"You smell like Cabbage"

"Seriously dude? That's your best line?" Riff asked his friend, Zap, who was whispering into the last Echo Bug, "Thrash said insulting things, he didn't specify what to say" Zap replied snarkily. Riff sighed and stuffed the Echo bug into a net, "Right, let's go" he said to Zap as he jumped into the basket of the balloon. "Remember we let these out all over the forest, eventually, Quincy and Essence will stumble upon them, confront each other and then it's Bye Bye Funk forever" Riff explained to Zap.

However, what Riff didn't know was that one Echo Bug had heard the entire conversation, now it had the message playing over and over again. The bugs sat quietly in the net as the balloon flew over to Troll forest.

------------------

"So you play Harmonica, huh?"

Cooper nodded, he and D went for a walk to get away from all the tension after yesterday. "It took me ages to get it right, you won't believe how hard it is" Cooper said, D laughed, "That's Hard? But it looks so easy", "That's the point, it's deceiving you" Cooper laughed along. D sighed happily as he heard the peaceful sound of the birds and bugs chittering in the trees, "Gosh this is just what I needed" he said, "I'm so glad you asked me to come out here"

"Hey it's the least I can do, I mean, I'm just glad we can catch up more now" Cooper smiled

D laughed, "Yeah, I'm glad too, after yesterday...geez I needed this"

"By the way, how are you feeling after that?"

"...I mean...a little better, Barb and I had a talk, she helped me get over it and-"

"Wait, you and Barb were talking?"

"Yeah! She's actually really nice once you get to know her"

"Wow, never expected that from her in a mile"

"Me neither, but here we are"

Cooper smiled as they continued walking until he noticed the sunlight disappear. "What the? It was so sunny this morning, where did the sun go?" Cooper asked, looking up seeing a dark shadow covering the sun.

--------

"Alright, we're here" Zap said, Riff chuckled as he grabbed a dagger and cut the net loose. "LET 'ER RIP!" He cried as the net fell and released all the Echo Bugs, once they all fluttered away, the ship moved out of the way as fast as it could and revealed the sunlight again. 

---------

Cooper blinked as the sun shone again, watching as several red bugs flew away. "...That was weird" Cooper said to himself, "What was?" D asked, but Cooper shook his head, "Nah it's nothing that big, come on, let's go."

As the two continued walking, Cooper noticed how quiet D had become, he had noticed from the short time of being with them that D had a knack for starting conversations so this sudden silence worried him. "Hey, you doing okay?" Cooper asked, D sighed in response, "No, I'm worried about Mom and Dad"

"Still worried?"

"Yes! Did you see how heated their argument got!? I'm telling you, one more fight and that's it they're done!"

"Oh, stop it D, you're overreacting, Mom and Dad love each other, and they love you. Parents just fight sometimes, it's not an uncommon thing, I saw it happen a few times before while I lived here, don't worry about i-"

"HOW DARE YOU!?"

Cooper and D turned their heads to the source of the female voice. Cooper looked around and tried to find out where the shout came from, as he peeked his head through some bushes he gasped at the sight of Quincy and Essence fighting once again, this time, their argument much more heated than before.

"I'M A BORE!? HOW DARE YOU!! I'VE BEEN NOTHING BUT LOYAL TO YOU FOR YEARS!!" Essence screamed at Quincy, who's face screwed up into a scowl, "LOYAL!? OH CAN I REMIND YOU OF YOUR LITTLE AFFAIR WITH LUKE?!" he screamed back.

"I NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR!"

"OH SURE YA DIDN'T! WHY DON'T YOU SPEND TIME WITH HIM INSTEAD SINCE I AM SEEMINGLY A 'FILTHY RAT' TO YOU!"

"I NEVER CALLED YOU THAT!! AND IF IT'S THAT HOW YOU WANT TO BE THEN FINE! MAYBE I'LL SPEND TIME WITH A MAN WHO APPRECIATES ME AND DOESN'T THINK I'M A BORE!!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I NEVER CALLED YOU A BORE!!"

