Things appeared to look very bad for Sally, Santa, Bentley, Murray, and Carmelita as Oogie had them all tied up and placed on raised panels from his roulette wheel with the rag doll and old elf on one end and the vixen, turtle, hippo on the other end. Bellow them, which was also the middle of the roulette wheel, was a pit filled with molten lava, this was Oogie's "special brew"; the snake and spider stew! In the middle of the stew, which was also mixing it, was a machine that resembled a cross between a spider and an eight pool ball. If the panels were at the exact right angle, it would send all of the captives into the bubbling stew, which Oogie himself was hoping would happen. Bentley and Carmelita struggled against their bindings in hopes that they'd find a way to free themselves, while Murray was hoping, like really, really, really hoping, for a miracle of any type to happen at any time.

"Okay it's official: we're in deep do-do now." The little wrestler said as he began to sweat.

"And that's an understatement!" The fake Catwoman remarked as her and Bentley's efforts were turning out to be fruitless.

"You wait until Jack hears about this!" Sally yelled in fury of the living bug-sack. "By the time he's done with you, you'll be lucky if you . . ."

But her words were interrupted by the sound of the Mayor's sad, weeping, and sobbing voice as his announcement ringed throughout Oogie's lair:

"Skeleton Jack is now a pile of dust! Oh Jack! You're gone! This Mayor and all of Halloween Town mourn you!"

At the exact same time, a pair of doors in the graveyard of Halloween Town flew open as Jack, Sly, and Zero emerged from the tunnel inside. This confused the raccoon as he looked around their perimeter. They were back in Halloween Town, so fast?

"Okay . . . That made no sense." Sly remarked as he looked back at the doors.

"Come on!" Jack urged as he led the way to Lock, Shock and Barrel's treehouse.

This shocked both Sally and Carmelita beyond reason from what they had heard. Did they really hear the Mayor say what they thought he said? Did Jack really . . . really . . . ?

"But . . . but . . . Ringtail was with him." The vixen stammered as she felt a stray tear trickle down her cheek.

"Bentley . . . what did she mean by that . . ." Murray asked his turtle friend in a worried tone.

"I think I might have a clue . . ." Bentley said as he hoped he was incorrect on this equation.

"What's that you said about luck, rag doll?" Oogie questioned with a smug and triumphant smirk.

"Help, help!" Sally yelled out for someone to rescue them.

"RINGTAIL!" Carmelita cried out in despair.

"SLY!" Bentley called out in equal despair.

"I don't think Sly could hear us from down here, guys." Murray said as he felt his hope slipping into the stew.

"Guess again, big guy." Sly thought as he heard each and every word spoken by the group. Without the cage elevator they knew there was only one way into Oogie's lair; straight down.

"Shh . . ." Jack hushed as Sly and Zero nodded and followed him into the darkness.

"Seven, looks like it's Oogie's turn to boogie!" Oogie said as he rolled his dice and cranked a lever that controlled the angle of the panels. "One, two, three . . . Four! Five! Six! Seven!"

The last few cranks had really freaked the group, like ten times infinity!

"Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Oh, I'm feelin' weak, with hunger! One last roll of the dice ought to do it!"

"Well, it looks like this is the end guys!" Murray said as he could practically feel the stew on the panel he was on.

"Looks like it, Murray!" Bentley confirmed as his wig nearly slipped off.

"Hey guys, even though we've had a lot of really bad run-ins with each other (countless actually), it was an honor knowing you guys . . ." Carmelita stuttered with sincerity and more tears.

"Same here."

"Ditto."

"What, snake eyes?!" Oogie questioned as he ponded on the counter which made the dice change numbers from a pair of twos to a five and six! "Eleven, looks like I hit the jackpot!"

That was the one thing the group could not believe in the most! They knew he never plays fair, but come on, he should at least show a little courtesy!

"Why of all the uncool, no good, cheating . . ." The wrestler started to think, but was interrupted as Oogie cranked the panels more which also made everyone screamed.

"Bye, bye, doll face, Sandman, and kiddy-weenies!" Oogie laughed as the last cranked caused the group to slowly slide into the stew!

"Goodbye Jack." Sally sadly thought with tears.

