Poppy continued to meditate in one of Dragon Hollow's temples, floating in mid-air as blue energy enveloped her. She was in the process of transitioning to purple when a sensation washed over her like a tidal wave. Quite the unsettling sensation, she could not but close her eyes tighter than before (and, subsequently, lose her concentration). As purple energy suddenly reverted to red, she subconsciously flinched as the unsettling sensation persisted.
. . .
"THE PARTY CRASHERS ARE COMING...!"
. . .
"MOMMY...!"
. . .
"SUN LIEN...!"
. . .
"DIOGO...!"
. .
"SHANG!"
. . .
"XIA...!"
. . .
"SATIN...!"
. . .
"SATIN...!"
. . .
"SATIN...!"
. . .
"SATIN!"
As the mere mention of her friend's name, Poppy's eyes shot open and she dropped down to her feet. Glancing around in confusion, she rubbed her eyes and took note of the current time: it was now midnight.
Had I been here since the early morning...?
Frowning to herself, Poppy shook her head as she left the temple, grabbing her training robe to fend off the night's cold weather. Taking a semi-leisurely stroll in an attempt to clear her mind, a series of questions nonetheless ran laps in it.
The Party Crashers are still involved in...whatever they're planning?
. . .
What are they planning?
. . .
I think they're after me. After my newfound powers.
. . .
But they hate the Troll Tribes...especially the Pop Trolls.
. . .
So why are they attacking my friends?
. . .
So they can lure me out of hiding.
. . .
So they must be working for an outside party to capture me in exchange for an offer they couldn't refuse.
. . .
And they don't know where I am, so they're looking for viable leads.
. . .
On that note, what happened with my friends?
. . .
What happened to Diogo, Dulce, and...Satin?
. . .
And who are Sun Lien, Shang, and Xia?
At that moment, that unsettling sensation amplified for a brief moment before dropping completely. It was then that Poppy reached an assumption: that unsettling sensation could have resembled the aura of a person in a moment of danger and weakness. That person would be very close to her. When an aura was at their highest, it signified the moment where that person was most alive.
And when that aura dropped—
Poppy closed her eyes as she clenched her fists, shaking her head in denial.
No... No, Satin can't be dead...!
Not now...!
At...at the hands of the Party Crashers and their allies...?
As tears leaked out from behind her closed eyelids, her body began to violently glow and alternate between dark red...
I...
...dark grey...
I...
...and pitch black...
I should have been there...
Her eyes—when she opened them—revealed a series of grey circles formed inside similar circles...which formed inside similar circles.
I could have helped her...
Her fists—when she unclenched them—revealed her glowing blood-red palms and her oozing jet-black fingertips.
I could have saved her...!
Her mouth—when she outstretched it—revealed a row of razor-sharp fangs as she unleashed another unholy scream of fury and despair.
"I COULD HAVE SAVED HER!"
Her body then projected a series of powerful shockwaves. The resulting blasts destroyed almost every tree, temple, and cottage unfortunate to be in its radius, leaving a fair few still standing. The elements of Dragon Hollow began acting outside their control: the water of the lakes began to boil, the earth of the ground commenced to crumble, the fire of the temple torches formed a fire tornado, and the air of the nighttime appeared to abate.
This event occurred for a few more fleeting moments before Poppy calmed down and floated down to the ground. Her hands reverted back to pink, her eyes reverted back to yellow, and the shockwaves began to cease. Blinking in surprise at herself again, she worked up the courage to face behind her the potential damage she presumably caused. Slowly turning around, she gasped in horror and surveyed the destruction among her.
Okay...this is bad. In fact, worse than bad.
What did I do?
What have I done?
I...
Was it just me in Dragon Hollow?
Was there somebody else here that I never noticed?
Shaking her head and clearing her mind, Poppy took a deep breath or two before her hands began to glow white like her mother's, having made the decision to fix the damage with her magic...regardless if it worked or not.
"Excuse us?"
Poppy flinched again and subconsciously formed a katana with a red-and-gold aura, ready to do battle with her perceived opponents.
The two Trolls who stood before her clearly hailed from Dragon City, and their close resemblance to each other made her assume they were siblings. Twins, much like Satin and Chenille. Both of them had black eyes but the male Troll had red skin with golden spinal fins while the female Troll had grey skin with red spinal fins.
The former wore a red Zhongshan suit with four big pockets on the front (two up, two down, all of which were equally spaced left and right), five light gold central buttons on the front, and three smaller dark gold buttons on each sleeve. The latter wore a red Cheongsam dress with a Mandarin collar, five grey pankou buttons (two dark ones along the neck line and three light ones along the side chest portion), a right-opening and large-rounded front, narrow edgings created with the "gun" technique, medium sleeves that reached to her elbows, and a medium-length slit on both sides.
The two siblings stepped back upon Poppy drawing her katana out of thin air, raising their hands up in caution.
"Hey, hey!" Shang smiled nervously, "We're not armed!"
"We don't want to hurt you, either," Xia nodded in agreement, "We just want to help."
A moment was taken by Poppy to examine the two strangers before she lowered her katana and it dissipated. Nodding in acknowledgement, she exchanges glances between the two siblings and the destruction she created.
"Umm... I can explain all of that."
"No need," Xia chuckled as she shook her head, "Just allow us to assist you."
Poppy nodded again and the three of them worked together to repair the damage done.
"Although, if you don't mind telling us..." Shang turned to Poppy, "Where are we? The last thing we remember is being stabbed in the heart and being consumed by a bright light."
Momentarily losing her focus, Poppy instantly regained it as she turned to Shang.
"W-What?! You died? You're...dead?!"
