Happy Halloween everybody!^^
This is a story I cooked up and is mostly improvised. Yet I think it came together well in the end but you have decide for yourself if you think the same.
For me: Hilda and Halloween go together well and Jack is as inquisitive and open for new things as Hilda is, with both willing to break some laws. They are also nice, fiercely loyal, good friends and go against dangerous foes without fear.
Without further ado: Thank you for giving this Crossover a chance and enjoy reading.
Hilda and the Pumpkin King
by
Ralte or Hatoralo
"Oh, aren't you the most adorable little Knight."
Hilda shoved the visor of her helmet up. "I am dressed as Sauron, mum."
Johanna gave a chuckle. "I am just teasing you. I like the replica of the One Ring. Looks like the one from the movies."
Hilda looked at the ring on the index finger of her right hand. "I got this one for cheap by goodd Svartálfar blacksmiths. They were a lot happier about helping me with making this armor, because everyone wants a replica of the One Ring."
"Not very creative, just wanting the One Ring I mean" agreed Johanna. "Also what do you think of my costume?"
Johanna was dressed in garbs that made her look like Surge the Tenrec. Hilda's knowledge about the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise was very surface level so Johanna's explanation about different comic publishers, creator rights, a huge legal mess, expies and lore was a bit too much for Hilda. She was more interested in the supernatural of her world or works that use the supernatural world as a source.
"You look great, even if I have no idea who this lady is, aside from being an evil counterpart to Sonic."
"It's fine," assured Johanna and gave her daughter quick hug. "Now let us go, Halloween awaits."
The Town of Trolberg was bristling with activity. Halloween only recently found entry into the Scandinavian but it fit this cold part of the world well. The streets were full of light, not just from the street lamps but from many lanterns, Jack-O-Lanterns and other light sources of the same them. Children and grownups ran around everywhere dressed as monsters, famous people, fictional characters, heroes villains and everything between. Banner with decorations and spooky Halloween texts hang between street lanterns, trees walls, trees and other objects had Skeletons, Bats, Ghosts and other Halloween decorations hanging from them and practically everyone was dressed for the occasion.
"Why do humans put on costumes for Halloween again?" asked Tontu who himself was dressed as Tony Montana (Scarface (1983)) in a white dress and a replica of a machine gun.
"To trick monsters who roam the world that day into believing humans belong to them and/or to ward them off," explained a tiny elf who was dressed like Cobra Commander (G.I. Joe), an Elf named Alfur.
"I am pretty sure I am not tricked by the costumes," explained Tontu. "But it is fun to dress like this."
The nisse of the flat and their Elven bureaucrat were directly behind Johanna and Hilda, accompanying the two on their way to meet Frida and David. The three wanted to make a round of "Trick-and-Treat" around the city together.
"Are you excited for your first Halloween?" asked Johanna her child, her nisse and her elven bureaucrat. "It is one of the most fun holidays in the world from what I heard."
"Yes, of course!" answered Hilda in a more than just excited voice. She was grinning happily as well. "I wish I would have learned sooner of Halloween, this entire idea and holiday is just awesome!"
Johanna smiled friendly. "Yes, it is. Do you know what Frida and David will be dressed as?"
"No," answered Hilda. "They wanted to keep it as a surprise. I didn't tell them about my costume either."
They meet Frida, David and their parents in the city square, which was filled with booths, stalls for games, shops and a stage were a band was playing Halloween-themed appropriate music.
"Hey, Hilda!" greeted Frida who was dressed like King Dedede from the Kirby games with a fitting giant wooden hammer as a prop. The two girls hugged each other. "Nice to see you."
"Nice to see you too, and David as well," greeted Hilda her friends back.
David who decided to dress like Edward Sallow AKA Caesar (from Fallout: New Vegas) joined the hug quickly. "Good to see you all. You have a great costume there, Hilda."
"Thanks David, yours is pretty neat too. Yours as well, Frida," answered Hilda happily and truthfully, even though she didn't knew neither character that was depicted.
Tontu meanwhile took the initiative and lead a slightly nervous Johanna towards the parents of Hilda's friends. Frida's Mum (dressed like General Zod from the second Superman movie), Frida's Dad (dressed like Captain Cold, an enemy of the DC Hero Flash), Davids Mum (dressed like Psycrow [Earthworm Jim]) and David's Dad (dressed Chairman Alonzo Drek [Ratchet & Clank]).
"Just talk with the parents," advised Tontu. "It is easy, if your daughter can do it, so can you."
"Why do I get social advice from a nisse, a species known for being territorial and loners?"
"Even we like to meet people from time to time," explained Tontu. "Also we procreate like you humans."
Johanna shrugged. She wasn't alone here after all with these other parents and she was able to talk with her clients as well, even if that was more business related.
Hilda meanwhile was already discussing Trick-or-Treat plans with her two friends.
"I made the optimal route to get the maximum amount a candy," announced Frida proudly. "And people will be even more impressed when I enhance our costumes with magical special effects."
"Good, but what if people don't give us treats?" asked Hilda. "What will be our tricks?"
"Scaring them," explained David. "I heard in the USA they pelt peoples houses who don't give away candy with eggs but that is a bit to mean for my taste."
Hilda and Frida nodded in agreement. "Let us just howl in a scary way and curse them… I mean just playful threat of a curse, no real one," made Frida the Witch quickly clear. "If I try real curses so casually, I will get cursed by the Committee of Three."
"Which means you get thrown down to the Void of no Return, because they don't know any other curses," joked Hilda. "Let us go."
The three went from house to house of different levels of Halloween decoration and quickly amassed an impressive amount of candy in their colorful Halloween-themed cotton bags. Candy only half as colorful as the Halloween decorations around them but tasty without a doubt.
Hilda was munching on a chocolate bar and leading the way. "This is fun. This should happen every day."
"It would deplete the money reserves of everybody from buying candy for kids if that would happen," argued Frida. "But a second time per year would be acceptable."
David was a bit fearful. "Do you think somebody will try and scare us today?"
"Certainly," was Hildas answer, not a hint of worry in it. "But I doubt anyone can scare us, we faced real danger, real mythical creatures and not some-"
"GARFHARGHL!"
Freddy Krüger, Jason Vorhees and Leatherhead jumped in the way of the trio, making scary noises, swing their weapons around and they looked like they had been splattered by blood.
"-Badly made jumpscare."
"Only animatronics can jumpscare people well," was Frida's calm opinion while the three passed the mass murderers. "Nobody else."
"Hey, come back and be scared by us!"
Hilda turned around to Freddy, who had the voice of somebody she knew and didn't like. "Trevor, if you think I am scared by some blood, sharp knives on your fingers and a scare out of nowhere then you have to try harder."
"Not even I was scared by this," mentioned David happy. "I mean for a Moment I thought I was but then I realized how bad this scare was."
"It worked on so many others before you!" claimed Trevor angrily, not removing his mask.
Frida reacted to this sarcastically: "You scared many three-year olds?"
This got laughter from Hilda, David and Trevor's two friends which angered him, pointing at the three. "As if you can scare people better than me! I will get you this night and I will make you have nightmares for weeks!"
Hilda wanted to say something but then looked up and she changed her intended sentence. "You will have nightmares for weeks then this tall scarecrow with a pumpkin head is through with you."
Trevor laughed mockingly. "Do you think I fall for the oldest trick in the book, Raven Lover?"
Instead of an answer Hilda, Frida and David watched how small branchy fingers placed themselves on Trevor's shoulders. The boy tensed up in shock and fear not trying to move too quickly. He and his two friends eventually turned slowly around to face the owner of the fingers. The owner wore tattered grey trousers, a ripped purple pullover and the scariest Jack-O-Lantern head any human has ever seen. An ominous light was coming from behind the eyeholes, mouth and nose of the Pumpkin and as he seemingly grinned down to Trevor. Trevor was unable to say anything, shaking in his boots alongside his two friends at the sight of this pumpkin scarecrow.
Nobody dared to move, nobody dared to make the first step. None of the humans that is. Suddenly the eyes of the pumpkin stared to glow stronger, smoke came out of their mouth, the creature stretched out the arms in the air with the hands ready to grab unsuspecting victims. As the Pumpkin Scarecrow had everyone's attention, they unleashed a short reaching burst of flames accompanied by the most terrifying scream, one that sounded like the combination of the most baneful banshees, the moans of the souls of dammed, the screeching of elder vampires, the echoes of ancient ghosts, the ghastly gnashing of ghouls and the demonic laughter of demons.
The sight combined with listening to the scream made Trevor and his two friends flee in terror. "HELP, MOMMY, HELP ME, MOMMY! DON'T LET THE MONSTER EAT ME!"
