"I can't believe it!"

"I know it's hard to believe Ms. Lake but we have witnesses and-"

"I KNOW! Jim punched someone, I get it, but why do YOU want JIM to be expelled?!" – Barbara yelled at the principal.

"This is against the school rules and..."

"Oh, really?! My son hasn't had a single offence since he started 1st grade, except sometimes being tardy, but it is normal for a teen. What I can't understand is why only MY son gets punished so severely on his first offence? I've heard that Palchuk boy had been stuffing kids in the lockers! Is it because Jim never went to kindergarten? Is it because I'm a single parent? My husband leaving me? Him not being my biological kid?! Tell me?!!" – Barbara was on the offence and the principal shrunk back.

Outside the door Toby sat next to his friend, for moral support. Jim didn't look as bad as the previous evening but still was not in the best mental state. It currently took everything Jim had to not loose the hold on his magic. He didn't want weird stuff happening around him.

"Whoa, Jimbo, I never knew Dr. L could be so fierce."

"I know. If she wants she can spook a troll." – Jim laughed a bit but wasn't wholeheartedly.

"Oh, come on! I doubt it. I mean, I was scared to death the first time I saw a troll, she'd probably freak out if she sees AARRRGH." – Toby laughed at the memory.

Jim remembered their first meeting and how she chewed him one day just because he'd gone on a supply run in the mountains without telling her. It was the first time in a LONG time he'd been scared by a human.

'Oh, Tobes, you have no idea how wrong you are. She offered coffee with a half-dead look in her eyes. Well, it might have been the headache but she was SO not freaked out by me.'

As expected, Barbara had been called the same evening after the incident. She wasn't angry at him, nor did she scold him. She only asked him one thing: Did he deserve it?, nothing else. She then hugged Jim.

The door opened to reveal an irritated Barbara Lake and the principal cowering behind his desk.

"Come with me boys. We are going for milkshakes." – she smiled at the two.

Toby was confused and Jim just nodded.

"Wait, you aren't mad?" – the ginger-haired boy asked.

"Oh, I AM mad, but at the school. Really, trying to blame only Jim! So you know, there will be some punishment but at least I made sure they won't expel or suspend you."

"Thanks, mom."

"For nothing."

=The next day=

"Quiet down!" Strickler instructed the class "This is Ms. Nomura and she's the museum's curator."

"It is nice to meet you all. As you may know..." – she started talking at the mostly uninterested crowd of teens.

Jim stood to the side as Toby listened about the museum's mineral collection and scowled at Strickler. There was something fishy, he just couldn't pinpoint what it was...

The doors opened and they entered the building. Even as they walked through the halls Jim couldn't shake off the feeling that something was not right with the museum. He sniffed, trying to see if he can catch some scent but NOPE! He coughed and sneezed at the strong smell of cleaning products and other chemicals- a nasty concoction even for those with normal sense of smell.

"Hey! Jim, wait!"

He turned around and was Claire waving at him. He stopped and waited for the girl to come to him.

"Hey."

"Hey! Sorry for the other day." she apologized "What Steve said was wrong and..."

"There's no need to apologize, you did nothing wrong."

"But if I had done something, like calling Ms. Janneth or getting between you two, you wouldn't have gotten detention!"

"Yeah, and probably would have been the one in hospital. Listen, I am not angry with you or anything, so you don't need to apologize."

"Uh...OK."

"Jimbo! ...Oh! Hi Claire!" Toby pulled Jim closer and whispered "We may have a problem!"

=Later=

"Ugh!" Toby poked the slimy green squash on the road "What is that thing?"

""Goblin."" – Jim and Blinky said at the same time.

"Master Jim! I see you've been reading these days!"

"Uh- Yeah! Totally have!" – Jim blurted out, realizing he'd said it out loud.

"Good, good! And this goblin has been run over."

"And why is it bad? You look really worried." – Toby looked at his 3 companions.

"Goblins are ruthless tricksters, scavengers... they can cause simple mischief but also disasters!" – Blinky looked at Jim, expecting something.

"Uh..." Jim was feeling uncomfortable, he had to watch how much he says "Their revenge is usually tenfold."

"That is correct, Master Jim! And the poor soul that ran over this one... Let Scargan's swift blade have mercy!!!" – Blinky spat on his hands and did some gesture Jim didn't quite recognize.

