Sly waited patiently as he waited for his friends to arrive any minuet. Before he left, without being caught, he had changed in to an outfit that was (with the exception of a white long-sleeved undershirt) completely Black, with a black hat, domino mask, pair of gloves, and boots. He was dressed as the Green Hornet's partner and was first portrayed by Bruce Lee himself; Kato, complete with a pair of black foam nunchucks. Sly glanced at his Iphone and saw that it was twenty till eleven and still he saw no sign of his friends. Where were they anyway?

It was then that Bentley appeared just as Sly was about to pace and stopped to catch his breath. The turtle apparently put a little thought into his costume as he looked as though he was on an African safari: he wore a tan pith helmet with a brown leather strap and black wrap, white undershirt, beige long-sleeved button-up shirt with two brown front pockets, matching pants that were held by a brown leather belt, and brown hiking boots.

"Did I make it?" Bentley asked between breaths.

"Yeah, you made it." The fake Kato said as he patted the turtle on the back.

"Tell me again why we're doing this."

"We're just going to see if anything is up in Halloween Town." Sly replied as he checked his Iphone. "And to see if Jack, Sally, and everyone in town are alright."

"Well, it's a good thing we're all here."

the two boys turned to see Carmelita who, apparently was dressed as female, Old Western sheriff (unlike the modern like her father) with a brown cowboy (or cowgirl) hat, white long-sleeved shirt, brown filly vest with a lone star on the right side, grey slacks with a brown leather belt (also complete with lasso and fake revolver), and cowboy boots.

"Well, howdy sheriff Fox." The safari turtle joked to which gained a chuckle and high five from his Kato friend.

"Very funny, but seriously where's Murray?" The female "sheriff" asked as she looked around. "His house is the closest to the woods, so why isn't he here?"

"I don't know, I would have expected him to be here with Sly." Bentley admitted as he and Carmelita looked at the fake Kato.

"Hey, I've been waiting here for you guys to show up." Sly said with a shrug as he slowly realized something. "But before I hung up I think he said his clock . . . was . . . broken . . ."

"Okay, we need to go . . . ASAP!" Carmelita said to which Sly and Bentley nodded as the three hurried into the woods.

And so the three followed the map's trail to the Halloween Town door

"I swear, that guy can be a handful at some times . . ." Carmelita remarked sardonically with a sigh.

"Be that as it may, his heart is still in the right place." Bentley retorted half heartedly. "Besides, how much trouble could Murray get into?"

In no time, they had finally spotted the Jack-O-Lantern door, and apparently, a hippo boy wearing a yellow full-body tracksuit with black lines on the inside and outside sides of it, black shoes, and a pair of yellow foam nunchucks on his waist. It appeared that Sly wasn't the only one with Bruce Lee on his mind as Murray was also a Lee character, but from his final movie; Game of Death.

"Murray wait!" Sly called as they hurried to stop the hippo.

Their words were unheard, unfortunately, as they saw said hippo open the door and jump into the darkness. Sly grabbed the door before it could close as Carmelita and Bentley caught up and stopped to catch their breath. The fake Kato looked into the darkness, but the fake Billy Ho (Lee's character from G.o.D.) was already gone.

"Murray you get back up here this minuet!" The safari turtle yelled through the door.

"What he said!" Carmelita added as she hyper-violated a bit, but found her breath.

"Too late, that means one thing; down the Halloween Hole!" Sly said with much determination.

"Right!" The two responded with equal determination.

They all back away to a good distance and, starting with Sly, ran and jumped into the darkness. Carmelita went second as she held both her lasso and plastic revolver close to her sides. Lastly, Bentley, cautiously calibrating the distance, held his pith helmet as he jumped after his friends, which caused the door to shut behind him.

Sly and Carmelita, thankful that they took Karate lessons and learned from previous experience, rolled as soon as they reached solid ground. Bentley wasn't as lucky as he fell belly first with a heavy THUD right between them. They were now in the woods that led to all seven of the holiday worlds, which was called the Hinterlands and the tree behind them was a door shaped like a raccoon's head; the symbol of the Cooper family. The fake Kato and sheriff helped the safari turtle and looked around for the fake Billy Ho, but sadly, there was no sign of him to be seen anywhere.

