The toy factory was just as busy as the cookie factory and once again the children had no trouble sneaking inside. It was almost too easy, and all three of them decided that elves must not be very smart - or at least not very observant - but the truth was more likely that they simply weren't expecting three interlopers who were there to cause trouble. The trio kept their eyes peeled for Sandy Claws but he was nowhere to be seen, so then they checked out the toys. Nothing looked even remotely worth stealing, everything was sappy and stupid and while they still thought it was dumb that Jack wanted to take over Christmas, at least the Halloween Town citizens were making better toys than these ones.
"What should we mess up in here to try and get Sandy Claws to come?" Lock asked just loud enough for his cohorts to hear him over the loud machinery. They were all out of firecrackers and he couldn't think of a way to use their remaining tools to cause a ruckus without getting caught.
Barrel was still skeptical that this was where Sandy Claws lived. Who would live in a noisy factory? "If he's even in here…" he said while sucking on his lollipop and Lock slapped him hard on the back of the head, nearly causing him to choke. He was about to smack Lock back, but then Shock smacked both of them.
"Even if he's not in here now, he'll have to come in if we can stop the machines because toys are the whole point of Christmas." she murmured, her sharp mind quickly assessing the situation. Finally she saw a control panel full of buttons across the room with one large lever in the middle labeled 'Emergency Shut-Off' in cutesy red and white striped lettering. "There!" she pointed to it and then they all three quickly ducked again as an elf carrying a gigantic teddy bear walked past them.
"How are we gonna get over there?" whispered Barrel, for the panel was out in plain view and there was nothing to hide behind.
Lock scanned around the room and then looked up to see a network of catwalks and ventilation pipes along the ceiling. He elbowed his older cohort and said, "Up there! We can get up there and throw something at the shut-off switch."
They made their way up the stairs to the catwalks and then very carefully crept along them till they were right over the control panel. "Now what?" asked Barrel. He had no idea what Lock was planning to throw at the lever, but he hoped it wasn't his lollipop.
"I've got a better plan!" said Shock, and she began tying the rope they'd brought into a lasso. All of her practice on Lock the night before paid off, and on the first try she managed to lasso the lever and pull it until it flipped. There was a loud alarm and lots of noise as the machines came to a grinding halt, and Shock quickly gave the rope a skillful wiggle to slip it off of the lever and pulled it back up so that no one would see it. There was a lot of shouting and scurrying about below and the children snickered at the chaos they had caused… but soon it just got boring. The elves began a thorough and obviously well-practiced safety-check routine, certain elves running around with clipboards and marking things while others climbed onto or beneath machines to try and detect the problem, and even though it was boring it was still pretty funny to see the elves searching for a nonexistent problem. It felt like they waited forever and the trick-or-treaters were sure they were about to fall asleep from boredom when finally they saw him: Sandy Claws himself.
"That's gotta be him!" Shock said excitedly, perking up immediately at the sight of their prey.
"Wow, he is really big and fat!" said Barrel, thinking about how difficult it was going to be to get him into their tub.
"You're one to talk!" snickered Lock, and Barrel frowned at him. They couldn't hear what was being said, but Sandy Claws was talking seriously with several of the clipboard-carrying elves and even inspected some of the machines himself, and Shock decided they should head back towards the stairs so they could follow him out when he inevitably left the building.
"Let's get moving." she said, elbowing Lock in the shoulder and the three of them very carefully and quietly scooted back the way they came… but before they even got close to the stairs, an elf flipped the emergency shut-off switch back and the factory started up once more - and Sandy Claws walked out through a door at the complete opposite side of the building from where the trick-or-treaters were. "No!" Shock moaned, because it seemed very likely that they might lose him if they didn't get outside quickly. They hurried as fast as they could while still being stealthy but when they got back out onto the snow-covered street, Sandy Claws was gone. "Crap!" she fumed, unhappy to have missed their target and also to be out in the cold again, but Lock was already thinking up another plan.
"Maybe there's an electrical box outside and we can cut the wires? Then they won't be able to fix it so fast and maybe if he's out here we'll have a better chance of catching him without being attacked by elves."
