-1Disclaimer: Tales of Legendia and all its contents are the property of Namco.

Author's Note: Perhaps it's a little early for Halloween, but maybe by the time this story is finished, it'll be around Halloween time.

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It had been a week since Jay suffered the humiliating sick day while Moses "took care of him." After that day, Jay went home to the Oresoren village to finish his recovery. At least the Oresoren took care of him in a much more gentle and loving manner.

One morning, the martial artist Oresoren Quppo entered Jay's bedroom with a plate of steaming scallops. Jay was still asleep in his bed, but he slowly opened his eyes upon Quppo's approach. He sat up and took a deep breath. For the first time in a while, he actually felt good.

"Good morning, Jay," Quppo said. "I brought you your breakfast in bed."

Jay looked down as Quppo set the plate on his lap. "Oh...scallops."

"What's wrong, Jay? You do like scallops, don't you?"

"Oh yes...scallops are fine."

"How are you feeling this morning?"

Jay gave him a slight smile. "I'm actually feeling better now. I honestly thought that I would never recover after what I went through with Moses."

"Are you still upset about that, Jay?" Quppo asked. "Moses is just different. Perhaps what he did was his way of showing you that he cares."

Jay closed his eyes. "Quppo...please don't make me have a relapse."

"I'm sorry. So what will you do now?"

"I think I'll head to Werites Beacon to visit the others."

"Oh yeah...you haven't seen them in a week, have you? They'll be glad to see that you're feeling better."

"Yes...I've missed them so much. For some reason, I even miss that stupid bandit. I haven't even seen his face since I smashed it in with the frying pan." Jay narrowed his eyes and smiled as he imagined Moses' face all contorted. "It was actually a pleasant feeling as I held the pan in my hands and gave that bandit what was coming to him."

"Jay? Are you sure you're feeling better?" Quppo asked.

"Yes, I'm quite fine," Jay told him. "Thank you."

Quppo waved his arm forward. "Well then, enjoy your breakfast! Ors!" He turned and left the room.

-----------

Meanwhile, Senel and Shirley were out in the field somewhere between Werites Beacon and Port-on-Rage. This was something they did often. Along with Will Raynard, they had taken the responsibility of eliminating monsters that could potentially threaten Werites Beacon. Right now, they were facing off against a brown Egg Bear. It was already weakened, and Senel was about to deliver the final blow.

"Demon Fist!" Senel threw an uppercut from a distance, and a green shock wave sailed along the ground, striking the Egg Bear. The monster roared in pain as it tipped forward, crashing face-first on the ground. Senel then let out a weary sigh.

"Are you okay, Senel?" Shirley asked. "Are you tired?"

"Yes, I suppose I am," Senel said. "Let's return to Werites Beacon."

The pair walked through the field back to the town of Werites Beacon. It was routine for them to report to Will's house after exterminating monsters. They stopped at the front door to Will's house.

"Senel, I'm going to walk to the bakery and pick up some lunch," Shirley said.

"Lunch? You know that Harriet is going to flip if she finds out that you're buying your own lunch."

"Well, then I'll just pick up some ingredients for lunch. How's that?"

Senel paused. "Yeah...that's fine."

Shirley nodded. "I will. See you later, Senel."

Senel smiled at her as she began to walk down the road. Once she was out of sight, Senel opened the door and stepped inside. Surprisingly, he did not see Will Raynard, but he saw Jay the Unseen sitting on the sofa in the center of the living room.

"Jay!"

Jay looked up at him. "Good morning, Senel."

Senel smiled again. "If you're here, that must mean that you're feeling better. We were all starting to wonder about you."

"Yes, I'm fine now."

Jay stood up and went into the kitchen. He opened up the fridge and began digging inside.

"Hmm, there's not much food in here."

"Shirley went to the bakery to pick up some groceries," Senel told him. "She'll be back shortly."

"That's a relief." Jay looked up at the ceiling. "The Oresoren have been feeding me nothing but scallops in the past week. I'm getting a little tired of it..."

"I know what you mean. It's boring to eat the same old thing over and over again."

"But still, it's better than what Moses did to me..."

"Oh, we never did find out what happened. So, what exactly happened with you and Moses that day?"

Jay only stared at the ceiling, but said nothing.

Senel sighed. "Fine...you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. By the way, is Will here?"

"Yes, he's upstairs."

"We were just going to report our experience to him. It's nothing major, though."

"Very well."

Jay gave up on searching the refrigerator, and Senel took over. Jay walked towards the hallway, but suddenly stopped. His eyes widened as he turned around and went back into the kitchen, stopping at Senel's left side. Jay crouched down as low as he could, burying his head in his arms.

"Jay? What's wrong?" Senel crouched down to check on him.

At that moment, Senel heard light footsteps in the hallway. Oh, that must be Will, he thought.

