North chuckled as he trampled down the hallway. This indeed, was going to be epic. A group of small elves followed behind him, each egger to here the new news. A song of bells could be heard at every step of the small helpers of Saint Nicholas.
North quickly opened the monstrous door to meet the rest of the guardians. Toys and gifts were scattered around the workshop, as Christmas Day was soon to come.
The Guardian of wonder smiled as he greeted his guests.
Tooth flew above the group with her many colorful fairies, this included baby tooth. She furiously directed her fairies to every part of the world to collect the children's teeth. Sandy dozed, half asleep on one of his clouds of golden sand while Bunnymund stood next to him, continuously tapping the tired man to wake him up.
"Where's Jack? North questioned in his best Russian accent.
"He's not with you?" Tooth asked confusingly as she came down to ground level.
"I don't believe it, the frostbites skipped yet another meeting" Bunnymund huffed. "North, I thought you were responsible to look after the kid"
Yes, it was true, after they successfully defeated pitch and saved the children of the world, jack began to stay, and live, with north at the pole.
"What can I say, the boy has a mind of his own, I can not control Jack's actions. Its like trying to get cat away from killing bird. Jack lives to have fun and play outside with the children."
Sandy joined the conversation as an exclamation mark appeared above his head.
"What is it sandy?" North asked.
Another image appeared above the sandman's head, this time taking shape of a small town with a frozen lake.
"Sandy's right! Jack is probably in Burgess with Jamie and his sister" tooth smiled excitingly. "I'll go get him" she was ready to take flight when North stopped tooth in her tracks.
"No time. We will contact him later, right now you must know why I have brought you here" he explain.
"Go on" Bunnymund encouraged.
"Last night, Manny said he had something important he wanted to share with us, something like a...am... new threat. He would not tell me anything else unless we were all together."
"A new threat? Who?" Tooth said nervously.
Suddenly a beam of light entered the room and the moon shone on the floor of the group. Soon the silver circle began to rise and open out to unveil the blue crystal. The crystal rose up and they watched In au as the light became brighter.
"What?! A new guardian, mate, we only just let jack join last year!" Bunnymund said in shock of the more members joining their group of guardians.
"Quiet bunny, lets see who he will pick" north instructed.
"I wonder who it will be" tooth smiled and spun in a circle excitingly.
The beam began to form a shape over the crystal as the figure came clear for the guardians to see. A young female appeared in a light blue color the group shocked to see that this girl was even a spirit.
"What is this?! Manny? Who is this girl" north questioned the man on the moon.
A question mark appeared over the sandman's head, stating he had never seen the girl.
"Beats me" Bunnymund groaned. "Maybe MiM is playing something. Maybe...this is a joke!"
Tooth spun around the blue crystal, inspecting the holographic female. She had long hair and look to be near the same age and high of their beloved jack. "Copy Catt?...?" She muttered.
"Who?" North asked.
"Oh you no.. Catt? The spirit of imagination? The one with the reeaaalllllyyyy pretty hair not to mention her sparkly white teeth. Ooohh ~ just thinking about them makes me-"
"Tooth! Who is she?" Bunnymund sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Oh sorry, went a bit off track there didn't I? " she giggled. "Her name is Copy Catt, she's kind of an old friend of mine, well... not really. We met once when I was collecting teeth in Ireland. She kind of messed up a lot of my teeth boxes after crashing into me and letting me drop all my previous teeth. . Anyway said she was visiting a friend or something. I can't really remember, it was a long time ago"
"She sounds like trouble to me" Bunnymund growled.
"She did say sorry afterwards" tooth added.
"I don't know, I don't like the sound of this...copy Catt. And I don't like the idea of letting her join the guardians"
"Letting who join the guardians?" A voice questioned as the group looked above them to see a snow-haired boy standing by the top window.
"Jack!" Tooth said and flew to him, giving the winter spirit a warm hug. "Where were you?!"
"Oh you know, here and there, got to make sure everyone enjoys a good snow day" he grinned.
"Jack, I told you today there was an important meeting" north scowled.
"Sorry old man, I just got caught for time, it wouldn't happen again" jacks swore leaning against his staff.
