Chris: I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, but I've been hit with a ton of schoolwork. Plus my dad's been on my case for staying on the computer too long. I hope I'll be able to finish before Halloween though.

Mia: That's a certainty. No ifs about it.

Chris: Shut up. But I have more Halloween stuff for you! Still not at the horror yet. But some evil people are introduced! Yep! You'll hear about one of Nergal's super secret, most devious plan! Okay...I don't think I have any announcements. Just reader reviews, okay? Oh, and I don't remember how to spell Bramimond...Someone said it was this spelling, so I'm going to type it this way.

Zero84: Yep, Karel's coming. And no, he's not a vampire. Sorry.

Charlie: Ooops...Oh well...Maybe he got struck by intelligence or something.

lugiamania: Thanks a lot! I'm glad you liked the ideas. My friends and I came up with them.

flamefirefox: Yeah...Teen Titans again. But I promise that there are no more Teen Titans characters. And hell no, this story is not Raven x Priscilla. That's just weird, sick, and creepy, all in one. Nah, Priscilla gets someone else. Although it's weird how she gets her boyfriend. You'll find out later. And it's going to be like funny scary. If that's possible.

Smash bro trainee: Actually, we already got all of the costumes. Sorry. Thanks for the suggestions though. And well, we just picked on Dart because it was funny. And besides, Guy is cooler. And he technically isn't a samurai, because he doesn't serve under a lord. A samurai is an eastern swordsman who serves under a local lord. Like the western knights/cavaliers.

Kiyoko-chan: Thanks for the compliments. And I picked on Dart because it's funny. Very funny. And thanks for the virtual pocky! I sure hope I finish before Halloween.

person (x2): Thanks and...uh...Yeah. Thanks for reviewing.

Now that the party was getting started, more people filtered inside the grand hall. The first was Lowen, the knight of Pherae and overall great cook. As such, he was dressed as an Iron Chef. However, he edited the colors so it would make him seem more Pheraen. So he changed them to red and blue. He spotted Rebecca, who was taking a breather from dancing, and walked up to her.

"Hey Rebecca! What's your costume?" Lowen had a big smile on his face and Rebecca couldn't help smiling as well.

"Ah, I'm dressed as Tyrande Whisperwind from Warcraft III. I assume you're dressed as an Iron Chef, right? Except you've edited the colors a bit...Nice costume though."

Lowen blushed red at the compliment. "Wait...If you're Tyrande Whisperwind...Aren't you supposed to have a white tiger or something?"

"Who do you think I am? Siegfried and Roy? You can't just go buy a tiger at the local hobby shop, you know!" Rebecca glared at Lowen, who looked visibly shakened. "Sorry about that Lowen...It's just that I've heard that line a lot." She glared at Hector. "Anyway...You want to dance?"

Lowen turned even more red at that statement and stuttered off a couple of words. "I-I'd be g-glad to, Rebecca...B-But what about Wil? Wasn't he dancing with you?"

Rebecca looked at Wil and nodded. "Yeah, but we decided to switch partners after a while. But come on Lowen! It'll be fun!" With that, Rebecca dragged a protesting Lowen out onto the dance floor. Wil gave a little sigh and watched as Rebecca and Lowen danced. However, he was a little worn out so he didn't feel like finding a partner for dancing.

Next to come in were Oswin and Wallace, the twin knights. Oswin was dressed as the knight Leo from Suikoden 3. Oswin didn't have to alter his appearance that much, sine Leo looked so much like him. So therefore, Oswin just got one of Hector's Killer Axes and borrowed Wallace's armor for the party. Plus, he glued on a small little mustache. Wallace, on the other hand, was dressed as Jean luc Picard from Star Trek. Everyone gasped at Wallace's costume, and soon rumors were spread around the room.

"Wallace is a Trekkie?!"

"I so didn't expect that."

"Wallace is bald! HAHAHAHA!"

