Chapter 1: The Story Behind the Story: Two Legends Meet

Ed and Double D were patiently waiting in Baron's now unlocked room. Or, at least, Double D was waiting patiently. Ed, on the other hand, was touching anything he could get his hands on. He had only been in Baron's room one other time, and that time, Eddy had ensured Ed wouldn't touch anything by tying him to a chair (not that it had worked). But now Eddy wasn't around, and Ed was definitely smart enough to seize an opportunity when he got one.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the downstairs door opening and a flurry of mixed conversation bursting into the house. Two of the voices were immediately recognized as Eddy and Baron's voices. The third voice was the most excited, and even Double D had to think for a few seconds until he realized who it was.

It was Jack's. Eddy and Baron had made a quick trip to Halloween Town and brought back Jack Skellington.

"Dude, breathe!" Double D and Ed heard Baron say. "You gotta breathe, man! I know you're excited, but you still gotta slow down!"

Just then, Eddy ran up and appeared in the open doorway. "In here, in here, in here!" he said ecstatically, gesturing to somebody outside the door.

Baron entered his room with a big smile on his face, followed by a gushing and heavily breathing skeleton. Eddy entered last.

Double D looked at the bewildered look on Jack's face. "Surprised, Jack?" he asked.

Jack sat down on the floor near the window. He looked at Double D. "I don't know," he said. "Ask me again in about a week when it sinks in!"

The Eds and Baron laughed.

"Did you ever think you'd see my brother again, Jack?" Eddy asked.

"No," said Jack. He looked at Eddy. "And judging by the look on your face, I'd say you weren't expecting it either."

Eddy shifted excitedly. "Hey, man, I'm probably in more shock than you are right now. You're not the only one gettin' this surprise."

Jack finally took the chance to actually look around Baron's room. It was quite a sight: a stuffed camel; a big, red, shiny metal thing (the car); a refrigerator; he took a chance to look behind him and saw the window was brick-layered shut.

"My, Baron," he said, "your room certainly is . . . eccentric."

"Yeah . . . " said Baron. "I went through a lot of phases growing up. For some reason, everyone says I'm a "whiz" at doing anything. I don't think I'm more special than anyone else, though; I just do whatever feels comfortable to me, and I don't really care if anyone objects, really."

"Speaking of comfort . . . " Jack looked around again. "Where's your bed? All I see is that red, shiny thing over there, and it doesn't seem very comfortable, even for my standards . . . "

"Oh, no," said Baron. "That's my car. I'll get my bed out." Baron walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. Out popped a fair-sized mattress.

"Wow," said Jack as Eddy and Baron sat on the bed.

"Isn't he the coolest?" Eddy asked.

"So. . .why'd you want us all here, Baron?" Double D asked.

"Well . . . " Baron said. "I already know about your adventures with Jack, courtesy of my little brother . . . " Eddy shrugged. "So. . .I thought it would be a good idea if I told you how this all started in the first place."

"You mean how we first met?" Jack asked.

"Exactly, my friend," said Baron. "You do remember, right?"

"Remember?" Jack asked. "How couldn't I remember? That was the night I first officially earned the title of Pumpkin King!"

"Really?" asked Ed.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," said Jack. "But . . . I think the story really begins with Baron. So. . .?"

Everyone looked at Baron.

Baron chuckled. "Okay, okay," he said. "Let me think." He thought for a moment. "I guess . . . I guess it all started that night when I first left the house . . . "


Many years ago, on a fair-weathered Halloween night, a pink house stood amidst the many houses in the cul-de-sac of Peach Creek.

Near four o'clock in the evening, a young twelve-year-old boy dressed in a dark red pilot's uniform stepped out of this pink house with a big bag of items he would need on this night. To this boy, Halloween wasn't about going door-to-door and getting candy.

Halloween was about playing pranks on unsuspecting victims.

This particular boy was the king of pranks. He had every trick in the book in that bag: eggs, toilet paper, cherry bombs, even a spring-loaded clown in a tin can; the most unique prank in his collection.

