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

11. 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓮𝓬𝓽

Branch POV:
The bubbles, Poppy, Hickory and I, were still trapped in, only got further and further away from the Funk Tribe's UFO, and from the Rock Tribe, who decided to attack and steal their string, and further away from Juniper.
My dear Juniper, my heart was racing just by the image of her in my head, she was one of them. She wouldn't go against us, betray us, and help Barb steal all music. She wouldn't do that, against her Tribe, her sister, her own Boyfriend.
A wind came, pushing to the bubble Poppy and I were stuck in, the sudden movement snapped me back to reality. We neared Hickory's bubble, bumping into it. As we hit his bubble, it floated in a different direction.
"Hickory!" Poppy shouted after him. "Don't worry, I'll find you guys!" He yelled back, before disappearing behind the clouds.
"Uh, Poppy?" I poked her as her gaze shifted in the direction I was pointing to. We saw the rest of the Rock Tribe rides, flying in the direction of the Funk Tribe, where we just were. They don't have a chance.
The pressure from the wings, flapping, made our bubble spin around, and throwing us around in it.
"No!" Poppy kept protesting, as we stopped spinning, she tried to push the bubble back to the UFO. "We have to get back down there!" I was about to speak, but she continued. "There's still hope, we can still fix this."
"Poppy-"
"Branch, help me!"
"Poppy, enough!" I've had enough, as I told her off in a harsh tone. Her attention and gaze turning directly to me, confusion showing in her eyes. "Me and Juniper has listened to you and done it your way, now it's your turn to listen." I slapped my palms together, as I spoke.
"It's time to go back home." It was hard, saying the last part,I wanted to go home, to protect our Village, but something was still missing, someone was missing.
"But what about Juniper, or Barb?" Poppy turned her body to fully face me, as she yelled back, still protesting everything and wanting to help everyone she could.
"I don't know!" I yelled. "I saw Juniper in the Funk UFO, all dressed up as one of them." Frustration filling my veins and tears stinging my eyesight. It wasn't my intention to snap at Poppy like that, but it just flowed out of me. "I don't know what happened..." I said in a lower tone.
"Well, whatever happened, whoever Juniper supports, she's still my sister and your girlfriend! Listen, I'm not like you, I can't just give up-"
"Give up?" Poppy's words took me aback, I didn't give up when I helped Juniper save our friends, and I haven't given up yet.
"I wanna protect our Village!"
"I can't go home until I've found Juniper and proven myself as a good Queen!" Poppy blurted out, her face expression changed at the last part, it wasn't her intention to say that.
"So that's what this is all about?"
"Why are you so upset!"
"Because your dad was right, Biggie was right and Queen Essence was right! Juniper and I have been backing you up, even when you ignored them!" Poppy's eyebrows furrowed, her eye widening, she was taken aback by my sudden outburst, i don't know if she could understand what I mean. I turned my back to her. "But you never listens to us..." I mumbled the last part.
"Branch, what are you talking about?"
"You wanna be a good Queen?" I turned my neck, to look back at her again. "Good Queens actually listen... You know what I learned back there? Differences do matter. Like you and Juniper, like you and me." We were so caught up in the situation, we didn't notice our bubble has neared the ground. "We're too different to get along. Just like the other Trolls..." I finished, our bubble hit the sand underneath us, popping at the touch. I crossed my arms over my chest, and looked at the ground. Poppy's gaze was still staring at me, she has suddenly turned quiet.
I looked up at her with the same expression, before walking past her.
"We are really different." Poppy mumbled. "So different!" I spoke in a higher tone, turning around. "Completely out of Harmony!"
"Completely!"
"I don't even know what Juniper sees in you!" Poppy yelled out, not thinking twice about her word choice. I stopped for a second, my breath hitched, a salty taste filled my mouth, my eyes started to hurt, and were probably swollen. "Neither do I."
As my words was spoken, her expression softened. I just turned my back to her once again, not looking back.
My intention was to walk back to the village, making sure everyone stayed safe, while Poppy would try and stop Barb on her own. My thoughts made my feet stop, facing the ground, I spoke. "So... Why do I care about Juniper more than anybody else in this world?" I turned my neck to look back at Poppy, again, her own head lifted and her eyes were widened. "Because you love her." Poppy whispered, her expression changed to an unreadable one, she had many mixed feelings and didn't know how to read any of them.
"Weird, right?" Turning around, I walked away, for good this time.
I could hear no movement, Poppy just stood, watching me walk away from her. I heard a crunch from the sand underneath us, her knees felt weak under her, falling down on them. She pressed her palms to her eyes, trying her hardest, not to burst out crying.
I should have stopped them, while I had the chance, while I could reach Juniper.
~~~
Juniper POV:
Barb and the others has returned, every Funk Troll they got their hands on, was captured in cages, the stupid string, Barb was so obsessed with, was in her left hand, her palm tightly wrapped around it.
