Chapter 7: Guardians Versus Guardians
"So, if anyone would care to enlighten me," Jack spoke up as the six Guardians of Childhood faced off against the three Guardians of the Sabbat, "How much danger are we in right now?"
"A huge bloody amount," Bunny grumbled, his eyes darting between Samhain, Krampus and Eostre.
"Come on, they can't be that tough," Frost argued with a dismissive snort, "I mean, you guys beat them before and we outnumber them two to one right now."
"We barely beat them before," Tooth muttered, "You can't underestimate how powerful they are."
"Indeed," Samhain confirmed as he turned his head to look at Eostre, "How about you give them a demonstration, dear sister?"
"I'd love to," Eostre replied as she looked at the Guardians with a predatory grin.
Then, turning her palms upwards, Eostre lifted her hands until they were at hip height. As she did, the stone floor of the cave they were all in suddenly began to shake. Then, with a loud crack, fissures began forming in the stone, causing the floor to shake even more violently.
"Let's get out of here!" Shock shouted before she, Lock and Barrel scrambled for cover.
As the ground began to splitter into large chunks of rock, Tooth and Frost quickly rose into the air. At the same time, Sandy swirled his arms around, creating a large cloud of sand beneath his, North, Bunny and Jack's feet before lifting them all safely into the air.
A moment later, large roots burst out of the ground and began grasping at the air like writhing tentacles. Glaring daggers at the flying Guardians, Eostre thrust her hands towards them, causing the roots to surge forward with alarming speed. Gasping in surprise, Frost quickly dropped out of the air, dodging a surging root before shooting upwards to avoid another as it burst out of the ground. At the same time, Tooth burst into a dozen tiny versions of herself, which quickly scattered out of the reach of the grasping roots.
The rest of the Guardians were not so agile and were unable to dodge as one of the roots speared through the cloud of Sandy's sand, sending all four of them tumbling towards the ground. Acting quickly, Sandy formed another cloud under himself before thrusting his hands down towards his falling friends. A moment later, hooks made of glowing sand appeared hanging in midair below the falling Guardians. Reaching out, North and Jack managed to grab onto the hooks, halting their falls.
Bunny, however, missed his hook by inches, and continued plummeting towards the hard, unforgiving ground. Acting quickly, Bunny clicked his heels together as he fell, causing a hole to open up in the ground beneath him. Falling through the hole, Bunny grunted as he rolled down the shallow dirt incline that lay within. Reaching the bottom, Bunny quickly rolled onto all fours and regained his bearings, his ears twitching about as he listened for any sign of danger. Suddenly, Bunny's eyes went wide and he shot off down the tunnel as a dozen roots burst through the earthen walls and attempted to grab him.
Flipping from his sand hook, North drew his swords as he fell through the air. Seeing another root thrusting towards him, North managed to shift his fall just enough to dodge out of the way of the attack. As the root passed him by, North struck out with one his swords, stabbing the plant and arresting his fall. As he hung from the root, North let out a small gasp as he spotted another one rushing towards him. Letting out a cry of challenge, North slashed at the root with his other sword, cutting off the tip of the plant with a single stroke. The root reared back and quickly retreated, only to be replaced by three more, prompting North to let out another battlecry while wildly slashing at the air as they came towards him.
Jack, meanwhile, used the hook and the momentum from his fall to flip himself through the air. Reaching one of the outstretched roots, Jack planted his feet against the plant before bouncing off of it, avoiding another root as it lashed out at him in the process. As yet another root shot towards him, Jack managed to plant his hands against it and vault over the root before landing on the ground in a spider-like crouch. From this position, Jack quickly scuttled under a root before springing upwards and flipping over another as it swiped at him. Landing on his feet this time, Jack found himself face to face with Eostre.
"Well, here's a new face," Eostre observed as she smiled sensually at Jack, "I don't think you and I have been properly introduced."
"Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King," Jack replied as he gave Eostre a gentlemanly bow, "Now, I'm going to have you ask that you stop attacking my colleagues, madam, and return to your tree at once."
"Jack Skellington," Eostre mused as she tapped her lips with one finger, completely ignoring Jack's demand, "That name sounds familiar. Maybe we have met before."
Jack's only response was to frown in confusion.
"No matter," Eostre continued with a helpless shrug, "You'll be dead and forgotten soon enough."
With that, Eostra made a grasping motion with her hands. As she did, the roots that Jack had managed to avoid before came rushing at his backside. Gasping as he glanced over his shoulder at the oncoming roots, Jack quickly backflipped into the air, before plating his hands against one of the roots and using it to vault himself further into the air. However, as Jack flipped further into the air, one of the roots suddenly lashed out and wrapped itself around one of the Guardian's ankles. Letting out a cry of surprise as the root suddenly yanked him to a stop, Jack found himself completely helpless as the root suddenly swung him downward and slammed him face first against the stone floor.
