Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be a, all exclusive Brozone only, camping trip. Viva and Queen Poppy were joining Brandy on one of her girls trip and they decided all the Brozone members should do a trip as well. So, naturally, John Dory suggested a camping trip. His brothers looked unsure, but the girls thought it was perfect idea.

Bruce worries about his restaurant and the kids. Brandy gave him a kiss saying she’ll get her parents to watch over the business and the kids. That put his mind at ease and he decided to join in on the camping trip.

Clay worried about being behind on his book from his sad book club. Viva had that covered of course. She gave everyone a sad book that Clay has read like a bazillion times, instead of the current book they were reading.

Of course, this got John curious and he asked, “What is your favorite..sad…book?”

Clay inhaled and let out a sniffle, “ My favorite book is called ‘The Little Troll that Couldn’t’. It’s a very very sad book. You guys seriously need to read it! Maybe you guys can read it when we get back from the trip!”

“Sooo…your going on the trip?” Ask Bruce.

“Sure. It’s going to take the club members awhile to read that book. It has over five hundred pages!”

With Clay joining in on the trip, Floyd immediately joins in as well hoping this might be a good opportunity to bond with his brothers.

“Are you coming to branch?”

“Well.. I don’t…” Branch looks over at Poppy who encouragingly motions her hands at him to join his brothers. He sighs and turns back to his older brothers, “I guess a camping trip wouldn’t hurt.”

His brothers cheer causing branch to smile a little.

“Ok guys, let’s pack and meet back at Ronda tomorrow morning 8am sharp, alright?”

“Yep!”

“Alright!”

“Ok, JD!”

“Sure.”

The bothers go back to their pods and bunkers to pack for their big trip.

The next morning, as the sun rose over the horizon, Floyd and Branch are the first to make it to Rhonda. John Dory sees his youngest two brothers arrive first, “At least two of my brothers arrived on time.”

Branch rolls his eyes and Floyd gives John a stern look, “Jooohhhn, we’ve talked about this.”

John sighs and scratches the back of his head, “Right right, sorry. Here let me take your bags, there’s coffee in Rhonda if you want some.” 

Branch quickly hands his eldest brother his bag, “you don’t have to tell me twice!” He heads inside Rhonda.

Floyd helps JD secure their bags to Rhonda just as Clay arrives.

Floyd waves, “Morning Clay!”

“Mornin’ sleeping beauty!”

Clay glares and grumbles, “Shut up John.”

Clay tosses his bag to Floyd and heads inside Rhonda.

Bruce arrives ten minutes later. John opens his mout, but before he can say anything Bruce tosses his bag at him, “Don’t start John! When you have thirteen kids, it’s hard to sneak away from them.”

John grumbles, “I was just gonna say ‘Hi Spruce’.”Bruce gives his older brother a look, “It’s Bruce John..” JD sighs and scratches the back of his, “Right..sorry Spr-Bruce…Bruce.” Bruce nods and makes his way inside Rhonda.

JD sighs and pop his neck, “I hope this goes well.” 

Floyd pats his back and smiles reassuringly, “It totally will JD! What could possibly go wrong?”

John chuckles, “a lot, but let’s not get into the negatives.” Floyd playfully punches his eldest brothers arm and hops off Rhonda so he can go inside.

 JD sure all his bothers bags are secured before he jumps off of Rhonda and heads inside the bus.

JD hops into the drivers seat, “Alright bros, are we ready?” 

With a resounding, “Let’s bro!!” JD hits the gas and Rhonda takes off, away from Pop Village.

An hour into their trip, the two youngest Brozone members ended up falling back asleep. Bruce puts a blanket over his younger brothers and closes the curtain. He walks towards the front passing Clay as he reads a book called “Seriously Sad”. Bruce makes his way next to his older brother and watches as the leaves and tress fly by.

“So…where are we going, bro?”

“We are going to one of my favorite camping spots.” JD smiles, “It’s a forest with dark blues and purple leaves, it’s also an amazing place to star gaze!” He grips the steering wheel with excitement, “It feels…I don’t know..like home to me!”

Bruce lifts a questioning eyebrow at his older brother, but shrugs.

They make it to the campsite by the late afternoon, with minimal arguments. In Clays defense, John Dory started it. Of course, the argument woke up the two youngest Brozone members and the refused to go back to sleep. They needed to make sure a major fight didn’t break out.

John is the first out the door and inhales the air of the soon to be campsite. He smiles excitedly, “We’re here bros!!” He leaps on top of Rhonda and starts uniting all his camping gear along with his younger brothers gear.

The other Brozone members make their way out of Rhonda and start to look around their new surroundings. They were mesmerized by the colors of the forest. Dark blue and purple leaves in the trees. Dark green grass with a hint of pink on the tips. It was truly beautiful.

Bruce whispers, “this place is so rad!”

His younger brothers all nod in agreement, just as Floyd clears his throat.

“We should probably set up camp guys.” Everyone nods and turns around to see John has already set up camp. 

Clays eyes widen, “Bro! How did you do that so fast?!”

John blinks, “O-oh! Sorry Bros! I just got carried away in my excitement.” He laughs and scratches the back of his head.

Bruce shakes his head with a chuckle, “come on bitty B! Let’s go find some berries.”

Branch grumbles, “It’s Branch, Bruce.” He hears his older brother snicker and takes off before branch can hit him. Branch immediately takes off after him.

They come back a few hours later, right as it gets dark, with plenty berries.

John just lit the camp fire, “good timing guys!” 

“We would have gotten back sooner if Bruce didn’t make that wrong turn at that Blue boulder.”

“Hey! The boulder two miles back looked exactly the same as that one did.”

“One had pink speckles and the other had purple speckles!”

“See, exactly the same!”

John starts to laugh, the moment he hears Floyd and Clay start to giggle and snort. “All right you two, come over here and let’s eat!” And eat they did. Once full, they all sat around the fire.

John watches as Bruce and Clay chat about the newest sad book or Bruce’s restaurant. He glances over at his two youngest brothers, who are talking about the new song branch wrote. He hears Floyd’s complements a certain part of the song and he watches as Branch bashfully lower his head and turn away with a smile.

John smiles and leans back to the stars. This was such a good idea.

Sometime later, his brothers all head to their respective tents. 

John blows out his light, “Night Rhonda!” Rhonda coos back at him. He chuckles and lays down, “Night Bros!”

Hearing a chorus of “Night!” and “Goodnight!”, JD gets comfortable before he says, “Don’t let the mountain bugs bite!”

“Mountain bugs?!”

“Are you serious right now?!”

“Should we be worried about a possible infestation?!”

“Jooohhn!!”

John starts laughing when he hears Bruce’s scolding tone, “I’m kidding!! I’m kidding bros! Ok! Ok! Goodnight for real this time!”

He hears all his brothers groan and grumble at him, before they head to bed.

Now, all John Dory wanted to do was to go camping and to bond with his little brothers. Just like old times! But the universe seems to have a grudge against him and his brothers because in the middle of the night John awoke to the sound of the ground shaking and Rhonda let out an alarming thrill. John quickly gets up and looks out of his tent, just in time to see a group of Stampeatles rushing this way.

“BROS!! GET UP WE GOTTA GO!!”

Everyone groggily starts peaking out of their tents, but immediately jump awake the moment they see the Stampeatles.

They won’t make it John thought.

“Everyone scatter!”

Everyone quickly scatters in opposite directions into the forest. Rhonda quickly finds a large boulder and leaps onto it. John quickly climbs a tree just in time, cause not a second later, the Stampeatles trample into their campsite tearing everything in their path.

The Stampeatles take a while to make their way out of their camp. John watches and makes sure the Stampeatles have passed before he climbs down. He walks to his family’s ruined campsite and his ears lower in sadness, everything was going so good. What happened?

That’s when John spots some the leftover berries that got smashed. He dipped his fingers into the smushed berries and licked his fingers. He cursed and wiped his fingers on his jacket, “that’s why they tasted familiar! Stampeatles are attracted to sucker berries.” He sighs, “Ok Bros, it’s safe! You can come out!” After waiting a minute and not seeing or hearing his brothers he tries again, “Ok Bros very funny, you can come out now.” When no one does a tightness forms in his chest, “Bros…”

Rhonda hops down off the boulder and whines at John.

John breathing heavier and he clutches the front of shirt, “Bros?! Spurce?! Clay?!” He starts turn every direction, “Floyd?! Branch?!”

When no one answers John lets out a very panicked whisper, “O-Oh no… my brothers….my little brothers are….gone.”

Chapter Text

One brother in danger, not a problem! Two brothers in danger, a little more tricky but still, not a problem! Three brothers in danger….slightly problematic…but still, no…no problem! Now, all four of his younger brothers in danger…now THAT….THAT IS A PROBLEM!!

John Dory had spent the last hour looking and calling out to his brothers. With no luck he quickly makes his way back to the ruined campsite to grab his machete and some rope. He goes over to Rhonda, “Rhonda, you stay here in case one of my brothers comes back.” She whines and nudges him. He comforts her, “I’ll be ok girl, I promise.” He pulls back to look at her, “Now, stay here. I’ll come find you when I have all of my brothers.”

Rhonda rumbles and lays down near the ruined campsite.

John Dory smiles and puts on his goggles, “Good girl! Now, Stay!” And with that he dashes into the forest with one goal in mind. Finding his brothers!

Night turns into day and back to night again. There were still no sign of any of his brothers and John Dory felt like he was gonna go insane. 

“Spr-Bruce?!…Clay?!” John groans, “Come on guys!..Floyd?!….Branch?!” He growls and angrily runs a hand through his hair. He’s about to call again, but stops when he hears something…something familiar.

He lifts his ear up to make sure he heard it right, “I know I heard what I just heard..” his ears twitch in every direction possible, “Come on bro I know I heard that.” He dashes forward, “I know I heard a sour note.” He stops at a tall tree and starts to climb.

A troll will only make a sour not if they are in danger, distress, or a cry for help. A sour note is a unpleasant almost high pitched screech that tries to scare off any threat that’s near them. It also works as a call of some sort. A sour note call can be heard for miles. Only family members or loved ones can hear the distressed trolls sour notes and John Dory has heard all of younger brothers sour notes, so he knows what their sour notes sound like.

John gets to a high point in the tree and he starts scanning the area. “Come on….Come on!” He stomps his foot, “I know I heard it!”

He knows he’s breathing heavily right now but he can’t help it. His brothers are in danger and it’s been a whole day since he’s seen them.

He takes a deep breathe and lets it out  slowly, ‘Calm down JD. Take a moment to regain yourself and scan your surroundings.’ He does just that, ‘Now’ he closes his eyes, “focus.” 

He slowly starts tuning out unnecessary noises. To his left, he hears a river running down the mountain. Behind him, he hears circlets chirping in the night. To his right, an unpleasant yet deep high pitched screech assaults his ear. ‘There!’ His eyes snap open and he jumps down from the tree. 

He knows that deep sour note anywhere. He flips off some tree branches and vines before he lands on the ground. The moment he lands, he takes off running.

“I’m comin Spurce!!”

He was having a good time with his brothers, emphasis on the was! He doesn’t know how it lead to him getting separated from his family, getting lost in a forest, having no idea if his brothers are ok and…Oh yeah! Currently huddled in a to small under ground cave to avoid getting eaten by a monster!!

The beast pounds the cave with his paws causing more debris to fall into his hair. Man that’s gonna take forever to comb out of his hair! The ground shakes, ‘If I live that long to comb out my hair.’

His breathing starts to get heavier as he sees claws puncture the top of his hiding spot. He tries to back up but there is no where to go. He watches as the claws start getting closer and more dirt falls into his hair. When teeth chop down mere inches from his feet he lets out a deep high pitched screech. Bruce’s breathing hitches when he realizes he let out his sour note, ‘God, I haven’t made a sound like that in a long time. Not since I was a trolling.’ 

The beast lifts its claws in the air ready to deliver the final strike. Thinking this is the end Bruce smiles sadly, ‘Heh…and John came running and…’ he closes his eyes tight as the claws comes rushing towards him, ‘and my big brother saved me.’ He lets out his sour note as his final breath.

..

….

…..

‘Why…am I still breathing??’

Bruce slowly opens one eye, but..the beast is gone. He opens both eyes and listens closely in case the beast is near by. He can hear snarls and roars from the beast. It sounds like it’s fighting something, so that means he has one chance and one chance only to escape. Bruce needs to take his chance. Now!

Bruce slowly and cautiously starts making his way to the surface. Right as he reaches the surface, the beast that was attacking him falls to the ground near him. The beast doesn’t move and Bruce can tell, the beast is dead.

He gulps audibly and jumps when something lands in front of the downed beast. This new beast, is a troll but it is slightly taller than clay due to it being on some thick powerful hind legs. The troll beast has blue legs with dark blue patterns on its legs. It also has thick muscular blue arms with dark blue patterns, matching the same pattern on its legs. It growls and grunts from its snout. He can see the massive fangs from protruding out of its jaw. He watches as the troll beast cracks it knuckles and flexes its claws . A tail can be seen whipping in the air  behind it as its red eyes stare right at Bruce.

The purple troll looks at this new troll beast and he squints his eyes to really looks at it. Upon closer inspection, Bruce realizes that he sees familiar goggles, that are glinting in the moonlights rays, on the beast head.

His eyes widen in shock and he whispers with uncertainty and caution, “J..John Dory?”

Chapter Text

“J….John Dory?” Bruce whispers nervously. He isn’t sure if he wants this troll beast to be his elder brother, but at the same time he really hopes it his older brother.

Red eyes snap to his purple ones and the troll beast gets on all fours and makes his way over to the purple troll . Bruce lets out a sharp gasp and freezes in place. The troll beast gets real close and it leans down to his face. The beast growls as it sniffs the air around Bruce.

The growls send vibrations down Bruce’s spine causing him to shiver violently. He gulps loudly and he slowly lifts his hand up. Bruce knows he’s taking a risk, hell he could lose his hand over this, but…he knows who his older brother is……and this troll beast is his older brother.

He starts reaching it out his hand making sure to avoid those really big fangs. He closes his eyes and whispers calmly, “J..John Dory?…Brother?…..JD, i-it’s me!….It’s Spr-“

“Br..Bruce..” a deep growly voice answers back. 

Bruce’s eyes opens his eyes in shock and flinches when he feels something press against his hand. He looks back at his brother whose snout is pressed against his hand. Still in shock, he blinks slowly and then lets out a small laugh, “You overgrown caterpillar bear.” He hugs his brothers snout as tears start to form in his eyes. He whispers, “I’m glad you found me brother.”

John let’s out a deep croon in agreement. He lifts his tail and starts to brush the dirt off of Bruce. 

Bruce laughs softly and he smiles, “Thanks bro.” After JD finishes brushing the dirt off of Bruce, the purple haired troll gently grabs his brothers tail, “I haven’t seen this transformation,” he chuckles as the tip of John’s tail wiggles in his hold, “this tail in years JD.” 

John blinks and his ears lower. His head lowers and he looks away dejectedly, then gently shakes his brothers hands off his tail. He brings his tail back to his side and hides it away under his now ruined jacket. Bruce's smile fades slightly as he notices John's withdrawal. He knows why his elder brother pulled his tail away. Bruce would always hear Grandma telling JD to hide his tail away. He was told that no one could know that JD was different from the other trolls in their village.

Bruce remembers seeing his older brothers’ first transformation. Back when he was a trolling.

Bruce was constantly being picked on for his weight while at school with other young trolls. He was more on the heavier side as a trolling. One day the bullies took it too far and chased him down the troll tree. They cornered him near the northern gate. He had two choices in that moment. One was either being eaten by a bergan or being beaten by a bunch of bigger trollings.  He didn’t like either, but he would rather take the beat down than get eaten up.

He tried defending himself by throwing stuff, puffing up his hair to look more intimidating, hissing…..but they were bigger than him.

Bruce remembers being pushed to the ground roughly. It really hurt to the point he let out a high pitched screech. These screeches are sour notes according to his older brother. John Dory says all trolls make these noises when they are in distress and will scare off anything that’s attacking the distressed troll. Most notably when other Trolls  hear one of his sour notes they would cover their ears and run off quickly. Bruce has never heard another troll make the same high pitched screech that he could, but in that moment he didn’t care and let out another sour note.

Fortunately for Bruce, the bullies covered their ears and almost all of them fled. Unfortunately, it only seemed to anger the leader of the bullies. The leader rubs his ears to smooth his pain and stares angrily at Bruce. The leader grabs the front of bruces shirt and brings him close to the leaders angry face. 

Bruce closes his eyes and prepares for the worst. He expected to get hit or for a bergan to grab him since they were so close to the gates.

Now, what Bruce wasn’t expecting was a loud thud that shook the ground. Hard. His bully to drop him the moment the beast growled at the bully and for the bully to run screaming about a monster troll. A large shadow to loom over him. Him to turn and see said monster troll towering over him. And one more..hmmm…..oh yeah! For him to actually live through the whole thing!

Bruce was frozen with fear as the beast crouched down to his level. He turns his head and closes his eyes. He threw his hands out in front of him hopefully block his attack the beast attack, “P-please don’t eat me mister beast! I-I may look p-plumb and tasty lookin, bu-but I’m really not!!”

The beast growls a deep growly voice, “Sp…Spruce..”

Bruce’s eyes snapped open when he heard his name. He let out a sour note the moment he feels something press against his hands. He was hoping his sour note would scare the beast off but it didn’t. He just felt something press a little harder into his hands. He slowly turns to the monster and sees its snout pressed gently into his hands. He sees a familiar tail swishing behind the beast and he slowly lowers his hands, “J…Johnny?” Bruce ask unsurely.

The beast looks at him and smiles. In that moment Bruce instantly recognized his older brothers blue eyes and big dopey smile. 

Bruce remembers crying his eyes out and hugging his older brother. It was a stressful and scary day and he was thankful that his big brother saved him. He doesn’t know how but he fell asleep, holding onto JD, and woke up in his room with his brother at his normal size.

The next day, Bruce refused to let JD go outside because the village was looking for the beast that came after the trolls. Bruce would be damned if they came and took his big brother away. He did nothing wrong! JD saved him! 

Later that night, Bruce could hear their mother and grandma scolding JD for transforming in front of others. When JD came back into their room he refused to Bruce about what happened. He also started hiding his tail more after that night and Bruce hated it.

Bruce frowns at the last part of that memory. He steps back the moment his brother starts to shrink back to his normal size.

John Dory dust himself off and makes sure his tail is well hidden under his jacket.

Unseen beneath the jacket, John's tail twitched with suppressed emotion, a constant reminder of the secret he carried. The only people who knew about his tail and transformation were his mother, Grandma, Rhonda, and Bruce. He swore after that night, he would never show off his transformation or tail again.

“John?”

John looks over his shoulder at Bruce and smiles like nothing happened, “Let’s go find our little brothers Bruce!”

Chapter Text

“John?…..John?!….” Bruce frowns when he doesn’t get a response. He runs up and grabs his older brothers shoulder, “John Dory!”

“What Bruce?!” John turns and looks at his brother, “We are kinda in hurry here! We need to save our little brothers!”

“I know that! But…you’re not gonna ignore…what just happened back there!”

John’s eyes widen a little and he turns away, “Can we not-“ Bruce cuts him off, “Can YOU not pretend that nothing happened! You’re bottling up and hiding your emotions again John….I hate it when you do that.” 

John lets out a heavy sigh and finally meets Bruce's gaze, his expression softening. “You know I don’t want to talk about it….I hate…” he lifts up his hand and watches his claws shrink until they look like they aren’t there anymore. He flexes his fingers and sighs once more. He looks at Bruce with a serious expression. “I need you to promise me Bruce.”

Bruce tilts his head in confusion, “Promise you..what?” 

“Don’t tell the others about my tail.” 

Bruce immediately looks angry, “But John-!” 

“And!”

Bruce stops talking and listens.

“You can’t tell them about my…wild side.”

Bruce looks downright furious at his older brother, “John you can’t be serious?!”

“Please Bruce.” John lowers his head and whispers, “I don’t want to scare them away.”

Bruce’s eyes widen at what his older brother just said.

John Dory turns away from Bruce. His ears lower as he thinks back to that day, the day he had first fully transformed.

John Dory was on his way to pick up his little brother from school. He carefully tucked his tail underneath his pants and made sure it curled around his leg. He didn’t want other trolls to see something so…imperfect.

John arrived at the school pod and leans against one of the tree branches. He waits for his little brother, but when night starts to fall and all the trollings get picked up, he starts to get worried.

He asked around if anybody had seen a trolling with purple hair and blue skin like his. His worry grew when nobody had seen spruce. 

Finally, a young female troll with a cane grabbed his attention. She said she saw some bigger trollings chasing after Spruce.

“Where?!” He asked worriedly and angrily. Her ears pin back in a scared motion and she points down, “D-Down the tree.” 

John Dory thought his heart stopped, he quickly shouted a thank you to the young troll and started to jump down the tree.

He starts jumping from branch to branch hoping to spot his brother, but he had no luck. As night falls, John Dory was getting ready to tear his hair out he heard…..something. He raises his ears to get a better listen.

That’s when he hears it, a deep yet high pitched screech. He turns to jump to another branch, thinking it’s another troll, but he stops in his tracks when his heart beat starts racing.

