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"Hey Shelly, wanna help me with my Howloween costume?"
Shelleylou, the shadowed gelert, stared sulkily
over the edge of her newspaper and grunted. "It's Halloween, not
Howloween. And no, I don't want anything to do with the wretched holiday, anyway.
If you ask me, it's just a big waste of perfectly good time. Make your own costume,
Mordegan!" She chuckled darkly. "Why don't you just go as yourself? That's pretty
darn scary."
Mordegan, a green lupe, frowned sadly. His older
sister wouldn't even lend one lousy paw to help with the costume, and he was
practically hopeless when it came to arts and crafts. Mordegan suddenly smiled.
"I know why you're all mopey! It's just because you had such a lousy Halloween
when you still went Trick or Treating!"
The edges of the newspaper crunched together
as Shelly's claws dug into them. Her voice came out as a choked bark, and her
smoky tail lashed against the side of the couch with each word. "Don't you dare
mention that... incident! It was so... traumatizing!" Shelly leapt up from the
couch and galloped off for her room, sniffling sadly, but not before turning
and winging her can of Neocola at Mordegan's face. Mordegan, his face dripping
with sticky brown liquid, shrugged.
"Was it something I said?"
***
Zarrelian stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he carefully gave
the final adjustments to his costume. The Ixi stood back, pleased that it had
turned out so well. He heard footsteps from behind him, and turned around to
greet his older bother, Ezanna the silver zafara. Zarrelian grinned at the look
of horror pasted onto his brother's face.
"What is wrong with your costume?!! What are
you?"
Zarrelian threw his hooves apart. "Isn't it great?
I'm the scariest thing in all of Neopia... A faerie paint brush!"
Ezanna cocked a brow. "Charming." He turned on
his heel and strode off towards the Nehome door, only to be intercepted by battlesunn,
his owner. She glared at him. "And just where do you think you're going, young
zafara?"
Ezanna sighed as he untangled himself from his
owner's grasp. "Battlesunn, I'm going to a Halloween party, remember?"
Battlesunn coughed sulkily. "Oh alright, but
be back by nine."
Ezanna gave a quick salute as he dashed out the
door and met up with his friends, headed in the direction of the Tyrannian concert
hall. Battlesunn turned away from her zafara only to face her lupe, Mordegan.
Battlesunn sighed.
"What is it, Mordegan?"
Mordegan jumped up into her arms. "Will ya help me with my costume battlesunn?
Huh? Pleeeeease?" He whimpered sadly.
Battlesunn groaned. "Mordegan! Just go as Dr.
Sloth or something, okay? I don't have the time." She looked back down into
Mordegan's hopeful eyes, and her tone softened. "Look, just be something scary,
m'kay?"
Mordegan grinned and bounded off, presumably
to go make his costume. Battlesunn could feel a headache coming on, so she made
her way over to the kitchen to brew a nice cup of snowberry tea. She had almost
reached her destination when Shelleylou came galloping down the stairs and right
into battlesunn's legs. Sheleylou's eyes widened with fear. "B... battlesunn!
The- the trick-or-treaters are coming"
"Oh no... Already? Okay, listen. Shelly, just
go give them their candy and they'll leave."
Shelleylou suppressed a scream. "But battlesunn!
You know about my..." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "...fears. I can't!
I just can't face any more trick-or-treaters! They scare me!"
Battlesunn was losing her patience. "SHELLY!
Just give them their candy and they'll go! I don't have the time! They're just
a bunch of pets in Faerie costumes, for crying out loud!"
"Okay, okay!" Shelly muttered, a bit of her surly
attitude returning. "I'll give the dumb trick-or-treaters their sugar junk."
Shelly cautiously approached the door, and opened
it. She found herself staring into the eyes of two costumed kacheeks, one dressed
as the pant devil and the other costumed in a kougra outfit. Shelly held the
candy dish with her shaky paws, trying not to look at the kids, but when they
reached in to pick out some treats, she flipped out and went running of, screaming,
towards her bedroom. The kougra-kacheek exchanged a glance with his friend.
"Weird, I didn't think our costumes were that
scary..."
***
Mordegan finally completed his outfit, he admired himself in the mirror, mentally
thanking Shelleylou for throwing her can of Neocola at him. That had been his
inspiration. He clumped over to Shelly's room and knocked on her door, cringing
as Shelly's harsh words cracked over him like a whip.
