Poppy and Sora joined Donald, Goofy and Branch outside Rhonda. "Everything okay?" Branch checked, putting a comforting hand on Poppy's shoulder. Poppy nodded, smiling. "Yeah, thanks." Branch smiled, nodded, then helped her inside the Armadillo Bus.
"Hey, what's this?" Sora asked, pointing at the symbol on the wall, outside the Bergen golf park. The symbol is a child sitting on a crescent moon, with a fishing rod hanging over the side. "Do ya suppose that's a Lucky Emblem?" Donald asked.
"I don't know," Donald said, getting closer to it, touching it with his hand. It's carved into the wall, like most of the Lucky Emblems Sora found. "It feels like one, but..." Donald continued before his voice drowned out.
"But, what?" Sora asked.
"It's not King Mickey's head," Donald finished.
"True," Sora said. "But I feel like it could be? I don't know. How about we try and find out?"
Neither Donald or Goofy had any objections so Sora pulled out his Gummi Phone and turned it into selfie mode. He lined the camera up with the symbol until the blue square, the one that usually appears around Lucky Emblems, popped up. "Hey, look!" Sora exclaimed, pointing at the camera. "The box!"
"It must be a Lucky Emblem then!" Goofy cheered.
"I guess it's a Lucky Emblem for this world," Donald said. "The fact it looks different definitely means this world belongs somewhere else."
"Either way, I should snap a picture of it," Sora said. "Who knows, it might count at the end."
Sora pointed at the emblem, his hand coming up from the bottom, and snapped the picture. The picture went straight to a folder on his Gummi Phone, right where the other Lucky Emblems are, except it created a new file, titled 'Mount Rageous.'
Sora smiled at it, then pocketed his phone. Sora joined the rest of the Trolls inside of Rhonda. "There he is!" Bruce said.
"Now we can hit the road!" Tiny cheered.
Bruce started Rhonda up. Rhonda purred happily, then started driving towards their final destination: Mount Rageous. After about an hour of driving, John told Bruce to let Tiny drive. Tiny was more than thrilled to drive again. Bruce questioned it before both Branch and Poppy told him Tiny can drive. Poppy corrected him and told Bruce the name on his fake license.
"Adulty McManface?" Bruce asked, chuckling. "Well, alright then." Bruce put Tiny in the seat, and pulled out the center wheel again for him, then walked into the back with John. There he has a set up prepared, with white clothes for his brothers, including Floyd, and puffer jackets for all of them, except Branch, Goofy and Donald. "Here, put these on," John said to Branch, handing him a small white square and a pair of white sunglasses with purple lenses.
Branch turned it around, scared of what it could be. His fear was proven correct as he unfolded a large diaper. "Is this really necessary?" Branch cried, holding the sunglasses up at him.
"Yes," John replied starkly. "If we need to do the Perfect Family Harmony, we need to recreate the time we had it."
"You mean the time YOU messed up and we broke up and never talked again?" Branch asked sarcastically. "That time?"
John stared at him. "Just put it on, Bitty B." Branch growled and put the sunglasses on. "Fine! And stop calling me that!"
Branch walked to a different part of Rhonda and pulled his hair down, over himself, so he could change in peace. John nodded and handed the rest of them their white clothes and puffer jackets.
He handed Sora and Poppy their puffer jackets after. Sora held his up to Donald and Goofy. It's red, to match his hair. Poppy's is pink. Sora pulled his jacket off, folded it, put it on the couch behind him, and put the puffer jacket on. He pulled his necklace out afterwards. "Well?" Sora asked. "What do you think?"
"I think it suits you!" Goofy replied.
"I think it looks big," Donald said.
Donald is right. The jacket is a little further down than the size his jackets have shrunken to in past visits, and his current visit, but its not too much bigger, and not much of a problem. "I think it feels funny," Sora said, feeling the sides of the jacket. "It's so...puffy."
"That's why it's called a puffer jacket!" Poppy replied. "I like it! I think it looks cute!"
"Mine or yours?" Sora checked. Poppy looked at hers. "Both!"
Shortly later, all the Troll regrouped. John is wearing white pants, along with the rest of them, except Clay, who has white wrist bands and a jumpsuit, and jackets that all match their hair colors. Branch came out of his hair, angry, and flustered. John made him wear a large diaper, with an even larger pin, and his old sunglasses, in a much bigger size. "I hate you," Branch growled darkly.
"You'll get over it," John said, waving his arm.
Branch joined his brothers by the couch, along with Sora, Poppy, Donald and Goofy. "Okay, it's time to practice the Perfect Family Harmony," John said. "Let's do Perfect."
"Perfect?" Clay asked. "Really, man?"
"That's the one that broke us up, John!" Bruce cried.
"Hey, I know," John said, crossing his arms, "but if we ALMOST had it that time, if we recreate it, without us breaking up, then we should get it!"
"I don't like that logic," Donald said.
"Oh, come on, believe me!" John said. "It'll be fine!"
The entire group, except for John, who seemed proud of himself, gave each other the same, concerned look, then back to John. "Oh, alright," Sora said. "But I don't like it."
