Not one of my better title ideas...

It was another beautiful day in the happiest tree in the forest. A young Troll with bright green hair decided it was the perfect day to go swimming in the river. As she floated on her back in her red bathing suit with white polka dots, she noticed something sparkling in the distance. She swam to the shore and found an unusual scepter made out of black stone sticking out of the ground.

“I wouldn't mess with that, fair lass," a strange voice warned. “That thing is cursed."

The girl looked up to find a strange-looking Troll staring back at her. He had bluish-grey skin covered in tattoos from his neck to his ankles, pierced ears, red eyes that glowed slightly, thick black hair with purple tips, and wore ripped-up jeans.

“Sorry," she said, backing away nervously. “What kind of curse?"

“It was created by one of Callisto's followers," he explained. “Of course, you've probably never heard of Callisto. She was the Empress of Death, Queen of Darkness. Demon child of the Moon. Fortunately, all Trolls are immune to her curse because they carry both the light of the Sun and the moon's Darkness, but that doesn't mean their light can't be dimmed."

The girl was getting worried. “What do you mean by that?"

“This scepter was created to capture the minds of anyone the wielder wished to control," he answered. “I've been searching for it for years, and I've traveled a great length to find it."

The man grabbed the scepter and waved it in front of the girl's face. Her green eyes turned completely black and she lost all sense of thinking.

“And who better to test it on than a sweet, empty-headed Pop Troll," the tattooed Troll said as she followed him into a cave.

45 Years Later...

“Barb hit you with the ultimate power chord," Branch explained to Poppy as he showed her a scrapbook. “But since you had gumdrops in your ears, you only looked like a rock zombie. Your mind was still free."

“And then what?" Poppy asked eagerly. She was enjoying this story.

“Barb gave you the guitar so you would turn your father, Cooper, and Prince D," he continued. “But instead, you smashed the guitar, destroyed the strings, and turned the other leaders and myself back to normal."

“I destroyed the strings? But didn't we all lose our music?"

“Nope!" Flower answered. “Music comes fwom within."

“That's right," Branch said. “We all learned that our differences make the world a better place, and we all ended up becoming friends. And we... Well..."

“I know, Branch," Poppy said, placing a hand on his. “I don't remember, but I know."

Branch found himself leaning in, his lips closing in on Poppy's... and stopped.

“Anyway, the doctor said you can go home now, i-if you wanted," he informed her. Branch didn't think Poppy was ready to be affectionate with him yet. He needed to give her time to recollect.

“I'd like that," Poppy agreed. Branch took her hand and helped her get out of the bed. Flower climbed onto Branch's back and the small family headed outside of the clinic.

“Look, it's Queen Poppy!" a Troll shouted. The rest of Pop Village immediately got excited. Poppy hid behind Branch nervously.

“It's okay, Pops," Branch reassured her. He guided her across the village to her pod, and Poppy looked around curiously. This was her first time seeing her home since losing her memory.

“This is where I live?" Poppy asked as they entered the fluffy pink seed pod.

“Yeah," Branch answered, showing her around. “This is your wardrobe, here's the outfit you wore at the Hair Ball, these are some of your homemade scrapbooks."

“Over here's your chair!" Flower said, showing Poppy the blue chair with the purple flower on it. “You tell the best stowies!"

Poppy smiled at her daughter. “Why don't we spend the whole day together? I want to make up for lost time."

“Yay!" Flower cheered. “Can we go to Bergen Town?!"

“Sure!" Poppy replied before asking, “Where's that?"

“It's not far from here," Branch answered. “I'm sure Smidge will take you."

“You're not coming?"

“I wish I could, but I need to ask the other tribe leaders a few questions," Branch said. “I think something's wrong with me."

“Shouldn't you see Dr. Moonbloom?" Poppy asked.

“I did, she just said I'm done for," Branch answered. “I think it has something to do with the ultimate power chord, so I'm gonna ask everyone else who got hit."

“Okay," Poppy said. “So, I'll see you later?"

“Of course," Branch assured her, and kneeled down to Flower. “And I'll see you later, too!"

“Wuv you, Daddy," Flower cooed as he kissed her forehead.

“I love you, too, sprout."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

In her pod, Willow was unboxing some of the latest additions to her snow globe collection. They included King Trollex's LED castle, the Lonesome Flats jail, and the Metronome Tower. Willow placed all three of them on the shelf cluttered with snow globes of places all around the Troll World. She realized she still had a dozen more in the box.

“Hmm, I'm gonna need another shelf," Willow said to herself.

Suddenly, she heard K-pop music and Ari, Baby Bun, Gomdori, and Kim-Petit danced their way into her pod.

“Hello!" Kim-Petit greeted.

“Oh, hey," Willow replied. “Wait, aren't there supposed to be five of you?"

“Today's Wani's birthday," Baby Bun explained, “and we had to send her away so we can surprise her."

