T3ddyBearL0ve-Lucky you, this chapter is full of Jim going into troll mode! And don't you worry, Jim's triumphant roar day is coming soon!

After Jim talked with Nomura, the plan was concocted. Since trolls rarely slept, they didn't have any time to 'train.' So, Jim suggested to Merlin that the party needed at least a couple hour break every day.

"Preposterous," Merlin scoffed, and turned away from Jim. "We need to get to the Heartstone as quickly as possible. We can't afford 'breaks.'"

"I know that," Jim said. "But anyone, even a troll, would get worn out after walking all day. Right, guys?" he asked the trolls behind him.

"Yeah!" one burly troll grunted. "Walking all day is boring."

"And my feet get so sore," Bagdwella added.

"Give us a break!" one shouted from the back.

And soon, the whole party was chanting, "Give us a break! Give us a break! Give us-"

"Alright!" Merlin threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. "Alright. But don't blame me when the lack of a Heartstone finally gets to you." With that, the wizard stalked off, muttering under his breath.

Jim grinned triumphantly. "Okay, guys, the break starts now. We'll only do these in the daytime, since we need all the night we can get. You can either rest or gather food, but don't wander off too far. I'll be trying to look for some food myself." He turned to Nomura, who gave him a knowing wink and started walking away from the party.

Jim started after her, but a small hand wrapped around his arm. "Hey, Jim," Claire greeted. "Need any help?"

Uh-oh. Jim's eyes darted from Nomura, to Claire, and back to Nomura. "Um…sorry, Claire, but I already told Nomura I'd go with her…" Gosh, he really hoped she didn't want to tag along. He didn't know what he'd say if she asked.

Claire looked at Nomura, and Jim thought he saw understanding flash across her face. She blinked, and it was gone. She smiled at him. "Okay! Blinky and I will look for some ourselves."

"We will?" the four-armed troll asked. Claire kicked him in the leg. "Ouch! I mean, of course we will." Claire proceeded to drag a very confused Blinky away.

He sighed in relief. Crisis averted, for now. Jim didn't know why he didn't want to tell Claire what he was really doing, but he felt like this is something he had to do by himself. He didn't have a human problem. He had a troll problem.

Jim followed Nomura in silence until they reached a clearing. It was far enough that no one would hear them, but not so far that he couldn't run back to camp if need be. It was then that Jim had a horrible thought.

"You're not going to give me gravesand again, are you?" he asked worriedly. "If it made me feral as a human, I don't want to think what it would do to me as a troll."

Nomura laughed. "No, I'm not. I'm not that eager to unleash your troll side."

Jim glared at her pointedly.

"Alright, I see your point," she admitted. "But rest assured, I won't push you so far that you hurt yourself or others. It won't be the, ah, aggressive training you had with me and Stricklander."

"Aggressive is one way to put it," Jim grumbled. "Okay, so…what do we do now?"

"Growl," Nomura said bluntly.

"W-what?"

"You heard me. Growl."

"O-okay." Not what he expected they'd start off with, but if Nomura told him to…

A sad, small growl rumbled from Jim's throat.

"Little Gynt," Nomura said sweetly, "that was pathetic."

"I don't know what you expected!" Jim complained. "I can growl just fine when I'm fighting, or when I'm angry. Why do I need to do it now?"

"Do you feel uncomfortable when you growl, though?"

Jim rubbed his arm guiltily. "Maybe."

"Exactly," Nomura said. "You start growling now when you're not angry, you'll become used to it. So by the time you naturally growl in a fight, you won't find it so strange or frightening. One day, you might even do it intentionally, so as to intimidate your enemies." She shrugged. "Personally, I prefer whistling to scare my foes."

"I know," Jim huffed. "I've experienced it firsthand."

She flashed her teeth. "It worked, didn't it? Now, growl again. But don't be so ashamed of it. Remember, it's just you and me."

