A/N: Hi everyone! Svinorita here with a new TNBC story and this time I've decided to write a short Christmas special featuring our favorite little troublesome Trio! I'm talking about Halloween Town's finest Trick-or-Treaters of course :D This is my first attempt at writing a Lock, Shock and Barrel Fanfic (but hopefully not my last!) I absolutely adore everything about these mischievous little guys and I've wanted to try writing some stories centered on them for quite some time now :)

By the way, if you're a huge fan of Lock, Shock and Barrel like me and you haven't already checked it out, I highly recommend that you read some of the wonderful work Trilliumwoods has written about these characters! Her stories are brilliant and they are what inspired me to try writing my own Lock, Shock and Barrel stories :D So Trilliumwoods, if you are reading this, I'd like to say thank you for all the stories and I hope you enjoy this Christmas-themed short story! I'll try my best to make you and our favorite Trio proud :)

Sandy Claws Is Coming To Town

Chapter 1 - The Nightmare During Christmas.

Jack Skellington stood outside the entrance to Town Hall waving happily to Santa's silhouette as he watched the King of Christmas Town flying overhead in his sleigh, leaving a flurry of snowflakes in his wake. The other citizens of Halloween Town looked on in wonder and awe as the mysterious white flakes floated down from the sky and covered the streets in a thick white blanket of snow. They had never seen anything like it before and many of the monsters found the snow strange yet captivating at the same time.

"What's this?" Ethan the Corpse Kid and Cyclops both exclaimed as they stared at the snowflakes falling around them in wonder.

"I haven't got a clue." Harlequin Demon said distractedly.

"Why it's completely new!" Clown chimed in bewilderment.

"Must be a Christmas thing!" Wolfman growled in annoyance as he quickly shook off the snow that now coated his fur.

Before long, most of the monsters had gotten over their initial surprise and started playing around in the snow like excited children. Laughter filled the air as they threw caution to the wind and lost themselves in the dazzling white brilliance that surrounded them. The Vampire Brothers began playing ice hockey, using a pumpkin for a puck as they skated around on a frozen lake. Behemoth and Undersea Gal lay on their backs, making "snow monsters" where the snow had already accumulated deeply on the ground while a snowball fight erupted amongst a few of the Town's children nearby.

Everyone seemed to be having a great time and enjoying this magical Christmas phenomena that Santa had brought to their world. But for once, Jack couldn't bring himself to join the other monsters in their fun and games. Instead, he hung back uncertainly as he watched the others gamboling in the snow. A huge sense of guilt settled over him as he thought about the events that had transpired over the past few weeks and how he had nearly ruined Christmas for everyone.

The Pumpkin King let out a gloomy sigh as he remembered an old saying he'd heard somewhere before: Don't try to be someone or something you're not. Just be yourself…

"I am the King of Halloween Town, just as Sandy Claws is the King of Christmas Town. How could I have allowed myself to believe even for a second that I could do Sandy's job better than he can?!" Jack mused to himself sullenly. All he wanted to do was spread cheer instead of fright for a change and he'd mistakenly believed that he could achieve it by impersonating Sandy Claws and delivering gifts prepared by the citizens of Halloween Town to millions of children on Christmas Eve.

But it just wasn't right! Instead he ended up scaring countless human children and their parents with his Christmas "gifts." He had endangered the lives of both Sandy Claws and Sally in the process and he had been forced to destroy Oogie Boogie in order to save them. The list just goes on and on…

Just then, Jack's thoughts were interrupted by a snowball hitting him right in the face. The Pumpkin King quickly wiped the snow out of his eye sockets and was met with a chorus of high-pitched childish laughter coming from the direction of the fountain. He caught a brief glimpse of three little heads ducking back down behind the wall of the fountain as they continued laughing at him and Jack couldn't help smiling himself. The tip of Shock's hat protruded above the wall like a beacon and the Pumpkin King shook his head in amusement.

Even as he stood there watching, the Trio sent another barrage of snowballs flying in Jack's direction, forcing the Pumpkin King to take evasive action to avoid getting hit again.

