Someone is stalking Jim.

Ok, so maybe stalking is too strong a word, but ever since he found the amulet in the canals it feels like someone is watching him. The tension in his shoulders fades away often, but he always notices its reappearance when the world goes quiet. It's like the quiet before the storm, or how the forest goes quiet before an ambush, then his hackles begin to rise and he reaches for the amulet as discreetly as he can, glancing around to see who could possibly be following him. As far as he can tell, there never is.

As life progresses along with his training as the Trollhunter the feeling never fades, and though he mentions it to Toby once or twice (usually to his disbelieving look) he never mentions it to his trainers. Blinky would likely say something about his instincts developing but ultimately ignore it, and Arrrgh, as nice as he is, would likely have nothing to say.

The first time his stalker makes himself known is at the museum when they are trying to find the goblin den. They're following the GPS signal of Toby's chubby tracker attached to a goblin and sneaking in through the open window when Jim's hackles begin to rise. He pauses as he reaches down to help Toby through, glancing out to the street and eyes wandering, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever is following him. A shadow moves out of the corner of his eye, but he is immediately distracted by Toby's questioning noises and an angry hushed "Any time today, Jim!"

So, when Jim mentions that his stalker makes himself known what he really means is his stalker saves his ass. The museum lady's hooves (hooves?! What is this, Dante's inferno?) click clacking across the floor, no convenient rug to pull out from under her, her khopesh's raised ready to strike, Toby somewhere behind him fighting his own battle. The khopesh comes down and –

Is intercepted by another troll in armour. Jim's mouth drops open as the blue troll appears out of nowhere and almost silently with the exception of the occasional grunt battles the museum lady across the open floor, bumping into – was that Killahead Bridge?! – before making the pink troll land awkwardly on a discarded fabric banner and squish one of the goblins who then run after her, screams echoing the entire way as she tries to shake them but there are too many for her to lose easily. That should keep her busy for a few minutes.

Jim makes awkward eye contact with the troll who simply nods (a male troll if the stature was anything to go by, although a lot slimmer compared to other trolls he's seen, a lot more… Human?) before he leaps away, using the scaffolding around the in-progress exhibit to make his hasty exit out of the skylight.

Jim grabs Toby by the arm jostling his phone, listening as hard as he can for the return of the troll museum lady before dragging him out of the museum, back out through the window and escaping to their bikes. A few minutes later as they are arrested (well played, museum lady) he notices the same blue troll balancing like a cat on the rooftops nearby blending into the night without the presence of its armour (where did it go?), and a quick glance at Toby as they are hauled up by the police officers shows he saw him too (and is now hopefully questioning his reluctance to believe Jim has a stalker) but by the time he looks back the figure is gone.

The second time Jim's stalker shows himself (henceforth named Shadow by Toby, "because of his ability to blend in with the shadows and he's so freaking quiet dude! It's the perfect codename for him!") it's his 16th birthday and he is having the worst day possible. His birthdays are always a hit or miss, but this year he has definitely missed the target for 'have a reasonably normal day with the exception of mom's mothering' by a mile. His new stalker friend, adequately called a Stalkling, is not as friendly as Shadow by a long shot mainly because it's trying to kill him.

He watches his last chance at a lift fade into the distance, taillights vanishing in the oncoming storm, thunder rumbling ominously around him and grabs his bike, frantically dialling Toby who doesn't pick up. See, worst birthday ever! As he's yelling for Toby down the phone, his voice lost in the first flashes of lightning as the storm moves in, he feels the prickling he has now come to associate with Shadow. He catches a glimpse of the blue troll who is blending into the darkening sky like, well, a shadow, as he's coming up to the main bridge over the canals near to Trollmarket's entrance. He's pedalling faster trying to get home before the Stalkling that is surely so close by now can get him. He sees Shadow leap onto the bridge supports ahead of him, close enough to shout. The troll's mouth opens, and he shouts something that is lost to the wind that is oddly rhythmic for a storm, his eyes focused above his head and –

Jim's breath leaves his body as he is suddenly grabbed from behind and taken up suddenly into the air, both his and the Stalkling's screech lost to the bright flashes of lightning as the giant troll bird begins climbing higher and higher.

