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Salt manages to slap the ball onto the opponent's side.

In swift movements, Roguefort catches the ball, dribbling it across the court at full speed, as if he was meant to do this all along.

Almond, seeing this, tries to stop the incoming Cookie but to no avail - Roguefort was too fast for him. The swift Cookie seemed to be like a bolt of lightning, zapping across the court as if he was teleporting and scoring 2 points without breaking a sweat.

He was so fast that Pilot didn't reach the hoop even after he scored.

"Alright, Roguefort's team is leading."

A bunch of Cookies had gathered next to the court, some sitting down with a drink in hand, others pointing at the players and whispering their opinions on how they played.

4 Cookies stood in the front row of spectators.

A Cookie in a blue robe with glasses, a Cookie with a lab coat, a Cookie whose hair was a fluffy light blue, and a Cookie with fried jellies in hand, stuffing them into her mouth.

"Huh, they've sure changed since we first saw them." The Cookie with glasses commented, pushing up her glasses while observing the match.

"Good...for...them." The fellow Cookie from the Cranberry team replied in-between munches.

As the match went on, Roguefort's talent in the game shone even more - he was undoubtedly the best player in the team, with Almond occasionally being able to cut him off using tactics that no other would have been able to think of. Salt and Buttercream Choco had great aim - when the ball was in their hands, they would almost always shoot it in the hoop.

On the other hand, Prophet and Pilot were struggling...to say the least.

Prophet, without his crystal ball (he was advised by Salt to put it away in fear of smashing it accidentally), was quite uneasy.

Actually, no, he was very uneasy - the crystal ball was basically his lucky charm, to a normal person.

What about Pilot? Well, he was just awkwardly bad at sports, despite his knowledge in mechanics.

He'd run to the middle, trying to catch up with the others on a side, then when the ball came dribbling back he'd just try to block whoever was "attacking", which unfortunately wouldn't work no matter how hard he tried.

The score was now 12-20, with Roguefort's team being in the lead and a mere 5 minutes left on the clock.

Salt, Prophet and Roguefort were defending; Almond, Buttercream Choco and Pilot were attacking, with Almond holding the ball.

"Didn't realise the fisher was that tall." The Cookie in a lab coat observed.

"That's because you never paid attention, Dr Wasabi Cookie. Also, Prophet put down his crystal ball, how interesting."

"He's literally a trainwreck without it." Dr Wasabi Cookie commented.

Passing the ball to Buttercream Choco, the tanned Cookie tried to shoot but was blocked, while Roguefort was guarding Almond like he was a metal wall.

With no other choice, he passes the ball to Pilot, who's absolutely terrified once he sees the ball coming towards him.

"Woah, what do I do with this-"

Before he can finish his sentence, Prophet comes dashing towards him.

In a panic, he frantically throws the ball towards the hoop.

And everything goes in slow motion - Roguefort turns his head towards the hoop, Almond has a shocked expression plastered on his face, and Prophet finally reaches Pilot, panting for breath.

The ball bounces on the hoop once, twice, thrice, and it goes in.

"That was impressive, Pilot!"

Almond walks over to give a thumbs-up to his flabbergasted teammate, and the look of confusion on Pilot's face is priceless.

"Uh...thanks?"

Before Salt can start the match again, the male instructor blows the whistle, its shrill sound scaring the Cookies both on and off the court.

"What a match! I'm surprised you all have a talent for basketball despite your different upbringings. " the male instructor applauded while clapping his hands.

The tired Cookies dragged themselves off the court, Prophet and Pilot both collapsing on the first bench they saw.

"Woah, you really are tired," Almond exclaimed at the two Cookies slumped on the bench while eating a few water jellies.

"Yeah- wait are you drinking water? Won't you get soggy?" Prophet questioned after catching a glance at the Cookie.

"Oh, just eating some water jellies. They won't harm. Now I wonder...how did you guys manage to swim in the ocean when we were hunting for food?"

Prophet exhaustedly sat up and had a confused look on his face.

"Actually, the ocean in our camp has magic in it to prevent Cookies from getting soggy."

