SC: Day late, sorry guys! Had some internet issues when I got back to good ol' Texas, but it's good now. Still a faster update than I usually give.

Disclaimer: Do not own, don't sue, etc., etc.

Chapter 9

The Not-So-Good Doctor II

Shock tapped her fingers at the end of her broom impatiently as Lock, Aubrey, and Jack huddled down at the bottom of the tower, presumably plotting a way to beat her death trap. Come up with something good, guys. She pleaded to herself, even as the mark on her side burned at her treacherous thoughts.

Movement caught her eye suddenly as the trio charged the ramp. No, no, no!

"That the best you got?" She taunted, sincerely hoping that it wasn't. She was almost relieved to see that they were dodging the balls, ducking into nooks and leaping over them. It wasn't until she realized that Aubrey had run out of room to fly over the balls did she panic, unable to stop the sphere hurtling toward the winged girl. Her scream of warning cut off in her throat as the mark activated, stopping her from saving the heir to Halloween Town's throne.

What happened next confused her greatly for several moments- the sphere hit Aubrey, but rather than crushing her flat, it phased through her- or, rather, she phased through it.

The sound of wings behind her made Shock realize that Lock and Jack had just been a distraction, and she turned to see a very annoyed looking Aubrey. Glancing down at the barrier, she saw that a rather large hole had been eaten through. "Clever." She said, returning her gaze to Aubrey.

"Thanks. Now, do me a favor and hold still." Shock didn't have time to contemplate that odd request before Aubrey lunged at her, pressing her hand to the 'X' etched into her side as they fell on the platform the machine rested on. Burning pain shot through the witch, and with it came a strange, wonderful sense of freedom. Having two such conflicting emotions running through her at once was too much for her brain to handle at the moment, and she passed out from the strain.

Rewind, Aubrey's POV

Lock's plan was surprisingly plausible- I love him, and I know it's mean to say that, but it's true. Most of his plans are… well, kinda stupid. This one actually had a pretty good chance of working.

I cast an invisibility spell on my real body created a magical copy of myself to keep Shock from seeing what I would really be doing while the copy, Lock, and Jack fought their way past her trap.

Hovering was never my strong suit, and it was taking a lot of effort to stay in one place while I vented all the magic I could spare toward the barrier. Finally, a small hole that I probably couldn't have fit a finger through appeared in it, and it was as good as done. Having something to focus on now, I ripped the barrier open further, until the gap was wide enough for me to comfortably fit through.

Things almost got really complicated then- Shock made a choking sound, and I looked over to see that my dummy had been hit with one of the spheres. Since it didn't have any real substance, it just passed through it, but now I was busted, and I wasn't about to let Shock get away. Launching myself up, I gave up on the proxy and the invisibility spell as Shock turned around, surprised to see me. I saw her look down at the barrier, and at the hole, before she looked back up at me.

"Clever." She complimented- it was the first genuine thing I think she'd said since we'd come in.

"Thanks." I said, shifting subtly in my preparation to knock us both out of the air. "Now, do me a favor, and hold still."

Her confusion gave me all the time I needed to tackle us both to the top floor of the lab, and I pressed my hand against the bottom of her ribs- I knew I had the right place when my arm went numb from the dark magic that was trying to shove me away. Whatever happened last time didn't seem to be happening, but I forced myself to find that power source again. Heat welled up in my chest, and then shot down my arm, making it glow gold. Light surged from beneath my hand, and I heard Shock cry out in pain, then slump back to the ground.

I stood up and wobbled over to the machine, pulling the lever to shut it off. It sputtered to a stop, and I sat down heavily, leaning against the wall to stay up.

Back to 3rd Person

It was quite the relief for Jack and Lock when the spheres stopped rolling down the ramp, and the two made their way to the top floor, where Shock was laying unconscious, and Aubrey looked like she was on her way to following. "Hey, look. I didn't pass out this time." She joked weakly, letting Lock pull her to her feet and leaning on him to stay that way.

He kissed her temple, murmuring, "You did good," as Jack helped the stirring Shock sit up.

"What happened? What did you do?" Shock asked, looking over at Aubrey.

"She broke your contract." Lock explained. "Just like she did mine."

Shock's eyes widened. "It's over? You mean it?" Lock nodded, and Shock let out a cry of joy. "Thank god! Oogie can go to hell!"

"Nice to be able to say it again, isn't it?" Lock grinned.

Shock laughed and nodded, but sobered up quickly. "Now we just need to free Barrel…" She muttered, obviously worried about her boyfriend.