"OH SURE YA DIDN'T!"

Cooper blinked as he tried to walk away but accidentally stood on D's toes, "OW!" the latter yelled, "SHHH!!" Cooper shushed. Surprised that for once it wasn't him being shushed. "Sorry, what's going on? Let me see" D whispered, trying to push past Cooper, but Cooper refused to move, "No no no, nothing important is happening, h-h-how about we...uh...we head to the village?" Cooper asked, D groaned and shoved Cooper out of the way, "Geez, you honestly sound like-" D froze as he looked out from the bushes and saw his parents arguing. 

"DON'T YOU TELL ME CALM DOWN!" Quincy yelled, Essence's face was flushed red from the yelling, "YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY INSANE!" she screamed back. Quincy screwed up his face, furiously and groaned, "You know what!? We're done!" Quincy said, turning away from Essence in a huff, "Oh Sure, go ahead, you say that all the time! You're honestly pathetic!" Essence said, rolling her eyes and turning away as well, mumbling some curses under her breath.

D began to walk backward, quickly breathing as he tried to process was what happening. "No...no no no no no, i-i-it...i-i-it can't...be..." D stuttered, Cooper came up beside him, "D?...Are you...are you alri-", "NO I'M NOT ALRIGHT!! YOU LIED TO ME!" D screamed.

Cooper jumped back in fright, "Wait no no, D look, I didn't know that all this was gonna happe-"

"YOU PROMISED ME! YOU PROMISED THEY WOULD STAY TOGETHER! YOU LIED TO ME!" D cried, tears streaming down his face

"D, come on, let me just-"

"STAY AWAY FROM ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!" D cried as he ran off into the forest and back to the village, "D! WAIT!" Cooper yelled, but it was too late, D had already run far ahead. "Aw geez," Cooper said to himself, "Cooper?" the pink troll froze and slowly turned around to see Essence and Quincy looking at him from outside the bush. 

Cooper nervously shuffled his feet as he made his way out of the bush, "Heya Mom, Dad...um...what's up?" he said. "How...how much of that did you hear?" Quincy asked, Cooper sighed, "I heard all of it...so did D", "What!?" Essence and Quincy yelled in unison.

"Well you two were yelling pretty loud and...it's a small forest..." Cooper said, faking a smile, "Oh my baby, no he shouldn't have had to seen that" Essence said, looking down, "We gotta go and speak to him", "Woah, Woah, Woah, We? No, I'm sorry, did you not hear me say we're done?" Quincy said. Essence blinked, "W-w-what? Y-You don't mean that" she stuttered, Quincy sighed, turning away from her, "I do...for the first time ever...I do." Essence froze, her eyes began to water and she soon broke down into crying, "No...you...you can't l-leave..." she said, Cooper looked at his mother and at his father, "Dad come on, you can't leave, we need all the trolls here, who's gonna help if the string gets taken?" he said, Quincy sighed, "Cooper, it's clear that I am not wanted here, not by her at least, I never thought in all my years that I would hear those things come out of her mouth", "I NEVER SAID ANY OF THAT!!" Essence yelled. 

"And I never said anything you said you heard but here we are!" Quincy yelled back, Cooper blinked, "Wait, how is that possible then, neither of you said any of that...honestly I believe that, I've seen how you guys act around each other and I know you love each other...how could you possibly believe that one said something horrible about the other?" Essence and Quincy shared a look, "...I...I would never believe it...I've known her for years" Quincy spoke up, "...and...I've never heard her say stuff like that...if she ever had a problem she'd take it straight to my face", "Pfft, yeah I would" Essence laughed, smiling as she wiped a tear away, "And I know that you have a lovely scent of Lavender and Vanilla wherever you go, don't know where you got Cabbage from" she spoke, Quincy chuckled at that, "Yeah, I don't know either"

"I would never think you're a bore, you make me laugh, you make me smile, you're...amazing!"

