Shadgirl2: Well, I hope Biggie learned something last chapter. Shouting about Mr. Dinkles in the middle of a song about unity really sounds like you're worshipping a god, and you probably shouldn't be telling everyone you meet you're gonna protect them for life, either. There are a few problems with the new troll anthem! Let's see what the Trolls Corrector can come up with next! lol

Midna Azusa: Nah, not today. Today we're gonna see how Creek's doing! Also ROCK RULES! (I'm a rocker, in case you didn't know.)

Shadgirl2: Yeah, you have fun with that. I don't think Fuzzbert and Aspen really wanna be there.

Midna: They just can't handle the awesomeness that is rock!

Disclaimer: We don't own Trolls. The song in this chapter was in the end credits of Trolls World Tour. (And Midna sings it every time it plays.) This chapter's OC belongs to me, Shadgirl2.

Edit: Added details, altered narration.

Creek made his way into the tiny village and quickly noticed something was wrong. This place looked like Troll Village, bright and colorful, but it looked...abandoned. Nobody was outside. There were absolutely no signs of life. If he hadn't been told there were supposed to be trolls living here, he'd have assumed it had been empty for years.

"Goodness me... It's like a ghost town around here..." he said, looking around with worry.

He wandered through a bit, taking note of the situation. Yes, it looked like Troll Village in the vibrant colors department and the pods hanging from above. But Troll Village wasn't in ruins. Areas that looked like former party zones had been trashed, the furniture uprooted and tossed haphazardly around, dishes for refreshments shattered. Broken disco balls, shattered pinatas, and popped balloons littered the ground. The entire place was covered in ugly graffiti of Party Crasher faces, rude words, and so on. Things like "Trolls suck" and "Bash and Crash" and "Poop" were written on the plants and the sides of buildings.

"This place was hit terribly hard by the Crashers... They left their mark everywhere..."

When the Party Crashers visited Troll Village, they'd trashed everything as well, eating all of the refreshments and even trying to feed Mr. Dinkles to a mammoth. But that was nothing to what Creek was seeing now. It was fortunate that Archer, Branch, and Poppy had gotten rid of them after only a day. Creek hadn't expected something so bad, and he could only imagine how badly the residents had taken it. This place even looked as though it was abandoned. Was this a waste of his time?

Suddenly the place came to life—sort of. Troll heads poked out of the surrounding buildings, as if disturbed by an intruder to their home. Everyone looked sad, and it wasn't just their facial expressions that told of this sorrow—the entire village was gray.

Creek looked around, his eyes widening in horror. "No..."

He'd only ever seen one gray troll in his life, and that was Branch. What in the world could make an entire village turn gray? Was the devastation that bad? Had Bash resorted to actually killing someone here?

A girl around his age made her way over to him slowly. She wore a rather ironic dress, given her current disposition—a happy, smiling sun was on the front of it. She also had a white lily on a headband, but the colors of everything were washed out, completely gray. "Where are you from, boy?" she asked despondently. "You look way too colorful to be one of my people..." She looked around sadly at all the other gray trolls gathered, then lowered her head with a sigh.

Creek looked around, growing more and more concerned. "I see..." He gave a gentle smile, trying his best to look friendly and polite, as he continued, "Well, love, I came here from Troll Village to help with that. And my name's Creek. What's yours?"

The girl looked up at him with uncertainty. "...Creek?"

He smiled gently, reassuringly. "That's right. No need to worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I only came here to help."

The girl smiled sadly, looking at him. "Nice to meet you. I'm Funshine. Queen of Happy Fun Town. But..." she looked down sadly, "as you can see...that name doesn't really fit anymore..." Funshine closed her eyes, looking depressed. "It was all a lie, anyway, so I'm thinking of changing it to Sad Misery Town instead..." She looked away, upset.

