Present Day:

“Come on, Hisirdoux, we’re killing moonlight!”

“I know! I know! I just need to— Ah! There you are!” He reached down and scooped up the list. “I can’t believe I dropped this earlier. I'm glad nobody scooped it up, though now I know it’s Gerald who does a shoddy job at the cleaning checklist.”

“Right right right!” Zoe nodded impatiently. “But a list of magical ingredients isn’t exactly something the mortals would understand even if they did find it. I told you it wasn’t as big of a deal as you were making it out to be.”

“This is literally a recipe to paralyze somebody, Zoe! It’s dangerous to leave lying about the restaurant!” 

He gestured to it frantically as if to seal his point, but she merely plucked it away with a roll of her eyes and stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

“And now you’ve got it. Now come on, Archie’s probably already waiting out in the alley, and I want to find whatever’s been eating all those cats recently.”

She turned for the door as he shook his head and chuckled to himself. 

“Alright then, I’m coming, I’m—”

“Hey! Open the door!”

Suddenly he was cut off by a man shouting from outside, his voice carrying all the way up to the second floor of Benoit’s.

Zoe and Douxie shared an equally concerned look before wandering over to the window to get a look at the scene happening down below in the middle of the street.

“What in the world?”

“Huh, looks like someone broke into Sal’s place. I wonder who’s dumb enough to try and steal a Vespa? Guess the news wasn’t kidding about the recent crime wave in Arcadia. You think it might be the trolls, Doux?”

“Not sure about that, but it looks like the scooters aren’t the only things being stolen tonight. Check it out.” 

“Hey! You Little—” The officer yelled, grunting slightly as the car took off in what was possibly the slowest acceleration either wizard had ever seen.

“Is that a kid?”

“Yeah, I think that might be one of the Trollhunter’s friends actually?”

“You sure?”

“I’M SORRY! I’M AN ORPHAN!!!” The young voice yelled out, muffled slightly by the screams of the other two men as the vehicle crept away down the road.

“Oh, I think I’m sure…”

“Dispatch, I have a runner! Pursuing on foot! Suspect has a sweater vest and a very punchable face!”

Zoe muffled a laugh as they watched the detective running after the car. The kid barely turned the corners, and continued crawling off into the night at what was at max, probably only about 10mph, but as soon as the weak blare of sirens turned on, neither could hold it back any longer and both broke down into loud, hysterical laughter even long after the cop car was out of their sight.

“Sh-should we do something?” Zoe cackled, wiping tears out of her eyes as she doubled over to laugh some more.

“Nah, I’m sure it’ll work itself out.” Douxie replied, waving them off as he tried to catch his breath. “Besides, that was definitely one of the Trollhunter’s friends, so I’m sure it’ll be fine. They’re good kids.” He made a face at the irony and waved the stolen cop car away again. “For better or worse?”

“That kid down there is gutsy, I’ll give him that! Stealing a car right under a cop’s nose! Man, remind me to give him a discount or something the next time I see him.”

“YOU HEAR ME? ONLY THE GUILTY RUN!!!” Came the officer’s voice from a few blocks down the road, screaming into the night with a vengeance that could be heard all the way to Benoit’s.

The wizards shared one more look which only prompted another fit of laughter before both tried desperately to compose themselves and head back down the stairs to meet Archie outside.

“Hey Arch!”

“Took you long enough! Did you get your list?”

“Got it!” He said, throwing up the small crumpled ball and then catching it with a smirk. 

“What have I told you about scribbling out magical shopping lists at work?”

“I know, I know… and I’m sorry we’re running so late, but hey— You didn’t happen to catch that spectacle back there, did you?”

“Oh I caught it!” He snorted. “It would seem we’re not the only ones having an interesting evening tonight. Six stolen Vespas and a thefted police car. Say what you want about Arcadia, but it’s hardly ever boring, especially after dark.”

“You didn’t happen to see anything at Sal’s place go down, did you?” Zoe asked. 

“No, but the detective mentioned the stolen vehicles being taken down into the sewers. Someone is trying to be inconspicuous it seems. Though I highly doubt this is magic-related. Only humans could be so blatantly obvious and destructive for the burglary of common machinery like that.”

