A/N: To Pokemon fan: Happy Halloween to you too! And, who knows, maybe I'll write a Halloween oneshot or something. Anyway, thanks for the reveiw!

Just a simple thanks to C'sMelody. You always reassure me on my work and make it better when it's not worthy of your reassurance. Thanks so much for being my beta.

Well, this is it. Or is it? Surprise A/N at the end!


Happy Halloween!

Ash, Brock, and Misty are in the midst of the race of their lives…oh, let's face it. You don't care what I have to say anymore. Let's just continue with the story. Sigh.

Litty was pointing the way as Brock and Misty were running through the ground floor of the castle like their lives depended on it. Which…they kind of did. Behind them floated a veritable army of Chandelure.

"So the King's throne room is on the ground floor of this enormous castle?" Brock puffed out as they ran.

"Yes. So that he can dig his roots into the ground and spread them throughout all of Halloweeni—Stop!"

Brock and Misty skidded to a stop, digging their heels into the stone floor. The Chandelure, unable to stop so quickly, flew over their heads. It became immediately evident why Litty had called out for them to stop running; right in front of them was their old friend Lassie.

Lassie was standing in front of a door that was somehow even taller than he was. Behind him, Brock and Misty could make out some gold plating, making it stand out from the dozens of other doors they'd passed.

"Get out of our way!" Litty demanded, despite the fact that he was literally a tenth of Lassie's size, having to look up about six feet just to see into his yellow eyes.

"Orders from King," Lassie boomed out in a bass monotone.

The sound of his voice was so loud it blew Misty and Brock's hair back and covered them with a drizzle of spittle. They shook it off after it finished echoing off of the stone walls. Ugh, no wonder Blair seemed to do the talking in their dastardly twosome.

Litty seemed unconcerned. "I was afraid you'd say that. Fam!"

Suddenly, Brock and Misty had to step back as the Chandelure surrounded Lassie in a cloud of mystical purple fire and wrought iron. Lassie swatted at them like they were an annoying swarm of flies, but they persisted. Each time he batted one away, there were five more to take its place. Eventually, Lassie became so discombobulated that the cloud tricked him into taking a couple of steps away from the door. Then a couple more steps. After a couple more, the door was free to Brock and Misty.

"Now!" Litty whisper-shouted, pointing to the gleaming gold doorknob.

Misty heaved open the door, using both hands to pull at it. It let out a powerful squeak and scratched against the stone floor. Brock and Misty ran in a few steps, their feet muffled by the pounded dirt of the floor. Misty was all ready to shout, demand or even beg for Togepi back. But something stopped her cold.

Litty had said that the king was a giant Trevenant. And, since neither Brock nor Misty knew what a Trevenant looked like, he had described him further to be a large tree with gnarled bark with strange shadowy breaks in the wood, a plethora of roots, and tufts of lush green leaves.

But that's not what they saw.

King Trevenant now looked like one of the many trees from the woods outside: autumnal leaves that were falling in plenty. His arms and head were almost bare and the ground was littered with what had once been parts of his body. Even his bark was beginning to peel like he was a dry ash tree.

Meanwhile, Togepi was chirping happily inside one of the breaks in King Trevenant's bark, happy as a clam. Blair was floating right beside them. She turned to Brock, Misty, and Litty gravely.

"So, now you see."

The scene was so tragic that Misty didn't have the heart to yell. Instead, she looked at Togepi, who had livened up upon seeing her, and called out, "Togepi! Are you okay?"

"Priiii!"

That affirmation was enough for Misty to give a sigh of relief. Her baby seemed fine.

"He would already be gone if it weren't for your Fairy," Blair stated.

Neither Brock nor Misty could say anything. What was there to say?

Just then a ruckus was heard outside the room. Lassie had been left grumbling at the Chandelure, who were making little whispering noises as they spun around Lassie like a haunted mobile. But then a shout from him drowned out all the other sounds, until Brock and Misty heard a scream that was very much human.

