8.
"We need to do what now?" Toby asked.
"We need to cancel the science fair," Jim repeated.
He was making a croque madame for each of his friends this morning. Just because he was stuck going through the same day did not mean he was going to make the same breakfast each time. He was beginning to contemplate trying some of the more interesting recipes he'd never had the nerve to try.
"What for? I get all the time loop stuff, but how do a bunch of fake volcanos tie into this?"
"When we tried to catch Porgon last time people saw him and saw me don my armor. What good is stopping Porgon if we expose trolls to the world and end up getting taken in by the FBI in the process?"
"Ah. Right." Toby's face lit up as Jim presented him with his sandwich. "So any ideas?"
Jim sighed.
"Well I would try to find some way to convince Señor… I mean Principal Uhl to move it, but…"
"He doesn't really like us?"
"Yeah…"
The three of them sat for a long moment in silence.
"So why don't we just pull the fire alarm?" asked Toby.
"If we do that we'd have to do it immediately before the attack. Otherwise the fire department would come and find out it was just a prank and reopen the building again before the attack," Claire said. "But if we do it right before and get the timing even slightly wrong the fire department will arrive either right before or during our fight and then we will have to explain some things we really don't want to."
She paused for a moment then added. "Best case scenario we manage to clear anything Troll related, but we still get arrested for vandalism and Mom files a restraining order against you guys and grounds me."
Toby sighed.
"Don't forget Jim and I getting another mark on our records… Man, if the world doesn't end we won't be able to get jobs with our horrible criminal history. Only 16 and already robbing museums and committing vandalism."
Jim patted him on the shoulder.
"Hopefully it won't come to that. What else have we got?"
"Maybe we could cause a water leak?" Toby suggested.
"That might work," Jim said perking up.
"Yeah but won't there be cleanup crews there evaluating the damage?" Claire spun her staff around in her fingers.
"True."
They lapsed into silence again.
"We could always make up a list of the possibilities and try them all until one works?"
Before they could get any father there was a thud and the sound of something heavy coming up the stairs.
"Good Morning, Master Jim!" Blinky said cheerfully as he emerged from the basement.
"Hey Blinky," Jim said.
Aaarrrgghh took a moment longer to join them as he forced his body through the door. Between him and Draal Jim was surprised that doorframe hadn't broken yet. Or that his mom hadn't noticed all the scratches.
"So any idea on what that strange cylinder Porgon has is?"
"None I fear," Blinky said with a sigh. "Even if I still had access to my library I doubt I would find anything on it. Whatever it is I do not believe it is of Trollish origins."
"Ooooo, you think's it's some sort of top secret spy thing… or something magic from like wizards?" Toby asked, bouncing a little in his seat. "Or maybe some sort of wicked awesome alien technology?"
"I've no idea, but for now it would be best to focus on getting it away from Porgon. Once we do that we can study it and create a solution."
Jim sighed. He'd really hoped that Blinky would have something on what they were up against. Maybe if they knew what it was they could make it so the rest of the Trollhunters remembered the time loops.
"Well let's get some more ideas for stopping the science fair," Jim said straightening up. "And then we can head over to the planetarium."
He gave a shrug and directed a wry grin at Toby.
"We may as well try the fire alarm this time. No point in making things too complicated."
Toby grinned and pumped his fist.
"Great! Another misdemeanor for our record!"
Jim rolled his eyes and laughed while Claire shot them a concerned look.
9.
"I'm not sure what I was expecting," Jim said to Claire after he finished reading Toby's text.
It turned out that the planetarium did not use the mail if they needed to cancel an event last minute. In hindsight he wasn't surprised.
"It was worth try. Do you want to try something else?"
"No," Jim said as he typed out a response. "It's too close to the restart. Anyway I really need to get some practice in on my verbs."
Claire nodded and glanced down at the list.
"Okay next one "to hear" in present tense."
They managed to make it almost a quarter of the way through his backlog of Spanish verb practice before the day reset.
10.
The stink bomb, courtesy of NotEnrique, certainly cleared out the Planetarium. Jim watched from the janitor's closet as everyone evacuating the building holding their noses. One didn't quite make it out before throwing up.
Jim himself was wearing a respirator and had no such problems. He assumed based on the way his eyes were stinging that it was extremely pungent. If this worked but they didn't defeat Porgon he was going to wear goggles next time.
The building was just about empty when he heard the police sirens go off. Why did the planetarium have to be so close to the police station? Jim muttered a trollish curse under his breath and looked around.
The exhibits were all strewn carelessly. One or two were gone, rescued by their fleeing owners.
Jim pulled out his walkie talkie.
"Any sign of him out there?- over"
"None," Toby replied. "But you might want to get out. The firefighters are gearing up to go in. –over."
Jim grimaced. Right. They probably wanted to make sure that the smell wasn't from a toxic leak or something.
There was about 3 hours until Porgon was expected to show. Jim sighed and slipped out the side door.
11.
Between the firefighters, the police looking around for culprits and the cleanup, the Trollhunters didn't get another chance to sneak back in the planetarium.