Jim frantically looks around trying to see an easy way out of his current god damn predicament (this was why birthdays were the worst) and almost immediately gave up. He tries to pull the amulet out of his pocket to call upon the armour, Daylight seemed to scratch it last time, maybe now that he's closer to the Stalkling he'll actually be able to do some damage to it, maybe kill it. A loud roll of thunder shakes him to the bone, apparently shocking the Stalking as well (heh) –

And he drops the amulet. Both he and the Stalking watch the amulet drop through the clouds, shining slightly in the dim sky. As he watches it fall, he notices through a gap in the clouds that Toby and Arrrgh have arrived, and he can see Shadow still perched where he had been when he was first picked up by the Stalkling.

It's getting harder to breath now, he realises, his breaths coming in short pants as he struggles futilely against the Stalkling's grip, tight enough to grind the bones in his wrist together and make him cringe at the sensation. And the pain, can't forget the pain. He complains to the Stalkling (not that it's actually listening to him, it has a job to do and it has nearly succeeded, here lies Jim Lake Jr., a grease spot on the ground from where he fell from the sky because he flew too high like Icarus and – not now, Jim, get your head in the game!) and the darkness is starting to sink into the corners of his eyes, his need to sleep growing stronger and stronger.

He's shocked (heh… He needs to get new puns) out of his near slumber by a loud roar that is definitely not thunder, and out of the dark grey heavy clouds comes Shadow, clad in armour that seems to shine almost as bright as Daylight. His oxygen deprived brain takes in the details of Shadow as he arcs above them both; it seems a similar style to his own, bar a few differences. The intricacies of the detailing seem more like a circuit board than his own which is more similar to fancy stonework decoration (fitting considering the way trolls seemed to typically adorn their skin with intricate markings) and the colour of the armour seems warmer with hints of green amongst the blue.

He is shaken out his musings by Shadow suddenly landing on the Stalkling's back and, what do you know, shaking them all violently. Jim can't see much of what's going on from his position underneath the Stalking but the large golden sword, more leaf shaped than his own, cutting through the air almost directly in front of his face as it slices through the head of the monster gives a clear indication that the Stalkling has lost this particular battle and the mysterious Shadow has won.

Of course, the only problem now, he realises as gravity begins to take hold and he watches the former troll bird solidify into stone, is how Shadow is going to save them from becoming that wonderful grease stain on the floor below.

He blacks out a few seconds later, but not before clocking Shadow's familiar eyes (where has he seen them before?) and the determined look in his eyes (again, where has he seen that look before? The set of the jaw, the twitching of the eyebrows as they draw down as he makes the final decision – oh) before unconsciousness takes hold. He wakes up a short time later to Toby and Arrrgh, the former passing over his amulet which he cradles lightly in his hands before thrusting it into his pocket. He and Toby are then escorted home by Arrrgh and Blinky, slightly late to the excitement as always before they themselves disappear off into the night.

The lights are on in Jim's house. His mom must have somehow gotten off work earlier than she thought which was nice, she needed the time to herself and to get more than 4 hours sleep for once. But before he goes in to face the music he turns to Toby and asks what happened while he was 'fighting' (a strong word for the entire situation, but it could be classed as one. He did put up a fight after all) the Stalkling.

Toby looked at him, glanced around to see if anyone was listening in – which considering the gently pouring rain that they were both standing in was highly unlikely – before he began to explain the parts Jim had missed out on. He had received Jim's message as the power had cut out in his house and he and Arrrgh had raced out to come and save Jim. By the time they arrived Jim was already to far to grab out of the Stalkling's grasp by normal means. They hadn't even realised Shadow was there until a low growl that sounded so similar to the thunder that Toby was considering changing his name -

"Focus Tobes! What happened with Shadow?"

"Ah right, sorry Jimbo. Anyway." So, Shadow had let out a low growl but before any of them could do anything Jim's amulet had fallen from the sky landing in the canal below. Shadow had leapt down from his perch yelling something at Arrgh in another language, probably Trollish. Toby guessed that it meant something along the lines of throw me, because the next thing he knew Arrrgh was sending a Shadow cannonball into the sky, a light show highlighting the clouds as Shadow disappeared; similar, Jim realised to when he donned his own armour (of course, Jim realised, it was easier to be stealthy in normal clothes than a full suit of glowing armour like Jim saw before he blacked out, but how did Shadow get his own armour?).

