Chapter Eight: Interesting Reinforcements

The Guardians got to work immediately after Tooth had proposed her idea. North had gone off to grab his sword, the first relic; Bunny headed back to his Warren to grab the magical egg, the second relic; Tooth flew off to Punjam Hy Loo to retrieve her ruby box, the third relic; and Sandy stayed in Santoff Claussen with North, since his dreamsand was the fifth relic.

There was a sixth and final relic, but it was forever lost. It was something that had not been able to be replaced since the Golden Age and nor would it ever be able to be created again. The four relics that the Guardians had would have to do. The five relics were already very powerful on their own, so the group of four didn't worry much.

The Guardians met up in the Globe Room once again, each holding their relics. The artifacts began to glow brightly when they came close to the others.

"So, what exactly is the plan, Shelia?" asked Bunny. "Because puttin' the relics together will make us all go blind."

"I was thinking that once we take out Pitch and his army, we can use the relics to corner him," Tooth explained. "Of course, we would have to lure the Fearlings and Nightmare Men away first, but that shouldn't be so hard since they're not as smart as Pitch is."

North nodded. "If ve draw Fearlings and Nightmare Men away, ve should have no problem getting to Pitch."

"Pitch won't have anywhere ta hide," Bunny said. "He'll be powerless without his giant army of shadows."

Dreamsand swirled over Sandy's head, creating the image of Pitch shrinking away as the Guardians approached him. Then, the dreamsand Pitch fell to his knees, begging for mercy. The Guardians laughed.

"I would pay thousands to see Pitch beg on his knees," said Bunny.

Tooth giggled. "We'll see if he does that when we finally defeat him."

"And bring an end to these Dark Ages once and for all," North added. "But, of course, ve can't pull this off all by ourselves."

North was right. The Guardians were going to need backup if things didn't go according to plan. Bunny was actually the one who said that they would need at least some help before venturing into the Nightmare King's lair once again. The Guardians had already tried fighting Pitch by themselves, and even though they were an effective team and fought well, the Guardians did find themselves backed into a corner by Pitch several times during their adventure. The Guardians didn't want to risk getting captured by Pitch or worse.

"I can send a few of my fairies to sneak into Pitch's lair," said Tooth. "They're small enough to not get detected by him."

"I have a few yetis who are willing to fight," said North.

"And I have an army set already back at my Warren," Bunny said nonchalantly. The three Guardians turned to the Pooka, surprise dancing in their eyes.

"Wait...you have an army?" asked Tooth. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Because it's a last minute resort," Bunny replied with a shrug. "It seems like now is a a good time ta bring them out."

Tooth, North, and Sandy looked at each other. They had no idea that Bunny had an army. An army seemed like something that would be easy to notice. A whole group of trained warriors standing in rows, ready for battle. The Guardians wondered what Bunny's army consisted of. It obviously couldn't be made up of other immortals, since Bunny liked to keep to himself most of the time. Bunny slammed his foot against the ground, opening one of his many tunnels. The Guardians followed the Pooka down it and tumbled into the Warren in a heap. Once they untangled themselves from the pile, Bunny let out a strange, almost otherworldly sound.

"Vhat was that?" asked North.

"I was just callin' my warriors," Bunny said. There was suddenly the sound of marching feet, but they didn't sound very loud. North and the other Guardians began to guess what Bunny's army consisted of. Well trained...plants? A group of his many egg sentinels? North didn't know how one of Bunny's stone eggs would be able to stealthily enter Pitch's lair, but he did know that if the sentinels were in the midst of battle, they would come in great use.

North was about to guess more Pookas, but then he remembered that Bunny was the last one. North felt a little bad for Bunny, but the Pooka never really seemed to show any poignant feelings at the fact that his entire clan was gone. The man in red knew that he probably buried those feelings deep down inside of him. Far away where no one would ever find them. The ex-Cossack knew that Bunny wasn't one to open up easily, but since he was chosen to be a Guardian of Childhood—-and knowing that Pitch had to be stopped—-he gave North, Tooth, and Sandy a chance. Of course, there were still things that the Guardians kept to themselves (they had only been together for three days after all), but they knew that with time, they'd come to eventually trust each other. They were a team, and teams needed to know each other's strengths and weaknesses so they could help each other in battle.

The marching grew closer, closer, and closer. North, Tooth, and Sandy were itching to know what Bunny's army was like. Maybe they would be able to easily defeat Pitch after all! If Bunny had an entire army, and they really were as great fighters as Bunny made them sound, the plan would go along just smoothly.

