The Wellington Branch was the first to report, which Claire read out loud.
"No Mini Fairies."
"What?" Cried Alexander. "How can there not be any Mini Fairies?"
"I don't know." Claire replied calmly, but her hands were shaking slightly, "but there aren't."
"Why though?" Asked Jason, leaning back in the chair.
"Belief." Replied Samson. "No fairies mean no teeth being collected which means children stop believing, which mean the Guardians weaken."
Jason turned to Claire. "Do you want to get your fellow Descendants to go and collect the teeth?"
Claire shook her head. "We have no idea where we would need to go. We'd only be wasting time and resources."
Claire's laptop beeped and she relaxed as she read the message. "Besides, the Guardians are already on it."
"What?" Asked Alexander, struggling to hold back laughter. Samson was also smiling and Jason felt his mouth twitching. The image of the four, well, five Guardians now, jumping across rooftops and collecting the tiny baby teeth was almost too much.
"From Bejing, the Guardians are collecting the teeth."
"Well, at least we won't have to worry about it." Jason's face was dying to grin, but he did his best to remain professional. Alexander on the other hand was grinning with mirth.
"Relax, that's hilarious!" He said.
"It is... somewhat amusing." Admitted Jason and he turned back to the various computer screens, waiting for news.
Billy was the first to notice the Sandman speeding along the streets, chasing a Nightmare. Billy tapped his ear piece and began speaking.
"Nigel, I'm eyeballing Sandman chasin' a Nightmare, headin' north east. Over."
"Keep an eye on him. There may be more Nightmares. Over." Replied Nigel, but as he talked Sandman had already turned the Nightmare into a ray.
"Panic over. Nightmare neutralised. Over."
Nigel nodded on the other side of town and removed his hand from the ear piece, the microphone retreating into the black box over his ear. He was standing on the outskirts of town, his back to the woods. A snapping twig made him jump and he turned back to face the forest.
Dark shapes moved through the trees and Nigel's hand shot back to his ear.
"Nigel to Branch, Nigel to Branch. Nightmares and Pitch Descendants in woods. I repeat Nightmares and Pitch Descendants in the woods. Over."
"Tina to Nigel. Nightmares on the eastern side of town. Over."
"Sally to Nigel, Nightmares on the west side. Over."
"Billy to Branch, Pitch Descendants on the south side. Over."
"Hold them off! Over!"
Nigel leapt off the roof and extended his blades, ready to meet the enemy. The Nightmares attempted to surge past and Nigel slashed at them with his swords. A few got through but most of them met their end to Nigel's blades.
"Stand aside old man!" Came a cry.
Out of the shadows appeared a tall man in his twenties with dirty blonde hair, sharp blue eyes and a pointed chin.
"What makes you think you can give me orders?" Asked Nigel, his swords still out.
"None of your business." The man's eyes narrowed. "I'll assume that you're from HOG?"
"I don't see why I should tell you."
If anything the man's eyes narrowed further as he considered something.
"Charge!"
A group of five Descendants rushed towards Nigel, but he was ready. He met their sand weapons head on and slashed to the side, catching another Descendant's weapon before it hit him.
Nigel saw himself as woefully out of practice, but to the Descendants of Pitch they saw a serious opponent.
On the other side of town Billy was fighting hard to stop the Descendants of Pitch getting through. He sent many of them to ground with his boomerangs and was moving too quickly for the Descendants of Pitch to snag him. The ones fighting Billy were woefully underprepared, they clearly hadn't been expecting any resistance.
Tina was flying almost directly below the sleigh that was gracing the sky. She was only skimming the rooftops, her sword pushing in and out of the flying Nightmares while the sleigh was high above her.
Sally was flying on a small platform of Dream Sand, firing sand missiles into the Nightmares and making them disappear. Any that got too close met her gladius.
"Tina to Branch, all four Guardians are in Burgess. Over."
"Billy to Nigel. How's it going your end? Over."
"Can't talk now. Over." Nigel blocked another slash from a Descendant of Pitch. He had already gained a shallow gash in his side, but he was still fighting.
In a brief respite he tapped his ear piece, praying it would work.
"Burgess Branch to Jason. We need backup! Over."
"What's going on? Over." Jason released the microphone button and Nigel's crackly voice came through the speakers along with the squeal of swords.
"Descendants of Pitch and Nightmares. Guardians are also here. Over."
Sally paused for second as the Nightmares were drawn away. Her gaze was drawn to the sky and saw the golden light of Sandman flicker out. Physically there was no effect to Sally, but felt as though she'd been punched in the gut.
"...No..."
The Nightmares retreated from everyone and went into the sky, and even the Descendants of Pitch stopped to watch what was happening.
Pitch Black was hovering in the air and was sending an enormous wave of Nightmare Sand towards an opponent the Descendants couldn't see. For a moment he seemed to succeed in what he was doing, then there was an explosion of ice that spread up the Nightmare Sand, causing it to explode like dark fireworks.
The Descendants of Pitch retreated into the woods, but Nigel could only stare at the display as Sally's soft voice came through his ear.
"Sally to Nigel. The Sandman has been taken down. Over"
Nigel stared up into the sky as he tried to work out what was said, surely it wasn't true. The ear piece microphone hanging by his open mouth. He couldn't believe it, surely that wasn't true.
"Nigel? Nigel Smith are you still there? Over." Jason's voice came through the ear piece, having not heard what Sally said.
Nigel couldn't bring himself to give the affirmative, all he could say was.
"The Sandman's down."
"What?"
"The Sandman's down."
"That's impossible!" Spluttered Jason from Claire's house. "The Sandman can't be-."
"He is. Over"
Jason stopped and stroked his beard, thinking.
"We will get you re-enforcements. Jason out." He said, then switched off the microphone and turned to Samson, who was already busy on the laptop.
Samson was preparing for a speech through the combined power of Dream Sand, radio waves and the internet. He had come to the same conclusion as Jason, the teeth were one thing, but only the Sandman and his Descendants can spread dreams.
"My fellow Descendants of Sandman. We have just received word that the Sandman has fallen. It is a terrible thing, but we cannot mourn, because although he is gone, his work still needs to be done. I need you to band together and take up his mantle. Create dreams of the Guardians and have your fellow Branch members chase away the fear. I know I am asking a lot, but we are united by a common cause. Because the Sandman's job, just became ours. Good luck."
Samson stopped broadcasting and turned to the others. Despite his passionate speech, his face was grave.
"There aren't enough of us." He said, "We won't be able to keep it up for long." He had a right to be worried. Out of a population of seven billion, there were two hundred Descendants of Sandman, and about fifty of them were either too old or too young to be fighting.
"It's better than nothing." Said Claire, handing Samson a cup of coffee. Despite the heat Samson downed it in one.
"I need to join them."
Jason nodded. "Understandable, good luck."
Samson made for the door and Alexander clapped him a little sleepily on the shoulder. They'd been taking it in turns to sleep and watch, Alexander had just woken up in time to see Samson off.