Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He only visited the island to watch a show.

John Dory was on the road with Rhonda. Said road was right by a beach and from what he knew, there should have been an island in the distance.

He glanced to the right side to see the sun rising from the sky (he was on the road since just before the sun began rising) and saw not only the island and sunrise, but also was what he could have sworn was a stage rising out of the water.

That caused the older troll to stop the armadillo bus as he looked on in confusion.

“It’s not everyday where you see a stage rising out of the water… wait a minute…”

The more John Dory thought about it, the more that the dots began connecting what he just saw to what he learned in a history book that he took from the Troll Tree before leaving it behind all those years ago.

“If I’m correct, then I might find some Techno Trolls there.”

Finally making a decision, he suddenly slammed on the gas as he took a sharp right, hitting the water.

Rhonda began swimming to the island with the supposed Techno Troll stage.

---

John Dory barely made it to the stage right before the rave started.

Like he suspected, he saw many Techno Trolls pop out of the water, some interacting with the Vacaytioners despite the massive size difference.

Soon, a Techno Troll leaped onto the stage. He was noticeably bigger than the other trolls of his kind, with his pink heart beating proudly as he walked over to his DJ booth and put on the headphones that were laying there.

“Yoyoyo, DJ Trollex in the house!” he announced as the speakers on the stage boomed.

That got a rise out of the other trolls in the area.

“As my citizens know, we don’t usually come above water, but being given the opportunity to perform above water for people beyond our own was too exciting of an opportunity to pass up! Get ready Vacaytioners and prepare to feel the life that is Techno!”

The music started up and then everyone was soon engulfed in the music, enjoying themselves.

“Heh, wonder who went all the way down to Techno Reef just to find these guys, let alone their king?” John Dory pondered as he slowly walked closer to the stage.

He didn’t get far before he saw what seemed to be a troll standing next to group of Vacaytioners, with the smaller ones sporting what seemed to be troll ears.

“He doesn’t seem to be a Techno Troll…”

He walked over to the other troll and tapped his shoulder.

The other troll immediately jolted at the touch and JD could have sworn that the giant purple hairdo could have smacked him off his feet at the speed that the other troll turned around.

“I’m sorry sir, but the restaurant is closed during the Techno Rave-“

He then opened his eyes as he stared in confusion.

“…John Dory?”

The older troll could only think of two things in that moment: the way he briefly saw a blue and pink colored heart beating on the other troll’s chest before fading away, and the fact that the other troll in question was a troll he didn’t expect on finding here after those 20 years apart.

“…Spruce?” JD stammered in disbelief.

“A-actually, I go by Bruce now. But never mind that, why are you here, and now?!” the purple-haired troll had a tone that can either be mistaken for confusion or annoyance.

“Well, I just so happened to be in the neighborhood and saw that stage over there being set up earlier,” JD gave Bruce a relaxed look and smile as he glanced in the direction of the stage.

“I just didn’t expect to find you here.”

Bruce was slightly taken aback as he rolled his eyes.

“Oh, please. I literally sent you a card from here a few months ago!”

“Really? I’d think I would remember something like that-“

He paused what he was saying when his memories caught up to him as he remembered receiving a postcard a few months ago with Vacay Island as the backdrop with the text ‘Wish You Were Here’ on it.

Of course, it was Bruce who sent that.

“Okay, I take that back, I remember getting your card. Anyway, how’ve you been bro? You seem to be doing well for yourself!” JD beamed.

Suddenly, the yellow Vacaytioner next to them turned around.

“Oh, honey, I noticed that you weren’t fanboying about the concert-“

She took notice of the other troll.

“Oh, and who might this be?” she asked, with the group of smaller Vacaytioners suddenly turning their attention to the stranger.

Bruce awkwardly rubbed the back of his head as he cleared his throat.

“This, Brandy, is my brother, John Dory. John Dory, this is my wife, Brandy, and these are my kids.”

“Oh, one of Brucie’s brothers! He sometimes likes to talk about his days with BroZone!” the giant smiled.

While the kids got excited about hearing that, John Dory couldn’t help but stare at the couple in bafflement.

“…So, you two are an item?” he asked, pointing at the pair.

“Yep!” Bruce proudly states.

The older troll’s eyes narrowed questioningly.

“…How?”

“I’m honestly not sure myself, but we make it work… no wait, I do know how~” Brandy giggled to herself, leaving John Dory the slightest bit uncomfortable about the implications.

“…Aaaanyway, I was wondering how the Techno Trolls came all the way over here, especially since last I checked, our tribes don’t exactly mesh. Never mind the fact that our tribes are all way up north.”

“Oh, that’s easy. I simply sent a message in a bottle up north, thinking that they would love to host a rave party here despite the distance. Besides, I think we’re the only Pop Trolls here,” Bruce casually explained.

JD looked around and saw the other people in attendance having an absolute blast as they were waiting for King Trollex to drop the beat.

“Are you ready, little buddy?” the king asked the green square on the center of his DJ booth.

“Let’s do this, King Trollex!” he responded excitedly as it began to vibrate.

“Wait for it…!”

“Yeah…!”

The DJ popped up in-between a Techno Troll couple.

“Wait for it!”
He then zoomed to the top of the stage.

“Wait for it!”

He then made the same announcement while circling the DJ booth.

“Wait for it…!”

The green square vibrated even faster.

“Come on man, hit me already!” he vibrated in anticipation.

“Just do it already!” a Techno Troll can be heard begging as it seemed that everyone was on the edge of their seats.

The DJ just continued circling the air around the booth as the music got faster and faster, until there was a very brief pause.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JLYlh2S41E&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=1&ab_channel=RCARecords)

ONE MORE TIME!

After singing his lyric, the DJ smacked the green square, who also turned out to be a button that helps to drop the beat.

The beat drop was so intense that both brothers were literally nearly swept off their feet.

King Trollex continued the rest of his current song.

Music’s got me feeling so free!

We’re gonna celebrate!

Celebrate and dance so free!

GONNA PARTY ALL NIGHT! (One more time)

One more time

We’re gonna celebrate!

Oh, yeah, all right

Don’t stop the dancing!

Everyone in attendance was bursting with energy and raving to the music.

King Trollex slowly looked up from his booth and saw something in the sky that made him frown.

Everyone was caught off-guard as the music suddenly stopped, some groaning in either confusion or disappointment.

“Don’t worry, everybody. We’ll get back to the party in a minute,” he quickly assured the crowd as he swam off the stage.

“Let me just take care of this real quick!”

While they technically weren’t back in Techno Reef, that doesn’t change the fact that his people were all here in the rave, and it’s his job to protect them if those airships in the sky are really as malicious as they seem.

He swam through the crowd towards the airships that now parked themselves onto the beach.

Everyone stared in confusion as the front of one of the airships opened up to reveal a small stage of its own alongside a troll that Bruce and John Dory seem to think of as familiar, according to what they’ve seen in the history books anyway.

“Did you also invite other trolls from other tribes, or did that slip your mind?” JD whispered to his brother with a hint of sarcasm.

“No, I didn’t invite anyone else, honest! They don’t seem to be very friendly either…” Bruce noted as they quietly watched the exchange going on in front of them.

“Hey, man. There he is! King Trollex of the Techno Trolls, right?” the new troll asked as she nonchalantly walked up to him.

“That’s right. Who’s asking?”

The green button floated his way next to the king and also stared in concern at the party-crashers.

“Queen Barb. Of the Hard Rock Trolls.”

The opposing Techno Troll could only shrug as the title didn’t ring any bells to him or to most of the others in attendance.

“The Rock Trolls? That’s why she looks familiar, she’s their current leader!” John Dory realized.

“What would they be doing here of all places, though?” Bruce frowned in suspicion.

The Rock Queen grabbed the guitar off of her back.

“We originally went to go look for you guys in Techno Reef, and that’s when we found out that you were all here, on Vacay Island. I’m here to take your string and the BroZone member here, bro.”

She then strummed her guitar with intimidation in mind.

John Dory and Bruce’s family looked on in shock.

“They’re after us…?” the purple-haired troll stammered.

“And the Techno String it seems!” JD added.

“No way,” King Trollex immediately refused.

“Ooh, don’t do it, man,” the Beat Drop Button agreed.

“If we lose our string, we lose our music,” the king warned.

“And besides, I don’t know of any BroZone members here!”

Queen Barb raised an eyebrow and snickered.

“You mean your bleeps and bloops?”

She mockingly pressed keys on an imaginary keyboard.

“Beep, beep, beep, beep-beep, boo.”

She let out a laugh.

“Yeah. That’s not music. Do you want to hear some real music?”

The Rock Queen gave a huge grin as she raised some horns.

“ROCKERS!” she suddenly cried out.

Some of the audience let out cries of worry as more airships suddenly landed next to the three other ships already there, with each opening up revealing smaller stages with many Rock Trolls on each one.

“Real shame. I really wanted Spruce to also hear this, especially since some of my other people already got Clay and Princess Viva, ya know, and teach that Pop Troll boyband a few things about rock before using them for the Perfect Family Harmony… ah, well.”

Some of the Rock Trolls got their guitar picks ready.

Brandy discreetly crouched down to the brothers’ level.

“Listen closely, dear, and listen well. You both need to leave here immediately and go back home to your brothers. I can at least promise that the kids and I will be fine,” she firmly stated.

They were both still in shock by what they just heard.

They already got Clay?

And Princess Viva… it can’t be…

“She’s going after the other strings,” the eldest troll suddenly realized.

Bruce quickly glanced between his brother and wife.

“That means the Pop Tribe isn’t dead yet… they’re just not at the Troll Tree…surely they didn’t get everyone…” JD rambled as he slowly looked at Bruce with dread.

“We need to leave for Bergen Town and try to find our tribe and Bitty B, like right now,” he exclaimed as he grabbed Bruce’s hand.

Before the other brother could protest, Brandy discreetly made a path for them to escape without detection while John Dory dragged him away from the crowd and Rock Trolls.

The troll dad did at least wave good-bye to his children and wife before they got too far away.

Quickly, they got farther away from the chaos but can hear the sounds of guitars being shredded with screams.

---

Back at the front of the crowd, King Trollex protectively spread his arms out in front of everyone, with some of the Vacaytioners doing the same to their smaller guests.

The Rock Trolls holding guitars began to shred as a Rock Troll on Queen Barb’s ship began to drum on his drum set.

Everyone braced themselves as they already felt the harsh waves of sound.

The Rock Queen took in a deep breath before singing.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdtfINIAw0Y&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=2&ab_channel=RCARecords)

YEAH!!!

Oh…

HERE I AM!

Rock you like a HURRICANE!

Strumming a particularly aggressive note from her guitar, she sent a shockwave powerful enough to destroy the stage and knock everyone off their feet.

King Trollex looked on in dismay as the stage collapsed with the citizens he was supposed to protect hurt.

“Okay, okay, enough. Stop!” he begged as he hugged the green button as an attempt of protection.

“You’re harshing the vibe we worked very hard to build to!”

John Dory and Bruce were by that point at least far enough to where they just needed to cut through the jungle of trees and vines to get to Rhonda, but stayed hidden for long enough to see if they can learn more about what the Rock Trolls were planning.

Barb scoffed.

“Oh, but by the end of my world tour, we’re all gonna have the same vibe with the help of the six strings and BroZone’s Perfect Family Harmony. We’re all gonna be one nation of Trolls, under rock!”

The Rock Trolls then began shredding loud chords as they began destroying everything troll-sized and captured the Techno Trolls and Techno String.

The pair looked at each other with concern before giving a nod and running into the jungle, racing to get to their other brothers and strings first, as well as save Clay and this Viva.

Chapter Text

In Pop Village, the newly crowned Queen Poppy woke up, stepped into the shower, and washed up while shaving her legs.

After taking care of said shower, she stepped out with a towel and brushed her teeth while drying off.

Poppy skipped over to her clothes as she began to sing.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6ye-4g32Ds&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=3&ab_channel=RCARecords)

Woke up in the morning light

Today is the day that I do everything right

A few flying green critters delivered her teal dress and legwarmers to her, which she happily accepted as she put them on.

Now that I’m queen

I got a kingdom to run!

A few more green critters placed the crown on her head as she looked on in the mirror.

‘Cause Trolls

They wanna have fun!

Yeah

Trolls just wanna have fun!

Running out of her pod, she was met with the sounds of her people all singing as they went about their day.

They just wanna (Hey)

They just wanna

They just wanna (Hey)

Poppy stepped in to finish.

Trolls just wanna have fun!

---

In the depths of his bunker, Branch was wearing his robe as he looked on at the ceiling.

Lived underground to get away from the world

Till I had my life changed by a beautiful girl

He sat up and briefly grabbed the framed photo of himself and Poppy, which was sitting next to his bedside, giving the photo a soft smile as he hugged it before putting it back down.

Just need the guts to tell her

That she’s the one!

Zooming through the bunker, he got dressed and poured himself some coffee as he got onto the elevator and lifted the lever to go up.

But you know

Trolls, they wanna have fun

He practically flung himself out of the bunker as he used his hair as a hook to grab a nearby rainbow vine.

Oh, Trolls

Just wanna have

That’s all they really want!

Some fun!

Using the vine to gain movement and speed, it wasn’t long before he found Poppy and joined her as he let himself drop onto the moss-covered branch that she was standing on.

When the working day is done

Oh, Trolls

They wanna have fun!

Oh, Trolls

Just wanna have

The pair jumped off and landed on a lower branch.

“All right, Queen Poppy. I’ve prepared an agenda for the day,” Branch explained as he marched over to said agenda hanging up on a wall.

“Oh. Well, I hope it says singing, dancing and hugging,” she glanced at him as she walked past him.

“Uh, isn’t that what we do every day?” he asked, giving her a tired look.

“Yeah! Good times!”

Branch could only stare in surprise as Poppy pulled out two pairs of rollerskates, which he begrudgingly accepts as she takes him down a slope.

Good times!

We have a good time, yeah

These are the good times!

The rest of the Snack Pack joined in, with Cooper rocking his two pairs of skates and Biggie riding on top of Mr. Dinkles’ head as the worm was using the skate.

We have a good time, yeah

Leave your cares behind!

They were quickly joined by Satin, Chenille, Smidge, Guy Diamond, and DJ Suki.

These are the good times!

Having the best time, oh, yeah

Leave your cares behind!

Their singing suddenly got interrupted by Guy suddenly screaming in his auto-tune voice.

“Poppy, come quick! It’s an emergency!” he cried out.

The group ran up to him with concern as he was sitting on a mushroom, flailing his legs.

“Guy Diamond, what’s wrong?” Poppy asked with worry in her face.

The rest of the Snack Pack also displayed faces of concern.

“I’m having a baby!” he exclaimed.

What followed next from the others’ mouths was a collective “HUH?!?!?!”

Satin and Chenille were already on it as they both pulled out crochet hooks and pink and blue yarn.

“We’re on jumpsuit duty!” they both declared as they used their fashion designing skills to quickly crochet a baby-sized jumpsuit.

“I get to be a role model!” Cooper realized as he smiled.

Smidge, on the other hand, stomped on the ground in protest.

“I don’t want to be a big sister!” she pouted.

Throughout the chaos, Guy suddenly let out a gasp before sighing in relief as a glittery egg popped out of his hair and hatched into a glitter troll baby with the same silver glitter as his father.

“Awwwww!” they all collectively cooed.

“What should I name him?” Guy asked the group.

Poppy thought long and hard on the name as she narrowed her eyes in thought.

“How about… Tiny Diamond?” she suggested, which was immediately met with a deadpan look from Branch.

The baby in question, however, seemed to like the name enough as he began to rap about it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Tiny Diamond is my name

Come straight from my daddy’s mane

My whole body’s made of glitter

And I’ll throw it in your face

I love when I make music

And the groove is in my bones

Just like my Aunt Queen Poppy

Someday I’ll sit on the throne

King Tiny

---

Some time later, the Snack Pack could be found bouncing on some giant mushrooms, with Poppy leading.

Groove is in the heart

Ah ah ah ah

Grove is in the heart

Ah ah ah ah

One by one, they all landed on the ground with their hair as they all began singing with that extra Pop spirit.

They just wanna

They just wanna (These are the good times!)

They just wanna

They just wanna (These are the good times!)

They just wanna

They just wanna (These are the good times!)

Everyone soon took on the formation of a giant heart.

They just wanna

They just wanna

Trolls just wanna have

Poppy and Branch took each other’s hands as they stood in the center of the heart.

Fun…

---

“Hey! That was some fancy footwork, Cooper!” Poppy complimented the quadruped.

“Some people just got it!”

“Biggie, Mr. Dinkles, you two were on fire!”

“Yeah, sorry about that, Queen Poppy.”

The tall blue troll turned around to reveal that Mr. Dinkles’ head was literally on fire.

He quickly took care of that problem by covering the flame with his free hand and putting it out.

“Mew,” the worm thanked.

“I’ve been digging those funky beats, DJ!”

“Hey, thanks Poppy!” DJ Suki gave a thumbs up as she rode off on top of her Wooferbug before promptly falling asleep.

“Ah, what a troll,” Branch sighed as he and Poppy saw her off.

Guy walked up to the pair with Tiny standing on top of a held out hand.

“Tiny Diamond, welcome to the family, little buddy,” Poppy greeted the baby.

“Thanks, Aunt Poppy. And thanks to this silver-haired daddy of mine for bringing me into this world,” he motioned to Guy as the queen gushed over the cute scene.

“I never knew my heart could be so full,” the father admitted.

“Peace and love. Bless up. Tiny and Daddy out!”

Poppy and Branch just stared flabbergasted as they walked off.

“Oh. Okay, bye!” she waved as Branch began to fidget around with his hands, thinking about how to pop the question.

“Hey, uh, Poppy, there’s something I was hoping to ask you-, “ he started until he looked at where she was supposed to be standing only to see that she moved on.

He scrambled after her as he saw her walking towards a patch of flowers.

“I-I mean, I guess it’s something I want to tell you, more so…”

“Uh-huh,” she encouraged as she picked up a watering can to water the flowers, her back still turned towards him.

“Uh, but listen. You could feel free to respond to it, uh, with an answer, i-if you wanted.”

Poppy turned around to give him more of her attention.

“Sure. What’s up?”

Internally, Branch began to panic the moment that they made eye contact.

“Why is making eye contact so hard…? Uh… crap, what do I say?!” he internally panicked.

“Uh, what’s up is I, uh, I-I-I-I-I-I… I wanted to tell you that…”

Poppy subconsciously moved her watering can back to watering some of the flowers behind her.

“Uh…”

The blue troll groaned in defeat.

“You’re crushing it at this queen thing,” he improvised.

The pink troll seemed to have accepted that.

“Aw, Branch, thank you. Being a good queen is the most important thing in the world to me,” Poppy placed a hand on her chest as she gently smiled.

“O-other than being your friend!” she quickly assured him.

Friend, friend, friend, friend, friend

That word bounced around in Branch’s head for a moment before giggling could be heard behind him.

“Oh, Branch’s support group! You guys are going with the name Kismet, right?” Poppy asked as she looked behind Branch.

The blue troll groaned as he slowly facepalmed and turned around to find the four other members of said support group giggling.

Ever since the Pop Trolls put an end to Trollstice for good, Branch made an effort to try and integrate back into Pop Village.

At some point, four trolls with faded colors approached him, eager to ask him some questions about how he was able to handle being gray for so long.

Normally, he would have ignored answering questions like those, but the look in their eyes said that they were desperate.

That was when he made the decision to form a small support group with him and these four other trolls as members to vent out their problems and struggles.

It pleased Branch to see that not only did they develop a close relationship with each other, but also to see their colors return.

Of course, a few days ago he told the group that he was gonna confess to Poppy, so of course they would suddenly show up to see if he would actually follow through.

The other four members of the group also being known for their tomfoolery doesn’t help matters.

Branch gave the four a deadpan look.

“You guys really love to be annoying, don’t you?”

The purple troll with red hair laughed.

“C’mon, you know you love us!” he smiled.

“I sometimes have to wonder that, Ablaze,” the blue troll rolled his eyes.

A teal Glitter Troll with blue hair had a smug look on his face as he looked at a yellow Glitter Troll with rainbow hair, who shared a similar look.

Before Branch could ask what they were intending on doing, they began to pretend to kiss each other in an overly romantic and teasing way, and Ablaze and an orange troll with goggles and tied-up purple and white hair began to howl in laughter.

“Branch and Poppy sitting in a tree, k-“ the two Glitter Trolls began to sing before Branch immediately used his hair to cover both of their mouths as his cheeks and ears burned a darker shade of blue.

He glared at the teal troll.

“You really thought that you would get away with that, Hype.”

Hype removed some of the hair from his mouth, with formed a grin.

“And it was worth it,” he smugly said.

The yellow troll wore a look of surprise as the blue troll turned his focus to him.

“And you, Boom. Think about the next words that you’re gonna say very carefully.”

Boom’s eyes darted between the other Kismet members as a few muffled noises can be heard from his covered mouth.

His eyes relaxed a bit as he raised his hands in defeat.

The orange troll let out an amused huff as he helped Boom up.

“If you weren’t Branch’s favorite, he probably would have pinned you, too, Trickee!” the yellow troll protested.

“Well, I guess it does help that I’m the youngest of the four of us then, huh,” he admitted as he walked up to Poppy, who seemed only somewhat confused about what she witnessed. In the process, he shoved Branch over to Ablaze.

“Sorry about that Poppy, Branch may have mentioned to the Snack Pack how we get from time to time,” Trickee explained.

“Yeah, he did. I also heard about the pranks you four sometimes end up doing, though usually you’re the one that works with Branch when it comes to solving problems that the village has. I really have to thank the four of you for being an extra support for him as he integrates himself back into society!” Poppy thanked as she put her watering can down.

---

Ablaze was talking to Branch in a whisper as Boom and Hype listened in.

“So, I’m assuming that you freaked out last minute and didn’t actually confess,” he read him like an open book.

The other troll stared at him flabbergasted and silently cursed himself for thinking for even a second that he could lie about it.

The Snack Pack in the meanwhile crept up to the group to see what was going on, with Tiny Diamond peeking out of his dad’s hair in keen interest.

Hype, who immediately noticed the other eavesdroppers, simply rolled his eyes at them.

“Guys, I think we have an audience, so say what you need to say now,” he told Ablaze.

Before the purple troll could offer some assurances to Branch, the ground suddenly began to rumble.

The group barely moved out of the way in time before an armadillo bus bursts forth from the spot that they were all standing on moments earlier.

Chapter Text

With a loud thud, Rhonda landed on the ground and let out a roar before two figures popped out of the side of the bus.

At first, everyone in the surrounding vicinity stared in confusion, but the moment two new voices rang out, Branch flinched.

The other four Kismet members immediately picked up on this and narrowed their eyes as John Dory and Bruce came into view.

“And are you sure this is the right place?” Bruce asked as he was the first to step off the bus.

“Well yeah, the Bridget girl gave us detailed directions and everything, even told us what Pop Village looked like and see-?”

JD motioned to all the pods in view as he got off the bus.

“Doesn’t this place already remind you of the Troll Tree?”

Poppy walked up to the pair and cleared her throat.

They immediately stopped talking and turned to the queen.

“H-hi, my people couldn’t help but notice you two making quite an entrance with your armadillo bus! Are you two new around here?” she asked, struggling to find the right words to say.

The pair quickly looked at each other before JD cleared his throat.

“O-oh, excuse us for barging in, but we came to see King Peppy concerning some matters-“

“BITTY B!” Bruce suddenly exclaimed with excitement as he ran past Poppy and wrapped Branch in a bear hug.

“H-hey, let go! You must have made a mistake, I’m no ‘Bitty B’!” Branch immediately protested as he tried to squirm out of the other troll’s grasp.

“That’s right, this troll’s our friend, Branch, not some Bitty B like you claim!” Trickee put himself between the pair and separated them.

“Nah, last I checked, Branch was Bitty B’s actual name. Anyway-“

John Dory immediately ran up to them.

“BABY BRANCH! Look at you. You got so big!” the eldest troll beamed as he gestured to his entire body.

“You’re not a branch anymore. You’re more like a trunk. Junk in the trunk,” JD emphasized as he proceeded to smack Branch’s back.

“I bet you I can still pick you up. Come on,” he suddenly proposed as he began to make grabbing motions at him.

“Hey, uh, actually-“ Ablaze tried to interfere, but by then John Dory already began to pick the younger troll up, much to Branch’s dismay as he began to immediately squirm in his grasp.

“Ooo, you got heavy- there goes my back,” JD began to mutter as the younger troll managed to use one of his arms to shove some distance between the pair.

Poppy, who was frowning at the interaction, decided to intervene before either of them got hurt (or in Branch’s case, got even more uncomfortable).

“Hey. Stop right there. You put my best friend down. Tell us who you are and what you want,” she demanded as she marched over to them.

JD immediately put him down while Bruce groaned into his hands.

“Hey. What up? You’re right. Totally rude of me. Didn’t introduce myself like I originally intended to,” he shot a quick glance at Bruce as he rubbed his own back.

“We’re Branch’s brothers,” Bruce gestured to himself and John Dory.

Most of the trolls in the area let out a collective gasp.

“WHAT?!” the Snack Pack all exclaimed in shock.

Upon hearing that declaration, the four other members of Kismet immediately gave the two brothers judging glares as if they knew something the others didn’t.

Tiny Diamond kicked his feet around in excitement from Guy Diamond’s hair.

“Ooh, drama! Corn me, Dinkles.”

Mr. Dinkles, who was sitting on Biggie’s hand (who in turn was next to Guy and Tiny), let out a ‘Mew’ as he coughed up a bucket of popcorn, which Tiny caught.

Branch popped up from behind Poppy.

“Correction: Used to be my brothers. Not anymore,” his eyes narrowed with aggression as he pointed at the two older trolls.

The pink troll fidgeted with her hands as she turned to face her best friend.

“Hey, um, remember when I told you a while back that you should open up to me and be real?” she nervously asked, flashing back to sometime after Trollstice when Branch was only beginning to reintegrate into society.

“Well-“

“You could’ve started by telling me you had two secret brothers!”

“Former brothers.”

“That’s not how DNA works!”

By this point, the former King Peppy approached the small crowd of trolls.

“Now, what seems to be going on here?” he asked as he approached his daughter.

“Dad, did you know about this?” the pink troll immediately demanded as she motioned to John Dory and Bruce.

Seeing the old troll reminded the pair about what they were going to originally talk about.

“Oh, right! Listen King Peppy, as soon as we heard about the capture of Clay and Princess Viva, we raced to find you guys as quick as we could to see if the Rock Trolls managed to miss a few Pop Trolls or by some miracle the Pop String,” JD stated, with Bruce nodding in agreement.

Everyone just looked at them with confused looks on their faces, while King Peppy nervously fidgeted with his cane.

“…Uh, what are you talking about? No one came by here and there’s no Princess Viva, I should know. I am the queen here after all!”

Now the two older brothers looked confused.

“No, that doesn’t seem right. Bruce and I may have left the Troll Tree 20 years ago, but we both knew that King Peppy had a daughter by the name of Viva, and you don’t seem to look like her, so I’m going on a limb to say that you were born after we left.”

Branch narrowed his eyes as he was in thought for a moment.

“Hold on a minute, I can also faintly remember some talk about some kid named Viva from when I was a baby, but I didn’t really think too much about it at the time,” he agreed.

After her best friend also confirmed that there was indeed someone by the name of Viva, Poppy slowly looked at her father with a look of hurt in her eyes.

“Dad… did I have an older sister?” she asked with a hint of betrayal in her voice.

The former king nervously looked around and fidgeted with his cane as the rest of the group waited for an answer.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally let out a sigh of defeat.

“…Back when we escaped Bergen Town 20 years ago, the tunnels collapsed as we were travelling down them. We didn’t think that there were survivors, and Viva was one of the trolls caught up in the cave-ins. Poppy, I thought your sister died for all these years, only for these two trolls to appear and confirm that she is not only alive but also captured.”

Before Poppy could find the words to respond to the sudden bombshell of a reveal, John Dory in his genius, failed to read the room.

“Hey, we’re not just ‘some trolls’ Your Majesty, we’re from the old boyband BroZone!” he proudly stated as Bruce and Branch facepalmed.

Poppy’s expression immediately changed to excitement as she turned to face him.

“No wonder you two looked familiar to me! The Snack Pack and I love listening to you guys!”

Cheers can be heard from the friend group as they looked on with excitement.

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Don’t tell me, um… Okay, well, you’re not the heartthrob.”

“Obviously,” Bruce rolled his eyes with laughter.

“Well, that’s your opinion,” JD shot back at him.

“The fun one? No, you’re kind of uptight,” Poppy waved her hands discarding the idea.

“Uptight?” he questioned, sounding hurt.

“Hmm. Not the sensitive one either,” the pink troll weighed her options.

By that point the oldest brother was beginning to get offended.

“Okay, a lot of assumptions for someone you just met like 30 seconds ago-“

“Oh, oh! I’ve got it. You’re John Dory,” Poppy finally pieced together.

“The leader-!”

“The old one!”

At that point, Bruce and the four Kismet members began howling in laughter.

John Dory could only sigh in defeat.

“And you must be the heartthrob, Spruce!” she looked over to Bruce.

“Close, I actually go by the name Bruce now!” he clarified as he wiped a tear from his eye.

“So, if- if you’re both Branch’s bros, then that means that all the other BroZone bros are Branch’s bros too.”

She turned her attention to her best friend.

“Branch, how come you never told me?” she pouted.

Ablaze, Boom, and Hype looked at him in slight worry while Trickee took a sharp breath in.

“Because it’s complicated,” he stated, not looking at his brothers while crossing his arms.

“But Branchifer, I could have sworn that they were just calling you Bitty B! You were the Bitty B?! What happened to your glasses?”

“Well, he did have a diaper too…” JD added.

“And~,” Branch began to harmonize before he continued with a deadpan tone in his voice, “a falsetto made of gold. Not that anyone cared. But that’s all in the past. Because they stopped being my brothers the day they walked out on me and never came back.”

“Woah, woah, woah. That’s not fair, Branch-“ JD immediately tried to defend himself before Bruce interrupted him and took over.

“Oh, the only reason that we found you guys was because we traveled to Bergen Town and this girl named Bridget told us how to get here; she also told us to tell Poppy that she said hi,” he quickly clarified.

“Aww, Bridge~” Poppy cooed.

“Anyway, as we said before we got sidetracked with who Princess Viva was, we heard that she and Clay got captured by Queen Barb and the Hard Rock Trolls. John Dory bumped into me when he went to visit my home in Vacay Island because he saw some Techno Trolls setting up for a rave. The rave was going fine until the Rock Trolls came along and not only crashed it but captured the Techno Trolls and Techno String. We overheard that they were after not only the four other genre strings, but also our family of brothers to use the Perfect Family Harmony to unify the six tribes under rock! I wouldn’t be surprised if she already has a bounty on our heads.”

John Dory took over the conversation.

“So we need to not only rescue Clay and Princess Viva, but also find Floyd and try to get to the other strings before Barb does! She’s probably after the royals especially!”

The large group of trolls looked at each other with confusion, all having the same question on their minds.

Branch stroked an imaginary beard on his chin.

“String… string… I think I remember reading a history book a few years ago that mentioned something about a Pop String.”

Poppy finally spoke.

“…What’s a Pop String?”

The two older brothers looked in dismay as JD walked up to the former king.

“King Peppy, you never told your people? Not even the queen, who needs to know?”

The pink troll looked at her father.

“Dad, what’s going on?” she asked with concern.

The old troll approached her.

“Well, I have long feared that this day would come,” he started somberly.

“I was hoping to protect you from this, Poppy.”

The other troll scoffed.

“Protect me? I’m not a little kid anymore, Dad. I’m the queen now.”

The former king looked at everyone as there was silence, and after a few moments passed, he relented.

“You’re right. The truth is we are not alone in this world. There are other kinds of Trolls, just as John Dory and Bruce claims.”

“Wow. That’s… Dad, that’s great! Or, at least it would be even better if we weren’t also told about one group of trolls trying to capture other groups,” Poppy frowned.

“Yeah, and from what the history books claim, these other tribes of trolls are very different from us, much like that Techno Troll rave,” JD noted.

The elder troll sighed as he motioned for everyone to follow him, with JD quickly telling Rhonda to stay put.

“How about we go discuss this elsewhere; somewhere more… fitting?” King Peppy suggested as the group began walking to a very secluded part of Pop Village.

Chapter Text

The secluded place that King Peppy took everyone to was what can be described as peaceful and serene.

They had to walk through a small cave that led to a section of said cave with a large hole in the ceiling that let the sunlight in, a waterfall running through the other end of the area, soft green grass, and some tall teal mushrooms.

King Peppy pulled a large blue scroll out of his hair and laid it on a flat stone in the center of the clearing.

“It’s a story as old as time,” he started as he rolled open the scroll.

“In the beginning, there was silence.”

The scroll revealed six different looking figures, which everyone deduced to be representations of the six tribes.

