[Setting Stuff. N is lazy.]

The cool January afternoon gave way to sunset as the citizens of Paris started to make their way home for the evening. While the Feast of Fools had concluded a few days ago, many still retained the effects of merriment as they settled back into their daily lives. Notre Dame stood like a gem in the center of the city, the large rose window reflecting the pink and red rays back at the city.

Esmeralda stopped her dancing and collected the last of her coins. Djahli still danced and trotted at her heels, bleating gleefully at the knowledge they would soon have their evening meal. A few of her Roma companions collected their instruments, before the group split the day's earnings and started for the Pomme D'Eve, their favorite tavern (and for some, their favorite brothel). Esmeralda tucked away her share with a smile. Phoebus should be getting off patrol soon to join her, and Quasimodo promised to join them for a little while before heading back to the cathedral to ring the vespers. She sat down, hooked her tambourine on a leather strap and tied it to her waist. She then grabbed her cloak and pulled it around her shoulders.

"Are you coming, Esmeralda?" asked Danior, the pipe player.

"Go ahead, Danior," she replied. "I'm going to rest my feet for a moment, then I'll be right behind you."

"Don't linger too long," Danior warned her.

"I'll be fine," Esmeralda told him.

Ever since Frollo's downfall, the streets became safer for them after dark, but still not without its risks. Still, she could take care of herself. Esmeralda reached down and petted Djahli's soft head, right behind his horns as he preferred. The little goat bleated again and nuzzled into her hand. Esmeralda stretched her legs and flexed her toes to ease the soreness of her aching feet, then stood, ready to make her way to the Pomme D'Eve.

Her companions were already out of sight. The sun set a little more. Long shadows stretched into the streets of Paris. Esmeralda picked up her pace. The coins on her sash jingled along with the little cymbals on her tambourine. Djahli trotted by her side, happy enough to accompany her. Soon enough, they'd be at the tavern, among warm torches and firelight, good food and good company.

Djahli suddenly stopped and bleated. Esmeralda stopped and quickly took note of her surroundings.

"Who's there?" she asked.

Djahli took a step back, listening. Esmeralda looked up and down the street, at the houses and little shops at either shop. Across the way, she saw a merchant collecting the last of his wares.

"No one but me, miss," he said.

Esmeralda watched him, but nodded. Still, something felt...off.

"...Come on, Djahli," she said. "The sooner we reach the tavern, the better."

The little goat gave a gruff nod, then trotted beside her again. Unbeknownst to either of them, a creature from the shadows watched their every movement.

The pumpkin sun still hung in the sky for the last dregs of daylight. The graveyard gates creaked open as Sally the Rag Doll made her way into the Halloween Town cemetery. She carried a small satchel over her shoulder filled with little jars to restock the herb cabinet at back home.

A soft wind brushed through her hair. Sally closed her eyes and took in the brisk smell of graveyard dirt and faint wisps of pumpkin from the patch next door. While the graveyard was at its most beautiful at night, there was a certain peace associated with it at sundown, in the last lulling hours before most of the other creatures came out to go bump in the night.

She opened her eyes again and started for a certain patch of tombstones that marked the witches' herb garden. Sally carefully walked along the dead grass towards the hen bane, when she heard a little giggle coming from behind the tombstone. One corner of her crooked mouth turned up in a soft smile. She knew that laugh. Of course, she also knew to listen for two others.

Pretending to take no note of it, Sally knelt down and opened her satchel for the first jar. She hummed a little tune to herself as she opened the jar and gathered the first sprigs of hen bane, though she kept an ear out. The laughter stifled. Sally simply kept gathering and listening. Her vigilance paid off as she heard the faint patter of little footsteps behind her, and another giggle. Sally glanced up in time to see a flash of lavender dip behind one of the taller tombstones. In the faint distance, she heard a young voice call out, "No fair, you moved!"

The first giggle from behind the hen bane marker sounded again. A second set of footsteps ran up not long after, and the giggling quickly stopped. Sally stuffed the herbs into the jar, closed it, and looked up at the newcomer.

"Hello, Lock," she said sweetly.

The little devil stopped in his tracks. His tail twitched in irritation, but he quickly pulled up a devious smile and waved at the rag doll.

"Hi, Sally!" he said, brightly. "You haven't seen Shock, have you? She's cheating."

Sally dug into her satchel for another jar. She didn't even glance to the other taller tombstone, which the oldest trickster inevitably chose to hide her tall witch hat.

"I'm afraid not," she said, "but isn't asking me cheating too?"

Lock frowned as his tail twitched again.

"That's not the point. She cheated first!"

Sally moved a hand to her mouth as she let out a small laugh.

"I'm sure you'll find her," she said. "You're good at Hide and Shriek."

That seemed to appease the middle trickster.

"Yeah!" Lock said. He proudly puffed out his chest. "I am!"

Sally smiled at him and opened her new jar to gather witch hazel. She kept the devil in the corner of her eye as a figure slightly taller than Lock crept out from behind the tall tombstone. Shock sneaked behind her brother and tackled him with a loud scream. Lock tumbled down to the ground with a startled cry of his own.

"No fair, no fair, no fair!"

"Hide and shriek!" Shock cried. "I hide, you shriek. Those are the rules!"

"Not if I find you first!" Lock complained. "And I did!"

He tried to push his sister off of him. Shock kept him pinned down.

