Satin and Chenille remained in their embrace for a moment before the former pulled away. The latter remained speechless as she examined her sister from head to toe, taking in her new appearance.
"You... Wow. How...?"
"Who else?" Satin smiled with a shrug.
"P-Poppy?"
"Poppy."
Overwhelmed with joy, Chenille hugged Satin and sobbed into her shoulder, the latter reciprocating and rubbing circles around the former's back.
"Where...where did you go?" Chenille asked through her tears, "What happened to you? Poppy?"
"Well..." Satin chuckled, "It's kind of a long story, but...do you remember how Poppy died the first time around and was brought back to life by her tall, powerful, and smoking hot mom?"
"I do," Chenille nodded in confusion before putting two-and-two together, "Wait...did Poppy's mom bring you back to life too?"
"Bingo," Satin nodded in confirmation, "I was brought to a place called the Space Between first, and it turns out Poppy made a lot of friends while she was there."
"For a full month?!"
"Give or take," Satin continued, "They're currently helping us out by luring enemies to their hideout."
"Good thing too," Chenille laughed, "We need a lot of it. So...Poppy's here too?"
"She's lending a helping hand elsewhere," Satin nodded again, "So...is it just you here?"
"I think the other Tribe Leaders and Ambassadors are here too," Chenille replied, "but they're a few yards away at the most. Why?"
"I think CJ's in trouble."
"What? We need to get to DJ, then. We need the help we can get."
"I guess so. Take my hand and hold on."
Taking her sister's hand, Chenille watched as Satin closed her eyes, focusing on pinpointing the location on both DJ and CJ.
Her eyes suddenly glowing blue, Satin whisked Chenille away.
"Aunt DJ!"
"CJ!"
DJ and Trollex-1 immediately broke away from the Snack Pack and the Tribe Leaders respectively when they saw CJ fleeing for her life from a Chanty Troll. The Treasure Troll immediately saw red and quite literally carved out a path to get to her niece, the Techno King trailing behind wielding his Remington 870. As mentioned before, Trollex-1 had developed a brotherly relationship with the young Troll and grown very protective of her as much as his girlfriend.
So, to even dare mess with the girl they both considered a daughter to them was essentially a death sentence.
Continuously hurling throwing knives at her opponents, DJ threw herself at the first Chanty Troll she saw and riddled her body with bullets before using her corpse as a shield against gunfire. Trollex swam in front of her and opened fire, killing two Party Crashers and causing a third to kill another pair of his allies before they collapsed. When his shotgun clicked empty, DJ tossed him a discarded SIG-Sauer P226R before she drew her Glock 17, the both of them firing shots and watching each other's backs.
Suddenly, just when they found themselves surrounded, a bright light filled up the room and blinded their opponents. Bursting into the room were Chenille and...
"Satin?!" DJ and Trollex cried out in surprise.
"Satin, behind you!" Chenille called out to her sister. Satin responded in kind by drawing a Remington 870 MCS Masterkey and firing it behind her, hitting a Party Crasher before she turned around completely and continued firing before he fell over dead.
"Chenille, here!" Satin tossed her sister a spare Glock 17 and SIG-Sauer P226R, which Chenille used to break open the circle of opponents that had their friends surrounded.
With their presence now made known, their enemies splitted their focus on all four parties, but it did them little good in the end. The now reunited sisterly duo covered their backs as well as that of DJ and Trollex-1's, quickly reloading their firearms or simply switching to new ones. Satin speedloaded her Remington 870 and tossed it to Chenille, who reloaded her Glock 17 and SIG-Sauer P226R before tossing it to Satin and catching the Remington 870. With his own Remington 870, Trollex-1 covered them and disarmed a Chanty Troll of her Glock 19, which he tossed to DJ after she holstered her empty Glock 17.
Eventually, having stumbled upon the fight, Namaari rushed forward and managed to turn the tides against the quartet's enemies. The five of them stood victoriously above their downed opponents.
As their adrenaline rush settled down for a brief moment, DJ turned to Satin now and processed the simple fact that her deceased best friend was in fact alive.
"You... Wow. How...?"
"Who else?" Satin chuckled again.
"I'm getting a feeling of Déjà vu," Chenille chuckled.
"I'll explain later," Satin waved her friend's concern off, "Right now, we need to find CJ."
DJ, Trollex-1, and Namaari nodded with Satin and Chenille as they took off.
Back at the orphanage, Branch and the rest of the Snack Pack and Bounty Hunters managed to cut the amount of opponents in half. Hickory fired his Remington 870 and covered Tresillo and Wani, who both wielded blades with pistols as they charged in battle. Following their lead were Marimba, Tambora, and the rest of the K-Pop Gang, all of whom defended their respective leaders. Chaz and Dickory were not far behind, putting up a fight even if the odds were stacked against them both or them all.
