Sunset's Isekai

by Wanderer D

Isekai Shenanigans Part 3: This Is Halloween (Nightmare Before Christmas)

"A young Rag Doll you say?" Lock asked. "With a rabbit? Well, isn't that something!"

"Do we need another one?" Shock asked, sniffing in contempt. 

"And that's not all," Barrel said, his grinning mask almost, almost, looking like it was grinning more, "the leprechaun I cornered on his way to Valentine Town said that there's a cat and a lizard in St. Patrick's Day Town before he snuck away."

"Hm." Lock crossed his arms, his eyes glinting behind his devi's mask. "So what? We've got plenty of those here!" He lifted a struggling lizard by the tail to show it to the others. "Besides why do we care about another girl ragdoll?"

"What's wrong with her being a girl?" Shock asked. The young witch glared at the pair of boys, arms akimbo.

The two boys looked at each other and shrugged. "They're staying there for a bit, but he said they were coming here soon," Barrel continued, undeterred by Shock's apparent annoyance.

"But if they're coming here… maybe we should make sure they meet us first!" Lock said. "We wouldn't want them to meet Jack and Sally first!"

"Why not?" Barrel asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Because they're not going to spook her, that's why!" Lock replied.

"Yeah! That's not a proper introduction to Halloween Town!" Shock added. "Now that Boogie's not around we have to pick up the slack!"

"Besides, ragdolls are monsters too, right?"

"I guess," Barrel said. "Oooh! I know! Should we cook the rabbit and feed it to the lizard?!"

"A rabbit and bone stew to warm their hearts!" Shock said, laughing as she took a wooden spoon from her cauldron and whirled it around, splashing sizzling liquid all around them.

"I have just the recipe!" Lock said, giggling. "And we can add extra roly-polies for spice!"

"Maybe we should take the stuffing out of the rag doll and fill her up with bugs! Just like Oogie!" Shock suggested. "Then we could have a Boogie Queen!"

"Do we need another queen?" Barrel asked.

"I think one is more than enough!" Lock said, shaking his head.

"But if she becomes as rotten inside as he was, then we'll once again be the real terror of Halloween Town!" Shock retorted as the trio walked over to jump into their bathtub, which started wobbling towards the forest.

The thought seemed to appeal to the two boys who turned to stare at each other before cackling evilly.

"And we can tame the lizard and skin the cat!" Barrel roared excitedly.

"Skin the cat, skin the cat! Tan its hide and make a mat!" Shock and Lock sing-sang together. "Tame a lizard/make some soup; get a doll/stuff it full!"

As they walked through the forest, following their shadows like the leprechaun had told them, Hannelore glanced at Philine, who was a little despondent at having to walk the last stretch, since she had been so fond of flying alongside her without the aid of a Highbeast.

She had to admit: seeing the scholar soar alongside her with a confidence that defied everything she knew about the young laynoble had made Hannelore question everything she thought she knew about Ehrenfest.

At first, she had been under the impression that Rozemyne was an outlier. Even Wilfried couldn't measure up to her, and although Charlotte was just getting started at the academy, it was obvious it would be an uphill battle for either sibling to catch up to their sister.

Thus, herself, alongside most of the other dutchies, had kept an eye on Rozemyne. As she got to know her fellow archduke candidate better—and by extension her associates—Hannelore had come to appreciate the excellence of Rozemyne's retainers. 

Even though most other duchies had found it odd that Rozemyne would employ so many laynobles alongside the more common (as far as retainers went for archduke candidates) mednobles and archnobles, Hannelore had been impressed by the quality of their work and their training.

All of the students from Ehrenfest were doing great in their studies and finishing quickly, of course, but it was well-known that Rozemyne had the best of the lot—no matter what pretenses Wilfried made about his own assistants—and that was something, considering her fellow archduke candidates from other dutchies didn't even have the insight that she herself did into how incredibly efficient they were.

But even all of that had not prepared her for how even demure Philine truly was behind the scenes. She was fearless! Yet, self-aware. It was oddly endearing how she'd be pushing her own limits, but fall back on social interactions to her more demure personality, even though moments before she had been ready for a fight. 

