Kingdom Hearts parody
Prince of Halloween
Chapter 2 Boogie’s Game
Boogie didn’t just want the throne, he wanted the power and influence, plus he wanted Jack to suffer for taking what was his. He had Lock, Shock, and Barrel observing, and they reported back Jack training Sora and him training in the pumpkin patch. ‘He seems to care about that boy…’ He stroked his chin.
“The Prince of Halloween huh?” He chuckled to himself. It sounded like a path of power to him. “If something were to happen to him, it’d might just kill Jack...again…” A gamble at best, but Oogie was a gambling boogieman.
“Want us to nab him boss?” Lock asked.
“You can leave it to us!” Shock said.
“We can do it!” Barrel said.
Oogie laughed darkly. “You three are no match for that brat.” He could have given them power to rival Sora at this stage, but he kept them on a short leash, giving them enough of his power to keep them useful but so they’d not betray him. His own cheating soul had left him with trust issues. ‘Maybe if I contact...them...no...not yet, gotta save my ace in the hole in case things go tits up!’
Boogie had friends on the other side, contacts forged in darkness. They were looking to make a deal, and Oogie was considering the offer but if he could grab power on his own he wouldn’t need to gamble on them. That gamble would be betting his own life, and he didn’t like putting his life on the line.
“I’ll deal with this little punk myself.” He ate some bugs to ready himself.
-x-
Sora had been enjoying his time in Halloween Land. The locals were….strange but fine. It all felt like a weird dream but he pinched himself and was sure he wasn’t dreaming. He’d been welcomed and Jack’s announcement that he was the Pumpkin Prince earned him a bit of fame among the town’s people.
His training was going well, Jack took time to teach him things and when he got busy with other duties Sora trained with Horo Horo. The pumpkin patch made him feel the most at ease. So he went there to train, practice, meditate, and think…
He still missed his home, he missed his family and friends...he missed Riku...but thinking of him brought a swell of very confusing and conflicting emotions. Sora could still picture Riku standing midst that storm of darkness unflinching, unwavering, almost cold…
‘Riku where are you...why did you do this…what happened to everyone…’
“Master Sora?” Horo Horo spoke up, pulling the brunette from his heavy thoughts.
“Mm? Sorry it’s nothing.” He got up and did some stretches. “What spell are you gonna teach me today?”
Before Horo Horo could answer. “You wanna learn something really cool?” A new voice Sora hadn’t heard before, but still sent shivers down his spine. He whipped around and Oogie was there lounging on a fence. “I got more tricks than that Bag of Bones does!”
“Oogie Boogie!” Horo Horo cried out.
Sora’s expression shifted from confusion to panic. He took a fighting stance and put distance between them. Sora had been chilling on a pumpkin, now he was a good five steps away from the boogieman, still too close in Horo Horo’s opinion.
“Seems you’ve heard of me, though we’ve never met before, though my name is infamous.” Oogie bragged. “But do relax you don’t need to be so scared of little old me.” He batted his eyes which looked more unnerving if anything.
“What are you doing here?” Sora questioned, pointing Horo Horo like a weapon, which he was.
“Easy now, can’t a loyal subject pay respects to his prince?” He bowed. “I heard about you, the Halloween Prince.” Oogie moved fast, despite his size, he moved like a horror movie villain appearing before Sora taking his hand and trying to kiss it.
“Icy Fury!” Sora called the chill from the Underworld, creating ice that pushed and shot out, forcing Oogie back.
“How cold, why so cold little prince?” He faked hurt.
“Jack told me about you!” He said putting both hands on Horo Horo, fully ready to fight this time. “You betrayed him.”
“That’s how he tells it, but there’s two sides to every story, don’t you think?”
Sora thought about Riku, and his hope that his friend hadn’t betrayed him made him relax in front of the enemy, not enough to drop his guard not fully. “I really did have Jack’s best interest at heart. I knew he’d never be happy being the Pumpkin King, not in the long run.”
“But you cheated…”
“I did!” Boogie pulled out a dirty rag and wiped his eyes. “But he wouldn’t listen to me, I told him to let me win, then we both could have been happy, he’d have his freedom now if he just listened.”
“Master Sora don’t listen to this guy, he’s a schemer he’s always working an angle.” Horo warned.
