The next morning Barrel had just lit the ceremonial candles around Oogie's shrine when he looked up and saw an absolutely enormous cockroach sitting in the mouth of the chute and staring at him with it's buggy eyes - but he didn't try to catch or squish it because he knew that it wasn't an ordinary cockroach. "Guys!" he yelled, hurrying into the kitchen where Shock was fixing breakfast and Lock was sitting with his feet on the kitchen table, tossing his shrunken head into the air. "Oogie wants to see us!"
Lock immediately sat up straight and took his feet off the table, then said to Shock, "Hurry up with the food!"
Shock turned away from the stove and glared at him. "Let's see you cook breakfast for once, dummy! Oh wait, I forgot, you're too stupid to even know how to feed yourself!" And with that she picked up one of the pumpkin pancakes out of the pan with the spatula and dropped it right onto Lock's head. He swore angrily and shook the hot pancake off and it plopped on the floor. Barrel laughed, but he knew they had to hurry up - they didn't like to keep the Boogie Man waiting for too long. They each wolfed down a pancake and quickly got dressed, then headed down the cage elevator and into Oogie's lair, hoping that this visit would go better than the last one.
They entered bowing as usual, then knelt at his feet and bowed so low their foreheads touched the ground. "Get on up here, kiddos!" Oogie said. He sounded cheerful so they stood up and waited for their orders. "Now then, ol' Oogie Boogie has been hearing rumors around town, somethin' about a Christmas and a Sandy Claws. You three know anything about that?" The children were unsure of why exactly he was asking this question and what his reaction would be when they answered, which made Lock reluctant to speak up first again - he really didn't want the Boogie Man to hit him across the room a second time. But he knew that as the leader it was his responsibility so he rallied his courage and said:
"It's some other holiday that Jack wants to do. Sandy Claws is the king of Christmas Town."
Oogie Boogie looked thoughtful. "Another holiday, hmmm?"
"Yeah, there's a bunch of them." said Barrel.
"We already went to a different one, but it wasn't Christmas Town. The place we went was somewhere pinky and greeny and soft and stupid." added Shock.
"Huh… well how about that." said Oogie, and he didn't look angry at all but rather intrigued so the children relaxed. "And why did you go to the pinky greeny soft and stupid holiday town?"
"Because Jack wants us to kidnap Sandy Claws and bring him to Halloween Town." said Lock.
"We kidnapped someone else from the pinky greeny soft and stupid world, but we put him back." added Shock.
"There were all kinds of weird things there, like lots of bugs and birds and eggs and stuff." finished Barrel.
Oogie Boogie reclined back in his seat a bit. "Bugs and birds you say? Well now, that is interesting. Tell ol' Oogie all about it." The children launched into as detailed of a description of that place as they could remember and when they had finished he scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I think I've got a little job for you three. Why don't you go on back to that pinky greeny soft and stupid world and bring ol' Oogie back some of those bugs and birds?" The children knew it wasn't a request. They could not refuse the Boogie Man so catching Sandy Claws would have to wait.
"Yes, Mr. Oogie Boogie." they answered in unison.
"When do you want us to go?" asked Lock.
"That all depends on how fast you do the job I've already got planned for you. You're gonna clean this place up real nice and give it a good re-painting. We gotta look our best when we welcome Sandy Claws down here, don't we?" He grinned evilly.
