Well, no one guessed, so I get to keep all of the cookies! Ahhaha!
Nigel and Billy looked over at where Blondie was, then began running as fast as they dared on the ice.
"Jump and skate!" I cried.
They looked confused, but jumped as I asked. I formed ice skates on their shoes and as they landed they were able to skate away. Initially they wobbled, but they quickly got the idea.
I guided the ice bridges to the other side of the cave with careful fingertip and hand movements, to where there seemed to be light. All the while ignoring the various shouts from the Descendants of Pitch as they either gave each other orders, were freaking out or trying to distract me, I don't know.
Once they started to send sand weapons my way I moved my hands upwards to form a wall of ice a few metres ahead of the existing ice to block them out. The ice swirled upwards in fernlike patterns in less time it took to blink, becoming solid and thick as it rose up.
In the corner of my eye I saw Tina follow the others over the crowd, Sally held carefully in her arms. Once I'd lost sight of them I let the bridge drop and the ice skates melt.
With them hopefully out of harm's way I set up my own ice bridge and skates.
I powered over the crowd after the rest of my Branch. Sand managed to break through the ice in front of me and I had to jump over it to avoid it. Not far in front of me I could still see the others, who were just standing or hovering in the same place; why hadn't they left?
More sand in various threatening shapes came my way, distracting me from the others. I kept using my now trusted ice blades on both my wrists and my upper arms to slice away the sand as I skated.
As I reached the others I quickly noticed why they hadn't left yet.
The exit was how knew how many feet above them through a vertical tunnel. Through it I could see the dying sunlight as the sun went down, how long had I been unconscious?
Once I arrived Nigel began to bark out orders.
"Tina, take Sally up there. Billy, can you get up there on your own?"
Billy shook his head, "No chance mate."
"Okay then, Jackie, see if you can form a way a way up."
I nodded, stamped my foot and flared out my fingers, forming ice and sending it up the shaft, forming a bridge on the way up. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the ice, moving my arms in circular motions to make it spiral its way upwards until I felt it come into contact with flat ground.
I could hear the Descendants of Pitch had started coming towards us, so I used the ice that was already on the ground and put up another ice barrier. Since I didn't have to summon more ice from the ether this barrier went up even quicker than the one earlier.
When my full concentration was brought back down and I opened my eyes, I saw that Nigel and Billy had already taken to the ice.
I sighed and flared out my hand to form skates beneath them so they could get out faster.
Tina had already started her way up as I also began formed skates, but something seemed to snag her leg.
She looked down and screamed.
"Let go!"
She looked down at me as her leg was pulled away from her. By what I couldn't tell, but whatever it was seemed to really scare Tina.
"Jackie, do something!" She screamed at me.
"What!? I can't see what's happened!"
"It's Pitch Black!"
Pitch Black, I knew that these were these were the Descendants of Pitch, so Pitch must be...
I went back to a month ago in the hospital room.
"...of Pitch, or the Bogeyman as you probably know him"
My memory skipped forward to the subsequent meeting which had previously been shoved to the back of my mind. About Pitch Black and his Descendants.
A shiver went down my spine. Of course, it made so much sense. As my mind lost its confusion I saw the thick strand of black sand wrapped around Tina's leg, and at the other end I could see who was controlling it.
A tall, lithe man in a black robe slicked back black hair and an almost bored expression was the one holding Tina in place. The Bogeyman himself, Pitch Black.
I ignored the now yelling crowd as I formed a thin, triangular blade of ice in the air with a flick of my hand. I caught it and held my arm back to throw. And hesitated.
Normally I had pinpoint accuracy, I had never missed. Except today.
Before today I would have been confidant about not missing, but the fact I'd missed when I was first attacked had knocked my confidence.
"What are you waiting for?! Throw it!" Tina screamed.
My eyes flicked between her and Pitch. I had to do something, so I took a deep breath, narrowed my gaze so all I could see was the black sand, and threw the blade.
It sailed through the air and sliced through the sand. The blade was so thin that it went
out the other side of the sand and shattered against the rock wall.
Tina instantly flew towards the hole in the ceiling and I followed behind, skating more desperately then I'd ever had to before.
