A/N: (eerily) Oooooooh! Readers beware, you're in for a scare! It's time for another Halloween special everyone! And this is extra-special as it's a crossover between ToonSchool and Arcanum Heroes! What will the detectives and TS gang get into this time? Read on now and see for yourself!
Arcanum Heroes/ToonSchool Halloween Special
Charm of Hallow's Evil: Part 1
Many years ago...
In a old village, night falls as most of the villagers were asleep in their houses. That is until a young woman shouted...
"HELP ME!"
In a hurry, a brunette-haired woman wearing an apron and dress dashed into someone's cottage and shouted, "My son! My son! H-He's... He's..."
A black-haired man wearing an old style suit quickly caught the woman as she fell in exhaustion out of shock.
"Calm down! What happened?" He asked in worry.
"M-My son... Alex... He been kidnapped... by some kind of shadow!"
"A shadow?" The man repeated in confusion until he realized who it was. "Oh no."
In the dark forest not far away from the village, a ghost-like figure wearing a ragged hood and a blank white mask threw a black-haired boy with Z-shaped freckles on the ground near a young boy with a bucktooth and a boy with a bob-hair.
"Hey! Let me go right now!" The black haired boy protested as he tried to struggle out of his bindings with no success, only to stop when he and the other boys became horrified at the sight of their captor, which wore a Grim Reaper-like hood and has a jack-o-lantern head which has a sinister smile carved on it and claw-like shadows as his hands.
"Hush, young ones and calm yourselves. Cause soon, you will be free from what I want!" The entity said as carved mouth let out a sinister laugh as roots came out of the ground and grabbed the boys as they screamed in horror.
However not far away from the forest, the same man from before is now waiting with an older man in a hunter outfit.
"Are you sure these children already found the way to stop this beast?" The older man asked.
"We have no choice. That monster has been plaguing the village for many years now! We have to put a stop to this before it's too late!" The man answered in a serious tone when he saw two horses headed to their direction before they stopped, which a young boy with a brunette swirly hair and a young black-haired boy wearing a black robe, pants, boots, and hat got down from their steeds. "Jerimiah! Dale! There you are! I read your letter about your recent discoveries. Are you sure it will stop it?"
"We're positive. It's right here in this sachel," Jerimiah said as he showed them the said bag.
"But we need to hurry, though. If our findings are correct, that entity will grow too powerful if it continues to drain the other children," Dale explained. "So we must hurry! Lead us to the entity!"
The two men nodded as they lead the boys into the deeper parts of the forest.
Meanwhile, after it was done with the boys, the entity then saw the three scared girls with bug-like eyes that the werewolf brought for him.
"Well done, my dark servant. These girls will be my final meal before my rise as the ruler of this world!," He said before he grew closer to the girls, which they only can do nothing but scream.
But just as conjured up his roots once more, they were quickly cut down by the old man with an axe, much to his shock.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"
Before he can react to this, he quickly grew more shocked to see Jeremiah and Dale approaching them as the former says, "The Shadow Lantern, known for draining the children's souls for it's own use. Haven't you have wrought enough destruction upon this village?"
The old man quickly cut down some more roots approaching the girls as he shouted to them, "Get over here! Hurry!"
The three girls quickly did as they were told and ran to safety.
As soon the girls were rescued, Dale then pulled out a charm that is shaped like a dark green candle and used the match Jerimiah gave him to light it, which the flames turned into dark green as well.
"WHAT?!"
Before the Shadow Lantern can even grab Dale with his roots, he then chanted, "With this Charm of Hallow, in the night of eve, seal this spirit in face he vained so he can never haunt us never again!"
As he said this, the flame on the candle grew and fired itself to the entity, which it screamed in anguish as the mayor covered the girls' eyes while the others looked on in horror. When the flames extinguish, the entity was sucked into his own jack-o-lantern as it feel near the charm.
"As the flames died out, the entity was finally sealed away into his own source of vanity by Jerimiah Nate and Dale White. But to make sure he will be never released, they hid the charm out of sight as the weapon against the Shadow Lantern is also the catalyst to his freedom."
In the dark classroom, Chloe, dressed up as a unicorn continued reading aloud from an old book to her friends as some of them such as Bubbles became scared at the story while some of them are bored out of their mind.
"So a little warning for you, little one. If you find a charm like a candle, do not light it and more importantly, do not fall for the tricks of the Lantern." Chloe then closed the book with a smile.
"Wow Chloe, that was scary," Tony said, who dressed as a samurai for Halloween.
