Chapter 6
...
"Come on Tobes, we're going to be late!" Jim yelled as he and Toby sped down the road toward the school.
They got home late previous night due to a few very strange events: First they met Blinky and Arrrgh, then they were chased by a mysterious knight with shadow monsters, then they visited a magic town full of Trolls (who did not take their visit well) then they were introduced to the boss of the Trollmarket and both of them had to stick their hand in a weird machine and talk to some dead trolls, and Toby got challenged by the son of the previous trollhunter… So yeah… they had a weird day to say the least but trouble was never too far and Jim could feel it deep down.
"Yeah-yeah I'm riding as fast as I can… after last night… my body… aches… all over…" Toby Huffed as he tried to keep up to Jim as they pulled up to the gate. As Toby got to the bike rack, Jim was already off his bike and waiting for Toby. Toby came to stand still and laid over his handled defeated and exhaust, "Made it…" he managed to say while raising a fist into the air while heavily breathing face down on his bike.
"Come on, Tobes. This is good training for you for the up coming fight."
"Don't remind me… Plus how are you this fit? We rode like hell to get here and you're not even dripping a single drop of sweat while I can fill a swimming pool with my sweat" Toby gestured to his sweaty arm pits
"Put those away" Jim laughed as he playfully closed his nose "And you're just overreacting, it wasn't that bad, we just rode a little faster than normal"
"Yeah, like a hundred miles an hour faster" Toby said as he parked his bike and they walked towards the lockers.
"Come on, don't be…" Jim got cut off as someone bumped him.
As Jim looked up he saw it was Steve and his friends. "Tick-tock" Steve whispered as they walked away and he gestured a ticking clock with his fingers.
"That guy can be a real jerk all the time" Toby said as he open his locker and took out if history textbook and shoved his backpack in his locker, which was already full of books and stuff
"Yeah but I think he'll come around some day"
"Some day? Yeah probably in another life but not this one"
Jim just followed Toby quietly to Mr. Strickler's class and so on through the whole day, mostly lost in thought until Gym class. As Jim was going through the rope and slower then everyone and came last in every exercise. He wasn't even fully aware of where or what he was doing. He went to go sit after coach told him to sit down before he embarrasses himself further, and Steve and his friend kept laughing at Jim. Toby looked concerned for his friend but decided to as him about it later. Meanwhile Jim was thinking or mostly planning, to find a way to get to his goal. But as it looked at the moment he must act fast, because the timeline is changing and he remembered TJ's warning about others who were after him. He had to find a way and fast…
"Hey, stranger!" a familiar voice echoed from the front.
Jim looked and saw Claire as she approached him, " Hey" Jim nonchalantly greeted at her while he tried to snap out of his scheming daze he was in.
"Are you doing ok?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh, it's just that you seemed a little distracted back there"
"Oh, sorry I was just lost in thought for a while"
Claire sat down on the bottom steps of the benches near Jim, "A while? You looked like that for the whole"
"Really? Didn't know that" Jim chuckled nervously, and then he looked a little confused "Does that mean you were watching me the whole day?" Jim teased
"Wh-what!" Claire jolted stiff and her voiced cracked a little as it echoed through the gym. Everyone looked at their direction for a few seconds and Claire's face turned as red as a tomato as she felt embarrassed.
After a few seconds of awkward silence everyone went back to their exercises.
"Ok so yes I have been watching you, but only because you looked… off" she whispered
"Yeah I get it now, but it really isn't anything important" Jim turned towards Claire and gave a half sad smile trying to mask his true feelings, but it wasn't too convincing.
Claire looked at the sheepish smile that Jim tried to force over his face but just as she opened her mouth to call him out on it, a whistle was sounded through the whole gym, causing everyone's attention to be drawn to the coach almost immediately.
