"Yes! Final level!" Synth cheered, throwing his hands up into the air in celebration before quickly starting the next level, ready to take on the final boss.

     Poppy however, wasn't as excited as the techno troll was. She was too busy thinking about Branch to concentrate on the video game the two trolls were currently playing. He had been gone for quite a while now...

"Shouldn't Branch of been back by now?" she asked, looking over at the door in concern, waiting for her best friend to walk back into the room safely.

"I'm sure he's fine," Synth shrugged, his eyes locked on the television as he frantically pushed buttons on his controller.

"Well... I think we should go look for him," Poppy suggested, putting down her controller as she rose up to her feet, a determined look plastered on her face. "Let's go, Synth."

"Yep... I'll be there in a minute," the techno troll said, not really paying any attention to his friend as he continued playing.

     "Synth!" Poppy yelled, getting annoyed with her friend, as she placed her hands on her hips, glaring over at him in impatience. "Now!"

     "Yeah, yeah..." he replied, not breaking his concentration away from the television screen. "Just let me beat the phantom king..."

"Let's go," Poppy sighed angrily, grabbing hold of Synth's arm before quickly dragging him out of the room to find Branch.

—————

     Down in the basement lab, Branch lay on the cold concrete floor, not moving an inch, his eyes remaining shut to confirm he wasn't aware of his surroundings at the moment.

     His dark blue hair had faded into a ghostly white, and his light blue skin was paler than ever before, signifying that there was no life left in the young pop troll to create the pigmentation in his skin his friends and family were used to seeing...

     Silence... pure and utter silence filled the room, no one seeming to be coming down any time soon to find the poor child's lifeless body... no one was coming to save him... to save him from his terrifying aloneness... he was and would remain all alone in the dark silence of the lab, not seeming to be breathing... even his heart beat was completely silent...

     That is... until the slightest bit of movement came to him, his hand twitching slightly in his dreamless sleep...

     "Ugh..." Branch groaned, his voice a bit hoarse as he slowly moved his head around, beginning to wake up. He was so dizzy... "Wha... what happened..."

     Slowly, he sat up, placing his hand on his head to try and stop the spinning, but that didn't seem to help in the slightest. He actually felt like he was gonna barf...

     After a long moment of just sitting helplessly on the floor, he finally began to force himself up, slowly rising to his feet.

     "Ow..." he groaned, steadying himself on his wobbly legs. The pain was intense, but seemed to be slowly fading away, until it was completely gone, finally becoming nothing but a memory.

     Looking up, the little pop troll's eyes widened in horror as he caught sight of a mirror hanging on the wall, his reflection seeming ghostly inside it, his hair white and eyes glowing green...

     "AHHHHH!"