Right. Nomura wouldn't judge him. He could do this. He closed his eyes and let out a threatening growl. Jim opened his eyes and beamed. "Did you hear that?! I did it!"

"Yes, you did," she laughed. "Much better. Do it again, but lengthen it."

By the time an hour had passed, Nomura said that Jim growled with even more intimidation than Strickler. It wasn't one should be proud of, but Jim blushed anyways. "R-really?"

"I'd never lie to you, Little Gynt," Nomura replied. "You did very well." She patted him on the shoulder and started walking away.

"Wait! We're already done?" Jim nearly whined.

She turned back to him and smiled. "I'm very pleased you want to continue, but I have a feeling very few trolls actually collected food. We should probably do so now, even though their lazy a-" she stopped. "Hides don't deserve it."

Jim didn't really mind cussing, but he was glad she censored herself anyways. "You're right," he agreed. "They're very dependent. Let's see what we can find, then go back. We need to get back on the road soon."

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Over the next couple weeks, Jim continued his lessons with Nomura. He was incredibly grateful Claire didn't ask any probing questions whenever he snuck off with the changeling. He still felt bad about not telling her anything, but he felt safer no one else knew what he was doing. But soon, he promised himself. Soon, I'll tell her.

It was never a dull moment with Nomura. He learned how to properly roar, travel on all fours, and track. His sense of smell wasn't as good as Argh's, but after a few days of training, he was able to pinpoint the approximate location of a smell. Nomura also helped him how to hone his enhanced hearing. Now he could differentiate Claire's voice from among the whole party of trolls. This trick made him especially happy.

The one thing Jim hadn't mastered yet was the food.

He tried to enjoy what trolls ate, he really did, but the chef in him wanted to shrivel up and die whenever he ate a can or sock. He had to admit, both tasted really good (especially the socks,) but he hadn't managed to eat an object yet without cringing. After several days of failure, Nomura decided food was something Jim was going to have to get used to in time.

But Jim really did feel better about being a troll now. He wasn't scared anymore when he accidentally growled or found himself sniffing a dead squirrel. (Sure, the latter was gross, but scary? Nope.) He was just so relieved he could learn more about his new form in privacy. It made him hopeful for the future. Maybe nothing horrible would happen on their journey after all.

He was wrong.

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A pale woman with long blonde hair analyzed the screens before her. It was rather entertaining, she thought, to watch the Trollhunter struggle with his new form. She zoomed in on the video as he effortlessly jumped up a tree. The drones had good quality, but they couldn't get too close, lest they be discovered.

The pink changeling said something from the ground, and the Trollhunter nodded. He crouched on all fours and proceeded to jump from tree to tree. The changeling applauded from below.

The woman grit her teeth. "Traitor," she hissed.

"Ms. Helgar?" a voice trembled from behind.

"What?!" she snapped, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"S-so sorry to bother you," the voice quaked, "b-but we found what you requested."

"Oh?" Eunice Helgar paused the video and swiveled her chair to face the voice. It belonged to a quivering mess of a young man. His messy brown hair bobbed nervously as he handed her a large pouch.

"I-I was told it was very hard to find," he stuttered.

"Good to know," she said coolly as she weighed the pouch in her hand. "You may leave now."

The young man swallowed hard and quickly left the room.

Eunice rarely smiled, but she couldn't help herself as she opened the pouch. "So, you don't like gravesand, Trollhunter?" Her eyes flashed an electric blue as she ran her fingers through the dark purple powder. "That's too bad."

A/N: Eunice Helgar is my character, and she's a real b*tch. Or at least, I'll try to writer her as one. As an FYI, I don't really like it when cartoon characters cuss in fics. I mean, it doesn't bother me so much that I'll stop reading one if they do, but you won't ever see them curse in my fics. It feels unnatural.

Anyway, thank you all for reading! Please leave a review. Have a great Friday.

(That gravesand is gonna be soooo bad…*evil laughter*)