"He already was bald, idiot."

"Oh."

"He's a TREKKIE!"

Wallace glared at everyone who was talking and Hector and Matthew quickly shut up. Suddenly, Oswin looked philosophical and rubbed his chin.

"You know, I think there's a little Trekkie in all of us. I think we can all be comforted in the fact that somewhere, somehow, someone will always answer when we say, 'Beam me up, Scotty!'" Everyone looked horrified at Oswin's little speech and started to drag him away.

"He's been infected! We need to beat it out of him!" With that, they began hitting Oswin until he woke up from his philosophical state. While the guests were busy beating the Trekkie spirit from Oswin, someone else entered the room. It was that jolly St. Nick, the only Kris Kringle, the master of Ho Ho Ho's himself, Santa Claus! Actually, it was Athos as Santa Claus. He had donned a red cape and hat and even brought a small bag of presents for all of the guests. He lugged the bag until he finally found a seat and sighed.

"Boy...Being Santa is hard work. I am never doing this again." First to come up was Eliwood. Eliwood sat on Athos's lap. "So, what do you want, Eliwood?"

"Athos? Is that you?"

"Ah...Ahem...Of course not. I'm Santa Claus! So, what do you want, my boy?"

"I want a castle, and a cool horse, and a really huge, heavy sword, and I already have a girlfriend...I want my curfew to be abolished, I want everyone to call me king, I want a lot of video games, and I want-"

"Whoa, whoa there! Isn't that a bit much? How about a Silver Sword instead?"

"Santa!" Eliwood started to whine. "You always got me the stuff I wanted all those other years!"

"Fine, fine, Eliwood! I promise I'll get you everything. But for now, just have a Silver Sword and this...potion that I found. I don't know what it is. I think it's love potion. Don't use it. Or else I'm putting you on my naughty list."

"Thank you, Santa!" Happy again, Eliwood bounded off to talk to Fiora again. Athos let out a long sigh but brightened as he saw his age-old friend enter. His friend, Braimmond, entered the room with his costume, which was a tablecloth with two eyeholes cut into it. Everyone stared at the pathetic costume for a while, and then ignored him.

"Bramimond, my dear friend! I'm glad you were able to come!" Athos guided his friend to his seat. "So, you got my invitation, right?"

"Yes, yes I did Athos. I came as fast as I could."

"Yeah...But seriously...You're one of the 8 Heroes, Bramimond. You should at least come up with a better costume than a ghost. Where's the originality?!"

"Oh, and I supposed your costume is more original, SANTA!"

"Oh, that's it! You're on my naughty list! No more presents for you!" Athos huffed and dragged his bag away. He was immediately set upon by the next newcomer, who was Nino. She was dressed in a red cloak that she borrowed from Erk and carried a little basket. Yes, she was Little Red Riding Hood and now she was busy asking Athos for presents.

While she was asking Athos, Bartre and Dart were still fighting. However, now it just involved seeing who can poke the other person's eye out. Not very...how would you say...intelligent, I guess. Eliwood and Fiora were busy joining the other couples on the dance floor and Farina was dragging Hector to there as well. Wil was busy grimacing and dancing with Serra, who was telling him all about her life as a servant of House Ostia. Raven was busy glaring daggers at Matthew, since Priscilla decided that she wanted to dance with Matthew instead. Eleanora was waiting for Lord Uther to arrive, so that they may discuss political matters with each other.

Sain and Nils were busy playing pranks on the various party-goers while Kent and Ninian were quietly talking in a corner. Oswin and Wallace, being the knights that they were, were busy playing chess. Erk was still busy stammering apologies when Florina kissed him back on the lips. Erk's eyes widened but he quickly relaxed into the kiss and brought his arms around her. Lyn was busy taking a picture of her friend while listening to Guy talk more about the samurai. While all of this was happening, Lord Uther finally arrived to come to his brother's birthday.

