Branch wakes up to Poppy groaning in pain. He knew it was only a matter of time before he would hear it and he is prepared and ready to help.

Heading over to his girlfriends sleeping bag he gently picks her up and brings her over to his bed and covers her up it's better to lay on something soft for when your in pain.

"Thanks Branch" Poppy says trying to smile at him before groaning. He heads over and gets the ice pack along with some berries and herbs that help reduce pain. Mixing them together he makes a mixture for her to drink.

"Here drink this it will help ease the pain" He says holding out a spoon for her to drink from. She smells it and grimaces. "Ugh why does it have to smell like that?" She grimaces before quickly swallowing it but it was obvious it tasted horrible. 

He goes over and grabs the ice packs he had prepared and lays them on her legs,she jolts a bit from the cold at first but soon relaxes. "Thanks Branch really I mean it"  She says giving her signature overbite that he loves and her fangs make him love her even more even though he though that wasn't possible but then again you can never love someone too much.

"I'm going back to sleep haven't been able to sleep well for a couple hours" Poppy says turning over in her bed. "I will be close by if you need me just call alright?" He says and she nods before closing her eyes and he quietly leaves the room.

He has around until lunch before the claws come in if his math is right so he needs to prepare. He could make that soup again it's simple but tasty and good for a person who can't exactly leave their bed at the moment.

Nodding he heads to his kitchen and begins to make himself some breakfast along with prepping the ingredients for the soup. He has himself a simple breakfast. After filling himself up he puts the ingredients in the pot and sets it to slow simmer to really bring out the flavor and so it would be ready near lunch.

After finishing up and cleaning up the mess he suddenly comes to a realization. Since waking up nothing hurts. Nothing felt weird well other than having a new appendage in the form of a tail but not like how it was yesterday. He felt completely fine.

"Is......is the transformation complete?" He asks himself. Giving himself a onceover maybe two or three times more just to be safe he was the same as he was as when he went to bed last night. No other new appendages, no pains,no aches nothing.

He wants to laugh,it's over this utter nightmare of a week is over. That means after today Poppy only has one more stage and then she is done. She can finally leave his bunker becuase he knows what she is like when stuck in one place for too long it's just not in her nature unlike him.

He just wonders how the other trolls are going to react to them. He knows he is probably overthinking and they are some of the most accepting trolls out there but still there is always that little thought in the back of his mind, if they could forgive and accept the bergens they can accept him.....hopefully.

Shaking his head and ridding himself of those thoughts for now he decides on what to do while waiting for the soup to finish cooking. He could hear Poppy was still asleep and wasn't in pain at the moment so that's good any second where she isn't in pain is good.

He let's his mind wonder on what to do when one rears its head. When he went out the other day he tried walking,well standing on all fours and when he did he remembered it felt wrong almost like something was missing. Maybe now since this transformation seems to be complete maybe he can try again.

Looking at his paws,his new legs and his tail he sighs and first tried the same position he did when he went out. To his surprise it felt.... good, better than last time because of the pawpads on his feet. He begins to walk a bit and to his surprise he felt fine,nothing set wrong or missing like last time.  His tail swaying as he walked as if to help him keep his balance.

To be honest he sort of....liked walking like this....he really hopes this isn't just some sort of instinct that was telling him this.

He still preffered to walk on 2 legs but he might start doing this when he is alone,or out scavenging or collecting stuff for his bunker. Getting back up he  decides to head to his bathroom. He needs to take a look at himself again.

Heading to the bathroom he closes his eyes before reopening them as he takes in his reflection. He looks himself again in the mirror taking a good long look at himself. He places a paw on the mirror and smiles.Even with all of his new features you could easily tell it was him. He wasn't unrecognizable like he thought he was going to be.

Despite everything that happened he was still himself.