"OK! Five minutes! Everyone has Five minutes to change before the bell rings! Get your butts moving!" As coach finished his instruction, Claire quickly turned to find Jim, but he already left and was already ten paces away from where they sat. Claire followed Jim as he walked towards the crowd, but before he vanished into the large number of kids hurrying out of the gym, he turned to look at Claire, who was caught off-guard because of this…
As time looked like it stood still for Claire she watched as Jim looked at her with loving eyes and smiled as bright as he ever did (or at least it's the brightest she ever saw him smile like that) and waved at her. She felt a feeling she never before felt in her life but for some reason it just felt… natural. It felt like her heart was about to burst as she grabbed her chest in shock of this feeling. As Jim turned to walk further, another very different feeling suddenly replace the warm happy feeling, a feeling of loss as if she was watching someone dear to her walk away forever. She reached out her arm as to catch Jim but couldn't move from that spot. Suddenly a hand landed on her shoulder as she snapped out of the feeling.
"Hey, C-bomb, are you ok?" Darsy asked with a curious tone in her voice
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm ok" Claire shrugged it off and looked for Jim again but couldn't find him
"What are looking for?"
"Nothing I'm just looking around"
"Ok, but we also have to go, our next class is about to start and I don't want to be late"
The girls quickly took of but the rest of the day Claire was trying to make heads or tails of what had happened. There have been small instances where she found herself staring at Jim unexpectedly in the past, but what happened in the gym was very different. She couldn't look at Jim the whole day and tried to avoid him at all cost to the point she was hiding behind trashcan to not be seen by him.
The day quickly went by and Jim went back to normal but Claire was the one acting normal now, and Jim had noticed and tried to talk to her all day but she avoided him every turn. As the last bell rang and Toby and Jim were on their way to the bike rack, Jim saw Claire
"HEY!" he loudly yelled across the yard, attracting attention to mostly everyone there including the intended target. Claire saw Jim wave across the yard and as he started to run but not before giving an apologetic grin over to Toby. As he ran to catch Claire he was stopped halfway, as Steve stepped in front of him.
"Hey, dweeb, thanks for shouting, because I was looking for you"
"Not now Steve" Jim tried to go pass Steve but his friends blocked his way, "What do you want Steve? I have something to do"
"Don't you remember? We have a game to play" Steve put his arm around Jim as he tries to lead Jim away, but he was surprised as Jim did not even budge an inch.. After a few tugs, steve let jim go and tried to act like nothing happened.
Jim still tried to look for Claire but he lost sight of her and he could feel his anger towards Steve starting to build but just then Toby's voice echoed from behind.
"Hey Steve, sorry we were kind of busy lately"
"Why are you interfering buttbreathe?"
"Hey man, I'm just giving you a reason we forgot"
"It's ok, Tobes" Jim had finally calmed down enough, "So let's do this then. It was a dodge ball match if I can remember correctly?"
"Yeah, and the condition were, you would become my errand boy for a week if I won"
"Yeah and you'll leave all my friends alone if I won"
"Yeah, but that won't happen"
The boys all walked towards the gym with Toby and Jim following the others from behind
"Are you sure about this, Jimbo? Not to be a bad friend, but you sucked at gym class today and coach even had to sub you, remember?"
"Don't worry Tobes. I was only a little distracted today"
"Ok but still, you're going up against Steve. He's a jock. Plus he played baseball and he was the captain of the football team."
"Yeah I know all that…"
"No you don't get it. He is athletic. I'm afraid for you, and I have been training as the trollhunter"
"Only for a day"
"Hey, training was still a killer work out" Toby flexed his bicep towards Jim, who chuckled a little
"You'll need a lot more training, but you'll be quite strong, Tobes"
"Really?" Toby smiled very excitedly towards his friend, as Jim looked at his happy friend but every time he looked him smiling he could feel the sadness coming out, but as he tried to hide his sadness through a smile a door going open pulled their attention away from the moment.
"Here we are dweebs." Steve's voice echoed through the gym as he and his friends entered
The two friends stopped at the door as they took a deep breathe, "No turning back now" Toby said as he walked in, followed by Jim
Toby went to go sit on the benches but was surprised that none of Steve's friends sat down as well, but he didn't think too much of it.
