Chapter 9: Halloween Town, part 2

Abby, Double D, and Jack watched as Dr. Finkelstein inspected the Forget-Me-Not they had delivered. Why not Ed, you ask? Because Ed switched right back into Halloween Euphoria Mode when he saw the interior of Dr. Finkelstein’s Lab.

“Yes, this is right,” said the Doctor. “Now we just need one more ingredient…surprise.” He looked at the group. “Go find the Mayor. He should know where it is.”

With that, Jack and Abby headed back outside, followed by Double D, who had to half-drag a deliriously giggling Ed out of the lab by his monster tail.

---

Meanwhile, Lock, Shock, and Barrel were cowering in front of their boss. Surprisingly, they were actually having second thoughts about telling him about what his archrival, Jack Skellington, was up to.

“A heart?” Oogie Boogie bellowed. “That bonehead Jack is really making a heart? Well, I’ll be jiggered. Works for me! Oh, when I get that hands on…!” He suddenly stopped, realizing something. “Oh, well…I’ve got no hands. But I’m still gonna nab that heart and take control of the Heartless!”

He then let out a heart-stopping bout of maniacal laughter that did not sit well with the trio of brats. Even they knew that only one thing could come from Oogie Boogie being in this kind of a mood: trouble.

---

Dr. Finkelstein was still tinkering with the hand-made heart when Jack and the trio returned. “Did you find it?” he asked the group.

“Yep!” said Ed, who was holding a Jack-In-The-Box. “We found a clown in the box. But…he’s hiding now.” He turned the crank a couple times, and the clown suddenly popped out. “There he is!”

“Yes, this is it,” said the Doctor, taking the toy from Ed. He wheeled over and sat the Jack-In-The-Box with the other ingredients. “There you go,” he said. “Now it’s sure to work.” He picked up the heart, and began to wheel over to the machine the heart was in before.

Then, suddenly…

“YAH!”

Barrel shot out from underneath the reclining table, right in the path of Dr. Finkelstein’s wheelchair.

“WHOA!” The Doctor toppled over, falling out of his chair and tossing the heart up into the air.

The heart sailed through the air, over Double D’s head (he was standing closest to the door). And it landed right into the waiting arms of Lock and Shock. And they, along with Barrel, ran out of the lab with the heart.

“Hey!” said Ed, running toward the door, along with Double D, Abby, and Jack.

The group ran outside, but there was no sign of the three brats.

“We lost them!” Abby exclaimed.

“Oh, not good…” said Double D.

Jack looked around. Then, he patted his thigh twice. Zero flew in from the direction of the Graveyard, right up to his owner.

“Zero, after them, quick!” Jack exclaimed.

Zero immediately picked up the scent of the three brats, and led the group to the Graveyard, down a new path.

---

Soon, the group noticed the three brats, riding in…a walking bathtub…toward a large building that looked like a cross between a mansion and a tree house.

The group stopped in front of a bridge just outside the Mansion.

“I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this!” Jack exclaimed.

“What’s an Oogie Boogie?” asked Ed.

“Not what, who,” Jack answered. “He’s an unappealing, ruthless character who’s always causing trouble for the rest of us in Halloween Town.” He began to march right up to the mansion.

“Oh my,” said Double D, suddenly extremely unnerved. “Uh…any chance we can sit this…one…out?”

But it was to no avail. Abby and Ed were already following Jack up to the Mansion.

Double D sighed. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’,” he said, following the rest of the group.

---

When the group entered the Mansion, they found that there wasn’t much there.

“Well, it seems okay so far,” said Abby.

“Boring!” said Ed. “I’ve seen libraries that are scarier.”

“Ed…” Double D began. But he was suddenly interrupted.

“Hold it!” Lock exclaimed, jumping out.

“If you wanna get to Oogie…” Shock continued, also jumping out.

“…You have to go through us first!” Barrel finished, jumping out last.

The group looked at each other. Then, Abby looked at the brats. Suddenly, the three little kids were lifted a few inches off the ground, and then tossed into the nearest wall (not enough to seriously hurt them, mind you).

The kids were clearly spooked. “H-how did you do that?” asked Lock.

“Abby can throw stuff with her mind!” said Ed. “A good psycho, she is.”

“That’s psychic, Ed,” Double D corrected. “Quite the useful abilities if the situation asks for it.”

Jack walked up to the brats. “Now then, what did you do with the heart?” he asked.

“We were just following orders!” Shock exclaimed. “Oogie told us to steal the heart! This is all Barrel’s fault! It was his idea to tell Oogie about the heart!”

“Yeah, that’s right!” Lock agreed.

“B-but…” Barrel tried to protest, “…you guys said…”

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” Shock exclaimed.

The group immediately lost interest in the brats.

“Well, while you three figure that out…” said Jack. He turned to Abby, Ed, and Double D. “If they don’t have the heart anymore, they may have already given it to Oogie! We have to hurry!” He began to run down a nearby staircase, which presumably led to Oogie.

“That’s all I need to hear,” said Abby, following Jack.

“Oh…must we rush into this without a plan?” asked Double D.

“We must save the spirit of Halloween, Double D!” Ed exclaimed, picking up the wizard and following Abby and Jack down the stairs.

