Four Years Later
———————————
Branch walked through the forest on all fours, smiling wide as he looked around at his pack, finally spotting his best friend, Terk.
"Terk! Hey, Terk!" Branch barked, running over to his friend with a smile.
She looked over at him, smiling at the sight of her friend approaching.
"Hey, Branch," she greeted.
"You wanna wrestle?" Branch asked, beginning to playfully wrestle with Terk, biting gently at her ears.
The Cuddle Pup laughed, fighting back, until a voice interrupted.
"Come on Terk! Step on it!" another Cuddle Pup called over, a group of them running off towards the lake not far away from their home. "Last one there's a stink bug!" "Yeah... and the first one's gotta eat it!" Terk yelled back with a laugh, climbing out from underneath Branch, as she began to run after them.
"Wait Terk! Wait!" Branch called, chasing after her. "Can I come?"
Terk stopped for a moment, looking back at him.
"Well... I mean..." she started, not knowing how to tell him she didn't want him to come.
Don't get her wrong... she liked Branch. He was her best friend, but this group of Cuddle Pups... she really wanted to be friends with them, and Branch... well... he could be a bit embarrassing at times, since he was so different from everyone else.
"I... I mean..." Terk continued. She looked at Branch, who was sitting in front of her, the biggest smile on his face, as he wagged his nonexistent tail, his tongue flopping out of his mouth with joy.
"Y... yeah..." she finally answered. "You could come... if you could keep up." Branch cocked his head, looking at her, as she continued, smiling innocently. "But you know... you can't really keep up." Branch frowned, his ears dropping a bit.
"Oh..." he said softly.
"Wait up guys! Wait up!" Terk yelled, quickly leaving Branch to follow the rest of the Cuddle Pups. "I'm coming!"
Branch sighed, watching after her, and then smiled, gaining a determined look on his face, as he quickly took off after them.
—————
"Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!" one of the Cuddle Pups laughed, making one of his friends punch himself in the face over and over, as the three of them waited for Terk to arrive.
"The fu-un has arri-ived!" Terk sang, jumping out of the bushes, before taking a bow. "Thank you... thank you very much. "
"What took you so long?" the oldest member of the group asked, scratching behind his ear with his foot.
"I had a little pest-control problem..." Terk said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "But don't worry about it. It's all taken care of..."
Before she could fully finish her sentence, Branch pounced out of the bush behind them, accidentally crashing into her, sending them both falling down into a short tumble.
"Whoa!" Terk yelled out in shock, falling over.
Branch climbed off of her, shaking off his body, before looking at the group happily.
"Hi guys!" he yipped happily with a big smile.
"Ugh..." the others groaned in disappointment.
"Terk, what is this? Some kind of joke?" asked one of the Cuddle Pups.
"Tell me I'm not looking at the furless wonder," said another with a disgusted face.
"Well..." Branch said slowly, trying his best to keep his smile. "Terk said I could come along, if I could keep up."
"Oh no! Terk!" everyone complained at once, glaring at the young Cuddle Pup
Terk grinned innocently, walking over to whisper something to the group of Cuddle Pups.
"I'll handle this guys, ok?" she whispered, before turning back to Branch, leading him away from the group.
"Listen, buddy..." she said, Branch looking up at her, as they walked away a bit. Even though they were about the same age, Terk was still much bigger than Branch. Even the younger Cuddle Pups were bigger than he was.
"We got a tiny little itsy-bitsy problem here, ok?" Terk explained, trying her best not to hurt the puppy troll's feelings. "Ok..." Branch said, nodding his head slightly.
"Personally... I'd love to hang out with you. You know I would. But the guys here... they need a little convincing."
"Ok!" Branch said, his smile returning. "What do I gotta do?"
"Do?" Terk questioned, before realizing what he meant. "Oh... what do you gotta do..." Branch nodded, his imaginary tail wagging like crazy. "Oh, it's stupid really. You wouldn't want to do it."
"What?" Branch asked, getting more excited by the second. Finally... a chance for him to fit in!
He didn't really remember his life before the Cuddle Pups took him in. He didn't remember the Trolls, or how they used to bully him. He didn't even know he was a Troll. He thought he was a Cuddle Pup just like his mom. Just like his pack.
Even with all those memories faded... he still dreamt about the Trolls... how he never fit in with them... to him those were just dreams, but in reality... he also didn't fit in with his pack. He knew he was different, and he just wanted to finally prove he could fit in. He could be the best Cuddle Pup that ever lived.
"Well... you... you gotta... you gotta go get a hair," Terk finally said with a fake smile. "A hair?" Branch questioned, cocking his head slightly in confusion.
"Y... yeah. A hair. A... uh..."
She tried to think of an animal he would never be able to get a hair from.
Just then a trumpet noise echoed through the forest, Turk turning around to see a heard of Trollaphants in the water below the cliff they were all standing on.
"A trollaphant hair," she said, turning back to Branch with a smirk.
Branch gulped, shrinking back a bit.
"A... a trollaphant hair?" he questioned, slightly scared.
"Like I said..." Terk shrugged. "It's stupid, right? Listen, take it from me. Go home, ok? Who needs this aggravation? You know, I'm probably gonna leave soon myself."
She ushered Branch away, smiling maliciously.
"You go, and I'll catch up, all right?" she said, as Branch walked away on all fours.
Once he was out of sight, Terk turned back to her friends.
"You see? Leave it to me," she said with a smug grin. "I told you..."
Before she could finish, Branch came sprinting past on all fours, heading for the edge of the cliff.
"Branch!" she screamed out, trying to stop him. "Branch, no!" But it was too late...
He jumped over the edge of the cliff, falling down a pretty long ways, as he screamed, immediately regretting his decision.
"AHHHHH!" he screamed in fear, flapping his arms, as if he could fly.
(Drawing by littlekitty1346)
Finally, he belly flopped into the water below, making a loud 'SLAP!' sound.
"Ooh! That's gotta hurt!" one of the Cuddle Pups winced, as they all watched Branch slowly sink down into the water.