Chapter Seven: The Power of Teamwork

The Guardians soon arrived at Santoff Claussen and were greeted by the many yetis and elves. It was hard to believe that a new day had begun. The Guardians had felt like they had been fighting for days already. The group of four walked deeper into the North Pole and North offered each of them an extra bedroom. Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny accepted them graciously and North didn't see the three for the next few hours.

Instead of heading to his room like the others had, North went to his study and shut the door behind him, sighing loudly. This battle was tiring and North was surprised to find that he was feeling weary. North had never felt so tired before, and he almost felt old.

North shook off the ancient feeling and pulled out an ice pick from one of the many drawers in his study. He then pulled out an ice block and decided not to use the chainsaw in case if the other Guardians wanted some peace and quiet. North pecked away a the ice block. As he did, he thought about all of the previous events that had taken place.

Pitch was still on the move and the children were still at risk. North was sure that Bunny's plan would work, and the Russian still didn't know if children were less fearful of Pitch after finding the gifts that he and the other Guardians had left for them. But even if it did work, there was still Pitch's giant army of Nightmare Men and Fearlings. The Guardians needed to take them out before they could launch an assault on the Boogeyman. But there was too many of them. There was no way that they could take them all on with just the four of them alone.

And then there was the whole Guardians of Childhood thing. North brushed away leftover ice shavings and continued to chip the ice. The Man in the Moon hadn't been exactly clear on how they were supposed to defeat Pitch, and North found himself feeling slightly frustrated that MiM hadn't given them a clear answer, but North knew that he should've expected Tsar Lunar not to give them a clear plan. The Man in the Moon wanted them to find an answer. Together. As a team.

North shook his head. So far, it didn't seem like he and the Guardians even were a potent team. Sure, they fought valiantly back at the forest, managed to deliver gifts to the children around the world and even managed to break into Pitch's cave back in Tanglewood, but they still haven't established a proper status between themselves. They were the Guardians of Childhood, yes, but were they friends or acquaintances? Did they trust each other? They didn't even think about talking to each other or spending time with each other until the Man in the Moon announced that they were to end the Dark Ages. North wondered that if MiM had never said anything, if Pitch never started torturing the children to a point where he needed to be stopped, would he and the others had even met up?

North set down his ice pick and scrutinized his work. Ironically, he had created a statue of the Man in the Moon himself. North stared at the statue sitting in front of him and said, "Vhat are we to do, Manny?"

Of course, the statue didn't respond. It was an inanimate object after all. North cleaned up his work area and gingerly placed the little statue on a shelf and stepped out of his study. He needed to talk to the others.

…

Bunny stepped out of the guest bedroom and walked down the silent hallway. The Pooka had never thought that he'd find himself in a situation like this. A situation where he was suddenly teamed up with three people that he barely knew, never took the time to get to know, and were stranger than strange to fight Pitch Black, the Boogeyman himself. Bunny huffed. The Man in the Moon must have really lost it when he paired them up together.

Although Bunny wasn't entirely thrilled to have been ripped away from the comfort of his Warren to fight along side the other Guardians, a part of him knew that this was bound to happen. Bunny knew how dangerous Pitch was. He was the reason he was the last Pooka. He was the reason why thousands of children refused to sleep at night or jumped at every shadow. It was terrible. The children were suffering and Pitch enjoyed it, and that pulled at Bunny's heart and made him angry.

The others probably feel the same way, Bunny thought. And he wasn't wrong, but still, Bunny couldn't find himself feeling comfortable with all of this craziness. Pitch, Fearlings, Nightmare Men, a new Dark Age...It was a lot to take in and a lot to stop. How did the Man in the Moon expect a strange group of people to stop the King of Nightmares?

Bunny knew that Tsar Lunar trusted them, though. And there was that vision that he had given North about them fighting side by side and successfully defeat Pitch. But so far, things weren't looking so good.

But there was that small, vague feeling. A feeling that Bunny could hardly feel yet he did feel it at the same time. The company of the others wasn't horrible. It wasn't bad at all. In fact, Bunny enjoyed the camaraderie of the other Guardians. Bunny's ears twitched. Yes, he did enjoy the other's company. It was hard to believe, but Bunny was a little lonely in his Warren. And even though he wasn't excited at first about being teamed up with the others, he found that as he spent more time with the others—-whether it was during battle or delivering gifts to the kids—-he was growing quite fond of the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and the silent Sandman.