"He'll probably just have his little minions fix the electrical box, too, just like they fixed the machines!" Shock countered, but she really didn't have any other ideas so they hunted around looking for anything that looked promising, but were unsuccessful. "Dang it!" she swore again. This was turning out to be a trickier mission than she'd anticipated - especially considering all the research they'd done beforehand - and she was starting to feel pretty frustrated. It was getting darker and darker as well as colder and colder, and they would have to head back home before too long and try again the next day if they didn't find Sandy soon. But Lock wasn't out of ideas quite yet.
"Let's go mess up that train we saw earlier!" he said, "Maybe if we blow it up it'll make enough noise that Sandy Claws will come look and then we can follow him to his house! He's gotta come check it out if a train blows up in the middle of his town!"
"We didn't bring any dynamite, moron! We used it all up already back home." Shock hissed, and Lock's face fell. He'd just gotten extremely excited about the idea of blowing up a train only to be reminded that it wasn't possible, but then Shock smiled at him with that wicked little smirk she got when she thought up something really devious and his own face broke into a matching grin once more, eager to hear what she was thinking. "So we're not gonna blow up that train. We're gonna crash it." she said evilly. The boys looked at one another and while they weren't sure how exactly they were going to accomplish it, causing a train wreck sounded like the coolest thing ever. But tragically, when they returned to the main square where the train had been it was nowhere to be seen.
"Aww, no!" Lock pouted, but then they heard the distant whistle of the locomotive from somewhere in the woods.
"That's okay, this is perfect!" said Shock, rubbing her hands together and thinking fast. "Bring the ax." she ordered Barrel as she headed towards the tracks and he did as she said without even questioning it. He was used to being bossed around by his cohorts and besides that he was dying of curiosity to see how Shock was going to stop a train with only an ax. But Lock was starting to work it out in his own head and an absolutely wicked grin spread across his face as he grabbed the hatchet right out of Barrel's hands.
"I wanna do it!" he exclaimed, then ran along the tracks as fast as he could in the deep snow until he found a connection point between two rails. He wished they had a wrench to loosen the enormous bolts connecting the two pieces of metal, but he was pretty sure he could manage it with the ax. His cohorts stepped back a bit as he swung and hit the connecting point with the blunt end of the hatchet as hard as he could… but instead of breaking the track it sent shock waves all the way up his arms as metal struck metal and his cohorts laughed loudly at how comically it made his entire body vibrate. It was funny, but Shock began to worry that her plan might not work after all. Lock was strong, but she suddenly felt foolish for thinking that he'd be strong enough to break a train track with only an ax. Lock, however, wasn't ready to give up and he quickly changed tactics: instead of striking the rail itself, he carefully aimed at the nut holding one of the bolts in place and hit down on it hard. The first hit resulted only in a loud noise and several metallic sparks, but on his second strike the nut actually loosened a tiny bit.
"Nice!" Shock squealed, hopping from one foot to the other and rubbing her arms in an attempt to keep warm and Barrel grinned widely, too excited to feel cold at the moment.
Shock and Barrel kept a lookout while Lock worked, and after about ten hits he had finally loosened the nut enough that he could unscrew it with his hands and moved on to the second nut, and then the third… but then they heard the sound of the train approaching. "Hurry up!" Shock said, and Lock stopped swinging the hatchet just long enough to wipe the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve and glare at her.
"Let's see you two do it! Oh wait, I forgot, you're total weaklings!"
Shock wanted to punch him just to prove how not-weak she was and Barrel considered it as well, but deep down they knew that Lock really was the strongest - not to mention the best at using the ax since he was in charge of the firewood at home - so they let him get on with it. Then he hammered against the now nut-less bolts with the blunt end of the hatchet, and while it still sent considerable shock waves up his arms at least this time it also pushed the rail a tiny bit out of alignment as the bolts shifted. Then he wedged the blade in-between the rail and connecting piece of metal and pushed against the handle with all of his body weight and strength. He grunted with effort and his feet slipped in the snow a bit, then he looked over at his friends and gritted, "Come help, dummies!"
They rushed over to him and Shock grabbed the handle as well and pushed with all her might while Barrel put his back against both of them. He planted his feet and pushed backwards as hard as he could, and with his steady weight and pressure added to the mix they finally heard a noisy creak as the hatchet began to drive the tracks apart.
