Halloween is my favorite day of the year, so I decided to write a little Halloween one-shot. Hope you like it! Please R&R
Etcetera ran through the streets as fast as she could, dodging cars, people and pumpkins. She bounded into the junkyard, looking around wildly for her friends. She had something really important to tell them, something really big! In front of her, a big tabby came around the corner. At her speed, she didn't have time to react, so she slammed right into him head first. The two went tumbling head over heels, a ball of orange and cream fur. Once they stopped rolling, Skimbleshanks got up.
"What's all the rush for, lassy?" he asked, helping the tangled kitten up.
"Sorry Skimble, I didn't mean to run into you," Etcy was talking a mile a minute, barely stopping to catch her breath, "It's just that I just learnt something totally and completely AWESOME from my humans and now I have to find Pounce and Jem and Viccy and Misto and Lectra and Tumble and tell them about it 'cause it's SOOOO cool!!!" She gasped for air, looking hopefully up at Skimble. "Do you know where they are?"
He smiled at the energetic kitten.
"Aye, they're playin' by the ol' tire."
"Thanks Skimble!" She dashed off as Skimble called after her.
"Do try to slow down. Don't run into anyone else."
A voice in the distance replied "I'll try!"
Through the pipe she ran, once again falling head over heels, rolling into the clearing. She heard her friends laughing, and jumped to her feet.
"This is no time for laughter, this is serious!" she said sternly, walking over to them. "Where's Misto?"
"He's practicing his magic," Victoria, the pure white kitten answered.
"Okay, well, we'll just have to tell him later. He's important. What about Tumble?"
She looked to Pouncival, but he just shrugged.
"Beats me. Probably stalking Bomba."
Etcetera rolled her eyes.
"Of course. Oh well, his loss. I have the GREATEST news!! I learnt something new from my humans last night. They were scooping slimy insides out of a pumpkin. The little boy, Greg, put some on my head, it was so gross! Ugh." She shuddered, remembering the experience, "Anyway, they were talking about what they were going to 'be' tomorrow. The girl, Rachel, said she was going to be a cat, and Greg said he wanted to be some kind of human-bat cross breed. Weird, right? I know. I was trying to figure out what they were talking about, when they started talking about me.The mother was like 'What's Sugar going to be?' and they looked at me, and Rachel said 'A Pumpkin!' pointing to the pumpkin on the table.
"Etc, what are you talking about?!?" Pounci was so confused, "Are you trying to say that they're going to change shape? And you too?"
Etcetera laughed, "See, that's what I thought! Then, later in the evening, they said they wanted to try on their costumes. They're not actually changing shape, they're just wearing costumes of what they want to 'be'. It's called 'Halloween'. The kids dress up in weird and scary costumes, and go from hourse to house, knocking on doors and saying 'trick or treat'. Then the adult humans give them candy and stuff. They also decorate their houses with ghosts and skeletons and stuff!"
"That sounds creepy," Viccy said.
"That's the point!" Etcy answered, "It's supposed to be creepy. We totally have to do this!"
"Definitely!" Pounce agreed, eyes gleeming with mischief.
"But what are we going to use for costumes?" Jemima spoke up for the first time, "I mean, you're getting one from your humans, but what about us?"
"We could use stuff from around the junkyard," Electra said.
"Yeah, Jenny could make stuff for us," Pounci added, "Oh! I'm gonna use my cockroach costume, from theball!"
Everyone started laughing, remembering how Pouncival had driven Jennyanydots crazy at the ball, pretending to be a bug, buzzing in her ears.
"Whaat?" Pounci asked innocently.
"I want to be a spider!" Electra said excitedly.
"Ew. I want to be a princess," Victoria said, holding he head and tail high, circling the clearing. Pouncival leapt off the tire, bowling her over.
"Don't you do that every day?" Pounce teased.
"Hmph," Viccy stuck her nose in the air, "I can be whatever I want. Fine, I don't actually want to be a princess anyway," she bared her teeth at Pounce, throwing her paws around his neck.
"I want to be a vampire! ARRG!" She bit Pounce lightly on the neck, and Pounce jumped back.
"Ew, queen germs! You're a freak." Pounce said, acting disgusted.
Etcetera was rolling around on the ground, laughing.
"Come on, guys, go get your costumes ready. I'll go find Misto and Tumble."
Etcetera searched through the junkyard for her missing friends. As predicted, Tumblebrutus was showing off for Bombalurina, performing flips and tricks over and over again for her entertainment.
"Tumblebrutus!" Etcy screamed. Tumble was in the middle of a double back flip, and was so startled, he fell right on his head, legs in the air. Bomb laughed, shouting "Bravo, Bravo!"
Tumble gave an embarassed smile, blushing a little, then turned to Etc, glaring. She just grinned.
"What was that for?" he asked annoyed.
"I needed your attention," she shrugged, walking over, "I have something important to tell you."
She told him about Halloween, and how amazing it would be. Bomb listened from her perch, amuzed.
