Spirited Away on Halloween 2; Hirac's Return

"It ate Lock it ate Shock it ate Lock it ate Shock and then the gargoyles and the-"

"BARREL!"

The tiny one shrinked under the powerful voice of the Pumpkin King. He buried his face in Sally's stomach for a few calming breathes before glancing back at Jack, his eyes rubbed free of tears. "But it ate them!" he squealed, with all the fiercosity but half the volume of his original voice.

Jack rubbed his forehead. "I know it ate them, but what ate them?"

Barrel sunk further into Sally's lap. "It did!"

He could only sigh as Barrel tossed himself into Sally's knees and, miraculously, fell asleep. Heaving a groan, the tired skeleton smalled himself down in the loveseat beside Sally and leaned back his head. His normally spacious sitting room felt uncomfortably cramped, probably because of his millions of books scattered all over the floors in the event of the "Boom". Mostly it was the stress, which sat upon his chest like a suitcase full of the aforementioned books and refused him most of his breath. Sally leaned into the crook of his arm and rested on his side. "This isn't helping, is it?"

"No." Jack could barely be understood due to the weird angle of his neck. "Now we've got a thing that makes the Earth move, a Barrel with no Lock and Shock, and gargoyles everywhere."

"The gargoyles aren't here to help?" Sally gasped, fear gripping her chest for a moment. Those beautiful things-

"They are, but-" Jack sighed again. Sally smiled and relaxed; she felt better knowing that those beasts were on their side. They were lovely creatures, and she had no idea (and thus no reason) as to why she should be afraid of them.

The Pumpkin King sensed her body drooping in his arm, and sat up straight. "Something about those things, it just-" He paused for a second before continuing. "Something about them reminds me of something bad. They're associated with a bad memory, I just don't know which one."

"Really?" Sally stared into her lap, petting Barrel's head like a cat's because he was there. "I kind of have that feeling... but it's not bad..."

Jack noted this and kept talking. "That, and I don't trust them. They work for me, technically, but they don't live in HalloweenTown. I can't control them; they're likely to go AWOL or something."

"Would they?"

... "I don't know. And that's the bad thing."

Jack stood up and began stretching his arms for emphasis. "I mean, think about it. If they decide to kill me, Pyramus has got a solid-stone army of a hundred-something gargoyles under his thumb that follow each and every one of his orders, not mine. Not to ment-"

"Why are you so worried with not being able to control them?"

Jack stopped. Why? Why was he so worried?

But he didn't think about it for long. Something dropped into his pocket. Without pausing, he whispered, "Sally, check your pocket."

Sally hesistated, but opened her pocket and pulled out nothing. "Uh oh."

Soon as she said it, Jack yanked open his coat, reached into his pocket, and pulled out 6 toe bones, a piece of a broken 45" record, a key, three buttons, a big piece of pocket lint, and THE RING BOX. "I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!"

&&&

Having suceeded in waking up Barrel and nearly scaring Sally out of her wits, Jack had decided to chuck the jelly ball and any curse it might have on it into the lake. Sally followed him diligently, anxious herself to see that little thing plop into the water and not resurface; and there, of course, was Barrel, bewildered and sleepy due to the gargoyle's magic. He paused on the edge of the water, tossing the ring box up and down in his hand. "This whole fiasco started with this stupid thing."

"Are you gonna throw something?" Barrel asked between yawns. "Can I throw it?"

"Can I throw it?" Sally growled.

Jack giggled. "No, Sally. This was in my drawer."

And with one mighty heave, Jack tossed the ring box and the jelly ball within it into the-

It stopped in mid-air and whipped back into Jack's hand like a boomerang!

"HOLY COW!" Sally shrieked; Barrel and Jack shared a surprised whelp. The skeleton man growled in anger and threw the ring box into the ground-

BOOM!

Another shockwave went through the universe, rocketing the water out of the lake and soaking the three to the bone (or, in Sally's case, to the twig). Jack was on the verge of shrieking before he heard the screams of HalloweenTown reaching his ears. As he looked up, a swarm of gargoyles began flying towards town; he could hear something roaring, but he couldn't recognize it as anyone he knew.

He ran.

