Work Text
1.
Easy peasy, Lemon squeezy everything is fine.
Easy breezy 123 It’s all because you're mine
Jim reached out blindly and turned his alarm clock off. He took a moment to indulge in a slow stretch before crawling out of bed. As much as he would like to keep sleeping, he needed to meet up with Claire and Toby to keep looking for Porgon. He couldn’t even dredge up the energy to care about missing the science fair. It was always just a bunch of baking soda and vinegar volcanos anyway.Jim dragged slowly through his morning routine, acutely aware that he had nowhere near enough sleep. As much as he would have liked to take a night off, Arcadia wasn’t going to protect itself.He met up with Claire and Toby at a corner café.“Hey guys!” He waved as he slid into “their” booth.“Morning, Jimbo!” Toby said, returning the wave.Claire gave him a tired smile and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Jim was pleased to note that the red circles around her eyes were lessoning.“What can I get you?” The waiter drawled, looking about as enthusiastic as Jim felt.Jim glanced across the table and noted that Clair and Toby already had ordered.“Just fill a 16 ounce cup with expresso and as much caffeine as you can legally add.”And now the waiter was giving him a weird look.“Please don’t,” Claire said.“Sorry Jimbo, I’m gunna have to back Claire on this one,” Toby said patting his hand, before turning to the waiter. “Please get him an 8 ounce French Roast with cream and sugar and a breakfast croissant.”Jim opened his mouth to protest and Toby leveled a glare at him. Jim closed his mouth. In his peripheral vision he saw the waiter edging away from the table.“Look,” Toby said with a sigh. “I’ve known you for ten years and I can say with one hundred percent certainty that all you’ve had for breakfast at this point is a single slice of toast. That does not cut it.”Jim sighed.“I know.”“Good. So what’s the plan?”The three took some time to lay out a search grid and speculate on some likely places they might find Porgon.“Okay! Let’s go.”Jim started to get up and was pinned by two glares. He wilted back into his seat.“We are going nowhere until you eat your croissant,” Claire said firmly.Toby nodded. The traitor.Jim shot them a sulky look and settled down to wait for his order. Jim sighed as he pushed a branch out of his way.His walkie talkie crackled to life.“Any luck? -Over.”“None here,” Jim said. “Just a lot of bushes. -Over.”“Nope. Just a few teenagers defacing a barn. -Over.” Claire sounded bored.“Nothing here either,” Toby said. “You should totally prank them, Claire! -Over.”Jim smiled at his teammate’s antics. He shook his head as they started to argue and started up his search again.There was a flash of blue light. 2.
Easy peasy, Lemon squeezy everything is fine.
Jim turned off his alarm clock and then spent a minute staring at it. He shook his head and climbed out of bed. As he went through his morning routing the feeling of Deja vu continued to assail him.The dream from last night had felt so real. It was like he had lived this day before.He arrived at the café and attempted to order his 16 ounce super caffeinated espresso only to be shot down by Toby again, who ordered him the exact same thing he had ordered him in the “dream”. He was starting to wonder if it really was a dream.Jim didn’t try to escape before his croissant arrived this time. Instead he chewed slowly while watching his friends talk. He couldn’t recall the exact details, but he was pretty sure they had talked about the same thing before while he was eating.Was this an amulet thing?After they split up, Jim went rather half-heartedly to the woods where he was supposed to search. He pulled out his amulet and stared at it.“Merlin? Is this you again?”There was no answer, but then with the whole thing before the trial Merlin had not really showed his face until everything was as bad as it could get. He was still not sure whether that whole thing was real or just a very vivid hallucinationHe sighed and put the amulet away. Might as well get some searching done.There was a flash of blue light. 3.
Easy peasy…
Jim slammed his hand down on the alarm clock. He took a moment to look around. He was in bed, in his pajamas. Again. The same song was on the radio. Again. Yeah, something was not right here.Upon arriving at the café Jim attempted to order the 16 ounce espresso one more time just to see if Toby would say the same thing. He did. Again.“Okay, change of topic,” Jim said. “Toby, if you were, hypothetically speaking, in a time loop. What would you do to prove it to yourself and us?”Toby was definitely the kind of person to think about these things.Toby and Claire stared at him for a second.“Well,” Toby said, tapping his chin. “I would have you think up a password on one loop and then on each subsequent loop I would ask you to make it up again, but this time I would guess it before you thought of it.”Toby perked up, eyes widening and an excited smile appearing on his face.“Are we in a time loop?!!”“Maybe,” Jim said. “I think so.”“Awesome Sauce,” Toby breathed.“But how would that even work?” Claire protested, nose wrinkling a little. “Time travel shouldn’t be possible.”Toby turned and raised an eyebrow at her.“We fight trolls. You have a staff that makes portals through another dimension, I have a hammer that alters gravity and Jim has magic armor made out of light yet you draw the line at time travel?”“Good point,” Claire said. “So what’s happening?”Jim stared at his friends for a long moment before breaking into a huge smile.“Have I ever told you guys how much I love you?”“It’s implicit, but we still appreciate you saying so,” Toby said with a grin, reaching over to give Jim a hug. “So… Details.”
