Rena came to the top of the hill and found that the portal was open. She leaped through it and found herself back in the forest. She saw on the ground was tracks of melting snow.
She followed the tracks all the way to the the curly hill. As she sneeked towards the open valley, she could hear people talking. Rena looked around the egde of the stone wall and saw five people standing at the foot of the hill.
Rena could tell that the three shorter ones were Lock, Shock and Barrel.
There was a tall fat man. He seemed to be made of rough cloth, like a rag doll, but he had an evil laugh which made him sound like a demon of some sort.
Last of all, the tall woman was none other then Maleficent.
"Do you remember Sora, Donald and Goofy?" Maleficent asked the man.
"Do I remember?" the man laughed, "Ha! You're too much! I'll never forget what those three did to me...Uh...What was it that they did to me?"
"Squashed you like a bug!" Shock exclaimed.
"That sounds bad!"
"And Jack helped them!" Lock added
"Even worse!"
"They creamed ya!" Barrel said.
"That's right, that's right!" the man exclaimed. "That's the one thing that I won't be forgetting any time soon! It's the last thing I remember. And it's the only thing I'll remember until I teach those clowns not to mess with Mr. Oogie Boogie!"
"Yes...That's right." Maleficent said. "That's the spirit. And I already have the perfect plan in mind."
Maleficent turned towards the wall where Rena was hiding, but the witch seemed not to have noticed her.
"Have you ever heard of Christmas Town?" Maleficent asked.
There was no reply from Oogie. Maleficent turned around to find that he had fallen over and was sleeping.
"Mr. Oogie!" Lock exclaimed.
"Wake up! Wake up!" Shock demanded.
"We want to see how bad you are!" Barrel exclaimed.
"It seems he needs more time to recover." Maleficent sighed. "You three, stay here and keep Sora and the others occupied."
The witch raised her staff and both she and Oogie vanished.
"My Heartless will help you. But do not fail me!" Maleficents voice laughed, as a Strange new Heartless appeared behind the three children.
It was a robot Heartless, with a cage hanging from it's left hand. Rena leaped out from behind the wall and ran towards the three children.
"There they are!" Sora's voice yelled from behind her.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, Jack and Adrea ran into the valley. The three children leaped into the cage and closed the door.
"Stop them!" Shock exclaimed.
"Tie 'em down!" Lock hissed.
"Get 'em!" Barrel laughed.
The Heartless opened the cage and grabbed Lock. The robot stuffed Lock into it's mouth and it changed from black to red.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, Adrea and Rena all took out their weapons at the same time. Jack didn't have any weapons, so he just used magic.
The Heartless shot fireballs at them. Adrea bounced them back at the Heartless, who threw them back twice as fast.
All six of them dogded to one side or the other. The fireballs hit the ground and it began to burn like crazy.
"Okay, can't do that." Adrea said.
"What about ice magic?" Rena asked.
"That might work, but I'm not so sure how well."
"You had better make up your minds soon!" Sora exclaimed. "That Heartless isn't gonna stand there forever, waiting for us to make the next move!"
"Wait, Sora, do you think you could use your ice magic?" Rena asked.
"I can try, but I don't know how much help I'd be."
"All I need you to do is boost my ice magic."
"Alright!"
Rena pointed her Keyblade at the Heartless, and Sora touched the tip of his Keyblade to the handle of Rena's.
"Now, use the strongest ice magic you have!" Rena exclaimed.
Sora did so, and Rena shot an ice cube at the Heartless. The Heartless turned black again, and appeared inside the cage.
Before any of them could do anything, the Heartless pulled Shock from the cage and stuffed her into it's mouth. It changed from black to yellow now, and began to shoot lightning bolts everywhere.
Rena leaped up at the Heartless and slashed it, making it change back from yellow to black. The Heartless took Barrel from the cage now and stuffed the child into it's mouth.
It turned green and it's claws glowed with green flames.
"It's claws are poisoned!" Rena exclaimed.
