SC: Woo! Double digit chapter! Also, I love Behemoth. He's so cute. He's like a big kid… granted, with an ax in his skull.
Disclaimer: Same old, same old. You guys know the drill.
Chapter 10
Warning: Possessed Pumpkins (Not for use in Carriage Transformations)
"What's going on? What's happened?" Jack demanded, pushing through the crowd to see a sobbing Behemoth.
"Behemoth, what's wrong? Did something happen to the pumpkin patch?" Aubrey asked, kneeling down next to him. He nodded, still sniffling.
"He said something about ghosts in the pumpkins." Drake said, looking over at Shock and Lock.
"Ghosts…"
"In the pumpkins?" The two of them repeated, looking at each other, confused
"Oogie's doing, no doubt." Jack muttered. "Let's go- don't worry, Behemoth, we'll get your pumpkin patch back."
"Thank you, Jack." Behemoth sniffled. Jack smiled and patted the hulking man's shoulder before storming toward the pumpkin patch.
"I don't understand. If Oogie had Doctor Finklestein making his monsters, shouldn't they be losing strength and numbers?" Aubrey asked as they walked through the gate.
"They might be making themselves at this point." Lock muttered, kicking the gate shut behind them.
"There's a lovely thought." Shock said, looking around. "I don't see any ghosts."
Aubrey took a few more steps forward. "Well, he said 'in the pumpkins,' so maybe-" She cut off with a shriek as the pumpkin near her feet exploded, an Oogie ghost slashing at the winged girl and leaving a long gash on her stomach. Lock stabbed through it and it vanished in a puff of smoke.
"That's just freaky." Shock said as another pumpkin grew in the decimated one's place in a matter of seconds.
"And people say that the dark arts are the freaky stuff." Lock muttered. "Because that's some powerful white magic."
"Barrel." Aubrey sighed. "Damn it. Now what?"
Jack paused, then smiled. "Hm… maybe… stand back, you three." Lock, Shock, and Aubrey looked at each other strangely, but did as Jack said. Stepping up to the row of pumpkins, Jack let out his best Pumpkin King shriek. The pumpkins burst, the ghosts shooting out and up, startled out of their safe hiding places.
"All right Jack!" Lock cackled, tossing a fireball through one. It shriveled into the flame, disappearing into a puff of smoke. The other two flew away before they met the same fate.
"Beat 'em at their own game." Shock smirked. "Good idea, Jack."
He took the complement with a nod, but was quickly serious again. "Let's get moving."
As they went deeper into the pumpkin patch, Aubrey let out a quiet noise of pain, putting a hand on her head. Shock turned to look at her. "You all right?"
"Yeah. All the Oogie magic in this place is giving me a migraine, that's all." The winged girl muttered.
"Not exactly pleasant, is it?" Shock sighed. "Once we get Barrel back, he can clear all this mess out." Aubrey nodded, hopping off the ledge they'd just reached.
"Yuh-uh." Lock said, throwing an arm out in front of the two girls. "Bridge is out." The stone bridge that normally crossed the glowing green river had been blown to smithereens, leaving no way across.
That is, if you couldn't fly. "You say that like it's a serious roadblock." Shock said, leaning on her elbows on her broom, which was levitating at waist height. Aubrey flared her wings out slightly giving her fiancé a 'hello, duh' look.
Lock returned their patronizing looks with a 'not amused' look of his own, picked up a good sized rock, and tossed it over the bridge. There was a loud roar of rushing water, and the river rose up to pluck the stone out of the air, dragging it into the depths.
Shock's broom disappeared with a 'pop!' and Aubrey crossed her arms. "Well, that's… that's a roadblock." She muttered.
"You think?" Lock asked sarcastically. "Come on. There's got to be another way around." The group turned around to find an alternate route, stopping as the caterwauling warning siren filled the air, followed by the sound of a microphone turning on.
"Hello? Testing, testing. One, two, three. Am I on?"
"Oogie." Lock and Shock snarled simultaneously.
"Let's keep moving, we don't have any time to waste." Jack said, pushing the two forward along the vine strewn path. The four weaved their way in and out of the pumpkins as Oogie's voice radiated through the patch.
The bogeyman cleared his throat. "Denizens of Oogie Town!" Jack's fists clenched at the name. "Jack has returned! According to the reports," Oogie chuckled darkly, "he's enjoying our dangerous Oogie Town so much he's screaming in horror! Rejoice! This is all thanks to your efforts!" He cackled loudly and in malicious glee.
"Doesn't he just love the sound of his own voice." Lock growled.
"Over here, I think I found a place we can cross!" Shock called, spotting a narrowing of the river. Lock grabbed a stone from near his feet and chunked it over. The river remained as it was.