Creek moved to try to comfort her, concerned. "Don't say that, love. Life isn't always that terrible. I mean, sure, it has its ups and downs, but—"

Funshine closed her eyes and cut him off, looking just as miserable as always. "No... It only has its downs... Nothing good exists out there... Just a ton of death and despair..." She opened her eyes slightly and started walking off, leaving a rather bemused Creek in her wake.

Creek scratched his head nervously. He'd never been any good at cheering up the one gray troll he'd known—not that he'd really tried that hard, but still. He put his hands together nervously. "Oh, dear me. I've never seen anything like this before." He started playing with his fingers, growing more concerned. "These trolls are all terribly broken, but..." Creek sweat. "...How do I fix it?" His nervous fiddling increased in speed as he said, "I've never really been any good at this sort of thing. I don't even know where to even start."

As he stood there, trying to decide what he should do, the other trolls all headed back inside. None bothered any further with their visitor. They couldn't muster up the energy to care that he was there.

Creek sighed and sat down with his legs crossed. "I'd either need Branch here to help or some serious guidance from Genesha to figure this one out. Good thing it's so unnaturally quiet around here. So here goes nothing."

He started meditating, hoping to find the answer to his current predicament with a little spiritual enlightenment. His old idea that "some folks just don't want to be happy" would be of no use to him here, given that he had already been proven wrong on that point. Besides, there were far too many here for that to be the case. An entire village didn't just choose to be depressed! He had to figure out some way to cheer them up, or he wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

While Creek dealt with his gray problem, Barb dragged Fuzzbert and Aspen through town, giving them the grand tour of Volcano Rock City. She showed them the lava pools (which several Rock Trolls were swimming or relaxing in, to the shock and confusion of the Pop Trolls), statues of famous Rock Trolls (who she also told them a bit about, like Trozzy Osbourne, Jimi Trolldrix, and Sheryl Troll), and had now taken them to a 2-story white mansion with a white-columned portico.

"Now this place, I think you guys are gonna love!" she said, although her enthusiasm seemed a bit forced. She seemed to be growing rather bored with her own tour. "This is Gracieville, the home of the former rocker, Elvis Trollsley!"

Aspen looked around nervously. "Oh. How rad." He gave a nervous laugh.

Fuzzbert looked around, feeling the same. Why wouldn't this girl let them leave?

"Wait'll you see the inside!" Barb said, dragging them into the house. Hastily she said, "Here's the entryway. Off to the right is the living room. Notice the stained glass windows between it and the music room behind."

She said this as if she were the usual tour guide for this place but was sick of doing it and wanted to get to the "interesting" parts of the tour. The two Pop Trolls looked obediently, though, and saw cactus birds in the stained glass windows, which was pretty cool, they supposed.

The blue troll in the leopard-print leotard, Carol, came in behind them, looking bored, and said, "Hey, Princess Barb? Why don't we show them how we rock 'round here a bit? ...This tour's getting awfully dull..."

Barb turned, surprised. "When did you even get here?" she asked Carol, sounding startled.

Fuzzbert told Barb that he thought that was a great idea! He'd much rather listen to some of their music and join the fun than go on a tour any day! Secretly, he was thinking it would be easier to escape if there was some sort of crazy party going on, but he wasn't stupid enough to say that out loud.

Seeming rather glad for an excuse to stop the tour herself, Barb smiled and said, "Well, okay! Let's rock!" and dragged them out again.

Shortly the entire city was gathered at a stage that Barb told Fuzzbert and Aspen was their concert hall. The stage had a skull with bat wings over it and was set in the middle of the volcano. Lava pooled around the ground, where the audience had gathered. Everyone seemed more excited than they had been all day. The lethargy Fuzzbert and Aspen had seen earlier was gone, all trolls jumping and cheering and shouting.

Aspen and Fuzzbert looked around in awe from backstage as fire shot out of various places on the stage. Were Rock Trolls always this intense?

"Carol, Sid, keep these guys company for a bit," Barb said as she started off. "I'll be right back."

"Sure..." the two answered. They stared at the Pop Trolls, looking bored. The Pop Trolls cringed toward each other, nervous. It couldn't be clearer to them that they were still being guarded.

