Chief Tula stood, looking at the dam angrily, basically no water left in the river in front of it.

"Uh... Chief Tula?" a troll said, softly, walking over, fiddling with his fingers.

"Did you get him?"
"Well... uh... you see..."
"Brock!" Chief Tula yelled, spinning around to face him.

Brock shuttered, backing up a bit.

"We did not," he admitted.

Chief Tula grinned, walking past him, her hands behind her back.

"That's ok," she said, softly.
"It... it is?" Brock asked, confused.
"Yep. Cuz we're going to get him right now."
"We are?" Brock questioned, still confused.

Tula nodded, turning to look at him with a malicious grin.

"Yep... cuz I know exactly where he's heading..."

—————————

"Come on! Open, you dumb door!" Barb yelled, tugging as hard as she could on the bar door.

"Uh... Barb... I don't think that's gonna work."
"Sure it is, Popsqueek. I'm the Queen of rock. I can do anything I put my mind to."

She continued to pull on the door, but it remained shut.

"Yeah... but, Barb... you've been doing that for the past hour."
"And any minute... it's gonna... open," she said through gritted teeth, pulling as hard as she could.

As she pulled, her hands became sweaty, causing her to accidentally let go of the bars, and fly backwards into Poppy.

They both tumbled to the ground, placing their hands on their heads, as the groaned.

"Stupid door," Barb muttered, crossing her arms, as she glared at the door. "Doesn't it know who I am? I am Barb!" she shouted, dramatically, rising to her feet. "Queen of..."
"Rock... yeah, yeah. I know," Poppy sighed, rolling her eyes, as she looked away, sadly.

"Hey, Popsqueek... what's wrong?" Barb asked, seeing that Poppy was sad.

"I... I'm just so worried about Branch. What if something really bad happened to him?"

Barb put her hand on Poppy's shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"Hey... look on the bright side..." Poppy looked up at her, smiling a bit, until Barb continued...

"If he is dead, then you can finally get yourself a good boyfriend."

Poppy glared at her, rolling her eyes, as she sighed, looking away again.

"Come on, Popcorn. I was joking," Barb said, playfully punching Poppy's arm.
"I'm not laughing, Barb..." she said, coldly.

Barb frowned, and then sighed.

"Look... I'm not good at all this... mushy stuff, but I do know Branch is fine."

Poppy looked at her again, tears in her eyes.

"You... you really think so?" she asked, wiping her tears away.
"I know so," Barb replied, smiling. "He may be a dork... a geek... a nerd... really annoying..."
"Barb," Poppy interrupted.

Barb blinked, and then shook her head, getting to her point.

"Right. Right. My point is... he loves you. And there's nothing he wouldn't do to make sure your safe. Even defying death, or the laws of physics."

Poppy smiled again, but Barb's smile faded, a confused look popping up on her face, as she looked off into the distance.

"Speaking of defying the laws of physics..." Barb said, slowly.

Quickly, Poppy turned, seeing Branch flying towards them on the water bird.

"Branch!" Poppy yelled, joyfully, grabbing onto the bars with her hands.

"How does he do this stuff?" Barb questioned. "I mean... not only is he sitting on top of water, and not sinking into it, but that water is flying!"

Poppy shrugged.

"It's just convenient to the plot, I guess," she replied.

(Sorry. I had to 😂)

The water bird landed on the ground, allowing Branch to climb off.

He immediately ran to Poppy, hugging her through the bars.

"Poppy," he said, softly. "I'm so glad your safe."
"And I'm glad your safe," Poppy said.
"Hey, hey, hey! What am I? Chaz? I'm safe too! Is no one going to mention me!?"

They both looked over, giving her the 'seriously?' Look.

"Fine. Guess I'm just not important to you two..." she said, jealous, as she turned away, crossing her arms.

Branch smiled, rolling his eyes, as he sighed.

"Ok. Ok. I'm glad you're safe too," he said.
"Awww!" Barb said. "There's the dork I know."

She went over to the bars, grabbing onto him, putting him into a headlock, as she gave him a noogie.

"Enough! Enough!" Branch yelled, pulling away. "Let's just get you two out of there."

He reached into his hair, pulling out Poppy's scrapbook scissors.

"My scissors!? You took those again!?" Poppy yelled. "I've been looking everywhere for them!"
"What? No," Branch lied, chuckling innocently. "These aren't yours. I found them at the... scrapbook store..."

"You refuse to go into the scrapbook store," Poppy objected.

His eyes widened.

"Well... yeah... but I... I..."

She crossed her arms, giving him the 'don't you dare lie to me' look.

He gulped, and then smiled innocently.

"You know what... now's not really the best time to be discussing this," he said, sticking the scissors into the lock of the cage.

He twisted the scissors around in the lock until it finally popped open.

Poppy stepped out of the cage, taking her scissors back, as she glared at Branch.

"We are not done discussing this, mister," she said, firmly, putting the scissors into her hair.

"I... uh... I love you?" he said, smiling innocently.

Poppy rolled her eyes at him, playfully, and then wrapped him in a tight hug.

"I love you two, Branch," she said.

He smiled, hugging her back.

"What a sweet reunion," a voice suddenly interrupted.

They all turned, seeing Chief Tula standing in front of them with Brock, and a bunch of other trolls

Quickly, Branch got in front of Poppy and Barb, putting his arms out to protect them.

"I need the boy alive," Chief Tula said to the other trolls.
"What about the other two?" Brock questioned.

Chief Tula smiled, evilly.

"They are of no use to me."

Poppy and Barb gasped, hiding farther behind Branch, as he glared at Tula, not backing down.