Arcadia-Con Read online

  Aja and Krel took a step back from the malfunctioning Lucy. She stood up, walked backward to the kitchen, and spun her head around the right way, returning to what passed as normal for her.

  “How about I fix a snack for everyone?” Lucy asked pleasantly.

  “You know what they say,” Ricky said. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away!”

  Lucy opened her mouth as far as it could stretch and emitted a canned laugh track from an Earth sitcom. Vex covered his face with his hand, while Aja and Krel just stared at each other in confusion. Ricky then waved the royals over to the couch and said, “Say, kids, why don’t you give the house chores a break? Come watch the boob tube with your old man!”

  Aja and Krel shrugged and dropped their brooms on the floor with the rest of the clutter. They and Luug climbed onto the sofa with Ricky, but their smiles soon faded. The screen flickered from one station to the next at lightning-fast speed. The only one who didn’t seem to mind was Ricky Blank, who kept grinning that rubbery grin of his.

  “Uh, I don’t think this is how you are supposed to do this,” said Krel.

  “Ordinarily, you would be correct, My Royal,” said Mother from overhead. “But this Blank unit is restoring his memory banks with terrestrial televised transmissions to replace what was lost during Halcon’s home invasion. I believe the locals call it ‘channel surfing.’ ”

  Aja cheerfully stood on the couch, held out her arms as if balancing on a surfboard, and said, “In that case, hang a tent, dudes!”

  Lucy Blank suddenly burst through one of the few undamaged walls in the house, carrying a tray loaded with cookies and a pitcher full of some bright-red liquid. Aja and Krel coughed and waved away the dust, while Vex snapped his broom in fury and staggered away.

  “Look, kids—Mom made your favorite drink: high-fructose corn syrup punch!” said Lucy.

  “We’ve never had that before in our lives,” replied Krel.

  Ricky Blank hooked an arm around Lucy and said, “Say, honey, that sure looks swell!”

  “ ‘Honey, that sure looks swell!’ ” Lucy repeated mechanically.

  Ignoring the Blanks, Aja and Krel returned their attention to the TV. As a Food Magic 3000 infomercial ended, Krel said, “At least the station isn’t switching every second.”

  A new advertisement then began, broadcasting an image of thousands of humans in strange outfits gathered within some large structure. Aja, Krel, and Luug leaned closer.

  “The wait is over, sci-fi and fantasy fans!” said the commercial’s announcer. “The tenth annual Arcadia Oaks Comic-Con is invading your hometown—tomorrow!”

  “ ‘Comic-Con’?” whispered Krel.

  “ ‘Invading’?” whispered Aja.

  The ad cut between footage of costumed people, boxes of comic books and toys for sale, and attractive humans signing photographs of themselves. Aja’s and Krel’s eyes went wide.

  “This one has it all, Arcadia: Cosplay! Panels! Celebrity autographs! Gaming competitions! And any attendees who camp out in front of the Arcadia Oaks Convention Center overnight just might get a chance to see an advance screening of the newest Gun Robot film!”

  Aja and Krel then watched a clip of a giant robot dueling with five colorful flying saucers in outer space. Their television vibrated from all the loud explosions and dazzling computer-generated special effects. The two royals gaped at the snippet of the Gun Robot movie for several seconds—before bursting with laughter.

  “Is this meant to be a joke?” asked Aja between giggles. “There’s no sound in space!”

  “And those ludicrous star craft!” Krel chuckled. “As if any ship would have the subspace manifold on the outside of its hull! What a load of kleb!”

  “I find nothing comical about this comic-con!” Aja said.

  Krel laughed. “I agree! Who would possibly go to such a foolish gathering?”

  CHAPTER 2

  CRAZY TALK

  “The Creepslayerz are going to Arcadia-Con!” said Steve Palchuk and Eli Pepperjack, high-fiving.

  Steve sat in front of Eli’s computer and resumed watching their favorite show, Earth Invaders. Eli watched over Steve’s shoulder as the series’s protagonist, Superagent Muldoon, wrestled with a tentacle-covered alien (well, an actor in a rubber alien suit). With a final punch, Muldoon defeated the squid-like extraterrestrial, and Eli went back to working at his desk. He glued some more bits of latex to a work-in-progress costume that looked exactly like the tentacle-covered alien from Earth Invaders.

