Trolls and the Enchanted Forest (rewrite)

Chapter 38

Branch ran through the forest, Poppy following close behind. He ran quickly, suddenly stopping for a moment, as he looked around, listening closely for the noise.

Poppy ran up, stopping beside him, as she looked around in confusion.

     "Uh... where did Barb go?" she asked, looking around, but Branch didn't even seem to hear her question. He just kept looking around, listening closely for the voice.

     She looked at him, raising an eyebrow in confusion. It wasn't like him to ignore her...

     "Branch?" she said, but he still didn't even acknowledge she was there, his ears twitching slightly, as he listened closely to his surroundings.
 
     Finally, Barb trudged up to them, panting heavily in exhaustion.

"Are we... there yet?" she panted, suddenly collapsing to the ground.
"Barb, get up," Poppy sighed, rolling her eyes, as she helped her friend up off of the ground. "But I'm sooooooo tiiiiiirrrred!" Barb whined, stomping her feet like a young child having a temper tantrum.

Branch's ear twitched as he continued to listen, but the noise had stopped, and was now nowhere to be found.

"Where do we go, Branch?" Poppy asked, walking up next to him, but he didn't answer, continuing to look around. "Branch?" Still... silence...

     Slowly, she reached for him, gently placing her hand on his shoulder.

     As she touched him, he gasped, flinching slightly, as he turned to her, as if he hadn't even heard her coming.

     "Branch... are... are you ok?" she asked, concerned about him.
"Uh... yeah..." he said, nodding as he looked at her. "Sorry... I was just focused on hearing the voice..."
"It's ok, Branch," Poppy assured, giving him a kind smile. "Which way do we go?"

     He sighed, looking away from her in shame, as his ears drooped a bit.

     "I don't know," he admitted softly, stepping forewords, as he began to looked around again. "The noise sto...OOOOOOOOPPED!" he screamed, suddenly getting flung up off of the ground by a net.

"Branch!" Poppy screeched out in fear, immediately grabbing onto the net, and trying to pull it off of her boyfriend.

"Poppy! Run!" he yelled down to her, struggling to release himself.
"No, Branch," she refused. "Not without you!"
"Poppy, I..." He paused, as a sudden sound came to his ears.

His ear twitched, as he began to hear footsteps coming towards them.

He looked around, the footsteps seeming to be coming from every direction.

     "P... Poppy..." he stuttered softly, looking around, his eyes wide in terror, as he listened to the approaching footsteps, but Poppy just ignored him, continuing to pull on the net.

"I can't get this stupid thing to break..." she said through gritted teeth, pulling on the net as hard as she could. "Poppy..." Branch said again a little louder, trying to warn her of the approaching danger, but she still wouldn't listen.

     "Barb! Help me get Branch out of this net," the queen of pop demanded, still trying to get Branch free.

     "Nah... I'm good," Barb shrugged, sitting down on the ground, as she smirked at them. "Poppy..." Branch said again even louder, but still Poppy just ignored him.

     "Come on, Barb! You can't just sit there!" Poppy argued, pulling on the net with all her might.

Barb's smile faded, as she realized Poppy was right.