Chapter 9

Hell's Casino

Sorry for the long wait, but I managed to get a chapter up just before Halloween. I've been busy with college that I hardly had time and energy to work on my fics.

I tried to get a Cajun/Jamaican accent for the sixth eye, but this is the best I could do. I'm from the northern Midwest, so I'm unfamiliar with it the accents. I am not racist or anything. I'm trying to add spice to this story. So sorry if I offended anyone.

I do not own Coraline or The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Coraline couldn't believe something like this was under Halloween Town. A great cavern filled with molten lava and, from the look of things, various traps, possibly both visible and hidden.

"What is this place?" Coraline asked herself as she walked forward on the stone ledge she was one to get a better look of the place.

Looking back at the dark cavern that she fell through from the Mayor's roof, the teen muttered to herself as she looked onward.

"Looks like there's nowhere to go but straight ahead."

She then looked at the traps, all of them with a very similar theme. All of them were things that one would find in a casino: dice walls, cards with spinning swords in their hands, and colorful pendulum-saws that had skeletons on them.

"This must be Oogie's work. But…what about the Other Mother?"

She then looked down from the ledge and gulped as she saw the lava.

"I better tread carefully if I want to keep myself from getting crispy."

But before she could take a step forward, some thoughts came to her mind. To keep herself from getting frightened, she spoke aloud.

"I better find a way to let Jack know that I've gone ahead. Question is…how?"

She felt around in her bag and felt something sharp. Pulling it out, she saw that it was a piece of her sickle that she stored, the only piece left of her old blade. Looking around, Coraline found a spot where she could write a message to Jack.

On a flat slab of stone, Coraline read aloud as she carved her message: an arrow pointing in the direction she was going. After carving the message, Coraline placed the blade piece in her shawl that she had brought and covered it so that the metal didn't pierce her bag and cause her to lose the eyes she collected the entire day. For an added boost of courage, Coraline took out her old hat and placed it on her head, just like she did when she was forced to return to the Other World to save her real parents.

The ledge ended with a stone hand lying flat on the lava. Looking for a way forward, Coraline found iron hook and used her Soul Robber to launch herself up onto the ledge above. But as she landed, a familiar wail caught her attention.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You're gonna be torn to pieces, kid! Do you really think you'll make it out of here alive? It's so entertaining watching you run from my little traps down there. Oh! And I've got even scarier traps in store for Jack later! Ba ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Coraline had to smirk. Oogie must've forgotten that the Other Mother wants her alive. She was certain that if she got even a scratch from Oogie, the Other Mother would tear him from the seams, undoing her work. She even wondered who was really pulling the strings if the Other Mother had that kind of power.

Shaking her head back into reality, Coraline looked to the path ahead. With the gaps between the stone pillars, she would have to use her brains and carefully make her way through this dangerous game of hopscotch to get to the other side. Among the strange contraptions in this place, there were statues that resembled extremely thin skeletons holding platters in each hand while the arms moved apart and together, granting a temporary stepping stone over the lava.

Coraline waited until the statue's right hand platter got close enough that she was able to hop on the tray. Surprisingly, the tray was sturdy, much to Coraline's relief. She then waiting while the statue moved again and she was able to hop across before the tray moved again. The statue 'delivered' her to a curved ramp on the other side and another statue, beckoning her to the opposite direction.

Coraline dared herself to look downward from the edge of the ramp and saw that there were some stone platforms low enough to the lava, but not low enough that she'd roast alive. Unfortunately for her, Coraline had to cross if she was going to get out of the cavern. Once again, she let the boney stone waiter pass her across to the next ledge and she climbed down to the ledge.

The heat made her feel like she was in an oven, like what almost happened with Hansel and Gretel except that she had more legroom and had a better chance of getting out than the witch. Thankfully, she found a coiled pipe she could use her Soul Robber on before she could have a chance to melt. After reaching the ledge above her, Coraline found herself with another waiter, this one having only one arm and a coiled pipe next to it.

Seeing that the tray couldn't reach her, Coraline used her Soul Robber again on the pipe to reach the tray as it came to her. The tray lowered her to the ledge below the next stone pillar. The stone looked like a fallen stone skeleton due to the appearance of the skull in the orange melted metal. Quickly, Coraline latched on another pipe and pulled herself up onto the new ledge.

The ledge opened the door for more dangerous traps for Coraline. Three pendulum saws cut across the stone arch that lead to the wall and at the gap between her arch and the next ledge was a stone mosaic in the design of a card. The King of Spades. At first, Coraline thought it was a simple mosaic, until the card's two swords came to life and spun for twenty seconds before returning to their original position. The action reminded Coraline of a blender and with the pendulum saws, it was like a kitchen gone horribly wrong: Casino style.

