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Chapter Text

It was pretty common knowledge that Chaz had found a pop troll to be his partner in the bounty hunting business. It was less common knowledge that at that point Chaz found the pop troll, he was grey and had been living in the forest on his own and had stumbled into a turf war between the yodel trolls and the smooth jazz troll.

As usual the yodel trolls Hickory and Dickory were fighting Chaz for a small piece of uninhabited land that borders both of their territories. Neither trolls needed the land but that was besides the point.

The three trolls were almost past the talking stage (insulting each other until someone snapped) when they heard someone that wasn’t them speak.

“Shit… have I just walked in on a fight?” Someone mumbled.

The grey troll seemed to realise that they heard him and waved at them sheepishly, “Hi, sorry for interrupting your turf war.” He apologised, the troll pushed his goggles back into place on his head. “Aaw, don’t worry about it baby~” Chaz purred as he took in the trolls' stocky build, “What’s your name doll?” He asked as he floated leisurely.

“Leave ‘I’m alone Chaz!” Hickory shouted at the red-haired troll, knowing first hand what the smooth jazz troll was capable of, Chaz ignored the yodel troll and stopped floating a short ways from the grey troll who shifted uncomfortably at the first amount of close proximity he’d had with anyone in years.

“Uhm, you guys seem busy so-” The troll gestured to the area behind Chaz that he’d just emerged from. The smooth jazz troll pouted as he dragged a hand down the grey trolls chest, “you’re leaving already?” The red haired troll spoke in that tone that made grown ass trolls crumble. 

The grey troll chuckled nervously as he started backing up towards the yodel trolls who were glaring at Chaz with the fury of a thousand trolls. The smooth jazz rolled over so that he was on his back and batted his eyes, “We don’t even know your name yet baby…”

The poor troll backed up even further and bumped into Hickory.

“Sorry!” The grey troll apologised, clearly flustered and confused as to what the actual fuck was happening at the moment. Hickory huffed, “It’s alright darnlin’, s’not your fault.” The grey troll stepped to the side and gave a full body shudder to pull himself together, “So since you-uh” He gestured to Chaz, “Seem to want to know my name for some reason and I don’t think you’ll leave me alone until I tell you…” The grey troll trailed off, “Anyway! Uhm, my names John Dory- yes like the fish. What about you three?” The grey troll- John Dory looked at the three trolls expectantly.

Chaz flipped himself back over, “Well sugar, my name's Chaz.” The smooth Jazz spoke with a lazy grin adorning his face. “Am Hickory and this is my older brother Dickory.” The yodel troll introduced himself and his brother.

“And personally? I really think we should leave. Like now.”

John nodded, “Fair enough, I was gonna leave anyway.” The grey troll shrugged and turned to Chaz, “Great, So can I go now ooooooorrr?” The pop troll stood awkwardly.

Chaz tapped his chin with a predatory grin, “Hmmmmmmm, No.” 

“Great!-” John blinked, “Wait did you just say no?”

The grey troll heard Hickory curse as Chaz grinned, “Yes, yes I did.”

Suddenly there was this sparkling red mist everywhere and no one could see more than a foot in front of them.

“What the fuck?!” John shouted as he backed up, coughing as he tried to dissipate some of the mist by waving his arm in front of him.

Dickory was spouting every curse he knew between his own coughs while his younger brother attempted to locate the grey troll so they could get out of Chaz’s mist together before he decided to kidnap them again, “DORY!” He shouted between his own coughs, “WHERE YOU AT?!”

“Yeah?!” Hickory sagged in relief when he saw the grey troll emerge from the red mist, “You alright?” The pale green troll asked, “As much as I can be?” John replied, “What’s happening? And where's that music coming from?” Hickory’s eyes widened in panic, he grabbed Johns shoulders harshly, “Dory, what music?” John blushed a little at the use of a nickname, he didn’t really get those, he was usually the one giving other trolls a deck of them. “Dunno, it sounds like it’s being played by like, a sax or something?” John coughed, "Where's Chaz anyway? I swear if he's the one playing I’m gonna stab him with my machete.”

Hickory blinked as his brother started laughing his head off, “Aye he’s a keeper that one!” Dickory wheezed before being cut off by having to metaphorically cough his own lungs up.

Hickory rolled his eyes exasperatedly, ‘Really? There’s better times for shit like this Dee!’ The pale-green troll shook his head in disappointment before grabbing John by the hand and pulling him through the mist.

“We need to leave now!”

Dickory jumped up “Jep! Ich will nicht warten, bis Chaz dich wieder entführt.” He spoke bitterly. John blinked, “ I don’t understand a word you just said man.” Dickory turned to face him as they continued to move forward, “And hopefully you never will, Weil mein Bruder dich erst vor etwa zehn Minuten kennengelernt hat und jetzt total in dich verknallt ist.” Hickory glared at his brother, “Halt jetzt bitte die Klappe?! Das muss er nicht wissen!” He hissed.

“Okay I think it’s great that you two have your own secret language, but I feel like you guys are talking about me and I don’t entirely know what's being said?” The grey troll spoke nervously.

Hickory sighed, before Dickory cut him off, “Don’t worry pop troll! Hickory will teach you!” 

John blinked , “Aaww you will? Thats really nice of you- ACK!”

The grey troll yelped as he was yanked back by a hand on his shoulder.

“DORY!” Hickory looked like he was about to jump Chaz, he probably was, but was stopped by the soft sound of a saxophone being played. Lulling the three trolls into a trance.

Chaz chuckled as he grasped John Dory by the shoulders and spun him around gently, “Why don’t you relax for a bit baby? You must be so tired after spending all of these years by yourself…” He purred, the grey troll intrigued him. Any other troll would’ve been out cold awhile ago.

Two thumps sounded from behind the smooth jazz troll making him smirk, he’d come back for Hickory at a later date, his brother could never keep him away for long.

John groaned as he slumped forwards, his limbs felt heavy, his mind felt foggy, his senses were dulled and he suddenly wanted to do nothing more than sleep. Which should have been a red flag, but he couldn’t exactly think straight at the moment.

Chaz caught JD as he fell with a fond laugh, “There you go doll,” He cooed, “You sleep and I’ll keep you nice and safe baby.” The red haired troll felt John nod as he finally passed out, now leaning entirely on Chaz with his head resting on the other trolls chest. “Aaaaww, aren’t you adorable?” Chaz chuckled as he picked the grey troll up in a princess carry. “Hm, gonna have to put some more food in you darling.” He remarked as he started to float away from where the yodel brothers lay on the ground, Hickory looked especially dashing laying on the ground, all nice and vulnerable. But the younger yodel troll would have to wait his turn.

Chapter Text

It was nightfall when the pretty grey troll started to wake up.

Which was just in time in Chaz’ opinion as the food was almost done, not that the troll would be able to feed himself with all of those ropes tying him up oh so prettily.

There were a lot of things that Chaz wanted to do right now, but he’d keep those fantasies to himself for now.

John groaned as he opened his eyes, he felt lighter than he did before, his head felt less foggy and his senses were slowly returning to normal, “Mmhm, where am I?” He whispered groggilly as he looked around at the woodland he suddenly found himself in. Last he remembered he was in the desert, so he’d been moved without his permission and it wasn’t Rhonda who moved him, as there was a lack of happy licking and glitter in his hair. 

Also the lack of movement he could achieve was another thing.

“You awake baby?” A smooth voice asked calmly from his right.

“I’m awake, but I am not happy right now” John snarked at his kidnapper, he had no clue what the other troll wanted with him but he doubts that it’s a tea party. The red haired troll chuckled, “I could probably fix that for you, you know?” JD blinked at him, ‘What on earth is he talking about?’ Chaz muffled a laugh at the confused look on the pop troll's face, it was just so cute! 

The smooth jazz troll floated over to his captive and gently stroked John's face and through his greeny-black hair, “This.” Chaz spoke softly, “I can fix your greyness sugar.” Chaz decided that he’d let his darling think the idea over, “But in the meantime, let’s get some food in you my dear! You are way too light.” The red head scolded.

