T3ddyBearL0ve-I know! I have a love/hate relationship with b*tches. I hate it 'cause they're so gosh darn annoying, but it's so SATISFYING to see them get beaten! Hopefully I'll accomplish that feeling with you guys lol. And Jim is trying with that growl, just doing lil' baby steps. I was so stuck on a title for this chapter but then I was like, 'hey, HTTYD is pretty great so…' And that gravesand is gonna be AMAZING. For you guys, not the characters lol
Merendinoemiliano-Yeah, this fic is gonna be (mostly) simple chapters. I'm writing a more complex fanfic rn, though. I'm glad you like them, and are looking forward to see the next ones! This chapter is quite lengthy and has a lot of stuff happening (at least for me,) so I hope you like this change of pace!
LunaWolf44-Are you talking about the first chapter? If so, it was supposed to be a flashback of what happened there since the show NEVER FREAKING SAID WHAT HAPPENED. *ahem* anyway, I'm so happy you like the fic! Jim is definitely on his way to acceptance!
Blue wolf 16-Cliffhangers…you love 'em or hate 'em, am I right? And I totally agree with you, fanfics with cussing can be great but it feels off. Unnatural, like you said. Oh yeah, gravesand? Pft, Jim isn't going to have a problem with that at all. Thanks for the encouragement!
"You want me to do what?"
Jim had been training with Nomura for a month now. He could confidently say he felt…at ease with his troll body. Not comfortable yet, but it was no longer strange and scary. He felt like he was up for anything now, besides the food. But this? This was unexpected.
Nomura rolled her eyes. "You heard me, Trollhunter."
"Y-yeah, I did, but how does fighting you help me?" Jim complained. "I've fought you before, and…I don't know, it was just a fight."
"True," Nomura admitted. "But this time is going to be different. You're not allowed to summon your sword."
"What?!"
"And your other weapons too, for that matter."
"You're not going to use your weapons too, right?"
"No," Nomura replied. "I'm still using them."
"But, but-" Jim spluttered, "how am I supposed to even stand a chance against you? It's not fair!" He cringed inwardly at how childish that last part sounded.
"I'm flattered that you think so highly of my skills," Nomura said. "However, you're not always going to have your amulet with you."
"I don't think it's going anywhere," Jim growled, poking at the amulet, which was still stubbornly stuck to his chest.
"The point is," Nomura continued as if he hadn't spoke, "you shouldn't rely on your amulet so much. You need to feel comfortable without it. Plus, this is the perfect opportunity to hone your troll instincts. I know you're much faster and more agile than you were as a weak fleshbag-human," she corrected as Jim glared at her, "and I'd like to see you in action without your weapons."
"Are you doing this just to see how much better I am now at fighting?" Jim asked suspiciously.
"Partly," Nomura answered almost bashfully. "But this is good practice for you. Remember what I taught you these past few weeks, and apply it. Now, fight like the half-troll you are!" She unsheathed her scimitars, unleased a primal cry, and sprinted towards Jim.
Jim outstretched his hand to summon Eclipse, then thought better of it. Thinking fast, he crouched down and swept his foot under Nomura's legs. The changeling fell to the ground, but quickly recovered and rolled back. She bared her teeth and threw her scimitars at Jim. He dodged them easily, caught them, and flung them back at her.
She crouched to avoid them, and the blades embedded themselves in a tree trunk. Nomura grinned at Jim. "Hand-to-hand, then."
She darted to him and started punching. Jim couldn't help but laugh. Whenever he fought her before, her blows hurt him very badly.
Not anymore.
Jim raised his hand and caught Nomura's next punch. She stared at him, eyes wide. "Gotcha," he grinned, and rammed his other fist into her gut.
Nomura bent over, wheezing. Jim's smile faltered. He reached out, concerned, but his trollish instincts screamed, It's a trap. Okay, he thought, I trust you. So he took a step back and got into a defensive position.
And just in time, too. Nomura lashed out at Jim, and he was just able to block her kick. The two exchanged a flurry of punches and kicks before Nomura slammed her head into Jim's. He reeled back, dazed, and Nomura took the chance to run away and retrieve her scimitars from the tree.
"Come on, Little Gynt," she taunted, and leaped into a tree. "Is that the best you can do?"
Jim shook the stars from his eyes and grinned. "Not even close."
He sprinted after her and used a low-hanging branch to swing him up the tree. He was met with a scimitar glancing off his armor. Jim stumbled back and nearly fell, but he was able to regain his balance. He glared at the changeling as she caught her scimitar.
"You're going to have to be faster than that, Trollhunter!" she crowed, and jumped to another tree.
