Arcadia-Con, page 9
part #2 of Tales of Arcadia - 3Below Series
Landing in front of the gaming tables, Aja flushed out Foo-Foo. He sprinted away in the other direction, but was cut off by Gun Robot’s remaining hand. Vex then blocked the only other escape route with his cane.
“Varvatos Vex applauds your capture of Foo-Foo,” Vex said to his royals. “Although your methods in this comic convention are, well, unconventional.”
“I am Foo-Foo the Destroyer!” Foo-Foo declared, as if he were convincing himself. “And I—”
The Arcadia-Con attendees all shouted loudly, “Awwwwwwwwww!”
“You won’t find this quite so adorable!” the one-eared Foo-Foo shouted over them.
He opened the hatch on his armor. But this time, Foo-Foo retrieved a small object with a timer on its surface. Vex’s eyes went wide, and he yelled, “Great Galen! It’s a thermal incendiary!”
“Correct, Commander!” said Foo-Foo. “With a charge powerful enough to level this entire Earthling freak show!”
Aja and Vex exchanged a look of alarm with each other, and then with Krel, who now piloted Gun Robot from inside its hollow chest. While the Akiridions were distracted, Foo-Foo secretly shunted himself out of his own metal shell—just as he had done in the Oxiom galaxy. But unlike that dim intergalactic way station, the Convention Center’s bright lights cast the real Foo-Foo in stark relief. He was not some proud and resilient rabbitlike creature. Instead he stood revealed as a frail and mewling little creature with rheumy, pitiless eyes. Battle scars lacerated his thin flesh. As he had done many times before, Foo-Foo the Destroyer was about to cheat death, when—
“ARF! ARF! ARF!” barked Luug.
The Corgi easily dwarfed the denuded Foo-Foo. The bounty hunter retreated back into his armor—only to realize too late what he had just done. He glared at the thermal incendiary in his suit’s paw, its countdown clock reaching zero. There was no time left to stop the blast, so Aja decided their best option was to try containing it.
“One,” she said, erecting a bubble shield around Foo-Foo with her Serrator.
“Two,” Krel said from inside Gun Robot, his Serrator making a second bubble around Aja’s.
“Three,” Vex said as Aja created a third bubble with Vex’s Serrator, which she’d held behind her back.
If Foo-Foo the Destroyer had any last words of his own, they were muted by the three-ply bubbles—and the blast from the thermal incendiary. All the Akiridions and Arcadia-Con attendees shielded their eyes as a pure, destructive force flashed and thundered within the combined bubble shields.
“Spectacular . . . ,” Eli and Steve said together in the crowd.
“Espectacular . . . ,” said the Gun Robot director next to Steve and Eli.
Aja and Krel refused to let go of their Serrators, maintaining the three barriers for as long as they could. Then, just like that, the storm within stopped. The bubbles fizzled away one by one, releasing little more than a cloud of smoke. And some steaming bunny droppings.
EPILOGUE
2 ABOVE
“I always knew humans were strange, but this Arr-Kay-Dee-Ah Khan takes the Gorb,” said the spirit of Deya the Deliverer.
“It is a peculiar ritual, I’ll grant you that,” conceded another former Trollhunter, Kanjigar the Courageous. “Yet it’s also a showcase of humanity’s greatest attribute—its imagination—and its potential for heroism.”
The ghostly figures floated in the infinite afterlife known as the Void. They watched through a scrying window as Team Trollhunters drove away from the Convention Center. Nana’s sedan sped recklessly down Main Street, and Deya said, “Fortunately, our current champions survived the experience. If only they survive the ride home. . . .”
Inside the car, Nana took a sharp left, making Jim, Claire, Toby, Blinky, and AAARRRGGHH!!! slide across their seats. NotEnrique opened the glove compartment from the inside and groused, “Oi! Watch those turns, lady!”
“I could’ve done without those three ‘surprises’ in the Murder House maze,” Claire said. “But I gotta admit, the rest of the show was pretty cool!”
“Indeed!” Blinky enthused. “To see such depth and breadth of human interests . . . Why, this excursion was even more eventful than my last day out! Although I must say I was a tad underwhelmed by Detective Belaya. . . .”
“ ‘Never meet your heroes,’ ” Nana quoted, “ ‘because they’re sure to disappoint you.’ ”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Jim said as he looked up at the sky. “I got to meet one of mine a couple of times, and he seemed like a pretty stand-up guy. In fact, it feels like he’s always looking out for me. . . .”
Kanjigar smiled back at his young human successor through the scrying window and said, “It pleases me to no end that Jim Lake Jr. feels lightness in his heart now, for this respite shall be all too brief.”
“Verily,” intoned Deya. “Gunmar’s mad bid for conquest continues, and the Eternal Night looms ever closer.”
