Thanks to EmeraldGrey57, MorikoKitsune, Effugere, zombiekillingtigress and StellaCartoonlover for the faves/follows since the last chapter!
And thanks to everyone who reviewed!
Hope you enjoy the finale!
Jack grinned, shuffling to get more comfortable, and began blowing on the hastily crafted bamboo flute. A certain pitch, thanks to his nimble fingers, had the eggs listening in.
A few moments later, they were all distracted enough for Jack to creep around behind them.
Still playing the tune, he quickly snatched his staff and backed away, back to the trees, before taking the flute from his lips.
The effect was instantaneous. The eggs immediately started panicking, realising that the staff was missing, and several ran off, clearly to find Bunny.
Jack grinned as he left a small layer of snow on the ground, just to make a point, before he took off.
He wasn't really planning on using the staff, or his powers, but the eggs made things more of a challenge…
Then he glanced at the flute, which he had stashed in one of his pockets, and grinned.
Or maybe not so much of a challenge.
_
Later that day, at around one in the afternoon, Bunny was still wondering how the hell the winter spirit had crept past his eggs.
He had, at first, wondered why Jack had not yet used any snow, before he realised that he was probably wanting to make things more challenging for himself. He couldn't have had much in the way of proper training opportunities before, after all.
Which had made Bunny smile.
The kid wanted a challenge? He would get one.
The day was nearly as eventful as the previous one.
Another paint blaster battle, this time with him cheating and using a hose, which actually caught the winter spirit straight in mid-leap (not that it stopped him from making a very smooth, improvised landing and returning fire with uncanny precision) lasted for just over an hour, where it morphed to Jack using snowballs as Bunny used Egg bombs, which was perfectly fair in his opinion, considering that the younger guardian wasn't even using the wind to help him.
Then it evolved to another game.
Namely capture the flag…
The first round went to Jack.
Bunny left the flag to the protection of the eggs, and decided to go on the offensive.
Jack simply lulled the eggs to sleep, then crept in, grabbed the flag and made a tunnel back to his own base, planting the flag down just as Bunny got there.
Of course, then the game had to get more difficult…
Bunny, now determined not to lose the second of the three rounds, paced for a few moments, in front of his flag, and got an idea.
It was based on the hunch that Jack would have to be around to be able to affect the eggs the way he had been, but he was pretty sure it would work.
He ordered the eggs to march on the winter spirits flag base, and followed along, keeping himself hidden. He grinned as he caught sight of Jack, clearly bothered by the eggs and distracted, and ran to the flag, sighing as he noticed the huge mound of snow it was placed on.
He sighed, starting to clamber to the top.
He eventually grabbed the flag, then grinned as he saw a perfect smooth bank of snow down the one side of the mound.
Looks like the kid had a sense of humour…
He leapt down, rolling as he reached the bottom of the snow slide, and tunnelled to his own base, stabbing the flag into the ground.
Jack appeared a few moments later, rolling his eyes and giving him a grudging grin.
"Alright, I'll give you that. Very smooth."
"Why, Thanks Frostbite. Coming from you, that really means a lot."
"Sarcasm?"
"Hmm… Yes and no."
Jack blinked, then shrugged.
"If ya say so. Best of three then?"
Bunny grinned.
"You got it."
They still had no idea how, but the last round ended in a tie.
Apparently, they were on an equal footing with sneaking around, setting booby traps and bombarding each other with paint and what-not.
They had each grabbed the others flag at the exact same time, and, according to the egg golems that had been refereeing, they had planted the flag down at the exact same time as well.
Bunny sighed. He wasn't sure his nerves could take another round…
Then he grinned.
He wasn't sure Jacks short supply of patience could be bothered with another round either…
Sure enough, the next time he saw Jack, he'd propped his staff against a tree, and was leaning against the same truck, grinning, with his arms crossed.
"Wanna call it a tie?"
Bunny grinned.