Jim growled in frustration and got down on all-fours. Time to get serious. He launched himself after Nomura, and a chase ensued. Sometimes, Jim would catch up to her, and he'd land a blow, but she'd escape before he could corner her.
It went on like this for another five minutes before Jim leaned against a tree trunk, panting. He wasn't tired, but he needed to rethink his strategy. He was getting nowhere running around after Nomura like this. He glanced at the changeling, who was perched on a limb fifty feet away. She was giving him time to think. Okay, cool. But what could he do to finally catch her?
In the shade of the tree, Jim bared his teeth in a ferocious grin. Yeah. He knew what to do.
.
.
.
Nomura impatiently stalked along the branch. What was taking Little Gynt so long? She thought she'd let him rest and change his strategy, but this was ridiculous. She sighed and unsheathed her scimitars. Looks like she was going to have to go after him. Disappointing. He was doing so well-
She shrieked as the branch under her feet disappeared. She crashed on the forest floor, and coughed. That hurt. "Well done, Little Gynt," she grunted as she rose to her feet. "You caught me off-guard. But what are you planning to do now-"
Her words froze in her throat. A low, primal growling rumbled from somewhere to her left. She swiveled to face the source of the noise, but there was nothing. Nomura swallowed, hard. Even trolls could be frightened of a good growl. Unfortunately for her, this was a very good growl. It clearly conveyed the message, Back off, I'm dangerous.
Then the growling came again, this time from her right. She turned to it, scimitars at the ready, and barely choked back a gasp.
The Trollhunter was stalking her on all-fours, all the while threateningly growling at her. But what truly bothered her was his eyes. They glowed a deep blood-red. No troll had those kind of eyes. It was unheard of. He looked so much like-like a wild animal.
Nomura shook her head, even as he paced behind her. That was the human side of her talking. Jim was not a wild animal. He was a troll. And he was finally accepting it.
Didn't make it any less frightening for her though. Especially with those eyes.
She took a step forward. The Trollhunter roared and, quick as lightning, pounced on her. Taken aback by the attack, Nomura was thrown to the ground. Her scimitars skidded away from her. Before she could recover, Jim slammed his weight on top of her. He glared at her and growled again. He was clearly saying that if she tried anything, he would end her. She was defeated.
Good. Then her job here was done.
"I concede, Little Gynt," she rasped. "You have won."
Jim blinked. He did it. He finally did it! He defeated Nomura without using any of his weapons. A victory like this was too good to just whoop in celebration. No, it required something more, something like-
Jim stepped off Nomura and roared. It echoed across the forest, causing small animals and even predators to scatter. Off in the distance, the party of trolls glanced worriedly up at the sky. It was a sound of complete dominance and strength. Jim had never heard himself sound like this before. Sure, it was different, but he…he liked it.
The amulet flared red, and in a flash of light, the Eclipse armor disappeared. The amulet fell limply to the ground.
Jim gasped and stumbled back. It-it couldn't be, it had been so long, but-he patted himself down disbelievingly. His favorite blue sweater was in shreds, and his jeans were much too tight. Also, they were no longer jeans. They were shorts.
But he was out! After all these weeks, the armor was finally gone! Jim traced his fingers over his arms. It was one thing to see your face a different color, but it was another thing entirely to see your whole body, well, blue. His skin wasn't quite as rock hard as other trolls', but it was much more thick and hard than humans'. Jim looked down at his feet. Wow. That was different. Like his hands, one foot had five toes, while the other had four. His almost-black toenails were sharp enough to be called claws. He wiggled his toes into the grass and laughed. He could finally feel things! He could-
A cough from behind reminded Jim of Nomura's presence. He turned to her, concerned. He hoped he hadn't scared or hurt her too much with that little display. He honestly didn't think he could pull it off, but he just let his instincts take the wheel. After that, it felt natural. It was weird, though, how much he lost himself then. In that state, he thought of Nomura as an enemy, and that he had to protect himself from her at all costs.
Speaking of Nomura, she was clapping in approval. "Well done, Little Gynt," she grunted as she stood up. "That was well-fought."
"Thanks," Jim gushed. "And did you see? I finally got the armor off!" He turned in a circle, as if to prove the obvious.
"So you did," she smiled.
"It feels so good to be out of it! I didn't realize how much I-" Jim stopped rambling. Oh gosh, he totally forgot about Claire! He had to show her! "I'm sorry, Nomura," he blurted, stooping to pick up the amulet, "but I've really gotta go. I need to show Claire-" he started running away, unable to stop himself. "But thank you so much! You've helped me a lot, and I don't think I can ever repay you, and-okay, I'll finish this later, bye!" The Trollhunter disappeared into the shadows.
Nomura chuckled as she picked up her scimitars. "You're welcome, Jim."