"Oh, then we have a serious problem!" then Toby saw a note "Hey! A delivery guy left a note on Eli's house! Maybe he ran the goblin over. It says he's going to come at eight!"

"Then we must prepare for the worst! The goblins may come at any moment!" – Blinky's 6 eyes scanned the area.

"Jimbo, do you know what this means?"

"What?"

"Stakeout! It's going to be SO interesting."

"Yay." – Jim didn't look as excited as Toby but the shorter boy knew his friend was also having a bit of fun.

......................

"Trollhunter to Warhammer, do you hear me?"

[Warhammer here! *huff* I'm hearing you loud and clear!]

"Are you jogging?! This is a stakeout!"

[I can't help it! My need to exercise is too much to be contained!] – Toby joked.

"Do you see anything suspicious?"

[Nope! Nothing suspicious!] –You are suspicious. - [As I was saying, nothing suspicious for now. Warhammer out!]

Jim and Blinky hid in a bush and waited for another 30 minutes but there was still no sign of the delivery truck.

"What's taking so long? That Delivery Guy should have come at eight!" – Blinky grumbled.

"We have no other choice. We have to wait." – Jim sighed and handed the binoculars to the older troll.

That way he'd have something to do and not complain. The trick worked and Blinky began inspecting the device. A few minutes later a truck barreled down the street, it was the delivery guy. Jim stilled and looked around. A movement down the street caught his eye. One by one, street lamps stopped working.

[Warhammer here! Answer Trollhunter!]

"I'm here. What do you see?"

[They are everywhere! I see at least a dozen from behind the fence.]

"Oh no!" Blinky exclaimed in horror and snatched the walkie-talkie "There are too many! Stay down and don't make a sound! They will attack anything in this state!"

Everyone laid low and waited. Soon a whole swarm of goblins came.

"No! Don't do this Master Jim!" – Blinky pulled Jim back with some effort.

"I can't leave them go after Eli! The delivery guy is in his house, remember?!"

"Waka Chaka!"

The swarm attacked but not the house, instead they crawled over the truck and started eating it, as if they were ants from an Indianna Jones movie.

'Oh, thank every power in existence! I won't have to defend a person from the gobins' wrath!' – Jim cheered internally, maybe a bit too early...

Something clanked and rolled down the road. All eyes turned to see Toby's arm stretched to grab the dropped walkie-talkie.

"Hehe...oops." – Toby quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie.

"WAKA CHAKAAAA!" – the mustached goblin shouted.

"Toby!!" – Jim shouted as he and the others ran away from the swarm.

"I am sorrryyyyyy!" – Toby shouted as he clung to AARRRGH's back.

"Chakaaaa!" – one goblin jumped down from a street lamp and knocked the boy down from his perch.

"AAAAH! They got me!" – Toby shouted.

"Toby!"

Jim turned around and dove in to save his friend. He won't allow his first true friend become goblin chow! He kicked away the few goblins that had latched on the boy and were dragging him towards the approaching horde.

"Waka chaka!" – two goblins hissed but Jim wasn't scared, his brother was scarier without even trying.

"Come on Tobes!" he pulled his friend up "We need to hurry!"

The two boys ran but the horde was gaining on them.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!" – a goblin tried to bite on to Jim.

On instinct, Jim swung his hand, hit the goblin and sent it flying. SPLAT!

'Oh, damn it!!!'

"WAKA CHAKAAAAAAA!"

"Go left!" – Toby instructed.

The four went left and Jim recognized it as their street.

"Toby! Why are you bringing them here?!" – he was NOT comfortable with a bunch of angry goblins following them home.

"To my house!" – Toby hopped and tried to get over the fence.

AARRRGH pushed the boy over, Jim jumped over without breaking a sweat. Toby scrambled to the door and desperately tried to unlock it faster but his hands slipped. Blinky, AARRRGH were looking around, waiting to fight off the oncoming goblins. A green head popped from behind the fence.

"Stay back!" – Jim turned the water hose at full power and sprayed.

"Waka chaka!" – more goblins came.

"I got it!" Toby opened the door "In! Quickly!"

They all squeezed through the small door at almost the same time. Jim wax very glad he was currently a smaller size.

The goblins were crawling over the wall when Toby reached the light switch. Strong lights flashed and illuminated the yard. The goblins retreated with a promise for revenge.