Groaning in pain, Jack tried to push himself off the ground, but instead found himself hauled into the air again, the root wrapped around his ankle dangling him upside down, leaving him face to face with Eostra once more.
"You know, it really is going to bother me that I can't figure out why you seem so familiar," Eostre said as she regarded Jack pensively, "Did I kill you once before? Is that how you died? The first time, that is."
"I'm honestly not quite sure," Jack admitted as his brow knitted together, "It's all….a bit of blank, truth be told."
"It must have been traumatic," Eostre concluded, "Perhaps your little fairy friend knows. She was always so good with memories. Maybe I can wring the answer out of her before she dies."
"I've got your answer right here, you old witch!" Bunny shouted as a hole suddenly appeared at Eostre's feet. Eostre only had enough time to look down at the hole in surprise before Bunny came shooting out of it and dropkicked her in the chest. The force of the blow was enough to knock Eostre completely off her feet, sending her rolling across the ground as Bunny bounced off her and landed in a crouched position a short distance away. Then, in a single, smooth motion, Bunny drew a boomerang while turning on his heel before hurling the weapon at the root holding Jack's foot. The boomerang spun through the air before slicing clean through the root, causing the plant to rear back in pain while Jack fell back to the ground, nimbly flipping through the air to land on his feet.
"Thank you for your assistance, my friend!" Jack thanked Bunny with a smile.
"Don't go thanking me yet, mate," Bunny replied warily, his eyes focused on Eostre as he caught his returning boomerang, "I think all I managed to do was tick her off."
Turning his attention towards the woman as well, Jack watched as a writhing bed of roots and vines formed underneath Eostre before they gently lifted her back up to her feet. Rage burning in her eyes, Eostre glared at Bunny and Jack before thrusting her hands towards them and letting out a wrathful scream that sent a dozen more roots surging towards the duo.
Standing on top of one of the massive roots, North swung his swords wildly about him, becoming a whirlwind of slashing steel as he cut down the smaller roots that were grasping at him. Out of the corner of his eye, North spotted something moving towards him, but by the time he turned his head to look, Krampus was already slamming into him, shoulder first. The force of the blow knocked North completely off his feet and sent him flying into the empty air. Before he could begin falling, however, Krampus lashed out with his hook and chain, lassoing North around the midsection. Yanking hard on the chain, Krampus sent North flying back towards him, before striking the Guardian with an uppercut that sent him rocketing upwards.
As North tumbled upwards end over end, he could see that he was flying straight for the chamber's stone ceiling. Before he slammed into it, however, a baseball glove made of golden sand formed between North and the ceiling and caught him with a soft thump. As the glove turned around so that North could use it as a platform, the Guardian stood up and scanned his surroundings before he spotted Sandy flying by in a biplane made of sand. Sandy gave North a friendly wave, which the Russian returned before turning his attention back down towards Krampus.
"So Sandman like play with planes, eh?" Krampus questioned as he set his sack down on the root, "I play with planes too!"
As Krampus opened the sack, a loud buzzing could be heard before half a dozen toy airplanes came shooting out, all designed to resemble German Focke-Wulf fighters. Roaring up into the sky, the planes shot past North and chased after Sandy. As they closed in on the Guardian, the planes opened fire with their miniature machine guns, the bullets quickly tearing through Sandy's aircraft. His eyes going wide in surprise, Sandy gripped the throttle of his plane and shoved it forward, sending his plane into a sharp dive, the toy planes quickly chasing after him.
Dodging between the grasping and thrashing roots that filled the cavern, Sandy did everything he could to lose his dogged pursuers, which continued to pepper him with machine gun fire. Turning his plane to the side, Sandy managed to squeeze between two of the larger roots as they moved to slam together, the toy planes chasing after him as two of their number proved slow and were crushed between the thick roots.
Grimacing as the toy planes continued to tear into his aircraft, Sandy waved his hands, causing a mounted machine gun to form on the rear of his cockpit. Spinning in his seat, Sandy grabbed the machine gun and opened fire on the toy planes, the large calibur sand bullets quickly reducing two of his pursuers to bits of scrap.
As Sandy continued to fire at his two remaining pursuers, one of Eostre's roots suddenly surged upwards and swung at his plane, slamming into the vehicle and smashing one of its wings off. His eyes going wide in surprise, Sandy spun around in his seat again and grabbed the throttle, doing his best to keep the plane steady as it began spiraling towards the ground. As Sandy struggled with the plane, Krampus' toys took advantage and opened fire on the biplane, smashing its remaining wing to bits.
