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Chapter V
Hundreds--maybe even thousands--of miles away, there is a small, dark room no bigger than the bathroom in someone's house. Lining the wall like wallpaper, there were hundreds monitor screens each with a different peice of scenery on it. One screen had a large white house on a hill depicted on it. Another screen had a old castle with strangely-trimmed hedges on the outside. Most of the monitors, though, depicted a landscape from Halloweentown. Below the wall opposite the entryway, there was a large wall-to-wall keyboard with confusing buttons, knobs, levers and switches. There was a chair facing it. The chair was connected to the floor, but could swivel in place. The room was silent, except for several beeps, coming from the machines. In the chair, there was a figure wearing gray robes, a hood shadowing his face. On the screen directly in front of him, lay a paused screenshot of Sora while he was talking to Morticai.
"That' him, huh?" the figure said to himself, looking at the shot of Sora. "Looks pretty stupid if you ask me."
Another person, dressed like the one in the chair had entered the room as he was talking. "Looks can be deceiving, Number 475."
"Ah, whatever." Number 475 said casually. "So, what's up?"
"Number 13 has given us new orders in Halloweentown."
"In addition to the Sora one?" asked Number 475, pressing a button. "I was setting the coordinates for that now. Maybe I can do both?"
"You're not taking this seriously, Number 475!" Sora is dangerous and needs to be taken into custody.
"Ah, keep your hood on, Number 208," teased Number 475. "Just tell me the mission already so I can go to sleep."
Number 208 gave a heavy sigh. "Fine. Mere hours ago, and entity was reanimated back to mortallity by an artifact known as the Book of the Wicked. I have reason to believe that Sora and Tom Bohnne were involved. Anyway, Number 13 wants you to recruit said entity into our organization."
Number 475 flashed a cocky smile at Number 208. "Sounds easy enough. What's his name?"
"The Oogie Boogieman."
Speaking of that horrible bag of bugs, Oogie and Jack were still fighting until early the next morning.
Jack's clothes were torn a bit. and his skull had a tiny crack in it near his mouth. "Give up, Oogie." he panted, his Soul Robber in attack mode. "You can't win."
Oogie had aquired some bruises on his burlap sack of a body. Oogie was panting considerably. An evil grin appeared on Oogie's face when he saw Jack standing under one of his buzzsaw-themed traps. "That's where you're WRONG, Pumpkin King! AHAHAHA!" Oogie pulled a lever next to him and the huge buzzsaw came crashing down towards Jack, who was too slow to dodge. Oogie expected to hear the sound of crunching bones, but the sound of crushed metal took its place; following that came electrical sounds. Then, a small explosion. Was smoke now emitting from Jack? The Boogieman stopped laughing.
"What the hell?"
Oogie waddled over to where the smoke was clearing and gasped. Jack was never there; instead, there was an android wearing an artificial skin to look like Jack. Oogie had been fighting the android for the past hours. Was this thing more powerful than Jack? Were there more? Where did it come from? These questions bouced around in Oogie's head. And he said the only words he could muster.
"I c-can't believe it!" he stammered. "S-someone's tryin' to make a d-dupe outta me!" He glowered down at the Jack android as the shakiness in his voice disappeared.. "Someone's gonna pay for this."
Some of Oogie's sentence was drowned out by a loud poofing sound behind him.
BAMPF!
Oogie whirled around to see a white cloud of smoke. "Huh? Who's there?"
Number 475 was seen as the smoke cleared, his face covered by the hood. "So you're the Oogie Boogieman." he said with a gruff voice. "Nice place. You have fun last night?"
Oogie's face turned to a scowl. "Due to your tone of voice, I suppose I now have reason to believe that you're the one responsible for FOR THIS!!!!" Oogie pointed at the Jack android that lie on the floor, never to fight again.
Number 475 didn't even look at it; he just flashed a cocky smile that showed green, crooked teeth. "So...when did you find out it was a robot? When the fake skin got torn off, or when it started short-circuiting?"
"YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!" Oogie screamed, putting his hands on his hips.
The smile faded. "Actually, I think it's hilarious, but that's beside the point."
Oogie's eyes narrowed. "Why...are...you...here?" It was obvious Oogie's anger was building.
