Chapter 9: The Haunting Amplified
“P-please! I’m begging you! Show some mercy!”
“Don’t try to be funny”, said Sharak. “There is no place in the new era of darkness for mercy, nor is there any place for defiance.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“LYING SCUM!” roared the creature, as he slashed the human right across his face. “Do you truly believe for a second that it’s even remotely possible to keep secrets from me?! I know all about your ridiculous beliefs! You preach to people saying that light is more powerful than dark! You give all these ludicrous speeches of how “superior” light is! It’s vermin like you that makes me sick! And there’s only one cure for that that ails me!”
“What…what are you doing?” asked the human.
“There is only ONE superior that exists”, explained the emperor, as he placed both of his hands around the preacher’s head, “and that superior is me, the ultimate darkness! And those who dare to disagree…must be eliminated!”
“Yeah, you tell the creep, boss-man!”
Sharak was just about to crush the preacher’s head into nothing when the newcomer’s voice sounded. The source of all darkness, still with his hands around the preacher’s head, looked behind him.
“Can’t you see I’m busy?” he seethed impatiently.
“Aw, I thought we were going to Halloween Town!” whined Oogie Boogie.
“And indeed we shall. But first…”
Sharak looked at the frightened preacher, who was whimpering like crazy.
“I’ve changed my mind”, said the emperor. The preacher smiled and breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Sharak took his hands off his head. The source of all darkness then grabbed the preacher by his shirt, hoisted him above his head and threw him right through the nearest window. The preacher screamed as he crashed through the glass and fell out of the five hundred-foot high castle that belonged to Sharak. The darkness chuckled as he watched the human fall to his doom.
“I didn’t want his germ-infested remains spoiling my throne room”, explained the creature. “Besides, it’s far more entertaining watching a chicken like him flail.”
“Uh, Sharak?”
“Yes, we’re going now”, said the emperor, as he used his telekinesis to reassemble and repair the broken window.
“It’s not just that”, explained Oogie Boogie. “What exactly have ya got in mind for those suckas?”
“You’ll know soon enough.”
“No offence, pal”, chuckled the demon, “but you sure do take things personally. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were one pretty sensitive fellow!”
Oogie Boogie erupted into laughter even more, whereas Sharak’s eyes went red with fury. The creature extended his left arm and his hand clasped around the demon’s neck. The emperor’s arm retracted and returned to its normal length. Sharak looked right into Oogie Boogie’s face as his head went larger and larger, inflating like a balloon, looking like it was ready to pop and the hundreds of bugs that were inside the demon would come flying out.
“Don’t EVER taunt me like that again”, growled the creature. “You do, and it will be the biggest mistake you’ll make in your life. Not to mention your last.”
Sharak tossed the demon to one side. Oogie Boogie coughed violently as he got up.
“The only reason I gave you this chance is because you understand”, explained the source of all darkness, “but just because you appreciate what is going to happen doesn’t mean that your worth to me has been proven.”
As the two entered the portal to Halloween Town, Sharak gave Oogie Boogie one last reminder.
“You’re very close to proving that you belong here, that you belong with us. Don’t ruin your chances.”
“No problem…sir.”
Halloween Town.
A rather bizarre world where every day is based on the annual celebration. The inhabitants here spend most of their time partying and enjoying themselves on this rather jovial word.
It can be quite petrifying when things don’t go according to plan.
But horror can sometimes prove to be only momentary, especially when there are heroes to save the day. The Heartless had returned to Halloween Town after a two-year absence, much to the shock of its citizens. Mass panic ensued but it only lasted for a few minutes thanks to the arrival of Sora and friends. The Heartless were driven off again, with the help of Jack Skellington, the ruler of nightmares and terror and another old friend of Sora, Donald and Goofy.
“Well that was easy!” said Genie.
“Yeah, somedays this is just TOO easy!” agreed Donald.
“Thanks for agreeing to help, Jack”, said Sora.