"So are you in?" Etcy asked excitedly.
"Totally!" Tumble's face had lit up, "This is gonna be so cool!"
The two ran off, leaving Bomb alone. She got up to go find her best friend, Demeter, and Munkustrap, to warn them of the inevitable chaos that would surely arise from the kittens' knowledge of Halloween.
Next, Etcetera had to find Mistoffelees. With his powers, he was vital in her Halloween plan.
"Misto! Misto!" She called, searching for him.
"What?" came the voice from behind her. She turned, coming face to face with the older tuxedo tom. Again, she told her story, and this time about how his magic would help them.
"That's amazing!" Misto said, "I'm on it."
He ran off to fulfill his part the plan.
Etcetera ran home. She went through the cat flap and almost ran right into the pumpkin her humans had been carving the night before. It had a gruesome, toothy grin. She giggled at the sight of it, hoping that Misto would be succesful.
"Sugar!!" She heard a voice squeak. Turning, she saw Rachel, dressed in a one piece furry suit. with lines painted on her face, a black dot on her nose, and headband with ears.
"Look, Sugar!" She said, "I'm a cat, just like you!"
She turned, showing off her pinned-on tail. Etc almost laughed, it looked so funny! Then Greg ran around the corner, a hood with pointed ears covering his face, a cape attached around his neck and wrists, arms spread wide, a belt with tools in it, and a picture of a bat on his chest.
"I'm Batman, Sugar!" He twirled his cape aroud, making bat noises. This was too funny! Then she ran around the corner, between the small human legs. On the couch was the mother, just finishing sewing an orange garment.
"Hello, Sugar. What do you think?" she asked, holding up the garment. Etcetera mewed with delight. It was perfect! She jumped up on the couch, and rubbed against the mother's arm, purring.
"I think she likes it, Mommy," Rachel said.
"Put it on her!" Greg jumped up and down.
Mother picked Etcetera up and put her on her lap, then put the pumpking costume on her, gently pulling her paws through the holes. As soon as it was on, with the little hat with a green stem tied by two orange ribbons under her chin, Etcy jumped down and ran to the nearest mirror. It was perfect!
"Come on kids," Mother said, "It's time for us to bake some pumpkin pie."
"Yay!!" they both yelled, running into the kitchen. Etcy took this opportunity to run back to the junkyard.
As soon as she got to the clearing, she found Pouncival, Electra and Jennyanydots. Jenny was putting together a spider costume for Lectra. Pounce had attached leaves and twigs to his body, and looked as if he had been rolling in dirt. It also looked like he had blood dripping from his head, mouth, and sides.
"What happened to being a cockroach?" Etcy asked.
"I was a cockroach at the ball. It's been done, that's boring."
"I see," said Etcy, "And you are...?"
Pounce put on a sleepy kind of dead looking face and groaned loudly.
"I'm a zombie, back from the dead to eat your brains. Aarh!" he tried to bite her ear, but she jumped away, giggling.
"There you are, dearie," Jenny said, helping Electra into her spider costume. There were four legs coming out of her back, adding to her four. She pranced around the clearing, and they all laughed as the legs bounced after her.
"It's great!" Etc laughed.
"Your's is really awesome, too, Cette," Pounce said.
"Thanks, Pounci!"
Electra and Pouncival saw a flash of white fly out of the pipe, and watched, holding back fits of giggles, as Victoria snuck up on Etcetera, a black cape tucked into her collar, face blood dripping down from her mouth.
"Sneak attack!!" Viccy yelled, pouncing. Etcy screamed, fur standing on end.
"Viccy! That scared me!"
Victoria, Pouncival and Electra were in hysterics, rollling around with uncontrolable laughter. Jenny shook her head, trying to hold back a smile.
"Be careful, kittens. Don't hurt each other," she said, leaving them.
"So what are we supposed to do now?" Lectra asked.
"Well, first we need Jem, Misto and Tumble," she said, "Again."
"I'm right here, baby!" Tumblebrutus' voice came from across the clearing. All three turned to look. What they saw made them all gape. There was Tumblebrutus, walking into the clearing, a ruff of orange fur around his neck, a dark orange bandana tied around his back leg.
"I'm Tugger!" he said, with a few hip thrusts to prove his point.
"Yeah, we can see that," Lectra laughed.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Pounce grumbled.
Jemima walked in then, a black cape in her collar, just like Victoria, and she had a pointed hat, with a wide brim tied onto her head. She also had little black booties on her feet.
"What are you?" Pounce asked.
"It's called a witch," Jem said, "they're humans with magic powers, and they fly on brooms and make potions and stuff."
"Cool! Where'd you get the costume?" Electra asked.
"My humans made it for me."
At that moment, Tumble jumped up, towards Jemima, knocking her out of the way of the path of a large, rolling pumpkin, coming out of the pipe. Mere seconds later, a second, equally as huge pumpkin came rolling through after it. Etcetera squeaked as the third came in her direction, diving out of the way. Misto came in after, his coat completely black, all white spots covered in some kind of soot.
