Pitch and his two officers were just finishing up their battle strategy, if they could split up the Guardians into sections, then one by one they could fight in turn, wearing each one out where the last rotation could finish them off. Zigg doubted that they would be able to split them up long enough, from what he gathered, they were quite organized in battle, or that was how their luck worked out. Though Amado, eager to please, held unquestionable faith that with enough chaos, and nightmares, they could cause enough panic to force a split up. The King himself had his own doubts, specifically regarding the fact that he would have to conjure up a surplus of nightmares for the occasion. It was undeniably true that he had gained power and was much stronger, though if this failed, he feared that he would only weaken not only himself, but the loyalty held in the troops that served him.
Before they were able to work out the details of the plan, Scout came crashing through the lair, landing before his King he barely managed to get out his discovery, "Th-the guardians! My liege they are heading this way!"
"Back so soon? North must have brought the others." Pitch looked to Zigg, "Go prepare a defensive front."
A smile curled on Zigg's face, "My pleasure," he cracked his knuckles and ran into the cavern to retrieve his troops.
"Sir," Amado pleaded, "Please allow me to accompany, let me prove to you my strength."
"You're too eager, you throw yourself into the battle without assessing the foes in front of you, in other words, you've grown careless," Pitch's voice deepened, "How do I know that you won't go and get yourself captured or beat?"
Amado took a deep breath, offended and hurt by his King's doubt, "I am ten times the soldier Zigg will ever be! Far more capable than that barbarian!"
"And yet your the one who returned with this," Pitch gently outlined the indention on Amado's chest plate. Silence washed over the two of them, while the sounds of nightmares flying to the surface filled the halls.
"Ooooohhh" a voice echoed down to the two, "Looks like you're benched my nightmare-ish friend."
Pitch looked up to the man perched on top of a doorway to the caverns, "And here I thought I only had to cope with you once every hundred years, Time, this must be a special occasion."
"My lord, who is that?" Amado examined the human, who was tiny compared to his massive stature.
"Someone who is far more a nuisance than the Guardians." Pitch replied, not taking his eyes off the archway.
"Then I shall make waste of him, for you, my king!" Amado jumped on top of a nearby railway, drawing his sword he sprinted towards the mysterious intruder, who seemed surprisingly calm given his situation.
"Hasty hasty, I see what you mean Pitchy-poo," with the snap of two fingers, he disappeared.
Amado struggled to keep his balance after his foe's vanishing, "What is this witchery?" he knew he hadn't blinked, yet somehow the man avoided his blade before it could even come close to him.
"Someone is a wee-bit too excited if you ask me." Time broke the silence, in a mere second, it seemed he had moved from the arch to the top of the globe.
"Don't bother trying to fight him," Pitch sighed, "He possesses the ability to manipulate and travel through time."
"Aw you flatter me," Time crossed his legs and leaned towards Pitch, "I was hoping we could have some one-on-one time though."
"Unlike you, I don't have time to waste away, there are tasks at hand." just as Pitch turned away, Time was directly in front of him.
"Don't you worry about that," Time pointed over to Amado who was frozen in mid-air as he was jumping to the ground, "You have all the time in the world when you're with me."
Pitch gazed around his lair, he could see the outlines of troops who on their way out of the caverns, yet they were as his Brigadier, frozen in space.
"It is what I do best," Time leaned against Pitch's arm, to which he sulked away in disgust, "I'm sure you're asking yourself, 'Now why has Father Time graced me with his presence here and now?' To which I, and I alone can give you answers."
"Its more, why are you here and what are you meddling with now?" Pitch kept a safe distance from the man in front of him. He knew of Time's nature, always following his own agenda, even if it goes against what his own higher up spirits thought.
"I was just so heartbroken over the fact that you were upset with me," Time stuck his bottom lip out, giving Pitch what he assumed was supposed to be the 'puppy-dog look', "So I had a little present made and some info for you, only the thing is, you have to get the present from Piper's factory yourself."