The pumpkin head in question growled after the fleeing children in the slasher costumes and then turned their head towards Hilda, Frida and David. The three friends and adventurers stood their ground. David was slightly hyperventilating, fighting against his flight response, not willing to abandon his friends, Frida had drawn her wand and pointed the now glowing upper end at the pumpkin being, shaking but standing her ground and Hilda looked at the creature with big, fascinating and starry eyes.
"Stay back!" threatened Frida. "I know some very dangerous spells!"
Hilda pointed at scarecrow and said in a happy and excited tone: "You are the Pumpkin King, the Ruler of Halloween, Jack Skellington!"
The scary being halted their movement. "Yes, that is correct little lady. I guess I can stop with the show."
Before the eyes of the trio the pumpkin creature whirled around and engulfed itself in flames coming out of its mouth. The fire burned the pumpkin and the clothes away, yet the being was still whirling like a flaming tornado. As the flames vanishes the whirl stopped and from the smoke stepped a tall skeleton in a fancy suit with long arms, long legs and winning, charming smile coming from his round skeleton head. He bowed before the three surprised children.
"What your friend said is correct, I am Jack Skellington, ruler of Halloween, the Pumpkin King." He spoke like a gentleman to these kids despite his rank and influence. "You three wear great costumes I have to say, real classics and so well made!", he lauded the three which made them blush for a Moment from that compliment. "And you three are very brave as well. I worked for a long time to perfect this scare. Here, a special reward for you."
The Lord of the scariest Holiday gave the three each a bonbon, wrapped in skeleton-white paper. "These are special sweetmeats, made by myself. A taste exquisite, not from this world but from mine. Only children who keep their fear in control before me receive them."
"We are not supposed to take candy from strangers," argued David carefully.
"David, we go from home to home and demand strangers to give us candy this time of year," argued Hilda back. "And I doubt that the Pumpkin King would go around and poison children."
"Indeed!" exclaimed Jack joyfully. "That is the job of the Poison King, his holiday is in November."
Hilda laughed in response while Frida still hold her wand at Jack. The tall man noticed that and bend down to Frida, going onto one knee. "Oh, a really nice wand. A witch in training, correct?"
Frida, a bit perplexed but more relaxed than before thanks to Jacks endearing behavior and she put her wand away. "Yes, Mister Skellington."
"Excellent! Also, you all can call me Jack if you like, I am the King of Halloween, not of protocol."
"Yes, Jack!" answered Hilda. "Question: What are you doing here?"
"Aside from the usual yearly Halloween tour I decided to give Trolberg this year some special attention," explained Jack enthusiastically. "I heard, saw and read of especially strong activity of supernatural in this town." Jack made an encompassing move. "To be honest I always wanted to make one or more of the beings from Scandinavian folklore into a citizens of Halloween Town, to live with us and accompany us on our yearly tour around the world."
"Do you want to recruit/naturalize a Draugr, a nisse, a Black Hound or even a Troll?" asked Hilda.
"All sound good but we will see, they have to be willing to come to with me, I don't force anyone," made Jack clear. "Well, I have to be on my way then, many people still to scare."
Before Jack could be on his way Hilda jumped in his way. "Wait Jack!"
Frida saw where this was going. "Hilda, we have a Trick-or-Treat tour plan. We can't accompany Jack on his Scare-tour plan, I doubt they overlap."
"Can I see this plan…" Jack looked suddenly very embarrassed. "Oh, my I forgot to ask for your names."
"And we didn't introduce ourselves," noticed Frida who looked embarrassed herself and making an awkward smile. "My name is Frida, this is David and the blue haired Girl with no fear is Hilda, professional adventurer and friend of the mystical, fantastic and supernatural."
"Nice to meet you three," was Jack's honest answer and he looked over their tour-plan which was titled with 'HFD's first Halloween Tour Plan'. "Very well planned for your first tour, I am impressed. And I wasn't around any of these places. I think we can go the same route if you don't mind."
Around them the people weren't sure what to think of a tall skeleton man talking with three children. Some of these people distraction was exploited by a werewolf, classical witches, vampires and other monsters, monsters who were part of Jack's scare tour to scare them.
David, still a bit shaken about the scare from before asked: "You will not try to scare us again?"
"Don't worry my timid yet also stalwart friend, I will not try it again this year!" Jack then grinned evilly. "Next year though: Better be prepared."
David gulped heavily in response.
"Don't worry, he will only scare but not eat you," tried Frida to calm her friend. "Time to go."
David's mother who is the chaperon of the three could do nothing but walk after them, not entirely sure about what just happened but feeling that she doesn't have to step in.
The next few hours were a blast for Hilda and her friends. They didn't just got more and more candy they also witnessed how Jack scared many people. He could move like a spider and sneak even better than a Ninja.
"You are very good at scaring people, Jack," opined Hilda. "How did you learn to move like that?"
"A lot of practice, passion and testing," explained the Pumpkin King, looking for another person to scare. "Scaring somebody properly is an artform. Artists who make comics, movies, videogames, etc. in the Horror genre can attest that."
Jack jumped in the back of a large and muscular woman and scared her via slowly moving his head from above into her view, let it rotate and shouted a howling scream at her while grinning madly. Jack jumped from her back and the woman who was also dressed like He-Man ran away screaming.
"What are you three doing aside from being students?"
"We are Sparrow Scouts," explained Frida proudly. "Like the Boy Scouts, you probably know of them."
"Of course I do," was the response of Jack.
"We are also adventures," added Hilda. "I am the most adventurous of our group and we interact with the supernatural of this world a lot."
"Mostly Hilda," made David clear. "She loves the wild, the fantastical beings and having adventures more than anyone in all of Trolberg."
"You like to explore the unknown and the new? Fantastic!" Jack made a round around Hilda, stretching out his arms. "Exploring new things stimulates your brain, makes you happy, the unknown intrigues you and you want to learn more!"
Hilda jumped in excitement and nodded. "Yes, yes!"
"That is good, always have a keen and open mind," advised Jack, quickly scared a few kids on the side and turned back to Hilda to continue: "But be careful when you try the tradition of other cultures yourself, it can end in utter chaos."
Hilda didn't know what to say about that except: "Yes, Jack."
"Good, now excuse me for a Moment: I have to talk with the Draugen over there who disguised himself as a Human who dressed himself like a Draugen for Halloween."
Jack jumped high in the air and landed directly before the person in question who was a bit startled.
"I guess that is a recruitment attempt," theorized Frida. "I wonder how live is in Halloween Town."
"Pretty scary, I am sure of it," was Davids's idea.
"Maybe for us, for the people living there it is normal," was Hilda's explanation, who was more than interested to visit that place than before. "Do you think Jack would allow human visitors access the world of Halloween Town?"
Frida sighed but then laughed. "Oh, Hilda. You would want to explore hell if you could."
"In that regard are there any spells that-"
"No," interrupted Frida Hilda quickly. "I have no idea about such spells and if we ever have to visit hell it has to be a REALLY good reason why we do so."
"Watching the damned suffer would be very macabre," added David, who was shaking at the thought
While the three friends were having a happy time with Jack Skellington, Trevor threw eggs at the headquarters of the safety patrol from a small nearby alley, well hidden from prying eyes.
"He, he, he," he laughed to himself. "This is the perfect plan to avenge myself on Hilda."
"Via egging the Safety Patrol HQ?" asked one of Trevor's friends confused.
"Yes! When I plant the forged proof here, Gerda Gustav will come to arrest stupid Hilda immediately and imprison her forever!"
"You are a mean one, aren't you?"
Trevor was confused, that voice was new. He turned to the source which turned out to be a small boy with a blue face in a red pajama, with devil horns and a pitchfork in hand. He was flanked by a girl of the same height who had the wild hair of a witch and looked like one with her purple dress and purple witch had and the last one was smaller with a PJ that looked like a Skeleton, a round face and a wide grin.
"Who are you?" demanded Trevor to know, sounding irritated.
"Lock", introduced the red one himself.
"Shock", called the little witch herself.
"Barrel", was the name the skeleton gave.
"Go away, you are too young for this," claimed Trevor, making "Shush-Shush" hand movements at the three. "Go and gather sweets."
"We already have enough of those," explained Shock. "But we still need something special for our boss."
"Then go gather more sweets for him," was Trevor's blunt reaction to that. "You don't get anything from me!"
"But you have so much to give," explained Barrel cordially. "Your qualities express that well."
"Well… Thank you," said Trevor, a bit surprised by the compliment. "But still, these sweets I and my friends gathered are for us."