"So what are the rules?" Jim asked as he walked to the centre
"You avoid the balls we throw at you and then you can win"
"WE?" Jim asked surprisingly, but as he turned towards Steve as he talked, he was met with a ball rushing straight for his face. The ball looked like it struck Jim the face and Steve turned to his friends who were also holding balls to throw
"HEY! That's not fair!" Toby yelled from the side lines
"Guess we didn't need to all try and throw him out" Steve bragged to his friends as they all laughed and high fived each other and turned to walk away
"Who said you won?!" A voice echoed from behind the ball
"No way" One of Steve's friends sounded off in shock
Jim held the ball in front of him with one hand "I'm fine with it if you want to use your friends as well to beat me but then I'll add a rule" Jim slowly walked towards Steve and his friends, "I'll one give you 3 minutes to hit me, and if you can't then I win" As he walked up to Steve with a little smile, he shoved the ball in his chest, "Deal?" he asked as he looked Steve in his eyes.
Steve was completely struck with fear as he saw the seriousness in Jim's eyes, even though he was smiling. "Y-Y-Yeah… Deal"
As Jim heard the words he let his grip on the ball go as it fell to Steve's feet. Jim turned around and walked back to the centre again and one of Steve's friends had to literally shake Steve's arm to get him back to his senses again.
Toby was baffled to what he just saw, and he too was in shock because he didn't know if it was his instincts or one of his new amulet's abilities, but he could literally feel bloodlust from Jim.
"Tobes! TOBES!"
"Huh… Huh? Yes, Jimbo?" Toby finally got out of his trance of fear
"Could you set a timer for 3 minutes, please?!" Jim asked from the centre of the gym
Toby did as asked but couldn't completely be sure why he is feeling fear through his body. It felt even worse than when they where chased by green knight.
As the timer started, Steve's friends all began to throw their balls but Steve was just in shock as he watched Jim effortlessly evade the balls and suddenly one thought kept running through his mind: 'DID WE MESS WITH THE WRONG GUY!'
As two minutes went by almost everyone was in disbelieve of Jim and had lost hope of beating him and Steve didn't even throw one ball.
Toby was feeling mixed emotions as he watched his friend move with incredible speed and movements he never knew Jim had.
As the three minute marker sounded off from Toby's phone, the gym was filled with heavy breathing from everyone that was throwing balls
"So that means we are done here and you will keep your word, Steve?"
Steve just nodded and started to walk towards the door with his friends following him
"Are we really just going to let that be it, Steve?" one of Steve's friends asked as they trailed behind.
"Yeah we should just stay away from him from now on, didn't you see how he moved" another friend answered for Steve
"That was weird, even we can't move like that and we are jocks"
Steve just quietly walked away from the group as they discussed the events that just happened
"Hey, where you going, Steve?"
"I forgot I had to go somewhere quickly" Steve quickly paced towards the gate and got into coaches car and they drove off
"What took you so long?" The coach asked as he saw Steve with a blank stare on his face
"Ugh, I had a meeting with someone"
"Oh, was it a girl?" the coach smiled naughtily at Steve
"Huh, Oh no, just… someone" he answered but still had a blank stare
Coach knew something was up because usually when he made such jokes, Steve would be angry and embarrassed at the remark
…..
Back at school
"Wow that was amazing, Jimbo! How'd you move like that?"
"I don't know, maybe the adrenaline" They walked towards the bike rack just to find Claire also waiting for them there.
"Hey Jim, can we talk?" Toby gave Jim a nod and walked further while he and Claire stood back
"So, I wanted to apologize for avoiding you all day. It might have made you a little… worried" She gave a sheepish smile
"No it's fine really, but I was worried. Did I do or say something wrong?"
