image
by lindy_guo
"Happy Halloween, Smedley!"
Smedley opened his eyes from where he'd fallen asleep over his experiment note
book last night. The ringed binder had left a spiral-shaped dent in his face,
and his hair was disheveled, but he didn't seem to notice, blinking his beady
eyes blearily.
Franco was drinking a particularly nauseatingly bright looking slushie, and
was wearing an orange shirt with a black 404 printed on it. Franco was almost
always drinking a slushie... though it was primarily the sales of those slushies
that kept DSAF Labs funded, Franco was always trying to drink up their profits.
Smedley scowled darkly at the slushie, then blinked at Franco's shirt.
"Like it? " Franco said, making an irritating slurp noise through his straw.
"It's my Halloween costume. Guess... guess what I am, Smedley... bet you can't
guess..."
"A slushie-addicted loser, same as last year..." Smedley snapped, and got to
his feet.
"No! I'm a database error! Get it? 404... file not found!" Franco snort-giggled,
and had another slurp.
Smedley groaned. If Franco hadn't been his only friend since science class
back at Neopia High... he'd be happy to turn the ray on his slushie-loving partner.
Ah, well. There were more important things on the slate than Halloween. Bah.
Halloween--the time where kids went around trick or treating and got yummy chocolates
and... hmmm...
"Franco! You've just given me a brilliant idea!" Smedley was practically bursting
with excitement.
"You're going to dress as an error, too? I've got a lovely 'Please link to
this page from...' shirt that's just your size," Franco finished his slushie
and tossed the empty container in the garbage.
"No, you idiot! We're going to get a bunch of chocolate... tons and tons of
chocolate... enough to fund Phase Two of our project! Muhahaha!" Smedley was
very excited. "We could sell chocolate for lots of Neopoints in our shop...
all we have to do is acquire some on Halloween! I suppose this would mean dressing
up in a silly costume--but I am not going to be a database error!"
Franco looked disappointed that he and Smedley wouldn't have matching costumes.
He wondered what Smedley's costume would be. Maybe pulling off this brilliant
plan would be just the thing his buddy needed to forget about the loss of their
first experiment, 'dsaf645dsaf899', the Grarrl who had ran off during an argument
the scientists were having. "I wonder where that Grarrl is now..."
"Graaaah!" said Smedley. 'Graaah!' was what he said every time Franco mentioned
the Grarrl that got away. Franco figured that 'Graaah!' translated either to
"Pipe down before I hit you again!" or "I could really go for a slushie." After
a few weeks of experience (and being doused with a couple of Holiday Slushies),
he realised it was the first.
"I was talking out loud again, wasn't I?" Franco sometimes had a hard time
distinguishing between his inner and his outer voice.
"Moron," muttered Smedley, who went back to pondering the perfect costume.
Harry was so excited. Halloween was finally here! Everyone at the Wayside Wanderer
was dressed in a splendid costume. Chianinnya the Chia was dressed as a clown,
with a bright red nose and a mop of rainbow coloured hair. Dignified Sylavista
was wearing a vampire's cape, and false fangs over her teeth. She looked quite
authentic when she snarled! Wyaethius was dressed as a Poogle racer, with a
number around his back and running shoes on all four of his feet.
image by thephoenixofeio
Harry thought he had the very best costume of all. Tiara had sewn six large
white bed sheets together, and cut out a pair of large holes through which Harry
could see. The fabric draped over his head, and around his arms (which had to
be free to hold the sack for candy collection, of course!) and down in the back
to hide his long tail.
"Booooooo!" said Harry, trying his best to sound just like the fake ghost that
hung in the common room of the tavern. He'd been practicing for weeks.
"Very good, dear..." said Tiara affectionately. "You're quite scary!"
Harry smiled toothily under his costume. His first Halloween was going to be
great!
"Now," said Tiara, "remember the safety rules..."
Harry scratched his head, confused, but his siblings piped up...
"Never eat the candy before you check it!" said Chianinny, jumping up and down.
"Always walk in well lighted areas," said Wyaethius, though he looked anxious
to be going.
"And remember to say thank you for the candy," Sylavista said gruffly, eying
her younger siblings who sometimes forgot this rule.
Harry repeated the rules over and over to himself as they walked down the lane,
not wanting to forget any of them. The one about leaving all the yummy candy
in the bag until he got home was going to be especially hard to obey, but it
was very important--so he'd definitely do so.
"Trick or Treat!" said his siblings as they reached the first door.
"Trick or Treat!" Harry boomed along with them, in his best speaking voice.
"Booo!" he added, just in case people couldn't tell what his costume was. The
kind lady at the door gave them each a chocolate Grundo-shaped candy.
A few moments later, another pair of Trick-or-Treaters walked up that house.
One was wearing an orange shirt that read "404" on the front, and "File not
Found" on the back, and the other was wearing a cheerful fire faerie costume,
complete with wings.
"Put a sock in it, Franco! It's not my fault this was all the costume shop
had left... are my Juppies straight? " He looked down at the front of the dress
balefully.
"Yeah... you look great, Smedley. Heck, if I didn't know you were a somewhat
evil scientist with no real powers or talents, I'd ask you to bless me..." Franco
gave him the thumbs up.
"Just ring the bell!" Smedley snarled.
Franco rang the bell, and the lady answered the door. She looked dubiously
at the pair ... "Aren't you a bit -old- for Trick or Treat?" she asked suspiciously.
Smedley blinked. This hadn't occurred to him as part of the brilliant plan.
"Um... we're... exchange students... from the VirtuPets Space Station..."
"We are?" Franco mouthed.
"Shh... " said Smedley. "Erm... in Space... it is traditional for people of
all ages to Trick or Treat. So give us candy! ... please?"
"Or slushies!" Franco piped up.
"Shaddup!" Smedley growled, nearly dropping one of the strategically placed
Juppies out of the front of his dress as he leaned over to smack Franco upside
the head. The lady placed two chocolates in their bags, mostly to make them
get off her doorstep.
"Weirdos," she muttered under her breath as they departed.
To be continued... | 