"And why would I do that?" Pitch questioned.
"Sheer curiosity of course! I had it custom-made just for you, now you wouldn't want Piper slaving over making a gift, just to have it sit around waiting, would you?"
Pitch bluntly replied, "It really doesn't make a difference to me, at all."
Time let out a loud, annoyed sigh, "Well then i'm sure this next bit will be more than convincing, if you go into battle now with your little commander friend," Time pushed his glasses back up to his face, "you die, the Commander dies, all your little nightmares get defeated, boom, game over."
He was taken back at what he had just been told, "You… you couldn't possibly know that. You don't look into the future."
"On most occasions, you're right I don't, it takes away the surprise of the present." Time widened his smile, "but just like you said, this is a special occasion."
Thousands of thoughts rushed through Pitch's mind, Time could easily be lying and is trying to keep him from fighting the Guardians, but he wasn't entirely sure if he was prepared to face the consequences if he wasn't, "Doesn't revealing this information, impede on your sworn neutrality."
Pitch's eyes followed as Time lingered around the globe tracing the circles around the little lights, "Only a little, but I know for a fact there are some people, well, one or two that won't take news of your death too well, even if she says you don't mean anything. Besides, you don't need to worry about little old me, why in fact, you have someone else to be worrying about don't you? And you can't really help her if you're dead."
'He couldn't be talking about…?' Pitch was careful what he said at this point, he didn't want to reveal anything if he didn't have to, "How do I know you aren't lying about all of this?"
The man in front of him giggled, "You don't, I could very well be, looky here, go if that's what the cold empty little husk called your heart desires, I'm only telling you what I know, you go, you die, you go to Piper's, you get a sweet little present dear old me thought up, and don't die."
He sighed, it would be far easier to just give Time what he wanted versus sifting through the lies and truths, "Fine, I'll go see your friend, now unfreeze everything."
Clapping his hands together, Time bounced around, "I knew you'd see things my way." He walked off into the shadows, just before he was a mere silhouette, he turned back to Pitch, "And one more thing, don't worry about them," he waved over to Amado, "Getting to her, she isn't with them at the moment." He continued walking until he was out of sight, not bothering to see how Pitch would respond, a small snap echoed throughout his lair and everything continued the way they were.
Amado landed, then searched around for the stranger who had intruded on their affairs, Pitch glanced over, "Go on, join them with your troops in the defense. Prove your worth. Return with everyone else as soon as possible, and don't make any unnecessary actions."
"I will not disappoint you I swear it." Amado summoned a nightmare and swiftly rode off.
"Scout!" Pitch called, the lair was nearly empty, only a few nightmares remained, the tiny soldier stepped out of the shadows.
"Yes, sir." Scout secretly waited for a personal request to join his brothers in arms, of course he had always been the runt of the group, and ill-trained, though he waited for his time in a spotlight.
"Keep an eye on the lair." Pitch said as he rode off into the opening of the lair, he shot up out and headed the opposite direction his nightmares were.
Jack glanced up from his hiding spot, one thing he had noted from his previous experience, the opening to Pitch's lair would have a delay when closing. Seconds after the last nightmare shot up and out, Jack made his move, running over and sliding down inside. He made it, now all he had to do was find the book, which should be easier since the caverns were empty. Mentally, he applauded Tooth for it was her little idea of a simple diversion; the Guardians would keep Pitch and his nightmares busy while Jack retrieved the book. In no way would he let his guard down though it was a simple in and out. Now, all he needed to do, was focus, he flew off into the caves, he had to be quick if he didn't want them to fight long.
The other Guardians, joined together in an empty district of Burgess, fought off the oncoming nightmares with ease. North handled the hand-to-hand and ground combat with Bunny, while Tooth and Sandy took to the skies, creating a safe perimeter for their companions on the ground.