"Thank God! They are gone..." – Toby breathed a sigh of relief.

"Toby-pie! Is that you?!"

"Yes, Nana!" he opened the fridge "Don't mind us! Just watch your show! AND keep the cats inside!!" – it wouldn't be good if a goblin snagged one for dinner.

..............................

"What should we do?! We have goblins after us!" – Toby munched on a candy bar.

"This is indeed a dire situation. The goblins will now be targeting you and they know where young Tobias lives now." – Blinky's expression was grim.

"Ugh! Why?! I knew we shouldn't have come here! Now I've put you in danger!" Jim was pulling at his hair "I am sorry, Tobes."

"Hey, if it wasn't for me dropping the walkie-talkie, we wouldn't have the goblins find us."

"Maybe, but you aren't the one that spattered one! Why can't I control my strength in the most important moments?!" – Jim resisted banging his head on the wall. Yes, it might help a bit with the stress but a well-hidden imprint of his horns in the basement taught him not to do so inside buildings.

"Master Jim, you did the right thing by saving your friend, don't forget that! Also, it's not uncommon for youngsters to make mistakes."

"Yes, I made a mistake and a horde of goblins is coming. At least Bular can't come in the sun and the c- "Jim was about to say changelings but stopped himself " and the goblins chasing us can come at any time!"

"Perhaps we can..."- a noise from the dollhouse made Blinky stop mid-sentence.

Curious, he leaned down and looked in to see Chompsky having a romantic dinner with Sally.

"What is a gnome doing in this dollhouse?!!"

"TOBY-PIE! I don't recognize that voice!"

"It's friend Nana!"

"Well, we didn't throw it out or kill it..." Jim trailed off, 'or eat it' he didn't dare say "... so we decided to keep it. You know, he really likes living in the dollhouse and hasn't caused any trouble."

"This is a violation to rule 2!"

"Yes, but so is to not be afraid when faced with goblins! Look, I know there's a whole lot of things that is required of a Trollhunter but I have my own life. I have a family, I don't quite like it but go to school, I may suck at video games but still play them. A Trollhunter has to fight, I know that very well, but don't like it. I don't like confrontations and would rather stand aside but I am trying! I really am trying to fight, even though I don't like it." he looked in Blinky's eyes "I've done things MY way before, I don't plan to stop now just because I've been chosen to be the Trollhunter against my will."

"I understand, Master Jim. I've been putting too much on you. You were doing so well in training, so it seems I have forgotten you not only have responsibilities towards Trollmarket. You are also a human, so don't worry! Me and AARRRGH will think of a way to not get you maimed by a horde of gnomes!"

Jim was touched but stayed silent and bit his cheek. He felt a pang of guilt that he was lying to Blinky, AARRRGH and Toby every time he didn't rebuke the trolls that he was human. The fear, however, was still there. He didn't want to die, nor to leave everything, again. Jim even started to feel close to the two trolls in the room, not on the same level as his mom or Toby but they were no longer strangers.

...............................

"Whoa! A headshot! I didn't know it was possible."

"Ugh! Great, I hit Claire and now, the girls are silently cursing me. We have to find a way to deal with the goblins coming after us!" – Jim rubbed his temples.

"Yeah, but how?! We don't even know where they are."

At that time Toby's phone beeped.

"I got a windbreaker?! But how? I lost the Chubby tracker last-"

The two boys exchanged meaningful looks.

""The Chubby tracker!""

"One of the goblins must have picked it up!" (Jim)

"And we can find their position with the tracking function on my phone!"

"Yes! And maybe I won't become a goblin chow or something similar." – Jim really didn't want to reach that point where he'd have to transform. One of the goblins might report it to Strickler or worse- Bular.

..............................

"In the museum?! Why would they even be in a museum?" – Toby quietly protested as he and Jim were sneaking inside.

"Shh! They may hear us."

"OK. We find the goblins, then what?"

Jim looked at Toby, contemplating if he should say 'burn them all' or try to paraphrase it.

*CLACKCLACK!* - the loud sound of heels on marble floor made them freeze.

"Hide!" – Jim mouthed and they scrambled to find cover.

Toby hid behind a mineral display and Jim ducked behind a statue of some moustached guy with a cane. He peered out and saw Nomura pass by and enter a 'Staff Only' room. This looked very suspicious, considering the GPS showed Toby's tracker to be in that same room.