The children groaned internally but were careful not to show any outward signs of annoyance. They hated cleaning and they hated re-painting but at least it sounded like he was definitely interested in them bringing him Sandy Claws so they should definitely get on his good side by doing it. "Yes, Mr. Oogie Boogie." they said in unison once more, then headed towards the exit but then Oogie called:
"Hold on there, princess." He beckoned Shock with one finger and she hurried back to him. The boys glanced at her but continued out of the lair and into the adjacent closet to get the cleaning and painting supplies. "Poor ol' Oogie's got a seam that needs mending. Why don't you run on up and get your little magic kit and help me out, hmm?" Again, Shock knew that it wasn't a request so she nodded and ran out of the lair and back into the cage and up to the treehouse to grab the sewing supplies she used whenever Oogie required repair: the largest needle she had and some thick, strong, sturdy thread a similar color to his burlap skin. Barrel and Lock were already at work dusting the cobwebs and scrubbing the walls when she returned and they looked up at her as she passed them, both thinking that maybe knowing how to sew wasn't such a bad skill because it meant that Shock didn't have to clean for quite as long as they did. Oogie shifted his massive weight and she saw the ripped seam along his side - some of the bugs were squirming and crawling out of the gap and a few had already fallen on the floor. She carefully picked up each stray bug and put them back in, then threaded her needle and began sewing the tear closed with the tightest, most even little stitches she was capable of. She tried to draw it out as long as she could so she wouldn't have to start cleaning, but not so long that it would make Oogie impatient. Once she had finished he stretched and turned to test her handiwork and the stitches held firm so he smiled down at her and said, "What would ol' Oogie Boogie do without you, princess? Now go help those good-for-nothin' boys and let's see if you're as good at scrubbin' as you are at sewin'." Shock swelled with pride at this complement and stuck her tongue out at the boys as she walked proudly past them on her way to return her sewing supplies to their place upstairs. Lock and Barrel glared at her but didn't slow down their dusting and scrubbing. Shock returned and the three of them worked hard for several hours until Oogie finally gave them a break. "Come on over here and let's have a game." he said, and the children put down their scrub brushes and walked tiredly over to the card table where he was dealing out a game of Blackjack. They played several games - all of which Oogie won - and the kids suspected that he may have cheated but they didn't dare call him out on it, especially because they could smell something delicious wafting from the next room and they hoped it would be for them. Their supply of hotfrogs was running low and they were getting tired of eating pumpkin. After the games Oogie ordered them back to work and they scrubbed and swept for another several hours until they felt like they were about to collapse out of fatigue and hunger - they'd only eaten one pancake each that morning after all, and that was hours and hours ago. Lock was wiping something that looked suspiciously like dried blood off of the spikes in the iron maiden and he grinned wickedly, wondering who had gotten it and if they were still alive - clearly someone had been unfortunate enough to lose a game with the Boogie Man recently. Shock was very cautiously polishing the one-armed bandits, taking great care to stay out of the trajectory of their bullets in case one accidentally went off and Barrel was on his hands and knees scrubbing what looked like more dried blood off of the floor next to the stretching wheel. He just about fell face-first into his huge bucket of cleaning potion out of sheer exhaustion, absolutely certain that he was about to starve to death when Oogie Boogie finally waddled heavily out of the room and returned with a huge tray full of snake burgers and three glasses of soda. The children didn't get soda very often so it was truly a special treat and they eagerly accepted the delicious food and drink and sat down on the floor around his chair to eat. Then it was back to work until late into the night and they were so tired now that they could hardly keep their eyes open. Finally Oogie released them and let them go back up to their treehouse but they hadn't even started the painting yet so they knew it would be back to work tomorrow… but at least he'd also sent them home with three more snake burgers for later. The trio trudged slowly into the living room and Lock and Shock drew straws to decide who got to take a bath first because they were just too tired to fight over it. Barrel decided to take a bath the following day because he was so worn-out that he was afraid he might drown in the tub if he tried to take a bath tonight. He barely made it to his little wad of blankets and pillows and collapsed right on top of it without even changing into his pajamas and slept like a rock until morning.
He probably would have slept until lunchtime if he hadn't been woken up by Lock kicking him right in the head with his curly-toed shoe. "Geez, why'd you do that?" Barrel grumbled, rubbing his head.
"Because we gotta get back down there and do more cleaning, dummy. Here's your breakfast." Lock threw one of the wrapped-up leftover snake burgers at Barrel's face and it hit him in the forehead before he could react fast enough to even make an attempt at catching it. He ate his burger right where he was sitting in bed, deciding that bathing could wait since he was just going to go down there and get all dirty and sweaty again. It took them several hours to finish up the cleaning and then it was time for painting. Oogie Boogie wanted the black-light paint refreshed and Shock and Barrel got started painting while Lock first climbed up a rickety ladder and perched on top of various torture devices to change several burnt-out lightbulbs before joining them. They had to be extremely careful not to spill any of the paint and also to get it applied perfectly in the right patterns - Oogie was very picky about the way it looked and they didn't want to risk getting punished for doing a sloppy job. He sat at his card table playing solitaire and keeping an eye on their performance and after they'd worked for several hours he called them over for lunch and a game of poker. It took them the entire day and late into the night to finish the job to his satisfaction and they were just as exhausted as they had been the other day, but at last they were finally done.
