh'll leave us alone, or will he talk to us about his identity.." Holly shivered with worry. Holding a pink umbrella close, like it was a shield.

"If he were to tell us, I can sure bet he wouldn't be happy about it. We'd get threats and all sorts." Dorian sighed, agitated by just thinking about Josh.

The walk was silent, but the silence had a purpose, it was a time for the Cookie Force to pause, and have one more reflection of their last encounter with Crocus. It was short, but worth it. As once they got to the school, the teachers were waiting for them.

"Good morning, you five." One of the teachers politely waved. "The headmaster is going to need you all in the assembly hall as soon as possible."

"Oh, is it an update about what's going on?" Parker inquired.

"Yes, it's a very big one, so please all go quickly!"

Everyone nodded and headed straight to the assembly hall. Once them and hundreds of other students sat down, everyones eyes were on the halls stage that were illuminated by nauseating white lights.

"Thank you all for attending such a hasty assembly at this time of the morning." The Headmaster's voice echoed through the otherwise silent hall. "I would like to update you all about the situation currently going on in the town."

"It's gotta be about Crocus, right?" Gina whispered into one of Willow's ears.

Willow muttered back a small "I think so..." her whisper returning through Gina's ear.

"It greatly disheartens me to tell you all this, but one of the people who has been endangering our school is none other than one of our very own students." The Headmaster let out a melancholy sigh. "Joshua Croce, who is our most recent student to join, was in fact the Crocodile who was breaking into the school."

As soon as they found out the news, the Cookie Force Gang's faces turned as red as a beetroot out of pure embarrassment. Parker in particular was feeling mortified as he shook like a leaf.

"Usually, I would not announce that a student would be expelled, but Joshua wanted to tell you all something."

Josh grabbed the microphone and cleared his throat. "This isn't the last you'll see of me.." Josh mumbled nonchalantly. Despite being expelled in front of the entire school, he didn't feel uncomfortable. It was like he was expecting it. He walked off of the stage and left the school, leaving everyone on their own.

———————————-

"What the heck WAS that??" Holly squealed, slamming her hands down on a picnic bench's table at the playground.  "He just like, totally walked out! Not even a goodbye, just an ominous 'This isn't the last you'll see of me' What does that even mean???"

"It could mean anything." Dorian huffed, he was prioritizing his focus on a picture he was drawing on a small, slightly ripped piece of notebook paper. "What's worrying me is that Josh was awfully calm about the whole thing. He basically got called out in front of the entire school and he didn't even blink an eye.."

"Oh yeah, creepy much." Gina rolled her eyes and let out a small scoff. She was clearly annoyed.

Willow grabbed the big green book from her bag and opened it, she flipped through the pages, her eyes scanning each page like a hawk.

"Willow how do you manage to pull that giant book around?" Parker slightly giggled seeing Willow pull out the giant book.

"I don't know myself!" Willow chuckled back. Quickly, her face became focused once more. "Due to the angry nature of Crocus, Crocus will use other people to his advantage. Whether it's their arsenal, wit or even strength if he is too lazy to fight his enemies himself. White Lily Cookie told me the basics about it last night."

"You mean to say that Crocus could just sit there and do nothing, yet leave us all in a sticky situation while he barely lifts a finger..?"  Gina inquired.

"Under the right circumstances-" Willow got interrupted by the school's bell, indicating another class was about to start. Everyone immediately stood up and grabbed their things. "We'll talk about this later, okay?" Willow hastily grabbed her stuff.

"Okay!" Everyone called before going their separate ways.

Parker was off to his science class. He went to his locker to grab his notebooks for the class.
His locker was neatly stocked with all the books he needed and extra stationary in case he or his friends lose any. but once he grabbed his books, he saw something peculiar, something he didn't put in there.

"What's this? A letter..?"

Chapter Text

Parker picked up the letter and thought to himself, "I have some time before class..." He carefully tore the envelope. The envelope was a deep black colour and had white text which read 'Cookie Force.'

He took out the letter and opened it gently, being careful not to tear the envelope too much. His eyes focused on the text printed on it.

'About recent events, Crocus has revealed his identity as a poor, sad teenage boy. However, despite being teenagers themselves, the Cookie Force are not taking this well, and still continue to stop Crocus from doing what he wishes to, even if it were to cause harm. The Cookie Force are nothing but phonies and cowards, because they won't admit that Crocus' rule is what the world needs, for the sake of their 'perfect' reputation. They have continued to ignore Crocus' warnings, and always manage to make the poor croc 'the villain.' We will not stand for this injustice. Any death threats, attacks or violence to the warriors will benefit 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞.'

Parker dropped the letter out of pure shock. What was he supposed to think? He had basically just got a death threat. He merely picked up the dropped letter and ran to his class.

The letter remained on his mind during the rest of the day, he was barely able to take any of the information that was taught in.

'Any death threats, attacks or violence to the warriors will benefit everyone' was the words that blasted loud as a horn, which played over and over in his head like a broken record. Sweat and tears dripped on his face, each falling down like small droplets of rain.

Was this what he deserved? Being told to his face that his and his friends deaths would be a benefit? That Five precious lives would be better off not continuing at all?

————————————-

Once the day finally came to a close, he gathered all of the Cookie Force and went to his garden.

Willow's face was full to the brim with worry. She was with Parker during the science lesson, so she noticed everything that he was going through.

She couldn't keep her eyes off of him. Seeing him so distressed only heightened her feelings of anxiousness and fear for him.

"Parker.." Willow muttered as she paid close attention to her friend, watching him drink a cup of tea with shaky hands. "You've been acting quite upset since break. Is everything okay..?"

Parker tried to respond, but no sounds would come out of his mouth. All he could manage was a small "n.."

"Cmon. Tell us, Parker." Gina's eyebrows raised. "Was it Josh? Or is it about what happened last week?"

Parker shook his head to both of those. All he did was shakily take the crumpled letter and placed it on the table, before immediately bursting into tears. His tears were already making the glass table they were sitting on gain a small puddle on top of it.

Willow said nothing more as she went straight to Parker's side and held him close. Her embrace was warm, like one a queen would give to reassure her dear king.

Dorian carefully uncrumpled the letter, which let him and the others read what it had to say.

"I can't believe it." Holly shuddered, tears threatening to fall from her own eyes. "Josh... or should I say Crocus, I think he might be taking this too far.."

"I'm confused.." Gina muttered, peeking over to the letter. "He talks about our 'reputation' like we're famous. I didn't know we even had one."

Willow had a little thought about what Gina had just said. She let it sit in her head before quietly speaking up.

"Maybe we do have a reputation."

"Elaborate, please." Gina's eyebrows raised.

"Well, we gotta first consider that we're saving our town. That's a very big thing for us to do, isn't it?" Willow spoke calmly with a pinch of authority. "The next thing is we have to think about the Cookies. Not only are we saving here, but we're saving an entire world, too."

"But what does our reputation have to do with him?" Dorian inquired, "If he's so insistent on taking over the world, wouldn't he try and get more power through say, manipulating people? Why would he be fighting us when he could have made more people join his cause?"

"We know he wants the Ancient Tome and soul charms, but he hasn't managed to get them. His anger seems to be taking centre stage within the play inside of his head."

Parker managed to do a small nod, before reluctantly letting go from Willow's embrace. "How are you feeling now, Parker..?" Willow asked tenderly.

"A bit better.." Parker shakily replied, he still kept a hand on Willow's shoulder as he was wobbling like jelly.

"So Parker, are you comfortable with telling us where you found the letter?" Gina tilted her head softly.

Parker took a deep breath. "Yes, yes I am." He carefully rested his hands on his lap before clearing his throat. "So.. I was going to science class. I went to my locker so I could grab my books. That's when I saw the letter in a black envelope. I opened it before class and I just... freaked out, I suppose." He took a break to catch his breath before continuing, "I just find it sickening that he would wish five teenagers just trying to do their jobs to be dead. It was bad enough when he told Holly to kick the bucket two weeks ago."

"You can say that again.." Holly grumbled. "I felt horrible about it and I'm only one person. Now my pain has been multiplied by five.."

"I suppose all we can do is take everything that's happened in." Dorian sighed. "We all need rest after the past couple of days."

Everyone nodded and Parker stood up to make them all another cup of tea, to hopefully soothe their and his own frantic thoughts.

Chapter Text

"Don't drink it too quickly everyone, the tea is still quite hot." Parker lightly chuckled as he placed down a large tray with one big teapot and five small teacups filled with freshly brewed tea. "Tea always helps calm us down, doesn't it?"

"Right as rain!" Holly giggled.

"I adore that so much about tea." Willow muttered shyly, "It always manages to make me smile. Even more so when I'm around all of you.." She looked at everyone with friendly love dearly in her eyes, her eyes lingered on Parker's face for a quick second, but one blink later and her gaze was back at the table.

"Thank you, Willow." Parker grew a bashful smile, "Everyone's happiness means the world to me, I'm glad our tea times make you so happy."

The five friends all chatted for a while, talking about fun things such as what they did over the weekend. The conversation quickly shifted back to a serious one, however.

"Still, can you believe that Josh got expelled in front of the whole school?" Gina's eyes were wide like saucers out of pure astonishment just remembering the moment, "AND his identity as Crocus was revealed?"

"I'm very surprised they announced that to everyone, but I also do get it. He is quite a disruptive threat here." Dorian stated with a touch of nonchalance. "Although, I'm very surprised we weren't brought up one bit, considering we're the ones who kick his butt all of the time."

"Yeah, now that you consider it.." Holly placed a finger on her chin in a 'thinking' motion comically. "It's kinda weird that the headmaster didn't document about the five teenagers defeating Crocus in flashy costumes."

"Maybe Crocus' vileness simply just stole the show!" Gina giggled snarkily.

While everyone was talking, Josh was peeking from a tree looking down at everyone in Parker's garden. Just like when him and who he calls the 'little brat' first met. His eyes locked on to the table like a hawk's as he let out a nasty scowl. He didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed his crocodile scale and gave it a kiss just like before. His human form turned into Crocus once again.

Crocus jumped into the sky and quickly looked left and right, he settled on the town square's clock tower, where they fought on Gina's birthday. A wicked grin grew on the crocodile's face before he quickly jumped to the tower.

"Time's gonna run out for these gnats." Crocus cackled from the top of the tower. His laughs echoed across the town, meaning the Cookie Force could hear him like a cockerel squawking it's morning call.

Gina's previous giggle turned into a tired sigh. "Speaking of vileness.. We'd better go and stop him. It seems like he isn't done performing yet."

"We definitely should.." Holly grumbled, placing her teacup on the table gently. "Just when I was enjoying my tea, too.."

The group grabbed the stuff they needed, albeit hesitantly, and quickly set off to stop Crocus from doing who-knows-what.

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The orange sunset was looming over the sky, with the tiniest sprinkle left of sunlight for the day shining down like a spotlight, making a select few trees' leaves glow with a viridescent hue. The Cookie Force bolted to the town square, attempting to not get trampled by the countless other people hurrying away from the place.

Crocus, clearly was eagerly awaiting their arrival. He peered down at the stone paths, inspecting each person closely.  Once he saw the Cookie Force and knew everyone else was gone, he cackled loudly.

"I've been waiting for you, good-for-nothing pests!" he laughed like a drain. He slithered down the clock tower, drawing nearer and nearer to the five teenagers. "How did it feel.." he murmured, his voice was no quieter than a small breath.

"How did it feel.." He repeated, before his face grew a dark smirk. "To lose."

Gina's face darkened. Her eyes were like daggers, eyeing the crocodile like he'd just said the most vile thing on the planet. She spoke before anyone else had the chance to.

"It felt humbling, thank you very much." Gina spoke through gritted teeth, approaching the crocodile with no fear or hesitation. "How did it feel to be expelled in front of the entire school?"

"Liberating." Crocus purred.

"Liberating?" Dorian snarled, as if he'd just been told the biggest lie on planet earth.

"If that felt liberating, then your defeat right now, should feel heavenly!" Gina grabbed her cookie pact out of her pocket, the others followed very quickly after.

Their screams of "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!"echoed as they placed the soul charms in, and their transformations began.

Chapter Text

"I have another game in mind for you all.." Crocus snickered, rubbing his hands together as he gazed upon the now-transformed group in front of him.

"Which is?" Pure Cheese rolled her eyes disgruntledly.

"Welp, I've noticed that you all work as such a good team together..." Crocus sneered, so how about I see how you do apart?"

"Are you planning to knock us all down one by one again?" Pure Cacao stomped closer to Crocus. "Like a silly game of chess?"

"Sorta.." Crocus giggled like a child whose just done something very naughty.

"You giggle like an idiot." Pure Cheese commented, annoyance clear as day in her tone.

"You're certainly a miserable one, aren't you? I'd better get on with this before your gloom ruins my cape." Crocus let out a small cackle before grabbing a soul charm from his cape's pocket. It was a potion charm, like the giant potion. But it had pink liquid inside, instead of the giant potion's blue.

He then reached his hand out and a portal appeared, which game him a red mirror. It has rubies along the side, and the actual mirror had a reddish tint.

It was as clear as day that mirror wasn't his, it was too pristine, too neat looking.

"I think that's Dark Pomegranate's mirror.." Pure Lily muttered into Pure Vanilla's ear.

Crocus used the magic, spinning the mirror around in a circle. All the Cookie Force could see was darkness, and all they could hear was a loud 'Tick-Tock.'

"Here are the rules!!!" Crocus announced, "As you all can hear, you're all in the clock tower. Each of you are on separate floors. Your goal?" He placed the small charm in a certain part of the mirror, making a bigger version of it appear in front of him.

He popped the cork off the top of the bottle and chugged down the liquid.

Crocus became smaller,

And smaller,

And smaller.

Then, in his petite form, he grabbed the now much bigger mirror to make multiple clones of himself. The portal opened once again, and he tossed the mirror in there like it was an insignificant piece of junk.

"You all have ten minutes to catch every clone of me..." Crocus' roars of laughter echoed across the hollow inside of the tower, "AND ESCAPE!"

Numerous slams were heard as the tower shrouded even further into darkness.

Pure Berry was at the bottom of the tower, and all she could see was the stairs, each step placed higher and higher until it would reach the top, where Pure Cheese, and the actual clock was placed.

"EVERYONE!" Pure Berry screamed, her voice cracking, leaving her yell to become a small choke. She tried to call again, "EVERYONE!"