He starts breathing heavier and he clinches the front of his shirt. He closes his eyes and tries to calm down.

Run.

Johns eyes open, he could have sworn he heard someone’s voice

Spruce is in danger.

John whips his head around, but sees no one.

Follow the screech.

John turns swiftly and starts heading towards where he heard the screech

Hurry.

John starts jumping quickly from branch to branch.

Hurry!

John feels himself getting faster and…bigger.

Hurry!!

He starts to tear down giant branches that are in his way. He can feel his tail get untucked from his pants and whip behind him as he starts to run on all fours.

HURRY!!!

John feels his teeth become sharp and his fingers start growing claws. He lands on one final branch and looks down. He’s several feet in the air, but that doesn’t spot him from seeing his brother.

Spruce let out another screech and it sent some trollings running. All except one. That one troll had grabbed the front of spruces shirt and was planning to hit him.

John. Saw. Red.

The next thing he knew he had jumped from the tree and landed on the ground so hard, that some parts of the ground crack underneath him.

John towers over his brother and the bully troll. He growls and snarls at the bully to scare him away. It worked and the bully Rand screaming away. He looked down at spruce and his brother….his little brother looked so…afraid….afraid of HIM.

John wants to tell Spruce that’s it’s him, his big brother. He leans down to tell him but no words come out. Spruce  throws his hands up and closes his eyes. He lets out a screech causing Johns ears to fly up at the sound. So, the deep high pitched screech was spruce and not another troll. He’s heard his brother screech sour note before, but not like this. This sour note was different, it was almost like…a call of some sort……a call to him……a call for his big brother to come help.

And John Dory was more than happy to answer that call. He growls out, “Sp…Spruce..” and gently leans his snout (he has no idea when he got a snout) into his hands.

John watches Spruce turn him and look at him in the eyes. He can feel his tail swish happily from side to side when he sees spruce recognize him. “J…..Johnny?” He hears his bother say and it causes him to do his signature smile.

His brother starts crying and hugs his snout tightly, afraid to let go. They stayed like that for a while until Spruce falls asleep against him. He gently bites the back of Spruces shirt and starts climbing the tree, making sure to avoid other trolls.

When he got to their grandmas pod he gently scratches the door. Their mother opened the door and immediately looked upset when she saw him. His ears lower and he deposited spruce into her hold. Their mother immediately handed spruce to grandma and then looked back at him angrily. “The moment you shrink down, we are going to have a long talk mister!” His ears lowered and he lets out a small whine. She guided him to a darker part of the tree and they waited.

It took almost all night, but he finally shank down to his original size. When they get back to the pod, his mother sends him to bed saying “we will discuss this tomorrow”.

The next morning, Spruce refused to let him go out all day. He doesn’t know why but he decides to just play games with Spruce and tends to the new egg. It’s blue with green lighting bolts on it, he’s pretty sure this next sibling is gonna be a fun one!

That night he got a scolding of a life time.

“You can’t just transform like that John Dory! What if someone saw you?!”

John frowned, “No one saw me mom.”

“Spruce. Spruce saw you.”

“Spruce was in danger grandma!”

His mother turned to him, “and was he scared?”

John rubbed the back of his head, “well…yeah but-“

“So you frightened and scared your little brother John?!”

Johns tail wraps around his wrist and quivers, “I….I didn’t mean to mom..”

Grandma sighs, “John, put your tail away dear. It’s….unsightly for a troll to have something like that waving about.”

Johns ears lower and he hides his tail.

He was sent to bed after some more scolding. Spruce tried to ask him what was wrong, but he turned his little brother away telling him not to worry about it. He also made sure to hide his tail underneath his shirt from now on,  so that no one including his brother and future sibling would have to witness something so……..unsightly.

John turns back to look at spru-….bruce, “Please Bruce…I don’t want to scare them away. Please help me control my wild side.”

Bruce looks at his brother with concern, “John..I don’t…”he stops when he sees the sadness in his brothers eyes. Bruce takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, “…fine.”

John smiles and hugs his brother, “Thank you Bruce!”

Bruce hugs him back and chuckles when his brothers tail comes out of hiding and swishes from side to side happily. “Not a problem John Dory.” He hugs him tighter, “Anything for my big brother!”

John hugs his little brother tighter before they both pull away. He feels his tail still swishing around happily. John turns to look at his tail before he turns and chuckles awkwardly before hiding his tail. Bruce chuckles back and smiles at his brother.

John smiles determinedly, “Now!” He pulls down his goggles in front of his eyes, “Let’s go find our brothers.” Bruce nods seriously and they both take off into the forest.

Chapter Text

It’s been two days since John Dory and Bruce have last seen their three younger brothers. John was starting to get restless, but Bruce was there to keep him calm. John Dory is currently overlooking a pond  while Bruce watches behind them.

Bruce turns to watch his older brother. John Dory is deep in concentration, he’s hoping to hear….anything! Anything from his younger brothers. His ears keep twitching up and down, hoping to hear a sour note. Bruce watches his older brothers tail whip in agitation. He smiles teasingly, “You good JD?”

John Dory grumbles out a “yes” and his tail whips again.

Bruce walks over and smiles smugly, “Your tail gives away what you’re really feeling.”

John’s stares at Bruce for a solid second before his face and the tip of his ears start turning a deep blue. Bruce laughs as John grabs his own tail and shoves past him. “Lighten up Bro!”

John holds his tail close to his chest and whispers to it, “You traitor!” He shakes it a little and lets it go. His tail quickly disappears underneath his jacket.

Bruce snickers for a bit longer before the two end up walking in silence for a while.

“Sooo…JD?” 

John’s ears flick back towards him, showing he’s listening.

Bruce smiles and shakes his head at his brothers actions. Some things never change, he thought. “What…starts the transformation? I just want to be prepared in case….i have to stop it.”

John pauses in his walk for a second and then continues walking, “When I hear my brothers sour note calls, that’s what gets it going. What mainly triggers it is when I see you guys in danger.” He smiles fondly, “It also triggered when Rhonda was in danger as well…but..” his ears lower in worry, “but my transformation when you guys are involved is more violent and…unstable.” I’m afraid I’m going to hurt my brothers while I’m trying to protect them.

Bruce crosses his arms over his chest, “Alright…explain what happened yesterday when you heard my sour note.”

John sighs and looks down at the ground, "I was searching in the woods, for you guys, and I heard your sour note. So…I started running to your location.”

He was running towards  Bruce’s screeches, “Hang on Bruce! Hang on!” He whispered to himself. As he starts to feel his heart beat accelerate that’s when he hears it. The voice.

Hurry.

He can feel his claws growing longer and sharper.

Bruce is in danger.

He could feel himself slowly getting taller.

Follow the screech.

He quickly picks up speed as he runs on all fours.

Hurry!

John easily leaps over a small ravine and clears some tall boulders.

Hurry!!

He makes it to the clearing where Bruce is at. He sees a purple tuff of hair in the underground hole he’s in. The beast digs and digs. His teeth inching ever so close to Bruce. He watches the beast claws lift into the air for the final blow.

It felt like everything slowed down at that moment. He starts breathing heavily and clutches the front of his shirt. Thats when the voice whispers.

He’s gonna die because of you.

Things got blurry after that. Last thing he felt was his fangs growing bigger and longer. Bruce’s sour note rung louder in his ears, more than it ever had. Then him leaping at the monster.

When he came slowly came back down to earth, His clothes were ripped up, the beast was dead, and Bruce….Bruce looked so terrified of him. Like…he was gonna hurt him….and that scared him more than anything.

“And that’s what happened.” John turned to him. He did not tell him that last part though, he did not want Bruce to worry about him.

“That’s..interesting.” What he really wanted to say was scary, he’s worried if he said that then John would push him away. 

“I think that-….John?” 

John Dory looks deep in concentration. His ears keep flicking back and forth.

Bruce, now worried about his older brother, steps forward, “Johnny?”

John holds his hand up, “Shh!….I hear…something.” He turns his back to Bruce and straightens his posture. His ears flick up and down. “I hear….”

A high pitched screech fills his ears. He knows who this one. This screech goes up and down up and down in pitch. He always did that to mess with John.

Bruce takes a step back when he notices John growing claws. His eyes widen, “J-John?…W…What do you hear?”

…

….

…..

“Clay.”

Chapter Text

Fast.

His brother has always been fast, but this…this was a whole new level of fast! John was running full speed to where he heard clays sour note. He’s jumping over things that normal trolls can’t usually jump over. Bruce was low key impressed.

“JD! Slow down!!” Bruce huffs and stops at a near by tree, “Curse this beautiful dad bod of mine!!” After catching his breath he continues running after his brother, “JD!!!”

John just barely registers Bruce’s voice just as he starts climbing a cliff. His tail whips in agitation and he looks over his shoulder. His now red eyes watches as Bruce is desperately trying to catch up to him. He slowly slides down the cliff, leaving deep claw marks in the cliff.

Bruce catches up, not noticing his brothers red eyes looking at him, puts his hands on his knees, “Holy shit John, you’re fast.” He catches his breath once more and straightens himself out, “Now! We need to-AH!” Bruce gets caught off when he gets pulled onto his brothers back.

“Hold..on.” John growls out. 

Bruce immediately knew who that voice was. In that moment he knew that the beast was in charge.

“Wait!!” Bruce yells but it falls on deaf ears. John starts to leap onto some rocks leading up the cliff. Bruce gasp in fright and he wraps around his brothers neck, clinging on for dear life.

John lands at the top of the cliff with a hard ‘Thud!’ causing some cracks to form under him. He groans in pain as his arms and legs shake from the impact. He is not as young as he used to be to be.

Bruce notices as they don’t move. He takes this opportunity and tries to get through to his brother. “J..John?…Are you there?”

“….yes.” It comes out normally instead of growly.

“Oh thank Troll!” Bruce gets off his older brother and helps him up. 

John pops his back and looks around, “What..happened?”

Bruce points at his claws, “Your wild side got loose the moment you heard clays sour note. You ran full steam ahead, almost leaving me behind. You lept over very tall rocks that a troll wishes they could do. You then, carried me up a cliff with no problem what so ever!” He crosses his arms over his chest, “and now you’re caught up to speed.”

John blinks wide eyes at Bruce, he doesn’t even remember doing that. He groans again in pain when his legs start shaking, he falls back on his butt and sits on the ground to recover, “I…I don’t remember doing that.”

Bruce nods, “I can tell. You would never carry me!” He laughs and helps his brother pop his back again.

John laughs, then yells when he feels his back pop. He sighs in relief when it popped in the right place. John then stretches out his legs and pop his knees, before he gets up. 

John’s ears shoot up when he hears Clays sour note once again. He starts flexing his claws and looks towards the left. Before he takes off again he’s grabbed by Bruce, “Oh no you don’t!”

John turns around and growls, eyes starting to turn red. Bruce glares using his best ‘dad’ glare and growls back, “Calm. Down.”

John stops growling and blinks away the red. His claws start shrinking and he wiggles his fingers. Bruce nods, “Better! Now, let’s take a calm approach ok?” John nods immediately. 

Bruce starts pulling them into the direction John was gonna go, “Good! Now let’s go get Clay!”

Clay couldn’t believe the situation he’s gotten himself in, it went from bad to worse real quick. If he made it out of the forest alive, he was never going on a camping trip with John Dory again! Clays sighs, ‘I would really like to curl up in my bed with a good book right now.’

He looks around himself noticing he’s gotten himself in quite a predicament. He’s surrounded by sand, but everything he moves an inch that ground shakes or a claw reaches out the ground and tries to grab him. He shudders thinking back to the one and only horror book he read. 

He steps back and lets out his a high pitched screech when he felt something move under his foot. He quickly covers his mouth when the sand vibrates and shifts. He swallows the lump in his throat and shudders again, ‘I haven’t screeched like that since…since I was little and decided to explore the bergan grounds outside the gate.’ Clay quietly lets out a nervous laugh, ‘John had to come save me that day cause I found myself surrounded by troll traps that were set by the bergans. I ended up getting hurt because I chose not to listen to my oldest brother and thought I knew better.’

‘Don’t go outside the gate Clay, it’s to dangerous.’

‘Stop going down the tree Clay you’ll get caught.’

‘Don’t go near the gate Clay.’

John Dory, his eldest brother, always told him what he could or could not do. He’s so bossy and annoying, Clay thought.  

Clay was standing right near the gate that was containing the trolls. 

“I’ll show him! I can do things on my own! I don’t need to be told what to do!” Clay cautiously approached the gate, he looked left then he looked right. He was hesitating until he heard Johns voice again.

‘You don’t know what you’re doing Clay! You’ll get killed!’

Clay frowns and grips the bars. He quickly hops through the bars and looks around. ‘No traps, No Bergans, and he’s alive. In your stupid face John Dory!’

Clay laughs and takes a few more steps forward and hears a small click sound. That’s when all hell broke loose around him.

Traps start flying at him from all directions. He jumps and dodges, but a sharp pain shoots through his leg as one of the traps catches him. Clay lets out an off tune high pitched screech and falls to the ground. He looks down and sees a deep gash on his right leg. He whimpers and starts to crawl his way back to the gate, while dodging traps. 

Clay is a few feet away from the gate when a metal gate enclose around him. One of the bars hits him hard in the head causing him to let out another off tune high pitched screech. He lays on the ground as black spots cloud his vision. 

Just as he begins to pass out he hears the metal bars begin to groan and creek. He barely looks up to see a blue blob reaching towards him. What makes Clay reach out, is the magenta goggles the blob is wearing. The last thing Clay registered that night was him whispering out Johns name and John Dory, he hopes it was his brother, respond in a growly voice, “Cl…Clay!”

When he came to, he was bandaged up and in his bed. Spruce was on his left and John Dory, who was also bandaged up, was on his right.

Clay asked what happened and Spruce told him that John had saved him. John had found him in the trap-laden area and managed to pry the metal gate open, carrying him back to safety. John got hurt in the process, but he said he was ok. He got lectured a lot by John that night. He deserved it…..but it still sucked!

Clay sighs sadly, ‘Now, I find myself in the same situation again……and I don’t think John Dory…or anyone is coming to save me.’ 

He looks around trying to find an escape route but finds none. He looks up to try and find a tree to grab onto, but they are all withered and dead. If he were to try and grab it, the tree would break instantly.

Clays ears lower, ‘This is not good news for me.’ He sighs again, ‘I would literally take  anybody’s help right now.’ He huffs angrily, ‘or anything’s help!’

Just as he thinks that, some bushes start to shake.

Clay freezes and slowly turns towards the bushes. He swallows the screech that’s trying to form in his throat, ‘I was kidding about that anything come help me part!’ When his eyes land on the bush he lets out a sharp gasp when he sees is four eyes stare back at him.

‘Oooooh I’m so dead!’

Chapter Text

One. Two. Three. Four.

‘Four eyes.’ He counted the and, let me check. ‘One, two, three, four. Yep! Four eyes! And they are staring right at him.’ Clay wants to scream, but he physically can’t. He can see this creatures giant mane and tail whipping behind it. 

Clay starts to breathe heavily and he closes his eyes. He prepares for an attack when he hears the bush rustle more. He tenses up and jolts when he hears a growl.

“John! You’re stepping on my hair!” Comes an angry whisper.

‘A creature named John, how interesting.’

“Sorry Bruce!” Comes an apologetic whisper.

‘Another creature named Bruce. These creatures have his brothers names, how ironic. He’s gonna be killed by some creatures named John and..and Bruce……Wait!’

Clay snaps his eyes open to look at the ‘creatures’. That isn’t a giant mane, that’s Bruce’s hair! But…but he could have swore he saw a tail. He squints and rubs his eyes. 

I think I’m starting to see things. He calms his breathing slightly before he whispers, “J-John Dory? B-Bruce? Is that y-you bros?”

When his older brothers crawl out of the bushes, he could almost feel his knees give out in relief.

Bruce and John Dory were running towards were they hoped Clay would be. As the area they entered started getting more sandy, John stops Bruce.

“John wha-“ John puts a hand over Bruce’s mouth.

John whispers seriously, “Bruce.” Bruce immediately pays attention to his older brother. “We can only whisper from this point forward and we can not make any fast or sudden movements, ok?” Bruce nods and John removes his hand from his brothers mouth.

John continues, “we are entering lionants territory. These things are fast, ferocious, and excellent trap makers. One wrong step and you’re as good as dead, got it?” 

Bruce nods again. John nods back, “Good. Now, I know I’ve said this before and it’s lead to disaster before,” He looks at Bruce who in turn tilts his head at him, “But…you need to trust me….and follow my lead.” John holds out his hand to him.

Bruces eyes widen. He thought back to their last concert, John said ‘Follow my lead’, we got into position, we all fell, we fought, and the band broke up. Bruce reaches out but hesitates for a moment. Does he dare follow his brother’s lead again? Will this cause another meltdown between us? Bruce looks into his elder brother’s eyes and sees nothing but protection, trust, and love for his brothers. That seals the deal for Bruce because he reaches out and clasp John's hand firmly. 

“Lead the way John!” Bruce smiles determinedly at his older brother.

John smiles big and nods at Bruce, “Ok! Now let’s go get Clay!” His tail sways happily behind him.

Bruce snorts and reaches behind his brother to gently grab his brothers long tail.  John jumps slightly when he feels his tail being grabbed. Bruce brings his tail into his view, “How you managed to hide this from everyone, I will probably never know.” Bruce messes with the long dark green fur at the tip of his brothers tail. John pouts a little at his brother, “I was by myself for years Bruce. I let my tail out more because I was comfortable.”

Bruce smiles smugly and raises an eyebrow, “Are you saying you’re comfortable and trust me around your tail.” John blinks for a solid second and then blushes a dark blue when the realization sinks in. John quickly snatches his tail back He then quickly turns away and tries to hide his embarrassment., “Shut up, Bruce. Let's just go get Clay," John mutters.

Bruce snickers and playfully pushes his older brother. John grumbles and starts walking into the sandy terrain with Bruce following close behind.

John starts to realize where Clay is located. He whispers back to Bruce, “I have a bad feeling, Clay is in the center of the lionants nest.” Bruce ears lowers in worry, but the brothers move forward.

John pulls Bruce into a bush and he crotches down.  Bruce follows suit and they both peak through the bush. John adjust himself as his tail starts to sway when he sees clay. Even though he’s happy to see his little brother, the moment he locks eyes with clay, he sees the fear in his brother’s eyes. 

‘I..is he afraid of me?’ He can feel the beast inside him wanting to run and hide away. He feels his tail immediately hide itself away when he remembers saving Clay when he was young.

It was night time and Clay hadn’t made it home yet. John was getting worried and Spruce was worried too. John goes to reassure his brother, but freezes in his tracks when he hears an all too familiar screech.

He could feel his heart start to race as he bolts out the door. He hears spruce call out to him, but he doesn’t stop. JD starts making his way down the tree. The screech sounded farther away so he knew Clay was on ground level. John lands on a branch and hugs himself as he feels himself starting to grow bigger.

“No,No,No! Stop!” He yelled to himself, but it was no use. He looks at his hands and starts to shake when he sees claws. Long sharp claws. He can feel his teeth becoming sharper. Oh so sharp. He starts panting heavily and it just gets worse when he hears…the voice.

Hurry.

John groans in pain and whispers, “Please…please I can’t let Clay see me like this.”

You need to move.

He can feel his legs move on its own accord and he starts to jump from branch to branch. 

Hurry.

He uses his claws to climb down the tree trunk and he lands on the ground. Cracks form under his feet as he lands on the ground.

John Dory.

He feels his tail whip in the air as the voice calls to him and he stands up. John tries once more to pled his case. He closes his eyes tight and whispers in a pained voice, “please…please he can’t….he can’t see me like…I’ll scare my little brot-“

Do you smell that?

John stops and sniff the air, “That..smells like…”

Blood.

His eyes snap open and they start to turn red.

Clays blood.

That’s the last thing he registers before he runs towards the gate.

When he comes to, he can hear Spruce yelling his name. He looks down to see a very injured and unconscious clay in his arms. He looks so much smaller in his bigger arms.

Spruce runs up to him and sees the marks on John's skin. He hesitates to come closer to his brother when he sees the damage John caused to the gates and the traps. John bent the bars of the gates and completely destroyed and crushed those traps.

Spruce swallows the fear back and slowly approaches John, “J..John Dory?” He grabs onto his brothers hind leg gently, “Big Brother?…Y..You’re hurt?” He squeaks as his big brother scoops him up and jumps up into the tree.

John gets them to their pod and he gently sets Spruce down first before depositing Clay into Spruces arms. Spruce looks at John in determination, “I’ll take care of Clay. You need to hide John. I don’t want you getting in trouble with mom or grandma.”

John smiles at him and nods. He jumps away so he can calm down and shrink.

It takes till sunrise till he finally shrinks. He sneaks back to his family’s pod and makes his way into his room that he shares with his brothers. John sees Spruce by Clays bedside, he quietly makes his way towards the first aid kit and starts to treat his wounds.

Once Johns wounds are treated he makes his way over to spruce and gently picks up his younger brother. Spruce snorts before he snuggles into his big brothers chest. John smiles and takes spruce to his own bed and tucks him in. He makes his way back to clays right bedside and and sits down near by.

