Shock woke up before dawn the next day for three reasons: the first was because it was their last day to catch Sandy Claws and success was absolutely crucial because she didn't want Jack to beat her and her friends or run them out of town. The second was that she was still sore about Lock accusing her and Barrel of being bad trick-or-treaters the day before – not to mention him knocking out her tooth and just generally being annoying – and if she got up early enough she could pull a prank on him without wasting too much of the day. And thirdly, few things energized and motivated them like a good trick and she thought that while Lock would most certainly be irritated at being the brunt of the joke, hopefully it would end up being a morale-booster for all three of them.

She crept into Barrel's bedroom and put her hand over his mouth as she shook the little ghoul awake. "What?" he mumbled against her palm, and she moved her hand away from his mouth with a 'shhhh…'. Lock was a relatively light sleeper and they had to keep as quiet as possible.

"Help me prank Lock. We'll remind him how good we are at playing tricks!" she whispered, and Barrel grinned widely and nodded. He definitely wasn't opposed to pranking Lock after the little devil had tricked him into stepping on the ice. He followed her out his bedroom door and into the kitchen, wondering what she had in mind… Lock's pranks were almost always bombastic, loud, and definitely startling and annoying (and usually destructive), but Shock's were often a bit more complex. He was surprised to see the inner tube from her bed on the floor next to the soda barrels but before he could ask she whispered, "Help me roll one of these onto the inner tube so we can shake it up really good without making any noise!" Barrel felt slightly unhappy about this - he wanted to prank Lock, but he wasn't sure he wanted to sacrifice one of their barrels of soda to do it… but the look Shock was currently giving him clearly meant there was no room for negotiation so he did as she said. At least they'd still have one barrel left. Once it was nestled in the inner tube they bounced it roughly for several minutes until it was doubtlessly under severe pressure, then together they dragged the entire inner tube and the barrel within it silently down the hall in front of Lock's bedroom door. Then they went back and retrieved Lock's chair from the kitchen, placed a towel on the seat to muffle the noise and worked together to quietly heave the soda barrel onto the chair with the spigot facing the door. At this point Barrel was pretty sure he knew what the general idea of this prank was, but he wasn't sure exactly how it was all going to come together... then Shock got a long piece of strong twine and tied it between the spigot handle and the doorknob and it all made sense. Barrel stuffed his fingers in his mouth to keep from giggling as he imagined how furious Lock would be when he opened his bedroom door in the morning and got sprayed with soda, and Shock gave him a wicked smile. Then they crept back to their own rooms, Shock dragging her inner tube silently behind her, and they both kept their bedroom doors cracked slightly open so they would be sure not to miss their middle cohort's angry shouts, whenever they happened.

The orange sun began to rise, bringing with it a pale, anemic light that streamed through the broken and boarded-up treehouse windows. Lock yawned and stretched and rolled out of bed, then headed for his door to go get some breakfast. Despite how anxious he'd been the night before and despite the knowledge that today was their last day to complete their top-secret, top-priority mission or else suffer severe punishment and humiliation, he was actually feeling pretty good. He'd had dreams of triumphant success all night long and now he was feeling reinvigorated and ready to take on the world – or at least to take on Sandy Claws (and his army of elves, if necessary). Brimming with confidence and determination, he yanked open his bedroom door and was immediately blasted right in the face with a massive amount of lukewarm soda. He jumped and spluttered and swore in surprise, then stood there dripping for only a second before making his decision on which one of his cohorts to pummel first. Only Shock could have come up with a trick like this, because there was no way that Barrel would have wasted the soda in this manner and Lock doubted that Barrel could have managed to set this up by himself without Lock hearing something. "SHOCK!" he hollered, balling his fists and swishing his tail, and then he got even madder when he heard both of his cohorts cackling at his expense. "I'M GONNA KICK YOUR BUTT SO HARD!" Lock yelled even louder, then shoved his way past the chair and dripping soda barrel to kick open her bedroom door.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Shock said mockingly, holding her broom like a baseball bat and preparing to swing in case he tried to attack her. "My, don't your horns look nice today! Did you do something different to them?" she said evilly, and Lock reached up to feel his hair laying flat and soggy instead of curling up into it's usual distinctive horn-like shapes.

