Before any of us holding the barrier could react I heard Claire call, "Descendants! To me!"
I risked looking over my shoulder to see Claire shoot up into the air, followed by five Descendants of Toothiana. I could pick out Tina from here, wielding her black hilted sword, the Baza. It was difficult to see how Claire actually flying, given the state of her wing, but I squinted saw a glint of gold. One of the Descendants of Sandman was helping her fly with her injured wing, while the healthy wing was buzzing twice as fast to compensate.
Samson also rose into the air to tackle the ascending Nightmares, followed by his fellow Descendants of Sandman. For some reason Samson wasn't standing, instead sitting on a platform of sand which was trying to disperse.
Behind me I heard the tamed Nightmares whinny and their riders give cry before galloping into the sky. I could see weapons forming from black and shadows from here, and I wished the small group the best of luck.
The rest of the HOG Descendants in the air were in much better shape, but the two Heads were determined to do their part, even though they should have left with the injured.
Very quickly the airborne Descendants attacked the now flying Nightmares, purple and yellow armour standing out in the slowly clearing sky. Clearing of clouds mainly, but slowly of Nightmares.
There was a cracking noise at the wall as the remaining Nightmares and now Pitch were trying to shatter it.
"Stand firm!" I heard my voice shout. On my left Alice tensed, as did Greg and Oliver on my right.
Taboo roared at me. "They're landing!"
I looked over at the main part of the street to see that yes, some of the Nightmares were landing, and were engaging the Descendants of Bunnymund and North.
"Jackie!"
I turned back to the wall at Alice's shout, to see that the Nightmares had climbed over it and were heading straight for us.
They were looking to me, so I had to do something.
"Fall back!" I yelled and let go of the wall, allowing it shatter.
We scrambled back to join the other land bound Descendants, joining them as we tried to hold off the Nightmares coming back with us.
Pitch came out with them, and with a quick scan of the troops, went into the sky, where there were fewer of us. So maybe there were remnants of the General from the Golden Age in there. Just not the parts I gave a damn about.
I extended my blades and started planning with Taboo.
How's it in the air?
"They're struggling, there's fewer of them up there."
That's true, Pitch was up there, but there were more Nightmares on the ground, and only four Descendants of Jack Frost.
I pointed to Greg and Oliver.
"You two, help out in the air." I said, pointing up for Greg's benefit.
"Sir yes sir!" Cried Oliver with a salute before shooting upwards into the air on a platform of ice. Greg looked surprised at the gesture, threw a rushed salute my way before following Oliver on his own platform.
Which left me, Alice and Taboo on the ground.
Alice and I stood back to back, sending frozen projectiles at the Nightmares and freezing the ground so that they couldn't advance as quickly. Neither of us were willing to get too close to the Nightmares, me especially after what happened in the alley.
As we fought, I saw something that surprised me.
On the ground, Bunnymund was flinging boomerangs and jumping around with his Descendants. North was in the midst of his Descendants, frankly showing them up with his swordmanship.
In the air Toothiana was diving in and out of the Nightmares with her Descendants, while Sandman was using his sand whips to keep the Nightmares at bay as his Descendants fought. Jack was swinging his staff, sending icy blasts at the Nightmares as Greg and Oliver circled, slicing at the Nightmares.
For the first time in who knew how long, Guardians and Descendants were actually fighting side by side.
I hadn't forgotten seven years ago with the shadow wolves, but that was one Branch. This was multiple Branches, not a one off. This was just unheard off.
I scanned the group in red, trying to see if I could spot Jamie, when I couldn't I felt panic bubbling up within me. Please let Nigel have made him see sense and got him home. Please don't let him be badly hurt, or worse.
Alice tapped me on the shoulder, telling me that she had an idea. I jumped and looked over my shoulder to see her grinning, and I started to get even more worried.
"Human bowling ball?" She asked innocently.
"Human bowling ball?!" I sent a Nightmare back with a blast of ice, my worry for Jamie being dispelled by this partially insane idea. "How do you plan on making that work?"
"You throw me."
Before I could object Alice pulled her arms up and pulled ice around herself, to the point where she was curled up inside a human sized ball of ice.
Playing along I lifted it up with my powers and angled my arm like I about to bowl. I flung it forward and sent Nightmares down like they were indeed bowling pins, many of them dissipating under the weight of the ice ball.
"Strike!" I couldn't help but get in the mood as Alice broke free and sent the large shards of ice at several of the still standing Nightmares. They quickly disappeared and she came back over, a grin on her face.
"That was incredible!" She laughed.
"That was insane."
Alice shot me a grin. "Wouldn't be me if it wasn't partially insane. It worked, didn't it?"
I also had to grin. "Like a dream."
Alice put her hand up for a high five and I obliged.
"Honestly you two." Taboo groaned as she mauled Nightmares.
We might die, may as well have a bit of fun.
"Don't give up just yet Davies."
Not planning on it.
There was a surge forward from the other Descendants on the ground, led by North, Jason, Alexander and Bunnymund.
Alice and I looked at each other and I tried to think of the best course of action. Thinking like this was more complicated than working alone.
"Stand your ground, I'm going to see what's going on." I told Alice, who nodded.
"Right."
I went up on an ice bridge to look over the thinning hordes of Nightmares. On the far side I could see those in red and green armour forcing their way through, led by both Heads and Guardians, with the tamed Nightmares stand tall as the riders fought alongside the other Descendants. On the other side of the Nightmares I saw that Pitch had been forced to the ground, where I could see purple, yellow and blue armour in the air and on the ground.