He was dressed as that superhero of justice, with the big S on his costume, Superman! He descended the stairs and Lady Eleanora began talking to him about state affairs. Uther quickly adapted to this topic and soon they were talking about many various things that could affect the kingdom. Next to enter were the couple Isadora and Harken. Isadora was dressed as Laurana from the Dragonlance series and had dyed her hair a golden yellow and wore a flowing gown of green. Harken, on the other hand, was dressed as Jim Skylark from Gatekeepers. They bid good day to Uther and Eleanora and quickly went to the dance floor, where they began to dance.

Matthew and Priscilla stopped dancing and sat down to catch their breath. "Hey Priscilla. You're not a bad dancer."

Priscilla blushed at the compliment and smiled. "Thanks. We learned a lot of dancing at Etruria."

"Ah...I see...Hey, hasn't it gotten a little more boring here? It just feels...boring for some reason."

"Now that you mention it...I have been feeling something like that."

Hector and Farina sat down beside them. Hector looked thoughtful, then mischievous. "Ah, I know. It's probably the knights."

"HEY!" Oswin and Wallace turned around from their chess game and stood up, glaring at Hector. Oswin readied his axe and pointed it at Hector while Wallace picked up a lance from the floor and prepared to throw it. Hector chuckled nervously.

"Hahah...It was just a joke. I didn't mean anything by it." Hector grinned shakily and let out a sigh as he saw Oswin and Wallace lower their weapons and go back to the chess game.

"That was stupid, Hector. That's why you need me around!" Farina grinned and dragged Hector back to the dance floor. Matthew and Priscilla grinned at their antics and followed them. Next to arrive were Karel and Karla, the Swordmaster siblings. Karel glared around the lively party and drew his sword out a little. He was dressed as the Evil Arthas from Warcraft III, and he felt like killing people. His hair was dyed a dark blue-white and he had grayed his skin a lot. He grinned at all of the partying people, envisioning the people he would kill. Karla put a restraining hand on his arm, and he stopped. Karla was dressed as Motoko Aoyama from Love Hina, and she didn't want anything bad to happen to the party. She came because she heard rumors that her brother would be attending the party, so she waited and found him as he was about to enter.

They entered quietly and Karla had to continue to restrain Karel from going back to his more primal instincts. She would have succeeded if three events didn't happen. First was Karel spotting Guy and his talk of the samurai. Karel broke free from Karla's grip and sat down next to Guy. Instead of whipping out his sword and killing him on the spot, Karel engaged Guy in a stirring debate over the samurai. Lyn was kind of like the judge, and she rated Guy's and Karel's arguments. The second thing was that Bartre noticed her. The third was that Farina noticed her. Bartre quickly pushed Dart into the wall and charged at Karla with his axe drawn. Karla tried to smother her laughter but failed and giggled at Bartre's ridiculous outfit.

Farina, on the other hand, threw a bag of gold at her feet. "Hey, I didn't pay you back for giving me that Elysian Whip. Would never have been able to become a Falcoknight without it. You really helped me out there." Karla quickly nodded before whipping her sword out to counter Bartre's attack. Soon, they were fighting all around the castle with everyone else trying to avoid them if they could.

Next to enter the grand hall was Hawkeye, dressed in the regalia of the Indian Chief, Sitting Bull. Actually, he didn't have any idea what Sitting Bull looked like, so he just wore a feathered headdress and some furs. He also carried a bow on his back and a long pipe in his hand. He called Eliwood and Fiora over, and then looked at what everyone else was doing. Erk and Florina were still kissing, oblivious to everyone else. Marcus had cornered Bramimond and now was telling him how things were in the old days. The only problem was that Bramimond was older and had a lot more stories to tell Marcus. Nino was busy playing with Athos and Karel, Guy, and Lyn were still in their debate.

