Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Trolls franchise, I just own Melody.

A mystic melody.

Branch, riding on Clampers' back, glared at the road ahead with his icy blue eyes burned holes into the very fabric of the road that lay before him. His face was tight and he grit his teeth as he felt his hair blow behind him in a billow in the wind that was rushing in his face behind him.

His eyes were narrowed and his grip on Clampers was tight to make sure he didn't fall off.

Branch couldn't help but wonder if Poppy was doing okay with getting any help from their Bergen friends; and, more pressing, he couldn't help but wonder how his daughter was doing? True, the king and queen hadn't been away for long but that didn't stop the king troll from fretting up a storm.

He didn't know how much time Melody had left so he knew that the sooner they find this lost kingdom and the mystic melody along with it the better! Over the years he had been through horrors that no troll could ever get passed such as infiltrating the castle of the Bergens, capturing and freeing monsters that wind up getting entangled in a snare he himself had crafted, dealing with Poppy's constant scrapbooking and glitter overload episodes….he had been through it all.

Branch and Clampers rode in silence, said silence only being broken by the occasional chattering of Clampers' oversized teeth and the sound of hoof-steps drumming against the ground and kicking up mud and grass.

Neither king pop troll nor younger country troll spoke a single, solitary word.

This was until Clampers and Branch saw that they were beginning to traverse through a meadow of huge flowers with stems that were like tree trunks. It was somewhat familiar and it was definitely a sign that they were finally making a move on on this trek, although Branch made sure to keep an ear out for the others since he was supposed to be gathering them so they could all meet Poppy at the boarder of Bergen town.

But he heard nothing.

Nothing except Clampers' hooves drumming the Sandy ground, kicking up even more dust.

That was until Clampers opened her mouth and started to sing.

"Rollin', rollin', rollin'

though the streams are swollen.
keep them doggies rollin',
Rawhide…."

Clampers swung her flank from side-to-side, bumping Branch up and down in an abrupt and clumsy manoeuvre, startling her passenger into glaring at her in annoyance.

The young teenaged country troll kept galloping as fast as her hooves could carry her but made sure not to run so fast that she could knock off the king of the pop trolls riding her. Her bright ginger hair flowed behind her in the wind and she readjusted her Stetson hat so it couldn't slide off her head.

Branch just glared at her in disapproval.

After the first time he and Clampers had interacted, Branch was a bit frosty towards her. The memory of that little pint-sized country trolling chattering her huge teeth and racing ahead of the pack of country trolls with impossible speed in order to catch up to the runaway Branch, Poppy, Biggie and Hickory and biting Branch on the backside was still fresh in his mind.

Clampers and Branch had a bit of a cautious relationship after the World tour all those years ago —nevertheless, Branch and Clampers relationship had been improving as of late and they are at least civil with one another.

Anyways, Clampers kept singing whilst keeping her eyes forwards.

"Rain and wind and weather,
hair bent for leather.
Wishing my girl was by my side…"

Branch liked country songs quite a lot and was surprised to hear Clampers start singing since she didn't exactly sing very often, or at least that he was aware of since he only saw her for a a week or so every two months or so for the occasional troll leader get together that would be initiated.

In spite of this, though, the king Pop troll was caught in a dilemma on whether to sing along or not since he was aware that he should really focus encase the other trolls pop up and he knew better than most that he shouldn't get distracted by music lest something bad happen.

He couldn't risk something like that again.

The blue troll eventually decided to just suck it up and join in on singing anyway, even though singing country felt strange slipping from his vocal cords. It felt as though he were speaking another language or something!

"All the things I'm missin',
good vittles, love and kissin'.
Are waiting at the end of my ride."

Branch's head and his droopy ears picked up when he heard a bunch of voices harmonise with his own.

He recognised those voices!

It was the snack pack!

His eyeballs widened in their sockets and his head swivelled from left to right so he could catch a glimpse of the other trolls about to reveal themselves. He squinted his eyes so he could see through the huge tree-trunk-like flower stems and other foliage and, eventually, was able to make out some bright colours.

He felt his heart alight when he spotted his friends.

Cooper emerged from the bushes, beat boxing to the song that Branch was singing, with Smidge riding his back —since she was small enough to fit comfortably on there. Biggie carried Mr Dinkles in his arms but was rising a rather large and bulky country troll, not even seeming to be phased as he was being bounced up and down on his mount. Guy Diamond was riding on a more stout, elderly and fleet-footed country troll, Growly Pete. Finally, the twins, Satin and Chenille each rode on a pair of younger filly country trolls.

But there was another troll that Branch definitely didn't expect:

There was also….King Trollex!?

