————<•>————

"Hurry up Jimbo, we don't have all day"

I wake up with groan, staring up at the ceiling as I debate if I should get up today. I've been feeling like that a lot since Jim went to the dark lands.

I throw on some clothes and walk downstairs and to the kitchen, smiling at my mum as she sips on her coffee at the kitchen table.

"Hey, how was your sleep?" M/n says with a smile.

Mums business trips have stopped, only for a few weeks but I'll take what I can get.

"Good, it's the getting up part that kills me" I say as I grab an apple from the counter and swing my bag on my back, walking off to the door.

"Have fun at school!" M/n yells as I slam the door behind me.

Of course I love having her at home, it's just a bit weird since I get so used to being at my house by myself, but the extra company is good since it makes up for Jim's disappearance.

I look up to see Claire standing to the side on her bike, ringing the bell on her bike with a smile.

"Hey! Hurry up!" Claire yells out as I groan and hop on my bike, peddling over to Jim's house with Claire behind me.

Claire and I waited with our bikes in front of Jim's house, sometimes that boy took way to long to get out of bed.

The garage door finally opened with 'Jim' standing there with his bike.

"Hurry up Jimbo, we don't have all day" I say with a roll of my eyes.

Claire and I mount our bikes and head off, 'Jim' following behind us.

After Jim decided to go to the dark lands by himself, we had to cover for Jim, so the easiest way we do that is a thing called a glamour mask.

"Keeping up appearances is hard. She was so close to finding out today. I don't know how long I can keep this up" Toby sighs as he takes the mask off, his Jim appearance soon turning back into his own."One of you guys should wear the glamour mask and play Jim. It's got this sweaty troll stank to it"

"No way. We made a deal. You cover for him in Arcadia, we handle all his duties in Trollmarket" Claire says as I nod in agreement.

"Fine. Speaking of which, any word?" Toby asks as we peddle our bikes.

"Come on, Tobes! It's only been two weeks, and the amulet hasn't called for anyone else" I say as we peddle through the woods.

"We know he's okay in the Darklands. He'll be back, and with my baby brother." Claire says happily as we jump our bikes off  a hill, sliding down a bridge.

"I hope so. I don't know how much longer I can deal with this stank. Where are you, Jim?" Toby yells to no one.

————<•>————

After school Claire, Toby and I decided we should go check on Blinky.

It's been tough for him, with Aaarrgghh turned to stone and Jim falling into the darklands, the poor troll has been stressing himself out way too much.

"Think, Blinkous, think!" I hear Blinky say as we walked into to him making a plan on his whiteboard.

"Any luck Blink?" Claire asks carefully as we walk in.

"Per usual, I'm never short on plans, but working ones? No." Blinky says defeatedly as he sighs "I must say, it is most frustrating to find oneself without any options"

"Im sure things will work out" I say as I walk over to Aaarrrgghh's statue, grabbing onto one of his stone fingers.

"Thank you Ms Y/n. What about you Tobias? Any fortune with the fetch?" Blinky asks to Toby who's also standing next to Aaarrgghh.

"I've been sticking my head though this thing everywhere in Arcadia" Toby says as he pulls his head out of the fetch "All I see is endless Darklands, no Jim"

"But, Toby has been leaving Nougat Nougies to let him know we haven't given up" I add in, Toby nodding his head happily as he grabs another from his pocket and throws it into the portal.

"And to provide a boost of nourishment" Toby adds smiling, his smile soon fading as he sighs and leans against the wall "This is hopeless isn't it?"

"Toby" I sigh sadly as I lean against the wall next to him.

"As my brother Dictatious used to say..." Blinky starts before speaking in Trollish as Claire and I smile.

"Even the word 'hopeless'..." Claire starts.

"...Isn't void of hope" I finish with a smile.

"Glad to know you girls still remember your trollish" Blinky says happily.

"Hard to forget it" I say as Claire nods.

"Which is precisely why we mustn't give up in helping Master Jim! Our adventures have already taken one friend from us" Blinky says sadly as he walks over to Aaarrrgghh and softly touches his hand "We must not lose another, the answer to saving Jim is in here somewhere"

We all start researching and looking around the troll library, Claire reading a book as I go through some scrolls that are written in trollish that I luckily know how to read. I knew it would come in handy someday.

"Hey! What the heck! Who turned my Warhammer into a back scratcher!" I hear Toby yell as I look up from the scrolls I'm reading.

"After witnessing your troubles handling it, I sought to stabilise it's unpredictability and make it, as you might say-" Blinky says before swinging the hammer around and having it turn into his hammer  "-fun size"

"Whatttttttt" Toby says breathlessly as he takes the hammer Blinky hands to him in awe.

"Pocket hammer, fun size" Toby says as he starts to switch the hammer from fun size to hammer side over and over.

I sigh as I look back towards my scrolls, attempting to read from where I was before pausing as I hear the sound of a horn echo through the tunnels.

"What's that?" I say as we all look towards the direction of the horn in confusion.

We get up and walk towards troll market where trolls have now gathered around everywhere.

Toby, Claire and I squeeze past trolls as we try to see what's going on. I freeze and watch as I catch sight of Queen Ursuna and her trolls walking along.

"What the..." I say as all the trolls mumble around.

"Whoah! All the troll heavyweights are here!" Toby says excitedly before catching sight of a green troll "Hey! Wise Wumpa lady!" He yells, the troll simply looking at him before continuing to walk.

"Toby" Claire scolds.

"Who summoned the Tribunal Vendel?" Blinky asks as we catch sight of Vendel walking.

"The Tribunal summoned themselves" Vendel says as he stops to look at us.

"Can they do that?" I ask with wide eyes.

"Well, word of the troll hunters stupidity to enter the Darklands has spread like the plague. And now they're calling for the destruction of Killahead Bridge" Vendel says before walking away, ignoring our shocked gasps.

Claire and I quickly run after him, not nearly finished with the conversation as we have so many questions to now ask.

"But if they destroy the bridge..." Claire starts before worriedly looking towards me.

"...Jim won't be able to get out" I say with wide eyes.

"I'm well aware of that, and I'm trying to prevent it" Vendel says before he continues to walk, his walking stick hitting the ground as he goes.

"There goes our hope" Claire sighs as I sadly nod my head.

"We must keep searching. Master Jim's time is running out" Blinky says determined before running after Vendel, looking back to us and signalling to stay.

Claire, Toby and I run after him, stopping as the guard trolls stop us with their weapons, grunting as a warning.

"Something bad is happening" I say as we watch them walk away.

"Something very bad" Claire agrees.

————<•>————

Authors Note:

Bit of a short chapter

I have some ideas for this season! There will not be much Jim and Y/n bc Jim is in the Darklands most of the time but we will see
Y/n, Claire and Toby!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!