Author's Notes: Happy Halloween to all. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a full costume set up this year, but that won't stop me from having a good time. This was created on the fly and has no continuity with the PSS series.
As usual:
"Talking"
*Thinking*
=Telepathy=
Enjoy!
~ZX
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Pokemon or any individual aspect therein. Pokemon is copyrighted to Nintendo and Game Freak.
Once again, another year has gone by, and with the colors of the trees changing, houses began taking a spookier feel for that special event at the end of October. Normally, Seth would celebrate by himself by creating a getup from books, animes, or movies he's read/seen and just have a good time with the locals in the city he was in at the time. Every city usually hosted a costume party for trainers and pokemon alike and followed it up with a party/banquet for the contestants and judges. This year, the location was Goldenrod City- Johto's largest city- and he wasn't participating alone this year. He stood at the Pokemon Center looking down at his party of five, four of whom were looking back with beady puppy dog eyes.
=Pleeeeeeeeaaase?= Sola the Espeon begged her trainer.
Seth gave a large sigh, "Does everyone have to participate?" he asked the Espeon at the front of the group of five Eeveelutions.
=Well, DUH!= Sola replied.
=We all want to have fun just as much as you.= Misty the Vaporeon added, which was followed by a nod from Jolt the Jolteon and Blaze the Flareon.
Shadow the Umbreon stood at the back, relaxing his gaze (he's the only one not giving Seth the puppy dog look) from Seth and turning his attention to the other trainers and their pokemon walking around the city streets. =You'd better make a decision soon, people are everywhere snatching up the good stuff.=
Seth sighed again and shook his head, knowing he couldn't change their minds. "Fine. All of you can participate, but you'll all have to stay with me after the festival starts. No wandering off by yourselves, got it?"
Sola, Misty, Jolt, and Blaze started leaping around in celebration. Shadow simply looked at Seth and gave him a happy nod. Sola eventually stopped jumping around and gave Seth a cute smile. Seth then started looking around for stores with a large amount of Halloween merchandise, listening to his team following behind talking in pokespeech about what costumes each are going to do. Sola was the first to make up her mind, followed by both Jolt and Blaze. Misty, however, took a really long time to think of an idea. Sola finally gave her an idea that fit her style. Shadow, however, didn't chime in, so Seth didn't know if he had an idea or was even interested in participating.
Seth finally found a store that had various costume accessories and even full costumes. Seth wasn't exactly sure what his costume was going to be right away until he saw a costume set of knight's plate armor, save that the "armor" was plastic. There were rounded shoulder plates, full-arm gauntlets, jointed leg armor, a breastplate with a white-and-blue tunic overtop, and a white shield. It very closely reminded him of a knight character in a game he had played, and since he had short spiky yellow-blonde hair like the character, he found it perfect. Alongside the costume for himself, he also bought a plastic silver sword with a sheath. Sola kept her look simple and got herself a large witch's hat and cloak, with a wand in a holster. Blaze went the more evil route and got a demon's mask with horns and a heat-resistant tattered cloak. Misty got a flowing ice-blue gown, a silver necklace chain, and a crown that looked like it was made of icicles. Jolt's costume however, was the most complex of all of the Eeveelutions. He got temporary blue fur dye, a gold-colored metal ring collar, and a belt with a curved plastic knife in its sheath. The other four left the building while Seth was getting everything scanned when Shadow quietly came up to Seth with a plain black cape and fake fangs.
After getting all of the costumes sorted out and individually bagged, Seth and his team returned to the pokemon center. After getting to their room, Shadow ducked away into the closet with his small bag, while the other four almost jumped onto Seth for their costumes. Seth passed out the costumes to each of them before getting to work helping them. He started with Blaze, fitting the tattered cloak onto him before placing the mask on the top of his head. Blaze then quickly shook his head downward, causing the mask to slide in front of his face, before giving off a loud growl. Seth gave a short laugh before adjusting the mask on his "demon". Sola, instead of working on her costume, decided to help Misty with hers while Seth tended to Blaze. Misty slipped the necklace chain around her neck while Sola used her psychic abilities to dress her in the gown. Sola then placed the crown on her head so that it hid the fin on the top of her head. Misty looked down at the necklace but it felt like something was missing. Once Seth finished with Blaze the Demon, he went over to Misty, whom was sighing.