"Why you devilish, witchy, ghoulish rascals!" Jack called out to his assailants warningly. He started making his way over to their hiding place slowly and deliberately.

"He's coming this way!" Lock exclaimed, dropping the snowball he had been in the process of rolling as he peeked over the wall and saw Jack's tall, slim figure approaching purposefully.

"Time to scram!" Shock shouted as she and her two cohorts took off running with yelps of mock-fear.

Jack's expression was intimidating, but his intentions were playful as he started going after them. But he'd barely taken two steps before the Mayor appeared from around a corner and intercepted him. The portly politician had a slightly worried look on his face as Jack stopped in front of him.

"Jack! I wanted to make sure that you're alright." The Mayor's unhappy face swiveled around as he spoke and he gestured to the snow all around them. "You've been awfully quiet and serious ever since this cold white stuff started falling from the sky…"

But Jack was only half-listening to the Mayor, his eye sockets staring absently at the corner of a building that Lock, Shock and Barrel had disappeared behind moments earlier. Suddenly, the Pumpkin King tensed up as an idea hit him like a snowball to the face and he snapped his bony fingers in revelation.

"Of course! How could I have been so stupid?!" Jack exclaimed distractedly.

The Mayor gave him a confused look. "What? I didn't say you were stupid!" He protested defensively.

"No! I didn't mean that Mayor!" Jack said, offering the Mayor a small smile of reassurance. He pointed towards a snow-covered wall a short distance away that Lock, Shock and Barrel were currently trying to clamber over. Lock had already managed to scale the slippery stone wall and he kept pushing Shock and Barrel off every time either of them had almost made it to the top, his pointy teeth glinting maliciously in the moonlight as he taunted them from his lofty perch.

"Look at them!" Jack insisted with a smile of fondness. "And him…" He added, pointing to Ethan who was building what appeared to be a "snow corpse" out of a mound of slushy snow and mud near the entrance leading to the Pumpkin Patch. "And him. And him too…"

The Mayor looked on in puzzlement as Jack pointed to the small winged-demon kid and the equally diminutive mummy boy as they chased each other around the snowy streets with high-pitched squeals of glee.

"Yeah Jack I'm looking…" The Mayor tilted his head at the Pumpkin King questioningly. "But what exactly am I meant to be seeing? Those are just some of our Town's kids."

"My point exactly!" Jack said, nodding encouragingly. "We have so many kids in this Town and all this time it never occurred to me that I could have made Christmas for them instead of trying to surprise the human children!" Jack sighed regrettably as he watched the children of Halloween Town playing in the snow with the universal carefreeness that all youngsters (be they human or monstrous) share in common.

"I should have given those Christmas gifts we created to our Town's children instead of kidnapping Sandy Claws and trying to take over his holiday! At least then I could have guaranteed that our gifts would have been appreciated and I could have made our Town's youngsters so happy!" Jack looked down at his shoes and shook his head sadly. "Instead I ended up making a complete fool out of myself…"

The Mayor shrugged his shoulders and replied a little hesitantly. "I understand where you're coming from Jack. But then again, we wouldn't want to spoil them or anything. I mean, they all receive treats on Halloween…"

But Jack had already made up his mind and he interrupted the Mayor with that stubborn determination the Pumpkin King was highly renowned for. "No! I've decided that from now on, our Town's children are going to receive Christmas presents too!"

Jack looked at the Mayor thoughtfully and ventured, "Mayor? The Christmas toys our Townspeople made… are there any leftover that we didn't pack into the sleigh before I set out to deliver the presents earlier?"

The Mayor's happy face suddenly swiveled around and he grinned at Jack optimistically. "I think there may be a few that we cast aside because there wasn't enough room on the sleigh."

"Splendid! Let's take a look at what we've got…" Jack said as he followed the Mayor into Town Hall, where he was told the "rejected" presents had been put in storage.

As they disappeared into the vast building, they didn't hear the small footsteps made by the little devilish figure darting back to his hiding place behind the big, stone wall he'd been sitting on earlier. Lock had been eavesdropping on Jack and the Mayor's conversation for some time now and he couldn't wait to tell his two cohorts what he'd heard!

