SHOOT OUT AND THE PIED PIPER!
(And man, it was a hard push to get this written, as well as the last chapter, today... Anyways, I hope it's worth it!)
That's all I'm gonna say… Enjoy!

Jack dove behind the tree, and rechecked his blaster.
Damn, he was short of paint bombs...
He slotted several more into the chamber, and clicked it into place, before peeking around the edge of the tree.
They had been a this particular round for nearly an hour now, and if it wasn't for the various stashes of ammunition they had lying around, it would have been long over.
Jack was glad he had had the foresight to lose the jacket.
His t-shirt was now covered in green and red paint splatters, and their was paint all down his arms, legs and face. That Pooka had damned good aim...
Bunny wasn't any better off. He was plastered in white and blue paint, and was now, likewise in a defensive position, ducked behind a small bank.
Jack took in the scene, waiting for the tell tale twitch that said Bunny was just about to move, and leapt out, shooting as he did so, getting rewarded with two clean shots.
He was too slow to dodge the two shots that hit him, and he span behind another tree, keen to get to his nearest remaining stash of paint bombs to load into his blaster.
The ones swinging from his belt, around the two belts slung across his chest and the ones already loaded, wouldn't last much longer at their current rate of fire...

Bunny hastily grabbed a new stack of paint bombs, ducking behind a tree to avoid the shots that were fired, and reloaded.
Damn, the kid was good… And had just scooped up another stash of white paint bombs.
Brilliant…
He peered out from behind the tree, and fired a couple of shots.
Jack retaliated, before clearly taking time to reload.
Bunny used the time to get to the steep bank, which afforded better cover.
Yeah, he was thinking about things strategically… What choice did he have?
And to think he had thought it wouldn't be too difficult to beat the winter spirit without his staff…
Apparently, Ninja like, combat style manouvres, uncanny aim, gymnastics and acrobatics and a pranking ability honed over god knows how many years combined into a very dangerous force…
And he was honestly enjoying himself a ridiculous amount.
Was't often he had as much fun as this, though, if he thought about it, Jack was the guardian of fun after all…
Apparently, he shouldn't have thought that, because the minute moment that it distracted him gave Jack the opportunity to run to the opposite bank, firing, and managing to hit him on the shoulder.
Bunny quickly ducked down, and rechecked the amount of bombs he had loaded, before grabbing two egg bombs in one hand, the blaster in the other.

Jack grinned as he hit Bunny's shoulder, and dove behind the bank.
He rechecked his blaster, before peeking over the top, and yelping as he dove out of the way of two egg bombs that had come hurtling towards him.
He turned the dive into a roll, and shoved himself up as Bunny blasted at him.
Hmm, that was a pretty good manouvre, Jack thought, grudgingly, in spite of himself.
The winter spirit ducked behind the trees, and clambered agiley into a comfortable fork in the branches, before lowering himself down to lie on the branch.
He expertly positioned his blaster to where he knew Bunny was, and grabbed a small fold out glass from one of the multitude of pockets on his trousers.
He folded it out, and slot it into a catch on the top of the blaster, turning it into a much less deadly version of a sniper rifle...
Well, he didn't hang around those army bases a few decades ago for no reason, now, did he?
He grinned as the Pooka broke cover, and his uncanny aim followed the Pooka until he ducked behind a tree.
Bunny retaliated with some more, actually uncannyily aimed shots, no doubt product of his decent aim and ridiculously good hearing.
Jack yelped as a shot collided with his sholder, and he lost his balance.
He quickly grabbed the branch, swinging himself back, and hooking the falling blaster with his foot.
He flicked it up, catching it, before slinging it on his back and leaping to the floor, swinging from two different branches and landing in a crouch in the middle of a copse of bushes.
He crouched lower, silently edging towards the edge of the bushes, before he heard a snapping sound to his left, and burst to his feet, holding the blaster up.
Problem was, Bunny was stood there, likewise pointing the paint blaster at him.

