Spirited Away on Halloween 2: Hirac's Return
I'm done. I'm finishing the story with this chapter. You can thank Genesis' "The Brazilian" for th- OH! That reminds me! I wanted to look up "Dela" on Napster! And I can get "The Brazilian" while I'm at it! Rockin'!
Sally struggled against the restraints, but it was no good. Dr. Finklestien loomed above her holding a pair of scissors in his hand, his white lab coat replaced with a dull gray uniform. "Daddy, please, why are you doing this?"
"Don't call me 'daddy', Sally," the doctor responded in a cold, remote tone. "This is a direct order from the king, after all. I can't disobey him."
"That terrible beast isn't your king! Jack is your king!" Sally's head snapped around when she heard a loud "Clunk!" in her ear; Igor was placing a wooden armateur (look it up if you don't know) on a table across from Sally in roughly the same position as he was lying. "What are you doing? Igor!"
"This for you," said the hunchbacked one. "King says you're too soft."
"But- I-"
"Now, Sally," Dr. Finklestien interrupted. "Hush. This is for your own good..."
She saw the scissors coming towards her, and wrenched her eyes shut-
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REEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!
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Gargoyle Jack fell through the ceiling after a few more minutes of tearing through the pipework. He found himself in a small, square room that he barely fit through. There was a door one each wall; one door was bare, one had a window in it, one had a sign hanging on the doorknob, and the last was framed by a few thin vines. Jack dug his claws into the carpet, eyes alert and nose twitching. Sally... he could smell her behind one of the doors, but he couldn't tell which one. A few more sniffs, and he- wait, he could cheat, he forgot!
"I wish I knew where Sally was!"
She was behind the door with the vines! He was facing away from the door, so he grabbed the knob with his tail and ripped it off its hinges before barreling through. It led to a small hallway; he ran as fast as he could, his wings tearing huge holes in the wall as he passed. The vines which covered the doors whipped around his feet and across his face, but he ignored them and kept going forward. His friend's screams still rang fresh in his mind. His instincts had long since taken over any of his rational thinking. He was no longer Jack Skellington: he was anger. He was rage. He was energy and violence and terror and fear.
He was falling!
The vines suddenly came to life! They all sprung from the walls and wrapped around his body, wrapping up his entire frame in a matter of seconds! Jack tore out of them soon enough, but found himself in another room from where he had been trapped.
It was huge, decorated with golden ionic columns and red banners. Jewels of every type covered the room celing to floor and glittered in the flourescent sun, nearly blinding Jack in his place. What wasn't covered by precious stones was enshrouded in vines; thick, gnarly vines as thick as a man's arm, leaves as big as a house cat. A thick red carpet split into 6 different rays that spread to each corner of the hexagonal room, leaving Jack confused as to where the "front" was. And he heard laughter. A thick, loud, booming laughter that rocked the whole room-
"Jack!"
Sally's voice!
He finally got his sight back. Sally was to his right, being held against the wall by a thick bundle of green vines. She was watching him with a terrified expression, obviously shocked by the fact that the love of her life was now more of a monster than usual. But Jack's vision was taken soon enough by...
It was him. Pumpkin Head himself. But now his gigantic pumpkin head was at least 7 STORIES TALL! The stem of his pumpkin head split into a nest of vines which wrapped around him and nested him against the wall securely. Pumpkin Head looked down at little Jack with detailed, glittering eyes, spitting out jets of fire as long as Jack was tall with every breathe. Inside the Pumpkin Head's gaping maw was a bonfire of red flame which whipped around his fanged mouth. And Jack could just barely make out... something in the back of Pumpkin Head's mouth...
Santa's hat!
"YOU!"
Jack charged at Pumpkin Head, only to get whipped back to the ground by a vine.
"Jack, no!"
Before he could shake himself up, Sally had ripped herself out of the vines, run over to his side, and had hoisted him to his feet. Slightly confused (because Sally, he knew, was nowhere near that strong), Pumpkin Head's evil laughter snapped him back to reality. He spread himself out in front of Sally and spread out his wings, shielding her from the fire.
"That's very cute!" spoke Pumpkin Head, rattling Jack's bones as his voice echoed throughout the entire castle. "You don't even remember what happened to you all those years ago, and you're still defending eachother!"
