Chapter Text
Branch knew he was probably crazy. No one else had their minds play tricks on them into thinking a Bergen was nearby, or talked to themselves as much, but this was by far the craziest thing he had done. Crazier than becoming a king, and crazier than using Zelf magic. Apparently, now the craziest thing he had to do was fight a Bergen.
But he knew if he didn’t fight the Bergen, there was a very high chance Poppy would chase after whoever potentially got taken and may die in the process. If she was lucky she would make it to the town, but then still die from getting eaten. Not ideal.
As much as it sucked, his best chance of keeping her safe was to keep everyone safe. Which unfortunately meant he had to fight a Bergen. Hopefully the Muses would at the very least find this entertaining enough to spare everyone else.
While Branch had initially planned to do this alone, he had been reminded of Zeit’s warning to allow for help. It was then that he remembered he and Boom would bump into each other, and Boom would vent about how he tried to tell his father of the dangers, but wasn’t listened to, and was told to keep a quiet lip about it. In the past, Branch had simply vented about the monarchy and the council before storming off. Now that he was less blinded by anger, they managed to talk for longer about what to do about the situation.
This resulted in them coming up with a plan to intentionally allow the village into Branch’s bunker, and buy them time to escape by fighting the Bergen head on. Realistically, they probably wouldn’t win a fight, but if they could keep the chef distracted, it should be enough.
Boom somehow managed to find others who had their own concerns about the party, and Branch had a few people who owed him a favor, or at the very least seemed to pity him. The plan was simple, the party would go on as planned, and few others would keep an eye on things, while others snuck weapons in to hide around the area, and a few chose to remain inside the bunker either at the start or towards the end of the party to guide villagers in.
The plan was half-baked. Especially considering all the training and building that had to be done in such a short amount of time, but it was the best they could do.
He fired another arrow at her, this time at her hand, and he barely was able to dodge the knife she pulled from her pocket and threw at him. She took out a few more and Branch lit up a flare signal. As he did, Boom, Karma, Trickee, and a troll named Ripley Wisp shot out on flyer bugs and began to pelt the Bergen Chef with glitter and air horns to distract her. The Chef tried to throw her knives at them, but they were too fast and managed to hit near enough to one of her eyes so that glitter got in. As the Chef began to fumble in pain, Branch finally reached Poppy and dragged her to one of the nearest paths.
“Branch what they heck is going on!? I thought you said you were going to stay in the bunker!”
“Yeah well I kinda lied.” Branch admitted as he dragged her behind a bush. “Now I need you to get as many people down into the bunker and keep the crowds calm in there.”
“WHAT!?” Poppy said baffled. “Branch I am not abandoning my friends!”
“Your friends are going to be fine! We’ll get them out. But I know damn well the village is going to not care about safety and someone is going to get trampled over. Maybe even a kid! I need you to take control of the situation down below. There might be a handful of trolls down there to guide people, but they need a leader to actually keep things stable.”
“But-”
“Poppy you didn’t give a rat’s ass about what could’ve happened to everyone if a Bergen showed up, and one did. The least you can do now is make sure no one gets hurt in the evacuation process!”
Poppy faltered at that, guilt in her eyes, and while Branch felt bad, he didn’t want to risk losing her a second time.
“Poppy, please.” he begged.
Poppy seemed to be fighting a war in her mind, but her head fell when she made her decision. “Alright fine.Just to get the crowd under control. I’m immediately coming back up to help afterwards.”
“Alright fine,” Branch said exasperated.
It looked like she wanted to argue further, but instead, she threw herself into a hug, and for once, Branch fully reciprocated. He wasn’t sure if the price of the exchange could end up costing him his own life, so he might as well get a final hug out of it.
“Please be careful,” she whispered into his ear.
The sensation almost made him shiver. “I promise,” he said as he gently pulled away. A crazy part of him wanted her to hug for longer for once, but he couldn’t waste any more time. Not when he was already putting others at risk for the mistakes he made.
The two broke off, with Poppy going down to one of the secret bunker entrances, and Branch ran back into the fray.
It seemed as if the Chef had somewhat recovered, and was now furiously swatting at the flyers. Since she was distracted, Branch used a tree limb, extended his hair, and shot himself onto the fanny pack. There he could see the ones who never came back.
“Wait Branch!?” DJ Suki asked baffled.
“What in the name of the muses are you wearing!?” Satin asked shocked.
Given the grueling situation he and the others voluntarily signed up for, outfits were made to try and minimize damage. Leaves were cured into a durable material and pulled on as tunics. Then, leggings and long fingerless gloves had knee and elbow caps sewn into them.