"You're dead, you rotten witch!" he hissed and moved threateningly towards her, analyzing the best way to attack without getting smacked with the broom but she shook her head and smiled.

"Ah ah ah, you can't kill me yet. We still have to get Sandy Claws or else Jack will kill all of us, remember?" she teased, and Lock bared his teeth angrily but refrained from murdering her because she was right.

"Well as soon as we do, you'd better watch your back!" he snarled.

"Don't be such a baby, it's only a little soda! Just go take a bath – you stink anyway. And besides…" she glanced at Barrel, who had just poked his snickering face into her room to watch the show, "… I was just playing a joke on the third best trick-or-treater I know!"

"Oh really, and who're the first two best?" Lock said sarcastically.

"Who do you think, dummy?" Shock smirked, but before Lock could retort Barrel piped up:

"Me and Shock!"

"Oh yeah, pipsqueak? You think so?" Lock sneered, now advancing on his younger cohort, but despite himself he was feeling less and less angry. It had been a pretty good trick, after all, and as soon as they were done catching Sandy Claws he was very much looking forward to thinking up some way to get back at his friends.

"Yup!" Barrel giggled even as he backed away from the doorway, then he squealed with laughter when Lock tackled him. It was a good-natured fight, the kind of wrestling match that was silly and fun and energized them all, and despite her best efforts Shock couldn't help but join in. She dropped her broom and leapt onto both of her cohorts, but recoiled when her hand stuck to Lock's cheek.

"Ew, you're all sticky!" she said, wrinkling up her nose in disgust.

"Whose fault is that, bat-brain?" Lock grinned, then tried to rub his soda-soaked hair against her face while she shrieked and slapped him away.

"Knock it off, we gotta get to work!" she laughed, giving both boys one last shove before rolling away from them. "Go get washed off, stinky, and hurry up!"

"What are you gonna do, ugly?" Lock taunted. He had Barrel in a headlock and was giving him a rather violent noogie.

"I'm gonna get breakfast cooked and Barrel's going to send the traps down to Oogie and get the tub packed up. Now get going!" She picked up her broom again, gave both boys a swat with it, and then headed for the kitchen.

All of their moods were greatly improved by this rousing start to the day, and once Lock had bathed – and fixed his hair – and everyone had eaten, taken their potion and gotten dressed they met by the tub and Shock held out her fist. "We can do this. We're the best team in all of Halloween Town." she said, and both of her cohorts nodded and bumped her fist with their own.

"Three of a kind." added Barrel.

"Birds of a feather." finished Lock, and with renewed vigor they put on their masks and hopped into the tub and headed out to Christmas Town once more.

Nothing much seemed to have changed since their visit the other day, except this time the little colony of black and white birds all fled under the ice as soon as they saw them. If the Boogie Man expected more of those birds to snack on in the future, the children were going to have to get a bit more creative about catching them. The trio made their way down to the main town once more and searched around for the third biggest building, and once they thought they had located it they snuck over and peeked inside. It was actually a barn containing Sandy's eight reindeer, except these ones had flesh and fur and were thoroughly boring-looking compared to their own reindeer back home. Each reindeer had their own stall with their names on the stall gates in that same cutesy red and white writing that they'd noticed on most of the signs in town, and there was a small team of elves working on each reindeer: polishing and trimming their hooves, brushing their fur, rubbing down their antlers, polishing their leather harnesses and shining the golden jingle bells on those same harnesses. There were several stacks of clean straw and hay placed along the sides of the aisle and at the end of the barn was a neatly swept-up pile of what appeared to be reindeer poop and straw that a small team of elves were adding to with pitchforks and a wheelbarrow from a stall they were cleaning.

"I thought they were supposed to be tiny reindeer?" whispered Barrel. It seemed that all the Christmas books he'd read had been lying or exaggerating, because these reindeer certainly weren't tiny.

