: Welp, looks like it’s time for a spooky, scary clash! Y’all ready?
: Yeah, sure. I can postpone the trick or treating for a couple hours.
: Ah…I promised Rouge I’d decorate G.U.N headquarters.
: Why’d you do that?
: I was uh…promised a Chaos Emerald.
: Aw, you do care! The big bad ultimate life form is really just a big ‘ole softie.
: Shut up or I’ll crush your heart.
: I mean, a very MANLY hedgehog! Hehe…
: Are we ready to boogie down?
: Yess…I am…anxious to start.
: Heh…no problem…time for a Smackdown?
Halloween Town, Main Square…
It was the night of All Hallow’s Eve. All over the town, the citizens were hustling and bustling through the streets, decorating the town and preparing for the big celebration happening later.
In the middle of the square was a short man with an extremely long top hat and missing an eye, opting to replace it with a button. He seemed merry and cheerful from the right angle, but opposite was a face of sadness, marked with skeletal colors.
“Everyone, please hurry! Halloween only comes once a year for real, you know! We need to make this perfect!” the mayor cried out, as he blared into his megaphone and hurriedly rushed around on his short legs. He was about ready to run into the guillotine nearby when he was grabbed by a thin, bony hand. Lifted into the air, the mayor turned to see it was none other than Jack Skellington, the King of Nightmares.
“Mayor, what are you so worked up about? We’ve done this at least a hundred times by this point, we know what we’re doing.” Jack reassured.
“Oh, I know Jack, but it’s always so nerve-wracking. Especially now that Santa Clause is coming to visit this Halloween! We really need to impress him!”
“Don’t worry! Me and Sandy Claws are real tight! We’ll be fine. As long as nothing out of the ordinary happens…” Jack trailed off, as a short, balding man in a wheelchair emerged from a nearby house, closely followed by a girl stitched together from rags.
“Ah, and here’s the man of the hour! So, what have you got for us this Halloween, Doctor?” Jack questioned.
“Eer, well…I’ve been busy developing this new gizmo designed to bring the dead back to life. I figured we could get a really good zombie or ghost dancing show, whattya think?” Doctor Finklestein asked.
“Eh…didn’t we already do that with the Heartless? Didn’t work so well.” Jack reminded him.
“Eh, yes, I’m aware, but this time it’s foolproof! This artificial heart…” Finklestein began, as he pulled out a strange device chained up with a lock, “Will bring anyone from beyond the grave back to life. But they will only follow the commands of the one who summons them, so nothing can go wrong! I’ll just use it to bring back a few of the dead!”
“And you’re sure this will work, doctor?”
“Yes, Jack.” Sally, the doctor’s assistant, chimed in. “We’ve already tested it, it’s so exciting!”
“Well…if you think it’s okay, Sally, then we’ll give it a shot.”
“Excellent! I’ll just bring it over to you, Jack.” The doctor concluded, his chair wheeling over to where Jack was standing. But before he could reach it-
“WOOOAAAAHHH!” Finklestein yelled as he toppled over, spilling the artificial heart right at the feet of a small child, who picked it up and held it out with a naughty grin.
“Oh no!” The mayor yelled in fright.
“I should have known you would show up to mess up Halloween again!” Jack complained.
“That’s right! It’s Lock-
Shock-
-and Barrel!” said the last child, who stood up after tripping the doctor and joined his cohorts. “And we’re going to make this Halloween REALLY scary!”
“Yeah, we’re gonna bring back-“
“Ssh! Don’t tell them, Barrel!” Lock scolded.
“Sorry.”
At that, the trio made their escape, their trusty bathtub rocketing away into the night as Finklestein shook his fist in the air, yelling and threatening to call their parents.
“Well, there’s only one person they could be resurrecting.” Jack deadpanned.
Everyone nodded and said “Oogie” in unison.
“So we gotta stop ’em before they bring him back!” Jack yelled, as he charged out the front gates, Sally and his faithful pup Zero behind.
“Okay…I’ll catch up with you! I gotta…gotta rest.” Finklestein called after them, before hunching over and beginning to snooze, the mayor frantically running around in panic.
Oogie’s Manor, 10 minutes later…
“Aw yeah! Did you see the look on those guy’s faces when we snatched this heart thing?” Barrel cheered.
“Yep! What a bunch of jokes!” Lock responded.
“Guys, we’re not done yet!” Shock reprimanded. “We still gotta bring back Oogie somehow!”
“That Finklestein guy said this would do it, what’s the problem?”
“You dummy! We didn’t listen to HOW it worked!”
“Ohhh…Eh, let’s just toss it around and see if that does anything.” Lock suggested.
“Ah-eh, why not? Could be fun!” Shock said, as the bathtub traveled inside of the manor, stopping in the center of the room.
The three quickly climbed out and began tossing the heart around in a game of hot potato. The game went on for a solid minute before Barrel finally misthrew the heart, sending it sailing high over Lock’s head and careening to the floor, where it split open into a thousand pieces.
The other two gave Barrel a disapproving glare. “Nice job, Butthead. That was the only heart we had and you busted it! Now how are we gonna bring back Oogie!?” Shock screeched.
“At this point, I’m just worried about avoiding the green smoke.”
“Wha-” Lock muttered as he turned around. There, from the shattered remains of the heart, was emerging a mysterious green phantasmal mist, snaking across the floor and directing its attention towards them.
“Uh, I motion that we make fun of Barrel outside, okay?” Shock quivered, the other two nodding rapidly.
“Great! Let’s do that…NOW RUN!” the little girl squealed as she bolted out the door, the other two yelling “Right behind you!” as they squeezed their way through together, the mist following them the whole way.