John stared at Chaz like he was an idiot, “I can’t exactly feed myself right now.” He deadpanned with a roll of his eyes.

“I know.” The periwinkle skinned troll chirped, “That’s why I’m doing it.” He spoke as if it were completely normal to hold another troll captive for no reason and feed them because you made it so that they couldn’t feed themselves. “No the fuck you are not, if you fucking try I will be eating your hand for dinner.”

Chaz blinked, not really expecting to be threatened by the troll he’d kidnapped. 

In all honesty it just made John all the more appealing to him.

“Aaww, you can try sweetheart.” He chided. John glared at him, a feeling of embarrassment and rage pooling in his stomach.

And suddenly he relaxed, an idea forming in his mind.

He still had his machete in his hair. The idiot hadn’t thought to check if his captive was armed.

While John’s hair wasn’t long enough to use to strangle the other troll, it was long enough to use to cut his ropes via machete.

So that’s what he did, the grey troll slowly cut through his bindings as Chaz finished pouring a bowl of food. He couldn’t run away immediately after cutting his binding, no. That would just get him caught again, he’d have to wait until Chaz came over.

It didn’t take long really, the taller troll sashayed his way over like everyone who came across his path must bend over backwards and kiss his feet making John scoff. He really hoped this isn’t how he came across back during the band days when he tried to be confident for his little brothers.

The grey troll threw his arm out and slashed at Chaz with his machete, he didn’t stick around to see if he’d hit the other troll before sprinting into the forest trying to put as much distance between himself and the smooth jazz troll as he could.

Judging by the agonising screech the other troll let out, he’d hit his mark.

John breathed heavily as he slowly came to a stop in a clearing, he didn’t recognise where he was but Rhonda probably wasn’t far behind at this point.

And she probably wasn’t a very happy critter.

The grey trolls chest heaved as he leant against a tree, mind wandering back to what Chaz had said earlier. 

There was no way he could actually bring his colours back, he’d been grey for four years at this point. Unless the smooth jazz troll had a way to bring back the dead, there was no way he was ever going to get his colours back. His little brothers, his babies… were gone. And it was all his fault. He’d left them behind at the tree, believing that they’d be better off without him. And maybe they had been! Not that he’d ever get to find out though. 

John dory had gone back to the troll tree a year after hiking through the neverglades, wanting nothing more than to see his little brothers, and sleep in a proper bed for once. Rhonda wasn’t big enough to live in yet and he wanted her to grow up properly before living in her. But when he’d finally made it back to the tree? It was barren, dead and most importantly. Empty. Not a single troll remained alive at the tree. John knew because he spent hours searching all over the tree for even the tiniest of signs that his brothers were alive. He found the letters that Branch had wrote to him, he’d screamed and cried. Uncaring for whether a bergen heard him or not. Once he’d calmed down he left to check if any of the dead trolls were his brothers. He gave them all a proper burial, he cried because he recognised most of them. But that didn’t matter now. They were dead. His Grandma was dead. His brothers were dead.

And it was all his fault.

John snarled as he hiccuped and wiped away his tears, he didn’t deserve to cry. Not over something he could’ve prevented if he’d just sucked it up and stayed. But he didn’t. He had to be selfish, and now his babies were dead.

John was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps towards his location.

The grey troll recognised the distinct thud that could only be an armadillo bus heading his way and braced himself.

It was a good thing too because Rhonda came launching out of the bushes and immediately covered him in as much glitter and slobber as she could. “Rhonda!” John laughed as she licked him again, “I know girl! I know! I’m sorry!” The grey troll sighed happily as Rhonda stepped back to let him pull himself up with a little warble.

“Well isn’t that just adorable?” A smug voice cooed from behind the happy pair.

John flinched and whipped around with a warning growl, Rhonda growled and positioned herself to shield her troll friend from the one upsetting him.

“What do you want Chaz?!” the grey troll spat, “I haven’t done anything to you and I have nothing to give you so please kindly fudge off!” The red haired troll chuckled cynically, John noticed that some of his side-burn moustache thing was missing on his left side and that he was bleeding a little. 

“That’s the thing sweetheart-” John shivered in disgust at the pet name, “-You do have something I want.” The smooth jazz troll leant against a flower sten and checked for dirt beneath his claws. The grey troll scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Oh yeah? Like what?”

Chaz grinned and laughed haughtily, “You.”

John blinked in bewilderment as he attempted to process that piece of information, “What.”

The red haired troll shrugged carelessly, “You intrigue me darling, you and Hickory both do.” John physically recoiled at the mention of the yodel troll, at least he wasn’t the only one in this situation?

Chaz shivered as he imagined what he would do once he had both beautiful trolls under his control. Hickory was a feisty troll, and he was not a quiet troll in bed. The yodel trolls accent, the real one, the exotic one, not the one he put on for show, did things to Chaz that he’d only admit when in bed. And the way he squirmed when he was unsure, he was perfect. And Chaz could only imagine what the pop troll was like in bed, he’d probably be similar to Hickory, both were feisty trolls that broke under the slightest of touch that wasn’t ‘harmful’ to them. And the image of them together, at his mercy? Was perfect.

He would just have to acquire both trolls first.

Starting with fishy.

John Dory was staring at the smooth jazz troll like he was insane, which was fair but h e wouldn’t be doing that for long.

The rich and smooth notes echoed out across the clearing, the pop troll cured loudly in panic and slammed his paws over his ears while his companion warbled uncomfortably and tried to bury her face into her side.

Surprisingly the critter was the first to fall, a tired and panicked sound escaping her as she fell. “RHONDA!” John cried out as he ripped his paws off of his ears and ran over to check on the fallen critter. Chaz cooed mentally at the troll, he really was too cute. And he cared so much for that critter!

It was then that Chaz decided to try out a new melody, it had a different purpose and was slightly more intense that he was used to playing, but its effects were worth it. 

The red haired troll watched with rapt attention as the pop troll abruptly stopped what he was doing as his eyes were engulfed in a reddish-pink glow. Chaz stopped playing his melody as John's limbs started to glow at the ends, a light blue and red light travelling up his arms and quickly engulfing the rest of his body in colour. Although it seemed to be wrong in just the little way that the pop troll now had a red tinge to his features, aside from his eyes that were completely overtaken by that reddish pink.

“Are you alright baby?” He questioned as he floated closer. 

The smooth jazz troll chuckled as John stared at him blankly, he had done it.

HE ACTUALLY DID IT!!!!!

Chaz breathed heavily and reached out to stroke John's face, a warm feeling bubbling in his chest as his Dory leaned into his hand instead of fighting him.

Muses, sure he’d spoken to Hickory about the possibility of this happening back when they were together, before his brother whisked the younger troll away and filled his pretty little head with lies. But now that he knows he can do it?

He might just get the chance to keep Hickory with him forever.

And there was nothing the beautiful yodelling troll could do about it.

Chapter Text

The next time that Chaz came across the yodelling brothers was completely accidental.

The smooth jazz troll had brought his Johnny out on his second bounty, the duo had done their first bounty together two weeks prior, and it's safe to say that seeing the pop troll splattered with another trolls blood was so much hotter than Chaz had thought it was going to be. And one thing led to another and Chaz has only just about begun being able to walk properly again.

The smooth jazz troll had just finished knocking their target out and had John Dory tie the troll up when he was suddenly tackled by a very angry yodel troll.

“What the-?!” Chaz shrieked as he fell to the ground, Dickory was essentially trying to rip his face off when he was yanked roughly off of the frazzled red head by a dull teal paw.

Dickory immediately went to start cussing at the troll that dared to stop him from ripping that annoying smooth jazz bastard to shreds when he froze.

Blank reddish-pink eyes stared back at him blankly, not a single emotion present on the trolls face. The only reason Dickory recognised the troll at all was because of those neon green goggles that the troll wore.

