Lightning flickered and flashed as they soon went to visit another land.
"Well, we've arrived, children, our final destination!" Moundshroud told them.
"Finally!" Cathleen said.
"Where are we?" Cherry asked.
"Listen... Guitars!" Jenny told them.
"And those must be skeleton bones." Tom S guessed the sound.
"Wait, I know where we are." Patch smiled.
"Of course..." Cherry said. "It all makes sense now. We're in..."
"Mexico!" Cherry, Atticus, and Patch realized together.
"And which means this must be The Day of the Dead." Atticus smiled.
"I always wanted to celebrate the Day of the Dead, it looks so cool." Cherry pouted.
"Maybe we can talk to Maritza about it." Atticus suggested.
They soon began to land in Mexico as the people celebrated their Halloween-like tradition.
"When do we land?" Cathleen asked.
"Should be soon," Atticus said. "I know how to fly dragons properly."
Pip soon flew over the cemetery which made lights lit up all around to celebrate the holiday. There were candles at the gravestones left behind from family members to their nearly departed relatives, as seen in the movie Coco.
"Look at all the graveyards!" Robyn commented.
"That is a lot." Patch said.
The people soon began to march through the graveyards.
"Where are all those people going?" Ralph asked.
"At Día de los Muertos." Moundshroud informed.
"The Day of the Dead." Cherry added, translating from that Spanish to English.
"Where else would they go?" Atticus asked.
"Back home, we'd never go to a graveyard on Halloween, but this looks like fun!" Tom S smiled at the fireworks.
The others agreed as Day of the Dead did look like a really fun tradition.
"Look it, little funerals for sale!" Ralph pointed out to puppets carrying a casket.
"Sure looks cool." Cathleen said.
"Are those real coffins?" Wally asked.
"I'm sure they are." Cherry said.
A group of kids soon came to a woman who offered them skull and ghost cookies. As they flew around, a bunch of newspapers seemed to jump out at them.
"Whoa!" The group yelped.
"Whoa, the newspapers are full of bones!" Jenny pointed out.
"Mexican Halloweens are sure better than ours," Tom S commented before checking his paper and gasped on the front. "Pipkin! He must be around here someplace."
"We better start looking." Atticus said.
The loud noises began to startle the dragons.
"Whoa, guys, whoa!" Cathleen cried out.
They soon fell right into a pile of hay after the dragons shook them off.
"Oh, well, at least we had a soft landing." Tom muttered.
"That's right." Jerry said.
Cathleen glared up at the dragons as they soon flew off to the graveyard and disappeared. "Well, that just happened..." she commented, not sure how to feel about that.
"Sweet Skulls! Sweet Skulls!" Moundshroud's voice called. "Crystal sugar candy Sweet Skulls!"
"Sounds like you guys get to try a Calavera." Cherry commented.
"Let's see if the sweet skulls have our names on them." Patch said.
"Oh... That's what that means... I had no idea what Cherry was talking about." Cathleen commented.
"Tell me your names, I'll give you a skull." The vendor told them, carrying the sugar skulls.
"Atticus." Atticus replied.
"Tom!" Tom S added.
Two skulls were soon given to them both with their names on it.
"How about Ralph?" Ralph smiled before he soon caught his as it was tossed to him.
"Robyn?" Robyn smiled before the same thing happened.
Everyone else soon said their names and they seemed to be given their very own skulls. Even Tom, Jerry, and Patch were given their own candy skulls.
"All the dark holiday in your palms... Bite it, swallow it and survive," The vendor told them before revealing himself. "Come out from the black tunnel of Halloween, and feel oh-so glad you're alive!"
Everyone soon began to eat their sugar skulls once they were given them.
"Oh, so delicious." Atticus smiled as he finished his.
Cherry soon began to giggle which made everyone look at her and she soon got louder and louder as she started to get hyper from all of the sugar.
"Maybe Cherry shouldn't have had one." Patch said,
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Cherry glared in accusatory.
"Your sugar rush." Patch said.
"I do not sugar rush!" Cherry glared.
"Normally, no, but these things must be loaded." Atticus said as he looked at his skull.
"You got that right." Patch said.
