"Branch sighed, as he's gonna have to find out things on his own. This was gonna be a long day." ~Previously

After the little encounter with the man, it tells them that if they want to know how things work around here, they must find out themselves. They kept walking around, not used to their new heights and having short hair and an extra finger. Soon, they met up with this girl.

Branch asked her, "Hey, uh, can you help us?" He asked and the girl jumped, looking at them.

"O-Oh! Hi! Sure! Are you new here?" She asked them.

"Yah, we uh...." Iris thought if he should tell her....."We came from somewhere else. Can you teach us somethings?" He asked her.

"Okay! Let's get to know our guys before we start anything"

"I'm Branch, my Wife Poppy, our children Iris and Ivy, and our friends, Biggie, Suki, Satin and Chenille, Smidge, Guy Diamond, Fuzzbert, and....is that all? Also their kids--" He said but then was cut off.

"I-I'll just find out along the way, come on then!" She said as she started trotting, "but first, we need you guys to get a place to stay. Maybe you can stay at my house for the day" She finished as everyone followed after.

"What's your name?" Iris asked, becoming suspicious of the strange female.

She smiled, "I'm River! Nice to meet you"

The walk to her him was interesting. There was way more of these....humans walking around. Some had different hair styles, and some short and some long. But nothing compared to troll hair. They had these huge buildings, but why need them so huge when you're so small? There were these creatures that walked on four legs.

Some went 'bark bark' and others went 'meow meow'. They had shops like they had back in Bergen town, but they traded these green things to get it. There were these things that ran fast across the road, and those stupid birds that used to attack them. They reached a neighborhood called 'Riverside Road' and it was a small neighborhood with ponds everywhere. They go into the house and it was quite....interesting!

"So this is where you live?" Iris questioned, "nothing like a pod," he observed as he continues to look around.

"You can stay here. I'd gladly help until you're able to return to where you live" she offered, looking at them all.

Branch didn't seem to like her yet. Despite all she's trying to give, to him, she's oddly too nice. From personal experience, never trust someone who seems perfect. There's a high chance you're doing something behind your back while your loyalty blinds you.
(A/N: This is actually good advice you should take)

"If you need any help to find your way around here, and maybe the city if willing. Here, take this" River offered, as she looks around in her drawer and then gave them all her old phones, as she doesn't have enough money currently to buy them phones up-to-date.

"What's this?" Ivy asked her, as she held the phone in an awkward position.

"Erm...that is what you call, a phone. Haven't you seen one before?" She questioned, becoming highly suspicious of their questioning behavior.

Branch had to think of something before she finds out what they really are. "Y-Yah see, where we come from, we don't usually have any phones," he said, hoping she'd take the bait.

"And you don't know where you came from?" She asked again, looking towards Branch.

"We never said that we just said we live far from here and we'd rather not talk about it" he answered her, outing the phone away in his pocket.

They crew soon got settled in a bit well. Most of the Snack Pack and the Little Snack Pack stayed back. However, Branch, Poppy, Ivy, Sebastian, and Erica went back out to see the worlds more. Branch stayed close to Poppy, holding her hand as they walk around this new and odd territory. Ivy went with Sebastian for several reasons. Meanwhile, Erica saw something that caught her eye.

It was a poster about a nearby place to get trans-gendered on. She didn't know what that meant, so after figuring out the phones mechanics as looked it up. The resulted said, "denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth."

This got her excited, knowing there is a way to be a boy after all. She goes to the place, only to just find out the currency in the new world.

"Just because of the 90% off thing we have here, that'll be $1,650(US dollars) please," the man said as she looked at him dumbfounded.

"Hold on a second," she said as she goes onto the phone and called River.

"Hello, this is River." She said as she answered the phone.

"It's Erica, um, I need.....these.....dollars. I'm broke and it costs $1,650" she said as she waits for a response.

"WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU GETTING?!" She screams, not one to spend so much money in one day.

"There's this thing that can get me....what was it called...trans-gendered? I wanna see if I can be a boy!" She cheered, no response from the other side of the phone.

"Hello?" She questioned, keeping the phone to her ear.

"Shouldn't you tell your family first? To make sure they approve of this?" She said, wanting to make sure if her family will like this.

"That....is a good point....I will call them later today. Thank you" she said as she hangs up.

At this point, she starts thinking. She gets deep into thought, asking questions like, 'is this right?' And 'Do I really want to be a boy? Or is it just that I don't accept my body?' These questions surely made her mood fall. She doesn't know anymore, she's very confused on this choice. With a sigh, she soon told the man to hold on as she sat in a chair.

____Meanwhile_____

Iris has been looking and walking around River's home. The kitchen trained with the colors of gold and white, but only because it was clean. The living room had an L couch, with a glass table and a lit candle in the middle of that table. The TV was medium size, and very flat for some reason.

It had a patio, and he could see nature at his finest. He smiled at the sight of the distant forest, as it reminds him of home. The bedrooms had bunk beds and in two rooms, had normal beds. The carpet was green, and the walls were blue. Odd. Those colors remind him of something. Or someone he's heard about.