Tooth, North, and Sandy were strange, but they cared. And as different as they were, there was one things that they all had in common: a strong desire to protect the children of the world. And it was then that Bunny realized that that was why the Man in the Moon chose them. No matter how different they were, they still cared for the children. That was something that would never change.

Bunny bumped into North as he was contemplating and the two stared at each other for a while. North was the first to speak.

"Ve need to gather others," he said.

Bunny nodded. "I'll go get Tooth and Sandy."

North nodded and patted Bunny's shoulder. Bunny's nose twitched slightly at the contact. It would take some getting used to, but Bunny knew that it wouldn't be long until he and the other Guardians would realize that they weren't just the Guardians of Childhood.

They were friends. Even though they hadn't admitted it yet.

…

Tooth and Sandy followed Bunny into the Globe Room where North was waiting. The ex-Cossack turned around with smile on his face. Tooth, Sandy, and bunny were about to ask what was making him smile when they noticed that the lights on the Globe of Belief were glowing brightly.

"I suspect that means something good is happenin'," Bunny said with a small smile.

Tooth fluttered around the large sphere and grinned happily. "The children are still holding on to their belief! That means the gifts worked!"

Sandy clapped his hands cheerfully and North said, "This iz great news! Ve're one step away from stopping Pitch!"

"But that isn't the only reason why you called us here, right, mate?" asked Bunny. The Pooka had an inkling to what North was about to say.

North nodded and then cleared his throat. The other Guardians gave him their attention. "I think I speak for all of us when I say that this has been strange. Being teamed up vith each other vithout varning, dealing vith Pitch, no clear reason to vhy we were chosen…"

Tooth nodded. "I couldn't stop thinking about what Pitch said back in the woods earlier," she said. The Tooth Fairy rubbed her arm. "I think we all feel pretty guilty."

The Guardians nodded. After decades and decades of knowing about aech other's existence and brief encounters with each other, they hadn't taken the time to get to know each other.

"I vas vondering if we'd even take the time to meet up if this whole ting never happened," said North.

Bunny shook his head. "Probably not…"

"We were all wrapped up in our own things," said Tooth.

Sandy nodded and his dreamsand created the image of a remorseful face. It was clear what the Sandman was saying.

"I'm am sorry too," said North.

Tooth placed a hand on North shoulder. "Me too."

"Same here," Bunny said.

And they were. They were sorry. The Guardians each looked at each other remorsefully, but there was another emotion that glittered in their eyes. Realization.

"I think I know why Manny chose us," said North.

Bunny crossed his arms, his lips pulling into a smile. He already knew why, but he still asked, "Oh, yeah? Why?"

"Ve may be peculiar group," said North. "Ex-Coassack," North pointed to himself. "Sister of Flight," he pointed to Tooth, who smiled. "Former star captain," North pointed to Sandy, how grinned up at him. "And Pooka," North finally pointed to Bunny, who nodded proudly. "But ve have something in common that Manny saw in all of us."

"The children," Tooth said for him. Her wings beat enthusiastically and she rose into the air. "We all care for them. It doesn't matter how different we are or what our backgrounds are, but we all care for the children and we want to protect them from Pitch or any other harmful thing."

Sandy's dreamsand swirled over his head, creating the image of all of the Guardians standing in a group. "We're a team."

"We're friends," Tooth said.

"We're Guardians," Bunny added.

"And ve can stop Pitch!" North finished. He clapped his hands together. "Follow me! Ve need to come up with new plan!"

"But what can we do?" asked Tooth as she fluttered by his side. "It seems like we've already tried everything."

"Not everything, Shelia," said Bunny as the Guardians entered the library. North, Bunny, and Sandy pulled books off the shelf and Bunny handed one to Tooth, who took it with a look of slight bemusement on her face, but opened it.

"Ve need to find something that Pitch can't fight against. Something that vill make surrender," said North as he opened his large book. "Start digging!"

And so the Guardians started digging. They buried their faces into multiple books. North had a vast amount of books in his library—all gifts from his former teacher, Ombric and some from none other than Mother Goose herself. The Guardians spent hours and hours flipping through multiple pages of many different books. Thick books, small books, books without names, books with names, books with names that were so long that even Bunny couldn't pronounce them. Some books were written in different languages, but the Guardians kept on reading until their eyes got tired.

Bunny slammed a large red book and slumped into his chair. "Any of ya find anythin'?"

Tooth flipped a worn page in her book and rubbed her temples. "Nothing yet. This is the fifteenth book I've picked up."

