Rise of the Guardians 2
Very Important Disclaimer Note: I do NOT own Rise of the Guardians. DreamWorks Animation has all the rights to it.
Chapter 1
It was late in the winter afternoon and Jack Frost was having a blast with his friend Jamie Bennett and his friends as they enjoyed a snowball fight. Snowballs flew through the air.
"Duck!" Jamie shouted over to Pippa as Cupcake and Claude pelted them.
"Heads up!" Jack threw a snowball and scored a direct hit on Caleb.
"It's on now!" Claude shouted as the snowballs were flung from all directions.
After a couple more throws, they all decided to have some last minute sledding done before going home. As they passed by a few hills on their way to their usual sledding ground, Jamie chatted with Jack.
"So how's being a Guardian? A bit tough?" the boy asked.
The winter spirit shrugged. "Not really. It's actually a lot of fun." He replied.
"Considering that you are the Guardian of Fun." Jamie laughed.
Suddenly Pippa shouted, "Someone's going up Dropout Hill!"
Jamie and Jack looked up to see a hooded figure holding a snowboard trudging up a steep snow covered hill. The kids gasped.
"Is that dude gonna snowboard?" Claude asked in shock.
"No one's ever attempted to snowboard down Dropout Hill." Cupcake said, her eyes widening in fear. "Let alone do anything." Monty gulped nervously. And then there's the Ledge." Caleb said, pointing at the rock outcropping near the bottom of the hill, now covered with snow and ice.
If anyone slid or fell off the Ledge, it'd be a sheer drop into the creek down below. It wasn't deep, but it was gonna be a hard fall. On top of that, Dropout Hill was the highest and steepest hill in Burgess. Anyone who would try to sled or snowboard down the dreaded slope would end up in the hospital with a few broken bones.
But for some reason, this stranger wasn't gonna let all those dangers stop him from snowboarding.
Jack looked at the kids. "Maybe we should keep an eye on him? In case he…" he mumbled uneasily.
"Yep." Jamie and his friends agreed with him and went to the other side of the drop.
They then watched as the snowboarder got up to the top of the hill and pulled off his hood.
Or should we say her hood.
Waves of long brown hair fell down the girl's shoulders.
"A girl snowboarder?" Jamie was stunned.
His friends were also surprised. Jack carefully looked at the girl from down below. She had to look at least like around 16 years old. Her face was a bit pale but had a slight pink blush due to the cold. She wore a white cap, a light blue winter jacket, light brown cargo pants and blue boots. Her sea blue eyes sparkled as she surveyed the area.
Satisfied, the girl smiled, got on her board and pushed herself off. "Woo-hoo! Yeah!" she shrieked with delight as she zoomed down the hill, doing all sorts of tricks.
So far, she was doing fine!
Jamie and his friends cheered as the girl safely skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill. The kids instantly swarmed the girl while Jack remained at his spot. He had to admit, the girl was pretty cool…and…kinda cute.
"How'd you do that?" Monty asked, eyes wide. The girl shrugged. "Practice makes perfect, I guess."
Jamie cocked his head. "I've never seen you around here. You new in town?" he asked. The girl nodded. "Yeah. I'm Sapphire by the way. My family and I just moved in from Florida." She replied.
"So those were surfboard tricks?" Pippa asked breathlessly. "Yeah. Some of them. When I was still in Florida, I spent almost every day of my life surfing. So I thought I'd use some of my moves on the snowboard." Sapphire grinned.
"It's a good thing you stayed away from the Ledge." Cupcake pointed out. "Yeah…If you tried to jump over it, you'll get really battered up." Caleb said, shuddering.
Sapphire glanced at the rocky outcropping and smiled. "The Ledge, huh? Hmm…I could use a challenge." She said deviously.
The kids stared at her.
"You're not gonna try jumping over it, are you?" Claude asked slowly. "Why not? If no one's ever attempted it before, this is my chance to try the unthinkable." Sapphire said simply before going back up Dropout Hill with her snowboard.
Jack joined the others on the Ledge's other side down at the creek.
"I have a bad feeling about this…" Jamie mumbled.
Jack just stared at Sapphire who was already halfway up the hill. She was dead serious about making the jump.
'This ought to be interesting.' He thought, smiling.
Meanwhile back at Santoff Claussen (North's Workshop), the other four Guardians were baffled.
A few minutes ago, the Man in the Moon had told them that a new Guardian will be chosen.
Soon.
The crystal had revealed itself to North, Tooth, Bunny and Sandy a while ago but they couldn't figure out what they were seeing. All they saw on top of the crystal was a holographic image of a girl holding a necklace of pearls with a teardrop shaped sapphire charm in her left hand and a snowboard in her right.
