𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓡𝓸𝓬𝓴 𝓣𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓭𝓲𝓮𝓼 ~ 𝓗𝓸𝔀 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓮𝓷𝓭, 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓾𝓼? | 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 2

2. 𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝓻𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓼?

"We are not alone in this world" Our dad said upon a whisper, to make the situation more intense. A spooky warble came from Mr. Dinkles, Biggie quickly shushed him, by putting his finger in his mouth.
"There are other kinds of Trolls" dad continued.
"Wow, that's-"
"Dad that's great!" Poppy interrupted me, she was excited as always, "The more Trolls the merrier!" She continued. "Poppy, you don't understand. These other Trolls aren't like us. They're- different."
"Different how?" I spoke up, asking. "Different like Legsly?" Branch asked, as he pointed his pointer finger in Legsly's direction. She didn't take it personally as she stretched her legs. "I love being me!" She said.
"Or Fuzzbert?" I added. "Or Smidge?" Poppy joined. "Or Skyscraper Troll?"
"No, it's not like that. They're different in ways you can't even imagine-"
"Like, different bad?" I asked nervously.
"Don't worry June. Because you see, we love music with a hummable hook, with an upbeat melody! With a catchy rhythm that makes you wanna snap your fingers, tap your toes and wiggle your butt! That's our music, that's what makes us Pop Trolls." Peppy explained, I will never get the image out of my head of my dad wiggling his butt.
All the others from the Village agreed with Peppy, I didn't quite get why this was useful information.
"But these other Trolls, they sing different, they dance different. Some of them can't even begin to grasp the concept of 'Hammer Time'" He gasped, everyone gazed around at each other, starting to get nervous. I could hear the small whispers from the crowd.
As 'Hammer Time' was mentioned, Trolls began dancing. 🎵You Can't touch that!🎵 Legsly sang in panic as everyone began running in different directions, screaming in fear of these new kinds of Trolls, who were suddenly close.
Guy Diamond and Tiny Diamond sat on the ground crying. Poppy send me worried look, our gazes following the panicked Trolls storming by us every second. Branch took my hand, letting me know he was right beside me, as he noticed my uneven breathing.
I stood, not knowing what was happening, and not knowing what I could do to help. "Stop!" Dad suddenly shouted, making everyone stop, now we looked confused around all the frozen Trolls. Smidge even hovering in mid air, how did she even manage to do that.
"How about we break down to a smaller group?" Dad suggested, seeing my slight attack, and the panic which made its way around the Trolls. Poppy agreed, our small friend group nodding as well. It was probably for the best.
~~~
Dad didn't walk so fast so it was gonna take some time to approach the end destination. Poppy was walking beside him, in front, in a good tempo as she was the one leading their conversation.
I began zoning out again, what if I was from 'the other Trolls' what if my parents were, what if I meet them and they're not really dead?, does my dad know something...
"Are you sure you're okay?" Branch suddenly spoke up from beside me, snapping me out of my thoughts again. "I'm totally fine-"
"Hey" Branch cut off my sentence, stepping in front of me, stopping me from walking forward.
"I know my Girlfriend, there is something bothering you... Wanna talk about it?" I knew he was right, he always is, don't tell him I said that.
I sighed and nodded slowly. "About my real parents. What if they were 'the other Trolls'? "
"You can't do anything about it, if they were, and you can't make that chance who you are." He started, I bit down on my bottom lip, my gaze falling from his to the ground, thinking about his chosen words. My gaze snapped back to his, as his hand landed on my shoulder.
"I know it's difficult, it's something unknown, I relate better than anyone in this Village. But, if your parents turned out to be different from us, is it really that big of a deal to you?" He spoke, asking, making me think further. He pulled me into a tight hug, as I didn't give an answer to his question. My arms wrapping around him in return.
"You two better hurry if you want to catch up~" Poppy yelled as we have fallen behind. Branch stuck his tongue out at Poppy, before pulling back from our shared embrace, taking a step back. He stuck his hand out for me to take. "Because if it is, I will help you find out." He finished. I placed my hand in his, intertwining our fingers and smiled. "I think I have everything I need right here." I spoke up, gazing lovingly up at him. His gaze copied mine, his blue eyes twinkling in the sunlight, before he leaned forward, kissing my lips softly.
"Gross guys!" Poppy shouted yet again, Branch groaning against my lips. "Poppy!" He yelled out as our lips parted, the frustration ringing through his shout.
We sped up, running to catch up with the others, as we have finally reached our destination.
Although I confirmed I have everything I need here, I have, but I don't think I can let the thoughts of my parents possibly being out there, go that easily.
~~~
"It's a story as old as time." Peppy started. Our end destination was at a cave, not very far from the village, inside of the cave was what he wanted to show us. We all looked around in awe at the beautiful sight. The cave wasn't as dark and cold as imagined, there was a waterfall, followed by the relaxing sound of splashing water. Veins were hanging down from the top of the cave and down, the nature green colours making the sight more breathtaking.
Dad cleared his throat making us all look at him again. "In the beginning, there was silence. Until one day, someone made a sound." He said as he showed us an old drawing of our ancestors.
"Our ancestors were so inspired by the sound, they took six strings. And those six strings had the power to control all Music. They could play anything! Techno, Funk, Classical, Country, Hard Rock and Pop. And every kind of music in between." He paused his story for a second, making sure we were listening to him.
"But little by little," He continued. "Trolls became intolerant of each other's music. They fought over what kind of music the strings would play. The elders realised there was but one solution. Each tribe would take a string, and go their separate ways. Those six tribes have lived in isolation ever since" He showed us a map over each tribes Village, the paper looked over a 100 or more years old, dust flowing from underneath it as he placed it on the rock he used as a table.
"Now, Barb's announcement makes sense" Poppy spoke up leaning over to look at the map. "She wants to reunite the strings so the Troll World can be one big party again!"
"Wait, that's all you heard, one big party?" Branch spoke up, stepping forward. "Yeah! It's when all the Trolls lived in Harmony! And what's more important than living in harmony?" She turned to Branch, leaning her palm on the rock and leaning her bodyweight into her arm. Crossing a leg over the other, she tried making a point.
"Well, I heard fighting"
"You always hears the negative parts of things." Poppy mumbled, rolling her eyes and gazed back down at the map.
"No, listen to me, the strings together leads to fighting!" Branch tried talking sense into her, but Poppy was about to argue back, before dad interrupted their little discussion.
"Exactly Branch. That's why we need to keep our string safe!" He agreed with Branch, and made his way up to the waterfall. He tapped with his walking stick in the ground, the water running down was moving, revealing a harp with only one pink string on it.
Everyone's eyes lit up in awe, of the sight. "Behold, the Pop Music String" he lightly touched the string, making a sound, a high-pitched voice sang as a heart was formed. It split into small pieces over us, the glitter spread out over us.
"It's beautiful!" I gasped, looking down at my now glittering body, my gaze following down my arms.
"And Powerful." Dad spoke, making everyone look back up at him. "Which is why we can't let it fall into the wrong hands."
"And we won't! Not on my watch" Branch spoke up, brushing the pink glitter off of his arms and vest. "what we need, is a plan." Branch tapped his chin with his pointer finger, thinking. "Don't worry Branch, I've been preparing for this day for years" Dad spoke calmly.
"We RUN!" He spoke not as calmly, his mood changing completely, the look of terror plastered on his face, making his way back down to us, now he could run?
"Run?!" Poppy spoke in question.
"And hide!"
"On it!" Branch got the message, he has changed his outfit into an all green one. He was ready to camouflage into nature. He looked good.

