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“This is gonna be our greatest prank EVER!”
“Lock, I must say, you’re a genius!”
“I know, aren’t I?”
Lock, Shock, and Barrel were now at their tree house, enjoying their glory of their prank’s success by enjoying a midmorning snack from their candy stash. Despite the first prank (seemingly, Lock didn’t say what cup he put the potion in) went well, the trio were already bored for the day. They wanted someone to play with!
“So…” Barrel started, pondering in thought while licking his lollipop. “…Now what do we do?”
“We could play with Wraps.” Lock suggested.
“No, he’s still working.” Shock said.
“Oh…then how about Gravel?”
“Keeping lookout on the roofs.”
“Ethan?”
“Shopping with his mom.”
“Chama?”
“Wait, what?” Shock said, suddenly surprised by the thought. “Why would we want to play with her? She’s an adult!”
“But she has those robot figures!”
“They don’t even transform like they’re supposed to! What’s the fun in playing with those?” Shock pointed out, and then added her own thought. “There are not enough kids in Halloween Town!”
“Yeah…” Lock said, sighing. Then, he noticed the still slightly full bottle of Age Affection Potion. “Hey, Shock…what day is it today?”
“It’s Friday. Why?”
“You know what happens every time during lunch on Friday?”
“…Oogie makes us snake and spider stew?”
“Exactly!” Lock said, now standing up, and grabbing the potion. “Just two drops and we’ll be getting a new playmate…”
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“…I can’t believe you did that to their yard, Boris.”
Chama was coming back to her delivery and walk with Boris. While the delivery went off without a hitch, the walk didn’t. Despite his apologetic squeaks, Chama wasn’t fazed.
“I don’t CARE if they were late with the payment last time! They’re still valued customers!”
When she got to her hut, Chama twitched a little. Her aura was telling her something was up. Hurrying to open the door, she ran to one of her cabinets and unlocked it. Peering in it, she didn’t notice anything weird, but she grabbed something anyways. It was a plastic robot action figure. He had five red eyes, and a purple and green hunched over body that looked like it had bomber plane attachments on it.
“Phew.” She said, hugging onto her action figure. “Lugnut is okay. I don’t know what I would have done if someone ransacked my hut.”
She then put Lugnut back in his cabinet, and locked it again.
“Most of these things are dangerous to those that have no idea what they’re doing.” She added, while Boris squeaked out a question. “Yeah. Even the action figures. Those have pieces that are meant to pop off easily when you put force on them. That’s a choking hazard!”
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Lock, Shock, and Barrel made sure to get down to Oogie’s lair extra early that afternoon. Due to the “Sandy Claws” incident stretching the transport pipe too much to send insects down, the trio simply used it now as their own personal way to get down to the casino-like prison. Instead of it being a chimney-like chute, it now worked as a quick, if not bumpy slide. The three tried to be as quiet as they could getting down to the lair, but Oogie, even with his lack of ears, and having his back turned from them.
“You’re early.” He said, back still turned, as the three quickly scrambled to their seats at the roulette wheel-turned-table. For reasons only known to him, Lock carefully pocketed the spoon that was in front of his place on the table.
“Um…we were hungry!” Lock lied, and then winked to Shock and Barrel. It was a “just-go-along-with-me” kind of wink, one that the three of them were familiar with, and could easily work with.
“Oh, yes!” Shock fibbed. “We were just so excited that it was Snake and Spider Stew Day that we couldn’t wait for it! Isn’t that right, Barrel?”
“Um…” Barrel said, not sure what to say. Though, the glares of his teammates made it clear what he should do. “…Yes!”
“You three are up to something.” Oogie said, cocking a nonexistent eyebrow, and sliding the four bowls of soup in front of the places at the table, before sitting down in his own place. “I like it.”
When everyone had their soup in their place, they started digging in. That is, except for Lock, who just sat their in silence for a few moments, before breaking it.
“…I don’t have a spoon.”
“Then go get one.” Oogie said, not bothering to look down from his bowl.
“But you’re closer to the drawer!”
“You’re old enough to get it by yourself.”
“…Please?”
“I have no idea why I’m doin’ this.” Oogie sighed, as he got up, and went to the cutlery drawer. While his back was turned, Lock leaned over, and added two drops of the potion into Oogie’s soup…
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“…The world is full of tragedy, so how can it be wrong? Singing death, death, death, death, devil, devil, evil, evil songs!”
Chama was busy multitasking. She was cleaning her hut, singing to one of her favorite songs, and waiting for her nettle tea to finish brewing. Her train of focus was quickly broken by a new song playing:
“…Does that make me crazy? Does that make me crazy? Does that make me crazy? Possibly…”
Quickly shutting off her stereo, Chama rushed to her spell phone, before it went to voice mail. She knew who it was just by the ringtone she set.
“Hey, Harlequin! How’s it going?...No, that move won’t work on a Ghost type. Well, I’m sorry, it’s not my fault I didn’t give Nibbles the Odor Sleuth move before we traded! No, you said you wanted a Munchlax, I said I wanted a Xatu. And now, I have Blinkers, and you have Nibbles. I’m not talking about this anymore. Good luck.”
Chama hastily hung up, and sighed, as she slumped onto her bed. Boris, feeling concern for his master, climbed on his bed, and squeaked out.
“Don’t worry, Boris.” Chama said, smiling at her pet. “I’ll be okay. It just seems that I’m always busy with something. I never seem to have true ‘me time’.”
As if it was fate, there was a fast and rapid knock at the door, and the sound of someone breathing very heavily.
“Better go get that.” Chama said, as she stood up. “Wonder who it is.”
When she opened the door, she was surprised at what she saw. It was Jack, though not in any state that she’s seen him in. His suit was slightly disheveled, and his tie was crooked. There was a strange off-white splatter on his jacket, and he had a black widow spider on his head. He was holding…something…
“Jack!” Chama said, taken aback by the sight. “What happened to you?”
“I don’t know!” Jack said. “I was just having my normal meeting with the Mayor, we had our coffee, and then…this!”
Without warning, he shoved what he was holding into Chama’s face. It was a baby! But, somehow…he looked familiar. Then it dawned on Chama. The baby had a triangular build to his body. His cheeks were rosy. One of his eyes was solid black, the other was a spiral. He was wearing a suit that was meant for an adult, so it was nearly falling off of him. He was holding a giant stovepipe hat, and was chewing on it like it was a toy. It could only be one person: the Mayor.
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(A/N: Ooh! Cliffhanger! Just in case you guys were wondering:
Gravel is my name for the Winged Demon, and Ethan is the Corpse Boy’s name from the trading card game. The songs used were “Death Death (Devil Devil Evil Evil Song)” by Voltaire, and “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley.)
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