“No problem, Sora”, smiled Jack, “This Sharak sounds too scary for my liking! Besides, I’ve always wanted to visit other worlds. It’s a perfect opportunity for me to go on the lookout for new material.”
“Shall we get going?” asked Aladdin.
“Lead the way!” said Jack.
They were all on their way back to the cruiser, when a hideous chuckle sounded in Guillotine Square. They all looked up to the roof of one of the buildings. Jack jumped in surprise when he saw Oogie Boogie standing above all of them.
“You’re looking a lot more…alive then you were two years ago, Oogie Boogie!”
“Which is more than what you’ll be in good time, bonehead!”
“Tell Sharak this is getting tedious”, said Sora.
“Oh, things are only just starting to heat up, short-stuff”, sniggered the demon. “Like right now!”
Oogie Boogie revealed a small, silver necklace with a heart-shaped diamond on the end of it. He dangled it from his arm, in front of everyone to see. Everyone just stared at it.
Everyone except Jaron, whose eyes widened at the sight of it.
“Look familiar?”
“Where did you get that?” sneered the Saviour.
“This comes from regards of an old friend of yours, kid!” said Oogie Boogie, as a sinister smile spread across his face. “Nice, isn’t it?”
“Give it back. NOW.”
“You want it?” taunted the demon. “Well, why don’t you come on over and get it!”
Oogie Boogie laughed louder and more maniacally then he had ever done before as he ran away from Jaron as he chased after the demon in hot pursuit.
“Jaron, what’s wrong?”
“This won’t take long. I’ll meet you back at the cruiser.”
“Do ya need help?” shouted Goofy.
“STAY OUT OF MY BUSINESS!” roared Jaron as he leapt onto the rooftops of the square chasing after Oogie Boogie.
“What was that all about?” asked Hercules.
“You got me”, said Sora, scratching his head. “Come on, let’s go after him.”
“He asked you to stay out of his business”, said Sharak, as he appeared behind Sora and the others. “It’s not nice to pry into other people’s affairs.”
The Keybearer and the others swung around to see their deadliest nemesis. They all readied themselves for battle.
“Such a pleasure to see you again, Sora.”
“I should’ve guessed that stink belonged to you”, said the Keyblade master as his eyes narrowed in anger.
“Such an unoriginal insult”, remarked the creature, “but I cannot fault your efforts. You have rallied quite an impressive army of clowns behind you, haven’t you?”
“This “army of clowns” is what’s gonna stop you, Sharak!”
“An interesting philosophy, Keybearer, but one that will have to wait another time to be put to the test. After all, reunions aren’t supposed to be filled with violence. They’re supposed to be filled with happiness.”
“Huh?”
“Look familiar?” asked Sharak, as he wrapped his cloak around himself and then unravelled it to reveal a person that Sora had yearned to see everyday for the last two years.
“Kairi!”
“Sora!” shouted the princess as she ran towards the Keybearer. Sharak grabbed her by the throat and started choking her. Sora was just about to run up to stop Sharak when a thought stuck him. He then realised that this was the nightmare he’d been having every night for the last two weeks or so. The one where Sharak had been choking Kairi and Sora had discovered he had lost his friends, his home, the Keyblade and everything else. The Keyblade Master looked in horror as Sharak continued choking Kairi. Could it be that the nightmares that Sora had been having were actually visions of the future?
“Look familiar?” asked Sharak as his eyes went bright red and changed position so it looked like he was smiling.
Meanwhile, Oogie Boogie was skipping away, laughing and singing as a furious Jaron continued chasing after him. Eventually, Oogie Boogie disappeared and the Saviour ended up on his own in the graveyard.
“Show yourself, demon!” challenged Jaron.
Then, all of a sudden, dark creatures materialised out of thin air. The Saviour looked in astonishment, as they were creatures unlike anything Jaron had ever seen before. They looked half human, half Heartless. They all looked identical. They looked like fifteen-year-old teenage boys but with Heartless-like mouths and half of their faces resembled Darkballs. Their bodies were covered in darkness and looked like the same colour that Darkballs were. Their shape and build resembled that of Jaron’s and they had black hair. They had razor-sharp claws that looked as though they could tear through anything.