The bathroom had two toilets, a tub, and shower, the floor was just green tiles. The walls were a normally white and had two urinals. He knows what a toilet is, but he didn't know what the things on the wall were.

"Is that how humans use the bathroom? It looks very uncomfortable to sit on." He concluded as e continued to search around the house.

He walked down the steps, feeling the floor with his feet, his feet gradually turning cold. 'My feet are turning cold, yet, it's not even winter yet....wait a second, River had these things on her feet. Maybe that's why hers aren't cold!' He thinks as he decided he was gonna find her.

He went in a random way, soon came to a staircase. It was going downwards, instead of upward, which made him curious. He walked down the stairs to a door, in which he tries to open. Unfortunately, it was locked, and soon heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Why are you going to the basement? Did you put something there?" River questioned as she walked next to him.

"Basement..?" He said as he didn't know a word like that existed.

"You don't know what a basement is?" She said as she wasn't exactly surprised.

"Not really...heh..." he said nervously as she didn't respond for awhile.

"Okay. I wanna test something" she said as he looked towards her. "Answer these two equations." She finished.

"What are they?" He questioned as she gave him a neutral face.

"What's 1 + 1?" She said the first question was easy.

"Why that's 2!" He said proudly. He's happy he can do simple math.

"Now, what's 4 x 8 (30 x 17 ÷ 2)" she said as she saw him freeze for a second.

'The hell is this?! Divided by?! What's that?! What is this?! DARK MATH?!' He has lost it. He had no idea but tried to do what he could.

"32,640?" He questioned as she looked at her nervously.

"The correct answer was: 8,160." She said confidently.

"E-Eh.." he tried to go over his math again.

"You aren't human." She said, which caught his attention.

"W-What do you mean? I-I am!" He said in a panicked tone.

"You don't know what a basement is, and for a 15-year-old, you don't 6-grade math. Not only that, either you live in the country before, but you came here with no shoes nor socks and didn't complain about walking on hot contests without it. Also, you came out of a forest. Don't think I didn't notice that, and when you interacted with the man, you seemed to be very clueless on what they are and your location. I can confirm you aren't human. In addition to that, your hair sticks up inhumanly. Unless you put a ton of gel on it." She started with her observations, making Iris go quietly without another word.

"And your names. They aren't humanly at all. Nobody would call their children, Branch, Sparkle, Smurf, Trooper, Guy Diamond, Baby, or Trooper. I know what you are, just by those names." She finished, then he came him a chance to talk.

Iris soon cooled down and came to a more defensive state, "then what am I? And why do you wish to help us?"

"You're a troll. You, specifically from the color of your hair, you are a rainbow troll. And to answer your other question, it's because I know how people are these days. Once they find out, they'll capture you, experiment on you, cut you open, and abuse you until they have all the information they need." She explained to him.

"So, could you help us learn?" He asked, as her face softens.

"Sure. Come with me, I will teach you." She said as he followed her back into the main room, where the others stayed.

_______Meanwhile_______

The four trolls (Poppy, Branch, Ivy, and Sebastian) decided to stay out of the city to not risk getting caught. However, they stayed in their comfort zone in the parks around town.

"This feels a lot like home. But it's not." Ivy said, looking over at the pond.

"Don't worry. When we turn back, we'll go home." Branch reassured his daughter.

"I miss my father and others back home! I wonder what they're doing right now!" Poppy said enthusiastically, thinking of the possibilities.

"Besides, I need to get a new pair of headphones," Sebastian said as he messed with his headphones.

"I think we should get back. It's been all day, I'm sure the others are worried about us." Branch Alaina as he took Poppy's hand and started walking.

"But we just got here!" Ivy whined. She knew there was another reason Branch wanted to rush back.

"Well, it's now time to go. So don't complain." Branch said as he kept walking.

Poppy giggled, "so it's a race!" She said. She was talking about him power walking.

"No, I've never said--" Branch was gonna say before he was cut off by a "WEEEEE" as saw Poppy running. He sighed and ran after her, wanting to make sure she's safe.

"You gonna run after them?" Sebastian asked Ivy as she looked up at him.

Ivy then sweatdrops at his height. "Why do you have to be giant?!" She said with embarrassment.

"Why do you have to be so short?" He asked her.

"I am not!" She pouts and blushed a little.

"You are." He said with a chuckle as she complained.

Soon enough, the four came back to River's home. However, Branch was looking for his son, but when he reached a door, he heard a conversation that interested him. He decided to eavesdrop on them.

"How old are you, River? You knew I was 15, so how about you?" He asked her.

"I'm the same age as your sister and your friends. I'm 15." She said. Branch could hear a page flip. "And remember, when you divide things, you do the mathematic family trick I showed you"

"Yah, yah. But if your only 15, then we're is your parents?" Iris asked her, the sound of pencil hitting paper was heard.

