As Halloween drew to a close and the children returned inside the Guardians were panicking up at the North Pole. Jack had been out giving a few places some early snow but his visits were cut short. The ice teen returned to the Pole clutching his right arm. It had taken North almost five minutes to get him to let him look at it. When he did the big man swore in Russian and called for Phill. The big yeti walked up and North told him to go get a first aid kit to patch Jack up with. He then walked over to the panel in front of the Globe. Grabbing the switch for the fake Aurora Borealis he summoned the rest of the Guardians. The all arrived quickly, with Tooth darting over to Jack as soon as she saw him. Bunny and Sandy arrived at the same time but the Pooka was the first to speak up.
"What happened, mate?" he asked looking around.
"Jack was attacked. Still has not talked about it though..." North replied looking over at the teen.
Tooth had taken the first aid kit from Phill and was slowly pulling Jack's sleeve up. As the wound was revealed she gasped. Behind her Bunny swore and Sandy had a bunch of golden exclamation points floating about his head. North had already seen it and he looked at the ground. A large gash ran from Jack's shoulder all the way down the outside of his arm to his elbow. Blood oozed slowly from the wound, a sharp contrast to the Winter Spirit's normal skin color. The wound was black around the edges and ragged looking. It made for a gruesome sight.
Taking a deep breath Tooth started working on cleaning it. Every time Jack flinched she would apologize softly. Ten minutes later, with some assistance from Sandy, Jack was seated in a plush arm chair with his arm bandaged up and his hoodie being mended by some of the yeti's. The others were sitting around looking visibly sick. Bunny finally got up the nerve to ask what happened.
"Jack, what happened? What attacked you?" he asked looking at the other Guardian.
"I have no idea..." Jack said after a few moments.
"This is bad. Could it be Pitch?" North asked, not really expecting to get a resonance.
"It wasn't Pitch. I know that much. He was out and about but he didn't attack me. I only saw him once and that was when the monsters and other dark creatures were taking off." Jack said shaking his head.
That only served to confuse the Guardians. They all knew that Pitch was evil and that he would do just about anything to get what he wanted. At least, that's what they thought. He was more likely to attack Jack than to just let him glide past. Especially after their last battle. Glancing at each other Sandy and North shared a strange look. They were probably the only ones who had noticed the change in Pitch's behavior. The Nightmare King was a little more distracted as of late and didn't seem as interested in scaring children as before. This change in behavior had started just under a century ago and it was a little worrying.
"Jack, are you sure Pitch didn't attack you?" Tooth asked placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Yes. I'm positive. He was just standing in the middle of the street looking up at the receding monsters. It was strange." Jack said looking at her.
Tooth nodded slowly but looked really concerned. She and Bunny both tried to get some more information out of Jack about his attacker. They only got that it was a black amorphous thing slinking around in the shadows. That explained the black edges on his wound. They both kept trying to see what all he had seen before hand but after a few moments of questioning he just refused to answer, especially considering he had been saying the same thing over an over. Once he clammed up Tooth stopped asking and simply put and arm around his shoulders. Bunny sighed and placed a paw on the top of the teen's head.
"We're all just worried about you, mate. Sorry to pry." the Aussie said before hopping away.
"I know you are but I've already told you what happened. If there was more I don't remember it. At all."
Sapphire eyes looked up at the others, silently begging them to believe him. North nodded after a few seconds and Jack smiled. The big man looked around at the other Guardians with a stern look. They had to figure out exactly what was going on and what attacked Jack. It had to have been something fairly powerful. Jack would have been able to defeat it easily other wise. That meant that it had to be stronger than Pitch.
"Wait. If that black thing beat Jack then it is stronger than Pitch!" North cried, realization finally setting in.
"What in the world is stronger than Pitch? Especially when it comes to darkness?" Tooth asked looking up at the others.
"I have no idea. Whatever it is, though, it is powerful if it managed to injure you, Jack," North said looking closely at the Winter Spirit, "We might actually need some more help in order to beat this thing."
"That would mean that we new a new Guardian," Bunny said as he bounded back into the room, "Or maybe even two."
North nodded and turned to look up at the full moon. It wasn't often that the moon was full on Halloween, but it was tonight. As North watched the moon he heard a soft voice in his head. Blue eyes widened as he recognized the voice. It was the Man in the Moon.
"North, Bunnymund is right... Two more Guardians must join you... You may not be happy with who they are but you must over come it..." MiM's soft voice said as he directed a moonbeam over where the selection crystal was.
the others looked up in surprise as the crystal came to the surface. Bunny silently chanted something that sounded like "Not the Groundhog!" as the images of two spirits formed over the crystal's blue surface. Jack was the first to recognize the tall figure on the right. He leaped to his feet with a surprised cry. Tooth, startled by the sudden movement, fell off the arm of the chair with a squeak before turning to look at Jack. The teen wasn't even looking at her, his eyes were glued on the crystal. Slowly the others were starting to get it as they too looked at the newly chosen Guardians. On the right was Pitch Black, the Nightmare King, and on the left was the young Spirit of Halloween, Alariana Darkomir Hallows.
"I take it back. I with it was that Groundhog!" Bunny cried as he stared.
"This is going to get really messy really quick. I feel it in my belly." North said rubbing his ample gut with a stern look on his face.
"Pitch would never agree to being a Guardian. We all know that! Why wound Manny pick him?" Tooth asked as she pulled herself off the floor.
"Manny said we would not like choices. Also said we would have to get over it," the bearded man said turning to Sandy, "Do you think you can talk Pitch into coming here, Sandy? I have a feeling that he will listen to you more than any of us."
The little golden man nodded and formed a small cloud of golden Dreamsand under his feet. With a nod and a few symbols telling them he'd be back soon, The Sandman took off. Needless to say the others were incredibly worried about the Dreamweaver. Pitch and Sandy had been on fairly good terms after the final battle a century ago. They did have the occasional argument, but they usually ended in Sandy storming off and Pitch sulking in the shadows.
"He will be fine," North said before turning to Jack, "Jack, if you are up to it, would you mind going to find Alariana? I would send yeti's but I don't know where she lives."
"Sure. I'll go find her. I just need a shirt or my hoodie back." the white haired spirit said rolling his shoulders.
The bearded man nodded and called out to Phill. he lumbered over, handing over Jack's hoodie as he did. The blue garment had been washed thoroughly washed so it was incredibly soft as Jack pulled it over his head. Rolling his shoulders again the teen popped a kiss on Tooth's cheek before launching himself out the window. the all watched him leave with trepidation. Alariana was a relatively new spirit but the Guardians had all been really busy so the had all left her alone. It was a similar situation to what happened with Jack. At least this time it had only been a century and not three.