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4.Jim sped down the street on his Vespa. No sign of Porgon so far. He had to be hiding in some dark corner, but where?There was a ping from his cell phone. He glanced down to see Toby was reporting that he had cleared one street and was starting on the next.That had been Claire’s idea. Since Jim was the only one, as far as they could tell, who remembered the time loop it made sense that all information should be reported to him. That way they didn’t have to backtrack on the next loop.Right now they were systematically searching the town to figure out where Porgon was. For the moment he was their main suspect for the cause of the timeloop. 5.“It’s always that blue flash!” Jim complained as he paced the kitchen.Toby and Claire watched him from the bar.“Clearly it’s a clue, Master Jim!” Blinky commented, taking another bite out of his whip cream slathered wrench.“Clue,” AAARRRGGHH echoed watching with interest.“It must be the source of this disturbance. We must observe it carefully and find its source!”“But how? My memory isn’t that great and it’s hard enough keeping track of the places we’ve cleared.” Jim sighed and flipped the bacon. “I’m so tired of today.”“Never fear, Master Jim!” Blinky walked around the bar to place a hand on Jim’s shoulder. “We shall get you out of this time loop yet! You simply must be patient. Like the cunning stalkling, bide your time, learn all you can, and then, when the moment is right, capture your prey and end this cycle of repetition.”He swung a couple of his fists in demonstration. Jim gave him a tired smile and returned his attention to the eggs. He adjusted the heat slightly and tossed the shells to AAARRRGGHH who happily gulped them down.“So what should we do this time?”“Is there enough time between seeing the blue flash and the time loop resetting for us to tell you which direction we see it coming from?” Claire asked. “If there is we could probably triangulate its source.”“Not really. I mean I suppose we could get me to a different side of town before the end of each loop…”“Could go to lookout,” AAARRRGGHH rumbled.“Lookout?”“Above town,” He clarified. “On top of hill.”“You genius!” Toby exclaimed, giving the troll a hug. “We can all just chill up on the hilltop for the rest of the loop and then Jim will be able to see where the light is coming from.”“But first, breakfast,” Jim said, turning off the burners. 6.“I think it starts at the planetarium,” Jim decided at last.They were all standing around the kitchen table at his house looking at a map of Arcadia and a photograph of the view from the hill.“Looks like it,” Toby replied. He glanced at Jim. “Do you really think it’s Porgon?”“He seems like the likeliest candidate,” Jim said, rolling up the map with a shrug. “He vanished after picking up that strange cylinder last night. It was glowing the exact same blue as the flash.”Toby let out a wistful sigh; chin coming to rest on his folded arms.“I wish I could remember. We finally get a time loop and I haven’t got to do anything fun with it.”Jim snorted.“Like what?”“Like stuff you’d never do normally! We could prank Steve and get away with it. Learn to play the piano. Convince everyone you’re psychic!”“Finally get done studying for the test tomorrow?” suggested Claire, giving Jim a pointed look.Jim held up his finger and inhaled, then paused.“You know what? I’m actually kind of tempted to do that one.” He shook his head to clear it. “But for now, focus. Think we should head over to the planetarium before the time loop starts over?”“How long do we have?” Claire asked.Jim glanced at his cell phone.“About three hours. The flash happens just before noon.”“Okay, so let’s make a plan of attack,” She suggested. “We should definitely meet up at the planetarium instead of here or the café, if we loop again. I’m sure you can convince us pretty easily and then explain things when we get there.”“It’s so weird creating plans we won’t remember,” Toby interrupted. “I feel like I should give you a message to pass onto my future past self.”“Oh right!” Claire suddenly exclaimed, eyes widening. “When you tell us that our meeting place has changed to the planetarium be sure to remind me to check the oven. I totally burned the casserole I was trying out this morning.”“Okay,” Jim said slowly. “Anything else I should pass along?”“Can I please punch Steve on one of these loops?” Toby asked.“No.” 7.
Easy peasy, Lemon squeezy everything is fine.
Easy breezy 123 It’s all because you're mine
Jim yawned and hit the alarm. He lay still in bed, eyes closed. It surely wouldn’t hurt to grab just a few more minutes of sleep, right? It wasn’t like the time loop restarted that quickly. Porgon might not even be at the planetarium yet, though they had confirmed last loop that was definitely where the flash came from.What felt like less than a minute later Jim was roused by the sound of his cellphone ringing incessantly. For a moment he contemplated smothering it with a pillow. Grudgingly he reached a hand out of the warmth of his bed and made a blind grab for it.His hand brushed it, then it slipped out of his grasp and onto the floor. Jim groaned and poked his head out to see where it was so he could retrieve it. He did a silent cheer as he managed to snag it without getting out of bed.“Hey.”“There you are Jimbo!” Toby sounded relieved. “We were wondering where you were. You were supposed to meet us at the café like 15 minutes ago.”“Sorry,” Jim said, voice scratchy. “I thought I could rest a few minutes after my alarm… I guess I must have ended up sleeping in.”What time was it anyway?“Aw. Classic mistake. No sweat. When do you think you can join us?”“How about we meet up at the planetarium in a half hour?”“Sounds good,” Toby said and then paused. “But why the planetarium? Don’t they have the science fair going on there?”Jim yawned and stretched.“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I’ll explain when we get there.” Jim arrived at the planetarium at 10 am sharp with a dozen chocolate chip cookies packed in a brown paper bag. Hopefully they would suffice for an apology. The planetarium was already open, so at least they wouldn’t have to break in.Claire and Toby pulled up on their bicycles.“Sorry again for sleeping in,” Jim said handing Toby the sack.“It’s really no problem, Jimbo,” Toby said taking it from him. “You need your sleep.”His friend opened the sack and burst into a wide grin as he caught the smell of the cookies. Claire leaned forward to peer into the sack as well.“Hey!” Toby exclaimed as she darted forward and got one before he did.“So what’s going on?” Claire asked, ignoring him.“Long story short, we’re in a time loop. I’m the only one who remembers each loop. This is loop number seven and we’ve determined that Porgon is going to be here… Probably.”Claire and Toby stared at him for a long moment.“Probably?” Claire asked slowly as Toby started emitting a high pitched squeal of excitement.“Well this seems to be were the blue flash at the end of each time loop is coming from. We were close enough when it happened last time to hear roars, so I’m pretty sure it’s Porgon.”“Okay. What should we do?”“Can we…” Toby started.“No pranking Steve.”Toby deflated.“Last loop we decided it would be best to scout out the building to see if we could find Porgon or anything suspicious before the timeloop restarts. Ideally we would have been here earlier, but…” “Okay,” Claire said cutting him off. “I’ll see if I can talk the staff into letting me into the back.”“I call perimeter!” Toby volunteered.“And I’ll look around the exhibits. Great. Text me immediately if you guys find anything.” They met up about an hour later.“So no luck, I’m guessing?” Jim hadn’t got any texts, but he had to ask anyway.“Nope.”“Nothing,” Claire confirmed and then paused before adding. “I did have to break into a few rooms, so if we manage to unloop time we should find a way to clear the security cameras. My mom is getting increasingly closer to putting a restraining order on you guys.”One of the passing students gave them a weird look.“Man, can you believe everyone did volcanos again?” Toby asked looking around them. “Why do we even have a science fair if everyone is just going to do volcanos?”Claire shrugged and looked around.“Well I was going to do something on a study on algae that I thought was pretty cool, but there really hasn’t been time with everything that’s been going on.”“Sorry about that,” Jim said rubbing the back of his neck.“Don’t be.”“Still, it feels like you guys never get time to do regular high school stuff because you’re always helping me out.”“We’re your friends, Jimbo,” Toby said giving him a look that allowed no argument. “Besides, I think stopping the end of the world might be a little more important that some high school science fair.”“True,” Jim said looking away sheepishly.They settled down to watch as the participants all trailed in.“Oh! That one’s different,” Toby said pointing across the room.Jim looked and, sure enough, a student he didn’t know was standing proudly over a strange claw like device.“Huh. That does look interesting.”Jim started to stand up.There was a loud roar. Porgon.Toby and Claire bolted to their feet beside him as the giant red troll emerged from the balcony. He jumped onto the model solar system causing the orbs to spin out of control.Without thinking Jim summoned his armor.The students evacuating in terror around him stopped to stare. He had forgotten that they were there. He could feel their stares as Daylight appeared in his hand. Mary actually pulled out her phone and took a picture. That wasn’t good…Jim shook his head. He would deal with it later.He charged forward with a yell, Claire and Toby on his heels.Porgon held up some sort of strange, blue glowing cylinder. The one he had picked up last night. Or rather the last night before the time loop started.The troll laughed triumphantly as Jim skidded to a halt.There was a flash of blue light. 8.
