"Geez, those creeps really totaled this place, huh?" Sly asked as he saw even more smashed than before.
Bentley saw that there were more ghosts than ever swirling around the Big Pumpkin Head.
"They're attacking the inside!" He said as Jack saw another pumpkin root that was jutted a bit.
"We'd better climb up and have a look." Jack said as he used the Soul Robber to pull him up from the root.
"Of course." Sly said as he threw Murray a Chain Cane so that he and Bentley could go next, then held his hand out to Carmelita. "Shall we, my dear?"
"Not a word to anyone . . . or else." Carmelita growled with a blush as the raccoon replied with a zipped-lips sign.
The vixen held onto the raccoon as he hooked them up to the top of the giant pumpkin.
"Now where do we go?"
"Over there, I think." Murray said as he pointed to a hole that led inside the pumpkin.
"This must be where all the chaos is brewing, let's go!" Jack urged as he jumped into the hole.
"This is so unclean . . ." Bentley said with his tongue out.
"Seriously?" Carmelita questioned with a frown.
"Let's go, Bentley." Murray said as he grabbed the turtle and jumped down the hole.
The fake Kato and sheriff shared a glance at each other, shrugged a bit, then jumped down themselves. As they reached as solid platform and after looking around, they had to agree one thing, it was a bit gross.
"Looks like something out of Fear Factor." Sly remarked with a chuckle.
"Only organic." Murray added.
"Okay, looking for troublemakers now." Bentley urged as he kept himself from gagging. "So where are they?"
"Right over there." Jack answered as he pointed to the center of the pumpkin.
True to his word, pigging out on a couple of pumpkins was the wannabe skeleton boy himself, Barrel. Said boy felt as if there was something watching him as he turned to see five familiar faces glaring right into his very soul.
"What, you made it through my maze?" He asked as if he were expecting them to say no.
"Now, Barrel, it's time we taught you a lesson." Jack said with a stern frown.
"My thoughts exactly." Carmelita growled angrily, which earned her a few looks from the three young boys. "What, I didn't mean the same thing my dad would . . ."
Before anything else could be said, the group found themselves surrounded by skeletons, some with red neon coloring, even Barrel seemed to have joined in as he hopped all over the pumpkin.
"FISTS OF FURY!" Murray shouted as he charged into battle.
"Come on . . . let's just go . . ." Bentley groaned as they followed the hippo into battle.
There were so many skeletons, that it had taken much more time than the group could have anticipated. Barrel made it worse as he shot at everyone with a slingshot, though Murray seemed to have endured and tolerated the pellets more than anyone. Just as the skeletons were just about finished with, Murray planted a straight punch onto Barrel, much to his and everyone else's shock.
"MURRAY!" Bentley shouted scoldingly.
"Yes . . ."
"We were suppose to teach him a lesson!" Sly strained with a frown.
"Even I'm not that violent!" Carmelita added with a cringe.
"I'm sorry, guys, I got carried away!" Murray protested as if begging for mercy.
"Look, let's come down and take a big breath." The raccoon suggested as he took position.
"Okay . . ." Bentley replied as he and Carmelita took a similar position.
"Hey guys!" The fake Billy Ho called from the far side of the room.
"What is it, Murray?"
Instead of responding, the hippo held up what seemed to be a huge wooden turkey.
"Hey, that's the Thanksgiving Door!" Sly exclaimed in disbelief.
"Man, now I'm hungry." Murray said as he took out a bag of pretzels to satisfy his hunger and found a key where he had found the door.
"Barrel, pranks are one thing, but real danger is not a good idea." Jack said as he kneeled next to the skeleton boy.
"I'm sorry, Jack . . ." Barrel replied as if he really felt ashamed.
"Now, no more serving Oogie." The Pumpkin King firmly said as he stood up and walked back to the group.
"Okay, Jack."
It was then that the group found a way out of the Big Pumpkin Head, but as they exited Murray glanced back at Barrel, who suspiciously had his hands behind his back . . .
"So, what have we got so far?" Jack asked as they made their way back to Halloween Town.
"Well, the Pumpkin Patch is back to the way it should." Bentley answered while stroking his chin. "We've also found another Holiday Door, which is Thanksgiving . . ."
"But where do we go now?" Carmelita asked.
"We should probably go and make sure the Residential Area is okay." Jack suggested with concern. "The gate that leads there is behind the Town Hall."
Jack led the way to the gate, but despite giving it his all, it remained completely shut.
"Darn, it's locked!" Jack exclaimed in anger.
"What isn't that a big surprise?" Sly sarcastically asked no one in particular.
"Looks like we need another key for this." Bentley said, which had one of them thinking.
"Oh, you mean this?" Murray asked as he showed off said key in triumph.
"Yes, we mean that." Carmelita answered with a smile as she took the key then unlocked the gate.
"Well that was easy." Bentley commented.
As the group entered the Residential Area, there wasn't any damage that they could see. Not yet anyway.