Jaron had never seen anything like them before.
“Who…what are you?”
The creatures just laughed at him and replied, “We’re freaks, dude! Ain’t it obvious?”
“What do you want?”
“Well”, smiled one of the creatures, “I think actions speak louder than words!”
With that, two of the creatures charged Jaron from behind and another one leapt at the front of the Saviour, tearing part of his mask off with one of its claws.
“You figured out yet what we want, pal?” smiled the creature as it continued trailing its razor-sharp fingers down the Saviour’s face. Jaron looked at the emblem on the creature’s chest.
“You’re Heartless?!”
“Got it in one, buddy! We’re a new breed of the loveable critters! We’re Hybrids! Partly human, mostly Heartless! Instead of us humans getting eaten alive by Heartless and the hearts that are stolen from us turning into Heartless, we get unified with Shadows and we lose our hearts in the process. Good trick, ain’t it?”
“Sharak did this to humans he kidnapped?!”
“Nah!” replied one of the Hybrids that tackled Jaron from behind. “We volunteered!”
“Worthless parasites!” bellowed Jaron as he threw the Hybrid that tore part of his mask to one of the gravestones, smashing it instantly, “Pathetic losers! You’re all weaklings! You learn that you're failures as REAL humans and you make a deal with the devil just to prove you’re not?! You’re a disgrace to yourselves and all worlds!”
“Thank you!” said the two Hybrids who still continued burying their shoulders deep into the Saviour’s back as they slammed him hard against the brick wall.
“You’re nothing!” roared Jaron. “Do you hear me?! NOTHING!”
The boy ninja viciously kicked the two Heartless off of him and hurled several ninja stars at them. They landed deep in the Hybrids’ throats, causing the creatures to disintegrate.
“Sharak is truly pathetic! He does this to humans and he sends them to try and destroy me?! That’s only further proof of how much of a coward he is!”
The Saviour laid into the Hybrids with savage fury, brutally hitting them repeatedly as he leapt from Heartless to Heartless, striking anything that moved.
“If he has a problem with me, what does he do? He takes my family away from me, he sends his minions after me!” continued Jaron, as he impaled a Hybrid with his sword. “He doesn’t have the guts to deal with me directly! The coward is too scared to fight me face-to-face!”
Another Hybrid jumped at Jaron, grabbed his sword and wrested it from the Saviour’s grasp. Jaron then screamed in horrendous agony as another Hybrid stabbed him in the stomach with its clawed hand.
“The boss didn’t send us, Saviour!”
“Yeah!” sniggered another Hybrid, “This is just how we get our kicks!”
“You don’t fool me!” roared Jaron as he wildly kicked the Hybrid that had just stabbed him. “Sharak ALWAYS hides behinds his children! He always hides from those who are better than him!”
The Saviour threw exploding orbs at the Hybrids, destroying them instantly. Another Heartless went straight for Jaron’s leg and bit deep into it. Jaron howled in pain even more as the creature’s jagged teeth sunk in. The Saviour retaliated by smashing an orb on the Hybrid’s head. It let go immediately and the sixteen-year-old grabbed it by its head and smashed it hard into the ground again and again. The Heartless soon disappeared into nothingness.
“Enough is enough! No more running! No more hiding! Sharak will pay for everything he’s done! EVERYTHING!”
Back at the Guillotine Square, Sora looked on in total shock as he couldn’t believe that what he had been dreaming was now becoming total reality. One by one his friends were falling. Donald and Goofy were the first to attack but their efforts were futile. Sharak altered his arms to lances and impaled the two of them to the wall.
“Donald, Goofy! NO!!!”
“You animal!” shouted Hercules, as he charged at the source of all darkness.
“Yes, Hercules!” challenged the emperor. “Try and stop me!”