&&&

Everyone thought it was the scarecrow from outside of town at first glance, but once it opened its mouth and swallowed Dolby the cyclops, no one cared about anything but getting their butts INSIDE! With a group scream, the monsters rushed away from the bestial scarecrow which was running around on all fives (he had another leg in between his other two). Poppy the witch hopped onto her broom and zoomed into her cauldron, just barely missing the firey breath of the attacking monster.

Bartholemew the bat boy wasn't as lucky as most; he had a set of pumpkin fangs around his tiny frame before he knew what was happening to him. His wings were pinned to his sides, and his arms and legs were too weak to do anything against the stony teeth of the scarecrow. It was like an oven inside of the scarecrow's mouth, and Bart began to sweat in both fear and heat.

The scarecrow threw back his head, ready to swallow, but his eyes caught sight of a flock of black wings flying towards him. One jump, and he landed on the arching neck of the central fountain, barely avoiding the powerful punch of Pyramus.

"Get him!" Pyramus roared in a gargoyle dialect. "Avoid the head, you might hit the boy!" Pyramus landed and thundered towards the scarecrow, ramming him off the fountain and onto the ground. Bartholemew's head flopped onto Pyramus's ear.

"Hi, Grandpa."

"Stay still, Bartholemew." Pyramus hooked the scarecrow onto his wing and threw him into the air where many tiny gargoyles, including Thisby, began grasping him with their feet and pulling him apart. The scarecrow's simple eyes darted back and forth wildly; with a swing of his arm, Thisby and three other gargoyles were suddenly swept to the ground, the others letting go of him in confusion. The scarecrow popped onto his feet and began to run off, Bartholemew still in his mouth. Pyramus took to the air and began to chase him-

But then Jack caught up. The Pumpkin King felt a wild impulse and, acting on it, threw the ring box with the jelly ball at the back of the scarecrow's head.

BOOM! Jack could feel a slight shake in the ground, but the scarecrow was suddenly quaking as if he had been struck by lightning. He plunged into the ground, spitting Bartholemew, the cyclops, LOCK, AND SHOCK out of his mouth. The ring box, like Jack "knew" it would, bounced off of the back of the scarecrow's head and into his hand.

The scarecrow turned its face around in a split second, but that second was enough; both he and Jack met eyes and shared the same shock-rememberance "punch" (although Jack didn't know why). Pyramus skidded to a stop, picking up Bartholemew and placing him on his back. By the time he looked up, the scarecrow had bounded into the sky, hopping away with enormous strides until he was no longer visible.

Jack skipped to a stop next to Pyramus, who took his time in rising to his feet. He solemnly focused on the sky, placing the ring box back into his pocket. "What was that?"

"A scarecrow." Pyramus reported. "Three legs, alive. It had eaten the cyclops. We attacked immediately."

Jack paused slightly; not the answer he was looking for, but an answer. "Good." He turned his head to look behind him; several walls and parts of the ground were scorched black, the elbow had been knocked off the fountain, and there was a large hole in the stonework where Pyramus had punched the ground. "Do you have anyone who can fix those?"

"I'll get my children working on it." Pyramus responded, reaching behind his back and patting Bart on the head.

Jack shielded his eyes and looked towards the sun; the jack-o-lantern face matched that of the scarecrow. Again, he felt a strange "punch" of memory returning, for he knew that face. It was anywhere he could think of: Town Hall, a few bookshelves in his house, even stamped into the covers of some books that the children learned to read from. One in particular, he remembered from when he was learning to read from his father, was an alphabet book. K stood for King, and the king in the book was... that exactly same jack-o-lantern face.

Jack spied Sally and Barrel on the edge of town, waiting for the gate to open. He touched Pyramus' shoulder. "Bring Lock and Shock to my house, bring Dolby to the witches, and then find the Mayor. Both of you, meet me at my house."

Jack turned his face again to the sun. "I've got a feeling."

Pyramus, confused, held up his wing and looked through his wing membrane at the sun. His eyes widened in realization.

DONE! Wonky chapter, but MAN! Do I have a fanart to go with this one! Woo hoo! MAN! I can't wait to put it on my homepage!

Hey, favor! You two readers I have so far! Adverise for me, will ya?