Author's Note: the word "hyounoko" is a play on a Japanese phrase that means "child of ice." I thought it was appropriate since Everest and Jack both have ice powers.

Jack Frost slid across the icy pond as slick as an otter on an otter slide. The teenlike immortal loved being on the ice any chance he could get. He laughed gleefully as the winter wind teased his ice-white hair. Being the Guardian of Fun was definitely a lot of…well, fun! He sighed fondly to himself. It was too bad that Jamie and Sophie couldn't have come. They loved playing with him as much as they could. But they were with their grandparents for New Year's, so Jack was all by himself today. Still, it was good to be out and about on this frosty day. Winter was the absolute best season in his opinion. There were so many wondrous things that didn't come in any other season. There was ice skating and snowball fights and Christmas—just to name a few.

Suddenly, Jack skidded to a stop when he saw something…strange. There was a flash of light overhead, and a mysterious portal opened in the sky above him. Blue, pink, purple, and white swirled in a tornado-like current. Jack suddenly felt strange—as if the portal was drawing him to it. He gripped his staff tightly and tried to resist the urge to go near it. But something about this felt…urgent—like someone was in trouble and only he could save them. He finally decided to trust that the portal wouldn't steer him wrong, and he leaped upward, allowing the wind to carry him into the swirling colors. Inside the lightbridge—for that was what it really was—he tumbled over and over as he fought to maintain control of his flight.

When the lightbridge came to an end, he landed on what seemed to be another icy pond. But this one was definitely NOT like the one he knew from back home. For one thing, it stretched out so far and so wide he couldn't even see where it ended.

(It took him a second to realize that it was a frozen bay, not a pond.)

For another, there were a bunch of pups dressed in winter suits skating and playing all over it. The pups were of all different breeds; there was a German shepherd, a cockapoo, a bulldog, some sort of gray mixed-breed, a chocolate Lab, a Dalmatian, a potcake with unusually large ears, a West Highland white terrier, two black Labs (one of which looked surprisingly somewhat robotic in its appearance), two golden retrievers (who appeared to be twins and both had blue-and-orange streaks of fur on their heads), and two pups who looked like white Labs with eagle's wings on their backs. A young brown-haired boy of fourteen years and a Burmese mountain dog wearing some sort of wheel support were standing off to the side, looking at the sight. As Jack watched, the Burmie sighed longingly as he watched the other pups.

"I wish I could skate on the ice too, Ryder." he said, addressing the boy beside him. (Since when could pups talk, Jack wondered.)

"I know you do, Rex," the boy replied, "but your wheel support isn't really built for the ice." (Apparently, the idea of pups talking was normal around here.)

Suddenly, Jack's attention was caught by a lavender-and-white husky pup skating over to where Rex and Ryder were. "I think maybe I could help with that." At this, Jack stood up and quietly skated over to get a closer look, being careful not to make too much noise as he did so. He did not want to startle any of these pups, since he didn't yet know if they could see him or not.

"You can help me, Everest?" Rex asked, his tail wagging vigorously with excitement.

At the mention of the name Everest, Jack felt something like a tingling of warmth and energy bursting inside of him. He wondered exactly what had just happened, but the first thing he noticed was that he could sense the young pup's presence—kind of like he could sense children's belief now. Suddenly Everest jerked her head up and looked in Jack's direction. He gulped silently, wondering if perhaps she could see him. But she didn't say anything to affirm or contradict his suspicions. Instead, she just let out a quick woof, and—to Jack's utter surprise—a small grappling hook (just the right size for a pup) shot out and grabbed the back of Rex's wheel support. Then Everest carefully dragged the Burmie out onto the ice, skating along at a fast pace as if she were pulling a sled.

"Whee!" Rex squealed with delight as the two went along. "I'm skating!" And, Jack had to admit, he kind of was—if you counted the wheels rolling as skating. Then Everest did a little crack-the-whip maneuver and Rex went spinning for a few seconds before skidding to a stop. As he did, Jack couldn't help but notice that there was some streams of dark green light swirling around him as he spun—like a mini-tornado almost.

"I wanna try! I wanna try!" the Dalmatian Jack had seen earlier shouted out. He came sliding out towards them, but then his paws slid out from under him and he slid on his bottom towards them really fast, crying, "Whoa-oa-oa!" as he came. Suddenly Everest cried out, "Marshal!" and then did the strangest thing Jack had seen her do yet. Her paws suddenly lit up with a cyan light and a stream of what looked like ice blasted out of her mouth. Like an ice dragon, Jack thought. The ice blast formed what appeared to be a small ice mogul, and the Dalmatian flew into the air when he hit it. But Jack realized that Everest had overcalculated the jump and now Marshal was heading for dark ice! And in Jack's experience, dark ice always meant thin ice—never good!

He was about to cry out in warning (not caring whether they could see him or not) when Everest seemed to realize her mistake. She suddenly skated at high speed towards the jump herself and leaped into the air. Her momentum gave her just the right amount of speed to twist around in midair and fling Marshal to solid ground—just before she hit the black ice so hard she fell through!