“A surprise on her birthday?" Willow asked, dusting her snow globes with her telekinesis. “Isn't that kinda predictable?"

“Not this one," Gomdori assured her. “It's gonna be the biggest surprise in the history of surprises!"

“And we need your help putting it together," Ari added. “It's gonna feature all of Wani's favorite things! Ice cream cake, blue lemonade, milkshakes, butterflies..."

“I'm kinda busy today," Willow said apologetically. “Besides, I'm not a very good party thrower. Why don't you get Bella Brightly to help?"

“Can she magically make a giant ice sculpture of Wani?" Kim-Petit asked.

“Maybe not magically, but–"

“Come on, Willow!" Baby Bun pleaded. “Wani's like a sister to us! We want to do something to show how much she means to us! We only ask for your help!"

“Please, Willow!" begged the others.

Willow groaned. “Fine, I'll help you."

“Yay!"

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

First, Branch went to see King Trollex in Techno Reef.

“Nope."

Next, he spoke to Trollzart in Symphonyville.

“Mm-mm."

Then, Delta Dawn in Lonesome Flats.

“Sorry, sugar."

Branch screamed as little Clampers chewed on his butt. “What about her?!" he groaned, pulling her off.

“No, that's actually normal for her."

After getting his butt bandaged (and a new pair of pants), Branch finally made it to Vibe City.

“Ever since Barb's World Tour, have either of you been acting weird in any way?" he asked King Quincy and Queen Essence.

“What do you mean, Branch?" King Quincy wondered.

“I mean, have either of you had any emotional episodes? Bursts of rage? Anything that involves breaking stuff, or hurting other Trolls?"

“Sorry, Branch, but neither of us have gone through anything like that," Queen Essence replied.

“Well, thanks anyway," Branch said, leaving the observation deck. Before heading back home, however, he decided to get a bowl of soup at a diner.

“Hey, Branch!" Cooper called out from the booth behind him, where his twin, Prince D sat next to him. “Over here!"

“Oh, hey guys!" Branch replied, joining them.

“What's poppin', Branch?" Prince D asked.

“I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with me," he replied. “I think it has something to do with Barb's power chord, but no one else is having any problems."

At that moment, a familiar, fluffy bat flew into the diner and landed in Branch's bowl, splashing the soup out on all of them.

“Are you kidding me?!" Prince D groaned.

Cooper just laughed. “It's like a bath you can eat!"

“Debbie, what are you doing here?" Branch wondered, taking a note from her mouth. He opened it to find it was from Riff.

Dear Branch,

Uh, how's it going? Good? Me, too.

Come over to Volcano Rock City.

I wanna show you something.

Uhh...

Riff

“What's it say?" Cooper asked.

“That Riff has something to show me," Branch answered. “Wanna come?"

“Okay," Prince D replied.

“Count me in!" Cooper agreed.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“It has to be real big!" Baby Bun said to Willow. “And in her complete likeness!"

“How's that?" she asked, finishing the ice sculpture of Wani.

“No, you made the hair turquoise," Gomdori answered. “Wani's is more of an aquamarine."

Willow made the ice sculpture evaporate and instantly made another one.

“Now you got her face wrong," Ari pointed out. “She has emerald green eye makeup, that's jade."

“Sorry," Willow apologized, and tried again.

“No, too fat," Kim-Petit said. Willow tried again.

“Bangs are too short," Baby Bun added. Willow tried again.

“Too cartoon-y," Ari replied. Willow tried again.

“That one looks like my mom!" Gomdori exclaimed.

“Oh, come on!" Willow shouted, melting it. “They all looked exactly the same!"

The four K-Pop Trolls gasped in horror.

“I thought you were an artist," Ari said.

“I'm a filmmaker, not Michael-Angel-Troll!" Willow pointed out. “And besides, I'm sure Wani will be okay with whatever she gets."

“No, this has to be perfect," Baby Bun argued. “Wani means too much to us!"

“Okay, I'll keep trying," Willow said nervously, making another ice sculpture. “Give me a scoop on the guest list."

“Guest list?" Kim-Petit asked curiously.

“You know, everyone else you're inviting," Willow replied. “All your friends, family, poisonous reptiles."

The four Trolls glanced at each other in confusion.

“It's usually just us five," Gomdori admitted. “We're bounty hunters, we're not big on socializing. Apart from each other."

“Oh, I know the feeling," Willow said. “I was completely alone until I made friends with Poppy. And then I found out about my powers, I left the village, I was completely alone again. Then, I got involved in Barb's Rock Tour, I met Ash, and hopefully I won't be alone a third time."

The K-Pop girls hugged her.

“But who should we invite?" Baby Bun asked.

“How about the other bounty hunters?" Willow suggested.

“Good idea!" Gomdori agreed. Kim-Petit giggled.