“I can’t stand shoplifters. I hope they get what’s coming to them!”

“Ah, let the mortals deal with all that. We’ve got a hunt of our own to get to. Ever since Trollmarket went under, the influx of missing pets has gotten worse. We’ve got to keep the peace between the two worlds as best we can until all this gets sorted out.”

Archie grumbled.

“Yes, well, if we find that it was a troll eating the pets, I’m going to have a few choice words for them once we find them!” 

“You and me both! There’s a few faces missing from the group that I feed behind the record store.” She cracked her knuckles as a tiny pink spark shot off the edge of her hand. “This string of missing pets just got way more personal!”

“Now, go a bit easy on them you two.” Douxie soothed. “They just lost their homes and their whole world is upside down right now. Maybe we just offer up a few alternatives to the pet-eating. It’s not like there are many that remember that old peace treaty anyway, so I say we tweak the details a bit to fit more into the modern day, yeah?”

Both the familiar and the pink-haired wizard rolled their eyes in unison.

“Fine…”

Archie was first to add.

“But they’re still getting a stern lecture!”

“And if they run, I can’t promise there won't be a little roughing up.” She shot him a teasing wink. “And only the guilty run, right?”

Douxie sighed and rolled his neck. That was about as close as they’d get to a consensus tonight, so he nodded and motioned off into the alley as the three took off on their search.

He chuckled to himself after only a few blocks and Zoe looked his way at a glance.

“What’s so funny?”

“All this grand theft is bringing back a few memories. You remember our old Vespa?”

“Back in the 50’s?” She snickered, blowing out a strand of loose hair as the years came rushing back to memory. “That was a fun time. Poor thing didn’t last a month.”

“And yet it took you almost five months to save up for it.”

“Don’t remind me, Archie.” He sighed, the groan turning more into a nostalgic chuckle as he thought back to that time and place. “Oh, but it was a fine piece of hardware. I can remember it almost like it was yesterday!”

Arcadia, the late 1950's:

“There you are, one milkshake, two straws.”

“Thank you, Douxie!”

“No problem, Miss Nancy.” He made quick eye contact with the man across the booth and nodded a bit more sternly. “And ummm, Mr. Domzalski.”

“You’ve been chatting with that girl at the front for a while now, and this isn’t the first time either.” Nancy giggled, her fingers wiggling in that direction suggestively. “You little dreamboat. Tell me, are you two going steady?”

He blushed and fingered awkwardly at his serving tray as the woman continued to tease him. Luckily Nancy’s husband let out a chuckle and sent him on his way before distracting her with a conversation about how her day went. Snatching up his chance at freedom, Douxie quickly wandered back to the bar and up to the kitchen window before spinning back around to the girl seated ahead of him.

“Thanks for waiting. Here’s your burger, Zoe.”

“Thanks.” She grinned, already reaching for the ketchup bottle Douxie placed with expert timing in front of her. “Hey, you good, pal? You’re all red.” 

“Just recuperating from my latest interrogation from Nancy,” he said, chuckling as he began to nervously rub at his neck, but speaking low enough to where the couple across the way wouldn’t overhear.

“Ah!” Zoe nodded, needing no further explanation, and leaning in a bit closer to whisper a secret of her own. “She’s pretty good at getting information out of someone when she wants to. She was a spy in World War I, you know?”

“She tell you that, did she?” He smirked, giving Nancy a more studious glance for one long moment before diverting his gaze.

“Yeah, back in the 30’s. It’s a long story, but I helped her out. She wouldn’t remember it was me, though.” She flicked out her wrist to wave the history away, chuckled, and then took a large bite out of her burger before asking. “So... when’s your shift ending?”

He blinked and looked over to the neon clock across the diner.

“Looks like about ten minutes. You up for a night out?”

“Always am, but you said you had a surprise.” Her brows lowered accusingly. “What did you do?”

He returned with a sneaky grin. 

“You’re going to flip your lid when you see it.”

Zoe shot him one last skeptical look, but before any witty retort could make it past her lips, a sea of groans filled the restaurant followed by a sudden and disappointing silence.

