Shadgirl2: Anybody wondering how Maddy, Bella, Karma, and Harper are doing?

Midna Azusa: Well, wonder no more! Here they are!

Shadgirl2: Along with some more chaos.

Disclaimer: We don't own Trolls. Wendy and Larry belong to Shadgirl2.

Edit: Added details.

Maddy and Bella made it back to Troll Village shortly after dark. After delivering their party supplies, they had waited for a while for Smidge to return for them, as was the plan. She'd never turned up, and they decided to walk home. Now, arriving in their home village, they looked around, curious as to why Smidge hadn't come to pick them up.

"See any signs of them, Maddy?" Bella asked as she looked around curiously.

"No. It looks like we're the first ones back, even though that walk took us a few hours." Maddy put a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow in confusion. A hint of concern showed in her eyes as she wondered what had kept the others.

Bella looked at Maddy with concern. "Do you think they're all okay?"

Maddy returned the look but didn't have a chance to answer.

"Hey, there! Maddy and Bella!" Harper cut in. "How'd it go!?"

Maddy and Bella turned to see Harper happily running up to them, waving. Karma came walking along behind, also looking happy.

"Harper! Karma! You guys walked back here, too!?" Maddy asked, smiling. She was glad that someone had made it home, at least.

"Yep! The town we visited hadn't even heard of the Party Crashers, so all we had to do was drop off some supplies and help everyone hide them somewhere safe just in case," Harper answered, stopping in front of the other two.

"And I helped them prepare for the invasion by helping them set up some net traps like Branch taught us to make in last month's safety class!" Karma added. She crossed her arms, looking both smug and pleased with herself. "Bash is in for a huge surprise if he ever stops by there."

Harper laughed some, amused at the thought of that.

"Hey! What a coincidence!" Bella said as she threw her arms out to the sides. "We just got back from doing the exact same thing!"

All four looked at each other, leaning forward, their eyes filled with wonder. "Ooooh..."

What were the odds of two separate groups doing the exact same thing? It was like they shared one mind or something.

Maddy laughed, amused herself now. Suddenly she wasn't so worried about the others. "That explains it! If all the four of us found out there were a bunch of guys who hadn't been hit yet, then that means the rest of those residents probably had!"

Karma closed her eyes and raised a finger. "Our thoughts exactly," she said with a nod, effectively explaining why she and Harper didn't seem concerned for the others. She opened her eyes and smiled at Maddy and Bella with confidence as she continued, "And since Queen Poppy said we shouldn't leave until they were all happy and having a good time, Harper and I figured they must be having some trouble cheering everyone up."

"So we came back here to see about what to do," Harper added.

Maddy put a hand to her chin, thinking about that. "Hmm... I'd say we should leave them alone for now. I'm sure they'll all be back sometime tomorrow! Oh!" She snapped her fingers, eyes widening in realization. "And don't forget! Some of us had even farther to go than others. So we should give those guys at least two days!"

Everyone smiled, agreeing to that statement. "Right!" the other three said.

Bella stretched then, yawning a bit. "Well, that's a relief. Glad to know those guys are alright. In the meantime, though, I'm gonna go to bed. That walk took a lot out of me." She headed for home.

Harper waved goodbye, calling, "Okay! Night, Bella! See you tomorrow!"

Bella waved back, smiling. "Night!"

"You know, she's really got the right idea," Karma said. "That was a long day for me, too."

"Yeah, you're right. We should get to bed," Harper agreed. She turned to Maddy with a smile and said, "Good night, girls! See you tomorrow!"

"Good night!" they both answered.

The three of them headed into town, but their watches went off along the way, signaling Hug Time. They all stopped and looked at the flowers curiously before hugging. After about three more minutes, they pulled apart.

"Okay, now I'm going to bed! See you later, girls! Bye!" Maddy said as she walked off, waving.

"Goodbye for real, Maddy! See you in the morning!" Harper called cheerily.

"Bye, guys! See you later!" Karma added.

"Yeah! Later!"