He snatched my hand, running right behind Peppy. "But we don't even know what we're running and hiding for!" I shouted, placing my heels in the ground, making Branch stop.
"We're hiding from Barb and all the other different Trolls." Dad plainly answered me, both the men turning their heads and gazed back at me. What if I was different, if I was one of the Trolls they were hiding for. I turned my head back to the map, but my gaze shifted up to Cooper, he looked just as confused as I. I understand why, he don't look like any us.
"You're assuming the worst about someone you haven't even met!" I argued, turning my head back towards my dad and boyfriend, my eyebrows furrowing and a slight frown forming.
"You're not listening to me-" Dad started.
"You're not listening to her!" Poppy argued back. "I'm your father!"
"And I'm the Queen!"
"Uh, father trumps Queen! Now there's no time to debate this." He finally spoke, and turned around again, walking towards the entrance to the cave. "Come along, Branch!"
Branch looked back and forth at Poppy me, and our dad, who was shouting for him to follow. I could see he wanted to.
"Well... I um-" He stammered, turning his head back towards the way my dad went, still holding into my hand.
I wasn't going to support this, I took my hand back, making him turn to me, looking at me apologetic, before running off with my dad.
"We're all Trolls!" Poppy shouted after them. "Differences don't matter." She mumbled this time.
I could see on her expression she had a plan, this wasn't going to end well.

As the rest of us left the cave I turned back to Poppy, realising she wasn't following the rest of us. I send her a confused gaze, and she noticed. "Don't wait for me, I've got something to take care of first!" She smiled a little nervously, but I shrugged it off not thinking much of it as I left the cave.
A little did I know that when I left, Poppy walked up to the Pop String carefully taking it out of the harp and hid it in her hair.