Y/N dotted down notes, as the teacher explained about human bodies. As usual, some of the teens snored away or were busy gossiping. The bell rang signaling the end of school, "Remember to revise, page 102 to 115 about the human bodies in your biology and psychology, you will be receiving a quiz next Wednesday." Everyone groaned and all left class.
Y/N walked to her locker, placing her books in and taking her psychology and biology textbooks and putting them in her bag. Y/N pulled out her phone and opened it, she saw she received a message from Blinky saying he had planned a relaxing time together with just the five of them. Y/N smiled and replied she'll be over there.
After putting her phone away, she closed her locker and grabbed her bag heading to do some shopping first. Y/N sighed when she got in her car, she was upset that Spring Break was over quick. But, glad at the same time. After that fight with the changeling was not something Y/N wished to remember.
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Y/N drove to her house. Douxie was out at one of his band members' places for their upcoming battle of the bands. Y/N came out of her car, walked inside, and crashed on the couch. She opened her phone, went through her friends' group chat, and texted them that she got attacked during her vacation on the second day.
Y/N sighed and placed her phone on her chest and closed her eyes. She felt a weight being put on her and heard a meow. She opened an eye to see Archie's face in front of her. "Hey, Archie," she greeted, and Archie licked her nose as a way to say hi. Y/N chuckled and scratched behind his ear. "You tryna cheer me up?" Y/N's phone vibrated, sending tingles. She lifted it up and opened the text from Blinky.
ʏ/ɴ, ᴡɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇ ᴊᴏɪɴɪɴɢ ᴜꜱ ᴛᴏɴɪɢʜᴛ? - ꜱᴇᴇɴ
Oh, right. She almost forgot that she was going over to Jim's house to see Blinky, Aaarrrgghh!!!, and Draal. Y/N sat up, and Archie got off. She stood up from the couch, going to her room. She saw F/N sleeping on her pillow. She smiled softly and slowly, but quietly walked towards him and rubbed his head. F/N's eye peeked open and he stretched himself. Y/N giggled and placed her hand down for him to stand on. He slowly and sleepily walked over and laid flat, snoring away.
Y/N walked out, saying her goodbyes to Archie. "I'll be staying over at a friend's house, Archie. Tell Douxie I said that when he comes back," Y/N joked at the end and left the house. As she walked to her car, placing F/N on her shoulder, she quickly texted Douxie that she'll be out tonight with a couple of friends.
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Y/N and F/N walked downstairs to the basement. "Ah, Lady Y/N, welcome home," Y/N smiled and gave him a side-hug. She came around to greet the others, hugged them, and faced the board before them. "Is this what we're doing tonight?" The three nodded. Y/N smirked and opened the board, "Alright, let the games begin."
And so the four of them began their battles, strategies, and killing streaks. F/N was sitting on Aaarrrgghh!!!'s head as he watched the gameplay. And before they knew it, it was night already. Time passed really fast, and Jim should be home soon. The four friends got into a serious round. Blinky glanced between his friends, "Adventurers, you three stand before a massive cathedral. Magic fills the air. Clearly, the chalice you seek is inside."
"If we are to conquer this realm, we must show no mercy!" he yelled, swinging his arm. "I'll charge the doors and tear the men limb from limb!" He mimicked tearing the men limb from limb with his arm. "Careful. Guards will notice," Aaarrrgghh!!! warned. Y/N nodded, joining in, "Yeah, you don't know what sort of tricks they have." F/N squeaked, nodding with a straight face. Draal only growled, "That does not matter if none survive to tell the tale! I will split them with my axe!"
Blinky, rolling the dice, eased the serious tension. Y/N, F/N, Draal, and Aaarrrgghh!!!'s faces quickly changed to a relaxing one, enjoying their game. "This role-playing game is addictive," Y/N let out a small laugh. Blinky released the dice and got a double eight. "Ah! That strategy works." He moved the knight figure, Y/N smiled at Aaarrrgghh!!!, fist-bumping his arm, "You're on a killing streak today, Aaarrrgghh!!!. Nice one." Blinky nodded, "Indeed. Next time, I get to be the wizard." Aaarrrgghh!!! chuckled, and Y/N looked up when she heard footsteps upstairs.
"Blinky!" Jim cried out his name in panic, Blinky turned to greet Jim, Claire, and Toby as they came down holding flour bags... that were drawn adorably and we're wearing baby diapers. "Ah! Master Jim."