"Oh NO!" she quickly and loudly answered with a little embarrassment after she realized it came out loud. But thankfully the school was mostly empty with only a few students who were waiting for their parents. "I am the one to blame. I just felt…"
"Hey it's ok if you don't want to say it now, I will understand" Jim shot her a sincere smile and it nearly got Claire to do something she should do
"No, I think it will be better if I tell you the reason so you don't have to worry"
"Ok" Jim and Claire slowly walked towards the lockers so they could get a little more privacy
"So here goes" Claire took a deep breathe and Jim was a little suspenseful not knowing what to expect. "After that first time I met you at the gym and again at rehearsal, I felt a little weird…"
"Weird?" Jim blushed so hard he had to quickly turn away to not be seen from Claire
Claire saw Jim turning away and quickly started to blush too "Oh wait I don't mean that weird… or do I… or… wait that's not the… Ugh I don't know how to explain this…"
"It ok I understand" Jim turned to her to stop her from her nervousness, "Just tell me the rest"
Claire started to feel weird in her chest again but this time it was a very excited feeling but she had to stop herself from make any weird expressions "O-Ok, so I had these weird feelings and I don't know how to explain them… I first thought that I could have just been having a fever but I am in good health, so I thought maybe it was with other people the same but…" She turned to look at Jim but as she did she stared straight into his eyes. "But I felt only like that with you" she was completely lost in his blue eyes for while and she didn't want to stop at anytime soon, she wanted to dive deeper, but she didn't know why
"Uhm, Claire, are you ok?" Jim saw Claire was a little lost but didn't know what was happening
After Jim's voice got through to her she quickly turned her head down out of embarrassment and had to recover herself, "yeah so as I was saying, I keep having this weird feeling about you and me, like we are…"
Just then Toby came running quickly, "Hey guys sorry to interrupt but Claire your parents are waiting for you and they do not seem happy"
Pure shock overtook her face as she realized she was making her parents wait for her. "I am so, so sorry Jim. Can we talk tomorrow again?"
Before Jim could answer she started running towards the gate. Jim just soft smiled and whispered 'yes' to himself as he waved at Claire
"So what was that all about" Toby asked as the two boys got on their bike ready to go home
"Didn't really get to find out either, but hopefully she'll tell me tomorrow"
"It's a love confession" Toby said as he made smoochie faces towards Jim
"What? No it can't be. She barely knows me that well"
"I'm tell you, man, she like likes you"
"Yeah yeah let's just get home the sun is already going down"
As the boys rode down the street a dark metal foot stepped from out of the shadows of a tree, "Follow them" A shadow mephit jumped into a shadow pit and started to follow the boys as the knight stared at the car of the Nunez's as they drove home "So you have a little lady friend you fond over?" The knight slowly sunk into a shadow pit as it kept staring at the car "This will be interesting"
…
As the boys rode through the streets having their usual conversations another creature awaits them patiently
"So are you going to teach me those moves you did in the gym"
"Yeah but it'll be a little hard to teach but I'll try"
"Thanks that'll help me against my fight with Draal"
"don't worry I think you'll do great, plus I think we will actually befriend Draal in no time"
"You really are the optimistic one aren't you?"
"TROLLHUNTER!" a deep voice shouted as the boys came around a bend
"Oh hell no!" Toby yelled as he saw a huge troll with dark skin and red eyes waiting for them
Jim quickly looked at the sun and saw it was about to set and they didn't have much road to escape but there was another option
"Head for the music store and hide in there!"
"Why the music store?" Toby asked but still obeyed as they rode like hell, with the troll behind them.
With Toby in front Jim slowed down a little to try and lure the troll away. "Tobes throw me something shiny!"
"Why?"
"Just trust me!"
Toby threw his metal retainer box and Jim caught it and took a quick turn towards Stuart Electronics without telling Toby. The troll saw Jim with a metal round thing in his hand and turned towards him and chased after Jim.
As Jim came by a bend his tire blew and he fell into a box full of donated clothes. He quickly got up and wrapped his face with a red scarf he found in the box and hid behind a corner alleyway.
