Unconditional: A Broppy Story

Part II

Poppy was too sad to go home that night, so she fell asleep on the cold forest floor. The following morning, she awoke to a sound she never heard before. Poppy opened her eyes to find a big, blue spider trotting towards her! She tried to run, but ended up tripping on a sharp rock and cutting her leg. She tried to get back up, but her leg hurt too much and the spider was suddenly standing above her. He lowered his head down to her face and bit off... one of the flowers on her hair band.

The young princess was confused. What kind of spider ate flowers instead of Trolls? At that moment, Poppy noticed someone Troll-sized and in shining armor dismounting themselves from the spider's back. The Troll removed their helmet and Poppy saw a friendly purple face with messy hair and aquamarine eyes.

“Hi, new friend! My name's Lavender!" she greeted cheerfully.

“Oh, hello," Poppy said in relief. “I thought that– Ow!"

“Ooh, that leg looks bad," Lavender pointed out, pulling out a first-aid box. “Good thing I always bring this with me. Now, hold still."

“Um, aren't you afraid of that spider eating us?" Poppy asked nervously as Lavender rubbed disinfectant on her wound. The spider just went to munch on a patch of grass.

“Who, Mister Bubbles? He's just a saddle spider," Lavender explained, wrapping gauze around her ankle. “They only eat plants. The only problem is they're difficult to tame, but we Pop Trolls of Ornery Grove are equally stubborn."

“Ornery Grove? Where's that?" Poppy wondered.

“On the other side of Rapid River. It's a five day trip on spiderback."

“Yo, Poppy! Where are you?" a voice called out, and out from the bushes emerged a mud-colored Troll with a red mohawk and a large chunk of her ear ripped off.

“Hard Rock Troll!" Lavender screamed in terror. She curled up into a fetal position and made a dark green dome with her hair. Poppy just decided to ignore her.

“Barb, what are you doing here?" she asked the Hard Rock Troll.

“Your dad called for an emergency meeting with all the other leaders," she answered, helping the Pop princess up. “Val told me about that kid. I'm really sorry."

“I don't know what to do, Barb," Poppy admitted. “Nothing is working. Not even the Trolls from the other tribes have been able to do much."

“We'll figure something out, Popsqueak," Barb tried to reassure her. “Come on. Let's get you back to the village."

“Just give me a minute," Poppy said, and stumbled to the hair dome. She pushed some of Lavender's hair open and stepped inside.

“So, your name's Poppy?"

“Yes, I'm Poppy," she answered. “It's safe to come out, you know."

Lavender peeked through her hair to see Barb tapping her foot with her arms crossed.

“No, it's not," she argued. “That Hard Rock Troll's still out there."

“Oh, that's just Queen Barb," Poppy assured her. “She's my best friend."

“Best friend?!" Lavender exclaimed. “Are you crazy? Don't you know that Hard Rock Trolls can steal your luminescence?"