"Oh, my Father is at work. I don't know about my mother" she replied to him.

"What do you mean? Your father hasn't been home all day! And how do you not know about your mother?"

"My father doesn't come home often, but he does often enough to pay the bills and talk to me. He visits at least 10 times each month. But does unexpectedly. About my mother, I haven never seen her or spoke with her my entire life. I was only taken cared of by my father."

"Did you ask your father about it?"

"Yes. But he always says the same thing."

"And that is?"

"She couldn't handle it."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't honestly know. I try to push him to elaborate, but he never does. So I just stopped asking about it" she finished.

Branch soon walked away from the door. "Her father, huh?" He said to himself as he walked away.

_________

During the night, everyone was settling down in the rooms. Branch went to take a shower, turning the mob and letting the warm steaming water run onto his body.

He does use this time to think. But some things didn't settle with him. Unlike the other humans, she volunteered to help them. Then there's the father thing, with gives Branch suspicion.

However, during mid-thought, the sound of a door opening caught his attention as he looked toward the door...it was the bathroom door. He yelped and covered himself with the curtain as he saw poppy walk in.

"Poppy?! Do you know anything about privacy?!" He yelled at her, blushing from embarrassment.

"Calm down, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before," she said as she puts both hands on her hips and looked at him.

"Y-Yah, but that was different" he mumbles, blushing more. "Why are you in here?!" He said, trying to show he's not embarrassed.

"Well, I'm trying to find my cowbell," she told him as she looked around, yet, not moving.

"Did you bring it when we turned into humans?" He asked her, he's not as embarrassed as before.

"Branch, you know I bring it everywhere! Now it's gone as I have no clue where to look." She starts looking in the bathroom cabinets.

"Maybe once I get out, I can help you," he said. He really wanted to hit the hay after the shower, but he'd do it if he had too.

"No need Branch, I can do this myself. Plus, you look tired. Might want to get some sleep" she told him as she looked back to him.

'Those aren't tired marks, those are stress marks'. "Okay, I'll get some rest. But how about you? Are you gonna look all night?"

"No, maybe start fresh next morning. I don't wanna miss a cuddle moment with you, now do I?" She said with a smile as she headed for the door.

Branch blushed a bit more, but he's used to this. "I guess you're right. Now shoo, I need to finish"

"Okay, okay, fine," she said as she left the room as he continued to shower.

Soon enough, he left the bathroom and into the bedroom connected to it. He sat down on the bed. giving a relaxing sigh as he did. He wasn't gonna lay down without Poppy. He looked around the room for a bit, kind of happy she didn't give them one of the bunk bedded rooms.

"Poppy?" He finally called out her, a bit worried as usual.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Poppy yelled back, rushing to the room, and to free-fall onto the bed. Relief flew over him.

He finally decided to lay down and pulling the covers up for Poppy. She slipped in and gave a smile before he laid the covers over them. The light was already off, but Branch was very tired right now.

Poppy could see it in his eyes as she encouraged him to sleep. He soon enough gave in, but before he did, he gave gentle kisses to her ear and cheek, hearing her giggle constantly. 'Curse you sleepiness, I wanna hear her giggle more if I could.' He thought as he closed his eyes.

But there is one thing Branch does unconsciously, that Poppy won't forget. It's how he'd protectively wrap her in his arms the whole night, but will let go if she had to go somewhere.

Now, let me tell you who-shares-a-room-and-who-doesn't. In the bunk bed rooms, Ivy and Sparkle shared a room, Smurf and Trooper shares a room, Baby and Maybelle shares a room, Iris and River shares a room cause they didn't have any more space, and Erica and Sebastian have their own room. For the adults, Guy shares a room with Satin, Suki shared a room with chenille, Cooper shares a room with Biggie, Smidge has their own room, and Poppy and Branch share a room.

Meanwhile, River and Iris finish 'homeschool' for now, as they put everything away.

"I wanna show you something," River said as she got up and walked out the room.

Iris wasn't sure at first but followed her trustingly. "Where are we going?" He asked her.

"You'll see," she said as she went outside, Iris close behind her.

Iris was a bit cautious now, not only was it dark, but he'd be in bed right now in troll town/Bergen town. She sat in the grass as he sat next to her.

"What now?" He asked her.

She then took her hand and put it on his chin. He did blush lightly, but then she forced his head up for him to see the stars. His eyes go big for a second, he's never seen this before! Mainly because he'd be asleep right now, and the trees are so thick, you can't see the sky. He gasps before she lets go, his eyes huge like a cat.

"You've never seen stars before?" She asked him quietly.

"No...the trees would block it and I'd be in bed...WOW! Are they called Stars? They look like...small sparks of fire to me" he said with a huge smile.

"Technically, you're right. Balls of gas, and fire." She said to him.

He didn't reply, as he kept looking at the stars. River looked back up at the stars, but then at Iris again. She saw how happy and relaxed Iris was just from seeing stars. Seeing this Made her smile softly at him.

(Words: 3254)