Hijacking Christmas (Kingdom Hearts 2) in Gamer's Gaming

The Road So Far…

Sora, Donald, and Goofy are making their way through the worlds connected by the pathways of light as the trio solves problems at each world they come to. Their most recent stop took them to Agrabah, where they were almost immediately attacked by the Heartless, but were aided by the most unlikely source: Iago, Jafar’s pet parrot. Iago swore that he had changed for the better and, while not entirely convinced, the trio agreed to let him tag along and plead his case to Aladdin and Jasmine. Arriving at the palace, Jasmine, one of the Seven Princesses of Heart, was thrilled to see the trio and confided in them about Aladdin’s odd moods. However, the sight of Iago sent her back into the palace to warn everybody. Wondering what was going on exactly, the group made their way back into the streets of Agrabah to find Abu, Aladdin’s pet monkey and partner in crime, running through the marketplace carrying a black lamp with Aladdin and a merchant hot on his tail. Everybody finally caught up with Abu and Aladdin gave back the lamp. As the group reunited, however, they noticed that a terrified look had come upon Iago. Iago explained that the lamp Abu had stolen was the same lamp that trapped Jafar and that he had escaped from. The group ran after the Peddler and tried to buy the lamp from him, but the Peddler wanted a treasure fit for a sultan. Knowing that Aladdin couldn’t just ask the Sultan or Jasmine for treasure, Iago suggested that they search the Cave of Wonders. Inside the cave, the group found the perfect treasure to trade for the lamp, but Pete had also gone into the cave and sent the Heartless after the group to distract them. The group escaped and made their way back to Agrabah, only to find Pete trying to take the lamp from the Peddler. A chase ensued in which Iago attempted to help by snatching the lamp, only to fly into a wall. Pete managed to capture the lamp and sent two giant Heartless at the group, but the group defeated the Heartless and Pete lost the lamp as Genie and Carpet returned from their trip around the world. Pete cursed the lot of them and took off, leaving Aladdin to hide the lamp. Agrabah was safe once more as Sora and the crew took off to continue the search for Riku and King Mickey. Elsewhere, Pluto had tracked a scent to the home city of Organization XIII and found Axel escaping into a dark portal. Another portal opened up and allowed Pluto to follow as both opened up on the beaches of the Destiny Islands, where Kairi had made up her mind to search for Sora. Axel tried to capture her with the help of the Nobodies, but Pluto helped her make an escape. The next thing she knew, Kairi found herself on the floor of the clubhouse of Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Though a reunion with Sora must be on the horizon, Sora headed to Hollow Bastion to return some of the torn pages of Pooh’s storybook before heading off to Halloween Town…

Now…

The trio arrived back in Merlin’s House to return the pages of the storybook they had collected thus far. Sora ran over to the book and returned the pages he had found, opening up a new area of the story. Sora entered the new area to find Pooh standing around thinking as Gopher asked him what was wrong. Pooh said that he was just thinking and wondering. Gopher said that he ought to be skedaddlin’ out of there. Pooh asked why. Gopher said because it was Windsday, of course! Windsday? Pooh figured he should wish Gopher and everyone else a happy Windsday. Pooh walked forward, then wondered to himself who “everyone” was. Pooh sat back down and tried to remember. On the other side of the area, Sora entered and was hit in the head with a small barrel being blown by the wind. As he wondered if Pooh was around somewhere, Sora looked up to see Piglet go flying by, carried by the wind. Piglet yelled for somebody to help him! Piglet managed to grab hold of a tree limb and yelled out for Sora to help him. Sora told him to hold on. Hooray! Somebody still knows who Sora is… umm, right, back to the task at hand. Save Piglet! Sora ran over to the tree and leaped up, grabbing Piglet and saving him from the wind. Sora set him gently back down on the ground. Piglet thanked him and turned, noticing that Pooh was coming up towards his house. Sora was happy to see that Pooh was all right while Pooh was still happy to meet him. Piglet was startled that Pooh apparently still did not recognize either of them and became very sad. As Piglet walked off with tears in his eyes, the wind swept Piglet back into the air. Pooh said that riding the wind seemed rather fun. Owl appeared and asked if Sora would mind going after Piglet. Sora and Pooh floated through the air on a balloon. Sora used his Keyblade to knock objects out of their path as they sailed along. After a couple of minutes, Sora and Pooh caught up with Piglet and managed to help him land on a tree limb. Back on the ground, Sora told Piglet to jump down to him. Piglet was scared of the jump, but Sora promised that he would catch Piglet. Piglet just needed to be brave. Piglet said that he would try. Piglet closed his eyes and leaped off of the branch right into the waiting arms of Pooh. Somehow, it was enough to trigger Pooh’s memory! Piglet asked if Pooh remembered who he truly was. Pooh said of course he remembered Piglet, but today, he would call him “my friend Piglet who is very brave”! Piglet said that he wasn’t brave, but it was a lot easier to be brave with a friend like Pooh around. Sora said that he was happy for them. Pooh turned and thanked him for rescuing his friend Piglet, although he still addressed Sora as “Somebody-I-Don’t-Know”. Sora was a little down that Pooh still couldn’t remember him, but told him not to mention it. He was just happy to help. With a job done, Sora returned to Merlin’s House and boarded the Gummi Ship to head to Halloween Town.

