Ghost stories-and other tales Chapter 60: Epikaos3, a rise of the guardians fanfic

So here is the next installment of Epikaos! ENJOY!

FYI the song I'm having Tooth sing is the song Welcome to the Show by the artist Britt Nicole, so if any of ya'll wanna check it out, that is the song that is being used in this chapter.

The crowd roared as Tooth took her place behind the microphone, a mischievous grin and a wink directed towards her fans before she counted down to the guys behind her and they struck the opening chords on their guitars with Jack pounding the beat away on his drum set.

Now's the time, get in line, don't be afraid tonight
We're gonna take you high, before you realize
'Round and 'round you'll go, up and down, never slow
Feel the excitement grow, oh
This is where you let go

Hands high like a roller coaster
This love is taking over
Take us higher here we go
Oh, oh, oh
Welcome to the show
Gravity we're defying
'Cause we were made for flying
We're about to lose control
Welcome to the show

Jack bobbed his head in time with the music, his hands flying as he created an intricate beat in between the chorus and the second verse. Tooth danced around the microphone stand, occasionally leaning in to sing into the microphone, all the while her intense lavender eyes never leaving the crowd.

Oh, oh, we're on a mission nothing, nothing, can stand in our way
Oh, oh, we don't need permission
We're gonna rise up and we'll be the change
Oh, oh, hear us on your stereo
Oh, oh, we're about to lose control
Oh, oh, everybody knows
Oh, oh, this is where you let go

Aster danced in place, his body swaying as he played the intro back into the chorus from the verse, and his eyes closed as he gave himself completely to the music. Sandy stood behind the mixer, his eyes dancing as he took the music being pumped through the speakers and gave it a modern twist that made the people listening tap their toes and bounce up and down in time to the beat. Soon the entire crowd was dancing, laughing, and shouting as they sang along with their favorite band.

And put your hands u-u-up
We're gonna have some f-u-u-n
We've only just beg-u-u-n
And it's too late to r-u-un, you can't run
So put 'em u-u-up
We're gonna have some f-u-u-n
Turn u the bass let it b-u-u-mp
We've only just begun, and you can't run

The song ended with a resounding crash on the drums and Aster and North doing a harmonized guitar solo leaving their fans screaming in delight. Tooth bounced on the balls of her feet before dancing back up to the Microphone and screaming "THANK YOU CALIFORNIA!"

The crowd cheered in response and soon the concert announcer was trotting up behind them, flashing a grin and a thumb's up as he prepared to present the next group. Pitch stood on the sidelines, his face an amused smirk as he sneered at Epikaos, the rest of his fearlings standing behind him as they prepared to run on stage. Tooth rolled her eyes at his obvious disdain written on the man's face, before turning back to the screaming crowd. Waving her hands with a bounce, she grinned at their fans then ran offstage with the guys. Jack was all smiles as he drummed on a phantom drum set, wiggling his hips as he danced the group.

"That was so awesome," he exclaimed happily "we are going to kill in San Francisco!"

"And after that," Aster exulted with a fist pump "L.A.!"

"YEAH!" Tooth squealed as she jumped up and down.

"Guys, calm down," North said waving his hands gently "we don't know if we got LA yet, and the show in San Francisco is still two weeks away."

"Two weeks of fun in the sun," Jack hooted "the beaches, the food, the crazed fan girls begging for autographs!"

"Please," Aster scoffed "we're not well known enough yet ta have that kind o' attention."

"Aster is right," North nodded "besides, while we will take time out for fun, we need to focus on practicing and rehearsals so that the San Francisco show goes perfect. If we want to do a show in LA, we have to up our game!"

Jack pouted at the mention of work, but then gave a resigned sigh "You're right," he muttered.

"Don't worry Jackie," Aster said with a fond smile as he wrapped a muscular arm around the boy's neck "we'll make sure ta let ya have a few days o' fun before bustin' our butts with rehearsals."

"Universal Studios?" Jack asked hopefully.

"Too far away," Aster began but was stopped by the look of utter disappointment cross the younger boy's face. Heaving a sigh, the young man ruffled Jack's head "how about I take a look at the budget and see if we can afford a night at an RV park and a day at Universal Studios? I can't promise anything, but I'll try and see if I can shuffle things around."

"YES!" Jack bounced in excitement pumping his arms.

North shook his head while Sandy gave a silent laugh and signed to the young man "You are powerless against Jack's puppy dog eyes."

"Aw Shad'dup Sandy," Aster growled while Jack grinned up at him "I'm not powerless, I just…know how much the kid was lookin' forward to havin' some time off, tha's all."

Sandy rolled his eyes while he and North signed in unison "Riiiight…"

"Rack off," Aster grumped as he gave Jack's grinning face a playful shove backwards "come on, I don't know about you lot but I'm starvin' and I don't much care ta listen ta Pitch and his band o' fearlin's."

"Sounds good to me," Tooth said giving a stretch and a happy sigh "one of the guys that works backstage and helps with putting up and tearing down told me about this awesome seafood place that is crazy popular with the locals and is one of the area's best kept secrets from tourists."

"Oh," North said with a sly grin "did this backstage guy happen to be asking you out on a date?"