  “Oh, it doesn’t get any more spectacular than this,” said Eli. “Bingeing every season of our favorite show; telling spooky, creepy stories; and adding the finishing touches to our cosplay costume!”

  Steve rolled his eyes, then saw that Eli was only detailing a single costume, not two. He paused the episode and asked, “Uh, Pepperbuddy, where’s my suit?”

  “This is your suit,” said Eli. “And mine. The only way we can approximate the size of the Octopoid on Earth Invaders is for both of us to wear it together!”

  “Are you out of your flipping mind?” yelled Steve.

  Steve gripped Eli by his shoulders and said in a lower voice, “What if someone we know recognizes us in this stupid getup?”

  “Steve, that’s impossible,” said Eli. “Arcadia-Con has tens of thousands of attendees every year. And most of them will be in cosplay costumes too. Nobody will figure out it’s us under here.”

  A loud boom reverberated into Eli’s bedroom, rattling the windows. Steve yelped and ducked behind Eli’s bed, then yelped again when the ceiling thumped above him once more.

  “That’s it, Elijah Leslie Pepperjack!” shrieked Mrs. Pepperjack. “You’re grounded!”

  “But, Mom, that wasn’t us!” Eli protested. “It came from outside.”

  He peered through the windowpanes and saw his front yard. Moonlight shone across the lawn and his mom’s vegetable garden. The scene would have almost been serene—if all the dogs on the block hadn’t been barking and all the car alarms hadn’t been blaring. Eli looked up at the starry sky and said, “Y’know, Steve, the last time I saw something weird out of my window, it had stone for skin and—”

  A giant rabbitlike creature suddenly hopped in front of the window. Eli fainted in front of Steve, who yelped yet again. Frantic now, Steve searched Eli’s room for something—anything—that might help. He grabbed a glass of water from the nightstand and splashed some of it on Eli’s face. The trick work, and Eli sputtered awake.

  “What was it, Eli?” Steve asked in a hush. “What’d you see?”

  “C-c-creeper!” Eli stammered. “But a new kind! It looked like a bunny. No! A robot. No! A robot bunny! With—”

  Steve, having heard enough, splashed the rest of the water into Eli’s face.

  “That’s crazy talk, Eli—even for you,” said Steve.

  As Eli wiped his glasses on his shirt, Steve peered out the bedroom window. The dogs and the car alarms had stopped by now, and everything in the suburban neighborhood looked as boring as usual. Except some wild animal must have just devoured Mrs. Pepperjack’s vegetable garden—all that remained were a couple of gnawed carrot stalks and a steaming pile of droppings. Steve wrinkled his nose and said, “Gross!”

  From the shadows Foo-Foo the Destroyer watched the buffoonish blond life-form argue with the smaller, weaker life-form beside him.

  Now that his belly was full, Foo-Foo resumed his hunt for the fugitive royals, Aja and Krel Tarron. He ejected a small mechanical drone from his armor and programmed it to search the area for unusual energy signatures. Like, say, from a set of Akiridion life-cores. . . .

  Find the children, find the bodyguard, Foo-Foo thought in anticipation. Commander Vex will be so proud of the way I’ve learned to imitate his every move that he’ll forget the Tarrons ever existed. Varvatos will want to be my best friend—forever!

  CHAPTER 3

  OTHER ASSORTED GEEKERY

  “For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to
command!”

  Despite the late hour, the Arcadia Oaks Woods filled with dazzling light as James “Jim” Lake Jr. spoke his incantation. Jim’s Amulet levitated out of his hand and summoned the Daylight Armor, which snapped around his young body with tailored precision. A final pulse of energy surged down Jim’s silvered arm and manifested the enchanted Daylight sword.

  “I gotta say, Jimbo—that never gets old,” enthused Tobias “Toby” Domzalski.

  Jim smiled at his best friend, then at the other allies who stood beside him in the woods—Claire Nuñez and the good Trolls, Blinky and Aarghaumont, better known as AAARRRGGHH!!! Claire smiled back at her boyfriend and said, “The councilwoman’s daughter seconds that motion. I only wish everyone around here felt the same way!”

  She activated a weapon of her own, the pronged Shadow Staff, just before the trees around them rustled. A squadron of Gumm-Gumms marched out from all directions, snapping branches and trampling bushes as they advanced on Jim and his teammates. AAARRRGGHH!!! growled at the evil Trolls, and the runes on his stone skin flared green, enhancing his strength. Blinky’s six eyes bulged as he said, “Master Jim, I applaud your ruse to lead these Gumm-Gumms away from Arcadia and avoid the endangerment of innocents. Though I now wonder if we may have inadvertently endangered ourselves in the process!”

