Author's Note: I'm gonna change Stevie and Ciara's design. Stevie's gonna be green with flat dark green hair that covers his eyes while Ciara will be sky blue with purple stripes her hair is purple that's tied up in pigtails. Their designs are based off the Trollimals who are now scrapped, that are named Hooper and Dandy… my friend showed him to me and really liked their design.
I had to rewrite this chapter a couple of times so please be respectful.
Wolf In Sheep's Clothing:
Two little bergens, a male and a female; named Jimmy and Nina, respectively, were happily playing ball by the Troll Tree/cage. The young female stopped and watched the cage with an interested expression. They loved to watch the trolls and hear their songs, but they don't go near it since there are two fearsome guard alligators are sleeping by it, who'd tear them apart if they even think about coming in.
"You know, what do you the trolls do when there is no Trollstice?" the female asked, staring at the cage with so much curiosity.
"I'm not sure. I guess singing, dancing and hugging?" the male answered a bit skeptically; observing the cage as well.
"That could be true. I mean Mr. Ernie from the record store only sells the trolls' songs since it is the only music we've got." Nina said.
"Yeah… Too bad we can't hear their songs live anymore. Keeper has been keeping a very close eye on them and he won't allow us to have a troll, if we broke the rules." Jimmy said, looking at the caged tree and then looked over at the sleeping fearsome guard alligators; shuddering at what those two can do.
It was true, there were some rules for the Bergens to abide by when it came to the trolls. The Pop Trolls knew these rules by heart; it was some of the few things they were ever taught.
Rule number one was very simple: trolls are solely to be consumed on one day, which is Trollstice. Anyone caught eating a troll on any other day will be punished immediately. This rule was mainly implemented to keep troll count high, for the next Trollstice.
Rule number two is: everyone gets one and one troll only. No second helping, no leftovers from others, and no swiping remaining troll parts from the plates of others. Once a troll is caught, it should be eaten immediately or given to the Keeper and the assistants to be prepared into a meal.
Rule number three was a bit too hard, since it came to the escaping trolls: any Bergen finds a troll outside of the cage; they mustn't hurt it or step on it, even if it's by accident; they'll be punished for it. What they must do is call the proper authorities.
Rule number four: nobody, except for the troll keepers and their assistants, is allowed in the troll tree cage. The civilian Bergens are allowed to watch the trolls and even record their singing, if they wanted, but entering the cage or near its premises is a punishable offense. It's why the Keeper trained Brutus and Rudolf; to keep the Bergens out and the trolls in. At first, the Bergens were allowed to go near the cage and even feed the trolls, but Keeper didn't like that some of them were content with just hearing the trolls' singing and some even had some sort of conversation with the tiny creatures; some even started to suspect if eating trolls isn't their only salvation, so he added the rule that no one is allowed near the premises of the Troll cage. He wanted to make sure that the civilian and royalty Bergens were ignorant about the trolls… to make sure he has control over them.
Rule number five was probably the easiest to follow and one that actually gives off the impression that bergens have morals and compassion: no one is to eat a troll child or the eggs. The Bergens weren't complete monsters, so none of them was able to bring themselves to eat children. So, it became an understandable rule that the youngest trolls and mothers with eggs were left alone until they were old enough to eat.
Even with these rules, the current Keeper never upheld them at all; he stole the troll eggs and killed more trolls for himself to eat or sells them to addicted Bergens in the back alley. The trolls tried telling the bergens the truth about the keeper but none of them wanted to listen; afraid if they did, the keeper might never give them 'happiness' or worse kill them- yes, he was that heartless.
King Peppy made a note to tell Steele about these rules since they could be advantageous, but later, since he noticed the outsider troll wasn't looking so well.
Steele was feeling a little woozy after breakfast, it was more like his energy was drained from him. He thought that it is because the food was something new to him, but he doubted it since he had been living off the land for quite a while and he has eaten some… things.
"Ugh! My head feels like I've drank 10 cases of Country beer!" he thought, his head hurt a bit and his body felt like it weighed a ton. 'What was in that mush!? And how come Pops aren't feeling woozy either!?" He looked around to see all the trolls were just… brimming with life, ironically.