“Until one day, someone made a sound. Our ancestors were so inspired by the sound, that they took six strings. And those six strings had the power to control all music. They could play anything. Techno, funk, classical, country, hard rock, and pop. And every kind of music in between.”

Sounds of what the various strings would have sounded like echoed throughout the clearing, with the Kismet members all looking around in awe.

“There was something for everyone. It was one big party. But little by little, trolls became intolerant of each other’s music. They fought over what kind of music the strings would play. The elders realized there was but one solution. Each tribe would take a string and go their separate ways. Those six tribes have lived in isolation ever since.”

He then placed a map on top of the open scroll.

“Techno, Country, Rock, Classical, Funk, and us, the Pop Trolls,” he pointed to each of the tribes’ supposed locations.

Everyone exchanged uncomfortable looks as Poppy studied the map.

“So why after all this time are the Rock Trolls trying to get the other tribes to like their music, to the extent that they kidnapped another tribe and their string? That’s quite an extreme way to host a tribe reunion party just for harmony,” she muttered.

“Wait, do you just think that this is some giant party bash or something?” Branch asked, a little worried about how the other troll would answer.

“Yes!... Okay maybe not.”

“And besides, trying to grab the strings and us brothers to possibly manipulate other troll tribes is a pretty twisted way of achieving this ‘harmony’, we should know!” Bruce exclaimed as he walked up to the map, with Branch and John Dory nodding in agreement.

“And the strings together seemed to have led to fighting,” Ablaze added.

“Exactly,” King Peppy agreed.

“That’s why we need to keep our string safe.”

He walked up to the waterfall, causing it to separate and reveal the Pop String attached to the very same harp from the story sitting on top of a stump.

Everyone immediately stared in awe at seeing the string for themselves.

“Behold! The pop music string.”

Plucking at the glowing pink string caused it to play a familiar pop melody as a heart made of glittering light radiated from it into the air above them.

Heart-shaped confetti made of light softly fell down onto the attending trolls, who were still very much awestruck.

“Wow…” Tiny Diamond whispered in admiration as he reached out of Guy’s hair to grab at a piece of heart confetti.

“It’s beautiful,” Poppy calmly stated as she admired the small hearts that gently rained down.

“And powerful. Which is why we can’t let it fall into the wrong hands.”

“And we won’t. Not on our watch!” John Dory stepped forward.

Bruce, and to a lesser extent, Branch, nodded in agreement.

“Don’t worry. I’ve been preparing for this day for years.”

His eyes suddenly shot wide open as he began running up to Poppy.

“We run.”

Everyone stared in confusion.

“Run?” Poppy questioned.

“And hide,” the former king waved his hands around.

“Now hold on a minute, that’s not how I roll around here. Now if it’s all the same to you, I’m just gonna stick to my plan of gathering the rest of my brothers and helping defend all the strings. Isn’t that right, Bruce, Branch?” he looked to his two brothers as he stood in front of the former king.

“Right,” the purple-haired troll immediately agreed as he stood next to his older brother.

“As much as I hate to admit this, that seems like a more solid plan considering what you told us, especially if Clay’s in trouble,” Branch agreed as he too walked next to his eldest brothers.

“Not to mention that the long-lost older sister that I just found out about is also in trouble,” Poppy crossed her arms as she gave her father a judgmental glare.

“Besides, you’re assuming the worst out of tribes that we haven’t had contact with since we split up all that time ago! If Bruce mentioned that the Techno Trolls were hosting a rave on the island he’s living on, that has to mean something, right?”

As she began arguing with her father, Cooper seemed to be having thoughts of his own.

“With there being other tribes… is there a tribe out there that’s like me?”

He thought back to the ancestor on the scroll that looked enough like him, as far as scrapbooking goes.

---

In the hours of the very early morning, before the sun had a chance of peeking out of the horizon, John Dory, Bruce, and Branch snuck over to Rhonda, who was waiting at the borders of Pop Village.

“I still can’t believe that old troll’s trying to keep us here. We’ll be sitting ducks!” the eldest brother kicked some dirt from the ground in frustration.

“And the way he quickly had some other trolls usher us both into guest pods for the night too, something’s fishy here,” Bruce added.

Branch was too embarrassed to admit that in most other circumstances, he probably would have agreed with the old troll. Maybe he did in another timeline. But that doesn’t matter right now.

The most important part was to wait for Poppy to meet them here with the map.

He was very conflicted at first about bringing her along considering her royal status, but eventually relented when he saw the upset look in her eyes, knowing that it wasn’t in her nature to run and hide. Her going after Chef after the Bergen took the trolls was enough proof of that.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, the trio saw the Pop Queen silently run up to them with a rolled-up map in her hands.

“The map has been acquired,” she told them with a cool-looking grin on her face as if she just completed the heist of the century.

The three brothers walked up to meet her.

“Aw, sweet! Now we have a better idea of where to go,” John Dory stated as he took the map and opened it up.

“Where should we head to first, fellas?”

The four hunched over the map and stared at it until Branch pointed to Symphonyville.

“This is where the Classical Trolls live, right? Let’s go there first!”

“Alright, sounds good to me! Before we hit the road, let’s run through the plan again,” he rolled up the map and looked at Branch.

“For the time being, our main objective is to go to where the other tribes live and warn them about the Rock Trolls coming after their strings. If possible, we help protect any string that is under threat at the moment we arrive at a location a string is housed in. We currently don’t know if Clay and Viva are already at Volcano Rock City, but if we find them while on the road, our objective immediately changes to rescuing them. There is also the matter concerning Floyd’s whereabouts… have either of you heard from him at all these past 20 years…?” Branch raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry Little Branch, I haven’t heard a peep from him,” Bruce apologized.

“Yeah, I think Floyd’s gonna be a bit more tricky to find than you, little bro.”

The youngest brother let out a sigh.

“Alright, fine. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Let’s hit the road!”

In less than five minutes, the four got onboard Rhonda and the armadillo bus took off for the mountains to Symphonyville.

---

While Poppy and the three brothers were going over the plan, Cooper was back in the secluded clearing, staring at the open scroll.

“How long have you been here, Cooper?”

The quadruped jumped as he immediately turned around to find the four Kismet members, with Ablaze expecting an answer.

“Oh, Branch’s support group!” the tall troll nervously laughed.

“I was just thinking… that maybe I need to go outside of Pop Village for a while and see if there really are other trolls out there like me!”

“So, what you’re saying is that you plan on traveling out there all alone?” Hype questioningly raised an eyebrow.

“You’re gonna get hurt out there, dude!” Boom objected.

“I know it seems a bit silly of me to do this, but I don’t wanna bother anyone with something like this, especially if I’m leaving before anyone else can spot me.”

Trickee narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment before an idea popped into his head.

“Why don’t we go with you, Cooper?” he proposed.

The other three looked at him in shock and confusion.

“Let me explain, guys. Cooper is Branch’s friend, and I don’t think we would be able to forgive ourselves if we let him go out there alone and something happens to him. Besides, wouldn’t it be fun to go out there and explore, and even possibly bump into the others at some point?”

The other three thought back to what King Peppy said earlier and realized that Poppy and the brothers were right (though it did concern them a little that they were some of the only other trolls that they mentioned their plan too, but that just means that they trust them that much).

“You guys really want to come with me?!” Cooper asked excitedly.

The group looked at each other and gave a collective shrug.

“Sure, beats staying here and being sitting ducks,” Ablaze told him.

The quadruped led them to his pod and tossed four matching cloaks to them as he put on his ‘Destiny’ hat and a matching cloak of his own.

As the group of five approached the boarders of Pop Village, Cooper looked back to his companions as they stared at the home that they were about to leave.

“I have to admit, I don’t know exactly where I need to go, so I’m going to follow my heart. I’m just happy that I don’t have to do this alone,” he gave the four a warm smile.

“Is that what you’re so worried about? Dude, that just makes the adventure even better!” Boom encouoraged.

“Besides, we already know that Branch’s team already has the map. We probably wouldn’t have agreed if we were so worried about directions,” Hype added with a smile.

They were all about to leave when suddenly, they heard the rustling of leaves.

The five looked in the direction the sound was coming from and saw Guy Diamond looking back at Pop Village, not seeing them.

He was also wearing a cloak just like theirs, which was highly unusual for him considering that he’s usually naked.

“Guy? What are you doing here?” Cooper asked in confusion as the group walked up to him.

The Glitter Troll jumped at the voice and turned to face them.

“Well, you see, I woke up not too long ago on account of Poppy explaining the plan to me and why she and Branch were leaving with his brothers. When I walked back to bed, I saw that Tiny’s own bed was empty, save for this note telling me that he was going to help his aunt and uncle find the rest of his ‘absent’ brothers,” he made sure to use air quotes to emphasize that Tiny was the one that said it in his note.

“I tried to find that armadillo bus that John Dory owned but I couldn't find it anywhere; meaning that they already left. So, I was planning to go search for my son out there,” he pointed to the grasslands outside Pop Village.

Guy suddenly froze as a look of realization dawned on him.

“Wait a minute, why are you guys here?”

Cooper didn’t hesitate to respond.

“Oh, Branch’s support group is coming with me to help find other trolls that look like me! Do you want to come with us?” he offered.

“Chances are pretty decent that we’ll find Tiny and the others,” Hype added.

Guy looked at the others in surprise before smiling.

“Alright, I guess I’ll join you!”

Before the rest of the village woke up for the day, the two groups were already well on their way.

Chapter Text

John Dory was maneuvering Rhonda through the grassy terrain.

“Operation Rocking Harmony is on and popping!” Branch announced as he was sorting through a box of old BroZone memorabilia and Bruce began sorting through the history books that they brought with them on the other tribes.

The two brothers and Poppy situated themselves on a rounded teal couch on the back.

Poppy peeked over Branch’s shoulder as he picked up a magazine from the box.

Suddenly, he turned his gaze to her.

“What?” he asked, wondering what she was doing.

“What? Oh, nothing! I just- if I didn’t know any better, I’d- I’d almost say you were excited,” the pink troll gave a smug grin.

“Uh- it has nothing to do with my brothers,” the darker troll quickly explained as he turned his face away from her eyes.

Bruce peeked over to see what was going on, but all he saw was a conflicted look on his younger brother’s face.

---

Branch set up a kind of ‘clue board’ in the middle of the bus, which was the now taped-up map alongside the various tacks on it with possible routes to follow. He also put up some possible theories of where Viva, Clay, and Floyd could be.

Of course, some notes from the history books and the BroZone memorabilia were also noted.

While Poppy did try to focus on the clue board at first, she soon turned more of her focus to Branch and Bruce, both who, while looking at the map, seemed tense around each other.

She could practically cut the tension between the two brothers with a knife as she can feel Bruce wanting to give Branch the affectionate teasing only an older brother could give.

Luckily, she remembered a song that can help lighten the mood.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH7zezZbgMk&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=4&ab_channel=AnnaKendrick-Topic)

People all over the world

Join hands

Start a love train

A love train

She slid over to Branch and booped his nose as he gave into Poppy’s plan as the pair sang together.

People all over the world

Join hands

Start a love train

A love train

The Pop Queen made swimming-like movements with her arms as she looked at the brothers.

The next stop that we make

Will be soon

Branch began to mimic her movements.

Tell all the folks in Symphonyville

We’re bringing it all to you

He motioned a hand to Bruce to join along, who was intently watching the pair.

Now please don’t miss the train

At the station

Poppy and Branch took each other’s hands as they drew themselves close to each other as the three were absorbed in the song.

‘Cause if you miss it

I’ll feel sorry

Sorry for you

---

As Rhonda traveled down the road, the Love Train showed no signs of stopping as Bruce prepared for a high note.

WELL YEAH

The three made a line on top of the teal couch and began dancing as they jumped off of it, pretending that they were on a catwalk.

Poppy made graceful motions as she twirled her body around.

People all over the world

Branch shuffled his limbs.

Sisters and brothers

Bruce actually walked down the aisle like he was on an actual catwalk.

Join hands, come on!

John Dory danced akin to a drunk troll as he shook his hips and fist-bumped the air.

Start a love train

A love train

They were so absorbed with their song that it took them a minute to realize the issue.

The trio stopped singing and stared at John Dory, who didn’t notice that the others stopped.

“Ride this train! C’mon, ride it, ride it!” he sang as he fist-bumped the air.

“Uh, who’s driving Rhonda?” Branch asked with concern.

Suddenly, a voice boomed from the radio.

“All right. All right. Tiny, Branch, Poppy, the hippie, and this old guy…”

John Dory and Bruce immediately gave offended looks.

“What?” JD muttered.

“…on a musical adventure filled with heart, hilarity and happiness.”

The four trolls looked at each other before walking up to the driver’s seat, only to let out a collective gasp of shock.

“Tiny! What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with your daddy?” Poppy asked.

“Well, Aunt Poppy, for your information, I got onto the bus when none of you were looking and studying that map. I’m on a rite of passage to learn lessons of life and courage. Oh, and I left a note for Daddy before I left!” he calmly explained as he placed his focus on the road again.

“Aw,” Poppy couldn’t help but find it adorable, while Branch gave her a deadpan look.

“Should we be letting a baby drive?” JD asked with concern as he used a hand to emphasize Tiny’s size.

“Not to worry, old man. I have procured my learner’s permit.

He pulled out what seemed to be a hastily made card with Tiny’s photo on it, with the biggest difference being that he has a mustache in the photo.

The pink troll squinted at the card.

“Who is Adulty McManface?”

“The better question is, are you a narc?”

Poppy was taken aback with surprise at the accusation.

“What? No. No,” she stammered as Branch gave an even more deadpan look.

“Why? Are you?” the girl stuttered.

Tiny narrowed his eyes at the Pop Queen.

“Well, I can’t argue with a learner’s permit, though I would personally never let any of my kids drive at their current age,” Bruce commented as he crossed his arms.

Branch’s expression suddenly changed to that of shock.

“Wait, you have children?” he asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

“Yeah… I think I counted, like, 13 of them when I was there,” JD did some internal math.

The youngest brother stared at the purple-haired troll for a few seconds before he spoke again.

“Let’s hope you don’t abandon any kids again,” Branch coldly whispered before turning around and walking back to the teal couch.

John Dory stopped his other brother from following him as he shook his head.

Poppy looked at her friend with sadness in her eyes.

She can tell that he could have very easily have gone off on him, but didn’t, probably prioritizing the mission.

She also could have sworn that she had seen Tiny briefly flash a look of judgement at Bruce, the kind where a little kid can look at an adult with a look of disappointment and have it hurt if they actually noticed.

The oldest brother turned his focus back to the troll in the driver’s seat.

“Enough chitchat, guys! Adulty McManface, step on it!” he ordered as the child happily complied.

---

Shells on a beach began to vibrate as Barb’s voice echoed throughout, laughing.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytQxfWPp2_c&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=5&ab_channel=RCARecords)

All aboard!

One by one, the Rock Trolls’ ships popped out of the water or landed from being in the air as their legs immediately adjusted to the sand.

Ai, ai, ai

The Rock Queen raised some horns in the air as she stood on her ship’s stage before beginning to shred on her guitar.

Crazy

But that’s how it goes

Millions of people

She hopped over to the drum set of her most trusted drummer.

Living as foes

Music

Has kept us apart

Barb hopped over one by one between some small flying critters.

It’s time for the hard rock

Revolution to start

The queen launched herself over to a younger Rock Troll and encouraged them to play their guitar.

As the Rock Trolls played on their open stages, a plan seemed to be cooking from the ships carrying a large cage in the back filled to the brim with trolls with frizzy hair.

“Viva! Clay! You both need to get out of here!” one of the caged trolls tried to reason with the leaders, with the other trolls mumbling in agreement.

Two trolls; a pink troll with blonde hair, white romper, cape made of fake grass, and pink legwarmers, and a blue troll with lime green hair, green romper, and yellow and white wrist sweatbands, protested.

“What kind of leaders would we be if we left you all behind?!” Clay protested as his tail smacked the ground.

“You heard what those Rock Trolls said, they want to end all music except for rock by using the string, BroZone, and the royals of each tribe,” another troll countered.

“Yeah, while it does suck that they managed to capture all of us so easily, if we can keep our leaders safe to protect all music, we will, even if we end up sacrificing ourselves,” another troll added, with many sounds of agreement.

Viva narrowed her eyes as she crossed her arms.

“And no one is going to sacrifice themselves, not on our watch!”

She slowly turned to her partner as her eyes grew shiny with tears, and one look at Clay’s face told her that they came to the same difficult conclusion, with both of their tails drooping.

“Go pick the lock,” she ordered.

Clay immediately sprang into action as he used one of his claws to fidget with the lock hole for a few moments before it popped open and the cage door swung open just enough to let them jump out.

They were really lucky that the cage ship they were on was the one that was farthest back due to said ship only recently meeting back up with Barb’s group of ships.

Viva, analyzing their options, took off her cape as she ripped it a bit and attached an end to it on a hook next to the opening of the cage.

The pair looked at their group one last time.

“Please stick together, Putt-Putt Trolls, and stay safe,” Viva softly told them before she grabbed her partner’s hand and spun out of the ship using the cape, which began to look more like a rope as more of it tore.

The pair rolled themselves into sand-colored balls as Viva let go of the green fabric, separating the pair from their people.

They both stayed in that ball form for some time until they were sure that the Rock Trolls were gone.

As soon as things quieted down, they unrolled themselves as they stood and stared at the mountain in front of them.

The pair held each other’s hand tightly before looking at each other and deciding to climb the mountain.

Of course, as they began to make some progress up the mountain, they suddenly looked up in horror as they heard explosions from all the way at the top.

---

While Clay and Viva escaped…

The Rock Queen played in sync with the small Rock Troll.

No spats, no tiffs, no fighting

When everyone’s the same

I’m going off the rails

On a crazy train!

The ships got closer to Symphonyville as they got closer to the top of the mountain.

“Yeah, I got the Techno String!” Barb happily announced as she got back inside her own ship.

“Who knew world domination could be so much fun?”

The other Rock Trolls on the ship rejoiced as she celebrated with them, with the blue Techno String in hand.

She walked up to a guitar case and opened it to reveal a guitar made with black diamond.

The other trolls stared in awe as she placed the blue string onto the guitar, turning from blue to red.

“Only four more strings to go until rock unites the world.”

As the queen sank into her small throne, she suddenly shot up as she began to panic.

“Dad? Where’s Dad?” Barb looked around.

Suddenly, a nearby door swung open, and an elderly troll rolled out with the help of his motorized wheelchair.

“There you are, Dad. I got the Techno String.”

The old troll gave her a proud smile.

“Good work, Barbara! Thanks to all that research you did on the strings and Perfect Family Harmony, we’ll be able to unite the troll kingdoms yet! It’s a shame that Floyd fellow left before we put the plan into motion, though…” the former king remorsed.

The younger troll flinched slightly before agreeing.

“Y-yeah, a real shame…” she sadly smiled before shaking away whatever thoughts she was thinking.

“A-anyway! Why don’t we go over the plan again as a refresher, don’t think I don’t see some confused looks coming from you!” Barb glared at a troll with a mohawk, who was giving her a look of confusion.

The Rock Queen lined everyone up.

“Okay. We’re on a World Tour. And on each stop, we get a new string and a member of that stupid pop boyband, BroZone. When I have all six strings, I’ll play the ultimate power chord while the five BroZone brothers amplify the guitar’s power by singing the Perfect Rocking Harmony using these special earpieces Riff collaborated with our engineers to make.”

She motioned to her lead drummer, who then lifted a red earpiece with a microphone attachment for all the trolls to see.

“And I will unite the trolls in each kingdom and beyond under one music.”

She lifted up some horns.

“OUR MUSIC!”

The other trolls mimicked their leader.

“ROCK!” they all chanted.

The former king slowly tried to mimic the others.

“Oh, here it comes!” Barb said excitedly as she gestured for Riff to watch.

Seconds passed, and the old troll was still making the attempt.

“Uh, just a little bit more, King Thrash,” Riff tried to encourage.

“Riff, just help him, man,” the queen urged him as she mushed him away. She was at least glad that her father’s mind was still pretty sound.

“Yes, Your Rockness.”

He scrambled to Thrash and flicked his two fingers upwards.

Everyone cheered as the girl hopped over to her father.

“ROCK AND ROLL!” Thrash shouted as the pair laughed together.

Chapter Text

It took a hot minute, but Rhonda eventually arrived at the top of the mountains at Symphonyville.

…Or at least, what they can assume to be Symphonyville.

The armadillo bus slowed as Tiny Diamond took in what he was seeing.

“Woah… something happened here,” the child stared agape.

The four adults on the bus looked up from what they were doing, wondering why Tiny sounded concerned all of a sudden.

When they approached the front windshield, they all adopted a similar look of shock on their faces.

“We have arrived at Symphonyville…” the small troll nervously laughed.

He slowed Rhonda to a stop and everyone slowly got off and looked around, with Tiny hopping inside of Branch’s hair.

The entire area looked trashed. Some ash rained down from the many charred buildings. Many sheets of sheet music lay on the ground, burnt up.

“We’re too late…” Branch looked on in sorrow.

“Just like with the Techno Trolls…” Bruce muttered.

John Dory scanned some of the rubble, having a very small inkling of hope that just maybe the Rock Trolls forgot the string.

Instead, to his surprise, he spotted two figures passed out on top of a small pile of rubble.

“Hey, guys. I think I found some survivors,” he motioned for the others to slowly follow him.

As they got closer though, more of the figures’ features became more noticeable.

When the group got close enough, as soon as they saw the lime-haired troll’s face, the three brothers suddenly froze.

“C-CLAY??!!” they stammered in surprise as Bruce and Branch each grabbed a hand to help sit him up while JD checked his body for any injuries.

Poppy turned her attention to the blonde troll lying next to Clay and a thought just occurred to her.

“If the boys mentioned that Clay and Viva got captured, and that’s Clay over there…” she whispered to herself as she reached out for the other troll’s hand.

The moment she touched the other girl’s hand, however, made the blonde troll immediately wake up as she stood on all fours and bared her teeth and fangs as she growled at them, her tail shot straight up.

Clay, who somehow managed to sleep through his brothers’ probing, immediately jolted awake and was about to respond in the same manner until he saw the panicked faces of the trolls in front of him.

“W-wait, Viva! Unless I’m dreaming, these guys are my brothers!” he exclaimed as he stood up.

Viva froze as she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“…Are you sure?” the girl asked with doubt.

“Positive. Now give it here, Spruce!” the lime-haired troll started a sort of handshake with the purple-haired troll.

“Actually, I go by Bruce now,” he quickly mentioned.

“Bruce. Oh. Someone got fancy. I like it,” the green troll fixed an imaginary tie and suit.

The other troll let out a laugh.

“Look who’s talking. Is that a sweater romper?” he pointed at Clay’s clothing.

“What can I say? When you co-run a place, gotta flex the drip.”

Viva popped up next to him, now looking very chipper.

“Yeah, where we come from, I’m the fun side of the operation, and Mr. Clay takes care of the boring stuff,” the pink troll rolled her eyes.

“Guilty!” he joked before briefly looking around Symphonyville with sadness in his eyes.

“Not that I was co-running this place,” he clarified as he plastered a smile on his face.

John Dory held his arms out to Clay for a hug.

“Clay!”

The taller troll immediately turned to look at him with a deadpan stare.

“Hmm. John.”

Branch almost felt sorry for the oldest brother as said brother looked on with confusion.

Clay’s focus turned to Branch.

“Woah! Baby Branch? No way!” he shouted in disbelief as Branch immediately found himself wrapped in a tight hug.

The darker troll could only chuckle awkwardly before Clay began squishing his cheeks like a baby.

“Actually, it’s Big Branch now. Or just Branch. Branch is fine.”

The older troll was still babying him as Tiny peeked out of Branch’s hair and gave Clay a judgmental stare, which he didn’t seem to notice.

Eventually, the lime-haired troll lets go of his cheeks, which the younger troll uses to give himself some distance.

“So, Clay, this is Poppy,” he motioned to his best friend as she immediately zoomed over.

“Hi, Clay. So great to finally meet you,” the pink troll happily told him as she zoomed to give him a big hug.

“Can you do the Rusty Robot for me?” Poppy asked with a chuckle as she mimicked a robot dance.

That question seemed to have gotten an uncomfortable reaction out of Clay as Viva fidgeted with the fur end of her tail.

“Yeah, no, I don’t do that anymore, okay?” he nervously laughed.

“Right. Kidding. Ha! Can you imagine? I wouldn’t ask you to do that after meeting you two seconds ago. Who would do that?” she immediately backtracked as she internally cringed.

Branch, throughout her rambling, looked at her with such a tenderness and love in his eyes that it was admittingly surprising that Poppy didn’t notice.

“Yeah, it’s just that Fun Boy Clay is dead. Serious Boy Clay only does the Well-Oiled Robot. And it is no,” he mimicked a record-scratching sound, “fun.”

“I mean, that’s still pretty fun.”

The teal-haired troll let out a laugh.

“Yeah, same old Clay,” JD agreed.

Viva, who has taken more of a backseat for the conversation, suddenly zoomed past Poppy with a burst of excitement that can even rival her own.

When the pink-haired troll looked up at her hair, she realized that the other troll somehow managed to braid it.

“Did you just braid my hair?” Poppy asked with an impressed tone in her voice.

“You’re welcome. It looks so good,” Viva admired her work.

“I love it!” she complimented as she hugged her hair.

Throughout that exchange, Clay leaned over to Bruce.

“Quick question; is Branch and that Poppy girl an… item?” he whispered, not missing how the blue-haired troll was staring at her earlier.

“Nope, still best friends it seems,” the purple-haired troll shook his head with disappointment.

Clay and Viva turned their attention back to everyone.

“Anyway, I can’t believe you all are here… though I wish it could be under better circumstances…” he rubbed the back of his neck as he motioned to the obvious state of Symphonyville.

A look of realization suddenly hit John Dory.

“Wait, back when Bruce and I were on Vacay Island. Barb said that you were captured while she grabbed the Techno String!” he stammered.

Clay and Viva looked at each other before adopting tired looks.

“We were. If it wasn’t for our people’s insistence and Viva’s quick thinking, we would still be on one of those ships. In fact, we managed to escape before the Rock Trolls began to climb the mountains and- wait, did you just say that she got the Techno String? Is the Pop String safe?” he asked with worry.

Poppy suddenly let out a nervous laugh.

“Uh… our string is safe,” she admitted with slight shame as she pulled out a glowing pink string from her hair.

The Pop String.

“WHAT?! Poppy, are-are you crazy?!” Branch exclaimed with a mix of shock and horror as he immediately ran up and covered her hands, and by extension, the string.

“Great, another reason for the Rock Trolls to be after us,” Tiny agreed.

“When I went to grab the map and saw the string, I-I thought it was a good idea at the time!” the Pop Queen tried to defend herself.

“Poppy might be right, Little B. You remember what the old king’s plan was,” JD winced thinking about the whole ordeal.

Branch took a deep breath and calmed himself.

“…Alright, fine. I see your point.”

Viva, who was observing the conversation, suddenly had a few thoughts of her own.

Pop String? The very same Pop String the Rock Trolls mentioned when they and their people were captured? And ‘old king’?

She was about to ask Poppy a few questions when a weak ‘Hello?’ can be heard from another pile of rubble.

Viva and Clay immediately tensed up as both slightly flashed their teeth and fangs while Branch grabbed a nearby bow and jumped in front of the group, with JD pulling out his machete, aiming it in the direction of the sound.

“Who said that? Identify yourself!” Branch demanded as he waved the bow around.

“Uh, are you nice or are you mean?” the stranger feebly asked.

Poppy and Bruce quickly stood at the front to get everyone else to calm down.

“W-we’re nice. We’re really nice,” Poppy insisted.

“Yeah, but not too nice,” Branch warned before getting elbowed by Bruce.

After a few seconds passed, a small wind instrument peeked out from behind the pile of rubble.

“Okay.”

She proceeded to lie flat on the top of the pile and rolled her way to Poppy, who picked the instrument up.

“What happened here…?” the pink troll asked.

“Symphonyville…” the instrument coughed up dust, “was a place where the Classical Music Trolls lived. But…”

The small instrument suddenly gave a grim look.

“…that was in the before. It was the most wonderful place you ever did seen…”

---

Flashback to before the Rock Trolls arrived…

“It was a place where all of the Classical Music Trolls could live in perfect harmony.”

The instrument remembered fondly of when one of the Classical Trolls played her during practices.

“Wherever the conductor led, we followed.”

The conductor by the name of Trollzart used his baton to conduct his orchestra.

“Play, play. Beautiful,” he complemented his team.

“But then Queen Barb showed up.”

Trollzart stopped conducting as he heard the Rock Trolls appear behind him.

“Oh no,” he uttered as he turned around to face Barb.

“’Sup, Trollzart dude? I’m here for your string,” the Rock Queen nonchalantly declared.

The conductor frowned at the audacity.

“We will not go quietly,” Trollzart stated as he raised his hands and baton.

The orchestra behind him hovered closer as they played a threatening Symphony No. 5, all with serious looks on their faces as they prepared their attack.

The response that they got out of Barb was just fake snoring as she pretended to sleep.

She ‘jolted’ awake.

“Oh. Oh, I’m sorry, I-I must have fallen asleep,” her sympathetic look changed to a deadpan one as she whined, “because your music is so boring.”

The conductor could only scoff at the additional boldness to her audacity.

“Where are the words, bro? Right?”

Barb then pointed an insistent finger at him.

“Now give me your string!” she demanded.

The Rock Trolls on all their ships turned up their amps to the max as they played their own guitar cover of Symphony No. 5 and blasted the trolls and Symphonyville, bringing the area to ruins and weakening the trolls to where they couldn’t fight back anymore.

Trollzart watched in dismay as Barb walked up to the baton that was just out of his reach and picked it up, snapping it in half and revealing the Classical String.

“She took our string. Our-our music. She took everyone…” the instrument choked back sobs recalling how she saw her people being carried away in cages.

---

The instrument looked at Poppy with a destressed look in her eyes.

“We lost everything.”

Clay absorbed the scenery around him with a look of pure devastation on his face as he fell to his knees.

“T-this is the first time I’ve been here, so why… does it hurt so much…”

Tears fell from his eyes as he quietly sobbed.

As Viva wrapped him in a tight hug and the three other brothers began to reach out a hand in an attempt to comfort him, the trio noticed the glow of a pink and yellow heart faintly beating on Clay’s chest.

“That looks like the pink and teal heart I saw on Bruce back on Vacay Island,” JD pointed out.

Bruce looked at him in confusion.

“Wait, since when?” he frowned.

“When I bumped into you. You seemed especially into the music King Trollex was playing when I saw it.”

Branch gave what he just heard some thought while Bruce considered the possibility.

Clay calmed down enough to see the glowing heart before it, too, faded.

“So, if what John is saying is true, which I admit would be a weird thing to lie about, there’s probably a reason as to why this is happening. I think I need to see it again, though, to understand it better,” the youngest brother pointed out.

Tiny hopped out of Branch’s hair.

“If I may, I think we better get going to another tribe before this rock chick does. Where are we going?”

Poppy thought for a second.

“If I remember that map correctly, Lonesome Flats is right next to Symphonyville, and that’s where the Country Trolls live. Does that sound like a plan, guys?”

“Sound’s as good of a plan as any!” JD decided as he and Tiny ran back to Rhonda.

Clay looked at the instrument.

“Will you come with us?” he asked.

“Oh, no. Someone has to rebuild. And Pennywhistle is that woodwind for the job,” she gave him a determined look as she moved a piece of rubble with her head.

He walked up to her and placed a yellow hardhat on her head.

“Don’t want you getting hurt without having some protection on ya,” he smiled.

The group then ran to Rhonda and got inside.

“Good luck, everyone…” Pennywhistle whispered.

Chapter Text

On their ships, Barb and the Rock Trolls were celebrating their getting of the Classical String.

Suddenly, the ringing of a phone can be heard throughout Barb’s ship. The older telephones being used to communicate between ships was Thrash’s idea as a hit of nostalgia, or so he claims.

The Rock Queen walked up to the phone and answered.

“Talk to me… uh-huh… yeah… what is this about the Putt-Putt Trolls… WHAT?!”

She hung up and looked at her father with a look of shock on her face.

“Clay and that Pop Princess escaped!”

The Rock Troll stomped around as she began to kick some objects and threw a guitar at a CRT TV.

“Ooooooo, those Pop Trolls. Making themselves out to be so bubbly and fun, and with their stupid boybands, but they’re all just really slippery and sneaky. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be struggling to find and keep even one member of BroZone! They probably have the Pop Queen with them, too!”

After using a chainsaw to cut a couch in half, she collapsed onto one of the halves.

If one paid really close attention, they could see a look of sadness in Barb’s eyes as if she remembered something… or someone.

“Uh, I’m tired now,” she admitted.

“Hating things takes a lot of energy.”

A light bulb just lit up in Thrash’s head.

“Barbara, dear, perhaps we should hire them to aid us in capturing BroZone, and by extension, Queen Poppy, her sister, and even the Pop String.”

Barb shot up at the implication.

