Spooktastic Costume Party! [Halloween 2019]

Vesper hop-skipped her way towards Steamrise Inn, moving to the upbeat tune she was humming as she approached. Her childish excitement was obvious to any onlookers, the trailing hood of her costume bouncing with her energetic movements. It was spooky season! That time of the year when everyone decorated their homes with creepy stuff and gave out candy to avoid wandering spirits.

Well, Vesper couldn't say she put a lot of stock in those sorts of tales. Sure, they were interesting stories to tell and it was fun to spook and be spooked, but the Vesper only really interpreted 'spirits' as 'ghost pokemon', which made them immediately less scary considering the fact that ghost types wandered Grassveil Town on a daily basis.

That said, 'spooky season' as she liked to call it was one of Vesper's favourite times of the year. It was exciting to celebrate the end of the harvest with others, but it was even more fun to have an excuse to cause a bit of mischief that wouldn't get you immediately arrested if anyone found out. Plus, there was candy and she had an excuse to wear the cool costume she'd made!

Although Vesper hadn't exactly had many Performing Arts classes, her teacher, Mille, had offered to help when she'd gone to ask for advice on how to make a costume for the upcoming festivities. With Mille's deft control of her Psychic, and Vesper's creative vision, the two had managed to create a rather decent looking rendition of a Mega Banette in the form of a hooded cloak and two large 'gloves' that fit over Vesper's roses.


After creating the costume, Vesper immediately decided that wearing it only once to go trick or treating would be a waste and so upon hearing that Steamrise Inn was holding a number of costume party celebrations in the run up to the end of the harvest season, had immediately decided that she wanted to go. She had been only too eager to suggest the idea to Alki as well. After all, she considered the Jigglypuff to be one of her closest friends! Wouldn't it be even more fun to go there with her?

Approaching the large double doors of Steamrise Inn, Vesper could already see the lights and hear the sounds of others within the establishment, likely enjoying the festivities. She paused at the door, resting one grey-and-pink gloved appendage on the wood as she turned to the Pokemon accompanying her.

"Are you okay to go in?" She asked, not wanting to thrust Alki into what was probably somewhat boisterous merrymaking if she wasn't quite ready.

To be completely honest, Alki had all but forgotten that the festivities around halloween were to occur. She'd been reminded about it about... a week or so ago, and when she had heard about it, she wasn't even completely sure that she'd wanted to partake. Her sister had been out, saying she'd had a rather important job to do for the guild, and that she was going to be out of town for a while, and perhaps, Alki would be in the mood for some guild work as well?

She'd declined. It was hard, of course, with the way Darcy smiled and lowered her head to meet Alki at the same height, and after all the Skitty did to take care of her, but... she didn't want to mess up a job that Darcy thought was so important. And besides! She would've missed this if she'd have gone...

Alki had been planning on just staying home and waiting out this spooky season, as Vesper liked to call it, atop a pillow and under a bunch of blankets. Frights? Scares? Costumes? Socializing? No thanks... At least, until Vesper asked if she'd wanted to come. Saying no to her sister had already been difficult enough, saying no to one of her friends on top of that? That was too much...

So she'd decided to go! Of course, it was rather short notice, and the little girl felt quite inadequate next to her friend. Her costume was so cool! It was some sorta mega form of a Pokemon, and it was so creative and well made... Mille had helped her, she was pretty sure. Hers was so... simple? Honestly... she'd simply taken one of the thin, white bedsheets she had in her room at the guild, and cut some holes in it for her to see out of, and a hole for her mouth as well. It wasn't very impressive, but on short notice... it was the best she could do!

...She'd probably have to buy Darcy a replacement bblanket while they were in Rainfront too...

She skipped along, keeping pace with the Roselia, although she was much less outwardly excited than Vesper was. She was still happy, of course! It was nice to spend time with her, and hopefully, if she was around Vesper, she could learn to have some fun at this party. She just... well, she wasn't much for the hop skipping and humming and outward cheeriness that seemed to characterize Vesper...

