A/N: And finally, after nearly a year, we finally have a new chapter for "Coraline 2: The Nightmare Before Christmas"! I figured that those of you who have read the 10th chapter of "The Owl House: Coven of Owls" need something to take your mind off the ending, so here, it is. And in this chapter, Jack and Coraline try to come up with a way to best explain how Christmas works to the monsters. While they do know better on how it works, what's really difficult is explaining how it works to several monsters who knew only Halloween Town for as long as they have lived up to now, hence what they said on last night's town meeting. :)
Coraline 2: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Chapter 4: Experiments/Coraline's Resolve & Jack's Obsession
The next morning at Dr. Finkelstein's castle, Dr. Finkelstein had quite enough of Sally practically poisoning him with Deadly Nightshade, especially when this time, he was left with a headache.
"You've poisoned me for the last time, you wretched girl.", Dr. Finkelstein scolded before closing the door and locking Sally away.
A moment afterward, the doorbell rang on the laboratory, practically worsening his headache.
"Oh my head... the door is open.", the mad doctor shouted as he moved closer before noticing Jack and Coraline walking in as the Black Cat entered as well, the latter of the two holding a Santa toy.
"Hello!", Jack shouted as he and Coraline walked in.
"Anyone home?", Coraline added.
"Jack Skellington! And a human guest. Up here, my boy.", Dr. Finkelstein spoke.
"Dr., we need to borrow some equipment.", Jack spoke as the trio walked up the spiraling staircase.
"Is that so? Whatever for?", Dr. Finkelstein asked.
"We're going to conduct a series of experiments and figure out how to explain Christmas.", Coraline responded.
"How perfectly marvelous. Curiosity killed the cat, you know.", Dr. Finkelstein responded, making Coraline widen her eyes with worry as did the black cat for his eyes.
"I know.", Jack responded.
"Come on into the lab and we'll get you all fixed up.", Dr. Finkelstein assured.
"Hmm. Experiments?", Sally puzzled.
Later, Jack, Coraline, and the cat arrived at the former's house as Zero was fast asleep when the former called out.
"Zero, I'm home. And I brought a guest with me.", Jack responded as he, Coraline, and the cat walked up the stairs up to his room.
"Oh. And I got this costume ready for you last night before I started my own research. You can try it on if you want.", Jack responded as he handed the costume to Coraline, who unfolded it and noticed it was a witch costume with purple, black, and orange colors.
"Wow... It looks great.", Coraline grinned.
"Why, thank you. The witches told me it's quite scary.", Jack responded.
"So, this is your house? What do you do there?", Coraline asked as she started trying on her costume.
"Well, usually, I try and come up with fresh new ideas there. And seeing as I need to figure out more on how to explain this Christmas, this equipment should be able to help.", Jack responded as he set the equipment bag down and opened it before getting out the beakers, test tubes, Magnifying glass, and microscope.
"And you're starting by examining a piece of mistletoe fruit on a microscope?", the cat asked as Jack plucked out one of the fruit and placed it on a rectangular petri dish.
"Oh, is that what this is?", Jack responded as he then zoomed in a little closer toward the small fruit only to crush it and crack the lens of the microscope in the process, making Coraline cringe a bit as the petri dish also broken.
"Yeah, you may want to tell the doctor he needs to get more of those.", Coraline advised.
Later, Jack and Coraline continued to examine & experiment with Christmas stuff as first, Jack dipped a Candy Cane into the concoction heated by the voltage from a battery, making it quite stringy and pale white when it was removed from it. Then, Coraline got out her own piece of paper and then cut it in certain areas in order to make a snowflake and unfolded it, revealing it to look just like the one in the book before Jack tried the same thing only to find that instead of a snowflake, it came out as a spider in a web, baffling the two. Next, Jack dissected a teddy bear with a scalpel in order to examine the fluff inside as he took a piece of it with the tweezers. Then, later, Jack even grabbed an ornament from the tree and then crumpled it into sparkly dust, which fell into the chemical before he wiped his hands as it then gave off a green glow, astonishing Coraline just as much as Jack.
"Whoa...", Coraline spoke as she widened her eyes.
"Interesting reaction...but what does it mean?", Jack puzzled.
"I don't know. But it's sure to make a great lantern nowadays.", Coraline responded.
Meanwhile, in Sally's room, she was pouring some liquid over a funnel and placed a sort of mix into the bottle over the funnel as well before removing said funnel and then closing the bottle with a cork before placing said bottle in a basket. She then took the basket, opened the window, and started moving it down carefully before looking up at an adjacent castle and jumping off near the basket as a few musicians heard the sound and winced for a moment. Once on the ground, she eventually fluttered her eyes and looked back up at the castle before she then got out her needle and thread from her pocket and started sowing herself back together. After a moment, she then picked up the basket and carried it over as the musicians played.
Meanwhile, though, Dr. Finkelstein opened Sally's room's door.
"You can come out now if you promise to behave. Sally. Sally.", Dr. Finkelstein spoke while looking around before noticing one thing that was clear.
"Oooh! Gone again!", Dr. Finkelstein shouted as he then smashed the potion to the ground in frustration.
At Jack's house in the meantime, he was finishing up an apparent equation on a chalkboard involving Christmas before Jack and Coraline turned and noticed the basket with Sally holding a rope for it and Jack and Coraline waving to her.
"Hi.", Coraline waved before Sally waved back with the two then going back in the house.
"Who was that?", Coraline asked.
"That would be Sally. Dr. Finkelstein's living creation.", the cat responded.
"Huh. Well, she seems nice.", Coraline grinned as Jack then opened the bottle, which released a mist in a shape of a butterfly escaping the bottle before vanishing.
