#allhallows2k18theme

Say for the giant pumpkin they were meant to carve, there were no supplies out when May stepped out—slow, patient, a ghostly contrast to their skeletal figures—onto the stage.

She stood in the center of four figures who were mere shadows of themselves. Blaziken stood to the audience’s far left of her, painted head-to-toe in almost entirely black say for the eyelids which were painted yellow to shine bright on the stage. Next to him stood Venusaur. He, too, was invisible say for his eyes. On the far right, Shinx; dressed the same as his comrades. Even May was a floating pair of human eyes. Only Beautifly looked different, for, being a bug type, May had to get creative. Her delicate wings required delicate paint, but eventually she found a berry mixture that allowed her to paint black and yellow over the naturally colorful patterns that Beautifly possessed; her “eyes” mimicking the natural pattern of an Arbok.

But how would the audience enjoy the show of an invisible group of performers? Well… they would have to watch and find out.

Heels clicked against the stage floor as May stepped forward; the only noise on a silent stage that waited for the music to play. “Beware of what lurks in the forest on the night of Halloween.”

It would be the last thing she’d say in English for her foreign audience to understand. A risky move, she knew, but not knowing what she was saying, she was sure, would add to the creep factor of her performance.

And then the music began. Loud, booming, it signaled the true start of their performance.  “Shinx, Venusaur, let’s set the mood!”

Right away, the shortest pair of eyes lunged forward—a large roar erupting from a surprisingly young body. SCARY FACE was difficult to see in the dimly-lit stage, but a solution was coming.

“Do it!”

Scary Face may not have been that visible, but the shiny, reflective sheen of TOXIC very much was. But Venusaur could only toss it into the air. It would take some control to get it into the proper shape.

“Beautifly, it’s your turn!”

Fluttering to the front, Beautifly took form with a magenta Psychic. Not only was its own body outlined, but the attack took hold of the entire ball of liquid, catching it in midair and stilling it for a couple of seconds, waiting for May’s cue.

“Now!”

Now, Beautifly began to form the shape that had been formed for her. A Scary Face, ready and waiting and now perfectly visible as Toxic was shaped by Psychic.

“Now, Blaziken! Light it up!”

As cool as the dark trick was, at some point the audience needed to be able to see the pumpkin! So Blaziken made his way around the back edges of the stage, putting his FIRE SPIN to good use.

“Okay, be a dear and give the pumpkin to Venusaur, won’t you?”

This was the part that was nauseating to go through. SO many SKY UPPERCUTs had failed here. SO many had busted the pumpkin. But in the end, they had gotten it down—figured out how to get those claws under control. And so the pumpkin was tossed into the air, leaving Venusaur to make the catch with VINE WHIP.

“Okay, Beautifly, shall we stamp our place in the competition?”

It was carefully done. Beautifly had to be sure to impress only the mouth onto the pumpkin. And, being acid, a clear sear could be heard when it was pressed in—a dripping could be seen when it was pulled out—but they hadn’t cut clean through the pumpkin.

“Alright, now let’s get these details on!”

And thus, Psychic began to mold Toxic into a new and simpler form: a pen, ready to draw more complex lines into the pumpkin.

“Blaziken! Shinx! Let’s put on a show!”

And Shinx once again went into SCARY FACE, this time following it up with a DOUBLE TEAM that would take over the entire back row of the stage. At first, it seemed like a simple distraction from the goings on in front of him. But Blaziken followed up with a series of BLAZE KICKS that filled in the eyes and mouths that Shinx had created—an ominous symbol of what was to come as Beautifly finished drawing with its Toxic Pen.

“It’s time, Beautifly!”

And Psychic spun Toxic beautifully into the air, leaving it to freefall helplessly at the whim of gravity… but not for long.

“Let’s go, Shinx!”

A horde of young Shinx would push the flaming Scary Faces forward, colliding them into the ball of Toxic. Flame and explosive came into contact, and fireworks shot into the stage, making a show of dissipating the toxic and the scary faces.

May grinned, and stepped back along with her team to gesture to their pumpkin. They had created a forest scene: trees and grass none too complicated (created out of the scary-face teeth) were adorned with scary eyes and a couple of bats hiding in the shadows to make the scene come to life. They could only hope that the work they had done here was good enough.

Pascale admired all of them with unfamiliar anxiety. The centuries had taught her how to fake confidence, how to look like she had everything under control…but of all things, it was a showcase that was making her uneasy. Why was she so nervous? She didn’t have much time to think on it, as she was given a one-minute warning that her music would start soon. A quick glance in the mirror revealed her own costume-a heavy velvet cloak, the color of blood, so long that it trailed behind her as she walked. The sleeves nearly touched the ground. But the most important part was the mask sitting on the counter.

It was a white half-mask with gold trim. Evenly spaced across the bottom, a number of large, square beads dangled, somewhat resembling teeth. Although only dotted with a few splatters of red paint, bright red rhinestone decorated the cheekbone one side, with lines of smaller rhinestones dropping below it. Hopefully, if it could catch the right light under her heavy hood, like might create the illusion of blood dripping down as she worked.

No more time to adjust anything, however; a cue sounded, and the first notes of her music began to play. Pascale and her four Pokémon made their way onto the stage.

Her plan was a rather…grandiose one, if she were to be honest with herself, made more demanding by the fact that she didn’t know the full extent of her materials. And now that she saw what she had, her opinion was…mixed. All of it was ideal, but it wasn’t quite enough. She was going to have to get creative.

A deep breath. Start with the table. She turned to her Pokémon.