Then Jim started telling them what happened, "Tobes was just attacked near his house by something." Y/N raised a brow and walked towards them, standing next to Blinky, "What thing?" Claire spoke up, trying her best to describe it, "It was like sludge, but smart. Smart sludge." That didn't help, but Claire tried her best. Blinky didn't get it either, "I'm concerned about this smart sludge, but more alarmed that you're stockpiling flour." He wrapped an arm around Jim's shoulder and pointed at the flour bag that almost looked like Claire and had Jim's hair. "Are you expecting a shortage?" Y/N looked at Blinky with a 'what the heck?' look.
"No, it's my baby!" He paused, glancing at Blinky. "It's for a health class. About babies," Y/N raised a brow at this. It's not strange, but it was interesting. "Ah! So, that's why they were always referred to it as a 'bun in the oven,'" Y/N shook her head as the other two trolls looked at her. Getting off-topic, Claire brought them back to it, scoffing a little, "No, this smart sludge, it was slime."
"Ate my rock collection." Blinky gasped and turned to Aaarrrgghh!!! as he let out a "Uh oh." Blinky turned to Toby to check something, "You didn't happen to have troll remains amongst your collection?" Toby slowly confirmed it. "Yeah, a piece of Bular. Why?"
Blinky looked to Draal, who looked to Aaarrrgghh!!!, as they let out a scared "oh," "uh," and "ooh," knowing this is a bad sign. "Stop with the looks! You always do that when you're hiding something," Jim said. And Jim was right; whenever there is bad news, they always make a look.
Draal let out an annoyed sigh, "Sounds like a gruesome to me." The three looked at him, confused. Claire asked him, "What's a gruesome?" Y/N answered for her when Blinky opened his mouth. "They feed off dead trolls. At the first signs of war, they gather to await the carnage. After the bloodshed, gruesomes would devour the troll remains left on the battlefield. They are the carrion of trolls." Everyone paused and stared at her with gaping looks. "What? I read the history books," Y/N shrugged, remembering when she read about them.
Toby shook his head and got back on track, "but there haven't been any battles in Arcadia. Why is there a gruesome here now?" Jim's voice was lowered in fear, "because Gunmar could be out." Blinky let out a long gasp and shook his head in disbelief, "I told you, Master Jim, that's impossible." Y/N placed a hand on his shoulder, and Toby's quivering voice didn't help, "first the blood goblins, and now this?" He and Claire shared a look of worry, "How do we know for sure?"
Blinky shrugged with uncertainty, "The odds are beyond minuscule, but we can investigate later. Currently, we have a gruesome task that must be dealt with." He made a punching gesture, "But how do we find it?" Jim asked with worry. Then Toby realized something and took a pamphlet out of his pocket, "What if my rock collection was just an appetizer? He could be going for the main course." He handed the pamphlet to Y/N. She looked at it and showed it to Blinky, who took it, "Look! The rock show at the museum! The jewel of the collection is some large piece that I swore looked like some troll's arm. A guy found it outside of town last week!"
Blinky turned his back to the group and raised the pamphlet up for better lighting. "Great Gorgus! That is a troll arm! Who could be so careless to lose an arm?" Putting down the pamphlet to show Draal with a nervous look, holding his hands together and looking back and forth at his friends, "Not mine," Y/N patted his arm, reassuring him. F/N hopped onto his shoulder from Aaarrrgghh!!!'s.
Jim took the pamphlet from Blinky's hand and placed it on the table. "Then we're gonna be there tonight to make our stand. There's gonna be people at the museum, people that can't see this thing. We're gonna have to stop it."
"Then I know just the thing to get rid of it." Blinky said, and everyone jumped when they heard Barbara's voice. "Jim, I'm home!" Jim called back to her, as Blinky and Draal walked to the hole that leads to the sewers that Draal made while he stayed in Jim's house. "I'll be right up! Just working on my assignment! Don't come down!" F/N quickly hopped over to Y/N's head, and she turned around at the same time with Aaarrrgghh!!! when they heard a metal clattering and some rustling. Aaarrrgghh!!! peeked through the window and hummed in suspicion. "Did you see anything?" Aaarrrgghh!!! moved away from the window and shook his head. "Raccoons, maybe?" Aaarrrgghh!!! shrugged, and both made their way to the tunnel back to Trollmarket.
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Y/N, F/N, Aaarrrgghh!!!, and Blinky walked up to RotGut to acquire the item they seek. Y/N walked up to the metal door and knocked on it. One of the windows opened, and Rot's eye appeared. "Hello, how can we help you?" Y/N waved, and Blinky stepped forward. "Hello, my friends! We require from you a Dwärkstone, if you have them."
"Oh, yeah, we have them, all right. How many do you need?" Then Gut's window opened, glaring at his partner, "What did we say about giving away the items?" Rot looked at him with a sympathetic voice, "But they sound like they really need it." Y/N nodded and asked them politely, "Please, it's an emergency."
