Chapter Text
When Melody woke up that morning, she wasn’t expecting her entire world to change. The annual Neon Rave was that night, so she spent the majority of the day helping set up for it. Despite being repeatedly told that she didn’t have to help, and that they would prefer she not, the work was done quickly with her assistance. Her brother, King Trollex, swam over from where he had been setting up their DJ Booth. She shrunk a little under his gaze, knowing where this conversation would be going.
"Were you helping move things again?" At least Melody had the grace to look sheepish under his scolding gaze. "You know you have to be careful with your bubble. What if your bubble popped and I wasn’t there to help?"
Melody scoffed and replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Please. I’m not stupid, Lex! I was with Bliss Marina the whole time." Trollex softened a bit. He couldn’t help his worries. After all, Melody Lyric was his little sister. Adoptive, sure, but sister nonetheless. "I’m not going to drown on you, bro. I promise."
Melody wanted to move on from the conversation. Every conversation where he scolded her over this was another conversation that painfully reminded her that she wasn’t a real Techno Troll. She might be their Queen, but she would never truly be one of them. Her so-called tail felt like cement as she swished her legs together in her dress to propel herself through the water.
When she was little, she had a terrible, and dangerous, habit of accidentally popping her bubble. Worried for her safety, their parents, and the former rulers, King Kai and Queen Cascade ordered that she never be without an escort. However, she hated being followed by some random guard and often made a game out of ditching them. So Trollex and her have been attached at the hip ever since. Of course, that just meant that Lex had their entire childhood to become an overbearing older brother with a habit of smothering her.
Melody would never tell him but she enjoyed the attention. Every time he worried, it meant that he loved her. As long as Trollex was by her side, she could never be unhappy. "Hey Lexy, could you help me with my headphones? I’m going to connect them to tonight’s booth." The two siblings happily swam along, their tiff already forgotten between them.
As the day turned to night, the co-rulers began their concert. The two siblings playfully shoved at each other while getting ready for the climax of the night.
“One more time! One more time, one more time…~”
"What’s up my Techno Trolls?" King Trollex started our speech.
“One more time. One more time, we’re gonna celebrate! Aw yeah, Aw right, Don’t stop the dancing!~”
"Tonight is about family," Melody started while side hugging her brother, "love," he continued while gesturing to the glowing hearts all Techno Trolls have on their chest, "and music!" they chirped together.
"Come on," Melody raised her hands about her head bobbing happily in the water, "let me see you jump!"
"One, Two, Three, Four!~"
King Trollex orchestrated the crowd to the music. "And get ready for the drop!"
Melody gazed down at the Drop Beat Button and smiled happily. "Are you ready little buddy?" The Drop Beat Button shook happily. "Let’s do this Queen Melody!" She gazed at her brother who looked at her mischievously before starting his regular antics.
"Wait for it!"
"Come on!"
"Wait for it!"
"Yes!"
"Wait for it! Wait for it! Wait for it!" Trollex zoomed through the water, upping the crowd's excitement, but was quickly beginning to wear through Drop Beat Button’s patience. "Come on man! Hit me already!"
The music hit a crescendo while Bliss Marina begged him to just do it already. We locked eyes and nodded at each other. I moved to the side with a gesturing bow as he raised his arm dramatically.
“One more time!~”
*BOOM!~*
Green pixelated hearts exploded from the booth thanks to Drop Beat Button’s usage of the techno string. He sagged in relief while Melody picked him up and began to dance with him.
“It’s got me feeling so free, we’re gonna celebrate! Celebrate it, Dancing, Free! Party all night! One more time! We’re gonna celebrate! Aw yeah, Aw right, Don’t stop the dancing! Aw yeah, Aw right, Don’t stop the danc-!~”
King Trollex would have stayed oblivious to the ominous shadows moving in on the concert if not for the desperate tug of his arm. He looked over at Melody who raised a slightly shaky finger at something in the distance. Not liking the look of the imposing figures, he cut off the music while Melody bravely began to swim forward in an effort to meet the shadows before they reached the party. Trollex grabbed her sleeve before she could get too far.
