North was walking through his workshop once again, watching the yetis work while eating cookies absentmindedly. He paused just in front of the globe to gaze at the lights that adorned the surface. It had been almost a year since the battle with Pitch and making Jack Frost a guardian. Christmas had just passed a couple of weeks ago, and North felt like it was one of his most successful in a while. The lights on the globe were burning as brightly as ever.
While standing there, a flash of light hit his eye from above, blinding him and making him back away from the globe in attempt to regain his vision. Blinking rapidly, he looked up at the source of the light, and saw a full moon starring down at him. "Manny? That vas kind of a rude way to greet friend, no?" Instead of replying, the light that Manny was shining down onto North moments ago began to move across the room landing on the Aurora Borealis lever that North used to call the other Guardians for important meetings. "A meeting? I hope it is nothing serious old friend. I am still tired from last fight." The light from Manny's moon beam glowed brighter, as if insisting that a meeting was necessary for what he had to say. North had full faith in Manny's plans and so he turned and pushed the lever inwards, signaling the others to gather.
Less than an hour later, North stood facing the Guardians, as they waited for Manny's message. Tooth was hastily speaking to her fairies regarding the placements of teeth that needed to be retrieved. Her feathers were so much more colorful than the last time he remembered. Ever since the battle with Pitch, she had become even more of a workaholic if that was even possible. Probably to make up for disappointing her believers for that short and unfortunate time.
Sandy was laughing and watching a large Bunnymund chase Jack Frost across the room, a frozen tail trailing behind him. Although Jack and Bunny still argued now and again, it was never serious. It was almost as if they were brothers that only knew how to interact with each other by wrestling and arguing.
Just as Bunny had pinned Jack on the floor, ready to blast him with an egg of paint, North's voice boomed throughout the room. "Okay! We must settle down in order to pay attention to what Manny has brought us all together to say." Bunny and Frost glided swiftly up in front of North, Bunny still glaring at the back of Jack's head. Tooth ceased her chattering and smiled over at North, ready and excited to hear the news. "I'm so excited to hear Manny's news!" Bunny rolled his eyes and looked up at Tooth, "I doubt we would all be called togetha to hear any good news." North held up his hands, "there is no use in assuming the news is good or bad until we actually hear it."
Jack was sitting on the top of his staff, perfectly balanced, when he voiced his worry. "Does Manny usually call meetings without explaining first?" North didn't have a chance to answer before they all saw the light flash from the moon and onto the ground in front of them. They watched as a shadow of what appeared to be a tall rodent appear. "The Groundhog," North murmured to himself confused as the rest of them. "Oh no! What's the Groundhog gone and done now?" Bunny's tone of voice and face displayed his obvious annoyance at the subject of the Groundhog. He still held a grudge and the others weren't exactly sure as to why he did. They fell silent as a second shadow joined the first, this one looking eerily similar to Pitch. The shadow of Pitch was standing behind the one of the Groundhog, hands above his head getting ready to pounce. Once he attacked the entire scene was enveloped in shadow, Manny's light gone.
The Guardians stood silent for a moment, trying to piece thoughts and questions together. Tooth finally broke the silence, "So, what does that mean?" North who had been stroking his beard in thought turned to the group, "Isn't it obvious? The Groundhog is in danger from Pitch." Bunny's eyebrow furrowed in worry, "That can't be possible, we all saw Pitch get dragged down by his own Nightmares. He can't just be back."
Jack decided to put his two cents in, "Why would Pitch want the Groundhog, he's not even a Guardian."
"She," Bunny corrected.
"What?"
"The Groundhog is female Jack," North continued.
Jack's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh." He wasn't sure why he assumed the groundhog would be a guy. Perhaps it was because another large, furry animal made him immediately think of Bunny. Or maybe he couldn't understand why a girl could make Bunny so angry.
North changed the subject by signaling Phil the yeti, "It's okay Jack. And I know you don't believe Pitch could be back Bunny, but it is not up to us to question Man in Moon."