"Let's get out of here, this isn't a house." whispered Lock, but Shock shook her head and said:

"Hang on, let's watch for a bit. The reindeer are super important so maybe Sandy Claws will come check on them." Lock thought that seemed highly unlikely, but he wasn't about to start a fight when there were so many elves around. So they watched and waited for quite awhile, and just when Shock was about to concede that this was turning into a waste of time the loud, melodious bells that they'd heard before rang out and the reindeer-tending elves put down their brushes and pitchforks and headed through large double-doors at the front of the barn and off to what the trick-or-treaters presumed was lunch.

"Here's your chance to ride a reindeer." Shock snickered while elbowing Lock in the ribs.

"Yeah, but these aren't the cool kind of reindeer!" he scoffed, but despite this there was no way he could pass up such an opportunity now that she had put the idea into his head. A small, wicked smirk spread across Shock's face because she knew he wouldn't be able to refuse trying and she had suggested it for two reasons: the first was that hopefully Sandy Claws would come if they set loose some of his reindeer, but the second was that she was hoping that Lock would fall off of it and - if she was really lucky - land in the pile of reindeer poop.

"What, are you scared or something?" Shock said slyly, but Lock scoffed again.

"No, I'm not a big baby like you are."

"I'd be scared to ride one, and I'm not a baby." said Barrel. He wasn't about to risk getting so close to such large beasts again, and he thought that it would be extremely foolish for Lock to actually try to get on one… But at the same time, he was hoping Lock would try because it would probably be pretty entertaining to watch.

"What are you talking about, you're the biggest baby of all time!" Shock said meanly and Lock snort-laughed, then took off his mask and shoved it into Barrel's hands and said:

"Watch and learn, babies." and after checking carefully to make sure that all of the elves were really gone he strode boldly down the center aisle of the barn to inspect all of the reindeer and choose one to ride. His cohorts stayed near a big pile of clean straw and watched, preparing to hide if necessary. All of the reindeer pretty much looked the same to Lock, so he tried to read the names on their stalls and pick the one with the coolest name. 'Dancer' and 'Prancer' were definitely out, and he didn't know what 'Vixen' was supposed to mean. None of the other names were much better, but eventually he decided that 'Dasher' was the least-stupid so he started climbing up that gate. "Come unlock the gate!" he called to his cohorts once he was straddling the wall of the stall, and Shock decided to do it since she hadn't gotten to get close to the skeletal reindeer yet and these furry ones were the next best thing – plus she wanted a front row seat if Lock fell off and got trampled. Fortunately the gate latch was quite low to the ground, no doubt so the short little elves could reach, and she had no trouble reaching it as well. By now Lock was getting slowly to his feet to balance on the thin wooden side of the stall and Dasher was looking at him a bit nervously, snorting softly with it's ears pricked up towards the trespasser. These reindeer seemed to be a little bit more high-strung than the Halloween Town reindeer, but Lock was undeterred. "Okay, on the count of three I'm gonna jump on it's back and you open up the gate at the same time, got it?"

"Got it!" answered Shock, unlocking the latch and preparing to pull it open while staying out of the way. Lock was now crouching on all fours on the side of the stall, using his tail for balance and calculating the distance he would need to jump in order to land on Dasher's back.

"One…" he murmured, "Two…" he wiggled his rear end a bit and twitched his tail like a cat preparing to pounce, "THREE!" he finally shouted, then launched himself towards the hapless reindeer and reached out to grab it's harness just as Shock pulled open the gate. Poor Dasher bellowed in alarm and dashed right out of the stall as quick as his namesake, and Lock just barely managed to hang on as the reindeer tried to buck him off of his back. Shock and Barrel were both highly amused and they couldn't help but laugh in delight, but they were also rather impressed that he hadn't been thrown off yet. Lock himself was having the time of his life – the reindeer smelled earthy and strange but he hardly noticed because riding the panicking animal was thrilling and not nearly as difficult as he had been anticipating… but then they reached the end of the barn and all three trick-or-treaters realized that they hadn't opened the main doors so that Dasher could actually run out and hopefully bring Sandy Claws running. The reindeer skidded to a halt and wheeled around, it's shiny hooves scrambling for purchase on the floor, and the sudden stop and reversal dislodged the little devil and Lock was swung around so that he was dangling from the harness right in front of Dasher's neck and brisket by only his hands.

