Chapter Text
It started when, after dropping off Bruce with his family, Branch tiredly instructed John Dory to take the rest of them back to Pop Village.
The eldest raised an eyebrow, turning in the driver's seat. “Yeah, you're going to have to give me directions. I have no idea where that is.”
Branch frowned consideringly. “Oh. I guess you wouldn't.” He said. Before he could continue, he yawned, before straightening himself out as best he could. “Just head back to the mainland forest for now.”
John huffed, rolling his eyes. “Are you sure you'll be awake by then? Maybe we should just turn around and stay at Vaycay island for the night.” The reason they had left in the first place was because Clay and Viva were uncomfortable with the giant Vaycayers, and no one wanted to force it after a very stressful situation.
Poppy, who had been teaching Tiny Diamond how to braid using Viva's hair, perked up. “I can give directions!” She said happily. “Tiny Diamond's falling asleep anyways.”
When the brothers glanced over, they noticed the baby curling up in the elder sister's hair, braid left half-finished. Viva herself was dozing on Clay's shoulder.
The navy-haired troll sent his girlfriend a look, but she sent one right back. He sighed, throwing up his arms in defeat, and headed back to the couches as Poppy skipped her way up to the front.
He drifted as his girlfriend started talking about the village, and how trolls from all different genres were living there. He vaguely heard his brother make a sound of understanding, mentioning ‘the Funk trolls at the wedding and-’
“Yeah,” Poppy had agreed, thinking of all the ambassadors that had been present.
Then, Branch drifted off to sleep.
John and Poppy drove through the night, apparently, and Branch, Clay, Floyd, and Viva all woke up just short of town.
Poppy had forced them to stop, though, an hour before the others woke up, and was just chatting with John, who looked confused, but vaguely amused. (It was such an older brother look.)
“What’s going on?” Clay muttered, rubbing his eyes. Viva yawned widely, gently shifting the baby in her hair.
Poppy stepped up to grab Tiny from her, grinning widely. “We’re just outside of town! We just need Branch to steer us through this last part.” She tucked Tiny into her own hair, ignoring her boyfriend’s grumbling as he got up and shambled to the front. Despite his constantly-vigilant behavior, he was not a morning person.
“Go left around this next bush,” he instructed.
John shot him a sideways look. “Why not right?”
Branch glared at him. “Because if you go right, Rhonda’s going to step in a trap I haven’t taken down yet.” The armadillo-bus whined at the idea.
“Left it is!” His brother announced, patting Rhonda’s dashboard soothingly.
After a few more directions, they ended up in a large clearing.
“We can leave Rhonda here, the village’s that way,” Branch said.
The bus settled down and opened her door, cooing happily. As they all stepped out, John Dory gave her a pat on the head before catching up with the rest of them.
The grotto the village had settled in was gorgeous. The middle was a clearing full of shops, stages, and parks. It was surrounded by thick rings of trees, each with at least a few pods hanging from their branches. John hummed, taking it all in.
“So this is where everyone ended up,” he muttered. His youngest brother looked at him, and he winced. “Well, you heard me before. I went back and everyone was gone.”
Floyd whipped his head up, eyes narrowed. “When did you go back home?” He said, accusingly.
“I don’t know, like, 15 years ago?” He said, shrugging. “It’s hard to tell time out in the Neverglades.”
“Did you come back, Floyd?” Branch asked, voice quiet.
His pink brother’s ears drooped more, reminding Branch of the trait they both shared. “I- yeah. About 21 years ago. I- they were-” his breathing quickened. “I didn’t think anyone-” Clay, Viva, and Poppy mirrored his distress when they realized.
The Pop Queen held her arms out, inviting him for a hug, which he practically collapsed into.
“If you want to talk about it,” Viva said quietly. “I kinda know what that’s like.”
