Things have gotten rather... unusual lately. It all started when Branch and Willow were attacked by magical rocks called daggers, and we ended up learning they were a sign of the return an ancient power that belonged to a powerful being named Sol. That power now belongs to Willow, and she has to use it to destroy a powerful gem called the Black Rock, the source of a Dark curse that was set on the entire world by Sol's ex-fiancée, Callisto.

But Bash, the leader of the Party Crashers, was after the Black Rock, too. It seemed as though he had it at first, but at the last second, he was betrayed by Pow, who took the Black Rock's poisonous powers as her own, and they were absorbed into her heart full of hate.

Before we move on to what happens next, I think it's best we got to know our new enemy a little better. Let's start at the beginning...

It was the Spirit Festival in the Valley of Serenity. The Faunlettes had everything prepared. Red and golden flowers were planted, some of their petals were scattered across the ground and the waters of Lake Yesteryear, clay sculptures were painted with bright colors, and many had baked delicious chocolate moon cakes and Fizzleberry pies. It was supposed to be a time for them to celebrate the one day of the year when their loved ones in the afterlife would come back to visit them.

Instead, it was a time of misery.

The Faunlettes' village was infiltrated by a group called the Party Crashers. They had sent a scout to spy on them and learn all their weaknesses, so they could ruin the Spirit Festival. They came prepared with fire extinguishers due to the Faunlettes' ability to set themselves ablaze whenever they got angry. The poor Faunlettes had no choice but to let these marauders take over until everything was gone.

One Party Crasher, Pow, decided to see what fun activities she could sabotage. She followed a trail of red and gold flower petals to a lake with more petals floating on the surface of the water.

“This looks like a good place to have a pool party," Pow said with a smirk on her face. She noticed a Faunlette picking some berries off a bush and whistled at her. “Hey, you! Gimme those berries!"

“You should say ‘May I have some berries, please?'" Helga pointed out as she approached the Party Crasher.

“Don't tell me what to say!" Pow spat, taking all the berries and stuffing her face with them. “These are so good! Get more and come back here, while I tell all my friends about your pool!"

“Ooh, that's not a pool," Helga replied. “That's Lake Yesteryear. It's a portal to our world from the Land of the Dead. It only opens up on the night of the Spirit Festival. If someone tries to swim in it, they end up revisiting their worst memories, including the ones they can't even remember. One guy accidentally fell in, he saw the day he found out his wife was cheating on him with a Satyr. He cried and cried for weeks, like a rain cloud with horns. Trust me, you do not wanna go in there."

“You can't tell me what I don't want to do!" Pow protested, and jumped into the lake. “Cannonball!"

Helga could only cover her eyes as the water let out a flash of bright light once Pow was completely underwater.

“Don't say I didn't warn you!"

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“Pow... Pow..."

When Pow opened her lavender eyes, she found herself no longer underwater. She wasn't even in the Valley of Serenity! She seemed to be in a forest lying on her back by a riverbed. A green, speckled critter croaked as it sat on a nearby log.

“Bash? Guys?" Pow called out as she got up. “Anyone?!"

“There you are, Pow!" a voice called out. Pow turned around to find what appeared to be some sort of Ghost Girl with silver, wavy hair, pale pink eyes and a baby blue complexion. The skirt of her dress faded to transparency at the ankles, making her feet, if she had any, invisible. “I nearly thought you wouldn't make it!"

“Uh, who are you?" Pow asked nervously.

“A friend. Or, at least, I'd like to be. Come."

“I hope you're helping me find my friends," Pow said, and followed the Ghost Girl to a building surrounded by a stone wall. The building gave Pow the strangest feeling of déjà vu. “This place... It feels familiar. Like I've been here before."

“You have been here," the Ghost Girl explained. “Lake Yesteryear has a way of making you revisit lost memories. Painful memories, yes, but they do help you discover the truth."

“What truth?" Pow asked before noticing a young woman approaching the gates, holding something in her arms. Pow knew she had seen her before, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.

“You were supposed to save my relationship with Kevin, not have him break up with me!" the woman said angrily to whatever she was holding. “At least now, I won't have to put up with you. Lousy little pest."