"Our boss doesn't want sweets," clarified Lock with a evil grin.
"Our boss doesn't need something to eat, but something for demonstration," added Shock with an evil cackle.
"What do you mean?" wanted Trevor to now.
Barrel said: "We will show you."
Before Trevor or his friends could answer to that, Lock, Shock & Barrel produced a black sack with orange pumpkins on it.
"Trick-or-Treat!" they shouted in unison and jumped Trevor.
Johanna thought that one of the bands playing for Halloween was odd. They were good musicians and their costumes looked good, REALLY good. Whoever made their makeup and costumes had to be a master of their craft. They looked monstrous and the head that was placed in the hole of the bass was unusual but fitting for Halloween.
"I wonder if they sell their music either as CD's or digitally. I wouldn't mind to listen to it while working."
A big guy with an axe in his head tried to scare Johanna. His makeup was very impressive as well but Johanna wasn't so easily scared. "Nice makeup but work on your scares."
"Okay…" answered the Behemoth with a slow and deep voice and shuffled away.
"He is really into his role," commented Johanna.
"I think he and the other people in these costumes and makeup are overdoing it," was the opinion of Frida's father. "I mean it is a lot of dedication but maybe a bit too much for just Halloween."
Twig and Tontu who gave Johanna additional encouraging company nudged Johanna to respond to this. "Y- Yes but they have their fun, no reason to judge them for that."
With that Johanna started another successful conversation which went well but was rather trivial.
"Isn't that Hilda sitting on somebodies' shoulders?" Frida's mother suddenly mentioned and pointed in a certain direction.
Johanna turned around into the direction the finger was pointing to see Hilda sitting on the shoulders of the tallest man in a black suit she had ever seen flanked by Frida and David, both watching the performances of the musicians with the really good makeup. David's mom was nearby and overseeing the situation to Johanna's relief.
"If Hilda managed to befriend the freaking Slender Man, I'm out," promised Johanna deadpan. She sighed a few seconds later and made her way over to Hilda to meet her new friend.
"Excuse me."
The tall man and with him Hilda turned around. Neither had a face, just blank space. That unwelcome surprise made Johanna shout in terror and step back, thinking something unthinkable happened to her daughter.
"Hi, mum," said the faceless Hilda before she removed the mask and her grinning face was visible. "We got her Jack!"
Jack removed his own mask, producing his skeletal yet lively visage before Johanna. "Well done, Hilda. I usually dislike the Slender-Face but I can't deny that it is perfect for some scares."
Johanna took a few breaths, the shock was a bit much for her heart. "Very funny Hilda." Johanna took a closer look at the skeleton man. He looked familiar. "Who are you?"
Jack bowed deeply before Johanna with Hilda jumping from his shoulders beforehand. "My name is Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King." He took Johanna's hand and kissed it, which surprised the mother, not expecting old school gentleman behavior today.
"My name is Johanna and I should have seen it coming that my daughter would befriend the Lord of Halloween," she exclaimed in a sarcastic tone but then her smile became a bit more friendly, being a bit smitten by the Bone Man. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance."
"And it is mine to make yours," said the King jovially. "Your daughter is exceptional, she looked through me immediately, wasn't even scared for a second as I tried to scare her with my best scare," told Jack enthusiastically. "So much courage and curiosity, reminds me of me!"
Davids's father asked the mother why she was okay with that and Frida's parents were especially confused.
"You know about the Pumpkin King, mum?"
"Hildi, I am not from yesterday," assured the brown-haired lady the younger lady with the blue hair. "We were taught about him in mythological class in school and he became especially famous through the "Nightmare Before Christmas" incident."
"Nightmare Before Christmas?" asked a curious David. "Who had this nightmare?"
"I don't know," told Frida David. "I can't deny that I didn't do much study into Halloween so far."
"Illegal taking over of a holiday, impersonating Santa Clause, traumatizing children with scary gifts, flying a sled without a license, destruction of private property, destruction of public property and the list goes on."
Gerda Gustav (dressed like Hinata Hyūga from Naruto but the costume is mixed with her official uniform), new leader of the safety patrol had arrived with a Tablet in hands, looking as stoic as usual. "I am here to check on your papers, Pumpkin King."
A new voice announced: "I have them!"
That new voice came from a little person with a tall top hat, sharp teeth and two faces. One that was happy, on the front and talking right now and the other looked sad, greenly and was on the backside of the head, eyes closed.
"I introduce too you: The Mayor of Halloween Town. He helps me with ruling my domain and preparing Halloween festivities," explained Jack to people who don't know him.
The Mayor gave Gerda the papers she asked for and she went through them. "They seem in order, yet I still can't believe that you got permission for an increased stay."
"Officer Gerda, the "Nightmare Before Christmas" incident is water under the bridge between me and Santa," assured Jack, sounding like he knew were this was going. "I apologized and he eventually forgave me."
"What happened between you and Santa?" asked Hilda, her interest piqued.
Jack, looking a bit uncomfortable for a Moment quickly overcame it. It looked like he told this tale before. "Years ago, I was overcome with depression of over eternal routine, being forced to lead the holiday of Halloween. During a walk I discovered the entrances to other holiday Worlds, including Christmas Town and that place drew me in immediately."
Jack's eyes glinted as he remembered the first time steeping into the winter wonderland of Christmas Town. "I have never seen such a place before. Full of magic, wonder, colors and heartwarming power."
"Visit Christmas Town…", mumbled Hilda to herself while writing it down into her notebook. "I do that after my planned adventure in R'lyeh."
Johanna wanted to protest her daughters plans to visit the prison of Cthulhu but Jack interrupted her with the continuation his tale.
"I was so enamored by Christmas I wanted to try it myself. I ordered the Trick-and-Treat Trio to kidnap Santa Clause and keep him away while I replaced Santa in his role and made my faithful ride through the night and delivered more of a nightmare than a Christmas."
"To say the F… Fudging least," Johanna corrected herself quickly. "I think I remember it know: You were shot down by the U.S. military."
Jack beamed with pride. "They did! The scare I gave the world was not from this world! I feel bad for almost ruining Christmas but the quality of the scare was just better than anything I ever did!"
Hilda really got into the tale of this adventure. "Oh, I would have loved to have been there Jack."
"It was a massive shock to everyone and Santa Clause was still missing afterwards," told Gerda seriously. "That was no fun for us."
"Well, what happened with Santa is something I really regret," admitted Jack, rubbing his head, he appeared a bit smaller and filled with shame. "I made a mistake with giving Lock, Shock & Barrel oversight over Santa. They brought him to their boss, my archenemy Oogie Boogie who tortured him with gambling and wanted to eat him."
"Classic villainy," commented Frida deadpan. "Why did you trust the three?"
"I thought my authority over them was strong enough, but I was wrong. I was able to rescue Santa Clause at the last second and destroy Oogie Boogie. Santa was pretty angry with me."
"As was most of the world," added Gerda, sounding serious. "I… Can't deny that I was a kid back then and experienced most of it through TV. I was very worried for Santa, I thought he would never come back for a time."
Jack was many things but not Heartless nor unempathetic. Even until this day there are people cross with him over what happened during the "Nightmare Before Christmas" incident and he understood that. The Skeleton walked carefully over to Gerda who kept her eyes on him and bowed deeper than necessary before here.
"I want to apologize for any grief I caused you, Safety Patrol Leader Gerda Gustav. My intentions were different but that is no excuse. Santa Clause has forgiven me but I understand if others can't and I will not judge them for their feelings. All I can do is apologize to you."
Gerda was surprised and touched. The officer tried to hold on her dislike for him, not wanting to forgive him so easily but he had a way with words and she didn't think that there was dishonesty in said words. His friendly smile didn't help either to keep up her mistrust or dislike.
"Thank you Mister Skellington. Just continue your work and don't try to replace one of our important holiday leaders, like St. Lucy of Lussinatten."
"I actually planned to do that but now that you mention it I guess I cancel my abduction plans for St. Lucy."
This produced some laughter from the people paying attention to Jack, even Gerda had to chortle for a short Moment against her will.
Jack looked to the stage. "I will later do a little music number on my own. I am pretty good at singing, at least my citizens claim so. My children who formed a Xylophone band will accompany me, I hope the people of Trolberg will like it as we-"
"Jack!"
Hilda looked over to the source of the new voice. A woman with blue skin and red long hair who wore a dress that looked like nothing like nothing but patches and her entire body had stitches everywhere like she was sewn together from severed body parts.
"Hi, Sally," greeted Jack her wife. "My friend, this is my wife, Sally Finkelstein Skellington, the Pumpkin Queen."
