Disclaimer: All Hail the Pumpkin King!

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Chapter 7

'I can't believe he's making us take her down there personally.' Shock thought. Why they couldn't just dump Aubrey down the tube and get it over and done with was beyond her.

"I want her in perfect condition," Oogie told her. That meant no shoving her through the makeshift pipe that they hadn't used since the Christmas incident. Well, except for that on time she and Lock shoved Barrel down as a prank.

She looked back at Lock, who was still carrying Aubrey. Shock may have hated keeping that brat in one piece, but she still harbored a fear of Oogie Boogie from when she was younger and almost nothing would get her to go against his orders.

Younger... she had used the term loosely since her death. When had the three of them actually started growing up? They'd stayed the same age they'd died at for... however many years it had been. It was just like that; she and Lock were always seven, and Barrel was always six-and-a-half.

It was only after Aubrey had come that things had started changing. The first obvious sign was when they couldn't all fit in the elevator at the same time. Then their costumes, which they'd had for forever, didn't fit right and they'd had to get Sally to make them new ones. Lock's voice had started changing, boy was that funny, and then she'd started... liking him. Liking him less in a sisterly way and more as... as just a girl.

Her thoughts pulled themselves together as they reached the door of Oogie's casino. She knocked twice and it slid open.

It had been three years since any one of the trick-or-treaters had set foot in Oogie Boogie's game room, but it was the same as they remembered. Creepy, and even creepier in black light.

Oogie walked out of the shadows, took Aubrey from Lock, and unchained her hands before shoving her onto the roulette wheel. She landed painfully on her arm, then stood and glared at him.

His grin just widened. "Any last words?"

Aubrey smirked. "Glad you asked: All hail Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King!"

Shock turned to Barrel angrily. "Traitor!" She socked him in the face, jumping on him and knocking him to the floor.

Lock shook his head a few times. "Wha...?"

"Too little, too late!" Oogie cackled, wrapping his hand around the lever that would activate the power. He never did pull said lever, for as he began to pull back, he found himself being rammed in the side by everyone's favorite devil.

Lock jumped down onto the roulette wheel. "Are you okay?"

Aubrey nodded. "I'll be fine."

"Good." He pulled her over to the drainpipe that led out of the casino and boosted her up.

Once she was in, Aubrey turned around. "Give me your hand. I'll pull you out too." She leant over as far as she could, trying to reach Lock's outstretched hand. Their fingers barely brushed each other.

"Almost... there..." Lock grunted, the muscles in his arm strained to their limits.

"I don't think so!" Oogie roared, finally pulling himself over to the controls and yanked the lever down toward him. "Nobody betrays the bogeyman!" The wheel started turning, throwing Lock off balance.

"Lock!" Aubrey yelled.

"I'll be fine, just go get Jack!" He ordered. She bit her lip and nodded, climbing up the pipe.

xXx

I burst out of the elevator before it even reached the ground. Falling straight down five or six feet is a lot faster than I realized. Pain laced through my left arm; I'd landed on it again. I ignored it and got up, running off toward Guillotine Gate.

I ran through the gate as the mayor started handing out awards. I found Jack easily; he was standing offstage. I ran over to him, shoving through the crowd. "Aubrey? What's wrong?" Jack asked as he caught sight of me.

I must've looked worse than I thought. "Jack, there's no time, we've got to go-"

"Aubrey, I can't just leave. It's Halloween! I'm sure whatever it is can wait."

"No it can't!" I told him, pulling his hand again. "Oogie's back and he's got Lock trapped on in the game room!"

Seconds later, I was on Jack's back and he was running top speed toward the tree house.

xXx

Lock wasn't faring well. One of the buzz-saws that occupied the roulette wheel had just made another pass over him and nearly clipped off his tail. 'Aubrey, hurry up.' He thought, dodging a round of bullets from the cowboy robots.

Shock watched in horror as a bullet clipped Lock's shoulder. Enough was enough. Hurting Lock definitely qualified as one of the 'almost nothing's that could get her to betray Oogie Boogie. "Leave Lock alone!" She jumped onto Oogie's back, pulling him away from the controls.

Barrel, who was over in a corner recovering from Shock's wrath, ran over to help. "Yeah, you tell him Shock!" He yelled before biting Oogie on the leg.

"Aargh! You little brats!" He pulled both of them off with ease. "If you two are so eager to join Lock in his doom, you should've just said so." A sly grin returned to his face. "On second thought, I'm famished." Both of their masks had fallen off, so Oogie could see the terror on both their faces. "Ladies first." He threw Barrel into the wall head-first, resulting in immediate unconsciousness.

Oogie started to inhale and Shock screamed. Faintly, she could see a weird white vapor coming off her body and going into the bug-man's mouth. Her screams grew softer and softer as more and more of the mist was swallowed and her energy faded. "Put her down!" Oogie turned around to see Jack and Aubrey standing there.

"Ooh, it's big, scary Jack. Back off, bag of bones." Oogie growled.

Jack took a step forward. "I said put Shock down, Oogie."

He shrugged. "You can have her when I'm through with her." He turned back around.

Aubrey growled and pulled a torch out of the wall. "Maybe Jack wasn't clear enough. Put Shock down NOW!" She slammed the unfortunately unlit torch over Oogie's head. He let out a howl of pain and dropped Shock, falling unconscious himself. Aubrey helped the witch sit up. "Shock? You okay?"

"Why... why are you helping me?" She muttered, her head dizzy.

