Following that ominous moment, Branch felt his entire surroundings closing in. The music from the party faded out and he only heard the echoes of Poppy's words playing on a loop in his brain. Luckily Floyd came to the rescue and managed to snap him out of it, Branch was now capable of formulating words.

"She just ditched me." Branch said with an expressionless face. Floyd gave him a comforting hug telling him in his ears, "Come on let's talk about this at home."

"No!" Branch gently shoved himself away from his brother and wiped his tears, "I will be singing with you guys tonight!"

"Branch listen to me." Floyd grappled his shoulders with a strength he wasn't accustomed to using and said, "This is a lot for you to take in it's better if we soo-"

"I don't care." Branch interrupted him blatantly, avoiding any opportunity to address it, "She didn't mean it. Come on, Floyd."

Floyd knew there wasn't much to do since his brother tends to react like this in frustrating situations, so he simply had to accept it, "The show must go on." He affirmed to himself as he followed Branch to the backstage area.

Now with the one responsible for his reaction, Poppy seemed to be processing everything rather slowly. She began to realize her intentions and reactions this evening were extremely inappropriate, sometimes invasive, and hurtful. Her pondering was put into pause by her Bergen guests who had arrived not too long ago in Pop Village.

"Poppy!" Bridget squeaked with her soft-spoken voice waving at her excitedly, "Hi, bestie!"

Poppy lit up a slight smile upon seeing her long-distance best friend, "Bridget! You made it!"

Gristlle scratched the back of his head and he twirled his feet around, seemingly embarrassed of somehow, probably because he had devoured almost every piece of food in the food court "Hey totally not scary, enthusiastic, vibrant pink troll queeny."

"Hi." Poppy was a bit thrown off by Gristle's shenanigans, but she was used to it by now.

Bridget couldn't help but notice Poppy being way less active than she usually is, asking a genuine and caring question, "You okay? You seem a little distracted."

"I'm good. Just trying to marinate a few things in my head." The troll responded while tapping on her head, calming all of her speedy thoughts for once.

"I'm having trouble marinating most of your food." Gristle squeezed himself into the personal conversation and blurt out some very random opinions of his again, "It's exquisite, I want to hire your chef!"

"Grissy, manners!" Bridget slapped the back of Gristle's head and continued to speak to her bestie, trying to avoid the subject that made her rather uncomfortable, "I cannot wait to see Brozone on stage! So glad we didn't miss the performance. We had some troubles on our way."

"Rawr." Gristle purred flirtingly to his wife, winking and licking his claws.

"Eugh." Poppy felt shivers down her spine, "Well, I'm happy that you two are enjoying everything so far!"

"We'll keep in touch." Bridget smiled at her friend and led her husband away by interlocking their arms together and sitting in their respective places. Poppy noticed Viva standing in the front row in the crowd along with their father, which meant the Brozone show was about to begin

Soon it was time for another annunciation, Mr. Dinkles was placed next to the speakers again as he narrated the nearing moments, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Trolls and Bergens and creatures of all ages. Get ready to get Brozonified. That's right. The most awesome boyband of all time is coming on stage in five, four, three, two, and..."

The five members of Brozone appeared standing backward to the crowd while they vocalized the opening intro to their song, soon a spotlight was activated on Branch who was trying to keep it together, noticing Poppy and Viva stranged on the crowd, he assumed he now knew the origin of his girlfriend's out-of-character behavior, "Sick and tired of hearin' all these people talk about...
What's the deal with this pop life and when is it gonna fade out?
The thing you've got to realize what we're doin' is not a trend
We got the gift of melody, we're gonna bring it till the end!"

After his verse, Clay got the lead and his other brothers sang back up for him with some killer harmonies as per usual, "(It doesn't matter)
'Bout the car I drive, or what I wear around my neck
(All that matters)
Is that you recognize that it's just about respect
(It doesn't matter)
'Bout the clothes I wear and where I go and why
(All that matters)
Is that you get hype and we'll do it to you every time!"

