Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (Jim x OC)

~Gnome Your Enemy~

"For centuries, the troll and human worlds stood separate and at peace, divided by bridges that acted as doorways between our two realms. But the Gumm-Gumms wanted to devour all of mankind. They were led by Gunmar "the Black." The rest of trollkind fought against him, culminating in the great Battle of Killahead Bridge, the portal to Gunmar's Darklands. After many moons, good triumphed over evil, and our great Trollhunter, Deya "the Deliverer", locked Gunmar away, exiling him to the Darklands, and sealed the Killahead Bridge with the sacred amulet. After, we tore it apart, stone by stone. We left the old world in search for peace. We stowed away on a ship called the Mayflower, just a handful of us and some gnomes we'd brought along for companionship and nourishment. Finally, we arrived in a strange and exotic realm."

"New Jersey."

"We kept walking. Eventually, we came across a new Heartstone, and we realized we had found a new home under Arcadia!"

Blinky looked up from the book he was reading out loud to find 3 of them looking at him in fascination, and one of them sleeping. Sadie turned her head, snickering at Jim's drooling form while Blinky walked towards him and slammed the book shut in front of him.

Jim woke with a start, shielding his face as he said, "Lo Siento, Senor Draal! No me mates!"

"The training of troll history might seem like a minor duty, Master Jim, but-"

"Sorry, I pulled an all-nighter studying for my Spanish Comprehension exam and my brain is muy gooey. I don't know. I guess I thought if I'm facing Draal in a week, my training would be a little more... active," Jim said, standing and stretching.

"Yeah, like, when is he going to learn Troll-kwon do? Or Rock-itsu?"

"Before one fights, Toby D., one must understand why one fights. For these precious early steps will decide whether a young Trollhunter will become a Deya the Deliverer-"

"Or Unkar the Unfortunate," Arrrgh said, Jim and Toby sharing a look.

"Well, tomorrow, my Spanish exam is with Senor Uhl "the Unforgiving." My main concern is for my immediate future."

"A-ha! But, to learn what will happen in the future, one must only look to the past. I recommend A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore by the venerable Bedehilde. Volume 1 of 47."

Blinky held the book up, dropping it in Jim's hands. The boy groaned as he visibly slumped from the extra weight before standing upright and beginning to back away.

"Okay, but if I don't pass the exam, I'm grounded and I can't be the Trollhunter. Sorry, Blinky, but the amulet chose me, and now I have two lives to keep up!"

Before Jim could escape to go home, however, Bagdwella raced into the room and hunched over, taking deep breaths.

"Oh, no. Is it the Heartstone?"

"No! No!"

"Stalkling?"

"Is Bular in Trollmarket?"

"No! Gnome! Rogue gnome!" Bagduella cried out, everyone heading to her shop.

"First, I couldn't find my monocle, then my collection of bed coils. Now, something disappears every minute!"

They heard high-pitched laughter and saw a small creature racing around the room. She noticed that it was wearing the same attire as the gnome that tried to attack her when they first came to Trollmarket, and they watched as it stole a bunch of things.

"Oh, dirty little pests. Until last week, the glue traps were working fine. Fix it, Trollhunter!"

"Uh, yeah, I'm really sorry about that. See, you need a gnome-catcher, and I'm, well, the Trollhunter, so-"