“Hey Douxie! The jukebox is acting up again!”

“Oh fuzzbuckets...” He muttered. “Hold on, let me take care of this.”

“By all means,” she said, looking down at her food with a smirk that told Douxie that she didn’t really believe in his chances.

He wandered over quickly, making appeasing smiles to the patrons as he started to press random buttons and bend over to check the wires in the back.

“Uh… let’s see here...” He started to panic, one minute, then two passing by as the crowd behind him started to grow restless. “Uh… Umm…”

*BANG!*

He jumped back in shock, nearly falling to the floor just as the music resumed and the patrons all let out a cheer before going back to their evening. Douxie blinked and looked up, only to see Zoe standing there looking down at him with a satisfied smirk, her back pressed up against the machine as her balled up fist lifted up from the glass.

He stared between her and the jukebox for a long moment before finally shaking his head with a smile.

“You have got to teach me how to do that. Seriously, you could make a career out of fixing appliances!” 

She winked at him and helped him back to his feet.

“We’ll see about that. Let’s just say after all those years at the record store, I just know how to speak its language.” A light static of pink dusted along her fingertips as she wiggled her nose at him and winked. 

Now he was the one giving her the look, but eventually the rhythm took hold and he began snapping to the beat.

“Hmm? Not a bad song selection. This newstyle rock and roll has been growing on me more and more since you first showed it to me.”

She motioned her head at the group of dancing teens at the middle of the floor. 

“You... wanna join in?” 

He looked at the clock, over at the kitchen, and then back to her with a big grin.

“Let’s rattle.”

A few songs later, and Douxie changed out of his uniform and into his regular clothes, popping the collar on his black leather jacket as Nancy let out a whistle before he and Zoe could make it to the front entrance to leave. They laughed awkwardly, Zoe a bit more amused than Douxie was, and then escaped the diner with a final wave to everyone else inside.

Outside into the quiet night now, Zoe waited in the parking lot for a long moment before splaying out her arms in question.

“Alright, I’m waiting, Doux. So, what’s this big surprise?”

“Hang on!” He said, a little skip in his step as he backed off around the side of the diner. “Wait right there, don’t move!”

She rolled her eyes, but waited as he said, arms resting impatiently on her hips as he giddily scurried off.

*VROOM!*

He appeared a moment later on a Vespa off all things and Zoe let out a few amused gasps as he pulled it up to her.

“You’re kidding me! You got yourself a Vespa!?”

“I got us a Vespa,” he corrected firmly. “You know, for patrols and such.”

She lifted a brow and shifted her stance.

“Oh yeah, because nothing says stealthy like the roar of a motor engine?”

“It’s more for getting across town. We’d park it before we started doing any stealthy work. Think of all the ground we can cover with this baby?”

She whistled. 

“I’ll admit, she is pretty nifty.”

“Well don’t just stand there, hop on!”

She gave him a final look, but jumped on back with a laugh before wrapping her arms around his waist and taking off into the night.

They rode around for blocks, admittedly enjoying the ride more so than actually looking out for mystical beings that went bump in the night. After maybe twenty minutes of that, she finally pressed forward to shout into his ear over the wind.

“So Archie has no idea you bought this yet, does he?”

“Oh no way, he would’ve talked me out of it!”

“He’s going to flip. How many paychecks did this set you back?”

“Not important!” He replied, his voice revealing that it was probably safer if she didn’t know. “But come on, admit it! This is so much better than running everywhere, isn’t it? Not all of us have wings like Archie! We can get around far more efficiently now, yeah?”

“Practice that excuse all day, didn’t you?”

He nodded and shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Well, you’ve got a bit of a point, Doux, but I doubt Archie will feel the same.” 

She splayed her arms out and let the wind blow around her before letting out another laugh as Douxie sped off and she hurriedly grabbed back onto his jacket.

“Whoa! Hang on tight!”

“Jerk!” She gave his back a soft punch, though she admittedly did wrap tighter around his waist, prompting him to laugh as the two headed off to another part of town for their patrol, ignoring the inevitable speech they’d get from Archie as soon as they got back home.

