Jack and the gang took a good look around the hinterlands. The lack of the real holiday doors was apparent, as the whole forest seemed to be seeing in terms of black and white.
"Hmm…" said jack.
"No wonder this place looked so bare when we were coming in!" said jonesy. "Everything's dull and gray!"
"We'll have to replace the holiday doors immediately!" said Sam.
"Yes…" said jack. "And maybe we'll find a clue as to how we can replace the rest of the doors and still have spiral hill functioning…"
"So what do we do first?" asked jimmy.
"Well, we might as well make do with what we have…" said Sam.
"Exactly!" said jack. "We need to put the St. Patrick's Day and Independence Day doors back first."
"Wouldn't it be faster if we each took a door?" asked jonesy. "That way, we can get to Christmas town faster."
"If we can find the Christmas door…" said Sam.
"I don't know…" said jack. "It's awfully easy to get lost in these woods…"
"Hey, need I remind you that we have a map?" asked jonesy, taking out his magic map. "And we got Sam here to read it. It's a cinch!"
But jack still looked hesitant. "Okay," he said finally. "You guys find the independence day portal and put the door back. but be careful. We'll meet back here, at the entrance."
"Okay!" said jonesy. "And don't worry, Jackie-boy. We can handle a forest. Which way, sam?"
"Well…" said Sam, looking at jonesy's map. "To get the Independence Day portal, we'll need to go…this way." Sam pointed down one of the paths.
"Excellent!" said jonesy. "Onward!"
And with that, jonesy started down the trail, followed by the others.
"And if you find anything suspicious, bring it back here with you!" the gang heard jack call behind them. "It might help us out!"
"Sure thing!" jonesy called back.
---
As the gang continued to march down the trail, they made absolutely sure that they were going the right way.
---
To the gang's surprise, they had reached their destination! Sitting right in front of them was the tree that held the independence
Day portal. However, instead of the Independence Day door, it sported a door with none other than Oogie's Boogie's face itself painted on the front.
"Wow," said Nikki. "That's a pretty picture…not!"
"I agree," said Sam. "let's get rid of this atrocity, shall we?"
As the gang neared the tree with the real Independence Day door, the Oogie door seemed to have a reaction to it. As the gang placed the real door in, the "Oogie door" shattered, allowing a perfect fit. The gang stepped back, admiring their handiwork.
"That's better," said Joe.
"But now what?' asked Sam.
"Ooh! Ooh!" said jimmy. "The tree's pulling a Houdini!"
"What?" asked jonesy.
The gang looked at the tree. And jimmy was right! The gang watched as the tree, along with the Independence Day door, faded into nothing!
"Oh dear…" said Sam. "I hope it was supposed to do that."
"Who cares?" asked jonesy. "Let's just head back and see if we can find the Christmas door!"
"All right, all right…" said Sam. "Please don't be so pushy, jonesy…"
---
The gangs trip back to the entrance was going smoothly, until…
"Huh?" asked Sam, looking at the map.
"What?" asked jonesy as he and the others peered to look.
"That's odd…" said Sam. "Two of the paths on this map are illuminated."
And it was true. Right there on the map, two of the trails seemed to be glowing.
"What's that mean?" asked jonesy.
"Go down them we must!" said jimmy.
"Well, it has caught my eye," said Sam. "They must have some significance."
"Like how we can replace the rest of the doors?" asked jonesy.
"Perhaps," said Sam. "Only one way to find out."
"So where are they?" asked jonesy.
"Um…" Sam studied the map. Then he turned around and pointed in front of him. "There…and there," he said, pointing to the two paths right behind the gang.
"Well, that was easy," said jonesy. "Let's go!"
The gang then took the path to the left first. In the middle of the clearing was the Easter portal, sporting an Easter Oogie door.
"Oh!" said Sam. "Look at that!"
"Well, we found a tree, but we don't have the door!" said jonesy. "Let's get outta here…huh?"
The gang turned around. Then their eyes widened. The path they had just been down was now blocked.
"What on earth…?" Sam started to say.
He never got a chance to finish. All of the sudden, the gang were surrounded by monsters.
"Where the hell did they come from?" jonesy asked in disbelief.
"It seems we'll have to fight our way back to the path!" said Sam.
"CHARGE!" shouted jimmy.
Thankfully, the monsters weren't that tough, so it was fairly easy for the gang to clear the area of the pests.
"Whoo!" said jonesy after the others were the gang were alone again. "We're getting good at this!"
CLUNK.
This sound got the gangs attention. They turned back to the tree. The Easter Oogie door had fallen out, and it was now lying on the ground in front of the tree!
"Aah!" said jimmy. "We broke the tree!"
"Calm down!" said Sam. He ran up to the Oogie door. "I think this thing could be removed in the first place."
"So what do we do with it?" asked jonesy.
"Well, I'd say the counts as 'suspicious'," said Sam. "And jack said to bring back anything that looked suspicious."
"I guess so," said jonesy. "But let's hurry up and get back to the entrance. I don't want to be sharing at that ugly face any longer than I have to."