Jim laughed as he sprinted through the forest. The breeze ruffled his scruff, tickling his cheeks. He forgot how good the wind felt against his body. It was incredibly refreshing, and-wait, that was too much breeze. He stopped running and glanced down. OH. That was why.
His shirt was gone.
Since it was only hanging by a few threads, and he was running super fast, he guessed it made sense. It must have fallen off. He poked his chest curiously. Why did he have abs? What was this, some kind of teen CW show?
He shrugged. Well, he wasn't complaining. Jim bounded up a tree, dropped on all fours, and jumped to a branch at least fifty feet away. Another plus: he didn't need shoes! He should've had a dozen splinters by now, but his feet were so tough, nothing punctured them. He leapt to another branch and used his momentum to swing himself forward. And so it went, until the scent of dozens of trolls invaded his nose. Jim skidded to a stop and took a deep breath, trying to find that one human scent.
Jim gagged. No, not Merlin! Where was Claire? Come on, come on…
And there it was! She was right next to Merlin. He jumped down and started running to her. His heart pumped in excitement, but also…nervousness. What if seeing him without his armor made her realize how different he really was? What if she didn't like it?
Jim stopped. Claire was right there, just beyond the tree line, but…his courage was failing him. He wasn't ready. He didn't realize how much the armor made him feel safe and secure until it was gone. And-oh shoot, she was looking his way.
"Jim?" Claire called uncertainly. "Is that you?"
Shoot. Darn it. Nope. Couldn't do this.
…But it looks like he didn't have much of a choice. "H-hey Claire," Jim stuttered. "Um, how's it going?"
"All well and good, Master Jim," Blinky answered from behind her. Great. He was here too. "But, pray tell, why are you hiding back there?"
"Uh, you know, just trying to stay out of the sun."
"Master Jim, there's no sun where I'm standing either."
"Oh, r-right!" Jim laughed nervously. "Okay, guess I'll, um, join you guys." He took a deep, shaky breath and stepped forward. Claire and Blinky gasped, while Merlin just rolled his eyes. "So, I got the armor off! Yay…"
"Jim," Claire said in shock.
"I know, I know, I'm hideous."
"No! No, you look…amazing," she breathed, chocolate-brown eyes sparkling.
Jim blinked. "R-really?"
"Fair Claire is indeed, correct," Blinky said with approval. "You're a strapping young troll, and-" the troll's six eyes darted to Claire, Jim, then back to Claire. "You know what, I think I'll leave you two to it. Come fetch me later, Master Jim!" And he was gone.
Jim tensed as Claire walked forward. What was she going to do? What was she going to say once she got a closer look? What was she-
She caressed his cheek, running her delicate fingers through his hair. Jim relaxed and pulled her close. How could he ever doubt Claire? She was the greatest girlfriend a guy could have.
"So, am I really amazing?" he murmured in her ear.
"Jim, you have no idea," she giggled, and cupped her hands around his cheeks. "I think I need to explore this new Jim, yeah?" She looped a piece of his hair around her finger.
"I totally agree," he said, lifting her up. And then they were kissing like they never had before. He was careful not to hurt her with her tusks, but she didn't seem to mind their presence. In fact, she seemed to enjoy feeling around them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned even deeper into the kiss. He sighed in contentment.
It then occurred to him it was the first time him and Claire had kissed since he became a half-troll. Sure, they had done little pecks before, but they had never really kissed yet.
And this was better than any kiss they had ever done when he was human.
.
.
.
Eunice Helgar snorted in disgust and turned off the monitors. She did not need to see two teenagers making out this early in the morning. But at least they were now ready to move on to the next phase of the plan.
"Vardan," she snapped, and the young man nervously approached her. "Get the golems ready. And be sure to bring the gravesand grenade." She smiled wickedly. "The Trollhunter has just regained his spirit. Time to shatter it."
A/N: JIM AND CLAIRE DIDN'T HAVE SEX OKAY IT'S NOT THAT KIND OF FIC.
Okay, just wanted to get that out there lol. Like, these characters are sixteen they ain't gonna do anything R here.
As for the abs...come on, who doesn't want to see Jim with those. Claire was certainly happy about them lol. But it was fun poking fun at the CW, 'cause honestly, all those abs on there...it's insane lol.
Anyway, sorry this updated late! This chapter, as you can tell, is a lot longer than my usual ones. I was really looking forward to this one. It was hard to write, but it was a lot of fun too. I hope I wrote the action sequence decently! As for the kissing scene…ugh, it's not my style, I hope it was passable. Please tell me if there's anything I can do better for stuff like that!
Also, it's our favorite b*tch Eunice! Yay!
Thank you guys for reading! Please leave a review!