In the land of Halloween Town, Jack Skellington walked along with his ghostly dog, Zero, following him. Jack came upon a door in the shape of a pine tree while walking through the woods. Opening the door, Jack was hit with a cold blast of wind as snow drifted up through the doorway. Peering out over the darkness, Jack fell inside into a strange new world. Meanwhile, the trio arrived him Halloween Town. Donald said that it sure looked like Hallowee… something caught his attention and the trio stared down a dark alley to their right when, suddenly, Zero flew in from behind them and startled all three until Sora recognized him. Sora asked how he had been, but Zero flew off toward the town, seemingly trying to draw them in that direction. The trio followed Zero into the town and found orange bulbs hanging all over the place. As Sora wondered what they were hung up for, Donald spotted Jack Skellington flying through the air on some sort of sleigh contraption with a coffin for a cockpit and three undead reindeer pulling it along. Jack landed in front of the group and said hi. He welcomed them back to Halloween Town and wished them a Merry Christmas! Sora had no idea what he meant by Merry Christmas. Didn’t Jack mean Happy Halloween? Jack said of course, that too. Halloween greetings from Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. Jack said to forgive him. He was in a Christmas mood. He said that he was running the show again this year, but he needed the blessing of some guy named Sandy Claws and that he had to go to Christmas Town to get it. Sora had no idea what Jack was talking about, but Goofy figured that he meant Santa Claus. Meanwhile, Jack asked what they thought about all the decorations. Weren’t they wonderful? This year, Halloween Town was going to handle Christmas too. But first, they would have to visit Sally. She was working on something that no self-respecting Santa Claus could do without. Jack invited the trio along to show them. While Donald and Goofy were frightened by the possibility of a Halloween Town Christmas, Sora thought they should go check it out! Jack told them to hurry along and the trio walked off to join him.

In Dr. Finkelstein’s Laboratory, the doctor was busy looking through a giant book of plans while Lock, Shock, and Barrel were looking at an object on the floor and probably planning nothing good. Jack walked in and asked the doctor where Sally was. Doctor Finkelstein asked if they couldn’t tell that he was in the middle of an experiment. Chastised, the group stood off to the side, along with Sally, while the three children carried the object they had been staring at over to the table. They complained about it being heavy and thought about tossing it up on the table, but the doctor warned them that they would be sorry if they did and told them to bring it over to him. The children tossed the piece anyway and it hit the doctor’s table, sending spark flying everywhere and causing the piece to explode. The children got a good laugh and ran off, with the doctor screaming at them the whole way, saying that his experiment was ruined. Jack noticed Sally as the kids went running from the room and asked if Sally had finished her job for him. Sally apologized and said that she still needed more time. Jack figured that was all right, just as long as it was ready for Christmas. Sally tried to stop Jack, but he said that he better be off. He needed to talk to Sandy Claws right away. Jack waved goodbye and left the lab. Sally asked the trio to follow Jack. She felt like something horrible was going to happen if Jack went through with his plan. Donald agreed wholeheartedly, but Sora just stood there with a dumb, blank expression on his face. Goofy tried to get his attention to no avail, but Sora perked up when Jack walked back in and asked if the strange-looking fellows in the town square were with them. Sora asked what fellows he was talking about. Jack said they were the ones who wanted to spoil both Halloween and Christmas. What were they called again? Heartless? Sora said they definitely weren’t with them, but they sure could get rid of them for Jack. And then, they could go see Santa! Umm, but first, the Heartless.

