Naughty or Nice
Darkness loomed over the deserted land. Soft winds tickled the grass, picking up dust along the way. Pitch situated himself on top of the hill right by where his cabin once stood, attentively staring over towards the Enchanted Forest waiting for any sign of life.
He stays there for a while silently observing as the Guardians watched from below anxiously waiting for the signal.
With each passing minute the group grew even more anxious.
Jack's leg continuously shook as his nerves began to get the better of him.
Weapons drawn North doesn't pry his eyes away from the forest even for a moment.
Sword in hand Tooth remains focused despite being able to feel her heart feverishly pound in her chest.
Sandy uses the time to focus his energy ensuring to go at any given moment.
Taking a deep breath Bunny keeps his boomerangs and egg grenades close ready to pounce on the enemy.
Aster glances over to Sophie and takes her hand.
"Don't stray too far. And don't do nothin' rash! You got that?"
Nodding, Sophie brings her attention back towards the Enchanted Forest.
Seeing something in the distance Pitch raises a hand.
Nodding North whispers,
"They're here. Positions!"
The Guardians scatter about taking a spot where ever they were instructed to.
The bushes begin to shuffle as something was trying to push past through them.
Pitch lowers his hand signaling for the first wave to enter.
Jack takes his position and inches his way towards his intended target.
Lifting his stick he prepares to fire.
"Jack?"
His eyes widen. Dropping the stick he stares over to the little girl in complete shock.
Sophie covers her mouth as Aster numbly ogles in disbelief.
"Im-impossible."
Confused Tooth looks down at Sandy and asks,
"What is he doing? Why isn't he attacking!?"
Stepping out and revealing his position Jack walks over to the little girl.
"How is this possible?"
The girl turns around and smiles when she sees Jack step out of the bushes.
"Jack!"
She runs over and gives him a hug.
Still in a state of shock, Jack doesn't immediately return the hug and stands there looking down at her.
"But you're…you're my-"
Giggling she replies,
"Your sister silly!"
Meanwhile Sophie could see a tiny mouse struggling in the distance, beaten and bruised.
"Aster? Sophie? Pitch? Please…help me."
Sophie is just about to get up and run down the hill but is stopped by Aster.
"What are you doing!?"
"Stay put Soph! Somethin's up."
"Please…help me!"
The mouse collapses.
Sophie tries again to run to the injured mouse, but is held back by the Pooka.
"Aster! LET GO! Perez needs us!"
Covering her mouth he pulls her down before whispering in her ear.
"No he doesn't! He's dead Soph! That isn't him."
Jack finally kneels down and pulls the girl into a loving hug.
"I can't believe it! It's you! It's really you!"
"Oh Jack! I missed you so much!"
Unbeknownst to Jack the girl was lifting a knife behind his back.
Near tears he holds the girl tightly.
"I missed you to!"
Lifting the knife she wickedly smiles.
"Don't ever leave me Jack. Not now not ever."
"Never…I'm never leaving you."
North gasps when he notices what the girl was doing.
"JACK! GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Plunging the knife the girl is surprised to hear a clanging sound instead of the boy's screams.
"Huh?"
Looking up she is met with a pair of angry violet eyes.
"Your tricks don't work on me Toothiana."
Pouting Toothiana reveals her true from.
"Ugh! Such a party pooper."
Smiling she pulls out her sword and slashes down at the opposing fairy.
Tooth barely dodges the attack as a small amount of her feathers are cut off.
Coming to the realization that his sister was all but an illusion, fueled by anger Jack reaches for his stick and joins in.
He is just about to attack Toothiana, but before he could do anything he is whisked away by the cuff of his hood.
"HEY!"
Looking up, Jack is more annoyed to see Frost dragging him high above the gloomy sky.
Struggling against the man's grip, Jack screams,
"Let go!"
"Whatever you say."
He pries Jack's stick away before letting go of the boy.
Gasping Jack could feel himself getting heavy as he begins to fall back towards earth.
North rushes forward and cries out to his friend,
"Sandy!"