"Looks like you weren't kidding when you said these nightmares were wonky." Bunny shouted to North as he waited for his boomerangs to return.
North ran closer to his friend spotting two nightmares that were sneaking up behind his furry friend, one of them successfully managed to parry one of his swords, before jumping back into the shadows. The other was not as lucky, and was promptly destroyed, "Pitch could not have made these could he?"
"I doubt it, he hasn't done anything like this in a long time, my guess is he got lucky." Bunny jumped back and shot off one boomerang as a nightmare jumped from the rooftops.
"This whole bunch, you are all these so-called, 'Guardians' huh?" A voice boomed from a rooftop.
North and Bunny looked up at the slumped over man-like creature standing on top of a parallel building, Bunnymund turned to North, "That's the one you were talking about?"
North squinted his eyes to get a better look, "No," black sand began to shape on the ground not too far in front of them, North pointed over with his sword, "That is the one I was talking about."
"Crikey," Bunnymund said as he looked over, "He's an ugly one, ain't he?"
"How nice to meet you again," Amado growled, pulling his sword up from the black mass below him, "Prepared for another round?"
"How rude! Some gent you are Brig!" the Commander yelled down, "Fightin' without a proper introduction?" All eyes turned up in confusion to the man on the rooftop, "Commander Zigg," he took a bow, "And this rude fellow is known as Amado."
"What are you doing?" Amado said in frustration, "We didn't come here for introductions!"
"Maybe you didn't, but when these guys are all down for the count, I want them to known who it was that brought them down." Two cannons appeared on each side of Zigg, "Now we can get to the nitty gritty part!" He lifted his arms up as the dual cannons fired down on the two guardians.
Bunnymund watched as a ball of nightmare sand landed beside him, while the other landed a few feet in front of North, who had his eyes locked on Amado, "Nice aim there hotshot!" Bunnymund yelled up, "Do us a favor and just keep firing like that for us will ya?"
Zigg signalled off to him with a malicious grin, "Will do."
North could feel something off about this setup, Amado took a combat-ready stance, but appeared to be waiting. Suddenly, the two cannonballs around them exploded, sending nightmare sand everywhere. The two were recovering, when out of the flurry of black, North saw the glimmer of a sword rushing through, he was barely able to block the attack in time. Bunnymund tried to assist North in throwing his boomerangs to disorient their foe, but the black sand made it almost impossible to aim, the two both fought with swords, and only faint shadows and sparks could be seen. Just before the sand started to settle down, three more cannonballs landed around them, this time with no delay, instantly exploding and sending another smoke-screen of black.
Tooth and Sandman took notice of the clouds of black that crowded the streets, with a mutual nod, Tooth covered Sandy as he flew downward to assist. Zigg howled with joy as he could see through the black clearly, Bunnymund frantically tried to find a vantage point, but it was impossible to get a clear view through the dense sand. North struggled to fight against the Brigadier, who could also see through the sand with ease, North had to rely sorely on instinct to predict his enemy's attack. A shot was set up straight for the rabbit, Zigg was much too excited to see the heat of battle once again, he let the cannon fire. As the ball flew through the air, a golden whip wrapped around, the black mass swerved back around to the source. The laughing Commander was knocked back by his own creation, he stood up, grasping at his head, and got a look at the tiny golden man.
Meanwhile, Pitch arrived at the old factory, he was hesitant, not entirely sure if he should even had bothered. After Time left, Pitch could have remained at his lair, and there would be no difference. He landed on the flattened area of the roof, the door's lights filled themselves, opening before Pitch even reached them. The paintings on them were ridiculously childish, something straight out of a children's book, Pitch felt as though he would end up regretting this decision very quickly. He had never met Peter Piper before, but had heard stories of his obsession with dolls, if the inside of the factory matched even the outside of the door, Pitch felt he would vomit before he even got to meet Piper. A deep breath, and Pitch walked through the doors, which opened to… a hallway with another set of doors?