"Hello, everybody," greeted Sally quickly. "I would like to make this longer but we have an emergency: Oogie is at it again Jack."
Jack sighs in annoyance. "Is he trying to eat anyone again?"
"No, he is doing something new," explained Sally.
"And he is livestreaming it," added Johanna who pointed at her smartphone. " Look."
"Now, little boy: You are a naughty one, right?"
Trevor's head stuck out of the bag he had been captured with, a bag that was hanging from a tree right now. He struggled hard, his expression of anger and confusion. "Let me out you bughead!
The man Trevor was talking too was big walking bag. His hands and feet ended in in tips of bags yet worked perfectly for holding and walking. His central area resembled a bag the most while his head was a large mouth, two demonic dark empty eyes and a large tip on his head like from a sleeping hat. His body was two halves, hold together by a stich that went around the side of his gut, legs, feet, arms, hands, neck and head. His expression was evil, if not sadistic and he took glee from what he was doing to Trevor.
"You should be careful with your words. They can hurt. Luckily for you, the description is apt."
Suddenly the tip on Oogie's head opened, the with bugs crawling out of it, alongside bugs who came out of his eyes and mouth, scaring Trevor to a degree.
"St-Stop or I get bugspray!"
"Try a XXL model then, a lot of it," advised Oogie. "But even then you may only postpone your fate. Apropos fate: Time to decide yours."
Oogie went over to wheel of fortune, with rods made out of bones, the different words are written with bugs who form the letters and the pointer at the top was a bony hand with the pointer pointing at the different fates.
"Ever gambled for your life? I do it all the time with the lives of other people, it is fun, you small larvae," claimed Oogie with a cruel laugh.
"I don't like stupid games, they are for babies!" claimed Trevor. "I don't play with you!"
"Oh, I will not play with you," corrected Oogie the arrogant boy. "I play with your mother."
Oogie grabbed the wheel and let it whirl with all the strength he had. The wheel rotated fast, like a spinning tire that was on its way to hell. The burlap demon watched with glee as the wheel slowed down more and more until it stopped and the bony finger pointed at:
"Baseball Bag Beat!"
Oogie opened his mouth, grabbed into it with both hands and produced a termite invested Baseball bat, full of holes from which the termites came out and in.
Trevor shivered in fear now. "You want to beat me up with that? Please, I… I do anything you want!"
"Do not worry, you are not the one who is getting to meet my Termite-Bat," promised Oogie to Trevor's surprise. "But somebody else, somebody you know. BRING HER DOWN!"
A second bag (black with yellow bats) fell from the treetop, bound to a chain and struggling and bulging hard. Angry muffled noises were heard from it, cursing their kidnapper.
"Who is this?" asked Trevor, shuffling uncomfortably.
"Your mother," explained Oogie before he hold his bat high and swung it hard against the bag. "Don't you want to greet her?"
Trevor shrieked in terror. "MOM!"
Oogie continued to bash onto the bag with his bat. The bag squirmed stronger and the noises from it sounded more panicking and pained. "Do you hear her suffering young boy? Bad behaving children are a product of their parents, so your mother is guilty for your bad behavior."
Trevor was panicking, struggling harder. "LEAVE HER ALONE YOU MONSTER!"
"Not until I hear the bones breaking," was the evil answer of Oogie, followed by a cruel laugh. "Watch your mother suffer, Trevor."
Trevor started to bawl as Oogie increased his treatment of the bag with his bat. His attacks from all sides hit harder and harder and more brutal with every swing. "LET MY MOMMY GO!"
"I will let her go," claimed Oogie with a sinister voice. "When she needs a wheelchair. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Trevor struggled now in absolute panic and worry about his mother, tried to get out of the bag while Oogie continued his assault on the bag. The bag started to make crunching noises now, very sickening crunching noises as if very old and hard bread was broken into pieces. Trevor was about to throw up and desperation took him over completely
"HELP, HELP, HELP!" screamed a desperate Trevor by now, his voice broken and coarse. "HELP MY MOMMY!"
"Nobody will come to help you, naughty boy," promised Oogie. "Nobody will be helping you, NOBODY WI-"
Hilda dropkicked into Oogie's head, then grabbed the slack tip of it and grabbed at the thread, wanting to pull it.
"NO!"
Oogie forced Hilda away from his thread and she used the Momentum to jump over to the rope with Trevor's sack, holding to it. "Get into position to land on your feet, I cut you loose, Trevor!"
"My mother, help my mother!"
"I will, but I free you first."
Hilda took out a small stone, pressed it in her hand and it turned into a sword right for her size. Any good familiar had a weapon with them to defend their witch and same was the case for Hilda. This sword had been gifted by Frida who turned a sword she was gifted in turn by her mentor Tildy into a form that was easier to carry, easier to conceal and easier to surprise enemies with. Frida taught Hilda how to turn the sword into a round small stone and vice versa and now the blue-haired adventurer cut open the bag so Trevor could come out.
The young boy, a unpleasant person usually ran over to the bag that was so badly beaten. "MOOOOOOOM!"
Gerda, suddenly appearing hold him back. "No boy, let me do this. She is badly hurt, she needs medics. If you try to touch or move her in the wrong wy you could make it worse."
Trevor stopped, not knowing what to do. He went on his knees, crying. "Mommy…"
"Hilda, be careful!" warned the women dressed as surge who was close behind Hilda following her onto the stage. "He could hurt you!"
"This show is getting better and better," said somebody in the audience.
"Yes, but the boy is overdoing it," said somebody else. "It sounded to real, made me uncomfortable."
"The actor of Trevor is formidable performer," claimed somebody else in the audience.
"This isn't a stage show!" shouted Gerda with as much authority in her voice as she could. "This is real!"
Many citizens of Trolberg were sitting before a stage at the edge of the city, a stage placed under a large artificial tree with a treehouse build inside it. The stage was a lovely combination of Halloween, a torture chamber and a casino and everything on the stage glowed in bright neon colors. The lights at the side of the stage were in the forms of Moons, Jetons and Buzzsaws, in the respective colors of yellow, blue and red, the platform of the stage was made of old wood, with bugs crawling in and out different small holes, on the stage itself was placed an odd mix of a casino and a torture chamber, both themes combined into a grizzly form of gambling like a buzzsaw roulette, baccarat with sharp edged metal cards, rusty edges at the poker table, a one-armed bandit that would shoot you if you lose, a torture table that would let you eventually slide into a terrible fate and other horrific machines.
"I don't know how they convinced Safety Patrol Officer Gerda to participate but its great!" was the opinion of another person in the audience.
"Officer Gerda is a better actor than expected," agreed somebody else. "She acts like she would usually."
"Now she points her gun at the Bag Demon," noticed somebody else in attendance. "Hey, that is a prop, right? That can't be her real gun."
Gerda ignored the audience. "Hands over your head, Demon."
"Or what?" asked Oogie. "Do you want to blink me to death with you glorified torch? I am bugs and fabric, not a troll."
Hilda had an idea. "I look how his mother is. Don't worry, I will not move her."
The adventurer jumped onto the rope and used her sword to make a hole into the bag that had been so ferociously attacked by Oogie Boogie.
"Miss- Wait that is a loudspeaker wrapped in cotton."
The little girl dressed like the Lord of the Rings cut away more of the bag and the loudspeaker with cotton fell to the ground, making screaming noises all the way.
"It's a fake!" said somebody in the audience who was dressed as a Romulan from Star Trek.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" laughed Oogie. "I got you good, Trevor."
This was the Moment Jack decided to jump from the tree in front of Oogie like a spider and screamed at him, scaring his archenemy good.
"J- Jack," said Oogie, startled. "Nice to see you."
"Oogie, where is the mother of the boy?"
"Lock, Shock and Barrel take care of her," explained the Boogie Man truthfully. "Here, have a look."
Oogie used a remote to activate a flatscreen that came from a trapdoor in the ground. The click of another button showed Shock how she put something into an oven.
"This is a odd time to cook," commented Johanna, who just reached the place. "I mean it doesn't fit the situation."
"Oh, you really think so?", asked Oogie gleeful. "Look at the lady bound to a chair."
There was Trevor's mother, a women Johanna didn't like because she had insulted her little girl more than once. But she was panicking, struggling in the chair she was bound too and crying.
"What is happening here?", wondered the little man dressed in a famous Al Pacino role. "Doesn't she like meatloaf?"
"Whatever it is, it is wrapped in paper meant for frying," noticed the girl dressed as the albatross known as King Dedede. Frida had a bad feeling and produced her wand. "Where is this? Why is the frying paper moving?"
