~Ten Years Later~
It had been ten years since Syrus was turned into a spirit.
After Jaden told the others what happened, they had a hard time believing him. Until he took them to Syrus. As soon as they saw him, they all tried to hug him(even Chazz)but they just went through him just like Jaden did. Since then, they all started looking for ways to turn Syrus back to the way he was before.
But a month after Jaden and the other third year Duel Academy students graduated, something happened.
In the North Pole, a man in a red outfit with a long white beard, a fat belly, and tattoos of the words 'naughty' and 'nice' on each arm was walking through a huge workshop with floors full of white and gray yetis were working on toys. Some small elves were running around the workshop, chasing each other and electrocuting each other with Christmas lights.
The man was known all over the world as Santa Clause, but to the Guardians he was called North.
A white yeti ran up to him and spoke to him in a different language.
"What is it?" He asked.
The yeti led North out of the workshop and into another room.
It had a huge globe inside it. There was a him and the yeti were standing on and there was a fireplace behind them as well as a control panel in front of them. A large open window had the moon shining into the room and onto a small picture of the floor, North's boots walked over it and to the control panel. A bunch of yetis were in front of the control panel, staring at the globe. The globe had all the continents on Earth on it and there were golden lights on each continent to show all the children that believed in him.
North pushed his way through the group of yetis and looked at the globe.
"What is the matter? I do not see anything wrong." He said to the yetis.
The yetis shook their heads and pointed at the continent that was closer to their view. The continent was Australia and on it was some writing in blacksand.
North stared wide-eyed at the writing.
"Oh no." He gasped. "It cannot be."
He was about to grab a lever on the control panel when he saw the moon's light. He looked at it as though he was trying to figure it out. As soon as he did figure it out, his eyes widened.
"You have chosen a new Guardian?" North asked. "Will they be able to help?"
No answer, but it continued to shine on him.
"I understand." He said and grabbed a lever and turned it then pushed it into the control panel.
Some louvers opened around the giant workshop and out came some beautiful lights known as the Northern Lights. They covered the sky in their beautiful multi-colored glow. North folded his arms and waited for the other Guardians to arrive.
~An Hour Later~*Jack Frost's POV*
I had just arrived in the Globe room of North's workshop. Bunnymund, Toothina, and Sandy were already here. 'I wonder what's going on?' I thought. With the way the Kangaroo had his arms folded across his chest and how he narrowed his eyes at North, I can tell that he was wondering the same thing.
"What's goin' on here, mate?" He asked, glaring at North.
"You should take a look for yourself." North told us as he pointed at some writing on the continent of Australia.
Tooth gasped when she read it and flew in front of the rest of us and near the writing.
"This is horrible!" She exclaimed.
"What does it say, Tooth?" I asked, looking over her shoulder. Squinting at the writing to get a better view of it.
"It says:
I have returned and will take my vengeance on all of you. I decided that my old plan to get rid of you would never work, especially with those kids that saw you. But I found a new way to destroy you. To use a holiday everyone loves against you. I shall become the Spirit of Halloween and destroy your children's precious belief in you.
-PB." Tooth read.
"Pitch again?" I asked.
Tooth nodded her head, sadly. And Bunnymund jumped when he heard it, I can tell that anger began to fill the rabbit.
How is that possible? He was taken underground by those shadow things, wasn't he?" I asked them.
"Who knows, mate. He always seems to be able to find a way to come back. It's a wonder how he does it, but we don't know how. Even Man in Moon can't figure out how he does it." Bunnymund told me.
'Great.' I thought sarcastically.
"And with him wanting to be the Spirit of Halloween...he's got something worse planned than last time." North said.
I stared at him in shock. "But Halloween is meant to be about freedom and fun. Going outside and getting candy from neighbors is freedom and fun for the kids. For teenagers and adults, they would create haunted houses and scare friends and laugh about it afterwards." I explained, gripping my staff in anger. 'That shadow man is going to mess up such a happy holiday.' I thought.
"That may be true, but Pitch is known as the boogeyman and he thinks he can be the Spirit of Halloween because he thinks that Halloween is meant to be scary." Bunnymund explained.