"Good job, Shock." Jack said before throwing out the Soul Robber. It latched onto a gnarled tree, allowing the skeleton to swing over. Aubrey went after him, with Lock and Shock on the witch's broom behind her.
"Well, there's one obstacle behind us." Aubrey said, looking over her shoulder.
Lock sliced a bomb spitting statue apart at the base. "Yeah, only god knows how many more to go." The ground shook and rumbled as the words left his mouth. He sighed. "Of course."
The dead ground split and cracked, a large bony hand shooting out of it. Following the hand came a long, thick arm, and it was- unfortunately- attached to a very angry looking, club-wielding ogre.
Which barely had time to roar at the four before it was simultaneously struck by three very large bolts of lightning. Jack, Aubrey, and Lock turned to look at Shock, who pushed a stray hair back under her hat. "I don't have time for this bullshit." She muttered, storming past them. "Are you coming or not?"
"First thing I'm telling Barrel when we get him back is to NEVER break up with Shock." Lock muttered. Aubrey and Jack both nodded, carefully following the angry witch.
After hopping the river twice more- once where it attempted to grab Shock as she flew over, only to be spelled into submission- they reached a new obstacle: a large, thick root had grown over the path. At this point, though, it wasn't much of an obstacle, and they all just climbed or flew over.
However, once they reached the other side, it was a different story. "Aah!" Aubrey let out a cry of surprise as she fell to the ground, her wings suddenly disappearing in a wisp of white smoke. Shock's broom splintered beneath her, sending her plummeting as well, though this time Jack was there to catch her.
"What just happened?" The witch asked, looking at the shattered remains of her broomstick.
"You all right?" Lock asked, helping Aubrey up.
She nodded warily, looking over her shoulder. "I- I think so. But my wings…"
"Don't worry," a familiar voice said, making them all look up, "It's just a 'grounded' spell. They're not gone for good."
"Barrel!" The fourth member of the trick-or-treaters was sitting atop another giant root a few feet away, looking as morose as any of them had seen him in quite some time.
"It's about time you showed up." He said, swinging his leg down so both dangled off the front of the root. "I was beginning to think you couldn't get past the pumpkins. Keep on going like this, and you'll never make it through the maze in time."
"In time for what?" Jack asked, though he had a feeling he wouldn't like the answer.
"To stop the monsters from destroying the big pumpkin head."
Aubrey's eyes widened. "But that keeps the entire pumpkin patch growing!"
"Then I guess," He said, standing up, "you'd better hurry." With a flash of light, Barrel disappeared.
"I curse the day that he learned to teleport." Lock growled. "Now what do we do?"
"We'll have to get through the rest of the pumpkin patch, and Barrel's 'maze' as quickly as possible." Jack muttered. "We can't let them destroy the pumpkin head."
"What about Barrel? How do we get him to stand still long enough to let Aubrey break the contract?" Shock asked.
"We'll have to get to that when it comes." Jack said. They all nodded. Shock looked over at Aubrey, who was staring at the place Barrel had disappeared from.
"Aubrey." The white-haired girl looked over at the witch. "About Barrel's contract mark. It's-"
"On his forehead. I know." Aubrey muttered. "I saw it."
Shock looked startled. "What?"
"I know, it surprised me, too. But when I looked at Barrel… I could see it, clear as day. I think the key's getting stronger."
Many twists, turns, and monsters later, the group had finally reached the end of Barrel's labyrinth. "Behemoth is going to kill Barrel when this is over. Look at what he did to this place." Lock muttered, looking at the many, many obviously displaced pumpkins lying around the clearing.
Aubrey shivered as they stepped into the clearing before the giant Jack'o'Lantern, rubbing her arms. "This place reeks of Oogie's magic." Lock put an arm around her.
"We'll be out of here soon, Aubs."
"I wouldn't count on that." Barrel called, standing atop the Pumpkin Head and looking down at the group morosely. "Jack still has to beat me in order for you all to leave."
"Me?" Jack questioned. "Why me?"
"There's a barrier set up around any entrance to the Pumpkin Head. You're the only one its going to allow through, Jack. And I wouldn't try breaking it, Shock. It's white magic. We all know how you react to that." He said quickly, before Shock could work up a dispelling charm. "See you inside, Jack." He said, hopping back down into the gourd.
"Now what?" Shock groaned. "Without Aubrey able to get inside, we can't break Barrel's contract."
"Which is what Oogie is counting on." Jack murmured.
Lock growled. "Damn it! What do we do now?"
Aubrey smiled slightly, eyes running over the barrier shimmering around the Pumpkin Head. "Why don't we see how smart that barrier actually is?"
What's taking them so long? Barrel asked himself as he waited in the belly of the Pumpkin Head. He just wanted to get this over with, one way or another. The sound of screaming ghosts and wailing skeletons made him look up. He sighed as he heard Jack's voice, as well as the whip of the Soul Robber. He held out a hand, summoning the Bone-sledge and resting it on his shoulder as he waited for the skeleton to make it down to his level.