Most people would have panicked when they found themselves transformed into a strange creature (just like Hannelore herself had), but the scholar had taken it in stride, embraced it and was fully enjoying it! She had been flying all over, practicing her roar (only once, then she had blushed bright red under her cheek scales), and just having the best time of her life.

What baffled Hannelore the most was that, even if Philine knew some of the traditions, or even the language these strange creatures practice or spoke, she had simply accepted this change.

Hannelore was not nearly as comfortable. It wasn't that she itched, but all the sensations her body was informing her of were confusing her, and it made her want to just jump out of her own skin. Smells she had never paid attention to before carried layers upon layers of significance that she somehow understood. Her coat of lavender fur was sensitive, her hand/paws were soft and padded on the bottom, and she could just make a slightly stretching effort with her fingers and claws would grow out!

And she didn't even want to think about her whiskers or her ears. It was just all she could do to concentrate on her spells and think about other things. But thinking about that was making her think about them! Hannelore quickly walked closer to Philine.

"So, Lady Philine… it seems you are rather fond of that shape of yours."

The laynoble 'dragon' quickly perked up. "Um, yes," she said, clearly embarrassed. "It just reminds me of big sis Khisanth."

"Oh, you have a sister? Does she hunt these dragon creatures?"

"She's taken me under her wing, although we're not related by blood." Philine said, giggling a little. "And no, she doesn't hunt them. She's uh… well, I'm not sure how much I can say."

'Oh ho ho, no… you're not getting out of this that easily!' "Come now, Lady Philine," Hannelore said, putting forth her best archduke smile, "surely now that we're both here it means I can learn a little bit about it, right?"

"I-I suppose…" Philine said, shifting her wings uncomfortably. "I'm just hoping Sunset Shimmer doesn't get upset with me about it. But we are in the middle of another world…"

'Another world!?' 

"...but then again, I learned at least the basics when I was thrown into planet Ragna…" Philine continued.

'Hold on, planet? World?' 

"Well…" the laynoble-turned-dragon stopped and turned to face her, hands behind her back and looking a bit shy. "Ahem, we are not in our own world. There is no Ehrenfest or Royal Academy here… we might not even be in the same dimension. This happened to me once, and that's where I met Khisanth..."

"What an odd shape," Judithe muttered, staring at the door in the tree. It was a vegetable she had seen before, of course, but Lady Rozemyne had called it a 'Jack o' Lantern'. 

"It's for the holiday spirit!" Rozemyne answered, fluffy tail wagging.

Judithe had to clench her fists and look away lest she hug her. "W-what do you mean?"

"Oh, you'll see." Rozemyne pulled the door open.

"Wait," Judithe said. "Let me go first, to make sure it's safe."

Rozemyne looked a bit unsure. "But…"

"Please, Lady Rozemyne," Judithe insisted. "I know we're in a strange land, and you are more than capable of taking care of us, but it is my duty."

Rozemyne paused and gave Judithe's words some consideration. "Well, I suppose there's no harm in letting you check first. Go ahead, Judithe! My faithful knight!"

"R-right!"

Judithe walked into the doorway and suddenly found herself stepping out into a circle of trees, similar to where she was before, but where the Dreamland forest had been green and lush as well as several decorated trees, the trees here were tall but devoid of leaves and the area was covered in underbrush, except for a single dirt trail that led up to the tree she had come out of, otherwise the ground was covered in dried out leaves… but there was something else.

A young girl was kneeling, facing away from the tree she had come out from. She was sobbing and crying. She was dressed oddly, with a single gray-blue robe of some sort and a pointy hat over long, messy black hair.

"Are you okay, miss?" Judithe asked, approaching her carefully. She heard a noise behind her, and suddenly the door was slammed shut! Judithe whirled in place to stare at the two costumed creatures in front of it, and suddenly the world went dark.

"Aww, I guess we miscalculated!" Lock said, tying more ropes around the struggling doll. "I think we trapped the rabbit in Dream Land." He shook his head at the cartful of boxes they had dumped in front of the door. "I don't wanna pick that up!"

"Well, we still have the cat and the lizard, we might still catch them! They're supposed to be coming out of the first grove!" Shock retorted.

