Chapter Text
“Off to the next world!” Sora called, full of energy. He couldn’t wait to finally use his Keyblade again.
“The next world shouldn’t be far,” Donald said, already seeing outlines in the distance.
The new world shone at them in orange colors, and they could see bright yellow eyes and an evil smile.
“This looks like…a pumpkin?” Kairi asked, surprised.
As they approached, dark, pointed buildings protruded from the mist. All in all, this world didn’t look very inviting but rather daunting.
Goofy hesitated. “We really gonna land there?” he asked, shivering.
“Not without changing form again,” replied Donald. “We stand out way too much with our bright colors.”
Sora cocked his head questioningly as Donald raised his wand. Moments later, the four of them beamed down to the new world.
They finally found themselves in a black wasteland. Except for a few emaciated trees and a moon that shone ominously above them, they couldn’t see much in the dark of the night.
“Wow, look at you!” Sora exclaimed, half excited, half distraught.
Donald looked like a mummy that had risen from the dead and Goofy looked like a mix between Frankenstein’s monster and a werewolf. A large screw popped out from his head and his hands looked like claws. Kairi’s clothes had turned into rags that hung from her emaciated body. She wore a large black witch hat on her head and her skin had lost all of its color.
“Well, at least nothing went wrong this time,” she said, relieved.
“Right.” Sora grinned. “Unless that huge wart on your face wasn’t part of the disguise.”
“W-What? There’s a wart on my face?” She turned to Donald with a scowl. “Really, Donald?!” Kairi was about to pounce on him when Sora started laughing out loud. “It’s okay, I was kidding!”
Kairi snorted angrily at Sora. “Hmm, oh, yeah? Well, you have fangs!”
“Uh-huh, sure…” Sora replied, believing he was too smart to fall for Kairi’s tricks.
“But Sora, you do have fangs,” Goofy confirmed. He had noticed that Sora looked very much like a vampire.
“What, really?” Sora asked, confused, and felt his teeth. “Ouch!” he groaned, as he had just pricked his tongue on them. “Better be careful with eating now.” He chuckled.
“I hope you’re not after our blood!” Donald squawked.
“Hmm, well, now that you mention it…” Sora said, grinning darkly at Donald so that his fangs flashed. He approached Donald threateningly.
“Wak! Don’t you dare come closer!” Donald admonished him, before running away frightened. Sora ran after him, amused.
Donald finally took shelter behind a scarecrow with a pumpkin head. However, just as he was feeling safe again, the scarecrow turned its head and winked at Donald.
“Waaak!” Donald screamed and ran back to Sora.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Don’t worry, I won’t suck your blood.”
“Not you! The scarecrow! It winked at me!” Donald said anxiously.
Sora and his friends observed it carefully.
“Sure looks scary…” Goofy said at last.
“You probably just imagined it, Donald. There’s no one here except us,” Sora concluded and approached the scarecrow. He knocked on the pumpkin head and shook it. “See? Nothing to be scared of.”
“There’s a sign above its head,” Kairi said.
The sign read Halloween Town and the scarecrow was set up so that it showed the way to the town with its finger.
“Halloween Town? Well, that makes sense,” Kairi said, finally understanding why everything looked so scary here.
“I guess we’ll be going that way,” Sora said, walking in the direction the scarecrow was pointing.
After a while, they approached a cemetery where, as everywhere, there was dead silence.
“Gee, are we the only people here?” Sora asked, disappointed.
“To be honest, I don’t think you want to find anyone here…” concluded Kairi as she was pretty sure the people here didn’t look like the friendly neighbors next door.
“Yeah, Sora, don’t call them!” Donald said, scolding him.
However, it was already too late. Dark shadows suddenly appeared on the tombstones and began to sing as if on cue.
Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn’t you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween
Suddenly, the gates of the cemetery opened as if by magic and a crowd of ghosts flew over their heads in the direction of the gates. Beyond the gates was the outline of a creepy, dark city. Sora and his friends gasped in fear, but at the same time they found the spectacle of the ghosts fascinating. The ghosts rattled the cemetery’s sharp fences and dropped nasty, grinning pumpkin heads on them, making it look like the heads were being impaled. They sang in eerie, ghostly voices.
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
It’s our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween
The ghosts flew towards the city as they continued to sing.
Even if Sora was scared, he didn’t want to miss this spectacle. He had never seen something so peculiar. Eventually, his thirst for adventure overtook him and he ran after them.
“Waaiit!” Donald cried and ran after Sora with Kairi and Goofy following close behind.
They finally passed through the city gates and came to a huge town square that was filled with all sorts of creepy figures. They all joined in the chant, displaying their unique horrors.
I am the clown with the tear-away face
Here in a flash and gone without a trace
I am the “who” when you call, “Who’s there?”
I am the wind blowing through your hair
I am the shadow on the moon at night
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
Suddenly, a group of eerie figures came through the city gates, pulling a horse made of straw and wood behind them. On the horse they had put the scarecrow that Sora and his friends had seen earlier near the cemetery. It seemed like the climax of the show would soon follow. A little man with two faces, one on the front of the head and one on the back, now began to sing.
