I do not own Disney anything.
Next chapter will be the ball, then I think we'll swing back to Mulan. Maybe. Not sure yet. There's a plethora of characters to explore. But you probably want Mulan. Oh, and hit me up with Christmas ideas. I'll see what I can do.
Happy Halloween!
Halloween Horror
"Ow…ow…everything hurts."
Pocahontas glanced at Mulan, who was limping along beside her. "You're not even trying to hide your pain."
Mulan glared in annoyance. "You try getting tackled by three muscle-bound seniors and walk away without a scratch."
"Ssh!" hissed the Native American, frantically looking to see if anyone had overheard the girl's remark. But everyone was oblivious, too wrapped up in their own conversations to eavesdrop. "You can't just go around blabbing like that."
"You need to relax. Everything is going great and no one suspects a thing!"
"Yet," said Pocahontas tensely. "It's been over a month. Everyone's too concerned with Halloween and preparing for midterms to worry about the Disney Central Dragons. Once you reach the finals, that's going to change and all eyes will be on you."
"Then I guess I ought to be comfortable while I can," said Mulan. A large, black poster advertising the annual Halloween dance in silvery letters caught her attention. "Hey, you going to this Masquerade Madness thing?"
Pocahontas shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. You?"
"Think so. I just have to go hunting for a masquerade mask." Mulan rummaged through her pocket and pulled out some change. "And I have enough for a ticket. Perfect."
They went to the cafeteria, where a short wooden table was situated outside the double glass doors. An old, beaten up silver tin filled with bills and coins rested on top, along with a thick notebook filled with numbers and names and a multitude of pens.
"How's business?" asked Mulan, approaching the freshman manning the table.
Melody lazily poked at the buttons on her aqua-blue calculator. "Slow. Everyone mostly got their tickets the first couple days we started selling them."
"Haven't you been here every day since then?"
The girl grinned. "No one wants to be on ticket duty. You have to waste your lunch hour doing math and making sure everyone writes down their name beside the ticket number. But I don't mind. I signed up for stuff like this. Besides, I'm getting in free."
"Student council privileges," agreed Pocahontas, high-fiving Melody. "Sorry for skipping out, but I really don't like being stuck in that spot."
Melody laughed. "Don't worry about it."
Mulan dropped her four dollars into the tin and Melody slid a ticket across the table. "Do you know the drill?"
"I know the drill." Mulan scribbled her name beside her designated ticket number already listed in the notepad. "What are you going to the dance as?"
"A mermaid," answered Melody.
Mulan furrowed her brow. "I thought I heard that Ariel was going as a mermaid."
Melody grinned wickedly. "Yup. Unknown to her I'll be stealing her idea. I'm exploiting my Annoying Cousin privileges."
…
"So, are you going to the Halloween dance?"
Rapunzel twisted a strand of long blonde hair around her finger. "I don't think my mother would agree to that," she replied with a downcast look.
Anna looked at her friend in sympathy. "I thought she was getting better at letting you go out into the world."
"So far, school is the only part of the world she's letting me see. And she's still not happy about that." Rapunzel leaned against her locker and rested her chin against her knees. "I don't think I'm ready for dances, either. I'm not the most coordinated person in the world."
Anna laughed. "Look who you're talking to. I tripped down the stairs yesterday. Story of my life."
Rapunzel grinned. Her grin quickly turned into a grimace of pain when something hard struck the side of her head. "Ouch!"
Vision blurring, the blonde slunk to the tiled floor, gripping her now pounding head. Anna picked up the soccer ball that rolled by her feet and glared up at the offender, who was jogged over. "Nice one, Rider."
"I didn't mean it!" exclaimed Flynn, shooting a glare over his shoulder at his snorting friends. Aladdin and Jim held on to each other, laughing madly.
"Ow," whimpered Rapunzel, gingerly prodding the sore spot on the side of her head.
"I'm so sorry," apologized Flynn. "Those jerks threw off my aim."
"You don't have any aim!" jeered Jim.
Rapunzel lifted her head and green eyes met dark brown. Flynn blinked down at the slender blonde for a moment before a charming grin slid across his face. "I don't think we've met. I'm Flynn, Flynn Rider."
Rapunzel blushed under his intense gaze. "Rapunzel," she introduced shyly. "And don't worry about it."
"You're the new girl, right? I've seen you around. How're you liking DC?"
"I like it a lot," said Rapunzel, with perhaps too much enthusiasm.
