|Two days later |
Claire, Toby and Wei arrive at Jim's house, having heard in troll market that Blinky temporarily turned into a human and Jim is showing him around.
The group quickly excuse themselves from Jim's mother, whom they told that Blinky is the schools guidance counselor, to talk in private and make their way out of the house.
"So, how did this happen exactly?" Wei asks, looking at the humanized Blinky.
"I have no idea. My best guess is the gas explosion in Gatto's keep." Blinky answers.
"So what now Blink? It's your big day." Toby asks.
"Heavens, there is so much to do and so little time. I could go to the beach, get a tan and lord, I could get behind the wheel of an automobile." Blinky says excitedly.
"Well the day is almost over, but I know exactly what to do."
|an hour later|
"Hey, Jim can I talk to you in private for a moment?" Wei asks, the two of them being the last two in their group of five.
"Sure, what's up?" Jim asks surprised.
"It's about Gunmar's birthstone. Before you decide to do anything with it, please let me see it one more time. There's something I need to check." Wei requests.
"OK. I don't have it right now though." Jim tells him.
"Where is it then?" Wei asks.
"Wendel is holding onto it. I wouldn't know how to use it by my self anyways." Jim informs him.
"OK, I'll go see him soon then." Wei says before the two boys catch up to the rest od the group who have stopped at the top of the mountain they were hiking up, looking at a sunset.
Claire is looking back at the two boys, the sundown blocking them from seeing her face and Jim quickly joins her at the edge of the mountain while Wei sits down on a large rock to the side of the group, his marked goblin crawling out from his bag and sighing contently while watching the sunset.
"Waka waka." Wei says, causing the group to look at him surprised.
"Waka chaka chaka." The goblin replies with a wide grin, making Wei snicker, surprising the group who have never seen him look so relaxed.
"Thank you for today master Jim, I enjoyed this, though I really am wondering how long this will last. I'm still not comfortable in this skin." Blinky says, pinching his forearm.
"Don't worry Blink. This time maybe I can teach you something." Jim tells their companion.
"This view is amazing, how did you hear about this place?" Jim asks, sitting down next to Claire on a bench while Blinky and Toby try to talk to Wei's Goblin.
"Logan brought me up here, to ask me out to Spring Fling." Claire answers.
"Well, what did you tell him?" Jim asks.
"I told him I was waiting for someone else to ask me." Claire says, looking at him shyly.
"You did huh? Maybe you should've accepted..." Jim tells her.
"What about you, any plans yet?" She asks Jim, surprised at his reply.
"I was thinking I'm going to ask out Mary Wang." Jim confesses awkwardly.
"Mary?" Claire asks shocked.
"Look Claire, I'm sorry. For the longest time I was hoping you and I... but the more time we spend together, the more I realize that I think of you more as family, instead of someone I want to date." Jim confesses, twiddling with his thumbs anxiously.
"I... I see." Claire says with a downcast expression and stands up, walking to the edge of the mountain, sitting down on it.
"What was that dude?" Toby asks shocked, he and Blinky having eavesdropped on the two.
"I did it. I finally told her the truth." Jim says relieved.
"When did your feelings for her change?" Toby asks shocked.
"I don't know, since deciding to save her brother and kill Gunmar." Jim says.
"Hah, and here I thought I had you figured out. Well at least someone will be happy at hearing those news." Toby says, he and Blinky nodding over to their remaining male comrade, who's feeding his Goblin.
"Something is wrong guys." Wei suddenly says with his usual seriousness in his voice, while setting down his bag, in which his Goblin climbs.
"Wha... golem?" Jim asks, when suddenly one glass monster after another rises out of the surrounding trashcans, 4 in total.
Wei readies his weapon but tosses it to Clair instead of using it himself.
"We need to destroy the totems inside, it was in its chest with the earth golem." Wei says.
"Well that is no problem for the stony fists of justice." Blinky says, punching the first golem in its chest.
"Ahhh, a painful reminder of my current situation." Blinky says, holding his hand in pain.
"We need to hit them hard in one spot. Everyone throw whatever you can at them." Jim says, slicing off an arm from a monster of glass shards, which reforms barely a second or two later.
Blinky then starts throwing rocks he picks up from the ground while Toby uses a trashcan's lid to block an golems attack.
Wei is slashing at the golem in front of her with Wei's voulge and slowly gets through to the totem, prying it out after a handful of slashes and stomps on it.
Jim then sees the troll he saw on the soccer field the other day disappearing into the woods and enraged by Strickler using the troll to bind himself to his mother Jim storms after it, getting caught in a stasis trap.
"Where did Jim go?" Toby asks worried, when he and Blinky get pushed back gradually.
"He ran after some Troll." Claire informs them.
"Angor Rot." Wei says, putting on his mask, with his skin getting enveloped in green markings and his hair getting longer.
