King Peppy was sitting on a fallen tree, looking down at something he held tight in his hands.

The twins, DJ, Smidge, and Cooper jumped on to the log and gave Peppy a huge hug.

The former king needed one, he now had to worry about the village's repairs, and the trolls plus honorary troll lost in the woods, including his daughter.

"I'm sure she's fine!" Satin assured Peppy.

"They've probably found Branch and Biggie by now!" Chenille didn't believe that herself, but just wanted to make sure Peppy was happy.

"Yeah, Archer can protect her and Creek can communicate with animals or something, whatever he does." DJ added.

"What about Branch and Biggie, though? They were out in the middle of Misty Meadows during the storm. They could be dead or severely injured! I don't want Poppy to have to witness that. It'd break her heart. You all know how much she hates seeing Branch hurt." Peppy crossed his arms and sighed, holding out what was in his hands— actually two things.

It was Poppy's cape and one of Branch's vests.

"Poppy was the only important troll I had left in my life and Branch was practically my son."

"They're fine, I know it!" Cooper hugged Peppy again.

"Poppy's a strong fighter, plus she has Creek and Archer and Guy." DJ reminded Peppy.

"And Branch is an expert survivalist, so he and Biggie will be fine." Smidge rejoined the hug.

"Yeah, I guess." Peppy looked up at the sky, "Yeah, they're fine."

~woooOsh~

"WE'RE NOT FINE!" Poppy was hugging a tree trunk with one arm, holding on to Guy with her other, fighting against strong winds.

"PLEASE DON'T LET GOOOOooooOoOoOoooOOoo!" Guy screamed in auto tune.

"I'M TRYING!" Poppy looked around for anything that could help them pull away from the storm's vacuum-like winds.

"WHAT ABOUT THAT SPRING?!" Guy used his free arm to point at a nearby pool of water. "WE SHOULD BE BETTER OFF IN THERE!"

Poppy nodded and let go of the tree, running jumping in to the water, still holding Guy's hand.

The wind wasn't strong over there. The storm was heading in the opposite direction.

"Isn't this the same lake we were at before?" Poppy swam to the shore and pointed at the puddle of blood that was still stained to the grass.

"Oh, yeah!" Guy sighed, "This storm just got everything more messed up. We're even farther from finding Branch and Biggie and now we lost Archer and Creek and Ash!"

"Whenever I got lost, my dad said to just stay where you are.. so maybe we should just do that?" Poppy climbed back on to the grass and shook her hair and wrung the water out of her dress.

"Yeah, they'll find us eventually." Guy stayed in the water, pretty bummed out.

~wooosh againnn~

Creek and Archer were somehow tackling each other, fighting for a stupid reason.

"It's your fault they're gone!" Creek slapped Archer across the face.

"NO! YOU!" Archer kicked Creek in the hehehehe.

"BoYs!" Ash face palmed, "Can you two stop? We just have to retrace their steps and we'll find them! It's not super hard."

"In this huge forest? How?" Archer scoffed and proceeded to break Creek's legs.

"I've lived out here for a while. I know my way around this entire half of the forest." Ash pulled the two on their feet, "The storm's already going away, come on."

"How long ago and how did you get out here?" Creek asked, being kind of nosy.

"Uh.." Ash hesitated to answer, "Same as your friends.. lost in a storm during a trip."

"When? I've never seen you around the village." Archer scratched his head.

"Let's go find your friends, okay?" Ash began to skip away.

"Branch isn't my friend." Creek said under his breath.

"Ohhh, so he is the one you stabbed?" Ash spun right round.

(right round is playing on spotify right now how do I not make that a reference-)

"WHAT? HOW DID YOU KNOW?" Creek screeched and froze.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Archer gasped loudly.

"I didn't actually know up until now, but I could tell. The stab wound on Branch's leg, the bloody knife you gave me, the fact that you don't seem to fond of him." Ash chuckled lightly.

"YOU STABBED BRANCH? First of all, WHEN DID YOU SEE BRANCH AND NOT TELL US? Second, WHY DID YOU STAB BRANCH? And lastly, IS HE OKAY?" Archer shook Creek.

"The other night I think (I lost track of time), I saw him and I-I don't know.. I was jealous of him and Poppy's relationship and thought killing him was an answer." Creek covered his face. He was embarrassed and felt horrible about it.

"Branch is fine, not to brag or anything, but I kind of saved his life." Ash brushed the nonexistent dirt off her shoulder and smirked.

"Oh." Archer and Creek sighed in slight relief.

"Can't wait for Poppy to find out!" Archer cackled quietly to himself and followed Ash to find the others again.

"NO! IF SHE FINDS OUT SHE'LL HATE ME! I feel bad for what I did, I truly do! I don't know why I did it! Please, don't let Poppy know. I'll do anything!" Creek pleaded on his knees.

