Costume Chaos
By Toby Danger
Monster High is copyright of Mattel. All other characters mentioned are copyright of their original creators
I was looking up the voice actors for Monster High, and I was really impressed by just how many other vocal roles they've worked on in animation and video games, there are some really unexpected names.
And this led me to write a story in which the MH cast dress up as some of these other characters for some reason. I dunno, making characters wear goofy costumes is fun.
Can you guess who the ghouls are dressed as? Most of them are related to a character their voice actor (past of present) has portrayed.
The first clue Cleo got that something was amiss was when she saw Ghoulia and Hoodude by the entrance at school. She wasn't fazed by Ghoulia's appearance. Ghoulia often wore her Lady DeadFast costume whenever she ran her Comics Fanclub after school. It was the sight of Hoodude, who was dressed as what she could only describe as an anthropomorphic turtle with a blue bandana around his head, which really started to make her wonder. Passing by Hoodude as he waved a pair of plastic katanas around, she entered the main building.
Her jaw dropped when she saw the great hall. Every single student milling about waiting for class to start was dressed in some bizarre outfit. Some monsters wore regular clothing which were totally different from their usual styles, while others wore utterly crazy and complicated outfits and disguises which looked like they had leaped straight out of a fantasy or science fiction book.
"Hey Cleo. What's up?" Frankie's voice called next to her. But when she turned to look at her, she nearly fell over.
Frankie's hair was blonde, and she wore a dress that was so pink and sparkly, even Draculaura would have said it was too much.
"Wha… what the…"
"Are you okay?" Frankie asked. "Why aren't you dressed up?"
"Yeah, where's your costume, sucka?!" Cleo blinked as she noticed Clawd and Draculaura approach. Clawd was dressed in jeans, gaudy yellow boots, a heavy steel chain belted around his waist, and a yellow shirt opened to reveal his abs and pecs.
Draculaura looked even more outrageous. She wore a skintight pink and black latex dress with a very short skirt, knee high leather boots, and a black mask over her eyes. She held a long pink whip in her hands.
"Hey ghouls! Looking good!" Clawdeen called as she approached the group. Cleo stared as the others greeted her as they normally did, seemingly oblivious that Clawdeen was wearing a skintight black and grey bodysuit with red all up her right leg, spiked heels and had several black painted mannequin arms attached to her back.
Finally, Cleo lost it. "What in the name of Seth is going on here?!
Everyone looked at her oddly.
"Oh, don't tell me you forgot about today. I totally sent you a memo." Laura frowned, her dress creaking slightly as she put her hands on her hips.
"Memo? About what?" Cleo demanded.
"Well, today is our first annual Costume Casual Day." Frankie replied, running a hand through her blonde hair.
"Costume Casual…. what the hell?" Cleo spat out.
Before Frankie could reply, they were interrupted by Andy Beast calling, as he and some of their other friends approached. Andy was wearing a tight blue spandex shirt with a strange emblem emblazoned on its front, and matching leggings. A pair of red underpants pulled up over the leggings, and a long red cape completed the look.
"Wow! That costume is awesome! I'm so glad you found one." Frankie complemented.
Andy rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks. I was lucky I found it, the costume shop in New Salem was nearly out of everything. I almost had to wear this creepy talking dinosaur costume…"
"Alright, what is with the costumes?!" Cleo cried out.
"Well, we were thinking of ways to earn charity money for the Ghoulwill Foundation." Frankie replied. "And Ghoulia came up with this great idea she heard about at the last Necro-Con; A charity costume day. You donate as much money as you can, and you'll be allowed to wear whatever you want for the whole day, including costumes. Most people have been dressing up as characters from video games and cartoons."
Cleo's eyes were wide as this sunk in. "And Miss Bloodgood seriously signed off on this?!"
Clawdeen shrugged, jostling her spare plastic arms. "Wouldn't be the strangest thing she's let us get away with."
"But, but… this is crazy!" Cleo threw her arms wide. "Everyone looks so.. so… ridiculous!"
"Oh don't be a spoilsport, Cleo. It's just a bit of fun, and its for a good cause." Lagoona spoke up. She was dressed in a blue Chinese dress, which had been cut to reveal much of her legs, clad in sheer stockings and large white boots. Her hair was styled into two buns, and she wore spiked bracelets on her wrists.
"Da, is good fun." Abbey spoke as she stepped into the gathering. "I have never dressed as other person before. It is interesting experience."