The disappearance of Shadow was proceeded a few minutes later by both Shadow and Jim's reappearance, Shadow barely grasping Jim as they came below the cloud line. Toby had yelled to Arrrgh that they weren't going to make it, so Arrrgh being the amazing troll that he was, had immediately leapt out to catch both Shadow and Jim. Once they were on solid ground again (and Jim's own amulet retrieved from the bottom of the canal, not yet flooded thankfully) Shadow had almost immediately taken off, only quickly checking Jim over before he ran off into the trees on the other side of the canal, armour apparently gone before Toby even knew that Shadow was wearing any, disappearing before Toby had chance to thank him.

Not much had happened after that apparently, and after assuring Toby that he was fine if a bit shaken up by the whole experience, they bid each other goodbye (with a quick hug and Happy Birthday from Toby) and headed to their own houses.

It was only later after movie night with his mom that he remembered the realisation he had come to in the air as he blacked out and Shadow had been reaching to save him. The look of determination, the setting of his jaw. It was something he saw every day in the mirror. Now how the heck did you explain that?

Jim is not having a good day. First the situation with his mom, then the time crunch with the play when he has to save Blinky and stop them opening Killahead Bridge (his internal clock says he still has 20 minutes left, thank God. Plus, those things never start on time anyway – focus Jim! Deadly situation now, school later) and now he's fighting his former history teacher in the museum where this whole debacle started. Thank God his plan worked, even if there are still some moving pieces that need to slot into place.

Another reason that Jim is not having a good day, he contemplates as the scaffolding that had originally been obscuring the bridge is knocked down and Not Enrique runs away screaming, is because of the whole Shadow situation. Since his 16th birthday and adventure with the Stalkling he's rarely seen the mysterious blue troll (who may or may not be him, but he doesn't truly believe that yet, he needs more evidence than 'he has the same facial expressions'), and even when he has it's only ever been out of the corner of his eye. Shadow had been hanging out in the darkness behind Bular during the whole situation with the Grit Shakra in the sewers, and he'd noticed a flash of bright blue eyes in the trees the previous night while he was trying to save Claire but ended up fighting Nomura (some help might have been nice).

Before meeting with Strickler, as he'd ridden through the rain thinking that the last words he had spoken to his mother had been a lie (he hadn't even told her how much he loved and appreciated her), the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he slowed as he passed the last patch of woodland before entering town. He carefully hopped off his bike, placing his feet cautiously so as not to slide on the muddy grass and ducked into the dense foliage. Sure enough, just behind the tree line stood Shadow.

He'd been wearing the same dark hoodie and sweats that he'd been wearing when Jim was attacked by the Stalkling (not that he'd particularly noticed, giant death birds trying to kill you were an excellent distraction from noticing normal things like what someone was wearing), the only thing clear was the troll's bright blue eyes, but even they seemed to blend in with the rain and general murkiness of their small patch of nature.

"I'm going to fight Bular. He's taken Blinky," Jim had said after a few moments of silence (t-minus 50 minutes to curtains up after all). Shadow had smirked, his lips twitching upwards.

"I know." Jim had been shocked at the voice. Not low and gravelly like he'd been expecting it to be but instead at a similar if slightly lower pitch than his own (another point in the is this somehow me column. Hey, Changelings were a thing). Jim had looked carefully at Shadow before taking a step closer. This was probably the closest he'd ever been to the troll without being in some kind of peril, and he was now noticing the details he'd missed out on before as his eyes adjusted to the gloom. Like how one hand had 5 fingers and the other 4, and the small nicks on the trolls face that seemed slightly paler than the rest of his stone skin. Including a very familiar small parallel scar just under his eye.

"Will you help us?" Jim asked Shadow (himself?) hopefully. Shadow shook his head, glancing over his shoulder back into the woodland, a sad expression washing over his face.

"I can't. I've been… Trying not to interfere too much with all this. The world doesn't need me. It needs the Trollhunter, it needs you." Jim squinted his eyes at the troll as he took a step back to blend in more with the shadows he had been named after.

"Something I've come to learn over the past few months," he said slowly. "Is that it's not Trollhunter."

"It's Trollhunters," Shadow finished, a small grin replacing the forlorn look that had taken over his face momentarily. "I remember. But still, I can't fight your battles for you, there's some things that you need to do yourself no matter how much I want to interfere." He made to turn and disappear into the trees, but Jim called his back.

"Just, at least hang around? Everyone else is coming and I would appreciate the extra back up if everything goes pear-shaped." Shadow had stared at Jim for a second before nodding.

"I'll follow from the roofs. If you need a hand, I'll be there." With a small laugh from a joke Jim didn't understand Shadow dipped away from the conversation and disappeared.