"That necklace is a little too simple… Hmmmmm, wait. How about this?" Seth asked as he took the Mystic Water out of his bag.
=Oh, that's perfect!= Misty squealed.
Seth removed the silver chain and placed the Mystic Water onto it before putting it back around her neck. Misty clearly loved it as she stared at it with a twinkle in her eye.
"You need help next, Jolt?" Seth asked, which was followed by a nod. He then turned to Sola.
=Don't worry about me. I can dress myself.= Sola said, smiling.
"Ok, if you say so." Seth replied before turning back to Jolt, whom nudged the can of temporary dye. "Hmm, I guess we have to head into the bathroom here to dye your fur." He said as he picked the can up.
Seth spent the next few minutes carefully washing Jolt's spiky fur before finally applying the dye (which is washable). All of Jolt's yellow fur was now a vivid blue color, while his white collar remained white. Both exited the bathroom to find Sola already dressed. She wore a black cloak with what appeared to be a fictional school's coat of arms on the back. Her witch's cap covered the whole top of her head, but she let her ears hang out to the sides, almost like hair. The wand holster was on a belt tied around the base of her neck, with the wand sitting on the right side. Seth quickly affixed the metal ring collar and the belt to Jolt before it hit him: Jolt's choice of outfit came from the same game that his own was inspired from. As he sat there admiring Jolt's cameo costume, he was suddenly pounced in the back by Shadow, who immediately bit his neck.
"Shadow, what are you doing!" Seth shouted. Shadow growled lightly as Seth started slowly going down on his knees. "Why… do I feel… so weak…" he said as he finally collapsed onto the floor of the room.
"SHADOW, NO!" Sola shouted, "What have you done!"
"You're next, my beauty. Hehe, I'm sure you'll taste even better." Shadow cackled as he hopped off Seth and slowly approached his terrified mate. The other three were simply paralyzed with shock and fear.
As Shadow approached Sola, Sola backed away, but the room was small, and she was soon backed into a corner. Knowing her psychic attacks have no effect at all, she stood there and closed her eyes and awaited the inevitable. Blaze was about to finally take off in rage at his father when Shadow licked Sola's cheek.
"But I did promise I wouldn't scare you again." He said aloud, which caused Sola to open her eyes wide and turn toward a smiling Shadow. "Got ya." He added.
"W-wait, so Seth isn't…" Sola was about to ask until he saw him get back up, which got a collective sigh of relief from Jolt, Misty, and Blaze.
"Had a feeling you were going to pull that stunt, Shadow." Seth said as he dusted off his black jeans, "It would've been nice for a little more warning, though."
=Wait, you were in on this?= Sola asked.
"Kind of. It's what a vampire does, after all." Seth answered, pointing toward Shadow's fake fangs.
"=Oh, YOU!=" Sola yelled as she tackled and pinned Shadow to the ground.
"Easy, Sola, easy." Seth said. "This is kind of what Halloween is about. There are plenty of haunted houses and events that are only for providing scares. It's all in good fun, though."
=Will there be any kinds of scary things where we're going later tonight?= Sola asked, not taking her gaze from Shadow's eyes.
"No, there won't be, don't worry." Seth said, "Shadow was just trying to have some fun with his costume."
"=Hehe, I was mighty convincing wasn't I?=" Shadow said. "=Maybe I went a little overboard with the biting, though. But still, it's Halloween- we're supposed to be having fun.="
Sola stared at him for a few more seconds before giving a sigh.
"=I guess I'll let you off this time.=" She said as she licked his cheek and finally released him. "=But please keep your promise.="
"Ok, now that that is all settled," Seth interrupted, "I'll get into my costume real quick and we'll be off. We're heading to the Goldenrod Radio Tower first to get my radio card reactivated, and then we'll go straight to the party at Whitney's gym. I hear she's not going to be the only gym leader there this year."
=Ok, we'll wait for you downstairs by the doors.= Sola stated.
=We'll stay together, I'll make sure of it.= Shadow added.
"Alright. See you guys in a few." Seth said as he stepped into the bathroom with his costume bag.
Sola opened the door and led the Eeveelutions out of the room before closing it behind her. They all immediately went for the stairs.
