Chapter Text
It was a warm summer evening in the forest, the wind was blowing freely across the woodland area, the air was crisp yet hot as an natural hot spring, the local woodland critters were singing their melodic tunes, mixing them with their chirps and growls, blending together in harmony as the moon rose up to the sky, making its way for nighttime.
And even though the heat was still baked into the ground when night arrived, one would make think that the sun never went to bed at all.
The stars were also shimmering and sparkling in the dark night sky like the gemstones in the underground caverns of the forest, and not to mention, the moon was full and bright, shining above the land like a diamond itself.
Not far in the middle of the forest, there were some small noises coming from a village in the middle of construction, where a party was being thrown.
This village is home to a group of creatures who are the size of a button and are 5 inches tall, known as The Trolls. These trolls are fun loving, cheerful and very positive for they love nothing more than to sing, dance and hug despite their former upbringing, being prisoners to a group of giants known as The Bergens, who are the most miserable creatures in the land and the only way for them to be happy is ritualistically eating the trolls once a year, every year.
This came to be a holiday known as Trollstice, a morbid thing to celebrate the continued depletion of the troll species.
But on an particular Trollstice, the Trolls managed to escape their home, The Troll Tree, using a underground tunnel that they had dug over a course of time in order to gain their freedom from the monsters that treated them as an food source for years. But when there's a hope of freedom, there's always the price of loss. Some trolls were unfortunately lost to the tunnels, including the princess of the trolls, Princess Viva, and a former member of a popular boyband, Clay.
No one knows if they survived or if the bergens got them, but nonetheless, they were mourned as the martyrs of the escape and after find an place where there are alot of resources and sweet acoustics, they celebrated with the King and his newborn daughter, the Princess Poppy and began building their new home.
And tonight is very special as it is actually the princess's birthday party! Everyone, young and old, man, woman, and child, were all there to celebrate this wonderful milestone.
Poppy was having the best fun of her life as she danced and sing amazingly with her friends who dubbed themselves The Snack Pack, who consists of the small yet strong teacup troll Smidge, the future fasion maker hair-conjoined twins Satin and Chenille, the gentle giant troll with a top hat wearing worm as his friend Biggie and Mr. Dinkles, the recently hatched long-neck mysterious troll with a funky cool hat Cooper and finally, Poppy's right-hand man and best friend, the peaceful guru troll known as Creek.
"HAHAHA! THIS IS THE BEST PARTY YET!" Poppy screamed in joy as she continued her dancing and singing. She was really the life of the party and everyone knows it.
Her father, the king of their Tribe, Peppy, was enjoying a drink at the fruit punch table as he watched his daughter have fun on her birthday celebration. Although he had a melancholic look on his face..like he was remembering something or something.
Like a lost daughter.
Both Satin and Chenille stood next to Poppy, dancing along with the music as giggles and sounds of joy filled the place up. Satin grabbed one of Poppy's hands, giving her a twirl before passing her to Chenille with a smile.
"Come on, princess!! , give it your all, " they chanted, wanting Poppy to dance more.
Poppy happily nodded as she kept dancing, and everyone joined in on the dancing.
All except for two trolls, one had teal hair with goggles, a sleeveless jacket and a young troll who is looking pretty ticked off and annoyed, the one thing different about this troll is that he was grey.
The snack pack realized these two trolls weren't quite enjoying the party as they did, some confused on why they weren't joining for the fun. Satin and Chenille both looked at each other, shrugging with a soft hum of confusion while Smidge arched her eyebrow to them, looking over to Poppy as she whispered.
"What's up with them? Did you invite them, princess poppy?"
Poppy stopped dancing as her friend whispered her question in her ear.
"Oh! Yup I invited them, JD wanted to have his brother branch make friends while taking a break from his bunker building and since I was handing out invites, he asked me to give him two so I did!" She explained to Smidge.
Cooper then waved at the two brothers, only JD waved while Branch still has a scowl on his face.
"..John, why did you drag me out here?" Branch muttered angrily as he watched the party go on.
"Because we not only need a break from fixing up the bunker but we need to socialize more with trolls, especially you" John explained, drink a cup of fruit punch.
"I'm doing fine, I don't need to socialize, i got you and rhonda" Branch said, making a angry pout.
JD sighed as he looked at his brother with a concerned look. Why can't his brother see that he is becoming a social outcast, why he doesn't like being around other trolls..
"Branch..you can't stay mad and alone forever..you need to socialize more with other trolls..I don't want you to be alone without friends.." he said, looking concerned but Branch huffed at him, "I don't need friends or anyone, I only need my brother" he crossed his arms.
Poppy watched with a sad look on her face, she wanted to help branch be happy and make friends with everyone.