"So, Jack is planning to surprise us with some stupid Christmas gifts is he? Well, we'll see about that…" The little devil thought to himself with a malicious grin. Personally, he thought Christmas was pretty lame compared to Halloween and he highly doubted that Jack would give them anything remotely interesting for a present…

So Lock decided that he and his two cohorts should try to sabotage Jack's plan instead. Not only would it be fun (for them at least!) but he saw it as an opportunity to outsmart the Pumpkin King at his own game! Jack had already made a huge mockery out of Sandy Claws' holiday and nearly ruined Christmas for all the poor little human children. Well, this time Halloween's finest tricksters were going to ruin Jack's surprise personally! It's about time that bonehead stopped trying to act like Sandy Claws and turned his attention back to being the Pumpkin King!

By the time Lock returned to his cohorts, he found Shock chipping away at the stone wall with her knife, collecting some small pebbles for her slingshot while Barrel sat nearby, biting into a big snowball he'd made from some hard compacted snow.

Barrel pulled a face as he bit into his snowball experimentally. "This stuff is cold and tasteless!" He complained through a mouthful of snow. But instead of spitting it out, the little ghoul swallowed the snow regardless and proceeded to take another tentative bite out of the snowball in his hands.

Shock turned and threw a pebble at him irritably. "Do you have to put everything in your mouth dummy?!"

"I can't help it! I'm hungry!" Barrel whined defensively. "I have to eat so I can grow big and strong like the other ghouls!"

"Well, you're already big!" Shock retorted meanly. "As for strong, I don't know whether you'll ever grow strong or just fat and lazy…"

Before Barrel could protest, Lock interrupted their conversation by clearing his throat loudly. "Hey guys! Guess what Jack has planned for us now…"

Shock got up from her crouching position and dusted the snow off her dress indifferently. "Let me guess. Who does he want us to kidnap for him now?"

Barrel groaned reluctantly. "Do we have to? Can't we just stay here and rest? I'm tired and hungry and I don't feel like going through another Holiday Door right now!"

"Don't worry! We're not kidnapping anyone this time." Lock assured his friends with a devious grin. "From what I heard, Jack doesn't expect us to do anything but sit by and wait while he plans his big surprise…"

"That doesn't sound like such a bad thing. I like sitting!" Barrel interrupted eagerly.

Shock turned to her younger cohort and cuffed him on the head roughly with the flat of her hand.

Barrel gave the young witch a despairing look. "Ow! Why'd you do that for?" He whined, rubbing the back of his head gingerly with one hand.

"Well since you enjoy sitting around so much, why don't you just keep sitting and shut your mouth dummy?! Let Lock finish!" Shock sneered meanly.

Lock snorted with amusement. "Thank you Shock." The little devil folded his arms over his chest and bared his teeth slightly in contempt as he explained to his cohorts what he'd overheard earlier. "Apparently, Jack is planning to create his own version of Christmas right here in Town. He wants to surprise us and all the other kids in Town with gifts and expects us to act all happy and excited. Maybe he even expects us to start chanting Ho, Ho, Ho…"

Lock paused uncertainly, his tail flicking from side-to-side as he thought hard for a moment. "Or is it supposed to be Ha, Ha, Ha…?"

"Well, I think that's pretty lame." Shock said tartly. The young witch looked around at the monsters playing in the snow and frowned thoughtfully. "I mean, what do we need Christmas for when we've got Halloween?!"

"Yeah! Halloween is the best!" Barrel agreed boastfully. His sunken eyes glinted hungrily as he quickly added, "We get rewarded with heaps of candy just for scaring people!"

Lock and Shock both gave their youngest cohort looks of disgust as they watched him pull some weird-looking sweet out of his pocket and start munching on it greedily.

"What in the name of Halloween are you eating now?!" Lock asked his littlest cohort with a grimace of distaste. Barrel was licking a red and white striped candy that resembled a tiny walking stick and neither Lock nor Shock had the slightest idea what it was.