Present Day:

“Alright, so let’s go over this one more time, just so I’m clear…” Douxie said, hand poking into his forehead as he looked towards the sky for strength. “You’re Glug?”

“I am Glug,” the Troll nodded.

“And you were out in Arcadia gathering ingredients because you were making…”

“Glug!” She answered. “Glug was busy making glug.”

“Wh-what is… Glug?” He asked exasperatedly. “Why does it have the same name as you?”

“Glug is Glug,” the troll shrugged. “Glug makes glug in the tub.”

Zoe rolled up her sleeve. 

“Oh, I’m about to make some glug…”

“Easy, Zoe!” Douxie grabbed her under the arms and turned her back around. 

Once she looked relatively less hostile, he turned back to the mossy green troll and placed both hands together, inhaling a deep breath for patience before starting again, slowly.

“Okay, let’s just skip ahead. Have you either seen or eaten any cats recently?”

“Mmm… Glug find cat, cat make good ingredient for glug!”

In a puff of gold, Archie was in the trolls face with a pair of wings, the breeze causing her to drop her tin cans and shield her eyes from the force.

“Well, I'll have you know, cats are loyal companions, not food! And you might be more careful on who you choose to snack on because some cats in this town can bite back!”

“Alright Arch!” He stepped between them and pushed back. “Geez… I thought you said you had a lecture, not a shakedown!”

He cleared his throat and landed on Zoe’s shoulder before readjusting his glasses.

“Just getting my point across in the clearest way possible.”

“Alright, alright… but is there a way for Glug to make this… this glug… without using cats?”

“Well, Glug can make glug with rat, but rat small and harder to catch. Got to catch lots to make glug.”

“Okay, so that’s something!” He clapped. “I doubt anyone in Arcadia would miss a few rats, right guys?”

“I suppose? But they have to be sewer rats, no more pets!”

“Ah good, Glug go make glug, and wizards and dragon-cat get Glug rats. Grab many, Glug making large batch of glug tonight!”

She gathered her things and waddled off, leaving Douxie, Zoe, and Archie with a lot of clipped-off arguments, but ultimately two very agitated glares aimed in Douxie’s direction as he spun around.

"Sooo... who's up for a little rat hunt before bed?

“What do I look like, Casperan, an exterminator?”

“Uh…” He deflected to the lesser of two evils. “Come on Archie, you like hunting mice.”

“That statement is offensive! But... true…” He let out a long breath. “Fine… I’ll help if it means keeping the local cats out of the “glug”. Yuck!”

“Yeah... I’m not spending my whole night chasing rats. Call me tomorrow, D. I am out.” She waved at them and walked away without another glance. “And if I find anymore of my cats missing, I’m turning that glug-making Glug into astroturf.”

He pulled at his collar and nodded.

“Right… uh, see you later then, I suppose?” He sighed and turned back once she was out of sight, wandering deeper into the alley with a wave of his hand to follow. “Come on Arch, the hunt awaits.”

“I cannot believe we’re doing this.”

“If that’s what it takes to keep the peace?” He shrugged. “Let’s just get this over with. Come on.”

They took off down the alley and Archie shifted back into cat form, trailing behind.

“Fine, but just for the record, I’m still not happy about this.”

“Duly noted! Oh hey! I think I found one! Hurry up Archie!”

The cat rolled his eyes with a groan, but took off to help his wizard with even this unbelievably stupid and mundane task.

“The things I do for that boy…”

The 1950's, a few weeks later:

The three were out on the backroads near the cliffs on their patrol, Archie a few miles ahead in the sky, scanning the grounds for any sign of trouble. 

“The things I do for that boy,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m missing my late-night special for this. I doubt we’ll even find anything, but oh, I do suppose they look happy down there on that expensive contraption. I suppose one night won’t hurt anything.”

There hadn’t been much trouble in Arcadia lately, but any excuse to go for a nice drive was something the two wizards wouldn’t pass up given the rarity of their shared nights off. They sped through the evening, the black silhouettes of trees a blur as they rushed passed.