He concentrated and tried to call out his armor
'Do you need help My King' a familiar voice sounded in his head again
"Ahhh! You again. I thought you were just a dream or illusion I had when I fought Arthur"
'No My King, I am real'
"Then why do you only show up in these situations?"
'Because you only call for me in these situations'
"Ok so can you help me? I want to dawn my armor?"
'I have a better plan My King, why not dawn an alternate armor. One that is not fully needed but gives you a good disguise and saves your real armor for real situations such as bigger fights?'
"Why? Wouldn't that just waste my time and make me less protected?"
'Not completely because you see, if you play your cards right you can use different looks to be different knight at different time. This will protect people you love by be someone else to protect them from the shadows'
"That makes sense. Ok so give it to me"
'You have it wrong My King, I only advise and help I can not dawn your armor for you, you have you have to focus and draw it out yourself' the voice gave a visual look of the armor it suggested in his head
"Is this the armor you talked about?"
'Yes, now focus on it and draw it out'
As Jim concentrated the troll sniffed the air as he looked for Jim and approached the alleyway, as a green light shone through it and a metal clank hit the ground. The troll drew his blades as he turned the corner swinging but was shocked as a mysterious figure not only evaded the blade but was inches away from his face. The figure had a red scarf around his neck and a black metal mask that covered his lower face and his hair and top face was cover with the rest of the scarf, leaving only his eyes, while were glare straight into his face. And he had black metal gloves and a body plate and brown pants with brown leather boots with steel plating. And all the black armor pieces had red in lines that strongly stood out, almost like pulsing veins.
"Sorry but I took the boy you are looking for to a saver place where you won't find him till we finish our business" Jim's voice sounded a bit deeper than he always sounded but he just figured it was part of the disguise to hide his identity.
The troll quickly jumped back instinctively and got into a battle stance
"Listen Bular I already have a lot of things I have to do, unfortunately you are not suppose to be defeated by me so if we can just stop this now and walk home"
"How do you know my name fleshbag?"
"I know a lot. Like I know your father, Gunmar and his master Morgana"
"Who are you?!"
"Nobody"
Bular rushed as fast as he could and swung his sword but every attempt failed as Jim just evade and jumped back but as Jim jumped away Bular threw his sword at Jim but Jim just shifted to the left and with one hand on the side of the blade and the other one the handle, he spun the sword around to lower its momentum and then swung it in his own hand. As he held the now claimed sword of Bular, he looked at him and also stood in a battle stance "Let's finish this"
Meanwhile at the music shop
Douxie was just about to finish sweeping and closing when Toby burst through the doors, "We made it, Jimbo! Now let's hope we lost that monster"
"Uhm hello there mate?"
"Oh hey, sorry but we need to hide here for a while something is chasing us"
"Oh sorry to hear that mate but who are the 'we' you keep referring to?"
"Me and…" Toby froze with fear as he saw Jim was not with him "OH NO!" Toby quickly looked for his amulet and Douxie saw that Toby was really afraid as looked in his bag
"What is chasing you my friend?"
"I don't know, some big troll with dark skin and red eyes, and my friend is left behind I need to go get him"
Douxie's was surprised to hear a human talk about trolls and that one was chasing them, but also that it sounded like Bular. He knew Bular because he face him over the centuries as Bular was the last of the gum-gums in this real, but why would a gum-gum be chasing him of all people, his question was answered as soon as Toby pulled out the amulet of daylight. Douxie and Archie's eyes widened as they saw it
"I gotta go help my friend" Toby quickly rushed back out and on to his bike before Douxie could stop him
"Uhm Zoe, love? Could you watch the shop real quick something urgent came up?"
"What? We were suppose t go the movies after this remember?"
"I Know but I'll make it up to you tonight, promise"
"Ok just go, but you owe me a lesson on light magic this weekend for this"
"Yeah I'll do that" Douxie and Archie quickly rushed out to after Toby. Douxie enchanted his feet to boost his speed and Archie transformed into a cat-dragon and flew above, keeping a view from the top.