"This is going to be so much fun! I can't believe Seth has only done this by himself every year." Misty said excitedly as she walked behind Sola.
"We've definitely been missing out on some good stuff if this kind of thing happens every year." Jolt added as he followed behind the Vaporeon princess.
"Ohhhh, man I really wanna scare someone now. Honestly, how often can we do this?" Blaze said as he walked beside his Jolteon brother.
"The question is, is it really fun to be scared?" Shadow asked as he trailed the group.
"I guess some people do." Sola replied, "But I am definitely not one of them."
"Me neither." Misty added, "Dad really scared me back there."
"I… I don't really know what to answer yet." Jolt said as the group started descending the stairs to the main floor.
"I was about to beat you up, dad." Blaze said sternly.
"I noticed. Lucky Seth broke the prank when he did." Shadow answered before chuckling lightly.
Blaze then lightened up a bit, "Then again, looking back at it now, I found it really fun. Especially if you know they're only trying to scare you."
Before long, they reached the Pokemon Center's main lobby, where a few trainers and their pokemon were getting ready to leave for the festivities. They all went to a table nearby the sliding glass doors and all sat down; talking about what they think is going to happen at the party. Blaze, instead of talking, made a few attempts to scare some of the other trainers and pokemon there by hiding behind the chairs and popping out at them and growling. He managed to make two different trainers and their sidekick pokemon jump back in surprise at his sudden appearance. Another trainer gave a big gasp, then laughed it off and complimented the Flareon on his "scare tactics". Seth had finally entered the main lobby when he saw Blaze walk out in front of a female trainer, dressed as a wicked witch holding a broomstick, and started laughing while small flames began to exit the holes in his tattered cloak and encircle him, giving Blaze a demonic red aura. Seth was about to run up to him and tell him to stop when the trainer spoke up.
"Wow, that's really good. It makes you look super evil." She said before giggling lightly, "But I think it'll be much scarier in the dark where they don't see you coming."
Blaze shook the mask up to the top of his head and gave the girl a toothy smile. She responded by lightly patting the top of his head before exiting with her pokemon, Misdreavus. Seth then approached his team in his knight armor, wearing the shield on his back and the sword sheathed at his side. His hair wasn't as spiky as it normally was, mostly pointing forward and upward.
"You just couldn't resist, could ya?" He asked the Flareon, who shook his head before swinging the mask back down in front of his face.
=I almost had to pull him back in on one occasion.= Sola said to her trainer before looking away slightly. =You look really good as a knight.=
"Yeah, but I didn't know this would limit your movements so much." Seth replied as he tried to rotate his arms. "Maybe I should take some pictures of us before we go."
All five agreed immediately, knowing the costumes would only be for today. Seth asked Nurse Joy at the center if she had a camera to take photographs with. She said she did not, but a man nearby named Cameron did. They started individually with Seth holding the shield by his side and raising the sword into the air in a heroic manner. Shadow was next, draping the cape underneath his head while giving a fanged smile to the camera. Misty actually tried pirouetting slowly for the camera, and Cameron had to take a few before he found one she was happy with. Blaze conjured up his burning crimson aura again for his photo. Lastly, Sola held her wand with her psychic powers off to the right side of her head, winking her left eye and sticking her tongue out. Everyone then went in for a final group shot with each of the Eeveelutions lined up in the front row with Seth standing behind them. After giving Cameron some payment for the pictures and his PC address to send the photos, Seth and his team left the pokemon center to start their Halloween fun. With the remaining orange/crimson glow of the evening, they trekked up to the Goldenrod Radio Tower to get Seth radio card reactivated. The radio was playing some creepy and some funny Halloween selections over the airwaves instead of their normal programs, and many of the employees there were dressed as other professions, like doctors, waitresses, a construction worker, and one even was dressed as a nurse. They then exited the tower listening to the music selections that were airing on the radio while making the short trip to the Goldenrod Gym.
The gym looked completely different to Seth, Sola, and Shadow compared to their first trip here. All of the pink and white in the gym was replaced with orange, black, and crimson. Zubat and Murkrow plushies hanged from the ceiling, while some of the corners had plushies of Haunter and Duskull. Whitney stood on her gym leader platform at the far back of the gym wearing a slim Clefable cosplay outfit, with her hair being used for Clefable's ears. Many local trainers were also dotting the gym, as well as a couple of members of famed Pokemaniac Bill's family.