“The most feared bounty hunters in all of Trolldom. Chaz, the Smooth Jazz Troll. The Reggaeton Trolls. The K-Pop Gang. And… the Yodelers.”

---

The bounty hunters in question were gathered in a room. Or at least most of them were.

“Okay. As you probably know, I’m bringing a tidal wave of rock across this land of ours. And soon there will be nothing but hard rock as far as the ear can hear. Whoever brings me the members of BroZone, Queen Poppy, Princess Viva, and that Pop String gets to keep their very own music in their very own territory. Right over here.”

She pointed at a small dot on the giant map that she was showing to the hunters.

One of the Reggaeton Trolls got close to where Barb pointed and squinted at the dot.

“I don’t know. It looks very tiny,” he pointed out.

“You want it or not?” the Rock Queen suddenly got in his face, causing him to immediately go back to his group, with the bounty hunters staring at Barb with looks of slight fear.

“All you have to do is get me that string, Queen Poppy, Princess Viva, and BroZone!”

The three teams agreed and played it cool as they all left, still with an air of uneasiness.

Barb then realized one group was missing.

“Dude, where are the Yodelers?” she asked Riff.

“I heard a rumor, uh, that they yodeled so hard, an avalanche fell on ‘em,” the beanie-wearing troll happily told her, only to be met with Barb’s deadpan stare.

“Or something,” he quickly added as he shrunk back.

Thrash simply observed the ordeal as he sipped on a fiber shake.

“Well, I don’t pay you to hear.”

The woman walked away.

“Actually, I’m doing this for college credit,” he corrected.

Ignoring him, the Rock Queen sat on her throne.

“If anyone can find me the royal pop sisters and BroZone, it’s the Yodelers.”

---

Rhonda traveled down the mountain and into more flat territory.

As the brothers were catching Clay up to the plan, Poppy and Viva sat on opposite sides of the couch, with Viva listening in enough to understand what the strings were and what the basic mission was.

As the blonde troll was brooding over many thoughts about what she went through the past few days, she was pulled out of those thoughts when a couple tings rang out.

Viva instinctively went up to Poppy and wrapped her in a hug.

“Hug time~!” she chirped.

John Dory looked at Branch’s hug time bracelet and opened his arms.

To his dismay, the other three immediately rejected the offer, with Branch moving his arm away with a look of slight repulsion and disgust, Bruce moving his hands in an insistence to shut down the idea, and Clay bluntly responding to the attempt with, “Yeah, no.”

Viva took Poppy’s arm with the bracelet and admired it.

“Aw, so cute. Where’d you get that hug time bracelet?” she asked.

“My dad gave it to me.”

At that moment, the questions that she wanted to ask earlier surfaced back to the forefront of her mind.

“Okay, this is so totally random, but I used to have one just like it. Can I see that?” she motioned to the bracelet.

Poppy was quick to take it off and put it on Viva’s wrist.

“Wow. It fits you perfectly.”

Viva stared at the bracelet as uneasiness filled her heart.

“Yeah…”

She brought a finger to the blossomed flower and being careful to not let her claws damage it, circled her finger around the flower.

The flower glowed and sparkled a bright pink at her touch.

Poppy looked on in awe.

“Woah…”

The blonde troll was suddenly hit with a moment of realization.

“I’m sorry. What did you say your name was again?”

The other troll felt like she should know what was about to happen, but still couldn’t quite connect the dots. Though she faintly recalled doing something back at Symphonyville.

“I’m Poppy,” the Pop Queen raised her hand for a handshake.

The brothers stopped talking and stared at the pair, with Tiny Diamond listening in from the driver’s seat.

Viva stared long and hard at the other troll.

“Poppy?” she narrowed her eyes as she closely analyzed the younger troll.

Poppy, on the other hand, was beginning to feel like she did something wrong as she grew more uncomfortable.

Still staring, Viva took a deep breath.

“Okay, um, another totally random, weird question, but is your dad King Peppy?”

The moment she asked that, JD, Bruce, Branch, and Tiny were all hit with the same kind of realization.

As Clay was obviously not with them in Pop Village, he was not going to get it either until it was spelled out to him.

Poppy looked at the blonde troll with slight confusion.

“Uh, yeah?” she nervously chuckled.

Tears suddenly fell from Viva’s eyes as she wrapped Poppy in a hug and twirled around the bus.

“You’re-oh, you’re-you’re alive!” she cried in joy.

“I’m alive,” the other troll still looked at her with confusion as Branch chuckled at the sight.

“This is unbelievable! I never thought I’d see you again!” the older pink troll let her go.

“Again?”

“Poppy, it’s me, Viva.”

“Uh…”

Branch walked up next to her.

“Poppifer, dear, she’s your-“ he tried to explain before Viva beats him to the punch.

“-Sister! Your hermana!” she opened her arms wide to express her excitement.

Poppy stared at her for a moment before she remembered wanting to see who Viva was back in Symphonyville and what Branch’s brothers and her father revealed to her back in Pop Village and proceeded to groan in her hands.

Clay, in the meanwhile, let out a loud, “This is your sister?!”

“So, you’re the Viva that I heard about from dad yesterday! And to think he only told because John Dory and Bruce brought up to us that you were captured, still thinking that you were in Pop Village as the princess. Meanwhile, I’m over here already the Pop Queen,” Poppy exclaimed with a smile.

“That is so Dad,” they both exclaimed in unison.

“Oh! I ca- I can’t believe this. We managed to find you and Clay!”

As the pair was catching up, Bruce gave Branch a sly look.

“Don’t think we didn’t notice you calling your friend Poppifer and dear,” he teasingly nudged him in the arm, with Branch immediately trying to get him to shut up.

Poppy, not listening into the brothers’ conversation, jumped up and down in excitement.

“This means we can plan each other’s birthday parties.”

“Yeah! And weddings.”

Viva slyly looked over to Branch, who was listening into the conversation, including his brothers.

“Speaking of which, when’s the wedding between you two happening?” she teasingly asked, also not having missed the way Branch addressed her sister.

Poppy and Branch responded by their faces blushing a respective dark shade of pink and blue as the pair stuttered in confusion while sharing glances at each other.

The other brothers began laughing as the youngest let out a groan.

“Okay, change of subjects, people!” Branch waved his arms.

“So, we got four members of BroZone, the Queen of Pop, the Princess of Pop, and the Pop String. We have failed to protect the Classical String and are currently on track on arriving at Lonesome Flats to try to protect their string or at least give them a heads-up.”

Rhonda by this point was already traveling in the middle of the desert.

Tiny was looking around, trying to keep himself from getting bored, when he spotted something unusual on the road.

As he got closer and looked more closely at this ‘something’, he realized that it was the body of a troll, who only seemed to be wearing jean shorts and a black leather studded bracelet.

Tiny couldn’t see the face as the body was faceplanted on the ground, but he hoped that the troll had just passed out as he pulled Rhonda over and ran out of the bus.

The other adults on the bus looked on in confusion as they slowly followed him.

Poppy was the first off of the bus.

“Tiny? What’s wrong? Why did you suddenly-TROLLY CUPCAKES!”
The Pop Queen saw the body that Tiny was trying to turn over and immediately ran up to help him.

Even Rhonda looked on with worry for the stranger.

The others got off the bus and stared in shock as the pair flipped over the troll lying on the ground, revealing not only his face, but that he was still breathing.

“Homeboy really got lucky!” Tiny exclaimed as he checked to see how well he was doing breathing-wise.

When the brothers approached, they immediately recognized the troll as they ran to his side, with JD and Bruce picking him up.

“We need to get him inside and treat him, he probably overheated,” JD explained with urgency as the pair carried the supposed stranger, with Clay going after them, pulling a first-aid kit out of his hair.

Poppy and Viva noticed that Branch tensed up.

“Branch… who is that troll?” the Pop Queen asked him, a little afraid of how he’ll answer.

He stared in the direction they took off in for a few moments before turning to the girls with a destressed look on his face.

“That’s… the final BroZone member. That’s Floyd.”

---

Walking through the grasslands, Cooper and his own companions were busy getting to know each other.

Guy Diamond anxiously looked around with a small fragment of hope that just maybe he would find the armadillo bus.

“So, how did you guys meet Branch anyway?” the quadruped asked the Kismet members.

“It was actually shortly after Trollstice was abolished, I mean we all knew him before due to his reputation as the only grumpy gray troll,” Ablaze stated as he put his hands in his shorts’ pockets.

“Even prior to Pop Village getting captured, our colors had been fading for a while. While us four didn’t know each other very well prior to reaching out to him, we knew it was our best shot at understanding what was going on. And besides, we’re practically brothers now!” Hype added as he crossed his arms.

Boom thought for a second.

“We were all a depressed bunch, huh?” his arms drooped.

“Us talking in the group sessions showed that much, dude. But I mean, Branch’s mission has to be pretty hard on him too, considering what he told us about his biological brothers at some of those sessions,” Trickee pointed out.

Cooper suddenly froze, with even Guy looking at them with curiosity.

“Well, what’s wrong with Branch’s brothers? Wouldn’t Branch be happy to spend time with them?” the furry troll asked with genuine confusion.

Trickee nervously laughed as Ablaze and Hype shot him a look.

“So,” Ablaze huffed, “we weren’t originally planning on airing out someone else’s dirty laundry, but now that I think about it, you’ll both probably find out about it eventually. And I feel that considering you have a son,” he glanced over to Guy, “you especially should know.”

Trickee cleared his throat.

“So, we all know that Branch and his brothers are part of that old boyband, BroZone. Now, was anyone paying attention when John Dory and Bruce claimed to have left the Troll Tree over 20 years ago? That was the day the band broke up and left their baby brother behind…”

Chapter Text

Flashback to BroZone’s Final Days…

Five young blue-skinned trolls were getting ready backstage.

“One minute to showtime!” a red troll wearing a branded cap called out as he walked away.

A nervous baby Branch peeked at the other side of the curtains of the mushroom stage, which was filled with a giant crowd of Pop Trolls chanting, “BROZONE! BROZONE! BROZONE!”

In another area of the backstage, a teenage John Dory tapped a pen on his chin as he placed a music sheet on a stand.

“All right, guys. We’re gonna open with ‘Girl, Baby, Baby’ and close with ‘Baby, Baby, Girl’.”

He then frowned as he leaned his head on the stand.

“Wait, no. That doesn’t sound right.”

JD then had a ‘eureka’ moment as he jumped up from the stand.

“Ooh! I got it. Open with ‘Baby, Baby, Girl’, close with ‘Baby, Baby, Girl, Woman’. Yes!”

He threw the pen, attaching itself and the music sheet to the stand, as he laughed proudly at his struck genius.

“We are gonna make boy band history tonight.”

A slightly younger Spruce can be heard groaning, “510. 511. 512,” as he was doing sit-ups in the corner.

“Love it, Brother. I wanna see a hundred more of those by showtime, Spruce. Those abs need to be poppin’, baby,” JD encouraged as he shot finger guns at him.

“Oh! COME ON!” the purple-haired troll groaned as he complied anyway.

“God, I wanna boil an egg on those abs,” the oldest brother admired before he walked over to Clay, who looked grouchy as he looked at himself in the mirror.

“John Dory, do I really have to keep wearing these things?” he motioned to his shiny green underwear, which also had a golden lightning bolt on the center.

“Yes, you do, Clay. They’re funderdrawers. It’s underwear, but 76% more fun! Let’s see those dance moves, Brother.”

“Fine,” Clay grimaced before he got into his Rusty Robot dance.

“Rusty Robot, into Wiggle Worm, end on Caliente Puppet. Yeah.”

JD then walked over to Floyd.

“Bro, you look stressed. Breathe,” the younger brother tried to encourage as he mimicked a deep-breathing motion.

“Well, of course I’m stressed, Floyd,” JD mocked as he gave some jazz hands, “it’s the first show of the tour. We have to hit the Perfect Family Harmony! We promised the fans!”

The red-haired troll glanced over to the side.

“Okay, calm down. You’re making Baby Branch nervous.”

He motioned over to the infant, who was still staring out the curtains.

“What? Nervous? No, no, no. He’s not allowed to be nervous.”

Floyd tried to calm himself down with a deep breath.

“Cut him some slack, John Dory. It’s his first show.”

The younger brother then walked up to the blue-haired troll.

“Hey, Branch. How you feeling?”

The baby turned to face him with a look of nervousness.

“I feel like I’m gonna barf and pass out and-“

“-Pee your pants all at once?” the red-haired troll finished.

Branch perked up.

“How’d you know?” he asked with surprise.

“Ah, you got the pre-show jitters. Completely normal. Everyone gets ‘em. You wanna know what I do when I get ‘em?”

The baby thought for a second.

“Barf, pass out, and pee your pants?” he guessed.

“No,” Floyd laughed, “I remember that I’m with my brothers, and that when we come together, there is nothing that we can’t do.”

“But no one’s ever hit the Perfect Family Harmony before. Is it true it can shatter diamonds?” the baby’s eyes sparkled with excitement and wonder.

“Yeah. It’s that powerful.”

John Dory then walked in between them, ending the conversation.

“All right, boys, just remember, no matter what you do, follow my lead,” the oldest looked back to see three younger annoyed faces and an impressionable one.

“Or maybe, let’s just go out there and have fun together,” Floyd suggested.

Clay tightly grabbed the curtains as he looked at the crowd with fear.

“It’s just so much pressure,” he gulped.

The same red troll from earlier came through the same curtains.

“Ten seconds!” he announced.

“A-and what happens if we can’t hit it?” Spruce asked as he rubbed oil on his abs.

John Dory then turned back to the brothers with an eerie glare.

“Oh, that’s not an option. If we can’t hit the Perfect Family Harmony, we aren’t perfect. And if we aren’t perfect, we’re nothing.”

Branch looked on with an enthusiastic look in his eyes while Spruce still played with the bottle of oil and Floyd and Clay gave their oldest brother a deadpan stare before sharing a concerned look with each other.

“Just follow my lead, and the harmony will happen.”

He then bunched his hands into fists.

“LET’S BRO!”

An announcer’s voice suddenly boomed throughout the stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, here they are. The heartthrob.”

Spruce swung onto one side of the mushroom stage using a vine.

“The fun boy.”

Clay used the taller skinnier mushrooms to bounce onto the main stage.

“The sensitive one.”

Floyd, who was standing at the back of the stage with his back turned, turned around as he walked forward and flipped his hair.

“The leader.”

John Dory rose to the stage using one of those stage elevators.

“And the baby.”

The four brothers gestured their arms to Branch, who stood in the center.

“Give it up for BroZone!”

The smoke from the smoke machines cleared as the brothers immediately jumped into song.

(https://youtu.be/mWiypdx0hc4?si=I4k7tLNYkP1r1vCc)

Well, there she goes

Four of the brothers jumped into position as they created a barrier. When they separated to reveal Spruce, he began to sing his lines.

On the floor, let’s do this

No more talkin’

The five brothers once again sang in unison.

Did anybody notice

Floyd stood at the center.

The energy just shifted

When we dropped in

Ooh, let it drop in, hmm

Each of the brothers began to sing their lines, starting with Clay and his robot dance.

I don’t flex, but I might

Groove about to take flight

Then John Dory.

‘Cause the night is young

And the music’s on

And we got love on sight

Then Branch.

The sky was the limit

Now the stars

Where we livin’

It’s the vibe

When we’re in it

It’ll blow your mind

The brothers once again sang in harmony as they all began to glow.

It’s so perfect

Perfect, perfect

A hundred percent

Put us together…

John Dory picked up on the glowing, realizing that they were getting closer to achieving the Perfect Family Harmony.

“Okay, great. It’s working. Yes! Come on, guys.”

The oldest brother began to motion for the others to follow him to start the final pose, which caught the others off-guard.

…perfect, perfect

Harmony so cold

Clay scowled as he looked to Spruce.

“What’s he doing?! This isn’t my choreo!” he rushed to follow JD, with the purple-haired troll right behind him.

You’ll never ever

Wanna let it

Goooo

Branch looked on with worry as one by one, each brother hopped on top of each other’s shoulders, all trying to hold that last ‘Go’ before he, too, joined in the formation.

Clay and Spruce looked around with concern as they began to see things go wrong, with Floyd looking around with worry and JD grumbling with annoyance as Branch accidentally slipped onto Clay’s face.

The performance went downhill really fast as they all toppled over and fell, with Floyd nearly rolling off the stage, and was only saved from that fate, by instead hastily grabbing onto the vine from earlier and swung around, out of control.

Swinging past his brothers, some of the vine tangled itself on Spruce’s ankle and took him with it and knocking JD into one of the bouncy mushrooms, flinging him right onto the top of the stage lights and tangling himself on another vine.

Spruce tried to stop the vine by grabbing onto another one, but that only succeeded in wrapping Clay’s whole body with the vine instead.

Soon, the four brothers found themselves tangled in one giant mess of a knot above the stage, with Spruce dangling from the ankle.

A concerned Branch could only look at the audience, which were all staring in shock at what they just saw.

Another uniformed red troll walked onto the stage next to the child.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. Uh, we’re experiencing,” the woman and baby looked at the brothers, “uh, some stuff.”

“Hey. At least we didn’t fall,” JD tried to find a silver lining.

But that too was taken from them as the vines promptly snapped, sending them straight to the ground.

Sometime later…

The five brothers walked into their pod, arguing.

“See what happens when you don’t follow my lead?” JD argued.

“Dude, that is exactly what happens when we follow your lead,” Spruce immediately retorted with anger as Branch watched on with worry and slight fear.

“Oh, so it’s my fault,” JD plastered a sarcastic smile on his face, “is that what you’re saying?”

“I know we can reach the Perfect Family Harmony,” he practically pleaded.

“What if we don’t want to?” the purple-haired troll huffed.

“Yeah, dude. This used to be fun. Now it’s all about being perfect,” Clay mocked.

Spruce made a decision.

“You know what? I’m done playing the heartthrob. My exquisitely chiseled, rock-hard abs and I quit”, he tore off his purple vest.

“I quit too, and you can keep these,” Clay threw the funderdrawers at JD’s face.

“I’m more than just the fun one. I’m in a sad book club. Did you know that? A sad book club. I’m gonna find trolls who take me seriously.”

John Dory pulled the underwear off his face to reveal a peeved look.

“Fine. I don’t need this. I’m out. I’m done. I’m sorry. I’m gonna go hike the Neverglade Trail by myself. Bro-lone.”

Grabbing his grappling gun, he shot out of the pod.

“Yeah, that’s right. Bro-bro going solo. YOLO. Goodbye forever,” he told the brothers (who stared with a deadpan look alongside Branch’s pained sorrowful one) before slipping on his brown backpack and using the grappling gun to leave.

“Fine. I’m out of here,” Clay stated before leaving the pod, with Spruce right behind him adding, “Same here.”

“Guys, please. Come on,” Floyd tried to call out to them from the pod to no avail.

He then let out a sigh of defeat.

“It’s my fault. I ruined everything,” Branch looked out the pod opening with a look of dread.

“N-no, no. Branch, this is not your fault,” the red-haired troll immediately tried to assure the infant.

“We’re not in sync. We’ve gone from boys to men, and now there’s only one direction for us to go: the backstreets.”

He suddenly gave a look of determination.

“But not you, Floyd? You’re not leaving too?” the baby asked with concern.

“Not forever. I’ll be back. I promise. But right now, I-I have to follow my heart. It’s telling me that it’s time to start a solo career.”

“But what am I gonna do?”

“Branch, you are gonna do the most important thing of all. You’re gonna…,” Floyd quickly looked around, “take care of Grandma!”

The grandma in question was sitting at a table, shuffling a deck of cards.

“Oh, come on, Branch. Let’s play some rummy. But I won’t let you win, because I play for the money,” she adopted a serious tone as she said the last part.

Branch looked at Floyd questioningly.

“You might have to let her win. Occasionally,” he winked, to which the baby urgently nodded.

“When you miss me, you can wear this,” the red-haired troll took off his green leaf-like vest and put it on Branch.

“It’ll be like I’m right here with you.”

“And when you come back, we’ll make our hideout,” Branch smiled as he held up an old sheet of paper full of scribbles detailing the bunker.

“Definitely.”

Floyd looked on at the scribbles and stickers.

“Wow! Is that a ten-story water slide?” he pointed at the blue scribbles.

“Yeah! That’s how we shower.”

The older brother then folded up the paper and tucked it inside Branch’s vest.

“Well, we better keep this in a safe place.”

The pair then wrapped each other in an embrace before separating.

“See you soon, Baby Branch,” Floyd looked at him with sadness before grabbing his guitar and leaving the pod.

“Bye… see you later…” Branch timidly waved as he watched the last brother leave, not knowing that he wouldn’t see him again until over two decades later.

---

Cooper and Guy looked at Trickee with looks of shock as the three other Kismet members in turn shared understanding looks, as if they knew it was a lot to take in.

“I don’t think my heart can handle it if my Tiny suddenly abandoned any future siblings he could have. At least he left a note saying that he was just going to follow Poppy and the others for the mission,” the silver Glitter Troll balled a fist and held it to his chest as he winced at the thought.

Cooper looked at the ground, lowering his eyelids in thought.

“Well, that’s not a very nice thing to do, especially to your baby brother! No wonder he never trusted anyone prior to that rescue mission a while back. If I had siblings like that, I would also spend my life in isolation!” the pink troll looked at the others with a fire in his eyes.

“Poor Branch. This mission has to be really hard on him. Tiny may not look it, but he’s a surprisingly attentive troll at times, even for being less than a week old! If anyone can see his Uncle Branch struggling, it will most likely be him, I’d argue even before Poppy!” Guy admitted, feeling a little relieved that wherever his son is, at least he’ll be able to help one of his friends.

Chapter Text

Bruce and John Dory laid Floyd on the bus floor as Clay pulled out a thermometer from the first aid kit.

“I don’t have the proper thermometer to be able to check where I should in the case of heatstroke, but I can at least check his armpits!” the lime-haired troll explained as he stuck the thermometer under one of the redhead’s arms.

Branch, Tiny, and the sisters slowly got back onto Rhonda, with the bus beeping with worry.

“How is he?” the youngest brother asked.

Clay pulled the thermometer out from the armpit.

“Well, his temperature isn’t as high as I expected, but he still feels more warm than I’d like. Can anyone get some ice on him?”

Tiny ran to the fridge.

“Already on it!”

JD was looking over Floyd’s body with a keen eye.

“Okay, so he doesn’t have heatstroke per say, but it looks like he’s exhausted because he ran away from something,” the goggle-wearing troll frowned.

“Well, we can’t really ask him anything until he wakes up, so let’s move him to the couch for now,” Bruce proposed, and he and JD got to work to picking him up and laying him on the teal couch in the back of the bus.

---

Less than 15 minutes later, Floyd slowly began to wake up as he lifted his head slightly.

The first thing he noticed was the plastic bags filled with ice on various parts of his body.

He winced as he tried to move the rest of his body to sit up on the… couch?

The redhead shot up so fast that he probably would have blacked out again from the speed if it weren’t for his confusion of where he was.

Wasn’t he supposed to be in the desert?

“Oh, you’re awake!”

He looked to his left where he heard the voice to find Poppy, who was sitting on that end of the couch, with Viva sitting on the other end, observing him.

Looking at what’s in front of him, he saw three familiar-looking trolls huddled around what seemed to be a map taped to a wall.

Another blue troll wearing goggles seemed to be talking to someone in the driver’s seat.

Before he was able to speak, Viva’s voice rang out.

“GUYS, YOUR BROTHER IS AWAKE!” she shouted so loudly that it made Floyd and, surprisingly Poppy, wince.

“And a good thing too; we would have hit the road again after 15 more minutes!” the blonde troll winked.

Everyone else immediately turned to look at him, and before he could try to speak again, he once again got interrupted by two of the trolls by the map and the troll next to the driver’s seat wrapping him in a group hug.

While Viva fondly observed the sight, Poppy turned to Branch, expecting him to join the group hug, only to see a look of worry on his face, almost as if joining in would somehow make him ruin a hug full of strangers.

The moment the other brothers initiated the hug, Floyd immediately recognized who they were and was about to melt into their embrace until he began to recall certain memories of his past with them and began to feel a spark of anger in his heart.

With a hard shove of his arms and a frown on his face, he separated himself from the others and only got a few steps in before he spotted Branch.

That anger quickly shifted to guilt when he saw the vest the younger brother was wearing.

“When you miss me, you can wear this. It’ll be like I’m right here with you,” the old memory echoed in his mind.

Tears slowly fell from Floyd’s face as he slowly walked towards his brother, who was still scared about seeing him again.

“I promised I would be right back, and before I knew it, over 20 years passed me by… and I didn’t come back. Branch must hate me-“

His mental downward spiral was quickly interrupted when Branch wrapped him in a tight hug, which he quickly reciprocated.

“You’ve really grown into that vest… you’re a grown man now, Branch,” the older brother whispered as a small smile formed on his lips, tears falling on the other’s shoulder.

He could have sworn that the younger brother breathed a “finally!” before he recomposed himself.

“I’m truly, truly sorry for not coming back for you like I promised,” the redhead quietly apologized so that only Branch heard.

There was silence for a few moments before Branch let out a relieved sigh, almost as if he’d been waiting to hear that for a long while.

“We’re finally together again, Floyd…”

Branch separated from the hug and grabbed the other’s shoulders.

“I wanted to get mad at you for so long…,” the darker troll looked down with sadness, “but… I just couldn’t bring myself to, not after at least checking in on me to see if I was okay.”

John and Bruce, with increased jealousy, stared on in confusion as they wondered why Floyd and Branch were the only ones willingly giving each other hugs. Clay, who was tearing up himself, was just happy that the pair were reconnecting so fast.

Poppy couldn’t help but fondly smile at the sight, however Viva looked on with confusion and slight concern over what she managed to overhear from the pair.

Tiny looked on at the sight with content.

“Heh, I guess maybe this brother might be a bit chill…” he told himself before turning his attention back to the road and starting Rhonda’s engine back up again.

“So, Tiny, Branch, Poppy, Viva, Floyd, the hippie, the old guy, and the walking OSHA certification…,” the small troll listed off into the radio, “are hitting the road once again as we head onto Lonesome Flats to find the Country Trolls!”

JD and Bruce groaned a simultaneous “AGAIN?!” as Clay only shrugged a “fair enough.”

Branch couldn’t help but giggle as the two oldest brothers didn’t even notice that Floyd was the only other brother addressed by his name, as if he managed to gain some of Tiny’s respect.

Upon hearing Lonesome Flats, Floyd’s eyes shot open.

“Oh, right! I was heading over there to take refuge and warn them! I’ll never be able to forgive myself if Barb caught me again-!”

He suddenly realized what he just blurted out and snapped his mouth shut, only to be met with confused looks all around.

“Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean by captured again?” Branch asked with a raised eyebrow.

Viva and Clay’s tails flickered nervously as they fidgeted with their fingers.

“N-never mind that! What I’m curious about is why you guys and the Pop Princess are here?” he motioned to Viva.

“Listen, bro. Bruce and I traveled all the way back home to Pop Village to pick up Queen Poppy and Bitty Branch so we could find the rest of you guys and help protect the strings and each other.”

JD let out a groan.

“So far, all that managed to happen was Princess Viva and Clay escaping from being captured themselves and the Rock Trolls already claiming the Classical String,” the oldest brother groaned into his hands.

Floyd’s head was spinning.

Who was this ‘Queen Poppy’? Was she the same Poppy that the baby troll named earlier? And what’s with this ‘Pop Village’? Last he checked, his home was the Troll Tree!

….Maybe more things changed than he thought.

Of course, Floyd didn’t need to be explained to about what the strings were; he read a few history books back in BroZone’s days, and even since he left it all behind.

He did also get some new education about Pop’s history with the other tribes from the perspective of trolls he spent some time with in the last few years before Barb started her World Tour.

But he didn’t think the other trolls here would believe him, nor was he good at explaining himself beyond being the band’s mediator, so he kept his mouth shut.

---

The rest of the time on the road was spent in silence.

“Poppy, girl, what if we fail to protect the Country String too?” Viva asked her.

The younger pink troll looked at her with shock.

“N-no! We’re not gonna fail! Not if I want to prove Dad wrong!” Poppy stammered.

The blonde troll frowned as she took the other’s hands and wrapped them inside her own.

“…What was Dad’s plan for defending the Pop String? That John Dory guy seemed to not like bringing it up back in Symphonyville.”

Poppy found herself cringing at the reminder.

“His idea of defense was to simply run and hide, and all because he’s scared of the other troll tribes out there! But if I learned anything, it’s that we shouldn’t be afraid of these other tribes! We all love our music, so we’re the same… right?”

Floyd, who was listening to their conversation, cringed at the implication.

Tiny began to slow Rhonda down as he pulled over to the side of the road.

“Alright guys, I think we’re approaching the land of the Country Trolls!” he announced.

---

All the adults hid behind various jars and jugs of different sizes while Tiny hid himself and Rhonda behind a nearby building, all observing the quietness of the small town.

Tumbleweeds blew in the wind as a bird crowed.

A clock on a nearby tower chimed to indicate that it was noon as the strumming of a banjo can be heard.

A troll by the name of Delta Dawn stepped out of one of the buildings and slowly strummed her banjo as she began to sing.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3g5OqAvoL4&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=6&ab_channel=RCARecords)

We don’t hope for

Making things better

Delta began to slowly walk through the town, with some of the centaur trolls observing from the small buildings.

All we want is to

Keep it together

An egg suddenly popped out from one of the trolls’ hairs and hatched.

The father scooped up the newborn in his arms.

“Happy birthday, honey. Time to get to work,” he directed as he handed the baby a bucket and pointed them to their other siblings, who were busy milking a yak.

Every day is a rainy day

No change in the weather

Country Troll children were seen chasing around a tumbleweed, until said tumbleweed was revealed to be sentient and began to chase them instead.

This kind of life

Has made our hearts

As hard as leather

And all these tears are from

The dust in our eyes

A Country Troll leaned against the wall of one of the buildings, crying. If anyone looked closely, they might have also seen his tears crying.

And all these years

Just keep on

Passing us by

The hidden adult Pop Trolls peeked out from their hiding places, all with looks of sorrow and pity on their faces as none of them had ever heard a song so sad before.

No one noticed the pink and orange heart beginning to slowly beat on John Dory’s chest.

We all know that we’re just

Born to die

Yaks lined up as they each made their way inside a BBQ saloon and came out as burgers.

That’s the way it goes

When you’re just

Born to die

Poppy looked on in slight bafflement.

“This song is so sad,” she said as the idea sounded very foreign to her.

“Yeah, it is sad. But life is sad sometimes, so I… kinda like it?” Branch found himself surprised at admitting.

“Actually, I think I kinda like it too… and no, this doesn’t have to do with me being the sensitive one!” Floyd quickly clarified.

Viva, however, was floored at the idea of a song being sad.

“This song totally goes against, like, everything I’m about! What the Putt-Putt Trolls are about!” her tail fidgeted as she began to vibrate with energy.

“Easy there, Viva… though you’re not wrong…” Clay admitted, his own tail drooping at the damper to his mood.

“Yeesh, this song’s a mood-killer. Don’t you agree with that, John-“

Bruce looked over to his older brother, expecting him to agree, only to find JD completely transfixed on the song and Delta, and by extension, finding the glowing heart.

“Hey guys, you might wanna look at this,” the purple-haired troll motioned for the others to look at JD.

“That’s the music he resonates with?!” Clay stammered in disbelief.

“Yeah, I’m surprised too. Hey, Earth to Idiot!” Bruce snapped his fingers in front of John’s face, snapping him out of the trance, with the glowing heart fading.

“O-oh! I guess I was lost to the music somehow…” JD whistled, with his face still a deep shade of blue.

“Oh, yeah, and totally not as well to what could be the mayor of this place. Totally,” Floyd rolled his eyes, which only earned him an even more blushy John Dory.

Poppy and Viva looked at each other.

“This song is so… different,” the younger pink troll noted before her eyes widened with realization, one which Viva caught on to.

“Oh, they must not know that music’s supposed to make you happy. That’s awful,” the blonde troll said with pity.

All the other Country Trolls in the meanwhile gathered outside and began to square dance, with Delta strumming away on her banjo.

And all these years

Just keep on

Passing us by

And all this misery

Makes it hard to deny

One of the older Country Trolls suddenly clutched his chest as he stumbled into a wooden coffin, with the mayor approaching and closing said coffin.

That’s the way it goes

When you’re just

Born to die

If one were to look in from above, they would have seen the crowd of Country Trolls forming a heart around Delta and the coffin.

Chapter Text

By this point, the group of adult Pop Trolls were standing in the middle of the road, out of their hiding spots.

“Okay, guys, guys, huddle up,” John Dory motioned for everyone to get in a group huddle.

Delta and another Country Troll stared in bafflement before the man began growling.

“Growly, growly, growl…” he stared at the Pop Trolls menacingly.

“Now, take it easy, Growly Pete. I feel bad for them. It looks like they got beat up by a rainbow.”

She then thought for a second.

“…Though I do have to admit that the square one looks mighty cute.”

Back in the group huddle, Poppy cleared her throat.