Easy peasy…
Jim slammed his hand down on his alarm clock with entirely too much force. They needed to figure out a way to get the science fair canceled.
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8.“We need to do what now?” Toby asked.“We need to cancel the science fair,” Jim repeated.He was making a croque madame for each of his friends this morning. Just because he was stuck going through the same day did not mean he was going to make the same breakfast each time. He was beginning to contemplate trying some of the more interesting recipes he’d never had the nerve to try.“What for? I get all the time loop stuff, but how do a bunch of fake volcanos tie into this?”“When we tried to catch Porgon last time people saw him and saw me don my armor. What good is stopping Porgon if we expose trolls to the world and end up getting taken in by the FBI in the process?”“Ah. Right.” Toby’s face lit up as Jim presented him with his sandwich. “So any ideas?”Jim sighed.“Well I would try to find some way to convince Señor… I mean Principal Uhl to move it, but…”“He doesn’t really like us?”“Yeah…”The three of them sat for a long moment in silence.“So why don’t we just pull the fire alarm?” asked Toby.“If we do that we’d have to do it immediately before the attack. Otherwise the fire department would come and find out it was just a prank and reopen the building again before the attack,” Claire said. “But if we do it right before and get the timing even slightly wrong the fire department will arrive either right before or during our fight and then we will have to explain some things we really don’t want to.”She paused for a moment then added. “Best case scenario we manage to clear anything Troll related, but we still get arrested for vandalism and Mom files a restraining order against you guys and grounds me.”Toby sighed.“Don’t forget Jim and I getting another mark on our records… Man, if the world doesn’t end we won’t be able to get jobs with our horrible criminal history. Only 16 and already robbing museums and committing vandalism.”Jim patted him on the shoulder.“Hopefully it won’t come to that. What else have we got?”“Maybe we could cause a water leak?” Toby suggested.“That might work,” Jim said perking up.“Yeah but won’t there be cleanup crews there evaluating the damage?” Claire spun her staff around in her fingers. “True.”They lapsed into silence again.“We could always make up a list of the possibilities and try them all until one works?”Before they could get any father there was a thud and the sound of something heavy coming up the stairs.“Good Morning, Master Jim!” Blinky said cheerfully as he emerged from the basement.“Hey Blinky,” Jim said.Aaarrrgghh took a moment longer to join them as he forced his body through the door. Between him and Draal Jim was surprised that doorframe hadn’t broken yet. Or that his mom hadn’t noticed all the scratches.“So any idea on what that strange cylinder Porgon has is?”“None I fear,” Blinky said with a sigh. “Even if I still had access to my library I doubt I would find anything on it. Whatever it is I do not believe it is of Trollish origins.”“Ooooo, you think’s it’s some sort of top secret spy thing… or something magic from like wizards?” Toby asked, bouncing a little in his seat. “Or maybe some sort of wicked awesome alien technology?”“I’ve no idea, but for now it would be best to focus on getting it away from Porgon. Once we do that we can study it and create a solution.”Jim sighed. He’d really hoped that Blinky would have something on what they were up against. Maybe if they knew what it was they could make it so the rest of the Trollhunters remembered the time loops.“Well let’s get some more ideas for stopping the science fair,” Jim said straightening up. “And then we can head over to the planetarium.”He gave a shrug and directed a wry grin at Toby.“We may as well try the fire alarm this time. No point in making things too complicated.”Toby grinned and pumped his fist.“Great! Another misdemeanor for our record!”Jim rolled his eyes and laughed while Claire shot them a concerned look. 9.“I’m not sure what I was expecting,” Jim said to Claire after he finished reading Toby’s text.It turned out that the planetarium did not use the mail if they needed to cancel an event last minute. In hindsight he wasn’t surprised.“It was worth try. Do you want to try something else?”“No,” Jim said as he typed out a response. “It’s too close to the restart. Anyway I really need to get some practice in on my verbs.”Claire nodded and glanced down at the list.“Okay next one “to hear” in present tense.”They managed to make it almost a quarter of the way through his backlog of Spanish verb practice before the day reset. 10.The stink bomb, courtesy of NotEnrique, certainly cleared out the Planetarium. Jim watched from the janitor’s closet as everyone evacuating the building holding their noses. One didn’t quite make it out before throwing up.Jim himself was wearing a respirator and had no such problems. He assumed based on the way his eyes were stinging that it was extremely pungent. If this worked but they didn’t defeat Porgon he was going to wear goggles next time.The building was just about empty when he heard the police sirens go off. Why did the planetarium have to be so close to the police station? Jim muttered a trollish curse under his breath and looked around.The exhibits were all strewn carelessly. One or two were gone, rescued by their fleeing owners.Jim pulled out his walkie talkie.“Any sign of him out there?