Jack's mouth fell wide open. If Everest didn't get out of that icy cold water soon, she'd drown. Jack shuddered as he recalled how the Man in the Moon had saved him in the nick of time when he had nearly drowned. But the powers Everest already had would be of no use in that frigid water! I can't let what happened to me happen to her! he thought.

Without hesitating a second longer, he slid on his belly over to the hole Everest had made, plunged his hands in, and pulled the cold, shivering pup out of the water quicker than you could say "knife". He then swung her onto solid, thick white ice before scooting to safety himself.

The dripping-wet husky lay there on the ice, coughing, sputtering, and shivering like crazy. Jack suddenly found that he too was shivering uncontrollably. That had never happened before—at least not that he could remember—and it worried him. Just then the pup weakly raised her head and looked at him.

"Can you…" he ventured. "Can you see me?"

Everest gave a weak laugh. "Do you always introduce yourself like this?" she half-joked.

In response, Jack too laughed softly. "You wouldn't believe how many times I've been asked that question." Just then, Jack lifted his own head and saw Marshal skating as quickly as he could towards him. "Thank you so much, mister." he exclaimed breathlessly. "You saved Everest's life!"

That was the last thing Jack heard before he suddenly blacked out. When he came to, he was laying on a bunk built into a wall in a large circular living area. The room itself was painted in really cool colors like green, blue, red, and yellow. It had an elevator in the center of the room and a fireman's pole beside the elevator. There was also a flat TV attached to the opposite wall and a bunch of floor pillows close to it. The strangest feature of all was what looked like a gumball machine filled with pup treats. It only took Jack about ten seconds for him to realize that this could be the pups' home, and that they must have brought him here after the incident on the ice. He looked around and saw that Everest was sleeping on a floor pillow beside him. She wasn't shivering anymore, which he hoped was a good sign. Just then, the boy called Ryder came in from outside. Shivering from the cold, he pulled off his coat before noticing that Jack was alert.

"Oh, good, you're awake. Thanks again for saving Everest." He then came over to Jack, who sat up quickly and accidentally banged his head on the top of the bunk.

"Oops, sorry about that." Ryder apologized. "I didn't exactly design this for an adult. Name's Ryder." He held out his hand, and Jack looked at him in confusion.

"Oh, you're supposed to do this." Ryder said, noting Jack's puzzled look. He then took Jack's right hand and gave a firm shake. Trying to hide his lack of unfamiliarity with Ryder's name, Jack answered, "I'm, um, I'm Jack. Jack Frost."

The look of Ryder's face then was priceless. His mouth hung wide open in disbelief at what he had just heard. "You're Jack Frost?! I've believed in you ever since I was little, but I never thought I'd meet you in person!"

Jack laughed. "I guess not many kids do."

"I guess not." Ryder echoed. "Chase and Rubble are out setting up cones around that hole in the ice so no one comes near it, and the other pups are out playing in the snow. I figured that they'd had enough excitement for one day."

Jack nodded in understanding. If one of his friends had had an experience like Everest had today, he wouldn't let them near the ice again either. Then he did a double-take and asked, "Wait, you built this bunkbed?"

"Yep. I've designed and built just about everything here in the Lookout. The snack machines, the TV, the elevator and firepole, even the pups' vehicles."

"That is really cool, Ryder." Jack replied. "No pun intended."

"None taken." Ryder answered. "Well, I'll go tell the others that you're awake. They've all been practically begging to see you."

"Okay." Jack said just before Ryder grabbed his coat and headed out again. A few minutes later, he returned with most of the pups Jack had seen in tow. Everest was awake by now, and the others were eager to check on the two. They would have puppy-piled the both of them had Ryder not exclaimed, "Hold on! Hold on! Give them some air, will you? They've both been through a lot today."

The other pups slowly backed away to give Everest and Jack both some space. After talking with them for several minutes and answering all their questions, Jack was able to start putting names to faces. Chase was the name of the German shepherd. The cockapoo was Skye. The bulldog was Rubble, and the gray mixed-breed's name was Rocky. Jack already knew that Marshal was the Dalmatian, and the chocolate Lab was Zuma. Tuck and Ella were the names of the two golden retrievers—and as Jack had suspected, they were, in fact, twins. Strider and Ranger were the two black Labs, and the reason Ranger looked robotic was because he was a type of robot called a Pupdroid (though he looked and acted a lot like a real pup). Sweetie was the Westie, and Jack also already knew that Rex was the name of the Burmie. The potcake with the large ears was called Tracker—and his accent when he spoke sounded Hispanic (a fact further confirmed when he mixed Spanish words in with his English). And the two pups with the weird wings were two Parapups named Twinkle and Andrew.

The pups' company warmed Jack's heart. Even though they were all of different breeds and different backgrounds, they seemed to be like one big happy family. He suddenly felt a longing in his heart, a longing that had awakened and faded many times—the wish for a family of his own. He enjoyed being a Guardian and all, but it just wasn't the same as knowing that there would be someone always there for him. As he felt a slight ache in his chest, he asked the one question he had had from the moment he realized Everest had ice powers. "Where do your powers come from? And how did you get them?"