"Oh sweet Ra!" Cleo exclaimed as she took in Abbey's costume, and the others looked similarly shocked for once. Abbey was dressed as a sorceress, with a wide brimmed witch's hat on her head, a large wooden staff in her hand, and a medieval style dress with a very, very low cut bodice, which she seemed ready to fall out of at any moment.
"What is wrong?" Abbey asked as she noticed her friend's stunned looks. "I am dressed as traditional sorceress from fantasy stories, am I not?"
"Mother of Akasha…" Laura gasped as she stared at Abbey's ample chest, a look of envy in her eyes. "What do you hold those down with, steel girders?"
"It's a little… daring, Abbey." Frankie spoke gently.
"It is not bad compared to what Gory is wearing." Abbey pointed out the vampire at the far end of the hall. Once again, everyone's jaw dropped at the sight of her costume.
"Wh… why is she wearing a bikini and a giant squirrel tail?!" Cleo boggled.
"I heard her say she was going to do something different from the usual vampire cliches… but I never expected that." Laura spoke.
"Get ready everyone!" Heath voice boomed across the entire hall. "You're about to witness pure awesome!"
Everyone turned to see Heath swagger into the hall. His hair was dyed a dirty white colour, and he wore a gigantic trenchcoat made up of several patched together pieces of fabric. Even more distinctive however, were the two plastic guns with fake sword blades taped to them he was holding, the fabric bandages wrapped around his eyes, and the flames that were burning on his right shoulder.
"Dude, that costume is sick!" Clawd exclaimed. "Who are you meant to be?"
"I…. have no idea." Heath replied with pride. "I just downloaded this old normie game about an undead gunslinger with a giant coffin gun, and this guy was an unlockable character. He looked so badass, I had to dress as him. I would have dressed as the other guy, but I couldn't find a coffin…"
"Um, Heath?" Clawdeen pointed at his flaming shoulder. "You realize you're on fire, right?"
"Nah, it cool, its part of the costume. You see in the game, this character is like a super martial artist, and the flames are part of his inner energy or something like that."
"Okay, sounds like a weird game… " Clawd shrugged. "But I really don't think you can have the flames on in class."
"Relax bro." Heath assured. "I've been practicing this little trick for days. I'm in complete control…"
Just then, Heath saw Abbey, or more accurately, he saw Abbey's cleavage. His eyes nearly leapt out of his head.
"My God… they're magnificent…"
In that moment, his hair and both his shoulders burst into an eruption of flame, singeing Frankie's hair and setting one of Clawdeen's spare mannequin arms alight.
"Ahh! Dammit Heath!"
"Sorry!"
As she watched Andy try to fan out the flames with his cape, Cleo put a hand to her forehead. "This is going to me one of those days, isn't it?"
The day's lessons progressed as they usually did, save that the classrooms were full of students dressed like rejects from a bad normie movie. There were several times where Cleo's view of the teacher and the blackboard were blocked by the student seated in front of her because he or she was wearing either some massive bulky costume, a gigantic spiky hairdo or wig, or a combination of both. She was grateful when Study Howl rolled around, as it seemed reading books in the library would be the only chance she would get to actually learn something. But even in there, she couldn't escape the costumed fools going in and out.
She took a break from her Dead Languages homework to observe some of the students. She had to admit, some of these costumes were actually quite nice. Twyla looked adorable as a fairy tale princess in her frilly red and white dress, (though wasn't Snow White meant to have black hair, not blonde?) and Rochelle still looked as stylish as ever as she wore a tight black sweater and miniskirt combo, along with red dyed hair. The umbrella was a strange touch though…
But most of the costumes just looked plain nonsense. In a corner of the library, Slow Moe and Manny, dressed as a giant iguana and a massive bulky robot respectively, were staging a pretend giant monster fight, while nearby Operetta was looking through some music books, unperturbed by the looks the chain mail bikini she wore and the giant axe she carried on her back were getting from passing students.
Even the teachers were getting in on this lunacy.
Granted, Headmistress Bloodgood looked quite impressive in the dark blue unform she'd been seen wearing, which made her look like a commander from a medieval fantasy game, and the long blue hair was a nice look for her. But seeing Mr Hack and Mr Rotter argue over whose Elvis Presley costume was more accurate was more than Cleo could take.