Coraline had seen movies and knew how to deal with the pendulum saws. She waited until the first saw passed and dashed across, only to stop and wait for the second saw to pass before she could repeat the step two more times. Once she was safely across, Coraline looked for a way to get to the next gap without getting 'cut by the deck'. Seeing that the only way to cross is with the pipe lodge over the card, Coraline readied her Soul Robber until the swords returned to the card, then unleashed the gel-like weapon on the pipe and quickly swung across before the swords could cut her or her new weapon.

Once she was on the ledge, Coraline saw a hovering platform heading toward her much like the trays of the skeleton statues. Carefully, she stepped on the platform and let it carry her across the last platform, where three mosaic cards blocked her path to the final door. Like before, she waited until the time was right and swung across with the aid of her Soul Robber and another pipe. Once she was across, she had to be careful as there were also three horse-shaped tombstones that breathe fire. She didn't want to try and find out if her Halloween form was fire-proof or not, so she waited until the fire-breathing stones halted before she dashed across the hazard and found herself in front of an archway to a darkened room. Looking back the way she came, Coraline could see that she came a long way and carved another arrow on the floor, giving Jack the direction she was heading.

As soon as she was done, she entered the next room.

Meanwhile, with Jack…

Back at the beginning of the chamber, Jack was unknowingly following Coraline's steps as he entered the magma-filled chamber. After Coraline's disappearance, Jack was forced to fight against Lock, Shock, and Barrel to get them to reveal where Coraline was. It worked…so to say. Like Coraline, Jack fell through the seemingly bottomless pit until he saw the ledge Coraline used and saved himself using his Soul Robber.

"What is this place? I have never seen this before."

He then saw an arrow on a nearby stone as he looked down the cavern and saw the dangers his human friend had just gone through.

"Coraline must have gone down this way. I better hurry and get moving if I want to catch up to her."

As he took his first steps in the cavern, Jack placed a boney hand on one of his coat pockets. He found Coraline's stone she used to identify the children's eyes and picked it up during his fight with the Terrible Trio and placed it in his pocket for safekeeping. Remembering that it was a stone like this that helped Coraline in the past, Jack was going to make certain that Coraline got the stone back.

Back with Coraline…

By the time Jack got moving; Coraline was inside the new room and was surprised by its appearance. Although the darkness was a comfort to Coraline's eyes, the teenager did notice that she wasn't alone in this place. The room was circular with seven cages at each part of the walls in the same order that Coraline saw the Holiday Doors in. The only difference is that the symbols of the holidays were in a macabre appearance. Appropriate for Halloween, not for the situation she was in. Inside five of the cages were rustling trick-or-treat bags the size of garbage bags, which they must be, Coraline guessed. The only ones empty were the Halloween cage and the Christmas cage.

It was then that Coraline figured out what was in the filled cages. The Holiday Leaders. Quickly, she dashed for the first door on her right: the Valentines cage. Coraline struggled with the cage door, but it was locked and there was no other way to open them.

"Looks like those three locked them in here. And I'm guessing that the pumpkin cage is for Jack. So the only other free leader is…"

Coraline whispered in amazement and fear as she spoke the leader's name.

"Santa Claus."

If Oogie was capturing the Holiday Leaders to make himself the Seven Holidays King, why hadn't he captured Santa yet? Coraline's instincts told her that Oogie must have something special planned for Santa just like he's doing with Jack. And what he meant by 'special' meant nothing good at all for the teen and her newfound friends.

But what of the Other Mother? Where's her handiwork?

"Maybe this is Oogie's sole territory, just like the Other World is to the Other Mother." Coraline muttered.

But even so, this chamber was the safest place for her to wait until Jack arrives. She just only wished that she had like a skeleton key or something to help the Holiday Leaders out of their cages.

Speaking of keys, Coraline reached into her satchel and pulled out the key she took from Shock. It was different compared to the key she used the first time she entered the Other Mother's world, but maybe it had a different purpose. But what? The only thing Coraline knew that once this whole night was over, she would send the key to be with its mate: at the bottom of the Old Well.

But just as Coraline was about to relax, a scuffling sound reached her ears. She turned and saw something rise from the center of the floor: a giant spider much like the one that kept Sally prisoner, only its spiral was an electric blue. Knowing the spider's weakness from before, Coraline dashed behind the spider and attacked its spinnerets with her blue Soul Robber. The sudden jolt of pain caused the spider to dig underground before coming back up in dozens of smaller spiders. Coraline wasted no time in using her Halloween form to cast pumpkin bombs at the spiders, killing many of the small arachnids.

