The Bergen Guard walked into a room and sat the cage down on a counter, opening it.

Chef was already in there with the remaining trolls in bags, clearly impatient from waiting.

When she saw him walk in and place the cage down, she smirked and walked over.

"Took you long enough, now let's get to business." She said, beginning to open the bags.

She dumped every single troll out of them as they all yelped and fell into the cage, closing it and locking it.

DJ got up, rubbing her forehead, and looked around, confused.

"Branch and Poppy aren't here.." She said in a quiet voice.

"Maybe they really did go back to the village." Guy Diamond responded.

Chef heard their conversation somehow and butted in.

"Oh don't worry about it, I've already got those two taken care of. Once one of my guards returns them to me, we're- well, me specifically, gonna start finding recipes for how I should cook you all." Chef almost pressed her face against the cage.

All the trolls then had fearful expressions on their faces, backing away slowly.

"Anyway, I need to discuss this with the king, and then I'll get started. It may not take long so I advise you start saying your last words." She finally backed away from the cage.

"Au revoir!" She said in a low voice and begin to walk the door, the guard who carried the cage in following behind her.

"What're we gonna do?!" Chenille held onto her sister fearfully.

"Everyone, stay calm, we'll find a way out of this, we just uh-"

"This is YOUR fault!" A troll named Allen yelled, pointing at Creek, who was standing in the very back.

Creek didn't say anything, but widened his eyes at the troll's outburst.

"If you hadn't done what you did to Peppy, also known as your KING, none of this would be happening!" Allen yelled again, walking towards the purple troll, still pointing at him.

Everyone was now at this point just watching it all happen.

"Whoaaa there mate," Creek raised his hands up defensively, "I know what I did was wrong, but it's not like I wanted any of this to happen. Now, let's just calm-"

Allen didn't even listen to what he has to say and finally lost control of himself, punching Creek in the face, making him fall down, back against the cage.

"Hey! That's enough!" DJ pushed Allen away from Creek.

"Yeah Allen, I'm the strong one here, just let me at him." Smidge said cracking her knuckles and her neck. Apparently she still had a grudge with him.

"Smidge, no." DJ gave her a stern look, then let out a deep sigh.

"Look, you guys.. uhhh what would Poppy say.." She tapped her chin then continued her speech, "I know things may seem awful right now, but let's not take it out on each other, okay? True, this is Creek's fault, but attacking him won't make it better for any of us."

All the trolls looked at each other then back at Suki, as so did Peppy, who was weakly smiling.

"So let's just try to stay happy and try to figure out a-"

"WHAT!" A groggy voice yelled from across the room, abruptly stopping Suki from saying her speech, startling everyone in the cage.

They all turned to see Chef holding the door open, talking to one of the guards.

"I swear, I looked everywhere but I didn't see them!" The guard nervously confessed.

"You imbecile. I know they're still out there somewhere. You didn't look hard enough!" Chef harshly poked him in the chest.

While the two were blabbering on, a Pink and Blue troll quietly and successfully made their way past them and into the kitchen.

DJ watched Chef and the guard carry on until she looked down slightly and saw two small colorful figures walking past and trying to find a hiding spot.

"Hey, who are they?" DJ said in a quiet voice again, not taking their eyes off of them.

Biggie heard her and looked where she was looking, noticing them as well.

"They look like.. trolls, like us!" Biggie exclaimed, but not too loud.

"But, how did they get out? Unless-"

The two trolls came to a closer hiding spot and tried to get their attention, well, mostly the Pink troll.

"Wait, that's.. that's Poppy! And.. some other troll!" DJ cried out, making sure not to be too loud.

The Blue troll rolled his eyes while Poppy smiled at her and waved.

Cooper jumped in excitement at this.

"POPPY?! YOU'RE ALIVE?? OH MY TRO-"

The trolls quickly shushed him and covered his mouth.

Chef turned around to look at them, as they all gave nervous smiles at her hideous face.

"What are you all getting on about back there." Chef hissed, squinting her eyes in suspicion.

"N-Nothing, we were just, uhh.. playing a game! The uhh what do you call it.. the quiet game, yeah!" DJ rubbed the back of her neck, trying to stop herself from shaking so much.

"Hmm... whatever. Anyways, I'll be back. I'm going to get my servant to watch you all until I get back because I just don't trust any of you." Chef shoved the guard out of the way and walked out the door, the guard quickly following behind.

"Well isn't that just great." Smidge groaned.

Just as she left, Poppy ran to the table the cage was sitting on and quickly climbed up the leg of it, the "Blue Troll" following behind her.

"Hi guys!" Poppy smiled.

There was not a single troll (well, except Creek), who didn't cheer when she had made her way up to them.

"We were soooo worried!" Guy Diamond said in his auto tune voice and gripped onto the bars of the cage.

"I was worried about you guys too! I'm so glad we finally made it here." She smiled, walking up to the cage.

Peppy held his cane and walked up to the front of the cage carefully, the trolls moving out of his path.

Poppy noticed him and her smile grew wider.

"Dad.." She said in a soft voice.

"Poppy.. My brave girl, I'm so glad you're alright. Thank you for coming back for us." He smiled and said in a weak tone.

"Of course I was gonna come back for you all! You all mean way too much to me." Poppy responded, then looked down a bit to notice his bandage.

"Heyy.. what happened to your side?' She asked with concern.

