Beginning A/N: Here's the next chapter for all of you! I had to do some revision for this chapter as well, and I'm sorry that it took so long but I haven't had a lot of opportunities to write recently. I hope that you all enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Legend of Korra or The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Dialogue Key
"..." = Regular Speech
'...' = Someone's Thoughts
... = Songs
What's This?
As Jinora and Sally watched Korra leave into the Hinterlands, both of them felt sadness and sympathy for the young woman. And they both knew that Jack was feeling the same way, as they were sure that towards the end of Korra's song, they could faintly hear Jack singing a similar tune somewhere else.
"Korra… why didn't you tell us?" Jinora wondered.
Sally looked in the direction that she heard Jack's voice and silently said to herself, "Jack… I know how you feel."
The two ladies turned to look at each other and stared for a few moments. Sally had heard about the friends that Korra had made back in her home dimension, but this was her first time meeting one of them face to face. After another minute or two of staring, they pretty much came to the same conclusion.
"You never saw me." Jinora said.
"I won't tell." Sally replied.
And with that, the two went their separate ways. Jinora went to the entrance to Halloween Town that she had seen Korra using before, while Sally walked over to a nearby patch of special Halloween herbs and plants that the doctor often uses in his experiments. After taking a moment to calm herself down, Sally started picking some Deadly Nightshade. She had used up the last of her supply to sneak out of the Doctor's lab that night and she needed to restock. She had a feeling that it was going to come in handy very soon.
She quickly made her way back to the lab and put the plants into a special jar that would, for lack of a better term, process the plants into a useable substance for things like potions and cooking. She closed the lid on the jar and quickly put it away just as she heard the familiar hum of Doctor Finkelstein's wheelchair coming down the ramp of his tower. He held in one hand a lantern that lit the way as he arrived at the bottom of the ramp just as Sally turned to face his direction.
"Sally. You've come back." the doctor stated.
"I had to." Sally said.
"For this?" the doctor asked, though it sounded like a statement.
He held up Sally's detached arm and the hand waved at her before going limp once again. Sally knew she didn't have much of a choice but to return for her arm, so she kept her own feelings a bit more in check.
"Yes." she replied to the doctor.
"Shall we, then?"
The doctor moved his wheelchair to a ramp in his lab that was used to get to the upper level and indicated for Sally to go first. Likely so he could keep an eye on her. Reluctantly, Sally began to walk up the ramp as the doctor followed. And on the top floor, we can see that the doctor has a lot of smaller, but no less grotesque experiments all over his work area.
"That's twice this month you've slipped Deadly Nightshade into my tea and run off." Doctor Finkelstein said as Sally lay strapped to a lab table while he sewed her arm back on.
His stitching was crude and rather messy, but it held strong at least.
"Three times." quipped Sally.
"You're MINE, you know! I MADE YOU! With my own hands!" exclaimed Doctor Finkelstein, who was less than amused.
"You can make other creations." Sally said, drawing the doctor's attention. "I'm restless, I can't help it."
"It's a phase, my dear, it'll pass." the doctor said in a much gentler and understanding voice.
He finished sewing her arm back on and snipped the leftover thread with his teeth as he put away the needle and the rest of the thread.
"We need to be patient. That's all."
"But I don't want to BE patient!" exclaimed Sally.
The doctor said nothing as he just pulled her sleeve back down.
Back with Korra, the young woman and Jack's ghostly dog, Zero, were walking along in silence. At least until Zero started barking and indicating to Korra that he wanted to play.
"No, Zero, not now. I'm not in the mood." Korra said.
But Zero kept barking, wanting to play with his favorite human. Korra sighed and stopped in her tracks as she cracked a small smile. This was just like Naga whenever she wanted to play.
"Alright." she relented.
She reached into her dress and winced as she used her Halloween magic to break off a rib bone from within her own flesh and pulled it out completely clean. Not a trace of blood or flesh. A trick that she learned from Jack not long after she and Naga had discovered Halloween Town, and one that she's used ever since whenever she was taking care of Zero. It didn't hurt whenever Korra removed one of these bones, though the whole experience was very uncomfortable no matter how many times she did it, and they always grew right back afterwards as the areas where she pulled the bones out sealed themselves up almost instantly.