As the remains of the plane nosedived towards the ground, Sandy quickly waved his arms about, causing the entire plane to dissolve into a cloud of sand, sending the Guardian tumbling towards the earth by himself. With another wave of his hands, Sandy formed a bow and two arrows in his hands. Flipping over so that his back was to the ground, Sandy pulled the two arrows back on the bowstring before firing them at the toy airplanes that were still chasing after him, the two missiles smashing into their targets and shattering them.
Sandy grinned in triumph at this before holding his bow above his head as he flipped around again so that his feet were facing the rapidly approaching ground. A moment later, the bow changed shape in Sandy's hands, forming into an open umbrella. The umbrella quickly puffed open as Sandy fell, halting his descent and sending him floating off towards a different part of the cavern.
Growling in frustration, Krampus glared daggers at Sandy as the Guardian offered him a friendly wave. Krampus' anger gave way to confusion however as Sandy pointed at something to Krampus' side. Looking in the direction Sandy was indicating, Krampus only had time to widen his eyes in surprise as he spotted North flipping through the air towards him before the Guardian dropkicked him in the chest, knocking Krampus off the root and sending him tumbling to the ground below. Grinning wildly as he landed on the root, North turned his attention towards Sandy and flashed his friend a thumbs up.
In a different part of the cavern, Frost and Tooth zipped through the air, dodging around the lashing roots as they went. Glancing back, Frost spotted Samhain chasing after them, riding what looked like a monstrous bat made out of his shadowstuff. Holding his hand up, Samhain conjured a massive spear of made of shadows before hurling it at the pair, forcing Frost to dodge out of the way, the spear sailing past him and piercing one of the roots, skewering it to the cavern wall where it twitch and spasmed.
"Split up!" Tooth shouted to Frost, earning a nod from her fellow Guardian before they both abruptly turned and flew in opposite directions. Growling in frustration, Samhain steered his mount to one side and went chasing after Frost.
Glancing over his shoulder again, Frost grimaced as he spotted Samhain still chasing him, his shadowy bat monster plowing through the twisting roots instead of going around them. Opening its fanged mouth, the bat let out a terrible shriek before tendrils of shadow shot out of its maw towards Frost. His eyes going wide in surprise, Frost spun around and began wacking the tendrils away with his staff. Holding one hand above his head, Samhain conjured a lash made out of shadows before striking with it, the end wrapping around Frost's staff with a crack and holding it in place. Frost struggled against Samhain for a few moments, which gave the bat monster enough time to grab the Guardian's arms and legs with its tendrils.
His eyes going wide, Frost watched as the bat monster's maw rapidly approached, its tendrils reeling him into the shadow's creature waiting mouth. Right before the monster could swallow him whole, however, Tooth came streaking down from above and crashed into the top of the bat's head at full speed, feet first. The force of the blow snapped the monster's mouth shut, causing Frost to bounce off the creature's face, the stunned shadow's tendrils loosening enough for Frost to break free. Twisting through the air as he flipped over the bat creature, Frost kicked Samhain in the chest, catching him completely off guard and knocking him off of his mount's back, sending him tumbling through the air before he crashed down onto one of the roots.
Roaring in pained rage, the bat monster turned its attention towards Tooth, who quickly zipped away, prompting the shadow creature to chase after her. At the same time, Samhain rose back to his feet just as Frost landed on the root a short distance away from him. The two stared at each other for a few moments, Frosts' cold stare meeting the button eyes of Samhain's mask. Then, with a flourish, Samhain created a scythe made from shadows and charged, twirling the weapon above his head as Frost rushed forward and met him with his staff.
With a monstrous shriek, the bat monster charged after Tooth, crashing through a number of Eostre's roots as the Guardian zipped around them, the shadow creature quickly gaining on her. Opening its fanged mouth, the bat creature moved to chomp down on Tooth. Before it could, however, a giant boxing glove made of sand smashed into the side of the monster's head, knocking it off course and causing it to crash into a particularly thick root. Looking towards where the boxing cloud had come from, Tooth spotted Sandy standing on another branch nearby, waving his arms about as he dissolved the fist in a cloud of sand.
As he noticed Tooth looking at him, Sandy began frantically pointing at something. Looking in the indicated direction, Tooth spotted North and Krampus fighting on another root, sparks flying as their weapons clashed. Her eyes narrowing in determination, Tooth shot towards the pair. At the same time, the stunned bat monster recovered and moved to chase after Tooth, but was stopped when Sandy created a leash out of his sand, wrapping one end around the creature's neck and the other around one of the thick roots, holding the thrashing beast in place.