"Scary enough to entertain me at least," Daryl, dressed up as Shadow Kuro, agreed.
June, dressed up as a witch, simply said, "It wasn't too bad. I could just imagine Ray-Ray's face if he were here."
"Same with Haley's," Jake, in his Dragon form, agreed.
"Wow, I think I'm gonna have nightmares until Thanksgiving!," Mac, dressed up as the Red Power Ranger, whispered in terror.
"Took the words right outta my mouth," Bloo dressed as a ghost, agreed as he shivered in fear.
"Out of mine as well…so…scary…," Bubbles, in her Harmony Bunny costume and shaking intensely, squeaked.
"Well, I think it was awesome," Lilo, dressed as a zombie hulu dancer, praised.
"Stitch too!," Stitch, dressed up as a Cerebus, added.
"Yeah," Danny, in his Halfa form, jumped in, "I've heard and seen a lot of scary things in my time, but nothing scary as that."
"It could make a great movie someday! Maybe I could direct it!," Tommy, dressed as Dracula, said with excitement.
"That I'd love to see, Tommy," Ash, dressed as a wizard, added.
"Are you kidding? That was nothing to scream about," Bart, dressed as Batman, countered.
"Yeah, way to cliché if you ask me," Blossom, in her Liberty Belle outfit, agreed.
"Something we agree on, Blossom, the whole thing is a cliché," Jimmy, dressed as Albert Einstein, said.
"Yeah, I practically dozed off almost," Buttercup in her Mange costume, pointed out.
"My sister Lucy writes scarier than that," Lincoln, dressed as his comic hero, Ace Savvy, stated.
"Come on guys, it wasn't that bad," Sora, dressed in his "Halloween Town" attire with some additional Ghoul-like characteristics, siad trying to be sympathetic.
"No…it was ALL bad! That book in my opinion is nothing but a great big scam!," Timmy said.
"It's not a scam! Wrath of the Shadow Lantern is purely based on facts found by paranormal researchers!" Chloe shouted in defense.
"Why do you think they call it a "scam" in the first place?" Timmy asked in a deadpanned tone.
"Uh, as the son of paranormal hunters and researchers, I take offense to that remark, Timmy!," Danny snapped.
"Well, Timmy's got a point the Shadow Lantern, like all horror story monsters, is a fake," Blossom said. But just then, the door burst open and a large imposing figure stood in the doorway!
"AHHHHH! IT'S THE SHADOW LANTERN!," the entire gang screamed in unison and fear.
But as the silhouetted figure turned on the lights, it revealed to be Professor Samuel Oak wearing a Frankenstein's monster costume as he was stunned by the students' screaming.
"I was about to say "I'm the Arcanum Oak and that my counterpart is wearing a mummy costume", but I rather go with "WHAT"?!" Samuel said in disbelief, thinking that they insulted his Shadow Twilight title.
"Arcanum Oak?!," the gang all said before realizing their error.
"Wow, this is embarrassing. I'm just gonna go to the cafeteria," Ash said as he dashed out of the room.
"I'm with ya, Ash!," Danny added as he ran after his friend.
"Me too!," Blossom said as she left as well. One after another, the ToonSchool friends continued to leave the classroom, until Chloe, Jimmy, Timmy, Mac, Bloo, Bart, Tony, and Daryl were left.
"Sorry about that, Samuel. But Chloe just read us a story about a scary ghost from the book she bought at 2-Buy Secondhand," Tony explained to the confused professor/detective.
"I... see... Considering that would be the same reaction as Larrson's when she reads it, I understand," Samuel said. "But skipping that subject, have you kids seen Mickey? I've promised that I would help him back in the House of Mouse before tonight."
"Well, I think he should be back by his-" Tony started to say, only for the said mouse ran into the classroom, wearing a Jedi outfit with a brown robe and a fake blue lightsaber.
"What happened? I heard some screams!" Mickey shouted as he quickly looked left and right cautiously, which Samuel calmed him down as he put his hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry, the kids got freaked out after a ghost story," Samuel explained.
"Oh, is that so? Well, it is Halloween after all," Mickey chuckled as he collapsed his fake lightsaber back to it's inactive form before storing it away in his pockets. "By the way, Sam. Nice costume!"
"Thanks. But to be honest, I had to wear this because I need to wear something classic for once. Also, Allyn's already dressed as Scrooge McDuck thanks to his kids," Samuel explained. "Nice costume as well, Mickey. You look like a real Jedi yourself."
