I slowly walked out. I lassoued a tree branch and started slowly going down, lost in thought. I kinda wish Phoenix would blab the secret. It's driving me crazy not knowing! Do I seriously have to wait until the dance to know?! I hate waiting and I'm not patient. Once I got on the ground I heard screaming. Is that Emerald?!

As soon as I felt my feet touch the ground I ran off quickly, wondering what could be wrong. I lassoed tree branch after tree branch until I finally made it back to the buildings. When I got there I could still hear Emerald screaming. She was shouting happily a blue fuzzling. "I told it was hilarious!" The fuzzling rolled over and I'm assuming laughing. Since they don't talk its hard to understand them. I ran over to them. "Is everything ok? I thought I heard someone scream!" Emerald laughed. "Nah that was Branch. A bird flew on the building and scared him as he was working on the roof." Branch got up from a bush and started looking around. "The bird left right?" Emerald nodded. "Yep."

"Cool." He started climbing back on the roof. I just stood there confused and slightly aggravated. "Seriously?! I thought there was something wrong with you!" Emerald shook her head. "Nope everything's fine. Thanks for your concern though." She started getting back to work. "I'm almost done repairing this though!" She exclaimed excitedly. I looked around at the work she had done so far. "It's looking great, but how do you know if it's gonna send us to our world and not another world?"

"Trust me it's gonna work. And I got a test pilot to make sure it works!" She pointed to an orange. I stared at it. "Your gonna use an orange for a test pilot?" She nodded. "Branch said he could strap a camera to the orange that will play live video from wherever it ends up. He's also got something to hook up to the camera so we can see everything!" The dove grinned as she happily hummed while she worked. "The best part is we're almost ready to test it out!" She squealed happily. "Wow that's amazing, but haven't you only been working on it for around two hours?" I asked. "Actually I've been working on it for two and a half hours." She corrected. "I'm just about ready for our test pilot to give this thing a try." She went inside and started tightening a few more things.

"Ok Branch toss the test pilot to me!" She called from inside. Branch started looking around for the orange. "Uh where is the test pilot?" I started helping him look. "What do you mean?" Emerald called. "I left it right on that rock next to the building." Me and Branch continued looking, but we still didn't see. Cooper randomly walked by. "Hey are y'all looking for Mr. Oscar?" He laughed his memorable laugh. "Oscar? Who's Oscar?" I asked. "Oh he's the round orange shaped beach ball!" He exclaimed laughing. It took me a second to realize what he was talking about. "Wait are you talking about the orange?" I asked him. "I'm talking about Oscar! He was delicious! Thanks for that!" He laughed and walked away.

I facepalmed. Great. Just great! "Hey Emerald..." I started. "Yeah?" She asked. "What is it?"

"You don't happen to have an extra orange by any chance do you?"

"No I don't. Why?" I could tell she was getting suspicious. I started laughing nervously. "Well...Cooper kinda, sorta, maybe ate it?" She looked at me and her eye started twitching. "What do you mean he ate it?!" I rolled my eyes. "I mean he walked by, saw the orange, put it in his mouth, chewed it, swallowed it, and now it's in his digestive system." I said. "Do you need to go to a science class?"

Emerald rolled her eyes. "Nevermind. Can you find a new test pilot?" I nodded. "I guess I can try, but we gotta make sure it's not food!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just please start looking?" I nodded and walked off. I'm pretty sure we could just use a pinecone. The tree where Ocean, Adventure, and River's hideout is in has tons of pinecones.

*At the Tree*

Once I made it to the tree I looked around it to search for pinecones. Unfortunately there weren't any on the ground, so I decided to climb the tree to look. Once I saw a big enough pinecone, I grabbed it and was about to climb down until I heard someone talking at the top. I climbed up higher and peaked through some twigs and leaves to get a better look. (I'm nosy okay??) I was able to see Ocean, River, and Adventure talking to  each other, but they were talking in low whispers so I could barely hear them. I climbed higher and out of the corner of my eye I saw Phoenix sitting on a tree branch. He was watching me.

I quickly moved my hands back and forth to tell him to be quiet, but he didn't listen and flew back up to tell everyone. Panicking, I started looking for a place to hide. I saw some leaves nearby and figured I could cover myself with them, so I crawled over to them. However I didn't stop to check for any holes, so by the time I had covered my arms with leaves k could feel the tree shaking. Before I had time to react I tumbled down a deep hole!

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" I was screaming louder than Phoenix did after we slid down that slide. Finally I landed, hard in a dark place. I groaned, but got up to see where I was. Everywhere was pitch black. I couldn't see a thing. Great! I'm trapped!