Nearby, North and Krampus continued their duel, the Guardian parrying Krampus' hooked chain with one of his swords while thrusting at his opponent with the other. Seeing the attack coming, Krampus lifted his sack, blocking the thrust as the blade cut into the cloth bag. The blade cut a small hole into the sack before coming to an abrupt stop with a thunk.
His brow furrowing in confusion, North attempted to pull his sword free of the sack, only to find it stuck in place. As North attempted to pull it back again, eight long, colorful arms ending in white gloved hands exploded out of the bag, all of them grasping at North's arm and sword. Exclaiming in surprise, North released his sword and yanked his hand back, retreating a few feet as Krampus cackled in amusement.
As North watched with wide eyes, another one of Krampus' demonic toys emerged from his sack. The toy looked like a clown, with a small, white painted face with a bright red nose and curly red hair. It's body was a sphere, and resembled a clown's outfit, colored bright yellow, and decorated with a colorful frill around the neck and red, pom-pom buttons. Sprouting from its orb-shaped body were eight long, tentacle-like arms that made the clown look like some kind of nightmarish spider or octopus. As the clown looked at North with its black, painted eyes, it let out a high-pitched cackle before flashing a mouthful of pointed teeth.
Wearily, North watched as the clown creature pointed his own sword at him, before his eyes narrowed as he leveled his remaining sword at the clown. In response, the clown reached behind its back with its seven empty hands before each retrieved a different bladed weapon from seemingly thin air. As North looked at the clown with wide eyes, the demonic toy balanced on the tips of two of the blades while pointing the other six at the Guardian before rushing towards him in a whirlwind of slashing steel.
Quickly backpedaling, North did his best to parry the swings of the clown's multitude of blades, the clown managing to use all eight of its swords as it changed the blades it was using to hold itself up in a random, chaotic fashion. As North moved to block yet another of the clown's thrusts, Krampus' chain suddenly shot out from around the monstrous toy and wrapped around the Guardian's arm, holding his sword in place. Seizing the opportunity with a cackle of delight, the clown leapt into the air and thrust all eight of its blades at North's chest.
Before the blades could strike home, they were all stopped when eight mini-Tooths came flying in and grabbed the clown by its wrists, stopping the weapons cold. Blinking in surprise, the clown tried to struggle against the mini-Tooths' hold, but a dozen more zipped in and held the demonic toy in place. Nodding at North, the mini-Tooths carried the clown away, before they began spinning in place, forcing the toy to drop its weapons. Reforming into a single entity, Tooth held all of the clown's arms together before she began spinning around, gaining enough speed to turn into a blur of color. Then, releasing the clown, she tossed the toy directly into Krampus' face, causing him to stumble back in surprise as the toy's many arms became entangled around his head.
"North!" Tooth called as she pointed at the chain connecting the Guardian and Krampus, "One good turn deserves another!"
Turning his attention towards the chain, North smiled in understanding before gripping it with both hands and putting all his strength into swinging it. Krampus, still dealing with the clown toy wrapped around his head, was caught off guard by the maneuver and yanked completely off his feet. Spinning in place, North continued to swing Krampus in a wide arch, gaining momentum until releasing his hold on the chain and sending him flying through the air.
At the same time, the bat creature was still struggling against Sandy's bonds, which were beginning to strain to the breaking point. Before the shadow monster could free itself though, Krampus slammed into the creature's face with enough impact to snap its head back and send it crashing into the root, where it exploded into a cloud of shadow essence while Krampus went tumbling towards the ground.
As the bat monster exploded behind them, Frost and Samhain clashed, slamming the hafts of their weapons against each other as the Guardian glared up at his opponent's masked face. With a grunt of effort, Samhain shoved Frost back before swinging his scythe at the Guardian's neck. Frost avoided the attack by flipping backwards, planting his hand against the root they were fighting on before he swung his crook at Samhain's legs, looping it around his foot and yanking him off his feet.
Samhain landed on his back with a grunt as Frost leapt into the air and maneuvered to land with both feet on his opponent's chest. Before he could, Samhain rolled to the side, avoiding the blow. Clenching his hand into a fist, Samhain formed a tentacle of shadow around his arm before he lashed out and wrapped the tentacle around Frost's legs before pulling him off of his feet as Samhain rolled to his own.
