It was Halloween. By now, Jack had been training for a little more than two months. The other dragons had excelled to another level, but that didn't bother him too much. He had started from scratch and he felt good about an apprentice upgrade that was surely on its way.

"Hey, Jack!"

"Whu-?"

"Wanna come with us? We're taking Dojo into town to get some candy," Kimiko explained.

"I don't have a costume," Jack explained lazily.

"Just wear your old clothes, they're creep enough."

"Ha, ha, but Halloween is about masking yourself from malevolent spirits due to the thinness of the veil between our two realms…"

Kimiko just stared at him. By this time, the audience had accumulated to one Clay and one Raimundo.

"I, uh, read it in a book…" Jack said sheepishly.

"So you need a mask!" Clay said.

"Or just more makeup," Raimundo suggested.

"Yeah," Jack thought, "The makeup thing might be easier…"

"Well, for this, I'm afraid my eye liner is out of bounds. You have to get your own if you're doing more than usual," Kimiko said as she folded her arms across her chest.

"No problem. I wasn't going to ask you for yours. I've been using it too much lately anyway."

Kimiko scoffed.

"I'll just get Dojo to take me into town for a minute."

"Good luck getting him to move," Rai rolled his eyes.

"Why?"

"Dojo's shedding today," Clay explained flatly.

There was a disturbing pause.

"Eew?" Jack cringed, "Well, where is he? I'll try anyway."

"Out back near the fountain," Kimiko said.

"Alright. Got any egg rolls on hand?" Jack asked with a smile.

Jack walked up to Dojo with a platter full of egg rolls.

"Hey, Dojo, I was wondering if you could do me a favor…"

"Nope," the dragon said quickly as he scratched a few scales from his body, "I've already told the others that I'll take them trick-or-treating, but that's it."

"Please, Dojo?" Jack struck up the saddest face he could.

"Why should I?"

"I brought you some egg rolls…" Jack cooed.

"Oh," Dojo looked side to side, "Well, that changes everything."

Jack handed Dojo the platter and soon enough, Jack had his eyeliner.

Getting it was easy, but what was he going to do with it? Jack stared at himself in the mirror. His teeth were glistening white and it made him feel good. He'd become somewhat of a serious hygiene freak since he'd been there. Sleeping on the ground only made hi more neurotic. That was fine and all, but how was he going to play with his make up? Just as he was putting the eyeliner to his face, a curly line formed on his pale skin.

"What the-?"

He pulled the liner away and looked at the mark. It was even and smooth. He shrugged and went to apply some more. This time, several more curly lines spread across the left side of his face. Magic eyeliner? Jack laughed at the notion. But as he laughed, the marks continued to engulf the entire left side of his face. When he opened his eyes, he let out a shriek of terror.

"What's wrong?" Kimiko ran in.

"My face," he cried into his hands, "Something happened!"

Kimiko rolled her eyes, "What, Jack? Let me see."

Jack slowly removed his hands from his face and Kimiko took a step back.

"How'd you do that?" she said excitedly.

"It just happened!"

"What do you mean?" Kimiko growled.

"I was trying to put the eyeliner on and the lines showed up on their own!"

"Well," Kimiko said nervously, "It looks cool…"

"I feel like my insides are on fire…"

"Why don't you stay here then? One of us can stay with you…"

"No," Jack flailed, "I don't want to ruin it for you! Besides," he said after calming down a bit, "I've got a wicked hankering for some sugar."

Jack crept back into his sleeping quarters and picked up his old clothes. They seemed so drab… Maybe some spikes'd make it cooler…

As he thought, his jacket became outlined in spiky studs.

"Hey!" he shouted.

Jack grumbled as he put the jacket on and looked in his mirror. Nice, but it didn't match his face. But what else?

The jacket extended to just above his ankles and the simple tattered edges became torn frays of material. The tail of his coat hovered just above the ground, but instead of being cloth, it was outlined in metal.

"Hm…" Jack thought as one long line extended itself from his right eye, down his face, and into his jacket.

Jack grinned as he reached down for his fly bot. As he put it on, the straps became bone and the color scheme turned from white, red, and yellow, to black and purple.

His eyes darkened and his hair was messed up so that just a bit hung over his right eye. The collar of his jacket was full of holes. When he looked at his hands, his fingers were long and slim. This was a drastic difference, but he wasn't about to say anything. He looked scary and that's what matters on Halloween.

As he stepped out of his quarters, two long, curved bones shot out of his shoulders and arched over his head. Jack looked up and wondered if he should call in sick to the others.

"Hey," Rai called form the doorway, "I thought you said you didn't have a costume?"

"I… didn't…"

"Then what are you wearing?"

"My regular clothes…"

Rai stared at him in disbelief.

"No, really," he laughed, "Where'd you get it?"

"From my mind…"

A/N: YAY! I have 30 comments! More please!