The woozy troll stumbled over to the edge of the cage and held himself up with the metal bars; watching what's going on outside the prison. He saw the two young Bergens; watching the trolls as he began waving at them, dumbly.
"What the hell are you doing!?" a voice whispered in a shouty tone near his ear. Steele turned his head to see Peppy giving him an are-you-serious look!
"What?!" Steele asked as if what he was doing was nothing at all.
Peppy tackled the Rock troll and took him to behind the tree. "Never EVER interact with a Bergen!" the redhaired king said, urgently.
"Come on! They're just kids." The black-haired troll defended.
"Maybe so, but what happens when they tell their parents or other adults?" the king asked; knowing the answer. "The bergens aren't stupid, but some believe that we are!
"Are you alright?" the young king asked when he noticed how sickly the older troll looked.
"I just don't feel so good." Steele answered, groggily, with his hand on his stomach.
"Maybe I should take you to Sunny and Dr. Cutie Cakes." Peppy said, concernedly.
"No, it's fine… I just need to lie down." The Rock troll replied, still groggy, with his good arm on his stomach. "Or vomit."
"Let's just take you to Sunny and Dr. Cutie Cakes." The redhaired troll said, putting a hand on the black-haired troll's shoulder.
With the Cowards:
Birch went to his father's Pod, which he and the rest of the cowards stayed in during the day since it gets stuffy in their hiding place. He handed over to Herb most of the mush he stored in his overalls while a handful he took over to a box in the corner of the pod; opening it to reveal a small, puffy, green flying bug that seemed to be injured. The little bug opened its eyes for them to gleam in happiness at the sight of the blue troll.
"Hey there, Puffy." Birch greeted, smiling. "Time for breakfast."
The bug, named Puffy, slowly got up and began to happily gobble up the food from Birch's hand.
Birch's smile widened even more when he saw that the bug ate all of the mush. Puffy then licked and nudged his hand as if to thank him.
"You're welcome, little buddy." Birch began petting the bug's furry head, only for it to climb up his arm and onto his shoulder. "You're walking now! Good job! I'm so proud of you."
"Wow! You took great care of it!" a sleepy-toned voice said, with a green face peering over Birch's shoulder; making him slightly jump at the sudden intrusion. "To be honest, I thought you were gonna eat this guy."
"I was gonna do that, but…" Birch looked down; not wanting to face Stevie which made the funk troll worry.
"What's wrong?" the long-necked troll looked at his friend with a concerned look that was covered by his forest green hair.
"I just couldn't bring myself to do it." The blue pop troll, gently grabbed the bug from his shoulder and placed him on his lap. "I helped this guy so he could grow big for me to eat, but… I then realized… I was doing the exact same thing the bergens are doing to us." Birch just stared down at Puffy who didn't seem too distressed by this new information. "No matter how hungry I was, I just couldn't bring myself to devour him, and that winter was pretty much a testimony to how patient I was." Both the pop and funk trolls clenched their stomachs; feeling like they were about to puke out their breakfast. No matter how many times they say it, they were unable to accept it.
"He's doing so much better now. I bet he owes ya one." Stevie said; trying to change the subject. "I bet he's gonna be our ticket out of here, one day." The green funk troll smiled in encouragement to his blue pop companion.
"No offense, Stevie, but you've been here longer than Puffy and you did little to get us out of here." Birch said in an almost blunt manner. "You claim that your tribe is so smart and advanced yet you can't get out of a cage?"
"Pleeeaasee! My tribe is so dependent on technology that they can't go a day without it!" Stevie said in an abhorrent tone; remembering his old home. "Seriously, pull out one plug and the entire city is in a blackout!"
Birch just stared at his friend talking about his old tribe and chuckled at the last statement. "I bet you miss it."
Stevie turned his head towards the purple-haired troll. "Not much. I was born in Spaceship #2 and you remember what I told ya about it."
"Still, must be nice to have known your history, culture and have your own productive society." Birch smiled, bitterly, at that thought; getting up with Puffy in his hands. "Pop trolls will never know their history. The only thing we know is pain." The blue pop whispered, as he made his way over to the pod's window. "Are you ready to fly today, little buddy?"
