(A day later)

After Marinette had made her visit to Stone Arc and met Styx and Maray, Jim had his own things to handle on his side of the world. It was finally the night the Vendel had made enough time to see if their claims about the Killahed Bridge were true. Thankfully for Jim and Toby, by the time they would meet up at the museum Marinette would be out to lunch, giving her the opportunity to back them up against Vendel. Since she had been the one to take pictures of the bridge and was the Ladybug Miraculous holder, her presence would most certainly add credibility to Jim's claims. However, the two boys had a while before they had to meet the Trolls at the museum, so they decided to kill time by helping Jim practice some sword fighting practice in Jim's backyard.

As the sun started to set around them, Jim stood in the middle of his backyard and held the Sword of Daylight in front of him, while Toby was standing next to a pile of junk the boy's had found to use for practice. They started off their practicing with a watermelon, which Toby launched at Jim, the melon twisting in the air as it hurtled towards the Trollhunter. Soon enough, the large fruit found the blade in Jim's hands, perfectly cutting through the rounded object and summoning a blue glow from between the slices. A second later, each piece splintered apart in midair, leaving no remains as it exploded in front of the boys, who celebrated at the sight of the defeated watermelon.

"That was amazing!" Toby proclaimed towards the end of their cheering just before Jim picked up a bag of tacos near his feet with the tip of his sword, letting the bag slide down the smooth blade. Once it reached the end of the sword, Jim caught it with his free hand before it fell to the ground, stabbing his weapon into the dirt next to him to pull a taco out from it.

"All right, what else you got?" Jim called to Toby before he bit into his taco, enjoying the flavor from it. Meanwhile, Toby had also shoved a taco into his own mouth while searching the pile of junk for more ammo, settling on a stack of magazines.

"You know, we probably should recycle these." Toby remarked as he gulped down his mouth full. "On the other hand, shredding them is more fun! It's less environmentally conscious, but more fun!" the geology nerd cheered, grabbing the magazine stack by the twine holding it together while Jim finished his taco and quickly grabbed his sword.

"Pull!" Jim yelled excitedly. At the Trollhunter's words, Toby made like a hammer thrower and spun around before letting go of the stack of plastic like paper, falling back with a thud before watching the new target fly through the air towards Jim. With an easy slice, a glow of blue once again covers the sliced target and blows it to pieces.

"Oh! Home run! Whoo!" Jim cheered, many little remains of the magazines to fall to the ground and cover him, Toby, and the lawn.

"It's like a ticker tape parade of awesome!" Toby exclaimed, the two sharing a laugh before they heard heavy footsteps coming into the backyard.

"What is this mockery?" a voice from the house's back door demanded, causing the two teens to look and see it was Draal who had spoken as he shut the door behind him.

"Oh, hey, Draal." Jim greeted in a slightly nervous tone, Toby running to Jim's side at the sight of the large crystal-backed Troll. "Just working on some sword fighting skills." the Trollhunter explained, swiping the air with his sword while Draal continued to come closer, the Troll staying in the shadows provided to avoid getting burned by the setting sun.

"The Sword of Daylight is not a toy to be played with." Draal lectured the two boys. "It is a hallowed obligation I have spent my entire life training to be worthy of." the crystal-backed Troll emphasized, reminding Jim of how 'lucky' he was to have such a responsibility. After hearing Draal's statement, the boy eyed the sword before looking back at Draal.

"You want to take it for a spin?" Jim asked Draal, drawing a snort from the Troll. Despite the response, Jim held out the weapon to him with a smile, which surprised Draal and caused his eyes to widen when realizing the situation.

Taking great care, Draal's large hand reached for the sword, the crystal-backed Troll gently grabbing it before holding it high above him, smiling as he held it in his hand. As he stared at the blade, the reflection staring back at him showed an image of both Kanjigar and Red Scarab smiling back at their son, causing Draal to gasp with a tearful expression at the image. But before he could do anything else, the sword glowed and evaporated from his grasp, finding its way back to Jim. With the sudden reality check, Draal ducked his head to look at the ground in soft sadness, the image of his parents fresh in his mind while both Jim and Toby felt bad for him.

"Sorry. I forgot." the Trollhunter softly realized after the sword reappeared in his hand, feeling like he ought to apologize for what happened. At Jim's apology, all Draal could do was sigh in acceptance at the hand fate had given him as he turned to face the boy.

"If my destiny is to not hold the sword, perhaps it is to teach you how to properly wield it." Draal reflected as he turned to look at Jim, soon looking around the yard for something he could use as a practice weapon.