Barb shoved me into a room, yelling at everyone in it, to get out. As the last ones left the room, she pushed me down in her throne, forcing me to sit down. "I told you to stay!" Barb spoke through gritted teeth, a blood vein on her temple was popping, the frustration showing in her expression. "What didn't you understand about that?" She paced the room, as she continued to yell at me.
"Why couldn't I help you?" I spoke up, sitting straight up in my seat. "I didn't want you to think bad things about me, to see what I had to do."
"But you didn't have to do it. No one asked you to!" I stood up from the throne.
"Anyone else did nothing! After Pop ruined all Harmony for all of us! Someone had to take the trash!" She walked up, her face inches from mine, my own leaning back. She walked past me and carefully placed the string down on a guitar she had, with all the other strings. The Funk string turned from Purple to a shade of red, just like all the other four Strings. She only needed one more.
"Wait, Pop? Pop ruined everything?" My expression has softened, my tone turning soft once again.
"They wanted it all, just to play their music. As for the rest of us? We were forced to run away with our own Strings. But that's all in the past"
Barb's back was facing me, her gaze down at her guitar, running her hand over the soft strings.
"I didn't know..." I rubbed my forearm, my lips pressed together as I finished my sentence.
I was about to speak up again, until a soft knock was heard from the door, and Riff stepped in. He caught my gaze, smiling at me, before running over beside Barb. He whispered something in her ear, I couldn't hear.
Before I could even ask anything, they both were on their way out, approaching the door. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going out to do some Queen stuff, stay here, and this time, you do!" Pointing straight at me, her expression firm, and then she walked out.
I hated being yelled at, who doesn't. I have known her for less than a day and we have already fought. My arm fell for my forearm, flopping back to my side. Riff turned back, looking at me, he let out a nervous chuckle, before running after Barb.
~~~
I was the one pacing around the room now. "You stay, and this time you do!" I mocked Barb's words, it has been a while, since she left me in here.
I stopped pacing, as my gaze landed to the strings, Barb has kept in the very same room.
slowly, I approached them. Pointing my finger at each of them, I counted. "Five. One is missing, the Pop string" I ranted to myself, it was the one Poppy was carrying in her hair. If they catch Poppy, she will have all six of them. I snapped my head back to the door, as I heard voices from outside of it, one of them was Barb, I could tell. All movements slowed, and I went silent, every step I took was careful, as I approached the door.
I placed both palms on it, leaning my ear up against. "Great job man, Hickory did the job just how I wanted." Barb spoke. "I knew the Yodelers were the ones for the job." I knew it. Branch was right, Hickory wasn't the Troll we thought he was. And he's a yodeller, not a country?
"You see, they got me Juniper and have found the Pop string! Queen Poppy don't know what will come, when we have the final String."
"The Ultimate Powerchord?" Riff then asked her.
"The Ultimate Powerchord." Barb repeated his words, but in a different tone. Their footsteps sounded further away, as they walked off.
They have found Poppy...
I turned around, pressing my back up against the door, slowly sliding down, my butt landing on the ground.
I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them, as I hid my head.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." I kept whispering, my voice muffled in my knees.
I wish Branch was here. He would know what to say.
~~~
Branch POV:
I have been walking, getting further away from the place I left Poppy, I haven't looked back once.
My pace slowed down as I reached a river. I couldn't stop thinking about Juniper, I miss her so much, she wouldn't know what to say, what to do.
I looked up into the sky, seeing the sky turning cloudy, one of the clouds, formed into a shape, which reminded me of her.
🎵I know your favourite song.🎵 I sang to myself, I remembered Juniper has told me it made her relax.
🎵I hear it everyday. Whoever made your smile, made it to get in my way...🎵 walking out on a rock, which was hovering over the side of the river. My knees fell, reaching the rock, as I sat down on it.
My gaze fell to the river, the water splashing against my rock. I noticed a shape forming in it, a reflection showing, of Juniper, with the dress dark blue dress, I knew so well, not the Rock outfit. When she was the troll I couldn't recognise. My gaze wondered over her features, she was smiling, her sweet smile... I couldn't help but let a tear cascade down my cheek, my bowed head made the tear fall into the water, as the reflection changed. 🎵And every time you laugh, you make that little sound~🎵 I couldn't help but smile at the new reflection, of her laughing. 🎵It's just the hardest thing, to love you but not know how.🎵
🎵I hate that you're Perfect. You're Perfect, for me..🎵 I reached my hand down to the reflection of her, my palm almost touching the water, to feel the closure. But what I didn't expect happened, did. A hand reached up and grabbed mine, her hand. She pulled me down into the water with her, and there she was, right in front of me.
