Chapter 10!
I consider this a test for how well I do action sequences. It's not as great as I would like it but hopefully it's satisfying for you all.
Ready and enjoy!.
"Okay, think Jack. So this isn't going to be as easy as you thought so what? There has to be a way of getting to the middle …..without killing myself." Jack muttered to himself. The four guardians had followed Steve to the training room and were now all in one of Angel's training routines. This particular routine was a very large, very complicated maze, the point was to find your way to the middle of the maze without bumping into or accidentally smacking into one of the many dummies that were located throughout the maze.
Steve had instructed the group that the maze would change every 5 minutes so the faster they found the middle the better and informed them that they could not fly, this was the main goal of the maze. It helped train Angel in walking around humans without bumping into them with her wings, this was essential since she would often have to get up close and personal with some of her clients,as she called them.
The four had decided to make the routine more interesting and each started at different starting points and made the it into a race first one would get bragging rights over the others. At first Jack thought it would be a breeze until he realized that the dummies also moved and if they so happened to just brush past you they would give a shock and depending on the amount of contact placed on the dummy the shock would just be amplified. He learned that the hard way when a dummy just seemingly just sprung out at him and accidently walked into it. Jack also couldn't help but hear North voice shout out some very un-Santa Clausy language.
He figured the others were also having some difficulties considering he heard Sandy's sand smacking at something wth enough strength to cause a the room to tremble just a little and Tooth's squeak of surprise and groans of frustration.
It was now going on 45 minutes into the routine and Jack was becoming quite frustrated, he shouted out," Has anyone made it to the middle yet?"
"No!" he heard Tooth reply.
"Still in the maze." North's voice replied.
A giant hand formed on top of the maze for the other to see, it formed a thumbs down and a frowny face.
Jack heard Steve squawk, "If you want I can speed up the process a little."
Before any of the guardian could answer the walls started to shift and fall and rebuild over and over again. Jack had to hop out of the way to dodge the dummies that started to pop out of nowhere.
Elsewhere Tooth was skipping and darting out of the way of the walls and North was running jumping over the walls as he sunk low before they rose again all the while dodge dummies that sprang forth. Sandy simply did a a two step of just taking a step to his right and then his left, turn, repeat.
"Steve!" Jack called out, " I think you can slow it down a b- OW!" He had bumped into a dummy and fell onto the ground only to be shot up into the air by a upcoming wall. "AHHHH!" He screamed.
He landed face down and heard, "Well if you insist." a small click sounded and the walls stopped moving and the dummies stopped running.
Jack heard a chuckle and felt himself being lifted up. "Having fun Jack?" He was set on his feet and looked up at North's smiling face.
Jack rubbed his face, "Oh sure I like being tossed up in the air and plummet into the ground. Real fun." He smoothed out his hoodie.
North laughed, "Ah well it's not fun and games until someone is hurt." He patted Jack on his back.
"I don't think that's how that saying goes…"Jack stopped when he realized that his staff was missing. "ARgh. Great now my staff's gone."
"Anyone seen Jack's twig?"NOrth called out.
"It's not a twig it's a -"
"Yeah I got it!" tooth responded somewhere in the Maze.
North smiled, "great. See? it's not lost. You'll get it once I find the middle." He started walking down the aisle.
"Whoa.. you think you're going to get there first?" Jack asked his eyebrow raised, following North.
North nodded, "Of course."
Jack smirked, "Sorry to burst your bubble old man but I got this in the bag." He walked in front.
North stopped walking and raised his arms," WHat's with the old man today. I am not that old."
Jack laughed, "Uhhhhh yeah you are. Anyway you won't find the middle."
"Why do you say that?"
Jack stopped walking and grinned evilly, "Cause you're going to be busy getting out of all that ice."
"What ic-?" North felt a cold breeze as Jack swept past him. Next thing North knows he's shoulder length deep in ice.
"Later North!" Jack said as he ran away leaving a very disgruntled Santa pop.
North called out, "Jack get back here before I put you back on the naughty list!" He was answered by laughter as Jack got further and further away.
North struggled in the ice block for a minute before he was greeted by Tooth holding onto Jack's staff.
"Uh …. is everything okay North?" Tooth asked as she walked up to him.
