Here's the new chapter 8!
Read and Enjoy!
Chapter 8: Defend Tooth Palace!
North burst through the doors. "Let's go!"
"North," Jack started. "Wait, we're not going with you guys! There is no way we're climbing into some rickety, old-" Jack was cut short when the stable doors opened. "Sleigh?" To his and Casey's amazement, the sleigh that came out was anything but old and rickety. In fact, to them, it looked absolutely incredible. When it pulled to a stop in front of them, North looked at them both smugly.
"Okay, one ride, but that's it." Casey said as she and Jack climbed into the sleigh. Narain and Windsong climbed in after them, followed shortly by Sandy.
North climbed into the sleigh, grabbing the reigns and smirking. "Everyone loves the sleigh. He turned to see that Bunnymund had not climbed in like everyone else. "Bunny, what are you waiting for?"
"I think my tunnels might be faster, mate." Bunnymund said as he nudged the side of the sleigh with his foot. "And it's, uh, it's safer." He started to walk away when North grabbed him and forced him into the sleigh.
"Ah, get in!" North exclaimed once he'd pulled Bunnymund in. "Buckle up!"
"Woah, woah, where are the bloody seat belts!?" Bunnymund exclaimed.
"Ha!" North laughed. "That was just expression! Are we ready?" He directed that question at a yeti who was still making some adjustments to the sleigh. The yeti shook his hands wildly, making protests in yetish. North snapped the reigns and the sleigh began to drive off. Bunnymund instantly panicked and in trying to hold on tight, his claws scrapped the surface of the wood. Both Jack and Casey laughed at him, while Narain just looked at him sympathetically.
Jack and Casey laughed wildly as Bunnymund held on for dear life. Sandy threw his hands in the air, a smile on his face. The sleigh began going around in loop de loops and North once again turned back to his companions. "I hope you like the loop de loops!" he exclaimed.
Bunnymund gulped as his lunch threatened to come back up. "I hope you like carrots!"
Jack and Casey laughed again. Casey looked at Jack, who looked back, smiling widely. They soon shot out of an opening and Jack and Casey once again yelled out in excitement. Casey and Jack smirked as they saw Bunnymund go absolutely pale, even for a Pooka of his stature. He was purposely avoiding looking over the side of the sleigh, opting to struggle with keeping his lunch where it belonged.
Jack and Casey looked at each other and smiled mischievously and Jack jumped onto the back end of the sleigh. "Hey Bunny," he said and the Pooka looked up at him. "Check out this view- woah!" And Jack allowed the wind to pull him from the sleigh. Bunnymund immediately panicked.
"North!" he shouted and struggled to look over the edge. When he did, he saw Jack laying casually on one of the sleigh's runners, smiling up at him. Casey burst out laughing, almost joining Jack down there.
"Aw." Jack said. "You do care."
Bunnymund glared at him. "Oh, rack off, you bloody show pony!" he yelled, which only succeeded in making the two spirits laugh harder. Narain put a comforting hand on his shoulder and he smiled at her. Windsong half glared and half smiled at Jack and Casey.
"That was not nice, you two?"
Casey shrugged as Jack flew back up into the sleigh. "So what?" she said. "It was funny." Bunnymund glared hard at her and Jack.
"Hold on everyone!" North called out. "I know a shortcut!" He took out a snow globe.
Bunnymund sank down deeper in the sleigh. "Oh spirits, I knew I should've taken the tunnels!"
North grinned. "I say 'Tooth Palace' " He whispered to the snow globe and threw it. The moment it was a certain distance from the sleigh, a huge portal opened up which the sleigh traveled through. Immediately, they saw black sandy horse shapes chasing Tooth's mini fairies.
"They're taking the tooth fairies!" Casey called out. When a Nightmare grabbed another fairy, Jack flew up from the sleigh, grabbed the fairy from the black horse and landed back in the sleigh.
"Hey little Baby Tooth, you okay?" he asked. Casey looked over at Jack and saw that this mini fairy was a little different than the others. Instead of a blue feather on the top of her head, she had a gold one, almost appearing to be a miniature version of Tooth. The little fairy, now dubbed "Baby Tooth" by Jack, nodded at him and the white-haired boy smiled.
They flew through the mountains that dotted the area, nightmares after them. Suddenly, North handed Jack the reigns.
"Here." he said. "Take over." Jack grabbed the reigns as North jumped on top of the front area and slashed the nightmare in front of them. A few tooth capsules fell onto the sleigh and Bunnymund picked one up.