"Go away Mordegan, I know it's you! Just leave
me alone!"
Mordegan sighed, and plodded off downheartedly
to where his owner was resting on an overstuffed armchair, staring at the door,
as if daring someone to come and say, "trick or treat". Mordegan jumped in front
of his owner, grinning widely.
"Ta-DA! Hey battlesunn, check out my costume!"
Battlesunn fought back her temptation to start
laughing out loud. "A can of neocola? You're dressing up as a can of neocola?
Mordegan, most Halloween costumes are scary."
Mordegan's face turned grave. "But they are scary!
Have you ever actually read the ingredients of this thing?"
"Whatever. Anyways, Zarrelian has his costume
ready, and so do you, so why don't you just go Trick-or-treating now, okay?"
Mordegan's jaw dropped open in shock. "I have
to go Trick-or-treating with Zarrelian? Mr. Ixi Of Doom? Sir-creeps-me-out-a lot?
I'd rather go with Balthazar!" Mordegan cried.
Battlesunn scowled. "Believe me, he wasn't too
happy about it either. But it's the only way." She pointed to the door. "Go
on now! And be back by nine!" She went upstairs and dragged Zarrelian down,
then pushed them both out the door. "Don't come back for two hours!" She slammed
the door, and left her two pets outside on the beautiful Halloween evening.
Mordegan picked up his treat bag, and trotted of to the nearest house. Zarrelian
followed a little ways behind.
"I can't believe that I actually have to spend
my very first Halloween with YOU! Honestly, I'd even go with Shelleylou!"
Mordegan sniffled a little, but he refused to
rise to Zarrelian's bait. Zarrelian, however, was enjoying this.
"You think you're so great just because you're
one of those, "unique" pets! Hah! Well, you're wrong! You aren? a forest Lupe!
You're as green as an asparagus stalk! Muhahahaha!"
Tears fell from Mordegan's eyes, splashing on
his tinfoil neocola costume. He turned to Zarrelian, glaring. "That's it Zarrelian!
I'm sick of your needling! This is the end!" As he spoke, Mordegan seemed to
be growing bigger. "That's right little Ixi! It's zero hour! Hahahahoooooowl!"
Mordegan burst free from his Neocola costume, and bayed to the moon. Zarrelian
was getting fed up. He walked smartly up to Mordegan, and clipped him over the
face with his hoof.
"Snap out of it, lampeyes!"
It wasn't the smartest thing to do. Mordegan
roared angrily and swiped at Zarrelian. The Ixi hopped nimbly across, still
not fazed in the least. He chuckled.
"Ha! You can't even beat me when you're a werelupe!
Weakling! Uh oh..."
Mordegan snarled, and lunged after Zarrelian,
who began galloping madly in any direction that seemed far enough away from
the vicious lupe. Zarrelian panted, he wasn? in the best of shape. He decided
to try communicating with his brother. "Uh, Mordegan... Heheh, don't you think
that you should be changing back sometime soon? You're starting to scare me...
More than usual... Haha..." He gulped as Mordegan snapped at his tail. "That's
it Mordegan! I'm going to Ezanna! He'll know what to do!"
Zarrelian scampered off into a clump of trees,
trying to calm his racing heart. There was no way that he would escape Mordegan,
in his new state, unless... He glanced at his cardboard wings. Maybe he could
fly away! Zarrelian quickly scaled the closest tree and sat on the highest branch.
Down below, he could hear Mordegan snuffling around the base of the tree, trying
to find a way to climb the tree and get to the terrified Ixi. Zarrelian gathered
up all of his courage, and jumped. He didn't get all too far. With a squeal
that sounded more like snorkle being chased by a doglefox than a flying Ixi,
Zarrelian plunged down to the loamy ground, hitting a patch of moss with a thud.
Werelupe Mordegan's sensitive ears picked up the sound and went into a hunting
stance, stalking Zarrelian carefully. The Ixi shuddered as he caught the pungent
scent of a lupe, and began sobbing fitfully. Suddenly, he saw a flash of pink
among a dull greens and browns. Zarrelian crawled up to it, and gasped in surprise.