"Yeah, real cool…but um, shouldn't there be a Darth Vader costume to go with that Jedi outfit?," Timmy asked. Just then, Samuel's Rotom jumped out of nowhere, wearing Darth Vader's helmet, startling the kids. Rotom laughed and then hummed the Imperial March
"Um... That was my fault. Maybe I shouldn't mentioned to them about the villains of Star Wars," Mickey explained, which Koto then flew by wearing a Stormtrooper helmet as he carried a sign that says, "YA THINK?", much to Samuel's amusement.
Just then, Samuel's phone rang, which he answered and said, "Hello? Oh, Professor Rowan! How's the party preparations back in Arcanum? Huh? Sophie is asking some Mega Evolution data to compare? Xavier and Yvonne should have some Mega Stones ready for them to Mega Evolve, so ask them to help the girls out. Is that all? Okay, bye."
After a small conversation, the students grew confused at it as Tony asked, "Um, you said it was Professor Rowan, but I thought you said he's researching about Pokemon evolutions?"
"Oh right. Well, Professor Sycamore's come down with a cold and right now, Rowan is taking care some of his research until he recovers," Samuel explained. "So I doubt he'll be able to join us for the Halloween party back home."
"Man, catching a cold on Halloween…that bites," Tony sighed.
Just then, Vice Principal Prickley stormed in to the classroom looking extremely angry, and snatched Tony, Timmy, Bloo, and Bart up by their collars.
"You four little pranking miscreants are coming to my office NOW!," he growled.
"Wait! What did they do this time, Prickley?" Mickey asked in confusion.
"For vandalizing the hallways, that's what!" Prickley answered as he showed a picture from his smartphone to Mickey. "The doors and lockers are bombarded with paintings and since the paints and brushes from art class are missing, I'm betting it was you four that did it!"
"WHAT?! But we didn't do any of that!" Tony protested.
"Yeah, the Snob Squad probably framed us again!" Timmy added.
"Save your excuses for later, Turner. Not only that, all of you insulted me with this offensive painting of me as a devil!" He then showed the said painting to the others, which Samuel became suspicious about this.
"Now wait a minute, Vice Principal Prickley!" Chloe shouted as she pulled out a camera and her smartphone as Samuel took a closer look at the photo. "Although these boys are infamous for their pranking behavior..."
"Hey!"
"But they are not the culprits you're looking for because I was reading a ghost story to them at the time these offenses occured!" Chloe explained as she then showed her gadgets to Prickley. "I even have proof in this night vision camera!"
"You have a night vision camera?" Bart asked in confusion.
"I like to record things at night," Chloe said as she turned back to Prickley.
"More importantly, this isn't a painting of you. It's actually a painting of a Mewtwo," Samuel said as he showed a picture of the said Pokemon from his smartphone along with the said painting. "And judging by their alibis, I think someone else might have vandalize the hallways."
Seeing his deductive skills once more, Mickey became convinced at his deductions as Prickley only stood there in shock as the kids were released, which he then asked, "Can you show us the vandalized hallways then? I doubt the destruction isn't that bad."
However by the time they arrived, Samuel and Mickey were stunned to see many paintings of Pokemon on each of the doors and lockers as the other students are also stunned to see them.
"I heard of expressing your love of Pokemon in any form, but this is ridiculous," Samuel quipped.
"Tell me about it."
Samuel and Mickey turned around to see Sam, Clover (whose pants are somehow covered in paint), and Alex as Charlie's Angels (as Dylan, Natalie, and Alex respectively) walking towards them as the latter says, "While the drawings are cute, whoever did them messed up our costumes too."
"Yeah. Another reason why that the Cyber Train isn't scary as WOOHPing," Sam said.
"And messy! Ugh! The fabric we bought to make these capri pants were very expensive to make, you know!" Clover complained. "When I get my hands on the guy who's responsible for this..."
"Well, first we need to find them, whoever they are," Samuel said. "Let's split up and start looking."
However, Mac noticed something as he tugged on his pants and says, "Um... That won't be necessary, Samuel."
Mac then pointed left as Samuel and the others looked there, which they are surprised to see...
"Professor Sycamore?! What are you doing here?!" Samuel shouted as he approached his colleague in pajamas painting on an untouched locker, much to his shock at the fact they found their culprit.
