Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Rise of the Guardians or Sword Art Online
Kirito had collapsed on his back, nearly dead after the battle. Jack was facing his own issues, though, the issue with explaining his staff and magic to his own guild and the remainder of the army that had recklessly charged into this fight earlier. "Why is he doing this? Is Pitch trying to recreate the Guardians in here?" Jaimie asked, looking over at Jack as he put away his sand whips. Jack was still holding onto his staff though, not willing to let go of his connection to winter so soon after he had gotten it back. It seemed that having this power also came with his old look, his signature hoodie and brown pants had returned and his footwear and gloves had vanished from sight.
"No…this game isn't what I thought it was supposed to be at all. This isn't his ideal world…its his way to practice killing off the Guardians! He's bringing them all to the game so he can destroy us in a virtual world first." Jack said, his eyes wide as he turned back towards Jaimie.
"Wait, what? I don't get how that would work out. I mean, I'm nothing like Sandy." Jaimie insisted, but Jack already saw what was happening too well.
"Maybe not, but you're closer to him than any other player in this world. You have big dreams here, Jaimie, and you're the only person here who can turn nightmares into good dreams. I got my own powers because, of course, I am the real Jack Frost and no one else can have nearly as much fun as I can." he commented, flying over to Kirito who was sitting up and recovering from his ordeal. The others were staring after Jack in confusion, but he had to confirm his suspicions. "Kirito! When you look an Aincrad, what do you see?" he asked, watching the boy frown.
"Uh, a tower I guess." Kirito commented, not understanding what he was supposed to say.
"You are amazed by it, aren't you? The sights you see here, the food, the experiences, it all just fills you with wonder, right?" Jack asked, watching Kirito shrug.
"I guess, I'm still a bit out of it right now, though." Kirito replied, sitting up only to be surprised when Asuna rushed over and hugged him.
"You reckless idiot!" she cried, clinging to him tightly as Jack began wondering who else would join them. Jaimie's eyes were wide too, seeing exactly what Jack was seeing now that it had been pointed out.
"So…he's bringing us all together…so he can learn about your weaknesses in the real world while strengthening himself with the fear this game will bring." Jaimie said, understanding it too well now.
"Exactly, that is the whole point. I can't believe I didn't see it before! I mean, why else would I be given my magic in a game that isn't supposed to have magic?" Jack asked, pacing around the room as he spoke.
"Hey, uh guys? Do you mind explaining what you are talking about? Because I'd certainly like to know how you used magic myself. What kind of a skill was that anyway?" Kleine demanded, interrupting Jack's thoughts.
"Oh, that? It's rather simple, really. I can use magic because I am Jack Frost." he said with a grin, flipping through the air and balancing on his staff when he landed. Jaimie laughed at the sight while the others simply stared at him with wide eyes. Even Kirito looked a bit surprised to see Jack like this. "Anyway, how can all of you see me? I mean, I get Kirito and Believer, but the rest of you never showed any signs of believing I was real." Jack asked, frowning at the one thing he hadn't been able to figure out.
"What's that got to do with anything? I mean, of course you're real, how else could you even be in this game?" Kleine asked, clearly thinking it was a dumb question.
Jack began to realize it too, the more he thought about it. They knew he was real because his character existed. Someone had to exist that controlled that character so everyone he had interacted with, anyone he had even talked to in this world, would believe he was real even if they didn't know who they were believing in. "Jack Frost is a children's fairy tale, that's why he's surprised. You know, like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and so on." Kirito explained, still looking exhausted with Asuna clinging to him.
"Wait, what? He's some kind of fairy tale?" Kleine replied, rubbing his hair as he tried to remember the stories about Jack Frost.
"Uh, sorta I guess. I'm rather curious to know who will get the other abilities, though." Jack said, glancing over at Jaimie and Kirito. "What other abilities? You mean like the extra skill I picked up?" Kirito asked, interested in this part at least. Jack nodded, jumping off of his staff and swinging it around in his grip.
"Exactly like that. You have more wonder than any player in the game is my guess, so you got North's abilities. Believer here is the biggest dreamer so he ended up with Sandy's. I got my own….all that's left is Bunny and Tooth. Who has the most hope and the strongest memory? You know, he might actually go with the largest obsession with teeth instead of memory now that I think about it." Jack commented, glancing around the group here.
"Wait a second, you are telling me that magic has been a part of this game since day one? Come on man, why didn't you help the rest of us out back then?" Kleine complained, looking a bit upset.
Jack sighed, shaking his head at the other player. "It isn't that simple. Back then, I didn't have my magic because this staff didn't exist. It actually appeared in my inventory around the time of the christmas eve event, but I still didn't want to use it. My existence is tied to belief. Basically, if you believe I'm real, you can see me. If you don't, I'm invisible to the world." Jack explained, crouching down on the ground. "I was enjoying being seen by everyone for once, for the first time in three hundred years to be honest. I didn't want it to end so soon." Jack said quietly, sighing and standing back up with a grin.
"That's just….that doesn't even really make sense!" Kleine commented, not understanding the concept. Asuna was looking back at him, frowning but nodding at his statement.