His ear perks up when he hears the door open. He looks towards to door and sees his mother looking quite unhappy. His ears immediately lower. She mouths, ‘We’ll talk about this in the morning.’ John sighs and nods. His mom shuts the door and John leans his head against the wall and closes his eyes. He lets sleep take him.

When he wakes up, he can hear his little brothers talking. He opens one eye and he sees that Spruce is on the left side of Clays bed and Clay is awake.

“John saved you Clay! He found you in a Bergan troll trap yard! He literally had to pry a metal trap off of you!! Our big brother is so strong! I hope I can be as strong as him one day! Maybe I’ll start doing sit ups now so I can get some fantastic abs!”

John chuckles and stands up, “I’ll support you if you start Spruce.” His little brother smiles at him before he turns to Clay, “How are you doing Clay? Are you feeling ok?”

Clay smiles, “It hurts here and there and..everywhere really.” Clay giggles then looks at his older brother, “Thank you for saving me John.”

John smiles and gently ruffles Clays hair, “No problem bro. Now!” He pulls up a chair next to Clays bed, “It’s time for the lecture of a lifetime bro!”

Clay groans loudly, “Sprrruuucce! Give me sleep medicine. I don’t want to be awake for this!” Spruce laughs and Clay whines, “I’m serious Spruce!”

John Dory knows Clay hated every single second of that lecture, but in his opinion, Clay deserved it. 

John jumps when he hears a growl and starts looking around, thinking the lionants found them.

“John! You’re stepping on my hair!” Bruce whispers angrily. John jolts and looks down. He quickly lifts his foot off of Bruce’s hair. He whispers back apologetically, “I’m sorry!”

“J-John Dory? B-Bruce? Is that y-you bros?” Comes an anxious whisper.

They both look up to see Clays fearful yet hopeful eyes.

Bruce smiles reassuringly and whispers back, “It’s us bro! We’re here to get you out of this ‘sandy’ situation!”

John Dory smirks then whispers, “We know you can’t ‘sand’ it here anymore bro! Don’t worry though cause we’re here to help!

Clay groans and slaps hand against his face when he hears his brother’s puns. He also can’t help but smile, when he hears his brother’s god awful puns.

Chapter Text

Now, don’t get him wrong! Clay is very happy to see his two older brothers, but at this very moment, he wants to punch them both.

“Let me give you a ‘sand’ Bruce!” John Dory whispers to Bruce and he extends his hand to his younger brother.

Clay can feel his eye twitch, ‘I’m about to jump into one of these traps and let nature decide what it wants to do with me!’

Bruce tries his best to hold in his laughter and takes his brother’s hand. He gets pulled up and he whispers, “Ok John, no more ‘sand’ing around. We gotta help Clay!”

Clay whispers angrily, “I hope you both under’sand’ that I’m so done with both of you already!”  

Both of the older two look at each other and then look at Clay with huge proud smiles on their faces.

Clay looks confused until he realizes what he said. He groans and slaps his palm on his face, “I can’t believe I just said that.”

The older two brothers snicker before they go quiet when the ground starts to shake and move.

John crotches down and digs his hands into the sand. He can feel the vibrations of the lionants. There’s a lot of them, but that’s to be expected when you’re in the middle of their nest.

Bruce whispers hurriedly to John, “Can’t we just grab them with our hair?!”

John shakes his head quickly and whispers, “No! Lionants are very fast. They will jump out of their traps the moment they sense movement above their traps!” John turns to Bruce, “and I don’t think you’ll like the hair cut they’ll give you.”

Bruce holds his hair closely to his body, “Neither will Brandy.” He whispers fearfully.

John turns to Clay and whispers in a serious tone, “Clay. What do you know about lionants?” 

Clay blinks, ‘lionants? I read about those once. Why would John-‘ His eyes get wide with realization, ‘Oh crap! Is that what nest I’m on! Ok, Ok! Don’t panic Clay! Concentrate!’ Clay squints his eyes in concentration and whispers back, "They are fast, really fast and excellent trap makers. They are aggressive and ferocious. They are a little bigger than the average troll. They have really big and sharp pinchers that can easily crush their meals. They also..uhhhh..Oh! I remember reading that they're sensitive to vibrations and they use it to detect prey. “

John nods in agreement, "That's right. We need to move slowly and carefully to avoid alerting them.” He turns to Bruce, “You stay here, last thing I want is for you to be in danger again.”

Bruce frowns, but then nods in agreement, “Fine. I’ll stay here.”

John faces forward and slowly moves his hand in the sand. He feels where his fingers slowly drop off into the hidden traps and he freezes . The ground starts to vibrate and Bruce quickly grabs Johns ankle to pull him back. John turns and quickly shakes his head at his little brother. Bruce looks at him like he’s crazy but his eyes widen when the vibrations stop. John mouths, ‘Let go’

Bruce hesitates but ultimately let’s go. John nods at him and goes back to slowly feeling underneath the sand. Without making a sound, John carefully traces the hidden traps and edges around them. He finds the opening between the traps and starts crawling forward.

Bruce watches anxiously as John starts making his way through the nest. Clay is watching with just as much anxiety as Bruce has. Every time the ground shakes, Clay holds his breath for a solid minute, even when the ground stops shaking.

After five minutes of finding the right path and having to pause when the ground starts shaking, John finally reaches the middle of the nest where Clay is.

Clay's face breaks into a relieved smile as John appears before him, unscathed. He helps his brother up and John checks him over for any injuries. Clay rolls his eyes and whispers, “I’m ok John.”

Bruce also lets out a small breath of relief. Now comes the real nerve racking part, watching both his brothers crawl through the nest.

John nods to himself and looks back at his path he made. He turns back to his brother and whispers, “Ok. To get back to Bruce, We need to follow the path I made by crawling. We need to be slow and careful. The moment you feel vibrations on your finger tips, you need to stop. Got it?” Clay nods and John nods back, “Good. Now, you go first. I’ll be right behind you.” He smiles reassuringly when Clay looks ready to protest, “I promise Clay. Now, Let’s get out of here.”

Clay nods after a moment. He gets on his knees and starts to crawl through his brother’s path. John follows close behind. The two brothers make their way through the nest, their movements slow and purposeful. As they crawl, they can hear the faint sound of scuttling and chittering coming out of the ground, sending shivers down their spines.

Bruce clutches his fists in anxiety as he watches his brothers navigate through the treacherous nest.

Clay reaches the end first and Bruce quickly pulls him up and gives him a big hug. Clay chuckles and hugs back. Bruce sets him down and both brothers turn back to their older brother who is still making his way through the nest. They both wait anxiously and nervously for their older brother to make it.

John carefully inches through the remaining part of the nest, his heart pounding with every step. As he starts to get near the end, John starts to feel the ground tremble. The vibrations start getting stronger, but he forces himself to stay calm and steady. Just as he crawls forward, the ground gives way beneath John's weight. Clay and Bruce watch in horror as the ground shakes violently and starts to break open around their brother.

“JOHN DORY!!” They frantically call out their bothers name, the fear gripping their hearts like a vice as they watch their older brother descend into the lionants trap. 

Chapter Text

Nothing scared John Dory these days. Sure Floyd almost dying scared him. His brothers and himself being caught and put in a diamond prison, also scary. Branch putting himself in danger to save him and their brothers, very scary.

Now, hearing his little brothers scream his name as he fell, that downright terrified him.

John starts to come to, when he hears his younger brothers. His eyes slowly open and he can only make out a thick dust cloud above him.

“John Dory!?” Clay yells for his older brother.

John groans in pain and he starts to pick himself up.

“Johnny?!” That one was Bruce.

Johns ears twitch when he starts hearing movement near him. Not good.

“That’s it, Clay! Hold my hair, I’m going down there!” Very not good!

“NO!” The beast in John yelled out. He quickly gets up and braces himself against the dirt wall.

Bruce and Clay immediately look down into the hole, “John?!” They yell in concern unison.

Johns head swivels up as the cloud of dust starts to clear.  His younger brothers can be seen trying to look for him. He turns his head back down when the clicking noises of lionants start getting closer.

“Bruce!” John yells up to younger brother, “Take Clay and get away from the hole!” He growls, “it’s about to get messy down here.”

Bruce is about to protest until he sees a flash of two red eyes through the dust cloud. He doesn’t want to leave his older brother, but he knows Johns troll beast form is breaking through. Reluctantly, Bruce took hold of Clay's hand and led him away from the edge of the hole, his eyes never leaving his older brother's defiant figure.

John watches as multiple lionants come out of the tunnels in the nest. The ground shakes as the lionants make way for their queen, the lionessant. The Lionessant screeches at him and John growls back. “He’s been wanting me to let him out. He needs to let off some steam!” When he knows his brothers are a safe distance away he starts to concentrate. ‘Ok big guy, let’s get wild!’

John focuses his energy into unleashing his troll beast form, the part of him that had gotten them out of countless dangerous situations before. His heart starts to pound against his chest and he can feel himself growing taller. As his transformation completed, his muscles bulged, his features distorted, and his senses sharpened, amplifying his strength and combat skills to face the impending threat. His tail whips out from underneath his jacket causing a loud ‘Crack’ to echo through the tunnels. 

John opens his eyes and realizes, he’s still in charge and not the beast. He flexes his claws and smiles knowingly, ‘It’s cause our brothers are safe huh big guy.’ John chuckles and shows off his massive fangs to the queen and her crew. 

With a loud snarl, John charges at the lionessant and her minions. John watches as the crew forms a circle around the queen, but he knew they were no match for him.

The ground trembles beneath his colossal form as he smashes through the horde of lionants, his massive fists pulverizing their exoskeletons with ease. One by one, they fall to his wrath, unable to stand against his raw power. 

The queen makes her exit and the crew surrounds the exit tunnel, hoping their queen can escape. But John is relentless. With every swipe of his claws and every slam of his tail, he clears a path through the swarm. 

John leaps at the queen, but she immediately knocks him back. The lionessant is definitely a tougher opponent, but it’s nothing he can’t handle.

John Dory's adrenaline pumps through his veins as he grapples with the lionessant. His powerful grip tightens around her neck, but she retaliates with a swift swipe of her massive paws. It sends John flying into a rock wall. He hisses in pain as his back smashes into the wall and he feels some rocks scrape his skin.

John feels his body shrinking due to increased pain levels. ‘Crap!’ He starts to get up as the queens shadow starts to look over him. He grabs the outer layer of his jacket and jumps when he feels something. He opens his jacket and his eyes widen. John Dory gets a wide mischievous on his face as he looks straight at the queen. “You ready to go out with a bang your majesty?”

“We need to go back Bruce! I don’t care what John Dory says, he’s gonna get his sorry, stupid butt killed!”

Bruce tries to calm Clay down, “Don’t worry Clay, we both know John won’t go down so easily.” He says even though he wants to turn around himself and run back to the hole to help their big brother out.

Clay groans and rubs his face, “How are you so calm right now?!”

‘Knowing about John’s transformation and knowing he’s gone full beast mode on those lionants, is the only thing keeping me from running back to the hole.’ Bruce thinks and then he smiles reassuringly at Clay, “I’ve known him the longest! And I know he won’t let some bugs take him down.”

Clay looks at his older brother, his face gives off worry for their elder brother. Bruce sighs and gently rubs Clays back, “It’s ok Clay. I guarantee you, John will jump out of that nest and be completely unharmed!”

Just as he says that, the ground starts to rumble and a giant glitter explosion comes out of one of the nest holes, then another, then another, then- oh dear troll in heaven! Bruce shields clay with his hair and clay holds onto him for dear life!

A massive glitter explosion happens at the hole John fell into. Speaking of said older brother, John comes shooting out of the nest hole that he fell into. The younger brothers stare in shock and horror at their flying older brother.

John Dory flies over his little brothers and smiles big before yelling, “GLITTER BOMB!!” Gravity starts working in that moment and he heads straight for some trees, “AHH!!” John crashes into the trees, breaking through branches and leaves before landing in a heap on the forest floor. “Ow.”

Bruce and Clay blink for a moment and then slowly look at each other. Bruce speaks after a moment, “…he will be mostly unharmed.” 

The two brothers quickly get up and run after their older brother. As the two brothers catch up to John, they find him covered in glitter and surrounded by broken branches. They can hear their older brother laughing as he attempts to get up. Bruce and Clay quickly run over and get the branches off their brother.

As they help John to his feet, Bruce and Clay exchange amused glances. John's face is smeared with glitter, making him look like a sparkling woodland creature. Despite the minor mishap, his laughter resonates through the forest, infectious and full of joy.

“Hang on bros,” John laughs loudly, “I got to go do that again!” He starts to walk back to the nest, but his younger brothers pull him back.

"Whoa, slow down there, John," Bruce chuckles, keeping a firm grip on his brother's arm. "Maybe taking a break from the glitter bombs would be a good idea for now."

Clay nods in agreement, his expression a mix of concern and amusement. "Yeah, John. Let's take a moment to regroup and catch our breaths. We'll figure out our next move from there."

John pouts playfully, realizing his adventurous spirit might have gotten the best of him this time. "Fine, fine," he concedes, giving his brothers a mock-serious look. "But you can't blame me for wanting to add a little sparkle to our mission!"

Bruce laughs and Clay groans at yet another ‘dad’ joke from his older brother. John snickers and starts to brush the glitter off his hair, fur, and clothes.

Bruce and Clay join in, helping John remove the remaining glitter from his hair, fur, and clothes. The forest floor beneath them becomes littered with sparkling remnants of John’s glitter bomb.

As they finish tidying up, the three brothers take a moment to admire the beauty of the forest. Shafts of sunlight filter through the trees, casting a gentle glow on their faces.

"Despite the unexpected circumstances we found ourselves in, this adventure has definitely been memorable," Bruce remarks, his voice filled with genuine affection for his brothers.

Clay nods in agreement, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Agreed Bruce. Glitter bombs and all!” All three brothers laugh.

John grins, "Well, my little brothers, let's get back on track and continue our mission. We still need to find Floyd and Branch.” His grin gets wider, “I promise no more glitter bombs,” He winks mischievously at his younger brothers, “for now."

The three brothers make their way through the forest, ready to face any challenges that lie ahead. Nothing is going to stop them from finding their two youngest brothers.

Chapter Text

‘Note to self, don’t anger Bruce.’ John flinches as Bruce applies more leaf wrappings.

“Why am I seeing so many scars??” Bruce looks at his older brother with worry, “Johnny?!?”

Clay snickers as he makes more leaf bandages, “Oooo! You’re in trouble John!”

“Shut up Clay.” John grumbles at his younger brother. Clay snickers louder. He’s very much enjoying the scolding his eldest brother is receiving.

John turns, “I’m fine Bruce, they’re old scars.” Bruce removes his older brother’s jacket, making sure to cover his brothers tail with the jacket.

“That does not make me feel any better John.” Bruce glares at his older brother and he sighs. It took him and Clay forever to get John to stop and treat his wounds. He wanted to keep going so that they could find Floyd and Branch, but John’s legs kept shaking with exhaustion and pain. 

The younger brothers put their foots down and refused to move till they treat their older brothers wounds. Finally, John relented and sat down on a nearby rock.

While Clay got to work on making leaf bandages, Bruce got to work on assessing John’s wounds. He was expecting to see some scars, but he wasn’t prepared to see so many scars under his brothers fur.

“Who knows Bruce. Maybe these wounds will leave cooler scars!” His older brother was not helping his case.

Bruce could feel his eye twitch. He reaches under the jacket and pinches his brothers tail. John yelps loudly and Clay quickly turns to look at his older siblings with a questioning yet concerned look

“Oops, didn’t see that injury. Sorry John.” Bruce says with a smile.

Clay snorts. He knows Bruce is mad at John and he can’t blame him. He turns his attention back to the leaf bandages in his hands.

The moment Clay turns his focus back to the bandages, John immediately turns and glares at Bruce. His tail wiggles unhappily under his jacket.

Bruce meets his brother's glare with an unyielding expression. He knows John doesn't like being treated like a child, but he also understands the importance of taking care of his wounds. The tension between them hangs in the air for a moment before Bruce finally speaks.

"John, I get it. You're strong, independent, and you don't like feeling vulnerable," Bruce says, his voice tinged with frustration. "But you have to understand that we're a team. We need you in top shape if we're going to find Floyd and Branch."

John's expression softens slightly, realizing the truth in Bruce's words. He takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh.

"I know, Bruce. I just...I don't like feeling weak," John admits, his voice filled with a rare vulnerability.

Bruce reaches out and places a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "You're not weak, John. We all have our limits, and it's okay to ask for help when we need it. We're here for you, no matter what."

Clay, who had been quietly observing the exchange, puts down his makeshift bandages and joins his brothers. John stills his tail and Bruce makes sure it’s well hidden right as Clay wraps an arm around John's shoulders, offering his support.

"We've got your back, Johnny," Clay says, a genuine smile on his face. "And if anything, those scars only prove how tough you are."

John feels a warmth spreading through him as he looks at his younger brothers. He could feel the tip of his tail wagging slightly.

Bruce quickly blocks the view of the slightly moving jacket, while trying not laugh. He clears his throat, “Ok! After we get Ol’ reckless here patched up, let’s camp here for the night.” Both John and Clay nod in agreement.

After getting his back patched up, John puts on his jacket and his tail quickly hides itself underneath his jacket. He then helps his brothers set up camp. Bruce finds some near by berries for them to eat while Clay makes some pillows and blankets out leaves and dead grass.

John watches with amazement, “Your really good at sewing stuff together Clay.”

Clay shrugs off the compliment, trying to hide his blush. "Thanks, Johnny. I guess it's one of the few things I'm good at," he mumbles.

Bruce comes back with the berries, “He’s right bro, I mean look at your stylish sweater romper you’re wearing! That takes so much talent to make something like that!!”

Clays blush deepens and he pulls the blanket over his head, “You guys are embarrassing!”

John and Bruce share a hearty laugh at Clay's expense, their earlier tension dissipating into the air. As they enjoy their makeshift campsite and a satisfying meal of berries, the brothers find solace in each other's company. 

As the night falls, the three brothers settle into their own leaf beds around the campfire. They all fall into a peaceful sleep, knowing that tomorrow they will continue their journey to find their two youngest missing brothers.

....

…..

..w..ake…..u..p..

….

…….

….wake…up….

….

…..

…wake up…

……

……..

WAKE UP!

John wakes up with a gasp and immediately shoots up in his bed. He looks down at his hands, that are currently gripping his leaf blanket and notices his claws. His eyes widen and he quickly hides them away.

John looks over at his brothers, praying that Clay didn’t see them. To his luck, Clay was fast asleep. Bruce also seems to be in a deep slumber. John let’s out a relieved sigh and starts to observe the campsite. It’s still night out and the campfire has dimmed quite a lot.

John listens to his surroundings and doesn’t hear or see any danger. So what triggered his beast form. John sighs and goes to lay back down. Just as he lays his head back down and closes his eyes…..he hears it.

A distant, but very high pitched screech. A sour note.

His eyes snap open and his claws scrape against the ground. Only one of his younger brothers can hit that high of a frequency pitch.

Floyd.

And he’s in trouble.

Chapter Text

(Please read note at the beginning before continuing!)

Next time on “Sour Note”

Will Floyd be the next one to discover the beast within John Dory?

Floyd snuggles into something soft. He inhaled deeply, the scent immediately brings him comfort. He sighs softly in content before a loud snore startled him out of his peaceful dream. He groans and cracks his eyes open. He sees nothing but hair. Green hair to be exact. Ah, it must belong to that monster that saved him last night. He should probably escape now, but he feels so…safe.

Will they find Branch in time?

‘It’s dark and I’m alone again.’ Branch thought as he hid hole in the ground. It’s been days since he’s seen his brothers, they wouldn’t leave him behind again…right? He hugs himself tighter and lets out a shakey breath.

Will they save Branch in time?

Branch desperately grips the log he’s holding onto for dear life, the water threatening to take him away from his only safety net. He looks around desperately as he’s whisked down a river. He tries to use his hair, but it’s soaked. His hair is completely useless if it’s soaked like this.

Will John Dory

“I REFUSE to lose ANY of you!” John Dory looks at his younger brothers in desperation and determination.

Risk

Floyd found John Dorys googles. Inside the lens he found Bruce’s necklace, Clays favorite book mark, his earring, and Branchs hug time bracelet. John had recovered all of their brothers things from the mud puddle they fell into on their way back to Rhonda. Now the question is, Where is John Dory? Floyd freezes in place he hears a deep and threatening growl, he slowly turns to see two red eyes staring back at him.

It

“Clay stop!” Bruce grabs the steering Rhonda’s steering wheel. Clay looks frightened by the scene in front of him, “Let’s get John and get out of here already! Those beast out there are fighting to the death and we will NOT be caught in the crossfire!”

All?

Claws sink deep into his leg, he could feel his bone snap under the pressure. He roars in pain and agony. He’s losing. Blood starts to soak his leg as he tries to get up. He’s losing bad.

Coming Soon!

”Don’t leave us Johnny.”

Chapter Text

There’s no time. He needs to move and he needs to move now!