"You weren't fast enough," she said, "so I win!"

"Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!"

The two tricksters were so involved in arguing and fighting that they didn't hear a small set of giggles. The final child peeked out from behind the hen bane's marker. Sally finished getting the witch hazel and closed the jar. She gave a small nod to the final trickster, then pushed herself up to walk down to the deadly night shade. With a clear shot at his siblings, Barrel shot out from behind the marker and jumped on top of the pile with a delighted shriek.

"I win! I win!"

Shock pushed him off of her, then got back onto her feet.

"I was gonna get you next!" she whined. "I heard you!"

Barrel tumbled down on his rump, but his smile only beamed brighter.

"I still win!" he said, undeterred.

Shock slugged his arm. Lock, now free, tackled his sister and punched her face. Shock kicked him off, then stood up again. She brushed down her dress and fixed her hat.

"Wanna play again?" she asked.

Lock crossed his arms and pouted.

"Not if you're gonna cheat again!"

"I didn't cheat!"

Lock pushed her.

"Did to!"

Shock pushed him right back.

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

Barrel reached into his pocket for a victory candy to munch on while his siblings argued. Sally shook her head, more than used to these antics from the trio. She let them fight it out, knowing well that it would eventually resolve itself.

"For what it's worth," she said, once Lock and Shock reached a standstill, "I think you both played very well."

Sally looked between the two of them.

"Lock saw Shock leave her hiding place, but Shock managed to disappear again. I would say that's a testament to both of your skills."

Lock and Shock looked at her, then at each other. They crossed their arms, stuck out their tongues, and turned away with their backs to each other. It was the closest either was willing to admit Sally was right. Barrel swallowed the rest of his candy, then stood up.

"What're those for?" he asked, pointing to her bag.

Sally gathered what she needed of the deadly nightshade.

"Most of them are for soup," Sally answered, "and some are for potions. I promised the witches I'd get them some herbs for them too while I'm out here."

"What--" Lock asked, curiously.

"--Kind of--?" Shock continued.

"--Potions?" Barrel finished.

Sally smiled, but knew better than to tell them too much, lest she give the little pranksters any ideas.

"That's a question to ask them," she said gently. "I'm just helping them out."

The trio all frowned.

"That's--"

"--No--"

"--Fun!"

Sally filled one more jar with herbs, then stood up again. The three little tricksters walked with her. Shock perked up as a thought came to mind.

"What kind of soup?" she asked.

"Yeah," Lock added, catching on. "Does it have snakes?"

"Or spiders?" Barrel asked, hopefully. He licked his lips at the thought. "Mmm. Crunchy spiders."

"Well--" Sally started.

Something dark and swift crossed their paths. Lock, Shock, and Barrel all yelped and ducked behind Sally.

"What--"

"--Was--"

"--That?"

Sally kept the trio behind her as she quickly surveyed the cemetery. The pumpkin sun was halfway down now, and long shadows crept over the tombstones. A few living shadows liked to play around Halloween Town, but they normally came out when the sun was almost gone.

"...Perhaps it was a black cat?" she suggested, mostly to keep the children calm.

In the depths of her rag doll gut, though, something didn't feel right. After the premonition she had of Jack's Christmas disaster, she knew to never ignore the feeling that something was wrong. Sally kept the trio close to her as the four of them picked up their pace.

"Y-yeah," Barrel agreed.

"That makes sense," Shock said.

All three of them nodded. The group began to walk back to the cemetery gate. Something shifted behind them. Barrel turned around and saw a large form duck behind a tombstone - and it was definitely not a cat. He quickly tugged Sally's skirt.

"S-Sally!" he cried. "It's back!"

Sally turned around quickly to try to see what he pointed at. Whatever it was, she didn't see it, but she believed Barrel. Something was definitely off.

"...You three go get Jack," Sally told them. "I'll stay here and see if that creature comes back.

"But what if--" Barrel protested.

"--It tries to--" Lock continued.

"--Get you?" Shock finished.

"Then I'll be right behind you," Sally promised. "Please. Go now."

Lock, Shock, and Barrel nodded.

"Okay, Sally," they said together.

"We'll be--"

"--Right--"

"--Back."

The little trio quickly ran up to the gate. It wouldn't take long for them to push past the iron bars, skitter down the path, and enter Halloween Town proper to look for Jack.

"Ah, what a great day to scare!" Jack Skellington, Lord of Thrills, Chills, and Halloween Skills, bellowed from the door of his simply spooktastic home. The town was just as he had seen it the previous day, with every webbed brick, black puddle, and mossy stone. The only difference was that it was raining this morning, and the Pumpkin King didn't want to risk getting one of his favorite suits wet! Absolutely not! That would be highly unprofessional of him.

He danced down the pathway to the gate he had, opening it up and taking a step outside of his property. Without a moment's notice, he took a deep smell of the world around him and smiled. "Just the way I remember it, but with the added hint of Frog's Breath!" Jack was happy, as he felt like today was going to be a great day from the looks of things so far, now that the rain had passed. He took his stroll through the town immediately, going to make sure that everything was going as swell as he hoped. On his travels, he spotted the Mayor, and he just couldn't help but say hello.

"Well good day to you, my horrifying Mayor!" Jack stepped up to the mayor and offered his hand to shake, which the mayor gladly took in all of his triangular glory.

"And a fine day to you, Jack! Out a bit later than normal I see!"