- over”“None,” Toby replied. “But you might want to get out. The firefighters are gearing up to go in. –over.”Jim grimaced. Right. They probably wanted to make sure that the smell wasn’t from a toxic leak or something.There was about 3 hours until Porgon was expected to show. Jim sighed and slipped out the side door. 11.Between the firefighters, the police looking around for culprits and the cleanup, the Trollhunters didn’t get another chance to sneak back in the planetarium.First thing in the morning this loop Jim had Claire portal into the Planetarium to call the school to cancel the science fair. Unfortunately the secretary had walked in on her so that plan was a bust. They had also recognized her, so she was out of the running until the day reset.Having Toby sabotage Miss Janeth’s and Coach Lawrance’s cars had also failed.The fake measles outbreak text Jim had sent after breaking into the school office only kept five kids from coming.If Jim wasn’t so frustrated he would probably be worried about how completely fine with breaking the law he and his friends were at this point. As it was if he had to live through this day one more time… 12.“I think I may have overdone it,” Jim said.“You think?” Toby repeated staring at the smoking wreckage of what had been a planetarium.“In my defense I didn’t realize the electric panel was right there.”“Guys,” Claire said nervously. “We might want to start running.”“It’s too late for that,” Toby said eyeing the crowd that was forming at a safe distance. “They’ve already seen our faces. If we run now we’ll be fugitives. We’ll have to hide out in caves and change our names and stuff.”They were saved from making a decision by detective Scott showing up at that very moment.Two hours and a lot of yelling later, Jim was very relieved when the day reset itself. 13.“Okay are we all set? –over” Jim radioed in from the bushes outside the planetarium.“Ten four! Everything’s in place.–over” Toby responded.“In position. –over.” Claire’s signal wasn’t quite as good.“Roger, that! Commence mission. –over and out.”Jim slid his walkie talkie into his pocket and strolled toward the planetarium.Out of sight in the bushes he pulled out and donned the glamor mask Blinky had given him. Now a very professional looking older man with graying hair, Jim strode confidently into the Planetarium.Finding the first employee he could, he cleared his throat to get their attention.“Excuse me, I’m with OSHA. We’ve been told of some safety concerns here, may I speak to your supervisor?”The man looked surprised, but immediately complied. “I am so glad that actually worked,” Jim said with a sigh as they slipped through Claire’s portal into one of the side rooms.“I told you it would,” Toby said with a grin. “We were very thorough in our safety violations. Even if they do think it’s suspicious, it will take them a while to confirm it’s fake with OSHA and to realize that the actual Inspector Thompson is elsewhere. It’s not like they can trace the false investigation back to us.”Jim hummed in response and settled down to wait. He was just relieved that they had finally solved the problem.Time slowly crawled by and Claire and Toby got more and more relaxed in their chatter. Eventually Toby frowned and turned to Jim.“It’s about noon. Wasn’t Porgon supposed to be here by now?”“Yeah…” Jim said.Had he been wrong? Did Porgon really remember the loops? Was he off on his timing?There was a flash of blue light. 14.Jim was up on top of the hill overlooking Arcadia again. The Creepslayerz had been roped into helping Toby and Claire sabotage the science fair.Jim’s phone started beeping signaling it was noon. He tensed, watchful and alert.For agonizing minutes nothing, then the whole world exploded into blue. 15.
Easy peasy…
Jim drew in a sharp breath as he shut off the alarm and processed what had just happened. The flash had come from under Arcadia. Given that the whole town had lit up at the same time, he highly doubted it was from the sewer system. No… the source had to be deep within the earth itself. That left one place… Jim paced around the living room.“Why would he go to Trollmarket now?”Blinky frowned and glanced at Aaarrrgghh.“I don’t know, Master Jim. Everything I’ve read about time travel is theoretical at best. There’s no way to predict how it might play out in reality…”“Does he remember the loops as well? It didn’t seem like he did,” Jim said, scowling.“Maybe…”“We were so close! We were finally going to be able to fight him without being caught and end this thing!”“Master Jim!”Two of Blinky’s hands settled on his shoulders and the other two grabbed his arms. Jim struggled for a moment and then, failing to dislodge them, settled for shooting the troll a glare. Blinky sighed and released him.“Master Jim, I know you are frustrated. This is a very trying situation, no doubt far beyond what any of us are aware of, but you must remain patient. Even if it doesn’t feel like it you… we are making progress. If we keep working together we can end this cycle of repetition.”Jim bit his tongue and looked away.“Yeah Jimbo!” Toby came up and hugged him from the side. “We’ll get you out of this in no time!”“No time for you guys maybe,” Jim mumbled, looking down so he wouldn’t see their expressions.“We just need new ideas!” Toby continued voice deliberately light. “Hey! Blinky can’t remember everything maybe we could sneak into his library and…”“No!” Blinky said sharply. “It’s too dangerous. Gunmar is no doubt watching all the entrances to Trollmarket. Who knows what will happen if someone dies in this time loop. We cannot risk it.”Toby’s eyes widened and he held up his hands.“Sorry, it just seemed like a good idea.”Blinky’s shoulders loosened. He sighed and rested a hand on Toby’s back.“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you… I just can’t risk losing any more of you.”Jim watched them quietly. Now that he thought of it, there might be one major benefit to being caught in a time loop…
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16.
Easy peasy, Lemon squeezy everything is fine.
