Shadowflight could hardly contain his excitement as the group returned with a bunch of items, including a large cauldron. They were finally going to bring AAARRRGGH!! back, and that apparently was going to help them get to Jim. Toby and Claire were looking very grossed out at the items they were carrying and he walked over to sniff them, suddenly hissing and backing away when he smelled something foul.

"What's up with him?" Claire asks in confusion as the dragon runs back the statue of AAARRRGGH!! to hide behind it.

"Probably the eel." Draal responds as he nods at the eel body Toby had in his armload of ingredients. "Back in the old days when dragons used to live aboveground and were clashing with trolls on the surface, trolls who dared venture into dragon territory would eat a bowl of eels and slather mushed bits of them on their bodies to keep them away. For some reason dragons hate eels."

"Oh! Jim's book mentioned dragons hated eels, I forgot about that." Toby says and looks at the eel corpse in disgust. "I can see why though, creepy and gross. Shadowflight your fear of eels is completely acceptable. And don't worry, we'll just get rid of it in a few minutes, I swear it will help us get Jim back."

"Stand guard at the entrance, Vendel is not too happy about us stealing his staff." Blinky instructs Draal as they get close to the statue and set the cauldron down. "Shadowflight you are welcome to stand guard with him or watch us mix this together."

Shadowflight looks at Draal before looking at Toby and Claire. He really didn't want to be anywhere near that eel, so...guarding the entrance with Draal will do for now. He walks off with the larger troll before laying down on the ground next to him and looking to the entrance. He hears the sound of items being put into the cauldron, before hearing a loud cry from Toby, followed by something exploding and Claire yelling "it's working!". He turns to see AAARRGGH!! being enveloped by sparkly blue mist before it suddenly vanished. A few moments passed, but nothing happened. Did the thing not work?

Did the weird troll human lie to them about how to bring him back? Shadowflight wonders as he sits up and turns to face the entrance of the Forge. Maybe I should have gone with them to get the ingredients, but -

"AAARRGGH!" He hears Claire cry out and turns to see their friend, now no longer a stone statue. Shadowflight gives a happy roar that was cut off when the Krubera suddenly gave a loud roar.

"He's gone mad!" Draal exclaims as they quickly rush over to their friend, who was now on a rampage. AAARRGGH roared angrily and swung his fist to send the cauldron flying, which hit Draal right in the face and knocked him over.

"Calm yourself!" Blinky yells as the bigger troll begins to run around, smashing his head into the walls and knocking everyone over. "He's disoriented! Quiet him before he alerts all of Trollmarket!"

Shadowflight launched himself into the air and leaps right onto AAARRGGH as he rushes towards Toby, digging his talons into his fur and stone skin before clamping his teeth down on one of his horns. The Krubera roared and tried to shake him off, causing the dragon to clamp down harder on the horns and dig his talons more tightly.

"It's me! Your wingman!" Toby yells in hopes of calming his friend down. The seemed to work for a bit, letting Shadowflight relax his grip. Big mistake.

AAARRGGH roared again and flung the dragon off. Shadowflight fell painfully to the floor, disoriented and worried that Toby was going to get killed when he heard the roaring suddenly stop. He looks up to find his friend now calm and being hugged by Toby. he gets up and hurries over with the others, now happy to see him back. AAARRGGH looks at him apologetically and Shadowflight responds with a lick to his hand.

"Where's JIm?" He asks looking to them.

"He uh...went to the Darklands, so that no one else would get hurt." Claire explains and earns a gasp from the troll.

"Must get Jim!" AAARRGGH exclaims.

"Yes, yes! SO you do know how to save him!" Blinky says and points to the amulet that was lodged in the bigger troll's chest. "The amulet proclaimed that you were the key to the hunter! So tell us, what must we do?"

AAARRGGH looked at them in confusion and scratched the top of his head, looking very unsure of what to say. Before he could say anything, they heard the sound of something opening up before spotting a large device rises out of the ground. Shadowflight remembered Jim using that to talk to the other Trollhunter ghosts occasionally, was their friend supposed to use it too?

AAARRGGH walked up to it nervously before sticking his hand into the mouth and suddenly vanishing. A few moments later he suddenly appeared back to them standing upright with his eyes closed. SOmething felt off about that.