"Well, I would've been around a little bit earlier, however I had misplaced my umbrella, and when I had found it at last, Zero had ripped a few good holes in it! Adorable and positively terrifying buddy, but sometimes he sometimes he just kills me! Ahaha!" Jack laughed at his pun. He could've done better, sure, but it was all fine. "Is everything as batty and broken as it should be?"

"Why yes it is! Everything is ready for a sudden Halloween, in case the world decides to shift times on us."

"I don't expect it to, but we should always be prepared to put our scary faces on!" Jack said, as another individual popping into his mind. "Say, I wouldn't suppose you've seen Sally around town today, have you?"

"I did, actually. She said something about going to the cemetery to go get some soup ingredients." The Mayor happily responded, looking towards the direction of the cemetery. "I do believe Lock, Shock, and Barrel also went there to play one of their games."

"Hide and Shriek, probably. That's one of their favorite games, if I remember correctly." He looked at the same direction the Mayor was. "... I think I'm going to go and take a different route through town today and check on the cemetery first."

"Alright Jack! I'll be seeing you around later!"

"See you later, Mayor!" Jack waved to the mayor as he walked, a little bit faster than normal, towards the cemetery of Halloween Town. He couldn't help it, he was a little excited.

As he got further down the path, though, he couldn't help but notice a trio of youngsters running his way...

Lock, Shock, and Barrel ran as fast as their little legs could carry them. Shock very quickly took the lead. She pushed past the Clown with the Tear-Away Face (to Clown's surprise and subsequent crash) to clear a path as they got into town, with her brothers on her heels. While Clown tried to right himself again, the tricksters kept running, with only the Pumpkin King on their minds.

It wouldn't be long before the three of them spotted a tall, familiar figure just down the street and headed their way. Lock, Shock, and Barrel seemed to pick up a second wind as they got closer, then quickly surrounded Jack. All of them frantically spoke at once, their voices overlapping over one-another's until it was impossible to pick out their individual voices in the cacophony. They couldn't even properly finish each other's sentences. Worse, still, each of them tried to get the Pumpkin King's attention first, either by shouting louder or tugging at his pantlegs.

"Jack!"

"Jack, Jack, Jack!"

"Th-there's a thing--"

"Jack!"

"--Graveyard--"

"Jack! You've got to come now!"

"--Have to hurry!"

"Jaaaaack! Jack! Jack! Jack!"

"Jack!"

"It's Sally!"

"Not a cat!"

"Jack!"

"Shadowy thing--"

"--Not a fun one--"

"Jack!"

"--Come now!"

"Jack! Jack! Jaaaaaaack!"

"Need to--"

"--Hurry!"

"Jaaaaaaack!"

Ahhh. Man, I always thought travelling places like this would be rough, but this isn't so bad. Fresh air, open skies, a nice gentle rocking motion... oh, and plenty of travelling food! Who knew alpacas could carry so much food such a long way without getting tired?

'Sire, I believe the alpacas are getting tired,' the nearest guard said, his blue-and-burgundy bodypaint breaking Kuzco out of his daydreaming. Woah, evening-dreaming, even. Who knew doing nothing could take so little time? 'Perhaps we ought to halt for dinner?'

'Ehh...' Well, it was about that time. They were so close to the city, though; it was right there, just a teensy little bit further... wait, he had a plan. 'Alright, let's take half an hour, and then we're pushing on until we get there. I'm sure we all want to sleep under a roof tonight, right?' Well, they had ceilings, but they were ceilings made of cloth and attached to carts. Carts pulled by alpacas! They'd considered llamas, but those weren't presentable. They didn't like being brushed. But they loved spitting, so.

It took only a few seconds for the royal procession to come to a full-halt, each of the twelve guards forming a line leading to one of the carts, with Kuzco modestly taking his place in the middle of the line. The nearest man to the travelling device, of course, yanked the velvet rope tied to the red-and-gold tent atop it, pulling out all the hidden cookware and surfaces, and rapidly transforming it into what amounted to a makeshift chef's kitchen. And stepping in, taking the spot of master chef, was none other than...

'Alright, boys, today's dish is chicken in spicy grub sauce!' called the chef, who was average-sized, yellow-haired, and decidedly not Kronk. Admittedly, Calo's food was pretty good in its own right, else he wouldn't have accompanied the procession, but it wasn't Kronk good. Kronk's food was practically divine, fit for a king - or, an Emperor! Hah, man, he just loved Kronk. What a champ.

'Where the heck is Kronk?' Kuzco asked after a moment, realising that pontificating internally hadn't brought the musclebound man into view.

'Nature watching!' came the answer from Calo as he served the first guy. 'Keep the line moving, sire, folks behind you wanna eat too!' Right, right. "Nature watching." God, of all the times for somebody to get lost- okay, to be fair, Kuzco had been only half-aware of the world for the last few hours. He was sure Kronk would show up sooner or later; the big lug had a sense of direction like a bloodhound. Kronk would show up soon, Kuzco just knew it. Kronk was always... definitely not going to show up just because he was thinking hard about it. Fiiine, he'd have the stupid chicken, but he didn't have to enjoy it.

...oh, that was pretty tasty, actually!