What is she doing wrong here?
Smidge only looked over at them once again, her eyebrow still arched as she was curious on the reasoning behind it.
Meanwhile Creek had noticed the sudden shift on Poppy's expression, getting closer to her as he placed one of his hand's carefully on her shoulder, giving her a warm smile.
"Smidge, let's not judge our friends for wanting some space.. " Nodding, He whispered to Poppy
"Is everything okay, flower?"
"Hm? Oh hey Creek..I'm just..I can't figure out how to help branch smile..I know that John has told me that Branch needs space because he's not good with trolls but...I wanna do something for him...you know what I mean Creek?" Poppy explained to her dear friend as she watched Branch.
Creek wanted to help his princess, he knew Poppy wanted every troll to be happy.. And maybe helping her would help him get some attention as well from other troll's.
Creek stood there for a second as a thought came to his head, grabbing one of Poppy's hand between his, smiling.
"Maybe.. We can start slowly, how about just meeting him up you and me?, go for a walk on the forest so it isn't so loud, you know, give the guy some space where he's actually comfortable, then we could bring the snack pack, whatcha think?" Creek asked, booping Poppy's nose softly at the same time.
Poppy's eyes widened in excitement as she realized that Creek's idea was genius! This will definitely help branch open up more if he's not around strangers and is with close friends.
"Creek, that's a wonderful idea! I'm so glad you understood me!" She said as she gives him a quick hug.
"Ok Snack Pack! Let's go help our friend Branch!" she said as she marched on to Branch's direction.
The grey troll sees the princess with her posse coming over to him and he is already regretting going to this party with John.
He so wished that Poppy would just leave him alone already.
Unfortunately that wish will come true when a LOUD SCREECH was heard.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, John and Branch immediately went into defender mode as they tried to find where the sound came from, The snack pack were also startled as the whole group looked up and around, trying to find where the screech came from.
Both Satin and Chenille tried to protect Poppy, getting around her as they held hands, they had to protect their princess.
Smidge hided behind Creek as he looked around.
"What was that?..." he muttered, still looking around.
Branch and John also went over to help protect Poppy as well, their ears flickering at every direction to find the screech.
Poppy was feeling scared but also smothered yet she doesn't mind because her friends are here, especially Branch.
"...where did that screech come from?" She whispered to Branch and as he was about to tell her to stay quiet.
They hear some flapping from the sky and when they look up, they see an large ash-grey furry creature with large ears, sharp teeth, a weird hairstyle (a moehawk) and finally, wide long leathery wings.
John and Branch were ready to defend their tribe from this bat menace with their lives then suddenly Peppy made a mistake of screaming "RUN!" And everyone started panicking and running around like a couple of cuddlepups, alerting the bat creature to see this and swoop in to catch its prey. As soon as the gigantic bat creature started flying their direction, everyone scooped next to Poppy, making a barrier to protect her.
Seeing every troll run away, made everybody nervous as they held hands whit eachother, trying their best to move Poppy to a safe place away from the danger.
John led everyone to guide poppy to the safest area, making sure the princess is safe.
"Ok everyone, stay together until we're out of sight!" John ordered as they all walked together, still huddling around the pink troll.
They were almost safe until Branch hears a cry for help as he spots a kid who just tripped and the monster was about to grab them.
This prompts him to break away from the circle to go help the kid and Poppy, not wanting branch to get himself killed, also runs off to help branch as well.
Branch makes it to the kid, he takes out a wooden stake, ready to stab the bat as it lunges closer and closer.
Branch braces for impact until...someone pushed him and the kid away and as the world around him starts slowing down, he sees poppy giving him a sweet smile as the bat grabs her by its teeth. The whole snack pack looked in shock and horror to the scene, feeling their heart's stop as soon as the creature grabbed Poppy.
The whole group started running towards her, Chenille having to pull Satin to walk as she was paralyzed in fear.
They tried their best to get Poppy back, Satin and Chenille lifting Smidge up whit their hair to get closer to Poppy. Smidge did grab her hand, but the strength of the creature and velocity was stronger, she was trying as the group shouted to her.
"Hold on tight!! You can do it!!"
Poppy tried to hold on to smidge's hand while everyone did their best to keep themselves on the ground, John Dory and with the surprise appearance of an armadillo bus helping out
Branch then snapped out of his shellshock and immediately starts climbing up the armadillo bus named Rhonda and making a hair swing towards the bat, his stake in hand.
"HANG ON POPPY! I'M COMING!" He screamed as he landed on the bat's back.
"BRANCH!" Poppy screamed as she starts feeling her hand beginning to slip from smidge's hand.
