Eat, sleep, rock, repeat. Eat, sleep, rock, repeat. Eat, sleep, rock, repeat. Those 4 words were the only thing that ever stuck with Barb growing up in the rock tribe. The tribe that lived carefree. Her father King Thrash was a legend. Everyone adored him. He was out almost every night performing after long days of ruling. When the tribe found out there was going to be an heir to the throne, Thrash still went out and performed. Barb's mother had left not long after the princess of rock had arrived. There were rumors that she ran off with another rock troll and changed her appearance so neither Thrash nor Barb could find her. It was very heartbreaking for Thrash. He wasn't ready for a child, his flame wasn't either and that was why she left. With the absence of both parents, Barb raised herself. She learned from watching the other trolls around her. They broke the rules, and they didn't have a care in the world, so she followed suit. The other trolls treated her differently, they didn't know her as Barb. They only knew her as Thrash's daughter. She didn't see her dad too much, but when she did, he would punish her for breaking the rules. He always say the same thing.

"You may be a rock troll, but you are the future queen. Act like it. You need to set an example"

"You're the king, aren't you supposed to be the example for our people?"

"Be better than me Barbara. I wasn't taught properly. I don't know how to teach you. You are going to lead a future generation, it's too late for this generation, but you can do better for the next one."

She decided that maybe if she did what her dad asked, then he would be around more. That wasn't the case. By trying to do right, her father still wasn't there, and her peers saw her as an outcast. They had painted a picture that Thrash's daughter should be wild and rebellious like him. She became fed up with trying to gain her father's approval. If it was wild and rebellious they wanted, it was what they were going to get. Barb started wearing more revealing clothing, pierced her ears, dyed and shaved her head, and wore a lot of makeup. She started going out to party every night and vandalized property with the others. Unfortunately, her change in behavior created a further gap in her relationship with her dad. It wasn't until Thrash's injury that they would get the relationship she had longed for. King Thrash on his usual night of performing suffered a head injury after a stage diving accident. It caused him physical and mental damage. He couldn't walk as well as he used to, so he had to use a wheelchair. He also became incapable of making proper decisions and suffered some memory loss. He had step down as his role of King of Rock and Barb had to step up at the age of 16.

Being a teenager was already hard enough. Now Barb carried the kingdom, taking care of her dad, and trying to fit in on her shoulders. She regretted her behavior. She knew Thrash had been disappointed in her before the accident, and now he couldn't even remember it. After seeing that life was too short, she wanted to fulfil her promise that she would better for the next generation.

During the first year of being queen, no one took her seriously. She wanted so bad to gain respect from her people that she started going back to her old ways. She started to seep to her dad's level and performed every night. At first, she didn't know what to do and just stayed on the guitar, but she gained her confidence after developing a rush from the crowd. From then, she took the lead on vocals and smashed guitars at the end of her songs which drove the crowd crazy. She had been missing out for so long. She was finally having fun! She was becoming well-liked and respected like she always wanted. The best part was that her dad couldn't punish her. Deep down though little by little her heart chipped away when she would come back and see her dad in his wheelchair unaware of what was going on. She needed to do something for the kingdom. Not only to make her dad proud but also prove herself that she could be a good queen.

One day before going out to perform, she helped her father get ready for bed. She helped him brush his teeth, get dressed, and helped him in the bed. It was this very night when Barb's plot to steal the strings was born.

"Are you comfortable Dad?" Barb asked.

Thrash smiled. "Oh yes, so comfy. Thank you, Barbara"

"Are you in any pain?"

"Not much"

"Dad…I'm so sorry"

"Sorry?"

"I'm not being a good queen. I know you wanted me to do better"

"What does better even mean?" You are the queen now, just do what you believe is best"

"I don't know what is best. I don't even know what's best for me"

"I think the best decision the first King of Rock made was to separate from the other trolls"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I think I'm ready for bed now"

Thrash hummed softly. He wasn't aware of what he said. This peaked Barb's interest.

"Dad, what do you mean by other trolls?"

"Other trolls?"

"Yes! You just said separate from the trolls! Are there more rock trolls?"

"I did? Don't worry about it, that issue was taken care of years ago."

Barb started to get frustrated. "Dad! What other trolls?!" She held back when she saw the confusion on her dad's face. He couldn't remember. She decided to just let it go, if he hadn't told her about it a long time ago maybe it wasn't that important.

"Sorry dad, I didn't mean to yell. You just get some rest ok?"