"Oh, my minions told Trevor's mother that her son is in there and that he will be fried alive in the oven," told Oogie everyone casually.
"Y- You are mad!" accused Edward Sallow AKA Caesar, or rather David who was dressed like him and who had been here for a while like the others but was only now raising attention to himself.
"They called me mad!" Oogie suddenly shouted. "I am not mad, I am very creative with my scaring!"
"This is the most cruel and sadistic way to scare anyone!" shouted Hilda angrily. "Seriously, that is psychological torture of the highest order!"
Oogie laughed evilly. "Yet, makes for a great scare, nobody will ever forget!"
Frida with the great hammer found an opening in the stage, opened the trapdoor and walked it down, not noticed by anyone else.
"Lyskule!"
Using her wand to create a little flying ball of light she went down a stair which shined in neon grey colors. The little apprentice witch was surprised that even this place kept the theme of Halloween, Casino and Torture chamber, with rusty neon chains with gambling card symbols who shined in the neon color of blue, with the symbols glowing in their usual colors.
"These guys go full in whatever they do. And that one is bad because of WHAT he does."
Frida didn't need long to locate the place Lock, Shock & Barrel were doing the dirty deed, because the place was at the bottom of the stairs. Frida carefully opened the door and peeked in.
It was a kitchen, but one somebody might expect in hell. A boiling pot on a stove was overflowing with a dark fluid full of little bones, the fridge was vibrating and when it opened ominous lights shined from it and monstrous arms came out, grabbing and attacking everything that came near to it, the cupboards were filled with cutlery as dark as coal and everything was illuminated by neon colors.
"Did we want him medium, bloody or well done?" asked Barrel his friends.
"I think she-" Lock stopped, looking over to Trevor's mother who was struggling and screaming like mad. "Lady, be quiet, we try to talk here!"
"LET MY BABY GO!"
"He is a child, not a baby, you moron," corrected Shock the woman harshly. "Seriously, how stupid are you?"
"Her child needs some pepper in any case," suggested Lock. "I like them spicy."
"No, that is not in the recipe," argued Barrel. "And furthermore-"
"Bedøve! Bedøve! Bedøve!"
All three were hit by magic blue blasts and thrown to the ground, unable to move.
"Miss? Your child is okay!", shouted Frida to Trevor's mom. "Your child isn't in the oven, he is above, on the stage, he is safe."
"Hey, don't ruin the joke!" groused Lock. "Why do you ruin our great joke, you albatross?"
"Because this is neither a joke, nor it is funny!" shouted Frida angrily at the three while she was freeing the very distraught woman. "Are you insane?!"
"It's just a joke," defended Shock their actions. "A hilarious one, the numbers of the livestream are fantastic."
"People think this is faked!" shouted Frida angrily, producing her smartphone which showed the stream in question. "Did you see the comments? They think the fearful and desperate behavior of Trevor and his mother is very convincing method acting!"
"They think this is fake?" was Barrel's surprised reaction, still trying to overcome the numbness of his body.
"Calm, calm down," tried Frida to calm down Trevor's mother. "Everything is alright. I get you to your son."
Jack was tapping his foot angrily while looking from Oogie and then over to Trevor and his mother in embrace.
"What? She is a Karen and he is a brat. She couldn't stop blaming that girl called Hilda for her predicament. I didn't even know who Hilda was until a few minutes ago!"
Mother and son were crying loudly, sobbingly declaring how much they loved each other.
"This was too much, even for a Karen," said Jack seriously. "You just ruin Halloween for these people."
"Not for people who like the "Saw" movies, Jack."
"What is "Saw"?" asked Hilda the two monsters innocently.
Oogie opened his mouth. "Well-"
"Don't you dare!" threatened Johanna who was on stage now as well and pointed at Oogie. "Not a single word, Bag-Bug-Brain!"
Oogie walked over to Johanna, trying to impose on her with his stature. "Or what?"
Johanna stood her ground. "You will see but you will not like it."
"I love you Trevor, I am sorry," cried Trevor's mother.
"What are you even doing here Oogie?" wanted Jack to know. "I forbade you to pull any torture and hurtful actions on anyone in the human realm during the Halloween tour!"
"But Jack, this is not for my amusement," explained the Boogie Man with a relaxed voice. "This is punishment for the naughty. You see: I decided to be your Krampus."
Jack raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Krampus? For Halloween?"
"Yes," answered Oogie, rubbing his hands. "You know, I punish naughty children and grown-ups during Halloween. Children and Adults who egg other houses, who harass people, change costumes to get more candy or the worst of crimes: Stealing the gathered candy from little children."
"A really evil crime," agreed Alfur. "Jimmy Kimmel is the one most guilty of that."
"Also people wo embezzle, steal, destroy, murder and r-"
A evil eye of Jack stopped Oogie from speaking the last one out loudly in the presence of little children and he continued: "Ergh… You know. But primarily Halloween related misdeeds."
"Your actions went above and beyond a proper punishment," accused Gerda Oogie. She still had her taser pointed at the demon. "Mr. Oogie Boogie I arrest you for kidnapping, mental torture and having a stage show without permission. Hands in the air."
Oogie did so to Gerda's surprise. She went slowly closer to Oogie and wanted to handcuff him as the stitch from the hands to the elbows of his body opened and a swarm of electric bugs flew out of it and towards Gerda.
"DRITT!"
Gerda dodged and rolled elsewhere, came up again and fired the teaser at Oogie but the electric bugs formed a wall and absorbed the electrical charge send out by the weapon.
"You want to fight?" asked Oogie. "You can have it, cop."
Oogie wanted to summon more bugs but Jack grabbed the tip of his head and pulled him back. "I apologize, Officer Gustav. I will take care of him, I bring this Wannabe-Krampus back to the world of Halloweentown."
"Hey, yo-" Oogie was angry and pulled himself free from Jack. "What is your Problem? Just because I am a bit more radical than Krampus?"
"He only shakes the children in a bag, scares them with rustling his chains or by spanking them if the child in question is an especially bad case," explained Jack. "What you did here was as bad as in a movie like Saw, minus the gore and violence."
Hilda, the Lord of the Rings stepped before Oogie. "You are mean and evil. You are like Gryla, our local Krampus."
"I heard of here, she eats bad children," said Oogie excited. "I would love to share recipes with her."
Hilda had enough and came closer. "Go away, leave us be, Oogie Boogie."
"Don't you fear me?" asked Oogie, trying to impose on Hilda. "I am the Boogie Man, kidnapper and devourer of children!"
"I don't fear Draugr, Lindworms, Trolls, Giants or any other creature!" claimed Hilda truthfully. "I even make friends with them. But I don't want to be friends with you, Oogie!"
"I don't need your friendship, I want you kneeling in terror before me!" demanded Oogie with a bombastic tone. "Onto your knees, blue-haired girl!"
Hilda showed Oogie her tongue instead. "No, you kneel before me, you Bagface."
Oogie stomped with his foot on the ground. "I command dangerous swarms of insects, powerful undead and the Trick-or-Treat Trio of Halloween Town!"
A swarm of Insects appeared over the stage, stumbling skeletons appeared in the crowd and started to slowly approach it and Lock, Shock & Barrel appeared and flanked Oogie.
"I dealt with worse," claimed Hilda who just threw her beautiful hair behind her back as a signal of defiance.
Oogie's expression became more sinister and serious and Hilda could swore that a dark aura was appearing around him. "Oh, yeah little lady? How about I summon the Heartless, I bet then you-"
"Soul Robber!"
Jack used a green slime to grab Oogie's belly, pull him towards him and force the walking bag to face the Pumpkin King again. "Summon a single Heartless and I get Sora involved, you monster."
Oogie looked for a Moment more fearful in Hilda's eyes than he did so far.
Hilda asked: "Who is Sora?"
"A Master of Light who fights the Darkness and the forces of Evil," explained Jack & Oogie in Unison. "Nothing more, it is that simple."
"Really?" Hilda was skeptical. "It sounds like there is more."
"Please Hilda, no reason to overcomplicate the evening," requested Jack polite. "Concentrate on Oogie for now."
Hilda's curiosity was awakened but she knew that Jack was right and concentrating on Oogie Boogie was more important at the Moment.
"Can't you just fight against him and defeat him, Mister Skellington?" asked Gerda suddenly, who was preparing her taser for a new attack. "I have the feeling you did so before."
"I did," confirmed Oogie. "It even ended deadly for him but he has a knack for getting back from the dead."
"Four times so far," confirmed Oogie with pride. "This bag of bugs is not so easily stomped dead for real. Also, could the two… No, three witches who point staffs at me come out of hiding? I do not intend to fight you."