And so, having said goodnight twice because Hug Time had interrupted them, the three headed for home, fully confident that the others would be arriving home safely soon as well.

Back in Lonesome Flats, proving those four very wrong, Branch had quickly figured out just why Larry might actually want to be in jail. The jail supplied them with free food and water, a "soft" bed, and shelter, so there wasn't any reason he would have to work. That lazy punk had been singing all day to keep them from escaping, and Branch was positive of this. He was also positive that the mayor should just sentence the jerk to life in jail already and make his day...or maybe assign him community service instead and force him to work whenever he broke her laws. That seemed more likely to stop him than giving him free stuff.

However, once the sun had set and the day had ended, Larry was snoring away in the top bunk of the cell. Poppy was both tired and relieved by this. She'd spent the whole day trying to keep Branch from turning Larry into mulch or something. Really, her boyfriend could do with a little less impatience and ferocity.

"There. He's asleep," she said quietly, rather annoyed at how Branch had been behaving all day. "Are you happy now?" She gestured at Larry with one arm, glaring at Branch in annoyance as she spoke.

"Yes, actually! Ecstatic!" Branch hissed in response, tossing his arms up over his head to emphasize the point.

Poppy yawned loudly, stretching. "Good...'cause now I'm tired. So if you'll excuse me..." She headed for the lower bunk.

Branch pulled a collapsible shovel out of his hair and quietly said, "I'm not planning on staying here." And he put the shovel together and started digging a hole in the cell.

Knowing Branch, he could have that hole finished in 15, 20 minutes, tops.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Poppy blinked before staring at him, stunned. And he thought she had endless energy. He'd been throwing violent fits and wrestling with her all day, but he still had enough energy left for an escape attempt? Where did he keep all that energy? He'd worn her out an hour ago, and he normally wore out long before her. "...You're kidding. You're trying to escape...now?" She got up and walked over, still trying to make sense of this.

"Yes! I'd have been trying earlier if Larry would have stopped singing that junk!" He had a glare fixed on his face, and Poppy was starting to wonder if his face had frozen like that. He'd been glaring at Larry pretty much all day.

Poppy walked up to Branch with a blank stare on her face. "...Uh, Branch. Is this really a good idea? It's pretty late, and we've both been up—"

Branch whirled on her, looking more than just a little irritated. "Poppy, in case you forgot, we're at risk of spending the rest of our lives here! We need to take whatever chance we get to get out!"

Poppy threw her arms down, annoyed. She felt like she was about to fall asleep. Couldn't this wait until they were both rested? "Yeah, but I'm super tired, Branch. And, from the looks of things, you aren't much better." She pointed at the wild, furious expression on his face, poking him in the nose for emphasis.

Poppy knew what Branch looked like when he was too stressed to think clearly. Knowing this could go south quickly if he didn't rest and calm down first, she reached for his shoulders so she could gently guide him to the remaining bed. He clearly needed it more than she did. Sure, she had planned on taking the bed, but she could settle for the floor if giving Branch the bed helped him relax. There was no way she was even suggesting sharing the bed—they may have been a couple, but he was still getting used to just hugging and cuddling with each other from time to time, and they hadn't even had one kiss yet. Sharing a bed, however platonically, wasn't something he was ready for.

"So maybe, for now, we should do the smart thing and—"

"You sleep if you want to, but I'm getting out of here!" Branch said, and he pulled away and went back to digging his hole.

The guard was snoring outside, the annoying cellmate was snoring inside, and everyone else in town was quiet and in bed. If he had to, he'd carry Poppy back to their ride, and he'd drive. He was never coming back to Lonesome Flats again.

Poppy sweat, watching him lamely. Why couldn't he just relax? "Okay, fine. Have it your way, I guess." She backed away a bit and flopped down on the floor and watched, arms crossed, as her mind turned to other things. Clearly, she wouldn't be sleeping tonight, after all. Why did Larry get such a light sentence? And what's the deal with all this pop music hate? Why, it's like they think we're the Party Crashers here to ruin everyone's fun, and we didn't do anything...like that, I mean.

