Note: I do NOT own ROTG or HTTYD and all rights go to DreamWorks Animation
Read and review whatever and whenever you like y'all! ;)
Chapter 12
"Alright the rules are simple. Both teams must hide their flags and avoid either capture of a fellow teammate or capture of their flag." Father Time instructed to the six Guardians gathered around in the Globe Room.
Today's team building was a game of Capture the Flag.
Team One composed of Jack, Tooth and Sandy while Team Two had Sapphire, Bunny and North.
And both teams were raring to go.
"Both teams have approximately five minutes to decide where to hide their flags." Mother Nature motioned to two separate corners of the room where they would plan.
Marina then struck a bell and both teams huddled up in their corners.
"Okay…So where do we hide it?" Tooth held up her team's blue flag. Sandy formed several suggestions like the stables or maybe in the library.
Jack then looked up at the Globe Room's ceilings and a plan popped into his head. Good thing his team was huddled in a corner which was near the light switch!
Leaning back casually against the wall, Jack motioned to Tooth to give him the flag. The fairy did so without question but was curious on what the Guardian of Fun will do next along with Sandy who formed a question mark over his golden head.
Then Jack suddenly flicked the switch and the Globe Room plunged into darkness, much to everyone else's surprise.
"Crikey, what's going on?!" Bunny's Australian accented voice yelled out.
"Did we blow a fuse or something?" Sapphire's voice came next. "I checked the box a while ago and everything was working properly. Someone must've turned the lights off." North's heavily Russian accented voice cut through the dark.
While Team Two tried to find their way around, Tooth and Sandy stayed in their team's corner and felt Jack suddenly shoot upward.
Little did anyone know that Jack had memorized every inch of Santoff Claussen. He'd been living here for two years, so he knew where every room, cubbyhole, secret passageway was as well as the entire place's layout, from the rafters lengths and thicknesses all the way to the measurements of the floorboards, thanks to the blueprints he had studied in the library.
The Guardian of Fun flew up to the highest beam in the Globe Room and securely placed his team flag there before flying back down and turning the lights back on as sneakily as he could. The others sighed in relief when the light came back.
"I hope you've all agreed on where to hide your flags because the exercise begins…NOW!" Millennium barked.
Immediately both teams left the room. Jack cut in a glance at Sapphire who did the same thing. That lasted about two seconds before the teams split up.
Jack's team hid in the library.
"Jack, were you the one who switched off the lights?" Tooth asked him, cocking her head. The winter spirit smiled. "I needed a distraction so I could hide the flag."
Sandy formed another question mark asking, 'where?' "Highest place I could find, where else?" Jack grinned.
Both Guardians caught on and were impressed.
"Now we just have to find the other team's flag." Tooth said eagerly.
Meanwhile in North's office, Sapphire, Bunny and North pondered on where to hide the red flag.
"Something tells me Frostbite's the one who killed the lights earlier." Bunny grumbled. "Probably to provide an effective cover to hide their team flag. Now where do we hide ours?" North wondered out loud.
Sapphire looked around the room until her gaze landed on North's red coat hanging in the corner and her blue eyes sparkled. "Red coat, red flag. This will be foolproof." She then tucked the flag into the pocket, leaving a corner of it poking out.
"Won't they notice it just sticking out like that?" Bunny asked her confused. "Sometimes the best place to hide something's in plain sight. They'll probably think it's your pocket hanky, North." Sapphire turned to the jolly Russian.
North laughed. "A very clever plan, Sapphire. Very clever indeed!" he boomed.
Now both teams agreed to split up and hide.
"You two try to distract the other team. I'll look for the flag." Sapphire told Bunny and North as they silently crept along the halls.
Little did she know that Jack's team had the same idea and were just around the corner.
So when both teens left to find the flags and the other four came along, basically it was quite a surprise and both members of the two teams were back in the Globe Room, unsure if they were captured or not.
