In the midst of his comfortable sleep, Choco was alarmed by a loud thud coming from outside the room, he got up and rushed to see what's going on.
"Marsh!" He gasped after seeing Marsh on the floor while there's some kind of beast entering this house, he quickly grabs his sword that was standing on the corner of the living room and stood between Marsh and this beast.
"Stay back, foul beast!" He was still weak as ever, but he can't just run away and let some beast devour his friend.
Choco knew this might end badly, but he can only think that he at least stayed brave and cool until the end. Though the Minty Witch took the sword out of his hands without a sweat. "Uh-oh." His eyes widened and took a step back, suddenly feeling hopeless in this situation.
"Be careful, you might hurt yourself. You're still not fully recovered." The strange beast said, it stripped off its white fur which made Choco's jaw drop in this unexpected turn of events.
And it appears that the rumored guardian candy beast, also known as the Minty Witch, was something entirely different under the white sugar fur coat it was wearing. She had this red hard skin, yellow eyes with dilated pupils, a wide mouth, thick creepy antlers, and four long arms that can easily rip anything to shreds. And this very stranger gave Choco a friendly smile and asked him with a tone of concern, "Are you feeling better now?"
"AAAHHH!!" He screams in terror, awaking Marsh in the process. He sat up on the floor, rubbing his eyes while he asks, "Choco? What's the—AAAHHH!!" Their screams synchronized, creating a deafening noise.
She covers her ears and yelled back, "Please stop! I have sensitive ears!"
Both of them stops and ran to the corner of the house, trembling at the sight of this strange being. "It's the guardian candy beast of Peppermint Hills, the Minty Witch!—BUT I NEVER KNEW THE MINTY WITCH WAS AN ANT!"
"We're gonna die, we're gonna die! That Ant's gonna eat us ALIVE!" Choco panicked.
As the Minty Witch puts her fur on the coat hanger near the entrance door, she glares at the two and crossed her arms, "Hey, that's rude, I'm not some savage beast."
Marsh agreed, "Of course, you're far worse than that. You're the number one enemy of the people in Sweet Kingdom. The devourer of our kind, ANTS!" He struck pointing his finger at her, and Choco was way too terrified that he hid himself behind Marsh.
The Minty Witch wasn't pleased by their horrible insults, but a mischievous grin crept her face as she felt the urge to tease these young boys. She sighed and gazes upon them, "Hmm, I guess I shouldn't hold myself back any longer."
She slowly approaches them menacingly, smiling widely showcasing her sharp and pointy chompers. "Tonight, this savage ant will feast on these rude little boys! AwoOoo~" She utters, wiggling all her three fingered hands ominously.
Choco's legs started wobble, he grips tighter onto Marsh's arm as memories of his sister's stories flooded his mind — stories of ants that will take away little children if they ever misbehave, and how ants devour people in the most horrible way. His sister would always tell him these stories as a means of controlling him whenever he would get out of hand.
Normally, Marsh would be more fearful in this kind of situation, but Choco had it worst when it comes to Ants. He can't help but panic even more when the ant crept even closer, "AAAHHH!!"
Marsh and the Minty Witch got concerned over his reaction, "Woah! Calm down, kiddo! I'm not really going to eat you!" She tried reaching out to Choco and assure him, but Marsh slapped her hand away.
"Don't come any closer, can't you see he's afraid!" Marsh yelled, shielding Choco with his whole body.
The Minty Witch grew frustrated, not knowing how to handle the situation. She sighed and tried to assure the young boys, "Look, if I were a savage Ant, you'd already be in my stomach. Do you think I'd go through the trouble of saving you ungrateful little jerks and treating your injuries?"
Marsh felt conflicted, he can't just bring himself to trust and believe all that so easily, especially when the other person was an actual Ant. Although what she said made sense since he found himself warm and comfortably tucked on a soft couch. "So... you're the one who saved us!?"
"Yeah, I just came back from foraging, and I found the of two of you laying out there in that crazy blizzard." She explained, "And let me tell you, barging into these lands without proper equipment is absolutely DANGEROUS! What are you kids thinking!? Haven't they told you, a lot of people have already been frozen to death here!"
This got Marsh scratching on his head, he turns to Choco and patted him on the arm. "Dude, do you think she's telling us the truth?"
"I am telling the truth!" She pressed.
