A/N: Hey you guys! I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday so I guess it was a good thing I did that double update huh? Hope those two chapters kept you sated while I wrote this one up!

I read all the reviews you guys left me and it just made me so excited so I went wrote this chapter, and then rewrote it because it was confusing, and now here we are!

This chapter is a bit longer than the others so I hope you guys like it!

I should also mention that school will be starting up here in a few days for me so I might not update for days on end and just upload a series of chapters at the same time.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Amalgamating Flesh & Pixels

Chapter 6:

The Little Guardians Club

After my character fell asleep I almost just logged off and left, but I remembered you couldn't do that when you had a Status Ailment and you had to wait until someone either healed you or you just kinda worked your way out of it (unless you're Poisoned or Paralyzed or something like that then you're just screwed until someone just happens to pass by or you could post to The Board and hope someone is kind enough to come help you out).

Bunny set me up. That furry bastard.

Oh, I get it now. This was payback for the '3068 Easter Egg Hunt Blizzard' thing. He acted all buddy-buddy with me and sent that friend request and asked me to meet at the clearing all suspicious-creeper-like. I show up like the good innocent friend I am and what does he do? He threw his disgusting rotten egg smelling Roofie bombs at me! Then watch, he probably hired a bunch of rabbit thugs or something to come a beat me up.

This must be the reason why he never made any sort of attempt to talk to me after he sent me the request; he never really wanted to be my friend.

It really hurt to know that he was just faking our friendship this whole time. I can't believe that I'm hurt over a never-was friendship that formed over the course of two weeks. Okay, no more thinking about that. That didn't stop the anger from boiling in the pit of my stomach though.

Everything was dark. That was another thing about the Sleep SA, it blocked out your view completely and blocked out sound like as if you were asleep.

I waited for what seemed like hours until I felt my Status become cured. It felt like a weight was lifted on my eyes. I blinked my eyes open, holding my hand up to my eyes shielding them from the obnoxiously bright sunlight. When my eyes adjusted I looked up at the sky and was getting ready to call Bunny out when I stopped in my tracks, all insults dying at my lips at the sight above me.

Three players stood hovering over me in a circle as they stared down at me with scary intensity. I really just wanted to squirm away; I've never felt as self-conscious as I did in that moment.

All I could make out were their silhouettes from the sun being right behind them. I could see that there were three of them and I could tell you right off the bat that none of them were Bunny. Maybe I was wrong and really did get kidnapped or something…? Then what about the bombs…

I didn't get to dwell on it for long before the more petite silhouette, they were floating in the air, let out an excited gasp before saying, "Oh, look he's awake!" Clearly she was a girl.

The biggest one of the group let out the loudest, hardiest laugh I've ever heard. Clearly he was a man. I let out a surprised yelp as he grabbed me by my upper arm with a giant hand before pulling me up from my lying position on the ground with one easy tug. Once I felt my feet hit the soft grass I held my hand out to call my staff back, but it never came. It wasn't in my inventory; someone took it. I looked down at the ground around my feet frantically. Where's my sta-

"Looking for this?" That voice instantly made my hands curl into fists and the anger was back, but twice as furious. I spun around quickly, forgetting about the other people around, and faced Bunny. I hoped my face showed how irritated I felt.

I held out my hand and said firmly, "Give me my staff."

Bunny looked at it with false interest as he twirled it around in his meaty paws before looking at me with the same disinterest. "No."

I felt my face scrunch up in agitation, "Give it back!" I said louder this time.

"If I give it back to ya you're just gonna fly off!" He said back just as loudly pointing the staff at me. I suppose I should be thankful that he can't use it since it isn't a Mage class, but I wasn't in all that thankful of a mood.

I threw my hands up with a brief yell and started pacing across the grass and started babbling out of pure rage, my arms flinging about in angry gestures. Talking was how I calmed down okay? "I never should have read your message. I should have just ignored it. I never should have come here! I should have just logged off like I was going to do and dealt with all this later after I had eaten and gotten a good night's sleep! Do you know what I've been through today?" I pointed at myself and looked at Bunny when I said this, "I was stuck doing Topology and Logic with an 11 year-old kid. I don't even know what Topology even is, do you?!"

"Topology looks at the properties that don't change even when the figures are deformed by stretching and bending, like dimension." Bunny said in a bored tone along with the other strangers, but I wasn't even listening anymore. I just continued to talk and as I continued I just got further and further away from the point and was just spewing out irrelevant things.

"I got a burrito yesterday night for dinner because I was hungry, but I completely forgot that I hated burritos so I ended up not eating anything! I never should have cheated on that test in Molecular-Theory and just did the stupid packet like everyone else in my class."

"OI! Will ya stop your babbling and listen for two seconds?!"

I stopped in mid-sentence about how I should've told this girl about the piece of toilet paper hanging off her foot when she asked what everyone was laughing at. I looked at Bunny and he looked just as agitated as I felt just a few seconds ago.

"Why should I listen to you? You're the one who threw your disgusting egg bombs at me! And for what? Something that happened almost 3 years ago?" I said back to him, but a lot less heated.

"3 years ago? What the bloody- oh. I am still pissed off about that." He pointed my staff at me again with a glare which I instantly returned. "But that's not why you're here."

"Why am I here?"

There was a cough from behind me. I turned around to face the other three of the group. I forgot about them already.

The bigger one had a large white beard and was tall, taller than Bunny, and was big. Not big as in fat but big as in muscle. I think. It could just be both. It was hard to tell in the red coat he was wearing. Guess he's been watching What Not to Wear reruns. He had double cutlasses for weapons that sat at his sides. He obviously was the one who laughed and pulled me up because the other guy that was standing next to him could not have done that.