“Maybe the leaders, if they have time," Baby Bun added.

“And Branch!" Ari swooned. The other girls stared at her curiously. “What? He's cute."

❤️☀️🧡🌙💛☀️💚🌙💙☀️💜

“Well, this is your last chance, Barb," Ash warned as they played a game of Lava and Rockwalls. “Oh, if you get lava again, you lose!"

Feeling determined, Barb blew on the dice, shook them with all her might, and threw them on the board.

“Yes! Rockwalls!" Barb cheered. But suddenly, Riff came in with boxes of pizza, tripped on a cable, and landed on the game board, causing the dice to flip over!

“Lava," King Thrash muttered.

“Riff!" Barb shouted. Riff held up one of the pizzas to his face, terrified by Barb's glare. “Why, I oughta..."

“Barbara, play nice," King Thrash said.

“Sorry, Dad."

“Riff, I'm here!" Branch shouted. The four Rock Trolls looked outside to find him and the Funk twins right outside.

“Hey, guys!" Barb greeted. “You're just in time for lunch!"

“Actually, we're just here because Riff wanted to tell Branch something," Prince D. said. “Besides, I don't eat pizza."

“Riff, are you hiding something from us?" Ash asked.

Riff nodded nervously. “I just wanted to be sure before it got out in the open," he admitted. “It's nothing scary, just a little weird."

“Well, what is it?" Branch asked.

“I took a piece of your daughter's hair, and I sent it to a lab at my school," Riff explained. “They couldn't figure out how, but apparently, she's related to Spyke Vicious, the most dangerous Troll who ever lived."

“Even more dangerous than Willow?" Cooper said without thinking.

“Hey! That's my girlfriend you're talking about," Ash pointed out.

“She did nearly kill me," Barb pointed out.

“Spyke doesn't have magic powers," Riff began, “but he used to possess the Scepter of Tsulva. Tsulva was a creature the size of a Classical Music Troll, and one of Callisto's followers. With the Darkness, he created a scepter out of Mind-sidian, and it held the power to control the minds of anyone the wielder wished by waving it in front of their faces. Tsulva was eventually defeated by a Country Troll named Whistling Dixie, or so we have heard, but his scepter disappeared.

Eventually, it was found by Spyke, who promised King Axel, our ruler at the time, he would bring it to him. What none of us knew was that he wanted to take the scepter for himself. He used it to manipulate Trolls into doing what he wanted, commit crimes against Trollkind, and try to steal the throne. Luckily, King Axel was blind, so the scepter had no effect on him. He took the scepter and had Spyke taken to the dungeons deep below the Fortress, and no one's heard from him since."

“And Flower is supposed to be related to this dude?" Prince D asked.

Riff nodded. “And I think Branch is, too."

“What about Poppy?" Cooper wondered. “How do we know she's not related?"

“No, I looked at her family records," Branch replied. “All Pop Trolls, there's no Spyke Vicious."

“What about you?" Prince D asked.

“Both of my parents are Pop Trolls," Branch claimed.

“What about your grandfolks?" Barb wondered.

“Okay," Branch replied. “My father's from the Birchwood family, they're all Pop Trolls, and my grandma on my mother's side was a Pop Troll."

“And your mom's father?" Ash questioned.

“Oh, well..." Branch trailed off, feeling a little insecure. “Grandma never talked about him. She wrote a couple things in her diary, though."

“Oh, do tell," Barb said with a smirk. Everyone raised their eyebrows. “What? I can't resist hearing about someone's secrets."

Branch pulled out a purple book with green lettering on the front that read “Rosiepuff," and opened it up to a page on his grandfather.

March 13th

I met a strange Troll while swimming today. He had dark hair and had tattoos almost all over his body. He held a black scepter and waved it in front of my face. After that, my memory blanked out. I woke up alone, by the river. Without my swimsuit. My body hurt so much, I couldn't move. Dad found me and took me home, fortunately, but I didn't know what to tell him.

May 27th

I found out what that stranger did to me, I dare not call him a Troll. Well, one good thing came out of it: a beautiful baby girl. I decided to name her Cyan, because she's a beautiful shade of blue. I promised to love her and protect her no matter what, even though her father was someone who hurt me.

“So, what happened to the scepter?" Prince D asked.

“Wh-What scepter are we talking about?" King Thrash mumbled.

“The one Grandpa took from Spyke Vicious, Dad," Ash answered.

“Right!" he remembered. “He had it turned into a guitar and used it to protect our string."

The others gave Barb a cold look.

“What?" she asked.

Ash rolled her green eyes. “Since an immediate family member was already affected, it's even stronger in Branch. That's why he's the only Troll still suffering from the ultimate power chord. Is there anything we can do about this?"

Riff shook his head. “You heard what Midnight said. Things like this can only go away once Willow destroys the Black Rock. And there's still no sign of Pow."

