( this is a very branch centered chapter. if you hate Branch, you should skip this chapter and HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE HIM

You asked for heartbreak, I'll give you heartbreak.

Also- lots of songs in this chapter. Only unhappy with one dong choice. Keep lookout for an original song ;)

also I'm sorry this sucks so much- it's cringy- probably too dramatic- and dumb-)

Branch walked through the forest, staring at the ground as he cried, trying to hold the tears back, but he failed. "I was so stupid to ask her that..."

He kicked a pebble into some random water. "Mom was right.. no one will ever love me as much as I love them, especially someone that's not a rock troll."

There, he finally said it. He was part rock troll. His mother was a rock troll, his father and grandmother were pop trolls. His father brought him to Rosiepuff, because his mother was abusive at times.

He was the only troll besides King Peppy that knew about the other tribes of trolls. He just hated thinking about it. He wasn't gray because of his paranoid personality still, it was just his rock side.

( Haha, I've been waiting fourteen chapters to finally add this. )

"Why did I think she'd say yes?" Branch looked down at the ring. (He had that, right? Well, if he didn't he has it now magically.)

"I gotta walk away and leave it all behind
Cannot be more than friends so I guess this is my goodbye
A silly dream that died..
I wish that I could change, the way I feel inside
But we're two worlds apart and we cannot deny this time,
It's time to.."

He picked up a poppy flower and locked his eyes on it.

"Wipe the tears and walk away
Head up high, I cannot stay
I cannot breathe, the pains too deep.."

He shredded the flower into small bits, not helping him get over her any better.

"I must go, turn away
Just like day and night, we are not the same.."

He took the ring and tossed it into a lake.

"Goodbye, to all of us
Goodbye, dreams turned to dust
Goodbye, my Queen, my friend
Could this really be-?"

"BRANCH! BRANCH! BRANCH! BRANCH! BRANCH!"

Branch shrieked and casually sat on a rock like he wasn't just singing out his emotions and crying. "Yes?"

Biggie, Hickory, Pennywhistle, and Trollex came running towards him, out of breath.

Trollex and Pennywhistle obviously weren't running because they don't have legs, but you get the point.

Hickory took a deep breath then explained, "Barb just got Poppy! She's taking her to Volcano Rock City!"

"Then why aren't you going to rescue her? I'm sure she would rather be rescued by her friends than by me." Branch looked away from them, feeling himself tear up again.

"Because we're cowards." Trollex said, sounding proud for some reason.

Biggie elbowed him. "That's what I said to not say."

"Oh." Trollex hid in the bucket.

"And she would want to be rescued by you. Maybe it's not ideal for you to rescue her, but at least she'll be safe." Pennywhistle grinned.

Branch looked at Volcano Rock City and bit his lip, slowly nodding. "Okay, fine."

"Good luck." Hickory tipped his hat, and sent him off quickly, as there was no time to waste.

Branch ran off to save his true love, even if she didn't love him back. Or so he thought.

( so like this chapter I was originally gonna have that Branch goes and saves Poppy and whatever and then all the juicy stuff happens- but uhm- I got an idea and I couldn't copy anything over to another chapter- so basically I lost three thousand words ;) )

Branch darted off through the woods, pushing through vines, tree branches, nothing was going to stop him from getting to Poppy.

He didn't stop running, even though he was out of breath, he pushed himself to continue. "I'm coming, Popp-EEEE!" He tripped and fell on the ground right when he had confidence in success.

"Okay, five minute break.." He yawned and leaned against a tree to rest for a few minutes. Being completely exhausted and lacking sleep, it wasn't long before he dozed off.

He slept for over two hours before being roused awake by something soft poking at him.

"Is he dead?"

"He's so cute!"

"I want him!"

"No! Me!"

"Me! He's mine!"

"I'm the leader of you all, I deserve him!"

They shouted over each other, arguing over who gets Branch.

He yawned and stretched, "I guess a little sleep is better than none at all." He opened his eyes and found a bunch of eyes staring at him.

