Hey guys, I'm back with the next chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Shopping Trip Of Horrors

"You're almost done, just a little more..." Warrior Kitty observed as Pichu slouched in front of her, wrapping a roll of tape around her fallen ear back on her head. Needless to say, the expression on the little pokemon's face was not a happy one.

Meanwhile, Ashley was sitting in front of a still-shaken and newly cursed Yoshi and Kirby, explaining all of the past events about the potion and the curse. Sonic, Light, and Mega Man sat off to the side while contemplating their now much bigger situation.

"Therefor, we have to collect the potion's ingredients and remake it so you all can turn back to normal." The young witch finished. Yoshi and Kirby both sat quietly, blinking and taking in all of the information.

"...Wow..." Was all the dragon-dino mumbled while glancing down a bit. "That's...quite a lot to take in."

"This is a load of tauros crap!" Pichu suddenly snapped, biting off the strip of tape from the roll. "First, I get punted out of the kitchen by Game and Watch to collect your stinking ingredients, and now this?! I look like and actual mummy now; I am an actual mummy now!"

"I figured this would be something you'd think would be cool." Warrior Kitty said with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably, but not in this scenario! Plus, I smell like rotting flesh!"

"Yeah, no argument there."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, but you were the one that said it."

"Look Pichu," Ashley interjected, looking toward the little pokemon. "We're sorry that Light dragged you into this-"

"Hold up!" Light spoke up from where she sat. "Why's all the blame being put on me?"

"Well, you were the one that called Pichu over when we said we should've kept all of this between us." Mega Man pointed out matter-of-factly.

"But there was nothing else we could've done to get the ingredients!" Light defended herself. "Besides, it's not my fault that Yoshi football-tackled Kirby, Pichu, and himself into us."

"In my defense, Kirby was the one who stole my caramel apple and wouldn't give it back." Yoshi said and threw a scowl at the jack-o-puff.

"Poyo poyo poy, poyo!" Kirby replied defiantly and pointed at the dragon-dino.

"It doesn't matter if you called dibs on it, it was mine to begin with!"

"BUT!" Ashley said loudly with narrowed eyes, getting back on topic. "We'll fix this whole thing once we remake the potion, okay?"

"Yeah yeah, okay." Pichu muttered with a pout, crossing her arms. "I'm still miffed, though. If Pikachu ends up finding out about this, he's gonna have a stroke."

"Which is why we're going to make sure no one else is going to get involved." Ashley answered with a side-longed glance toward Light. The absol only replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Alright!" Sonic finally spoke up, bringing all attention toward him. "Now that we got explanations out of the way, what ingredients do we need next?"

Ashley picked up the pillowcase that rested at her side and looked down inside it. "Pichu only brought back a bottled water and sugar." She explained and looked back up at the electric-type. "Was there no milk in the Mansion's kitchen?"

"No." Pichu replied. "Peach and the others used it all up."

"Yeah, we needed the milk for the party desserts." Warrior Kitty confirmed.

A worried shine appeared in Yoshi's eyes. "Then, how are gonna get milk?" He asked. The group fell into a collective silence as they mulled over their thoughts until an idea dawned on Mega Man.

"How about the store?" He suggested. "We're going to need candy and a pumpkin as well. We can just pick those up while we're there." The other seven shared thoughtful looks at his idea.

"But...how will we go in the store without drawing too much attention?" Warrior Kitty pointed out, motioning toward the cursed five.

"Plus, Kirby's technically a pumpkin now." Pichu added with Kirby giving a "poyo" in agreement. "He spat out pumpkin goop earlier; can't we just use that?"

"No." Ashley simply replied, rubbing her chin. "Kirby is cursed, which means that anything coming from him, or any of guys for the matter, will be cursed too. It'll taint the potion, deeming it ineffectual, and won't reverse the curse.

"However, we can still try Mega Man's suggestion." She continued. "Warrior Kitty has a point, but her, Mega Man, and I can go in while the rest of you can wait outside the store. Light could also go in too, since she looks practically the same."

