Arcadia-Con

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***Arcadia-Con*** is a *3Below* novel written by Richard Hamilton and was released on August 13th, 2019.

## Synopsis

For siblings Aja and Krel being the new kids at school are hard. Honestly, though, it’s high school. When *isn’t* there drama? But there may be a tad more drama than usual when you are teenage royals from another planet trying to blend into the quiet little town of Arcadia Oaks, USA.

In this first adventure of the Tales of Arcadia: *3Below* series, Aja and Krel grudgingly attend Arcadia’s annual sci-fi/pop culture convention (Arcadia Con) and discover it’s easy to hide in plain sight when everyone is wearing a costume! The aliens meet up with Eli, Steve, Toby, Jim, and Claire from the *Trollhunters* series, who come in handy when an alien bounty hunter arrives at the convention to collect the bounty on Aja and Krel. Suddenly, Arcadia Con isn’t just fun and games.

## Chapters

### Prologue

* **Cheating Death -** Foo-Foo the Destroyer remembers the first time he saw Commander Vex, whom he idolizes, during a battle on Xerexes. An Akiridion soldier was overwhelmed with bloodlust and Varvatos tackled him, bringing him back to himself with a calming technique to slow his breathing and heartbeat. Later to avoid being killed, Foo-Foo copies the technique so that everyone thinks he’s dead. In the present, the Zeron Brotherhood slaughters everyone in a galactic way station, but Foo-Foo ejects from his battle armor and stops his heart to trick their sensors into detecting no life. After the Zerons vaporize his armor and leave, thinking all loose ends were dealt with, he scampers to his ship and follows them towards Earth.

### Story

1. **Invading Your Hometown -** Aja and Krel return home with their new ID cards. As they watch TV they see an announcement for the Arcadia Oaks Comic-Con. Everyone laughs at how ridiculous it looks and wonders who would be dumb enough to attend.
2. **Crazy Talk -** Steve and Eli get their two-person octopoid costume ready for Arcadia-Con. Eli sees a mechanical rabbit outside his window but Steve is skeptical. After raiding the Pepperjack vegetable garden Foo-Foo begins looking for the Tarrons, determined to prove himself worthy of Commander Vex’s praise.
3. **Other Assorted Geekery -** Jim and his team fight Gumm-Gumm warriors in the woods just outside town, killing all but three. Claire is still feeling sick, so they call it quits for the night. On their way home Toby suggests they take it easy by attending Arcadia-Con together the next day. At the same time, Foo-Foo uses a drone to spy on them, worried that they might interfere with his mission since they consider themselves protectors of this planet.
4. **Don't Wait Up -** Aja has a nightmare that she wasn’t able to save the little girl, Davaros, back during Morando’s attack. Fatigued by her dreams and desperate to get out of cleaning duties for the day, Aja spontaneously announces they’ve already made plans to attend Arcadia-Con.
5. **Incogneat-o -** The separate groups of Akiridions, Trollhunters, and Creepslayerz all arrive at Arkadia-Con. After some quick hacking on Krel’s part, he, Aja, and Varvatos are admitted with VIP passes, though Luug and the serrators are taken away at the entrance.
6. **Search Party Animal -** In the forest, the three Gumm-Gumms are captured by Foo-Foo, who uses alien tech to protect them from sunlight as well as ensure their obedience. He is delighted that he has his soldiers, just like Commander Vex.
7. **Sci-Fi-Yi-Yi -** The Akiridions are nearly overwhelmed by the insanity inside and they get split up. Varvatos grows interested in a collectible card/role-playing game called “Mazes and Monsters” while Krel takes a turn on an arcade dancing game and Aja meets Stuart at his booth. He gives her a small badge made from outdated Akiridion tech, not knowing its purpose and sure its batteries are dead. She puts it on.
8. **Under Her Sleeve -** On Akiridion, Zadra visits the resistance as they detect a distress alert from an obsolete pingpod. Suspecting it could point to the location of Varvatos or the Tarrons, they decide to infiltrate the communications bay in the palace and steal an array to boost their signals. Davaros volunteers to help locate what they need, resolving to help the princess who saved her life.
9. **Starstruck -** NotEnrique, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh! enjoy Arcadia-Con as themselves. Nancy clings to her favorite celebrity, attracting Varvatos’s attention and jealousy. Aja attacks Eli and Steve because she thinks their costume is a Zorkian cephaloplasmus. Eli then drags Steve away with passes to go backstage. Foo-Foo with his captive Gumm-Gumms enters the building and he uses his tech to block every exit.
10. **Hashtag Murder -** Team Trollhunters encounter Gumm-Gumms in the Murder House maze, but some of their classmates are in the same place. They wonder how they can defeat their enemies without using their magical weapons.
11. **Cosplayerz -** Eli angrily accuses Steve of not caring about their friendship as they enter the backstage lounge. One of Foo-Foo’s drones identifies their costume as a Zorkian cephaloplasmus, which has a large bounty and opens fire.
12. **Wanted Dead or Alively -** In the food court Aja drinks directly from a nacho cheese dispenser and Krel tells her he wants to watch the Gun Robot premier despite its numerous errors in physics. Foo-Foo finds them and the Tarrons try to fight back but end up caught in an energy cage. He declares that once they are gone, no one will stand between himself and Commander Vex.
13. **Intercepted Communications -** Zadra and Davaros sneak through the palace to reach the communications bay. Before they can find what they need, Morando arrives. Davaros pretends Zadra caught her in the act of sabotage. The little Akiridion is arrested and taken to Sector Black. Morando offers Zadra praise that pairs as a veiled threat, saying he was worried about treachery in his inner circle.
14. **The Amazing Chase -** To get their classmates to leave the maze, NotEnrique scares them with his glowing troll eyes. Now with no witnesses, the Trollhunters can fight and destroy the Gumm-Gumms. They wonder at the strange tech covering their stone remains but have to slip away before security arrives.
15. **Slaying with Swagger -** Foo-Foo’s drone fires at the Creepslayerz’ costume then go after Eli and Steve. They argue and butcher their attack combos repeatedly as the celebrities laugh at what they think is a show. They finally work together to bring the drone down with a T-shirt cannon. Meanwhile, police are unsuccessfully trying to break into the building, then Luug escapes his cage and finds the serrators.
16. **Roll Reversal -** Varvatos arrives in the food court and confronts Foo-Foo, who expects his idol to be proud of him. To keep the Tarrons and cosplayers safe, he challenges Foo-Foo to a Mazes and Monsters duel. Varvatos is the victor but when he emphasizes they’re not friends, Foo-Foo snaps and attacks the young royals.
17. **Sector Black -** Davaros is about to be executed when one guard attacks the other soldiers. Zadra takes off the disguise and escapes with her, also managing to smuggle out the communications array they need for the resistance.
18. **Unconventional Methods -** Foo-Foo accidentally strikes the pingpod on Aja’s shirt, creating a recoil. As Varvatos gets close, Foo-Foo suddenly attacks him, declaring he will force Varvatos to be his friend. Aja’s transduction begins to short-circuit due to the attack and she suggests to her brother a way they can fight without revealing themselves. Krel recruits a group of hackers to help him hijack a remote-controlled, life-sized Gun Robot to fight Foo-Foo while Aja hides her real body by dressing up in a Sally-Go-Back outfit. Foo-Foo realizes he’s outmatched and ignites a thermal bomb while ejecting from his battle suit. Luug scares him back into his armor just as the Akiridions use their serrators to create three shields to contain the blast. Foo-Foo is destroyed by his bomb in a dazzling display that prompts admiration from the audience.