They stopped before the double doors, that seemed almost intimidating. She'd been here once before, but she'd been an igglybuff at the time... it had been a while, hadn't it? She turned to Vesper as the Roselia asked her if she was ok. She gave a small nod, before speaking up. "Y-Yea..." She said softly, surprising even herself with her nervousness. It was just a party, right? She'd be fine... She had Vesper! Alki shrugged her arms up, the bedsheet moving with her movements. "W-What's there to worry about?"

As he passed through Rainfront, curious to see what the oceanside was like this time of year, he couldn't help but notice nearly everyone was gossiping about 'Spooky Season', talking about it like it was some kind of super-important holiday. A holiday that was celebrated in a plethora of ways, from decorating houses to giving out candy to even an official costume party taking place at the Steamrise Inn. When Saturn caught wind of this, he absolutely had to join. While he didn't really have any experience or talent at making costumes, he figured he would come up with something, if only to get in and see what the more skilled contenders were bringing to the table.

The question is, what would I even dress up as? And more importantly, where would I get the materials? He thought on this for a spell, aimlessly wandering about. He didn't really know many scary stories, and the few that he did know were told to him long ago so he didn't remember them very well. As he walked around, he spotted a small, hastily-built stall run by a Surskit who seemed to be spooling silky cloth from the webbing it was producing. It had various garments of differing colors folded up neatly behind its stall, and as Saturn walked up it spoke; "Hey! Hey, you! Would you be interested in some of these state-of-the-art homemade silken costumes? They'll really help you rake in that candy!" As he got closer, it was apparent that the stall itself was probably tossed together in a hurry, with little regards to structural integrity. Some of the boards were old and rotting, while others looked like fresh branches plucked straight from a tree. The entire thing was being held together by copious amounts of that silky string the Surskit was making the clothes out of, albeit a bit less silky and more like glue. At the top was a large, flat board that Saturn was pretty sure was once a door at some point, with the words ZIGGY'S TEXTILES! etched into the wood. All in all it was kind of an eyesore, and looked like it was liable to fall apart at any moment.

The Surskit, whom he could only guess was Ziggy, grew rather nervous at the way Saturn was examining his stand, and tried to change the subject. "Ahem, uh... the costumes are top notch, I swear. I made them myself! Here, this one might be just what you need." The little pond skater ducked under the stall, the sound of fabric abrasing against fabric making it apparent he was rummaging through his inventory. As he hopped down out of sight, Saturn saw that what the Surskit was standing on was neither a chair nor a seat; it was a small pool of water about a foot deep, held in a barrel of sorts. This deeply puzzled Saturn, but he figured it would be best not to pry.

The sound of rummaging stopped followed by a "Aha! There you are, you little rascal!" He darted back up onto the top of the water containter, seemingly standing on the surface of the water as if it was some kind of cushion. A tendril of webbing was extended from his mouth, connected to something below the stall. He started to suck the webbing back in, like a big long noodle, in attempt to draw out the product in question. It was a black cloak, with long sleeves and a large hood. The instant Saturn laid eyes upon it, he knew what he was going to dress up as.

THE GRIM REAPER

"If you go house to house in this bad boy, you'll get all th- AAAUGH!" As he tried to lift up the costume so Saturn could get a better look, it made him too heavy and caused him to break the surface tension of the water. The sound of spashing water was drowned out by an incoherent string of curses that Saturn couldn't quite make out, not that he wanted to. He managed to fling himself out of the bucket, inadvertently tossing the black cloak onto the front of the stall. "Ugh. There goes my professional demeanor... Anyway this little work of art here is yours for only 200 poke." Upon hearing the ludicrous price tag, Saturn immediately turned on his heel to leave, but it seemed the Surskit was desperate. "Uh, I mean 150 poke!" Saturn continued to walk away, not willing to part with that much money for something he didn't really need. "100! 50! 25 Poke! I won't go any lower." At that, Saturn turned back towards him "Make it 15 and I'll consider it.", he said in a cool and collected tone. The Surskit was taken aback by this revelation. "15 Poke! Are you serious? Oh no.." The jittery little bug hopped down once again, this time coming back with a stack of papers and a pen. They appeared to be posters, advertising his little business. He was hastily going through each one and haphazardly marking out something on each one and jotting down something new, before quickly moving on to the next poster. "Ok, so here's the deal. I screwed up bad, and, uh, 'accidentally' put down the wrong price on each of these posters. If you would be willing to quickly replace all the posters around town with these new ones, I'll give you this for free.", he said gesturing to the black cloak. "Just make sure you replace all of them so potential customers don't get confused. There should be just enough posters in this stack to replace each one that's already been put up. Do it as fast as you can and make sure to let anyone who's looking at the old posters know that the prices are actually much lower than what the original posters say. Maybe then I'll actually get some business...."