North shook his head from where he was leaning against the wall. The Russian was wearing gloves so that he wouldn't damage the ancient book. "I have not found anything either."

"What about you, Sandy?" Bunny asked. But when he turned to face the Sandman he found that he was sleeping in his chair, the book placed discreetly on his chest.

"He fell asleep three hours ago," Tooth said simply. "Sandy's flipped through almost half of the library."

"Wow. He's a fast reader," Bunny remarked.

North closed his book and placed it back on its shelf. "I am not going to read for a while after this."

Tooth gigged from where she was sitting and fluttered out of her seat to stretch her wings. "But we need to find some piece of information that could help us defeat Pitch."

"Why don't we just go over what we know?" suggested Bunny. He held up a paw and began to count on his fingers. "Pitch is the boogeyman and he's absolutely insane."

"He can hide in the shadows, which gives him a huge advantage," said Tooth. "He also has an army of Nightmare Men and Fearlings."

"He is as clever as rat," said North.

Tooth burst out laughing but Bunny shook his head and sighed. "It's 'fox,' North. Clever as a fox." The Pooka corrected.

North shrugged. "Iz vhat I say."

"Oh! Pitch also can't come out during the day. He's weak in the light but stronger in the dark."

"I think we can put that ta good use," said Bunny.

Tooth nodded and tapped her chin. Then, the Tooth Fairy brightened. "I have an idea!" she announced happily. The sudden announcement woke Sandy up.

"Sorry, Sandy," said Tooth. "But I think I have an idea on how we can stop Pitch! Well, the Fearlings and Nightmare Men at least."

"What are you thinkin', Tooth?" asked Bunny.

"We need to take out Pitch's army first," Tooth said. "Without it, he's vulnerable. Remember back in the forest? Pitch didn't come out to fight straight away. He had his Fearlings and Nightmare Men fight us instead."

North ran a hand through his beard. "That iz not bad idea."

"But how are we supposed to take out Pitch's army?" asked Bunny.

Tooth smiled, almost impishly. "By giving them some light."

"Light?" North repeated. "But vhat light?"

"Yeah. They aren't just going ta willingly follow us into the daylight," said Bunny.

Tooth shook her head and said, "That's not the light I'm talking about."

Sandy put up a question mark and Bunny asked impatiently, "Than what light are ya referring' ta?"

Tooth's wings fluttered furiously and she said answer in a serious tone, "Golden Age light. I'm talking about Golden Age light," the Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies faced the Guardians one by one. "We need to use the relics."

…

"Crikey, have ya gone of yer rocker, Shelia?!" exclaimed Bunny after a couple minutes of silence. "That's a crazy idea!"

Sandy was very shocked as well and various incomprehensible dreamsand images flashed over his head. Even a few yetis and elves who were cleaning up the shelves stared at Tooth with wide eyes. The creatures of Santoff Clauseen knew how much power the relics held. They had even seen the power of the Golden Age light when North used his sword. But they never thought they'd see North use it again. He stored it away somewhere in his study where no one but him could find it.

"I am with Bunny," said North. "Not crazy, but just...risky."

"I know it's a huge risk," said Tooth. "But we don't have any other choice! It's the best option and unless you guys have any better ideas, this seems like the way to go."

Sandy, North, and Bunny looked at each other. They were out of ideas and Tooth's did seem like on that could not only wipe out the Nightmare Men and Fealings, but weaken Pitch as well. The relics were one of a kind and were one of the last things to come from the Golden Age. They were extremely powerful and could destroy and shadow. But if the plan didn't work out, the Guardians could lose their most effectual weapons and Pitch could gain even more power.

Tooth sighed. "This is risky, but I think that if we work together, we can pull this off."

North walked up to Tooth and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Let's do it."

Bunny squawked from behind them. "We're actually doin' this?"

"Yes," said North. "This is the only way ve can stop Pitch, and Tooth is right. If ve do this as team, we can do it."

Sandy nodded in agreement and gave a thumbs up. Bunny was still hesitant though.

"Bunny?" asked Tooth. "Are you in?"

Bunny closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Then, the Pooka sighed and looked up the trio.

"Anythin' for the ankle-biters," Bunny said with a nod. Tooth, North and Sandy cheered and Bunny couldn't suppress a smile. But the Guardians were still partially worried. Would this plan work? Would they finally stop Pitch?

There were so many risks. But the Guardians knew that sometimes, risks needed to be taken in order to succeed.