Suddenly they heard Sapphire and Jack exclaim, "FOUND IT!"
Sapphire floated down from the ceiling above them, holding a blue flag while Jack flew in, clutching a red flag.
"Looks like it's a tie." Marina mumbled while Mother Nature, Father Time and Millennium discussed on that while the Guardians of Fun and Equality looked at each other confused.
"How'd you figure it out?" Jack was amazed and confused on how his girlfriend easily found the flag. Sapphire shrugged. "I know for a fact that you like to hide in high places, Jack. So it's only natural you'd do the same thing in hiding an object. What about you? Since when did you know I like to hide things in plain sight?" she raised her right eyebrow quizzically.
"Ever since you beat me in our first game of hide and seek. You practically looked like part of a willow tree when you hung upside down from it, hiding your face in the leaves." Jack pointed out.
"We know each other all too well." Sapphire remarked. "We sure do." Jack smiled a bit.
Then it was time for classes once again for the two teenage Guardians.
Mother Nature and Tooth's lessons were alright but the two were itching to go and have flying lessons. So when their one hour session was done, Sapphire and Jack along with Marina left as quickly as they could, much to their fellow Guardians' confusion, through flying (no, more like rocketing) out of the nearest window.
"You two ready for this?" Hiccup grinned as he got on Toothless.
"There's always a chance to back out, you know." Astrid reminded Jack and Sapphire while mounting Stormfly.
The two Guardians looked as Fishlegs, Snotlout, Angrid and the Twins get on their dragons, then at Blitz and Tridacna, their new saddles on their backs and shook their heads.
"We're ready." Jack got on Blitz and scratched his head.
"Ready as ever can be." Sapphire added, also getting on her dragon and giving her a gentle pat.
"I'll be right behind you guys in case anything goes wrong." Marina said brightly, taking position behind the crew of dragons and Riders.
The two Guardians took deep breaths.
This was it, they were going to fly and there's no turning back…
They were all gathered near one of the islands best take off spots, Crane's Point, a high bluff overlooking the ocean on the southern end of Berk.
"Three…" Sapphire started the countdown as the dragons began to psych themselves up.
"Two…" Jack continued as the dragons began to run towards the edge of the bluff.
"One…!" Hiccup said as the dragons opened their wings.
Then as they reached the very edge of the bluff, both Angrid and Astrid yelled, "GO!"
Immediately, Toothless, Stormfly, Blitz, Tridacna, Magnus, Hookfang, Meatlug, Barf and Belch and Marina took off. And the teens were up in the air.
The seven Viking teens were used to it now. But it didn't stop them from sharing in their two Guardian friends' sheer joy.
Jack and Sapphire were ecstatic!
"This is the most amazing thing we've ever done!" Jack whooped as Blitz took him up higher into the clouds.
"I am enjoying this! Woo-hoo!" Sapphire shrieked in delight as Tridacna skimmed the water with her wings.
Hiccup and Astrid flew side by side and smiled.
"Operation: First Flight…" Tuffnut decided to say before his sister finished for him, "A complete success!" throwing her arms out wide.
"Last one to the Peak's an…uh…what do we call the loser of a dragon race again?" Snotlout said dumbly before Fishlegs yelled. "Last one there's an eel!"
"Come on guys, let's go!" Angrid whooped as she urged Magnus to go faster. Snotlout, the Twins and Fishlegs followed her.
"You and me, Sapphire. Last one has to clean the stables!" Astrid decided to challenge the Guardian of Equality. The water spirit smiled. "Oh you're on!"
With that, Stormfly and Tridacna shot ahead, leaving Hiccup and Jack behind.
The two boys glanced at each other. "Let's see if Blitz's as fast as a Night Fury." The 16 year old Viking said, smiling a little. Jack grinned. "Now you're talking."
Eager to see who's the fastest, Blitz and Toothless sped up, roaring excitedly.
"Yeah! Go baby!" Hiccup pumped his fist in the air.