Saturn grabbed the stack of papers, along with a pile of tacks to attach them with, and spent what had to be at least a couple hours replacing each one, until he ran out of replacements. He explained the situation to anyone he found looking at the old posters, adding in; "It seems this 'Ziggy' fellow thought his costumes would sell a lot better than they actually are." Once he was done, he made his way back to Ziggy's stall. As he approached, he overheard the Surskit mumbling something under his breath. "Can't believe I thought this was going to be easy money. I paid that move tutor good money and for what? A useless move and a stupid business that's dead in the water? What was I thinking..." He cheered up a bit once he saw Saturn arrive, hoping for good news. "So? Did anyone seem interested now that my prices are more reasonable?", he asked. "Uh, yeah, actually. Although, it seems like most pokemon are more interested in making their own costumes. So, maybe you should just stick to selling raw spools of fabric or something instead of premade garments?" The Surskit lit up at this statement. "Y'know, you might actually be on to something, there. Maybe I'll try that." Saturn took the black hooded robe and tried it on. It was a bit big for him, but that just made it more ominous looking in his opinion. He then realized it was missing something. Something the Grim Reaper was known for. "What you need is a scythe, my man.", the Surskit remarked. "Here, I got an idea. Gimme that there bone of yours and I'll slap together something nice for ya." Saturn was rather reluctant at first, but figured it was worth the risk. After all, what use would it be to anyone but him?

Ziggy snatched the bone as he held it out, quickly firing out a tendril of silk and reeling it back in. He ducked under the stall once more, this time the sound of wood splintering and what could only be described as the sound of water being expelled with great force emanating from the stall. This went on for about thirty seconds, Saturn getting more and more nervous all the while. Suddenly the sound stopped and Ziggy emerged from under the stall, revealing his makeshift prop. It apeared that he carved a scythe head out of a wooden board painted white and used his silk to attach it to the top of Saturn's bone club. The result was fairly impressive, despite being thrown together in under a minute. "Pretty bitchin' huh? Ol' Ziggy knows a thing or two about this stuff.", he said, patting himself on the chest. "5 Poke and you can have it." Saturn narrowed his eyes at the bug, crossing his arms for added effect. "Uh, I mean, just kidding! It's yours, ha ha." Saturn snatched his makeshift scythe and promptly walked away, eager to check out that costume party.

He figured that if he was going to wear such a cheezy costume, then he might as well go all out and play the part, too. He tried to make his movements as smooth and flowing as possible, to really accentuate that etherealness. As he glided up to the building, he saw a familiar pink bulbous pokemon wearing a white shroud, and a pokemon with a much more expertly-crafted costume than any other he had seen in his life. He wasn't sure what it was supposed to be, but it looked really intimidating. It had lots of zippers and looked like it had mouths for hands. As he approached, Saturn cleared his throat and tried to put on his best 'evil being' voice. "Greetings, mortals. Are you here to partake in the festivities?"

Hopefully, he wasn't overdoing it.

Vesper smiled at her friend and began to push the door open when they were approached by someone in a rather long black cloak. The Roselia blinked at the pokemon's very hammy 'evil voice', narrowing her eyes for a moment and scanning the costumed pokemon up and down before she grinned widely at him.
"Saturn, is that you?" She cried out. She had nearly not recognised the Cubone, but she remembered him from the time they'd gone to Fallen Leaf Copse to help Lennox make some paint.

