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It was odd that Barb was so subdued. The whole tour she had been full of energy and rage, using her brain and power to track down the Strings one by one. All that was left now was the Pop String and its people. But when Debby returned with the unopened ‘invitation’ and very spooked, something seemed to go over her. Barb didn’t know what it was herself, just a gut feeling something was off.
Deciding to go in cautiously instead of ripping through the trees, Barb and Riff and a handful of other trolls used the motorbike bugs to follow Debby. The forest was unnervingly still around them, Riff pointing out the lack of any animals as they went deeper. Then they started seeing signs. Chunks of earth ripped up, branches of trees clearly ripped or snapped off, and oddly huge footprints.
Debby stopped in a clearing, flying around in circles somewhat frantically. Barb and the rest pulled to a stop and jumped to the grassy ground. With the motorbikes resting the silence was ringing in everytrolls ears. Looking around they could tell that sometrolls definitely lived here, but the pods in the trees were dark, some crushed on the ground. Mushroom tables flattened. Party supplies crumpled.
“It's like a ghost town,” Riff whispered, his ears flattening to his head at the echo of his voice.
“It’s probably some sort of trick to scare us off,” Barb said confidently, swallowing down her own doubt as she marched around. “Any minute now they’ll pop out and start singing,” she walked over to an overturned table. There was something under it. “their …music… get back on the bugs.” she ordered as Barb stared down at the blood soaked grass and the remains of…a limb.
Barb barely had time to yell as she was grabbed and pulled into the brush, the yelps of the others following. Barb, never one to back down from a fight, started swinging before her eyes adjusted to the dark. She felt a fist hit and she hit the ground as the hair that grabbed her let go.
“What gives?!” she snarled then confusion hit. In front of her, holding their arm, was a dirty troll. They were covered in mud and there was a makeshift bandage on the other arm. It took a second for Barb to realize the troll wasn’t just dirty. They were Gray. And they weren’t alone, there were four others of various ages, one on the back of another.
“You need to be quiet, the Bergens might come back.” the first gray troll said, their voice dead and lifeless and quiet.
“What's a Bergen?” Riff asked, matching the volume.
“Bergens are giants that eat trolls so they can feel happiness.” one of the other grays answered. “They took everyone earlier tonight. We are the last living trolls,” they paused then added “Until you showed up I guess.”
The other Rock Trolls looked at Barb in horror. Horror she was sure was on her face as well. When she set out on her tour, she planned on getting rid of Pop forever. This wasn’t what she had in mind.
It was too crazy to believe, it had to be a trick!
A way to avoid the tour and keep their String, yeah that must be it. Barb told herself and she stood tall and huffed, flipping her hair to the side.
“Heh, yeah right. Nice trick you have going, but it won’t work on us.” she said and each of the grays faces turned dark with anger.
“A trick?! You think we’d go and ruin our home, turn gray, for a trick?! ” the first troll hissed seething. They pointed out to a pod, the whole thing crushed like something stepped on it. Something big. “You're nuts if you think that. Our friends and families are going to be eaten by morning and our best hope is they're already dead when it happens.”
“If the Bergens are so dangerous, why didn’t you use your String to fight back?” Barb asked, hands thrown out in frustration. The grays looked confused at each other.
“Why would we use string to fight?”
“Not just any string, The String! The Pop String! The one String that holds all of your music!” Barb enunciated, wishing she brought the guitar holding the other tribes Strings with her for this.
“...what are you talking about? We’ve never heard of a ‘pop string’ before.”
“If anytroll might have it’d be King Peppy but he was taken too.”
“He’s definitely dead, the chef would have it out for him and Princess Poppy. She probably ate him herself.”
This was all said so casually, so matter of factually, that one of Barb’s trolls had to hold back from throwing up in a bush. And all Barb could do was stare into the gray trolls eyes. They weren’t lying. They weren’t putting on a show to make them leave. They really believe their people were gone.
…
“Oh Muses.”