"I was thinking the exact same thing."
"Well, first time for everything… Anyway. figured out how I managed to control your eggs yet?"
Bunny rolled his eyes.
"Nope. But ya already knew that. Feel like telling me?"
Jack considered, then shook his head, twirling a small piece of bamboo between his fingers like a baton.
"Nope."
"Very well. Then I guess you'll just have to show me."
"And why is that?"
Bunny grinned.
"Attack!"
In a matter of moments, eggs came rushing from the bushes, and Jack blinked in surprise, before leaping to grab a branch and haul himself up.
Then he realised that the eggs were starting to build a tower to get to him, and glared at the Pooka.
"Alright, very smooth."
Bunny grinned.
"Thanks. Get out of this one then, Frostbite."
The winter spirit grinned, then brought the small piece of bamboo to his lips.
Bunny blinked.
Oh, come on… There was no way that Jack was capable of… Okay, apparently there was.
A small tune started, at a very familiar pitch, and Bunny had to smile.
Their youngest guardian was actually a bloody genius.
The eggs immediately started looking unfocused, and Jack leapt to the floor, careful not to step on any of them, and made his way to the other end of the field-full of eggs.
Then he grinned, stopping the music for a moment.
"Before you ask, I met the Piper a century or so ago, he taught me the flute, and I'm pretty good with woodwork, meaning it really is not hard to whittle away at a piece of bamboo."
He started playing it again, as the eggs got their focus back, sending them back into a daze, and Bunny simply shook his head.
"Ya are really something, Frostbite. Wait till the others hear about this one."
Apparently, they wouldn't have to wait long to tell them, as a very familiar fairy flew into the clearing.
Jack raised an eyebrow, staching the flute in a pocket as Bunny ordered the eggs to stand down.
"Hey BT, ya know this is a warzone right?"
She chirped something, and Jack frowned.
"She says the others want to speak to us at the pole…" he sighed, "Feel like taking a quick break?"
The Pooka nodded.
"Ya know this'll only be because they'll want to tell us that three days is more than enough time to spend on trying to prove who's the best or whatever else they think this is about…"
Jack grinned.
"Yup… But on the bright side, if it is, then we can… Correct them."
The Pooka grinned.
"I like your thinking. Meet ya there?"
Jack nodded, grabbing his staff as Bunny leapt into a tunnel, and tapped one of his own.
_
Jack blinked as he leapt into a room bristling with fairies.
He blinked again as they all looked at him, gasped, and promptly fainted.
The he looked at what he was wearing with a sigh.
He was still dressed like Rambo, brown hair, face paint and everything. That might explain it…
He quickly lay them all on the couch, before heading through into North's study.
They all, aside from Bunny, who was scowling, stared at him, clearly taken aback by his outfit, and he rolled his eyes.
"Hey, when I say war, I mean it literally… What's up?"
Bunny sighed,
"I was right, this was about telling us to act our ages…"
Jack cocked his head.
"Physically or mentally? Either way, I'm kinda still a child, so that really isn't the best turn of phrase to use."
Bunny grinned at that, and gave him a high five at the blinks the other guardians gave.
"Nice one, Frostbite."
"I thought so…"
North cleared his throat, for their attention.
"You both are aware of my meaning. This has gone on for long time, and must be stopped before it gets out of hand."
Jack and Bunny shared a look, then turned to North.
"By out of hand…"
"Bah! It does not matter." North said, waving his hands in the air, "Maybe is time to stop trying to get one over on the other, as I believe the phrase is, Da?"
Bunny looked about to complain, but a quick, sharp look from Jack stopped him.
The winter spirit nodded.
"They got a point Bunny, if we continue fighting between ourselves, It'll only end in a tie break anyway."
Bunny raised an eyebrow.
"You wanna call it a tie?"
"What? We're pretty evenly matched in terms of… well, everything."
"Was that a compliment, Frostbite?"
