Baking up a New Adventure! (A Cookie Run: Kingdom Story)

Part 12: Caught Blue-Handed

"Don't think this means you've won yet," Rye warned as Knight was escorted out and Vampire was brought up onto the stand. "Just because the evidence was planted doesn't prove Chili Pepper wasn't the one to commit the crime. Who's to say the person that planted it didn't already know Chili Pepper was the true culprit? There's no shame in framing a guilty cookie."

"Ahem! Witness, please testify for us as to what you saw the night of the crime," Wizard urged Vampire.

"Huh...?" Vampire Cookie stared around, looking rather confused, as he took another sip of his grape juice. "What did you want me to do? Where am I? How did I get here again?"

"Witness, please tell us what you saw last night," Wizard tried again.

"Can I get some more grape juice first?" Vampire asked.

Bang! Rye shot at his glass of grape juice and shattered it.

"Hey, watch where you're pointing that thing," Vampire warned, though he didn't really sound upset. "Luckily, I carry a few spares."

He pulled out another glass of grape juice and took a sip.

"Witness, PLEASE." Wizard insisted.

"Oh, right, you wanted my testimony," Vampire recalled. "Okay, here's what happened. I was lying down in the grass last night, taking a nap. I guess this cookie wasn't really watching where they were going, because they tripped over me and dropped everything they were carrying. Wherever they were going, they were certainly in a hurry. I tried to get them to relax, and I even offered them some grape juice, but they didn't seem to hear me. They picked up everything and ran off. But, in their rush, they left behind one small gem. They took off into the forest, and I fell asleep shortly after that."

"Defense, you may now cross examine the witness," Wizard told us.

"Gingerbrave, would you care to kick off the cross examination this time?" I offered.

"You really mean it?" Gingerbrave pressed.

"Go for it!" I assured him.

"Okay, here goes nothing!" Gingerbrave grinned.

"I was lying down in the grass last night, taking a nap," Vampire began again.

"Hold it!" Gingerbave hollered. "And where would you say you were at this time?"

"There's no need to yell," Vampire started to say. "I think you three just need to relax. Care for some grape juice?"

"Err... no thanks," I politely declined. "Could you answer the question?"

"What was it again?" He asked.

"Could you tell us where you were laying down when this other cookie tripped over you?" Gingerbrave asked him.

"Oh, right, that," Vampire nodded. "I was napping on the grass in the cleared-out area next to Sparkling Cookie's bar, close to the forest."

"Hmm... nothing wrong with that statement there," I decided. "Let's press the next statement and see if we can find any contradictions."

"Err... so what happened next?" Wizard asked Vampire.

"I guess this cookie wasn't really watching where they were going, because they tripped over me and dropped everything they were carrying," Vampire continued.

"Hold it!" I exclaimed, a little less loudly this time. "And what exactly were they carrying?"

"It was a lot," Vampire explained. "So, I couldn't see all of it, but it looked like a bunch of jewels and coins and other valuable items."

"And what about the cookie themselves?" I pressed. "Did you see what they looked like?"

"Not really," Vampire shrugged. "They had a cloak covering their body and a hood over their face, but they almost singed my hair with the spicy footprints they were leaving behind."

"Spicy footprints..." I echoed. "That's the second time somebody's mentioned those. But if it wasn't Chili Pepper, then how--?"

"I'm not sure, but that's what we've got to find out, right?" Gingerbrave responded with his own question.

"Right," I agreed. "There's got to be some big contradiction in this testimony that'll blow it out of the water!"

"And so what did they do after they dropped everything?" Wizard wondered.

"Wherever they were going, they were certainly in a hurry," Vampire continued.

"Hold it!" Gingerbrave proclaimed. "And what makes you say that?"

"They were acting pretty frantic, rushing to pick up everything they'd dropped," Vampire explained. "I don't know why, though. I think we need to slow down every once in a while and just enjoy life."

"Still nothing," I sighed.

"And what did you do during this time?" Wizard asked.

"I tried to get them to relax, and I even offered them some grape juice, but they didn't seem to hear me," Vampire told us.

"Hold it!" I cried out. "How do you know they didn't hear you?"

"Well, if they did, they didn't acknowledge me," Vampire explained. "They just kept picking up their jewels."

"Did you see anything else at this time?" Gingerbrave asked.

"Now that you mention it, yeah, I did notice something pretty weird," Vampire nodded. "They were wearing gloves on their hands."

"Gloves?" I pressed.

"WHAT?!" Rye demanded to know.

"Are you certain?" Wizard asked him.

"Yeah, they were almost this... bluish color," Vampire recalled.

"Well then, if that's true, then it creates a big problem with the prosecution's case," Gingerbrave pointed out.

"It does?" Vampire pressed.

"And why's that?" Wizard asked.

"Take that!" Gingerbrave shouted, presenting a photo of Chili Pepper to the court. "Chili Pepper doesn't wear gloves, and even if she did decide to, she'd probably wear ones that were red or matched the color of her jumpsuit. The last color I'd imagine her wearing is blue! Therefore, if the culprit was wearing blue gloves--"

BANG! Rye fired her pistols at Vampire, who quickly turned into a tiny bat to dodge them.

"Woah," Vampire gasped as he reappeared in his cookie form. "Careful where you point that thing. What's with that look all the sudden? Did I say something wrong?"

"You... explain yourself!" Rye demanded. "Are you trying to make a fool out of me?!"

"Huh...?" Vampire pressed. "Why would I do that? I'm just telling you what I saw that night. That's what you called me up here to do, right?"

"Right," I nodded.

"But... how can you be certain that's what you saw?" Rye wondered. "It was the middle of the night, and you were half asleep!"

"That may be so, but there's a big difference between red and blue, even in the dim light of the moon," I commented. "There's no way to be sure that what the witness saw was blue, but it definitely sounds like it wasn't red, either."

"How do we know what he's saying is even true?" Rye wondered.

"About the gloves, or just in general?" I pressed. "Because if you're trying to say we can't be certain of what he saw because he was half asleep--"

Rye glared at me with such a piercing gaze it was almost as if I'd been shot by one of her pistols. The cookies surrounding us in the gallery burst into chatter.

"ORDER! ORDER! Order in the court I say!" Wizard shouted. "Ahem! Unless the prosecution has anything to prove that it is completely impossible for this witness to have seen gloves on the culprit's hands, then for now, we will accept this statement as truth, unless future testimony or evidence can be used to disprove it. Now, witness, carry on with your testimony, if you please."