"You were right, Paddy." Tooth said angrily. "I'm not very enthused."

"That makes two of us. Or should we count the mute? Two and a half then?" The Boogeyman responded acidly.

Golden whips erupted from Sandy's hands and Pitch flinched backwards a step.

Paddy stepped between them. "Everyone take a deep breath, okay? Let's focus on why we're here." He turned to Tooth and Sandy. "Look, you tracked Jack to my tavern because his power was leaking out of him and affecting the dreams of children. Now that I fixed that, you need another way to track him. Here's your best chance."

"How are we supposed to trust him?"

"Why would I work with the Guardians?"

Both questions rang out simultaneously. Paddy sighed and explained. "You can trust him because he has lost a ton of power since your last battle with him." When the Bogeyman cried out in protest, Paddy silenced him. "And YOU need to find out how you lost power too. What better way than to study another immortal with a power loss problem?"

"What do you mean, he's lost power too?" Tooth asked. "He's the embodiment of fear. We broke his power source when we fought but it should have grown back eventually."

Paddy answered. "You didn't just break his power source, you turned it against him. Something made that inversion permanent. He can sense fear still, but he can't tell what they are specifically unless he has physical contact."

Sullenly, Pitch Black muttered. "This is what I get for trusting a Leprechaun."

Paddy turned on him again. "Do you want to find out what went wrong or not?" If looks could kill, the Leprechaun would be obliterated by the glare Pitch gave him. Unfazed, Paddy glared back.

Pitch relented."Fine, how about a truce." He extended a hand towards Tooth, who ignored it and stared at Paddy.

Paddy turned back to Tooth. "You promised to help Jack. Can't do that if you can't find him. So take the Boogeyman with you. If my word isn't enough to convince you, then maybe I should give you a little extra insurance."

Unconvinced, Tooth responded. "What do you mean, insurance."

"I have a weapon that once beat the king of nightmares a long time ago. It belonged to the bodyguard of the Man in the Moon." Paddy answered.

"You can't be serious. How did you get it?" Tooth asked.

"That is another story for another time. I'll give it to you and you will have a backup plan in case Pitch gets any clever ideas." Paddy ducked under the bar for a moment and pulled a long box out. "Do we have a deal?"

It had been nearly two months since Paddy helped Jack and he spent most of that time on foot. He just didn't like mortal transportation methods. But when he stopped in a south Mexican cantina he realized it was nearly the end of October. That made his decision for him, he had to catch a plane.

Unfortunately, by some miserable fluke, he'd boarded the wrong flight. He should have known to double check everything, especially when he was flying from a Mexican airline. Jack huffed, expelling some ice crystals in a puff out of his pulled up hoodie. A child stared at the crystals before they disappeared. Jack started, he hadn't meant to draw attention to himself.

Vanishing into the crowd before the child could put together what was going on, Jack decided to make the most of his stay in Rio de Janeiro. The next flight south wasn't for a few days. He might as well enjoy the sights. It had been a few decades since his last trip to Rio and a lot had changed. So many new buildings, so much activity, and after a jaunt around the city Jack figured out why.

The people were celebrating Finados, Brazil's Day of the Dead. Although he'd never really encountered the spirit of this particular holiday, he'd heard stories about La Calavera Catrina. The skeletal woman was well known in Mexico thanks to a certain artist that she'd made a believer somehow. It wasn't often that she traveled outside of her home country, but Catrina jealously guarded her holiday.

However, it wasn't La Catrina that Jack bumped into that day, but another immortal altogether. At first, Jack thought the figure was a rather tasteless celebrant with his face covered by a grinning skeletal mask. Then Jack realized he wasn't part of any procession or group and his mask was more than a little out of place in the somber, dignified way that Brazilians celebrated Finados. Actually, when he looked at the mask again, it looked more like a character from The Nightmare Before Christmas, from what he could remember from when he'd watched it with Jamie.

Ignoring the dull throb in his chest from remembering Jamie again, Jack went to investigate the strange figure. After following for a few blocks, Jack had just about worked up the nerve to confront the stranger when he disappeared around a corner. Jack bolted forward to keep the figure in sight, tearing around the corner with a little help from the wind. He stopped dead in his tracks when he realized he'd walked into a dead end. Brick walls surrounded him on three sides and behind him he heard a voice.

"Who are you? How can you see me?" The voice was a touch deeper than his. Jack steeled himself as he turned around. Yep, there stood the mysterious skeleton-masked stranger.

Out of habit, Jack fell back on his own dry punkish attitude. "I could ask you the same question." He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall to his left. If he just had his hood up, he would be the picture of nonchalance.

The stranger wasn't buying it. Eyes narrowed on his face from behind the white mask. Jack felt a slight shiver of unease run down his spine. "Barefoot. Blue hoodie with white snowflake marks. White hair. You're Jack Frost."