The entire band joined in and performed together in union in this song's chorus, "Do you ever wonder why
This music gets you high
It takes you on a ride
You feel it when your
Body starts to rock
And baby you can't stop
And the music's all you got
This must be POP!"

The oldest brothers in the band, John Dory and Spruce took advantage of their deep and unique voices to sing a small duet together, "Dirty pop
Baby, baby you can't stop
I know you like this
Dirty pop
This must be..."

The heartthrob got the spotlight to himself with a powerful and smooth solo verse, enchanting his wife and thrilling his children, "Now why you want to try to classify the type of thing we do?
'Cause we're just fine doin' what we like, can we say the same for you?
I'm tired of feelin' all around me animosity
Just worry 'bout yours 'cause I'm a get mine now people can't you see?"

John Dory and his brothers began to sing the bridge as Floyd ad-libbed some verses with his soothing and calm voice that were previously performed by everyone, "(It doesn't matter)
'Bout the car I drive or the ice around my neck
(All that matters)
Is that you recognize thats it's just about respect
(It doesn't matter)
'Bout the clothes I wear and where I go and why
(All that matters)
Is that you get hype and we'll give it to you every time!"

Floyd jumped up and performed a beautiful high not while floating in the air in slow-motion,
"Oooooh
Man, I'm tired of singing!"

The brothers all caught him as he landed, now leading to the final verse of the song where they all performed together in perfect synch, except Branch was a little distracted by the fact Poppy wasn't being her usual self. Poppy herself began to connect the dots and realized she had to do something about it, "Do you ever wonder why
This music gets you high
It takes you on a ride
You feel it when your
Body starts to rock
And baby you can't stop
And the music's all you got
This must be POP!"

The entire crowd went absolutely feral. The brothers all bow down to the fans and thank the praise and love. Riff even ripped off his shirt and admitted his love for brozone. Holly spotted Val shedding a tear at the performance.  Tiny Diamond was slightly unamused by their lack of efficiency and diversity in song choice. Bridget and Gristle clapped with their fingers as they did not intend to scare anyone. The Snackpack all cheered from their respective place, happy for Branch and their loyalty as friends and fans.

"Oh, my Pop. WHAT DID I JUST DO?!" Poppy's realization kicked in and she felt the electric rainbow energy flourishing back into her system. She shouted the love of life's name with all her might because she really wanted to fix things with him before anything.

Before Poppy could even reach Branch a large critter-like spaceship burst through the treetops and projected its holographic magenta lights onto the village, the party's structure was severely damaged as the spotlights were dropped from the threads. The trolls all gathered together in a large group meanwhile the larger species did nothing to interrupt as it would affect the plot of this book.

"Branch!" Poppy shouted again this time catching his attention. Branch looked at her worriedly running toward her. However, the spaceship shot a glitter bomb right at the gap between the two causing a troll-scale explosion and damaging a good part of the stage and the ground. The trolls all gathered together, feeling threatened by the invader.

The spaceship had now landed in front of the damaged mushroom stage and now everyone could see it much more clearly. The round spaceship resembled a beetle, it was white with some magenta markings on the sides and turquoise details around its features. The critter opened its mouth and flicked out its tongue that resembled some sort of ramp, an ominous mist emerged from its depths and a mysterious silhouette stepped out.

Poppy and Branch held each other looking out at the mysterious figure, King Peppy seemed to be nervous about its presence as Viva protected him fiercely. The extraterrestrial resembled a female troll wearing space armory similar to the pattern on the beetle, along with a menacing helmet that came with a voice pitch amplifier. The intruder finally stepped onto the floors of the village and began to announce its message, "Greetings troll nations. For I have come in peace."

Branch furrowed his eyebrows and pointed a sharp twig at the stranger, "W-Who are you and what are your intentions here?"

The individual took one step closer but due to Branch's impulsiveness she was forced to stay in the same place, "I am General Supergleam and I come in the name of Queen Stellar from the Disco Trolls Tribe, well planet, in this case. But you get what I mean."