"Oh this?" Barrel ventured innocently, taking the candy out of his mouth and showing it to his older cohorts reverently. "This is really yummy! I found it in Sandy Claws' pocket when we kidnapped him…"

The little ghoul quickly shoved the candy cane back into his mouth and shrugged at Lock and Shock apologetically. "I should have taken some more to share with you guys. But I only took ten and this is the last one!"

Shock waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "I don't want any of your dumb Christmas candy anyway! I still have most of my candy leftover from this Halloween." The young witch smiled at her youngest cohort smugly and bragged, "It usually lasts me at least three months!"

Barrel stared her with open-mouthed amazement. "How is that even possible?! I always get more candy on Halloween than you and Lock combined…" He gave them both a pitying look and insisted, "…I can't help it that I'm the smallest and cutest! Anyway, my candy only seems to last me three days at most!"

"Well maybe that's because you're stuffing your face constantly!" Shock pointed out curtly.

"Yeah! And once you've finished all your candy, you're always helping yourself to mine!" Lock added accusingly.

Barrel's jaw hung open in disbelief. "How did you…"

"What? How do I know?" Lock cut him off, his teeth bared in what was either an angry snarl, or a teasing smirk. Barrel wasn't quite sure which, but he found it deeply unnerving whenever Lock flashed his teeth at him like that. Although Lock had never tried to deliberately bite him or anyone else that he was aware of, Barrel didn't fancy finding himself on the receiving end of those razor-sharp teeth…

Thankfully, Lock was only teasing. His snarl turned into a wicked smile as he put his hands on his hips and stated boldly, "Well I may not be the smallest or the widest like you, but I am the cleverest!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Lock noticed Shock opening her mouth to protest. He shot her a warning look and continued talking to Barrel in a cool, confident tone. "Anyway, I don't care if you help yourself to my candy or not! I like to keep my teeth nice and sharp instead of ruining them with all that sugar!"

Barrel's eyes lit up with excitement despite the attention Lock had inevitably drawn to his teeth again. "Really? Well, if you insist then! That's one offer I can't refuse!"

With that, Barrel resumed munching on his candy cane contentedly. Who says you shouldn't make deals with devils?! Especially when that deal involves candy…

Lock threw a quick glance in the direction of Town Hall to make sure Jack wasn't leaving yet, then promptly turned his attention back to his two cohorts and addressed them in a bold, determined tone of voice. "So what do you say guys? Should we follow Jack in secret and ruin his plans or what?"

Shock and Barrel exchanged malicious looks and nodded in agreement.

"Let's do it!" Barrel exclaimed eagerly.

"It only seems fair! After all, Jack kind of ruined our lifestyle by destroying Oogie." Shock shook her head regretfully and said, "I couldn't care less that Oogie is gone, but I'm really going to miss the snake and spider stew he used to cook for us…"

Lock and Barrel nodded with silent understanding. Just then, the three trick-or-treaters heard the sound of footsteps approaching their hiding place and they quickly ducked out of sight as Jack's long skeletal legs raced past at an impressive speed.

"Come on Zero! Hurry up boy!" The Pumpkin King called out purposefully. Lock, Shock and Barrel held their breaths in anticipation as they listened to Zero's excitable barking fading into the distance as he followed his master towards the Holiday Doors in the woods.

The Trio waited for a few moments to make sure neither Jack nor Zero would see them following. Then they emerged from their hiding place and started following Jack's footprints in the snow at a steady pace. Barrel trailed behind his two older cohorts a little hesitantly.

"Where do you think he's going guys?" The little ghoul whispered unsurely.

"Christmas Town I imagine! Where else would he be going dummy?!" Shock whispered back snottily.

"Quiet! He might hear us, morons!" Lock hissed impatiently as he led the way through the snow-covered graves of the cemetery and headed towards the Hinterlands beyond. "Let's just see what he's up to first and then we'll figure out how we're going to ruin his plans!"

With that, the three little tricksters followed the Pumpkin King's tracks deeper into the woods. Up ahead on the trail, Jack was blissfully unaware that he was being shadowed by the very same three children he wanted to surprise the most with his newest Christmas ambition…

To Be Continued…