A/N: New chapter! Enjoy! We don't own Trolls.

Poppy took in the sight before her in irritation. This morning, they'd been up at the crack of dawn (with Poppy suffering from a bit of a stomach ache that she blamed on the previous night's dinner). After a quick breakfast, they'd started off for Troll Village again. Now, around mid morning, she was on the outskirts of the village. She'd been closer than even she had realized.

"Whoa. Are you telling me I wasted all that time flying around in circles when you were literally a day's walk away?" she asked Branch, slightly annoyed at the thought of it.

"Yeah. That's exactly what happened," he answered casually, looking around for any threats. "Probably should restock on supplies while we're here. You never know what we might need in Bergen Town."

"Right! And I should see if my flyer bug made it back safely, too. Come on!" She started forward, heading into Troll Village.

"Yeah, no," Branch responded. "You have fun with that. Let me know what you find."

Poppy stopped and turned back to him, confused. He hadn't moved. Hadn't he just said they should restock while they were here? What was the problem?

Understanding dawned on her suddenly, and she tapped a finger to her chin, saying, "Ah... Right... The banishment..."

Branch wasn't supposed to be anywhere near Troll Village. While Poppy was certain the village had been abandoned by now, she could see why Branch would be reluctant to enter without knowing for sure that there wasn't anyone around who would complain about his presence. He did, after all, seem very much afraid of the other trolls (as silly as that seemed to her).

Branch crossed his arms, irritated with this girl. She had the memory of a goldfish, he was sure of it! "Really? Did you forget why I've been missing out on rejecting your party invitations for the last ten years?"

She gave him a lame look, annoyed at his attitude. "Hey. Cut me some slack. I've had a long week."

"Right," Branch said with mild sarcasm. "Well, I think I'll go check out the abandoned bunker since that's not in the village." He headed off, calling back, "You know where it is, so just come out there when you're done."

She thought she'd had a long week, he'd had a long decade. And he was in for a rough—what, week? Month? How long would it take to save (or fail to save) her friends and get her home?

"Okay!" Poppy answered before hurrying off to her village.

In Bergen Town, Bridget had successfully calmed her two fighting trolls...for about five minutes. No sooner had she latched the lid onto the tank after putting Biggie back inside than he and Guy were at it again.

"I'm telling you for the last time, Smidge belongs with meeeeee! It's not my fault you're too slow to know that!" Guy yelled. He crossed his arms and turned away with a smug look on his face.

"And it's not my fault that you're so intelligent you can even guess how many marshmallows are in a jar!" Biggie countered.

Clearly he still hadn't gotten the hang of insulting someone.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't what you're supposed to be doing," Bridget said uncomfortably.

"What in that name of all that's trolly kind of an insult is that!?"

"A BAD ONE!"

Watching these two, Bridget had to wonder about trolls and their social situations. "I'm not sure if they're fighting or just having a really loud conversation..."

Smidge, on the other hand, was positive this was a fight, and she couldn't take much more of it. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she ran frantically to Chenille's side, panting heavily and eyes wide. "Oh, my GA! I never knew being popular would be like this! How do you do it, Chenille?" With a tone of desperation and her hands on her head, she said, "They're driving me mad! Literally!"

For proof, Smidge chose that moment to start screaming and beating on the tank's metal floor. She looked completely crazed.

"Well, Smidge," Chenille said, seemingly unfazed—at her name, Smidge abruptly stopped and stared at Chenille expectantly—"it's really not that difficult. The trick is to use your emotions against them. Act really upset when they're fighting, and be sure to exaggerate it if you have to. Tell them that all their arguing is why you're upset. Then, if they still won't stop, start flirting with Cooper or Fuzzbert. Sad to say, I think Creek's a little busy..."

Chenille hitched a thumb at the ball of blue and green hair beside her—Creek was currently busy with Satin in much the same way he had been with Chenille the day before.

Smidge stared at the ball, eyes wide in amazement. "Oh, my ga..."

If they had been back in Troll Village, Smidge would have called Creek out for cheating. According to their laws, he would have to marry anyone he got with child (it wasn't fair to leave a lady alone with a trolling, after all). However, given the circumstances, it didn't seem right to object.