Generic morning music plays.
Merida rolls over, making a disgruntled sound as the sun was shining right on her eyes, waiting a few moments before deciding she wasn't getting back to sleep. "Ugghhh it's too early," she complains aloud to no one in particular as she stretches. Her eyes lighten as she remembers that she'd planned to go out riding and exploring all day on her own. It's not that she didn't enjoy her mother's company while she was out and about but sometimes she wanted some time to herself. She jumps out of bed, rushing to her bedroom door only grabbing her bow and quiver on the way.

"Mom, Dad, I am off for the day, I will be back when I get back," She calls in the direction of the dining room as she runs straight past, stealing a couple of apples off of a tray a servant was carrying toward the dining room.

She runs down through the town heading straight toward the stables where Angus was readily waiting for her.

"Good morning Angus, ready to go?" She asks excitedly, feeding the horse one of the apples. Angus makes a neighing sound, implying yes, as Merida jumps up onto the horses back, giving a quick, gentle tap of her heels into the horse's sides to get them moving.

Bold adventurous music plays.
They ride out through the towns main entrance, following the path all the way to the forest entrance where in which they branch off of the main path, going down the side path they had ridden on thousands of times. They trotted down the path, stopping every so often to check things out and taking many detours along the way, exploring new parts of the forest that they had never seen. Eventually, they come to the stone circle somehow managing to make it back there as the sun started to touch the tops of the trees.

The adventurous music ends as they come into the clearing, replaced with eerie sounds.
Ever since the night when Mor'du was killed and she almost lost her mother, this place had never seemed the same, she could never get rid of a lingering feeling. The broken part of the stone pillar had been taken away along with Mor'du's body and unless you knew what happened here the place looked almost untouched, bar the hoof tracks.

"Let's go..." her voice trails off, trying to find a new way to go or something to catch her attention. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a blue flicker just past the tree line of the clearing. "The wisps?" She asks nudging Angus in toward the direction of the wisp. "Let's go have a look as to what fate has in store for us this time," she says to Angus with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

The eerie music gets eerier as they follow the wisps.
As the two of them ride on fog rolls in from all sides, not letting them see more than a few Barony ell's (42 inches (106.9 cm)) ahead of her as they barreled through the fog. The Fog continues on for a while before suddenly ending in a clearing filled with what looked like horses at a quick glance, and a load of people. She tries to stop Angus before they reach the people, Angus comes to a stop and throws Merida over his head and straight onto the ground infront of her.

The music comes to an abrupt stop.
She quickly finds her feet, looking around at the area, seeing a city not too far off and noticing that the 'horses' look a lt less like horses and more like something she had never seen before. She quickly turns to see if the path they had came on was still there, quickly realising it was not. She shakes her head no, knowing she's here for a reason before turning to face the group of people looking at her and Angus confused.

"Who bloodie well decided to set up a camp here when there's a town just over there?" She points annoyed toward the city not too far from here. "And what are those wee animals over there, where are you lot even from?" She blurts out all her questions, brushing the dirt off of her clothing, not honestly caring too much about it but knows it would make her slightly more presenable.

"Calm down, kids! You're giving me a real fright!" Jack couldn't help but ask the question as he kept walking towards the cemetery, continuing down his path with caution as he heard the frantic shouts and screams of the nightmare trio. "You're saying something's in the cemetery and that Sally's in danger?!" Jack inferred, raising his hand to his mouth and preparing a whistle. "If what you're telling me is right, then I could probably use some help from my tools."

Jack looked back towards his home and whistled loudly for his lovable ghost pooch, Zero. Within an instant, the specter sprinted down the path carrying with him a burlap sack full of goodies, no doubt Jack's tools. The dog bounded towards his master with an overwhelming amount of joy before finally making it there, placing the sack at Jack's feet and looking up at him with his 'tail' wagging.

"Good boy, Zero!" Jack bent over to both pet the dog and grab the contents from the sack. He had his Frog Gun, Bat Boomerangs, and the trusty-rusty Soul Robber all in the bag. Unfortunately, that was pretty much it, but it'd definitely be A-OK for the time being. If he needed anything else, he could go and get it later.

"Everything's here, indeed. Alright, kids, we don't have a second to lose. Take me to where the monster you saw was!"

Once Jack calmed them down, Lock, Shock, and Barrel all nodded.

"Yes, Jack!" they said, finally in sync again.

"There's a shadow thing in the graveyard," Shock explained.

"It's bigger than a cat!" Barrel exclaimed.

Upon Jack's mention of tools, the threesome looked at each other. Lock watched as the skeleton headed for a quick home stop, before he turned to his siblings.

"If Jack can use his tools," he said, "so--"

Shock picked it up quickly.

"--Can--"

Barrel caught on too.

"--We!"

The trio nodded once, then headed back the way they came.

"Barrel," Shock said, "you go to the graveyard and wait for Jack. Lock and me will get what we need."

"Uh-uh," Barrel said, as he pushed past his sister. "I don't want to go alone with that shadow thing!"

"Well, I'm not gonna do it," Lock said, as he tried to catch up.

Shock caught up to Barrel and grabbed his collar. She tugged him back, then turned to Lock, who stopped behind her.

"We'll draw straws," she suggested.

Barrel grinned and quickly pulled three broken bone shards from his pocket, more than happy with this plan. He gleefully held them in his fist and held them out for his siblings, confident that he disguised the shortest one properly. Lock rolled his eyes and took one. Shock took hers, and the three quickly held them in their palms to see who drew the short one.

