Chapter 12

Halloween Town

Sora, Donald, and Goofy landed in the next world. The world looked like it was Halloween and everything seemed to jump at you.

"I don't think we fit in here," Goofy said as he stared down at his bright clothes and the clothes of Sora and Donald.

"I can fix that!" Donald waved his staff and their outfits changed. Goofy now had darker clothes and the tip of his nose was a pumpkin. Donald was now all wrapped up like a mummy. Sora was very different. His clothes were now black and his gloves covered his now sharp tipped fingers. His smiled revealed two fangs and an odd shadow was cast over his eyes.

"Well, this is weird," Sora said as they stepped into town.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" they heard from ahead. They say they were in a circular area with doors that led to different places. The one speaking was ahead of them. He had a long, skinny top hat with a triangular face with a suit. He had a ribbon on his chest that said "Mayor."

"What an odd looking fellow," Goofy said.

"Put your hands together for the master of 'scaremonies.' Jack Skellington!" the Mayor shouted. An amazing tall and skinny man that appeared to be just a skeleton in a striped suit arose from a type of green liquid in front of them.

"No," Jack muttered to himself. "That's still not scary enough. We need something that will really get them. I'll go consult the doctor!" Jack walked way through a door on the far side of the area.

"Heartless!" Goofy yelled. Sure enough four Search Ghosts appeared before them. Sora prepared for an attack but it never came. Cautiously Sora stepped up to the non-moving Heartless and tapped one on the head.

"It's not moving," Sora said as he shook it but still nothing. "I say we go talk to that Jack guy."

"Yeah. He went through there," Donald pointed to the door. They all walked through it to see a set of stairs that went into a building.

"It's not complete!" Jack yelled to his friend Dr. Finkelstein. A motionless Heartless lay on a table. "I need the Heartless to dance with me!"

"Of course!" Dr. Finkelstein pressed forward on his wheelchair and got close to the Heartless. "The Heartless need a heart!"

"Yes! Of course," Jack said. "How do we get a heart?"

"We make one!" Dr. Finkelstein laughed and moved over to another table. "First you take a container." He pulled out a container shaped like a heart but there was a lock on it. "We need to find the key to this thing first!"

"Are you going to help them?" Donald asked Sora as they stood outside of the door to the lab and listened carefully.

"Yeah! Don't you want to see the Heartless dance?" Sora asked.

"Not really," Donald sighed.

"If this works we won't have to fight any Heartless here," Sora said and walked through the door.

"Who are you?" Dr. Finkelstein asked.

"I can help you," Sora said as he summoned the Crabclaw. "My key here can unlock anything." Sora pointed it at the heart and the lock snapped off.

"That was amazing!" Dr. Finkelstein clapped.

"Wow. Thanks," Jack said. "My name is Jack and this is Dr. Finkelstein."

"My name is Sora and this is Donald and Goofy."

"Thank you again Sora," Jack said as he turned back to the doctor.

"Now for ingredients!" Dr. Finkelstein shouted. "You will need courage!" The doctor pulled out a badge that looked like a lion. "Hope and despair!" A gold and black snake biting each other's tails. "Throw in a dash of fear!" A large black spider. "And you have a heart!"

"Now we must test it!" Jack used one of the doctors many machines to infuse the heart into the Heartless. But the machine backfired.

"Oh no! I forgot an ingredient!" Dr. Finkelstein yelled. "Ironically, it's memory! Now where is Sally? That silly girl better not have gotten herself into trouble."

"We'll find her doctor," Jack said. "Sora, would you accompany me?"

"Sure," Sora said as the four of them set out to find Sally.

"Zero!" Jack yelled into the air as they got outside. "Come here boy!" A ghost dog flew up to Jack and started barking. "Do you know where Sally is boy?" Zero barked and nodded and flew off. "Let's go guys!"

They ended up in a graveyard as Zero led them through it. Several Heartless appeared before them. A couple Shadows and a new type, they were about waist height and looked like mummies with sharp claws and long arms.

"Wight Knights!" Sora yelled. "So much for not facing any Heartless!" Sora summoned the Crabclaw. Sora ran forward and sliced through two of the Shadows but had to jump back as a Wight Knight swiped at him.

Jack showed amazing physical strength as he punched a Wight Knight into the air and then grabbed it and slammed it into the ground, killing it. Three Shadows jumped on Jack and started clawing at him. Jack grabbed two and smashed them into each other to kill them, then grabbed the last and tossed it into a gravestone.

Goofy blocked a strike from a Wight Knight with his shield. Another attacked his back so he placed the shield on his back and then slipped it back onto his arm and with a quick spin killed them both.

Donald ran forward and bashed a Heartless in the head with his staff and then twirled around and cast Fira on an approaching Wight Knight. A group of Wight Knights came jumping at him but a quick Thundara and they were killed.

Sora finished up the last Wight Knight by cutting its chest and then spinning around and tearing through it.

"Wow," came a voice from behind a tall gravestone. Out stepped a girl with gray skin and looked like she was sown together.

"Sally!" Jack said as he walked up to her. "Dr. Finkelstein says you have memory for him."