“Dior, Jeanne…could you give me a hand moving everything to one table? We’re going to need the space.” As the two Pokémon began to move the supplies, Pascale cut out a few lengths of the white and black fabrics she’d been given and addressed her Aegislash. “Ansel, I’m going to have you do some…distressing. Put this silk through Hell-have Tyson help you out, too. We’ll need a lot of damage.” The sword stared down at the fabric, then nodded, carrying it over to an empty spot on the stage and calling over the last member of the team. There, the two Pokémon took turns shredding the silk, Tyson using claws and fangs to tear jagged gashes while Ansel used Shadow Claw and Slash to make long tatters and cut uneven ends.

While her Pokémon went about their work, Pascale flagged down her assigned servant. She thought about writing down a list for them, but that might not be acceptable. They’d have to work from memory.

“Okay, I need…chairs. Maybe three? And a couple of wine glasses, too-one less than the chairs. If you could get some silverware and plates, those would be great, but they aren’t the most important thing. Start with those.”

Jeanne and Dior had finished clearing one of the tables by the time she finished giving orders. With their help, she carried it to the center of the stage, then grabbed one of the pieces of fabric her other Pokémon had finished tearing up and threw it over the table. It was a touch small, and didn’t cover it perfectly, revealing the very modern-looking furniture underneath, but it would have to do. Besides, she needed to get her Pokémon working; they only had so much time.

“Okay Dior, we’ve got to be careful with this one, but this stage is too pristine. Think you can make some rubble? I need at least two big columns, like the ones we had-I mean, saw-at the old castle. And Jeanne, once she has those up, you need to give them a touch of…former glory. Nice, but not too nice.” Her Pokémon were on it immediately. Using Rock Tomb, her Mawile summoned two towering pillars of stone towards the back of the stage, which her Bisharp began to shape and shine with a careful combination of Knock Off and Rock Polish.

Things were shaping up nicely. Oh, and look, there was the servant!

“Excellent! Set them on the table in the center there-I’ll arrange them in a minute. Ansel?” From the other side of the stage, the ripping stopped. Ansel looked to her. “Take four of the longer pieces of the black fabric, and I need you to hang them from the lighting-there, there, there, and there.” As instructed, the Aegislash floated towards the top of the stage and up into the rigging for the lights. He draped two of the long cuts of fabric over the rigging on each side of the stage (one near the front and one near the back) so that they hung down like dilapidated banners, torn and tattered with time.

Tyson, meanwhile, laid down on the stage on his side, breathing heavily to pretend to be sick as his trainer had told him earlier. He even let his tongue loll out, unprompted.

Pascale took to setting the table while all of this was happening, with one chair at each end and one in the center, facing the audience. She moved the chair that was stage left so that it was pushed outwards and away from the table. The wine glasses were set in front of two of the seats, one upright and one fallen on its side. Things were coming together nicely. With Dior having nothing to do, Pascale set her to work as she began to drag the fake skeleton to one of the seats with a wine glass.

“While Jeanne is finishing up, take some of those Chesnaught vines and spread them around-wrap them around the pillars, put them under the table, scatter them across the floor, you know what I mean. And Jeanne, you’re going to do the same with those fake cobwebs when you’re done. Ansel, you hang a few up there, too.”

The skeleton was place so that it was hunched over the table, face against the fabric. Under the table, any outwards so that it looked like they had fallen from the middle chair, she bunched up several of the branches into something…vaguely human shaped. Taking one of the skull props, she brought it over to Tyson on the floor and held it near his mouth.

“Hey buddy, care to eat a man?” The Pyroar eyed the skull, then his trainer, confused. Shoot. How could she be clearer? Grimacing, and hoping the audience and judge wouldn’t notice, she mouthed her command to him: “Crunch.” The Pokémon complied, leaving deep fang marks in the stryofoam.  Not wanting to let anyone linger on it too long, she hurried to place it on the table as a centerpiece.

With time beginning to run short, Pascale glanced around to check their progress. It looked nice, but not opulent enough. This was a castle, and even in ruin, it needed to give some hint of its former glory. But what…? Inspiration came, and she called the servant over.

“I need you to go look in the mansion for two large paintings-I’m sure I’ve seen a few around. Portraits, ideally, and the more of a dark, gothic vibe the better.”

“Madame, I don’t think you should-“ But Pascale cut him off.

“Please! Ursula said ‘anything’ in the mansion, right? And I’m not going to damage them, I promise! Hurry” The servant gave her a concerned look, then scurried off to fulfill her request.

There wasn’t much time left. Pascale grabbed two more pieces of the tattered black fabric and draped them over the skeleton and the ‘body’ under the table. Bodies were placed, banners were up, columns looked like they’d seen better days…and there was the servant, looking rushed and slightly disheveled and carrying a painting under each arm. She took them from him quickly, and with Dior’s help hung one (crooked) on one column. The other was rested on its side on the floor, at the foot of the second column.

“Okay, last step! Let’s set some atmosphere! Dior, what’s the midnight mystery without a little low-layin fog?” The Mawile nodded, and summoned an eerie (if slightly glittery) mist with her Misty Terrain attack. It hung close to the ground, wisping out at the edge of the stage. Then she called over her Pyroar.

“Tyson, we need a little mood lighting for this dinner, if you’d be so kind.” This order wasn’t nearly as enigmatic. Tyson’s mane glowed, and as he roared, a number of Will-O-Wisps appeared and scattered about the stage. The stage lights were set low, allowing the fire to be the primary illumination.

Just in time; the buzzer sounded not a second later. Pascale breathed a sigh of relief, and took a seat in the final chair-a prop in her own scene.