He joins Claire's side, who started hitting another golem in its back while Toby and Blinky are chucking rocks at the two golems approaching them. The golem Claire hit turns around and swings his arm, firing a multitude of glass shards at the black-haired girl with her having no way to dodge.
Wei luckily makes it in time and shields the girl while pulling her to the side, getting hit by a handful of shards in the side of his stomach.
Wei quickly picks up the girl, carrying her in front of him over to their two friends and sets her down next to them, taking his weapon back from the girl.
"Hide." Wei grunts at the group, turning towards the three remaining Golems, Claire seeing his left side wet with blood.
He then jumps at the first Golem, kicking it in its head with both feet, knocking it on its back and then does a flip, kicking into the golems chest with an axe kick before punching the totem inside, shattering it and the Golem.
With the first for defeated Wei jumps out of the pile of glass, swinging his weapon in a figure 8, pushing back the second Golem, with its arms and outer part of its chest getting destroyed faster than it can regenerate. The golem tries to squash Wei with a body slam, but he anticipated this and leaps to the side, throwing his weapon like a spear, piercing through the totem inside the golem.
The last Golem rushes at him, seeing an opportunity since Wei doesn't have his weapon, but when it punches him, Wei grabs onto the arm, throwing the giant being over his shoulder against a tree, which gets knocked down from the force, with the last totem rolling out of the glass pile, landing at Wei's feet. He kicks it up and catches it, crushing it in his hand.
"Wow. That was badass!" Toby cheers.
"Impressive." Blinky agrees.
Wei retrieves his bag with his Goblin inside and hands it to Claire when he passes the group, grunting "follow me."
The group quickly finds Jim who is still trapped inside the stasis trap.
Wei throws his weapon at one of the glowing rocks surrounding the teen, freeing him from the trap.
"Where is he?" Wei asks, taking back his weapon.
"He left in a portal." Jim says, rubbing his face, feeling something on it.
"Oh my, master Jim. You bear the mark of Angor Rot. This isn't good at all. What did he do?" Blinky asks, while Wei stores his collapsed weapon in a pocket.
"He said he's going to finish hunting me now that I'm marked and I think he put some kind of spell on me." Jim tells them, dismissing his armor.
"Wei. You should go see a doctor." Claire's concerned voice is then heard while she's holding his arm, with him holding his mask in that arm, holding himself up, hunched over with his other hand resting on his knee.
"Not really an option for me." Wei says, handing the girl his mask and takes his bag.
"Waka waka." Wei says, setting down the bag and his Goblin hurries out, while Wei lies down on the floor.
The group then hear the green Goblin muttering something focused while it checks the glass imbedded in his bleeding side.
"Chaka waka waka." The goblin says, patting his face once, with Wei punching it forcefully in return, a smirk ln his face while the Goblin gets back up, having been knocked over and kicks him in his leg, before starting to pull out the shards one after another.
"Does anyone understand what they were saying?" Toby asks confused, the group having taken a step back when Wei lied down.
"No, I can't say I have." Blinky tells them.
"Only a bit. I think the Goblin said that it's nothing serious and Wei shouldn't be such a whimp." Claire tells them.
"Very good. Looks like you're getting the hang of it." Wei says before hissing, when the Goblin finishes removing the shards and pulls out a vial, pouring its contents onto his wound.
"Arrggh." Wei grunts, clenching up in pain.
"What is it Wei?" Claire asks concerned, rushing to his side.
"Nothing. Goblin medicine just isn't the best experience for humans, even one as distorted as me." Wei tells her, sweating tired.
"Chaka waaaaaka." The Goblin then said, pulling Wei's shirt back in place.
"Yeah, yeah. Go on, I'll manage." Wei tells it, waving at it dismissively.
The Goblin then happily skips away, freaking out the human onlookers.
"What's up with that?" Blinky asks in disbelieve.
"Poker night with old cheese as prizemoney." Wei says grinning, getting back to his feet while holding his hurt side.
"Are you sure you'll be fine? What even happened?" Jim asks.
"He shielded me from a blast of those glass shards." Claire says solemnly.
"I'm fine and don't blame yourself. You handled yourself well out there. And hadn't I hesitated, this wouldn't have happened." Wei says, taking back his eye mask, looking at the object lost in thought.
"Well, master Jim I think we should all head to our homes now. I'm sure Arrrgggh is already waiting for me." Blinky suggests.
"Right. Our parents will get worried." Jim agrees.
The group then heads to their homes, bringing Blinky to troll markets portal first and then head into town, where the group splits up into two, Jim and Toby heading home together and Wei accompanying Claire.
"Wei, you should stay over, just so we can be safe your wound won't cause any problems." Claire suggests.
"What about your parents and how do we explain this?" Wei asks, showing her his usual green shirt wet and blackened from his wound.