After taking one last look at himself he heads out. He decides to finish working on the book now that the transformation is seemingly complete.   Grabbing it he takes a seat on his couch only to wince as he sat on his tail. "Right have to get used to this thing,that means I can't sit the way I used to anymore" He complains as be adjusts himself,this tail was going to take some getting used to.

As if knowing that he was complaining the tail thumps on the couch. Glaring at his tail he gets back to writing. Now that he has all his data he can really get to work. He is at it for a few hours up until near lunchtime. Just enough time to give Poppy her lunch and then prepare for her claws to come in.

He decides to put away the book in a drawer near his workbench and head back to the kitchen. The soup is just about done so he decides to go check on Poppy and he can tell that she is starting to wake up. 

"Hey Poppy how are you doing?" He asks even though he knows she is pain it's still good to ask. "Hurting but I'm doing alright for now,though I can tell its almost time for these claws to come out I just want them out already " She complains to him.

He places his paw in hers "Don't worry it's almost time until then how about I get you some soup? I made more of the one we had a few days ago" he suggests and she nods happily as she really did enjoy it.

Going to the kitchen real quick he quickly returns with a bowl of hot soup and it smells absolutely delicious. "Mmmmm that smells so good" Poppy says as she takes the bowl from him. His tail wags at the compliment but he ignores it. "You know Poppy I can feed you if you need me to,not that you aren't capable I'm just offering!" He says trying to explain himself.

She just laughs at her boyfriend being his usual self  "Its ok Branch I understand what you mean. I'm fine for now really but thank you for offering" She says happily enjoying her soup.

"So I got some good news for us after your tail grows in I am 99.9 percent sure that will be the final stage after that it will be complete" He says excited. She looks up at him her eyes gleeful "Really? Are you sure?! She asks hopeful she has been getting just a bit stir crazy and she can't wait to get outside to see her friends again. She has no idea how Branch stayed in his bunker so much but then again she didn't go through what he went through when he was younger.

"Yep pretty sure I checked myself over and nothing hurts, nothing new is growing, nothing feels weird, I feel completely fine" He says gesturing to himself.   "Alright! Only one more day to go and then we are out of here!" Poppy exclaims excited she wishes she could get up and express herself more but she knows better than to do that with the current state of her legs.

"Yep its almost over" Branch says having gotten over his excitement a while ago but is still happy for his girlfriend.  She soon finished the soup but doesn't ask for seconds she doesn't want to loose her lunch on accident when her claws come in. She certainly lost hers when she saw......it happening so she wants to be safe.

Branch takes the empty bowl back to the kitchen when his ears shoot up in alarm as he hears Poppys breath hitches and he quickly runs back to his room almost running on all fours as he makes it back quickly.

"Are you ok Poppy are your claws coming out?!" He frantically asks. "No but it's just about time I can feel it" She says wincing. He  nods and grabs the paper towels ready at a moments notice. She chuckles at how attentive he is being right now,how did she get so lucky? She asks herself that all the time.

While waiting the two decide to play some card games to pass the time but not long into the second game her breath hitches as she yelps in pain. "Its time!" She yells as she grabs her scratching board gripping it tightly with her claws.

Branch nods and gently pulls back the overs and right before his very eyes in a matter of seconds small white claws rip out of the slits that were on her paws dripping with blood.  Quickly he cleans them off and they quickly retract back into her feet. While cleaning he sees that her feet are close to being the same shade of pink as her paws.

"There we go it's done" He tells her and she sighs. The easy one was done now they wait for the part they were dreading the most. "Wow that hurt alot, I can only imagine what's coming next" Poppy says slightly panting from the pain. "Yeah there is no true way I can describe it it was just pure pain for me agonizing pain" Branch winces at the memory of it and the sounds of his screams.....he didn't even know he could scream that loud.

"So what do you want to do now? Do you want to finish playing out game or....." Branch trails off awkwardly.  "Hmmm oooh how about we finish our game and then I can go back to my scrapbook! I'm almost done I'm on the last chapter" She tells him but he just looks concerned.