North shook his head, "No, Jack froze me here to stop me from beating the rest of you. So please Tooth help me get out of this block of water." He struggled against the ice.
Tooth raised a brow and stopped short in front for him, "Excuse me? You think you were going to beat me?"
North sighed, "Yes. Of course. I am Santa Claus so I should be better than the rest of yo-" he stopped short when he saw Tooth with her arm crossed. He laughed sheepishly, "That is what I meant to say….. you see… I…."
Tooth turned up her nose and walked past North, his excuses falling on deaf ears.
North, realizing that she was just going to leave him, started to panic a little, " Wait Tooth don't go! Help me! PLease?!" He then got somewhat angry, " Don't make me put you on the naughty list!"
"Oh I'm so scared!' He heard Tooth reply before he was once again left alone.
He huffed once then started trying to shake the ice black, slowly it started to rock back and forth just slightly. He stopped when the walls started to shift again, the wall to his right slid down and revealed Sandy, with his back to North.
Happy to see the golden man North Called out, "Sandy! My friend!'
Sandy turned in surprised and smiled. He waved but stopped when he noticed North's condition. He frowned and formed a tiny jack above his head with his sand followed by a question mark, he started to walk toward the larger man.
North sighed, "Yes Jack did this. He is just so competitive, always trying to win." Sandy raised his eyebrow at him but his sign of criticism was ignore by North as the man continued, "So since you are here mind helping me out of this ice?"
Sandy nodded and formed jackhammer and hard hat, right before he began the task of getting North free, said man decided to add on, "The other two don't want me to win, but we all know I will." He laughed, but stopped when he noticed Sandy wasn't hammering away and when he looked down on the little man, his tool and hat disappeared. North replied with a, "What?"
Sandy rolled his eyes and gave a huff. He formed a small ball of sand.
North's eyes grew wide, "Sandy…..what are you doing?" Sandy raised the ball high and aimed, "Don't do this friend! I- I'll …." North started to shake the ice block more violently, tryig to escape, "I'm going to put you all on the naughty list!"
Sandy threw his ball at North, who had managed to tip the ice block over. Unfortunately the ball hit North just as the ice block was starting of fall, so even though the ice shattered when it fell the large man was asleep before his head hit the floor.
Sandy nodded his head and dusted off his hands before turning around and leaving a snoring Claus.
Sandy walked around a corner, then another, then another before spotting Jack. Now Sandy wasn't one to be sneaky and underhanded, but considering tat he did want to win he decided to ….. be creative. He formed a ball of sand and snuck up behind Jack. Jack was walking ahead of him scratching his head as he came to a fork in the maze. He was deciding between left and right when he sensed someone behind him he turned and spotted Sandy with a ball raised above his head aim for….. HIM!
Jack dodge right and saw the gold ball shatter against the wall. Jack laughed as he ran, "Aww Sandy I thought we were friends."
Sandy ran after him throwing his dream sand at Jack, smiling as he did so.
Jack dodged another dream sandball, and turned around a corner. He formed a snow ball in each hand and tossed them back at Sandy who dodged and formed a bow and arrow and started shooting at Jack.
Jack laughed as he kept turning around sharp corners, barely dodging the arrows. The walls started to shift again and Jack jumped over a dummy and continued running. Sandy formed a small cloud of sand that he started to fly on.
"Hey! You're cheating!" Jack called back.
Sandy shrugged his arms and grinned.
Jack laughed and then heard, "Jack heads up!"
He saw his staff burst through the cloud causing the sand to fall apart and gather near the sandman. The Sandman fell onto the floor as Jack caught his staff, they both spotted Tooth running towards them. The walls finally settled and they were now in a square was as if the maze gave them room to face each other.
"Come on Sandy no flying" Tooth said, "those are the rules"
Sandy rolled his eyes and suddenly threw dream sand at her, she gasped but was lucky quick on her feet.
Jack laughed, "Oh this is going to be fun." he started to run around the room using the staff to cause the floor to ice over.
Tooth squeaked and quickly flew up a few feet, Sandy raised his brows at her and crossed his arms. Tooth shrugged, "What?"