"Hey babe." Cleo smiled and turned to see Deuce taking the chair next to her. Her smile promptly vanished when she saw what he was wearing. A long white coat with segmented armour covering it, white trousers, leather boots, a blonde wig, a sword in a scabbard, and what looked like the stuffed head and furry pelt of a fox draped around his shoulders. His ever present shades looked very out of place however.
"Oh no… you too?" Cleo moaned. "Do you realize just how silly you look?"
Deuce looked hurt. "Oh come on, I worked hard on this. You know how hard it is to find a decent Greek character to dress as that doesn't wear a toga?"
Cleo's gaze softened. "I'm sorry.. It's just… I don't get any of this!" She gestured toward Lagoona and Clawdeen, who were complementing each other on their costumes. "Doesn't anyone realize just how ridiculous they look?"
"I don't think it's that ridiculous." Deuce shrugged. "I mean, think about it. Normies have been dressing up like us for Halloween and in movies for decades. Why shouldn't we be able to do the same with characters they like?"
"But what's the point?!"
"I dunno, it's just a fun way to shake things up." Deuce replied. "And you gotta admit, there's just something about pretending to be something awesome for a while, like a superhero or a warrior. Didn't you ever play pretend as a kid?"
"Well…" Cleo sounded reluctant. "I did use to pretend I was Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile when I was little. Nefera and I used to play together, but we always got into arguments over who had to be Marc Antony…"
Deuce chuckled. "See? It's not so different from when we were kids."
"Actually it is different." Cleo frowned. "The difference is that we're all practically adults now. And adults should act mature, not do dumb things like wear costumes."
"You ever hear of a normie show called Star Trek?" Deuce asked. "I know a few fans who might disagree with you."
"Hey Cleo. Nice costume." Cleo and Deuce looked up to see Toralei standing before them. She wore a rather beaten up leather jacket over a dirty tank top and trousers, with a small mockingbird brooch attached to the collar. She also had a bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to a harness on her back. "Ooh, let me guess. You're dressed as your dear old grandmummy! How sweet."
"Unbelievable." Cleo muttered as she glared at Toralei. "We try to throw a perfectly fine prom, and you moan and complain, but this you support!"
"Yeah well, unlike your prom, this is actually fun. Some of these costumes are a riot." Toralei smirked. "I must say, I'm surprised you're not joining in. I though you and your lame friends loved supporting charity things like this."
"I will happily give some money toward Ghoulwill." Cleo ground out. "But I will not make a complete asp of myself by dressing up like a buffoon."
Toralei shrugged. "Well, suit yourself. Just means less competition for me in the contest."
"Wait! What contest?" Cleo asked urgently.
Toralei smirked. "Oh, didn't you hear? After school there will be a contest for the best costume. The winner gets a gift voucher and their picture on the front page of the school paper. Considering how cheap most of the other costumes are, I reckon I'm a lock to win it. Too bad you won't be there." She chuckled smugly. "But I doubt you'd be able to pull off a costume anyway."
With that, she turned and sauntered off, a smug grin on her face. Deuce looked at Cleo, who was staring at Toralei's back with a determined glare. He knew that look all too well.
"Let me guess… you want a costume now." He sighed.
"I am not about to let that felonious fleabag get the better of me!" She grabbed her handbag. "Come on! Lets find a costume that'll blow her fur off!"
Moments later the two were huddled together in one of the vacant classrooms, Cleo watching Deuce's diePad as he looked up pictures of fictional characters.
"How about this one?" He pointed to a picture of a mummy in armour that resembled an Egyptian cat. "It's from some old normie cartoon…"
"I'm not dressing like a cat! Toralei would never let me live it down." Cleo scowled.
"Why not just go as Cleopatra then?"
"No, that's too obvious." Cleo leaned in and tapped a few links. "This costume has to be something spectacular, yet unusual. Oh, why are there so few good Egyptian characters in fiction? We're so underrepresented…"
Suddenly, she focused on the last picture to appear on screen. "That's it! That's the ideal costume for me!"
Deuce stared at the character on screen, eyebrows raising. "Ankhesenamun? Isn't she from that Mummy movie you hate?"
"Well, the movie sucked, but I loved that outfit!" Cleo grinned giddily. "It's classy, it's regal, it's gold… it embodies me perfectly!"
"You seriously want to wear it?" Deuce looked at her with worry. "You know that costume is just…"
"This is happening Deuce!"
