With a little help from GoldGuardian2418, here's a special Halloween story! Enjoy and no flames please!
Happy Halloween and don't forget to floss! :)
In Undertown, Rook Blonko and Ben Tennyson were eagerly awaiting certain guests to arrive from Revonnah. Well, Ben was eager, but Rook wasn't. His family, his whole family, was coming to Earth to celebrate Halloween, one of Ben's favorite holidays.
"This is gonna be the best Halloween ever!" Ben said with excitement. He was always happy to meet friendly aliens like the Blonkos and teach them Earth culture. "I'm glad I thought of this, Rook!"
"Indeed you are." Rook replied, but not in excitement.
Ben looked at his partner. "You okay, buddy?"
Rook sighed. "Forgive me. I am just...concerned about all this."
"Don't worry, Rook. Your family will love Halloween just as much as me!" Ben said.
"But what if they don't? And what if something dangerous happens?" Rook knew all too well that all kinds of dangers can happen on Earth, especially when it's the scariest night of the year.
Ben shrugged. "So what? If something happens, we'll deal with it." He smiled. "We're Plumbers, remember? And Plumbers don't complain about problems! They punch them in the face!"
"That is...one way to look at it." Rook replied, still uncertain.
The ship arrived at the station. As many aliens came off, Rook swallowed a lump in his throat when he spotted his family. Rook's father, Rook Da. His mother, Rook Bralla, His sisters, Rook Shar, Rook Shim, Rook Shi. And the youngest brother, Rook Ben.
"Welcome to Earth, Rook family!" Ben greeted with open arms. "And Happy Halloween!"
"Thank you, Ben." said Da, stone-faced. "And Happy, um, that."
"I am so excited to celebrate this Earth holiday!" said an excited Rook Ben. "Thank you for inviting us, Ben Tennyson!"
Ben gave a thumbs up. "Anytime. Rachel, Sasha and everyone else had their own Halloween plans. So, I thought we'd let you guys in on the fun!"
"So, what exactly is this Earth holiday about?" asked Shar.
"Well, Shar, come with me and I'll explain everything!" Ben rubbed his hands with anticipation.
Ben began the Halloween tour by a taking a nice walk through Bellwood Park. The Rook family was in awe of the colorful fall trees. "So, you see, Halloween is a holiday that celebrates all things spooky and scary!" he explained. "Humans dress up in their favorite costumes and perform the classic Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating!"
"Trick-or-treating?" Shi asked nervously. "What exactly do you do?"
Ben grew a rather fiendish smile. "It's where you suit up in your disguise and venture into the darkness of Halloween night, ready to face your fears and challenge the unknown!"
Rook rolled his eyes as his family hung on Ben's every dramatic word.
"As you face all kinds of oddities going from house to house, you walk up to the porch with only your wits as your shield, knocking on the door, and recite the secret password!"
"What is it?!" Rook Ben asked, dying to know.
"Trick-or-treat!" Ben said a playful voice. "Then, after you say the password, humans give you candy!"
Rook's siblings eyes grew in amazement and wonder. "CANDY?!" they said in unison. Being raised on a farm, they were not used to the consumption of sweets.
Da blinked in confusion. "Trick-or-treat? The password is the name of the ritual itself?"
"But why is the ritual named trick-or-treat to begin with?" asked Shim.
"Because if they don't give you a treat, then you get to play a trick on them!" Ben answered. "Get it? Trick-or-treat!"
"Ohhh! That makes sense!" said Rook Ben. "I cannot wait to play a Hello-I mean, Hallooo, uh, a trick on the humans!"
"I cannot believe humans would encourage trickery in such a strange way." said Bralla.
"Do not worry, Mother. Humans are usually very generous. So, I doubt we will be playing any tricks." Rook assured.
Ben stopped in front of a large building. "And here is our first stop; the Halloween store!" he presented. "This is where people pick out whatever costumes they want to wear for Halloween! Enter if you dare!" He opened the door for the alien family.
As the Rook family came closer to the door, a tall creature with a bloody, deformed face jumped out and roared at the aliens, causing them to scream.
The 'creature' laughed and removed his mask, revealing it to be a teenager. He laughed as his friend walked out holding his smart phone that recorded the whole thing. The duo high-fived each other as they walked off, laughing all the way.
Ben laughed too. "Man! Those guys really got you!" He saw the Rooks still frightened. "Don't worry. It was just a little Halloween prank. Humans do it to each other all the time on Halloween. You'll be seeing a lot of those tonight."
Bralla had her hands over her beating heart. "That mask was hideous!"