"Ok, you remember what I said before. Don't exit the gym." Seth told his team. "Go ahead and enjoy."
=I thought you told us not to leave your side?= Sola asked.
=I'm changing the terms a bit. Just have fun, but keep in groups so I can spot you easier, ok?= Seth answered.
=Ok.= Sola said
=Thank you, Seth!= Misty and Jolt said before walking off together with Blaze toward the center of the gym.
Sola and Shadow walked over to the lounge area off to the right of the gym entrance, which had a couple of sofas and plenty of bean bags for sitting and resting in. Seth decided to go and talk with Whitney.
"Hey, Whitney. It's been a while hasn't it?" Seth greeted her.
"Oh! It's Seth!" Whitney said as she ran up to him and gave him a hug, as she does to all of her friends. "It's only been so long because you never call. How have you been?"
"Pretty good, actually." Seth replied as he looked around. "You did a very good job decorating the place. Brings out the Halloween vibe nicely."
"It wasn't just me. I had help from my pokemon, a few other trainers, and Jasmine. I haven't seen her come back, though."
"Was she the other leader I heard was going to make an appearance here?"
"Yup! She's bringing Amphy also, since the docks are closed for the night. It's gonna be a relief knowing I'm not the only leader here."
"Will she be in costume also? I see you certainly got yourself a cute getup." Seth said, turning away slightly in embarassment at the compliment he just said.
"Oh, how sweet of you, you dashing knight, you. But you can't believe how many pervy looks I've gotten because of this." She replied, "Yeah, she will. Can't tell you what, though." She tauntingly added as she spun to Seth's side and hugged his left arm as they looked out at the guests filling the gym. They were quickly interrupted by what looked like a scuffle about to happen near the lounge area.
"Uh-oh. Looks like something's gonna happen over there. Gotta keep the peace." Whitney said as she released Seth and started filtering through the crowd toward the disturbance, with Seth following.
When they reached the location of the fight, Seth found Shadow at one end, with Sola behind him, and a Mightyena at the other. Pokemon and their trainers stood around them in a ring- a few even encouraging them to fight. Seth quickly approached his two pokemon as Whitney bravely stood between the two parties.
"Sola, Shadow. What happened?" Seth asked his vampire-witch pair.
=The Mightyena kept making passes at Sola, trying to hit on her.= Shadow replied, not taking his cold stare from the opponent. =It was when he tried getting close to her when I pushed him back.=
=He kept creeping me out!= Sola added, =When Shadow thankfully butted in, the Mightyena took it personally, wanting to fight over me.=
"Mightyena, what are you doing?" a voice suddenly rang out above the others.
Seth looked back to see an older trainer donned in a Death outfit, complete with scythe, approaching the Mightyena through the ring of people and pokemon.
=I'll talk to the trainer about it.= Seth told the pair as he started walking to the Mightyena and the new trainer. "Hey, are you the trainer of this Mightyena?"
"Yeah, why, what's going on? I told them to go out and have fun, then two minutes later this happens." The trainer replied.
"Well, from what I gathered. The Mightyena tried to hit on my Espeon, Sola. My Umbreon, Shadow, just stepped in to protect her." Seth answered.
"Ugh, I had a feeling this was going to happen. I'm sorry, but my Mightyena does this a lot to females. I'll talk to him about it."
"Thanks. The last thing I want to happen now is a battle."
"Same here." The trainer replied before both went back to their respective pokemon.
"Everything's ok, I hope?" Whitney asked as she approached Seth.
"Yeah, the Mightyena's trainer says he does this a lot, but he'll talk to his pokemon about it. Lucky we got here in time."
=What a relief.= Sola said, sighing.
=Yeah. I really didn't want to fight, but if he started swinging…= Shadow trailed off as he turned to go with Sola back to the lounge area.
"So," Seth said to Whitney as they returned to the leader's platform "when is the costume contest starting?"
"When Jasmine gets here." She replied, "Which I hope is soon."
