A lazy late-morning breeze danced through the air throughout all of Feron Grove. With the exception of a few clouds and birds taking flight, only sunshine emanated from the sky, illuminating a peaceful, yet already-busy day in one of the island city's parks.

"Bleh!"

Misty let out a momentary shriek as a grotesque, zombified head popped up and shouted from under the table she just approached. As quick as she screamed, she smacked the monster in the back of the head, causing it to tumble to the ground. Instead of crying out in pain, it simply laughed.

"Really, Ash?" the girl said, catching her breath and putting a box of decorations on the wooden park bench. A couple of orange leaves drifted down from the overhanging branches of a nearby tall tree.

Ash took the monster mask off and rubbed his head, slowly getting up. "Oh come on, Misty," he said. "That was a scream, wasn't it?"

"Just like you…" Misty whispered, shaking her head and straightening some strands of her fiery hair back. "That mask is so cheesy anyway. It wasn't scary."

"How about this one?" somebody asked. Misty turned to see someone wearing a skeleton mask with large fangs and bloodshot eyes, making her scream and jump back again. The person laughed along with Ash, taking the mask off and revealing Hayashi's smiling face. Misty tried to smack him, but Hayashi backed out of the way.

"Now that's an awesome mask," Ash told Hayashi as he went over to help Tracey and a few other guys from Feron Grove High drag up some orange and black lantern lights from a box. Everyone had been working since the early morning to get the park ready for the upcoming Full Moon Monster Mash, a dance party for older kids in the area.

"That wasn't funny," Misty called, scowling at the two.

"Wasn't supposed to be," Vanna, one of her friends from school, said. She recoiled from the masks the boys had put on the table. "Those are too ugly…"

"What are you talking about?" Hayashi asked, setting up a ladder to help the others hang up the lantern lights on a nearby park gazebo. "That was really funny."

At that moment, Lia, Brock, and a few other teens came over from another nearby table, all examining something on a piece of paper except for Lia, who had her face squarely in a book—Amalei's Hidden Treasures. She lightly punched her older brother's arm. "Always finding time to laugh, huh bro?" she quipped.

"There's always time for that," Hayashi answered, looking at his sister. "You could stand to do so while you have some free time. How long have you been reading that one again?"

"About forty hours," Lia announced, pointing two boys in different directions as Brock spoke without ever taking her eyes off of the pages. "Underwater, huh? Good thing I planned ahead."

"Okay, Kevin, the breakdancing floor's gonna be in the center…" Brock began, Lia pointing the young man to begin setting things up. "The sound system and the DJ will be right next to the other gazebo over there. Yashid, did the DJ confirm the track listing?"

"Sure did, Brock," Yashid said, pushing his glasses up to his face and checking his notes from that phone call. "We've got swing, rock and roll, country, Halloween-themed tunes, and slow jams."

"Awesome," Brock said, giving Yashid a thumbs-up. "And no matter what music is over there, we are sure to bring in the ladies from everywhere."

"Careful, man," Tracey cut in. He was stringing the lights along the support posts of the all-white gazebo. "Your charm might be too much for them. You won't even need a costume to scare them."

"Hey, whoa, whoa!" Brock protested, going up to his friend. "That's what the old Brock was about, you know, laying on the charm," He ran his hands up his tall, bushy hair. "It's all about being calm and collected now."

"Yeah, like you were with Eliza Peterson," Misty said, shaking her head in disbelief as she went over to hand Hayashi some more decorations.

"Hey, I had a lot of coffee that day. That's why I was so jittery," Brock said.

"Jittery about what?" a voice questioned. Brock turned around to see the demure, ebony face of Eliza Peterson, her eyebrow raised.

"Aw, nothing," Brock answered, shrugging. "Just excited about getting this party started! And I can't wait to get my groove on." Brock began to slide and move about a little, smiling at the girl. "And I can't wait to see you on the dance floor."

Eliza started to laugh and walked past Brock. "I don't know. Your moves just might be too much for all of us to handle," she said.

Brock just stood where he was and stared at her. Misty and Lia giggled.

"Real calm and collected," Lia jabbed at him. Brock waved her off and went over to another section of the park to check things out.

"Yeah. Anyway, Hayashi, you said you'd be showing us a couple swing moves later today?" Misty questioned.

"Sure did," the older Feran sibling said, coming down off the ladder and taking Misty's hand. Quickly twirling, they wrapped around each other, performing the swing dancing maneuver known as The Pretzel. Ash saw this from his side of the park and sighed, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth a little.

Hayashi took at his watch and said, "But…that'll have to wait a little. I have to get going. I have an assignment to finish up, but we'll catch up later?"

"Sure," Misty said, grinning. "See you later," The others waved as well, and Hayashi took off.

"Hey, guys," Lia yelled, pulling Misty aside and tapping Tracey on the shoulder. "I think now's a good time for a lunch break. Let's all meet back here in two hours!"

"Now that sounds like a plan!" Kevin shouted, who was nearby, the other teens nodding approvingly.

The three friends went over and got Brock to join them as well, then went over to Ash, who was stutter-stepping, moving his arms about, and mumbling to himself.

"Let's see. Put your arm behind you, bring her forward into the move…Uh hey guys!" he stammered, snapping out of what he was practicing. Misty coyly smiled a little as he spoke. "What's up?"

"Break time," Tracey said, barely stifling a laugh. "Come on."

"Yeah, we've got to go down by the river and check something out," Lia said with a little urgency in her voice.

"The river? Why?" Ash asked.

Lia tapped the cover of Amalei's Hidden Treasures and then her Communicator. "If what I've read is anything like last time, it'll be worth it. Besides, I've got a surprise for you there anyway!"