The two glanced at each other and shut their windows, and the group heard them chatter amongst themselves. The window opened and Rot appeared, "Make sure to catch it." He closed his window, and Y/N stood in front of Blinky. F/N jumped onto his hands that clasped together, almost dropping him from the unexpected jump. A rock launched at her, "Catch the rock!" The rock stopped mere inches from her hand, and Y/N grabbed it and grinned. Aaarrrgghh!!! oohed, and Blinky clapped, F/N following him. She looked at the giant silver gate, "Thank you, Rot and Gut." Rot's window opened as the group walked away to meet up with Jim and the others, "You're welcome!"
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The four arrived at the surface and walked towards the group that was hiding behind a bush, staring at the museum and the banner showing off the dead troll arm. Y/N had cloaked herself and the other three. Y/N called out to them, revealing herself and the others, "Hey, we're back." They jumped up and hugged each other. Toby glared at her, "Not cool, Y/N!" Y/N chuckled and shrugged, "Sorry." Jim shook his head and turned to them, "Y/N, Blinky, did you guys go to RotGut's?"
"Did we ever!" He dug in his bag and started to get something. "Feast your eyes on this!" He took out the Dwärkstone. The three looked at it with confusion and a 'what the heck' look. "A rock?" Toby pointed out with disappointment laced in his voice. Y/N chuckled, "It's not a rock, guys. It's a Dwärkstone."
"Dork-stone?" Jim asked with a confused look, a brow raised. "Dwärkstone," Blinky corrected, and Claire tried to say it, "Dork-stone?" Aaarrrgghh!!! and F/N nodded their heads for trying their best, "Close enough," Blinky corrected them again, almost yelling as he explained, "Dwärkstone is incredibly rare, highly volatile, and the only guaranteed way to expel a gruesome." The group still had confused looks, and Toby gave him an unamused look, "All I'm hearing is 'dork-stone.'" Claire didn't waste time here, "However you pronounce it, how does it work?"
"A firm shake will activate it, but once it begins glowing," Blinky explained with a warning as he handed the stone to Jim, "run." Then Aaarrrgghh!!! made an example, "Goes 'kaboom,'" and that almost gave everyone a mini heart attack. "Now, very delicately tuck it away and make sure it counts." Jim puts the dangerous item in his bag, "We only have one," Y/N said.
"Come on, let's go rock this rock show!" Toby said, ready for this mission. He wrapped his arms around Claire and Jim. Y/N walked over, wrapped an arm around Jim when Toby motioned for her to join in.
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The four walked inside the museum and looked around to see only a minimum number of people, mostly adults and elderly. Toby had a big smile on his face. Claire looked at Toby, pointing at the area before them, "This should be easy. There's only six people here." Toby took out his phone and turned on his camera, taking a picture of his Sir Isaac Gluten and himself, "I know. Crazy turnout."
"Okay, let's fan out and find this thing," Jim said. They jumped when they heard a familiar voice, "There you are, T.P.!" They turned around to see Darci. Y/N remembered her from Claire's house. Her friends gave them a nervous smile, "Oh, hey, Darce! What are you doing here?" Toby asked nervously, not expecting her to be here.
Darci took Sir Isaac Gluten in her arms, mothering him, "Well, the footbag tourney ended. I thought I'd join you and little Sir Isaac." Toby looked at his friends, shrugged, Claire made a 'make her leave' motion, and Jim pointed in a different direction. Toby turned to his partner, "Oh, better put him to bed right now. He looks tuckered out. Home with mommy." Toby placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to make her leave. Darci didn't leave, wanting to spend time with Toby and their son, "Really? Well, I thought we'd stay and check out the show with you. Spend some quality family time." She rubbed her cheek against Sir Isaac Gluten, and Toby looked at his friends and shook his head; they only shrugged and shook their heads.
Toby looked at Darci and offered her an arm, "Then allow me to introduce you to the wonderful world of quartz." The three watched them walk away. Hopefully, Toby will lead her elsewhere. Y/N looked at the other two, "Okay, while Toby distracts Darci, Jim, you take the north wing. Claire, take the south. I'll take a look around here."
"Got it." Claire said as she and Jim nodded and the three went their separate ways. Y/N walked around the center of the museum, looking around for any strange beings. Remembering what it looked like from a picture book, it shouldn't be so hard. As she walked around, she heard some wheels squeaking, and a kid appeared before her. He was wearing a black helmet with a Z symbol on the front, black liners under his eyes, a black T-shirt, black sweats, and black shoes with heel-wheels. He was also wearing a black backpack and had ninja stars on his waist.