"Tuffy would have a field day with these." Jerry said, referring to his nephew.
"Booties would probably bounce off the walls and literally bring the house down." Tom chuckled, referring to his niece.
"I think it's getting late... We should find Pip really soon." Robyn suggested.
"Yes, for All Hallow's Eve is slipping away." Moundshroud replied, looking at his pocket watch and used his magic to bring out a bunch of piñatas.
"Whoa." Patch yelped.
"This is crazy!" Cathleen cried out.
Moundshroud soon turned into a piñata himself and flew with the others that resembled the others in their costumes. A bunch of kids with blindfolds laughed and rushed over, trying to hit the piñatas.
"I don't think they should do that." Patch said.
"They're piñatas, what else are they gonna do?" Cathleen deadpanned to the Dalmatian.
"Then why do I see anything but candy in those pinatas?" Atticus asked.
"What does that mean?" Cathleen replied.
"They're alive... ALIIIIVE!" Cherry cried out dramatically.
Moundshroud's pinata was soon hit and a swarm of bats came out.
"BATS!" Cherry shrieked a bit.
"Exactly." Atticus nodded.
"How in the heck did you know?" Cathleen deadpanned.
"X-Ray vision." Atticus said.
Cathleen looked to Cherry.
"You have a lot to learn." Cherry told Cathleen.
"Hey! Get off!" Tom cried out as the bats tried to pick them all up out of the haystack.
"Where are these bats taking us?" Cathleen asked.
"I'm sure we'll find out soon." Robyn replied.
They soon ended up in the graveyard which wasn't much of a surprise. Once there, the bats soon dropped them on the ground.
"Whoa." The group smiled.
The bats soon swarmed together to create Moundshroud.
"You again?!" Cathleen glared. "I'm not sure I like you, sir!"
"Yeah, but that was fun!" Patch smiled.
"It sure was." Chip smiled back.
"Sure... Real fun..." Cathleen rolled her sky blue eyes.
"What happens next?" Wally beamed.
"No more time for games, children!" Moundshroud glared before chuckling wickedly. "The night ends here."
"It does?" Patch asked.
"Oh, yes..." Moundshroud replied.
"Is that a mausoleum?" Cherry's eyes widened before she shook a memory. "Oh, not that again."
"Again? You know what? Never mind, I don't even wanna know." Cathleen replied.
"Let's just say it involved singing bust heads." Atticus groaned.
Cathleen still complained about their many and many adventures.
"You mean, you want us down in that hole?" Robyn asked Moundshroud.
"Yes, down in the catacombs," Moundshroud replied. "He's waiting... Simon Says bring him up!"
"We're going in, but we're not giving you his pumpkin." Patch said.
"You'll see it my way, soon enough." Moundshroud glared.
"Uncle Chip, I know he taught you and Mom magic, but I don't trust that man." Robyn whispered to her wizard uncle.
"If only there was a way to trade Pip's pumpkin." Patch said.
"Hmm..." Chip paused as he began to think about it. "I'm sure there is. Within rules of magic or anything else, there's always a loophole."
"The rule bearer did say that rules are rules, but loopholes are loopholes." Cherry said as she remembered Sabrina's slumber party when a mortal girl ended up in the linen closet and was almost in severe trouble with the supernatural world.
The group began to walk down into the catacombs.
"And be extra careful with my pumpkin~" Moundshroud smirked wickedly.
"We're going down, but you're not getting that pumpkin." Cathleen glared bravely.
"That's right." Tom S added.
"Bravely spoken, Pip would've loved that," Moundshroud smirked as he held his pocket watch. "Hurry now, dawn is approaching!"
Tom S and Atticus walked ahead while the others followed.
"It's going to be okay, Tom, it's going to be fine." Robyn comforted him like she had done with the others, showing what a great friend she was to all of them.
They were now soon in a hall full of skeletons.
"I hear about skeletons in the closet, but this is ridiculous." Patch commented.
They soon came through a path of cobwebs. Cherry and Atticus looked to each other.
"Just get it over with..." Cherry told him, thinking he would blow the webs and spiders away.
Atticus soon did just that so then the cobwebs would be out of the way.