"What are you talking about!" Sally commanded, Jack still too angry to think much unlike a wild animal. "Who are you?"
Pumpkin Head laughed again. "Oh, it's funny. I remember now why it was so easy to conquer you all; Halloween is a holiday full of idiots!"
Jack began to charge forward again, but Sally grabbed him by the wings and held him back. "Jack, no, that doesn't work!"
"I leave signs of my reign as king everywhere!" Pumpkin Head roared, "And no one is smart enough to even think about my existance until I come back to take my throne!"
"You stole the throne from Jack!" Sally corrected, anger welling up in her voice and making it warble. "You're no king, you're just a monster!"
"Oh, but I am king..." Pumpkin Head pushed his gigantic self closer to the floor, a wave of vines moving out of the way and up the wall to accomodate him. "The true king. The Pumpkin King."
Jack began to roar, Sally still holding onto him with her newfound might.
"I wish-"
Jack jumped in shock. How did he know!
"They remembered."
The memories flooded back to him like a blast of lightning: how Pumpkin Head had invaded Halloween Town with an army of ghosts and overthrown his father as Pumpkin King; how he talked everyone, including a young him, into thinking that he was the only truth, the only king, and the only authority; how they terrorized the humans of the mortal world for centuries; how, one day, a woman named Sally had arrived and changed everything; and how he made the wish that made no one remembered King Hirac.
Jack fell to his knees, the influx of information pounding his bones like a sledgehammer. Sally, too, fell behind him onto her back, clutching her head in pain. All over the mansion, screams of terror, pain, and rememberance were heard, all soon drowned out by Hirac's great laughter.
"You fools! You thought that you could truly be controlled by this tiny little waste of a king!" he cried to no one in particular. "I am the true power! I am the ultimate authority!" He added under his breath. "And I'm lisp free now, thank me."
Jack was attacking him again within seconds. Hirac grabbed him with and tendril and held the Pumpkin King in front of him, relishing in the moment. "Poor poor Jack... just like your father in almost every way. You fight bravely, blindly, and are nothing compared to me."
Jack felt the fury deep in his bones, and he struggled against Hirac. "You're not half the king my father was!"
"No, but I'm 500 times more powerful than the two of you combined, now- ow!"
There was a quick snap of green, and suddenly Sally was being held beside Jack in another, somewhat bigger, vine. "Oh, Kerry Kerry Kerry..."
"For the last time, I'm SALLY!" screamed the ragdoll.
"You put her down!" Jack threatened.
Hirac ignored Jack and pulled Sally close to his eyes, tongues of flame just barely missing her cloth skin by inches. "You could have had a king, but you close some ignorant bone-bag over me-" Sally kicked him right between the eyes! "OW!"
He viciously threw Sally across the room in shock! Jack roared in anguish and dug his claws into Hirac's vines, ripping open one and spilling Hirac's precious chlorophyll onto the floor! The pumpkin headed one shrieked in pain and, again, threw Jack across the room and right back onto Sally, who was knocked dizzy by the sudden impact.
Jack shook his head and began to get up, only to have Sally hold him down again. "Jack, no! You can't hit him!"
"Then how am I-"
Jack didn't finish. The sound of a building collasping focused his attention back on Hirac, who was being attacked by a flock of gargoyles! They all went after his vines while Hirac's head tried to scorch them with firebreath, and soon sections of tendrils were falling to the floor!
"Thank you, Pyramus!" Jack squealed, jumping to h- Sally pulled him back down AGAIN!
"Jack, this won't work!" Sally finally was able to fully explain. "Hirac can regenerate himself through his vines! There's no way to attack him directly!"
Well, this was a stunning blow to the plan. Jack fumbled for words before realizing he couldn't say anything. All he could do was sit here, Sally holding onto him, while his gargoyle brothers were attacking a foe that wasn't getting any weaker!
"I know it's hard, Jack," Sally spoke in almost a whisper, "But think about it. As hard as you can hit him, he can hit you back harder every time. It's like fighting fire with fire; it doesn't work!"
Sally's words sunk in slowly. He could do nothing as a gargoyle... but as a skeleton, he felt delicate and vulnerable, and Hirac would most likely squash him like a bug. She was right; the only thing, probably, strong enough to pierce Hirac's rind was... himself!