Back at the alleyway
Jim and Bular battled as Bular was trying his best to keep up with Jim and Jim dominating the fight.
"Jimbo I'm coming" as Toby's voice echoed from the street Bular knew he wouldn't last if there were more opponents, Jim used that distraction to punch Bular so hard that he flew on the street out of the alleyway
As Toby saw Bular past his eyes and another unknown figure stepping out of the alley he was shoot with fear, so much that the armor dawn itself to protect Toby. As Douxie and Archie also arrived they saw the two armored figure and Bular, who had now stood up.
As Toby suppressed his fear he looked to see if he can find Jim but didn't, "WHERE IS JIM?!"
"I gave him direction to follow to get to the shop he was heading to" The disguised Jim said as he tried to not give his identity away
Bular saw Toby in the armor, "So you're the trollhunuter? Mark my words you will die by my hands soon enough"
"No he won't, because he will stop all of you because he is the trollhunter" Jim threw the sword of Bular to his feet, "Now go and live to fight another day"
Bular took the sword and roared at the Jim who stood unfazed, Bular started to walk away from the battle field and jumped on a rooftop and appeared, but unknown to them all the fight was witnessed by a shadow mephit.
"This boy is more interesting and dangerous than I have ever thought" the voice of Arthur echoed in the shadow as the mephit sunk into a shadow pit again.
"Why did you let him go?"
"He is not of me to defeat that is the Trollhunters duty"
AS Jim said that he also turned to walk away, "Wait who are you?"
"A Guardian" Jim said as he also jumped on to a roof top and Toby just stood there and watched but started to trail back to the shop
"So mate" Douxie was waiting for Jim on the rooftop "Who are you really?"
"As I said, a Guardian"
"Yeah but I don't fully trust you mate" Douxie started to glow as he activated a spell
"No need for that, I really am good. I also know Merlin and we both just want to save the world from evil"
"You know Merlin?" the spell started to fade
"Yeah just as I know you and Archie, who is flying behind me ready to burn me"
Archie came down and sat on Douxie's shoulder "Fine but I'll keep a close eye on you"
"I'd appreciate that because I need your help with a few magical solutions"
Jim jumped away and as he got far away he transformed back into normal with his blue jeans and blue jersey. He hid his red scarf under his jersey because his backpack and bike were still at the donating centre. He quickly ran into the music shop and was greeted with pink hair girl who was sorting music in the aisles
Soon after the door slammed open and Toby came running in with Jim's back pack "Jimbo, I thought I lost you"
"Yeah I also thought I was going to bite thee dust but I was saved by some weird looking guy"
"Yeah I saw him too"
As the boys talked about their experiences, the door slammed open again and Douxie came through with Archie walking behind
"Sorry guys we are about to close. I see you found your friend?"
"Yeah, thanks for hiding us"
As Toby when to get his bike up Jim walked over to Douxie, "Excuse me sir, I got something for you from that strange man of thing that saved me"
"What is it?" Jim handed Douxie a page he tore out from his notes. Notes he wrote down of what TJ told him
"I don't know sir he just handed it to me and told me to give it to you" Jim nodded to Douxie and got on his bike which Toby also brought back from the centre and they rode off
As Douxie opened the page it read 'How to stop possession of a shadow queen and how to gain troll feats without becoming a troll'
Somewhere in the forest
"I had him! I could have killed the trollhunter if not for that monster" Bular hit the trees as he vented
"I see you like to destroy things when your mad"
Bular turned to see a green knight leaning on one of the trees looking at him
"And who are you? I had enough of knights today!"
"Don't worry we have a mutual enemy, The Guardian"
"And why would I help you?"
"Because I can not only help you kill that thing but also I can help your father out of his prison"
A smile formed on Bular's face as he heard those words "I'm listening"
…
Thank you all hope you enjoy and just a little something, I tried to draw some of the stuff from the story so I hope you check them out on deviant art. I have the same name there.
PS. There will be spoils if you don't mind
Thank you and enjoy your day