Nodding, Sandy begins to form a sea of sand right below where Jack was expected to land.
Frost watches as the boy gently lands on the bed of sand, only to turn away when he suddenly hears a swooshing sound coming directly from behind.
Looking back he notices a boomerang flying towards him.
Flicking his head to the side he barely dodges the attack.
Laughing he shouts back at Bunny,
"Is that all you-Oh crap!"
A swarm of grenade eggs are thrown towards him.
With no possible way of dodging Frost has no choice but to retreat via portal.
Tooth continued to fight with Toothiana, who unexpectedly falls back despite having the advantage.
Clenching his fist Pitch shouts over to North.
"They know North! They know!"
Raising his sword North screams,
"Guardians!"
Having little to no say in the matter all the Guardians step forward and regroup at the top of the hill.
"So much for the element of surprise." Bunny says sarcastically.
Looking over the horizon Jack points over towards the Enchanted Forest and shouts,
"Look!"
They all turn their attention back towards the forest.
There standing by the entrance were the big five; Frost, Toothiana, Kris, Pitch Black, and Manual.
Pitch standing by North grimaces when he sees Kris standing alongside Manual.
"Brother."
Kris lifts his cigar and gently places it in his mouth and lights it.
"Nothing like the smell of blood to get your heart racing."
Manual sporting a black suit of armor steps forward and addresses Pitch along with his new found Guardians.
"This is a battle you will surely lose Pitch! Pledge your allegiance to me and I can wield you powers unlike anything you have every imagined."
Disgusted, Pitch angrily shouts back,
"Never! I will do everything in my power to assure you that you will not pass these gates!"
Not the least bit surprise over Pitch's reaction towards his offer, Manual reaches back and reveals a huge black sword with a ruby stone lying in the center of the handle.
"Very well can't say I didn't warn you."
Lifting his sword, the clouds remove themselves revealing a massive full moon.
Shadows come to life and position themselves behind Manual and his minions.
Toothiana calls upon her fairies, Pitch his nightmares, and Kris his Yetis.
In an instant Manual had an army standing behind him ready to do battle.
The group watched in awe as Manual's numbers instantly grew right before their eyes.
Concerned Sophie looks to Pitch for answers.
"What do we do now?"
Remaining true to his nature, Pitch shows no sign of worry and calmly replies to her,
"The only thing we can do. Fight."
Swallowing hard, Jack tightly grasps his stick.
"I know I haven't done much as a Guardian, but I wanted to let you guys know that I'm proud to be standing here with all of you."
North reaches over and grabs Bunny's hand.
Surprised Bunny looks up to North who was lovingly staring back at the Pooka.
"Come back to me."
"North…"
Tooth reaches over and takes Sandy's hand.
"Let' do our best."
An image of a thumbs up appears above Sandy's head.
Sophie always knew that this day would come. It was the sole reason for her rigorous training. Day in and day out she watched as her childhood left her as she took on the role of Guardian. Even after all these years of preparation, she was scared.
She nearly yelps when she feels a soft hand gently take hers.
She is met with a smile as Aster soothingly says.
"Don't yoos worry yourself none Butterfly. I'm here. I'm not goin' ta let nothing happen to you."
She could feel herself instantly warm-up to the name.
"What…what did you just call me?"
Not saying another word he pets her on the head and places a kiss on her forehead.
Closing his eyes, Pitch begins to glow a vibrant yellow.
They could instantly feel his power rising.
Sophie takes note and does the same.
Huge fuchsia wings appear on her back as the two spring emblems suddenly appear on her bicep.
Opening his eyes Pitch calmly says,
"They're coming."
Raising his hands Manual gradually possesses and takes control of the army as they begin to glow a red hue.
"Alive or dead it doesn't matter to me. All I care for is breaking the barrier connecting both worlds."
Taking one last puff, Kris throws his cigar to the ground and stomps on it before reaching back and revealing his two guns.
