Chapter 4: The Duel
'You can't do this, is insane,' North tried to convince me, but I took no notice.
'I am not backing down to a creature that people cut the feet off for good luck,' I snarled, throwing my cloak backwards where it was caught by Jack.
I pulled a smooth rock out of my pocket and started sharpening the scythe blade.
I marched through the warren, past the egg sentinels, who turned to look at me and on to the centre of the warren where a large space had been cleared for the duel. Bunnymund was standing in the middle holding his boomerangs.
He turned around. His eyebrows raised and his left ear twitched. 'Ready mate...' he asked sarcastically, 'Or are you gonna get cold feet when you realise you're battling a 6 foot, 1 inch rabbit with nerves of steel and a mastery of Tai Chi?' He flexed his muscles.
'Oh look at me, I'm fucking shaking' I said, shaking my hands in pretence of fear.
Bunny growled. 'Little bugger!' he snapped. 'Cotton ass!' I yelled back. 'Oh Shag off!' 'YOU WATCH YOUR FUCKIN' LANGUAGE IN MY PRESENCE!'
A ringing silence fell after our out-bursts. We simply glared into each other's eyes, neither one of us wanting to blink first.
North stepped forward. 'Sandy will be referee.' Sandy floated over to us holding a dreamsand flag and wearing his pair of goggles.
North, Jack and Tooth had seated themselves on several large boulders on the edge of the arena. All three of them were looking extremely nervous, but for some reason Jack was only looking at me.
I returned my gaze to Bunnymund. Sandy was holding his flag in front of us. I saw Bunny's right paw grasping his boomerang and his left attempting to sneakily get one of his exploding eggs. My hand tightened on the handle of my scythe.
A number 3 appeared above Sandy's head. My eyes narrowed into two thin lines.
The 3 changed to 2. We braced up.
The 2 became 1. I took a deep breath. This was it.
0.
Sandy raised his flag and backed away fast and he had to because instantly Bunnymund had thrown his eggs at me. Quick as a flash, my scythe split the eggs into two. Bunny leapt into the air and threw his boomerangs. I leapt into the air at the same time, holding my body parallel to the ground. The two boomerangs missed me, one went over, the other under. I hit the ground in a crouched position and smiled evilly at Bunny who looked livid that his attack had missed me.
I heard a whoop. I looked and saw Jack clapping. I turned back to bunny and yelled and ducked, narrowly missing three egg-bombs. That was it. I dropped my scythe and reached into my pockets and pulled out two hourglass-bombs. 'HA!' I roared and threw them straight at Bunnymund who was forced to throw more of his own eggs to avoid them. The two bombs crashed together and BOOM, their collision released a massive cloud of smoke.
Instantly I grabbed my scythe and leapt into the air and raised the scythe, ready to bring it down. As I passed through the Smoke-cloud, I saw the shock and terror in Bunnymund's face. I brought the scythe slashing down, leaving its usual trail of indego sparks. Crunch. It hit the earth. I snarled and cursed. Bunny had opened one of his tunnels and escaped down it. One of the egg-sentinels cheered or at least made a good cheering impression.
'Ho, ho HO!' Bunny's voice came from behind me. I whipped around in time to see both of Bunny's boomerangs shooting straight at my head. I raised my scythe and swirled it in a fast circle. It formed a rudimentary shield, powerful enough to deflect the boomerangs into the undergrowth.
Bunnymund roared in anger. He then suddenly raised his arms and something grabbed my foot. I glanced down and saw a root twisting around my ankle. How could I have forgotten; Bunnymund could control plant growth. I slashed the root with my scythe. I turned... and faced a tree whipping its branches angrily. Bunnymund cackled with laughter. Unfortunately for him, I also had a few tricks up my sleeve. With a sound like a gunshot, the death net shot out of my pocket and wrapped itself around the tree and crushed it.
Bunny's rage grew further and he snapped his fingers. Two massive egg sentinels charged me. I raised my hand... and sucked out the life that was in them. The sentinels stopped moving. With a swipe of my scythe, the two stone eggs were smashed into dust.
I snapped my fingers and the stone eggs flew back together. Now however, they would obey my commands. I ordered them to attack Bunnymund who was forced to use six of his egg bombs on the statues.
I coiled like a ninja and threw my scythe like a boomerang, straight at Bunnymund. He tried to duck, but my scythe sliced across his shoulder and he screamed in agony as blood poured across his fur. The scythe shot through the air. I raised my arm to catch it, but an egg bomb hit it and it was sent spiralling into the warren. I glared at Bunny who was holding his blood soaked shoulder and looked drained, but he was grinning in triumph. 'Nice try kangaroo, but not good enough.' I looked to where my scythe had fallen and snapped my fingers. The scythe instantly rushed back into my hand. I turned back to Bunnymund. Stupid mistake.