"That's a likely story" Bunnymund said rolling his eyes.
"Ah, kangaroo, it always excites me to here your voice" jack laughed sarcastically.
"Likewise, frostbite" Bunnymund groaned.
"So, what's the news, what have I missed?" Jack said, siting on one of the work desks.
"Manny has chosen a new guardian" tooth explained.
"Really?! Who?!"
Sandy smiled as he began to explain to jack about their new companion but all jack could see was many symbols and figures appear above Sandy's head.
"Sorry sandy, I still can't understand your way of 'words'." jack said patting the little man on the head. Sandy frowned as a puff of smoke came out of each of his ears to show his anger.
"The new guardian is a girl, named copy Catt" north explain.
"Cool! Where can we find her and What kind of spirit is she? " jack asked whizzing around the room in the air above the others, ready to go find the mystery spirit.
"Easy there mate, we're not even sure if we want her to be a guardian" Bunnymund added.
Jack flew down to the ground and stood in front of the bunny. "What do you mean? Why not"
Sandy showed a 'not sate' sigh that he formed with his dream sand.
"She sounds like... Trouble, jack" north spoke.
"When you guys said I was trouble, did you also think I should not be a guardian?"
"That's not what we mean jack" tooth comported. "We just-"
"No! The man on the moon chose her, and now, she is a guardian. End of story. If she really was dangerous or trouble, then he wouldn't have chosen her" jack growled.
The group was silent to jacks sudden rage, but they were also a bit ashamed of the disagreement of the new guardian.
"Jacks right, we should welcome girl to our group." North said. "We will make preparations and find copy Catt"
Bunnymund folded his arms, he was unhappy with North's decision. "Great..." He thought. "Another ankle biter"
"This is awesome! With another member of the guardians, we will be unstoppable" jack joked.
Tooth gave a worried look. "But...where can we find her?"
It was a cold day in Burgess. Snowflakes fell down onto the frozen rooftops
And ice shone on the roads of the village. This was all by the doing of Jack Frost of course. He had made it a winter wonderland. Where children threw snowballs at each other or built snowmen out of the freshly fallen snow.
A group of children were playing on their snowboards today. Each of them carried a colorful board in their hand.
That's when she approached.
She wasn't dressed for the winter whether but the cold air didn't seem to bother her. She wore a pair of brown shorts with a white tank top and baby blue cardigan. A pair of dark red eyes watched the children from a distance.
"Jamie... Come on. He's not coming today" a girl with a soft brown hair spoke.
"No, he will! He said he would. And then we can have the biggest snowball fight ever"
"It's boring out here... Hey why don't we go to my house and play my older brothers Xbox. He has call of duty." Another boy said.
"Well...Okay... but Tomorrow we play with jack, and no cheating when were playing the game" Jamie laughed.
"Hey, you know I don't cheat"
The group slowly departed the frosty land and soon the figure couldn't see the children anymore. She smiled sadly. Video games. That was the reason no one believed in her anymore. She, the spirit of imagination, had been forgotten by many children in the world today, as kids now lacked creativity in their imagination and they had restored to video games and technology to entertain themselves.
"Catt!" A voice called out to her.
She spun around to meet the owner of the voice, a wide smile appeared on her face. "Lucky?! What are you doing here?"
A tall boy stood before her as he hovered high above her. He had bright blond hair and wore a large green top hat along with a green and gold suit.
"I came to see you. How you doing?"
"God, lucky. How did you get here? It's a long journey from Ireland to Burgess" she smiled walking over to him.
"Thought it was worth the trip" he laughed.
Catt quickened her pace. She wanted to hug her friend so badly. She hadn't seen him since the last time she went to Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
"Hello Catt" another voice entered the scene. Catt stopped in her tracks, she knew that voice, everyone knew that voice.
"Pitch!" She shouted, guarding herself. "Lucky, watch out"
"Oh don't worry" pitch smiled rising from the shadows in the floor near the boy. "He's with me"
"You stay away from him," Catt warned taking out a weapon similar to his, in fact it was almost identical. It formed the same size and shape but only appeared in a different color.