"Bah! Too much talk! Just stay out of my way. Remember, North is mine! "
Pitch Black couldn't help but smile as he watched the Guardians tremble in fear over their vast numbers. Revenge was all but bitter sweet and to know they would be going down in such a dreadful way was all too pleasing for the king of nightmares.
"Now it's your turn to beg for mercy and watch as each of you fall under my hands." Pitch wickedly said under his breath.
Manual smiles.
"Go."
The army of nightmares rush forward towards the Guardians in a tidal wave of numbers.
Sophie takes Sandy's hand and flies towards the nightmares.
"Ready Sandy!?"
The tiny Guardian nods.
"OK! Here we go!"
Stopping she stands in the middle of the battlefield along with Sandy.
Closing her eyes, she begins to glow as the floor begins to tremble.
Raising her hands, she kneels and touches the floor.
Taking his cue, Sandy unleashes a wall of sand.
Trees and vines burst from the floor and entangle themselves into the wall.
With their powers combined, the wall continued to grow creating a force field.
Charging forward despite seeing the wall the nightmares crash and explode upon making contact.
Thorns from the trees protruded stabbing whoever stepped too close to the wall.
The nightmares too dumb to realize what was happening continued to crash against the wall only to explode from Sophie's attacks.
Smiling Jack brings up his fist and screams.
"YES!"
Pitch worriedly looks down at the girl and looks over to North,
"She won't last at this rate. Whatever we intend to do, we have to do it now!"
North grabbing his swords calls out,
"You heard him! Do not hold back! Remember! No matter what happens, stick to the plan!"
Tooth nods before taking Jack's hand.
Jack looks at the fairy and proudly smiles at her.
"Let's show them what we're really made of."
Smiling she replies,
"My thoughts exactly."
Aster prepares himself a tunnel.
"Ready mate?"
Bunny gives the Pooka a smug look.
"Ready…mate."
Aster laughs.
"Then let's go!"
Bunny prepares himself a tunnel as they both individually jump into their own tunnels.
Manual stares at the wall.
"Mother Nature is proving to be a lot more powerful than I thought.
Pointing his gun directly at the girl Kris sadistically asks the man,
"Want me to take care of her?"
"No need. I already have something in store for her. Go and take care of your counterpart. I'm sure he would like to see you after all these years."
Manual is surprised to hear a gunshot.
Sophie looks up to see the wall had prevented the bullet from lodging into her head.
Smiling Kris casually blows the smoke coming from the barrel of the gun.
"Your lost."
He runs towards North as Manual watched him with a callous eye.
Sandy had softened the sand momentarily allowing for Tooth, North, and Jack to cross.
Toothiana notices the trio making their way towards the battlefield.
"Hey handsome. Ready for round two?"
Frost looks over towards where she was looking.
"Not this time. I was instructed to stay here until Manual gave me the signal."
Shrugging her shoulders she crudely replies back to the winter sprite,
"Suite yourself."
Snapping her fingers her tooth fairies make their way and stand by their boss.
"Ladies. Shall we?"
Their little eyes grow red as they nod in excitement.
She flies down towards Tooth and Jack who seem to be waiting for her.
Tooth narrows her eyes when she notices the dark fairy flying towards them.
"Get ready Jack."
Holding his stick, it begins to glow a soft blue.
"Oh I'm ready."
Toothiana begins to glow a soft purple.
"Ready or not! HERE I COME!"
Tooth stands her ground, sword ready.
Lifting her sword Toothiana powers it up before slashing down at the fairy.
"Nighty night! Don't let the bed bugs bite!"
Her sword makes contact with Tooth's as a wave of power shakes the battlefield.
Violently flying back Toothiana is surprised by the power she had just encountered.
"WHAT!? HOW!?"
Standing behind Tooth was Jack holding onto her sword transforming it into an ice saber.
Pouting she looks down at the pair disgruntled.
"Oh, so that's how we're going to play this game? Alright then. Ladies."
The fairies gather around her creating a wall around the dark fairy.
Jack and Tooth watch waiting to see what would appear from the wall of tooth fairies.