Fortunately for the Troll, his eyes spied a floor lamp that had been put in the pile for Jim to annihilate that would do the trick nicely. Draal then picked up the object and threw off the lamp shade, followed by him taking a few furious swings at the air to test it out as he walked closer to Jim and Toby. Both boys immediately backed up with surprised gasps, only for Draal to thankfully pass by them as he did a few epic movements with the lamp, twisting it and throwing it side to side like a real sword. As he neared the end of his show of skill, he swung the lightbulb end of his substitute sword at Jim, the boy closing his eyes and waiting for the strike to come. When the hit never came, Jim's eyes quickly popped open and found the lightbulb hovering right above his head and making Jim sigh in relief. While he knew he should have trusted Draal, after fighting him for the amulet he was still trying to get used to the fact that his former enemy had now become a part of his everyday life.

"Your blade is but an extension of your body, and your body, an extension of your eyes." Draal told Jim, pulling his 'sword' away as he took a few steps back in preparation of his teaching of the boy. Seeing the training session that was about to happen, Jim held up his sword with a nervous smile as he took a few steps back too, standing across from Draal. "Mimic my movements, Trollhunter." the crystal-backed Troll instructed, holding his lamp sword with both hands as he pointed it at Jim.

Just as Jim copied the stance Draal had taken, the vast blue troll started to move the lamp in an array of different strikes, showing every different angle one could fight with. As Toby watched the pair begin their training on the sidelines in awe, Jim mirrored the movements Draal had shown him perfectly, the sunset turning into night the longer they trained. Soon after the stars appeared in the sky, their mimicked movements became a fight, the two seeming like skilled fighters as they blocked each other's blows. But well into their sparring match, Draal turned the tables on Jim and sweepkicked the Trollhunter, sending him to the ground and holding the lamp against the boy's throat.

"That kinda hurts." Jim groaned as Draall put pressure on the lamp pole under his chin, keeping him pinned.

"A real fight is never predictable, Trollhunter." Draal said with a chuckle, amused by Jim's assumption of a battle being easily won. "You have to expect the unexpected and learn to embody the armor. Force it to do what you want!" the blue Troll advised, remembering what his father had taught him about the amulet and its armor.

Taking Draal's advice to heart, a winded Jim looked at his empty and only free hand as he thought of a plan. After taking a deep breath, his armor and the amulet glowed brightly, each carved line in Jim's armor glowing with blue like a stream filling a ditch as the sword evaporated and appeared into his free hand. With the weapon's new placement, Jim quickly poked the defenseless and sensitive spot on Draal's chest, drawing a pride-filled laugh from Draal who enjoyed that Jim had listened to his teachings. Happy with the progress Jim had made, Draal backed up and released Jim from his hold and helped him back to his feet, letting the boy soothe the lingering pain in his neck as he took in his victory.

"Wow." Jim breathed out, looking at his sword up and down with amazement. But the moment was interrupted when Toby's phone dinged, alerting him from his playing with a miscellaneous soccer ball.

"Shoot! We're supposed to meet Blinky at the museum now." Toby reminded Jim, showing his phone screen to a now slightly panicked Jim, who quickly put his sword onto his back again before turning to face Draal.

"We'll work on this more later, okay, Draal?" Jim assured the vast blue Troll before he started running to his bike, his armor shedding as he ran.

"Let's go, Tobes!" the Trollhunter said to his best friend, the two hopping onto their bikes and leaving the yard. As they left, Draal had watched them leave in wonder, but soon became nervous of his surroundings since he hadn't been alone in the human world before.

"Mmm.." Draal muttered to himself, holding the lamp close to him as a means to comfort himself. But after eating the lightbulb on the lamp and putting the lamp shade to hide the missing bulb, Draal felt more at ease as he set it onto the ground before heading back inside before someone saw him.

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While Jim and Toby made their way to the museum, Marinette's class had just been released for lunch. But thanks to a comment from Kim, the class had five minutes shaved off of their lunch break, prompting Marinette to race out of the classroom and run towards the boiler.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'M SO LATE!!!" Marinette exclaimed as she kept running, quickly sitting on the stair railing and sliding down it to save time. Once her feet hit the ground, she kept running until she got to the boiler room.

"Marinette, I'm sure that they'll understand why you were a few minutes late." Tikki tried to assure her holder, poking her head out of the purse while Marinette finally reached a secluded corner of the room.

"Even then, it's most likely an offense to Vendel to be late." Marinette theorized, sitting herself down on the floor of the boiler room, having forgoed packing a lunch to fully focus on the meeting with the elder of Heartstone. Once she had calmed her breathing down and composed herself, Marinette pulled out her phone and dialed up Jim. A few seconds after she did, the blue-eyed boy appeared on the screen, smiling at her.

"Right on time, sis." Jim greeted her, putting Marinette at ease a bit whilst surprised by his remark.

"Really? I thought I was late!" Mairnette replied back, a surprised look on her face from Jim's words.

"Don't worry, we're late too." Jim admitted, much to Marinette's disbelief.

"Jim!" Marinette exclaimed, not believing that they were so late for something so important.

"Yeah, I know. But we got caught up in training with Draal." Jim explained, scratching the back of his neck as he made his admission.