Biggie and Cooper continued swinging their baseball bats around as they aided the Bounty Hunters and the rest of their friends. Smidge used her weightlifting training to hurl dumbbells and other weights to knock down several targets while Guy Diamond and Meadow Spriggs used their glitter and florist skills to disorient their enemies and grow a Venus fly trap to consume them. Legsly used her elastic legs to kick away attackers from up above while Creek and Ripley Wisp covered her from down below, using their M4A1 Carbine and baseball bat respectively.
Inside the building, Callie used her Colt MK IV Series 80 to provide cover fire for Harper and Archer, who reloaded her Mossberg 500 Cruiser shotguns before aiding her from behind their hiding spots. However, they ended up getting shot in the shoulder and chest respectively before Callie managed to shoot the retreating attacker.
"Freeze!"
"Drop your weapons!"
Those were the last words spoken by a lone pair of Chanty Trolls before they were shot in the back by their former Captain. Blue emptied the last two shots into their corpses and offered Harper and Archer a hand, which they took as they pulled themselves up.
"You're helping us?" Archer raised an eyebrow.
"In case you weren't paying attention already..." Blue reloaded her Beretta 90Two and performed a press check, "I don't have a choice."
Pinching her nose bridge, Blue glanced around absentmindedly and frowned at the whispers no else could hear.
"She's here..."
. . .
BANG!
Harper, Archer, and Blue turned around (slowly, in the latter's case) to find a Party Crasher aiming their gun at them...before their neck began to bleed and they slumped over. Behind them was a cast-wearing Peter holding a still smoking Beretta 92FS before lowering it.
"I'm impressed, Peter," Blue smirked, "Despite being wet and wounded, you still lend a helping hand."
"A Party Crasher always takes care of their own," Peter shrugged, "Living or dead."
"Hmm..."
With that, Blue turned tail and began to exit the orphanage, shooting or slicing up any unlucky opponent to block her path as the rest of the heroes barely registered her. Harper, Archer, Callie, and Peter exchanged concerned looks, wondering if her perceived targeting of Serina and Kiri would hinder their strategy to win the battle. Little did they know, however, the Captain had long discarded the two main Siren Trolls as nothing more than pawns.
Captain Blue had her eyes on another prize...
On the other side of the kingdom, the country house containing Poppy's group remained under seige. The fact that the group contained 14 (15, if one counted the young kitsune) superpowered or magical individuals gave them a distinct advantage. They were, however, only human, and more than a few members were becoming progressively wearier as the battle progressed longer than they liked. Nonetheless, they needed to press on with the plan.
"There's more of them coming," Elsa peered over to Mirabel, who was reloading her Mossberg 500 at the moment.
"Yep, that's bad," Miles nodded as he reloaded his Web-Shooters.
"But good in the sense that there will be more bad guys to blow up," Ruby interjected as she shot down an ambushing Party Crasher with her laser vision.
Mirabel pulled out her SIG-Sauer P226R to shoot a Chanty Troll from her hiding spot just as Mr. Wolf emptied his own P226R into a Party Crasher.
"Mag!" Mr. Wolf called out to Mirabel, who immediately pulled out and tossed him a spare magazine.
"So what's the plan?" Mei and Alberto turned to Mirabel, who finished reloading her shotgun and chambering a round.
"I'm thinking," Mirabel peered over her shoulder...before turning to Elsa...and then Twilight.
"Hey, Ice Queen! T-Sparks!"
"Yes?" Elsa and Twilight turned to her.
"Do you think you, Elsa, can shove all the Party Crashers, Chanty Trolls, and Siren Trolls in here all at once, and you, Twilight, can create a force field powerful enough to withstand their inevitable beating until we can set the charges and get the hell out of here?" Mirabel asked without catching her breath.
As the group exchanged confused glances with each other, Elsa and Twilight nodded.
"We can try!"
CJ shouted out in pain as she was inevitably caught and tossed around like a ragdoll before Pistachio threw her into a nearby room. Struggling to get up from the floor, the young Treasure Troll watched as the Chanty Troll closed and locked the door behind him. As he began to strip down to nothing but his state of undress, confusion and subsequently horror overtook her as he smirked sadistically as her.
"You know...it's been a mighty long time since I've feasted on a pretty young thing like yourself."
Dropping the smirk, Pistachio produced a Beretta 92FS and aimed it at a terrified CJ.
"Strip...if you know what's good for you."
Tears welling up in her eyes, CJ indeed removed her clothes with great reluctance, resisting the urge to cover herself with her arms. It amused Pistachio, who crouched down and aimed the pistol under her chin.
"Now...why don't we play a game?"
CRASH!
Suddenly, Keith and Priscilla crashed through the vents and attacked Pistachio, who shouted in surprise as the two children hit and stabbed him repeatedly.