"What are you doing?"
"I’m going to find out what they want and try to stall them while you empty the concert area before joining me." There was a small tremor in her voice, but the determination was coming through strong. "I can do it! Just don’t make me wait too long, okay?"
After a moment of searching her eyes for any trace of doubt, he gave in due to not finding any. "Alright… Don’t worry everybody! The location for the party has just changed last minute! If everyone could follow Bliss Marina while she-" Melody couldn’t hear any more as she swam as fast away from the concert and to what looked like… Angler fish? No, not quite. These were Angler Buses, critters just like their DJ tables. As she began to truly approach them, the buses came to a stop and the one in the front’s mouth began to unzip. A grey troll with a bright red hair that had a similar consistency to hers walked to the tip of its tongue.
"Hmm. You’re not the king, now are you?" The female troll hummed with one hand on her hip and the other pointing at Melody. Her eyes roamed the emerald troll’s figure before she fixed her with a small smirk.
So they’re here for my brother? Why? The grey troll’s flirting went right over Melody’s head as her thoughts were interrupted by her own voice when she passive-aggressively snapped at the troll, "No, I’m not. My name is Melody Lyric. What do you want?"
The grey troll’s hair bristled at her tone, but before she could respond, another voice, masculine this time, cut her off. "I think you mean Queen Melody Lyric."
The grey troll looked at her suspiciously once more before her eyes lit up at the sight of King Trollex swimming up protectively next to his sister. "There he is! King Trollex of the… Techno Trolls, right? I didn’t know you had a Queen..." Shoot! Not only is she taken, but they’re together. A queen might give him a bigger reason to fight back, she thought.
The two aquatic trolls looked at each other in surprise before doing a strange combination of gagging and laughing. After a moment, where she was quickly becoming impatient with the two, Trollex straightened up. "One, ew! She’s my sister! (Sister? Ugh, that’s even worse! Sibling bonds are the toughest to break!) Two, that’s right. Who’s asking?" His distrustful eyes stared at her while Melody took the chance to glance at the other Angler Buses in the background. They hadn’t opened yet.
"Queen Barb, of the Hard Rock Trolls," The Drop Beat Button pressed himself into Melody’s hands as her eyes widened. She knew there had to be other kinds of Trolls, seeing as she wasn’t a Techno Troll, but she had never heard what the other trolls were called before. "and I’m here to take your string, bro."
Barb’s hand came down on the wooden… instrument?... that she was carrying. Melody had never seen anything like it before. She was amazed at the new instrument and information. Her eyes sparkled for a split second before what next came out of the Queen’s mouth truly hit her. "Excuse me? Absolutely not!"
"No way! If we lose our string, we lose our music!" He gently nudged her and Drop Beat Button slightly behind him as the button whined at him not to do it. Queen Barb frowned at him, looked behind her at a lighter grey troll behind her, then back at the siblings in front of her.
She sneered at them. "You mean your bleeps and bloops? Bleep, Bleep, Bleep, Bleep, Bleep, Bloooooooop." She did a crude impression of their music with a heavy dip of her head at the end. "Yeah, that’s not music. Do you want to hear some real music?” A devious smile spread on her face as she raised the hand not holding the instrument. "Rockers!"
The sound of her command led the rest of the Angler Buses to get closer as they all opened to reveal more bipedal trolls like her. The sight of the trolls led Melody to swim next to Trollex once again to try and get a better look at them. Trollex was displeased but didn’t stop her, just put one arm protectively in front of her to prevent her from getting too close. The mass of monochrome trolls surrounding them all began to position themselves like Barb had before she played her wooden instrument. Realization came to Melody a moment too late.
"Dive!" She attempted to push her brother downwards, but the music had already started.
"Yeah!~"
A blast of red burst from the tips of the instruments out towards them and the formerly full concert bowl. Barb was furiously swiping at the instrument as Trollex’s hair began to woosh. The force of the sound waves not only messing with his hair but pushing him back a few feet in the water. A final blast of red sent him backflipping in the water, much to the confusion of Melody who remained where she was. In fact, the red blast seemed to part away from her, as if unable to touch her.