The boy was very proud of his title. He was also happy about the fact that he had a three-year-old brother named Eddy. The boy was more than ready to teach his little brother all the ins and outs of pranks. For now, however, he'd have to bask in the glory alone.

As the boy walked down the sidewalks with his big bag of pranks, he was trying to run a list through his head of how he was going to strike.

"Hmm . . . " he thought as he walked. "Who should I hit first? The old people in the house at the end of the road? Or that couple that just moved in near my house? Or maybe . . . "

SMACK!

The boy's thoughts were interrupted when something hit him right in the face. He dropped the bag and grabbed the object obstructing his vision. It was a piece of paper, by the feel of it. But when he got a better look of it, the boy saw it was something much more.

It was a map! It wasn't like any map the boy had seen before. He recognized the location, though. It seemed to go somewhere deep inside the woods of Peach Creek. Before he could stop himself, the boy's imagination went wild.

"Oh, man! I don't believe this! I wonder where it goes? I bet it goes to some town nobody else knows about that gives you buckets of candy! And it'd be all for me! Now this is how you should spend a Halloween!"

The boy grabbed his bag and ran off the sidewalk into the area behind the houses. This led to the woods. As the boy continued to follow the map, he gave occasional glances to the area, only to find himself going deeper and deeper into the woods, with no sign of stopping.

After a while, the boy began to get a little nervous. Where exactly did this map lead to? At this point, it couldn't have been a secret town. All he saw were trees, trees, and more trees!

Suddenly, the view of the trees was broken. The boy and his big bag of pranks suddenly found himself in a clearing, smack dab in the center of the woods. And in this clearing, there was one lone tree in the middle. But it wasn't like any tree the boy had ever seen before. Carved into the trunk was an orange jack o'lanteren, complete with a big grin!

The boy walked up to the tree and inspected it. He chuckled. "Einstein's got nothin' on this," he said.

Suddenly, the tree (or at least, the jack o'lantern) did something unexpected: it opened! It wasn't just a carving; it was more like a door!

The boy gasped and jumped back from the tree. "I didn't do it!" he exclaimed. Then he looked around and reminded himself there was nobody around. He sighed. "I gotta stop doing that . . . " he mumbled.

The boy cautiously looked at the opening in the tree. Surprisingly, the inside of the tree looked hollow. He took a few steps closer, clutching onto his bag, and slowly peered in.

Nothing. Just a whole lot of black.

"Pfft," he muttered. "All that hype for nothing?"

Just then, the boy felt a wind picking up; this was odd, because the weather report never said anything about wind that night. Then the boy realized something else; the wind was coming from inside the tree! Not only that, the wind was sucking him in!

"H-hey! HEY! HOLD ON!" the boy yelled. He held tightly to his bag in one hand, and the map in the other.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fight the wind. Before he knew it, he felt himself being picked up off the ground and falling headfirst, bag and all, into the tree! As the boy's frightened yells faded as he fell farther and farther into the tree, the jack o'lanteren door shut behind him.

---

Meanwhile, somewhere in another town not too far away, a tall, lanky skeleton was scurrying around his house, making the final preparations for the holiday he was a natural at.

"Halloween is just hours away," he was saying to himself. "I'm so excited! I'm like a kid in a cadaver store! I can hardly wait to show the good ghouls of Halloween Town my latest trick. Tonight they will all see why I am known as. . .the Pumpkin King! Tonight will be perfect! What could possibly go wrong?" (A/N: Well, we all know what happens when someone says that, right? Just ask Timmy Turner.)

After a while, the skeleton was ready. He packed up his newest trick and began to head into the heart of Halloween Town.

However, he began to have an uneasy feeling as soon as he stepped out of his house. Something seemed . . . wrong. As he went through the gate at the end of his walkway, he looked around.

The town was abandoned.