Instead, Chloe Valens walked down the hall en route to the room just across from the kitchen. She wore only a white towel tied around her hips, and she held another towel across her chest, drying her hair with one end. Senel stood up and turned to face her; Chloe caught a glimpse of him from the corner of her eye as well.

"GYAAAH!" they both screamed in unison. In a state of shock, Chloe accidentally dropped the towel from her chest. Senel recoiled backwards as if he had been struck, crashing into the counter and collapsing to the floor.

Chloe quickly picked up the towel to cover herself again. "Coolidge! That is IT!" she growled. "You just barge in here, you don't knock, you have no respect for anybody's privacy!"

Senel stood up and tried to console her. "I...I'm sorry!" he cried. "Just...just wait a second!"

"No, you wait! This is ridiculous!"

"Could...could I just say one thing?"

"What? What?"

"I, uh...well..." Senel stumbled upon words to find something to say that would calm her down. "You, uh...you look nice?"

"Ooohh!" Chloe screamed once more as she turned and ran into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Ahh..." Senel collapsed to the floor again. He looked over at Jay, who was still crouched down facing the counter with his head buried in his arms. Jay turned his head slightly to look at Senel.

"Is...is the coast clear?" he asked.

"Uh...yeah...she's gone..." Senel said. His eyes rolled into his head as he passed out.

Jay stood up and began searching the refrigerator again. "Honestly, Senel, you act like you've never seen a woman's body before."

He finally gave up and closed the refrigerator. He shrugged, shook his head, and let out an exasperated sigh. Luckily, Shirley entered the house carrying two sacks full of groceries.

"Oh, Jay!" she said. "It's good to see you. Are you feeling better?"

Jay smiled. "Yes, I'm feeling well now."

As Shirley stepped into the kitchen, she caught sight of Senel unconscious on the floor. She screamed as she dropped the groceries on the floor.

"Ahh! Senel! What happened?"

"It's nothing to worry about. He just caught sight of Chloe undressed, that's all."

Shirley looked at Jay, her eyes now glinting with anger. "That's 'all'? Senel...how could you?"

"Now, now, please don't be too hard on him," Jay soothed. "It was purely accidental. As you can see, he couldn't even withstand the wrath of Hurricane Chloe."

"Mmm..." Shirley glared at Senel again, uncertain.

"At any rate, we should pick up these groceries."

"Oh...all right."

Shirley and Jay began picking up the groceries and putting them in the proper shelves and the refrigerator. All of a sudden, a little girl wearing a brown dress and a red demon mask jumped out from the hallway.

"RAAAARRRRGHH!" she yelled.

"AAAAAAHHH!" Shirley screamed.

Jay turned to face the girl. "Harriet..."

Harriet turned to face him as well. "Jay! What are you doing? You're supposed to be scared!"

"Why would I be scared of a mask?"

"Because I said so! Now hurry up and get scared!"

With that, Harriet stomped on Jay's foot. Jay cried out in agony as he stumbled backwards, tripping over Senel's unconscious body and collapsing to the floor.

Harriet nodded proudly. "Now that's more like it!"

Jay sighed. "Perhaps I haven't fully recovered from the illness yet..."

Just then, Will came downstairs. "Is everything all right down here? I heard some commotion."

When he reached the base of the stairs, Harriet spun around, spreading her arms out. "Raaaarrr!"

Will gasped and shrank back. "Oh no! It's a monster! Whatever shall I do?"

Harriet waved her arms at him. "Come on, Dad! You can do better than that! You're not really scared at all, are you?"

Will only smiled at her. "No, you've got me wrong. I'm really scared. In fact, I'm absolutely terrified."

Harriet then glared at him. Will looked beyond her, spotting Senel unconscious on the kitchen floor.

"Senel!" Will ran up to him, kneeling beside him. "Are you all right? Talk to me, Senel!"

Senel slowly came to. "Ugh...Will? Shirley?"

"What happened?"

"I...don't want to talk about it..."

"He saw Chloe...naked," Shirley said.

"No, wait...she wasn't naked. She was just..."

Will's face twisted into a horrible grimace. "You did what?"

Without waiting for an answer, Will gave Senel a bonk on the head.

"Ow! It was an accident, I swear!" Senel protested.

Will sighed. "Senel, you..."

"Oh, I'm fine, by the way," Jay said out of nowhere.

Will stood up to face him. "Jay? That's right, we haven't seen you at all in this past week. It's good to see that you're well again."

"It's good to be back."

"I've called the others here as well," Will said. "I have a request I'd like to make when everyone gets here."

"Oh, okay," Shirley said.

"I'll be back down in a little bit." Will went back upstairs.

Senel stood up with an exasperated sigh. "Ahh...I think I need to cool off after all of that..."

"And I have something I must do as well," Jay added.