First thing in the morning this loop Jim had Claire portal into the Planetarium to call the school to cancel the science fair. Unfortunately the secretary had walked in on her so that plan was a bust. They had also recognized her, so she was out of the running until the day reset.
Having Toby sabotage Miss Janeth's and Coach Lawrance's cars had also failed.
The fake measles outbreak text Jim had sent after breaking into the school office only kept five kids from coming.
If Jim wasn't so frustrated he would probably be worried about how completely fine with breaking the law he and his friends were at this point. As it was if he had to live through this day one more time…
12.
"I think I may have overdone it," Jim said.
"You think?" Toby repeated staring at the smoking wreckage of what had been a planetarium.
"In my defense I didn't realize the electric panel was right there."
"Guys," Claire said nervously. "We might want to start running."
"It's too late for that," Toby said eyeing the crowd that was forming at a safe distance. "They've already seen our faces. If we run now we'll be fugitives. We'll have to hide out in caves and change our names and stuff."
They were saved from making a decision by detective Scott showing up at that very moment.
Two hours and a lot of yelling later, Jim was very relieved when the day reset itself.
13.
"Okay are we all set? –over" Jim radioed in from the bushes outside the planetarium.
"Ten four! Everything's in place.–over" Toby responded.
"In position. –over." Claire's signal wasn't quite as good.
"Roger, that! Commence mission. –over and out."
Jim slid his walkie talkie into his pocket and strolled toward the planetarium.
Out of sight in the bushes he pulled out and donned the glamor mask Blinky had given him. Now a very professional looking older man with graying hair, Jim strode confidently into the Planetarium.
Finding the first employee he could, he cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Excuse me, I'm with OSHA. We've been told of some safety concerns here, may I speak to your supervisor?"
The man looked surprised, but immediately complied.
"I am so glad that actually worked," Jim said with a sigh as they slipped through Claire's portal into one of the side rooms.
"I told you it would," Toby said with a grin. "We were very thorough in our safety violations. Even if they do think it's suspicious, it will take them a while to confirm it's fake with OSHA and to realize that the actual Inspector Thompson is elsewhere. It's not like they can trace the false investigation back to us."
Jim hummed in response and settled down to wait. He was just relieved that they had finally solved the problem.
Time slowly crawled by and Claire and Toby got more and more relaxed in their chatter. Eventually Toby frowned and turned to Jim.
"It's about noon. Wasn't Porgon supposed to be here by now?"
"Yeah…" Jim said.
Had he been wrong? Did Porgon really remember the loops? Was he off on his timing?
There was a flash of blue light.
14.
Jim was up on top of the hill overlooking Arcadia again. The Creepslayerz had been roped into helping Toby and Claire sabotage the science fair.
Jim's phone started beeping signaling it was noon. He tensed, watchful and alert.
For agonizing minutes nothing, then the whole world exploded into blue.
15.
Easy peasy…
Jim drew in a sharp breath as he shut off the alarm and processed what had just happened. The flash had come from under Arcadia. Given that the whole town had lit up at the same time, he highly doubted it was from the sewer system. No… the source had to be deep within the earth itself. That left one place…
Jim paced around the living room.
"Why would he go to Trollmarket now?"
Blinky frowned and glanced at Aaarrrgghh.
"I don't know, Master Jim. Everything I've read about time travel is theoretical at best. There's no way to predict how it might play out in reality…"
"Does he remember the loops as well? It didn't seem like he did," Jim said, scowling.
"Maybe…"
"We were so close! We were finally going to be able to fight him without being caught and end this thing!"
"Master Jim!"
Two of Blinky's hands settled on his shoulders and the other two grabbed his arms. Jim struggled for a moment and then, failing to dislodge them, settled for shooting the troll a glare. Blinky sighed and released him.
"Master Jim, I know you are frustrated. This is a very trying situation, no doubt far beyond what any of us are aware of, but you must remain patient. Even if it doesn't feel like it you… we are making progress. If we keep working together we can end this cycle of repetition."
Jim bit his tongue and looked away.
"Yeah Jimbo!" Toby came up and hugged him from the side. "We'll get you out of this in no time!"
"No time for you guys maybe," Jim mumbled, looking down so he wouldn't see their expressions.
"We just need new ideas!" Toby continued voice deliberately light. "Hey! Blinky can't remember everything maybe we could sneak into his library and…"
"No!" Blinky said sharply. "It's too dangerous. Gunmar is no doubt watching all the entrances to Trollmarket. Who knows what will happen if someone dies in this time loop. We cannot risk it."
Toby's eyes widened and he held up his hands.
"Sorry, it just seemed like a good idea."
Blinky's shoulders loosened. He sighed and rested a hand on Toby's back.
"I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you… I just can't risk losing any more of you."
Jim watched them quietly. Now that he thought of it, there might be one major benefit to being caught in a time loop…
Author Notes:
Technically half-way! Let me know if you guys have any suggestions to smooth out my writing.
Next up... Jim goes solo for a loop.