Chapter Text
Life seemed to always be moving in ebbs and flows from bad to good with Branch. Be born into a family with four big brothers, four best friends to show you the ropes- but they were always tying themselves into knots trying to be perfect. Then, these brothers tell you they’re part of a super-famous boy band, tell you you’re part of the show- and then the first time you show up on stage everything went catastrophic.
It broke his little heart. He almost swore never to sing again. But then, again, that good luck reared its head as his brother Floyd cheered him up one last time, made sure he would be safe with his grandma, and told him to never stop singing-
And then Grandma got eaten.
Then life got bad for a long, long time.
But then- there was Poppy. Queen Poppy, no less, who had pulled him out of his bunker, both literally and metaphorically, and made Branch feel like he was actually living in the world again, rather than just burying deeper into himself in an endless cycle of misery. Poppy had saved him, and gosh, he had fallen, and fallen hard. Her boundless optimism, her passion, her hyperactivity- all once things he had seethed at were now some of his favorite traits.
That was why Branch decided to take advantage of this good streak. That’s why he decided today was the day he was going to ask Poppy to become his girlfriend.
“Ahem- uh, Poppy. Hey. You got a second?” He asked quickly, clearing his throat.
“Yeah! What’s up?” Poppy replied, turning back to him with a smile as she began to bring the first dance party of the morning to its denouement.
“I just, uh, wanted to tell you that I…” Branch paused. He was losing his nerve- and fast.
“I…”
“...I just- wanted to let you know- you’re doing a great job at this whole ‘being queen’ thing,” He finished, a slight air of defeat lingering in his voice as he pivoted back into platonic purgatory. Poppy, however, didn’t seem to register that part.
“Awww! Thanks, Branch! I’m, like, always super excited to be doing it- it’s a lot to pull off, y’know? Being a good queen is the most important thing in the world to me. Other than being your friend!”
Friend.
Branch’s smile very quickly went from sweet and shy to Oh-god-I’m-gonna-barf-and-then-pass-out-possibly-at-the-same-time. He wasn’t sure why being soccer-kicked back into the friendzone had put him off his guard so badly. Was it because Poppy’s demeanor was always cutesy and playful, so it felt more natural that she would confess first? Maybe. But- no! He hadn’t even confessed! It was just a poor excuse for a confession! A coward’s whimper! Argh- what was WRONG with him?!
He was so busy spiraling that he almost didn’t notice Poppy’s voice distantly calling for a high-five. He attempted to oblige, only to whiff completely.
“...Oooookay, let’s try that one more time,” Poppy mumbled, going for it again. Branch whiffed it again. “Yep- one more- almost-”
The slew of awkwardness was quickly ended by Fuzzbert giving Poppy the high-five she wanted, and Branch sighed in relief. He would have wanted to be the one to do that, but he was having- well, let’s just call whatever that was a
moment.
He took a few deep breaths, combing his hair back, just self-stimulating a little- but, of course, his peace was interrupted by a piercing shriek coming from right past the hill.
“AAUGH! POPPY! HELP! HEEEEELP!” Biggie shouted, gunning it up the hill as fast as his legs would allow. In his arms, of course, cradled like a baby, was a very nervous-looking Mr. Dinkles.
“Oh my gosh- Biggie! Are you okay? What’s wrong?!” Poppy asked, rushing over as she gave her friend a hug to try and calm him down.
“Help? Help from what? What’s going on?” Branch chimed in. He instinctively got into a fighting position, having practiced for this day ever since he first knew of the Bergens. Even if the Bergens were no longer a threat, that didn’t mean he had to drop his self-defense skills.
“It- it was some sort of MONSTER! A huge one! And- and it was trying to gobble poor Mr. Dinkles right up!” Biggie whined, pressing his arms against Poppy to return the hug.
“Mew!” Mr. Dinkles added- seemingly scared out of his mind.
“Step back, Biggie. Whatever it is- I’ll handle it,” Branch said, stepping forward. He cracked his knuckles, watching… listening.
But as he listened… he could hear a song?
♫DO THE HUSTLE! ♫
“What the-”
Suddenly, flying up into the air from the sheer upward curvature of the hill, a great beast made itself known. It was a giant, white caterpillar bus, with crazy spinning eyes and a giddy grin. It flew through the air before landing so rough it kicked the dirt up, proceeding to run circles around the group excitedly.
“Who are you? WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH US?!” Branch shouted.
The beast began slowing down, too excited for its own good. A voice started to speak out of it- but its mouth did not move. It was like it had some sort of loudspeaker attached to it.