So much for escaping during a party. Seriously, where were Branch or Smidge when you needed them? As far as Fuzzbert was concerned, they were in serious need of a rescue here!

They didn't have to bear the awkward discomfort for long, though. Shortly there was a lot of smoke as the band began to play. The mouth of the skull lowered toward the stage, and, looking up, Fuzzbert and Aspen saw Barb in the mouth. She was dressed all in white, with spikes around her ankles and tears in the legs and sleeves of her jumpsuit. A black studded belt with a skull buckle (possibly her normal belt) completed the ensemble. She had her guitar, a black instrument with lava red designs, and was playing the music with her band.

Fuzzbert and Aspen looked on in awe, somewhat amazed and somewhat unnerved by this display.

"So you say you wanna be a rock star?" Barb sang. The skull's jaw reached the ground, and she jumped off. She turned and smirked at her guests backstage and continued, "Well, there's some steps you gotta take."

The Rock Trolls roared with excitement in the audience. Fuzzbert and Aspen cleared the lumps from their throats, sweating nervously. They never said they wanted to be rockstars. How did they end up in this mess, anyway?

"Step one: You gotta know you're a star when you get up on the stage and you grab your guitar," Barb sang, making quite a show of playing her guitar.

Fuzzbert looked at Aspen, somewhat liking the sound of that. Aspen grinned, nodding slightly. He was still nervous, but that part didn't sound so bad.

"Step two: Pump your fist in the air and wait two weeks to wash your hair!" Barb sang, pumping a fist in the air with the rock sign. The audience roared in approval.

Being clean creatures, the Pop Trolls jumped a bit, surprised. Who would wait that long to wash their hair, and did they bother washing the rest of their bodies more regularly? Suddenly Fuzzbert fully understood why Branch didn't want the fashion-loving twins here. Not only were these guys way too intense and fashion-challenged, but their personal hygiene was the worst! Satin and Chenille would probably go into full-blown panic mode with all of that in mind. Had Branch known all of this? If so, why had he let any of them come out here!?

Fuzzbert was having a talk with Branch when they got home...if he ever got home.

"Totally gnarly, dudes..." Aspen observed, disgusted.

Carol and Sid grinned at him, nodding, as if this was a good thing.

Barb moved across the stage as she sang on, "Step three: When you're feelin' the bass, don't be afraid to give the people a face." She stuck her tongue out and made some weird face at the audience then.

The Pop Trolls backstage looked at each other uncertainly, then tried it, both making similar faces to what they'd been seeing from the Rock Trolls all day. They stuck their tongues out at each other rudely.

"Yeah, dude, you got it," said Sid with limited enthusiasm.

Carol smiled kind of fiercely and clapped Aspen on the back, nearly knocking him over.

"W-whoa!" He wobbled as he regained his balance.

"Step four: Never do what you're told because there's no rules in rock'n'roll!" Barb jumped around, tossing her head.

Aspen and Fuzzbert gasped, jumping into the air in shock. No rules? They looked at each other with worry. If there were no rules, then the Rock Trolls could attack, hurt...kill them!

The audience, Sid and Carol included, joined in, singing, "Rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll rules! Rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll rules! Rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll rules! Rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll."

The only ones not singing were the two Pop Trolls. Both were looking for an escape route, but there were too few trolls backstage for them to slip into the crowd and sneak away.

The audience stopped singing, and Barb, still playing her guitar, jumped into the air and sang, "Don't forget, never do what you're told!" She leaned forward, looking menacing, and sang, "If you don't rock, then you're gonna get rolled!"

Fuzzbert and Aspen again jumped, looking around. Seeing the nasty looks on Sid and Carol's faces, they decided to at least act interested and started mimicking everything the rock trolls did. It seemed like it could be detrimental to their health to act any other way. If there were no rules, it was better to avoid giving these guys a reason to hurt them. Again, where were Branch and Smidge when you needed them?

