Mucha Azucar Pt. 3

"Bake?" I yelled. Chase nodded and then curtsied to me. I flew back to Jones quickly.

"What did he say?" Luca asked.

"He said we need to bake."

"Oh, yup," Jones said, as if we were supposed to understand that this was all inevitable. "Everything you need is here on Mucha Azucar."

"Well, Luca, how good of a cook are you?"

"Great, stellar in-fact. And as far as baking, my mum said my lemon meringue was to die for."

"You have a mother?"

"'Course I've got me a mum. Haven't you?" he asked me. I glanced at him for a moment in thought.

"Um, yo. You can think about familial ties later. You've got an angry oven and an even angrier baker who won't allow you forward until you do what he asks."

"Right, then. Let's go to the forest. I saw me some pie crusts. Perhaps there's some filling out there too."

"Should we split up? Won't you need eggs for the meringue?"

"Surely," Luca said, pointing at me. I smiled at him, and he blew me a kiss.

"She can come with me. I'll show her around," said Jones. Luca seemed to agree with that by simply nodding once and then sprinting off into the jungle.

"Should we fly?"

"Yes. I think the timer on the oven says ten minutes."

"Damn! C'mon Jones!"

I grabbed him spreading my light pink wings and flew up into the sky. He shouted and pointed, directing me where to go. We landed in the middle of a nest of feathers almost all the colors of the rainbow.

"Where are—"

"Shh!" Jones said, putting his finger to his mouth. "We're getting eggs from here, but we can't let Fanta Momma know."

"Is that a chicken of some sort?"

"Yes, a rather large chicken with an array of colors. See all these?" Jones picked up armfuls of feathers. "They go with the flavors of Fanta we have here."

"We have that too. The soda, right?"

"Yep! Now let's go."

Jones jumped into the feathers. I could see the lump of him jumping underneath pile. I climbed in with him unsure of where to go.

There up ahead was Jones' tail twisting and turning in and out of the huge pile of feathers. I continued crawling but then bumped into several hard round objects.

I blinked away the tiny pieces of feathers and held one. When I rose and saw what I had, I knew these were eggs. I grabbed as many as I could handle which miraculously were miniature compared to the size of the feathers.

I wanted to shout to Jones, but he warned me about noise. Instead, I opened my wings and flew straight upward. When I beat my wings harder it cleared the feathers away and there he was.

When he turned up to me, he smiled and gave me thumbs up. I flew down to him after he grabbed several eggs. It was a good thing we left when we did because an incredibly large head was peeking up at us.

I could see it was a mammoth-sized chicken. When it gobbled in frustration it was shrill and echoed. I flew as fast as I could toward the oven.

Chase was standing next to the oven, both him and the appliance bouncing and dancing around. I scanned the area for Luca.

Suddenly, I saw him running through the jungle with a friend. It was Calavera! She had a sack of ingredients slung on her shoulder.

Once we all were gathered, Calavera skillfully put a gingham cloth on the floor then tossed out some bowls for us and spoons. Luca already had over twenty pie crusts which Calavera began to put inside pans.

Jones and I began to whip the meringue with sugar and eggs. Luca poured filling into the pies on the ground with the picnic cloth.

The oven was bouncing up and down in frustrated anticipation. We had to time when we tossed the pies in its hot mouth. Along with the lemon, Jones tossed in some pumpkin and Calavera threw in some apple pie as well.

The rippling heat from the oven's mouth was causing the sugar trees nearby to melt and wilt. As each pie was tossed in, it appeased Chase and the oven for a short time.

As the food was getting closer to finishing, Chase had a couple of locals bring over an extremely large picnic table. We concluded that this would be where the pies were placed.

When they were all cooked the oven spit them out and they were laid along picnic table. The oven was satisfied and relaxed now. It was up to Chase to test the food. At least, that was what we had gathered so far.