"We'll, everything seems okay so far . . ." Jack said, but . . .
"NO BRAKES!"
The group recognized that distinctive voice as the saw Clown was riding very fast on his unicycle, only it looked as though he couldn't stop.
"SOMEBODY STOP ME!" He begged as he shot past the group, who then spotted the Tall Witch was present as well.
"What's going on here?" Bentley asked said witch.
"I was on my way home to get more supplies, but then I heard screaming and found Clown riding around." She explained with concern. "It seems those Oogie Baddies inserted a motor in his unicycle and he can't stop it."
"Luck!" Murray said as Clown made another round pass them.
"So, how do we stop him?" Carmelita questioned seeing that Clown was too fast to catch up with.
"It seems the only way to stop it is to remove the motor, and even my spells can't do that." The Tall Witch said sadly. "Maybe Jack has something in his bag of tricks?"
"Maybe a good shock to the system is needed." Bentley suggested.
"It's worth a try." Jack replied as he switched to his Sandy (Santa) outfit.
He then threw a few Scare Devices as Clown approached, and Bentley was right; the unicycle indeed came to a halt, only to start back up and take off at full speed taking Clown with it.
"Okay . . . this isn't working at all." Sly bluntly said as he watched Jack repeat his tactics.
"Hmm . . . I guess the only way to stop Clown is to use a tool to remove the motor by hand." The Tall Witch said as she stroked her chin. "I wonder where one could find such a tool."
"I think I know!" Bentley said as his face lit up. "Come on, guys, I know where to get the tool."
"Well, follow Mr. Safari Pants." Carmelita said as the group followed the turtle.
"Why'd we come back again?" Carmelita questioned with a frown.
"Well, since he's a scientist, he's bound to have a few spare tools." Bentley replied as the group approached the Doctor's Lab.
"He's got a point, I have a good feeling about this too.." Jack commented with a smile.
After making their way trough the compound and up the spiral stairwell, the group had stopped to catch their breath.
"If he's such a genius . . . then why doesn't he build . . . an elevator?" Sly panted with his hands on his knees.
"I've learned that it's best not to ask him things like that." Jack replied with a hint of nervousness. "The Doctor's a nice guy, but he can be on the stingy side sometimes ."
"'Sometimes', he says."
"Oh,is that you, Jack?" The Doctor asked as he turned toward the group.
"Doctor . . . we are in need of your assistance and a removal instrument." Bentley said, which confused his friends greatly.
"That type of talk is scary, you know that, right." Sly asked with a sigh.
The Doctor looked as though he was in deep thought, until he finally understood something.
"Oh, you need a tool? Well, help yourself, they're right over there."
"Thank you, Doctor." Bentley smiled as he and the group looked around a toolbox on a counter.
"By the way boys . . . have you seen Sally?" The Doctor asked with a dissatisfied frown. "That woman is always sneaking out without permission."
"Shocker." Sly remarked sarcastically.
"Not now, Sly . . . we'll have a talk with her the next time we bump into each other." Bentley said as he pulled out a an oddly shaped screw driver. "Got it! This should help with removing the motor."
"Okay, got the tool." Carmelita said with relief. "Now we need to get cracking!"
"I'm all for that." Murray chided with a few flexes.
The group slowly and cautiously to where Clown should be.
"So, is there a plan behind this?" Carmelita asked as they waited Clown to pass by.
"Simple, Jack stops the unicycle, then I unscrew and remove the motor." Bentley replied as he held out the screwdriver.
"Okay . . ." Jack whispered as he switched to his Sandy (Santa) outfit and waited for just the right moment . . .
It was then that they saw Clown speeding towards them, which urged jack into throwing a couple of Scare devices and stop the unicycle. Bentley rushed and with screw driver in hand, unhinged the motor from the unicycle.
"Got it!" The turtle yelled in triumph.
"At last . . . I've finally stopped!" Clown exclaimed but then clutched his head. "Whoa . . . my eyes are spinning . . . Ugh!"
The group watch as Clown was about to throw up, but just couldn't for some reason.
"Are you alright, Clown?" Jack asked in concern.
"Yeah, Thanks to you guys, but I hope those Vampire Brothers up the street are okay. I saw some of Oogie's monsters headed that way when my cycle went psycho."
"Vampire Brothers . . ." Bentley pondered for a bit. "Aren't they the ones who act like a barber shop quartet?"
"Yeah, they are." Sly confirmed, but then remembered something. "Now that I think about it; didn't the three creepoids say something about the Mayor's house?"
"I hope they're okay too, but the gate over there is locked, so we can't go through." Jack said in despair.
"No problem! There's a secret button on the top of my house." Clown said with ecstasy. "I'll open the gate for you, and their houses are on the other side."
"Not a secret anymore since you've just told us." Carmelita remarked with a raised eyebrow.
"No time for that!" Bentley said as he casted a worried glance up the street. "Things are about to get worse, I can feel it in my gut . . ."
Author's Note: Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow authors - King of 2211 ;)