John's heart races with fear as he quickly springs into action. He knows he needs to find Floyd and fast. He needed to wake Bruce and Clay, but the beast in him told him there is no time to waste. So without wasting another moment, he stealthily sneaks past his sleeping brothers and makes his way towards the source of the sound.

Hurry.

John hears the voice whisper as he navigates through the dark woods, John's senses sharpen, his animal instincts guiding him towards his younger brother. He could feel his transformation beginning..

Faster.

His muscles tensing, his senses heightened. The moonlight filtering through the dense forest canopy casts an eerie glow on his fur-covered body. Every step becomes more urgent, fueled by the fear pulsating through his veins.

Faster!

John can feel himself growing and getting faster. The need to protect his younger brothers, causes his muscles start expanding with his growth.He shifts to running on all fours and he can feel his now massive claws digging into the ground as he runs. His tail whips behind him as he feels his teeth becoming sharper and larger, almost like he’s preparing to sink his fangs into someone or something.  No one is hurts his baby brothers and gets away with it.

John tracks the sound, which seems to be growing louder as he gets closer. The screeching grows more intense, filled with distress and desperation.

He’s over there.

As he dashes through the woods, John's heightened hearing allows him to determine the direction from which the sound is emanating. It leads him to a clearing where he spots Floyd, his younger brother, trapped inside a fallen dead tree. The tree and the area around it is covered in sticky webs. He can just barely make out some magenta hair that is poke out from certain areas of the dead tree.

Floyd is surrounded by Spider Bats. Those eight legged, flying rats love to trap their victims in their sticky webs and drain their blood before slowly eating what’s left of their victims. It’s a slow and painful death, even more painful if the Spider Bat is poisonous. That’s a slow and agonizing death.

John pauses in his steps, he’s in full troll beast form. ‘Floyd is gonna see me in this form! What if I scare him? What if he hates that he has a monster for a brother’ John can feel his ears lower and his tail getting tucked between his legs. ‘What…What if I hurt him in this size?’ 

His mind gets made up quick when he hears Floyds sour note followed by wheezed panic whimpers. Johns eyes widen and they snap to where Floyd is, ‘He’s having a panic attack!’

Quickly.

With his brother's distressing cries for help, John tamps down his own fears and charges towards the trapped Floyd. He leaps over fallen branches and dodges the webs, his massive paws landing lightly on the forest floor. He stands tall on all fours and growls loudly causing the SpiderBats to back up slightly.

Get. Them.

John doesn’t have to be told twice with that statement. Just before red clouds his vision, he feels himself lunge forward with a loud feral roar.

‘Camping will forever be off his bucket list.’ Floyd thought as he ran through the woods in the middle of the night. It’s been several days since he’s seen his three older brothers and one younger brother. They all got separated and he doesn’t know if they are ok. The sound of mutiple feet running towards him followed by hisses and screeches make him pick up his pace. Floyd just hopes that they are not in the same situation that he is currently in.

Floyd makes his way through the woods and into a clearing. His heart beats fast at the approaching monsters and he quickly scans the area. He spots a hallowed tree on the ground and he quickly runs over to it. He crawls inside and goes completely still.

Floyd's body trembles with fear as he hides within the safety of the hollowed tree. His breathing becomes shallow, trying to avoid making any sound that might give away his presence. The adrenaline coursing through his veins fuels his alertness, as he listens intently for the approaching monsters.

Time seems to stretch indefinitely as Floyd waits in the darkness, surrounded by the musty scent of decay and damp wood. Every rustle of leaves or snapping twig sends his heart racing, fearing that the creatures could be closing in on him.

He swallows the lump forming in his throat and lets out a shaky breath. He tries to think positively, but he can hear approaching feet. ‘Think positive! Think positive!’ Floyd thought, ‘Think about how my brothers saved me. Yeah! Yeah! Annnd my first Brozone performance. Good times! Annnnnd-“ Floyd’s thoughts get interrupted when a big giant leg appears at the entrance of the hollow tree. He tries to make himself as small as possible. He starts to shake a little and tries to think again, ‘A-Annnd-‘ he jumps when he hears a hiss above. Floyd lets out a small whimper and quickly covers his mouth. He shuts his eyes tight when he hears more growls and hisses, ‘And….when my big brother…..when John Dory saved me from a situation like this back when I was just a trolling.’ His mind drifts back to the day, he tried to walk himself home from school.

Floyd was walking himself home from school. His eldest brother, John Dory, usually comes and gets him, but he didn’t want to trouble his big brother so he decided to walk himself home today. He even got an early head start! 

Unfortunately for him, he ended up getting lost in the tree. He knew he should have gone down the tree trunk instead of up…or was it a right at the rainbow branch instead of a left at the laugh-a-lot branch. Floyd’s ears lower, John is going to be real worried about him. Spruce, his second oldest brother, is going to give him ‘the look’. Floyd shudders at the thought of ‘the look’. Clay, his third eldest brother, will enjoy the scolding he’ll get. It won’t be him in trouble and getting a lecture for once.

Floyd sighs knowing he’s more than likely going to be in big trouble. He continues down a new branch hoping it will lead him home.

It did not.

Floyd had ended up on the dead branch path as the sunset. He nervously walks along the path with the darkness creeping in around him. Just as he gets half way down the path he hears an all too familiar squeak and quick scurry like movement. 

Floyd’s heart leaps into his throat and he finds a hole in the dead branch. He quickly hides in the hole and goes back far into the branch just as he hears movement above him. Chef had released her pet Thrats (Troll Hunting Rats), onto the troll tree early. Any troll caught out during the Thrats hunting hour, is never seen again.

Floyd clutches his chest where he could feel his pounding heart. He starts having difficulty breathing as he feels the walls starting to close in on him. He takes slow, deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart. Then he looks up and sees a dark pink eye staring at him through a small hole in the dead branch.  

Floyd’s eyes widen and he lets out a terrified high pitched screech. He starts to crawl through the branch as fast as he can when he hears the excited chirps from the Thrats. He quickens his pace as he hears the branch being ripped open by claws or teeth. Floyd couldn’t tell, but he was not going to turn around and check!

Floyd dodges flying wood pieces as he continues through the dead branch. He lets out another high pitched screech when he just barely dodges the sharp teeth of a Thrat. He quickly moves out of the way, but reaches the end of the branch. He makes himself as small as possible and curls in on himself. He starts to tremble and his breathing starts to quicken as the hisses draw near. He whimpers as the Thrats start breaking the wood above him.

Floyd’s vision starts getting distorted from the lack of air. As the Thrats break through the dead branch black spots cloud his vision. Just as everything goes black, Floyd hears a terrifying roar that makes shivers go down his spine. His last thought being ‘At least…I’ll be unconscious.’

When Floyd comes to he screams and falls out of bed. ‘Bed?’ He thought. It wasn’t just any bed it was John’s bed. Floyd's heart hammered in his chest as he tried to make sense of it all. He feels arms wrap around him and he screams again, he starts to thrash until he hears a familiar voice.

“Floyd! Floyd it’s me! It’s John Dory!”

Floyd stops and turns around. John Dory is standing there, concern etched on his face as he holds Floyd firmly. “J-John?” Floyd ask, almost afraid his elder brother might be an apparition. The events of the nightmare still felt real, but John's warm embrace brought a sense of calm. “It’s me Floyd. It’s me I promise.” John's words penetrate Floyd's disoriented mind, easing his panic. The flood gates open and he cries tears of relief into his older brother’s chest. 

Floyd feels his older brother pick him up and move him back to the bed he fell off of. He refuses to let go of his older brother. He doesn’t want the feeling of safety to disappear. 

“I’m not leaving you Floyd. Not till you’re ready.” 

Floyd nods and starts to calm down. He lets out little sniffles and hiccups before snuggles deeper to his big brother’s chest. He feels John’s hand on his back. He starts to rub calm circles on his back causing Floyd’s eyes to drop. He hears John start humming a calming tune sending Floyd into a deep yet peaceful sleep.

The next morning he asked his other brothers what happened. Clay said something about John knowing when they are in danger and that it’s creepy. Spruce rolled his eyes and explained how John had scared off the Thrats and saved him.  How John had found him unconscious and payed the smack down on those disgusting Thrats. 

Floyd had a hard time believing that last part.

But the Thrats never made another appearance after that day.

Floyd slowly comes out of his memory fog. He wishes John was here and he opens eyes.

He wishes he didn’t.

Because what’s stares at him are multiple golden eyes and they look hungry. Floyd lets out a terrified high pitched screech the moment he sees fangs lunge towards him from the hollowed trees opening. He tries to back out of the tree when his foot touches something sticky. He looks back noticing his exit is covered in strong webbing.

Floyd's heart races as he realizes he is trapped inside the hollowed tree, with hungry creatures closing in on him from all sides. Panic surges through his veins, and he struggles to free himself from the sticky webbing that blocks his only escape route.

Floyd feels his breath quickening and his chest start to tighten. He lets out another high pitched screech when multiple fangs start to puncture the wood to get to him.

He lets out some wheezy whimpers as he struggles to breathe. Black spots start to dance around his vision. He lays his head down on the wood as darkness dominates his vision. Just as he starts to pass out he hears a terrifying roar that causes the ground to shake. Floyd trembles with fear and his eyes slide close. A single year rolls down his face as he thinks about his brothers, ‘Sorry Bros, I don’t think I’m gonna make it this time.’ 

With that final thought Floyd passes out.

Chapter Text

Floyd's body goes limp, a sudden burst of noise fills the clearing. A deep growl reverberates through the air, causing the Spider Bats to still their movement. The ground shakes as a massive figure emerges from the shadows, its eyes blazing with a fierce determination.

It's John, in his troll beast form.

John stands tall on all fours with his body covered in thick blue, matted fur. His muscles ripple with raw power as he releases an earth-shaking roar, challenging the Spider Bats who dared to harm his little brother.

With each step, the ground trembles beneath John's massive paws, sending shockwaves through the air. The Spider Bats, frozen in fear, can only watch helplessly as the mighty troll beast focuses his attention on them. They jump back when John’s tail whips behind him causing a loud ‘crack’ to echo through the clearing, a warning that sends shivers down their spidery backs.

A primal ferocity ignites in John's red eyes as he lunges forward, striking with lightning speed and crushing the Spider Bats with his massive fists. The force of his blows sends the creatures sprawling, their intimidating attacks rendered futile against the sheer might of the troll beast.

Blood splatters across the clearing as John's powerful strikes connect, crushing the Spider Bats with bone-shattering force. His clawed hands tear through their fragile bodies, reducing them to mere lifeless husks. He pounces on another Spider Bat and uses his massive fangs to rip the wings clean off the creatures body before crushing it with his massive paws. With each defeated enemy, John's roars fill the air, a symphony of triumph and vengeance.

As the last Spider Bat falls, the clearing returns to stillness, save for John's heavy breaths and the fading echoes of his victorious roars. The troll beast stands tall, victorious and protective of his little brother, Floyd.

Remembering his little brother causes John Dory to start taking control of his beast form. “Floooyyyd.” The beast calls out to his little brother and quickly makes his way over to the hollowed tree. With a swipe of his claws he easily takes care of the webs surrounding the dead tree.

John sniffs the entrance of the tree and croons to his little brother. When he receives no answer he gently picks up the tree with his teeth. He slowly tilts the tree till Floyd slowly falls out of the tree, still unconscious. 

John tosses the tree to the side and leans down to inspect his little brother. He gently nudges Floyd with his snout and whines when Floyd doesn’t respond. He presses his big ear to Floyd’s chest and is instantly relieved when he hears a heartbeat.

John lets out a sigh of relief as he hears Floyd's steady heartbeat. Tenderly, he cradles his unconscious brother in his massive paws and carries him away from the clearing, making sure to tread carefully so as not to disturb him further.

John starts making his way back to where he left his two other younger brothers and their campsite. He just hopes that Bruce and Clay aren’t awake because one, he doesn’t want Clay to see this form and two, Bruce will be very upset with him. John promised he would rest and he kinda did the exact opposite of rest.

They comes across a river and realizes he needs all four paws to get across. This will also be a good chance to wash off all the Spider Bats blood. He gently moves Floyd and sets him on top of his back. His tail acts as a safety belt to keep Floyd in place on his back. 

With Floyd secured on his back, John wades into the river, the cool water soothing his muscles and washing away the remnants of the battle. The current tugs at his massive form, but he stands strong, determined to protect his little brother until they reach safety.

As they make their way across the river, John could feel Floyd stir on his back. So he stops and waits, preparing for his little brother’s reaction to him in his beast form. When he doesn’t hear Floyd’s voice, John glances over his shoulder to look at his brother.  Floyd was still unconscious, but he looked like he was having a nightmare. He was breathing heavily and looked distressed. His hand was clutching John’s fur to the point his knuckles were turning white.

Johns eyes widen and he starts moving faster across the river. He could practically smell the distress coming from Floyd. John let’s out a deep “Hmm” by accident.

“…Hmm” Floyd responds to his older brother’s call.

John blinks and hums a tune. Floyd immediately responds. John blinks and then smiles, he almost forgot how Floyd would respond to his hums. Every time he would hum Floyd respond, even as a baby he loved it when his big brother would hum to him. He could easily calm down Floyd simply by humming to him. He even put Floyd to sleep just by humming to him. All his brothers honestly loved it when he hummed to the them, but Floyd was the first to respond back with his own hums. 

John smiles and continues to hum in a deep tone and continues across the river.  When he hears Floyd respond to his hums he can’t help but think back to that day he saved Floyd from the Thrats.

John had pulled an all nighter the day before. He was working on homework, new songs for Brozone, making sure all three of his younger brothers got their lunches, made sure all his brother’s school bags were ready, and new dance moves for the band. Then in the morning he got his brothers ready, made sure they ate breakfast, made sure they had their backpacks, and walked them to school. John can’t count how many times he almost fell asleep in class.

John had gotten home first and immediately laid down on the couch. He told himself to close his eyes for a one minute Power Nap.

Well, one minute Power Nap turned into a eight hour snooze fest.

John was awoken when Spruce started shaking him awake. John slowly opened his eyes, feeling disoriented and groggy. Spruce, his second youngest brother, was standing over him with a worried expression on his face.

"John, wake up! I can’t find Floyd and it’s dark out!" Spruce exclaimed urgently. “I thought you had picked him up from school and he was napping in our room, but he’s not there!”

John's heart leaped into his throat as he bolted upright, the remnants of sleep still clinging to his mind. Without a word, he sprinted upstairs to their room that they all share, Spruce following close behind. John  throws open the door and he scans their room. His eyes land on Floyd’s bed, it is indeed empty.

John's heart pounds in his chest as panic sets in. He frantically searches the room, looking under the bed, in the closet, and behind the curtains, but there is no sign of Floyd.

"Where is he??” John mutters to himself, his mind racing with worry. He rushes back upstairs, Spruce following closely behind, and starts to check every room in the house, calling out for Floyd in a desperate tone.

“Jooohhn! Spprruucce!” Clay calls to his older brother’s urgently. 

John and Spruce rush to the livingroom, their hearts pounding with fear. Clay, the third youngest of the brothers, stands near the window with a worried expression on his face.

"John, Spruce, look outside!" Clay exclaims, pointing out the window.

The brothers rush to the window and their eyes widen in shock. Outside, a group of Thrats, enter the cage and start climbing the troll tree.

John eyes widen, he knows he has to act fast and find Floyd. He lets out a low growl, signaling to his younger brothers the urgency of the situation. “Spruce.! Take Clay downstairs to the hiding spot! I’m going to go find Floyd and bring him home.”

Clay tries to protest, “B-But John you-“ he is cut off by Spruce dragging him away.

Spruce starts dragging him downstairs, “You better come back alive John!” He looks back just time to see John’s tail whip out from behind his jacket. He watches his older brother yank the open the back door before rushing out into the night. Spruce quickly

John races out into the night, he moves swiftly through the shadows as he tracks the trail left by the Thrats. 

‘Hurry John.’

John’s ears go up when he hears the familiar voice. He growls in response as he feels himself transforming. 

‘Follow his scent.’

His senses are on high alert, his nostrils flaring as he catches whiffs of Floyd's scent mingled with the musty odor of those vermin in the tree.  His ears twitch the moment he hears a high pitch screech. 

‘Go higher.’

John snarls and sinks his claws into the tree. He starts to climb higher letting the voice and Floyd’s scent guide him.

‘Faster.’

As John follows the scent, he feels a surge of determination coursing through his veins. He pushes himself harder, his troll beast form giving him immense strength and speed. 

‘Faster!’

The branches groan beneath John's weight as he climbs higher into the darkness, the adrenaline pumping through his veins. The moon casts an eerie glow over the upper part of the troll tree, illuminating the gnarled and dead branches. 

‘FASTER!’

John's heart pounds in his chest as he scales the tree, his muscles straining with the effort. His nostrils flare when Floyd’s scent gets stronger. His claws dig into the rough bark, propelling him ever higher in his relentless pursuit to find his little brother, Floyd. The voice in his mind urges him on, pushing him to go faster, to reach his destination before it's too late.

‘Floyd..I’m sorry you had to see me like this….please don’t run away from this..monstrous form….Im so sorry that big brother scared you…….i didn’t mean too.’

John's inner turmoil rages as he gets closer to the top, the weight of his beastly form bearing down on him. The thoughts of his little brother Floyd witnessing him in this monstrous state gnaw at his heart, filling him with guilt and regret.

It doesn’t take long for him to forget those feelings the moment he hears another one of Floyd’s sour notes. He can smell the distress and panic in Floyd’s scent. Then the voice says something that terrifies him.

‘Floyd is going to be on the next Bergen menu.’

“NO!” The beast in John roars and propels himself upwards.

John's determination reaches its peak as he nears the dead part the troll tree, driven by the thought of saving his little brother from the clutches of the dangerous Thrats. His muscles strain with effort, his heart beating a rapid rhythm in his chest as he pushes himself to move faster.

As John finally emerges at the dead part the tree, he is met with a chilling sight. The Thrats surround Floyd, their claws extended, their eyes gleaming with malicious intent. Floyd’s pale and trembling form. He’s backed into a hollow part of a dead branch.

As John watches Floyd’s eyes close, he lets out a primal roar that echoes through the night, a warning to the Thrats that he will not hesitate to protect his little brother at any cost. The Thrats turn to face the towering troll beast that looms above them, their confidence wavering in the face of such raw power.

John doesn’t remember much after lunging forward and hearing a crunch sound. His vision became red as he felt the beast take over. When he comes to he is holding an unconscious Floyd in his arms and he’s covered in blood. He panics thinking it’s Floyd’s blood and he looks him over. He lets out a sigh of relief when it’s not his youngest brother’s blood. 

John hums in content and to his surprise Floyd responds back with his own hum. John jolts in surprise thinking Floyd, but when he looks down Floyd is still unconscious. John hums again and Floyd responds again. John smiles softly as he hums to his younger brother. As they get closer to the pod John starts shrinking back to his normal troll size.

He enters the pod and whistles out to his other younger brothers to let them know that it’s safe now. He hears Spruce and Clays whistles from downstairs and his tail wags knowing his brothers are safe and ok.

He hears someone come upstairs and he sees Spruce. As Spruce enters the living room he stops and stares at John. John’s ears drop when he sees Spruce stare at him with fear in his eyes. The fear grows as he takes in John’s bloody appearance and their unconscious younger brother in their arms.

John takes a step forward, “Spru-“ he stops when Spruce immediately takes a step back. John goes silent 

‘He’s…He’s afraid of me…..just like mom said he was going to be.’

John’s tail goes into its hiding place, he can feel it quivering against his back as he gently lowers Floyd to the floor. He takes several steps back from Floyd and Spruce immediately comes forward and collects their little brother.

As John watches Spruce gather Floyd into his arms, a pang of sadness washes over him. The realization that his own brother is afraid of him in his beastly side weighs heavily on his heart. John hangs his head, feeling the weight of guilt and shame settle upon his shoulders.

Spruce holds Floyd close, his expression a mix of concern and wariness as he glances back at John. The tension in the room is palpable, the air heavy with unspoken words and unexpressed emotions.

Spruce speaks first, “I..I’m gonna go clean Floyd up.” John nods. “You..you should get cleaned up to John.” John nods again and he watches Spruce take off downstairs.

John immediately starts rinsing himself off using the kitchen sink. He takes off his ruined clothes and washes them the best he can. Afterwards he finds one of his shirt and shorts in a near by laundry basket. He puts it on and decides to sleep on the couch.

He falls asleep, but wakes up when he hears Floyd screaming. He immediately runs downstairs and throws opens his and his brother’s bedroom door.

Spruce and Clay, who were already getting out of their beds spot John. They stay out of his way as he goes to comfort Floyd. John notes that Floyd is by his bed and he wonders why. ‘Maybe he ran from his bed over to mine to seek comfort from me.’

John walks over and wraps his arms around Floyd causing him to scream again and start thrashing. Spruce looks ready to come over and take Floyd from him, but John holds onto Floyd and calls out to him.

“Floyd! Floyd it’s me! It’s John Dory!”

Floyd stops and turns around. “J-John?” His brother ask hesitantly.

John nods quickly, “It’s me Floyd. It’s me I promise.” 