"Pure Berry!" Pure Cacao's stomped, each foot slammed on the descending stairs like rain hammering down during a thunderstorm. He had one of Crocus' small clones in his right hand, keeping his fist closed as the crocodile yelped and struggled in his hand. "I've got one."

"We've only just started! Not bad at all!" Pure Berry praised as she pat him on the shoulder, before carefully looking around should she spot any clones.

She quickly spot one, which was slithering it's way underneath a stair. She swooped in and caught the clone, stuffing it in her hand like she was smuggling some gold.

"We've got two, how many of these clones do you think are there?" Pure Berry wondered, trying to find a place to put her caught clone.

"Quite a few. And we don't even know how much time we have left." Pure Cacao sighed, resting his hands on his hips.

Pure Berry immediately grabbed onto Pure Cacao's left hand, trying her best to drag him up the stairs.

"Then let's get looking, okay?"

"Okay." Pure Cacao chuckled before they both ran up the stairs, trying to find their friends and the many clones of Crocus lurking in the tower.

Chapter Text

Pure Berry and Pure Cacao rushed up the stairs like speeding race cars, snatching every wretched little clone of that darned Crocus they could find.

"How many do you have now?" Pure Cacao wondered, counting the number of clones he'd caught in his head.

"Three.." Pure Berry muttered, looking down at the clones she had caught.

"I have three too."

"Then let's keep looking!"

The two heroes were quickly spotted by Pure Vanilla, who was looking in every nook and cranny for clones.

"Thank goodness you're both okay!" Pure Vanilla ran up to them and sighed a big sigh of relief. He looked down at all of the clones caught so far and slightly chuckled. "You're doing a pretty good job, I've only got two of them."

"Really? They were everywhere when we were looking!" Pure Berry giggled, lightly fidgeting with her dress. "We have six and you have two so that's eight-" Pure Berry's thinking was paused as a familiar, yet unwelcome person's voice ran in the air.

"YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES!" Crocus cackled loudly and deeply, despite some of his clones being in the Cookie Force's clutches. It must of been through Dark Pomegranate's mirror, that would've been the only way for it to have made sense.

"Half our time has already gone very quickly.." Pure Cacao's face morphed into a worried look, his eyebrows furrowed and and his previous smile became a serious frown. "Let's find everyone else and get out of here."

So they all kept looking, their eyes were like a hawk's as they scanned each floor of the tower trying their best to spot those dastardly clones, as well as catching them just as swiftly.

They climbed further up the stairs, and they managed to meet a quite troubled Pure Lily, as she attempted to keep all the clones she had caught together.

"Wowza, how many did you manage to get, Pure Lily?" Pure Berry's jaw dropped to the floor and her eyes were as wide as saucers.

"I think.." Pure Lily muttered, struggling to hold so many clones, "One, two three.." she tried her best to count without dropping any. "seven, eight, nine.. ten."

"Ten?" Pure Vanilla's face also grew a bewildered smile, before it faded to a warm one. He saw Pure Lily's pain, and carefully took some of the clones and put them in one of his pockets, making sure to keep them in there. "Here you are, just to lessen your load there."

"Thank you." A small tint of blush and shy smile grew on Pure Lily's face, but the blush disappeared just as quickly. She still had her nervous smile when looking back up at Pure Vanilla and the friends. "Let's keep looking, yeah?"

"Yeah!!" Everyone cheered, but they were interrupted by someone calling out to them.

"Everyone!" It was Pure Cheese! "I can hear you all from up here! We've only got.. I think three minutes, and I've made us an escape!!! Cmon!!!"

The other Cookie Force warriors immediately ran up the stairs upon hearing her voice, and were met with Pure Cheese, who had one of her hands on her hip knowingly.

"Took you long enough." She joked. "Were you able to catch all the clones? I've got five myself!"

"Pure Lily's got ten, I've got six, Pure Cacao has six and Pure Vanilla has three." Pure Berry recited all of the clones they were able to get. "That's like, thirty clones!"

"Thirty.. I'm surprised Crocus could make that many." Pure Lily's face showed a thoughtful expression. "We looked everywhere, and I think we have them all."

"Good, brilliant! I'm glad you got most of them,  I can only let so many little nightmares of clones even breathe near me."

"So like.." Pure Berry wondered, "How did you manage to make an escape? This tower is solid metal!"

"Easy." Pure Cheese giggled, using her wings to help with leading everyone out to the exit, "I summoned my spear with my spirit and found a hook sort of thing. I managed to use my spear and a lot of strength to pull the roof down, and make an exit!"

"Smart move." Pure Cacao proudly grinned.

Crocus was furious. As soon as they all escaped, and Pure Cheese helped them to the ground, the clones jumped out from their arms and pockets, and all fused back into the regular, much bigger Crocus.

"You all.. find each other too quickly!" Crocus snarled, "Gets on my last nerve!"

Pure Lily instinctively summoned her staff, holding it close like a sword.

"Crocus, I feel like if you had your own group of friends, you would look out for them just like how we all look out for each other." Pure Vanilla recommended, holding Pure Lily's free hand with one of his own.

"Yes," Pure Lily agreed. "I feel it'd be much better for you than what you're currently doing."

"What I do is for me to get the praise I deserve, You Cookie Force are nothing but a twisted tale of what should happen." Crocus sneered.

Pure Lily's face crumpled into an ice cold expression. She used her spirit once more, putting all of the power in her heart into her staff. "I'll make you think about this 'tale' just a little bit more."

She pointed her staff at Crocus and she yelled,"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐆𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦!" The power from the attack sent Crocus flying away once more.

As Crocus disappeared, the Clock tower's look returned to normal. There was no more gaping hole at the top of it anymore. The Cookie Force all de-transformed and the pink potion charm appeared in their possession.

"A blue potion, and now a pink potion!! How cute!" Holly giggled like a little school girl.

Parker put it in his pocket, and they all went back to his house for some more tea, and a proper chat without a crocodile interrupting them mid conversation.

Chapter Text

𝒮𝓊𝓇𝒻𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝒽ℴ𝓌𝒹ℴ𝓌𝓃

"I don't think I'm gonna need my roller skates for the beach." Holly muttered, putting her skates off to the side of her.

The summer morning sun was blinding, it sent the biggest, brightest glow into Holly's berry pink room. It made the room look quite ethereal.

"You're not! Unless you want sand in the wheels!" Hollyberry Cookie, who was snuggled in all of Holly's messy blankets, snorted.

"And I can hardly skate on the beach anyway! I'll fall over faster than it takes to put them on!"
Holly giggled, kicking her feet giddily. She then quickly pulled herself up and packed her a hot-pink wetsuit, a pink towel, sparkly pink beach shoes and a small pink accessory bag with a cute little bow in the centre, into a much bigger, checkered pink bag. She looked over to her cookie pact and soul charm, which was on the floor to her left. "Do you think I'll need to bring these?"

"Oh, definitely." Hollyberry Cookie's smile faltered a tad bit. "You never know when the Cookies of Darkness show up, do you?"

"Yeah you're right about that." Holly looked a bit saddened, but she chippered up quickly. "They always like to ruin the fun times for us. Well that's what I've noticed, anyway." She stood up and opened her wardrobe with heart shaped door knobs, and immediately started to dig inside.

"What are you looking for in there?" Hollyberry Cookie chuckled, seeing her friend disappear to the inside of the lightless wardrobe. She knew not to worry, as she could hear Holly's small chirps of laughter as she rustled inside, and the clanking of objects being thrown around in the small space.

"T-this!" Holly grunted, pulling out a large, berry-pink surfboard. It was decorated with beautiful, waterproof stickers in the shape of white forget-me-nots, and white wavy lines. "Can't bring a wet suit if I'm not gonna surf, right?"

"I had no idea you could surf!" Hollyberry Cookie's face screamed of astonishment.

"Oh yeah, totally!" Holly giggled, "In Italy, the sea is suuper nice there! so when I go to visit family, I always go surfing at the beaches. I have a special board for when I'm there, though. This is just my regular one."

"You surprise me every day, don't you?" Hollyberry Cookie heartily chuckled, "Now I want to see you in action, please show me when we get there!"

"Absolutely, that's a promise!"

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After about half an hour, everyone in the Cookie Force all went to Parker's house, beach bags in hand.

"Mom, Dad, thanks for offering to take us." Parker acknowledged his parents as everyone got into the car.

"Oh darling, Don't worry!" Parker's mother warmly laughed, like the summer sun. "It's a treat for you all today. After all, you guys have to start studying for your big exams next year."

"That's gonna rack your brains, isn't it?"Parker's dad snorted, he was always known to be quite cheeky. "We felt the sea air would help you all feel calmer going into studies."

"Oh yeah, you can say that again." Parker giggled, "I need to get my math game going, especially since I want to be a doctor!"

Everyone laughed as the car was started up, getting them on their journey to the beach.

"Gina, have you gotten babysitters for your siblings?" Dorian wondered.

"Oh yeah, totally. As much as Seth nags at me telling me he'd be fine looking after everyone on his own, I got a bit too worried and paid for one, anyway." Gina informed. "When I told everyone I was going to the beach with you all, they were all so happy for me. They said I need the break before Mom's funeral."

"Oh yeah.." Holly's eyebrows furrowed with sadness. "When is it?"

"Next week."

"Next week, bless your soul.." Golden Cheese Cookie's voice quietly mumbled from Gina's bag. Gina immediately looked down, and whispered a soft "Thank you." to the Cookie.

The ride was fun and full of laughs. Everyone was happy and eager to dip their toes into the salty sea, and build giant sandcastles that could rival the likes of the Golden Cheese kingdom's impressive architecture. It's what they deserved, a fun break for them all, free from slimy crocodiles and magic mirrors.

At least that's what they were all manifesting for. Fighting Crocus almost every day was seeming to weigh the five down. And knowing that Josh was playing masquerades until their first defeat didn't help either.

Hopefully, they could all get the break they wanted, even if it was just for one day.

Chapter Text

"Everyone, enjoy yourselves!" Parker's mother called out, "We'll be at the cafe not to far from here, okay?"

"Okay!!" Everyone waved as the parent's car drove off, ending up somewhere not too far from them.

"What should we do first after we all get changed?" Holly's eyes had stars of anticipation in them.

"I bought a volleyball game, it'd be fun to play that, right?" Dorian lifted a bag he brought, which had a volleyball net and inflatable ball inside.

"It sounds very fun." Willow warmly giggled, "But there's five of us, it'd be unfair if one of us had an extra person."

"Oh yeah..." Holly looked stumped, but she brightened up quickly. "I was gonna go surfing, anyway. So you guys can play for a bit while I surf!"

"Surfing?" Willow felt excitement brewing within her, it might not seem believable on the surface, but she had always wanted to give surfing a go. "If it's alright, I'd like to try surfing too. Could I borrow your board for that?"

"Totally!" Holly giggled. "I'll teach you everything! I've never taught anyone this, so I think it's gonna be exciting!"

"Thank you.. so much!" Willow felt ecstatic, her eyes were widened and her mouth was curved into the largest smile anyone could display. "I'll let you get used to the sea before you teach me, though. I still want to play with everyone."

----------------------

During the eventful volleyball game, The Cookies had used their giant potions and settled down on some beach chairs, trying their best to not get soggy. They knew it wouldn't be good for them if they did..

"Oh look at them." Golden Cheese Cookie admired them like they were her own denizens, "Finally managing to have some fun after all of that baloney Crocus has put them through."

Hollyberry Cookie was sipping a nice cold glass of cranberry juice, "Ahh.." she savoured the taste before chiming in. "It's good to see them so happy, they deserve it."

"Oh.. Indeed they do, my friends." Pure Vanilla Cookie placed his hands on his heart warmly. "To be honest, I think they deserve way more happiness."

"We were talking about inviting them to Earthbread about a week ago.." White Lily Cookie fidgeted with her staff, which held her soul jam of freedom. "I think it might be about time we do that, and show them what happens in our world."

"Of course! I almost forgot about that!" Pure Vanilla Cookie giggled sheepishly. "We should invite everyone tomorrow, if they're not busy."

"I will invite Dorian when we both have the chance to talk." Dark Cacao Cookie warmly smiled, as if he was already prepared to show Dorian the citadel that he called home.

"It's settled then! We have another chance to give the Cookie Force some respite." There was the purest love and unmatched joy in Pure Vanilla Cookie's eyes as he softly announced that to his closest compatriots.

Three out of the four Cookie Force warriors that were playing volleyball earlier were now all tuckered out, and they had pretty much covered themselves in sand. Except for Willow, who was eagerly anticipating her turn at trying to surf. Holly had just finished her go, evident by her now dripping wet hair, the surfboard also being wet to match.

"The waves are smaller around the front, it'd be a good if you started there!" Holly tried her best to dry the board before carefully guiding Willow to the sea and helping her onto the board.

Willow felt shaky as she stumbled on the board, one wrong move and she wouldn't be on it anymore. Not that it was a bad thing, she just wanted to.. actually surf rather than go for a swim.

"Ready?"

"I'm ready." Willow huffed, before the board she was on was pushed into the shallow entrance of the sea. It tilted and turned quite like a carnival ride, making her wobble like jelly.

"Just let the waves guide you, if you fall the small waves will make it be easy to get back up!" Holly encouraged her.

Willow focused her mind onto her surfing, trying her best to keep balance on the board. Before she knew it, she was riding the waves like she was piloting an airplane.

Holly cheered, she clapped her hands in glee "Bravo!"

Willow ended up squealing in glee and even letting out a happy "wheee!"

Everyone else had settled down on a neatly laid beach towel with refreshing drinks and yummy snacks, they were all watching Willow and were cheering her on as she went over each little wave. Parker especially was enamoured by her, his feelings only grew stronger as she got happier, her feelings reflected his. If she was feeling good, he'd be feeling one hundred times better just for that alone.

While he couldn't help but admire her, he heard a small whisper in his ear.

"Willow, the way you study plants is impressive, but when you are having fun, it's even better. You're lovely no matter what you do. Your smile makes you glow like one thousand suns.." It paused for a moment, before softly continuing. "The way I feel about you..."

"It's.."

"Love."

Chapter Text

Parker turned to the person that was whispering in his ear, he had the smallest red tint of blush on his face and he looked quite nervous. "Gina..! Why are you whispering things in my ear?"

"It's not me!" Gina put on a confused facade, "It's your inner voice."