The woman put down what she was holding and ran off immediately. Pow looked down to find a baby lying on the ground, swaddled up in a blanket. As she cried, the baby opened up her lavender eyes. Pow gasped at the sight.

Suddenly, the gates opened and an older woman stepped out and took a look around. She noticed the baby, but not Pow, and carried her inside, closing the gates behind her. Pow looked up and found a sign above the door that said “Miss Genevieve's Home For Orphaned Girls."

“What are you waiting for?" asked the Ghost Girl. “Go on inside!"

The Ghost Girl gently took Pow's hand and they were both able to walk through the wall and found many girls in matching outfits playing across the yard. Little kids were on a playground and the older girls just talked. Pow then noticed one girl, about four or five years old, still inside, staring out the window from the top floor. Pow decided to go in and take a look at her. Once she made it up the stairs, three older girls ran past her to the room where the girl was kept in.

“Hey, Penelope!" one of them shouted, knocking on the door. “Still wanna be our friend?!"

Pow took a good look at Penelope as she answered the door. To her surprise, it was the same baby from earlier.

“Really, can I?!" Penelope said excitedly.

“Yeah!" the girl answered. “Sally, Gwen, and I were thinking, and we should've at least given you a chance."

“Thanks, Judy!" Penelope exclaimed, hugging her. “I was beginning to think you guys didn't like me."

“Kid's got some brains after all," Gwen whispered to Sally, who giggled.

Judy shushed her friends and told Penelope about a secret opening in the walls of the orphanage. It was just the right size for them to squeeze through, so they could go outside and explore whenever they wanted.

“Tonight, we're thinking about escaping this dump," Sally explained. “Maybe we can find a cool place where we can live together. Away from the rest of the world."

“But today's Adoption Day," Penelope pointed out. “Families are gonna come to take some of us home with them."

“Actually, I've heard rumors that most of those people are meaner than Miss Genevieve," Gwen argued. “And a lot of them don't even feed you. You don't wanna starve, do you?"

Penelope shook her head.

“Didn't think so," Judy said. “But we better move quickly, or some horrible family will take us to a broken home!"

Pow watched as Penelope grabbed a porcelain doll and left with the older girls. She followed them outside through the back door to the wall. Part of it was covered in vines, and Sally pulled them apart to reveal a decent sized hole.

“After you, new friend!" Judy insisted.

“Is this safe for Nellie?" Penelope asked nervously.

“It'll be fine, just stay calm," Sally assured her.

“Attention, girls!" a voice announced. “Today's Adoption Day, so families are coming over to take some of you home. If you wanna get adopted, head for the main hall at once."

Penelope headed for the building, but Gwen stopped her.

“I thought you said you didn't want to starve?"

Without a second thought, Penelope climbed up to the hole and Pow walked through the wall to find a trail of mud headed downhill waiting at the exit. With her Nellie doll in her arm, Penelope made it out of the hole, failing to notice the mud trail.

“Look out!" Pow attempted to warn her, nearly forgetting this was a memory. She could only watch as little Penelope slid downhill, vanishing from her view.

“Loser!" Sally teased.

“Could she be any stupider?" Gwen asked her friends.

“As if someone would adopt her anyways," Judy added. “Let's get to the main hall."

Pow followed the trail to a bayou inhabited by Swampkins playing the bongos. She found Penelope against a rock, sobbing as she held her now broken Nellie doll. There was also a large cut on her leg. Pow then noticed a ball roll out of a bush.

“I'll get it!" a voice shouted, startling Penelope. She dropped the Nellie doll as a boy emerged. He looked about the same age as her, had light brown eyes, a few spots on his purple fin, and two sets of fangs. “Hey, are you okay?"

Penelope shook her head.

“Sorry to hear that," he said, picking up the ball. “What's your name?"

“Pe– Ow!" she cried out in pain after attempting to stand upright.

“Pow? Cool name!" the boy said. “I'm Kaboom. My family lives over there. Where's your family?"

“I don't have a family," she replied sadly. Kaboom stared at her sympathetically and suddenly got an idea.

“You do now!" he announced, helping her up so she would go home with him. “Wait till you meet my brother Bash! He's the coolest guy ever!"