The literal fish out of water was gasping a bit and his skin looked really dry. It had become a known fact that Techno trolls could be without water for a prolonged period of time but, should they be without water for too long, they begin to lose their energy and they begin to shed skin all over the place.

Anyway, the techno troll leader's presence was….unexpected to say the least.

Either way, before Branch knew it, all of the snack pack were riding right behind him whilst harmonising to the song he was singing and, feeling both emboldened and encouraged, the king Pop troll sang louder with the other pop (even the few country trolls and the single techno troll accompanying them and acting as their steeds) singing back up.

"Move 'em on, head 'em up,

Head 'em up, move 'em on,

Move 'em on, head 'em up

Rawhide!"

Branch, Clampers, Guy Diamond, Cooper, Smidge, Biggie and Mr Dinkles and the country trolls accompanying them sang/shouted the lyrics to this old but catchy song.

"Count 'em out, ride 'em in,

Ride 'em in, let 'em out,

Cut 'em out!"

Branch and Clampers sung a duet on this part, the latter still letting her teeth chatter as she blazed through the trail with the other trolls hot on their heels/hooves. They finished the song together, just as they started, and heard the rest back them up regarding vocals by performing some Acapella.

"Ride 'em in

Rawhiiiiiiiiiiiide!"

They all finally came to a stop as Branch and Clampers stopped and turned to face the trolls accompanying them, especially Trollex.

Out of all the trolls to come along at the beginning of this trek, why did the leader of the Techno trolls come? From the looks of things, Trollex didn't even have much energy to be able to even put one fin in front of the other without collapsing and flapping about like a trout out of water. Not to mention that the leader of the Techno trolls had his duty to his trolls back in Pop troll village, why did he risk coming all the way out here?

Branch focused mainly on Trollex, concern shimmering inside his icy blue eyes.

"King Trollex? Is everything alright?" He asked.

Trollex just huffed and puffed breathlessly, acting as though he'd just ran a full ten miles without stopping, but he kept his stare perfectly level with Branch despite his sickened state.

Branch didn't want to sound mean but he worried that should Trollex have come on this trip then he'd only be in the way and become a liability, especially in his current state. They needed to get that cure as soon as possible so wasting time wasn't an option. He appeared as though he could barely keep his breathing under control and he looked slightly wrinkled, almost as if he was a dried up prune. Clearly he needed water and to get water, he'd need to get back to Troll village pronto!

So why?

Why did he risk himself doing this?

He decided to just ask.

"You look terrible. What're you even doing out here?"

"I…I think…I might be able to help you with-"

Trollex's reply was cut off when someone else called out.

"GUYS!"

Branch swung his head around to see that Poppy had come charging right back towards them on Delta.

Delta Dawn came to a literal screeching halt as she stopped just before she could have a chance to accidentally bowl over the rest of the group with the sheer force of her charge. Her hooves created sparks of friction on the ground as she dug them in deep to stop her momentum and gave everyone a look so serious that it made everyone's spinal cords crawl.

The instant Delta had come to a stop, Poppy practically catapulted herself off of the mayor of the country troll's back and darted straight towards her husband and the other trolls who immediately rushed up to meet her.

"Poppy!" Branch cried as he, too, leapt off of his temporary mount and ran up to meet his wife halfway.

Poppy had been holding a rather big bundle of paper in her arms and was quick to set the lot of them down on the ground. She gestured with a hand for everyone to gather around, which everyone did in a millisecond, and started to explain herself.

"While I met up with Bridgette and Gristle, they took me to their library and I found some of these old inscriptions which I'm pretty sure can help us find the Lost kingdom of Song and that Mystic Melody cure!"

"Wait. I didn't know that the Bergens had a library?"

"Stop being pedantic, Branch, that's not even the point…"

Poppy looked over the stack of papers and scriptures and scratched her head in deep thought whilst pondering on how she could understand what all this stuff says. From what she recalled after attending some history lesson with her father, their ancestors (the same pop trolls who greedily stole all the strings for themselves and tried to unite all trolls under Pop) wrote with these strange runes.

"We just need to find someone to translate all this stuff!" The queen of pop declared.

"Yeah, but who?" Delta asked whilst trying to read the paper but struggling with it due to the unfamiliar characters written.

In the meantime, without anyone knowing, Branch stepped forwards as he peered down at the papers.

He squinted his eyes at the unfamiliar writing. He could feel his heart begin to race and his pulse stir for some reason when he stared at the drawing of the supposed castle for this "Lost kingdom". He didn't know why but he felt so strange and bizarre, like there was this sort of fissure being pried open in his heart —creating a chasm so deep that it reverberated throughout his entire being like a drop of water rippling in water.

It was a feeling he couldn't even hope to describe.