"Come on, Flynn!" cried Aladdin. "We don't have time to stand around watching you harass another girl!"
"Excuse them. They're losers. But I do have to go. Maybe we'll see each other at Masquerade Madness. I'll be sure to save a dance." Flynn winked, took the ball from the strawberry-blonde and strode off to his friends, leaving behind a flustered Rapunzel.
"He's really cute," she finally managed to get out. "Maybe I will ask Mother if I can go to the dance."
Anna looked at her friend with a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "Of all the guys to be crushing on, it had to be Flynn Rider."
…
"Sofia, pass me the glitter."
The brunette looked at her best friend. "Marie, you've already used three tubes of glitter on your costume. Use any more and it'll turn into a disco ball."
"There's no such thing as too much glitter," said Marie firmly, leaning forwards and plucking a tube of pink from the pile of crafts supplies resting between the two of them.
The two girls were in the art room of the elementary wing, putting the finishing touches on their costumes. Due to the messy nature of their work, they opted to finish their Halloween outfits at school, to save the maids of their respective mansions the work of sweeping up stray pieces of glitter and dried glue from their wooden floors.
Plus, they were trying to get Toulouse to reveal his costume, but the artistic genius stuck to his tradition-no one would get to see it until Halloween.
"Finished!" Marie exclaimed proudly, smoothing out her costume so that it was flat. She brushed her snow-white hair away from her sweaty face. "What do you think?"
Sofia had to admit that Marie was right in adding as much glitter as possible-it looked fantastic. "It's so pretty. How about mine?"
Marie studied her friend's costume. It was elegant and fun, which pretty much described the brunette. "Graceful. We are so going to win the costume contest."
"In your dreams!" hollered Toulouse from the back room, where he was working in secret.
"We really don't stand a chance," said Sofia gently.
Marie pouted. "Then why do I even bother?"
Rafiki, who was supervising them, clucked his tongue in disapproval. "Don' worry about your brother. He has his gifts, as you have yours. Both of your costumes will be unique in their own way. One is not better than the other."
"Mine lights up!"
Marie glared at the door. "Yeah? Well, mine sparkles! So nyeh!"
Rafiki shook his head in amusement. "Ah, siblings. You hold a most interesting relationship."
"Tell me about it," muttered Sofia.
She finished sewing a few more feathers onto the hem of her costume. As she added the last one, a sudden yelp came from inside the back room. Toulouse thrust open the door a second later, his face flushed and red hair stuck up at odd ends. "Professor, I ran into a problem…"
"Let's see if we can turn this problem into a gift," replied Rafiki, and the two disappeared into Toulouse's temporary workroom.
"Lights up…" mused Marie. "Huh. Maybe he's the one who's dressing up as a disco ball."
"Hey, guys!"
The two girls turned to see the Kingston twins at the door. James grinned cheerfully at them. "What are you doing?"
"We just finished our costumes." Sofia gestured to the items lying between them.
"I don't even know what I'm going to dress up as," muttered James, rubbing his head thoughtfully. "Maybe a knight…or a dragon!"
"You two should do a theme costume!" exclaimed Marie, pointing at the siblings.
"I don't dress up," said Amber shortly, though she eyed Sofia's and Amber's beautiful costumes with longing.
"It'll be fun," persuaded James, nudging her. "We'll go trick-or-treating, get candy, we may even win the costume contest!"
"No you won't!"
Marie rolled her eyes. "That was my brother, and ignore him. You guys will have the cuteness factor working for you-twins dressing up in themed costumes? You'll definitely win the group category."
"You could be a prince and princess," suggested Sofia.
Amber glanced over to the brunette. "With a tiara?"
Sofia smiled. "The shiniest tiara we can make. I'll help."
"Ditto," said Marie. "You already look like a princess, anyway. We just have to dress you like one."
"Okay," agreed Amber, swayed by the compliment and promise of shiny accessories. "I suppose that's acceptable."
"Do I look like a prince?" asked James hopefully.
Marie grinned mischievously. "Actually, you look more like a jester. But that's okay. I've been known to work miracles."
"Hey!"
…
The best night of the year had finally arrived-or at least, the best night of October. It was Halloween night, and slews of kids were already storming up to houses, waving plastic pumpkin buckets and pillowcases. Jack-o-Lanterns glowed spookily on porches and yards decorated to look like cemeteries dared children to venture towards the front door.