Branch, meanwhile, was struck with shock. He didn't think any of them had gone back for him (despite John Dory's earlier claims). “You…”
John looked at his brothers and the sisters, all with teary faces. “Why don’t we get settled in,” he suggested, shifting the mood as best he could. “While Popstar’s got me all excited for the town tour, I think it’d be better to save that for another day.”
“Right,” Branch said, breaking out of his shock. “I’ll… show you guys the bunker.”
Poppy nodded. “I’ll take Tiny home,” she said.
Her boyfriend glanced at her, and noticed she was working very hard to keep her eyes open. He stepped in front of her. “You need to get to sleep. You’ve been awake for way too long,” he argued. “I can take Tiny. I… have to think some things to think through, anyways,” he said quietly to her.
Poppy nodded, reaching into her hair to grab the baby and hand him over. She gave her boyfriend a small smile, before gesturing for the rest of the group to follow her.
Rather than leading them into the village, she turned and walked into the woods in a different direction than they had arrived from.
The further they went, the more they became confused.
Clay eventually piped up. “Where are we-?”
A rock outcropping, with a “Go Away” mat, appeared in their path, and Poppy waved her hand. “Just right here.”
“A boulder door,” John mused. “Protective, but it could easily be jammed.”
Poppy grinned. “That’s not the door.” She let them stew in confusion for a second before kneeling down and lifting the mat to reveal a trap door. “This is.”
Floyd let out an amused laugh at the trickery, having been expecting something of the sort from his brother, and walked up to the hole in the ground. “Can you help me down?” He was still a little unsteady after the crystallization, and while walking was tolerable, he didn’t want to risk landing wrong.
Poppy grinned, jumping down before offering her hand to help everyone down. Soon, the whole group was in the tiny underground room.
Clay glanced around nervously. “It’s… cozy?” He tried.
(Branch enjoyed doing it to other people, but it was Poppy’s turn, and she was eager to try the dramatic reveal.)
Poppy grinned, gesturing for them to come closer. Once they were all standing in the right place, she pulled the lever that was disguised as a tree root. They startled when it started moving (But didn’t fall- Branch made the mechanism too smooth for that.)
They glanced at the numerous floors they passed, taking in the bunker and everything in it. There was a floor with a kitchen, one for crafting supplies, and basically everything you would need to live alone.
Poppy stopped them at the bedroom floor, one floor above the giant storage floor.
She glanced at the doors, before glancing at the brothers. “Branch didn’t tell me about you guys before this… whole thing… but I’m pretty sure I know which room is for each of you.”
She pointed at each doorway along one side of the hallway in turn. “John Dory, Bruce, Clay, and then Floyd,” she listed. “The doors on the other side are general guest rooms. So, Viva, I guess you can choose one of those. I’ll be in our room at the end of the hallway,” she explained. She smiled again, cheerfully. “Now, is there anything you need?”
They peeked inside the first room- John’s- before shaking their heads.
“Poppyseed, if there’s anything that’s not already in here, I don’t know if it’ll be anywhere in the whole kingdom,” he said, jokingly.
She shot him a thumbs up before turning and walking down the hall. “I’ll be passed out for the foreseeable future, then. We’ll have our emotional talk later.” While she was usually more cheery and welcoming, she had been awake for a couple days during the whole adventure, and it was finally catching up to her.
“Yeah, same here,” John Dory said, stepping into his room. “See you brats later.” Mere seconds latee, the others heard him fall heavily into his bed. (He was used to all nighters, but the second the door closed, he had lost all remaining bravado.)
Floyd, still exhausted from being drained, hobbled into his own room, falling asleep rather quickly. Clay and Viva, though, decided to stay awake and talk about everything.
A couple minutes later, Branch arrived back home, but quickly made his way to Poppy, shutting the door behind him.
A couple hours after that, the brothers who had gone to sleep started stumbling out of their rooms, still half asleep. Clay and Viva stepped out to greet them, offering small smiles. While they were greeting each other sleepily in the hallway, the last door opened, and Poppy emerged, wide awake and happy. Branch trailed behind her, staring adoringly.