But she was unable to kill all of the spiders in time as the remaining spiders burrowed underground and emerged at the larger spider again. But this time, he was smaller, about the size of a cow. Again, Coraline struck the spinnerets and firebombed when the smaller spiders came up, allowing the teen to finish the spider off.

After the spider was squashed, another cage lowered itself from the ceiling, this one designed to hold a single person and leave them hanging for days. But this cage also looked familiar to Coraline until she looked up, following the chain. There was a hole in the ceiling, which was letting in a decent amount of moonlight. This was the cage from the square!

"Well. Now we have a way to get back up." Coraline spoke.

But she went silent as she heard something crash and bang from the Christmas cage. Carefully approaching the cage, Coraline touched the door and saw that it was unlocked and that there was no back to the cage.

"What's down there?" She whispered to herself.

She was tempted to go, but she decided not to.

"I better wait for Jack."

Coraline walked back to the entrance and waited for Jack. She was able to see him once he had reached the buzz-saws and the Cards of Death. She waved her arm after Jack made it across. She kept silent as she waved for fear of whatever was down at the end of the other corridor. As soon as Jack made it to where Coraline was, he spoke.

"Are you alright, Coraline?"

Coraline nodded.

"Yes. But I think I've found most of the Holiday Leaders."

Jack, like Coraline did before him, looked into each cage, confirming Coraline's response as she told him about the chamber, including they mystery corridor behind the Christmas cage.

"Do you think that Oogie might be down there?" Coraline asked.

"I'm not sure. But we will have to be careful."

He then pulled out the stone from his jacket pocket and handed it to Coraline.

"I've found this on the mayor's rooftop after you fell through the trap. I am certain you need this."

Grateful, Coraline took the stone and put it in her pocket.

"Thanks, Jack."

Once the stone was returned to its rightful owner, the Pumpkin King and the adolescent opened the Christmas cage door and headed down the corridor.

After going through another lava-filled corridor, Jack and Coraline entered a room darker than the cage room. There was a single spotlight at the center of the chamber, where standing on a spiked pedestal was a bagman in a green-tinted light.

Oogie Boogie…in person.

"Oogie! Return the Holiday Leaders to their worlds!" Jack demanded.

Oogie, however, spoke with a smug look on his burlap face.

"I can assure you, the leader of every holiday is right where he should be – and you're looking at him!"

"Where are you holding Sandy? And where is the Beldam?" Jack demanded once again, getting Santa's name wrong…again.

But Oogie didn't give him the answer he was seeking.

"Jaaack. Weren't you listening? I said I had debt to repay old Sandy Claws – a debt I'm going to repay in person! The old hag and I don't want you and the kid causing any trouble while I'm on my little visit and she back at her web, so we've hidden the Christmas door behind something quite nasty. So in the meantime, let's say we have some fun. The Oogie Casino is now opened!"

As soon as Oogie finished his speech, neon lights suddenly lit the entire room, exposing a macabre roulette table big enough to fit a crowd of people in. And no doubt filled with traps too. Taking out the stone, Coraline nodded to Jack, who got the message. He would handle Oogie while she looked for the remaining eyes. Jack jumped down into the giant wheel and Oogie spoke again.

"What are we gambling for you ask? Nothing all that valuable – JUST YOUR LIFE AND THE KID! Cue the music!"

As soon as some music began, cards rose up around the edge of the wheel as it began to turn. Jack nearly stumbled as the wheel jolted to life and evaded the cards' blades at the same time, the whole situation quite familiar. Coraline, in the meantime, held up her free arm with the stone at her eye while her other arm steadied the Soul Robber on her hand.

She looked around while Jack dodged traps and struck at Oogie with his Soul Robber, finding the most effective thing being exploding dice. Coraline kept on her toes as well. Often, Oogie would jump onto the edge of the roulette wheel when the middle sank to a lower level, careful so he would jump where she was and capture her easily.

Coraline looked quickly, hoping to see a ball of light. She found one within the darkness.

"There it is!" She spoke.

But it was too soon. As soon as she made that announcement, more neon lights turned on, revealing a long table at the end of what Coraline thought was green carpet, until cards rose up from the green and poker chips rose and sunk. Tearing off a piece of her shirt, Coraline tossed the fabric into the ooze and saw it burn.

The green fluid was acid.

Behind her at the roulette wheel, Oogie laughed.