“Okay, I just need to get this out of the way now. These trolls need some serious cheering up,” she declared, with Viva promptly nodding.

JD thought for a moment.

“Now I think that in order to do something like that, we need to bust out the big guns.”

Floyd frowned as Branch looked at the oldest brother with concern in his eyes, almost afraid to find out the answer to what he’s about to ask.

“Now, when you say ‘big guns’, y-you don’t mean…”

“That’s right!” John jumped up as he pulled out a tape from his jacket.

A tape labeled with the name BroZone.

Bruce’s eyes widened with excitement.

“Yeah, I like the way you think!” he playfully punched his older brother’s arm.

“But what song is even on that?” Clay asked.

“Oh, you’re all about to find out. Hey, Rhonda!”

The teal-haired troll whistled and waited as Rhonda quickly ran to his side, startling some of the Country Trolls.

Tiny popped out of the door.

“Hey, I’m gonna need you to blast this on the outside speakers on my cue,” he handed the tape to the small troll as he ran back inside.

Floyd shook his head in disbelief while Branch crossed his arms, the pair making it obvious that they were not going to participate in whatever plan John Dory had cooking up.

“Branch, get up there. Go sing with your brothers,” Poppy tried to encourage as she walked up to him.

“I’ll do it if and when I have to and not getting hunted by another tribe of music. But I’m not doing it now just for ‘funsies’.”

“Yeah, I’m not planning on getting dragged into another one of John Dory’s plans, especially after how the last one went,” Floyd agreed, still looking cross.

Poppy thought for a moment and realized that the pair shared just enough similarities to where she can effectively push their buttons.

“Oh, yeah. Okay. You’re both probably right,” she admitted.

“No, no, no. You’re the one who-,” Branch froze when he processed what the pink troll said.

“Wait. What did you say?” the dark blue troll asked.

Floyd was also caught off guard by how easily the troll backed down.

“You’re both afraid singing with your brothers again after all these years will overwhelm you two with emotions too powerful for you to handle, especially for someone known for being the sensitive one. I agree with you two,” Poppy spared a glance to Floyd, who began to look a bit distraught at the accusation.

“I don’t think you guys can handle it, so I think you shouldn’t do it.”

The girl turned her attention back to the bus to let her words sink into Branch Floyd’s minds.

“I think we can handle singing a song,” Branch tried to reason with his friend as the older brother can be seen frantically nodding his head.

Poppy and Viva looked at each other before they both began chanting, “PROVE IT! PROVE IT! PROVE IT!”

The pair of brothers finally sighed in defeat.

“All right. Fine,” Floyd admitted defeat as he walked to the bus.

“But this is more than likely beneath us,” Branch added as he followed the other troll, to which the sisters responded with cheers.

“Now that’s the spirit! Play the tape, Tiny!” John Dory instructed.

The child popped the tape inside a music player, and soon the instrumentals of a song began to play outside of Rhonda.

Bruce immediately began to sing when he recognized the song.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6HqtQbzRaI&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=7&ab_channel=RCARecords)

My girl’s like candy, a candy treat

She knocks me high up off my feet

John Dory joined in while some of the Country Trolls, including Delta Dawn, stared at them with baffled looks on their faces.

She’s so fine, as can be

The pair looked at each other as they exchanged a fist bump.

It’s like a Perfect Harmony!

Clay, who was getting into the song, practically zoomed to the center of the pair with the two older brothers as he joined with his vocals and they began walking and dancing through the town.

Candy girl

You are my world

You look so sweet

Come back to me

Branch and Floyd, both who were not as into the song, couldn’t roll their eyes more than they already had as they slowly walked behind the trio.

All I know

When I’m with you

Upon singing those lyrics, John Dory, Bruce, and Clay suddenly shot the younger brothers an excited look that would have frightened the pair if they were actually looking at them.

Poppy and Viva excitedly pointed at them as the older brothers dragged the younger pair into performing with them, with said pair letting out a yelp in surprise as the sisters jumped in excitement as they let out a, “YAY!”

You got the right stuff, baby

Love the way you turn me on

The five brothers got more into their choreography despite Branch and Floyd still looking less than impressed as they crossed their arms and slid into position.

“Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh!” Poppy and Viva sang along as more Country Trolls stared and were trying to decipher what exactly they were witnessing.

Some of the other Country Trolls, especially Delta, even began to frown with annoyance.

You got the right stuff, baby

You’re the reason why I sing this song

The two youngest brothers were already beginning to warm up to singing with the other three again, so when they turned around and saw three genuine smiles singing the lyric as they held their hands out to the pair, that provided enough motivation for Branch and Floyd as they began to sing with their own smiles.

You’re all I ever wanted

Baby, you’re all I ever needed, yeah!

So tell me what to do now

When I want (I want you) you back

Doom, doom, doom, da-dub

Doom, doom, doom, da-dub

Hey, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah, dub

Da-dub

Branch and Clay reached out their hands to Poppy and Viva, with the rest of the brothers giving them a warm look.

Both the girls gave enthusiastic nods and held their hands out as the two boys took those hands and spun them into the center of the group, leaving the Country Trolls looking flabbergasted, with only one peculiar-looking troll lifting the brim of his hat and letting out an impressed whistle.

A Country Troll child even began to dance a little to the music.

BroZone’s back, ALRIGHT!

Whether you’re a mother or whether you’re a brother

You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive

Feel the city breakin’ and everybody shakin’

People stayin’ alive, stayin' alive

Ah, ah, ah, ah (BroZone’s really back again)

Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive

Doom, doom, doom, da-dub

Doom, doom, doom, da-dub

I want you back

John Dory, Bruce and Floyd were all praising themselves for still moving like they did over 20 years ago.

“I can’t believe I remembered every word and every step!” Branch exclaimed in disbelief as he mimicked some of his choreography.

Poppy walked up next to him.

“Looks like your band days aren’t behind you,” she smugly added before purring at him, which neither thought of being strange for a few moments before Poppy’s eyes widened with horror as both of their faces blushed a deep shade of pink and blue.

Viva ran up to Clay and practically lifted him up in the air as the pair twirled around, their tails fluttering.

“CLAY! That was fantastamazing!” the Pop Princess beamed.

“You weren’t so bad yourself,” the lime-haired troll smiled back.

After the group finished celebrating, they turned their focus back to the Country Trolls, and to their surprise, was met by only the wind and a tumbleweed.

“You suck!” the tumbleweed yelled at them as it passed by.

---

The door to the jail cell slammed shut as the group of adult Pop Trolls stared in shock.

The only reason Tiny wasn’t in there with them was because he had the common sense to order Rhonda to hide in the ground before the Country Trolls could catch either of them.

“Now, I want you lot to sit in here and think about what you’ve just done, that crime against music!” Delta talked down to them, before sparing a glance at JD.

“It’s a shame you looked so cute, too…”

JD perked up at the compliment.

“W-wait, you think I’m cute?” he asked with hope.

Poppy quickly got in between them.

“Wait, no! We’re here to warn you about Barb, the Queen of Rock,” she tried to explain.

“And help you guys protect your string,” Bruce added.

Delta gave the pair a knowing smile.

“Sweeties, I already know,” the mayor rolled her eyes, “and have heard about this Queen Barb and her fancy ‘World Tour’, let alone that manhunt she has going on for this weird boyband.”

She then turned her back to them with a scowl.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I got to go wash what you call music out of my ears.”

As she walked off, a young Country Troll popped her head out of Delta’s hair.

“Oh. You in real trouble now. Right, Aunt Delta?” she asked with glee.

“Keep an eye on ‘em, Growly Pete,” Delta ordered as the child shouted a happy “YES!”

“Growly, growly, growly, growl,” the troll answered, not taking his eyes off his newspaper.

Poppy grabbed onto the bars on the door for dear life.

“No, no. Music should bring us together, not divide us!” she cried out to deaf ears.

---

The moment that Delta left, Floyd leaned against the wall closest to the door and glared daggers at the oldest brother as Branch groaned into his hands while sitting next to Poppy on a wooden bench inside the cell, offering a hand on his shoulder for support.

“Of fucking course, the plan John Dory thought up would end up with us getting thrown in jail. To make matters worse, there is a literal baby alone inside our source of transportation!” Bruce ranted as he flailed an arm around.

“Hey, you all joined in with the idea, never mind the fact that you started the song!” JD immediately countered with a huff as he paced around.

A light bulb then went off in his head.

“Say… should we get Rhonda to bust us out?” he suggested with a grin.

“N-NO? We’re already on bad enough terms with the Country Trolls as is, what makes you think breaking out is suddenly gonna make them eager to let us help them defend the Country String?!” Floyd argued.

Meanwhile, Clay and Viva sat on the ground by the wall farthest in the jail cell.

With their claws, they drew something in the dirt as they both fought back sobs.

That managed to catch Floyd’s attention as he stopped his rare arguing match and walked over to them, seeing that they were drawing what seemed to be trolls that looked like them, claws and tail and all.

“Uh, hopefully you don’t mind if I ask, but what are you drawing there?” the redhead asked them.

The pair perked up in surprise as the others also looked at them and saw the drawings.

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask, but… why do you two look like that, anyway?” JD asked as he gestured to the claws and tails on the pair.

“And the way that you both brought up that you originally came from somewhere with your people… Viva, where were you two all this time?” Poppy asked with confusion.

The Pop Princess could only giggle nervously as Clay inhaled sharply.

“I figured we would have to explain ourselves eventually, just didn’t expect it to be in a jail cell!” he tried to lighten the mood before he stood up.

“Since the tunnels collapsed during the Great Escape 20 years ago, us and the trolls we were trapped with needed to go somewhere safe from all the Bergens…”

Chapter Text

Before the Putt-Putt Trolls got invaded by the Rock Trolls…

The day started like any other at Hole N’ Fun.

After Clay freshened up for the day, he grabbed a clipboard out of his hair and stepped out of the little shack that he called home.

Of course, the moment that he began to hear music, he sighed as he quickly put the clipboard back inside his hair before Viva grabbed his hand and dragged him to one of the dinosaur-shaped courses as she began to sing.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLUR0GLwEuU&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=8&ab_channel=1mikie19)

When you hear the music

It makes you feel good

The best thing you ever heard

Clay was never one to resist joining the blonde troll in singing, so they both began singing together as they shuffled their feet.

Ever heard

The pair made their way to the statue of a purple octopus.

You know the dance

And all of the moves

The pink troll zoomed her way next to a Putt-Putt Troll woman walking by.

You can even sing every word

The passerby troll joined in as she sang, “Every word!”

Clay was a little stunned at how quickly Viva managed to get the two of them to the top of a light post while she still continued singing.

The biggest hit

In the galaxy

The most requested song on radio

Noticing that he stopped singing, the blonde troll took his hands as they jumped off the light fixture. Somehow, the sudden rush of adrenaline got Clay singing with her again.

On radio!

The pair found themselves in Viva’s home as they happily slid down the long red slide that circled the inside of the home.

It’s on satellite

All day and all night

You even hear it on most TV shows

As they both popped out of the home, another passerby troll joined in as he sang, “TV shows!”

A small crowd of trolls gathered around Clay and Viva in front of the giant clown as they all began joining in.

The music’s in the air

It’s playing everywhere

You can’t escape the melody

So come on

Dance with me

As the other trolls in the crowd began dancing and shuffling their feet to the music, Viva was practically tiptoeing like a hyper ballerina as she used her arms to motion for the trolls standing on guard on top of the various obstacles to at least join in from where they are, which they happily obliged.

It’s my favorite song

My number one song

My favorite song

The voices of the trolls from above rang out as they harmonized together with “My favorite song~”

The Pop Princess then grabbed Clay’s arms as they began to spin together in the center of the group.

It’s my favorite song

My number one song

My favorite song

All the trolls in the minigolf course sang in unison as the giant group on the ground formed a heart around Clay and Viva as the pair slowed their spinning.

My favorite song

Once everything was said and done, the pair separated.

“So catch ya later, okay Viva?” Clay pulled out his clipboard again.

“See ya, Mr. Clay!” the other troll shouted back as she already zoomed away.

One of the lime-haired troll’s main tasks for the day was to take inventory of the tribe’s supplies, especially food.

Walking through the minigolf course, he went to the kitchen.

Some trolls were already at work preparing the meals for the day on the Bergen-sized stainless-steel counter, with a couple of the trolls using ground chicken to make chicken nuggets.

After taking note of the refrigerated and frozen foods, Clay walked over to another area that stored the potatoes.

As long as the spuds were properly maintained, then they could last the tribe for a while.

The lime-haired troll walked past Viva, who braided the hair of a troll maintaining their post.

“Okay, so the potatoes have all been accounted for and everything here seems to be fine…” Clay told himself as the CPA marked a few things off the clipboard.

The Pop Princess looked up from her braiding.

“Oh, hello again Clay!” Viva chirped as she ran next to him, her tail briefly intertwining with his.

“And hello to you too, Ms. Viva! I just finished up inventory with the food and I was just on my way to check inventory in terms of our weapons.”

A couple of younger Putt-Putt Trolls suddenly rolled past the pair as they seemed to be trying to claw each other’s faces off, both using their tails to grab at the other’s clothes.

“Hey, stop fighting!” Clay immediately ordered as he ran to the pair and used his tail to pin the troll currently on the ground and his hands to remove the troll on top.

Sometimes the lime-haired troll was thankful that when the tribe was evolving and adapting to the land over the years, they gained such a useful limb.

Both of the younger trolls bared their fangs at each other, growling.

“All I’m telling you is that you don’t have any business making chicken nuggets if you can’t handle being told that they suck!” the one pinned to the ground ranted.

“What part of ‘these nuggets are shit’ is constructive criticism?!” the one held back shot back.

Clay groaned into his hands.

“Listen, guys. There’s no reason to be so petty with each other. We’re survivors, remember?”

“Exactly! Why don’t you two take a break and make candy necklaces to calm down?” Viva suggested.

The other pair looked at each other for a moment before shrugging.

“I guess we can do that,” they agreed as they walked away.

Clay stared at the blonde troll in amazement.

“I don’t know how you do it, Viva. You’ve been such a natural at this since day one!” he complimented.

“Hehe, you learn a thing or two when you’re expected to become Queen of the Pop Trolls one day from a young age,” she grinned.

They were so busy talking that they didn’t notice the sudden looming shadows until they heard a nearby troll hissing at the sky.

“What is that?!” another nearby troll shouted as they stared at the airships landing inside the course.

Clay looked at the ships with concern as Viva looked to the growing crowd of Putt-Putt Trolls.

“Alright, guys! Battle stations!” she shouted the order as the other trolls immediately rolled themselves into balls and surrounded the ships.

The pair then looked at each other and approached the airships as they began to open up, revealing groups of Rock Trolls.

The revelation of the intruders being trolls like them caught Viva off-guard as Clay analyzed them, realizing that they look like some of the trolls he read about in a history book a while back.

A Rock Troll by the name of Val Thundershock revealed herself from the ship the pair stood in front of.

“Yo, what’s up abandoned Pop Trolls! Queen Barb sent me, Demo, and my crew here to get you guys while she grabs the other Pop Trolls and their string,” she nonchalantly explained.

This caused the pair to frown in confusion.

“What are you talking about? We’re the only surviving Pop Trolls left!” Viva retorted, which caused some of the Rock Trolls to laugh.

“Ohoho, sweetie. The Pop Tribe took some time to find, but they’re alive and well. And you guys weren’t much harder to find, what with you leaving an easy-to-follow trail behind that led to here!”

The Rock Troll then pulled out her guitar.

“So listen, we need this Clay guy to help pull off the Perfect Family Harmony with his brothers to unite the kingdoms under rock, and we can’t unite everyone without having all of the Pop Trolls, including their princess. So… we’re just gonna capture you guys now.”

The group of Rock Trolls began to shred on their guitars as the speakers sent out shockwaves of the harsh notes, destroying some of the obstacle courses.

The Putt-Putt Trolls all unrolled themselves from their ball forms and took on a battle stance as Viva lifted a fist into the air.

“Putt-Putt Trolls, ATTACK!!!”

With the sounds of many roars coming from all sides, the Pop Trolls began to attack the ships, some with weapons, and others with pure animal instinct, as some of them managed to get on-board.

A few of the trolls surrounded Viva and Clay, understanding what would be at stake if either of them was captured.

What happened next was a blur.

The Putt-Putt Trolls were slowly knocked out by the power of rock and imprisoned in the ships’ cages.

Even as Viva and Clay were eventually captured themselves, they were both squirming in the hands of their captors, snarling and hissing at them the entire time. They even managed to land a few scratches.

---

“It all happened so fast. Before we all knew it, we were all captured. We failed to protect our people,” Clay somberly explained.

The jail cell grew quiet.

“But you tried to fight back, didn’t you?”

Everyone looked at Branch, who stood up from the bench.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourselves for getting captured by the same trolls that managed to take down the Classical Trolls. Remember that we’re also traveling to help protect the strings of the other tribes?”

The pair perked up as Viva stood up.

“Branch is right. We need to figure out a way to get out of here, and fast,” Bruce pointed out.

“How do we do that? It’s not like some Country Troll is gonna randomly decide to bust us out!” Floyd sarcastically exclaimed.

“Whoo-hey!”

A shout suddenly rang out as a rope looped around the bars of the door, pulling the said door completely off its hinges.

The group froze as they looked outside to see a light green Country Troll standing in front of the jail.

“It ain’t right to put you in jail ‘cause your music’s different. It seems some folks round here don’t appreciate a rad boyband classic when they hear one,” the Country Troll stated.

“Okay… I stand corrected,” Floyd stared in disbelief.

---

The stranger lifted the brim of his hat.

“Let’s skedaddle.”

Poppy and Viva immediately ran out of the cell with cheers.

“Yes! Mission back on!” John Dory exclaimed as he followed.

“And not a moment too soon,” Clay added, with Bruce agreeing.

Floyd and Branch still had some doubts.

“Guys, we don’t even know who this is,” the blue-haired troll was quick to point out.

To the pair’s bafflement, everyone else began introducing themselves to the stranger.

“Name’s Hickory,” the quadruped introduced himself.

“Branch, Floyd, this is Hickory. Hickory, this is Branch and Floyd,” Poppy quickly did the introducing for them.

“Enough with the formalities. We need to leave!” Bruce was quick to stand on top of the door that was now laying on the ground, tied to the same rope that was tied to Hickory.

“What about the Country String?!” Clay stammered.

“We don’t got time for that anymore, look!”

John pointed to the doors of one of the saloons as Delta suddenly bursts forth.

“I said let’s skedaddle! Hyah!” Hickory turned to look at Branch and Floyd, who were staring at their former captors in shock as the rest already began to leave, with Poppy, Bruce, and JD on the makeshift sled and Viva and Clay running on all-fours.

Delta pulled her niece out of her hair.

“Go get ‘em, Clampers!” she roared.

The child, Clampers, immediately hissed and bared her teeth as the mayor let her go and let the child run after them.

Floyd and Branch quickly panicked and began sprinting to catch up to the others.

Bruce and Poppy each reached out a hand to them as JD let out a loud whistle.

As Delta and some of the other Country Trolls began to chase the group into the desert, the ground began to rumble as Rhonda exploded from the ground with a roar and ran next to them.

If any of the Pop Trolls were able to see him, they would have seen Tiny looking unusually focused as he tried to get Rhonda to reach the same speed as Hickory so he can get them inside the bus.

Rhonda, on the other hand, was trying to not get bitten by Clampers, who was still hot on their trail.

After running through a field of cacti, with Tiny and Rhonda narrowly evading each one, they began to approach an entrance to a mine.

Hickory and the sled full of trolls jumped over the large hole, with Clay and Viva rolling up into balls and following suit.

Clampers, who plowed straight through the cacti, wasn’t so lucky as she fell right into the mine.

Delta and her group of Country Trolls were not far behind, however, as they all ran out of the field of cacti.

“Come on, Growly Pete! Do your thing!” she ordered as she made a twirling motion with her finger.

Growly Pete, who was running right behind her, formed a pair of lassos from his mustache.

“No one can escape my mustache,” he stated as he ran ahead and sent a lasso towards the group, tangling itself on John’s ankle.

The teal-haired troll struggled as he began to laugh.

“Hey, that tickles!” he laughed as he was too focused on grabbing onto the sled for dear life to reach for the machete in his hair to chop the mustache off him.

“John Dory, hold on!” Bruce cried as he immediately grabbed onto his hand when he saw the oldest brother beginning to slide off the sled.

Branch and Floyd immediately formed a chain as the youngest brother used his hair to reach out to Poppy, who was sitting on Hickory’s back.

“We’re gonna get you now!” Delta shouted after them as Clampers suddenly appeared from the ground and bit Rhonda’s tail.

The armadillo bus howled in pain as she began to thrash around, trying to get the troll off her.

Clay and Viva unrolled from their ball forms and looked on with horror as they saw a cliff approaching.

“We’re not gonna make it!” the lime-haired troll screamed as the other Pop Trolls also noticed the approaching cliff, with the pair beginning to run ahead of Hickory.

After a few more attempts, Rhonda successfully got Clampers off her tail as the young troll flew into Growly Pete’s mustache, chomping it and separating him from JD.

The child landed on the ground, looking dazed as she processed what just happened as Growly Pete got sent flying backwards.

Suddenly losing the pullback from the mustache caused the group to fly off the cliff, with Rhonda and Tiny not far behind.

“Well, I hope Pop Trolls can swim,” Hickory stated as the group looked down to find a river right below them.

They all let out screams as they fell into the water with a splash.

Delta and her party stared into the river with a scowl.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake. Well, dangity-doodly,” she cursed, with Clampers mimicking her aunt.

“And why did that square one look even cuter while on the run?” the mayor mumbled under her breath.

Chapter Text

Floyd suddenly found himself in a library.

He was sitting at a table with a pair of Rock Trolls as they excitedly explained to him the actual history of the strings, pointing at the pages of the history book.

He then found himself begging one of them to not go through with the plan concerning the World Tour.

---

“Come on, Floyd! I can’t have you dying on me a second time today!” Branch begged through tears as he was attempting to push the water out of the other troll’s lungs.

The group all managed to get onshore next to the river.

The redhead slowly opened his eyes before he began to hack out all the water in his lungs.

He barely managed to sit up before the youngest brother wrapped him in a hug.

“You know just because you all abandoned me doesn’t mean I hate any of you guys enough to want you dead,” he jokingly told Floyd through tears.

The older troll winced at the mention of abandonment, but he figured that his apology earlier was just barely the absolute bare minimum. Man, when this was all over, he was gonna figure out how to make it up to Branch.

Viva hovered over Clay and gently smacked his face around until he slowly woke up, rubbing his eyes.

Bruce, having his fair share of wipeouts from living on Vacay Island for so long, shook off the fall like it was nothing as he dragged Poppy and JD out of the water.

The pink troll groaned as she steadied herself up on her feet while John stretched his back.

Rhonda doggy-paddled onto land and flopped onto her belly as her side door opened.

Water rushed out of her, with Tiny looking a little peeved as the water moved him out of the bus.

Bruce cringed at the sight, remembering when he left Vacay Island with John Dory with reassurances that Rhonda was waterproof, when in fact, she was not.

Once everyone got their bearings, Hickory galloped behind them.

“There you lot are. Whew! I think we lost them. We should be all right,” he stated with relief as he shook off the water from his body. Unfortunately, Branch, Floyd and Tiny, who was about to crawl inside Branch’s hair, were in the splash zone.

“Thank you,” Poppy thanked.

“I don’t know how we can ever repay you.”

A light bulb went off in her head.

“Oh, wait! Yes, I do. Gumdrops!”

The Pop Queen pulled out a bag of colorful gumdrops from her hair.

Hickory looked at the bag with confusion.

“Gum what? Oh. Well, thank you.”

He took the bag and popped a gumdrop in his mouth.

“Whew. That’s got a zing, don’t it?”

As he was about to grab another one, Floyd snatched the bag.

“It’s not candy time. It’s question time,” Branch pressed before his and Poppy’s hug time bracelets went off.

“Hug time!” Poppy and Viva chirped as they automatically wrapped the younger brothers and Hickory in a hug.

The pair of brothers immediately squirmed out of the hug with a huff.

“Why are you helping us?” Floyd demanded.

Branch’s hug time bracelet went off again, and the wearer responded by smacking it off, not taking his eyes off the centaur.

“What’s in it for you, anyway?” the youngest brother questioned with a glare.

“Yooo, Baby Branch, Floyd! Let’s just calm down a sec,” JD stepped between the pair and Hickory as Bruce joined him.

“Haha, you know how kids can get,” the purple-haired troll joked as the pair of older brothers led the centaur away, with Poppy not far behind, sending the younger brothers a sharp glare.

“I loved your message about music bringing trolls together. You may be Pop, and I may be Country, but Trolls is Trolls,” Hickory noted.

Floyd moved his hand in a talking motion as he mockingly uttered, “Trolls is Trolls,” with an eyeroll.

That, combined with the faint sounds of Tiny gagging at the cliché message from inside his hair, made it really difficult for Branch to not bust out laughing right then and there.

Viva, Clay and Rhonda followed right behind, not 100% sure whether or not to trust Hickory at the moment.

The Pop Queen, meanwhile, practically swooned over the message.

“This is the beginning of a partnership between trolls that is going to save all trolls!” Poppy exclaimed, with JD and Bruce in loud agreement.

“You’re darn skippy,” Hickory calmly agreed.

“Okay. We need to get to the Funk Trolls before Barb and help protect their string!” John Dory explained with bouncy fists.

“Well, quickest way is down that river,” Hickory glanced over to the river next to them.

“I’ll build us a raft, especially since I don’t think your ride is waterproof enough to last the whole trip.”

“See, he gets it!” Bruce immediately accused JD.

As the centaur walked off, Branch couldn’t roll his eyes more if he tried as he nudged Floyd’s arm.

“This ought to be good,” the darker troll scoffed.

“Guy probably doesn’t know the first thing about building a ra-“

Hickory was quick at work chopping and tying pieces of wood, quickly building a raft big enough for the whole group and Rhonda. It even had a cappuccino machine.

“Cappuccino, anyone?” he offered as he stood next to the machine on the top portion of the raft.

“You made the raft big enough for my girl, Rhonda!” JD shouted with glee as he ran onboard, with the bus following suit.

Rhonda did catch an unusual scent from Hickory once she boarded, and lightly growled in a mix of distrust and confusion. No one else seemed to pick up on her growling, though.

“Impressive. Hope you got decaf,” Bruce followed, with Clay hesitantly agreeing.

Viva and Poppy bounced in excitement.

“Cappuccino?” Poppy started before her sister joined in, “More like cappucci-YES!”

Floyd and Branch were struggling to pick their jaws off the floor as even Tiny stared in awe.

“Man, even I have to admit that that’s impressive!” the small troll admitted.

“Branch, the cappuccino is calling out to me…” the redhead winced.

 “…I do want one,” the blue-haired troll sighed, “but I am not happy about it.”

---

Cooper and his companions were walking through the marshes as the sun was beginning to set.

“How long have we been walking, bros?” Boom tiredly complained.

“Pretty much the whole day. I think at some point we need to figure out on where to set up camp for the night,” Ablaze pointed out.

“Already on it!” Trickee immediately assured him as he pulled out a small device from under his cloak, a device that looked very similar to a certain remote that Branch recently grew attached to.

Switching on the device, the orange troll slid his goggles over his eyes as he began to point the detector around.

“You know, I’m really starting to see why you’re Branch’s favorite,” Hype gave him a deadpan look.

“This detector is perfect for environments like this to help find the safest place to rest for the night! If you have nothing helpful to say, Hype, then I suggest going over to console Guy over there.”

Trickee pointed to Guy Diamond, who was trying to call out to Tiny.

“Yo, Guy. I don’t think your kid would be too thrilled to find out that you’re so stressed out about him,” the teal troll pointed out.

The silver troll let out a tired sigh.

“Oh, I can’t help it! Even if Tiny should be safe with Branch and Poppy, you heard what some of the trolls we passed by said. The Rock Trolls already captured another tribe!”

Cooper, who was walking ahead, let out a gasp as he saw four legs that looked like his hidden behind some leaves.

“Trolls that look like me! Yes!” he exclaimed as he began running to the legs.

“Uh, Cooper, I wouldn’t get closer if I were you-“ Trickee tried to warn him as he pointed the detector in the direction of the mysterious legs.

But it was too late; Cooper was already on the other side of the leaves.

A few seconds passed before they heard a gasp of shock, and they all ran after Cooper.

“ARE YOU OKAY- oh,” Ablaze stared.

The group of Pop Trolls stared at what seemed to be a pair of a mix between a worm and bird, their golden fur glistening in the sunset.

“H-hello there…” Guy nervously greeted as he got closer to the quadruped’s side.

The pair of creatures closely looked at the group before they suddenly belted out unusual honking sounds.

The group of trolls looked around in an increased panic as three more of the creatures popped out of the leaves, belting out the same unusual music until one randomly put Cooper in its mouth and spat him out, causing the others to stop the music as they looked at their friend in confusion.

The group of trolls stared in complete shock and slight fear as Guy farted a cloud of glitter and Cooper pooped out an entire birthday cake with candles.

“…Happy birthday???” the quadruped nervously said as he lifted the cake up to the creatures.

---

“I can make a cortado, a macchiato, latte. We also do drip,” Hickory told Bruce as the pair set up a bonfire as they took a break on a piece of dry land they came across.

Rhonda was resting on the shoreline, with JD feeding her some berries he foraged around the area. The bus every now and again spared quick glances at the centaur, still trying to figure out why his scent was different than the other Country Trolls.

Clay and Viva were play-fighting as they tumbled across the ground like a tumbleweed.

Floyd and Branch were in disbelief that the guy who swore off being ‘fun’ was currently playing with the Pop Princess like a cat, but they both shrugged off the shock as they continued to spy on Hickory from the raft, with Branch using a pair of binoculars.

Tiny peeked out of his hair every now and then as he was interested in potential drama or gossip (especially after the centaur got water on him earlier).

“Whatcha doin’?” Poppy asked as she popped in between the brothers, causing them to jump in surprise.

“Don’t sneak up on us like that!” Floyd panted, trying to catch his breath.

The youngest brother didn’t take his eyes off the bonfire, but he did put the binoculars down.

“Poppifer, don’t you think that Hickory’s giving off a weird vibe?” Branch asked as Floyd raised an eyebrow expectingly at her.

“What? No, why? Are you?”

“I just- I don’t know… I don’t trust him.”

He passed on the binoculars to Floyd, who continued with the more intense part of the spying as Tiny squinted at the centaur.

Poppy quickly glanced between the two brothers.

“You know, I’m starting to see how you two are related. Neither of you trust anyone!”

“Nothing wrong in taking precautions,” Floyd mumbled while still looking through the binoculars.

“Not to mention it being unsafe to be placing too much trust on a complete stranger, and this is coming from someone who hasn’t seen his brothers in over 20 years!” Branch exclaimed.

“Yeah, Aunt Poppy. That cowboy’s got some weird vibes about him,” Tiny admitted.

“Oh, I see…” Poppy looked down with a look of sadness, “it’s not Hickory you guys don’t trust, it’s me… do you not think I’m a good queen?”

Floyd choked on the air at the sudden major accusation, with Tiny being so floored that he fell back into Branch’s hair.

“Wait, what? None of us said that!” Branch was taken aback in complete shock at the sudden jump to that conclusion. It’s not like she was the only one that trusted the guy, either.

“I thought we were friends, Branch. I’m starting to think you don’t even know what that means.”

The other troll tried to think of his next words carefully.

“We are friends! And sometimes that means speaking up if I think you’re making a mistake.”

The redhead winced upon hearing what his brother told the pink troll as he remembered something rather painful.

Poppy, having no words to say, simply let out a few stammers before she huffed away to the top part of the raft.

Branch sulked to himself as he leaned on a log, glancing over to his brother.

Floyd, to his surprise, was sitting in the fetal position, wrapping his hands around his head as he hyperventilated.

The younger brother quickly checked to make sure that they weren’t attracting an audience before he pulled a paper bag out of his hair and instructed the redhead to use it to breathe.

After some time passed, his breathing returned to normal as the older brother focused his vision back onto the troll in front of him.

“Floyd. You didn’t have a panic attack solely because of what Poppy said, right?”

The redhead looked at him with a pained look in his eyes.

“Listen, Branch. What I’m about to tell you is for your ears only… and I guess Tiny’s if he didn’t already fall asleep in your hair. Let me explain what I’ve been doing for the past, like, 5 years…”

Chapter Text

Five years ago…

A younger Floyd was travelling around beyond the Troll Tree.

He’s seen sights that the trolls back home at the Troll Tree could only dream of.

He’s even managed to build a name for himself as he worked on his solo career.

However, despite having found some level of success as a solo musician, he wasn’t feeling as fulfilled as he would have liked.

On top of that, the promise that he made to Branch was something that always gnawed at the back of his mind. He would have loved to have come back earlier, but the mere thought of the possibility of once again becoming the mediator of the band made him feel sick to his stomach. All these negative thoughts haunted him so much that for a time, he went gray until he slowly distracted himself just enough to begin to regain his colors again.

