Chapter 5: Shadow Dance

(Narrator's POV)

The three readied themselves as they watched the alleyway where the crash was heard. There, coming out of the shadows, came Mr. Hyde. All of them lowered their guard instantly. Jack ran over to him, relieved to see one familiar face. Not wanting to be left alone in case any more killer skeletons appeared, Will and Al followed after.

At first, Mr. Hyde didn't seem to recognize the Pumpkin King. "I'm not making any more traps! Oh, Jack! It's you!"

"What exactly happened while I was gone?" Jack asked.

Al looked over Mr. Hyde suspiciously. "He's not a zombie, right?" she whispered to Will, careful to keep her voice from being heard.

"No Al, that's Mr. Hyde, remember? You met him at the Halloween party."

Realization dawned on Al's face. "Oh yeah, he's got the little hims under his hat."

Meanwhile Mr. Hyde was looking forlorn as he began his tale. "Lock, Shock, and Barrel sewed Oogie back together again!"

"Bugs, Bags and all," continued the Medium Mr. Hyde.

"Oogie is back!" exclaimed the Small Mr. Hyde.

The first Mr. Hyde continued explaining. "Dr. Finklestein proposed a plan for the next Halloween. He said you wanted a 'Dangerous Halloween' — so we organized one to make you happy. He said if we didn't, you might never come back…"

Jack was clearly upset. "Do you think using ghosts and skeletons to hurt people is my ideas of a good Halloween!?"

Mr. Hyde hung his head in shame as he looked at Jack. "We just wanted you to come back. We set up booby traps all over the place, but then hordes of ghosts and skeletons appeared out of nowhere, attacking everyone. Soon it wasn't even safe to be on the streets"

"This is a disaster!" Jack moaned. How could thing have gotten so bad in my absence? He needed to stop Oogie, but first, he needed to see to what Mr. Hyde was talking about Doctor telling everyone he wanted a 'dangerous' Halloween. "I've got to find the Doctor."

Before Jack left, Mr. Hyde said, "Jack, I want to help, too."

"That's sweet Mr. Hyde, but I'm not sure what you could do to help," Will said as politely as she could.

"You uh, don't look like much of a fighter," Al said lightly.

"I'm afraid Will and Al are right, this is too dangerous," Jack agreed. "Please, stay in doors where it's safe."

"As you wish Jack, but please, let me know if I can help in any way. But before you go, take this." Mr. Hyde reached into his coat and withdrew a crystal bottle. "We knew something might go wrong with the traps set everywhere. Someone could have gotten hurt."

The Medium Mr. Hyde popped out again. "The witches created a healing potion to place in the fountain water."

The Small Mr. Hyde appeared, and finished, "Use this bottle to collect water from the fountain."

"The water contains healing properties, so make sure to use it only in dire emergencies," Mr. Hyde added.

"Thank you," Jack said. "Now please, get inside where it's safe."

Mr. Hyde nodded and headed back to his home. Looking at the bottle in his hand Jack turned his attention back to the girls. "Well, guess I'd better fill this up then."

Jack took the bottle and headed over to the fountain. He dipped the bottle into the green water until it was nearly full. He corked the bottle and stowed it away in his jacket. "Now then, I need to investigate what exactly is going on here. I think it would be best if you two went home."

Not surprisingly, there was a simultaneous, "WHAT!?"

"No way Jack!" Will protested.

"Like hell we're going back!" Al shouted.

"It's not up for debate," Jack insisted. "You girls don't know what Oogie is capable of. He's already threatened my town, I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

"Jack, in case you forgot, I already went up against Oogie and I'm fine," Will protested. "Besides, you don't know what else is out there. You're gonna need all the help you can get."

Jack looked like he wanted to argue, but he could tell the girls weren't going to listen. He sighed. "Guess I have no choice. But I want you both to promise you'll stay close and if I say it's too dangerous, then you will use your key and go straight home."

"We 'promise' to use the key to go home," Al vaguely promised before whispering under her breath, "When this is all over."

"Yeah, okay. So, where should we start looking?" Will asked.

"Better begin at Town Hall," Jack suggested. "There might be some clues in there to what Oogie is planning."

They headed into Town Hall, Jack taking the lead. As they walked inside, they were horrified. The whole place had been smashed and looked like it was in the middle of being redecorated. If you could even call it that. There were traces of tacky Las Vegas casino style themes here and there.

"Déjà vu anyone?" Will muttered. Then something by the stage caught her eye. She raised her hand and pointed at it. "Uh, guys? What the heck is that?"

Jack turned to the direction Will was pointing to. Over by the stage a black shadow began to emerge through the floorboards. And it was only growing bigger.

"Huh!?" Jack exclaimed. "What's this!?"

Will quickly readied her katanas and Al braced herself for another attack. The shadow began to take form, and two glowing yellow eyes glared back at them. It was Oogie Boogie! He opened his glowing yellow mouth and yelled, "JAAACCK!"

"Oogie!"

"Something wrong, Pumping King?" the black shadow mocked.

"What have you done to my friends?" Jack demanded.

But Oogie only laughed. Suddenly music began to play and Oogie was tapping his foot to the beat. Al groaned.

"Oh lawd, are they gonna sing?" she asked aloud.

"Yep." Will took her stance. "Just be ready for ghosts, skeletons, and maybe some exploding dice."

"Joy. Good thing I've been practicing my swing," she replied, taking her sledgehammer off her shoulder. "Let's just get this over with before I go postal from all the singing…"

"Come on!" Oogie shouted, and then the fighting and (to Al's dismay) the singing:

OOGIE
Well, well, well,
Jack, the Pumpkin King!
Finally made it, huh?
Ohhh, I've been waiting
So how do you like my Oogie-Town?
Ha, ha, ha, ha!