The little critter's eyes widened; looking away from Birch with an expression that read uncertainty; gulping as it began squeaking.
"Are you sure!?" Birch gave him a questioning yet playful look. "If I picked a day to fly it would be today!" he said; making his way to the window. The bug was outside the pod with Birch holding him up. "Come on, try it." The blue troll encouraged, smiling at the critter.
Puffy flapped its wings, vigorously, as it began to slowly ascend with Birch bringing his hands back to himself; chuckling when he saw that the bug was flying, and upon realizing that, Puffy smiled; going back to the blue troll to hug him.
"See!? I knew you could do it!" Birch said, proudly. "Now, go on! Nobody wants to stay here." He encouraged as the bug squeaked again, as if to say 'thank you'.
Both the blue pop and green funk watched Puffy fly out of the cage; daydreaming that they would soon follow it.
"Are you gonna miss him?" Stevie said; breaking the silence.
"Nah! I have you." Birch smiled at his green companion, giving him a gentle punch.
"Aaaaawww!" Stevie smiled with his eyes sparkling in happiness.
"You're just as useless as Puffy was." The blue troll joked, smiling slyly; bringing the green funk troll out of his stupor and walked out of the pod.
"Ha ha! Hilarious, Birchy." Stevie said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and following Birch out of the pod, only to stop in his tracks when they saw...
"Herb!" Stevie almost shouted; startled by the elder troll's sudden appearance.
"I heard that there is a new troll here. Is that true?" the lime-colored troll asked the two; getting straight to the point.
The two trolls nodded, almost automatically as if they can't deny the older troll any request.
"Tell me everything." Herb looked at Stevie. "What tribe is he and what do you know about them."
The green funk troll looked nervously at Herb; trying to make eye contact with him but he failed miserably. "Remember what I did for you! I could've done something worse to you than your pathetic King James! You owe me!"
"Alright! Alight! I'll tell you." Stevie answered as he adjusted himself. He knew a fair deal about the Rock Trolls and he didn't like talking about them.
Birch, however was not interested in hearing anything about the new troll, but wanted to investigate. He walked over to Flicker's pod, who, thankfully, left.
He noticed an unusual guitar, resting on the wall, with the broken record player next to it, surrounded by multiple rock records.
The blue pop troll held the broken machine and began examining it and seemed to understand how it works despite not seeing one in real-life before. "I can fix this."
With Peppy and Steele:
Steele was taken to a red pod and upon entering, he noticed that there weren't many efficient medical tools; most were made out of twigs and leaves while others seemed to have belonged to the bergens, and the trolls managed to get their hands on it.
"Hello!" a dark pink female troll with pastel pink hair that was shaved on the left side to reveal a stitched-up scar, wearing a lab coat, greeted with a big smile. "So, you're Steele! Nice to meet ya and greet ya!" the female troll grabbed Steele's hand and started shaking it, vigorously.
Just before Steele could process what's going on, the pink troll pushed him on a chair.
"So, what's wrong with you?" she asked.
"YOU'RE Dr. Cutie Cakes!?" The black-haired troll asked, puzzled by how such a young troll can be a doctor. "You can't be older than this guy!" he gestured to King Peppy who was trying not to laugh.
"Awww! Thank you! I'm a year older than he is, but it's nice to know that I'm still young-looking." The female troll said; putting a hand on Steele's shoulder, while Peppy had his hands on his mouth; trying to hold in his laughter.
The female pop then began examining the rock troll; opening his eyes, mouth, pulling on his tongue, looking what's in his ear and even poked his sides which made him giggle.
"It is clear something is wrong with you." She deduced; looking at him. "I can prescribe you a week of rest, eat healthier food and a… hug from a very cute pink troll!" she said the last part smiling, widely; opening her arms to engulf Steele.
"No need for THHAAAATT!" the rock troll screamed when the female hugged him tightly; making him unable to breathe and even managed to carry him! It's that moment when Peppy couldn't hold it in anymore and began laughing his butt off.