But before Coraline and Jack could thank Sally, they turned to notice that she was not there, although only Coraline looked up and saw Sally sneaking off.
"Hey, wait up!", Coraline shouted as she ran off with the cat following her while Jack closed the windows.
By the time she caught up, she noticed Sally closing the gate, making her groan a bit before deciding to go for the fence and peep out, looking out to she she hadn't gone far and even looked down to see her near the gate.
"Oh, there you are.", Coraline spoke, surprising Sally with a slight gasp.
"I just wanted to say thanks. You know, for the basket.", Coraline responded.
"Oh. Well..., you're welcome.", Sally grinned.
"You must be Sally.", Coraline guessed as she climbed through the fence and carefully got down, being careful not to step on any flowers.
"And you must be Coraline Jones.", Sally guessed in reply as she plucked a flower from the ground.
"Wait. You knew my name? But how?", Coraline asked.
"She was there when you two presented Christmas to this town's denizens.", the cat responded.
"Huh.", Coraline responded as she remembered last night's meeting before noticing a flower that Sally just picked off the ground.
"What's that?", Coraline asked.
"Oh, this? It's a special flower. It gives us a vision of what would happen in the near future.", Sally responded.
"Okay. How does it work?", Coraline asked.
"Like this, I believe.", the cat responded, gesturing to the flower starting to twitch before it sprouted little branches as well as ornaments and a star.
"Aw. So cute.", Coraline grinned, that is, until it stopped spinning and suddenly went into flames, making her gasp before the flames went out.
"Uh... question. The flower just caught on fire. Is that a good sign?", Coraline asked.
"No. It's not. Usually when something like this happens in a vision, it could only mean one thing: if Jack Skellington continues on his current course, this could only end... badly.", the black cat responded, making Coraline gasp in worry for him with Sally looking just as worried.
"I... gotta go. I need to figure something out.", Coraline spoke as she started off.
Later, the next morning, on Sally's end, the skeletal chicken crowed loudly before the vampires sang while next to a slumbeirng Sally, who was starting to stir as they raised their arms and moved away from the sun as a werewolf passed by as did the mother and her child as they, too, sang with Sally looking up at Jack's house tower in worry.
Vampires: Something's up with Jack
Something's up with Jack
Don't know if we're ever going to get him back
Werewolf: He's all alone up there
Locked away inside
Mother: Never says a word
Child: Hope he hasn't died
Citizens of Halloween: Something's up with Jack
Something's up with Jack
Meanwhile, at the human realm, Coraline was pacing around the house in concern as the cat watched before shuddering at the thought of her eyes being stitched together before looking under her bed and spotting her witch costume, putting it back on, and then venturing into the passageway toward the Holiday forest with the black cat following as she sang while Jack then grabbed a doll and tossed it toward Zero's little bed, waking the ghost dog up before Jack picked up a book, read it, and closed it before going down the ladder and sitting on one of the steps as Zero offered him his picture with Jack then seeing himself wearing a red suit like Santa's only skinnier and tailor-made for his size before Jack got giddy, stood up, scooted the ladder over to the left, grabbed the Christmas tree, spinning it while taking the Christmas lights off, ricocheting some of the ornaments off in the process, sliding toward the electric chair, decorating it with Christmas lights, and then turning said electric chair on with a flip of a switch, causing some of them to spark out at random intervals as he laughed while he sang.
Coraline: Clearly, something's very wrong here
But I don't know if this is just my fear
There's so many things I just don't get
From a Pumpkin King I just met
How can you move on from the past
When it scares you with a chilly blast
Through it all, I have to try
If I have to, I would fly
Straight into the starry, night sky
Searching for help on the sly
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
Jack: In these little bric-a-brac
A secret's waiting to be cracked
These dolls and toys confuse me so
Confound it all, I love it though
Simple objects, nothing more
But something's hidden through a door
Though I do not have the key
Something's there I cannot see
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
Hmm...
I've read these Christmas books so many times
I know the stories and I know the rhymes
I know the Christmas carols all by heart
My skull's so full, it's tearing me apart
As often as I've read them, something's wrong
So hard to put my bony finger on
Or perhaps it's really not as deep
As I've been led to think
Am I trying much too hard?
Of course! I've been too close to see
The answer's right in front of me
Right in front of me
It's simple really, very clear
Like music drifting in the air
Invisible, but everywhere
Just because I cannot see it
Doesn't mean I can't believe it
You know, I think this Christmas thing
It's not as tricky as it seems
And why should they have all the fun?
It should belong to anyone
Not anyone, in fact, but me
Why, I could make a Christmas tree
And there's no reason I can find
I couldn't handle Christmas time
I bet I could improve it too
And that's exactly what I'll do
Hee,hee,hee
Then, just as Coraline and the black cat arrived outside the gate near Jack's house, Jack opened the windows and shouted out an announcement.
"Eureka! I've got it! This year, Christmas will be ours!", Jack announced, making the citizens clap with joy while Sally grew all the more worried as did Coraline.
"Uh-oh...", Coraline spoke in worry.
A/N: Uh-oh is right, for we all know what happens from here on out (well, those of us who watched this movie before, anyway). If any of you has ideas about where the story should go from here in the next chapter, please feel free to lend your ideas for the next chapter. And I'd be more than happy to take them into consideration. Also, the next chapter for "The Owl House: Coven of Owls" will be arriving 2 days earlier than planned, so that it'll save you the stress of waiting. And also, because I am getting close to the Coven of Owls story's (or rather, the 1st season's) surprising finale. :)