The yodel troll felt an unexplainable rage bubble up inside him, what the actual fuck had Chaz done to the grey troll?! He whipped around as best as he could within the now-not-so-grey-trolls grip and pointed an accusatory finger at Chaz aggressively, “YOU! You kleiner Wichser! Was hast du ihm angetan?!” Hickory walked over, glaring at Chaz as he approached the three. The frazzled smooth Jazz troll laughed, “I fixed him Hick! He was holding onto so much pain and suffering from his past! So I helped him let it go! IT worked love!”

Hickory stared at Chaz in horror, “Please tell me ya’ didn’t.” He whispered hoarsely, shaking his head as he turned around to look John over frantically, “No, nononono nein!” He whispered as he took John's face in his paws, staring into those lifeless pink eyes. “Shit!”

Hickory whipped back around, “What the hell is wrong with ya’?!” He shouted angrily, “Chaz there is absolutely no fuckin’ way Dory actually agreed to this!” Dickory looked back and forth at the two. “Agreed to what?” 

Surprisingly it was Chaz who answered the older brothers question, “Well a few years ago me and Hick were talking and the topic of grey trolls came up, and he mentioned something about a certain melody that would allow one troll control of the other and that when it was performed to a grey troll, they regained their colours!” The brothers decided that Chaz had lost his mind, “Of course it was an old practice, but who cares!”

Hickory glared at the red-head, “You’re missing out a few key details there Chaz! One thing is tha’ it’s absolute torture for the grey troll as it forces colour onto them, two, it was used back in the old days back when all of the tribes were together as a form of TORTURE, repetitively removing and forcing clours onto trolls. And third, when we found the song, IT WAS UNFINISHED!!” The yodel troll screamed at the red head.

Chaz scoffed, “Oh please it can’t be that bad for him.” The smooth jazz troll turned to face JD with a smirk, honestly Hickory looked so cute when he got all worked up like that, “Johnny baby?” The green haired troll turned his head slightly in recognition, “Show these two gentlemen the door please? We’ve still got work to do sweetcheeks.” The red head watched as his command registered in John’s mind, “Yes boss.” He rasped. Ever since Chaz had more or less taken control of his mind and sent the original John Dory into a long sleep in a forgotten corner of his mind, something happened to his voice, John couldn’t use it properly anymore. It hurt too much so he just didn’t unless he felt like he should. Which wasn’t often due to the whole, practically being mind controlled thing.

And that’s how pretty much every interaction with the yodelling brothers went over the next seventeen years, they’d run into each other, fight, Chaz would try to get Hickory on his side, sometimes he’d have John restrain him. Sometimes Chaz would manage to just knock Dickory out and he’d have some fun with Hickory and John. Not that Hickory seemed to enjoy it all that much, but he did. And John would get a little reward afterwards, Chaz wouldn’t let him touch Hickory like that yet, he wanted to have the younger yodel troll completely under his control before he watched his dears have fun like that.

Around fifteen years into their partnership, the two of them came across another grey troll, his skin was slightly tinged purple and his hair had a beautiful ombre that looked to be grey into a lighter grey but was tinged blue at the bottom and a light green at the top. He was also covered in plenty of scars from his time living alone in the wilderness, two on his chest stood out quite a lot, they looked similar to the ones John had. Those and the massive burn scars that covered the left side of his body and caused the poor troll to have severe tremors due to the nerve damage caused by whatever fire he was caught in.

The young troll answered all of their questions reluctantly, his name was Creek and he was out on his own in the wilderness because he’d attempted to feed the entirety of his village to the troll eating happiness addicted bergens to save himself. When he was asked why he did that by a slightly grossed out but extremely interested Chaz who’d noticed the way John flinched at the mention of these ‘bergens’, the young grey troll shut down and started to have a panic attack. Of course Chaz helped the poor dear through it, by playing some calming music on his sax to ground the poor dear. (And if it was the same tune but less intense than the one he’d played to give John Dory his colours back? Well Creek didn’t need to know about the way his eyes had changed from their purple-blue colour to a reddish-pink.)

Chaz was pretty sure that his dear was going to kill someone, or several someones after hearing Creek's explanation as to why he did what he did. Sure it wasn’t entirely justifiable, but it made what he did make a lot more sense than it did before.

And despite the fact that the dull teal troll doesn’t have a whole lot of self control, John still pulled his old BroZone goggles out of his hair and placed them onto Creek’s head and gave the younger troll a hug as he cried. Chaz knew that his darling would be able to connect to the kid on a deeper level with the whole abandonment and leaving everybody you love for dead thing.

So technically Chaz had a son now. And he wore his darlings old goggles all of the time, it made the two of them match and the red-haired troll found that adorable.

The pink in Creek’s eyes didn’t develop to the point of completely consuming the younger trolls eyes or mind, the purple-grey troll could still make proper decisions for himself and seemed to only feel compelled to follow through on Chaz’ commands instead of being forced to complete them no matter what like John Dory. He followed through with them anyway because there really was no point in not doing so and he didn’t want to disappoint the only two trolls who could tolerate him right now. (Creek doesn’t know that John’s being mind controlled, he just thinks John was born the way he is and Chaz has no intentions of correcting him)

The trio had stopped in the Lonesome Flatts for a few nights to wind down after another successful bounty hunt when Creek pointed out that one of the country trolls was glaring at them. Well Chaz specifically.

The older blue troll looked over to see who it was and smirked, he was going to have some fun with this.

“That’s Hickory sweetheart.” The smooth jazz troll spoke gently, grabbing Creek by the face to keep his eyes on Chaz and Chaz alone. John shifted so that he was standing behind Creek, half-shielding him from the yodel trolls line of sight. But only enough so that he could still see the way Chaz knelt down. “We can’t trust him my dear…” Creek tilted his head curiously. “Why not?” The younger troll looks back at Hickory who give him a little smile and wave. Chaz gripped the younger trolls face and forced him to look at the red-head again, ignoring the way Creek winced as Chaz’ claws dug into his face. “Do you trust me baby?” The purple-grey troll nodded, “Just stay away from him please. I don’t want you to get hurt.” Chaz spoke with a soft smile, he knew that Creek would understand what he was hinting at considering that he’d been through something similar.

John Dory seemed to notice something at a nearby stall and walked off to go get it as Chaz wiped Creeks face to get rid of the tears that had begun to spill out of his eyes. “Now where’s he goin’?” Creek laughed wetly, the older troll had a habit of walking off one he spotted something that caught his eye.

“No clue plum, why don't you go and catch up with him and keep an eye on him for me dear?” The red-haired troll smirked as the kid took the bait and took off after his not-dad.

“He seems like a nice kid…” A lovely deep voice spoke nervously from behind Chaz. The smooth jazz troll hummed, “He is, Johnny still has a habit of picking up strays, and I dare say I’ve also grown a little attached to him.” He sighed almost dramatically, Chaz hadn’t originally intended for the addition of another troll besides Hickory to his little family nor had he planned for it. This entire thing was improvised, because Chaz hadn’t even considered the possibility of having a troll fill out the position of ‘the baby’ in their family. But when Creek stumbled out of that desert shrubbery in the same way that John had all those years ago? 

Chaz wasn’t going to let him go. 

And it was just a bonus that the kid was into the same things as the both of them, and he was pretty good at the whole survivalist bounty hunter thing.

Chaz noted the way that Hickory seemed to relax just a little bit upon hearing that Creek wasn’t biologically Chaz’ kid. He was so easy to read sometimes.

“I best get going then, gotta make sure that my darlings haven’t gotten lost.” The smooth jazz troll smirked as he grabbed Hickory and pulled him close by the collar of his shirt, “Don’t think that I’ve forgotten about you honey~” He whispered into the yodel trolls ear and gave him a little kiss on his neck, “See you later Hick!” He called as he walked away, basking in the way that Hickory looked so close to tears. Honestly, could he get any more appealing?

