A/N: A bit of a shorter chapter this time around, but another update will come tomorrow!
Cupcake – Three words back: Thanks a lot! :D
TAPDANCING GIRAF – Actually, I do plan to explain Cooper's origins some more in Flame of Happiness Part 3. Keep an eye out!
Chapter Ten – Lost in the Fog
Traveling the Hyacinth Highway made the journey much easier, and Peppy and Rosiepuff covered a lot of ground. When Cooper announced they were approaching their stop, Peppy was thrilled. He was so much closer to finding his daughter. He just had to do one thing before he parted ways with Cooper.
"Okay, lean in close!" a butterfly said, armed with a camera. "Say 'cupcake'!"
"Cupcake!" Cooper, Peppy, Harper, and Rosiepuff said as the butterfly took their picture. The butterfly handed the camera and photo back to Peppy.
"Thanks." Peppy said. "My daughter will love this."
"I can't wait to meet her!" Cooper said. The quartet now rode on a turtle swimming in the river. According to Harper, they would reach their exit soon. The two trolls had their clothes cleaned while traveling, and they were ready to go.
"Dad and I will wait here until you get back, and we'll lead you back up the Hyacinth Highway and towards home." Harper said.
"We're very thankful." Peppy said.
"Yes, I don't think we would've even survived to get this far without you." Rosiepuff agreed.
Cooper looked around. "Your exit's coming up! Get ready!" He led Rosiepuff and Peppy to a small log, the length of a piece of firewood, floating beside the turtle. They and Harper climbed on, and Cooper steered them into a channel that flowed from the main line of the river.
"Now for your instruction on proper exiting technique." Harper said to Peppy and Rosiepuff. "You just have to hang on tight, let your body flow with the movement of the rapids, and scream like a crazy person all the way down!"
"Wait, rapids? Down?" Peppy asked. "What do you mean?"
"See you when you get back!" Cooper and Harper jumped off the log and onto the shore, waving to Rosiepuff and Peppy as they floated away.
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Peppy called. "Say that first part again!"
"When you get to the pool at the bottom, find the bramble bushes and then go straight through them to get to Bergen Town!" Cooper called.
"What bushes?" Peppy asked.
"Uh, Peppy?" Rosiepuff piped up. Peppy looked ahead, and his eyes widened at the sight of the whitewater rapids.
"Hang on!" Peppy and Rosiepuff hugged the log just as it was swept away into the current. The rapids tossed them up and down, and they went underwater several times. But they held on tight and didn't let go for anything. Thankfully for them, it was a quick ride through the rapids and down a short waterfall. They landed in a calm pool of water, and the log they rode drifted to the shore.
Rosiepuff laughed gleefully. "That was fun, huh?"
Peppy chuckled. "Actually, yes! I really did enjoy that!" The two of them continued to laugh as they pulled themselves onto solid ground and wrung out their hair and clothes as best they could.
Rosiepuff looked up and gasped. "Oh my." Peppy followed her gaze. Before them lay the bramble bushes Cooper mentioned. But this part of the forest was shrouded in a thick morning fog. "I guess we have to go through that." Rosiepuff said.
"Yep." Peppy nodded.
"Gristle Sr., 114 Glitter Avenue, Bergen Town."
"Yes. We'll just keep going straight."
Peppy led the way. The two trolls carefully crawled through the thorny shrubs and emerged on the other side to see even more fog and shadows of trees. Still, they kept walking. The walk was silent as the two trolls scanned the area, just in case something came from the fog. The trees became sparser, and sometimes disappeared altogether. It was oddly quiet. Surely the animals of the forest wouldn't still be asleep at this time of the morning. Then again, maybe everyone stayed in their homes until the fog lifted. Peppy and Rosiepuff couldn't tell what time it was due to the thick fog. They did know that they walked for a long time and didn't see anything.
"Should we play a game?" Rosiepuff asked. "Help pass the time?"
"No, maybe not." Peppy said. "My nerves are a little too frayed for that."
"Okay. How about we sing a song?" Rosiepuff suggested.
"We don't want to draw attention to ourselves." Peppy said.
Rosiepuff huffed and muttered sarcastically, "Well, aren't we a barrel of fun?"
Peppy chuckled softly. They kept walking. As they did, Peppy noticed Rosiepuff seemed a little more lucid, more focused. She even remembered his name and their mission, something that had been kind of on and off throughout the trip. Peppy shrugged off those musings and focused on finding his daughter.
However, two hours later, the trolls seemed even more lost.
"Okay, wait." Peppy said. "I know I've seen that pebble before. That means we passed it before which means we're going in circles which means we're not going straight which means we're lost and that means—"
"Peppy!" Rosiepuff grabbed Peppy by the shoulders and shook him a little. "Take a deep breath and calm down."
Peppy reluctantly inhaled through his nose and let out the breath through his mouth. "Okay. I'm calm. It's all good."
"That's right." Rosiepuff said. "We'll be fine. Instead of freaking out over being lost in a fog, why don't we find a tree or a hole or something and just relax until it blows over?"
"But we have to find Poppy sooner rather than later." Peppy said.
"Well, then let's ask for directions." Rosiepuff suggested.
Peppy gave her a deadpan look. "Who do you want to ask? The pebble? There's no one out here!"
"I'm sure there's somebody out here. It's not like we're the only two trolls in the whole forest." Rosiepuff looked around. "Let's see…..we can ask…..oh!" She pointed into the fog, and Peppy noticed a shadowy, round creature. "Let's ask that fella!"
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Peppy stopped her. "Rosiepuff, we have no idea who or what that is. We ask it for directions, and it might swallow us whole!"
"You're acting paranoid." Rosiepuff said.