Aubrey shrugged. "No one deserves what Oogie was planning. Besides," She smiled. "Girls need to stick together with idiots like Barrel and Lock around." She gasped. "Oh my god, Lock!"

Jack ran over to the control box and pulled the 'off' switch. How did he know it was the off lever? Simple: it was labeled 'off'. Oogie wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch.

Aubrey jumped down, back onto the wheel. Lock was lying on the floor, holding his bleeding shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asked, helping him stand.

"Yeah." He winced and clutched his shoulder. "No."

"Move your hand." She ordered. He did so, and she sighed in relief. "Good, it's really shallow." She hugged him, making sure to avoid his shoulder. "You're an idiot, I hope you know."

He tugged her hair with his uninjured arm. "So I've been told." He looked down. "Are you crying?"

"Yes. I was really worried about you Lock!"

"I'm fine Aubrey. My shoulder hurts like hell, but I'm not going to die again."

She sniffed. "Yeah, I know. I have stupid human emotions to deal with, remember?" Lock had no answer to that statement that didn't make him sound like an idiot or a sap, so he stayed quiet and hugged her back.

Jack climbed down to the wheel. "You four need to get out of here. I'll deal with Oogie." He boosted both of them off the wheel, then started pulling himself up. It's good to be tall sometimes.

Before he could get all the way up, the wheel started spinning at top speed, and one of the cowboy's guns caught Jack's leg and pulled him back down. "Jack!" Aubrey cried, turning around.

Lock grabbed her arm to stop her from jumping back down. "Aubrey, jumping down there won't help anyone. Shock, can you get the controls?" No response. "Shock? Barrel?" He turned around to see Shock lying next to Barrel, unmoving. Oogie, however, had disappeared.

Aubrey clutched his arm suddenly. "Lock?" She whispered, her voice quavering.

He whipped back around to see Oogie Boogie standing behind him, grinning insanely. Oogie slapped Aubrey away and grabbed Lock by the throat. "No one betrays the boogeyman!" He growled, one of his hands slipping over Lock's mouth.

Lock bit down on Oogie's hand, sinking his fangs deeper and deeper until he could feel the bugs inside the bogeyman's hand crunch between his them. Oogie let out a howl of pain and rage before dropping Lock to nurse his wound. The devil glared at him and Oogie's other arm started to smoke, then burst into flame. Oogie ran around the room like some sort of odd, ugly, featherless bird until Jack, who'd finally climbed off of the roulette wheel, slammed his fist into Oogie's face. "That won't keep him down for long." Jack warned them.

Lock grabbed Aubrey by the shoulders. "Aubrey, listen. Get back through the door to your world and destroy it."

"How?" She asked. "There's no way I can do it myself."

He stood up. "Look at the back of the necklace. I'll help Jack wake up Shock and Barrel and stall Oogie."

"Right." She nodded and stood up as well. "Um, Lock?"

"Yeah?" He turned to face her and Aubrey pressed her lips against his.

"I love you. Good luck." She turned and ran up the stairs, leaving a surprised Lock standing there. Until Jack's voice calling for him to help wake up Shock and Barrel reminded him that he had a job to do.

He ran over to Barrel. "Barrel, wake up you idiot!" No response. Lock paused to think. "Barrel, Shock just stole one of your spider-berry suckers."

Barrel sat up so fast that Lock barely had time to move back. "Gimme my sucker!" He blinked and looked around. "Er... where are we?" His eyes fell onto Oogie's stirring form. "Never mind, I remember."

Jack was pulling Shock up when Oogie stood suddenly. His eyes narrowed into slits as he gazed at the four in front of him. "You think you can stop me?"

"I've done it once by myself, Oogie." Jack reminded him, though it sounded more threat-like than reminder-like.

Oogie let out another growl and slammed into Jack faster than the three trick-or-treaters had ever seen him move. Jack flew up against the wall with a loud 'crack', and fell to the ground. All three stared in shock.

Before they realized what had happened, he had Barrel by the scruff of his neck. "Hey! Put me down!"

Shock lifted a hand up. "You heard him."

Lock copied the motion. "Put him down."

Oogie laughed. "Ooh, I'm shaking."

Shock glared. "Not a bad idea." Her lips moved silently and the ground under Oogie started to crack apart.

"What!" Oogie yelled, starting to lose his balance. His grip on Barrel loosened enough to let him slip away and run over to hide behind Lock and Shock.

"When did you learn to do that?" He asked.

"What do you think I do in my room all day, think up new ways to torture you two?" She asked.

"Yeah." Both boys answered at once.

She shook her head. "Boys are so stupid." She looked back up. "Hey, where'd Oogie go?" At least, that's what they thought she was about to ask. She only managed to get out the "Hey, where'd-" Before she was thrown into the wall and landed on top of Jack.

Lock and Barrel looked up at Oogie, who was standing in Shock's previous spot. "Surprise." He chuckled, grabbing them and slamming their heads together. He dropped the limp boys next to Shock and Jack. "Now, to finish what I started." He slammed a large, red button topped decorated with a skull and crossbones.

"Self-destruct countdown started. Ten minutes and counting. Nine minutes fifty-nine seconds. Nine minutes fifty-eight seconds. Nine minutes..."

Oogie chuckled. "If you'll excuse me, I've got bigger fish to fry." He walked over to the stairs and disappeared up them."

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SC: It's coming to a close, folks.

Ja ne

SpontaneousCombustion