Any other day, I would almost admire the effort put into the presentation, if everything wasn't so sickeningly bright…
When Pitch reached the second pair of doors, he opened them up only for reassurance that he instantly regretted his decisions. The endless rows and shelves of dolls, all with wide grins, almost seemed to be staring as he walked through. He could hear faint humming ahead, growing a bit louder with every step. Pitch entered the main room and spotted the man he assumed was Peter Piper, hovered over a long table, looking up, dozens more dolls stared down at the Boogeyman.
"You're Peter Piper?" Pitch questioned.
The humming stopped, "How many times must I say, Puppeteer! Peter Puppete-AH." Peter was offput at his new guest, "And who might you be?" he said, placing a hand on his chin.
Peter took long strides over, and reached out to Pitch's face, Pitch backed away into a shadow, and traveled to the other side of the room, staring as Peter swiveled around to face him.
"Hold on! Hold on! Let me guess!" He made a square out of his fingers, focusing on Pitch, "Tall, grey, devilishly sharp cheekbones, lack of eyebrows, my my my, the Nightmare King himself!"
Pitch could only in confusion at the man before him, up until now, he never truly understood why children and even many adults had crippling phobias of dolls. Maybe they just had the misfortune to meet this madman, which would explain almost everything.
Before he could speak again Peter continued, "Why, this is the most people I've ever had here in the course of fifty years!" an eerie laugh filled the room, "I'm not so sure I'm ready for so much excitement! But of course, I presume you came at Time's request?"
"Yes." Pitch muttered, he was still trying to get a grip on this man, how he managed to keep such a wide smile for this long was astounding.
"It is almost ready! I just need a look at one teensy-tiny detail first." Peter casually stepped on top of his table and walked across to Pitch, who was extremely uncomfortable as the Puppeteer drew closer. Instead of touching, he leaned in, extremely close and still on top of the table, "Why Time is such a liar! Your eyes are barely gold! Hold on for one moment please!" Peter hopped off the table and over to a section of the table ways away from where Pitch stood.
It isn't too late to leave is it?
Peter hummed again to himself as he gathered paints around himself. Pitch never actually found out what it was Time requested though at this point he did have an idea, "Did he ask for a doll… of me?"
"Shhhhhhh I was specifically told not to ruin the surprise!" Peter picked up a small figure examining it to the light, "And done!" He put the hand holding the figure behind his back as he walked over to Pitch again, "He was very specific about what he wanted, but with such detail I don't understand why he would contain my abilities to a stuffed doll, porcelain would have turned out much better in my opinion." Then, he tossed the tiny doll over the table, Pitch caught it, and felt his stomach drop at the glance of it.
It was a tiny stuffed human, lean, it held button eyes where the center was a bright gold and faded outwards to black. The doll had cloth armor, painted to appear as elegant gold plates lined in white, there were tiny carvings making the armor appear layered. A deep red cape draped over the back, contrasting to the black spiked hair on the doll's head. Pitch felt every muscle tense at the sight of the doll as he connected what it was supposed to be.
"Time asked you to make this?" Pitch's voice a just above a whisper.
"Every detail of it! Very specific, though it would look much better if it weren't stuffed, but that is what he wanted. Beautiful isn't it?"
Examining the doll further, he held up one of the little hands that held a plastic scythe, painted to feign golden metal. He was appalled, squeezing the doll with all the force he could, only for it to retain its shape. What he found worst of all, the tiny locket sewn into the chest piece. His body shook with rage, not only was his time wasted, he took this is as a slap to the face.
"I see now! A stress relief! How smart of him! Being so busy in your own affairs must be such a burden on your sanity!"
Pitch threw the doll back down on the table, and backed into the shadows, Peter called out as Pitch made his departure, "If you don't want this that means I can keep it right?" he lifted the doll up off the table, "It isn't my best but any creation of mine is something to behold!" turning back for a reaction, Peter saw he was alone in his factory once again.
