LePouvantail

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"Point," Shock said.

She glanced over at the slide. She vaguely heard noise from the lair from Lock trying to free himself.

"We'll just need to let the boys know we'll be gone for a little...trip."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"I can play dumb and mortal boys won't even ask," Shock said.

She grinned.

"They tend to not notice my teeth if they're looking to score."

Shock cackled.

"Or New York City."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Shock pondered it, then smirked.

"I think we can make an arrangement," she said.

She glanced over Carver's body.

"We'll have the to be careful, though," she said. "Mortals don't come in pumpkin orange."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock gave a muffled scream at them both, but ended up resigned to his fate. At least until Barrel shifted in his sleep again.

Shock helped Carver locate the cargo pants, then searched the pile of clothes for the tank top she outgrew and tossed it at Carver. It took some careful maneuvering to avoid tearing it on the metal pumpkin stem.

"They're gonna stick out no matter what," Shock said with a shrug. "I'm actually surprised it even fits."

She thought for a moment.

"We can always get Sally to make you something looser so they're less noticable."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Barrel responded to the kick with a hefty snore. Shock, having somewhat gotten herself free, groaned when Barrel rolling over ruined her work. Lock gave up a while ago, though when Barrel started to roll over, he found the bottom part of face buried in Barrel's chubby waist. He muttered out some muffled curses.

Shock accepted Carver's help. She cracked her back once free, then kicked Barrel's side as hard as she could.

"Damn boulder."

She glanced down to Lock, who she guessed was trying to get them to help him and started laughing. Lock growled and glared at her. She picked up on Carver's blatant refusal to help Lock and grinned, before she turned to Carver.

"Your cargo pants are still up in the tree house," Shock said. "And I'm pretty sure I have an old tank top that'll go with it."

Lock tried to scream something at her. His legs and tail both flailed on the other side. A devious smirk crossed Shock's face.

"We can let my brothers get some rest."

Banding Together in Halloween Town

"You know," Barrel said casually, "this is so comfortable, I could just..."

He let out an exaggerated yawn.

"...Fall asleep right here."

Shock kicked him harder.

"Get off, deadweight!"

Lock shifted and tried to free his arms. He dug his shoes into the floor to try to push himself out from under Barrel.

"Come oooon!" he whined. "You win!"

But Barrel simply curled his arms into a makeshift pillow. He let the pattern of Shock's kicks lull him into a catnap.

"Did he really...?" Lock asked after a moment.

"He better not have!" Shock cried.

She tried to free her other arm, and tightly pinched Barrel's leg. She was greeted with a loud snore.

"Motherfucker..."

The two older siblings tried to wriggle free. They wouldn't get their chance for a good fifteen minutes when Barrel started to shift in his sleep.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock seemed satisfied enough to have taken out two bats with one stone, and was already righting himself before his older sister could recover. Before he could stand, Carver grabbed his arm. Shock managed to sit up and grabbed his waist. Only due to that was Lock able to manage to stay on top of Carver, though with his body pulled more between the pumpkin creature and his older sister.

A shadow loomed over the three of them, then FWOOMP! Barrel dove for them, and belly-flopped over the group. Lock found himself pinned under Barrel's stomach, with Shock caught under his hips and Carver under his chest. Barrel stretched out his arms and legs and let the brunt of his weight pin his siblings and their friend.

Lock tried to squirm his arms free from under Barrel's flabby stomach. His legs helplessly kicked at the air.

"B-Barrel!" he cried.

Shock was pinned on her stomach, with one arm free and the other still partially around Lock. She turned her fingers to grab at some of Barrel's fat and dug in.

"Get...off!"

Barrel either didn't notice or didn't care. Shock kicked the heels of her feet into his side to no avail.

"Thought you could take all three of us?" Barrel asked calmly.

Lock burst out laughing, before he tried to twist free again. Shock curled her free hand into a fist and punched at Barrel's legs.

"I will when I get out of this!"

Barrel rested his head in one hand and grinned, content to keep his siblings contained for a moment.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock grunted in pain, but quickly shifted to protect the softer parts of his body from Carver's attacks. He punched the new face a few times, mostly to get a feel for it.

Shock curled in her legs as Barrel dove for her. She kicked him off before he could utilize his full weight against her. She got back on her feet, but stomped down on Carver's shoulder to keep him down for a second.

"Don't tell me what to do," she said.

Nevertheless, she grabbed Lock's tail in both hands. With a heave, she lifted him off of Carver and flung him straight into Barrel, who had barely gotten back on his feet. Shock then let Carver up. Barrel partially caught Lock and was partially knocked back by the incoming devil, but steadied himself on his feet enough to throw Lock back at Shock and Carver. Lock corrected himself on the trip back, aiming to crash into Shock, and knock her into Carver behind her.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

Lock laughed harder as Carver pulled him closer, then shoved him down. He got back up and pumped both fists in the air.

"I'm not the shortest anymore!" he declared. He grinned again. "And speaking of damage resistance..."

Lock tackled Carver, then threw a punch as hard as he could. The orange "flesh" was durable, a little rubbery, even, but he could still feel the metal underneath it. Nevertheless, he was used to it from punching Carver's metal limbs over the years.

Shock rolled her eyes at Carver's announcement.

"Great," she said. "Now there's three dumb boys here."

Barrel started to laugh, until he got it.

"Hey!"

Shock grinned, then reached up to pat his head.

"Don't worry," she said sweetly. "Carver's still leagues ahead of both of you."

Lock tripped her with his tail when she wasn't looking. Barrel teamed up with him to shove her away.

"Three on one!" he cried.

Shock collapsed to the ground, but braced herself for an incoming attack from any one of them.

"You think I can't take all of you by myself?"

"One way to find out," Barrel said with a grin.

It didn't take long for him to join the fight.

Banding Together in Halloween Town

The trio were down in the lair, doing some band practice. Barrel was actually playing on rhythm for once, before Lock called it off when Shock missed another note. The two of them argued as Carver came in. Barrel, calmly leaning in his chair behind his drums, noticed the orange creature first. The stem-like ponytail was his first clue to the thing's identity, then its relative size.

"Whoa - Carver, is that you?"

Lock and Shock stopped their bickering for a moment to glance over. Sure enough, the fight was quickly forgotten in place of curiosity. Shock ran over first, with her brothers not far behind her. Even with the pumpkin creature's new form, she picked up on it just as quickly as Barrel did. Closer now, she saw the rivets keeping the orange flesh - was it flesh? - together, the slight curvature like a doll's body, the strange face with its jagged mouth. The false flesh didn't quite hide the bolts keeping the jaw attached, giving Carver a small lump on either side of the face.

"The hell happened to you?" Shock asked. "Where's your cage?"

Lock came up next.

"Actually, where are your cargo pants?"

The edges of his mouth quickly lifted into a grin as he examined the body and quickly noticed a design flaw in the new body.

"New upgrade seemed to fall a bit short, didn't it?"

That got Shock and Barrel to laugh. Barrel sobered first.

"It's great, though!" he said. "You're a whole new monster!"