Please Read: Ok everyone, I've got some semi-bad news. I will be switching back to my old update-once-every-two-weeks schedule. School work and musical rehearsals have finally swamped nearly all of my time that I really need the weekend to actually write the chapters now. So that was part of the reason for the delay on this chapter. So my next update probably won't be until not this friday but next friday. Maaaaaybe this friday if by some unforseen miracle, but don't count on it.

Sneak Peeks: Due to the fact that I'm behind on writing chapters, the sneak peeks will most likely not be posted on the update day like they have been. So I ask that you check back on the TNAB website periodically this week, I promise I'll get it up there as soon as I can!

Also, I appologize for the shortness of this chapter, I'm just not good with describing fight scenes...

The Pumpkin King worked tirelessly on a vast number of spells all through the night trying to locate Amelia, or at least her captor. But each time they would blow up in his face and he would start again from scratch. Whoever this dark sorceress was, she did not want anyone to find her or her prisoner. Sometime in the morning, shortly after the jack-o-lantern sun had peeked over the horizon, exhaustion finally took its hold on him. Jack had collapsed in his chair and fell asleep with his head on his desk using the spell book as a pillow.

A few hours later, the skeleton man abruptly woke up at the sound of a loud, menacing boom roaring across town. Jack hastily jumped from his chair and dashed over to the closest window. He gasped at what he saw.

Oogie Boogie, twice his normal size, stomped through Town Square as his wicked cackle echoed over the land.

"What! But how!" Jack yelled in shock. A determined look came across his features and he raised his hand into the air. His body was then suddenly enveloped by the silhouettes cast from the various objects around the room. The now completely black figure quickly melted into the floor and the shadows returned to normal.

A mere second later, the shadow from a tree in the square became darker and elongated before it rose off the ground. It took on a familiar looking silhouette and an angry-looking Jack emerged. Wasting no time at all, he ran straight up to the notorious villain who was just about to smash a house.

"Oogie!" Jack shouted, catching the burlap-sack monster's attention. "You were banished from Halloween Town, so why are you here destroying everything!"

"What does it look like, bone-man? I'm taking my town back!" The ex-Bug King declared.

"You picked the wrong day to break that banishment spell." The skeleton man growled.

He snapped his fingers and a ball of flame appeared in his hand. Swiftly, he hurled it at the boogie man, the fire rapidly becoming larger as it approached its target. But surprisingly, Oogie just stood there with a smug look on his face, not even attempting to dodge the speeding, fiery missile. Just as the fireball was about to hit him, a dark figure suddenly darted upward and deflected the attack.

"What the!" Jack looked up at the mysterious intruder who dared to protect the vile monster. He gasped in astonishment when he recognized the face of Amelia's captor.

Fiery red-brown hair came down to her shoulders, angry scarlet colored eyes, long dark crimson scars down the sides of her tan face, and the strange red hourglass tattoo on her forehead. It was definitely the sorceress he had seen before. But the rest of her appearance greatly took him by surprise.

She wore a black silk top that only covered one shoulder and came down to just above her flat stomach. Her revealed skin was also strangely tattooed with the same red hourglass over her abdomen and black slashes on either side of her waist. Attached to the top with crisscrossing thread was one red silk sleeve, which stopped at her elbow, as the rest of the material simply draped off her arm. On the opposite, a brown band with odd looking symbols was tied around her upper arm and the strands hung loosely from the knot. Around both wrists were shiny gold bangles and her nails were long, blood-red, and sharp. The black, silk, ankle-length skirt had long slits up either side to reveal her strong tan legs. A brown band on the top of the skirt attached two long pieces of material, each a different shade of red, which hung over her hips. Her feet were adorned with black, lethal-looking, strap high-heels. All in all, she had what seemed to be an Egyptian appearance. But the most curious article was what appeared to be a black widow spider over her collar bone that had its front four legs wrapped around her neck and the bottom four attached to the black top.

The sorceress hovered in the air for a moment as her piercing glare penetrated his own defiant gaze, actually causing the Pumpkin King to waver but only for a brief second. Quickly she descended, landing gracefully on the ground.

'I already knew she was powerful, but she may even be just as strong as I am.' He mentally commented to himself, 'I'll have to be on guard.'

"So, Oogie hired someone else to do the dirty work." Jack pointed out. However, his comment seemed to enrage her.

"Sorry to disappoint, but your pitiful assumption is far from true." Her voice was elegant yet laced with malice. "We merely have a common goal."

"And what would that be?" His eyes narrowed and clenched his fists.

"To rid the world of you!"