"Draal's training you now?" Marinette questioned, a questioning eyebrow raised at Jim as she spoke. It was not something she expected to hear so soon.

"Yeah he is!" Toby confirmed, pushing himself into the phone's screen so Marinette could see him too.

"How's that going?" Marinette asked, hoping that the answer would be a pleasant one.

"Pretty good, actually. He gave me some good tips on how to use the armor." Jim revealed, a smile on his face as he reminisced the spar he and Draal had done earlier.

"That's good to hear. I guess it was the right choice to trust him." Marinette reflected, glad that things were going well between the former adversaries before remembering why the boys were in the museum in the first place. "But we'll talk more about this later. You two better find Blinky, Aaarrrgghh!!!, and Vendel before you're even later." the designer told her brothers, getting them and their focus back on track.

"Good idea." Jim agreed, prompting them all; Marinette being still on call on Jim's phone, to go deeper into the museum and soon see Vendel looking over an exhibit displaying all kinds of frilly outfits. One of Marinette's favorite exhibits in Arcadia's museum. Just as Vendel commented on one of the displayed dresses and tapped it with his staff, a nervous Blinky and Aaarrrgghh!!! had taken to standing behind him when Blinky looked up and spotted Jim and Toby as they ran up to them.

"You're late." Blinky simply stated to the teens, staring them down as they reached the Trolls.

"Sorry. Draal was training Jim." Toby explained, earning a quick elbow jab to his gut from Jim, who was hoping that his troll trainers wouldn't find out. Unfortunately for Jim, it was too late for that now.

"Draal?" Aaarrrgghh!! questioned in surprise, both him and Blinky's eyes widening at Jim.

"Training?" Blinky wondered in shock, a slight look of betrayal crossing over his face.

"Yeah, he sorta made a home in my basement to look out for the place." Jim elaborated, trying to explain the situation while he nervously clenched his hands around his phone, his knuckles nearly turning white.

"Of course. When a troll is defeated in combat, it's completely natural for them to take refuge in the victor's domicile." Blinky replied, sarcasm filling his voice while he crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke.

"So, you're cool with it?" Marinette asked, hoping it would be the case for Jim's sake.

"Of course not! Such an arrangement could only end in disaster. Utter disaster!" Blinky exclaimed, not happy with this turn of events at all.

"Are we simply waiting here to be discovered? Or were you planning on showing me this thing you believe to be the Killahead Bridge?" Vendel questioned from behind the two trainers, standing behind them impatiently before he spotted Marinette on Jim's phone screen. "Is that your sister, Trollhunter?" the elder Troll asked Jim, bending down to get a closer look at the girl in question.

"Yes, it is. We thought that having her here would help." Jim replied, holding up his phone so Vendel didn't have to bend down so much to see Marinette.

"It's an honor to meet you, Lady Marinette. Despite the circumstances of course." Vendel greeted the pigtailed girl, who was suddenly unsure of how to proceed with the sudden introduction.

"...And to you as well, Vendel." Marinette replied with a curt nod of her head, still a little sour towards Vendel for his part in the duel between her brother and Draal. However, she knew that a lot was riding on this meet-up, so she had to be respectful to the elder of Heartstone. "But if you don't mind, can we get to why we're all here?" the designer asked, bringing focus back onto the task at hand once again and prompting Blinky to pat Jim's shoulder nervously.

"The Trollhunter was just about to show us the way." Blinky said with a nervous laugh, which Jim quickly took that as a sign to do as his trainer had requested. Soon enough, the group followed Jim as he led them to the unfinished exhibit where Jim and Toby had fought Nomura and the head goblin and Marinette had found the Killahead Bridge.

"And as we were chasing away the goblin pack, we ran past this closed exhibit..." Jim explained, throwing open two wooden doors as he led the way to the alleged exhibit. "...and there it was: the Killahead Bridge." the Trollhunter finished as he pushed open the curtain covering the exhibit entrance with his free hand, revealing the same large tarp covering what they saw earlier was the Killahead Bridge.

At the sight of the covered object, the Trolls were left shocked while Jim handed his phone to Blinky, letting Marinette watch as the two boys walked into the exhibit to uncover the object under the tarp. But the boys soon found themselves in a spot of trouble when it wouldn't budge, to which Aaarrrgghh!!! thankfully decided to step in and help.

"Me." Aaarrrgghh!!! offered as he gently moved the two to the side, soon pulling the tarp off with ease. But when the object was revealed, Jim, Toby and Marinette's face dropped as they saw the viking ship that stood now within the vacant bridge's spot.

"Oh no." Jim and Marinette gasped at the same time, panic rising in their thoughts at the sight of the missing bridge.

"That is not a bridge." Vendel mumbled as he walked closer to the group, clearly upset that he wasted his time coming into the human world and finding nothing worthy to set his eyes upon.