"This can work then." Sonic grinned. "Well, let's get goin'!"

The group all got to their feet and stepped out of the bushes. They skirted along the edge of the Smash Mansion's property as they headed toward the front where the road toward Smashville lay ahead.

"Remember," Ashley told the rest as they left. "We have to stay out of sight the best we can so we don't draw attention."

The chirping of crickets harmonized with the rustling of leaves as eight heads slowly rose out and peered at the area that stretched in front of them. The vast parking lot of the ever-so-feared Nintendo Mart was mostly vacant with only a couple of cars sitting dormant across it. It was nearing 10 o' clock, so it was likely that the residents of Smashville, as well as trick-or-treaters, would be packing up and heading home for the night.

"I guess it's a good thing it's startin' to get late." Sonic commented as he eyes canned the lot lit with light poles. "Not much people are here."

"Which means it should be easier." Ashley said while she, Mega Man, Warrior Kitty, and Light emerged from the bushes. "Things are less likely to go wrong."

"Well don't jinx it!" The absol told her. "You know how bad our luck is in these kinds of stories!"

"As long as we stay focused on getting the ingredients, we should be fine." Ashley replied. "Now let's go." The four started to bound away from the bushes and across the parking lot, heading toward the large store. The cursed four remained huddled in their place in the bushes as they watched them leave. It wasn't until they had disappeared through the automatic doors that realization hit Yoshi.

"Wait." He said, causing the other three to turn to him. "Do they have money?"

Ding!

Cool air blew in through the sliding doors as they parted and allowed entrance to the four. The many shelves of items inside the building was revealed before them as they stepped inside. Just as predicted, the store was mostly empty with only a few shoppers here-and-there.

"We'll split up." Ashley said to the other two. "Mega Man and I will get the milk and pumpkin while Light and Warrior Kitty get the candy; two bags at the very least. Got it?"

"Got it!" The other three echoed.

"Alright, go!"

The four split into two pairs as they bounded off in opposite directions. The witch and robot headed toward the refrigerators while the sylveona and abosl trotted along the isles. "The candy should be around here somewhere..." Warrior Kitty mumbled as her eyes glanced inside the various isles they passed. "...Aha!" The two stopped and faced the section where the bags of Halloween candy were being sold.

Keyword: were.

The shelves stretching from the beginning of the isle all the way to the end was completely cleared out. All of the candy was gone.

"I knew we were gonna be jinxed!" Light muttered as she and Warrior Kitty entered the empty isle and looked around. "It's all sold out! No surprise, seeing as how crazy this place can get, especially around holidays."

"It can't all be gone." Warrior Kitty said quietly in disbelief as she skimmed the shelves. "There has to be at least-one left!" She pointed a ribbon at the other end of the isle where one lone, remaining bag sat.

"Good eye, WK!" Light smiled as they both headed down and approached the bag. "Now let's go meet up with Ashley and Mega Man." The sylveon reached forward with her ribbons and gripped it, only for a large, yellow-gloved hand to grab it as well.

"Hey hey, what's goin' on here?" A deep, familiar voice rumbled. Warrior Kitty and Light looked forward to see none other than Wario and Waluigi standing before them, the former reaching for the same bag of candy.

"What're you two twerps doing here at this time?" The lanky, purple plumber demanded with crossed arms. Light recovered from her momentary surprise and faced them fully.

"We could ask you guys the same thing." She said slightly suspiciously.

"What's it look like?" Wario replied impatiently. "We're gettin' candy, now how 'bout you let go?"

"S-Sorry, but," Warrior Kitty answered uncertainly, a little nervous by the sudden confrontation. "We kind of need this candy, so..."

"What for?" Waluigi questioned with a scowl. "Didn't you go out and collect your own?"

"Actually, WK didn't go trick-or-treating. She only supervised." Light answered then added with more of a challenge. "Why do you two need it? Aren't you a bit too old for Halloween candy?"