“HEY! ‘SCUSE ME! Sorry to scare you there. I’m just looking for the King of Pop… Village…” A gruff-looking male voice spoke to them, before trailing off.
The beast came to a stop in front of Branch, studying him. It sniffed him- HARD- and Branch let out a surprised gag.
Then, the beast’s side door opened, and out came…
…
Out came the second-worst news of that day.
The man that stepped out of the beast (vehicle?) was a troll, to be certain. He had a familiar blue skin pigment, along with a spiky teal updo. But what really gave it away were those goggles with the shimmering pink lenses. Only one man Branch has ever known was audacious enough to wear those.
“...”
“
Baby Branch?
”
And that man had just referred to him as an infant.
“Baby-? Branch, do you… know this guy?” Poppy asked. She turned to him, clearly perplexed that the stranger harassing Biggie might have a history with her friend.
“No,” Branch answered hastily, trying to get a word in before the other troll could.
“C’MERE, YOU!” The stranger yelled, scooping up Branch and squeezing him tight. “I’m so happy to see you! I thought you DIED, what!? This is crazy! You get how that’s crazy, right? Gosh, you’re so TALL, it’s- oof- kinda making you hard to hold- ow- Charlie horse- Two Charlie horses!-”
“WOAH WOAH WOAH! I don’t know if you know, you prolly don’t, but Branch needs, like, at least a week to prep for a hug THAT big, especially from- a stranger? I think…?” Poppy said in a rush.
“Stranger…?” The man said, lifting up his goggles. His dopey smile vanished for a moment- but only a moment. He was back smiling in seconds, as he slung an arm around Branch’s shoulder.
“Bitty B here’s my BROTHER! Come on, don’t we just look like spitting images of each other? Ha HA!”
“OH MY GOSH YOU TWO ARE BROTHERS?!” Poppy shrieked excitedly. “BRAAANCH! How come you never told me?!”
“It’s complicated-” Branch grunted.
“Wait. WAIT. Bitty B? Like, BroZone Bitty B? Is that nickname a reference? Are you a BroZone fan too?! AAAH! THIS IS THE COOLEST!!” Poppy continued. Her feet stamped on the ground excitedly.
The stranger laughed. “Oh, you’re waaaay in the dark, girl. We are BroZone. Branch here’s THE Bitty B! See? Just put some glasses on him, you’ll get it!”
“Then- that makes you John Dory, doesn’t it…?” Biggie asked, playing keep-away with Mr. Dinkles as the caterpillar beast kept eyeing it.
“YEP! The Leader, that’s me! And that there’s Rhonda! Don’t worry, she won’t try to eat that thing. Probably.”
Biggie was unconvinced.
“AHEM,” Branch said, speaking up as he pushed John off him quickly. “He’s my FORMER brother. After I disowned him.”
“Branch, that’s… I don’t think that’s how DNA works,” Poppy said with an awkward grin.
“Nope, not how it works,” John agreed.
“Well- still! That doesn’t mean that I want a surprise visit that’s 20 years too late! So pack up your bug-bus thing and hit the bricks!” Branch protested.
That remark caused John to frown. He turned away from the two of them slightly, ruffling through his sleeveless jacket pockets. Then, he turned back, holding up a scruffy-looking poster.
“ This is why I’m here, B.”
Poppy stepped closer, gently taking the poster out of his hands. She looked at it, top to bottom, slowly reading out what it said.
“Barb, the Queen of Rock, announces her One Nation Under Rock World Tour. Bring your string to the biggest party the world has ever seen…?”
“Another queen’s out there? And she wants to throw a big PARTY?! Oh my gosh- we’re gonna be BEST FRIENDS!” Poppy shrieked excitedly.
“...” John sighed, putting his hands on his hips. “The old man never got around to telling you all about the rest of the world, huh. This is bad news, Poppy.”
“Look- I’m sure you can already tell, but after me and BroZone decided to go our separate ways-”
“YOU FOUR decided to go separate ways,” Branch interrupted.
John grinned awkwardly, shrugging.
“Listen, that’s not important right now. After I went solo, I started traveling. I went allllll over the world- I’d be willing to bet I’ve covered more ground than every Pop troll here COMBINED. And I’ve seen things, you guys. Lots of things. Strange things. Crazy things,” He began to say, narrating his story with exaggerated gestures as he did.
“And there I found- more trolls! A whole bunch of ‘em! Six tribes each. Techno, Classical, Country, Funk, Pop- that’s us-“
“…And Rock.”
John threw up some threatening devil horns with his hands to prove a point- for once, he looked serious.
