Broppy: Baby On Board

Chapter 5: The Runaround

Clay and Viva were running the show when all of a sudden Bruce came rushing over to them.

"Cl-Clay!" Bruce huffed as his lungs burned from scurrying all over the village looking for his brothers but only found him.

"Where is Branch?"
"Where is Branch?"

Both of the brothers asked at the same time when the smile fell off all of their faces. Even Viva's who was always smiling about something.

"Tell me you at least saw him?" Clay begged.

"Yes, I was talking to him yesterday when I suggested he should come back to the village. Then he ran off and I thought for sure he would have arrived by now." Bruce was now unsure.

"Poppy, Floyd, and John Dory left yesterday to go after him since he left this note." Clay took the thing out of his hair to give to Bruce who read it.

"... I only left about 20 minutes after he did... maybe he actually went somewhere—" Bruce didn't get to finish when they heard a familiar hum sound and out came Rhonda, only she limped over. Never stepping with her front right paw.

Rhonda made some whining noises as she got lower to the ground and crawled over looking and sounding extremely sorrowful.

Bruce and Clay gave each other looks of horror when John Dory fell from the sky. "RHONDA!" He yelled happily as he used his hair to break his fall before running up to her and hugging the larger creature. "Oh how I've missed you!"

Next was Poppy, Floyd and Barb.

"So hey, where is the baby at? I really wanna see!" Barb was kinda excited even if it was just an egg.

"Baby?" Both Clay and Viva questioned as they looked at each other.

"Oh... Poppy is expecting a baby... That's why Branch was freaking out. I told him he should come back to the village to be with and support her. That he shouldn't have come to the island." Bruce explained.

"But I'm not the one having the baby!" Poppy cried as she heard that.

Bruce then slowly lifted his hand to cover his mouth in shock because he truly messed up.

"Bruce! You idiot!" To say Clay was angry was an understatement. He went to move when Viva hugged him tightly.

"Clay, I know you're angry but think about what's really important right now. We still need to find Branch and the baby!" Viva wanted to be excited, but how could she with everything going on.

"Stop, everyone just stop!" Floyd spoke to get all of their attention. "Rhonda is here now. So where is Branch?" He asked more so to the creature but it only whimpered and took a few steps back before shaking its head a little.

"I don't think she knows..." John Dory was flabbergasted, if that was the case then...

"You mean to tell me, in the 20 minutes that it took me to leave the island, Branch completely disappeared?!" Bruce didn't want to believe it. "He wouldn't have crossed the water in that amount of time unless he was with Rhonda."

"Hey girl, was Branch with you at all after you dropped him off at the island?" John asked when she shook her head no and sadly growled.

"Then he never left the island! We have to go back!!" Floyd never felt so stupid. What were they doing wrong exactly?

"But what if he isn't there anymore?" Clay asked in annoyance.

"Then we'll look for clues for his whereabouts!" Poppy hoped he didn't leave the island, maybe he really was there this time.

Barb wasted no time in whistling for their ride when all of a sudden Guy Diamond showed up looking rough.

"Poppy! Poppy! I cannot find Tiny anywhere! He disappeared yesterday when Branch did!" Guy announced when Rhonda bounced around as if to say something.

"Is he with Branch?" John asked as Rhonda nodded this time but that didn't help them much. Fact of the matter was, they needed to go back to Vacay Island.

***

Creek had been rowing for a long time when he started to become hungry. He went to open a small wooden box with food when out popped a small glittering silver troll.

"St-stay back! I know what you are!" Tiny announced as he jumped back a bit in fear of the other. Knowing what the troll was capable of.

Creek reached out to the small Troll when Branch quickly sat up and got protectively in front of Tiny. "Don't you dare touch him."

Creek smiled as he went back to rowing. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt him. I like children. Why do you think I'm waiting so patiently?"

Branch did not like the sound of that.

"Your face says it all. You think I'm trying to prolong this? Once that egg grows big enough, it will detach itself from you which takes about 3-4 days. Once that happens, I'll just snatch it away and then leave you for dead." Creek gave a toothy smile to the death glare he received.

Tiny on the other hand was shaking as he gripped onto Branch's shoulder.

***

It was getting close to the afternoon by now. When one of Brandy's children spoke to get her attention. "Mommy...?"

"Yes dear?" She asked as she looked down.

"... I saw something..."

" And what would that be?" She was now curious.

"There was this troll, who put another troll in a boat. Then they left." The child explained but Brandy didn't think much of it. Perhaps her son was making up stories.

"Oh, I saw that too!" The single daughter nooded. "The one kinda looked like Uncle Branch and the other was purple with pretty blue hair!"

"What time did this happen?" Brandy hoped her children could at least let her know.

"Super early morning." The son spoke when the daughter elaborated. "Yea, the sun was barely out, it was hard to see."

Brandy covered her mouth in thought. It might have just been a fluke but if by some chance that it wasn't... she didn't know what to do.

***

Branch felt the shift when he looked up and saw that Creek was now rowing to land. He wondered why the sudden change but didn't ask. He would rather not talk to him at all.

"We have no food because of Tiny, so we have to go to land. I'm getting tired of rowing anyway." Creek explained as he jumped out of the boat to pull it up to land more. That's when he jumped back in and basically tossed Branch over the edge without much warning.

Branch groaned and hissed in pain as he landed hard in the wet sand.

"Easy psycho!" Tiny said as he quickly jumped out to check on Branch.

"Right you are." Creek agreed as he pulled the boat through the sand until he reached a harder surface for the wheels to glide along. As he walked back, he had to laugh while watching Branch try to get away by hopping through the sand with his feet tied. The blue troll eventually fell which prompted Creek to walk over and drag the other back before tossing him back inside the boat. None too lightly.

Branch wasn't sure how much longer he could take the abuse and it hasn't even been a full day yet. Plus, Tiny was with them. He shouldn't even be subjected to this.