"Nope. Just an admission that you're methods rival even my own... Anyway, North is right. We really should stop fighting between ourselves."
Bunny caught on a moment later, and hid his smirk with a contrite look.
"Ya're right, Snow cone-"
"Snow cone?"
"I thought it was quick?"
"It was… Just don't use it. It's the kinda thing I'd expect Tooth to say, for some reason, but not you..."
The Pooka sighed.
"Fine." Then he grinned again. "But ya're right."
North and Tooth shared a look, as Sandy surreptitiously created a helmet out of golden sand and floated behind the desk, where cover was easily accessible.
He sighed quickly to Jack.
How bad is it going to get?
Jack grinned as he signed back.
Not too bad… Just bad enough to make a point.
Ten minutes later, Sandy had made his excuses and left, Tooth was being run ragged with the fairies who kept complaining that she had insisted Jack get changed into his usual outfit, and North was fretting over the fact that, not only had the two erstwhile rivals been in total agreement, but they had vanished a few minutes before with huge smirks.
This was not going to end well…
_
In fact, it wasn't until the following morning that they figured out what the other two had been planning.
North- Tooth having left to head back to the palace- followed Sandy outside to see what he had seen that was so urgent and, apparently, funny, and gasped as he caught sight of the huge wall that stretched almost the entire length of Santoff Claussen.
Which was now covered in… Graffiti!
From decent pictures of Easter Eggs smashing presents and chasing elves, to phrases such as 'Easter trumps Chrissie'. The two of them must have been at it all night…
But whilst a small part of him had to appreciate-he really had no choice in the matter- the artistry of the work, the vast majority of him was plotting vengeance. Sandy was quick to snap a picture of his face, and North glared at him.
"Is not nice, Sandy."
The golden guardian shrugged, grinning, and North sighed, unable to hide his own smile.
"Very well. I would probably do same thing. Now where is... Ah, Phil!"
An hour later, dozens of yeti's were attempting to clean the wall, having to go over every inch of the wall a dozen times to get rid of the stubborn spray-paint, and North was re-evaluating his idea to get the Pooka back. (Both because he was sure that the images had been the Pooka's idea, and you would have to be insane-or April Fool- to try and get Jack back…)
Because really, when Bunny had the guardian of fun behind him, what could you do?
In the warren, Jack was grinning as they laid out he pictures they had took into a full scale remodel of it, across one of the tunnel entrances.
Bunny had thought it was just far too good to waste, and Jack had agreed.
His idea of graffiti, paired with paying Shady to get a load of cans of spray paint, and Bunny's ideas of what would irritate North the most, combined with his and Bunny's skills with paints and art and what-not, had come together into a formidable weapon…
And it was one they were both planning on using again in future…
Because it really was too good to waste, and, Bunny added, in his mind, when they were working together, there was less chance of his warren turning into a war zone.
Not that he was complaining. Though he may have to talk with North about making some sort of training room for Jack… Then he grinned.
That wasn't actually such a bad idea…
First of all… OVER 200 REVIEWS! OH MY GOD, YOU ARE FAR TOO AMAZING AND I LOVE YOU ALL AND HUGS AND COOKIES YO EVERYONE!
And to my 200th reviewer, who happened to be a guest, That's perfectly fine :D (If you want to let me know who you are if you review again, I'll be able to say thank you properly :D )
I know I've said it before, but I was honestly not expecting this kind of response to this, which makes this amount of support and attention even more important to me :D
You guys have no idea how grateful I am to all of you!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and the grand finale, (though I know it wasn't my best chapter ever) and please let me know if you either want to meet the Piper and/or if you want to see Bunny and Jack team up again… (Ideas for this would be welcome too! )
As for the mention of a training room, I am planning on having something like that, in a later chapter, so thoughts?
Aside from that, thanks again for the support guys, it's really appreciated!
Till next time then :D
Raven xx