ParaNorman and the Nightmare of Halloween

Norman, the town hero of Blithe Hallow is flung into a new adventure during Halloween. Can Norman with the help of Jack Skellington save the day once again with a war brewing?

Chapter 1

"You're lucky that your still alive, Eddie! I thought Kate was going to go through you like a ton of bricks!" laughed Julian. The UNIT agent sat behind the wheel of a dark blue Aston Martin. The British sports cars looked well out of place in the small American town in October. The engine purred lightly as the car pulled up to the traffic lights where Julian stopped the massive beast of a car. People were watching the dark blue car that had rolled into their small town. There were a few children pointing at the car. The car that was more comfortable on the racetrack and not the main street of a small town. A small town that survived on the legend of a witch and the town hero. Julian paid them no attention as he waited for the lights to change from red to green. He was too busy rubbing salt into an open wound.

A snort came from the phone system that was built into the car. "Your telling me! If Kate was not a human I am sure that I would have rather been six feet under rather than having her and Nightshade barking at me like a pair of hounds!" Edward responded. The zombie was somewhere else on the planet, hunting Leatherback after UNIT's number one enemy after the Master escaped from New York. "Kate only knows that Leatherback caused her father many restless nights back in the old days and with Nightshade gone AWOL I've to lead the team to find him!" Edward continued.

Julian snorted at what Edward had said. Edward was not a good leader of a team. That fell to him and Nightshade along with Captain America who had also joined in the hunt for the massive brute. The Avengers, as far as Julian could gather was going to help them find Leatherback and if needed bring him down once and for all before he could help Seth with whatever it was his plan was. "At least you have a fun mission! A mission where you get to see the world!" Julian replied to the screen where the cars radio should have been. The image of Edward was clear on it but Edward had not gone into video call. Julian was not that good a driver to watch Edward while also watching the road. A road that he had no previous experience on.

The red light changed to green allowing Julian to move out from where he had stopped the car. The engine roared back into life from its drowsy purring from it waiting to get moving again. Julian was quick to move up second gear and then third gear before allowing the car to cruise up the road past Town Hall. There was a lot of tourists about. The tourists were taking pictures of an old statue of a croaked old woman: The Blithe Hallow Witch. There was a new statue that was getting more attention from the tourists. A bronze statue of a large tree. The tree was filled with leaves and flowers and at its roots was a book. Julian knew from his debrief from Kate after she had finished shouting at Edward that Blithe Hallow was put on the map because of the execution of a witch.

"Seeing the world? Julian, are you series?" came Edward's reply from somewhere in Eastern Europe. "I have been hiding during the day because there are more hunters here than in London alone! Hunters who specialise in tracking down the undead like me. And these hunters have made it clear that they can take down a vampire since it was the hunters in this area that took out all Dracula's family in the 18th century!" Edward snapped. Julian sniggered as he slightly pressed the break to slow the car down. "What are you finding so funny, Wolf-boy? I nearly got shot last night!" shouted Edward.

Julian could only laugh even more at Edward. "I'm sorry Edward!" gasped Julian. He was unable to stop himself from laughing and was finding it hard to get his breathing back in check. "But you did tell Kate that you would track Leatherback down before he done any real damage again! Maybe this is karma?" Julian sniggered at the line between him and Edward.

Edward in the European country only growled over the phone. Julian, in America was doing all he could to stop himself from bursting into laughter again. "For what? And I can remind you that it was you who dyed Kate's hair pink, not me!" Edward responded. The prank was supposed to be a Halloween laugh between two friends, but it ended in the way that they were not expecting. Edward and Julian had decided to put pink hair die in all the shampoos in the UNIT house in the English countryside. The shampoo that was laced with the pink die had been none other than Kate Stewart's. The head of UNIT was shocked more than anything on seeing that her hair was no longer blonde but a pink shade. The two pranksters on the base were punished before they could come up with a way to get themselves out of trouble. The two of them had to do all the paperwork that Kate normally did for a week. And it was a lot. There was a lot of letters that were in another language that none of them could understand. Unfortunately, they were not to get any help. This lasted for a month, until the control freak within Kate wanted to get back into routine and gave the two pranksters to Nightshade. Nightshade had them scrub the floor of the Tower and the House with nothing more than a toothbrush and a bucket of soapy water. When that was finished, they said they had learned their lesson, but Kate didn't trust them. They both had that look that young boys had. Young boys that were always in trouble.

"It was your idea though!" Julian responded. Edward fell silent on the other end of the phone call. "Come on Eddie! Don't be like that" Julian teased as he turned off the main road and into a small one lane road that would take him to the B&B that he was going to be staying at. The two were silent as Julian drove the Aston Martin up to an empty space at the small car park in front of the large house that he was staying at. There was only a few other cars in the gravel car park. Coming to a smooth stop Julian transferred the call from the cars system to his phone. The Samsung phone lit up as Julian stepped out of the car. "Hopefully I will join you as soon as possible once I get this finished with!" he said into the phone.

Edward grunted in reply. "What we both know that you need me and my awesome spy abilities!" Julian said as he walked to the back of the car and the boot. Opening the boot with one hand he found his two bags in good condition after driving for so many hours. One of the bags contained all the change of clothes that he would need along with extra dollars and pounds. The other bag was his weapons that he picked up from the UNIT base at the airport.

