Chapter 11; Recipe for Chaos

The following day, in Strickler class. Strickler was teaching his class on how war is constant chaos and the winner is the one who can control not only their chaos, but their enemies chaos too. And after Strickler made a joke about the classroom deafening silence, Jim said to his friend. "Look at that. He's got the whole class eating out of his hand."

"His creepy troll hand." Toby said before Noah said. "You mean his creepy Changeling hand."

"Will you guys cool down, I don't want to be sent to jail for killing our teacher in the middle of school." Seth said before Jim said. "I can't cool down. I trusted him. He betrayed me. And worst of all, he hit on my mother. I should end him now." Jim then was going to pull out his amulet, but Noah took it from Jim and said putting it into his bag. "Hey, now I'll admit he has wronged us, mostly you. But we need him to tell us the whereabouts of the bridge. So beat him up when he doesn't give up that information."

"Hey, do you think Strickler knows Jim the Trollhunter, and you guys are Kamen Rider Soul?" Toby asked the guys and Jim said to Toby. "Bular called me "Young Atlas" and Soul "Young Kratos". Only Strickler calls us that. Of course he knows. But he doesn't know we're onto him."

"Unless he knows we know, and is pretending he doesn't know, but he knows we know, you know?" Toby said before Seth said. "Will you stop saying "know." Then the bell rang and everyone started to leave, but Strickler stopped Jim, Noah, and Seth by saying. "Young Atlas, Young Kratos, if I could have a brief word with all of you before you all leave. Just the three of you."

"Ok." Seth said, pushing Toby away. Unknown to them, Claire had stopped and looked at them. And then Claire's friend, Darci Scott, a African-American girl with light-tan skin, brown hair in a large afro shape, and wears a green camouflage shirt and dark-gray shorts, stopped next to Claire and said. "Looks like someone has eyes for Jim."

"Remember that letter I was telling you about?"

"The one where he was fighting all of those inner monsters? You don't think he's crazy, do you?"

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out." Claire said before leaving the classroom. In the classroom, Jim said to Strickler, after he made sure he couldn't see his amulet. "Uh, is everything okay?"

"Actually, no. Due to recent developments, I don't want things to be strange between us."

"And developments are those?" Seth said before Strickler said. "Jim's mother has invited me over for dinner. I've graciously accepted. Will that make things awkward?"

"Awkward? No, no, no. It's just dinner. Right?" Jim said before Strickler said. "Splendid. Then I shall be seeing you this evening." Strickler then left and they told Toby what Strickler said to them in the empty boys locker room. "He's coming over for dinner?" Toby said before Jim said. "I know. I thought it was a bad idea at first, but Noah has a plan."

"He does?" Toby said before Noah said. "Yes. Now listen. While we keep his attention on us tonight, you, Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, and Teika will sneak into his office and find anything you can about the bridge or how to find the Nursery."

"Covert operation." My two favorite words! After "taco truck," of course. Wait? Why do we need Teika to sneak into Strickler's office?" Toby said before Seth said. "I have read everything about Changeling, you might need a Changeling to help you find answers. And if I am wrong you can use him to just sneak into school."

"You can read Troll?" Toby said before Seth said. "I'm still learning, so I am not a hundred percent sure if I read the book right."

"Even if Seth didn't read the book right. You can use him to sneak in." Noah said before Jim said. "No more secrets. No more lies. It's all coming out. Tonight." They then left the locker room. However not one of them knew that Claire had heard the whole thing, and had more questions than answers.

Later that day, back at Jim's house. Jim had told Draal their plan and he told them. "I do not approve of this plan. It lacks a certain "killing the changeling" component."

"I would love to." Jim said and Noah said to them. "And so would I, but first things first, we need to find that bridge."

"Plus we also need to figure out why they are after Jim this whole time." Seth said before Draal said. "We could rip off his limbs, make him talk, more like scream. Now that sounds like a good plan."

"No, no ripping anything. My mom… ugh! She kind of likes him. And since she's here, I can't have you busting chops unless it's a last resort, and only if it's a last resort."

"Besides, you have an important job tonight." Noah said before Draal said. "And what job is that?"

"You are keeping my body safe, in case we need Soul tonight." Seth said before Draal sighed and then said. "Fine. But how will I know of this "last resort?"

"I'll wake up and tell you." Seth said before they heard the doorbell ring. They all ran up stairs and saw Strickler talking to Barbara, while holding a wine bottle. "Hello. I didn't know what varietal you like, so I bought a pinot noir, the "heartbreak grape."