"But it was right here!" Jim exclaimed as he grabbed his phone from Blinky, quickly turning to Toby. "You saw it, right Tobes?" the Trollhunter questioned, hoping that Toby could confirm it.

"Well... we were running so fast and were being chased, you know?" Toby replied, growing a little nervous with being put on the spot so suddenly. But when he saw Jim's worried face, he knew that he had to somehow salvage the situation. "But Marinette definitely saw it! Otherwise we wouldn't have pictures of it!" the rounded boy exclaimed, pulling out his phone to allow Marinette to say her piece.

"It's true! The boys were fighting the curator when I saw it right where this ship is." Marinette confirmed, Toby quickly pulled up the pictures she sent him to show them to Vendel. "It must have been moved!" the pigtailed girl added in a hopeful voice, watching as Vendel squinted his eyes at the provided photos.

"And yet, it's not here." Vendel remarked, not believing the circumstantial proof given as he turned and looked at a now nervous Blinky. "Blinkous Galadrigal, I've not left the Heartstone in a century. I only did so tonight because of the grave peril the Killahead Bridge represents." the elder Troll berated the retreating Blinky, Marinette helpless to only watch as Vendel angrily stomped over to the trainer, his large glowing staff coloring the sides of his head and the angry curves on his stoney face.

"For you to invoke that danger without more solid proof–" Vendel continued, his anger growing with each word.

"If Master Jim and Lady Marinette say it's so–" Blinky interrupted, trying to defend both himself and his friends.

"You will be only too quick to believe them." Vendel fired back, interrupting Blinky now too. "You've never met a conspiracy theory you didn't like." the elder Troll remarked, bringing up some of Blinky's unusual habits and leaving Marinette concerned about the now mentioned pastime of the six-eyed Troll.

"I hate conspiracies. That is why I am dedicated to rooting them out." Blinky argued, correcting Vendel of his assumption of Blinky liking conspiracies.

"Like you rooted out the plot to rid Trollmarket of all its cat meat?" Vendel questioned, burning up one of Blinky's supposedly better known incidents.

"That was a misunderstanding." Blinky defended.

"Or the time you were convinced we were infested with flea trolls?" Vendel countered, beginning to list off another one of Blinky's failures. All the while, Marinett could see that their argument had prompted Jim and Aaarrrgghh!!! to share a look between them, with Aaarrrgghh!!! giving a quick nod to Jim, confirming that the incident actually happened. This caused the three teens to look back at the arguing Trolls with matching raised questioning eyebrows.

"Precaution is the soul of virtue." Blinky argued, in hopes to turn the favor towards him.

"Everyone in Trollmarket thinks you're paranoid." Vendel exclaimed, obviously having had enough of Blinky's denial.

"If it's everyone, it must be a conspiracy!" Blinky yelled back, unfortunately proving Vendel's point. Seeing Blinky in trouble, Marientte decided to step in to help.

"With all due respect, Vendel..." Marinette spoke up, causing everyone to turn and face Jim's phone screen. "If you hadn't taken so long to look into our claim, the curator wouldn't have had the time to move the bridge." the designer pointed out, bringing up Vendel's lack of action to the situation.

"As the leader of Heartstone, I have many pressing responsibilities, Lady Marinette." Vendel replied, a little offended being put on the spot so suddenly. "While the Killahead Bridge is a dangerous subject, it appears that my time has been wasted." the elder Troll sighed before he pulled his hand down his face in exasperation, his hands size monstrous compared to his small head.

"It would seem your pupil is desperate to play the hero and eager to drag his sister into his claims, while you are desperate to see danger where none exists." Vendel decided, having had enough of his time wasted. "Aaarrrgghh!!!, take me home." the elder demanded, causing Aaarrrgghh!!!'s eyes to grow wide before doing as he was asked. As he did, Jim, Toby, and Marinette watched with sad remorse before they and Blinky turned to face the ship behind them, the moon light giving the scene a much depressional feeling.

"It was right here." Jim mumbled in defeat, making the scene heart wrenching to Marinette as he looked sadly at the large ship, both not noticing Blinky stepping up to him at first.

"Do not despair, Master Jim. I still believe in you." Blinky assured, hoping his words would alleviate some of Jim's blatant despair.

"Same with the rest of us, bro. You'll always have us in your corner." Marinette added, seeing Toby nodding his head in agreement as he walked up to Jim's side to comfort him.

"Thank you, guys." Jim thanked, a small smile appearing on his face before it quickly disappeared. "But how are we going to get Vendel to believe us, now?" the Trollhunter questioned, looking back up at the longship and drawing a sigh from Blinky.

"If the proof isn't here, it has to be somewhere." Blinky said, placing his upper right hand upon Jim's shoulder while his lower right hand grabbed the boy's arm gently in reassurance. "You, Tobias and Lady Marinette just worry about your studies. I'll worry about this." the six eyed troll finished as he gave the teens the most reassuring smile he could muster, prompting Jim to give a small smile back in return before Blinky walked out of the exhibit, leaving the siblings alone.

