Saturday night, 8:29. Onyx and Ophelia had both met with Branch at the large oak tree in Misty Meadows the other night, and he gave them a list of meeting dates and times, all at the bunker. This was to be the first meeting. When the royal Goth siblings arrived at the destination, however, they were surprised to see that Gust, Synth, and Laguna were also there.

  "What are all of you doing here?" Onyx asked, to which Gust answered, "Branch told me to come here."

  "Yo, he told you that too?" Synth exclaimed in surprise, following by Laguna asking, "Was it at the large oak tree down in Misty Meadows?"

  Gust nodded his head, as did Onyx and Ophelia, with the young Goth princess saying, "Well, we'd best not keep him waiting," to which the other four Trolls agreed as they all went down into the bunker.

  Inside, they were all greeted by the Giver, who began the meeting by saying in a rough, deep voice, "Welcome, fellow Trolls."

  Before this mysterious introduction could continue, Synth piped up with this: "What up, Dubstep?"

  This immediately left the girls shocked, Onyx and Gust stunned, and Branch groaning as he removed his hood and shades. "Anyway," Branch said, trying to set that awkward moment aside, "I'm sure I've spoken with every one of you about why I need your help."

  "It involves the Pop tribe tradition of the Giver delivering gifts all across the village every harvest moon, yes?" Laguna asked, to which Branch promptly answered, "Yes. However, with the formation of Trollstopia, there are so many more Trolls to gift, and who knows how many of them will join the investigation for the Giver's identity?"

  "I reckon Holly Darlin' sure might," Gust replied, causing Onyx and Ophelia to shudder, with Ophelia adding, "I still remember when Onyx gave her a new set of hand-crafted tap shoes for her birthday."

~~~Flashback (Narrated by Gust and Onyx)~~~

  Onyx: I kept the plan nice and simple- Ophelia was to distract Holly with some "girl time" while I slipped the present into her house.

While Holly and Ophelia were both heading to the spa, Onyx sneaked over to Holly's house and discreetly slipped his gift in before dashing off... with Gust having witnessed.

Gust: Gotta tell ya, it was an awfully effective plan. Just mighta worked... if Holly hadn't identified his handwritin' on the gift tag.

Holly calmly trotted into her house and was stunned by what she saw on her bed: a light-orange box wrapped in a light lemon-colored ribbon, with a small crystal daisy centering the bow. As the Country ambassador approached her bed, she picked up the box and read the tag, which just said "To one darling Country Troll."

Onyx: The very next day...

  Up in the tree-cottage at the top of Goth Wood, Onyx was trying to write a poem when all of a sudden, he heard a knock on the door. Ophelia was off at Poppy's pod for Scrapbooking Club, so Onyx went up to get the door. When he opened it, however, he saw Holly glaring at him. In a swift rush of panic, he quickly tried to close and bar the door, only for those plans to be dashed by the stronger four-legged Troll holding it open.

"So, ya thought you could sneak a gift past me, did ya?" Holly asked before pulling a midnight-blue and black present out of her big, beautiful hair, "Well, now you're about to get exactly what you've given: a gift that is hand-crafted, thoughtful, and beautifully wrapped!"

~~~End of Flashback~~~

By the time Onyx had finished retelling the memory, he was whimpering in a fetal position on the floor, with Ophelia comforting him. Branch went up to his shy Goth friend and said, "Onyx, I know just how you feel. Believe it or not, I've tried the same thing."

"Really?" Onyx asked as he peeked his head out to Branch, to which Laguna replied, "I do recall. I believe it was to help Holly cope with Cloud Guy's harassment."

"Correct," Branch responded, "to elaborate, he'd started causing windy lightning storms just to ruin Holly's hair."

"So that's why her 'do kept comin' out tousled and fried six ways from Sunday," Gust commented, to which Branch nodded.

~~~Flashback (Narrated by Branch)~~~

  Branch: To remedy this dilemma, I decided to build a special umbrella to protect her.

  Branch was deep in his bunker, with Shelliot giving him tools and materials. Eventually, the survivalist removed a tarp to reveal his creation: a windproof umbrella that was gold at the ribs and down the shaft, ending at the bronze handle ring that separated it from the rubber handle that was the same color as Holly's hair, all covered by a canopy clearly designed after Branch's "perfect pie," along with a lightning-rod tip that made the canopy look like a pie topped with a Flavor Berry. When struck, this rod would power a mechanism on the umbrella, causing the top part to light up and spin.

  That night, Branch left the umbrella right on Holly's doorstep with a note saying "Even if we can't get Cloud Guy to leave us alone, we've still gotta stick together.- UCACG".

  Branch: But then the next day...

  "You were right, Shelliot; getting ice cream cupcakes really is a great way to shell-ebrate our success," Branch and his pet turtle both chuckled at the pun as they were out walking, "ahh, we've earned this."

  Suddenly, they both heard the sound of galloping hooves and a familiar voice calling, "Branch!" before the blue-haired Pop Troll found himself spun into a vice-like hug.

~~~End of Flashback~~~

  "And I'm still trying to wash off all the lip gloss!" Branch added as he started to blush.

  "Well, we all know how much Holly values her big, beautiful hair," Gust began commenting, "and givin' her somethin' to protect it from gettin' ruined? Far as she was concerned, you were pretty much her hero."

  "More like her hair-o," Synth joked, prompting some giggles from Laguna.

  "But listen," Branch tried to rid himself of the now deep blush on his cheeks by turning his attention back to Onyx, "with our combined skills and sneakiness, plus help from our other friends, we could be unstoppable! So what do you say? You in?"

  The Pop Troll had his hand reached out to the brooding prince, who took it, got up, and asked, "What's the plan?"

  "Well," Branch began, "an important part of the gift-giving process is knowing exactly what to give each Troll, so how many of you are good listeners?"

  All of the invited Trolls promptly raised their hands in response... except for Synth, who was busy trying to pull a bucket off of Shelliot's head. "What?"

  "Four out of five," Branch commented, "good, good. Now, you four, particularly Gust and Laguna, are gonna have to closely listen in on other Trolls to best gather info on what they'd like to receive as a gift, as well as the alarm systems each tribe sets up for the Giver," to which Gust and Laguna both saluted.

  "What about me?" Synth asked, to which Branch replied, "You, Synth, will divert our targets' attention as our designated decoy boy."

  "'Decoy boy'? Okay, now you're just being cute on purpose," Onyx remarked, with Synth adding, "Yeah Dubstep, save some adorable for the rest of the team, bro."

  "Would you like for me to help wrap the gifts?" Ophelia asked, to which Branch answered, "Yes, I would greatly appreciate that, thank you. And now that roles have been assigned... let's get ready for some givin'."