'We have to find a way to stop him.' I thought.
"Yes, but he can;t be the Spirit of Halloween. Man in Moon has already chosen one." North told us.
The rest of us stopped talking and looked at North We all had surprised expression on our faces.
"Why would he choose someone so soon?" Bunnymund asked. "True, it's been almost fifteen years since Frost joined, nut we're still getting used to him."
"Use my first name, Kangaroo." I teased.
"I'm a bunny for the last time." Bunnymund growled at me.
Tooth flew in between the two of us before we could start a fight and flew near North.
"Who is the new Guardian?" Tooth asked.
This question got mine and Bunnymund's attention as we turned back to North.
Sandman stood beside North with a question mark made of sand appearing above his head.
North took a few steps back as the moon shone of the floor beneath us. The rest of us did the same and watched as the floor moved out of the way and out came a giant crystal from the hole. The moonlight shine on the crystal and the crystal changed into an ice sculpture of a male, glasses wearing teen fist-bumping the air.
Tooth flew up to the sculpture and smiled at it.
"I know him! He's Syrus Trusedale! His first baby tooth reminded me of his older brother's! I gave him a five dollar bill!" Tooth squealed in joy but then sighed. "I remember it as though it was yesterday."
Bunnymund crossed his arms and nodded his head.
"That's him alright. He always had a keen eye during Easter egg hunts. He found the most eggs at the end of each hunt." Bunnymund explained.
"Yes. I remember how I would see him and his older brother always had fallen asleep waiting for me beside the cookies the two of them made with their parents." North said, smiling at the memory.
I nodded my head. "I remember how those two would play all sorts of games in the snow. Syrus always found Zane when they were paying hide and seek though. And he always gets the first hit in during snowball fights." I smiled as I remembered how I would see those two playing together whenever I was in their hometown. "But is he the new Guardian?" I asked.
"Yes, he is." North answered.
"But how can he be both the new Guardian and the Spirit of Halloween?" Tooth asked.
The moon shone more on Syrus' sculpture and it changed to him having wolf ears and a tail.
"This is how." North told her.
"Oh, the poor boy." Tooth said when she saw this.
"Do we have to capture him?" Bunnymund said. I can tell that he was having mixed feelings about it this time.
"Yes. We'll let yetis do it." North told him.
Bunnymund smiled, glad to not have to help capture the new Guardian, and folded his arms.
North nodded to the yetis and they walked over to him. North gave them a glass glob full of sparkly snow and the yetis threw it at the wall. A colorful, swirling portal appeared in the wall where the globe had been smashed. North handed them a red sack, as well as another globe, and the yetis jumped through the portal.
"Are you sure they'll be able to catch him?" Tooth asked North. "He now has the senses of a wolf now."
"But he doesn't know what yetis smell like. They can easily lure him into an alleyway and then put him in the sack." North told her.
Tooth sighed and nodded her head in sadness and watched the portal disappeared.
'Why do I get the feeling that when they come back with Syrus, something will go wrong?' I thought.
~Meanwhile~*No One's POV*
Syrus was walking down the street, thinking about his older brother and friends.
A month after Jaden and the others graduated, his brother and his friends disappeared.
And no one had found them yet.
But he heard Chazz's old friends, Raizou and Taiyou, along with Jasmine and Mindy, tell Chumley that they disappeared into a time vortex. Which means they're somewhere lost in time.
'I hope they're alright.' He thought as he walked down a path.
As he walked, Syrus looked up at the night sky as he thought about them. Ever since he heard they disappeared, he decided to wear clothes that would help him remember them.
He wore a blue camouflage jacket over a yellow shirt, black pants, and red shoes and gloves.
The blue is to remember Alexis, Atticus, Zane, and Jesse. The camouflage is for Hassleberry and Axel. The black is for Chazz. And, of course, the red is for Jaden. He also added in the yellow to remember Bastion.
During the last ten years, his hair also grew past where his human ears used to be.
As he was thinking, he went down without knowing. He then noticed it was a bit darker and colder, which caused him to look around. He saw that he was in an alley.