"Well, we were dying," Xia shot a scowl at her brother, who awkwardly grinned in response, "The Party Crashers, the Chanty Trolls, and the Siren Trolls attacked our home and prompted many casualities in battle."
"The Party Crashers?" Poppy perked up as she turned to Xia now, "They attacked my home, Pop Village, not long ago!"
"Pop Village?" Xia now examined Poppy a little closer, "Are you, by any chance, Queen Poppy?"
"Yes, I am!" Poppy nodded quickly, "The Party Crashers attacked Pop Village while I was planning my passion project TrollsTopia with the rest of the six tribes and then I started to Glitch out. I remember...killing a Party Crasher before I fell into a river...and then I ended up in the Space Between. I met my mother again, discovered that I was imbued with the powers of the Six Strings, traveled to different subgenre tribes to harness those powers, and now...I'm here in Dragon City...or rather Dragon Hollow."
Shang and Xia exchanged looks with each other before turning back to Poppy.
"Poppy..." Shang asked first, "You said you were imbued with the powers of the Six Strings?"
"I did...?"
"The reason why the Party Crashers, the Chanty Trolls, and the Siren Trolls attacked Dragon City in the living world," Xia explained next, "was because the Captain of the Chanty Trolls was looking for the Six Strings. Another reason was that a Troll quite similar to you could control the powers of the Six Strings as well."
Poppy had begun to process the information given to her when she remembered a conversation she and her mother shared back in Latin City.
"A Magical Musical Troll?"
"Yes, I believe that was the term," Xia nodded, "and I believe her name was Agatha. She managed to escape the siege along with her consort, our younger sister, and a group of other Trolls led by one of your friends. She had pink skin, orange hair, and a pink gemstone in her navel."
"DJ?" Poppy gasped, "What was DJ doing in Dragon City?"
"From what we've learned," Shang explained again, "The Party Crashers have joined forces with the Chanty Trolls to wreck havoc on the main six Troll Tribes in exchange for bringing Captain Blue the Six Strings. The Siren Trolls placed their focus exclusively on the Grey Troll named Agatha, the Magical Musical Troll you are familiar with. Miss DJ was attempting to gather allies for what she and the other Tribes see as an impending battle."
Information after information was fed to an increasingly unnerved Poppy, whose eyes narrowed in determination.
"I... I have to get home. I have to help my friends."
. . .
BOOM!
Poppy drew her katana the same time Shang and Xia took fighting stances as a group of Trolls rushed through a portal.
"Poppy! Poppy, are you—?"
Peony had awoken the moment Poppy's negative energy was felt coursing through her veins. She soared throughout the castle and met with both Long Wei and Ying Wei, who gathered up Poppy's friends in turn. What they saw was the Pop Queen fixing an astounding amount of damage done to Dragon Hollow with two Dragon Trolls.
Two Dragon Trolls who seemed too familiar to both the Emperor and Empress.
"Son?"
"Daughter?"
Long Wei and Ying Wei cautiously approached the two Dragon Trolls, who mirrored their movements before gasping in shock.
"Mother?"
"Father?"
Long Wei, Ying Wei, Shang, and Xia rushed forward and enveloped each other in a giant group hug. The two parents were the first to shed tears, followed by their kin, who held them close.
"It's you..." Long Wei buried his head into his son's shoulder.
"We're sorry," Xia laid her head into her mother's chest, "We're so sorry."
"For what, my little flower?" Ying Wei briefly pulled away to face her daughter.
"We failed," Shang hung his head, "Dragon City has fallen. We failed to protect our kingdom. Our home."
"No," Long Wei shook his head, "No, you haven't. You protected your younger sister. You saved her life."
"You also saved the lives of those who avenge the fallen," Ying Wei smiled with pride, "and those who perished in battle have died with honor. Our kingdom is much like the Greek Phoenix: we rise from the ashes of our predecessors."
The family of four continued their group hug as Mirabel sidestepped to Poppy, who looked on in downplayed joy.
"What happened?" Mirabel whispered to Poppy.
"I think I reunited a family," Poppy whispered back with a smile.
The Troll Tribes were now at a crossroads.
While almost all of the Trolls managed to evade certain death, the same could not be said for the only fallen member. They never knew the Troll in question, but they nevertheless honored her sacrifice as if she were a soldier who had been killed in action and treated her as such. Chenille was left vacant at the makeshift funeral, even when they embedded the makeshift cross into the earth, with the exception of a few tears at her sister's last words.
"Fight for your lives. Fight for the tribes. You're my sister. Don't you ever forget it..."
Chenille would never forget Satin's last words...nor would she forget her.
She silently watched as the Troll Tribes set up camp a few miles from the remnants of Pop Village, ambling in a fashion similar to her own as they attempted to figure out their next move. Branch was mapping out the next step in their plan with the Tribe Leaders and the Tribe Ambassadors while Adora, Catra, and the Bounty Hunters kept watch to ensure no stragglers would ambush them or the others.
What do I do now...?
. . .
. . .
. . .
(Ooh-ooh) every line, every word
Every noun and verb can't define you
Chenille smiled—if somewhat slightly—at the sound of a familiar Troll singing his heart out.
(Ooh-ooh) you were shy but you told me
To pull over and I'm right behind you
She turned her attention to Darnell, who was currently crooning to the rest of the children to lift their spirits up. If he succeeded with them, then he most certainly succeeded with her...if only by a slight margin.
I'm callin' it now
I'm callin' it now
I'm callin' it now
You'll find love
With me somehow
Yeah, somehow
I'm callin' it now
"Fire in the sky..." Chenille sung to herself as she gazed up at the moon, placed in a sky full of stars.
Don't worry, Satin. I will fight for the tribes.
For my friends.
For...
. . .
. . .
. . .
For you...