I quickly caught up with Nigel, Billy had taken to skating quite well, so had powered ahead. I stayed stuck behind Nigel as we worked our up.
I heard a yell from below and looking down I could see Blondie flying up towards us, joined by a few of his fellow Descendants below him.
"Hurry up!" I cried.
"I'm not as good at this as you are, you know!" Nigel retorted, the stress biting his words.
I extended my power to his skates and began to control them, holding my hands out towards them.
"Sit back and relax, I've got this."
I sent him skating faster than he ever could normally and we shot out of the top of the hole, skidding to a halt on the surface. We had appeared in a wood it seemed and we were surrounded on all sides by trees and February snow.
We moved away from the hole as Blondie rose up on a stream of black sand along with a few of his fellow Descendants, who spread out in a line in front of the hole.
Nigel turned to face Blondie and drew something from his coat. They looked like a pair of gold coloured metal tubes, but his fingers moved across them and a pair of curved blades appeared from one end and shallow arches appeared around his fingers. In less than a second he had a pair of cutlass like swords.
"Where were you keeping those!?" I asked.
"I'll explain later."
"ATTACK!" yelled Blondie, with fury in his eyes.
Blondie's lackeys went straight for us, some more charging straight up from the hole to attack. Pitch had also appeared and hovered by Blondie by the hole, not trying to intervene. Pitch almost seemed ready to leave, but at the same time curious about the events happening around him.
"Tina, get Sally out of here!" Cried Nigel, looking up at the pair.
I didn't hear a reply, but suddenly we were even more outnumbered.
My attention quickly moved away from them as a pair of Descendants headed for me. They looked nothing alike, one being slim and tall, the other more heavyset and bulky, but they still looked threatening with their mace and knife made from black Dream Sand.
I whirled to dodge their sand weapons and danced backwards, drawing my arms right back. I then brought them back forward with a clap, sending an ice blast at them which sent them flying and caused their weapons to disappear. The ice blast quickly turned into ice shards, pinning them to the ground.
I doubled over, panting. That blast was more powerful than I thought, and now my stamina was paying the price.
Another Descendant had noticed what happened and charged at me, blasting sand into my stomach with great force. The attack was so strong that I was lifted into the air and flew back several metres, slamming into a tree.
The air was knocked out of my lungs and I fell forward onto my hands and knees, coughing and gasping as I tried to get my breath back.
"Well, that was surprisingly easy." The Descendant said as she walked towards me, she had a similar body type to Pitch, but her long hair seemed to shine purple in the dying sunlight rather than suck it in and stay black like Pitch's seemed to.
I clenched my fist and let ice form around it, forming a kind of ice glove.
I looked up and drew my fist back, then flung it forward so that ice flew off my fist and hit her in the stomach.
She doubled over gasping as I got to my feet, still gasping for breath myself from my ice blast and getting flung into a tree.
I stamped my foot into the ground letting the snow turn to ice and let the ice spread around the pair of us. It reached Purple Hair and covered her feet with ice, preventing her from moving any closer.
She formed a knife from sand in midair and threw it at me. I was too close to be able to dodge in time and it sliced through my left arm.
I screamed in pain and clutched my arm as warm blood spilled out of it, staining my coat.
I felt anger rising, so I removed my hand and l flung it in her direction sending another blast of ice at Purple Hair, knocking her backwards so hard that her feet broke free from my previous ice.
She landed on the other side of the clearing with a thwumpf into a pile of snow. I moved the snow away with a sweep of my arm to see if she was still conscious.
In answer she staggered to her feet and sent a barrage of sand knives my way, which I dived backwards into the remaining snow to avoid.
I used the surrounding snow and sent another blast her way, using my jump to my feet as leverage to set off and increase the power of the blast. She flew backwards and slammed into a tree, her head going back from the impact.
She slid down it and landed in the snow face first. She didn't get up.
I checked the snow around her mouth and gave a small sigh of relief to hear that she was breathing, ignoring the slight red stain in the snow around her head.
I looked over at the others to see that they had finished fighting the Descendants, and we had won. I walked over to them to get out of there, when I heard a familiar rushing noise and a yell.
An apparently furious Blondie decided to enter the fray