"Here I am! Rock you like a hurricane!~"
The Hard Rock Queen sent a particularly large red wave out towards the stage which, after once again parting as if to not touch Melody, cut their stage in half. This time, Queen Barb noticed. She panted, half in thrill from her music and half in suspicion towards the strange troll. She stood up to give King Trollex a chance to swim back.
"Okay enough! Stop! You’ve already ruined our concert!" Melody bit at the rude queen who did nothing but turn towards her brother.
"Yeah! You harshed the vibe we worked really hard to build to!" Melody was confused at the way he seemed to shrink a little. Was he scared?
"Oh, but by the end of my world tour, we’re all gonna have the same vibe." Melody swiveled to be in front of Trollex, disliking the way the other queen was eyeing him. "We’re all going to be one nation of Trolls. Under rock!" One last red boom came across them in short bursting waves, Melody thought it might have something to do with the vibrate metal boxes stacked upon each other behind the queen, as she turned to the other bipedal trolls and asked them who was ready to rock.
"I’m sorry, but we’re not giving you our string!" Melody didn’t notice that Lex had once again been pushed backwards through the water. So far that a Techno guard, one of the brave few who stayed behind in case of a fight, had to body block him from hitting the coral of which their stage was previously made from. "We don’t want to be part of your Rock Nation. I would appreciate it if you would leave, seeing as you are not welcome here."
Melody put on a false bravado as she felt the Drop Beat Button push himself into her hair. Normally she would scold him for that, it was hard enough to get her hair into her signature hairbow hairstyle without him messing it up. However, with Queen Barb looking for their string, her hair was the safest hiding spot currently available. Barb looked at her shellshocked. A moment passed. Two. Three. Melody was becoming uneasy at Barb’s intense shocked staring before she suddenly began to bark with laughter. "Oh, that’s cute!" Melody flinched back at how pleased Barb sounded. "You think you have a choice."
Melody’s green skin flushed red with barely contained rage before draining to a nauseating pale. The other buses had gotten even closer, to the point where she could now see inside them. Inside of the large, spiky fish were prison cells, easily enough cells to fit each Techno troll three times over. Her face faded to an even more sickly white as she glanced around her and saw the damage. The beautiful concert bowl that had been glowing and buzzing with energy not even ten minutes ago was in shambles. Chunks of coral littered the seafloor and the phosperensant decorations they had lined the edges with were torn to shreds. Her terrified eyes met Barb’s sparkling ones, her face the very picture of delight.
A forced breath in. A forced breath out. A forced breath in. A forced breath out. A forced breath in. A forced breath out. The cycle repeated as Barb’s face became more and more pleased. With what, Melody didn’t want to know. Most importantly, Melody had to keep breathing at a steady rate. If she began to hyperventilate her bubble might pop, which could prove deadly with the current situation. In her peripheral, she could see her brother desperately trying to get to her but unable to escape the two guards that were valiantly holding him back.
A forced breath in. A forced breath out. A forced breath in. A forced breath out. A forced breath in. A forced breath out. Melody could do this. Color returning to her face, the two queens locked eyes once more. Melody studied Queen Barb. Although it was dangerous to their music, giving up the string was their best option. If she refused, the other Queen would trash their homes, destroy their supplies, and most likely capture them all anyways. They would have nothing to return to. One the other hand, if Melody gave up the string, there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t do all that anyways. Melody would need to get an assurance of her people’s safety before any decision could be made.
Meanwhile, Barb was thrilled by this Queen’s reactions! Despite being suspicious of how the troll had never been heard of before, she seemed to be a genuine leader from the interactions between her and King Trollex. There was also the matter of her guitar blasts not touching her. She had never seen anything like it and planned to get to the bottom of it once this tour stop had ended. The way the shimmery green troll’s face had brightened with embarrassment was amusing enough, but the pleasure she felt from seeing how quickly it became stark white with fear was another matter altogether. She preened at the sight of the fear instilled in her fellow queen. But it stopped just as quickly as it started, Queen Melody turning to face her with a serious expression on her face.