Chaz spotted the other two thirds of his family by a stall selling weapons and saw that his son was now wearing a matching fluffy leather jacket to the one his other dad wore. Those two shared a brain cell sometimes he swears.

“Love?” Chaz spoke as he stopped a short ways from his dears, stopping John in his tracks of handing their son a dagger. John Dory’s empty eyes and blank face turned to face him, somehow Creek was able to understand what the dull teal troll wanted and what he was feeling despite the lack of emotion displayed on his face and in his eyes.

“What are you doing?” The smooth jazz troll rested a hand on his hip and looked at the two expectantly, he knew that he wasn’t going to be receiving a verbal answer from Johnny so it wasn’t unexpected when Creek spoke up instead, “Dory wanted to help me pick out my first official weapon,” He shrugged as he twirled the dagger around in his hands, “Since I technically don’t have one of my own despite your hand-me-downs.” Chaz smiled a little, “And the jacket?” The red-haired troll chuckled as Creek's face grew a few shades darker, “Dory saw it and it reminded him of his own so he bought it. You know I can’t say no to him!”

Chaz did know, the two of them got into so much trouble together that it was honestly impressive more than anything. You’d think that Creek would be the voice of reason between the two with being guru beforehand, but no. He was just as bad, if not a worse chaos gremlin than the teal troll.

“Alright then! I’m guessing by the way that you keep glancing at that machete that that’s the one you want right?” Chaz laughed as Creek grumbled in agreement.

“Oh shut up! I don’t know what you’re so happy about mate!” John’s face was completely blank, then again Creek was better at reading a trolls true feelings than even Chaz was himself.

So that’s how Creek ended up with his first machete. Which allowed the purple-grey troll to play a more useful role in their bounty hunts. Creek would get the targets attention by pretending that his old ‘father’ had wandered off while he was busy looking at a stall or in a shop and that he couldn’t find him. And the target would help Creek ‘look for his father’. Which usually just meant that Creek would bring them to the designated area that they’d agreed upon. Or Creek would seduce the target. It depended on the situation. Chaz was very proud of Creek the first time he did that, John was less so but it got the job done so he couldn’t protest. 

Although the dull-teal troll was always more violent with the trolls that Creek seduced when it came time to end them.

Chapter Text

Over the course of their two years together Chaz had decided that he didn’t have enough control over Creek and his actions, and decided to increase the amount of ‘control’ he had over the younger troll. It still wasn’t to the same extent as John Dory, but it was pretty close. Which meant that the grey-ish purple troll was stuck in a state of ‘half-colour’ which was incredibly painful and had long-lasting effects on a troll’s mind, while also being excruciatingly painful over long periods of time. While not as painful as having all of your colours forced on you all at once, it was a constant state of pain that only got worse with time. So it was pretty godsdamn close. 

Not that Chaz cared, the two of them were physically unable to express their pain after all, he’d caught Creek quite literally sobbing out of the sheer pain amount of pain he was in, and had commanded him to stop and that he could never show how much pain he was really in in his presence ever again. It was unattractive and quite frankly disgusting to look at.

So everything was all fine and dandy in his book.

Today was a little different for the trio, Chaz had received a formal looking letter from the newly crowned ‘Queen of Rock’ stating that he was to show up at Volcano Rock city tomorrow with a little hand-written note at the bottom asking (More like demanding) that he bring his two Pop troll companions with him.

So that’s what he did. He was going to bring them along anyway just to show off, but now the Smooth Jazz troll wanted to know what the Queen of Rock wanted with his darlings. 

Chaz was currently stood in what appeared to be a brimstone throneroom with lava pools and was lined with rock trolls, and he was checking for damage or dirt beneath his claws.

The other bounty hunters, the K-pop trolls and the reggaeton trolls kept glancing at the red-haired troll and his dears warily. Last they heard it was just Chaz and the grey-teal Pop troll, so it was news to see that the two of them had an even younger Pop troll with them.

“Hey Chaz?” Wani- the leader of the K-pop trolls spoke up, “When did you and the Pop baby have a kid?” The sparkly troll gestured vaguely at Creek. The Smooth Jazz troll chuckled as Creek spoke up, his voice raspy as if he hadn’t had water in awhile, “I’m not biologically their kid miss, I don’t think I’m their kid at all actually… they both just kinda tolerate me.” He whispered almost sadly.

The other bounty hunters glared at Chaz, “Well, if Chaz won’t take ya’, we will!” Tambora declared confidently, “Yeah, you’d fit right in!” Marimba cheered as her husband nodded along. (Yes I headcannon that the three reggaeton trolls are married to each other) 

“UH, no you won’t Tracy!” This little munchkin,” Wani grabbed the young troll by his arms and pulled him back, ignoring the way he yelped as he was surrounded by Ari, Baby Bun, Kim-Petit and Gomdori, “Is ours!”

The two groups bickered back and forth, causing Creek to get more and more uncomfortable and confused.

But just as their bickering was about to turn into an all out brawl the two groups of bounty hunters were stopped by a loud and vicious warning growl that made them all freeze.

John Dory was storming towards the K-pop trolls, face blank but you could tell that he was pissed. 

The K-pop trolls yelped and Baby Bun pulled the greyish-purple troll behind her. John bared his teeth at Wani, and his tail was lashing angrily behind him, the teal troll looked like he was going to rip the K-pop trolls throat out if she made even one wrong move.

Which luckily she didn’t get the chance too as Creek managed to escape Baby Bun and position himself in front of Wani, and since this is Creek of course he needed to add some dramatic flair to this and stood in front of the K-pop troll with his arms crossed. (Honestly I just headcanon Creek to be a sassy little shit) John stared at him for a moment before the younger troll seemed to relax and lean forwards to gently grab the older troll's face. “I’m sorry mate, I’m fine see?” he rasped while he leaned their foreheads together, making their goggles bump into one another and pushing Creeks onto his face.

It didn’t take long for John to calm down enough to recognise trolls properly or to use his good arm to scoop the dual-haired troll onto his shoulder before growling at the bounty hunters again and stomping his way back over to Chaz. Where the older troll refused to set him down much to Creeks chagrin.

“Dory on the other hand is quite attached to the little fella I’m afraid.” Chaz shrugged as if he couldn’t have prevented  the entire ordeal, “Dare I say that he views him as something worth protecting.” The other bounty hunters didn’t have time to dwell on the way Chaz’ wording rubbed them all the wrong way because the sound of someone clapping rang out across the throne room.

Walking towards the group was a greyish red troll with a fiery red mohawk, pink eyes and some kind of electric guitar strapped to her back that seemed to be glowing slightly, “THAT was awesome Wildman!” She grinned as she crossed her arms, “Especially for a Pop troll man, musn’t like anyone touching that guy huh?” John lifted his prosthetic up to shield Creek from the Rock Queens gaze with a low growl. (I promise that the prosthetic will be explained)

Barb laughed and held her paws up in surrender, “Woah! Calm down there Wildman! I’m not tryna take ‘im off ya.”

The young Queen turned away from the two Pop trolls, the way that they stared at her with no emotion present on their faces was starting to freak her out, sure the taller one growled at her but that was all the emotion he showed. The smaller one just stared at her blankly. And that freaked her out more than she cared to admit.

“Alright! Let’s get down to business shall we?” Barb smirked as she twirled around and plopped herself down in her throne, “I need you lot,” The red-head gestured at the bounty hunters, “to bring me the Queen of Pop AND the Pop string.” The young Queen spoke simply, “Alive preferably.” She added as an afterthought.

The bounty hunters shifted and glanced at each other uncomfortably, no one had seen a Pop troll (besides John Dory and Creek) In over two hundred years. And there was something wring with the two in the room with them currently.

“And what would we get if we did do that?” A hoarse voice asked, all heads turned to the dual-haired troll who looked unbothered by the sudden attention, “What? It’s a big ask for a bounty so I’m more than a little interested in what the reward will be.” The young troll whispered as he hopped down from John Dory’s shoulder despite the older trolls protests.