"Me need you! Ha! I am on Leatherback's tail and I have a feeling I know where he is going!" Edward replied to Julian. "And anyway, why are you in some small American town?" Edward asked as Julian took the bags out of the boot.

Dropping the two bags with little care onto the gravel ground of the carpark. "Osgood said that there have been many strange things happen in this town over the past few months!" Julian explained as he picked up the bag filled with clothes. He slung it over his shoulder before picking up the other bag. "And she thinks that something is going to happen this week- since its Halloween!" he finished explaining to his friend who was on the other side of the world. "I hate this time of year!" he muttered to himself as he got closer to the front door of the B&B.

Edward laughed at that remark from Julian. "You and me both! Weird pranks that gets us in trouble along with people claiming that they had been abducted by aliens! Ha! There is no know lifeform that would do that! Well maybe the Daleks and Cybermen! But I know what I mean! This time of year, is bad to be a member of UNIT with every weird thing happening in one week!" Edward said over the phone line. "And you are at the heart of it, my friend!" he suddenly said.

Julian stopped mid step before the first step up into the 18th century house. "What do you mean, Edward?" he asked.

Laughter could be heard from the other end of the line. "Have you not done your reading of this town? Or are just going to find out by running about like usual?" Edward asked.

Julian snorted. Of course, he had done the reading. He knew Blithe Hallow was formed many many years ago by the settlers from Europe to the New World. He knew that during that time the people had a fear of the supernatural, very much like they did in the modern world. He also knew that they found a witch amongst them. Who she was had not been recorded into history. She was mostly forgotten other than being the Blithe Hallow Witch. "Of course, I have! I am going to be doing extra reading before I start tomorrow morning!" Julian snapped. He could hear Edward laughing without a care in the world from his end of the phone line. Growling he walked up the steps to the houses front door. He was going to be in Blithe Hallow until Halloween was over and that was not for an extra week. He was beginning to wish that Edward was in the small town and he was out with Captain America hunting for Leatherback. Heck he would rather be staying at the Tower to keep a good eye on Seth rather than UNITs best soldiers.

No, it wasn't there! He was in Blithe Hallow doing his job. His job was to protect normal humans from the things that go bump in the night, either they be from Earth or from outer space. Shaking his head, he scolded his self from where he was thinking. He and Edward needed to work harder this year. With Nightshade appearing and disappearing and with the Avengers own problems it was up to them to continue what UNIT was formed to be doing. "Edward I need to go! I am getting booked in and hopefully one of us can get in touch with either Captain America or Nightshade!" he said before hanging up.

Stuffing his phone in his jeans he approached the door. The door was wooden and painted black. He almost recoiled at the knocker that stared at him with beady eyes. The werewolf knocker was a sight he felt his stomach winching against. This town was getting weirder and weirder with each passing minute. He hoped that his stay in the town would only be a few ghosts and maybe even a skin-walker but not another werewolf. Knocking the door, he was prepared for anything that might open the door. The door squeaked open as a woman in her late 30s came into view. Her blonde hair was tied back out of her face.

"Hello? Can I help you?" she asked in a strong American accent. An accent that was opposite Julian's strong English accent.

Julian smiled at her. "Good afternoon, miss! I am here for a week stay at your B&B" Julian replied with a large smile on his face. He could see the women studying him with those dark green eyes of hers. He was sure that she was more interested in his snow-white hair. It was not every day that someone walked into a small town with a strong English accent and snow-white hair.

The owner of the B&B smiled as she opened the door fully and invited Julian. "Ah yes! You're that English fella from London" she stated as she extended her hand for him to shake. "A Mister Julian something or other?" she asked.

"Yes I am! But please just call me Julian!"

The owner of the B&B smiled as she led Julian to a desk that was ten feet away from the front door. "I just need you to sign a form and a deposit of $50 dollars!" she said as she reached for a thick book. The book had many signatures of people visiting the B&B. There were many people staying at the place in one week and Julian felt a lump form in his throat. There were too many people for his liking, but he signed the book and paid the deposit of $50. He followed the owner up the stairs to the room where he would be staying for the five nights and days that he was staying at.

The room that she led him to was on the first floor. Not too far away from the front door and the kitchen. The kitchen was the most important thing on his mind. UNIT ran a tight ship, especially in the Tower and now he could eat whenever he wanted to as he read up the history of the town. The room itself was not bad. There was a large bed in the middle of the room. A table sat by the window with pens and paper. Sticking on the wall was a map of Blithe Hallow that marked out all the must-see areas that the town had to offer. "Thank you, Miss!" he said as he dropped his bag filled with weapons onto the bed.

"Not a problem, Mister Julian! Please call me Hazel!" Hazel replied before closing door behind her.

Running a hand through his hair, Julian thought of what he was to do next. What would Captain America do? What would he do? He would go around the town gathering as much intel as possible before knowing what he was against. Tomorrow that was what he was going to do, but for the rest of the day he was going to sleep. The UNIT agent dropped flat on the bed next to his bag filled with weapons and fell straight to sleep. He didn't care if he was still in his clothes. He just wanted to sleep. With the Moonray gone with Nightshade they couldn't use it to get from Britain to America in record time. Instead he had to use a private jet from UNIT. Soon his loud snores filled his bedroom as he slept off the jetlag and the long hours of driving to the small town.