"Any idea who she is, mates?" Bunny asked, confused.
Sandy formed sand images of a water droplet and a snowflake over his head.
"You think she could be a water spirit? Or a snow spirit?" Tooth piped up, wondering who the new Guardian could be.
North looked up at the moon, baffled at the choice.
The crystal suddenly glowed, showing the girl trudging up a hill.
"She's…a regular girl." North said in surprise.
Then the crystal showed Jack, Jamie and their friends watching the girl.
"Is that Frostbite there?" Bunny said, looking curiously into the crystal. "He did say he was gonna pay Jamie and his friends a visit." Tooth informed them.
Sandy formed a question mark over his head. "Your question is as good as mine, Sandy. Who could she be?" North wondered out loud.
And what does Jack Frost have to do with her?
What they didn't know was that someone else was watching them all.
Hiding in the shadows…the Boogeyman, Pitch Black was watching as Sapphire got ready to snowboard.
"What a brave young lady. A stubborn one as well. Just what I need to exact my revenge." He chuckled before looking at Jack Frost with a hateful look in his dark gold eyes.
It's been eight months since Pitch suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Guardians. Now, he was back. And ready to wreak his vengeance.
'Soon…Fear shall reign once more.' Pitch thought as he summoned Onyx, his favorite Nightmare and pointed at Sapphire. "Get the girl." He ordered and Onyx galloped to position.
Sapphire checked out the area and readied to go down. Jamie and the others were waiting with bated breath.
"I can't watch…!" Pippa squeaked, covering her eyes.
Carefully scanning the area, Sapphire got on her snowboard. She had plotted her course and was positive that with a little perfect timing and luck, she could make it over the Ledge.
"Here goes nothing." She muttered to herself as she pushed off again.
Despite their worry, the kids began to cheer as they saw Sapphire already halfway down the hill.
"Look at her go!" Caleb whooped.
"Go for it Sapphire!" Claude shouted.
"I think she's gonna make it!" Cupcake said, getting excited. "I sure hope so, 'cause here comes the Ledge!" Monty said, eyes wide.
Then Jamie looked at one side of the hill and his eyes suddenly widened. "What's wrong?" Pippa asked, uncovering her eyes and looking in his direction.
That's when they saw it.
A Nightmare was galloping towards Sapphire!
Jack noticed it too and recognized it on sight. "Onyx?!" he yelped, recognizing Pitch's favorite Nightmare.
"Sapphire, look out!" Jamie yelled, frantically waving his arms along with his friends.
"What?" Sapphire called, confused, not hearing them well.
Hearing a whinny, she turned her head towards the direction the sound was coming from as well as where the kids were frantically pointing at and saw Onyx barreling towards her!
"Y-yikes!" Sapphire squeaked as she frantically sped up to get away.
"Turn left! Right! No! Another left!" the kids screamed, trying their best to help her. But Sapphire was confused as she zigzagged here and there.
And Onyx was getting closer!
Suddenly Sapphire's board hit a rough patch of snow and flipped under her feet as she got closer to the Ledge!
"Whoooaaa!" Sapphire shrieked as she tumbled down, rolling and rolling until she reached the Ledge and to everyone's horror, tipped over the edge!
"Ah!" Sapphire yelped but managed to hold onto a chunk of rock.
But Onyx had followed her, snorting viciously.
Looking at the black Nightmare and down to the drop below, Sapphire squeezed her eyes shut as Onyx raised her front hooves in order to stomp on her fingers and send her to her doom.
Acting fast, Jack pointed his staff at Onyx and sent a blast of ice at her. Onyx immediately froze. Launching himself forward into the air, Jack gave her a solid whack with his staff. The Nightmare crumbled into dust.
But that was also when Sapphire's fingers lost their grip.
"Ahhhh! Help!" the girl shrieked, falling down. "Hang on, I gotcha!" Jack shouted, diving after her.
Sapphire had her eyes shut tight so she didn't see Jack use his staff to whip up a gust of wind. All she felt was suddenly being shot up into the air and a fierce gust of wind ripping something off her neck. Then she felt stable ground underneath her feet. Shaken, but relieved, Sapphire fell down on her back onto the ground. Jamie and the others went over to see if she was alright while Jack grabbed her snowboard that was lying a few feet away from him and the Ledge.
That's when he looked down and noticed something sparkling in the creek.
Curious, the young Guardian flew down to take a closer look. Noticing something in the water, Jack quickly scooped it up. It was a pearl necklace with a sapphire charm in the center in the shape of a teardrop. Putting it in his pocket and flying back up, Jack saw Jamie and his friends huddled around Sapphire. A little woozy, the girl sat up and took deep breaths to calm down.
"Are you okay?" Cupcake asked, worried.