"Don't worry, he's top priority after we get Doctor Finklestein's brain back in his head." Aubrey said, stepping away from Lock.

Shock nodded understandingly, but her expression turned to panic as the elevator began to come down from the lab. "Hide!" She hissed. "He might not realize I'm not under Oogie's control anymore!" The three nodded and ran down the ramp a ways, ducking into Sally's old room just before the elevator touched down.

"What was all that racket?" The wheelchair-bound doctor demanded.

"Sure sounds like Doctor Finklestein." Lock muttered. Aubrey rolled her eyes and put a hand over his mouth.

"I was just testing the machine." Shock lied easily, the contempt in her voice barely hidden.

The Doctor observed her for a few moments before letting out a 'hmph.' "Well keep it down! These procedures are delicate." He said, maneuvering back into the elevator. "I'll be taking dinner in my lab tonight."

"Sure thing." Shock answered, uninterested. Only when the noise of the elevator had stopped did the bedroom door creak open and the three stepped out.

"That was… weird." Aubrey said, looking up toward the lab. "It sounds and acts just like him."

"It basically is him." Shock said. "Don't ask me how, but Oogie managed to pretty much copy the Doc's brainwaves down to a 'T.' Just, ya know, more evil and loyal to him."

Lock paused. "So, basically, he's exactly like the real Doc?"

"Isn't that what I just sa- wait, I know that look." Shock said, frowning. "What are you planning?"

"I think I know a how we can 'distract' the Doc while we switch the brains back. C'mon, we gotta go talk to Sally." Lock said, running down the ramp.

Aubrey smiled as he realized what he was planning. "He's just on a roll today." She laughed, hopping over the railing and gliding down. Shock grabbed her broom and followed her, while Jack headed after Lock.

At Skellington Manor

"-so if he's basically got all the same habits as Doctor Finklestein, I pretty much figure that he won't be smart enough to figure out that you put Deadly Nightshade in the soup."

"That's a very good plan, Lock." Sally agreed. "I'll start making the soup right away- the faster we fix the doctor, the better. Aubrey, would you mind coming to help me?" She said, walking into the kitchen.

"Sure mom." She said, hopping off the back of the couch and following Sally into the kitchen. As the two began pulling ingredients out of the cabinets, Aubrey glanced over at the ragdoll. "You're really worried, aren't you mom?"

Sally blinked, surprised, then smiled sadly. "I suppose I am. Doctor Finklestein is the closest thing I have to a father, after all."

Aubrey smiled a little. "Wouldn't have caught you saying that about him a few years ago."

"Things have changed since then." Sally chided. There was silence as the two went back to work on brewing the poisonous soup.

Aubrey glanced over at Sally as she grabbed the jar of Deadly Nightshade out of the cupboard to see the ragdoll gazing out the window with a distant look on her face. "Doctor Finklestein isn't the only one you're worried about, is he? You're worried about Mercy, too."

Sally sighed. "I am very worried about her. I don't know why she'd do something like this. It just seems so unlike her. I can't help thinking that Oogie's done something to her, to make her behave this way."

"That would explain why she thinks he's the good guy here." Aubrey conceded. "I just wish it would be as easy to fix her as it hopefully will be to fix Doctor Finklestein."

Sally hugged her daughter. "So do I, sweetheart. Now, let's get this soup finished."

"Aye, aye captain."

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Shock asked as they crossed the square back to Doctor Finklestein's lab.

"No idea." Lock confessed. "I know that Mercy must've used this same tactic on the real doc, so the monster brain might be on to us. On the other hand, it's pretty likely it still thinks you're working for Oogie, so it won't think about it."

"It didn't even notice us taking down its security system." Aubrey pointed out. "It's probably so focused on making Oogie's monsters, it doesn't pay attention to much else."

"Well, let's cross our fingers." The witch muttered.

Lock looked over at Aubrey. "You ready?"

"Yep, just give me the brain in a box." Jack handed her the box.

"Be careful." He warned.

Aubrey smiled. "I know, I will be. Meet you up there." She said to Shock, heading off to the back of the lab.

Shock shifted the bag slung over her shoulder. "Time to give the doctor his dinner."

"Put those acting skills of yours to good use." Lock said, patting her on the back.

Jack put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be right behind you, Shock."

Shock nodded and shoved open the doors, walking into the kitchen and rummaging through the cupboards for a bowl.

Let's hope this works. The witch thought as she waited impatiently for the elevator to reach the top floor of the tower.

