They were back to square one, stuck inside the clam with no escape. And to make it worst, Marsh still hasn't woke up yet. Choco has been waiting on him to wake up for hours, and now his patience was in its limits.
"Ugh, just when are you gonna open that eyes bud?" Choco stares at Marsh's face, using the dim light coming from the purple orb.
He poked his finger on Marsh's cheeks, nose, and even his nostrils to annoy him, "Come on dude, wake up! You gotta help me figure out a way to get out of this stupid clam." But he just won't budge.
Choco sighed, thinking that they'll be stuck in this clam for a while longer. With the unbearable boredom, he'd try reading the book they have but it was too hard to read in this dark place.
"Tsk, this sucks." He frowned, putting the orb and book down. He layed down on the ground to take a nap, hoping to find Marsh awake by the time he opens his eyes.
Little did he know, the Pop Rock Clam could taste all the remaining sandy debris from the broken down village. It gave the beast a nauseous feeling that it wanted to spit everything inside its mouth.
Things began to shake when it started moving its tongue, and slowly opening its mouth.
"WOAH!!" Choco was baffled, finally seeing the sunlight. "M-MARSH, WAKE UP! THE CLAM'S OPENING!!" His excited loud voice successfully waking Marsh up.
"Ugh... one more minute..."
Choco started picking up their stuff, and tugged Marsh by the arm, "NO, DUDE! LOOK, WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE IT CLO—" Unexpectedly, the clam flicks them away with its tongue, launching them into the sky. This had Marsh fully awake and screaming with Choco. "AAAAAHHHH!"
In mid air, they held onto each other and glides down through the air together. "I HATE THIS LIFE!" Marsh cried out loud.
"HANG ON TIGHT!!" Choco told him, wrapping each other with their arms as they brace for their landing.
They were thrown at quite a long distance, it saved them the trouble of travelling through the hot Pop Rock Desert as they glide into a new domain called Soda Wetlands.
"AAAHHH!" And when they're about to crash onto the ground, they got lucky and happened to land on a cherry soda lake that was 15 feet deep.
Both didn't know how to swim, but Choco was able to adapt and swim up to the surface while Marsh sinked down. "Marsh!?" It was hard to see through the soda, but Choco breathed in deeply and dived back in to rescue his friend.
"Mmph! Mmph!!" Marsh flailed under the surface, his chest tightening as he desperately tried to breathe, but he swallowed more of the soda, making him choke and further sink down to the bottom.
He stretched his arms reaching for the surface as he slowly descends, he stares on the sun's reflection underneath the soda lake, thinking it'll be the last thing he sees after he dies of drowning, until a figure appeared blocking his vision.
Marsh's eyes widened as he realized it was Choco. He leaned closer to Marsh's face and gave him a bit of air through their mouth, then Choco pulled him by the arm as he swam up to the surface.
"BAH!" They both gasped as they can finally breathe, they crawled their way to the land and tried to recover.
"Blarghh!" Marsh puked a lot of soda after swallowing a whole lot of it. Choco on the other hand was tired and drained from everything that happened so far.
"Ugh... I never thought I'd have more than one near-death experience." Marsh said, and slumped to the ground.
"And it's a real miracle we survived all that." Choco took out the purple orb and book out his pocket. "You think this thing actually helped us survive?" He wondered, holding the orb in his hands.
"Probably..." Marsh closed his eyes and sighed, "So many complicated things just happened. I can't believe we're still alive, is this even real? This isn't a dream, isn't it?"
Marsh was still quite confused how they made it out alive after everything. Since he passed out during the time when Choco and Raisins defeated the clam master, he missed out on a lot of things he needed to know.
Choco crawled all the way to Marsh's side and flicked on his nose, "Ouch! What was that for!?" He glared at him.
"Reality check... we've got a lot of things to talk about, Marsh." Choco stated, "For starters, I want to know about this." He points at Marsh's chest, referring to his sickness.
Marsh frowns at the thought of explaining himself so he turned his back on Choco, "Dude, I'm way too tired for this right now."
"Nuh-uh, you've already slept earlier. So face me and tell me everything I need to know!" Choco demanded, his tone impatient and mixed with annoyance by Marsh's evasive attitude. He grabs him by the shoulder and forced him to look at him, "Hey! Stop ignoring me, Marsh... don't you trust me at all?"
Marsh stared at Choco's face for a moment, seeing how determined he was to know the truth. And looking back, Marsh did owe him a lot for coming to his rescue.
He began to recall the times they've struggled together, Choco never left his side and was always there when he needs help. Then as his eyes shifts to Choco's lips, he got a little embarassed when it reminded him that Choco would go through certain lengths just to help him.
And all those recollection proved that Choco is the type of friend that can be trusted. Even though Marsh never wanted to go through his past again, he felt like he didn't have the right to refuse him.
So Marsh sat up and faced Choco, "Alright... but promise me you won't tell anyone about this."
"I promise." Choco nodded.
From there, Marsh began to tell his story.