Chapter Three – Cooper the Crazy Cria

In the morning, Rosiepuff awoke with the sun and yawned deeply. She stood and stretched her still-sleeping muscles, and even shook herself a little. She turned to awaken her son, but did a double-take when she saw her sleeping space amongst the tree roots lacking a certain blue wolf-troll.

"Branch?" Rosiepuff gasped, digging through the leaves she dragged over to make the bed more comfortable last night.

"Boo!"

Rosiepuff jumped and spun around to see her beloved little boy. The ten-year-old sported brown shorts held up with a green suspender, and he hung upside-down from a leaf on a nearby flower.

"Gotcha, Mom!" Branch laughed.

"Yes, yet again." Rosiepuff laughed softly, changing to her troll form just in time to catch her son when he jumped off the leaf. "You'll make quite the hunter."

"You better believe it!" Branch said, crawling onto Rosiepuff's head. "I've even been working on my howl!" He let out his best howl. It was a little high-pitched, and he accidentally tumbled out of Rosiepuff's hair. She caught him, laughed, and set him on the ground.

"Why don't you go work on your stealth a bit more?" Rosiepuff asked. "You can't catch prey if they hear you coming. Think you can catch some rodents to go with breakfast?"

"Yeah! I can do it!" Branch ran off, shouting "I can do it!" over and over again. Rosiepuff rolled her eyes and shook her head, still smiling all the while. She had faith in Branch's hunting abilities, especially at his age. But even if he didn't catch something for breakfast, this would keep him occupied while Rosiepuff went to find actual breakfast.

Branch, gleefully unaware, bounded and pounced and ran until he hit someone and fell backwards. He looked up to see who he ran into, only to see the stern expression of Peppy. Even in his troll form, with his wild hair and unkempt mustache, he looked rather menacing.

"Whoops." Branch said sheepishly. He discovered long ago that the leader of his pack didn't like him. This little slip-up just seemed to make things worse.

"Branch!"

The blue troll yelped when a familiar friend tackled him: a red-skinned troll with curly orange hair and rosy eyes, dressed in capris and a crop top. "There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you, you little rascal!" The pup looked to Peppy. "Oh, thank you, Peppy! Such a wise and caring alpha, you found him in no time! Thank you so much!"

Peppy went to his half-wolf form and growled at the pups.

The red pup laughed nervously. "Bye!" She ran off, dragging Branch behind her. She pulled him behind a tree and bonked him on the head with her fist. "Branch, are you nuts?"

"What, Suki?" Branch complained.

Sukira—or Suki, as her friends commonly called her—rolled her eyes at her friend. "When are you going to learn? If you want Peppy to like you, stay away from him."

Branch huffed and rolled his eyes. He knew this already. "He ran into me! Not my fault."

"Yeah, sure." Suki scoffed.

"Yo, Suki!" a wolf-troll pup called as he and a couple other pups bounded past. One of them, Guy Diamond, had glitter skin, white hair sprinkled with sparkles, gray-blue eyes, and a green nose. The second pup stood a little taller and was a little rounder than his playmates: blue skin, pale blue hair, light blue eyes, and wearing purple shorts and a vest. His name was Biggie. The third pup was much shorter, and had yellow skin, blue hair, and wore a pink dress. She went by the name of Smidge. The fourth pup, Fuzzbert, was really more hair than troll: a tuft of lime green hair on a pair of orange legs. Nobody really saw his head or eyes. Even in wolf form, his fur was long enough that some of it covered his eyes.

"Let's go!" Smidge called.

"We're headed for the waterfalls!" Biggie added.

"Okay, I'm coming!" Suki called.

Branch brightened up. "Hey Suki! Can I come?"

Suki paused. "Well, it's going to take quite a bit of time…and I wouldn't want you to get tired since…..you know, you can't…..run…..fast..…." She forced a chuckle before shifting to her wolf form and bounding after her friends. Suki had quite the unique coat. Not only was it a bright orange like her hair, it was also curly like her colorful locks.

Branch frowned dejectedly. He wasn't surprised by Suki's comments. He was considered a runt of sorts. He was smaller than the other wolf-trolls, and he couldn't transform into a wolf yet. He couldn't even go half-wolf. Even though his pack-mates liked him and often played with him, they were also guilty of treating him differently thanks to his differences.

The blue child put on a look of determination. He would not be left behind this time.


Guy Diamond, Biggie, Fuzzbert, and Smidge found a cool hangout spot: a small beach at a water area, complete with a waterfall across from them. While Smidge braided Fuzzbert's hair, Guy Diamond and Biggie were in their wolf forms and wrestling playfully.