A half-minute later, Jasmine finally entered the gym, dressed as a shiny Ampharos- the only differences were the head (eyes and the top half of the mouth) of the costume was a hood and the arms of the costume only reached to her elbows, while Amphy the Ampharos wore one of Jasmine's glimmering gray dresses and a light brown wig overtop its head. Both seemed nervous as they entered, since all eyes immediately fell upon the pair. They made their way through the crowd of cheering trainers and professing fanboys and joined Whitney and Seth up on the leader's platform. Whitney proceeded to immediately hug Jasmine after she reached the platform, and Seth followed suit but his was quick.
"Now that we're all here…" Whitney said before standing on her podium. She shouted "Attention! All trainers must gather up their pokemon and stay in one whole group. We are getting ready to start the costume contests. Pokemon will be first, followed by the trainers."
"Guess that's my cue." Seth said as he began stepping down from the platform. "Nice to see you again, Jasmine."
"Likewise, Seth." She replied, "I wish I could have gotten here earlier, but my Skarmory wasn't feeling too good for a while."
"I'll talk to you after the contest then?"
"Of course."
Seth went back to the lounge area, meeting Blaze, Misty, and Jolt part way, to meet back up with Sola and Shadow. The room almost looked like a frenzy with each trainer calling their pokemon, pokemon trying to locate their trainers, and everyone just wandering around randomly. After several minutes, the frenzy finally tapered off with each trainer finding their pokemon and settling in groups around the gym. Whitney then spoke up again.
"Ok, since it looks like everyone's ready" She started, "I'd like each trainer that's interested in the costume contest to register themselves at the table on my right side. Pokemon that are interested in participating in the pokemon costume contest have to sign up with their trainers at the table on my left side. We'll start once the lines empty again."
Both lines started piling up, but the human-only line was getting more attention. Seth turned back to his team.
"So, are you sure all of you want to participate?" He asked them.
=I'm in!= Sola immediately replied, =This'll be so much fun!=
=Me too!= Misty added, with Blaze and Jolt echoing what she said. Shadow, however, stayed silent.
"Not you, Shadow?" Seth asked.
=Guess I'm the only one.=
=Why not?= Sola asked, slightly sad.
=My costume's too basic. I know I won't get that far. Besides, I've had my fun already.=
=Ok, if you say so.=
"Ok, so let's go before the line gets any longer. I'll sign the four of you up first before getting myself signed up." Seth said as he began to make his way to the pokemon contest line.
Signups were slow, as each trainer had to sign a waiver letting their participating pokemon do this performance by themselves without the trainer's input. Once Seth signed the four of them up, a gym trainer took them backstage to put on final touches, if any, and show them the order that they'll be going out to the stage. Shadow remained by the lounge area waiting for the whole contest to start. Seth then signed himself up in the human costume contest and was likewise led into a back room by a gym trainer. He quickly checked his outfit in the mirror before sitting in one of the chairs in the room. He looked around the room from his seat at the other contestants. Quite a few trainers signed up, and they ran the whole gambit from cute to awesome to creepy and even one strange costume. Most went in a stereotypical costume for a character, but a few- like the Death trainer he met earlier- took it a step further with accessories and face/body paint. He then peeked out to the gym to see plenty of trainers and pokemon still outside as an audience for the contest.
*How will this be judged? Will it just be Whitney and Jasmine, or will the audience take part also?* Seth thought to himself.
Whitney then took to her platform again, this time with a microphone in her hands.
"Ok, we are ready to start the costume contests. The pokemon will lead us off. Remember, they will not be receiving commands from their trainers, so they're free to move and act as they please. Now to introduce the judges for this contest. First, Olivine's beloved gym leader, Jasmine!"
Jasmine, standing to Whitney's left and easily visible to Seth, took a couple of steps forward and waved toward the audience, whom reacted with cheers and whistles.
"The next judge is Goldenrod's very own Nurse Joy!"
More cheers and whistles sounded out as Joy stepped forward. She had stood on Whitney's right side, so Seth didn't see her until she stepped forward.
"And your final judge for tonight is none other than Goldenrod's very own gym leader, moi!" Whitney said as she stepped forward to massive cheers, whistles, and applause. "We may be the judges, but we'll also be seeing how the crowd reacts to each costume, so don't hesitate to cheer for your favorites! With that said, let's get the party STARTED!"