After watching her younger self walk off with Kaboom, Pow fell on her knees and attempted to grab the remains of the Nellie doll, only for them to fade away with the rest of her memory.

“I'm sorry that happened to you, Pow," the Ghost Girl said sympathetically as the Party Crasher sobbed. “The most painful truths are often the most difficult to remember. You've always been used by those you thought cared about you, when it turns out no one ever really wanted you. Even Bash treats you that way, and you always will be unless..."

Pow stopped her tears and glared at the Ghost Girl. “Unless?"

❤️☀️🧡🌙💛☀️💚🌙💙☀️💜🌙

“Pow, why would you do this?!" Bash exclaimed in disbelief. “After everything we've been through!"

“Everything you put me through!" Pow argued, the Black Rock flickering in her chest. “I am not a tool for you to use!"

“I never used you!" Bash insisted. “All I've ever done was try to help you. We're friends! If anything, really, I want to be more than friends."

Pow laughed. “More than friends?! You're only saying that so I can give you what you want! My whole life, people used me for their own best interest. But guess what? I don't need anyone to love me. I can look after myself!"

“Hey, gang!" Cooper greeted as the rest of the Trolls made it downstairs. “What did we miss?!"

“Guys, not now!" Branch scolded.

“This whole time, you played me," Bash said to Pow, feeling his heart break.

“Takes one to know one, doesn't it?" Pow spat. Willow prepared a lightning strike, but Poppy held her back.

“Hold on," she said, and approached Pow cautiously. “It doesn't have to be this way. I'm sure we can all work this out."

“Stay back!" Pow threatened, the Black Rock flickering. Poppy just got closer.

“Pow, you have to give Willow the Black Rock so she can destroy it," Poppy explained. “You can't just keep it for yourself. The fate of the world is–"

“I said, stay back!" Pow yelled, covering her face with her arms. Suddenly, a dagger sprouted up from the ground and struck Poppy in the head. She was slammed into the wall, blood spilling from the roots of her hair.

“Mommy!" Flower cried out. Branch ran up to Poppy and noticed a large gash in the back of her head. He held her close as he took off his vest and used it to cover her wound, hoping to stop the bleeding.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," Branch muttered. Poppy didn't seem to respond to his actions.

Pow then noticed what had happened and looked at her hands in shock. Feeling enraged, Barb took the sun blade and used it to slice the daggers so she could get to Pow, who fought her off to no avail.

“Let that thing go!" Barb growled, face to face with Pow. “You have no idea what you're dealing with!"

“Neither do you!" Pow shouted, pushing her into the staircase with a blast of Dark energy. Barb wasn't hurt, but she dropped the sun blade as she was sent flying.

“Barb, are you okay?!" Ash exclaimed, running for her sister.

“I'm fine, go help Poppy!" Barb insisted. As Ash went to help the Pop queen, Pow grabbed the sun blade and used her new power to make a black sheath for it.

“Oh, no, you don't!" Branch growled, his eyes glowing red. He completely lost his sense of reason and charged towards Pow, his tattoos reappearing.

“Branch, no, wait!" Willow pleaded, but he didn't listen to her. Pow knocked him off the bridge as she ran past him and headed up the stairs. Willow used her telekinesis to lift him back up and froze his feet to the floor as he attempted to continue fighting. Brawl walked up to Branch and slapped him in the face, causing his gaze to return to normal.

“Pow, wait!" Bash shouted, running after her.

Knowing she would have to act quickly, Willow thawed Branch's feet, used her inhaler, opened up her wings, and flew out of the tower. She scanned her surroundings and found Bash in a cage of daggers. Pow created a rock bridge to cross the ravine and Willow landed in the middle of the bridge just as she made it to the other side.

“Pow, you can't do this!" Willow shouted.

“I can, and I will!" Pow declared, destroying the bridge with the sun blade. Willow flew back to the opposite direction and could only watch as Pow fled.

Yeah, that was pretty dark. Fortunately, this will probably be the only part in the book with that level of violence. But this is where things get complicated.

And yes, that is the same Ghost Girl from the end of Searching For The Light.

Until next time. 🤘