Barb looked back over her shoulder at them and gave a menacing look. She seemed satisfied that they were acting like Rock Trolls, so she turned back to the crowd.

That was all the more proof Fuzzbert needed. If they didn't rock, Barb would roll them, as her song said. Now the only question was what that would mean for them.

"When you, when you kick open the gates, you gotta pay respect to all of the greats."

Fuzzbert and Aspen stopped. Aspen blinked, looking confused.

"...'Greats'?" he asked, lost, and feeling nervous as a result of it.

"Duh, dude," Sid said. He shrugged as if it should be obvious. "Barb showed you the statues, didn't she?"

Aspen blinked, now feeling dumb. "...Oh."

"Before, before you're ready to play, you better, better, better know your history!" Barb closed her eyes and tossed her head around as she sang.

Fuzzbert freaked out, leaping into the air and kicking his feet around rapidly. He didn't know all of the rock history!

"Psh. Relax, dude," Carol said, waving a hand dismissively, a lazy smirk on her face. "You're just a guest, so you don't have to know it all..."

Sid just looked bored, so Fuzzbert calmed down, realizing he wasn't in real trouble right now. He rejoined the fun, pleasing the two Rock Trolls immensely. Both smiled, watching the Pop Trolls.

"Punk, new wave, metal, ska, garage, psych, hardcore, goth, and prog. Surf, shoegaze, glam, emo. There's no rules in rock'n'roll!" Barb sang on, rocking out on the stage. As she sang that last line, she jumped into the air and did a flip, still playing her guitar.

"Surf, huh? Awesome," Aspen said with a smile, getting into it at last. The music was great, at any rate, even if he didn't want to be here.

Fuzzbert was so lost in the music now that you would think he was a Rock Troll. He started bopping to the music, bouncing around in a rather Rock Troll-like manner.

"Rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll rules!" the Rock Trolls sang. Several were jumping from excitement, fists were pumped into the air, and through it all Barb played her guitar and bobbed to the music. "Rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll rules!"

"Come on, everybody, sing it now!" Barb sang out, pumping a fist in the air.

Aspen and Fuzzbert joined the song now. They were definitely into this song by this point. "Rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll rules! Rock'n'roll, rock'n'roll."

"Don't forget, never do what you're told," Barb sang, her guitar raised above her head. "If you don't rock, then you're gonna get rolled!" She slid on her knees on the stage there, and the band stopped playing, leaving just Barb's guitar's last note echoing through the concert hall for a second.

Aspen and Fuzzbert stopped suddenly, listening curiously.

"One last step," Barb sang, getting to her feet. Her head was down, and she was still the only one playing. "Real quick. Don't you forget..." she looked up at the audience with a smirk, "a rippin' guitar riff."

"Let's rock!" she and her band shouted out.

Barb started riffing on her guitar, jumping around and contorting her body in ways that were rather bizarre for the Pop Trolls as she did so. The two visitors listened, nodding, and gradually grew more excited.

"Let's rock!" the band shouted again, Barb pumping a fist in the air again.

She continued her guitar riff, jumping up into the air and doing a split upon landing. She made a face at the audience, then got back up and started head-banging as she continued. The audience, Pop and Rock, roared with excitement.

Backstage, the two Pop Trolls raised their fists in the air, and Carol and Sid both moved to fix one of them. The two Rock Trolls adjusted the Pop Trolls' fists so that their index and pinkie fingers were up, making the Rock Trolls' sign. Then, with that completed, they raised their own fists in the same gesture and roared with excitement themselves.

Aspen and Fuzzbert looked at each other curiously. Then they both put on fierce faces (not that anyone could really tell with Fuzzbert) and mimicked Carol and Sid's ferocity. Neither Fuzzbert nor Aspen really understood why those fingers needed to be raised, but they were too lost in the song to really care.

"There you go. Now you got it!" Carol praised them, thrilled that they were catching on.

"Sing it with me!" Barb called out, and her guitar riff went on for a bit longer.