Wil and Lowen had switched partners and now Wil was dancing with Rebecca and Lowen was with Serra. Lowen clearly didn't like the change, but Wil was smiling happily. Matthew and Priscilla continued to dance, as were Hector and Farina and Harken and Isadora. Raven had finally stopped fuming, and was busy watching Oswin and Wallace's chess game. Karla and Bartre were still wrecking the room and Dart was trying to find a new costume. Uther and Eleanora still were talking about politics. Sain and Nils were rigging traps around Uther and Eleanora that would trigger if they moved. Kent and Ninian were locked in an embrace, Ninian's head resting on Kent's shoulder.

Eliwood and Fiora finally reached Hawkeye (They were busy maneuvering around Karla and Bartre).

"So, Hawkeye, what's up?" Eliwood looked quizzically at Hawkeye.

"I just wanted to show you this. It's a peace pipe. Take a puff." He held out the foot-long pipe to Eliwood. Eliwood looked at it and took it out of Hawkeye's hands. He took a long puff and gasped.

"WHOA! Now I see why they call this a peace pipe!" Eliwood was going to take another puff when Hawkeye snatched it out of his hands.

"One puff per person."

"Aww...Oh well. Fiora, you try it."

"Well, if you think it's okay, Eliwood." Fiora took a quick puff and coughed a little. "Wow...That's pretty strong stuff."

"Yep." Hawkeye took the pipe and wandered around, offering puffs to the other guests.

"So, what do you want to do?" Eliwood looked at Fiora.

"Oh...I've got an idea." Fiora leaned in and kissed Eliwood and brought him closer to her. Eliwood returned the kiss and continued to hold her. They would have continued like this if Hector hadn't whistled and said, "Why don't you get a room?!"

Eliwood spun around and glared at Hector, who was grinning. Fiora flushed a pretty red and looked at her sister, Farina, who was grinning as well. Hector flashed Eliwood a thumbs up and Farina winked at Fiora before they went back to dancing. Eliwood and Fiora stood there for a while, feeling extremely awkward. They then started talking about how they were going to get revenge on Hector and Farina.

The next guest was Merlinus, dressed as that cowardly Diablo II merchant, Gheed! He even had some merchandise to sell. He spotted Dart in his silly costume and came up to him, looking to make some quick gold.

"I see you're in need of a couple of costumes, my friend." Merlinus held out the two costumes he brought with him. They were not very appetizing choices, considering one was a cowboy suit and the other was a medieval knight suit. Dart sighed and pointed at the cowboy suit.

"How much?"

"I'm selling these for the low, low price of 40,000 gold!"

"Whale guts! That's way too high for such a crappy costume!"

"I can always take my business elsewhere."

"Fine...But seriously, you got these out of a dumpster, didn't you?"

"And if I did?"

"Nothing...Sigh...Here ya go." Dart handed over the 40,000 gold to Merlinus and left to change his costume. Merlinus then got the attention of Bartre, who finally stopped fighting to buy the last costume. Now 80,000 gold richer, Merlinus sat down and watched the party unfold, talking to himself about his supplies.

Outside, talk of another sort was happening. That is, Nergal and his evil band of minions were planning to disguise themselves so they could enter the party and kill Eliwood.

"Okay Lloyd. I need you to go for reconnaissance so we will be able to know what kind of defenses are there. They are all gathered together! We must take advantage of this moment!" Nergal looked at Lloyd, who was moping around. "Oh Lloyd, stop acting like a sissy! Your stupid brother is dead! Stop moaning about it! Don't be such a baby!"

"He isn't stupid! He was special!"

"Sigh...Fine! I'll reanimate your brother, okay?! It'll last only for a day, but will you please pay attention?!"

"Of course! But my brother comes first."

"Very well." Nergal took out some bags he had in his cloak and brought back the body of Linus. Lloyd let out a sob at the sight and Nergal glared at him. "Okay...He's lost some of his organs and a lot of blood. Let's go to my laboratory for this operation."