"That's what I'm talking about! Yes!" Jack laughed out loud as their Furies streaked right past Hookfang, Meatlug, Barf and Belch and then Magnus as they reached the forest near Dragon's Tooth Mountain.
Blitz flapped his wings for an extra burst of speed but in that act, nearly crashed into Tridacna and had to do something desperate. He flipped himself and Jack upside down and flew in the most unconventional way a dragon could ever fly-upside down.
"What in the name of…" Jack managed to say before he realized that his dragon was experienced in this sort of flight, and began to enjoy it himself.
But he made a mistake raising both arms up in triumph, because the next thing Jack knew, he was crashing through the branches of a pine tree.
Worried, Sapphire commanded Tridacna to land quickly. But they came in too hot and somewhat crash landed with Sapphire being thrown off Tridacna's back and landing in a prickly bush.
Their Viking friends and their dragons came to their aid.
"Are you okay?" Hiccup walked over to Jack, who was lying on the ground, his legs resting against the tree's trunk. Brushing a few pine needles off his face, the Guardian of Fun replied, "Apart from a few sore spots and my melted down dignity, yeah I'm doing great." With a hint of embarrassment embedded in his tone.
Astrid and Hiccup helped him get back on his feet while Fishlegs and Ruffnut got Sapphire out of the bush.
"Well that landing could've gone better…" the girl muttered. "Hey, on the bright side, at least those cuts on you are gonna be great scars." Ruffnut said brightly. "Cool…I wanna get scars like that too!" her brother said, eagerly getting on their Zippleback and jumping off into the bush next.
Sighing Sapphire took out a vial of clear water from her satchel and poured a few drops on her wounds. Fishlegs gasped in amazement as they instantly healed.
"What's in that thing?" Snotlout eyed the vial curiously. "My tears have healing properties but I don't wanna waste my energy crying every time there's a case of injury. So one day I watched The Titanic and collected all the tears I shed." Sapphire explained putting the vial back.
"Was that the cause of the 'unexpected' storm in Florida last March?" Jack cocked his head at her questioningly. The water spirit blushed. "That movie was a real tearjerker. I couldn't help myself!" she said defensively before trying to stand up.
"Owww!" she suddenly sank back down.
"What's wrong?" Angrid asked, going over to her. "I think I twisted my knee…Man, it hurts." Sapphire mumbled as Jack tried to help ease the swelling by placing the tip of his staff as a form of cold compress.
Marina then arrived, all out of breath. "Finally…caught up…You guys are fast…!" she breathed out before noticing her mistress in pain.
"Sorry guys, looks like we have to postpone the next flying lesson until tomorrow." Jack said as he helped Sapphire get on Marina. "But it was pretty fun. When my knee gets better…you'll all be eating mine and Tridacna's dust." Sapphire smiled at her Scauldron, who smiled as well.
"Don't you mean mine and Blitz's dust? Anyway, what's the verdict on our race?" Jack said teasingly before turning to Hiccup. "I'd say we're evenly matched." The auburn headed teen shrugged.
Blitz gave his Rider a gummy grin before they left.
"You guys up for another round?" Astrid asked her friends coyly.
Laughing the Viking teens got back on their dragons and had another round.
Like any concerned parents, the other Guardians were baffled and worried when their youngest members came into the Globe Room two hours later with Marina.
Jack had a few scratches on his face and one pretty nasty cut above his left eyebrow from the fall down the pine tree while Sapphire was using Marina as a crutch along with him, keeping her right leg off the floor because that was the leg with the twisted knee.
"Rimsky Korsakov! What happened to you two?" North rushed over to the two with Mother Nature and Father Time.
"We had a slight crash landing when we raced. I kind of crashed into a couple of trees when the wind got out of control. Sapphire got thrown off by accident." Jack managed to explain as the Guardian of Wonder examined his injuries.
"This will require some healing magic and rest. No more flying or any strenuous activity for the rest of the day my child. Is that clear?" Father Time told Sapphire who nodded understandingly.