"Keep… pushing!" Lock grunted, and if Shock hadn't been concentrating so hard she would have rolled her eyes at him.
"No… kidding!" she gritted through her teeth. There was another metallic 'creak' as the pieces of rail separated and the sound of the little steam engine got closer still - they were running out of time.
"Yes!" Lock exclaimed triumphantly as they gave it one last mighty heave and the rail finally bent… but then the blade broke right off of the ax handle and he and Shock fell forward on their faces across the track and Barrel fell backwards on top of them, but they hardly cared because they had accomplished their goal.
"Get off of us, fatty!" Shock said as Barrel struggled to his feet, and by now the tracks were starting to vibrate beneath them as the train fast approached. Once Lock was upright again he stuck the ax handle in the now-loosened rail and used it as a lever to scoot the track even farther out of place as the sound of the train got louder and louder, and finally Shock grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged on it firmly. "Come on, we gotta get out of the way! We're busted if someone sees us and if that train comes off the tracks it's gonna kill us!" Lock picked up the broken hatchet so there would be no clue as to what caused the damage and then followed his friends as they ran as fast as they could back into hiding, hoping that they'd managed to knock the track far enough out of place to actually derail the oncoming train. It took about five more minutes for the train to arrive and all three of them waited with bated breath as the little steam engine chugged slowly into view and got closer and closer to the damaged part of track… and while it wasn't as spectacular of a crash as they had been hoping thanks to the slow speed and small size of the train, they had still succeeded. There was a terrible sound of screeching metal and sparks flew as the train slipped out of alignment and into the snow, tipping over the engine and the first three boxcars. Firewood spilled all over the ground from the overturned boxcars and the trio laughed at the destruction. They wondered if anyone had gotten hurt, and their question was answered when an elf wearing a little striped engineer outfit crawled out of the sideways engine. He appeared to be shaken up but not injured and the kids couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed, but at least they'd caused one heck of a mess. More elves came rushing to the scene of the accident and after some initial panic they once again organized and got a little assembly line started to move the firewood to wherever it needed to go. Sandy Claws showed up again much quicker than he had in the toy factory, directing his workers and even helping in the assembly line, but it was so busy and there were so many eyes that the trick-or-treaters didn't stand a chance of getting near him.
"There's too many stupid elves!" Lock grumbled, but they had no choice but to watch and wait and hope they could follow Sandy Claws when he finally went back home. Sandy and the elves worked late into the night cleaning up the mess, and then it suddenly began to snow and Shock couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so miserable. Barrel was quite cold by now as well, and even Lock wasn't feeling as warm as he had before - but he was still warmer than his cohorts so before long Shock swallowed her dignity and scooted as close to him as she could get.
"Get over here!" she said crankily, and Lock looked at her with with part revulsion and part alarm.
"What are you doing? Quit hugging me!" He tried to push her away but she only held on tighter.
"I'm freezing to death and you're warm!"
Barrel thought that was a pretty good idea so he snuggled up close to Lock's other side and the little devil pulled an annoyed face but gave up and let his cohorts latch onto him like two little heat-sucking leeches. He was outnumbered and besides that he didn't want to have to carry their stiff, cold corpses back to the tub… and eventually he had to admit that it was much nicer and warmer to be snuggled up this way and they all watched in silence as the citizens of Christmas Town worked. Finally all of the firewood had been cleared from the wreck and the crowd began to disperse - including Sandy Claws. "Let's go!" Lock whispered, wriggling free from his friends and they tried to circle wide around and follow their target without being spotted by the remaining elves, but it was so dark now that Sandy slipped out of sight and not even Lock's keen eyes could find him again.
"UGH!" Shock groaned and Barrel sighed unhappily. He was cold and wet from the falling snow and his bare feet were numb, and all he wanted to do now was go home and get warm and dry. Lock angrily flung the broken hatchet blade at the nearest tree but it just bounced off of the snow-blanketed branches and didn't do much to release any of his frustration.
"Let's go home. We'll try again tomorrow." he grumbled, picking up the blade and trudging in the direction of the bathtub as his shivering cohorts followed along, and then the only sound was their chattering teeth.
