Chereads / Sweet Tales of Adventure / Chapter 5 - Chapter 5: Guardian Candy Beasts, Part 1

Chapter 5 - Chapter 5: Guardian Candy Beasts, Part 1

It is known that each layer below the Sweet Kingdom is represented by the Guardian Candy Beasts. These so-called guardians are with purpose of maintaining the natural order within their territories. And as for Rainbow Taffy Grounds, the Arachnotoffee is said to be its Guardian Candy Beasts.

This beast is known to harvest food by the use taffytraps throughout the whole Rainbow Taffy Grounds, and at times, it can quickly sense and hunt down the anomalies that's venturing within its territory. Though the Arachnotoffee isn't tough as it appears, but it's highly strategic and resourceful when it comes to hunting down its targets.

No one should dare mess with the Arachnotoffee nor the other Guardian Candy Beasts, not even the Royal Sugar Family thinks so as well, they believe that it may interfere with the natural order of the wholeness of Sweet Kingdom and cause greater problems in the future.

However, change is inevitable.

"Ugh…" Marsh woke up and found himself in a dark place. He can't move a muscle because something was restraining his whole body, and whenever he tried to struggle, he would be shaky as if he was hanging by a thread in the middle of the air. "C-Choco?... Hello? Is anybody there?" He spoke.

All he can hear was deafening silence.

"Choco, this isn't funny! Where am I? What are you trying to do here–"

"HIIISSSS!"

His mouth instantly shut when he heard that sound. Soon his eyes adjusted in the dark, he can see a huge shadowy figure in front of him which probably is the source of that peculiar noise. Then glimmerbugs started to appear, giving a bit of light to see through the darkness. He notices a pair? – no, several glowing red eyes staring at him.

As he got a better look at this creature's face, he can feel his heart beating louder and faster. Marsh badly wants to believe in Choco's words, that legends were stories made to scare and teach kids, but he regrets to prove him wrong now that he's in the face of an actual legend, the Arachnotoffee.

"HIIIISSSSS!!!" It yelled at his face.

Marsh couldn't utter a word, fearing what it might do. He was shaken to his very core that he fell unconscious once again.

Choco lost sight of the Arachnotoffee, but he can still follow the beast from the trail it left behind. Its legs left a dent on every nougat oak tree it ran on, and Choco was persistent on hunting it down to save his friend.

It's already been hours since he started chasing after that beast, his legs eventually betrayed him as he fell to the ground on his face, "Crumbs, I-I'm so tired!" He whined, he was about to lose consciousness as well, but he can't help but worry about Marsh.

"No! This is not the time to rest, I gotta save Marsh… I gotta go save my friend!" He told himself and got back up again, bring with him a stronger determination.

Dawn came and he still hasn't stopped in his tracks. Just how far did this Arachnotoffe go? He fears to imagine that Marsh had already been eaten, and that his effort to track down the Arachnotoffee might send him to doom. But what if Marsh was still alive, waiting for him to be saved by Choco like a stupid damsel in distress?

Now that he thought of that, he began to imagine Marsh looking like the ugliest princess he has ever seen. He shakes off those weird thoughts, thinking that the effects of the Caramush still haven't worn off.

He soon came across something that's blocking his way, a group of jellypumas surrounded Choco. They were pretty intimidating considering that they outnumber Choco, but their target wasn't at all bothered. "I have no time for this!" He complained, but these wild candymals have no intention of letting him go.

"Rawr!!" They began dashing towards him one after another.

"Fine, so be it!" Choco got in stance, swinging his sword a bit sluggishly whenever one of the jellypuma tries to strike at him. One of the jellypuma sneaked around and tried to aim for Choco's back, while the others kept him busy at front.

"Rawr!" It jumped towards Choco, but before it can land its sharp claw on his back, he was able to sense it and evade its attack. "Why you sneaky little cat!" Now that Choco was pissed, his grip on the sword's handle tightens. It was time to switch from defense to offense!

"Hah!" He made his move, striking at the nearest jellypuma, grazing its ear and it ran off crying, "Who's next!?" The others didn't give up just yet and got on stance as well.

The jellypumas started pouncing on Choco, one after another, and rather than feeling the pressure of the situation, he's actually enjoying this fight. His grin hasn't left his lips the whole fight, though he can't help but feel like he's forgetting something.

"Hah, I can do this all day!" He yelled, but the jellypumas grew tired him and soon left him by himself. "W-Wait! Why are you all running away?!" He scratched his head watching them run away, but then it occurred to him – "Holy sugar! I almost forgot about Marsh!! – Wait for me bud, I'm going to save you!" And so, he continues to follow the Arachnotoffee's trail.

Meanwhile, Marsh woke up once again to find himself still stuck in the same position. This time, the Arachnotoffee wasn't around. It's possible that it went out to gather more food or hunt down Choco. Without the Arachnotoffee, daylight was able to enter the cave and lighten the dim cave, he can see that he's trapped in this toffee web along with other preys around him.

"Gah!" He freaked out seeing other wild candymals, both dead and alive. There was even one jellypuma that was still alive but looks better off dead with its lifeless eyes and gaping mouth. "What a bitter scene this is…" he uttered.

Since Choco was no where to be found, he's the only person he can count on to save himself. He slowly breathed in and out to calm himself from tension and think things more clearly. "Alright Marsh, you can do this." He told himself.

He examined his surroundings, looking for resources he can use to escape this situation. This time, there's nobody else he can rely on except for himself. And he definitely doesn't want to keep relying on Choco to save him over and over again. He's convinced he can do this, and he definitely will escape!

First, his boots that was covered with sugar powder got loose from the toffee web wrapping his whole body. Second, he noticed that the gooey toffee web was easy to stretch out if he kept moving. And third, the ground was filled with sugar dream peonies. Marsh grinned as he got it all figured out, "Okay, here we go!" and he started moving his body back and forth, slowly stretching out the toffee web.

It took a while, but the toffee web eventually got outstretched to the point that his back can already reach the sugar dream peonies. When his back collected enough sugar powder and reduced the stickiness of the toffee web, he rolled off the toffee web along with the other prey trapped with him.

"Ow!" His face hit the ground, but it was worth it as he rolled himself to the field of sugar dream peonies and pried himself out the toffee web wrapping him all over. His face was plastered with a grin with his successful escape, he began to run out of the cave and decided it was time to go search for Choco.

Marsh then heard several stomping somewhere assuming that it's the Arachnotoffee coming back to stack more food to its web. He hid behind a nougat oak tree and witnessed the Arachnotoffee crawling to its cave in broad daylight, and along with the Arachnotoffee was something he never expected.

His jaw dropped after seeing Choco wrapped in toffee web and was sleeping peacefully at the back of this beast. "That idiot!" He muttered to himself.