Simba, unfortunately, had yet to begin his Halloween activities. Stuck on the black leather couch in their elaborate living room, he was forced to sit through his parents' lecture.
"Don't leave Pride Street," warned his father, a hulking man with a mane of bright red hair that flowed down his broad back. "There are plenty of houses. You'll have more than enough candy."
"Don't eat anything," added his mother, a slender woman with long pale blonde hair. "We want to check it over first."
"Don't go off alone," continued Mufasa. "Stick with Nala and…who else is going with you?"
"Lilo and Stitch," answered Simba, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
"Right. All of you keep together. I want you home by ten-it's a Friday, so you can have an extra hour. If Lilo and Stitch need a ride back home, let them know we'll be happy to give them one. Call on the hour every hour."
"I know," said Simba. "You give me this talk every year!"
Mufasa crossed his arms. "I'm hoping that one day it will stick with you."
"Can I go now?" pleaded Simba. "The others are probably already waiting for me."
Sarabi smiled. "Alright, you're free to go. Have fun."
Grinning, Simba jumped up, Halloween bag in hand, and tore out of the house. He skipped down the stone steps and found his friends waiting on the sidewalk.
"Aw, you guys match!" said Lilo.
Nala laughed while Simba scowled. "It was her turn to pick out the costumes this year," he grumbled.
The two were dressed up as lions. They both wore beige shirts and pants (or in Nala's case, a skirt) that was covered in fake fur of the same colour. Manes of bright red and gold hung around their necks and tails were fastened to their butts. Lion ears were attached to headbands that rested on their heads.
"You guys look great too," complimented Nala.
Lilo wore her hula outfit-grass skirt with a red strapless top that bore her midriff. Her face was painted completely white, with drops of blood dripping down her cheek. She wore a rubber axe so that it appeared to be embedded in her long raven hair.
"I'm a dead hula girl!" she said cheerfully. "Stitch is a mummy."
The bandaged-wrapped boy waved stiffly. "Ooooooh," he moaned creepily.
"What's the curfew status?" asked Simba seriously.
Lilo smiled. "Stitch is sleeping over, and we're supposed to be back by nine. Nani works until eleven. We're good. Our neighbour is supposed to come check on us, but she's old and never remembers. Nani doesn't know that, of course."
"We're good to wreak Halloween havoc!" Simba pumped his fist in the air. "Let's hit the houses!"
The group of four trooped down the street, rapping on doors and singing trick or treat in unison. Soon their bags were loaded up with candy, ranging from chocolate bars to bags of colourful gummies. They reached the end of the street by nine and Simba beamed.
"We have a full hour to engage in Halloween dares. This is going to be awesome."
"Or extremely dangerous," a voice piped up behind him.
Simba whirled around. "Who's that?" he demanded, squinting into the darkness.
Someone stepped into the glow of the streetlight and the brunette smiled. "Don't you recognize your old Reading Buddy?"
Simba relaxed. "Hey, Sofia. Course I remember you."
"You were the one helping him read when it was supposed to be the other way around," laughed Nala.
"Getting a good candy haul?" asked Marie, joining Sofia along with a pair of blondes. "We definitely are."
"Loaded up," agreed Lilo, hefting up her pillowcase. "I like your costumes."
Sofia was dressed as a swan, her white dress covered in soft feathers. She wore white leggings and white flats. Marie's blue dress was covered in coloured stripes that represented the colours of the rainbow. Each stripe bore a thick layer of matching glitter. In addition to the bright dress, she wore rainbow leggings, blue sneakers with coloured laces and a white bow with coloured polka dots.
James and Amber were a prince and princess, respectively. James wore a green blazer over a white button-down shirt, a blue tie, black slacks and black polished shoes. A gold, jeweled crowd sat upon his blonde hair. Amber wore a yellow, sparkly gown with matching flats and a slimmer, more dazzling crown.
"Thanks." Sofia grinned. "We made them."
"Your brother's costume is awesome, by the way," Simba said to Marie.
The girl wrinkled her nose. "Please, no talking about my brother."
"It was a great robot costume," said Sofia. "Probably the best there is."
"Considering he used over a dozen LED lights to make the stupid thing light up, I'm firm in believing that he used the shine to make everyone so impressed."
Sofia smirked. "Right, because you didn't abuse any sort of bling or shine whatsoever."
"You're the new kids, right?" Nala asked, the question directed towards the twins.