"Ahem. I mean. We are indeed. Perhaps it is here that I might find and curse the one who threw me away! OooooOOoOO." The Roselia waved her gloved hands around as she tried to stay in character as a scary Banette searching for the 'mon who discarded it back when it was only a stuffed toy. She was clearly struggling not to break character though, snickering lightly at her own scary ghost noises.

"We were just about to go in if you wanna join us!" She explained as she pushed open the door once again and lead the way inside the inn.

Alki managed a small smile back up at Vesper as the Roselia smiled back down at her. Alki closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she tried to encourage herself to be braver. She hated how much of a coward she was! She hated how she seemed to be frightened by everything, every little thing that took her out of her comfort zone, every little problem that came her way, everything was so scary... And she despised that! She was... Well, if she wasn't an outlaw yet, she was certainly going to be in the future! Why was she such a coward...?

Alki's smile faltered, and her ears drooped at the thought. She was the worst person in the phantom thieves. By far. She idly wondered why Vesper and Synd'r put up with such a scaredy-cat, like her, but before her thoughts could tun up their toxicity any more, she heard a rather spooky, intimidating voice. A small eep! of fear escaped her as she positioned herself behind Vesper, looking at the source. Festivities...? What were...

Oh. The party. So... It was probably a disguise? This was a costume party, after all. The round ghostling looked out from behind her friend, taking in the source with apprehensive eyes. He had a big hood on, and he held a... weapon? In his hand. She would've probably gone inside as soon as possible, were it not for the fact that Vesper seemed to be talking to him as well.

Saturn...? Wasn't that...

Oh! She knew him! A cubone! He was a cubone! As Vesper began to play along with the Cubone's spooky voice, the jigglypuff timidly stepped out from behind her friend's shadow. She nodded along, expressing her agreement with Saturn tagging along. She felt... Quite out of place with her own costume. The balloon tapped her hands together, her nervousness and timidness apparent even with the bedsheet (thinly) veiling her. After a small pause, she gathered the resolve to finally speak.

"H-Hullo, Saturn." Alki managed, not even attempting to fit the festivities like the other two. She didn't see the need to. "I-I l-like your c-costume. I-I'm a ghost!" She added, her final statement less prideful, and more desperate. She really hoped that he'd like the costume... Of course, everyone else she'd spoken to had said so, but she wasn't really sure if they were just humoring her or not...

"Why yes, I would be delighted to.", Saturn continued his spooky charade, or at least tried to, until Alki appeared from behind her friend and introduced herself. Her costume was by far the most adorable thing he had seen all day. "Oh, hey, Alki! Really cute costume you have there. I'm sure it'll net you lots of candy!" While he wasn't sure how old she was, it made her look like a little kid, which suited her well, in his opinion. It had an endearing quality to it that most would probably have trouble pulling off. That, combined with her meek composure, was just absolutely adorable.

"Does my costume look good? I came across a little bug named Ziggy who hooked me up with this. He was having trouble selling costumes and had me put up some posters around town. It's kind of a long story." He then readjusted his hood so it would fit around his helmet better. Didn't want to accidentally drop his disguise, after all. "Anyway, let's go in. I'm sure there's much fun to be had inside. And who knows, maybe one of us will even win the contest!"

"I love the adjustment to your bone club!" Vesper commended the addition. When she looked closer, it appeared it was made out of wood, but was painted so that it matched rest of Saturn's bone club. It certainly made the bone sharper and more dangerous looking!

Vesper led the way into the venue and found her gaze quickly tugged around the room. She spotted a Flaaffy wearing a simple pointed hat and a short black cape, but couldn't look much closer as her attention was quickly diverted by a Ninjask zooming past, a beautiful set of handmade Beautifly wings adorning their back. The Inn was bustling!

"Everyone's got such different costumes!" Vesper grinned, turning back to Saturn and Alki. She waved her arms up and down, the pink pointed fingers of her Banette costume flopping with her movement. "It's amazing!"