Finally, the marching came to a stop. North, Tooth, and Sandy looked around, expecting to see a group of...well, they didn't know what they were supposed to see, but they were at least waiting for some kind of group of well-trained warriors. Bunny coughed to their left and he pointed downward.

"Their standin' right at yer feet, mates," Bunny said. The Guardians blinked and looked down and standing in front of them were a large group of armed, golden armored….

Eggs. Bunny's army consisted of eggs.

Eggs? Eggs?! North thought in shock. Bunny's army was a giant group of armored eggs? He knew that Bunny was a little strange (and his little obsession with eggs added on to that), but North didn't think that things could get any stranger with Bunny. Tooth cocked her head, side to side, and finally said, "Bunny...they're really...cute. But…"

"Bunny, this iz by far the strangest thing I've ever seen," said North. Out of all of the strange things that North had seen in his entire immortal life, Bunny's egg army had to be the bizarre.

Bunny rolled his eyes, slightly offended by North's comment. "I know they don't look like much, but they can fight." The Pooka turned to the eggs and shouted a command, and they instantly drew their weapons and aimed them at the Guardians. Sandy, Tooth, and North took a small step back. So the eggs could be intimidating when they wanted to be.

"Well, people do say that strength comes in numbers," whispered Tooth to North. "I think we should give these little guys a chance."

Sandy nodded in agreement and put up the image of a clock, its hands spinning rapidly. North wasn't completely convinced that the eggs would work, but Sandy was right. He and the Guardians were running out of time. The Guardians didn't have time to make a sudden switch in the plan, so Bunny's egg army had to do.

"Okay, Bunny. Ve vill give eggs a chance," North said. "But they can fight...right?"

"Of course they can!" Bunny stated profoundly. "Why did ya think I brought them up while we were talkin' about reinforcements?"

North turned to the large group of eggs standing before him. "I just wasn't expecting something...like this."

"Yer just gonna have ta get used ta it, mate," Bunny said. He and the Guardians then left the Warren with a numerous amount of armored eggs following behind them.

…

Back at Santoff Claussen, preparations were hastily being made. The Guardians had gathered all of the supplies that they'd need for confronting Pitch. The North Pole had never bustled with this much activity when it wasn't Christmastime. North excited his study, wearing his red coat and hat and the Guardians walked down from the hallway, ready to go.

"Are you a ready?" North asked.

Tooth nodded. "Yep! I already sent out my fairies and they're probably spying on Pitch, the Fearlings, and Nightmare Men at this very moment."

North nodded. He turned to Bunny. "Are your...eggs ready to fight?" North couldn't see himself using the term "warriors" to describe Bunny's eggs. He had not even seen them fight yet.

Bunny nodded gruffly. "They're already in the back of the sleigh."

Everything was set and ready to go. The Guardians headed to the sleigh hanger once again, each of them filling into the red flying vehicle. Once everyone was in and everything was double checked, North turned to the Guardians. They all looked ready. Ready for anything. Ready for whatever was to come.

North wasn't one to worry frequently. He rarely ever got anxious except when it was Christmas Eve and last minute present preparations were being made. But now, as he cracked at the reigns of the sleigh, taking him and his friends in the air, North found a vague feeling of anxiousness slowly crawling upon him. Why he was nervous, he didn't know. Maybe it was because they were venturing into Pitch's lair once again. The place was haunting and inauspicious, but North and the other Guardians had already been there twice.

Maybe it was because of Bunny's army of eggs. North wasn't entirely confident in the small army, but Tooth did have a point. Strength did come in numbers...if the numbers were able to fight.

As the Guardians soared across the night sky, they noticed how bright and full the Moon was. It was as if Tsar Lunar was watching them from above. That brought a feeling of solace to the Guardians, and North wondered if the others were feeling a little on edge too.

Tooth squeezed her hands together. "I really hope this works."

"Me too," North said from the front.

Tooth rubbed her arms. "What if something goes wrong? What if one of us gets hurt? What if we end up losing the relics to Pitch and he gets all of the power? So much power that he could annihilate us with the flick of his wrist? What if Bunny's eggs—-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down Sheila," Bunny said. He placed a paw on Tooth's shoulder and Tooth stopped babbling. "We're gonna be fine."

Sandy nodded and created an image of the Guardians fighting together. "As long as we stick together and fight as one, we'll be okay."

Tooth's feathers stopped flaring and she calmed down. The Fairy Queen nodded and then said, "Okay, but I still can't help but feel a little nervous. Pitch has grown really powerful over the past few years. We don't know what to expect from him."

