Chapter 33: Carts and Tunnels

"Alright man, speak up or—" Choco wanted to make the interrogation interesting, but the carrot guy easily admitted everything they need to know after he saw Choco cracking his knuckles.

"The orb's with Shru!—the mushroom guy! H-He kept it with him the whole time after we caught the Cherrymaid, so please don't hurt me..." he cried.

"Well that was no fun." Choco sighed.

"And it's no good either, that guy escaped the other night thanks to a certain someone." Marsh stressed, making Choco raise an eyebrow.

"Take it easy man, that guy could still be roaming around here in Soda Wetlands. We just gotta find him first."

"Sure, maybe we CAN find him in this HUGE place... sure."

"Ugh." Choco rolles his eyes, "Let's just get this over with... what are we gonna do with this guy though?" He points to the carrot guy.

"I'm not sure..." Marsh was quite hesitant of keeping carrot guy around, but he came to a decision, "...maybe he can lead us to Shru."

He turns to carrot guy with a serious gaze, "Do you have any idea where he could be right now?"

Carrot guy was frustrated being held captive by some teenagers, though he can't fight back with his arms and legs tied up. And the way Choco looks at him threateningly makes him shiver after experiencing his heavy punches first hand. "Argh! Fine... I know a route where we can possibly meet Shru."

"Woah, really? That easy?" Marsh grinned.

"Like I have a CHOICE!" He glared back at Choco.

And they travelled in the wagon once again, this time following carrot guy's lead as he guides them to the place.

"You really know your way around here, Carra." Marsh uttered while steering the leash on the ponycorns pulling the wagon, and seated beside him was Carra, still tied up as he lead the way.

"Been workin' this job for a decade now, I can actually roam this whole land with my eyes closed." He bragged.

"I see, that's pretty impressive..." and as they have this friendly conversation, Choco who was listening at the back of the wagon is getting quite upset with Marsh acquainting himself with Carra.

"First you befriend an ant, then you chose to trust a cult leader who turned out to be some evil entity over me, and now you're praising some criminal, ugh..." Choco whispered to himself, shaking his head disapprovingly.

Soon they reach a cave that turned out to be a safe route leading to Gumdrop Coast, both Choco and Marsh were astonished to learn of this. "Neat! That means we can get out of Sweet Kingdom sooner." Choco got excited at the thought.

"But not without the orb." Marsh mentioned, "We still have to retrieve that thing so it can lead us to the cure."

"Right—" Choco was cut off as Carra asked curiously, "Cure for what?" He can finally walk freely now that his legs got untied, they can't bring the wagon nor the ponycorns into the narrow tunnel so they had to leave it behind and set the ponycorns free.

"UHM, a cure for NONE of your business." Choco sassed, "Now lead us that stupid friend of yours."

Although Choco was trying to stop Carra from prying into their grand plans, Marsh had to correct his attitude, "Choco, don't be so rude."

"Say what now!?"

Carra ends up smirking at Choco, "Right, listen to your friend Choco, I think you should learn better from him."

Since it seemed like Marsh wasn't taking his side, Choco chose to stay quietly gritting his teeth with clenching fists. "Hmph!"

"Now let me guide you through the tunnels, gentlemen." Carra gestured for them to enter first, and inside they found it dark and cold, plunging through an endless depth of darkness.

"Creepy." Marsh commented, his voice echoed in the tunnel. "I-Is this really a safe place to walk through?"

"If you walk further inside, you'll feel something blocking your way. The thing's a cart and we can ride it so we can get to the coast faster."

"That's so convenient!"

"Will it surprise you even more if I tell you that there's other tunnels built at the other layers in the kingdom?"

"SHUT UP!" Marsh exclaimed, even Choco was shaken to hear this, "I can't believe we could've travelled through the layers without a sweat all these times!?"

Marching forward, Marsh soon bumped into the cart. "Oh, we reached the cart!" He told them.

"Great, let's go!"

Then as they mount the cart, Marsh and Choco fell silent for a moment, wondering when the cart will move. "Okay, what now?" It was obvious that Choco was getting impatient.

In the darkness, they can't see Carra smirking, "Brace yourselves boys, be prepared for the ride of your lives!" He leans back swiftly, pushing the cart forward.

"What do you mean?" Choco retorted.

The cart started moving, although it's as if they were going to fall as the cart moves at a fast pace to a steep slanted direction, making the boys scream at a panic, "AAAHHH!!"

The ride took about half an hour until they can see through the end of the tunnel, "LOOK OVER THERE!" Marsh yelled, pointing to the exit.

"IT'S ALMOST OVER!" Choco was relieved to hear that, and by the end of the ride, the two tried catching their breaths from screaming throughout the ride. "I thought I was gonna die..." Choco cried.

"Ugh, I don't feel so good." Marsh even puked by the overwhelming experience.

"You'll get used to it by riding a few more times."

"I definitely do not want to go through that again." Marsh pressed, wiping the corner of mouth with his own arm. "Now where's Shru and the orb?"

"Easy now, Marsh." Then Carra grinned in a way that made the boys feel unsettled. He stood up and got out the cart, "We just got here."

"Carra..." Marsh calls his name in a wary tone, "Dude, what are you up to?"

"Marsh... you're in my territory now, so you don't get to tell me what to do."

"You traitor!—" Choco was about to attack him until Carra's fellow men appeared, surrounding them with weapons pointed at them.

"Traitor? Such naive kids you are." Carra chuckled, "Fellas, take them away!"

This got Choco and Marsh glancing at each other, "Uh-oh." They uttered in unison, they never saw this coming.