"You okay, Jim?" Marinette asked, a sympathetic look appearing on her face while Jim and Toby looked back at her.

"I'll be fine, sis. Don't worry about me." Jim said as he brought his phone around to speak to her, trying to assure both him and Marinette that they'll be fine despite the setback. "But you better get going. Lunch ends soon, right?" Jim questioned, changing the subject to not focus on his own problems so Marinette didn't worry about him for the rest of her day.

"It does, yes. But class can wait if–" Marinette began to say, preferring to help Jim since he needed her attention more at the moment.

"It's all good, Mari." Jim interrupted, not wanting to be the reason why his sister was late to class. "You go on before someone sees you're gone. We'll be fine." the Trollhunter assured, hoping that Marinette would drop the subject.

"Okay..." Marinette relented, knowing that Jim wouldn't ask for help if he thought it would bother her. "Just... be careful, alright? I'll call you tonight." the pigtailed girl said, hoping that Jim knew that she was there if he needed help.

"See you then, sis." Jim replied, a soft look on his face as he spoke

"Bye, MariFairy." Toby added, leading to the two boys to wave goodbye to Marinette.

"Bye, guys." Marinette farewelled, waving goodbye to her brothers before Jim hung up. Once the screen was black, a down-trouten Marinette sighed to herself as she looked at the floor in thought. At the sight of her holder in such a state, Tikki flew out of her purse and floated in front of her.

"Are you okay, Marinette?" Tikki asked, concerned for her holder.

"I'm fine, Tikki." Marinette assured her kwami, tiredness lacing her voice. "I'm just frustrated on Jim's behalf... and partly for myself, too." the pigtailed girl explained with a sigh, looking away from the floor and throwing her head back to stare up at the ceiling.

"Why's that?" Tikki asked, even though she could clearly see what the reason was.

"This meeting was meant to prove to Vendel that he could trust us to have the Troll's best interests at heart." Marinette vented, finishing off her little rant with a quick huff of air to push back her bangs from covering her eyes. "Now he sees us as nothing but a bunch of kids who are in over our heads." the designer grumbled as she looked back at her kwami, a pout on her face after she finished speaking.

"I know it's disheartening. But you can't give up hope." Tikki encouraged Marinette, flying over to her holder and placing her tiny forehead onto her much larger one. "Like Blinky said, if there is proof, then you will find it." the red kwami reminded her, hoping that it would be enough to cheer Marinette up a bit. Thankfully for Tikki, it worked in drawing a wistful smile from her holder as she reached up to gently grab Tikki and bring her to her eye level.

"Thanks, Tikki. You always know just what to say." Marinette praised, followed by her ticklingTikki's stomach and making a laugh spew from her lips before the bell rang around them. "Looks like we better head to class." the pigtailed girl sighed, still holding Tikki in her hand as she got to her feet and picked up her bag before she started walking to the exit.

"Just keep having faith in yourselves, Marinette. Things will turn up soon!" Tikki proclaimed as she patted Marinette's palm affectionately, followed by her flying into Marinette's purse before she exited the room. Once she was outside of the dark room and back into the sunny afternoon light, the secret superhero quickly headed off to her next class. Here's to hoping a day of class and a good night's sleep later on would fix some of their problems.

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Over in Arcadia, after the boys got back home and went to bed, the night quickly turned into day and had them leaving their homes to head over to school. But when they arrived at the front of Arcadia Oaks High, walking their bikes to cross the street, they decided to discuss what had happened the night before..

"Got any ideas of how the curator moved the bridge, Jimbo? If so, how could we possibly find it?" Toby asked Jim as they approached the crosswalk that led to the school, hoping he would have some idea of where to start looking.

"Well, I don't think we're gonna be lucky enough to stumble on it again, Tobes." Jim replied after they made sure the way was clear before crossing the street. "But one thing for sure is that the curator did not move it by herself." the Trollhunter announced, the two boys slowly making their way into the school.

"Maybe she had help! Other Changelings, perhaps?" Toby suggested, only for Jim's eyes to wander to the side, finding Claire waving 'bye' to her parents. Once she closed the car door, Claire walked off towards the school's front doors, which affected Jim greatly.

"Oh, no. Claire." Jim groaned in realization, ducking his head into his bike in an effort to keep him out of her line of sight.

"Claire? A Changeling?" Toby questioned incredulously, surprised that Jim had even suggested that his crush was their enemy.

"No. It's just... When I thought I was gonna die, I wrote Claire a letter too, and told her everything." Jim said shyly, hoping to end the conversation and run without seeing Claire. He had been able to avoid them talking about it for this long because he had been avoiding her for the first week after the duel, and she was sick for the second week. But now she was all better and heading the same way he was.