However, once they were far enough away, the mist stopped moving outward and instead began seeping into the earth, in all directions. Every bug it found was infected by the gas, bringing all of them together under one mind. The mind of the greatest threat Halloween Town had ever faced, the return of the Baron of Bugs himself.
All the insects emerged from the soil and twisted together in a spiral, forming arms, legs, and a torso. A burlap sack from within the house emerged and encircled the bugs in midair, before forming a head on top. With an explosion of green smoke, the resurrection was complete. Oogie Boogie had returned once more.
“Oh MAN, it is good to be back! That’s right, the Oogie of Boogie is back in the house. Or…outside the house, ya know, same difference.” Oogie bellowed, before letting out a hearty laugh.
“Gotta say, bein’ dead was really…buggin’ me! AHAHAHA! Ya get it?”
The children nervously laughed at the bad joke to appease the erratic lord of locusts, earning an approving pat on the back as a result.
“Alright, kiddies! Now whattya think we should do?” Oogie requested.
Shocked, the trio of troublemakers took a step back. “Y…you want us to decide?”
“Well, yeah! You are my masters.” Oogie replied, the children getting enormous grins upon hearing it.
“Well…” Shock began, “we could always invade Halloween Town and get revenge on Jack for beating you bad!”
“Then it’s settled. We’re going to Halloween Town!” Boogie cackled, the children following suit. However, not even they could have forseen that yet more of the gas was seeping underground, far below the earth’s crust, all the way to a hidden castle, lost to the winds of time. But now it was given new life, the torches blazing to life, and more importantly awakening the castle’s inhabitants.
A deep, rasping voice cut through the silence like butter: “Riiiiisseee…”
At once, the castle began moving up through the ground at a breakneck speed, before the tapering spires finally reaching the surface.
Up above, Oogie and the children felt a rumbling beneath their feet, before seeing enormous fissures pop up all around them.
“Wh-What’s happening!?” The children yelled at Oogie, who merely shrugged and yelled back ” I DON’T KNOW!!”
As the ground broke apart around them, an enormous castle rose from beneath the rock and almost touched the sky before stopping its ascent. It was derelict and rusty, with a hint of the smell of death, but other than that it looked almost presentable, a fine symbol of its master.
From out of the door of the castle stepped a gaunt, robed figure, reeking with the taint of the undead, marked by the two enormous horns growing out of his head. This was none other than the Horned King, the scourge of Caer Dullban and the master of fear.
It took a little bit for the initial shock to wear off, but when it did Oogie stepped forward and asked “Who in the name of all things buggy are YOU?”
The voice that answered was like nothing Oogie had heard before. It was raspy, yes, but also carried a sense of elegance to it. Every word filled the Boogie man with a mixture of fear and willing obedience towards what he perceived as an almighty force.
“I am…the Horned King. I have come to serve the children you cower alongside.”
“Oh, well that’s ni-HEY! I’m serving these kids!”
“Not…very well, it seems…”
“You doubt the King of Cockroaches himself, Oogie Boogie? What can you do, huh!?”
“Apparently…cause fear more…effectively, than you.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Perhaps…but we should let the children decide. They…are the masters of our…destiny, right now.”
But they couldn’t hear. All they were doing was chanting “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!” ad nauseum, clearly intrigued to see a fight between their servants.
“Hmph, alright. But you asked for it, skelly!”
“Ahaha…come at me with all…of your strength…if you can.“
Now holding the advantage, Oogie ran forward and delivered a powerful haymaker to the Horned King’s chest, knocking the decrepit lich off of his throne and onto the ground. Wasting no time, Oogie stomped on the king’s back, forcing the skeleton to let out a screech of pain, before grabbing him with a burlap-covered hand, swinging him around, and throwing him into a nearby tree, felling it instantly.
Groggy, the King struggled to his feet and stared at Oogie, who was rushing him down once more. With no time to spare, the King summoned forth a Gwythaint to his side, which came to the King’s defense by slashing at Oogie with its massive talons.
Oogie wasn’t seriously hurt, but he could feel a small tear on his cheek. Slowly, a little termite seeped out of the hole and dropped to the ground, before scurrying away.
“Oh no! Whattoo I doooo!? This ain’t good!” Oogie whined, as he attempted to keep the cut closed. Meekly, one of his skeleton soldiers came up and offered a band-aid, which the gracious Oogie took at once before slapping it onto his face, shutting the tear.
As this all unfolded, the Horned King smirked. “‘Ah…so he has a weakness. If that fool splits open, he’ll be dead in moments. How pitiful…'” the King thought to himself, as he held out his arms and gathered green energy into his palms.
“Well then…Soldiers of the Dead…ariseee…” the King commanded, as he held his hands up high. The green mist began spreading from his palms, traveling across the ground once more, and from beneath the soil came entire battalions of skeleton warriors, wielding swords, lances, and shields. Soon an entire legion of soldiers was spread out across the field, all prepared to fight in the name of their king.
“Warriors…the one who splits the sack of bugs in twain…shall be my chosen knight, FOREVER! Now…chaaarrrrgggeee!!!” The King commanded, as the warriors raised their weapons and gave a primal roar in unison, before leveling their weapons and charging forward, like a wave of death.
“Oh, so you wanna go down that road?” Oogie taunted, before he raised his hand to his mouth and whistled. Or rather, he attempted to whistle and instead released a sputtering of air and spit and no noise.
