Chapter Text
Right punch! Left punch! You repeated this over and over as you punched your punching bag. The kind you had was filled with sand. You had been at this in your basement since 5:30. It was your daily routine. Wake up at 5:30, go for a ten minute jog, and then practice your punches and kicks on your punching bag that you kept in the basement. Your phone alarm went off. 6:00. You heard feet running on the floor above you. Jim, always on time. You wiped your sweat with a towel, and headed upstairs. You saw Jim busily working on making lunch. It was meat loaf today. Yummy. He looked over to you and smiled.
"Morning sis. I'll have breakfast ready in about half an hour, after I'm done making lunch." He said proudly.
You smiled.
"Thanks bro, just don't burn the house down." You said with a smirk.
He rolled your eyes.
"Says the girl that literally started a fire the last time she tried cooking." He said.
"Which is why we both agreed that I'm never touching a stove again." You said.
You both laughed a bit, before you headed up stairs. You took a quick shower and changed into some clean clothes, throwing your dirty sweats in the hamper. You brushed your hair and teeth, and then made sure you had your bag properly packed for school. You threw your bag over your shoulder and headed down stairs. You took a seat at the table just as Jim was finishing making breakfast. You put your bag on the ground as Jim came over to you with your plate.
"Right on time." He said setting down your plate infront of you.
"This morning I grace you with bacon, eggs, and toast, with a side of orange juice." He said with a bow.
"Why thank you chef Jim." You said.
He placed down your utensils and orange juice next to your plate. You eagerly dug in and ate, while he quickly ate his and then went to drop of a tray for mom in her room. She left a note on her door saying she had a late night at work, so you guessed she was still asleep. You quickly washed the dishes. He came back down and handed you a brown paper bag with your lunch in it. You put it in your bag, and the both of you headed into the garage to get your bikes. Jim was still carrying that Vesba magazine with him. One day I'll get you one Jim. One day. You put on your helmets as the garage door opened to show the knocked over trash can.
"Ah, raccoons!" Said Jim.
"Next time you make meatloaf, we're using their flesh." You said threateningly.
You and Jim started picking up the trash when. Toby came over. Toby was Jim's best friend and was like a little brother to you, you being the oldest of the group. You were all still 15 though.
"We're gonna be late to school guys." Said Toby.
"Sorry Tobes, busy with the lunches. One for me, one for (y/n), one for mom, and..." Said Jim.
He handed a bag out to toby who took it eagerly. You put the lid on the trash can now that all of the garbage had been picked up. Toby took a deep breath of the bag.
"Balsamic mushrooms, meatloaf, chunky, sun dried tomatoes." Said Toby.
"And cardamom." Said Jim getting on his bike.
"Ooh taking a chance there, chef Jim." Said Toby.
You put of a fake act of disbelief and worry.
"And that's not all! He put cinnimon in the bacon and eggs! He's walking that borderline, I fear for him everyday!" You said putting a hand to your forehead in a fake faint.
Toby chuckled and Jim rolled his eyes at your antics.
"Hey, what's life without a little adventure?" Said Jim.
You looked at toby sniffing the bag again and walked over. You snatched the bag from him.
"Hey!" He said as you held it out if his reach.
"I might as well take it. I mean you're on the diet right?" You teased.
He was always going on about it so you just cut to the chase. He sighed.
"Yeah, you're right. I can't eat it. Gotta stick to my diet." He said.
Jim grabbed the bag from your hand and have it back to Toby.
"Always ruining my fun." You mumbled.
"You've been on a diet for the past 14 years Tobes." Said Jim.
"I know." Said Toby.
"Your 15." You said getting on your bike.
"Long term goals. My bodies still changing." Said Toby as he struggled to get on his bike.
You rolled your eyes, and you all started biking to school.
"I'm right... I'm right... I'm right behind...!" Said Toby trying to keep up as you and Jim raced ahead of him.
"Keep up Tobes!" You told him.
"It's 8:00!" Said Jim as you rounded a corner.
"We're gonna get suspended on account of meatloaf!" Said Toby.