"Go get it, boy!"
Korra tossed the treat over to some trees and Zero eagerly followed. The ghost dog growled as he sniffed around for the bone. As he came to a hollow tree, he made his Jack o' Lantern nose glow brighter and was pleasantly surprised to find the bone. He picked it up in his mouth and growled happily as he flew after Korra with his treat in his mouth. But neither of them knew about the adventure that was sure to follow as we speak.
The next day in Halloween Town, the zombie band was sleeping after a long night of playing music. They're some of the nocturnal residents of the town, but they don't really need as much sleep as most others do. They were suddenly awoken by the sound of the mayor driving up in his Model T car. Coming to a stop in front of Jack's house, the mayor stepped out of his car and waved to the band.
"Morning, Gents!" he greeted.
The mayor made his way up the stairs to Jack's front door, humming the tune of 'This is Halloween' as he did and pulled a stone spider connected to a chain, causing a frightened scream to ring out. Apparently, that's what doorbells sound like in Halloween Town. The mayor waited patiently for Jack to answer the door for a couple of minutes before ringing the doorbell again.
"Jack, you home?" called the mayor.
His smile shrank a little as there was no response before his head spun 180 degrees to reveal that the pale patch on the back of his head was actually another face. This one seems to embody his worries and anxiety. The mayor knocked on the door before switching back to his happy persona.
"Jack, I've got the plans for next Halloween!" the mayor called as he pulled out some blueprints from under his arm. "I need to go over them with you so we can get started."
But not a second later, he dropped all the plans and switched back to his worried persona.
"Jack, PLEASE! I'm only an elected official here, I can't make decisions by myself!" whined the now worried mayor.
When no response came, he tried yelling into his megaphone.
"Jack! Answer me… AAAAAAAHHH!"
The mayor had unfortunately leaned too far back and began to roll and tumble down the stairs before crashing into the gate. He groaned as he tried to regain his bearings as the band walked up to the gate.
"He's not home." the accordion player informed.
"Where is he?" the mayor asked in pain from the impact.
"He hasn't been home all night." the saxophone player replied.
The mayor just fell to the ground and groaned in pain again. He had to gather a search party to find their leader, and fast. Maybe Korra could help?
Back with Korra in the Hinterlands, the jack o' lantern sun was up in the sky illuminating the deepest part of the Hinterlands. Korra and Zero had apparently fallen asleep during their walk and they were now quite literally sleepwalking. And in the ghost dog's case, that would be sleep floating. She yawned as she finally woke up, suddenly aware that she was nowhere close to her village.
"Where are we?" she sleepily asked herself.
As she fully woke up, her eyes widened in amazement as she realized that she was in a place she's never seen before in all of her life.
"It's someplace new…"
Zero stopped as he barked a few times. Something about this place didn't sit right with the ghost dog. Korra soon came across a clearing and marveled at what she saw.
"What is this?"
It was astounding. A ring of seven trees encircled the clearing, each bearing a different kind of door on the front of it. Korra slowly looked around and examined each door and noted how each one had a certain shape to it. There was a firecracker that was painted in a pattern of red and blue stripes with white stars, a four-leaf clover, a colorful egg, a turkey, a heart, and even a Jack o' Lantern.
'That door obviously has something to do with Halloween. So, are these… OTHER holidays?' Korra thought to herself.
She turned to look at the last tree and gasped at what she saw.
The door on this tree was like nothing she's ever seen before! It was a beautiful green pine tree covered in decorations and red and white striped candy with a golden decoration as the doorknob. And there was a star on top of this tree door. Korra was grinning something silly as she stared at this door that just seemed so foreign and yet so familiar.
She slowly began to make her way to the door and reached out her hand to grab the knob. With a gentle turn, she opened the door only to reveal…
An abyss of black nothingness?
Surely this must be some kind of a trick. Korra looked deeper into the door as she tried to find what was hidden in here, only to see nothing but dark. Lots and lots of dark. She got out from the door and sighed as she turned around. As Zero floated up to her, she just gave the ghost dog a shrug. That was disappointing.
Suddenly, she felt a cold wind blow as she felt something sucking her into the tree where the door was still open. Could this be the door's doing? Or is it something else?
"WHOA!" yelped Korra as she fell backwards into the tree.