"Ah yes" pitch began. "Your powers are indeed amazing. The ability to copy your enemies weapons and power "
"You know nothing of me," she hissed.
"Quite the opposite, dear Catt. I know everything about you"
With this he got closer to her, circling around her small body, sending a chill down her spine.
"What are you afraid of girl?" He smirked.
Catt gulped. "N-n-othing. Defiantly not your smug face!"
The nightmare king laughed. "Don't lie to me Catt. I feed of fear. And I know what your most darkest fears are"
He slowly touched her neck with his finger and brought it to her chin. "Are you afraid of me now, child?"
"Stay away from me!" She struck at him but he dodged her attack. With that she made a break for the city and ran as fast as she could away from the boogie man.
Pitch grinned and turned to lucky. "Follow her"
/
Catt hid in one of the alleyways of the city. She gasped for air as she sat down onto the cold wet floor. Closing her eyes for a bit she thought of him. Pitch, an evil man who wanted to make children scared of him. What a discussing spirit.
Suddenly she heard footstep and her eyes shot open. She rose from her seat and took her stance.
"Who's there? Show yourself!"
A lone lucky appeared from the corner. "It's me"
"Lucky" she hugged her friend tightly. "Come on! Lets go" she took his hand and tried to pull him in her direction.
"No" he answered firmly.
"What? What do you mean?"
Lucky looked to his friend and sighed. "Pitch... He can help us. You and me"
"What?...what do you...no! Your not!" She pushed him away.
"He knows what we want Catt." He paused. "He can make them believe in us"
"Are you nuts! He's evil"
"No! He knows what is right. He knows what they deserve, they deserve to be punished. For not believing in spirits like you and me. They have to pay"
"Lucky! They are just children" Catt frowned. "What's wrong with you, you know better than this, you said it yourself. Pitch is bad luck! And I know how much you hate bad luck"
"No! He is helping me" lucky growled. "...I...I want to help him"
Catt was scared. What had happened to her once beloved friend, what had pitch done to him. She began to run, run from lucky, away from the only person who she cared about. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes
She bit her lip. "Pitch is going to pay"
"What you running from girl~"
She spun around only to fall to the floor. Her vision became a blur as she felt something drip from her head.
Blood.
"Hahahaha! Look at you! In the mud, where you belong" the voice laughed.
Catt sat up to see a large pink arrow pieced through the flesh of her leg. "Cupid..."
A girl came to greet the bloody Catt; she lay on her stomach with her head resting on her hands, floating above the injured Catt. She wore a short pink and white dress and had her soft pink hair tied in ping tails.
"Awww did the poor kitty witty hurt her leg" she cackled.
"Lover girl! This yours?" Catt said pulling the arrow out of her leg. She winced at the pain.
"You caught me, well done, now for your prize"
Cupid quickly tumbled backwards and took her stance as a bow appeared in her hands, it was big with a pink hilt the thread of the bow was a golden color.
"You ready for this kitty?" She grinned pulling back the string.
Catt struggled to stand up. She had to move, or else, she'd be hit but the many arrows of death that Cupid owned.
"Don't bother moving" Cupid laughed. "There's no where for you to go, but, don't worry, pitch and I will look after your dear lucky."
"Don't you touch him!" She screamed.
"Honey, I can do what ever I want with the boy" she smiled releasing the arrows.
The spirit of imagination jumped out of the way of deadly arrows, barely making it to safety.
"You can't run from me Catt!" She grinned shooting more arrows in her direction. This time the arrows were different. As they hit the floor they caused an explosion, sending Catt into they nearest wall in a scream.
Catt fell amongst the rubble as Cupid joined her company. "Looks like cats don't always fall on their feet"
Cupid grabbed the poor girl by her colorful hair, bruises and cuts covered her face. "Don't worry, I'll make this qui-" Cupid stopped to notice the spirit and gasped. Catt's hair color began to change to a light pink, similar to cupids. Suddenly while Cupid was distracted by the sudden change in Catt's appearance, she pushed the women away with the newly formed bow.
"How dare you" Cupid scowled. "How dare you copy my appearance."
Catt stood from the rubble and spat the blood that swirled in her mouth.