"And raccoons!" You said.
"Let's take the canal guys! It'll save us 5 minutes!" Said Jim.
You all turned onto the dirt bumpy dirt rode leading to the canal.
"Not... The... Canal...!" Said Toby.
"Oh stop whining Domzalski, and learn to live a little!" You said.
You and Jim did a jump in the air from a bump and landed back on the ground.
"It's living that I'm worried about!" Said Toby.
"Oh come on Tobes. Don't you ever want a bit more excitement?" Said Jim.
"No." Said Toby.
This made you chuckle. Seeing the edge of the canal coming up, you and Jim sped up. You both launched into the air over the edge with no hands, and landed into the canal below. You turned to face the path as you waited for Toby.
"Come on, Tobes!" You shouted as Jim was distracted by something.
Toby rolled over the edge, down and up the other side, before coming back down and falling on his face with a whimper.
This made you laugh.
"Ha! How awesome are we?" Said Toby.
"Yo, Jim did you see that epic fail?" You said laughing.
Your laughing stoped when you noticed Jim wasn't on his bike and was really distracted by something. Curious you got off your bike and went over to him.
"Jim? What is it?" You asked as you approach him as he was standing by a giant rock pile.
"Did you hear that voice?" Asked Jim.
"What voice?" Said Toby.
"Jim Lake!" Said a booming voice from the rocks, making you all fall back.
You were freaked and on guard.
"That! That like of rocks knows my name!" Said Jim.
He we t over and started digging near the rocks.
"Jim be careful! You don't know what's in there." You warned.
"It's a pile of K-spar. Minerals don't talk last I checked." Said Toby.
"Way to state the obvious." You said.
You and toby knelt by the rocks with Jim.
"There's gotta be a walkie talkie in here or something." You said.
Jim moved a rock to reveal a glowing amulet. He picked it up and examined it.
"What is an amulet doing in a pile of rocks?" You said.
This was fustrating you.
"Whoever's doing this, come on out!" You shouted.
You received no answer.
"Hello, I'm listening." Said Jim to the amulet.
You and toby went closer to Jim. The school bell rang, and the sudden nosie made you all yelp.
"Final bell!" You groaned.
"Were so late our grandkids will have detention!" Said Toby.
"Come on guys! We can still make it!" Said Jim.
You all got on your bikes and started to bike away, but you had two things bugging you. One, for some reason you felt like there was something off about that pile of rocks, like they weren't just rocks. And two, you couldn't shake the off the feeling that you were being watched and it put you on edge.
You were all now in history class and Strickler was droning on about some ancient war. You all had computers infront of you, and when you looked over at Jim you found him to be once again staring at Claire like a love sick puppy. You rolled your eyes and stick out your tongue. Toby tries to get Jim's attention but failed. Toby sighed.
"Close your mouth, your drooling!" Whispered Toby.
"No, no I'm not." Said Jim still starring.
"Ugh, you make me sick." You said.
You looked over to Toby who was typing something.
"Toby what are you doing?" You asked.
"Research." Said Toby.
"Seriously, on this boring topic?" You said.
"Hey look up talking amulet." Said Jim.
"I already did that. All I got were toys. One of them was a plushie." Said Toby showing us a picture of the plushy.
"Jim, would you agree?" Said Strickler from beside us.
"Oh great..." You said annoyed by the teacher.
"Sir?" Asked Jim.
"With Herodotus' opinion of his tactics of war, as I've described." Said Strickler playing with that pen of his.
Toby whistled and stayed out of it.
"Um, absolutely!" Said Jim.
This boy is dead.
"Excellent. What tactics specifically?" He asked.
So dead. This teacher knows he wasn't paying attention. At this point he's just being cruel.
"Um..." Said Jim.
You decided to help a brother out.
"Well I personally agreed with the winning ones." You said.
Everyone in the class laughed, and the bell rang. Everyone began filling out, and Strickler reminded everyone to do the reading. Everyone left and you were just waiting on Jim.
"Jim, may I have a word?" Said Strickler.
