Cooper's eyes fluttered open as his ears perked up at the sound of what seemed like...murmuring Trolls. When he woke, the Pop/Funk Troll own half of his people trapped in a cage and the other half trapped in another across from him. He couldn't remember how or why he ended up there...at first. The pieces of the mind-bending puzzle immediately fell into place as horror and despair began to overwhelm him.

. . .

My family... I found my family...and then I lost them again...along with my home...

. . .

"Cooper? Cooper!"

The long-lost Prince of Funk turned towards the Pop Troll cage, where a Glitter Troll was pushing through to get to the front.

"Guy Diamond!"

"Oh, thank goodness you're alive!" Guy Diamond couldn't help but smile through the hopelessness, "We thought we lost everybody else!"

"You wouldn't believe it!" Legsly walked over everyone else to join him, "We were attacked by Barb and her barbarians!"

"We're being taken to Volcano Rock City!" Tiny Diamond parted his father's hair.

"He knows," Bella Brightly joined them soon after, "He was there, remember? And so were the rest of us."

"Oh, yeah," Everybody murmured in agreement. At that moment, King Peppy pushed through the crowd and laid eyes on Cooper.

. . .

I suppose he has learned the truth by now...

. . .

"Cooper, are you all right?"

To his surprise, the normally cheerful Cooper remained silent and grimly shook his head as he hung his head in shame. King Peppy sighed in understanding, knowing that he had himself to blame for this whole mess. If he had only come clean with the truth much earlier, he wouldn't be here in this cage.

. . .

Then again...he wouldn't have found his true family, either...

. . .

BANG!

Everybody turned towards the door leading to the jail to find a short a lime-skinned Troll with reddish-orange long hair tied in a ponytail and a full beard as well as a yellow nose enter. He wore a black sleeveless top, bavarian shorts with suspenders, and a green alpine hat with a black brush. When he got too close to the Pop Trolls' cage, Guy Diamond suddenly shook with rage.

"You... You traitor!"

The Glitter Troll reached out, grabbing his beard and slamming him against the metal bars.

"You sold us out!" Guy Diamond snarled out as he was restrained by Legsly, Bella, and an arriving Smidge and Milton Moss. Dickory was none too pleased, but he nonetheless shrugged it off and turned towards the Funk Trolls.

"Which one of you..." The Yodeler Troll stated in his German accent, "...is Prince Cooper?"

The now surprised Pop Trolls turned to Cooper himself, wondering if he would give himself up or not.

"I am," Cooper approached.

Scanning him from head to toe, Dickory nodded and produced a set of keys which he used to unlock the Funk Trolls' cage. He allowed Cooper and only Cooper a proper exit before locking the door again. Then he dropped the keys and slid them over to the Pop Trolls' cage where they landed at Peppy's feet, much to his shock.

"Where are we going?" Cooper asked.

"Queen Barb wishes to speak to you," Dickory answered.

"Why?"

"Secret. Classified. Hush-Hush."

Cooper said nothing more as Dickory led him to Queen Barb's section on the Angler Bus, stopping by the entrance to let him in as he waited outside. When he entered, he found most of her groupies getting ready for the big concert and others lying around doing absolutely nothing. The Rock Queen herself was helping who seemed to be a young Pop Troll masquerading as a young Rock Troll, turning away when he entered. Nearby was Mandy Sparkledust(?), who was dressed like Queen Poppy for some reason...while a pair of Rock Trolls held the Pop String in front of her.

"There he is!" Barb donned a smug grin when she announced his introduction, "Prince Cooper of the Funk Trolls, right? Sorry to keep you waiting, but I was just admiring the size of this Popsqueak here! She's just adorable! Like...an angry little kitten or something!"

No matter how hard she tried to look intimidating, Mandy ended up looking like an angry little kitten. The realization then hit Cooper: Queen Barb must've thought Mandy was Poppy. Clearing his throat, he kept his guard and composure up.

"In all honesty, my bad. I suppose you have an idea on why you're here?"

"You suppose correctly, Queen Barb. I would say "Pleasure to meet you", but I don't think the circumstances under our first meeting are...less than pleasurable."

Barb's grin faltered somewhat as he said this, even nodding in acknowledgement, "Right... I understand that mistakes were made and...I would like to apologize for that. What I hope for YOU to understand, though, is that all of this is for the greater good...as bad as I feel about all of this."

Cooper was rendered appalled by Barb's limited sympathy, "Mistakes? Destroying my home was a mistake? You almost killed us all!"

Everybody stopped dead in their tasks to catch a glimpse of the confrontation between Queen Barb and Prince Cooper that took a rather ugly turn. The two royals themselves were surprised at the sudden outburst, but that didn't stop from it from boiling over.

"Do you want to know something, Queen Barb? I didn't even know that I was Prince of the Funk Trolls until literally today! I didn't even know that I was a member of royalty until literally today! In fact, I didn't even know that I was a Funk Troll and NOT a Pop Troll until literally today! But you know what? I accepted these facts with stride, which is something you can't do!"

Taking offense to this despite not knowing what it meant yet, Barb rose up from her throne.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You can't accept the fact that not all the Tribes are willing to accept Rock! Everybody has their own genre of music that makes them who they are! But you... You couldn't care less! You just care about making Rock superior to all others, killing everyone who stops you as you please!"

"Excuse me?!" It was now Barb's turn to become appalled as she got directly in Cooper's face, "I don't know where you have been all this time, but it wasn't me who killed all those Trolls! Even then, there were no killing other Trolls involved! The Party Crashers were the ones responsible for the chaos you're blaming me for! So don't accuse me of lacking morals!"