"But we have no idea—"
"Do you want to find your daughter or not?"
"I do, but—"
"Well, how are you going to do that if we don't ask for a little help?"
Peppy still looked unsure. "Rose, I just think—"
"Come on. Trust me." Rosiepuff said.
Those words sparked a memory in Peppy. He glanced to Rosiepuff's bandaged shoulder and arm. The last time he didn't trust Rosiepuff, she was nearly killed. What if something similar happened because he didn't listen this time? He sighed. "Okay. Fine."
Rosiepuff stepped a little closer to the shadow. "Excuse me? Hello there!" She called. "His daughter Tulip—"
"Poppy." Peppy corrected.
"Right, Poppy, was taken to Bergen Town!" Rosiepuff called to the creature. "We're a little lost. Do you think you can help us?" The shadowy creature didn't move at first. "It's okay, we won't hurt you. Come on out, little fella."
Peppy suddenly realized something. The trees only looked shadowy when they were farther away from them. They also looked smaller. So if this creature looked small and shadowy…. "Rosiepuff, I don't think he's a little fella."
Sure enough, some of the fog cleared so that the trolls could see they talked to a small hill monster. "Oh! Oh, a hill monster." Rosiepuff said. "And a cute one!"
"Run for it!" Peppy grabbed Rosiepuff's wrist to pull her along, but Rosiepuff dug her heels into the ground.
"Hey, take it easy." Rosiepuff said. "Maybe he can still help us."
"Or eat us for lunch!" Peppy said.
"Would you stop freaking out?"
"We need to run!"
"I thought you wanted to get out of here?"
"I want to get as far away from that monster as possible!"
"Just because they're called 'hill monsters' doesn't mean they're actually monsters."
"Why can't you just listen to me for once?!"
Suddenly, Peppy and Rosiepuff realized they stood in something's shadow. They looked up to see the hill monster had approached them and now stood just a short distance away. In fact, it opened its mouth and shot its tongue out at them.
"Look out!" Peppy pushed Rosiepuff aside, and the hill monster tongue wrapped around his leg. Rosiepuff lunged back towards him and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him free. But the hill monster tongue plucked both of them off the ground and pulled them into its mouth, where darkness enveloped them.
Back in the tank, the trolls did their best to stay warm until Gristle Sr. and Jr. returned from their weekend trip. The tank had definitely cooled in that time. Randy did a good job dirtying up the windows, so no sunlight could warm up the tank. Without the heater and with the AC blasting, life in the trolls' tank had gotten harder.
"Nice and chilly. It's all thanks to you, Princess." Branch said, breathing warm air into his hand.
"Glad I could help." Poppy said.
Branch noticed something. "Satin, Chenille, we need to use those blankets for warmth! You can't use them to make fancy coats!"
"Sorry." The twins chorused.
Poppy giggled. Everyone did their best to live with the situation, though Biggie kept Mr. Dinkles wrapped in a blanket like a baby. Poppy's fingers and toes felt cold, but she could live with it as long as it got her home.
Branch called everyone together at lunch on Sunday. "Okay, guys! This is it! Gristle Jr. and his dad are coming home today. All you have to do with act sluggish. Don't oversell the chill. We're not exactly dying of hypothermia yet. Now go!" The Tank Trolls got to work, trying to portray just how cold they were without being over-the-top.
After another hour, the doorknob twitched as Gristle Sr. unlocked the door. Lucifer barked and bounded over to the door.
"Hey there, Lucy!" Gristle Jr. greeted, rubbing the watchdog's ears. "Geez, Dad, it's freezing in here."
"Well, I didn't want to animals to overheat." Gristle Sr. said. "That's why we put in heaters in the enclosures. If the animals get cold, they huddle up. But it's hard for an animal to deal with excessive heat. Makes them limp, you know?"
Gristle Jr. nodded in understanding. He jogged to the troll tank. "Hey guys! Did you miss me?" He gasped. "Hey Dad! I think something's wrong with the trolls!"
Gristle Sr. walked over and was surprised to see the trolls in the tank looking stiff and lethargic. Gristle Sr. looked over the tank, and he saw the cord to the heater ripped right off the tank. "Oh dear. I think Lucy might've gotten excited by something. And look at that window! Darn kids again."
"It's a good thing you're a good watchdog, Lucifer." Gristle Jr. sighed. He opened the tank and carefully scooped out Creek. "Poor little guys. They're cold to the touch."
"Unfortunately, the supplies shop is closed today." Gristle Sr. said. "Why don't you put a heating pad in the tank so they can warm up? I'll go get a new heater for the tank tomorrow morning."
"Okay, will do." Gristle Jr. said. "I think I'll clean their tank tomorrow, too. It looks like it could use a little TLC." Gristle Jr. placed Creek back in the tank and shut the lid. "Where'd you put the wire cages, Dad? I want to make sure they don't get into any trouble, running around the store."
The trolls waited until Gristle and his father were out of sight, and they cheered. "You hear that, Princess?" Branch laughed.
"He's going to clean the tank! He's going to clean the tank!" Poppy cheered. "We're getting out of here!"
"Yay Poppy!" Biggie cheered. The rest of the Tank Trolls echoed him. Soon, Gristle Jr. arrived with the heating pad, which he plugged into an extension cord so it could reach the outlet. The Tank Trolls curled up onto the heated pad, relishing in the heat and warming their toes and fingers. Poppy hadn't stopped smiling.
Branch patted Poppy on the shoulder. "Well done, Princess. You ready to see your father?"
"You bet!" Poppy nodded.
Branch chuckled. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he's out on the edge of Bergen Town right now, waiting for you."
After everything that Poppy heard about her father's journey, she didn't doubt that for a second.