There was a bright flash and a peel of thunder as, for the presentation, Dior momentarily illuminated the stage with a surge from a Thunder Fang in a pre-planned reveal. In its absence, it served to make the stage look that much darker (and the flames that much brights), but the afterimages were hopefully still embedded in her viewer’s minds:

Two stone columns near the back of the stage served to imply the walls of a castle or manor, worn and misshapen with time and wrapped in vines. Branches were scattered about the floor. Portraits of the ‘former owners’ were in disarray, while tattered black banners hung beside cobwebs from a high ceiling. In the center of it all was a table, covered in a torn white tablecloth and with a broken skull as its centerpiece. Three human figures, draped in cloth, sat there-or, rather, had been sitting there.

One was hunched over the table, clutching a wine glass in a skeletal hand. To their right-in the center-the chair was empty, with a toppled wine glass on the table before it. The chair’s former resident lay a crumbled heap under the table. And in the third seat (furthest stage right), the figure sat tall, hands folded on the table before them but seemingly unfazed by the scene at the rest of the table.

Shamus was ready to go out next. He was going to give the best decorative stage All Hallows had ever seen. This was of course the first time the All Hallows event has been held, but he’ll make sure his stage decoration gets ingrained to every future All Hallows Eve to come.

His Pokémon: Emboar, Heatmor, Simisear, and Incineroar were already called out and they all walked on to the stage together. They all had a mutual theme in their costumes. The Pokémon all wore black hooded cloaks. Shamus wore the same but also had a scythe that was actually just a hockey stick spray painted black with a silver tip.  

“Time for us to steal another show,” Shamus nodded to his Pokémon and they all entered the stage. He had his head angled to where the hood covered his eyes.

“What you are about to see is, hold on,” he lifted the hood of his cloak to see the crowd. “What you will see is the ultimate Fire Warriors Halloween decoration.” Shamus addressed the audience, and to Ursula. “Get ready for the best stage decoration you will ever see.”

He placed his hood back on.

“Heat it up, Heatmor!” Shamus looked over to his fire anteater Pokémon and used his “scythe” to point to the backdrop of the stage.

Heatmor twirled his long snout and unleashed a flamethrower at the backdrop of hay. The hay caught fire and spread throughout the whole backside of the stage, like a fiery wall.

Next, Shamus walked over to the N dummy on the right side of the stage.

“Incineroar,” Shamus called his strong fire-tiger Pokémon. “Let’s add some marks to this dummy here.”

“Incineroar!” Incineroar roared, showing off his large claws, using them for fury swipes on the dummy’s face. Packets of ketchup were taped on the face, so the scratches made ketchup squirt out and stained the dummy’s face.

Next he walked over to the Ash Ketchum dummy.

“Emboar.” Shamus called his number 1 Fire Warrior. “Smash in this one’s face.”

“Emboar!” Emboar shouted as his arms glow a bright white as he delivered a hammer arm on the Ash dummy. Like the N dummy before it, packets of ketchup splattered, leaving red stains across the dummy’s face.

Last, and certainly not least: the Wallace dummy.

“Simisear.” Shamus called for his fire monkey to walk over. “Bury this one.”

“Simi-SEAR!” Simisear yelled as he put his hands out in front of him. Silver sparkles formed between his hands as he raised his hands up in the air, allowing the sparkles to expand into a boulder, his Rock Tomb attack. Simisear then throws the boulder onto the Wallace dummy, crushing it. The boulder rested on the dummy so that only its legs were sticking out.

“We aren’t done yet!” Shamus announced as he turned everyone’s attention to the giant pumpkin on stage. “I’d like to thank Ursula for allowing me to bring a pumpkin for my stage decoration. What’s a Halloween theme decoration without a jack-o-lantern?”

“Now instead of using Incineroar’s lovely fury swipes for destruction like on that loser trainer’s dummy over there, time for a work of art. And to make this go along quicker, Heatmor will also join in.”

Heatmor and Incineroar both combined their fury swipes at the top of the Pumpkin to get an opening so that they could take out the filling inside. Using his long arms, Emboar dug the filling out of it and dumped it on the N and Ash dummies’ bodies to emulate guts.

“Let’s get rid of the rest sticking on the side, Simisear!” Shamus said to Simisear. 

Simisear put his hands over his head to unleash a bright light orb to hover over the pumpkin. Sunny Day was used to dry out the remaining filling. After the light went away, it was time to finish off.

“Okay, now cut this pumpkin out in the face of the best host around!” Shamus took a look back at Ursula, hoping to score some suck up points. Hey, she liked his Wallace Cup appeal, she earned his praise. 

Incineroar and Heatmor both once again used their fury swipes to carve the pumpkin’s face to match the face of Ursula.

“Now with the power of the Fire Warriors, let’s finish this off! All together!” Shamus shouted to his fire Pokémon.

Emboar blew out a breath of flamethrower into the left twirl hair hole of the Ursula jack-o-lantern. Simisear blew a breath of flamethrower to left eye hole of the jack-o-lantern. Heatmor twirled his snout and unleashed another flamethrower into the right twirl hair hole of the jack-o-lantern. Finally, Incineroar heated up his flame belt and sent a flamethrower blast into the right eye-hole of the jack-o-lantern.

“Now, if you will, to fully, appreciate this stage decoration. Kill the lights!” Shamus shouted for the lights to the room to be turned off.

With the lights turned off, the stage was illuminated with flames. The backdrop was shadowed with the three ghosts lined up against the wall. The faces of the Ash and N dummies were barely visible, but enough to make out that they looked like dead bodies, as well as the flames leaving enough light to see the Wallace dummy’s leg sticking out from a boulder. And, of course, taking the center of the stage was the magnificently carved and lit up Ursula jack-o-lantern. 