"Poppy!! Agh!," Smidge shouted out as Poppy's hand slipped completely off of hers, not able to reach it back once again as Chenille had tripped over a bush, making the three girls fall, Satin catched smidge before hitting the ground, looking up whit impotence to the bat.
Creek was following behind as he didn't want to get catched by the bat while the pack tried their best efforts to get Poppy back. Branch balances his footing on the bat as it starts flying away from the village, he runs towards the back of the bat's head, where his princess is still in its mouth.
"Branch! Help me!" She cried out as tears fall from her eyes, begging for Branch to save her.
Branch was determined to get her free so he uses his stake to jam it into its teeth, but this causes the bat to start flying out of control, trying to force Branch to get off but he held on for dear life, he can't fail poppy, he doesn't want to lose another one again.
"NNNGH! HANG ON POPPY, I'LL GET YOU OUT OF THERE!" Branch yelled as he tries breaking the teeth but he accidentally jabs the bat in the eye with his elbow and this causes the bat to jerk erratically, unfortunately risking Branch to start slipping off the bat but as he starts falling, poppy grabs him by his stake holding hand.
"AH! POPPY!" He cried out in shock, Poppy was using all her strength to hold on to branch.
"NNNGH...H-HANG ON..." She said, her voice straining from the weight of the grey troll. Suddenly her hand starts to slip off, and Branch, knowing that the bat is definitely going to get rid of him, needs to say a few worlds before it's too late.
"Poppy! I need to tell you something! If we both get eaten by this bat, I just want to tell you that I think yo-" suddenly his hand slipped off of Poppy's hand, his stake now in the hand of the princess, the view of her fading further and further as he fell from the sky.
Luckily Rhonda was able to save him from a nasty fall and as he was placed on the ground, he watches in shock and horror as his princess was taken away by a monster. John and the rest of the snack pack and Peppy came over to him.
"BRANCH! ARE YOU OK!?" John exclaimed in horror as he checked his brother for injuries.
"....I-i'm fine" Branch muttered, still reeling from shellshock. Satin went closer to Branch as she started checking him for any injuries or scratches, pulling out some bandages from her hair.
The rest of the pack looked up to the sky, knowing they couldn't do anything else at all.
a very faint sniffling could be heard as smidge started tearing up, running as she was holded in place by Biggie, not letting her go.
"NO! WE NEED TO SAVE HER, SHE NEEDS US, PLEASE!!" She screamed in shock and anger. John Dory looked at the direction of where the bat was flying towards.
"...that bat is heading west, I know that I won't be able to find her on foot so..King Peppy, can I organize a search party for Princess Poppy?" He asked the king who is looking pale and devastated by what just happened.
Peppy snapped out of it and he gave John a nod, granting him permission to find his daughter.
"Thank you sir. We'll find her. Smidge, go get some recruits and meet me back here, we're going to save Poppy" he said to Smidge. Then he looked at the others, "Everyone else, return back to the village where it's safe." He tells them as he pointed to the direction of the village.
Branch slowly gets up, looking like he was about to shed tears, gives John a nod as he heads back to the village.
Smidge and the snack pack nodded as they started making their ways.
The snack pack was running back to the village whit tear filled eyes as they grabbed eachother's hands, trying to comfort themselves.
As soon as Chenille looked back to her twin sister, she noticed how she was slowly losing color , noticing the same whit Biggie and Cooper who were devastated and couldn't control their tears, Creek took the command in charge of the group,guiding them to his pod.
Smidge on the other hand was trying her best to keep herself together, gulping down tears as she started looking for trolls to help on the search, not entirely sure on where to start as she was still startled.
"Sometroll, please! Help us find princess Poppy" she called out to the still shellshocked trolls. One of the trolls, a girl named Enid hears this and comes over to smidge, "I want to join on the search!" She said then more trolls also come over, getting over their shellshock to help on the search.
Meanwhile with Branch, he didn't feel like heading back to the bunker, not only because that it was unfinished..but he didn't want to be alone right now so he swallowed his grudge and heads to Creek's pod and slowly knocks the door. Creek opened the door slowly as he checked who was out there. As soon as he noticed it was Branch, he opened the door fully, letting him come in, a little surprised but glad he went over to them, they had to be together in this situation.
"Please, come in, feel comfortable to rest for a little"
Creek went to bring a glass of water for Branch as he letted him settle in. Chenille was comforting Satin on the couch, cleaning her tears.
Meanwhile Cooper and Biggie were explaining everything that happened to Guy Diamond and DJ Suki, both who weren't at the party due to busy schedules, their expressions of disbelief and devastation.
Branch hoped that John and Smidge will find Poppy so this nightmare will be over.
To Be Continued..