FINALLY! I finally got a job today, like for sure its my job now, at Braum's ice cream, so my mom has given me back my free reign over cyberspace! So, i took advantage of it and will hopefully finish this fic today! I've been typing like crazy and now, here it is! RotG: The Water Guardian Debuts Chapter 16! Bask in its awesome amazingness and please, oh, please review once you've read it!
Chapter 16: Getting the Calvary; Fighting Back
When Casey and Maddy arrived at Jamie's house, they found North's sleigh basically crash landed, the reindeer gone. North looked weak and Tooth and Windsong couldn't even fly. They saw Jack and Jamie nearby, Jamie appearing to be able to see Jack. When Casey and Maddy came closer, Jack looked up at them smiling.
Casey looked at Jamie who, thankfully to her, was looking straight at her, and smiled. "Guys," she said, putting an arm around Maddy. "Meet Maddy."
"The second light!" Windsong exclaimed, stepping into Casey's eye line. Casey nodded, then she and Jack looked around.
"Where's Bunny?" Jack asked.
"And Narain?" Casey added. The others' expressions saddened.
"Losing Easter took its toll on all of us." North explained. "Bunny and Narain most of all." They turned towards the sleigh as a weak-looking Narain carefully climbed out, something small in her hands. When her feet were firmly planted on the ground, Narain stood up straight. Well, as straight as she could. Narain looked as though she was going to collapse any second. When she revealed to Jack, Casey, Jamie and Maddy what was in her hands, Jack and Casey's expressions fell even more. In her hands was a little grey-blue bunny with markings on the fur. In fact, the little bunny bore a striking resemblance to the missing Aussie Pooka. The way Narain was looking at the little bunny, it confirmed who exactly the little bunny was: Their missing companion, E. Aster Bunnymund.
Jamie smirked when he saw Bunnymund. Maddy just looked like she wanted to grab him and squeeze him as tight as possible.
"Oh no." Jack muttered. Jamie laughed a little as he walked closer to Bunnymund in Narain's hands.
"That's the Easter Bunny?" he asked in disbelief.
Bunnymund glared at Jamie and stuck up his tiny paws. "Now somebody sees me! Alright, where were you about an hour ago, mate?!"
"What happened to him?" Jamie asked. "He used to be huge and cool. Now he's cute." Jamie started scratching Bunnymund under his chin. Bunnymund smiled and started tapping his foot eagerly with pleasure. Then his eyes widened and he pawed Jamie's hand away and looked at Jack.
"Did you tell him to say that!?" he exclaimed. He jumped out of Narain's hands, ran over to where both Jack and Casey and glared up at Jack. "That's it! Let's go! Me and you! come on!" He began kicking Jack's leg until Jamie and Maddy stopped him.
"No, actually, he told me you were real." Jamie said, sitting on his legs beside Bunnymund. "Just when I was starting to think that maybe you weren't."
Maddy sat on the other side of Bunnymund. "Casey did the same for me."
Bunnymund's hard expression melted away, replaced by a look of surprise and gratefulness. "They made you believe? In me?"
Jamie and Maddy nodded and Bunnymund looked at the 2 youngest spirits. He smiled at them, to which they smiled back. A loud clap of thunder made them all jump. Large clouds of black sand was surrounding them and Pitch's evil laughter filled the air.
Jack and Casey looked at the others, their smiles replaced by looks of anger and determination. "Get Jamie and Maddy out of here." Casey commanded as she and Jack started to take off into the sky. However, a small hand grasping her own stopped Casey. She looked down to see Maddy holding Casey's hand tightly, her amethyst eyes brimming with tears, her dark brown hair dropping into her eyes.
"You have to stay here!" she exclaimed. "You can't go! You can't!"
The last words sent a shudder through Casey's heart and a memory entered her thoughts: "You can't!" Matthew exclaimed softly.
"I don't have a choice, buddy. I promised both mom and myself that I'd take care of you no matter what and that's exactly what I intend to do. Matthew just do what I say, Matthew, please."