John pointed them all to where they should stand, Branch in the middle, and John all the way on the left side, Poppy and Sora in between Clay and Branch, and then started the song.
"Ba da, ba, ba da. Ba, ba da. Ba, ba da."
"BroZone," Clay whispered.
"Ba da. Ba, ba da. Ba, ba da. Ba, ba da. Well, there she goes, on the floor let's do this, no more talking."
"Did anybody notice," Bruce sang, "the energy just shifted when we dropped in?"
"Ooh, let it drop in," Clay sang.
"I don't flex, but I might," John continued. "Groove about to take flight. 'Cause the night is young and the music's on, and we got love on sight."
"And the sky was the limit," Branch sang. "The star's where we're heading. It's the vibe that we bring in, it'll blow your mind."
"It's so perfect, perfect, perfect," they all sang, including Poppy. "Put us together you know what you get." The group started glowing in orange, yellow, and a bright blue. The began floating just a little bit. "It's so perfect, perfect, perfect. Harmony's so cold, an you'll never, ever want to let it go." The last note was held down a little longer. The group wobbled and fell. The glowing dissipated.
"This is it, John!" Clay yelled. "You're trying to take charge again!"
"Well, yeah," John said, putting his hand on his hip, "I am the leader, after all."
"Yeah, but the leader is supposed to lead!" Bruce cried. "You're just taking control!"
"Guys," Branch tried.
"At least I didn't leave when you messed up!" Clay cried.
"Yeah, you did!" Bruce replied.
"Not first!" Clay explained.
"Come on, Spruce!" John cried.
"Guys!" Branch tried with more force.
"It's Bruce!" Clay yelled, pointing at Bruce.
"Thank you, Clay!" Bruce replied.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Poppy looked at everyone who yelled. "It doesn't help much you aren't the Fun Boy anymore, Clay!" John cried.
"Hey, I have a PhD!" Clay exclaimed. He pointed at John. "Put some respect on my name fool!"
Branch pulled a paper out from his vest. He scanned it, through the yelling, then looked up. "Guys!" he yelled.
"Stay out of this, Branch!" John cried. "This isn't about you!"
"So that it, huh?" Branch yelled. "Even after twenty years, you guys are still treating me like a baby! Well, guess what? I grew up! I had to once you left! And then when grandma got eaten, that was then END of my childhood!" He threw his hand aside for emphasis. "And you guys can't see that, can you?" He looked at the brown parchment again, then balled it up. "Tiny, pull the bus over."
Tiny complied and instantly pulled it over. "Well, guess what?" Branch threw the balled up paper on the floor. "You guys walked out on me! But now, I'm walking out on you!" Branch turned quickly, then walked out of Rhonda's doors.
The Trolls watched as Branch stormed out. Poppy picked up the paper from the floor, and unbaled it. "This is Branch's Bunker." On the paper is a clear map of his bunker, with each room marked separately for each brother, Floyd having the room next to his. The center says, in child-like writing 'Ten Foot Waterslide for Showering.'
"He made this for you," Poppy finished.
Sora was silent. This wasn't good. How can siblings just NOT get along? How is it possible? Sora's always imagine a fantasy where he and his imagined brother got along and played games all day. Branch is right. The world isn't all cupcakes and rainbows. But this is bad. This is further, beyond bad. This is horrible.
Branch was just a baby. He didn't deserve to have his brothers, brothers he barely knew, walk out on him, without saying another word. He had his grandmother, sure, but that only lasted until he was five. Once he hit five, Branch turned to his survivalist instincts and decided to hide in the woods, by himself, so no one else he knew would pull away from him. That's why he refused to make connections. His brothers left him, all five of them, and his grandmother died protecting him, because he couldn't protect himself.
"What is wrong with you guys?" Sora cried. That made Donald flinch. He's heard Sora yell before, but it's not often. Even so, he never liked it. "How could you treat Branch like that? He didn't deserve what you guys did to him! He just wanted to sing with you, and you all had gone out and...LEFT him! None of you guys decided to come back and check if he was still alive! You guys just left him and didn't have another thought!"
Poppy moved away from Sora little bit, reaching her hand out to Sora, but pulled it away. Branch always told her that getting your anger out is helpful, and healthy for someone, but even so, she's never seen Sora yell. Sora got angry with Creek, but it's nowhere near as bad as now. She wanted to help him, but she wasn't sure if she should leave him alone, or stop him.
"Branch has been in the woods, for twenty years, by himself, without making a single connection to anyone because you guys left him behind! Without even telling him where you were going, or coming back for him! I can't believe you guys!"
Poppy put her hand on Sora's shoulder. That broke Sora out of his anger. He looked at her, his ears moving down a little, then turned back to Branch's brothers. He looked at Donald and Goofy, then back at Poppy, and sighed. "I'll just..." Sora said. He turned away from them and walked outside.
Poppy glared at Branch's brothers, then followed Sora out, Donald and Goofy following her. The brothers stayed silent for a while. "Wait, grandma got eaten?" Clay asked, breaking the silence.