One day, he stumbled upon Volcano Rock City for the first time.

The harsh environment was something that few Pop Trolls would ever get behind, but at the same time, he found it a little familiar considering that it reminded him of Bergen Town for some reason.

While Floyd was originally only intending on looking around, some of the Rock Trolls took interest in his peculiar looks and brought him to their king.

“Yo, King Thrash! We found this outsider looking around the place. He claims to be a Pop Troll!” a Rock Troll shoved the redhead closer to the king once they stepped inside the throne room.

“I can’t tell if he’s telling the biggest joke of the century. He looks more emo than anything!” another Rock Troll laughed as he wiped a tear from his eye.

Pushing a button on an arm of his wheelchair, King Thrash moved just close enough to Floyd to get a decent look at him.

“What brings you here, Pop Troll?”

The redhead found it surprisingly easy to explain himself. He figured that reading up on some of those history books helped with that.

“Well, you see Your Rockness, I’ve been traveling all over the place for well over a decade trying to build a solo career as a musician and making a name for myself. I have managed to achieve some of that… but I’ve been feeling unfulfilled, and my morale is not doing much better. Once I arrived here, though, I felt oddly at home.”

Judging by the way that the king was now looking at him with more… content, he wasn’t going to get thrown out.

“You claim to be a Pop Troll, but I can see some of your heart screaming out for Rock. If fulfillment is what you seek, why don’t you stay here for a while and become the understudy of my daughter and her assistant?”

“U-understudy?”

King Thrash cupped a hand to his mouth.

“Barbara, sweetie! I found an understudy for ya!” he shouted.

A few moments later, a young Princess Barb stepped into the room, with Riff following close behind.

“Yeah, Dad? What’s this about an understudy?” the princess asked with a raised eyebrow.

“As the princess, I’m assigning you the task of teaching this Pop Troll the ways of Hard Rock.”

The redhead cleared his throat.

“M-my name is Floyd. It’s a pleasure t-to meet you, P-Princess…” he held out his hand in a handshake.

While Riff stared at him with bafflement, Barb looked closely at his hand for a few seconds before she gave it a fistbump instead.

“I can’t believe that you guys really managed to find a Pop Troll of all things, let alone an emo one!” she laughed.

Over time, Barb and Riff made it a point to quickly get Floyd adjusted to the general culture of the whole place before they introduced him to the library.

When they figured out that he had in interest in learning about the history of Rock, the pair figured that it was time to teach him about the true history surrounding Pop and the strings.

They walked the Pop Troll through the history book and curiously watched Floyd’s face as it cycled through the five stages of grief, mumbling to himself about how his people have been living a ‘lie’.

On the day that Barb was made Queen of the Rock Trolls, she gave him a studded leather bracelet to wear on his left wrist.

He wanted to frost the tips of his hair at some point, but the queen alongside Riff quickly shut down the idea as they pointed out that he would look more like a snowcone.

Over those last 5 years, Floyd grew closer to Barb and Riff as he grew and developed his skills as a rocker and they learned more about his past with his brothers and BroZone; especially about their attempt at hitting the Perfect Family Harmony.

One day, the queen was in the throne room, sitting next to her father as she was reading a book.

“Whatcha reading, dear?” Thrash asked her with curiosity.

“Oh, Floyd sometimes talks about his time in that old BroZone band. Apparently, they were very close to hitting something called the ‘Perfect Family Harmony’, and I just now had the time to look into it. Seems like this book claims that if the trolls performing it put their minds to it, the harmony can be used as a sort of serenade…” Barb trailed off for a moment, “man, if the Elders had something like that back then, maybe we wouldn’t have needed to split up at all!”

The old man then blinked a few times as gears began turning in his head.

If this ‘Perfect Family Harmony’ can really be used like a serenade, then what can it do with the power of the strings…?

With the newly-formed plan in his mind, he turned to his daughter.

“Barbara, dear, I think I may have an idea as to how to get our tribes to get along!” he happily told her as he divulged the plan to her.

As the queen heard more of the plan, she grew more excited at the thought of bringing the six tribes together at last via their own music, but a part of her grew worried about what this would mean for Floyd, even if she thinks it would be for his own good too.

One day, the redhead was walking down the halls of one of the gothic buildings when Barb pulled him aside.

“Listen, Floyd. There’s something that I need to tell ya. My old man recently came up with the idea of the century! Remember when you mentioned to me the boyband you were in with your brothers and nearly achieving that ‘Perfect Family Harmony’? Well, I looked into it a little bit and we both figured out that with the help of you and your brothers, we can unite the tribes again!”

As the queen excitedly revealed more and more of the plan, Floyd’s emotions grew from confusion to concern all the way to fear.

He gently motioned a hand to interrupt her.

“L-listen, Barb, I get what you’re trying to do… but is forcing everyone to liking rock, with a pop band no less, really the best way to go about this?”

The redhead didn’t quite understand how Barb and her father were intending on using his brothers and the strings together, but he was afraid to find out.

Looking back at her, his heart sank when he saw how hurt she looked.

“A-are you telling me that the plan sucks?”

“N-no!”

The older troll was completely taken aback; he was terrible when it came to giving decent criticism for regular things, imagine trying to do that to a troll with royalty status alongside being very sensitive to negative feedback at times.

“No, I get it. You know what, if that’s the way you feel, why don’t you leave and get a head start on escaping?”

Barb’s eyes darkened.

“I won’t be giving you any second chances the next time I run into you.”

Floyd was frozen in place, not knowing how to respond to anything of what she just said as the queen called Riff over to sneak him out of the city.

Later, as Floyd and Riff were walking on the outskirts of the Rock Kingdom, the Rock Troll suddenly stopped.

“Listen, I’m not sure if I should be telling you this, but the guitar Barb’s supposed to be using is made out of natural black diamond. I don’t know if she knows what the Harmony can do to diamond, but she doesn’t seem to be 100% on board with the plan like she made it seem with you earlier.”

He then pointed to the northwest.

“You’ll probably be the safest going to Lonesome Flats considering the distance from here to there. If you can get on their good side, they can protect you.”

He turned around.

“May luck be on your side,” he muttered before he walked back into the city, leaving Floyd to start his long trek to the desert.

---

Tears fell from Floyd’s eyes as he awaited Branch’s response.

The other troll stared at him for a few moments before he whispered, “That’s why you didn’t want to talk about Barb earlier…”

“Branch, I left before I could put up much of a fight, not telling Barb that she was making a mistake like a friend should. I’m a terrible friend and a terrible brother…”

The younger brother offered a small smile of sympathy.

“No, I don’t blame you for running away. I think a part of her at least wanted to give you a fighting chance. Also, it probably would have been risky for you to speak up against a troll in power, if the night BroZone broke up is anything to go by.”

The pair shared a laugh as Floyd realized he was right.

---

Once everyone (especially Rhonda) got their fill of dry land for the moment, Hickory decided to keep on moving as he moved the campfire over to the raft for the night.

As the entire campsite began to wind down as they floated down the river, the sounds of smooth and suave brass began to play in the area.

“Do you guys hear something?” Bruce looked around in confusion.

“Wait, why does the river look like a romantic bubble bath all of a sudden?” Clay pointed out the sudden appearance of bubbles and candles floating on the water.

A troll with long red hair and a heart-shaped patch of hair on his chest suddenly rose out of the water as he continued to play on his flugelhorn, with rose petals beginning to pour out of the instrument.

“Haha, that chest hair of his looks soooo weird,” Viva mumbled as she began to feel woozy.

“I can’t feel my face…” John Dory drunkenly tried to smack his face as everyone began to adopt the same woozy-like grin while the strange troll floated closer.

“It’s- it’s like I’m being paralyzed by his smoothness…” Poppy slurred.

Even Rhonda was beginning to get delirious as her eyes were spinning.

The smooth jazz echoed through the group’s ears as they all suddenly found themselves on a warm and sunny island.

Poppy and Viva were relaxing under a palm tree sipping blue fizzy soda out of wine glasses as the group of brothers all played marco polo in the water.

A pair of telephones rose out of the sand and the sisters reached out to answer them.

“Hello…?” they both answered.

Clay and Branch slid into view as they had their own telephones on their laps.

“Hello, it’s me-e~” Branch spoke into the other end.

“Hehe, hi Viva~” Clay swooned into his phone.

The youngest brother suddenly looked up and pointed to the distance.

“Look! Narwhal…” he gasped.

A narwhal-shaped Rhonda jumped out of the water with John sitting on the roof as he shouted, “YEEHAW!”

Bruce eventually found himself feeding sushi to his younger brothers.

“Now remember guys, Grandma Rosiepuff wants us to finish it all…”

Back in the real world, all the purple-haired troll was doing was smacking a stick on Floyd’s tongue.

Everyone groaned as they all shook their heads from the fever dream.

“Now, I may have seen some things on this adventure, but the way you guys were acting just now has got to be the weirdest,” Tiny exclaimed as he peeked his head out of Branch’s hair, seemingly unaffected by the sounds of jazz.

“Got ya, Pop Babies,” the strange troll spoke.

The group jumped in surprise as they took notice of the floating troll.

“Wait, this guy tied us up!” Clay realized as Viva struggled with her ropes, growling.

The new troll stood on the raft in front of the group as the pair of semi-feral trolls struggled even more with their ropes.

“Soon, Barb is gonna have your string and the world to be rid of cheesy pointless pop music… once and for all.”

As the Smooth Jazz Troll was about to play another note on his flugelhorn, Hickory suddenly bursts forth from the top part of the raft.

“Hold it right there, Chaz,” the Country Troll warned as he stared Chaz down.

“Who are you supposed to be… Cowboy Pants?” the long-haired troll raised an eyebrow as he mocked his opponent.

The group of Pop Trolls were growing more invested in the showdown as they shot glances between the pair in front of them.

“My name’s Hickory,” he lifted the brim of his hat,” and I don’t much care for smooth jazz.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, you’ve just never had… The Chaz Experience.”

Chaz began to float as he circled Hickory while playing his horn.

With no hesitation, the centaur simply donkey-kicked him, sending him sliding off the raft and into the water.

Tiny raised an eyebrow as if he could have sworn that he has seen the Smooth Jazz Troll swoon over Hickory but didn’t question it further.

The Country Troll proceeded to stick his thumbs into his ears and pulled out a gumdrop for each ear.

“Gumdrops. Soundproof,” he popped the pair of gumdrops into his mouth, “and delicious.”

As the bubbles and candles began disappearing, the group heard Chaz cry out to them from the water.

“Smooth jazz will be heard again! Smooth jazz will never DIE!” he cried out before he sank back into the water.

The group quickly turned their focus to John Dory, who was suddenly kicking himself in frustration.

“That’s what I forgot to pack! Earplugs! The moment these ropes are off of me, those gumdrops are going in all your ears, I do not want to go through that again!” he exclaimed.

Chapter Text

“Who was that guy?” Poppy asked as Hickory freed everyone from the ropes.

John Dory was true to his word as he quickly grabbed the bag of gumdrops laying next to the wheel of the raft and proceeded to shove them into everyone’s ears; he even made the effort to find smaller gumdrops for Tiny.

“One of the bounty hunters out there looking for you lot,” the centaur responded.

“See? I KNEW that Queen Barb would have a bounty on our heads!” Bruce exclaimed.

“Now what are we supposed to do, now that we seem to be public enemy #1?!” Clay fumed as he paced around, tail flickering in agitation.

“Listen, guys. We’re all going to be okay!” JD tried to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, John Dory’s right! We can’t give up!” Poppy added.

“…Are we really going to be okay, Aunt Poppy? Old Guy? Or are you two only saying what you want to hear?”

Everyone turned to Tiny Diamond, who was standing on the raft.

Poppy could have sworn that that was the first time she’d seen him with a look of genuine doubt and fear.

---

Cooper and his companions slowly made their way across the sandy desert.

Guy Diamond, Hype and Boom had to cover themselves up even more than the others so the harsh sunlight didn’t bounce off their glitter and blind everyone else.

Their trek was borderline grueling, especially with the little water they had left.

Even Guy seemed to have calmed his crying out to Tiny as he tried to conserve his energy.

Trickee was using his device to try and find a source of water or shade, really any place where they can take a much-needed break.

As they got to the top of a dune, Cooper let out a gasp at what he thought could be an oasis.

“Guys! I think we’re saved!” he cried out as he bolted to the oasis.

“Did you find water?” Ablaze called out as he tried to look for what Cooper saw.

“DID SOMEONE SAY WATER?!” Boom shouted as he ran after the quadruped, clearly delirious from the heat.

Trickee squinted through his goggles as he could have sworn that he was seeing things.

All of a sudden, the device in his hand told him that there was something nearby, but he couldn’t see anything.

As Cooper and Boom dove headfirst into the water, their reflections began to talk to them.

“Are you guys really saved?” the pink reflection asked.

“Because last we checked, we’re just mirages!” the yellow reflection added.

Just as soon as the oasis appeared, it suddenly blipped out of existence.

Hype would have laughed at the sight of sand spilling out of the pair’s mouths if he wasn’t also getting exhausted from the heat and dehydration.

“Bros… I don’t think I can go on anymore…” Boom’s eyes drooped as he collapsed on the ground.

“We’re done for…” Cooper followed.

“BOOM! COOPER!”

The other Pop Trolls immediately ran to their sides, checking to see if they were still alive.

Trickee’s device was now very adamant that there was something… above them?

The orange troll looked up in confusion before his jaw dropped.

“Hey guys…? You might want to look at this…”

The others quickly noticed the large shadow suddenly covering them as pink lights swirled across the sand.

Before they knew it, they were all wrapped in bubbles as the UFO above them took them all inside.

---

“Yo, I think they might be waking up…!”

Cooper groaned as he lifted his head from the… bed?

Jolting awake, he looked around for his companions.

Laying on a bed next to him was Boom, who also was just barely coming to.

On the other side of the sterile white room, he saw the rest of his friends getting attended to by a troll that looked… strangely a lot like him, well, aside from the fact that the troll was standing on two legs and wearing a white doctor’s coat.

And then he focused on the troll right in front of him, a troll that looked almost exactly like him.

“Rise and shine, brother!” the mysterious troll chirped.

Cooper shouted in surprise as he jolted backwards.

The other troll seemed to have quickly taken the hint as he gave the Pop Troll a bit more space.

“Whoops, sorry about that! It’s just that I was so worried about losing my brother after us only just finding you guys!” the other troll’s expression quickly relaxed.

“U-uh… who are you?”

The look-a-like troll smiled warmly.

“The Funk Trolls here know me as Prince Darnell, or Prince D for short. My parents and I have been searching for you for years… you’re my twin brother!”

That caused the Pop Troll to scramble to his feet as he quickly got up in Prince D’s face.

“T-TWIN?!”

He quickly jolted backwards again.

“I-I can’t believe it! I found trolls just like me! And I have a twin brother! O-oh, my name is Cooper!”

The quadruped Pop Troll was practically dancing like a ballerina as the Funk Troll Prince laughed.

“We’re gonna have so much fun together, Coops! Vibe City’s an amazing place!”

“Trolly cupcakes! This is gonna be AWESOME!”

The twins began to dance as they slid into the similarly sterile-looking halls while Prince D began to make an attempt to sing pop-like.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFzeNfBUyzE&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=9&ab_channel=Kittyball23)

Kaleidoscopic

I'm seein' different when I look at you

The pair harmonized as they sang, “Everything’s lookin’ bright,” before the prince began singing by himself again as he summoned a pair of hoverboards for them to fly down the halls in.

No, I can't stop it now

I'm gettin' swept up in a feel-good mood

The twins leaned their heads against each other as they harmonized.

Feelin’ I can’t deny

Cooper led the singing as the pair flew into the dark lighting of Vibe City.

Now that you're with me

I can finally see

Colors that were up in my mind

Didn't know I was blind

He looked over to Prince D.

Now that I'm with you

Sparks are flyin' loose

Fireworks go off in my brain

The pair spun into the sky and gave each other a fist bump as they sang together again.

And I'll never be the same!

The twins found themselves in a library as the prince showed Cooper a picture of themselves as eggs while the Pop Troll showed him photos of himself growing up in Pop Village, both still singing.

I didn't know until I found you

Havin' the time of our lives, it takes two (It takes two)

Using the hoverboards, they both flew by a stage performance by other Funk Trolls.

When I look up, the stars are brighter

Now I know everything's better with you (It takes two)

Back in the infirmary, the morale of the other Pop Trolls perked up once Boom was well enough to get out of bed and joined them as they proceeded to sing themselves.

Now (Now), now that, now that we got it all together

They began walking down the small sterile hallways.

Now we're together, we got it all (Hey)

The group of bipedal Pop Trolls found themselves in another part of the same library as they huddled close to Trickee.

He was hunched over a table as he had a book on GPS and tracking systems opened up and worked on his own detection device, turning it into a device that could also possibly track down Branch’s group.

Now (Now), now that (Now that)

Now that we got it all together (Hey)

The group of five managed to find Cooper and Prince D.

Now we're together, we got it all (Hey)

The bipedal Pop Trolls danced behind them as the twins sang in unison.

You got me feelin' right, feelin' right

Feelin' like good vibes are at my door (Good vibes are at my door)

Every day, every night, ooh-ooh (It takes two)

The pair didn’t stop singing as Prince D led them all back to the area that they first arrived in via bubble.

I didn't know until I found you ('Til I found you)

Havin' the time of our lives, it takes two (It takes two)

It takes me and you

---

“Oh, geez, I almost forgot!” Darnell suddenly facepalmed.

“What’s the matter?” Guy asked.

“In my excitement to meet you, it slipped my mind that Mom and Dad wanted to meet you guys properly when you all felt better!”

The other Pop Trolls were caught by surprise.

“Your parents? But if you’re the prince, then they must be…” Ablaze’s eyes widened in shock.

“They’re the king and queen of this place! Come on, let me take you to them,” Prince D laughed as he began to lead them back into Vibe City.

“Oh, I can finally meet my mom and dad! Poppy and Branch would love to meet them and see this place-“

Cooper barely finished his thought as he suddenly remembered something and froze.

The others sensed that he stopped walking and turned to check on him.

“What’s wrong, Cooper?” Guy asked with concern.

“…A-are you gonna abandon me like Branch’s brothers did?” he suddenly asked with worry.

As the other Pop Trolls were taken aback by the sudden question, the Funk Troll frowned with confusion.

“W-what? No! I don’t know why you suddenly thought about that-“

Darnell then stopped talking as he remembered Cooper showing him a picture earlier of him with who he was told was Poppy and Branch as the three were sorting through some plates of cupcakes.

He didn’t get to actually know Cooper until today, but he can tell that he clearly cares about his friends a lot, and if he cared enough about this Branch to the point that he blurted out something like that…

He was gonna need to figure out this mystery before seeing their parents. As much as he didn’t like keeping a secret from his Mom and Dad, this was a matter that concerned siblings.

“…Uh, would you mind telling me more about this Branch and his brothers? Our parents don’t have to know,” he assured his twin.

As some of the Pop Trolls in the room groaned about having to once again air out the dirty laundry of someone who wasn’t even with them, Cooper didn’t hesitate to explain to his brother what the support group told him.

---

It was a gloomy day.

Morale was pretty low for the group of Pop Trolls.

JD was attending to Rhonda, feeding her a few treats.

Poppy sadly stared ahead as she guided the raft using the wheel on the top floor.

Tiny was partially in Floyd’s hair as the older troll was sitting against a log, both repeatedly fighting the urge to completely doze off into sleep.

Bruce pulled out a framed picture of Brandy from his hair, sadly caressing it.

Clay and Viva moped as they kicked against the water from the back of the raft.

Branch sat by himself at the front of the raft, moping as he looked at his reflection in the water.

Hickory kept circling around the raft, singing a song that he didn’t care enough to listen to.

The youngest brother then briefly caught a glance at Poppy, who didn’t take her solemn eyes off the water ahead.

He could only assume that she was still thinking back to what Tiny Diamond told her earlier.

The dark blue troll groaned as he dragged his hands tiredly against his face and collapsed backwards. It was like the universe was mocking him by putting him with trolls that abandoned him over 20 years ago and a troll that he’s fallen in love with that just so happens to have similar listening skills as to JD.

“Somethin’ tells me your heart ain’t in this mission, Branch,” Hickory suddenly peeked his head above the troll lying on the ground.

“What do you mean? I’m here, aren’t I?” Branch took the hand the Country Troll offered as he helped him sit back up.

“Yeah, you on a mission, alright, but yo heart is with Miss Poppy and old times you seem to yearn for,” Hickory read him like an open book.

“Hey, hold your horses-!”

Branch’s eyes widened with realization as he quickly shot a glance at the centaur’s hooves.

“…I’m sorry, is that offensive?” he cringed.

The other troll laughed as he put his guitar down and sat next to Branch.

“…Not as offensive as you thinkin’ I can’t see what’s right in front of my eyes,” the cowboy tipped his hat upwards with a knowing smile.

There was a brief pause before Hickory suddenly asked, “Did ya tell her, yet?”

The blue troll shrugged.

“I tried. But…”

Using his hands, he mimicked something crashing into the ground and exploding, much like his confidence when he tried to confess to Poppy back in Pop Village.

The other troll sighed in pity.

“Well, if ya did tell ‘er, who knows if she’d even hear ya?” Hickory noted.

Branch took his eyes off the water as he looked at the other troll in slight confusion.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well let’s just say out of everyone here, only a small handful of ya is doing the listening. Between the two of ya, only one of you is doing the listening, and it’s not her.”

Branch’s eyes dropped slightly as he turned his focus back to the water, picking up the implication.

Hickory waited for a few seconds before he bluntly stated, “It’s you.”

“Yeah. I got that. Thanks,” the other troll huffed before crossing his arms and looking in the opposite direction.

Poppy looked up to the sky and her jaw dropped at what she saw.

“Uh, guys…?” she tried to alert the others as she pointed upwards.

Rhonda looked up and began to bark and squirm.

“Hey, what’s gotten into ya, girl?!”

John tried to calm the bus down and turned around to see what she was barking at, only to be frozen in place.

Bruce nearly dropped his photo, but quickly put it back inside his hair before scrambling to drag Clay and Viva to see the flying saucer that suddenly pierced through the cloudy sky.

Floyd and Tiny jolted awake as they stared upwards in bafflement.

“What the hell is that?!” the younger troll blurted out as he stumbled out of Floyd’s hair.

Branch and Hickory immediately shot up as they slowly backed up.

“What in butter biscuits?!” the centaur exclaimed as he picked up his guitar and raised it in the air to defend himself.

Suddenly, a long bubble-like blob shot out of the bottom of the saucer, engulfing the raft and everyone on it.

“Quick, everyone in Rhonda!” JD suddenly shouted as he opened the side door of the armadillo bus.

Bruce quickly grabbed Floyd and Tiny as he ran inside the bus with the pair in his arms.

A giant bubble floated downwards from the ship above.

As everyone ran to Rhonda, Hickory tried to swing at it with his guitar, missing and only succeeded in smacking Branch across the face and sending him to the ground briefly.

Branch then got back up and tried to punch and kick the bubble, only managing to kick Hickory in the face.

John Dory pushed them inside the bus as he pulled out his machete and tried to take a few swings at the bubble, only to miss each time.

Clay and Viva, arched like hissing cats, hissed at the bubble as they repeatedly tried to attack it with claw and tail swipes and also missing.

Bruce briefly stepped out of the bus as he used his hair to drag JD inside.

Poppy quickly used her own hair to tightly wrap the wild pair in constraints as she ran onto the bus with them, closing the door once inside.

Everyone sat in silence with anticipation.

They could hear Rhonda whimpering as the bubble engulfed her and began to take everyone up to the saucer.

Chapter Text

Everyone inside the bubble floated into the saucer as they were suddenly placed into a sort of ‘elevator’ made of oranges, yellows and purples as the bubble was taking them up.

The group crammed together as they peered through the front windshield.

The ones who were able to see the most clearly out were left staring in awe as they saw the city nightclub-like atmosphere of Vibe City, the buildings full of popping images and colorful lighting.

They passed by a stage full of Funk Trolls performing smooth and upbeat music, with two trolls in particular in the middle, sticking out from the rest.

Branch in particular was completely enamored by the sights and sounds he was experiencing.

They soon found themselves taken to a room lined with golden hues and a purple lava lamp-like floor.

As soon as the bubble made contact with one of the gold-colored bumps on the ground, the bubble popped, causing Rhonda to softly land on the ground.

Everyone slowly poured out of Rhonda as Tiny quickly made his way back inside Branch’s hair.

“What is this place…?” the youngest brother looked around, blown away from the sight.

“Welcome to Vibe City. You all are our cordial guests of Prince Cooper,” Prince D’s voice rang out as he revealed himself to the large group.

Poppy immediately ran up to him.

“Cooper! What are you doing here?” she asked the other troll in surprise as the other trolls stared in bewilderment, Branch and Tiny especially.

The other troll could only bring himself to chuckle.

“Actually, I’m over here!”

They all shot their gazes behind them and jolted in surprise at seeing not only Cooper, but the rest of Branch’s support group and Guy Diamond with him.

Tiny cheered as he immediately ran to greet his father.

“DADDY! What are you doing here with Uncle Cooper?” he asked as he hopped onto Guy’s outstretched hand.

The older Glitter Troll simply wrapped his son in a tight hug.

“Don’t scare me like that again, Tiny! Even with that note you left, I was still very worried!” he scolded him with a soft smile.

Guy then glanced over to the trolls next to him.

“We were just travelling with Cooper to help him find trolls just like him, and this place is full of them!” he explained.

Branch walked over to the other Kismet members.

“Were you guys really that desperate for an adventure once you all found out I was leaving with Poppy and my brothers?” he asked them with a knowing look.

“You know us by now, we couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this, especially when these two idiots over here were planning on leaving by themselves!” Hype motioned to Cooper and Guy.

“We were actually able to find you thanks to Trickee’s tracker!” Boom chirped.

The orange troll shyly lifted his small device for Branch to see.

“Woah… taking inspiration from Gary I see,” he jokingly nudged the other troll’s arm.

“Eh, it wasn’t a big deal,” Trickee tried to shrug it off.

Poppy walked over to Cooper, eager to hear what he had to say.

“Poppy, Branch! Get this, turns out I was from Vibe City! Just like my twin brother,” the quadruped looked over to his twin.

“I’m Prince D. What’s poppin’?” he introduced himself before running up to Cooper and laughing with each other.

“How is that even possible…?” Branch asked the pair, joining Poppy.

“Well, it’s a very complicated story…” Cooper’s eyes narrowed.

“When we were both babies, my egg got snatched out of the nest. Mom and Dad looked everywhere, but they couldn’t find me, so you guys raised me as one of your own.”

He motioned to Ablaze, who knew the rest of the story.

“And then when we all went out to help Cooper find other trolls like him, his parents and brother finally found us in the nick of time!”

He thought back to when they first floated into the very same room with three Funk Trolls running to check on them and sending them off with Prince D to receive medical attention in the infirmary.

Of course, at the time no one pieced together that the blue and purple Funk Trolls were the Queen and King of Funk.

“I guess it wasn’t too complicated,” Cooper laughed.

“Oh, Cooper! Speaking of siblings, we rescued my long-lost sister, Viva!”

The Pop Queen motioned her arms over to the older pink troll, who nervously fidgeted her feet.

“Uh, hi…? I’m the long-lost Pop Princess…” she shyly explained.

All the other Pop Trolls immediately rushed to her side.

“The Princess Viva? Ooo, everyone back home is gonna love to see you again!” Boom exclaimed with excitement.

Viva’s eyes widened as she was reminded of the fact that the Pop Trolls were actually still alive.

“Home…” she teared up.

Ablaze turned his attention to Hickory, Clay and Floyd.

“And you guys are…?”

“O-oh! Sorry, where are my manners?”

Poppy zoomed next to Hickory.

“This is our friend Hickory. He helped us get out of a few jams!”

The Country Troll tipped his hat downward.

“Howdy.”

Branch dragged his feet to Clay, who was on guard next to Viva.

“Guys, this is my brother Clay. He and Viva are like each other’s rocks.”

He then walked over to the redhead, who shrunk into himself.

“And this is Floyd, the second-youngest brother of BroZone.”

The four Kismet members’ faces, as with Cooper and Guy’s, softened a bit upon hearing about Floyd.

Bruce wasn’t completely sure if he was seeing things, but he could have sworn that for a second, he saw Prince D flash a look of disappointment at the four older brothers.

Cooper then saw two more trolls enter the room.

“Poppy, I want you guys to meet the King and Queen of Funk!” he walked over to the blue troll’s side.

Prince D walked to the purple troll’s side.

“King Quincy and Queen Essence,” the younger Funk Troll introduced.

“My Mom and Dad…!” Cooper happily added.

Queen Essence leaned close to Cooper and proceeded to bombard her son with many long-overdue kisses on the cheek.

“Wow, Cooper! You look just like your dad!” Poppy complimented.

“Yeah, that must be why he’s so good looking,” he grinned at Cooper as he exchanged high-fives with Darnell.

“Was that a dad joke…? It was LAME!” Cooper happily exclaimed as the rest of the Funky Family shared a laugh together.

“So that means you’re a Funk Troll?” the Pop Queen asked.

“You don’t have to be just one thing! I’m Pop and Funk!” the quadruped Pop Troll turned to his brother.

“Or maybe you’re Hip-Hop, like me!”

“Yeah!”

Tiny turned his attention to the royal princes.

“Hip-Hop… well, I know that I’m a rapper at my core,” he pondered to himself.

John Dory stepped forward.

“Well, excuse us Your Majesties, but we need your help to save all music from Queen Barb, and to, ya know, let us help protect your string!” the oldest brother stated.

This caused the other brothers’ hearts to freeze.

“You’re still on about protecting the strings?! Shouldn’t we begin to worry more about ourselves, ya know, the guys’ Barb’s also after because we can somehow do the Perfect Family Harmony, and of who which she managed to catch at least one of…?!” Clay immediately argued.

“Remember, John Dory, with what happened with the Country Trolls…” Floyd added.

Poppy cleared her throat.

“John’s right! If we combine our music, she’ll see our music unites all trolls and that we’re all the same! And that she’s one of us!”

When Poppy looked up back to the royal family, she was expecting to see eager faces.

That’s why she was taken aback when she saw the King and Queen looking at her with faces of concern.

Quincy winced as he shared a glance with his wife before looking back at the girl.

“…Poppy. John Dory. I mean no disrespect, but King to Queen, anything but that,” he sadly stated.

Floyd looked on with a knowing look, as he already knew the reason why they had that reaction.

He just wished that he didn’t leave that part of his backstory out when he was telling it to Branch earlier. Otherwise, it would make witnessing this exchange a tiny bit easier.

“…But why not?” Poppy asked, with all the other Pop Trolls looking on in confusion.

King Quincy reached out to a button in the shape of a lump on the wall and pressed it.

With a flash of white, they were all teleported to a black room where the only light emitted was coming from these bizarrely disco ball-shaped pillars lining the room.

They walked down the black and white-swirled carpet towards a guitar encased in a glass dome, with the purple Funk String being the sole string on the guitar.

“Let’s tell ‘em how it works, Prince D,” the Funk King directed.

“Sick.”

The Funk Prince turned to look at the Pop Queen as the rest of the group followed close behind (though Rhonda wasn’t with them as she was too big).

“Long ago, our world was without song or dance. Then the trolls found the strings, and life was one big party.”

The large group of Pop Trolls were impressed by the sight of the string, even Hickory, who never saw any string so up close before.

“Well, we at least managed to get close to this one,” Bruce quietly joked to JD.

“Oh, yeah. I-I’ve heard this story before,” Poppy pointed out, as almost all the other trolls, even Cooper, gave a nod of agreement.

As far as anyone present when King Peppy revealed the Pop String to them or anyone that read about the history via a Pop history book was concerned, the reason the strings were separated in the first place was because the Elders all fought over them. Even Viva was filled in on this at some point.

The King and Queen stood in front of the string.

“That is… until the Pop Trolls tried to steal our strings,” Prince D explained solemnly as he walked next to his parents.

All the Pop Trolls in the room were floored with shock as even Cooper let out a gasp.

Hickory guiltily looked away as Floyd winced at the reminder.

“Steal your strings…? T-that’s not what it said in our scrapbooks!” Poppy stammered.

JD stared at the floor.

“My brothers and I loved to read history books from the Troll Tree when we were little. Are you telling us that-“

Darnell gave him a look of pity.

“Those scrapbooks and history books were cut, glued, glittered and written by the winners. Let me tell y’all how it really went down…”

The prince walked past them to a record player and began to play a vinyl record.

As he began to sing, it was like the figures of the Elders and the harp with the six strings on the record sleeve popped to life, but as Branch listened to the following lyrics, it was like he also saw his brothers there, singing together from before they began arguing a lot, and he heard different lyrics alongside Prince D’s.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvDHMCpC8pE&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=10&ab_channel=RCARecords)

We started off a team

Party 'til we fall asleep

Even on the street, when we disagreed

We did it on beat (Did it on beat)

Expected unique (Right), anything less, it was weak

The music of the strings made life complete (Facts)

[The music of the band made life complete]

The Elders were happily dancing side by side, as with the five brothers back when they were together and enjoying their time in BroZone.

