AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Howdy! This is The Mayor of Ninjago City with a brand new tale called MWD Story: A Harrowing Halloween. It is the first of a series of stories I agreed to adopt from the author Magic Writing Dragon. I wish to thank MWD for considering me to be a suitable author for carrying on several unfinished story ideas!

This tale centers around the viewpoint of our favorite lightning ninja, Jay, around the time of the Halloween holiday. Jay is very excited for the special day to arrive. However, some of the other Bounty's occupants are exhibiting quite the opposite attitude toward the approaching 31st day of October. The rest of the crew goes trick-or-treating with Jay, but the last house they visit makes them wish they had gone home sooner!

As you may already know, MWD's stories include several OCs. Jennet is a Serpentine who is Lloyd's girlfriend, and Zin is Zane's brother.

This story will be fairly short, so I won't have a regular publishing schedule. I'll just post a chapter when it's ready. The story may not be totally finished by October 31, but I will try to complete it by then.

Hope you enjoy this first chapter of A Harrowing Halloween!

Chapter 1 - Jay Prepares for Halloween

The Week Before Halloween...

Halloween was getting closer! I had already picked out my costume, and I was determined to go trick-or-treating and get candy, even if the others didn't go. I really didn't care if anyone said anything annoying about my plans. I just wanted candy, and I even told myself I'd even go to a store and treat myself to cotton candy!

One afternoon I was in the bunkroom, perfecting my costume, when Lloyd walked in.

"Jay, what are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm finalizing my Halloween costume," I answered. "So what's YOUR plan for Halloween, Greenbean?" I added, chuckling at my own joke.

Lloyd's face became solemn. "I plan to stay on the Bounty that night," he said quietly.

"Why?" I exclaimed. "I thought you loved candy!"

"Oh, I do. Just don't worry about it." he huffed, turning abruptly and briskly walking out the bunkroom door, almost bumping into Cole as he did so.

Cole entered the room, casting a puzzled glance back over his shoulder at the departing green ninja. "So what was Lloyd doing in here?" he asked me.

"I don't know," I replied, shrugging, "but I think he's scared of Halloween."

Cole chuckled and said, "Well, Jay, he really is a little kid at heart, remember." He waved his hand and left me alone in the bunkroom.

I was curious as to why Lloyd did not want to celebrate Halloween. It dawned on me that I didn't know the plans that his girlfriend had for that day. Jennet is a Serpentine who lives on the Bounty with us. I decided to leave my costume on my bed and take a walk down to the control room, where I knew she was working on her latest project.

As I guessed, Jennet was in the control room, looking at her laptop computer screen. "Hey, Jennet," I greeted her as I walked in. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead," she replied, not looking up.

I headed toward one of the swivel chairs at one of the desks. "So, Jennet, will you be going out on Halloween?"

"No, Jay, I won't," she said as she began to type on the computer keyboard.

I settled into the swivel chair that also rocks back and forth. It's my favorite. "Aww, why?" I asked.

"Because I don't like Halloween." She stopped her typing and glared at me.

"Why?" I asked, relaxing and rocking in my chair.

"I don't want to talk about it," she replied, resuming her typing.

I don't give up easily, so I said, "Well, I guess that you'll be the only one on the ship then."

"No I won't," she said, keeping her eyes on her screen.

"I think so," I insisted.

She finally looked at me. "Lloyd'sss not going."

"Oh. Well, do you happen to know why?"

"No, but I think it hasss sssomething to do with his passst," she hissed.

"Huh," I said out loud, but inwardly I was thinking to myself, Maybe I'll ask Lloyd what event from his past gave him a weird attitude toward Halloween.

As if she could tell what I was about to do, Jennet gave me a warning. "Don't asssk him."

"Aww, why?"

"Jussst don't."

I sighed and said, "Fine. I won't. Just so you know, I'll come back later, and when I do, I'm gonna bug you for a good explanation as to why you don't like Halloween." She rolled her eyes and went back to typing on her computer, and I left.

As I passed by the training room on my way back to the bunkroom, I noticed the light was on, so I peeked in. Cole was sitting hunched over on the far side of the room with his back to the door, so he didn't see me, and I couldn't see what he was up to. But thanks to a shiny piece of training equipment, which was angled in just the right way so that I could see his reflection, I could clearly view what he was doing...secretly eating a slice of cake!

I rolled my eyes, walked in, and loudly asked, "So...have you chosen your costume yet, Cole?"

He jumped, almost dropping his cake, and said, "Jay! There's this new thing. It's called knocking! And no, I have not found a costume yet."

"Will it be a cake costume? Halloween's only in a few days. You better find something quick, Cole."

He rolled his eyes and made a motion for me to leave so that he could eat his cake in peace. I left the training room and arrived at the bunkroom, where Kai was busy ripping up one of his old ninja gis. I wondered why, but before I could ask him about it, I heard my name called from another part of the Bounty, and I got distracted.

The day before Halloween...

With Halloween being only one more day away, I was still doing some improvements on my costume when I suddenly heard a scream.

"What the-" I exclaimed as I quickly ran out of the bunkroom. At the end of the hallway stood Nya. At her feet lay Kai, who looked like a dead zombie on the floor. I swiftly reached them and stood on the other side of Kai.

Cole and the others, including Zane's brother Zin, soon came and gathered behind me.

Just then Kai began to move. He groaned and tried to get up but didn't. Even though I immediately knew he was putting on an act, I played dumb and, in my most convincing voice, exclaimed, "It's the Zombie Apocalypse! Cole, get me Kai's sword!" Cole rolled his eyes and handed me a sword, but it wasn't Kai's sword. Oh well.

I lifted it above my head and started to come down until Kai put his hands up and said, "OK, OK, Jay, I'm just kidding! By the way, why'd you ask for MY sword?"

I gave an exaggerated sigh of condescension. "Because, silly, in a real apocalypse, my weapon wouldn't be able to do anything but beat you to a pulp. Zin's and Zane's weapons are too small to be effective at so close a range. Jennet and Lloyd don't even have weapons! And you'd be too dead to care anyway, 'cause Cole or Nya would have killed you already before I could say anything," I concluded.

Everyone gave me a strange look. "What?" I said before I walked back into my room to resume my work on my costume.

So at least I now knew what Kai was going to be for Halloween. I already knew Zane was going to be a werewolf and Zin was going to be a vampire. I had heard that Cole was going to be Frankenstein.

Nya was going to be an angel - very appropriate for her!

Jennet and Lloyd remained adamant in their decision to ignore Halloween. Jennet still said she didn't like it, and Lloyd refused to even think about it.

As for me, I planned to be a nindroid! Why not, right?