"Oh, what?"
Indeed, the creature that flew in unannounced was the very same CJ, Keith, Gemma, and Priscilla herself had decorated with glitter and makeup. So, naturally, the fourth member of the Best Friends Squad immediately winced as her new mentor's jaw hung agape in horror and disbelief.
"NO! What did they do to you, my hairy little baby?!" Barb pulled the bat named Debbie in her arms after glancing all over her, fussing like a doting parent would to their young kin, "Come here, come here, come here. What...what do you..."
"Oh, that's a lot of glitter," Riff winced.
"Gnarly," Carol chuckled as she pulled a can of cheese whizz from the fridge.
As Barb continued to fuss over Debbie, Priscilla noticed an enveloped letter in her mouth but elected not to touch it, "Uh, Queen Barb...?"
Barb turned her attention away from Debbie and toward the letter, which she gently pulled out of her mouth and read the front. "What is this...? Pop Trolls?"
Her narrowed eyes immediately turned toward Priscilla, who stepped back out of fear that she would accuse her of something she didn't do. Knowing this, Barb's hardened expression softened and she patted her on the shoulder for reassurance.
"Let's see what your former Queen sent us," Barb handed Debbie over to an unwilling Riff and tore open the envelope for her teeth. Pulling the letter out, she proceeded to read its message:
Dear Barb, can't wait to meet you...
I have tons of great party ideas... ("I like that!" King Thrash happily exclaimed.)
Maybe you and I can be best friends...
"Best friends?" Barb's tone became offended at the last two words, "Is she making fun of me? No one says that. Friendship takes time and years of mutual care and respect. You don't just become best friends."
As these words were spoken, a number of Barb's groupies murmured in agreement. Priscilla couldn't help but concur as well; her friendship with CJ, Keith, and Gemma could attest to that fact.
"Plus..." Barb continued, "Everyone knows I already have a ton of friends. Like Carol. Right, Carol?"
Carol moved forward with her apathetic demeanor, spraying cheese in her mouth and forming a cheese moustache through her nose. Needless to say, the few Rock Trolls who were unfortunate enough to get a good view cringed in disgust.
"Okay, you're busy. That's fine. Love you, Carol."
Barb pretended not to notice Carol's boredom, but Priscilla could tell she was disappointed when her "friend" failed to back her up. The young Pop/Rock Troll only patted her mentor's arm and smiled at her when she turned to look. Her spirits lifted somewhat, Barb returned the smile but reverted to a confused frown when she heard a fizzing noise coming from the letter. They both turned towards it and saw a small flame travelling to a miniscule pile of purple balls. Their curiosity getting the best of them, Barb and Priscilla leaned forward and narrowed their eyes at the small line just as the flame reached the end of it.
WHOMP!
A blast of purple and pink glitter exploded right in Barb's face, spraying the other 5 centimeters with the rest. Her left eye twitching, her reaction was quite the delayed one as her fellow Rockers stared at the aftermath in absolute shock. The finishing touch was just a final insult.
"Trolls just wanna have fun...!"
Barb snarled and gritted her teeth, slowly pushing a now frightened Priscilla away from her. Riff instantly shielded Priscilla away from one of his Queen's daily outbursts while pulling King Thrash's wheelchair, "Gnarly indeed..."
"Pop music..." Barb harshly wiped off the glitter off her face as she kicked a nearby trash bin, kicking it harder when it got stuck on her foot, "...isn't even real music!"
Grabbing a nearby guitar, Barb used it to smash a nearby mirror and hurl it at a nearby TV. Retrieving it, she hit Carol's discarded can of cheese whizz, causing it to spray the other side of the Angler Bus; she also threw the guitar away in unison. All the while, the Rock Trolls backed away or even hid away in fear of their Queen, whose good day was clearly ruined by an ill-timed message from the Queen of Pop. In addition, all of her hits, smashes, and kicks were all punctuated with emphasis on her every word.
"It's bland...!"
HIT!
"It's repetitive...!"
SMASH!
"The lyrics are empty...!"
KICK!
"Worse of all..." Barb tugged her red hair, tearing off a few strands in the process, "...it crawls into your head like an earworm!"
Producing a chainsaw seemingly out of nowhere, Barb revved it up and prepared to unleash her fury onto the main couch. Before she could do so, though, she scooched Debbie out of the line of fire. She then proceeded to cut the poor furniture appliance in half, revealing a random Rock Troll reading a book like it was everyday business. Judging by the multiple tears and stitches visible, she's done this before.
"You know, and you can't get it out..." Barb fell down onto one half of the bisected couch, still gripping onto the chainsaw, "Uh, I'm tired now..."
Mustering up the courage to approach her mentor, Priscilla walked over and sat on the other half, "Are you okay?"
"Never better," Barb managed a tired grin, "Hating things takes a lot of energy."
"I can only imagine."
"Trolls just wanna have fun..."
Barb, Riff, Carol, and Priscilla turned to find King Thrash singing the little ditty, having enjoyed the message. As the Queen's daughter, she gasped in horror and threw away the chainsaw as she rushed towards her father.
"No, no! Look what their music just did to Dad," Barb grabbed a box of fiber juice from the fridge to give to her father to drink, "Daddy? Come back to me, Daddy."
The chainsaw embedded into the wall behind, just missing the head of an unfortunate Rock Troll who suffered a buzz cut as an unfortunate result.
"Nice hair, dude," Sid Fret merely stated to the female Rock Troll.
"No one does this to Dad..." Barb snarled under her breath as King Thrash finished his juice box and crushed it against his head, "...and no one makes fun of Queen Barb."