A faerie paint brush! A real one! Zarrelian took a deep breath. It was either
sink or swim. He would have to paint himself faerie, or perish at the paw of
his unknowing brother. Zarrelian scowled. He wasn't going to give Mordegan the
pleasure of eating him! He grabbed the brush and hastily painted himself, trying
not to gag at the sight of his once brown fur being changed to a disgusting
lavender hue. Zarrelian gave his wings and experimental flap. They were perfect!
Not without a bit of pride, Zarrelian soared into the air and over the head
of the vicious Werelupe.
"Haha! So long, Mordegan! See you on the other
side!"
Zarrelian sped up and dashed over towards the
Tyrannian concert hall, where his brother was probably having the time of his
life.
***
Ezanna was having the time of his life, and it was pretty easy to guess
why. Much like the famous cheat player/secret angent, 00Hog, Ezanna was suave,
cool and completely in control. He was just beginning to persuade a beautiful
spotted zafara to have a glass of red wine with him, when Zarrelian burst through
the door and wrapped his arms around Ezanna in a tight hug. The spotted zafara
giggled and walked off to re-join her friends, leaving Ezanna with a faerie
Ixi wrapped around his middle.
"Zarrelian! What are you doing here? Forget The
Ixi Of Doom, your new title should be Search and Annoy!" His eyes
widened as he noticed Zarelian's new wings. "ZARRELIAN! Did you paint yourself
Faerie?"
Zarrelian shook his head. "No! I had to use it--to
escape! Mordegan's gone crazy! He's turned into a Werelupe! And I think he wants
to EAT me!"
Ezanna groaned. "You said he wasn't a forest
Lupe, didn't you?"
Zarrelian was astonished. "Yes! How did you know?"
Ezanna snorted. "You simpleton! Anyone who's
bothered to read Illusens Novel would know never to call any forest pet...
Er, not a forest pet! They turn into these weird, mutant monster thingies!"
Zarrelian gasped. "You mean... Mordegan really
is a forest Lupe? And there are other forest pets, to?"
Ezanna rolled his eyes. "Uh, yes! Haven't you
ever even bothered to visit Mordegan's page?"
Now Zarrelian was beginning to get frustrated.
"Well, yes! I just thought it was a load of bunk!"
"Most of it is, except for the parts about the
forest Lupes, and..." he sniggered. "You, of course." He suddenly stopped laughing,.
"Zarrelian, you're in serious trouble. If Mordegan is a werelupe, then he's
completely under the control of his rage." Ezanna growled. "You idiot!
I knew battesunn should've made Shelleylou take you trick-or-treating!" He grabbed
Zarrelian by the shoulders. "The only way to change him back is by giving him
your most cherished possession!"
"But that's my hypno helmet!"
"Then give it to him! And get out of here!"
Zarrelian scurried out of the concert hall, muttering
some nasty things about zafaras. Luckily, Zarrelian always carried his hypno
helmet with him, so he was able to avoid going back to the house and having
to explain everything to battlesunn. Zarrelian shuddered. He'd rather face a
werelupe then his owner when she got cheesed off. He licked the edges of his
dry lips, and went off in search of Mordegan. He wasn't all that difficult to
locate, since he left a trail of destruction in his wake. Zarrelian saw him
feasting on some candy that he had obviously stolen from some unfortunate trick-or-treater.
Zarrelian puffed out his narrow chest, and approached the hulking monostrity.
"MORDEGAN!" he shouted. Mordegan turned around,
saliva foaming at the edges of his mouth, his eyes red and bloodshot. All of
Zarrelian's previous courage deserted. He gulped, and tossed Mordegan the hypno
helmet. "H-here!" he squeaked. Mordegan sniffed at the helmet, and slowly began
to shrink back to his normal size. He grinned at Zarrelian.
"Wowow! What time is it buddy? I feel kind of
woozy..." He noticed his empty treat bag. "Hey! How come we didn't go trick-or-treating?
Weird, I feel really full, though. What happened?"
Zarrelian cleared his throat, and made up a hasty
excuse. "Uh... you crashed into a tree... and um, fell unconscious. You only
just woke up. Er, we'd better get you home, uh... buddy."
Mordegan smiled. "Thanks Zarrel! I didn't really
mind trick-or-treating with you, I mean, it could've been worse, right?"
Zarrelian decided that next Halloween, he would
just stay at home... with Shelleylou.
The End | 