"Goodnight Barbara"

She closed the door and grabbed her guitar. She tried to put what her dad said out of her mind, but it was messing with her performance. It went noticed by her bandmates. She wasn't into it tonight like she usually was. After every performance Barb usually stuck around and partied, but this night she decided to head home. She lied awake that night, she couldn't stop thinking about what her dad said. She needed to get some answers. She went into her dad's room. He was still sound asleep. She started going through his things hoping to find clues. She cringed at every movement she made. Rockers weren't the best at being quiet. She almost gave up when she didn't find anything, but then something caught her eye. She saw her dad's trunk tucked in the corner of his room, she never dared open it before because her father used to be able to tell if anyone went through his things. Now he probably didn't remember if he had a trunk. Being as quiet as she could, she dragged the trunk out of his room and looked at it for a long time. Maybe this was just some trunk that he kept his junk in. There was only one way to find out. She had to use some of her tools to loosen up the lock since she didn't have the energy to look for any keys. After struggling for a while, she finally opened it. There were a bunch of records with an accompanied record player. She took them out and looked carefully. These were different. Usually whenever the rock trolls listened to a record, it always had the song on it. These were completely blank, however five of the records had a distinct color which included pink, blue, yellow, green and purple. She dug around some more and something started to glow. She saw a guitar. It was missing strings…except for one. This string however glowed red. What was this? She pulled the string back and it made a loud note. There was also a skull that appeared after she played it. She was taken aback. This string was special, there was no question about it. She thought the records would provide answers, so she took out her headphones and plugged them into the player. She heard King Ozzy's voice enter her eardrums.

"If you are listening to this, then you are the next generation of royalty and it is time for you to learn the tale. There are other trolls from different tribes, they aren't like us. What do I mean by different? It's their music. This music includes Pop, Funk, Techno, Country, and Classical. Long ago we used to be one big party. We all mashed our music together. Our ancestors discovered different types of sounds and made them into strings. Our red string symbolizes our tribe, the rock trolls. I record this to inform you about our separation, although sometimes other tribes became intolerant of the other's music, we still wanted to live in harmony that was until…the Pop tribe stole our strings. They were greedy and tried to take all the music for themselves, so it came to the decision that we had to separate. I record this to inform you to keep the string safe, we don't know if any of the tribes have ideas of repeating what the Pop trolls did. It is also important not to share this information with any of the other trolls. We don't want to cause any unnecessary panic. If there ever came a day where any tribe invaded, 4 words. Keep the string safe. I repeat, keep the string safe. If every string is merged together, it will create a power chord and whoever plays it…just keep the string safe. The records I have provided has samples of what their music sounds like. Good luck fellow King or Queen."

Barb sat there with her mouth open. What had she just heard? If this was meant for future heirs of the throne, why didn't her dad share this with her? This information was overwhelming. She picked up the pink record, it had to be the Pop one. She put it in the player and listened for a minute before throwing the headphones off. It was the worst sound she ever heard! How could anyone sound this upbeat?! Did she even dare listen to the others? She listened to the rest reluctantly, she didn't get classical it was extremely long and boring. Techno was just a bunch of sound effects. Funk was too slow. She liked the country a little, but it got depressing and old after a while. They dared call this music?! She could only imagine what these trolls looked like. She looked further into the trunk and found a map. The map showed all the tribe's land. It didn't seem like they were far, but there was definitely some distance. She turned the map over and found a bunch of scribbled out notes, it looked like the names of the leaders. It looked like it had been updated for many years. Most names were crossed off, all except 7. Queen Poppy, King Trollex, Delta Dawn, King Quincy and Queen Essence, and Trollzart. She starred at those names. These were real trolls. How did her dad even know their names? It wasn't like he went to their lands himself? She never saw him leave on an expedition before. He must have sent someone, that meant someone knew. Which also meant a certain troll kept it from her. And she had a feeling she knew who that someone was. That someone was going to get a talking to. It was almost 2am, and she didn't want to wait. She knew everyone would still be out partying. She marched out of the house and headed towards the mosh pit. Everyone made a ruckus when she arrived.

"Queen Barb! I knew you couldn't resist this party!"

"We want another encore!"

Barb rolled her eyes. "Sorry guys, the show's over. Have any of you seen Riff?"

"I think he's with Carol"

Barb glared. "You think or you know?

"I…"

"Where is he?!" Bard demanded. Everyone started moving out of the way and looking around.

Riff swallowed nervously. "I'm right here. What's going on?" Seeing that Barb already caused a scene, she had to get him away from the crowd.