“And THIS is the best stage decoration you will ever see! Thank you!”

With his hood still up, Shamus enthusiastically swings his hockey stick back, and it gets stuck in the Ursula jack-o-lantern, right above Ursula’s lips.  

“Uhh.” Shamus looks behind him, awkwardly while his Pokémon gave bows to the crowd, unaware of their trainer’s predicament. With a tug, he tried to pull it out with no luck. He pulled a bit harder, but it still wouldn’t budge. He took his hood off to try and get a better look at it. He tried pulling it again but it still wouldn’t come out.

“Come on,” he grunted in frustration, not knowing if anyone could hear him or not. He put both hands on the stick and tried pulling toward him.

Consequentially, it scrapped across Ursuala’s face, leaving her with what appeared to look like a mustache.

Shamus gasped at his mistake. Not being able to bear to face the crowd, only shooting a quick glance at Ursula, but didn’t note how she was taking this and then quickly returned his Pokémon.

“I didn’t mean to do that. That was accident. You didn’t see that. That will be all. Bye.” Shamus spoke rapidly. 

Ashamed, he put his hood back over his face and ran backstage, promptly ending his theme portion appeal.

There was a sign, and the announcer called his name. The Elite adjusted his clothes, and began walking towards the stage, with his Pokémon following right behind him. As it was announced earlier, on his arms, he carried a jar with pre-baked batter, so he wouldn’t take too long to finish his product, and consequently, bore the audience and the judges, and he wanted to make sure they would get to try his pride and joy, something he’s working on for almost a month now.

The spotlight turned to the dark trainer and his Pokémon: He was wearing a purple outfit that highly resembled a Liepard, a Honchkrow, a Bisharp and a Larvitar, while his Pokémon, a Liepard, a Bisharp, a Honchkrow and a baby Larvitar were all dressed like their trainer. That idea looked better in his head, but he wasn’t there for an outfit judgement, he was there to bake!

“......Hello to you all, I-I am Grimsley, and today I shall......bake something special!”

His Pokémon cried out and bowed along with Grimsley, and now that the five presented themselves before the audience, They made their way towards the table, where they would prepare something to delight the judges, and without losing time, they began their presentation.

Penelope, would you help create a nice mood? Use HAZE!

The Honchkrow flapped her wings behind the elite, and a thick, chilly fog appeared on the stage, swallowing the whole floor so it wouldn’t cover the participants and hide their movements, and so, things started for real.

Grimsley took a few paper purple cups and set them in one side, and then he took the pre-baked batter and poured it on a baking tray especially made for cupcakes, and put it in the oven. Since the batter was pre baked, it would take exactly 5 minutes to finish it, so that was the time he had to prepare the frosting and chop the toppings, so you can imagine he didn’t lose time. 

After he picked the ingredients that were set for use and placed them on the table, Beatrice the Liepard and Charlotte the Bisharp approached the table, and waited for orders........

“Charlotte and Beatrice, chop those for me with Aerial Ace and Night Slash, please! Penelope, get ready!”

Both Pokémon nodded, and Beatrice tossed the Cherrim’s little fruits into the air, chopping them to bits with AERIAL ACE, while Charlotte extended her blades and sent the bananas flying, slicing them with NIGHT SLASH, and oh! it seems the fruits will fall in a hilarious way?! 

“NOW, PENELOPE! PSYCHIC!”

The Honchkrow swiftly swooped and used PSYCHIC to stop the chopped ingredients in the air with telekinetic energy, and there she stayed, gently flapping her wings, keeping the fruits mid air with her mind until second order.

Meanwhile, Grimsley was preparing the frostings that were purple, pink and cream, mixing them well with a big silicon spoon and pouring them on decorating tubes to be used soon. All of them were working hard, except for the Larvitar, who didn’t seem to be feeling....well? The little Pokémon had to get ready for the finale, but he was very slow, and seemed sleepy, but he would do his part, no matter what.

And finally, a small “ping” of the portable oven let everyone know that the batter was done, and it was time to finish.

Grimsley took the tiny cakes from the oven, and Penelope flapped her wings to cool them a bit before he set them on the table, and gathered the chopped Cherrim fruits, bananas, the 3 frosting of different colors, sprinkles, chocolate drops and something special that he brought.

The Elite carefully placed the six little cakes on the paper cups, and used the purple frosting to make a Purrloin head, then the pink frosting to draw the markings on its eyes, a cream-colored frosting to make the muzzle, and finally, added green chocolate drops to be the eyes. Penelope, that was holding the toppings with her psychic power, carefully moved them towards the table, and set them on small bowls. The chopped bananas were added around the Purrloin’s “neck”, resembling a collar, and the chopped Cherrim fruits were added on the head, acting like a crown, and here comes the jewel: Six whole fleshy strawberries, courtesy of his own garden, were added on the top of the frosting Purrloin’s head! 

Now to finish the presentation, Grimsley took the Larvitar, and threw him to the air, along with a few sprinkles. The Larvitar didn’t do anything for a second, but then he used a fast and coordinated THRASH to make the sprinkles rain on the cupcakes, without hitting the audience and the judges, and thankfully, Grimsley quickly removed the finished cupcakes from the table and put them aside, because while he was in the air, Boris’ body began to glow, making the mist set by Penelope disappear, and right before everyone’s eyes, the Larvitar evolved into Pupitar!!..............

......That fell right on the leftover pink frosting, making quite a mess on his trainer and Pokémon.

Grimsley removed the Liepard mask to take a good look on what just happened, and once the embarassment set in, he slowly retrieved the dirty Pupitar, and began walking away slowly. His also dirty Pokémon followed him.

“............................Please, do try the...............cupcakes......thank you, thank you!!!!!!”