Before he realized what had happened, the sorceress was directly in front of him with a ball of fire in her hand. Just as she was about to strike, he swiftly jumped to the side managing to escape with only charring the lower part of his sleeve. She quickly spun around in a circle, unleashing a long fiery blaze that came too fast for Jack to dodge. He managed to bring his arms up to shield his face but the force of the impact knocked him to the ground. As the sorcerer hastily doused the flames on his sleeves he heard a menacing cackle ring out.

"Ha ha ha! Two strikes and The Pumpkin King is already down and out!" Oogie boomed with amusement.

However, Jack paid no mind to the giant burlap sack-like monster for his opponent was coming at him again. She made a motion as though to hurl a fireball at him, causing him to duck down. But then she suddenly shot at the ground and the inferno traveled along the ground at a rapid pace toward its skeletal target. The sorcerer managed to jump in the air just in time. As he was suspended, he quickly called forth all of the shadows on the ground and brought them up in a column around the sorceress. It caught her by surprise and didn't have enough time to escape before the darkness swallowed her. Jack levitated himself to land softly on his feet in front of the shadowy prison. He brought his hand up only to slice it through the air back down to his side and a few of the silhouettes dispersed. His opponent now looked as though she was trapped within a cylindrical prison and the separated shadows quickly bound around her wrists and ankles to keep her from attacking.

"Who are you and why have you teamed up with Oogie Boogie?" Jack demanded to know, using his tone of voice that was reserved only for speaking as the King of Halloween.

"Quick and to the point aren't you?" She replied with a sneer. He didn't respond, instead, his eyes narrowed in an icy glare.

"I am Black Widow," She finally stated, "and the only reason I'm with that bug-filled menace is because we both had something to gain, other than destroying you."

His eyes widened, "He wanted Amelia, why?" his glare returned as his anger began to boil, "I know you have taken her, where is she."

Black Widow's smirk only grew. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

She suddenly broke her shadowy bonds as the rest of the prison became deformed and melted back to the ground. The sorceress suddenly shoved her shoulder into him, taking Jack by surprise and caused him to topple to the ground. He grunted in pain as he collided with the earth but hastily got back up just in time to dodge another one of her fiery missiles. The ground smoldered where he had stood just a mere second ago.

"Why are you attacking me?" He asked after he had dodged another wave of fire.

"Because my hate for you burns hotter than any flame," she growled, "and I won't rest until you are dead permanently!" She faced her palm toward him and shouted, "Orbis de incendia!"

Jack suddenly found himself completely surrounded by a ring of fire quickly closing in on him.

"Iacio!" He called out, slicing both arms through the air in a downward motion and the flames quickly dispersed. But his eyes widened as he saw Black Widow flying just above the ground with her fist surrounded by fire and approaching him fast. He barely had enough time to wrap the nearest shadow around him and disappear into the ground. As soon as she realized he was gone, she halted her approach and landed on the ground. She crouched slightly as she continuously checked every direction, anticipating a surprise attack.

All of a sudden, she felt herself begin to sink. She quickly looked down to see a black hole beneath her already up to her ankles. Desperately she tried to fly out of the trap, but it only increased the speed in which she sank. Now the blackness had swallowed her up to her knees.

"Tell me where Amelia is!" Jack demanded after he had appeared a few yards in front of the captive sorceress.

"You will never find her." She looked up to him, a triumphant sneer across her face, "Even as we speak, she is slowly disappearing."

Black Widow then suddenly thrust her hand straight up into the air. A thin, vertical, invisible line shimmered from her hand up to a branch of a nearby tree. She curled her fingers into a fist and was abruptly pulled out of the black hole. The shadowy trap then faded away for its prisoner was gone. The sorceress back flipped in the air as she released the invisible line. Then, she moved into a mid-air dive, dashing toward her opponent.

Jack's fisted hands became surrounded by an eerie green glow but before he had time to put up a defense, his arms were suddenly yanked out to the sides as though he was welcoming her attack. The sorceress came to an abrupt stop just above the ground as she thrust her palms toward him. The Atrum felt his entire body become constricted by some invisible force and his arms snapped down at his sides. He couldn't move at all. Black Widow lifted both of her arms into the air and conjured a large flame, and then hurled it at him with great force.

Using quick thinking, Jack willed his own shadow to lift off the ground and shield him from the blast. He struggled to break the bonds and found them to be practically indestructible. Suddenly, his shadow was forcibly pushed back down by some unseen force as Black Widow slowly approached him.

"So this is all that the great Pumpkin King has to offer? I must say, I'm rather disappointed."

"I ask again, why are you doing this? Why do you want to get rid of me?" He tried to keep his anger from showing in his tone. She smirked.