DJ sighed, looking relieved. "Dang. Being popular's the pits. I'm sure glad no one's tryin' that with me."

No sooner had she said that than Fuzzbert moved up beside her, holding a rose in his hair. He bobbed it at her, making flirtatious sounds. DJ stared at him out of the corner of her eye for a moment before turning to him, eyes wide.

"Dang..."

"Maybe I missed something, why are y'all worrying about romance?" Cooper asked. "I thought we were prisoners trying to think of an escape plan!"

"Cooper!" Chenille protested.

"What? I'm just saying, we—hmphm!"

Cooper was cut off as Biggie, Guy, and Chenille all covered his mouth. The three looked toward Bridget nervously.

She didn't seem to have heard Cooper's words—or she wasn't concerned by it. She was just watching, apparently enjoying the show. Unbeknownst to the trolls, she was also wondering if it was right to eat creatures with such complex emotions. She could imagine the pain they'd feel if their loved ones were eaten and they were left behind.

"Scullery maid!" Chef's voice echoed down the chute. "Wash these dishes! It's almost time for lunch!" A slew of dishes fell through the chute, landing with a crash right in front of Bridget. The maid jumped and set to work washing them.

Chenille sighed in relief.

Guy removed his hand from Cooper's mouth (as did the other two) and gave the giraffe troll a lame and rather annoyed look as he said, "Cooper. In the future, it might be a good idea if you didn't say stuff like that right in front of the bergens. It could get us all in serious troooouuuuble!"

"Well, she hasn't done anything to us yet. In fact, she's been really nice to us!" Cooper said.

"That doesn't mean anything, Cooper!" Chenille countered. "She's supposed to make sure we're having children so that Bergen Town can have Trollstice! Of course she isn't going to hurt us right now!"

"Yeah, Cooper. I mean, no one's gonna hurt us as long as they need us. But they won't just let us leave, either," Smidge explained. "So who knows what they'll do if they think we're trying to bust out!"

"But what if she likes us?"

"Cooper, I don't think she does. Right, Mr. Dinkles?"

The worm meeped in response.

Chenille gave him a lame look and answered, "You've already heard my thoughts on that question."

"And, even if she does like us, she isn't going to just let us leave!" Biggie added.

"Right! Which means the only chance we have now is this!" Guy turned to Smidge, grinning, and resumed his advances, "So, Smidge? Have you decided to choose me yet? It'll be a lot of fuuuuuuunn."

"Well, Smidge? Aren't I the better choice?" Biggie countered.

Smidge screamed and ran off, leaving Guy and Biggie to glare at each other.

"Oh, great. Now look what you've done!" Guy exclaimed.

"What I've done? It was you who scared her off!"

"Well, that's not what I told her to do..." Chenille said.

"Smidge has as much trouble following directions as I do!" Cooper said before laughing.

As Poppy searched Troll Village, she was both relieved and sad. She found her flyer bug, safe and sound back in her stable. The sadness came from the fact that all of the trolls really were gone. She'd expected it, sure, but how would she ever find them again?

Deciding to worry about that later, she quickly headed back to her pod and started restocking on supplies. In her case, this meant getting rid of everything Branch had packed for food and filling her bag up with twice as many sweets as before!

"There's no way I'm becoming a survivalist like Branch. My stomach's still sore from that last time..." she said, shoving some s'mores supplies in. She shuddered a bit, remembering the stomach ache she'd woken with, then looked back into her cupboards, thinking of what else she should pack. "Hmm... Better grab some of those, too, so Branch doesn't freak out too much."

She grabbed some fruit and packed it away, thinking bringing something Branch considered healthy would ease his irritation at her for packing "nothing but sweets."

Speaking of sweets, her attention was drawn to a small stack of cakes she'd baked the day of the big, disastrous party. They were meant for the holiday that was coming up here in a couple of days, and she couldn't shake the feeling she'd need them. Narrowing her eyes at them, she walked over and stuffed all ten into her hair for safe keeping. Then, thinking she might need to go the whole nine yards, she ran to her closet and grabbed a piece of cardboard (painted green, brown, and black), a small wooden torch, and ten wrapped boxes, which she stuffed into her hair as well.

"There! That should do it! Especially since the last time I saw Cooper, he was carrying the rest! Branch will be so surprised!"