Jim turned off his alarm and lay still in bed. He took a deep breath. He was doing this.He dressed slowly, carefully mapping out his plan in his head. It was a bad idea but it would be wasteful to let this opportunity slip by. Anyway, as Toby said, what were time loops for if not doing stupid things without having to worry about the consequences?With that thought in mind Jim slipped the amulet in his pocket and headed downstairs.The house was quiet with his mom still at the hospital. She had called him last night to warn him that she would be there overnight. That was fairly normal, convenient even. Despite that he found himself wishing she hadn’t. It was stupid. Her being home right now would make this whole thing harder, but, well… he’d been in this loop for over a week now and he missed her.Jim had a piece of toast and then shot a text off to Toby and Claire telling them that they should continue the search without him as he had something to do. The canal was peaceful. The sunlight gave a cheery yellow hue to the cement. The wind chased little eddies of dust and trash around as Jim stashed his bike in the bushes and slid down the embankment.The temperature dropped slightly when he entered the shadows under the bridge. The hairs on the back of Jim’s neck stood up. He glanced around and, finding no one watching him, pulled the horngazel out of his pocket. Opening the portal was practically muscle memory now but his movements were slow as he carved an arc. What would he find on the other side?“For the doom of Gunmar… Eclipse is mine to command.”The armor flashed into place and Jim stepped through the portal. Once on the other side he tensed, glancing around rapidly for an attack, but found none. There was no-one there. He flinched when the stairs lit up. Why did that have to be a feature? Now that Jim thought about it, hadn’t Blinky said Trollmarket was warded against Gum-Gums? What had happened to that?He shook his head and began to make his way slowly down the stairs. Every step of the way he expected to be greeted by war cries and swords but the air remained eerily silent.He reached the bottom and stilled, listening. The red light of his armor dimmed as he crept toward the exit to the staircase. Behind him the stairwell faded back into darkness. His eyes adjusted and he saw a faint green glow ahead. So there were guards. He needed to figure out where they were so he could get around without being caught.He could always kill them, but someone might hear or notice their absence and he wasn’t quite ready to deal with that. He wasn’t picking a fight. This was just a quick in and out to check a few things, nothing more.He hesitated a moment before releasing his armor and then, holding his breath, he moved forward.He stopped just out of sight. Keeping low to the ground he peered around the corner. There was one Gum-Gum standing by the side of the wall closest to him and one pacing back and forth. If there was anything he had learned it was that the Gum-Gums created by the Decimaar Blade were not very smart.He searched the ground surrounding him. There. A large stone a little smaller than his fist sat on the ground near the wall. He picked it up and tested its weight in his hand. When the pacing Gum-Gum was facing away from him Jim chucked the rock as hard as he could. It made a series of loud thumps as it bounced down an incline. As he had hoped, the moving guard left to investigate the noise.Jim slipped carefully behind the other guard. He made it past and then another twenty yards or so before the Gum-Gum’s head shot up. Jim’s heart leapt into his throat as the troll began sniffing the air. He stilled and stopped breathing. It was getting closer. The air was burning in his lungs and little stars were starting appear at the edges of his vision. Jim was distantly aware that he stood no chance if he passed out.He was just getting ready to say the incantation when the guard let out a grunt and returned to their post. Jim gasped in a breath of fresh air and nearly started coughing. After a minute or two of quiet breathing he was on his way.He rounded the corner and found himself frozen once again; this time for a very different reason.Before him stood the Heartstone. The very core of Trollmarket once a proud beacon of light and warmth now pulsed with only a weak sickly light. Veins of black ran throughout it. The crystals in the surrounding rocks also were subdued as if in sympathy.Jim’s heart clenched and he felt water well up in his eyes. He had done this. This was all his fault. If he hadn’t ran away into the Darklands. If he had been more careful in dealing with Angor Rot. If he had been more observant… A little smarter… A better Trollhunter…Jim drew in a ragged breath. There would be time to mourn for Trollmarket later. He was on the clock. He wiped his eyes roughly and began forward.Dodging the wandering Gum-Gums and Goblins took far more time that he had anticipated. By the time he reached the center of the Heartstone he had only an hour and a half left. Aside from the corruption the glowing chamber was exactly as he remembered it. Even Vendal’s stone remains lay undisturbed on the floor. Jim swallowed thickly and began searching.He was hoping to locate the box containing the stones for the amulet. If he knew where they were they might be able to retrieve them later. Unfortunately Jim could not make sense of Vendal’s organization system. He grumbled under his breath as he moved a jar of some sort of fur to the side. What did Vendal even need all this for?He turned around, ready to start searching the shelves on the other side of the room, and found himself face to face with three large Gum-Gums. They stared at each other for a couple seconds before Jim grabbed his amulet.“ForTheDoomOfGunmarEcilpseIsMineToCommand!”There was a flash of red and Jim flung his sword into the chest of one of the guards. They hadn’t even finished turning into stone before he had his glaives out and slicing through the air toward the second. Unfortunately they had gotten over their surprise and blocked it. Jim resummoned his sword and charged forward.They exchanged a quick series of blows but the mind controlled troll was no match for him. Jim sunk his sword into their stomach and jumped back as they crumpled to the ground. He took a moment to steady his breathing.Wait… There had been a third.Jim looked around rapidly. A loud moaning sound rang out and he flinched. He charged outside just in time to see the last of the three guards lowering a horn. Jim swore and threw his sword into them. It was too late. Shouts rose from the surrounding area and he ran.Gum-Gums seemed to be coming out of every building. They were converging on Jim from all around. Most of them had dark armor covering their whole bodies and vacant eyes, tell tale of the trolls turned by the Decimaar Blade, but a few wore only the helmets. Those were the ones he had to look out for. They were the Krubera who were willingly following Gunmar. He dodged under a large gray arm embedded with glowing blue crystals.Two of them were now in pursuit of Jim. They were barking orders in Troll Speak to the brainwashed solders. Jim regretted more than ever that he hadn’t managed to get much studying in on the language. He could understand a few words, but he couldn’t put them together quickly enough for it to be helpful. Slowly he was surrounded and his escape cut off. To his surprise most of the trolls kept their distance. The two Krubera kept rushing him, but they didn’t stay close for long.He jumped backward and repelled another rolling attack from the one on the right. Vaguely he registered there was a large open area behind him void of any Gum-Gums. He didn’t have time to see why as something came thundering down from above him.Jim threw himself back narrowly avoiding being crushed. He had a moment to feel relieved by the barrier between him and his opponents before he registered where he was. He was in Hero’s Forge. Or, more specifically, he was trapped in Hero’s Forge.A dark thunderous laugh echoed around the arena causing a shudder to run down the length of his body. Jim raised Eclipse and looked around frantically. There. Gunmar stood staring down at him, teeth bared in a malicious smile. Jim pointed his sword at him.