The other bounty hunters nodded, “Yeah! Look we’re not exactly opposed to the idea-” Wani started but was cut off by a sharp bark of laughter. (Poor girl can’t catch a break can she?)

Barb wiped an imaginary tear from her eye as she calmed down and pointed at Creek, “OH I like you!” She grinned wickedly. There was a moment of silence before the young Queen spoke again, “Whoever brings me the Queen of Pop and the Pop string…” The red-head started as she strode forwards slowly, “Get’s a lovely little island to themselves where they can sing their little fuckin’ hearts out to whatever drivel they slap some lyrics over and call music! And the losers…” Barb paused a short ways from the group and rocked back on her heels happily… a little too happily, “The losers get join all the other losers in losing their music and being united under the nation of Rock!”

The bounty hunters blinked as they processed what they had all just heard.

“WHAT?!”

“Yep!” Barb spoke sweetly, “Oh, and I’m keeping those two.” The Queen pointed at the Pop trolls. “Wha-?! Why?!” Chaz sputtered angrily, he’d worked his ass off to keep those two under his control and now this snobbish little Queen thought that she could take them away from him?!

“Because I’m gonna use them as an example of what’s gonna happen to all of the other trolls, duh?” Chaz was practically vibrating with how angry he was, “Also ‘cause you have a habit of bailing on your bounties at the last minute so their the fallback clause.” She shrugged. It was also because something was telling her to get the two Pop trolls as far away from the Smooth Jazz troll as possible, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. “Man you have no choice here, either take the bounty and get your Pop trolls back, or I take you prisoner and the next time you see them you’ll all be Rock zombies and unable to recognise each other.” Barb spoke casually, she didn’t really care if Chaz chose to take the bounty or not because it was more or less common sense that the older teal Pop troll was the only reason why Chaz had been able to actually cash in any bounties, the smaller purple one just made it even easier for him.

“FINE!! You can have them for now!” The red-head snapped causing Barb to grin, “Great! You all better get going ‘cause the yodelers left before any of you even arrived!” The Queen of Rock giggled as the bounty hunters scrambled out of her throne room like mice. Leaving her and the two Pop trolls alone.

“C’mon Wildman, let’s get moving!” She called as she began to head towards the same door the bounty hunters had just left through, “And don’t forget your little buddy!”

The two Pop trolls followed her silently, both wondering where the young Queen was taking them.

Chapter Text

Creek didn’t know where the Queen of Rock was leading them too but every area that the three passed through only seemed to get bigger and bigger, he honestly wondered how the hell all of these rooms fit into the space, but then again they were inside of a volcano at the moment.

As Barb led the two into a new room the smaller Pop troll heard John growl quietly as he noticed something that Creek didn’t, the dull teal troll seemed to be just as, if not more nervous than Creek himself. Although you wouldn’t be able to tell if you looked at his face.

Barb grinned as she spun around lazily once she reached the middle of the cavernous room, Creek only just now noticing that the ceiling of said room was adorned with a multitude of cages.

The young Queen turned back around to face them and waved her paw flippantly when John snarled at her, “Calm down goggles, I’m not putting you or small goggles into one of these things.” Barb’s shoulders slumped as John backed off.

A cage dropped down from the ceiling in front of the red-head, “Trollex!” She greeted with a sharp grin as the dark blue techno troll glared at her, “What do you want?! Is our suffering not enough for you?!” the King snapped nervously, he was less concerned for his own wellbeing and more so for his subjects, for many of them this was their first time above water for an extended period of time.

The Queen of Rock’s grin could almost be described as animalistic, “Nope! I’m here ‘cause I want to show y’all something.” Another cage dropped down beside the techno trolls, “So nice of you to finally join us, your majesty!” Barb drawled as the Classical King's wings fluttered angrily behind him, “Well it’s not exactly like I requested to be here!” He snapped her.

Barb chuckled as she stepped to the side, amusement bubbling up inside her as she watched the two Kings expressions shift from absolutely pissed off to horrified in two seconds flat. The red-head smirked as she draped herself over the two Pop trolls' shoulders, “Yep!” She cackled, “Read ‘em and weep losers! Because this,” Barb patted Creeks face as she pushed herself forwards again, “Is exactly what's gonna happen to you losers and every other loser out there! Minus the whole grey and not talking thing. That wasn’t me.” 

Trollex was the first to snap out of his stupor, “Are…Are those Pop trolls?” He whispered in a kind of horrified awe, no troll had seen hide nor hair of a Pop troll in centuries. So the fact that Barb now had two of them with her? Especially ones that looked like they’d been put through the blender a few too many times?

Not a good sign.

“Yep ‘am borrowing them off of Chaz for a bit, I’ll explain properly when the rest of the loser leaders get here.” The Rock Queen turned on his heel and strode out of the room, “C’mon goggles!” She called out as she walked away.

Neither troll moved, JD wouldn’t move unless Creek did and the younger trolls was a bit too busy staring at Trollex, who looked like he was trying his best to hold himself together. The dual-haired troll tilted his head curiously, Trollex copied his movements a little more nervously. While he personally had never encountered a Pop troll before, although he had heard the story of how they had been the cause of the original splitting of the tribes.

The Techno King didn’t know what he’d been expecting to happen, but seeing the younger troll, ‘How old is he anyway? There is no way he’s older than 25.’ Trollex wondered he’d always had a soft spot for younger trolls; he'd help them when they were escaping from lessons sometimes, turn to the older troll, point at Trollex and Wolfgang and quietly rasp the word, “Safe.” Was not it.

As the smaller grey-ish purple troll began to walk away, the dull teal troll gave the two Kings a once over and huffed before turning away and following who Trollex could only assume was the older trolls son.

WITH HICKORY AND THE POP TROLLS

After Hickory, Poppy, Biggie and Branch all escaped the Country trolls and are on the house boat

“Poppy, I really don’t think that we can trust this guy! We just met him and his excuse for ‘helping us’ is that he believes in the exact same thing you do? HOW is that not suspicious to you at all?” Branch hissed quietly, Poppy laughed and waved her hand at Branch dismissively, “You’re over reacting Branch.” The stormy blue troll blinked at his maybe-definitely-nothisgirlfriend - in bewilderment. “Poppy… He keeps looking at me weird when he thinks I’m not looking, like he recognises me or something, and I know for a fact that I have never met him before in my life.” 

Poppy sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Branch, you’re just being paranoid, just give him a chance.” She spoke before bouncing off to talk the aforementioned Country trolls ears off.

Biggie placed a comforting hand on the smaller troll's shoulder, “Don’t worry Branch,” He spoke in that twangy accent of his, “I’ve noticed it too. Maybe you just remind him of someone he knows?” The larger blue troll suggested before walking off to go and find somewhere nice to sit down for a while.

Branch looked up to see Hickory teaching Poppy to steer the house boat, which was a bad idea but he’d let Hickory figure that out on his own.

In all honesty the blue-haired troll didn’t know what it was about the Country troll, but something about him rubbed him the wrong way and he didn’t like it.

It could be any number of things, it could be the fake smile, uneven walking, the twitchy accent, the quick and experienced movements that he tried to play off as dumb luck, the slight difference between the colour of his front hooves compared to the back pair, the way he kept looking at Branch like he knew who he was but wasn’t sure.

And usually he was able to communicate this to Poppy (as of recently), but the Queen of Pop seemed to be going through her own thing at the moment. (As much as he loved Biggie, he was not talking to him about this.) Sometimes he wished that John Dory had taken him with him when he left, his oldest brother always seemed to know what to say when he or the others were feeling off. (Although Clay seemed to interpret John’s concern as him trying to control his every move and snap at his older brother. Branch would never tell him how John would cry himself to sleep on those nights)

“Ypu alrigh’ there? Ya seem to be doin’ a lot of thinkin’” The stormy blue troll jumped and whipped around to face the Country troll. “I’m fine.” He snapped, although he did feel a little guilty after seeing the hurt look on Hickory’s face. 