"I…think so…Just…what happened?" Sapphire muttered. "What do you mean?" Pippa asked, confused.
"You know…How did I get up here? I was falling down just a few seconds ago and then this gust of wind saved my life. I mean…how did that happen?" Sapphire said, utterly baffled at her lucky escape from serious injury.
Jamie looked at his friends nervously. Sapphire was beginning to get suspicious.
"Um…maybe you just got lucky?" Claude suggested. "Or maybe it was just a freak wind!" Caleb joined in.
"Nothing weird or supernatural about that!" Monty piped up.
But Sapphire could see through their bluff.
"My eyes may have been shut tight in fear but I could feel that something was going on. There was this sort of crackling noise like a bolt of lightning and I could hear someone hitting that horse and something crumbling into dust. I know this sounds weird but I think that horse was made out of black sand. So that 'whacking' sound was probably from whoever used a stick, bat or anything hard to get rid of it. Then just as I was falling, someone was yelling 'Hang on, I gotcha!' and then this huge gust of wind shot me up into the air…" As Sapphire rambled on, Jack hovered over to Jamie.
"She's quite a verbal freight train, isn't she?" Jack laughed a bit, listening to the Florida cutie go on and on and on.
Jamie had to giggle. "Yeah…No stopping her when she opens her mouth or when she's in that kind of mood." He said, chuckling.
Sapphire heard all that and was immediately offended.
"Hey I'm being serious here! You know something and I…!" she said irritated as she spun around to face Jamie.
And then she stopped in mid-sentence and gasped, her eyes widening in shock.
Pippa, Cupcake, Claude, Caleb and Monty glanced at Jamie, panic clearly written on their faces. That's when Jamie noticed that Jack was holding Sapphire's snowboard in his hands.
If Sapphire couldn't see Jack Frost, she would definitely see her things floating in mid-air!
Jack gave Jamie a look that clearly said, 'Now what?!'
Choosing his words carefully, Jamie managed to stutter. "Uh…This might be weird. Seeing objects floating in mid-air and all…This is all just a really weird…dream! Yeah! And you're gonna be waking up in a few minutes so no need to worry…"
Inwardly, the other kids groaned. This really wasn't helping with the situation.
Suddenly Sapphire spoke up. "Jamie…Who's that?"
The boy's eyes widened along with everyone else's.
"What do you mean?" Cupcake asked slowly. "You know…The guy with the staff…Next to Jamie…The one…floating in mid-air." Sapphire replied, eyes still as wide as saucers.
Jack's mouth dropped open. Sapphire could…see him…
The other four Guardians saw the whole thing. "She can see Jack?" Tooth said in awe.
Sandy formed a sand image of a woman and a big question mark to emphasize his amazement.
"Sandy's right, mates. She's a pretty big bloomer now and she believes in us?" Bunny was rather surprised.
North looked up to the Man in the Moon, back to the crystal and laughed heartily.
"Now I know why Manny chose her. Her belief is strong and I feel it in my belly that she has something very special inside of her. Just like Jack Frost!" he said emphatically.
Slowly the Guardians nodded.
The girl must have something very special.
And if Manny could see it then…she must be the new Guardian.
Sapphire stared at Jack for several seconds, completely and utterly shocked.
"You…You can see me?" Jack asked, carefully landing on the ground. The young girl nodded.
"Wait…You believe in the Guardians, Sapphire?" Jamie asked curiously. "The…Guardians?" Sapphire repeated in confusion.
"You know…Santa Clause, The Tooth Fairy, The Easter Bunny, Sandman." Pippa informed her. "Yeah I believe in them. I just didn't know they were…Guardians." Sapphire said apprehensively.
Then she looked at Jack…and her snowboard. "Um…my stuff…Can I…?" she requested shyly. "Oh! Um…Of course…" Jack mumbled, handing her the board.
Sapphire then noticed the setting sun. "Oh boy…I gotta go. We just moved in and I snuck out of the house to escape cleaning duty earlier. Bye!" she said hastily and ran down the hill just as Jack was about to pull the necklace out of his pocket.
"Hey, wait!" Jack cried out to stop her.
But the girl was as fast as Bunny and was already long gone.
Sighing, Jack put the necklace back in his pocket. Nighttime was fast approaching and he had to be back at the Pole soon. He was just gonna have to come back tomorrow if he could and look for Sapphire.
Saying good-bye to his friends as they went home, Jack shouted to the wind. "North Pole!" and swung his staff. Instantly the winds rushed in forward and carried the Guardian of Fun into the sky.
As Jack flew off, Pitch watched from his hiding place in the woods. 'Soon…That Frost is going to pay.' He thought spitefully before he disappeared into the shadows.