Cherry ducked down so that they wouldn't get stuck to her. "Heh... My luck is beginning to turn..." she then smirked as she stood back up and walked forward.
"Those are some strong lungs you have." Cathleen said to Atticus.
"What can I say? I have big strength." Atticus smiled.
"As big as his ego." Cherry smirked.
"Ha ha, very funny." Atticus smirked back playfully.
They soon came down the last step and found a glowing corridor not too far off from them.
"Do places usually display the dead like this?" Robyn asked, seeing corpses lined up like mummies in Ancient Egypt.
"Not in the places I know." Cherry admitted.
"One of us will have to go and get Pip and his pumpkin." Patch said.
"Okay, Cherry, thank you for volunteering." Cathleen smirked.
"Say what?!" Cherry asked, feeling like a scapegoat.
"Nope." Chip shook his head.
"Go get 'em, Cherry!" Cathleen said, pushing her friend forward slightly.
Cherry yelped as she nearly fell and looked back with a glare.
"It's okay, Cherry, you don't have to." Chip told her.
"Whew." Cherry said.
"Besides, Tom still hasn't had his turn yet." Chip said.
"GAH!" Tom yelped and hid behind Robyn.
"Not you, Tom, the other Tom." Chip chuckled to his niece's cat.
"Ohh." Tom smiled out of relief.
Cherry glared at Cathleen who smiled sheepishly to her.
"Well, uh, I guess I could go for it." Tom S said a little nervously. He began to make his way to Pip before seeing the skeletons coming to life.
"It's okay, dude, walking skeletons are cool, I mean, I love The Nightmare Before Christmas." Cherry smirked calmly.
Pip appeared to be trapped where he was.
"Oh, my gosh!" Wally gasped at the skeletons.
"How is Tom going to get through those?" Patch asked.
"Maybe he'll think he's one of them and leave him alone?" Jerry suggested.
"Tell me... Why do you wear bones, Skeleton?" Moundshroud demanded to Tom S.
"Because of my name." Tom S said like it was obvious.
"Wrong." Chip told him.
"Ooh! Have you learned nothing tonight, boy?" Moundshroud added as he crossed his arms.
"Because... Maybe if we face death eyeball-to-eyeball, it loses its power over us? It can't scare us?" Tom S then tried again.
Chip winked with a thumb's up.
"Excellent, Tom!" Moundshroud told the boy.
"So now, you know what you have to do." Chip told Tom S.
"So, I've gotta save Pip?" Tom S asked. "Alone?"
"You can do it, Tom." Robyn told him in confidence.
"We know you can." Patch said.
Tom S let out a gulp and soon ran down the corridor to go and save Pip. The skeletons soon tried to grab them, but some of them fell and broke apart while Tom S blindly ran forward.
"Come on, Tom, don't look left, don't look right, just go straight!" Robyn called out.
Patch smiled at what a great friend Robyn had become since the first time he had met her. Tom S was soon at the end of the hall of skeletons.
"Your parents' haunted houses could take a lesson from this." Atticus nudged Cherry.
"Hm." Cherry gave a small smirk to that.
Tom S knelt in front of his friend's ghost. "Oh, Pip, don't die... I'm sorry... So sorry." he told him out of grief.
"What do you mean, Tom? You came through." Pip replied.
"No... All of this tonight is my fault..." Tom S frowned. "I once wished for something to happen to you so I could be leader for a change, but I never thought of something like appendicitis."
Robyn frowned as that did sound selfish, but she also knew that Pip would let others take turns being leader.
"Don't be silly, Tom..." Pip smiled to his friend before holding out his hand. "I'll let ya lead any time."
Tom S smiled back and soon took his hand, but there seemed to be a cracking.
"Huh? What's happening?" Tom S asked before Pip seemed to turn into ash and into a pile. "Pip, NO!"
Chip glared at his former tutor as he knew that he would have Pip's pumpkin."This truly has been fun, hasn't it?" Moundshroud smirked, showing the pumpkin.
"YOU ASSHOLE!" Cathleen suddenly swore from anger.
"Cath... Children..." Cherry reminded her.
"I don't care!" Cathleen glared. "He double-crossed us!"
"Give us Pip's pumpkin! It doesn't belong to you, it belongs to Pip!" Robyn glared at Moundshroud.