"O-Oh, well-"

Everyone began to turn their heads to look at Creek, who just smiled and chuckled nervously.

"Creek, what did you do?" She noticed the bruise on his cheek and the dried blood on his nose but didn't question it.

"Poppy, I can explain-"

"He stabbed me." Peppy said in a firm voice. Still weak, but firm.

"WHAT? How could you do that?!" Poppy yelled, balling her fists.

Creek sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I-I don't know what came over me. I just wanted power." He said in a shaky voice.

Clearly confused of what he meant or why it would ever make him wanna stab her father, Poppy groaned in frustration and dragged her hand down her face.

The "Blue Troll" walked over to her and grabbed hold of her other hand gently.

Feeling his hand, she squeezed it gently and calmed down, sighing once more.

"We'll continue this later, Creek. Now let's just focus on getting you guys out of here."

"Yeah- wait hold on, where's Branch?" DJ asked.

"Yeah, didn't he come with you? Oh no, did he DIE?!" Cooper yelled in a panic.

"What? No, he's right here." Poppy pointed to the blue troll next to her, who just showed an expression of unamusement.

"..Haha very funny Poppy, now where is he." Smidge said, thinking she was joking.

"Guys, I'm serious, this is Branch. He got his colors back!" Poppy said.

"WHAT?" Everyone exclaimed, again, except Creek, although he did give off a surprised expression.

"That's.. that's.. that's amazing!!" Biggie cheered.

"Yeah yeah, it's not that big of deal, really." Branch shrugged.

"But how did it happen so fast?" Guy Diamond asked.

Poppy and Branch didn't say anything but just looked at each other with awkward expressions on their faces, then laughed nervously.

"Funny story, really.." Poppy rubbed the back of her neck, trying not to blush.

"Uhhm.." Satin said in confusion.

"Okay what happened-"

"YOU KNOW WHAT it's not really that imPORtant right now so we should just focus on getting you guys out like Poppy said because.. that's more important. That's why we're here. Yeah." Branch shouted, already blushing of embarrassment, shuffling for something in his hair.

"Um, okay.."

Branch pulled out a hair clip and walked over to the cage to unlock it, but, before he could he heard the door quickly open.

"Oh no!" Poppy whispered.

"Oh come on right now?!" Branch whispered as well and grabbed Poppy's hand and hid behind the cage, both trying to blend in with the other trolls.

"And you are not to leave until I say you can, not even to the bathroom, understood?" Chef was scolding Bridget again, the young Bergen maid, who just nodded slowly.

"Y-Yes, Chef.." She said in a quiet voice, looking down, but Chef forcefully pulled her chin up to look back up at her.

"I don't want to see not a single troll missing from this cage you hear me? Or you're out of here." Chef poked her in the head with her wooden spoon and walked back to the door.

But she stopped and added, "Oh and in your spare time, you can start washing those dishes. Trollstice is tonight so get to it." She walked out and slammed the door shut.

Bridget just sighed and walked over to where the dishes were and began to wash them.

With her back turned, Branch and Poppy slowly and quietly walked back around to the lock on the cage to open it, Poppy giving a few short glances at Bridget and her behavior.

"Okay, let's get this over with." Branch took the clip back out and attempted to open the cage.

Meanwhile, Bridget lost track of what she was doing and just slammed the plate she was cleaning down, covering her face, startling the trolls once again at the loud noise.

"Why.. why does everyone get to be happy except me.. I don't understand. I'm a Bergen too, why can't I get happiness?" She began to cry softly, her hands still covering her eyes, and she ran to her bed and wept into her pillow. Yes, her room is in the kitchen.

Poppy watched in sorrow and placed a hand on her heart as she cried. For once, she felt.. sorry for a Bergen.

A few other trolls began to feel bad for her as well.

But Branch didn't really seem to care and just continued to try and unlock the cage, successfully getting it after a few tries.

"Finally!" He opened the cage, "Okay everyone out one by one, and stay quiet."

Everyone walked out the cage troll by troll, hopping down from the table carefully and quietly.

As soon as almost all of them got out, Branch looked at Poppy to see her still looking at Bridget.

"Poppy-"

"I'm gonna talk to her." She said.

"What?! Are you insane?! We came here to rescue them not associate with Bergens!" Branch whisper-yelled.

"But Branch! Look at her, she's crying! And didn't you hear what she just said? She's clearly treated unfairly by everyone here. I wanna help her." She said, her sorrowful expression coming back.

Branch sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, I know it's kind of like.. your job, to make everyone happy, but this is just not one of those times, alright? She'll be fine, Poppy. Now let's just go."

"But-"

"Ready when you are!" Branch jumped down from the table and walked over to where everyone else was.

Poppy sighed and looked back up at Bridget weeping, then slowly began to climb down, when suddenly-

"IS THERE A BATHROOM IN HERE? I GOTTA TAKE A DUMP!" Cooper yelled.

"Cooper!" The snackpack yelled furiously.

Bridget arose from her pillow and wiped her eyes to see the trolls trying to escape.

"H-Hey! You're not supposed to be out of the cage!"

"Great." Branch groaned and facepalmed.

A/N: And I oop-

Two months since I updated- eh that's not that bad :D

Anyway, there's probably only like a few chapters left of this book, like maybe 3-4 left

I'm not sure yet but that's what I'm predicting

Well it just depends on what happens next I guess

Anyway I hope y'all liked this chapter and uh as usual there will be more coming soon :P

Byeeeee