Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Insert Muddled Holidy Here

"Forget it! The ice cream is mine!"

"No way! I just spent a whole hour training and I need the sugar to recharge my energy reserves!"

Drake did indeed look like he had just spent an hour in intense physical workout. He was covered in sweat and gasping for breath as he raced Tyler down the corridor. Tyler had the advantage, since he was still fresh and was quickly pulling away.

Then the first booby trap went off, a pair of circular saws thrust out of the wall, Tyler barely managed to duck and roll under them in time. Drake leapt over the pair of saws, his blue and silver armor appearing in a flash of light. He landed in a crouch and took off with renewed energy. His mystical armor evened the odds a bit and perhaps tipped them in his favor as he passed Tyler.

He yelped as a bolt of red light hit the wall directly next to his head. Drake grabbed his cape and pulled it up in front of himself, the fabric turning from black to silver. More bolts of red light rained down, but they all bounced off the cape. Drake slowly advanced through the minefield of lasers. He glanced back for a moment to notice Tyler had disappeared.

Gave up, huh? Drake thought. He smirked as he spotted his prize at the end of the hall. A carton of ice cream sat on a pedestal in the center of the room. He exited the hallway of lasers and dropped his cape as it changed back to its normal black shade.

He glanced around as his hand reached towards the ice cream. He expected some final trap. What he didn't expect was for an air vent grate to fall from the ceiling and Tyler to drop down, suspended from his trusty rope. The two spotted each other their eyes widening. Tyler leapt towards the ice cream and Drake darted forward. Drake snatched the carton and pulled it back, but Tyler caught hold of the other side and yanked it back.

"Give me!" Drake growled as he pulled.

"No!" Tyler shot back.

A scraping noise distracted them; they glanced to the side and saw the pedestal withdrawing into the floor.

"Oh, this can't be good…" the two noted.

A boulder dropped from the ceiling at the other end of the room. Drake and Tyler only had time to stare at each other in surprise and then they tossed the carton to the side, turning and making a run for it as the boulder rolled towards them. The hall full of lasers blasted at them, prompting yelps of pain from both, but they didn't stop for fear of being crushed. They avoided the saws in much the way they had on the way in. After that it was just a straight harmless corridor. They sped down it, the boulder picking up speed as the floor inclined down. They leapt to the side as they made it out of the hall. The boulder rolled past them and punched its way through the wall.

Tyler and Drake slumped against the wall, gasping for breath.

"I don't suppose you remembered the ice cream?" Tyler asked.

Drake shook his head. "All that for nothing."

They glanced up at the hole in the wall and saw Hati standing there, glaring at the pair. Behind her they could make out her office, now sporting a smashed pile of wood which had probably been her desk before it met the boulder.

"I think we'll be leaving now," Drake gulped. Tyler nodded and the two took off again. Hati snarled and dashed after them.

-

Halloween Town was as peaceful as ever, or as peaceful as a place occupied by all manner of ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and other assorted spooks could be. The town was alive with activity. They were preparing for their next Halloween under the guidance of the new Pumpkin Queen.

Edith Itcha Cobweb Skellington had arrived in the town a few days ago (though it seemed like weeks ago to the poor readers) and claimed to be the daughter of the former Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington.
Jack had a hard time denying the resemblance, since she looked like a miniature skeleton with a black and white striped dress resembling Jack's tuxedo. Jack and Sally welcomed the child with open arms. Edith began helping Jack with coordinating Halloween and realizing his daughter would be much better suited to the job than himself, passed his position and title onto her.

"So now we have a Sue that's put herself in charge of Halloween," Tash explained, she squinted her eyes as a ray of light found its way into them. Drake was sitting towards the back with a small silvery mirror in hand, the source of the reflected light. He smirked as he saw Tash's face begin to turn red. "So who here wants to head into the Nightmare before Christmas fandom and get that Sue?"

"I'll do it," Drake said, slipping the mirror into a pocket and standing up. He turned to leave, but Tash interrupted his exit.

"Good, take Tyler with you."

"What?" Drake blinked as he turned back to her. "But I work alone."

"Too bad, the two of you caused a lot of trouble earlier-"

"It was Adrian's boulder, not ours," Tyler interrupted.

"Regardless, you're the ones who set it off-,"

"I work alone."

"It was Adrian's boulder."

"You're either going into that fandom together, or you're repairing every single hole that rock punched into this place!" Tash screamed. Drake and Tyler darted from the room without another word of protest.

-

The two grabbed their Society gadgets and left for the fandom. Their plothole opened in the forest outside of Halloween Town. The pair glanced around at the dark, barren forest. The trees all stretched high above their heads and didn't appear to have any leaves at all.

"Come on, I think the town's this way," Drake said as he started forwards. "Know anything about this fandom?"

"Yeah, I love this movie," Tyler said.

"Good," Drake nodded as they spotted the gate to the town.

The gate creaked loudly as Drake pushed it open. The cobblestone path was surrounded on both sides by tombstones. Several white sheet-like ghosts rose from the graves as the two strangers passed.

