Episode 39 The Cherry Chocolate Chip Strawberry Vanilla Cookie Dough Minty Cookie!

Ryuu leads the way down a dark tunnel, while Kunai, Arai, Shuriken, and Ivy follow behind. Ryuu raises his flaming sword, using as light in the dark, timeless tunnel.

“This place is so big…and so confusing,” Kunai says, staring around. “Hey, I think we passed through here already. See? That’s the debris from where you made Arai drop his cookie, Ryuu.”

Ryuu stares at the cookie crumbs littering the floor intently. “Hm…you’re right. Damn, then where the hell are we supposed to be going?”

Ivy raises her hand suddenly, pointing down a narrow path in the tunnel sloping downwards. “There is a path over there,” she says.

“Hm, you’re right,” Arai replies, staring at the path, “I hadn’t noticed that path before.”

“Well, I guess it’s the only way to go,” Ryuu replies, “unless you know where to go, Shuriken. You live around here anyway.” Ryuu turns to Shuriken.

Shuriken shakes his head, staring around at the dark tunnel. “No, I really don’t know where we’re headed. This is the first time I’ve gone this deep into Ludibrium.”

Ryuu sighs. “Okay, fine, we’ll go down that way then. But I’ve got a strange feeling that that’s not where I wanna go,” he mutters.

Kunai, Ryuu, Arai, Shuriken, and Ivy make their way in single file down the path, heading down the sloping path into a darker, more humid area below.

Kunai suddenly looks up in surprise and gasps, pointing forward. “Look at that! Is that…what I think it is?”

Ryuu narrows his eyes, squinting forward through the darkness. “Oh God…I don’t believe it…”

Arai suddenly catches up with Kunai and Ryuu, and stares around pleasantly. Suddenly he notices what Kunai and Ryuu are staring at. His lights light up immediately and a huge grin appears on his face. “Oh my!”

“A house…shaped like a cookie?” Shuriken mutters.

A large house, shaped like a chocolate chip cookie, stands before them, emitting a soft humming. Arai suddenly leaps forward crying out for joy before Ryuu and Kunai can restrain him. He flies down the path leading up to the house and leaps through the open door inside.

Kunai and Ryuu cry out in alarm, and both run forward to chase after Arai. They both burst through the doors of the building and gasp aloud as they stare around at their surroundings.

What appears to be a large cookie factory stands before them, brightly lit with hundreds of cookies lying on moving conveyer belts. In the corner is a large cylinder filled to the top with cookie dough.

Arai runs amidst the many corridors of different chocolates, staring at all the ingredients being put into them. He picks up a cookie and eats it happily.

“Arai! What do you think you’re doing?! Someone’s obviously going through a lot of trouble making these cookies…you can’t just go and eat them!” Kunai shouts.

Ryuu sighs and Shuriken and Ivy catch up behind them. “He’s just a big little kid, isn’t he?” Shuriken mutters beside Ryuu.

A loud whip suddenly cracks in the air before them. Kunai and Ryuu jump in surprise at the sound of the whip. They turn and stare as an old, gray-haired lady totters up to them, leaning on a cane and glaring angrily around.

“Young hooligans! What do you think you’re doing inside my cookie factory?!” she growls angrily.

Arai suddenly pops up from amongst the rows of cookie-filled conveyer belts. He salutes the gray-haired lady. “Hi Grandma!” he cries.

Ryuu turns in shock at Arai, his eyes widening. “That wrinkled old hag is your grandma?!”

“Who’re you calling wrinkled old hag?!” Grandma yells at Ryuu. She cracks the whip violently at Ryuu’s feet, causing him to step back in alarm.

“Grandma! Grandpa died…” Arai mutters as he prances up to his grandmother’s side.

Grandma nods compassionately and sadly. “I see…” she replies. She suddenly reaches into her pockets and withdraws a large cookie filled with gummy bears. “Here you go, dear.” She then hands the cookie to Arai.

Arai replies with a smile and finishes the cookie with one bite. He then turns and stares at the rest of the group with a large smile on his face.

Kunai and Ryuu blink momentarily at Arai, completely bewildered. “Um…what was that all about?” Kunai murmurs. “Why did Arai just bring up Grendel just now?”

“Ah…let me explain,” Grandma replies to Kunai, “When Arai was a little child, his family was much involved in the comings and goings of the world…that is to say, they were adventurers, and they often died stupid fatal deaths.

“Thus, Arai as a child was often pessimistic and depressed, seeing how so many family members died before he could even learn to talk,” Grandma continues, “So it eventually became my job to take care of him. And every time someone in the family went and kicked the bucket, I gave Arai a cookie to cheer him up.

“It seems it was extremely effective, because ever since Arai has become a cheerful, optimistic person, though, I must say, with a bit of a cookie fetish,” Grandma finishes.

Ryuu blinks as Grandma finishes with a grand gesture. “That story sounds completely bogus. I mean, I bet even a kid who’s still in school could write a better story than that! It sounds like you just came up with that in five minutes’ time!”