"Everything?" Toby asked, wondering if Jim meant what he thought he meant.

"Everything." Jim repeated, leaving Toby so shocked that he stopped in his tracks while Jim stepped onto his bike pedal and pushed himself towards the stairs, leaving Toby where he stood. When he reached the stairs, Jim quickly picked up his bike in hopes to avoid Claire before she spotted him. But unfortunately for him, Jim had yet for Marinette's Ladybug Luck to rub off on him because Claire spotted him as she walked towards the school entrance.

"There you are!" Claire yells up to them, Jim freezing in his tracks at the sound of her voice. He had been caught.

"Hey! What's up, Nunez?" Toby waved as she approached.

"Hey Colby" Claire greeted, walking past him as she headed towards Jim.

"It's Toby. Not that it matters. You can call me whatever you want." Toby muttered when Claire left, leaning on his bike to play it cool. But the action backfired and caused Toby to fall to the ground alongside his bike, a yelp escaping his lips.

"You've been looking for me?" Jim asked in a doubtful voice, standing on the steps and holding his bike as he watched Claire with careful eyes as she soon stood beside him.

"You didn't run into Ms. Janeth yet, did you?" Claire questioned, both her and Jim unaware of Toby struggling to get up from the ground behind them.

"Is she mad that I couldn't make it to rehearsal last night? Something kinda came up." Jim explained as set his bike down on the ground and took off his helmet, thinking back to his training seccion and the botched showcase of the Killahead Bridge last night. "Steve filled in. That's what understudies are for, right?" the Trollhunter pointed out with a small chuckle, not seeing why Claire seemed so worried.

"Uh, you haven't heard? Steve isn't the understudy anymore. You are." Claire revealed, surprising Jim at the sudden information as she walked up the front steps. "Miss Janeth was tired of you never showing up, so she gave Steve the role of Romeo." the hispanic girl elaborated, which only further dragged down Jim's mood.

"What! But I memorized all my lines!" Jim argued, feeling defeated with this new turn of events while Claire walked ahead of him.

"To be fair, she did warn you that this would happen." Claire reminded Jim, a small smile playing to the edge of her lips. "But regardless of that, Ms. Janeth is on the warpath for you. I'd watch out." the hispanic girl warned before she walked away to her first class, Toby finally managing to stand up and join Jim by his side..

"I have algebra with her, too." Jim mumbled out loud, only for the bell to ring a few seconds later. "Right now!" the Trollhunter panicked when hearing the bell, running into the school with his bike to put it away before heading over to algebra. With a little bit of running, Jim had managed to make it to Miss Janeth's classroom while she was in the middle of a lecture. With a deep breath, Jim snuck into the class as he mentally prepared himself for the torture session of a math class with his vengeance filled teacher.

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A while later, Jim's algebra class had ended. However when lunch came around, he soon discovered that Toby had gotten himself a lunchtime detention for reasons Jim had no idea why. This led to him being alone when Marinette called him during their allotted time slot, which he told her they had to cut short so he could get a jumpstart on the homework Miss Janeth had given him out of spite. But that still left time to talk about their days like they normally did.

"How have things been on your end, Mari?" Jim asked, holding his phone in his hand as he walked towards the library.

"Eh, not too bad. Though the lack of akuma's since Princess Fragrance is concerning." Marinette tiredly admitted, leaning her arms on her desk by her elbows as she rested her chin in her palms. "Not to mention I'm dying to try out the runestone necklace I got from Stone Arc. I'm actually kind of hoping for an akuma to happen just to break the quiet." the designer added as she pulled out said necklace from under her shirt to show it to Jim, the runestones glinting in the light of her room.

"The quiet must be making you antsy if you're hoping for an akuma." Jim remarked in an amused voice, knowing that Marinette could be quite impatient for something to happen at times. "Kind of wish I was on your side of the globe right now. I could use the quiet." the Trollhunter added as he rounded a corner, glad that Marinette was getting a little reprieve but wished he had one too.

"Speaking of being on the other side of the world, how has your day been since last night?" Marinette asked, wanting to know how Jim's been doing since the last spoke as she let her arms rest on her desk, crossing them as she did so.

"Definitely could be better." Jim groaned. "Not only did Steve take my part in Romeo and Juliet, with me getting bumped down to understudy, Miss Janeth was less than pleased with me during class today." the Trollhunter reported, to which caused Marinette to wince at the news.

"Oof, how did it go?" Marinette questioned, feeling bad for her brother's misfortune.

"Well, other than being moved up to the front row and being put on the spot for the more challenging equations, it went okay enough that I survived to tell you about it." Jim reflected, glad that his math teacher didn't murder him for his tardiness. "But I've still got a lot of homework to do for her." the Trollhunter added, reminding Marinette of his need to cut their video call short this time around.

"Yeash, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now." Marinette remarked, a small smile on her face as she let out a small guff of amusement. "But seriously, that really sucks." the pigtailed girl continued.