Number 475 kept his cool. "Well, Mr. Boogie, I'm from an organization called IDP"
Oogie raised an eyebrow. "'IDP?' What's that?"
"InterDimensional Powers." Number 475 said proudly. "We help decide the fate of different dimensions, whether it be a peaceful existance or a chaotic end. This dimension isn't the only one, you know." he added after seeing the confused look on Oogie's face. "There are hundreds--maybe thousands--more!"
"And why are you telling me this, sir?" asked Oogie.
"I was commissioned to come to Halloweentown and recruit you." explained the IDP member.
Oogie was flabbergasted. He's had quite a night; was he dreaming? No...he couldn't be. "What's in it for me, good sir?"
Number 475 shrugged. "I don't even know. Number 13 just told me to recruit you. But who knows? Perhaps in said situation where we throw a dimension into chaos, you would be able to destroy Mr. Jack Skellington in the process."
"It's a tempting offer, sir, but I have my own plans of conquest now that I'm alive again." He chuckled evilly. "Besides, I wanna crush the Pumpkin King on my own."
Oogie didn't seem to notice a bit of rustling behind one of his devices...but Number 475 did.
Huh? he thought as Oogie kept talking.
"And furthermore, sir--"
"Uh, excuse me for a second, Mr. Boogie." Number 475 held out his hand to where the rustling was heard. "SHOW YOURSELVES!"
Then, a transparent bubble that lit up the room appeared behind the device. It encased the intruders and lifted them up to where Oogie and Number 475 could see them. It was none other than Lock, Shock, & Barrel.
"PUT--"
"US--"
"DOWN!"
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" shouted Oogie.
Once again, the IDP member began to make a sarcastic joke. "Well, I used my magic powers to generate a forcefeild which therefore lifted--"
"I KNOW THAT, YOU IDIOT!! I MEAN WHAT ARE MY FORMER HENCHMEN DOING HERE?!"
"It's all Mr. Tom Bohnne's fault!" shouted Lock. "We swear!"
Number 475 raised a hidden eyebrow. Tom Bohnne mentioned AGAIN?! thought the IDP member, remembering what his colleague had said last night. That boy seems to be becoming more trouble than he's worth. He almost killed my mission objective...does he know about IDP?
"'Tom Bohnne?'" repeated Oogie quickly. "Who's that?"
"He's our new master." said Shock. "Not to mention the one who brought you back to life."
"The skeleton boy..." Oogie muttered.
"We reported to the Graveyard after he came back so he could tell us what to do next." said Lock.
"He told us to do whatever it takes to kill Mr. Oogie because Mr. Tom said Mr. Oogie would mess up his plans." said Barrel.
"He ordered us," Shock continued, "to grab some weapons from our Treehouse and meet him in Town Square so we could all do it together."
"But he never showed up." said Lock. "So we decided to do it ourselves."
Number 475 was particularly impressed. Hmm...the kid's smarter than I thought, he thought, he orders these children to kill Oogie, but fleds so he doesn't have to face the consequences. I should tell IDP to keep an eye on this one.
"And that's the whole story!" Barrel finished. "Really!"
Oogie made a face. "Hmmm..." The pondering face soon brightened into a smile. "If Lock, Shock, & Barrel are telling the truth, I do believe you've just saved my life!"
"It was nothing." said Number 475 modestly.
"I'm a Boogieman of morals." Oogie said, seeming to not notice Number 475's modesty. "And I'll repay you for saving my life by joining IDP!"
Number 475 smiled. "Excellent. While your at it, would you like me to sign up the three little problems." he cocked his head to Lock, Shock, & Barrel when he said that.
Oogie turned to Number 475. "Great idea, uh..."
"Yes?"
"Well, I don't believe I caught your name, sir."
Number 475 removed his hood. He had pale blue skin, and long, sallow, yellow hair that went a little bit past his shoulders. His eyes were surrounded by dark purple marks. The eyes themselves were small and yellow with beady black irises. "My colleagues call me Number 475, but the name's 'Betelgeuse,' Mr. Boogie." said Number 475, now known as the Ghost With the Most. "And before I drop you all off at IDP HQ, I have another mission I need to pull off. Excuse me..."
And with another BAMPF of white smoke, he was gone.
Chapter:
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