"Are you sure your up to scrapbook with....you know this?" He gestures to her legs. "Yep don't worry I will stop when it gets to be too much" She explains but that didn't lessen his concerns much but relents and gives her the scrapbook along with the materials.

She goes to show him what she has done so far and he has to admit that it looks good and not overly violent. Like with the fangs stage she made it to where your teeth just comically fall out not mentioning pain at all and there isn't any blood to be seen.  She doesn't show anything violent with the claws and just that they grew from your paws and she even managed to make the leg transformation not as bad.

For the next few hours she continues to scrapbook as he watches beside her content to just watch her do the thing she loves to do. His tail swaying in happiness at the tranquillity of the scene he even purred a few times when she pets one of his ears every once in a while.

Though he could tell the pain was getting to her as her wincing became more and more frequent,she would take longer breaks before going back but before long she can't scrapbook anymore and has to stop. He quickly puts away the materials and turns back to Poppy who is panting more often. It was almost time,his heart is pounding like absolute crazy at the moment. Quadruple checking making sure everything is ready for the inevitable.

He keeps pacing back and forth as he continues to rub his hands together, it was his sort of nervous habit as his tail keeps twitching showing just how concerned he was getting. "Branch" Poppy calls for him and he has never run so fast. "Is it time?! I will get the-" "No no it's not that" She tells him stopping him in his tracks as he tilts his head confused.

"Branch it's ok you went through this remember? We know what to prepare for we have everything we need right here we just need to be patient and wait that's all we can do"  She says gently grabbing his paw and he nods.

He sits beside her and the intervals between her groans and winces were getting shorter and shorter. "Branch I think it's time we use that gag before it's too late" Poppy says before yelping. He nods and quickly gravity and wraps it around her mouth as she bites down. She gives a muffled thank you before turning her head sideways wincing again.

It's almost time he can feel it in his bones. He hands her the scratching board and she quickly begins to scratch at it trying to release some of the stress she is having right now.

With nothing to do but what he lays his head on the bed beside her she tries to stroke his hair but every minute or so she winces and when she does ends up grabbing his hair on accident. Only maybe a half hour passes before he hears her breath hitch as her grip on her scratching board tightens so hard he thinks its going to break, and begins to scream.

Even through the makeshift gag it was still pretty loud. Twisting and turning her head like crazy as she continues to scream as tears come out of her eyes. He can't stand seeing his girlfriend in such pain but it has to happen and there's nothing he can do to help.

*Crack*

*Snap*

*Pop*

*Crunch*

His ears pin back against his head. When he heard it it wasn't as loud due to his screaming but here he can hear it in all of its horrifying glory. Gulping at what he was about to see he lifts the covers and stares.

Just like what happened to him he witnesses Poppy's legs rearrange themselves and change shape all the while making those sounds. He has no idea how Poppy didn't pass out seeing this. He wants to throw up he really does but he can't he needs to be here for her.

After what seems like forever when in reality it was only 2 minutes her legs finally become the same digigrade shape as his and the sounds stop as does Poppy's screaming.

Going over to her he removes the gag from her "Is it.....finally.....over?" She asks while panting hard. "Yep its done no more pain the worst part is over" He reassures her and she smiles before soon falling asleep from the stress and adrenaline.

Now that the worst part is over he removes everything he had put in here for this situation and begins to put them away. All the while doing that he has to agree with Poppy. He doesn't know if he will ever be able to froget what he witnessed let alone heard.

He manages to hold in his lunch thankfully but only barely. He surely hopes nobody else eats that fruit,he doesn't want to wish that upon any troll. Shaking his head after making sure was back to its proper place he heads back into his room and he is going to have her leep in his bed tonight, she needs it and he can go one day without his bed besides he can just use her sleeping bag.

Quickly doing his nightly routine he turns off the light and lays down in her sleeping bag.

'One more day and then it's all over no more pain' with that final thought he falls asleep.

I did the stages of branchs transformation