That was until they saw the Elder Pop Troll eyeing the harp, as with the younger JD eyeing a book where he first learned about the Perfect Family Harmony.

'Til that one day they changed everything

The Pop Trolls started snatchin' up all of the strings (Oh no)

[The Leader started reading up on the Perfect Family Harmony]

Put the melodies on top of poppy lil' beats

[Obsessing more and more over perfection]

They cut us out of the scene

And then forgot what it really means (Not even publish us)

The Pop Elder stole the harp with the strings and popped off the record sleeve, leaving the other Elders behind to chase after them, as with the younger JD grabbing the book and dragging the other brothers with him.

Shoulda seen between all of the scheming

It seems like the Trolls they stole from were meaningless

[It seemed that if the brothers weren’t perfect, they’re worthless]

Walkin' around like they were the geniuses

[Commanding the brothers like he was the genius]

But it's only samples, autotune and remixes (No, lawd)

[But to him it’s only about being just perfect]

The five other Elders were chasing down the Pop Elder as they turned everything they sang into Pop and left the others behind to watch.

Branch winced as he saw, alongside the Elders, the same memory of the night they attempted to do the Perfect Family Harmony at a performance and failed.

The Pop Elder closed the open sleeve, throwing out the other Elders as they looked on in distress, as with the alternative closing to reveal the brothers tangled in the vine and falling while Bitty B watched.

A pink and purple heart began to beat on Branch’s chest.

I'm a vegan, I don't have no beef with them (No, lawd)

Gotta protect my kingdom

But the dream is to sing again (Yes, yes)

Being friends, seamless blend

Harmony ain't hard when the keys within you win

The large group could only stare and listen as Prince D and the Funk King and Queen slid into their group on the now shiny and reflective black floor.

As the four other Kismet members noticed Branch’s current stiffened state and went to check on him, the three Funk royals began to harmonize as they danced to the music.

First, it was all love (At first, it was all love)

Hands up, super star love (Stars up)

That you can have it

You can have it all, love (And you can get it how you want)

But then you took it

Took it all, love (They took it all)

All, love

Turn it up louder (Turn the music up louder)

Sing along, get the crowd up (Get the crowd up, come on)

But then you took it all, love (Took it all, love)

Then forgot all about us (Oh)

But it's all love

Suddenly, more Funk Trolls appeared and circled the group as they began to dance in unison.

Prince D, noticing how Branch was feeling, motioned for him and the four other support group members to join in on the song, which none hesitate to do as the four other Pop Trolls followed Branch’s lead, who now had tears falling down his face as the pink and purple heart glowed brighter.

If any of the trolls looked above them, they would have seen a heart form around them from the variously colored vinyl records.

I feel you

Sounds good in my ear when I hear it like that

I feel you

I say I look good to the mirror and it says it right back

I feel you

A little love wouldn't kill you

You really did me wrong, it was real cruel (It was real cruel)

Had a lot of love and I still do 'cause I feel you

As the other Funk Trolls took their leave, JD, Bruce, and Clay were all confused as to why their baby brother was singing and dancing and pouring his heart out with those four other Pop Trolls while also being very surprised that Funk of all genres was the kind of music he resonated with so much. Floyd, on the other hand, could only watch with sadness and a broken heart. Even Viva felt a sense of relativity to the song, most likely because she thought about the day her people got separated from the other Pop Trolls.

The five Kismet members and the Queen and King quieted down as they let Darnell continue singing on his own.

Next morning, the elders were on it (Man)

[That night, the brothers were on it]

They saw the warning signs, couldn't ignore it (Look)

Had to figure out how to save the way of life they had made

So they made a play

On another record sleeve, the five left-behind Elders watched with dismay as the Elder Pop Troll and his tribe sang and paraded around the harp and strings.

The parallel sleeve revealed the figures of Clay and Spruce arguing with John Dory about them having enough and quitting the band while Bitty B and Floyd watched on in dismay.

The Pop Trolls were comin' for it all (Ah, ah)

[The Harmony was comin’ for it all]

All for one and one for all (Ah)

So the only way we saw, how we saw it

It was one thing left to be done (What?)

Each leader grabbed a single string and said, "Run!"

[The four older brothers disbanded and said, “Run!”]

The figures of the five other Elders snuck up to their respective strings and bolted off with them, going their separate ways and leaving behind the giant Elder Pop Troll with the aftermath.

What Branch also saw was the figures of his brothers arguing and them, even Floyd, running off and leaving a sad and confused Bitty B behind.

Chapter Text

“And the trolls never lived in harmony again,” King Quincy finished.

Poppy stared agape as she processed what she just listened to.

“…So the trolls live in isolation because of what… Pop did?” she realized.

“…We’ve all been lied to,” John Dory stared at the floor with an unreadable expression on his face.

Clay noticed a hint of anger in Viva’s eyes.

He couldn’t blame her as he and his brothers were all raised under the belief that history should be properly recorded.

Looking over to Bruce gritting his teeth was a good indication of that.

The Funk King and Queen shared a solemn glance with each other.

“Pop tried to destroy our music,” Queen Essence stated.

“…Just like Barb and Thrash is trying to do with the strings and Perfect Family Harmony,” Floyd squeezed his hands as he frowned.

The Pop Queen jumped to her feet as she ran to the enclosed Funk String.

“We can make it right! History’s just gonna keep repeating itself until we make everyone realize that we’re all the same!”

Cooper and the friends he originally traveled with shared looks of doubt at this bold claim.

“But we’re not all the same,” Quincy calmly countered.

“It’s why all our strings are different, because they reflect our different music,” Essence added.

Guy Diamond cleared his throat as he approached the Pop Queen.

“Uh, Poppy. We’ve spent a long enough time on this ship to realize that we are all different. Even my own son sings differently by Pop Troll standards. It would be hypocritical of us to deny these differences unless we want to be denying the truth of who we really are, even to our own tribe.”

The pink troll absorbed their words.

“…I haven’t thought about it like that.”

The room was silent until Prince D suddenly perked up.

“Wait, did I hear mention of the Perfect Family Harmony? That ability’s mad powerful,” he grinned.

“Right? It’s supposed to be powerful enough to shatter diamond!” JD jumped.

He then quickly turned to the Diamond family.

“Not you two though,” he quickly clarified.

Essence laughed.

“Oh, Dears. The Perfect Family Harmony can do so much more than that!”

Quincy turned his attention to the brothers.

“While the Perfect Family Harmony might be spoken about a bit differently between tribes, it’s the same no matter who pulls it off. It can shatter diamond, but it can also be used as a sort of serenade for the users to help calm their people’s hearts and souls. Some say that if the right trolls perform it around the string they represent, something is supposed to happen. As for who those trolls are, it’s been said to be at least partially the ones the strings themselves chose; ones who can really resonate with their music.”

Darnell glanced around.

“There’re debates on this for those of Vibe City in the know. Some say the strings will send a shockwave of color and life. Others claim that those specific trolls being able to pull that off will either mark an end for the strings or save the world, but just the thought of that first part being true makes me feel… nervous,” the Prince shuddered upon uttering the word.

With the Funk Prince saying this, the five brothers thought back to the glowing hearts they saw on each other (save for Floyd).

Bruce’s eyes widened with realization as a more concerning thought suddenly crossed his mind.

“Wait, if there’s a chance of the Harmony putting an end to the strings, what are the Rock Trolls planning?”

It took a moment before Floyd’s eyes shot open with horror.

With the knowledge of the guitar holding the captured strings being made of diamond, nothing was adding up to him.

Either Barb didn’t know as much about the Harmony as they both thought, or, to an extent, she was implementing some way for her plan to fail.

As the redhead was racking his brain trying to think of reasons as to why, alarms suddenly blared as the guitar holding the Funk String was engulfed in a curtain-like barrier made up of various vinyl records and CDs.

Everyone jumped in surprised as the King and Queen exchanged a serious look with Prince D.

“Rock has arrived! It’s ON!” he exclaimed with a frown.

“Prepare for battle!” Quincy ordered as everyone ran out of the black and white room.

Waves of Funk Trolls throughout the ship scrambled to their battle stations as they grabbed their guitars and golden stilts.

Prince D hopped onto his hoverboard, which turned out to be some sort of combat-based DJ booth as one spin of one of the disks sent a purple shockwave.

Queen Essence stepped onto a high ledge as she put a silver glittery sousaphone around her body.

“Assemble the crew!” she commanded as she blew into the instrument, sending out a war cry.

The rest of the large group followed Cooper.

“Cooper, let some of us help you at least! Tiny, go with Poppy and the others!” Guy instructed as he ran over to hand Tiny to the others.

With a whistle from JD, Rhonda came bursting forth behind them with an anxious look on her face.

“Come on! Everyone not helping needs to get inside Rhonda right now! Barb can’t capture us!” he ordered as he opened the door.

Cooper quickly glanced between the groups of Funk Trolls ahead of him and the friends he traveled with to get to Vibe City in the first place.

He really didn’t feel good about bringing any of the Pop Trolls into battle with him, but he also had a moment of realization that maybe by letting some of his companions stay, it will at least take some of the focus off the ones the Rock Trolls really want.

“Okay, you guys can help! But we need to move!” the quadruped relented as he began to dance on some piano keys on the floor next to him.

While Poppy and Viva were in protest of leaving the Funk Trolls behind, the others quickly dragged them into the bus and shut the door as a bubble began to form around Rhonda.

Trickee took a deep breath before he turned to the group staying behind.

“Cooper, please make a bubble for me too. I need to go back to Pop Village,” he suddenly ordered.

Seeing no reason to argue, the Pop Troll obliged as he stepped on the piano keys again, engulfing the orange troll in a bubble.

The rest of his friends gave him looks of confusion over the sudden decision, to which he only shouted back, “It’s okay! I have a plan! And besides, someone needs to protect the village if that plan fails!”, as he floated away.

The pink Pop Troll turned to the remaining trolls that stayed behind.

“Thank you…” he gave them a heartfelt smile.

“Anything for a friend,” Ablaze smiled.

“Now let’s teach those Rockers a LESSON!” Hype shouted as they ran onto a levitating platform, ready to assist the Funk King and Queen.

As the Funk Troll army was ready to attack, the whole city suddenly went dark as the platforms and hoverboards stopped moving.

“You kidding me?!” Darnell groaned in dismay as the other Funk Trolls looked around in confusion.

Meanwhile, at the top of the ship, Riff could be seen giggling to himself as he pulled a giant cord out of an equally sized power socket.

“Hard Rock cut the power!” Essence exclaimed with a frown.

“They’re fighting dirty!” Prince D hovered to his parents’ side.

The Funky Family and left behind Pop Trolls briefly stared at the bubbles floating into an escape tube before Ablaze could suddenly be heard shouting, “PROTECT THE ROYALS!” as he and the other Pop Trolls enveloped Cooper and his family in a shield made of their hair.

That was the last the bubbled trolls saw of them before the tube spat them outside the bottom of the ship, where Trickee spared one last glance at Rhonda before pulling his tracking device out and guiding himself back to Pop Village.

“I really hope that they’re still there at least…” he mumbled to himself as he floated away.

In the other bubble, Rhonda began to suddenly whimper.

“What’s wrong, girl?” JD calmly asked her, trying to hide that he was just as shaken up as the others.

“…Is Daddy gonna be okay?” Tiny slowly peeked out of Branch’s hair with obvious worry.

Clay and Viva walked over to the front windshield and immediately began to growl upon seeing what was outside.

“H-hey, what’s wrong Clay?” Branch nervously asked as he walked over to see why they grew so upset all of a sudden.

Then he saw it.

“Uh, guys, you may want to look at this…” he motioned for the others to come forward.

What they saw was the many airships of the Rock Trolls invading Vibe City, with Barb shouting, “ROCK ON!”, from the outside of the ship in the front.

They were all stuck staring at what they could only assume was a dirty battle won as the bus floated back down to another part of the marsh they left behind earlier, and the bubble popped.

“…So, what do we do now? We failed to protect the strings, and Barb’s crew probably captured Branch’s friends by now!” Clay stammered.

“And I think one of them took off for Pop Village to try and warn them… should we go back too?” Bruce raised a questioning eyebrow at his older brother.

“WHAT?! No! You heard what the Funky Family said about the Perfect Family Harmony! Sure, the Rock Trolls may want to use it for their own selfish purposes, but we can also use it to fight back! We just need to get to practicing.”

He paused for a moment as he glanced over to the door.

“…Though maybe we should do this outside. There’s quite a lot of trolls in here now that I think about it.”

---

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2tJNK9D110&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=11&ab_channel=RCARecords)

Da-da, da-da-da (BroZone)

Da-da-da, da-da-da

Poppy, Viva, Tiny, and Hickory watched from the sidelines as the five members of BroZone began to play the tape of an instrumental to a certain song outside of Rhonda.

The four older brothers slipped into their color-coded vests and shades as Branch slipped on his old trademark sunglasses.

He began to sing as a pair of brothers lined up on either side of him.

There ain’t no stoppin’ us

Stoppin’ us

The five slid on the wet ground into their next positions as Branch did the wave with his arms and continued.

We ain’t pressin’ rewind

He looked over to Bruce.

Rewind

He looked over to Clay.

Rewind

He looked over to Floyd.

Rewind

They all jumped onto their feet and twirled around their youngest brother as he continued singing his lines as he pointed up to the sky.

The sky was the limit

Now the stars

Where we livin’

It’s the vibe

When we’re in it

It’ll blow your mind

Branch did one more spin as the five brothers faced forward and sang together and shuffled their feet.

It’s so perfect

Perfect, perfect

The five shook their heads, letting their hair flutter.

Harmony so cold

Perfect, perfect, perfect

Let it gooo

They could have all sworn that they would have hit it right then and there, but unfortunately JD cut the moment short.

“Stop. Stop. Time-out,” the oldest brother frowned as the other brothers began to grumble to themselves.

“Let’s do it again from the top. Spruce, I want some smolder in those eyes,” he motioned his hands in a wishy-washi manner, not noticing that he defaulted to calling the other troll by his old name.

“Clay, you’re being too stiff. We need some sillier robot,” JD mimicked a robot dance.

If anyone leaned an ear really closely to Clay, they could hear the slightest bit of a growl coming from his throat as the lime-haired troll crossed his arms, giving the older brother a questioning glare.

“Floyd, you need to look more vulnerable, more sensitive!”

The redhead only responded with narrowed eyes.

JD looked over to Branch.

“Bitty B, maybe we should try on the diaper this time,” he tapped his chin in thought.

Branch couldn’t look more peeved if he tried.

“I swear if you make me wear a diaper-“

“Trust me, there’s a reason I don’t wear one of those. It’s a hard fit to pull off,” Tiny interrupted from the sidelines.

“Really great note, John Dory,” Clay deadpanned, “Super helpful. Thanks. Thanks. Now I have a creative note for you!”

That brief smile he wore as he delivered that last sentence quickly changed to one of anger.

“Stop being bossy!” he harshly frowned as he bared his teeth at the other troll, his pair of fangs suddenly looking more threatening.

John was taken aback.

“What?! I’m not being bossy! I’m helping us be better!” he explained his case, clearly feeling attacked.

“No. No, dude,” Clay immediately countered, “You’re forcing us to be perfect, just like you’ve always have, so we can hit the Perfect Family Harmony.”

As Branch walked next to Floyd, he could have sworn the claws on Clay’s fingers suddenly looked sharper as he mockingly wiggled them around to emphasize his point.

Floyd looked to his younger brother and saw him looking increasingly upset, being reminded of the face Bitty B wore over 20 years ago when the brothers’ arguments got really bad.

“Oh no…” he sighed sadly as he looked on at the growing argument.

Viva was taken aback, not seeing this side of Clay before. She didn’t know what to think.

“Yeah. To stop the ROCK TROLLS!” JD stammered.

Bruce took off his sunglasses, revealing a similar frown.

“Is it? Or is this all just so you can tell people what to do again?” he accused.

“W-what???” JD furrowed his brows in increasingly apparent frustration.

Floyd stepped in-between the trio, older brother instincts on overdrive.

“Guys, guys, calm down! You’re scaring Branch and the others!”

The redhead motioned to Branch, who very clearly looked hurt, and the three other trolls standing next to him, staring in shock.

Hickory, however, was beginning to look increasingly uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, this went ignored as the three eldest brothers continued to fight.

“This isn’t gonna work if you keep on being the same old John Dory!” Bruce accusingly pointed his sunglasses at the older brother.

“Yeah. We’ve all changed! I managed to hear from Bruce that he settled down. Branch is, well, slightly taller with zero glasses. Floyd's expressing himself more with his hair grown out and not wearing a shirt. Not only do the Pop Princess and I now have tails and claws because we adapted to the environment we were in over the years, I’m a licensed CPA!”

Clay pointed an accusatory clawed finger at JD.

“Put some respect on my name, FOOL!”

“Well, I’m not allowed to change. I’m the oldest. I had to be the leader!” John Dory pointed at himself in emphasis.

“You love bossing us around, just admit it!” Bruce huffed as he leaned against Rhonda.

Poppy and Viva looked over to Branch and Floyd and saw the pair getting increasingly uncomfortable, almost as if they’d experienced this sort of thing before.

“Why do you think I moved to the middle of nowhere? So I didn’t have to be in charge of anyone! Four little brothers is a LOT of responsibility!” JD held up four fingers.

“W-why do you think I left?” Bruce stammered, “So no one would treat me like you did.”

“You know what, Spruce-“

“IT’S BRUCE!”

“THANK YOU CLAY!”

As Floyd was about to make another attempt at being the peacekeeper, Branch spoke up as he got in-between the trio.

“Guys. We can’t forget about stopping the Rock Trolls and saving everyone,” he pleaded.

John let out a sigh.

“Look, Branch is right. We’re here to save music. Let’s just get this done and we can go our separate ways.”

“Fine,” Clay agreed.

Branch and Floyd stared at the trio in complete disbelief.

“What?”

“What?” JD chuckled as he gave them a shrug, “The mission’s the mission. You didn’t think we’d all live together when this was all over, did you? Singing songs and roasting marshmallows?”

Before either brother could react to what he just said, Viva suddenly let out a roar of pure rage as she pounced for JD.

Clay immediately countered her as the pair tumbled around, loudly growling and hissing at each other as the other troll quickly grew irritated.

Branch’s expression quickly changed to that of sheer hurt as he scoffed, ignoring the fight going on next to him as Poppy and Hickory tried to make attempts at separating the now extremely agitated pair.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is that funny to you? That I might want us to be a family again?” his tone and expression quickly shifted to anger.

He pulled out a familiar-looking sheet of paper and stared at it.

Floyd glanced over at the paper and let out a quiet gasp the moment he realized what it was.

The youngest brother turned his back and began to walk away.

“Don’t be a baby, Branch,” Bruce scoffed.

This caused the other troll to stop and turn around, offended at the hypocrisy of that statement.

“You’re mad at him, but you all do the exact same thing to me. You all still treat me like the baby of the family and not listen to me. But guess what? I stopped being the baby of the family the day you guys walked out on me, ‘cause I had to.”

He briefly stopped talking as Clay and Viva suddenly stopped fighting and looked at him.

“Then grandma got eaten, I turned gray for 20 years, and no one else wanted to take care of me!”

The expressions of the older brothers suddenly turned into that of guilt and shame as Floyd stared in shock.

Branch crumpled up the sheet of paper he was holding and dropped it.

“This time, I’m walking out on you.”

Turning around one last time, he ran into the long grass of the marshes as Floyd desperately tried to call out to him.

Chapter Text

After the attempts to call out to Branch failed, Floyd suddenly turned to his brothers with a look of anger in his eyes.

“All those years of being in the band, I’ve been trying to keep the peace. I’ve been repeatedly telling you guys to stop arguing in front of Branch and to listen to us. Even the night we left, I tried to call out for you guys before even I foolishly left Baby Branch behind.”

The redhead briefly looked down in shame before continuing as he began to raise his voice, which was quite rare for him.

“Throughout this whole entire mission, I think I was the only one actually listening to him. Hell, I even made the attempts to apologize for abandoning him for all those years, but I know that I need to do way more to make it up to him. I even told him about my time spent in the Rock Kingdom for the last five years because I knew he would listen! HAVE ANY OF YOU EVEN ACKNOWLEDGED WHAT WE’VE DONE TO HIM?!” he practically screamed at the trio with sheer anger before turning in the direction Branch took off in.

“…I’m going to find him,” he quietly spoke before he ran off into the grass.

Everyone stared in silence as tears of guilt fell from Clay’s face and Bruce wearing a look of pure devastation and regret.

Tiny, who wanted to think some things over, sat on the steps leading inside the bus.

Hickory lowered his hat to the point that it was hiding his face, which was blushing from secondhand embarrassment.

Poppy walked over to the crumpled piece of paper and unraveled it.

If what Branch and Floyd said didn’t already make her feel incredible shame for not listening to him like a friend should, what she saw on the paper hit her like a sack of guilt bricks.

“This is Branch’s bunker…” she realized as the others glanced at the sheet of paper.

“He built this… for you guys.”

Poppy and Viva could have sworn that they heard the three eldest brothers’ hearts break at the revelation.

“I didn’t know…” JD admitted as he and Bruce shared a look of guilt.

Poppy stared at the paper in silence as she turned her attention to him.

“I guess you never asked.”

She groaned as she stared at the ground.

“I was so desperate to be a good queen that I stopped listening to anyone but myself,” she winced, “including my best friend!”

She suddenly yanked the Pop String out of her hair in frustration.

“And it’s all because of this stupid string.”

Hickory suddenly looked up at the string as his back half began to squirm.

Everyone turned to look at him, suddenly confused.

“Everything okay?” Bruce asked with concern.

The cowboy struggled to control his increasingly disobedient hind legs.

“L-listen, y’all need to take that string and hide it as far away from here as possible!” he suddenly warned as he looked increasingly nervous.

Poppy inched closer.

“Hickory, what’s wrong?”

The hind legs threatened to tear away from him at any moment.

“Now! PLEASE!” he begged.

Viva quickly glanced between Hickory and the Pop String, and in her split-second thinking, yanked the string from Poppy’s hand and stuffed it into her own hair, pushing her younger sister towards the direction that Branch and Floyd took off in.

“RUN AND DON’T LOOK BACK!” she shouted with such authority that Poppy didn’t have it in her to question it as she quickly ran into the grass and used her hair to blend in with her surroundings.

The Pop Queen kept her breathing low and quiet as she peeked through her hair and the grass just as the hind legs broke free from Hickory and revealed a smaller troll, one who was clearly angry with him.

Rhonda immediately growled as she finally got her answer as to why Hickory had an unusual smell; he was actually two trolls.

“NEIN! What are you doing, Hickory?!” the smaller troll demanded.

“Quiet, Dickory!” the other troll tried to reason as he used a hand to catch the small troll, who was already charging at him with anger.

John Dory quietly inched to Tiny and leaned close to his ear.

“Now, listen to me really carefully, Tiny. I need you to go and hide somewhere with Rhonda. I think trouble is coming and I think Poppy, Branch and Floyd are going to need you both. Now go!” he whispered as he handed the small troll a sticky note.

The trolling looked at him before giving a look of determination and ran into the bus, closing the door.

In a matter of moments, Rhonda began to move as she ran into grass in the opposite direction that the other trolls ran off in and dug a hole once they were both sure that they weren’t going to be followed.

“Am I really the only one here without a sibling?” he grumbled to himself as he guided the armadillo bus underground, figuring that Hickory and Dickory were related. And he was right.

“See, we let that armadillo get away!” Dickory exclaimed.

“What’s going on here?” Bruce frowned.

“Yeah, why is there two of you?” Clay demanded.

Hickory looked at them with shame.

“I’m… so sorry,” he apologized in a different accent, one that matched the smaller troll.

“Show them who you really are, Hickory!” Dickory mocked as he pulled off the remainder of Hickory’s clothes to reveal lederhosen.

The taller troll slowly removed his hat as the smaller troll began to yodel.

As he did so, Hickory made a high-pitched yodel.

“Unbelievable… you’re the YODELERS?!” JD stammered.

“Yeah! You’re darn skippy, playa-play!” Dickory happily jumped around.

“And you were gonna give our string to Barb?” Viva asked with slight betrayal in her voice.

“Ding, ding! Give this Pop Princess a strudel for the correct answer!” the smaller Yodel Troll mockingly smiled.

Bruce suddenly gave a sly grin.

“And… you’ve been in back the whole time?” he mockingly pouted as JD let out a snicker.

That quickly humbled Dickory as he deflated.

“Next subject, please,” he crossed his arms in a huff.

Poppy, realizing that they’d been caught, quietly ran away from the scene, desperate to find Branch and Floyd.

Meanwhile, Viva stared disappointingly at the pair of traitors.

“Why would you even do this?” she asked.

“So sorry. It was the only way to save our beautiful yodeling,” Hickory looked at her with sorrow.

“Hickory…” the smaller troll warned.

“I know, Dickory. But didn’t you feel something after traveling with a whole group of brothers and sisters like us? We helped break them apart…”

This caused Dickory to freeze as he slowly began to think things over in his head.

He then gave the taller brother a sudden look of determination.

“I get it Hickory, I do. But you know what will happen if we don’t return with the string.”

The small troll suddenly ran up to Viva and pulled it out of her hair.

“HEY!” she cried out as the Pop Trolls immediately reached out to grab it while Hickory could only watch with worry.

Throughout the loud game of tug-of-war, the Pop Trolls didn’t notice the group of Rock Trolls approaching them until they were all constrained in their arms.

Clay and Viva, of course, had a violent reaction to being captured for the second time as they both hissed at their captors and even went so far as to try and repeatedly bite them.

“I thought I heard a yodel.”

The four turned to the source of the sound, only to be met with the sight of the Rock Queen.

“Queen Barb,” Viva hissed.

Barb walked over and grabbed the pink string from Dickory’s hand and gave it a tug, causing it to play its melody.

“The final notes of Pop. It will never invade anyone’s brain again.”

John Dory suddenly stomped his feet in protest.

“You’re not gonna get away with this, Rock Queen!” he yelled in protest.

The Rock Troll turned around and smirked.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here? Alongside the escaped Pop Princess, we also have the escaped Clay. And we managed to find the leader and heartthrob as well!”

The troll analyzed her surroundings.

“Looks like we’re missing the Pop Queen, the emo sensitive one, and the baby. But you guys will have to do.”

She then gave a knowing glance at the captives.

“I would have really loved to meet Queen Poppy and reunite with Floyd, though. She only recently became queen, and I thought that we had that much in common to become friends after I united the kingdoms under Rock. And Floyd? Well, I let him run away once, but Dad and I are only doing this for his own good and of the other tribes.”

A brief moment of sadness flashed in Barb’s eyes at the mention of the redhead’s name, but she quickly recovered.

Viva, however, began to repeatedly make attempts at kicking her, all of which ended in failure.

Everyone’s older sibling instincts went into overdrive.

“Don’t touch them,” Bruce glared darkly at the Rock Queen, with Clay borderline roaring at her and JD wrestling even more aggressively in his restraints.

Barb only laughed.

“Ooo, I love the feistiness you lot have! But you wanna know who else was feisty?”

She gave an evil grin.

“Pop Village.”

Everyone froze as their expressions changed to that of distress.

“Nononononononono,” Viva mumbled in a panic.

The four of them remembered that Trickee was specifically traveling to Pop Village.

They all silently hoped that whatever plan he had in mind, that it was a good one.

---

Branch sat by the water by himself as he sulked.

Looking at his reflection in the water, he saw a younger and happier Bitty B, happy to sing with his brothers at his first (and only) live concert.

“I figured you needed some cheering up.”

The dark blue troll quickly spun around to see Floyd stepping out of the grass.

He slowly stood up.

“Yeah… thanks for checking up on me.”

The redhead shrugged.

“That’s what brothers are for, right?” he offered a small smile.

However, Floyd could tell that there were some emotions that Branch was still repressing, even alone with him.

Branch’s eyes suddenly shot open with realization.

“Wait, I left Poppy and Tiny back there, I need to go back and-“

“No, you can’t!”

Poppy ran out of the grass.

“Look, you were both right. Hickory turned out to be a pair of bounty hunters; they’re the Yodelers! And now they caught Viva and the others and she sent me to you guys while taking the string in my place and AHH-“

She took a deep breath before looking at Branch with sincerity.

“Look, I wanted to say that I’m really sorry for not listening to you.”

Floyd shot glances between the pair, wondering how Branch would react.

Branch simply gave a labored grin.

“I-it’s fine, Poppy. Really.”

The pink troll instantly frowned, not believing the lie.

She could easily tell that Branch was holding back some emotions that he didn’t want her to see, but luckily, she knew of a song that could help draw some of those feelings of his out before they tore at him any more from the inside.

She needed to cheer him up after all he went through.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGwKciu7neg&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=12&ab_channel=1mikie19)

Some days I feel excited

Jump up and down I can’t try to hide it

She sang as she jumped around with excitement.

Some days I wake up mad (so mad)

Stomp my foot and pretty soon I find that I’m feeling glad

She stopped her feet in frustration before raising her arms with a smile as she walked behind Branch, who just raised a confused eyebrow at her.

So whether you’re grumpy, proud, or brave

She peeked her head out from his left.

Feelings!

She hid behind him.

Sleepy or amazed

She peeked her head out from his right.

Feelings!

She slowly slid in front of him.

Don’t be afraid to let it show right on your face!

The Pop Queen did a few spins as she began to parade in front of the pair. Floyd was beginning to pick up on what she was trying to do while Branch stared, but intently listened.

So if you’re feeling sad, you can make a frown

Happy again, turn it upside down

That’s feelings (woo)

Come on, show me how you feel

Poppy drew an image of his bunker on the dirt with her hair.

You feelin’ shy, you can hide away

Silly, make a face, come out and play

That’s feelings (woo)

All the feelings, all the feelings

That I feel

She motioned to Floyd, who looked at her for a moment before he began to sing.

So when I feel hungry

I lick my lips and rub my tummy and

All of a sudden

They both jumped as they excitedly stretched out their arms in front of Branch, the pair happily shouting, “SURPRISE!”

This caused the dark blue troll to flinch back as they quickly backed down and Floyd continued the song, with Poppy every now and then harmonizing.

Jaw drops, eyes open wide

Jealous, full of joy

(Feelings!)

Grateful or annoyed

(Feelings!)

He stretched out a hand to Branch, who through teary eyes, took it.

Don’t be afraid to let the whole wide world know!

Poppy took over the singing again as the trio danced together.

So if you’re feeling sad, you can make a frown

Happy again, turn it upside down

That’s feelings (woo)

Come on, show me how you feel

You feelin’ shy, you can hide away

Silly, make a face, come out and play

That’s feelings (woo)

All the feelings, all the feelings

That I feel

Ooo

Poppy tightly held Branch’s hands as the pair stared into each other’s eyes, with the girl offering a warm smile.

All the feelings, all the feelings

That I feel

The song seemed to have worked, because in a matter of seconds the dark blue troll went from choking back sobs to completely breaking down as the other two wrapped him in a tight hug.

Chapter Text

Trickee gently guided the bubble to the leafy exterior of Pop Village.

Or, at least he hoped it was Pop Village; he was using Mr. Dinkles as the homing target for his device.

The bubble landed inside some bushes and popped.

The orange troll ran in the direction that the tracking device was taking him until he ran out of the shrubbery.

“I’m home! Guys, listen, I really need your help-“

He looked up from the beeping device and his jaw dropped in complete horror at the sight in front of him, with said device falling from his hand.

Pop Village was in complete ruins, with some mushrooms and pods still smoldering in embers from the destruction, and with no trolls in sight.

Trickee’s original plan was to help lead a resistance of Pop Trolls against the Rock Trolls in Volcano Rock City with help of the Snack Pack that stayed behind; they were also filled in on where Branch’s group was going before they all left. If all else failed, he was going to use Branch’s bunker to help protect the village from the Rock Tribe (and maybe utilize Gary).

As he slipped his goggles off and began to panic about what to do, voices suddenly rang out.

“Wait, is that-“ Biggie squinted from his hiding spot in disbelief.

“It is!” DJ Suki exclaimed; she and her Wooferbug were hidden behind some shrubbery and some cleverly disguised hair, courtesy of the DJ.

They and the rest of the Snack Pack ran out of their hiding spots.

“Those Rock Trolls came and took everyone!” Satin stammered.

“Yeah! And once they found out that the Pop String wasn’t here, they began to destroy everything while the Rock Queen just shouted, ‘I KNEW IT!’” Chenille added.

Smidge slowly walked up to the goggle-wearing troll.

“W-where’s the others…?” she nervously asked.

The rest of the Snack Pack quickly realized that there were a few trolls missing that shouldn’t be.

Trickee inhaled sharply before looking at the very small troll with a sad look in his eyes.