Laughing, Toothiana steps out in a new suit of armor and a crisp white sword.
"I got a few tricks up my sleeves as well. Care to try them out?"
Flipping the sword and gracefully catching it, she points it directly over towards Tooth.
Unmoved Tooth stares back at Toothiana and cooly says,
"Try me."
Toothiana playfully winks at Tooth and says,
"Oh…I plan to."
Toothiana rushes forward as Tooth grabs Jack.
"JACK!"
Taking his cue he grabs her sword and ignites the power of the ice sabre.
Both swords clash creating a small shock wave that could be felt nearby.
Meanwhile North was trying his best to takeout whatever enemies came his way.
Slashing wildly bodies began to pile around the man as blood smeared his already red coat.
A sound from around the bend catches his ear as he turns around just in time to miss Kris from punching him in the face.
Standing there North could feel his blood run cold.
"Kris…"
Smirking, Kris pulls off his coat and throws it to the side.
"Hello North. Missed me?"
Snarling, North lifts his swords and charges the man.
Kris easily steps to the side and dodges the attack.
Fueled by anger, North quickly turns around and prepares himself to once again attack his arch rival.
"I see you're still angry from our last visit. Tell me. Is it because I killed your lover Aster…or was it because I raped him?"
That was all it took for North to blindly charge forward.
Having the upper hand Kris can see that he has a clear shot of North and brings his gun up to fire.
A portal appears inches away from Kris as Aster jumps up grabbing the gun just in time for Kris to shoot into the air instead of at North.
Growling Kris begins to battle it out with the Pooka.
"ASTER!"
Aster manages to twist Kris' wrist and land a kick directly to his face.
Falling back, Kris stumbles his way back onto his feet.
Wiping the blood now forming on his lips he looks up at the pair standing before him.
Smiling he sarcastically says,
"Ah! Aster! North! Just like old times."
Nostrils flaring, Aster manages to keep his cool.
"Kris…you bloody bastard."
"Aww! Aster. That is no way in greeting an old friend."
"We're not friends. We were never friends."
Seeing an opportunity to chastise the pair, Kris continues on with his antics.
"Really? You could have fooled me. I mean the way you moaned when I pushed myself into you would lead me to believe otherwise."
Having heard enough North charges forward.
Aster knowing full well what Kris was trying to do tries to stop North from falling into one of his traps.
"NORTH! DON'T!"
Kris lifts his gun, but is taken aback when he is kicked in the back of the head.
Falling into the dirt he looks back and is surprised to meet a pair of amber green eyes.
"BACK OFF COBBER!"
Bunny stands above the man ready to kick him again if deemed necessary.
Taking a moment he looks over to North to see Aster still standing by him.
"Ah…the Aster of your world."
"That's BUNNY ta yoos! "
He gives Kris another quick swift kick to the face.
Spitting the blood forming in his mouth he couldn't help but laugh.
"So tell me North. Which of these two are a better fuck? My money goes on this one here."
Angered by his words, Bunny brings his foot down but is surprised to see the man firmly grab a hold of it.
"Oh no. First two times were free. This one is going to cost you."
He easily flings Bunny to the side before rolling over and grabbing his gun.
He quickly points it towards Bunny and fires.
Bunny being as fast as he was easily jumps out of the way of the bullet.
Aster jumps in and lands a punch directly on Kris face as North runs in and tries to stab the man with one of his swords.
The sword nicks at Kris' cheek causing a small cut to form and trickle a small stream of blood.
Wiping the blood Kris glances over at the trio.
"Three against one. How noble."
Aster steps forward and tells the man.
"You know nothin' of the word! You're not leaving this battlefield alive! I'll make sure of that."
Kris was growing tired of the Pooka's back talk.
"Nothing has changed Aster. I will always be better than you. I will always own you. YOU will always be that Pooka whoring their body for my money. You're nothing. Don't you forget how you cried under my power as your daughter watched and begged for mercy. You were nothing then. You are nothing now."
