Chapter XXXIV-Halloween Town (Part 2)

In the outskirts of Halloween Town three kids were in a dark room talking to their boss. When Lock, Shock, and Barrel heard about the doctor's plan to make a Heart they immediately went to 'him' to tell him the news.

They trembled in fear under Oogie Boogie's gaze.

"A Heart? That bonehead Jack is really making a Heart?" He asked putting his burlap arms on his sides. "I'll be jiggered! That works for me!"

"We knew you would like to hear this Mr. Oogie!" Lock, the boy in the devil costume said nervously.

"Barrel didn't want to tell you, said it wasn't worth your time!." Shock, the girl in a witch costume added.

"What? I didn't say that!" Said Barrel, the pudgy boy in the skeleton outfit.

"Silence boys and girls!" Oogie ordered and his minions immediately shut their mouths. "I got a mission for ya'll, watch Jack and wait for him to be finished with the Heart then nab it and bring it back to me!" He cackled. "Ohh, when I got my hands on that..." He looked at his arms. "Well I got no hands but I'm still gonna nab that Heart and control the Heartless." He giggled madly. "Maleficent will become old news, no more princesses and Keyholes. Just the biggest scare show in the universe, starring me!" His cackles echoed through the room.

"Oh one more thing." Oogie stopped and glared at the one who disturbed his daydreaming. Lock sweated through his mask. "Uh he's working with these group of strangers as well, I think one of their names were Sora and Koga."

Oogie growled menacingly. "Sora and his friends are here, that might cause a bump in my plans." He shrugged. "Oh well, guess I gotta scare the Heart out of them when the time comes. As for you clowns, get moving! They could be done with the Heart already for all we know!"

"Y-yes sir!" All three of them scampered out of his chamber.

With a push of the squeaky black iron gates, the group entered the graveyard. It was even more spooky than the town itself with it's many gravestones and the dead foliage mixed with the oddly shaped hills in the distance. Sora Donald and Goofy were unfazed as they followed Jack, taking them to a something he said will speed up their search. Koga was shaking in his boots as he carried the Surprise they got from the mayor. He tried to distract himself by thinking about what Jack's planning.

Making a Heart for the Heartless... Well technically the Heartless are the manifestation of the darkness in people's Hearts so they aren't actually Heartless. Perhaps the name is meant to symbolize how they are feral and evil. So putting an artificial Heart into a Heartless might not work, then again he didn't realize they could even be controlled with a guidance system.

"Here we are!" Jack said. They group stopped when they reached a small grave in the shape of a doghouse, it said 'Zero' on it. Jack patted his knee and a small ghost in the form of a dog came out of it. Everyone stood in shock at the specter. The dog gave a ethereal bark at Jack. Koga had to admit it was kinda cute looking.

"Zero! Have you seen Sally anywhere?" Zero barked and flew off to another section of the graveyard. "C'mon fellas, Zero knows the way." Jack said. They followed him through the graveyard as a few Heartless roamed around but they were still in a trance.

Zero stopped by a large stone statue of a gargoyle and barked in alert. A woman peeked her head out of the side. She was a life sized raggedy doll with stitches and patches all over her. Her long brown hair flowed in the wind.

"Is something wrong Jack?" She asked innocently.

Jack beamed at her. "Not at all Sally, everything is going great! We're gonna have the best Halloween ever."

"Who are they?" She asked looking at the others.

"They are newcomer's to town. Meet Sora, Koga, Donald and Goofy." They all waved politely. Sora noticed that Koga wasn't blushing being near Sally. Strange, knowing his brother he should be beet red and stuttering like a maniac in this situation, though he is giving her a strange look. "They are here to actually help out, which is why we're here. We need your Memory."

Sally tilted her head. "Memory, you mean this?" She held up a wilted flower and held it in his hands.

"A Forget-Me-Not! That's just what we need." He held it in his hands mesmerized at it.

Sally frowned. "Jack, are you going to use this for that Heartless machine?"