"Man, I'm such an idiot." He said to himself. "If I wasn't a spirit, someone could've mug me."
'I guess there are some perks to being a spirit.' He thought.
Suddenly, he felt someone grab the back of his shirt, picked him up, and shoved him into a red sack.
"Hey! What's going on!?" Syrus exclaimed.
That someone was the yetis that North had sent after Syrus. One held the sack that had a panicking Syrus inside and the other threw the glass globe at the brick alley wall.
The yetis then jumped into the swiling portal and came out where North and the rest of the Guardians were waiting for them in the Globe room. The yetis grunted and threw the sack in front of the five Guardians.
"Thank you." North said as the yetis nodded and left.
two elves looked curiosly at the sack and poked it. Syrus started yelping in pain like a dog and the two elves squealed in fright and hid behind North. Bunnymund stared at the sack in shock, as a bunny, he knew the sounds of a ptedator when he heard them. Once Syrus' yelps died down, the same two elves went over to the sack again and poked it. They had poked where Syrus' eyes were and he jumped up in defence. The sack fell down to the ground as he rose to his feet. Jack lowered his eyelids and looked at North with his arms folded. Bunnymund stared in shock at the wolf in front of him as Tooth smiled at Syrus.
"You had to use the same idea you did with me, didn't you?" Jack asked.
"What can I say, I like it." North said.
Syrus looked at himself an saw that he was a sky-blue wolf with orange and black accents, an orange tail with black accents ans tip, thick orange fur on top of his head that reminded him of hair with black accents, and orange tip ears. The orange and black chain that was attaxhed to his belt was now a chain dog collar around his neck. And his claws were midnight purple.
Syrus backed away from the Guardians, thinking they were bad guys, and then turned tail and ran away to find a place to hide.
Leaving the Guardians stunned, except for Jack.
"That's why you have to stop it with the whole sack thing. Because of it, the poor guy thinks we're the bad guys." Jack said to North.
"I guess you're right, Jack." He said.
"Who should go find him and explain to him what's going on?" Bunnymund asked his fellow Guardians.
"I'll go. I'm the only one who was the cloest to his age when I first got my powers." Jake said to the other Guardians.
He then ran after Syrus.
It was easy for him to find the now sky-blue wolf.
The poor guy knocked things over and startled both the yetis and elves as he looked for a hiding place by the looks of it. This led Jack to believe that this was most likely tje first time Syrus turned into a full wolf. 'He must be really scared right now.' He thought before he spotted a black-tipped orange tail sticking out from under a table.
"There he is." Jack said as he went over to the table.
As soon as he got there, Jake got down to his knees so he could see Syrus, placing his staff down beside him. As soon as he spotted Jack, Syrus stared growling. But Jack can see in his eyes that the younger spirit was scared.
"You're Syrus, right?" He asked, already knowing the answer. Syrus tensed up a bit when Jack said said his name.
"There's no need to be afraid. I'm Jack Frost." Jack introduced himself to the new Guardian.
As soon as Syrus heard the name, he calmed down a bit. But he still didn't trust the Winter Spirit.
Jack sensed Syrus' doubt, so he held out his hand and made a snowball in it. When Syrus saw it, he came out from under the table.
As soon as he did, orange smoke appeared around Syrus. And when it cleared, he wad the way he was before he turned into a wolf. Clothes and all.
"You're really Jake Frost?" Syrus asked him.
Jake nodded his head. "Yep. And those other people you saw with me are North, Bunnymund, Toothiana, and Sandy. But you know them as Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman." He explained to Syrus, who's eyes were wide by the end.
"But why was I kidnapped?" Syrus asked the Winter Spirit.
"That's just North's way of getting you here. He did the same with me." Jake explained to him.
That cleared up some of Syrus' confusion, but not much of it. "But why did he want to bring me here in the first place?" Syrus asked him. He sat crossed leg in front of Jake.
"Well, to start off, me and the othersvare known as the Guardians. And we protect the children of the world." Jake explained to him.
"Protect them from what?" Syrus wondered.