"Let's get you patched up in the infirmary then." Mother Nature chirped as a few butterflies flew out of her hair.
Sapphire began to hop on one foot to leave when Jack, in a gentlemanly gesture, lifted her up bridal style and carried her to the infirmary. The Guardian of Equality couldn't help but smile at the winter spirit's chivalry, making him blush a little.
Sandy silently giggled and made sand hearts over his head.
"Those two still love to be mushy with each other." Bunny chuckled as the two teens, North, Father Time and Mother Nature left the Globe Room. "They sure do." Tooth smiled, placing a hand on the rabbit's shoulder, making him smile bashfully.
"Well so do you two." Marina teased them, earning a laugh from Millennium and Baby Tooth.
At the infirmary, Mother Nature had dabbed Sapphire's bad knee with some herbal ointment and was rubbing her hands on it, a soft green glow emanating from them. When that was done, Father Time wrapped a cold bandage around the affected part.
"Still hurts a little…But it's much better." Sapphire observed as she slowly bent her right leg without wincing.
North meanwhile was tending to the cut on Jack's hairline. "Ow, ow, ow…" the Guardian of Fun complained as the Russian disinfected the cut.
All the other scratches were minor compared to this one since it was near his eye.
"Just make sure you don't crash into any more trees. Alright, son?" North chuckled as he placed a bandage over the cut. "You got it, North." Jack smiled a little.
He'd heard North call him "son" quite a lot of times already but was still hesitant on calling him "dad". But deep down, Jack really thought of the jolly Russian as his father.
After that, they went back to the Globe Room where Father Time and Mother Nature decided to move the planned painting day to tomorrow.
Of course, everyone else had some misgivings but when they got right down to it, tomorrow was a sensible enough choice.
Bunny and North still had enough time to prepare for their holidays, Sandy could spare some time since the project was going to be done in the morning and Tooth let Baby Tooth take charge for tomorrow. Jack and Sapphire eventually gave in but secretly, they were reluctant to sacrifice some of their precious dragon training time just to pose for who knows how long to get themselves immortalized on canvas.
But that petty little grudge dissolved when Tooth told them that they all had a surprise for them. Naturally that got both of them excited.
"What's the surprise?" Jack asked eagerly.
"Is it something big and grand?" Sapphire added excitedly.
Sandy shook his head while Bunny said "Let's just say it's a little something we've been meaning to give to you two for quite some time now." Before dragging over a mirror to place in front of them.
"Now close your eyes and don't peek." Millennium instructed them.
The two Guardians did as they were told, barely able to contain their excitement.
Quickly, North and Mother Nature pulled out the surprises.
Jack and Sapphire squeezed each other's hands when they felt something being put on their necks.
"You can open your eyes now." Marina giggled.
Both teens opened their eyes and looked at their reflections at the same time. Nothing really looked different…until they noticed the medallions.
Sapphire put a hand to her neck in awe to touch the lovely bronze circle fastened to her neck choker style. Jack held up his medallion up to his face, staring at the beautifully crafted thing, the symbol of the Guardians proudly stamped on it.
"We all high time thought it was time to show you two that you are officially part of our group." North explained.
"Not just part of our group." Father Time interjected.
"But a part of the family. Well, what do you think?" Mother Nature smiled gently at Jack and Sapphire.
Looking at their friends, the two Guardians smiled widely.
It didn't take words to know how happy and how honored they were, to be a part of this amazing family, which made all the others smile.
"So…what do we do now?" Sapphire played with the wind chimes hanging near Jack's desk in his room and noticed the knife.
"That's for Hiccup but…I'm thinking of adding a little something extra for Toothless. Since well, they've been really nice to us what with teaching us about dragons and all." Jack replied before pulling out a scrap of paper from his bag.
It had a drawing of the Night Fury, made by Hiccup and as he glanced at his ice figurines, Jack suddenly got an idea.