Sam looked at the door. "Yes, I do admit that this picture is rather grotesque…"
"Who said I was talking about the door?' jonesy smirked.
Sam immediately got the joke. His eyes narrowed. "Now wait just a minute, mister!" he called after jonesy as jonesy ran back through the newly opened path. "We still need to investigate that other path anyway!"
And that's exactly what they did. As it turns out, the thanksgiving portal was right next to the Easter portal. And it was the same procedure as last time. The pathway out of the clearing became blocked, a horde of monsters appeared, the gang got rid of them, and then the thanksgiving Oogie door fell out of the tree and onto the ground. The gang took this door, along with the Easter Oogie door, back to the entrance of the hinterlands with them.
---
The gang were studying their newly acquired clues as they waited for jack.
"What the hell are we supposed to do with these things?" asked jonesy.
"Can I display them in my room?" asked jimmy.
"I highly doubt that's their real purpose, jimmy," said Sam. "But to answer your question jonesy…I don't know."
"I think I do."
The gang looked to see jack walking toward them. He also had two Oogie doors, shaped like Halloween and Valentines Day holiday doors.
"So what do we do with them, jack?' asked jonesy.
"I think," said jack, "that if we replace these "Oogie doors" with the real holiday doors back at spiral hill, we should be able to put all the doors back in place!"
Sam snapped his fingers. "Of course!" he said.
"Let's go!" said jack. "We still need to find the Christmas door, too."
"Oh, yeah…" said jonesy as the team headed back toward spiral hill.
---
To make a long story short: jack's plan worked. The Oogie doors passed perfectly as the real holiday doors. Now the team could put the rest of the doors back. They were one step closer to stopping Oogie! But there was still one problem…
"Where do you think the Christmas door is?" jonesy asked as the team started back toward the hinterlands.
"Well, that Oogie shadow said he hid the door in something 'quite nasty'," said Sam. "what do you think that means?"
"I'm not sure…" said jack. "But we'll need to hurry and find it if we're going to…"
CRASH!
Jack never got a chance to finish his statement. All of the sudden, Two horrendous monsters jumped out in front of the team, causing the gang to jump and jack to take a step backward. One of the monsters looked like it was made of fire, and the other looked like it was made of ice.
"Wh-what the hell is that?" asked jonesy.
"It seems that Oogie's getting desperate…" said Sam.
"What do we do?" asked jimmy.
"We do what we've been doing," said jack. "We fight. Don't worry, guys. I've got an idea."
"That's what worries me…" said jonesy.
Jack lunged at the ice monster, changing into his pumpkin king costume in mid-air. When his feet hit the ground, a huge fireball spewed out of jack's mouth, crashing into the ice monster and sending him crashing into the ground.
"Wow…" said jonesy.
"Whip the other ones ass jack dude!" said Jude.
"Even though they look fierce, they crumble when put in contact with their opposite element…" observed Sam.
Then it was the fire monster's turn. Jack changed into Santa jack and threw a present at the monster. But this time, instead of a clown head, what looked like a small blizzard exploded from the box, freezing the fire monster.
"He won't stay immobile for long!" said jack. "Start hammering him!"
The gang quickly got out their weapons and slammed all of them at once into the fire monster. This, along with the shock from the cold, sent him into submission. He crashed to the ground next to the ice monster.
"That was some fire and ice frenzy!" said jimmy.
Suddenly, both of the monsters began to roar in pain. Then they began to glow a bright light. It looked a lot like the bright light from Oogie's manor. This time, the gang covered their eyes. When the light finally dimmed, there wasn't a trace left of either of the monsters.
Jonesy looked up at spiral hill and gasped. "Hey, look!" he said, running up to the top of the hill.
"What?" asked Sam. "I don't see anything…"
Then jonesy picked something up off the ground and held it up for the others to see.
"…Except exactly what we're looking for!" finished sam, his face breaking into a big grin.
On the top of spiral hill, jonesy was proudly displaying the Christmas holiday door.
Jack and the others joined jonesy at the top of the hill.
"Now we have all the holiday doors," said jack. "We've got to hurry to Christmas town!"
And with that, he headed back to the hinterlands, with the gang sprinting behind them.
---
Once they got back to the hinterlands, the team thought up a plan: they would each take a holiday door, put it back, then meet in the center of the woods when they were done so they could put the Christmas door back. So that's what they did. Jack took the Halloween door, and the gang took the Valentine's Day door the thanksgiving door and the Easter door.
It took a while, but the gang got their doors back to the right trees. They then wandered around for a while before running into each other again. Then Sam led them to the center of the woods, where jack was waiting for them with the Christmas door.
"Only one more door to put back," said jonesy.
"Jack, would you do the honors?" asked Sam.
Jack then very carefully placed the Christmas door back in place, completing the circle of holiday trees.
Jack and the gang were gazing at their handiwork when all the sudden, the Christmas door opened. Then nothing happened.
"Hey," said jonesy, "are any of you feeling…"
"Deja vu?" asked Jen.
"Yeah, that," said jonesy.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew through the area, sending jack and the gang straight down the Christmas portal. In a fashion similar to last year's event, all of them found themselves falling deeper into the tree…