"Gina.." Parker sighed, repeating her name as he smiled sheepishly. "My inner voice doesn't sound like your voice. That's not how it works."

Gina giggled, "It's not like that. I just know what's going on in that head of yours. Holly isn't the only one that's noticed."

"You've caught onto the fact that I have feelings for Willow too, then.." Parker's face became redder than a ruby. "I should have known, I can't hide anything from you."

"Indeed you can't! I've had practice from my siblings. They always like to try keep things hidden." Gina tossed her hair back stylishly, as if she were showing off her greatness.

Dorian, who was next to them, was listening in on the conversation. He wouldn't of called it snooping, after all he couldn't exactly try to sneak some information if it were already flying into his ear like a bird who was racing to his nest at the end of a long day.

"Are you gonna confess?" Dorian chimed in, then let out a small chuckle upon seeing his friend's mouth open wider in shock.

"I can't hide anything from you!!!!!!" Parker squealed as he swiped another beach towel and covered his face with it out of sheer bashfulness. After a good one minute, he peeked his face out of it slightly. Gina and Dorian could only see the top of his head and his eyes. "Yeah.."

"Ooh.. when?"

"I- I'm planning to do it sometime next week." Parker slightly stuttered.

"Next week? That's so soon! Yet so late!" Gina flopped herself down so she laid on the towel, sand was already sneaking into her hair. She noticed Parker's face grow even more nervous, like the though of it was making him shake in his boots. She sat herself up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know we'll always support you, right?" Her voice softened, the excitement in her tone calming down like a storm passing.

Parker took the other towel off of his face. He was still red, but didn't look nearly as embarrassed. A bittersweet expression painted his face like it was a canvas. "Thanks, you guys. I hope she feels the same. It's alright if not.. but I really hope she does."

---------

"Heyyy.. where's Crocus? wasn't he gonna come with us?" muttered a confused Dark Mushroom, who wasn't transformed. They seemed kind of out of it, focusing on burying their whole body into sand.

"He's in big trouble with Dark Enchantress Cookie, Peyton." Persephone informed them, not paying much attention to what was going on, either. Her head was stuck in a book she was reading about dark moon magic.

"Oh, okay!"

"Really?" Lucien turned over to his companion, his skin was as red as a tomato, because he made the mistake of not putting on a hat or wearing sun protection. "Is it because he decided to reveal his identity?"

"I think so."

Lucien started to toss and turn on his sun bed, he turned so much in fact, he ended up falling off. "Rats! I'm burning up! Why didn't I bring sunscreen?? I'm gonna go cool off!!" He growled like a dog.

Persephone took off some sunglasses for a brief moment, she looked at Lucien knowingly, like she was going to suggest something. "You could give the Cookie Force trouble while you cool off."

"You could do surfing!" Peyton giggled "Like on the tv! They look so cool on there."

"I didn't bring a surfboard."

"Steal Holly's. It's not that difficult." Persephone pointed over to Holly and Willow, who were leaving the sea.

"She'll know, though." Lucien grumbled.

Persephone groaned and put a bookmark into a book, then put it down next to her before picking up her mirror from a ruby red tote bag. "I'll distract them, you get the surfboard."

Lucien got out his compact. It was a little different from the Cookie Force's. It was an ebony colour and was much thinner than the slightly bulkier Cookie Pact. He opened it and kissed it, just like Crocus would kiss his scale to transform. He transformed into Dark Liquorice.

"These black capes I'm wearing do not help.." Dark Liquorice groaned before making his way to steal the surfboard. "This better be a good distraction!"

"It will, don't you worry."

Chapter Text

"How'd surfing go, Willow?" Parker took an extra clean towel from his bag and carefully handed it to Willow. She quickly wrapped it around herself like it was a warm cloak.

"It went great, thank you." Willow giggled, she sat next to everyone and started to dry herself off. "I've never done anything like that before, I really enjoyed it!"

Gina walked over and grabbed a golden tartan picnic basket that she had brought with her, she brought it back to everyone, and started laying out various picnic foods for them to all snack on. "I might have to give surfing a go, too." she chuckled as she laid everything out.

"You really should!" Holly giggled, admiring each of the different coloured foods being presented like it was a culinary rainbow. "Maybe one day, we could all go to the beach and surf together!"

"I can already picture it." Dorian smiled dreamily, "The sun shining down on us while we all laugh and play in the sea. We'd have no worries, it'll all just be fun."

Everyone started to snack on the food Gina graciously brought, chatting away like they always did. Soon, the cookies joined them and many laughs rang in the air. No one had even a slither of a frown even had the slightest chance of tainting their faces.

Dark Liquorice was one step ahead, he'd already snuck behind the Cookie Force and managed to pluck Holly's surfboard from the ground using a bit of dark magic. Persephone meanwhile, transformed into Dark Pomegranate. She used her dark magic and managed to pull the soul charms the Cookie Force have collected overtime from a small, locked box in Parker's bag.

She made a mini carousel of soul charms, making them all spin around in front of the Cookie Force and cookies.

Everyone was flabbergasted. Gina even tried to stand up and catch all of the floating charms. Although every time she tried, they shot out of her hands and began to dance in the air once again.

They all quickly flew over to Dark Liquorice, who quickly caught them. They didn't shoot out of his hands like they did Gina's, it was like the magic had drawn them to him.

"Bravo for locking these up pretty well." Dark Liquorice snickered as he leaned on to Holly's surfboard. He had a gleam in his eyes that screamed he was a know-it-all. "Unfortunately for you, Dark Pomegranate knows how to pick locks."

Gina grumbled, "Just when we were all having some fun. What are you doing here-"

"Hold on a moment." Golden Cheese Cookie covered Gina's mouth. She shot up in the air and looked at a birds eye view of the beach. She was able to spot Dark Pomegranate and Dark Mushroom relaxing, but other than that the beach was super empty. She shot back down and returned to the ground. "Where is Crocus? He's usually slithering around, isn't he?"

"He's in big trouble with Dark Enchantress Cookie. He would of come, otherwise." Dark Liquorice didn't sound very bothered, like he was used to no Crocus being around. "If you ask me, I'd say we're better off without him."

"W- Really?" Holly's jaw dropped. "And I thought he was just a nuisance to us- Hold on is that my surfboard???"

"He gets on everyone's nerves." Dark Liquorice picked up the surfboard and managed to get on it with a bit of magic, despite the heavy clothing he was wearing. "And yes, it is your surfboard. I'm not gonna keep you waiting, if you want these charms you'll have to beat me in a race for them! You'll think of something to race with, I'm sure!"

He used some more of his magic to keep the charms in his pocket, so they wouldn't fall to the bottom of the sea. "Dark Pomegranate has made us a goal we have to pass. If I win, I keep the charms. If you win, I'll give them back. And your surfboard, Holly."

"How far in to the sea are we talking, here?" Willow beseeched anxiously, "We don't want sharks and other sea predators to think we're a delicious meal, do we?"

"Less than five hundred feet away. You'll be fineee." Dark Liquorice pushed the surfboard into the sea, and let the waves take him to the finish line. He did use magic to give him a speed boost, though

"See you at the end!" He cackled as his voice slowly became quieter the further he moved away.

Chapter Text

"Guys, I have a plan." Holly whispered, despite the fact no one else other than the group could hear her. Everyone huddled together and got to discussing. "I have no surfboard, so I'm gonna have to get creative."

"Soo.. do you have an idea on what to do?" Gina muttered.

"Yeah. I'm gonna try to use my shield, Could you maybe give me a hand, by using your flight to pull me along?" Holly asked gently, there was a hint of pleading in her tone.

"I can try.."

Hollyberry Cookie placed a reassuring hand on Holly's shoulder. "We'll go with you. Teamwork makes the dream work, after all!"

"Aw thank you!" Holly giggled.

"What do you want us to do while you're over there?" Parker wondered.

Willow sighed, "I suppose all we could do is keep a look out. Are you sure you two will be okay?"

"We'll be fine." Holly consoled, she had a twinkle of competitiveness in her eye. She got out her cookie pact from her bag and Gina followed suit. They yelled "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!"

Once they transformed, they immediately got to work. Hollyberry Cookie shrunk back down with help from the ancient tome's magic and jumped onto their shoulders.

"We'll be right back!" Pure Berry giggled, she used her spirit to summon her shield and quickly got herself into the sea and climbed onto her shield. She did struggle, the fact that she had a poofy dress didn't help. Pure Cheese grabbed on to the one end of the shield while Golden Cheese Cookie grabbed the other. They tried their best to pull their friends along.

It took them a little bit of time, with numerous complaints from Golden Cheese Cookie how she would get soggy, but they were able to catch up to Dark Liquorice, who was having the time of his life on the surfboard.

"Having fun, there?" Pure Cheese called, she had a cheeky smirk paint her face.

Dark Liquorice quickly noticed them, and he grew a small scowl, as if he was expecting them to not catch up. "I'm surprised you all caught up as fast as you did so... It's not gonna stop me, though!" He shakily got his pact from one of his pockets and made small bubbles of purple magic appear.

"Eugh!" Golden Cheese Cookie snarled, "I'm not letting those things get anywhere near us!"

"Me neither!" Pure Cheese instantly looked disgusted. Dark Liquorice instantly flicked them at the heroes like they were small bugs.

Pure Cheese and Golden Cheese Cookie flew up, carrying the two pink-themed passengers with them, and tried their absolute hardest to avoid the magic.

Pure Berry squealed out of fear. "I wasn't expecting that we would have to fly!" She tried her beat to keep grasping onto the surfboard and Hollyberry Cookie.

"Me neither, but we have to do it!" Pure Cheese complained.

Dark Liquorice wasted no time making a maze out of the bubbles, cornering the girls and making himself zip closer and closer to the finish line.

---------------------------

"I hope they're doing alright." Parker fretted, looking out at the sea, which the girliest Cookie Force warriors now couldn't be spotted.

Willow mumbled a soft "Me too.."

Dorian put a comforting hand on both his friend's shoulders. "If there's anything to know about those two girls, is that they never give up, and always count on each other. I can already tell they're beating Dark Liquorice by a landslide."

"I wouldn't be so sure."  Dark Pomegranate whispered, her hands fell elegantly on Parker and Willow's shoulders. "He has a way with magic, they'll have to be smart if they want to win."

"Unluckily for you, they are." Dorian sneered.

Dark Pomegranate had a horrifically good poker face. No matter what was said, nonchalance was all that painted her expression and mind. She picked up her mirror, which Dark Mushroom was carefully holding. She looked around the beach and spotted a long coconut tree nearby with the freshest coconuts resting on it. A small, pretty much unnoticeable smirk made it's appearance before it too, left her face blank as ever.

She aimed her mirror's magic at the tree which enveloped it in a ruby-coloured goo. It instantly crashed down near the three Cookie Force warriors and the cookies. She didn't waste any more time and made numerous trees nearby start to fall.

But the other three Cookie Force warriors didn't wait either. They instantly snatched their Cookie Pacts from their bags and pockets and yelled, "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞."

Chapter Text

After the transformation, the Cookie Force and cookies had no time to think. They were already trapped in the array of trees in the shape of a circle. Dark Pomegranate was not done, she looked over to one more tree, it was an oak tree, which towered over all the other trees that once stood.

She sent her magic over to the tree and instantly the roots started to rip from the ground on one side, it leaned down and very quickly started to fall.

The heroes had nowhere to go, they tried to climb over the trunks and make their way through the large leaves with their weapons, but it wasn't enough. The tree ended up falling on them with a hard,

Thud.

—————————----------

"He'll win if we don't hurry up!" Pure Cheese groaned, trying her best to avoid the purple bubbles. She started to move much more sluggishly, much to the confusion of everyone else. "He's probably way further than us, now." She sighed dejectedly.

Pure Berry understood Pure Cheese's worry. She knew very well that her golden-haired friend was not accustomed to losing at all. "Don't say that! We'll get through this and beat him, he's probably bored out of his mind with no one to race!"

"Pure Berry's right, you know." Hollyberry Cookie encouraged, "And besides, do you really want a kid with a comically long cape to beat us?"

"...No."

"Exactly my point!"

"Then let's keep going." Pure Cheese looked much brighter and immediately got back to work trying to get through the maze. It wasn't easy, after a good while, magic enveloped all of the bubbles. When someone would bump into them, they'd bounce back slightly.

Unluckily for them, Pure Berry's shield just hit the side of one particularly violet ball, and they began to bounce from one ball to the other at a rapid manner. All four of them shook around like they were on a carnival ride, but if the fun of the shaking was taken away.

They spun and wobbled about, but they didn't give up and persevered through all of the bubbles. Soon they were out, and all that was left was the near-on motion sickness that lingered in their minds.

"Phew!" Hollyberry Cookie huffed giddily, "I wasn't expecting to go on a ride today!"

"Nor was I!" Pure Berry giggled. "But hey! We're out now, so we can keep going!"

"Yeah, we are!" Pure Cheese had got out her cookie pact and was already channeling her spirit into it, she looked at her friends with pure determination. "I've got us a boost, so let's go!"

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞!"

Pure Cheese grabbed onto the board firmly, and with the power of her arrow, it instantly made her and the others race across the sapphire waves and pass the finish line, which was brightly coloured and definitely easy to spot from a distance.

It was just the four of them at the finish line. They looked up at the ginormous arch with a tad hint of confusion.

"Do you think this is the finish line..?" Pure Berry whispered.

"I think so..?" Pure Cheese mumbled back, "It certainly looks like a finish line."

It wasn't too long before Dark Liquorice made his way through the finish line as well, he didn't look too surprised, but he certainly wasn't happy.

"Eh." Dark Liquorice shrugged, "Should've known you'd all get there." He swam on over to them and handed back the soul charms and the surfboard, which were protected from being separated with some magic. "Bravo yet again."

"I'm happy you didn't lie to us, Dark Liquorice." Pure Cheese clutched onto the charms with as much strength as she could muster, while Pure Berry mounted herself onto her surfboard, and made her shield disappear.

"Ha, there'd be no point in doing so, you're all smart enough." A knowing smirk dashed upon his face before he quickly disappeared. The goal even went with him.

Golden Cheese Cookie looked flabbergasted, "He's gone! And he just left us in the sea!" She scoffed.

"He isn't the most manly person, if I'm being honest." Pure Berry let out a small chuckle.