And now here he was in the fight of his life with his changeling history teacher who nearly managed to get the upper hand, making him lose Daylight temporarily. Using the environment to his advantage Jim, noticing the difficulty Toby was having out of the corner of his eye, rolled away from Strickler towards the still suspended Blinky and leapt, Daylight reappearing in his hand in a flash of wispy blue before he cut through the rope, allowing Toby and Blinky to fall somewhat safely to the ground as he swung back around to face Strickler again at the top of the bridge. From the rather large squelch from below the plan hadn't quite accounted for goblins but since when is any plan perfect.

Unfortunately, any upper hand he had been able to gain was swiftly knocked away by a well-placed kick from Strickler causing Jim to drop Daylight again. Jim groaned to himself as the changeling grasped him from behind in his vulnerable condition, locking his arm in place.

"You disappoint me," he hissed loudly into Jim's ear. "When I had such high hopes for you." With sudden realisation as Strickler forced his hand from his side towards his chest Jim realised his old teacher's plan. Shouting in frustration as he tried to resist his Strickler forcing his hand, literally, the changeling's enhanced strength involuntarily forced the amulet off his chest (of course, only by the Trollhunters hand could Killahead be opened. It didn't matter if it was by the Trollhunter's willing hand) and towards the gap for the amulet at the top of the bridge.

"No, no, no!" Jim yelled in horror, his face painfully smushed against the cold stone as he watched his own hand open up the gateway to the Darklands. The temperature in the room suddenly dropped 10 degrees and darkness seemed to leak from the newly opened doorway. He vaguely heard Not Enrique yelling to the others about the bridge, but he was too busy trying to free himself from Strickler to no avail.

He suddenly noticed the smaller changeling desperately tugging on the amulet a few centimetres from his face before his face was painfully forced to kiss the stone again. His attention wandered upwards as Strickler started to gloat again ad he saw the vague outline of Shadow silhouetted against the skylights above. He was abruptly brought back to ground level by a blinding blue light as Not Enrique was thrown forcefully away from the amulet in a bright flash of blue, his small body skidding across the floor. Thankfully he seemed to gain awareness in time to be able to grab onto something before he was forcefully dragged into the portal beneath Jim's feet.

Everything seemed to slow suddenly, everyone yelling at once as Gunmar made his presence known but his hurried thoughts of "Oh God this is where I die, I haven't even told Claire I love her yet or told my mom how sorry I am for lying" were once again interrupted by someone, Draal this time, attempting to pull the amulet out of the bridge. Out of the corner of his eye as he renewed his efforts to escape Strickler's hold he noticed Nomura leap across the battlefield and land on Draal's back attempting to pull him off, but she failed and was flung away from the bridge, impacting heavily with the floor. Unlike Not Enrique however she didn't find purchase on the well-polished museum floor and flew gracelessly into the open maw beneath him screaming as she went. Jim winced at her now unknown fate but finally managed to gain the upper hand and turn the table on Strickler, forcing him into a similar hold that he had been held in seconds ago.

He turned briefly to Draal, noting absently that the figure of Shadow had disappeared from the above window.

"Let go, Draal. Let go!" He called desperately, trying to keep Strickler at bay but not having the strength or limb availability to stop Draal from trying to pull the amulet free and prevent Gunmar's escape into the surface lands at the same time. An almighty flash caused both him and Strickler, he was thankful to note, to shield their eyes as Draal was thrown away from the amulet, the concussive blast that came with it momentarily stunning everyone and, somewhere, causing glass to shatter.

Jim watched in horror as Draal was thrown across the room, becoming lodged in some debry and falling into unconsciousness (he hoped to Deya that it was unconsciousness), his newly stone arm hanging somewhat limply from his body.

He flung himself over the top of the bridge to reach for the amulet and pull it out himself but was pulled roughly back by Strickler who threw him to the other side of the narrow bridge walkway, standing between him and the amulet. Jim glanced around desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation and close the bridge, oh God, so many people were going to die and the rest of his team were still disorientated by the blast and they weren't going to be any help and now Bular was rearing his ugly head, leaping through the air to land next to Strickler and –

The temperature of the room suddenly returned to the same tepid California December temperature as 5 minutes ago (had it only been that long? T-minus 15 minutes to curtain call) and the strong winds from the portal dissipated accompanied by a shocked shout from Gunmar that echoed with a strange finality. Everyone paused wondering what the hell was happening. Jim took inventory of his team – Toby and Blinky were only just picking themselves up off the floor, Arrrgh next to them helping. Drall was still unconscious in the corner, Shadow standing at the base of the bridge amulet in hand –

Wait. Stop, rewind. Shadow. In his sweats. Standing with the amulet in hand. Grinning manically at the group on the top of the bridge who were, like Jim, staring at him in befuddlement. Shadow tossed the amulet in the air, catching it gracefully in his four fingered hand, his other hand fiddling with something in his pocket.