“Ah, well…you get the idea. Bug Brigade, COUNTERATTACK!” Oogie ordered, as his battalion of bugs surged forward from all around to intercept the rotting corpses of the Horned King’s forces. Swords clashed with antennae, thoraxes were blocked by rusted shields, and flying mosquitoes were intercepted by javelins flung with surprising force.
As Oogie observed his army of bugs crumbling at the feet of the mighty skeletons, he realized that his foe would not go down so easily.
“Well then, boys…I think it’s time we call in the big guns! Or should I say…big bugs?” Oogie joked, as he raised his arms and unleashed a piercing bug cry that spread all over Halloween Town in an instant, shattering all the windows and deafening the populace.
As it died down, all the fighters could hear was a very faint buzzing echo on the wind, growing steadily louder and intermixing with the noise of giant wingbeats. Soon, a loud “REEEEEEEET!” resounded through the clouds, and were immediately parted as an enormous wing blotted out the moon, larger than any creature the Horned King had seen before.
“What…is the meaning of THIS…?” The Horned King demanded, as Oogie gave a smug look in return.
“What, that? That’s just my l’il old army of BUGS! You don’t like ’em? Too bad, cuz they like you! In their belly, that is! OHOHOHOHOHOHO!” Oogie chortled as he rubbed his stomach, eagerly anticipating the demise of his newfound nemesis of necromancy.
From the skies above came Oogie’s reinforcements, consisting of a giant pill bug, a giant spider, a giant grasshopper, and finally a flying bug shaped like a mount, which Oogie quickly jumped onto and clasped the reins of. Pulling an enormous bullwhip out of hammerspace, Oogie cracked it on the bug’s head and forced the insect into the air, where it headed the newest buggy battalion.
“So!” Oogie yelled below to his rival, “are you ready to, uh, give up?!”
“Foolish, decrepit sack of pestilence! The Horned King bows to no one!” The King rasped, his throaty voice striking bone-chilling terror into the souls of all the warriors. So afraid were Oogie’s bugs, they considered loosening their grip on their weapons and fleeing the battle. Then they turned to see Oogie’s glowering face and realize they’d rather take their chances on the battle.
“Hmph, good try there buddy! But you can’t beat me in a battle of being the spookiest spook on Halloween, no sir! I’m the scariest around, and I’m gonna prove it once I win!” Oogie taunted, as he prepared his army to attack once more.
“It appears you have no grasp of the concept of fear outside your primitive, surface-level knowledge. Allow me…to show you!” The Horned King responded, as he pointed his bony arm forward and pointed at Oogie, wordlessly commanding his army to charge as they complied without a moment’s hesitation.
However, this time, there was a very clear difference in the power of their soldiers. The Gwythaints tried to slash with their talons at the Pill Bug, but they were easily repelled by its hard shell, the talons reduced to pieces as a result while the Gwythaints were slapped out of the sky. The undead minions the King summoned did well in repelling the smaller bugs, but a few skewerings by the giant spider were enough to reduce them to piles of bones. And upon seeing their comrades defeated at the hands of these powerful bugs, the mercenaries and their hounds immediately turned tail and ran for the hills, screaming all the way, not stopping even after they were no longer visible.
“Hey, you spineless fools! Get back here and serve your glorious, most benevolent, most excellent, kingliest of all-GYACK!” the goblin minion choked as he was grabbed by his neck and lifted into the air by the Horned King, who fixed the assistant with a look of extreme disgust before dropping him on his head.
“Ehehe, sorry master…” the goblin wheezed, clutching his throat as he hopped behind the king’s throne, no guards protecting it as Oogie slowly approached, a menacing scowl plastered onto his bag.
“So…it seems like you’re not that scary anymore. What happened, friend? Bug got yo’ tongue? Geddit!? AHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Oogie cackled as he prepared to deliver the death blow with an upraised hand.
“Never lower your guard around the Horned King!” the King yelled, as he unleashed an enormous smoke cloud that obscured the vision of all of Oogie’s troops, causing them to stumble around blindly and crash into each other.
“Aw, doggone it! Find that skeleton, or I’ll be munchin’ on you for lunch!” Oogie ordered, as he bumped into his pill bug.
Meanwhile, the King was stumbling back into his castle, rummaging through all his discarded refuse in an attempt to find his saving grace.
“Where is it!? Where is the Black Cauldron!?” The King roared, as he continued rifling through the dirt, until he heard Oogie call out, “Didja hear that? There’s a sound comin’ underneath! Now dig, you dugs, dig!”
There was a scratching sound from the ceiling above, and flecks of dirt rained down on the King’s bloodred cloak.
“Little time remains…I must find that cauldron!”
On the surface, one of the grasshoppers struck the earth once again, and this time cleaved a hole in the bedrock, unveiling the castle and all its riches below. It clicked and clacked with its jaws excitedly, as Oogie Boogie leaned in, hands cupped to his ear.
“Oh, so ya found a way in, eh? Alright, then! Oh, Heartless!?” Oogie called.
From the darkest shadows emerged Oogie’s personal Heartless squad, consisting of a few Wight Knights, Gargoyles, and Search Ghosts. They all stood at attention, anticipating Oogie’s next commands.
“Go down that hole, and bring that skeleton man to me alive, y’all understand!? He needs to bow to me, see me as the true king o’ creeps!” Oogie ordered, the Heartless wordlessly nodding in comprehension. But before they could crawl inside the dingy hole, they felt the ground rumble yet again.
“Aw, what is it now?” Oogie grumbled, when the Horned King suddenly popped back out of the ground once again, this time not alone. In his hands was a massive cauldron, made of cast-iron and brimming with evil power. It was none other than the infamous Black Cauldron, the artifact that allowed its wielder to rule the world and all who inhabit it. And now the Horned King possessed it once more.
