The four Guardians were seen surrounding a glass container. Within the container was the creature that Jack ran into, a literal, nightmarish version of the Guardian of Fun. The tiny being stood only two feet tall, and from Jack's description, there were three in one swarm. The guardians, the Tooth Fairy, St. Nicholas, the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman, watched as the trapped being slammed itself at the glass. The nightmare was caught under a glass case, an ornate thing normally used to display new toys.
The sand-Jack glowered at all of them, it's blue eyes emitting a wisp of energy. It held it's staff in two hands, looking like Jack when under attack. Whenever it hit the glass container, parts of it would shatter, only to reform the sand back into original form. No one questioned it, this was Pitch's corrupt dream sand.
Jack only flew around for only a few minutes, but he came back with a grand story and a warning. Seeing the frozen creature in the ice block was a good enough reason to gather the others.
"What do you think this means?" Tooth asked, hovering a safe distance away from the black sand.
"Has MiM said anything about this? Is Pitch planning an attack already?" Aster, the Guardian of Hope, was the only one brave enough to lean in for a closer look.
"I do not know Bunny, Manny has been here for while." North, the owner of the workshop they were all in, said truthfully.
"What do you mean 'Manny has been here for while?'" Aster questioned.
"He means that the moon has been hanging around for most of the night." Jack popped in, floating around North's shoulders.
"Really, what has he been saying?" Tooth's crown rose at her curiosity.
"That's the thing, he hasn't really said anything" At Jack's announcement, the three guests looked perplexed.
Sandy rose up soundlessly, raising his hand. After gaining some attention, golden sand formed into different shapes above his head. The moon, some type of ray coming from the moon, and profiles of North's face getting hit by the ray formed at Sandy's command.
"No, MiM has not told me anything. He only sits there up in sky." At this, North points upward to the open window. The window showed the thing in question, fore the moon could be seen clearly shining even through the clouds.
"Well, if nothing has been told yet, why send all of us here? Why not wait until Manny actually does tell us something?" The Easter bunny stood up on his hind legs, eyes meeting the Russian's.
"Think about it Bunny, it could already be a big problem! If we wait longer, the problem will only get bigger!"
"But North, we've never seen something this complex before. Surely Pitch wouldn't do anything drastic yet. For all we know, this nightmare was only a test! The first of many failures." Tooth tried to be the voice of reason, but she still took frightful glances at the mini-Jack.
"The first of many! What if he already made an army like last time? What if it's all armies of us?" Bunny was a philosopher for many centuries, and still is. It wasn't until he started interacting with the world again did he take up fighting.
"But how would he even do that? None of his previous nightmare creations formed anything but horses!" North argued.
"North's right, what could he use? This thing looks and acts too much like Jack to just be sand." Tooth, her opinion flipping with her personality, pointed out. Currently, the bipedal creature was trying to blast it's way out. Leaving something akin to frost or, more likely, shadows of Jack's strong ice blast.
"I don't know, black sand itself wasn't even possible before. The possibilities are limitless! Maybe the sand was already capable of mimicking other creatures, look at what Sandy does with his dream sand." Bunny, now gaining support from Tooth, shot back at North.
"Agreed, Sandy knows how his sand works. And Pitch's sand is Sandy's. Why not ask Sandy?" North stated.
"Hate to break it for you, but last I remembered, Sandy's powers weren't capable of acting without being in constant contact. Pitch is continents away and this little bugger is still fighting!" Bunny's statement was promptly followed by a bang from the glass.
"Correction! If sand is connected to children's minds, then Manny is able to leave dream sand alone. Pitch has something else controlling this nightmare so he doesn't have to." North explained.
"So, are you saying that someone who knows Jack is controlling the nightmare?" Silence meet Tooth's question.
If this was true, then Pitch has put Jack's existence in danger. If it truly is Jack's believers that are giving life to these creatures, then Jack's guardianship would be his downfall. You can't be a guardian of children without children who believe in you.