Steve and Eli exited the Convention Center, its doors now miraculously unlocked. Detective Scott and the Arcadia Oaks PD could never have guessed the disappearing barricades had anything to do with the implosion of a deranged, bounty-hunting bunny. Steve and Eli watched the detective hug his daughter, Darci, while a paramedic revived Mary with smelling salts.
“Mary, you won’t believe what you missed!” said Shannon. “Arcadia-Con locked everyone inside! On purpose! Just so we could watch this rehearsed fight sequence! It’s gotta be from an upcoming Gun Robot and Sally-Go-Back crossover! I didn’t even know they were in the same cinematic universe!”
Hearing everything that happened while she was unconscious, Mary fainted again.
Steve shrugged and asked, “Do you think we’ll ever know what really went on in there?”
“Highly unlikely,” said Eli. “But suffice it to say, Creepers were definitely involved.”
“Yo, Cosplayerz!” called Superagent Muldoon.
The actor poked his head out the back of a limousine, which pulled up in front of the Convention Center. He lowered his sunglasses and said, “We gotta do this again sometime! Have your guy call my guy. We’ll do lunch!”
Superagent Muldoon made a C with his hand, and the limo drove into the sunset. Steve and Eli smiled and waved goodbye, their XXL Earth Invaders T-shirts fluttering in the breeze. Out of the corner of his mouth, Steve said, “Wait. Who’s our guy?”
“I have no idea,” Eli whispered back. “But bringing in a third Creepslayer might be a good thing. In case our collaboration ever breaks down again.”
“Aw, c’mon, Eli!” said Steve. “We’re a great team! We pulled out a win in the end!”
“This time,” Eli said back. “But the only way I’m going to level up as a defender of the night is by not letting my feelings get so hurt anymore. It’s just . . . When I commit to something, I go all-in, body and soul. You’ve known that about me, Steve—it’s the Pepperjack way! But the downside of that commitment is that I sometimes take things way too personally. It’d be healthy for me to also do something else. My own thing. Like, I dunno, screenwriting . . .”
Steve placed his hand on Eli’s shoulder and said, “Well, whatever you do, I know it’s gonna be great, Pepperbuddy. And maybe I could try being a little more . . . uh, what do you call it when it’s the opposite of pushing people away?”
“Inclusive?” said Eli.
“Yeah!” Steve said. “The Palchuk can try being a little more inclusive!”
“Oh, Steve!” Eli exclaimed.
He hugged his fellow Creepslayer, and Steve felt the sudden impulse to shove Eli into the nearest locker. But remembering his recent pledge, Steve instead leaned into the hug. He hoped he might spot Aja somewhere in the throngs of exiting attendees. Steve couldn’t stop thinking about his run-in with her inside Arcadia-Con and had resolved to ask the angel-kicking ninja out on a date. But in light of his new, more inclusive approach, Steve wondered if it might be better to invite Aja to a “group thing” instead. . . .
Back in the Void, Deya shook her head at the embracing Creepslayerz and said, “Merlin only knows how these two misguided youths will ever reach their heroic destinies.”
“Indeed,” said Kanjigar. “Although I predict communication will be the key to the ascension of the Slayers of Creeps. Just as it will be for another whose fate is written in the stars.”
He waved his transparent hand over the scrying window, and its perspective shifted not just across dimensions, but also time and space. The portal showed swirling nebulas, ringed planets, and violent supernovas before landing on the world known to its inhabitants as Akiridion-5. Deep inside the Resistance war room, Zadra, Izita, and Davaros watched rebel technicians install their stolen comms system. The holographic star charts expanded, thanks to the wider range of detection afforded by the new array. Their screens zoomed in on Pingpod’s point of origin—until the signal abruptly disappeared.
“It went dead!” said Davaros.
Izita’s eyes rounded with worry as she said, “If that Pingpod was, in fact, activated by our royals, then the Tarron children could be . . .”
The Resistance leader couldn’t bear the thought. The rebels went silent, their expressions downcast. Zadra could feel their fear over the royals’ survival, just as she felt her own. But that fear came coupled with another sensation, much to the lieutenant’s surprise—hope.
“Do not give into dread, my sisters and brothers,” said Zadra, addressing the war room. “Our Resistance will look back on this delson as a victory. For we now know the corner of the universe to which we must direct our outgoing messages. The next time we receive a signal from that region, we shall trace it back to Aja and Krel.”
Galvanized by their lieutenant, the rebels redoubled their efforts, adjusting dials and scanning the cosmic airwaves. Izita squeezed Zadra’s hand in appreciation. And with her free hand—the one that wore the ring of the Resistance—Zadra took up a communicator and said, “Prince and Princess Tarron, can you hear me? If you can hear me, there was a traitor on Akiridion-5. . . .”
“These tidings bode ill for the extraterrestrials exiled on the surface world,” said Deya.
