{A Halloween oneshot I wrote on a whim after my Bible test when I had some free time left in class XD}


Cole and Lloyd were finishing setting up a haunted house for the others. Not that everyone else knew, of course. They were just out running some errands for candy and last-minute decorations, right? But whoops! They had to go to 5 different stores and they were all so crowded! They'd probably be late getting home, then.

At least that was their cover story for when they headed back home in a little bit. "Finished with my part!" Cole called from his position up in the air. He floated back down and stepped back to admire his handiwork. The decorations were harder for him to set up because of his ghostly form, but he managed just fine.

"Nice work! Now let's finish this last scare at the end and we can head back to the Bounty before trick-or-treating." Lloyd said and Cole nodded. Their last scare was something sure to frighten the rest of their team so badly, these two jokers might never be allowed out of their friends' sight again. It had to stay a secret though, otherwise, it wouldn't be as fun.

An hour later, their cover story told, candy bagged to hand out, and costumes changed into, the team was ready to set out. Tonight they'd be doing a reverse trick-or-treat, going out to kids and giving them little bags of candy instead of waiting for them to come to the Bounty (which was always moving around anyway, so it would be hard to find).

Jay and Nya were dressed to match, going as Frankenstein and his bride. Jay used some of his nuts and bolts to make it look real and Nya helped him apply the green paint to his face. He'd returned the favor, of course. They looked fabulous!

Zane and Pixal were also matched but in a more subtle way. The sun and moon, to be exact. Pixal being the sun and Zane the moon. He'd recycled one of his old gis and used his ice to freeze it into the shape he needed it to be. Pixal used her science-y ways to get her costume looking nice and they were so excited to go together!

Kai and Skylor were last. They didn't "match" match, they'd both just dressed in leather jackets and sunglasses to look like motorcyclists. That was what they would wear in real life anyway and plus, they weren't the matchy-matchy type.

Cole was dressed as a pirate. Captain Hook, to be exact. He even found an old stuffed parrot that wouldn't fall through his shoulder and added it to his ensemble at the last minute.

Lloyd was the last to enter. He was going as what he went as last year (or at least what he would've if the Tomorrow's Tea hadn't splashed on him)... a green dragon, complete with green "flames" from his energy balls.

After all the ooh-ing and ahh-ing over costumes, they set out. Every time they'd see a kid go by, they'd stop them to give them some candy. The delight on their faces was so evident that the team smiled every time. Eventually, the candy ran out and they decided to head back home for the night and binge on candy and scary movies. Well, everyone except for two. Cole and Lloyd were trailing at the back of the group and nodded at each other.

"Hey guys, let's not head back quite yet. I heard some rumors about this sick new haunted house that's opening up tonight in a few minutes." Cole mentioned, trying to seem casual as he brought it up. "Wanna go check it out?" Lloyd agreed, which led the others to agree as well. What else did they have to do tonight? It was past bedtime for most kids and now the teens and adults were starting to come out to claim the rest of the night for themselves.

One of the perks of being a ghost was not having to actually walk, which Cole was grateful for right now. Once they arrived to the house, everyone was struggling to catch their breath a bit. "Where's everyone else? I thought you said this was a big opening." Kai asked suspiciously and raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms.

"Well, uh, I guess they lied on the ad." Cole shrugged and waved for them to go forward. Eventually they all made it to the front door, which Cole pushed open for them to step in. He noticed Jay find Nya's hand and grip it tight and smiled softly. They really were perfect for each other. He felt he made the right decision stepping back and letting Jay have his chance. Jay's happiness was much more important to him than his own.

He and Lloyd made eye contact again and with mischievous grins, they moved to opposite sides of the group, seemingly just by chance. They pretended to look around for clues on which of the three doors that were in front of them to go through. "Let's move forward. Logically, that's the best way because it would most likely go straight through the house." Zane reasoned and swiftly walked through the middle door, which swung open before he could touch it. Jay seemed to be a little jumpy at the action, but Kai (who was in front of Jay, totally not being a human shield by accident) just rolled his eyes.

"Jay, you're squeezing my shoulder so hard you might as well just take the whole arm." He said and scoffed. Jay sheepishly smiled and let go. Now was the time for the first part of the plan--Silently drop off from the group one at a time and see if they would notice while they used secret passageways to get to the first scare.

Cole let himself go total ghost mode and sunk through the floor. Lloyd would sneak through a secret wall passage while the rest were distracted by little jumpscares here and there. Their reactions weren't very extreme, mostly being Kai laughing while Jay tried to be brave and failing.