“I just got back from the Funk Trolls. Cooper, Guy, and my own friends -- my brothers, stayed with them to help fend off the Rock Trolls invading their home. I also did manage to bump into Branch’s group, and they already found the other members of BroZone and Princess Viva. We got separated and I gave them the hope of a plan that went up in flames as soon as I saw this place and-“

As he began to spiral, Biggie and Mr. Dinkles shared a look to make sure they heard the same thing.

“Wait, did you say Princess Viva? Those Putt-Putt Trolls were right!” he happily exclaimed.

The orange troll looked up at the large blue troll in confusion.

“…Putt-Putt Trolls?” he raised an eyebrow.

The rest of the Snack Pack suddenly perked up.

“Yeah! As we were all running to hide, we snuck behind the airships and found a group of trolls that claimed to be Pop Trolls that were separated from the rest of us when we escaped the Troll Tree,” DJ Suki explained as she played with her DJ booth on top of the Wooferbug.

“That’s when they told us about Princess Viva being alive and that both her and Clay escaped! Too bad they were all taken to Volcano Rock City; I could tell that they still have some fight in them!” Smidge added with a hint of praise.

Upon hearing that, an idea suddenly popped into Trickee’s mind. He may not have to deviate too much from his original plan, after all. But he was going to need some help.

“Okay, everyone. I may just have an idea yet, and I need all your help to do it. We are going to sneak into that city, find the Putt-Putt Trolls, and start a riot from within. Maybe then we can help save everyone!” he declared with determination.

“But won’t security be pretty tight? How will we get past that?” Biggie asked.

“We might not have to worry about that too much if we look the part.”

He turned to the twin trolls.

“Satin, Chenille, you’re both known as some of the best fashion designers in Pop Village. Do you think you both can make us rock outfits to blend in?”

The pair looked at each other for a moment before giving him a pair of confident grins.

“It’s a fashion emergency!” they both said in unison as they dragged everyone back to their pod.

---

Rolling out various patterned and colored fabrics and leather, the twins got to work sewing up the disguises they would use to sneak into Volcano Rock City.

As everyone got measured and the outfits got sewn together, Trickee was beginning to wish that he’d at least taken a peek at a single Rock Troll beforehand, because he wasn’t 100% sure if these would be the kind of outfits that true rockers would wear. He didn’t even completely trust his own sense of fashion for this since it definitely leaned more toward ‘pop boyband’ territory.

When the outfits were finally completed, he hoped that they were good enough as everyone got dressed and ready to go.

As they all ran outside the pod, a sudden realization dawned on them.

“Uhh… how are we getting there?” Biggie asked as he fixed Mr. Dinkles’ wig.

Trickee put on his black sunglasses as he looked around before he remembered something that he’d seen while taking a stroll around the village one day.

“Did you guys know that we have a hot-air balloon? We can use that to get close while we walk the rest of the way to not get detected.”

He proceeded to guide the rest of the trolls over to a clearing where a sentient pink hot-air balloon was waiting.

“OH MY GOODNESS! I thought those other trolls took everyone!” the balloon exclaimed in relief upon seeing them.

“Sorry to spring this on you so suddenly, but we need you to take us as close to Volcano Rock City as possible,” the orange troll asked the balloon.

“Ooo, is that a rescue mission I smell? Count me in; hop on! One of you has to read up on my manual, though.”

---

The trio of Pop Trolls could have sworn that they were all crying messes by the time Branch broke off the group hug.

He took a deep breath as he dried his eyes.

“Thank you, Poppy, Floyd. I really needed that,” he told them with a gentle smile.

The other two smiled back in response.

“Oh, is that Bitty B?”

The trio jolted at the whisper that suddenly echoed in their ears as they began to hear more feminine whispers surround them.

“No way, the sensitive one’s here too?”

“And the Queen of that regular Pop.”

The trio placed their backs against each other as they could have sworn that a couple trolls zoomed past them with speeds that rival even Viva.

“Too slow!”

“I can see you.”

“Let’s get them.”

Branch carefully analyzed his surroundings while Poppy and Floyd began to look nervous.

“One, two, three… YEAH!!!”

Before any of them could react, they felt something wrapped around their ankles as it dragged them into the tall grass behind them. They found their bodies each constrained in black and pink checkered ribbon.

A group of five metallic troll women with bright and popping color-coded one-piece suits and matching hair appeared in front of them. Floyd noted how the colors were way more vibrant than BroZone’s own coloring, even back in the day.

“Hey, crybabies. Got the Pop String?” the bright blue troll, presumably the leader by the name of Wani, asked them.

Branch frowned.

“What? No,” he deadpanned before he raised his eyebrows.

“Who are you guys?”

Poppy and Floyd nodded in agreement, neither knowing either.

The group of five struck a quick pose.

“We are the K-Pop Gang,” the shiny red troll by the name of Baby Bun introduced.

The group struck another pose.

“And you’re going to take us to the Pop String, Princess Viva and the rest of BroZone,” Wani stated.

“What?” Floyd could barely contain a laugh as the tied-up trio scoffed.

Who in their right mind would think that any of these three would sell out their siblings-

Suddenly, bright stage lights shone behind them as a different trio of trolls made their entrance from a different part of the grass.

Aside from the various stripes and marks surrounding their bodies, these three trolls were pretty much naked. The trio also had different colored dreads tied in a similar way to Poppy’s hair.

“Not so fast, Tracy. We’re taking them,” Wani smugly stated before she and two of the other K-Pop Trolls yanked on the ends of their ribbons and stood their ground.

“It’s pronounced ‘Tresillo’,” the blue troll with yellow hair, presumably the trio’s leader, corrected with annoyance.

“If you want them,“ the trio made a pose, “you’re going to have to dance for them.”

“I can’t live in a world without Reggaeton,” Tresillo made his case as the Reggaeton Trolls frowned with conviction.

“And we can’t live in a world without K-Pop,” Wani immediately argued as the K-Pop Gang crossed their arms.

“Ooo, the girls are fighting,” Poppy absentmindedly mumbled under her breath as the three stared at the two opposing leaders getting in each other’s face.

“They look like they’re gonna have a dance off,” Floyd whispered.

“Oh, Rhonda, save us all,” Branch rolled his eyes.

A nearby patch of sentient blue flowers watched and “ooh’d”.

To the surprise of the tied-up trio, the K-Pop Gang suddenly unwound their confines as the group of five broke into dance and song.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJQ6ev5LQ6A&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=13&ab_channel=yankat)

Keojineun heart b-b-beat ppallajineunde

Neodapji anke heart b-b-b-beat georyeo nareul bol ttae

The five metallic trolls danced in sync with moves akin to ones that could swoon an audience.

The three trolls, once recovered from being spun like a top moments ago, tried to inch away when Wani gave them a glare, as if urging them to participate.

Branch and Floyd looked at each other and shrugged before the trio began to mimic the K-Pop choreography, with Poppy internally squealing as it reminded her a little of BroZone’s own choreography.

Majimak nameun sungankkaji jeomjeom dagaoji crazy

Ajjilhage gyeonun Russian Roulette

B-b-beat

The three Pop Trolls were surprised by how easily they were dancing to the music as they smiled. When their number came to a close, the eight trolls did one last spin before smugly crossing their arms.

Just when the three thought it was over, Tresillo eyed them down before the Reggaeton trio each grabbed a Pop Troll and spun them onto their half of the ‘stage’ as the bounty hunters began to sing and thrust their bodies around.

Branch quickly fell into the rhythm with ease, and Floyd had no clue as to why he was able to also follow along easily, despite the dancing being the borderline opposite of what is expected for the sensitive one, even with his experience with rock music. Poppy was quickly able to relate the intensity back to pop dancing and picked up the choreography before she began to fumble.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnJ6LuUFpMo&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=14&ab_channel=jbalvinVEVO)

Esquina a esquina, de ahí no' vamo'

El mundo es grande, pero lo tengo en mi' manos

Los DJ's no mienten, le gusta a mi gente

Y eso se fue mundial (Freeze)

The Reggaeton Trolls circled the trio as they commandingly pointed at them, the trio of Pop Trolls lightly shimmying their hips until the music and intense dancing started up again.

The patch of blue flowers swooned and squealed before passing out with excitement.

The performing trolls lined up behind one another, with the Pop Trolls in the back.

Un, dos, tres, ¡leggo!

One by one, the trio of Reggaeton Trolls slid to the side to reveal the trio of Pop Trolls tied up again.

The Pop trio was so caught up in the thrill of the performance that it took them a few seconds before they realized that they were tied up again, after which they looked at their ribbons in bafflement.

“Wow,” the green K-Pop Troll by the name of Ari stared in amazement.

“Respect,” Wani and Baby Bun admitted as the group of metallic trolls struck a pose.

“Respect,” Tresillo shot back at them in mutual agreement.

Branch and Floyd squirmed in their restraints.

“Ah, cupcakes,” Poppy said with a grumble as she frowned and kicked the dirt.

The Reggaeton leader walked up to the tied-up trio.

“Why don’t we split them?” he suggested, pointing a thumb at them.

“Wait, literally?!” Poppy’s eyes shot open with horror.

“N-no, Poppy!” Branch assured her.

“They just want to share us as their ‘bounty’,” Floyd calmly added, with a part of him hoping that the bounty hunters weren’t literally planning on cutting them in half.

“The emo one’s right, and I think that’s a great idea!” the yellow K-Pop Troll by the name of Gomdori agreed with the opposing group’s leader as the K-Pop Gang giggled to themselves.

“Wait, wait, wait a minute!” Poppy exclaimed as she, Floyd and Branch hopped to the side and faced the two opposing groups.

“Why should the Rock Trolls get to decide what music gets to be saved?” Branch pointed out.

“Exactly! All music’s precious!” Poppy added with enthusiasm.

“I know it sounds laughable coming from three Pop Trolls, but I urge you to please think about this,” Floyd pleaded.

The two groups looked at each other before giving their attention to the three Pop Trolls.

“All right, okay. I’m listening, Pop Trolls,” Tresillo relented.

The trio breathed a sigh of relief before Floyd began to explain the plan.

---

“…and we’re gonna shatter the diamond guitar using the Perfect Family Harmony. Did everyone get that?” the redhead Pop Troll looked around.

“Uh, how are we going to get there in time?” the purple K-Pop Troll by the name of Kim-Petit asked.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble as Rhonda shot out from the dirt and landed next to them.

While the two bounty hunter groups stared in shock at the sight of the armadillo bus, the three (now untied) Pop Trolls couldn’t be more relieved.

Tiny Diamond rushed out of the bus.

“Does anyone need a lift to Volcano Rock City? I was given a sticky note that says that there’s a shiny button with orange spirals and to only push it if you really need to hustle!” he grinned.

Chapter Text

John Dory looked out of their cell as the last of the airships flew into the Rock Kingdom.

“ROCK AND ROLL!” Thrash could be heard screaming from the top of his lungs as he, Barb and Riff were sitting on top of the airship they were on. This time, the hostages were placed in a cage with a door that didn’t have bars that extended from the top to the bottom like the one the Putt-Putt Trolls were stuck inside of the first time.

Bruce was mumbling to himself, wondering if his family back on Vacay Island is doing okay.

“Are they going to broadcast this…?” he mumbled to himself.

Clay was brooding as he was pacing back and forth between the ends of the cell.

Viva pulled out a green sticky hand that she used to repeatedly smack against the opposite end of the cell wall she was leaning on.

“Brothers, I’ve been thinking about what Branch and Floyd said-“ JD began before getting interrupted by Bruce.

“Thinking? That’s rare,” he mocked before he inhaled sharply and added, “Thinking about how terrible we are as brothers?”

“Yeah, that,” JD sighed as Clay ran a hand through his face.

“We were so busy doting about how much of a baby he was that we didn’t notice that he grew up without us. Heck, he even mentioned that he went gray for 20 years!” the lime-haired troll stammered before looking at JD with shame.

“…Not to mention, we really did put Floyd through the wringer with our arguments, didn’t we…?” he shamefully added.

“Was any of the arguments you guys had in the past really that bad to leave your baby brother behind? To pressure your other brother into being the mediator out of a feeling of obligation to the point where he probably left partially because of that?”

The three turned to Viva as she stared at the ground in disappointment.

“Heck, Poppy didn’t even know I existed, and I didn’t even know she was alive before this mission. Was your stupid boyband really worth throwing away your chance of growing up and forming a loving relationship with Branch and Floyd?” the Pop Princess looked up at Clay, which made the other troll wince.

When she was met with a heavy silence, she continued.

“Why should you all feel sorry for yourselves when there’s still time to try and make amends?”

The other three looked at her in shock.

“Viva, dear, in case you forgot, Branch and Floyd stormed off and Queen Poppy also left after them. There’s also the matter of us being held captive and probably gonna be forced to use the Perfect Family Harmony to achieve Queen Barb’s goals,” Clay pointed out.

“But we’re not at that point yet. Besides, she still needs Branch and Floyd to show up, and if she wants the royals too, she needs my sister as well,” the pink troll countered.

---

Trickee’s team parked the balloon at a safe enough distance and snuck inside the volcano-like arena.

They eventually found themselves backstage.

Once they found a catwalk, they began to quietly tiptoe across it in the shadows.

Unfortunately, DJ Suki began to unknowingly hum a tune to a song she just thought up for later.

Two Rock Trolls took notice of the humming and turned their attention to the catwalk.

“Hey, stop right there,” the Rock Troll wearing a bandana shouted at them, with another troll scowling.

The group immediately froze.

“Suki, why did you have to hum?” Trickee muttered under his breath.

“Only Rock Trolls are allowed back here,” the bandana-wearing Rock Troll told them.

Trickee turned his head to look at them.

“Well, it’s funny you should mention that. Because we are legit Hard Rockers.”

The group jumped down from the shadows to reveal themselves.

Now that the orange troll has seen what a Rock Troll looks like, Trickee looks at the outfits they themselves are wearing and realized that DJ Suki was wearing a dress and legwarmers that look like a rainbow threw up on them while he looked like a biker. He wasn’t sure that the twins dressing like cheerleaders helped much.

They could feel the stares from the pair of Rock Trolls boring into their minds.

Luckily, Mr. Dinkles came in for the save as he suddenly counted in a deep voice, “ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR”

They immediately burst into singing what they thought was an intimidating rock song while trying to also look the ‘hard rocker’ part with their movements and expressions.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2DsGleQsaU&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=15&ab_channel=RCARecords)

RAINBOWS, UNICORNS, EVERYTHING NICE (YEAH)

SUGAR PLUMS, FAIRY DUST

EVERYTHING NICE

YEAHHHHH

As they finished up, Mr. Dinkles had his own line to add.

BRUSH YOUR TEETH!

The pair of Rock Trolls stared at them.

“Cool,” the bandana-wearing Rock Troll shrugged as the one behind him grinned while forming horns with one of her hands.

Trickee was left speechless. He did not think that would actually work.

The group was taken aback as they were suddenly thrusted with various rock instruments. They even gave a guitar to Mr. Dinkles, which fell off him almost instantly on account of the fact that the worm lacks arms.

“Hurry up. The show’s about to start, man. Queen Barb’s about to go on stage,” the Rock Troll ordered.

When the pair rushed off to take care of other matters, the group suddenly realized that they had to perform on stage while trying to find the Putt-Putt Trolls.

“We’re screwed,” Smidge uttered, shellshocked.

---

In another area of the arena, some Rock Trolls were dragging their four prisoners off into separate holding cells, with Barb following close behind.

“It’s really funny how you two thought that you could escape from me like that,” the Rock Queen grinned as she eyed Clay and Viva.

The pair only growled while staring daggers at her.

“You spent time with Floyd, right? Why are you doing this if you let him run away once?” JD asked as he held the door bars.

“Weren’t you paying attention, old man?” the Rock Troll threw an arm up in frustration.

“My Dad and I wanted to help unite our kingdoms under rock, the best music ever, mind you, ever since he told us about the Perfect Family Harmony and BroZone; that way, there’s no more fighting, especially between him and his family. I just wanted to give that emo a head start to escape, since, ya know, it’s only fair, especially since he protested the idea.”

Barb looked out of an opening to see a growing audience of Rock Trolls chanting her name.

“Besides, I still have to prove to my people that I can be a good queen since I’m still new to this.”

She turned to look back at them, this time with a softer look.

“Even though this was more of my Dad’s idea, there’s all this pressure to live up to now that I’ve taken the throne. On top of that, you’re just surrounded by people who just tell you what you want to hear, or you end up driving away those who criticize.”

Viva’s eyes widened as she remembered the fight that broke out earlier.

“Hey, from Pop Princess to Rock Queen, I think we all have some understanding of what you’re going through. My sister recently revealed having this same problem, so you’re not alone in the royal struggle!” the pink troll pointed out.

“Yeah… and like, I don’t know how specific Floyd was about us fighting, but as one of his brothers and a husband and father to 13 children, I’ve had my fair share of only hearing what myself and others want to hear, as do the two idiots over there,” Bruce admitted with a look of empathy as he gestured to Clay and JD, who both looked mildly offended.

That caused Barb to do a double-take.

“Wait, did you just say that you have 13 kids?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“See, I told you that was a lot of kids when we left Vacay Island!” John immediately piped up.

The Rock Queen simply squinted at the pair before she turned her back on them.

“Anyway…”

She walked over to the case holding the guitar and five other strings.

“Music has done nothing but divide us. BroZone’s a perfect example of that! Now that I have the final string, I can make us all One Nation of Trolls Under Rock,” she grinned with hope as she attached the Pop String to the guitar.

The four Pop Trolls watched with horror as the string turned from pink to red and played its pop melody for the last time.

Barb grabbed the guitar out of the case and admired it.

“This guitar right here was made with natural black diamond by our very own engineers. With BroZone’s help, the power of the Perfect Family Harmony will be channeled into the guitar to amplify the power of the strings when I play the Ultimate Power Chord, even extending the range beyond the kingdom. I guided Dad to making the call on the material,” she explained while giving the three brothers a particular look.

This caused the eyes of the four imprisoned trolls to widen in surprise.

A diamond guitar?

“What makes you think we’ll sing it for you?” John Dory asked with a frown.

The other troll simply looked at her guitar and grinned at him as the flooring she was standing on began to lower.

“You’ll see!”

It took a second for the other trolls to realize that their cages were also lowering with her.

The platform they were on lowered onto a large stage that was overlooked by a giant audience of Rock Trolls. However, the imprisoned trolls winced when they saw that the other tribes were also in attendance, including the other captured royals.

Meanwhile, Trickee’s group was standing on stage in front of the drum set that Riff was somehow capable of playing on despite the fact that said drum set towered over all of them. The group winced when they saw a Rock Troll dive into lava from a giant hand statue like it was a swimming pool.

The disguised group was at work trying to not only look like they’re performing, but also trying to find the Putt-Putt Trolls in the crowd. Luckily, they seemed to be next to King Peppy and…

“Cooper and everyone else got captured…” Trickee’s heart sank at the sight of the three Kismet members and Guy Diamond standing next to the twin Funk Princes.

Nonetheless, he shook those feelings from his heart and motioned for the others to follow his lead to look as casual as possible as they slowly inched towards their goal while Barb began to sing and paid them no mind.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdKOiGw53AE&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=16&ab_channel=RCARecords)

So this ain’t the end

I saw you again

Today

As she sang, Thrash manned a small keyboard where at the press of a key made a plume of lava erupt from the flowing lava surrounding the audience.

I had to turn my heart away

Smile like the sun

Kisses for everyone

And tails

It never fails

The disguised group breathed a sigh of relief and casually hopped off the stage in a way that made it seem like it was part of their stage exit.

“What are you doing here?! This is your plan?!” Hype exclaimed in slight frustration upon seeing his brother.

“Listen, I don’t know how long it will take before they catch onto us. We need to start a riot and try to interrupt the performance,” the other troll tried to explain before turning to the Putt-Putt Trolls.

“Sorry for springing this onto you guys so suddenly, but we need your help in crashing the performance.”

The feral Pop Trolls looked at him with slight fear.

“Won’t the Rock Trolls overpower us again?” one of them asked.

“Not if you all show them your true Pop Spirit. And I think your leaders would also agree.”

He motioned to Clay and Viva’s cages, and the leaders made brief eye contact with their people.

That made the feral group remember what’s on the line and began to get pumped up.

“Great to see the motivation! On my cue, you guys storm the stage. We need to get back before it gets too suspicious.”

Trickee’s traveling buddies back in the audience looked on with worry as the group casually made their way back to their former spots before anyone got suspicious.

Back on the stage, Viva and Clay looked at each other, wondering what their people were gonna do.

You’re lyin’ so low in the weeds

I bet you’re gonna ambush me

You’d have me down, down

Down, down, down on my knees

Now wouldn’t you?

The music briefly stopped as Barb turned and raised an expecting eyebrow at the disguised group, as if they were expected to do something at this part.

They all began to internally panic until Biggie suddenly screamed as he raised his guitar.

BARRACUDAAAAAAA!!!

He swung his arm down and smashed his guitar as the other disguised and caged Pop Trolls on stage stared at the wreckage in shock.

Chapter Text

While the Pop Trolls stared in disbelief at the smashed guitar, the Rock Troll audience erupted into cheers as Barb laughed with joy.

“BAM!” the Rock Queen laughed as she raised her arms in the air, hands forming horns.

DJ Suki was playing around with a keyboard she was given.

“Hey, this ‘rock star’ stuff is pretty easy!” she grinned as she pressed a key repeatedly.

“Just fake it ‘til we make it, everyone,” Trickee whispered to the rest of the group as they plastered smiles on their faces.

“Uh, this is a little hot,” the Rock Troll that dove into lava earlier began sinking into said lava.

Barb giggled to herself as she tossed her microphone towards another part of the stage and grabbed the diamond guitar while the Rock Trolls erupted into cheers.

“Give it up for your former leaders!” she motioned as the spotlights began to shine on the other tribe royals, who were standing on their own pedestals by the stage.

“Funk. Country. Techno. Classical.”

A spotlight shone on Viva’s cage.

“Putt-Putt… and by extension, the worst of all… Pop.”

Spotlights shone on the brothers’ cages as they and the other royals looked around in dismay, with the rest of their tribes beginning to panic.

King Peppy was taken aback by the sight of his long-lost daughter.

“Viva…” he looked on sadly.

Barb threw a guitar pick in the air and caught it, raising it up proudly for the whole audience to see.

“Now, my former subjects, who wants to see what the Ultimate Power Chord can do?” Thrash moved next to his daughter with an excited smile on his face.

As the Rock Trolls in attendance roared with excitement, Trickee glanced over to the Putt-Putt Trolls, who were nervously awaiting his command.

“Not yet,” he mouthed.

Barb took aim at Viva’s cage and began to strum the chord as the Pop Princess stared petrified.

DO THE HUSTLE

Everyone in the arena suddenly looked around in confusion as the armadillo bus suddenly jumped onto the side of the stage from a star-shaped portal.

Poppy, Floyd, and Branch stumbled out of Rhonda, with Tiny Diamond trying not stumble out of Branch’s hair. The Reggaeton and K-Pop Trolls wobbled out after, some trying not to hurl.

“Rhonda! Everyone!” John Dory chirped at the sight.

In the meanwhile, Clay took advantage of the distraction to begin to pick everyone’s cell locks.

“Floyd? You came after all!” Barb couldn’t help but grin at the sight of the other troll, forgetting for a moment that she’s supposed to look intimidating before she quickly shook her head.

“I-I mean, well, you three came to crash the concert for our audience and those watching at home, how lovely!”

She briefly motioned to some of the cameras higher up that were watching the stage. Bruce’s heart sank as he realized that there was a chance that his family was watching this unfold.

Barb turned her attention back to the crashers.

“But you did come at the right time, so-“

Suddenly, Trickee shouted from the top of his lungs, “NOW!”

In a matter of seconds, many of the Putt-Putt Trolls surrounded the group around the armadillo bus to protect them, with many baring their teeth in defiance. Trickee’s group ran up to the front of them.

“Wait, you’re Pop Trolls too?!” the Rock Queen exclaimed in surprise.

“Trust me, I don’t know how we got this far either. But us and the Putt-Putt Trolls are going to take you guys head-on!” the orange troll exclaimed as he took off his sunglasses.

Guy and Tiny made eye contact with each other.

“Daddy’s okay!” Tiny quietly chirped.

If it wasn’t for the situation he was in right now, Guy would have fallen to his knees in relief from his place in the audience. Right now, though, his own group is exposed so he needs to be on high alert.

“Head-on, you say? Yeah, I can roll with that,” Barb evilly grinned before she began to strum up the Ultimate Power Chord and aimed for the large Pop Troll Group.

The large group stood their ground as some began to look nervous.

Clay only managed to pick Viva’s lock when they both saw what was about to happen.

Without thinking, they both ran in between Barb and their people just as she fired red and yellow lighting from the guitar, taking the hit instead.

The Putt-Putt Trolls erupted into roars of fury as the other Pop, K-Pop and Reggaeton Trolls stared at the smoldering boulders that encased the pair with pure horror.

“Viva…?” Poppy covered her mouth as she tried to hold back a sob.

“Clay…” JD whispered as the other brothers looked on in sadness.

Guy had to catch Peppy before he fainted, and the twin princes stared at the boulders with sadness. Hype and Boom had to hold Ablaze back from marching onto the stage to fistfight the Rock Queen himself.

Barb and Thrash stared at the boulders, both waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, the rocks began to crack as Clay and Viva erupted from the boulders.

But they both looked different; really different.

Clay’s lime green hair was now more spiked-up while displaying a more muted color. He wore a spiked leather choker with some chains attached to it and the sweatbands on his wrists were replaced with spiked leather bracelets; even the end of his tail was wearing a variant of the sort. In his romper’s place were torn black leather shorts with some spikes protruding from the band. His arms and bottom of his eyes had black slash-like tattoos, while his claws all carried a similar black color.

Viva’s blonde hair was more muted as it was also styled up to look more feral, with most of it being worn down. Each of her ears had three silver studded piercings while her cheeks each had a pair of similar tattooed slash marks as Clay. She wore a sleeveless studded leather crop top and leather shorts, with netting covering her legs. She also now sported black claws.

The pair opened their eyes to reveal that they were glowing red.

Barb and Thrash began to grin as they waited to see what the pair would do.

Clay raised his head high and let out a loud roar. Viva pulled out her sticky hand that she was playing with earlier, only for it to now be a red sticky whip. With a tug, she looked at the Putt-Putt Trolls menacingly as she growled.

As the group of Putt-Putt Trolls shrank back, the Rock Trolls erupted into cheers.

“The guitar works, Barbara! Let’s take it for one more test run,” Thrash happily told his daughter, who was also grinning in supposed excitement.

“You’re turning everyone into Rock Zombies?!” Floyd exclaimed with a hint of anger and disbelief as he, Branch, Tiny and Poppy pushed their way through the crowd of Putt-Putt Trolls.

 “Yep! I can’t wait to hang out with you again and get to know your brothers, Floyd!” Barb happily grinned at the redhead as Thrash attached a jumper cable to the back of a belt she was wearing.

Riff looked at Floyd with sadness for a second before he began to drum up a beat as he motioned for Barb to begin. A small airship that was attached to the other end of the jumper cable began to fly high in the air as it took Barb with it.

The Rock Queen began to play up the Ultimate Power Chord as she hit the other royals one by one, and the Rock Trolls cheered her on.

JD and Bruce could have sworn that they heard cries of dismay coming from the other tribes as the pair was attempting to pick their locks. They weren’t as good as Clay, but they hope it’ll be enough to escape.

Cooper and Prince D’s hearts sank when they saw the same red glow coming from their parents’ eyes.

Delta erupted from the boulder and made horns with her hands while Clampers popped out of her hair and mimicked her aunt’s actions while shouting, “ROCK AND ROLL!”

Barb landed on the stage just as JD and Bruce escaped their cages.

---

Back on Vacay Island, Bruce’s family and some of the other Vacaytioners in the restaurant watched on the giant flatscreen with bated breath as they saw the Rock Queen take aim at the pair.

“You didn’t think I missed you two escaping now, did ya?”

Brandy had to resist the strong urge to tackle the TV screen as some of the hybrid troll children let out a scream when they saw their father and one of their uncles get hit by the red lightning. The other Vacaytioners stared in silence as the two boulders broke apart to reveal a changed Bruce and JD.

Bruce now sported torn leather pants and a set of black heart tattoo designs on his chest; one on fire and one broken in half. His set of bangs now drooped as the rest of his now wild purple hair was tied up in a ponytail, with the tip of it now dyed black instead of the lighter purple gradient it had before.

John Dory’s goggles were now black with very dark lenses with a spike protruding from either end of the goggles. His hair was now more messy as some of the front portion of it was dyed a darker shade of green. His brown jacket vest was now swapped with a black leather one, with the animal print now lining the bottom of the vest instead of the top, and with a skull-shaped button now holding the top part of the vest together. His brown glove was now made with black leather as a pair of spiked lined his knuckles, and his shorts were now torn and black, notably not made with leather.

The pair opened their eyes to reveal the same red glow, and in JD’s case, a glowing pair of red dots since the goggles were covering his eyes.

Bruce’s family couldn’t take their eyes off the screen.

“Mommy… is Daddy evil now?” one of the younger children asked.

Brandy’s expression was blank.

“I… don’t know,” she managed to say.

---

Back on the stage, Rhonda let out a roar of anger at seeing her converted partner.

Riff briefly lifted his beanie above his eyes as his jaw dropped.

“Dude…” he breathed, feeling conflicted as he saw the Rock Zombie trolls.

Thrash grinned with giddiness as Barb admired her work.

“Three members of BroZone down, two to go,” she stated as she took aim at Floyd’s group.

Guy then remembered that Tiny was still trying to stare Barb down as he peeked his head outside of Branch’s hair.

“Alright older siblings, you’re up,” the Rock Queen motioned towards the remaining members.

JD, Bruce, Clay and Viva immediately turned their attention to the group as their expressions changed into something menacing.

As the two eldest Rock Zombie brothers immediately launched their hair to wrap around the remaining siblings with Trickee’s army trying to protect them, Clay and Viva immediately got on all-fours as the pair stared their people down while growling.

Then, for a brief moment, the Putt-Putt leaders changed the tone of their growling ever so slightly as they gave their people a wink, which oddly calmed their people down. Trickee wasn’t sure if he was imagining it.

As Barb took aim at the four remaining Pop Trolls, Cooper and Prince D had to restrain Guy so he didn’t try to pull the same stunt Clay and Viva did as that same beam of light managed to hit the four trolls, encasing them in the same boulders.

Guy stopped struggling as his small group looked on with dismay as the four trolls popped out of the boulders.

Alongside Branch’s tattoos and mullet and Poppy’s new dress and spiked hairband, Tiny now wore a leather one-piece with a zipper and his glasses now had some points to them as the lenses were now tinted in the same way as JD’s goggles. Even his glitter was gone. Floyd’s hair now drooped completely as the tips of his now darker red hair was dyed black. Alongside his black fabric torn crop top and shorts, his legs now adorned netting and his arm now sported a black skull tattoo. The studded leather bracelet he was wearing before was now spiked and the sole earring he wore on one ear was now replaced with a pair of hoops.

Just like the others, they opened their eyes to reveal the same red glow.

Chapter Text

Poppy made a pair of horns as she lifted her arms to the sky.

“Who wants to partayyy?” she shouted blankly before bringing her hands back down to her chest as her black expression changed to a scowl.

“Without smiling,” she menacingly added.

The Rock Trolls cheered their loudest yet as Floyd and Branch slowly walked over to their other brothers.

Tiny hopped out of Branch’s hair as he lifted a fist to the sky.

“It’s time to turn it up in here with real Rock ‘n Roll!” he shouted with joy, which only hyped up the Rock Trolls even more.

Guy tried to reach out to his son with desperation before Hype stopped him.

“Now Riff, hand them their earpieces,” Thrash instructed as Riff stepped down from his drum set and handed each BroZone member the red earpieces he showed off earlier.

As the five brothers put on the microphone pieces and surrounded each other, they gave each other a look before winking.

Barb glanced over to Poppy and tossed the guitar to her.

“I feel like we can share a bond here, since we’re both new queens and all that. Now, while BroZone starts the Perfect Rocking Harmony by singing a rock song, I’m going to need you finish off the royals and those Pop Trolls over there.”

With a grin, the Rock Queen glanced over to Cooper’s group as a spotlight shone on them.

Trickee and the Snack Pack let out a gasp in shock as Guy and the others stared at Poppy with a look of fear.

With a grin, Tiny hopped into Poppy’s hair and peeked his head out as she looked in the direction of her targets and began to perform the Ultimate Power Chord.

The brothers then began to hum.

As Poppy drew out her strumming with an over-the-top performance, Barb couldn’t believe that her Dad’s plan was about to work.

“After they get hit, we can hit everything else all at once. We would have true harmony,” Thrash told her with a gentle smile.

Now, the Rock Queen should feel happy upon hearing this. That was what she was helping to do. Why does she feel hesitant about the idea all of a sudden?