Snatching up Poppy's letter to her and giving it a death glare, Barb calmed down and slowly closed it with a growing smirk, "I need that Pop String...and I know who's gonna help me."
"Who?" Priscilla asked with a careful mix of fear and intrigue.
"Why... The most feared bounty hunters in all of Trolldom," Barb turned to her now as she snapped her fingers.
First, a purple Troll with long red hair, a sideburn mustache, heart-shaped chest hair, a pair of black leather pants, and a golden soprano-class saxophone shot a flirtatious glance at his prey with his lustrous red eyes. He levitated in mid-air and played his saxophone to demonstrate his abilities.
"Chaz, the Smooth Jazz Troll..."
Second, a trio of brightly colored Trolls with unique body markings struck confident poses complemented with equally confident grins. On the left was a lime green Troll with a pink nose, matching hair, yellow-and-orange body markings, and golden earrings. On the right was a tangerine orange Troll with a pink nose, turquoise hair, blue-and-pink body markings, and emerald earrings. In the middle was their leader, a blue-skinned Troll with a pale green nose, blonde hair, green-and-pink body markings, lightly-covered facial hair, and stud earrings.
"...the Reggaeton Trolls..."
Then, a 5-member group of female rainbow-colored, glossy chrome Trolls literally popped into view. The left Troll on the ground had dark pink hair, blue coloration around her eyes, and a green nose; the right Troll had blue hair, green coloration around her eyes, and a purple nose. The left Troll standing up had green hair, pink coloration around her eyes, and a purple nose; the right Troll had blonde hair, dark pink coloration around her eyes, and a green nose. The middle Troll had purple hair, blue coloration around her eyes, and a purple nose.
"...the K-Pop Gang..."
Lastly...
"...and..."
A pair of Trolls who appeared only in silhouette yodeled back to back...immediately before falling into a ravine after the mountain they were on split in half.
"...the Yodelers."
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"You describe them and, instantly, they're here?"
Barb opened her mouth to answer Priscilla's question but closed it instead and turned to see what stood in front of her. Indeed, all of the Bounty Hunters she was going to recruit for the mission were present in her Angler Bus, stuck in their same positions for the slideshow.
"Huh. I don't know...but hey! Whatever gets this job done faster!" Barb only shrugged in response and took center stage once more. "Okay. As you probably know, I'm bringing a tidal wave of rock across this land of ours."
Much like the chainsaw, she then pulled down a map that was materialized out of nowhere.
"And soon there will be nothing but HARD ROCK as far as the ear can hear. However, I can be reasonable under the right circumstances, which is why I'm offering you all a deal. Whoever brings me Queen Poppy gets to keep their very own music in their very own territory. Right...over...here."
Barb motioned with her baton to the area in question, which was nothing more than a literal red speck near the Rock Trolls' homeland. Everyone seemed to notice as they lightly groaned in disappointment while the Reggaeton leader squinted and voiced everybody's opinion.
"I don't know. It looks pretty tiny."
"You want it or not?"
Despite Barb getting into his face and everybody visibly wincing in fear, the Reggaeton leader never lost his cool and nonchalantly headed back to his spot, "Relax, chica. I won't judge."
"It'll do," the blue-haired K-Pop Troll ultimately decided, "So what's the drill?"
Barb smirked, "The drill is, get me Queen Poppy and I'll considering sparing your music."
The bounty hunters murmured in agreement and went to get their additional equipment ready. Chaz watched with disdain as the Reggaeton Trolls and the K-Pop Trolls argued with each other before smirking to himself; he knew he had this in the figurative bag. The purple-haired K-Pop Troll wasn't so much focused on her friends' petty squabble with their self-proclaimed rivals, but rather her eyes were focused on Queen Barb's right-hand Troll. She sent Riff little waves and little giggles, which he seemed to reciprocate with a little wave and awkward smile of his own.
Barb glanced around in confusion before turning to a seemingly starstruck Riff, "Dude, where are the Yodelers?"
"Oh!" Riff reluctantly shifted focus, "I heard a rumor that they yodeled so hard, an avalanche fell on them...or something."
Barb could only stare blankly at her right-hand Troll and open her mouth to make a know-it-all reply before she was interrupted.
"The Yodelers couldn't come."
Everybody turned to the entrance to find a mysterious hooded figure making his way over to meet the Queen of Rock face-to-face. Priscilla softly gasped under her breath and slowly backed away in horror, recognizing that voice all too well. This went unnoticed by no one but Riff despite his quiet nature. His awkward grin morphed into a concerned frown as he gripped his drumsticks tight and shielded the new Rock Troll recruit.
"They yodeled so hard an avalanche fell on them," the Troll chuckled at his stolen joke, "You're dealing with me now."
"And who may you be?"
The Troll smirked and lifted his hood to reveal a grey Pop Troll with an eyepatch on his left eye, his smirk diminished into a smile.
"You may call me Creek."
A/N: This is a short note for Shadgirl2. I thank you for expressing your insight on the "Born To Die" debacle. I never gave a second thought that most country songs (if not all) could be joyful or somber when the occasion called for it, so I apologize for that. I always appreciated the heart and soul Country Music is constructed rather than the tone of them. which I felt was reflected in the Country Trolls. However, reading your interview gave time to think how to handle the Country Trolls chapter, so I decided on this: have the Country Trolls, specifically Delta Dawn, come to acknowledge that music can sometimes need a little fun injected into them. My opinion is this: I felt that "Born To Die" was important in terms of the story because it introduces the Country Trolls and their lifestyle with a solemn passion. With that said, I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, but rather I respect it. If you wish not to read anymore, then I won't force you. I will, however, do my best to introduce more lighthearted country chapters.
WARNING: The next chapter contains references of death, suicide, and nihilism.