Zigg shook his head as he stood from the attack, looking up at the waving golden man, "If it isn't the Nocturnal magnifico himself! And what's this?" Zigg looked over to Tooth, "You have a little birdy for company, how 'bout I knock out two birds with one stone!" Another cannon appeared and all cannons simultaneously aimed upwards, shooting endlessly at the two.
From the distraction of the Guardians in flight, the black sand that stirred on the ground was finally able to settle. Bunnymund finally got a clear view of the clashing swords and planned his shot accordingly. North silently thanked he didn't have to fight alone, he was almost rusty from the lack of action in the past two years. For once, he had to put forth every ounce of effort into trading being on the defense and offense without leaving room for an opening. As the last of the sand cleared, North took his chance for throwing Amado back on the defense, he leaped forth, cutting at the man with unimaginable speed. Just as the Brigadier prepared to defend himself, he was struck upside the head by one of the boomerangs, North finally got his clear opening. This time, he was able to cut through a section of the armor, exposing the dark underneath.
"Zigg! Can you focus for a second?" Amado yelled up, he felt a searing pain across his chest, confirming that North made a clear hit. He wasn't ready to give up, he readied his sword in turn with North, and the two continued to duel.
"This ain't the easiest task! Can't you handle yourself for a minute!" Zigg was occupied attempting to dodge Sandman's whips while trying to land a clear hit on one of the two. He had gravely underestimated their speed and agility; the next shots, he had the cannonballs explode mid air, disorienting the two air-bound enemies.
Bunnymund caught note of the bang, looking back at North, who seemed to have things under control, he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. He hopped off lamp posts climbing up the building to the rooftops. Zigg was too busy celebrating his own victory in the sky to notice Bunnymund jumping up behind, using the Commander as a landing point, he knocked Zigg to the floor.
Looking back up at the sky, he smiled as the cloud of black quickly turned gold, "Looks like you aren't so sure who you're messin' with, do you mate?"
Jack was having nearly no luck with locating the book down in the caverns, he swore he ended up flying in circles looking for it. The only clue he had was a small nightmare he found, and froze near the globe, Jack started to think that maybe Pitch had taken it with him.
Just as he was ready to give up, a voice from behind called out, "And how did you find yourself down here?"
He was ready to blast ice at what he assumed was a guard, but when he turned around he found his staff had disappeared from his hands. Jack didn't even compute what happened, it was one second the staff was in his hands and the next it was gone.
"Over here Jackie-boy," the same voice said behind him, Jack turned to find someone he didn't quite recognize. The stranger held his staff in one hand and kept the other behind his back as he leaned against a wall.
"Give that back or I'll-" Jack threatened, but he wasn't quite sure what he would do, his staff was his means of controlling his power.
The man shrugged and returned his staff, no questions asked, at this point Jack was beyond confused. He didn't make any sudden movements towards Jack, instead he laughed, "Didn't expect that did you? Strange you still use that old thing, you've been around for a while now, I didn't expect that you would still need it."
"Who are you?" was all Jack managed to say, he swore he had never met this person before in all his life, yet he seemed to know all about Jack.
The stranger was caught off guard and almost surprised at Jack's confusion, "Oh we haven't met yet? Whoops, well let me think, we're in America. I think I'm commonly known as Father Time here, but you're a casual guy, so call me Ben."
Jack felt starstruck as the name left his lips, he had heard stories of Father Time, and his natural tendency to cause mischief on a widespread level, "Wow okay then, Ben, what are you doing in here then?"
"I came for this little gem," Ben held the book up from behind his back. Jack then remembered he had a purpose in coming here. Taking notice of Jack's shift into a defensive stance, Ben quickly added, "And I'm sure you did too, but this has been deemed too dangerous, and I went through a lot of trouble to get it, you know how it works, finders-keepers."
"Well I need that, North is-"
"Counting on you I know, trust me I know. North cares about this little thing too much if you ask me, but technically it belongs to me,considering my father was the one who wrote it."
