Draal x Leslie lake

Chapter 44: escape from the darklands

It's been 2 weeks since Jim went into the darklands by himself and Toby has been Covering for Jim by being Jim with a glamour mask and I've just been me. I woke up to mom calling us, and I got up and got ready and when she came up, I opened my door and she smiled and I smiled too and went down and started eating an apple and 'Jim' came down and started cooking breakfast for mom and I rolled my eyes, and this is why I'm eating an apple and he didn't even know what he was doing and I groaned and mom said " looks like you've been taking cooking lessons from me." And 'Jim' said " the doctor said, after that concussion and loss of memory, you need all the nourishment you can get. And voila! Omelette à la jimbo" and she bit into it and gagged, " thank you, Jim" and I asked " want an apple?" And she took it and she said " must've been some concussion. I still can't remember when we redecorated the house." And I nervously chuckled and 'Jim' said " it's a shame. We really love the wallpaper you picked, mrs— mom" and I face palmed then we went, I got my roller skates on and we opened the garage and Claire was standing outside and she said " we are late, Leslie and jimbo." And I rolled my eyes " don't blame me" and 'Jim' said " *sigh* keeping up appearances is hard" and we started riding, well I started rolling and 'Jim' said " she was so close to finding out today, I don't know how long I can keep this up." He took off the glamour mask and turned back to Toby, and said " one of you wear the glamour mask and play Jim. It's got this sweaty troll stank to it." And Claire said " no way. We made a deal. You cover for him in Arcadia, I handle all his duties in trollmarket." And I said " and I also cover for him" and Toby asked " Fine. Speaking of which, any word? And Claire said " come on, tobes! It's only been two weeks, and the amulet hasn't called for anyone else. We know he's okay in the darklands. He'll be back, and with my baby brother" and Toby said " I hope so. I don't know how much longer I can deal with this stank. Where are you Jim?" Then we got into trollmarket and found blinky and was trying to figure out how to go into the darklands to save Jim and I asked " any luck, blink?" And he said " per usual, I'm never short on plans, but a working one? No. I must say, it is most frustrating to find oneself without any options, what about you, Tobias? Any fortune with the fetch?" And Toby stick his head in and out " I've been sticking my head through this thing everywhere in Arcadia, all I see is endless darklands. No Jim. But I have been leaving nougat nummies to let him know we haven't been giving up and to provide a boost of nourishment. This is hopeless, isn't it?" Then I sighed and blinky said " as my brother Dictatious used to say, "trollish words" and Claire said " even the word hopeless..." and I continued " isn't a void of hope." Then we both smiled at each other, and blinky said " glad to see y'all still know your trollish, which is precisely why we mustn't give up in helping master Jim. Our adventures have already taken one friend from us. We must not lose another." We looked at arrgh and I sighed sadly then blinky continued " the answer to saving Jim is in here somewhere." And Claire started looking through a book and I was meditating, to see if I could get any ideas from Xavia and Toby got his warhammer out and asked " who turned my warhammer into a backscratcher? After witnessing your troubles handling it, I sought to stabilize its unpredictability and make it, as you might say... fun size" he did a cool trick and Toby said " Whaaaaat? Pocket hammer, awesome size! Fun size. Awesome size!" And that went on, then a horn blew and blew me out of concentration, and I got up and I asked " what the... what's that?" Nd we went out and it each troll kind leader and Toby said hi to the wumpa lady but she totally ignored him and vendel came up and blinky asked " who summoned the tribunal, vendel?" And vendel replied " the tribunal summoned themselves, word of the trollhunter's stupidity to enter the darklands has spread like the plague. And now they're calling the destruction of killahead bridge" and I caught up to him and said " but if they destroy the bridge, Jim won't be able to get out" and vendel said " I'm well aware of that, and I'm trying to prevent it, let's go blinkous and you too leslie" and we both went and me and blinky looked at each other worriedly and they all started talking and vendel said " I see no reason for your impatience, he may still be alive. There's been no other trollhunter chosen. Why do we have to move now?" And usurna said " we cannot allow the child's folly to endanger all of trollkind" and wumpa Queen said " foolish he was to go in alone. Should not have gone at all." Then another troll asked " if gunmar finds the boy, what's stopping him from getting out?" And vendel said " killahead bridge is locked in the vault" and usurna said " like a vault will stop Gunmar." And the head of Gatto said " tear it down, and let the flesh thing perish in the darklands, your toy amulet will choose another" and I got in his face " that flesh thing is my little brother and he means the world to me and if he dies