"Ash?" they both asked.

Then Lassie began chanting, "Got crown! Got crown!" his voice resounding even heavier than his earth-shattering footsteps.

Blair's eyes widened and she floated towards the door. Then she, Brock, Misty, and Litty had to all but sprint out of the way when Lassie came barreling through the doorway. Brock and Misty gasped when they saw Ash carried in Lassie's hands, looking more than a little stunned by the situation.

Pikachu and Mantar ran in after them, causing Brock and Misty to yell out, "Mantar!" their surprise multiplying with every passing moment. Mantar waved them away, turning everyone's focus back to Ash and Lassie after Pikachu leapt into Misty's arms.

Lassie carried Ash straight over to King Trevenant, Blair floating behind them. Then he raised Ash over his head, clearly intending for Ash to place the crown on King Trevenant's top patch of leaves. Or, rather, what should have been his top patch of leaves.

Eager to be put back on the ground, Ash returned the crown to its home and everyone watched in awe as it began to glow.

"Wow," Misty intoned. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

The entire crown was glowing with its own inner light, which seemed to seep throughout King Trevenant's body. As if by magic, King Trevenant's leaves began to sprout anew, starting as little light-green buds, and growing quickly like spring was passing in seconds outside.

As all that was going on, Togepi continued to chirp, clearly enjoying the glittering glow that the crown was creating throughout its perch. Then Togepi decided on a whim just to hop straight out of Trevenant's trunk.

"Pipipi!" Pikachu shouted as he leapt out of Misty's hands, running to catch Togepi before it fell to the ground. With a final dive through the air, he landed on his back, with Togepi plopping square on Pikachu's stomach.

Pikachu let out a painful groan, but Togepi just bounced right off of Pikachu and trundled over to Misty. Misty scooped Togepi up with a coo and held it to her chest. The corners of her eyes were damp, but she held it back with a sniffle and a sigh. "Oh, Togepi, never leave me again!"

"Misty, look at the King!" Brock exclaimed.

Suddenly, a red eye appeared in the top break in King Trevenant's bark. It seemed to blink a few times before looking around the room.

"How are you feeling, Your Highness?" Blair asked nervously.

"Wonderful," King Trevenant said, his voice coming out in a scratchy baritone. He clearly wasn't one-hundred percent, but he was getting there. "Who found my crown?"

"I did, Your Highness!" Ash called out, waving from up high in Lassie's hands. "And, uh, can I come down now?"

Everyone face-faulted.

"Of course." King Trevenant waved a branch at Lassie, who set Ash carefully on the ground.

"Whew, thank you!" Ash dusted his hands on his pants before Pikachu leapt into his arms. They hugged for a second, celebrating their success, and then Pikachu climbed onto Ash's shoulder, where he belonged.

"Ah, you three are humans," King Trevenant observed, taking a good look at Ash, Misty, and Brock for the first time. "How unusual."

"Y-You're not going to throw us in jail, are you?" Misty asked fearfully.

"Oh, of course not!" King Trevenant answered with a laugh. "You are the ones who saved all of Halloweenia; you should be properly thanked!"

"Well, that's a relief!" Ash exclaimed.

"You all don't even know the true value of this crown, do you?" the King asked.

"Actually, Your Highness," Brock began, "we do—"

"Never mind, I'll tell you the story."

"But, Your Highness," Misty interrupted weakly, "we actually really need—"

"Hush!" Blair scolded. "You may not interrupt the king!"

"Sorry," Misty said meekly.

"You will allow King Trevenant to tell you the story of our history."

"Of course," Brock agreed heartily.

"But King tell story all the time—" Lassie began before Blair hushed him as well.

"Well, once upon a time," King Trevenant began, either oblivious or uninterested in the chatter going on about him, "there were two Legendary Pokémon living in your world."

"Our world?" Ash, Misty, and Brock asked in shock, letting themselves be pulled into the story.