The door closed behind her, thus sealing her fate to being a brand-new chapter of her life as the Raven Queen of Halloween. Zero barked at the door concerned for her friend but waited there for her in hopes that she would come out okay.
Falling, and yet at the same time not falling. That's all that Korra can describe what she was feeling as she screamed, and a flash of white light filled her vision. A light-hearted happy tune began to resonate through the air as all of this was going on. At first, she thought that her past self, Avatar Aang, had called her to the Spirit World to lecture her about her duties as the Avatar, to which she would probably give him the middle finger about, but that thought vanished when she felt something cold and familiar on her rear. After a moment of dizziness, she shook her head and looked up before a face-splitting grin appeared on her own face.
Down below was a beautiful village the likes of which Korra had never seen in all of her life! Not even the places she visited on her travels were as beautiful as this! She saw a train that was full of colorful packages drive by on a set of railroad tracks, and even children out playing in the snow. Unfortunately, Korra leaned too far forward on this hilltop and tumbled forward. As she landed in a mound of snow, the music began to pick up, and our young heroine began to sing a tune that was happier than she's ever felt before in her life.
[Korra]
What's this? What's this?
There's color everywhere!
She snatched a snowflake from out of the air and observed it, but accidentally broke it on the tip of a snowman's carrot nose. But this didn't bother her as she kept singing and dancing.
[Korra]
What's this?
They're snowflakes in the air.
What's this?
I can't believe my eyes, I must be dreaming,
Wake up, girl, this just ain't fair!
What's this?
Korra saw and heard singing people coming towards her and casually took the hat and umbrella from the snowman before physically hiding from them inside of it. Her head and arms were sticking out as the singing creatures moved right past her as she continued her song.
[Korra]
What's this? What's this?
There's something very wrong.
What's this?
There's children singing songs.
What's this?
As she sang, another set of small creatures began to ride past Korra on a wind-up polar bear. Korra began to hop after the children as she continued her song.
[Korra]
The streets are lined with tiny people laughing,
Everybody seems so happy.
Have I possibly gone loopy?
What is this?
The wind-up toy ride slowed down to a stop, but Korra hopped up out of the snowman and out of sight just as they turned around.
[Korra]
What's this?
From her perch on a streetlight, Korra witnessed a few elf children having a snowball fight within a snow fort. And upon seeing all of those colorful lights hung up around this town, she began to feel her once growing depression and emptiness beginning to fade away as quickly as it had been setting in. Replaced by a warmth she's never felt before.
[Korra]
These kids are throwing snowballs instead of throwing heads.
They're busy building toys,
And absolutely no one's dead!
Korra stepped down from the streetlight and used her umbrella to pull some of the colorful lights down so she could look at them more closely. She released the lights as she leaned against the wall of a house and slowly slid down next to a window.
[Korra]
There's frost on every window,
Oh, I can't believe my eyes
And in my heart, I feel the warmth that's coming from inside
She suddenly looked inside a house to see an elf couple standing under a mistletoe wreath, the girl elf giving her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek before looking over to see a grandma elf reading a story to her grandchildren while chestnuts were cooking on a fire.
[Korra]
Oh, look! What's this?
They're hanging mistletoe.
They kiss? Why that looks so unique.
Inspired! They're gathering around to hear a story,
Roasting chestnuts by a fire.
What's this?
She smiled at the sight as she remembered how before it was revealed that she was the Avatar, her own mother would read her stories before bed. She missed those days where she didn't need to worry about the balance of the world. But then her eye caught something else.
[Korra]
What's this? In here,
They have a little tree.
How weird. And who would ever think?
And why?
She watched an elf boy ran the extension cord to the wall and plugged it in, lighting up the tree in a variety of beautiful and vibrant colors. It was all so different from Halloween, but in a way that Korra couldn't truly understand. She did understand one thing, though. She already liked whatever this was!
[Korra]
They're covering it with tiny little things
They have electric lights on strings
And there's a smile on everyone
So now correct me if I'm wrong
She started climbing up to the roof of the house before sliding down to sit on the ledge where the window to a room was. She set the umbrella in the snow as she continued her song.
[Korra]
This looks like fun!
This looks like fun!
Oh, could it be, I got my wish?