Outside, the Mayor tried to command the Heartless to leave, but that wasn’t going to work. The Mayor called for Jack to help him, not realizing that Jack and the trio had already appeared and were on the case. After a quick battle, the group stood alone in the square and the Heartless retreated for the time being. Jack wondered how Sandy Claws was supposed to relax with all of this going on. Jack came up with the perfect idea: bodyguards! He asked if the trio was up to the task. Sora said of course they were, though Donald glared at him balefully. Meanwhile, outside of town, the trio of Lock, Shock, and Barrel were contemplating the next horrible trick they planned to pull and were thinking of items to bring along. However, their tub came to a stop as it walked up to Maleficent. The little trio wondered who she was. Maleficent was about to annihilate them with magic, but figured that they might be of some use to her. As the children shuddered in fright, Maleficent told them to come along and she would show them the true meaning of “mischief”. Back in town, Jack tried to psych up the trio for their role as bodyguards. He pointed in the direction of the woods and said that Christmas Town was that way, in the woods just past the graveyard. On the path, the group ran into Heartless, both old foes and new alike. Sora and friends were more than familiar with the Wight Knights that had plagued Halloween Town in the past, but the Driller Moles were completely new to them. Though Sora was excited to find the door, Goofy and Donald both admitted they had a bad feeling about this idea, just like Sally. Jack told them that the spooks of Halloween could get so tiresome year after year. He had wanted something new and had found the door to Christmas Town. He told the trio that, beyond the door, there was a world filled with wonders. At first, Jack hadn’t been able to believe his eyes because everything had been so fresh and exciting. Sora practically begged Jack to just open the door. Jack did just that and Sora leaped in at a run, while Donald and Goofy followed, mostly to keep Sora out of trouble. The group landed in a place filled with snow and decorations. Not only that, they had changed form again. Sora was decked out with fur trim all over his clothes. Donald had, somehow, become a snowman…er, snowduck? Goofy, well, I don’t even know. Kinda looked reindeer. In any case, the group looked into the distance and saw Christmas Town for the first time. Donald asked where Santa was and Jack told them that he was in his workshop. With a direction in mind, the group headed off towards Christmas Town.

The group arrived in the middle of Christmas Town, but instead of finding elves running around from place to place, they found Heartless had appeared here as well. After taking out the Heartless, Donald moaned that Christmas was in trouble. Goofy agreed and said that they couldn’t let anything bad happen to Christmas. Jack pointed to a brick building on the edge of town and told them that was where Sandy Claws lived. Sora nodded and the group walked through the snow towards the imposing, but warm building. Inside, the trio found Santa Claus himself and gasped in admiration. Santa Claus looked up and asked if they had come to see if they were on his “nice” list. The group walked up to the jolly bearded fellow. He asked for their names. Sora introduced himself first. Santa looked up and down the list and spotted Sora’s name. He said that, according to the list, seven years ago Sora had told everybody that he didn’t believe in Santa Claus. Sora grasped his head. Donald asked about himself and Goofy. Santa nodded his head and Donald rejoiced as Sora hung his head lower. Jack, in the back of the room, asked if he was on Santa’s list also. Santa looked up in surprise at Jack, when suddenly, a sound came from another room of the house where it sounded as if something had broken. Santa asked Jack what sort of trouble he had brought with him this time. Sora asked Jack what Santa had meant about “this time”. Jack said that it was a long story. The group followed Santa into the factory to see what all the fuss was about. High above, Maleficent stood with the three children. They asked why they needed to hide, but Maleficent told them to hush. It was a pleasant surprise to her that Jack had brought Sora and the others with him. Now they could deal with all of them at once. Shock asked what Maleficent wanted them to do. Santa, at the bottom of the ramp they were hiding on, heard the voices speaking and asked who was there. The trio and Maleficent, realizing they were busted, made a break for it. Maleficent disappeared with her black magic while the children busted out a nearby window and jumped to freedom. Jack recognized the three children: Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Santa let out a sigh. Not those three again. Jack assured Santa that they weren’t with him. Santa said, whatever the case, they had been naughty. He told Jack to catch them and bring them back to him. Those three were going to get quite the lecture. Jack, hesitating, said that he wanted to talk to Santa about Christmas first. Santa said that it would have to wait. He needed to see how things were progressing in his workshop. Sora encouraged Jack to come catch those little pranksters. Maybe that would put him back in Santa’s good graces. Jack reluctantly agreed and headed back outside with the trio.