“So you turned tail and ran, almost killed yourself inside an old castle, all for a dinky pot? Nice, maybe you can hide in it before my bugs turn you to beetlejuice! Hehe, I’m funny.”
“You clearly…underestimate…the power of the Black Cauldron. It’s power is unrivaled throughout the land…as your pathetic termites will soon see…”
“Hey, there are no termites in my squad! They’re icky!”
The Horned King seemed to not pay attention, as he picked up a skeleton he had retrieved from the crypt. With much fanfare, he slowly lowered it into the cauldron, unleashing a torrent of green mist that blanketed the entire arena in fog.
“Ah, not this crud again! Well, we beat ’em once, we can do it…again?” Oogie paused, as from the depths of hell arose a mangled, bony arm, which tightened it’s grip around Oogie’s leg, using it as leverage to climb up. From the hand came the spread of rot and corruption, which slowly worked it’s way up Oogie Boogie’s leg.
“H-hey! Whatsa goin’ on! What’s dis junk on my crunk!?” Oogie demanded.
“Even now…the curse of the Cauldron-born, boiling and bubbling, infects you, dragging you into darkness. Soon, you will be nothing but a mindless skeletal puppet, fully under my control. And when you fall…your “army” will do the same.” The Horned King explained, before turning to witness yet more Cauldron-born breaking through to the surface, grasping the legs of all of Oogie’s bugs. As soon as they made contact, the skeletal warriors instantly transformed the bugs into new Cauldron-born, which slowly turned and advanced on their former master, their eyes blank and their mouths oozing green gas.
“Uh, uh…I’ll be right back!” Oogie whined, as he retreated to his manor as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.
“Follow him…” the King ordered, as his newly forged minions saluted and marched at a steady clip towards the manor, a wave of spectral energy and decay following closely behind.
Panting, Oogie opened a green door in the underbelly of his mansion and ran inside, shutting it quickly and barricading it with some iron gates. He had just finished locking the door when he heard a banging on the other side, as the door struggled to hold itself up amidst the pounding fists.
“Oh, Heartless!” Oogie called out, stamping his foot in impatience as he waited for his minions.
He was sorely disappointed when the only ones that showed up were a Gargoyled and Wight Knight.
“Huh?” Oogie murmured, looking around. “That’s all? Oh, fine. You two bozos just get this room set up. That horned horror is gonna be in here any second!”
The Heartless dutifully bobbed their heads as they prepared Oogie’s machine for repairs. They finished jsut in time and flew up into the rafters, watching as the door was busted down at last and the Horned King and his army came in, the walls rotting away behind them.
It was too dark to see. The King felt around in a vain attempt to find Oogie and subjugate the worm as soon as possible. Eventually, his hands caught on some sort of switch, and the king pulled down hard, assuming it would bring light.
He was half right.
The lair did indeed light up, but with it came the arrival of
“OOOOOOGGIIIIEEEE’S TORTURE MACHINE! Thank you, Thank you, you’re a great audience!” the bug baron chanted, clapping and cackling to himself.
“What…is this?”
“Aw, it’s just a friendly l’il competition between ole’ friends! Alls you gotta do is beat me in a little gamblin’, and I’ll surrender and all that! Alright, there?”
The King thought long and hard, pacing up and down the casino floor. After a long while, he finally turned to face Oogie and uttered two words:
“Game on.”
“Excellent!” Oogie cheered, as the Horned King and his army stepped forward to battle again, locked inside by an iron cage as the wheel of deadly fortune began to spin.
“Around and around you go, where you stop only I know!” Oogie sang, as he took out a pair of red dice and threw them onto the wheel. After they bounced around for a bit, they eventually came to a stop, a three and a six facing up.
“Got a nine, doin’ fine!” Oogie rhymed, as he pulled a lever on the wall. From the ceiling came a trio of scythes, conjoined in the middle, that began spinning around, slicing through the Cauldron-born without warning as the Horned King barely managed to duck underneath in time.
“Explain this at once!” the King demanded.
“Well, I fancy myself a gamblin’ man. So every time I roll the dice, somethin’ fun happens. Nines make scythes, twelves are flamethrowas, and fours…oh, you don’t wanna see that.”
“So how do I win this…game?”
“Oh…you don’t.” Oogie deadpanned, as he rained yet more crimson dice onto the wheel.
As the Horned King stared at the cubes, his face twisted into an angered grimace. “So…you like your precious dice? Then here, have them back!” he grumbled, as he picked up the dice and infused them with his lightning powers, causing them to crackle with electricity, before he threw them back to sender.
Oogie, too busy laughing at the Horned King’s misfortune, failed to see the dice before they smacked him in the face, sending the insect instigator down to the floor, where he lay motionless, stunned by the surprise attack.
As if on cue, the bars around the wheel retracted back into the ground.
“Now…as I was saying earlier…perish.” the King growled, completely inhuman, as his soldiers climbed up the wall to Oogie with their bare hands. With the strength of a thousand skeletons, they grasped the bars shielding Oogie from the onslaught and ripped them away as if they were tissue. Frightened, Oogie slammed his hand down on a button, and a series of pushers on either side sprang out of the ground and forcefully shoved the undead back into the pit, the bars closing around them.
“Heh, nice try buddy, but no one outboogies Oogie!” he called out, as he reached into his nonexistent pockets and pulled out yet more dice, blasting them in all directions and getting too many combinations to count.
From the ceiling came flamethrowers, more spinning scythes, a barrage of Heartless, bombs, gas bombs, and even giant hellhounds, all raining on the king with no place for him to hide.