"He did conviene with us, but I am not AAARRGGHamont." AAARRGGH suddenly says.

"Kanjigar the Courageous!" Blinky gasps before bowing his head.

"At ease, Blinkous." Not-AAARRGGH says before placing a hand on the troll's shoulder to raise him up.

"It is you, father?" Draal asks walking up to them. If there ever was a time Shadowflight thought his friend would cry, this was probably the moment as he hugged the troll, before turning his attention to him.

"And you must be the dragon our new hunter has been keeping." Shadowflight bobs his head like he was nodding, unsure what to do before Not-AAARRGGH placed a hand on his head. "It's been so long since I've seen your kind roaming the surface, but I am glad that you are our hunter's guardian. You certainly will be of good help on this quest to save him."

"What has happened to AAARRGGH?" Draal asks.

"Your friend is here with me, AAARRGGH walked the line between life and death so he alone could become a vessel for me to aid you." The troll responds.

"Whoa whoa wait!" Toby interrupts. "Hold up Troll man, give me my wingman back!"

"At ease Tobias Domzalski, I will only stay until my work is done." Not-AAARRGGH states.

"Excuse me, lord sir Kanjigar, what exactly are you here to do?" Claire asks.

"I thought you knew, only a Trollhunter can open the Killahead bridge."

They what the sound of the doors of the Forge opening and turn to see several armed trolls with weapons emerge. Oh great, they were here.

"I knew it! Detain them!" They what Vendel shout. "Find the staff!"

Shadowflight growls before he and Draal charge at the trolls, ramming into them and knocking them over before Draal activates the Forge. The group scrambles to rush to them as the arena begins to spin and move, Claire quickly leaps onto Shadowflight's back before Toby was dropped on to sit behind her and they rush off. They managed to get into the library where Kanjigar began grabbing random items off the shelves and ordered Claire to open a portal. Once that was done, they were all about to run into it when CLaire's staff was shot out of her hands. The group turns to find a troll with crossbow, looking now very terrified at the angry looks he was receiving before Kanjigar knocks him out.

"We'll take the Gyre!" The troll shouts before gesturing for them to follow.

"Kanjigar, why don't you simply talk with Vendel and the Tribuneral?" Blinky asks as they arrive at the Gyre station. "Surley one of Trollmarket's greatest champions could persuade -"

"Talking requires time Blinkious! Something we do not have!" His friend responds as they quickly pile into the vehicle. "Things are dire! If we do not act now, Jame Lake Jr will die!"

They held on tightly as they shot through the tunnel before it suddenly shot upwards, sending them crashing into the woods near the bridge. SHadowflight immediately climbs out of the device, helping CLaire and Toby out before helping Blinky out of it.

"Okay so how does this crazy crime spree help us save Jimbo exactly?" Toby asks.

"Friends, I have seen the impossible. A vision of you saving James Lake Jr, but to do so, you must follow the path I lay before you." Kanjigar says as he collects some items that were scattered on the floor.

"We've done the impossible before, we can handle it." Claire says with a grin as she grabs her shadow staff off the floor. "And we have a dragon on our side, surly that can give us a possible advantage."

"I have my warhammer! It's ready to smash!" Toby says pulling his weapon out and swinging it.

"No, no weapons!" Kanjigar exclaims and held his hands out for the staff and hammer. "In my plan you will need nothing else but the knowledge and tools I will give you."

"What possible chance do we stand if we are unarmed?" Blinky asks as the teens reluctantly hand over their weapons.

"The dragon will be the closest thing you can have for a weapon, but you will need his help. Each of you will be charged with a task, you must follow them to the letter if there is any hope of surviving." Kanjigar states before turning to CLaire. "CLaire Nunez, take this. In the Darklands it will aid you in a key moment."

"Uh...thank you?" CLaire says as she is handed a strange metal contraption that looked like a baking tool Shadowflight had seen JIm use once.

"Blinkious, take this flare crystal." Kanjigar says as he hands Blinky a stick with a glowing blue crystal attached to it. "It's blinding light will save your life."

"My life?!" Blinky exclaims in surprise. "Could I get some specificity on that statement?"