Sandy rolled his eyes before getting hit in the back of the head with a snow stumbled forward before slipping on the ice and falling face down. Tooth giggled, before landing again. Jack stood next to Tooth forming another snow ball, both smiling.
Sandy lifted himself up, grinned, and formed two pistols, with a cowboy hats, boots, and gun holders. With his entire cowboy attire, he began firing at the two.
Jack and Tooth both screamed in delight as they dodged his comically large bullets. Jack quickly grabbed Tooth's hand, "Come on! This way!" He then sent a small gust of icy air Sandy's way. This caused Sandy to be knocked over again, by the time he got up the two were gone.
The two giggling guardians ran down the aisle before turning left then right before reaching a dead end. After their giggling dead away they both took a deep breath.
"Hey Tooth…" Jack said, he noticed he was still holding her hand and quickly let go, blushing a little before rubbing his neck and coughing.
Tooth, either ignoring his blush or simply overlooking it, smiled, "So Jack, having fun?"
Jack chuckled, "Actually… now I am. I mean it was getting kind of frustrating not finding the middle."
Tooth nodded, "this is a lot more challenging than I thought as well." She put a hand to her chin in thought, "All we need is a plan."
"How are you supposed to come up with a plan for a maze that keeps moving?" Jack asked.
Tooth shrugged, "I don't know. I was Hoping you had an idea"
Jack smiled, "Maybe we'll just get lucky."
As soon as that was said the walls started to shift again, the fall behind Tooth pushed her forward into Jack, who instinctively wrapped her in his arms. Jack's back hits the wall behind him and now they are close enough that Jack could feel her breath on his face. Once again he felt his red grow hot and couldn't help noticing that he face was turning a light shade of pink.
The next thing he knew the wall behind him sliding down into the ground causing the pair to fall back. Tooth falls on top of Jack, who is still holding onto her in a tight embrace. They both look at each other, Jack managing an intelligent, " UHhhhh…" Before they hear shifting sand.
They look up and see a grinning Sandman, a smirk sketched on his face. Tooth and Jack look at Sandy then at each other. Tooth pushes herself off of Jack and stands up. Jack scrambles to stand up smoothing out his hoodie. Sandy simply looks smugly at the blushing pair, knowing exactly how the situation would have ended if he didn't make his presence known. He is about to form figures about his thoughts about the two when he notices something, that Steve is right ahead of him perched on a raised platform which he can only conclude is the middle of the maze.
It seems that at the moment when Sandy notices Steve is when the other two spot the bird as well. Very quickly the three look at each other and start to run toward the bird.
Sandy forms two whips and grabs Tooth and Jack. They both scream out in surprise as Sandy dashes forward. Jack freezes the sand around him, causing it to shatter. He jumps and runs after Sandy.
Jack forms a snowball and throws it at Sandy. It catches the golden man on the shoulder causing him to spin around and trip onto his bottom. Jack passes Sandy and jumps onto the platform, with a shout of victory.
"YES! I WON!' Jack says as he raises his arms above his head.
"Congrats frosty." Steve says, he pecks at a button and the walls of the maze slide into the ground revealing a very large flat room.
Sandy clapped as his sand released Tooth who quickly flew at Jack giving him a tight hug, "Good job Jack!" She held him at arms length before putting her arms down, realising Jack.
Jack blushed for the hundredth time that day, "Thanks."
"WHAT!" North had finally woke up and was rising from his nap a few yards away, he began walking toward the others.
Sandy shook his head in amusement, Tooth giggled, and Jack walked towards the large man, rubbing his neck as he did so, "UH…. no hard feelings?"
They met half way. North had a frown and Jack gulped, slightly in fear. North threw his head back and laughed, "Of course not!" He wrapped a hand around the snow spirit. "But I will put you on the naughty list again for cheating."
"What did the brat do this time mate?"
The guardians looked at the doorway where Bunnymund and Angel stood, looking at the group.
"Oh Bunny, it was just a friendly competition that ot a tiny but out of hand." Tooth said as she buzzed toward the bunny. She hovered by the door, "But's it was fun and all is settled now."
"Well, I'm glad you all had a pleasant time," Angel said, her face was void of any smile her eyes were clouded with worry, "But unfortunately the fun and games have to end. Something terrible has revealed itself and I'm afraid that I need your help."
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