It took thirty minutes and seven jars of applesauce, but Flower and Tiny made it to a swamp. They didn't see Rhyme-a-saurus, but there was a sign.

“What's it's say?" Flower asked.

“‘Rhyme-a-saurus Swamp," Tiny read out loud. “No need to be nervous. Read sign out loud to fetch my service.' Okay, well, I just did that, then– What the?!"

Suddenly, the earth began to move and a gisnt creature bursted out of the water! It had a long, reddish brown body, bushy eyebrows, and a book for a nose!

“Pwease don't eat us," Flower whimpered, trying to hide behind Tiny.

“Hey there, little friends!" he greeted. “You seem like you're not okay. I hope that I can help you rhyme and have you on your way."

“Oh, well, hi!" Flower greeted, relieved that this guy wasn't going to eat her and Tiny. “I'm Pwincess Fwower! My fwiend Tiny's the one who needs help."

Tiny nodded. “I'm looking for a word that rhymes with diamond so I can finish my rap and get my flow back. Got any suggestions?"

“Uh, let me give that one a think. Consult the page, review the ink," Rhyme-a-saurus replied, opening up his book nose. “Diamond, diamond, diamond... Almond... science... climate. Climate! Yes. Climate is the best I could find. Give that a shot if you don't mind."

“Uh... Okay," Tiny Diamond said, and began rapping.

It's the holiday, holiday season

Gotta give my dad something that is pleasin'

He's a special man, a real, real special man

That's why I wanna give him everything that I can

He's my homie, his name is Guy Diamond

Wanna give him something special that'll really blow his climate!

“Climate?" Tiny repeated, feeling discouraged. “No! I'm not feeling that."

“Me neither," Flower agreed.

“Right," Rhyme-a-saurus said, feeling disappointed. “Well, then, travel by land and sail the mighty seas. You need to consult with the great Windbreeze."

“Windbreeze?"

“I wemember her!" Flower realized. “She's supposed to be this very wise, mystical Twoll. Maybe she can help us with our whyming pwobwem!"

“Okay, well, where can we find her?" Tiny asked.

“Uh, she's right there," Rhyme-a-saurus answered, pointing to an elderly Troll standing in front of her geode house.

“Hello!"

🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️

Back in Pop Village, Trolls of different music types were getting their gifts ready for the Holiday Gift Swap. Poppy went around helping them before decorating the big box for Branch's gift.

“Wow, Poppy!" said Barb with Ash and Val by her side. “That is one massive gift."

“Yeah! Who's the lucky Troll?" asked Val.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Poppy replied. “It's a secret gift swap. This vault is locked."

“Oh, yeah, that's cool," Val said. “Whatevs."

“Good for you," Ash added.

“Okay, I respect that," Barb said with a shrug, but Poppy couldn't hold it in.

“It's Branch!" she blurted out with enthusiasm. “I got Branch! Isn't that so exciting?!"

“Is she always like this?" Ash whispered to Val.

“Wait, you got your boyfriend?" Barb asked. “That's a lot of pressure."

“Pressure? Pfft! Come on. It's me we're talking about!" Poppy insisted. “The Gift Master! The Gift-inator! I've got it covered. Who did you get?"

“Mr. Dinkles, whoever that is" Barb replied.

“Oh, that's Biggie's pet!" Poppy answered. “He's a worm."

“A worm? That's awesome! But what do I get a worm?"

“Get him a hat," Poppy suggested. “He lost his old one. See? I'm full of giftspiration and there's plenty to go around."

“I don't know, Popsqueak," Val said skeptically. “It might be different when it's someone you love."

“What are you talking about?" Ash wondered. “I got Willow and I feel just fine."

“Well, Willow's different, little sis," Barb reminded her. “She appreciates the little things. Like when she listens to bird eggs for pecks."

“Yeah, I guess that's true," Ash agreed. “But still, if there's anyone I'm worried about being pressured, it's the poor soul who got Poppy."