Kaisa (dressed as Hans Gruber from Die Hard) and Matilda "Tildy" Pilqvist (dressed as Sigma from the Mega Man X games) and Frida came out of their hiding places, Kaisa from the tree, Frida from behind a slot machine and Tildy just became visible.
"Nice invisibility but I live in the realm where the invisible man resides," told Oogie the old witch. "And I dealt often enough with him. He stands over there by the way."
Oogie pointed at a spot where nobody was. Everyone except Jack made a skeptical expression.
"He is right, the Invisible Man stands there," stated Jack. "Anyway, it is time for you to go home Oogie."
"Oh, no I don't go without a fight!" demanded Oogie. "If you want to send me back to my Dungeon somebody has to defeat me."
"Very well," said a bored sounding Jack and let the green slime on his hand rotate around it like a whip, ready to fight. "Let us make this quick."
"Not you, not just a physical fight," explained Oogie. "Something more interesting, a game."
Hilda, who barely knew Oogie was not surprised by this revelation. Looking at the Casino theme and all the Casino games, Casino colors and other Casino items it was clear a guy like this would like to play a game. Hilda was also sure that it wouldn't be an easy game.
"What game?" asked Hilda. "I can take you."
"Hilda, don't!"
Johanna ran over to her daughter and knelt beside her. "Please, listen to the demands before you accept any challenge."
"Mum, I am not stupid," assured Hilda her mother with a smile. "Also, he doesn't look all that dangerous."
Oogie, at hearing this responded: "You have character and guts. Okay, I want to challenge Hilda, she is the most interesting of your folk."
"Hilda is indeed a fascinating person," agreed Alfur. "She was able to deal with Elven bureaucracy, many mortals gave up when dealing with that."
Oogie stomped closer to Hilda. Johanna positioned herself before her daughter and Jack, Frida, Kaisa, Tildy and Gerda surrounded the demon, pointing at him with their individual weapons. David, despite shaking was ready to use the fake Gladius that was part of his costume on Oogie.
"You have many protectors little lady, but this game you have to play alone with me: The game of grinding!"
"You want to grind levels with her in a MMORPG?" asked David in a confused tone.
"No, I want her to grind on rails against me, a grinding race on rails!"
"On the rails of the train?" asked Hilda.
"No, on something more elaborate!" answered Oogie. "Should I win, you will become part of my next soup, Hilda."
"NO!" shouted Johanna while Jack was more reserved.
"Then she becomes a fourth permanent member of my gang," demanded Oogie next.
"Never," quashed the Graphic Designer and the Pumpkin King the next demand in unison.
"You are boring!" yammered Oogie. "A bet like this needs high stakes!"
"These are a bit too high," criticized Matilda the fiendish Mr. Boogie. "You can't just demand somebody stake their live on anything so easily."
Oogie sighed and worked a bit harder on his next demand. "If Hilda loses I go home and she has to clean my casino for year."
"A day," countered Johanna.
"A month," offered Oogie."
"A week, my final offer," made Johanna clear. "And Jack will be there to make sure that Hilda is safe and sound during her work in your lair."
"Deal!"
"Deal."
Hilda and Oogie shock hands.
"Deal," added Jack. "I will gladly look over your daughter, Miss Johanna."
"Deal," said Johanna as well. "Thank you Mister Skellington."
"But Jack, the preparations for the next Halloween!" the Mayor suddenly shouted, not having really gotten any attention by anyone until now.
"365 Days, we have enough time," reminded Jack. "Also, I said it before: I can't just have all my time revolve around Halloween every day, that drove me insane in the past."
"Oogie, I am ready to grind," announced Hilda. "Show me the grinder and what materials we have grind through. But no meat grinding please, I am a vegetarian."
Oogie laughed once again and shook his head. "No little girlie, we will not grind any objects."
"What then?" wanted Hilda to know. "Also don't you dare to cheat, Oogie."
"Oh, what will you do?" mocked the white bag the little girl. "Tell Jack?"
"No, but you have to say hello to my little friend." Hilda hold up Tontu, still dressed like Tony Montoya.
"Hello, big friend," greeted Tontu Oogie.
"Hilda, did you convince Tontu to dress like Tony Montoya to make that joke tonight?" asked Johanna who was flanking her daughter, asking her this question seriously. "Also have you seen the movie "Scarface" from 1983?"
Hilda grinned awkwardly, shuffling with her feet, knowing she was busted. "Perhaps I saw a clip on the Internet where Tony said the quote before the bloody shootout started?"
Johanna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Just… Be careful what you watch, there on the web. There are movies I really don't want you to see at the Moment. By the way Tontu: That Prop looks really good."
Johanna touched the object that looked like machine gun perfect for Tontus size. "It even feels so real. And the trigger feels like-"
Several bullets hit Oogie Boogie before anyone knew what was happening. Johanna starring in shock, David falling on his bottom, Frida, Kaisa and Tildy using shield spells on themselves and others nearby, Hilda made a jump back in surprise, Lock, Shock & Barrel dived for cover and Gerda changed to a shotgun while also going behind cover.
Oogie fell onto his back and didn't move. Bugs crawled out of the many new holes who were now part of his body.
Johanna was shaking and carefully removing the machine gun from Tontu's hands. "Tontu?"
"Yes, mum?"
"How did you get your hands on real machine gun fitting your height and stature?!"
"Hilda said I need a real looking machine gun so I borrowed this one from Woodman," explained Tontu. "He said he unloaded it."
Gerda took the machine gun out of the shaking hands of Johanna. "I am confiscating this. Also, I would like to talk with this Woodman and if he has a gun license or not."
"Oogie wants to say: Thank you for being so worried about me."
Oogie got up. He moaned a bit and then proceeded to stich the holes with some shreds. "At least these two numbnuts didn't hit my main thread."
"Well, at least Tontu and Mum didn't kill somebody," tried Hilda to relax the situation. "Only a douchebag got hurt."
"Not the first time I hear that insult," commented Oogie, finishing with his stiches. "Well, come now: It is time for the grind, little adventurer."
"Bring it," answered Hilda. "I can grind through any task."
"What kind of grinding is that?!"
Hilda was one kilometer above Trolberg and she wore shoes made for grinding, grinding on rails, grinding like on skateboards or rollerblades.
"Hildi, it is like in the Sonic games!" shouted the Tenrec dressed mother to her daughter who was standing on a levitating platform alongside Frida's friends. "Just keep your balance!"
Rotating helicopter blades kept several railways in the air, connected to little arches or connected too clasps on the sides of the railways. The railways of course glowed in poison-green neon on the upper half and cyan-blue neon in the lower. The rails went straight, soft curves, hard curves, into looping's (including dive loops, corkscrews, Helix's, etc.), hard up vertically, hard down vertically and many other directions.
"I try my best mum, but I never did something like this before!"
Hilda was not in a panic but she was very stressed, her voice was straining. Considering her situation of grinding over the rails, high above ground and trying to keep her balance she kept her nerves pretty well.
"I should have suggested a race on Woofs instead!"
"Too late for that, Hilda," shouted Oogie over to her. The worm that walks also wore special boots for grinding, designed in the forms of beetles. He didn't just grind, he also executed impressive moves. He changed poses rapidly, executed different moves sets, it looked like he was dancing on the rails. "You will lose and then clean my Oogie cave!"
"I will clean no- WOAH!" Hilda almost fell from the rail as she tried a move that involved a small change of her pose and position. "I am usually better with challenges that involve a lot of Movement!"
"Why are we letting this happen?" asked Frida Jack.
"I fear this would turn into a full fight otherwise," explained the Pumpkin King, standing at the edge of the platform, chin supported on his forefinger. "And a fight with Oogie can be quite destructive these days. It was easier then he kept his distance and tried to run away from battles instead of standing his ground."
"He changed a lot," realized Tontu. "He is a lot braver than in the past but because he is a villain that is not a good thing."
Hilda was forced into her first looping. She was pretty scared, fearing she would not have enough Momentum to make it, thinking she would fall down the second she was upside down but she kept going and slid the second half of the loop as well. Hilda had been shaking the entire time and it only subsided a bit after finishing the loop.
"Good work Hilda!" shouted her mother to her, waving to her. "You can win this race! Just don't slip and fall from the rail!"
"How can she even grind in this armor?" asked Matilda. "It looks heavy.
"Dwarven Blacksmiths made it, it is very light," explained Alfur. "Svartálfar are masters of their craft of metalwork like Elves are masters of bureaucracy."