North whispered something in Phil's ear and Phil immediately ran off to do what he was told.
"So, what is our first course of action?" Jack questioned.
"Excellent question Jack. We must go and retrieve Groundhog and protect her from Pitch until we figure out why he wants to attack her."
"North's right. Whatever Pitch wants from her, it's up to us to protect her," Tooth continued, her voice grounded with determination. She was also secretly excited to have another female around for a change. Although it was nice being in the top ranks, she still missed having an equal that she could connect with on a different level than the way she did with the guys.
Bunny seemed to be irritated over the plan, as his left foot bounced up in down on the floor. "But protecting her will put us in danger, and she is not worth that."
"Man, what's your problem with the Groundhog that you hate her so much?" Jack jumped down from his staff approaching Bunny with squared shoulders. It really bugged Jack when Bunny was intentionally negative. It made it harder to make plans and such, his negative mood bringing everybody down.
"She's just not one of us," Bunny retorted, voice gruff with anger.
Sandy bumped Bunny on the shoulder, his first attempt at being in the conversation. He looked at Bunny and drew picture of Bunny and Jack ready to fight like they had been when Jack was first made a Guardian.
"Sandy's right, you hated Jack because you thought he was too different, and you were wrong then," North placed a hand of encouragement on Bunny's shoulder.
Bunny looked down at the floor in defeat, sighing. He knew that they were right about his original dislike towards Jack. After getting to know Jack more, he realized his misjudgment. Perhaps he was wrong about the groundhog this time too. Although he wasn't ready to trust her, he supposed it would be fair to not give her a chance. Bunny gave a faint nod, "alright."
"Great! Now that we all agree, lets go get her!" North's hands were raised into the air, a smile on his face. Phil returned at this time, with North's red coat and helped place it over his arms. North then pointed excitedly towards the door, "To the sleigh!"
The sleigh ride there was delightful for most of the inhabitants. Bunny was the only one who seemed upset. The sleigh finally landed on what looked like a deserted mountain top that was located on an Island west of the Canadian border.
"There's nothing here," Jack looked around at his surroundings. It seemed that there was no home for a potential Guardian. The only objects in sight were a lazy river and a large pine tree, that were barely visible through a mist of fog that hung around the mountain.
"This must be it. Globes never steer me wrong," North patted a globe in his pocket for emphasis.
"Yeah this is it, I've been hear once before," Bunny said, staring at the pine tree. He began walking towards it and they all followed.
"Why were you here before?" Jack looked over at Bunny, not understanding his hardened facial expression.
Bunny grunted, "I had a bone to pick with her about her winter scheduling." Technically that was the truth. It was the blizzard of '68 that year that pushed Bunny to his limit.
Flashback:
This year it was too cold for children to go out and enjoy Easter. All the little kids looked outside sadly at the windy snow falling, and he wasn't able to do anything about it. Basically, Easter had been cancelled this year, and he was gonna find out whose fault it was and give them a piece of his mind.
After the blizzard died down, Bunny found Jack Frost resting by his regular pond that he always seemed to be at. He was sleeping against a tree, looking peaceful and as if nothing could ever bother him.
Reaching down, Bunny grabbed the winter spirits hoodie roughly pulling him to be eyelevel with himself; this resulted in Frost being a couple of feet off of the ground.
"What the hell, man?" Jack yelled, placing his hands around Bunny's arms in attempt to keep his hoodie from ripping.
"You know good and well why I'm here Frost. You ruined Easter!" Bunny's tone sounded gruff and dark compared to his usual tone of indifference.
"That's why your holding me hostage. Don't you think that's a little bit of an overreaction?" Jack replied, trying to keep a lilt of joking in his voice, to sway Bunny away from violence.
"No, actually. I think stealing the feeling of hope away from the children of the world deserves an even worse fate, but I'm not allowed to do that sort of thing as a Guardian." Bunny's voice got quiet in a threatening manner that Jack didn't really appreciate.