The Process

While the nurse had been in many stressful situations, the sound of the crowd was slightly nerve-wracking.  Rose shook her head, attempting to rid herself of these nervous thoughts.  After all, her Pokemon didn’t need her nervousness stressing them out.  With a smile, Rose gestured for her Pokemon, as well as her temporary Leavanny and Ditto, to follow her on to the stage, “Let’s go, guys!”  In her other hand, was a small clipboard holding the papers where she had sketched out her ideal costume plans.  It wasn’t completely obvious what was drawn, since Rose wasn’t an artist and had only made quick sketches for her and her team to reference on stage.  For her, there was a stick figure dressed as a werewolf, or at least what was supposed to be a werewolf.  For Althea, there was a roundish Frankenstein style monster drawn, at least if it were to be squinted at for a moment.  For Anahit, there was a ribbony stick figure that was meant to represent a ghost.  For Cosmas, there appeared to be a circle, almost like a donut, with little fangs and a cape, meant to be a vampire.  For Sirona, there was an eggish shape that appeared to be wrapped in bandages to be a mummy.  On the bright side, this showcase wasn’t looking at Rose’s sketching talents but rather how their costumes would turn out.  

The only downside to Joy’s preparations would be if any materials that they wanted weren’t available, which thankfully was beginning to seem unlikely after seeing how all out that Ursula had went in planning this event.  Still, the nurse had been taught to be prepared for anything, so the group was prepared for any unexpected bumps that may arise in their plans.  

The nurse and her helpers all walked to their area of the stage to begin their work.  After all, they had little time to waste since they needed to complete five separate costumes.  Thankfully, commands weren’t forbidden in this part, so Rose wouldn’t need to come up with fancy ways to make requests from her team, since subtlely wasn’t exactly a strong suit of theirs.  Amongst the audience, she could hear several comments and gasps that a Nurse Joy was participating rather than judging.  Still, it was better than any negativity.  

Joyfully, the group of medical experts made their way to a table filled with materials that were available to the participants.  There was so much potential to be seen with all of the choices, but they had a plan to stick to.  The fabric seemed to be of the best quality possible, which was to be expected from their hostess.  For Cosmas’ vampire outfit, Rose grabbed a silky black fabric.  After a bit of consideration, she decided that the black fabric would also be perfect to make some pants for Althea’s costume.  Rather than using paper for Sirona’s mummy costume, Rose decided that some nice silky white fabric could work nicely.  After all, this was a high class event and toilet paper simply wouldn’t cut the competition.  The white fabric could also be useful for Anahit’s ghost costume and to make a fancy plain shirt for Althea’s costume.  The pink haired woman gave one last quick glance to the table filled with fabrics before grabbing a dark brown fabric that would add to her costume.  After all, it would be a disaster if she were to forget about her own costume design.  With that, Althea and Anahit took the roll of black fabric from Rose, while Sirona and Cosmas took the roll of white fabric.  Rose kept the brown roll of fabric and the group took the rolls back to their area.  

With a nod, she left her Pokemon to lay out the fabric while she went to quickly get a plain black dress to be the basis of her werewolf costume.  She made her way back to their area and slipped the dress onto her mannequin.  After all, the mannequin was only accurate for her figure.  Her Pokemon’s costumes would need the help of the Ditto that was hanging around her mannequin.  Still, they needed to finish getting all of the supplies that they needed before having Ditto begin it’s transformations.  Best not to get too ahead of themselves after all.  Now that the fabric was neatly laid out next to the measuring tape, practically ready for Leavanny to get to work on, the group of Pokemon followed Rose to the supply table to help carry back more supplies.  Sirona took an armful of wire to create some accessories with back to the mannequin.  Cosmas took one look at the table before approaching a servant’s Abra and apparently requesting something.  Within a minute, the Abra and it’s trainer had transported somewhere in the mansion, apparently on a hunt for Cosmas request.  Rose, choosing not to question her Comfey, grabbed some sparkly light green, glittery white, and black paint off the table.  The busy group placed their newest supplies down and looked around at everything that they had chosen.  Nurse Joy gestured to Althea and the Leavanny who was holding the measuring tape, “We need to get your measurements, alright?”  The chansey gave a small nod and stood still for the Leavanny who quickly got to work, while Sirona wrote down the measurements as the Leavanny told them to her.  Once Althea’s measurements were done, the Leavanny moved on to Joy’s measurements.  It was quite impressive at how quick the Leavanny was at taking measurements, but she was considered an expert seamstress for a reason.  As quickly as it began, the Leavanny had finished it’s notes and moved onto Anahit’s measurements.  Before long, Cosmas measurements were done as well.  The paper and pencil was passed from Sirona to Althea and Leavanny took the Wigglytuff’s measurements.  

Nurse Joy smiled, “Time to get to work!  Ditto, transform into Chansey please!”  Thankfully, the hired Ditto had little reason to argue and immediately transformed into Althea based on Leavanny’s measurements.  Now the group had two costumes that they could begin working on designing.  “Alright, Leavanny, do you think you could use make a shirt from the white fabric fit for a Chansey?”  At the question, the Leavanny nodded and slashed the fabric at the proper length and began making it the proper fit for their Ditto model.  Not wanting to get in the way of the professional Leavanny, Nurse Joy turned to the mannequin with her black dress on it.  It was rather pretty, so turning it into something fit to be scary was going to be a bit challenging.  Still, it was too late now to change her mind.  She looked at the brown fabric, which wouldn’t need to be too accurately measured for this task.  This was something that could be done without the existence of the busy Leavanny.  “Anahit, do you think you could lend a Helping Hand and help me create some tuffs that could look a bit like fur to put onto the sleeves of the dress?”  Of course, the Leavanny would need to stick them on, but they couldn’t make the poor helper do all the work.  At Rose’s request, Anahit quickly lent a Helping Hand and began helping the nurse form small pieces of the dark brown fabric into tufts.  While those two were busy working on their task, the Abra teleported back to the stage with the servant.  Cosmas quickly made it to them and received some fake fangs that she placed into her mouth.  After all, what kind of vampire would she have been without fangs.  The Chansey and Wigglytuff grabbed the attention of the Abra that had just returned to make another request to it, which it quickly took it’s trainer to receive.  