"What happened to your fur?" Lectra asked.
"Humans have a lot of strange superstitions, and one of them is that black cats are unlucky. So I'm a black cat."
"Weird," Tumble said, almost disgusted at the thought.
"What does that make white cats, then?" Victoria asked.
"I guess that means they're lucky," Misto said, smiling at her.
Pouncival gagged loudly, and Etcetera smacked him hard on the head.
"Shut up."
"So what are the pumpkins for, Mist?" Tumble asked.
"Etcetera?" he turned to her.
"My humans did this last night. On halloween, humans hollow out the pumpkins through a hole in the top, then carve faces into the side, and put a candle in them, so that they glow. It looks really cool. They're called Jack o' Lanterns."
"Double weird," Pounci said, "Why are humans so strange?"
They all shrugged, and Etcetera continued.
"I figured, with Misto's magic, we could carve our own Jack o' Lanterns."
"That sounds like fun!" Lectra squealed.
Pouncival walked over to the closest pumpkin, and rolled it so the stem was facing up. He let his claws out, and dug one into the pumpkin.
"It feels gross," he said.
"Oh well," Etcy shrugged, "Now cut a circle around the stem."
As he did that, Tumble and Misto did the other two. Once the tops were off, the kittens started scooping out the insides of the pumpkins. Then Mistoffelees focused his magic, using the lighting to carve funny faces into the pumpkins. Then he zapped a flickering light into all of them. Once it was done, the kittens stood back to admire their work.
"They're beautiful!" Victoria said with delight.
"In a creepy kind of way," a gentle voice floated into the junkyard.
"Hi mom," Jemima greeted Demeter.
"Hello, honey. And hello other little demons," she said with a smile to the rest of the kittens, "And... Tugger...."
Tumblebrutus beamed with pride at her recognition of his costume.
"Do you like our pumpkins?" Electra asked.
"Very much," Demeter smiled, "I just came to tell you that if you're planning on going trick or treating, I would advise taking a quick trip to the railway station. The train will be coming in in a few minutes, and I'm sure Skimble will have something for you."
"You mean, on our own?" Victoria asked. Demeter smiled and nodded.
"Yes, on your own. As long as you promise to come straight back."
With squeals of 'Yes', and 'Of course', the kittens raced out of the junkyard. Demeter put a paw in front of Misto to stop him.
"You're in charge, Misto. Jenny's trusting you, and I am too."
"Really?" he asked, "Is this... A test, or something?"
"Something like that," she said, "I believe in you."
"Thanks," Misto said, trying not to smile at his new responsibility. They were finally treating him like an adult cat! He rushed out of the junkyard after the kittens, yelling.
"Slow down!"
They got to the train station just as the whistle was blowing, signaling the train was rounding the corner. Mistoffelees ushered the kittens back from the yellow line, as he had seen many adult humans do with their human kittens, so that they didn't fall under the train. It was an outdoor station, so Misto made them stay in a bush nearby, so that they wouldn't get picked up or stepped on by the humans coming off the train. When it finally came to a stop, the large doors opened, and a lot of humans got off, walking away from the station. They spotted Skimbleshanks through the legs of the crowd, and started mewing to get his attention. Once the crowd dispersed, they ran out to him.
"Come on to the train, young uns," he said.
They followed him through one of the big doors, into the car. Electra was the first one through, and her mouth fell open.
"Woah!"
The rest sqeezed their way in behind her, and gasped. Floor to ceiling, everything was covered in black and orange decorations, fake pumpkins and candles. Sitting on the floor against the far wall was a line of halloween bowls, filled with little treats and warm cream.
"What are you supposed to say?" Skimble asked.
The kittens looked at him in confusion.
"Thank you?" Pouncival ventured. Skimble laughed, and shook his head.
"No, that's not it."
"Oh! Oh! I know this!!" Etcetera squealed, "Trick or treat!"
Skimble smiled.
"Go ahead."
Etcetera bounded over to the bowls, and the rest of the kittens followed after their own mews of "Trick or treat!"
After they had all finished, and thanked Skimbleshanks for the treats, they went back to the junkyard happily.
"Mom," Jem called, spotting Demeter and Bombalurina, "Mom, Skimble gave us yummy food."
"That sounds good," she smiled, "Once the sun goes, Jenny and Jelly are going to bring you out to some houses that will give you some more treats."
The kittens were ecstatic. This was the greatest day ever! Not only were they getting loads of yummy food, but they were being allowed out past sundown!
The next morning, the kittens all got together in the clearing.
"I am so sick!" Pouncival whined, "That was too much food."
"Yeah," Electra agreed, "And I'm so tired, too."
Munkustrap was watching them from the tire, unnoticed. He smiled approvingly. They had learned their lesson.
"I can't wait to do it again next year!!" Etcetera squealed, and all the kittens joined in, with 'Yeah!', and 'I'm gonna be...'
Munkustrap: Facepaw.