It didn't make sense. She'd come to help these guys and wound up with an even harsher sentence than a guy who was doing exactly the same thing as her? And why was Branch in trouble with the Country Trolls? Not only hadn't he done anything, but he'd also been on Mayor Delta's side throughout the entire event! You'd think she would have liked him!

By this point, Branch had already gotten a nice, deep hole, and Poppy figured they'd be out of here in no time. She knew Branch probably had his own ideas about what they should do when they got out of this jail, so she decided they should talk about that.

"...So..." Poppy got up and moved closer to the hole, looking down at Branch. "What do you think we should do once we're out of here? Do you have a plan for getting us out of Lonesome Flats?"

"Yeah. We get out of town without being spotted, get back to the plane, and take off."

"But, Branch! Aren't you forgetting something here? We didn't come here to cause trouble for these guys, but they act like we're the bad guys here! Aren't you even the least bit curious as to why that is?"

"No," he answered as he kept digging.

Typical Branch. Why couldn't he see there was a serious problem here?

"But, Branch! Think about it. If the Country Trolls reacted so poorly to our little visit, then what do you think the others could be doing with our friends? If we knew why all the other tribes hated us so much, then maybe we'd have a chance to prove them all wrong!" she said worriedly.

Branch stopped digging so he could look at Poppy. He already knew full well that their friends, at least those visiting other tribes, were probably in trouble. He fully expected the Funk Trolls could be hiding from Guy so he wouldn't locate them. He believed the Classical Trolls might have locked Satin and Chenille up. He was positive the Techno Trolls would get DJ and CJ lost at sea. He even thought that Fuzzbert and Aspen could find themselves swimming in lava shortly. That was why they had to get out of here fast.

"Poppy, I'm pretty sure the best way to help our friends is to get out of here and go rescue them, not worry about proving anyone wrong."

Eyes widening from shock, Poppy threw her arms up and cried, "What!? But, Branch. What if this sort of thing happens again? We can't have all the other troll tribes hating us until the end of time! How does that prove to others that we're friendly?" She put a hand on her hip and let the other arm hang at her side, annoyed.

"So what do you suggest?" Branch asked, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I was thinking we could do a little snooping around. You know! See what we could find that might explain why everyone seems so mad at us so we could fix it!" She threw her arms out to the side as her excitement at her own idea grew.

If they knew what they had done wrong, they could make it right and be friends with the other trolls. It wasn't like they were so different they couldn't get along.

"Great idea!" Branch said, looking cheery, but Poppy could hear the sarcastic notes in his voice. "Then we can get caught, arrested again, and spend the rest of our lives in a Lonesome Flats prison with Larry!"

She stared at him lamely for a moment, wondering why he always had to be like that. "Branch."

"Forget it! I'm not doing that! We need to get out of here and save the others. If the Country Trolls are this messed up, I don't want to think about what Fuzzbert and Aspen are dealing with!"

They hadn't realized how loud they were getting until Larry snorted, stirring. "H-huh...? What in..."

Branch gave a start and looked up, eyes wide. Poppy yelped quietly, covering her mouth with both hands. Her eyes were wide as well.

Waking Larry up could prove their undoing, and they both knew it.

Larry yawned and stretched as he woke up. Then he rubbed his eyes a bit as he sat up. He blinked slowly a few times and looked down at his two cellmates, curious but still half asleep. "Now, what in Trollord's name are ya both still doin' up? And where'd that there hole come from!?" He leaped down frantically as he made his way over to the hole, eyes wide with panic. Suddenly he was wide awake.

Poppy sweat, backing up. "U-uh, duh—I-it's nothing!" She leaped in front of the hole, arms and legs spread wide, blocking Larry's path and fanning her hair out to hide the hole. She had an awkward grin on her face and could feel sweat on her brow, too. Sure, Larry had already seen the hole, but it couldn't hurt to try and hide it, maybe claim that it was all a dream?