"We don't judge here. All kinds are welcome." Barbara said, taking the wine bottle. Strickler then noticed the others and said. "Mr. Lake and Mr. Himitsu."

"Mr. Strickler." Jim said as they both walked over to them. "Please, my friends call me Walt." Strickler said to them before Noah said to him. "And what do your enemies call you?"

"Ignore them. Here allow me to show you to the table." Seth said, showing Strickler to the table. Once they got there, Strickler saw four plates instead of five. "Why are there four plates instead of five?"

"I have some stuff to work on, so I'll enjoy your dinner." Seth said as he left and went downstairs. When Seth reached the bottom of the steps, he called Toby and told them to start their mission. But he didn't do any of Toby's spy idea's. Like giving the operation a code name or having Toby locked himself inside a locker so they could sneak inside. They instead use Teika to crawl through the vents. Teika did that, but stopped before openign the door. Toby then said to Teika. "What's the hold up?"

"Give me the socks first. Then I'll let you all in."

"Now? That wasn't the deal." Toby said and Teika jumped away from the door. Toby sighed and slid one sock under the door and Teika tried to take it. "You'll get the other one after the job is done." Toby said before releasing the sock and Teika ate it. Teika opened the door and let them all in. Once they walked inside, Blinky said, looking around. "Oh, my, the fable Halls of Alexandria could not hold a candle to the high school of Arcadia Oaks."

"The hall of what?" Toby said to Blinky and Blinky said to Toby. "Aha! Feigned ignorance. You are a funny little man, Tobias." Aaarrrgghh then hit an Arcadia banner. Toby stopped Aaarrrgghh and said. "Oh, careful, wingman. We got to be stealthy. We can't leave a trace. Covert operations are supposed to be covert." Toby then fixed the banner and then they heard a teacher coming down the hallway. Toby then said to Teika. "What? What? What? I thought the coast was clear."

"Was that my responsibi–?" Teika said, but Aaarrrgghh stopped him and they all hid in front of some kind of wall art. The teacher did see them, but thought they were part of the art and walked past them.

Back at Jim's House, Claire had finally found and reached the house and saw the dinner. She did wonder why Strickler was there. She then looked for a way inside the house and that way was an open window into the basement. In the basement, Seth and Draal had not only placed mates on the ground so Seth's body wouldn't get hurt and they were both listening to a pipe that was under the table, so they could hear the conversation. However, when they saw Claire crawling in. Seth pushed Draal into a hiding spot just before Claire got inside. Once she was inside, she wondered why there were a lot of mates, but stopped wondering when she hit the pipe and heard Strickler say to everyone at the dinner table. "So I said to my co-worker, "I brought you a midnight snack." Too bad for him, he had indigestion for days. Well, that's the problem with eating Italian." Both Strickler and Barbara laugh, but not Jim and Noah. Because they knew that co-worker was most likely Bular. Barbara's phone then rang and she said to them. "Oh, I'm sorry, it's the hospital. I have to take this."

"Go, go. I'll try not to bore Jim and Noah to death." Strickler said before Barbara left. Once she was gone, Jim said to Strickler. "That's a funny story you were just talking about. Who was it again you were forced to work with?"

"The superintendent's son. He's a bit bullish."

"Bullish". Huh? That's an interesting word. He sounds like a real monster."

"Yes. I know." Strickler said before Noah said as everyone grabbed their knives. "You know what?"

"I know you know."

"How much do you know?" Jim said to Strickler and Strickler said to them. "You didn't know I knew, but now you know, I know."

"What is with all of the "knows" today." Noah said before Jim said. "So I guess we all know."

"Know what?" Claire said before Claire's friend Mary called her. Claire stepped away from the pipe, so she missed Strickler say. "Bular called you "Young Atlas" and "Young Kratos" to force this very moment. He told me, if I can't get you to hand over the amulet, I should kill you and your little Rider friend."

"You would kill me in front of my mom?" Jim said before Strickler said to Jim, while keeping an eye on Noah. "Granted, your death might affect our relationship, but I will if I have to."

"That's funny. I was thinking the same thing. How about you tell me where the bridge is, and I'll leave your head attached to your body?"

"It seems we each have something the other wants." Strickler said as Barbara returned and then said to them. "You boys want something while I'm up?"

"I think we all want a sharp knife for the steak." Noah said and they agreed with him. Barbara then went back into the kitchen and grabbed the knives for them, not knowing that they were going to use those knives as weapons on one another.

