The True King of Techno {Trolls World Tour}

Sequel Ch.17

With Poppy, Branch, Barb and Riff: 

The four Trolls were walking down the tunnel, heading towards the mines like they had originally planned. 

Everyone was silent, refusing to speak. 

Branch and Poppy were walking ahead of the two Rock Trolls, Branch examining the map every few minutes to see how far they were from the old mines. 

Poppy wanted to talk so badly, to just get everyone to brighten up, but even she knew that trying to get everyone to speak was a horrible idea. 

Especially at a time like this. 

Riff had his arm wrapped around Barb, helping the Queen of Rock walk. Barb was limping slightly, her arm wrapped around her ribs as she felt the slight stinging pain. 

Branch didn’t want to speak, afraid that he may say something that offended the two Rock Trolls further. Branch knew that he had the tendency to speak without thinking sometimes, and he was trying to be more careful about it. 

Riff was silent, refusing to speak to anyone unless spoken to first. He knew that his behavior and attitude towards the two Pop Trolls was unacceptable, and on a normal basis, he would feel bad afterwards. His attitude was like Barb’s, the two having spent some personal time together for a while and getting to know each other better on a more personal level. 

Barb wanted to say something, but knew that it would be a bad idea to speak because she knew that whatever she said, it would only sound mean and rude. She was trying NOT to be mean like she used to, and she had really improved on holding back on speaking her opinion, thinking before speaking. 

The air around the four was dry, almost suffocating. 

Branch sighed, folding the map and stuffing it into his backpack. 

“Look, you two, I apologize for the way I’ve been behaving. I just have the tendency to talk without thinking, like most of us do” said Branch, turning to glance over his shoulder at the two Rock Trolls. 

Barb’s eyes narrowed, glaring at the King of Pop. 

“Are you implying something?” asked Barb suspiciously, detecting a slight hint of sarcasm in Branch’s voice. 

“What? No, I’m not implying anything. I’m just simply saying that most of us don’t think before we speak, like me and you and several other Trolls” said Branch quickly, trying to recover from what he said. 

Barb and Riff just glared at Branch, feeling like he had implied that they were the worst of those he mentioned. 

Deciding not to say anything, the two kept silent as they exchanged glances. 

Several minutes of walking passed, the group of four finally made it to the old mine, the very same one that Trollex and Beat had been in several hours before. 

“Wow, you were right about this place, Branch. I wonder what they were mining down here” said Poppy, smiling as she looked around in awe. 

Branch smiled and nodded, walking over to the group of three tables nearby. There were several notes and old maps scattered all over them, but the dirt and dust had been disturbed, as if someone had been down there recently. 

Riff helped Barb over, the two looking through several of the maps that were on another table. 

“Huh, hey Riff, do you remember what you wrote in your notebook? The one Trollex took” asked Branch, glancing over at the right-hand Troll. 

Riff thought for a minute before nodding. 

“Yeah, if I recall correctly, I wrote about how the fountain was built by the very first Troll Leader ancestors. The second generation after their parents died got into an argument about who should own the fountain, and apparently a bunch of thorny vines grew out of the ground beneath it and dragged it underground” explained Riff, summarizing what he remembered.