Short Story: What if Denize Became A Pillager? Part 2 - Beyond the Great Chocolate Wall

snakegore999

This is the second half of a two-part short story. Read the first part, subtitled "Don't Panic", here: https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/387794/short-story-what-if-denize-became-a-pillager-part-1-dont-panic#latest

With their new mission clear, Tiffi, Hilda and Denize next had to figure out how they were going to get to the mysterious island. Hilda's clan had several dragon boats, but the elder's command not to allow any other pillagers to join them made rowing one an impossibility with too few people to do so efficiently. However, Denize already had one solution in mind: "You both know I'm a great swimmer. My tail can tow that boat...I think. There just needs to be a hook installed on the bow that my tail can grab." As the boats didn't have such a thing, Tiffi and Hilda saw to it that it would be installed, which would require them to measure the girth of Denize's tail midway through, as well as arrange for blacksmiths to forge and attach the hook to the boat they planned to use, comfortable enough for her to grip it.

When that was done, Tiffi fed Denize some zongzi she had in her pocket for swimming fuel, then went aboard the modified pillager boat with Hilda. Then Denize, with her gear removed and stowed aboard the boat, stepped into the waters in front of it, grabbed the bow hook with her prehensile tail and prepared to swim with all her might to tow the boat to the island. The boat passed through the Fjords and out into the open seas. Thanks to her remarkable swimming skills, a boat trip to the island that normally took several days was shortened down to a matter of hours, although it did take quite a toll on her stamina due to the boat's mass. Hilda used a map from the clan to direct Denize to the island.

By the time they arrived, night was falling and food was needed. Fortunately, the waters surrounding the island were replete with Swedish Fish, which Denize hunted and caught effortlessly. Though it was not her favorite food, she tolerated it, as it was the only thing the three could eat, cooked over a campfire she conveniently ignited with her flame breath the three set up just outside the cave the scouts previously visited. Around this fire, the three casually chatted with one another about their latest ongoings before this unexpected expedition, before going to sleep.

The next morning, the three woke up and ate some more Swedish Fish for breakfast, before Tiffi and Hilda helped Denize put on her new pillager gear, before the three headed off into the cave. It was cold and dark, but Denize used her flame breath to ignite a few torches to light up the cave. Chocolate truffles that looked more like actual truffles grew near the cavern walls, which were studded with countless, tiny colorful sugar-shell gems. No significant wildlife inhabited the caves, and the only threat they faced was the slightly labyrinthine nature of the cave passages. After an hour or so of nearly getting lost, they finally found the giant chocolate wall the scouts could not break. It looked like an actual chocolate bar thousands of times larger than life.

Hilda noticed the parts of the wall that were chipped out by the scouting party's hammers. She then asked, "If hammers aren't going to be effective, then what will?"

"Uh, what about my flame breath?" Denize then asked excitedly.

"Whoa, there, Izzy! If you melt the chocolate right there, you'll make a huge mess!" Tiffi warned.

"Good point," Denize conceded, and for a moment, the three ladies were back at square one over how to destroy the wall. After a few moments, Denize came up with another plan. "I'm going to try giving the wall a good kick."

"What if you break your foot?" Hilda then asked.

"You know, if my legs weren't so strong, I'd be crawling or slithering and I don't specialize in either," Denize then replied. She then pounded her booted, three-toed left foot right into the wall three times, leaving a very shallow crater into it before having to take a knee. Hilda and Tiffi then each took turns swinging their hammers at the crater, before Denize got back on her feet and swung her own hammer like a golf club to hit it. The wall began to significantly crack after a few dozen hits. Encouraged by this, the three took a brief break before pounding away at the wall with their hammers, with Denize delivering an occasional fierce, but cautious kick. Eventually, they were able to smash a hole through it, which Tiffi and Hilda stepped through, while Denize had to crawl through it since she was too tall to walk right through. An explosion of colors pierced their eyes as they came across a dead-end cave full of many sparkling gems, each being the size of a basketball.

"What's all this stuff here?" Denize then asked.

As the three took a few steps further, Tiffi, who knew almost everything about candy, then replied, "They're gumdrops. All gumdrops. But I don't think they're ordinary ones. They shine like gems..."

"Then they must be sparkling gemdrops", Hilda then replied.

"Now that's what I call smashing," Denize said with admiration.

"Let's take as much as we can and head back home," Hilda then said.

Within a few hours, the three gathered as many gemdrops as they could and loaded it up onto their ship. Denize then had her gear removed and stored onboard, then duly towed the ship with Tiffi and Hilda onboard back to Fudge Fjords after Tiffi fed her another helping of zongzi for fuel. When they finally arrived with their loot, Hilda's pillager clan was indeed impressed that these three were able to accomplish what they thought was impossible. They saw great value in the treasure found in the cave and everyone got their share of the spoils.

***

My child thought this story was going to perfectly end happily ever after at this point and asked me, "So, what happened to the three of them?"

I could only reply with this: "Hilda came home excited about her latest adventure. Tiffi left the Fjords to continue her long journey helping others."

"And Denize?"

"She and the entire clan came to the mutual conclusion that she couldn't really be a pillager and she calmly turned tail back to what she calls Lemonade Lake to be with her husband and kids. But she didn't forget to take a few gemdrops with her back home and leave behind her pillager gear with us. The three of them said their farewells before they all went their own ways. Today we keep Denize's armor as a trophy and solid proof that dragons may even be friendly despite their scary looks. I sure hope we may meet more dragons like her after what happened."

"Will we see another one? Will we see her again?"

"I can never answer such questions, but I hope we can see another one later, if not sooner. Good night."

The end.