Quickly he opened his window and broke off a large chunk of ice off the ledge and blew on it. The ice turned into a magical shade of blue.
"You're making an ice sculpture for Toothless?" Sapphire asked as he took a small ice pick from his tools. "Something like that, what about you? Got any gift ideas for Astrid?" the winter spirit answered as he carefully smoothed the chunk of ice's edges.
"I've already got an axe. But I wanna give something to Stormfly too. I'm gonna be looking for any inspiration or materials when I get home." The Guardian of Equality said before they got called to lessons.
"Let's work on them tomorrow after the painting session's done. I'm sure the Vikings won't miss us too much if we're late by a couple of hours." Jack whispered to her. Sapphire nodded before furtively slipping the fang into his pocket.
"Hey we're not gonna be able to go there until tomorrow. You might as well have it for now." She replied when he gave her a questioning glance.
Jack nodded at her and set down the ice chunk. He'll have to work on this project tomorrow morning. Right now, he and Sapphire had their academics to worry about.
Meanwhile, Hiccup and Astrid were tying strips of leather together.
Like the two Guardians, they were planning on giving new gifts to their friends, namely staff holders for them both.
"Let's hope we measured their staffs right a while ago." Astrid murmured, remembering how she and Hiccup held onto Jack and Sapphire's staffs and tried to estimate their length while they were being helped by the others after their crashes in the woods.
"We did. If our estimates are correct, these should be the right size." Hiccup told her as they finished binding the last straps.
For both the Guardians and the Viking teens, the rest of the day was all normal, in each of their own standards that is of course.
But back at the Shivering Shores, things weren't going so well for Anglo the Mighty and his men…
The children were still suffering from their nightmares even if the sun was up. And more of Alvin's new soldiers kept coming.
They were terrifying entities, wearing armor made of shifting black sand, helmets of black steel and glinting yellow eyes.
With the Nightmares (both horse and dragon forms), they forced the warriors of the Shivering Shores to fall back, as Alvin landed on the island's shores.
Anglo was brought to him in chains.
"Quite a valiant effort, Anglo. But not valiant enough!" the Outcast leader laughed cruelly. Anglo spat at him in an outrage. "You cowardly lowlife! Whatever you've done to our children, put a stop to it this instant!"
Alvin then glared and brought his face closer to him. "Hmmm…So your greatest fear is seeing your tribe die. Well Anglo the Mighty, unless you surrender now…I will make your worst nightmare come true." He said darkly.
At these words, Anglo felt his blood run cold.
How did Alvin know that more than anything he feared, seeing his people perish was the most terrifying to him?
Then he noticed the Outcast's dark gold eyes.
Eyes that weren't Alvin's at all…and barely seemed human.
Fearing for his village, Anglo the Mighty, chief of the Shivering Shores, hung his head in defeat. "…I surrender…" he whispered.
Suddenly Alvin let out an evil cackle. Neighs and roars of triumph from the Nightmares and Nightmare Soldiers echoed across the shores of the cold island.
"Now our invasion truly begins!" Alvin cackles, Pitch Black's voice taking over.
More of his Nightmares flew out in different directions to spread more fear across the land, as a dark cloud hung over the Shivering Shores and its people were imprisoned.
The morning was a furious rush of activity for the Guardians, mostly for Sapphire and Jack. They had to be dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn (like literally get dragged out of their comfortable beds), get perfectly groomed and dressed and had to meet up with all the other Guardians at the Seasonal Guardians.
"Ooohh I'm so excited! We haven't had a group portrait made in years! How do I look?" Tooth fluttered about excitedly. "Like a beautiful gem, Toothy." Bunny laughed, checking that his weapon belt was well fastened.
Sandy dusted himself to make sure his sand clothes weren't too dusty or wrinkled.
"Why does this have to be done so early?" Marina moaned, her eyes half closed. "I'm with her on this one. Can I at least take a nap?" Jack yawned, leaning against his staff and closing his eyes.