The gate screeched open as the elevator stopped at the lab, and Shock was careful not to slop any soup out of the bowl. They were going to need as much time as they could manage to pull that parasite out of the Doctor's head and put the real brain back in it.

If the doctor could be saved, this was their only chance to do it.

"You're late." The familiar voice snapping at her pulled Shock out of her thoughts. She scowled, walking over and plunking down the bowl in front of him. It doesn't know, she repeated in her head, it doesn't know that I'm not under Oogie's control. It doesn't know…

She almost sighed in relief when the soup disappeared down the doctor's throat. She counted her steps to the door, getting to seven before snoring filled the room. Without hesitation, she ran over to the window, pushing it open. Aubrey landed inside, the box held safely in her hands. "Guess it worked." She noted, speed walking over to the doctor and setting the box down on the wheeled cart next to the elevator. "What is all of this?" She asked, looking at the machinery surrounding the wheelchair bound man.

"No idea, but Lock and Barrel spent a week hauling up parts for it." Shock shrugged, sending the elevator back down to get Jack and Lock.

Aubrey touched one of the saw blades resting above the doctor's head, wincing as it cut her finger neatly. "Real friendly looking. Let's pop his head open and get that thing out of there." Her eyes widened as she took a good look at the doctor. "Oh no… Shock? Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."

"What? Please tell me things didn't just get complicated." Lock said, coming out of the elevator.

"Things just got a lot more complicated." Aubrey muttered, turning the doctor around to reveal the thick black rune burned into his forehead.

"Oh f-" Shock bit her knuckle to stop from cursing. "That's one of Oogie's marks. He used to put it up whenever he didn't want us going somewhere."

"I don't suppose either of you know how to break through it?" Jack asked, crossing his arms.

Lock and Shock both shook their heads. "We were just kids. We didn't have the magic to fight him." Lock muttered, tapping the mark. He winced as black lightning curled up around his hand, yanking it back. "And apparently still don't." He muttered, cradling his hand to his chest.

"How is that even possible, that he's gotten stronger while he was dead?" Aubrey demanded to no one in particular. "You killed him when we were kids."

"It must have been Raphael." Jack murmured, crossing his arms. "Oogie's ashes would have been mixed in with the ashes of the door. When Raphael tried to resurrect the doorway, he brought Oogie back with the key's power."

"I'm… slightly sickened by the thought that Oogie's running off of my powers." Aubrey said, scrunching her nose just slightly. Lock patted her shoulder.

"Shock? You've broken through Oogie's barriers before. Think you can manage this one?" Lock questioned.

"Maybe. If he's using the key's power to do this, then I don't know if I can." Shock said. "I'll try, though." Holding out a hand, Shock winced as the black lightning that had attacked Lock wrapped around her arm. "Nngh- come on, come on." She growled through gritted teeth as she fought her magic down her arm and into the mark. Lock and Jack caught her as she stumbled back. "Did I get it?" She asked dazedly.

"You got it." Lock said, watching as the rune floated away like smoke. "Let's hurry."

Aubrey pulled the top half of Doctor Finklestein's skull up, grimacing as she saw the toxic green brain. "Ooh, that's…"

"Nasty." Shock finished, standing on her own. "Someone yank that thing out."

Lock took a step toward the unconscious Doctor. "Why don't I just burn it out?"

Shock grabbed his arm. "Because you could seriously damage Doctor Finklestein's head. Is fire your solution to everything?"

"Yes, it is." Aubrey said. "Move, I'll take the stupid thing out." She said, reaching for the monster brain. Her hands were mere inches away when red eyes snapped open and a low growl sounded. "What the-"

"Thought you could poison me, did you?" The voice came out of Doctor Finklestein's mouth, but it was twisted and distorted. All four jumped back, away from the iron console surrounding the doctor as he sat up and his fists slammed on the controls, activating the buzz saw blades hovering above their heads.

"Jeezus!" Lock yelped, barely leaping out of the way as a saw came across the space where his neck had been a moment before. "Shock, can't you knock him back out or something?"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" The witch snapped back. "That stupid brain has some kind of ward up! Jack, Aubrey, you two have the long range weapons, try and yank his head back open!"

"Maybe you'd better handle that one, dad." Aubrey said, slicing through an approaching blade with the Morningstar. "I think I'd do more harm tha- aah!" She cried out in pain as a small, metal sphere popped up in the saw's place and shot a laser through her wing.

"Aubrey!" Lock sliced through the laser's mount, and it fell to the floor next to its new friend the broken saw. There was a clean, smoking hole near the top edge of Aubrey's wing. "You okay?"