"GOD! She's strong!" the rock troll thought in shock with his eyes bulging as if they'll pop out of their sockets.
"Hello there, your majesty." The three looked over to the entrance and saw Sunny entering the pod. The yellow glitter troll noticed the pink troll; he smiled while shaking his head and approached her. "Okay, Cherry you had your fun. Give me the lab coat." The yellow glitter troll said as he extended his hand to take the coat.
Steele had his mouth agape; confused to what is going on. He did however notice that the pink troll had a number engraved on her neck when she took off the coat.
"What the hell is going on!?" Steele yelled; irritated and puzzled by all this.
"That's Cherry." Peppy said; bringing Steele's attention to him. "She was just playing." The king explained still chuckling at the whole thing. "Sorry, I didn't tell you! I just couldn't help myself! It's been so long since I laughed this much!"
"Yes." Sunny concurred and turned to Cherry. "Okay, Cherry, go back to the experiment trolls. They're pretty much lost without you."
"Sure thing!" The pink female made her way to the door, but before leaving, she turned to Steele. "It's been nice meeting ya, Steele- HEY! WHO LET CANNIBAL OFF HIS MUZZLE AGAIN!?" she swiftly turned her head to look outside the pod and started yelling. "SILVER HEAD! I'M LOOKING AT YOU!" she left to have a 'talk' with this 'Silver Head' fellow.
The whole situation just made Steele more uncomfortable and bewildered.
"Sunny, where is Dr. Cutie Cakes?"
"She's right behind me." Sunny replied, moving from the entrance so that an elderly woman with graying red hair and a wrinkled pale lavender skin.
"Hello, your majesty." The woman greeted.
Dr. Cutie Cakes is Sunny's mentor and his mother-in-law, and is also one of the only two troll doctors in the Troll Tree. She mostly handles surgery and the Experimented trolls while Sunny handles the other medical needs and does help her with surgery since she's getting too old. She's also one of the elders that survived Trollstice since the Bergens knew that the trolls needed medical attention and their bodies are too small for the giants to operate on, so they allowed the doctors to live for some time, at least until a new doctor is appointed.
"Oh, so this is the new troublemaker from the feeding bin." The female doctor said, recognizing the troll in her pod.
"Yes, he's not feeling well." Peppy said.
"Alright. Please sit on the chair." The elderly female gestured to the chair in front of her.
The Rock Troll stared a bit nervously at the medical troll as she began to inspect his face. "Is it normal for your species to have bloodshot eyes?"
"Yes, but to be fair, this is my first night in livestock's cage." Steele said, sarcastically.
"Hmmm." She opened his mouth to see his teeth, which caught her attention.
"Your teeth are sharper and more crooked than ours." Sunny said, astonished by the new troll's biology.
"Does your kind have rough skin as well?" she asked; grabbing his hand to examine the unusually dull skin.
"Yes… it's also flame-retardant." Steele answered bluntly, causing the trolls' eyes to widen in shock, but Dr. Cutie told Sunny to make a note of that.
"I can't see anything wrong with him." Cutie Cakes declared; snapping out of her stupor.
"What!?" Steele shouted as if she was insane. "I'm feeling sick and you say I'm alright!?"
"I didn't say you were alright. I said; there is nothing wrong with you." Cutie Cakes said; giving the troll a solemn look. "Besides you said that this is your first night here and Stevie and Ciara did feel the same way when they first arrived. It may pass."
"It's true! Both were very spry when they came here, but they changed over time." Sunny concurred while taking notes. "But now, Stevie is more of a stump."
"I suggest you take plenty of rest. If you still feel woozy after a week, come and see me." The elderly female said.
The rock troll nodded in agreement then he got up and left; accompanied by Peppy.
"To be fair, Stevie was somewhat energetic during the winter." Sunny said; remembering the harsh months they endured. "He at least tried helping us escape." As he and his mother-in-law started to ponder.
"DR. CUTIE CAKES!" Cherry burst back into the medic's pod, panting a bit. "Ciara's back!"
"Bring her over here!" the female doctor ordered as she and Sunny began scurrying to get the equipment ready for the Experiment Troll.