"Hey y'all!" Suki hopped from the bushes and struck a fancy pose in her half-wolf form. "You miss me?"

"Where have you been?" Smidge asked, a bit annoyed like the other pups. Not that they couldn't have fun on their own, but Suki was their unspoken leader. Things were just more fun with her around.

"I just had to take care of something before I left." Suki shrugged. "No worries."

No sooner did she say that did a familiar face burst from the bushes and accidentally run into her. The shove sent Suki flying into her friends and they ended up in a dog pile. Branch, with twigs stuck in his hair, smiled goofily.

"Hi guys." He greeted.

"Seriously, Suki?" Guy Diamond complained. Fuzzbert huffed in irritation, shaking his hair out so it stood straight again.

"Tell me this isn't true. How did the runt of the litter find us?" Smidge whined.

Branch pulled the twigs from his hair. "Suki said I could come."

Suki cringed as her friends began whining. The children didn't really mean to be cruel, but Branch really was a runt. He couldn't keep up or play the way a normal wolf-troll pup could, try as he may. Suki had to prove to her friends that Branch was good enough to hang out with them. She couldn't really do that now unless she thought of something quickly. She didn't have that kind of time. So she went for the fallback option of getting rid of Branch so she and her friends could do what they wanted without worrying about him.

"Guys, I got this." Suki whispered to her friends. She walked to Branch and put an arm around his shoulder, walking a short distance from the other pups. "Look, Branch, you know I love to hang with you. But the rest of the pups? We work like all wolf-trolls. You're the son of the matriarch, so you gotta prove yourself to us. You may be our alpha someday. But we need to know it for sure."

Branch nodded in understanding. It made sense to him that he should prove himself. He didn't realize he was basically being duped by his supposed friend. "So what do I do?"

Suki paused. She hadn't thought that far ahead. She thought Branch would just give up. "Uh…..well….you have to…..you have to…" She lit up with an idea, and she smirked. "You gotta go catch a flozznap."

"A flozznap?" Branch repeated. "What the heck is a flozznap?"

"It's a strange and dangerous creature. Long neck. Rubbery legs. Hair all twisted and tangled." Suki said whatever came to mind. "It has the power to infiltrate our dreams and drive us insane with nightmares."

"You're not serious." Branch scoffed. "What kind of creature is that? Does it even exist?"

"Dude, we're trolls who turn into wolves." Suki pointed out. As though to prove her point, Guy Diamond turned to a troll, Biggie turned to a wolf, and Smidge went half-wolf.

"Good point." Branch mused. "So if I find this flozznap and bring it back here and you guys will let me hang out with you?"

"Yep." Suki nodded.

"I'm on it! I can do that!" Branch said. "You can count on me!" He darted into the bushes.

"See?" Suki smiled triumphantly at her friends. "I told you. Just leave it to—"

Suddenly, Branch jumped form the bushes and pounced on Suki. "Where does the flozznap live?" Branch asked.

Suki sighed. "That way." She pointed in a random direction, and Branch bounded off.


In another part of the forest marched a line of llamas. Like the wolf-trolls, the llamas were colorful in looks. The llamas had long legs that were hairless, with round-ish bodies and long necks covered in fur. The hair on their heads was a bit longer than the fur on the rest of their bodies. They sometimes styled this hair. The llamas were normally peaceful creatures, and their leader led them like a military general.

One llama was missing, though, breaking rank once again.

This was a cria, only about eleven years old, with sky blue legs, pink fur, and dark pink stripes on his neck. His hair he kept in blue dreadlocks at all times so he didn't have to worry about styling it. He had bright blue eyes. Oddly enough, and very unlike the other llamas in his herd, the young llama wore a semi-poufy green hat. The cria danced and rocked out to his own music, singing an upbeat song as he moved and grooved.

Suddenly, the cria slammed into someone and fell to the ground. He looked up and saw the llama leading the herd. This llama had bright red fur and brown eyes the color of dirt. His near-neon blue hair was in a professional buzz cut. He glared down at the cria while the rest of the llamas waited patiently to continue their march.

The cria gulped. "Sorry, Dad."

"Get back in line, Cooper." The lead llama ordered.

"Yes, sir." Cooper ducked his head down and took his place behind his father.

Cooper's father shook his head as he resumed the march. "This is not the first time you have broken rank."

"I know." Cooper said. "I just had a song in my heart that I had to get out! I had a beat so I moved my feet!"

"We do not move our feet to the beat." Cooper's father snapped.

Cooper ducked his head down again, his ears drooping. "Okay."

"My son, how can I expect you to lead this herd effectively when you can't even follow simple directions?" Cooper's father chided.

