Camelot, late 12th century

"Sorry! Please move!" Lucia yells as she sprints across the courtyard of the castle, a bottle containing bright pink liquid in one hand and a scroll gripped tightly in the other, nearly running into a wagon but managing to miss it. Sprinting up the stairs and dodging servants, she manages to get to her location and throws open the door. "I'VE GOT IT!"

Her yell startled the other occupant of the room, a boy her age who had been sweeping and was now trying to pick some books off the floor.

"Fuzzbuckets Lucia, don't do that!" The boy scolds her as he manages to retrieve all the books before setting them back up in their original spot. "It's already taken me an hour to organize the books the way Merlin wanted them!"

"Sorry Hisirdoux, I just had to announce my discovery in case our master was in the room!" Lucia responds as she drops her items onto the table and grabs a book to flip it open. "Alright, I just need some of the other ingredients and this will be all set. Do you remember where Merlin kept those flowers?"

"No I don't. Why does Merlin let you play with magic? All I've been doing is nothing but sweeping!" Hisirdoux says as he grabbed his broom to resume his sweeping.

"I've been training since the age of six, you have only been here for a few months." Lucia says as she snaps her fingers, the bottle of liquid becomes enveloped in a soft pink and purple light before it is elevated off the table and the cork is removed.

"Well I say it's more fun to use it for the smallest things, like this!" Lucia looks up from her book to see her friend's broom become enveloped in bright blue light before it begins to sweep the floor on it's own. "Easy!"

"It's going to hit you, watch."

"It won't." The teen laughs as he grabs his lute from the corner to plop himself on a stack of books and strum a few strings.

"Hisirdoux!" A familiar voice shouts. Lucia bit back a laugh as the broom whacks Hisirdoux to knock him off his seat before turning her attention to the doorway where their teacher stood. "What have we talked about?"

"Magic isn't a permissible shortcut to hard work." Lucia states as Hisirdoux repeats it.

"Carry on and-"

"But master!"

"But don't master me."

"I know I'm more capable than pushing a broom!" Hisirdoux says as his broom flies back into his hands before it began to violently move and smack him in the face and knocked him onto the table.

"If there is a universal truth to this world, its that struggle is the flame which forges one soul into steel." Merlin says as he began to use his own magic to summon ingredients. "Magic cannot be a crutch. To take the easy way out is to merely exist, Hisirdoux."

"So why am I learning spells if I'm not supposed to use them?" Hisirdoux asks as the broom was enveloped in a green light and lifted right off him. "I want to be a wizard like you, with a staff and everything! Even a sixteen year old like Lucia is getting to play with magic!"

"Lucia has been training since she was six, and it wasn't until she was thirteen that I allowed her to start actually using her own magic. And staffs are for those with mastery over magic, magic is mastery over life. So first you must learn how to live. Master that lesson, and I vow your days of pushing brooms will be over."

"Why do I have the feeling that's going to take about a century or more to happen?" Lucia asks as she snaps her book shut and sends the open bottle towards Merlin. "Do I have to do the same thing to earn my staff, master?"

"Depends, but yes you both must master that lesson to earn your own staffs." The older wizard says with a nod before grabbing the bottle. "Now, let's see if this little concoction of yours can help us out."

.•*¨*•.¸¸♪♪¸¸.•*¨*•.

Nine Centuries Later, Arcadia

"Ugh, I'm exhausted!" Lucia groans as she drops herself into a nearby couch. "My feet are just...aching!"

"And you weren't here that much like I was." She hears Douxie laugh. "You just stood in front of the sink and washed dishes Luce, and I was running through the restaurant serving plates, taking orders and sweeping messes."

"You didn't have to wash a day's worth of plates from that party that showed up!" Lucia snaps, sitting up to glare at her friend as he was sweeping. "Someone just HAD to order thirty plates of that super greasy stake! With all that sauce that is just difficult to wash out!"

"Yeah, but I had to sweep all the spilled crumbs from the breadsticks, mop the juice and tea stains, wipe down the tables, a lot more than just dishes." Douxie responds and Lucia stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh yeah, really mature for an over nine hundred year old teenager."

"Shut up."

"I will when you actually act your age."

"Act my age huh? What do you know about how old I'm supposed to act?" Lucia challenged as she sat up. "Kids my age aren't supposed to be staying up at night during the school year catching rouge gnomes, chasing shadow beasts into magic traps."

"Well yes, but you are no ordinary teenager Lucia, and it's no longer the school year." Douxie points out. "You are an over nine hundred year old spellcaster, who happens to own a really weird familiar."

"Some days I wish I wasn't! I want to at least get to live a normal life as a teen for just one day!" Lucia says as she gets to her feet. "I want to go to school, take tests, dissect something in a science class, I want to just be a normal teenager Douxie! Isn't that too much to ask for?"

Douxie stopped his sweeping to give her a concerned look. "Luce, I know how much you want to at least spend just a day as a normal teenager, but you know neither of us can with what's going on right now. Ever since the Trollhunter had left, strange things have been happening and we have to at least try to maintain the illusion that nothing weird is going on at night."

"Ever since the Eternal Night that happened during the Battle of the Bands, ever since last night when that giant alien god thing came around, it's been harder to maintain that illusion! Douxie we can't keep quiet about our existence anymore if weird things keep popping up!"

"And we can if we just lay low. Lighten up Luce, everything will be fine." Douxie assures her. "Now, help me finish sweeping up so we can finally figure out what's been eating those poor pets for the past month."

After what felt like hours, the cafe was finally cleaned up and they were finally locking up to leave. Lucia's back was already feeling quite sore from the work, and all she wanted to do right now was go back to their apartment and just snuggle under the covers with Drew to browse the internet for funny animal videos they can laugh about. But that was not going to be the case tonight. Lucia and Douxie sneak into an alleyway, staying several feet behind Archie as he was creeping towards some garbage bins.