This guy is always out to get us. Jim accidentally dropped his bag and stuff everywhere. You all bent down to help him collect his things.
"Jim, your distracted." Said Strickler.
"No kidding." You said to no one in particular.
"You fell asleep between the invasion of Attica and the peace of Nicias, and your attention wandered the rest of the class." Said Strickler.
"Sorry I didn't get enough sleep last night." Said Jim appreciating Strickler's concern.
"I know it's just you two and your mother and you want to help her." Said Strickler.
"Our mom's really tired. She's been working double shifts at the clinic." You said defendingly.
"I believe I'm overdue for a conversation with her. Have her call me." Said Strickler.
He handed Jim a note with his number on it while you just rolled his eyes wanting him to mind his own business. Jim took the note.
"And you both can feel free to drop by my office if ether of you ever need to talk." Said Strickler.
"Yeah I'll totally do that..." You said sarcastically.
"Yeah, we'll do that." Said Jim giving you a bit of a glare.
You just rolled your eyes. Jim out his bag on, and you all stood back up.
"Oh, and Jim, if you fancy Ms.Nunez, I submit that talking to will work much better than starring at." He said handing Jim his book after booking him on the head with it.
"At least we can agree on that." You said.
Jim walked off with a smile, and you followed. You stoped at the door when Strickler called out to you.
"Oh, and (y/n)." He said.
"Yeah?" You said turning around.
"Maybe your disgust of Jim's crushing stems more from the fact that you don't let others in very much. You don't talk to anyone other then Jim and Toby. You should try making more friends, not let the burden of protector you've placed on yourself weigh you down so much. Take head, young Athena, that the Warriors path is often a lonely one." He said.
You rolled your eyes.
"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." You sis dismissively, waving your hand dismissively.
You then left the class. Later in the day you were all in gym class. All the girls were chatting over by the stage, except you. The other girls tried in the beginning to talk to you, but didn't bother anymore. It's not like you had anything against them, but Jim and Toby were the only friends you needed. They've been with you your whole life. The more people you let in, the more chances you have to get hurt. So you didn't. Besides you weren't missing out on anything. The girls mainly just talked about boys and make up, and you were more of a Tom Boy. You overheard them once say that it was scary how aggressive you could be. That made you laugh. Right now toby was failing to climb the rope, coach was grilling him about it, and Jim was cheering him on. You were doing laps around the gym when coach called you over.
"(Y/n)! Come over!" He called.
"Coming coach." You said.
You came over and he turned to you with a smile.
"My prized pupil! Show damzalski how it's done!" He said.
You have a nod, and started clipping one of the ropes. Within mere moments you were at the top and ran the bell. You slid down the rope, and landed on the ground. The coach patted you on the back and smiled at you proudly.
"Now that's how it's done!" He said.
He turned to toby.
"Now follow her example!" He said to Toby.
Yeah, coach prized you as his star pupil cause you were the only student to complete the rope challenge on the first try. Not to mention you hold the fastest record for it, and one of the few students to actually be able to complete it in the first place. You looked over to Jim to see him starring at Claire. Again. You sighed and gave him a little shove.
"Remember talk, not watch." You said.
He gave you a nod, and nervously went over to Claire. He came back a few moments later.
"So, how'd it go Romeo?" You asked.
"Funny you mentioned that. She asked me to join the school the school play." He said.
"Really? Maybe you have a chance after all." You said.
"What?" He asked.
You sighed.
"Did you unleash you Espanol on her?" You asked.
"Yeah..." He said.
"Nevermind. You have no chance." You said.
"Hey!" He said offended.
You headed over to the change room, to get on some fresh clothes. After school you and the boys met up. You were walking your bikes out of the school yard when you noticed Steve shoving Eli onto a locker. His friends were laughing with him.
"Oh great. Palchucks' at it again." You said annoyed.
"Okay nothing to see here." Said Toby.
"We can't just let him do that." Said Jim.
"Why not? It's not our business." You said.
You started walking off.
"Oh no! Jim!" Toby whisper yelled.
"He's gone after Steve, hasn't he?" You asked.