The Heartless began to swipe at them, missing them only by inches at a time. Adrea dogded under the Heartless and slashed it from behind. Barrel appeared in the cage again.
The Heartless flew higher then any of them could reach and it stuffed all three of the children into it's mouth.
It turned red, with glowing green claws and shot lightning bolts at them.
"That might prove to be a problem!" Sora coughed. "Should we attack from different sides?"
"No, that won't work, the lightning might catch one of us." Adrea said.
"Sora, I have an idea." Jack said.
"Let's hear it." Sora said.
"Do you know how to dance?"
"Huh?"
"Trust me."
Jack took Sora's hand and spun him in a tornado of magic. Sora leaped out of the whirlwind and slashed at the Heartless. Jack had gotten on top of the Heartless and was shooting magic at it's hands, to keep it from hitting Sora.
"Tell me again how you ended up here and not somewhere sane?" Adrea asked, turning to Rena.
"You'd have to ask my heart, since it brought me here." Rena replied.
"Right..."
The Heartless fell apart, allowing the three children to fall to the ground. Jack and Sora leaped back as Lock and Shock took a swipe at them.
"That was fun!" Lock exclaimed.
"Let's go and see if Mr. Oogie's ready!" Shock laughed, as the three turned back towards the forest.
"Oogie!" Jack exclaimed.
"Hold it right there!" Rena hissed, grabbing Barrel. "You're not going anywhere!"
Lock ran up to Rena and kicked her leg. Rena fell over, letting Barrel go and the two children escaped.
"Dumb kids!" Rena hissed, rubbing her leg.
"Oogie? Isn't he the one who tried to take over Halloween Town before?" Sora asked.
"Yes." Jack replied. "I hope your all ready for trouble..."
"Don't we have enough trouble already?" Goofy asked.
They ran back down the path to the graveyard where they found Sally running out of the woods towards them.
"Jack!" Sally exclaimed. "Something terrible has happened!"
"What's wrong?" Jack asked.
"Oogie's kidnapped Santa Claus!"
"Oh, no!"
"And he's heading for Christmas Town!"
"C'mon Jack!" Sora exclaimed, running past Sally into the forest. "Hurry!"
They ran through the forest to the tree, where they each leaped in and appeared on the top of the snow covered hill.
"That's smoke!" Adrea gasped, pointing towards the red building.
"Hurry!" Rena exclaimed.
They ran down the path into the city and into the workshop. Rena came out into the back room first, followed shortly by the others.
Just as Sally entered behind them, Oogie leaped out of nowhere and sent Sally to the lower level of the factory. Oogie stood in front of them, on top of one of the conveyor belts.
"Jack Skellington!" Oogie laughed. "So nice of you to drop in!"
"Oogie!" Jack hissed.
"You and I have a score to settle, Jack!" Oogie laughed, "Same goes for your little sidekicks!"
"What are you planning to do with Sandy Claws?" Jack asked.
"Who? Sandy Claws?" Oogie asked. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
Oogie walked down to where Santa was and he pulled him up. Adrea and Rena leaped down to where Sally was.
Sally had been a rag doll that was brought to life, but over time her arms and legs kept falling off, so she had been sewn together with leather cord. But the string in her left leg had come undone so it had fallen off.
"Sally, do you think you could throw that close enough to Oogie to distract him for a moment?" Adrea asked.
"I can't, but you could." Sally said, handing her leg to them.
"Hurry!" Adrea said, handing it to Rena. "I'll get Santa!"
Rena ran around to the other side of the conveyor belt and tossed the leg infront of Oogie. Oogie looked at it for just long enough for Adrea to get Santa out of Oogie's grasp.
Adrea took Santa to Sally and told them to hide. She faced Oogie again, who was now surrounded by the group of six.
Oogie ran down the conveyor belt and into the dark hole at the other end. He appeared again on a platform, where he pushed a button.
A force field appeared on either side of the conveyor belt, which began to move towards the hole that Rena was closer to. She turned around to see that there was not a hole, but a wall of spikes.
