Chapter 29
Spooks of Halloween Town

Alex thought to himself as he stared out of the Gummi Ship's bubble. After a moment, he began to laugh. "Y'know what? I think that this last experience was the weirdest one I've experienced yet."

Sora did a take. "You sure?" The Keyblade Master had all the reason to be skeptical. After visiting such worlds like Timeless River, Pride Lands, and Space Paranoids, had Port Royal been so weird?

Alexander nodded. "Yep. At least, for me it was." He shuddered. Being stuck in Anti Form was not exactly a pleasurable experience. All in all, he was glad to be back to normal. But there was still a part of him that had liked the feeling. That part scared him.

Goofy chuckled. "Well, we're comin' up on Halloween Town." Donald grinned. "Yeah, maybe you'll experience something even weirder!" Alex nodded in silence. Halloween Town was definitely a weird world.


Alex, Sora, Donald, and Goofy appeared in the Hinterlands in their Halloween costumes. Alexander was still not used to the sudden costume change, but he was handling it better. Looking over himself, he remarked, "I can't wait to try out this costume in the real world."

Alex noticed that the others had stopped. He looked ahead at what they were staring at. "Huh?" Donald mumbled. Strewn about on the ground, there were many boxes covered with bright wrapping and ribbons. Christmas presents!

Around the corner, they saw a bony figure stop to pick up one off the ground. It was Jack Skellington, in his Santa Claus outfit. Holding one present in his arm, and waving with another in a bony hand, he yelled, "Perfect timing, gentlemen! Lend me a hand, won't you?"

He walked over to Sora. "These presents must belong to Sandy Claws," Jack explained. "So I thought I'd better return them."

Sora thought about it for a few seconds. Folding his arms, he asked, "You just happened to find them?" Jack bent down to Sora's level. "Of course, Sora." He poked one of Sora's fake vampire fangs. "I'm finished with Christmas fantasies. You know tha-at." His voice suddenly rippled on the last syllable. Jack walked on toward the door to Christmas Town.

Sora watched him go by. He muttered, "But you thought you'd hold on to the suit." Jack turned to face him. "What, this?" He chuckled. "It's just a costume." He turned away again. "And Sally worked so very hard making it!"

Should I just take it for granted that we can't trust anyone named Jack? Roxas suggested. Alex chuckled at the joke. True, they couldn't trust Jack Sparrow, and they didn't really trust Jack Skellington right now.

Jack ordered, "Come on. We've got work to do!" So the quartet picked up the remaining scattered presents and followed Jack to Christmas Town.


Sora and the others walked into Santa's house. "Oh!" Santa Claus cried out, walking over to them. "Wherever did you find these?" They laid the Christmas presents on the small table. Jack held one out to him. "In Halloween Town."

Santa snatched the present. "You'll be needing them for Christmas," Jack continued, "right, Sandy?" Santa nodded. "Of course." He paused. "But these are just a few of the Christmas presents that were stolen."

The quintet flinched. "Stolen!?" Sora repeated in disbelief. All eyes turned to Jack. He scratched the side of his skull for a moment, then stepped forward. "Oh, Sandy..." he moaned. "You don't think it was ME?"

"Still wearing the outfit, I see," Santa pointed out. "I just thought I'd dress for the occasion," Jack retorted. Receiving no reply, he added with a sigh, "But if you don't believe me, then we'll just have to find out who really did it!" This was rewarded with another flinch from the quartet.

Santa thought about it, then nodded. "Very well, I'll leave it to you." Jack suddenly had a look of determination on his face. "All right, Sora! Donald! Goofy! Alex!" He glanced at each one of them in turn, making them flinch in order as he did so. "We're off!" Jack shouted, pointing toward the way out of the house. He began to walk away.

Alex and the others stared after him. Then they all hung their heads simultaneously. But a crashing noise from the workshop brought their heads back up, and Jack back into the room.


The noise came from the second story workshop, otherwise known as the wrapping room. The five fighters walked into it. "No!" they heard a little girl's voice cry. It was Shock! Lock and Barrel were with her, searching through the stuffed animals and such that were scattered along the floor.