"Tobias Domzalski. You must ensure that your team only brings back James Lake Jr, no one else."

Toby looked a little disappointed by the task, but not too upset. Kanjigar then turns to Shadowflight.

I wonder what I will be tasked with, guarding the bridge out here or in the creepy place? The dragon thinks as he waits. Probably that, or I am gonna be tasked with keeping the group safe.

"Shadowflight, you will be tasked with making sure no harm comes to your friends or the Trollhunter." The former Trollhunter states. "As the guardian of James Lake Jr, you must ensure that he returns here in one piece no matter what. I know you will be willing to give your life for him, so be careful."

Shadowflight bobs his head as a nod before Draal speaks up, asking what his task was, only to be told he had to guard the outside of the bridge.

"Wait! We don't know our way around the Darklands!" Claire protests.

"But your that survived it does." The group turns to find Chompsky standing nearby on a crate looking back at them in surprise. "He will be a guide, and more. Jim's time is short, I sense Gunmar readying to destroy him."

Chompsky didn't seem too pleased with his task and proceeded to throw a fit of screeching and incoherent gnome noises before hiding behind a broken bridge piece. Toby was trying to convince the little creature to help before it seemed like he managed to convince him in the end. Kanjigar then touched the amulet, causing it to glow and the bridge pieces began to glow as well. They watched as the pieces rearranged themselves until they now were a fully formed bridge before he climbs up to the bridge and removes the amulet and places it at the top where a large swirling and glowing blue portal under it appears. AAARRGGH then steps away to reveal a glowing blue figure dressed in armor who nods before turning back to them and disappearing back into the now ticking amulet.

"This whole thing is nuts! Are we really doing this?" Claire asks.

"Uh I think we are, but I was only half listening and he was talking really fast..." Toby admits before looking at her in panic. "I don't really know what we're supposed to be doing!"

"Worry not, we will get through this as we always do, together." Blinky assures him as the others gather in front of the bridge.

"For Jim!" They shout before rushing forward and leap through the portal.

They emerge through the portal in a place that was dark and smelled musty with an eerie green glow that reminded Shadowflight of the slime he had seen one dragon spit up that melted rocks. Now that they were here, it was time to find Jim. They took off after Chompsky as they walked through the dark place, Blinky at one point accidentally dropping his torch and nearly falling if Shadowflight hadn't grabbed him by his suspenders.

"AAARRGGH will help me retrieve the flare, you four run ahead, we will be right behind!" He says as he and AAARRGGH prepare to descend below to get the flare.

As they ran, they immediately had to hide from a group of armored trolls that were walking nearby before running on. After a while, Shadowflight caught the scene of something familiar. Could it be...? He gives an excited roar when he catches sight of Jim behind some strange glowing orange spikes shouting and waving his arms wildly and bounds ahead.

"Shadowflight! Oh my god you guys are here!" JIm cries as he reaches through the spikes to touch his dragon. Shadowflight gags at the musty smell covering his friend, but doesn't jerk away when he feels Jim touch his snout. They were soon joined by Claire and Toby, and he quickly moves aside to let them reunite with him. It was so cute to see Jim get a little flustered with Claire before she and Toby began to explain everything that happened.

"Probably should catch you up later, we gotta get you out of here." Claire says as she looks around the prison.

"Tobes use your warhammer to bust me out of here." Jim instructs as his dragon sniffs the glowing crystal spikes curiously and poked it, earning him a sharp zap.

"But we don't have our weapons!" Toby points out.

"Wait a minute, Kanjigar said I needed this thing for a key moment." Claire says as she reaches into Toby's backpack and pulls out the metal contraption. "This is a key!"

But it didn't seem like this was the right key. Toby and Claire had no luck in being able to turn it before Chpmsky began chittering in panic and running back to them. Shadowflight heard heavy footsteps and got the whiff of something foul smelling as his friends panicked before they all ran into an empty cage. He quickly blocks the two humans with his wings as they hide in the dark, listening as Jim is dragged out of his own cell struggling.

"We gotta get out of here, now!" Toby whispers frantically as their friend was dragged off and Shadowflight drops his wings. Claire hurries to the doors and pokes one of the crystals, getting shocked in the process. "Oh come on! Shadowflight can bust us out of here, can't he?"

