The Past Always Catches Up.

The Battle

Almond paced the ground of the campsite thinking of what they could be missing. Lemon Tea looked over from his spot at the campfire with a raised eyebrow. He then looked at the group with him and he thought of a question that he hadn't thought of before. Could they all handle it? He shoved the thought from his mind. They could, at least, they had too. Almond stopped pacing to stare at the fire but then continued. 

"Almond why don't you eat?" Pecan asked. "You'll need it for tomorrow."

Almond thought for a second before waving the offering away. Eating slowed his brain down and he needed his brain at top notch. The friends and family looked at each other worriedly. 

"Well since no one else is going to..." Roquefort whispered, partly to himself, as he stood up and walked over to Almond. He copied Almonds pacing until Almond stopped with an annoyed huff.

"What do you want Roquefort?" Almond asked.

"I want you to eat." Roquefort said and Almond sighed.

"I don't need to."

"Uh... I'm sorry, but you look like a normal cookie to me..." Roquefort said inspecting Almond up and down, " and if I remember Health class at all, normal cookies need to eat."

"Well I never said I was normal." Almond cookie said with a sarcastic smile.

"Almond, so help me, you will eat or I will shove Pecans delicious food down your throat." 

Almond glared at Roquefort for a second before sighing and sitting down by the campfire with everyone else. Lemon Tea stared at Roquefort in astonishment. He could never get his younger brother to eat when they were little. Roquefort lifted his chin and adjusted his tie with pride.

The next morning came faster than anyone expected and brought new worries. Lemon Tea had to answer everyone's questions and take the reigns in calming everyone down. It wasn't easy.

"Alright does everyone know their partners?" Lemon Tea asked after the exhausting hour of answering questions.

"Yes and I would like to complain about mine." Espresso said coming out of the shadows. Lemon Tea grumbled something.

"Listen, I'm not happy about it either, but it has the most strategic advantage so we're stuck with each other Mr. Espresso."

"I don't see why I can't just partner with Peppermint Tea."

"Because you don't match his power level. You match mine. Now that's the end of that discussion. Anything else? Remember, once I weaken the shield, he'll know exactly where we are."

No one asked anything else. Lemon Tea nodded and walked over to the shield.

"I hope we're ready for this." He whispered and with a whoosh of his arm, the green bubble that had protected them all disappeared.

A flash of green lightening blinded them all for a second. When their vision cleared they saw Black Tea Cookie standing in front of them. He leaned on his cane with a smug smile on his face. 

"Wow. Look at this welcome party." He said and searched the group before him. "But I do believe ones missing?"

Peppermints hands clenched into fists and Latte gently held his hand to comfort him. 

"Yeah, Hazelnut, y'know, your own brother. Your own dough that you killed." Peppermint said. Black Tea looked at Peppermint with fake shock and horror.

"Well, at least I have one down. Oh don't look so disgusted Lemon Tea." He said.

"How can I not be when a cookie doesn't even feel a small amount of remorse for killing his own brother." Lemon Tea said and shook his head. "It just shows how much of a monster you've become." 

Black Tea scoffed.

"Is that what I am now? Is that what I am for accepting the power it gave me?"

"Power isn't everything." Almond cut in and Black Teas eyes immediately came to him.

"Hmm... maybe, but thank you for reminding me why I was here." Black Tea turned to the group. "Hand over Almond and none of you will get hurt. You should take this deal. I'm being merciful."

It was Lemon Teas turn to scoff.

"Over our dead bodies." He said and everyone pulled out their wands and staffs. Black Tea clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"And here I thought you'd be sensible." He said and raised his arm. Roots erupted from the ground and raced toward the group.

"Latte, Peppermint, handle the roots!" Lemon Tea yelled as he dodged one. Latte and Peppermint got to work, destroying and defending from the onslaught of vicious roots. Somewhere during the battle, Lemon Tea and Espresso had gotten separated. In order for the spell to work they had to be in the same spot. Lemon Tea began to panic as he fought back the newest group of roots that were attacking him. Finally, Lemon Tea spotted Espresso across the field and started to make his way over to him. When Lemon Tea reached him, he helped Espresso fight off his own roots before they both pointed their wands at Black Tea. With a battle cry they unleashed the 2 magics. The streams of green and brown intertwined and hit Black Tea in the chest. He went down with a shout of anguish. The streams pinned him to the ground and Lemon Tea along with Espresso started to walk forward. Glowing green cracks started to form in Black Teas dough. He let out a scream as the cracks started to spread throughout his body.  Lemon Tea and Espresso both poured as much as their power as they could into the spell. It was working, at least until it wasn't. Black Tea looked at the two with glowing green eyes.

"Oh no." Lemon Tea said and he was about to tell everyone to get down but the explosion cut him off. Grunts and yells were heard. Black Tea stood up, panting like a wild animal. The cracks still glowed in his dough so much that he didn't look like a cookie anymore. Almond lifted his head from the ground only to be hit by a raging headache. Black Tea turned to him and with a scowl commanded the roots to go after Almond. Almond couldn't move as the roots raced toward  him. They wrapped around him. Black Tea smiled.

"No matter what you do, I will always win." He said to Almond and clenched his fist. The roots squeezed Almond as they grew tighter around him. Almond gritted his teeth as he tried to continue breathing.

"What do you want?" Almond asked as breathing became harder to do. Black Tea didn't answer but only smiled. Almonds eyesight started to darken. All of a sudden, the roots slackened and let Almond go. Almond coughed as air filled his lungs again. He looked up in shock and saw the same expression on Black Teas face. A groan was heard and they both turned to the noise. Lemon Tea clutched his head and gritted his teeth. Horns started the grow from his head and claws sprouted from his hands. He had bargained too much. An ear-piercing scream erupted from Lemon Teas mouth as he changed. Espresso watched in horror of what he was seeing. Black Tea stared in shock. He never thought Lemon Tea would do such a thing but here they were. By the end of the change you could barely think that such a monster would've been a cookie at one time. The monster rose up on its hind legs and its eyes targeted Black Tea. With a blood curdling roar, it charged and dragged Black Tea into the forest.

Almond weakly rose to his feet. Pineapple rushed over and shoved some medicines into his mouth. 

"Blargh! What did you give me?" Almond exclaimed as he shook his head.

"Don't ask."

A howling scream erupted from the forest along with snarls and roars. Before Pineapple could stop him and try to reason with him, Almond ran through the forest toward the sounds. Almond broke unto the scene of the 2 monsters battling each other. Their feet shuffled close to the edge of a cliff as they clawed at each other. 

"Lemon!" Almond yelled as they got closer. One of the monsters looked at Almond with wide eyes before they fell off the cliff.