“Err!” Choco pulled his leg with great force, but it was incredibly stuck as if it was already glued on the ground. “It’s no use, we’re stuck!”

He suddenly hears Marsh panicking under his breath, “This is bad, this is reeeaaally really bad…”

“Dude, don’t panic! You’re not helping–”

“I’ve read about this taffytrap from a book called ‘The Seven Wonders of The Sweet Kingdom’. Legend says, taffytraps are made to catch the preys of the guardian Candy beast of the Rainbow Taffy Grounds, they call it… the Arachnotoffee!”

Choco rolled his eyes from this non-sense, “Oh please! Legends are made up stories to scare and teach little kids. This is why I don’t read too much; it makes you believe in stupid things that aren’t even real. I never even heard of the Arachnowhatsitname thing.”

“That’s because you never read! You know, blah blah blah…”

This got Choco scratching on his head, sometimes he finds Marsh spouting lots and lots of stupid things from the stuff he reads. Aren’t nerds supposed to be smart? That question echoed inside his head as he pretends to listen to Marsh talking.

It was a habit he brought growing up, he often had to sit and listen to lectures during his childhood and so he mastered the art of fake listening.

“…it’s best if we blah blah blah...”

“Uh-huh, I see.” He may appear serious to the other person, he looked presently aware and attentively listening, even nodding at times, but his mind was already lingering elsewhere. And it didn’t take long until he started thinking of food to eat, the last meal they ate was hours ago and he’s getting hungry.

“…so let’s try to–“

“Marsh, do you…”

“What?”

“Got any nougat berries with you?”

Marsh frowned seeing that Choco wasn’t taking him seriously. Still, he pulled out some berries out his pockets. “Alright, here’s your nougat berries.”

Choco smiled and reached for the food, “Thanks bud, I’m already starving and–hey!” and it surprised him when Marsh pulled back his hand that was holding the berries. He smirked and put it back in his pockets.

“I’ll give you these nougat berries, that is, if you can properly cooperate with me so we can get out of here.” He stated.

“Ughhh, can’t believe you’d do me like this.” Choco groaned.

“Just work with me here, and I promise I’ll give you these berries.”

“Those nougat berries don’t taste good anyway…” he mumbled to himself.

Marsh then noticed that dusk was soon approaching. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure that the legend about the Rainbow Taffy Grounds is true, but he doesn’t want to risk their lives and prove the legend was true as well. He was determined to get them unstuck and proceeds to take the lead out of this situation.

“Alright, I need you to listen carefully.” He initiated, “we’re surrounded by these taffytraps, although we can always just abandon our boots and escape, we can’t risk getting our actual skin to get stuck on these taffytraps. If that happens, it can tear our skin when we try to pull ourselves out.”

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“Then what do you propose we do?”

“Since I’ve read the Seven Wonders of Sweet Kingdom, I can remember the parts where it tells how people can escape taffytraps if they ever get stuck in one. And there’s only one solution for us to get out of here.”

His knowledge has impressed Choco, even influencing his perception of reading books to maybe reading books isn’t that bad. “Okay, sold, tell me.”

“That thing!” Marsh pointed at the sugarvault hanging from one the nougat oak trees near them. Choco takes back his good opinion of Marsh. “You’re crazy, that’s stupid! How can a bunch of gumdrop gliders help us escape these taffytraps? Sting us to sweet death!?”

“No, just listen! Gumdrop gliders gather sugar powder from sugar dream peonies, and sugar vaults are filled with ‘em. We can use the sugar powder to reduce the stickiness and pry ourselves out the taffytrap! Now all you need to do is swing your sword to that sugar vault and grab it.”

Choco was still not impressed by this solution, “What about the gumdrop gliders? You can’t expect them to understand why we need to use their sugar powder; they’ll definitely get mad and sting us!”

“Would you rather get stuck here and get eaten by the Arachnotoffee, or get stinged for a bit and actually escape this place?”

Both options didn’t sound good for Choco, though he would also much prefer to leave this place as soon as possible. He gave an exasperated sigh and crossed his arms across his chest, “Fine! But you’ll have to treat all the glider stings I get for following your stupid idea.”

“Okay, I promise.”

Choco took his sword from his belt and jumped to get a better distance on cutting down the branch where the sugar vault was hanging. The taffy sticking to his boots stretched out as he managed to jump a few millimeters off the ground and successfully cut the branch, the sugar vault fell on the ground and a lot of gumdrop gliders appeared, surrounding both of them.

“Arghh! Crumb this mess!!!”