"Tell me about it." Jim replied with a yawn, soon seeing the library ahead of him.

"How did Claire take it when you got replaced by Steve?" Marinette asked, hoping that Jim had that going for him despite all that's happened.

"She's actually the one who warned me about both that and Miss Janeth." Jim revealed, a fond smile on his lips as he spoke. "While I didn't have much time to prepare after getting the information, at least I didn't go in totally blind." the Trollhunter elaborated, making Marinette smile at his confession.

"Looks like she's finally noticing you!" Marinette cheered, happy for Jim's progress. "Ugh, I'm so jealous right now!" the designer whined, throwing her head back to look up at the ceiling of her room in frustration.

"I keep telling you that you can do better than Adrien." Jim replied with a smile and a chuckle, amused by his sister's antics. "But do you listen? No!" the blue-eyed boy added as he smirked at her, making Marinette abandon her staring at the ceiling to glare at her brother.

"We're not talking about this again, okay? It's way too late for me on my end." Marinette said, not in the mood for this conversation again.

"Okay, fair enough." Jim replied, finally arriving at the library. But before he could even reach to open the door, Jim could hear Claire saying 'bye!" to her friend behind him before she chased after him, which he saw from the corner of his eye. "I've got to go. See ya tonight, sis." the Trollhunter said with a wave, concluding the call for the time being.

"Bye, Jim." Marinette farewelled, letting Jim hang up before Claire appeared at his side.

"Hey! I see you survived Ms. Janeth's Math Class of Doom." Claire greeted the boy, happy to see he was okay.

"And, now, she's given me a mountain of homework I hardly understand." Jim countered, looking at the ground in despair before reaching for the library door again, Claire watching him with a hint of concern.

"You know, I did honors algebra last year and was pretty okay at it. What if you came by my place tomorrow for a study sesh?" Claire offered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear just as Jim stopped his hand in midair from reaching the door handle.

"Wow! Really? Why would you do that? I screwed up your play." Jim questioned, shocked at the offer.

"Promoting Steve to Romeo wasn't your idea. And, honestly, I'd rather be on stage with you..." Claire admitted, placing her hand on Jim's arm as she spoke and drew a smile from the boy. Clearly his day was already better thanks to Claire's simple gesture. "...Even if you are a total flake." the hispanic girl added before lightly punching him on his bicep with a nervous laugh.

"See you tomorrow at six?" Claire confirmed before she ran off, looking to not be late with a hang out with her friends.

"Yeah, totally. See you at six." Jim called out to Claire, soon sighing like a love sick fool when she was out of earshot and completely lost in love as his hand grasped where she touched. Still in his love-laced trance, Jim finally entered the library so he could start his homework before his next class of the day.

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(Time Skip)

Despite Jim's attempts to get a jumpstart on his homework, he found himself unable to do so due to his interaction with Claire earlier. In fact, he was still so hung up on it that his lovesick mood remained with Jim when he finally met up with Toby, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh!!! down in Heartstone. The boy's good mood also prevented him from fully paying attention to Blinky as he led the group through the Trollmarket, who was also talking about the group's current dilemma of the bridge being moved.

"... the matter at hand, Master Jim." Blinky tried to explain, only to finally see that Jim was still lost in his own little world. "Master Jim?" the six-eyed Troll called to the boy, hoping to catch his attention. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

"MASTER JIM!" Aaarrrgghh!!!'s booming voice yelled, helping Blinky by pulling Jim out from his lovesick thoughts.

"Yes, sorry. Paying attention. Paying attention!" Jim assured once he was out of his thoughts, Blinky now continued when seeing that he had everyone's attention.

"As I was saying, assuming that Killahead Bridge was in Arcadia, and it was indeed, as you say, delivered to a clandestine location, that would mean more Changelings, scavenging, assembling and disassembling. If we prove that the museum curator wasn't working alone, then Vendel might start believing that you two and Lady Marinette saw the Killahead Bridge." Blinky said, recapping his earlier words so Jim was caught up, the group of four walking down into the darker parts of Trollmarket.

"So, we find another Changeling." Jim stated, getting the gist of what Blinky was saying.

"Stop saying that so loudly." Blinky fearfully exclaimed, stopping mid-walk."Need I remind you that Changelings have not been heard or seen in Trollmarket for centuries. The mere word could cause hysteria." the six-eyed Troll told Jim in a sort of hushed voice, hoping to quell any panic as he kept leading them further down their current path.

"Then how do we find one without causing any trouble?" Jim asked as they approached the end of the path, soon seeing a shop coming into view.

"RotGut's." Aaarrrgghh!!! replied right as the group stopped in front of a large wall, covered with drawings and simple detail with only two tiny doors standing out from it. At the sight in front of them, Jim and Toby breathed out a joint 'whoa' as they looked at the wall/shop front with wonder, spying a large carved statue of a Troll as they drew closer.