While the distant queen looked for something in her face, Barb was doing the same. Eyes darting between her and King Trollex, Barb came to the realization that Melody couldn’t have been a Techno Troll. Oh, how interesting! She studied the pink tail the troll seemed to be sporting only to realize it was a dress of some sort, seemingly crafted to make swimming easier. She must have strong legs, she mused while looking at what she thought to be the troll’s ears. They looked realistic enough. Oh? But one of the pearls on the other queen’s headband seemed to be attached to it. Come to think about it, while Melody Lyric’s pearl bracelet and belt seemed to bob with the current, the headband never moved, to the point where it even helped keep her dual-colored hair in place. Ah, headphones. I wonder how a non-Techo Troll became their Queen. Especially since the king and her claim to be siblings.
"And if I was to give you our string, what’s to stop you from hurting us and/or trashing our home?" Barb’s musing was cut short by Melody’s question. Oh, she was smart! Barb moved a hand over her chest and looked hurt, a painfully false innocent quirk in her voice. "Oh, I would never!"
Melody narrowed her eyes before glancing at the cells in the other buses again. She gave Barb an unimpressed look. "Clearly." Swimming closer to Barb and her bus, the queen stopped a few feet away from the Angler fish’s teeth. It now became obvious that Barb was the taller of the two, once you discount the false tail Melody was wearing of course. She looked up at Barb defiantly. "Look, the only way you’re going to get our string is if you can swear the no Techno Troll will come to any harm."
Barb smirked at the smaller troll’s demand. She could work with this. "Of course. I’m just collecting the strings, I don’t want to hurt anyone. Especially since we’re all going to be one nation soon." She expected to see the queen start to give in, but Melody Lyric’s eyes just sharpened once more. Barb blinked, losing her smirk in her confusion. Didn’t she just agree to her proposal?
"Despite what you apparently think, I’m not stupid. I see the cells you’ve got in those other buses. You’re going to capture us and take us somewhere. I’m saying that I’ll give you our string and we won’t fight back. However, I want your assurance that none of the Techno Trolls will be hurt. That includes physical harm and further harm of our territory. I don’t know what you want us for, but I do know that I don’t want us to be homeless when we eventually get back. We can rebuild this concert bowl safely enough. Not our entire territory. That’s the deal. The safety of both Techno Trolls and Techno Reef in return for our string and willing surrender." Melody became more and more confident with every word as she saw the other queen’s face become slack. Little did she know just how impressed Barb was, but only because she had once again left a fatal loophole. Melody saw a genuine smile cross Barb’s face and almost visibly sagged in relief.
"You’ve got yourself a deal, Queenie. I want the string now, then I’ll give you ten minutes for the surrender of the Techno Trolls. If those conditions are met, no harm will come to the Techno Trolls or any further damage to Techno Reef." Barb noticed Queen Melody begin to take something out of her bow hair. A glowing, slightly see-through green critter was pulled out. She could see the bright gleam of the blue Techno String from her spot several feet away and had to put physical effort into restraining the need to bounce from anticipation. This was her first string! Boy, was she glad she chose to attack Techno Reef first. Not only was it technically the closest, although it did take a day of constant traveling to get deep enough to reach the Reef in the first place, it had also proven to be most interesting.
Melody looked down at Drop Beat Button sorrowfully. "I understand..." He said, before willing his two true antennae to move out of the way so she could grab the string. Once the string was out of him, he swam away and down to King Trollex and the guard who had been impatiently floating down below wondering if, and when, they should jump in. Melody came just close enough so that her air bubble wouldn’t touch the Angler Bus’ natural bubble. She reached her hand inside to pass the string to Barb who snatched it without a second thought. Immediately she swam backward away from the bubble, before turning around to explain the situation to her brother and gather the Techno Trolls.