Back in the cold of Christmas Town, Donald and Goofy had found some tracks in the snow that led back towards Halloween Town. The group followed the tracks all the way back towards the graveyard. Meanwhile, Maleficent and the children had made their way to Moonlight Hill. Maleficent mused how she had been looking forward to destroying that ridiculous Christmas Town, but with Sora, Donald, and Goofy there, she felt that a change of plan was called for. Revenge before pleasure, after all. Shock asked what kind of revenge. Maleficent said the magnificent, malevolent kind, of course. The kids thought that sounded just like Oogie’s kind of bad. Superbad! Wait…no, there is no McLovin here. Maleficent seemed intrigued at the idea of Oogie Boogie’s kind of bad. Maleficent asked where she might find him. Shock told her that Jack and the trio had destroyed Oogie. Maleficent was even more intrigued and figured that she might as well bring back Oogie for them. Maleficent glowed green and starting casting a spell as the kids laughed in their walking bathtub behind her. A short ways away, the group arrived back in the graveyard and followed the fresher tracks towards Moonlight Hill. Unfortunately, Maleficent had already resurrected Oogie Boogie. The sackclothed creature laughed and told Maleficent that he owed her big for bringing him back. Maleficent agreed wholeheartedly and asked if he remembered Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He laughed and said she was too much. He would never forget what they did to him…umm, what did they do to him again? The kids told him that they had squashed him like a bug. Oogie said that was bad. Then they told him that Jack had helped and Oogie said that was even worse. Oogie said that it was the last thing he remembered and it would be the ONLY thing he would remember until he taught those clowns not to mess with Oogie Boogie. Maleficent agreed with him and said that she already had the perfect plan in mind. She asked if Oogie Boogie had ever heard of Christmas Town. Oogie, however, seemed to have fallen asleep. Maleficent sighed and said that it seemed he needed more time to recover. She told the three children to stay there and keep Sora and the others occupied. She would leave the Heartless to help them, but they had best not fail her. With that, she disappeared along with Oogie Boogie. Sora and company arrived at Moonlight Hill just a moment too late and found the children had been left with a Heartless known as the Prison Keeper, which dangled a cage below its main body that held the three children inside. The Prison Keeper attacked with giant fireballs and slashing attacks. Sora used his Valor Form when he had the opportunity and took advantage of a reaction command called Inside Combo to unleash hits on the Prison Keeper from within its own body. The final blow came when Sora and Jack used their combined limit attack to take the Prison Keeper down once and for all. Afte the battle, the children laughed and said they’d had fun, but it was time to go see if Oogie was ready. The kids ran off, leaving Jack and the trio to wonder what was going on now.

Back near the doors to the holidays, Santa Claus had wandered into Halloween Town in search of Jack. However, he seemed to have gotten lost in the woods. Confused and a little scared, he jumped when Sally poked her head out from behind a tree and asked if that was him. Sally said that she had hoped that she would find him here, only to tell him that it was very important that he go back to Christmas Town. She was afraid something terrible would happen if he didn’t. Santa figured that he was behind on his preparations anyway and agreed to head back home. He asked Sally to tell Jack where he was as he’d meant to answer Jack’s question about Christmas. Sally said that was just the problem. She told Santa to go home and lock the door. She said that if Jack showed up, don’t answer. On the outskirts of the area, however, Maleficent used the opportunity to point out Santa to Oogie. Oogie asked if all he had to do was kidnap the fat guy. Maleficent said that was the idea. Lock him up at once and then begin destroying Christmas Town. That was sure to make Sora and the others come running. Oogie said that then, they would be all his. Maleficent agreed and while Oogie kept the group busy, she would work on turning Santa Claus into Santa Heartless! Oogie ran out from his hiding place and attacked Santa and Sally. A short time later, the group returned to the graveyard to find Sally running out from the woods. Sally ran up to the group and told them that Oogie had kidnapped Santa Claus and headed for Christmas Town. Sora told Jack that it was time for them to head to Christmas Town.

