A Sweet Melon Pan In The Oven

Saturday around noon, four of the five legendary warriors have met up with Bee at Evelyn's house, sitting at her dining table with a glass of water for each of them. However, Bee was given a tiny schnapps glass with a considerably shorter straw and filled with honey-infused water instead.

Bee: Okay girls, tactical briefing. First off, excellent work for finding and securing our Maverick. Now only The Caretaker is left to be found. But our enemies won't back down, either, so stay alert!
Evelyn: And how has it been, Bee? You wanted to stay over at Candy's home and properly fill her in on everything.
Bee: Right! Ume said I'd better do that with every following member of The Hive Five. Now she is up to date, too!

Bee stretches out its chest so proudly you could think that it had just achieved world peace, whereas Candy simply goes for a victory sign.

Bee: And another thing I wanted to add: They seem to follow a strategy where sweets and carb monsters take turns, so prepare for a fight against a sweets monster next!
Ume: And where's the difference exactly? We have to exterminate them either way, don't we?
Bee: ...Huh. True.

The others start deadpanning at the bee, and Candy leans forward with clear doubt on her face.

Candy: Bee. Are you kidding me right now?
Bee: No! Why would I?!
Candy: You can't be serious here. You make us fight. Against sweets and carb creatures. WITH sweets as weapons. As diabetics. What kind of stupid premise is that? If the enemies are unhealthy food, we're supposed to fight them with vegetables, a magical leek stick or something!
Bee: Hey, that's not my fault! I didn't come up with this! It's just the way it is, okay?! And fighting fire with fire is still a valid method!
Candy: In what universe? That's not a very convincing answer.
Bee: That doesn't matter right now! Let's get back to what's actually important. Our last teammate has to be somewhere in this town, too, and our goal should be to find them soon.
Evelyn: Do we have some clues this time on where to find our last member?
Bee: Not really, still only what the legend says: "The Caretaker is full of love for others, and beloved by them in return.".

Ume spaces out, clearly thinking about the prophecy.

Ume: Could she be... in the red light district?

Appalled by her words, Evelyn and Gertrud give Ume a disappointed glare, the latter of them swiftly covering the young girl's ears.

Evelyn + Gertrud: Ume! What are you saying in front of the child?!
Ume: Sorry, I was thinking out loud and halfway joking. I don't really think that this is what we're looking for. It feels sort of wrong, anyway.
Bee: Uhm... what's the red light district?

Candy removes Gertrud's hands from her ears, gets up and walks to Bee, then mumbles something into its ear. A few seconds later Bee grins and Candy returns to her seat.

Bee: Ah, I see! It's about the birds and bees stuff.
Gertrud: Quiet, insect. We wouldn't want to discuss this kind of thing in front of young Candy.
Bee: ...She was the one who told me about it in the first place, though?
Candy: Bee's right! I'm fourteen already!
Evelyn: ONLY fourteen, that is. Sweet, sweet fourteen.
Candy: Hey, don't treat me like a small kid!

Pouting now, Candy alternately swings her legs back and forth.

Bee: Ahum. Okay, back to our schedule. As I have mentioned, we need to find our last comrade. Does anything else come to mind when you hear the description from the prophecy?
Evelyn: Hmm... filled with love for others... beloved by them in return... caretaker... hmm...

Suddenly, something clicks and Evelyn's eyes widen.

Evelyn: Of course! Why did we not think of something so obvious?
Gertrud: You had an idea? Please tell us.
Evelyn: Just think about it, it is really not that difficult. Our person of interest might work at the kindergarten.
Ume: Why of course! The penny surely could have dropped much sooner, now that you mention it. Let's begin our investigation there!
Evelyn: ...Without getting caught spying there, that is. We surely will look dubious, staring at children playing behind the fence.
Ume: ...Oh. Touché. Our group is bound to look shady, lurking around like that. So what can we do?
Candy: Ehehehe...

With a triumphant grin on her face Candy bows over the table like an evil mafia boss.

Candy: What if this little girl told you she had a younger sibling that is still attending kindergarten?
Evelyn: What?! My goodness, we really are lucky! That would make our presence there look much more natural.
Candy: Hehe, not bad, right? My little sister is actually there right now, they have a special event going on today.
Bee: Great! Now this is good news!

Like nothing had happened before, Candy nearly jumps up from her seat with rekindled motivation, hurriedly stepping on place now.

Candy: Then what are we waiting for? Off we go!

-------

Inside the Dark King's and Queen's castle, Colonel steps through a smaller hallway within the castle walls. Passing by seemingly countless wooden doors and his head fixed straight ahead at the endless-looking path, lit candles on the left and right sidewalls decorate every few meters which are only adding to the unsettling atmosphere.

At some point he stops, turning right toward one of the doors. It looks just like the rest, the only difference being the sign "bakery" hanging down from above. Colonel carefully opens the door and enters. The room behind it shows to be equipped with multiple ovens, each of them with a fire beneath so they can be used at any time.

A few fridges line the walls, along with two giant planetary mixers you would only find in a professional bakery. Two smaller commercial mixers stand nearby, maybe meant for whipped cream or other potential fillings. And right in front of him, two huge tables stand in the middle of the room. He walks in further to one of the tables, and lets his gloved finger slide over it.

They were wiped clean just recently, but another layer of omnipresent flour had already successfully claimed them again, leading to a trail of flour on one of his white gloves. The cloaked guy shakes his head like someone would scold a child, then he calmly approaches one of the ovens.

Funnily, a melon pan - ten times taller than normal and with a big face on it - appears to peacefully slumber inside of it. Colonel gently knocks at the oven door, making the weird pastry wake up and give him a dazed stare.

Melon pan monster: *Yaaaaaawn* O Colonel, why'd you wake me from my sweet dream?
Colonel: Isn't it obvious? I have work for you to do.
Melon pan monster: Aww... too bad. I wanted to enjoy the heat for much, muuuuuch longer. *yaaaaaawn*
Colonel: Don't be a fool. You get to fight our enemies by fate, after all. The legendary Hive Five.
Melon pan monster: What, honestly? Hooray!

The door of the oven slams right open, and the living melon pan hops out, wide awake all of a sudden.

Melon pan monster: Come on, don't make me wait any longer! I want to meet them, stuff myself with delicious sweets, and then with the legendary warriors!

Colonel flashes his creepy grin and waves his cloak to the side, opening a black, twisting portal to his right. The melon pan mirrors his expression, then bounces straight through it.