Trolls World Tour

by David Lewman

  DreamWorks Trolls World Tour © 2020 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, and in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto. Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  rhcbooks.com

  ISBN 9780593122907 (hardcover)

  ISBN 9780593122914 (paperback)

  Ebook ISBN 9780593122921

  v5.4

  ep

  Contents

  Cover

  Copyright

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Insert

  Once upon a time, two Trolls named Poppy and Branch saved the world. Poppy became queen, Branch found his true colors, and they became best friends. Hooray!

  What Poppy and Branch didn’t know was that their world was a lot bigger than they thought. Like, a lot bigger.

  Imagine a scene like this:

  Deep, deep in the dark ocean depths lies the watery kingdom of the Techno Trolls. The inky darkness pulses with neon lights as the Trolls’ beautiful, shimmering mermaid tails wave in unison. They dance to the pounding, throbbing beats of their Techno music. THOOMPA! THOOMPA! THOOMPA! THOOMPA! It’s like every night is the best night ever!

  It is at one of these nightly dance parties that our story begins…to go wrong. So wrong. Just keep reading. You’ll see….

  King Trollex was playing a thumping Techno song from his royal DJ booth. “One more time!” he sang to his fellow Techno Trolls, who were overjoyed by the sound of the beats. He swam around the booth, swishing his plaid fins, his glowing green hair waving in the water.

  A whole family of Techno Trolls danced along to the music—even their baby! He felt the music from the tip of his tail to the top of his single strand of hair. His tiny heart was visible through his translucent body, lighting up in time to the rhythm of the tune. And he wasn’t the only one—all the Techno Trolls’ hearts were beating together as one.

  Putting on his headphones, King Trollex called out, “What’s up, my Techno Trolls?” He pumped his rainbow-striped arms over his head.

  The crowd cheered. They loved their undersea kingdom, their king, and their driving techno beats.

  “Tonight is about family, love, and music,” King Trollex continued. “Come on…let me see you jump! One, two, three, four!”

  The Techno Trolls jumped in groups, sending a wave pattern circling around the town center.

  “Get ready for the drop!” the king shouted. He swam around his booth, using the power of his tail to glide through the water. As he swam, the crowd’s anticipation for the musical drop—when the beat changed—grew and grew.

  King Trollex paused in front of his control panel and looked down at the button for the drop. “Are you ready?” he asked the cheering crowd, which throbbed up and down like musical sound waves.

  King Trollex smiled. “Wait for it…,” he said to himself as the crowd grew wilder. “Wait for it…wait for it…wait for it….” He swam through the dancers, who were practically losing their minds.

  King Trollex let the tension build.

  “Just do it already!” a Techno Troll shouted.

  Finally, King Trollex said, “One more time!”

  BOOM. He slammed his fist on the beat-drop button, and the beat finally dropped! The crowd of dancing Techno Trolls went positively wild, loving it! They jumped, swayed, and shimmied to the beat of the music.

  In the distance, a large dark creature swam toward the bright lights of the dance party.

  King Trollex noticed the looming figure approaching. He squinted, trying to make out what it was. It didn’t look friendly.

  The king pressed another button, and the techno music faded out. All the Trolls looked up, disappointed. “Don’t worry, everybody,” King Trollex reassured them. “We’ll get back to the party in a minute. Let me just take care of this real quick.”

  He turned to face the creature as it cruised closer. It was black and covered in spikes, with a single big red eye. A sign on its side read ROCK TOUR. Though King Trollex didn’t know it, this fishy beast served as a tour bus. It looked as though it had been made from scraps of denim and black leather, held together with heavy zippers. It was not a friendly look. Half a dozen similar creatures swam up next to it and looked just as menacing.

  The lead creature’s mouth slowly unzipped with a horrible grinding metal noise to reveal its pilot. She was dressed in black leather and denim with a Mohawk haircut standing straight up from her head. She wore two earrings in her right ear, one earring in her left ear, and a black leather band with metal studs on her wrist.

  “Hey, man!” Her eyes glowed red. “There he is! King Trollex of the Techno Trolls, right?”

  Trollex looked up at her, surprised that this stranger knew his name. What did she want? “That’s right,” he said. “Who’s asking?”

  “Queen Barb,” the pilot answered. “Of the Rocker Trolls. Didn’t you get my invitation? I could have sworn I sent you one.”

  King Trollex didn’t remember any invitation. He turned to his fellow Techno Trolls. “Uh, did anybody see an invitation?” he asked.

  “Nope,” a Techno Troll at the back of the crowd called out. “No invitation.”

  King shrugged. “Mail’s a pretty low priority around here.”

  “Okay, cool-cool-cool,” Queen Barb said. “Well, it just would’ve explained that I’m throwing the biggest party the world has ever seen, and…I’m going to need your string, bro.”

  The Techno Trolls frowned. Their string? They couldn’t give away their string. It was too important! They needed it to make their music!

  King Trollex had no intention of giving away the Techno Trolls’ string.

  “No way,” he told Queen Barb. “If we lose our string, we lose our music.”