As the three continue their argument, the Sandman only watched. Unlike the others, he wasn't capable of communicating with words. So he listened to their theories, and he didn't like what he heard. Jack was hovering next to Sandy, looking around for anything interesting. Sandy gave a sad look to the new guardian, even if Jack was over 300 years old, he was still too young. In Sandy's eyes, Jack was too much of a child. The way he lost interest, the way his eyes sparkled when he saw something fun, Jack died young and stayed young.
Actually, even in spiritual standards, Jack was still young. Sandy himself couldn't remember when he became guardian, and he barely recalled North's and Tooth's initiation.
A beam of light came into Sandy's peripherals, snapping him out of his thoughts. On the decorative tiles was a beam of moonlight, the moon itself glowing brighter than before. It seemed that Sandy was the only one who noticed, Jack was messing with the Yetis and the other guardians were still arguing.
"Guys, I really don't think this is the time for a holiday battle." Tooth could be heard over the festive fight.
Sandy tried jumping up, hoping that the sudden movement would capture their attention. No such luck.
"All I was trying to say was that he was making too much of a fuss over a day that won't come until months later!" Bunny said.
Sandy tried to fly to them, but Tooth's buzzing wings kept blocking him. Every time he found a way into the group, Tooth or her fairies would suddenly appear. Sandy huffed in frustration.
"But Christmas is my holiday, if it truly is like last time then Pitch would plan attack in December!" North's words were accompanied by wide gestures.
Sandy, having given up on the others, went to Jack. Jack stopped pestering Phil to listen to Sandy.
"But when has Pitch done the same exact thing twice? That would be too predictable!" Bunny stated.
North gave the rabbit a raised eyebrow, "And since when could talking bunny see future? If memory serves correct, than bunny only-"
"Hey guys, I think Manny is finally saying something."
The three older guardians looked at Jack, who was pointing at the ground. They could see a light over the guardian symbol on the floor. Then they looked up to see the moon pulsing through the window.
Without wasting any time, all five guardians stood around the lit area.
Within the light formed shadows, nothing at first, but slowly forming shapes. The first showed a nightmare, having wisps of shadow surrounding it. The eyes of the horse were blank, just like the real thing. Then the image shifted, forming a shadow of Jack. Only, this Jack was formed by a sand storm. The look alike had blank eyes as well, and giving off a twisted smirk of it's look-alike.
"Tooth was right, this sand-Jack is a type of nightmare." North stroked his beard, different types of strategies formed in his head.
The image changed again, showing the familiar silhouettes of the five guardians.
"Ok, Manny wants us to fix the problem. That's a no-brainer, but what do we need to know?" Bunny's gaze split to focus on the moon and shadows, not knowing where the answer will come from.
Manny provided the answer, by adding three new forms with the guardians.
"New guardians?" Tooth pondered.
"Wait, was this how you guys found out I was guardian?" Jack questioned. While they did explain the procedure to him multiple times, he never paid much attention. But after seeing it now, he wanted to know for sure.
"Yeah, it went something like this. Manny told us about Pitch returning, brought out the crystal and showed us your image." Tooth said.
"A crystal?"
"You'll see in a minute." The tooth fairy looked back down, expecting to see the blue gem to rise again.
Instead, the shadows only showed the three new faces. A close-up of their head could be seen slowly turning, showing all the dimensions of their faces. The first one was a female, with a small button nose and large eyes. The second one was something strange, it wasn't clear wither it was a boy or girl, but this being looked like a whisper. The third was a boy, having a short mop of messy hair and a thin face.
"Hold on a second, I've seen that face before!" Jack jumped and hovered right above the shadow. He took in the hair, the face, and what little body he could see, and it all seemed familiar somehow.
"The school! He was at the school! You know, the one I was telling you guys about!" Jack was ecstatic now, once remembering the face.
"He was the kid from the classroom! The one who saw me, the teenager! See? I told you I knew what I saw!" The boy flew to each of the older guardians, circling each for every proven point. His feet had yet touched the ground.