---

The next thing Abby, Jack, Ed, and Double D knew, they were standing in front of a giant roulette wheel, with Oogie Boogie standing on the other side. Not only that, Oogie was holding the hand-made heart.

“Oogie Boogie, give me back the heart!” Jack exclaimed.

“You want it?” Oogie asked. “Well, come on over and get it!” Then, without warning, he took the heart and swallowed it!

By this point, the group had climbed down onto the roulette wheel platform, watching the spectacle.

Abby was taken aback. “Well, that could be a problem,” she said.

“Could be?” an exasperated Double D repeated.

“Now, then…let’s see if I can get their attention,” said Oogie. “Oh, HEARTLESS!”

Sure enough, Heartless did arrive. But…there were only two of them, one appearing on each side of Oogie.

Needless to say, the group was unimpressed.

“Oh my,” said Jack.

“What a rip-off!” exclaimed Ed.

Oogie also was clearly not pleased. “This…is it?” he asked, shocked. Then, anger began to spout out of the bag of bugs like a teapot. “Nobody disrespects me! NOBODY!”

Suddenly, the roulette wheel creaked to life, and began slowly picking up speed as it spun. Oogie still stood above the group, and Heartless began to form on the roulette wheel.

“Any suggestions?” Double D asked as he held his stomach and cast spells at the same time.

“Oogie may act tough, but his body’s very easy to damage,” Jack yelled back. “If we can just hit him at every opportunity we can get, he’ll be down in no time!”

Suddenly, Oogie tossed something at the group. It looked like a large gambling die. Ed caught it.

Ed looked at the die. “Hot Potato!” he exclaimed. Then, he threw it back to Oogie.

To the group’s surprise, the die exploded as soon as it hit Oogie.

“HEY!” the sack of bugs yelled.

Abby slashed through another Heartless with the Keyblade. “I think we found our advantage,” she said.

“In that case, we should execute it!” said Double D said, at this point struggling to stand up.

So that’s what happened. Abby, Ed, Double D, and Jack fought off the Heartless on the roulette wheel, all while tossing back the dice Oogie threw at them. Every die seemed to do damage to the sack of bugs.

Then, Ed saw a thread dangling down near Oogie. And of course, since he was Ed, he couldn’t help but grab it as he swung around on the roulette wheel.

“Look what I found!” Ed exclaimed, holding up the thread.

But what he didn’t know was that the thread was what kept Oogie sewn together. So as Ed spun, the thread shot out of Oogie’s seams until it snagged.

This seemed to have an effect on the roulette wheel, as it stopped with an abrupt jerk.

Abby, Double, and Jack had gotten rid of all the Heartless, and were now free to look at what happened to Oogie.

Apparently, enough thread had been removed from Oogie’s body to not properly hold him together. Suddenly, the giant walking sack burst open, and a large pile of bugs spilled out. As this was happening, Oogie was screaming in pain.

Soon, the sack that was Oogie was completely empty, and all the bugs had crawled away. All that was left was the hand-made heart.

Ed grinned. “Cool,” he said.

“That may be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” said Double D.

Jack sighed, then walked over and picked up the heart. “So, the heart was a failure after all,” he said.

“Now now…” said Double D. “I’m sure the Doctor can provide us with an explanation. Shall we?”

Ed looked at the thread, then back at the retreating group. “Aww…” he said.

---

“Well, I’m glad that’s over,” said Abby as the group walked away from the Mansion.

“I’m not!” said Ed. “That place was cool.”

“What’s important is that Oogie is no longer a threat,” said Jack. “And hopefully, the Heartless, too.”

Double D was about to chime in, when he was interrupted by the ground shaking. “Do you hear something?” he asked.

The group turned back to the Mansion. Needless to say, it looked a little different. It now looked like the house had merged with Oogie himself! It was even glowing black!

“Whoa!” Abby exclaimed. “How’d he get so big?”

“Look at that!” Jack pointed at the Oogie Mansion. The group could just make out big, black globs planted on the house. “It’s brimming with darkness! Oogie must be drawing power from those dark globs.”

“So if we destroy those…things…we’ll stop it?” asked Abby.

“YAY!” Ed exclaimed, running toward the nearest dark glob.

“Oh…” said Double D. “I suppose that’s the only solution to the problem. If we attack all the globs at once, we should be able to vanquish it!”

Abby, Jack, and Double D followed Ed and ran to the nearest globs they could reach, and focused all their powers on the masses of Darkness.

After a few hits from Abby and Ed, and a few spells from Double D and Jack, the Darkness globs were gone. And the Mansion began to creak uncertainly.

“I suggest we get off the premises…right now!” Double D exclaimed.

It was a good thing they did; as soon as the group got past the bridge, the entire Mansion collapsed on itself.

All four members of the group breathed a sigh of relief.

“Is that it?” asked Jack.

Suddenly, Abby sensed something. “No,” she said. “One last thing.”

Abby quietly walked back over to the Mansion remains with the Keyblade. Standing in front of the wreckage, Abby raised the Keyblade in front of her; as she did, a golden outline that took the shape of a Keyhole appeared in front of her. As usual, a beam shot out of the Keyblade, hitting the Keyhole and making a clicking noise. Then, the Keyhole faded back into the dirt.