With that, the crowd went into an uproar. Seth saw Jasmine and Whitney look at each other and giggle before making their way down toward the audience. Seth then went back to his seat in the back room while he listened to the roar of the crowd.
"She really knows how to excite the crowd, doesn't she?" A voice said behind him.
Seth looked back to see the Mightyena's owner in his Death costume standing behind him.
"Yeah, she does. She's always very upbeat and enjoys having fun times like this." Seth replied. "That's kinda what made me come to this city this year."
"Same here, except that I live here." The trainer, named Kyle, replied. "Say, have you known them long?"
"Known who long?"
"Whitney and Jasmine. I saw you up on the leader's platform with them. Whitney usually never lets anyone up there except important people."
"Well, that's a long story, to tell you the truth. To make it short, I've actually challenged the leaders here in Johto a couple of times each, and visited a few of them several more times. Whitney and Jasmine are two of them."
The roar of the crowd finally settled down to a low murmur.
"So you think I can get to know a few gym leaders if I can catch them outside of the gym and talk with them?" Kyle asked
"Yeah. They're not always in their gyms, they each have other activities they do during the day." Seth replied "Whitney, for example, I met in the Goldenrod Department Store a few times. You can even rechallenge them if you want to."
"Cool. I'll keep that in mind."
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Whitney suddenly called out. "It's now time for the Pokemon Costume Contest! Each pokemon will be called and walk out one-by-one to display their costumes, and judges will silently rate them. Let's BEGIN!"
Once Seth heard the first pokemon called, he went back to the doorway to watch as the pokemon went to the leader's platform and show off their costumes. Some even added moves and attacks to add appeal. Misty was the third to be called, and she stood on her hind legs and twirled while firing a weakened Blizzard from her mouth. The Blizzard made it look like it was snowing around her, netting some applause and some "aww"s from the crowd. Blaze was the next of Seth's pokemon to be called, and once again, Blaze gave himself a crimson aura and vented fire from his body to give himself an evil look, which got some "ooh"s and applause. Jolt came out immediately after Blaze, and it was fairly evident that the crowd was stunned at his costume choice. Jolt added to the costume by removing the dagger from the sheath and holding it in his mouth as he jumped straight upward and did multiple quick somersaults with the dagger in his mouth, which got roars of applause from the crowd. Sola was called in near the end, but Seth knew that wouldn't deter her from putting on a show. She used Psychic to take out her wand and hold it near her head and wave it while firing a Psybeam from her forehead gem. She waved the wand again and made it look like she was manipulating the Psybeam with magic, making it fly around her and up into the sky, where it wore off. Her performance also got a lot of applause from the crowds. Several pokemon came after Sola before no more announcements were made. Seth saw Jasmine and Nurse Joy turn back and started talking privately while Whitney spoke up on her mic.
"All of the pokemon had a strong showing. Bring them all back out to the floor!" She said, which started a roar of cheers as the costumed pokemon again exited the back room and went down to the crowds.
Seth saw Sola, Blaze, Misty, and Jolt travelling in a group as they headed out onto the floor, no doubt to meet up with Shadow. Whitney had turned back to converse with the other two judges while the crowds cheered on the pokemon contestants heading back down to their trainers and groups. Once the crowd calmed back down to a murmur, the judges turned back to their normal positions.
"Ok, we've tallied our points for all of the pokemon. Now, it's time for the trainers and their costumes." Whitney said.
"Guess it's our turn now." Seth said as he turned to Kyle.
"Yup. No hard feelings?"
"Nah, just having fun. That's all that counts for me."
Each trainer, like the pokemon beforehand, was called out one-by-one onto the platform to showcase their costumes. Kyle was near the beginning, followed by the witch trainer, named Ashley, that Seth witnessed Blaze trying to scare at the pokemon center. Seth called near the end of the order. He showcased his costume by drawing his sword, making two diagonal cuts toward the audience, before standing profile (facing left) and pointing it out in front of him. His costume was met with some applause and the actions added to the applause, but it wasn't what he had hoped for. He reentered the back room and shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess they didn't bite as well, did they?" Kyle asked Seth as he sat down
"Nah, I wonder how many of them actually saw who I was trying to imitate?" Seth replied
"I'd recognize a Flynn immediately." Another voice said. Both Seth and Kyle turned to find Ashley the witch approaching them. "I saw you in the pokemon center before coming here."