"You can say that again." Pure Cheese giggled along with her. The four girls eventually started to head back to the beach, through the sea, that had started to calm down after the thrill of the race. They didn't have to worry about any of those pesky bubbles, either.

However, once they got back, what they saw wasn't very pretty.

The beach was covered in leaves, it looked like a giant bush from a distance, and up close it felt even bigger.

There was something going on inside, blades could be heard along with the sounds of six very tired people.

"They're inside of there, I can hear them!" Hollyberry Cookie worriedly exclaimed.

"We have to go in there and help." Pure Berry didn't waste any time and jumped into the bushy tree leaves, the others were quick to follow.

The branches inside were thick and sturdy. One took plenty of effort for them to chop down, and there was still so many to go.

They eventually managed to find Pure Cacao and Dark Cacao Cookie, along with the other four all trying to get rid of the oak tree's ginormous branches.

"Are you all alright?" Pure Cacao called them worriedly, he inspected them from a distance, looking for any signs of being harmed. He looked a tad bit more relieved when he saw they were all okay.

"Yes, we're fine!" Pure Berry reassured him. "What happened to make all these trees fall? And are YOU all okay??"

"Dark Pomegranate sent them down on us while you all were racing." Pure Lily informed them. "She started by sending down a bunch of coconut trees, then sent down this big oak tree here. We've been batting away branches for a good while now.."

"Well, fear not." Golden Cheese Cookie announced triumphantly, "We have the charms, though! We could use them to get out." She immediately got given the soul charms and grabbed the giant potion one out. "Big battles call for big weapons, do they not?"

Pure Cheese opened her cookie pact and the soul charm was immediately placed in, everyone gathered their weapons and soon enough, they were all much bigger.

They got to work ripping out all of the branches from the many different trees to make an escape. They ended up making five whole escape holes and climbed out of the trees.

But Dark Pomegranate, not Dark Mushroom were there. The beach was empty, with just the ten heroes, and a whole load of leaves and branches.

"No.. Dark Pomegranate, nor Dark Mushroom?" Pure Vanilla looked confused and a little bit concerned. "I wonder where they both ran off to.. they left without even starting a fight."

Pure Vanilla Cookie sighed, "They've probably gone back to the Cookies of Darkness, Dark Enchantress Cookie likely had something important to tell them."

"Important enough for them to leave mid-fight..?" White Lily Cookie grew anxious, "Then she must have made some progress on her plan.."

"Perhaps so.."

"Even Dark Liquorice seemed to act different." Pure Berry looked stumped, "He gave us the soul charms then just up and left."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Pure Vanilla Cookie looked a little less worried, "I have something to give you all. I've only just been able to get to it." He used the ancient tome to make a small, white box with golden accents appear before him. There was little holes that seemed to exactly fit the soul charms.

"A box?" Pure Vanilla looked at it a bit closer.

"Yes. It's the charm chest. We can put the soul charms in here to keep them safe from the cookies of darkness."

"Then let's waste no time and put them in." Pure Vanilla was promptly handed the charms, and he put each in carefully like they were their own little treasure.

After they all were put in, a beam of magic wrapped around the tattered leaves and branches. They all stood tall, returning as the trees that they were before, like nothing ever happened.

Everyone de-transformed and began to ready themselves to go home, after a certainly.. peculiar break. Hopefully they could have a better break next time,

Right?

Chapter Text

                       𝒜 𝓌𝒽ℴ𝓁ℯ 𝓃ℯ𝓌 𝓌ℴ𝓇𝓁𝒹

The morning sun was shining across the town, spreading it's warm, golden embrace. Parker's garden wasn't an exception at all, in fact, it always seemed to shine the brightest there.

Dear friends Parker and Pure Vanilla Cookie were sharing tea, it had started to become a little tradition every Saturday morning.

"You want to take everyone on a trip to Earth-bread? That sounds wonderful! I'd love to go." Parker looked ecstatic at hearing Pure Vanilla Cookie's offer. "It'd be nice to finally see the world that I've sworn to protect."

"I'm happy you think so. In fact, I think I owe you it! Ha ha." Pure Vanilla Cookie giggled, sipping some hot tea.

"I'm sure everyone else will love it too." Parker got out his phone from his pocket, it had a plain blue case with a lily shaped phone charm. "They should be free.. I'll give them all a call and see if they can come!"

Parker didn't hesitate at all to open his group chat and call his pals. They all were so quick to pick up the phone too.

"Hi, guys!!" We've all been invited to Earth-bread by Pure Vanilla Cookie and the other ancient cookies." Parker smiled gently as he talked to the people so close to his heart.

"Oh yeah! I've already been told about that!" Holly's voice was not of the best clarity thanks to the phone's speaker, but what was said could be understood. "I've heard it's really interesting there! I wanna go so bad!"

"Me too." Dorian chuckled, hearing Holly's excitement.

Gina was doing her hair and makeup as she was talking, "I've been told the Golden Cheese Kingdom is the best in Earth-bread, so I'd love to go too."

"Will we go around to yours..? And how would we even get there?" Willow wondered, "I'm very willing to go, though. We'll very much likely get so much more information about the Cookie Force and Cookies of Darkness."

"Well.. erm..." Parker nervously giggled at Willow's question, but his smile was evident. He always loved her undying curiosity. "Pure Vanilla Cookie and the other cookies will tell you everything."

"I'm already on my way!!!" Holly teasingly giggled, packing her bag with small snacks, and her cookie pact.

Parker laughed along with her."Haha, I'll see you all soon, yeah?"

"YEAHH!!!" Everyone happily cheered.

—————————-

It wasn't too long before everyone arrived, delighted to see each other as usual. They all raced to Parker's garden and flung open the ancient tome.

"So... what do we do?" Holly looked puzzled.

"My friends, you'll want to use the pink potion charm to become small before you go in." Pure Vanilla Cookie instructed, and didn't hesitate to pass the charm over from the chest.

Parker got his Cookie pact out hastily and placed the charm inside. Five small pink potions appeared in front of them.

"Go on, take a sip!"

All of the Cookie Force drank the potion, it was actually sweeter than they would've expected. They shrunk down to the size of the Cookies.

"Eeee! Waaah!" Holly squealed, spinning around and giggling with excitement at her new form. "I'm cookie sized!"

"How do we become human sized again?" Willow looked rather anxious, but other than that, she was just as excited.

"You'll be okay.. we'll use the blue potion for when you get out." White Lily Cookie wrapped her arm around Willow to reassure her.

The ancient tome's screen glowed a soft, pure white light. Everyone could see Earth-bread from the screen. It was time for them to go!

"Everyone, are you all ready?" Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled ecstatically.

"Ready!!" Everyone eagerly jumped into the ancient tome, them and the tome just disappeared like it was never even there.

Chapter Text

"Welcome, my friend. To the Vanilla Kingdom!" Pure Vanilla Cookie giddily announced, he felt absolutely ecstatic that he could finally show his friend the place he treasures so dearly. In front of them stood the Vanilla Castle. It sat in the sky like it was it's throne of soft, baby blue.

To their right was the Academy of Healing, which was a brown-coloured building with a giant clock in the front, to let everyone know what time it was. The doors were open for everyone, which helped with it's warm and welcoming aura.

And to their left was the Crows Nest Inn which had warm, calming candle lights illuminating it, and lots of happy chatter could be heard inside. It looked so welcoming from the outside!

"It's wonderful here..." Parker sighed dreamily, "It's like a fairytale kingdom!"

"I'm so glad you love it here." Pure Vanilla Cookie patted Parker's shoulder. "It's taken a lot of work to make this kingdom the best it can be."

"I bet it has. You've done a wonderful job!"

Pure Vanilla Cookie chuckled, "Oh it wasn't just me." He guided Parker to the entrance to the Crows Rest Inn, and opened the door for them to go inside. "I've had so much help from other friends. In fact, if it weren't for them, this kingdom wouldn't even be here!"

"That just makes it even better!"

He let Parker in and sat him down at a small table, before he rushed to grab a bowl of raisins. He raced back and handed the bowl to Parker.

"My friend, please help yourself. Everyone that comes into this inn gets a bowl of raisins free of charge!" Pure Vanilla Cookie offered.

"Oh thank you! I love raisins." Parker happily started to snack on the raisins. "It's lovely in here, by the way." He couldn't help but 'ooh' and 'ahh' at how the inn looked so merry, yet so soft too.

"Ha ha, thank you for all of the compliments, truly." Pure Vanilla Cookie sat down along with him, he had also brought some glasses and a jug of clean water for them both to share. He carefully poured the water into each glass before looking up at Parker with a knowing smile, "You know, you've earned yourself quite the reputation in my kingdom. All of the citizens are so curious about you!"

Parker looked confused, yet also happy. "Really? They also know about the Cookie Force, then?"

"Of course they do." Pure Vanilla Cookie smiled warmly, "In fact, every single cookie ever has a Cookie Force warrior. Even the villains."

"You mean every cookie..? Ever?" Parker looked flabbergasted. "That's very cool, now that I think about it. And it explains the humans that work with the Cookies of Darkness."

Parker and Pure Vanilla Cookie had a happy chat, just like they always did. However, it was interrupted by the inn's door opening revealing Black Raisin Cookie and a rather disgruntled Strawberry Crepe Cookie.

"I had to practically drag Strawberry Crepe Cookie out of their lab, I'm sorry we're late." Black Raisin Cookie giggled, while Strawberry Crepe Cookie scoffed.

"Heh, you just WISH you could be as smart as I am. I was on the brink of making revolutionary technology for Earth-bread but nooo. You had to drag me away!"

"Ah, I was expecting you both!" Pure Vanilla Cookie ushered them in and grabbed some chairs to sit on. "I'd like you to meet Parker Vallance. He's been helping me protect Earthbread for over a month now, and is the leader of the Cookie Force."

"I've heard a lot about you, Parker." Black Raisin Cookie sat down comfortably, she looked over to Parker, who looked rather nervous. "I think what you're doing is wonderful. You're giving cookies a chance to live without fear, despite you being a completely different species."

"Thank you.. I'm glad that what I'm doing is actually helpful to all of the cookies." Parker looked rather bashful, but he managed to keep his composure.

Strawberry Crepe Cookie didn't sit down along with the others, they were staring Parker down. Although, if looked into closely, there was no sign of anger in their eyes, but rather astonishment, and a bit of determination. "I see roughly 50% of you is compassion, 27% kindness, 20% is a crush on a certain platinum-blonde haired girl and 3% snarkiness.. You fascinate me, Parker." They whispered, "I might have to study you in my lab."

"Ah.." Parker giggled, he looked rather scared at the idea Strawberry Crepe Cookie proposed. "I don't know if I have the time to be a lab rat.. But I appreciate your fascination with me as a person.."

"Now now, Strawberry Crepe Cookie." Pure Vanilla Cookie patted them on the back. "I'm not too sure if Parker would be particularly fond of being an experiment."

"I was only suggesting, he didn't have to say yes." Strawberry Crepe Cookie scoffed.

The four then had a nice, long chat. They shared raisins, wonderful drinks together and many laughs along with them.

---------------------------------------------------

"This kingdom is so awesome!" Holly squealed excitedly, "I can't feel my feet! I can't feel my feet!" She giggled as she rolled around on the soft, cushy double bed in Hollyberry Cookie's room.

Hollyberry Cookie heartily laughed as she saw Holly's childlike excitement, "I knew you would love it! But this castle isn't the only thing my kingdom is known for. Come here and have a look."

Holly practically dashed to her friend's side and peeked out of a giant bay window. It was the most incredible view of the entire Hollyberry Kingdom. Holly could see everything from the bustling markets to the gorgeous palace gardens, to even the docks which cookies would travel on boats to and fro, all around the kingdom.

"Wuahhh.. the water looks so clear!" Holly looked fascinated at everything, like a kid going to a theme park for the first time. "I wish I brought my surfboard.. If the river is this clear, I can only imagine what the sea looks like!"

"Maybe next time, friend." Hollyberry Cookie laughed, Holly reminded her so much of her granddaughter, Princess Cookie. "One thing is for sure, though. The sea is absolutely gorgeous in this kingdom!"

"Is it? Ahhh! I'd love to go see it! In fact, I think I want to see this whole kingdom.. But where to go first?"

"I think we should both let off some steam." Hollyberry Cookie placed her hands on Holly's shoulders, "How about a dance in the castle gardens?"

Holly only seemed to get more and more excited, "We can dance? I'd love to! But I don't know If I should be dancing at such a formal place in such casual clothing." She looked down at her wide legged jeans and pink vest top with confusion and slight self-consciousness."

Hollyberry Cookie chuckled, "I'll get the tailors to make you a dazzling dress, then! They work very quickly in this kingdom, because they're just so passionate about outfit making!"

"You'd do that for me..? Thank you so much!!"

It wasn't long at all until Holly got to pick out her fabric and have a beautiful, rose pink dress tailored just for her. It was adorned with blush pink roses and had the most darling petticoat underneath, which had patterns of flowers on it. It was like one big botanical spectacle.

"This is such a dream come true!" Holly twirled in her new dress once it was ready to wear. "I've always wanted to feel like a princess, thank you Hollyberry Cookie, truly!"

"Don't mention it! In fact, it's the least I can do!" Despite being the one giving, Hollyberry Cookie had the look of gratitude clear as day in her eyes. "If it wasn't for you, my kingdom wouldn't of been so jolly like it is now. You slice away all of our worries and further solidify the passion in our hearts. So in fact, I should be thanking you!"

"Daww.. I'll keep the passion ablaze in my heart just for all of the cookies!" Holly giggled as she started to style her hair. "You can count on me! As long as I'm alive, everyone will be safe and happy!"

Holly and Hollyberry Cookie exchanged plenty of laughs while they got ready, before going to the castle's gardens and having the most wonderful party with a great atmosphere, great cookies and absolutely delectable food. Just what the Hollyberry Kingdom was known for!

Chapter Text

"You'll have to wrap up, Dorian. I don't want you to catch a cold, or worse." Dark Cacao Cookie suggested, passing a warm, fluffy black and dark mauve cloak: insulated gloves and big, fluffy boots. Dorian didn't seem too bothered at all of the clothes being thrown at him, he put them on with no question.

"This kingdom must be below freezing if I have to wear all of this.." Dorian chuckled quietly, "And you tell me your warriors fight in these conditions?"