In the bunker, Branch had Willow, Cooper and Prince D come over once he came up with a gift idea for Poppy. Willow, however, was more focused on painting a pebble-sized object, but Branch had no time to question that.

“Alright, guys," he said to all three of them while hanging pictures and equations on the wall. “Not gonna lie, I've been kinda freaking out over what to get the ultimate gift-giver, but I think I figured it out."

“Whoa! Nice vision board, Branch," Prince D said, attempting to sound nice though he was kinda freaking out.

“And not at all insane-looking," Cooper added, not even trying to be subtle.

“Mmm-hmm," Willow mumbled without paying attention.

“Thank you," Branch replied, and held up a stick to show them what he was talking about. “Okay. As everybody knows, giving the wrong gift is a real relationship death sentence. If I go too small, I might disappoint her and if I go too big, I might freak her out. I can't let that happen. So, I came up with an equation that led me to the perfect gift for Poppy. A represents Queen Poppy, B is all of her queenly responsibilities,  C is the amount of time spent doing her hair every morning. Therefore, A plus B squared minus the cosine of square root of C... Well, you all see where I'm going with this?"

“Yeah..." the Funk twins said uneasily.

“Uh-huh, sure," Willow muttered.

“Poppy never stops multitasking!" Branch summed up. “So, I'm gonna build her something that will save her time. I give you... the world's first Troll hair-doer! I just need to go to Poppy's place and get the exact measurements of her head without her noticing and I'm good to go!"

“Well, that doesn't sound creepy at all," Cooper said, feeling uncomfortable.

“Willow, I may need your help!" Branch said, grabbing her wrist with his hair and dragging her to the lift. Unfortunately, she dropped her jar of red paint and it shattered.

“Shoot! That was my last Cheery Red."

🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️🎁❄️🎀❄️

Inside her geode home, Windbreeze watched through a crystal as Guy Diamond, back in Pop Village, searched for his little boy.

“Tiny?" he called out. “Are you playing some kind of holiday hide and seek? Because if so, you win! Tiny! Tiny, where are you?!"

“Sick cave, Windbreeze!" Tiny said as he and Flower stepped inside.

“Pwetty!" Flower said in awe. The gems inside the geode sparkled like stars.

“Well, come in, sweet sparkle children," Windbreeze said and turned to Tiny. “Your father is quite worried about you."

“Yeah, I know," Tiny explained. “I don't wanna worry him, but I can't go until I get my flow back."

“Uh-uh-uh, I already know why you're here," Windbreeze said, extending her hand out to him.

“Alright!" Tiny shouted, lying down on her hand. “I just gotta sit back and get mystical!"

While Windbreeze did her work, Flower just played with a few gems. She tried to stack them up to make a tower, but Tiny's screaming scared her and made her accidentally knocked them over.

“Tiny, you okays?" she asked worriedly.

“I don't know, Princess..." he answered shakily. Flower just gave him a comforting hug.

“And we're done," Windbreeze said. “Your back should be completely healed."

“My back? What?!" Tiny exclaimed in exasperation. “No, I came here to get my flow back! I really need to get rhyming so I can give my daddy his holiday gift! What do I do now?"

“Well, you go see the cloud monks at the temple on the top of that mountain," Windbreeze answered. Tiny and Flower looked outside to see a rather tall mountain.

“I gotta go all the way to the top of that mountain?!"

“No, not that mountain, that mountain," Windbreeze corrected him, showing them a much bigger mountain.

“I'll be wight besides you," Flower reassured her friend.

Tiny sighed. “Okay. This is for my daddy!"

Determined, Tiny Diamond ran towards the mountain and made it up the first few steps. Clumsy little Flower struggled to catch up, but she wasn't going to let her friend go it alone.

Leave your thoughts down in the comment section, if you like this, hit the star 🌟, if not, too bad.

Next chapter, Willow sings Beyoncé. Cookies for whoever guesses the song! 🍪

Until next time. 💗