A lot of things had happened in the past few days. After Toby and Jim were arrested, Barbara took them home, complete silence, no one talked during the drive.

Toby was awake the whole night, looking at Jim's house through the window. He could vaguely see Jim's and Barbara's figures through the windows. It looked as if they were arguing. Of course they would! Dr. L was a chill mom but Toby doubted she'd let something like this go. Then, Jim ran off to his room. Toby could see him in the window just before he closed his curtains. Sometimes he hated how thick Jim's curtains were. Now, he had no way to know what happened in Jim's room.

"Warhammer to Trollhunter, do you hear me?" – he whispered through the walkie-talkie.

[Yes, I hear you.] – Jim sounded tired and his voice somewhat different.

Maybe he'd shouted too much? Or had cried or something else? Toby was not quite sure.

"What happened? Did your mom scold you too bad?"

[Nah, it was not that bad.] there was some shuffling and scraping sound [I am sure what angered her the most was that I lied to her. She didn't believe we broke into a museum just for your tracker.]

"Yea... that really could have gotten better..."

[Could have been worse.]

"How so?"

[Bular might have been there that night.]

Realization hit Toby. They were indeed lucky they hadn't met Bular. He was still shaking from remembering how they were chased on Jim's bicycle.

[Anyways, I have to go now. Trollhunter out.]

"Take care, Jimbo!"

Toby carefully placed the walkie-talkie on his night stand and stared at it for a while. What had happened in the museum replayed again and again...? That woman, Nomura, had transformed. She became some sort of vicious she-troll and tried to kill them, especially Jim. They really could be anywhere and it scared Toby a bit. The second thing was that flash of light. He had dismissed it at first but now, he knew it came from Jim. How did he do that? He had no flashlight and... now that he thought about it, strange things sometimes happened around Jim. Things he could not explain. Was his friend secretly a wizard? ...Nah! Maybe Jim had some sort of power due to the amulet. It was the amulet of Daylight, so maybe it was a sort of self-defense mechanism?

Toby slumped in his bed and opened his picture gallery. There, in the very back was a blurred picture of the half-completed bridge. He got a bad feeling just by looking at it. As soon as they could get out, Toby was going to show this to Blinky and AARRRGH.

..........................................

"So, Changelings..." – Toby half-ran to keep up with AARRRGH.

"Hmm. Spies. Can change in human." – the troll confirmed.

"Yes, they are completely immune to sunlight in their human forms and can't be differentiated from normal humans. The only way to find one is to see them transform or use a Gaggletack. It forces a Changeling to go into their other form." – Blinky supplied.

"So, where are we going right now?" – Jim asked.

"To get a Gaggletack, of course!"

.............................................

So, Toby's brilliant idea was to try and find changelings in the school. Jim knew who was 100% changeling but he couldn't say it out loud. Why would he know who is changeling in the first place?

It was fun throwing the horseshoe at Steve, though. Toby was the one to offer it and Jim just couldn't resist. Was it spite? Just plain grudge or childishness? Jim knew he was much older, he realized he shouldn't do this... but it felt SO DAMN GOOD!!

"I don't get it! Why hasn't it worked on anyone... AH! Maybe it IS my dentist!" Toby the n stopped "Jim! We haven't tried with him!"

Jim looked in the direction Toby was pointing and saw Strickler, Stricklander to be more accurate, walking by some students.

'Oh, no! If the Gaggletack touches him, it'll be a pure chaos!' – Jim panicked as his friend started walking towards the changeling.

He didn't like the man, he disliked the very idea of doing something that'll benefit the changeling. This time, however, was better for everyone to not expose him. It would not only cause panic but will probably result in many deaths. Who knew exactly how many changelings lurked in Arcadia?

"Oh, come on, Tobes! Strickler has been in this school for like... forever! Also, I don't think we'll get away with yeeting a horseshoe at a teacher's head. No matter how much I want to..." – Je muttered the last part but Toby heard him.

"Yeah, I guess you are right. But it would have been fun! You have a very good aim!" – he gave thumbs up to Jim.

'Yeah, throwing daggers really helps you with throwing horseshoes...'

As they walked by Strickler, Jim noticed the sideways glance the man gave the Gaggletack, half-poling out of Toby's pocket.

===Time skip===

Jim was TIRED. Do, so tired of all of it... He was going to tell his mom about the Trollhunting business but he just hasn't found the moment to do so. With her working schedule, their confrontation after the museum and his own work, he just had no time! Heck, he'd even postponed some of his experiments because of this whole mess of work!

Potions? No time! Magic research? NOPE! Studying the amulet in order to unravel its secrets and find a way to get rid of it? Good luck in 10 years!

He paced in the basement, his heavy steps echoing throughout the empty house. He felt almost as if he was in a cage, a prisoner of his own life.

'I have to get out!' – was the only thought in his mind as he ran out of the back door and into the woods.