Zoe held to Douxie’s back and rested her head against his jacket, watching calmly as the scenery passed them by. 

“Wha—?”

Something caught her eye, a figure just a short way up the hill, and a brief flash of gold that made her rub her eyes to crane back and do a double check. 

“Hey Doux, did you just see that?”

“See what?”

“I- I don’t know? Just— It looked like something in the woods? Something watching us drive, but then it just vanished.”

“It could just be a Dark Watcher? Don’t worry, they’re harmless.”

“I don’t know. I actually think it looked more like a—”

*BOOM!*

Suddenly, a dark shadow exploded from the bushes, sending their scooter rocking as Douxie and Zoe screamed in response. 

Behind them rushed a massive beast with slimy green skin covered in thorny spikes, large pointed horns and ears framing a face that was best described as a gremlin who had been run over. The eyes and mouth were close together, uncomfortably so, and little razor sharp teeth flashed in the moonlight as it screeched at them, talons scraping out and tearing through the pavement, just narrowly missing their back tire.

“Still think that’s a Dark Watcher!?” Zoe yelled, grabbing onto his jacket with one hand and the other gearing up with a shock of pink electricity. “Speed it up!”

“Trying!”

“ROOOOOAR!”

Archie, seeing all this happen from above, was already in a nose dive towards the road to assist as the wizards swerved across the empty lanes. He started laying down a literal suppressing fire before Zoe’s quick zap could escape her hand, the joint-attack buying them a little more distance, though not doing as much damage as either might’ve hoped.

“Well, there’s something you don’t see everyday?”

“Archie, what is that thing? A demon?”

“It looks almost like a Quasit.”

“Are you sure? Aren’t those supposed to be tiny!?” He would use his hand to demonstrate just how small he thought, but he currently had a death grip on the handlebars that refused to release.

“Maybe a spell?” Archie guessed. “But why would it be out here all alone without a swarm?”

“Maybe ask it when it isn’t trying to run us off the road!” Zoe interrupted, another blast causing a screeching wail to escape the Quasit’s throat as Douxie looked to the treeline and saw their way out.

“Hold on! I’m going to try to shake it!”

“What are you—” but she was cut off by the sudden right turn of the Vespa slicing through brambles and onto a dirt road, every bump and rock coming up to scratch the metal in ways this particular vehicle was not exactly built to handle.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Douxie muttered with each and every little ding.

Meanwhile, Archie soared alongside them, the Quasit still on their heels as limbs and branches crashed all around them, falling completely once the beast tore through the remainder of the treeline and into the woods.

“Now what genius!?” Zoe gritted out, her face buried into his back to avoid the forest debris.

His eye caught something and he took a deep breath, a smile and flicker of thought lighting up in his face before turning the Vespa towards it.

“Do you trust me, Zoe?”

“Sometimes!” She yelled and held tighter expectantly.

“Close enough!” He chuckled. “Here goes nothing!”

The wizards let out a scream as Douxie used a very conveniently shaped flat stone to jump the cavern, both landing with a rough crash, before a blue glow steadied them upright and kept both from being flung from the seat of the scooter.

It took Zoe a moment to pry herself from the black leather jacket, as did it take a moment for Douxie to regain any movement in his fingers in order to pry them off of the steering. Archie landed next to them, all three breathing heavily as a roar of frustration erupted from the other side of the small canyon. There, they looked over to see their pursuer stalled in its tracks.

“Ha!” Douxie shouted victoriously, his voice only slightly squeaking the last of his terror and adrenalin out as he smiled and pointed towards the massive beast. “Not so tough now, are you?”

“Uh, Douxie…” Archie started.

“What’s wrong? Those frog legs can’t hop across the cavern? Ha ha!”

“Hisirdoux…” Zoe chimed in.

“What?” He finally said, his smile fading as he followed their pointing fingers back to the beast across the jump.

The creature snarled, long and low, crouching as a stretching sound turned into a tearing noise, and then into a roar as the Quasit rose up and in one swift motion, sprouted two very large, fresh wings from its back, shaking off the last of the slime as they stretched open to feel the fresh air beneath.