This was a race, a race to determine the fate of its combatants. Oogie leaving or Hilda cleaning Oogies Casino for one week would be the outcome. Oogie easily performed a sideways roll jump from one grind to the next to avoid falling of the ending of one rail while Hilda did the same but struggled with the elegance of it.
"He doesn't look like he should be able to do this," commented Johanna on Oogie's acrobatics. "But that was also the case for Big the Cat, so this makes sense I guess."
Hilda had no idea how to do this as she started but this hadn't stopped her in the past. She jumped over a hole in the rail, landed safely on the next and continued her grind, getting closer to Oogie.
"I am behind you, Mr. Oogie Boogie."
Oogie looked behind him. "You are pesky, pesky like Sora. Still, maybe you are worth a portion of Snake and Spider Stew."
The man-eating bag of bugs easily jumped over obstacles or changed rails to dodge them. He loved the adrenaline, the speed, the excitement and the fact that he wouldn't die should he fall down and crash into the ground from this height. The same couldn't be said for Hilda.
"Boost yourself Hilda, use the homing attack and remember the basic spin attack!"
"Mum, I am not Sonic!" shouted Hilda back. "I am dressed as the Dark Lord, the Base Master of Treachery, the Necromancer, the Ring-Maker, the Lord of Mordor, Lord of the Rings!"
"Can you get a army of orcs to help you then?" asked Frida out loud but also via telepathy. A spell of her made it possible for Hilda's friends and family to hear Hilda and she in turn can hear them. Also Hilda's status as Frida's familiar made it already possible for the two to communicate at a great distance if they wanted via magical telepathy.
"No. I would like an Overlord from the Mystic Tribe to help me," joked Hilda. "Of course a Balrog would be even better."
"Not even Saruman could help you against me," promised Oogie while driving through a series of spiral looping's with ease. "You can't beat this Gambler."
Hilda forced through the set of spiral looping's herself was doubting herself. She was unsure if she was able to beat him in this race. He was better prepared and he knew what he was doing, not to mention that he built this series of hovering rails, giving him a home advantage.
"Frida, you can help Hilda," mentioned Tildy. "You can buff your own familiar easily with supporting spells."
"Isn't that cheating?" was Frida's worried reaction. "Oogie could claim that we play foul, that we break the rules."
"I take care of that."
"Jack," started Oogie. "You are not part of this race."
Jack Skellington was on another rail on one foot and he did a continuing pirouette, except for his grinding foot and his head who were not moving with the rest of the body. He kept perfectly up with all of Oogie' moves.
"Oogie, Hilda can get some buffs from her witch friend," started Jack to explain. "You are already superior in this game, so why not giving her a little advantage?"
"Oh, do you try manipulate me through claiming that the little Scandinavian will not have a chance against me and/or that I will be too scared to do so?" asked Oogie, but he already knew the answer. "If you want me to allow her buffs from her friend then I want a more interesting bet."
Jack jumped over a hole in one rail while continuing to look at Oogie without interruption. "Which is?"
"You have to clean the treehouse of my gang for one week Jack if Hilda loses. That will be AFTER Hilda paid her debt."
"And what do we get additionally should we win?" asked Jack.
"A cauldron full of my snake and spider stew," offered Oogie.
"Remember: I am a vegetarian!" shouted Hilda who was jumping quickly from one rail to another to avoid obstacles in form of spiderwebs.
"I developed a tofu variant as well," told Oogie. "You get that one."
"Deal!" agreed Jack, shaking Oogie's hand."
"Deal!" said Oogie with a malicious grin as well.
"You heard him Frida, power me up wi- WOAH!"
Suddenly Hilda felt her body pushed forward and closer too Oogie than before. Her long hair was rotating behind her like a propeller, accelerating her with high speed.
"My daughter speeds up like Cream the Rabbit!" shouted Johanna happily. "Or rather like Miles "Tails" Prower? Anyway, this is awesome! SPEED PAST HIM, HILDA!"
"Defeat her Oogie!" shouted Lock.
"We want Jack to clean the treehouse!" added Shock.
"And then we force him to dress as a butler!" called Barrel. "Wait… Did we do that already?"
Watching the race through some large screens kept in the air by rocket thrusters the others could see how Hilda came closer too Oogie now.
"Good spell Frida," complimented David his friend. "Can you make her even faster?"
"I don't think so, but I can give her other boons," promised Frida and concentrated with her wand in hand which started to glow.
Hilda jumped in quick succession to the left with spin jumps to the left while Oogie did the same. "Hilda, you can keep this up, you may be faster now but I am more experienced with this railway race road in the sky."
"How?!" wanted Hilda to know, continuing her sideways jumping.
"Oh, I was bored you see and tried it one day after constructing these hovering railways for fun."
"For fun?" asked Hilda in disbelief. "This massive creation was created by you for fun?!"
"I have a lot of time on my hand for gadgeteering, so why not?"
"But… Making something without a plan?"
Oogie shrugged. "I admit, the automatic electronic salad powered by nuclear-plasma was a bit excessive and useless but I usually found a use for everything I create sooner or later."
"I- AAAAH!"
Hilda slid over the end of a railway and started to fall, just as she finally was about to reach a long rail with the next jump. She thought this was it and that she had to clean the casino of that dem-
"HILDA, JUMP!"
Hilda jumped in the air and onto the rail. Everybody was surprised except Frida who cheered happily. "I did it!"
"What did you do?" asked Hilda her witch.
"I gave you the ability to double jump, like in video games," explained Frida telepathically, yet still speaking out loud so the others knew what she was talking about with Hilda. "This spell is a lot older than these video games but I doubt any developer knows about it."
Hilda, who was never into video games just nodded and said: "Thank you. I only have to overtake the Boogie Man now."
Said man was grinding backwards, arms crossed, head tilted and smiling smugly. "Your witch helps you well, familiar. But you still can't beat me."
Hilda looked worried that he might be right, he was ahead and most of the time faster than her. She was in need of a good idea. "Don't you want to make a break? I bet you can defeat me in this race even after a short nap."
Oogie laughed, not believing that he was hearing. "Tortoise and the Hare? I am not falling for that, Hilda."
Hilda's brain gears turned into overdrive. After some thinking the adventurer said: "I can at least beat you when it comes to moves."
A twirl, a somersault, grinding on one leg and several small jumps on said leg were Oogie's reaction. "Beat this, Adventurer."
Hilda was also able to grind on only one leg but had a difficult time to keep her balance and was unable to do any other moves. "Maybe you are a bit better than me, but what I saw is probably the best you can accomplish."
Hilda took out a three gems that looked like emeralds. "Chaos Control!"
"Not very impressive," was Oogie's comment as Hilda started to juggle these three gems while grinding. "These are nice stones, not real emeralds but the cutter did a pretty good job on them. Also, the name for that move is odd."
"It is from the Sonic games, mum said you are inspired by them to make this railway chase."
"Sonic? Who?" asked Oogie in confusion. "I got the idea from Ratchet & Clank. Also, a bit Jet Set Radio Future"
"Well at least he was inspired by quality," admitted Johanna.
"Anyway, I can do better," boasted Oogie and he produced 6 dice as large as his head he proceeded to juggle while he jumped in a rotating move on the rail, managing not to fall off and continue the race. "This I call the Six-Dice-Dare."
"Impressive," lauded Hilda, even clapping. "But I think you couldn't do anything more impressive."
The girl with the yellow scarf in Sauron's armor did a flip, managing to land on her feet and then strike a cool pose. "I bet you can't beat this."
Oogie made a "Pfffft" sound in response. "I beat this easily, watch this little human!"
The demon with cloth skin jumped high into the air, did a flip, a spin, six rotations, flipping a butterfly knife with the left hand, making it rotate around it in various forms and the right hand was busy juggling three burning chainsaws at once.
"Where did he get the burning chainsaws from?" wondered Kaisa.
Oogie did a perfect 3-point landing on the rail and turned to Hilda. "What do you say know, Scandinavian with a French hat? Wait, where are you?"
"I WON!" shouted Hilda happily as she passed the finishing line with Barrel waving the goal flag enthusiastically.
Family and friends of Hilda were cheering, jumping, waving, congratulating their champion."
"YES HILDA!" shouted an excited and happy Johanna. Stones of woe leaving her heart, replaced with light of hope. Love for her daughter was there, is there and would be there, even if she had lost "That is my girl!"
"That is my familiar!" shouted Frida, feeling prideful yet also happy that her friend wouldn't have any cleaning duties.
"That is my friend too," added David happily.
"A very good and special friend," added Tildy, smiling.
"One that shouldn't never be underestimated," added Kaisa who was relieved and happy for Hilda.