James nodded. "Yup. I'm James, and this is-"
"I can introduce myself," cut in Amber, rolling her eyes. "My name is Amber."
"Simba, Lilo, Stitch," said Nala, pointing at each respective person, "and I'm Nala."
"What are you guys up to?" Marie asked.
"We're about to get into a dare contest," answered Simba.
"And that's our cue to get the heck out of here. See ya!" Marie waved as she strode off for the next house.
"Don't get into trouble," warned Sofia, hurrying after her friend.
"Can I play?" James asked hopefully.
"Sure. The more the merrier," said Simba brightly.
"James!" hissed Amber.
"Go with the girls." He waved his sister off. "I'll meet you where we started in time for pick-up."
Scowling, Amber reluctantly hurried after the two girls. James bounced on his toes in excitement. "What's first?"
"Well, since Halloween is Lilo's thing, I thought we could let her give the first dare," suggested Simba.
Lilo grinned. "I've got the perfect one-I dare all of you walk through the graveyard."
Simba paled. "Oh, crap."
"Let's move!" ordered Lilo, and they trooped off, Simba lingering behind.
"Me and my stupid ideas."
After a few blocks, they soon came upon the large stretch of land, filled with a variety of tombstones. There were no streetlights on the dirt path winding through the graveyard, so everything was pitch dark. Lilo lingered near the iron fence, watching as the others filed through the open gates.
Simba hesitated, heart pounding nervously. "I can't believe I'm doing this. What if they rise from the dead?"
Lilo rolled her eyes. "If zombies were going to appear, they would have done it way before now."
"That doesn't make me feel better."
Not wanting to be a wimp, he crept in. Eyes darting about nervously, he soon realized that everyone else had vanished ahead in the shadows. "I'm in a graveyard…on Halloween night…no one should ever be in a graveyard on Halloween night. That breaks every horror movie rule in existence."
The limbs of the surrounding trees creaked lowly, and the breeze caused leaves to fly past his face, making him jump. Visions of zombie rising from the dirt, skin hanging off of their bones and eyes rolled up into their heads filled his mind as he stumbled along, heart in his throat.
There's no such thing as zombies, there's no such thing as zombies, there's-
A dark figure suddenly jumped through the bushes that separated the graveyard into sections. As the figure lurched for him, Simba screamed, "ZOMBIE!" and flung his candy bucket with everything he had.
It struck the target in the head, chocolate bars and wrapped hard candies flying everywhere. The figure dropped to the ground with a howl of pain and the weapon he was holding clattered to the ground. Once it hit the grass Simba was suddenly thrown into a bright light. Squinting, he realized that the weapon was a flashlight…and the figure was a police officer.
His friends came charging towards him, having heard his scream. Nala's eyes widened when she spotted the unconscious police officer. "What did you do?"
"I thought he was a zombie!" cried Simba, feeling sick to his stomach.
Lilo groaned. "I told you, zombies don't come out-"
"Never mind that!" said James, eyes wide. "We have to do something!"
"Run?" suggested Stitch hopefully.
"We can't do that," said Nala firmly. "This is serious. The nimrod assaulted a cop."
"I thought I was fighting for my life!" protested Simba.
"Jumba's gonna kill Stitch," groaned the dark blue-haired boy in dismay.
Lilo winced. "Nani's gonna ship me off for sure."
"Dad's definitely going to fling me back into private school," whispered James. "I've never gotten into this much trouble before. Amber's never going to let me hear the end of it."
"Right," decided Nala. "You guys have way more to lose than we do. Take off."
"But it was my dare idea!" said Lilo.
"We can't leave you here," agreed James.
"Sure you can. It was Simba's idea to have this contest, and it was him who slugged a cop. I'm stuck here due to best friend obligation. We can take the heat."
"Yeah," confirmed Simba. "But if we don't come to school next week, we've been shipped off to military school."
"Get going!" Nala said, shooing her friends off.
"We'll totally make this up to you," said Lilo feelingly.
"You rock!" said Stitch, looping Simba and Nala into a hug before hurrying off with Lilo.
"You guys are cool," said James, casting the two a grateful smile before following the pair.
The group disappeared, leaving behind the sixth graders. The police officer stirred then, brown eyes blinking dazedly. He stared up at the two kids and the eyes narrowed. "You two are in a lot of trouble."
Simba heaved a sigh. "Story of my life."
"Happy Halloween to us," muttered Nala.
