Late in the evening, Aria sneaked into the village with Echo on her shoulder in the form of a gerbil. Aria could hear Zora's cold voice coming from one of the center huts. She cautiously crawled over to the side of the hut and ducked just under the window. Echo crawled into Aria's hands and looked up at her.

"Alright, you need to go in there and look as intimidating as possible." Aria explained to the small guardian. Echo transformed into a coyote, baring her teeth and snarling quietly. "Perfect!" Aria said.
Aria climbed through the window she was under with Echo by her side. She heard Zora's voice coming from the other room. She quietly tip-toed passed the doorway, keeping her back against the wall to prevent being seen. "Ready?" Aria whispered to Echo. The guardian nodded. Aria poked her head around the doorway to see the elf leader, but to her surprise she was gone. "What the?"

"Going somewhere?" Zora whipped her head from the side of the doorway, face to face with Aria. She grabbed the blue troll by the hair and pinned her to the ground. "Thank you for being an example of what's going to happen if you try to mess with me." Aria looked up at the elf queen in fear. Zora grabbed Aria by the hair and dragged her outside, throwing her on the ground. The racket caused the neighboring trolls to come out of their homes to watch, including Dusk.

"Aria!" Dusk cried as he tried to get to her, but Zora used her foot to keep Aria laying on the ground.

"This is what happens trolls!" Zora barked. She leaned down to Aria, who was struggling to get up. "Now you're going to watch your chieftain die!" The guards brought out Tala from the crowd as Zora took out her sword and pointed it at her.

"NO!" Aria blurted, Echo appeared, still in her coyote form to stand in front of Zora, defending Tala. "Don't punish Tala for something I did!" Zora looked at Aria with fury in her eyes.

"I should have known there would be at least one trouble-maker in this tribe." The elf growled as she shoved Aria to the ground again, raising her sword.

"Don't kill her!" Dusk blurted, forming Night to stand between Aria and Zora. More and more trolls formed their guardians to protect Aria. They all had angry looks on their faces, trying to convince Zora to not kill her.

"Ma'am." One elf guard whispered to her. "Maybe you should let her go, we can't have them all fight against us." Zora thought about it for a moment. "Besides, we need more time to find...you know what." The guard explained. Zora lowered her sword, he was right.

"Just this once, I will not kill you." Zora spoke to Aria through gritted. "But if you ever return to these Isles again, I will shatter your guardian crystal in front of the entire tribe." She reached out to grab Aria's crystal around her neck, gripping it tightly which made Echo wince in pain. Aria nodded slowly as Zora let go of her. "Good luck lasting a week out there, you're gonna need it."

"No! please!" One troll cried. It was Tarragon, Aria's father. "She's my daughter!" Aria ran to him, pushing him back.

"Dad, it's okay." Aria assured. "I'll be fine." She put a hand to his cheek as tears started to fall down his face.

"I can't lose you, sweetie." Tarragon sniffed. "Please, I lost your mother...I can't lose you too."

"You won't, I promise." Aria wrapped her arms around him, bringing him in for a hug. "I'm going to find help." She barely whispered into his ear as they broke away from the hug. She spotted Ash behind him and hugged him too. "Take care of dad, Ash." Aria said to him. Ash nodded confidently.

"Just don't die out there." Ash begged. Aria had never seen Ash so emotional, usually he was upbeat and full of himself.

"Alright, you've had your cheesy lovey moment. Now go!" Zora spoke. Aria glared at her as she walked out of the village. Tarragon and Ash watched sadly as she did.

On the very edge of the land, Aria looked into the dark forest and gulped. She wasn't afraid to admit she was scared about travelling across the island by herself, thank goodness she had Echo.

"Wait Aria!" A voice called out. It was Dusk. He caught up to her and held her hands in his. "I'm coming with you." Aria looked doubtful as she lowered her head.

"Dusk, you have to stay." Aria sighed. "Zora will suspect something if she finds both of us missing."

"But you can't do this alone. What if something happens to you?" Dusk asked.

"Nothing is going to happen to me. I'm going to the Troll Kingdom to get help." Aria said sternly. She put a hand to his cheek and looked into his eyes. "I need you to be here, to protect our tribe. Make sure nothing happens to Tala...or my family."

"Okay." Dusk admitted. "I promise." Aria hugged him tightly before going out into the dark woods. Echo and Night both nuzzled their heads together before parting ways, each of them following their master.

Once they had gotten away from the village, Echo appeared and swam above Aria's head in her orca form before dropping and landing on top of her head.

"I know what you're thinking." Aria said. Echo grunted in return. "We're just gonna find Poppy and the others to help us." Echo continued to grunt, she rolled off Aria's head and landed in her hands. "Excuse me? I'm not crazy!" Aria said, slightly offended. "Hey! Watch your language! Now come on." Echo gave in and transformed into a huge macaw as Aria climbed up onto her back. "Troll Kingdom, here we come!"