"Look, just put me down and let me explain. That wouldn't hurt anything would it?" Jack countered. Bunny didn't say anything at first, and Jack fully expected to be pounded to a darker color of blue, until Bunny placed him back onto the snowy surface of the bank.
He made a show of brushing his hoodie off and making sure it was free of damage before looking back at Bunny. "Okay look. There were low temperatures out that day that could've been actually dangerous for kids to go out in. I thought that if I created a storm to go with those cold temperatures, then it give the kids no choice, but to stay inside and be safe."
"You're sayin' you 'ave nothin' to do with the temperatures?" Bunny crossed his arms, not believing the story.
"Exactly. I can only put snow and ice on things that are already cold. During the summer, I can try and put my usual spin on things, but it just melts away. I don't decide the temperature. That's someone else's job."
Bunny was quiet not really knowing what to say. He was still mad, but now he secretly felt bad about judging the Frosty spirit so much. Although he would never admit it.
"Fine. I'll believe you this time. But don't even think about doing anything next Easter." He left knowing exactly who to go to. This time of year represented the end of winter and the beginning of Spring, and although any other time of the year he would go to Mother Nature, this part of the year belonged only to the Groundhog.
When he barged in with the same attitude he had met Frost with earlier that day.
"Oi! Groundhog, you have some explainin' to do." He had found her above her burrow sitting by the river that is adjacent to her home. She seemed sad, but he didn't care to ask about what.
"I already talked to Frost about the blizzard, but he says that the low temperatures are yere fault." He stood beside her waiting for a response, but she was looking out at the river, lost in thought.
"Oi do you hear me talkin?" Bunny bumped her shoulder, not willing to wait for more excuses.
"Look, I'm not in the mood to talk to anybody right now, so please just leave." Her voice was tense, as if she was already angry at something before Bunny showed up and started yelling in her face.
"Well, too bad. I spent all year preparing for yesterday, and apparently for nothing. I deserve an answer!" Bunny stomped his foot getting into the Groundhog's face so that she had no choice other than to face him and his fury.
"Even if I did feel like explaining the math that's involved, I doubt you would understand it," she replied sassily, getting up and facing him equally in fury.
"You callin' me stupid?"
"You seemed to be smart enough to pick up on that!"
"What the hell is your problem?" Bunny was doing everything to hold himself back from punching her in the face.
"Well, you came here wanting a reason to hate me, so I guess I'm just making it easier for the both of us. Now if you will excuse me." She bumped past Bunny, heading to the entrance of her burrow. Bunny stood seething at the nerve of her to talk to him like that.
'How dare she! Who the hell does she think she is?' Bunny shook his head and headed home, promising himself never to let his paths cross with her again.
Bunny looked at the river that still stood there, thinking about that day. He looked over at a pine tree which covered the entrance to her burrow. "Her burrow is over there." He pointed and they followed his direction leading them to a little door carved into the trunk of the tree.
"Should we knock," Tooth wondered starring at the camouflaged door.
"Nah, she wouldn't answer it anyway," Bunny said pushing past the branches and pulling open the door. His cynical tone broadcasting his disgust for the groundhog's character.
Opening the door, slowly, they were met with a staircase that descended far into the ground. There were lights adorning the sides of the walls, leaving almost no space for darkness. It made the hallway look as if someone were walking towards their death; the light at the end of the tunnel scenario except the tunnel was the light.
"That. Looks creepy," Jack observed.
Sandy made a joke of putting on a sunhat and sunglasses to emphasize how bright it was in the stairway. They walked silently down the stairway, cautious of the groundhog, just in case she didn't appreciate them coming in uninvited. There was no reason to be afraid of Pitch already being there, because there was no room for shadows on the walls. He would be powerless there.
They finally reached the bottom of the stairway, reaching another hallway that dissected into three directions, each equally identical as the next. They were also covered in the lights.
"Should we split up," Tooth said in a small voice, suggesting that she very much didn't want to split up.
"No. Pitch could already be here for all ve know. It is important to stick together," North replied his swords suddenly at the ready, as if appearing out of nowhere.