“These Rock Trolls- they’re maniacs, you two! They’ve got no respect for property at all, they nearly TOTAL poor Rhonda whenever I get close, they don’t like anyone else’s music, and what’s worse, their own music sounds so… So… HARSH! It’s not like ours at all! And the worst part is? Their queen’s gonna try to take your string. I overheard her giving her big speech when me and Rhonda were passing by their territory.”
“So that’s why I came here,” he finished. “To warn you before she could even reach you. Took a poster and everything! Now who wants to go save pop?!”
Poppy blinked once or twice, looking at John like he was an alien.
“…She can’t be that bad, can she? I mean, what sort of ‘evil plan’ just needs some average ol’ string?” She asked, clearly not matching his urgent tone.
“The six-? Okay, wow. I’ve got to have some words with old Peppy- Nevermind. Look, it’s not just any old string. It’s a musical string. Each of these tribes have one- cos we couldn’t stop fighting over them a craaazy long time ago. You lose our string to her and she gets all six? The world could fall into uber CATASTROPHE,” John explained.
“Buuuuut-“ He said, suddenly scooping Branch close again. “There is something that could be just right to defeat Barb.”
“The perfect… family… HARMON-“
“Absolutely not!” Branch yelled, clasping John Dory’s mouth shut with his hand. “Are you crazy?!”
“Mmmm mmm mm mm!” John uselessly tried to explain, but with his mouth compromised, he wasn’t getting far. Branch groaned, letting it go.
“Come ON, Bitty B! It’ll be great for us! We’ll get the band back together, and- it has to be us! We were the only ones who coulda gotten close enough!” John said excitedly.
“Yeah- coulda . Because the one time we tried, we failed so bad that we BROKE UP FOREVER. Forget it. You really are crazy,” Branch snapped back. “No, beyond that! You’re crazy and tone-deaf! I shoulda known you’d only come back because you NEEDED something! Ugh, stupid-“
Branch broke off from his big brother, stomping away.
“ Thank you for your oh-so-generous warning, ex-brother, but me and Poppy are gonna go stop this whole ‘rock troll’ thing ourselves instead of gambling on some made-up family harmony AGAIN. Gotta go. Bye,” He said with a grim finality. “C’mon, Poppy. We’re leaving.”
“But- Branch!” Poppy protested, yanking him back slightly by the arm. “He’s your brother! You can’t just… run off! You’ve gotta be there for each other!”
“Yeah? Well, he was never there for me! Why shouldn’t I do the same?!” Branch grumbled.
“Come on, Branch…”
John’s eyes flicked back and forth in between the two friends, as he grimaced slightly. Maybe it was a mistake searching for Bitty B first… He assumed that maybe as the group baby, he’d be the least mad, but… maybe it was the opposite. Either way, him being there was a source of conflict. He’d be the nice guy and remove himself.
“Look, I get it,” he began. “Don’t worry about it.”
“…I’ll just come and pick you up last, okay, baby bro? Ha ha!” John perked up, giving Branch a playful noogie. “So you better get practicing!”
He stuck his goggles back over his eyes, climbing into Rhonda once more.
“SEE YOU WHEN I’VE GOT THE PERFECT FAMILY HARMONY!” He cheerfully said, zooming off.
Branch sighed, a massive weight being lifted off his shoulders now that John Dory was gone.
Biggie silently gave the two of them a nod, backing off- he had been taken on enough crazy running tracks for today that he wouldn’t need any more adventure.
“…” Poppy looked at him sadly.
Branch looked back up at her- he could tell she wasn’t satisfied at leaving this unspoken. Branch had brothers- and they weren’t getting along. Not to mention they now had to process this whole six strings thing…
Branch sighed, gently taking Poppy’s hand.
“I’ll… explain a bit on the way. C’mon.”
Poppy nodded.
“…Yeah. On the way. Branch- do you think John Dory might’ve been overreacting a little?”
As they began to walk, Branch gave her a confused look.
“…Overreacted how?” He asked.
“I mean, all the Trolls united? That sounds like one great PARTY to me! That’s why we’re gonna go talk to Barb!” Poppy explained, a pep in her step once more.
“ Meet-? No, no, Poppy, she sounds like bad news. Plus- John said that the strings united only led to fighting!” Branch protested in response.
“Well, we won’t know until we see her!”
“Uhh, I think we do know. Right at this moment. We’ve been told.”
And as the two of them headed to a hot air balloon to start their journey, somewhere nearby, a quadrupedal troll stands, realizing what he just eavesdropped on…
“Different trolls,” Cooper mumbled.
“Trolls… that could look like me?”
“I… I gotta find ‘em.”