When Poppy took aim at the remaining trolls, Branch began to sing. But it was not the singing the surprised the pair of Rock Troll royals, but what he began to sing.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5dy6CpPdT0&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=17&ab_channel=RCARecords)

It’s some kinda love

It’s some kinda fire

All the Rock Trolls looked at Branch in silence and confusion as he gently brought a fist to his chest, feeling his words.

As he continued, his brothers began to provide their own harmonized oohing.

I’m already up

But you lift me higher

You know I’m not wrong

You know I’m not lying

We do it better

One by one, the brothers lined up behind Branch and began to sing together as they looked on into the crowd with a frown.

We do it better, yeah

As they continued to sing together, walk around the stage, and snap their fingers, Tiny hopped out of Poppy’s hair as he motioned for Guy and his group to get onto the stage, with Trickee running up to check on his best friends/brothers. King Peppy decided to stay behind and watch from the audience.

The Rock Troll royals looked at Poppy dumbfounded as Viva now stood next to her, with the red glow in their eyes gone.

“I thought you were supposed to Rock Zombies?!” the Rock Queen stammered in confusion.

Viva giggled as the sisters and Tiny took gumdrops out of their ears, the Pop Queen still holding on tightly to the guitar.

“Gumdrops. Soundproof and delicious,” Poppy stated as the three popped them into their mouths.

Some of the trolls in the crowd grimaced in disgust.

“Hey, they learned that from me and John Dory!” Hickory proudly pointed from another spot in the crowd.

And I don’t mind

If the world spins faster

The music’s louder

The waves get stronger

The members of BroZone mimicked wave motions with their arms as Branch motioned for the four Kismet members to join them.

BroZone continued to sing as the support group was on standby, looking at each other.

I don’t mind

If the world spins faster

Faster, faster

After doing a couple more spins, the red glow in BroZone’s eyes disappeared as they tossed the gumdrops and earpieces from their ears alongside JD removing the goggles from his eyes. As they broke into singing and dancing in a circle formation, the four Kismet brothers began to provide their own whistling.

Just let me take you

To a better place

I’m gonna make you

Kiss the sky tonight

Some of the other tribes in the audience began to look on in hope and wonder as Bruce’s children watched from the TV, cheering their dad on.

Yeah, if you let me

Show the way, okay

I’m so excited

The Pop sisters and twin princes ran up to them in excitement as they joined in for a lyric, all smiling.

To see you excited!

The Snack Pack and the Putt-Putt Trolls looked at each other before looking at the performing group and stomping in unison to the beat as BroZone continued singing.

I’ll take you

To a better place, yoohoo!

Guy and Tiny harmonized as they sang “I’ll take you to a better place~!” on cue, spinning like tops to the opposite ends of the stage while BroZone continued to sing as they made a few suave moves.

And, baby, you can love me

On the way

We're flyin' up to outer space

Cooper and Prince D used their hair to toss Poppy and Viva into the air, with Branch and Clay catching the girls in their arms as they began to spin around in a circle. By this point, the sisters and twin princes began to sing along as well.

I’m so excited (I’m so excited)

To see you excited! (To see you excited)

Everyone in the audience stared in awe as an aura began to engulf all the performing trolls as Clay and Branch broke the small circle.

All the trolls performing began to float as they all twirled. The four Kismet brothers continued their whistling while BroZone, the Pop sisters, the twin princes, Guy, and Tiny continued to sing. While the very large group of trolls surrounding Rhonda weren’t surrounded by this aura, they also joined in on the singing, with the K-Pop and Reggaeton Trolls singing in their respective Korean and Spanish.

I don’t mind

Clay sang out, “I don’t mind~!” as he did a robot dance alongside his brief robotic voice.

If the world spins faster

The music’s louder

Tiny and Guy grabbed each other’s hands as they spun and sang in their own autotune and rap with a big smile, “The waves get stronger~!”

I don’t mind

If the world spins faster

Faster, faster, faster

The strings began to glow as the guitar began to crack. Poppy tossed it into the air as the guitar (and themselves) floated higher.

Yeaaaaaaah!

Alongside Kismet stopping the whistling, the entire group made a pose as they raised their hands to the sky and finished the song in unison with a smile.

JUST LET ME TAKE YOU

TO A BETTER PLACE~!

The six strings shone brightly in their original colors, and the guitar cracked even more until there was a flash of white and a rainbow of colors as the guitar finally shattered.

---

What the group of Pop Trolls was intending to happen was for the guitar to be destroyed with the strings freed.

What they didn’t expect was for a shockwave of rainbow to suddenly consume the entire arena and just as suddenly retract back to the spot where the fading strings landed, taking every single trolls’ color with it.

The trolls that were actually turned into Rock Zombies looked around in confusion, broken from the trance of Rock, while the fake Rock Zombies noticed that aside from their color being gone, they looked how they did before getting hit with the Ultimate Power Chord.

On Vacay Island, Brandy looked at her children in shock as the kids stared at their gray hands agape.

Barb walked up to the strings and gently picked them up as they began to shrivel up and disappear from existence.

“The Perfect Family Harmony can do this to the strings…?” she stared at her now empty hands.

Prince D walked up to the pair of Rock Trolls.

“It’s not the most well-versed rumor, even in circles of trolls that discuss the Perfect Family Harmony. It’s said that while the trolls performing it could shatter diamond or serenade others into having a calm heart and mind, or in your case, ‘unite’ others with another genre of music without consent, the right trolls performing it in the presence of the strings has the possibility to destroy them, ending the era with them,” he solemnly explained.

Thrash gave him a look of confusion.

“Wait a minute, the Harmony could shatter diamond?”

“…Yeah? You really didn’t know?”

The former Rock King looked at his daughter with a look of distress.

“…Did you know about this, Barbara?”

The Rock Queen grabbed her arm as she guiltily looked away.

“…Yeah, I did. When you originally told me the plan about uniting the tribes, I wanted so badly for this plan to work. However, a part of me felt guilty about what Floyd would think about this plan, considering that I would be betraying his trust. So, I didn’t tell you about the possibility of diamond shattering if the guitar didn’t channel the Harmony properly as a sort of way to give a chance for the plan to fail. But I didn’t even know about the risk to the strings… and now…”

She stared at the ground and frowned.

“The plan not only failed, but now there’s no music for anyone either…”

When the Rock Queen made this admission out in the open, various trolls in the stadium began to whisper to themselves as other trolls broke out into quiet sobs.

John Dory was quick to pull his other distraught brothers into a tight group hug as Viva wrapped an arm around a teary-eyed Poppy to comfort her, and by extension, herself.

If one were to listen closely, they could hear JD, Bruce and Clay whispering tearful apologies to each other and to the youngest pair of brothers.

Some of Bruce’s younger kids began to tear up at the sight of their father’s look of despair.

Tiny gave Guy a look of hopelessness which completely crushed the father.

Branch glanced over to his support group, and they exchanged a look of distress from their own group hug.

Rhonda let out a sad whimper as the Putt-Putt Trolls stared into the audience with an empty expression as their tails drooped.

The Snack Pack shared a look of sadness before they huddled together, with the K-Pop and Reggaeton Trolls following suit.

Prince D walked back to where Cooper was standing as they silently grieved, neither daring to look at their parents knowing that they were partially responsible for the strings disappearing.

Everyone in that stadium at that moment was all thinking the same thing: they stopped the Rock Trolls from turning everyone into Rock Zombies, but at the cost of kissing all of their music goodbye. At least they won’t be forced to be something that they’re not.

Cooper stared at the ground with sadness before he noticed something.

On his chest was a glowing pink and purple heart, just like the one he saw on Branch back in Vibe City. It was quietly beating.

The Pop Troll was confused by seeing it at first, until he spotted the nearby microphone Barb discarded earlier, and came up with an idea.

He walked over to the microphone and picked it up, holding it near the glowing heart on his chest, and waited.

Chapter Text

The sound of Cooper’s heartbeat played on the many amplifiers and speakers on the stage for the whole arena to hear.

Queen Essence and King Quincy slowly looked up as some of the other trolls looked around in confusion.

Prince D walked over to his brother as he began to beatbox to the rhythm of the beating.

Their parents’ eyes widened as a smile came over them.

“Those are my sons. Making music,” Essence beamed with pride.

The trolls on stage began to slowly perk up as Trickee looked at his brothers for a moment before he motioned for them to walk to the front of the stage with Cooper and Darnell.

The four Kismet members noticed Delta looking at her own orange heart for a moment before she began to clap and eventually gallop in place as she turned to the crowd of Country Trolls.

When they saw the Country Trolls mimicking their leader, the four Kismet brothers looked at each other before they began to mimic Delta, encouraging the rest of the audience to do the same as their own chests now each had a pink heart glowing on it.

The sounds of stomping and clapping can be heard throughout the stadium as the glows of orange were soon accompanied by purple, pink, blue, and yellow.

The sight made the Funk King and Queen smile with pride as the other trolls on stage stared with awe.

“Thrash and Queen Barb can’t take away something that is inside us. Because that’s where music really comes from,” Essence announced.

That made the large group of trolls on stage widen their eyes as they began to feel the spirit of their genre again.

“It started with the strings, but now it comes from us,” Quincy added.

The Techno Trolls in the audience began to vocalize beeps and boops as more hearts began to glow on the stage, starting with Bruce’s pink and blue heart.

Viva looked at her own chest and saw the same pink glow coming from the Snack Pack and the Putt-Putt Trolls, with even Mr. Dinkles and the underside of Rhonda glowing pink, indicating a heart of Pop. Guy and Tiny also had their own pink hearts.

Clay’s pink and yellow heart returned, as with JD’s pink and orange, Branch’s pink and purple, and Poppy’s full-on pink. Even Bruce’s children began to show their own glowing pink hearts as some of the kids stared at them in fascination. Brandy couldn’t help but giggle at the sight.

Floyd stared at Barb and Thrash, who were looking around confused. After a moment of staring, his own pink and red heart appeared.

The vocalizing of the Techno Trolls still rang out.

“Yeah, it comes from our experiences,” King Trollex announced.

“Our lives,” Delta happily added.

“Our culture,” Queen Essence stated with a smile.

“Beautiful. Ha!” Trollzart smiled, admiring the sight.

Poppy and Viva walked forward a bit.

“Listen to that. The Rock Royals can’t take that away,” the Pop Queen stated in awe as the sisters looked into the crowd of the tribes with their beating hearts of their genres.

They also began to notice more and more red hearts coming from the crowd of Rock Trolls.

As the Pop sisters smiled at the sight, they noticed the Funk Queen and King turned to give them a knowing glance and smile, their own purple hearts beating proudly.

The Techno Trolls quieted down as Poppy began to sing, with rays of sunlight beginning to break through the clouds.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O5MWcrMflY&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=18&ab_channel=RCARecords)

Let me hear you sing

All the trolls looked at the stage in awe as more sun began to peek through.

Sing it together

Louder than ever

Forget everything

Viva walked up to her, and the sisters began to sing together.

Just sing

Like it’s what we’ve been missing

And they’re gonna listen, listen

Forget everything, just sing

On that last syllable, the pink glow from the hearts began to envelop them as their colors returned.

Barb and Thrash looked around, with no glowing heart, and turned to find Riff playing some notes on the former King’s keyboard as his red heart returned his colors.

“Ya know, it’s fine if we’re different. Let’s just let trolls be who they wanna be. Besides, then we’ll still know that we’re the cool tribe.”

He tossed the keyboard to the other Rock Troll.

“You dropped this in the confusion, Your Former Rockness,” he bowed before he went back to his drums.

While Barb stared at him in confusion, Thrash began to play on his keyboard as a red heart appeared on his chest.

As the Putt-Putt Trolls looked at each other and hopped off the stage to help motivate the trolls in the audience, Poppy walked over to Branch, now with BroZone and Kismet at his sides (alongside Viva standing next to Clay and Cooper standing next to Trickee) as they all hummed a ‘Mhm’ to Poppy’s singing, swaying their hips.

You think you’ve gotta hide it

Don’t keep it on the shelf

Let your waist start movin’

Watch the way I do it, do it

The Pop Queen jumped in place as she sang, “See me do it like nobody else,” moving out of the way as the Funk Trolls stepped onto their stage playing their funky tunes and with their colors returning.

Branch and Prince D stood next to each other as the rest of Kismet circled them and their own colors returned, with Branch now gaining a dark blue jacket, white bellbottom pants, and similar shades as to what he wore during his time as Bitty B.

Queen Essence began to take over the singing.

If we sing it all together

She looked over to the circle Branch and her son made as the circle sang.

If we sing it all as one

The Funk Queen looked back to the audience.

It’s louder than yourself

The singing alternated back to the small circle.

All together, everyone

As the singing alternated back to the queen, Prince D walked up to her and the pair sang together.

Everybody’s lookin’ (See you lookin’ now)

Watch the way we do it, do it (Hold up, watchin’ how I do it)

The blue Funk Troll walked next to Poppy and Mayor Delta as the three sang together in unison.

‘Cause we do it like nobody else

The trolls on stage (most of whom already had their color restored), made room for King Trollex, his green button companion, and Bruce as the pair of trolls made their way to the center of the stage before borderline flying to the opposite sides of the stage, with the colors of the purple-haired troll returning.

Bruce gained a new appearance; wearing a set of headphones, purple shades, a grey long-sleeved shirt with a pair of hearts, and white shorts as the pair of trolls took over the singing.

Let me hear you sing

Don’t you stop it, don’t you fight it

Let me hear you sing

If you got it, can’t deny it

The trolls behind them began to join them in their singing as Smidge and DJ Suki hopped onto either side of Biggie, wrapping an arm around him.

Let me hear you

It’s waiting for you

Satin and Chenille looked at each other before happily wrapping their arm around each other.

Already you know

All the trolls on the stage with their colors walked to the front of the stage, with the Putt-Putt Trolls spread out in the crowd.

That you do it like nobody else.

They looked at the crowd as they sent out a rainbow of color, engulfing the audience of trolls and giving them their colors back. Some of the trolls began to mix with crowds of other tribes and dance with them.

Just sing!

Sing it together

Louder than ever, ever

Forget everything, just sing

Barb looked around in confusion, still with no red heart as Thrash began to gain his colors back.

Like it’s what we’ve been missing

And they’re gonna listen, listen

Forget everything

Tiny looked at his father as he jumped into his hand.

“Come on, Daddy! Just sing!” he encouraged.

Guy obliged as he sang in his autotune, “Let me hear you~” as he did a wave motion with his arms.

Delta walked to the area of the stage the Country Trolls overlooked as she began to play on her banjo and Clampers on her jaw harp.

Hey, I’ve been right here

Where you’re standin’

John Dory slid next to her and sang his own part as his colors returned. He was now wearing a brown leather cowboy jacket with ribbons lining the bottom, a white t-shirt under said jacket, lightly colored jean shorts that also sport a gold-plated belt buckle, and a cowboy hat that his goggled now laid on top of.

I’ve been standin’ on the ground

He looked at Delta with a smile as he gave her space.

And the walls are cavin’ in

The Country Troll grinned as JD appeared on her other side as he took over.

All the walls were fallin’

She looked at the crowd of her people mingling with the other tribes.

When my lips start movin’

With the soul I put into it

And you never heard it done like this

John Dory, Clampers, Hickory, Dickory, and Rhonda (who regained her colors) appeared behind her as they all sang in unison, “Let me hear you sing!”, with the addition of some yodels and a few beeps.

The K-Pop Gang took over centerstage as they sang and danced in unison.

Rideum tabwa meomchujima

Noraeburreojweo

The Reggaeton Trolls were right behind them and immediately took over.

Si lo tienes, no lo niegues

Te quiero oír cantar

The tribe kings and queens sang together as they walked to the front of the stage.

It’s waiting for you

Already you know

That you do it like nobody else

Just sing

Sing it together

Louder than ever, ever

Forget everything, just sing

A group of Classical Trolls flew in and began to play alongside Riff’s drumming as Trollzart conducted them. Pennywhistle hopped over to Clay and motioned for him to use her to play.

The moment he began to play her, his colors returned, with his sweater romper now being replaced by a fancy one-piece suit romper, bowtie, and white legwarmers.

The singing continued as Trollzart joyfully encouraged the newest member of his orchestra.

Like it’s what we’ve been missing

And they’re gonna listen, listen

Forget everything

Let me hear you sing

Rhonda shuffled around the stage with Tiny standing on top of the armadillo bus as he began to rap.

I said a-one, two, three and four

Let’s go, everybody, get on the floor (Let me hear you)

The Funky Family, led by Essence, was in another area of the stage, singing to some of the audience.

Let me hear you sing, yeah

Everyone else sang along.

Let me hear you sing

Prince D led next.

I want you to sing for me so

I want you to reach with your elbow

The rest of the Funky Family looked at each other before singing in unison.

Let me hear you

Tiny, who was still on top of Rhonda, pointed to the cameras recording the stage.

Can’t hear you way in the back! (Alright, alright, alright)

The thirteen hybrid troll children watching back on Vacay Island all excitedly sang in unison, “Let me hear you sing!”, as their colors returned.

As the other trolls on stage continued singing, Poppy, Viva, Thrash, and Floyd, who still had his pink and red heart glowing on his chest, walked up to Barb. Seeing that the Rock Queen now had a red heart on her chest, the Pop Queen tossed her an axe-shaped guitar. Barb turned to Thrash and Floyd, who both smiled at her as the redhead showed her the v-shaped red electric guitar that he liked to use back when he was staying with them.

It's waiting for you

Already you know

That you do it like nobody else

Barb and Floyd looked at each other and grinned as they both shredded on their guitars, gaining their colors back. Barb now gained a longer mohawk that was dyed rainbow at the ends, while Floyd took on a more glam rock appearance. Not only did he finally get his frosted tips, he now wore a leather vest with broad shoulders, a studded leather choker with a heart charm, black shorts, a black leather studded belt with heart-shaped buckle, and a painted star and heart design on his visible cheek. The three other trolls stared in awe as the pair sang together while playing their guitars.

Just sing

Sing it together

Louder than ever, ever

Forget everything, just sing

As all the trolls joined in on the singing, the audience started a wave from the top-down, which resulted in Poppy and Viva getting engulfed in a rainbow before revealing their new matching outfits, with Viva wearing a scarf instead of the fluffy robe Poppy’s wearing.

Like it’s what we’ve been missing

And they’re gonna listen, listen

“Listen and rock!” Barb sang before Poppy took her hand and held it up high, with Viva giving a peace sign and Floyd making horns.

Forget everything

Just sing

The lava running through the arena turned shades of rainbow as said rainbow erupted into the sky and consumed the surrounding land.

Sing it together

Louder than ever, ever

Forget everything, just sing

Branch and Clay joined Poppy and Viva as the rest of BroZone and Kismet joined the royals on the front of the stage.

Like it’s what we’ve been missing

And they’re gonna listen, listen

Forget everything

The other trolls looked at Poppy and Viva as they sang the last line.

Just sing…

The entire stadium of trolls erupted into cheers as everyone on stage looked back at them with big smiles on their faces.

The Rock Troll that first spotted Trickee’s group earlier could be spotted wrapping his arms around a Pop and Funk Troll.

“I love you guys,” he told them.

Chapter Text

Poppy and Viva spotted their father in the crowd and helped him up onto the stage.

“Dad… I should have listened to what you had to say and not run off like that,” Poppy apologized.

King Peppy shook his head in response.

“I’m so glad you and your friends didn’t listen to me. You weren’t naïve about this world. You were all brave enough to believe things can change. Braver than me.”

He turned to Viva.

“And if it weren’t for that bravery, my other beautiful daughter wouldn’t be here with us right now.”

The Pop Princess grinned with tears in her eyes.

“Awwwww, come ’ere, Dad!” she chirped as she twirled him into a tight squeeze of a hug. Poppy had to make sure they didn’t fall off the stage by accident.

The Pop Queen walked over to join the pair of Rock Royals, who were with Floyd and Riff.

“Hey, am I interrupting anything?” she asked as it seemed like Barb was having a discussion with her father.

“Oh, not really! Dad and I were just talking about needing to learn about voicing concerns over things and to not feel pressured into doing stuff just because we think it would make the other happy. Isn’t that right, Dad?” she asked.

“Pretty much,” Thrash smiled at her.

“So, since that’s out of the way, let me properly introduce myself. I’m Queen Poppy of the Pop Trolls, and I’ve heard that you could use a friend who you could relate to… so may I?”

“Oh my Troll, YES!” she exclaimed as she turned to Val Thundershock, who was mingling with a few other future tribe ambassadors in the crowd by the names of Holly Darlin’ and Synth.

“Did you hear that, Val? We have a girl group now!” she happily announced as she wrapped an arm around Poppy. The sight made Riff and Floyd giggle.

Val immediately perked up and looked at her with a grin.

“A girl group?! Nice!” she exclaimed with excitement as she fist-pumped the air with the two other trolls she was with, smiling back at them.

Val did spot Viva, who was finished hugging her father, and made a mental note to apologize to her and the Putt-Putt Trolls later.

“Yeah, Val! Heh, she’s psyched,” she told Poppy as she walked away with Riff and her father in tow.

Branch and the rest of his brothers walked up to her and Floyd as Viva caught up with her.

“Branch, I love that we’re different,” she told him with a smile.

The dark blue troll looked at her lovingly for a moment, with Bruce picking up on what he was finally about to say.

“And I love you, Queen Poppy.”

“FINALLY, he says it!” Hype can be heard exclaiming in the distance.

Poppy’s eyes softened as she smiled back at him with the same amount of love.

“I love you too, Branch.”

The pair stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed to be forever until Branch heard the sounds of familiar mocking behind him.

He shot a glare at Hype and Boom, who were making kissing sounds as Ablaze and Trickee jokingly sang, “Branch and Poppy, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-“

“Oh, can it guys!” he huffed at them as JD and Bruce let out a chuckle of amusement.

While Branch focused on them, Poppy glanced at the display and shrugged before she grinned, grabbed the suit of the other troll, pulled him close, and proceeded to kiss him.

As he quickly transitioned from shock to affection as he held her hands, Floyd couldn’t help but tear up at the sight as JD let out a whistle.

Viva, who was seeing her sister kiss Branch, turned to look at Clay and pulled him close.

“Now, don’t you think you can also escape a little smooch~!” she chirped as she twirled him in the air and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before he had any time to react.

By the time he processed what just happened (and proceeded to blush a deep blue after), he heard Branch ask what just happened, to which Poppy told him that Viva braided his hair, and that meant she liked him.

“It means I like you!” she slid in between the couple.

---

Back on Vacay Island, the clue board, now filled with the memorabilia of BroZone and the many tribes they visited, was displayed on a wall inside the restaurant in a backstage area.

“Hey, Viva, do you wanna make candy necklaces that we never finish because we eat all the candy?” King Peppy asked his daughter as the pair walked together.

The Pop Princess let out a gasp, remembering one of her favorite things to do prior to the now dubbed ‘Rockapocalypse’. She pulled some candy from her hair.

“Great minds think alike, Daddy,” she grinned as she grabbed an arm and dragged him off somewhere.

“Don’t forget we’re gonna have that long talk with Poppy later, by the way!” the pink troll can be heard quickly adding in the distance.

Branch, who was wearing his funk outfit, looked at the sheet of paper that was sitting on a stand as he wrote some things down.

“You still alive over there, Bruce? We need you if we’re gonna do some family therapy with Mr. Dinkles later,” he turned to look at the purple-haired troll, who was sporting his techno DJ outfit, and who was currently on the verge of getting pulled apart by two of his children.

“We’re still trying to see if Daddy’s still evil or going through a mid-life crisis, Uncle Branch!” one of the children retorted.

“Yeah, they -OW- saw the whole thing on TV and -OOF- are never going to let me live it dOWN!” Bruce tried to explain as the two children were still pulling on him.

Brandy appeared through an open hole next to the three and pulled the kids inside.

“Ah, Brucie, the amount of times you and your brothers scared me during that concert. But, you still look hot, even in those new clothes,” she told him as she put him back on his feet.

“Honey, break a leg,” she encouraged him.

Clay, sporting his classical attire, pulled Branch to the side.

“Ya know, apart from the family therapy thing so we can begin to work on that 20-year tension, I’m glad that I can hang out with you now and begin to make up for all that time lost from that stupid mistake. Especially now that we both seem to be new at,” he blushed briefly as he sheepishly grinned, “being in a relationship.”

The pair briefly glanced over to the eldest brother, both not entirely sure if he and Delta were an item quite yet, before looking back at each other.

“Yeah, same here, Clay. Poppy and I are also happy to help start the process of smoothly reintegrating any willing Putt-Putt Troll into Pop Village. We’ve also been in talk with making a whole new area in addition to that to help other tribes mingle, so we hope you and Viva can give us some pointers.”

“Can do! Now, there’s this sad book club that I think you might be interested in-“

“Bye, Clay!” Branch quickly inched away as he already began to see the lime-haired troll get too immersed in his imagination.

He walked over to Floyd, Riff, and Barb who were practicing their drums and guitars.

The Funk Queen and King were also practicing their instruments with a few Funk Trolls next to them.

“How’s the rehearsal going?” he walked up to the redhead, who was wearing his glam rock outfit.

“Surprisingly well. It’s been a while since I’ve performed in an audience this big without my life on the line, so I want to be good.”

John Dory, who was wearing his cowboy outfit and currently trying to read one of Clay’s sad books, looked up at his youngest brother.

“Say, Branch. That song we were singing earlier to shatter the guitar; did you write that?” he asked with curiosity. All the other trolls in the backstage area looked at him with equal amounts of curiosity.

The dark blue troll gave them a sheepish grin.

“Well, I wrote it with a bit of help.”

Suddenly, Trickee appeared from behind the curtains separating the area from the actual stage and growing audience of trolls and Vacaytioners.

“Okay, so with help from Synth and Lownote Jones, we were able to set up the lighting to optimal conditions as we got DJ Suki’s Wooferbug all set up for later. Dante, Val, and Holly managed to set up more areas for all the trolls to fit and-“

He suddenly felt a bunch of eyes staring at him and he looked up to see that he was correct.

“Uh, is there a problem?” he raised an eyebrow, confused.

“Guys, sometime after I became friends with this guy and three certain other trolls, we came together to write that song on our free time. And now it’s the song that trolls are going to remember for ending the era of the strings.”

Branch walked over to the stand and retrieved the paper he was working on as he walked back over to Trickee and showed it to him.

“Trickee, I know this may be last-minute to spring this on you and the others but do you guys wanna sing the opening song with me?”

The orange troll’s eyes widened with shock as the trolls behind Branch began to entertain the idea.

“W-wait, you’re serious?!”

King Quincy chuckled.

“We’re all ready when you are.”

Barb pointed a thumb at JD and Bruce.

“And besides, these old guys might need a minute or two to warm up to the good ol’ days again,” she smirked.

The two eldest brothers responded by looking exaggeratedly offended as Bruce let out a gasp.

“When are people gonna stop calling me old?” JD grumbled.

“Probably when you stop spraining your back and leg muscles and when the guy only a few years shy of you stops having more than 13 kids,” Clay joked as Bruce immediately countered with, “HEY!”

“Oh my!” Queen Essence moved a hand to her mouth as she blushed in shock.

Trickee stared at the chaos unfolding for a moment before giving a nod to Branch, running back onto the stage to search for the rest of Kismet.

---

Poppy walked onto the center of the stage with a microphone in her hands.

“May I have your attention, everyone?” her voice boomed through the speakers, hushing the entire audience in the restaurant into silence.

“I want to thank everyone for coming to our first intertribal gathering! Special thanks to the trolls that helped set this concert venue up!”

Some cheers erupted in the audience.

“Y’all are gonna love the lighting Lownote and I hooked up!” Synth announced from somewhere in the crowd.

Some noise could be heard from the darkness behind Poppy.

“I know you guys were hoping to hear BroZone right away, but first please give a warm welcome to Bitty B’s own group, Kismet!”

The Pop Queen slid to the side as the spotlights and multi-colored lights in the back revealed the group of five from the darkness, alongside the Funk and Rock Trolls (and Floyd) as they immediately jumped into playing their instruments and the leading five Pop Trolls began to sing.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDLK6p9vpxc&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=19&ab_channel=RCARecords)

Just let me take you

To a better place

I’m gonna make you

Kiss the sky goodnight

Yeah, if you let me

Show the way (Show the way)

I’m so excited

To see you excited

As Kismet began to form a V formation, Poppy and Viva, who were next to the Snack Pack, squealed as they vibrated in excitement. Tiny sat entertained watching the concert from Guy’s shoulders. Cooper and Prince D shuffled their feet to the music as Darnell quietly beatboxed. Smidge sat in one of Biggie’s arms to see the stage better while Mr. Dinkles sat in the other. Satin and Chenille were also dancing along. DJ Suki was really tempted to join in on her Wooferbug, which was waiting for her for when the afterparty started.

I’ll take you

To a better place

Yoo-hoo

And, baby

You can love me on the way

We’re flying up

To outer space

I’m so excited

To see you excited, yeah

As the five performing Pop Trolls wrapped their hands behind their heads and moved on to the next part of their choreography, the three members of BroZone can be spotted in the front row dancing in sync to the song.

I like to see you

Lose control

Ain’t nobody better

We do it better

As the Kismet members turned their backs to the audience, Branch quickly turned around and motioned for his brothers to join them on the stage. The rest of BroZone happily accepted the offer as they scrambled to the stage, with the entire Snack Pack looking at each other in excitement. Barb looked at Floyd and subtly motioned for him to join them.

I know a place

Say that you’ll go with me

Ain’t nobody better

We do it better

The entire stage was briefly shrouded in darkness and the music stopped before the lights and the music came back on again and revealed the four other BroZone members singing and dancing alongside Kismet. Trollex and Synth even flew high above the stage and made an explosion of color as the audience erupted into louder cheers.

Just let me take you

To a better place (Better place~)

I’m gonna make you

Kiss the sky tonight

Yeah, if you let me

Show the way (Show the way~)

I’m so excited

To see you excited

The nine performing Pop Trolls began to form a brief circle before briefly lining up behind each other in order, with Branch in the front, followed and alternating between the youngest to oldest Kismet and BroZone members.

I’ma take you

To a better place

Yoo-hoo

And, baby

You can love me on the way

We’re flying up

To outer space

I’m so excited

To see you excited, yeah

The nine trolls spread out throughout the stage as they hopped around.

I like to see you

Lose control (Yeah, yeah)

They quickly got in a V formation to line up behind each other again, with Branch, Trickee and Floyd exchanging looks with each other.

Ain’t nobody better

We do it better

They began to shuffle back into the line as the four Kismet members whistled and five BroZone members took over the rest of the singing, with all of them snapping their fingers in the process.

I know a place

Say that you’ll go with me

They once again jumped into the V formation as they all posed, smiling at the audience.

Ain’t nobody better

We do it better

The Funk and Rock Trolls wrapped up the first song as the entire restaurant erupted into cheers.

As the four Kismet members wished the BroZone members luck with the rest of the performance and made their way off the stage, Branch walked over to where Poppy and Cooper were.

“Say, Poppy, Cooper. The guys and I were wondering if you and your siblings would care to-“

He was cut off by Poppy jumping excitedly and squealing.

“Join the performance?! Of course I will, I’d thought you never ask!” she happily told him.

“We can sing in the concert, too?! That sounds awesome!” Cooper chirped.

“You guys know me so well. Now get up here and sing with us!” Branch motioned for them to get onto the stage.

The Pop Queen screamed as she jumped and latched onto Branch’s suit.

“VIVA! Viva, get up here! We’re in the show!” she turned to her sister as Viva let out a scream of excitement before sprinting onto the stage, squealing, “This is my dream life!”

“Come on, Coops! Let’s dance!” Prince D hopped onto the stage, motioning for his brother to follow.

Essence and Quincy beamed at their sons as the trolls began to play their instruments.

Branch began to sing as he and Poppy walked to the center of the stage.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMDQbasMPrU&list=PLklXS2jR2_k21BYeda9rM4gNDzpyhrSAE&index=20&ab_channel=RCARecords)

The only rule

Is get on your feet

I don’t want to see nobody

Heating up their seat

He motioned to Poppy to continue.

And if you believe it

She looked at Branch.

If you about it

They looked at each other as they sang in unison.

No matter

Where you’re from

The apple don’t fall

Far from it

The pair pointed to their right, which had JD, Clay, Viva, and Cooper dancing as they sang.

Now people wanna know

When they see us dancing

As Viva zoomed over to the other side of the stage, the other three trolls pointed back to Poppy and Branch, who immediately pointed to their left. That group had Floyd, Bruce, Prince D, and once again Viva.

Wanna know

How we got those moves

The four trolls pointed back at them before the nine trolls moved into a V formation as they all sang together.

People wanna bottle it up

Up, up, up

But no can do

People wanna know

How to find that feeling

Wanna know

How we got that groove

They’re thirsty

For the juice

As they did a spin, Branch gave the audience a wink before singing, “But I’ma tell you the truth.”

As the trolls continued singing, they formed a circle and looked at each other, all with giddy smiles on their faces.

Ooh

It runs in the family

Hee hee hee, hee~

Ooh

They spread out throughout the stage and made one group pose as they sang in harmony.

It runs in the family

It’s all about you and me~