"Excuse me, miss. You have to leave; there is an emergency," Y/N quirked her brow at him. What was he talking about? "What emergency? The system would tell us," the kid stammered a little. "I-I was trying to look after your safety," Y/N chuckled and patted his helmet. "Thanks for looking out for me, kid, but I'll be fine." She walked away, and she heard the kid roll away, probably to warn another person. Y/N glanced at him with a suspicious look. F/N appeared from her hooded jacket. He squeaked at her, and she looked at him with a raised brow. "Do you think he was the one spying on us?"
F/N jumped up confirming it. Y/N used one arm to hug herself and placed one hand under her chin, "Hmm," she looked to where the kid was and saw him talking to an elderly man. "Let's keep this between us for now," F/N nodded, hid inside her hoodie, and she walked out of the center.
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A fire alarm went off, scaring Y/N and F/N. Claire ran up to her, "Y/N, have you seen Jim?" Y/N shook her head, and all of a sudden, they heard an explosion, the building shaking. Y/N saw some smoke appear from the men's restroom. "There!" Y/N pointed, and the two ran towards it.
Y/N opened the door and they peeked inside, "Where's the grusome?" Claire and Y/N walked inside and gasped when they saw some flour in the air, "Did you just blow up our child?" Claire glared at Jim, who stood in his armor and turned to her, "I'm sorry, but she did not die in vain. The flour in the air, it hurt her. We need more flour."
"But we only had one," Claire pointed out. Y/N groaned, realizing what was going to happen next. Claire understood when she saw Y/N's reaction. "Sir Isaac Gluten!" Jim placed a hand on his face and let out an 'oh no'. Y/N pushed the two out of the restroom, "But Toby will never let us use his baby."
"Don't take this the wrong way. It's just a bag of flour. I'm telling you, it's the only way to get rid of the gruesome. Come on." Jim led Claire, Y/N, and F/N away. Jim took out his walkie-talkie, "Tobes, where are you?" Toby responded to him, "Did you get it?"
"The gruesome's hurt, and flour can kill it. We need your baby." Y/N led the way to find the gruesome. "No way! Darci needs the passing grade. If I give it to you, she'll never speak to me again. You ask too much," Claire talked to her walkie-talkie. "What do you think she'll say when she meets a gruesome?" They heard Toby sigh deeply, "Good point." Their talk ended there.
"Okay, let's split up to look for the gruesome," they nodded and everyone split up. After waiting a little while, Toby's voice was heard from the walkie-talkie. "Jim, I got him. Where are you?" Jim's voice replied, "We're trying to find it." Y/N ran upstairs and looked around. Jim's frantic voice called out to Toby, "Tobes, where are you?!" She heard a click, and Toby's connection cut off.
Worried and scared for the worst, Y/N looked at F/N, "F/N, go look for Toby!" He nodded and jumped off her shoulder and skidded away. Y/N decided to run back downstairs to the center. On her way, she ran into Jim, "Y/N, did you see Toby?" Y/N shook her head. Then they heard a scream and called out his name, "Toby!"
They ran towards the direction of the scream and saw Toby breathing heavily. It looked like he had a heart attack, and Jim decided to make it worse. "Tobes!" Toby let out another scream as Jim scared him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
"You killed it!" Y/N congratulated him as he placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Toby sighed in relief and placed his hands on their shoulders, "Oh, it wasn't me. It was Sir Isaac," he pointed at the dust with a sad look and sighed, "now to break the news to his mother..." he told them with a cracked voice, heartbroken for his flour son. Y/N rubbed his shoulder, and the three walked out.
The two stood by the exit, leaving Toby to talk to Darci. As they talked, Claire came over holding a flour bag that was oddly similar to Sir Isaac. Darci walked away, and Jim asked his friends if he was seeing it right, "Was that Sir Isaac?" Toby nodded, "I thought he killed the gruesome."
"He did," Claire looked back at Darci and Sir Isaac Gluten as F/N appeared on her head, "Then how did F/N and I find him on the floor inside?" The four then all looked at the night sky. Toby had a wide smile with gratefulness and took a step forward. Jim and Claire looked at each other.
"No, it can't be."
"There has to be another side to this."
F/N hopped off Claire's head to Y/N's shoulder as he tilted his head. Y/N crossed her arms, not really getting what's happening. Toby turned to Jim, "Then how do you explain? I told you, when good things happen..." The four walked away, Claire and Jim placed their hands on Toby's shoulders. "Gotta be a logical explanation," Claire wondered. "Uh, let's chalk it up to 'it's been a weird day,' huh?" Jim said, Y/N chuckled at them. "I'm not sure what you guys are talking about, but I'm sure it's something wholesome," Toby smiled at her and brought her up to date.
Y/N smiled and patted his head, and all four went back home happily. Y/N and F/N looked at the night sky and saw a star shining very brightly, and the two looked at each other with wide smiles.
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