“Humph!” Grandma mutters, “Think what you want, but it is all true! At least, if I say it is, then it is!”

Kunai stares from Ryuu to Grandma to Arai. “Okay…what’s that supposed to mean?”

Grandma ignores Kunai and turns back to Arai, putting an arm around him. “Come, Arai, let me show you this beautiful new cookie that I’ve been working on…”

The two of them disappear through a small hallway leading out of the main room. Kunai turns to the others, slightly puzzled. “Uh…should we follow?”

Ryuu sighs. “Well, let’s go catch up to Arai before he or his grandma does something stupid…”

As Ryuu and Kunai catch up to Arai and his grandmother, they watch as Arai gazes in awe at a very large cookie, taller and wider than a regular person.

“Behold…” Grandma says next to Arai, “The Cherry Chocolate Chip Strawberry Vanilla Cookie Dough Minty Cookie!”

“WHA…?!” Kunai and Ryuu cry out loud as one.

“That…that…that thing is huge!” Kunai gasps, staring up at the huge cookie.

Shuriken suddenly grunts in alarm and points forward down at the ground underneath the cookie. Several thin shadows are swirling underneath it. “What’s that?”

Ryuu draws his sword suddenly, as the shadows elongate and take shape. Suddenly with a soft hiss, they rise into the air and enter the cookie.

Kunai blinks, raising Myou and clutching a Steely in his hands. “Um…what the heck is going on here?”

“That cookie’s being possessed by a Paradox!” Ryuu growls, as his sword bursts into flames. He raises it and swings, cutting across the cookie one and forming a deep cut in it.

Ryuu turns and gasps, noticing that his sword had not cut the cookie in half. “That cookie…it’s incredibly thick! How much dough did you use?!”

“Oh…I think it was one or two,” Grandma replies casually.

Ryuu ducks, avoiding a blow as the cookie sends a hurdle of chocolate chips at him like stars. “Cups?”

“No, silly!” Grandma replies, “I used about one or two truckloads!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Kunai gasps, sending and planting a Steely right on the surface of the cookie. “How are we supposed to cut through this thing?!”

“Like this!” Ryuu growls, swinging his sword and severely singeing the cookie with it. It turns and faces Ryuu, sending another barrage of cherries his way.

“Ryuu! Be careful not to burn the cookie!” Arai cries from behind him.

Ryuu glares at Arai. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, right?!”

Another barrage of chocolate chips flies towards Ryuu again, landing in his eyes and temporarily blinding him. Ryuu doubles over and clutches his eyes, yelling in pain.

Kunai dashes over to Ryuu’s side, blocking another blow from the cookie. He nudges Ryuu slightly on the shoulder. “Ryuu! You all right?”

“Yeah…I’ll be fine,” Ryuu growls, rubbing his eyes and sending a flurry of chocolate chips falling to the floor.

“Get out of the way,” Shuriken suddenly says into the air clearly. He steps in front of Kunai and Ryuu. Kunai looks up at Shuriken’s back in surprise.

“I said get out of the way!” Shuriken growls, drawing a Tobi in his Casters. He suddenly performs a quick spell, transforming it into a large shuriken.

Shuriken raises the shuriken in his hands, running straight at the cookie. “Avenger!” he yells, as he makes contact with the cookie, sending the shuriken with a heavy impact directly into the center of the cookie.

A large crack appears in the cookie, and it suddenly crumbles and shatters, sending bits of cookie flying everywhere into the air.

Arai jumps forward in surprise and grabs the fallen pieces of cookie, placing them into his mouth at once and chewing happily.

Grandma folds her arms with a low sigh. “I worked so hard to make that cookie…”

Shuriken turns back to face the rest of the group, his eyes blazing with a cold fury. Kunai stares back into Shuriken’s eyes, surprised. ‘He’s very powerful…a lot more powerful than me, actually…’

“Well…” Grandma sighs, “Now that you’ve eaten and practically destroyed The Cherry Chocolate Chip Strawberry Vanilla Cookie Dough Minty Cookie…”

“We’ll get going now,” Ryuu grunts, rising to his feet and sheathing his sword. His eyes momentarily stray over to Shuriken. “And we’ll take Arai off your hands.”

“Very well,” Grandma replies, “Do be careful wherever you go.”

Kunai turns as the rest of the group prepares to go. His eyes stray around the room until stopping on Shuriken. He maintains a fixed stare on him for several moments. ‘Shuriken…’

Shuriken suddenly notices Kunai staring at him. He glares back at Kunai, his expression smug and unreadable. “Hey, we’ve got to get going.”

“Right, sorry,” Kunai replies.

Next Time: Episode 40 Warp

Kunai: Look, Ivy! It’s Clocktower!

Ivy: …

Ryuu: Well, that’s it. Let’s get ready…for the next Triplicate!

Arai: Unexpected trouble…

Episode 40 Warp coming soon!