"Yes. Your world and our world used to be one. These two Pokémon were named Xerneas and Yveltal. It is said that when a Xerneas passes on it releases its life source into all of the living things around it and turns into a tree. When an Yveltal passes on it steals life source and then transforms into a cocoon. Well, on a Halloween day, many, many years ago, an Yveltal passed on while in range to a Xerneas, both in the land that would become Halloweenia. All at once, every Pokémon and person's life source was stolen, including that of the Xerneas. But that meant that everyone and everything was simultaneously bestowed with Xerneas's life-source. This made them both living and dead."

"Living and dead?!" Ash exclaimed.

"Exactly. And not only the people and Pokémon, but also all of the plants. The only thing keeping them alive was Xerneas. But Xerneas was now a tree, and had shed its horns. The horns hold the capacity of everlasting life." King Trevenant pointed to his crown. "This crown is made from those horns."

"Wow," everyone said, looking to the still-glowing horns.

"And I am that Xerneas."

"You're the Xerneas?" Brock asked in astonishment. "But you're a Trevenant!"

"A Trevenant is a tree embedded with a spirit. As a Xerneas, I didn't simply pass on—my spirit was taken by the Yveltal. But my spirit didn't make it to the Yveltal's cocoon; it went back into my tree. And now I'm both a Trevenant and a Xerneas."

"Wow, like magic!" Misty said.

King Trevenant laughed. "Well, it is Halloweenia. Eventually our worlds had to separate, because all living beings in this world can only survive through my roots' connection with the trees of our forests. Since that makes us all immortal, and we no longer follow the laws of nature, our world had to be separated from yours, only united through the use of portals."

Ash, Misty, and Brock all suddenly gasped. "Portals!"

"Right! That's what we needed to ask him about!" Misty said. The story had distracted them. "How close is it to midnight?"

Brock looked at his watch, his face ghastly when he looked up. "Five minutes."

"Your Highness," Ash began in a rush, "we need to find a portal to get back to our world right away." He held Pikachu up to King Trevenant to show his black cheeks and stripes. "Before Pikachu turns into a Dark Type forever. And before midnight!"

"Well, you're looking right at one."

"Really? Where?" Ash began darting his eyes all around, looking for anything could be a portal. But the room was empty, save for all of the Pokémon.

"Right here."

King Trevenant pointed to his crown. Everyone cocked their heads in confusion.

"But when we touched the portal to get here, we got sucked into the gate right away," Brock stated. "Ash already touched the crown and he's still here."

"Well, you need a spell, right, Your Highness?" Mantar asked.

"Not exactly. Usually a spell needs to be incanted with any object from the opposite world. But on Halloween, Yveltal's cocoon or my crown can be used without the use of a spell. You all must have come across Yveltal's cocoon in your world."

"But that doesn't explain why the crown didn't transport Ash before!" Misty cried out.

"Because it's only effective when in contact with me. We're a complete package. So. Would you like to go home?"

"Yes," Ash, Brock, and Misty breathed in relief.

"Then come on."

Lassie leaned down to pick them up in his hands. They all climbed on, able to stand on his hands like they were a small platform. Then, more like an elevator, as Lassie carefully raised them up. When they got to the top of their climb, they all looked at each other before reaching down to touch the magnificent crown. They were only inches away when Ash said, "Hmm, I feel like I'm forgetting something."

"What?" Misty asked. "We have everyone and all of our Pokémon. We need to go now!"

Ash shrugged it off. "You're right. Let's go."

"I'll meet you at the gate," Mantar called from his place on the floor.

"Thank you!" Ash, Misty, and Brock replied in unison.

They all knelt down at once to touch the glittering crown. Then, they felt that same unique sensation of being sucked up all at once, vanishing from this world to another.


Moments later, Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, and Togepi found themselves in a passage just like the one they'd landed in before reaching Halloweenia. They checked out the rocks, trees, and other mysterious plant life that were distorted in their unearthly ways. It was both familiar and completely new at the same time.

Then Mantar appeared, having teleported from the castle. "I shall lead you back to an entrance to your world now."