"You're wrong. I've changed. And I can promise yoos that I will never bow down ta you or your kind ever again. That's a promise I made to myself and a promise I made for Sophie. I will never be afraid of you. Without fear you're nothin' Kris and I can tell you none of us here are afraid of you. Now tell me. How does it feel to be at the bottom? "
Nostrils flaring and red veins piercing his bright blue eyes Kris instinctively brings up his gun and shouts.
"SHUT UP! YOU'RE NOTHING! YOU WILL ALWAYS AND FOREVER BE A WHORE!"
Aster stands his ground showing not an ounce of fear.
"I'm not afraid of yoos."
Manual looking over the battleground glances back up at the moon before reaching into his pocket.
He pulls out a black stone.
Playing with the stone for a moment, he whispers,
"It's time."
Taking the stone he removes the ruby stone and places the black stone into the sword's open slot.
Lifting his sword up at the moon, he closes his eyes as a red aura surrounds his body.
"I call upon you Guardian. Rise and lend me your power."
Pitch's eyes widen.
"No…"
Stabbing the sword into the ground Manual whispers,
"Rise…Death."
The earth began to shake violently.
The force was so strong that everybody was forced to their knees.
The floor began to crack as a hole formed in the middle of the battlefield.
A skeletal hand reached up from the hole as another hand appears grasping onto the soil.
Wherever the hands landed everything in its path instantly died.
A number of Yetis made the mistake of standing exactly where the hand landed instantly killing a number of them.
Sophie's eyes widen as the huge skeletal figure made its appearance before her.
Sandy stood there with his mouth gapped open as Death himself pulled himself out of the hole.
With half his body still in the hole he was easily taller than a skyscraper.
Pitch Black watched in amazement. Never had he seen Death and his appearance and power presence alone would forever be marked in his memories.
Lifting his sword Manual shouts at the enormous Guardian.
"Show them what you're made of!"
Death let's out an ear piercing screech as he lifts his arm and prepares to smash the wall made by Sandy and Sophie.
Pitch reaches out and screams for Sophie and Sandy to back off.
"SOPHIE! SANDY! RUN AWAY!"
Death makes direct contact with the wall creating a shockwave of power so powerful it temporarily renders the battlefield useless.
Sophie and Sandy stand their ground despite Pitch's warnings.
Aster notices that Sophie is endanger, leaving Kris alone with Bunny and North as he rushes over to her.
"SOPHIE!"
Kris uses the opportunity and grabs Bunny into a chock hold while placing a gun to his temple.
North is just about to attack but is stopped when he sees Kris is just about to pull the trigger.
"Don't move."
North freezes on the spot.
Bunny stands there angry that he had allowed himself to be put in such a bad situation.
Looking directly at North , Bunny says to him,
"No matter what, stick ta the plan."
North could feel his heart racing.
"Bunny…"
Sophie focusing all of her energy on maintaining the wall can feel herself getting weaker.
Manual becomes aware of her wings as they begin to flicker showing signs that she has nearly given it her all, signals for Death to deal the final blow.
"DO IT! DO IT NOW!"
Raising his hand Death prepares himself and brings down his hand.
The hand lands directly on the wall causing it to shatter into a million pieces.
Sandy violently flies back landing nearby unconscious.
Sophie screams out in pain, arching her back as her wings shatter.
The force was so powerful that all of the Guardians collapse.
Trying his best to hold on to the Pooka, Kris let's go as he falls under the intense power of Death.
North rushes forward and pulls Bunny towards him as both of them nearly collapse from Death's power aura.
Jack could feel his chest clenching as Death's power grew even more than what it was at the beginning of the battle.
Aster weakly pushes himself off the floor trying to reach out to his daughter.
"Sophie…"
Seeing that he had the advantage Manual confidently yells out to the fallen Guardians.
"On your knees Guardians! Bow down before your new God!"
With the wall down and Sophie powerless Manual signals over to Frost who is still floating above the battlefield and in direct shot of Sophie.
"Frost."
The man nods and prepares a shard of ice.
"Game over."
Pitch gasps when he realizes exactly what Frost was doing.