"Okay, my turn." Jack said snidely. "Nondescript black boots. Black pants and a particularly grungy looking gray hoodie. White skull mask." Jack paused for effect. "Yeah, I have no idea who you are."

The stranger held up his hand towards Jack with the palm facing skyward. Jack flinched back and took up a defensive posture. In a flash of orange, a carved smiling pumpkin appeared in his palm. Jack relaxed. "A pumpkin?"

The figure nodded. "Well, a pumpkin bomb." Without warning, Jack saw the pumpkin fly towards him. Quickly, Jack summoned a shield of ice just barely strong enough to withstand the blast. He heard laughter echo in the alley. Jack looked through his shield and saw the figure take to the air.

Throwing caution and his ice shield to the wind, Jack launched himself skyward to give chase. He summoned his staff as he went, intent on striking back at his fleeing assailant. His opponent was going for height over evasion, to Jack's initial delight.

Feeling his connection with the wind, Jack tried telling the wind to pull the other flying immortal back to him. After a few tries, Jack realized it wasn't working for some reason. Putting on an extra burst of speed, he got into the wake of the other flyer and could feel what the problem was. Jack controlled the North Wind, which was characteristically cold. His opponent had to have control over the West Wind, judging from the lukewarm wake he flew in now. This had to mean he was a seasonal, not a holiday, spirit. Just like me, Jack thought, but for the Fall.

Jack was closing in on his target. Unfortunately, the other spirit looked over his shoulder and saw Jack bearing in on him. Suddenly, the masked figure dropped out of the sky. Jack stopped in surprise for a moment and then followed suit, going into a dive straight back towards the earth.

As he fell, pumpkin bombs were shot back up ay Jack. He managed to blast them away before they exploded in his face. As he knocked yet another pumpkin away with his staff, Jack looked down towards his opponent. The masked spirit was nowhere to be seen, just the ground of a graveyard coming towards him very quickly.

Jack pulled up going from his headfirst dive into a standing position. He threw all the power he could muster into slowing his descent. Below him in the graveyard, multiple groups of people stood at various graves, honoring their dearly departed. The wind from Jack's efforts pulled at decorations and scattered flowers. The people braced themselves against the sudden gusts, some cursing softly in Portuguese.

Jack just barely managed to stop a few scant feet from the ground. When he did, he lost connection to the wind and fell the remaining few feet, landing softly on the grass. Jack fell to his knees, momentarily too weak to stand after all his exertions. He heard the laugh again and turned where he sat to see the masked immortal approaching.

"You're alright, Frost. But to be honest I expected better." Jack pulled himself upright with some help from his staff. "Woah, hold on." His opponent said, hands raised in a gesture of peace. "I just wanted to test you out. Some rumors said you'd lost your touch and I wanted to see if they were true."

"Who are you?" Jack asked, just now managing to catch his breath.

"My apologies, it was rude of me. I have a few names; tell me which one you prefer." The man starting counting off on his fingers as he spoke. "Tricker Treat, Sam Hain..."

Jack interrupted him. "Fairly sure that last pun is based on a mispronunciation."

Eyes rolled behind the mask. "Fine. How about Hal O'Ween?"

"Who came up with that? The Leprechaun?" Jack asked derisively.

"Actually, yes." Jack rolled his eyes now. "Well? Any of those okay with you?"

"What do you call yourself?" Jack asked.

"Jack O'Lantern." He answered. "Jacko for short."

"Jacko works." Jack answered. "I'd say nice to meet you, but it has been pretty rough on me, actually."

Jacko shifted uneasily. "Sorry. Guess we both overdid it." They both looked around and saw the groups around them collecting scattered flowers and fixing decorations.

"Do you have somewhere we can go. I'm not fond of graveyards." Jack said evenly. He took a step towards Jacko but nearly lost his balance. He gripped his staff tightly. In a flash, Jacko was there, pulling Jack's arm over his shoulder and steadying him with an arm around his waist. Jack tried pulling away, but he was gripped more tightly.

"Let me help you." Jacko said sincerely. "It's my fault for pushing you this far." Jack gave up and let the immortal lead him out of the graveyard and down the street. They turned down the dead end alley where they'd first met and Jack resisted again. Again, he failed to free himself. "It's okay, my place is hidden here." He explained.

"Let's get you inside. You can rest up and we can get better acquainted." He reached out and tapped at a brick. The false wall disappeared and a door emerged and opened.

NOTE: Well, there we are! Next chapter, expect some more fun with Pitch Black! Also, we'll get to know a bit more about Jacko including the origins of his mask. Will Pitch be able to track Jack, even with his own power failure? Stay tuned...er follow or favorite to find out! Lol, thanks for the read and as always, feel free to review!