"I don't know and honestly it doesn't matter. What matters is that you're going to be OK." Claire tells him.
"I'll be fine. After getting stabbed in the shoulders by Gunmar's horns a few pieces of glass isn't exactly worrying." Wei tells her confidentially.
"That's why you need to stay over. You could get infected or have internal bleeding. You don't know where that glass was before." Claire tells him, grabbing his hand hopeful.
"Fine, I'll sneak in through your window again." Wei agrees grumbling.
"Thanks." She says smiling relieved.
"Give me a few minutes to get to my room." Claire tells him, before entering her home, with Wei ducking under the houses windows and rounds the house until he reaches the side of the house with Claire's window.
He doesn't have to wait long before Claire opens her window, sticking her head outside and shoots him a smile.
The former darklands resident makes his way up to her window and climbs in her room, staying seated on the inside of her windowsill.
"So, did your parents give you any grief?" Wei asks, while she puts away her backpack.
"No, I just told them I showed the schools guidance counsellor around town with Toby and Jim." Claire replies.
"Mhh, not far from the truth I guess." He says, internally being a little upset her parents don't even seem to know about his existence.
"So, I noticed you talked to Jim before Golems stormed the place. Did he ask you to that school dance?" Wei asks.
"We talked about the dance, but no. He's going to ask Mary." Claire informs him, setting up her bed and getting an extra blanket and pillow from a closet, laying them down beside her bed.
"You OK with that?" Wei asks, looking at her.
"He explained why, he sees me as a sister or something after the stuff we went through." Claire says.
"Maybe he's looking for a clingy girl then?" Wei suggests, turning to look into the dark forest behind her house.
"How do you mean?" She asks, removing her hair clips, with her colored bang falling to the side of her face.
"Well, with how you handled yourself and with how fearless you are, you aren't exactly a helpless girl. You're pretty badass." Wei says.
"Thanks... I guess." Claire thanks him, wondering if its a compliment or his way of saying she's not feminine.
"It was a compliment. You're amazing." Wei tells her, hearing her insecurities, while he's still looking out to the forest.
"Tanks." She says, a wide smile on her face this time.
"Uhm, can you turn around? I need to change for bed and with not-Enrique being in the house I don't want to change outside of my room." Claire requests.
Wei wordlessly sits down on the outside windowsill, giving her as much privacy as he can.
The next minute or two all that's heard is the rustling of clothes accompanied by the quiet noises from the animals inside the forest.
"I'm finished." Claire says, being a little embarrassed.
Wei turns around, facing the room and sees her in a purple shirt reaching to her bellybutton and a red pair of shorts, reaching about mid-thigh instead of her previous outfit of pink shirt, purple jacket short black skirt over black stockings.
"What?" She asks embarrassed, trying to pull her short shirt further down, making her look even more seductive.
"Ahem, nothing." Wei says, stammering slightly, a tinge of red being visible on his cheeks.
"Well, I'm gonna lie in bed. You probably should lie down soon too." Claire tells him.
"Right, yeah." He says, entering her room completely and shuts the window behind himself.
Claire in the meantime lied down in her bed, pulling her covers over herself to the middle of her torso.
Wei wordlessly takes off his shoes and then his shirt, getting Claire to blush slightly at his toned muscles being on display in front of her.
"The scar across your stomach, you said you tried to overthrow Gunmar, how exactly did you try that?" Claire asks him, seeing the mark going across his abs.
"I had someone helping me, letting me pass the guards undetected. He looks a lot like Blinky in fact. I think they are related, but I haven't brought it up, because even though he helped me, he isn't one of the good guys, but he's very wise." Wei tells her, sitting down next to her bed, where his makeshift resting place is.
"Blinky mentioned he had a brother, but he said he was dead." Claire says.
"Maybe father or uncle then? Trolls don't exactly age like us." Wei says
"It is possible." Claire agrees, shrugging her shoulders.
"Anyways, after slipping by the guards I tried to take my father out, by stabbing out his other eye, but the moment I entered his throne room he was waiting for me and gave me this as punishment and reminder never to disobey him. That didn't work it seems." Wei tells her chuckling slightly at the end.
"Yes, and I'm glad for that fact. If you were still trying to free him, I doubt we'd be friends, if I'd even still be alive. I mean you saved me the first night we met from the Goblins and that changeling." Claire says.
"I guess, tough now I like to think that you saved me." He says gently.
"How should I have done that? You could literally overpower me with one hand." Claire asks amused by the notion.
"If we hadn't met, I probably would have followed up in freeing Gunmar after Bular's fall and send this world into chaos." Wei explains, looking at his hands thoughtfully.
"Looks like we're both lucky to have found one another then." Claire says, looking down at him gingerly while Wei lies down, covering himself with the blanket she lied out for him.
"Yes, I guess we are." He says smiling. The two then fall silent and fall asleep soon after.