Barrel patted a stuffed bear. "This looks good," he decided. "No!" Shock shouted again. "Boooring!" Lock agreed. Barrel shuddered, and tossed the bear back, barely missing Alex in the process. Their search continued. "This one?" Lock suggested. "No!" Shock yelled yet again. "No way!" Barrel groaned.

Donald finally stepped forward. Apparently, he'd seen enough. "Hey!" Slowly, the three troublemakers turned to face them, and flinched. "So YOU three took them!" Sora accused. "Took what?" Shock retorted, stomping her foot on the conveyor belt.

"You stole the presents, didn't you?" Jack interrogated, pointing a skeletal finger at them. "It wasn't us!" Lock denied after a moment. "But..." Barrel slowly muttered. "It really sounds like fun!" Shock finished.

The three troublemakers scattered. "Run for it!" they all yelled. The quartet did a take. They had to chase them down! Jack didn't really seem fazed by this situation. He was obviously used to this.

Alex looked around as he and the others brought out their weapons. There were three large brown boxes with green trim lying around the workshop. "Hey, let's knock them out and trap them in these boxes," Alex whispered to the others, who agreed.

The three were a tricky pair to fight. Each one had their own magical element, and a slight control over it too. Shock obviously had some electrical tricks, Lock was a bit of a fire user, and Barrel had ice. They didn't use it often, usually preferring to run away quickly. And they were fast, so that was usually the best option. But once one of the quintet was able to corner the little guys, they went down easily. That was the cue for either Sora or Alex to whack the boxes toward the victim. That way, the box toppled over until it landed closed with its opening panel toward the ground, trapping them inside. It was a hefty task, but it really only took them a few minutes to trap the three troublemakers.

Jack sat them up against the conveyor belt. "Where did you put the presents?" he demanded. Shock shook her tiny fist. "We didn't take them!" Lock stood up. "Who would want to take those anyway? They aren't scary or gross. C'mon, it's boring here," he added to his comrades. "Let's go back to Halloween Town." The three tykes left, leaving the quintet confused.


Jack led the way back into Santa's room. "So are those three the culprits?" Santa asked. Jack shook his head sadly. "No, it doesn't look like it."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy turned to Alex. "Do you know who it was, Alex?" Sora asked him. Alex folded his arms, and shrugged. "Well," he finally replied, "it's not so much a question of who..."

"Jack?" a woman's voice asked from behind them. Everyone turned to face the newcomer. "Sally?" Jack cried out. Sally nodded. "The Heartless have appeared in the town square again. Just thought you should know."

Sora sighed. "That's our cue." Jack looked worried. "But we still need to find out who took the Christmas presents!"

Sally gave him a puzzled look. "Actually, they were playing with some presents when I found them..." Jack suddenly became serious again. "Aha! We found our culprits!"


The mayor of Halloween Town put on his distressed face and shouted, "You! You can't be here! Leave Halloween Town, by order of the mayor!"

The four Wight Knight Heartless completely ignored him, instead tossing around the Christmas presents they were holding. In a creepy way, it really did look like they were playing. "Somebody? Anybody!" the mayor yelled. "I'm only an elected official – I can't handle this by myself!"

Alex stopped in his tracks as the others ran into the square. The mayor's last statement had really confused him. "Woah... That's some serious déjà vu..."

Jack stared at the Heartless. "Sally was right!" he declared. "We've got to get the presents!" Sora summoned his Keyblade. The others brought out their weapons. Alex finally caught up with them and summoned his Lockshield.

Alex grinned. "Hey, Heartless!" he yelled. The Wight Knights turned to him. Donald did a take. "Alex, what are you doing!?" Alex looked back at Donald, still grinning. "Putting some notes I took to good use." Alexander began to run, and the Wight Knights followed him. Passing the fountain in the middle, Alex whacked it, causing a volatile blob of green slime at him, which happened to hit a Wight Knight in the back as he continued to run. The Wight Knight disappeared, and it dropped a present.

Alex ran past the guillotine. One of the Wight Knights took a shortcut and went under the guillotine. Bad move. The blade dropped down, slicing the Heartless into oblivion. The present landed on the ground unharmed.