“Warriors! Protect your master!” the King ordered, as his army formed a defensive shield around himself. As the hazards approached, they were stopped by the Cauldron-born, sacrificing themselves to keep the king from being hurt. Yet with every soldier that fell, the barrier crumbled even more.
From one of the barrier’s holes, the King could see Oogie’s torture chamber clearly for the first time. It was bathed in a hellish red glow, only marred by the myriad of colors from the wheel itself. Dark shadows were cast by all of the torture devices as they spun around in a loop. And high above, Oogie was clapping, a slow clap that echoed across the room.
“I told y’all! You can’t beat a gamblin’ man at his own game!”
Anxious, the Horned King looked around to see if there was anything he could do. Then, his eyes fell on his precious cauldron…and he got an idea. Turning to face Oogie, he yelled “Well…what if the game were…changed?”
Curious, Oogie leaned in closer. “Huh? I’m afraid ya gotta speak up, friend!”
“Cauldron bubble, burning low, let my hatred make you grow…” the King chanted, as Oogie rubbed his head in confusion.
“Look, I appreciate good songwriting as much as the next guy, but we’re kinda in the middle of a fight he-“
“Send this worm back to hell, by the order of Ragnor Fell!” he finished, as a beam of pure energy flew out of the cauldron and hit Oogie squarely in the jawline, forcing him onto his back and illuminating the room in a purple light.
All the traps disintegrated upon witnessing the light, and all of Oogie’s Heartless instantly became Cauldron-born. They all glowered at Oogie with a malevolence most dire, as he struggled to his feet.
“OK, OK, minor setback. I just gotta put the traps back up, and-what’s that sound?” he asked in confusion, before looking down to his leg. Horrified, he saw that his bag had sprung a leak, and bugs were pouring out of it in droves, coating the floor in wriggling insects.
“Oh, no! Looks like this is the end of Oogie! I didn’t even get my seeeeequuuueellll…” were the final words he spoke before the life drained from his eyes and he was no more than a sack on the ground.
“Hmph. All too easy…” the King gloated, as he laid back on his throne, caressing his beloved cauldron. “You know…this castle would make a decent abode for no-“
Suddenly, the mansion began shaking, and rocks began raining down from the ceiling.
“What!?”
The goblin servant approached and shrieked “The castle is self-destructing, my lord! We must leave now!”
The King clenched his fist in anger, but complied as he ordered his troops to pick him up as they raced out the door, the entrance falling to rubble behind them. They just managed to flee to a nearby cliffside before a huge dust explosion kicked up the surrounding turf, blinding them all.
As the King struggled to clear his vision, the goblin murmured, “Well, that didn’t go so well, my lord. Perhaps a new castle exists around here for us to…control…”
The King wondered what made his slave hesitate, until he opened his eyes and saw something incredible.
Oogie’s house was not only still standing, but now it carried Oogie’s visage. House and man had merged together!
“What sort of black sorcery is this!?” the King demanded, incredulous over this newfound sight.
“Hehehe…Oogie Boogie ain’t down until the show’s over! And the show’s neva’ over as long as I’m here! I guess you could say I’m gonna ‘bring the house down’! Geddit!?” Oogie chuckled.
“Your weaknesses are all too obvious. It is only a matter of time before I bring about your demise, fool.” the King deadpanned, as his Gwythaints lifted the King’s throne into the air, so the two combatants were eye to eye.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s just get to fightin!”
Puzzled at how he was supposed to eliminate something so massive, the King paced back and forth, blissfully unaware that Oogie had noticed the subterfuge and had already sent his legion of Gargoyles to counterattack.
As soon as the King had paced the balcony for the seventh time, he was scratched across the back by a Gargoyle and was forced to take a knee, rubbing his bleeding wound in surprise as the Gargoyles began firing numerous bolts of energy.
Having no other choice, the King called upon his limited magic reserves and shot powerful blasts of lightning, which ripped through the Heartless with ease, and also blew open a corridor within the manor, a purple blob sticking out of it conspicuously.
“‘Hmm…I wonder…'” the King pondered, before blasting another lightning shot at the boil and exploding it, cascading a shower of purple goop in all directions. From up above, the King could hear an audible cry of pain emanate from Oogie, as if the boil was a sensitive spot.
“That shall do nicely…” the King responded, before performing a series of acrobatic leaps and flips around the outside of the manor, carefully dodging the fire blasts and errant shots from the Heartless, and destroying every purple boil one by one. At last, the Horned King reached the top of the manor, climbing up using his gnarled fingers. The final weak point was much larger than all the rest, bigger than the King himself.
“Hmph. Unguarded…how careless.”
But as he started forward, his hands blazing with energy, he was suddenly rocked back and forth violently, as Oogie shook around in an attempt to throw the Horned King off of his back. The King struggled to hold on to the wooden planks, hanging on for dear life.
“Minions! Stop this castle from moving!” the King ordered, his Cauldron-born and Gwythaints complying as they flew up to Oogie’s eyes. In a series of quick strokes, they slashed at the termite tyrant’s eyes, blinding him and stopping his movements.
“Graagh!” Oogie screeched, using his enormous hand to wipe his now bleeding eyes, as the Horned King approached the purple boil. He was about to slam down hard with a duo of flaming fists, but was suddenly burned by a fireball from within the boil!
His face now melted in half, the King was partially blinded and struggled to find the boil. When his ailing peripheral vision finally rested on his target, he ignited his fists one last time and raised them high.
“Good-bye.”
He struck downward, and everything went white.
…
…
The ringing noise in the King’s ears took awhile to go away, but finally he could take his hands off his ears and observe his handiwork.