Then everyone sang, "Let's rock! Rock'n'roll. Rock! Rock'n'roll. Rock! Rock'n'roll. Let's rock!"

Barb let them carry on with that as she sang, "Aaah..." and held that note for quite a while.

"Rules!" the band shouted out.

"Rock'n'roll," the rest of the trolls sang immediately.

"Rules!" the band shouted again.

"Rock!"

"Rules!"

"Rock'n'roll."

"Rules!"

The crowd was jumping with excitement. One troll even jumped off one of the statues in the area and into a pool of lava.

"Rock!"

"Rules!"

"Rock'n'roll."

"Rules!"

"Let's rock!"

Barb sang, "There's no rules in rock'n'roll!" as everyone else continued the other part.

"Rules!" her band cried.

"Rock'n'roll," sang the audience.

"Rules!"

"Rock!"

"Rules!"

Somewhere in the audience, someone let out an excited "whoo" as the song continued.

"Rock'n'roll."

"Rules!"

Barb finished with her part there, and the audience called out again, "Rock!"

"Rules!" the band added.

"Rock'n'roll."

"Rules!"

"Let's rock!"

"Yeah!" cheered several trolls in the audience. It was almost like a pep rally for Rock Trolls. Seeing as Fuzzbert and Aspen loved pep rallies, this was quickly becoming extremely fun.

"There's no rules in rock'n'roll!" Barb started singing again, dancing all around on stage.

"Rules!"

"Rock'n'roll."

"Rules!"

"Rock!"

"Rules!"

Fuzzbert and Aspen could hardly contain their own excitement at this point. Sure, they weren't Rock Trolls, but this was the kind of high energy fun that Pop Trolls thrived on. Even if it was a little more aggressive than what they normally went for, they couldn't argue that this music was bad. In fact, they were actually enjoying themselves for the first time since arriving in this crazy town. They were both bouncing around, bopping to the music, as they chanted out lines to the song with the rest of the audience. Aspen's facial expressions even looked more Rock Troll-like now.

"Rock'n'roll."

"Rules!"

"Rock!"

"Rules!"

"Rock'n'roll."

Aspen and Fuzzbert were having a great time now, even if they were being held here against their will. As they got really into it, Sid and Carol grinned at the two wickedly, then each grabbed one Pop Troll and started spinning them around rapidly, redressing them.

As that happened backstage, Barb jumped into the air, swinging her arm down hard on that guitar, and sang, "And there's nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing you can do." She slid across the stage on her knees and sang, "Rock'n'roll has taken over you!"

As Carol and Sid finished up, Aspen and Fuzzbert stopped spinning and blinked, wide-eyed. They were both dressed as Rock Trolls now. Fuzzbert had spiky black bands around his ankles and black streaks throughout his green hair, which was now a little messier than he would have liked. Aspen was now wearing black leather pants, a white shirt with holes in the sleeves, a studded red vest, and a skull earring in his right ear (not that he had agreed to a piercing, but he supposed it was better than a tattoo). His hair was messy and wild now, as well, but nobody had colored it, thankfully.

Barb got back to her feet and slid over to the two Pop Trolls backstage. "So? What do ya think? Can you handle it?" she asked, smirking. It was a challenge. Could Pop babies handle the life of a rocker?

The startled Pop Trolls looked themselves over, eyes wide, unsure what to think now. For the sake of their safety, however, they gave awkward grins and made the Rock Trolls' symbol with one fist each.

Barb nodded, satisfied. "Good. Then we'll get along great!"

Fuzzbert and Aspen nodded, those awkward grins still on their faces. They could really use Branch or Smidge right about now, they both agreed. These Rock Trolls seemed...dangerous.

Aw, forget Smidge! Sure, she was strong, but she'd be overpowered by these guys in minutes! They were no pushovers, either! This kind of rescue would require stealth, and there was only one troll these guys knew who could pull that off.

They could really use Branch right about now. Without him, they'd be stuck here forever, trying not to anger the Rock Trolls.