Sharak delivered a devastating uppercut to the demi-god, which sent him flying out of Halloween Town and into the ocean of other worlds. Tarzan and Carpet attempted to attack the creature in a pincer-like move. Sharak enlarged his left hand to three times its normal size and shape and altered his fingers into vicious claws that slashed into Carpet, tearing him into millions of pieces. Tarzan attempted to spear the emperor with his weapon but Sharak caught it, broke it with one hand and then grabbed Tarzan by his face. The jungle hero screamed as the hand that the emperor placed on him burned him. Sharak let go and everyone saw that Tarzan’s eyes had been altered to look like the creature’s own eyes. They flickered a brief red light and then faded as Tarzan’s lifeless body fell to the ground.
“My power is without equal!” shouted Sharak, as he turned into a wolf-like creature and lunged at Aladdin and devoured him whole. He turned to Jack and then proceeded to do the same.
“All fall before my power!”
Sharak returned to his humanoid form and blasted Genie with powerful lasers from his eyes. Genie screamed as the power of the darkness tore into him and ultimately destroyed him.
“THOSE WHO CHALLENGE SHARAK SHALL DIE!!!”
Sora couldn’t believe what he’d just seen. He remembered the first time he’d met Sharak when Pluto lost his life. The Keybearer didn’t think things could get any worse. He was wrong. He had now lost all of his friends in just a few seconds.
“You have no idea just how much you’ve lost.”
Sora fell to his knees as tears flowed from his eyes. He cried at what had just happened. He’d been tormented by dreams of this event for the last two weeks. And now it had finally happened. He’d thought they were only dreams and nothing more. What had occurred was just incomprehensible.
“You’ve lost everything in such a short time, haven’t you?” remarked Sharak. “Your friends, your family, your home, your…”
“My home?!”
“Yes, human. The Destiny Islands now belongs to me. You’ve failed your mission just as you’ve failed at everything else in your pitiful existence. With you beaten, this universe is now mine for the taking. After so long, the reign of Sharak can finally begin anew.”
“You’re wrong!” argued Sora. “I may have failed everyone I ever loved but I’m only a failure if I give up! I can still stop you!”
“Oh, really?” replied Sharak as he went back to choking Kairi.
“Kairi!”
The Keybearer looked in horror as Sharak continued strangling her. He brought out his Keyblade and ran towards the creature. He swung his weapon at the source of all darkness only for Sharak to catch it with one hand and sidekick Sora, sending him flying several feet away. The Keybearer recovered only to see Sharak still strangling Kairi with one hand and now holding the Keyblade in the other. Sora couldn’t believe his eyes as the creature broke the Keyblade clean in two with one hand and the remains of his weapon just disappear into absolute nothingness.
Shocked but undaunted, Sora raced towards Sharak again only for the emperor to raise his hand in front of the teenager. A barrier appeared out of nowhere and prevented him from saving Kairi. Sharak, still strangling the princess, turned to see Sora trying to break through the barrier but to no avail. The creature laughed at the boy and his desperate attempts to save the girl he loved.
“Leave her alone!” yelled Sora.
“I’m afraid your request is completely out of question”, replied the emperor. “The princess is of great importance to me. She is essential to my plans, which are of course, first priority. She was destined to be in my possession.”
“You can’t take her! I won’t let you!”
“You are helpless before me, Sora. You have no power, no friends and no chance.”
A wave of Heartless materialised behind Sora. He turned around to see them running towards him. He tried again to break through the barrier but it was no use. Sharak opened up a portal and walked through it, taking Kairi with him.
“There is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me”, said the emperor as he returned to his home world. “There is nothing you can do at all.”
“Kairi!!!!!”
Sora cried as he saw Kairi vanish from his eyes once more. He didn’t even care about the Heartless as they jumped at him and consumed him. He’d lost everything that mattered to him. He had nothing left to live for.
As he felt the Heartless devouring him, Sora’s dream flashed before him one more time. He finally realised that the place he had dreamt of fighting Sharak was Halloween Town. He remembered that the place he had seen and heard about his friends dying was Halloween Town. This was where the Keybearer had dreamed all of this happening and it was where it was about to come true.