Cole solidified himself once he reached the level below and reached to pull a lever in front of him. Right as he did, he heard muffled voices round the corner to where he was--right below them now. 

"Wait, where did Cole and Lloyd go?" Nya asked, only to have Jay softly whimper in response. 

"What if this place really IS haunted?" He asked. Kai scoffed again. 

"Really? This is child's play, Jay. You haven't seen anything until you go up to the amusement park in Stoland. This one guy came running at me with a chainsaw and-"

"Kai! Focus." Zane reprimanded him and for once Kai actually listened to someone other than himself and Nya. He discreetly nodded to Jay, who was trying as hard as he could to control his shaking. "We need to stick together until we find them. They probably just went off somewhere together and forgot their way back." He explained calmly and Pixal nodded in agreement. Nya helped Jay calm down and they pressed on.

Underground, Cole pulled the lever. This would cause a series of lights to flicker on and off while Lloyd would make footsteps running back and forth above them. Then Cole would knock things over, move them, and generally mess with the group as best he could while invisible. If Lloyd was going to be discovered, Cole would make a screeching noise and that would give him time to get away. So far it was going pretty well, all things considered. He phased back up through the floor and kept himself invisible as the group nervously chattered among themselves about where he and Lloyd could've gone. They called out every few seconds for them but never got an answer. The last light at the end of the hall flickered out and Cole heard a small gasp as he crept through the walls to the next room.

"Cole? Lloyd?" Jay called out into the darkness. He hated the dark! He hated being scared and especially in front of Nya! But he couldn't run now. Not with everyone watching.

Upstairs, Lloyd carefully creaked the stairs and floorboards to make them sound slow and creepy. He made a thumping sound by jumping on them a few times, waiting longer each time. Then Cole set in with his part. He pushed a framed picture of Kai off a table and shouted "Stop!" Kai rushed over to see what the noise was and only found the picture.

On the other side of the room, next to the door where everyone could see, Cole rolled out Lloyd's old soccer ball they put there for this reason. 

"I-is that Lloyd's soccer ball?" Jay asked nervously as it rolled across the floor towards him. Upstairs, Lloyd heard his cue. He started laughing hysterically, which quickly turned to shrieking. 

"Cole! Help me!" This was Cole's cue to come running up behind the group as if he'd only just gotten un-lost.

"Guys! Oh, I'm so glad I found you! Have... have you seen Lloyd?" He asked, taking deep breaths in the pauses so it looked like he ran towards them. "Cole? Where have you been?" Zane asked, narrowing his eyes a bit. He knew how stern he could look when he wanted to. That's why he was dubbed the "mom friend". Luckily, Cole already had his cover story put together.

"Well, I was... pulled away by this... thing. I didn't get a good look at it but Lloyd got taken too. It was totally silent and super quick. It dumped me below ground and took Lloyd somewhere. I tried following his voice but every time it lead me somewhere different until I found you guys. Any luck?" He had to give Lloyd time to sneak back down so he could "take" Cole back. Just one more minute...

They all shook their heads at Cole. Some were suspicious of his story (Kai, Skylor, and Zane), while others were pretty convinced at least some of it was true (Nya, Jay, and Pixal). The creaking of footsteps suddenly got louder and Cole pretended to be terrified. "He's back! Guys, that's who took me!" He threw himself backwards and disappeared, like he'd been thrown back by an invisible blast of energy. He and Lloyd (who disguised his voice) continued to scream and move about the now pitch-black room, as if they were fighting.

Cole crept up on Jay while he was being silent and brushed a finger up on his shoulder. He almost laughed at the comical expression of Jay's face. The silence went on while little taps were made here and there, questions thrown about like "Was that you? Who touched me?" and so on.

Eventually it was time to put an end to all this because it was getting a little stale, repeating the same things over and over. So Cole and Lloyd met up and counted down silently. 3...2...1!

"BOO!" They started laughing immediately after the lights turned back on and just laughed and laughed at the expressions on their friends' faces. They ranged from fear to unsurprised, Jay being the fear and Kai being the unsurprised. Everyone else was in between, with a mix of fear or shock and now disdain yet relief.

A chorus of voices started yelling things like "What the heck?" "What were you thinking?" "Not bad, actually. I was almost scared." They made their way out of the house while Cole and Lloyd got their ears talked off and made it back to the Bounty without any more scares. What a great way to end Halloween! Wait, they hadn't started scary movies yet...

Oh well, always next year!

~~~ Enjoy my first individual holiday special! I wrote all of these 2k words late at night on October 30, so excuse any spelling mistakes. Happy Halloween lovelies! Stay safe! ~~~