  Queen Barb smiled. But no one would mistake it for a friendly smile. It was pretty scary, actually.

  “Oh, you mean your bleeps and bloops?” Queen Barb sneered. She sarcastically imitated the sound of the electronic Techno music. “Beep-beep-beep bwoop.” Still smiling her nasty smile, she shook her head. “Yeah, that’s not music. Do you wanna hear some real music?” She called out, “ROCKERS!”

  More glowing red eyes appeared around the Techno Trolls—Queen Barb’s rockers. King Trollex looked frightened, and so did the beat-drop button and the other Techno Trolls. Queen Barb’s creatures unzipped their mouths, revealing the Rocker Trolls within.

  KA-WHAM! With a thunderous opening chord, the rockers started to play blaring rock music, blasting it at peak volume. Queen Barb’s drummer, Riff, sat behind a huge set o
f drums. He pounded out a flashy drumroll, slammed his head into a tom-tom, and hit the cymbals with both sticks. CRASH! An underwater shock wave rolled through, driving back King Trollex and the rest of the Techno Trolls.

  It didn’t stop there. KA-WHEEM! KA-WHOM! KA-WHAMMY! The Rocker Trolls unleashed the full power of their instruments on the poor Techno Trolls.

  “Okay, okay, enough! Stop!” King Trollex cried, covering his ears. “You’re harshing the vibe we worked very hard to build.”

  Queen Barb grinned an evil grin. “But by the end of my world tour, bro, we’re all going to have the same vibe. We’re all going to be One Nation of Trolls, Under Rock!”

  She grabbed an electric guitar and thrashed out a massive chord, sending off a huge rock shock wave that destroyed the coral reef under the DJ booth. WHA-RAAMMMMM!

  “WHO’S READY TO ROCK?” Queen Barb screeched.

  The next morning in the faraway land of the Pop Trolls, Queen Poppy woke up in her fuzzy pod home, which hung from the branch of a huge, thick tree. She jumped out of bed, eager to start a new day. First, she hopped into her glitter shower. (There’s nothing like a stream of shiny glitter to make you feel sparkling fresh!) Then she brushed her teeth with a lollipop (a method that works just fine for Trolls, but isn’t recommended for human beings). As she brushed, each tooth temporarily turned a different color!

  After Poppy’s shower, she sang a song about how happy she was to be queen, and how Trolls loved having fun. Glowbugs flew over with her blue dress. They dropped it over her head, and she wriggled into it. She danced over to a mirror and fixed her hair as the Glowbugs gently placed her crown on her head. Proud of their accomplishment, the Glowbugs high-fived. SMACK!

  Poppy was still singing as she flung open the doors of her pod. Outside in the bright sunlight, all the other Trolls in the village were gathered in the village square, singing and dancing. Queen Poppy quickly joined their dance, spinning and kicking as they sang a happy pop tune about Troll life: HAVING FUN!

  Actually, not all the Trolls were there. Branch was still in his heavily fortified underground bunker. In his hand he held a framed picture covered with a sign that read NOTHING IMPORTANT. He lifted the sign and stared at a picture of himself with Poppy. He sighed. He wanted to tell the queen how he felt about her—he liked her a lot—but could never seem to summon the courage. Maybe the morning dance would help psych him up! He decided to go up and dive in!

  Outside, he jumped onto a flower. SPROING! The flower vaulted him high into the air. With his hair, he caught a zip line and slid into the village square, dropping right next to Poppy. She smiled at Branch, and he fell in with the morning’s song and dance.

  But to him, Troll life wasn’t just about fun and games. Poppy was now their queen, with official duties, and Branch was going to do everything he could to help her perform them as smoothly and easily as possible. This took planning.

  “All right, Queen Poppy,” Branch said, trying to get down to business even though the song was still going on. Poppy was only halfway paying attention to him. “I’ve prepared an agenda for the day.” He propped up a board with a list displayed in his clear, bold handwriting.

  “I hope it says ‘singing, dancing, and hugging,’ ” Poppy said.

  “Uh, isn’t that what we do every day?” Branch asked.

  “Yeah!” Poppy said, holding up a pair of colorful skates. “Good times!”

  She thought about a happy day earlier in the week, when she and her friends had skated around the village singing a pop tune about good times. She was still lost in the memory when she heard a familiar voice yell, “Poppy, come quick! It’s an EMERGENCY!”

  She and Branch ran over to a nearby clearing and found the village’s most glittery Troll, Guy Diamond, sitting on a purple mushroom. He looked scared.

  “What’s wrong?” Poppy asked, concerned.

  “I’m having a…BABY!” Guy cried.

  Satin and Chenille, the twin Trolls who were connected by their rainbow hair, urgently knitted outfits for the new baby. “We’re on jumpsuit duty!” they said in unison.

  Cooper, the village’s most unusual Troll, with his four legs and green felt hat, was excited. “I get to be a role model!”

  “I don’t want to be a big sister,” tiny Smidge pouted.