Douxie silenced quickly, his hands retracting and very slowly reaching back towards the handles.

“Quasits are shape-” He started, Zoe on the tail end of his words as she shouted in a much more accusatory tone. “Quasits are shape-changers!”

She smacked him on the back of the head and he merely shrugged before he restarted the Vespa.

“Right. Right! I knew that!”

“Perhaps now would be an opportune time to move!” Archie called, not waiting before he took off into the air again. “Move it!”

“Going! Going!” the wizard stuttered, taking off as the dirt skid out beneath their back wheel.

“We could barely outrun it!” Zoe shouted. “What makes you think we can outfly it!?”

“I wish I knew why it was so hostile! Maybe if we knew what it wanted, we could calm it down long enough to capture it?”

“What makes a Quasit angry?”

“Well they are demons!” Archie informed hurriedly, his mind trying to sift through various years of lore and research all the while also focusing on running for all of their lives. “Perhaps it’s merely hostile from being lost in this dimension?”

“Then it shouldn’t have come here in the first place, now should it?”

“Some Quasits have no choice. Much like many shapeshifters, myself included, Quasits can be pacted with a wizard and summoned to this plane! Perhaps that also explains why this one is so abnormally large?”

“You mean that thing is someone’s familiar!?” Douxie repeated dumbfoundedly. “You think another wizard called it here?”

“There are more wizards in Arcadia?” Zoe added, her voice more astonished than confused as she shared a look with Douxie and then with Archie.

“All possibilities, though I think somebody may have bit off more than they could chew with this summoning!”

“But how do we stop it, Arch?”

“Shooting it won't do much good, Quasits have resistances to magical spells, including fire and lightning.” He ducked from a branch with a low swoop and fluttered back up to eye level with the wizards. “I think I read somewhere that they are attracted to shiny things though. Maybe we can distract it long enough to open a rift and send it back to wherever it came from.”

“Where are we going to get something shiny here in the middle of the forest?” Douxie asked, the answer already in his mind as soon as he’d let the question out. All three looked down at the scooter, and he let out a very long, apprehensive groan. “Ughhhh… Fine! Archie, do you think you can hold it off of us for a minute so we can set up a trap?”

“I’ll do what I can!” He nodded, changing into a form matching the size of the Quasit. “Do try to hurry though.”

With that, he shot backwards, slamming into the beast and into the ground with a thundering crash, allowing the wizards and their shiny, metal vehicle a clean break as they sped away.

One more turn through the trees and eventually they were back on the brink of the canals and bridges being built on the outskirts of town. A lot of construction, no mortals, nighttime cover... It was the perfect place for a final showdown.

Douxie spat out a leaf and rode the canal down into the mud where tons of construction supplies waited to be used by workers the next morning. Once down there, he did attempt to find anything else that could possibly be “shiny” enough to use as bait, but everything down here was pretty bland. Thus with a final sigh, he shut off the engine, propping the kickstand as he parked in the middle of the clearing where less hardware was likely to be damaged in the ambush.

“Alright, let’s hurry and get into position.”

“Are you sure you want to do this, Doux?” She asked, the two rushing off to hide behind piles of roped together support beams and piping.

“No, but I’m about to do it anyway. You still remember how to do a bit of moonlight redirection?”

“Aww, we haven’t done that since the 1300's! Alright, I’m ready when you are.”

With a nod, both wizards started a spell which brought the rays of the moon sparkling down on the Vespa. Even though it was a bit muddy and scuffed up, there was still enough of a glossy sheen to catch the light and begin to shine. It was just in time for Archie and the Quasit to come tumbling down the hillside, too. The creature, satisfied that Archie did not try to get back up, was immediately enamored by the moonlit trap and flew towards it curiously, the wings retracting back into flesh as it examined the vehicle with a soft lulling growl.

“Almost…”

Zoe readied to take over on the moonlight spell as the runes from Douxie’s bracelet began to spin, looking for the final trapping and sealing combination that would send the Quasit back to its own realm of existence.

“Alright… Three… Two… On—”

But before he could get to one, the Quasit shot upright, its face not unlike a startled doe as it waited there in one moment and then in the next, it was gone.