Shooting a few arrows at the angry spirit of love, Catt took her leave and dashed down the alleyway.
Cupid smiled. "I'm going to kill you Catt and then I'm going to drag your little dead body to lucky to show him how pathetic you really are"
"Oh no" Catt thought. "I mad her angry" the last thing she wanted was to make Cupid angry. An angry the spirit of love, was a death sentence.
Catt winced at the pain. She ached all over. She was more than sure that her leg was broken and she knew her chest wasn't in good shape either.
This was it for her. She was too tired. She was going to die. Alone. As she had always been.
Catt groaned again as her head began to hurt and she became dizzy. Without knowing she began to fall. She was losing her balance. Why was this happening? Why her? Why lucky? All she wanted was to be believed in, that's all. But no. Not one child could see her. No one could.
A beam of light came into her view. What was this? She could suddenly see a figure appear from the light. Five mystery figures approaching her.
She fell onto him without warning as the crushed onto the floor.
"Jack! Are you ok?!" Tooth said worryingly.
She felt his cold embrace and quickly rose to her feet once taking a look at the strange boy.
"Get away from me!"
"Woah, slow down there mate" Bunnymund eased.
Catt took one look at the group. She was scared, she had met to many people today, too much had happened.
She quickly took her stance of attack and eyed the group. "Who are you..! w-what do you want"
"We're the guardians, there's no need to fear us" north answered taking a step toward the girl.
"Stay back! I'm warning you."
North scowled. "Tooth, is this her?"
"That's her, didn't I tell you she was pretty. " tooth smiled.
"Stop playing with me!" Catt shouted.
"We know your confused but were not here to hurt you" jack added.
"Then who...are you" she asked shyly.
"Like we said were the guardians, don't be afraid" tooth answered.
Afraid.
"No your lying... your... your with pitch!" She screamed.
"Pitch!" Jack scowled. He knew it! He had returned. Jack knew pitch had something to do with this. The nightmare king just refused to give up. Jack was confused though, why was this girl worried about Pitch. What was He planning now.
"Listen copy Catt, we don't want no trouble"
"Trouble!" Catt could feel her blood boil. "I'll show you trouble!"
She quickly took a different form as the group watched in shock. Her hair became a light gray color and a boomerang appeared in her left hand.
"Cry key.." Bunnymund whispered. "She just turned...into me?!"
A loud cackle came from behind the spirit if imagination. Cupid emerged from the shadows as she took Catt into a lock with both of her hands forced behind her back. After tying her wrists together, Cupid swiftly held a small silver dagger with a large red heart on it to Catt's neck.
Catt yelped and struggled under Cupids grasp.
"Guardians, how nice is it for you to join us" a dark voice boomed from the shadows.
"Pitch" jack growled. "Come out and fight me you coward!"
The spirit of nightmares arose from the darkness. Grinning at he's greatest enemy, Jack Frost.
"Patients jack, there will be plenty of time for that" pitch teased.
"What are you planning Pitch, why are you here?" Tooth scowled.
"Isn't it obvious?" The evil man laughed. "I want revenge"
He soon disappeared only to re-appear next to jack. The winter spirit held his staff high.
"I want revenge, starting with you, Jacky" Pitch smiled, reaching out to the boy touching his forehead. Jack stepped back, letting pitch's hand fall. "You're the one who stopped me from my plans last time, it's only fair that you feel the same pain as I did"
Pitch took another step closer. "You stay away from him!" Bunnymund growled, throwing his boomerang in pitch's direction.
The nightmare king blocked its blow and went to the side of Cupid and Catt, who was still squirming to be let go.
"Unfortunately these things take time, so our little battle is going to have to wait"
Pitch smiled at Cupid as she nodded, tightening her grip around Copy Catt.
"What do you want with the girl" north said.
Pitch smirked eyeing Catt who was now losing conscious.
"Strange thing your imagination, isn't it?" Pitch stated. "Makes you believe in all sorts of things." With this Cupid brought the blade higher and pressed it against Catt's skin, leaving a deep red cut along Catt's cheek. Catt screeched as the pain hit her face. She was afraid. "It wouldn't be a same..." he continued. "If imagination...was gone"
"Let her go!" Jack demanded hitting his staff against the ground; let ice form around the nightmare king.