"Harsh climate makes harsh warriors. The only way to become stronger is to face challenging battles, and this climate makes the perfect base to build resilient and determined warriors."

"I respect them, truly." Dorian slipped his foot into the giant boot, which despite it's size fit him like a glove. It was probably thanks to the insulation inside. "There, all finished."

"Then let us get going, everyone is waiting for us." Dark Cacao Cookie led Dorian out of his quarters and to the citadel. It had cylindrical columns topped with massive chocolate capitals, which kept the roofs strong enough to withstand even the harshest of snowfalls. Black and white elements were interweaving the place, making it complete. Like life and death, night and day. Perfect opposites.

Every citizen in the kingdom was eagerly awaiting the king and the special guest to arrive, they stood upright and all held serious expressions on their faces.

"Citizens of the Dark Cacao Kingdom. Thank you for your presence, all of you." Dark Cacao Cookie announced, "As you may know, me and the other ancient cookies have been found the Cookie Force, who strive to protect our home, and theirs."

Dark Cacao Cookie gently grabbed Dorian's hand, pulling him alongside him with care and respect. "This is Dorian Clayton, who is the Cookie Force Warrior I have found myself. He has been sacrificing his time and energy to keep us all safe."

Everyone immediately started to bow out of the purest respect, it was rather beautiful, for Dorian to see. They were all bowing for HIM. He felt rather embarrassed seeing all these cookies that he doesn't even know paying such respects for him.

"Ah- thank you all." Dorian bowed back, he felt rather obligated to. "I promise to keep protecting Earthbread as.."

He stepped forward slightly. "Pure Cacao!" He exclaimed with slight cheer in his voice.

"HURRAH!!" Everyone in the kingdom erupted into an applause, they all began to chant "LONG LIVE PURE CACAO! LONG LIVE THE DARK CACAO KINGDOM!"

————————————————————

"Are you feeling relaxed yet, darling?" Golden Cheese Cookie asked a rather happy looking Gina, who was having a spa in the cheese fondue springs.

"Relaxed is an understatement..." Gina sighed, melting into the cheese. "This is the best spa day I've had in fifteen years.."

"I would expect so!" Golden Cheese Cookie chuckled poshly. "No spa can ever compare to this, you know."

The cheese fondue springs had the most relaxing aroma out of every spot in the Golden Cheese Kingdom, despite the unappetising thought of cheese being all that she could smell, it pleasantly surprised Gina that it wasn't the case.

All around both her and Golden Cheese Cookie were cheesebirds tending to whatever needs the golden sovereign asked for. A glass of juice imported from the Hollyberry Kingdom? Sure. More refreshing cucumbers for the eye masks? Absolutely. They zipped up and down the kingdom like little jet planes.

"If I had cheesebirds of my own.." Gina sighed dreamily, leaning against the bath's edge, "I wouldn't be making dinner most nights, and I wouldn't have to spend so long deciding what to wear!"

"I've seen that first hand." Golden Cheese Cookie giggled.

After a good, long soak in the springs, numerous Cheesebirds arrived to help Gina out, and wrapped her in a turquoise towel made out of the finest cotton, along with a golden robe that was softer than feathers. The group retired to the Golden Sovereign's quarters, where she then had a nice massage, and even her hair brushed, and styled into low buns with braids surrounding them.

"You've all done such a wonderful job.." Gina blew a kiss to the Cheesebirds, "Thank you all for such a wonderful treat, truly."

One of the Cheesebirds flew onto Gina's arm, and lightly nuzzled her cheek before looking up at her in honour. "Anything for the likez of you, O Golden Princess! Chirp!"

Gina's eyes lit up in glee and she immediately nuzzled the bird back. "Oh aren't you precious! Calling me a golden princess! Thank you for the compliment.." She stopped nuzzling the bird and let it fly away, so it could get back to mining, or doing some other task in the kingdom.

"Dear, all of the Cheesebirds call you the 'Golden Princess,' you've made quite the name for yourself in my kingdom, thanks to your deeds!" Golden Cheese Cookie patted her shoulder delicately, like Gina was one of her own treasures.

"Really?" Gina immediately threw herself on the golden silk sheets on the bed she was already on. "Does that make me famous...?"

"Well of course." Golden Cheese Cookie joined her, laying next to her and even grabbing pillows for the two to rest on. "Everyone in the kingdom's taken quite the liking to you already, Gina. So of course you're  a mini goddess in their eyes now! Hahaha!"

"Mini goddess... I'm getting showered in compliments.." Gina snuggled even further into the bedsheets.

The two didn't spend all day resting and chatting. After a short while of laying there, Gina got changed into some fabulous clothes and was escorted to the Golden Cheese Kingdom's newly built club, where everyone had the time of their lives partying and playing fun games.

——————————————————

"You see that there, Willow?" White Lily Cookie carefully pointed to a giant, silver tree, which had the soul jams' shapes formed out of branches on them. "This is the Silver Tree. It's been around longer than pretty much any cookie, even me."

Willow was eagerly taking notes, she was always a curious girl, so everything new to her made her feel like a kid on Christmas Day. "It's beautiful.." she stopped note-taking to look up and admire the beautiful flora. "I love all the different kinds of branches. But why are they shaped like the soul jams?"

White Lily Cookie wrapped an arm around Willow's shoulder and whispered delicately, trying her best to remain quiet. "It's a very special, but secret reason.. If you want to know, can you promise to keep it a secret for me?"

"Yes." Willow replied immediately, not sparing any time to consider.

"Alright.." White Lily Cookie quickly cleared her throat before continuing. "Long before Earthbread was this developed, when the fear of the oven still kept cookies awake at night... There were five heroes made to help the cookies. They brought an age of peace and prosperity to all cookies... Until.."

"Until..?"

"No one quite knows how it happened, but one by one, they all corrupted, and chaos erupted onto Earthbread once more. The witches, the ones who made the cookies, were so disheartened that they trapped the once-heroes and separated their soul jams into halves.. In which, one half of the soul jams were given to a new batch of cookies."

"You're one of those new cookies.. aren't you?" Willow muttered, she practically had stars in her eyes.

"Hehe! You're very smart!" White Lily Cookie giggled, placing a hand over her mouth delicately. "Yes, me and the other Ancient cookies are the ones that hold the halves of a much more complete soul jam. But you have to keep it a secret..!" She lightly tapped Willow's nose.

Willow chuckled at the gesture, "That's my promise to you. Although it makes me wonder.."

"Yes...?"

"Are there Cookie Force warriors... before us? Like ones that also have their own soul charms-" Willow stopped her talking and let out a soft giggle, "I might be thinking about this a bit too much.."

"How about we have some tea in the faerie library, and theorise later?" White Lily Cookie offered, noticing in Willow's eyes how frazzled she felt from all that theorising.

"Sounds wonderful."

The two walked away from the silver tree, and went to the library, where they read all of the songs of the faeries they could get their hands on.

Chapter Text

"They thought they could get me, oh yeah. But they don't know half of it." Josh cackled to himself in his room, every single piece of furniture was covered in brown scales, except for his bed, which had thin sheets and had numerous swamp-green scales surrounding it. "They may have won the battles, but I'll win this war, no matter what it takes."

He looked down to the scale he uses to transform with a snarky grin on his face, he had a plan. And it wasn't a nice one. "I'll show those little kids what true power is." He soon was covered in a purple-like goo, and disappeared from the room. There were no signs that he was even in there. 

-------

Meanwhile, in the Vanilla Kingdom, Pure Vanilla Cookie and Parker had just bid farewell to Strawberry Crepe Cookie and Black Raisin Cookie. The sky was getting much darker than the pale blue it was before, it became a much more somber gray, with a mix of.. eerie purple. It made Parker's eyebrows furrow.

"Crocus.." Pure Vanilla Cookie sighed worriedly, "If he's in Earthbread, then it must mean trouble."

"Looks like it's hero time." Parker practically flung his cookie pact out of his pocket and slammed the soul charm in. "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!" He transformed into Pure Vanilla and opened the charm chest, grabbed one of the phone charms and placed it in his pact.

"Hello?" The cookie force's voices emanated from the pact, and the lights on it started to blink quickly.

"You're gonna want to come to the Vanilla Kingdom, we've got a certain guest that's not so welcome here."

The pink light flashed prominently as Holly spoke, "Really? I'll be over as quick as I can be." Everyone else spoke in agreement, which only made the lights flash quicker.

Crocus was peeking into the inn and scoffed, before flying up into the sky, with help form his cape. "Hah. He doesn't know what's gonna happen, none of them do!"

Crocus started to move his hands, forming a little maroon boulder that slowly became bigger until he almost couldn't carry it. He immediately threw it at the inn.

"No!" Pure Vanilla shrieked, running out and using his magic to make the strongest healing shield he could. He wasn't alone, Pure Vanilla Cookie was helping him with his magic, too.

The boulder kept growing, and the two only struggled to hold it down and stop it from crashing into the inn, which cookies were still residing in.

"Oh Ho Ho!" Crocus was a giggling fit seeing them struggle. "And I thought the ancient cookies were powerful! Struggling to hold a boulder that weighs lighter than a feather!" He exaggerated, flipping his lack of hair. "Trying to go down with this little brat, are we?"

It was getting harder for the two to hold off the boulder, their hands were getting sweatier, they were getting more tired by the second, and it only pushed closer to the inn.

It was going to hit the wall. Numerous cookies wouldn't make it if the two just let it happen, so they kept pushing, kept persevering. "We're not giving up, no matter what it takes." Pure Vanilla Cookie whispered to a very determined Pure Vanilla. He only nodded back, too focused to mutter a reply.

For whatever reason, the boulder became easier to lift for the two of them.

"Need a hand?" A familiar, soft voice rang through the air. It was Pure Lily. In fact, everyone showed up to offer support.

"You came quickly!" Pure Vanilla sighed, relief was practically written all over him.

"Of course we did." Pure Lily smiled back at him, while also keeping her focus on the boulder, "I- None of us would leave you in a sticky situation." She grabbed her cookie pact, albeit with a bit of trouble, and summoned her staff. "𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦!" numerous vines wrapped their way around the boulder, and she tried to pull it away from the inn.

Everyone immediately grabbed onto her back and helped her pull it away. It took a while, but they got it far away from hurting anyone.

Crocus didn't fight, merely observed. This teamwork thing was too good for him once again. He knew he was able to make Holly feel tizzy for at least a little while, but he had to step it up if he wanted to win.

He had to ruin them, and he wasn't afraid to do it.

Chapter Text

"Here, we can hold it down with this." Dark Cacao Cookie placed down his grapejam chocoblade sword, which held the boulder down perfectly.

"It's working perfectly, thank you." Pure Lily helped secure it by tying a few of the vines to the sword.

"It should stay down, my sword is very heavy. Only I can lift it."

Boredom was written all over Crocus' face. He didn't want to watch a bunch of kids and desserts lug around a boulder that he could've destroyed them with. His expression didn't last long, a sly smirk tainted his face.

As soon as the vines were tied, the boulder was lifted with purple magic. The sword was instantly ripped away from the vines and fell to the ground. He held onto the boulder with the vines, albeit with help from the magic.

"Alas." Dark Cacao Cookie sighed, grabbing the sword before it could fly away alongside everything else. Crocus grabbed hold of the boulder by the vines and swang it around slowly as if to taunt them.

"So, did ya miss me?" Crocus taunted, flashing them a snarky grin.

"Missing you is impossible." Pure Cheese snarled. "To be honest, I enjoyed battling the one with the black cape, he's funnier than you are."

"At least he isn't trying to kill us. I'll give him his due, he's just doing his job." Pure Berry admitted, rather begrudgingly.

"Dark Liquorice? Gimme a break! He's a numbskull." Crocus bellowed, "Can't even tie his own shoe laces." He soon muttered to himself. "Anyway, I'm far better than him, see? He just wants to beat you."

"Why weren't you here last time? When we were on the beach." Pure Lily had a confused expression paint her face. "We were stuck with Dark Liquorice."

"I'm not telling you nothing. I just had other business to take care of."

"You shouldn't of come back." Pure Cacao seethed.

Crocus snarled, "Oh yes i should of." He began to whisper, "He just wants to beat you, but I will destroy you."

Instantly, he threw the boulder around like a flail, trying to smash everything around him into little pieces as quickly as possible. "I will destroy you, and these pathetic little kingdoms just for good measure!!"

Thankfully, the Cookie Force were quicker, dashing to each location and shielding off the boulder from even leaving a dent on anything Everyone dashed to the inn, then the statue, then the houses and castle over and over again until their legs couldn't carry them anymore.

The Cookie Force and the ancient cookies were shattered. They flopped to the floor and rested outside the Vanilla Castle, all either sitting or laying down. They looked like they could pass out at any minute, they all had pale complexions.

"If we don't make it, I want you to know..  It's been nice.." Pure Berry huffed, she was on the brink of fainting, her vision was blurring. Thankfully Pure Cacao came to the rescue with a chocolate for her to nibble on.

"Never give up." Pure Vanilla encouraged them, nibbling on his own marshmallow that he bought. "We've come so far, we're not gonna back down this time."

"No matter what that Crocus throws at us." Pure Cheese was already looking much better, her skin returning to a rich brown colour.

"Looks like some losers didn't eat enough sugar!" Crocus cackled, he swung the boulder around above everyone, purposefully avoiding the buildings this time. "Finally, I'll be able to defeat you. I will finally win, after all the effort you've made me go through.. THIS IS IT! SO LONG, SUCKERS!"

Crocus, without warning, lobbed the boulder at them. They were still regaining their composure, they had nothing to do, nowhere to go. It fell down on them with a humongous and booming

CRASH.

Chapter Text

The boulder smashed onto the heroes once again. It sent an eruption of stone and rock that scattered across the entire centre of the kingdom.

But just like before, they pushed on. They persevered. They didn't give up, because they knew what it would cost.

Not only their lives, but millions of others.

"𝐑-𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞.." Pure Berry croaked, pushing her shield up with all her might.

"𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧!" Both her and Hollyberry Cookie yelled, with the help of Hollyberry Cookie's shield, they were able to lunge the boulder back into the air with strength and plenty of flowers.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡!" Pure Vanilla Cookie and Pure Vanilla called, a blue orb wrapped around the boulder, keeping it safe and giving it a slower fall.

Pure Lily and White Lily Cookie got their staffs ready, chanting one more "𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐆𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦!" Vines donned the boulder once again elegantly, finishing it off with a little green, like a rocky garden.