"Come with me" Barb growled.

Everyone started laughing and making comments that Riff was in trouble. Riff gulped and followed Barb away from the crowd. She brought him back to her house and took out the records.

"Barb if this is because of my suggestion of doing a solo, I'm sorry I was out of line" Riff stuttered.

"What? No man, this is about the other trolls. I know you and my dad were getting buddy close. I know you know something. Have you seen these records?"

"I've never seen those before"

Barb grabbed him by his collar. "Quit lying! What do you know about the other trolls?!"

"Queen Barb please I don't know about any other trolls! Your dad didn't tell me anything!"

Barb loosened her grip and sighed. "Riff…did my dad ever send you somewhere? Somewhere unfamiliar?"

"No, he didn't I promise, what's this all about?"

"Just listen to these" She gestured to the records. Riff listened to them and based on his reaction as he listened Barb knew he was telling the truth of not keeping anything from her.

"This is…shocking. You didn't know about this?"

"If I knew about it, would I have dragged you all the way here?! My dad didn't tell me, someone knew though! Look at all these names, you can't tell me he traveled to those places on his own"

"I don't know who he would've sent, no one's left the rock volcano, but…your dad did mention something about bounty hunters before"

"Bounty hunters?" She dug through the trunk, but nothing stood out. She started going through her dad's things again.

"Um…Barb do you think you should-?"

"Riff get over here and help me look!"

"Yes, your rockness, but what am I looking for?"

"Something! Anything!"

Barb must have torn the whole place apart finding any piece of evidence she could find but found nothing. She was angry. Her dad obviously didn't trust her enough to tell her about this. Her ears still hadn't recovered from the music she had listened to on the records. These trolls had no taste.

"Barb…what'd you going to do? Tell everyone else?

"I'm not telling anyone until I find more proof. For all I know this could be a joke. I just…wish dad had told me about it"

"Well…to be fair, his accident did happen quickly. You weren't ready to be queen yet. Would it have been a huge deal if you never found out? I mean we haven't even seen other trolls besides us"

"That's the problem Riff! There are more out there, if this is true. We're all isolated because of our music. Which…I get because I probably couldn't take listening to that cheesy pop music but…we're trolls.

"Well…technically we're separated because Pop tried to steal these strings"

"Blah! Pop was the worst out of all of them! These poor trolls don't know anything about rock" Barb started to form a smirk.

"Um…Barb" Riff started to say.

"Hush! I've got an idea. A really great idea. However, I can't do this alone. Riff do you have any information about the bounty hunters at all? Why did dad mention them?"

"Well after listening to the album, it makes sense. I came across your dad one night, he seemed to be frustrated. When I asked him if anything was the matter, all he told me was the bounty hunters hadn't returned yet"

"When was this?! Why was he so worried about them?!"

Riff cowered as her voice started to raise. "This happened months ago, He said he had to keep the outsiders away, I just thought he meant party crashers. I'm sorry but that's all I know Barb, I swear.

"Dad was acting strange one night, I remember. His performance was off and he didn't even notice that I got another tattoo" Barb's eyes widened in realization. She immediately headed back towards the arena with Riff following behind her. Slipping past everyone she went backstage and went down the basement. No one ever went down there because it was small, the pipes leaked, and it was dark. The perfect place where her dad might've kept secrets. She tried turning on the light, but it was dead. It reeked down there. Riff was starting to gag and edge back up the stairs.

"Barb, what are we even doing down here?"

Barb ignoring Riff's question used a flashlight to give the room some light. The basement was empty, however one thing stood out. The painting of King Ozzy? Why would that be down there in an unoccupied basement unless…She lifted it off the wall and a smirk formed on her face. She had found what she had been looking for. The bounty hunters. Their names, their contact, and all the information they provided of all of the tribes. She also noticed a form of agreement, the agreement said that they would provide information about the other tribes in exchange for protection if there was ever an event with the strings. It made sense. These trolls had smaller groups. They needed protection of their music. Of course, they would seek help from the Rock tribe. This made Barb smile even more.

"Riff, gather everyone up…We're going on a world tour!"

Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I've updated, but I graduate in 5 days! Anyways, when I was writing the next gap, I realized I missed the most important one of all! Barb's story! This should've been the first gap I did, but thanks to Shadgirl 2 for pointing that out! There will be a part 2 of the backstory, but this is just an overview of how Barb came up with the idea. I am writing this based on what I believe, I don't truly know what Barb thought of the other music, so please don't take offense. Hope you guys enjoy!

~Ash