“Sorry, that was a little harsh,” He apologised, “I’m still working on the whole ‘socialising properly’ thing.” Hickory chuckled as he knelt down to sit next to Branch, “D’you wanna talk about it?” Branch blinked and turned away from the Country troll with a sad sigh.

“I was thinking about my older brother.” He admitted after a few moments of silence between the two. “Yeah?” Hickory prompted, “What was he like?” Branch blinked the tears out of his eyes, “I…He always seemed to know what to say, whenever one of us was in a bad mood, or was unsure of something.” The Pop troll started, he didn’t want to share too much information with a complete stranger so he tried to keep it simple, key word tried. 

“Yeah sure he wasn’t the best older brother, but he tried y’know?”

Hickory did know, Dickory was similar in some ways. “He kept us clothed, fed, healthy, hell he dropped out of school so that there was someone at home to take care of whoever was a baby at that point in time, which was probably Floyd at that point I think. And the others just complained about the fact that he got to stay home while they had to go to school all of the time! He’s the one who helped them all with their homework, he’s the one who patched up every injury no matter how big or small it was. And I hate that I sort of understand why he left!” Branch huffed.

Hickory sighed, “Yeah I know what that’s like, my older brother had to raise me…” He admitted to the shorter troll, “Parents dies in an avalanche so it was just me ‘nd Dee-”

Branches head whipped around so fast that Hickory was afraid that he’d get whiplash, “What did you just say?” He demanded.

“Pardon?”

“What. Did. You. Just. Say?” Branch demanded again.

“Well-uhm, me’ parents died when I was young so it was just me and ma brother-?”

“What did you call him?”

“Dee? His names Dickory so it made sense when I was younger…”

Hickory watched as Branch relaxed with a sigh, “Why?” The Country troll asked curiously.

Branch sniffed, “We used to call my oldest brother the same thing sometimes.”

Ah. That made more sense now.

“What was his name?” Hickory couldn’t keep the hope out of his voice at the slight possibility that Branch might be related to him.

“His name was John Dory.”

Chapter Text

Hickory stared at the small Pop troll for a moment, he hadn’t known Branch's brother for very long but he figured by the way that Branch was talking about the other like he may as well be dead that the two hadn’t seen each other in a decade or two.

Meaning that Branch currently had no clue that his older brother had essentially lost all sense of self, was forced to do things that he probably didn’t want to and had despite all odds somehow practically adopted another Pop troll around Branches age who looked like he was one bad day away from killing himself.

But before the Country troll could even open his mouth, those tantalisingly rich notes that haunted Hickory’s nightmares echoed out.

(I’m really sorry but I CANNOT be bothered writing a fight scene rn)

Branch glared at the country troll but didn’t mention the argument that had happened between him and the Smooth Jazz troll. 

(It was less of an argument and more like sexual harassment towards Hickory until he quite literally kicked the bastard off of the house boat.)

The stormy blue troll swears that he heard John Dory’s name come up in their fight and he has every right to know why Chaz, (That was the asshole bounty hunters name apparently) knew who his older brother was.

But he couldn’t at the moment because he was more than a little busy freaking out about being kidnapped via bubble.

(With Creek & John Dory)

If you had told Creek two years ago that he would become a bounty hunter and used as an example as to what was going to happen to thousands of trolls and watch as a whole genre of trolls were dragged kicking and screaming past him? 

He would have chuckled and politely called you insane via a soothing compliment wrapped in a rose stem.

But here he was, stood next to the only troll that made him feel safe, watching as troll after troll was dragged kicking and screaming past them. A few of the four-legged trolls noticed their audience. (Two blank faced Pop trolls who looked like they’d been through enough and now said troll wanted to wrap the two up in as many blankets as they could get their hands on.) Before they kicked up an even bigger fuss as they were dragged away and into cages of varying sizes. 

John had to catch one with a large mustache that had somehow broken away from the group. It had been quick, the troll had dashed towards them, seemingly headed straight for Creek while various Rock trolls began to shout about a prisoner escaping before JD had decided that he’d had enough of their shouting and the approaching danger headed straight towards his son. And had just pounced on top of the troll and dragged him back and threw him into a cage himself. Before he returned to his position by the smaller Pop trolls side.

And if Creek still had the ability to properly think and feel for himself he would’ve understood why those trolls felt the way they did. But he couldn’t, so he didn’t. Only tilted his head slightly as a troll with big bushy red hair hollered at Barb loudly as she (At least Creek thinks their a she) was thrown into a cage of her own.

“BOYS!!” The young Queen of Rock shouted from where she was positioned on the other side of the room placing a sparkly orange string into her guitar, “Get over here you two, you need to hear this too!”  The two Pop trolls made their way over as she began speaking to the group of Rock trolls surrounding her.

“Okay, so after this we have two more spots to hit on our World Tour yeah? Funk, and Pop” She spat the genres name like it was a slur, “Now if Chaz had toned it down a bit on whatever he’s done to Goggles junior and Goggles senior I’d ask them. But he didn’t so I’ve currently got the other bounty hunters on that.” Barb began to pace in front of the clue board that she had her little brother Riff wheel in, “Now Funk for a fact I know is gonna fight back, it’s what I like about them, they’re not pussies about shit like fights. So we’re gonna need to strike fast, and we’re gonna need to strike hard. It’s gonna need to be destructive but precise yeah?” The surrounding Rock trolls nodded sharply and ran off to prepare for their assault on the Funk trolls.

“Riff!” Barb called to the beanie wearing troll, “I need you to make sure that the loser's cages are all secure!” She commanded, “And then ‘am getting on the drums yeah?” Riff shouted back, “YEAH!” Barb confirmed before turning to the Pop trolls that she was now in charge of.

“Right, for now I’m gonna need you two to sit out on this one, I’ll come get you once we’re done obviously.” The young Queen gestured at the two of them, “And I know for a fact that neither of you have eaten anything in a good while. I can literally see your ribs man.” She pointed at Creek's chest where there was the faint outline of his ribs.

So a few minutes later Creek and JD were sat on a leathery sofa. (Creek was sat on the sofa while John sat by his legs). A plate of triangular sandwiches, a bowl of crisps and some tea were placed on the coffee table in front of them, while Barbs father napped on a cot on the other side of the decently sized room.

The red-head stood with her hands on her hips, “Right, you two keep my dad safe while ‘am out for me yeah? I love ‘im but he’s not in the best condition right now.” She spoke, not softly but in a way that was similar to that. Creek nodded, “We will, thank you.” He rasped.

The Queen of Rock nodded, “Thank you, enjoy the food you two.” 

And with that she left the duo to it.

Neither troll moved for a moment as they were unsure of what to think about the fact that they were pretty much just left alone with food and given free range over it. Chaz would only allow them to have food either when they’d successfully completed a bounty or when he was feeling generous. So the two of them were a little confused and suspicious of the fact that they’d basically just been left alone with free food.

“Do you think it’s safe? Creek whispered, John didn’t reply but he did reach out to grab one of the sandwiches to inspect it.

The sandwich consisted of two pieces of bread, butter and some kind of mystery meat yhat actually smelt quite nice. The teal troll continued to inspect the sandwich for a few minutes blankly, unable to express his concern through his face or his eyes so he did so through his actions instead.

JD handed one of the sandwiches to Creek with an almost inaudible “It’s safe.”

The taller troll let the younger inspect the tea they were given while he munched on a sandwich of his own, he didn’t really drink tea so he wouldn’t know if it was safe to drink or not for the younger.

After the two had completed their inspection they sat in a comfortable silence as they ate, finally being able to fill their empty stomachs after who knows how long. They occasionally got up to inspect the former King of the Rock trolls to make sure that he was alright, which he was, he just napped the entire time until someone came to get them.