  “To be honest, Blink, I didn’t really think it through that far,” Jim confessed.

  “Aw, relax,” said Toby. “We’ll do what we always do in emergencies—smash things!”

  “Works for me,” grumbled AAARRRGGHH!!!

  The muscular Troll charged full-bore at the Gumm-Gumms, who raised their Parlok spears. But at the last possible moment, Claire cast a shadow portal in front of AAARRRGGHH!!! with her staff. He disappeared into the black hole, startling the Gumm-Gumms. A split-second later, a second portal opened behind the evil Trolls, and AAARRRGGHH!!! rocketed through it. His momentum propelled him into the unsuspecting Gumm-Gumms, knocking them pell-mell into the nearby trees and boulders.

  “Looks like our odds of survival—Ngh!—just got even!” Jim grunted as he deflected another Gumm-Gumm with his shield.

  “Ha!” Blinky laughed. “ ‘Odd,’ ‘even’—I love a good bit of wordplay, Master Jim. Almost as much as I love Dwärkstone!”

  Blinky’s four hands reached into his satchel and produced a quartet of Dwärkstone grenades. He lobbed the crystal bombs at the Gumm-Gumms racing toward him, and they exploded. As the smoke cleared, Jim ran his Daylight sword through two more Gumm-Gumms who were one in front of the other. The luminous blade pierced their armor and turned the evil Trolls into a pair of lifeless stone statues.

  Jim then spotted the final three Gumm-Gumms retreating into the woods. He started to chase after them as Claire doubled over, coughing. Forgetting about the Gumm-Gumms, Jim, Toby, Blinky, and AAARRRGGHH!!! all rushed to Claire’s aid. But she waved everyone away, saying, “I-I’m fine. Really. Been feeling way better ever since Jim’s mom checked me out.”

  Jim knew his mom was a great physician. But not even Dr. Barbara Lake seemed capable of curing Claire’s condition—whatever it was. Seeing the dark circles under his girlfriend’s eyes only underscored just how exhausted and overburdened he and his friends now felt.

  “Maybe we should head home,” Jim said. “We’re no use to anyone if we’re too sick and tired to hunt Trolls.”

  “Master Jim, are you sure this course of action is wise?” asked Blinky.

  Jim vanished his sword and said, “I don’t know if any of my actions are ever wise, Blinky. But those Gumm-Gumms are running away from Arcadia, so no one’s in any immediate danger. More important, I want to get Claire home as quickly as possible. She needs to rest.” Claire gave Jim a grateful smile.

  “But, Master Jim, the Gumm-Gumms—” Blinky began, but Jim interrupted him.

  “Blinky, I think we deserve to take it easy one night this week. . . . Don’t we?”

  Blinky, AAARRRGGHH!!!, Toby, and Claire all shared a weary look. In truth, the past few days had been incredibly taxing. Yes, they had still managed to keep the existence of Trolls a secret from the humans in Arcadia Oaks. But Team Trollhunters also suffered the recent loss of their friend, Draal, who was now controlled body and soul by the ruthless leader of the Gumm-Gumms, Gunmar the Black. Even the thought of that monster made Jim feel as ill as Claire. The Trollhunter wondered how his many predecessors—like Kanjigar the Courageous and Deya the Deliverer—dealt with such loss when the Amulet was theirs to command.

  “That’s it!” said Toby with a snap of his fingers. “I’ve got just the thing to take everyone’s minds off our current troubles—the Arcadia Oaks Comic-Con!”

  Toby threw his hands into the air, expecting everyone else to cheer around him. But Team Trollhunters remained silent. Undeterred, Toby said, “Not only does this year’s show have the usual mix of collectibles, memorabilia, and other assorted geekery, but it also boasts a lineup of special celebrity guests, including the cast of our favorite show, Mistrial & Error: Swamp Law!”

  Blinky gasped out loud before covering his open mouth with all four hands. Recovering, he asked, “Tobias, do you mean to tell me that the actor who plays the noble yet unpredictable Detective Jim Belaya will be in attendance?”

  “Are you kidding? He’s got a whole panel dedicated just to him!” said Toby, pointing at the convention schedule on his phone.

