A Halloween chapter… of sorts. I know it's late for this sort of thing. Bear with me, people.

It also appears that Daisuke's birth date is unknown (I couldn't find it, anyway), so I'm giving him a September b-day. Right now, it should be around October in Daisuke's Home Town.

Daisuke, Takeshi and Mio gathered around a small campfire they'd managed to make by using the already flaming train tires.

"It's dark," said Mio, staring up at the sky.

"Yes, I know," Takeshi said coldly. Mio was clinging to him yet again and, after several failed attempts, had given up trying to pry her off him self.

"I wonder if the train had any food on it," Daisuke said, looking towards it.

"I doubt it. I know, let's eat Mio," Takeshi offered.

"Um… I don't think so." Daisuke sweat dropped; Takeshi was probably serious.

"What? What about Mio?" Mio said, staring up at her beloved Takeshi who chose to ignore her.

"Hey! Wait! I have a really good idea now!" Takeshi shouted after minutes of silence. "This is the perfect time to tell… scaaary stories!"

Wind whistled through the trees awkwardly.

"No. No, it isn't," Daisuke said, completely disagreeing.

"You know what?" Mio said, breaking the silence.

"Probably, but what?" Takeshi growled, in no mood for her.

"I had a puppy when I was little and it ran away into these woods," Mio started, "and one day, he got bit by a wolf and never came back! But some say they can still hear him howling at night, lonely and lost…"
Mio trailed off and started whistling for effect.

"Mio, if you want to whistle for effect, you have to go oooo-ooooh and not I'm Gonna Be a Mighty King," Takeshi said, trying once again to pull her off him and this time succeeding.

After a few more quiet moments had passed, a strange sound emitted from deep in the woods.

"It's just the wind," Daisuke said aloud, to reassure Mio who had a look of horror on her usually giddy face.

"IF YOU SAY THAT, WE ALL DIE!"

"Why did I have to get stuck here with you guys?"

"Hi, I'm Mio Hio."

"… Uhn…"

"…toshi? Satoshi, are you awake?"

Satoshi blinked and opened his eyes. He was still in the front hallway. His dad was standing over him.

"Oh. Hi, Dad." Satoshi stood up quickly. "I'm awake now. Want to see the house?"

"I… um… If you're sure you're okay," Satoshi's dad said blinking.

Satoshi walked about ten feet ahead of his dad.

'Sooo… Why are you so upset your dad's here?" Krad asked Satoshi.

'I thought that would be painstakingly obvious. In case you haven't noticed, I haven't seen him in years.'

'Oh. No, I really haven't noticed.'

'One would think you'd be a bit more observant. But, since you're so ignorant, I guess I might as well tell you that he thinks I'm living here with someone besides my butler and cat.'

'But they're both gone now too.'

'Exactly. But he doesn't know that. He thinks I'm under the watchful care of someone else. Like I told him in all my e-mails. He also doesn't know that I have to sell this mansion that's been in our family for centuries to pay off that yacht fine from chapters nine and ten."

'You've beenlying?!' Krad inner-shouted sarcastically.

'Don't patronize me. I just have to convince my dad that everything's okay… or something.'

"This is the study," Satoshi said, briskly pulling open a door.

"You still have the chair I bought you!" his dad said happily.

"Yeah… the one with the wings…" Satoshi muttered.

"Oh dear, what happened to this side?" Satoshi's dad observed, pointing at the top right part of the chair.

"Oh, well I couldn't find my fireplace and I was really hungry, so I pulled out the handy bag of marshmallows I keep in the top drawer and started roasting it over a candle, then I sort of bumped the table and it went flying and, um, well, yeah," Satoshi explained, stopping quickly as he saw the strange look on his dad's face.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to play with matches?" Satoshi dad said.

"Oh, yeah, of course. I'm disobedient. Sometimes." Satoshi grabbed his dad's arm. "This is a mansion, right? So we're not halfway done! Onward ho!"

'I need to get to a phone. Fast,' Satoshi thought to Krad.

'How come?'

'I need to make an important phone call…'

'Right now? Why?'

'I just do!'

"This is the kitchen, feel free to help your self, I just remembered that the thing is burning so I have to go stop that now, bye!" Satoshi raced off to find his receiverless phone, which is called a cell or wireless phone by most normal people.

Meanwhile, our brave heroine Riku is pushing her way through the forest. She could not ride her bike through the thick foliage (I said foliage! No one says foliage!), so instead she was using it to plow through tall grass, bushes, deer, small trees, and the like.

"Man, Daisuke! How'd you get stuck out here anyway? You must be crazy!" Riku complained, attempting to push thru a rock as opposed to getting around it. After popping her front tire, she realized she had to choose the alternative. "Great. Now how am I supposed to get home? I really wanted to have some sushi… ugh."

