W̳̿͟͞h̳̿͟͞e̳̿͟͞r̳̿͟͞e̳̿͟͞'s̳̿͟͞ t̳̿͟͞h̳̿͟͞e̳̿͟͞ F̳̿͟͞u̳̿͟͞n̳̿͟͞k̳̿͟͞

Chapter 35

"Oh look, it's an ant," Prince D lowers his head to survey the ants crawling back to their hill with food on their backs.

"Jackpot on the story plot!" another troll yelled out to the others, pointing at his own discovery of an anthill nearby.

Keely sighs, tugging their legs, "Let's go look on another area."

The search started about ten minutes ago, but this activity barely helps between the two of them. There's a time limit to this, that much he could tell, but Darnell really wanted to speak up. He just.... doesn't know how.

"Yo, Prince D, Keely!" Cooper ran to them, dragging his Techno troll partner with him. "Check out this bug I found. It fought a bigger one earlier, his leg got torn up." Indeed, a bright pink beetle lost one leg at front, but still stands normally, staring at them with curiosity.

"Wow. That'd make a badass story for later," she smirks at him.

"I know! I better think of a title for our story time. Have you two got anything yet?"

Keely and Prince D glance at each other before responding, "Not yet."

"It seems like everybody has us beat to a similar bug," says Darnell.

"I know a place with lots of bugs, although these aren't the friendly type. I haven't seen anyone go there yet, why don't you two give it a try?"

"What do you mean by 'aren't friendly'?" just the thought of it made Keely shiver. Being a Vibe City folk, all Funks haven't seen much of what's outside the mothership, so even searching for this simple activity has them both at a bit of disadvantage out of the 40 pairs of trolls walking around right now.

"Oh, you know, you just gotta watch out for their bites. Those creepy crawlies almost gave me nightmares when I was little," Cooper says, shivering at the thought.

Not having much of a choice, Keely and Prince D agreed to the idea. They dragged themselves near the edge of Trollstopia, the chilly midnight air just adds up to their anxiety of drawing theirselves into a possibly dangerous area.

"Welp, you two go ahead. We'll wait for you back at the camp," the troll and his Techno buddy quickly went away, leaving only the two of them once again.

"Well..." she glances around for any sign of a strange bug nearby, but it looks like they have to go further down to see one, "what are we waiting for?"

"I feel like we're being tricked here," he bluntly stated.

Chills run down the troll's spine, and immediately replies with a stutter, "Y-Yeah, I kinda think so too."

"We just gotta find some random insect and then get on with it."

"And how do you think we'll find one if we just stay--" something tickled her ears which made Keely duck down and swat away whatever's above her. Wrong move though, a big spider latches on to her hand, followed by the spider's and her screams. "GET AWAY GET AWAY GET AWAY!!!" she cried.

The Prince was also near from running and laughing since Keely kept on waving the thing around. "JUST PUT IT DOWN! CALM DOWN AND PUT IT DOWN!"

"GET THIS THING OFF ME!"

"Ok, uhm...--oh, here! Here!" Darnell picks up a stick and pries the spider off of her hand. It lands on the ground and runs away from the two, probably crazy trolls, in its mind. Keely shuddered, keeping herself close to him to feel at least a tiny bit safer. D can feel her still shivering, but he's too busy laughing to make a few reassuring words.

"L-L-Let's just go b-back," she mumbled.

"Without catching anything?"

"There's more bugs nearby the camp. And there was no rule stating we can't have the same bug as the others." Keely swore that if there's another bug that crawls on to her, she wouldn't care if she's tied up with D, this girl will run for her life even if it means dragging his butt outta there.

He shakes his head, trying to keep it down and return to his former expression. Maybe opening up to that troll wasn't such a good idea, it was probably why they're here and being paired up in the first place. Though Branch's words hung up in his mind after their talk, and this might just be the chance to do it. 'Come on, man, just talk!' but he's too nervous to come clean with it.

"You know... D.." Keely felt like him, talking this much and smiling again, is a sign that they're good for a closure conversation now, "I've been thinkin'... we're growing a bit apart in these last few days, don't you think?"

The Prince frowns, his guilt showing just how much he's mentally regretting his actions, "Yeah. With this whole Trollstopia thing, and all that."

"I know, but," the troll, sits down on a more comfortable position before continuing with all the mental courage she has, "I feel like there's more to it than just being... busy, you know. I'm still you're best friend, aren't I?

He sighs, sitting as well with a hand resting on his chin where his elbows rested on one knee. It was very unusual for him to act like so, but the pressure's on. And their arms touching due to them being tied together doesn't help at all. "Look, Keely, I don't mean for us to grow apart like this, but we've got a lot of other things to worry about. And we've got.... new people to talk to.... to make ends meet with schedules and all that."

"Hey now, you're the only one here who's been so busy lately," she chuckles.

This irks him a bit, and all that hidden jealousy slowly rises up to him once more, "Oh yeah? I can't seem to find some spare time with you either whenever I'm actually free. You've got too many new friends and a new close friend to deal with everyday."

Keely raises her brow, "What? When were you free? You could've at least told me."

Darnell chuckles bitterly, "How could I when I see you're having so much fun. I can't just take you away from all that."

"D, I've been waiting for you to decide when you'd want to hang out. I have. You don't need to worry about them, I was only buying time until you feel like actually relieving yourself off that workload--"

"And your new best friend?"

(There it is, the million dollar question)

"New bestfriend?" Keely thinks it's ridiculous that their supposedly friendly fixing-friendship conversation slowly turns into an argument, but a new bestfriend didn't made much sense here, "Who the hell would be this new best friend? You're the only best friend I have..... " and then memory jogs from one of the letter sent to her. ".... Cooper?"