Barrel's grin quickly became a grimace.

"Nooo!" he cried. "Re-draw! Re-draw!"

Shock brought her fist down on his head.

"We don't have time!" she snarled.

She snatched all the bone shards and stuffed them in her pocket.

"Now go guard the gate! We'll be right there!"

Barrel grudgingly split from the group to go wait by the gate. If anything, he could see if Sally was okay. Lock and Shock made short work of getting to the tree house and up the birdcage elevator. Shock kicked it open upon entrance to the tree house and marched towards the bathroom.

"Um, Shock?" Lock asked. "Question."

Shock jumped into the bathtub. It tilted as it stood up, then straightened.

"What?" she asked.

Lock walked alongside the bathtub as it marched to their armory.

"...How do we catch a shadow?"

Shock jumped out of the tub and surveyed their equipment. She immediately grabbed a few bombs and firecrackers and tossed them in.

"With light," she said.

Lock looked around the room too. He nodded in agreement.

"Maybe it's not entirely shadow," he said. "It didn't look see-through."

Some bear traps and other small, deadly devices joined the fireworks.

"But we should have a dark place to put it," Shock said.

She found a box and opened it. Upon seeing three sets of red eyes, she closed it, content that the scorpions were accounted for. That went into the bathtub too.

"Or use something dark to catch it," Lock agreed as he pulled down a large trick-or-treat sack.

Shock threw in some harpoons, some small knives, and poisons.

"Just in case."

"We should also grab something to eat," Lock said. "All this shadow hunting is already making me hungry."

Shock rolled her eyes.

"You sound like Barrel."

But one of their candy sacks and a few pumpkins landed on top of the weapon pile. She looked at her brother.

"That everything?" she asked.

Lock made a final glance around the room.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Our masks!"

"Right," Shock agreed.

It took only a moment to gather them.

"All right," she said. "Let's--"

"--Go," Lock finished.

Lock and Shock climbed in. The bathtub kicked down the drawbridge that lead out of the armory and down the twisted old tree that miraculously held up their home. As the outskirts of town were just beyond the graveyard, it didn't take long for the bathtub to run up.

Jack got there first. Barrel frantically ran up to him.

"It's in there!" he said. "I just saw it! Lock and Shock--"

Just as he mentioned them, the bathtub walked up. Shock gestured for Barrel to get in.

"Come on!"

Barrel didn't need to be told twice. The bathtub kicked open the cemetery gate to lead Jack inside.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel each grabbed a weapon and held it at the ready. They chose to start off easy at first: a plunger, a broom, a slingshot. If they needed something more lethal, they could always switch.

"It was here," Barrel whispered. "I just saw it."

Shock realized something, then looked to her brothers.

"Where--"

"--Is--"

"--Sally?"

They got their answer when the bathtub kicked something on the path.

Sally's shoe skittered out from underneath, and rested by a nearby tombstone.

As tradesmen of various sorts trickled into the big room of Le Pomme d'Eve after their days of work finished, someone was already inside and mopping the last bits of soup from a bowl using a crust of bread. Two other empty bowls sat stacked on the table nearby, next to a tankard of cheap ale and a wooden plate with a few more pieces of bread. A short, busty woman sat with a tight lipped smile as Pierre Gringoire lay his head on her chest, chattering on about... Well, she didn't really know, nor did she particularly care.

"--couldn't convince the monks to share the secrets of their arts, you know, but it would have taken a true scholar to understand, anyway. Vinum theologium is quite a hallowed thing, needed for consecrations as well as communion, so it must of course be done properly. Few but monks would have time to learn all the details of viticultural science. Not a science I have studied in-depth, mind you, as I do prefer literature and philosophical history to all other studies, but I did quite enjoy my ventures into the subject of alchemy. The greatest of sciences, but also most confounding. Ah, but if I only advanced enough to turn lead into gold, I could have evenings like this one five times a week, and the priests would still allow me into church for the tithes and charities I could afford to give, and the city officials would see me as more than a vagabond and pay me for my work, as I deserve to be so! Alas, but it is the life of a true artist to never be appreciated in his own time!"

Pierre took a pause to take a large bite from his soggy, soup-flavored crust. It would never do for a man of mind to speak with his mouth full, and besides, he wanted to enjoy this meal to its fullest. He had slept in the gutters often enough to know his lot in life would not be changed by this short but wonderful windfall. The strumpet made no effort to hide her relief at the temporary silence. But temporary it was, as soon enough Pierre had finished the bread and washed it down with his ale.

"Yes, a poor beleaguered philosopher I may be, but as a philosopher, I must always strive to find meaning in all things and bring clarity where none can see it..."

Another patron shook his head pityingly at the strumpet and clapped her on the shoulder. "How'd yeh end up ina position, lettin' this winded sap sing like a frog in yer ear?" he asked in a thick accent, leftover from a childhood spent in the north.

She sighed. "He brought money, today..."

The patron looked at Pierre in surprise, who continued rambling, unaware that no one was listening to his speech. "Where'd he get money 'nough for you?"

She shrugged. "Not my job to ask."

He shook his head and wished her luck, before wandering to a table rather far away and ordering his own drink.

Jack felt his stomach drop when he saw Sally's shoe roll out from underneath the bathtub. That wasn't a good sign, not at all, and for the spirit of Halloween to be scared of it, this means that it was either a very successful prank being pulled by Sally, or this was something that was a lot more than Jack was counting on. He might need a little more than his kit could provide in a minute.