“Well, then, we'll just have to keep looking," Branch said. “And until we find her, I can keep my temper under control."

“There's also your sex drive," Riff added. “I can help with that, if you'd like."

Branch shook his head quickly. “No, thanks. I'm good."

“Hey, guys!" Cooper said. “We're all invited to a party at 5:15!"

“Five-fifteen?" Riff asked curiously.

“Well," said Branch, “if you say 5:00, people show up at 5:15 anyway. And if you say 6:00, people start expecting dinner, it's a whole thing."

“Hey, Barb?" Ash asked quietly. “How did you know what that guitar was gonna do?"

“Some weird ghost told me," she answered. “Haven't seen her since."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Later that day, Poppy, Flower, and Smidge were returning home from Bergen Town when they noticed Wani standing alone, looking around curiously.

“Let's stop here for a second, Smidge," Poppy suggested. Without question, Smidge landed the flyer bug in front of the K-Pop Troll. “Hey, Wani, whatcha doin'?"

“Looking for my friends," she replied. “I haven't seen them all day, but I'm pretty sure they're just trying to throw me another surprise birthday party."

“A surprise party on his birthday? That's exactly what he'd expect!"

“Uh, Poppy?" Smidge said.

Poppy snapped back into reality. “Sorry, I was having a flashback. You were saying?"

“They do this every year," Wani continued. “Always try to find a new way to surprise me. Luckily, I took a theatre class and I know how to act surprised in case I'm not."

“Ooh, pwetty!" Flower cooed as she got tangled up in some golden string.

“Flower, I don't think you should do that!" Poppy said nervously, carefully pulling the string off of the toddler.

“Wait, what's this?" Wani wondered, picking up a piece of paper that read “Follow the string!" The four Trolls followed it to a clearing in the forest, but nothing was there.

“Three, two–"

“SURPRISE!" everyone shouted, jumping out from their hiding spots.

“Wow, a second early," Wani said, feeling rather impressed.

“Happy birthday, Wani!" Baby Bun cheered as all four of them hugged her.

“We love you so much!" Gomdori added.

“I love you guys, too!" Wani replied. “Did you put this up all by yourselves?"

“Well, we had a little help," Ari admitted, winking at Willow. “Do you like it?"

“Like it? It's amazing! You guys are the best."

“We wanted to show you how much you mean to us," Kim-Petit said. “Without you, there wouldn't be a K-Pop Gang!"

Wani giggled. “You tell me that every year."

“Well, we mean it," Baby Bun said. “We love you. All of us!"

The rest of the Trolls cheered as a big smile spread across Wani's face.

“Well, what more are we waiting for?" Tresillo asked. “Let's party!"

While everyone else danced, Poppy and Branch approached Willow.

“Gotta say, Will, this is pretty impressive," Branch admitted.

“I have fourteen brothers and sisters," Willow pointed out. “I know how to throw a birthday party. I'm nowhere near as good as Pops, though."

“You think I can try to throw a party again?" Poppy wondering. “Maybe not right away, though."

“If you wanna," Branch replied. “Flower's birthday is three months from now, that should be plenty of time to think about it."

Poppy nodded. “That'd be great."

“So, Branch, what did you do today?" Willow asked.

“Well," he said, “I just found out, and try not to freak out, that I may have a very minor case of an evil curse."

“There are good curses?" Poppy wondered.

“Yeah, that sounded weird," Branch admitted. “But the point is, I'm not in danger. And I will make sure it's under control until the Black Rock is destroyed. Then, it'll go away completely."

“Branch," Willow said, “as a Troll who used to be cursed, I can assure you you're not alone."

“Hey, Willow!" Ash called out.

“Later, losers," she told them, and ran off with her girlfriend. Branch growled as his eyes glowed red.

“Branch?" Poppy said sternly. Branch's eyes returned to normal and he smiled nervously at Poppy. “Good boy."

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

In a canyon far away, Pow was still attempting to control the daggers, but she continued to struggle.

“You're doing it wrong," a familiar voice said softly. Pow turned to notice the Ghost Girl floating next to her.

“What are you doing here?" she asked.

“I'm here to help you learn to master the Black Rock's power," the Ghost Girl explained. “It responds to hatred and anger. If you truly want to wield the Black Rock, you mustn't be afraid to tap into the depths of your deepest rage."

Pow thought about this for a second before her strange friend continued.

“Remember what everyone put you through, what he put you through, and use that fury, Pow."

Feeling enraged by the memories of her birth mother, the girls at the orphanage, and especially Bash, Pow let out her rage, raising the daggers higher than ever before.

I imagined most of this chapter going a lot different, originally. But I guess [TIME PERIOD HERE] of doing other stuff makes you change your mind.

Don't worry about Broppy. I'm planning on giving them a little more romance in the next chapter.

Until then, rock on. 🤘