Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Poppy rubbed her head, looking around in a place she wasn't familiar with. Everything was biggar than her like in Bergentown only this doesn't seem like a place the Bergens would live in. She approached the glass, giving it a few taps before she tried punching. The pink troll stepped back, blowing on her knuckles.

“That won't work Popsqueak,” She turned to the familiar voice. Barb crossed her arms, sitting in a perfume bottle that's next to hers. Only that the rock queen's perfume bottle cage was red and not pink. “Trust me, I've tried.”

“You can't sing your way out of this either,” Trollzart spoke, floating in the yellow perfume bottle next to Barb. “And before you ask, yes Trollex, Ms. Dawn, Queen Essence, and King Quincy are here too.”

Poppy looked to her right, seeing an orange bottle, dark blue bottle, and a purple bottle. She noticed each leader is slowly losing their colors like her but not in a troll turning grey way. “What happened? Who took us here?”

“Some disrespectful noodles with big heads,” Trollex replied, seemingly upset at being called a ‘fish thing’. Poppy looked at him, slightly confused. “They're using our music for their own gain like we're some toys.”

“Kinda like what we almost tried doing huh, Poppy,” Barb attempted to lighten the mood with a joke about the rockapocalypse. It in fact didn't lighten the mood up, only made the queen of Pop worry even more. Barb regretted ever mentioning it.

Poppy took a good look at the room more. Maybe there was something that could be used as an escape. The door wasn't far away, there were some chairs and mirrors with lights helping whoever kidnapped them see better. A closet filled with different outfits and make up.

The pink troll stared at a light brown ball with glasses. She squints, trying to get a better look, then jumps back when the ball turned around, her fur standing on ends thinking they're gonna use trolls for their gain too.

“Don't worry, that's just their weird mop assistant,” Barb reassured her. “They boss her around a lot from what I've seen.”

Poppy thought about Bridget when she first met her and how the poor Bergen was treated terribly by Chef. She relaxed a bit, stepping forward, placing her paws on the pink glass. The assistant stared back at her, nervous like the “noodles” as Trollex described their kidnappers as were gonna walk in any second.

“Hey beautiful mop thing,” Poppy offered a friendly smile, her tail moving calmly letting them know she won't cause her any trouble. She hoped a compliment would boost the assistant's mood up. “What's your name?”

“I'm Crimp and technically I'm made of confetti,” Crimp chuckled, adjusting her glasses. She could see the confusion of being a mop if she's far away from their view.

“Well you're still beautiful,” Poppy winked at her.

“Are you romancing her or befriending her?”

Poppy ignored Barb's comment, glad that there's someone willing to help a couple trolls out. Making friends is what she's good at besides being queen and protecting those she cares about. “You wouldn't mind helping a few whimsical creatures would you? We're all royalties to our respective homes and if you don't help us I'm afraid working with whoever is using us could get you in big trouble.”

“I wasn't willing to work with them. As much as I want to help, I'm afraid I can't,” Crimp looked at the trolls sympathetically. Poppy wondered what threat they could be facing that affects Crimp too. “They might seem like fame obsessed pop stars to you but it's more complicated than that, Velvet and Veneer are from the suburbs, they're already getting many fans left and it's because of all your talents. There may be a 20% chance they would listen to me about what's really going on.”

Velvet and Veneer? So that's their kidnappers' names. Poppy processed the information, surprised the twins already had fans. She refused to believe the fans wouldn't listen to Crimp or a troll. The 20% didn't sound very positive but that didn't stop the pink troll from giving up.

“Ok that's… really bad. So how about this, send a letter to every troll out there,” Poppy has a feeling Branch is already on a rescue mission, gathering as many trolls as possible. “Our tribes are most likely looking for us as we speak so if you send out letters to where we are, they can find us faster!”

The leaders perked up at Poppy's idea, feeling a sense of hope that it might work. She wasn't wrong about the trolls of different genres searching with all their might. A queen, king, or both missing doesn't go unnoticed.