It's been almost 14 days, and Steele was still feeling drained and devoid of life. He still believes that the mush is what's causing him to be so sick. He didn't mind it that much as he got a bunch of female pops, who volunteered to care for him, waiting on him hand and foot, that he didn't care that someone took his record player. However, tomorrow, on the fifteenth day, he promised to stop eating the mush to test his theory.
The Rock troll was living a lavish life compared to the other trolls in the cage that he didn't notice someone spying on him. Herb was watching the new troll very closely ever since he heard of him from Stevie. He was disgusted with how he was using his tribe. Tonight, he was going to have a little 'talk' with him.
Rosiepuff also didn't like the fact that the females were wasting their time caring for Steele, even if he's sick. In truth, she was more worried on how the trollings will react to this, they looked up to the adults, and she was worried about how Steele will influence them. She dreaded the thought of seeing tiny versions of the Rock Troll, running about.
The lilac female approached the group of pop females, surrounding the rock male, as she cleared her throat to get their attention. The female trolls all respected Rosiepuff since she was the caretaker as they began to clear out; making Steele groan.
"Oh! Come on! That was the best massage I had in years!" the black-haired troll whined while Rosie rolled her eyes.
"We had a deal, Motorhead!" the female went straight to the point.
Steele then stared at the female troll and said; "Our deal is that you'll keep me safe and heal me in exchange for the blueprints."
"Motorhead, we really need a plan and it would be nice if for once a newcomer would help us in any way!" the purple female urged; giving him a frustrated yet desperate look, which kind of made him feel sympathy. "Can you at least tell us what we need to make that machine, so we can be prepared?" Rosiepuff asked, trying to negotiate.
"Fine!" Steele sighed. "I'll tell you guys tomorrow." He then walked away from her. "So, don't worry about it, sweetheart."
"Rosiepuff!" the mint green-haired troll shouted in annoyance at the rock troll.
The night fell, signifying the end of the day; as all the trolls retired to their pods, except for Steele, who couldn't stretch his hair to save his life and he forgot to ask 'sweetheart', Flicker or any of the females caring for him, for help.
"Hello there, young man." A new male voice, startled the Rock troll as he turned his head to see an old lime-colored troll with graying purple hair.
"I heard some things about your tribe from Stevie… You don't look that unpleasant." Herb said; examining the troll. "Stupid-looking, yes. Are all your people as aggressive as he says?"
"Nah, I'm more civilized than they are." The Rock troll joked; laughing a bit, earning a small chuckle from Herb.
"I also heard that you guys are cowards." Herb said, giving a small smile and a knowing look.
That statement made Steele's eyes widen as if he was exposed. He stared at the older troll in fear and started to stutter. "I… am..mumuh…" Steele didn't know what he wanted to say but all he knew is that Herb mustn't tell anyone or he'll be the Bergens' dinner!
"Don't worry, this cage will show your true nature, sooner or later. I don't need to tell anyone anything." The lime-colored said, circling Steele in an almost threatening manner, but still kept his smile. "But I need to tell you this." He grabbed Steele by the collar and brought him to his wrinkled face. "I don't want you giving these idiots any false hope! Got it!? You either help us out or you die like a real troll… or you can hide like me, but false hope is a big No-no." Herb glares intensely at the Rock troll, but the smile never faded from his lips; making him appear a lot more menacing. "So, you better choose; hide and live or stay and die or help us. Either way, it's not gonna be easy… understand!?" Steele nodded robotically as his Rock troll instincts started to kick in.
Herb was satisfied by the response and then let's go of Steele, letting the rock troll adjust himself. Steele had his hand over his heart as if he was about to have an attack.
"If you really want to hide your true self, I suggest you watch every single troll here and take notes." The old troll advised. "That's the only advice I will give you."
Steele was still stunned as he watched the old troll walk away from him.
"He's right, you know."
"BAAAAHHH!" Steele shouted in shock, jumping and turning around to see… "FLICKER! YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!"