Oogie’s house was gone. The only things that remained were a few scattered wooden beams, and a burlap sack. But the Horned King didn’t escape unscathed, for his entire army had been vaporized by the explosion. All that was left was his cauldron, untouched by the scars of the fight. It was as if nothing could ever hurt it.
“Now this contest must be concluded, correct?” the King questioned. When he received no response other than the rustling of the wind, he was satisfied, turning his back and beginning to walk away. Unbeknownst to him, however, was that the wind was actually pushing the discarded pieces of Oogie’s house together, as the cloth sack began floating in the air. Pieces of dirt and garbage from the ground were mixed in as well, until there was a giant mass of random objects cluttering the middle of the arena.
With that done, the wind wrapped itself around the garbage in a cyclone pattern, whipping it up into the air and shaping it into a new form. Arms, legs, and a torso were formed, only much larger, and atop the head was a growth shaped like a crown. With one final piece, the transformation was complete, and Mega Boogie was forged.
“Hey!” he called out. “Where ya goin’? The fun’s justa gettin’ started!”
“Impossible…” the King remarked, as he turned around and witnessed this new creation. “I destroyed you! You were nothing!”
“Nothin’? Buddy, I’m the centerpiece o’ Halloween! You can’t get’a rid o’ me so easy-like! Now, just for that…I’m gonna get rid of YOU.” Oogie replied.
The King merely chuckled. “So, then, I’m assuming this is the final round. Once you perish here, it will be over at last. Perfect, that’s all I desire at this point.”
“Then stop blabberin’ on and fight!”
“With pleasure. Mega Boogie, prepare to feel TRUE FEAR!”
“Oooh, I’m so scared. You got yerself a butter knife? Cute.”
From the shadows, a trio of monstrous giants came forth. On the left were twin golems of fire and ice, and on the right was an enormous arachnid, marked with a target on its abdomen, its pincers slathered with deadly venom.
“Ya may have gotten past my heartless and bugs, but these three are gonna put you ta beddy-bye…permanent-like!” Oogie bellowed, as his monsters charged. The Horned King just barely managed to lift his sword up to block the strike from the fire golem, but was unable to react quickly enough to dodge the ice golem’s swipe, which sent him careening into a nearby giant pumpkin, it’s orange juice staining his ruby cloak.
While the King was distracted, Oogie took pieces of garbage from within himself, and threw them at mach speeds towards the King. As it flew through the air, the golems shot fire and ice attacks at the trash, infusing it with elemental powers, so that when it hit the king it erupted into an explosion of steam, big enough to be seen for miles.
When it cleared, the King was still standing, but only just. He strained to get up, leaning on a piece of metal to support himself as he got to his feet. Groggy, he looked around, and in an incredible stroke of luck, he realized he had landed next to his cauldron!
Standing over the metal pot once more, the King repeated his chant. “Cauldron bubble, burning low, let my hatred make you grow…Send this worm back to hell, by the order of Ragnor Fell!”
From out of the cauldron shot a plume of lava, which hit the Ice Golem squarely in the chest, burning a hole right through it. In its final moments, the golem clutched it’s stomach, it’s face contorting into a grimace, before toppling over and melting into a pool of water.
“Aw, sugar cookies! Stop ‘im!” Oogie ordered, as the fire golem raised its mace and roared, charging headfirst at the King.
Undeterred, the King simply doused the creature with a storm of water from the cauldron, turning the beast to stone as it toppled over and smashed into pieces.
“That bucket is ruinin’ me! How am I supposed ta beat it!?” Oogie ranted, as he launched shots of trash at the cauldron like a machine gun, each one being canceled out by energy attacks from the cauldron.
However, while both Oogie and the King were distracted, Lock, Shock and Barrel emerged from the twisted trees, riding in their sentient bathtub as they witnessed the battle.
“Wow, that looks AWESOME!” Barrel shrieked in awe as he witnessed the laser blasts flying in all directions.
“Yeah, but I wish we could help Oogie. He needs us!” Shock whined.
“Yeah…hey, I got it!” Lock replied. The other two turned their heads to the devil masked boy, eager to hear his plan.
“What if we…you know…take that big pot from the skeleton guy, and give it to Oogie! That would help him out for sure!”
“Are you crazy?” Shock remarked. “Do you see the lasers coming out of it? It’s dangerous!”
“So is standing in the middle of a fight. Might as well try to help, right?” Lock reasoned.
“Eh…alright.” Barrel acquiesced, with Shock reluctantly nodding as well.
“Then let’s go!” Lock commanded, as the bathtub reared up on its hind legs like a horse before galloping into the fight.
The tub bobbed and weaved among the lasers, the Horned King paying it no mind as he continued his power struggled with Mega Boogie. One of the blasts caught the tub’s leg and shot it clean off, but it kept going, hobbling on three legs as fast as it could.
Finally, the King took notice of the tub limping towards him, and was forced to split his concentration between Oogie and the children, blasting them with fire and electricity combinations that made the ground erupt into explosive mine blasts. However, it was too little, too late, as the kids jumped out of the tub and tackled the King to the ground, spilling the cauldron and halting its magic briefly.
With the King distracted in trying to wrestle the children off of his stomach, Lock reached his hand out to touch the pot.
“No, you fool! Don’t go inside that cauldron! You’ll die!” the King pleaded.
“Pfft, yeah, sure…” Lock sarcastically replied, as he crawled forward into the cauldron. A moment passed, and when Lock didn’t feel anything, he started to crawl back out, but he didn’t get the chance before he began screaming in horrific pain, his skin literally melting as he collapsed with the confines of the Cauldron, trying to gasp out his last words…but ultimately failing, as he succumbed to his destiny and fully melted into nothing.