“Wasn’t my idea,” Branch complained a bit embarrassed at being so dressed up, but he grabbed Satin’s hand, then Chenille’s and helped them get down. He then got down Guy Diamond and Biggie, as Biggie spewed thankful tears, then DJ Suki got helped down, and Fuzzbert fell on his own.
He then heard a thud from overhead and saw Boom get swatted away by the Chef’s hand. “BOOM!” he called out to the glitter troll but got no response. Chef nearly reached for him, but teal hair shot out and forcibly shoved the hand back. During her time in captivity Smidge must have taken down her multiple braids, and now she looked pissed.
“Come on!” Smidge urged as she grabbed Branch and the two jumped down.
They ran as fast as they could into the bushes as the other flyer bugs retreated, and the pathways went dark, signaling that enough people had retreated. Once Chef realized the trolls had hidden, she let out a scream of rage and Branch had to cover his ears from the volume of it.
“I need to find Boom,” he whispered quietly to Smidge. “But I have a feeling you aren’t going to let me ask you to hide with the others.”
“Nope.” Smidge said defiantly, “you know you guys need me.”
“Good,” Branch said relieved. As much as he didn’t like someone who didn’t know the full plan helping out, she wasn’t wrong. Smidge was the strongest troll in the village for a reason.
The two silently climbed the tree as the Chef threw a tantrum, she smashed pods and screamed obscenities, but her shouts hid their quiet movements.
Eventually, they made it to where Boom was, and Trickee was already there doing his best to give the troll medical attention. “Hey Boom,” Branch whispered quietly as he crouched down.
“Hey yourself,” Boom tried to say with a smile, but it came out more so a grimace.
“His head is fine, thankfully, but I definitely think he fractured at least one rib,” Trickee said concerned. While he worked as a cartographer for his sister Tug, he did have some experience dealing with injuries. Part of the job.
“Yeah that’s about where the Bergen’s meaty hand hit me so that checks out.” Boom complained as he tried to take a deep breath.
This was all Branch’s fault. How could he think it was right to put these people in danger? He asked for all of this, yet the people who tried to help him were paying the price. Just like-
“Branch?” Smidge asked, her gruff voice laced in concern.
It was then that Branch realized he was shaking, and he forced himself to calm down. “Trick, go get Boom down to Dr. Moonbloom. They should be able to treat him on the 7th level.”
“Got it,” Trickee said with a confident nod. “Are we still moving onto part 2 though?”
“What’s part 2?” Smidge asked.
“Part 2 is if we’ve managed to get everyone else down below. If we evacuated everyone in time, and the Chef is still here, we’d try to take her out. Permanently.” Branch said as he tightened his hold on his paws.
“Should we risk it?” Smidge asked.
“If the Chef reports back to the Bergens, we don’t know how long we’ll have until they’re all chasing after us.” Branch said, he had to swallow to continue. “If we’re lucky we’d be able to evacuate the village, but if they start chasing us again…”
“They might catch us again too,” Smidge said dejectedly. “No more parties, no more celebrations, just a life on the run.”
“Now do you see why I was so against big loud parties?” Branch complained as he turned to her. “It just put us all back in danger all over again.”
Smidge’s hands curled into fists, and she looked ready to argue, but she dropped her shoulders in defeat. “Fine.” she said tone clipped. “But how in the name of the muses are you going to convince people to help in this crazy plan? I’m on board to protect my friends, but I doubt everyone else is going to be as enthusiastic.”
“She has a point,” Boom complained as he sat up a bit further. “I can’t fly right now, and we’re going to need the extra flyers to help with the plan. We got lucky this round with the few people we did have.”
Branch groaned into his paws as he tried to figure out what to do. How the hell would he get everyone to listen to him? What worked when he was stuck ruling? An idea flashed into his mind. It was dumb, but it might spark some action.
“I’ll try to announce it in the bunker over the radio speakers. In the meantime, Karma can set up the other bugs, Trickee, you get Boom down below and let the others know we’re moving into phase 2, and Ripley can either help Karma, or help me distract the Chef.”
“What about me?” Smidge asked.
“I need you to find the heaviest things in the village wreckage and swing them at the Chef. No mercy.”
“Got it,” Smidge replied as she rubbed her paws together in anticipation.
“I know I’ve asked a lot from all of you, but Chef has taken thousands of trolls lives over the decades she’s been alive and we need to make sure it never happens again. Not a single death but hers.”
The trolls all agreed, and when they broke off, Branch radioed Karma and Ripley the plan as he ran to the other weapons. He picked up a glaive and gripped it tightly. No matter what happened to him, he wasn’t going to let the Chef take a single troll. Never again.