"She's just tricking us into believing her! My sister said that Ants would play around with their food before they consume them." Choco glared at this ant, making it very clear that he doesn't trust her at all.
She rolled her eyes and expected this reaction, not every people she encountered reacted nicely when they met her either. "So much for being helpful..." she muttered, "Believe what you want. I'll be in the kitchen if you guys are ready to talk to me."
As the ant gave them some time to think things through, the two moved to the couch and started to discuss things. "Marsh, let's leave before she comes back to eat us." Choco proposed.
"...are you sure? I mean, look at your arm. It doesn't look as bad like before we got here." Marsh examined Choco's injury, it wasn't swollen anymore and seemed to be in a better shape.
"Are you telling me that you're going to trust that Ant!?"
"She wouldn't be treating us kindly if she's lying. And I don't want us going back out there with the crazy weather, we're better off here for a while until the storm passes."
"Marsh, are you hearing yourself!? I can't believe you, of all people, would choose to stay in a place where an Ant lives. She's going to kill us sooner or later, so it's better if we leave now." Choco insisted.
"You're usually laid back than I am, Choco. How come you're so afraid of the nice ant lady?"
"And you're usually afraid of everything except for that ant! Are you even the Marsh I know?" Choco's eyes widens at a sudden realization, "Except you're not Marsh! That Minty Witch Ant must've done something to your head! An ant that can do sorcery, oh the horror!—ow!"
Marsh hit 'em on the head to calm him down, "Shut up, Choco. She can probably hear us with that loud complaining voice of yours, you know?—ouch!"
Choco hits him back, "If you're so concerned about that ant, I might as well make you choose right this instant." He asserted, "Are you going to trust that Ant who might kill and eat you soon? Or me, your trust worthy ally who's been with you through thick and thin for like... 2 months."
Difficult as it seems, Marsh already knew what to pick the moment he saw the book about the outside world. He sighs and gives Choco a determined look, "Dude, I know you're expecting me to choose you, but there are other things that I need to know about first." He picked up the book he checked on earlier and entered the kitchen.
That left Choco in absolute disbelief that his so-called friend chose an ant over him, "So that's how it's gonna be!? Fine! If she goes and decides to eat you, you're on your own." He marched back into the room he slept in earlier and took his sword, Caramia.
"Oh Caramia, you're the only friend I'll ever need." He said as he slid the sword back into his belt, then took the blanket with him so he can get through the blizzard.
As he opened the door of the house, the cold icy wind blew on his face. It sent chills to his spine, making him close the door immediately. "Fine, maybe I'll stay until the storm ends." He faltered.
Meanwhile, as Marsh approached the ant with the book in his hands, he greets her politely. "Uhm, hello." He was still afraid of this ant, but he wants to believe in her kindness, especially when she seems very knowledgeable about the world outside Sweet Kingdom.
The ant who was preparing for supper noticed Marsh, she gave a half smile and replied, "Anything I can do for you?"
"Actually, I'd like to introduce myself, I'm Marsh and the other guy is Choco. I really want to thank you for saving us. I don't know how we can ever repay you."
Marsh tried to remain calm the best he can, although he can feel his heart beating so fast and loud, as if it was going to jump out of his chest from the intimidating appearance of this ant.
He flinched when she quickly leaned over and said, "You can pay me with an arm or a leg."
"P-Pardon?!"
"Hah! Just kidding... that was just a joke... I'm a joker." And a terrible one at that. Marsh laughed nervously and the ant continued, "Relax, I don't bite. You can take a seat over there and talk." She kindly offered.
"A-Alright, thank you..." then as he sat down, he wanted to ask a few questions about the outside world right away, but she spoke again. "The name's Antabitha, you can call me Tabby for short. Now that I think about it, I never got the chance to introduce myself quite often, most people I rescue would run away the instant they see me, but I guess that's how you guys would normally react when you see an ant..."
"Oh, I—"
"It's really a nice change of pace to have someone to talk to after all these years. I find it really sad that other people don't have much have a sense of diversity, but I do understand their fear of ants since of the ant-raid that happened years ago and..."
"Uhm!—"
"....But you know, I think I..." Tabby didn't give Marsh any chance to have his turn in this conversation because the words never stopped coming out her mouth. And whenever he tries to intervene, she would bring up a new topic to talk about.
It kept going on and on, "Sweet Lord..." Marsh groaned.