"It hurts, but I'm fine." She said, her fist clenching around her scythe's handle. "I'll deal with it later, for now, let's get some of those defense systems off of Shock and dad's back."

Lock grinned and held up his sword. "Let's go break some stuff."

Jack wasn't faring well against Doctor Finklestein's machinery- the parasite was operating the blades and claws and lasers with deft precision, and wasn't giving the skeleton any openings.

A flash of metal beside him caught his eyes, and a claw and a laser had suddenly made their new home on the floor. "Need a hand?" Lock asked, the Devil's Advocate's thin blade stained with oil.

"I'd appreciate it." He said with a nod, lashing out at the blade coming toward them with the Soul Robber. The blade ground to a halt as the gooey weapon destroyed its mechanism. Jack glanced across the room to see Aubrey and Shock dealing with the menagerie of weapons focused on them.

"Oh, forget this!" Shock growled as a rotating claw knocked her against the wall, her hat falling to the floor. "Fulgar!"

Electricity crackled around the machinery as Shock's spell hit it, traveling from the claw she used as a lightning rod all the way to the control panel… and Doctor Finklestein's fingers. The doctor jerked in his chair before slumping down, unconscious.

"Hurry, switch the brains back before he wakes up again!" Jack ordered, reaching through the now fried machines to pull open the Doctor's skull. The Oogie-brain was smoking and shuddering in his skull.

"No chances this time." Lock raised his arm and thrust it forward skewering the brain and flipping it out of its stolen resting place. Aubrey carefully replaced the doctor's real grey matter in his skull, and Jack flipped the lid down.

There was a moment of tense silence. "Is it too late?" Aubrey whispered, looking up at Jack.

"I…" Jack hung his head. The Pumpkin King looked back up as Doctor Finklestein let out a low moan, sitting up in his chair and holding his head. "Doctor Finklestein!"

"Ohh, my head… Jack? What are you doing back so soon?" The mad scientist asked, frowning.

"Grandpa," Aubrey asked, walking up behind Jack, "What's the last thing that you remember happening?"

"Hm… I believe that Mercy had brought me something to eat. I must have fallen asleep."

"Um, not exactly. You see-"

"Holy shit, is that thing still alive?" Lock's exclamation distracted everyone as he pointed his sword at the monster brain, which had apparently awoken from its lightning induced nap, and was now growling and glaring at Lock and Shock, who had it backed into a corner.

"What in the world is that?"

"That is what's been controlling your body for the past two months." Jack said. "Oogie has somehow convinced Mercy that we are the bad guys, and she poisoned you with some of Sally's Deadly Nightshade soup."

"Hmph. Just like her mother, that one." Doctor Finklestein grumbled. "You say that I haven't been in my own body for two months?"

"Nearly. It's almost Christmas." Lock said, keeping a wary eye on the brain. "Oogie's been using you to build his monsters, and he's taken over Halloween Town with them."

"This thing also had you make everyone booby trap the town." Shock said, poking it with the end of her hat. It hissed at her.

"I believe we have a lot to catch up on, Jack." Doctor Finklestein said solemnly. "For now, though… Lock, if you would."

Lock grinned evilly down at the brain, which suddenly seemed to realize it was in trouble.

"Ugh, Lock, that's really nasty." Aubrey said, going over toward the window.

"Burnt brain. Yum." Shock said, peering over Lock's shoulder, a hand over her nose. "What's it doing?"

The now liquefied brain was oozing into a new shape, darkening to a familiar, grass green color.

"Oh no…" Jack said, striding over.

"That's one of the holiday doors." Lock said as the green ooze solidified into a solid, wooden shamrock.

"It's just as I feared." Jack murmured. "Oogie has stolen the Holiday World doors."

"It's part of his plan." Aubrey said from the window. "Before Oogie trapped me, he told me that he was planning to become the… the Seven Holidays King, or something."

"That… is bad." Shock concluded.

"If Oogie Boogie has stolen the holiday doors, I think it's safe to say he's also tried to take over the other Holiday Worlds." Doctor Finklestein said. "What other doors have you found?"

"Um, I hate to interrupt, but I think we have a problem back in town." Aubrey said, pointing out the window. Jack ran over.

Several citizens were running in the opposite direction of the Pumpkin Patch. "Oh no…" Jack groaned. "Doctor, we'll have to discuss this later." He said. "I'm afraid Oogie has struck again."

SC: Okay, done. Sorry I didn't make it by the first, but when the internet goes out… unforeseen circumstances are annoying. :/ Reviews are appreciated!

Ja ne

SpontaneousCombustion