***Hello, everyone! I am back with yet another installment to whatever this madness happens to be. TNBC belongs to Tim Burton, the story belongs to yours truly, and let's begin!

Chapter Four: This, Our Town Of Halloween

A dog pile was formed. "Get off of me!" Lakin snapped, bucking Brayden off of his back. "You think you got troubles?!" Sam yelled. She rolled out from under Lakin.

They all stood up and looked at what was in front of them. "Halloween Town," Brayden read. "I was right!" Sam said proudly. "Whatever. Let's go," Lakin said.

And, they went beyond the sign.

XxX

The town was what was expected and more. The jagged and gloomy architecture already set the mood. Milling about were witches, vampires, zombies, werewolves, and so many other things.

"This is awesome!" Brayden said excitedly. "Do you think there's any other kids around here?" Sam asked, perusing the crowd. "I dunno. But if this is Halloween Town, then I have no doubt we're cool to make trouble," Lakin said. Now, that got Sam and Brayden excited.

They were then passed by an extremely tall and spindly skeleton man in a pinstriped suit who had a much more small and stout man in a suit as well trailing behind and rambling. But, neither of them walked too far before the skeleton stopped. He turned on his heel and went towards Sam, Lakin, and Brayden. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I've see you three around Halloween Town before. Are you new?" he asked. He was evidently awfully polite to random strangers.

"Yep. Me and these two idiots fell down a tree to get here," Sam explained briefly.

"Well, then. I'm Jack Skellington, the king of Halloween Town. And this is the Mayor," Jack introduced. The Mayor just looked at the three children. "So why is there a king and a mayor of Halloween Town?" Brayden asked. "It's just been a tradition for as far back as my memory reaches," Jack said.

Brayden was still confused.

"We really should get back to work. There are only 213 days until next Halloween," the Mayor urged. His head had done a one-eighty from its earlier happy face to its sad face, which was currently active. "One moment. Do you three have a place to go?" Jack asked. "Nope," Lakin confirmed. "Then it's settled. Until you three are under proper care of someone else, you're staying with me at my house. Come on," Jack said. "That was easy," Sam said under her breath.

"But what about the plans?" the Mayor prodded. Jack gave him a stern look. "I'll get back to them. Right now, I have something else to be concerned with," he said. That froze the Mayor up completely. Jack lead the trio of children towards his house. A few minutes in, he turned to face them. "It's ridiculous that I forgot to ask such a simple question. But what are your names?" he asked.

Lakin, Sam, and Brayden looked at each other. They had new bodies. There were in a new place. They were given a new life. And there was one thing left to change.

"Lock."

"Shock.

"Barrel."

XxX

It was no surprise that Jack's house was the biggest in town. He was the king, after all. He lead the way up the stairs and unlocked the door inside. Lakin, Sam, and Brayden-now to be forever known as Lock, Shock, and Barrel-immediately looked in three different directions upon going inside. They heard a dog's barking out of nowhere. But it was soon explained with the arrival of a small floating ghost dog with a glowing red nose.

"Oh! And this is my dog, Zero," Jack said. Zero started sniffing the three guests before he finally stopped which seemed to be a sign of approval. "This was certainly sudden, so I'll have to put one of you in the guest room and the remaining two in the living room to sleep until I can get something arranged," Jack said. He looked between the three. "Shock, you get the bedroom. Lock and Barrel, you get the living room," he decided.

"Why does she get to be in the guest room?" Lock asked. "Yeah, why?" Barrel agreed. "Calm down, you two. It's not going to be long. Now, before the Mayor gets too worked up, I've got to go back to work. You three stay here, and I'll be back later this evening," Jack promised. Then, he was out the door.

"I hope it's not going to be long," Lock muttered. "Ah, shut up," Shock said. "This is much better than the treehouse I used to live in," Barrel remarked.

Lock and Shock looked at him, and then each other. They were silent for several moments. "Yeah," they said at once.

***Alright, that about wraps it up for right now. Be sure to leave a review on the way out and I'll see you in the next one! Bye!