They were completely and utterly exhausted by the time they got back to Halloween Town and Shock and Barrel stayed snuggled up close to their middle cohort as they trundled through the dead forest as fast as the tub could go and finished off the last of their food. Barrel eventually fell asleep but both Lock and Shock felt too wet and uncomfortable to join him. Eventually they made it back to the treehouse and Shock kicked Barrel in the head on purpose to wake him up as she climbed out of the tub and said, "Let's hang our clothes up over the stove again so hopefully they'll be totally dry by tomorrow." While all the boys wanted to do was crawl into bed they had to agree that was a wise idea so they all three changed into their pajamas and met in the kitchen, then Shock pulled over the footstool so she could reach to hang up all of their snow-soaked costumes.
"How much potion do we have left?" she called over her shoulder as she hung up Lock's red shirt.
"Look and see, runt." said Lock in a very crabby tone of voice as he handed Shock his pants, and Barrel stood up on his very tip-toes and stretched out his chubby little fingers as far as they would go, and he was just barely able to touch the bottle of anti-allergy potion on the shelf. He just couldn't quite reach it, but he was so close… so he gave a little hop and made a grab for it but instead of grasping it he knocked it off of the shelf and it smashed all over the floor.
"Whoops…" he mumbled, staring guiltily down at the mess and his cohorts both whipped their heads around to look at it, too.
"Oh nice job, klutz-bucket!" Lock yelled and Shock huffed in exasperation. They were all extremely tired and therefore extremely cranky, and tensions were running high.
"It's not my fault! You know I can't reach!" Barrel said angrily. He was feeling incredibly grumpy and sick of them picking on him.
"He's right. Why didn't you go get it, dirt-brain?" Shock sneered down at Lock, but he ignored her and shouted:
"Way to go, moron! Now we're probably gonna get sick when we go to Christmas Town again! Me and Shock are staying here, you have to go get Sandy Claws by yourself so then you're the only one who's gonna be sneezing and puking!"
Barrel internally began to panic because the thought of having to catch Sandy Claws all by himself was truly terrifying. Lock couldn't be serious, could he? His older cohorts wouldn't really abandon him and leave him in charge of this monumental task, would they? But before his panic could escalate too far Shock gave Lock a nasty look and said:
"Don't be an idiot. We'll just have to go ask Sally for some more. Which is a big fat waste of time…" she narrowed her eyes on Barrel accusingly, "…but not the end of the world."
"I'm not an idiot, he's the idiot!" Lock snapped, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at Barrel.
"Fine, you're both idiots!" Shock said impatiently, and Lock completely lost his temper and angrily kicked the stool she was standing on right out from under her before she even saw it coming. She shrieked in surprise as she fell and her face hit the edge of the stove before she landed on her rear end on the floor. "OW!" she yelled, slapping a hand to her mouth and Barrel began to giggle while Lock took a few steps away from her in case she tried to kick him. Shock's mouth hurt like it had never hurt before and - horrifyingly - when she ran her tongue around she found that one of her teeth had been knocked loose and she spat it out into her hand. "YOU KNOCKED OUT MY TOOTH!" she screamed as Lock and Barrel both started laughing, and this act of violence helped dissipate Lock's frustration with the crappy day they had just had and he felt much better.
"Big deal, you know it'll just grow back!" he said casually, but he had no way of knowing that for sure. It was true that his own teeth grew back, but they weren't certain that was the case for witches and even though Shock wanted nothing more than to murder him right then and there, she also didn't want to lose the tooth just in case it didn't grow back.
"I am SO going to kill you! And I'm gonna do it so slow that you'll wish you were already dead!" she snarled as she stood up, clutching her tooth tightly in one hand and rubbing her sore backside with the other.
"Whatever, your teeth are already super gappy, so who cares that you've got another gap now?" Lock smirked as he started a fire in the oven, and Barrel giggled even harder.
Shock's eyelid twitched in absolute rage as she stormed out of the room to put her tooth somewhere safe for the night and go to bed. "You are SO lucky that we still have to get Sandy Claws or you'd be dead meat right now. You've got two more days to live, and then you'd better start sleeping with one eye open!" she shouted from the hall, but the boys only laughed before heading to their own rooms to finally, finally get some rest.