This was the second time this had happened where he seemed to react to this lost kingdom but he didn't know why. The first time must have been a coincidence yet, to be fair, this could just be a second coincidence but he wasn't exactly sure whether he could keep brushing it off.

He was silent pursed his lips as he put a finger to his chin thoughtfully, his mouth now covered by the rest of his hand.

"….Branch?"

Branch snapped out of his trance after hearing his wife called out to him, and he looked at her and immediately noticed the concern etched upon her face. Poppy's brows knitted together, her ears lowered slightly and her eyes softened to paint the purest of worry upon her facial features.

"Are you okay?"

Branch quickly put on a smile, whether it was fake or not nobody tell for sure.

"Y-Yes!" He responded a bit too quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Everyone was silent as they stared hopelessly at the bunch of papers Poppy had brought back. They stared at them long and hard, as though willing the indecipherable writing to suddenly make sense to them. Nobody felt really clueless and helpless as they knew that this could probably give them a big clue as to where they were supposed to start looking for that strange lost kingdom and the cure for Melody's Moon stalker poisoning.

A lengthy silence hung over them like a blanket.

"…I might know someone…who can help." King Trollex spoke up all of a sudden.

All eyes snapped to the DJ of the Techno trolls immediately after those words left his lips as they recalled that Trollex had tried to say something similar to this earlier but was interrupted by Poppy's dramatic re-entrance.

The DJ was panting heavily seemed to be in deep thought as he tried to think of who can help translate all this gibberish —the writing was as foreign to him as one trying to learn to speak with a whale's speech pattern. He looked a tad wrinkly and his eyes were sunken, he was a few shades paler then normal and his appearance could have been best described as rather "raisin-like" or maybe even "prune-like". Even his frill-like ears had become droopy.

He didn't look the best but he didn't look downright awful either.

"Down in the depths of Techno Reef, there's an old troll named "Bay" and she knows a lot…huff…us Techno trolls would go to...to her if we had any questions. She might be able to lend a fin with that strange…puff…writing and she may even know…know more 'bout that Lost kingdom."

Branch started to ask "In the depths of Techno Reef? How're we gonna sw-"

He was immediately cut off by Poppy who enthusiastically pumped her fist high in the air, she was back to her usual cheery and optimistic self it seemed. Seeing her so hyped had its effect on everyone else who seemed to soak up the optimistic energy like a bunch of sponges.

"Alright! We got us a plan! We're off to the reef, let's do this!" She exclaimed.

The snack pack and the others all raised their own fists and cheered, except for Branch who was trying to think of the implications of all this before celebrating. Not to mention he still felt a bit out of it for whatever reason; first he felt it when the kingdom was initially mentioned and now when he sees this writing…what was going on? He didn't know but he knew he had to focus on the task at hand —Techno reef was underwater, of course, so this could be a bit of a challenge.

His thoughts were yet again interrupted as Trollex coughed a few more times and the rest of the trolls observed as the leader of the techno troll tribe was passed a small dew drop of water by none other than Clampers which he immediately popped into his mouth to rehydrate himself a bit.

"There. That should make y'all feel a lil' better until we get back, Mistah Trollex." Clampers smiled.

Trollex smiled back and nodded in gratitude, albeit weakly and he coughed once more. Delta stooped down so Clampers could carry Trollex and place him on top of her back, the mayor and her niece both glanced over to the rest of the journeying trolls whom looked back at them.

Poppy had managed to pick up all the papers back up and held them tightly and securely as if they were her lifeline. Her eyes were wide and her mouth had formed an "o" shape as she clutched the papers to her chest and she thought about this a bit more. They had to find this troll named Bay that lives all the way down in Techno reef, she could probably decipher that strange language that was written and, in turn, hopefully they could locate that Kingdom of Song and Mystic Melody and get that cure to their daughter.

"Easy there, fishy, we gotcha…we're gonna need to take Trollex back to Pop Troll village so we can get this fish-outta-water some water. Are y'all gonna be okay walkin' the rest of the way?"

Poppy gave them a big thumbs up and winked.

"We'll be fine! Take good care of Pop village for us!"

"Ya got it!"

Delta waved, bidding them farewell for now, before galloping off back the way the group came accompanied by the other country trolls and Clampers and leaving the rest of the trolls behind to resume their journey on foot.

Poppy turned to address the other trolls.

"Okay, gang, we're gonna go to Techno reef and find this Bay! Then we can find that lost kingdom, find that Mystic Melody and cure Mel! Piece of cake!"

Branch looked at Poppy with concern.

To the untrained eye, most trolls wouldn't be able to notice it but the blue king troll of pop could very easily see the worry and concern that Poppy was trying to disguise with her regular optimism and upbeat attitude. She might have cried her eyes out and was definitely feeling much more can-do then before, but that didn't mean that she couldn't harbour the doubts probably plaguing her. He made a mental note to speak with her later.