"Now, what are you three doing tomorrow?" Oogie tested them.
"Going to Not-Christmas-Town." said Lock.
"To get you birds and bugs to eat." added Shock, and Barrel nodded.
Oogie Boogie smiled and patted each of them on the head. "That's right. Ol' Oogie's always said he's got the smartest little henchmen in all of Halloween Town and you're gonna prove it. Don't you fail me now."
The children grinned proudly and said together: "We won't, Mr. Oogie Boogie!" Then bowed their heads and backed out of the lair. They were disappointed that he hadn't sent them home with any food this time, but they had enough hotfrogs and pumpkin left for breakfast and lunch the next day, then they could steal something for dinner when they returned home from Not-Christmas-Town.
The kids allowed themselves to sleep late the next morning. They knew it was a long way back to Not-Christmas-Town but Oogie had worked them so hard the previous two days that they just couldn't help themselves and they figured that if this visit went as easy as the first visit then they should have no trouble catching some bugs and birds - but still, they had to be awake and alert to make sure that they didn't fail. Lock was woken up by Shock snoring like a buzz saw next door. Judging by the light he guessed that it was nearly noon and he thought it would probably be wise to get up and get going on their mission, plus there was no way he could continue to sleep through the racket of her snoring. At least when Barrel snored he did it quietly. 'Must be her big ol' nose.' Lock snickered to himself as he rolled off of his mattress and brainstormed various annoying ways to wake her up… he could get a bucket of cold water from the bathroom and dump it on her, but she would probably strangle him until he blacked out if he tried that. He could try jumping on her inner tube bed hard enough to pop it, but then she might retaliate by setting his mattress on fire or something. Finally he was struck with a brilliant idea: he'd been wanting to blow something up ever since he was forced to witness her and Barrel get to do it twice within the last few weeks, so now was the perfect opportunity for him to catch up. He snuck to the ammo supply and picked out a firecracker that would make a lot of noise but hopefully not actually destroy anything too badly since he didn't want to have to do any repairs, then crept silently into her bedroom with an evil grin on his face. Shock was sprawled out on her back with all four arms and legs draped over the sides of the inner tube and snoring loudly with a little trickle of drool at the corner of her mouth. It was hilarious to see the normally cool, collected and relatively dignified Shock looking so ridiculous and Lock wished they owned a camera so he could take a picture and plaster a hundred copies of it all over Halloween Town. He tiptoed as quietly as he could and placed the firecracker gently on the floor as close to her bed as he dared, then kept his eyes on her while he struck a match, hoping that the sound wouldn't wake her up. Fortunately it didn't, so he lit the fuse and tiptoed away as quickly and silently as he could to watch the fun from her doorway and after a few seconds the firework exploded with a deafening series of cracks and pops. Shock shrieked and jumped and fell out of her bed and onto the floor faster than Lock had ever seen her move before and he burst out laughing, slapping his knee and leaning against the doorframe for support. She came to her senses before the firecracker had even burned itself out and she glared up at him with the most murderous expression he'd seen her make in awhile so he turned tail and ran out the door as she leapt to her feet and ran after him. The firecracker was loud enough that it even woke up Barrel and he crawled out of bed and hurried to his door just in time to see Lock tear down the hallway with Shock right behind him, shouting curses and calling him all kinds of terrible names. "Good morning!" Lock yelled while still laughing, and a wide, toothy grin spread across Barrel's face - a violent Lock and Shock fight was always a highly entertaining way to start the day. Shock reached out and managed to grab Lock's tail and yank it, causing him to yelp and slow down just enough for her to launch herself onto his back and knock him face-first onto the ground. He quickly rolled over onto his back and tried to get her beneath him but Shock somehow managed to stay on top, straddling his stomach. She reached for his throat and started squeezing and he reached for her hair and started pulling, and Barrel reached for a candy bar and started eating while he watched the show.
