It was starting to get dark outside, and the dinner table was set for the evening.

"All right", said Serena, and her friends quieted down their excited conversation to listen. "It's time to put on our costumes and start the party!"

Bonnie cheered. "Yay! I can't wait!" She whipped her head around, as if the costumes would just suddenly pop out from under the table. "Where are they?"

Serena pointed towards the living room. "You can find theme in there."

Ash pumped the air. "Awesome!" He turned to Pikachu. "Come on, let's go dress up!" They were off in a second, and the others laughed, following suit.

It was a chaos for a moment, while everyone was looking for their outfits, shouting how amazing they were and laughing at each other. Serena disappeared for a moment to put on her own, as it wasn't a jumpsuit like most of the other costumes.

"Look at me, Dedenne!" Bonnie was exclaiming at her little friend. "I'm you!" Dedenne's mind was blown as it stared at the giant Dedenne-Bonnie next to it. Ash and Clemont were equally amazed. Serena had made them Pikachu and Bunnelby costumes, and their Pokémon in question were also very amused by the sight of their trainers.

Serena came back wearing an outfit resembling her Braixen, with a skirt and white top with furry inserts, black tights, puffy tail and a headpiece of Braixen's ears. Bonnie nearly screamed seeing her, as the costume was very pretty on Serena, running up to her and poking the expertly-made skirt.

Serena nearly didn't notice her though, as she saw Ash's wide-eyed stare from across the room. Flashing the first real smile of the evening, she made a quick pirouette. "What do you think?" she asked, starting to finally get into the Halloween mood.

"Amazing, Serena", said Clemont, still a bit blown away by Serena's skills. "And these jumpsuits you made for us are perfect too. Now we are literally one with our Pokémon!"

Ash nodded along emphatically. "This is awesome. Right buddy?" He smiled at Pikachu and he agreed. "It's like that time when I was actually a Pikachu!"

Bonnie laughed. "It really suits you Ash." Then she fell silent, staring at him. "Hey… What do you mean 'when you were actually a Pikachu'?"

Clemont snorted. "You don't seriously mean you were a…" He trailed off after seeing Ash's expression. Then he leaped forwards. "No way you were!"

Ash laughed. "Yeah, we met a witch once. Her spell went wrong and I was turned into a Pikachu!"

Serena couldn't help her laughter either. "You met a witch?" She shook her head, smiling. "You never fail to surprise me."

Clemont was still unsure what to think of it. "I cannot believe it", he mumbled. "A spell…"

"You need to tell me everything right now!" demanded Bonnie with wide starry eyes. Grinning, Ash told them a quick summery and then let them ask him questions for a while. He was getting restless though, and after a few minutes, he urged the others: "Come on, I really want to carve my first pumpkin now. Could we?"

Serena nodded. "Yeah, let's start! Come to the kitchen." They gathered around the table and chose their knives – Bonnie after an emphatic order from Clemont to be very careful with it. Ash let out Hawlucha and Frogadier, asking them if they wanted to try their hand with pumpkin carving. They very enthusiastically agreed, and then it was time to start.

It didn't take Ash nor his Pokémon long to find out it wasn't as simple as he'd thought.

After ten minutes of intense carving, Ash had almost cut off his finger, Hawlucha had completely smashed his pumpkin with karate chops and Frogadier had discarded at least five of his pumpkins in his attempt to carve the perfect shuriken on them. The destruction caused by them was quite amusing to the others, and Bonnie was wiping her eyes from laughter after seeing how the sticky orange mush was stuck to Hawlucha's hands.

While Ash was in the bathroom trying to find a band aid, Pikachu stared at the horribly wonky creation of what his best friend had managed to achieve so far. With a disapproving sigh, he activated his iron tale and started carefully cutting pieces off of the pumpkin, creating straighter, smoother edges for Ash's scary face.

Bonnie, noticing this, giggled. "Nice job Pikachu", she whispered, giving him a thumbs up. Returning, Ash happily continued his carving, not noticing that anything was different with it.

Bonnie nearly chocked from suppressed laughter.

Eventually, everyone had finished their lanterns, and they gathered them up for an examination.

Bonnie and Serena had had a similar idea, Serena carving a picture of Gastly and Bonnie Gengar's grinning face, and while Clemont's attempted carving of Rotom was slightly disproportioned, it was still nicer-looking than what Ash and Pikachu's combined efforts had created.

Serena was hiding her smile behind her hand, looking at the pumpkin. "Well, it is a face", she eventually said, eyes twinkling with humor.

Clemont laughed. "Yeah, it's actually quite scary and unnatural. Not bad for your first one, Ash."

Ash didn't mind the comments. He could see the difference between his and the others' creations, and agreed there was a distinct variety in quality. Laughing, he said: "Come on guys, at least it still looks like a pumpkin." He looked down at his feet, where Hawlucha was standing next to a pile of pumpkin pieces, now covered in mush from head to toe.

Frogadier, instead, had managed quite the nice shuriken on its pumpkin and they all complimented its efforts. They put candles inside the lanterns, took them outside and then Serena stated it would be finally time to eat.

"All right everyone", announced Serena, as they had found their seats at the table. "Halloween dinner in this house always starts with the story of why this holiday exists, and how it came to be."

Bonnie clapped, excited. "Yay! Story time!"

Serena smiled tightly. She was nervous now. Even though she had heard the story a million times, she had never been the one to tell it. She would get emotional too, she knew. All the things she had messed up during the day were coming back to her in a rush, making her doubt herself again.

But there was no turning back now.