“I can try, maybe in secret when I have time but-”

The conversation was cut short when Velvet and Veneer walked in, having their own conversation about what a great idea kidnapping trolls was, Crimp hopped off the stool before they could get an idea of what's happening.

“Finally we're here, that was exhausting,” Velvet stood on one of the stools, spinning around. She looked at the trolls, a sudden smile on her face that made Poppy step back with a glare. The short haired Rageon could've sworn the pink troll growled. “But fun thanks to you trolls.”

“We have names y'know,” Poppy crossed her arms, almost stumbling when getting picked up in the bottle, her words fell on deaf ears.

“Careful sis, I think this one might bite,” Veneer pointed at the pink troll's mannerism showing with her tail lashing in anger.

“Oh relax, it's stuck in an unbreakable bottle remember? They all are.”

The queen of Pop didn't like the feeling of being called ‘it’ like she and the tribe leaders are nothing but cute pets to them. This disregarding the trolls bit can be handled later once they all get out of here.

“Besides, what's the worst they could do? Nibble your fingers?” Velvet chuckled half heartedly at the thought. She sprayed the perfume on herself and Poppy felt the most painful feeling ever.

She tossed the bottle to her brother, who stared at Poppy's confused and scared state. For a moment, she thought she saw him feeling a bit bad for her but it washed away once he used the perfume as well, shrugging off the idea of how bad a troll could harm them. “You're right, that is silly. Just wanna make sure we don't use too many trolls or we'll run out!”

“I got it all handled, thanks to Crimp's troll knowledge from her nerd books,” Velvet tossed Poppy back on the table carelessly. It seems Veneer was more worried about losing fame than losing a troll. What did Velvet even mean anyways? “C'mon bro, it's showtime.”

The twins finally leave as Poppy gets up in the bottle. She stared at her feet, watching them lose a bit of her pink fur. The tribe leaders watched in concern.

“That really hurt… it was like being sucked by a vacuum,” Poppy frowned, hugging her tail.

“It's gonna keep hurting sugar,” Delta placed a paw on the orange perfume bottle she’s in. “What we can only do now is wait and hope.”

Poppy sat down, leaning against the pink glass of the perfume. Guess they do have to wait and hope. The queen of pop is really good at hoping.

Chapter Text

Today was quite the day for Branch. As if worrying where Poppy got taken too wasn't enough, it turned out the other leaders were taken too. It was brought to his attention by Cooper and his twin brother, Riff being concerned where his sister went, Synth losing his mind, Clampers in tears, and Minuet stressed out.

Bridget and Gristle were just as worried, putting the wedding on hold just to find their troll friend. Whoever took them will pay the price.

Branch ended up leading a search group, each member having a weapon for self defense. He had explained beforehand about how dangerous this situation might be, standing in the funk trolls’ ship with a map of where they checked so far.

“They have to be somewhere we haven't found yet,” Branch tapped his fingers on the table. He can't just give up now, what else could be there? Gristle mentioned an old abandoned golf course but what could be there anyways? “Do you guys find any clues?”

The teal blue troll looked at the funk twins. Cooper pointed to a troll he never saw before in the ship'scamera. Something about that troll was familiar though.

“Bring them in, they might know where Barb went missing to,” Val crossed her arms, already suspecting this random troll is onto something.

Darnell pressed a button, scooping up the troll who seemed surprised by what's happening. They tried figuring themselves out of the bubble but got sucked in anyways, landing on a cushion. Rhonda, the armadillo bus, landed next to him.

“Oof, at least warn me first,” The troll with green hair rubbed his head, getting up and cracking his back, noticing Branch. “Bitty B?”

“Uh, you're making a mistake, a stranger that looks similar to me, no bitty b here,” Branch crossed his arms, awkwardly looking away, hoping his older brother leaves. Instead he gets picked up in a hug.

“You're alive! I can't believe this, you got so big!”

Branch pushed him away, annoyed while a part of him was happy to see John Dory after 20 years. What was he even doing out in the wild? Branch doesn't want to know.