"Ay dios mio, why did he have to break his clock?" Carmelita exasperated as she rubbed her temples.

"Look, let's not panic, maybe we can still catch up with him." Bentley suggested as he started to worry about his hippo friend.

"I second that, come on." Sly said as they moved through the woods.

"And then we drag him home?"

"And then we drag him home."

"It'll take a lot of effort though." The turtle remarked to which brought a few chuckles and giggles.

Sly, Bentley, and Carmelita made their way through the woods and noticed that something different as it seemed a lot more . . . bare than the last time they had been there. Where some of the trees cut down or looked bleaker than usual? To make things worse, each and every tree appeared to look exactly alike that it made it hard for Bentley to keep his coordinates accurate, but it still seemed that they were lost; even with the help of the map. finally, after walking for a while, just as Sly, Bentley, and Carmelita were begging to to feel that they knew where they were going . . .

"ARR!"

The group jumped and gasped as soon as they heard that sudden shriek that seemed to be right behind them. Bentley, being the most fragile, fell to the ground into a fetal position. Sly and Carmelita, being they bravest, had other ideas and immediately jumped into action!

"You want some of this?!" The fake Kato shouted as he performed a few tricks with his foam nunchucks.

"Well come and get some!" Carmelita also shouted as she aimed out her plastic pistol.

"Wait friends, I mean you no harm!"

This caused both raccoon and vixen to halt in their tracks as the turtle looked up from where he duck and covered to see a familiar face.

"Jack?" Three asked in unison.

The person before them was indeed was Jack Skellington "the Pumpkin King" himself. He wore his trademark pinstripe suit and a large sack slung over his shoulder.

"Fancy meeting you three here and with the same costumes from Halloween I see." Jack said as he noticed someone missing. "Hey, where's Murray"

"We don't know actually." Carmelita admitted with a shrug.

"Yeah, we kinda lost him on the way." Bentley said as he stood up.

"Don't suppose you've seen him, have you?" Sly asked a bit hopefully. "He's wearing the same yellow outfit."

"Sorry, but I haven't." Jack said with a sad shrug. "What brings you all back to Halloween Town after Halloween?"

"We just came by to check up on you." The raccoon said casually.

"And to see how everything is going." The vixen added as she place her revolver back in it's holster.

"What's in the bag, if you don't mind me asking?" The turtle asked out of curiosity.

"Oh this, just a few discoveries for next Halloween." Jack replied as he patted the sack. "I do hope everyone in town haven't missed me too much."

"Wait, you haven't been in Halloween Town this whole time?" Carmelita questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Not since that last time you visited, no."

"But that was October, two months ago." Bentley reminded with a frown.

"New discoveries, you say?" Sly questioned suspiciously as he glanced between the sack and skeleton. "I hope you weren't looking for them in the other holidays . . ."

"Oh no, you need not worry about that, I've learned my lesson; no more taking over holidays." Jack promised with a raised hand.

"Good." Bentley said with a relieved sigh.

"Just as long as you know." Carmelita said with a calm smile.

"Hey where'd you get that bracelet?" Sly asked as he pointed to a green bracelet around Jack's right wrist.

"Oh this, the doctor made it for me and he calls it the "Soul Robber", observe."

Jack placed the sack on the ground, aimed for a fallen branch, and with a flick of his wrist, the Soul Robber shot out and retrieved the branch to Jack's open hand.

"No way . . ." Sly said with wide eyes.

"Amazing . . ." Carmelita uttered with her mouth wide open.

"Oh my . . ." Bentley mumbled as his mouth broke into a huge grin. "What a discovery! I'm speechless! I mean this is an assault coup, the control over it projectile! Why I never . . ."

"I thought you speechless." Carmelita said as she placed an arm around the turtle.

"So anyway Jack, I bet Murray would go gaga if he saw that." Sly said as he brought everyone back on topic.

"Which brings us back to our dilemma." Bentley reminded as he fixed his glasses. "He's missing . . . again."

"Maybe he's already in Halloween Town." Jack suggested as he slung his sack back over his shoulder. "It's the only populated area around."

"Let's hope so, and pray that he hasn't gotten into any type of trouble." Carmelita said with a frown.

And so Sly, Bentley, Carmelita, and Jack continued on their way to Halloween Town.

Little did they know, they were right to be suspicious, for all was not well.