The loss of his friends, Kairi, everything. In Sora’s dreams, it had all happened here.
Back in the graveyard, Jaron continued tearing through the Heartless with sheer aggression and ruthlessness. One by one the Hybrids continued to fall. The Saviour didn’t even feel the pain caused by his severe injuries. If anything, they had only fuelled his anger.
Despite having the numbers on their side and drawing first blood, the Hybrids were being torn apart by Jaron. In the end, only one was left. The Hybrid viciously slashed Jaron in the face. The Saviour screamed again in terrific pain.
“Oooohhh! That is gonna hurt tomorrow!” laughed the Heartless.
“I guess that brings back fond memories, huh, kid?” laughed the returning Oogie Boogie, still dangling the necklace that Jaron remembered.
Jaron seethed in anger as a flood of memories flashed in front of him. He breathed more and more heavily as his eyes narrowed in anger and an expression of hatred appeared on his face as history began to repeat itself. He screamed in fury and punched the Heartless, sending it crashing through the wall before it ceased to exist. He held his hand out and his sword returned to his grasp. He threw the sword at the demon, who just smiled as he brought forth one of the residents of Halloween Town that he had captured earlier. He threw her right into the path of the incoming projectile. The sword went right through her. She then fell to the ground in front of Oogie Boogie as he laughed his head off at Jaron and the resident with the sword that was sticking out of her.
“No!” said Jaron as he looked in horror of what he’d just done, “Why did it have to happen again?!”
“You screwed up big time, kiddo!” laughed Oogie Boogie, “just like before! You’re not much of a saviour, are ya? You’re more like a destroyer!”
That last taunt from the demon is what sent Jaron over the edge. He reclaimed his sword and ran towards the demon and tore into him with his weapon. Oogie Boogie laughed as he saw the hundreds and hundreds of bugs that were inside him fly out of his sack body.
“YOU!” shouted Jaron. “You’re just as pathetic as Sharak himself! You hide behind innocents just to get at your enemies! You’re cowards! All of you!”
Jaron continued tearing into the demon, shreds of his sack skin flew all over the place as the bugs that once inhabited Oogie Boogie continued to pour out of him. The Saviour threw one of his orbs into one of the open wounds of the demon. Oogie Boogie exploded into thousands of pieces, hundreds of the bugs that once inhabited his body were destroyed instantly.
In the end, all that was left in the graveyard was Jaron, bleeding badly, and the shredded remains of the demon. Jaron breathed heavily and sneered with hatred at the mere thought of Sharak.
“I’ve had enough of this, Sharak! You’ll pay for what you’ve done! I don’t care how long it takes, I won’t rest until I’ve destroyed you utterly and totally! DO YOU HEAR ME?!”
Jaron’s screams echoed throughout the entire world. After his screams had ended, all that was left was silence.
Total silence.
The Saviour just stood still in silence. He didn’t even notice his friends running towards him.
“Jaron, what’s wrong?” asked Aladdin.
“Yeah, you’re making a fierce racket!” agreed Donald.
“What happened to Oogie Boogie?!” asked Jack.
“And what happened to you?! You look terrible!”
Jaron didn’t answer.
“Sally!” exclaimed Jack as he ran towards the living doll that he’d fallen in love since the day Dr. Finkelstein had created her. Jack put his hands over his mouth when he saw the hole that could be seen all the way through her.
“What happened?!”
Jaron didn’t answer. He just went over to the remains of Oogie Boogie and picked up the necklace the demon had dropped.
“Jaron, what happened?!”
“I’m sorry, Jack.”
Aladdin, Donald and Jack looked at Jaron with shock as to what he had just said. They couldn’t believe it as they watched the battered and bloodied Saviour stagger out of the graveyard without saying another word.
Back at the cruiser, Sora was breathing a heavy sigh of relief. Tears of joy fell down his face when he realised what had happened.
“So it was all an illusion?”