“I cannot believe you were foolish enough to come sneaking in here,” The Underlord said. “But perhaps I should not be surprised, as you came to me in the Darklands as well.”Jim’s breath was coming in rapid gasps. He had messed up. He had really messed up.“Well if death is what you seek, perhaps I can find a better use for your pathetic life.”With that statement Gunmar sat down.Jim didn’t have long to wonder what he meant as something blue shot out of the shadows of the Forge. Jim threw himself out of the way, rolled, and came up facing it. He nearly dropped his blade. It was Draal.“No. No. No!” Jim felt like he was on the verge of passing out. He couldn’t do this again. “Snap out of it, Draal!”They circled around each other. Draal slammed his fists into the ground, roared, and charged Jim. He threw himself out of the way, parrying Draal’s blows as the troll relentlessly attacked.“Please, Draal.” There were tears on Jim’s cheeks. Distantly he could hear Gunmar’s taunts.“Please.”He took another step back but there was nothing there. Eclipse vanished from Jim’s hand as he desperately flailed for balance. A huge fist closed around his chest and, for one heart stopping moment, he was suspended above the lava. Draal stared at him as Jim whimpered and clung to the fist around his waist. Something stirred in the back of Jim’s mind but before the thought could fully form Gunmar called out from beyond them. Draal grunted, pulled Jim back from the cliff and hurled him into the ground. The force of the impact drove all the air from his lungs. Pain exploded across his body and everything went black. Jim’s awareness came back with something poking his chest. He opened his eyes. Sharp pains shot through his head as his vision slowly cleared. He wished it hadn’t. Gunmar was standing over him with the Decimaar Blade pressed against Jim’s unarmored chest. He tried to crawl away but something was holding him in place. He looked up and his eyes met Draal’s empty glowing ones.Jim’s head was forced forward and his gaze met Gunmar’s. He was saying something but Jim couldn’t hear him over the ringing in his ears. He didn’t really need to; the tyrant’s expression said everything. Jim struggled weakly as the tip of the Decimaar Blade came to rest against his forehead.There was a flash of blue.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
17.Jim flung himself forward. His head was no longer pounding but he couldn’t see anything. He hit the ground hard. His teeth clicked together painfully and he tasted blood.There was no time to worry about that. He had to get away from Gunmar. Jim attempted to get up but his feet were tied. He thrashed desperately only managing to make it worse. His breath was coming in short rapid gasps and he was distantly aware that he was close to passing out.He made another lunge forward attempting to escape his bonds and his head struck a hard pointed surface. Jim curled into a ball as pain roared through his skull. After it abated a little he looked around to see what he had hit his head on and stilled. That was his dresser. His bed was to his left. He slowly looked down and realized he was tangled in his sheets. He was back in his room! The day had restarted!Jim stared for a moment longer and then started laughing. It was okay. He was safe from Gunmar. He laughed until his sides hurt. His breath hitched. Draal’s eyes had been so empty. He could hardly recognize him. It was like he was dead. It was hard to breathe. He had felt so small before Gunmar. Helpless. Worthless. He had been ready to give up. His chest was being crushed. He couldn’t breathe but his heart was racing. He clutched at his body and his fingers encountered metal. When had he donned his armor? He tried to remove the amulet but it wouldn’t budge. His blood roared in his ears. It was too hot. He couldn’t breathe. His vision was greying at the edges like it did when Bular nearly choked him. He wondered if he was dying. After everything he’d been through his body was finally just giving out on him. He let out a strangled whimper. He wasn’t ready to die.Distantly he heard someone talking to him. A familiar voice. Toby.“…imbo. Please breathe. I’m here now. You’re going to be okay,” He was saying.Jim grabbed at the hand on his shoulder and his eyes met Toby’s. In the dim red light he saw that his friend’s eyes were wide and teary.“Hi,” Toby said shakily. “Um…. Ah, Right! Try breathing with me Jim.”Toby started taking slow breaths. Jim stared at him not comprehending. Toby repeated himself and this time it registered for Jim. He followed along shakily. His throat hurt.Toby was rubbing the back of Jim’s neck with the hand he wasn’t holding. After a few minutes of slow breathing, Toby started to talk. He wasn’t talking about anything in particular just rambling. It was nice. It reminded Jim of when they would hang out in the park during the summer. It was too hot to move or run around so they would just talk. Vaguely Jim noted that he was no longer tangled up in his blankets.His heart rate gradually slowed down and his head cleared somewhat, but not entirely. It was still throbbing a bit. Unwilling to let go of Toby’s hand he reached up and prodded at his head with his left. There was a bump. He removed his hand from his head and looked at it.“Is that blood?” Toby sounded alarmed.“I think I hit my head on the dresser,” Jim mumbled. His voice was hoarse.“That’s not good. Let me look.”Toby tried to tug his hand loose from Jim’s, but Jim tightened his grip. Toby stopped, drew in a shaky breath, and used his free hand instead to tilt Jim’s head forward. He started gently prodding through his hair. Jim hissed when he touched the injury.“Yeah, that looks bad. I don’t think you need stiches, but we definitely need to get it cleaned up and bandaged.”He paused, searching Jim’s face.“Is it okay for me to call Claire over?”Jim thought for a second then nodded.“Okay.”Toby tapped something out on his phone then hit send. After a moment the phone pinged and he glanced down at it.“She’ll be here soon.” His gaze shifted back to Jim. “Can I hug you?”Jim nodded and released the hand he was holding. Toby wrapped both arms firmly around him and pulled him close. Jim took a shuddering breath and pressed his face into his friend’s shoulder. The Eclipse Armor disappeared in a flash of red. They stayed like that until there was a knock at the bedroom door.“Can I come in?” Claire called.“Yep,” Toby responded when Jim nodded.The door creaked open and Claire’s feet thumped softly against the floor. A moment later Jim felt her kneel down at his side. She hesitated and then joined in the hug.Jim wasn’t sure how long they sat there, just holding each other and sharing the same air. Around them the room slowly brightened as the sun crept over the horizon.