🎵What good are words, when they always just get in our way?🎵 She sang back to me, taking both my hands in hers. 🎵And it hurts the most just to know that you don't feel the same, the same.🎵 We sang together. I let go, as I placed my hands on her hips, picking her up and spinning around, holding her above the ground. When I sat her back down, we started dancing together, just like back in the time, in the Troll Pot. I spun her around again, but I spun her too much, I quickly grabbed her before she could float out of my reach, I would never let go of her again. My hands held into her shoulders. She turned around, as our gazes met again, before pulling me into a tight hug, which was just what I needed. Wrapping my own around her.
She pulled back and connected our foreheads, both our eyes closing as they did. I leaned in, to feel her lips against mine, to get a kiss. But the feeling of her body against mine, faded, and when my eyes opened back up, when my lips never met hers, she was gone. And I was back on the rock, back on the surface again. 🎵And I hate that you're Perfect.🎵 I sang, alone again, and held my arms close to my body. My hug-time bracelet suddenly chimed, my gaze fell back to the river, but the reflection of Juniper was gone, only the splashing of the waves hitting the water was heard. I sighed, covering my bracelet up with my palm. 🎵You're perfect, for me🎵 My eyes fell shut again, letting myself miss her.
But my thoughts got interrupted, when leaves was moving, branches was crunched, and the sound of small voices got louder. Someone was coming. My head snapped to each side, twice, but couldn't see anybody. I turned my body fully around, as I heard another sound, another voice spoke, how many were there?
Standing back to my feet, I put both my fists up, ready to push any Troll who dared to near.
"I can see you, can you see me?" I snapped my head back, to look behind me again. I felt someone run past me.
"Let's get him!" A whisper.
"One, two, three." I felt something tug at my foot, but right as I looked down, and saw a rope wrapped around my ankle, I fell to the ground, my feet got swept away under me. The rope pulled me backwards and into the field behind me.
When I felt I wasn't getting pulled around anymore, I looked down at myself, and saw I was tugged in with wrapping paper. I struggled to try and rip it, but it was unbreakable.
"Hey, Cry Baby, your name Juniper?" A light blue Troll spoke as four other Trolls appeared on each side of her, all five of them looked exactly alike, except the colours, one pink and another green, purple and yellow. "What? No, who are you guys, And why do you seek for Juniper?" I asked, why was everyone searching for her especially.
"We are the K-Pop gang, and you're going to take us to Queen Poppy and Princess Juniper." The Light blue one ordered this time, as the others giggled beside her.
"What?" I snickered, as I got myself to stand up.
Suddenly, another melody was playing, my ear twitched as I turned my head in the direction of the sound. Three other Trolls with different hair and styles, came out of one of the plants in the field.
"Not so fast, Tracy! We're taking him." The blue one, from the K-Pop gang spoke up, she apparently knew one of the. She walked up beside me, as she looked directly ahead at the Trolls who has appeared. Now she was distracted.
I tried to get away, I had to jump, as my body was wrapped up. Before I could get far, she pulled me back, holding me close by the wrapping paper.
"It's pronounced 'Tresillo'" The Troll corrected. "And if you want him, you're going to have to dance for him!" He dared, as he made a quick dance move. "I can't live in a world without Reggaeton!"
"And we can't live in a world without K-Pop!" The blue K-Pop Troll and the male Reggaeton Troll walked up close, now standing nose to nose, their angry expressions glaring at one another.
"Dance off!" One of the other K-Pop girls shouted, before she spun me around. All my surroundings moved fast in front of me, as I spun, the sight making me dizzy. Music was turned on, and I stumbled forward, the wrapping around me has unwrapped in the spin.
All five of them started dancing to some music, now standing on each side of me. I gazed around at them, confused, but quickly came back to my senses.
I tried sneaking off, but got stopped by one of them stepped in the way, I tried walking the other way, which concluded I got a mad look from another one.
I nervously started dancing with them, afraid of what she was gonna do.

I hate to admit it, but it was actually fun. Their music and dances was special, but not in a bad way. The Reggaeton Trolls rolled their eyes as it was their turn to step in, One harshly grabbed my wrist, pulling me over to their side and started to dance to their own music.
I examined their dance moves and listened to their music, as I copied it.

We all gathered up in a line as it said 'uno, Dos, tres' and when it was my turn, I was wrapped back in that wrapping paper, great.
I sighed in annoyance as I looked down at myself, and realised. "Wow, respect!" The K-Pops complimented. "Respect" the Reggaeton's repeated. My grunts was heard, when I tried stretching out the paper, to get out of it, again.
"Why don't we split him?" The Reggaeton suggested. "Good idea!" The K-Pops agreed, I'm getting tired of this.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait- Wait!" I kept repeating as I jumped my way over to the side, getting their attention.
"Why does Barb get to decide which music gets to be saved? All music should be saved." I reasoned. Both groups looked at each other as they seemed to wonder. They could see my point, not wanting to loose their own type of music.
"All right, okay, I'm listening Pop Troll." Tresillo spoke.