"Yup." Said Toby.
You have a deep sigh. You were so not in the mood for this today. This boy is lucky he's your brother. You walked over to him and Steve.
"What would be nice is if you minded your own business!" Said Steve to Jim.
"Told you." You said to Jim.
He rolled his eyes.
Steve turned back to the locker and talked to Eli.
"So where were we? Oh yeah! You were telling me about the monster you saw this morning, with fangs and... What was it again?" said Steve amused.
"Stone for skin! In the canal!" Said Eli.
The canal? Where we found the amulet and a pile of rocks... I knew there was something up with those rocks.
"Stone for skin? Ma Eli, you got some imagination." Said Steve.
"Okay, Steve, just let him out." Said Jim.
Steve grabbed him by the shirt, and held up a fist.
"Steve..." You warned.
"Okay do it. Punch me." Said Jim.
"Wait what?" You said.
"You're asking for a beating?" Said Steve.
"Yeah go all out. Caus win twenty years you'll be fat and Bal and working in a muffler shop, and Eli will have a career is software and he'll be a billionaire." Said Jim.
"Nice bro, but my turn." You said.
You punched Steve, making him fall to the ground. He got up angrily.
"Let him out!" Said Toby.
Soon all the kids were saying that chant. Steve's anger turns to fear.
"Palchuck! What's going on here?" Said coach.
"Um nothing sir." Said Steve.
"Yeah, just having a friendly conversation..." You said with a fake smile.
Coach eyes the two of you.
"Okay then... I better not hear about ether of you getting in trouble!" He warned.
We nodded and he left. He glared at us.
"Friday at noon. You and me Jim. Your sister can't protect you forever. Tick tock." He said before leaving.
"So you got yourself a death sentence. Hope your happy. Your should've listened." You said.
You opened the locker and Eli fell out.
"Thank you." He said.
You walked away. You went home ahead of the boys. You bumped into your mom on her way out of the house and she told you she was gonna be out all night. You wished her luck and reminded her to grab her meatloaf. Jim came home a few minutes later.
"Hey bro..." You said.
He sat next to you on the coach, as you watched TV. Jim took the amulet from his bag, and fiddled with it.
"Has it done anything wired yet?" You asked.
"No, not yet." He said.
He got a call from toby, and you ignored their conversation as you watched TV. You noticed the amulet was glowing again, and Jim started talking to it.
"Um hi. How you doing? I'm Jim. But then, you knew that since you spoke my name, witch is... Weird. Hello, anyone in there? And now I'm talking to an inanimate object." He said.
"Ah, so the dork realizes finally. I thought you'd never figure it out." You said sarcastically.
He rolled his eyes at you. You guys then heard a loud noise coming from the basement. You opened the basement door to hear loud clattering.
"Raccoons!" You growled.
Jim grabbed a broom as weapon, and you both made your way into the basement. Went you got there, you turned on the light. You heard footsteps running and you were on gaurd. Suddenly you heard Jim yelp. You turned to see had had been scared by his own reflection. You laughed.
"Wuss." You said.
You both went over to the boiler where you heard the footsteps, when suddenly the light bulb broke, making you both jump. Jim examined the cole, and that feeling of being watched came back. Suddenly a lot voice spoke out.
"Master Jim!" It said.
The noise startled Jim screamed and he fell back and hit his head on a pole. Your first reaction was to punch the thing in the face. Your hand hurt! What was that thing made out of?
"Ow! Strong hit that one..." It said.
Now looking at it you saw a blue 6 eyed, 6 armed rock monster! What the heck?!
"Master Jim! We have found you!" He said again and tried approching Jim.
Jim screamed again, and banged his head again. You stood your ground infront of Jim protectively, with your fists up.
"Not another step six eyes!" You said.
"Easy there. I am known as Blinki!" He said.
You heard Jim yelp again.
"Hi." Said a new voice.
You spun around to see a much bigger green rock monster with only two eyes and two arms.
"Aaahhh!" Said Jim as he ran from it.
Jim ran and hid behind you, as you backed up to the wall. You stood infront of him protectively.