Easy Peasy…
There was a slight change in air pressure and the alarm abruptly cut off.Jim pulled back and gave Claire a shocked look.“Did you just banish my alarm clock to the Shadow Realm?”Claire looked rather sheepish and attempted to hide the staff.“Sorry I wasn’t thinking. I swear I just did it on instinct. I can try to get it back…”“Don’t worry about it,” Jim said.The situation was so absurd that he started laughing. Claire and Toby joined in and for a moment everything felt right. Unfortunately his head injury had to go and ruin that. Jim hissed as it sent a jolt of pain throughout his skull.“Aaaand I forgot about that,” Toby said. “Are you okay to come down to the kitchen so we can get you cleaned up?”Jim nodded and immediately regretted it.“I brought a first aid kit,” Claire said holding it up. “You have no idea how hard it was to sneak downstairs to get that without waking my parents.”Claire looked so pleased with herself that Jim decided not to mention the very well stocked medical kit that was already in the house. His mom always got lots of freebies whenever she went to conferences.Jim stood up slowly grimacing when he realized his leg had fallen asleep. He leaned heavily on Toby as he massaged out the pins and needles.Once they got down stairs Claire had Jim lean over the sink so she could wash the blood out of his hair and clean the wound. After she finished Jim sat down at the table while they debated how best to treat it.“How about you just bandage it up for now?” Jim suggested.“I don’t know Jimbo, it looks pretty bad. We should probably drop by the hospital just to be sure. You didn’t get this one doing troll stuff so it should be okay.”The idea of dealing with the hospital right now, even if he did get to see his mom, sounded really unappealing.“Head injuries bleed a lot, so it’s probably not as bad as it looks. Anyway it will be gone in a few more hours.”“What do you mean?” Claire asked a wrinkle forming between her brows.Jim sighed.“We’re in a time loop right now. It restarts a little before noon. Unfortunately I’m the only one who remembers it.”He was expecting Toby to get all excited about it like he usually did. For a moment he looked like he was going to, but then he frowned.“Does that have something to do with… you know… this morning?” He asked hesitantly as he placed a piece of gauze over Jim’s injury.Jim grimaced; he didn’t really want to talk about it.“Yeah. The last loop didn’t end well.”“Are we in one of those scenarios were everyone dies and you have to keep going back until you fix it?”Jim blinked. “What? No! …I just… I kinda did something stupid last loop.”He looked away but not before he saw Toby and Claire exchange a glance. He felt Claire’s hands on his head as she gently secured the bandage in place. He sighed.“I went to Trollmarket…”Claire and Toby both inhaled sharply.“I thought with the timeloop in play I might as well see if I could check things out down there. Just a quick look…”“You went alone didn’t you?” Jim winced at the hurt in Toby’s voice.“Yeah… If it worked out I figured I could bring you guys next time. I just didn’t want to see anything happen to you guys.”Jim’s hands clenched on the table.“I messed up. I got caught and Gunmar made Draal fight me. He… He was just about to use the Decimaar Blade on me before the loop reset.”Jim’s breathing hitched. Toby sighed and put his arms around him.“Oh Jimbo, what are we going to do with you?” “I’m sorry,” Jim whispered.“I know you are,” Toby said squeezing his shoulder. “Listen… I… I’m not going to ask for a promise, but please… Please! …Make sure you at least talk to us before doing something like this again. I… we can’t lose you Jim.”Beside him Claire nodded. Were those tears in her eyes?“I’m sorry,” Jim said again, voice cracking.The three hugged. Jim’s shoulders started to shake and he felt his friends tighten their grip on him. They were shaking too.Eventually Toby pulled away and gave him a determined smile.“Okay! No more Trollhunter business today. We are making popcorn and we’re going to waste the rest of this loop watching dumb movies and filling our bodies with junk.”“I could make a nice breakfa…”“No,” Toby cut him off. “You are banished from the kitchen. Shoo.”Toby waved a hand at him. Jim rolled his eyes but did as he was told. He started to head toward the living room but after a quick assessment of his clothes he decided that it was better for him to go wash up first. He was really sweaty.A half hour later Blinky and Aaarrrgghh showed up. They didn’t ask any questions. Jim assumed Toby must have filled them in. Toby and Claire emerged out of the kitchen with a plethora of junk food and they all leaned up against Aaarrrgghh as Toby put in Gunrobot: the Original.The movie was actually cheesier than Jim remembered. The special effects were terrible, the plot questionable at best and the acting super hammy but the familiarity was nice. Jim laughed at Toby and Claire arguing the merits of the series and tried to answer Blinky’s questions as best he could.Jim yawned as the movie finished and Toby jumped up to put in a new one. This is nice, He thought snuggling into Aaarrrgghh’s mane. Claire adjusted herself against his shoulder and Toby came back and leaned against him. Blinky shifted and carefully patted his hair. Jim smiled as his eyes slipped closed… 18.
Easy peasy, Lemon squeezy…
Jim yawned as he turned off his alarm. He stretched slowly and then reached for his cellphone. It rang a few times before he got an answer.“Good morning, Sweetie. What’s up?”“Hi Mom. Have you had breakfast?”“Not yet. I was going to grab a donut from the breakroom. Why?”Jim grimaced at that.“I was wondering if I could stop by the hospital so we could eat together.”His mom took a moment to respond but when she did he could hear the smile in her voice.“I would love that! I have my break at nine. Would that work?”“Definitely. And no donuts, okay? I’ll bring breakfast.”She laughed at that.“Sure thing kiddo. I love you.”“I love you too, Mom.”
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19.