That’s all Floyd needed to hear before he clings onto John’s shirt and starts sobbing. Not a crying of fear, but crying out of relief. John gently picks up Floyd and tries to set him down on his bed but his brother refuses to let go of him.

John, understanding what Floyd wants, tells him, ““I’m not leaving you Floyd. Not till you’re ready.” John climbs into his bed with Floyd on his chest. He watches his other two younger brothers climb into their beds as well.

John lays down and rubs calming circles on Floyd’s back. He can hear Floyd hiccup and sniffle into his shirt. He turns and can see his others watching him with worry and he can see the anxiousness from Spruce. So, he turns back and closes his eyes and does what he does best to soothe his little brothers. He starts to hum.

He starts to hum a calming hum. One by one he starts hearing his brother’s snores, he smiles before falling asleep too.

The next morning he sends Floyd upstairs to join their brothers for breakfast, promising to be up soon. Not even five minutes later, his mother threw open the door and looked furious. John knew in that moment, he would be skipping breakfast….again.

As John opens his eyes, the memory fading, he realized they are almost back at the campsite. He’s still humming and Floyd is still responding. He smiles as he starts to shrink. His tail goes back into hiding and He makes sure to keep a firm hold on Floyd as he reverts back to his normal size. As he enters the campsite, Bruce and Clay are still fast asleep, unaware of what just happened. 

Johns legs start to shake with exhaustion as he makes his way to his bed. As he collapses onto his bed and Floyd weighing heavily on his back. He finally notes that all of Clays leaf bandage work had torn off the moment he grew. His clothes were also looking more and more torn. Not to mention it looks like he also got some new cuts from those Spider Bats.

All John can think about before he passes out is, ‘Man…I am definitely in trouble with my younger brothers when I wake up….or when they wake me up.’

Chapter Text

Safe. He’s safe….but why?!

Floyd snuggles into something soft. He inhaled deeply, the scent immediately brings him comfort. He sighs softly in content before a loud snore startled him out of his peaceful dream. He groans and cracks his eyes open. He sees nothing but hair. Green hair to be exact. 

Ah, it must belong to that monster that he heard last night before he passed out. He should probably escape now, but he feels so…safe. 

Floyd closes his eyes and snuggles into the green hair with a tired whine.

“Hmm hm hmm.” A calm humming tune hits his ears.

“..Hmm..Hm..Hmm.” Floyd automatically responds.

‘Wait a minute.’  Floyd’s face scrunches in thought, ‘Green hair. A humming tune that I respond to. Loud snoring. Comforting scent. Those things belong to-‘

Floyd’s eyes snap open and he yells out his older brother’s name, “JOHN DORY!!”

Bruce and Clay jolt awake hearing someone yell their older brother’s name. They both pick up rocks they had kept around their campsite and get ready to launch them at whatever yelled their brother’s name.  When they turn, they both see their younger brother Floyd, sitting on their eldest brothers, John Dory, back.

Bruce, Clay, and Floyd stare at each other for a solid minute before Clay speaks first.

“F….Floyd?”

“Is that really you little bro?” Bruce ask almost afraid he’s still dreaming.

Floyd blinks and then smiles, “You guys don’t realize how much I’ve missed you.”

Bruce and Clay couldn’t agree more, they immediately troll pile on Floyd. Unfortunately, that meant their eldest brother was on the bottom of their family troll pile.

Floyd's heart swelled with warmth as his brothers embraced him in a joyful reunion. The weight of their bodies atop him felt like a comforting blanket, reminding him of the safety and love that only family could provide. Despite the chaos of the moment, Floyd couldn't help but feel grateful for this unexpected but heartwarming turn of events.

John Dory grumbled beneath his younger brothers, feeling a mixture of annoyance and amusement at their impromptu troll pile. He couldn't deny the happiness that welled up within him at the sight of his siblings reunited. Unfortunately for him, his younger brother’s combined weight was starting to crush him.

“Bros…can’t…breathe!!”

His three younger quickly get off him and help him up.

John starts to brush himself off when he notices that Bruce and Clay are staring, no sorry, glaring at him. He turns left then right the back at his younger brothers, “What? Is there something on my face?”

“What happened to your leaf bandages John?” Clays eyes squint at his older brother.

John’s eyes widen and he tries to deflect the question, “Well, you see Clay-“

“And why does it look like you have more cuts on you John.” Bruce gives his older brother the ‘dad’ glare.

John chuckles nervously, “Come on guys, two against one isn’t fair-“

“And..how in the world did I get here? Why did I find myself asleep on your back John?” Floyd ask, clearly confused on how he got reunited with his older brothers.

John groans, “Not you to Floyd.”

“John Dory!” All three of his younger brothers yell in unison.

John Dory flinches and scratches his head sheepishly, he knows he’s in deep shit with his little brothers, so might as well come clean……somewhat clean.

"Okay, okay. I might have gotten into a little...scuffle last night," John confessed, avoiding his brothers' disapproving gazes. "I couldn’t sleep so I ended up exploring the area and ran into some trouble. Got a bit banged up, nothing serious though."

Bruce looks at him in disbelief, “And you didn’t think to yell for us to come help you?!”

John gives his brothers a stern yet firm look, “I will NOT be putting my little brothers in any more danger!”

Bruce and Clay exchanged knowing looks, understanding their brother's tendency to get into trouble despite being the eldest. They couldn't stay mad at him for long, especially now that they were all together again.

"Anyway," John continued, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "I found Floyd unconscious nearby. So, I brought him back here to rest for the night. Guess he woke up before I did," he explained with a wry smile.

Floyd's confusion slowly dissipated as he processed his brother's explanation. Despite the unconventional circumstances, he felt a surge of gratitude that John found him before the monster did.

Clay chuckled, breaking the tension, "Well, looks like our fearless leader here got himself into a bit of trouble, huh?"

Bruce joined in with a smirk, "Always looking out for your little brothers, even when you're the one who needs looking after."

The brothers shared a round of laughter, the bond of siblinghood growing stronger than ever in that moment.

John Dory grinned, relieved that his brothers weren't too upset with him. "Hey, what can I say? Keeping you guys on your toes is all part of the package deal." He starts walking away, “Now, let’s get moving bros! We still have one more brother to find, our youngest brother! We’re coming Branch!”

“Hold on!” 

John doesn’t make it far when he feels someone tugs on his ear. “Ow! That’s my ear!” He looks back and sees Bruce’s unhappy face, “Where do you think you’re going with all those exposed injuries, John?” Bruce places a hand on his hip.

John Dory winced in pain as Bruce gave him a stern look, tapping his foot impatiently. He knew he couldn't escape his brother's scrutiny that easily.

"I'll be fine, Bruce. It's just a few scratches," John tried to downplay his injuries, but that seems to anger brother more. He really should take his own advice of not angering Bruce. John gives his younger brother a nervous smile.

The brothers stood in a silent standoff, the unspoken bond between them palpable in the air. Bruce's concern for John's well-being was undeniable, his protective instincts kicking into high gear. John knew he couldn't easily brush off his injuries this time, not when his younger brother's gaze bore into his soul.

After a moment of contemplation, John finally relented with a sigh. "Alright, alright, I'll let you patch me up, Bruce. But make it quick, we've got a little brother waiting for us," he conceded, realizing that his stubbornness was only delaying their mission.

Bruce's face softened into a smile of victory as he motioned for John to sit down. "Good choice, big brother. Let's get you cleaned up before we head out," he said, his voice laced with a mix of authority and concern. “Clay, start sewing new leaf bandages. Floyd go get the make some cream with the leftover herbs John found earlier. They are near that log over there.”

Clay and Floyd nod determinedly and get to work.

The brothers worked together to tend to John Dory's wounds, their unity shining through as they supported and cared for each other. Bruce's skilled hands deftly cleaned and bandaged John's injuries, while Clay meticulously sewed leaf bandages for added protection. Floyd gathered herbs and made a soothing cream to aid in the healing process, all under the watchful eye of their eldest brother.

Bruce looks over John’s tail making sure it’s not broken or injured before he takes off his own jacket and hides the tail from their younger brothers. Just in time to cause Floyd and Clay walk back over to their older brothers with the items they were tasked with.

The brothers soon finished tending to John Dory's injuries, soon they were ready to resume their journey to find their youngest brother, Branch.

As John and Bruce put on their jackets, John quickly hides his tail in his pants. Bruce makes sure his younger brothers don’t see their eldest brother’s tail.  They all finish up right as the sun rises high in the sky.

The four brothers set off, renewed by their reunion and ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead in their search for Branch.

John smirks and adjust his goggles, ‘Hang on Branch, your big brothers are on their way!’

Chapter Text

Days..it’s been days, possibly over a week since they last seen Branch!

As the brothers pressed on in their search for their missing sibling, the tension in the air was palpable. John's determination wavered as the weight of uncertainty bore down on them all. Bruce's usual calm demeanor began to crack under the strain, his worry manifesting in restless gestures. Clay's attempts to maintain composure faltered, his fidgeting betraying the deep concern he harbored. Floyd's nervous energy manifested in pacing, a physical reflection of the turmoil within.

With each passing day, the gnawing fear of not finding Branch grew stronger, threatening to engulf them all in a cloud of despair.

“Do..Do you think he made it back to Rhonda, John?” Floyd asked hopefully.

John shakes his head, “If that were the case Rhonda would have come and found us already”

Bruce walks over to him and whispers in his ear, “Have you heard anything? Any sour notes?”

John shakes his head and whispers back, “No.” and that’s what’s frustrating him the most. He hasn’t heard a sound from their baby brother. He picks up a rock near by and sniffs it, he hasn’t been able to pick up Branch’s scent either. He growls unhappily and he crushes the rock in his hands. 

Bruce jumps a little as he watches the dust from the crushed rock fall from his elder brother’s hand. He knows the beast residing in his brother isn’t happy, he saw John’s eyes flash red before he destroyed that poor rock.

Bruce gently grabs John’s hand and whispers “Calm down, John.” His older brother looks at him and the red glow flashes across his eyes. Bruce frowns, “You too beasty!” He sighs, “We will find Bitty B, but you need to stay calm. Got it?”

John inhales and then exhales slowly, the red in his eyes fading. He nods and starts walking forward. His younger brothers all follow behind him.

The brothers continue their search, a sense of urgency and worry driving them forward. John's inner turmoil manifested physically, his frustration and fear blending with the primal instincts deep within him. Bruce, observes his older brother's struggle with a heavy heart, he knows that keeping the beast in check is hurting his brother.

Clay and Floyd exchanged glances, their faces reflecting the shared concern for their missing brother. They felt the tension in the air, the unspoken fear that Branch might be in danger or lost.

In desperation John calls out to his youngest brother, “B?! Can you hear me?!”

Bruce follows next, “Bitty B?! Say something?!”

Clay soon after, “Baby Branch?! Say anything?!”

Floyd also joins in, “Branch?! Where are you?!”

The echoes of their voices faded into the surrounding wilderness, met only by the rustling of leaves and the distant calling of birds. The silence that followed was deafening, a stark reminder of their solitude in the vast unknown.

As they trudged on, the setting sun cast long shadows across the forest floor, painting a scene of eerie beauty tinged with melancholy.

The brothers continued their search into the night, their determination unwavering despite the creeping darkness. Each step was a silent prayer for Branch's safety, a plea to the universe to guide them to their missing sibling. The moonlight filtered through the thick canopy above, casting a ghostly glow on the forest around them.

John's senses were on high alert, his instincts honed to a razor-sharp edge as he scanned the surroundings for any trace of Branch. Bruce walked beside him, a pillar of support and strength, ready to intervene should the beast within John threaten to surface again.

Clay and Floyd followed closely behind, their eyes darting nervously from shadow to shadow, straining to catch any sign of movement or sound that could lead them to Branch. 

As the night wore on, exhaustion weighed heavily on their shoulders, but they refused to give in to despair. With each passing moment, their resolve only strengthened, fueled by a fierce determination to bring Branch back home safely.

Through the dense undergrowth and over rugged terrain, they pressed on, their footsteps echoing in the night like a heartbeat of determination. John's hands clenched and unclenched, a silent testament to the battle raging within him as he fought to keep the beast at bay.

Bruce's steady presence was a comforting anchor amidst the turmoil, his unwavering support a source of strength for his brothers. Clay and Floyd, though younger, matched their older siblings in determination, their worry for Branch etched on their faces.

Suddenly, a faint rustling in the distance caught their attention. Instinctively, they halted, their senses on high alert. 

The bushes ahead of them start to rustle and the family gets in position. John in front shielding his younger brother’s. Bruce behind him on his right, ready to back up his older brother. Clay on his left, ready to pelt anything with the rocks he’s holding. Floyd in the back, getting ready to reload Clays artillery.

As the rustling grew louder, so did a hissing sound. A bug emerges and Clay whispers, “It’s a Tick!” Floyd shivers and whispers, “Ick!” 

This bug was much bigger than the trolls as it steps into view. John’s ears pin to his head. Bruce cracks his knuckles. Clay tightens his grip on the rocks. Floyd gathers as many rocks as he can.

The bug starts to get closer but immediately starts backing away while looking at John, who is glaring intensely at it. 

John is growling lowly and his eyes start turning red. He bares his fangs as he snarls at the Tick, daring it to take another step forward.

The tension in the air reached a peak as the bug hesitated, its gaze locked with John’s intense glare. Bruce’s knuckles cracked in anticipation, ready to spring into action if needed. Clay's grip on the rocks tightened, his eyes unwavering. Floyd's hands trembled as he clutched his makeshift arsenal of stones.

The bug, sensing the danger emanating from the brothers, took a few steps back, its hissing growing softer. John’s primal instincts surged to the surface, his feral nature poised to defend his family at all costs.

With a sudden burst of movement, the bug scuttled away into the undergrowth, disappearing from view. The brothers remained on high alert, their hearts pounding with the adrenaline of the encounter.

John slowly relaxed his stance, the red glow fading from his eyes as he scanned their surroundings for any further threats. Bruce let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, his gaze shifting between his brothers, silently assessing their well-being.

Clay and Floyd exchanged relieved glances, both dropping their rocks they were holding.

“We need to keep moving,” John declared, his voice cutting through the night air with authority. “Branch is out here somewhere, and we won’t rest until we find hi-“ John stops and his ears immediately go up. He starts looking quickly in different directions. His senses sharpening as he strained to identify the source.

Floyd tilts his head in confusion, “Uhhh..John? You good bro?”

When John doesn’t answer him Clay tries to get his attention.

Clay raises an eyebrow, “Earth to John Dory?” He frowns and walks towards his older brother. “Oi! John! Hellloooo?! Can you-“

Bruce grabs him by his shoulder to stop him. Clay turns to protest, but stops when he sees the seriousness in his second oldest brother’s face. 

Bruce looks at his older brother, who is deep in concentration, and calls out to him, “John?”

"It's him," John whispered, his voice barely audible.

Chapter Text

The brothers fell silent as John's revelation hung in the air, a sense of hope and trepidation mingling within their hearts. Bruce's brow furrowed in concern as he studied his older brother, sensing the gravity of the moment. Clay and Floyd exchanged puzzled glances, unsure of what John's cryptic words meant.

Clay whispers to Bruce, “Bruce what’s going on?”

Floyd walks over to his older brothers and whispers, “and should we be worried?”

Bruce whispers back, “Remember when you guys were young and I told you that John has super big brother hearing.”

Floyd nods and whispers, “Yeah I remember! You told me that’s how John would always find us if we needed him!”

Clays eyes widen and whispers loudly, “Wait! That super big brother hearing was true?!”

Bruce smiles and nods. All three brothers turn back and look at their older brother, who’s in deep concentration. 

John's intense focus remained unwavering. His ears move back and forth trying to pinpoint the exact location. His keen senses attuned to the faintest sounds, to the subtle vibrations of the forest around them. The brothers held their breath, waiting for John to say or do anything.

After a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, John's closes his eyes and crouches down. He gets into a running position.

Clay raises an eyebrow , “Jooohhhnn. What are you doing??”

Bruce gets into a running position and Clay looks at his second oldest brother like he grew two heads, “and what are you doing??”

Bruce smiles up at him, “get ready to run.”

Floyd giggles and gets into position next to Bruce.

Clay groans, “Not you too Floyd.”

Floyd smirks, “You afraid you can’t keep up with us Clay?”

Bruce barks out a laugh and Clay frowns, “I was the fastest sprinter in our school and you know it! Now move over!” Floyd moves and Clay gets into a running position.

Clay smirks, “Plus, keeping up with old man John shouldn’t be too hard.” ‘After all I always beat him in those races we had.’ He thought.

Bruce shakes his head and thinks, ‘Clay is going to eat those words.’

John’s eyes snap open, eyes glowing red as the beast takes over. The atmosphere crackled with anticipation as John's eyes blazed red with the unleashed power of the beast within. His primal instincts surged to the forefront, propelling him forward in a burst of speed that left his brothers in awe.

Clay falls in surprise and looks in the direction that John went. Clay’s jaw hits the floor in disbelief, “Holy shit!”

Bruce starts running after John, “Come on bros! Get moving!”

Clay and Floyd exchanged stunned looks before scrambling to follow their older brothers, their hearts pounding with a mix of fear and excitement.

The brothers raced through the forest, their footsteps echoing in the night as they chased after John, whose supertroll speed was a sight to behold. Branch's presence, once a distant hope, now seemed within reach as John led the way with unwavering determination.

Clay stayed close behind John, but even he is struggling to keep up with their older brother. Bruce and Floyd struggled to keep up with the powerful strides of their brothers, their legs pushing them to their limits as they navigated the dark terrain. 

The moonlight above illuminated their path, casting a silvery glow on the twisted roots and damp earth beneath their feet. The rush of wind in their ears, the adrenaline coursing through their veins, fueled their pursuit with a sense of urgency and purpose. 

It’s been over a week since he’s seen his older brothers. He hasn’t heard anything, not even a sound that would have hopefully been his brothers. He ran out of emergency food last night and every shelter he has tried to build gets ruined in about a day.

Branch sighs as he manages to gather some sticks and berries. ‘Not a lot of safe foods in these woods.’

Branch looks up as the sun starts to set. He quickly makes his way back to his mini bunker. He moves a giant leaf out of the way and crawls into his hiding place. He pulls the leaf back over to cover up his shelter

‘It’s dark and I’m alone again.’ Branch thought as he hid hole in the ground. He sits down and hugs himself tighter. He lets out a shakey breath and thinks, ‘Did…Did they leave me alone again ?..Do they know I’m still here?!’ He brings his knees to his chest and hugs them.

Branch rest his head on knees and frowns, thinking his brothers have left him to fend for himself..again. He closes his eyes as his ears drop from sadness.

As Branch sat in his makeshift hideout, the darkness enveloping him like a shroud of loneliness. The memories of his brothers' absence weighed heavily on his heart, casting doubts on whether they would ever return for him. The rustling of leaves and distant hoot of an owl were the only sounds in the stillness of the forest, amplifying his solitude.

As the last glimmers of daylight faded, Branch's thoughts turned somber. The ache of abandonment gnawed at him, triggering a cascade of emotions that threatened to overwhelm his resolve. Doubt crept in, whispering cruel taunts that echoed in the shadows around him.

Branch clutched his knees tighter, seeking solace in the comfort of his own arms. The cool earth beneath him provided a stark reminder of his isolation, a stark contrast to the warmth and trust he longed for with his brothers. The echo of their laughter and the bond they shared felt like a distant dream, slipping further away with each passing moment.

A sense of vulnerability washed over Branch as he grappled with the harsh reality of his circumstances. The flicker of hope that had sustained him wavered, threatened to be extinguished by the pervasive darkness that now surrounded him. Tears welled in his eyes, unshed and heavy with unspoken fears. He closes his eyes, hoping to will the tears away, ‘I miss Poppy’ he thought sadly. ‘In the morning, I will find my own way back to Pop Village. I don’t need my older brother’s help.’ He thought bitterly, even though he secretly was hoping..they would come for him.

Branch doesn’t know when he falls asleep, but what he does know, is his feet are wet and his lower body. He fully awakens when the ground starts shaking and water starts to flow into his underground shelter.

Branch's eyes snap open in alarm as the ground beneath him trembles, the sensation of water seeping into his underground shelter jolting him awake. Panic courses through him as he realizes the dire situation he's in. The faint echoes of rushing water grow louder, signaling an impending danger that he cannot ignore.

With a surge of adrenaline, Branch scrambles to his feet, his heart pounding in his chest. The darkness of the night makes it difficult to see, but the rising water level around him leaves him with no choice but to act swiftly. 

Branch's mind races as he searches for a way out, his hands groping in the walls, but they turn to mud in his hands. The sound of water gushing into his shelter spurs him into action, driving him to find a solution before it's too late.

As the cold water rises around him, Branch's lungs burn with the need for air. Desperation fuels his movements as he pushes against the walls of his flooded shelter, a sense of fear gripping his heart. The murky water swirls around him, disorienting him in the darkness as he struggles to stay afloat.

With one final push Branch grabs the edge of his shelter and starts to pull himself up. He starts pulling himself out, but right as he’s half way out he notices the wave of water mere inches away from him. His eyes widen and his jaw drops open as he lets out a soft high pitched screech right before water enters his lungs and sweeps him away.