"You...you really mean that?"

"...That I mean baby"

Essence began to cry again, this time, however, they were happy tears, she ran up to Quincy and embraced him in a tight hug. "I love you" Essence whispered into Quincy's ear, Quincy smiled, "I love you too", He leaned away from the hug and placed a kiss on his wife's lips. Cooper smiled at his parents, proud that they were able to work it out. "I don't where all this came from, but I'm glad you guys were able to work it out," Cooper said, "Well...I heard it from some Red and Yellow bug" Quincy answered, Essence blinked, "Strange, That's how I heard it too"

Cooper tilted his head in confusion until he looked up and saw an Echo bug float in front of him, "Like this?", "Yeah, that's the bug" Essence and Quincy said in unison. Just as the bug floated beside Cooper, it began to speak:

Remember we let these out all over the forest, eventually, Quincy and Essence will stumble upon them, confront each other and then it's Bye Bye Funk forever

Cooper gasped, "It was a set up!" he said, Essence and Quincy looked at each other, "Someone spoke to these bugs and made it look like you guys said things behind the others back so that you'd break up and they could take the string!" Cooper explained. "Well...thank god you overheard then" Quincy laughed. Cooper chuckled, "Yeah, well you guys better go tell D that, he was pretty upset after hearing all of that" he explained, Essence and Quincy nodded and walked back to the village together.

----------

Essence banged on the door to Cooper's pod, not once had D opened it, there was no noise coming from inside. 

"D, come on out please, we...we need to talk" Quincy spoke up, still no reaction, "Demitri you get out here right now!" Quincy yelled, again, no reaction. Cooper knocked on the door, "Hey, D...you okay in there?", "Has he come out yet?" Barb asked, coming up the stairs and standing beside the family. Cooper shook his head, "No, he hasn't. D! Come on buddy, open up!" he said, gently pushing the door open. 

The inside was dark and quiet, there were no signs of D anywhere. "W....where did he go?" Essence said, Cooper looked and saw that the window that sat over his bed was open, and there were dirt marks all over the covers, he froze and his eyes widened, "...oh no" were the only words he was able to get out.

------------

"RAN AWAY!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE RAN AWAY!?"

Poppy yelled, Branch pushed her gently aside, "Cooper, where did he go?" he asked, Cooper shuffled his feet, "I don't know...but we gotta find him! He could be hurt or...or lost! Or worse he could be-" Cooper cut himself off at that, remembering that Quincy and Essence were right behind him. "Alright, let's go and get him back, Poppy, Essence, Quincy, let's go!" Branch called, dawning his camo outfit once again, running off into the forest, "You guys go, I'll stay" Cooper said to his parents, "Thank you, Cooper" Essence smiled, placing a kiss on his forehead, her and Quincy running off into the forest after Branch, "WE'LL BE BACK!!" Poppy yelled as she ran off.

-------

"D? Sweetheart where are you!?" Essence yelled, her voice echoing throughout the forest, Branch saw a path of glittered tracks that lead into the brush, "He went this way!" he called, leading the others. As they pushed past all of the plant life, they came across D crossing over to the other side of a gorge by a log bridge. "D!" Quincy yelled, catching D's attention, "Dad? Mom? W-what are you doing?" he asked, "Saving you sweetheart, now come back here right now" Essence said. D looked at them hesitantly, "Um...um" he struggled for an answer, and he began to lose his balance on the log. Quincy started to make his way towards the log, "D, come here now!" he called, "No! I...I...What is going on!? I thought you two were done!" D yelled back,

"No, no sweetheart, it was just a misunderstanding between us!" Essence said

D shook his head, "No, I know it has something to do with me, it's always been me!"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm the reason your marriage has been crumbling, I'm such a nuisance to you guys and then I saw you arguing and...I...I couldn't take it, I had to leave"

Quincy and Essence shared a worried look, "Son, no it was never you, look just come back over here and let us explain everything" Quincy said. D refused to move, he began to topple over as the log began to spin, "Oh my god! Baby! Walk to me!" Essence said, trying to get D to move, but D was struck with fear and only found himself slowly inching across the log. The log soon spun around rapidly until D was pretty much running on it to keep his balance, unable to keep up with the speed, D threw his hair up and onto an overhead branch, jumping up and hanging on as tight as he could as the log rolled away and into the gorge. 