They both left the kitchen room, entering the hallway to the back of the house. Shirley sat down on the sofa to relax. However, she wasn't alone for long. Several moments later, Chloe emerged from the bedroom, fully clothed in her Gadorian uniform.

"Raaarrgh!" Harriet roared at her with her demon mask.

Chloe had not recovered from the flash shock yet. "Wh...wha..."

"Chloe? Are you okay?" Shirley asked.

Chloe sat next to her with a sigh. "I can't believe it..."

"Jay told me what happened with Senel."

Chloe blushed. "Jay? Oh yeah...he was looking away the entire time. At least he has some consideration."

"It was quite a shock for Senel, too. He even passed out."

At that moment, the front door opened, and Norma, Moses, and Grune entered the house.

"Raaaarrrgh!" Harriet roared.

"Aaaahhh!" Norma and Moses both screamed in high-pitched voices.

"Wow, what a cute little monster," Grune cooed.

"Grune, you're supposed to get scared!" Harriet cried.

"Oh...yes, I'm very scared."

"Hmm?"

"Don't worry about her, Hattie," Norma said. "G-Girl has a different way of getting scared."

"Hmm...I don't get it, but fine."

"Damn, don't ever do that again!" Moses whined.

"Yeah, Red, you scream like a girl!" Norma said.

"Look who's talkin'! I'm sure glad Jay didn't hear that..."

Will came back downstairs to check on everyone. "Is everyone here?"

Grune put her finger to her chin, as if in thought. "Hmm...I wonder where Senel and Jay are?"

"They're still in the back," Will said. "They should come out momentarily."

Chloe perked up, as she now heard the shower running again. "Raynard...is that Coolidge in the shower?"

"Most likely," Will said. "He's probably washing himself after battling the monsters. He might also be clearing his head after his...encounter, if you will."

Chloe looked down, smiling slightly. "I see..."

"Now Chloe, you can't be thinking what I think you're thinking..."

Chloe stood up. "Fasten your seatbelts. It's payback time." She turned and headed towards the back of the house.

Moses scratched his head. "Hold up! Did I miss somethin'?"

"Senel caught Chloe without her clothes," Will said.

The group gasped.

"Seriously?" Norma asked. "Bad boy, Senny!"

"So just what is Chloe up to?" Moses asked.

The party looked down the hall to watch Chloe as she opened the bathroom door and stepped inside. Next they heard the shower curtain slide...then they heard two voices screaming.

"Waaaah!"

Chloe raced out of the bathroom, slamming the door. She ran back into the living room with a bright red face, then covered her face with her hands.

The group was even more shocked to see Jay the Unseen emerge from the bathroom holding a purple towel around his chest. Luckily, the towel was long enough to hang down to his ankles. Without his ponytail, his silky black hair covered half of his face.

"Might I ask what the problem is, Ms. Valens?" he asked with a hint of rage in his voice.

"I...I thought it was..." Chloe stammered.

Just then, Senel came out of the bedroom in the back. "What? What happened?"

Chloe turned to him, pointing a finger at his face. "Coolidge! You were supposed to be in there so that I could see your thing!"

Senel choked up. "Wha...what are you talking about?"

He looked over at Jay, who only raised an eye. He then figured out what Chloe meant, and realized he had nothing to say in response.

"Wow, JJ, you look pretty sexy like that," Norma said.

Jay glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hello! You have your hair down, and you're only wearing a towel! Come on! How can you stay so calm after being peeked at in the shower?"

"He probably enjoyed it," Moses said with a grin.

Jay fell silent for a moment as he began to wonder why he was standing in front of his comrades with only a towel on.

"I will no longer participate in this conversation." He returned to the bathroom, closing the door behind him, and locking it this time.

The entire room fell silent now. Will eventually broke the silence with an exasperated sigh, then he gave Norma and Moses a bonk on the head.

"Ow! Teach, what was that for?" Norma asked.

"You all should be ashamed of yourselves, making those senseless remarks," Will told them. "Harriet, I'm sorry you had to see all of that."

Harriet nodded. "It's okay, Dad. In fact, I kinda agree with Norma for once."

Will glared at her, then gave her a bonk on the head as well.

"Ow! Come on, Dad!"

"That was to be fair for everyone," Will told her. "Don't think that I'll allow this kind of behavior from you just because you're my daughter. In fact, it's because you're my daughter that I intend to teach you to behave."

"Honestly!" Harriet waved her arms at him.

"You will not take that attitude with me, young lady! I am your father! I brought you in this world, and I'll take you out!"

"Um..." Harriet found herself silenced by Will's remark. "Okay, Dad..."

"When Jay comes out of the shower, I want you to apologize to him," Will continued. "And that goes for the rest of you, too. Especially you, Chloe."

The group bowed their heads. "Okay..."

