In the morning, Branch began to wake up, slowly opening his eyes. He sat up, immediately, noticing Poppy was no longer next to him.
"Poppy?" he said, standing up to look around, but all he saw was blackness. "Poppy!?"
Slowly, he grabbed his blanket, putting it back into his hair, before beginning to walk forwards, his hands out in front of him to make sure he didn't bump into anything.
He walked forewords, but couldn't find Poppy.
"Poppy!? Where are you!?"
He was starting to get worried. What if something bad happened to her? What if she was taken by some wild animal?
"Pop... AHHH!"
Suddenly, he tripped on a rock, falling onto his stomach.
"Ow..." he groaned, slowly pushing himself back up onto his feet.
Off in the distance, something watched him from the shadows.
"Poppy!? Answer me!" he screamed out, his voice shaking in fear, as he felt around him.
Slowly, a pink blur began to approach him.
He sighed with relief, once he spotted her.
"There you are. I was worried about you, Poppy," he said, but there was no response. "Poppy?"
As the blur got closer, he squinted, trying to see it better.
"Poppy?"
Suddenly, something like sand was thrown into his eyes.
"Ow!" he cried out, rubbing his eyes in pain. "What the heck!?"
He began to blink his eyes open, seeing the pink blur in front of him.
Slowly, his vision began to clear, allowing him to see who was in front of him.
It was not Poppy.
Branch gasped, slowly backing away from the mystery creature. It was the size of a troll, and had pink skin like Poppy, but it wore cloths more like what Branch would wear to blend into his surroundings. It also wore a helmet like mask to cover its entire head and face.
"Stay back!" Branch yelled, backing away, slowly.
The creature slowly, approached, holding a stick with growl beast teeth attached to it.
"What did you do with Poppy!?" Branch demanded, his heart racing. "Bring her back!"
He stumbled backwards, falling to the ground, as the creature approached, holding the stick pointed at him.
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Branch's eyes widened in in fear, as he looked up at the creature, whimpering, quietly.
"L... leave her alone!" he yelled, his voice shaky.
"Gruba..." the creature said, pointing down at him.
Suddenly, a giant bird swooped down, grabbing onto the back of Branch's vest with it's talons.
"AHHHHH!" Branch screamed, as the bird lifted him into the air. "Noooo!"