Suddenly, a loud noise broke the somewhat stillness that made Riku girly scream, a rarely seen/heard event, until she realized it was just her receiverless phone going off. Riku answered, hoping it was Risa convincing her to come back and get out of the stupid forest that smell like wet dog and poisonous mushrooms.

"Hello? Oh, it's you," Riku answered rudely, not wanting to deal with anything at the moment. "You haven't called in a while, Satoshi. Are you still insane? … Yeah, I was kidding with you. OF COURSE I'M NOT KIDDING WITH YOU, MISTER! Now tell me what you want."

"Listen, don't be so snappy, but I need a really big favor from you."

Riku rolled her eyes. "I'm kind of busy right now-"

"Could I borrow your mom?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Could I borrow your mom, please? Just for a little?"

"No! Are you crazy?" Riku shouted. "You can't borrow my mom!"

"How about your sister?" Satoshi pleaded.

"How much will you pay?" Riku asked.

"Pay? Um, I guess fifty dollars."

"Cool. Call my house, look under Harada. 'Kay, bye."

"Uh… Goodbye."

Riku hung up and continued her search.

"Daisuke, I swear that noise is getting louder," Takeshi said, worriedly. He pushed a sleeping Mio off him, as she had begun to drool on his shoulder.

"Give it a rest. You're just like Satoshi, repeating things over and over again," Daisuke growled.

Takeshi looked pleased for the first time that night. "Me? I'm like Satoshi? Really?"

"If it'll make you shut up, then yes, you're like Satoshi."

Suddenly, the noise came again, as if it was right next to them.

"I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU! WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Takeshi shrieked, giving a girly scream, a commonly seen/heard event, and hugged Daisuke nervously.

"Heck, yeah you're gonna die! What the heck are you doing out here?!" Riku shouted, coming through the bushes.

"The ugly Harada! We're saved!" Takeshi raced up and hugged her.

" 'The uglyHarada'?! Just how grateful are you anyway?!" Riku yelled, now her turn to pull of Takeshi.

"You… You're his… girlfriend?" Mio approached, eyes glinting like aluminum foil in the sunlight.

"Heck no. He's all yours," Riku said, ending any future hatred then and there.

"Why were you howling?" Daisuke asked.

"Isn't anyone gonna say thank you?!" Riku threw out her arms, flinging her bike into a bush, where it blew up from all the damage it had gone through over the past twenty chapters.

"I wasn't howling," she continued. "But I did scream once."

Where the bike had exploded, a big, black something crept out with shining red eyes and glinting white fangs.

Riku and Daisuke screamed, and Takeshi girl-screamed. Mio, however, burst into a grin.

"Leo! You've come back!" she said, racing up to the frothing wolf-like creature.

"Um… Leo?" Daisuke asked.

"My puppy! I told you he ran away! Now he's come home!" Mio hugged him, allowing the rabid creature to lick her.

"No wonder he ran away. You gave him your rabies," Takeshi growled; Mio pulled him forward.

"This is Takeshi. No! He's not a chew toy!"

"Daisuke! Help me! It's doing the 'whipped cream' thing!"

"Leo Hio and Mio Hio…" Daisuke shook his head. "Thanks for coming, Riku."

"Holy halibut, it's about time." She shook her head. "I have sushi at home! I'm so hungry. But I bet Risa ate it all."

"I'm sorry about that, Dad. I thought Jingle Bells ran away a long time ago," Satoshi apologized as he drove his father to the hospital.

"Um… I don't remember Jingle Bells being so… exacerbated," his dad replied, sweat dropping. "You're positive your cat doesn't have any infectious diseases."

Satoshi blinked. "When did I say I was sure of that?"

His dad groaned, staring at his bleeding arm.

'Well, thank God I won't need Risa to come.'

'Yeah, you really lucked out.'

'All's well that ends well, I guess.'

'If all's well that end's well, you still haven't told your dad you live alone, need to sell the house, have to pay his hospital bill and his arm is bleeding all over your leather seat, then yes. All's well that ends well.'

Satoshi and his father groaned in unison.

"Dad, are you okay?" Daisuke asked, coming in and seeing his father looking rather bedraggled.

His dad approached, zombie-like, and put his hands on Daisuke's shoulders without looking in his eyes.

"Never forget to buy Halloween candy on Halloween," he muttered before falling over.

As usual, the chapter ends with a shared unhappiness. I didn't particularly like this chapter, which is a shame because it's the 20th, but I'm looking forward to the next few.

I'm losing readers... Oh well, it still serves as amusement to my friends and sister, so that's good enough for me. :) Happy Thanksgiving, all!