Her spirit then aimed the scrying window’s mystical gaze on Aja, Krel, Varvatos, and Luug. They had just sneaked away from Gun Robot—its autonomous actions later deemed a malfunction by the special-effects artists—and returned the Sally-Go-Back wardrobe to the fashion exhibit right before the rest of their transduction effects evaporated. Now the royals, their bodyguard, and trustworthy pet rode in the back of Stuart’s taco truck.
They all remained quiet during the voyage home, but for different reasons. Aja’s mind replayed her stint as a high-flying superhero, loving how it felt to serve as an inspirational leader to others. Krel thought about his new, shy tech-savvy acquaintances and how they all promised to keep their little Gun Robot “joyride” a secret. Vex brooded over how close he came to losing the royals, wondering what King Fialkov and Queen Coranda would think of the soldier who betrayed them. And Luug was simply content to fill his drooling mandibles with bowl after bowl of ghost pepper salsa.
“Be that as it may, these Akiridions are resourceful renegades,” said Kanjigar. “Though they do not realize it, the heirs of House Tarron have already aided our Trollhunters several times over in a single day. And they will do so again in the near future. But for now . . .”
Once more, the phantom Kanjigar swiped his hand in front of the scrying window, fast-forwarding its view an hour into the future. Aja, Krel, Vex, and Luug joined Ricky and Lucy Blank on their living room couch. The ragtag assemblage of aliens, robots, and a sentient artificial intelligence all watched a Gun Robot marathon on their TV.
“This movie is a conceptual nightmare of klebtastic proportions!” Krel yelled at the screen. “Gun Robot’s onboard polygraph detectors should see right through the demigod’s lies!”
“Yes, little brother,” Aja said patiently. “But as we now know, the plot hole is one of the many conventions of human entertainment.”
“Speaking of conventions, Varvatos Vex swears to never attend another,” said Vex. “Why, Varvatos would rather suffer a mauling in the jaws of a Durian Dung-Digester than set foot inside Arcadia-Con again!”
Mother said, “Commander, I have ordered the Mazes and Monsters game and thirteen-sided die you requested. It should arrive within two to three business delsons. With free shipping.”
“Er, very good, Mother,” Vex mumbled awkwardly in front of Aja and Krel. “It, ah, is for research! So that Varvatos might learn new ways to smite his who-man opponents in the chess park! Jerry and Phil shall suffer Varvatos’s wrath!”
“It would seem that each of you enjoyed your time at this Arcadia-Con,” Mother continued. “And not just because it was an excuse to avoid making repairs to my exterior.”
Aja and Krel traded a sheepish look, and the queen-in-waiting said, “Please forgive us, Mother. We didn’t mean to deceive you.”
“For what it’s worth, it did provide valuable insight into fringe human customs, after all,” said the king-in-waiting.
“And a new respect for those who celebrate them,” Aja added. “Yes, we went into the Arcadia-Con judging its attendees for ‘geeking out’ over such seemingly trivial things as fantasy films, comic books, and animated TV series.”
“But now we see that many of these humans are merely lost souls,” said Krel. “Souls who wish to find a safe place in an otherwise inhospitable universe via entertainment. In that sense maybe we are not so different. Maybe we are all ‘aliens’ deep down.”
Aja nodded. “After the Arcadia-Con I felt closer to the humans than I have since we have been here on Earth,” she said. “Maybe everyone wishes to be someone else once in a while. Humans cannot change forms. But they can put on costumes and makeup and be whoever they want for a short time. I can relate to that.”
Aja and Krel smiled at each other, then went back to watching TV with Vex, Luug, the Blanks, and Mother. The window closed on the makeshift family, and Deya said, “These visitors from another world are just as surprising as their human counterparts.”
“Yes,” said Kanjigar with a knowing smile. “As the rightful heirs to the throne of Akiridion, Aja and Krel Tarron are possessed of an astounding nobility and grace. They are as kind as they are powerful. In many ways they remind me of their parents—and my dear friends—Fialkov and Coranda. Ah, but that is a tale for another time. . . .”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RICHARD ASHLEY HAMILTON is best known for his storytelling across DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon franchise, having written for the Emmy-nominated DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge on Netflix and the official DreamWorks Dragons expanded universe bible. In his heart, Richard remains a lifelong comic book fan and has written and developed numerous titles, including Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind (with Marc Guggenheim) for Dark Horse Comics and his original series Scoop for Insight Editions. Richard lives in Silver Lake, California, with his wife and their two sons.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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This Simon Spotlight hardcover edition August 2019
DreamWorks Tales of Arcadia © 2019 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.
Designed by Nick Sciacca
Jacket designed by Nick Sciacca
DreamWorks 3Below © 2019 DreamWorks
Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Written by Richard Ashley Hamilton
Cover illustration by Warner McGee
ISBN 978-1-5344-3355-7 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-5344-3354-0 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-5344-3356-4 (eBook)
Richard Ashley Hamilton, Arcadia-Con