"You see that?" Douxie whispers as they duck behind a large bin. Several feet behind Archie was a large black creature with a glowing underbelly with a salamander like body. "Umber Imp, we catch it, we solve the pet problem."

"Doesn't look like one." Lucia whispers as the creature sneaks forward. "Also, I'm very sure it's a Shadow Methed."

"No, very sure it's the Umber Imp. We catch it, we'll see what it is and get rid of it."

"Fine, you try to catch it, I'll daze it if it tries to escape your bubble."

Douxie then bolts from behind the bin and leaps in front of the creature as it pounces, before blasting it with his magic and encasing it in a bright blue bubble.

"My cleanest capture yet Luce!" He cheers loudly before stepping to the tapped monster. "Aren't you a nasty little beast? I figured an Umber Imp was the reason for all those lost pets."

"That is not an Umber Imp." Archie states as he climbs down from the garbage bin he was sitting on before whipping out his glasses to seat them on his nose. "Do you notice the three mandibles, how it's phasing in and out of existence? That's a Shadow Methed. And you should know your monsterology if you are going to use me or Drew as bait!"

"I knew it! I told him and he didn't want to believe me!" Lucia yells as she emerges from behind her hiding spot. "Drew, come out! I know you don't like hiding in bins for too long!"

"Oh good! The smell of spoiled ham was driving me insane!" A small voice cried as the teen ran to the bins and threw the lid open. "Ugh, the smell is going to stick to me for hours now!"

"Not if we wash you up as soon as we go home." Lucia laughs as she reached in to pull out a small rabbit with a pair of antlers protruding from it's head. "Come on little ghost, we have some-"

She was cut off by Douxie's scream and turned to see the Methed out of the protective bubble and on top of him, it's jaws clamped around his metal bracelet. Lucia immediately threw her hand out, yelling a single enchanted word to blast the monster right off her friend before it hit a wall and scuttled away.

"After it!" Archie yells as the two teens race after the beast. "Your capture technique is weak and could use a couple more centuries of practice!"

"I will not be lectured by someone who licks their own butt!" Douxie yells as they follow it through a narrow alleyway.

"Drew do your thing!" Lucia yells as she tossed her familiar over Douxie. "Remember to kick it in the nose!"

"I am not touching that thing!" Drew yells before stopping. "I am not going to get eaten today!"

"Let's see you phase through this you little git!" Douxie yelled as he flung a glowing blue string that wrapped around the beast's tail, temporarily stopping it before it decided to keep running and dragging him right with it.

"Oh come on!" Lucia groans before turning around to grab the jackalope. "You have to stop running from the danger! We are supposed to run towards the danger!"

"Any normal human and rabbit with common sense wouldn't!" Drew points out as he was scooped up. "I am a coward and you know it!"

"I know, I know, but one of these days you are going to need to fight. You are going to have to stop running from the danger." The teen sighs as she hugs the familiar to her chest. "Come on, we need to deal with the Methed now before Douxie takes all the glory."

Lucia hurries out from the alley, following the trail of destroyed cardboard boxes and scattered trash until she found Douxie and Archie by a large white truck before all the lights around them began to go out.

"Douxie what's going on?" Lucia asks nervously as she pressed herself close to the car.

"Hisirdoux! Lucia!" The two teens gasped as green mist appeared before them and a familiar man rose out from it.

"Master Merlin! He's awake!" Drew gasps as the teens bowed in respect.

"Hisirdoux, Lucia, my faithful apprentices, I need-"

"You darn right we've been faithful!" Douxie interrupts as he jumps to his feet. "We've been mopping floors for nearly a millennium! Why didn't you send a raven, or a text! There's texting now you know!"

"Shh!" Lucia hisses and elbowed him in the stomach as she got to her feet. "Sorry master, he has been a bit-"

"I was busy, as you know." Merlin responds with a frown.

"Well we've been quite busy too, protecting the material plane while you weren't around-"

"Hisirdoux! I need you!" Merlin says before he was interrupted again.

"About time!" Douxie exclaims. "I've been practicing my incantations, and my spells-"

"Enough! Matters are most dire!" Merlin snaps. "I need you and Lucia to bring me the guardians of Arcadia, with haste!"

And with that, he disappeared. Lucia let out a sigh of relief. She had been worried something happened to their teacher after the Eternal Night was stopped, but thank goodness he was alright at least, even if he was only calling to them to do another errand.

"Oh it's our moment alright, as errand boys and an errand girl." Archie comments as Douxie huffs in annoyance.

"Are we going on a quest?" Drew asks, his ears perking up in excitement. "Is it going to be dangerous?"

"We're just going to do an errand for Merlin, that's all." Lucia says with a soft laugh and gently elbowed her friend. "Lighten up Doux, I'm sure once we gather the guardians Merlin will have a much more fun task for us."

"Weren't you the one complaining earlier about having to do too much non-normal stuff?" Douxie asks with a frown.

"Well yeah, but I suppose once we get this done maybe then we can take a break. And who knows, maybe this isn't as bad as we think it is."

"He asked us to gather the guardians of Arcadia, the Trollhunter and his troll friends have already left Arcadia to be in New Jersey." Archie points out. "Who else are we supposed to look for?"

"Oh what about the aliens? And the changelings?" Drew suggests. "That Strickler fellow frequents the cafe sometimes, and the aliens still might be here. And I believe two of the Trollhunter's companions are still here as well, the chubby human and the big Krubera troll."

"Then we split up and look for them, no time to waste." Douxie says with a nod. "Lucia, you look for that changeling, I'll get the aliens, Archie and Drew go get what's left of the Trollhunters."