"Poppy…."

Poppy raised a pointed finger skywards and exclaimed merrily, "Aaaaaaand march!"

The pack of pop trolls started to gather their belongings like their satchels, bags, maps and other stuff. They started to take a couple of steps before Guy Diamond started to notice something rather shifty in his bag (which was basically covered in silver glitter for obvious reasons) and he furrowed a brow at this curious strangeness.

"Hang on, guuuuuys," He called, his auto tune voice rising a few octaves when he said that last part.

The sparkly troll bent down and opened up his satchel to ferret out whatever was inhabiting his bag…but was met with an expected surprise!

"WHAT IN THE-!?"

Branch and Poppy were the first to rush forwards encase this was about to be a dangerous situation but the king and queen were equally as shocked as Guy Diamond when their eyes laid on what (or who) was in the bag instead of all of the food packed inside.

Guy Diamond reacted quick.

"Tiny Fitzgerald Diamond, what are you doing in that bag!?"

Tiny Diamond looked down as though ashamed for a moment before he looked up and glared up at the group with undying determination, although he had difficulty not faltering beneath his father's stern scowl. The small glitter troll seemed to try and bolster his courage by wearing a steely expression upon his face but everyone could tell that he was buckling beneath Guy's sterner gaze of fatherly love and disappointment.

"I wanted to come with ya guys." Said Tiny. "I….I couldn't let y'all go alone!"

Guy seemed to collect his thoughts as he crouched down to meet his son on eye-level and placed a finger on Tiny's shoulder (since a hand would be too big) and he tried to keep his voice level and delicate. He knew that his son didn't mean any harm and stowed away simply for the fact that he was worried and, to be fair, the father and son pair had never spent any time apart before so the trolling was probably anxious.

"Tiny…I appreciate that you were worried but this is dangerous and what you did was reckless. I would never forgive myself if you got hurt. If only the other country trolls hadn't left earlier so I could have asked them to take you back to pop troll village…."

Guy Diamond glanced up at both Poppy and Branch, searching for silent approval on their faces.

He turned back to face his wayward little son and his stern expression melted like butter in a microwave when he saw the puppy-dog eyes his own son was giving him in a silent plea of hoping to accompany them on their adventure.

Guy Diamond shut his eyes and sighed reluctantly.

The biggest reason he was agreeing to this was just because it was too late to turn back now, but he ideally wanted his son to stay behind in Pop troll village so he could be safe…however he knew that there was nothing for it now and there was no other options. Normally, Guy Diamond didn't like to be too strict on his son but he knew that it was his duty to make sure Tiny Diamond didn't get hurt, especially after what happened to Princess Melody.

The silver sparkly troll looked down at Tiny Diamond sternly.

"Fine. You can come with us but you have to hide away in my hair where it's safe, understand?"

Tiny Diamond nodded sadly but acceptingly and didn't waste time in leaping into his father's ivory white mane of hair.

Poppy and Branch both nodded at one another.

Now that that was sorted, they could get a move on.

The group started to mobilise and made their way through the rest of the forest of huge flowers until they reached a place that was surely a sign that they were going to go further then they ever had before, this even started to surpass how they passed through Bergen town or even the way to Barb's World tour.

This was going to be further any pop troll had travelled before.

They had arrived to a place where the forest terrain was beginning to fade and, instead, turn into the beginnings of some sort of strange hybrid between a fiery hot desert and an arctic cold wasteland; it couldn't be one or the other since there were portions of this place where there were cacti were growing in the ice and snowy portion and moss growing in the sand.

This was a place stretching between pop troll village and the great unknown ahead…

The group stared ahead at what was in front of them for a long few moments until they started to walk. The sand seared and the snow froze as the terrains alternated beneath the feet of the small group of trolls, both causing different kinds of discomfort on the soles of their feet. It was as if this land couldn't decide whether or not to be a blazing hot desert or a sub zero climate.

Nevertheless, this place was a desolate wasteland that was devoid of much life and what this place was doing on the boarder of Pop troll village was beyond anyone's guess.

Now they were officially at the beginning of their journey.

But there was one inquiry that Branch decided right then to bring up:

"Hey, guys.…how are we gonna swim all the way under to Techno reef?"

A/N: Hi, everyone!

Sorry it took me awhile to update this fic, but I spent awhile thinking of which direction to take this in plus I lost my inspiration for awhile (don't worry, I wasn't planning on giving up on this story) I now have a good idea on where to go with this fanfic and the song is Rawhide.

I hope you lot are having a lovely Summer.

-Chloemcg