The memory faded as Casey muttered, "You have to have faith in me." She grinned and bent down at Maddy's level, gently grabbing her shoulders. "That's it! That's my center!" Maddy looked at Casey confusedly while the Guardians and the spirits, Jack included, grinned. Pitch grabbed their attention again and Casey, with one last smile at Maddy, took off into the sky with Jack.
"Be careful, you two!" Narain called out after them and the Guardians, Windsong, Narain and the two children ran.
As Jack and Casey neared Pitch, the Nightmare King saw them. "Jack Frost?!" he exclaimed in surprise. "And Casey Aqua?!" He groaned and twisted his cloud so that he was propelled through the air towards his attackers. "Let's end this, shall we!?" He shot black sand at them. Jack and Casey pointed their staffs ahead of them. Blasts of ice and jets of water shot at Pitch, but he shot more of his sand at them. Jack and Casey's attacks never made contact. "Those little tricks don't work on me anymore!" And with one more attack, Jack and Casey were knocked away and the two plummeted through the air.
They crash landed on a dumpster than fell to the ground just as their friends ran by. The weakened Guardians and spirits and the children stopped when they heard the crash. Jamie and Maddy looked towards the where the sound had come from and saw Jack and Casey sprawled on the ground.
"Jack!" Jamie yelled at the same time Maddy yelled Casey's name. The group ran to the side of their fallen friends just as the snow spirit and water spirit slowly sat up, both shaking their heads trying to clear the ringing out. They got to their hands and knees, moaning softly with pain.
"That was good try, you two." North said. "A for effort."
Jack looked up at North. "He's stronger." he said. He shared a glance with Casey then looked back up at North. "Casey and I, we can't beat him."
As they stayed there, the children, the Guardians, and the older spirits around Jack and Casey, Pitch's evil laugh, closer this time, surround them again.
"All this fuss over a little boy and girl and still they refuse to stop believing." Pitch cackled. His huge dark shadow loomed over them, circling them. "Very well. There are other ways to snuff out a light." As he said that, his shadowy hand ran along the wall and made the light bulbs burst, making it darker.
Bunnymund jumped ahead of his friends, arms out, a look of determination on his face. "If you want them, you're going to have to go through me!"
Pitch laughed again and his shadowy hand ran along the ground, the finger reaching out to Bunnymund in a scratching motion. "Look how fluffy you are. Would you like a scratch behind the ears?"
Bunnymund darted up Narain's leg and back into her hand, pointing out a paw. "Don't you even think about it!"
Nightmares entered where they all were as Pitch continued talking. "I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see you all like this." Finally, riding a Nightmare, Pitch showed his evil face. His lips were curled in a smirk. "You look awful."
The shadows began closing in. Jamie and Maddy backed away, both looking up at Jack and Casey respectively, looks of terror on their faces. "Jack," Jamie said to Jack. "I'm scared." Jack put a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder and kneeled so that he was eye level with the ten-year-old. But, once he had done that, his face went blank and his eyes seemed distant. Casey raised an eyebrow, but looked at Maddy, who had grabbed her hand.
Jack blinked a couple of times, muttering, "We're going to have a little fun instead. That's it! That's my center!" He grinned, very similarly to how Casey had grinned when she had discovered her center. Jamie gave Jack the very same look Maddy had given Casey.
Pitch laughed again, which pulled them all back to the present. "So what do you think, Jamie and Maddy?" he asked. "Do you believe in the-" he was cut off by a large snowball hitting his face. When he'd wiped that off, he was hit with a playful stream of water.
Jamie and Maddy both laughed, then covered their mouths and looked at Jack and Casey, who were grinning widely. Jack was tossing a snow ball up and down in his right hand while there was a ring of water encircling Casey's left hand and wrist as they both chuckled. They looked around and saw flat sled-making material beside them and they looked at Jamie and Maddy.
"Now let's go get your friends." Jack said.