“Is that so wrong, everyone deserves a second chance, even if mistakes were made.” His words touched a nerve in Sora, playing on his hope, wish, and feelings. “I believe I have a way of making it up to dear old Jack.”
“What?”
“I come with a warning. A darkness is coming, a darkness that wants to gobble up our land.” Sora’s grip on Horo Horo tightened. “Jack can’t stop it, I can’t stop it, even you little prince can’t stop it.”
Sora lowered Horo. “That…” He remembered the darkness that swallowed up his world. “Is coming here.”
“It’s not too late, we can stop it together, the three of us!” Oogie got in close, putting an arm around Sora. “We’ll be a lean mean nightmare team!” He said slapping his big round belly.
Sora wanted to protect Halloween Land from the darkness, he didn’t want to see another world fall and become lost like his. “How do we stop it?” If they stopped it maybe they could get a clue about Riku.
Oogie looked around. “We gotta be careful, the darkness has eyes and ears everywhere spies lurking in the shadows!” He leaned in close like he was gonna whisper something.
Sora let his guard down and leaned closer. “Toxic Buggy Breath!” Oogie exhaled a toxic cloud of smoke, made from various bugs in him.
It caught Sora off guard, stunning him and knocking him out. “Jackpot, not so tough now are ya?” Boogie laughed.
Horo flew up. “You rotten bag of bugs, how dare you!? You’ve not changed at all, Jack was right to banish you! When he finds out about this you’re finished.”
“That’s if he finds out. Spider Breath!” He breathed out webbing it caught Horo Horo and tied him up in a strange purple and black web that restricted his movement and sealed his magic.
He grabbed Sora and ran off. “This little prince is dead, I’ll be next in line for the throne...huhuhuhuhuhu…” He chuckled.
-x-
Oogie made it back to his place, but soon found killing Sora wasn’t so easy. His magical self defenses activated, he conjured mini hollows, small ghosts that protected Sora’s body from damage and attacks. “How annoying!”
The ghost scattered and messed with his stuff. “How hard is it to kill this brat!?” He roared.
Oogie was doing all he could, but nothing was working. Even knocked out Sora’s mind was still active, his spirit wanted to survive. Oogie tore through an old book. “Guess I gotta show some of my best stuff.” He did a dance before. “Nightmare Shadow!”
His shadow stretched out, covering Sora’s form and then it began to seep into him. The ghosts tried to fight it off but had no effect.
Sora was hexed with a Nightmare. The boy moaned and groaned, his body tossing and turning. The mini hollows began to look sick.
-x-
Jack came to check on Sora and found Horo Horo tied up. “What happened?”
“It’s Boogie, he took Sora, he…” Horo Horo told Jack everything, and Jack was furious. His head ignited making it look like he had a head of flames.
Jack raced towards Boogie’s place like hell was at his heels.
-x-
Sora found himself in a similar state as the dream he had before the darkness came, but the ground was cracked up. Window panes showed Halloween Land.
“Jack doesn’t really care about you, he wants his freedom, that’s why he’s so insistent on training you. You’ll be the Pumpkin King and he’ll be free.” Oogie’s voice echoed around him.
“No that’s not true...Jack wants to help me...he…”
The ground broke beneath him, and Sora saw fragments of the stress Jack was under. He had vented to Sora about his issues briefly, the nightmare was taking these thoughts and twisting them. “Stop it...stop it...STOP IT!” He closed his eyes and tried to force away the darker thoughts.
“Sora!” His eyes opened and he was back on his island. Riku was standing there.
“Riku?” He smiled at him. “Riku!” Sora raced towards him only for Riku to turn into a pile of bugs. “AAAHHHHH!”
The terror was so intense it hurt, before he could wake up he was yanked back by the shadow. The dream reset and Sora ran to Riku only for the darkness to come rushing in. He tried to use magic but it wasn’t enough and they both got crushed. “It’s your fault Sora…” Riku’s voice echoed in his mind.
Reset, back to start. Sora tried to fight with his magic, using a different spell, only for it to fail and Riku got taken away. Pain rocked Sora’s form before he was dragged back to start. “Sora help me!” This time the heartless were swarming Riku and Sora tried fighting them off only to have the boy vanish.
