Rise of the Guardians

Chapter 4: Another Guardian

The others all made it to the North Pole and went inside to see what North wanted to talk with them about.

"Cookies? Eggnog? Anyone?" North offered.

"This better be good, North," Bunny remarked, while trying to keep warm.

"You're such a baby, Thumper," Cupid chuckled.

"Keep talking and see where it gets you, Cu," Bunny warned teasingly, making Cupid raise her arms in surrender.

"Sandy, thank you for coming," North told Sandy when he came, Sandy gestured to why they were brought there, then North said, "I know, I know. But I obviously wouldn't have called you all here unless it was serious."

"Shh!" Tooth told her fairies so they could hear.

"The Boogeyman was here! At the Pole!" North announced.

"Pitch? Pitch Black? Here?" Tooth asked.

"What?" Cupid added.

"Yes. There was black sand covering the Globe," North described.

"What do you mean, black sand?" Bunny asked.

"And then a shadow!" North continued.

"Hold on, hold on. I thought you said you saw Pitch," Bunny reminded.

"Well, uh, not exactly," North replied.

"'Not exactly'? Can you believe this guy?" Bunny remarked to Sandy.

Sandy's only response was a shrug with a golden question mark above his head.

"Yeah. You said it, Sandy," Bunny nodded.

"Look, he's up to something very bad. I feel it...in my belly," North tried to convince, gripping his belly at the end.

"Hang on, hang on. You mean to say you summoned me here three days before Easter because of your belly? Mate, if I did this to you three days before Christmas—" Bunny said.

"Please, Bunny. Easter is not Christmas," North chuckled.

Bunny laughed sarcastically while Cupid rolled her eyes then they both said, "Here we go."

As they argued, Sandy caught an elf drinking his eggnog before noticing the Moon trying to get their attention, so Sandy tried to help out with that.

"North, I don't have time for this! I've still got two million eggs to finish up!" Bunny stated.

"No matter how much you paint, is still egg," North pointed out.

"Look, mate, I'm dealing with perishables. Right? You've got all year to prepare!" Bunny said.

"Why are rabbits always so nervous?" North asked, making Bunny almost drop an egg he was working on.

"And why are you always such a blowhard?" Bunny retorted.

"Why do you guys always have to do this?" Cupid remarked.

"Cupid! Can't you see we're trying to argue?" North told her as Bunny nodded.

"Sorry. I'm just not a fan of your arguments," Cupid pointed out.

"Besides, not all of us get to work one night a year. Are we right, Sandy?" Tooth added.

Sandy nodded while making an arrow appear above him to get them to look up, but that didn't work either.

"San Diego, sector 2," Tooth told her fairies.

"Come on, mate. Pitch went out with the Dark Ages. We made sure of it," Bunny reminded, making the arrow disappear.

"I know it was him. We have serious situation," North insisted.

"Well, I've got a serious situation with some eggs," Bunny told him.

"This is getting ridiculous," Cupid said.

Then all of their conversations stopped when they heard a bell ring. They turned to see Sandy, shaking an elf around with the bell on his hat making the noise. Once he had their attention, he dropped the elf and pointed at the moon.

"Ah! Man in Moon!" North acknowledged then asked, "Sandy, why didn't you say something?"

Sandy just fired some sand out of his ears in slight annoyance.

"Something tells me he was trying to," Cupid said.

"It's been a long time, old friend. What is big news?" North wondered.

The moon shown a little brighter then a dark image of the Boogeyman himself appeared on the ground for them to see.

"Oh my gosh," Cupid gasped a little.

"It is Pitch," Bunny realized.

North patted his belly like saying he told him so.

"Manny, what must we do?" North asked.

Then with that, the moon brought up a large crystal from in the floor.

"Uh, guys, you know what this means?" Tooth said.

"He's choosing a new Guardian," North replied.

"Another one?" Cupid asked.

"What? Why?" Bunny wondered.

"Must be big deal. Manny thinks we need help," North wondered.

"Since when do we need help?" Bunny remarked.

"I wonder who it's gonna be!" Tooth said, saw Sandy's suggestion of a four-leaf clover, then responded, "Maybe the Leprechaun?"

"Please not the Groundhog, please not the Groundhog," Bunny pleaded, making Cupid giggle under her breath.

Then another image started to form and glowed as it revealed the next Guardian.

"Jack Frost," North said.

The fairies squealed in excitement and fainted while Cupid just blushed a bit with a smile.

"Uh, I take it back. The Groundhog's fine," Bunny said, making Cupid lightly smack his arm and they just shrugged at each other.

Tooth was a little flustered before stating, "As long as he helps to protect the children. Right?"

"Jack Frost? He doesn't care about children! All right? All he does is freeze water pipes and mess with my egg hunts! All right? He's an irresponsible, selfish..." Bunny started to rant.

"Guardian," North nodded in approval.

"Jack Frost is many things, but he is not a Guardian," Bunny stated.

"It wouldn't hurt to give him a chance," Cupid pointed out.

"That's what you think, Sheila," Bunny told her.

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A/N This is gonna get interesting.