"Let's go catch them!" Barrel said, cackling as they tossed the tied-up ragdoll into the tub and jumped in themselves.

"Hey, let me out!" the rag doll hollered from within the sack they had put on her head.

"No!" the trio answered then cackled together.

"Lady Rozemyne! Help!"

"Aww, we forgot the rabbit!" Lock said. "Now what are we going to feed the lizard?"

"How about the cat?"

"It probably won't know the difference."

"Wait, why are you talking about feeding things to something else?!"

"Shut up, you!" Barrel poked the side of the bag.

"Hey!"

"Don't do that," Shock said. "Remember, she's going to be the queen!"

The rag doll in the bag went quiet for a moment. "What are you talking about?!"

"We're going to take the stuffing out of you!" Barrel said.

"And stuff you with bugs and spiders and centipedes, and cobwebs and dead leaves!" 

"..."

"And then you'll be our boss!"

The rag doll started squirming like a worm that had salt poured over it. "Let me out of here you crazy children! I-I'll report you to the authorities!"

"Haha! She thinks we care!" Barrel said to the others.

"Lady Rozemyne!" the ragdoll wailed. "Unstitched! I don't want to be filled with bugs!"

"Who's Rozemyne?" Shock asked.

"Eh, beats me." Lock replied. "Probably just another rag doll."

"Look!" Barrel suddenly exclaimed, "The tree grove!"

"Come on! Let's be quick!" Shock hissed, her voice dripping malevolence, "before…" she trailed off as the door to St. Patrick's Day Town opened up and two creatures emerged. "That's not a lizard! That's a dragon!"

"And that's not a cat!" Lock said, turning around to smack Barrel on the back of his head. "That's some sort of crazy werecat!"

"I didn't say they were! It was the leprechaun!"

"Little bastard!"

The two creatures were staring at them, and although Shock really wanted to capture them, the dragon looked particularly dangerous at that moment. "Come on! Let's go!"

They turned around their bathtub and headed away from the confused pair that had just emerged from the tree, moving as fast as they could.

"Were those children?" Hannelore asked, blinking in confusion. "They looked just a few years younger than us!"

"I… think so?" Philine said. "This is Halloween Town's territory, so that would explain why they were dressed like that."

"They looked utterly horrifying!" Hannelore said. "Why would they use such dreadful disguises!"

"I'm not sure if they'll look any better under them, if I'm honest, Lady Hannelore," Philine said, looking around uneasily. "I never really understood the appeal of scaring people on Halloween, although big sis Khisanth seems to really enjoy it."

"I must say you and Rozemyne have the oddest acquaintances."

Philine turned to stare pointedly at Hannelore, who looked back with a straight face before the two broke down into giggles.

"I suppose that counts me as well," Hannelore admitted, "well played, Lady Philine."

Philine giggled. "I am so glad that you know more about this situation now, Lady Hannelore. I can always tell that Lady Rozemyne has been dying to tell you all about it." She regarded the catgirl fondly. "She truly values your friendship, you are her first bookworm friend in the Academy, after all."

Hannelore felt herself blush. Surely Lady Rozemyne had many other friends. Hannelore might be an Archduke Candidate, but she was usually overshadowed by her brother, or many of the other, more aggressive candidates. With Lady Rozemyne engaging royalty, and with her connections, it had always been surprising to her how her friend would go out of her way to spend time with her.

But then again, that was part of being friends.

The thought made her feel warm inside.

The pair were distracted when the door with the oval shape on it opened up and a large Shumil jumped out, looking ready for battle.

"Lady Rozemyne!" Philine exclaimed.

"Philine!" the shumil said in return. "Bwah!? You're a dragon! Is that Lady Hannelore?! Did she turn into a purple caitan?"

"You are surprisingly adept at recognizing us like this, Lady Rozemyne," Hannelore said, amused by Rozemyne's honest reaction.

"I take it Philine has already told you everything?" Rozemyne asked.

"She told me a lot," Hannelore said diplomatically. This was strange, but having tea with goddesses required a different level of suspension of disbelief. "But I still have a lot of questions."