Back at the school, everyone was looking around for anything, when Blinky said. "I'm afraid to say it, Tobias, but everything here appears to be quite normal."

"Hmm. If I were Strickler, where would I keep my secrets?" Toby said before picking up Strickler's pen and opening it and closing it, repeatedly. Until he failed to put it back into its cape. That caused Toby to see that it really wasn't a pen, but a key. He then said to everyone. "I found a key! I found a secret key! How spy is this thing?"

"Key? To where?" Aaarrrgghh said before Blinky said. "A changeling key for a changeling lock. Look for a lock." They all then started to look for a lock. And while Blinky found a piano and played it a little, Toby found the lock behind a book in the bookshelf. "Guys. I found it!" Toby said before trying to unlock it, but it didn't work. Toby then said to Blinky. "What the…? It won't open."

"Of course. Only by the hand of a Changeling can one open a changeling lock." Blinky said before they all looked at Teika. Aaarrrgghh grabbed Teika and Toby put the key in Teika's right hand. Toby then used Teika's hand to open the lock and the key glowed. After a few seconds the bookshelf opened revealing Strickler's personal hidden bass. While the others were amazed with their find, Teika felt violated. As they looked around, Toby was curious about all of the things inside. And while Blinky was curious about some drawings of the Trollhunters Amulet and small pieces of metal. Toby found a book and said. "Wow! Wicked!" They all went over to Toby and Blinky said after seeing the book. "Undoubtedly so. The Book of Ga-huel, Gumm-Gumm history."

"Whoa! Is this Gunmar? Dang, look at this guy. He looks just like you, Aaarrrgghh." Toby said, looking at a drawing of a monster's version of Aaarrrgghh. Aaarrrgghh looked away from Toby and Teika said to Toby. "That's because it is."

"Okay, yeah, real funny. That's not him." Toby said before noticing Aaarrrgghh looking away. Toby realized that Teika wasn't joking and said to Aaarrrgghh. "You used to eat people?"

"You speak the unfortunate truth. Aaarrrgghh was a Gumm-Gumm and a general in Gunmar's horde. But just before the Battle of Killahead, he abandoned his flesh-eating ways to take an oath of peace. If it weren't for his aid, I would not be here today and the world might not be the same." Blinky said before Aaarrrgghh said. "People ran away. Scream, "Aaarrrgghh! No. No. Stop." Aaarrrgghh thought that Toby wouldn't want to be friends anymore after learning of his past. But Aaarrrgghh was surprised when Toby said. "You might have been one then, but you're one of us now, Wingman." Aaarrrgghh was very happy to hear that and see Toby wanting to do their handshake. Blinky was also happy and took the book, but unknown to them. They had tripped the security system.

Back at Jim's house, everyone had finished dinner and Jim said. "I'm stuffed. I can hardly move."

"Jim, your cooking alone should warrant you an A." Strickler said before Barbara said to them. "I hope you saved some room for some hot apple pie. I just need a second. Talk amongst yourselves." Once Barbara left, everyone got up and grabbed their knives. As they both circled the table and after Strickler laughed, he said to them. "Give me the amulet and that belt."

"Over our dead bodies." Noah said and Jim agreed with him. Strickler then said to them. "I know what you three are capable of. I know what you three are not capable of. Jim, I know you have a thing for Claire. And may not know you and Seth well, Noah. I know you all will do anything for one another and for Toby. You all want to keep Barbara out of this, and you look to Blinky as your surrogate father. Poor boys. I even know as we speak, your adorable little friends are breaking into my office. Do you think I'd be so foolish as to leave important information lying around?"

"What did you do?" Jim said before they attacked Strickler. Strickler countered them and said. "I have an Antramonstrum in my office."

"A what?" Jim said as Strickler got rid of their knives. Jim and Noah picked up forks and countered Strickler, before he said to them. "Oh, it's just a vaporous creature. Dormant until disturbed, shockingly fierce, and excellent at erasing sneaky-snakes."

"I'm surprised it hasn't eaten you yet." Noah said and that caused Strickler to look at Noah. Jim took this chance and got under that table. He then pulled Strickler down and caused Strickler to hit his head on the table. Jim and Noah regrouped as Strickler recovered from the blow. "Enough." Strickler said as he not only got up, but turned into his Changeling form. Strickler's Changeling form was a light green troll with a cape, shorts and had metal feathers around his neck. Both Jim and Noah gasped before Strickler said. "What do you think? Good look for picture day?"