Flicker, however, didn't really care and just stared at him. "Don't give us any false hope!" he said bluntly. "That's what our holidays are for… we've had enough of traitorous trolls and if you ever hurt us in any way, I can promise you that Herb will be the least of your problems."
Steele just stared at Flicker with his widening even more. "I've never been threatened twice in one day."
The Fifteenth Day:
It was almost noon which means it's almost lunch time, but most importantly, it meant that Steele was going to reveal what materials they needed for the machine.
Inside Flicker's Pod:
The male rock troll was in the royal record keeper's pod, so he can examine the blueprints he 'acquired'.
"How the hell am I supposed to build this thing!? I only stole this so I could fix the old one!" he thought, looking at the blueprints; trying to make sense of them. "How are they supposed to make it! It doesn't seem that they have any right material!"
Just then, the pod's door opened to reveal Flicker, who returned from breakfast. The older green troll didn't even glance at the Rock troll and just went about his business in organizing the files… again.
"How many escape attempts have you guys had?" Steele asked curiously; breaking the silence.
"During King Peppy's reign or all the past monarchs?" the elder green troll questioned. "If it's the latter, we're gonna be here for 2 weeks or more."
Steele looked confused by this but then cleared his throat to answer; "King Peppy's reign."
"Seventeen." Flicker answered bluntly; causing the rock troll's expression to turn into shock. "Peppy was a king for one year. He's gonna be 19 soon and no child should be under this much stress."
"All failed!?" the Rock troll yelled, in a flash, grabbed Flicker's shoulders; making him drop the files in his hands.
"Oh! Come on!" the older green troll yelled in irritation for having his files scattered on the floor with some papers flying around. "Do you see us out of this place!?" he asked, sarcastically. "The bergens aren't stupid and they even recorded most of our escape attempts, but the citizens rarely ever come near the tree anymore to see us! It's why king Peppy has faith that your machine might help."
Steele himself didn't have faith that they could ever build a flying machine, but he knew that he had to keep lying to the Pop Tribe so he can be safely hidden from the Bergens, plus he didn't trust that Herb guy that much.
"Besides, they have a funk troll here and these guys are pretty smart, so it's not a complete fib." Steele thought; trying to justify his actions.
Outside:
"Alright, everyone! Gather around!" King Peppy announced from atop a big rock at the base of the Troll Tree.
"Soooo, uuuhhh… Do you guys… have anything that we could use.. to build.. a machine?" Steele asked; trying to tell them in the simplest way possible so they could understand.
"Like what?" Miss Heartful, who was in the back of the crowd, asked, raising her hand.
"Uhhh… I don't know! Like… metal, I guess!" the rock troll said, a bit frustrated due to his hunger and the fact that he has no idea how to build a flying machine- or any machine for that matter. Thankfully, he had that blueprint, which will help, but he'd hold on to it until his arm is fully recovered.
The trolls scattered to bring all the things that they have stolen/gathered from the bergens, and threw it in a pile in front of Steele. They have gathered a few things from the bergens over the years, without the Keeper noticing and even managed to hide them, they were mostly junk that the giants have thrown away, and some did aid them in their previous escape attempts. Most of the stuff that was collected, was by the Experimented Pop Trolls since they were some of the few that go into a Bergen's home/lab, but Steele didn't seem to think that they could be useful; most of the stuff wasn't even metal.
BAM!
Suddenly, a Bergen-sized bowling ball fell next to the pile of treasured trash; almost on Steele who, thankfully, jumped onto Peppy's arms before it could squish him!
"THE HELL!" the Rock Troll yelled in shock; staring at the circular object while still in Peppy's arms who was as equally shocked.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to hurt ya!" Birch laughed; floating down, landing near the bowling ball with Steele glaring at him.
"Uuuhh, Birch, I don't think your bowling ball will ever help us." Peppy said, bluntly, still looking shocked with Steele in his arms. "It never really has helped us."
"FINE!" the blue male huffed and rolled the ball away, haughtily. "I'll just take Paulie and go! HMPH!"
"How'd he get it here?" Rosiepuff asked in a whispering tone.
"Where was he hiding it?" Sunny asked in the same tone, astonishing Rosiepuff who's eyes widened in realization.