"Stop tryin' to flip this against us, you brat!" Waluigi warned. "Besides, you already answered yourself. We want candy, we can't trick-or-treat, so we're here for the discount stuff."

"Now let go of the bag." Wario rumbled with a glare.

Light only shook her head. "Nuh uh. Sorry pal, can't do that."

"We need this for something more important." Warrior Kitty said and pulled the bag toward her. "So if you could just-"

Wario roughly yanked it toward him. "Like what? This candy's our's, girl, now hand it over!"

"We were here first!" Light growled and stood next to her friend. Gripping the bag with her claws, she tugged it back to them.

"If you want candy so bad, just have your own!" Waluigi snapped as he stood with Wario and pulled as well.

"If it means so much to you, I had my candy stolen!"

"Well boo hoo, tough luck kid!"

The four engaged in a tug-of-war over the candy, each side pulling the bag toward them. As they did so, each of them increased their strength every yank. It was only a matter of time before-

RIIIIP!

The plastic bag burst open from the pulling forces and sent Light, Warrior Kitty, Wario, and Waluigi stumbling back in different directions. Small pieces of perfectly wrapped candy flew everywhere like a display of edible fireworks, then rained down and scattered all over the clean tiled floor of the isle. The four watched the entire thing with wide eyes until the yellow and purple duo glared daggers at the pokemon.

"Now look what you twerps did!" Waluigi pointed an accusing finger at them. "You spilled our candy everywhere!"

"You brats are gonna pay." Wario growled as he stood up and cracked his knuckles.

Waluigi got up as well and pulled his tennis racket seemingly out of nowhere. "And we don't mean in cash." Light and Warrior Kitty were quick to stand up and take a few steps back as the two drew closer, bracing themselves.

"We're really not gonna start fighting in the middle of a store, are we?" The sylveon said quietly. To answer her question, Wario and Waluigi lunged forward and the former threw a punch at them. As the two pokemon quickly dodged, one share thought crossed their minds.

Yup. They were definitely jinxed.

Warrior Kitty circled around the duo and skid to a halt. "Light! You're going to have to evade them!" She called out to the absol.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that!" Light replied from further down the isle, ducking and sidestepping every attack Wario tried to hit her with. A shadow loomed over Warrior Kitty as Waluigi brought his foot down to stomp on her. With a startled yelp, the sylveon scrambled around to escape his stomping attack as he tried multiple times to land a hit.

I need to get off the ground. She said to herself as she glanced at the isle shelves. Pushing off with her hind legs, Warrior Kitty jumped on the shelf and tried to climb to the top. What she hadn't considered was her opponent's racket as he took the opportunity to swing at her and knock her off the shelf. She landed roughly on the floor and slid a foot or two away. Deciding that enough was enough, Warrior Kitty stood back up on her paws and sent a glare toward the approaching purple plumber. With orange energy glowing in front of her mouth, she lifted her head high and sent a powerful Hyper Beam his way. Waluigi could only stop immediately in his tracks and look at the beam with dilating pupils.

Meanwhile, Light continued to dance around Wario's attacks until she slipped on a few stray pieces of the fallen candy. She lost her footing and fell to the ground with a thud.

Wario loomed over her and reared his fist back for another strike. "Now I got you, you little-"

"WAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

Waluigi came flying down the isle with the Hyper Beam, slamming into Wario and taking him with them. Light watched them go with surprised eyes until Warrior Kitty ran up to her with the two ends of the candy bag.

"Quick, get as much as you can!" The sylveon told her hastily while handing her one of the ends. Light nodded and took the bag and together, they quickly scooped up and collected as much of the candy as they could get.

"That should do it." The absol said. "Now let's-" She was interrupted by a duet of bellowing laughs and the roar of an engine. The two pokemon turned to see Wario and Waluigi speeding down the isle on the former's yellow motorcycle. Without any time to react, the motorcycle rammed into Light, who crashed into Warrior Kitty, and the two tumbled across the floor before landing on each other.