She was all set for her favorite holiday—and she knew, with where she was going and who she had with her—that there was a distinct possibility she'd be celebrating sooner rather than later.

Giggling excitedly, she gathered up all of her supplies and made her way out to the Fear Bunker, stopping a few times to scrapbook a page or two. She also unwrapped one of the gifts and made a few minor adjustments to it (based off something she'd seen Branch do recently). She was suddenly glad there were so many sharp rocks scattered around the forest—she sure did need them for this.

While Poppy was restocking on party supplies and sweets, Branch decided to restock on basic survival supplies. For him, this not only meant food for the journey but also some seeds to use for growing crops just in case they managed to save Poppy's friends but couldn't find the rest of the village. If something like that were to happen (unlikely as it was), at least the Snack Pack—ironic how they called themselves that—would be able to create a new, self-sufficient society somewhere...maybe.

He also wanted to restock on weapons. Yes, most of what he had was reusable, but he didn't have quite the stockpile he wanted for running around with Poppy, and her friends were just as bad. Besides that, if they got attacked by anymore growlbeasts, he wanted to make sure the creatures' attention stayed entirely focused on him.

So, with that in mind, he started with making more fireworks.

"I guess it's a good thing I always had some barium chloride lying around," he said, snatching some of the compound. "I can use that to make more fireworks in case we run into anymore growlbeasts. Or, more likely, in case Poppy needs a signal flare."

He didn't doubt Poppy's ability to run off and get lost. On more that one occasion, he'd been forced to find either her or her friends when they were still children. Somehow he doubted they were much better as adults. Gathering the rest of the supplies he needed, he started working on some fireworks. They'd be green, but he'd be able to see them. Even as he crafted them, he hoped he wouldn't need them. Fireworks were dangerous—a troll could kill himself by misusing them or, at the very least, severely burn himself. Besides that, he really didn't want to face any situation in which it would make sense to use them.

With a few fireworks crafted and packed, he moved to check on his seed supply. He was pleasantly surprised to find that, after ten years, they were still usable. He grabbed a few packs of seeds for various fruits and vegetables, repackaged them into smaller paper containers rather than the huge jars, and packed them up as well.

"Trolls don't usually complain about lettuce, cabbage, or cucumbers," he said to himself. "And, if Poppy and her friends can't find the rest of their village, at least they'll be able to grow something to eat."

He snagged some more rations then, swapping out some of his emptier containers from the swamp. Not only would they have a full supply of food, but they'd have things that the other trolls would be less likely to complain about. Foods grown more locally were more appealing to trolls than the stuff in his swamp home. Unlike Poppy, he didn't trade it all. Honestly he kind of wanted to hear the other nine trolls complain about how "disgusting" his food was. It would make putting up with their abuse a little easier.

Now that the food situation was under control, Branch turned his attention to the most important part of his packing list: weapons. When running around with the Snack Pack (or even just Poppy) there was no reason to risk being unarmed. Branch grabbed some bear traps, a mace, a couple of homemade smoke bombs, a screwdriver, and a glass cutter. Beyond that, what he had brought from the swamp seemed good enough to him.

"There," he said, satisfied that he was now prepared for everything. Well, except for the inevitable hatred he'd receive from the Snack Pack—but there was no preparing for that, so he was as prepared as he'd ever be. "Now, no matter what we run into, we should be ready to deal with it."

Now if he could just steel himself for the influx of accusations from trolls he'd once been forced to hang out with, he'd be golden. You'd think they would know a thing or two about him—like them or not, he'd learned about them when Poppy made them all pretend to be friends—but he seriously doubted they'd been paying enough attention to learn anything about him in return.

Suddenly he heard knocking from above, punctuated by cries of his name. "Branch, Branch, Branch! Branch, you better be in there! You promised to help me save my friends!"

While she was yelling all of that, Branch made his way up the elevator so that, by the time she finished, he opened the viewer in his door and looked out at her. "And where else do you think I'd be?" he asked.

Poppy's face lit up with excitement—he hadn't taken advantage of their temporary separation to sneak back to the swamp and leave her to handle this on her own! "Branch! There you are! Good news. The village has been abandoned." Well, good news for him, at any rate. "And I got us some goodies that should keep for awhile. How's it going on your end?"