"A…date?" Tooth asked in wide eyes cluelessness "he was just telling me about the restaurants in the area."

"Riiiight," Aster snickered elbowing North as he teased the girl "did he happen to walk up and start telling you about said seafood restaurant?"

"Yeah, why?" Tooth pouted, not liking where the conversation was heading.

"Then he was trying to ask you on a date, Toothy." Jack finished in a monotone voice.

"WHAT…NO?!" the girl gasped before turning a slight shade of green "I…totally blew him off…"

"YOU DID WHAT?!" came the unanimous response from all four males.

"I thought he was trying to tell me good restaurants," Tooth responded with innocent eyes slowly filling with tears "and I didn't let him finish, but instead I told him that it sounds like a great place to eat with my group and walked away!"

Tooth melted into a puddle of tears, and the boys face palmed at her blissful ignorance concerning men. North walked over and put an arm around her "It is ok Toothy," he consoled the bawling female "I'm sure you didn't mean to be rude."

"But I WAS rude," she wailed "and now it's my entire fault if he starts to hate us and gives the agency a negative review!"

North winced and gestured for Aster, Sandy, and Jack to jump in and help him at any time. The muscular Australian gave a helpless shrug, while Sandy scratched his head and mimed whistling, while Jack bit his lip and immediately turned around and started sneaking away from emotional females and the buckets of tears being cried. North shook his fist at the traitors, before turning back to Tooth.

"Listen," he said softly "you did right thing, our agent told us to discourage any dating between us or workers while on tour, it would be bad for business."

"R-Really?" she hiccupped.

"Yeah," Aster jumped in when he finally saw an opening that he could actually use "lookie here Sheila, it wouldn't be wise ta date one of the backstage workers. For all we know he could be a spy sent by a rival agency bent on destroying our team from the inside. It's better ta accept date offers from people outside this circle, ya get me?"

North rolled his eyes and signed to Aster behind Tooth "Could have used your help before I handled it, bro."

"You handled it though," Aster stealth signed while Tooth blew her nose "so what's the big deal?"

"You know," the female said with a nasally voice as she wiped her tears "you guys are right."

"Of course we are," North exclaimed brightly as his glare towards Aster magically transformed into a smile directed at Tooth.

"Even if I knew that he was trying to ask me out," Tooth continued "I wouldn't be able to accept his invitation, so its better this way."

"Exactly," Aster practically shouted as his shoulders deflated in relief.

"Let's go get dinner," she concluded with a decisive nod.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Jack grinned as he magically appeared within the circle and held out his arm for the now calmed girl to take.

Aster flicked Jack in the back of the head for his earlier gutless attitude, while North traded sighs with Sandy.

"That's one bullet successfully dodged," Sandman signed with a silent laugh.

"True," North replied with a soft chuckle "God save us from emotional women who have no idea about how attractive they are."

"Agreed."

The group walked out of the concert hall, each looking forward to dinner, but North looked back towards the building with an unhappy gaze. Something about what Aster had said about the man possibly being a spy somehow rang true with him, and the large man could not ignore the uncomfortable churning in his gut about the whole situation. Something was up, and he was worried about just what.

…

Later on that night, Pitch met with one of the backstage workers, his topaz gaze gleaming in the dark as he watched the man approach him from out of the shadows.

"So," Pitch sneered "is it done?"

The worker, Corbin, gave an unhappy sigh as he scratched the back of his neck "No man, I tried, but the chick is too clueless to know I was trying to ask her out."

The dark man let out a growl of dissatisfaction "The plan was simple," he snarled "ask her out, get her to fall head over heels for you, and get information from her about her groups weaknesses, and you couldn't even manage that?"

"Hey," the guy barked defensively "I did what you said, it isn't my fault that she cut me off and walked away before I could finish."

"Then maybe you weren't being assertive enough," Pitch sighed with strained tolerance "were you standing there and talking like some platonic imbecile, or did you actually try to act like a knight in shining armor trying to sweep her off her feet?"

"If it's so easy, then why don't you have a girlfriend?" Corbin sneered.

Pitch felt his lip curl in unbridled fury, and before he knew it, his fist was flying at the man but was redirected last minute into the wall. Corbin felt his breath hitch as his heart hammered in his chest at the figure of the intimidating man in front of him. Pitch stood there for a few minutes, breathing hard as he struggled to contain his fury before leaning back, and cradling his now throbbing hand.

"I'll just bring down Epikaos myself," he whispered menacingly "without the help of lower intellectuals like you."

Whirling around, Pitch stalked away, his face a grimace of pain mixed with anger. He wasn't done yet, that was just one of his side plans to help aid him in destroying Epikaos, but he had quickly learned that the way to do that was not through faked romance. No, he needed to do something more viable, something with lasting results. Walking through the backstage area, Pitch's eyes fell on the clipboard of the tour manager, and an evil grin lit his features.

Maybe he just found the answer to his problems.

OH NOES! What does Pitch have planned?!

I guess you guys will just have to wait and see!

REVIEW! And I have decided not to do the contest anymore for a bit(call it a vacation) BUT I AM still taking requests! So feel free to leave them, and I will use any and all that tickle my muse into moving!