"What about you, Dad?" Harriet asked. "You saw him half-naked, too!"

Will sighed. "Yes, I intend to apologize as well. Now can we please end this discussion?"

The group nodded, then relaxed and waited for Jay to come out. Another ten minutes had passed before Jay came out of the bathroom, fully dressed in his purple star-spangled outfit. The party all stood up to face him. Jay walked into the living room, then stopped, giving everyone his wide-eyed stare.

"Wh...why are you still staring at me like I'm naked?" he asked.

"JJ..." Norma said, "we just wanted to say that..."

"We're sorry," the group said in unison.

"Especially me," Chloe added. "It was wrong of me to do what I did..."

"Well...I must say this is quite a surprise," Jay said. "I really don't know what to say..."

"Oh, that's easy!" Norma told him. "You're supposed to say, 'That's okay, everyone. I accept your apology.'"

Jay sighed. "Very well. I suppose I'll accept the apology...but only this once. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, we got it," the group said all at once.

"Now, let's make sure nobody peeks at anyone else in the shower," Will said. "You hear me, Norma?"

"Hey, why are you picking on me?" Norma cried. "I didn't even do anything!"

"You should direct that towards Moses as well," Jay said. "I can read his instincts like an open book...and it sickens me."

Moses glared at Jay. "By the way, Jay, since it's been a whole week since I saw you last, why don't we go off somewhere and have ourselves a little chat?"

"I'll pass, thanks. It's a shame that the frying pan didn't improve your brain like it did your face."

"You little...!"

"Quiet, both of you!" Will ordered. "Now that we're all here, I can finally get to my request."

"Yeah, that's right!" Harriet said. "It's about me, isn't it?"

"That's right," Will told her. "As you all know, there's going to be a Halloween festival at the fountain plaza tomorrow night. However, I've been much too busy with my studies. So I'd like you all to take Harriet to the festival."

"Finally, a request that doesn't involve anything dangerous," Senel said. "All right, I'm in."

"Me too," Shirley said.

"Yeah, I'll do it!" Norma said.

"I'm in," Chloe said.

"All right, a party!" Moses yelled. "Count me in."

"Oh my...that sounds like fun," Grune said.

Jay nodded. "I guess I'll participate as well."

Will smiled. "Excellent. I knew I could count on you all. Now if you'll excuse me, I must get to the lab." With that, he promptly left the house.

"All right, this is going to be great!" Harriet cheered. "Now I want to have certain conditions fulfilled..."

"Conditions?" Senel asked. "Wait a minute, Will never said anything about conditions."

"Quiet, you!" Harriet snapped. "First, Moses, I want you to bring your bandits."

Moses nodded. "Right, no problem!"

"And Jay," Harriet continued, "I want you to bring the Scallop Brothers."

Of course Jay knew whom she was referring to. She was referring to the three Oresoren brothers - Pippo, Quppo, and Poppo. "All right, I suppose that can be arranged," Jay said.

"Now we can talk about costumes," Norma said. "Now, what should I be for Halloween?"

"I'll be a cheerleader!" Grune said.

"Yeah, we should think about what we're going to dress like," Moses said. "I wonder what I'm gonna go as...?"

"Why don't you try going as a stupid bandit?" Jay suggested.

Moses grabbed a blanket that was draped over the sofa and opened it in front of him. "Come on, Jay. It's Rock-A-Bye-Baby time."

Jay staggered backwards. "N-No! I'm not letting you pull that stunt again!"

"Jay, what are you going to be?" Harriet asked.

"I don't think JJ has to worry," Norma said. "The costume he's wearing now will be perfect."

Moses threw the blanket back on the sofa. "Well, it's time for us guys to go out and make preparations. I guess that rules you out, Jay."

"That's fine," Jay told him. "I wouldn't want to be near you anyway."

"Let's go, Senel!" Moses said.

"All right," Senel responded, as the two guys left the house.

"Well then," Norma said. "I guess it's time for us girls to start shopping for costumes. JJ, you can come with us, too. I don't care what Red says, you're the only man here now. Which means you get to protect us sweet girls."

"I'll pass," Jay said. "I think Chloe is strong enough to protect all of you."

"Please..." Chloe said. "I don't deserve such a compliment from you after what just happened..."

"And you just had to bring that up, didn't you?"

"Uh...I'm sorry!"

"Jay, what will you do now?" Shirley asked.

"I suppose I'll head back home and explain the situation to the Oresoren," Jay replied. "I'm sure they'll be happy to come."

"Great. We'll see you later then." Shirley left the house, and the other girls followed.

Now Jay found himself all alone. "Yes...this Halloween festival sounds like it should be fun. Ah...but I'm so unaccustomed to having fun. I guess Senel and his group have really changed me for keeps. And one day...I'll get them for that."