Hearing that the area was devoid of other troll life, Branch opened up his bunker and poked out, answering, "I'm making sure we've got healthy food and not just cupcakes and brownies. I've also got some more ammunition and some seeds in case you and your friends can't find the rest of the former Troll Village later."

Poppy stared at him in disbelief for a second before saying, "Okay. First off, there's nothing wrong with cupcakes and brownies. They're some of the healthiest things trolls have to eat! Second, could you try to be positive? Just once! You might like it!"

"First, I'm not having this argument with you, but baked goods with a lot of sugar are not healthy!"

Poppy pulled out a red fruit, looking at Branch lamely, and asked, "Would it help if I said I had a bit of fruit in here, too?"

"Second, I'm positive that you're all going to get yourselves killed at some point. That better for you?" he finished as he climbed out of his bunker. He made a point of ignoring Poppy's last question—he said he wasn't arguing with her right now.

Poppy just kept giving him that same look.

"Now, if you're done gathering more party supplies, we need to go. I want to put as much distance between myself and this place as possible."

He started walking off. The sooner he was away from the home that didn't want him, the better. This place was nothing but depressing for him, and not just because of the bergen attack—he wasn't welcome here when it was inhabited. The banishment tainted any potentially positive memories he had of this place.

"Great! Then what are we waiting for!? Let's go save my friends!" Poppy started to follow Branch away from the village, but she stopped as an idea occurred to her. Her face lit up with excitement. "Oooooooh..."

Branch looked back, seeing the look on Poppy's face that indicated she was up to something crazy. He raised an eyebrow, concerned. "Poppy? Please tell me you're not—"

"I just had a great idea! Come on!" She ran back to Troll Village.

"Poppy!" Branch yelled after her. He wasn't going into that stupid village.

"Come on, Branch! It's all good! There's no one here now! Remember!?" Poppy called back, still running for her former home.

"I'm not going in that village, Poppy!"

Poppy turned around and reached back with her hair to grab him, wrapping him up from shoulders to ankles. "Oh, yes, you are!" She pulled him over.

Startled and tied up, there wasn't much Branch could do about this, so he soon found himself dragged into Troll Village.

Poppy took Branch to the flyer bug stables, with him wiggling around and trying to get loose the whole way. More than likely he would have cut his way out of her hair if she'd given him any wiggle room to get a sharp object in hand. As it was, she had him too secure for that.

When they made it to the flyer bugs, she let him go, smiling at her own idea. She dropped him rather abruptly, and he landed on his head.

"Here we are! The flyer bug stables!" She looked around, realizing something she hadn't thought of earlier when she'd been here—most of the flyer bugs were still here. "Hmm... It's odd that most of 'em are still here. It's hard to imagine that the trolls would ever abandon their flying best friends." She put a hand to her chin, concerned.

Branch didn't find anything odd about it at all. As he got to his feet, irritated at the rough treatment, he muttered, "Clearly trolls have less of an issue with abandoning people than you realize."

Seriously, "no troll left behind" was a joke. The proper motto would probably have been something more along the lines of "nobody who acts like us left behind...unless we'd get hurt saving them." He highly doubted any of the other trolls were as dedicated to those they loved as Poppy seemed to be.

"Come on!" Poppy said, running up to her flyer bug. "We can use one of these to reach Bergen Town in record time!"

"Oh, right. And I suppose you just want to fly on in there?"

"Psh. Of course not, Branch. I'm not that clueless! We're gonna use them to fly to Bergen Town! We'll just land somewhere further away when we get there!" Beaming with confidence, she climbed aboard her flyer bug.

"Poppy, I've never rode a flyer bug before!" Branch protested. He'd kind of missed that aspect of a troll's childhood due to losing his colors—he hadn't had any interest in doing something so dangerous. "And there are plenty of threats in the sky, in case you forgot!"

Birds. Poppy and birds didn't mix well, and Branch was convinced that she was trying to get eaten by one now.

"Aw, don't worry, Branch! It's easy! All you gotta do is hop on board and use the handle antennae to steer!" she answered, ignoring his second protest.

"Poppy, there are about a million things that could go wrong here! First—"

She didn't have time to listen to his pessimism. "Come on, Branch! We've got some saving to do!" she cut him off before taking off at top speed. He'd catch up with her, she knew it.