Chapter Text

It’s cold. Really cold, but he refuses to give up now! Branch breaches the surface and takes a breath before he’s dragged down again by the current.

Branch's desperate attempt to escape the flooding shelter was met with a cruel twist of fate as the relentless wave of water overtook him, dragging him down into the murky depths. The chilling coldness enveloped him, disorienting his senses as he struggled against the powerful current.

His lungs burned with the need for air as he fought against the relentless force of the water, his frantic movements hindered by the darkness that surrounded him. Panic surged through his veins as he realized the gravity of his situation, his thoughts racing with the fear of being consumed by the watery abyss.

Branch's body convulsed as he tried to stay afloat, his muscles aching with the strain of his efforts. Amidst the chaos and tumult of the flood, a sense of resignation washed over him, mingling with the sheer terror that gripped his very being.

In the grip of the merciless current, Branch's mind flashed with memories of his brothers, his heart heavy with the unspoken words of longing and regret. He reached out in the darkness, grasping for a lifeline that seemed beyond his reach, the weight of his solitude pressing down on him like a suffocating embrace.

As the water carried him further into the unknown depths, Branch's consciousness began to fade, his struggles weakening against the overpowering force of nature. 

When all seems lost a dark shadow floats above him, with the last of his energy Branch shoots up and grabs onto the dark shadow. He gets a good grip onto it and pulls himself up.

Branch coughs up water and lays half his body across his savor, which is a log. He coughs up more water and just lays his head on the wood trying to catch his breath. 

Branch desperately grips the log he’s holding onto for dear life, the water threatening to take him away from his only safety net. He looks around desperately as he’s whisked down a river. He tries to use his hair, but it’s soaked. His hair is completely useless if it’s soaked like this.

Branch lays his head on the log and tries to catch his breath. He closes his eyes as the roar of the crowd assault his ears. ‘Crowd? There’s no crowd.’

Memories, far forgotten, start to resurface as they flash across his mind.

The crowd is loud, very loud. He’s a baby again. He sees a curtain and pulls it open. Flashing lights blind him for a moment before he looks towards the noise. He sees all four of his older brothers. His brothers are young again, really young. 

His brothers are on stage, they’re performing a Brozone song. The crowd loves it. He gets so excited he runs out on stage and starts dancing with his brothers. His older brothers smile at him and laugh. The crowd goes wild.

Branch clung to the log. Through the haze of exhaustion, he remembered the warmth of his brothers' smiles as they performed on stage together, the joy of their shared bond palpable in the air. But as the scene shifted, a sense of foreboding crept in, distorting the happy memory into a nightmare.

His brother’s smiles quickly turn to horror as fans start climbing onto the stage. He starts getting carried away by the crowd, away from his big brothers.

The chaos of the crowd descending upon him, tearing him away from his brothers, mirrored the tumultuous waters that had threatened to engulf him moments ago. The feeling of being swept away, alone and vulnerable, echoed in his heart as he clung to the log for dear life.

He’s scared. He can’t see his brothers and there’s to many trolls around him that are a lot bigger than him. He sees foot of someone trying to step on him. He hears himself let out a soft high pitched screech and he covers himself to hopefully avoid injury. 

Branch hears screams from the crowd before a dark shadow blocks the light above him. He feels the crowd move before the shadow lands a few feet away from him. The ground shakes and he starts crying. He’s so scared. Where are his big brothers? Why aren’t they here to protect him?

He feels someone pick him up and the lights go out. The crowd starts screaming again and so does he. 

“Braanncch” he hears a deep, low, and growly voice say his name. He throws his little hands out to push whoever has him away from him, till his hands hit something plastic. Branch knows that plastic, he’s hit and grabbed at it so many times. 

Branch opens his eyes and red eyes meet his. He whimpers unsure if this was the brother he thought it was because it’s dark and he can’t see. 

Branch feels a gentle press of a forehead against his. He blinks his wide wet eyes as he feels a deep rumble come from the troll holding him, the vibration of the rumbles cause him to press closer to the troll. That is all the confirmation he needs to know who’s holding him, he’s  heard that rumble so many times. It meant protection, comfort, safety. This causes new tears to slide down his face as he cries out his eldest brother’s, John Dory, name, “Johnny!” 

He feels his brother gently nod and he lifts him higher. He knows immediately what his brother wants him to do and he quickly scrambles into his older brother’s hair for safety. He feels John Dory move and whistle out to their other brothers.

Branch responds on instinct and he hears his three other brothers respond as well. He peaks and can barely make out his other brother’s hair. He can hear Spruce telling John, “John, you need to move and you need to move now! We have to go!”

Branch feels John growl unhappily and he retreats back into his brother’s hair. He feels John swoop in a downward motion. He hears Floyd squeak and Clay yelp, John probably picked them up. He hears John growl something to Spruce. He peaks out to see Spruce climb onto their older brother’s back.

Branch feels John starting to move and he retreats for the last time into his elder brother’s hair. He snuggles into his brother’s hair, trusting John will bring him and their brothers to safety.

As Branch started drifting out of his memories. He spots someone he never thought he would see.

John Dory, he’s at the edge of the river, and he’s looking for something.

‘For me?’ Says a little voice in the back of his head.

Next he sees Clay, the third eldest, run out of the bushes. John catches him before he runs into the river.

Branch reaches out his hand to them as he floats away.

Floyd, the fourth oldest, also gets caught by John before he falls in.

Branch goes to shout, but nothing comes out. He’s getting farther away from his brother’s. He’s getting left behind.

Bruce, the second oldest, comes running out of the bush, but John uses his body to block Bruce from falling in the river. Branch can just barely hear the ‘oof’ as Bruce slams into John’s back.

Branch's heart ached with a mixture of longing and desperation as he watched each of his brothers older brothers appear. John's steadfast presence at the river's edge, Clay's impulsive rush towards the water, Floyd's near miss, and Bruce's collision with John painted a picture of unity and protection that Branch yearned to be a part of.

Branch's outstretched hand trembled with silent pleas, his voice lost in the tumultuous rush of the river that threatened to carry him away from his family.

As the gap widened between Branch and his brothers, a sense of abandonment settled over him like a heavy shroud. The fear of being left behind, of losing the connection that defined his existence, gnawed at his soul as he struggled to reach out for the safety and comfort that only his brothers could provide.

With each passing moment, the realization of separation weighed heavily on Branch, the chasm between him and his brothers widening into an insurmountable divide. His silent cries for help echoed in the stillness of his heart, a poignant reminder of the deep-rooted bond that bound them together, even in the face of adversity.

As Branch drifted further away, a glimmer of hope flickered in his soul. Something started to bubble in his chest and make its way to his throat. He thought he was about to be sick, but it didn’t feel like food coming up. 

A small sound came out from his mouth, he watches John’s ears fly upwards. Branch tries again, he breathes in a little more and lets out the sound little louder. He watches John scan the area around him, but he still doesn’t spot him.

Branch inhales, getting a good amount of air in lungs, before he calls his eldest brother’s name using soft high pitched screech noise he made earlier to get his brother’s attention.

“JOHNNY!!”

Chapter Text

Once.

He’s heard that specific sour note once. John Dory thought he would never hear his baby brother’s sour note again, but when he heard the sour note echo in his ears, he knew Branch must be in serious trouble. 

John hurriedly ran towards the source of the sound, his heart pounding in his chest. He can vaguely hear his other younger brothers, Bruce, Clay, and Floyd calling out to him, but their words were drowned out by the pounding in his head.

John bust through some bushes and a river comes into view. He immediately digs his claws into the ground making sure he doesn’t fall into the fast water current. ‘A flash flood?’ He looks around to find a source but finds none.

John’s ears begin to twitch and he sticks out his right arm. He catches his third youngest brother before he falls in. Clay gasp when he runs into his older brother’s arm. He frowns thinking John did that on purpose until he sees the river a few feet away from him. His eyes widen and he jumps back a bit, silently thanking his older brother for the save.

John’s ears twitch again and he barely manages to catch his fourth younger brother from falling into the river. John catches Floyd by his hips and spins him around before planting his younger brother on his left.

Floyds eyes widen and he hugs his older brother’s arm on instinct when he saw the fast raging water in front of him. Even when spun around and put back on his feet, he did not let go of his eldest brother’s arm.

After a couple of seconds John’s ears twitch again. He quickly moves to the left, pushing Clay out of the way, and uses his body to catch his second youngest brother. Bruce slams into his back with a loud ‘oof’! Clay and Floyd hold onto their eldest brother’s arms, making sure he doesn’t fall in the river.

Bruce didn’t think much when he collided with John, until he felt his older brother starting to fall forward. He looks over his brother’s shoulder and sees the fast water current right in front of him. He gasp and quickly circles his arms around his older waist and pulls along with Clay and Floyd.

With his brothers clinging to him for dear life, John carefully maneuvered him and his younger brothers away from the treacherous waters.

Once they were safely away from the river's edge, John took a moment to catch his breath. His heart still racing, he looked at each of his younger brothers in turn, grateful that he had been there to save them from a potentially disastrous situation.

Just as John lets out a breath he hears something faint that makes his ears shoot up. He looks ahead thinking it was something across the river, but he sees nothing. 

Another faint noise catches his attention. His ears flick up and down trying to pinpoint the location of the faint sound, but he can’t. He starts to scan the area, but sees nothing. Then he hears something that almost makes his heart drop out of his body.

“JOHNNY!!” Came a loud panicked sour note that not just turned John’s head, but the rest of his brother’s heads. All four brother’s eyes make contact with their baby brother, as he’s being swept away by the flood waters.

John feels his heart drop at the sight of his baby brother being carried off by the crowd. ‘Crowd? He’s getting carried away by rushing water. What crowd?!’ John is the first to start moving. He could hear his other brothers screaming out Branch’s name and following him.

All four brothers start running along the edge of the rapids. John kept his eyes on Branch, refusing to look away as his baby brother was being swept away by the crow-water! 

You’re slowing down John.

John can feel his heart leap into his throat, ‘Oh no.’  He thought when he heard that familiar voice in his head, but…why was the voice right? Why is Branch getting farther away.

You’re gonna lose him.

‘Please..please no.’ John could feel his body shaking. The beast inside wanting to come out, but can’t cause John is holding it back. ‘Not here.’  The roar of the wate-crowd fills his ears.

He looks ahead to the crowd, it’s one of their biggest crowds yet.

‘Wait. Where’s the river rapids.’

John could hear the crowd chants. “Brozone! Brozone! Brozone!” He turns his head towards his younger brothers, all they were all smiling and dancing. 

‘Why aren’t they…afraid?’

He turns back to see his baby brother dancing with them on stage.

‘Branch?’ 

John reaches forward, but the stage goes dark. He blinks his eyes.

‘Wasn’t Branch on stage a minute ago?’

John ears twitch as the crowd starts to scream in terror. He looks up as water comes rushing towards him.

You’re going to fail him again.

John's gasps and his chest tightened with panic as he comes out of a memory fog. He’s pushed his body to its limits, his could hear brothers following close behind, their voices merging into a blur of shouted warnings. “Waterfall!” He hears Clay shout and his heart skips a beat.

John's vision blurred with tears as he fought to keep his footing on the slippery riverbank. He could feel the wild, primal urge within him clawing to be set free, to unleash its power and save his brother at all costs. He could feel his body shaking harder and his claws start to grow.

Show them what you can really do.

John shakes his head as his vision starts to blur red.

Show them what a real monster looks like-“John!” He turns his head quickly to see all his much younger brothers. 

They are back on stage again. John turns again and sees his baby brother being carried off by the large crowd. The beast in him growls and he starts taking steps back. He starts to run towards the front of the stage.

He sees Spruce, out of the corner of his eye, throw something at the main light controls.

‘That’s not Spruces name anymore’

“John!”

John jolts and looks again. He sees all his brother’s panicked faces. Clay and Floyd are focused on Branch. Bruce is staring right at him. “You got to go into four wheel drive Bro!”

Clay looks back at Bruce, “Rhonda ain’t here man. He can’t use her!”

Bruce ignores Clay and continues to look at his older brother, “You need to go on all four Bro! That’s the only way to catch up to Bitty!”

Both Floyd and Clay look at the second oldest like he’s crazy, but the eldest understands completely.

John turns forwards and looks at his hands as the morph into paws. He clenches them into fist and he throws himself forward. His front paws land on the ground and he immediately takes off running on all fours.

Clay and Floyd watch in awe as John starts running at top speed down the riverbanks edge.

John Dory's adrenaline-fueled sprint on all fours captivated his younger brothers, who could only watch in astonishment as he raced towards the swiftly moving river. Branch, their baby brother, was now just a mere speck in the distance, being carried along by the raging waters. 

John's heart pounded fiercely in his chest as he pushed his body to its limits, his primal instincts taking over as the beast within threatened to break free.

John's determination to reach Branch was unwavering, each powerful stride propelling him closer to his baby brother. The deafening roar of the waterfall drew nearer, its ominous presence a reminder of the imminent danger.

The roar of the waterfa-people penetrates his ears as he runs across the stage and leaps into the air. His target? His baby brother.

The stage, goes dark.

Branch’s heart skips several beats when he sees his eldest brother speeding towards him. He reaches out his hand towards his brother and lets out another panicked soft high pitched screech, “Johnny!”

“Braaannch!!” Came his eldest brother’s low, deep, and growly reply.

Branch’s eyes widen at his brother voice change. Then his heart drops into the pit of his stomach the moment he sees John leap high in the air and aims straight towards him.

“John, No!!”

His brother uses all his strength to smash into the edge of the log, causing the other edge of the log to fly upwards. This sends Branch flying into the air and onto the edge of the riverbank, but it also causes John to get swept into the water.

Branch lands onto the riverbanks edge and yelps when he hits the ground. He coughs out some water and scrambles back to the edge to look for his brother, but sees nothing.

His other older  brothers finally catch up and embrace their youngest brother.

Floyd blinks and looks around, “Wait…Where’s John?”

Clay looks around, “I don’t see him near by?”

Bruce looks around and then turns Branch towards him, “Branch” he says nervously the moment he sees the disbelief and sadness in his baby brother’s eyes, “Where’s John Dory?”

Branch says nothing and he slowly turns his head back towards the riverbank.

They all look where Branch is looking and their hearts shatter.

Bruce feels like he’s about to vomit, Clay falls to his knees, and Floyd starts sobbing. Branch starts shaking as a thought comes to his mind, ‘I saw Grandma get killed in front of me because of me…….’ Tears start to fall down his cheeks, as he clenches his fist.

‘Now…I watched my eldest brother drown in front of me……because of me.’

Chapter Text

He did not want to see a body. He didn’t want his younger brothers seeing a body, but as the water started to get lower, Bruce knew he had to act quickly.

“Clay.” Bruce’s voice shook as he spoke, “Take Floyd and Branch away from the edge, I don’t…I-I don’t…” he stops talking, afraid he might break down in front of his younger siblings if he keeps trying to say more.

Clay understanding what Bruce is trying to say, slowly gets on his feet and makes way over to his two youngest brothers. He gently guides his younger brothers to stand up. He wraps them in his arms and starts guiding them away from the edge of the riverbank. Floyd sobs in Clays hold while Branch gripped Clays arm, afraid he might collapse and pass out himself.

As his older brothers grappled with the overwhelming grief, Branch felt a wave of guilt wash over him. The weight of responsibility pressed down on his young shoulders, the pain of witnessing not only his brother's tragic demise but also the memory of his grandmother's death 
haunting him. He lowers his head and notices…his feet are turning gray.

Bruce lets out a shaken breath before he descends down the edge into the murky, muddy water. The water goes above his ankles, but as he gets towards the middle, the muddy water starts to reach his waist. His shivers from the cold water, but continues to search. 

Suddenly, something catches his eye. A shadow beneath the surface, a silhouette that seems out of place among the rocks. Bruce's heart lurches in his chest as he moves closer, reaching out a trembling hand to grasp onto the figure below.

Bruce lets out a quick scream as he pulls the figure out.  As the mud drips off the figure, he sees….its not his older brother, but a bug creature. His whole body shakes as he drops the bug creature.  

“Bruce!” He hears Clay call out to him, “Did….Did you find-“

“No!” Bruce responds quickly, “No it’s not John!…..It’s not him.” He puts a hand over his mouth to calm himself. On one hand he’s happy that wasn’t his older brother’s body, on the other hand..he’s upset cause that wasn’t his older brother’s body.

Bruce lets out another shakey breath and shakes off the feeling of dread. He clenches his fist and whispers, “I will not leave till I find you John.”

Bruce starts to wade his way through the murky water. Determined to find his brother. He refuses to leave his big brother behind. He will turn over every rock and every stick if he has too. Hell! He even go down to the waterfall and flip the rocks over there. In fact, that’s what he’s gonna do!

While making his way to the waterfall he flips every rock and log along his way. As he gets closer to the waterfall, the rocks start getting bigger, but that won’t stop him! Every rock is getting overturned, he does not care if he can’t lift them. He will flip them over to find John!

That big boulder, it’s going to go over edge. That tall boulder, Bruce is going to shove it to the side. That pointy boulder that’s already halfway hanging over the waterfall and has blue hands clinging to the tip of it , he’s gonna kick it so far that it looks like- Bruce immediately stops and looks at the boulder again.

‘No way.’ Bruce thinks as his eyes widen, ‘My mind is playing tricks on me, right?’ He uses his hair to wipe his eyes, he opens them again and looks again.

There, on the end of the pointy rock, that’s halfway hanging over the edge, is a pair of two blue hands clinging to the tip of the rock.

And one of those hands is covered by a very torn brown glove.

Bruce heart starts beating faster, “John.” He starts picking up the pace, “John!” He’s trying to run as fast as he can through the thickening muddy water, “JOHN!!”

“Bruce?!” Bruce hears his older brother’s voice call out to him, he feels like crying the moment he hears his big brother’s voice.

Bruce falls into the mud a couple of times, but that does not deter him from his goal. He grabs the other end of the rock and peaks over the edge of the waterfall. There is John Dory, clinging onto the other end of the rock, dangling off the waterfall, while shaking like a leaf from the cold water that he fell into.

“Hold on John!” Bruce goes to climb onto the rock, but it shakes and starts to tip upwards, sending John downwards. 

John gasp and closes his eyes. Bruce jumps up and grabs the rock to pull it back towards him, he turns and calls out urgently, “Clay!! Clay please!!”

Bruce sees his baby brother first. Then his other two younger brothers quickly show up to cover Branch’s eyes from possibly seeing their deceased brother’s body. Branch quickly moves their hands out of the way and all their eyes widen when they see Bruce holding onto a rock for dear life.

“Clay! Please help me!” Bruce calls out again, “John’s alive and he’s hanging on to the other end of this rock!”

Branch does not hesitate and immediately slides down the edge into the muddy water first. He quickly makes his way towards his second oldest brother. Floyd and Clay immediately following after Branch.

All three brothers falling into the mud several times while trying to make their way over to their older brothers quickly.

Clay, Floyd, and Branch all grip onto the rock. They feel the rock start to slide forward and everyone’s grips get tighter.

John looks down and looks back at his brothers, “Bros…let go.”

“What?!” Came the response of all four of his brothers.

John growls, “I will not let y’all fall with me.” He looks at his younger brothers in desperation and determination, “I REFUSE to lose ANY of you!”

Branch growls back, “John! Shut up!”

Bruce glares at him, “WE REFUSE to lose you!”

Floyd yells, “Don’t you dare tell us again to let you go!”

Clay screams, “and don’t you dare let go!”

Branch looks at the rock that’s threatening to tip over, then he looks at his other brothers. “Guys!” His brothers look at him, “One of us needs to climb up and get John! Three of us need to hold onto the rock and the other will climb up.”

Floyd speaks up, “Let me do it! I’m the lightest one here!” Since being trapped in a diamond prison for two months he hardly got fed, he’s still trying to get his weight back.

Branch nods, “Bruce! Clay! We need to all our weight onto the end of the rock!” His brothers nod and they all shift towards the one end of the rock. Bruce helps Floyd up onto the rock.

As Floyd climbs up towards John, the rock teeters dangerously on the edge of the waterfall. The brothers below hold their breath, fear gripping their hearts as they watch the perilous situation unfolding before them.

With grit and determination, Floyd crawls to where his eldest brother is and reaches out for John's hand. Their fingers interlock in a tight grip as Floyd pulls him back onto the rock with all his might. 

Branch yells, “Now push the rock down!”

Bruce, Clay, and Branch all push down on the rock at once. The rock starts to tilt up, Floyd and John both start to slide down the rock. Their brothers let go of the rock and they catch them and they all fall back into the mud. The rock falls forward and over the waterfall.

The brothers lay tangled in the mud, catching their breath and relief washing over them like a warm wave. They all start standing up and they all look at each other. Nothing is said or done for a good minute, until Branch moves first and he immediately pushes his eldest brother back into the mud angrily.

John lands in the mud and looks back at his baby brother with hurt in his eyes.

Floyd grabs his arm, “Branch?!” He yells in disbelief.

Bruce puts his hand on Branch’s chest, “What the hell, B?!”