“We were thinking of going out to dinner, since we were going to tour the village anyways!” She proposed. “Would you guys be up for that?”
“Ah! That would be soo cool!” Viva cheered, becoming more energetic as she watched her sister bounce around excitedly. “I so want to see what you’ve done with the place!!”
The two sisters squealed, rushing to the elevator, bouncing in anticipation as they waited for the brothers to join them.
—
“-and here’s the school pod, where I guest-teach!” Poppy explained. “Branch has started helping out there too! He teaches them survival skills!”
Viva turned, grinning. “I love that for you!” She told Branch. “Us Pop trolls were always terrible at that!”
He snorted. “Tell me about it.”
“Viva?” A voice called. The group turned to see one of the regular teachers approaching with a wide smile. “Poppy wrote to us, but it’s so different to see it!”
The princess squealed in excitement. “It’s so fantastamazing to see you again!” She cried, hugging the troll. “Twiggy and Petal and the others will be so happy to see you again too!”
The teacher laughed, smiling widely. She glanced at the rest of the group. “And who are these fellas?” She asked, looking at the brothers.
“These are my brothers,” Branch explained. (It struck him as a little odd that she didn’t recognize them- she recognized everyone .) “They’ve been elsewhere in the kingdom for a long time.”
John Dory nodded. “I only knew where to look for Pop village after the rock apocalypse,” he explained.
“Ah, I’m glad to hear that our inter-tribe unity is already helping trolls!” The teacher said cheerfully. She glanced behind her. “I have to get back to the kids- since it’s almost time for pick up- but hopefully I’ll see you all around!”
“Of course!” Poppy said cheerfully. “We’ll see you around!” She waved at the troll’s retreating figure.
After she was out of earshot, Branch turned to his brothers. “So who taught you guys?” He tried to ask it as casually as he could. If she hadn’t recognized them, it stood to reason that they weren’t in her classes in the tree.
Clay raised an eyebrow at him. “Grandma?” He said, like it was obvious.
Floyd nodded. “Yeah, especially when BroZone got big. We could barely go to the market without getting swarmed.”
Branch’s face fell. “Oh.” He could kind of understand. Everytime he went to the market with Poppy, they would get stopped by villager after villager wanting to chat. Even still, it was never harmful, just tedious. (Maybe it was different when they were surrounded by Bergens.)
Dinner went fine, if a bit quietly, and before they knew it, everyone was packing up their leftovers to bring home. That turned into conversations about the next day as they walked.
Clay and Viva were going back to get the rest of the putt-putt trolls, and John was going with them to help transport things with Rhonda.
“Me and Branch are meeting with another leader tomorrow to update our maps and records,” Poppy explained as they entered the bunker. “But we can meet up in the afternoon before you guys head out!”
“Totally!” Viva cheered. “And we’ll be back the day after with everyone, anyways!”
“See you guys later?” Branch asked, standing in his doorway. They all nodded, and the royal couple smiled, heading to bed for the night.
The rest followed suit, entering their own rooms.
—
The next day met the two of them in a conference room with Barb and Riff, pouring over maps.
“-and Disco has been gone for decades .” Barb joked, pointing at their map.
Poppy nodded. “Yeah, Branch already told me that.” She remarked. “I’m surprised you knew that, given how isolationist our tribe used to be.”
“Probably from-” He paused, and a frown grew on his face. “How did I know that?” He muttered. “Maybe John? He always wanted to travel.”
Barb raised an eyebrow. “Who’s ‘John?’ That’s not a very pop-troll name.”
Branch narrowed his eyes at the possible insult. “My oldest brother, John Dory.”
The rock queen laughed. “Isn’t that a fish? That’s perfect!”
“We’re not here to make fun of each other,” Poppy cut in, pointedly. “Are there any tribes that we should add to our map?”
Riff glanced over, pointing at a certain mountain range. “Although the tribe’s kinda small, the yodelers are usually here when they’re not bounty hunting.”