“LOCK!” Shock screeched, before shedding a tear behind her arm, devastated by the loss of one of her only true friends, with Barrel patting her back in comfort.
“No, you fools! What have you done! By sacrificing your friend, you have caused the cauldron to deactivate! Now it will overload and destroy all of us!” the King yelled.
“Actually…just you.” Mega Boogie replied with finality. The King heard this and raised his blade, charging towards his nemesis at blinding speed. With a mighty yell, he leaped as high as he could into the air and made a move to stab downward.
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! DIE!” The King screamed with madness as he plunged his sword into Oogie’s skull…
…in his fantasies.
In reality, Oogie reached up and grabbed the sword just in time, stopping it with the utmost ease. Lifting Horned King until the two were eye level, Oogie whispered “Sayonara…” as he grabbed both ends of the King and began pulling as hard as he could in either direction.
“Not…possible…” the King groaned, as his body began to split apart at the waist, until the skeleton had finally suffered too much strain and his body snapped in half!
Blood gushed out of the King’s midsection, staining Mega Boogie’s cloth bag with crimson liquid. “Eeewww…well, since you like your cauldron so much, maybe you should stay there foreva!” Oogie yelled, as he threw both halves of the King into the cauldron, which exploded with a thunderous boom, creating an explosion that almost wiped everyone out with its sheer power.
But when the dust settled, nothing was left of the Horned King. Caer Dullban’s scourge had been permanently wiped out. And with that, Oogie chanted “This is Halloween! I am Halloween! Nothing can beat me, can’t you see! This is Halloween, I am Halloween! Now it’s time for scarin’, you and me!”
: Eh, the bastard got what he deserved.
: Besides, no one really cared about him anyway.
: He was kind of a…buzzkill! Geddit?
: Yeah, I get it.
: But you’re not laughin’.
: I will be soon…on your gravestone.
: Hey, hey, I like a good scrap as much as the next guy, but the fight’s over! Shouldn’t we do that whole…an-al-ysis thing we do that no one cares about?
: Well, there is a quota to fulfill for that check, so why not.
: Alright. So, starting off, both of these characters are…relatively even in terms of strength and durability. Both characters can survive or scale to characters who can survive long falls, although Oogie does have a disadvantage in that his whole body is technically a weak spot, meaning that if he gets cut anywhere, chances are he’ll lose very quickly. On the flip side, Oogie has taken explosion attacks from the likes of Jack’s pumpkin bombs that the Horned King has never been exposed to, and the King has no direct durability feats. All of them come from scaling to Taran.
: In terms of physical strength, both are capable of picking up and carrying people with one arm with ease, and…that’s it, that’s pretty much the best strength feat for both of these characters(outside of Kingdom Hearts for Oogie but that was excluded).
: So they seem pretty even in terms of durability and strength, so you might be thinking this is an even match. But then you get to speed and it’s a pretty clear-cut category for Oogie. Black Cauldron has no speed feats, so the best the Horned King could do is probably subsonic speeds, via scaling to the Gwythaints. By contrast, Oogie was able to react while piloting Santa’s sleigh, clocking in at impressive Mach 3000+ speeds as seen here:
: With that said, Oogie does take the stat trinity overall, which is definitely a big help. But at the same time, the Horned King does have ways around that. His army is capable of distracting Oogie enough for the Horned King to land in some good hits, and coupled with his elemental powers, teleportation, and the Cauldron, he could theoretically keep up with Oogie despite the immense speed advantage. And thanks to the Death Manipulation powers of the Cauldron, if Oogie did climb inside it, there’s a very good chance he would never get out again. So…how does he win?
: Well, I got a trick or two up my buggy sleeves! Starting with my legion o’ leeches!
: Indeed. Oogie’s army of bugs, skeletons, and Heartless easily trumped the Horned King’s army, both in numbers, teamwork, and overall power. Not to mention that every element of the Horned King’s army, barring one, has some kind of counter. The Gargoyles match and surpass the Gwythaints as aerial troops due to having actual offensive prowess, the bugs and skeletons act as a counter to any skeletons the Horned King could summon, and the Wight Knights and Search Ghosts are much better ground soldiers than the Horned King’s mercenaries. And that’s not even getting into things like the giant bugs, Fire and Ice Golems, and Crypt Spider, which have no counter in the King’s army.
: However, there is an exception, and that is the Cauldron-born. This army is capable of assimilating seemingly all living organisms and turning them to the side of the King, and according to lore, they are indestructible unless the Cauldron’s power is reversed. Now, this seems like a massive no limits fallacy, but…that’s how they’re defeated in the movie. They’re indestructible, never fight a single battle, and then dissipate upon the Cauldron’s power being broken. So theoretically, they could be indestructible to Oogie and his bugs, but only theoretically. However, this all implies that the Horned King would actually have the Cauldron to begin with, since there’s no guarantees.
: Even with the Cauldron, Oogie still has ways to fight back. Thanks to his army, Shadow Oogie acting as a distraction, and Oogie’s numerous torture machines and forms, Oogie will always have the upper hand in terms of unpredictability and versatility. Mega Oogie in particular is far stronger than anything the Horned King himself can deal with. The Cauldron was capable of bringing down a castle, but not only did the Cauldron have to overload and become permanently inert for that to happen, but Oogie could just…move away from it. It worked in the movie. It wouldn’t even take that much effort to overload the cauldron, since the only requirement is that a living soul has to climb inside of the cauldron willingly. And considering that Oogie employs three rowdy, non-rule abiding children in his army, it shouldn’t take too much effort to get one to willingly go inside, especially if they aren’t told about the cauldron’s curse. And once the cauldron is deactivated, the Horned King is basically screwed.