In this town
Don’t we love it now?
Everybody’s waiting for the next surprise
Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back
And scream like a banshee
Make you jump out of your skin
Suddenly, the previously lifeless scarecrow moved and grabbed Sora’s arm.
Sora was so frightened that he didn’t even know what was happening to him.
The scarecrow pulled him onto his horse, then grabbed Kairi and pulled her with him.
The crowd cheered when they saw the new creepy faces on the horse as they had never seen them before in Halloween Town. The scarecrow had made Sora and Kairi part of the show. Donald wanted to save them and get them back down, but suddenly his hand got stuck on something. It was the head of a man dripping with slime. With great effort and disgust Donald tried to free himself from the sticky head.
Suddenly, the scarecrow grabbed a torch that a witch from the crowd was holding out to him and put it in his mouth. Since it was mostly made of straw, his entire body went up in flames. Sora and Kairi were terrified, but the scarecrow danced so gracefully and eerily in the flames that their fear gradually gave way to enthusiasm.
This is Halloween, everybody scream
Won’t ya please make way for a very special guy
Our man Jack is King of the Pumpkin patch
Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now!
The scarecrow, or rather, the Pumpkin King, spat flames from his burning pumpkin head at the crowd and they caught their breaths in fear and excitement.
Suddenly, the Pumpkin King started a somersault and jumped into a green slime well that was in the middle of the square. Everyone stared towards the well, waiting with anticipation.
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
Before their eyes, a skeleton emerged slowly and gracefully out of the well, green slime dripping down from his body, while more and more of it was revealed. The crowd was now so ecstatic that they raised their arms and joined in a cheerful chant while Sora and Kairi also clapped their hands with enthusiasm. Goofy raised his arms as well and sang along. Donald, however, was still trying to loosen his hand from the melting man’s head.
La la la la-la la la la
Halloween! Halloween!
La la la la-la la la la
Halloween! Halloween!
The skeleton made a graceful bow and with that the show came to an end.
The crowd ran up to him and showered him with compliments, telling him that this was the best Halloween they’d ever had. The Pumpkin King thanked them all and then turned to Sora and Kairi.
“Thank you for joining our show. You look amazing! We always love to see new scary faces here in Halloween Town!”
Sora and Kairi stared at him, feeling intimidated.
“Oh, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town!” he exclaimed as he made an impressive pose.
At that moment, Donald had finally managed to detach himself from the melting man and plopped back with tremendous momentum, falling directly onto Jack. However, Jack gracefully caught him with his long, skeletal arms.
“And you are?” he asked Donald and his friends curiously.
“Put me down!” Donald exclaimed in annoyance, his legs fidgeting wildly. Goofy took him. “This is Donald and I’m Goofy,” he said, introducing himself.
“I’m Sora and this is my friend…um…” He looked around for Kairi, but she was standing further back in the square, curiously picking something up from the floor.
“What have you got there?” Sora asked and walked up to her.
Then she turned to him and he saw that she was holding a severed blue arm. “Aaaah!” Sora screamed.
Jack let out a laugh. “Wow, that was a great trick! Um…” He looked at the girl questioningly.
“Oh, I’m Kairi,” she replied.
“Kairi! Sora! Donald! Goofy! We’re so glad to have you with us. I sure hope you’ll join our next Halloween as well! And your other friends, too, although we still have to work on their movements,” said Jack and scratched his skull.
Sora looked at him confused. “Huh? What other friends?”
“Your ghostly friends, of course!” He pointed to a few Heartless who had mingled with the crowd. But instead of attacking them, the Heartless just floated around lifelessly.
“I hope you don’t mind that the doctor and I conducted some experiments on them? Unfortunately, they weren’t as successful as we’d hoped. Their movements are not scary enough,” Jack said, sighing. “We have to fix that by next Halloween. And we only have 364 days left! I should go to the doctor right away and ask him for help!”
And with that, he set off enthusiastically. They could tell that, when it came to Halloween, Jack was in his element.
“Wow, they somehow found a way to control the Heartless…” Kairi summarized. “We should definitely find out more about this. It might be useful!”
“No!” protested Donald. “We’re just wasting our time here, I don’t like this place!”
“But Kairi’s right,” Sora interjected. “If they succeed, maybe we won’t have to fight the Heartless anymore.”
“Oh boy, that sure would be convenient!” Goofy said, smiling optimistically.
Sora nodded. “Jack went to that house over there,” he said and pointed to a strange tower with a huge dome. “Let’s go!”
Kairi was hot on their heels when she suddenly noticed a girl who was hiding behind a tree, watching them. When Kairi noticed her, however, she got scared and disappeared straight into a dark alleyway. What Kairi immediately noticed about the girl was that she was missing an arm and that her body was the same color as the arm she had found, so it must have belonged to her. Kairi hesitated. The girl surely needed this arm. She decided to hurry after the girl to give her the arm back.