~ The Other Side of the Storm ~

Chapter 17

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~woooOsh~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~wooosh againnn~

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

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

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

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

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

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