"Of course,

"Jack, I have a bad feeling about this. These Heartless are more than just scary, they're also dangerous. Why don't you try something else? There's still time."

Jack shook his head. "Nothing could beat what I've got planned! Once we give the Heartless a Heart, they'll dance just as I envisioned it." Sally looked down unsure. "Trust me. You're going to love it! Now to take these back to the doctor." He made his way out of the graveyard.

"Jack seems pretty determined to make this machine work." Goofy said.

"Yes, when he put's his heart into it he tends to go a little over the top." Sally sighed. "Though Halloween is important to him, that's why he puts his all to make it the scariest."

"Why would anyone want so badly to scare people?"

"Jack likes to say that a scare every now and then helps you feel alive and can be fun for both. But you shouldn't be scared all the time or else you can't enjoy the nicer things. That what Oogie used to do."

"Oogie?" Donald asked.

"Oogie Boogie, the boogie man. He's Jack's rival and a big trouble maker. He uses fear to terrorize people, keep them scared all the time for his enjoyment and getting them hurt in the process. That's not the spirit of Halloween so he was banished to the outskirts of town."

"Sounds like the kind of person I should avoid." Koga commented.

"Hey, c'mon everyone the doctor is waiting for us!" Jack called. Sally and Zero went on ahead. Sora grabbed his brother's wrist and pulled him aside.

"So what was that?"

"What was what?" Koga tilted his head in confusion.

"You know, why weren't you gushing over that Sally lady like you've done with literally every other girl we've come across?"

Koga gave him a offended look. "Am I really that predictable?"

"Yeah." Sora Donald and Goofy all said at the same time. Koga puffed his cheeks glaring at his friends.

"Well thanks... Anyway I'm surprised you didn't see the similarity. She reminds me of mom."

Sora sputtered looking at his brother with a astonished expression. "Wh-what? She doesn't look anything like mom!"

Koga rolled his eyes. "I know that. I meant her voice, she sounds almost exactly like mom!"

"Mmm, I don't see it."

"What, bro how can you not see it! We literally grew up with the same mother, we're twins!"

"Don't know, guess you like imagining things." Sora said walking back to the lab with Donald and Goofy.

"Come on Sora. Quit messing with me! Sora, get back here!" He shouted to his brother walking ahead. He turned to a nearby Shadow staring at the moon. He got an idea in his head. He sneaked up behind it and poked it's shoulder, feeling the weird oily texture of it's body. It turned it's head and looked at him. He bared his fangs and pointed his Keyblade at it. "RAWR, I'm the Keyblade wielder, prepare to die!" The Heartless flinched when it saw the Keyblade and backed away from it. Koga tilted his head and moved his Keyblade closer to it. It started shaking as it backed away, he couldn't tell if it was out of fear or it was trying to resist the guidance system and attack him. When it backed against a stone wall it gave out a small hiss that sounded like it was telling him to stop. Koga then stopped and widened his eyes. He always assume Heartless are 'heartless' as in having no emotion but this creature was terrified of the Keyblade, being forced to not defend itself. He felt a pit in his stomach, feeling bad for terrorizing the Heartless, as weird as it sounds. Granted these mindless creatures of darkness won't feel the same kind of sympathy back but it's the principle of the matter, after all they were once people to.

He sighed. "I know you can't understand me but I'm sorry. But don't think this means I'm not gonna take you down if you try to hurt anyone so you better watch it." Pushing past it he ran to catch up to Sora.

'I guess even monsters can feel fear.'

Coming back with the missing ingredients they watched as Doctor Finkelstein worked on the makeshift heart. Sora noticed that his Keyblade glowed as it found another piece of Pooh's page. He looked at the scientist busy with his work and he quickly took it.

"It's finished!" He said proudly.

"Great... now what?"