"I have an idea!" Jack kissed Sally on the nose. "If I don't survive this, you're in charge!"
And with that, he slipped back into skeleton form and out of Sally's grasp! Leaping boldy into the center of the room, Jack cupped his hands around his mouth and cried. "Big King Hirac can't keep a few gargoyles at bay! What a shame!"
Hirac spied Jack out of the corner of his eyes and hissed through the flock of stone monsters. "Keep your mouth shut! I can crush you like a bug in that weak li-"
WHAM! One of Hirac's vines smacked him in the head! Jack laughed at the car-sized dent Hirac put in the back of his rind.
"SHUT UP!"
"You're one to talk!" Jack laughed. "Not so big and bold when you can't leave your little nest, eh Pumpkin Head!"
WHAM! Hirac's tendrils hit him again!
"Zeeeeeeeeee-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Hirac burst out of the nest of vines as a 200 storie monster! He stretched out a hand the size of a schoolbus and whammed in down just in front of Jack!
And so Jack ran! The Pumpkin King bolted out the nearest door, which stretched like a balloon for Hirac to fit through. The pumpkin head followed Jack swiftly, a long strain of vines following behind him!
And just second later, the entire population of Halloween Town burst through the door weilding pitchforks and torches. "We're here to rebel, Hirac!"
Sally smacked her forehead. "You're a little late, Mayor, Jack's already led him out of here."
The townspeople were silent, then sighed in disbelief as a unit.
"I don't believe this!" Shock shrieked. "I brought my lucky axe and everything!"
But a smile slipped across Sally's face. "I've got an idea. Gargoyles, get the door. Everyone else, help me with the vines!"
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Jack aimlessly led Hirac through the hallways as he saw fit, making sure to twist and turn as much as he could to tangle Hirac in the doorways. As of now, he had no idea how he was going to get Hirac to beat himself up this time. He just planned on distracting the monster while the gargoyles nipped away at his roots.
He turned around. Hirac's face was manic, and he was running at a stunted crawl through the minimal hallway space. The walls turned black a few feet in front of the pumpkin head from his boiling breath, plants withering and glass melting soon after Hirac passed them. But as Jack looked back, he slowed down; he had to keep running forward. He hissed in pain, feeling a strange sense of imposement. This harebrained plot of his would never work, he realized. He didn't think it through, he didn't have a back-up plan, and he didn't have back-up. It came to him in a flash, the notion that he had messed up by thinking he could do any of this himself, but left him once he tripped on a rug and nearly fell to his doom.
He slipped around a corner, bouncing off of a table corner and turning into a dead end. Crud, he thought, now I've got nowh-
He heard Zero's barking in the distance, which reminded him of how he used to stop Zero from chasing cats. Reaching into his chest, Jack bid Winky-doo a "Sorry" and "Good-bye", then threw him across the hallway! Hirac, predictably, followed Winky-doo before realizing he wasn't Jack, giving the Pumpkin King time to escape. He had to do this several times (he felt a couple pounds lighter, having thrown away most of the junk in his pockets by the end of his run), yet although he was starting to get tired, the mammoth Hirac still wouldn't stop following him!
"I wish I knew what to do!"
Head for the front door, his mind told him. He kept running, reaching into his pocket and realizing that the only thing left ot throw was the jellyball, which was hanging loose and saggy in his fingers. "I've wished too much..."
The doorway was in sight. The wooden doors were open wide, a hundred pairs of tiny stone hands holding them open. With a breath of relief Jack jumped through the doorway just as Hirac placed his hand on the threshhold! The gargoyles let go of the doors, and they slammed shut as if on springs with the force of a moving train!
BOOM!
Pyramus shuffled next to Jack, who was doubled over trying to catch his breath. "I followed Sally's orders to the letter. Did the plan work?"
"Sally, what...?" Jack swallowed a breathe... what was that smell? "Do I smell pumpkin guts- EW!" Jack bolted upright and held his mouth shut, the mental picture making his stomach turn.
"I suppose the plan worked then." Pyramus smiled happily. "I am glad to see you safe."
The Pumpkin King rubbed his head gratefully. "Glad I can (pant pant) say likewise (pant pant). Now (pant gulp), what did you say about Sally?"