“What did—” He paused and a hand slid up to his eyes, peaking out as though he was scared to hear the answer. “Quasits can go invisible can’t they?”

Zoe did not move her gaze from the empty spot, but nodded slowly.

“Looks like it.”

“Oh fuzzbuckets.”

*CRASH!*

Apparently the runes had caught its attention, and the huge toothy creatures lunged for them, smashing their hiding place before latching onto Douxie’s arm and sending both him and Zoe flying sideways with a swift strike once it realized the runes and the wizard were attached to one another.

They clattered to the dirt, both groaning before getting themselves upright.

“Any day on that portal spell, Hisirdoux!”

“I’m on it!” He said, already maneuvering for the right runes again. He let out a yelp and dodged as the Quasit came for him again. “Do me a favor, and check on Archie! I think I’ve got its full attention at the moment!”

“Right!”

“I’m alright,” the dragon answered, shaking off the last few hits as he returned to their side and his usual form. “Perhaps things would be a lot simpler if you shrunk the Quasit back to its normal size before attempting to portal it home, Douxie?”

“Yeah, alright I can try that! Ummm?”

“You have no idea how to shrink it, do you?” Zoe accused, throwing rocks and sending out pink blasts to get the monster’s attention.

“I’m sorry, but did you pack all of your potions and things!? It's not like I was exactly expecting to use this spell tonight!”

Zoe groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Archie, help me keep this thing occupied. Hisirdoux, figure it out! Try using something earthy… like tannin or something?”

“Tannin!? This isn’t like shrinking heads!”

“Just figure it out!” She shouted, ignoring the backtalk as she and Archie did their best to keep the Quasit at bay.

In the meantime, Hisirdoux flipped through runes, wishing for a spellbook to scan through, but settling for memory and blind luck as his second best bet. Maybe Zoe was onto something with the tannin. A little steam, some rapid boiling magic, and a dash of compacted or vacuum space.

“Here goes nothing…” He muttered, flaying his hand out and shouting. “Move back!”

“No no no no!”

“Douxie duck!”

He had just enough time to react, falling backwards as he saw something very shiny fly inches above his nose. He quickly scrambled to his feet and watched as it slammed into the bars of the sewer entrance behind him, shattering instantly upon impact.

A small, pained breath quivered out past his lips, as the wizard watched the pieces of his Vespa come to rest on the inner workings of the blocked off pipe. Many more parts splashing what sounded like miles down a waterfall of (heaven only knew what sorts of) liquids, before everything went quiet.

He slid on his heel, everything from the waist up frozen in shock, as he made a twitching motion at his two friends, the Quasit still stuck in a throwing motion as Zoe struggled to hold it in place with her magic. 

Archie shrugged apologetically, but what was done was done it would seem.

“Ain’t that a bite...” Douxie said, a growl coming up as he once again splayed out his hands, the bright blue runes coming back into the proper combination. “You’ll pay for that one you overgrown frog! Oh, this had better work...” He shouted and his voice echoed with a burst of magic to follow as the incantation left his throat. “Corpus horreat!”

Whether it be the additional bit of emotion added to the spell, or just dumb luck, the Quasit lit up in a ray of light before its roars grew more into a high pitched growl, and when it all faded, the beast was about the size of an actual toad, and was much easier for Zoe to hold in her levitation ray as she kept it in place and let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s done.” Douxie sighed, already stepping forward to prep the portal sequence. “Now, back to where you came from, you little pest!” 

A hole opened up in the ground and Zoe immediately threw the little demon inside, Douxie closing the rift without a second thought, before falling back to sit and catch his breath.

“Good work Doux!”

“Yes, nice choice of runes there, Douxie!”

“I can’t believe that worked.”

Finally it was over and all three let out another breath as Douxie bent over and gripped one of the small fragments of the former handlebar pipes from his scooter.

Zoe came up and patted him on the shoulder as he sat and stared at it in silence.

“Hey! Maybe I can try and help you fix it? You’re the one that said I was good at fixing appliances, right?”