Zero ran over to Sally's shoe, grabbing it in his mouth and bringing it over to Jack, whimpering all the while. The king of Halloween grabbed the shoe and sighed, putting it in the sack of tools he had as he let out a bit of a worried sigh. "Alright kids, if it gets too dangerous, I want you guys to leave here and go tell Doctor Finkelstein what's going on. Make sure you guys are safe, too." Jack pulled his Frog Gun out of his bag as he prepared to fire it at the shadow creature that the kids were telling him about.

He hoped Sally was okay.

❚❚

Okay, so here's something you don't see every day, folks: a little bit of fog comes rolling in nearby, and then some girl with frizzy orange hair and a green dress charges right out of it, on... I wanna say it's a very large and sleek-looking llama, but I don't think llamas grow that big, or move that fast! Then she comes to a sudden stop, falling off her giant sleek llama- And that does look like it hurt by the way. You see? Conscientiousness. I think that's the word.

But then as people start going over to see if she's alright, the girl gets up, dusts herself down, and starts spouting off in some weird dialect about how there's a city just over there, and what are these animals, and who are we, and oh my GOSH I can't understand a large chunk of what she said. And I mean, she looks rich too? Like royalty rich, maybe even? Which would be a weird coincidence, because that'd mean two different royals set off on two separate quests, came to the same place, happened to meet each other right outside that place... uhh, not sure how to show the sketch of how unlikely that is... it was so much easier when I was doing this on camera...

Whatever, I'll come up with something. In the meantime, you wanna see how I dealt with that? Ahahah, yeah, of course you do. Okay.

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'Wh- whu- huh?'

This was a bit of a blindside for Kuzco, if he had to admit it. You didn't just come across people yelling at you about stuff every day, especially as an emperor. In fact, the guards were immediately on edge as a result - especially since this had interrupted their evening meal. But, that was okay, because Kuzco could handle this.

'Uh- okay, settle down, men, and... also you,' Kuzco uttered to the two groups, smoothly, with not a hint of maybe some confusion as he stood and approached the newcomer. 'I'm pretty sure I could ask you the same questions, assuming I heard the questions right, so, uh... tell you what, I'll answer first, and then you can answer your own questions, so we don't need to ask them again.' Yes, a perfect solution, one that had Kuzco smiling, quite pleased with himself and his logic. 'I am Emperor Kuzco, Emperor of the Kingdom of the Sun, maybe you've heard of it,' he introduced himself, suavely offering his hand to the weird girl to shake. 'The animals are alpacas, but I don't think any of them are taking bathroom breaks...' He double-checked to be sure. Nope, not at that specific moment. '...aaand we are not camping outside a city. It's a dinner break! For the alpacas, too. Okay, your turn, let's hear it!' he exclaimed, clapping his hands together, ready to hear what this lady had to say.

The trickster trio nodded in agreement.

"Okay, Jack!" they said together.

The three of them listened. Soon enough, Lock heard something.

"There!" he cried, pointing to a tombstone a few yards away.

The shadowy thing moved quickly. Shock directed the bathtub to chase it, while Barrel readied their trick-or-treat sack. Lock grabbed the other end to help his brother. When they got close enough, the two of them jumped out of the bathtub and tried to snag it.

They only barely missed.

"Rats!" Barrel cried.

The bathtub galloped by as Shock swung at it with her broom. The shadow creature went to a nearby crypt and ducked inside. Lock and Barrel grabbed the edge of the bathtub as it circled back to pick them up. They climbed in and pulled the sack with them.

"Don't let it get away!" Lock cried.

"I'm trying!" Shock snapped.

Jack's prior instructions were quickly forgotten as they approached the crypt. The bathtub stopped just long enough for Lock and Shock to get out and pull the doors open so the bathtub could follow. If Jack told them anything else, they either didn't hear it, or deliberately ignored him. They were on a mission, and nothing was going to stop them.

Lock and Shock re-joined Barrel in the bathtub as it picked a path through the long, winding tunnel leading into the human world. All three of them watched and listened for movement, but as they came to the end, their frustration was palpable that it likely got away.

Shock pushed her brothers.

"It's your fault!" she declared. "If you two didn't miss--"

"What about you?" Lock interrupted. "With that swing, you couldn't hit the backside of a crypt!"

Before the two could get into another argument, Barrel spoke up.

"Um, guys?" he asked.

Lock and Shock looked at him.

"What?" they demanded, both peeved at being interrupted.

"...Where are we?"

All of them looked around the new graveyard. Far more tombstones and markers littered it, and were close together.

"More importantly--" Shock said.

"--Where's the shadow?" Lock asked.

They all carefully got out of the bathtub, each taking a different tombstone to better survey the new graveyard. Wherever they were now, the shadow wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Approaching Paris from the east was a lone man of dark skin wearing a blue silk cloak of foreign make. His hood was down, as the sun was not nearly so overbearing as his homeland, revealing his black hair and silver streak, and rugged good looks. The horse he rode upon trot along the hard dirt path amidst the trees with some level of unfamiliarity, as though it were used to less stable ground. That's because it was a brown Arabian horse, and home was a long ways away. Though the horse had never been this far out before, its rider was no stranger to these lands. Despite that having been more than a decade ago, the path before him had hardly changed a bit, and his memory was a long one. He could practically smell that gourmet French bread, the aroma snaking its way into his no-

"Jeez Cassim, how much longer do we have to go?! My wings are KILLING me!" cried out the red macaw flying by his side, clearing feigning more discomfort than he was actually having.