Now that the Leavanny looked pleased with the fitting of the white shirt on the Ditto model, it officially turned the fabric into a shirt.  Now that one part of Althea’s costume was done, Rose lit up, clearly pleased with the result so far.  “That’s wonderful, Leavanny!  Are you ready to make the jacket and pants?”  Leaving Anahit to finish up on the tufts, Rose carried the black roll of fabric over to the Leavanny, who was looking at the paper with the measurements.  Rose gave a small nod to the Pokemon, “I’ll let you work your magic, alright?”  With that the Leavanny quickly got to work slashing the fabric to be the right length.  “I think that’s enough of the tufts, Anahit.  They look very nice~  Don’t you think?”  The pink Pokemon gave a cheerful nod of agreement.  She looked around for a moment, attempting to decide what to start on next.  Her thoughts were interrupted by the return of the servant and Abra who had paintbrushes in hands.  “Oh, perfect!  Thank you!  I can start getting our faces painted, can’t I?”  Rose joyfully took the paintbrushes and knelt down on the ground to be at her Pokemons’ heights.  “Well, Althea, we’ll start with you.  Does that sound good?  The rest of you can start making some accessories with the wires if you’d like.  Sirona, keep an eye on Leavanny and let me know when it’s ready for something else to work on, alright?”  Sirona gave a small nod and lead the other two Pokemon away so they could work on their tasks.  Now that the tasks have been assigned, the nurse turned her attention back to her Chansey.  “We’ll gonna make you nice and spooky, but it might tickle a bit.  Just try not to fidget too much.”  Thankfully, Althea was pretty good at not fidgeting, so Rose wasn’t too worried about it.  Still, the warning was done more out of habit, since she often gave small warnings, such as a shot stinging a bit.  The pink-haired woman put some glittery light green paint on her brush and began thinly applying it to the pink Pokemon’s face.  She appeared to be focused on her work and trying to be as gentle with it as possible.  Away from her, her Pokemon were just as intently focused on their tasks.  Anahit appeared to be making small bracelets for each of them, since a little feminine touch wouldn’t hurt their costumes.  After all, who ever said monsters couldn’t look nice?  Cosmas was working with Sirona to make a headband with floppy dog ears for Rose’s werewolf costume.  After taking a small glance up, Sirona noticed that Leavanny was finishing up on Althea’s costume.  The Wigglytuff quickly made her way to Rose, who was doing the finishing touches to Althea’s face paint.  “All done!”  Her attention was soon drawn to Sirona, who tapped her shoulder to alert her that Leavanny was almost ready for a new task.  The woman thanked her and made her way over to the two loaned Pokemon, while Althea and Sirona trailed behind her.  The costume appeared just as the woman had envisioned, which was a great relief.  “It’s wonderful!  You’ll look perfect for Halloween, Althea!  Once we get it off of Ditto, Sirona can help you put it on, alright?”  With that, the transformed Ditto began gently removing the three piece costume, so that it wouldn’t accidentally get damaged.  “Leavanny, while Ditto’s changing, would you attach those pieces of fabric over there on the sleeves of that dress.  We’re hoping that you can get them to look like tufts of fur~”  The Leavanny’s eyes followed where the nurse pointed and it made it’s way over to start completing the small task.  

Once the costume was safely off, the Ditto model changed back to it’s normal form, waiting for the next command.  “Alright, Ditto, can you transform into Comfey next?”  She pointed over to Cosmas, who at this point had approached Leavanny so that it could attach the ears to the headband for her, to give Ditto a visual on top of the measurements that were provided by Leavanny’s notes.  The Ditto listened carefully and successfully transformed into a mirror image of Cosmas.  Leavanny popped up next to the transformed Ditto, awaiting it’s next task.  “You’re amazing, Leavanny!  Do you think you could make a flowing, cape with the black fabric? And for the knot in the front, perhaps something like a little bow, so it’s almost like a bow tie?”  The excitement was clear from the nurse’s voice, but there was a part of her that was hoping it wouldn’t be too much for the Leavanny.  Still, if it were possible than they could always paint the knot red, which could add even more to the originally very simple plan for Cosmas’ vampire costume.  The skilled Leavanny appeared to complemate whether or not the request was in it’s skillset before giving a small nod and getting to work.  It quickly slashed some of the black fabric to fit into a spooky, flowing vampire cape.

Now that the loaned Pokemon were busy, it was time for her to paint Cosmas face a glistening, pale white.  “Cosmas, come over here.  It’s your turn to get spookified~”  The nurse appeared rather jolly as she spoke and the flowery Pokemon made her way over to her knelt down trainer.  Before settling in to get her face painted though, the floating Pokemon placed the handmade headband on Rose’s head and adjusted it properly, giving the nurse some floppy dog ears.  Rose laughed, “Aww, it’s perfect!  Y’know what?  Once I finish painting your face, you can paint mine!”  After all, it wasn’t like she could paint her own face without a mirror and her Pokemon were all quite skilled with their hands.  The flowery Pokemon seemed happy with the offer and stayed still to have her face painted.  It didn’t long for Comfey’s face to successfully be painted, causing her to look like a flowery, undead vampire, complete with her fake fangs.  “When your cape’s done you’re going to be the splitting image of what a vampire Comfey would look like!”  The nurse practically squealed with joy at how well it was working out.  At this point, Althea was now successfully dressed in her costume and came out to help Anahit finish up on her bracelets.  Prior to being permitted to help though, she was made to slip her bracelet on, which thankfully fit.  At this point, Anahit was working on her last bracelet, but the offer of help appeared to please her.  The Leavanny was now finishing up it fancy bow tie style knot on the caped Ditto model.  