"You already are..." Cooper dared for this confrontional conversation to continue, "Your mission to unite the Troll Tribes under Rock sounds as flawed as it looks. Not only that, but you're missing the biggest lesson about them that my own parents taught me."

"Which is?"

"Denying our differences is denying the truth of who we are."

Barb was genuinely taken aback by Cooper's response, as was everyone else who was listening to their conversation unfold. Awaiting a response in return but receiving none, the Funk Prince pulled the Funk String out of his Destiny Cap and handed to a still shell-shocked Barb, who gingerly took it in her hands.

"I hope this "One Nation Under Rock" concert of yours goes well, because if it doesn't... I will hunt you down."

Cooper turned away and waited for Dickory to accompany him back to the cages. He didn't feel great about verbally lashing out at Barb like that; in fact, it made him feel miserable than before. He felt that it was necessary to get through her head, though, and she needed to listen to something that would make her have second thoughts about this concert of hers.

His thoughts immediately trailed back to his family, who were still missing after the attack on Vibe City. He began to pray for their safety, wherever they were.

As for Barb, she took a longing look at the Funk String and the spot where Cooper used to be...

Pop Village...was destroyed.

No one was there. It was...

Empty.

Abandoned.

Desolate.

Many coloful pods were burnt to the ground, some of them showing signs of being broken into prior to their destroying. Chunks of the mushroom stage were torn off and scattered everywhere, smoke still building up from the leftover ashes. Flowers and plants were ripped from the ground and hurled into the fire. Craters were blown everywhere much like the mushroom chunks, some of them being littered with black and red electric guitars. Speaking of which, graffiti of the same color decorated up-and-down places that declared their relish for Rock and their prejudice for Pop.

It was a mirror image of...what happened in Symphonyville.

"H-Hello?" Mr. Biggie tightly hugged an equally shocked Mr. Dinkles as he called for any potential surviors, "Anyone...?"

"Biggie...?"

Biggie turned towards a nearby pod, the door opening to reveal Ripley Wisp wielding a bloody baseball bat. Gemma popped out of her hair and ran towards him, hugging his knees.

"You're alive!"

Biggie returned the hug and looked around, "Is... Is it just you two?"

"I hope not!"

The three looked up at the trees to find Karma and Maddy swinging down and landing quite gracefully on the ground.

"Otherwise, that would've been one awkward party."

"Where are the others, Biggie?" Ripley helped Nova and Vega Swift out of their hiding place.

"Is no one else back?"

"Unfortunately, no," Sky Toronto pushed a bush off his head and advised Dr. Plum to do the same, "Sky Toronto was giving Dr. Plum a news lesson when those Rock Trolls rampaged."

"She took everyone to Volcano Rock City," Nova held Vega close, "Everyone, including King Peppy."

As Biggie listened to the remaining survivor's recollecting of the rampaging Rock Trolls, he came to the realization that he should've been taking into account on his homeward journey.

I shouldn't have left her. She wouldn't have left me. Never...no matter how scared she was...

. . .

I've got to go back...

. . .

"I've got to go back..." Biggie repeated with a more resolute tone in his voice.

"You mean, we've got to go back," Karma crossed her arms.

"I mean..." Maddy turned to face her, "We never even went in the first place."

"I know...but I just wanted to say that."

"Regardless..." Ripley cleaned her bat before she gathered more improvised weapons, "We're coming with you, Biggie. We got to go save our friends."

"Not to break up the admittedly inspirational moment here," Dr. Plum tended to her wounds, "but how are we supposed to do that if we can't get past security?"

"The Doctor is right," Sky Toronto noted grimly as he rubbed his chin, "The guards will overpower us before we even get a chance of saving them..."

"It's quite simple, the Doctor and Mr. Toronto," Karma walked to and lifted up a random boulder, "We'll overpower them...with muscles!"

Mustering all the strength she had, Karma tossed the random boulder into the air and kicked it, causing it to break into a million little pieces...which then rained upon the shocked survivors.

"Or..." Maddy offered an alternative solution, mentally recovering from her friend's freakish strength, "We could overpower them with FASHION. I'm not Satin and Chenille, but I know the mentor of them both."

"Right!" Nova caught on and hoisted a now cheered-up Vega high into the air, "Let's do this!"

Everybody cheered in unison as they gathered the supplies required and remaining as they prepared to get to work.

Hang on, Poppy. We're coming...

A/N: A little filler chapter detailing on Biggie and Cooper's whereabouts, I am well aware of the parallels between my story and "Trolls World Tour: Real Harmony Takes Lots Of Voices" by TU4QU0I53T4IAN6L3, so I would to acknowledge this by incorporate bits of his story into mine. We're almost near the end of our tale, which may come at a bittersweet cost.

Poppy's group have taken shelter at the Latin Trolls' home, Biggie's new group is planning to save their friends, Cooper has given up the Funk String, Mandy has given up the Pop String, and Barb's mission is accomplished. However, Barb is beginning to have second thoughts on her kingdom-uniting concert and the premonition of Poppy's incoming demise has now caused tensions among the others. Her group consisting of the Tribe Leaders, the K-Pop Gang, the Reggaeton Gang, Prince D, Hickory, Riff, Pennywhistle, DJ Suki, CJ Suki, Satin and Chenille, Meadow Spriggs, Bliss Marina, Coral Blush, Techno Beat Drop Button, Growly Pete, Clampers Buttonwillow, Harper, Archer Pastry, Diogo, Lucas, Dulce, Camilla, Adriana, Gabriel, and Creek, Poppy's original plan to give herself up and convince Barb to change her ways has been derailed by this sudden turn of events, leading her to formulate a new one in its old place...