"Why? Why do you care?" Pitch laughed. "She's nothing to you."
North scowled at the spirit of darkness.
Pitch stopped in his tracks then grinned. "Oh...unless" he said, then began to laugh. He turned to the guardians, and watched their expressions. "How previous" he smirked. "She's your newest guardian, am I not right? Oh Man on the moon you can do better than that! You know this girl can't stand a chance against me!"
"Let go of me, you monster!" Catt screamed as pitch started to approach her.
"Yes, I very much like your screams, Catt. I think I'd like to here more of your fear"
Catt raised her head and spat at the nightmare king, who soon began to frown. "Now that's just rude" he stated, wiping the substance of her face, then took his weapon and raised it, ready to strike.
"Tooth, now!" North ordered as the fairy swiftly struck Pitch, knocking the weapon out of his hands. Bunnymund was next to attack as he through a couple of egg bombs at the nightmare king. In less than a second, the alley filled with smoke, allowing jack to sneak up on Cupid and rescue the injured Copy Catt.
Pitch scowled at the sudden ambush. He was foolish to think that they wouldn't attack while he was distracted with the spirit of imagination. Pitch grinned. "No Matter" he thought. "It would be boring if this was all too easy"
Soon the two figures disappeared and the mist from the explosions began to clear, leaving an empty alleyway.
Jack held a steady grip of the girl in his arms. He had lost the rest of the group and was now flying over rooftops, searching for the other guardians.
He took notice of the new guardian. She had now taken her original form. Her skin was a light color and she had long dark brown hair with a streak of every color in it. She wore no shoes just like jack, and her toenails were painted in a sparkly silver and pink color. She was quiet short and very light for jack to carry. Her sleeping face made jack blush. He was very beautiful in his eyes and he almost wanted to hug the adorable girl.
Catt's eyes suddenly shot open, as her vision quickly adjusted to see jack. She leaned up and began to push him away.
"Calm down twinkle-toes" jack joked, enjoying the new nickname for the spirit.
"Twinkle what! Let go" she pushed him again. Catt then brought her attention to her surroundings and she swiftly brought her arms around the cold boy.
"P-put me down!" She ordered.
She hung to jack, stuck to him like glue. She watched as jack moved with the wind to fly high above burgess. She could see everything, the roofs of houses, people on the streets below and the snow ground that she could no longer touch.
"Put. Me. DOWN!" She screamed, shacking in his arms.
"Ok! Ok!" Jack whimpered. What was her deal?
He gently brought her down to the nearest roof and stood next to her. Catt looked down from the edge.
"-I m-meant..down to the ground!" She huffed.
"Hey,you say down, I brought you down" jack answered. "No need to be picky"
Catt scowled. "What do you want, snow boy" she carefully brought out her new weapon, a staff like jacks as her hair changed to a silver white color…
"Snow boy? I think I prefer the name Jack Frost" he smiled. "Nice staff by the way."
"You like it that much" Catt smirked. "Let me show you what it can do" she raised the staff but was cut off by a large figure, and being shoved into a fresh red bag.
"Phil" jack laughed. "I'm guessing North send you"
"Askdfmrodkc!" The yeti answered, shaking a snow ball and letting a portal appear.
"Get me out of here! What do you think your doing" Catt screeched from within the bag.
"Let's…get back to the pole" jack stated, running into the portal. The yeti sighed and followed behind him and the portal began to disappear.
It was dark, but still warm. Catt couldn't see anything from within the bright red bag. Everything was quiet now and she was no longer hanging from the back of the yeti. Catt felt the cold floor through the ruff fabric.
She then decided to move, getting on her hands and knees she began to rock from side to side, hoping to find the exit.
A small light appeared for Catt to see. She soon started to stretch the opening apart, making it big enough for her to crawl through.
That's when she saw them. Standing before her. All eyes were on Catt, and she didn't like it.
She growled at the familiar faces and rose from the ground. "What do you want from me!" She questioned.
"Don't worry we just want to talk" tooth explained. The fairy approached her, twirling around her at a safe distance.
