Chosen

new teacher

The night before, you noticed Draal sneaking out from Trollmarket, heading to an unknown place. Today, you found out where that place was. "He protected you? Really?" you asked, flabberghasted. "Yeah, he just sort of showed up and fought Nomura," Jim replied, as he placed a box of various things down next to Toby (carrying a watermelon) before summoning his armor. It was a weekend which meant the three of you were off school, but Barbra, being the doctor she is, still had to work.

Jim stood with his sword ready and his armour reflecting the pink sunset sky with a grin on his face. "All right. Do your worst," he daringly said. Toby cleared his throat as he got ready to lunge the watermelon at Jim. He grunted as he swung it at Jim, whom confidently hit it with his sword. As teh blade met it, it looked as if the melon had become jello. It'd gotten filled with Jim's daylight and hung in the air for a moment before exploding, sending pieces of watermelon flying everywhere.

"Ha!" Toby exclaimed. "Whoo-hoo!" Jim cheered. "That was so cool!" you excitedly said. The boys had done a terrible job describing what they were doing, but now, you finally got the concept. "It slices!" Toby beamed. "It dices!" Jim replied in the same tone, elevating his sword above his head in victory over the poor melon. "That was amazing!" Toby exclaimed.

You sat down in the green grass as Jim lifted a white bag off of the ground and pulled a taco out from it. "Alright, what else you got?" he asked Toby as he passed you a taco. "Mmm. You know, we should probably recycle these," Toby admitted, stuffing a taco in his mouth. "Recycle?" you laughed, getting up from the grass with your mouth full of delicious taco. You quickly made your wav over to Tobias and picked up the stack of old books he was talking about. "Yeah, you know, put them in the right garbage can so they ca-" Toby begun, but stopped as he understood what you meant. 

Without another moment to lose, you swung the books at the hunter. They flew high up in the air before hitting Jim's blade and becoming something more along the lines of confetti. "Home run! Whoo!" Jim celebrated as the three of you danced under the rain of shredded paper.  "It's like a ticker tape parade of awesome!" Toby exclaimed happily before the three of you bursted into laughter, you collapsing onto the ground.

"What is this mockery?" Draal growled, bursting out through the door. You stood up immideately. "Oh, hey, Draal. Just working on some sword fighting skills," Jim explained innocently. "The Sword of Daylight is not a toy to be played with," Draal said, stepping closer with dangerously loud steps. "It is a hallowed obligation I have spent my entire life training to be worthy of." He stopped in front of Jim. "You want to take it for a spin?" Jim offered. Draal looked soft for a moment, but quickly made himself intimidating again by snorting angrily, thinking Jim was mocking him.

But he wasn't. Not in the slightest. He placed the blade in his palms and offered it to Draal. The blue troll looked like he still thought this was mockery, but he gasped as he realized that Jim was completely serious. Gently, he grabbed the shaft of the sword. It looked tiny in his hands. He smiled softly as he lifted it up to the sky, admiring the shining blade. For just a moment, he saw his father smile back at him. But then, the sword faded into blue light and reappeared in Jim's hands. Draal sighed in sadness. "Sorry. I forgot," Jim quietly spoke. Draal sighed once more.

"If my destiny is to not hold the sword," Draal begun, softening, "pehaps it is to teach you how to properly weild it." He looked over at all the garbage that stood in Jim's yard, ready to be demolished by the sword that had slaughtered the worst of evil throughout milleniums. He softly growled as he seized a long lamp and took off it's shade. Suddenly, he struck, swinging it at the three of you, making you yelp and back up. The boys watched with big eyes as Draal wielded the lamp as if he'd done just that for years on end, but you could do nothing but smile. Was he really offering to teach Jim how to be the Trollhunter? How to be the solider he'd kill to be?

Jim winced, but Draal stopped right in his act as the lightbulb was inches from Jim's head. "Your blade is but an extension of your body," Draal said, "and your body, and extension of your eyes." The troll stood ahead of the hunter, just like they'd done in the arena. But this. This was much different. Draal was teaching and Jim was eager to be taught. "Mimick my movements, Trollhunter," Draal instructed. He positioned himself in battle poisture, and Jim did the exact same thing. Draal grunted as he struck different positions of battle, and Jim was the exact mimick of him. They went on with this until the sun had gone down and the yard was completely darklit. You and Toby had admired their techiques, sitting in the grass, and awed as they got faster. Jim wasn't just mimicking his movements anymore, the two of them were enganged in combat training, srtiking at eachother, but none getting any hits. That was until..

Draal suddenly did a cartweel and pinned Jim to the outside of his house, choking him with the slim, metal base of the lamp. "That king of hurts," Jim groaned. He was unable to use his left arm, for it had been pinned up by Draal, which made him unable to use his sword. "A real fight is never predictable, Trollhunter," Draal chuckled. He said it in such a tone that you got alerted and wondered if he'd actually gotten over the loss. "You have to expect the unexpected and learn to embody the armor, force it to do what you want," Draal instructed. Jim breathed heavily as he looked to his right hand which was loose and fully able to move.

You could see the concentration and willpower in his eyes as the amulet begun glowing in its familiar blue light, which spread through the engraved lines in the armour. The blade flickered in blue light before tepeorting from his left to his right hand. He poked Draal lightly in the stomach, making a clink sound. Draal burst out laughing in pride for his student as he releasing him from the chokehold.

"Wow," Jim grunted, feeling the lower part of his neck before lifting his sword back up, admiring it. "James, that was incredible!" you exclaimed as you sprung up from your seat. "How'd you do it?" "You should ask Draal," Jim smiled as he pointed to Draal with the sword, "he's the teacher." You turned to Draal, seeing his laugh and turned to small chuckles. "You're great, Draal!" you said as you offered him a high-five with both your hands. He mimicked your pose. "What is this?" he asked, confused. "It's a high-five! You hit my hands with yours!" you explained. "Y/n. I'm made of stone. I will crush you," Draal sincerely said, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "You know what, we'll work on that later!" you smiled, lowering your hands.

Then, Toby's phone begun dinging like crazy, a wave of noticfication flooding in. Toby removed the lamp's shade off of his head as he picked up hsi buzzing phone. "Shoot! We're supposed to meet Blinky at the museum now," Toby said, the light of his phone illuminating his face. "Ah!" Jim exclaimed. "We'll work on this more later, ok, Draal?" he promised before running off as his armour returned to the amulet in a shine of blue light. "Thank you," you softly smiled. You didn't have to say anything more or less, because you both knew exactly what you were talking about.

Not even a minute after, the three of you were already on your bikes. "Let's go, Tobes! Y/n, are you following?" Jim asked, managing the team. Jim's wooden gate closed behind you, blocking Draal's vision, but he didn't mind for he was biting into the lightbulb of the lamp with a satisfying shatter.