Chapter Five: In Which the Guardians Rally

The Guardians tumbled down the dirt tunnel. Dirt sprayed everywhere as they slide down at a fast rate. The slide finally ended when the Guardians rolled out onto the soft grass of the Warren. Tooth, Sandy, and North looked around, awestruck. None of them had visited Bunny's Warren. Mainly because they've never been invited and didn't have the audacity to break in themselves. Besides, doing that wouldn't leave a good impression on Bunny.

Bunny peeked into th entrance tunnel, checking thoroughly for any fearlings that might have made it through. When he saw none, the Pooka turned around and said, "We're safe...fer now."

The Guardians couldn't stay under ground hiding from Pitch forever. They needed to come up with a plan. Pitch was out there spreading his darkness around the world, and it wouldn't be long until the Boogeyman would gain so much power that he'd be almost unstoppable. The Guardians sighed. So far, this whole thing wasn't going as well as they had hoped.

"We need a plan, mates," said Bunny. "We have no idea if our gift idea even worked."

"I'm pretty sure it did," said Tooth. "At least...I hope it did. It's about morning now, so Pitch can't do any damage until night."

"Which is vhy ve need to attack him first," said North. The Russian was equally frustrated as everyone else. It seemed like a good idea to launch an attack on Pitch before he could harm the children.

Bunny blinked incredulously. "Are ya serious? Did ya not see that amount of bloody fearlings and nightmare men that shadow sneakin' ratbag had in his lair? We can't take them on by ourselves!"

"Bunny's right," said Tooth. "We need a thorough idea. We can't just burst in pell-mell."

"I did not finish," said North. "Ve lure Pitch out."

Sandy's dreamsand swirled over his head, creating a question mark. "Lure Pitch out?"

"That's actually not a bad idea, mate," said Bunny as he crossed his arms. "What were ya thinkin' of doin'?"

North scratched the back of his head. "Actually, I am not sure yet. But if we manage to get Pitch away from army of nightmare men and fearling, ve vill have better chance of defeating him."

Tooth's wings fluttered enthusiastically. "And once Pitch is weakened, we can start getting the children to fear him less."

North nodded. "Iz good plan, no? But vhat would Pitch come out of his lair for?"

The Guardians stood in a circle, deep in thought. Pitch wasn't easy to fool, especially now that he knew that the Guardians were on to him. Whatever the Guardians used as bait had to be irresistible. Something that Pitch give into without hesitation.

"I've got an idea," said Bunny. A smirk crawled onto his face. "Follow me."

The Guardians followed Bunny through the Warren. As they walked, Tooth, Sandy, and North stared at all of the remarkable things that laid inside of Bunny's home. Giant egg shaped sentinels roamed about, and white eggs with little feet skittered around under their feet. The plants seemed almost alive and even though it wasn't spring at the moment, Tooth, North, and Sandy felt like it was already springtide in Bunny's Warren.

Bunny walked through a large egg shaped tunnel and the Guardians wondered where the Pooka was leading them to. North had read up on the species of rabbit and found that they were quite peculiar. North noticed how almost everything—-to the lights on the wall to the actual tunnel itself—-was egg-shaped.

"Where exactly are you taking us, Bunny?" asked North.

"Ya'll see," Bunny replied. North wasn't exactly satisfied with the short answer, but when the Guardians finally entered the enormous room at the end of the tunnel, North's question was answered.

The Guardians stared in complete awe. The main walls were painted in a sage green while other walls were marble and lined with gold. North could hear the sounds of some kind of machine down a hallway, and the ex-Cossak guessed that that was where Bunny made his chocolate. The room looked nothing like the rest of the Warren, and there were still more egg shaped hallways that led to different places. The smell of the brown, delectable confection was everywhere, and Sandy, Tooth, and North each took a whiff of it.

"Bunny, this is amazing!" Tooth stated. She did a lap around the room. "And that chocolate smell is so alluring! I'm against sugary stuff, but I actually kind of want to try some of your chocolate."

Now that was something that you wouldn't hear from the Tooth Fairy everyday. Bunny smiled. "Sure, Shelia. Maybe after we defeat Pitch."

"There are so many eggs," remarked North. There were eggs everwhere. Egg patterns on the walls, eggs walking around carrying egg shaped trays of egg shaped chocolate, and even an egg stature in the middle of the room. It was egg-tremely egg-centric.

Bunny shrugged. "What can I say? I like eggs," he said bluntly. The Pooka led them to another room and North shook his head. There were even more eggs. A museum of eggs. There were eggs that belonged to extinct creatures, eggs that belonged to mythical creatures, and eggs that belonged to everyday normal creatures like a duck or goose.

"Bunny, you collected all of these?" asked Tooth. She was about to touch an egg that belonged to a Himilayan Snow Goose when Bunny batted her hand away.

"Yes. And most of these are extremely hard to find. So, no touching," Bunny said. He dusted the pedestal the Snow Goose egg was sitting on and the Guardians looked at each other and shrugged.

A question mark appeared over Sandy's head. The Sandman was silently asking why Bunny had brought them to his large collection of eggs. Bunny pointed to a pedestal that stood out from the rest and the guardians stared at the beautiful egg that sat on top of it. It looked as if it was carved from the moon itself and had patterns of stars and swirls. A crescent moon was in the center of it, and the most remarkable thing about the egg was that it was glowing.

Sandy's eeys wideneded and various images flashed over his head at such speed that North and Tooth couldn't comprehend. Somehow, Bunny was able to understand what Sandy was saying, and the Pooka nodded.