"Disco trolls?" Poppy asked herself in a seemingly familiar way she did when she found out about the other troll tribes.

"I thought they were extinct?!" Prince D. looked at his parents, questioning their teaching methods about troll history."

"Oh yeah? You still haven't told me what your deal is!" Branch threatened her again, holding the twig toward her at a safe distance.

"Fine. I'll skip the formalities then." Supergleam uttered disappointedly, "I come with the intention to please my leader's request. She seeks the worthiest and most unique POP  trolls on earth for, undisclosed reasons."

"No one is ever leaving Pop!" Branch got in the way, fiercely telling her off.

Cooper suddenly stepped out of the crowd, blurting out some concerning choice of words, "Most unique pop troll? That would be me! I am the only funk/pop troll in existence!"

"Half funk? Hot." Supergleam spoke to herself on her technological holographic tablet, "But I'll need more options."

"Cooper!" Poppy spoke out to him trying to ease the situation. DJ Suki woke up from her short nap and decided to partake in whatever was going on since she only heard the last sentence, "No! I am. I'm the only pop troll with a doctorate in techno DJing arts!"

Supergleam twitched her head, intrigued by DJ's traits, "A DiscoJockey. Interesting." Suddenly the alienated troll activated a bubbletrap system, similar to the one the funk trolls created. The bubble absorbed both Cooper and DJ Suki unexpectedly. That caught Poppy's attention, "Hey! Put them down!"

"Coop!" Darnell called for him but his parents pulled him back, trying to protect him from getting captured too.

"That's a negative leader of the pop trolls." Supergleam responded while typing onto her technological gadgets, "I still need more members of your tribe."

Chenille looked at her sister and whispered into her ear, "Theoretically speaking, we are extremely talented pop trolls."

"You're right." Satin nodded at her statement and agreed, "But I have a feeling that we shouldn't say anything at all."

"BAM!" It was too late since Supergleam had already absorbed the twins as well, "Ugh I have a feeling this will take too long. Allow me to read your qualifications."

Supergleam's scanner read every troll's status and abilities and the ones that caught her attention the most served as the best options, "You do seem to take good care of your pet."

"Oh thank you. Mr. D deserves all the love he gets!" Biggie innocently responded to the alien and when he least expected he was inside the bubble as well. Supergleam counted the number of trolls she had already caught then she read Smidge, "You're quite strong, aren't you?"

"HEY!" Poppy shouted at her again but Branch held her back.

"Obviously. I never skip leg day." Smidge said as a matter of factly just in time for Supergleam to capture her. One troll in particular called Supergleam's instincts profoundly, "You. Glitter troll with an impeccable smile."

A random glitter troll fainted in front of Guy Diamond, revealing he was actually the troll she was addressing, "Me?"

"Yes. You." Supergleam quickly absorbed him before he could even have a choice, "The queen will take special interest in you. Trust me."

"Enough of this!" Poppy walked toward her angrily, "Put that down."

"Hmmm. Afraid not." Supergleam soon stopped her technology gadgets and jumped into her space-beetle, "Bye!"

"What?! No!" Poppy attempted to snatch her friends who were trapped in a bubble with her hair, "GUYS!"

"POPPY! WATCH OUT!" Branch screamed, pushing Poppy out of the way as a bubble dashed through the air and absorbed him along. Trapping him with the others inside the spaceship with Supergleam, the beetle's mouth latched up and now it is flying back to the sky. Poppy looked up in denial screaming her boyfriend's name scared, "BRANCH!"

Before anyone could even do anything the spaceship darted into space in the blink of an eye, leaving everyone in shock. Poppy looked up devastated, all the others saddened by the capture of their friends. Tiny however was losing it, sobbing like a baby, which he is, "OH DADDY! I can't believe I lost you!"

Meanwhile, Legsly and Fuzzbert walked into the scene eating popcorn and drinking milkshakes. Legsly looked around wrathfully, "Oh man! I can't believe they left without me!"