"It's Aaarrrgghh. With 3 R's." Said the green one.
"He says aaahh! Alot." Said Aaarrrgghh.
"I believe it's more of a yelp. A greeting perhaps?" Said Blinki.
Blinki came closer and started screaming which a seed Jim making him run out from behind you. Aaarrrgghh grabbed Jim and held him upside down.
"Hey! Let him go!" You said.
You charged Aaarrrgghh only to be picked up by him in his other hand. You were now being held upside down.
"Let me go!" You said.
"She's angry." Said Arrrgh.
"Indeed." Said Blinki.
"Well no duh, of course I'm angry!" You said.
Blinki gave you a wary glace before turning to Jim.
"Master Jim, you have been chosen." Said Blinki.
"Blinki he looks scared." Said Arrrgh.
Jim was whimpering and covering his eyes.
"Well putting us down might help." You said angerly.
"Umm, Aaarrrgghh, my good fellow, would you mind? This is a moment of some solemnity." Said Blinki.
"Hmmm. 'solembily'?" Said Aaarrrgghh.
"It means serious and dignified." Said Blinki.
"Hmm. Dig-oo-nified." Said Aaarrrgghh.
"While this conversation is interesting and all... Put us down!" You said.
"Y-yes please..." Said Jim.
"Oh." Said Arrrgh getting the message.
He put you and Jim down.
"Finally." You said.
"Thank you. Now where was I?" Said Blinki.
"Umm...'master Jim'...'found you'..." Said Aaarrrgghh counting with his fingers.
"Ah yes, thank you." Said Blinki.
Jim tires to run but Arrrgh stopped him with his hands.
"Jim settle down." You said annoyed.
"Master Jim, you have been chosen." Said Blinki.
"Choosen for what?" You said.
"The amulet of daylight challenges you to access to the most sacred of offices." Said Blinki.
"Orifices? What orifices?" Said Aaarrrgghh.
"Offices. It means responsibility. Unbeknownst to your kind there is a secret world, a vast civilization of trolls lurking beneath your very feet, hidden from view." Said Blinki.
"T-trolls?" Said Jim.
"Trolls. Yes trolls. And now it is your duty to protect them. For you master Jim, are the troll Hunter." Said Blinki.
"Wait what?" You said trying to rap your head around this.
"Troll Hunter." Said Aaarrrgghh.
"This honor is yours to accept. So, what say you?" Said Blinki.
Jim fainted. You sighed.
"Is that a yes?" Asked Aaarrrgghh.
Blinki shurgged.
"Look what did? You made him faint!" You growled.
"That was not our intention." Said Blinki.
"You know what? I don't care. I'm done! You broke into home, scared the daylights out of my brother, and I'm pretty sure it was you guys who I felt watching is all day! I want you out of my house!" You said angerly.
"I understand, but master Jim must-" said Blinki.
"I said out!" You yelled.
This scared the two trolls, and they quickly left your house. You sighed.
"And now I have to drag your corpse back to your room..." You said.
The next day Jim was freaking out all day. He talked with you about it for a while but you really didn't want to discuss it. He tried to contact toby but he was at the dentist all day. That day at school Jim stayed after for a bit to talk to Strickler. That night at home you and Jim went out to the backyard. He took out the amulet and read the inscription.
"For the glory of Merlin, daylight is mine to command." Said Jim.
Suddenly the amulet glowed and a magic suit of armor was summoned on to Jim. The suit was too big but it shrunk down to fit his size. A sword them appeared.
"Wow." You said.
Jim flung the sword around to test it out, but when he raised it over his head it went to far back and got stuck in a Rock. You laughed.
"Talk about ruining the moment." You said.
He glared and tried to pull it out if the rock, but it wouldn't budge. This reminded you of Excalibur.
"Looks like your not worthy." You said.
He pulled it out of the rock, but it then got stuck in another rock.
"Ooh, this is too good." You said laughing.
Jim pulled it out again and held it in the air triumphantly.
"Your ego is gonna go over the roof now isn't it?" You said jokingly.