Knowing that the Heartless wouldn't ever catch on, Alex ran past the malfunctioning gate. The gate snapped open, but Alex wasn't in that spot anymore. A Wight Knight was, and was caught completely off guard by the gate. It dropped another present, which was hit by the gate again and sent flying.

For one last round, Alex ran over the sewer grates. The Wight Knight was close behind. But not so close that it was out of the way of the green slime that suddenly shot up after Alex. The Heartless dissipated in midair, and the present dropped to the ground next to the grates.

Alexander sighed. "Turns out paying attention to detail pays off," he decided. He had noticed the oddities of the town square a while back. Never thought it'd actually work, though... Joumae mused.

Jack glanced at one of the dropped presents. He walked over to it. The present had burst open and dropped a doll. Jack accidentally stepped on the doll and picked up the box. "What a shame! It looks like it was such a nice present!"

Sora realized that Jack must not have noticed the doll under his foot. "Uh, Jack–" But he was interrupted by the door to Dr. Finkelstein's lab suddenly opening. The mad doctor himself sat there, rubbing his metal cranium. "Oh, help!" he wailed. "Someone help me! My latest experiment is gone – it's been stolen!"


"I was just sitting here at my desk..." Dr. Finkelstein explained, motioning toward it. They were all standing in his lab. "...when suddenly, I was attacked! When I came to, the experiment was gone!"

Alex folded his arms. "Did you see who attacked you?" The scientist shook his head.

Jack suddenly got an idea. "Maybe it wasn't the Heartless who stole the presents. Maybe it was someone else!" Dr. Finkelstein shot a quizzical look at Jack. "And this miscreant is the same one that stole my experiment?"

Jack nodded. "Of course!" He turned to Sora and the others. "And I have the perfect plan to find him!" Goofy tilted his head to the side. "What do you have in mind?"

Jack beamed at them. "Well, the culprit obviously loves presents, so we lure him with a huge pile of Christmas presents!" This idea got more takes from the others. "We'll need Sandy Claws' help," Jack decided. And so, off they were to Christmas Town again.


Santa turned to face the quintet as they entered his home again. "Have you found the culprit yet?" he asked. Jack looked excited. He had looked like that the whole time. "Almost, Sandy Claws!" At length, he explained his plan to Santa.

Once again, this was rewarded with a take. "Christmas presents!?" He quickly got over the initial shock and thought about it. "Well, it's for a good cause... Okay, fine. Use the workshop upstairs. And put some heart into it!"

And so, back up to the wrapping room again. Turned out that the best way to make a lot of cheap presents fast was to use a cannon and fire toys at a lot of empty boxes. Of course, they had to mind Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who were there to mess up their work. But the ones who weren't operating the toy cannon chased them off before the project was finished.

Donald tossed a beautifully wrapped present into the air. Perfect bait, like the other presents were around them. "All done!"

Jack raised a bony finger, implying that he begged to differ. "Not quite." Goofy looked up from the pile of presents. "There's more?" Jack nodded. "Don't worry, I'll take care of the rest."

So the quartet walked back into Santa's room. "Did you finish making the presents?" he wondered. Sora nodded. "Yep, just waiting for Jack." Goofy glanced at Donald. "So, uh, where do you think we oughta leave them?"

Santa thought about this. "Hmm... Oh, I know a good spot. Whenever you're ready, just say the word."

Suddenly, Jack walked through the doorway. "I'm back!" he announced. Alex folded his arms. "That was awfully quick..."


Santa opened up the gates to a separate clearing away from the main town square. "This plaza should work well for your plan." He turned to face Jack. "Now, Jack... what IS your plan?"

"I've got it all figured out," Jack assured him. Santa didn't seem as thrilled. "You do..."

"Of course!" Jack agreed. "And I also have a wonderful idea. If we catch the thief for you, I would be honored to deliver the–"

Sora placed a hand over Jack's mouth. "And on that note, we'll be going." The quartet all collaborated in pushing Jack along. "What are you doing?" Jack mumbled. "Let me go!" Sora retracted his hand, and patted Jack's shoulder. Jack grimaced as they walked into the plaza.