“Let me go check out your cape then you can start painting my face, alright Cosmas?”  With that the nurse made her way to the modeling Ditto and Leavanny.  “It looks wonderful, doesn’t it, Cosmas?”  The Pokemon squeaked in agreement.  “Sirona, come here please~”  When the Wigglytuff arrived, the nurse smiled, “Would you like to paint this bow knot a bright red for me?  We have extra paintbrushes that you can use.”  The pink Pokemon nodded and trailed after Rose to get a paintbrush, while the Leavanny and Cosmas helped the Ditto slip the cape off.  Once it was off, Cosmas took it to carry to a spot where Sirona could paint, while Sirona was getting a bright red paint off of the supply table.  

Rose smiled to the loaned Pokemon, “Alright!  Ditto, please transform into a Wigglytuff!  Leavanny, do you think you could make a costume out of a bunch of long shreds of the white fabric.  Y’know, like a mummy, but have all the shreds connected so it can be slipped on like a one piece or two piece outfit or something.”  The Ditto quickly obeyed and successfully transformed into a perfect match of Sirona.  The Leavanny used Razor Leaf to make many long shreds out of the white fabric at once.  Now the Pokemon appeared to be laying them on the transformed Ditto to figure out the best way in which they should be connected.  Whenever two strands pieced together in a way that pleased the Pokemon, they were bonded together with it’s String Shot, which helped to give it more of a mummy-ish appearance.  

At this point, Anahit’s bracelets were completed and she was determined to pass them out to the remainder who needed theirs.  She slipped hers on before making her way to Sirona, who she luckily caught before she began painting.  After giving her hers, she made her way to Cosmas and Rose, who both gleefully accepted the cute gift.  “Thank you, Anahit.  Would you like to see if Sirona needs any help with her task?  Maybe you can help hold down the cloak, so we don’t have to worry about any wind moving it.”  With that, the baby of the team left to go help Sirona, while Cosmas began applying some black paint to Rose’s nose and cheeks.  The spots on her cheeks were only lines to be whispers, but it was a task that the Pokemon was taking great pride in delicately completing.  Rose’s face was painted quicker than the bow tie, so she took the opportunity to slip into her werewolf dress.  “Thank you, Cosmas.  Once Sirona is done with your cloak, have her and the others help you put it on.”  She made her way to change away from the complete vision of the audience.  By the time she had slipped into her costume, Cosmas was also dressed in her full costume.  At this time, the Leavanny was completing the finishing touches to Sirona’s mummy costume.  Rose made her way to the supplied Pokemon, ready to give the orders for their final costume.  This last one was likely going to be the least work for the Leavanny, but it was just as important as the others.  

“That’s amazing, Leavanny!  Do you see it, Sirona?  Cosmas and Althea will help you put it on once Ditto gets it off.”  The transformed Ditto was now getting out of the costume, which was then handed to Sirona.  “Alright!  Anahit, are you ready?”  The nurse smiled as the Audino nodded, “Mega evolve!”  With that the pink Pokemon completed her Mega Evolution.  Thanks to the change, Audino’s color was now pretty fitting for a ghostly figure.  Still, she needed a costume.  “Leavanny, could you make a spooky white dress for her?  Like one that looks like it’s been torn at the ends.  Something that looks ghastly.”  The Leavanny gave a nod and slashed the white fabric to get formed into a dress.  “Ditto, transform into Mega Audino!”  With that the Ditto successfully transformed into a splitting image of Anahit.  “Perfect!”  The Leavanny wrapped the white fabric around the model and began shaping it into the shape of a dress.  Once the shape was well-fitting, Leavanny began to seam the ends together.  Her other three Pokemon returned, all dressed in their monster costumes.  “Well, there’s not much we can do to help here, but we can start cleaning up the supplies that we’re done with~”  With that, the nurse’s group began putting away their leftover materials, so that no servants would have to between showcases.  Once the fabric was now a dress, the Leavanny began using False Swipe to create the distressed look on the bottom of the dress that Rose had requested.  It didn’t take long for the dress to be finished and for all of the leftover supplies to be cleaned up.  “Perfect!  Anahit, we’ll all help you get that on and then we’ll be ready.  Thanks for everything Leavanny and Ditto.  You two are free to go.”  After all, they had done more than enough for this effort and weren’t part of this upcoming step.  While Anahit was getting changed, Rose stopped a servant to make sure that they could dim the lights once they returned to show off their designs.

Modeling the Designs

It didn’t take long for the group of monsters to return to the now dimly lit stage.  The music that had been playing while they had been busy at work had now changed to a different song.  The vibe of the stage was now far different than it had been previously.  

