"This sure is a spooky place." Goofy was the first to state out loud once the group climbed off of the Gummi Ship.
It was indeed, Aryon cringed inward although he'd never admit to this out loud. Jack-O-Lanterns hung about. The buildings, grounds and walls were all gray in color. Looking down at himself Aryon blinked in shock to find he was transparent. A ghost. Donald changed from his typical wizard attire to a mummy, Goofy was Frankenstein and Sora was some kind of bat/vampire with a pumpkin mask covering half of his face, with bat wings on his back and two sharp vampire teeth.
"What the heck?" Aryon murmured.
"I'll bet the people here are scary-lookin', too," Goofy commented.
"We look spooky-looking, too," Donald said looking at the dog. "If they scare us we'll scare them right back! Aryon's a ghost so he can possess them like in the movies and Sora's a vampire."
Well that thought made Aryon feel a little bit better he supposed. Sora took the lead of exploring this strange new town. On their right was a giant guillotine. Sora looked at it with a cringe. Why they needed to have that…they weren't sure they wanted to know.
As per usual six strange new Heartless appeared. "Oh come on," Sora groaned. Summoning his Keyblade. "Give us a break!"
"Here, here." Aryon grumbled.
"Hold it fellas!" A voice sounded, causing the group to look around for the new voice.
"And now, allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares-Jack Skellington!" A triangle shaped man appeared in the town's center standing beside a water fountain of sorts with bright green water. It appeared that he had another face painted on the back of his head.
As if on cue the six ghost Heartless began doing a dance of sorts. Making a grand entrance, was a skeleton…yes. An actual living, breathing, skeleton emerging from the water. Aryon's jaw slacked open in utter shock.
"Are you seeing this?!" He whispered to his friends.
"Oh yeah." Sora nodded. Eyes just as wide.
Dancing Heartless…Heartless Headquarters perhaps?
"Bravo, Jack! Bravo!" The two-faced Mayor clapped excitedly. "Those ghosts will make a big hit at this year's Halloween!"
The skeleton known as Jack gave a bow. "Thank you, thank you. But their movement still needs work. It's not scary enough," he explained. Voice sweet and sincere with a kind smile despite his scary appearance. "I want to strike bone-chilling terror. I'm going to consult the doctor." With that he left the scene.
Aryon looked at his friends. "So…should we follow him?" They nodded at his suggestion silently following after Jack. Inside they found a strange laboratory. A metal operating table could be seen in the room, the very one that held one of those ghost Heartless. Standing beside the table Jack had a deeply troubled expression on his face.
"I don't understand," he began. Tapping his head with a bony index finger. "Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion."
A small man in a wheelchair with a bald head dressed in a lab coat spoke after. "Nonsense! My experiments are always a success."
Huh? Don't tell me they thought that Heartless was a machine
"Oh! I've got it. Those Heartless need a heart!" Jack's face lit up as he said this.
Sora whispered in Aryon's ear. "I don't think these guys are in cahoots with the Heartless."
"Yeah," Aryon agreed. "Definitely have no idea what they are."
"To make a heart," Jack began reading through a page in a large book. "You need to take the lock off the container."
"I've got one already! But we need a key to unlock it."
After a while Sora stepped forward along with Aryon making themselves known. Jack stared with his wide empty eye sockets having not known they were in the room. "I have the key to the heart," Sora began. "Aryon does to."
Summoning Kingdom Key and Ice Dancer, Sora and Aryon's keyblades glowed in unison at the ends. With a single click the lock opened.
"My! That was amazing!" Jack grinned. "Uh and you are-?"
"I'm Sora."
"And I'm Aryon."
"Well Sora, Aryon, well done indeed! I'd like you to be a part of this year's Halloween."
Aryon's eyes showed excitement at the thought, ready to respond when Sora changed the subject pointing at the Heartless at the operating table. "What's this Heartless doing here?" Sora asked.
"Oh, the Heartless came to town just recently. What's frustrating is I can't get them to dance with me," Jack answered with a smile. "So the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system. He's quite a genius. Okay, Doctor, let's continue. The ingredients for a heart: pulse. Emotion."
"Terror."
Aryon snickered feeling Donald shake behind him.
"Fear, hope, and despair. Mix them all together and we have a heart!"
Everyone moved to the side when the Doctor activated his machine. A bolt of electricity shot out, striking the Heartless only for it to lay defeated. "It failed!" The Doctor cried out holding onto either side of his head shaking it in disbelief. "How?! My experiments are never failures!" Clearing his throat before speaking. "Maybe we're missing some ingredients. Let's try adding memory."
"Sally! Sally!" The Doctor shouted. Aryon kept his eyes out but so far no one else appeared. "Sally! Good for nothing girl! Don't know why I bothered creating her!" He spat in frustration. Sighing wearily, he turned around to look up at Jack. "Sally's got the memory we need. See if you can track her down."
"No problem. Sora, would you and your friends like to come along?"
"Sure!" Sora and Aryon beamed.