“Uh, Barb wants you guys on the stage. Riff’ll show you where that is.”

So the two Pop trolls ended up following the Prince of the Rock trolls towards wherever his older sister wanted them to be.

On the way there JD decided to speed up his walk a little bit until he was practically chest-to-back with the young Rock troll and rasping the word “Safe.” To Creek and scaring the life out of the already extremely nervous Rock troll with a voice that sounded like sandpaper on a brick saying something about being safe to Goggles junior. (Not that Riff would ever tell anybody about the way his chest was enveloped in a warm feeling about the fact that the only Pop troll he looked up to deeming him as safe to be around.)

“Riff my man! There you are!” Barb greeted the beanie wearing troll with a huge grin on her face. Riff shuffled nervously onto the stage, “Yeah hi Barb I-uh, I got Goggles junior and senior for you.”

The troll leaders all glanced at each other nervously, none of them could see what was happening below them at the moment and they most certainly hadn’t seen anyone with Barb during her takeover who could’ve been given the moniker of ‘Goggles’ of all things, especially not two of them.

“C’mon you two, get over here real quick!” Barb called with a wave of her paw, “Drop the losers cages would you bro?” She asked Riff who nodded and scampered off to find the right lever to do that with.

From where they currently hung, the Troll leaders could all see Barb grinning viscously as two Pop trolls moved to flank her.

“DROP ‘EM RIFF!”

The troll leaders yelped as their cages were dropped abruptly.

“Now what in tarnation do you think you're doin’?!” Delta Dawn shouted angrily, already pissed off with what Barb was doing, this was just the icing on top.

 A faint “Sorry!” could be heard from their right.

The troll leaders jumped as John growled at them for yelling when Riff was already so nervous. It wasn’t his fault they were in this mess.

The Country mayor's eyes widened at the Pop troll growling at her, “What the-?!”

Barb stepped forwards as John Dory retreated  back to his spot, “He looks like Cooper's friend…” Queen Essence whispered to her husband who nodded in agreement. The large Pop troll and Cooper's friend really did look alike.

Creek had heard the two and tilted his head curiously before he then pointed at King Quincy, “You…” He started, capturing the royal couples attention, “You look like Cooper…” He whispered sadly, although it was loud enough for every troll there to hear him, “ ‘m sorry.”

The troll leaders all thought that he was apologising for what was currently happening to them all and all they could think about was how the young greyish-purple troll sounded like he was about to start crying and that he really needed some water. (It wasn’t he was apologising for almost getting every troll in Pop village, Cooper included, eaten. Even though if they had all just stayed in that stupid pot and let his plan play out no one would’ve died because he’d had a plan)

“CREEK?!” Someone shouted from above.

They all looked up to see Cooper sticking his head out through the bars of his cage with a  huge smile on his face, “Where’ve you been man?! We all thought you were dead!” The prince of Funk laughed, “Man you look rough though, what happened to you? You kinda look like you’ve been cooked to be honest. Man Poppy’s gonna be so happy to find out that you’re still alive!” Everyone was listening the the Prince of Funk with wide eyes, because what do you mean they knew eachother? What do you mean he’s been missing for who knows how long? WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE LOOKS LIKE HE’S BEEN COOKED?! “Are you okay though you weren’t grey last I saw you, nor were you’re eyes red. HEY ROCK LADY! Do you know what happened to him?”

Before anyone else could start talking Barb cut them all of with a loud clap, “Okay it’s great to find out that Goggles junior has a friend, but can we all please get back on topic losers? Great, thanks.”

Barb gestured to the Pop trolls, “Okay so! I don’t exactly know how this works-” She started ignoring the ‘Of-fucking-course she doesn’t’ scoff from Trollex, “But essentially these two have had their ‘original selves’ put to sleep in the deepest darkest corner of their mind leaving just their subconscious, allowing them to still move around and breathe and shit.” Barb waved off the leaders as they all began trying to shout about the morals and shit behind being able to commit such an act. “These two specifically aren’t rock zombies, but Smooth Jazz ones cause I’m ‘borrowing’ them off of that one bounty hunter, Chaz I think his name was. But essentially if you play music the right way you can strip someone of themselves and incorporate what you want them to be and they have quite literally no choice but to listen to what you command them to do because if not they will literally start convulsing on the floor.”

There was a pause before Barb continued, “Of course that's not what’s gonna happen to you losers because I’m not heartless.” She shrugged, “Same idea tho’”

There was silence for a moment before the King of Techno music spoke, “Seriously, what the fuck?” He hissed, “There is absolutely no godsdamned way that those two know what’s going on around them right now!” Trollex gestured to Creek angrily, “And he’s way too young to even be here! How old is he anyway, he’s like what, nineteen? (I headcannon that Creek is actually younger than the rest of the SnackPack but did really good in school and was bumped up a few grades and his age was just never really brought up and he never corrected them when they said that he was older than he actually was to avoid ridicule.)  -”He’s grey, heavily scarred and looks one minor inconvenience away from an all out meltdown despite clearly being unable to express that. And don’t even get me started on the bigger one, HOW DO YOU SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS?!”

Barb suppressed a flinch at just how enraged the Techno King sounded, before narrowing her eyes and glaring at them all, “The only thing that’s wrong here… is how you all left my entire kingdom to struggle.” She hissed, “You all knew what was happening to my Dad, you all knew that I was too young to be taking over the crown, and yet you all sat by and ignored us as my kingdom was on the verge of collapsing.” The young Queen sneered, “So I’m removing the one fucking reason that causes us all to ignore eachother when all we need is some fucking support.”

Barb turned around to walk away, “And these two? They’ll be fine. Chaz won’t have them for much longer.”

Chapter Text

Chaz wasn’t a very happy troll at the moment.

The Pop Queen and her little boyfriend had just gotten away with the string thanks to that stupidly handsome Country troll and now all of his hard work over the last seventeen years was going down the drain.

He’d had those Pop trolls for years! They were his!  That stupid little Queen couldn’t keep them away from him!

All of his hard work of sculpting Creek into being the perfect son for the past two years? Gone. All of the times that Chaz had to punish JD in order to teach him a lesson for being weak at the heart and letting some of their bounties go to the point that John could no longer feel anything for anyone but him? Gone. All of the training that he’d put both Pop trolls through in order to turn them into mindless killing machines? Gone. All of the times that he withheld food from the two of them for either failing or not living up to his expectations? They’d no longer get to learn that lesson.

It wasn’t fair! He had put so much work into making sure that his little ‘family’ was perfect! The only thing that was missing was Hickory, and Chaz couldn’t have him until his older brother was out of the picture. So the Smooth Jazz troll had to wait even longer on that account.

There was a loud rumbling coming from the bushes behind the troll that brought him out of his frustrated mental ramblings.

It was probably just some hungry critter that once realising it would have to fight for it’s meal would fuck off and leave the red-haired troll alone.

So Chaz turned around, ready to play a quick tune and knock the critter out.

Looking up, Chaz finally realised his mistake, he never should have turned around.

Staring down at the Smooth Jazz troll was an Armadillo bus.

A very angry Armadillo bus.

Rhonda leapt forwards with a snarl, moving faster than Chaz could react and quickly biting his head off with a loud SNAP. Purring happily when the Smooth Jazz trolls body went limp in her mouth as she continued to munch on her meal.

Before leaping up again and running in the direction of volcano rock city, to where her troll was.

Chapter Text

Branch sighed as Sheila the hot air balloon carried them towards Volcano rock city, lost in thought.

The stormy blue troll was mulling over how Hickory’s betrayal affected him, because while Poppy had become the yodel trolls friend, Branch had bonded with the other on a different level. One that made him feel like for once in his life, he was seen and understood by somebody. And Hickory had seemed the same way, but Branch couldn’t tell whether that had all been an act or was genuine.

He still wanted to speak to the older troll, he wanted to know why and how he (and Dickory) seemed to know who his oldest brother (Dad) was and whether he was okay.