Jack stepped back, "You have a family?" It struck him as surprising only because Ben looked young, not much more mature than himself, yet Jack always had assumed that the spirit of time would be the oldest being out there.
"Technically I did, just a dad, some old wizard," Time opened the book and flipped through random pages, "But North was much closer to him than I ever was so I let him hold onto it, until now."
"Hold on," Jack giggled at this new piece of information, "North is older than Father Time?"
Ben threw his hands up in protest, "Why does everyone think I'm so old?"
"Beats me, quick question, why do you need that book more than us when we're the ones fighting Pitch?"
"Ah just go tell North that Emily said so, and if he doesn't get that, then Sandy should." Ben said as he walked past Jack, book in hand, "Au revoir Sir Frost-a-lots, we'll be seeing each other very soon I'm sure of it." In anticipation of Jack's protest, he snapped his fingers, stopping time as walked out of the caverns.
Jack felt adrift at Ben's sudden disappearance, he seemed to know what he was doing though. Regardless if Jack returned empty-handed, he was sure that the book was at the very least out of Pitch's grasp, and that was good enough for him. Since he was no longer worried about finding the book, the thought surfaced his mind, that the whole time he spent looking and talking, the Guardians were out fighting who-knows-what. He worried that if the giant swordsman returned, that he would somehow find a way to dispose of North or anyone else, and he wasn't ready to lose a guardian because he got side-tracked.
Swiftly, he tossed his mini-globe, opening a portal to central Burgess, he flew out of the portal, crashing into Bunny on a rooftop. Bunny was less than happy to get knocked into, but if Jack returned that meant that he had the book.
Tossing Jack off him, he jumped over to the ledge and yelled, "He's back!" Upon turning around, he saw Jack didn't have what they came here for, worry washed over him, "Well where is it mate?"
"Just trust me, I'll explain later." Jack flew off the roof, not before he froze the fallen Commander in place, and waved to North, Tooth, and Sandy.
They all opened up their own portals and left the area in a flash, leaving Amado and Zigg in a rather confused state. Amado felt something was horribly wrong if all their enemies suddenly decide to depart when only a moment ago they were engaged in combat. Shadow-traveling to the rooftop Zigg was on, he sighed in disappointment at the sight of a frustrated Zigg struggling against the frost covering half his body. Amado made a pick-axe of sand and walked forward to free his comrade.
On his back back to the lair, Pitch decided to stop at the Pole, careful to stay hidden. If Time claimed Mina wasn't with the Guardians, then the only other place he could think she would be was here. The downside to sneaking through the Pole during the day, was the place was crawling with yetis and elves. Thankfully, the overhangs offered enough shade that he could travel around the Pole staying strictly in the shadows, and the commotion of North's big day coming up provided enough chaos to leave the yetis in a less-than-alert state. He went through around three floors with no luck, parts of him began to worry Time was bluffing, and if he was, that meant Pitch had put Mina in the way of his two top officers, who would both, without a doubt, see her as an easy target. Just as he was prepared to expect the worse, one door at the end of a hall was cracked open whereas every other was either hanging open or shut tight.
He gently used the shadows to push the door slightly, enough for him to get a look inside without having to leave hiding. Relief washed over as Time's comment proved true, the girl sat in the center of the floor, surrounded by various stacks of books. Pitch slowly materialized inside, looking around, she appeared to be the only person in the room, slight surprise struck him at the countless weapons hung around the walls; he had no idea North collected such devices, though it wasn't out of character for him. Silently walking over, he was able to stand directly to the side of Mina without her noticing, she had her head buried in some kind of history book.
"You must know bringing books to a training room will hardly suffice in combat." Pitch broke the silence, and her concentration as she jumped at the sudden company.
"Jesus you scared me." she looked up to his smug smile.
