The Beats Go On

Chapter 16: Rock and Roll

⛰Chapter 16: Rock and Roll

The main group was already halfway up the mountain, with Cho and Pepe being closer to the bottom.

"I just hope those two will be ok," Ina said.

El turned to her and responded, "They have been fine on their own before? What would make this time different?"

"I agree. I just hope they don't lose the treeangle piece," Digo said.

They continued moving up, getting through some easy to move through terrain. But a few rolling rocks decided to interfere.

The rocks started rolling over to the group, being silent and fast. However, they did leave a pink trail from where they started rolling. They started hitting rocks to make them fall, hoping to crush the group. However, it did cause a lot of noise, and Coco eventually noticed.

"Uh, I don't think rocks can move," he said, pointing to the rocks.

"Rock trolls. Of course. Keep moving," El told them.

She remembered these creatures from a time long ago, when she had adventured off for the crystal Troll figurine. The rest got into position, and started climbing up, faster than they ever went.

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Meanwhile, one-thirds up the mountain, Cho and Pepe were trekking up, holding the treeangle piece. They wanted to see if there was another way up, and so far the path ahead seemed to be doing such.

"Man, why didn't we go with the rest?" Pepe complained.

"We need to keep the piece safe. Plus, more creatures who want to steal the piece will likely be higher up the mountain," Cho replied.

Pepe nodded, before a rock started rolling towards them. It snatched the treeangle piece, and rolled right past them!

"What was that?!" Pepe said in shock.

Cho looked, and said, "I remember reading about those creatures. They are called rock trolls."

"Ok, they're rock trolls, but they grabbed the treeangle piece!" Pepe screamed, before running to catch the rock troll.

Cho followed him from behind, but they soon became stuck. A giant part of the mountain had been destroyed, making the area in front of them much bigger. There was a rock field standing in front of them.

"Well, this is interesting," Cho said.

-----

Back with the group, they started climbing up the mountain, and also ready to avoid rocks. The rock trolls hit with all their might, and soon rocks were falling down towards them. Cas nearly jumped into one of the rocks, but Ami, knowing he can be a trouble maker, grabbed him before he got hurt.

"Troublemaker," Ami murmured.

They continued to climb up the mountain, dodging the incoming rocks being rolled down by the trolls. Ina was cornored, but El managed to kick the rocks out of they way. Soon, they made it to a rock wall.

Cas looked at it and said, "Nice, a challenge!"

But then they saw the rock trolls breaking some of the ways up.

"This is bad," Digo said.

-----

Now the duo were in a bad situation. They didn't know where the rock troll was. And it had the treeangle piece.

"Ok, Cho. You're the smart one, so how do we find this troll?!" Pepe screamed, looking annoyed.

"Hm. I remember rock trolls leave a trail of a specific color when they move in a ball form," Cho replied, "We only need to look for a trail, since the rest are just plain rocks."

They started looking for a trail, but it was hard to find one with all of the rocks covering it.

"Move the rocks out of the way!" Pepe yelled.

Cho also started moving rocks, and soon found a pink trail. Following the trail, they found a rock, which was glowing!

"Found it." Cho said.
However, the rock troll started rolling farther up!

"Oh, come on!" Pepe screamed, before chasing the rock troll with Cho right behind him.

They followed, but soon found a rock troll napping place.

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Traveling back to the group, they watched as the rock trolls breaking a few ledges, which were previously a way to get up.

"Annoying little things," Coco said.

"Everyone! Climb as fast as you can! They will soon trap us!" El yelled, then started climbing.

The rest soon followed after, making sure to grab ledges that were strong. The rock trolls kept destroying pathways to get up, and Ami nearly fell. But luckily, Ina managed to catch him, so he was fine. They kept climbing, with the trolls getting more and more angry closer as they reached higher up. Soon, they were so angry, they destroyed all pathways, except for one.

Cas was on the pathway not destroyed, so he had to grab everyone else. Luckily managed to grab everyone, and swung some of them up to the top. The rock trolls became shocked, and fell of the ledge they were on. The rest of the group  got up, and the rocks trolls were at the bottom. They decided to rest for a bit, because that was a hard climb.

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One last trip to the duo, they were looking on at a rock troll napping ground. 

"GREAT! HOW D-" Pepe was screaming, before Cho covered his mouth.

"Shh! We could wake them if we're too loud. Then it could go really bad. We need to find the troll's trail." Cho said.

Pepe looked around, then said, "His trail was pink! I remember seeing the color when we were looking for the trail down there."

They started looking for a pink trail, while also having to avoid stepping on any of the rock trolls. There were a few pink trails, but Cho noticed one looked more...magenta, more "corrupted".

"Found the trail!" he said, getting Pepe's attention.

They followed the trail to a troll. Something was faint, it was the glowing treeangle piece. They tackled the rock troll, and got the piece back. The troll soon fled, because he knew he wasn't strong enough to take on the two like this. The duo climbed up a bit more, and took a rest when they could.

The main group was now two-thirds up the mountain, and the duo was now halfway.

Progress was being made.