An egg-bomb hit my stomach and exploded taking a small amount of my midriff with it. I roared as blood soaked the grass-covered ground. Now I was angry. I lifted my hand like I was controlling a puppet... and my shed blood rushed into the air and formed a bright red bubble.
I briefly glanced at the Guardians. North looked horrified, Sandy terrified and Tooth screamed. Jack then said 'Whoa.' I took a strange pleasure in seeing their horrified expressions. I turned back to Bunnymund and shot my blood straight at him as a massive whip. It struck him in the eye. He screamed and covered his eye which began bleeding profusely.
All of a sudden a boomerang struck the side of my head and I was flung sideways, my head bleeding. The blood whip collapsed and splashed to the ground, soaking us both. I growled and glowered at Bunny who grabbed his boomerang. He grinned. I seized my scythe and rushed at him. Bunnymund grabbed his second boomerang and sprinted straight towards me. My scythe and his boomerangs raised... poised to strike.
'STOOOOOP!' North bellowed, rushing towards us. In a second, Tooth descended on me and grabbed my arms. Sandy conjured his dreamsand whips and wrapped them around Bunny's arms. We still tried to get at each other no matter what.
'ENOUGH!' North roared. Instantly, Bunny and I stopped struggling. North's commanding voice would be enough to stop a herd of rampaging rhinos. 'You two should be ashamed of yourselves.' 'I've got my hands full being ashamed of him' Bunny snarled. 'YOU'VE GOT YOUR HANDS FULL WHEN YOU SCRATCH YOUR BA-' 'SILENCE!' North roared. 'Why are you two acting so immaturely? What do you two have against each other?'
Me and Bunny glowered at each other. 'That is strictly between Bunny and myself' I said. North eyed us and then said 'Come, we need to get you both back to Pole to get you cleaned up.' Bunny wrenched himself out of the dreamsand whips and said 'I'll escort myself there.' He patted the ground with his foot, opening his magical rabbit-hole and disappearing down it.
Bunny sat alone in the infirmary nursing his shoulder and wearing an eye-patch over his swollen and scarlet eye. He was still cursing Death for the inflicted injuries. His boomerangs were coated in congealed blood and the paint on his egg-bombs had crumbled. He winced as he applied more disinfectant to his wounds. There was a knock at the door. 'What?' he snapped. The door opened and in came... Pitch.
'What the hell are you doing here?' Bunny growled. 'I think you know that,' said Pitch, his yellow eyes mere slits against his grey flesh. 'I believe you hold a grudge against a certain... reaper.' Bunnymund raised his eyebrow... the good one. 'So what?' 'You want to be rid of him, correct?' Pitch said with a slight amount of glee in his voice. Bunny didn't say a word. 'Well, I would be perfectly willing to take him of your hands. All you've got to do is say the word.'
Bunny considered. On one hand, giving Death to Pitch would provide Pitch with an extremely powerful ally. It might make him unstoppable. On the other hand, Death would be unlikely to ally himself with Pitch, but that didn't mean that Bunny couldn't give him to Pitch anyway. He would finally be rid of him. He looked at Pitch and opened his mouth to speak.
Whoosh. A flash of silver crossed Pitch's chest and he screamed and disintegrated. Behind the place where he had stood was Death. 'I know we are enemies, but not, I hope, in the presence of an even greater threat.' Bunny hesitated then nodded. Death smiled awkwardly. 'How's your eye?' He asked after a moment. 'Still stinging but getting better.' 'Come here,' Death said.
He placed one hand over Bunny's injured eye and with his other he made a complicated little wave. He then withdrew his hand. Bunnymund hesitated and then removed his eye-patch. His eye was completely healed. 'How...?' He asked, blinking just to make sure. 'I'm Death, I can control the life energy' Death said smiling.
'Then... why Grim?' 'Though we loath each other, we are still technically allies. Oh and you can call me Death.' Bunny's eyes widened. He only allowed his friends to call him Death.
Death turned to leave, but then quickly turned on his heels. 'Might I just say, I thought that move with the plants was fantastic.' Bunny was stunned; Death was paying him a compliment; a rare privilage. 'Thanks' He said 'I thought you were brilliant avoiding the boomerangs. Not even Pitch's fearlings could do that.' Death smiled.
North stood outside the door listening to the conversation. 'Hmm' He said to himself 'There is definitely something wrong with those two.' He walked into the Globe Room. Tooth, Sandy and Jack were there discussing the duel. North cleared his throat to attract their attention.
'Grim and Bunny are two rivals that have been forced to work together. I want to find out what made them enemies in the first place. Jack, you seem to get on best with both of them, I want you to find out what happened.' 'But North...' Jack protested. 'I don't want to hear it,' North said, with such a finality that the subject was closed. 'I DO want to know what happened.'