"He lives!" One grinned and snuzzled his face ecastically.

Branch pushed them away and backed up. "Who are you?"

The red one stepped forward and pointed at herself. "I'm Duri."

An orange girl walked towards him and blew him a kiss. "I'm Eun."

"I'm Gyeong." The yellow one pushed her hair out of her face and winked at him.

The green one pulled Branch up and pulled him close. "My name is Hana, I'm the leader of us."

"And I'm Haneul." A purple one shouted from the back.

"And we're the K-Pop Trolls!" They exclaimed in unison.

Branch awkwardly backed into a tree. "I'm Branch, and I need to leave."

Duri pulled him back over to the group. "But you just got here!"

Hana touched his muscles. "Why do you have to leave so soon?"

"I have to go rescue someone special to me before most music is wiped out and we live in a world of hard rock." Branch pushed them out of the way and tried to get away from them, but flowers popped up and squealed, frightening him back over to the girls.

I've never actually heard the song because I vowed to not listen to k-pop music until TWT comes out-

Duri cued some music and spun Branch into Haneul's arms, then started off a k-pop song but in English because it doesn't make sense without the translation. "When you feel like there's no way out
Love is the only way.."

Eun pulled him over to herself and twirled her hair. "Only be good to me
Only always smile at me
I said oooh, don't make me jealous
Oooh, don't make me become obsessed.."

"B-But I don't love you-" Branch walked into Gyeong trying to find a way out.

"I'm still scared of love
So help me trust you
I said oooh, don't make me jealous
Oooh, don't make me become obsessed.."

Hana tried to kiss him, but obviously failed. "I Love You
I Love You,"

Haneul growled at Hana and took Branch back, "All day, I keep thinking about you
All day, I just listen to your heart that's not bea-"

"¡Aléjate de él!" Tresillo shouted.

The girls hid Branch behind them and acted innocent. "Who?"

"The pop troll." Tresillo could see the tips of Branch's hair from behind them.

"Help me-" Branch pleaded, just wanting to get away from the females.

( GeorgeBeard4 Hey- that sounds like you ;)

"Show him some respect."

Eun hugged Branch and pet his cheeks. "We are showing him respect."

Gyeong stroked his hair. "We're relaxing him."

Branch didn't look relaxed at all, only petrified.

"¿Tenemos que resolver esto de la manera difícil?" Tresillo glared at Hana.

Hana nodded. "Ye."

"Mujeres primero." Tresillo stepped back.

"What's happening?" Branch couldn't understand anything they were saying.

Haneul spun him around again and dragged him into a dance the girls were doing.

"I don't know any k-pop soooonngggssss
So I'm gonna improvise until something goes wroooong
These reggaeton trolls suuuuuckkkk
Doo dooo dooooooooo doooooooooooooooo"

( i know- such talented song writing skills :)

They stroke a pose and tossed Branch up in the air. "Beat that!"

Branch got up and smiled. "That wasn't horrible."

The girls put their hands on their hearts and sighed dreamily.

Tresillo looked at his ladies which were there by the way and smirked.

"Si el ritmo te lleva a mover la cabeza ya empezamos como es
Mi música no discrimina a nadie así que vamos a romper,"

They danced in a much more complicated way than the choreography of the k-pop dancers.

"Toda mi gente se mueve
Mira el ritmo cómo los tiene
Hago música que entretiene
El mundo nos quiere, nos quiere, y me quiere a mí,"

They encouraged Branch to dance with them, but he wasn't exactly motivated to do so.

"Toda mi gente se mueve
Mira el ritmo cómo los tiene
Hago música que entretiene
Mi música los tiene fuerte bailando y se baila así

Estamos rompiendo la discoteca
La fiesta no para, apenas comienza
C'est comme-çi (how is this spanish- it sounds french-)
C'est comme-ça
Ma chérie
La la la la la,"

They grabbed Branch's wrist and pulled him out to the dance floor. The gray troll finally showed off his skills, dancing just in sync with the reggaeton trolls.
"Francia
Colombia
Me gusta (Freeze!)""