"Goodbye guys!" The false Einstein cried with all his might.

"Goodbye . . . Sly!" Carmelita thought as her face welled with tears.

"Farewell, cruel world, we hardly had the chance to know you well!" Murray exclaimed as he prepared for the worse . . .

Oogie anxiously awaited for his prisoners to fall into the vat . . . but, nothing happened as his captives seemed to have vanished.

"What the . . . "

The bug-sack man flipped the panels to see what went wrong, but instead of seeing Santa, Sally, Bentley, Murray, and Carmelita, he received an . . . unexpected surprise. There, where his captives were previously, sat a beyond furious skeleton and raccoon boy dressed just like Zorro. This made Oogie gasp and jump back; this wasn't suppose to happen.

"Hello, Oogie." Jack said in an intimidating and eerily calm voice.

"And Murray, save that goodbye till you're old." Sly said to his friend, who stood a good distance away along with the others.

"Sly!" The hippo and turtle cheered happily as Carmelita found her tears becoming more joyful than brooding.

"Jack! B-but . . . they said you were dead!" Oogie sputtered as he backed away from the approaching Pumpkin King and his companion. "You must be . . . Double dead!"

The sack man then stepped on a button that activated the giant roulette wheel as it came to life and spun at an incredibly swift rate. The spider ball, which was still in the middle, began to spin quickly itself as it began to rise up in the air. All around the wheel, giant king card-looking wall popped up and slashed their swords at the two heroes. The speed increased so much that it had almost knocked them to the ground.

"Man, I hate these rides!" Sly said as he and Jack struggled to keep their footing.

"Well, come on, bone man!" Oogie taunted to which the "bone man" and raccoon complied.

"Let's do this!" The fake Zorro said as he and the Pumpkin King made their way to their target.

They sprung into action as they dodged and traversed the swords and spider's legs as they closed in on Oogie, but every time they were close enough to touch him, he would back away out of reach! Another advantage at being a raccoon; he was lithe, agile, swift, and stealthy as he kept up with his skeletal friend with much success. Now that he noticed that they would soon catch up with him, Oogie had pressed another button that he was sure would wor. Though Jack was focused on Oogie, Sly saw something from come off from Oogie.

"That looks like . . . a thread." The fake Zorro thought but returned to pursuing the sack man.

It was then that another obstacle had appeared on the battlefield beforehand. It was a trio of slot-machine-like gunslingers approached the wheel and were aiming their guns right at Jack and Sly! As soon as they were close enough, they froze as if they were waiting for something . . .

"Fire!"

At Oogie's command, the gunslingers opened fire on both Pumpkin King and fake-Zorro alike with real bullets! Jack jumped onto the arms are the soldiers with Sly in tow as they carefully stepped on arm to arm , and out of harm's way.

"Ooh, so close, but yet so far." Sly taunted as he did a little dance on the arms. "That all you got?

"Jack, look out!" They heard Sally's voice call to them.

They turned around just in time to see a giant buzz hurtled straight towards them! Jack grabbed Sly and jumped of the shooting arms just as the buzz saw chopped them clean off the mechanical men. If there was a time to panic, now was the time for Oogie when he realized he was out of tricks! As Sly and Jack were almost upon him, Oogie jumped onto another panel that sprung him onto the rising spider eight ball.

"So long Jack!" Oogie called from where he was and laughed hysterically.

Sly, however, saw opportunity in the form os a stray thread from Oogie as he took out his sword and entangled it with the thread. A devious smirk, which was another Cooper trait, crept upon his lips in self brilliance. He wasn't the only one who had the idea as Jack grabbed to opposite end of the sword. He looked at the young raccoon who nodded they looked back towards the seemingly escape Boogieman.

"How dare you treat our friends so shamefully!" Jack demanded with a growl as he and Sly pulled on the thread tangled sword.

"What?" Oogie questioned as his arm was being torn off. "No . . . no . . . don't . . . NO!"

Jack and Sly kept on pulling the thread until the rest of it was intertwined with the spider legs and his whole sheet was ranked right off! Since being tangled by the sheet, the spider eight ball stopped, then the roulette wheel and tricks followed in tow. Finally, without the sack to cover Oogie . . . well . . . it turned that he was literally, and for a fact, just a sack full of bugs!