The smaller one, not the flying petite one, had a bit of chunk to him as well, but just like the bigger guy it really suited him. He had golden drapes over his pudgy frame; they reminded me of those footie-pajamas that came out all those years ago. It still struck me as odd how people still actually wore those to this day (but they are freaking comfortable). He had the craziest hair that stuck up in messy golden spikes. He looked like he just came back from race car driving without a helmet on. But he had the nicest smile that just screamed innocent good guy. Definitely one of those guys who could become insta-friends with anyone with just a smile.

And the girl had feathers covering her body save for her hands and face. She had bright pink, purple?, eyes and long pink eyelashes that would make anyone else look like a whore. Her 'hair' was a mixture of blue and green feathers, and one golden feather at her widows peak, fluffed up at a point. She had an emerald archer's bow and arrows slung over her back but just out of the way of her wings so she could fly. She seemed to hum with happiness. Literally. I'm pretty sure she was humming, like a hummingbird with the speed her wings were flapping at.

I just looked at them with an odd look. "O-kay… Well, as nice as it has been meeting Bunny's weirdo friends, I'll just be leaving now." I turned to leave but another big hand grabbed me by the back of my sweatshirt and pulled me back.

I let out a 'come on man!' but that went to deaf ears as North pulled me to his side, a large arm draped over my shoulders, "Nonsense Jack! You only just came! Come stay a while we have much to discuss."

"Great." I squeezed out from under his grasp. "So," I said after I caught my breath and fixed my sweatshirt. "Who are you guys?"

The avian girl wasn't a character that was hard to miss what with her bright green-blue feathers shining in the sunlight. That and also because her face was right in mine along with her hands all over my face.

"Oh, look at how pale you are! I mean I've seen some pretty pale players around, not to mention shady, but wow, you just scream 'get me to a tanning salon'! "She giggled. "Oh, right, I'm Toothiana." She flew back a foot as she pointed at her tag that hung above her head with a bright smile. Then quickly flew over to the smaller guy stood and gestured to him, "And this is Sandman." He smiled brightly and waved at me, a little 'J' flew above his head and I couldn't help but give a crooked smile of my own and wave back. "And that's North." I looked at the big guy who had on his own smile.

"We see you've obviously already met Bunny." North said as he gestured between the both us.

I looked back at him, "Obviously." He just sneered at me.

"And we are…" He paused for dramatic effect I suppose? "The Guardians!"

Remember a while back when I said that The Guardians were like childhood icons?

Yeah, well clearly I was a lot closer on the dot than I thought because now when I look at them North looks like a more Russian version of Santa Claus, Toothiana looks like some weird bird version of the Tooth Fairy, and Sandman, well he was just Sandman. Then that made Bunny…

"You've got to be kidding." I just stared at them and even back at Bunny who looked just as serious as the others. "This, this is a joke, right? A really bad joke?"

"No one is joking." North said.

"Okay. Okay. That's great. Awesome, but why are you guys telling me?" I looked at all of them.

"Because, Jack, you are to become next Guardian!" North said and the serious bug got around quick because when I looked at everyone else they looked just as serious as North, even Bunny.

"We have been looking everywhere for you!" Toothiana said happily and even Sandman had an ':D' above his head.

Looking everywhere? Now when I think back to it…

That time when I was with Jamie and his friends and that crazy thing ran past me, that must have been Bunny, he was probably tracking me. I mean who else do I know can move that fast. And Bunny confronting me after years of not seeing each other? Unless the guy really did have some weird creeping fancy for me (which I mean, come on, everyone does they just don't know it yet) then he is the biggest weirdo that I have ever met, since being my actual friend clearly wasn't the reason why. Bunny wasn't just taking a measly stroll at the forest where Jamie was attacked by the Troll out of pure coincidence; he was there for a purpose.

North happily he threw is hands up into the air and as he did next thing I know I'm getting a face full of confetti. "We will message MiM to officiate the ceremony!"

I swatted away at the incoming confetti, "MiM?" That name. "You mean, Man in the Moon? He talks to you guys?" I asked in disbelief and if it sounded a little hurt then maybe that's because I was hurt. The confetti died down and slowly floating its way to the grassy floor and one by one disappeared. "You mean after all these years there really is someone on the other side of the name? I've spent years trying to get that guy to message me back but he never does!"

"Jack if you come with us you can ask him yourself after you become an official Guardian." Toothiana said.

"No! I don't want to become a Guardian, you guys. Maybe there's someone else out there who really wants to meet you and join your guys' little club, but I don't!"

"See, mates, I told ya he wouldn't budge. This was a waste of time." Bunny final spoke up from behind me, he was in a crouching position, I didn't know if he knew was doing it but he was scratching behind his ear with his foot and normally I wouldn't have cracked a joke about it, but right now wasn't a normal position.

"Bunny, he doesn't have much of a choice." Toothiana said quietly. It was quiet for a while as everyone just looked at me, "Jack we can't just pick someone else." Toothiana said after a while.

"If we could dun ya think we would have chosen someone more willing? And more suitable for the job?" Bunny added.

"Oh, so I'm not suitable now?" I took a few steps towards where he was sitting.

"You're certainly not willing." Bunny came back and he stood up to his full height and looked down on me.

Our attention was then taken by the loud female scream that emitted the air. We all turned to Tooth who wasn't there anymore.

"Tooth!"