  Claire sniffled as she read over Toby’s shoulder and said, “You know, this could actually be fun. They even have a Murder House maze!”

  Jim heard Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!! sigh, and asked, “Guys? What’s the matter?”

  “Alas, Master Jim, as much as Aarghaumont and I wish to attend this ‘Comma-Con,’ I fear our appearance precludes us from your human festival of punctuation,” lamented Blinky.

  “Well, first, Blink, it’s Comic-Con,” Jim said as he rubbed his chin, an idea forming. “And second, I think I may know a way to get you in there. . . .”

  The remote-controlled drone hovered above the woods’ tree line, just out of sight—but not out of earshot. Its audio sensors picked up everything Jim and the others had been discussing, just as its cameras recorded their brawl with the Gumm-Gumms. The picture and sound transmitted to Foo-Foo’s mechanical suit, and he followed along from afar.

  Hmm, three battle-ready human youths, plus two more life-forms from an unidentified Earth species, thought Foo-Foo. Unusual energy signatures, to be sure—but these are most definitely not the Tarron runaways. Yet if these “Trollhunters” fancy themselves protectors of this planet, they may present a . . . complication in collecting my bounty. I cannot allow their potential interference to embarrass me in front of Varvatos!

  His then studied an aerial map. The drone’s thermal imaging picked up heat signatures of the three surviving Gumm-Gumms as they fled through the woods. Foo-Foo’s robotic eyes focused on the evil Trolls, while his suit triggered a playback of Jim saying “Looks like our odds of survival—Ngh!—just got even!”

  CHAPTER 4

  DON’T WAIT UP

  Alarms rang. Voices screamed. And Aja Tarron’s entire world fell apart.

  She ran as fast as she could, cradling Luug in her four arms, while V-Strikers smashed through Akiridion-5’s atmospheric shields. Aja dodged another cascade of neon sparks, hoping her brother, Mama, and Papa were somehow safe.

  But the concern she felt only intensified as soon as Aja spotted someone else in immediate danger. A young Akiridion girl wandered alone through the decimated city block, calling out for her mother. Aja then looked up and saw another V-Striker tailspin into a tall building right above the child. Aja tossed Luug out of harm’s way and shouted, “Look out!” Then she started to run again.

  She ran even faster than before, her freed arms swinging, her legs pumping like pistons. Aja was certain she’d be able to save the girl in time. Yet the tons of rubble landed just before she got within arm’s reach. The child’s cries stopped, and all Aja could hear were those alarms ringing, ri
nging, ringing.

  Aja awoke with a start, her six limbs kicking off her sheets. She realized she was back in her bedroom in Arcadia Oaks, then looked over to the clock on her night table. The time was seven o’clock, and the alarm continued to blare until Aja hit the snooze button.

  “Maybe I should try waking up to music again,” she mumbled.

  Krel walked past her open door, tinkering with another of his inventions. He noted the tense look on Aja’s face and asked, “Rough night?”

  “I was dreaming about home—to our last day on Akiridion. When General Morando launched his attack. It . . . it was horrible. . . .”

  “I know, Aja, but we survived,” said Krel as he sat on the corner of her bed. “And you were a hero. You saved that girl!”

  “Davaros,” Aja said absently, then remembering the child from her nightmare. “But in my dream, I didn’t save her. I wasn’t fast enough. I wasn’t a warrior. I wasn’t the queen-in-waiting. I wasn’t . . . anything.”

  Krel wanted to say something reassuring to his sister, but the words didn’t come. Instead, Krel’s brain filled with complex schematics of a Daxial Array. Without the device or its components, the sole survivors of House Tarron would never be able to repair their ship; fly back to Akiridion-5; and reclaim their birthright from that traitor, Morando. Krel’s and Aja’s individual thoughts grew darker still, until Mother’s voice trilled above them.

  “Good morning, My Royals,” said Mother. “Lucy Blank has prepared your breakfast. It’s waiting for you on the kitchen counter. And the kitchen floor. And the kitchen ceiling.”

  “Ugh, Luug can have the floor food,” groused Krel.

  “And after your meal you may assist Commander Vex in repairing the damage Halcon caused to my exterior,” added Mother.

  Aja and Krel looked at each other in dread. After a full week of school at Arcadia Oaks High, the last thing either of them wanted to do on their weekend was more home renovations.