They both raised an eyebrow, and Jack's lips twitched slightly.
"Ya know, I'm all for calling it a draw?"
The Pooka considered, then cocked his head, shrugging.
"I'll go for that. On three?"
"One..."
"Two..."
"Three..."
They both lowered the blasters, and grinned.
"Since when were you such a good shot, Kid?"
"Kid?"
"Sorry. But considering how old I am, I have a right ta call ya that..."
Jack considered, then shrugged.
"Okay, fair point, old timer. And since I first picked up a slingshot."
"Slingshot?"
"... I dislike guns."
"Ah... Any reason?"
Jack frowned, his eyes taking on the faraway look they all knew meant he was in a memory.
"Let's just say that... wars are not nice places to be..."
Bunnymund blinked, then shook his head.
"Sorry Frostbite..."
"Meh, times change... And don't start with the guilt or touchy feely stuff. I really don't want to hear it."
Bunny sighed, realising that whereas North or Tooth might have pressed, him, the reason Jack was able to get along so well with him was probably because he didn't keep pressing him.
Then he blinked, and grinned, pulling a bag from the pouch on his belt.
"Oi! Catch..."
Jack caught the small bag, and raised an eyebrow as he opened it.
"When did you steal North's favourite cookies?"
"This morning. Got one of my messenger eggs to do it."
"Ah... Cheers."
"No Problem. Ya know it's nearly five right?"
"Really? My, how time flies when you're having fun..."
"You'd know. Wanna call it a day?"
"Hmm... Actually, yeah, sure. But Im up bright and early..."
"Warning heeded. Ya gonna attempt some stylish, dramatic exit?"
Jack grinned.
"Ya really have t ask?"
A backflip, and he'd vanished into the copse of bushes.
Bunny sighed.
"Stupid question really..." he sighed to himself, and tapped a tunnel, back to his home.
Their youngest guardian really did know how to tire someone out...

Jack stifled a yawn, as he made a diversion.
He had something to do before he got a few hours sleep.
It took him nearly an hour, and he grinned as he finally settled down, after stashing away the semi-permanent black paint. He was honestly having the most fun he'd had in ages.
They really had to do this more often...
_

The Following Morning...

Jack was grinning as he sat, perched in the trees, and watched Bunny's shocked reaction to finding that his egg golems all had mustaches beards and random hairstyles painted in black paint.
"Frostbite! I swear when I get my hands on you..."
Bunny called, scowling, then grinned.
"Ya wanna make this more interesting?"
Jack grinned, having been anticipating the question, and sent a small note, wrapped around an arrow, flying towards Bunny, from the bow he had snatched from the weapons room.
It slammed into the tree, next to the Pooka, and Bunny read it.

Thought you might say that. I get to use snow-though I may just not bother- and you get to use your little egg army?

Buny grinned.
"Ya really do plan for everything, don't ya Frostbite? Ya're gonna have ta teach me how ya do that... And yeah, sounds good."
Another note.

Thought you might say that too... This is gonna be fun.

Bunny grinned again.
"Ya know ya're gonna have to get past me to gat ya staff?"
Yet another pre-written note.

Way ahead of you. Bring it plushie...

"Oh, I intend to, Frostbite..."
Bunny whistled, and Jack frowned as he realised that the Pooka was using a variety of sounds at a particular scale of pitch...
Then he grinned, recalling a few tips he'd picked up from another spirit he had met once.
And to think that he had thought that the lessons, that the Pied Piper had given him, would never come in useful...
He swiftly made his way to the weapons room, but grimaced as he realised that there were a whole squadron of eggs already in place.
He decided to improvise.
Swinging down, he crept around the edges of the crowd of eggs and sneaked into a nearby shed, grabbing a bamboo staff.
Calling on the skills Piper had taught him, he grabbed his knife and whittled away at it, grinning.
This had to be the most creative way of distracting an army of eggs that he had ever heard of...
And the fact that he would be able to get one over on a huge rabbit?
That was just a huge bonus.
He really had to thank Piper for this... If it worked that is.

And all will be continued and concluded next chapter, though I have no idea how long it will be...
(Though if you guys want to give me anymore ideas, I can definitely extend it to another chapter, but I'm afraid we won't be meeting Piper for a while, though if you want to meet him, I'm sure I can slip him in :D Depends on the feedback I get...)

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed? The shoot-out? The little glimpse of Jack's past? The mustache etc prank? The mention of the Pied Piper?
Please review and let me know!

Raven xx