“Woah, no introduction squareman?” Darnell stepped in, pretending to be upset.

“Right how rude of me, I'm John Dory, Branch's brother,” He held out a paw, waiting for a handshake.

“From brozone?” Cooper’s ears perked up, remembering something Poppy had shown him and the rest of the snack pack. “Wait, that means Clay, Floyd, and Spruce are Branch's bros too! Branch, that's amazing, why didn't you tell us?”

“It's complicated,” Branch crossed his arms, side eyeing the eldest sibling. “They stopped being my brothers the moment they walked out on me and never came back.”

“Hey c'mon Branch that's not fair, I did come back but no one was there,” JD explained. He felt relieved that his brothers or at least one of them is alive. But if no one came back that means the rest are alive too. “That's when I heard about the rockapocalypse that realized you were still alive!”

“Sorry about that,” Riff apologized on Barb’s behalf. John Dory forgave the rock troll with a thumbs up.

“Oh that's… that's so sweet that you realized I was still alive. 20 years too late!”

“Alright enough drama bro, we got kings, queens, and a sheriff to save,” The techno troll separated the two. They could all discuss the secret brothers reveal later.

“Fine, just keep him from pushing buttons,” Branch turned to the armadillo. “And watch out for the critter too.”

The survivalist got his attention back on the map while Riff and Val pet the armadillo. She didn't seem to mind these random trolls taking a liking to her, licking their faces and wagging her tail. John Dory still wanted answers, privessing what Synth just said.

“Wait, what do you mean by that? Who got kidnapped?”

“Long story short, our respective leaders have gone mysteriously missing and we're doing our best to find them!” The rock troll in a necktie explained, handing the brozone leader a weapon. “Do you know how to use weapons?”

“What a crazy question,” John Dory grinned, taking out a machete from his hair storage and brass knuckles that appeared on his gloves. Branch wasn't the only survivalist around. “Of course I do!”

“I like you already!”

The two joined in with the rest of the trolls at the table. Branch was stressed and desperate to find his girlfriend, staring at the map intensely. John could tell his youngest brother needed a break. If only there was a way to help.

“I might know one place you all haven't checked yet,” The blue troll took out a ‘wish you were here’ card. The background showed an island Branch never seen before.

“A postcard? This could be from anywhere,” Branch held the card in his paw, looking at the back. “We’re not gonna find much.”

“Sure we can! We gotta find this sunset!” Cooper grabbed the card from him, skipping away towards the computer.

“I like that optimism, fuzzy guy!” John Dory called out to Cooper, watching the brothers locate the ship to an island.

Branch sighed, looking at the screen as the ship started to move faster, might as well introduce his brother on these trolls and catch him up. Since John only knows the rockapocalypse happened, he sat on the cushion as the teal blue troll explained more.

The survivalist left out a few parts like his grandma getting eaten, the bunker, and being outcasted. He doesn't have the energy to talk about those topics and he doesn't need John Dory to worry now. Everything has been fine since then.

The old troll noticed Branch left out a few pieces but he didn't budget, not yet. There were more important things to deal with.

The ship made a stop to an island, Branch couldn't believe following the sunset worked. Darnell dropped off Cooper, Riff, Branch, and John Dory. On the island were creatures bigger than them like the Bergens but they seemed more chill.

They ventured on the land, greeted by a beach ball with wings who gave Branch a drink from a palm tree.

“What's up dudes, hope you guys enjoy vaycay island, home of the vacaytioners!” The yellow vacaytioner with long hair waved at them, not minding or questioning that there's trolls here. That must mean a troll did live here.

As they watched the waves, another familiar troll was surfing by, singing away and heading towards a restaurant. He looked different but a lot happier than when he was a teen.

“That must be Spruce!” John Dory runs off, calling after him with Riff, Cooper, and Branch following behind. The survivalist hope they could find a clue from here.

Unknown to the rescue crew, a monkey was following them, spitting out a banana peel. It followed the foot tracks left behind, the vaycaytioners were scared by its appearance, deciding to pretend it didn't just appear.