Sapphire just sighed, rubbing her eyes. She didn't feel so awake either but it's not like she had much of a choice.
"It will only take a few hours, you two. Be patient." North chided them as Mother Nature, Father Time and Millennium arrived with Phil, who was assigned to paint the picture.
"Everyone ready?" Millennium asked.
The four original Guardians said yes with gusto while the two newbies could only nod sleepily.
"Okay then…North stand over here with Sandy over there…" Mother Nature gently ushered them into their places in the picturesque meadow.
Naturally, Jack and Sapphire were asked to stand side by side.
"Well this is one thing I could get used to." Jack smiled shyly as he took Sapphire's hand in his. "Same here." Sapphire giggled, placing her head on his shoulder.
Father Time then pointed to their necks. Jack and Sapphire nodded and pointed at their medallions, proudly shown for the world to see.
"Alright everyone, remember, smile! This portrait's going to be here forever so today is a very special day!" Father Time rubbed his hands together with glee.
Even though they were still sleepy, Jack and Sapphire put on their best smiles.
Then to their surprise, Phil pulled out a camera and took a photo of them.
"Gadwar Dubwa!" the Yeti then gave them a thumbs-up as an instant photo popped out of the camera and left.
The others were confused.
"…That's it?" Bunny asked, his ears twitching.
"We figured we might as well use a camera to provide the perfect guide for Phil to paint." Mother Nature explained. "Millennium tends to fidget a lot so painting us while standing could be tricky since we all tend to change positions very often." Her husband further explained.
"You mean we had to wake up so early…just to have our picture taken?!" Marina exclaimed in an exasperated manner.
North, Tooth and Sandy just shrugged. At least it didn't take too long unlike last time…
Jack and Sapphire sighed in relief. "Thank God for modern technology." Jack whispered to the water spirit. "Technically a Polaroid's not so popular now in the 21st century but hey, at least it's over." Sapphire smiled.
Then with Marina in tow, they left the Seasonal Gardens and headed over to Sapphire's place underwater. Jack had learned how to control his staff very well so the water didn't freeze when he jumped in with it.
Sapphire touched him and Marina and a protective breathing barrier surrounded them.
Then to Jack's surprise, the Guardian of Equality suddenly disappeared!
"Aqua Camo. She learned that a couple of months ago. It lets her blend into the water by will." Marina said upon seeing the Guardian of Fun's worried face.
The water around them swirled unnaturally and Sapphire's voice giggled from behind Jack. "Come on, you two. I still have to gather materials for Stormfly's necklace."
Swimming over to the pretty coral arc entrance, the three of them entered Sapphire's space. The walls were made of polished coral along with the furniture. A soft green carpet blanketed the floor and the Guardian of Equality's bed was immaculately made. A hammock was in one corner of the room covered with stuffed toys.
"This wasn't here the last time I visited you." Jack remarked as he held up a stuffed turtle. "Oh that? It's my…comfort zone. I usually sleep there whenever I have a bad day." Sapphire sheepishly admitted as she carefully picked out little shells from around her room.
Good thing she became visible once again when they got inside. Jack was beginning to worry if he was going nuts from not seeing but feeling her movements when they were underwater.
"That's kinda cute…" Jack giggled as he poked his girlfriend with the stuffed turtle's flipper. Sapphire just blushed and playfully flicked the turtle's flipper back at him.
"…Okay this should be enough." She said placing the last few shells in a tiny pouch. "Don't forget this, Saph!" Marina then gave her a large shell that when opened up, showed a detailed painting of a Deadly Nadder.
"Let's go to the Pole. I left my sculpture there." Jack said. With that, the trio left for the Pole, without even telling their fellow Guardians.
What do you guys think?
I'm not really sure what kind of 'Guardian Training' Jack and Sapphire really do (or if they do need training to be Guardians) but I figured that team-building exercises are handy.
Anyways, read and review