"I don't think it'd be safe for him to blast that gate with his fire blast, it's like this thing is indestructible!" Claire states and begins to pace. "We're locked in! We are the rescue party!"

"The instructions were pretty vague!" Toby points out. "And Shadowflight is supposed to be out there and protect Jim, not be stuck in here with us!"

"Let's try again, we'll just run into it!" Claire suggests as she puts the metal key down. Shadowflight huffs in annoyance and sits himself in front of the spikes before speaking his wings slightly to block them. No way he was going to let them get hurt trying to use brute force, they were going to need their strength! Chompsky gave a little excited chitter before running out between the spikes and waves at them and points up to the nearby keyhole. "Wait...oh you little genius!"

Claire moves around shadowflight and grabs Chompsky to lift him up to the hole before shoving him in. A few moments passed before the spikes receded, giving them room to escape and step out. Chompsky climbs out and scurries off, hopefully to find Blinky and AAARRGGH.

"Now let's go save Jim!" Toby cheers. "Shadowflight, sniff him out!"

Shadowflight lowers his head to the floor, sniffing the area. He caught a whiff of Jim's scent and began to follow it with his nose close to the ground. The smell of this place was overwhelming, stinking of death and other horrid things, making it hard for him to get the right path.

"Ugh, we're running in circles!" Toby groans as they stop to rest near a giant skull of some monster. SHadowflight then perks up and tilts his head near the skull, catch the familiar screams of...Jim!

"I can hear him!" Claire gasps, also catching the sound. "He's gotta be on the skull!"

Shadowflight looks up at the giant rock wall ahead of them, wondering if maybe there was a way over it so he could fly them in undetected -

"AAAH!" His attention breaks and looks down to see the skull suddenly close and Toby and Claire no longer beside him. Oh great, how did they even get in? Deciding to go with his previous plan, the Night Light spread his wings and took off into the air, and much to his delight, he found what he was hoping for.

Down below was what looked like some sort of arena with several of those armored trolls, a giant troll on some sort of throne of crystals, a glowing red figure that was Jim, a tall pink troll pinning him to the floor, and Claire and Toby.

"The bridge is open! Catch them!" The giant roll roars.

Shadowflight gives a loud roar and tucks his wings in to dive into the arena before spreading them to fly towards the armored trolls advancing towards his friends. He manages to knock several to the floor and lands near Jim, snarling loudly in warning at the enemy and ready to fight. The troll told him it was his duty to protect JIm and their friends and get them out of this place, and he was going to do it - even if it meant dying.

There was a loud noise behind them and they turned to see the large doors suddenly opening. Now a chance to escape! Shadowflight nudges Jim towards the doors and takes off after the three humans and the troll, racing through the rocky terrain. The pink troll kept running left and right to dead ends and wrong places before they find themselves at a large broken bridge that they managed to cross before they got cornered by several goblins.

"There's too many!" The troll yells before Jim points to a path ahead.

"Run!" He yells as his friends take off in that direction. Shadowflight stops in his tracks with Jim and the troll to blast at the little creatures, causing them to explode into green goop. They keep on running, but more and more kept coming out of nowhere until coming to a deadend.

"They were herding us!" Jim gasps as the horde of goblins crawled towards them.

"Herding, to what?" CLaire asks frantically as Shadowflight pushed himself towards the edge to keep them from falling.

"Not what, who." The female troll responds as a figure emerges from the darkness, the large glowing troll from earlier.

"The bridge, you will take me there!" The troll snarls as he points his large glowing sword at them.

"STay away from the sword, he'll put you under his control!" The female troll yells as the group backs away towards the edge before she pushed herself to the front of the group. "Stop toying with the children, and fight one-on-one with your own kind!"

"You are not my kind!" The bigger troll sneers before swinging his sword. "Impure!"

"GO!" She shouts at them before jumping back into the fight.

Shadowflight nudges the teens towards the cliff to climb down, Jim yelping in alarm as the two trolls fight close and knock him to the floor. They hear a loud crash and a yell before the dragon looks back to find the female trapped under a large boulder, the bigger male troll lumbering towards Jim with his sword ready. Help Jim? Help new troll friend? Jim was in more danger right now, Toby and Claire were already climbing back up the cliff to help the trapped troll, so Jim it was.