"They're stealing the teeth!" Bunnymund yelled, looking at Sandy, who was fingering something that gave him a concerned look on his face. In his fingers was black sand. Windsong looked too and her expression was almost as concerned as Sandy's.
"Is it who I think it is?" Windsong asked, but she never got an answer.
"Jack, look out!" North yelled. Jack looked back at what he was doing in time to pull the reigns and prevent the sleigh from crashing. The sleigh landed on one of the platforms in Tooth Palace. The three Guardians and three spirits looked up and saw Tooth fluttering around in a panic. "Tooth!" North called out. "Are you alright?!" And the Guardians hurried up to her.
"They took my fairies!" she exclaimed. "And the teeth, all of them! Everything is gone! Everything." And she slowly kneeled down as North, Bunnymund, Sandy, and Windsong gathered round her.
Jack and Casey looked up from their position on a lower platform. Baby Tooth, the fairy Jack had rescued, flew out from inside Jack's hood and up to Tooth. She smiled widely as she held Baby Tooth in her hands.
"Oh, thank goodness!" she exclaimed. "One of you is alright."
"I have to say." A voice echoed. "This is very, very exciting. The Big Four all in one place."
The Guardians and the four spirits stood battle ready, looking for the source of the voice. They all looked up and saw a tall man with grey skin and slicked back black hair above them. Pitch grinned down at them.
"I'm a little star struck." he continued. He looked at North. "Did you like my show on the globe, North? Got you all together, didn't I?" North stomped a foot angrily at how easily Pitch had tricked them.
Tooth flew up at him, angrily searching for him when the Nightmare King vanished. "Pitch!" she yelled. "You have got thirty seconds to return my fairies-"
"Or what?" Pitch taunted, appearing on another platform. "You'll leave a quarter under my pillow?"
"Why are you doing this?" North asked, pointing his sword at Pitch.
Pitch glared at him. "Maybe I want what you have: to be believed in. Maybe I'm tired of hiding under beds!"
"Maybe that's where you belong!" Bunnymund yelled.
Pitch vanished again and reappeared under the Guardians and Windsong. "Go suck an egg, rabbit." And he vanished again. From behind where Jack and Casey had been standing, both with their staffs battle ready, they heard, "Hang on. Is that Jack Frost and Casey Aqua?" He laughed eerily. "Since when are you all so chummy?"
"We're not." Casey answered, both her and Jack looking around nervously for Pitch. They jumped when they finally found him behind them.
"Oh good." Pitch said. "A neutral party. Then I'm going to ignore the both of you, but you must be used to that by now."
Jack and Casey's resolve faltered a little.
"Pitch!" Bunnymund yelled and he darted forward after Pitch. "Come back here!" But Pitch vanished. When he reappeared, Tooth flew as fast as she could to attack him, but her path was blocked by a nightmare. The nightmare began raging out of control, only brought down when Pitch managed to calm it.
"Woah, easy!" he yelled. He held out a handful of black sand. "Look familiar Sandman? Took me a while to perfect this little trick. Turning dreams into nightmares. Don't be nervous. It only riles them up more. They can smell fear, you know."
"What fear? Of you?" Bunnymund asked as Tooth handed him his boomerang. "No one's been afraid of you since the dark ages!"
"Oh, the dark ages." Pitch said with a smile on his face. "Everyone frightened, miserable. Such happy times for me, all the power I wielded. But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light. Lifting their hearts and giving them hope. Everyone wrote me off as just a bad dream.
'Oh there's nothing to be afraid of'. 'There's no such thing as the Boogeyman'. Well that's all about to change."
The Guardians, Windsong, Narain, Jack and Casey looked around as Tooth Palace began to crumble around them.
"It's happening already." Pitch taunted.
"What is?" Jack asked.
"Children are waking up and realizing the Tooth Fairy never came. It's such a little thing, but to a child." Pitch continued.
"What's going on?"Casey asked, both her and Jack looking at the Guardians in confusion.
"They," Tooth stuttered. "They don't believe in me anymore."
"Didn't they tell you Jack and Casey," Pitch asked an evil grin on his face. "It's great being a Guardian, but there's a catch: If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect, wonder, hope and dreams, it all goes away. And little by little so do they. No Christmas or Easter, or little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing but fear and darkness and me. It's your turn not to be believed in."
Suddenly, Bunnymund's boomerang flew at him and Pitch bent out of the way. Pitch grabbed onto his nightmare and dived down, followed not long after by the Guardians, Windsong and Narain. A few seconds later, Jack and Casey followed too. Bunnymund threw egg bombs, all of which missed. They landed on the ground and discovered that Pitch had vanished.
"He's gone." North said.
How was this?