Pure Cacao and Dark Cacao Cookie were busy keeping Crocus 'entertained.' The crocodile was always fond of unpredictable fights, so a 2V1 kept him right on his toes.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧!" The two howled, the clanks of their swords were all Crocus could hear and the slashes were all he could feel. He was getting rather agitated with how good only two of the heroes were doing.

Everyone began to grab onto the vines, wrapping their weapons around them just like before.

"We're gonna need more weapons." Pure Berry pouted, this wasn't nearly enough for them.

"You've called the right girls!" Pure Cheese giggled. "𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞!" Golden Cheese Cookie joined in with her chant as about half-a-dozen arrows were summoned in front of them. "Here you go."

Soon, a long string of weapons came down from the boulder, it was long enough for everyone to grasp on.

"Alright, on the count of three." Golden Cheese Cookie announced, "You all are going to pull the boulder, and try build up some momentum. Me and Pure Cheese will steer it away from the castle and onto Crocus. Does that sound good?"

"Yes, but you'll need this." Hollyberry Cookie handed over her shield, "It'll give you just that little more help. Keep it safe though, won't you?"

"You're a star, darling. Thank you." Golden Cheese Cookie gladly took the pink shield. It looked rather stunning next to her, pink does look great with gold after all. "It's in safe hands, don't you worry."

The others let out cheers of agreement and anticipation. Six of them grabbed onto the long line of weapons while the golden duo soared high into the sky, getting ready to catch the boulder that would come careening toward the castle.

Golden Cheese Cookie called,"One, two, three!"

The boulder was instantly whipped across the kingdom, the two girls high up managing to catch it swiftly, with help of the shield. Everyone put their strength together and threw the boulder right at Crocus.

Both Pure Cacao and Dark Cacao Cookie were protected by a shield deployed by Pure Vanilla, however, Crocus didn't seem as lucky. He didn't come back up once the boulder landed on him. In fact, it finally crumbled into little bits, leaving remains of rock and a mini boulder-shaped soul charm.

"Do you think Crocus lived..?" Pure Cheese wondered as she flew down, landing with a graceful click from her heels. "If he had died, his body would be here."

Pure Cacao picked up the soul charm and walked over to the others, linking arms with Dark Cacao Cookie. "I think we were too late to hit him, but that wasn't our goal." He placed the charm safely in Pure Vanilla's hand.

Pure Vanilla summoned the charm chest with help from the ancient tome and placed it in, it fit like a glove with all of the other charms collected.

"Do ya think he was scared?" Pure Berry rubbed her chin, expressing that she was deep in thought.

"Perhaps so." Hollyberry Cookie joined Pure Berry with her thinking motion, but stopped once her shield was given back, in just of a good condition as she left it in. "Ta, I knew I could trust you girls."

"Don't mention it." Pure Cheese giggled.

The sun was beginning to set at the Vanilla Kingdom— the statue, castle and little houses roofs' had a soft, orange light paint them.

"It's getting dark here, don't you think it's a good time for us to go home..?" Pure Lily exclaimed rather worriedly.

"Ah, good idea." Pure Vanilla de-transformed, becoming Parker Vallance once more. "Let's come back another time?"

"Preferably without Crocus and a giant boulder?" Pure Vanilla Cookie added with a small, yet clearly cheeky smile.

"Oh definitely." Parker chuckled, and so did the others. They all readied themselves and teleported back home to Earth, and the Cookie Force grew back to human size once again.

Chapter Text

                     𝒟ℯ𝓁𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓉ℯ, 𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓎 𝒷𝓁𝒶𝒹ℯ

"You have babysitting duty again today?" Gina asked Dorian, who was taking out a plastic bag from his backpack, there was a little black dress with intricate purple frills inside. It looked fit for a princess.

"Yes." Dorian smiled, admiring the dress he bought with him. "My sister has some work to do, so she's leaving Dani with me for a while. I thought it'd be a good idea if we headed down to the playground after I pick her up."

"Sounds fun." Gina huffed, wiping the sweat off of her head, I would've loved to come with you, I could've brought Farrah along. But dad's not home until late, so I've gotta cook dinner."

Dorian had finished an art club at the school and met up with Gina in the gymnasium, it was only them two as the others had already went home for the day, with Holly even babysitting her own nephew.

It didn't stay two for long, though. Golden Cheese Cookie and Dark Cacao Cookie climbed out of the student's bags, and settled on the bleachers next to them. Gina chuckled, letting Golden Cheese Cookie curl up around her neck, "I wasn't expecting to see you yet."

"How could I not see your darling faces..?" Golden Cheese Cookie giggled, she had a rather coy smile paint her face. "Although.. I'm now wondering what you're possibly making for dinner, Gina."

"I'm making koshary, tonight. It's very popular street food in Egypt! I thought it'd be fun to cook something from my birthplace. I'll save some for you, okay?"

"Thank you, you're such a treasure." Golden Cheese Cookie gave her a grateful nuzzle.

"It seems the golden sovereign is quite the fan of egyptian food, from what I gather?" Dark Cacao Cookie chuckled.

Golden Cheese Cookie scoffed playfully, "Well, there's some lovely dishes cooked there, and don't I deserve the loveliest?"

Dorian packed the dress back into his bag and looked up at the two girls, "It sounds delicious, my mouth is watering thinking about it. Hope you two enjoy it-" He got a little distracted by the big digital clock on the back wall of the hall, it read '4:00PM' in big red letters. "I'd better get going, I've gotta be at my sister's before 4:30." Dorian hastily stood up and zipped his bag up nice and shut, Dark Cacao Cookie climbed onto his shoulder.

"Oh, okay." Gina looked a bit saddened that her friend had to go, but she only had half an hour left of her club, anyway. "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, goodbye you two."

Dorian and Dark Cacao Cookie made their leave, walking out of the school. The sky was a beautiful sapphire colour. There were a few clouds, but they didn't ruin any of the beauty of it. In fact, it only made the sky more wonderful.

"I don't get to see Dani too often.." Dorian started to mutter, "But without a doubt, every time, I offer support, be open and caring. That's what I think a family's for. To be an anchor through tough times."

"Ah, yes." Dark Cacao Cookie sighed rather solemnly. He knew how important family was, and how difficult it can be should you lose their trust, he knew that all too well. "Dorian, would you do me a favour and promise me something.." He looked across to his teammate. 

Dorian looked back at the cookie, he noticed the solemn glint becoming more apparent in Dark Cacao Cookie's eyes, and instantly muttered an "Of course." 

"Thank you," Dark Cacao Cookie cleared his throat, "Promise me that you will keep that love in your heart shining bright, and please.. send that love to your niece. She means more to you than you might realise."

"I promise." Dorian's pinky finger wrapped around Dark Cacao Cookie's tiny one. "With all my heart." The two exchanged a knowing giggle with one-another before finally making it to Dorian's sister's house. 

The house looked a lot like a cottage. It had a wide, oak coloured roof and each brick on the walls were a beautiful bronze colour. The door matched the roof's oak colour, and had a little circular window in the middle of it.

Dorian gave the door a gentle knock, while Dark Cacao Cookie hid himself away in his friend's pocket.

Chapter Text

"Ah, Dorian you're a star.." Dorian's older sister Carmen had an eternally grateful look in her eyes. They were a pure, delicate violet, which didn't really match what she was wearing. She wore black, wide legged jeans with slight rips in the knees, along with a caramel coloured tank top. Her mocha coloured hair was styled into a spiky bun. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Anytime, Carmen." Dorian chuckled. "But why did you call me over, again? I knew it was something to do with work."

"Oh yeah!" Carmen cleared her throat, "You see, the Dragon's den cafe called me and said one of the bartenders were sick, so I offered to take their place until about seven o'clock. Hopefully it doesn't drag-on! Hehe!"

"Haha, I'm sure it won't." Dorian laughed along at Carmen's attempt at a joke. She was always so cheerful, he knew that she was doing a good job at being a mother. 

From the corner of Dorian's eye, he saw a little girl who looked no older than three with black hair styled into little ringlets approach from the inside of the house. She instantly ran to Dorian's leg and clung onto it like a little sloth to a tree.

"Hi hi.." the little girl muttered, snuggling up to Dorian's leg. 

"Hello, Dani." Dorian spoke warmly, he picked up his niece and rested her in his arms. She instantly curled up in her uncle's warm embrace. 

"Mama, when will you be back?" Dani peeked out of Dorian's arms and looked at Carmen, the little girl felt anxious despite being in safe hands.

"Seven o'clock, darling." Carmen patted her unsure daughter's head. "I'll only be gone three hours, not very long at all!"

"Okay mama." little Dani nodded, she was an odd little girl. She was quiet and reserved, not jumpy and full of life like other kids her age. It could never stop her from being the biggest sweetheart Dorian had ever seen, though. 

Carmen checked her watch, and quickly gave her daughter a little kiss on the forehead, and gave her brother a side hug. "I'd better get going now, I'll see you both soon!" She locked the front door of her house and rushed into a small, white car. 

Dorian gave his sister a small wave, and Dani waved along with him, muttering a small "Bye bye" and Carmen quickly drove off, leaving the two on their own. "What are we doing today?" Dani looked up at her uncle with curiosity.

"I wanted to go to the flower store and get my friends Parker and Willow some seeds. They're doing some gardening today." Dorian softly explained, he never rushed with her ever. "And then we could head down to the park, Holly and Phillip will be there!"

"Okay!" a small smile appeared on Dani's face.

"I've also got you a little something, my friend Gina helped me pick it out."

"Farrah's sister?"

"Yeah. Farrah's sister." Dorian sat on a wall near the house, keeping his niece secure in his lap. He opened up his school bag from earlier and showed her the pretty dress. "Do you like it? I got it just for you." 

"Pretty.." Dani admired the dress, she grabbed onto the purple frills gently. "I like this a lot. Thank you! It's like princesses!"

"That's why I picked it, lovely!" Dorian giggled, and put the dress back in his bag once his little niece let go. "Should we head to the flower shop now? I'll let you pick the seeds."

"Yeah!" Dani cheered, resting in Dorian's arms as he shut his bag and headed on his way.

The sun didn't stop shining the entire time, everything was so vibrant to the eyes of the two family members walking. The yellow signs that instructed people in cars, the green of the trees' leaves and the bright signs of shops kept the two always talking about something. Games of eye-spy could go on for ages with all the things to spot. 

The flower store wasn't far from Carmen's house at all, so it didn't take too long before they made it inside and gazed upon the array of seeds on offer for them. 

"Do you want to pick some seeds you'd think Parker would like for his garden?" Dorian whispered, he knew Dani would be overwhelmed with options, so he didn't want to overwhelm her with his voice, either. 

"Seeds.." Dani muttered, she looked all around the rack of seeds, gazing upon all the different options that were offered. Two particular packs caught her eye, and she delicately removed one of each from the rack. "These..?"

The packs that Dani had picked made Dorian giggle, a packet of white lily seeds and a packet of yellow orchid seeds. They fit Parker and Willow to a T. "Good choice. They will be perfect for them!" He kept Dani nice and secure in his arms as he paid for the seeds and left. The next stop, Parker's house. 

Parker had a quaint house. It had a small brown gate with a little blue welcome sign, plenty of bushes with all kinds of different flowers. It felt like a little house from a fairytale, much better than the other, blander looking houses nearby. Dorian tapped on the gate to try get the attention of Parker and Willow, who seemed like such budding gardeners, with their floral themed gardening gloves on.

Parker gently stood up and walked to the gate, with Willow following suit. Parker giggled upon seeing the two waiting for him and his dearest friend. "I wasn't expecting to see you two here! How are you both doing?" 

Dorian chuckled, "We're doing great, thank you. How's the gardening going?"

"Great, but we've just ran out of white lily seeds." Willow giggled along with the other two. "We had nearly finished the area where we wanted them too.."

"White lily?" Dani chimed in, "We got you white lilies here." Her little arms extended with the seeds in her hands, it was clear she wanted Willow to take them. They were practically shoved into the girl's hands. 

"For us?" Willow took the seeds from Dani, but held onto them loosely just in case they weren't actually for her.

"Yeah." Dorian insisted, "We knew you two were gardening, so we thought we'd get you some seeds. Dani picked these herself!" 

"Thank you so much, Dani!" Parker took off one of his gloves so he could give Dani a pat on the head without ruining her hair. "This means so much to us!"

"Hehe, it's okay." Dani giggled at the pat, and snuggled further into Dorian's arms once again.

Willow looked away from Dani and looked up at Dorian himself, "What are you two up to after this?"

"We're heading off to the park, Holly and her nephew Phillip are gonna be there any minute now." Dorian informed them. 

Willow looked excited for them, "Wow, have fun you two! Me and Parker are gonna keep gardening until seven, and then I'll head home. We'll see you at school, yeah?"

"Yeah, I'll be there! Goodbye you two!"

"Goodbye Dorian! Bye Dani!" Parker waved as the two departed once more, heading to their next stop, the park.

Chapter Text

Clouds were starting to fill up the once-blue sky, but thankfully they were just white. None of those clouds had any speck of rain that needed to come out. Despite this, Dorian and little Dani were still as happy as they were before, approaching the oddly empty park.

"Dani Dani Dorian!" A cheerful young voice giggled, coming from the warm embrace of the just as happy Holly Baretta.

"Phillip Phillip!" Dani squealed, once the two friends approached, the little toddlers immediately were released from the embraces and rushed into the playground area of the park, somehow managing to not slip.

"You'd think there'd be more people here." Dorian muttered, confusion written all over him. He was whispering to Holly, who looked just as perplexed. They also entered the playground and sat on a bench near the play equipment.

"Weird, huh? And I could've sworn I saw a familiar face, one who's not that friendly to us." Holly looked worried, she pointed her finger over to a large tree nearer to the park, perfect for a frail boy like Josh to hide. "He must've become Crocus. Phillip saw a green tail swishing as we went past to meet you. Thankfully for me, he didn't take much note of it after a small question."

Dorian's previous confusion was now replaced with pure anger. "Josh. If he thinks he can waltz in and try hurt our sibling's children, then he can meet. My. SWORD." He then sighed, trying to calm the growing storm of anger inside of him. "I've got no doubts that should he actually be here.. He'd definitely try to use these kids to his advantage."

"Oh definitely. If he's actually here, then it's a requirement for us to stay on our toes."