"Wa ha ha! Score one for the winners!" Waluigi cried triumphantly as he and Wario threw their fists up in the air. A bright glow then caught their attention and they looked back to see Warrior Kitty's body surrounded by a purple-is light. Light immediately took notice as well and scrambled off of her friend.

Aw crap, I forgot. She said to herself as she watched in horror. She was dressed as a panda... Warrior Kitty whimpered and grunted as she writhed on the floor, her body-shape changing to something more bear-like. Soon enough, the glow was gone and all that was left was what looked like a weird, panda-sylveon hybrid. She was still roughly the size of a sylveon, if not a little larger. Her body more resembled a bear, she still had her ribbons, and the patches on her body that were supposed to be black were instead pink. She still wore her panda hat, hoodie, and purple glasses.

Light could only look at her in utter shock. Out of all the curse transformations she's seen tonight, this was definitely the most drastic. "HOLY-"

Warrior Kitty cut her off with a terrified shriek as she looked down at her cursed body. Further down the isle, Wario and Waluigi had witnessed the whole thing with their mouths hanging open.

"What if Fawful's name?!" The yellow plumber shouted in terror.

"Floor it, man! Floor it!" Waluigi yelled in fear, shaking his shoulders. Wario heeded his words and wasted no time to gas the motorcycle, make a u-turn, and speed right out of the isle.

"We gotta get out of here!" Light said in a panicked tone. She snatched up her bag of candy and sprinted down the isle with Warrior Kitty following in suit with the other bag.

At the front entrance of the store, Ashley and Mega Man stood idly and waited. The young witch gripped a carton of milk in one hand while the robot held a pumpkin in both.

"What's taking so long?" Ashley said impatiently while tapping her foot. "It can't be that hard to just find candy." A chorus of screams and the booming of an engine rung out and caught the two's attention. Of all things, Wario and Waluigi came speeding through the store on a motorcycle, looking perpetually freaked out.

"Outta the way!" The former shouted as they sped past and through the automatic doors. "There are monstrous freaks in here!"

"Monstrous freaks...?" Mega Man echoed in confusion.

"Oh no." Ashley said in devastation, her eyes focused on something a good distance away. Further into the store, Light and a panda-sylveon hybrid thing that only be Warrior Kitty, ran out of an isle and headed their way with bags of candy. More screamed sounded as they caught the attention of the few customers and the cashiers, prompting them to go into a fright.

"Come on, let's go!" Ashley nudged Mega Man hurriedly and they dashed out the doors with the two, now-cursed pokemon tailing after them as everyone began to panic.

"They're not actually gonna shoplift, right?" Yoshi asked worriedly as he faced Sonic, Pichu, and Kirby in the bushes. "I mean, we can't just do that!"

"Look, I know it's a wrong thing to do," Sonic told him gently. "But we really don't have any other choices."

"Yeah, we just gotta take what we can get." Pichu said bluntly with a shrug.

"Yeah, but-" An eruption of screams and shouts made Yoshi stop his sentence and caused the four to peer out of the bushes. What they saw before them was Wario and Waluigi speed across the empty parking lot while screaming their heads. They watched as the two made it onto the road and quickly sped away until their shouts were nothing more than distant hums until it all fell silent.

"...What the what?" Was the first Pichu said in confusion after it all sank in. Not long after, Ashley, Mega Man, Light, and some bear creature ran right out of the store and in their direction with the milk, pumpkin, and bags of candy.

"Run!" Was the only thing the witch shouted as they passed the cursed four.

"Wait, what happened?" Sonic called out after her as he stood up fully.

"You guys didn't shoplift, did you?" Yoshi added in.

"Just. Run!" Ashley called back. The four glanced at each other, but did as she told them and began to run after the others as they too left the lot. As they headed up the road leading to the Smash Mansion, Light's irate shout rang out into the night.

"YOU JINXED US!"

And that concludes today's chapter! Thank you guys for reading and the next chapter will be up soon! See ya!