"Well, that's just in my nature," Pitch leaned down to look at what exactly she was reading, but was cut off as she closed the book and turned towards him.
"What are you doing here in the day? Isn't there security or something?" Mina leaned back, Pitch looked like a pure giant having to look up from the ground.
"If there is they should be fired, getting here is easy when shadows are on your side."
"Well why did you come here?" Mina patted the ground in front of her urging Pitch to sit, "Shouldn't you be fighting the Guardians?"
He sat down on his knees outside her little ring of books, "I was testing a theory, I'm sure they have their hands full at the moment." on the ground, he could see the labels on the various books, all which seemed to be history or belief related, "Is North putting you through some sort of test?"
Mina squinted, "What? No, I was just, looking."
"You're sitting in a room," he swung his arms, pointing at the walls, "literally full of weaponry, and you decide to stare at books instead, some teenager you are."
"What am I supposed to do?" she laughed, "Just start throwing everything around? I bet you money I can't even pick up ninety percent of the stuff in here."
"I imagine that's what most would do, from what I've seen, teenagers can be quite reckless."
"Pitch are you sure you're in the right century?" she questioned, "Like are you absolutely sure you aren't confusing this century with, oh I dunno, cavemen maybe?"
He rolled his eyes as Mina laughed at her own joke, "You are just as clever as I am funny. Even cavemen were far more clever than that."
"Wait," Mina leaned in, "You were actually around when cavemen were a thing?"
"That's one of the upper sides of being in my position, I don't look nearly as old as I am."
Mina sighed and let herself fall back, "Well this was all pointless then." she pushed one of the stacks of books over with her foot.
Pitch picked up one of the books, and skimmed through, "What were you looking for exactly?"
"North told me that they all had a life before they were a guardian, so I wanted to see if…" Mina's voice trailed off before she gathered the courage to finish, "If maybe you were someone else too."
"Because just asking is too difficult?" Pitch scoffed, shutting the book he was holding, "I don't think that you would be capable of finding one person in the history of Earth that would connect to me."
"Well its not like I know when I'm going to see you," Mina paused as she stared up to the ceiling, "Who were you then? Before the Boogeyman."
"Nobody worth mentioning." Pitch stood back up, becoming alert as he felt a growing presence of another being.
"You really won't tell me? All that reading for nothing?" Mina was annoyed, the one person who she could count on for a reliable answer and he refused, "I might as well just have thrown stuff around, it would have been way more progressive than looking through the world's history."
"I'm not so sure of that," Pitch began to back into the shadows, eyes glued to the door, "If you couldn't pick up the majority of it-" he vanished as the door flew open.
"How could I have missed this room!?" Jack yelled, "I went up and down the entire Pole and somehow passed the one room that didn't have toys everywhere!"
"You guys are back?" Mina stood up and watched as Jack made his way around the room, he landed down and picked up the handle which connected to a steel chained ball.
With a huge smile he eyed a wooden dummy in the corner of the room, "Watch this," he swung around in circles, the ball lifting off the ground with Jack's growing momentum. He tried to aim, letting go as the ball flew off, Mina dove to the ground just in time as it crashed into a pillar in front of her.
"Knock it off," Bunny said as he walked inside, followed by the other Guardians, "You'll end up bringing the whole Pole down."
"Let him have his fun Bunny," North laughed, "These are not just for show."
"Any luck?" Mina asked while she stood up off the ground careful to watch if Jack picked up anything else.
"Apparently someone else beat us to it." Bunny turned back to North.
"It is out of Pitch's hands, and that is what matters."
Viola! Most of this was going on all at the same time story-wise (for the most part) so I tried to portray that as best as I could. Hopefully it didn't get confusing for anyone, but anywho thanks for for reading, hope you enjoyed, and feel free to leave any constructive criticism or just share thoughts, its always nice to see what you guys are thinking. (Also thanks for pointing out the double posting thing, no clue how that happened but glad I could fix it fast) ~Until next chapter