"Fine," Archer evilly grinned, "you have to stop flirting with Poppy."

"NO!"

"Let her be happy with Branch, they belong together."

Creek scoffed, "Fine, tell her. Who's she going to believe? The troll who let her down once or the party crashed who was rude to her for months?"

Archer tackled Creek to the ground and they started fighting again.

Ash groaned, "Seriously?"

~

"Are you sure you're okay?" Acorn rubbed Mandy's shoulders as they strolled through the forest.

"I'm fine. She taught me to be strong and get over things, I can't think about her forever." Mandy wiped the final tear from her eye and lead the trio back to where they had left the bOyS.

"Sorry we were gone so lo-" Verdana pushes through a bush to find no one there. "Branch? Biggie?"

"Where'd they go?" Mandy walked around the area, the two were nowhere to be found.

"Did they leave us?" Verdana scratched her head, "They wouldn't leave us, right?"

"Maybe they were attacked by something and fled." Acorn shrugged, "We don't have tune to think about what could've happened, we just have to find them."

"Okay, but where would they go?" Verdana tried to think of all the places she knew the bOyS could find their way too.

"What about that spring we met them at, with the kitty critters? Maybe they wanted to wash the blood off?" Acorn had high doubts, but it was an educated guess.

"There's no harm in looking." Mandy grabbed Acorn's hand and ran alongside him to head over to it.

Verdana stared at the two's hands, extremely jealous. She was aware her husband loved her, but he was always super close to Mandy. She squeezed between them and put her hand in Acorn's. "Heey."

(I ALMOST TYPED SCOTT INSTEAD OF ACORN AND I KNOW LITERALLY ONLY JADEN GETS IT BUT I LAUGHED [and cried] SO HARD ASGJSGDJDS okay continue reading)

~wooshity backity to poppy and guy~

It was really early, about 2 in the morning or so, but neither could sleep.

"I hope they're okay.. all of them.. Ash, Archer, Creek, Biggie, a-and Branch.." Poppy was lying in the grass, staring at the clear sky.

"Poppy, stop worrying about them so much." Guy patted Poppy's arm and looked up at the sky.

"I just want us to all be at home, happy, healthy, no tornadoes." She crossed her arms and rolled over to look away from him.

"growl."

Guy sat up and looked over at Poppy, "Are you hungry?"

"Well, kind of, but that wasn't my stomach. Are you hungry?" She looked at him with the same confused expression.

"Yes, but that wasn't my stomach either." He looked around, trying to find the source. It was too dark, though.

Suddenly, something was there, but they couldn't see it.

"Hello?" Poppy awkwardly waved, still looking around.

Suddenly, something big whacked her in the face, scratching her cheek, "AH!"

"POPPY! Are you okay?" Guy pulled her off the ground.

"LOOK OUT!" Poppy fell back down and pushed Guy on the ground too as a paw swung past.

Not one, but two kitty critters were there. The one that attacked the bOyS, and that one's mother. They were both furious about the trolls on their territory again.

"AAH!" Poppy and Guy kept backing up.

"I'M NOT READY TO DIE!" Guy screamed.

It was too dark, they couldn't see to fight, nor knew how to fight. The kitties had too much of an advantage.

"HEY!" A male voice shouted from a tree branch. The troll jumped down and landed on one of the cats to fight.

"Branch?" Poppy's face lit up.

"Huh?" The troll dove off the cat's nose to reveal himself as Acorn.

"Oh—" Poppy slouched against a tree, disappointed.

Mandy and Verdana joined in the fight.

Mandy gave the younger cat a punch to it's furry neck, but the cat returned her with a paw smack to her head.

"HEY! DON'T HURT HER!" Acorn kicked the mother kitty critter's leg, making it lose balance.

Verdana narrowed her eyebrows at Acorn, her jealousy still taking over her thoughts. With her zoned out, the kitten managed to scratch her leg. "AUCH!"

She backed behind the tree with Guy and Poppy, "Is it possible either of you could join this fight?"

"No." Poppy and Guy both shook their heads.

"We can't beat them without more help!" Mandy punched the older cat's paw, though the punch was weak.

The cat slammed the paw down on Mandy's back and hissed at her.

Acorn was too scared to keep fighting. He pretended to trip, "Oww...?"

The cat's didn't believe him, but didn't make another attack on them. The cats meowed something at each other then looked at Poppy and Guy with a sinister grin on their furry faces.

"You don't wanna mess with me!" Poppy held her fists up and tried to look feisty.

The cats both raised their paws, readying for an attack on the two, but were interrupted again by a male shout.

"HEY FURBALLS!"

(ah yes I love cliffhangers.)