As Pitch wiped his face free of snow and water, a slide of ice cracked past him. When he looked back, the Guardians, the spirits and the children were gone.
The group shot down the streets, the slid continuously being made by Casey's water and Jack's ice. They made a loop de loop which everyone but Bunnymund enjoyed as they gathered up Jamie and Maddy's friends. Jack made it snow in every room while Casey brought water creations to life. One by one, Jamie's friends, which consisted of the twins (Claude and Caleb), Pippa, Cupcake, and Monty, and Maddy's friends, Mica and Sarah, regained their belief in North, Bunnymund, Tooth, Windsong, and Narain as well as getting two new beliefs as well, Jack Frost and Casey Aqua.
Each of the kids, except Monty, grabbed their sleds and followed the Guardians and spirits down the road to the center of the town, where they found Pitch waiting for them. Nightmares were everywhere. When Monty finally caught up to them, he ran in front, but ran back when he saw the army of Nightmares.
"You think a few children can help you?!" Pitch exclaimed. "Against this!?" He indicated the large black clouds covering the town.
North raised his sword in an effort to defy Pitch, but was so weak, his arm dropped, the sword once again being used as a cane. Jack, Casey, Narain, Windsong and Tooth put hands on his shoulders, trying to steady the much larger man. Casey looked back and saw fear in Jamie's eyes, and when she looked at her, Maddy's eyes too.
"They're just bad dreams, Jamie and Maddy." Casey said.
Bunnymund stood in front of them all, arms out to the sides in a guarding manner. "We'll protect you, mates." he said.
"You'll protect them?" Pitch repeated and he laughed again. "But who will protect you!?"
Looking back, Jack and Casey saw Pitch's small point. They were weaker than they should have been from lack of belief. North was using his swords for canes, neither Tooth nor Windsong could even fly, Bunnymund was an eight inch tall fluff ball and Narain could barely stand up straight. After making sure North was okay, Jack and Casey began to step forward when, to their shock, both Jamie and Maddy stepped in front of them.
"We will." Jamie said. Jack and Casey looked at the two children in surprise as Maddy nodded in agreement.
"I will." Cupcake said, pushing past the others to join Jamie and Maddy.
"I will." The twins said, stepping forward.
"Me too." Mica said and she was soon joined by Sarah
"And me." Pippa said, standing beside Jamie.
Monty stepped forward, looking a little fearful. "I'll try." he said and Casey grinned lightly at that.
Pitch's nightmare cloud grew and his evil laughter echoed all around them. As he sent his nightmare sand at them, he yelled out, "Still think there's no such thing as the Boogeyman!?"
Jamie and Maddy stood firm in front of the Guardians and spirits. "We do believe in you." Jamie said.
"We're just not afraid of you." Maddy continued.
As the sand rushed at them, Jamie and Maddy held out their hands in front of them. When the black sand hit, once it made contact with the hands of the children, it turned to gold and fluttered around them. The kids looked around in amazement as the Guardians laughed. One by one, the Guardians strength returned. Tooth and Windsong took off into the air, North clutched his swords tightly and laughed triumphantly. Even Narain's strength returned and she drew her black sword and grinned. The kids cheered.
Pitch yelled out in anger and sent his nightmares charging at them all. The Guardians and spirits sprang into action, taking out Nightmare after Nightmare. North threw down two magic snow globes and his yetis charged out. Nightmares were vanishing left and right as Jack and Casey sprang to the top of the building to confront Pitch. Even with all of his Nightmares, Pitch could not gain the upper hand as the good guys began to prevail. Event the kids were lending their help, turning the nightmares back into gold sand.
Pitch aimed a black sand arrow at Jack but as he fired, Tooth knocked it away. "Thanks, Tooth!" Jack yelled.
Pitch was eventually knocked to the ground by North tackling him from the opposite building.
As a stream of golden sand slid by, an idea came to Jamie's mind. "I got it!" he exclaimed. "I know what we have to do! Guys, come on!" And he began running followed by Maddy and all their friends.
How was it? Pretty good? I'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon.