Branch and Aria wandered up the mountain, the darkness of night creating an eery atmosphere. Branch in particular was nervous, wondering why on earth he had to come with Aria to investigate the sky crystal.

"Ari, just out of curiosity..." Branch asked. "Why did you choose me to come with you?"

"Well we have to be quiet, and the others aren't the best at keeping on the quiet side." Aria said back. "We can't draw attention to ourselves, since I'm not really supposed to be found back here." Branch turned to Aria.

"D-did Zora say what would happen if you returned?" Branch stuttered.

"Oh yeah, she said she would shatter my gem before the whole tribe." Aria replied casually. Branch gulped.

"O-oh..." He shivered.

"So, what's new with you and Poppy?" Aria asked, trying to change the subject. She caught Branch off guard, leaving him slightly surprised about the question.

"Oh...well if you must know, we're celebrating our anniversary on Friday." Branch informed. Aria looked back at him, happy for him.

"That's great!" Aria exclaimed. "Anniversary of what?"

"Since we first fell in love...on our journey to save our friends from bergen town." Branch said bashfully. But his face turned suddenly into a frown.

"What's wrong? Aren't you looking forward to it?" Aria asked.

"I had a huge surprise planned for her...but it got ruined." Branch sighed. Aria looked at him attentively. "Now I have nothing else to give her." Aria didn't know what to say. She just placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"You'll think of something, I just know it!" She assured him.

"Thanks Ari." Branch smiled.

***

The two trolls eventually reached the top of the mountain, just in front of the cave where the great sky crystal was kept. But Aria was confused. The Great Sky Crystal was so bright its golden glow could be seen from far away, yet this time, the cave remained dark. So dark that they couldn't see their own hands in front of their faces.

"That can't be good-OW!" Aria's leg caught against something as she tripped and landed on her front.

"Ari! Are you okay?" Branch asked as he made his hair glow a pale blue color to see what had happened. Aria pushed herself up onto her knees.

"Yeah I'm fine." Aria replied. "What did I trip o..." Aria and Branch froze when they saw that she had just tripped over an unconscious troll.

"AHH!!" They both yelped as they scrambled backwards. Aria stepped forward to investigate the troll.

"Are they dead?" Branch asked nervously. Aria checked the troll's wrist for a pulse, she sighed when she felt eventually felt a slow pulse.

"He's alive, just unconscious." Aria explained. She looked at the troll's gem around his neck. It had the sky symbol engraved into it, a swirled shape almost in the shape of an 's'. "He has a sky guardian." Branch lit his hair up to glow brighter before the two of them gasped sharply. There were more trolls lying unconscious on the cold stone floor. "The guards." Aria sighed. She looked further to see the Great Guardian Crystal fallen on its side, parts of it completely shattered.

"They got to the crystal..." Branch said, horrified.

"Every troll with a sky guardian..." Aria said sadly, before her eyes went wide with horror when she realized something. Her brother has a sky guardian. "Oh no...Ash!" Aria cried as she turned tail and ran towards the cave, Branch following behind. "We have to get to the village!"

The two trolls stopped dead in their tracks as a figure emerged in front of them, blocking their path. It was an elf; he carried a torch in his hand to illuminate the dark.

"Don't take another step, outcast!" The elf threatened. Branch and Aria froze, not knowing what to do. "Zora will be happy when she finds out I killed the outcast and her pathetic friend." The elf stepped forward, taking out a sword from his belt. Aria reacted quickly and stood in front of Branch.

"You can't kill us!" Aria barked back. Branch looked at her, confused. Echo appeared in the form of a lynx and stood low by her side, snarling.

"Heh! I can, and I will!" The elf chuckled.

"Me and my 'pathetic friend' are under the protection of Kairi. Goddess of the ocean and the daughter of mother nature!" Aria said sternly. Branch looked at her with a dry look, slightly offended.

"What? The spirits from your tribe's little fairy tales?" The elf asked. "Sure, an all-powerful goddess protecting a little thing like you."

"I'm not saying you have to believe me." Aria said. "You can kill us, strike us down right here. But you will find out yourself the curse of Kairi. She will fill every day of your life with suffering until the day you die." She threatened, keeping her eyes locked on him. "It's your choice." The elf stood, confused if not scared. He shook his head and looked back at Aria with anger in his eyes.

"My choice is to strike you down and take your heads as trophies!" The elf bellowed. Aria shut her eyes as the elf came running towards them, hoping for Kairi to come to her. A burst of bright blue light shone from behind Branch and Aria. They all squinted at the blinding light as Kairi emerged in her manta ray form with huge balls of water splashing down. The elf looked up in fear. "It can't be..." He retreated slightly, holding the torch up towards her.

Aria and Branch took their chance while the elf was distracted. They ran passed him with Kairi following.

"Come on!" Aria called to Branch. Kairi formed large droplets of water as stepping stones for the two trolls to jump on to escape off the mountain. They both jumped off of the last droplet as Echo transformed into a large macaw, catching them and flying them away to safety. Kairi immediately vanished after that

"Get them!" They heard the elf bellow and before they knew it, hundreds of arrows came flying towards them.

"Echo! Get us out of here!" Aria cried. Echo flapped her wings faster and faster as Branch and Aria held on tightly. Suddenly an arrow flew against Branch's arm, leaving a gash as he cried out in pain. The force of the arrow was so strong that it caused Branch to lose his balance and fall off of the side of Echo, he grabbed onto Echo's leg with his injured arm, but it was so weak that he was starting to lose his grip. "Branch!" Aria reacted quickly and jumped off of Echo's side, holding onto her leg and only just managing to grab Branch by his other arm.

"We need to get out of range!" Branch called to Aria. Another arrow was about to hit him from behind, but he lifted and tucked his legs into his chest, just barely missing it. "Get to the ground and hide!" Echo obeyed and started to fall to the ground.

"Brace yourself! This is gonna hurt!" Aria cried. They all landed with a loud thud on the forest floor. They could hear the elves shouting, asking if they had shot the three of them down. Echo disappeared to prevent the elves from seeing them. "We need to get to the stump." Aria whispered to Branch who was lying on his side and wincing in pain, gripping his injured arm tightly. "Just a little further." Aria assured him as she helped him up and they cautiously walked to find the stump.

"They landed around here, they couldn't have gone far." One of the elves ordered. "Especially not after a fall like that." Aria moved her hand, indicating for Branch to move quickly. They reached the stump and quietly slid underneath it, leading to the tunnel that took them to their hidden hideaway. Before crawling through the tunnel, they collapsed onto the stone floor, recovering from the shock they had just experienced.

"Finally, let's get to the othe-" Branch was cut off when Aria put a hand to his mouth, shushing him. He pushed her hands away. "What are you doing?"

There was a loud thud sound from above them. Both of them jolted as Branch immediately cupped him hands around his mouth. Footsteps. It was the elves. The two trolls tried to not move a muscle, not even to breathe. They waited in silence for what seemed like an eternity.

"They're not here." The elf called. "Check the clearings again." The footsteps sounded again but slowly died down. Both Aria and Branch sighed in relief before crawling through the tunnel and reaching the hideaway.

"There you guys are!" Barb exclaimed as she saw Aria and Branch.

"We were so worried!" Poppy cried, before spotting Branch's injured arm. "Branch! Your arm!" She rushed over to tend to him, hugging him close as she checked his wound. "Aw my poor baby."

"It's not that bad, it's just a flesh wound." Branch said, trying to hide the pain.

"I've got bandages in my satchel to patch you up with." Aria stated. Branch nodded, appreciating her help.

***

Aria slumped against one of the rocks in the hideaway, she watched sadly as Poppy patched up Branch's injured arm. She looked around at the other trolls, they all seemed surprisingly calm and optimistic, including Barb which was saying something. It was as if they had no idea how much danger lay ahead of this mission.
But most of all, what Aria could think about, was that the Great Sky Crystal was broken. Every troll with a sky guardian would fall unconscious, unable to wake up. Including her own brother, Ash. And if the crystal wasn't restored soon, they would never wake up again.

"So what do we do now?" Barb asked as she approached Aria.

"What?" Aria asked.

"What's our next move?" Barb asked again. The other trolls all looked in their direction, awaiting a response.