"From Pitch Black. Or aa you know him as, the Boogieman." Bunnymund said as he came up to Syrus and Jake.
"The Boogieman?!" Syrus said with fear in his voice.
The two Guardians nodded their heads. "That's right. He's the reason the Man in the Moon formed the Guardians in the first place, which shows just how dangerous he is. After I was chosen to be a Guardian, he tried to stop everyone from believing in the others. We were able to stop him and he was taken underground by some sort of shadow creatures." Jake explaoned to him.
"But why am I here?" Syrus asked the two Guardians.
The two looked hesitant for a bit ubtil Jake spoke again. "Today, we found out that Pitch is back and he now wants to become thw Spirit of Halloween so he can control the holiday to use against us. Because he thinks Halloween is a time for nothing but fear." Jake explained to him.
Syrus stared at them with wide eyes. "But Halloween is about freedom and fun! Not fear!" Jake spoke again before the younger spirit could panic anymore. "But the Man in the Moon has already chosen someone to be the Spirit of Halloween."
"Who is it?" Syrus asked them. But, deep down, he knew the answer.
Jack and Bunnymund looked at each other before the Guardian of Hope spoke. "He chose you, Sy. You are the new Spirit of Halloween and a new Guardian." He said to the tri-colored haired spirit.
"But why can't I be seen, heard, or touched by anyone? I've been like this for ten years now." He said to them, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
The two Guardians could see the sadness in his eyes. "Because they don't believe in you as the Spirit of Halloween." Jake explained to him.
"Why do I have to be the Spirit of Halloween! I'm not brave enough or heroic enough!" Syrus said as the rest of the Guardians came up to them. Tears were now falling down his cheeks.
Then Jack's older brother instincts took over and he pulled Syrus into a hug. Syrus was surprised at first, but then accepted the hug and cried into Jack's shoulder. The Winter Spirit didn't mind, which surprised his fellow Guardians a bit. But then they remembered that Jake once had a little sister before he became a spirit.
The two then separated from the hug. "Feeling better?" He asked Syrus. The younger spirit nodded his head. "A little."
Jake grabbed his staff and the two stood up.
"Let's head back to the Globe Room, mates. We have a few more things to explain to you. And that's the best place to explain them." Bunnymund said. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement before they headed to the Globe Room.
When they got there, Syrus stared at the huge globe in amazement. "Wow." He said, his tail wagging for the first time since his brother and friends disappeared. But it stopped as soon as he saw the black sand writing.
"What's with the black sand?" He asked them.
"That's Pitch's black sand. He uses it to corrupt Sandy's Dreamsand creatures into Nightmares. He can even use it to make weapons." Jake explained to him.
Syrus' ears pressed against his head when he heard that black sand is a part of Pitch's powers.
"What is it, mate?" Bunnymund asked Syrus when he saw his ears go down. "The night I somehow became a spirit without dying, I got chase by three wolves made of black sand almost as soon as I turned into a spirit." He explained to them.
When the Guardians heard that three of Pitch's Nightmare creatures chased Syrus, they were both shocked and angry. "How did you escape them?" Tooth asked him.
"Well, they chased me into an alley. When I got to the end, I looked for something to protect myself with. I found a chain and held it in front of me, when I did the chain turned orange and black. It startled the wolves, and I tried to use it as an opportunity to try to escape, but I also dropped the chain by accident. I also ended up getting cornered again. But when one of the wolves tried to attack me, the chain moved on it's own and wrapped itself around the wolf that tried to attack me. A glow then surrounded the wolf. And when the glow faded, the wolf was a living, breathing black wolf with black bat wings with red markings. When that happened, the other two wolves ran away." He explained to them.
When he finished, all the Guardians were staring at him.
"What is it?" He asked them when he noticed the stares.
"Syrus, I think you have the power to turn Pitch's black sand Nightmares into living, breathing creatures that are free from Pitch's control." Tooth said to him, causing Syrus' eyes to grow wide.
Syrus then looked up towards the moon. 'Is that why you chose me? Because I have a power that I can use to free the Nightmare creatures from Pitch's control?' He mentally asked the Man in the Moon.