"Yeah, that was my Flareon trying to spook you before. Never got the chance to apologize for that." Seth said rubbing the back of his neck.
"It's alright." She replied. "The attempt was pretty nice, but not enough suddenness to get the scare. Looked like he was just having fun."
"Yeah, he really got into the costume as soon as he saw it." Seth replied, which caused all three trainers to start laughing.
"Attention all trainers, you may all come back out while we tally the points." Whitney said over her mic.
"Nice meeting you two, Kyle and Ashley." Seth said as the trio made their way to the door.
"Same here." They both echoed before going their separate ways to their friends and pokemon.
Seth walked a little slowly, impeded by the crowd, but eventually made his way to the lounge area. However, his pokemon weren't there like he expected them to be.
=Sola, where are all of you?= He asked
=Oh, we're nearer to the judges table, we're heading back to the area with the couches and stuff now.=
=Ok, I'll wait for you here.=
After reuniting with his pokemon, he quietly conversed with them about the experience, even going so far as to guess who's going to win the costume contests. All of them seemed to be enjoying themselves, even Shadow. A few minutes passed before the three lady judges stepped back up onto the platform.
"We have the results!" Whitney shouted over the crowd, which caused them to immediately quiet down. She held up a folded card before bringing it back down and looking at the inside. "The winner of the Pokemon Costume Contest…"
A long, tense silence covered the whole room, and everyone seemed to be leaning toward the stage. Seth sat at the edge of his seat in anticipation, while Sola and Shadow nuzzled closely to each other with held breath.
"…is Jolt the Jolteon, owned by Seth of Viridian City!" Whitney looked up with a huge smile on her face.
The whole crowd erupted in cheers and applause. Seth, Sola, Shadow, Blaze, and Misty immediately looked at Jolt with a surprised but happy looks on their faces before erupting in cheers themselves. Jolt, in celebration, bolted off in a flash of yellow light, zigzagging through the crowd then zipping along one of the walls before finally jumping from the wall somersaulting and landing on the platform behind the three ladies. Whitney placed the medal around Jolt's neck, which was a shiny gold-colored Zubat face, before going back to her microphone. Jolt decided to walk back through the cheering crowd as Whitney announced the runner-up. As Whitney was giving the silver-medal to the runner-up, Jolt was met with congratulations from Seth and the rest of the Eeveelutions.
"Your performance really took them off of their feet, Jolt. Awesome job!" Seth told his beaming Jolteon before speaking to his whole team. "I saw all of your performances. You all did a really good job of getting into your costumes."
=We really had fun! I don't care if I didn't win, I had fun.= Sola said, which was followed by a happy nod from Misty and Blaze. =We should do this every year.=
"Don't start getting your plans ready yet, Sola. That's still another year away." Seth replied, laughing.
"Congratulations to the winners and great performances by all of the pokemon contestants." Nurse Joy suddenly said over the mic, "Now onto the trainer's Costume Contest."
=You think you won, Seth?= Sola asked.
=Nah, but like you said, I don't care. I had fun.= he replied before patting her head.
"This year's Costume Contest winner is… Kyle from Goldenrod City!" Nurse Joy said before the gym again erupted in applause.
Kyle in his Death outfit went up and received a shiny gold-colored Duskull medal before looking out over the crowd and waving. Ashley received the runner-up medal for her Wicked Witch costume to just as much applause.
"That's all we wrote. We'll see you again next year!" Whitney said to the roaring crowd.
Several minutes passed by with Seth's pokemon talking to others around the gym. Seth went straight back up to the gym leader's platform to see Whitney and Jasmine again.
"Wow, that was another fun contest." Seth said as he approached the Clefable and Ampharos costumed gym leaders. The crowd had started to disperse, with some leaving the gym now that the main event has ended.
"Yeah, it was really tough to decide for the trainers. It's a shame they didn't cheer for you too much, though." Jasmine said, slightly sad for Seth.
"Oh, I forgot to say before, you also have a cute costume, Jasmine." He said before turning away slightly. Jasmine held her hands to her face and blushed a bit at the comment.
"There were a lot of really good costumes this year. But hey, your Jolteon won by a landside with the audience." Whitney added.