I looked back down at Alice, who was still fighting the horde behind the main group of HOG.
"Turn around! Let's help the others push through!"
Alice looked up at me, and nodded, running over to the left side of the group forcing their way through the Nightmares. Taboo joined Alice and I skated down to the right flank, adding my ice to the swords, boomerangs and rock.
I didn't recognise the Descendant of North I was skating beside, not that I could really see through their visor, which was fogged up by their breath. They quickly noticed me and moved to salute.
"Let's salute when we're not fighting." I said a little irritated as I slashed at a Nightmare with my blades. The Descendant of North nodded and went back to attacking with their long sword.
"Batter up!" I heard Alice yell over the din of whinnies and yells. I looked over to see the seventeen year old holding an ice baseball bat, having just hit back a ball of black sand at the Nightmares.
She saw me looking over. "Duck!"
I did as she said and a ball of black sand shot over my head and hit another attacking Nightmare.
I didn't have time to yell a thanks back, because the Nightmares coming up behind us started shooting globs of black sand from their mouths.
Great, projectile sand horse vomit.
"At least it isn't real horse vomit."
Real horse vomit isn't trying to kill me!
I turned to face behind us and pulled up a wall of ice to block a sudden wave of sand projectiles.
I bit back a curse as the Nightmares charged, bucking against the wall and sending projectiles at it. Alice added her power to the wall but with just two of us, we were really struggling.
"A little help Alexander?!" I called over my shoulder, hoping the man would hear me.
Instead, it was Bunnymund who heard me, who then flung a boomerang in the direction of the armoured Alexander. I couldn't hear what Bunnymund yelled at Alexander, but it caught his attention, along with the boomerang that clanged into his helmet.
Alexander looked over at me and with a wave of his arms sent over two Descendants of Bunnymund out of his small pool. The two Descendants drew their hands up and formed a wall of earth up between me and the ice wall, cracking the tarmac as the earth shot up.
The four of us stayed in place as the Nightmares behind hammered at the ice wall, and began scaling it.
"They're going up!" I yelled, catching the other three's attention. The rest of the group had managed to move on, so it was just the four of us holding back the remaining Nightmares.
Taboo turned and came to leap up the earth wall. She stood on top of it, and going by the snarls I didn't envy the Nightmares up there. One of the Nightmare riders broke away from the crowd came up to join us, his shaggy brown hair flying behind him as he joined Taboo on top of the wall.
"Cool tiger! Where can I get one?" Asked Alice, hopefully jokingly.
"Don't even go there Alice Harper, don't even go there."
Alice just laughed, and I had to wonder whether or not she was considering it. I wouldn't put it past her.
"Nightmares are retreating." Growled Taboo.
What?
"Exactly what I said, they're retreating."
Even as she said it, I could feel the pressure on the ice wall lessen, but I still wanted to check.
I shot up on a pillar as the Nightmare rider called down the same message and saw that they were both right, the Nightmares were retreating. I frowned and turned 180 degrees, looking over at where I'd seen Pitch last.
I could barely see him now, he was surrounded by multicoloured armour, green and red on the ground, blue, yellow and purple in the air. I could also see the Guardians from here.
I went down and said. "Okay, the Nightmares are retreating, but let's keep the walls up just in case."
"Sir yes sir." Chimed the Descendants of Bunnymund and they saluted. Alice just burst out laughing, the Nightmare rider snorted and I fought the desire to freeze all four of them.
"You can shut it Harper." I growled, which only got her to laugh even harder.
"You know what?" I said to Taboo as she peered down. "I give up with her."
Taboo let out a rumbling laugh which made the two Descendants of Bunnymund jump out of their skin.
"Let her have her fun. Surely it's better than being saluted to?"
Whatever. How's it looking up there?
"Still retreating, some have stopped. Maybe they're waiting for something?"
What though?
"How should I know?! I don't speak Nightmare!"
I grinned at the tiger, on hand still raised to keep the wall in check. Everything hurt by this point, and my arms and legs just wanted to stop and lie down for an eternity. However, I couldn't be sure if it was over yet, so for now I'll keep going.
"Jackie!"
I looked over at Alexander, who was standing on a pillar of earth.
"How's to going over there?!"
"Nightmares appear to be retreating!" I called back, "Keeping the wall up just in case!"
"Good...!" Alexander paused and yelped in surprise as a ball of black sand whizzed past his ear from behind him.
Before I could do anything Alice had charged in front of us, still holding the ice bat. Except instead of holding it in two hands, like you would playing baseball, she was holding it in one hand.
I was started to go over to block the ball of sand, along with the two Descendants of Bunnymund and the Nightmare rider charging forward. I stopped suddenly and backed off, motioning with my hand to the other Descendants to do the same.
I wanted to see what Alice was up to.
I could see that the ball was aimed to hit the earth wall to break it, but as it came closer, Alice went up on a platform of ice. She hovered in the air just above house level, illuminated by the now shining full moon as she swung the bat.
It connected hard and the ball shot off in the other direction.
"And that's a home run!" She called cheerfully, and I grinned and shook my head. Sometimes I wondered what was going on inside her head.
She turned and saw me looking, and then shrugged.
"I play rounders." She said, like that explained everything.
A quick note, rounders is a game the kids in the UK usually play in P.E. It's not competitive, the idea of a rounders league makes me want to burst out laughing. It's similar to baseball, except the area's a different shape and there are a few different rules.