"Of course," Sally pulled out a Forget-Me-Not flower and handed it to them.

"Alright!" Donald cheered as he thought of not having to face anymore Heartless while they were there. As they walked out of the graveyard a lid from a coffin in the back opened up and three forms jumped out while saying their names.

"Lock!"

"Shock!"

"Barrel!" they all landed. Lock was a kid dressed like the devil, Shock was dressed like a witch, and Barrel was a skeleton.

"We know what to do now," Lock told them.

"Tell Oogie Boogie!" Shock and Barrel nodded. They laughed and set off.

"Yes! I can now complete it!" Dr. Finkelstein. "Now I add memory and some surprise just for fun." Dr. Finkelstein tossed in the flower and a jack in the box. They put it in place to test it again.

"Mine!" Lock jumped from nowhere and grabbed the heart. He ran back to the door where Shock and Barrel were waiting and the three of them ran off.

"Get them!" Dr. Finkelstein yelled. Jack, Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran off to try and catch them.

"I should have known," Jack said as they found the destination of Lock, Shock, and Barrel. A large manor on a hill separated from the town. "I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this. He's a scoundrel if you ever saw one."

"Let's go get them!" Goofy shouted in confidence and they started climbing up stairs to get to the top of the manor. When they got there they opened the top door to find Lock, Shock, and Barrel.

"Where's the heart?" Donald asked.

"Oogie Boogie has it!" Shock said quickly. They obviously did not want to face the four warriors.

"He made us do it!" Barrel cried.

"We didn't want to!" Lock joined him.

"Where is Oogie Boogie now?" Sora asked.

"He is in a door near the bottom of the manor. It is green," Lock said.

"Bottom!" Jack yelled. "I can't believe we came to the top. The villains room is usually always at the top!"

The four of them walked into the room with the green door. The room was a giant roulette machine in the center and the outside of the room was raised up.

"Well, well, well," Came Oogie's voice from ahead of them. He sat on the edge of the outside of the room. He was a large fat ghost that seemed to be made out of cloth. "I see you came for the heart." Oogie was the last villain from the room of Maleficent.

"Give us the heart now Oogie Boogie!" Jack demanded.

"I don't think so!" Oogie laughed and swallowed the heart in one gulp. "Now it's your time to die! Oh, Heartless!" He shouted into the air but only to Shadows appeared. He looked at them in shock.

"Apparently you don't have as much power as you think," Sora snickered.

"Nobody disrespects me!" Oogie shouted into the air. "Nobody!" A small explosion knocked the four heroes into the roulette machine. The roulette machine started spinning and they couldn't get up as it spun too fast.

"Somebody stop it I want to get off!" Goofy yelled. Oogie laughed and threw a glowing die into the machine and it exploded near Sora, sending him into the wall and then crashing back down on the machine.

Goofy dodged a die but this one did not explode. Instead it landed on a number and the machine reacted to it by buzz saws coming from the sides and coming towards them. This was complete insanity!

Donald jumped over the buzz saw and used Fira on Oogie but he was able to dodge the attack. A Wight Knight came from nowhere and punched Donald across the face. Jack tried to jump up to Oogie's level but it was too high.

"Strike Raid!" Sora tossed the Crabclaw but Oogie proved to be to fast as he dodged that as well. With another roll of the die two razor blades came from the middle of the machine and started trying to cut them.

Donald was hit by one of the blades and was cut deeply. He cured himself but knew he needed to defend himself. Aero wouldn't cut it this time. He needed a stronger defense spell.

"Aerora!" he used the second level Aero spell. There was more wind and the wind seemed to be sharp enough to injure someone. One of the buzz saws came at him but broke against the Aerora.

"Summon!" Sora yelled. "Genie!" Genie appeared from the Crabclaw and aimed his magic spells at Oogie. Oogie dodged a few of them but the last few connected and he was thrown back. This distracted him long enough that the roulette stopped spinning for a few minutes.

Jack jumped on the stopped buzz saw and used the extra leverage to jump up to Oogie's level. With a powerful punch Jack cut deeply into Oogie's side.

"I won't be beaten!" Oogie yelled and caused another small explosion that knocked Jack back down onto the roulette and it started moving again. Sora was ready to summon Genie but Goofy stopped him.

"Rocket!" Goofy yelled and he shot himself up. Oogie was too surprised to dodge and Goofy burst right through him. The roulette stopped and rose up to Oogie's level and they all got off. Oogie's body dissolved away and all that was left was the heart.

"I guess that heart was a failure after all," Jack said and they turned and walked away. Where Oogie had been was a piece of paper. Sora picked it up to see it was Ansem's Report 7. He placed it with one and three and walked out with the others.

As they were walking back to Halloween Town the ground started to rumble. Sora and the others turned to see Oogie's skin cover his entire manor.

"What did I tell you?" Sora smirked to Goofy. "They always get bigger." Goofy nodded and started running at the manor.

"I told you fools!" Oogie yelled. "I will not be defeated!" almost an army of Heartless appeared between them and the manor. They braced themselves as the Heartless charged at them.