"CRAP!" he muffled into the beast's furry chest, and his cohorts laughed even harder as Dasher sprinted towards the opposite end of the barn – and the pile of manure. Lock tried to bring his legs up to wrap around Dasher's neck and hang on, but it was extremely difficult with the reindeer's front legs moving quickly on either side of him and he knew that if he didn't manage it soon he was going to lose his grip and quite possibly get trampled. He turned his face away from the fur and shouted, "Open the stupid door!" and Shock ran along the sides of the aisle towards the big double barn doors.

"Jump off before you get outside or someone will see you!" she said, preparing to slide open one of the doors and she just hoped that Lock could figure out some way to get off of the beast without being trampled so badly that he couldn't complete their mission – though it would be funny if he got stomped just a little bit. By the time they approached the door again Lock had somehow gotten himself wrapped around the side of Dasher's neck with all four limbs and was clinging on tightly, and just as Shock opened the door he sprang away as hard as he could, aiming to land in a pile of clean straw at the side of the aisle – and miraculously, he made it. It was just in time, too, as Dasher bounded out of the barn and actually took flight, and all three children watched in amazement as the reindeer went soaring into the air.

"That was so cool!" Barrel squealed, rushing over to his brave middle cohort and Lock scrambled out of the straw with a wide grin, feeling extremely proud of himself.

"Super cool!" Shock agreed. She usually tried to avoid giving Lock too many compliments, but it really had been an incredibly awesome stunt. "Now let's hide again and wait for Sandy Claws!" she said, and they all three hurried back to their hiding place with Lock picking the straw out of his clothes and hair. But alas, when Dasher returned to the barn it was only accompanied by three elves who led it back to it's stall, double-checked the gate latch, and then headed back out of the stable.

"Dang it." Shock muttered. Apparently Sandy Claws didn't think his reindeer were all that important after all. Barrel sighed heavily and Lock grunted in annoyance… but even though his effort hadn't had the desired effect he was still glad that he'd gotten to ride that reindeer.

"All right, let's get out of here and check the next biggest building." Lock grumbled, for he didn't think it would be smart to press his luck and try letting loose any more reindeer. They left the barn just as the lunch bells rang out again and just barely managed to get themselves out of sight behind the toy factory when they saw him: the ever elusive Sandy Claws. Once again they couldn't get close to him because of all the elves, but at least they could see which direction he was headed and they followed from a distance, moving quietly and utilizing all of their stealth skills to stay hidden. He led them across town to what seemed to be the fourth-largest building they'd come across yet, and Sandy and a fleet of elves walked inside of it. As the trick-or-treaters crouched behind the low stone wall surrounding the building, Lock noticed a mailbox – clearly this was actually a residence instead of a factory or stable.

"Look!" he hissed, elbowing Shock in the arm. "What does that say?"

Shock squinted at the mailbox, then her eyes widened when she recognized the name from all of their reading: "S. Claus! Sandy Claws! We found his house!" she whispered with her teeth chattering a bit from the cold, and all three children were flooded with excitement and relief. They finally knew where their target surely spent most of his time and now they could stake out his house and if he happened to leave, they would see it. "Did you see how many elves went in there?" she whispered to her cohorts.

"No." said Lock.

"Yeah, I counted ten." said Barrel, and Shock thought that sounded about right.

"Okay," she said, "We have until this evening to get him back to Jack. Let's wait and see if the elves come out before then. If they do, then we can knock on the door and bag him when he answers."

"And if the elves don't leave then we'll have to bash them in the head!" Lock said wickedly, and he secretly hoped that would be the case. They had their club back in the hidden bathtub and he wouldn't mind putting it to good use.