But rook Ben recovered fast. "Are there more hideous diguises in this store?!" he asked hopefully.
Ben nodded. "You know it!"
"Boo-yeah!" Rook Ben rushed into the store.
"Come back here, brat!" Shar yelled as she and her sisters ran after their brother. Da and Bralla followed and when they all went into the store, they froze, completely stunned.
his store was unlike anything the aliens have ever seen. Grotesque masks, hideous statues, and all kinds of abnormal things surrounded the Blonkos.
"Take it all in, Blonkos!" Ben said. "This, is Halloween!"
Rook Ben grabbed Ben's hand. "Ben! Please show me the best masks!"
"You got it!" The two Bens rushed off to find the masks, leaving Rook and his family in the dust.
Da pulled on Rook's arm. "Son, I refuse to have anything to do with this, this insanity!" he bellowed. "What is it about this horrific holiday that makes humans so excitable?! And why is Rook Ben not even remotely frightened?! I do not understand any of this!"
Rook felt the sting of his father's words. But after careful thinking, he felt the right words flow through him. "Father, I understand your concern. You are scared. But honestly, through my personal experience with this holiday, I have deduced that Halloween is all about facing your fears and embracing what is different. For example, when I first left home to become a Plumber, I was undoubtedly scared for going against tradition. But now, I was glad that I faced my fears and opened my mind to different things the universe has to offer. Like, meeting Rachel, eating meatball subs, and becoming Ben's partner." He smiled. "So, in an odd way, all this frightening imagery helps humans become more brave by confronting it head on. And disguising yourself as something else helps you understand it better. Like, how Ben has sympathy for other aliens since he has become so many of them."
"Exactly." said Ben's voice. Rook spun around and saw Ben and Rook Ben smiling at them. "That's why Azmuth built the Omnitrix in the first place. It's not a weapon at all. The sole purpose of the Omnitrix is to understand all the beings of the universe. And what better way to do that an actually becoming those beings? It's like the old Earth saying; To understand someone better, you have to walk a mile in their shoes. That means before judging someone, you need to understand how they live and how they think, which is exactly what I go through almost every day."
And his words moved Da and his family. The Revonnahganders finally began to relax. They even grew smiles.
The sun had set and Halloween night was here! At the Grant Mansion, Shar, Shim, Shi, and Rook Ben admired the view from the window. All the lit-up decorations and happy humans walking and frolicking down the sidewalks.
"This night feels so...mysterious!" said Shar. She was dressed as a princess with a fake gold tiara and a glitery pink dress. "And I love it!"
Shim was dressed as a witch with a black dress and matching pointed hat. "I cannot wait to join the other humans! What do you think we will see? A real witch?!"
"Maybe a real black cat!" Shi said hopefully. She was dressed as a black cat herself.
"Or a real monster as horrific as my mask!" said Rook Ben. Instead of a costume, he decided to wear just a mask. After serious consideration, the young alien chose the mask that stood out to him the most; an eyeball mask.
"I still do not understand your costume, Ben." said Rook Da. He and his wife decided to just wear their regular clothes.
"Because it is unique, Father! I have an eyeball for a head! It is most unthinkable!" said Rook Ben. "Let us go trick-or-treaing!"
Suddenly, like a Halloween ghost, a large, hideous insect alien phased through the wall! It was a Psycholeopterran! The Rook family screamed and backed away in fear as the insect rapidly vibrated it's wings it's wings, creating a red mist that formed into red spiral patterns. The Rooks gazed at the mesmerizing patterns, their eyes transfixed into them. They stood motionless as they fell under the alien's hypnosis. The Psycholeopterran opened it's fanged mouth and stretched out it's long tongue, ready to devour the helpless family.
Ben and Rook Blonko walked in. "Hey, guys." said Ben. "Ready to-WHOA!"
"NO!" Rook screamed. He was about to grab his Proto-tool until something green and slimy snared the alien's tongue. The beast roared as it was pulled away from the Rooks.
"Gotcha!" The one who saved Rook's family was Jack Skellington, the ruler of Halloween and the Pumpkin King. With his weapon, the Soul Robber, caught the Psycholeopterran by it's tongue.
"Keep him right there!" Big Chill flew in through the floor and came face to face with the predator of his species. Thanks to Jack, the insect's mouth was wide open. Big Chill then threw a small silver device and threw it down the Psycholeopterran's throat. Within moments, the creature began to glow red and it exploded. Globs of yellow slime splattered all over the wall, furniture, ceiling, everywhere.
