Poppy and Branch peeked into the room, watching as king Oomar took something out of his pocket.

     "That must be the stone of dreams," Branch whispered to Poppy, his eyes wide, as he watched the Bashoonga king smiling evilly at the stone in his hand.

    "Soon, Trollstopia will be mine, and it's all thanks to you," Oomar said, smiling maliciously as he placed the stone into a secret compartment behind a picture frame.

     Slowly, he looked out the window, the sun beginning to set outside, as he chuckled softly.

     "Almost time," he cackled, as he turned to walk away.

Branch and Poppy stood with their backs up against the wall, as he walked past not even noticing them.

"Ok," Poppy whispered once the Bashoonga king was out of sight. "Let's get that stone."

They ran into the room, Branch suddenly stopping in place as he began to fade away yet again, the sharp stabbing pain shooting through his stomach painfully.

     He shut his eyes tight, clutching his stomach as he tried his best to hold in his screams of pain, not wanting Poppy to notice. He knew they didn't have much time left...

Branch came fully back into existence right as Poppy turned to look at him, seeming concerned.

     "Are you ok?" she asked, noticing he had stopped walking. He didn't want to worry her, so he just stood up straight, faking a smile. "Yep," he told her. "I'm fine. Let's just get that stone."

Poppy moved the picture frame off the wall, seeing the stone of dreams inside a small hole, sparkling in the slowly fading sunlight.

     "Got it," she smirked, carefully reaching into the hole in the wall to grab the stone, but as she lifted the sparkling rock, an alarm began to go off, the sound echoing through the halls. "Ugh-oh..."

"Freeze!" a shout quickly rung out from behind the two trolls.

They both turned quick, seeing hundreds of guards blocking the doorway, one of them being Ooblec.

"Oh great," Branch mumbled, rolling his eyes in frustration. "You..."

Ooblec smiled evilly, as he gripped his staff tightly.

     "This is gonna be fun," he chuckled. "Guards... get them!"

The Bashoongas charged at the command, pointing their spears at the fugitives.

     "Run!" Branch yelled, quickly grabbing onto Poppy's arm, and jumping out the window, pulling her with him.

     They landed on a large platform right below the window, immediately beginning to run, as the Bashoongas chased after them.

     Branch looked back, seeing the guards quickly gaining on the two of them. He knew he had to stall them, so Poppy could get away safely...

     "Poppy... keep running..." he told her firmly, letting go of her arm. "Don't stop no matter what."
"What are you doing?" she asked, looking at him in fear, knowing he was about to do something stupid...

     "Just keep running, and find a way to destroy that stone."
"But Branch..."
"Go!" 

     Branch stopped dead in his tracks, but like he had ordered, Poppy kept running.

     He watched as Poppy fled around the corner, leaving his sight, before finally turning to face the Bashoongas, who had stopped as well, chuckling softly as they slowly began to approach the little troll.

     "Bring it on," Branch said with no fear, narrowing his eyes, as he glared at the guards intimidatingly.

     Ooblec laughed loudly at the troll's words, thinking it was some kind of joke.

     "Don't worry," he said to to other Bashoongas with a quiet chuckle. "I've got this one."

     He raised up his staff, charging quickly at Branch with a shout.

     "RAAAAAAAAAAA!"

     Branch smiled slightly, suddenly punching the ground with his hair, which caused the little troll to fling up into the air, as he did a cool sideways flip over the Bashoonga's head.

     He landed safely back on the ground, smirking up at Ooblec as the Bashoonga turned to look at him in shock, wondering how he had just done that.

     Ooblec's confused look went away after only a few seconds, as he glared at Branch once again, charging once more with yet another victory shout.

     "RAAAAAAAAAAA!"

     Branch rolled out of the way of the attack, quickly whipping his hair forwards to grab the staff from Ooblec's hands.

     Ooblec looked at his now empty hands in confusion, before slowly turning back to Branch, who stood triumphantly, holding the staff proudly.

     "Look who has the staff now," the little troll chuckled, smirking at the Bashoonga who stood before him.

     "Um... uh..." Ooblec stuttered, getting nervous, as he began to slowly back away. "Maybe... you could just give me my staff back, and we'll forget this whole day even happened?"

     Branch glared at him, and then charged, swinging the staff to hit the Bashoonga away.

     "AHHHHH!" Ooblec screamed, flying through the sky, before finally disappearing into the distance.

     Branch smiled yet again, and then slowly turned back to the others, who watched the entire thing play out with scared expressions on their faces.

     "Anyone els?" he asked smugly.

     They all starred for a moment, suddenly dropping their staffs, as they ran away in terror.

"That's what I thought," Branch said, twirling his staff, accidentally bonking himself on the head. "Ow!"

     He blinked, looking at the staff for a moment, before quickly running off to find Poppy.