As the tension lingers in the air, Branch's anger bubbles to the surface. His eyes blaze with emotion as he confronts his older brother, John. "You...you nearly gave up on us!" Branch's voice trembles with a mix of fury and hurt. "You almost let go, leaving us to watch you fall!"

John eyes widen, “B?”

Branch’s who body shakes as he continues, “You almost left us again…because of me! It would have been all my fault!”

The atmosphere grows heavy with unspoken emotions as Branch's words hang between them, the weight of their shared past traumas bearing down on their fragile bond. John's expression softens as he recognizes the pain in his brother's eyes, the deep-seated wounds they carry from their tumultuous past.

John slowly rises from the mud, his gaze locked with Branch's. "I'm sorry, B. I-I didn't mean to..." His voice falters as he struggles to find the right words, grappling with the guilt and regret gnawing at his conscience.

Branch's facade of anger begins to crack, revealing the vulnerability and fear that lie beneath. "You can't just...you can't just leave us like that, Johnny. Not again." His voice wavers with raw emotion, the walls he had built up over the years crumbling in the face of this newfound confrontation.

As the brothers stand in the aftermath of their near-tragic ordeal, a sense of catharsis washes over them, the unspoken grievances and silent burdens finally brought to light. Clay, Floyd, and Bruce watch on, their own emotions running high as they witness the raw honesty and vulnerability displayed by their older siblings.

John takes a step forward, reaching out a tentative hand towards Branch. "I won't leave you, B. None of you. I promise." His voice is soft, genuine, carrying the weight of his newfound resolve to mend the fractured bonds that had long been neglected.

Branch meets his brother's gaze, the walls of resentment slowly crumbling as he tentatively takes John's hand in his own. A silent understanding passes between them, a fragile truce forged amidst the mud and chaos that had threatened to tear them apart.

Branch looks up at his eldest brother and John gives him a comforting smile that makes him feel safe. He hasn’t felt that, in a long time. That feeling causes him to smile back at his big brother. He can see his fur through the mud getting brighter.

John then turns to his other younger brothers, “Let’s go home guys.”

Chapter Text

Reunited at last.

All five brothers wade their way through the thick mud. They fall a couple of times, but they easily pick each other back up. They get to the edge, but it’s too slippery to grip onto.

John looks at his brothers, “One of us needs get up there and so that they can pull the rest of us up.”

Floyd smiles and turns to his second oldest brother, “Throw me Bro!”

Bruce smirks and lifts Floyd up, “Jeez, you weren’t kidding when you said you were light.” He easily tosses Floyd up onto the edge. “We need to talk about that when we get home.”

Floyd waves him off, “Yeah, Yeah!” He grabs Clays out stretched hand and pulls him up first. Clays situates himself next to Floyd and they offer their hands to the next brother. 

John turns to Branch, “Ok B, your turn.” 

Branch, who has not let go of John’s hand yet, shakes his head no.

John blinks and scratches the back of his head, he then turns to Bruce, “I guess your next Bruce.”

Bruce nods and grabs both his brother’s hands, “Put your muscles into it boys!”

Floyd starts to pull his brother up, “Clay can’t use his muscles cause he stopped working out a couple of weeks ago!”

Bruce looks at Clay, “Why did you stop working out?”

Clay frowns, “I was reading a new book and became sad!” He glares at Floyd, “Ok tough guy, you pull him up.” Clay let’s go of Bruce’s hand.

Bruce immediately slides down and pulls Floyd with him. Both scream as they fall back into the mud. Clay starts laughing until he starts getting pelted with mud. Bruce and Floyd high five each other for successfully hitting their target. John chuckles and shakes his head while Branch slaps his forehead at his older brother’s childish behavior.

Clay wipes off the mud in time just to see Bruce toss Floyd up again. Floyd and Clay stare at each other for a moment before sticking their tongues out at each other.

John laughs, “O-Ok you big babies! C-Come on, I can f-feel Branch shaking.” Branch blinks before looking at his eldest brother, “John..I’m not shaking. You are.”

John blinks and looks down at his free hand. He’s shaking like a leaf. His fur and clothes got completely soaked from the rapids. That’s when he notices that his teeth are also chattering. He can feel all his younger brother’s eyes on him and he looks away. He doesn’t want to admit, but he’s tired, he’s hurt, and he’s cold.

Bruce, now taking charge, looks back to Floyd and Clay, “Ok guys, fun time is over. We need to get back to Rhonda stat before John gets sick.” He says with all seriousness in his voice.

Clay and Floyd nod immediately and help Bruce up together. When they get Bruce onto dry land all three of them reach their hands down to the youngest and oldest of their group. 

Branch drags John over to the edge. John guides the hand that’s holding his upwards, “Y-you first B-B.” Branch turns angrily and gets ready to protest. John, knowing what was about to happen quickly jumped up and put Branch’s hand into Bruce’s hand.

“Hey!” Branch kicks his feet as he’s pulled up first. He growls unhappily at being tricked.  Once pulled onto dry land he immediately turns to help his eldest brother.

John watches as all four of his younger brothers extend their hands to him. The gesture makes his heart flutter with happiness. He jumps up and grabs onto Bruce’s hand. Clay immediately grabs onto that hand too. Floyd and Branch quickly grab his other hand. All four younger brothers pull up their eldest brother to dry land.

They all start to scrape the mud off themselves as they start to walk away from the riverbank. While walking away Branch spots a familiar looking rock.

“Hey Bruce, look! It’s that pink speckled rock. Just like the one near the camp!”

The rocks pink speckles slowly turns into purple speckles the moment a leaf lands on it.

Floyd blinks in shock, “Did…did that rock change colors?”

Bruce smiles victoriously, “I knew I wasn’t crazy!” He points at Branch, “I told you the rocks looked the same.”

Branch puts a hand under his chin in thought, “Come to think of it, I was trying to find the purple rocks. Those were near by the camp when me and Bruce went out exploring for sticks.”

Floyd scratches his head and nods, “When I first ran away from them campsite, I saw some blue rocks near by.  So I thought by following the blue rocks, it would lead me back to the campsite.”

Clay groans, “Same here, expect I followed some pink rocks.”

Bruce chuckles, “and I was following some yellow rocks. “That explains how we all got so lost. We were following color changing rocks, causing us to get lost and separated.”

Clay groans loudly, “I want out of this forest!”

Everyone couldn’t agree more.

As they make their way into a clearing, John hugs himself as he starts to shiver again. Bruce pulls his older brother close to him to offer him some of his body heat. Floyd notices Branch starting to shiver and he pulls him close. Clay also goes over to his youngest two brothers to offer some body heat.

Branch looks over at his shivering older brother, “H-How do we find Rhonda??” He says while his teeth start to chatter.

Floyd looks around, “We are probably so far away from her.”

John smiles, despite his chattering teeth, at his brothers, “D-Don’t worry Bros! I-I’ll call h-her and she’ll c-come running!” He lifts his fingers up and whistles real loud that it echos throughout the whole forest.

Bruce rubs his ear, “Warn me next time bro.”

“S-sorry!” John turns to look at his other brothers, “I-It’s probably gonna take her a m-minute to get to us.”

The brothers start looking around their location as they wait for Rhonda. Bruce and Floyd gather some sticks and put them in pile. Clay starts the fire and smiles to himself, “Ok bros, fire is ready.”

John and Branch immediately scoot closer to the fire so they could warm up. Branchs violent shivers start to slowly fade, but John is still struggling to stop his shivers. 

Branch takes off his vest and wrings out any leftover water that might be trapped in his vest. He then lays it next to the fire to the fire. He looks at his older brother, “You should really take your jacket off so that it can dry John.” 

John starts to take his jacket off, but stops when he feels his tail wiggle against his spine. He jumps a little and immediately puts his jacket back on, “I-I’m ok B-B!”

Branch frowns, “But John, you’re cold! You need to let your jacket dry!”

John holds his jacket closer, “I-I’m fine Branch.”

Clay walks over with a frown, “Stop being stubborn John. Just remove your jacket.”

John frowns back, “N-no Clay. I-I’m serious.”

Clay glares, “So am I!”

The tension rises as the two face off in a fierce glaring competition. Neither backing down.

Floyd starts to walk towards them, “Ok Clay. If he doesn’t want to let’s not make him.”

Bruce, noticing the rising tension between the oldest and the middle brother, starts to make his way over, “Yeah Clay, let’s not start anything.”

Clay looks at his brothers with shock and frustration written all over his face, “Your kidding right?! John is shaking like a leaf because he’s cold and to fix that all he needs to do is remove his jacket and you guys tell him to keep it on?!” 

Branch chimes in, “Clay is right guys. He needs to remove his jacket so he can warm up. He’s going to get sick if he keeps wearing those wet clothes.”

Floyd sighs and looks at his oldest brother, “John please remove your jacket. We don’t want you to get sick.”

“Enough g-guys! I’m f-fine!”

“No you’re not John!”

“Clay enough!”

Clay glares at the second oldest, “Do you want him to get sick Bruce?!”

Bruce doesn’t want his older brother to get sick, but he can’t let the others know about John’s tail. He promised John that he would help him keep it a secret. He glances at his shivering older brother. He can just barely see it quivering under John’s jacket. If he takes off his jacket it’s over for him. Bruce turns back his attention to Clay and glares back, “No! But-“

Clay turns back to the oldest with a glare, “Take. Off. The. Jacket.”

John glares back, “N-N. O.”

All is quiet for a moment before Clay lunges at his older brother. John’s eyes widen as Clay collides with him and tries to rip off his jacket. John grips his jacket as he feels it slipping off, “C-Clay! Get o-off!!”

Bruce, Floyd, and Branch all rush over to break up the fight.

“Clay! Let go man!”

“Clay please stop!”

“Can we not fight each other?!”

Bruce pulls on John, while Floyd and Branch pull on Clay. The fabric of John’s already torn up jacket gets stretched thin until finally…it rips.

John and Bruce fall on one side, while Clay, Floyd, and Branch fall on another side.

Clay groans as he sits up, “This wouldn’t have happened if you would have just taken off your jacket in..the..first….” His eyes widen when his eyes land on John.

Branch and Floyd starts to sit up as well. Floyd glares at his older brother, “Clay, that was so not cool.” He looks up at the third oldest and notices he’s not looking at him and he raises an eyebrow, “Clay?” He turns to where he’s looking and he lets out an audible gasp in shock. Branch also looks to where his older brothers are looking and his breath catches in his throat before saying,

“John……what’s that?”

Chapter Text

‘Don’t yell,’ John Dory had to tell himself. ‘Do. Not. Yell.’ He knows Clay was just worried about his health, but that still gave him no right to try and make him take off his jacket.

No means no.

With a resigned groan, John rose to an upright position, turning his back to his siblings. Bruce, following suit, sat up beside him. However, an urgent whisper from Bruce caused John's eyes to widen in alarm. "John!" Bruce exclaimed in a hushed tone, prompting John to glance questioningly at him. Bruce pointed surreptitiously behind John and spoke anxiously, "Your-"

Before Bruce could finish, another interruption came from their sibling Branch. "John... what's that?" Branch's voice rang out, drawing attention to a sudden gust of wind that brushed against John's tail, eliciting a violent shiver from him. In that moment, realization struck - the sensation on his tail should not have been felt. Unless...

Panicked, John slowly turned to look over his shoulder and saw his tail twitching involuntarily. As his gaze met the stares of his three younger siblings, John's eyes widened in dread.

“Put that unsightly thing away!”

The commanding voice of his grandmother echoed in his mind, compelling him to conceal his exposed tail. Hastily, John jumped to his feet, attempting to conceal the unsightly appendage from view as his brothers mirrored his movements, rising to their feet. Bruce, calm amidst the chaos, reached out a steadying hand towards John. "It's okay, John," Bruce reassured him gently.

John shakes his head as  backs himself into a tree.

“Bruce?” 

Bruce turns to see Clay looking at him and he looks close to freaking out, “How…How are you so so calm?”

Bruce sighs as he looks at the third oldest, “Because…because I knew John had a tail..”

“What?!” Came the reply of the three youngest brothers. 

John's heart pounded in his chest as he struggled to comprehend the implications of Bruce's revelation. His siblings' shocked expressions mirrored his own inner turmoil. Clay's eyes widened in disbelief, while Branch and Floyd exchanged bewildered glances.

A heavy silence fell over the group, broken only by the rustling leaves in the surrounding forest. John could feel the weight of their collective scrutiny, the unspoken questions hanging in the air. How long had Bruce known? Why had he kept John's secret hidden for so long?

Clay's voice trembled as he spoke up, his unease palpable. "John... you have a tail?" The words hung in the air, heavy with disbelief. John's gaze flickered from one sibling to the next, his mind racing with the knowledge that his carefully guarded secret was now out in the open.

With his three younger siblings now staring at him for answers, Bruce sighs as he steps forward, his expression calm yet resolute. "I’ve known since we were young." he says with a steady voice. “Then why didn’t you say anything about it before?” It was Branch’s turn to speak up and Bruce shoots the youngest brother a look, “It was not my secret to tell Branch.”

Floyd looks at his eldest brother, his voice laced with betrayal, “Did you not trust us with this information John?”

“N-No that’s not-“

Branch’s ears lower and he frowns, “Were you going to leave us the moment we found out about your secret?”

“Branch please!”

“Branch, t-that’s not-“

“Maybe it’s because he was embarrassed of us.” Clay frowns as his hand clenches around fabric from John’s jacket. His eyes land on his older brother. “He was embarrassed and disappointed that we didn’t look exactly like him. Why do you think we all dressed the same back then?!” He looks at each of his brothers before he turns his attention back to John, “Cause none of us have what he has. “He stares at John’s tail, “He was probably upset that none of us were the same as him! That we weren’t like him! We weren’t the perfect family that he wanted! We weren’t tail wielding freaks like hi-“

“Clay!” Bruce interjects.

John’s eyes widen and his heart sinks. He feels his tail wrap around one of his ankles protectively. He can hear Bruce and Clay arguing in the background, but all he can focus on are his brother’s words echoing in his mind.

John lowers his head and whispers, “You’re wrong.” Everyone stops and looks at John.

“John?” Bruce asks worriedly.

“You’re wrong Clay.” John continues, “The day each and every one of you were born and I saw you guys had no tails. Well, I couldn’t have been more thrilled that you guys were born differently than me.” He smiles sadly, “I knew each one of you would have such a bright future ahead of you. Each one of you were born perfectly, while I was born differently.”

Everyone looks over when they hear the sound of heavy feet rushing their way. As the armadillo bus pulls up, Rhonda greets everyone with a happy bark. John’s tail wags at the sight of Rhonda. She responds in kind, wagging her tail back. John begins to make his way towards Rhonda.

“John?” Floyd calls out to his oldest brother.

John stops in front of Rhonda’s door, “There is a reason I pushed all of you to be your best.” He gazes at Rhonda’s door, seeing his reflection. “So each of you wouldn't face the challenges I did.” He stares at his reflection. What stares back is his beastly form, it looks so sad, so…rejected. He shudders when a shadowy hand appears on his reflections shoulder. God it feels so real. 

John continues, “So no one would judge or harm you for being different, like me.” He reaches a hand out toward his reflection “So no one would criticize or yell at you,” he pauses when the shadow entity behind his beastly reflection glares at him, “for being born wrong.” he opens the door, “I apologize for everything. I truly do.” 

John enters Rhonda, but turns back to his brothers, “I just wanted to feel a sense of normalcy, that’s why I had us dress similarly.” His ears lower, “I wanted to experience what it was like to blend in for once……to be perfect.” 

He walks inside, leaving behind his stunned younger brothers.

Chapter Text

Readers, Commenters, Kudos givers

I’m sorry

For making y’all wait so long :3

Here’s a preview!

What else haven’t you told them John?

John looks up, his eyes reflecting a mixture of sorrow and relief, him being cold now long forgotten. "I just wanted to protect all of you," he whispers, his voice filled with regret. "I thought if I could pave the way, you wouldn't have to face the same struggles I did.” He looks sadly at his tail as it flicks back and forth. He brings his knees up to his chest, “Mom was right.” He hugs his knees to his chest, “My little brothers are now scared of me.” His tail whips to the side causing the younger three to jump back. He also notices Bruce’s hand twitch when his tail whips. John sighs and rest his head on his knees, 

You’ve been a curse on this family since the day you hatched.

In a state of panic, John struggles to keep the beast inside him at bay as his younger brothers approach. He can feel his body shaking as the beast tries to find a way out. He quickly covers his eyes, not wanting his siblings to see his current red eyes.

As the younger three siblings start to approach their older brothers, the air starts feeling heavier. Branch and Floyd stop in their tracks, their expressions a mix of concern and confusion at the sight of John's distress. Clay, sensing the tension, hesitates a few steps behind.

You don’t trust them, do you John?

John's breathing quickens as he hears that taunting voice again. He fights to maintain control of the beast within him, but that voice is making him angry. The need to protect his siblings wars with his own inner turmoil. His tail thrashes uncontrollably, the beast within yearning to be unleashed.

Branch takes a tentative step closer, his voice soft but filled with concern. "John, what's happening? You're scaring us."

Only monsters scare other trolls John.

Branch, still trying to process everything that's happening, looks around with a sense of unease. "This doesn't make any sense," he mutters to himself, frustration creeping into his voice. He begins to search more meticulously, determined to find his and his brothers belongings.

John, still struggling to contain the beast within him, listens to his brothers’ voices as they try to help each other find the missing items.

Show them how scary their big brother really is.

As John rushes out of Rhonda in a panic, his younger brothers watch with a mix of concern and confusion. Branch calls out, "John, wait!" but it's too late, as John disappears outside.

I was right, wasn’t I John.

John's eyes flicker between their usual blue and the unsettling red, the remnants of the beast's influence still lingering. He tries to speak but only manages a shaky exhale, Bruce can just barely see the fangs poking out of his brother’s mouth. 

Finally, John meets Bruce's gaze and whispers, "Bruce….It's trying to get out."

YOUR

Bruce looks worriedly at his older brother, hearing that John is losing control causes his heart to leap into his throat. He tries not to show his fear but he is sure John can see it. After all, John’s red eyes have refused to fade and the fangs are still prominent. This is not good he thinks. He jumps when he hears his older brother start to growl. “John?” He ask worriedly. Bruce can see the growing agitation on his brother’s face.

NOT

John clenches his hands into fist and he starts walking away. “Stay here.” His tail whips behind him, making Bruce jump back. “I need to take a walk to clear my head.” I think I need to get away from you guys, he wants to say but won’t. No, he is not leaving his brothers behind. He just…he just needs to step away for a minute. Yeah, just a minute.

IN

John shakily runs his hands through his hair before he clenches it. He grits his teeth before he grunts out, “Stop. Talking.” This voice, it’s making it so much worse “Go. Away.” His tail whips violently.

CONTROL

“LEAVE ME ALONE!!” John screams at the dark entity. He picks up a large stick before tossing it the dark shadow. “I know I’m a terrible big brother! Stop reminding me every five seconds!!” The entity continues to stare at him with those red eyes, almost like they were mocking him.

HERE

John collapses into the mud, “I can never be what you want me to be.” He can practically feel the shadows hand on shoulder. He clenches his eyes shut before he smashes his hand into the mud, “I didn’t ask to be made this way.” He opens his eyes and looks back at the figure with hatred, “So why are you punishing me for it Mom?!”

It’s going to be your fault your brothers die.

John felt his heart stop when he heard it. Not one, not two, not three, but four. He heard four sour notes at once. Something or someone is threatening his little brothers. John could feel himself growing bigger and bigger. His clothes started to tear and rip at his rapidly growing size. He’s never gotten this big before, John thinks as he starts to run on all fours to where his brothers are. He growls and picks up the pace. What ever this thing, that is threatening his brothers, is it’s going to find out real quick why you don’t touch his baby brothers.

Chapter dropping next week!

Chapter Text

The air feels heavy as the four brothers stare at the open door in shock. Bruce is the first to move and he quickly rushes inside Rhonda, “John?” He looks around the inside of Rhonda, but doesn’t see his older brother.

Bruce is about to call out his older brother’s name again, until he sees his brother’s tail just barely peaking out from the drivers seat. His ears lower with guilt and he makes his way over to his brother.

The three youngest brothers watch as Bruce disappears towards the front of the bus. Floyd and Branch look at each other guiltily before they make their way towards Rhonda. Clay lowers his ears and rubs his arm in a guilty fashion, he follows two steps behind his younger brothers.

In the emotionally charged atmosphere inside Rhonda, the brothers grapple with the weight of John's confession. Each one contemplates the significance of his words and the impact of their shared upbringing. Bruce's heart sinks as he approaches John, who seems lost in his own world within the confines of the armadillo bus.

As Bruce reaches the driver's seat, he finds John seated with his head in his hands, struggling with his inner demons. "John," Bruce says softly, placing a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder.

John looks up, his eyes reflecting a mixture of sorrow and relief, him being cold now long forgotten. "I just wanted to protect all of you," he whispers, his voice filled with regret. "I thought if I could pave the way, you wouldn't have to face the same struggles I did.” He looks sadly at his tail as it flicks back and forth. He brings his knees up to his chest, “Mom was right.” He hugs his knees to his chest, “My little brothers are now scared of me.” His tail whips to the side causing the younger three to jump back. He also notices Bruce’s hand twitch when his tail whips. John sighs and rest his head on his knees, 

You’ve been a curse on this family since the day you hatched.