in the darklands, and you destroy the bridge then gunmar gets the amulet and that will be the end, of all troll and human kind, so his fate is not yet sealed " then he went silent and vendel agreed with me and said " the amulet has yet to call another, he may still return to us" and wumpa Queen said " captured already he may be, with Gumm-Gumm horde marching for us!" And blinky stepped up " I am astounded at what I'm hearing. Master Jim's deeds may be brash, yes, but, in his short tenure bearing the sacred mantle, the trollhunter slayed bular the vicious, rallied trollmarket against Angor rot, uncovered the changelings in our midst, and captured the very bridge you now wish to make his tomb. So many times he has granted our kind mercy, saved us from ourselves. I don't merely ask that we keep the bridge standing. I demand we go in after him!" And I smiled and the head of gatto asked " very moving, blinkous, but answer me this. Who's to say this human isn't a changeling, who went in to free Gunmar himself?" And blinky gasped " I am flabbergasted!" And the other troll said " I see no proof otherwise" then 2 idiots known as Claire and Toby came in and Claire said " how dare you! You were the ones who said he has to answer every call!" And Toby said " he went in to hunt down Gunmar, the one troll the rest of you are too scared to deal with!" And the head of gatto said " oh, not these two, they're always a pain in my rear!" And blinky said " if you boot them from these proceedings, you may as well do the same to me!" Then they threw them and blinky along with me out and blinky said " scum of the earth!" And we got up and started running up the stairs to get to the bridge and Draal was guarding the door " woah there, younglings! I'm afraid the vault is off-limits until the tribunal ends." And Toby said " Draal, the tribunal's going to tear down the bridge with Jim in it!" And Draal said " Bushigal! They can't do that" then he pressed his hand to the door and it opened and he said " they're not going to get through us." Then we went through and we were trying to go fast then I saw that vendel tripped usurna's trolls and he winked at me and I smiled and kept going and blinky said " break the controls!" And Toby said " you know, if only I had a portable warhammer. Oh, wait, I do! Let's rock this joint!" Then he hit the button and closed up the doors, then Draal and Toby fist bumped and I kissed Draal's cheek and he smiled and Toby asked " so, now what?" And Claire said " we hold them back as long as we can." I readied my fire power and Draal said " always had a thing against authority." And blinky said " I just hope Master Jim is near." They came trough the door and Draal tried to fight against usurna's guards but went down and I gasped then me and Claire went to fight but Claire's staff was just out and Claire was being held and I kept blasting my fire power at them but they hit me, and we were down and blinky said " good gracious! You're condemning the boy!" And usurna said " a fight against the tribunal is an affront against trollkind." Then they were going to tear it down then we saw the bridge light up and Toby said " No! Hey, wait, the amulet! He's coming through! He's coming through!" Then usurna told them to tear it down I tried to stop them " stop please!" We saw him and Enrique and Claire said " Enrique! Stop! That's my brother!" And I said " and my brother!" The Claire jumped over the troll as did I, and he was about to grab us but Draal stopped him and Claire said " stop, please! He's coming through! You'll hurt him! It's Jim and Enrique!" We both yelled Jim and he yelled " Claire! Leslie!" Then he grabbed Claire's hand and I helped Claire but then a gumm-Gumm grabbed him and the bridge was so close to breaking and he broke through the hold of them and gave Enrique to Claire just before the bridge broke, but Jim didn't get out, I just stared at the bridge pieces not saying anything and Draal put a hand on my shoulder and hugged me. We were in the library and I still didn't say anything and Claire said to Enrique " Jim... he got you back. He kept his promise" and blinky said " this is my fault. I could've done more." And Toby said " we can do more! There has to be a way. There has to be something we haven't thought of. You said it yourself. As long as the amulet doesn't call to anybody else, we know he's okay." I sighed then the amulet started glowing and saying " James... lake." And Claire said " it's— it's calling" then amulet went to arrrgh and started speaking trollish, huh? And blinky said " it's not making any sense." And I asked " what's it saying?" And blinky said " the troll is the key, the key to the hunter. Over and over. It must be a glitch." Then Claire asked " is it broken?" Then Toby looked closer and said " no. They're helping us!" And Claire asked " who?" And Toby said " the voices in the amulet, the ghost council." And Claire asked " well, what are they trying to say?" The blinky said " the troll is the key... arrrgh is the key! But that's impossible. He's..." and I said " gonna get us Jim back!" And Toby said " did you hear that, claire? If we save arrrgh, we save Jim!" And Claire said " I don't believe it" and they laughed and smiled at the hope we have.