With a deep breath, she started. "Long, long time ago there was village on the mountains of Kalos called Hallow town. The people of that village were tough, and they weren't scared of anything, not even the biggest of rock type Pokémon. Still, one day in deep autumn many of the village people started seeing shadows moving, things changing places, strange flashing lights. Many claimed they heard wailing from inside the mountains. It went on for the evening, and then it stopped. The people of that town were frightened. They had never heard of anything like that happening anywhere.

"But there was nothing after that, not until it repeated exactly a year later, again just for one night. The townspeople, while traveling and trading with people from other towns, tried to find out if anyone knew what was going on. That is how the region-wide mystery of Hallow town was created, and it was only years later when it was revealed there were ghost type Pokémon in the world and they were the reason for the strange happenings. And so, even to this day we celebrate this mysterious day by lanterns, costumes and great food."

They all applauded and Ash, amazed, said: "What a great story! I wish we had something like this in Kanto."

"I have never actually heard the origins of Halloween", said Clemont excited. "It really is a cool legend."

"Very cool", agreed Bonnie emphatically. She looked at Serena, and noticed the older girl looking oddly sad even while smiling. "You told it well, Serena", Bonnie said, wanting to cheer her up.

It only made Serena more withdrawn, though, and her smile became forced. "Yeah, I guess. I just…"

The oven beeped for their food, and Serena shot up.

So did Ash. "Let me get it", he insisted, and tried to leave the table. Instead, there was a loud ripping sound at the same time as Ash stumbled and almost fell face first into the ground.

Everyone froze on their spots and stared.

The tail of Ash's Pikachu costume had got stuck to the chair and ripped off. Feeling awful, Ash took it in his hands and turned to Serena. "Oh man, Serena, I'm so sor-"

Serena's face was blank as she stared at the ruined tail. "Don't worry about it", she said. There was a silence, during which the blankness of her face crumbled and she turned away from the table, hiding her face behind her hair. Her voice was broken when she spoke. "I'll be back soon. Just- I just need a minute." She was gone before they got a word out of their mouth, and Ash wanted to punch something. Preferably himself.

In the end, it was an easy decision. "I'll go after her", he told the siblings, running off the instant. Pikachu, helpless, stayed on the table, worried about the sudden turn of events.

It was very dark outside, and Serena found herself on the steps of their Rhyhorn's little building on their front lawn. She sat as a small ball, hugging herself, not able to hold her tears any longer. She felt angry at herself for being so weak, for crumbling in front of her friends. It was almost too much to handle.

The front door opened, and a large Pikachu-shaped person stepped outside. He took few steps into the darkness before calling out: "Serena? Where are you?"

Furiously wiping her tears away, Serena answered: "I'm here, Ash."

Navigating the darkness towards her, Ash finally found the steps and sat next to her. What Serena could see of his face, he looked dejected. She hated herself for doing that to him.

"I'm really sorry", Ash said again. "I should have been more careful with the costume."

Serena smiled sadly. "I know, Ash. But it's not that. I don't really care about the costume."

Ash looked stunned. "Then what is it?" When she didn't answer straight away, he continued: "Something's clearly bothering you, Serena. Why are you sad?"

Staring down at her hands, Serena quietly began: "I haven't told this to anyone, Ash. But even though I love Halloween, there's also sad memories attached to it."

Ash stayed quiet, but put a warm hand on her wrist. Encouraged by his unjudging presence and feeling safe next to him, Serena went on. "At first, Halloween was my dad's favorite holiday. He began all the traditions in my family I have shown you today. He was the master of telling the story of Hallow town." Serena sighed, preparing herself for a moment. "He died a few years ago. The first year after that was really difficult for me and my mom, but after that we continued on, celebrating it together and keeping the exact same traditions. But this was the first year when I had to do it all alone. And be the one to tell the story."

She stole a glance at Ash, who was watching her with an uncharacteristically unguarded, almost melancholic look. Serena curled her fists, her body starting to shake as she finished: "It's like I only just now realized I will never again hear him tell that story to me."

She raised her hands to wipe the new tears that were threatening to flow, but instead was pulled into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Serena", Ash mumbled against her shoulder. "That's awful to hear."

Serena's heart leaped into her throat from the contact, and for a moment she forgot the reason for it. But even when she did remember, she felt oddly lighter, like something big and heavy had been taken off of her chest. Hugging Ash back, she finally let all the stress and fear leave her mind and body, realizing how lucky she was with friends like Ash, Bonnie and Clemont to spend her time with.

Afterwards, they sat side-by-side for a long time, occasionally talking. Serena told Ash nice stories about her dad, and Ash told her how he didn't really know his dad at all. Gradually they moved onto lighter subjects, Ash complimenting all the awesome things Serena had prepared for them.

That's when his stomach joined the conversation, announcing it presence loudly.

Embarrassed, Ash held his midsection. "Oh man, I'm really hungry." He looked so mortified about it that Serena couldn't help but laugh. Soon they were both laughing like maniacs for no real reason, but this time wiping away tears of joy instead.

Eventually calming down, Serena stood up, still grinning. "Come on, let's go eat", she said, and Ash happily complied. "Clemont and Bonnie must be wondering where we are."

And they sure were. Still, there were no intrusive questions about their long absence, as seeing the real, happy smile on Serena's face was enough to cheer up everybody.

Celebrating Halloween might not be all fine the next year either, thought Serena, looking around the table filled with laughter. But maybe just a little bit more enjoyable.

Thanks for reading!

For those who might not know: Ash as a Pikachu first appears in the episode Hocus Pokémon of the original series. It's great.

sunshine. is. delicious. and ultimateCCC: Thank you for your reviews, you know how much I like them :)

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If you liked this, maybe check out my longer Amourshipping story The Love Between Us.

See you next time!