"It's a little bit creepier actually being here, instead of just watching it," Tyler noted as he glanced nervously at the ghosts.

Drake shrugged. "I guess…"

Jack Skellington leapt from behind a tombstone and shrieked at the top of his lungs. The two Society agents screamed in surprise and turned to run, but ended up tripping over their own feet, crashing into the ground.

"Welcome to Halloween Town!" Jack exclaimed with his usual cheery personality now in place.

"What a way to say 'hello'," Tyler groaned.

Drake pushed himself into a sitting position, still a little dazed from his impact with the ground. He stared up at the tall, lanky skeleton man.

"What brings you to our magnificent town?" Jack asked as he gripped Tyler's hand and pulled him back to his feet.

"We're looking for someone," Drake replied.

"Edith Itcha Cobweb Skellington," Tyler said.

"Oh, that's my daughter. Are you friends of hers?" Jack asked.

"Not really," Drake frowned. "She's not who she says she is."

"Impossible!" Jack exclaimed, crossing his arms. "I trust her with every bone in my body."

"But don't you find it suspicious?" Tyler asked. "A daughter you never even heard of just showed up out of the blue!"

"Well…"

"And she happens to be perfect at everything she does," Drake added.

"She is pretty good…"

"You handed your position as Pumpkin King over at the drop of a hat!" Drake continued. "The Jack I know from the movie wouldn't do that!"

"Um, you lost me there," Jack said, scratching his skull.

"Never mind, just lead us to where she's at and we'll show you we're telling the truth," Tyler said.

Jack frowned and scratched his chin as he stared at the two. His frown sent chills up the spines of the two agents. "I guess it can't hurt…"

"All right, lead the way," Drake said.

Jack turned and led them into the town. Halloween Town was just as creepy as its outskirts. The buildings resembled those you would find in a haunted country town and some were constructed so as to be unnaturally crooked. Spiders and rats populated the streets as well as the occasional snake. At one point, a flock of bats flew over their heads. Jack paid none of this any mind, while Drake and Tyler glanced around feeling slightly unnerved and trying not to let it show.

"There she is," Jack said as they arrived in the town square. He pointed towards the foot of the steps that lead to Doctor Finklestein's lab. Edith was there, discussing plans for Halloween with an Igor-like ghoul and a plump witch.

Drake and Tyler glanced at each other and then started towards the Mary-Sue. They both reached into their pockets, each grasping a prohibitor. Fortunately, the square was crowded so they went unnoticed by Edith until they were finally close enough. They leapt at her from two different directions, pulling out the bracelet-like prohibitors.

A fist slammed into Drake's stomach, eliciting a gasp of pain and halting his leap. He stumbled back and glanced at his attacker. His assailant resembled him perfectly with the same dark brown hair and brown eyes, which glared at him coldly. His wardrobe though was completely opposite that of Drake's. Instead of the silver and blue jacket, he wore a red and gold one with a white shirt emblazoned with a red dragon. His jeans were black and he wore a pair of black and red sneakers.

He glanced over to see Tyler picking himself up off the ground, having been tripped by a clone of himself.
The two doppelgangers stepped back towards the Sue. Edith glanced between the two. "So these are the guys you said were going to try and capture me?"

"That's right," Fake Drake smirked. "But they'll have to go through the Pro-Cliché and Mary-Sue Protection Society to do it."

"I was wondering when I would run into me again," Tyler said as he glared at his copy.

"So you guys are the Protection Society?" Drake asked. He placed a hand on his hip and pretended to study the two. "You don't look too tough."

"We'll see about that!" Tyler's doppelganger snapped as he pulled out a Ping-Pong paddle. The paddle morphed into a staff.

Tyler pulled out his own Ping-Pong paddle and morphed it into a staff similar to his clone's. The two leapt at each other. The two Drakes glanced at each other.

"So if Tyler's clone is called Relyt, I guess you call yourself Ekard?" Drake asked as he raised his left arm, revealing the silver bracelet on his wrist.

"That's my name, but I'm not a clone," Ekard said as he raised his own arm, revealing a golden bracelet.

"Clone, evil alternate dimension version, same thing," Drake said as his bracelet glowed and his armor formed in a flash of blue light. Ekard summoned his own armor.

The two stood and glared at each other. Ekard's armor was unsurprisingly red and gold, the exact opposite of Drake's blue and silver hues. His helmet's visor was green and the dragon head design on it looked a bit more sinister compared to Drake's.

Drake leapt forward, swinging a punch at Ekard. The doppelganger stepped to the side and threw his own punch, which Drake blocked with an arm. The two broke apart and attempted to kick each, but their legs connected in midair. Drake growled and charged forward, launching blow after blow at Ekard, who backpedaled, blocking Drake's attacks perfectly. He leapt backwards and kicked off a wall, launching himself back at Drake. Ekard's flying punch landed squarely on Drake's armored chest.

"I think we should take this somewhere else!" Tyler shouted as he blocked several blasts of magic from Relyt.

"Good idea," Drake said.