JACK
It's over! It's over!
This time you've gone too far
It's over. I'm serious!
Just who do you think you are?
Just because you fooled the town,
That doesn't make you king!
You'd better give up, surrender now!
I'm finix' everything

OOGIE
That's what you think, hah!
But you couldn't be more wrong
And this will be the last time
You hear the Oogie song!

Ohhh!

GHOSTS
Ohhh!

OOGIE
Oh ohhh!

GHOSTS
Ohhh!

OOGIE
Whoa oh!

GHOSTS
Ohhh!

OOGIE
I'm the Oogie Boogie Man!

During the battle, Will had been right about the ghosts. They were everywhere and to make matters worse, the girls' weapons were completely useless against them. They kept going through the them. But apparently that meant the girl were easy prey for the ghosts. They swiped their hands at them, trying to claw their skin or rip their hair. One grabbed Al by her ponytail and proceeded to pull her living essence from her. Al felt a bone chilling sensation run down her spine. She gasped at her meat cleaver and slashed it wildly at the ghost, scaring it off by her sheer ferocity and desperation. Will tried to help her, but another ghost had grabber her arm and was trying to strangle her. Al intervene with meat cleaver, distracting ghost while Will gets her breath again. they finally managed to get free when five of the ghosts had surrounded

Jack tried to battle Oogie on his own, but he had to stop to help Will and Al. Apparently only the Soul Robber was able to grab onto the ghosts and destroy them. Oogie laughed making Jack even angrier.

"Something wrong, Pumpkin King?" Oogie laughed. He summoned more ghosts, and then began throwing dice the size of large crates. Luckily these were solid so the girls could at least defend against those.

"Give it up ya nasty sack of bugs! You know you can't win!" Al shouted.

"Yeah," Will shouted, slicing threw another die. "Jack beat you twice before and he can do it again. So give up now, you Nightmare Reject!"

"You haven't given me Nightmares since I was born," Al added, snickering a bit.

Oogie growled and began throwing more dice. Jack pushed the girls behind him and used the Soul Robber to deflect and smash them. Then he went after Oogie.

JACK
I see you're pretty proud of
All your booby-trapping schemes
But I can say you'll rule this town
Only in your dreams!

OOGIE
Heh, that's funny, Jack! it WAS a dream
But now it's coming true!
'Cause even my mere SHADOW knows
Your days as king are though!

Whoa oh!

JACK
Whoa oh!

OOGIE
Oh ohhh!

JACK
Whoa oh!

OOGIE
Whoa oh!

OOGIE
Whoa oh!

JACK
I'm the Pumpkin King!

Suddenly, the Soul Robber began glowing blue and when Jack launched it at Oogie, it finally finished him off.

"AAAHHHH!" He fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

"About bloody time!" Al shouted, smashing the last two dice and letting her sledgehammer head thump to the floor.

"Yeah, you'd think that wouldn't you," Will moaned.

"Is there more?" Al whined. "Or do we get a break?"

"Will's right, look!" Jack pointed over to the stage where Oogie was sinking into the floor. "That was only Oogie's shadow."

Oogie just cackled. "Beginner's luck if you ask me. Don't worry. We'll meet again!" With that, his shadow sank into the floor and disappeared. Jack retracted the Soul Robber, angered that Oogie had gotten away.

"Joy to the world!" Al sighed. "At least I'm getting some good use out of this hammer."

"Jack, you okay?" Will asked. When he didn't answer she sighed and sheathed her katanas. She looked about the room, hoping no more ghosts would pop out when something caught her eye. "What the? There's something over there."

She ran over to where Oogie had disappeared. She jumped up on stage to the center where a loose floorboard was sticking out. She tried prying it open with her hands, but only managed to cut herself on a nail. "Ouch!"

"WILL! Are you alright?" Al yelled, rushing to her side.

"Yeah, yeah. Just sliced my palm, that's all." She grunted as the sting in her hand began to diminish. "Wouldn't happened to have any cloth I could borrow, would ya? I'd rather not rip my good shirt."

"Yeah, sure." Al said, reaching into a compartment on her belt and pulled out a bandage and Neosporin.

"Nice." She took the items and quickly bandaged her hand. "Now, wanna help me lift this floorboard. There's something under here."

"Can I just smash?"

"Not a good idea."

Al sighed and flipped her sledgehammer over, setting the handle under the plank and helped Will lift the board. It took some effort but they managed to pry it up. Once it was gone, Will reached her hand down inside and searched. "Hey! I got something! Al, help me pull it up."

Al reached down and they tried to pull the object up, but it was so big that it got stuck. Seeing them struggle Jack walked over to help them. He pried a few more boards loose, allowing the girls to pull up the object Will had found.

"Oh!" Jack exclaimed. "That's the Halloween Holiday Door! Now what in the world is that doing here?"

"Got me. What is a door doing under a floor? … Does it lead to a basement?!" Al asked.

"What worries me is if the Halloween Door is here, then what's in its place?"

XXX

GodlyJewel: Really? You had to bring the basement into this?

Cosmic Horse: Basements always need to be brought up. And we do not need to air the basement or its secrets.

GodlyJewel: Okay, you have a point. *screams of pain and terror in background* Did you leave the door open again?

Cosmic Horse: Nope, always lock it behind me. Why do you ask?

GodlyJewel: *continued screaming* No reason...