Barb clutched the techno string in her hands. It was a sight to behold. While the glowing blue string had a certain charm and the green pixelated hearts it released when pulled interesting, it wasn’t enough to save it from Barb’s plans. Barb hardly noticed the loud arguing between the two siblings as she wrapped the string around her wrist and sent Riff to inform the other buses that the prisoners were going to be coming soon and were not to be harmed in any way. She was a queen of her word after all.
By the time all the orders were passed out and arrangements made, ten minutes had come and gone. Techno’s Royal Siblings floated in front of her bus, holding each other's hands in a show of comfort. She watched, critically, as they ushered their subjects into the different Angler Buses. Any amusement the situation might have given her soured when she noticed the glares pointed at Melody Lyric. How ungrateful these Techno Trolls were! Didn’t they know that Queen Melody was the only reason their pathetic little reef was getting out of this unscathed? The rest of the territories she planned to visit certainly wouldn’t be this lucky!
Melody shrunk back from the looks of their people. Maybe they didn’t appreciate this now, but they’d come to see this was the best course of action. She was sure of it. It had to be… Once all of the other Techno Trolls were safely on a bus, Lex and her began to swim to one themselves. At least, that was the plan. A hand reached through the water and pulled her into Queen Barb’s bus.
King Trollex turned around in shock, just to be met with a condescending smirk on Queen Barb’s face. "Oh no! King Trollex, you wouldn’t want to violate our agreement by not getting onto a bus, would you?" Her smirk widened as she held up a hand to stop him from entering. "I’m sorry, but this one is full. You’ll have to choose another." The promised bite in her words is what caused him to give his little sister one last, longing look before swimming onto the next closest bus.
Melody was having a hard time adjusting to the changed balance of gravity. Despite not being a Techno Troll, she had been raised completely underwater, so she had never even experienced being dry in this fashion before. Nor was she used to the weight of her dress in this fashion. Her dress and hair remained wet, seemingly leaking water beneath her as she sat up in the position she had landed in.
Seeing the smaller troll struggle with such a scared, surprised look on her face caused Barb to take pity on her. Snapping her fingers, she motioned for two Rock Trolls to grab the shorter queen and follow her. She ignored the startled gasp behind her in favor of leading them to Queen Melody’s new "room".
While getting the prison buses ready for the Techno Troll’s arrival, she ordered a small equipment closet to be emptied and supplied with a beanbag bed. It wasn’t much, but it would still be more than the others’ cell cots. She would’ve just put her in a cell-like the others in the first place, but her private bus was lacking any such thing. Barb moved to the side of the waiting door so the Rock Trolls could toss her into the closet before leaving. Now standing in the doorway, Barb stared down at the drenched troll in front of her. Melody Lyric seemed like she had never experienced dry land before as she repeated clenched and unclenched her hands. Melody looked up at Queen Barb scared and confused. "What do you want from me?"
Barb’s smile dimmed a bit at the croak of fear in her voice before brightening as if nothing had happened. "I don’t know what you mean, Queenie."
"That’s not my name! I want to know why I’m here when everyone else is in those cells! What do you want from me?" Melody’s voice became shrill as she looked down and began to hyperventilate. Spots appeared in her vision as she tightly grabbed her hair (What was this texture? Her hair had never felt like this before! So heavy… Everything was so heavy!) before Barb’s chuckled shocked her system out of it. Barb noticed that the other troll had frozen and took the chance to reply.
"Our deal was that no harm would come to the Techno Trolls. But you? You're not a Techno Troll, are you?" Grinning at the horrified troll, Barb crouched on her haunches to be on her level. "I’m free to do whatever I want with you." She stood up and turned around to grip the door handle. Before closing the door all the way through, she stopped and glanced down once more. A brutish smile flashed across her face. "See you tomorrow, Queenie."
Melody’s heart broke at the clicking sound that sounded when Barb closed the door behind her. At least, she assumed it was a door, but it didn’t look anything like the doors they had in Techno Reef. The tiny room she had been thrust into was small and dark. Unable to see a hand in front of her face, Melody curled up on the soft yet strange bed-cushion-thing she had been given and cried herself to sleep.