: I know this was a pretty long, complicated series of explanations, but to put it succinctly, while the Horned King could keep up in terms of strength and durability somewhat, had an army that could potentially defeat Oogie’s, and a cauldron that would instantly kill Oogie if he happened to climb inside, Oogie’s overall better army, versatility, unpredictability, and stats in his higher forms give the King of Bugs juuuuust enough advantages to pull out a win.
: Happy Halloween, y’all! Get lotsa candy for me!
: Hehe…the winner is Oogie Boogie, the Master of Nightmares.
+Slightly stronger and tougher, especially as Mega Boogie
++Far, FAR faster in terms of reactions
+Army overwhelms the Horned King’s in terms of numbers, abilities, and power
+Generally more unpredictable
+Packs far more versatility
+Lock, Shock and Barrel>Goblin as assistants
=Experience
=Base of Operations
-/+If Oogie did get in the cauldron, he’d probably die. However, Lock, Shock, and Barrel allow him to cancel out the cauldron’s power by sacrificing them
-Cauldron-born could potentially infect Oogie and his army, but they’re too vague to really say that for certain
-/=Overloaded Cauldron technically possesses more power than Oogie, but it can also easily be avoided, and the Cauldron is useless afterwards
-Less fighting skill
-House Oogie and Oogie’s Torture/Heartless machines are a bit too situational
+Better fighting skill due to being trained in swordplay when alive
+Cauldron-born could maybe beat Oogie by infecting Oogie and his army with the undead curse, but the vague nature of the Cauldron-born makes this rather dubious
+/=Black Cauldron is technically capable of producing more power than Oogie, but only when overclocked, after which it permanently shuts off.
+/-If the Horned King somehow got Oogie in the Cauldron, Oogie would probably die, but this can be canceled out by Oogie simply sacrificing one of the kids to the Cauldron
-The Cauldron can kill him if he isn’t careful
–The Black Cauldron may not even be with the King in a fight, and without it the King is helpless
-Outclassed in the stat trinity, especially when Oogie goes into his higher forms
-More predictable due to his limited abilities
-Inferior army all around minus potentially the Cauldron-born
-Goblin<Lock, Shock, and Barrel in terms of a fight
Epilogue…
“Wow, Oogie, that was amazing!” Barrel cheered, as Mega Oogie dropped numerous chunks of garbage in order to shrink back down to his usual self.
“Yeah, I was pretty good, huh? Shame about that cauldron, though…coulda been real handy for the holidays. Oh, and uh, sorry about your friend.” Oogie apologized, somewhat halfheartedly.
“It’s…it’s okay, boss. He died doing what he was born to do.” Shock forced out, a tear in her eye as she held her tiny hands to her face.
They all took a moment of silence in honor of Lock’s sacrifice, before Oogie once again affixed a smile to his contorted face. “So, you kids ready to take over Halloween and Sandy Claws?”
“YEAH!” they cheered.
“Then let’s go!” Oogie encouraged, as he raced away on his short, stubby legs, the children following behind in their injured tub. But before they left the hilltop, they took the cauldron and added in some of the fire golem’s essence, causing it to spark to life. Satisfied, the kids raced after their master.
Back in Halloween Town, Finklestein was still pacing around in the square, wondering what had happened to the heart. He was about to make his 400th pass around the guillotine, when Jack and his friends burst through the gates once more, fear etched onto their faces.
“Something tells me that you don’t have good news.” Finklestein predicted, Sally nodding her head. Jack, out of breath from running, panted out “Oogie…fight…explosions…coming to kidnap Sandy…gotta get ready…”
Without another word, Finklestein raced back to his house and hit a giant red button next to the doorbell. At once, several hatches opened in the square, and out of them came a platoon of Finklestein’s newest experiments: deformed, metallic golems, single-mindedly programmed to follow Finklestein’s orders and protect Halloween Town.
“You know your objective. Now…go!” Finklestein ordered, as the golems nodded and took up positions by the front gate, poised to defend their homeland from the encroaching threat.
“I’d like to see Oogie break through that!” Jack boasted, as he gave Sally a hug.
Outside the town, Oogie saw that the path was blocked by hoards of experiments, forcing him to stop in his tracks.
“Huh…can’t beat them alone…oh, Heartless!” Oogie called, but this time, even after a full minute, there was no response.
“Drat! Now how am I supposed to get into Halloween Town?” Oogie wondered, as he pondered the notion of cutting his losses and going home. But before he could finalize the decision, the kids appeared from behind and tossed the cauldron right at Oogie’s feet, startling the nightmare king. Then he realized what it was, and a wide grin split his face in two as he rose to full height.
“Good job, kiddies!” Oogie responded, as he used a stick to rotate the cauldron around so that it faced the experiments. “Now I just need-“
A skeleton popped out of the ground, finally answering Oogie’s summons.
“Actually, that is what I need.” Oogie finished, as he picked up the skeleton and tossed it into the cauldron, unleashing green mist once again. The mist spread to the Experiments, who became infected by its evil energy as their skin turned a malevolent purple hue.
“Now how’s that for a third act twist, eh?” Oogie commented, as the golems parted to allow their liege to pass freely, Oogie taking it in stride as he regally walked into town, ready to spread fear once again to the hapless citizens of Halloween Town, and beyond. After all…
“There is nothing to fear but Oogie himself.”
JJ's Writing Corner 