"Oh, nuts..." Rena sighed.
She and Adrea turned and ran towards the other hole, but found that there were boxes coming out of it. Adrea leaped over the boxes and threw one at Oogie.
The other four got the idea and they also began to throw the boxes, while they ran forwards and tried not to get caught by the spikes.
Oogie fell off the platform, but he was still alive. He laughed at them then something caught his eye. A stich in his leg had come undone and now bugs were flying out.
"Gah!" he hissed, holding the patch together.
Then there was another on his other leg. Pretty soon he came apart and hundreds of thousands of bugs were all that remained of him. Adrea waved her hand and all the bugs vanished into a puff of smoke.
They went back outside and found that all the Heartless were gone.
"Christmas is safe again!" Sora laughed.
"Perfect!" Jack exclaimed, "Now I better get down to business!"
"Leave that to Santa!" Adrea exclaimed.
"You oughta stick to Halloween and spooky stuff!" Goofy laughed.
"Jack?" Sally asked, coming out of the workshop. In her hands was a bundle of red cloth. "Here, it's done."
"Wonderful!" Jack exclaimed taking the bundle from Sally. "Why, I love it! Thank you, Sally!"
"Jack..." Sally sighed. "Do you really have to do this?"
Jack slipped the red outfit over his black suit. He was dressed as Santa was, except for the fact that Jack was much taller than Santa.
"Listen here, Jack Skellington." Santa said, coming out of the workshop as well. "You've saved me, and Christmas as well. And for that I am grateful. But promise me that you won't cause anymore touble! And about that suit. Don't even think about taking over for me again!"
"I just thought you could a little time off this year, Mr. Claws." Jack explained. "You must be exhausted from all the preparations. And I won't mind having a second chance to get this Christmas thing right!"
"Yes, being Santa Claus can be tiring." Santa replied. "But let me tell you something, Jack. Seeing the happy faces of little children when they discover the presents I've brought for them makes it all the worthwhile, year after year after year."
"Jack, you love to make them gasp and see them shiver in fright." he continued. "What if someone tried to take that away from you?"
Jack frowned and looked at the ground.
"We both have important jobs to do, Jack." Santa said. "Mine is to take care of Christmas, and yours to take care of Halloween. So we each have to do the best we can."
"After all your the face of Halloween, Mr. Jack Skellington! The Pumpkin King! The King of Nightmares!" he continued. "And even though you're fascinated with Christmas, Jack...Halloween is your true specialty."
"Don't you see?" Santa asked Jack. "Children rely on us both to do our jobs. Halloween needs your attention, and Christmas needs mine, urgently."
"Your right!" Jack exclaimed. "I am the master of terror! And if Halloween has become too routine, all I have to do is think of something new that'll really make them scream!"
"Jack! Oh, Jack!" a voice behind them called.
They turned around to see the Mayor running towards them.
"Jack I've been looking for you everywhere!" the Mayor gasped. "We must go over the plans for next Halloween! I can't do anything without your approval!"
"So true." Jack sighed.
"Good luck, Jack Skellington." Santa said.
Jack and the Mayor began to walk back up the hill towards Halloween Town. All of a sudden Jack's Christmas costume began to glow.
"Sora-!" Rena excliamed, turning to where Sora was standing beside her.
Sora had vanished once again but he came back a moment later with the Keyblade out.
"I think we'd better get going." Sora sighed, turning to Santa and Sally. "See you."
"Before you go, Sora..." Santa said. "I believe there's a friend of yours...who-if I'm recall correctly- was the one who told you that there's no such thing as Santa Claus?"
"Oh, yeah...He did say that."
"Be sure to give him my best wishes."
"I will, but...Do you know where I can find Riku?"
"No, but don't give up! Remember, if you believe in Riku, you'll find him. Just as you found me."
"Right!"
They left Christmas Town and went back to where they had left the ship in the graveyard. They climbed in and sped off into the endless reaches of space.
Really long chapter, I hope you liked it! If you leave a review, I'll give you a cyber cookie!