Trollex and Roxie's Story

Chapter 7: Roxie

"Trollex, we can still do this, we just got to keep putting up a fight." I said, crumpling up my hand in determination.

"Roxie! Don't you see? We have tried, we have failed and look where it's brought us. Nowhere!" Trollex yelled to me. I was surprised. I have never seen Trollex this upset before. 

Poppy just looked at us. Branch came running back. "Everyone's safe, what's going on?" Branch asked. Trollex had his eyes closed, like he was trying to think of something, and trying not to cry. I sat up and hugged his close to my body. Trollex was so far down that I could rest my chin on his head. He hugged me back, smushing his face in my heart. 

"We should give them a moment." Poppy whispered into Branch's ear. Poppy pushed Branch away, Branch showing all the confusion on his face. He tired to peek and see what was going on, but Poppy wouldn't let him and Branch gave up.

Trollex and I sat for a while, him crying into my chest, some tears dripping down into the water we were in.

"Trollex..." I said in a quiet, soothing tone. "...trying has brought us somewhere, it's brought us closer together. We had fun running out of the submarine, didn't we?" I asked him in a soothing voice. His head nodded slowly. He picked up his head and looked at me. "Then why don't we keep trying?" I asked. 

He nodded and smiled. He lunged towards me again, this time, him hugging me. "Thank you..." He said. I hugged him back.

After we broke up the hug, we decided that we were getting our string back. But how? "We might need some more help, the two of us aren't enough it seems." Trollex said. 

"We could help!" A familiar voice said. We turned around to see Poppy and Branch. Branch was still a bit confused, but moved past it.

"Are you sure, I mean, this isn't your problem, you need to protect your string still..." Trollex said.

"He is right Poppy, we need to still keep our string and tribe safe." Branch said, looking at Poppy.

"Yeah..." Poppy said, her head looking down. I could tell she wanted to help. 

I tried to think of a way that she could help. But then I got an idea. "Do you guys have any ways to get across land faster?" I asked

"Yeah, I have a Dune Huggy." Poppy said, popping her head up. "I can lend it to you if you want."

"That's perfect, thanks Poppy!" I said with a big smile on my face.

"How are we going to get them there Poppy?" Branch asked. 

Poppy tapped her chin in thinking. "Hmmm..."

"What do you mean?" Trollex asked, getting out of the water and hovered. 

"Cool!" Poppy yelled. Branch backed up and pushed Poppy back with him. 

Poppy pushed Branch out of the way. "Your always too protective, it had to be done." Branch just glared at Poppy. Trollex looked back at me with a very confused look on his face.

"Remember me telling you about the other tribes?" I asked, his response being a yes by nodding. "They can't hover like we can." I reminded him, getting out of the water myself, but I stood on my fins.

"Okay, I'll show you were the Dune Huggy is." Poppy motioned us to follow her. Branch was right behind her. Branch loves to see the leader side in Poppy. He looked at Poppy dreamily. The three of us followed Poppy as she led us to the tree that lifted her pod up. 

I looked up at Poppy's pod. It was very pretty, I've never seen anything like it. I predicted that's where she lives. Us techno trolls live in houses with coral grown on the outside, sometimes even in the inside. Or at least we used to. Barb's attack destroyed all of our homes. I sighed, but pushed that idea out of my head. 

I looked back at Poppy. She knocked once, then a second and third time. Then spoke two words. "Gummy Bears." She said. 

Nothing happened. 

Trollex, Branch, and I looked at each other. But then the tree opened up. The three of us turned our heads away from each other and towards the tree. "Come on!" Poppy motioned us to come inside.

The four of us went into the tree and revealed a large vehicle. "Woah..." Trollex and I said in awe.

Poppy crossed her arms proudly. "Yup, this is it, the Dune Huggy. I'll show you how it works." Poppy got in the co-pilot seat and patted the seat next to her. Trollex and I glanced at each other playfully and raced towards the seat.

I beat him. I grinned back at him and stuck out my tongue as he rolled his eyes and smiled. "I'm going first, kings orders." He announced. 

"Dream on." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Fine." I said as he got in the back seat. Poppy showed the two of us some of the controls. "This button straps you in..." She clicked a button that made the seat belts hug us. It was a bit...odd, but it works, I guess.

She talked on for a ten minutes. To be honest, I zoned out for part, but I don't think it was that important. 

Poppy jumped out of the seat and Trollex quickly took her place. "Okay. That's all you should need to know. Good luck!" Poppy grabbed Branch's arm suddenly and ran off with him to the bunker. Again, Branch was very confused, but went with the flow.

I looked over at Trollex. "You ready?" I asked.

"Let's..." He started, but I didn't wait for an answer. I pulled a lever and hit a petal with my fins. "Woah!" Trollex yelled in excitement and shock at the speed we were going. "Woooo!" He yelled, putting his hands in the air.

We drove past trolls that oooed and awed at the vehicle. The two of us looked at each other and smiled. I looked back at where I was driving. What I didn't notice is that Trollex glanced at me, then clicked a button. 

The arms in the Dune a Huggy came out and clung onto a tree branch and we flew into the air. I was surprised, but this was fun and exciting. This is the most fun I've had in years.  

"Wooo!" We both yelled. The arms let go of the branch and went back in the vehicle. We looked at each other with fear all over our faces. We looked down to see what the impact would be. We were a mile or so above the ground. "Uh oh." We both said.

The Dune Huggy started to fall to the ground. We hugged each other and started screaming. When we looked down again, we noticed a lagoon. 

We fell into the lagoon and water splashed everywhere. We blinked a couple time, then broke into laughter. 

I looked over at Trollex. I have never seen him this happy in a long time. I've never felt this happy before either.

"You were right." Trollex said, still laughing a bit. "This is fun." He lunged at me and hugged me, almost crying. "You're a great friend." I actually started to cry, but wiped the tears away and hugged him too. 

"Come on, let's go." I pushed some button and pulled some lever to get us out of the lagoon. "Let's go get our string." I started to drive again, not really knowing where I was going. 

"But what about the others?" Trollex asked as I drove through the forest. 

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean like the other leaders and there strings." Trollex looked at the trees then back to me. "I think we should warn the other trolls."

"I agree, but what about our string?" I questioned. 

"We can get our string after, but if we wait to tell the others, then it will be too late." Trollex explained. 

I nodded. "Then how about we head to Symphonyville, that's closest to Techno Reef..."

I heard Trollex mumble under his breath. "Or used to be Techno Reef." 

I didn't listen though and continued talking. "...other than Volcano Rock City. Barb will probably be going there next."

"Sounds good." Trollex said, giving me a thumbs up.

"Let's go." I said then. 

And with that being said, we were on our way Symphonyville to warn them about the attack. 

I still didn't know where I was going though...