Easy Peasy…
Jim turned off the alarm and then spent a moment staring at the ceiling. He sighed and swung his legs out from under the covers.He stretched slowly thinking about how he wanted to go about things this time. This whole thing would have been a lot easier if he didn’t start each loop low on sleep. At least he felt a little better after seeing his Mom last loop.He glanced out the window and then down at his phone.Well… best to get a move on.As the eggs sizzled away in the skillet, he texted Toby to meet him at the planetarium. Next he called Claire.“So what are you up to?” He asked once he had relayed the change in meeting place to her.“I’m trying out a new casserole recipe,” She said in a slightly distracted tone.“Nice,” Jim said with a slight smile. “You’ll have to bring a piece for me. Did you remember to set the timer?”“Of course… Ah wait no!”There was a thump and for a moment all Jim could here was the distant sound of Claire scrambling around.“Sorry about that!” She said once she had picked the phone back up. “The casserole was done. Good thing you mentioned the timer or I would have burned it.”“No problem. I’ll see you at the planetarium?”“Definitely!”“Anything from your side? -over” Jim asked.“Nope,” Toby responded. “Still nothing. -over”The walkie talkie dropped into silence.“Claire? How are things going on your end? –over.”“Nothing here. –over”Jim sighed. This was going to be a long loop.20.“So we ended up waiting until after the fair ended and then time reset again.”Jim watched his friends as they absorbed the info .“Maybe we scared him away?” Toby offered.“It’s possible that he sensed Jim’s amulet,” Blinky suggested.They turned to look at him.“The Trollhunter amulet has a fairly unique magic signature. Bular was able to track it from the old world to Arcadia as a result. A powerful magic user like Porgon would be more sensitive than most and might be able to sense its presence.”Jim groaned.“So I can’t arrive too close to when he does?”“Have AAARRRGGHH and I participated in this endeavor yet?”“No,” Jim said. “With the planetarium being where it is there’s no way to get you there safely.”“hmmm,” Blinky tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I’m not so sure about that.”21.Easy peasy Lemon squeezy…Jim lay there after he hit his alarm and contemplated going back to sleep. Would it really hurt?After a moment he sighed and got back up.Aaaarrrrgghh and Blinky would be there this time, he reminded himself. They would get Porgon, then he could rest all he wanted.22.
Easy peasy
Lemon squeezy
Everything is fine
Easy breezy 123
It’s all because you're mine
When the clouds come round
And when life gets tough…
It actually wasn’t a bad song. Jim reflected. Not when he took the time to listen to it. It was really just the repetitiveness of waking up to it -with no chance to change it- that was the problem.He dragged himself out of bed.23.“A time loop?!” Toby exclaimed. “You know what this means?”“We’re not going to…” Jim trailed off. “You know what, sure.”“Sure what?” Claire asked curiously.“Sure, let’s go wild on the town.”24.Well that was four times now that he had been arrested, Jim reflected at they set up inside the planetarium. Aside from dealing with Claire’s parents and his Mom it had actually been kind of fun.If nothing else it had been good stress relief. Or at least a distraction.25.Claire teleported another planet away. Jim could see the sweat building up on her brow. He squashed down his concern and cut Jupiter in half as it came flying toward him.There was a streak of orange as Toby shot up behind Porgon one hand outstretched toward the silver blue cylinder…26.Jim fended off the planets and other objects that Porgon kept chucking toward him.The troll noticed the one different science fair project, some sort of claw, and lunged toward it but was blocked as Toby shot between him and the startled teen who was trying to carry it off.At that moment a black portal of energy appeared beside Porgon’s head. Claire’s hand reached through and…27.
Eas…
Jim slammed his hand down on the alarm, rolled over, and went back to sleep.28.Jim was getting really tired of this. He and Toby made their way down the stairs into the center of the planetarium.“You sure you saw him come in here Jimbo?” Toby asked skeptically behind him.Jim felt a little guilty about telling Claire and not him this time, but he was really just shifting around variables at this point.“Trust me this is where Porgon will be,” He said.He moved to the side slightly allowing a blond girl to pass him. Porgon would be there any second now…29.Jim glanced around warily as he entered the planetarium. If Porgon encountered Claire he would likely charge out into the center of things again.“You sure you saw him come in here Jimbo?” Toby asked skeptically behind him.“Trust me this is where Porgon will be,” He repeated absently.He turned a little too quickly to the right and ran into someone.“Huh, that’s weird. I’ve never done that before.” He remarked absently.“You’ve never bumped into someone before?” The girl -a slim blond he vaguely remembered from the last loop- asked.“Not today,” Jim quipped.It was the little things, really, that kept you sane when trapped in a time loop.Coach Lawrence announced Steve as the winner of the science fair, then Porgon made himself known.Jim vaguely heard the blond girl say something about bounty hunters as he launched himself forward.Porgon chucked a planet toward him and Jim started to summon the armor…Suddenly the blond girl lunged between him and the oncoming sphere. A transparent blue shield formed in front of her saving them from a collision.She vanished the shield and Jim lunged forward to grab her hand.“That’s.” A surge of excitant ran through Jim as he stared at the strange device. “That’s new!”“Let me go!” The girl snapped pulling her arm back. “I'm a warrior!”“What is that thing? How did you do that?” Jim demanded.Claire yelled something at him as she ran past. His gaze followed her and Jim watched as she summoned a portal and dropped Toby down on top of the raging troll.He brought up the hand with the amulet to shield his eyes as blinding blue light took over his vision.30.
Easy peasy
Lemon squeezy
He was back in his bed again. Jim turned off his alarm as he contemplated what had just happened.Who was the blond girl? And what was the strange weapon she had?Could she be the last variable he needed to end this thing?He made sure to time the morning the exact same way he did the previous one, only this time he had Toby go with Claire.He was waiting by the stairwell when the blond haired girl rounded the corner. She let out a little yelp of surprise as he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her out of the main area.“Okay, don't freak out,” He said. “My name is Jim Lake and everyone's life here is in danger… But I think you can help me.”It was going to be a real pain to explain it however. Hopefully he could at least get her name before the time loop reset.“Really?” Her eyes lit up. “I'm training to be a warrior. Saving is a big part of the job!”Unfortunately Porgon chose that second to lunge down from the balcony with a roar.“Again?” She exclaimed.Again? No. Way. Did she…?Jim felt a surge of hope.