Jim had shed almost all of his clothing on the way out of the house, leaving him with only shorts. Branches were broken and small stones flew as he made his way deeper into the woods. He was panting – he could feel the magic inside him shifting and raging in synch with his emotions. Without a doubt his eyes were starting to glow pretty brightly.

Jim ran and ran, his dark living stone allowing him to blend into the darkness. You could only see a dark mass bulldozing through the forest and two glowing blue eyes.

Eyes... At moments, his eyes were SO similar to those of his father... way too similar and he hated it...

The rain fell and washed his body. After a while, Jim stopped and flopped on the muddy ground with a loud thud and a splash of muddy water. He sat there, rain falling on him. He shook himself but if didn't matter in the open, he'd get wet again.

"Sigh... why...?"

Jim looked at the cloudy sky, tears of frustration mixing with the raindrops.

"Why?!" he shouted at the empty space in front of him "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARH!" – he roared like that until he had to take a breath again.

Jim's eyes sparked, you could see the magic energy gathering in his clawed hands, causing the water to evaporate from its sheer power. He grit his teeth and swung his arm down at the nearest tree.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK~!

The sound of the impact was heard even in Arcadia, dogs started to bark and some of the more sensitive car alarms began to beep.

===With Toby===

The consistent pitter-patter of rain kept company to Toby's nightly musings.

The last few days were quite hectic. They discovered there are evil trolls that can turn into humans, they were arrested, then released, his dentist's assistant was a changeling and she literally EXPLODED in front of him! He was still shocked by this. Finally, it was starting do dawn on him how seriously dangerous things could get. Someone had died and even though Toby didn't want to think about it, it could have been him instead of her or even Jim could have gotten seriously hurt! Bringing the Gaggletack in school was his idea and it was idiotic. The boy tried to fall asleep but it was evading him. Even though Blinky had given them the night off to catch some sleep, it just... wasn't working for him.

He turned and tossed, finally, he threw the covers to the side and stood up from his bed.

Yes, his daily training was giving some results. He was no longer out of breath after running a few meters and could somewhat keep up with Jim in certain areas. (Although ever since the Bike chase with Bular, it felt as if Jim had always held back...)

Now that he thought about it... strange things had happened around Jim before. Bullies becoming unlucky and always tripping after bothering Jim and those close to him. The time a man had broken in Lake's house and then ran to the police station on his own, crying. How Steve had been sent to a hospital after Jim hit him once. And the flashes. He had dismissed it at first but after seeing the flash back in the museum, Toby was sure Jim somehow made them. Was it the amulet? It glowed after all. Or was Jim also secretly a magician? Why hadn't he told Toby about it?!

Toby leaned on the windowsill and looked at the street. All the water drops on the glass and the darkness, illuminated only by street lamps made their street look like something out of a Monster Hunter episode. The foliage across the street moved. Toby squinted, trying to see what was moving it. Suddenly, something big and black ran deeper into the foliage, disappearing in a second, just the way it appeared.

'Bular...' – Toby was frozen at his place from the mere thought.

That vicious troll knew where they lived! After a few seconds though, he calmed down a bit.

'No... it wasn't Bular! Bular doesn't move like that while running, he runs on all fours, plus he has these giant blades, they would have reflected the light! Whoever this was, didn't have any reflective items on their body. But... Why would trolls come so close to Jim's house? Also, I don't think I've seen any trolls this dark, maybe even black...'

For a moment, Toby considered trying to follow the mysterious troll but quickly gave up on it. He troll was probably long gone by now and it was dumb to go out in a stormy night, alone.

Toby sat on his bed and soon felt the exhaustion lull him...

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK~!

He was woken up rather rudely and his Nana's cats started yowling like it was the end of the world.

"Toby-pie!"

"Coming Nana!"

Apparently she was also awake.

======

The rain had stopped a while ago. Jim, soaked to the core and water still dripping from his wet scruff. The sky had started to clear and the sun would soon rise, so he was heading home.

He felt calmer and centered, nothing like last night. He wasn't proud of himself, taking out his frustration on trees and rocks in the forest but he wouldn't deny it helped.

'Huh? What is that?'

Jim ran and jumped up, grabbing a thick branch for leverage. His eyes widened. There, on top of a building was walking a goblin with a bundle in its arm. He knew very well what that meant – a human baby had been switched for a changeling! He let go of the branch and transformed on the way down. People were starting to wake up and it would cause panic if they saw a huge stone monster, on the other hand a teen running in only shorts was not scary at all, just odd.

He ran to the nearest building at full speed, noting but a blur. The gobbling was fast. Jim tried his best to follow the critter, maybe he'd find their new hideout... Unfortunately, after rounding a corner, he found himself in a dead end. The goblin even had the audacity to laugh as it jumped behind the high wall. As it did so, something small slipped out of the bundle- a plush rabbit fell in a puddle with a splat. Jim gently picked it up and cursed.