Jack held his head in pain.
"What has happened now?" He asked himself.
He looked around again. This place had tables as well, and cameras too. It was considerably darker in this place than in the prop room. Also, no sign of anyone else.
"Are we home yet?" Shock asked.
"I'm hungry," Lock complained.
"And I'm tired," Barrel cried.
"And we're not in Halloween Town," Sally growled.
"I know that," Jack grumbled. "I know that."
"Who are you?"
A scared, unrecognizable voice shattered the calmness of the situation.
"Hello?" Jack called.
"Where did you come from?"
"Blame the Doctor," Sally casually joked. Jack sniggered.
"Are you from the Prop Department?"
"No, we're from Halloween Town," Shock chipped.
There was an unearthly cheer of delight that radiated from the tables and cameras. A little face popped up from the scenery. It was Sally, again. This Sally smiled with relief.
"Thank goodness!" She wiped her forehead. "We thought you were someone from the Prop Department!"
A few people crawled up from the scenery. Suprisingly, there was only one of everyone. They were all whole, every piece in tact, every strand of hair the the right place.
"Do we look like someone from the Prop Department?" Shock asked curiously.
A copy of Jack rose behind Sally's counterpart. "Well, you look like us, but-"
"They don't have anything missing!" The Mayor's voice called from the Fountain.
"That's good," Sally's copy breathed a sigh of relief. "You're not from the Prop Department."
"Are you working models?" Copy Jack asked.
"In a way..." Jack responded.
"That's good." Copy Jack proceeded to try and jump to the floor, but caught his foot in a camera wire. He yelled as the camera itself crashed to the floor. Jack and Sally rushed to the crash site to see if he was okay.
"Are you alright?" Jack asked his twin.
Copy Jack laughed although he was tangled in a few 30 feet of complicated wire. "That was fun!"
"Oh, this place crashes to pieces every now and then," the Werewolf yelled.
"But it's a good enough to visit every now and then," Sally's Copy sighed.
"You don't live here?" Barrel asked.
"No, it's more of hotel," Copy Jack made a quick comparison.
"And we're all happy here!" Dr. Finklestien's copy called from a roadway.
"It's the Happiness Hotel!" Another voice, which Jack couldn't exactly place.
"Oh, yeah, that's the name we came up with!" Copy Jack snapped his fingers.
"I thought of it!" a copy of Lock yelled.
"No, I thought of it!" a Copy Shock screamed.
"I did!" a Barrel Copy voiced.
"You never think of anything!" an Oogie Boogie Copy yelled.
Laughter ran like a wave over the room. Jack and Sally smiled, in spite of themselves.
"See, it's fun here!" Copy Jack placed a friendly hand on Jack's shoulder.
"Nothing like in the Prop Room!" Shock giggled.
"Definitely!" Copy Sally cheered. She leaned forward and punched the air in excitement, causing a bit of ground to give way. She plopped to the ground, unharmed. She giggled lightly. "FU-UN!"
"I think you'd like it here!" The Mayor Copy walked into view, along with many other citizens. They jumped to the ground, telling their greetings and welcoming the travelers.
"I LIKE IT HERE!" Shock yelled.
"I could get used to this!" Sally laughed as the Harlequin Demon quickly kissed her hand.
Jack wasn't even afraid when Oogie Boogie showed up.
"Hey there! Welcome home, stranger!" Oogie Boogie whacked Jack on the back, and gave Sally a quick half hug. "Welcome to the Happiness Hotel!"
(Copy Jack taps on the fireplace behind his bed, and stomps his foot on the tile floor.)
Jack: Oh, there's no fire in the fireplace;
There's no carpet on the floor.
(Jack steps on a trapdoor switch, and Sally's kitchen area falls to the floor. It crashes into pieces.)
Sally: Don't try to order dinner.
There's no kitchen anymore...
(Barrel's jumping on Jack's bed.)
Barrel: But if the road's been kinda bumpy
And you need to rest a spell-
Everybody else: Well, welcome home to Happiness Hotel!
(Copy Mayor point to the Saxophone Man and the Bass Man.)
Mayor: If you've got luggage, keep it handy,
But you're running out of luck-
(The Saxophone Man and the Bass man are holding a stack of Christmas presents that are much taller than them. They stumbled around for a bit, bump into eachother, and fall over, letting the packages fall on thier heads.)
Saxophone man: 'Cause the bellhops ain't to organized,
Bass man: And the elevator's stuck.
(Cat hops on Sally's shoulder.)
Black Cat: Still if you don't mind friendly animals,
(Skeletal reindeer hovers over Jack's shoulder.)
Skeleton reindeer: And can learn to stand the smell-
Group: Well, welcome home to Happiness Hotel!
(Copy Jack: Okay, everybody, in the middle! We're gonna do the big "Welcome Home" part!
Copy Sally: YEAH! I love that part!)
Welcome home! (Welcome home!)
Oh, welcome home! (Welcome home!)
No matter where you wander,
You will never do as well!
(Sally's sitting in Lock, Shock, and Barrel's treehouse.)
Sally: Okay the lobby's looking shabby, And it's got the wrong address,
(Jack taps on a wall, and it falls over.)