***

Branch let out a sigh of relief as he looked back at the rows of fireworks he had made. All these hours of work were going to pay off when he sees the happy look on Poppy's face as she watches the fireworks.
He suddenly heard a rustle in the bushes. What if it was Poppy? This would completely ruin the surprise.

"Uh...It wasn't me, these fireworks were here when I got here!" Branch panicked, but thankfully it was just Prince D.

"You alright, man?" D asked, confused.

"Oh thank goodness it's just you." Branch relaxed. "I thought you were Poppy." Prince D gave him a dry look, before looking down himself.

"Okay but...why?" He said sarcastically. "How's it going anyway?"

"Brilliant! All I need to do is work out how to get these fireworks to explode and form a heart shape." Branch put a hand to his chin to try and think of a way as he started pacing back and forth. Prince D picked him up to stop him and so that he could talk to him.

"Branch calm down! Why not just use the fireworks as they are?" Prince D asked.

"Because I really want this to be as special as possible to her." Branch sighed. "I want to prove how much I love her." D set him down back on the ground.

"Poppy knows how much you love her." Prince D explained. "Just as much as you know how much she loves you." Branch gave a subtle smile. "You don't need all this fancy fireworks stuff to prove that." Prince D smiled down at the gray-blue troll.

"You're right." Branch admitted. "I'll just set the fireworks off as they are on the day." Prince D nodded, agreeing with him. Branch suddenly let out a huge yawn, he had been working non-stop all day. "I'm gonna go back home and sleep." As he started to walk away, he tripped over one of the ropes lining behind the fireworks. The rope snagged against the fuse of one firework, lighting it.

"Uh oh!" Branch and Prince D both said. Branch immediately when over to try and put the fire out, but as he attempted, the other fuses also started to catch alight. Branch tried frantically to put out all the fuses but it was hopeless.

"Branch get out of there!" Prince D yelled as he grabbed the back of Branch's vest in his mouth and pulled him away. The fireworks set off, screaming into the sky and exploding in bright colors. Branch watched in disbelief as they lit up the sky. All his hard work was wasted.

***

After an hour or two of flying, the Troll Kingdom was finally in sight. All the different lands and tribes, it was such a sight to see. Aria had missed it so much.

"Down there! To Pop Village!" Aria called to Echo who started flying down towards the Pop Village. They suddenly spotted colorful streaks quickly coming towards them. "What is that?" The streak exploded just below them, causing Echo to jolt back and nearly throwing Aria off. "Of course. I should have known how much Pop Trolls love fireworks." They tried their best to dodge them, but they were coming from all angles. One exploded right next to Echo, the force of it knocked Aria off of her guardian as she started falling towards the ground. "Echo! Help!"

Echo shook her head to recover from the blast before noticing Aria quickly reaching the ground. She immediately flapped her wings to get to her, both of them getting closer and closer to the ground. Aria tried to reach out to Echo but she couldn't reach.
Just feet above the ground, Echo finally reached Aria and protected her from the impact as they skidded on the ground.

"Ow my head." Aria groaned. She sat up to find her guardian. "You okay Echo?" Echo returned to her orca form as she grunted on the floor. "I will punch whoever set off those fireworks!" As Aria looked around, she could see that she wasn't in Pop Village at all. The moment she heard the galloping of hooves, she knew exactly where she was.

Lonesome Flats.

"That weird glowy thing landed just around here, y'all." Delta Dawn said. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Aria. If it weren't for Echo being there, she wouldn't have recognized her. "Lost Troll?" Delta tilted her head. One two-legged troll stepped in from the crowd.

"Aria?" Hickory asked, concerned. He ran over to help her up off the ground. "What in tarnation are you doing here?"

"There's no time to explain, I just need to find Poppy." Aria explained, holding her side which was sore from the fall.

***

Branch looked sadly as the last of the fireworks burned up in the sky. That was his chance of making his and Poppy's anniversary, and now it was ruined. Prince D put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"D, you don't happen to have anymore fireworks, do you?" Branch asked with a begging look on his face.

"Sorry man, those were the last of them." Prince D sighed. Branch's ears drooped slightly as he whimpered. They both heard Poppy's voice coming towards them which made Branch gulp.

"Did you guys see those fireworks?" Poppy asked. "Weren't they amazing?" She noticed Branch's glum expression and her face immediately dropped. "Branch? Baby, are you okay?" She held his cheek in her hand, waiting for a reply.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." Branch assured, giving a smile. But Poppy was still concerned.

"Are you s-" Poppy was cut off when she saw a floating blue orca come towards them with Hickory and a familiar troll riding on top of it. "Ari?!" Poppy's face lit up to see her Lost Troll friend again and ran over to hug her. "Oh Ari, we missed you so much! I had no idea you were coming to vis-"

"Poppy we need to talk." Aria said, panicked. Poppy and Branch looked at Aria with worried expressions.

"Ari, are you alright?" Branch asked. Aria gathered her breath before speaking.

"Something's happened in the Paradise Isles." Aria explained. "I need you guys."