Chapter 5: Over Wraps

Back in the attic of the rundown house, the little ghost was having a little moment of lament. It couldn't believe the simple foolish mistake it made when it was outside in Pure Heart Valley. It all started out simple:

Dressed up, the ghost rode the flying broom and zipped by the three costumed kids once it saw them. When the ghost got the kids to see it, it gave a wave with one of its hands to say hi…but it should have been watching where it was flying, as without realizing it until it was too late, it flew right into a tree. Due to being a ghost, the spirit didn't notice anything at all until it noticed itself completely bare of its costume and broom. The spirit had to quickly return into hiding, even while hearing the kids yell and run away in fright from the mess it left behind.

Returning to the mirror, the ghost took another long look at itself. From all the years it, along with other fellow ghosts, got to see the living world whenever the people of the living weren't coming across them and reacting in fright, there was something beautiful about it. The trees, the mountains, the grass, the sky…one could understand why this world was so desirable. But it didn't feel right that the ghost should lived in it if it meant being driven out again and again by the ones who lived there already. The ghost understood that they were only afraid because of the bad ghosts hurting them first, but this one wasn't a bad ghost, as far as it knew. But it loved the world too much to just leave.

Searching through the piles of junk, the ghost searched for another costume, one that wasn't as risky to use as the one it wore before.

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It was back at the grassy field next to the magic school that Momo and her friends regrouped, having collected a full basket's worth of candies each.

"You sure the sheriff will find us here?" the pirate frog asked his black cat friend.

"Of course he will," Momo answered with confidence. "I already told him where we'll wait for him when we finished our candy hunt and he said he'd come with us to pass the time on his -ahem- investigation."

"Yeah, I'm sure," the little fox friend laughed alongside her. "From what Mr. Badger said, the sheriff's only coming with us for the cobbler-flavored candy in your basket."

Momo laughed as well. "Yeah, that makes sense. But he did say he'd earn the candy from the Sweetypies giving them away, not us. So our candy's safe."

"I can see it now," the frog friend joked, "he'll probably be going right into every house for the cobbler candy while saying he has a warrant, or something."

Momo added one last bit to the frog's joke, "Well, he better hope he has one if he's going to Farmer Bun's."

The three kids were shortly interrupted by the official arrival of the sheriff and his deputies. From what they could glimpse of the group ahead of them, Mao Mao was still arguing with Badgerclops. The badger was teasing the black cat over his hypocrisy about never getting off work to go candy-hunting with kids, while said black cat was loudly clarifying that he was working while getting a candy bonus. Badgerclops was already getting on Mao Mao's case about not allowing him the same luxury earlier, to which Mao Mao again tried to make an excuse for. Adorabat tried to play the mediator between the two, appealing to Mao Mao by saying it's okay to have some candy and fun while out on patrol, and to Badgerclops by saying that they already had candy before work anyway.

After a few seconds of watching the spectacle, Momo decided to approach them first. "Hi everyone," she said to the three after walking right up to them and interrupting their dialogue. As expected, all three of them quieted down.

Mao Mao was quick to be the first one to speak for his group. "Hello again, Momo," he began after clearing his throat and putting his hands behind his back. "Sorry for the commotion. Sometimes, partners can have a hard time agreeing on things." He let his eyes wandered a bit in Badgerclops's direction, who returned the gaze with a pouty one of his own.

"It's fine," Momo reassured. "You wanna get started?" Mao Mao got ready to answer but was swiftly interrupted by Badgerclops shoving himself right over the cat, putting a hand over him like he was foliage to be pushed aside to the point that Mao Mao felt squished.

"Yes! Yes, let's go!" the badger exclaimed ravenously, ignoring Mao Mao under him.

Momo backed away nervously from the badger's insane demands for sweets. "Okay then," she eased in her speech, unaware of a creaking sound creeping up closer to get and her group from behind, "Well, we can start at the foot of the Ruby Pure Heart spire and make our way to Muffins –"

*rrrrr – PACHOONG!*

All six people jumped, startled by the sound of something unwinding and zinging in the air above, culminating in some wooden crash. They all looked up to find that whatever made the sudden around was no longer in sight, but they did catch the spectacles of long white cloth strips floating gently down before landing on the roofs of the school and several other houses outside the school grounds. Some of the strips of cloth even landed on the people themselves, leaving them somewhat draped.

Mao Mao didn't hesitate to sweep the stray pieces of cloth off his head and shoulders. "Full alert, team!" he dramatically got into sheriff-mode, taking a survey of the now messy-looking rooftops of the nearby neighborhood, "Looks like we were pranked!"

"Hey now, Mao. I'm sure it's just all in good fun," Badgerclops humorously begged to differ.

But Mao Mao wasn't having it. "There's nothing fun about personal property getting vandalized with a mass toilet paper trap!" He turned back to the main town areas of the valley. "This must be Pinky's doing," he growled.

"Dude, how do you know that?" Badgerclops asked.

"Just a hunch," was Mao Mao's answer. He turned to both Badgerclops and Adorabat. "You guys, check out the area around the school for clues. I'll be going further out." Without giving them time to argue, he turned to leave for the urban areas.

But the two deputies did attempt to snag him back with a few words. "Where are you gonna be?" Adorabat asked first.

"And who's gonna watch Momo and her friends?" Badgerclops added without hesitation, already feeling suspicious of Mao Mao's motives for splitting up.

"Why, I am," Mao Mao answered without a second chance, feeling smug that he could provide a proper answer to Badgerclops's probing question as though he was aware of why his badger friend was asking to begin with. "I'm saving you and Adorabat the trouble of having to babysit dear Momo and her friends here." He capped off his statement with a toothy grin and sauntered away, beckoning Momo and her other two friends to follow him. Just before he got too far away, he gave one last bit of information to the two. "I'll see you back at Town Square!"

Badgerclops and Adorabat watched Mao Mao walk off with the kids back into town while they were still left behind at the school. Badgerclops muttered under his breath in an incoherent grouchy tone before turning his attention to Adorabat. "Well, come on, Adorabat. Let's go find this prankster he's making us wander around for."

"Okay," Adorabat concurred as she flew alongside the bigger badger. As they began their little round search trip, she made a comment of her own. "Well, the main pie event hasn't happened yet. We still have a few hours."

"Yeah sure, just a few agonizing food-deprived hours," Badgerclops groaned while facing away from the little bat. Just then, he heard a ping and felt his phone vibrate, prompting him to pull his phone out of one of the pouches of his bandolier. Both he and Adorabat leaned in closer to look at the screen to find a text from Mao Mao:

"I'll save you a little something." *winking-emoji*

Badgerclops nearly threw his phone the first second his eye graced the text, while Adorabat knew well enough to fly away from him. "WHY, THAT LITTLE –" the badger shrieked, "I KNEW IT!"