“Yeah…” He huffed, drawing out the breath. “But most of the parts got lost in the sewers, and even with magic, I fear this is going to cost more than it’s worth to fix.”

“Oh, Douxie…” 

“Maybe we can save up for a new one?” Archie offered, not really believing his own words as he said them. Still, he gave the dejected wizard a bump with his paw, and hoped the attempt at sympathy worked as intended anyway.

“No, you were right, Arch. It was a lot of money. Besides, what would Merlin say if he knew I went around using that scooter instead of my own skills? He’d say I was cutting corners and taking shortcuts again, just like he always used to.”

“Pfft!” Zoe scoffed. “Like the “great and powerful” Merlin never rode a horse back in the day? It’s the same thing, really.”

“Still…” Douxie stood and threw the bar away. “Let’s just call it a night, alright you two? I’ve had about enough excitement for one day.”

“Hey come on, let us at least make it up to you.”

“We did let that demon demolish it after all.”

“I’m fine you guys!”

“I can make you ambrosia. I know you like that because it sounds like Merlin's name.”

“Excuse you, I like it because it's delicious!”

“Right, right...” Zoe quickly leaned towards Archie and gritted her teeth. “Please tell me we have all the junk to make that sugary nightmare at home.”

He shrugged.

“Will you two forget the ambrosia? There’s more important things to worry about! Like figuring out why the Quasit was here, who summoned it, and why it was so huge in the first place!?”

“You’re dodging your pain! Let it out Douxie!”

“Ugh…”

As the three took their conversation into the night, an eye appeared at the bars of the sewer, followed quickly by a second, then a third, a fourth through sixth, and a blue hand reached out admiring the Vespa pieces with intrigue.

“Fascinating!” the troll said. “AAARRRGGHH!!! Help me to scrupulously gather this scintillant scrap. These pieces could prove quite useful for future endeavors, all that have yet to be determined, but I’m sure they’ll be useful somehow?”

“Mmm!” A crunching noise resonated in the tunnel.

“No, don’t eat it! We’re going to try and repurpose this metal, re-purp-pose! The humans have finally managed to invent something worthwhile. With any luck, I can gather enough spare pieces to figure out how these human auto-mo-beels properly function.”

“Okay…” the larger voice said, the two gathering what was left out in the open before filling their arms with whatever remained within the tunnel.

“Surely this is a night for the records, my friend!” The blue troll continued, excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to see how one of these things operated up close! How fortunate to find one just lying about. Who knows what we will be able to accomplish with this!”

Epilogue

Arcadia, A few weeks later, Present Day:

“What do these people expect me to accomplish with this?” Merlin complained. “Everything in this workstation is so primitive. Certainly there must be something worthwhile to use as crafting material. What is taking so long with gathering the items on my list? No matter, no matter...” 

The old wizard circled his hand over a bit of green energy, and focused his attention to detect anything of a magical influence within the Lakes' garage— or if he was lucky, the neighboring homes. It would appear the spell was still too much for his limited magic to spread very far though.

“So much effort for a simple detection spell. Why, if I had my magic, I would be able to search all of this coastal city, but alas, I must work with what I can muster.”

He silenced and focused on the detection spell.

“What’s this?” He circled his hands a few more times. “It seems there might just be something of worth in here after all.”

Jim’s metal riding contraption started to glow in a faint light, the green flashing pink a few times like a dying flashlight as Merlin rolled his eyes to himself.

“Of course the hedge witch would have her magical essence stained all over this little toy. Where she goes, I’m sure Hisirdoux would be soon to follow.” And as if on cue, the light started to change to blue and Merlin dropped his spell. “Why am I not surprised? Probably cutting corners again, eh Hisirdoux? Who knows how he’s been loafing about since I’ve been away.”

He kicked at the machine a few times until it fell over.

“Still, their meddling with his mortal contraption has left it with enough residual energy embedded within to perhaps craft a more useful enchantment from this metal. Yes. Perhaps armor for the girl and the tubby one? Yes, I think that will do most nicely. This is a war after all, and I've nothing better to do until those five return with my ingredients.”

And without a second thought, Merlin began to tear the Vespa apart.