Third Person's POV
"Stop the wedding!" A voice shouts from up high
They all turn around and see a troll standing on the roof in a heroic pose. He's wearing a brown leather jacket and skiing goggles. It's very difficult to try and see more of his features when he's up there
"Uh, Bridget?" Gristle said with uncertainty
"Do you know that guy?"
"I don't remember all my suitors, Grissy." Bridget said
The mysterious troll slides down the rope and grabs onto one of the balloons. He lands on the ground just near the front of the stairs
"Sorry, is it bad timing?" He asked while taking off his goggles and brushing himself off
The human girl, Hya heard Branch gasped quietly, which gets her worried and confused
Hya turns her head towards the troll and immediately recognizes the goggles and the hair... that's her first-born son...
"I'm just trying to find a troll named--" The troll screams in surprise when his eyes lands on Branch
He runs over, shouting
"Baby Branch!"
And as soon as he said that, he was already on the bench with them
"Look at you. You got so big." The troll said as he walks up to Branch
"You're not a branch anymore. You're more like a trunk. Junk in the trunk." He said and unexpectedly slaps Branch's behind, causing him to wince
"Ow!" Branch exclaims
"I bet you I can still pick you up. Come on." In one swift motion, the troll lifts Branch into the air, but that was a bad idea because he started struggling to keep up, complaining about his back
That surprised Hya since she saw how her sons were struggling now to keep up since they're pretty much old for that since they're both adults like her, but it made her chuckle quietly
"Hey. You put my boyfriend down. Tell us who you are and what you want." Poppy said, stepping in protectively
The troll drops Branch and raises his hands in defense
"You're right. Totally rude of me. Didn't introduce myself." He adjusts his jacket and extends his hand to Poppy
"I'm Branch's brother."
"What?" Poppy asked
Branch walks over and peers from behind Poppy
"Correction: Used to be my brother. Not anymore."
Poppy turns around and faces Branch
"Hey, um, remember earlier when I said you should open up to me and be real?"
"Well..." Branch started to say
"You could've started by telling me you had a secret brother!" Poppy yells
"Former brother and uncle." Branch corrects
"That's not how DNA works!" Poppy yells again as the troll stands next to Poppy
"Oh my gosh. I was being so rude. I've never met anyone from Branch's before. I'm Poppy, Branch's girlfriend. Should we hug, fist-bump, smile and wave for now and see where the night takes us?"
With a smile, Branch's brother shrugs his shoulders
"All of the above."
"Wait, I know you. You're the guy from BroZone! We were just listening to them." Poppy said
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Don't tell me, um... okay, you're not the heartthrob." Poppy said in thoughts
"Well, that's your opinion..." Branch's brother said
"The fun one? No, you're pretty uptight." Poppy adds
"Uptight?" Branch's brother said offensively
"Hmm. Not the sensitive one either." Poppy said
"Okay, a lot of assumptions for someone you just met 30 seconds ago." Branch's brother said
"He's John Dory then." Hya said as she chuckled nervously and awkwardly behind Branch
Branch's brother smiles in relief and adds
"The leader."
"Oh yeah! The old one!" Poppy said, ignoring what he said just now
John Dory gives her an unamused frown before sighing
"Wait, who are you?" Poppy asked when she realized someone else talked behind Branch
"Well..." Hya trailed off
John Dory looked over to Hya and immediately recognized her
"Mom?!"
"Haha... hey, JD, sweetie." Hya said and laughed nervously
"Wait, "Mom?!" Poppy said in shock, which also surprised Branch and looked at Hya
John Dory laughs before running towards Hya and suddenly hugs and tosses her
"Woah! It's so good to see you again!" John Dory said
"Woah! Okay! No tossing your mother around like that." Hya said in a joking way and laughs
"Wow, you still look the same! Still young as ever. Look, that's our mother, alright!"
Poppy gasped exaggeratedly and looks at Branch, her back facing John Dory and Hya
"Branch, how come you never told me?"
"Because it's complicated." Branch said
Jumping to conclusions, Poppy gets all sympathetic and pats his shoulder
"Oh, sweetie. Cuz you weren't in the band."
John Dory chuckled
"Branch was in the band all right."
"Which one was he again?" Hya asked to John Dory
"Bitty B." John Dory answered
"Oh, right." Hya said, remembering it
"Bitty B?" Poppy said, not believing it
"No, that's impossible. Bitty B had glasses."
"Oh, and a diaper." John Dory adds
Branch covered one ear and vocalizes to himself, getting their attention
"And a falsetto made of gold. Not that anyone cared. But that's all in the past. Because they stopped being my brothers the day they walked out on me and never came back."
"Woah, woah, woah. That's not fair, Branch." John Dory said in his defense
"I did come back, but no one was there. It wasn't until I heard about you saving the world from the rock apocalypse that I realized that you were even still alive."