Finally, Jack dropped through a hole in the ceiling, straightening up and scanning the room until his eye-sockets fell on Barrel. "It's about time you showed up Jack. And alone, too."
"It's not as though I had a choice."
"Right." Barrel said, slipping his free hand into his pocket and pulling out a cold, metal sphere. Dark energy radiated off of it, evaporating into smoke as Barrel crushed it. Jack looked up as the hole he'd dropped through sealed behind him.
"Barrel, what have you done?" He demanded.
"Made it so that neither of us can leave here without one of us dying." Barrel said listlessly. The white magic user frowned as Jack began to chuckle- not exactly the reaction he was expecting. "What are you laughing at?"
Jack's chuckled died, and he smirked at Barrel. "Oh, nothing." The skeleton said. Barrel frowned- Jack's voice had begun getting lighter and more feminine. "Just that Shock was right- Oogie is so predictable." As Jack spoke, he seemed to shimmer and fade away, revealing Aubrey standing there. "And now that you can't teleport away, we're going to have a fair fight."
Barrel's eyes widened, and then he glared at her. "Do you have any idea what you've done? Aubrey, I'm going to have to kill you!"
"Or you can just stand still and let me take care of that mark on your forehead." She suggested, taking a step toward him. Barrel took a step back, hefting the Bone-sledge off of his shoulder and taking a better grip on it. Aubrey sighed, holding her hand out. The Morning Star appeared in it. "Fine, we'll do it your way." She said, throwing the scythe's blade at him. Barrel teleported out of the way, reappearing to her left and swinging his weapon at her. Aubrey leapt out of the way, letting it hit the barrier surrounding the sides of the room. "Barrel, stop making this difficult and hold still!"
"I can't, what don't you get about that?" He demanded, disappearing as she reached for him. Aubrey dodged as he reappeared above her, rolling out of the way and landing on her knees.
"Of course. Oogie." She growled, standing up and looking around the room. Barrel had vanished again, and didn't seem to want to reappear. Aubrey stepped into the middle of the room, still looking around warily. "You know, Barrel, Shock's been right about a lot of things lately." She said to the empty room, her hand tightening around her scythe's handle. "Oogie isn't the only one getting predictable." She quickly turned, lifting the Morningstar and catching the handle of Barrel's hammer, twisting the blade and tossing it away before pressing her hand against the mark on Barrel's forehead. This time, the dark magic barely stung her fingers before the key's magic forced it out of her body and Barrel's.
The shockwave from the contract breaking shattered the barrier surrounding the room like glass, as well as throwing the two across the small space. Barrel managed to scramble up first, running across the room and scooping Aubrey up into a hug. Aubrey laughed. "Barrel!"
"You did it, you did it, I would kiss you but Lock would kill me, but you did it!" He laughed, setting her down. "Let's get out of here."
"Gladly. But, uh, you have some work to do." She said as they reappeared outside the Pumpkin Head.
"Yeah, I know mmf!" Barrel fell back onto his butt as Shock tackled him with a kiss.
Jack patted Aubrey's shoulder. "Good job, Aubrey."
Aubrey grinned, then laughed a little as she found herself swooped up into another hug, this time by a very happy Shock. "Shock! Geez, all right! I'm glad I could help, but please put me down before I get sick."
The witch grinned, putting her down. "Sorry." She grinned.
"You're creepy when you're happy." Lock said, crossing his arms. Shock rolled her eyes, punching his arm. "Ah, sweet normalcy… ow."
Barrel laughed. "All right, let's just get out of here. After I fix this place up, anyway."
"Yeah, you better, or Behemoth is gonna kill you." Aubrey said. Barrel grimaced, obviously picturing what Behemoth could do with that ax in his head.
"Why don't I just get on that…" He muttered, raising a hand and muttering several spells under his breath while his friends laughed.
Deep below Halloween Town's streets, Oogie Boogie roared with rage. "How DARE SHE!" He roared, stomping around his roulette wheel. "My contracts, all gone! I have no power over those brats anymore." He muttered. "And without them runnin' around up there, I don't have anyone to keep the Town as is… hmm…" He looked up as a stray crow that had somehow found its way into the casino 'cawwed' above his head. Oogie grinned. "Hehehe… that'll work…" He turned back toward the table in the middle of the roulette wheel, where a small, shining gold sliver of light sat. "Mercy!"
The redheaded Skellington came down the staircase. "Yes?"
"I've got a job for you, dollface…"
SC: Wee, more updates! I'm getting a lot done, with Christmas over and done with now. Anyway, read and review please! I'll try and get a new update out before I have to go back to school on the fifth.
Have a happy New Year!
SpontaneousCombustion