  POP! A little egg burst out of Guy’s silver hair! It cracked open in midair, and a tiny glitter Troll came out! Silver with a green nose, the little one was sucking his thumb.

  “Awwwww,” everyone gushed when they saw the cute new Troll.

  “What should I name him?” Guy Diamond asked, thrilled.

  “Hmm,” Poppy said, thinking. “How about…Tiny Diamond?”

  Tiny Diamond jumped to his feet and put on big square sunglasses with yellow lenses and thick black frames. He surprised the Trolls by delivering an expert rap in a deep voice. They loved the little Troll’s large personality—and the big finish to his song ending in an explosion of glitter was better than fireworks!

  To celebrate the arrival of Tiny Diamond, all the Trolls sang and danced, bouncing upside down on their hair, building to a grand finale. Another fun, super-sunshiny day had begun.

  As the Trolls started off for the day’s activities, Poppy complimented them on their fine performances in their morning song and dance. “Hey, that was some fancy footwork, Cooper!” she called out.

  “Some people just got it,” Cooper said, grinning and doing a funky little move.

  “Biggie! Mr. Dinkles!” she said to the big blue Troll and his beloved pet worm. “You two were on fire.” In fact, Mr. Dinkles still had a few flames flickering on him.

  “Yeah,” Biggie said apologetically. “Sorry about that, Queen Poppy.” He quickly put out Mr. Dinkles’s flames and made sure he was okay.

  “Mew,” Mr. Dinkles said, a little smoke rising from his round mouth. He was fine.

  Poppy pointed to another Troll, Legsly. She wore an ankle bracelet on one of her very stretchy legs. “I’m diggin’ that new anklet, Legsly!”

  “Thanks, Poppy!” Legsly called back. “Kisses and doughnuts and sprinkles!” She blew kisses and ran off to join her friends, her anklet jingling as she went. JINGLE-JANGLE!

  “What a Troll,” Branch said, amazed once again by Legsly’s exceptional sweetness.

  Guy Diamond walked by with Tiny Diamond perched on his shoulder, proudly showing off his new son to everyone in the village.

  “Tiny Diamond!” Poppy called to the new arrival. “Welcome to the family, little buddy!”

  “Thanks, Aunt Poppy!” Tiny Diamond said in his deep voice. He pointed to Guy Diamond. “And thanks to this silver-haired daddy of mine for bringing me into this world.”

  “I never knew my heart could be so full,” Guy Diamond said joyfully in his signature auto-tuned voice.

  As they walked off, Tiny Diamond threw a peace sign from his perch on his father’s glittery shoulder. “Peace and love!” he called. “Bless up. Tiny and Daddy out.”

  “Okay, bye!” Poppy called after them, waving.

  The Trolls went their separate ways, leaving Poppy and Branch alone. Branch realized this was a good opportunity to tell Poppy just how he felt about her. He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and walked up to her.

  “Hey, um, Poppy?” he said, trying to sound casual and not at all nervous. “There’s something I was hoping to ask you. I mean, I guess it’s something I want to tell you….”

  They strolled over to a garden full of flowers. Poppy nuzzled a fuzzy, buglike creature, then picked up a can full of glitter water and began to water the flowers. “Uh-huh…,” she said as she tended to the plants.

  “But listen,” Branch continued a bit awkwardly. “You could feel free to respond to what I tell you with an answer if you wanted.” Ugh, this is NOT going the way I planned, Branch thought. It is NOT going smoothly at
all.

  “Sure, what’s up?” Poppy said pleasantly.

  “What’s up is…,” Branch said hesitantly, “I…I…I…wanted to tell you that…”

  He trailed off. He just couldn’t tell her. What if she rejected him? What if she was disgusted? What if she laughed at him? Branch didn’t think he could handle that. Not at all. The risk of revealing exactly how he felt was just too great. He couldn’t do it.

  Poppy looked at Branch expectantly.

  He sighed. He couldn’t say what he wanted to say, but now he had to say something. So he just went with a general compliment. “You’re crushing it at this queen thing.”

  Poppy smiled. “Aw, Branch. Thank you! Being a good queen is the most important thing in the world to me. Other than being your friend.”

  Branch heard the word “friend” echoing in his mind. “Friend…friend…friend…”

  He shook his head and snapped out of his romantic funk, but still just stood there awkwardly. Poppy noticed.

  “Uhhh, five it up?” she said, raising her hand to high-five her friend. Branch tried to slap her hand, but missed completely. WHIFF!

  Poppy looked puzzled. Usually her high fives were great! “Huh,” she said. “Could’ve been better. Let’s try that again.”

  She held her hand up. Branch swiped his hand at it. WHIFF!

  “Okay, one more,” Poppy said, certain the first two misses had just been flukes.

  This time when Branch tried to high-five Poppy, their pinky fingers just barely brushed each other. Technically, it wasn’t a miss. But it also wasn’t much of a high five without the satisfying SMACK.

  “Huh,” Poppy said, genuinely confused. “For some reason we can’t seem to make a good connection.”