Aryon panted heavily as he tried keeping up with the other four ahead of him. A while ago they encountered three of Halloween Town's tricksters Lock, Shock and Barrel at Oogie Boogie's mansion. The minute Shock told them where Oogie's lair was located they made a bee line out of the tree house.
"Where the heck is it?" Sora growled out. Looking at door after door. So many bridges. So many twists and turns. Oogie's lair could be anywhere at this point.
Donald soon spotted a green door in the shape of the guillotine they spotted back at the town. "There it is, guys!"
Sora looked as if he just won a lifetime of free dessert while Aryon looked as if he just won a free trip to the world of NiGHT's. Sora didn't even bother slowing down to get it open. Grabbing the handle, he raced inside with Aryon in tow.
Donald rolled his eyes. "Guys slow down!"
Jack led him and Goofy inside the lair. Everything in the room was decorated in black just like most of Halloween Town was. A giant game piece that reminded Aryon of a gambling machine was in the middle of the floor.
On the other side stood an odd looking guy in a…lumpy old sack.
"Oogie! Give me back that heart!" Jack shouted, pointing at the heart Oogie had floating in his hand.
The guy tilted his head, smiling sweetly. "You want it?" He opened his mouth wide, the heart dangling above before it fell inside. "Well come and get it kiddies!" Oogie cackled after swallowing.
Heartless appeared on the game piece shortly after they were summoned. Aryon attacked one group with Donald relentlessly. Iron spikes popped up, separating them from helping one another.
Then there was spinning. Rapid and fast. Aryon covered his mouth, his motion sickness kicking in. Swallowing the bile that threatened to come out he and Donald stared quizzically at one another, hearing Oogie's loud cackling laughter all around.
A set of explosive gambling dice were then launched. Sora cried out when he was blown back, Aryon deflected one Gambling dice with Reflecta. His eyes trained on Oogie's movements. "Come and get me." The bag of bugs mocked.
Aryon cursed. Sora, Donald and Goofy were all knocked out. It was up to him now until they gathered themselves.
Some of the buttons on the game board lit up. He had to step on the right one Oogie was at otherwise it was game over.
"Finally! Now take this!" He leapt up on the platform Oogie was on giving him as many whacks with his Keyblade since magic was ineffective against Oogie. Aryon watched with a satisfied look as Oogie Boogie melted into nothing but the bugs he was made out of.
"So that heart was a failure after all…" Jack mused out loud after giving Sora, Donald and Goofy needed aid.
After the group filed out of Oogie's Mansion. "Are you alright?" Aryon asked when Sora rubbed his head.
"Yeah I'm fine. That stupid bag of bugs though gave me a migraine I think."
Right after they walked across the bridge however the grounds shook. "Whack! What was that?!" Donald looked around.
Oogie's Mansion began to not collapse but GROW in size. Sora and Aryon's jaws slacked open, taking a step back at the monstrosity before them. Various shadow globes covered the body. "Holy…How'd he get so big?!" Aryon gasped.
"It's brimming with the power of darkness!" Jack pointed at the globes. "Oogie Boogie is drawing power from those dark globes!"
Heartless began to appear one by one making the task proven to be difficult. Sora, Goofy and Jack went after them while Aryon and Donald focused on the shadow globes, guarding and healing each other if a Heartless appeared.
Goofy destroyed the lantern with fire inside using his shield before it struck Aryon in the back. "Thanks Goof!"
Sora was the one who destroyed the final globe. Everyone scattered as the Mansion shivered and shook.
A Keyhole appeared on the ground right after. Together, Sora and Aryon fired a beam of light with their Keyblade's into the glowing blue keyhole, hearing the sound of a lock clicking after.
"Sally, why didn't I listen to you?" Jack was beating himself up after the battle with Oogie ended.
"Don't feel bad, Jack," Sally's voice calm and smooth. "We'll come up with another plan for Halloween," she held his hands in her own. Staring lovingly up at the Pumpkin King. "Next time, we'll do it together."
The way they stared into each-other's eyes. Love…it truly was a powerful emotion. Aryon could practically feel Jack's mood brighten just hearing Sally say those words.
"I guess we have no choice. We'll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween festival for now." Jack sighed softly. But he bended down to Sora's height, placing something in his hand. "Here, I want you to have something. Visit us any time, you guys. Next time I see you, our Halloween will be the scariest yet!"
Aryon couldn't help but grin, giving a military style salute. "You got it Jack. I'm excited for it already."
"Emotion, memory . . ." The touching moment was interrupted. Turning around they could see the Doctor whispering to himself. "We put in all the necessary ingredients. What else do you need to make a heart? What is a heart, anyways? I can't figure it out."
After fiddling with the trinket Jack gave him, Sora looked at Aryon with a shake of his head. You couldn't make a heart. And hearts were so much more than fear and terror. They were full of all kinds of things. When he smiled, Aryon couldn't help but smile back.
Out of all the people he knew he was glad had a heart…it was Sora most of all.