Branch quickly put his shovel away and jumped out of the hole as Larry pushed past Poppy, who looked at the Country Troll with worry. Her hands were clenched into fists in front of her.

"Larry, I'm begging you, be quiet!" Branch hissed.

Larry stared at the hole, his eyes wide in horror. The Pop Trolls were staging a jailbreak. "...Holy tabanoli. Ya two're tryin' to escape..."

No self-respecting Country Troll would allow this. The Pop Trolls were nothing but trouble, and the fact that their leader had cheated on her boyfriend and tried turning everyone pop earlier that day was proof enough for him. Slowly, Larry pulled his guitar from his hair.

Poppy held up her hands and hopped around rather frantically as she cried, "No! Larry, stop! Don't do it!"

Branch lunged at Larry, intent on knocking him out before he could wake anyone up.

But Larry was too quick. He leaped out of the way as he played his guitar, singing loudly, "AND THE WARDEN SANG—"

Branch wrapped his hair around Larry, tying him up and covering his mouth. In response, Larry started kicking around, bucking, knocking over the bucket by the bed, rolling into the wall, headbutting Branch...and making a lot of noise all the while.

Poppy gasped as she realized this and ran over to stop it. "NO! Stop! Branch!" Eyes wide, she held out both hands, signaling for him to stop.

But it was too late.

A loud snort outside the jail stopped everything. Branch froze, letting go of Larry. Poppy froze as well.

Larry smirked a bit, seeing Pete's shadow slowly moving toward them. He started playing his guitar again and continued his song darkly, "Come on, somebody, why don't you run?"

Pete got closer and closer as Larry sang this ominous song. Poppy, nervous, moved toward Branch. She put her hands up to her chest and leaned toward him. He inched toward her as well, defensive.

"Ol' Red's itchin' to have a little fun..." Larry continued as he climbed back into the top bunk.

Poppy wrapped her arms around Branch, hugging him from the side, and Branch wrapped one arm around her in response as he held her protectively. Pete's silhouette, dark and creepy, peered into the cell. He took one look at the mess they had made and, knowing Larry wasn't behind it, hurried to open the door. He appeared both frantic and furious.

"Growly growly growl!" he threatened.

Poppy stiffened, holding Branch tighter. She cleared the lump from her throat as she started shaking, nervousness turning to fear. Branch backed away, still holding Poppy protectively. He'd have been lying if he said he wasn't a bit scared himself, but he couldn't afford to show that when Poppy was already terrified—that would just scare her more.

"Get my ladder, get my gun..." Larry sang as he settled back into the bunk.

The door to their cell flew open, and Pete burst into the cell in a towering rage. "Growly growl growl!"

Poppy and Branch cried out as Pete lashed out with his mustache, grabbing them both and tying them up. He pulled them apart, holding them both slightly off the ground. Poppy looked down, her eyes wide with fear and her teeth clenched, then cast a worried look back to Pete. Branch glanced at the ground, then looked over at Poppy in concern before quickly turning his uneasy gaze on their guard.

Larry smirked darkly, hidden in the shadows above. "Red'll have ya treed 'fore the mornin' come..."

Pete dragged the two Pop Trolls into Mayor Delta's office, tossing them roughly in front of her as he maintained a grip on their arms. The office was nothing special, just a small room with a brown door toward the back. The room was furnished with a small wooden desk and one tall wooden chair (specially designed for a Country Troll) that had a white cushion on the seat, lace trimming the cushion. There were two windows, one on either side of the room. A ceiling fan overhead spun gently and also served as the light fixture for the room. On the desk, a nameplate with Delta's name and title sat, along with a coffee mug full of pens and a picture frame with an image of Delta and her niece Clampers on a ranch somewhere with a pig that had been hogtied. In the picture, Clampers had her arms raised excitedly over her head and Delta was smiling at her, clapping, looking proud.

Poppy took in the room and the décor, briefly distracted as she marveled at how quaint the place was. Country Trolls were definitely different than Pop Trolls.