"Oh, sweet Cupcakes" D said to himself, looking down at the great height. "D! JUMP TO ME!" Quincy yelled, D went wide-eyed, "ARE YOU CRAZY!?", "PROBABLY, JUST JUMP TO ME!!" Quincy yelled, "I PROMISE I'LL CATCH YOU!"

D looked up and saw the branch he was hanging onto begin to break, he took a deep breath and began to swing towards the group, on his 5th swing he let go, just as the branch broke. "I GOT YOU D!" Quincy shouted, "NO! I GOT HIM!" A voice spoke, a strand of black hair wrapped around D's neck and brought him up to a higher ledge. When the hair recoiled, D was thrown right into the arms of Thrash, who smiled evilly at the Prince. 

"Ya know, I almost forgot that you had a son!" Thrash said to Essence and Quincy, "Seeing as the Echo Bugs failed to give your marriage the boot...might as well kill off the heir to the throne! It saves me time" he said, drawing a dagger close to D's throat, the latter gulping in response. "THRASH! YOU LEAVE MY SON ALONE!" Quincy yelled, letting his hair loose and revealing electric waves coming off of it, "DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!", "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Dear oh Dear Quincy, is Violence ever the way to solve a problem?" Thrash asked sarcastically, D blinked, "YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL ME!!", "Shut it nitwit," Thrash said, holding D even tighter. 

"PLEASE STOP! LEAVE HIM ALONE HE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!!" Essence cried, Quincy saw the fear in his wives eyes, he looked up at D and saw the exact same fear in his eyes too. The king sighed, he knew a way to get Thrash to back off...but no one was gonna like it, he quickly snatched the string off of Essence's bass and turned to Thrash, Poppy and Branch looking at him in disbelief, "Quincy, No!" Poppy begged, but Quincy didn't listen. "THRASH!" Quincy called, "Put my son down, put him down and I'll give you this" he said, holding up the Purple string, Thrash blinked, "Are you actually going to just...hand it over?", "Give me my son...and I will" Quincy said.

Thrash smiled, D was shocked, "Dad...no!" he said quietly. "Very well, hand me the string first!" Thrash said, holding his hand out, Quincy blinked and sighed. Holding out the string, he watched as Thrash snatched it from his hands and tucked it in his hair, he gave a toothed smile at the group, "Hope you taught your Kid how to fly, he said, D paused, "Wait wha-AAAAH!" he screamed as Thrash let him go and disappeared upwards.

"NO!" Quincy and Essence cried as D plummeted downwards, suddenly a flash of Red flicked in front of them, and into the gorge, wrapping itself on a hanging branch and grabbing D's leg. When D looked up, he blinked as he saw his savior, "Barb!?" he cried, Barb looked down and smiled, "Heya" she replied.

D smiled, "You...you saved me"

"What are friends for?" Barb replied as she flung herself and him up. When they got on the cliff, D ran up to his parents and embraced them tightly in a hug, "I'M S-S-SO SORRY!!" he cried, Essence kissed him on the head and hugged him, "No, no, no darling, it's our fault alright...we...we didn't mean to scare you like that and...we're so sorry" she said. D sighed as he tried to wipe his tears away, Quincy rubbed D's head and chuckled, "Come on, let's go home", "What about the string?" Branch asked.

Quincy sighed and looked at his family, giving a warm smile as he turned back to Branch, "Nothing is more important than family, not even a little string" he said.