At Nergal's "laboratory", Nergal placed the body of Linus on a stone bench and hooked up some gizmos to him. He examined the body. "Hmm...For his liver...I have 5-year old liver and onions!" He stuffed the liver in the correct spot. "As for the spleen...We have chicken casserole!" He then proceeded to pour all of the casserole in Linus's body. "Now for blood...Well, it needs calcium...but it has to be red. I know! I have this combination of tomato juice, cow's blood, and milk!"

Lloyd looked at Nergal. "Where do you get this stuff?"

"Here and there." Nergal waved a hand around carelessly while he poured the mixture in Linus's body with his other hand. "Now! We must wait for a lightning storm!"

"Uh...Nergal...It's clear and sunny outside."

"Oh...Well, then." Nergal cast Thunder on the various devices hooked to Linus's body. Linus's finger twitched and Nergal let out a shout of glee.

"I have do-Wait. I need to get into my good voice." Nergal cleared his throat. "IT'S ALIIIIIVE!" Right then, the thunder crackled again, adding realistic sound effects to Nergal's statement. Linus then got up and scratched his head.

"Hey...Where am I? What happened to me? Why do I smell liver and onions?" Linus got off the table and received a big hug from his brother. "Uh, thanks for the enthusiasm, Lloyd. Now, what happened?"

"Oh, you were killed. Your brother acted like a sissy until I would resurrect you, so now you're alive again."

"Oh...How...interesting. No wonder I smell weird. Uh, Lloyd, you can get off now." Lloyd released his brother and faced Nergal.

"Now I'm ready!"

"Okay! We are going to implement my most sneaky, devious plan yet!"

Lloyd looked skeptical. "Right...Just like that time when you tried to deplete the ozone layer by using a ton of hairspray. It's no wonder you need that turban because your hair still reeks. And you messed up your eye too! You should have just listened to Athos."

"Don't talk to me about that self-righteous fool! And my plan would have worked!" Nergal looked indignant.

Now, Linus joined in. "Oh, and there was that other time when you used your quintessence to travel to the future. You said you hooked up Elfire tomes to these mechanical devices and rigged them to fire whenever someone pressed a button. That was a great plan."

"I can tell you're being sarcastic. And that was a great blow against the humans of the future!"

In the future, a random man was turning on his DVD player, and got this message.

"You have activated the self-destruct button. Your DVD player will now spit great gouts of fire at you. Have a god day." The man scratched his head.

"I don't remember that in the manual." He leaned closer for a look, but then a fireball raced past his head. He ran out of his house screaming that his DVD players was trying to kill him.

Now, back to Nergal's time. Lloyd had one last barb to throw at Nergal. "Right. And remember when you tried to switch all of the salt and pepper shakers in the restaurants? That was a stroke of genius. A perfect example of evilness."

"That was one of my better plans. I can see it all right now." Nergal envisioned what the customers must be going through.

In a nameless restaurant, a customer was shaking pepper onto his steak and he took a big bite. However, he noticed something drastically wrong with the flavor.

"Hey! This is salt! Oh well." He continued to eat.

Back to Nergal again. "Okay, so maybe that wasn't that great. But trust me, this plan will be my best plan yet! Just trust me."

Chris: GASP! What is Nergal's super-sneaky, ultra-devious plan?! What will happen to our happy partygoers? Is my plot cheesy or what? Will I actually finish this before Halloween?!

Farina: Nope.

Mia: No way.

Rebecca: Not a chance.

Chris: Thanks for your support. Anyway, I'm probably going to disregard reader reviews for the next chapters for the time before Halloween. After Halloween, I'll put reader review responses back in, because I'm not constrained by a schedule. And yes, I know it is almost impossible for me to finish this before Halloween. More's the pity. Oh well, I'll still continue this nevertheless. I'll bring Halloween horror in Thanksgiving! Kind of. Anyway, review, and I'll try to post up chapters faster!