Bunny shrugged his shoulders as if the entire thing was normal, "Let just go straight then, see where it goes." He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he was afraid of running into the groundhog. He was afraid he was going to become angry like he did when they first met and make a mistake out of anger. He didn't want the other guardians to see him like that.
They walked down the hallway and it seemed that they walked forever before coming upon a room. The room was about as big as North's globe room, but definitely not as elegant. The sides of the room were covered in vines and packed dirt. The walls also had lights and there were lamps sitting on the ground around the room. The only furniture in the room seemed to be a giant desk that almost spanned the length of the room.
The desk was long and had cork boards attached to the back of each desk. It held stacks of notepads that were covered in writing, small contraptions that the guardians didn't recognize, and the cork boards were tacked with drawings and notes. It looked like a bad example of hoarding paperwork.
The desk and its disorder were so astounding that it took the guardians a moment to notice a small voice murmuring to itself, hidden behind one of the cork boards attached to the desk and out of the view of the guardians.
"Ahem Hello?" Tooth called out, trying to keep a tone of friendliness even though they just broke into the groundhog's home.
"AHHHH! WHAT?" The previous voice that had been murmuring erupted into a startled scream. Then a thump echoes throughout the room as if something just fell onto the ground. They all walked around the large desk to find the groundhog laying on the ground, rubbing her back in pain from the impact.
"Hello! Sorry to startle you Ms. but it is emergency," North spoke in a very respectful manner.
The groundhog pulled herself off of the dirt-packed ground and dusted herself off. She then looked at the guardians, eyebrows furrowed in anger and arms crossed across her chest. She obviously wasn't pleased at their first impression. This also allowed them to view her for the first time. She was wearing what looked like a black bathrobe, and there was a white t-shirt underneath. She had an olive-green beanie on her head, only allowing her small, round ears to peak out, and spikey bangs, which overshadowed a pair of black glasses. She was also taller that what they expected, she was about the same height as Jack.
"I'm a little busy if you didn't notice." Her tone was annoyed, not holding any hostility back, while she removed her glasses and placed them on the desk next to her.
Jack chose this moment to bump Bunny's shoulder next to him and whisper to him, a smirk playing on his face, "I half expected her to have the same accent as you."
"What?!" Bunny's response was a little louder than he meant.
"Hello Bunnymund," she said rolling her eyes, "Come here to yell at me again?" The groundhog's voice was laced with malice as she starred daggers at the giant kangaroo.
"I wouldn't 'ave 'ad to if you were actually doin' yer job the right way," Bunny growled back, returned the glare.
Then Bunny felt a large hand being placed on his shoulder. Looking up he found North giving him a warning look.
Sighing, Bunny began, "Look this isn't about anything tha' 'appened in the past. This is about now. The Man in tha' Moon told us you were in danger from Pitch."
The Groundhog's posture changed. Her arms drifted slowly down to her sides while she took one step back. "What?" She looked at each one of the guardians to see if she could find any evidence of a lie, but they all held serious faces.
"Bunny is right. We are here to take you to the North Pole where we can better protect you," Tooth flew towards the groundhog placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Tooth wanted her to come with them not only for more female company, but she was scared for the groundhog. She didn't want anything bad to happen to the groundhog, especially after what happened to Sandy last year.
For a moment the groundhog starred at Tooth with a look of confusion, until she gently shook her head and dismissed Tooth's hand from her shoulder, turning back towards her boards. It was then that Jack noticed the giant globe that was installed in the middle of the giant desk; almost the same size as the one in North's shop. Except this one seemed to show the images of weather patterns across the globe instead of the lights of believing children.
"I'm safe enough right here. And besides, all of you would end up distracting me from my work," the groundhog had both of her paws placed along her desk, starring at her notes in front of her intently, and trying to ignore the guardians and their plea at the same time.
"Nonsense! We will keep you extra safe and make a space just for you and your work!" North was smiling at his promise, as if he was actually excited about the serious mission ahead of them.