It was Chase who spoke up at that moment. "See, about three years ago, a meteor fell from space and crashed on Adventure Beach. But it was no ordinary space rock. It had a mysterious energy trapped within it—an energy that gave us superpowers!"

"Yeah!" Rubble piped up. "Chase can run super fast. Skye can fly and create whirlwinds. I've got super strength and earth power. Rocky can create energy tools. Zuma shoots water from his paws. Everest, if you haven't figured it out already, can breathe snow and ice. Marshal can melt stuff and create fireballs. Tuck can shrink down, while Ella grows really tall."

At that moment, Twinkle decided to put in her own two cents. "Besides those powers, we've got a bunch of other ones too. But they aren't used all that often 'cause they're only really needed for special missions outside Adventure Bay."

(Adventure Bay, Jack knew, was the name of the town most of the pups lived in.)

Then it was Andrew's turn. "Twinkle can take any sort of powers from any other realm and use them or combine them into new powers. My powers allow me to create really bright light beams. Tracker can use telepathy and create an energy shield for protection. Sweetie makes solid objects out of water. Rex can use flight, super strength, super grip, and invisibility. Strider creates lightning, and Ranger can make plasmabolts."

"As for me," Ryder said, "I can use any of the pups' powers just by thinking about it."

The thought of all those powers just about made Jack's head spin. Clearly, he did not ever want to be on the pups' bad side.

"You pups are…" He fished for the right word to describe them. "You really are…mighty pups."

"That's exactly what we're called! We're the Mighty Pups!" Everest exclaimed.

Mighty Pups. That name had a nice ring to it, Jack thought. Then he frowned in concentration, before asking another question that had been on his mind. "When…" He thought hard about how to put this. "When I heard Everest's name for the first time, I felt something inside me—something that felt really strange. It…it was like I could sense her, as if I had always known her."

At that moment, the pups all gasped, and Jack had a sudden moment of panic. Had he said something wrong? But the answer Ryder then gave him settled his fears. "You must have made a connection with Everest! That's only happened one other time, and not in Adventure Bay."

"A connection? What's a connection?" Jack asked curiously.

"Dude!" Zuma cried out. "A connection is when you become bonded with someone and share power with them."

Jack's mouth dropped wide open as he realized what this meant. "Really?!"

"Well, it also means you share each other's every pain." Twinkle clarified.

"Oh." Jack said dejectedly. Suddenly his ears perked up as he heard a sudden sound outside. Being an ice-wielder had caused his hearing to sharpen significantly, and he could now hear the one sound he had never wanted to hear ever again. If this meant what he thought it meant…

He didn't want to frighten Ryder or the pups, so he simply said, "I have to go."

"Why?" all the pups asked at once. But Jack just pushed himself to his feet, shook his head to clear his thoughts, and raced out the door (which, thankfully, was automatic). He could hear Everest calling his name, confused as to why he was leaving so abruptly. He whistled for the wind, and it carried him to where he knew he'd find the source of the sound.

A few minutes later, he landed in an icy plain. The sight of the wide-open place with nothing but snow for miles around reminded him of the last time he'd been in a position like this—when Pitch Black had taken his staff and snapped it in two just before flinging him into a gorge to remain trapped forever. He shuddered as he thought of the cold flash he'd gotten when his staff was snapped. It was as if all his strength had suddenly been drained from him. And now he had to face the nightmare again—all to save another friend, just as he'd saved Baby Tooth the last time.

"I know you're here!" he shouted. "Show yourself!" For a few seconds, there was no reply. Then a dark figure materialized just a few feet from where Jack was standing. He recognized his foe immediately. "Pitch." he hissed.

"Oh, what a joy it is to meet again, Jack Frost." the Boogeyman stated, in his cold sense of humor.

"Enough with the sentimentality. You can't fool me." Jack said, his resolve unwavering. "What do you want, Pitch?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the sinister shadow answered. "I simply want what I've always wanted—to be believed in!"

"No, you just want people to fear you. You know, you weren't always like this."

"Yes, yes, yes, I've sure you've heard all about how I was corrupted by the Fearlings. But let's leave history for a moment and consider the present." Pitch let out a sinister chuckle. "You do realize by coming here, you've put yourself in great danger?" he continued.

"Not anything I can't handle." Jack answered back. Pitch may be cold and calculating, but he sure was no ice-wielder.

"Oh, really. And where are your precious Guardian friends, may I ask? They don't even know you're here—you do realize that as well, of course."

Jack gritted his teeth in annoyance. Pitch sure had a way of weaseling his way through more loopholes than a spaghetti strainer.

"Well, if you really want to know, I have a trick up my sleeve that will ensure that you and your precious Guardians never bother me again." Pitch then pulled a small object out from under his cloak, and Jack gasped as he realized what it was. "Father Time's Timeshaper? Do you know how dangerous that thing is?!"

"Yes, I do, and you have just made yourself the perfect test subject." Before Jack could respond, a brilliant flash of light came from the Timeshaper, and he could feel himself falling onto the snow as he lost consciousness.