Much to their likely dismay later on, it would turn out Crocus was there, hiding behind that very tree Holly pointed at. He seemed to be muttering to something, or rather someone since there was a familiar voice coming out from it. That voice didn't sound cheerful in the slightest. 

"You Imbecile." Dark Pomegranate's voice was heard and her untransformed self, Persephone was seen.  "Why didn't you wait for me? Dark Enchantress Cookie told you to wait."

"All you do is hold me back." Crocus mumbled, one of his scaly hands curling into some horrifying, deformed looking fist that didn't fit the anatomy of a crocodile at all. "If I didn't have to deal with you, I would've taken over this world ages ago. But of course, life hates me."

"Rightfully so.."

"QUIET." Crocus snarled, but still kept trying his best to keep his voice down. "Listen, I've got the perfect idea so you'd better get a move on and make your way over here. Otherwise I'd have no one's magic to use to my advantage. Besides, you should've just gone with me in the first place."

"I'll be there.." grumbled an annoyed Persephone, who held her mirror close to her heart and mumbled a small "Grant me power, o' mirror of illusions." She instantly turned into Dark Pomegranate and appeared just as quickly in front of him. "This idea had better be good."

Crocus pushed himself ever closer to Dark Pomegranate, his foul breath that reeked of onions wasn't a welcome sight for her. She could practically feel the snarkiness he has as little parasites on the tip of his tongue. "Don't worry, this one will be great." 

He pointed over to the anxious looking Holly and Dorian, who were chatting per usual while still resting on the park's bench. "You know I managed to give that Holly a little bit of trouble," he gloated, "even if she did defeat me in the end.. But never mind that."

"That Dorian, the loser with a knack for making stupid pencil marks into even more pathetic 'drawings.' Yeah, people like them, but people have no common sense. I could do better with my eyes closed."

"You cheated in the art competition with a machine that  can't even make fingers look correct. It's a shame that I'm on one of my enemy's side in this case, but I'd rather have art with effort than art without soul." Dark Pomegranate said bluntly. 

"Doesn't matter right now!" Crocus snarled, he was never one to accept an objectively correct opinion, that's what everyone in the Cookies of Darkness would say. "Back on topic, that niece of his, as vile as she is, is the perfect target for my plan. He'll do anything for her. If I put her at stake, he's sure to try stand up to me."

"Good luck with that.." Dark Pomegranate looked like she couldn't care less, she was inspecting her nails, making sure none of her ruby red polish had chipped while she was on her way to the crocodile. "His resolution knows no bounds. And knowing you, you're no good with fighting him."

"Zip it, lock it, shove it in your pocket. I'll get him in a sticky situation, you'll see." Crocus stared out to the pink and purple duo once more. "I'll defeat you, Dorian. And those other gnats will soon fall with you."

Chapter Text

Crocus' wicked snarl appeared from the side of the tree, spying even more on the group of four. Unluckily for him, Dani and Phillip noticed his tail sticking out. The two had wide imaginations, so that one tail sent their minds racing. They both rushed back to Dorian and Holly, with Dani even tripping on the grass. She didn't cry surprisingly, only wobbling back up and muttering a few 'ow's as she shuffled closer.

"Holly Holly we saw the weird tail again!" Phillip jumped up and down and pointed to the tree where Crocus stood. "It was mean, and green! It might eat us i think, whatever is on the other side of it." His little body shuddered at the thought of becoming unknown animal food.

"Did you now?" Dorian asked, picking up Dani and checking her legs and arms for any scrapes or bruises. There was only a small scrape on her little knee, she didn't even flinch when he wiped the wound with ointment and stuck a small, purple bandage on her knee. "Was it moving?"

"Yeah, yeah! Slithery like a snake!" Phillip's face was filled with stress. "And then me and Dani.. We heard strange talking behind the tree.."

Crocus, who was now full on peeking at the tree, didn't want to get caught in the act. He de-transformed and became Josh. He left Dark Pomegranate by herself. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Dorian's eyebrows furrowed. He saw Josh approaching. He turned to Holly and whispered in her ear, "Take Phillip back home. Now. I mean it." There was no more confusion or sadness from him, only pure anger.

"But what about Dani.. and you?" Holly whispered back worriedly, she picked up little Phillip and held him close.

"I'll be fine, call your brother William, ask him to look after Phillip then come straight back. I won't be able to stop that vile creature alone."

"William?" Phillip tugged on Holly's school tie. "Can I see William?"

"You can see William. He should be free." Holly smiled down at a much more eager looking Phillip, before turning to Dorian again. "I'll be quick. I promise." Holly gave Dorian and Dani a quick side hug before speed walking away from the park. She was shaking as she walked away.

Josh wasted no time and began speed walking up to Dorian himself. All that could be seen was the bitter anger that laid dormant inside him, waiting for the right moment to erupt like a volcano of rage.

"Long time no chats, Clayton." Josh snarled, finally reaching his resolute enemy. "I must admit, I do miss being at school. Shame they expelled me for something so minuscule."

Dorian growled back,"Minuscule?" He hid Dani in his arms like she was a treasure he had to keep safe at all costs. "Minuscule??!" He repeated. "The suffering of children here and a whole planet of cookies is just minuscule to you?"

"Minuscule." Josh repeated Dorian's own words with a clear tinge of sarcasm, his words didn't mean anything to him. "But trust me on this, you stubborn little rat. It won't be minuscule for you."

The sky turned from the usual daytime blue to a deep black, dark as the night with purple clouds looming over everything. It was much more serious than the usual, far less sinister purple sky.

"And I'll tell you why." Josh smirked. "It'll be something for you to remember.

Dorian tried his best to remain nonchalant, he let out a sigh and held onto his cookie pact, so he'd be ready. Ready to stop whatever was going against him. But Josh cornered him and little Dani by a tree, and got much closer to them.

"Go on, then." Dorian kept his composure thr best he could.

"Look back, Dorian. On all the things you can remember since we met." Josh started, he went further away from his foe and started to circle him. "Remember when the moment you saw your friends getting hurt, you didn't run away and did the stupid thing of trying to protect them? Remember when you still persisted at that stupid competition, something 𝐈 was supposed to win? And remember how you stood back up when you should have let yourself get defeated by me?"

"What does that have to do with this." Dorian took out his cookie pact and soul charm, somehow not dropping them.

"It has everything to do with this." Josh purred. He yanked his scale and kissed it, transforming into Crocus once more.

Dani started tearing up. It was the tail from before, and she now knew who it belonged to. A slimy, scaly, scary crocodile. "C-crocodile! The tail! The tail it's on the crocodiiiiiiiiiilllllleeeeeeeeeee......" she started to weep, Dorian attempted to calm her by bouncing her like a baby, which seemed to work, at least a little bit.

Crocus, trying his best to not snap at the sound of a toddler's wail piercing his ears, approached Dorian once more and gently whispered him his ear, "This is something you'll be sure to remember.. when I end your nieces pathetic little life, and all you'll be able to do is watch."

"No." Dorian had none of it. He flung open his cookie pact and threw the charm inside, "Not while I'm here. Not while I'm here to protect her."

Dorian began to transform, "𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞!"

Chapter Text

"𝐋- 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐨." Was the call Pure Cacao yelled.

"That's the coolest thing I'd ever seen..." Dani peeked out, looking at her uncle now in armour, summoning a blade of his own with spirit.

"Whereas, I'm feeling kinda underwhelmed." Crocus retorted. He turned over to Dark Pomegranate and yelled, "Yo Pomegranate, get me a sword!"

"The last time you did a swordfight against this child you lost rather pathetically." Dark Pomegranate rolled her eyes. She used her mirror's magic along with the help of a sword shaped soul charm to make a blade fit for a battle. "Catch."

Dark Pomegranate, who didn't bother herself with paying attention, lobbed the sword at Crocus. Her ruby magic made it appear before him quickly. He caught it by the sharp edge of the blade, and swung it around recklessly like a little child with a new toy. 

"Dorian Clayton I'm sure you're aware I've been waiting for this for a good while now." Crocus snickered, his enemy's brave facade covering a heart full of fear made him want to squeal out of excitement. "After all, I would say last time was unfair. You had the clear advantage, gaining those powers. It's about time we played more fair. And I think something higher at stake would help me achieve that."

Crocus latched onto his scale once more, but he pressed on a little button instead. It revealed a needle with a dangerously sharp edge. "See this, peabrain? Look at it. If that needle touches anyone, they're doomed to go through what I did. Corruption."

Corruption, what a heavy weight to bear.

"Don't you dare." Pure Cacao pointed his sword to Crocus' neck, the pointed blade almost as sharp as that needle was eerily close to the crocodile's scales. Despite his fear, he was swift as the wind. 

"I'll dare as much as I like."

Instantly, Crocus tried to pierce both of them with the needle, but Pure Cacao jumped away, keeping his niece snuggled close. Both Crocus and Pure Cacao's swords slashed, the clangs rang in the air like bells and the movements were faster than race cars at full speed. 

It felt similar to last time for Pure Cacao. Crocodiles, high stakes, magic swords. He should've gotten used to it by now, he was always a fast learner, and it wasn't his first rodeo in swordfighting either. 

But for some reason, he felt a pit in his stomach. Was it the addition of his niece? The idea that Crocus would annihilate Dani in front of him if he made one wrong move? He thought so. 

"Stay on your toes, Dorian." Dark Cacao Cookie's voice rang through his ear. The cookie had climbed on top of his shoulder while he was cornered at that tree. "I've called the others, I have a feeling Crocus isn't the only thing you will be dealing with."

"Thank you." Pure Cacao whispered back gently, despite his actions being the complete opposite. 

Crocus suddenly stopped and dropped his sword onto the floor, He didn't seem angry like he would've been, it was like this was all a play, and he knew the script off by heart. "You've gotten good. Taken any fencing classes since last time?" 

"Not of the sort." Pure Cacao muttered, tightening his grip on the now shaking Dani. 

"I'm surprised. I thought your lines on paper was all you focused on, even if you didn't actually take lessons, I'm still impressed." Crocus picked up his sword and inspected it, there were a few scrapes from earlier, which earned a scoff out of him. "Pathetic little thing. I need something bigger."

As if by magic, Crocus' sword became double the size of Pure Cacao's, and the needle from the scale rested upon the tip. "Much better. Now I can finally do what I promised. Say Goodbye to Dani, Dorian!" 

The sword swung down onto Dani, just inches away from piercing into her delicate skin. But it was blocked, blocked by a familiar-looking pink shield.

"Pure Berry." Pure Cacao smiled in relief upon seeing his friend.

"I always keep my promises!" Pure Berry giggled, piercing the needle into the pie-crust looking area on her shield. "The others are here too, but Dark Pomegranate has her own tricks. See all those people covered in blades?" Pure Berry pointed over, it looked like the other three warriors were fighting chunks of metal from the distance. 

"Rats." Pure Cacao sighed, agitated. "You go and defeat them and I'll continue keeping Crocus busy, yeah?"

"Yes sir!" Pure Berry ran off to join the others.

Pure Berry must've been the calm before the upcoming storm, because Crocus instantly charged at Pure Cacao again, still with the needle, the key for his victory. However, the shield had managed to take some of it, as there was now a much duller needle, as dull as a well used knife. 

"You sicken me!" Crocus snarled, gripping onto his sword like it was the only thing he had left to live for. His slashes became quicker and quicker until,

Slash.

The needle pierced it's way into the tiniest bit of little Dani's skin. It left a little purple dot of blood, like some concoction mixed with her real blood. 

The two were separated. Pure Cacao took the rest of the hit, although lacking the needle. He was flung across the park like an insignificant bug off of a freshly clean table. Even Dark Cacao Cookie was thrown away, but was caught safely in Pure Cheese's hand.

Pure Cacao fell to the floor and coughed profusely.

It was dead silence from then on. No slashes of swords, no huffs or puffs from the two fighters, just, nothing. Nothing from Pure Cacao, who seemed to have stopped breathing, much to the elation of Crocus.

"YES! YEEES!" Crocus cheered, not bothering to check the limp body of the hero. He was down, and that was all that mattered to him. "Turns out you AREN'T as strong as you seem! Poor you.. Just a shame, isn't it? Couldn't even protect your niece!"

Dani, unlike Crocus, tried her best to rush to Pure Cacao. The bottom of her face was covered in tears from her crying, and all that shaking didn't help either. 

All she could mutter was a soft "D- dorian.. Dorian.."

 She wept, "DORIAN!!!!"

Chapter Text

"Dorian... Dorian Dorian..." Dani sobbed, once she approached her armour covered uncle, she flung her arms around him and sobbed into his chest. It didn't matter to her that he felt hard to the touch, it was his armour. And she knew that was still her uncle under there.

Shakily, Pure Cacao's arms wrapped around his little niece and he returned her sorrowful embrace. "There we go." He softly whispered, caressing Dani's hair. "Did you get hurt at all?"

"Um.." Dani stuttered, she pointed to the small purple dot that lingered on her arm, "This thing is here.."

Instantly, Pure Cacao sat up and tried to wipe away the purple from Dani's arm. There was only the smallest bit now, which he was too late to remove. It had already made it's way inside of her, and there was no way to get it out.

"Will I be okay?" Dani gripped onto Pure Cacao's armour, she still had plenty of tears painting her face, and more were threatening to come out.

Pure Cacao dried her eyes with a small , purple handkerchief, and gripped onto his own sword with one hand. "You'll be just fine. Crocus hasn't won just yet."

-------------

"Dark Cacao Cookie.." Pure Cheese looked anxious as she caught the ancient hero. "What's happened to Pure Cacao? Is he okay?"

"F-from what I see.." Dark Cacao Cookie groaned, looking over to his friend and the little one he was carrying once more. Upon seeing them rise, a smile made it's way onto his face. "Him and Dani are just fine. Their resolution shines through."

"Hehe, it shines like gold." Pure Cheese giggled, "Shall we finish these guys off, and join Dorian?"

"Yes, we must."

"Then let's waste no time!" Pure Cheese let Dark Cacao Cookie rest on her shoulder while she summoned her spirit into her cookie pact. "𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞!" The blade covered people Dark Pomegranate summoned were hit by the golden arrows of abundance, Pure Cheese had managed to corner them all beside a particularly large tree.

"𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐆𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦!" Pure Lily helped in her own way, tying the enemies up in some vines. It was working as a distraction, but the vines were trying to be cut.

