They looked up to find the source of the unnatural storm. Pitch was standing on a cloud of nightmare sand, laughing down at them.

Jack got ready to take off as he ordered the other guardians. "Get Jamie out of here." He too off towards the angered Boogeyman. North shouted a warning of caution before he ushered the others way from the upcoming battle. Loki wasn't sure whether he should follow Saint Nick or stay to keep an eye on Jack. He feared a repeat of their last battle as he saw Pitch prepare for a head on collision with the boy.

Pitch watched annoyedly as Jack shot up, headed straight for him. "Jack Frost." He growled out as he wrapped himself up in his nightmare sand and propelled himself towards the winter spirit. "Let's end this shall we!" As he came closer, they both slowed down.

Jack fired off his strongest attack, hoping it would work like it did the first time. Unfortunately for him, it did absolutely nothing as Pitch simply blocked the attack with his hands. "That little trick doesn't work on me anymore!" The nightmare king yelled out as he commanded the sand to shoot out from behind him and attack Jack.

Weakened by the powerful blast he had sent to Pitch, Jack had no energy left to block the onslaught of sand and fell out of the sky. Loki watched as the boy fell and rushed to follow him. As Jack was nearing the ground, Loki teleported himself up and curled around the winter spirit, taking the brunt of the fall. They first hit a roof and then onto a trashcan before hitting the ground and splitting apart. Jack rolled a bit further than Loki as his's staff was knocked out of his hand.

Luckily for them, they had fallen right were the guardians were trying to hide Jamie. "Jack!" Jamie cried out as he rushed over to the teen. Loki groaned from a bit further as he tried to stand up. "Loki!" He mock yelled. "Thank you for risking yourself to catch Jack!" He meant to say to himself, but Jamie and the guardians heard. They winced a little as Jamie and Tooth helped Jack stand. North stood between the pair as Loki joined the others. "Was good try Jack! A for effort!" He encouraged as he slapped both men on the back, causing each of them to almost fall were it not for Tooth and Jamie. Jack tried to catch his breath as he looked up at the guardians. "He's stronger, I can't beat him."

Thunder boomed above them as Pitch had found them again. He laughed maniacally as his shadow travelled across the alley they were in. Jack jumped for his staff and got up as the others formed a protective circle around Jamie. "All this fuss over one little boy, and still he refuses to stop believing." Pitch's shadow rode one of his nightmares as it moved from wall to wall, circling them as a predator would their prey.

"Very well." Pitch's echoing voice said as it bounced between the walls. The shadow glided over to where streetlights were attacked to the outer sides of the buildings. "There are other ways to snuff out a light." He threatened as he broke each light one by one.

The guardians' circle around Jamie tightened as Loki placed himself in front of Jack, placing both youngest boys in the middle. Bunny stepped forward, daring the shadow form to attack him. "If you want him you're gonna have to go through me." A giant shadow hand appeared on the ground, reaching out to Bunny. Pitch's voice echoed a gasp as his shadow tried to pet Bunny. "Look how fluffy you are. Would you like a scratch behind the ears?" The voice babied as Bunny ran off in fear. The once massive warrior jumped up into North's waiting hand. "Don't you even think about it!" Bunny attempted to seem threatening, but his cutesy appearance did him no good.

Between parked trucks, 3 nightmares started to enter the alley. The guardians stepped back, trying to get distance between them and the horses. "I can't tell you how happy it makes me feel to see you all like this." Pitch materialized on a forth horse and rode into the alley. "You look awful." He said as he was in full view of the guardians. Haunting neighs filled the air as the shadows extended, reaching out to them.

Loki glanced at Jack and Pitch. He could just teleport out of there as the wannabe god was distracted with getting Jamie, forget he ever got into this doomsday mess in the first place. But he couldn't do that to Jack. They wouldn't stand a chance. Even with him there they wouldn't last long.

Jack himself was tempted to ask Loki to teleport them out, but he was sure the man wouldn't handle all of them for a long distance placement. He had to find another way to get out. To get Jamie to safety. "Jack?" Jamie's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "I'm scared." The boy confessed. Jack bent down to eye level as he tried to find the right words to say. He had a bad feeling of déjà vu as his memory of his sister flooded back in. "Don't worry," he said as a smile broke out on his face, having found his center after all this time, "we're gonna have a little fun instead." Jamie looked at him confused, but didn't have much time to question it as Pitch moved closer again.

"So what do you think, Jamie?" He laughed at the fearful looks on everybody's faces. "Do you believe in the Boogeym-AH" Pitch yelled out as he was hit back by a snowball straight to the face. Jamie's laugh cut through the tension as the others laughed with him. Jack was tossing another ball in his hand, the obvious culprit to the sudden attack. He spotted the lids of trash cans and got an amazing idea. He turned back to Jamie in all seriousness. "Now let's go get your friends."

Pitch was wiping the snow off of his face as a track of ice appeared between his nightmares, forcing them to part. He knew Jack had used the snow as a distraction to get out, but it didn't matter. The fool had left a trace of where they were going.

---

As they were sledding through the streets of Burgess, Jack led the way by covering the entire street in ice. The hoard of sledders passed a man walking his dog at night, scaring the poor man. For all he could see was ice appearing, Jamie sledding on a broken ladder, followed by another few pieces of would be sleighs and at the very end, was Loki himself. Of course he had not lowered himself to sitting on a piece of wood or a bin lid. Oh no, with a bit of creativity from Jack, they had sculpted an ice throne fit for his dramatic flair. And of course Jamie had insisted on a pair of sunglasses, or rather, iceglasses.