"Stop kicking!" Donald quacked. "It's not me, Donald," Goofy denied. "Ah, sorry," Alex apologized. "Patience, friends," Jack chided them. Sora shushed them harshly.

They were in the middle of the clearing. Presents were strewn about all over. There was an awfully huge present in the middle. And it was... shaking. "I said cut it out!" Donald yelled. "Gawrsh, was that you?" Goofy asked. The box shook again. "Look, it wasn't me that time!" Alex protested.

"How come we have to be the bait?" Sora asked. They were all inside the box. Needless to say, it was a tight fit. "Good plan, eh?" Jack replied. The box shook violently again. "Ouch!" Donald shouted.

They all suddenly became still. There were footsteps approaching. They were heavy, and Alex could make out a faint clinking noise with each step. After a moment, when they heard it reach out an arm toward the box, they all suddenly burst out of it. "Gotcha!" Sora yelled.

"Huh?" Jack mumbled. It was a gastly metal creature, with an oven for a torso, a hose and claw for a left arm, a sickly metal claw for a right arm, a weird metal head that didn't stick right, and a skull for the hip joint. Jack gasped. "Dr. Finkelstein's experiment did it!"

They all jumped out of the box and brought out their weapons. Alex jumped up and started bashing the experiment. The thing was heavy and slow, so it was easy to attack. The only good defense it was the lasers it shot out of its mouth. Weird.

As soon as the parts had taken enough damage, they all broke apart, scattered across the clearing, and rearranged themselves. The right arm and the head stood in one place, thrashing about to try and hit one of them while shooting lasers. The left arm floated about, creating a vortex to suck the fighters up. The main body and the skull came together and began to spin around. Sora jumped onto that, and kicked it toward the left arm. It's own attack damaged the main body.

Seeming to have had enough, the body came together again. Except it was all arranged differently. The skull and head were switched, as well as the arms. The legs were nowhere to be found. It continued its attacks at them.

Alex had an idea. "Sora!" he yelled. Sora nodded. Alex ran toward him and jumped. His feet landed on Sora's Keyblade, and Sora used that to launch him up into the air. Alex fell back down to the earth after a moment, bringing the face of the shield straight down onto the experiment's body.

Alex backed off and joined his comrades, facing down the experiment. The floating torso shuddered, then collapsed onto the ground. A strange dark aura appeared around it, and the metal body disappeared. "We did it!" Jack shouted. "The mystery is solved!"

They suddenly heard sleigh bells above them. Santa Claus rode down on his sleigh and walked over to them when he landed. "Did you catch the thief?" he asked. "Naturally!" Jack replied with glee.

Sora glanced at the remaining heap of metal. "I just can't figure out why the doctor's experiment would go around stealing Christmas presents." Santa looked surprised. "His experiment?" Jack nodded. "The thief! It was a moving puppet made by Dr. Finkelstein."

Santa walked over to the junk and examined it with an air of curiosity. "Hmm... The doctor's made a moving puppet? I see... He is always tinkering with things." He turned to face them once more. "Now listen, Jack. I'd like to thank you, and while delivering presents is something only I can do, I can give you an idea of what it's like."

Jack's face lit up. "Sandy Claws!" With Santa's permission, he jumped into the sleigh. He admired the reins like a child would admire a brand new toy. Santa turned toward the puppet's remains again. "Yes, all that poor puppet wanted was a heart."

He motioned to the reindeer. The sleigh took off and rose up into the sky. "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Jack shouted.


"Interesting!" Dr. Finkelstein remarked when the quartet had related the story to him in the Halloween Town's square. "So the puppet wasn't stolen after all! It ran away on its own. In other words, my experiment was an overwhelming success!"

Alex thought to mention that it was an overwhelming success that tried to kill them, but he refrained from doing so.

"Santa Claus thinks maybe it left because it was trying to find a heart," Sora added. The doctor nodded thoughtfully. "That's quite possible. Unlike my Sally, it wasn't equipped with a heart." He steered his wheelchair back into his lab, leaving the quartet with more questions.

