Far,far away on the mainland deep in the forest was a traveling Bounty Hunter. He resembled a yoddler in appearance but his sense of style told a tale of having been musically transitioned into Country. The cowboy rode on a tamed spider.

The woods were growing darker as night fell. The river began to sparkle and glow with hues of cyan, sapphire, purple, bright pink,neon green and white under the moon. Some shadows of trees became alive detaching into being its own figure unknown to the bounty Hunter. He was too focused on the river as he climbed off his spider. The plants getting water from the strange river shimmered with a softer glow of cyan and lavender coming from their seeds and ripe fruits.

" My stars..." Hickory said approaching the towering rice plants.

The shadows took the shape of trolls silently stepping closer as the traveler spoke with a subtle twang in accent despite being a German speaker since birth. He had learnt English from Country trolls hence picking up their accent to a degree. Squinching his eyes trying to adjust to the unusual light source Hickey didn't look away. He reached out and hand to touch rice plant and pulled it down bending it. Peeling open part of the plant the seeds continued to shimmer.

"Ich glaub mein Schwein pfeift " Hickory muttered softly in German.

Up in the trees five trolls eyed the creeping shadows. Each wore black covering most of their bodies as camouflage and dark green with lead pattern. Around the lowered half of their faces was a cloth mask. Something about them was different from most trolls.

The orange skinned and purple haired one wore ski goggles over his eyes. Strapped to his back was a round and spiked at the edges shield.His tail was long and thin with a tuff of purple, lavender and white steaks. Hidden in the tuff was a hook like claw feature. The tail swayed steadily rising up as he lifted up his goggles.

The rainbow haired one with yellow glittery skin had a black headscarf wrapped around the top of his head forcing his hair to hang down his back. He didn't have a tail but, he did have retractable claws in his fingers and feet. This troll was the most normal appearance wise to Pop trolls. His finger claws pushed out looking like they hadn't been sharpened in a while. Strapped to his body was staff with prism at both ends. The top and bottom ones were both pear shaped. His eyes filled with concern causing them to dull becoming grey literally.

The glittery green skinned one with dark blue hair had glowing eyes and triangular teeth. Sparkling feathered wings of teal and sapphire were wide open and spread acting as a shield. A crossbow rested in his hands while a quiver of arrows was strapped to his back. His colouring shifted into being more grey and black as he glared downwards.

The greyish purple skinned one with reddish and pinkish hair had a pair of bull thorns growing from the sides of his head and a fox tail. His still tail matched the hair on his head. It was soft and fluffy. His hands had the most paw-like traits when it came to the appearance of his palm with retractable claws too. His claws were sharp. Strapped to his hips were daggers with blue crystal blades instead of metal.

The greyish blue skinned and navy lightly leaning towards black haired troll had two lines of black face paint on his cheeks. He also had leaves, flowers and sticks in his hair. Three longer fox tails with thorned flowers actively bloomed from them. A portion of said tails rested against the tree at his feet. Stumps of antlers could be seen poking out from his head. His eyes glowed green in the dark due to him having night vision of a cat. Strapped to his body was balls of smoke bombs around his hips.

" Captain?" The crossbow holder said.

The three tailed troll narrowed his eyes moving his attention to Hickory. Hickory let go of the plant after plucking the glowing seeds. An arrow flew before his eyes going through the seed. The arrow stole it away as it landed into one of the rice plants. The traveling troll gasped as his heart beat stopped for a moment. His eyes were wide as saucers. Around the arrow was a note.

" Don't trust a shadow that isn't your own. " Hickory read out loud.

Raising an eyebrow at the message he turned around and found out for himself what shadows they meant. One shadow figure loomed over Hickory grabbing his arm harshly but, another arrow was fired into its body causing it to scream despite not having a viable mouth. It let go of Hickory dropping the troll to the ground. The other shadow figures surrounded his spider.

Before Hickory could bolt to his pet two pairs of hands grabbed his arms. He looked up to see two odd trolls. The leader of the group with three tails and the rainbow haired one. They swiftly pulled him up into the three while the other three dropped down to ground. Hickory hissed feeling a delayed burn form on his arm where the shadow figure grabbed him.

Once in the tree,the most normal looking troll jumped out of the tree into battle while the leader dragged Hickory to safe zone. He touched crushed a couple flower from his tails in hands then rubbed them against the burn. They glowed cyan while the unknown troll's glowing eyes became cyan too. The burn became cool healing rapidly since the burn was minor.

" Trickee, left!" The winged troll warned.

The troll with the shield jumped back performing an double back flip while throwing his shield like disk. It sliced straight through a shadow figure sending it fleeing and weakened. Trickee turned his head to see his winged teammate stand against his back aiming at other shadow figures in the distance with mostly great accuracy.

" Thanks,Hype." Trickee said catching his shield.

" Ablaze, Behind you!" Hype warned.

The crystal dagger armed troll felt an shadow figure's hand touch his shoulder burning and hole through his clothes. Wincing in pain he stabbed both blindly above his head into the figure. The shadow hissed then as the crystal left actual holes in its body and fleed as the holes grew bigger until the shadow vanished into thin air.

" I'm okay!" Ablaze yelled.