Oogie's mouth was agape as he crossed the finishing line. The last stunt costed him too much time and reduced his speed. He lost, not because he made a break but because he showed off.
"Argh…. This can't get any worse."
Oogie slid over the end of the railway, falling down. But a summoned giant beetle stopped his fall. Hilda who also slid over the railway into freefall landed on her good friend, the Great Raven, the Thunderbird.
"Nice race Hilda, congratulations to your victory," said the black bird dressed like a Wailord (Pokémon) happily. "You did great."
The great black bird flew a few rounds around Trolberg and the audience of the town who watched all that on large flat screens cheered and clapped for the winner of the race. Hilda felt pretty great and even blushed a bit.
"This time Sauron won!" proclaimed Hilda with a raised fist and a jump. "Middle-earth has fallen!"
"COOOBRAAAAAA!" shouted Alfur."
""Bwuh heh heh heh heh!" exclaimed Frida.
"In hoc signo taurus vinces, Hilda," commented David surprisingly calmly.
"Tremble with Terror Oogie Boogie. YOU ARE FINISHED!" announced Frida, shooting a small firework of victory in the air, coming from her magic wand.
"No Hans Gruber quote works here, so I just congratulate you Hilda," congratulated Kaisa her friend with a smile.
"There she is, the Trolberg Champion of Halloween!" proclaimed Jack proudly. "Hilda, the Adventurer!"
"A bit more salt, more king snakes, a few more spoon of redback spider…"
While Oogie was standing before a cauldron in form of a giant dice Hildas family, friends and Hilda herself were sitting on a long table in a longhouse and talked with each other.
"Turkey Tom really has issues to develop a better image," told Jack casually to the others. "For example: He wants to place his holiday into August to make his holiday more popular again."
Gerda Gustav was looking at a drawing, one she was showing to Johanna. "Trevor left this behind at the Safety Patrol Headquarters as he bombarded it with eggs."
"How do you know he bombarded the place with eggs?" asked Johanna curiously.
"Well, the picture shows your daughter as the culprit, with an evil expression on which she throws eggs at the Safety Patrol Headquarters."
"I doubt this is legit," said Johanna dryly.
"There is also stuff written on the back," continued Gerda. "It reads: 'Ha, ha, ha! I, Hilda egged the SP Headquarters because I am stupid lover of ravens and act strange all the time. I also am totally in love with David, that stupid boy with his perfect stupid head and stupid shy behavior!' "
"Somebody denies their true feelings," noticed Johanna. "I would probably confront Trevor and his mother about her boy trying to frame my daughter but the Bag Demon punished them enough already."
"Safety Patrol will not push any charges either," agreed Gerda. "Instead, I will now eat a meal from the stew from a person who kidnapped a mother and their child for psychological torture." Gerda shrugged. "I know how wrong this sounds but imprisoning Oogie is not a possibility and as much as I dislike Jack for what he did back then I don't think that he is a liar."
"Was it so traumatic for you, Officer Gerda?" asked David carefully.
"The idea of Santa Clause vanishing? Yes," admitted Gerda with gloom. "The idea of him being gone was just too much for me, I was just a child back then and I never meet him in person either so far back then and now, but I really wanted to meet him in person one day."
"Oh, he is a lovely person," assured Tildy the Officer for the supernatural. "Yet he is very busy, can't stay long at any household. But he is willing to visit especially nice people in person."
"What is with Trevor and his mother?" wanted Hilda to know, sitting between Johanna and Frida. "Are they okay?"
"They get counseling right now," explained Frida. "Oogie really did a number on them."
"Glad to be of service," said Oogie with an evil grin.
Jack stood suddenly tall and menacingly behind the Boogie Man who was sweating dread. "Oogie, don't show pride about psychologically damaging people, understand?"
"Ye- Yes Jack."
"Jack, when can my daughter visit Halloween Town?" asked Johanna directly as he returned before turning to Hilda. "I know you didn't ask for that Hilda, but my instincts tell me you want this to happen."
"You know me well mom, too well," agreed Hilda with a smile. "I would love to visit Halloween Town one day."
"We can arrange that," said Jack, walking behind Hilda and Johanna and putting his bony fingers softly on their shoulders. "And don't worry Miss Johanna, Halloween Town is a safe place, except when it comes to Oogie here."
Jack pointed with his thumb at the being of cloth and bugs who ignored it and instead proclaimed: "Stew is ready! The vegetarian variant as well."
Lock, Shock & Barrel served Hilda, Johanna and the others the famous Snake and Spider Stew of their boss. Some of the dinner guests were a bit skeptical, neither snake nor spiders were part of their usual diet.
Kaisa just started to eat first and her usual apathetic reaction was replaced with one of joyful experience. "That… IS FANTASTIC!"
"Thank you," said Oogie. "Cooking stews, soups and other food that can be created in a pot or a cauldron is my pride and joy."
"I would say we should be more careful, that this could be poisoned but saying that would feel cliché and I have the feeling that he didn't poison this soup," added Gerda her two cents and poked a spider in the stew before shrugging, spooning it up and swallowing it. Seconds later she smiled in surprise. "Hey, that is really good, like incredible!"
Of course Jack wasn't naïve and asked Sally to ensure that nobody got poisoned soup. The Pumpkin Queen who was sitting in the roof beams of the longhouse had used a Extendo-Spoon to spoon up some of the finished soup and tested it with a small analysis-gadget that Doctor Finkelstein had built, all that without Oogie noticing. She was good working in the background and she liked it that way. The test was negative and she gave Jack a secret signal that told him that the stew was harmless.
"It is unexpected that a worm that walks is able to cook so well, but one shouldn't judge a book by their cover they say," said Frida, slurping down a stewed snake. "This is good stuff indeed!"
David also eats his fill enthusiastically. "Better to eat the critters than to find them all the time on your head."
"Oh, wait you have something on your head," noticed Johanna and picked Oogie Boogie from David's head. "What the heck?"
"Wh… What?" asked Oogie totally perplexed. "Why was I on his head all of the sudden?"
David growled in annoyance. "You have GOT to be KIDDING me!"
"The issue with the bugs on David's head could be supernatural," commented Hilda while enjoying the taste of her vegetarian variant of the Snake and Spider Stew. "That taste is incredible!"
"Thanks," said Oogie, returning to his Cauldron. "Now if there will be any leftovers, I will make you doggy bags."
"Mr. Oogie doesn't like if good food isn't eaten completely," explained Shock.
"I would prefer if he didn't torture people instead," argued Jack, munching on some spiders. "Hm, good spiders."
It was relatively nice Halloween Night from then on despite the events beforehand.
Jack was leading the finale of the Halloween tour of Trolberg, Hilda at his side. They were followed by Frida and David, sitting in the walking tree with the four hanged Skeletons, above them were Kaisa and Tildy flying on classic brooms, flanked by the Witches from Halloween Town, Johanna and Sally followed them, with Alfur sitting in Johanna's hair and Tontu on her shoulders while Gerda escorted the parade to make sure everything was in order.
"That was an exceptional Halloween in Trolberg!" declared Jack Skellington proudly. "You defeated Oogie in a race and forced him to leave that way, Hilda. Also you got to eat his vegetarian version of Snake and Spider Stew."
"Yes, but I don't want to see him again, what he did to Trevor and his mom was way too cruel," was the scathing assessment Hilda had for Oogie. "You Jack whoever, you are a really nice skeleton."
Jack carefully lifted Hilda onto his shoulders again. "And you Hilda are a really nice Adventurer, Friend and Hero."
The first Halloween for Hilda was a incredible success and an incredible adventure. She couldn't wait for Jack's return next year or when she would visit Halloween Town herself one day in the future.
"Gerda Gustav, wake up."
Gerda woke up at hearing these words. Despite being in her bed, at home and nobody else being with her in her domicile she didn't panic because the words were spoken with a warmth and understanding that didn't let any of her alarm bells go off.
She opened her eyes, looked to the side and there stood Santa, which was fitting because it was Christmas Eve but also a big surprise.
"Hello, Gerda. Jack Skellington told me you wanted to meet me in person," greeted Santa Clause the woman who was the leader of the Safety Patrol. "He requested me to visit you were traumatized over my disappearance during the "Nightmare Before Christmas" incident."
Gerda couldn't help herself not just to smile but smile like a giddy fangirl.
Halloween had been great but Christmas would be even better!
Happy All Hallows' Eve!
Hope you all enjoyed this little Crossover tale. I really do. Please leave constructive criticism.
I like both Hilda and the Nightmare before Christmas and combining them works well considering the nature of both franchises.
Happy Halloween!