"You're not going anywhere!" Ekard growled as he leapt forward, swinging his fist at Drake's chest again. Drake grabbed hold of his wrist.

"Don't you care that some of the characters could get hurt?" Drake asked as Ekard pulled his arm free.

"What does it matter?" Ekard asked, conjuring a red and gold spear. He swung the weapon forward, but Drake summoned a silver and blue version of the weapon and blocked with it. "The Sue will make everything perfect in this world, no matter what happens!"

"She'll just end up controlling this whole world!" Drake growled as he shoved against his copy's spear. Ekard stumbled back and Drake stabbed forward. The tip of his spear hit Ekard's armor and sent him flying back.
"It doesn't matter," Ekard gasped. "Everyone in this world will be happy so long as she's here."

"It won't be real happiness though!" Drake growled, tossing his spear to the side. He leapt into the air, his foot glowing with blue energy. The Protection Society agent tossed his spear to the side and leapt into the air, thrusting his foot forward in an imitation of Drake's attack. The two kicks met in midair, the colliding attacks created a loud explosion and flung them apart. Drake crashed into the fountain in the middle of the square, while Ekard bounced off the gate to Jack's house.

Tyler grunted as he rolled across the ground, landing near Drake.

"So how's it going?" Drake asked as he pushed himself up, grabbing Tyler's arm and helping him back to his feet.

"Not too good," Tyler replied.

"Yeah, they're perfect matches for us," Drake said. "We need a plan or we'll just end up tiring each other out."

"Want to try switching opponents?" Tyler asked.

"Might work," Drake shrugged.

"Everyone get them!" The two looked up at Edith's shout to find the entire town bearing down on them. Ekard chuckled, while Relyt smirked widely.

The Society Agents found themselves surrounded. The two quickly stood back to back turning in circles to see if they could find some exit. Drake's spear had somehow found its way back into his hands.

"Time for a Scene Transition," Tyler said as he pulled out a gold stopwatch. He clicked the button and everything went dark.

-

Drake grunted as he regained conscious. He tried to move, but found his arms and legs held in position by ropes. He glanced around the room.

The floor was a giant wheel with different colored glowing panels. He and Tyler were tied side by side and lying on the wheel. Skeletons hung from the ceiling, along with a flock of bats. It was pretty easy to guess they were in Oogie's manor.

"What happened?" Tyler asked. "I thought the Scene Transition was supposed to get us out of danger!"

"Yeah, but the only real guarantee we have of where in time it will drop us is that we'll still be alive at that point," Drake explained. He struggled against his bonds, trying to reactive his armor and break free, but Ekard or whoever had known what they were doing when they tied him up.

"That's right," Ekard chuckled as he stepped into view, Relyt following him. "The Halloween Town inhabitants captured you and knocked you out because you refused to hurt any of them than Edith convinced them to turn you over to us."

"Can we just kill them now?" Relyt asked.

"Now what fun would that be?" Ekard asked, pulling out a pair of dice.

"Boot to the Head!"

"What the-?"

SCHWOOSH-FWUMP!

Adrian appeared above Ekard and slammed his foot into his face, sending him flying back into the wall. Relyt pulled out his staff and prepared to strike, but a shadow moving on the wall caught his attention and he twisted around just in time to block a slash from Michael's sword. Michael vanished into the darkness of the room and Marcus came running forward, landing a kick to Relyt's chest and sending him falling back. Ekard growled as he pushed himself away from the wall. A boot print was visible on his face. He threw his left arm up, conjuring his red and gold armor before leaping at Adrian, the Liberian grabbed the pendant around his neck, morphing it into a sword, which he used to block Ekard's spear.

"Need some help?" Willie asked as he leapt out of the shadows, landing next to Drake and Tyler. He quickly slashed through the ropes binding them.

"Thanks," Drake jumped to his feet and gestured with his left arm, summoning his armor in a flash of light.

He and Tyler each leapt towards their respective copies. Drake caught Ekard with a kick to the side while he was blocking a slash from Adrian. Relyt was flinging balls of magic at Michael using the light they produced to keep the Darkness possessed agent away. Tyler leapt at him and caught him in the side of the head with his staff.

The two Protection Society agents retreated to one side of the room, while the small army of Elimination Society agents gathered on the other side of the room, weapons raised.

"We'll finish this some other time," Ekard said, glaring at the group. He pulled out a portal gun and opened a plothole. Before any of them could react, he and Relyt disappeared into the portal.

-

"That was fun," Drake sighed.

"What about the Sue?" Tyler asked.

"The girls are taking care of her," Adrian replied. A beep sounded from his pocket and he pulled out his communicator.

"We've got Edith in custody," Tash's voice issued from the communicator.

"Guess it's time to head home then," Marcus said.

"And you two can get to work fixing those holes you punched in the Library," Adrian said, fixing Drake and Tyler with a stern glare.

"I thought going on this mission excused us from that?" Tyler asked.

"Nope, you just put it off for a while," Adrian said.

"What a gyp," Drake sighed.

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