"Look," Bunny interjected with a calm yet determined voice, walking over to the groundhog that was faced away from all of them, "even if it isn't true and Pitch isn't after you, we can't risk anything that might help him get back on top."
The groundhog turned around and looked at Bunny and the rest of the guardians, her expression softening. She then gently climbed on top of her desk and looked down at the desk she was standing on and removing the bathrobe she had on. "Well then…" Her voice was soft and submissive.
Then she suddenly looked fiercely at the group of guardians, determination deep in her eyes. "…It looks like you'll have to catch me first." She jumped up on top of the cork board that was next to her and jumped high into the air, grabbing onto a rope that none of them had noticed before. Actually, looking up they realized that the room was a lot taller than they had originally thought. The ceiling wasn't made of dirt like the rest of the room or the tunnel; it looked more like it was the bottom of a lake. Except it wasn't leaking onto them, and instead stayed where it was as if there was an invisible glass ceiling in place. That is where the groundhog climbed up towards, swinging into the lake from the bottom. She began swimming up and her silhouette fade into the water above them.
"What in the world?!" Bunny clenched his fists at his side, starring up at the lake.
"That was an unexpected overreaction," North deadpanned placing his swords on the ground and crossing his arms in front of him.
"I like her."
"What?" Bunny looked at Jack as if he had just said the worst thing ever.
"No, not like that," Jack held his hands out in front of him as if in defense, "just that…that was pretty cool."
"Well then maybe you should be the one to follow her," Bunny crossed his arms, a challenging smirk playing at his lips.
Jack smirked back and placed his staff into the dirt next to him, cracking his knuckles, "maybe I will." He jumped up the same way the groundhog had before, without waiting for a response. He swung into the water, surprised at how warm it actually was. Since he didn't have his staff then the water remained unfrozen around him. He swam up to the top of the lake, breaking through the top with a large intake of breath. Looking around him, he realized that the lake was just downhill from the river they'd passed earlier.
"So, Jack Frost." Jack turned around to see the groundhog sitting on the bank, her fur damp, and the white t-shirt was clinging to her torso, while she wrung out her beanie.
"So, …uh" Jack realized just then he didn't know her name.
"Penny."
"Right. Sorry. Penny…"
The silence between them created an awkwardness, so Jack took the moment to pull himself our of the water and sit on the bank next to Penny.
"Where did the name 'Penny' come from?"
Jack was afraid she would find his question rude, but she actually smirked at his curiosity. It was nice to meet people who weren't afraid to ask questions.
"Because people seem to like to celebrate Groundhog Day a lot in Pennsylvania. So, I thought that would be better than just 'Groundhog'."
Jack looked back at the water, nodding satisfied with the answer.
Then after a moment of silence he looked back at Penny, ready with another question.
"Aren't you afraid of staying here alone, when Pitch might be after you?"
Penny looked down and sighed, "of course, but…"
Her face tensed and she didn't seem to want to finish her sentence. "…but…" Jack gently coaxed her.
Penny looked up at Jack, "But I'm not used to being around other people, so… I'm kind of afraid." She looked back down, suddenly shy.
"I know what that's like."
Penny looked up at Jack, surprised at his confession.
"I was alone for a few centuries without any friends and I thought I was better off alone. But once I became one of the guardians, I realized that a family is what I've always wanted."
"Maybe," Penny shrugged, running out of excuses. "But Bunny also hates me if you didn't notice."
Jack laughed, not able to hold it back in the seriousness of the conversation. "That's okay, he hated me too when I first started hanging around."
Penny still had uncertainty clouding her features.
"Look, if it gets to be too much, grab me and I'll make sure you have your own space," Jack reached out his hand and placed it on her shoulder.
A little nod and Penny smiled gratefully at Jack, "Okay."
"HEY!"
They both looked up, seeing North wave his swords on top of the mountain with the others standing next to him. Tooth was holding Jack's staff, and Bunny was glaring down at them.
"ARE WE GOING OR NO?"