"Perhaps you wouldn't be so tired i you hadn't abused your shoulder privileges?" Cassim shot back with a knowing smirk. It was a minor argument they had had, but one he was having fun with.

"Look, I'm sorry that guy missed me and hit you in the face with that pie, but how was I supposed to know he can't take a joke?" Nothing in Iago's tone suggested he was as sorry as he claimed.

"Men rarely enjoy being insulted to their face. I would imagine you of all people would know that." Cassim spared a glance to the side to see Iago's reaction. The bird's anger did not disappoint, and the thief had to hold in a laugh.

"Just what are you implying, Cassim? That I'm a sycophant? A schmoozer? A SUCK UP?" In an instant Iago's voice changed as he began mocking his traveling companion. "Oh look at me, the mighty and powerful King of Thieves! I bow to no man! Bah! Give me a little credit here, I'm just a people pleaser, ok?"

Cassim rolled his eyes, now looking back at the path. This joke had gone on long enough, he figured. "Very well Iago, I will let you ride on my shoulder for the remainder of our journey to Paris."

"You mean it? Sweet." Iago swooped on, landing right on Cassim's left shoulder. Using one of his wings like an arm, he wiped his feathery head as though he were sweating. "Out of curiosity, how much longer do we have to go?"

No sooner had Iago finished asking did the pair come to an end of the trees, wherein they could see the city of Paris standing tall and mighty before them. At full gallop, they would cross the city gate in under a minute. Cassim turned to look at Iago, a smug smirk adorned across his face. Iago narrowed his eyes in frustration.

"You know, for a best friend I find myself hating you a lot more than I thought I would." Cassim merely shrugged and whipped the reins, prompting his horse to charge forward at full speed.

Merida looks at the young man confused, shaking his hand gently before following his gaze toward the alpacas. She looks over the animals again, confused as to why they don't use something better like a horse or a deer or something better. She turns back to look at the young man before breaking out into a chortle as he finishes talking.

"A-an Alparka? A what? Thats a shaggy horse," She somehow manages to say that while chortling.

She eventually calms down and recomposes herself, making an effort not to look at the alpacas in case she breaks out laughing again.

"I am Merida, Princess of DunBroch, it's... interesting to meet you..." She says looking at his hat, clearly holding back more chortles. "Though I must say, Emperor is a weird first name, like who would name their wee lad Emperor and what kind of a last name is Kurzco?" She asks very extremely confused. "Also, I am here because the wisps led me here, not because my shaggy horses are too lazy to walk a little further," she adds, rather proud of her Angus.

Phoebus rode Achilles out through the city gates, accompanied by thirty of his best soldiers, two of whom were also mounted. The rest marched silently, carrying spears over their shoulders and staring obediently ahead. There had been an explosion of murmurs when reports of potential raiders reached the barracks, but he had quickly shut that down -- and with only one soldier getting latrine duty for sass, even! It was almost as if they were learning!

As the soldiers neared the... travelers, enough to count the obvious warriors and examine the layout of their rudimentary camp, the captain signaled his two officers to each take a third of the force and circle around to the sides. Phoebus had given them all strict orders not to attack unprovoked, but if the strangers did want a scuffle, his men could have them outflanked from the start. The tree line was far enough away that it was unlikely a full contingent of enemy soldiers was waiting in ambush, but just in case, this maneuver also prevented his own force from being surrounded with no escape.

Phoebus brought his men to a halt a few dozen yards from the nearest cart.

"Hail!" he called out. "May we approach peacefully?"

As he waited for an answer, he tried to get a decent look at the people, and their animals. He'd heard of the northern barbarians who ran into battle naked and painted, screaming wild oaths to heathen gods, but these people... only half fit that description? And he rather doubted such bold invaders would leave horses behind in favor of... whatever those animals were.

"Hmm." Jack hummed to himself as he looked at the new graveyard. It was a familiar feeling graveyard, though he knew he had almost certainly never seen it in his life. Maybe as a once-over? It didn't matter, he was determined to find Sally at most any chance he could take. For this shadow to take her away from Halloween Town... it wasn't right.

Jack looked at a few of the gravestones to try and figure out the location of the group before he "raised an eyebrow" at the stone. He... couldn't read it easily. It took him a little bit of looking at it before he deciphered what it read, or rather, what language it was in. "This is French? Wait..." Jack thought for a moment before things started to click into his head. He and the kids weren't in Halloween Town anymore, they were in--

"France!" Jack rose his voice as it echoed a bit through the trees. "How did we get to France?" He paced around, putting his Frog Gun back into his burlap sack and petting Zero on the head as he paced. "What sort of mess did that shadow bring about...?" Jack pondered as he stepped on a piece of parchment, picking it up off the ground and attempting to read it. There was one main word that stood out amongst most of the other language, which Jack could only tell bits and pieces of. "... okay, we're not totally lost at least. This paper says we're actually in the city of Paris." Jack announced to Lock, Shock, and Barrel. "It's off-season for our act, though, so we all shouldn't try and scare the pants off of anyone we come across. We're just looking for a way back home. Sally's smart, she probably went there first before us." Jack told the group as he led the way out of the graveyard.

