Disclaimer: I don't own "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
Jack Skellington was preparing for the big Halloween event as usual. He was still interested in the spirit of the holiday. He was practicing his scares when a scratching was heard at his door. "Not now!" he hissed. When the scratching persisted and a whining was heard, he growled, "Ah! All right! But by the time I reach that door, you better be out of here!"
To his surprise, when he opened the door, he looked down to see a white beagle dog with brown ears and a brown spot over his left eye. Jack decided this was the perfect opportunity to test one of his scares. He growled and roared at the dog, but he didn't seem to move. Jack tried to scare him many times, but failed. By then, his ego was hurt and he suddenly became very depressed. He lamented as he sat down on his porch, "Have I finally lost my touch? Have I lost my ability to scare?"
"Without scaring people, I'm…nothing. Jack Skellington, a nothing?!" Jack then held his head in his bony hands and began to cry. The dog, taking pity of the skeleton, leaned towards him and licked away his tears. Jack pulled himself together and said, "All right, all right. I can still scare people, but oddly, not you."
He pointed to the dog's brown patch and remarked, "That brown spot reminds me of zero. And that's what I shall call you: Zero!" Zero yipped with joy of his newfound name. Jack happily played with his new dog the whole day. At nearly sundown, Mayor found Jack playing fetch with Zero in the town square. Mayor switched to his unhappy side and scolded, "Jack! Where have you been?!"
Jack was surprised and exclaimed, "Oh! Hello, Mr. Mayor. I was thinking of doing this year's Halloween act with my new dog, Zero." The mayor looked at this brave dog and switched to his happy side. Then, he said, "Well…he certainly doesn't scare easily. That might prove to be a great advantage." As he exited, Jack cheered that Zero was going to be in the show with him.
After getting a few props from the attic, Jack chuckled, "Oh, Zero, you're going to love your part. You're going to scare the heck out of the crowd." But when he set down the box, Zero was nowhere to be found.