The Tale of Tomato and Strawberry

"Ahem, you mean Apple." Tomato laughed, trying to hide her nervousness. "I'm afraid I do look a bit like Tomato because I've gotten sick, but I promise, it's not contagious."

The two guards exchanged a glance. "Do you have identification?"

"Haha, who needs identification? We're Raspberry and Apple, you can trust us. Or you can just open the door and ask one of your superiors." Tomato tried a smile.

The green vegetables looked suspiciously at them and looked at each other, communicating with each other with their eyes. Strawberry tried to smile as innocently as she could. They then started whispering to each other hurriedly. Finally, they came to a decision.

“We’ll let you in if you can provide us some other kind of proof that you are who you say you are,” Broccoli said. “Doesn’t have to be identification, maybe a letter from the person you catered for, or maybe an advanced copy of an issue. Whatever it is, take your time to find it. We’ll wait for you.”

"Sure," Tomato said. "But do know that if you keep the boss Waffle waiting for catering and the interview, it might not be so great for you."

Asparagus coughed and shifted uneasily. Tomato's eyes narrowed in triumph. Quickly, she pulled Strawberry to the car and out of earshot.

Tomato said, "It was just a guess based on the Lab name, but it seems like Waffle really does run this place. Think you can forge a letter from Waffle?"

Strawberry thought about this for a moment. She did forge handwriting for a prank, (which was successful) so it seemed easy enough. But Strawberry was mostly friends with fruit, the only bakery food she was close with was Cookie, so she would need a reference.

“Do you have Waffle’s handwriting anywhere? I need to refer to it if I’m going to forge handwriting.” Strawberry whispered.

Tomato groaned. “No.” She thought for a moment. “Okay, new plan. You can write any letter and fold it up, but before the guards can check, I’ll turn them red and pretend my illness is contagious. Annnnd hope they panic and run inside?” Tomato winced. Now that she said it, the plan sounded rather ridiculous.

Strawberry looked at the vegetable guards. Suddenly, she gasped. She saw that Asparagus had mold on him, the same kind that Orange had. But Asparagus didn't seem to have noticed. This was their chance!

"Aspargus! Look, you have mold on you!" Strawberry exclaimed, pointing. Asparagus looked at himself and gasped. Broccoli saw this too, and immediately took action.

"Asparagus! Does it hurt?" Broccoli frantically tried to scrape away the mold. "What is this?"

"Not unless you scrape it like that!" Asparagus started to slide down the building. "Actually, I suddenly feel... rather tired..."

Tomato perked up. "How about you get someone inside the building for help? In fact, just tell us their name and Raspberry and I can get them for you. Clearly Asparagus is in no state to walk."

Broccoli seemed desperate to help his friend. "Yes, yes, go in and get the nurse. There is a nurse in the hallway to the left, second door on the right, and there's a red cross on the door. Knock on the door, Root Beer is the nurse. Hurry up, and don't touch anything. If you take too long, I'll have to come in!"
(s?)he said hurriedly.

Strawberry looked at Tomato and nodded, and they quickly rran inside.

Once the waffle-shaped door closed behind them, Tomato spun to face Strawberry. "Okay, you get the map, and I get Root Beer and keep the guards busy? I can always turn them red to cause some extra chaos."

Tomato took a moment to make sure no one had overheard them, and she noticed the decor. The hallways were lit with a soft golden light, and the walls were patterned like waffles.

As she saw Tomato walking towards the hallway on the left, Strawberry looked around. Where would the map be? She saw a sign above the hallway in front that said, "MAIN LAB" That must be it. Strawberry hurried through it.

The lighting in the building had cool hospital lighting, which Strawberry never liked. And it was a little stuffy, and the waffle walls didn't seem to be helping. She finally saw double doors to a room that had a plaque reading, "AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY"

She went in.

"Left hallway, second door on the right," Tomato muttered to herself. "Aha!" She looked up to find the door with the red cross. Carefully, she knocked.

"Yes, yes, what is it?" an annoyed voice called out.

"Broccoli sent me. Asparagus is under attack by mold," Tomato said. "Please hurry and help!"

Meanwhile, Strawberry was in the Main Lab. She saw a giant metal table, a light table, a table with water in it, and a desk with a lamp. Other than that, that was the only light in the room.

Strawberry hurried and checked the metal table, the desk, and the water table to see if there was the map in it, but she didn't see it there. Finally, she saw the map on the light table. It was brown, a little worn out, and was written with quill ink on it. But just as she was about to grab it, she heard footsteps.

The door opened a crack, and Root Beer poked his head out. "And who are you?" he asked suspiciously. There was the sound of rummaging around, and finally Root Beer emerged with a medical kit.

"I'm Apple." Tomato said brightly. "I'm doing an interview."

"Hmm." Root Beer didn't sound entirely convinced, but he led the way down the hall and back towards the entrance.

Strawberry dashed behind the metal table as she heard the double doors open. She could hear Waffle and Salt talking.

"- going with the investigating of the Golden Cookie Jar?" Waffle was saying. "Do you know who stole from it?"

"We have found dried up milk on the jar, which leads us to believe Milk himself may have stolen it." Salt replied.

"Milk? But he gave us the Map! Oh Milk, how could-" Waffles voice became muffled when he and Salt left the room through another exit. At this, Strawberry got up from her hiding place.

"And who are you doing an interview with?" Root Beer asked as he and Tomato rushed down the hall.

"Er- never mind that. The important thing is that I've never heard of a Food molding before!"

"Curious indeed," Root Beer muttered. They reached the door and Root Beer flung it open. Broccoli was still tending to Asparagus, who was slumped on the ground.