"I got bored, so I headed to Mickey's world, and next thing I know, I've got nothing but painting on the brain," Sycamore said as he stood up, but he quickly fell as Samuel caught him. "I just need to put the finishing touches on-"
"Sorry, not going to happen. You need to go back to your lab and rest!" Samuel ordered as he tried to carry Sycamore. "You're no condition to do anything. Plus, your paintings cost a lot of fortune on the school repairs."
"And the fabric I used to sew my capri pants!" Clover added.
"And the fact you accidentally framed me for this!" Bloo said as he tried to tackle the Kalos Pokemon Professor, only for Mac to grab his imaginary friend on time. "Let me at him! Let me at him!"
"Relax I'm all bet-ah, ah, AH, AHHHH-CHOOOO!," Sycamore sneezed as Oak struggled to keep him up. "I'm fine, just fine."
"Whoa, he doesn't look too good, and he's acting odd," Tony mentioned, "Are you sure he caught a cold?"
"Yes. Two days ago, and he's been trying to stay active even though we all want him to rest. And not to mention trying to stay active in the most irrational and delusional ways."
"Two days ago? That's when I gave him that pie I made," Alex said.
"A pie?" Mickey repeated.
"Yeah. I know he's still recovering from that Kalos incident and all, so I baked a homemade chocolate pie with a Mega Evolution frosting on top to cheer him up!" Alex explained. "Thankfully, it worked thanks to a secret ingredient I got in here during our visit."
"And what is this secret ingredient you got in this school?" Daryl asked in suspicion. "Did you ask permission from Remy in the school kitchen first?"
"Um... Actually, I didn't go there. But I got this cinnamon powder from the science lab!" Alex then pulled out a shaker which seemed to contain the said seasoning, but it had a warning label in front of it. "I wonder how did it got there in the first place."
Upon a sight of the shaker, Jimmy screamed in horror as he snatched it from Alex's hands and shouted, "This isn't cinnamon powder! This is my Common Cold Sense Formula, which might be the cause of Professor Sycamore's odd behavior! And the reason why I couldn't even find it when I ran into the Snobs."
Chloe, Daryl, Mac, and Jimmy gasped in shock. Tony, Timmy, Bloo, and Bart looked amazed (and humored). Clover, Sam, Mickey, and Samuel soon grew upset. And Alex was horrified.
"You put that dangerous powder into Sycamore's pie?!" Clover shouted in anger to Alex.
"You made a formula that can decrease intelligence?!" Sam shouted in the same tone to Jimmy.
"You made a formula just to get back against the Snob Squad?!" Samuel added.
Jimmy chuckled sheepishly as he was now faced two angry adults before he said, "Security measures in case the Snobs steal our Halloween candy again. And don't worry, it won't lower his intelligence. He only gets common cold symptoms and the neurons in his brain linked to his inhibition of knowing the smart thing to do, and distinguishing true from false will be disable"
"Well, I don't know what you're saying, but that's good news, right?" Timmy said in relief.
"It means he'll lose his common sense and act delusional and irrational."
"THAT'S NOT GOOD NEWS AT ALL!" Samuel shouted out of anger and annoyance.
"I told you, I'm fine Samuel! What part of that don't you understand?!," Sycamore snapped, equally angry and annoyed.
"You are not fine! You are feverish and not thinking clearly!"
"Oh I'm thinking clearly alright. I'm thinking you better back off or you'll be sorry!"
"Uh, does irritable and cranky is included in that formula, Jimmy?" Tony asked as he continued to watch the argument.
"Not exactly, but it could recur as a side effect," Jimmy answered.
"I know how you feel, Sycamore. But since the powder is affecting your head, I have no choice but to do this," Samuel said as his eyes glow blue and purple in an attempt to hypnotize his friend, but Sycamore quickly flicked some paint over his eyes, blinding him before running off. "DARN YOU, AUGUSTINE!"
But when he opened his still glowing eyes, Samuel became surprised to see Squidward, who is somehow in a trance as he muttered, "'Inara Sicram! Inara Sicram!'"
Squidward then pulls out a frying pan and started whacking himself with it as he left, much to Samuel's embarrassment and confusion as his eyes returned to normal. "Great and I thought that hypnosis trick would work on Sycamore's Essence last time."
"Not to worry, detective. Cleft, the Boy Chin Wonder to the rescue!" Timmy declared as he pushed a button to his chin strap, revealing a slingshot. "Tony, do you still have those Tranquilizing Bug Eggs gadget?"
Confused, Tony gave the said gadgets to Timmy, which he then used one of them as ammo as he fired one to the fleeing professor, which he quickly screamed offscreen as the others winced.