"Sally sent us to hold open the door." He held up his wings proudly, his piece-together children swarming around their scar-covered father. "She knew you would eventually come here. She and the townspeople stayed behind and sliced Hirac's vines so he would shatter behind the door instead of just bouncing off." The gargoyle shook himself like a dog and tucked a tall gargoyle under his arm. "I found Thisby."
"Thisby?" Jack surveyed Pyramus' mate. "Well, she doesn't look too much like her..." Jack shrugged. "But, then again, none of you do now."
"EW!"
"Sally caught up with you."
Jack wasted no time in changing into a gargoyle and prying the door open again, slipping through as a skeleton before it slammed back on him.
He wished he hadn't. Pumpkin guts were everywhere. The entire main hall was orange and studded with tiny, gut-covered elves and one Sandy Claws (who was stuck tight to the ceiling). Jack jumped across the bits that he couldn't walk over and escaped through a door, immediately walking straight into The Mayor.
"JACK!" The Mayor threw his arms around Jack's knees and hugged him, nearly making Jack loose his balance. "We were so worried about you!"
The townspeople flocked around their king and began thanking him for destroying the evil king. The Pumpkin King sighed and shook his head mournfully.
They were his idiots.
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Jack stood atop what was once Hirac's mansion, surveying Halloween Town. It had been 3 hours since Hirac's pieces had been cleared up and chucked in the lake; nighttime was finally starting to settle over the land. Dust had covered what were once pearly white huts and roads, turning everything a nice grimy gray. The river of laundry and suds were now black with mud and dead fish; the fog was gone, and Jack could now see that the forest of gnarled trees were creeping back into the landscape.
"It was our fault."
Jack nodded. "That's not true. It was my fault."
Sally touched his hand lightly. "You're not going to-"
"I'll make sure everyone remembers what happened today." Jack crossed his arms. "We'll have to rebuild HalloweenTown."
The ragdoll stood on the turret next to Jack, holding onto the skeleton for balance. "That'll be impossible."
"I'll wish it back to normal once this little thing is recharged," Jack said, patting the jellyball under his pocket. "But until then, they'll have to work for their town, make it memorable. I hate to say it, but Hirac was right. My people barely know enough to function on their own; they're too easy to control, and I took advantage of that."
Sally nodded knowingly. "You thought they'd be hurt."
"They were hurt more because I didn't tell them."
The ragdoll gave Jack a smile. "I'm glad you've learned this on your own. I was afraid I'd have to tell it to you myself."
"I'm glad you're so nosy." Jack gave Sally's shoulders a squeeze. "You made sure you learned all of that stuff while you were there just so you could help me, didn't you?"
Sally nodded. "It was hard, but I knew you'd come sooner or later."
"I couldn't have done it without you," Jack admitted. "Without all of you, really. The gargoyles, the people, that stupid little elf! What was his name? Winky-doo?"
"Jack, don't make fun of the elf's name." Sally held a hand over her mouth. "But still, it's a litte funny."
Once again, the Pumpkin King heaved a sigh. "I'm going to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. I'll have to make the townspeople think, encourage them to be independent."
Sally agreed, "You can't take care of everything."
Jack let the words sink in a bit. "No, I can't. But, you know what? I can take care of more now. It's had an effect on me. It's made me stronger."
"It's made me stronger!" Sally childishly squeaked.
Jack stroked Sally's head lovingly. "Yes, but your case isa little more literal. I mean emotionally. I'm not going to fall apart into an emotional wreak like I did this time. I promise."
Pyramus' sillouette flew across the full moon. Jack breathed in the fresh air and kissed Sally while her guard was down.
"It'll be hard. But it will be worth it."
DONE! FINALLY, FINALLY, FI-NAL-LY! It's a little rushed by my standards, but I'm so glad to finally give this story some closure! And now I can begin my other ideas! I'm doing a super-crossover of every single cartoon character I can think of (Jack's gonna be in that one), I'm doing a Fairly Oddparents fic, I'm working on an SD Gundam songfic, and I've got fanart to upload! I'm so glad to finally be done with this! Sorry to the fans if I made it seem like I don't care, but I'm just so glad to have an ending! It's like the last day of shooting on one of the "Lord of the Rings" movies.
THANK YOU ALL! GOOD NIGHT!