"Yeah, we do," said Bunny. "He's gonna send out his Fearlings and Nightmare Men to fight us and then when he realizes that his shadow army is't gonna stop us, he's gonna come and fight us himself."

"Bunny iz right," said North. "Pitch is not going to beat us. Ve vill win," North turned to the others and raised an eyebrow impishly. "Besides, ve got egg army on our side. What could possibly go wrong?"

Bunny's eyes narrowed slightly and his whiskers twitched. "I don't know whether to be offended or not, mate."

Tooth smiled. "Well, if they've fought in battles before and won, they must be pretty egg-cellent."

"Don't ya even start with the puns," Bunny said quickly. Tooth, North, and Sandy laughed and Bunny couldn't help but smile a little. Tooth's quip had lightened up the mood, and the Guardians found themselves worrying less.

The Guardians continued to soar across the star-filled sky, and each of them began thinking of what to expect when they arrived at Pitch's lair once again. Would an epic battle even take place? The Guardians had four relics from the Golden Age that could easily destroy any shadow, but Pitch had many shadows. The Guardians had an egg army. Pitch had thousands of Fearlings, Nightmare Men, and the fears of children around the world powering him. The children had begun to fear Pitch a little less, but there was still a great number of kids who still were afraid of him, and Pitch was feeding off of that fear.

The Guardians knew that Pitch knew everyone's greatest fears, including theirs, so they needed to quell their worry, fear, and anxiousness and stay optimistic. They would win. They would defeat Pitch. They would win the battle. They would put an end to the Dark Ages. There was nothing to fear...

Right?

…

The Guardians soon landed in the forest of Tanglewood and each of them cautiously hopped out of the sleigh. Tooth's fairies were there to greet them, and they conversed with their queen about what they had found and discovered in Pitch's lair. According to Tooth's mini fairies, Pitch was planning on sending waves and waves of nightmares to the children. Nightmares that were so vivid and life-like, that the children would believe that they were real. Tooth's feathers flared in rage and her wings beat profoundly. How dare Pitch? Torturing and plaguing the children with nightmares was one thing, but plaguing them with night terrors?

Tooth told the Guardians what the min fairies had told her and that same angry feeling spread to the Sandman, ex-Cossak, and Pooka. Pitch was about to cross the line, and the Guardians needed to stop him before he did.

"Come on!" Tooth whispered quietly. "If we go in there now, we'll surprise him!"

"But we need ta be prepared," Bunny said. His eggs were already hopping out of the sleigh and taking their formations. "If we go in there and attack immediately, we'll have a higher chance of losin'"

Tooth nodded. She had almost let her anger at Pitch wash out the plan that they had so meticulously planned back at the North Pole. The Tooth Fairy trilled at her fairies, telling them to return to their duties at Punjam Hy Loo, and the little troupe flew off.

"Okay. We need to draw the Fearlings and Nightmare Men out," Tooth said. "But not Pitch. We need to get him to send them out."

"Pitch would probably send out a group of Nightmare Men and Fearlings to scout this area of the forest if something anomalous were ta happen," Bunny prompted.

North drew out his swords and brandished them. "Then what are ve waiting for? Let's do something anomalous."

Sandy shook his head and put up the number one and the image of the Guardians. "One of us should draw the Fearlings and Nightmare Men's attention."

"And who should that be?" asked Bunny.

Sandy raised his hand to volunteer. Tooth and Bunny objected immediately.

"No, Sandy! You can't do that!" Tooth exclaimed. "It's way too dangerous!"

"Yeah, mate! Ya could get ambushed!" Bunny added frantically.

"Everybody calm down," said North. "Vould Sandy volunteer if he didn't have plan?"

Sandy nodded and then gave the Guardians a thumbs up. The Sandman had a plan. He just needed to put it into play while the others went and hid.

Tooth sighed. "Okay. But...be careful," she said. She gave Sandy a hug and let North and Bunny wish Sandy good luck as well. The Sister of Flight, Pooka, and ex-Cossak then went to hide in the bushes with the egg army, watching Sandy as he stood in the middle of the clearing alone and exposed.

"Are ya sure this is gonna work?" asked Bunny as he turned to North.

North nodded. "I am sure. I can feel it," he said. "In my belly."

Author's Note: The relics are also book references! Each of the Guardians have one. Can any of you guess what the last and final relic is? (Here's a hint. His name starts with N and ends with Ightlight =D).

Ah, it's finally time to put the plan into action! =D You can do it, Guardians! Go and stop Pitch!

Until the next chapter!

-BeyondTheMoon1203