What's this?
Korra peered down into the window and noticed that a bunch of elf children were sleeping soundly as good dreams seemed to visit them all this night. She quietly opened the window and climbed in as she continued her song at a lower volume.
[Korra]
Oh my! What now?
These kids are all asleep.
She peered under the bed but saw no traces of monsters hiding underneath it so they could scare the kids. This was very unusual for her.
[Korra]
But look, there's nothing underneath.
No ghouls.
She began to quietly creep closer to a separate bed of elf children and leaned in close to the one that appeared to be the youngest.
[Korra]
No witches here to scream and scare them
Nor ensnare them
Only little comfy things in there within their dreamlands
Korra sighed as she felt relaxed in this warm and quiet environment that was so unlike her own homeland or Republic City. She leaned her head against the elf child before loudly continuing her song once again.
[Korra]
...WHAT'S THIS?
She bolted out the window and out of the room just as the elf child was startled from his rest. Climbing up to the next floor, taking the umbrella with her, Korra saw that several elves were hidden behind those curtains one would see in an old time Disney movie, like Peter Pan. Each elf was doing something like hanging wreaths, hammering nails into wood, fixing toys, and even playing music.
[Korra]
The monsters are all missing,
And the nightmares can't be found.
And in their place, there seems to be good feeling all around!
Instead of screams I swear I just hear music in the air,
Hooking her umbrella on a string of colorful lights, Korra slid across to a windowsill where several pastries and baked goods were sitting to cool off after coming out of the oven. The smell coming from them was enough to make her mouth water.
What can she say? She's a sucker for sweets.
[Korra]
The smell of cakes and pies are absolutely everywhere.
As she let go of the umbrella and fell on top of a carousel, Korra failed to notice a certain skeleton dancing alongside her. And he actually failed to notice her as they were both singing the same song. Both had the biggest of grins on their faces as they danced around the town with their sprits lifted to greater heights.
[Korra and Jack]
The sights! The sounds!
They're everywhere and all around,
I've never felt so good before.
Korra jumped up onto the train as it circled along through the town, reaching a crescendo as she continued to sing out all of her newfound joy and happiness.
[Korra]
This empty place inside of me is filling up,
I simply cannot get enough,
I want it, oh, I want it,
Oh, I want it for my own!
She jumped off the train and onto a sled, riding down the snowy hill and back into the town as she and Jack reached the end of their song.
[Korra and Jack]
I've got to know!
I've got to know!
What is this place that I have found?
WHAT. IS. THIS?
Now, it was either out of sheer ignorance or bliss, but at the end of their song, Jack and Korra ran smack dab into a poll on opposite sides before falling on their backs into the snow and leaving imprints in the shape of themselves in it. Korra was the first to recover and read the sign at the top of the pole which told her exactly where they were now.
"Christmas Town? Hmmm…"
A loud whistle caught her attention as she looked to see a door open and shine a light that cast a shadow of a man 'Ho ho ho-ing' in the biggest house of the village. That was when she and Jack finally notice each other.
"Oh, hi Jack!" Korra greeted, happy to see her friend.
"Hello to you again, Korra. What a lovely coincidence running into you here." Jack greeted back. "Tell me, do you know what this is?"
Korra looked back up to the sign on the poll and began to grin as an idea came to her.
"Not a clue. But whatever it is, we're bringing it to Halloween Town!"
***To Be Continued…***
Ending A/N: And that's it for this chapter! I sincerely hope that you all enjoyed it. It didn't really require as much editing as the previous chapters did since I was mostly fixing the somewhat lacking action sequences between the song lyrics. Anyway, please don't forget to leave a review for this story and maybe share it around with your friends so that they can also give this story a chance. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all in my next update!
POLL CLOSED! POLL CLOSED!
Poll question: In my story "Digimon: Chronicles of Deku's Son", which of these Digivolution paths do you want Joshua's partner to follow?
Babydmon - Dracomon - Coredramon(Blue) - Wingdramon - Slayerdramon - Examon(After absorbing Breakdramon's Data and becoming whole): 6 votes
Babydmon - Dracomon - Coredramon(Green) - Groundramon - Breakdramon - Examon(After absorbing Slayerdramon's Data and becoming whole): 3 votes