"Yep. This is one of the relics that MiM had," said Bunny. Tooth and North gawked.

"You mean this is one of the five relics that still contains Golden Age light?" exclaimed Tooth. "I thought they were all destroyed. I thought my ruby box was the only one left.

"I still have one," said North. "Tsar Lunanoff's sword."

Sandy's dreamsand swirled over his head. The little golden man's dreamsand was a relic too.

"So, vhy exactly did you bring us here, Bunny?" asked North.

"Because we're gonna use this relic as bait," said Bunny.

Had Bunny lost his mind? The five relics were extremely powerful and contained the pureset of Golden Age light. If Pitch got a hold of at least one of them and corrupted it, only the Man in the Moon knows what kind of chaos and destruction he could cause with the ancient relic.

"Are you insane?!" Tooth exclaimed, her feathers flaring. "Pitch could do horrible things with this relic!"

"Toothy iz right!" North bellowed. "Vhy would you want to use this as bait?!"

Sandy nodded vehemently in agreement. Bunny rolled his eyes. He hadn't even finished yet! The Pooka held up his paws to quiet his fellow Guardians down.

"Mates, we're not actually gonna give this thing to Pitch," exclaimed Bunny. The Pooka picked up the egg and tucked it under his arm. "We're gonna make a copy of it."

"A copy?" asked Tooth. Then it dawned on her. "Oh! We're going to make a replica of this egg that doesn't contain any actual power?"

"Ya got it," said Bunny.

North stroked his beard. "I've got to say, Bunny. This iz ingenious plan."

"I know," Bunny said with a smirk. "I'm a Pooka after all."

North rolled his eyes and turned to his friends. "Alright, everybody! Ve go to Santoff Claussen! I have just the book for trick."

"But how are we going to get to the North Pole? Your sleigh is still in the woods," Tooth said.

North faltered. "Oh. I forget about that."

Bunny laughed. "No worries. I got that taken care of. Follow me."

…

Bunny had managed to bring North's sleigh down into the Warren by using another one of his tunnels. North had no idea how Bunny managed it. The Guardians filled into the sleigh and flew out, speeding toward Santoff Claussen. Once they arrived, they rushed into North's vast library and North began to look around for the right spellbook that Ombric had given him. North smiled as he pulled a thick book off the shelf and placed it on a wooden table. He flipped through it and the Guardians watched over North's shoulders. North came across the page he wanted and asked Bunny for the relic. Bunny clutched the egg protectively.

"Uh, how about I do it?" said Bunny. The Guardians nodded understandingly and North handed the book to Bunny. The relic that Bunny had had to be the rarest one. It was created by both the Man in the Moon's father and Pookas. Bunny was the last of his kind, and it made sense why he would be protective over his relic. It was one of the few things he had that belonged to the rest of his kind.

Bunny recited the incantation (with very precise pronunciation) and a duplicate of the egg relic appeared on the table before the Guardians. It looked exactly the same as the original and the only difference was that the original had a glow while the copy didn't. Other than that, the two looked absolutely alike.

"Worked like charm," said North. "Now ve just need place to leave relic to lure Pitch out."

"How about somewhere near his lair?" said Tooth.

"But that would seem like something Pitch would expect," said Bunny.

"But where else does Pitch spend his time at?" asked Tooth.

North ran a hand through his white beard, deep in thought. Then a place came into mind.

"I know another place Pitch goes to," said North. He placed the book back on the shelf and said, "Everyone, to the sleigh! You too Bunny!"

Bunny groaned but followed North and the others out of the library anyway.

…

The Guardians soared through the air. The sky was already beginning to darken and the Guardians didn't have much time until night fell and Pitch would come back out to torment the children. North steered the sleigh toward a lake that laid just a few ways away from the small village of Burgess and landed it next to the frozen lake. The Guardians hoped out and looked around.

"This doesn't really seem like a place Pitch would spend much time at," said Bunny.

North chuckled lightly. "This is not place that Pitch stays at. Iz over here," North led the Guardians through the forest that surrounded the lake and the Guardians soon found themselves standing in front of a hole in the ground, but the hole wasn't just any hole. It was the entrance to Pitch's lair. If one listened hard enough, they would be able to hear the whispers of fearlings and nightmare men coming from below.

Bunny's ears twitched. "I don't like the looks of this place."

"Then that means that Pitch definitely hangs around here," said Tooth. She peered down into the hole but all she could see was darkness. "We're not going to go down there, are we?"

"If everything goes according to plan, then no," said North. "All ve need to do is place fake relic where Pitch vill see it."

Tooth pointed to a tree branch that hung visible from the trunk it was connected to. "That seems like a good spot. There's no way Pitch would miss it from up there."

Tooth took the fabricated egg relic and placed it on the tree branch. She flew back down to where the rest of the Guardians were standing and all of them could see the egg from where they stood. The sun had just dipped into the horizon, and the Moon was just beginning to rise. A trail of moonlight reflected off of the false egg relic, and the relic looked like it had the same glow as the real one.

"This is perfect," said Bunny with a smile. "Pitch is definitely goin' ta fall for this hook, line, and sinker."

"I hope so," said Tooth. The Guardians decided to begin finding hiding spots for when Pitch arrived. Tooth and Sandy hid in a tree while North and Bunny ducked behind some bushes. The Guardians had no idea how long it would take for Pitch to arrive, but they were ready for him.

And they didn't even have to wait that long because once the Moon was high up in the sky, Pitch walked out of the shadows with an entire army of fearlings and nightmare men walking behind him as if he were ready for an ambush.