Trolls: Band Together (AU Version)

Emotional Fork in the Road

Poppy hugged Branch, who wrapped a protective arm around her, in fright while Branch felt his survival instincts kick in, ready to protect OPoppy if an attack came from this...clown head.

The voice in the clown head spoke again, declaring menacingly, "Who dares trespass on these sacred grounds"!?

No one dared to utter a word or move a muscle in fear of the clown head launching another mechanism that could attack them, but Branch knew that if they didn't do something quick, that they would never be able to move past it and find Clay in time to get to Mount Rageous. He mentally prepared himself to grab a stick or whatever possible weapon he had in his hair or his pockets, set to fight back.

However, he then noticed the scared look in Poppy's eyes, and he thought back to the many, many, MANY situations that he and Poppy were in that involved their lives being on the line, or facing enemy lines in preparation of potential danger. Whenever this happened, Poppy found a way to get them to talk about why they were doing this or what was going on, even when it backfired on her, and it seemed to help, even a little, get the situation under control or at least get an understanding of what was happening/

Deciding that he was gonna take a page out of his girlfriend's book, he looked up at the clown's head in determination and, with as much bravery as he could muster, marched straight up to it, ignoring John Dory's fearful comment, "Branch, what are you doing"?

The eldest sibling wasn't even able to grab Branch's shoulder before Branch brushed John Dory's hand aside and walked up to the clown head, staring at it face-to-face. He stood firm and told it with confidence and firmness, "Listen, we don't want any clown-related trouble, okay? We're just here looking for our brother, Clay."

The clown head didn't seem to respond, but then, its mouth moved while the voice inside of it spoke, its tone now no longer threatening, but more...curious, asking Branch, "Wait a second; you're Trolls"?

"So what? You're a clown," Branch rebutted, his remark making John Dory snicker before Bruce smacked him upside the head, getting him to stop, making the eldest brother stop and place his hand over where Bruce had hit him.

"Where have you come from," the voice in the clown head spoke again, the clown head's mouth moving at the same time.

"We came from the Troll Tree in the middle of Bergen Town," Branch replied, his antisness slowly coming back, which the survivalist desperately tried to push back.

Then, he felt his hand be gently grabbed and saw Poppy, who had now stepped forward, saying to the clown head, "We mean no harm, Mr...Clown Head...Thingee; we're just trying to find Branch's brother Clay, that's all."

Seeing Poppy beside him made Branch feel slightly better and, to be honest, a little less nervous about facing this clown head.

The clown head didn't seem to have a bodily response this time, but instead, it responded in a different way: it opened its mouth and fired what looked like a yellow-gold golf ball towards the Trolls. the golf ball rolled down the slide, bouncing off some of the curves, as it headed towards the Trolls; its size appeared equivalent to them, but based on the speed it was rolling down, it looked fast enough to hit them really hard, which got Branch and Poppy to stagger back a bit in concern, back toward Bruce and John Dory. The Trolls all braced themselves, anticipating what was gonna either be a painful hit, or someone about to get flattened.

Then, the most shocking thing happened: the golf ball, once it reached the edge of the tongue...it unfurled!

In retrospect, the "golf ball" wasn't actually a gold ball at all! It was revealed to actually be a Troll, who was using its hair to wrap itself like a gold ball, to roll around!