"Now looked what you've done!" Oogie . . . or what was left of him anyway, wailed as he began to shrink by the pile. "My bugs, my bugs, my bugs . . ."

Everyone looked in shock and disgust as piles upon piles of bugs fell into the snake and spider stew! Sly tilted his head, Bentley and Carmelita tried so hard not to vomit, Murray was speechless, Sally and Santa could only stare, and Jack seemed to be the only one not affected by what had just happened. Only a stray light lime green, pincher bug remained as it crawled away from the stew.

"My bugs, my bugs . . ." It yelled as it scurried across the floor, but hadn't gone too far . . .

CRUNCH!

Santa's boot came upon the pincher and squashed it into the ground, possibly revenge for keeping him prisoner. Other than that, everyone stayed quiet, until the fake Zorro decided to speak up.

"Okay . . . that, by far, was the single-most disturbing thing that will for ever haunt me as long as I live." He stated until he turned to his friends. "So, guys . . . who's the King of Sneaky?"

"Sly is!" Both turtle and hippo cheered at maximum volume as they did a secret hand-shake and pointed at their leader.

"You better believe it!" Sly said as he and his friends, even Carmelita, hugged.

"Forgive me, Mr. Claus." Jack sadly begged as Santa took his hat from him. "I'm afraid I've made a terrible mess of your holiday."

"Bumpy sleigh ride, Jack?" Santa demanded as he looked scaldingly at the Pumpkin King.

"The next time you have the urge to take over someone else's holiday, I'd listen to them!" The old elf said as he pointed to Sally, Sly, Carmelita, Bentley, and Murray. "They're the only ones that make sense around this insane asylum! Skeletons, boogie men . . ."

"Never thought I'd see Santa so . . . anger." Murray remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"Me neither, and I know anger." Carmelita said with her own raised eyebrow.

"I hope there's still time . . ." Jack uttered, still feeling ashamed.

"To fix Christmas, of course, I'm Santa Claus!" The old elf replied as he placed a finger next to his nose and flew up the chute.

"So that's how he does it." Sly said in wonder.

"Never would have thought." Bentley remarked trying to find reasonable logic.

"So we saved Christmas then?" Murray said with little hope that he helped.

"Yeah, did we?" Carmelita questioned, though she was doubtful.

"Yeah, we all did in a way." Sly said to which his friends looked at him with stunned expressions. "And I found something, much more exciting than a present"

The turtle, vixen, and hippo tried to ask what he meant by that, but for some reason, they couldn't find the right words.

"He'll fix things Jack, he knows what to do."

That's when everyone averted their attention to Sally as she stood next to Jack.

"Sally, how did you get down here?" Jack asked in a curious tone.

"Oh . . . i was trying to . . . well . . . I wanted to . . . to . . ." Sally stammered with a huge blush.

"To help Jack, Sally?" Carmelita encouraged as she Sly, Bentley, and Murray gave her knowing smirks.

"I couldn't let you just . . ." Sally tried to say, but failed.

"Sally . . . I can't believe I never realized . . . that you . . ." Jack was about to say, but then . . .

"Jack! Jack!"

"Are you serious?" Sly demanded in disbelief

"The were getting to the good part!" Murray complained with a stomp.

"Ay dios mio!" Carmelita exclaimed as well in disbelief.

It was the Mayor appeared with Lock, Shock, and Barrel as they peered down at the group.

"There he is!" Barrel said as he pointed at the group.

"Alive!" Lock added as if they had done good.

"Just like we said!" Shock said for, ironically, they actually did some good by arriving just as Oogie was finished off.

"Grab a hold, my boy." The Mayor shouted as he let down a rope which Jack and Sally climbed.

"Hold on there, Jackie!" Sly called as he, Carmelita, Bentley, and Murray followed up the rope.

They made it. They had actually made it through this much hectic night! The Pumpkin king and Fake Zorro survived a sleigh crash and the rest had been saved from being served in soup. The were finally glad about one final reassuring thought; the danger was long gone and everyone got out alright.