"Okaaay… but how are you going to make it? I mean, you need a lot of paint, not to mention all the jewelery and fabric…"
"Leave that to me." Cleo pulled out her phone and dialed the number to call her head servant. "We'll work on it once my servants get here with supplies. If we skip the next few classes, we can be ready for the contest."
She grinned maliciously. "I'll show that walking orange hairball who can pull off a costume…"
"Truly outrageous, truly, truly truly outrageous!" Catty Noir sang as she danced on the clawditorium stage, dressed in a garish pink dress, leggings, and a large white jacket with massive shoulderpads underneath the fabric. The effort of dancing under the hot lights was smudging her pink face paint slightly.
Headmistress Bloodgood stepped onto the stage, followed by Mr Hack and Mr Rotter in their Elvis costumes.. "Thank you Miss Noir, that will be all."
Catty smiled and walked off stage to the cheers of the other costumed students.
"And that is a darling costume. Takes me back to the days when I followed Motley Grue on tour… Anyway, I think that's all the entrants we have."
"Finally." Toralei shifted in her seat, tapping the end of her bow on the ground. "Hurry up and give me my prize already."
"Well, we've seen some superb costumes from all of you today." Bloodgood continued. "But after some deliberation, we have decided…"
"WAIT!" Cleo's voice cried out from behind the doors. "You've yet to see my costume!"
"What?" Toralei gasped as she and everyone else focused their attention on the doors.
"Oh, a late entrant." Bloodgood was surprised. "Well, please come in Miss de Nile."
"At this moment, I am not Cleo de Nile. I… am a Queen!"
The doors were flung open, and Cleo proudly stepped inside. Everyone gasped at the sight of her.
Her entire body, from head to toe, was coloured gold, with gold chains and ornaments weaved through her dark hair. She wore a small sash and decorated loincloth around her hips, and what looked like thin black netting around her chest and legs. But on closer inspection…
"That.. that's all paint!" Draculaura gasped as she watched Cleo stride past her.
"Is she… naked under all that?" Clawdeen asked.
"Uh huh." This came from Deuce, who had taken a seat next to the two. He had a strange, silly grin on his face.
Clawdeen raised an eyebrow. "Did you help her… paint it on?"
Deuce just nodded, still grinning.
"Wow… I don't know if that's lucky or creepy.." Laura murmured.
Cleo stepped onto the stage, posing as dramatically as possible. "So… what does everyone think?"
Everyone in the audience, mostly the males, began cheering and clapping their hands.
She grinned smugly. "I thought you might say that."
"That was awesome!" Frankie exclaimed as she and her friends followed Cleo as she marched triumphantly down the corridor. "You looked amazing up there!"
"I know, I did, didn't I?" Cleo replied humbly as she examined the small plastic trophy and maul gift voucher. "But you ghouls looked great as well."
She glanced over her shoulder to smirk at Toralei. "Even you, Toralei. So don't feel to bad about losing."
Toralei just shrugged. "Eh, you deserve this one. I gotta admit, I don't think I'd have the tombstones to pull off that get-up." She pointed at Cleo's painted body."
Clawdeen shook her head. "I'll say, after all that talk about costumes being ridiculous."
"Well, I must admit, I see the appeal of dressing up." Cleo smiled. "There is something about being in someone else's skin for a while…"
Suddenly, the fire alarm blared out. Seconds later, the fire sprinklers activated, and the hallway was drenched in water. Everyone shrieked as they were soaked.
Shortly though, the water was turned off, leaving the ghouls dripping all over.
"What in the name of Ra happened?!" Cleo demanded, enraged. She then noticed that everyone, including other students passing by, was staring at her with stunned expressions.
She looked down and realized her body paint was washing off her body, a puddle of golden liquid was pooling at her feet while the paint ran down her skin in large drops. It didn't take long before most of her naked chest was exposed.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She covered herself with her arms and ran down the corridor. Deuce took off after her, pulling of his coat to give to her.
Draculaura and her friends watched them run away, then turned to Toralei. "Was that you?"
Toralei scowled as she shook water from her fur. "Hey, it wasn't me for once!"
"It was… us. Sorry."
Everyone turned to look at Abbey and Heath. Heath was wafting away smoke from his hair, while Abbey held her arms crossed around her chest, an embarrassed expression on her face.
"Abbey er… popped out of her costume, and I got a little excited. Sorry." Heath explained, blushing.
"Knew I should have dressed up as Evil Queen…." Abbey murmured.
END