“My goodness…” said Jack, who was stunned by the display before him. “You’re all just full of surprises aren’t you?”

“Can we go back to the Lab now?” asked Ed.

“I believe we can, Ed,” said Double D. But then, the wizard noticed something odd; Abby was taking extremely deep breaths, as if she were having difficulty. “Abby, are you okay? You seem winded.”

“What?” asked Abby. When she noticed that Ed, Double D, and Jack were giving her concerned looks, she immediately stood up straight. “Oh! It’s nothing; those battles must have just taken more out of me than I thought. I’m okay.”

The other three looked uncertain, but seemed to take the excuse. With that, the group headed back to Dr. Finkelstein’s Lab. What they didn’t notice, however, was that whenever nobody was looking, Abby was staggering a little…

---

Back in the Doctor’s Lab, Sally had been waiting for the group. Jack looked at his ragdoll friend with an ashamed expression.

“Sally…why didn’t I listen to you?” Jack asked.

Sally walked up to the skeleton. “Don’t feel bad, Jack,” she said. “We’ll come up with a new plan for Halloween.” She took Jack’s bony hands in her clothed ones. “Next time, we’ll do it together.”

This lifted Jack’s spirits a little bit. “I think I’d like that very much,” he said. “If you’ll excuse me, there’s something I still need to do.” He walked back toward the Lab’s door. As Sally stared at the back of her skeleton friend, she couldn’t help but smile.

When Jack came back outside, he was greeted with quite a sight: Abby was on her knees on the ground, breathing heavily. Ed and Double D were gathered around her, looking worried.

“What happened?” asked Jack.

“Nothing,” said Abby. “I tripped.” She shakily got up.

“Tripped?” Double D whispered to Ed. “It looked like she collapsed to me…”

But Jack seemed to buy it. “Oh,” he said. “Well, either way, I guess we have no choice. Until we get everything straightened out, we’ll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween.”

Abby walked over to Jack, a small smile on her face. “Don’t worry, Jack,” she said, taking something off her belt bag. It was the Pumpkin Friendship Bracelet. “You’re going to be just fine.” She held the bracelet out to Jack.

Intrigued, Jack took the bracelet, and put it on his bony wrist. “Why thank you,” he said. “You’re such a good person, Abby. And you have such good friends.” He glanced at Double D and Ed.

Double D gave a modest smile.

“Yep, that’s me all right,” said Ed.

With that, Abby, Ed, and Double D headed back toward the Gummi Ship.

“Visit us anytime, Abby!” Jack called to the group. “Next year’s Halloween will be the scariest one yet!”

Meanwhile, Dr. Finkelstein also came outside, sitting outside the door of his Lab.

“Emotion, memory…” he mumbled. “We put in all the necessary ingredients. What else do we need to make a heart? What is a heart, anyway? I just can’t seem to figure it out…”

---

As he piloted the Gummi Ship, Double D periodically glanced back at Abby. She was staring at a new friendship bracelet she had made: it had alternating pink and red beads, and a charm that looked like a yellow pendant with pink markings on it.

But that wasn’t what really caught Double D’s eye. Abby’s condition seemed to have deteriorated ever since they left Halloween Town. The wizard had offered to take Abby to Traverse Town and see if the Senshi (or even Dr. Riddles) could help her, but Abby politely declined, saying she was just tired.

But Double D wasn’t so sure. So he then questioned his concerns to Ed.

“Aw, don’t worry, Double D,” said Ed. “Abby has us! Jack said so!”

In retrospect, Double D shouldn’t have been surprised at his friend’s simple response. But it certainly didn’t put him at ease.

It was silent after that. Finally, after a while, Abby broke it.

“Double D, I’m sorry,” she said. “I think I need to lie down.”

Inwardly, Double D sighed in relief. “All right, Abby,” he said. “We’ve got things under control up here. Go get some rest.”

Double D heard Abby rise from her chair. But then, he heard something that made his heart nearly stop: a thump.

When the wizard turned around, his biggest fears were realized.

Jimmy and Rolf were below the main deck of the Gummi Ship, monitoring the main navigation system, when they got a frantic call from above.

“Jimmy! Rolf!” Double D’s panicked voice spoke through the intercom. “Find the fastest and nearest route to Traverse Town, and take it immediately! It’s an emergency!”

“Copy that, Head-In-Sock Ed boy!” Rolf answered. He ran over to the control panel and began pushing buttons.

Jimmy, however, looked dumbfounded. “What’s going on, Rolf?” he asked.

“Do not ask questions, Boy Jimmy!” Rolf said back. “In this situation, action must be taken posthaste!”

“Um…okay,” said little Jimmy, running over to help Rolf.

Meanwhile, the ensuing chaos finally seemed to register with Ed. He turned around, only to find Double D kneeling over Abby’s collapsed form. Her body was bright red.

“What’s wrong, Double D?!” Ed asked.

Double D looked at Ed, the beginnings of tears in his eyes.

“It’s Abby! She’s burning up with fever!”