Crispin Blue and the Bomb of Greed:

You’re safe now, Crispin Blue. I won’t let anyone hurt you again,” said sunny Salad with a firm, leafy hug and warm hand shake.

Crispin Blue was no ordinary chocolate treat Oh no, He could have been a delight of joy — if life had given him the chance. But instead, he was born in the sewers of “No-Such-Hope” — a damp, dark place where dreams go to rot. Abandoned at birth, Crispin lived alone with rats, shadows, and the occasional dripping pipe for company.

Years passed in soggy silence.

Until one day, a glimmer of light sparkled down the gutter — glitter, real glitter! “Could this be a sign of hope?” thought Crispin. He clawed his way from the sludge, pushed through the gutter, and stumbled toward a crooked old sign that read: Welcome to London.

"I’ll find a new life,” he told himself. “A happier one, I can do this"

But the big city wasn’t the fairy tale he imagined. No home. No job. No pennies. Just cold pavements and cruel stares from others who were walking pass him.

Then came the man in the long coat — Dr. Fizz, they called him. “Oi, lad,” he said, stopping in front of the chocolatey wreck of a boy. “You look like melted misery. Come with me. I’ve got a warm shelter.

But it wasn’t a shelter Oh no!

It was a trap of doom.

Dr. Fizz, led Crispin into a sugar-coated dungeon, where dozens of other misfits were tied up — jelly beans, marshmallow puffs, toffee sticks. All trembling. All waiting and all very scared.

"Now I have enough!” cackled the doctor. “The Greed Bomb is nearly ready! I’ll turn your sweetness into STRENGTH, your flavour into FURY. MWAHAHA And there is nothing you can do about it...

Crispin was strung to the cellar wall with sugary rope so poisonous that licking it would rot your teeth clean out. His chocolate shell began to melt under the heat lamps.

"We’re finished,” he muttered, fading"

Then came a voice from the shadows.

"Hello... I’ve been here six weeks,” said a smooth voice. A pale figure stepped into view — Vanilla Crispin, half-melted but still alive"

"You’re still… still here?” Crispin whispered, trembling, feeling ever so cold.

"Looks like it, mate.” Vanilla grinned and tossed him a cocoa bean. “Keep your strength your going to need it"

They became fast friends — bound by misfortune, sugar, and a mutual dislike of mad doctors. One by one, Dr. Fizz took the others away, dragging them to the upper lab. Screams echoeds, silence then followed.

Until only two were left.

Thunder cracked. The door creaked open.

Dr. Fizz stepped in, holding a long metal straw. “You first,” he growled, yanking Vanilla by the arm, dragging him with his chocolate beans falling out....

"Get off him, you stale lump of cheese!” Crispin shouted, straining at the ropes.

"Shut it, Choco-boy!” the doctor barked, shoving him aside.

"Your next!" Said Dr. Fizz.

Vanilla was dragged toward the upstairs lab...

"I’ll be fine, Blue,” he called back. “Remember what I said remember..."

Silence fell

That’s when Crispin saw it — the rope knot, half-melted. With a grunt and a twist, he broke free.

"Yes!” he gasped "There's still hope"

He dashed for the emergency exit — but just before he reached the door, BAM! Dr. Fizz blocked him. “Now it’s your turn"

Crispin backed up, whispering a prayer for hope.

And hope answered

CRASH!

In flew Sunny Salad — fierce and fruity, flinging tomatoes like grenades. “Back off, you sugar-rotted swamp muffin!” she roared. Her cherry bombs splattered all over Dr. Fizz. He began to melt, syrup leaking from every pore...

NOOO! My sugar! My life force! MY JUICE!” how could you he wailed as he oozed into a puddle of sticky defeat.

"You’re safe now,” said Sunny Salad, holding Crispin close. “Want to come live with me.

"With a beauty like you?” Crispin blushed. “I’d love to.

They lived happily ever after.

Well. Sort off.

"Crispin, are you going to help me clean up this glitter bomb?” called Sunny Salad.

“One second, I’m planting hope seeds in the cabbage patch!” he shouted back.

And so, they built a home — part chocolate, part cabbage — and opened a shelter for all the lost sweets of the city so no one would be lost or in the wrong hands ever again.

Because no one should face the Bomb of Greed alone.

by Cryptic Edwards