Chapter I
It had been two years since Oogie had returned from the grave, taken over Halloweentown (making it "Oogietown") for his revenge. Since then, all had been peaceful in Halloweetown, except for the occasional Lock, Shock, and Barrel prank. But recently, a human boy came to Halloweentown; no one knew where he had come from. His name was Sora (not from Kingdom Hearts). He was fourteen years old. He had messy black hair, green eyes, and a a black Organization XIII-like outfit, except without the hood. He was kind-hearted and caring and the good people of Halloweentown took him under their wing. They had given him a small appartment in one of the Gothic-style manses, but just until Sora got a job (perhaps at the Witches' Shop) and he would be able to pay rent for it.
Now, the Halloween celebration had ended. The crowd off Halloweentown citizens were cheering and commenting on their big annual performance. The Mayor climbed up onto his hearse and took out the PA system and spoke into it.
"Citizens," Mayor began, "I can safely say, without ANY doubt that this year's Halloween was a COMPLETE success! Good job everybody!!"
The crowd clammored with joy.
Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, leaned down said into the receiver. "And If I may interject, Mayor," began the skeleton, "I beleive this year's Halloween was the most horrible yet!" He turned to the crowd. "AM I RIGHT?!" he yelled, grinning widely.
"Certainly!" said the Harlequin Demon.
"Most definately!" commented the Cyclops.
"Of course!" boomed the Hanging Tree, his Hanging Men nodding in agreement.
"Indeed!" said the Mayor, not noticing one of the Vampire Brothers come up behind him.
"Excuse me, Mayor," said the Vampire. "Aren't you forgetting someting?"
The Mayor's face revolved to reveal his anxious one. "WHAT?!" he asked, frantically trying to remember.
Mr. Hyde had overheard. "Have you forgotten our first human citizen, Sora, already, Mayor?" he asked jokingly.
At the time, Sora had just pushed his way to the front of the crowd. "What?" he asked at the mention of his name.
Mayor's face revolved back to happy. "Oh, of course! Sora!" said the corpulant polititian, "How could I forget?!" He looked to Sora. "Sora, my boy, come here."
"Did I do something wrong, Mr. Mayor?" asked Sora, a bit aprehensively.
"Oh, nononononono..." Mayor chuckled. "The people of Halloweentown just wanted to give you THIS!!" he held out a badge, much like his own.
Sora read the words written on it. "'1st Human.' Oh, guys, I can't accept this!" he said modestly. "I haven't done anything!"
"Oh, come now!" said the Mayor.
"No thanks!" said Sora.
"But it's VERY prostigeous!"
"No thanks!"
The only people missing from the celebration were the pranksters Lock, Shock, & Barrel. They had been out of a job since Oogie Boogie had perished due to the battle he fought with Jack on Holiday Trash Hill. But this was all about the change. Outside the gates to Halloweentown on the path to the cemetery, Tom Bohnne stood with the tree pranksters. Tom Bohnne was a skeleton, formally a 14 year old boy who died in a fire. His bones were white. One of his eyes remained (his left eye, to be exact,) and had turned a blue-grey color since his death. He also had a crack in his oval-shaped skull. He wore a short-sleeved blue vest with a black t-shirt under it with a green collar with blue, denim jeans Tom dropped his Halloween candy on the ground in basket before the Lock, Shock, & Barrel.
"Okay, you little urchins," said Tom, "here's all the Halloween candy I got this year. Now, let's discuss my 'terms', shall we?"
Barrel perked up immediately. "Oh, wow! Look at all the candy!"
"Cool it, Barrel," said Shock, "we can't eat it yet."
"Awww..." moaned Barrel disappointedly.
"We have to listen to Mr. Tom Bo-hunn's terms, first."
"It's pronounced 'Bone,'" said Tom, a little angry at the mispronuciation. "It may be spelled 'B-O-H-N-N-E,' but it's pronounced 'Bone!'" He cooled down a bit. "Well, now that you have my candy, we can discuss the t--"
"Would ya quit yapping and tell us, already?!" Shock interrupted, becoming impatient.
A smile spread across Tom's skull. "Well, it's quite simple actually..."
Meanwhile, back in Halloweentown Square, Sora sat on the steps of the Town Hall sadly, the badge pinned to his chest. Mayor waddled out of the building and locked the door. Then he noticed Sora there.
"You really did a nice job tonight, Sora," he said. "I mean, being a human, it must be hard to--"
Sora's eyes had swelled up with tears as the Mayor talked. "LEAVE ME ALONE!!" he shouted, running off towards the gates and ripping the badge off.
"SORA, WAIT!!" Mayor called after him. "RUNNING AWAY IS NOT GOING TO HELP MY RE-ELECTION CAMPAGIN!!"
Tom began to explain his plan to the kids as Sora headed towards them. "I heard your master, the Oogie Boogieman, kicked the bucket awhile back and you were looking for work. Luckily, for you little ones, I'm here to hire you! You're first mission will be to steal the Book of the Wicked from Dr. Finklestein's library and report back to me in a half hour in the ceme--"
At that instant, Sora ran by, trying to hold back tears.
"--tery." Tom turned and watched Sora run by. "Hey, what the heck's with THAT kid? You three carry out the mission. I'll got see what's up." And he ran off after Sora.
"Can we eat the candy now?" Lock asked when Tom had turned the corner.