"Purveyor of fine charms, totems, and spells." Blinky explained, the group stepping up to stand in front of the colorful wall as he spoke. "Follow my lead." the six-eyed Troll advised before he knocked on the door, prompting a huge gem at the top left corner to open, revealing a large red eye.

"Ailment or curse?" Rot, the first owner of the shop to appear, spoke to the group in greeting. Just after he did, another door at the bottom right corner opened up, revealing a second green eye to the group.

"Oi, numbskull! I'm supposed to answer it!" Gut; the second owner of the shop, berated his partner, not happy with the break of their routine.

"But I already did answer it." Rot protested, not seeing the harm of him greeting the customer this one time.

"What is not clear about. "I deal with the customers, you handle the wizardry"?" Gut argued to Rot, closing his door to continue the clash behind their shop front.

"Hold a tick." Rot told the group, closing his door as well. But despite the closed doors, the Trollhunter team could still hear them. Thankfully the shopkeepers managed to reach an agreement, if Gut reopening his door had anything to say.

"Good, Rot. Stick with that." Gut told his partner, only to redirect his focus back to the group. "Welcome to RotGut's. How may we service you?" the green Troll greeted the Trollhunters, adopting a more cheerful attitude to make up for the earlier spat.

"Totem, my good troll. We suspect one of these fleshbags may be a Changeling." Blinky replied, explaining their reasons for visiting their fine establishment while playing up the need for such an item. But at Blinky's words, Rot reopened his door and looked down at the present humans with a questioning hum, causing both Jim and Toby to look back at him in return.

"Other fleshbags." Aaarrrgghh!!! said protectively, appearing behind the boys before Rot looked back at Blinky.

"You're gonna need a Gaggletack" Rot answered, which drew a nervous giggle from Gut.

"Unfortunately, you see, we're running a bit short on those. Very hard to get." Gut added on, his voice sounding like he was actually fibbing about the totem's availability.

"But I've got a bag of them right here." Rot countered, confirming that Gut had been lying to them.

"What in the world?" Gut exclaimed, glaring at his partner before remembering they had customers. "If you'll excuse us for one moment." the green Troll said to the group before he closed the window once again.

"Ey, what are you doing? I'm trying to drive up the price over here." Gut demanded from Rot on the other side of the door, all while the red Troll kept nervously glancing at the group as his partner went on with his rant.

"I thought we were trying to help these nice lads." Rot answered back, closing his own window to give them some privacy. But now that they were somewhat alone, Toby had taken the opportunity to finally say...

"What's a Gaggletack?" Toby asked, hoping to get an answer for both him and Jim.

"Rare artifact." Aaarrrgghh!!! replied, causing both Jim and Toby to look up at Aaarrrgghh!!! when he spoke.

"Exceedingly rare. An object of great mystery. With physical contact, it reveals the true nature of a Changeling." Blinky explained to the boys after turning from the wall to face them, hyping up the use of the totem they were about to receive. After he did, Blinky soon turned around to find that Rot had opened his door again.

"Why don't you open the door..." Gut continued to rant from behind the wall as Rot looked at the team, infuriated with his partner's good nature.

"Step back, please." Rot advised the group, Guts still ranting in the background before closing his door back up one last time. Shortly after he did, a little drawer pushed open from the wall and an item from within flew from the opening and smacked right into Toby's face, easily pushing him to the ground.

"It hurts!" Toby cried out on the floor, groaning in pain while Jim winced before picking up the Gaggletack. But was soon disappointed by it when he inspected it and saw...

"It's a horseshoe." Jim remarked, looking the artifact over with questioning eyes as he spoke.

"Made of pure iron." Aaarrrgghh!!! answered as Toby stood back onto his feet, a little wobbly at first before getting his bearings again.

"Why would you put such a precious thing on a horse's foot?" Blinky incredulously questioned the boys after turning back around to face the group, not believing that humans would do such a thing.

"Huh?" Jim asked as he and Toby shared a look.

"Beware. Changelings are swapped with their human counterparts at birth. So, it is likely these troll-pretenders have dwelt amongst you for decades." Blinky warned, revealing just how deep the conspiracy could possibly be. "They could be anyone. Used car salesmen, tax collectors, television executives." the six-eyed Troll said, listing off any potential suspects.

"Dentists?" Toby asked in a hopeful voice, offering another possibility for a secret Changeling spy.

"Yes, especially dentists." Blinky confirmed, not realizing that Toby was just using the opportunity to try and avoid going to the dentist ever again. But that was the least of Jim's concerns as he took in the information Blinky had given them.

"So, who do we start with?" Jim asked, looking at the horseshoe in his hands with an unsure face as he tried to think of a good place to begin.

"Oh, I've got a few ideas." Toby devishily admitted, taking the Gaggletack from Jim's hands with a mischievous look in his eyes. This was going to be fun!