She didn't have a lot of time to stay distracted, however, as Mayor Delta walked toward them, glaring daggers at them. A brown troll girl with yellow hair and tail who wore a red and white flannel shirt and blue jeans stood in the back by the second door, looking bored. Her hair was braided into two long pigtails that hung on either side of her face. The braids were held by tiny white ribbons tied into bows.

"So! A little birdy told me y'all been busy diggin' up my jailhouse floor in some feeble attempt to escape?" She put her hands on her hips, glaring at the two trouble-makers sternly. "Did ya honestly believe it'd be that easy?" It just figured a couple of good for nothing Pop Trolls would cause trouble for her during the night. They probably wanted to bust out and steal her string, knowing their tribe. Here she thought locking them up would prevent that, but they were sneakier than she thought. Not that she was going to let them win—the fate of her town depended on stopping these two.

"Mayor Delta, please!" Poppy begged, eyes pleading. "Why are you doing this to us!? I mean, sure, I might have disturbed the peace of your town, but why do you hate us so much!? What did we do to you!?"

Delta grinned, bitterly amused, as she tried to suppress a laugh. As if they didn't already know. "What'd ya do? Oh, that's an easy one, honey." She glared at them in a manner one might use when scolding a child for misbehaving. "Why, it's all 'cause of you Pop Trolls that we're all divided up in the first place!"

Poppy's eyes widened in shock. "What!?"

Branch's eyes widened, too. Pop was the reason the trolls were divided? How could that be?

"Eh-hm... See, accordin' to our national history, y'all once tried stealin' our strings and turnin' all music into pop," Delta explained, leaning to the side with a hand on her hip. Her tone was a bit firm but otherwise emotionless. Apparently, they either didn't know or wanted her to think they didn't. "So we had—"

"Wait a sec. We did what now?" Poppy cut her off, completely confused. That was the least sensible explanation she'd ever heard and left her with more questions than answers.

Branch took it upon himself to ask one of those questions when he asked, "What strings?"

Delta shook her head, growing rather annoyed with these two. How ignorant could they be? Either they were really good actors or just plain stupid. She walked up to them, pulling her banjo from her hair, and pulled on the orange string alone. A country melody played out for a few seconds as an orange heart shot off it, dropping sparkly dust, like from a dirt road. Poppy and Branch stared, amazed.

"This string," Delta enlightened them, jerking the string a bit. "It controls all country music and is part of a set of six, each string bein' in charge of producin' a different kind of music, like funk or techno. But when Pop got it in their heads to turn everythin' to pop music, we were all forced to grab our own strings and hit the road, as it's written throughout all troll history." She put the banjo back in her hair then, looking firm but not glaring anymore. If they were really ignorant, there was no reason to be too harsh with them.

Poppy was both stunned and upset. How could her people have ever thought it was a good idea to do something like that? No wonder the Country Trolls had reacted poorly to her anthem—"spreading the love" probably sounded like a euphemism for destroying the other types of music in their minds. "Whoa... I...can't believe..."

"And that's why we all work so hard to protect our strings." Delta glared viciously at them both as she added, "So that no low-down trouble-makin' Pop Trolls can come 'round and get their greedy lil' hands on 'em."

She wanted to make it brutally clear that their kind weren't welcome here. Dull as a sack of hammers or not, Pop Trolls still couldn't be trusted, and these two had already proven that with the mutiny, the "spreading the love" nonsense, and a jailbreak.

Recovering from his own horror at this new information, Branch said, "Okay, but we didn't come here for your string! Sure, Poppy started a mutiny by being her usual self, but we came here to help, and Larry did the same thing as Poppy and isn't spending the next 50 years in jail!"

"We're not here to cause trouble, honest!" Poppy agreed, pushing her annoyance at Branch aside. (Her usual self? Really?) "Just give us a chance to prove it!"

Delta put a hand to her chin, thinking about that. Poppy and Branch both waited anxiously, unsure what was coming.