Sora spun the Keyblade like he never had before. Heartless were struck down left and right but when one died two more seemed to take its place. With a mighty cry Sora jumped deeper into the fray.

Goofy batted Heartless away with his great strength. At one point they threatened to over take him but with a quick Tornado they were blown away. A Wight Knight charged at Goofy and Goofy charged at the Wight Knight. When the two met the Wight Knight went flying back from the amazing force.

"Sora!" Jack tried to get Sora's attention.

"What is it?"

"Look at the top of the manor!" Jack pointed. Sora took a glance to see a glowing dark orb on a tree branch the extended from the very top of the manor. Now the problem was getting to it.

"Aerora!" Donald shouted as his wind shield reappeared. A couple Heartless were blown away by it but more merely took their place. Donald created a powerful Thundara and a large chunk of the Heartless were wiped out.

Jack grabbed one of the Wight Knights and started spinning it around, knocking the others away. He needed to clear a path for Sora to get through. The four warriors were alone against a small army and all seemed hopeless as all four were overtaken at the same time and their hearts were about to be taken.

A shadowy form flew toward Halloween Town as fast as it could. He pulled his sword from his back and spotted a few Heartless below him and he was still quite a distance away from the site of the battle. He boosted his speed hoping to get there in time.

Sora gave in. There was just to many Heartless for him to fight back properly. He just lay there and waited for the end now. The form suddenly flew in and started hacking up the Heartless with lightning speed.

"How did you get here?" Sora yelled as he saw the one who saved him. "Cloud?" Cloud turned from him and sliced through some more Heartless.

"I brought some friends!" Cloud yelled and Leon and Cid appeared from the Halloween Town entrance. Cid pulled a spear off his back and started to wipe out a bunch of Heartless. Leon used his Gunblade to slice through the ranks of Heartless.

"Go kid!" Cid yelled. "We cut a path!"

"You must finish this villain off!" Leon shouted to him. Sora nodded and ran through the opening in the Heartless. He had to cut a few down that were in midair as they jumped at him but they were no problem. He got to the base of the manor and started to climb.

Donald, Goofy, and Jack were amazed by the fighting powers of Cloud, Leon, and Cid as they did battle with the small army and seemed to have the upper hand.

Sora climbed to the top of the manor when suddenly about fifty flying Heartless started flying towards him. Sora tried to use Gravity but there was simply to many. He needed something stronger.

"Gravira!" Sora shouted as the ball of black magic appeared and then expanded until it was large enough to crush every one of the Heartless. Another second level spell. Sora slowly walked over to the dark orb. He raised the Crabclaw high into the air and jammed it down. The orb was destroyed and the dark energy seemed to explode. Sora was thrown from the manor and was headed toward the ground but Cloud caught him as he was falling.

"It's over," Jack said as the entire manor exploded from result of the orb being destroyed. Sora sighed to himself. His journey was far from over and this world was so tough. It almost seemed like a climactic finish.

"No," Sora said quietly. There was still the matter of finding Kairi, finishing off Hades once and for all, and of course defeating Maleficent. Not to mention he still had a score to settle with Riku.

"How did you guys get here?" Goofy asked Cloud, Leon, and Cid.

"I sensed something was wrong," Cloud said. "I knew it would be to big for me alone so I went to Traverse Town and asked these guys for help."

"Always good to be back in action!" Cid laughed.

"Not bad gramps," Sora smirked.

"You better watch it kid," Cid smirked back.

"We didn't really want to interfere," Leon said. "This is your journey Sora. This was a one-time thing. From here on out you're on your own. No more help."

"I understand," Sora said. The three powerful warriors said their goodbyes and left for Traverse Town and wherever Cloud went.

"Hey Sora," Jack turned to him. "I couldn't have done this without you." Jack gave him a Keychain that he had found. Sora removed the Crabclaw and placed the new one on. The blade turned completely black and the key part looked like a bat attached to the top.

"I'll call this one the Pumpkinhead," Sora said.

"Thanks again Sora," Jack said as he headed back to the lab. Sora, Donald, and Goofy waved goodbye.

"Hey Sora, look at this," Donald caught Sora's attention.

"What?" Sora asked but Donald did not have to point it out. Where the manor had been was a giant Keyhole in the ground. Sora fired the beam form the Keyblade and locked the world. The three looked at each other and then turned and walked away to get to the next world.

Riku stood on Captain Hook's ship with Maleficent at his side. In front of him was a motionless Kairi on a bed.

"What happened to her?" Riku asked.

"Her heart taken by the Heartless no doubt," Maleficent faked sadness.

"Can I help her?"

"There is no known way of bringing a heart back. But there is a way to find out how to do it."

"How?"

"When all seven Princesses of Heart are in one place their hearts can be used to open the Final Keyhole. Within lies untold wisdom. Surely you could find the answer there. But I will need your help gathering the princesses."

"I'll help," Riku sighed.

"Good. Now I will grant you a marvelous gift! The power to control the Heartless!" she laughed and Riku's body was shrouded in darkness.