Hello again. Oh, it would seem that we've gotten a review. Geez, does nobody go to the Nightmare section on anymore? Whatever. Anyway:

girlyraven14:

Jack: O.o uhm, okay... you're a Jack fangirl, I can tell, and I'm staying away from you! Thank you for your kind compliments, though. I'm glad you like this idea. Actually, Sugary came up with it and asked me to narrate, and I was going to turn her down, but then she insulted my narration skills, and so I kidnapped her and narrated the story so she could see just how good of a narrator I am. Yeah.

Sugary: HELP! And I did NOT insult your narration skills!

Jack: No, but you did call my head big.

Sugary: Well yeah, there's that...

Jack: Now we're going to check back up on that psycho, Jonathan, and see what HE was doing whilst Jack had his adventures in Halloween Town.

Audience: canned applause

Jack: Isn't it funny how canned applause actually comes in cans?

Audience: open bottles of canned laughter

Sugary: O.o Strange. I always thought that canned laughter came in CANS. Hence the name CANNED laughter.

Audience: more canned laughter

Jack: gets bored and starts the story

Flashback

Real World, Jonathan's backyard

Jonathan stood in front of the bonfire pit, Jack's body at his feet. Only minutes ago he had tried to decide what to do with it. should he bury it? Shred it? Burn it? The last two would've offered no means of body identification, but...

No, he had decided. Burning it was cleaner.

Jonathan shoved pieces of wood and kindling into the ever-growing pile, enough to satisfy a termite for the rest of its life AND its offsprings' lives. He leaned down and picked up a canister of gasoline, pouring a good quantity over the wood and another good quantity onto Jack, then tossed the body on top of the wood and lit a match.

Unfortunately, Jonathan had never learned the rules of fire safety, for he had accidentally spilt some gas on himself, and as soon as the wood lit ablaze, so did a good part of his arm.

Jonathan yelped and ran into the kitchen, dousing water over the now very charred spot on his arm. It has burnt nearly down to the bone, but fortunately, third-degree burns were so searing that most of the nerves burned up with the skin. None-the-less, Jonathan would have to recieve medical help.

He peered into the backyard at the now blazing flames. Not a trace of any of his enemy's remains could be found. Jonathan grinned wickedly and picked up the phone, dialing 9-1-1.

"Hello, Police Department," the operator said.

"Yes, I need a paramedic here right away," Jonathan, so high on either the pain or having gotten rid of his enemy once and for all that he began to get dizzy. "I've been badly burnt all along my arm."

After saying those last few words, he blacked out.

"Sir? Are you alright?"

Jonathan awoke to find himself in a hospital room, a rather pretty young nurse at his side, tenderly wrapping his entire arm in gauze.

"I - I'm fine," he managed to stutter. "What happened?"

"You were found blacked out on the floor of your kitchen, sir, with heavy third-degree burns on your arms and shoulder. You were immediatley brought here and were given a skin graft. You should be fine within a few weeks, but there will be some permanant scarring, I'm afraid."

Jonathan smiled. It was a small price to pay for eliminating his enemy.

End Flashback

Jack: Scary, No?

Sugary: Very. I guess you really are the master of fright after all.

Jack: You know it! dances

Sugary: Okay, okay you can stop now.

Jack: discos

Sugary: JACK! GET ON WITH THE STORY!

Jack: Okay, okay, don't yell at me! Sheesh!

Flashback

Halloween Town, several months later

It was Jack's first day on 'The Field'. 'The Field' was simply a big, flat area made of cobblestones and slightly raised off of the ground a few inches, like a basketball court, and it was also where he'd learn the actual tricks he could conjure up using fear magic - that is, magic that could be used to create frightening images, or whatever the user wished to do.

Jack had spent the first two months learning about the basics of a scare route. Emily had taught him the S.C.A.R.E. method - Stop and think, Create a plan, Approach stealthily, Reveal yourself, Enact your plan - and about the three easiest ways to catch a person - In an enclosed area, behind their backs, and alone at night.

Then he had learned about the nature of Halloween itself - how it came to be, why children dressed up in costumes, when cnady was introduced into the mix, and other things. What Jack enjoyed learning about most, however, was its practices. He had never known, for instance, that people once used turnips instead of pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns, thinking them to ward off evil forces. He learned about the anatomy of bats and spiders, even dissecting specimins of both at some point, and he was taught telepathy, so he could make it seem like invisible spirits were carrying the item he was actually suspending in the air, and teleportation, so he could make mysterious, quick getaways and appear suddenly in front of someone.

He had been taught enough in the classroom. Now was the time to put it into action.