"Isn't this the same place that we met, Mantar?" Brock asked.

Mantar shook his head. "This is the opposite passage—a mirror to the first one you found yourselves in. This is the one that leads back to Earth."

True to his word, Mantar dutifully lead them as he had before, and it only seemed like a couple of minutes had passed before he stopped in his tracks and looked at them.

"This is the spot."

"So soon?" Ash asked, feeling regretful that this was the last that they'd be seeing of their guide and friend.

"I'm afraid so." Mantar bowed low, shocking Ash and crew. "It has been an honor to have met humans such as yourselves."

"And it's been an honor to meet Pokémon such as yourselves," Brock said, referring to all of the Pokémon they'd met in Halloweenia. Well, almost all.

"Be well."

Everyone nodded. "We will."

Then, with nothing more than the will of his mind, Mantar sent them into oblivion.


With a gasp and a tumble, Ash 'n crew found themselves in a heap in the dusty attic of the mysterious old house back in the suburbs of Blackthorn City.

"We're home!" Ash cried in relief as everyone tried to detangle themselves.

"Careful not to touch that egg!" Brock warned.

Eventually, everyone managed to get themselves to standing. They turned and looked at the cocoon of Yveltal, which was still glowing the same blood red that it had when they first saw it what seemed like a lifetime ago.

"A whole Legendary Pokémon is in there," Ash murmured, leaning in closer to it—but not too close!

"Yeah," Misty breathed, taken in by the majesty of it. While, of course, holding Togepi so tightly to her chest that this time there was no way it could get away.

Far in the distance, they heard the bells of the local church gonging. It was midnight. Everyone looked to the ceiling and when they looked back down at the cocoon, they noticed that the glow had faded, hardly there unless you were really looking for it.

"I guess it's not a portal anymore," Ash figured.

"Not until next year, anyway," Brock agreed.

"Yeah, but let's still not touch it," Misty said, taking a step back.

"Pikaaa."

Suddenly, Ash's face lit up. "I still have my bag of candy!" he exclaimed.

"Ash, what did I tell you?" Misty said with an eye roll.

"Ah-ah. It's not Halloween anymore! So I can eat all of the candy that I want. Woohoo!"

"Pikachu!"

Ash and Pikachu both cheered as Ash tore open his candy bag and began ripping into the candy. Misty and Brock shook their head, hands raised as if to say, "What can you do?"

With only one arm now surrounding it, Togepi squirmed out of Misty's hold and leapt back to where the cocoon sat and hugged it with its stubby arms. Misty and Brock looked down and gasped, but were relieved to see that Togepi wasn't going anywhere. It was just hugging its friend.

And, who knew? Maybe they'd see their other friends again some other time.

And just like that, the gang's adventure in Halloweenia is over. They saw new sights and frights to last them a lifetime but, more than that, they get to leave with the satisfaction that they saved a whole world that was once a part of their own. But wait…we really are forgetting something, aren't we?

"Help us!"

"We can't get out!"

"This has gotta be some kind of Pokémon abuse!"

Team Rocket were feeling around the illusion that had been Kitsume's house, trying desperately to find where that window she had created was. Or the door. Or any of the other windows. Anything to get them out of there!

In the distance, they heard the sound of a clock tower chime twelve times. They shuddered as the low ring reverberated through their very bones.

Well, maybe next year, eh, Team Rocket?


A/N: Happy Halloween everyone! Thank you so much for going through this month-long journey with me. It's been so nice to have so many people reading and reviewing every chapter as it was posted. Hopefully this last chapter has been satisfactory for you.

And, surprise time! This actually ISN'T the last chapter! Team Rocket has been left in a little bit of a pickle this time around. And while this may be kosher for the Pokémon anime, this just isn't good storytelling for me. We have some loose ends there, so we're going to have an ALTERNATE ENDING chapter posted tomorrow (hopefully). See you then, and, in the meantime, eat plenty of candy!