"Well I guess the next thing to do is go to the other Great Guardian Crystals and make sure Zora doesn't reach them." Aria explained. The trolls fell silent.

"Will...will the sky crystal ever be restored?" Branch asked. Aria hesitated, looking down at the ground.

"I-I don't know." Aria sighed. "If Kairi came to guide us and help us on this mission, maybe Sana can too and restore her crystal." There was a sense of uncertainty in her voice. Poppy stepped forward to lighten the mood.

"Then we go to the other crystals before Zora does!" Poppy exclaimed. Aria looked at her doubtfully.

"Not we..." Aria sighed. "Me."

All the trolls looked stunned.

"What?" They all blurted.

"That last move was way too dangerous." Aria said sadly. "I could've got Branch killed." Branch looked at her with disbelief in his eyes. "If anything were to happen to any of you, I could never forgive myself!"

"Ari, you can't do this on your own!" Poppy said, stepping close to her and taking her hands.

"I have Echo to protect me." Aria said sternly. "You don't have guardians to protect you."

"You're forgetting that the point of Zora's plan is to separate you from your guardian!" Barb butted in. "What if you die out there on your own and we can't do anything to help you?" Aria was silent, she turned her head away.

"You can't do this without us, Ari." Poppy assured. "Just like how we can't do this without you." Aria looked up at the others, they all nodded in agreement. Poppy was right.

"Okay." Aria gave in. "Try to get some rest and I'll figure something out."

***

Zora returned to her hut in the village as she sneered. One crystal was already down. Once all three were destroyed, no one could stop her. She sat at her desk and stared down at a map of the Isles, trying to find where the earth and ocean crystals could be.

"Zora, we have unexpected news." One elf stood at the doorway. Zora looked back at him with piercing eyes.

"How unexpected?" She spoke through gritted teeth which made the other elf uneasy.

"The troll you had exiled the other day...has returned." He said. Zora thrashed her head around. "She was found with another troll at the site of the sky crystal."

"Another troll?" She asked. "How could anyone have left the village?"

"This troll didn't appear to be a Lost Troll, ma'am." He explained. "There was no sight of a guardian with him, or a crystal around his neck." Zora was furious, she smacked her fist down onto the wooden desk.

"How can there be other trolls?!." Zora said angrily. She took a deep breath and calmed down slightly. "No matter, that just gives me an excuse to use this little trinket." Zora walked over to her satchel and took out a dim ruby, showing it to the elf.

"I thought we had to destroy the crystals, not bring more." The elf said, confused.

"Are you really that stupid?" Zora chuckled. "My great great grandfather found this years ago from the last battle between the elves and trolls." She placed the crystal on the floor and closed her eyes. "I know you're there." She said in a low tone.

"Are you talking to that thing?" The elf questioned.

"Shut up you idiot!" She snapped before turning back to the crystal. "You're like me, you have some unfinished business to attend to." She placed her hands on the ruby, closing her eyes. The crystal started to glow brighter and brighter. Zora looked down at it and sneered.
"Those pixies don't stand a chance." Zora chuckled.

***

In the middle of the night, everyone was in a deep sleep. Poppy and Branch had their arms around each other, both Hickory and Trollex were snoring. Aria, however, was wide awake. Her back was slumped against a nearby rock as she kept watch of the others with her head in her palms. Poppy awoke suddenly and noticed how tense Aria looked so she decided to check on her. She carefully moved away from Branch, trying not to wake him. He just looked too cute when he slept.

"Hey." Poppy whispered, not wanting to wake the others up. "You okay?" Aria dragged her hands down her face as she turned to face the pop queen.

"Yeah...just..." Aria sighed. "A third of my entire tribe was wiped out in a matter of minutes, and knowing Zora, she probably won't stop until all the lost trolls are gone." Poppy looked at her attentively. "And the real scary thing is...I'm the only one in my tribe who can stop her."

"You've got us." Poppy reassured, putting a hand on her shoulder. Aria smiled, appreciating her words.

"Yeah, I do. Thanks Poppy." Aria smiled. "I guess I just don't want to mess this up."

The two trolls suddenly turned their heads towards the tunnel of the hideaway.

They heard footsteps.

Someone had found them