The skeleton took a few more steps. "This isn't right," said Jack. "We're supposed to be getting ready for Halloween! Where is every . . . "

BUZZZZZZZZ!

"GET OUTTA HERE, YA UGLY INSECTS!"

The skeleton jumped. He didn't recognize the voice, but whoever it was, he was in trouble! He ran toward the direction of the voice.

Near the outskirts of Halloween Town, the skeleton got quite a sight. There, near the front gate, was a swarm of giant bugs ganging up on a young boy! The boy was dressed in a dark red pilot's outfit, complete with goggles. Either way, the skeleton didn't recognize the boy. But he wasn't about to just leave him there. So he did the only thing he could do: he inhaled deeply.

---

The boy was busy trying to keep these giant . . . mutant insects away from his face while trying to hold onto the map. All of a sudden, a monstrous high-pitched shriek filled the air, making both the boy and the bugs recoil in horror. The bugs sped off while the boy dove to the ground, covering his head with his hands.

"Are you okay?"

The boy jumped again when he heard a new voice. He looked up and saw a very tall skeleton in a black pinstripe suit kneeling over him. It took a few seconds for the boy to find his voice. As he stood up again, he put the map in an inside pocket in his pilot jacket.

"Am I okay?" he repeated. "Am I o-what do you think, buddy? One minute I'm following this kooky map and peering into this pumpkin-shaped hole in a tree, the next I'm falling through space, land in some weirdo town, and nearly have my face stung off by killer bugs! Does that sound "okay" to you?"

The skeleton stared. "Well . . . I'd say it doesn't," he said. "I take it you're not from around here."

"Darn right I'm not," said the boy, standing up and dusting himself off. "Where is "here," anyway?"

"Why, you're in Halloween Town," said the skeleton. "Home of all the ghosts and ghouls who make Halloween possible every year." He outstretched one of his bony hands to the boy. "And I'm Jack Skellington, the one in charge of it all. What's your name, and where are you from?"

The boy was taken aback with all this. Halloween Town? Jack Skellington? What was his name?

Well, he did know one thing: there was no way in heck he'd be telling this weirdo his name.

"My name . . . isn't important," said the boy. "Just call me . . . " He thought of his costume. "The Red Baron of Peach Creek."

This time, it was Jack's turn to be taken aback. He had never met someone with such a name. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Baron," he said. He then spotted Baron's bag. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to it.

Baron glanced at the bag. "Oh . . . uh . . . that's just my bag of Halloween tricks," he said. "I have my own way of celebrating Halloween."

"I see," said Jack. "You're not harming anyone, are you?"

"What?" Baron asked. "Oh, no. I don't play them on people. Just the normal Halloween pranks. I mean, what's Halloween without a little mischief, right?"

"Well, I can't argue with you there," said Jack.

"So, uh, about those bugs," said Baron. "Are those part of Halloween, too?"

Jack looked in the direction the bugs sped off in. "Unfortunately, no," he said. "I don't know who or what sent them. All I know is the whole town's abandoned." He scratched his skull. "And I'll bet anything those bugs had something to do with it."

"Seriously?" asked Baron. "Who on earth would want to stop Halloween?"

"Probably someone who likes causing trouble and takes pride in the harm of others," said Jack. "I don't like that."

"You gonna get to the bottom of this?" asked Baron.

"Of course," said Jack. "I can't let Halloween not happen after all our hard work!"

"In that case, count me in," said Baron.

Jack looked at Baron, surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Hey, man," said Baron. "I may be a troublemaker sometimes, but there is no way I'm about to let anyone mess with my favorite holiday." He picked up his bag of pranks and hoisted it over his shoulder. "Where to first, expert?"

Jack sighed. "Well, I'd probably check around the town first. Who knows what kind of trouble's going on? And with Halloween only a few hours away . . . "

"In that case, let's get going!" said Baron.

"My thought exactly," said Jack.

With that, the new friends ran off to the center of Halloween Town, unaware of the journey that was waiting for them.