Parts of the Gumdrop Coast has been taken over by the underground organization, serving as a base where they gather all the resources they hoarded from the layers of Sweet Kingdom. Though it doesn't only serves as a place to store materials, it's also where other events takes place well, such as the auctionary.
Members of the auctionary from all over Sweet Kingdom would travel through the shortcut tunnels to attend the greatest auction that will be held so far, featuring the Crystal Grain as the star item.
And near the base where Marsh and Choco were held captive by Carra's subordinates, they never knew the tides would go against them. Now that they're the ones restrained, Carra enjoyed the troubled looks upon their faces. "Not so tough now, are you? Hah!—Must suck to be the one tied in knots now."
"Not impressive. I've been tied in better ropes!" Choco hissed, getting Marsh even more upset in their dire situation. "Dude, don't make this any worse for us." He whispered.
"Still feisty as ever! Let's see if you can keep this act when I get back to you later." Carra chuckled, "Now send 'em to the enclosure!"
"Got it." Then the two got taken away by Carra's subordinates and got thrown at some storage room in the base.
"YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY WITH THIS, CARRA!" Choco yelled right before the door was shut close on them, trapping them inside a small dark storage room.
Marsh sighed heavily, "This... this is my fault." He uttered, feeling guilty being caught into this situation. "I'm sorry, I shoud've been more cautious around Carra." He curled up, tucking his legs to his chest as he leans on the cold wall.
Although Choco got upset with Marsh's favorable treatment of Carra earlier, he doesn't see Marsh responsible for this. "Don't be so hard on yourself, we were in it together on this one... so we're both to blame for being careless." He calmly said.
"I guess you're right, in a way... I'm just worried on what they're planning to do with us later."
"I'm sure we'll manage to figure out a way to escape this place." Then Choco started roaming inside the dark room, looking for anything they can use.
Marsh snickered, "Always the optimist... I really envy you Choco."
This struck Choco surprised, "Envy me?! I thought you were always annoyed with me for being reckless." He said as he continued in his search, this time he got his hand on something sharp like a broken piece of glass.
"Yeah, that too... it's just that you never seem to be afraid of anything, you never lose hope... like I do." Marsh clears his throat, a little embarassed by his confession. "I kind of wish I can be like you."
"I'm flattered." Choco chuckled, he was already using the shard to cut the rope tying his wrists together as he speak, "You know, you got some good points yourself. I've learned a lot from you than I did at the academy and that's pretty impressive."
Marsh smiled, "Really?"
"Yeah!" Choco cuts off the rope, finally freeing himself and continued to look through the stuff inside the room.
"Such ashame we're still trapped in here. I don't know if we'll ever escape this place... but if Carra ends up deciding to kill us later, I want you to know that I'm glad to have you as my friend."
"Quit talking like an old man spilling his final words." Choco complained, finding a box of matches and litting one on fire.
Marsh was astonished to see Choco light up the room, completely free from any restraints. For a moment, he was captivated at the sight of Choco, igniting the hope inside him. "Dude! H-How!?" That was all he can utter.
"I was looking through the stuff here while you were getting all sad and chatty. Now come here so I can set you free."
And as they were both freed from the restraining ropes, the next thing they did was search for anything they can escape through. With another lit match lighting the room, they both saw the loose vents on the wall, it was huge enough for them to crawl through.
"Say, I kinda want to hear the part about you praising me again." Choco teased to which he got a slightly strong punch from Marsh, "Ugh, just start crawling."
As the boys make their escape through the vents, Carra is currently with his fellow subordinates, on their way for an urgent meeting set by their boss.
"That chocolate kid sure seem familiar." One of them mentioned.
"I know, right? I feel like I've seen him before." Another one said, "Say, did we get his name? Did anyone here asked for his name?"
"From what I know, the kid's called Choco." Carra replied, "What? Does he got a bounty or something?"
"You guys head first, I have to confirm something about that kid." And one of them ran off to the information department to look up about Choco's background.
As their group walks through the hallways, another one brought up a hot topic. "That's right, since you just got here, I bet you haven't heard about Shru yet."
The mention of his partner's name got Carra's eyes furrowed, he was quite upset with Shru knowing that he abandoned him, making him feel betrayed back then. "What about him?"
"I heard the boss promoted him for bringing back a special item. They even planned for a sudden auction for it—TONIGHT!"
Carra knew Shru had the Crystal Grain on him, and it annoyed the heck out of him to learn that he took all the credit presenting the item to their boss when they struggled together taking it away from the dangerous Cherrymaid beast.
"Lucky bastard." He scoffed.
Then as they all got into the meeting room, Carra saw Shru beside the boss. The two met gazes, and Shru was pretty shocked with Carra's presence. He wanted to approach his friend, but Carra chose to look away and ignore him during this meeting.
"As we all know—" the boss started, and people fixed themselves in their seats as they listen with excitement. "—tonight we'll be holding another one of our quarterly auctions here in the Sweet Kingdom." He announced.
"And thanks to Mr. Shru over here, we're able to present our clients with a very special item—an item from the lookout list, the Crystal Grain of Sugar Deity!"
Everyone cheered despite of it not being much of a grand reveal, everyone already knew the item. They were all very excited to make money out of it.
The boss continued to talk, instructing his people about the things they needed to do for the auctionary. And right after that meeting, they all started preparing the venue for the grand event.
Soon the guests arrived, their whole body covered with a hooded cloak with their faces hiding behind a mask. They're very excited to get their hands on interesting objects in the auction. But there are certain guests with incredible wealth, intending to hoard everything for themselves.
"Haa... once I get my hands on the Crystal Grain, I can use it against that stupid Crown Prince and finally annul that engagement!" Lady Cocoa chuckled, she may be hiding her identity with a chocolate cloak and mask but a fellow premium auctioneer member approached her.
A person wearing a shiny yellow cloak with a mask carved with caramel sequences, "Good evening, my lady. You seem excited for tonight."
"Why of course, I'll be the one to get that Crytal Grain." Lady Cocoa smirked behind her mask, "And I'd very much appreciate if you step down from bidding for that item, Sir Amarel."
"Please refrain from calling me by my true name, my lady. We have a policy stating that we use codenames here for confidentiality—"
"Well, if it isn't Sir Amarel!" Then another one of the premium auctioneers approached them, wearing a plain white mask and cloak designed with whipped cream. "I see that I've got to compete with well-estemeed gentlemen for another auction, Viscount Maple was also very eager to win the Crystal Grain."
"Please call me by my codena—" Before Sir Amarel can remind Maquis Vanilla about the codenames, Lady Cocoa got quite upset with the Marquis not considering her as competition. "Marquis Avin Ru, prepare to face defeat! I'll be the one to take the Crystal Grain home."
"Hah, women..." and the Marquis only ended up dismissing Lady Cocoa, infuriating her. "Tch! Damn patriarchy." She mumbled.
Sir Amarel just ended up shaking his head with them breaking the policy, "Ugh, why do I even bother."
The auctionary members soon entered the venue, and they were all enticed by the harmonious design of exhibits from different kingdoms and empires. They also received a warm welcomed by the person hosting them for the night, "Ladies and gentlemen, WELCOME TO THIS SPECIAL EVENING!"