"I've seen better." Noah said as he placed his Driver on. And before Jim could grab his amulet, Strickler pulled out the feathers, which were also knives and threw them at them. In the basement, Seth gasped when he saw the Driver appeared on his waist and felt Noah destress. So even if he didn't want to do it with Claire close by. He put in Undine in the Driver and fainted. That caused Claire, who just had more questions than answers, to see Seth fainted and rushed to his side. Back with Noah and Jim, as Strickler looked through Jim's bag, Noah put Blade into the Driver and the Driver said. "Undine Blade!"

"Henshin!" Noah said as he turned into Soul. Noah then said to Strickler as he turned his sword into a pirate sword. "Strickler, I hope your ready for the—"

"Uh, Noah, Jim. We have a problem." Seth said and that caused Noah to lose focus. Strickler used that chance to push Soul away and grabbed Jim by the neck before saying. "Give me the amulet."

"You want the amulet? Come and take it. For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command." Jim said before transforming to and escaping from Strickler's grip. Jim drew his sword and both of them pointed them at Strickler. Jim then said Strickler. "How do you stop the Antramonstrum?"

"Your friends will never survive!" Strickler said before Barbara started to walk back to the dinner table. "Anyone want coffee?" Barbara said as all of them returned to normal and went back to their seats. Back in the basement, Seth suddenly woke up and hit Claire on the head. That caused her to back away and hit a box full of books and the box then dumped onto Claire's head, which caused her to lose consciousness. "Oh, Jim is going to kill me." Seth said before he fainted again. Above them everyone was in their combat forms again, with Soul still in his Undine Blade form. "Time to teach my star pupil and his friends a new lesson." Strickler said before they started attacking one another again.

Back at the school, as Blinky and Aaarrrgghh looked inside some of the books Strickler had. Toby found the Fetch and said. "Uh, guys, is this important?"

"Oh, that's nothing. Probably just… decorative art." Teika said as he tried to take the Fetch. But Blinky stopped him and said to Toby. "Tobias, do you realize what you've just discovered?"

"Strickler's got hemorrhoids?" Toby said, pulling it away from Teika. Blinky then said to him. "No, it's a "Fetch," an artifact of great power, a pinhole-sized breach into the Darklands. It's how our Changeling friend here came into our realm. Handle that with care."

"Some expert you are." Toby said to Teika. Teika turned away from them and saw smoke coming out of a rock with glowing purple crystals. Teika knew that an Antramonstrum was coming. He quickly turned around and said to Toby, who was playing with the Fetch. "Why don't you take a peek on the other side? Maybe you'll see the Nunez kid." Toby did that and put his face into the Fetch and saw the Darklands, but only saw rocks and a dark sky. Teika noticed Blinky and Aaarrrgghh were too focused on the book, so he very discreetly left them to get eaten by the Antramonstrum. And the Antramonstrum would have eaten them, if not for Aaarrrgghh. He smelled the Antramonstrum and alerted Blinky to it. But it didn't alert Toby, because his ears were in the Darkland. Blinky threw things at the Antramonstrum, which caused it to focus on him. That gave Aaarrrgghh a chance to throw the door onto it. That did stop the Antramonstrum, but only long enough for Aaarrrgghh to grab Toby and they all ran out of the door. Toby did panic when his head started to move and almost hit a rock, but he calmed down after Blinky removed the Fetch and Toby saw what was happening. Toby then said as they stopped in front of some lockers. "I'm okay." The Antramonstrum then appeared and Toby said. "I'm not okay."

"Don't worry, Tobias. Aaarrrgghh and I will lure it away from you." Blinky said as he pushed Toby down the left path and started to yell at the Antramonstrum as he and Aaarrrgghh ran down the right path. "Follow us, you gaseous cretin." The Antramonstrum didn't listen to Blinky and followed Toby. "Oh dear, I thought my taunt was quite bedeviling." Blinky said before he noticed Teika wasn't with them. He then figured out that he left them all to the Antramonstrum. But karma was going to catch up to him. You see Teika was walking down the same path as Toby and the Antramonstrum was going. So both he and Toby were running from the Antramonstrum.

Back at Jim's house, while Barbara was putting out the flames on the pie with some cool whip, Strickler was still battling Jim and Soul. When all of them weren't attacking one another, Strickler said to them. "This war is millennia older than you, boys. You can't stand against the tide of history. Gunmar is inevitable."