"I'm gonna kill you, you stupid jerk!" Shock shouted, throttling him so hard that the back of his head was bumping against the floor. He yanked her hair and kicked wildly but she wouldn't let go no matter how hard he pulled so he let go of her hair and slapped her hard across the face instead. That finally released her grip and he coughed and gasped for breath as he shoved her onto her back. He put his own hands around her neck and started to strangle her in return to see how she liked it, but he wasn't paying attention to where her legs were and she kicked him right in the crotch. He instantly collapsed and Barrel winced in sympathy from his vantage point as Lock curled up into a ball on his side and tucked his tail between his legs, gritting his teeth and whimpering in pain. Shock sat up and put her face down only inches away from his and yelled, "That's what you get!" She looked pretty smug but her victory was short-lived because despite his agony Lock mustered up the strength and focus to head-butt her. She yelped in pain and fell to her side as well, bringing her hands to her forehead and even though it hurt like crazy she was glad that he hadn't hit her nose instead. They both lay there equally incapacitated so Barrel took the opportunity to inch his way around them in the hall and go get some breakfast. He'd come back and keep watching if they started fighting again. He took some leftover pumpkin pancakes out of the icebox and put them in a pan, then pulled the footstool over so he could reach to turn on the stove. He finished eating his candy bar while he heated up his pancakes and after a few minutes Shock came into the kitchen still holding one hand to her forehead and Lock came limping along behind her with his tail still between his legs - apparently they'd both hurt each other enough for now, but Barrel hoped there would be an encore. Shock got a rag and a chunk of ice and put it on the rapidly growing bump on her head while Lock sat down uncomfortably on his chair and Barrel didn't even try to hide his giggling.
"Shut up, Barrel." Lock grumbled.
"Yeah, shut up." Shock agreed, and chucked a piece of ice at him. Barrel fell off of the footstool in his attempt to dodge the ice, knocking the pan off the stove in the process and his pancakes plopped onto the floor beside him. Lock and Shock both laughed, united once more at their littlest cohort's expense as he looked sadly at his fallen breakfast that was now covered in lint and dirt and who knew what else. "Don't cry, you baby, there's plenty more. Go put those in the traps for bait and give me the pan." Shock told him as she pulled a bunch more pancakes out of the icebox with her free hand. Barrel handed her the pan and picked up his soiled pancakes, cradling them gently in his palms like they were an injured animal as he walked towards the door… but then Lock stuck out his foot and tripped him. He skidded face first onto the floor and the pancakes went flying into the air, and Lock and Shock laughed raucously when the pancakes returned to earth, one landing on Barrels back and another on his head. This was not the kind of encore Barrel had been hoping for and he gave his older cohorts the angriest glare he was capable of while he collected all of the food again and continued to the living room. He considered starting a fight but he couldn't take on both of them at the same time, plus if he started a fight and lost they might not share any breakfast with him. He broke the ruined pancakes up into several smaller pieces and put them in the various traps then trudged back to the kitchen, swallowing his pride. Lock and Shock had apparently forgotten to be mad at each other and were now eating their breakfast and chattering excitedly about going back to Not-Christmas-Town and catching as many bugs and birds as they could. Barrel took his seat and grabbed three pancakes off of the plate, still feeling surly and resentful but it was impossible to pout for too long when there was delicious food in front of him and a fun mission ahead of them and soon he was chattering excitedly right along with his friends.
"Okay, we need to take Sally's potion, remember?" said Shock after breakfast, taking the three little glass vials out of the cupboard and handing them out. In fact the boys had not remembered, but Lock didn't want to admit that.
"No duh, do you think we wanna listen to you barf for three days again? No thanks." he sneered, then tipped his head back and chugged the potion as quickly as he could in case it tasted gross, but it actually wasn't bad at all. Shock and Barrel did the same, then they all got dressed and packed up the bathtub with various nets, bags, boxes, slingshots and traps - as well as the last of their hotfrogs and fried spider legs for lunch - then grabbed their masks and hopped in the tub and headed out the back door and off towards the holiday doors.