Rose stepped up first, wearing her black dress with what looked to be brown furry arms, her headband with floppy brown dog ears, and a bracelet with a small full moon shaped charm dangling from it.  To add to the spooky effect, Althea growled from behind her and stepped up to show off her costume.  She held her arms out in front of her and tried to walk like a monster.  Her white shirt had a clear contrast to her black jacket and black pants.  Her bracelet had a small potion charm dangling from it, almost as though her appearance was a result of a science experiment going wrong.  She continued to make small, low growls to add to the monstrous effect.  The ghostly mega-evolved Audino walked gracefully, her distressed dress flowing in a way that almost made it seem as though she was floating.  The small bracelet on her hand featured a tiny cute ghost charm dangling from.  To give an even more haunting appeal, Anahit used Hyper Voice.  Sirona joined the others in a similar manner as Althea had.  Her arms were in front of her, with a loose strand of fabric hanging from each, looking like loose mummy wrappings, and her bracelet featured a small pyramid charm hanging from it.  Cosmas was the last to have to show off her costume.  Her silky black cape trailed behind her and she made sure to show off her fake fangs.  The red painted knot/bow stuck out from her pale face and dark cape.  On her wrist was a small bracelet with a bat charm.  To show off her vampiric nature, Cosmas gave a Draining Kiss to Sirona, who was of course going to be given a potion immediately after this performance was done.  

    With all her ingredients gathered thanks to the servant’s help - she thanks them with a little bow as they return - Hiroko quickly sets about preparing her recipe. Her partners had set out an array of bowls and utensils for her use. (She has to stifle a laugh at Junko’s addition of a comically large saucepan lid, but no saucepan. Evolved or not, she was still awfully young and, evidently, hadn’t completely understood some of Hiroko’s requests. Ryou scoops up the lid by its handle in his mouth and trots off to the chime of the bells on his legs as he returns it to its rightful place for Hiroko.) From the prep area she scoops up one of three apples and goes about peeling the skin off with a knife.

    The flair in Hiroko’s performance is more subtle, something easy to catch for those paying attention to her but not loud and eye-catching; the choice to pull the knife from her hip, a gorgeous blade with a polished white-and-gold handle and engraved with the Azai name, or the flourish she uses to unsheathe it, spinning the knife around in her palm before setting to work. Her knifework is, as one would expect, almost inhuman, peeling and dicing the fruit with such speed and precision it’s a wonder she doesn’t cut herself. 

    In the meantime, Junko goes about measuring out other ingredients, still using her Psychic to quickly and cleanly float measuring cups and bowls around; sweet rice flour and sugar are mixed together with Psychic; a kettle floats over and pours a bit of boiling water in, mixing it together bit by bit as per Hiroko’s mental instruction until they had a solid mochi dough. Hiroko practically knew how to make mochi by heart thanks to her years of begging the cook back home, Nana, to make her favorite treat, which meant Junko could easily rely upon her partner’s memory to clear up any uncertainties. The espeon finishes her measurements just as Hiroko is peeling the last apple--

    Why not show off a bit?

    Ryou rejoins them at the counter and sits positioned next to the bowl of diced apples Hiroko has been preparing, already sensing what she had planned. As Hiroko finishes with the peel, she steps back and tosses the apple into the air; the Glaceon, at the same time, uses his Ice Shard. Razor-sharp blades of ice slice through the fruit in midair and it falls back down into the bowl in chunks, met with the sound of applause from a few entertained onlookers. 

    Next Hiroko measures out the remaining ingredients for the apple filling--cinnamon, sugar, lemon juice. She doesn’t exactly know the apple pie filling by heart the way she does mochi (in fact, she’d had to do a bit of research before the competition to try to find something a bit more seasonally themed), so she handles this portion of the preparation herself. The filling is then mixed together and popped in the microwave to heat (again, admittedly, she’d had to learn what a microwave even was before the competition). Once complete she brings the bowl back to Ryou’s side; he quickly chills the hot filling with Frost Breath until it’s down to a workable temperature. Next, Hiroko and Junko take the cooled filling and portion it out onto a sheet of wax paper--Junko, of course, being much more efficient at it using Psychic, a fact with Hiroko plays up for a few laughs as she can only scoop out one ball of filling while Junko single-handedly divides up the remainder in the bowl in the same amount of time. Ryou then settles down next to the sheet of portioned filling to keep it chilled as Hiroko and Junko move on to the next step.

    Hiroko has Ryou use his Frost Breath once again to quickly chill the bowl of mochi, then she divides up the dough into separate chunks, two large and three much smaller chunks. She adds a bit of food color and kneads it into each chunk of dough--black and purple for the two largest, yellow and red for two of the smaller, and the last remaining its natural white--and proceeds to roll out the two larger piles of dough and cut palm-sized squares out of them, three black and six purple. Again with Junko’s assistance to speed up the process, Hiroko retrieves the filling and scoops it into a piece of dough, pinches it shut to keep the filling in, and has Junko shape them better into balls one-by-one. 

    Perfect! Now just to decorate them! The black-dough mochi are first. Hiroko squishes them into more oblong ovals, then pinches the tops and bottoms into little wisps. She then traces a shape on a piece of paper for Junko, who proceeds to cut the shape out from the rolled-out white dough to make up for Hiroko’s less-than-stellar artistic skill. Three little skull-like masks of a duskull, which Hiroko attaches to the re-shaped black mochi. She then pinches a bit of dough from the red and white to create the stripes on its back and single glowing eye for each one.

    Next, she repeats the process for purple, having Junko cut out x-shaped pieces from the yellow and little cloud shapes from the white to create Drifloon, then rolling out thin strings of the remaining black dough and attaching them to the bottom and little black dots for eyes. Finally, for the last three she pinches the dough up into little spikes along its body, followed by using excess purple dough to build up two long spikes on its head and a tail on its rear, then two stumpy arms and legs against its side. Add two rough triangles to make eyes and a crescent of white for a big, cheshire cat grin, and viola! Three cute (albeit a bit lopsided) Gengar.