"SOPHIE!"
Breathing deeply Sophie gets on her knees and bravely looks back up at Frost.
She closes her eyes and accepts her fate.
Frost fires the ice shard directly at her.
Aster's eyes widen as he screams,
"BUTTERFLY!"
Blood splatters as the ice shard makes contact with the body.
Eyes still closed Sophie is surprised when she feels nothing, but a strange warmness surrounding her.
Frost's arm drops as he stares in disbelief.
Aster eyes then soften as he sadly says,
"Jamie…"
Opening her eyes Sophie sees a man with his arms wrapped around her neck.
Confused she pulls away and sees the shard of ice going through his torso.
Gasping for air Jamie tenderly tells her,
"Sophie…I'm…I'm so sorry."
Tears were now streaming down the man's face.
Not quite sure as to exactly what has happened, she asks him,
"Who are you?"
Laughing he whispers,
"A nobody trying to repent for their past mistakes."
Frost trembling with anger flies down and grabs the man as he collapses.
Frost frantically looks over the damages as he begins to cry.
"JAMIE! You idiot! What did you do!?"
Weakily looking over to the sprite he says,
"You..promised. You promised Sophie…wouldn't get hurt."
Frost cries as he holds onto his best friend.
"Things changed Jamie! You weren't suppose to-"
The fading man interrupts him and adds,
"Die? Things changed Frost. Just…just like you."
His hand goes limp, leaving the sprite to hold his lifeless cold body.
Gasping he gives the man a soft shake.
"Jamie? Jamie! JAMIE!"
A rush of cold air and ice surround the battlefield as Frost losses himself to his emotions.
Aster rushes over and helps Sophie up.
"You alright?"
She nods.
"Yeah. Who was that?"
Aster somberly looks down at the lifeless body.
"A hero. A fair dinkum noble of a hero."
Tired of the melancholy scenery, Manual orders for his minions to attack.
"The moment is now! ATTACK!"
Gently placing down Jamie's body, Frost turns to Manual and says,
"No."
Surprised he asks,
"What did you say?"
Walking over Frost stands by Aster and Sophie,
"I said no. No more killing! I'm done Manual! THIS is where I stand."
Unmoved by Frost's actions Manual asks,
"You think by you joining them that you will be able to defeat me and my army?
"No, but together we will."
Surprised, Manual looks over to see a huge portal open.
Stepping through is Manny, Grim, Sophie along with every Guardian of their world.
"Ah Bunny! You look a bit worse for wear there ya bum!"
The Groundhog helped lift Bunny from the floor lending him a shoulder to lean on.
"We're all here."
Aphrodite gently lifted Tooth up.
North's Yetis stormed through along with Tooth's fairies and Bunny's Stone Egg Guardians.
Manual grimaced as he saw a stream of Guardians make their way out of the portal and into their world.
North remained speechless when he saw Manny take his place on the battle field.
Lifting his sword and revealing his own Excalibur he proudly points it towards Manual before claiming.
"It would appear that we may have even out the playing field."
Desperate Manual confidently boasts,
"Numbers mean nothing when we've got Death by our side!"
Grim takes his position by Manny and says,
"And so do they."
Pitch Blacks notices Manual take a step back upon hearing the other man claim that they too had a sector 6 Guardian.
"What's wrong?"
Fueled by his desperation for power Manual composes himself and replies,
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
New shadows are formed as Manual re-grew his shadow army.
Manny notices and brings his attention back to Manual.
"This is a battle you will not win!"
"I'll see to it that you don't."
Manny lifts his sword and calls out,
"Guardians!"
Regrouping they all gather above the hill mirroring Manual's army.
Manual stares diffidently back towards Manny before regrouping his army.
"My nightmares are ready. Are your Guardians?"
Manny doesn't flinch.
"This is where your journey ends Manual."
"We'll see about that."
Black vs White. Both sides are ready and prepared to take part in a battle to end all battles! No room for errors. Bad or good…naughty or nice, they are ready to give it all they got!