### Epilogue

* **2 Above -** From the Void, Deya and Kanjigar watch the events unfold. Team Trollhunters find they enjoyed themselves, everyone thinks Arcadia-Con purposely locked the attendees inside to watch a rehearsed battle, and Steve apologizes for looking down on Eli and pushing him away even though they are a team now. On Akiridion, the pingpod signal goes silent, but Zadra assures the resistance that they now know which part of the universe to direct their transmissions to find the Tarrons. Finally, the dead Trollhunters watch Aja and Krel settle down in their home to praise Arcadia-Con. Varvatos declares to never again attend one, then Mother announces to his chagrin that she has ordered the Mazes and Monsters game he requested. Kanjigar ends by saying he considered King Fialkov and Queen Coranda to be dear friends… but that story is for another time.

## Characters

* Aja Tarron
* Krel Tarron
* Steve Palchuk
* Eli Pepperjack
* Varvatos Vex
* Jim Lake Jr.
* Toby Domzalski
* Nancy Domzalski
* Claire Nuñez
* Foo Foo the Destroyer
* Mothership
* Blinky Galadrigal
* AAARRRGGHH!!!
* Zadra
* Izita
* Davaros
* King Fialkov
* Queen Coranda
* General Morando

## Trivia

* The story takes place in-between "Flying the Coop" and "Party Crashers", explaining sudden developments in that episode not covered by any of the previous episodes.
	+ It should also be worth noting that it takes place before "So I'm Dating a Sorceress" because Claire is mentioned to still be sick, but getting a little better.
* *Arcadia-Con* is the first *3Below* novel, but its not the first to include an Akiridion character (*The Felled*).