“No!” Over and over again the Nightmare Shadow rocked Sora dragging through his worst fears and deepest doubts. His health and mana were dropping.
Outside his ghosts were getting sick and fading away.
“Focus...this isn’t real...none of this is real…” Sora gripped his locks. His Halloween Town outfit vanished and he looked like he was wearing his older clothes.
“Not real...you’d deny your weakness...your failure...you couldn’t save Riku...you couldn’t save anyone...you couldn’t even save yourself…you ran...such a coward...so weak and scared...” Riku appeared but he was wearing a robe like Oogie’s clothe. “You can’t deny me...I know your fear...that I’m just like Oogie...that I betrayed you...that’s because I did...I sold everyone out to the darkness…”
“Enough…” Sora’s aura flared, a light shined from inside him and his clothes returned to his halloween look. “I am not afraid of you...no matter what Riku did or does I will face him without fear!”
The shadow kicked up a storm and tried to pull Sora into the ground but he floated up. “I’m his friend, and if he goes down the wrong path I’ll just kick his butt and drag him back onto the right one. I’ll scare him straight. He won’t be alone, but I can’t do anything if I break here.”
“You!” The shadow tried to attack Sora but he phased right through him.
“Your trick doesn’t work on me, you are nothing but a bad dream, you have no power here.” Sora clapped his hands and the dream world erupted by candle light, the shadow screamed in pain and was banished from him. “I’m the Pumpkin Prince, the Darkness will be scared of me!” He said before collapsing, the dream world fading away.
“Impossible!” Oogie gasped. Sora hadn’t broken from his spell. He’d taken some damage and was drained, but otherwise fine. “Now’s my chance!”
“Huh?” Sora got hoisted up and put over a boiling pot. Oogie flipped a switch and Sora got lowered towards the pot.
Jack saved Sora and got him to safety. “What?!”
“Hello Oogie!” Jack looked pissed, arms crossed and standing with full intimidation.
“Jack…” Oogie’s tone shifted. “Old buddy, old pal, old friend of mine.”
“We aren’t friends, we were and you crossed a line. You had your chance to change, now that’s done!” Oogie gulped and backed up.
“Come on, there’s no harm done I just gave him a little scare is all.” He’d tried to scare Sora to death.
Sora had Horo Horo back.
“I spared you for old times sake, I let you live in the hopes of maybe becoming friends again. Not this time you are finished Oogie!”
“Huhuhu you finish me? Let’s see you try!”
The two clash, Horo Horo put up a barrier around Sora to protect him from the chaos. Oogie’s house was wrecked, all his traps and security was no match for Jack. His buggy skills were no match for Jack’s Blazing Fury.
Oogie tried to bind Jack only for him to counter with Nightmare Applause, he spun and tore through the webbing and struck Oogie, knocking him back. “You...you hit me…” He glared but Jack wasn’t moved. “Fine...you chose him over me...you chose your crown over me...you forced me to do this Jack...what happens next you forced my hand…”
He set his house to explode. Jack was forced to grab Sora and escape allowing Oogie to slip away. Sora apologized but Jack shut that down. “You have nothing to apologize for. Oogie made his choices and I made mine. Our paths severed long ago, my friend is long since gone, he’s not someone worth fighting for anymore.”
Jack patted his shoulder. He’d seen it in Boogie’s eyes, his friend wasn’t there anymore and who Oogie was, who he chose to become was a monster, not the good kind. “Protect yourself Sora, become strong to save your friends and protect what matters to you.”
-x-
Sadly Oogie wasn’t done, he reached out to his friends on the other side. Agents chosen by the Darkness for their wicked hearts and great power. “It’s time to go all in, what do I need to do?”
To be continued...Protect Halloween Land
Sora continues training with Jack gaining new skills and techniques. Oogie has discovered a keyhole and uses his powers to invite the heartless in. They attack Halloween Town mummy like heartless and ghost like heartless. Sora’s skills prove useful Sora even summons his own army to help battle the Heartless. It’s not enough Sora can feel it the Darkness will consume everything if they don’t fix this. His desire to protect the land manifests the keyblade for Halloween Land with it Sora can purify the heartless and seal the keyhole.