"Actually, it does. It explains why we never see him around in Japan, when he obviously has the ability to stop by whenever he wants. With magic over snow, I imagine plenty of our blizzards were caused by him, so we should have seen him but since we were not aware of his existence, we couldn't." she said, defending Jack. "Is that where your name came from, Believer?" she asked, looking toward Jaimie who nodded and gave Jack a grin.
"Of course! I'll always believe in the Guardians, no matter what happens." he claimed, while Jack chuckled in response, ruffling the kid's hair.
"What are these Guardians you keep mentioning? I thought that we were the Guardians, you know cause of the guild and everything." Kleine asked, while Jack shrugged and began walking around the room, leaving a trail of frost behind with his staff. He had missed being able to do this, the ability to use his powers. He had to do something with it now or he would go crazy with boredom during this conversation.
"Guardians of Childhood, and they were the inspiration for the guild actually. Chosen by the Man in the Moon, we all protect the children of the world and help them believe in us for as long as we can. Rather exclusive in the real world, including Bunny, Sandy, North, Tooth, and myself." Jack told them, feeling the eyes of everyone follow his movements.
"Wait, so that event boss we fought…he was created based on your friend?" Kirito asked, watching Jack nod in response.
"Yeah, he was. Pitch did a good job with that one, though he did miss the guy's obsession with christmas. On christmas eve back home, he would have been way to busy making toys and getting prepared to deal with intruders. We would have fought against Phil if he wanted it to be that realistic." Jack said, shaking his head with a sigh.
"Phil?" Kirito asked, confused by the name.
"Right, one of his yetis. They help make the toys and guard his workshop." Jack explained. "Anyway, this game is being run by a man by the name of Pitch Black, AKA Kayaba Akihiko. He's an old enemy of the Guardians it looks like this floor is where he is introducing magic into the game. Those things we just fought, they were his primary weapon in the real world." Jack told them, walking towards the exit as he spoke. He wanted to get a glance at the next floor after all of that hard work he put in.
"Wait, you're saying our enemy has magic too now? Come on, that's not fair!" Kleine complained, still looking rather upset over the fact.
"He's had his magic this whole time, he just had yet to use it. Anyway, Kirito, if you are ever interested in joining a guild again, let me know. What you just did here, you've more than proved yourself worthy of being a Guardian of Aincrad to me. Besides, the five of us will need to stick together once we all end up with our new skills." Jack told him, watching the swordsman nod and look thoughtfully down at Asuna.
"Go ahead and invite me, I guess. I'm about to reach my limits as a solo player anyway." he commented, making Jack grin wildly at him and send him an invite.
"Hey, what about the oath?" Kleine said, while Jack grinned wider at the statement.
"Oh, right! Sorry, forgot about it. I just didn't expect him to say yes to joining." Jack commented, while Asuna looked just as surprised as well.
"You aren't the only one. He's always been a bit of a loner." she said, but her gaze turned towards Jack quickly. "Anyway, you better not work him too hard. He's going to be playing with me for a while after this, so he won't be available to do….whatever it is you do in your guild." Asuna said, realizing she really didn't know much about the second largest guild in the game.
"Not a problem, I'm all about playing the game for fun anyway." Jack told her, while Jaimie rushed forward next to him.
"Can I do it this time? You always get to do it and you can't keep a straight face for the oath anyway." he asked, while Jack nodded and stepped back.
"Sweet! Okay, so do you, Kirito, vow to watch over the players of this world? To guard them with your life—their hopes, their wishes and their dreams— for we are all in this together, they are all that we have, and all that we will ever need." he said with a grin on his face, watching Kirito blink in surprise.
"Uh, okay. Do all of your guild members go through that before joining?" Kirito asked, looking up at Jack who nodded.
"Of course, though I think giving the oath has become your responsibility. You were the one who got North's skill, after all." he claimed, laughing at the look on Kirito's face after he said that.
"Well, I'm not going to be quiet like Sandy. Sorry, but that isn't me, Frost." Jaimie commented, watching the winter spirit laugh once more.
"Oh, you will be silent, Believer. I have a way of showing you what happens when you aren't." Jack said, adjusting his grip on his staff with a grin. He swung it around, creating snow in the room and laughing as a snowball formed in his hand, which he immediately used on Jaimie. The kid laughed as it hit him, quickly making his own snowball with Jack's newly made snow.
"You are so on!" Jaimie yelled, trying to hit Jack as he began flying around the room with a grin.
"Man, he sure is a handful isn't he?" Asuna commented, watching as Kleine and the rest of the guild joined in the fun. Kirito nodded in agreement, watching from the edge of the room as the snowball fight grew larger and even began to include the surviving members of the army that had started this fight originally.
"Come on, Kirito, show us what you've got. I'll even give you some ammo to use, since we all had a head start." Jack said, creating snowballs right next to him.
"It's fun, come on!" Jaimie added, seeing the doubtful look on Kirito's face. With a sigh, he got up along with Asuna and picked up one of the snowballs, glancing at the winter spirit before throwing it towards him.
"Are you sure this isn't going to kill you? I mean, you are being hit with projectiles, I don't really know what this will do to your HP." Kirito commented, watching Jack laugh and land, covered in snow from all of the snowballs thrown at him.