Lady Rozemyne hopped up to her and held her hands in her paws. "And we'll be happy to answer them!" she declared excitedly. "Oh! This is going to be wonderful! You'll love the multiverse, Lady Hannelore!"

"Um," Philine raised a hand, "Excuse me, Lady Rozemyne, but where is Lady Judithe?"

"Judithe!" Rozemyne gasped. She twirled around. "She's not here? Someone shut the door to Dream Town and blocked it! I had to go to Easter Town's grove to get here."

"We haven't seen anyone other than three strange children," Hannelore said, shaking her head.

"Oh no." Rozemyne gasped. "Describe them."

"I-I wouldn't even know where to begin… the girl was wearing a single piece purple dress, dirty and patchy. She had a pointy hat on her head." Hannelore cleared her throat, not liking to speak ill of others. "She looked… rather unkempt."

"There were two boys," Philine reported. "One in a devil costume, another in a skeleton one."

"Lock, Shock and Barrel." Rozemyne said. "Oh, this is not good. Did you see anything else?"

"They were riding a bathtub and had something squirming in the back," Hannelore said, unable to believe the words she was uttering. This was a very strange world.

"I believe they might have kidnapped Judithe!" Rozemyne said. "Philine, can you fly?"

"Yes!"

"Excellent, please follow them, Lady Hannelore and I will head over to Halloween Town and find Jack Skellington."

Philine nodded and jumped into the air, breaking through the few branches that blocked her way with ease.

"Come on, Lady Hannelore, we'll reach the edge of the wood this way and we can summon our Highbeasts."

Judithe glared at the three… creatures. There was no way this trio of malicious little gruns⁽¹⁾ were human. "Release me at once! I am a retainer of Lady Rozemyne! You have no idea of the trouble you're in!"

"Ooooh, Lady Rozemyne!" Shock said, snickering. She sneered down at the tied-up doll. "Look at me! I'm soooo scared!"

"I'm shaking in my boots!" Barrel added, very clearly not shaken at all.

"What are we going to do if big, mean Lady Rozemyne comes for us?!" Lock cried mockingly from the ledge he was standing on behind her. He leaned down, a mean tone slithering into his voice. "Maybe we should turn you into the Boogie Queen before that happens."

"I don't want to be your queen!" Judiithe snapped. Her situation was very frustrating. Although she could enhance her strength, the trio of little monsters had tied her up tightly and in a way where she couldn't get any leverage. As much as she wanted to just snap the ropes apart, she wouldn't be able to do so until then.

"Aww, you're just shy," Shock said.

"I'm not!"

"But don't worry," the little witch continued, ignoring Judithe's answer, "once we stuff you full of bugs you'll be one of us!"

"One of us! One of us!"

"I'm a knight, dammit! Let me lose and fight me honorably!"

"Ha!" Barrel said, dragging a large sack full of squiggly things closer and closer to her. "No."

Those could only be the bugs they had mentioned! Judithe hated bugs! That was why when there were bug-type feybeast hunts, she would dispatch them as quickly as possible. And now they wanted to stuff her full of them!

She stared at them with wide eyes, then started struggling again, "Let me go!"

"Don't struggle too much!" Shock said, raising a pair of disproportionately-sized scissors up. "Don't want me to cut off your entire arm instead of just the stitches!" She quickly snipped one of the threads on Judithe's arms, and it started unraveling, revealing soft cotton under it.

"Oooh! Cut off her arm! Do it! Do it!" Lock said, jumping up and down. "We can stitch her back together again after that!"

"Good idea!" Shock said, grinning as she opened the scissors wide.

Judithe gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. She didn't want to see it coming.

"Stop right there!"

Judithe's eyes opened wide as Lady Rozemyne hopped into the room, followed by another creature wearing Royal Academy robes in Dunkelfelger colors, which could only be Lady Hannelore! "Lady Rozemyne! Lady Hannelore!"

"We're here for you, Judithe!" Lady Rozemyne declared. "Philine!"

"Right!" a voice answered from above, and Judithe's head turned to stare at her roommate, who was some sort of flying lizard gliding out of the darkness. She watched in awe as Philine opened her maw and a splash of green, sizzling liquid struck the bag in Barrel's hands.