"Oh, that's--That's so sweet. He realized I was still alive. Twenty years too late!" Branch shouted sarcastically
Hya quickly steps in and pushes her youngest son away from his brother with Poppy's help, and went between the two
"Sorry, he's a little hangry when he's hungry." Poppy said and chuckled nervously
"I had breakfast. It was avocado toast, with two poached eggs, some cayenne with a little kick. And you know what? It was delightful!"
Hya snickers slightly and sighs before they turned to Poppy and Branch
"I bet he's only here because he needs something." Branch said with a glare
"That's not true. He's your brother." Poppy said
Without even sugar-coating it, John Dory spoke
"Branch, I'm gonna be straight with you. I need something."
"And there it is." Branch said disappointingly
"Come on, man, I'm trying here." Poppy said to John Dory
John Dory stops Branch from leaving
"Wait, wait. Hold up, Branch. It's about Floyd."
Hya's eyes widened slightly when she heard that familiar name
Branch gives a look of confusion to John Dory
"What do you mean?"
"He's in danger, man. I hadn't heard from him ever since the band broke up. Until I got a letter from him."
As he tells the story of what happened, Hya stands next to Poppy and Branch quietly
"'Dear John Dory, I'm being held against my will by superstars Velvet and Veneer. Come to Mount Rageous at once and bring our brothers and my daughter. Love, Floyd.' I didn't know where any of you were, so I went to Mount Rageous alone."
"Mount Rageous...? I don't think I've heard of that before..." Hya said
"It's different from what we're used to." John Dory responds
"I found where this Velvet and Veneer were performing that night. And there, I also found Floyd. He was trapped inside a bottle made out of diamond. And the only way to break it is by singing the perfect family harmony."
Branch looks down in worry while muttering
"Floyd."
Poppy steps forward
"So, you came here to get the band back together and sing the perfect family harmony."
"Yeah." John Dory said, crossing his arms and smiling
"Oh, yeah. So we can attempt to sing something we've only tried once and failed miserable at that we broke up and never talked to each other again." Branch retorts
"We're so in!" Poppy jumps in the air with enthusiasm
"What?" Branch asked, before he quickly takes Poppy aside to say something to her
"Uh... can you give us a second?"
As the two take a few steps away from them, Hya glanced at John Dory, and nod in his direction, acknowledging her other son's presence. And to do that, he does the same with his supposedly charming boyband smile
She took a deep breath and look back at Branch and Poppy as they talk, hugging her own arms
"...Okay, listen. If there was a brother that I might have to do this, and I'm not saying there is... it would be Floyd." Branch said
"And I'm not hearing 'no'." Poppy said as her smile grows on Poppy's face in excitement
Hya smiled as well at the thought of going on a adventure, but this time, it would be to help Branch... and rescue her long-lost son, Floyd.
"Yes! Works for me." John Dory said before jumping off the bench
"BroZone 2.0. BroZone reunion. BroZone, here we bro again. BroZone, where'd they bro? I don't know, we're gonna find them." Poppy chanted
"That's a lotta puns there that you made up on the spot." Hya said and chuckled
Just then, everything around them started to shake, causing them all to turn around and Hya pulling Branch closely in a protective way
Standing on the ground, John Dory looks up to them
"Hey, looks like our ride's here."
Jumping out from the ground, an armadillo-like recreational vehicle. The vehicle lands right in front them, its two legs placed on the bench
"Ohh. That's coming out of the deposit." Hya heard Gristle say as he looks down at the damaged carpet
"Meet Rhonda, y'all. Ain't she a beaut?" John Dory said from on top of the vehicle
Rhonda pants before roaring in their faces, creating a strong gust of wind
"She's, uh, something else." Branch said with an uncertainty behind Hya
As Rhonda made eye contact with Hya, she licks Hya's face happily. And doing so left glitters all over her
"Okay... JD, sweetie, does she like me or what?" Hya asked, brushing off as much as glitter off of her as she can
John Dory steps in front of Rhonda with a bright smile
"Yeah, she does. Or she's marking you as prey. You can never quite tell about Rhonda."
"...Just... don't let her eat me." Hya said, nervously
"Uh, guys?" Gristle said, getting their attention
"If you don't mind, I really can't wait another minute to marry this gorgeous specimen." He takes Bridget's hand and kisses it
The priest steps forward and clears her throat
"I now pronounce you husband and wife."
Without wasting another second, Bridget tackles Gristle and starts kissing him as the crowd cheers for the happy couple
Hya smirked at them
"Okay, all aboard who's going aboard." John Dory announces as he walks into the vehicle
She then went inside and sits on the couch at the very end of the vehicle. Now relaxed from everything that just happened today...
At the same time, Rhonda runs out of Bergen Town, and they make their way down the road
This is going to be the start of another journey. And she couldn't wait to see what it has in store for them...
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~Edited~
See you in the next chapter!
Jaa ne minna-san!~
(1870 Words)
EndouHya1115 signing out~!