"I'm sorry, Dad." Cooper said.

"You say you're sorry but you don't mean it." Cooper's father scolded. "Otherwise you wouldn't keep doing it."

"I just can't help it." Cooper protested.

"You had better learn." Cooper's father snapped.

Cooper didn't say anything else and stared at the ground as they kept marching. He never had a great relationship with his father. After his mother died from Zina's attack, Cooper lost his only defense against his father's verbal and oftentimes physical abuse.

I just want to be me. Is that so wrong? Cooper thought.


Once Branch got over the mishap with the tree, he headed off to find the flozznap. Long neck. Rubbery legs. Hair all twisted and tangled. That's what Suki told him. He just had to keep looking. He made a mental checklist of everything Rosiepuff taught him so far about hunting. Search for tracks or signs of the animal. Follow their scents. Branch hadn't received many hunting lessons quite yet. He still wasn't old enough to really start hunting for the pack. But if he could make use of the tracking skills he already had, maybe he could find this flozznap and earn his place amongst his pack-mates.

Branch saw some paw prints in the dirt and crouched down so low he was almost lying face-down on the forest floor. He sniffed the paw prints, catching the scent of the creature. When he couldn't catch the scent well enough, he tried just analyzing the paw print. It looked almost like his own foot print. Branch looked around, and he spotted something sticking to the bark of a nearby tree. He plucked some bring pink hairs from the bark.

"Where'd these come from?" Branch murmured. Suddenly, a twig snapped nearby, and Branch dove behind a large rock to hide. He climbed up to peer over the top of the rock as a creature emerged from the bushes.

Wait, no, it was dancing out of the bushes. And singing.

Branch watched the creature move. It had a roundish body and a long neck, with pink fur and dark pink stripes on its neck. It also wore a green hat, and had blue legs and blue hair that looked all tangled.

Long neck. Twisted and tangled hair. Branch watched the creature dance. Its movement was quite limber and crazy. Rubbery legs. That must be the flozznap! Branch followed the flozznap as it kept moving. He stalked the creature to a small creek, where it paused to take a drink. Branch crouched down in the bushes. Thankfully, Rosiepuff taught him about pouncing already. His muscles tensed up, and he prepared to lunge forward. He remained silent and still for a moment.

With a mighty pounce, Branch lunged forward and tackled the flozznap. Except the force of his pounce sent both him and the pink creature into the creek. The two of them sputtered and coughed as they surfaced, and Branch quickly jumped on the creature's back and hugged its neck.

"Gotcha!" Branch cheered.

"Don't eat me!" the creature yelped.

Branch quickly released the creature, still sitting on its back. "I'm not."

"You aren't?" The creature suddenly bucked Branch off his back, tossing the pup onto the shore. "Then why were you stalking me?"

"I'm sorry. I had to catch a flozznap to prove to my pack-mates that I can hang out with them." Branch said, shaking himself to get rid of the water.

The creature hopped out of the creek and shook himself too. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but I'm not a flozznap. I'm a llama."

"Oh." Branch rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry. I'm getting the feeling my pack-mates sent me on a wild goose chase."

"Pack-mates. So you're a wolf-troll." The llama guessed. "No wonder you could sneak up on me so easily. You got the makings of a good hunter."

Branch grinned. "Thanks. Of course, I didn't want to hurt you. I was going to let you go after I showed my friends that I could find and catch you."

"I appreciate that you didn't want to eat me." The creature laughed. "My name's Cooper."

"I'm Branch." Branch introduced. "Nice to meet you."

"Pleasure's mine." Cooper nodded. "When I left to search for dangers, I didn't think I'd find a friendly wolf-troll pup."

"What do you mean?" Branch asked.

"Well, you guys are predators, aren't you?" Cooper said.

"I guess." Branch bobbed his head. "But we've never hunted llamas. At least I've never seen us hunt llamas."

"Whew." Cooper sighed in relief. "That's good to know."

"Yeah, I don't think I could hunt you after this." Branch said. "You're pretty cool. And your singing and those dance moves were awesome!"

"Thanks!" Cooper said, his chest puffing up with pride. "You sing very much?"

"I love to sing. My entire pack does." Branch said. "You and my friend Suki would get along well."

Cooper grinned broadly. For the first time, someone actually recognized—no, praised his musical talents. "So your pack-mates sent you on a wild goose chase, huh?" Cooper said.

"They wanted me to prove to them that I was cool enough to hang out with them." Branch sighed. "Guess I really made a fool out of myself, huh?"

Cooper developed a mischievous smile. "Maybe not."