"Now we begin!" The doctor replied flipping a switch. The machine above them lowered down with it's mechanical arms. The arm with a saw blade slowly began cutting open the Heartless's chest, a dark inky substance spilled out and sprayed in every direction. Another arm reached for the DIY Heart and picked it up, putting it in the specimen. Another arm with an electric prod zapped the Heartless with a large volt of electricity. It jerked in place and convulsed but didn't seem conscious. Suddenly a smoke bomb went off blinding everyone.

"What the, what's going on?!" Donald shouted.

"I can't see anything." Goofy added. They heard childish giggling as the smoke dissipated. They saw a trio of costumed kids standing on the surgical table. Lock was yanking out the finished DIY heart out of the Heartless.

"No! Stop that right now you wretched hooligans!" The doctor shouted. Shock kicked his wheelchair over before he could do anything.

"Fat chance old man!"

"Got it!" Lock said holding up their prize.

"Give that ba- OOF!" Koga groaned as Barrel headbutted himself into his stomach knocking the air out of him. The three of them scampered off giggling madly.

"Smell ya later!" Barrel laughed before they left the lab.

"Oh no, my creation!" They turned to the guidance Heartless. It sat up with it's arms out stretched, electricity crackling. It slowly turned it's head to Sora and Koga but it didn't seem to even notice them. Then it gave out a horrid shriek so loud that everyone covered their ears and some glass vials cracked. It then melted into dark goo that faded away, leaving only the bits and pieces that the doctor put in it.

"So much for making the Heartless dance." Sora said.

"We need to catch those kids, come along fellas!" They ran out the lab to the sound of screaming and panic. They saw the Mayor running towards them with a distraught face.

"Oh Jack, it's horrible. The Heartless have gone completely out of control. They're attacking everyone!"

"This kinda goes beyond being scary, now they are plain dangerous." Jack said. "Don't worry mayor, we'll stop them." They entered the town square where people were running in every direction as the Heartless were attacking them. They're were Shadows, Search Ghosts, and skeletal mummy looking Heartless.

WIGHT KNIGHT

They sprang into action taking on the Heartless. Jack joined the fight using his clawed hands and using simple magic spells. Unlike Donald, Jack used his spells with style and flair in every movement.

Soon every Heartless was gone. Despite the cheers from the citizens the group was still on alert looking around for the trio of kids.

"They got away." Donald said, with disappointment in his voice.

"Jack!" The group turned and saw Sally leaning against the wall. Her right leg was missing and currently in her hand. "Don't worry it's just a scratch." She said when she noticed the twins were panicking.

"A scratch? You're leg is missing!" Koga said distressed.

"Don't worry, this happens more often than you think." Jack reassured the boys before turning to his friends with a serious expression. "Sally, did you see where Lock Shock and Barrel ran off to?"

"Yes, they ran to the cemetery I think. The Heartless were making it hard to see them."

Jack took this moment to look around. The town was in complete disarray. Many of the people were injured, the entrance gate was ripped off it's hinges, and all the decorations were destroyed. He picked up the remains of a jack-o-lantern, it's face was smashed in and the candle was flickered out. He hung his head down and gave the saddest face a skeleton can make. "What have I done?"

"Jack?" Koga asked concerned.

"I only wanted to use the Heartless to bring excitement and fear, not this!"

Sally reached out and put a comforting hand on the side of his head. "Jack, I know you meant well. But now isn't the time to lament."

"She's right. We gotta stop those kids and get the Heart back!" Goofy said.

Jack straightened his back and looked to the distance where the kids ran off to. "You're right. There's still time to make this right." He said running in the direction of the cemetery.

"Wait for us!" Sora said as he and the other's followed him.

That little line about Koga thinking Sally sounding like his mom is actually from a little tidbit I learned that they both have the same voice actor, Kath Soucie in Kingdom Hearts. So I thought it was rather cool to add that.

I think this is a common misconception so I want to clarify, Heartless are those who's Hearts are consumed by darkness, not because they lose their Hearts. And although they are mindless they have been shown to be capable of emotion from time to time, thought mostly negative emotions like anger.

See you guys later,

HAVE FUN!