Branch slid on the ground, biting his lip and winked at the ladies, making the girls and flowers squeal.

"eEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeE"

The k-pop trolls all passed out from his hotness.

"Perdida automática. ¡Ganamos!" Tresillo high fived his ladies.

Branch wiped the sweat off his forehead and grinned. "I don't know what just happened, but that was fun!"

Satin and Chenille squealed and jumped out from behind a tree to hug him. "I didn't know you could dance!"

Legsly wrapped her legs around him when she joined the hug. "That was h o t!"

"Uncle Branch isn't a total loser!" Tiny rubbed his glittery heine in his face.

Branch was kind of suffocating underneath all the weight. "Need. Air."

They got off and grinned at him.

Satin scanned his face, figuring out his emotions. "You look sad, worried, and determined. What did we miss?"

Branch explained everything that happened quickly. "And now I really need to get going, otherwise Poppy could be seriously hurt."

Chenille pushed him forward. "Go save your girl!"

"Really? You're not insisting on coming along?"

Guy shook his head. "Tiny needs a nap."

Tiny glared at his father and slapped him. "I don't need no na-" He fell asleep.

Branch looked at them suspiciously. "Really? You're just letting me go?"

"Yes, dummy, get out of here." Legsly booted him a few feet away from them.

"Alright, fine." Branch laughed and resumed his rescue mission.

"We're following, right?" Satin looked at her twin.

"Obviously." Everyone murmured in agreement, evenFiny who pretended to sleep.

-

Branch walked around, cautious around the unfamiliar territory, and the lava covered city came in sight. He was still pretty far, but was coming in to his view. "Volcano Rock City... Never thought I'd be here again."

He huffed and kept walking, slowly taking his first steps into the city.

With only one foot over the border, everything felt completely different from what he was used to. A shiver ran down his spine. He got a weird headache that only lasted a few seconds.

"Ugh, what's wrong with me?" He rubbed his head.

Looking back up, ready to finally find Poppy, something caught his eye.

( I'M SORRY- THIS NEXT PART IS CRINGE- I'M JUST TRYING TO BE ORIGINAL-)

Someone started walking towards him, a female. She had thick, messy black hair. Her skin was a light gray and her eyes were glowing red. She was eyeing him.

Branch's jaw dropped, memories coming back to him. "Mom?!"

She just glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm rescuing my friend.. how are you still here?"

"Anything is possible when you put your mind to it." She spoke, sarcastically.

"But didn't you die.. I thought you fell off that cliff..."

She scoffed. "I can't die. Don't you know anything about me?"

"Then why have you stayed here? Under Barb's rule-"

"She's not the worst when you're here long enough. You'll figure that out by next week."

Branch was confused on what she meant, "What do you mean next week? I'm helping Poppy and then leaving."

His mom rolled her eyes. "That's not going to happen, I'm making sure of that."

Branch was still puzzled. "What?"

"Barb's plan. She has things planned for you and the queen of pop."

Branch still looked clueless. "What?"

"Don't you pop trolls understand anything? You and that queen are the only two things in her way. She needs to stop you. That's why every single rock troll is out looking for you and the pop string."

"Every single rock troll?" Branch took a step back from her.

"Not me, of course." She assured him.

"I don't know if I can trust you.." Branch started walking away from her, looking around for any signs of a clue to where Poppy would be.

She walked in front of him. "Just look me in the eyes, that'll prove that you can trust me."

Branch was hesitant, but he slowly turned around and looked into her eyes. "I-I trust you.."

As he stared, he felt the same sensation of weird feeling in his body as when he entered the city.

Everything suddenly began to just leave Branch's mind and new things started flooding in. He was no longer there to save Poppy, he suddenly thought he was there to hurt her. He was no longer anything like his normal self. He felt like a completely different troll.

His mother smirked, just like Barb's Grin-ch. "Now hand over the pop string." Her voice distorted a bit, now she sounded like Barb.