Jack build up a whole roller coaster course for them to sled on as they went from house to house. He had thrown a snowball at Cupcake, making it snow in her room. Without much hesitation, she joined in on the track. The same thing happened as they went to Pippa's house. She freaked out as she saw Jamie flying by her window. She rushed over to open the window. "Jamie, how are you doing that?" She questioned, hoping to find some strings.

Jamie laughed as he pointed at his back. "Jack Frost! Come on! We need your help!" He yelled out as Jack carried him off. As a snowflake landed on her nose, she too could see the winter teen holding up her friend. She gasped out in amazement. "Hey, is that-" "Jack Frost!" Monty yelled out to her from across the street as he struggled to get dressed to follow them.

Caleb and Claude, too, were woken up by the sudden indoor snow. As they were admiring the frozen miracle, presents fell out of the air onto their beds. They gasped out and ran to the window as they heard a voice yell from outside. "Merry Christmas!" North yelled as he passed by their house, waving at the children. Bunny followed suit, a shaky "Happy Easter!" wished to the children. In true tooth fairy fashion, Tooth yelled out a reminder to floss. Behind the living fairytales, Loki's ice-throne followed, the twins looked on confused as the god nodded at them and threw up a peace sign. They didn't have much time to question it as Cupcake's joyful screams were following up the convoy, soon followed by their other friends as well.

The children follows the tracks as they all screamed out in joy, letting the whole town know of their belief in the guardians. That joy, however, didn't last long as Jack brought them to a halt. Pitch had caught up with them and blocked their way with a massive wave of nightmare sand all around. Monty, who had yet to notice, ran forward screaming joyfully, only to make a U-turn as he saw Pitch and his nightmare atop the rooftop. The Boogeyman sneezed down at them as his Nightmares destroyed lampposts in the background. "You think a few children will help you? Against this?" As if on cue, the tidal wave of nightmares crashed down and came ever closer.

Though having Jamie's friends believe helped them slightly, North still failed to lift his sword, needing aide from Tooth and Jack to remain balanced. Jamie fearfully took a step forward, wanting to come to Santa's aide but not daring to. Jack noticed as he turned to the boy. "They're just bad dreams, Jamie." "And we'll protect you, mate." Bunny added on from the frontline.

Pitch cooed at the pathetic bunch down below. "Aww, you'll protect them?" He echoed a laugh as thunder rumbled within the storm behind him. "And who'll protect you? A criminal in the eyes of mankind?"

Loki paid no heed to the words and stepped out in front of the group, his favorite daggers in hand. Jack prepared to step up as well, only to be passed by Jamie who defiantly went to stand in front of the frost giant. "I will." Loki's stance faltered as he looked at the boy. "Are you mad, child?!" His question went unanswered as the rest of Jamie's friend stepped forward, even Monty, promising to do their duty to protect the guardians. Jamie shared a look with Loki and Jack, knowing that if Pitch broke though them, they stood no chance.

Pitch stood high and mighty on his horse as he sneered down, silently commanding his Nightmares to attack. "Still think there is no such thing as the Boogeyman?" The horses neighed as a wave of sand followed them, destroying everything in their wake.

As the danger neared, Jamie stood confidently, glaring at Pitch. "I do believe in you. I'm just not afraid of you." The wave of Nightmares raised high into the sky, focusing all their force onto Jamie. The boy simply held out his hand, and as the wave crashed down on him, the sand turned into a burst of gold. The golden sand travelled up the wave, turning all the nightmares into golden dust. Tendrils of golden sand flew though the air, spreading far and wide to any sleeping children. With the appearance of the gold sand, a wave of energy resonated though the air. Tooth cried out in joy as she felt her strength return, as well as her ability to fly. As the children cheered her on, North seemed to age backwards as he regained the color in his face and thus the strength to easily lift his swords again.

Atop the rooftop, Pitch yelled out in displeasure and ordered more Nightmares to attack. "Do your jobs!" He yelled after them.

Bunny, who was still waiting for his glorious transformation, had to run as the Nightmares closed in on him to fast. Just as he had made it under a car, one of the mares got a hold of his tail and pulled him out. Much to the regret of the surrounding mares as Bunny had grown back to his preferred height. Bunny laughed at the shock on the mares' faces. "G'day mate." He stomped the mare on the mouth and jumped up, throwing out his boomerangs to destroy the sand creatures. As he landed, he smoothly caught his weapons again before opening tunnels and raising the egg golems from the Warren.

North pulled out two snow globes and brought in the Yeti forces along with the elves and some of his creations that flew through the portals. The children, seeing the magical creatures attack, charges at the Nightmares at well. At the smallest touch, the frightened mares turned into puffs of golden sand. Loki has been fighting with his daggers, finding the same mares who attacked him in the shadow realm had found him again. Unlike the others, his attackers kept reforming after a jab of his dagger. Jack noticed Loki's predicament and flew over to freeze one. "Use ice, then the can't reform until thawed."

Loki briefly thought back on everything he had been though the past week, from Jack coming to him upset, to going to Antarctica, and all the way to now, fighting the Boogeyman and his army of horses. Honestly, if he wasn't the god of mischief himself he would be sure somebody was messing with him. A week ago he wouldn't have thought of fighting in a battle against fear born creatures. A week ago he wouldn't have cast away his previous doubts and fears about his Jötunn magic. But now? Now he embraced it as he felt the familial cold spread through his body as he let his skin turn into true frost giant blue. He smirked as he reformed his daggers into iced ones and set to attack the Nightmares. Just as Jack had foretold, the mares froze and shattered into dust. Loki very much enjoyed seeing the piles of frozen dust around and set out to destroy as many as he could. Perhaps he was enjoying it a tat bit too much, but those were worries for later.