“None of that stuff that you said you saw actually happened, Sora," explained Hercules.
“Jaron chase after demon”, said Tarzan, “Heartless attack again. Sora daydream. Delirious.”
“You were standing still and talking to yourself whilst we were fighting off the Heartless”, said Goofy, “You were lucky that we were able to save you from being eaten up by those ugly critters. All you did was stand around talking and screaming in pain.”
“Every time you spoke it looked as though you were in agony”, continued Hercules, “I don’t know what was happening to you.”
“So Sharak wasn’t there at all?”
“Nope, and neither was Kairi.”
“What about the others?”
“They’re all looking for Jaron. Once they’ve found him and everyone’s aboard, we getting out of here.”
Sora burst into tears.
“Thank heaven.”
“Hey, little buddy”, said Genie as he hugged Sora, “it’s okay. Everything’s okay.”
“Those things you were seeing”, asked Goofy, “were they what you’ve been dreaming about over the last few weeks?”
Sora nodded.
“I don’t know if Sharak’s got Kairi”, continued the Keybearer, “and I don’t know if he took away my home, but I’m really afraid of the fact that it might be true.”
“You don’t know for sure, Sora”, said Goofy as he hugged him as well.
“We will find out, though”, said Hercules. “And when we do, we’ll put things right if your fears are true.”
“Friends will help," smiled Tarzan.
“Thanks, guys”, smiled Sora as wiped the tears away. Just then, Carpet pointed towards Jaron as he staggered towards the vessel. Sora, Goofy, Genie, Hercules and Tarzan rushed towards the Saviour as he breathed heavily and grunted in pain.
“Jaron, what…”
“DON’T!!!” shouted the Saviour. Everyone backed away from him as he made his way to the cruiser’s medical room.
“Just…don’t.”
Later on that evening, Donald and Goofy were piloting the ship back to Traverse Town. The rest were talking about Sora and Jaron, all of them deeply concerned about the two of them.
“So how was Sally?”
“The old doctor is quite the genius”, smiled Jack, “He was able to fix her up, good as new!”
“Poor Sora”, said Aladdin, “In a way I can understand what he’s going through.”
“Would somebody PLEASE tell me what’s up with Jaron?!” asked Genie.
“I’d like to know myself”, agreed Hercules.
“Jaron not behave normally”, remarked Tarzan.
“I think he owes us an explanation.”
“Same here!”
“When we get to Traverse Town, he’s gonna tell us everything. Whether he wants to or not!”
“And we’re gonna do everything we can to help Sora as well.”
Everyone unanimously agreed.
Back at the conference room in Sharak’s castle, Oogie Boogie stood before the source of all darkness. The emperor just stared at the resurrected demon.
And then burst into laughter.
“Excellent, my friend!” congratulated the creature. “You helped execute our plan with perfection!”
“I thought you said that your plan was guaranteed to succeed”, remarked Maleficent. “That boy still lives.”
“Patience, my dear Maleficent. You’ve only seen the start of what is going to happen. Ghosts from Jaron’s past are succeeding in haunting him more than ever before. He’s allowing his previous failure to eat away at him. He’s being consumed by his hatred for me and his passion to see me dead. He’s playing right into my hands. As for Sora, my psychic attacks have flooded his mind with false memories of losing everything he holds dear. It is destroying his focus, and weakening his spirit. He’s being haunted by what may have happened to Kairi. When he finds out that his fears are justified, he’ll be easy pickings for the next crushing blow I will deliver.”
“Yeah! Those little punks have been given a day to remember!” laughed Oogie Boogie.
“And there is plenty more where that came from”, agreed Sharak. “The erosion I have given those two children’s minds today will be the death of them.”
Sharak walked up to Oogie Boogie and placed his hand on his shoulder.
“I am very pleased with what you have done today. You have proven to me that you belong here. That you deserve to rule all worlds alongside us.”
“Yeah, I thought I did too!” chuckled the demon.
“Welcome to the Council of Darkness, Oogie Boogie.”
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