Big Chill stood in fron of everyone, using a special Plumber force shield to protect everyone from the explosion. Once the damage was done, he deactivated the force shield and walked up to a remain of his predator; a piece of it's own leg that was the size of a large dog. Snarling, Big Chill raised his foot and began kicking on the severed appendage. "DIE, YOU FAT, BLOATED TICK! DIE!" His words were dripping with rage and hatred. And no matter how many times he kicked it, he still wasn't satisfied.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Big Chill! Knock it off!" Ben tried to pull Big Chill away, but he won't stop. Ben moved in front of Big Chill and slapped him across the face as hard as he could. Big Chill finally stopped, putting a hand to his sore cheek.
Ben sighed. "I'm sorry, buddy. But I had to make you stop. You were going off the deep end!"
Big Chill was silent.
Rachel and Sasha burst into the living room. When they saw the huge mess of bug juice everywhere, they shot glares at Big Chill. They knew how much he hated his own predator. But predator or not, the Psycholeopterran is still an endangered species. And the sisters cared deeply for those kind of animals.
Seeing the Jocklin sisters glaring at him, Big Chill dipped his shoulders. "I-I'm so sorry." said Big Chill. "I-" He was cut off when Sasha embraced him in a hug.
"It's okay, Big Chill." Sasha said softly. "We love you more than any endangered species. The imporant thing is that nobody got hurt."
"But you can't let your personal feelings get in the way of business!" Rachel reprimanded. "We were suppose to have that bug detained and sent to a sanctuary where it can live in peace."
Big Chill nodded shamefully.
"How the heck did one of those things wind up here?!" asked Ben.
"It was Oogie's fault!" Jack growled. "He used that creature to kidnap Rachel and Sasha and held them captive in his lair! I was able to fight it off and free the girls before they got eaten! But Oogie sent the creature to your world as a diversion and ran away!"
"We lucked out big time when Jack saved us!" said Sasha. "Somehow, the Psycho..psy...uh, that thing's hypnosis doesn't work on him."
Big Chill nearly fell over in disbelief. "It doesn't?! Why?!"
Jack was just as confused as Big Chill. "I honestly don't know." he said with a little shrug.
"Well..." Rachel thought for a moment. "the Psycholeopterran's hypnosis only works by stimulating the brain's reward and pleasure centers. And since Jack is a skeleton, and therefore, has no brain, he's immune to the effects of the hypnosis."
Ben blinked. "Wait! Jack doesn't have a brain?!"
Jack gave a laugh. "Of course not, Ben!" he chortled. "We skeletons have no organs at all. Not even brains." He knocked on his skull like he was knocking on someone's door. It made a pleasant, hollow sound. "We may not have brains, but we do have a consciousness."
"Oh, yeah! I keep forgetting that you're an actual skeleton." Ben admitted. "It's just that, well, you're not technically anatomically correct."
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Jack replied.
As the Plumbers arrived to clean up the scene, Rachel was still frustrated about Oogie Boogie. "I just don't know how Oogie found that alien in the first place!"
"Rachel, Oogie Boogie's not the king of all bugs for nothing." said Jack. He knew his nemesis all too well. "I guess he decided to crawl out of his hovel and find new scares to hurt people with instead of scaring them for fun!"
"Well, it doesn't matter how bold he gets. The next time we see him, he won't get away!" Sasha declared.
Blonko noticed his parents looking at the Pumpkin King in complete shock. Jack was unlike anything they've ever seen before. Or felt. There was something about Jack's presence that made the aliens feel uneasy. Jack smiled in their direction. "Oh! Hello, there!" he greeted as he approached them. "You must be Rook Da and Rook Bralla. Rachel told me all about you." He kindly bowed to them. "I deeply apologize for all this."
Despite Jack's spookiness, the Rook children went straight up to the skeleton and looked at him in awe instead of fear.
'You were amazing!" said Shar.
"You are incredible!" said Shim.
"And so tall!" said Shi.
"Are you a real monster?!" Rook Ben asked excitedly.
Jack smiled. "Of course, my fine boy!" To demonstrate, Jack removed his own head and held it in his hand. The aliens stared in amaze and wonder of Jack's painless decapitation.
Seeing this skeleton completely harmless, Da and Bralla finally calmed down. Da approached the Pumpkin King. "Thank you for saving us."
"Our grandchildren told us about you." said Bralla. "We cannot thank you enough."
"My pleasure." Jack said kindly. "Now then, I believe i's time for trick-or-treating!"
"YEAH!" cheered the children.
Blonko smiled seeing everyone happy again. Ben gave him a nudge. "Guess you were worried for nothing, huh?"
"Apparently so." Blonko said with a shrug.