With a shriek, the little monster let it go as the bag and its contents dissolved into a smoking, squealing mess of creepy crawlies that died in whatever Philine had spit on them.

Barrel turned to run, but Philine landed in front of him with a growl.

Lock and Shock stared at each other for a second before making a bee-line towards the tunnel entrance, only to stumble on each other as two figures, one a tall, lanky skeleton; the other a rag doll, stood on their way.

"Well, well, well," the skeleton said, leaning forward to glare at the trio of creatures. "What have we here?"

"Uh," Shock spoke up, "H-hi Jack! Hi Sally, we were just playing!"

"Yeah!" Lock said, "No harm done, right?"

"Well, not now that we didn't stuff her full of bugs…" Barrel bemoaned, earning himself an elbow to the ribs from Shock.

Jack shook his head and stood straight, drawing a hand up to massage his forehead dramatically. "What will I do with you three? I thought we made it clear you weren't to bother visitors from other towns?"

"We totally haven't!" Lock said. "We uh, we were just playing with the rag doll! It was all in good fun!"

While the trio of monsters squirmed under Jack's disapproving glare, Sally had joined Rozemyne and the others, helping to untie Judithe. She stared at the younger rag doll, then delicately raised Judithe's arm, where the string had been cut. "Here, let me take a look at that…"

Very quickly, she pulled out a needle and a bit of thread, and in seconds, the younger doll's arm was repaired. "There you go, good as new!"

Judithe stared at the other doll, then down at her arm, where the stitches did indeed look like they had never been cut before. "Thank you!"

"Oh, it's no worry at all!" Sally said. "After all, Rozemyne is one of our dear friend Sunset Shimmer's students. We couldn't disappoint her, could we?"

"Uh, oh." Lock, Shock, and Barrel said in unison.

"Indeed." Jack sighed. "Zero!"

A flying… ghostly dog with a shiny nose flew in, quickly picking up a rope in its muzzle and flying circles around the trio, getting them tied up in seconds.

"You three… are in so much trouble!" Jack growled. "We'll see about getting you to do community service!"

"No! Not community service!"

Judithe, still sitting down, looked up when a claw was offered to her. Her eyes followed it up to Philine's eyes.

"Need a claw getting up?"

Judithe snorted, then wiped a stray tear quickly, ashamed that her Lady would see her cry. But Rozemyne, once Judithe was up, ignored all protocol and simply hugged her tight. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Um… thank you."

"Come on," Sally said, waving her hand at them. "Let's go to Halloween Town. I'll get you some tea and cookies, then we'll contact Sunset."

"What about them?" Judithe asked, glancing at Lock, Shock and Barrel.

"My husband, Jack, will handle them, don't worry." Sally said. "It's not often I see another rag doll. Even if you're only one for the time being, I have to say you're quite pretty."

"Um. Thank you. S-so are you… miss… Sally?"

"That's right," Rozemyne said. "She's the Pumpking Queen!" She leaned closer to Judithe. "Essentially the Zent's wife."

"And you just addressed her by her first name," Philine said.

"Oh." Judithe nodded. Then her eyes rolled back and she passed out.

"That was mean," Hannelore said to Philine, who was wide-eyed as she held up her unconscious friend.

Hannelore tried to look serious, but the situation was so ridiculous she couldn't help but giggle. The others did too, and the relief that came with that simple action was surprisingly intense. Things had been very strange since this all had started, and she was sure that, if she had been on her own she'd probably still be panicking somewhere near St. Patrick's Day Town.

But she had ended up here with friends, and she had proved to herself that she could adapt with the best of them. What had happened to Judithe had been scary, but thankfully Rozemyne and Philine had known what to do.

She promised herself to learn all she could about this place, and about her friend's adventures. Rozemyne had told her earlier that they'd be returning home in a way that made it so that no time had passed since their departure.

If this was something they could do, she wondered how many adventures Rozemyne had secretly been part of.

"Lead the way, Sally!" Rozemyne said to the horrified look from Judithe, and giggles from Philine.

Hannelore wondered for a moment if she'd be able to keep up. 

Well, she'd find out soon, she supposed. And although it was a bit scary… she wasn't alone.