He continued explaining, Branch making notes as they went. Poppy watched over his shoulder, nodding along.
“You know,” Barb cut in after a while. “Disco wasn’t the only tribe to fade out. I think jazz is almost there.”
“Oh?” Poppy said, immediately distracted. “What else did we miss?”
Barb shrugged. “Way, way, back, there used to be the Grecian Choir tribes. No one even knows what they sounded like anymore. Then, there were also the ballads. I think they got absorbed into the country tribe, though,” she mused. “Oh! And Boybands Trolls!”
“But boy bands are just pop,” Branch argued, slightly confused.
Riff nodded. “Sure, yeah, they’re a subgenre, but it’s like punk trolls- they use rock sound, but they do it in their own way, and they even live outside the volcano. But all the boyband trolls disappeared mysteriously 21 years ago.”
“No more than any other Pop troll did,” Branch stated, pointedly.
“Nah man,” Riff said. “Pop'd been gone for generations. Boybands were everywhere until 21 years ago.”
“That’s impossible,” Branch growled. “Because we were in the Troll Tree the whole time. Both bands I’ve been in were there.” He paused when he noticed Poppy staring at him in confusion. “What?” He said sharply, trying not to snap.
“BroZone wasn’t from the tree,” she stated, narrowing her eyes in consideration. “I guess I never thought about it, but my dad told us they split off after the escape.”
Branch narrowed his own eyes at her. “We broke up years before the escape,” he reminded her, voice stiff.
“Well, I know that now -”
“Oh!” Barb barked out, nearly laughing. “Boytoy’s not a true pop troll after all!” She mocked him.
His face contorted in rage. “Of course I am!” Branch snapped at her, startling both rock trolls. “Your history books are wrong, you don’t know anything! ” He threw his pencil down, storming out of the pod.
In his anger, he ran straight into someone. Teal hands steadied the two of them and he looked up to find Clay looking at him with concern.
“What happened, B?” His brother asked. “I thought you were in a meeting.”
“Nothing!” He snapped. “They’re just saying-!” He floundered for his words. “They're wrong! It’s dumb, right?! Of course we’re pop trolls!”
Clay was barely following along, but his face morphed in shock. “Of course!” He insisted. “Just because we were a subgenre doesn’t mean we’re not pop!” He noticed someone following behind his brother, but ignored whoever it was.
“...subgenre?” He asked. “We’re not…”
“Not what?” His brother prodded. “Branch, what were they saying?”
“That boybands aren’t pop - that we’re not from the Troll Tree.” Clay’s face morphed in shock and Branch continued on. “I know, it’s dumb. Their history scrapbooks must be wrong. I’ve lived in the tree my whole life-”
“No?”
Branch paused, looking at his brother. “‘No,’ what?”
His brother shot him a concerned look. “Branch, we’re not from the Troll Tree. Did you not know?”
“No. No, that’s impossible.”
“Branch-”
“Grandma’s pod is in the Troll Tree! Why else would we have been there?!” Branch yelled in frustration. “You’re acting like you weren’t-!” He froze. “You weren’t in the escape, were you?”
Clay shook his head. “I told you guys, I found Viva and the rest of the putt-putt trolls after they escaped.”
“...you four never lived in the Troll Tree. Never lived under the Bergens.” Branch realized. “So when John Dory told me he went back and no one was ‘ there -’”
“What does that-?”
“We were standing under the Troll Tree. And you guys were never scared of them like the putt-putt trolls, or even I was,” he continued. “That’s why the teacher didn’t recognize you, and why I never got any mail that Bruce said he sent.” He gasped. “That’s how you were able to leave . And why no one ever came back .”
“Branch?” A new voice popped up. Poppy was standing behind him, face drawn in concern.
He stumbled away from both her and his brother, both of them reaching out in concern. “I- I need some time to think.”
He turned and sprinted away, unsure of where he was going. He heard voices calling out from behind him, but he ignored them.