Grunting in pain as he thudded against the root, Frost was unprepared as Samhain used his shadow tentacle to lift the Guardian into the air before slamming him face first against the root. Lifting him up again, Samhain moved to repeat the action, but before he could, Frost pointed his staff at him and blasted him in the face with a gust of frigid air that quickly encased Samhain's head in a block of ice.
Gripping his head in surprise, Samhain's shadow tentacle dissipated as he stumbled backwards. Flipping back to his feet, Frost charged Samhain, planting his staff against the root and using it to vault forward so that he could dropkick his opponent in the chest, knocking him off of his feet.
As Samhain picked himself up off the ground, Frost concentrated his powers on the end of his staff, causing a long, sharp icicle to form at the non-crooked end of his weapon. Rushing forward, Frost thrust the ice blade at Samhain's face, forcing him to parry the blow with the haft of his shadow scythe. In response, Frost spun with his momentum and swung the crooked end of his staff at Samhain, conjuring a swirling gust of frigid air around it. Samhain blocked this attack as well, but as he did, the swirling, frigid air surged forward and struck Samhain in the chest, knocking him clear off his feet and sending him tumbling through the air.
Down on the cave floor, Bunny and Jack faced off against Eostre, the woman screaming in rage as she sent a dozen roots shooting towards the pair. Nimbly, Jack and Bunny dodged around the roots, moving to close the distance between them and Eostre. Seeing them coming, Eostre attempted to create a wall of vines and bramble between her and her attackers, but Jack managed to dive forward and squeeze his slim body through a gap a moment before it closed behind him, though Bunny found himself stopped by the barricade.
Rolling to his feet, Jack clenched his hand into a bony fist and thrust it at Eostre's face, but with a flick of her wrist, Eostre caused a vine to shoot out of the ground and wrap itself around his wrist, locking Jack's arm in place before he could swing.
"You're starting to annoy me," Eostre grumbled as she glared at Jack.
"I must admit, I'm starting to find you quite vexing as well," Jack replied before he turned his hand around and grabbed hold of the vine, which seemed to shift form in his hand.
As Eostre looked at him in confusion, Jack yanked on the vine, pulling it loose and revealing a carved jack-o-lantern sprouting from the end of it, a small fire already burning behind its grinning visage. With a shout of triumph, Jack swung the jack-o-lantern flail hard at Eostre, and struck her on the side of the head with the bludgeon, sending her stumbling backwards as she let out a cry of pain.
Catching herself, Eostra glared at Jack, but her gaze quickly shifted to the jack-o-lantern flail he held at the ready. As she stared at the carved face, a look of realization crossed Eostre's features and she shifted her gaze back to the skeleton.
"You," Eostre spat, her tone accusatory, "I remember you now."
"You…do?" Jack questioned in surprise.
"Indeed," Eostre snarled as she held her hand up and clenched it into a fist, causing multiple vines and roots to burst out of the ground and wrap themselves around Jack, holding him fast as they formed a cocoon around him. Looking around, Eostre spotted Krampus and Samhain as the pair crashed to the cavern floor and began picking themselves up.
"On your feet, you two!" Eostre called, "We're leaving!"
As Krampus and Samhain rose to their feet, Eostre turned her attention back to Jack, glaring into his empty eye sockets.
"And we're taking this little Guardian with us," Eostre finished.
"The hell you are!" Frost shouted as he came flying in and swung his staff at Eostre, sending a wave of cold wind flying at her. Before the attack could hit her through, a wall of shadows sprung up between the two of them and intercepted the attack. As the wall lowered, it revealed Samhain and Krampus standing next to Eostre and the still entangled Jack.
"Well, this has been a fun excursion," Samhain stated as the remaining Guardians gathered in front of them, "But I think that we've overstayed our welcome. I hope you don't mind if we borrow your friend though."
"No!" Tooth exclaimed as she shot forward, but before she could reach the Guardians of the Sabbat, they were swallowed up by a cloud of shadowstuff. Tooth dove heedlessly into the cloud, but shot out the other side without impacting anything. As she turned back around, Tooth watched as the cloud dissipated, revealing all four of them had disappeared, the writhing vines and roots that Eostre had been controlling now going still.
"Hey!" Shock shouted into the ether as she, Lock and Barrel stuck their heads out from behind the rock they had been hiding behind, "What about us!?"
In response, another swirling cloud of shadows sprang up around the three trick-or-treaters before whisking them away, leaving the Guardians alone in the cave.
"Alright," Frost spoke up, breaking the tense silence and bringing everyone's attention to him, "So, exactly how much trouble are we in right now?"
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A/N: Happy to finally get round to writing another chapter of this story, and I especially enjoyed how action packed this chapter was. Hope you all enjoyed it as well! As usual, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!