“Ouch! Ahh!”

The two were swarmed with the gumdrop gliders, getting stung here and there. Choco reached for the sugar vault and started spreading the sugar powder on both their boots. When their feet were finally free from the taffytraps, they both ran to get away from the angry herd of gumdrop gliders.

As they reached a fair distance away, they were both panting and swollen all over from the glider’s stings. Marsh regretted going with his idea, but he was relieved that they were finally freed from the taffytraps. As for Choco, he still thinks it was a stupid idea and hated how he’s in pain all over his body.

“Gah! They even stung my butt.” He complained, “got any ideas how to be rid of this unbearable pain?”

Then he was surprised that Marsh had it worse than him. “What?” His entire face was swollen which makes him unable to hear or see properly.

Choco rolled his eyes in disbelief, “Nevermind!” He was pretty upset that he had to deal with the pain of the glider stings, he never experienced this ever before and he never planned to ever go through it, not until this all happened.

And to make matters worse, he was still hungry after a day of getting stuck on those taffytraps. He looked around and there was nothing much to eat, there were a few Caramush but he doesn’t want to have crazy dreams again.

Suddenly he misses the life he had back at home. Meals were instantly served to him whenever he demands to. There was also the soft couches and bed to lay on whenever he wants to rest. And he gets treatment right away if he gets hurt, unlike his situation right now.

Choco sat down on the huge trunk of the nougat oak tree next to him, facing the ground while holding the sides of his head.

“Gosh, why did I run away from home?” He began to doubt his ideas and thought it was stupid of him to think that he can survive on the outside world on his own. Then again, is it too late to go back home and return to his life?

His stomach growls.

His glider stings were painful.

His terribly annoyed by what he had gone through.

He just had a lot of things to complain about, but he just doesn’t have the energy to go yapping at the moment.

“Ughhh, Marsh where’s the nougat berries that you promised?” He asked, though he realized that his friend wasn’t able to see or hear at the moment. So, he sighed once again and felt tempted to eat the Caramush beside him. It may give horrible dreams, but it was also soft and chewy, that’s better than nothing, right?

He shakes his head to dismiss the thought. “Pop tarts! I’m so hungry!” He cried out. Then Marsh, like a blind man, tried to search for Choco, waving his hands through the air and as he grabs ahold of Choco’s head, he took the nougat berries from his pocket to give it to his friend. “Here, it’s not good but it’ll taste better if you get used to it.”

Choco was taken aback by Marsh’s kindness, he refuses to cry but he couldn’t help the snot from coming out his nose. “Thanks, man.” He sniffled, and began to chew on the hard nougat berries.

Although Marsh still can’t hear anything, he tries his best to express his gratitude. “I never thought we’ll make it out of those traps. I’m really sorry you had to go along with my awful idea, I don’t really want us to get stung by those gumdrop gliders or get stuck here for the rest of my life so… thank you for helping us get out of that situation, bud.”

“Marsh…” after hearing him out, Choco dismissed his regretful thoughts and smiled at the thought of having a reliable friend by his side.

It was true that he never would have made it to where they are now without Marsh. “I guess it’s just destiny paving way for us to pursue this one-of-a-kind adventure in our lifetime.” He muttered.

“What?”

“Hahaha, let’s just rest for the meantime.” He was about to help his temporarily disabled friend to sit down next to him, but his eyes went huge when he noticed several limbs were surrounding Marsh. He quickly pulls Marsh away and saw a huge beast that gave him goosebumps. “What the crumb! Why did you do that!?” Marsh complained.

“You were right, Marsh! The legends you were talking about...” Choco couldn’t stress that enough now that he’s facing this beast. “The Arachnothingy! The thing you were talking about! It’s real!!!”

“What?!”

“HIIISSSSSSSSS!!!” As large as the nougat oak trees, striking crimson eyes with caramel fangs that’s sharp like daggers, and eight long spiky limbs that can easily tear apart its prey, the Arachnotoffee was a nightmare to behold.

“AAAHHHH!” Choco swung his sword across, trying to drive the beast away while protecting Marsh by his side. But the Arachnotoffee was able to snatch Marsh away, “NO, MARSH!”

“W-What’s happening!?” Marsh panicked, oblivious to the situation.

It also attempted to take Choco as well, but he managed to stab one of its legs.

“HIIISSSS!!!” It stepped back and decided to run away.

“WAIT, GIVE ME BACK MARSH YOU COWARDLY BEAST!!! HEY!” Choco ran after this beast through the dark night of Rainbow Taffy Grounds.