Chapter Eleven: Combat
"Okay! Okay, alright!" Shock allowed the fear she felt to show, all of it aiding her performance. "Just leave her alone, we'll tell you what Jack's up to…"
"No! Shock, we have to finish him!" Hesper's cry echoed in the cavern.
"No, no we won't! We'll never tell him!"
Shock started, baffled by Lock's words. And then, just out of the corner of her eye she saw it. He winked, barely more than a bat of his eyelid. But she understood.
It would look suspicious if they all gave in at once. They had to really act, use all of their tricking and prank skills.
It was really only a big prank anyway.
The idea soothed her, and she began to think more smoothly.
"Shock, how could you say that? We'll never serve you again, you bag of bugs! Never!" Lock shouted.
Barrel caught on and pretended to take a side.
"No, Lock, Shock's right! He'll kill us and Hesper too…" his voice broke with emotion, and Shock could tell it was real.
Oogie folded his arms across his material chest, sneering. "And I always thought you were the headstrong one, Witchy. But you were always the smartest too, and now it shows."
"Shock, don't do this! Barrel!" Hesper pleaded, wrapping her furry fingers around the bars of the cage.
Oogie rotated the handle once more, and the cage ceiling crashed down on her. She gave a cry of agony.
"Hesper! Let her out, let her out!" Barrel yelled, fighting against his bonds.
"All in good time, Bones, all in good time." Oogie clicked his would-be fingers and Shock and Barrel fell to the floor, released.
It was now or never.
They immediately jumped into action, turning on their one-time master. Shock pulled a long, thin sword from its stand and threw a spear to Barrel.
They turned to face Oogie, weapons held aloft.
He gave a bellow of fury at being outsmarted, and dragged a heavy axe from the wall behind him, lumbering heavily towards them.
"You haven't got a hope, kids," he hissed as he swung wildly at Shock, who dodged flippantly. "I'm too strong, and the town will be mine. Your cause is lost!"
Barrel broke away to free Lock, leaving Shock deep in combat.
"No cause is lost if there is anyone left to fight for it!" Shock spat. And fight she did. She slashed viciously, intent on destroying the monster, whose wrath on Halloween Town would mean the death of all those who she held dear.
Rubbing his newly freed wrists, Lock snatched another sword and with Barrel by his side, hurried to aid their friend.
Shock handled the sword more skilfully than she herself had expected: she moved with superb balance and coordination, blocked with ease and parried blows with even less difficulty.
Oogie swung widely at her head, but his swipe simply knocked her purple hat to the floor. Lock was keeping him on his toes with short, blunt jabs of his blade; and this was keeping him from getting a clear aim.
Without warning, Barrel lunged with his harpoon-like spear, and it met its mark.
It dug deep into the stitching of Oogie's shoulder, the black thread snaring on the tip.
Oogie gave a bawl of rage as Barrel pulled the spear away, the fast-unravelling string coming with it.
Lock grabbed a handful of Oogie's burlap-skin and tugged; the material came away in his hands as though he was drawing a pair of curtains.
And then the sea of insects that was Oogie Boogie fell to the floor.
"We can't let them get away!" called Barrel over the rushing sound as the bugs skittered to the ground. "Shock, do something! A spell, anything!"
Wishing with all her might that she would succeed, Shock raised her arms and closed her eyes.
"Friends of the sky, large and small,
A banquet awaits you here,
Pay heed to my call."
In the distance, they heard the trap-door thud open, and within moments, the cave-like room was filled with not only luminous green creepy-crawlies, but inky-black feathers.
"Brilliant!" Lock called to Shock hoarsely over the cawing and deafening shrieks.
Shock had summoned the ravens of Halloween Town. The flock of sinister-looking birds, like a massive black cloud, were now dining on each and every Boogie-bug, ensuring that not a single one escaped. Their scraggly wings collided with them as they flew frantically around the cavernous room.
"Let's get out of here!"
Barrel hurried over to the torture-cage in which Hesper was barely conscious and unbolted it with fumbling hands. "Are you alright?"
"I think so," she replied shakily. "My wing is pretty beaten up and I think my wrist might be sprained, but other than that I'm fine." She looked Shock in the eye. "I knew in my heart of hearts you wouldn't give up. But really, I thought you'd given in there."
Shock smiled proudly.
The four hurried through the heavy door, dropping their weapons as they went.
Suddenly Lock stopped in his tracks and turned to Hesper. "Hesper, listen…"
He hastily told her about the fourth of Oogie's newest henchmen, and what he had seen.
Hesper blinked, her eyes wide. "Are… are you sure?" she asked in a tone of tense awe. Lock nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."
Without warning, Hesper stretched her wings and beat them once. She gave a yelp of pain as her injured wing moved. The other three started toward her to help, but she had already started to run on foot down the wide corridor.
"Come on then!" she called over her shoulder as she rounded a bend.
The other three glanced at each other before sprinting after her.
A/N: Heya! I've been kind brain dead this week, so this chapter may not have been that good. But that's your choice! XD
I suck at fight scenes:P
Lock: hits Dance in the Moonlight with plunger "Yeah, you do."
Dance in the Moonlight: rubs head "Ow, dude."
Review replies:
Cheshire Dreaming: Thanks, glad you like it:D I'm happy to see yet another LockShock shipper! Rock on!
SHOWMETHELURV: Well, that's the thing… they didn't know. But they assumed he was. XD Meh. Yeah, I gotta work on filling in those little holes. Thanks for the honesty, anyway! ;D