"Oh, by the way. If you want this casino's eye, you're gonna have to play a little blackjack, kid. Blackjack with acid that is!"

Jack narrowed his eye sockets as he struck Oogie while he was distracted.

"That is abysmal even for you!"

Oogie just laughed.

"You didn't think I'd leave the kid out of all the fun, did you Jack? Sure, the hag wants her alive, but she didn't say anything about playing with her for a bit."

Coraline, in the meantime, had to figure out a way across the acid to get to the eye. By far, the only chance she had was the poker chips. She waited until the closest chip appeared and hopped on, waited until the second chip appeared and jumped off quickly before the first chip sank. Unfortunately, cards rose up and tried to mince her, Coraline being saved by the third chip, which was farther out than the previous chips were.

"This is going to be harder than it looks." Coraline groaned.

She looked on ahead and saw that the next chip had a firecracker on it. Jumping on it, Coraline quickly looked back at the other chips and saw that they had a heart, a four-leaf clover, and an Easter egg on them, painted in a macabre fashion. They were images of the holidays in order by month. Which meant the next one was a pumpkin, followed by a turkey, and a Christmas tree for the last chip. Each chip had a deadlier trap than the last. The Independence Day chip had fireworks launched at her, nearly forcing Coraline off the chip and into the acid as she tried to dodge them.

After hopping onto the pumpkin chip, pumpkin bombs were tossed at her, some of them exploding in midair. It was the perfect moment to try out her Christmas form, which she called mentally the 'Christmas Angel' form. Upon turning into her Christmas form, Coraline turned to an airborne pumpkin and let out a breath of freezing air, freezing the pumpkin while blowing it into the acid.

When she stepped onto the Thanksgiving chip, Coraline found herself being attacked by crows and ravens viciously. As she froze them, Coraline thought to herself.

"Looks like Oogie couldn't find any flying turkeys."

The thought would've made her laugh had it not been for the fact that her life is still in danger. Once the Christmas chip came up, she hopped on and was met with the coldest mini blizzard she had ever experienced. Her Christmas form, unfortunately, didn't keep her warm from the cold, leaving her to use her Halloween form and cause a firewall to appear around her.

With the table in her sight, Coraline quickly jumped before the spell wore off and landed onto the table. The table was a roulette table and after using the stone, Coraline found the eye was none other than the roulette ball, bouncing and rolling around the wheel. With quick movement, Coraline caught the ball and looked to the path behind her. Amazingly, upon the removal of its power source, the Blackjack table stopped moving, all the chips rising up permanently. With the eye in hand, Coraline dashed across the chips just in time as Oogie collapsed after Jack beat him.

"Huff….huff… You've got some nerve escaping my perfect traps. Still, the real losers are you and the kid, Jack. For he who has the last laugh wins!"

Suddenly, Oogie sank down before rising again, this time as the shadow the duo fought inside the town hall earlier that day.

"What's this?" Jack exclaimed while Coraline was wide-eyed.

The Oogie they fought was a fake.

"Congratulations, heroes. You defeated my shadow. Neat trick, huh? The real me is in Christmas Town. Bye now!"

Then, Shadow Oogie exploded in a flash of light, leaving nothing but the information and the Easter Door behind. Jack approached it and collected it, but was surprised.

"The Easter Door!? But, where's the Christmas Door!?"

He then looked up at Coraline, who was kneeling and reaching for Jack.

"The center cage can take us back to the plaza. Maybe we can figure something out once we're out of here and into the moonlight."

Back on the Surface…

Coraline ended up taking the cage back up to the square while Jack took and alternate route through some sort of tunnel. When Coraline was back up, she saw Jack rise from the fountain and the denizens of Halloween Town cheered. Oogie was beaten and kicked out of their town. Well…not beaten exactly.

"Her web… I wonder… Did Oogie's shadow admit that the Other Mother is back in her world?" Coraline looked at the eye.

Its owner was an African-American boy with a Cajun accent mixed with Jamaican dressed in 1930's clothing, around his neck was a voodoo talisman. He thanked her like the others did, but told her something else.

"De Beldam. She holds de keys to de last eye. De eye be in Christmas Town, but you cannot reach it without the ornaments needed to get at it: A star, a candle, and a bauble. Her home be in a wood called de Hinterlands. Her second door be in a tree like the Holiday Doors. A Black Button be her symbol. But beware. She be bracque. Crazy. She be expectin' you. Be canaille, sly, and quick. Or she get you and make you one of us."

That wasn't very encouraging, but it was a start. It seemed that before she could get to Christmas Town, Coraline had to do one last thing.

She had to return to the Other World.

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