A/N: -is feeling extreme creativity block-

I keep thinking my drawings aren't good…

The Disastrous Eve

"Scribble to Skeleton! Scribble to Skeleton! Do you read me?" –shh-ing sound-

"Skeleton to Scribble! I'm good." –shh-ing sound-

"Orpheus to Scribble! Why do you have to make the 'shhh' sound?"

"Candyman to Orpheus! Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhhhhhhhh!"

"Bug to Candyman! Shut the dip up."

"Apprentice to Bug! Your problem." –shhh-

Pebbles twirled her Walkie-talkie in her hands as she stood on one side of town. A headset sat on her head, the mic close to her mouth. Her Hershey shirt was on, along with a pair of blue sweatpants. A bunch of people were looking at her funny, but it was only one or two, seeing as the rest were gathered around the runway where Jack was getting ready. His Santa costume was on, and several bony reindeer were strapped onto the front of the casket-sleigh. He adjusted a wire and rolled his shoulders.

On the other sides of town, several other people stood separate. All of them had headsets and Walkie-talkies. Erik (Orpheus) stood near Jack's house, with a radar screen next to him. Cricket (Bug) was inside, surrounded by several computers. Amanda (Apprentice) was by the edge of the woods, pacing back and forth as she checked the conditions of the skies. Willy (Candyman) was in the graveyard, also scanning the skies and keeping a list of things to do and a watch next to him.

Pebbles' job was to simply keep monitor over the condition of the town. Her codename was Scribble.

Now everyone buzzed in, reporting conditions.

"Candyman to Skeleton! Conditions good here! And by the way, you're really weird."

"Skeleton to Candyman! …Oh, never mind."

"Scribble to Skeleton! Town's pretty damn empty over here."

"Bug to Skeleton! All systems go."

"Apprentice to Skeleton! Wait a few minutes for some cloud cover, it's too clear over here."

"Orpheus to Skeleton! Radar ready to go."

Jack cheered silently as he listened to the (very long) poem that the town had written for him. Suddenly everyone came in at once, not bothering to use codenames.

"Holy crap! What's with the fog!"

"Too much cover!"

"Oh noes!"

"That's not good."

"…did I leave the oven on?"

"PEBBLES!"

"Oh, sorry…OMIGOSH! OH NO! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

Jack saw the fog too, creeping in over the town and obscuring his vision. Everyone started complaining, but Sally was secretly smiling to herself.

Jack sighed and hid his face in his hands.

"There it goes. All of the effort, my hopes, my dreams…all ruined!"

A little light was shining on the ground. Looking down, he saw Zero grinning and yipping, his nose shining clearly in the fog. As if reading his mind, Cricket asked:

"Bug to Skeleton! Why not use Zero!"

"Great idea!"

Everyone cheered as Jack strapped zero into the sleigh. Erik, who had both the radar screen and a good view of the sleigh, said:

"Orpheus to Bug! He's got it!"

"Bug to Team! Launch commencing in T-minus 10…9…8…"

"ALL SYSTEMS FREAKIN' GO!"

As if on cue, Jack careened off of the runway, yelling to his reindeer and dog to go faster as they ascended into the sky. A little beep sounded as Erik hooked up to the sleigh.

(A/N: The rest of the chappie will now be in conversation.)

-------------------

"Apprentice to Skeleton. Keep steady, stay in the clouds."

"Steady…"

"Alright, break."

"WOOO! I can see everything up here!"

"Candyman to Skeleton! Let's boogie! Go to Sarah's house first, and then jet to Mike, and so on down the list."

"Scribble to Candyman. Should he forget the alphabetical order?"

"Good point. Forget the order that the names come in, just go. You might wanna spend no more than a minute at each house, you've got millions of other lil' children who want their gifts."

"Orpheus to Skeleton. You've got clear ground, and her house is in front of you."

"I see it!"

"Bug to Team! All systems are checked, and we're doing great!"

-various sounds as Jack descends and enters the house-

"Candyman to Skeleton! Give her a makeup kit, a teddy bear, and a Barbie doll."

"Scribble to Candyman! What if she wants a pair of skates and a hockey stick?" –giggles-

"Nah, I've got the list, she wants Barbies and stuff. Skeleton out."

"Skeleton read! I think she likes me!"

-screams are heard in backround-

"Scribble to Skeleton. Did you take your happy pills this morning?"

Later in the night…

-sigh- "Candyman to Skeleton. …give him a…a…video game…" –yawn-

-whispers-

"Scribble to Candyman. I've got a secret…"

"Whas tha?"

-Pebbles gets softer and softer with each word-

"It's the greatest secret ever…it's awesome…" –dies out-

"What? Whas it?" –Willy holds headset closer to ear-

-Pebbles shouts-

"WAKE UP, DAMMIT!"

Even later…

"Skeleton to Team! Okay, I'm in a bigger suburb! Lots of big cars, and metal buildings, and…"

"Bug to Skeleton! Jack, that's a military camp."

"Orpheus to Skeleton! They're looking for you, monsieur!"

-Erik and Cricket are ignored-

"Apprentice to Skeleton! Hide in the clouds!"

"Okay, I'll do it."

-explosions are heard-

"Listen, guys! They're celebrating! For us! Isn't that great?"

"Candyman to Skeleton. No!"

-explosion is heard close to radio-

"Woah! Careful down there! You almost hit us!"

"Scribble to Skeleton! That's the point!"

"What?"

"I said-"

"BUG TO SKELETON! ONE REINDEER JUST GOT SLEEPY HOLLOW'D!"

"Beheaded, Jack! Beheaded!"

"They're TRYING to hit us! Zero!"

-faraway bark-

"Apprentice to Team! Sugar, we're going down!"

-earsplitting boom is heard and static starts fizzling-

"Jack? JACK!"

-deafening silence for 10 minutes as static dies down-

"Bug to Team. Skeleton over and out for good."