"Come on, kids. We'll have better luck getting everything sorted out as long as we don't waste time."

So, this young lady with a weird accent was by far the strangest person Kuzco had ever come across. Or rather, the mouthiest person he'd ever come across, Yzma beat her for strangeness no question, only he had no idea how she could ruin her phrasing of so many words so badly, plus who didn't know what an Emperor was? And they were alpacas, dang it!

'Uhh, you do know Emperor is a title, right, Princess Merry-da?' Kuzco asked, just a touch impolitely. He knew that much about princesses, so it wasn't like she couldn't have done her research about... whatever, didn't matter, because a small army of, how many was that uh... they split into three groups, ten, twenty, yeah, thirty armoured soldiers had just ridden up and encircled their camp. Immediately, Kuzco was acutely aware that those guys could probably deal with this small group pretty quickly - his men were armed but not really heavily armoured, there were thirty of these soldiers to his twelve, three of them were mounted on more of those giant smooth alpacas, so... yeah, nearly three guys each, even if his guys were buff as heck. Then again, he was here on a diplomatic rather than combative mission, and he was being asked if they could approach peacefully. Soooo...

'Sure, come on over!' Kuzco called, waving the leader toward him. 'Peacefully, mind. We got approached already, and uh, somebody fell off their... hhhoerss.' He was pretty sure he'd mangled the pronunciation, and his face in trying to pronounce it that way, especially with how impossible it was to figure out Merry-da's accent, but the fact there were more of them pretty much proved these creatures were more common here than alpacas or llamas.

'We've got food if you're hungry,' he continued with a grin, saying that as much to the weirdly-accented lady as to the guard man. 'We can introduce ourselves over it, get to know one another. Oh- hey,' he realised, turning to face Merry-da and the new guy, 'do either of you know the guy who rules this kingdom? Or girl, I don't, y'know, judge on that or whatever,' he added, waving his hands to make sure they knew he wasn't judging. Hey, he had a hottie-hot-hottie ruling his kingdom as Empress Regent in his absence, so he'd better not be judgy. He had come up with a good maxim, actually: What Would Pacha Do? And Pacha wouldn't judge.

Exhausted was the only way she could describe how she felt, exhausted and ready for the journey to just end at this point. Where she was going she was not sure, but after she had been separated from her Love, she had a strange feeling in the back of her head pulling her to an unknown location. There was nothing left for her back home at the moment as it were, so nothing had been stopping her from saddling Khan and following the pull, a pull that took days to finally leave her as a city came into view. The buildings were strange to her, but no stranger than the other buildings she had seen on her month long travel.

”Are we there yet? My hindscales are killing me.” came a voice from behind the black haired asian woman, ”We’ve been riding for ever”

”Mushu…” the woman sighed, ”You know as well as I do that I’m not even sure where we are going. I only have the Ancestors guidance right now, but I do feel like this is where we are meant to be. There even seems to be people just outside the entrance. Maybe they can tell us exactly where we are.”

There was a resounding chirp that came from the same location as the first voice and a brey from the mount she was riding. Of course they would be tired, there was no reason for them not to be as they had been on the road for so long. While it had not been lonely with their companionship, there was a certain person that she was missing, a person that she wasn’t sure she would ever get to see again. This was no time to show her sorrow however, there were people ahead and she wasn’t about to let the first meeting be of her with such a sad look upon her face. No, she would hold her head high and hide the feeling of dread that seemed to be growing deep within her chest. Spurring the horse faster, she leaned over Khan’s neck as they ate the last few meters of distance between them and those ahead.

And that was it, as she pulled the reins to bring her steed to a swift hault, she was met with a rather strange sight indeed. A woman with unruly red hair, a man with a silly head dress and another individual in… well wasn’t that armor rather tacky?

”By my Ancestors, what is that?” was the very first thing out of her mouth when she laid eyes on the animals the man with the strange headdress had with him, ”That is the strangest horse I have ever seen, or is it a malformed sheep?” Not the best way to introduce your presence she was sure, but she couldn’t help it, the things were hideous.

Phoebus signaled for the two flanking squads to stay where they were while his approached the group. One of his men drew his attention to another rider approaching, a far Easterner in black and green armor. He acknowledged this, before dismounting and addressing the short guy with the gilded hat and obscenely short baggy dress.

"Your invitation is appreciated, but we are currently on duty, and therefore must decline. Your approach has disturbed some of the citizens. We have been sent by the city officials to investigate..." Phoebus cleared his throat, held up a slip of paper, and read in as serious a voice as he could manage, " 'Naked red giants, carrying spears and riding demon goat donkeys'."

Achilles noticed his reins weren't being held by his rider, and he hadn't been commanded to Stay, so he wandered over to greet Angus. The pale stallion pawed the ground once, nickered, and tossed his mane. This, combined with Kuzco's comment, drew the knight's attention to Merida. He gave a polite half-bow. "My lady." Then he put his hands on his hips and faced his horse. "Achilles, heel."

His mount returned to his side, prancing a little bit as he did so. Phoebus tapped his nose sternly. "Now, now. You know the rules, boy. Work first, flirt later." Achilles snorted and swished his tail.

Phoebus shook his head and turned back to Kuzco. "May I ask your reason for visiting the city?" He avoided the question about the king, for the time being.