JIm was already trying to fight off the big troll, resisting his sword as Shadowflight leapt onto the enemy and dug his talons into the stone flesh. The troll roars and managed to dislodge him, sending the dragon to the floor.

"Infernal beast, I've slayed hundreds of your kind and I will not hesitate to kill another!" The troll snarls as Shadowflight tries to pick himself up. "Once I take that Trollhunter I will have him kill you!"

Shadowflight gives a loud cry of pain as he feels something heavy step on his wing and he could have sworn he felt the bones crack before the weight was lifted off. It hurt to move the wing, there was no way he could fly his friends out of here, even if he could carry more than two on his back. He could hear Jim screaming as the troll tried taking control of him, Claire yelling his name before he hears something heavy land nearby and let out a familiar roar.

"Traitor!" He hears the enemy troll scream and manages to lift his head up to see AAARRGGH fighting with the brute.

"Shadowflight! Come on we have to go!" JIm yells as he rushed to his dragon's side and tries lifting his head. "Get up! Come on get up bud!"

The NIght Light tries lifting himself up and gives a whimper of pain as he tries lifting his crushed wing. He hears a soft grunt before he feels someone pick him up gently, careful not to injure his wing any further.

"Hurt, gotta hurry." Oh thank goodness for AAARRGGH.

"Is he gonna be okay?" He hears Toby ask. "Oh my gosh Gunmar broke his wing?!"

Worth it. Shadowflight thought and gave a small croon.

"Let's focus on getting out of here first." Claire suggests and he feels her hand gently brush his side. "Don't worry, we're all getting out of here."

---

So much was happening right now that Shadowflight barely had any time to register it. First they were climbing walls, next thing he knew Draal was riding in with the weird sphear thing they had used earlier, and now they were all riding out of the Darklands. He was feeling very dizzy from the pain that he didn't even notice what else had happened until he felt a sudden jolt.

"We did it!" He hears Toby cheer. "Shadow we're out!"

Home? Shadowflight thought as he looks up to see the pink sky above. Home!

He crawls out of AAARRGGH's arms and hops out of the sphere, ignoring the pain in his wing. Oh the fresh air, the sound of the birds and the sweet smell of the forest! He hurries over to Jim, who was laying on the floor and proceeds to immediately lick his face.

"Eww no no! Shadowflight stop it!" The teen laughs as he tries to get out from under him. "You know this stuff doesn't wash out well!"

Shadowflight stops and steps back to let his human up as their companions gathered, AAARRGGH pulling them all into a group hug.

"You want in?" Jim asks the female troll.

"That's not my thing." She says with a shake of her head and smiles. "Thank you, little Gynt. I have to hand it to you, you were right."

"About what?"

"Hope. Friends."

"I believe this belongs to you, master Jim." Blinky says as he holds out the amulet to the teen. "And do not worry, Shadowflight never licked it while you were away, but he did sometimes keep it close when he was with me in the library."

Jim smiles as he takes the amulet, letting it glow and reattach itself to his armor and reverting it back to it's original form. "It feels good to have this back." He admits as he flexes his hands.He walks up to a large rock that Shadowflight was standing by, and quickly scales it to stand at the top. The warm setting sun that he had been missing for so long touches his face, and it almost feels blinding. He feels someone hug him, CLaire, and he returns the hug.

"I miss you." She says to him. Jim couldn't help but smile as they parted before he leans in to kiss her. He hears Shadowflight gag from below before they broke the kiss, laughing at the reactions his friends were making.

"Let's get rid of this bridge once and for all!" Blinky yells as he holds up a piece of the broken bridge.

"Wait till Trollmarket gets a load of JIm and AAARRGGH!" TOby laughs before his face fell. "Oh my gosh we're in so much trouble!"

"Doesn't matter, we have our Trollhunter back." Blinky laughs as Shadowflight climbs the rock.

"You really missed me, didn't you?" Jim asks his dragon and this earns him a croon and a gentle nudge with his head. "I know, I missed you too buddy, you and everyone. And I swear I won't do something like this again - I promise."