At long last, Delta said, "Well..." She looked pointedly at Branch as she pointed a finger at him. "That guy? I can give him a shot. He didn't start a mutiny today, after all."

Poppy's eyes widened in indignation. "What?"

Branch gave Poppy a lame look. Honestly, was she expecting something different?

"However..." Delta said, trying to regain their attention. Pop Trolls seemed very easily distracted, and it was rather frustrating trying to talk to two trolls who appeared very attention deficit. The queen was even distracted by the décor when she walked in, for Dolly's sake!

Poppy looked, feeling nervous. Branch also turned his attention back to the mayor.

"Since ya did just try stagin' a jailbreak, I'm afraid y'all have to do some work 'round here to make up for it. But, if everythin's done to my satisfaction, I might be willin' to just let ya off with a warnin' this time. Then ya can take yer sorry tails home and never bother us again." She pointed firmly off to the side as she said that part, then put her hands on her hips and asked, "How's that sound?"

Quite frankly, Branch wanted to argue about how he had been unjustly imprisoned and she had no right to lock him up in the first place. He wanted to tell this woman to go swim with some alligators. But he also wanted to get out of here sometime this life, so he sighed and said, "Works for me."

Poppy sighed as well, wondering how Branch was the one given a second chance and she was denied. She also couldn't help but be bothered by the "never bother us again" part of that deal. The Country Trolls weren't going to stop hating them if they did that! "Ugh..."

Delta nodded, satisfied. "Good." She turned to Pete and said, "Go fetch Travis and have him fill in that there hole before Larry decides to turn it into a mine or somethin'." She rolled her eyes. He was lazy, yes, but Larry was also stupid, so that didn't seem outside the realm of possibility. Knowing him, he'd go looking for gold so he could get rich and never have to work another day in his lazy, good-for-nothing life. Larry would work if it helped him be lazy, strange as that sounded.

Pete nodded and released the two Pop Trolls. "Growly growly growl," he said before leaving to do that.

Delta moved in front of Branch and said firmly, "And as for you, ya low-down lil' rascal, I'm gonna need ya to go with Wendy over there for a thorough strip search." She indicated the troll in the back of the room. "I'm not havin' anymore of this here nonsense in the middle of the night. Are we clear?" She placed her hands on her hips again, glaring firmly at the boy.

Wendy came over and grabbed Branch's arms, securing him. She looked like she'd rather be asleep, honestly.

"Yeah, you're clear," he answered. Muttering, he added, "Arrested me for Poppy's crimes, but the jailbreak I'll give you."

Sure, he shouldn't have been in that jail in the first place, but he would also have been setting Poppy and that lousy Larry free, so he supposed it was fair to charge him as a criminal for this event. Besides, he probably would have broken into the jail to free Poppy if he hadn't already been in there with her.

Delta nodded, and Wendy took Branch to a room in the back. Once they were gone, the mayor turned to Poppy and said, "And that leaves ya with me, hon. Better get comfortable 'cause we ain't leavin' here until Pete and Travis fix the mess ya've made." She moved to sit at her desk then, pulling out her banjo and strumming on it to pass the time. It was way too early to be up. Why were Pop Trolls so much trouble?

Poppy sighed in defeat and sat down, making herself comfortable. This...is the worst. I can't believe my ancestors could cause so much trouble, but—

"Hey!" Branch cried out in apparent indignation from the back room.

Poppy looked that way. Knowing Branch, they'd found so many things on him that they'd decided to strip him down completely to be sure they got everything. After all, he did carry around a toolkit, several mallets, a collapsible shovel, bear traps, and who knew what else in his hair alone. She didn't even want to think about what he had in his pockets.

"Hold still!" a male Country Troll said firmly. "We've got a lot of work to do, boy!"

Poppy blinked, listening to the sounds in the back. Branch was definitely going to be in a foul mood shortly. I sure hope everyone else is doing okay, all things considered...

A/N: The song Larry's singing is "Ol' Red" by Blake Shelton. We don't own that, either.