"Sorry, it was never a contest," Moundshroud replied. "His rent was past due. It's simple and plain."
"That's not fair!" Ralph glared.
"You cheated!" Patch growled.
"You said if we came with you and solved the mysteries of Halloween, we could save Pipkin!" Tom S added.
"Children, it's business," Moundshroud smirked. "With his illness, his rent came due and there was no payment. He's mine now!"
Robyn glared before stepping forward. "Then take my life in his place." she soon told Moundshroud.
This made the others gasp.
"R-Robyn!" Jenny cried out.
"You?" Moundshroud glanced at the blonde girl. "You'd take his place?"
"That's right." Robyn nodded.
"Robyn, are you sure you want to do that?" Chip asked his young niece.
"Yes, Uncle Chip, I just want this to be a Happy Halloween, for Pip too." Robyn said.
"That's very kind of you, young lady." Moundshroud said.
"Thank you..." Robyn replied.
Tom and Jerry looked worried for Robyn.
"I'm ready whenever you are, Mr. Moundshroud." Robyn told the man.
"There's no turning back." Moundshroud told her.
"I understand." Robyn replied.
"Robyn! No!" Tom and Jerry cried out. They soon saw Tom S, Jenny, Ralph, and Wally include themselves.
"Just think, your precious years hanging on the thread of life..." Moundshroud told Robyn.
"I'm sure, I just don't want Pip to suffer on his favorite holiday." Robyn replied.
"Count me in." Tom S said as he stood next to her.
Robyn looked over, a bit surprised.
"Is he worth it, this friend of yours?" Moundshroud asked.
"More than you'll ever know." Tom S replied.
Patch saw the true loyalty in these five to their friend Pip.
"Five for one makes good business, doesn't it?" Tom S smiled.
"Yes... I like it!" Moundshroud replied before taking out a candy skull with Pip's name on it and crushed it in his hand to make five even pieces. "Chew and swallow... Swallow and chew!"
The five kids each took a piece to eat so that they could help their friend in need. Chip knew that instead of their pumpkins replacing Pip's, Moundshroud's own pumpkin would be placed where it was before.
"Did you know about this?" Cathleen asked the wizard.
"I remember it now..." Chip said. "This was always a tricky deal, but it's for the best for Pip. I'm just so proud of Robyn. She has her mother's spirit."
"So, ready to give the pumpkin back to Pip?" Patch asked Moundshroud.
"In a moment." Moundshroud replied.
"You better." Patch hoped.
An angelic singing was heard as the room glowed and Pip soon began to come alive and run past them in super-speed almost, grabbing the pumpkin on the way out.
"Whoa... Speedy Gonzales." Cherry blinked.
"Time for us to go back to our original time." Atticus said.
"But we saved him... Didn't we?" Tom S asked. "Will he live, Mr. Moundshroud?"
"Come with me then, one more game as this night is through, one more game of musical chairs!" Moundshroud replied as he soon began to spin about.
Luckily, this time, they were soon brought back right home where they belonged, and where the stairs were fixed.
"That was totally wicked!" Cathleen beamed before looking to Cherry. "When's the next adventure?"
Cherry groaned to that.
"And that, children, is Halloween, all rolled up into one!" Moundshroud told them from his balcony. "Night and day. Summer and winter. Life and death. 4,000 years ago, 100 years on this year. One place or another, the celebrations are all the same!"
"That's right." Chip nodded.
"Like Día de los Muertos." Tom S smiled.
"Day of the Dead!" Jenny added.
"The Feast of Ghosts!" Ralph smiled.
"All Hallow's Eve!" Wally smiled back.
"And best of all: Halloween!" Robyn smiled to them.
"Come on, guys, we gotta go check and see if Pip's pumpkin is at his house." Patch said.
"Thank you all for a most amusing and profitable evening!" Moundshroud told them. "I admire what you've all done for your friend, and I will never forget."
"Neither will we." Robyn replied.
"Run! Save yourselves!" Moundshroud told them as the clock tolled. "The last land Trick-or-Treat!"
They soon ran off to go to Pip's house as quickly as they could, and where they didn't stop themselves from running all the way there.