Branch's eyes flashed red, just like hers, and he stared at her, looking miserable. "Yes, Queen Barb." He reached into his hair and held out the pink string.

That troll Branch thought was his mom? It was just a trick Barb used with the power of the rock strings. His mom wasn't there, just Riff, but with Barb's voice.

"I want my voice to sound like this all the time." The effects were wearing off, making the female troll only look like Riff again, and his regular voice was beginning to come back.

He took the string and grabbed Branch by the wrist to bring him back to Barb.

-

Poppy was standing in a cage, feeling so bad for every mistake she made during her journey.

Barb excitedly walked in to the room, dragging her father along with her. "Queenie, I just got some good, for me, news."

Poppy looked at her feet and sighed. "I don't want to hear anything else that makes me feel like more of a failure."

Barb rolled her eyes, "Okay, boomer." She looked around the room, waiting for Riff's arrival. "Yo, little drummer boy? Where the hair is he?"

"Just keep waiting. He'll be there.." He squinted his eyes at Poppy and looked at her weirdly. "Barb, why is there a folk-mingo in the cage?"

"What? There's none-" Barb face palmed and sat her father down in a chair.

"Only a few more hours, then the strings will be destroyed, rock will rule, and you and your boyfriend will be out of my way." Barb sat on her throne and flicked a pebble at Poppy.

"What do you mean? What's going to happen to us?" Poppy dodged the pebble.

"You'll find out once Riff comes back with him. He's already experienced it."

Poppy glared at Barb. "What did you do to him?"

"Don't worry, he's not hurt- physically."

"Yeah, but he's definitely emotionally distraught. I had to drag him the whole way here." Riff leaned against Barb's throne and smiled at Poppy.

"RIFF!" Barb jumped up and hugged the drummer, not realizing that she was doing so.

Thrash narrowed his eyes at her and cleared his throat.

Barb quickly let go and looked at herself weirdly, wondering what just happened. "Uh, sorry-"

"Don't apologize!" Thrash snapped.

"Do you have the string?"

Riff blushed by her outburst of affection and scratched his neck. "Yeah," He handed her the pink string, which seemed to have lost a bit of it's glow.

Poppy wondered a bit on why Barb seemed so upbeat around Riff and began to piece some things together. "Each string has a different power.. pop must spread love."

"Where's the traitor troll?" Barb looked around for Branch.

"Getting rocked up." Riff explained, still looking at Barb, truly in love.

"Traitor?" Poppy was being nosy and wanted to know who they were talking about.

"Yeah, your boyfriend, he was born here. It wasn't his choice to leave us, but anyone who steps foot out of our territory is considered a traitor." Barb showed Poppy a picture of a pop troll and a rock troll, holding baby Branch in their arms. "Only mixed couple known in the country."

"Branch is.. a rock troll?" Poppy took the photo from her and looked at it.

Riff cleared his throat, "Technically, 51% rock, 49% pop."

"This explains.. so much.." Poppy dropped the photo on the ground and sighed. She felt even more guilty on breaking his heart.

"And now he's a full on rock troll thanks to the power of the strings." She attached the pop string to the guitar and happily watched it turn red.

"Barb, this isn't the way to solve your problems! Please-"

"I know it isn't, but I want to." Barb started turning away and reminded her of what her plan was, "I'm gonna unite the trolls under one music, OUR MUSIC!"

"Come on, dad, let's start setting up."

Thrash struggled to get hit thicc butt out of his chair.

"I have one more question," Poppy glanced up at Barb and stared at her ear, "What happened to your ear?"

Barb stopped where she was, her eyes wide and slowly shifted her eyes at her father. "Y-You don't need to know the answer to that." She crossed her arms, "Riff, you and the newbie watch her."

She pulled Thrash out of the room, stomping her feet.

Poppy sighed and sang, hoping to put her in a better mood.

"Goodbye my love, we cannot ever be
I move the mountains for you cross the seas
Not to every say..."

She wiped some tears from her eyes and hugged the bars.