"He named it.. Paulie?" Peppy said, bewildered; watching Birch roll the bowling ball in a huff.
Steele examined the pile of… junk; trying to find something that might be useful, but the only things that popped was the stuff that the Experiment Pops have gathered. They were mostly giant silverware, tools, pens and miscellaneous objects.
"This won't do!" the Rock troll proclaimed, causing a stir between the trolls. "We need more materials."
"Like what?" Peppy asked.
"The kitchen stuff and the tools are useful, but we need more of them, plus more metal." Steele said with a sure voice, but in his mind, he had no idea what he was doing.
"Alright everyone! Don't worry." King Peppy said; watching his subjects worried faces. "We'll find more tools and we shall make this machine work!" he encouraged as all the trolls began pondering, some even left for their pods; hoping to find anything they might have forgotten about.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Steele whispered to the young troll.
"I have no idea!" Peppy whispered back with a VERY worried expression. "You're the one who is supposed to know!"
"Hey! Don't pin this on me! You guys don't exactly have the right stuff!"
*RUMBLE*
The Rock troll's stomach started to rumble, grabbing Peppy's attention. "I gotta go!" Steele ran off.
The Rock Troll hid between the tree roots, where no troll was seen in its proximity, while clutching his stomach. "Oh, man! I gotta eat something! But that mush is terrible!"
"Hungry?" a familiar feminine voice asked, as Steele looked up to see a young pink troll.
"Hey! Aren't you that doctor impersonator?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It was a joke!" Cherry defended. "Besides, I wanted to give you this." She handed him a bergen-sized lollipop that was covered in hair and some bits of things that he couldn't identify.
"What the hell is that!?" he asked, disgusted by the candy.
"It's a lollipop the Bergens made. It's really good!" she shoved the candy towards him; gesturing for him to take it.
"I'm not THAT hungry!" he was still disgusted by it, but his stomach told him otherwise. "Gimme that!" he grabbed the lollipop and slowly brought it to his mouth.
The moment it touched Steele's tongue; he felt a sensation he never felt before; utter bliss. His eyes dilated and his mind turned into mush; seeing many odd shapes and squiggles that were forming and contorting into other weird shapes. The experiment pops started to surround him; fearing for his health, even Ciara who, thankfully, was a bit better, but in his mind, they turned into candy- not that he minded.
"How can the Bergens be miserable when they make this stuff!?" Steele thought; never in all the kingdoms he traveled to, has he tasted something so sweet.
"Where did you get this!?" the gray-blue troll asked, smiling like a maniac, which, ironically, frightened the experiment pops.
"We got it from the young bergens. One of them dropped his lollipop when they were chased by the alligators." Cherry answered. "I think they got it from the candy shop across from the cage."
"According to Queen Pippi, we used to make this but since we don't have the right ingredients, we're unable to do it anymore." An older male experiment troll explained.
Steele then got an idea on how he can get better food AND to get these trolls some 'new tools' to make their 'flying machine'.
Author's Note:
The Chapter's named after the song "Wolf in Sheep's clothing" by Set It Off.
I know this chapter is a little… bad, or too bad, because of the time skips, but the story needed it and I had little ideas to fill them with context, plus I wanted to give some focus to the cowards and the experiment pop trolls. Besides, I broke my wrist and I'm in a lot of pain plus the cast is doing little to help with my writing. (I'm also taking painkillers)
Last thing to say, I saw Trollstopia and I can say that I without a single shadow of a doubt… hated it. It was worse than the Beat Goes On. None of the characters really clicked with me, except for Minuet but she isn't even that good to carry an episode and all of the new ones are terrible. It's like they just wanted to bring in stereotypes of each tribe without giving them any depth or personality. My Little Pony, a show that I dislike, brought in new characters from new species and yet gave them personality and depth from the moment they were introduced.
I will admit that World Tour had its share of terrible writing but it's nothing compared to Trollstopia. I love Kenan Thompson but what was the point of Tiny Diamond?
I'm honestly losing interest in 'Trolls', but hopefully I'll continue this fanfic.