John stiffens up when he hears that familiar voice. He looks at his reflection and notices that his normal blue eyes have turned red. The beast is getting upset. His ears twitch when he hears multiple footsteps walking toward him. His eyes widen and he reaches up to pull his googles over his eyes, but finds out they aren’t there. 

John’s eyes widen in panic, he can’t let his younger three siblings see the beast. They already reacted badly to his tail and if they saw the beast…well, they would be the ones to walk out on him this time.

In a state of panic, John struggles to keep the beast inside him at bay as his younger brothers approach. He can feel his body shaking as the beast tries to find a way out. He quickly covers his eyes, not wanting his siblings to see his current red eyes.

As the younger three siblings start to approach their older brothers, the air starts feeling heavier. Branch and Floyd stop in their tracks, their expressions a mix of concern and confusion at the sight of John's distress. Clay, sensing the tension, hesitates a few steps behind.

Bruce notices John's growing agitation and the changing color of his eyes. With a sense of urgency, he gently puts his hand on John's shoulder, trying to ground him. "Hey, it's okay," Bruce reassures him, his voice steady despite the fear creeping into his heart. He leans down and whispers, “What’s wrong? We’re all ok.”

John whispers back, “I don’t know what’s wrong. I-I don’t-“

You’re what’s wrong.

John's breathing quickens as he hears that taunting voice again. He fights to maintain control of the beast within him, but that voice is making him angry. The need to protect his siblings wars with his own inner turmoil. His tail thrashes uncontrollably, the beast within yearning to be unleashed.

Branch takes a tentative step closer, his voice soft but filled with concern. "John, what's happening? You're scaring us."

Only monsters scare other trolls.

John's struggle intensifies as he battles to suppress the monster threatening to emerge. Sweat beads on his forehead as he fights against the mounting pressure. “B-Bruce. Can you find my goggles? I could really use them right now.” He doesn’t want his brothers to leave him alone, but he also doesn’t want them to see him like this.

Bruce, understanding the situation, nods quickly. He turns to his younger brothers, “Come on Bros, help me find John’s goggles.”

Branch and Floyd nod and they start to look in the bus. Clay stands off to the side, not sure what he should do to help.

As the younger siblings search for John’s goggles, the tension inside Rhonda remains high. John struggles to contain the beast within him, the red glow of his eyes now a stark contrast to his usual blue. His breath comes in ragged gasps as he fights to push back the monster threatening to surface.

Bruce’s heart aches with worry for his older brother as he rummages through the bus, desperately searching for John’s goggles. Floyd and Branch join in the search, their movements quick and frantic. Clay watches them with a furrowed brow, the weight of the situation starting to settle heavily on his shoulders.

Minutes pass like hours as the brothers scour every nook and cranny of the bus, but they come up with nothing. Branch growls, “They ain’t here.” Floyd sighs and goes to brush his hair behind his ear. When he touches his ear he notices something missing as well., “Hey, my earring is gone.” He starts crawling on the floor looking for both his earring and his brother’s goggles.

Clay sighs, “Great, this is just great!” He says in a sarcastic tone before going to mess with his arm bands, only to find they aren’t there. He starts looking around, “Has anyone seen my armbands?”

“Ah!”

Everyone, except John Dory, looks towards the person who screamed. Branch can be seen patting both his wrist down, then his hair, and lastly his vest. His ears lower as he looks at his brothers, “My hug time bracelet. Do any of you have my bracelet?” His brothers shake their heads no. Branch turns his head left then right before he starts picking up objects and chairs, “It can’t be gone?! Poppy gave me that bracelet! I can’t lose it!”

With the discovery of Clay’s missing armbands and Branch’s missing hug time bracelet, it adds to the confusion, amplifying the sense of unease within the armadillo bus. As the brothers continue their frantic search, the weight of the situation becomes even more evident. The air inside Rhonda feels heavy with a mix of concern, fear, and confusion.

Bruce, sensing the rising tension, takes a deep breath and tries to calm his brothers down. "We need to stay focused and find John's goggles and your missing items. Let's check every corner one more time, we can figure this out together." His brothers nod and get to work. Bruce sighs and reaches up to grab at his anniversary necklace, “What the?” He grabs again and then looks down at his chest when all he grabs is air, “Shit!” He starts to look around the bus frantically.

Floyd looks back at his older brother, “You good Bruce?” 

Bruce shakes his head, “I lost my anniversary necklace! Brandy is gonna kill me!”

The atmosphere inside Rhonda becomes even more charged as Bruce's revelation adds another layer of tension to the situation.

Floyd furrows his brow in concern, "We can't seem to catch a break, can we?" He joins Bruce in the search for the missing items, their urgency palpable in the confined space of the armadillo bus.

Branch, still trying to process everything that's happening, looks around with a sense of unease. "This doesn't make any sense," he mutters to himself, frustration creeping into his voice. He begins to search more meticulously, determined to find his and his brothers belongings.

John, still struggling to contain the beast within him, listens to his brothers’ voices as they try to help each other find the missing items.

While you do nothing but sit there.

John jumps at the voice. He slowly uncovers his eyes just to watch them flicker between blue and red. The battle to keep the beast within him is raging on. He can feel his body starting to shake as his body threatens to transform.

Do it John. Prove me right.

John Dory looks down at his shaking hands or should he say paws. His eyes widen as he tries to force the transformation back, but it feels like his bones are breaking.

John's breath comes in short, ragged gasps as he fights against the transformation threatening to consume him. His vision blurs as a wave of pain washes over him, the pressure building to a breaking point.

That’s it John. Just let go. Show your brothers what you’ve been hiding from them.

John’s eyes widen as he looks at his reflection in Rhonda’s front window. Four red eyes stare two are his, the other two belong to the dark shadow leaning over his shoulder. It gets closer to his ear and starts to whisper its taunting words.

Show them how scary their big brother really is.

John wants to move away from the figure, but his body won’t listen to him. He squeezes his eyes shut, ‘Please, he begs, please…’

“You’ll kill Rhonda if you transform here.” Another voice whispers.

John’s eyes fly open. He quickly scrambles out of the chair and makes a bee line for the door, “I’M GOING TO CHECK OUTSIDE!!”

As John rushes out of Rhonda in a panic, his younger brothers watch with a mix of concern and confusion. Branch calls out, "John, wait!" but it's too late, as John disappears outside.

Inside the armadillo bus, the three younger brothers are left reeling from the overwhelming events that just unfolded. Floyd runs a hand through his hair, his worry evident on his face. "What just happened?" he asks, looking at Bruce and Clay for answers.

Bruce, who knows the beast in John Dory was trying to get out, looks at his brothers and mimics their confused faces. "I don't know. I’ll go check on him, you guys keep looking for our missing stuff." He gets off the floor and heads for the door.

As Bruce steps outside to find John, the air inside Rhonda remains thick with tension and confusion. Floyd and Clay exchange uncertain glances, the weight of the situation settling heavily on their shoulders.

The search for the missing items resumes, but the sense of unease lingers. Branch continues to frantically look for his hug time bracelet, the worry evident in his furrowed brow. Clay, feeling the pressure of the moment, focuses on searching for his armbands, his movements more deliberate now.

Outside, Bruce finds John pacing back and forth near Rhonda, his breathing still heavy from the internal struggle he's facing. Bruce approaches his older brother cautiously, trying to assess the situation. "John, are you okay? What's going on?" he asks, concern lacing his voice.

John's eyes flicker between their usual blue and the unsettling red, the remnants of the beast's influence still lingering. He tries to speak but only manages a shaky exhale, Bruce can just barely see the fangs poking out of his brother’s mouth. 

Finally, John meets Bruce's gaze and whispers, "Bruce….It's trying to get out."

Bruce's heart sinks at the sight of John's turmoil. He places a reassuring hand on John's arm, trying to offer comfort in the face of uncertainty. "It's okay John. We’re all safe, there is nothing to worry about. Now, take a deep breath for me.” he says, his voice filled with empathy.

John nods his head shakily and takes a deep breath. Bruce nods, “Good, now let it out.” His brother lets go of the breath he’s holding. “Again.” Bruce instructs. John once again does a deep breathing exercise, but the struggle evident in his expression. "I can't control it anymore. I don't want to hurt any of you," he admits, his voice laced with fear and regret.

Bruce looks worriedly at his older brother, hearing that John is losing control causes his heart to leap into his throat. He tries not to show his fear but he is sure John can see it. After all, John’s red eyes have refused to fade and the fangs are still prominent. This is not good he thinks. He jumps when he hears his older brother start to growl. “John?” He ask worriedly. Bruce can see the growing agitation on his brother’s face.

John clenches his hands into fist and he starts walking away. “Stay here.” His tail whips behind him, making Bruce jump back. “I need to take a walk to clear my head.” I think I need to get away from you guys, he wants to say but won’t. No, he is not leaving his brothers behind. He says to himself. He just…he just needs to step away for a minute. Yeah, just a minute.

Chapter Text

As John walks away to clear his head, Bruce watches him with a mix of concern and apprehension. He knows that his older brother is fighting an internal battle that he can't fully comprehend. Bruce turns back towards Rhonda and steps inside to rejoin his younger brothers, the weight of the situation heavy on his shoulders.

Inside the armadillo bus, Branch and Clay continue their search for the missing items, their focus shifted to trying to piece together what just happened. The air feels charged with emotion as they exchange uneasy glances, the absence of John adding to the feeling of uncertainty.

Floyd, still searching for his earring, lets out a frustrated sigh. He looks up at his brothers, his expression a mix of confusion and concern. "Do you think John will be okay?" he asks, his voice tinged with worry.

Bruce nods, trying to reassure his younger brother. "John's strong, he'll figure it out. We just need to give him some space to work through whatever he's dealing with," he says, a sense of determination in his tone. “Now,” Bruce looks at his other two brothers, “any luck finding any of our missing items?” 

Clay rubs his mud covered face and groans unhappily, “Nothing! They aren’t in Rhonda.” He sighs angrily, “I really hope they didn’t fall off my wrist when I was crawling in the lionants sand traps.”

Floyd gasp, “I hope my earring didn’t fall out when I was getting chased by those Spider monsters.” He sits on his heels, “Or did it fall out when I was hiding in the tree.”

Bruce runs his hand through his mud coved hair, “If my necklace fell off in the hole I was trapped in, I am going to be real upset.”

Branch groans and falls onto his back, “My bracelet probably got swept away by the flood waters!” He puts a hand on his chin, “Or did I leave it at the campsite?” His eyes widen, “Or did it fall off when I was running?! Or did it fall off when I tripped on some vines a day ago?! Or did it-“

“Branch!” All three of his brothers shout in unison. 

Bruce holds up his hands, “Your spiraling Bitty. Take a deep breath, I’m sure they are around here somewhere.”

Branch nods and takes a deep breath and lets it out, “Ok. Ok, I’m cool. I’m so cool.” He runs a hand worriedly through his hair and then mumbles, “Not Bitty” and continues his search. All his brothers join in on the continued search for their search.

Back with the eldest Brozone member, John walks farther and farther away from Rhonda and his little brothers.

As John walks further away from Rhonda and his younger brothers, the weight of his internal struggle becomes increasingly burdensome. His mind races with conflicting emotions and the ever-present threat of the beast within him looms ominously.

The surroundings blur as John's mind becomes consumed by the turmoil within him. His steps falter as he grapples with the desire to protect his siblings and the fear of losing control to the darkness that lurks inside him.

As he walks through the quiet surroundings, the only sound being his own footsteps crunching on the rocky terrain, John's internal battle rages on. Memories flash through his mind, images of his past and the struggles he faced becoming intertwined with the present dilemma he finds himself in.

The weight of responsibility presses down on John's shoulders as he struggles to find a sense of clarity amidst the chaos within him. Each step he takes feels heavier than the last, the uncertainty of his own nature and the potential harm he could cause weighing heavily on his heart.

In the solitude of the surroundings, John's thoughts echo loudly in his mind. The absence of his brothers nearby allows him a moment of respite, but it also amplifies the sense of isolation he feels in his internal struggle.

As he continues to walk, the landscape changes around him, the terrain shifting from a serene meadow to a  rocky yet muddy ground.

The gentle sway of trees and the whisper of the wind offer a moment of calm amidst the storm raging within John.

What else haven’t you told them John?,whispers the unwanted voice.

John's steps falter as the unwelcome voice invades his thoughts once again, pulling him back into the depths of his inner turmoil. He clenches his fists, trying to push back the relentless onslaught of doubt and fear.

The voice's taunting question lingers in the air, fueling John's internal conflict. Memories of secrets kept hidden and truths left unspoken swirl in his mind, each one adding to the weight of the burden he carries.

As he walks further into the changing landscape, the ground beneath his feet growing more unstable, John's resolve begins to waver. The shadows cast by the surrounding trees seem to dance with malevolent intent, mirroring the darkness that threatens to consume him from within.

With each passing moment, the internal battle between his protective instincts and the encroaching darkness grows more intense. John struggles to find the strength to confront the painful truths he has kept buried deep within him.

The echoes of his past mistakes and the fear of his own nature haunt him as he navigates the uncertain terrain, searching for a path forward amidst the chaos that rages within his soul. 

John slows down in his walking. He knows when he gets angry and goes for a walk, he tends to walk far without realizing it. He stops and looks around the area he’s in. His eyes widen. He’s back at the empty river where he saved Branch. 

John sighs, ‘I need to head back.’ He goes to turn but something catches his eye in the empty river. 

There in the mud, was his missing goggles. The moonlight reflecting off his goggles is what caught his attention. His tail wags and descends into the empty river. He runs over to his goggles and picks them up. He brushes some of the mud off and hugs them close.

I knew you I couldn’t trust you with your father’s goggles.

John flinches at the voice and holds the goggles tighter. He closes his eyes and whispers, “I-it was an accident.” 

John cradles his goggles protectively as the voice continues to echo in his mind. "I didn't mean to lose them," he finds himself insisting aloud, as if he could somehow sway the persistent taunts of his own thoughts.

The voice sneers in response, a bitter brush off that leaves John feeling ice-cold despite the balmy night air. 

An accident? That's what you said when you lost those other important things too.

Guilt gnaws at him as he recalls other instances of losing important things – his grandmothers favorite card set, a precious photo of their whole family, the various precious belongings of his brothers'. He wonders if the beast within him is directly causing these accidents or if it's merely a convenient scapegoat.

Ripping his gaze from the goggles in his hand, he scans his surroundings once more, the desolate riverbank seeming even more despondent under the haunting glow of the moon. "Is this my fault?" he whispers to the empty expanse before him.

Of course it is.

The much-dreaded voice in his head reaffirms his doubts, quick to assign blame where it hurts the most. Peering down into the dirt, he spots light reflecting off a few small trinkets. John gasps as he recognises them – it’s Floyd's earring, and intertwined with it is Branch’s hug-time bracelet.

John feels his breath hitch in his throat. A flicker of hope grows within him at finding not only his goggles, but Floyd's earring and Branch's bracelet too. He eagerly digs through the muddy riverbed, the dirt becoming his past and present merging in his raw, dirty hands.

Deep buried under the muck, he further finds Clay’s missing armbands and, lastly, Bruce's anniversary necklace. It seems his random path had brought him to find all the missing items. Relief floods him, a stark contrast to the overwhelming despair the voice plunges him into, making him feel a bit lighter. He puts all of his younger brothers missing items on the inside of goggles. 

John smiles victoriously to himself and holds his googles, with his brother’s stuff, a little closer to himself. “See! I don’t..” His ears lower, “I-I don’t lose everything.”

You’re not out of the woods yet., calls a voice, jolting him out of his relative calm. This voice, it’s the same one he heard back at Rhonda. The same voice that warned him about transforming in Rhonda.

John freezes, the newfound voice echoing ominously in his head. His hand instinctively clutches at the treasures unearthed. "Who are you?” he whispers, his voice barely audible above the wind. He really didn’t want another voice in his head.

It doesn’t matter, the voice replies, almost bored. All you need to know is that I, too, are a part of you.

The knot of dread tightens in his stomach at the implication of the response. How many more voices dwell within him? How many parts of him is he unaware about?

John starts breathing heavily and starts backing up into a muddy wall. As darkness starts to swim into his vision, his ears perk up when he hears a familiar sound. A whistle. It’s not just one whistle, it’s multiple.

He taught his each brother a specific whistle in case a Bergens were near by and they needed to call for their big brother. It lets him know they aren’t in danger and they just want to know if their big brother is ok.

Those whistles he taught them, closely resemble bird calls. He never got to teach Branch because he was still really young at the time. Maybe he could teach him now that he’s older.

As he finds himself lost in the reverie of the past, the barrage of unique whistles brings him back to the present. He strains his ears, amazed to find that the whistles are real, not a figment of his charged imagination.

Each whistle has been tailored to fit the personalities of his brothers. The shrill, staccato chirp belongs to Clay. The high-pitched but rhythmic call undoubtedly belongs to Floyd. The low, resounding chorus is Bruce's. All three bird-like calls, perfectly coordinated are directed towards him. Then he hears an attempt at a bird call. It sounds nervous and unsure. His heart swells when he realizes it’s his youngest brother Branch trying to call him home

Heart pounding hard against his ribs, as he climbs the muddy wall. He gets on semi dryer land before he dashes toward the sound, looping the retrieved items around his wrist, bounding straight into the muddy, dense undergrowth. The melody of the whistles plays like a beacon; a guiding light in the dark. Usually, he would respond back to his siblings to let them know he’s ok, but with how hard he’s breathing, he doesn’t think he could whistle at the moment.

Branch, Floyd, Clay, Bruce, he thinks, mentally sorting and matching the sounds to faces.

John breaks free of his thoughts and starts sprinting through the underbrush, following the sound. He pushes aside overgrown shrubs and leaps over fallen logs, the whistles growing louder with every stride. He barely notices the branches scratching his body and the uneven terrain underfoot, he can only focus on the whistles that are calling him home. 

John's feet pound on the ground, matching the rhythm of his heart pounding in his chest. He trips on a root and stumbles, but doesn’t let it slow him down.

The discomfort of the tight grip on the retrieved items fades into the background as he finally breaks free from the dense undergrowth. He goes to push a bush aside, when that voice whispers in his ears.

Hiding behind your younger brothers again? You’re suppose to be the oldest John.

John puts on the breaks, using his claws to dig into the ground. ‘Claws?’ He looks down and sees his massive claws. His eyes widen, ‘Oh no.’ He sets his googles down. He flexes his paws, ‘Shit it’s getting worse!’ He could hear his brothers near by and he starts backing away.

What else haven’t you told them John?

John growls and turns seeing a dark shadow.

You don’t trust them, do you John?

John’s ears lower, “T-that’s not-“ he reaches up and grips his hair, “I do trust them! It’s just…I-I’ll-“

The shadow glares down at him, I was right, wasn’t I John? It starts to walk away and John can’t help but follow it.

“R-Right?” John as nervously, “Right about….what?”

The shadow turns back to him sharply, That you’ll scare your brothers away in your beast form.

John’s ears lower more, “Bruce isn’t-“

Yes he is and you know it.

John lets out a shakey breath, he knows Bruce is afraid of the beast. He’s seen his little brother’s face when he transforms. He swallows the lump in his throat, “I…I can control the bea-“

The shadow gets in his face, No. You. Can’t.

John shakily runs his hands through his hair again before he clenches it. He can feel himself growing. He grits his teeth before he grunts out, “Stop. Talking.” This voice, it’s making it so much worse “Go. Away.” His tail whips violently.

YOUR. NOT. IN. CONTROL.HERE.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!!” John screams at the dark entity. He picks up a large stick before tossing it the dark shadow. “I know I’m a terrible big brother! Stop reminding me every five seconds!!” The entity continues to stare at him with those red eyes, almost like they were mocking him. He grits his teeth, “You’ve been following me and reminding me, ever since I left the tree!”

John collapses into the mud, “I can never be what you want me to be.” He can practically feel the shadows glaring down at. He clenches his eyes shut before he smashes his hand into the mud, “I didn’t ask to be made this way.” He opens his eyes and looks back at the figure with hatred, “So why are you punishing me for it Mom?!” 

His dear shadowy ‘mother’ glares down at him with disdain. Before she starts walking away.

John growls, “What?? Got nothing to say now?!”

His ‘mother’ stops before she slowly turns towards him.

It’s going to be your fault your brothers die.

John’s face goes pale at that warning, but what she says next makes his blood run cold.

Just like how my death, was your fault too.

John stops breathing in that moment, ‘No…..No it wasn’t my-‘

His thoughts get cut off when he hears multiple high pitched screeches from the direction of where his brothers are. John feels his heart stop when he heard it. Not one, not two, not three, but four. He heard four sour notes at once. 

Something or someone is threatening his little brothers. John could feel himself growing bigger and bigger. His clothes started to tear and rip at his rapidly growing size. He’s never gotten this big before, John thinks as he starts to run on all fours to where his brothers are. He growls and picks up the pace. What ever this thing, that is threatening his brothers, is it’s going to find out real quick why you don’t touch his baby brothers.