"Wait, Jack. Didn't you say that this boy was just an ordinary teen?"
"Uh, yeah. I didn't understand why he was able to see me, but he just seemed to be a regular kid studying for a test." Jack shrugged.
"I can't answer that mystery, but if this boy is just a regular teen, then I know who this girl is!" Now North seemed exited at knowing who this teen was. In some ways, North acted more like a child than Jack did.
"Really who?" asked Tooth.
"Rapunzel."
"Rapunzel? Like, 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair?'" joked Jack.
North chuckled, taking the joke seriously. "Well, the little one sure had the hair to play the part!"
During this little talk, Tooth had been very quiet. Her normal, erratic movements were mellowed. Her crown was flat on her head, her hands were wrung, and she was biting her lip. This wasn't lost to Sandy. He couldn't say anything though, and he was forced to pay close attention when MiM showed another image.
This was the 'Rapunzel' girl, but it showed her with extremely long hair. The 'whisper' creature was shown in a full body scale. It had a vague form of a limbless body, surrounded by a barely visible mist. The boy had it's profile next to another, larger profile. The second one was inhuman, and it seemed to be surrounding the boy form view.
"What is that?!" Bunny crouched down on all fours, ears stood up tall and alert. It was obvious that his 'fight' instincts were active.
"I have no idea." North took a closer look at the shadow.
"You don't think…"
"Well, if Pitch was able to make a night-sprite of Jack…"
Aster pivoted to face Jack, startling the smaller one to drop to the floor.
"Jack, where did you find this boy?"
"At the Burgess High School not too far from here."
Two pats from the rabbit's hind leg opened a tunnel. Without any warning, he snagged the cold boy's hoodie and forced the two of them down the hole. The tunnel closed, leaving only a single flower and the faded calls of Jack's yells.
"Well, it seems Bunny was eager to start this mission!" North turned to his desk, shuffling through the pile of papers on top of it. Taking out one sheet, he returned to face the Sandman. Giving the sheet to the tiny man, North explained his plan.
"Sandy, this sheet is about this Rapunzel girl. She has been on the nice list for years, living in another orphanage every year. This is her current location, find her, come back, and wait for the others."
Nodding, the golden man formed a hot air balloon to leave North's workshop. Now it was just the tooth fairy and St. Nick. By now, Tooth looked really uncomfortable.
"Well, now that solves two problems. But what could we do with this odd spirit?"
"It's called a wisp."
"Hmm…" North looked at Tooth, surprised that she was here. She was far too quiet and he actually thought she left to tend to her duties.
"What did you say Tooth?"
Sighing, she repeated herself. "I said that this creature is known as a wisp."
"So you know where to find this, wisp you say?"
"As far as I know, she hasn't left the forest in Dun'Broch since she was formed."
"She?"
"There is a legend pertaining to her, but…"
"But?"
Tooth stopped talking, she only stared at the ground. After a few seconds of silence did she look North back in the eye.
"I'll find her and explain what is going on."
"What about this legend you spoke of?"
"She will tell you herself."
Leaving it at that, she flew out of the building.
Bunny and Jack were tracking the boy in the classroom, Sandman was looking for Rapunzel, and Tooth was going to retrieve this wispy-girl. These three were specifically summoned, from the Man in Moon himself, to help the guardians against Pitch. The King of Nightmares, the person who was almost able to destroy the Big Four. The boogeyman, who had a whole swarm of black sand being created under all their noses. This man has crawled back out of his hidey-hole to strike once more at the children. This man becoming such a hazard, that we need these being to succeed in battle. A battle was coming, one that change everything.
North turned to the closest Yeti, "Why does all the fun happen when it's my busy time?"
The Yeti in question only shrugged.
Brave and Tangled belong to Disney,
How to Train Your Dragon and Rise of the Guardians belong to Dreamworks.
(Inspired by the minds of Cressida Cowell and William Joyce.)