Pure Vanilla came to the rescue with his "𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡!" he covered the vines in a shield of light, making them impossible to break.

And Pure Berry delivered the final blow, "𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧!" she sent the enemies flying in an instant, but interestingly, they disappeared like they were never there in the first place. Dark Pomegranate also departed, letting out a small scoff.

--------------

It was just Crocus now, who was still gloating on Pure Cacao's nasty fall, he'd even made his way to the other members of the cookie force, just to gloat that much more. "Consider your squad of five a squad of four." He cackled, swinging his sword without a care in the world.

"And what makes you so sure?" Pure Cheese didn't hold back on her sass, especially considering how wrong that crocodile would be sooner, rather than later. "He's called 'the cookie force warrior of resolution' for a reason."

"You should've seen! I knocked him out cold! and you'll never guess what.." Crocus slithered his way up to the team of four, and whispered delicately, "He stopped breathing.. He's gone. No more Pure Cacao."

"No more Pure Cacao.." Pure Vanilla copied him, his face was slightly tinged with worry, despite knowing his friend was A OK.

"That's right. So next time, you may want to run, rather than fight me." Crocus snarled, "Or you might suffer the same fate as your little friend."

"Easy now.." Pure Cacao tried to be as quiet as he could, standing up and holding Dani once more. "Shhh... I'm gonna trick him."

"Shhh.." Dani repeated, trying her best to stay silent, which she was very good at.

Pure Cacao tiptoed his way behind Crocus, and muttered ever-so quietly, "𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧." He stabbed the sword into Crocus' back and pulled it out quickly.

Crocus let out a nasty yell, which echoed across the park. Then, he just disappeared like Dark Pomegranate did. Did Pure Cacao actually kill him? None of them would know until he'd appear again, if that was ever the case.

The clouds darkened, turning from white to a dull grey, and raindrops started to fall onto everyone, all of the cookie force de-transformed, and a sword shaped soul charm appeared in Dani's small hands. She had no idea what to do with it, so she handed it to Dorian.

"Would you look at that." Dorian chuckled, Parker handed him the charm chest and he placed the charm in it's new home. There were only six spaces left until their charm chest was full. "I'd say we're doing a good job collecting these."

"I really think we are!" Willow giggled along with him, "I'll do some more research on them when I get home."

"Speaking of going home..!" Holly squealed, rain was starting to pour frantically over everyone. But there wasn't a speck of sadness spotted anywhere on their faces. "We should get going before we catch colds!"

Everyone started to run home trying to escape the pouring rain. All of their laughs echoed across the park.

----------------------------------

"I should drop you back home in my car, Dorian. You're soaking!" Carmen giggled as she dried her younger brother off from all that rain. "I'm not letting you walk around town sopping wet now, am I?"

"You're far too kind, Carmen." Dorian was drying off little Dani, who was getting sleepier by the minute. He looked down at Dani and gave her a smile, "Are you gonna have a nap, lovely?"

"Yeah.. I am...." Dani yawned, "See you soon Dorian... night.."

"Haha, good night."

"Daww. Look at you both." Carmen picked up Dani, who cuddled into her mother's warm embrace despite being out like a light. "I'll go put her to bed, you stay there, I've made you some cake for you to take home."

"Really?" Dorian muttered, not wanting to wake up his sleeping niece. He knew very well she needed this nap. "Thank you ever so much."

"Don't mention it! I want you to take it and enjoy it, or I'll be convinced you don't like my baking!" she fake wept quietly before heading upstairs.

It wasn't long before Carmen came back down, she rushed into the kitchen and grabbed a plastic box with a purple lid. There was  a delicious dessert inside for Dorian, and she didn't hesitate to walk and give it to him.

"Oh wow.. thanks! I know I'm gonna have a feast tonight." Dorian chuckled, and took the box handed to him. Carmen had made him a small chocolate cake, cut into four slices with scrumptious chocolate buttercream icing on top.

"Eat it after dinner, though. I don't want mom shouting at me because you decided to be cheeky, okay?" Carmen put her hands on her hips, as if sternly instructing Dorian.

"Okay, okay."

"Now it's half seven." Carmen looked at her watch, it was a pretty bronze with golden clock hands. "I'd better get you home before eight. Let's get a move on!"

---------------------

Dorian had his music on softly in his bedroom. The only other noise was the soft rubbing of his pencil as he once again turned blank paper into canvases holding beautiful pieces of art.

He was with Dark Cacao Cookie, who was joining him in eating his cake. Dorian had already finished one slice, while his cookie friend was having much more trouble, the cake was the size of him, after all.

"Are you okay down there?" Dorian laughed quietly, he used his fork to cut the cake into slightly more manageable pieces.

"I don't know if I can finish this, Dorian." Dark Cacao Cookie supressed a laugh himself, "It's delicious, but I cannot eat it all at once! I don't understand how you can stomach this so quickly."

"I must be magical, or my stomach is infinite." grinned Dorian, he shut the box so he could have a snack on the way for school. He always saved his sister's snacks, they were great fuel.

There was a worry lingering in Dorian's mind, though. What of Dani? Would she be okay although that tiny bit of corruption managed to stay inside of her? Dorian could only pray that she'd be fine. "Dark Cacao Cookie, do you think Dani will corrupt..?" His voice got even quieter, Dark Cacao Cookie almost couldn't even hear him. "I wasn't able to get all of the corruption out of her."

Dark Cacao Cookie approached Dorian and climbed up onto his shoulder. "There is a very unlikely chance that it will happen." He reassured Dorian, who had little tears threatening to come out of his eyes. "And even if it does, she will not fully corrupt. One miniscule drop of corruption can only do so much."

"Thank goodness.." Dorian sniffled, "If she does corrupt then Crocus won't see the end of my wrath. I have a feeling that he's going much too far now."

"If he goes far, we will go further." Dark Cacao Cookie grabbed a tissue from a tissue box on Dorian's bedside table, and rushed back to hand it to him. "Dry your eyes, young one. You and I both know darkness will not prevail while we're here."

"Thank you, Dark Cacao Cookie."

Chapter Text

                      ℳ𝓎 𝒻ℯℯ𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝒻ℴ𝓇 𝓎ℴ𝓊

Parker couldn't sleep all night.

No matter how much he tossed or turned, no matter how many relaxing teas he'd made or how many times his parents calmy asked him to try fall asleep, nothing seemed to work.

That of course, led to him being very tired that Friday morning, but he still woke up at the right time, got dressed and packed for school as if he had a good night's sleep.

"Parker Peter Vallance, you look sleepier than usual." Pure Vanilla Cookie chuckled, he was calling his friend through the ancient tome, they had grown quite used to checking on each other every morning.

"Anyone can tell. I didn't sleep until gone midnight.." Parker yawned as he tried to rub the rest of the sleep out of his eyes. "That only ever happens to me when I'm worried about something." And worried he was, he'd finally mustered up the courage to do what he'd wanted to do for so long, Confess his love to Willow.

"Worried?" Pure Vanilla Cookie shared his feeling now that he knew his friend was anxious about something, "Worried about what?"

Parker said nothing, he was much too nervous to even make a sound. But despite that, Pure Vanilla Cookie knew exactly what he meant to say just by his expression. "Ah, I see. You're finally ready?"

"I think so." Parker hugged onto a pillow like he was trying to squeeze his nervousness out, "I'm doing a science project with her at the end of the day.." he smiled when he mentioned the project. He enjoyed science, but especially when they were working together. "So I think I'll tell her then."

"How romantic!" Pure Vanilla Cookie giggled, "You two almost remind me of when I was at school."

"Did you have a crush too?" Parker giggled along, "Was it White Lily Cookie..?"

"I'm not telling!"

"Oh come on! I told you about my love life!" Parker sighed rather dramatically, throwing his face into the squished pillow. "You're very lucky that I have school soon, otherwise I'd know everything about your love life."

"And here I thought Holly was the matchmaker!"

"Shush!"

The two shared many laughs while Parker was getting ready. He tried to look as smart as he could for Willow, ironed uniform, clean and perfectly styled hair, and a spritz of vanilla cologne to keep him smelling fresh. You name it, he's done it.

Parker ate a lovingly made breakfast from his parents and bid them farewell before tying his shoes and leaving for one of the most mentally challenging school days in a while.

"Helloooooo Parker!" A voice called, it was Holly, per usual. She was with Gina, who had a piece of toast in her mouth.

"Good morning." Parker waved, "You both look well."

"I'm glad, I had to rush out of the house today." Gina muttered while shoving the toast down her throat, "I was really tired, I had trouble getting out of bed this morning."

"Don't worry, you're not the only one." Parker's voice quietened, and he started to look rather bashful. "I was awake all night thinking about something."

"Are we allowed to know..?" Holly moved a little closer, "You can whisper it in my ear!"

"In our ears!" Gina butted in.

Parker knew very well that he couldn't keep it a secret, he was bound to tell the greediest girl, and the matchmaker anyway. They had their ways on picking up intel, he must've learned bits and pieces from them. "Promise that you can keep it a secret?"

But he knew he could trust the two to keep his secrets, not extreme ones that he'd only share with Willow, but still important ones, nonetheless. Holly chimed back in with a quick "Promise...!"

"Okay, alright, very well." Parker sighed before getting even closer and whispering into the two's ears, "I'm gonna confess my love to Willow today."

"Reallyʸʸʸ?" Holly squealed, but she covered her mouth and tried to stay quiet.

"Yes, really." Parker tittered, "I'm gonna do it after school and I'll let you know how it goes."

"We'll be right there with you, Parker." Gina patted his head, "You've got this."

"Ahah, thank you."

Dorian and Willow weren't too far behind, they were talking to each other about something important too, but not much could be heard besides small muttering.

"Doriaaaan! Willow!! Morning!" Holly called, waving her hand in the air. The two let out small laughs as they walked closer.

"Good morning, Holly." Dorian chuckled, "Morning everyone."

Gina walked up to Dorian and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "How's Dani doing after the other day?"

"Thankfully, she's doing just fine. Dark Cacao Cookie told me a little bit about the whole poison thing, and since it's so small, there's a very low chance that it would actually harm her." Dorian informed them, "Oh and how was dinner, Gina? Did it go to plan?"

"Yeah, everyone loved it. Golden Cheese Cookie tried to convince me to save half of it just for her! She did get some, in the end."

"Greedy as ever, I suppose." Willow chuckled along with them, "Parker," She turned to Parker, "I'm very excited for science class today!" She looked very giddy, which wasn't usually like her, but it made Parker feel all the giddier.

"Me too!" Parker held onto Willow's hand, it felt warm and comforting, and it only made him feel even more nervous. "It's always better with you."

Blush formed on Willow's cheeks, although it was rather subtle. The five continued their walk to school, Parker and Willow still linking hands the entire time.

Chapter Text

The school's bell rang as it had always done that morning, despite most students would of dreaded to hear it until the end of the day.

Gina was walking off to her first class, saying her hello's to the gym group and all the younger students who admired her athleticism, she could've spent all day just saying hello to everyone, she was a very popular girl.

Golden Cheese Cookie had tagged along in her pocket, like always. She'd always keep her eyes out for any nice food in the cafeteria and would tag along with Gina jewellery shopping after school if she had the time.

The cookie was looking at herself in a comically cheese shaped hand mirror she had brought with her. She admired her hair, her shimmering gold eyes, her soul jam that gleamed with abundance, a silhouette trying to break into the school- Hold on.

Golden Cheese Cookie carefully climbed out of Gina's pocket and perched up onto her shoulder. "Erm.. Gina." She muttered as quietly as she could.

"Aren't you supposed to be hidden? The Cookie Force is a secret, remember?" Gina mumbled back, even quieter than her friend despite being way taller, and more susceptible to being heard.

"My friend you trust I wouldn't just pop out of nowhere if there wasn't something to say."

"Mhm?" Gina looked confused. "You have a point."

"Look over there." Golden Cheese Cookie pointed to outside the window, where the break area was just below. From the corner of her eye, she could see someone trying to climb in.

Gina approached the window she was pointing at and she immediately understood. Greenish-brown hair, an attempt at blending in with school uniform, it was a not so good friend of hers. "Josh." was all that left her mouth.

"Dear, tell the headmaster." Golden Cheese Cookie patted her shoulder, "We don't know if his exclusion was appealed, ask and make sure. If not, that boy is in serious trouble."

"Gotcha." Gina nodded, but the feeling of worry overtook her. "Oh Parker.. Willow.. I can only hope such an important thing for you isn't ruined."

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"How gently do I pour it?" A confused Parker asked, holding a blue vial of potion.

"As gently as you can, if you pour it too quickly it might not work."

The end of the day came by awfully fast for Parker and Willow, who were finally in that science class they'd been looking forward to since their eyes first opened in the morning.  After this, that big risk would be taken. A calm before the potential storm was necessary.

Parker tried his hardest to listen to Willow's advice, pouring one vial of liquid into another that was placed on the table. The vial on the table turned into a greenish colour, and a small smoke cloud formed, but it went away quickly.

"It worked..!" Willow clapped her hands quietly in delight. "Good job, Parker!"

"Ah.. thanks! I didn't really know what I was doing, I'm not studying chemistry."

"That's okay. Considering it's your first time I think you've done exceptionally well." Willow smiled tenderly at Parker, which only made him more nervous. "Now, we need to make another blue potion to mix into this green one."

"Let's not waste any time, then!"

Parker and Willow immediately got to work on making another potion, so quick and agile they were. Mixing all of the right ingredients like they'd done it a thousand times before.

It felt like that for Parker, anyway. He'd always feel safe and in the know with her, and they'd been friends for so long they pretty much knew what the other was going to do before they did it. And that's what he treasured. He didn't want to lose all that trust if she said no. He knew there was a good, nay. Pretty much guaranteed chance she'd stay by him even as only friends, but that hint of doubt lingered inside him.

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"Initiating the rebirth protocol." A rather jolly voice called, it echoed across a seemingly desolate, yet never ending laboratory.

"Initiating..." another voice sighed, playing around with a bunch of switches until one of them would do the right thing.

A few lights had begun to turn on above something similar to a capsule. Inside seemed to be a woman with platinum white hair. Her eyes were closed and it seemed that she was breathing.

"Brilliant job." The jolly voice cheered, "Now we're one step closer into bringing the new age into motion."

"Now all we need is a soul..?"

"Exactly. And I'm certain Dark Enchantress Cookie has just the one."