Maybe the other Bounty hunters would know?

They were all loitering around behind him and were whispering as if the resident Pop troll couldn’t hear them. Branch had heard his name be mentioned a few times, but figured that if whatever it was that they were all talking about was really important, they would tell him.

Not that it wasn’t bugging him. But Branch had more patience than Poppy ever could when it came to stuff like this.

One of the K-pop trolls, Kim-petit he thinks, stepped forward a little nervously. “Hey Pop baby?” She spoke quietly, as if trying not to disturb a particularly large critter that had a fifty/fifty chance of deciding to just eat them. “Yes?” Branch replied a little snappily, he was impatient okay? The K-pop troll sighed, “Are you related to anyone with the name ‘Dory’ by any chance?”

Now that caught his attention, because yes. Technically he was, his oldest brother’s name was ‘John Dory’. So yes, technically, technically he was.

“Yeah? My oldest brother’s name was ‘John Dory’ if that counts?” The stormy blue troll replied as he crossed his arms and leaned back on Shelia’s controls, “Why?” He gave all of the bounty hunters a once over, they were all fidgeting in one way or another. “Right.” Kim-petit brought Branches attention back to her as she started making gestures along with her words, “Okay, was he kind of like, tall? A kind of teal-ish colour, goggles, prosthetic arm, green hair, looked like he could probably snap you in half if he wanted to?”

Branch blinked, “Yeah I guess? Definitely a yes for the goggles.” A few moments of silence went by as the rest of the K-pop trolls registered in his mind, “Wait! What do you mean he has a prosthetic arm?!” The stormy blue troll stepped forwards, “And what do you mean he looks like he could snap you in half if he wanted too?! There is no way he’s that strong.” Branch paused as he tapped his chin, “Then again this is John Dory we’re talking about, he did always have a habit of achieving or trying to achieve the unachievable." He mumbled with a little venom to his tone. “Is he okay?”

The bounty hunters all looked at each other again, none of them wanting to be the one to explain what they knew to the one troll who was currently trying to save all of music because Barb had messed with his maybe-definitely-nothisgirlfriend.

Tresillio stepped forwards with a defeated sigh, “ ‘Am gonna be honest with you here man, he wasn’t looking so hot last we saw him a few days ago.” Branches paws were clenched into fists as scenario after scenario flashed through his mind, “Neither did his kid-” The Pop trolls mind screeched to a halt, “KID?! What kid?!” The stormy blue troll demanded, if his brother had somehow had a trolling at some point in the last twenty years and they were now in danger his JD would have some questions to answer.

This time it was Mambria that spoke, “Yeah, the kid said that they weren’t biologically related and that your brother kind of just picked him up and that ‘im and Chaz” She spat the Smooth Jazz trolls name, “Just tolerated him, it was kind of heartbreaking to be honest. He was covered in scars too.”

This time it was Babybun who spoke, “Yeah! He looked so hurt! Like they’d both been eaten by a sparkle hound, spat out and then the child was cooked but only on his left side weirdly enough.”

Branch took a deep breath to calm himself down, he didn’t want to lash out at these trolls as in this instance they had done nothing wrong, “Yeah,” He sighed, “That sounds absolutely horrible.” It did, the blue troll couldn’t even begin to imagine what the two had been through. It made Branch's anger towards his brother abandoning him wane just a little bit. Just a little.

Branch turned back around and rested his head on his paw, processing the information he had just received.

His oldest brother was (probably) still alive, heavily scarred, traumatised and missing a limb. Said older brother at some point had adopted a troll who was most likely younger than Branch and was also traumatised, heavily scarred, most likely terrified and would probably have some form of PTSD, anxiety and physical problems due to his burns scars if they truly covered the entirety of his left side like Babybun claimed they did. So if the two came to live with him in the bunker (Which they hopefully would), John would be staying in the room made specifically for him and the kid would probably either stay in John’s room or in Floyd’s room as it was next door to JD’s.

He’d have to think about how to go about getting the two of them therapy, and maybe get into family therapy with them too, to help solve their issues.

Branch was once again brought out of his musings by someone speaking.

“Hey amigo,” Tresillo called from Branches right, “We’re here.”

Chapter Text

John and Creek stood under the cages that held the various troll royals overlooking the amphitheatre where each tribe had been escorted into their assigned section. All awaiting the same fate. If Creek squinted then he’d be able to see the Pop trolls in the front, their population being significantly smaller than the other tribes.

On the other side of the stage high up in the air was Poppy. The Queen of Pop was staring at her cousin in a sort of sad disbelief. The entirety of troll will age had thought he’d died when Chef had once again been outcasted and set on fire by Cooper. Although by the looks of it Creek had gotten caught in the fire. The pink troll couldn’t help but think that her cousin had once again sold their village out, but something was wrong with him.

His colour was one thing, he had once been a lovely lavender colour but was now a more greyish-purple. The scars were another thing, there was no way he wasn’t in a constant state of pain in one way or another with how bad those scars were, especially the third degree burns covering the entirety of his left side. And finally, Poppy was pretty damn sure that her cousin's eyes had not been red last they saw each other.

Furthermore Creek was stood next a troll that Poppy didn’t recognise but who was definitely a Pop troll, if Poppy was being honest they kind of looked like Branch on one of his ‘grey days’. Minus the missing arm of course.

“And Pop…” Barb spat the genres name, “The whole reason that we’re in this mess right now.” The young queen turned around slowly on her heel and pointed her guitar at the Queen of Pop, “Now you all get to witness the end of what they started.” She grinned.

Just as everything was about to go wrong, a large book flew across the stage and smacked Barb in the face.

“ACKGH! What?!” Barb cried as she ripped the book off of her face incredulously. “465 pages of how to fly a hot air balloon really comes in handy!” Branch grinned as he descended onto the stages infrastructure.

The Queen of Rock glared at the stormy blue troll before she grinned, “Hey Popsweak!” She called out, “You’re boy toys here!” The red-head cackled, “He kinda looks like Goggles senior to be honest.” She mumbled to herself.

Barb shrugged, “Meh, oh well.” She whipped her guitar out once more and aimed it at Poppy; a red bolt of lightning surged out of the head of the guitar and straight towards the Queen of Pop. 

“NO!” 

Branch launched himself towards Poppy’s cage, shielding her with his body and crashing to the ground inside of a large red-glowing rock.

After a few moments the rock began to crack, one by one a new crack appeared until the brimstone exploded leaving only the hunched over figure of a troll in the smoke.

Everyone was waiting with bated breath for something to happen, there was only the flash of red as the now rockified Branch finally looked up and focused on the trolls in front of him.

“It works…” Barb sagged in relief, “IT WORKS FUCKERS!!” She cheered, spinning around with her arms up in victory. The other rock trolls all cheering and shouting along with her in victory.

The red-haired Queen of Rock focuses back on Poppy once more, laughing at the distraught expression on the other Queens face, the other troll leader were all shouting profanities at her, or were trying their best to not cry at seeing what their own fate will be. “Aaaah,” Barb snorted and wiped a tear from her eye, “You’re expressions are fucking priceless you loseres.”

“Boy toy, Goggle Jr.! C’mere you two!” She commanded. Both Creek and Branch staled forwards wordlessly, “RIFF!” Barb called, “Drop Pinkies cage will ya’?”

There was a yelp and a loud CRASH as the Pop queens cage collided with the stage. Once Poppy straightened  herself she stared at the two Pop trolls remorsefully. 

“You alright Boy toy?” The Queen of Rock asked cautiously; Branch was the first troll she had ever ‘Rockified’ so she didn’t know if there were any repercussions, the pop-rock troll grunted with a nod, “Cool, cool. How ‘bout you junior?” The greyish-purple troll nodded silently, “Great!”

Barb grinned like the cat that caught the canary as Riff stepped on to the stage beside Poppy’s cage.

“Boys?”

Branch and Creek stiffened as they awaited the command.

“Fetch.”