"Exactly." agreed Shock, and while she was mostly hoping that catching Sandy would go quickly and smoothly, she wouldn't have minded knocking a few elves, either. And then they waited, bunching closely together for warmth and going over their plans repeatedly in an effort to stave off boredom.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective) no head-bashing was required as one by one the elves began trickling out of the house over the next few hours. Once the tenth elf had disappeared down the path everything was quiet save for the soft sound of Christmas carols in the air and the trick-or-treaters felt that their time had come. They couldn't know for certain that Sandy was alone in the house, but this was probably the best opportunity they were going to get and if they waited much longer it would start to get dark. "Okay, here's the plan." Lock whispered to his cohorts, his entire body taut with anticipation and Shock and Barrel listened closely, equally excited. "Barrel, you go get the tub so we can carry him home. Me and Shock will make sure he doesn't leave. Then we'll all knock on the door and bag him in the when he answers, just like Shock said. Got it?"

Barrel nodded, and while he wasn't thrilled to be sent off by himself yet again, he remembered what Shock had said about him being the tub's favorite so he felt a little bit proud to be tasked with this important duty now. While Shock and Lock waited for his return they kept an eye out for any more elves, but no one came around and it seemed like they at last had a clear opening to capture their prey. When Barrel arrived he walked the tub right up the little cobblestone path to the front door before hopping out, then they each took a corner of their big, black, pumpkin-patterned bag and stood on the front stoop. They looked up and saw what appeared to be the doorbell button, and like the latches and handles in the reindeer barn it was at elf-height so the children could reach it. Shock nodded to her cohorts, who nodded back, then she pushed the doorbell. It chimed out the first five notes of one of those dumb Christmas songs, and they glanced at each other once more as they waited for someone to answer, desperately hoping that someone would be Sandy Claws. After a moment the door suddenly opened and they looked up right into the face of the king of Christmas Town himself, tall and fat and looking quite bewildered as he stared down at them.

"Trick-or-treat!" they cried out together without even thinking about it, for saying their signature phrase was reflexive to the point of being nearly involuntary whenever they knocked on a stranger's door, and before Sandy could say anything more than a confused 'huh?' they all three leapt forward with a shout and brought their sack down over his head while simultaneously knocking him to the ground.

"Who are you? What are you doing!?" came Sandy's muffled voice from inside the bag as Shock quickly tied it shut, and while he struggled and tried to escape he wasn't flailing quite as wildly as Not-Sandy-Claws had.

"You're coming with us, you fat old man!" Shock cackled, and her cohorts laughed wickedly as they started dragging the sack towards their tub. He was incredibly big and extremely heavy, much larger and heavier than Not-Sandy-Claws, but fortunately not nearly as large as Oogie Boogie.

"Now hold on! Where are you taking me!?" Sandy protested.

"Back… to… Jack!" Lock grunted as they began trying to heave the sack into the tub. It took a tremendous amount of effort, but eventually they managed to push Sandy over the lip of the tub and he landed inside with an 'oof!' and a heavy thud.

"Who is Jack?" he asked, struggling harder inside of the bag.

"You'll find out!" the children all said together, then scrambled onto the sack and started the tub quickly towards the holiday trees. There wasn't much room thanks to Sandy's enormous bulk, but it was a long trip back home and after all the work it took to get him into the tub they needed a rest. They ignored their captive's muffled protests and chattered and laughed together about their success as they once again speculated on what rewards they might expect once they presented their trophy to their king.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?!" Sandy asked once more as they reached the Jack-o-Lantern door, but the children ignored his questions.

"You'd better hang on, Sandy!" said Lock as he threw open the door and hopped back into the tub.

"You're in for a ride!" added Shock.

"You don't want to fall out and get squished!" giggled Barrel.
"What!?" cried Sandy, sounding incredibly alarmed but the children only laughed in triumph as they stepped through the door and began the spiral down into darkness. They had succeeded! They had completed their top-secret, top-priority mission at last! They were happy, Jack would be happy, Oogie would be happy, no beatings or banishing were in store for them, their reputation as the best little tricksters was preserved and everything was perfect.