"Looks like I missed the exciting bit of the party, but I couldn't let you guys have all the fun now, could I?" He laughed, a slightly hysterical note evident in his voice before stepping slightly to the other side of Strickler and gently tossed Jim the amulet, thankfully taking advantage of how his enemies were still standing in a shocked stupor. Although, from the low growling noises that were emanating from Bular and how Strickler was slowly starting to edge away from the Gumm Gumm prince it wouldn't hold for long.

Jim deftly caught the amulet and scurried down the bridge, calling his armour as he did so and making his way over to Blinky and Toby (Arrrgh had made his way over to Draal and was, thankfully, helping him up out of the rubble, although Draal still looked rather worse for wear) as Bular backhanded Strickler off the bridge into a pile of pottery and decorative masonry work (ouch, Jim winced in sympathy) and roared loudly at Shadow who was still standing with one hand in his pocket and grinning manically at Bular. Not the expression one would expect someone to have when facing a murderous troll whose favourite delicacy was human.

"You!" Bular roared loudly. "You are the one who has been delaying my father's return with your tricks and cowardliness." Shadow snorted as he casually – casually! – made his way over towards Draal and Arrrgh, giving the Kubera a helping hand with Draal who was still rather unsteady on his feet.

"I wouldn't call it cowardice when I'm still alive and able to make your life even more miserable," he commented, completely ignoring how Bular had leapt down from the bridge, placing himself between Jim and Shadow. Jim gulped as Bular's snarl was suddenly directed at him.

"You, Trollhunter. You I will feast upon. I will rip your arms from your body and force you to watch as I swallow them whole, but not before using your hand to replace the amulet and release my father –"

A cough from behind Bular interrupted him and he turned once again to Shadow a snarl on his face. His face froze in surprise however as he realised exactly what Shadow was holding. Even Jim couldn't quite believe it, peering around Bular's impressive bulk to watch Shadow presenting an amulet to the Gumm Gumm prince. A gasp from Toby made Shadow smirk in delight.

"Oh my God," Toby exclaimed as Bular spluttered in disbelief, whipping his head between the armour-clad Jim and the amulet being held up by Shadow. "Is that – how can – but there can't be – What in the world is going on here?!" Toby exclaimed with scepticism.

"Is no one going to address how this troll pulled put the amulet of Daylight when only the Trollhunter can perform such a feat?!" Blinky's shocked grumble rang quietly over the assembled group, Toby making agreeing noises as they snuck closer to a sewer grate towards the back of the room. Everyone ignored them thankfully, although Jim noted how Shadow seemed to grin sheepishly at that before laughing again as Bular roared in denial, catching Jim's eye.

"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing towards the angry troll between them. Jim grinned hefting Daylight in one hand, pointing it towards Bular who was now taking several steps back to keep both opponents in view before they attacked.

"Let's make this quick, I've got a play to get to." Shadow laughed before speaking clearly to the astonished room.

"For the good of all, Daylight is mine to command!"

A/N: This was originally going to be called Stronger Faster Braver, but I decided that Canon in D Minor suited this better, if only because it it follows canon with a few minor changes (ba dum tish). Anyway, welcome to Part 3 of the Battlecry Series. Since I've left this on a cliffhanger and have no intentions currently to write more in this one shot, people are welcome to continue the story if you want, just please make sure to credit me and let me know so I can see where you take it :)

Part 4 of Battlecry is most likely going to be Douxie centric (I love that dude) but won't be out for a while since I'm pretty busy for the next few days. I really want to do a story with a time-jumping Jim as well (there's a fantastic fic on AO3 with a Ragnarok Thor jumping through his timeline changing things that I can't remember the name of that is awesome) but we'll see. Anyway, it's 10:30pm now and I need to sleep because I'm an adult with work in the morining, God help me.

I'll see you all soon! 17 x