Chase tossed his braids behind him and tucked his dress underneath his legs as he sat down. I never knew that Chase could be so well behaved. A local brought over some spoons and they sat beside Chase awaiting the pie cooling.

As we waited, I could see Luca eyeing Chase with disdain. He crossed his arms and shook his head.

"What's the matter, Luca?" I whispered. He glanced down at me.

"He's put us through so much. I suppose I don't need to be thinkin' on that right now." He placed his hand on his cheek for a moment. "However, he has made it so we're always together. And now I think about it, I'm grateful to 'im."

I smiled up at Luca and he bent down to me.

"I feel the same way," I said and then blushed. He smiled at me, and I couldn't help but giggle. He petted me once but then pointed to Chase. I turned around and could see that he was about to taste the pies.

First, he took a bite of the lemon meringue. I watched as the food appeared to melt in his mouth. He closed his eyes involuntarily. Luca elbowed me and raised his eyebrows with a proud smile.

Then, he moved onto the pumpkin. We could see that he was enjoying it while Jones hopped in excitement. Then, he took a bite of the apple. I glanced back at Calavera de Azucar as she held her chin.

When he turned around, Chase was in awe. He stood up and began clapping.

"The apple pie was the best! Bravo!" Chase exclaimed. Calavera smiled and placed her hands on her hips. It was to be expected that she would win being that she lived there an all.

Chase got up from the table as well as the two locals. They waved to the table, presenting it. Luca and I dove into the pies.

While they were all very good, Luca's was the best. Whether it was from bias about him or lemon flavor, he won out my taste buds. When I gazed up at him and told him how much I loved it, he smiled brightly.

Chase came over to us for a moment. Calavera stood near us, protectively.

"I'm not here to fight or start controversy. I just want to know what your recipes are."

Without speaking, all three of us shook our heads.

"Surely you can part with one of them," he said. We all were not budging. Luca, Jones, and I turned to Calavera and shook her hand. She smiled her toothy bony grin and she walked into the jungle. 

Jones, Luca, and I stood together with satisfied grins. 

"What I'm thinking is the place where Jones was drowning is where we need to go," said Luca. 

"But what if you're wrong?" I asked.

"What do you—"

"I find it hard to believe that one of you won't share your recipes with me. I have an angry oven to take care of. You see how they get when they haven't had their pies."

"That isn't our problem, Chase." I flicked my eyes up at him and then returned it to Luca. 

"Please? It will help my life so much if you could just part with one."

"They weren't that difficult to concoct, mate." Luca gave Chase a half-smile laced with plenty of wryness. Chase glanced back at the oven.

"You don't understand!" Chase said, but with that I spread my wings and beat them hard. The wind was strong enough to knock Chase off his feet, so he landed in front of the oven, which already appeared to be upset again.

Luca, Jones, and I walked toward the confectioner's sugar and black and red raspberry quicksand jam. Chase tried coming after us, but the oven began opening and slamming their mouth at him. Chase cowered and nodded in submission.

When we got to the place, we first met Jones, we were sad to leave.

"I guess this is goodbye," I said to Jones, trying to keep from crying. 

"It is but not completely," Jones said with a wink and quiver of his whiskers.

"What do you mean?" Luca asked. 

Jones walked toward a bush. Behind it was a Really World kiosk. He pushed a button, and three tickets came out. 

"You should search for these boxes. This one was right under your noses."

"Damn it! We're too pre-occupied every time we come to these places to search for those."

"Yeah, and once we're finished, we're too knackered to search."

"Well, it's worth it. Next place you're in, take a rest and then search," Jones said, handing us the tickets. 

"Wait, you got three tickets. Are you saying you can play too?"

"I sure can!" Jones said, pointing straight up. 

"That's a rather surprising turn of events," Luca replied. I nodded.

"You ready?" Jones asked. We nodded. Jones dove in first. We watched his whole body get swallowed, lastly his striped tail. Luca went in next and with one last look around I dove into jam.