"Goodbye, to all of us
Goodbye, dreams turned to dust
Goodbye, my love, my friend
Could this really be the end?

Goodbye.."

Riff grinned and hopped up, trying to join the song, "GOODBYEEEE!"

Poppy jumped up in surprise. "That song wasn't a rock song?"

"So?" Riff shrugged and hung off the back of a chair.

A head poked out from a corner, looking pretty frustrated. "Riff! Ignore the queen. She'll just spread her dumb optimism to you." He tossed a drumstick at him.

Riff groaned, "I want some optimism. Beats all the negativity around here."

Poppy looked at the face and gasped loudly. "Branch!"

Branch looked over at her, looking bored.

His eyes were still glowing red, his hair was a little messy, a skull tattoo covered his chest, he was shirtless, his shorts were replaced with gray sweatpants. He was clearly a rock troll.

"What do you want?"

"Branch, please come back to me! This isn't you!" She reached through the bars for him, obviously not touching anywhere near him.

"Well, uh- actually-" Riff sat up.

"Why? So I can plan another proposal just for you to break my heart again?" Branch pushed her arm back inside the cage.

"Um- she won't be-" Riff tried to step in again.

"No! I didn't mean to reject you! I would love to marry you!"

Riff bit his lip. "But you can't-"

"Yeah, right," Branch scoffed.

Poppy used her hair to pull him back close to her, "Branch, you're the most amazing part of my life. You always find a way to turn my frown upside down, even if you caused the frown. You've always been right by my side, willing to protect me at all costs. If I didn't have you in life, I could be dead right now. I want to marry you. I love you more than anything else on this planet."

"Aww..." Riff watched the scene, being a hardcore shipper.

Branch stared at her for several seconds. He thought about it for a few seconds, then pulled her hair off of him and turned away from her. "No, you don't."

Poppy felt the same heartbreak he felt when she rejected him. It really hurt. "B-But I do love you.."

OKAY- SO I WAS WRITING THIS CHAPTER WHEN THIS SONG CAME ON THE RADIO- AND I WAS LIKE "holy cow- this song could set up the rest of the book in thirty seconds-" SO DON'T KILL ME- I don't feel like researching a better one

Branch rolled his eyes and tapped his foot on the ground, and even with his rock side being embraced, there was a very small amount of pop left him, thus making him sing a pop-rock song. "You just want attention, you don't want my heart
Maybe you just hate the thought of me with someone new
Yeah, you just want attention, I knew from the start
You're just making sure I'm never gettin' over you,"

Riff watched, slightly amazed by the genre, "He's singing pop and rock at the same time."

"Branch, that's not true!" Poppy cried.

"You've been runnin' round, runnin' round, runnin' round throwing that dirt all on my name
'Cause you knew that I, knew that I, knew that I'd call you up
Baby, now that we're, now that we're, now that we're right here standing face-to-face
You already know, already know, already know that you won, oh," Branch continued.

"Branch-"

"I know that dress is karma, perfume regret
You got me thinking 'bout when you were mine, oh
And now I'm all up on ya, what you expect?
But you're not going home tonight,"

"Technically no one in the country is going home tonight," Riff tried to be obvious again, "Since Barb's going to have everyone here and there's absolutely no way to stop her unless all the tribes-" He gasped and quickly hopped out of the room. He had an idea.

"Branch, please listen to me! I know I've been kind of insensitive throughout the journey and acted kind of selfish. I've been so stressed and worried I was going to fail, I completely ignored your feelings, and because of that I shouted out my answer before I heard the question. I really am sorry! Please forgive me!" She fell to her knees, pleading for the Branch she knows and loves to return.

Branch rolled his eyes and sat at a drum set, spinning the sticks in his hands.

"What are you doing?"

"This," Branch smirked and banged on the drums- sending out a similar blast of energy that Barb can do with her guitar, striking Poppy in the forehead, knocking her unconscious.

I'M SORRY THIS WAS BAD- I'M JUST TRYING TO BE CREATIVE-