"Look around, Jack." She gestured with her hands to everything around them. Jack's eyes widened in absolute horror as he helplessly watched his beloved Halloween Town being swallowed up in flames. All of the buildings and houses were on fire as the people fled, only to be stopped by strange-looking skeletons, forcing them back into town. Then he heard Oogie's booming cackle ring out and he turned his head to see the very monster nearby, forcing the frightened citizens to bow down to him.

"No!" Jack shouted as he struggled again to break free.

"Ah, ah, ah." Black Widow's elegant yet tormenting voice caused him to turn, and that's when he saw the worst. She was standing triumphantly with that sneer across her face, and at her feet was the limp, unconscious body of Amelia Brave.

"NO! AMELIA!" His terror turned to rage and he became engulfed in an eerie green glow. He broke the invisible bonds and dashed at Black Widow.

Just as he jumped to strike her, she snapped her fingers and she and Amelia suddenly disappeared. Jack found himself flying through the air. He crashed back onto the ground and tumbled before he was back up in a crouched position, trying to anticipate her next move.

"This was only a warning." Her voice seemed to surround him on all sides yet he still couldn't see her. "Surrender the town to us or face the consequences!"

"I will never surrender to the likes of you!"

"Give up, or you will never see Amelia Brave again."

He desperately scanned the area for Black Widow and turned just in time to see Oogie quickly fade into nothing. The Town was safe, no longer ablaze for it never was, and the villains had seemingly vanished. The devastating scene, he realized, was only a vision but the problem at hand was very real.

'Taking Amelia was only part of a much bigger scheme.' Jack thought to himself as he clenched his fists in anger. 'Now I have to decide between the fate Halloween Town and the fate of Amelia.'

"Why didn't we take Halloween Town when we had the chance!" Oogie roared, "We had Jack on the run! Just a little more and he would have easily given in! I could have been king!"

"Can it you worthless sack of bugs!" Black Widow shouted angrily. "We accomplished what we set out to do," she calmed as she spoke, "Jack is on the run, and has been given the impossible choice between his precious Amelia Brave and his beloved town." She smirked triumphantly, "It won't be long now before we get him to crack, and maybe even beg for his life."

As she laughed manically, Oogie turned away and grumbled, "I still think we should have taken the town. It was practically offered to us on a silver plate."

She overheard his comment and spun on her heel to face him with a fierce, fiery glare.

"Need I remind you that if it wasn't for me, you never would have made it this far because that banishment spell would still be intact!"

He backed up, slightly surprised by her sudden outburst. But then his would-be eyes narrowed and he roared back.

"Need I remind you that if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be here right now!"

"I would have found a way out on my own."

"After nine years of failure? I think not!"

"Her will was about to be broken anyway!"

"But she wouldn't have been broken enough for you!"

The two continued to argue as the trick-or-treating trio cowered nearby.

"I really don't like her being here." Lock commented.

"Me neither." Shock and Barrel replied in unison.

"But without her, Oogie Boogie never would have been able to begin his plan." The boy dressed as a skeleton pointed out. "Well, Black Widow redid the plan to make it better actually."

"I know, but she's even crueler than the boss!" the witch cried.

"You mean, crueler to us." The devil stated.

"Yeah, yeah." Shock waved him off.

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" Oogie Boogie bellowed his new partner and the whole lair shook, causing the trio to lose their balance and fall over one another.

"We are getting nowhere by arguing." He huffed as he calmed down from his angry outburst.

"Then let's drop the matter and get back to focusing on the next part of the plan." Black Widow declared as she crossed her arms, a miffed expression still written across her face.

"Which would be…?" he asked irritably.

"It's time to get Jack on the defense, more specifically, a threat." Black Widow stated as she put a hand on her hip, "He already believes that Amelia is in serious trouble and may never come back. We just need to bait him more, make him weak, and once that happens, we spring a trap on him."

Oogie cackled with glee. "Yes, and soon I'll be one step closer to becoming king! So," he rubbed his hands greedily, "when do we put this next phase into action?"

"Patience is a virtue we must all learn." Black Widow replied coolly, a smirk playing on her lips. "So don't worry your ugly little bugs about it. Soon Halloween Town will be yours. And Jack Skellington will die a torturous death at my hands." She clenched her fists with satisfaction as they became engulfed with bright flames.

If you didn't read the author's note at the top of the page, then please go back and read it.

Ok folks! Our diabolical villainess has made her appearance! Introducing Black Widow! If you'd like to see an image of her, check the TNAB website sometime this week or on my dA account. I'm working on scanning and uploading a picture of her. Please review!