The Rainbow haired one fought off the last shadow stabbing it with his staff. The crystals burnt holes into the being with hints of flames. It vanished burning out of existence. That was the last shadow figure for now. The spider laid on the ground wounded with a couple broken legs. It whimpered causing its saviour to lower his weapon. He pulled down his mask revealing a frown.

" Oh you poor thing." He said.

" Hype,Trickee and Ablaze! Help Boom get that spider up. It's coming with us." Their captain ordered.

" Yes, Branch!" They called out back.

Branch turned back to Hickory picking him up. The other troll tried to stop him by pushing him away but, the greyish troll turning more grey refused to leave him there. He threw Hickory over his shoulder then whistled loudly. An Armadillo Bus bolt through the forest excited.

" Hey! Who are you? Was zur Hölle ist hier los?" Hickory said.

" Wait until we're in the safe zone!" Branch barked.

Jumping out of the tree without hesitation Branch landed on his feet onto the grass. His team worked quickly to lift up the spider's body with all their strength. Hype,Boom and Ablaze grunted at how heavy it was. The Armadillo Bus circled around the area with her tongue hanging out looking for a path in and for the group of trolls.

" Rhonda! Over here,girl!" Branch called out.

The critter leaped over the river and dug her feet into the ground as she landed. She ran over to Branch and licked his face between her pants. Her door to the inside opened automatically. Boom, Ablaze, Hype and Trickee carried the wounded spider into Rhonda. Branch grimaced at affectionate licks getting all over him.

" Hey!" Branch laughed. " You know that's doesn't wash out easily."

Rhonda nuzzled her head against Branch letting out a joyful and soft bark. Giving her a quick pet Branch walked around the large critter. He carried the still protesting Hickory inside then the door automatically locked. The spider laid on carpet floor. Ablaze was in the driver's seat starting Rhonda up to take them back to their village. She raced towards the river and jumped over to the other side. Boom sat beside the spider's head petting it as it whimpered.

Hype pulled Trickee into the bathroom with him then kissed him behind the closed door. Hype had his arms around his boyfriend's waist while Trickee wrapped his arms around Hype's neck. The kiss prolonged itself getting heavier and hotter until they pulled away panting.

" What was that for?" Trickee asked.

" For not dying, goofball." Hype kissed him again.

Setting Hickory down the couch he shrugged then walked away to get the first aid kit. Hickory panicked darting his eyes around at everyone and everything in his line of sight. He got down on his knees beside his pet spotting burn marks and signs of couple legs being broken. His heart sank. Branch came back with the kit kneeling down beside the wounded bug's owner.

" Is Finn going be okay? Who are you people? What was that that shadow stuff?! What is going on? Where are we going?" Hickory demanded

" To the bunker..." Branch answered.

He took some bandages from the first aid kit. Taking the handful of last flowers currently bloomed from his hair and tails Branch crushed them in his hands. They flew into a bowl. The at work healer added glowing mushrooms and water and mixed and smashed them together with a spoon. In a matter of minutes it became green paste. Branch scoped it up with his hand then rubbed it onto the sore and broken legs. The spider named Finn twitched at the touch as Branch wrapped in a temporary set of bandages around the wounded areas.

" What are you doing?" Hickory said.

" Healing him. We'll take him to a vet to get him checked."  Branch said.

" Ssh! It's okay. We will take good of ya,buddy." Boom said to Finn.

Boom's colours brightened up. When Hype and Trickee eventually left the bathroom their colours were bright too. Only Branch and Ablaze remain in their current grey tones. It was like all these strange trolls were living mood rings.

" Who are you?" Hickory asked one more time.

" Branch of the Underground. Prince and Captain of this team. We are the Arcane Enforcers. We're not a threat unless you make us one." Branch declared. " Do you understand?"

Hickory paused before reluctantly nodding his head. None of this made sense to him. He never heard of this Underground before or the Arcane Enforcers. These Trolls... What kind of trolls were they? Why were their colours changing rapidly like a flip of a switch? Why did they have animalistic traits? Where did they even come from? So many questions raced to be first asked in the Bounty Hunter's mind as he sighed bearing his teeth.

Branch,a Prince apparently, wiped his hands off with a cloth then closed the first aid kit. Slowly bringing himself up he picked up the bowl with the spoon inside and the kit's handle. While Boom, Hype, Trickee and Ablaze pulled down their masks hoping to come off as more approachable, Branch didn't bother. He simply walked away back into the kitchen indifferent with his lower face mask still on.

" Our Willow is in sight." Ablaze said encouraging Rhonda to speed up.

" Good. Take Rhonda through the back to the dens. " Branch ordered.

" Yes,Sir." Ablaze agreed.

Stepping up the yoddler anxiously touched the spot where the shadow had previously burnt him. Where Branch had somehow aided and healed him magically. It felt cool when compared to the rest of his warm body heat. His eyes drifted down to his feet before Hickory looked up. Going against his better judgement he decided to keep going by approaching the Prince. Branch's ears perked despite how silent Hickory's footsteps were. Turning around away from his task of saving the cream Branch looked up the taller cowboy. He finally pulled down his mask revealing a cute face with handsome features but, Hickory refused to react to that.

" Thank you... For saving us from those Shadows." Hickory started off.

" Don't worry about it. That's my job."