"Instructor?!"

The male instructor had walked over from the court snd eavesdropped on the two Cookies' conversation.

"Magic? From where?" Almond asked.

"From the Wizards in the City of Wizards. They enchanted the Ocean."

"Gee, I'm getting hungry from all the exercise," Roguefort muttered while walking towards the small group of Cookies.

"Wanna grab a snack?"

~♤~

"Hey, this looks good!"

After a great lunch that Roguefort and Almond decided to whip up together to show how much they've improved, the Blackberry team were now in the Hall, making a badge to commemorate their friendship. Roguefort and Almond were choosing a design to print out, Prophet and Buttercream Choco were deciding what words to put on the badge, and Pilot and Salt were testing out the machine to make sure nothing would go wrong.

"Yeah, it looks great, you have an eye for these things." Roguefort applauded.

Almond was holding up a design that had a blackberry in the middle, with a few flowers that complimented it on the side. The top and bottom were blank to reserve space for the words they were printing.

"Thanks, Roguefort," the Cookie replied with a simple smile.

Meanwhile, on another table, Prophet and Buttercream Choco were talking. Prophet stared blankly at his crystal ball, muttering words that couldn't be heard by others. He snapped out of his trance and turned to Buttercream Choco, who was finalizing the font of the words.

"Buttercream Choco, I don't think you'll want to hear this."

Buttercream Choco looked away from the letters.

"What? Is it one of your predictions again?"

"Yeah. Something tells me that the story isn't going to end well."

"Huh? What story?"

"I don't know, my crystal ball only told me that the story won't end well, though it's occasionally wrong and I don't see what story we are in."

"I think it's wrong- the crystal ball's being a pain not telling you what it actually means. Just shake it off, I don't think anything bad's going to happen."

"Guys, the machine's working fine now, you can come to print it out!" Salt shouted from the back of the room.

"Alright then, let's go!"

All four Cookies skipped towards the machines, ready to make an ornament that would commemorate their friendship forever.

"Hey, the design looks good!" Pilot praised, admiring the sketch.

"Told you Almond has an eye for these things," Roguefort replied, winking at Almond.

"Never Give Up sounds really good as a quote just on the badge, especially after all the hardships we endured."

"Like running out of the 'Oven'."

"Gee, that was really tiring."

"I think it's going to be amazing!"

"Alright," Salt Cookie declared, let's get this bread."

"But you're a Cookie."

"Don't question it." 

Buttercream Choco slid the base into the machine, the machine whirring multiple times before the words were printed on it letter by letter.

"Amazing! I'm literally going to wear this badge everywhere." Almond exclaimed.

"Just bring it everywhere, I'm fairly sure everyone will give you weird looks if you wear it on the streets." Prophet suggested.

A chime signalled the finishing of the first badge, and Prophet pulled it out to see a crystal ball printed on the side of the blackberry.

"Whoa, is that my crystal ball?" Prophet questioned.

"Oh, we programmed the machine to print out a small symbol next to the blackberry so they're personalised." Salt proudly explained.

"That's great! We chose a slice of cheese and an almond for both of you," Pilot explained to Roguefort and Almond, "that's fine with you, right?"

"Fine by me," Almond replied.

"Yeah."

Soon after, six neatly printed badges sat in front of six excited Cookies.

"Guys, let's take a picture wearing them!" Buttercream Choco suggested, holding his phone.

"Sure!"

~♤~

[Originally published Apr 29, 2020]

At the time of writing this, Chapter 6 just got published and I'm basically trying to punch writer's block in the face.

At the time of publishing this, I am completely stuck on chapter 11 and I really want to yeet writer's block out the window.

Anyways, badges! They might play a part later. Who knows?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and see you next week in a new chapter!


Next chapter:

"Thank you so much for being here, and we hope you learnt something from these few days!"

~♤~

"You won't hate me, right? No matter what they do to you?"

"Of course not. You'd still be my friend even after 10, 20, 30 years."

~♤~

As Almond and his fatigued mother reached the traffic light, Almond looked back to the crowd, and Roguefort was nowhere in sight.



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