"To the nurse's office!" Timmy declared. "As soon after we explain Prickley about this..."
Later on, on the outdoor playground, Mac, Bloo, and Bart were with Blossom and Buttercup, telling them what happened with Sycamore.
"Whoa, now that's crazy! Painting Pokemon all over the school walls?," Buttercup asked in shock.
"Yeah. Crazy, isn't it?," Mac replied.
"Insane is more like it," Blossom said, unbelieving at what she'd just heard.
"Not as insane as Alex mistakenly using Jimmy's formula to make that pie," Bart pointed out. "I mean, come on. Who doesn't read the label on canisters?"
"Yeah, how dumb can you get?," Bloo chuckled, before noticing that the others were staring at him awkwardly. "Don't answer that."
Just then, something on the ground caught Blossom's eye: a silver necklace with a candle-shaped charm with small blue and black stone embedded in it.
"Hey, look at this guys," she said as she picked it up.
"What is it?," Bloo asked.
"It's obviously a necklace, Bloo," Mac pointed out.
"A charm necklace to be exact," Blossom added. "I wonder whose it is?"
"Who cares? You know the rules: finders keepers, losers weepers," Buttercup said as she grabbed for the necklace. But Blossom held it out of reach.
"No, this is going to the school lost-and-found until the owner claims it. And that's that."
"Aw, man!," Buttercup groaned as she and the others left the playground.
One hour later, Huey, Dewey, and Louie were walking down the hallways when they saw Delia and Allyn Kato, which they dressed as Princess Aurora and Scrooge McDuck respectively.
"Wow! You look exactly like our Unca Scrooge!" Huey pointed out.
"Thanks, but do you know where the nurse's office is?" Allyn asked, which the triplets pointed where it is.
"Thanks! And tell your Uncle Donald that Samuel and I will be helping out back at the club!" Delia said before she and Allyn left to their destination.
Meanwhile in the school's clinic, Chloe just put an ice bag on the unconscious Sycamore, who is now lying down in bed as Samuel said, "There. He should be out cold for a while. Now we just need some peace and quiet until we figure this out."
However, Allyn and Delia barged in the clinic and shouts, "Samuel, we heard everything from your text! Is he-"
But he was interrupted by them shushing him, which he realized his mistake as he covered his mouth. "Oh, sorry."
"Is he okay?," Delia whispered.
"For now. He got out of bed and followed me here. And he painted pictures all over the school-on the walls, the floors and the ceiling-and the spies' homemade capri pants," Samuel said. "And one top of that, it turns out he's sick because Alex mistakenly used one of Jimmy's formulas as an ingredient in that pie she made him."
"We saw paintings in the hallways earlier," Delia said. "You're saying Sycamore did that? It couldn't be."
"Yeah, the Sycamore we know wouldn't do something so out-of-character," Allyn added.
"You mean like how he attempted to splash white paint on Garchomp back home earlier," Samuel asked.
"Wow, you're right…"
"The illness is temporary though, so if he rests within a few hours left, he might able to fully recover," Jimmy explained. "But with his current behavior once he wakes up, I doubt it will be easy."
"I would love to keep an eye on him, but..." Delia said in worry.
"Yeah, the House of Mouse still needs you and Samuel on entertainment you two came up with," Mickey explained.
"Which is why I asked Allyn to help you guys out while we're gone," Samuel finished before turning to his Twilight. "But are you sure you can handle the craziness around here?"
"I deal with my kids all of time and I did endure the craziness both in your world and Arcanum," Allyn answered with a smile. "I think we can handle this."
"Well, let's get going," Mickey said as he, Samuel, and Delia left for the House of Mouse, leaving Allyn and the kids with Sycamore.
"Well, do you really think we can handle this?," Timmy asked out of worry.
"We've handled way worse than before," Tony answered with confidence.
"Yeah, it's a simple babysitting job," Allyn said. "What could possibly go wrong?"
"Uh, maybe this...," Chloe said as she tapped Allyn's shoulder and pointed at the bed. Everyone looked and found that Sycamore was gone and had left a substitute doll in his place.
"HE'S GONE!," they all shrieked in shock.
"Quick! We gotta find him!," Daryl sniped in panic.
But as the heroes left the clinic to find Sycamore, a mysterious set of eyes glared at them from the window as a sinister laugh looming in the air.
A/N: Whoa, things are getting creepy. Who is this mysterious force? What does it have to do with the just found candle charm? And can the kids keep Sycamore on lockdown until he recovers? Find out on part BOO! Next time!