*With Emerald*

The dove had finished the building and was ready for the test pilot, but she noticed that Esmerald had never returned, so she left Branch to make sure the building was safe. She had to find Esmerald and the test pilot! She flew all the way to the tree where pinecones were everywhere around it. That tree happened to also be where Ocean, River, and Adventure's hideout were. She flew up unknowingly to the top and saw all three boys. Adventure turned to her. "Oh hey Emerald." Then his eyes went wide. "Wait Emerald?! Your not suppose to be up here! Sound the alarm!"

Ocean popped up. "What alarm? We don't have an alarm." Phoenix and River nodded. Adventure felt dumb. "Oh my bad. Hehe. But for real what is she doing here?!" Emerald flew on the floor. "I should be asking y'all the same question! What is this place?" She flew off the floor and started looking around.

"Oh uhhhhhhhhhhh......" Adventure was lost without words. Phoenix jumped in. "Would you believe this is all a dream?" He asked. Emerald stared at him. "Seriously?" She obviously didn't buy it. Ocean gave in. "Fine. This is our secret hideout, okay? We made it to hide from someone."

Emerald raised an eyebrow. "Who?" She asked. "That we're not telling you." River said. "Okay fine don't tell me. I just flew up here to see if Esmerald was here. Is she?"

"She was here but she left about an hour ago." Ocean said. Emerald eyes went wide. "You mean you haven't seen her in an hour?!" Adventure stared at Emerald confused. "Yeah. She left, but didn't say where she was going."

The dove facepalmed. "Great. Ok there's an easy solution to this. All we have to do is line up the times."

Phoenix was obviously confused. "What do you mean times?"

"I mean if we compare the times from when Esmerald left here, came to me, and left from me we can find out where she'd be right now." Emerald answered. "Ok what time did she leave from here?"

All three trolls shrugged. "I don't know exactly." River answered. "But I might." Ocean said. "Once these two," he looked at Adventure and River. "Pushed me out of our hideout I saw her walking around. I invited her up to see this place. It was about 3:30pm."

Emerald took notes. "Okay so she came here at around 3:30pm and left after an hour. So that means she left at around 4:30pm. I remember looking at the time when she had arrived to the buildings where me and Branch were. When she arrived it was around 4:35pm." All the boys looked at her notes. "So that means that after she left, she went directly to you!" Adventure pointed at Emerald.

"Exactly, but after Cooper ate our test pilot I sent her out to look for a new one. She left at around 4:50pm." The dove wrote that down. "Did she come by here to look for something to use?" The dove looked at everyone.

Phoenix's eyes went wide. Everyone looked at him. "What did you do now?"

"Nothing." The light orange feathered dove grinned nervously. Everyone looked at him. "Spill." Emerald told him. Phoenix gave in. "Okay fine. After she left here these three," he pointed at the three boy trolls. "Were up here talking about a secret. They sent me down to make sure no one was eves dropping. As I flew around the tree I saw Esmerald spying on us, so I flew up here to let them know. I did hear a scream shortly after I left though."

Emerald gasped. "That means she's in danger and is nearby! We need to rally a search party! I'll get the party hats!" She flew off. The boys just stood there. Emerald flew back. "What are you waiting for?! Start looking!"

All three trolls climbed down and Phoenix flew off. Once they were on the ground they decided to split up. Adventure went with River and Ocean went with Phoenix.

"Okay let's start moving!" Phoenix said. Ocean rolled his eyes but followed him. "Okay you said you heard someone scream near this tree." He started talking to Phoenix. "Where were you before you flew off?" He asked. Phoenix thought for a second. "Follow me!" He started flying back up the tree. They kept climbing for a bit, until Phoenix stopped. He looked around on the tree branches. "I was right around here when I saw her spying."

Ocean looked around. "Okay and where was she at?" Phoenix hopped on a few branches. "Right here." He stopped and looked around. "I heard a loud scream and then a crash after I flew up to alert y'all."

"Okay then we should split up and search around here." Ocean said. Both of them started looking around.

"Esmerald!" Phoenix started calling. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" he heard a scream. He started looking frantic. "Ocean? Please tell me that was not you." He flew off and spotted a hole. "Hello?" He called into it. "Phoenix is that you??" He heard a voice. "Yeah it's me! Who am I talking to?"

"A fairy! C'mon who'd you think you were talking to??" Another voice shouted. "It's Esmerald! I'm trapped down here!" Esmerald shouted. "And Ocean! I fell down here too!" Ocean shouted up. Phoenix started laughing. "Hahaha!!"

"What's so funny?!" Ocean shouted. "Nothing." Phoenix wiped a few tears from his eyes. "It's just so funny how you fell down there!"

"So help me I will find a way to trap you down here to if you don't find help!" Esmerald shouted. "Okay, okay." Phoenix stopped laughing. "I'll be back! Just stay there!" He flew off. "What choice do we have?!" They both shouted.