"Poppy!" Branch protested. He put a hand to his face in frustration. "Ugh, she doesn't listen at all!"

So, since she was clearly going to get herself killed, Branch picked a purple flyer bug and climbed aboard before taking off after Poppy. The bug was fairly easy to control, but it was faster than he'd expected. He was having a bit of difficulty seeing incoming objects in time to avoid them, and the bug seemed to trust him entirely with the steering...which was a problem, considering he couldn't see anything in time to avoid crashing into it!

"Hey! Slow down!" he protested—if this thing was going to rely on his driving ability, it needed to move slower.

The bug's idea of "slow down" was, apparently, stop abruptly. Branch found himself thrown forward a bit, but he managed to stay on by holding the antennae.

"Whoa!" This wasn't fun. Branch really wanted to just put his feet back on the ground. He'd take a longer journey over this any day. "Okay, uh, let's try that again," he said, and he took off at a slightly slower speed.

That was better. Now he could actually see things coming before almost crashing into them. He also managed to catch up with Poppy a bit, although she had to slow down a bit to allow for that.

"Quit fooling around, Branch!" she called back to him. "We need to hurry if we want to make it in time!" And she sped up again.

"Oh, come on!" Branch complained, speeding up to catch the danger-prone princess. Now that he'd gotten adjusted to this, it was easier, and he pulled up beside Poppy finally.

"Sorry! But I don't really want my friends getting used for something as gross as breeding! I mean, who does that!? It's totally barbaric!"

"That's assuming you're right and they're still alive."

"I'm sure they are, Branch. How else are they gonna celebrate Trollstice?" Poppy answered, full of hopeful cheer at the idea that her friends were still alive.

"And if the bergen who took them didn't head to Bergen Town?"

Poppy halted her flyer bug suddenly, forcing Branch to do the same.

"Hey!" he complained, looking at her with irritation. "Now what?"

Poppy just stared at him lamely for a moment. Finally she said, "Branch. I know you said there were a few bergens that were like that, but that doesn't mean it was one of them that took my friends! I mean, if that were true, why didn't she eat them right away? She stuck them in a fanny pack and took off, Branch. They have to be alive!"

Now cheery again, she was about to take off. However, Branch wasn't going to let this slide—she was such an optimist, even when her optimism was completely unrealistic. This girl would find the bright side of Armageddon.

"You don't know that, Poppy," Branch said before she could take off. "And I can't wait to see the look on your face when you realize the world isn't all cupcakes and rainbows. 'Cause it isn't! Bad things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it." Having said his piece, he took off ahead of her this time.

Bad things happen, people get hurt...people die. The sooner she accepted that, the better. If she braced herself for the worst, maybe she wouldn't be completely crushed when it finally happened, like he'd been.

"...Branch." Poppy looked after him lamely, wondering, How long is he gonna keep this up?

She took off after him. Pulling up beside him, she said, "Seriously. If you're that bitter about it, why don't you just make it right by coming back with me after we save everyone? I keep telling you no one will think you're a traitor after this one."

"It's not important, Poppy. I don't need them. I'm used to being alone, so, once we save your friends, I'll be heading back to my bunker."

"Oh, come on, Branch! Just who are you trying to kid? I know you're lying this time. If you weren't, then you wouldn't keep bringing it up!" Poppy protested in exasperation, frustrated at this guy for being so difficult. Obviously the banishment had him upset and he wanted to go home, but he wouldn't admit it! I mean, we've only been talking about it nonstop since this whole thing started. Argh. What's with him, anyway?

"You're the one who brought it up this time!" Branch countered.

Poppy stared at him, eyes wide. "I...did?"

What did he mean by that? And why did Poppy feel like it was a serious cause for concern?

Branch looked at her, narrowed his eyes slightly, then faced forward again. Clearly he had no intention of answering her unspoken question. Poppy just stared at him in worry as they flew on.

What was he hiding from her? What had happened to him in his life that she didn't know about? Why was he so gray all the time? She couldn't shake the feeling that it was something he needed to talk about, something he had to get off his chest before he drowned in his own misery.

But she knew he wouldn't tell her even if she asked.