"I doubt that." Noah said before Strickler threw a knife at them. He then said to them after they dodge them. "If you care about Barbara, don't fight it. You were always my favorite, Jim. And I was starting to like your two, Soul. Don't you see? I'm only trying to protect you."

"Yeah, we don't believe you." Seth said as Strickler threw more knives at them. Jim and Soul dodged them and then used their blades to send 2 of the knives back at Strickler. Strickler dodge them and Jim said to him. "I can take care of myself." They all then clashed again and. Noah hit Strickler right arm, not cutting it off, but he did cause some great damage to it. Strickler then said, grabbing his arm. "My arm!"

"Where is the bridge?" Jim said after he put Strickler in a choke hold with his blade against his neck. "I'll never tell." Strickler said before Soul pointed his blade at Strickler and said. "Tell us where the bridge is. Now!"

"Who is ready for pie? Voila." Barbara said as she came out of the kitchen with the pie. All of them had turned back to normal, and Jim let go of Strickler. And the amulet fell on the floor and disappeared. So all of them started to look for it. "Where is that contact lens?" Strickler said, making a quick lie. "Ah, here it is." Strickler said getting up and pretending to put on a contact lens. Barbara then said to Strickler. "I didn't know you wore contacts."

"There's a lot you don't know about me." Strickler said as Jim found the amulet. Back at the school, Toby and Teika were still running from the Antramonstrum. They were able to stop it for a short while by going into the gym and shutting the doors behind them, but that wasn't going to keep them safe. "I can't believe you left us to be eaten by a fart cloud!" Toby said to Teika and Teika said to him. "I can't believe you trusted a changeling."

"Good point." Toby said as the Antramonstrum started to slip through the cracks. "Here comes Silent-But-Deadly." Teika said before Toby said. "Okay, if we work together, we can…" Toby then noticed Teika had already left and opened a vent close to one of the ropes. Toby didn't like it, but he followed Teika. And because of the Antramonstrum he was very motivated to reach the top of the rope. He hit the bell and then started to crawl through the vent. He followed Teika and they both found themselves in another hallway. However the Antramonstrum was following Toby and was going to eat them both, but it didn't. Because Blinky and Aaarrrgghh appeared and used the Fetch to send the Antramonstrum to the Darklands. Once the Antramonstrum was gone, Toby said to Blinky, who turned off the Fetch. "Good timing."

"I knew you had it in you, Tubby." Teika said before Toby said. "It's Toby." Toby then kicked Teika away from them. Teika left and Blinky said to Toby and Aaarrrgghh. "I can safely say, the Antramonstrum has just been… schooled." Only Blinky laughed at his joke and Aaarrrgghh said. "What about Jim and Soul?"

"I insist. Take it home." Barbara said as the dinner was over and she gave Strickler some leftover pie. Strickler laughed a little before saying. "Oh. The recipe would have sufficed."

"No, we insist." Jim said, giving him the leftovers. Strickler looked at them and said. "Good night, Barbara. See you at school, Young Atlas, Young Kratos. It should be interesting, now that we've gotten to know each other so well."

"It will be a shame when we won't have you as a teacher anymore." Noah said before Strickler left for his car. After that Noah went down to the basement and Barbara said to Jim. "That went well, right?"

"I don't know, he seems kind of two-face to me."

"Two-face? It sounded like you guys got along so well."

"Honestly? He's not the guy he says he is."

"Honey, I know this might be hard for you…"

"Mom, I don't want you to see him again."

"Yeah, I really expected more from you." Barbara said before heading to the kitchen to clean the dishes. In the basement, Noah found Seth next to a still unconscious Claire. "What happened?" Noah said to Seth and Seth said to him. "She came in through the window and tried to listen to you guys talking."

"Ok, but how is she unconscious?"

"When I fainted she rushed to my side, and when I got up. O hit her head, and then that box dumped its stuff on to her."

"Ok. Ok. Seth will use Sylph and Fighter to get her home quickly. We'll tell everyone about this tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan." Seth said as they turned into Soul and took Claire home. Back at the school, Teika was telling Strickler, who now had his arm in a sling, what happened. "I tried to slow them down as much as I could, boss man, but they found the Fetch and took your history book."

"We can't expect everything to go our way. Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Nah. The parents think I sleep through the night now. So, did you off the boys?"

"No, but I got what was most important." Strickler said as he pulled out the Trollhunters Amulet. Yes, he switched the real amulet with a fake just before Jim found it. "The fake has been planted. I control the chaos." Strickler said as Jim was asleep not know that he had lost his amulet.