Jack: And the whole dang thing has been condemned by 'Merican Express,
Sally: Still the management is cheerful-
(Mayor pops out of a trapdoor.)
Mayor: Though the whole joint's gone to hell!
(Sally stomps her foot down on the Mayor's head, forcing him back under the floor.)
Everybody: Well welcome home to Happiness Hotel!
Lock: Oh there are bugs-
Group: There are bugs!
(Scratching his sides like a monkey.)
Lock: And there are lice-
Group: There are lice!
Barrel: Sure we have our little problems, But you'll never beat the price!
(Werewolf hugs a rat, then a vulture.)
Werewolf: You've got every kind of critter,
You've got ev'ry kind of pest-
(Oogie's holding a tray full of cockroaches. The cockroaches are seated on tiny beds.)
Oogie: But we treat 'em all as equals
Jes' like any other guest!
Sally: Though you're cleaner than the others-
(Dr. Finklestien adjusts his glasses/goggles so he can see better.)
Dr. Finklestien: Still as far as we can tell,
Group: You'll fit right in to Happiness Hotel!
We'd fit right in to Happiness Hotel!
Shock (manning a camera) : SAY CHEESE!
The camera promptly exploded as Shock pressed the camera button.
"HeHAHAHAHAHA!" Shock laughed. "That was fun!"
"Well, waddaya think?" Oogie Boogie chuckled.
"I like it, but I still miss Halloween Town," Jack said humbly.
"Well, there is no place like home," Copy Jack sighed.
"I guess you'd better be on your way," Copy Sally said, sounding a bit sad.
"Just remember!" Copy Dr. Finklestien wheeled his way to the group. "You're always welcome here!"
"That's a nice thought," Sally cheered.
BANG!
Heads turned as a door rocketed open. A huge, wooly dog stood in the doorway, baring his teeth and growling.
He attacked!
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" People shrieked, running this way and that way to get away from this huge... hound!
"WILLIE!" A voice yelled from outside. "WILLIE, WHERE ARE YOU?"
The dog grabbed Jack in his mouth, his humungous teeth barely missing his ribs.
"THERE HE IS, CHARON!"
"WILLIE!"
A huge paw slapped Willie across the muzzle, making Willie drop the poor skeleton. Jack fell onto Sally, who was covering Lock, Shock, and Barrel protectively.
"Hey, Double F! Check this out!" The paw scooped up the puppets, who were frozen in fear. In fact, they were completely stiff, unable to move at all. Sally subconsciencely paniced.
The person that the hand belonged to was not that horrifying. It resembled a cat. It had a swoop down nose and a cleft lip. The skin was a dark jaguar pattern. She (they had guessed by now) had long, brown curly hair, with a tinge of red. The body was human, but her legs were extremely bendy and cat like. Her feet were paws, as were her hands. She wore a green t-shirt with camou shorts. Her tail was half the length of her body, or even longer. Her eyes were green, and she wore a pair of blue wire frame glasses.
"Double F! Nightmare Before Christmas puppets!"
"Cool! Are they real ones?"
"I don't know. If they were, they wouldn't leave them lying on the ground."
Double F walked up beside her friend. She had the torso of a human, which included her arms. She had long blonde hair, but it was dark blonde and almost brown. She had wings with brown and purple feathers on them. She had a scrawny, black lion's tail with a purple tuft. Her hands were furry and yellow. Her face was sharp and pronounced, with eagle-like features, but still friendly. She had long, brown paws for feet. She also had a braided ring: One strand was a glowing, almost flaming red, one was shimmering light and dark blue, and one was yellow and flickering with electricity.
"Oh well. Let's bring 'em back to my house!" Charon hugged her newly found playthings. "Say goodbye to your brothers and sisters, guys!" She held her dolls by the stomach, holding them towards the other puppets, which were back in their respective places.
Double F clutched her fists to her chest, the claws in her toes extending. "I cannot what until we get home! We can act out scenes from Kingdom Hearts, and the movie, and your fanfiction, and-"
"Double F! Tone it down!" Charon placed a paw over her friends mouth. "Wait 'til we get back! Let's go. WILLIE!"
Willie, who was sniffing a Werewolf puppet, bounded back to his master. Willie was a big dog with tan fur which darkened towards his back. He was a mix of an Old English Sheepdog and a Wheaten Terrier.
"Let's go, Willie," Charon smiled.
"Ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy!"
"Flikfreak! Tone it down!" Charon swished her tail absentmindedly. "Let's go before Willie attacks something else."
Flikfreak and Charon left the scene, Charon holding the unfortunate victims in her arms. Flikfreak closed the door behind her (with her tail).
Just then, Tim Burton burst through another door.
"Puppets!" he yelled. "Puppets! Where are the other ones!"
Although he made minimal sense, the citizens of the set understood Tim enough to know what he was talking about.
"Two girls, teenagers, picked them up and carried them out!" Sally cried.
"They had a dog with them! He'd probably eat them in a moments notice!" Jack yelled.
"Oh no!" Tim held his head in fear. "Which way did they go?"
"Out the door and to the left!" Mayor pointed to the door.
To be continued.