Back in Santa’s Workshop, Oogie Boogie had done a little redecorating, but something was still missing. Just a little more Oogie flair! Maleficent said that she sure hoped their jolly old friends was looking forward to becoming a Heartless. Santa, meanwhile, was laying on a conveyor belt, tied up in ropes and frightened at whatever Maleficent and Oogie had planned for him. Maleficent glowed green and was about to cast a spell, but Oogie rammed into her as he ran by. She cursed and called him a clumsy oaf. Oogie wondered what she was still doing there. Why didn’t she just Oogie on back where she came from? She was cramping his style. Maleficent asked if the insolent bag of bugs had already forgotten who had brought him back. He said sorry…he couldn’t remember a thing! Maleficent fumed and disappeared, yelling that Oogie would rue the day he had spurned her help. Oogie crawled into one of the machines and cause something to explode, sending a huge plume of smoke up from the chimney. The group spotted the smoke as they arrived back in Christmas Town and knew that something was up at Santa’s house. Needing no more motivation to run to the rescue, the group took off in that direction. Inside the workshop, Jack and the trio found…well, nothing at first, besides Oogie’s horrifying decorating job. No, it wasn’t until Oogie laughed from the top of the ramp behind them that the trio knew they had been drawn into a trap. Sally walked into the room, only to be knocked to the ground by Oogie. Oogie said that he had a bone to pick with all of them. Jack asked what Oogie was planning to do with Sandy Claws. Sandy Claws? Oogie had no idea what they were talking about or why this roly-poly red guy was tied up on one of his conveyor belts. Guess he took that forgetting thing seriously. Oogie was about to toss Santa into one of the machines, but Sally tossed one of her legs onto the machine to distract Oogie. Her plan worked as Santa escaped from Oogie’s clutches while Mr. Potato-Sack-Head looked down at the leg in wonder. Oogie tried to give chase, but was intercepted by Jack and Sora. Oogie, retreated to his machine and ran up to the top, setting the conveyor belts to life. Donald ran towards the entrance that Oogie took, but it changed color from red to blue. Donald entered, only to come out through another blue entrance in the machine that led to the conveyor belt on the left. Donald ran back through and ended up right back where he started. Oogie dropped enemies and presents out onto the conveyor belts and moved his scaffold from belt to belt to avoid the group. Sora realized he would need to use the presents to crack Oogie’s lift, dropping Oogie to the belt where Sora and company could deal with him personally. Oogie tried every trick he had to trip up the group: he sent down bags with enemies in them, sped up the belts to ram the group into the waiting spikes and he even used a lazer to try and electrify the group, but in the end, a combination of Limit attacks from Sora and Jack, and a final combo from Sora in Valor Form was enough to knock the bugs out of Oogie once more. Oogie panicked as the bugs started spilling out of him again, leaving him nothing but an empty sack.

After the battle, the group rejoiced that Christmas was safe again. Jack said that was perfect and now, he could get down to business. Donald squawked at him and told Jack to leave Christmas to Santa. Goofy agreed and said that he ought to stick to Halloween and spooky stuff. Jack wanted to argue, but Sally spoke his name as she emerged from Santa’s house. She was carrying the Santa suit that she had made for him. Jack loved it and thanked her for all of her hard work. Sally asked if Jack really had to do this. Jack said that he made a splendid Sandy Claws. Santa came outside next and thanked Jack for saving him and Christmas, as well. For that, he was grateful. But he asked Jack to promise that he wouldn’t cause any more trouble. As for the suit, he said that Jack better not even think about taking over for him again. Jack said that he thought Sandy could use a little help this year. He must be exhausted from all the preparations and he wouldn’t mind getting a second chance to get this Christmas thing right. Santa agreed that being Santa could be tiring, but seeing the happy faces of the little children when they discovered the presents he had brought them made it all worthwhile, year after year. Jack, on the other hand, loved to see the children gasp and shiver with fright. What if someone were to try and take all of that away from him? Jack scratched his skull. Santa told him that they both had very important jobs to do. His was to take care of Christmas and Jack’s was to take care of Halloween. Didn’t Jack see? Children relied on both of them to do their own jobs. Jack suddenly seemed to understand what it was all really about. If Halloween had become too routine, it was up to him to come up with something new that would really make them scream! Just then, the Mayor ran up and told Jack that he needed his help with next Halloween. Jack agreed that it was too true and walked off with the Mayor. Suddenly, his suit began to glow and made a Keyhole of Light appear in the sky. Sora unlocked the pathway of light, wherever it may lead. Alas, it was time for the trio to take off to a new world. Santa stopped him just before he could leave though. He said that Sora had a friend and, if he recalled correctly, he was the one that told Sora there was no such thing as Santa Claus. Sora remembered that he had said that. Santa told Sora to give him Santa’s very best wishes. Sora said he would, but wondered if Santa knew where he might find Riku. Santa said that he didn’t but told Sora not to give up. If Sora believed in Riku, then he would most assuredly find him, just as he had found Santa. Sora was rewarded for his efforts with the Magnet element spell. As the group returned to the Gummi Ship, Sora was notified that a new mission was available in Atlantica. With Atlantica, the Pride Lands, and Twilight Town available to him, Sora chose to return first to Atlantica to see if he could help Flounder free the statue with his new Magnet spell. The Gummi Ship took flight, off on yet another adventure.