*Esmerald's Point of View*

"I'll be back! Just stay there!" I heard the flapping of Phoenix's wings as he flew off. "What choice do we have?!" Me and Ocean both called out. Ocean face planted on the ground and started mumbling. "This is just great. Wonderful." I rolled my eyes at him. "You think I'm having a picnic? I don't even know how long I've been down here."

"Probably around an hour or two." He answered while looking at a clock from his hair. Great. It's gonna get dark soon and I don't really like the dark. I huddled into a small corner, hoping it wouldn't get too dark. I lit my hair up as bright as it would go. Meanwhile Ocean got up and started feeling around the hole.

"Don't bother, I've already tried feeling around for a way out. There isn't one." I told him. "No there is! This hole leads to that hideout I showed you. There should be a door right...here!" He pulled on a rock. I got up and lit my hair up so I could see better. Ocean started pulling hard on a boulder. I ran over and started helping. When we finally pulled the boulder away we saw a staircase behind it. Ocean walked on it and started climbing. "Are you sure you know where your going?" I was hesitant to follow him. "Pretty sure, but if you don't wanna follow you can stay here if you want." He answered.

I heard a lot of strange noises in the hole and I wasn't going to stick to see what they were. "Wait for me!" I bolted after him. He continued walking ahead, but stop when he saw a three path way. "If I remember correctly the way to the hideout is over......there." He pointed to the left staircase and started walking that way. I followed close behind him. After what seemed like an eternity we finally made it to his hideout. He opened the door to make sure it was his hideout. Once he saw that it was, he started walking in the direction of the main hideout. He opened the door to it and we finally made it out! "Wohoo!!! Yes!!! I'm so glad you fell in that hole!" I cheered and started breathing the fresh air. Ocean raised his eyebrows. "Thank you? Anyways we gotta find Emerald before she rounds up the search part." He started climbing down. I turned and saw my animal fur, feather, and scale collection. So that's were I left it! I got a feather out, turned into a dove, and flew behind him.

*With The Search Party*

Emerald had found Poppy and together the two of gathered a huge search party. All the trolls had their party hats on and were searching everywhere for the light green troll. One troll even looked under a small rock! Phoenix flew quickly over to Emerald. "I found her! Her and Ocean are trapped in a hole in our hideout tree!" He said urgently. Emerald pointed in the direction of the tree. "That way!" She ordered. The trolls started stampeding in the direction of the tree - right as Esmerald and Ocean were running to Emerald to tell her to end the search. The two trolls eyes went wide as they saw the trolls stampeding towards them. "In here!" Esmerald shouted and grabbed the light blue trolls hand and pulled him into a bush. "Who knew trolls actually have stampedes?" Ocean said as they waited for the trolls to run off. "I know right?" The purple eyed troll agreed. "Their as fast as wild animals!"

After all the trolls finished running off, Ocean and Esmerald emerged from the bush and went after Emerald and Poppy. "Poppy! Emerald! Stop!!!" Esmerald shouted after them. The Pop Queen turned around and once she saw them, she alerted her mom to call off the search party. Emerald flew over to them. "How did you get out?! Phoenix said you could die if we didn't hurry up!"

"He said what?!" Ocean ran after Phoenix. The dove saw him and sped off screaming. "There's crazy troll after me!!!"

*Esmerald's Point of View*

"You got the new test pilot?" Emerald asked me. I nodded. "Yep! And this time it shouldn't be edible!" I pulled the pinecone out of my hair. Emerald grabbed it excitedly. "Yes! C'mon!" Her and Poppy started flying off towards the building. I had to find Journey, Ocean, River, Phoenix, Iris, and Adventure first though. Once I found all of them we started towards the building.

Once we made it to the building, Branch hooked up the camera to the pinecone and made sure it worked. After he saw that it did, he gave it to Emerald to put in the building. She did and pushed a few buttons to send the building off. Once it disappeared we went to go look at the cameras, sure enough I was able to see what I haven't been to see for days - my home!

Everyone cheered excitedly! "It works! It works!" We all started hugging each other happily. Then it was time for the building to send us home.

A\N : And that's a wrap! I know this chapter wasn't the best, but I worked really hard on it, so I hope you like it. Word Count : 2,803. Quiet a lot! So I think I'm gonna have one more chapter in this book, before I get to the Epilogue.😇💖 I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks so much for all of you who read it this far! I know it isn't that good, but I tried and put my whole heart into it so for those of you who like it thanks so much!🥺🥺🥺💖💖💖😭😭😭 So that's all for now, see ya in Chapter 24!😇🥺💖 Keep being amazing and have an amazing rest of your day and or night! Baii!!🥺😇💖🥰

EsmeraldLovesBroppy 😇💖🥺🥰