"Do you remember me? We met once a long time ago" tooth smiled.
Catt thought hard and studied the fairies fixture. "Toothiana..?"
Tooth smiled sweaty and nodded. "Yes, hello there Catt" her feathers fluttered in excitement.
Catt rubbed the back off her neck awkward. "Yeah...sorry again about last we met. I should have been looking where I was going"
"It ok, that doesn't matter anymore. But we need to talk to you" tooth explained. "But first let me introduce you the rest of the guardians."
Catt watched the group. She had heard of the guardians before, from stories. The heroes of all spirits, protectors of the children of the world. But she had never met any of the in person, well except for tooth.
"Catt" tooth called, grabbing the spirits attention again. "This is north, Bunnymund, sandy and jack"
She examined the other members. "North, as in Father Christmas right? And Bunnymund the Easter bunny and the sand man?"
"That's is correct" north chuckled.
She then turned to jack with a confused frown. "Annddd...jack?...jack...hm..I've never heard of who.."
Jack sighed. "Jack frost is my full name. You know, the winter spirit"
Catt bit down on her thumb. "Nope, sorry"
Bunnymund sneered quietly as jack quickly scowled at him. Giving him a look that said. 'I'll get you later'
"Well you know me now" jack continued.
The spirit of imagination glared around the workshop. She had now only noticed the hundreds of toys whizzing around in the area. The room was colorful and festive. Catt's eyes sparkled in disbelief. Everything was wonderful. She had never seen such a magical place.
"This place.. Is amazing" she smiled.
"You like it do you" north laughed. "That's good, since you're going to be the next guardian."
"What?" Catt questioned turning her attention to the Russian spirit.
"Yes! The man on the moon has chosen you to join us and become a guardian!" He explains with a jolly smile.
Catt fell back into reality. No, she didn't want to be a guardian. It, was too much for her and she had bigger problems right now. She had to save lucky from pitch. She wouldn't give up on her friend. Catt's head hung low as her eyes turned a deep purple.
"So what do you say?" Tooth giggle, unaware of Catt's inner thoughts.
"No.." She whispered, clenching her fists.
"What?" Tooth questioned as she approached the girl.
"I said NO!" She screeched. "I am no joining your little group!"
The guardians were silent. Catt's rage left her and her eyes changed back to their usual red color. "Sorry.." She apologized rubbing her arm. "I didn't mean to shout... I just...you don't want someone like.."
Jack watched Catt carefully. She sounded just like him when he first met with the guardians. All alone. He could tell she was lonely. And frightened, no matter how tuff she tried to look he knew she was afraid.
"Look" jack said breaking the silence. "Just give it some thought. Maybe you'll change you'll mind later or something. Anyway, we'd still like you to fight with us against pitch"
"You're going to fight Pitch?" She asked.
"He is our greatest threat right now. Him and the other spirits who he has gathered for his army. We can not let they harm the children of the world.
"No" Catt whinnied. "Lucky wouldn't hurt anyone. Pitch has just done something to him."
"You know the leprechaun" north questioned.
Catt nodded. Yes she knew lucky. She has be friends with him for years now, and she wasn't just going to let pitch take him after from her. No, that so called bogyman had earned himself a new enemy.
"I have to talk to him. I have to get pitch away from lucky" Catt stated.
"We can help!" Jack said, still trying to convince the girl to stay and fight by their side. "We could fight pitch together, and also safe your friend in the progress"
"Maybe.." Catt sighed and winced a little. The pain from her brushed leg and bleeding limbs had now suddenly kicked in. She rubbed her temples, where her head ached.
"We should probably get you fix up" north suggested. "Jack help her to the infirmary. Ill send a yeti to take a look at her. Bunny, tooth, you two go back to tooth palace and the burren. Check that everything is normal. Sandy you can come with me, we have a lot of work that needs to be done"
"You got it north" Bunnymund nodded as he summoned on of his rabbit holes and disappeared down it.
Tooth flew high into the air, waving goodbye as she left. "Take care everyone. See you later Catt"
Catt raised her small hand and waved slightly to the glistening fairy. "Bye.." She mumbled and she turned to jack, only to frown.