Jack strode onto the field, feeling confident that he could do whatever task Emily dished out.

"An image," Emily explained, "Is real in your mind. Fully tangible, able to be picked up and carried, and able to interact with things. This is also what occurs with a child's imaginary friend. The child knows their friend is real; they can see and touch the friend, even though others cannot. What I want for you to do, Jack, is try to picture your imaginary friend from your childhood. I know it's hard, as you cannot really recall your childhood all that well, but just try to envision him or her again, as if he or she were real once more."

Jack thought back to his childhood. His imaginary friend had been a dog, a blue dog, with green polka-dots and over-sized floppy ears with which it could fly. He had been unbelievably shaggy, so much so that one couldn't even see the dog's eyes under all that fur, and his name had been...

"Rags," Jack whispered to himself. Simply speaking the name of his childhood pal out loud was enough to evoke such strong memories that his thoughts involuntarily projected a rather flickery image of Rags onto the cobblestones.

Jack had surprised even himself, so he momuntarily broke his concentration and looked. The holographic Rags flickered, a sure sign it would soon disappear.

"Quickly!" Emily urged. "Think about him again. Remember him until you can truely say that you believe he is there!"

Jack quickly thought back to his childhood, trying to recall every memory he had ever had with his faithful friend that only he could see. Sure enough, the projected image became clearer, like a picture coming through static, then it became more solid, and soon, the projected image had its own shadow.

Jack may not have remembered Rags all too well, but Rags certainly remembered him, and could tell that the skeleton standing in front of him was his old friend, Jack. He yipped happily and jumped onto Jack, causing both to tip over.

"Rags!" Jack exclaimed as Rags slobbered all over him, giving him big, wet doggy kisses.

"I missed you, too," Rags said, jumping off of Jack and allowing him to get up. "You've changed a lot!"

"And you haven't changed a bit," Jack said. He leaned over to pet Rags, but as he did, Rags smiled and disappeared. Jack looked at the spot where his old friend had stood fondly. All this time he had forgotten about Rags, but Rags had never forgotten him.

"I'll miss you," he said to himself.

"Very good, Jack," Emily said, giving her pupil a small, thin smile. "Do you have any ideas as to what else this could be used for?"

Jack thought on this for a moment.

"A rope," he concluded, "Or a chain, so as to keep the scare victim from running off at first sight."

"Yes," Emily said. "You can also form it into a shield or weapon to defend yourself with if the time comes that you need to. Similar mind techniques can be used to camoflage yourself, other people, or even your surroundings with enough practice."

"So, I could think of myself becoming, say, a crow, and use this technique to make myself into it?"

"You could, if a crow was what you wanted to be."

"Like this?" Jack envisioned himself as a crow, flying high above the town. A strange prickling sensation spread over his entire body as he did so, and within five minutes he was hovering a few feet off of the ground, flapping his glossy, black-feathered wings. Emily stared at him in amazement.

"Oh, my God," she exclaimed. "It took me years to learn that. Extra credit!"

Jack, feeling rather cocky, spiraled high above Emily's head and silently landed behind her. Emily was too busy glancing up at the sky, trying to find him, to even notice as Jack let his ruse slip and became himself again. He carefully snuck closer to her and yelled "RAWR!" at her loudly, making her jump.

"Well then," she said in a rather frightened tone, "You certainly DO have a flair for this if you can scare me! I'm certain you'll do a great job taking care of this town when I retire.

"Now, next month is September, and you're going to be rather busy. You'll learn more skills, yes, but you'll also get more responsibilities, such as helping around the house. This is very serious business, Jack - this is your last month before we confirm the scare routes and you get yours, and also my last month as Pumpkin Queen. Your inaugerational ceremony is schedualed next week Wednesday.

"Today, as you know, is the last day of August. Next month you will learn the last tricks that you need to know, and I must confess that they are hard ones. If you can handle the harder moves I show you, however, you will be ready to prove everyone that you will make a good replacement for me. You just have to keep practicing. Just because you're getting stronger is no excuse for you to slack off."

Jack smiled. Perhaps this whole Jack-you're-going-to-eventually-rule-this-whole-town-and-its-holiday thing wouldn't be so bad after all.

End Flashback

Jack: There, is THAT enough for you, miss critic?

Sugary: Yes, it is. You want those reviews, don't you?

Jack: Of course I do!

Sugary: Then you have to make the chapters long and entertaining! That's ONLY the fundimental rule of fanfictioning!

Jack: Okay, I'll do that! Now can I disco?

Sugary: rolls eyes, smiles NOW you can disco. hits switch, disco ball drops from ceiling

Jack disco dances