"Trust me, I did this before when it snowed near christmas. It isn't viewed as a weapon in the game, so it doesn't do anything to your HP." Jack explained, watching as Jaimie continued throwing snow at Kleine.
"You really are the Guardian of Fun, aren't you?" Kirito commented, noticing how happy all of the players here were.
Jack nodded with a smile, tossing a snowball up and down in his hand. "Yep, the moon told me so." he said, watching Kirito sigh and shake his head. "And in this world, you are the Guardian of Wonder. Believer is the Guardian of Dreams. Hey! Does anyone else have some new unique ability or item?"" Jack said, calling out to the other players and stopping the snowball fight. He watched them begin checking their menus, looking for something. Many of them were shaking their heads, but Kleine seemed to be grinning.
"No way! Look at this, I've got something here! Let's see…Weapon of Hope….projectile class…comes with special teleport abilities and strength boost….maximizes art skill, who needs that?…." Kleine was mumbling.
"No way, you got Bunny's weapon? Well, go ahead and equip it, we'll need you to get used to it soon enough." Jack told him, watching Kleine nod and pull it out.
"Whoa! This thing is huge!" Kleine commented, noticing just how large the boomerang in his hands was.
"That's probably the reason for the strength boost. You'll need to to use the weapon in the first place." Jack told him. "Oh, and for the teleport abilities, be prepared. The tunnels can be fun, but the other Guardians didn't like them all that much." Jack added, thinking about his one trip to the Warren.
"I think…I've got something. Three new abilities….Summoning, Wings, and Tooth Sense…what are those?" Asuna asked, frowning slightly.
Jack laughed brightly, amused with the third ability before flying over to her. "Ignore the third one for now, probably not all that useful. I imagine you can summon her army of mini fairies though…I wonder if he made Babytooth in here?" Jack wondered, glancing at her menu.
"Should I use it? Doesn't have a cool down…no limits on how many times I can use it…" she said, examining it closely.
Jack shrugged, curious himself to see what would happen. "Sure, if you want. I mean, I have a guess about what'll happen, but I can't be sure." he told her, watching her press the button.
They all waited, looking for something to happen rather quickly. "I don't think it did anything." Kirito commented, noticing that there wasn't anything changing around Asuna. Jack knew that Tooth's abilities didn't work like that, though, so he was looking towards the exit and the entrance of the boss room, waiting for the fairies to come flying in.
Jack squinted slightly, seeing a faint hint of green at the entrance of the room, grinning before flying over to it. "No it worked! Here they come!" he yelled, seeing hundreds of the mini fairies come flying towards Asuna. The girl shrieked, getting up and running away from the flying creatures that swarmed around her, chirping happily. One of them even brought her a tooth, which she frowned at as she stared at it.
"Uh..thanks?" she said to the fairy, watching it fly back off towards the others.
"You control them, Asuna! They're your army of fairies!" Jack told her, watching her face grow concerned over the idea.
"Don't worry, I'll get 'em off of you, Asuna!" Kleine yelled out, not hearing Jack's words. Jack rushed over to him just in time to stop him from throwing the boomerang, shaking his head at Kleine.
"Sorry, gotta stop you from that one, Kangaroo. That's her army, she controls all of them." Jack told him, watching him frown at his nickname.
"Kangaroo? What the hell, man?" he asked, while Jack laughed and flew off.
"Sorry, that's Bunny's nickname and since you have his powers…." Jack trailed off, watching Kleine sigh and let the boomerang rest, hanging behind his back just like Bunny's did.
"Uh, go back home please?" Asuna said nervously, watching the fairies chirp a bit sadly before following her directions.
She let out a breath of relief, while Kirito touched her shoulder gently as he saw her stress. "That was hilarious! You should have seen the look on your face when they came, Asuna." Jack commented with a grin, earning himself a glare from the girl.
"You could have given me a warning of some kind, Frost!" she yelled back, while the winter spirit simply laughed at her and flew off.
"Alright, just a bit of a heads up to everyone here. I suggest keeping what you saw here a secret. Pitch made this world to practice defeating the Guardians in real life. The five of us have been chosen to represent them in this world, so we are his main targets. We have about twenty floors left to practice our new powers before facing him, so I suggest we stay in contact and most importantly, remember to have some fun!" he yelled out.
Jack stared back at the grinning faces of his friends, feeling confident in themselves now. Pitch may be out there and he might be strong, but there was no way he would win against this group. They weren't the Guardians, but they were strong in their own way. They had all learned to stay strong and survive in this world and Jack was going to stick around to make sure they kept growing. This virtual world needed some Guardians and finally, they had all been chosen for battle. He just had to wait a little bit longer to finally face Pitch Black and end this once and for all.
Thank you to the guest who reviewed! Here is the update you asked for =D. I just finished one of the stories I was working on, so most of the current projects I have are low on reviews. I can't guarantee weekly updates for any of them with how quickly they are fluctuating in ranks...but for now, this story has the second most out of the ones I am working on. Keep reviewing if you want weekly updates! Thank you for all the support!