"Jim!" Toby jogged to him "We have to help her! She may become a goblin chow!"

"No! We have to be careful!"

"What?! Why?"

"Just... trust me, OK?"

Toby nodded and the two tiptoed to the door.

........................................

Nomura hated this. She not only had to run the museum, oversee the restoration of the bridge but also had to cover up Bular eating the night guard. The museum still stank of chemicals due to that brute's messy eating habits. Why did he have to kill and mess up her museum?

She impatiently tapped her left foot on the floor. From the ceiling one goblin came down, he had a moustache and some sort of thing on his neck...*creak~*

Nomura quickly unsheathed her blades and turned around with a snarl.

"Oops!" – she recognized the chubby boy as the one that bugged her about the mineral collection.

"Oh, damn it!" – the slim one was the new Trollhunter.

She smirked viciously. This was going to be great. She just needed to kill the brat and be rid of one more problem.

.............................................

"Changeling..." Jim muttered to himself "Of course it'll be that."

Nomura lunged at him, so he rolled to the left and activated the amulet. He spun the large blade and blocked her two crescent blades. He pushed her back, barely making her take a step back.

"What is it? Am I too big of a bite for you mighty Trollhunter?" – she sneered.

He SO wished to have his daggers with him right now but they were hidden in his room. The sword might be magical but it was still a fairly large blade and much slower than Nomura. If he had his daggers, he would have been able to nick her by now. Alas, he was on the defensive right now. He barely managed to black her hits with all the false swipes, feints, leg sweeps- all moves he'd done at some point in the past.

"Heh!" she took a step back and stared at him "You are better than what I expected from an adolescent fleshbag." – it was a standoff.

Nomura was genuinely surprised, despite not showing it on the outside. It seemed almost like the teen in front of her knew what she'd do and anticipated her moves before she even did them. He was bad with the sword but not quite as horrible as she'd expected.

Jim knew she was judging him. Despite her strength, she wasn't suited to be a warrior but more of an assassin type. She relied on speed, agility and hitting the vital spots of an enemy without having to beat him down with brute force.

They both waited for the moment to attack. A moment of distraction, a single twitch might determine the outcome of the fight.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" – Toby burst out from behind a curtain.

He was holding his Chubby tracker in one hand while trying to bat off the goblins that have crawled on him. He tripped and grabbed on to the nearest thing- a piece of cloth.

Toby took the cloth down with him, uncovering the half-complete Killahead bridge. Thankfully the goblins had jumped off the boy as he was falling, not wanting to be squashed.

Jim was shocked at the sight of the bridge. It brought unpleasant memories closer to the surface but he grit his teeth and spun around. Sparks flew as he barely managed to block Nomura's attempt to behead him.

"What are you doing Tobes? Get away from here!" – Jim shouted, his battle getting uncomfortably close to his unarmed friend.

"Waka chaka!" – more goblins started to appear.

"Uh oh..." – Toby nervously gulped and pocketed the Chubby tracker.

"Give it up, Trollhunter I will be taking you down tonight!"

This was quickly turning really bad. They were outnumbered and as more goblins woke up, it would become harder for them to escape. Just then, he noticed a goblin trying to sneak on Toby and that goblin was just behind Nomura.

"It won't happen!"

"Oh, so you can understand me!" – she mocked him and began to slowly approach him.

"Being cocky gets you killed!" – he suddenly shouted, startling her with a flash of light.

Jim then pulled the carpet she was standing on.

"NOOOO!" – with a wet splat, she squashed the goblin.

Suddenly, the green creatures' attention was on her.

"No! It wasn't my fault!" – she backed away from the splat zone.

"WAKA CHAKAAA!"

"RUN!" – Jim deactivated the armor and pulled Toby towards the exit.

Toby struggled to not drop his phone as he took a few quick pictures of the bridge.

The two boys got on their bikes and pedaled away as quickly as they could. When they were halfway to their houses, Toby ran out of stamina and almost collapsed. Jim stopped, concerned about his friend.

"Are you ok?"

"NO!" Toby panted "Troll... change... how?!"

"Toby, calm down, take deep breaths."

"How... can you be so calm?!" he was getting a bit hysterical "They can look human! They can be anywhere!"

"Tobes-"

Sirens sounded and police lights flashed.

"Get off the bikes! Hands behind your head!"

The two obeyed the policeman.