"Yeah, you'd think if they actually recognized Jolt's costume, they'd know mine also. Oh well, it was fun. All of my pokemon enjoyed themselves also." Seth replied trying to keep a good mood.
"I'm glad I came here this year. This city seems to draw pretty large crowds." Jasmine said as she looked out to the mass of trainers and pokemon still inside the gym.
"Yeah, it's a big mess trying to handle this by myself." Whitney replied, "Thanks for coming this year."
"Two leaders are better than one for stuff like this." Seth added, which caused Jasmine and Whitney to giggle a little.
As Seth continued talking with Whitney and Jasmine, the crowds slowly started leaving the gym. Shadow, Blaze, Misty, and Jolt had eaten their fill and started lying down in the lounge area, while Sola joined Seth at the leader's platform. Soon, it was only the two leaders, Seth and his pokemon, and the gym trainers left in the gym. All of them showing signs of getting tired.
"I guess that's it." Whitney said, holding back a yawn and checking her pokegear. "It's almost midnight. Maybe we should call it a night."
"Yeah. Mmmm, I'm too tired to even go back to Olivine." Jasmine said, stretching her arms.
"You can stay here with me until you want to leave tomorrow." Whitney offered. Jasmine nodded in agreement.
"I've got a room at the pokemon center." Seth said as he looked toward his pokemon. "Guess we'd better start making our way back before my pokemon crash in the gym."
"Ok, it was fun. I'll talk to you some other time." Whitney said as Seth and Sola stepped down from the platform. "Call me sometime, I mean it!" She then shouted, which caused Seth to chuckle lightly. He gathered his tired team and exited into the cold night to head back to the pokemon center. Blaze vented heat to keep everyone warm during their trip, but they were suddenly stopped.
"Seth, wait!" he heard from behind him. He turned to see Jasmine running to him.
"What is it, Jasmine?" He asked.
"I also would like to hear from you more. Maybe we could, um… exchange pokegear phone numbers?" She said while looking down, trying to hide her blushing face.
Seth smiled warmly. "Sure. We can meet up and do something whenever you have free time."
They quickly exchanged numbers before she ran back to the gym. Sola jumped at the opportunity.
='We can do something together'? Just admit it already, Seth.= She teased as they entered the building.
"Admit what?" he slyly replied as they made their way up to their room.
=How you really feel about those two gym leaders. C'mon, admit it.= She said, nudging his leg.
"What? They're good friends." He replied as they entered their room. "Kinda soon to be jumping to that conclusion, isn't it?"
=Nope!= She chirped.
Seth helped his Eeveelutions slip out of their costumes and placing them back into their individual bags. He followed suit with his own, and placing the costume bags in a corner of the room. Blaze, Jolt, and Misty immediately fell asleep. Shadow stayed awake with Sola a little longer.
"Another fun Halloween gone in a flash. I felt like I didn't see everyone long enough." He said before falling asleep in the queen-size bed.
Sola and Shadow curled up together on the bed and soon began to fall asleep themselves.
*You can try and deny it all you want, Seth, but we both know what you're really feeling for them.* Sola thought before drifting off to sleep.
Author's Notes: Yeah, yeah, I know I'm too late for Halloween. I originally planned this to be a short, but you know how a writer's mind tends to work, it keeps getting expanded as the idea develops more in your head. I actually got the original idea on the 29th, and it slowly spiraled into the 15 page monster it is now. Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday in their own way.
Me? I TRIED to set up a costume for a theme my sister and her friend wanted to do. We were gonna do a Resident Evil 4 theme. My sister wanted to be Leon (Mafia outfit), her friend (almost another sister to me) was going to be Ashley Graham, and me- the Merchant. My merchant outfit was incomplete, with just the trench, bandanna, gloves, and backpack being the same. It looked perfect when the trench was closed. I had a black hoodie and fleece sweatpants underneath, and stuff was duct taped everywhere (I printed out ammo artwork and taped it to cassette tape boxes for most of the space) and it just looked rushed. But hey, it's good progress for only having a WEEK to get it done. My sister's friend didn't even try to finish her Ashley outfit (She started, at least) and instead was a cowgirl with a British accent *Epic Facepalm*. I plan on finishing the Merchant outfit, though, preferably before Colossalcon, so I'll eventually have pictures.