"Eat glitter!" Tiny Diamond shouted as Coral Blush hurled him at Pistachio, who was blinded by glitter. Clampers and Amp leaped down afterwards and bit him in his sensitive parts.
After a moment, DJ and Trollex-1 burst into the room and witnessed the scene unfold. Upon spotting her naked niece helping her friends attack Pistachio, the former growled at the Chanty Troll and charged at him just as the children leapt off him. As Pistachio was disarmed of his pistol, he pulled out a pair of hunting knives with a snarl and attacked DJ. Hell hath no fury like a protective aunt, however, as DJ withstood several slashes to disarm her opponent of one of his knives, which she used to repeatedly stab him before she was knocked away.
Pistachio raised his remaining knife and brought it down, but Trollex-1 blocked the stab with his arm and pushed him back into a mirror, which shattered and sent pieces scattering. He plucked out a large enough fragment to bury it into his neck, prompting him to roar out in agonizing pain, which only increased as he drug it along in a horizontal line. Smashing his face into the mirror, Trollex-1 then snatched the discarded Beretta 92FS and emptied it into Pistachio, who eventually slumped over supposedly dead.
On another side of the kingdom, Poppy stood there in a stunned silence upon "witnessing" the sexual assault on CJ initiated by the Chanty Troll. Never before had a Troll under her rule, let alone a Pop Troll, been sexually assaulted by an outside party. It was already considered heinous for its lack of consent from the victim, but the fact that the victim in question was a child was more than enough to deem the act unforgivable and unworthy to let the perpetrator live to see another day.
Case in point, even though she "witnessed" DJ and Trollex saving CJ, Poppy felt anger not felt since Creek betrayed the Pop Tribe to the Bergens.
Gripping the Sword of Protection, which began to glow its familiar blue color, Poppy's eyes glowed the same hue as she walked towards the battle inside the castle. Spotting the Tribe Leaders and Ambassadors being overwhelmed by their opponents, she took one step forward and a deep breath.
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, before the Tribe Leaders and Ambassadors could blink, a figure of bright blue energy sliced through and blowed up their opponents before making its way to the halls, where another battle occurred. Poppy drew her Glock 17 and SIG-Sauer P226R, which began to glow blue as well, and charged into battle again while wielding her weapons. Slashing through her enemies, chopping off their heads, and ripping out their eyes with her sword, she also blew off their hands, arms, and legs with her pistols. When her pistols ran dry, she pulled out her now glowing Remington 870, which only augumented the amount of carnage and calamity the Pop Queen had created in her roaring rampage of revenge.
For some inexplicable reason, Poppy felt nothing but complete and utter joy from making her enemies pay.
When she was done, Poppy flew out of the halls faster than the surviving heroes could register. Finding DJ and her group being held at gunpoint by Pistachio, who reclaimed CJ as his hostage, her expression soured further but kept her fury tranquil as she decided to toy around with her opponent. The lights became dim around them as Pistachio began to panic.
"S-Stay back," The Chanty Troll murmured softly before clearing his throat and repeated it in the form of a scream, "I said stay back!"
DJ, Trollex-1, Chenille, Namaari, and the rest of the children looked around in terror and confusion, but only Satin knew what was coming next, whispering to her sister to shield the eyes and ears of younger members.
"STAY BACK!" Pistachio aimed his Beretta 92FS at a seemingly empty spot, "I'll kill her! Believe me! I'll do it!"
A moment of silence later...
. . .
. . .
. . .
...and a single voice replied...
. . .
. . .
. . .
...from behind him.
"I believe you."
Pistachio whipped around and opened fire, only for the hand restraining CJ to be swiftly sliced off. Screaming in horrified pain as the arm and CJ fell down, the Chanty Troll continued to open fire as the young Treasure Troll escape and ran into her Aunt's own arms. Suddenly, a figure of bright blue energy appeared out of thin air and deflected the gunfire with a sword before she rapidly hurled it at him, creating light blue strings to tie him up before the glowing blade embedded itself into his stomach.
The Chanty Troll coughed up blood before the figure reappeared before him, materializing her true form in front of his very eyes and that of the group who stood a few feet from where they stood. DJ, Trollex-1, Chenille, and the children gasped in shock at the sight of their savior, a very familiar Pop Troll who wore a very unfamiliar face of barely contained rage.
"Honestly..." Poppy bitterly chuckled, "You should've just lied."
In one swift motion, Poppy created energy-contructed swords and brought them down upon a horrified Pistachio, who barely had enough time to register the blades that ended up slicing him into a thousand pieces. Said pieces ended up scattering onto the rock floors before bursting into flame.
Taking a moment to calm down and regain her composure, Poppy turned to face her friends with a solemn expression, regretful that they (especially the children) had to bear witness to this act of violence.
"Poppy...?" DJ gasped out.