"But if it wanted a heart, why was it going around stealing all those Christmas presents?" Sora asked. Sally stepped out from behind one of the guillotine's supports. "Maybe because... presents are a way to give your heart to someone special," she suggested. Sora thought about it. "Hmm... When you put it that way, I feel sort of bad for it."

Alex chuckled. Donald glanced at him. "What's so funny?" Alex rolled his eyes. "Sora, do you feel bad for Organization XIII?" Sora gave him a weird look. "No, of course not. Why?"

Alex sighed. "Then you shouldn't feel bad for that puppet. It was pretty much the exact same scenario." Before anything further could be discussed, some sleigh bells interrupted them. Jack dropped down from the sky, landing on his feet with ease, startling the quartet.

The jingling of the bells continued. The silhouette of Santa's sleigh appeared in front of the moon. "Happy Halloween!" Santa shouted. Snow began to fall on Halloween Town. A rarity in itself.

"What a nice present," Sally remarked, gazing up at the snow. Jack was utterly confused. "I don't understand. There's no box! No ribbon tied in a bow!"

Sora looked up at it too. "Jack, it's not about the box or the ribbons. It's about what's inside the box!" Sally shook her head. "No, Sora. What really counts – what's really special – is the act of giving the gift. To wish deep in your heart to make someone else happy."

Jack nodded. "Right. Of course! Thank you, Sally, you're absolutely right." He put a hand over his chest. "Wait! What's this? I feel so strange... so very happy!"

"Jack," Goofy shouted, "that must be Sally's present!" Alex did a take. "Really?" Jack asked. "This wonderful feeling?" He walked over to Sally and took her hands. "Oh, Sally! You've given me the nicest present in the world! And I've nothing to give you in return. What would you like? Just name it. Absolutely anything."

Sally smiled. "The nicest present I could ever ask for, Jack, is just to be with you."

Eyes rolled. Wait, eyes were averted, then rolled. The eyes that belonged to the quartet, anyway. With the possible exception of Sora, who looked clueless. It was all Alexander could do to not scream at the incredible mush content of this scene.

Jack grinned. "You don't even have to ask for that." Jack swept Sally off her feet and leaped away.


Jack and Sally danced in the square. The snow falling down around them really did make for a romantic setting, even Alex had to admit.

"Maybe I never gave her a real present after all," Sora remarked, breaking Alex's train of thought. Donald looked at him. "Who?" Goofy put his hands on Sora's shoulders reassuringly. "Aw, I bet Kairi would like most anything you gave her."

"I know," Sora replied. "That's what made it so hard to decide." Donald shrugged. "It's not the gift, it's what's in your heart!" he stated. "My heart..." Sora repeated.

Donald nodded. "Yeah, Kairi's like Sally!" Alex flinched. "How?" he demanded. "Well, as long as she can be with you, Sora, what else does she need?" Goofy suggested.

Sora looked at Jack and Sally dancing. Alex knew that Sora was daydreaming about himself dancing with Kairi. So he looked away. A snowflake dropped into his hand, and a halo of darkness surrounded it. Alex immediately pulled out the Lockshield.

All the other people in the town square disappeared. A light flashed from the Lockshield, and the shining image of the Heartless emblem appeared beneath his feet. A strange wind started to blow against him as his surroundings were enveloped by another light. He looked around at the starry expanse.

The snowflake shot a dark beam into the air, which formed a large keyhole in the space above him. Alex looked into it, and saw the mass of Shadows inching toward the opening. Alexander twirled the Lockshield around and then finally pointed it at the keyhole. A halo surrounded his weapon for a moment, then it closed in and shot out a beam at the Dark Corridor. When it collided, a dark green wall formed itself and covered up the opening. Then the whole space lit up, blinding Alex for a moment before he appeared back in the Halloween Town square.

Alex chuckled. Looking up into the sky, he remarked, "Halloween and Christmas will never be the same for me again..." He could only imagine how Halloween and Christmas would be like back home... if he ever got back home.


Disclaimer: I only own Alexander, Joumae, and the Lockshield. Every other element of this story belongs to their respective owners. Namely Square-Enix and Disney.

Happy Halloween!
October 31, 2006