Out in a small town, there was actually a problem. It's caused many people to be scared to come out at night. Out in the woods, there was actually a monster that had the head of a pumpkin with the rest of a body a series of leaves and vines. It let out a sinister laugh that haunted a lot of people.

...

The Next Day

"Welcome to Kettles, guys." Erza said as the gang was driving into a small town. "It might not look like much, but it can be a fun place. My friends, Sho and Wally, say it's a quaint place."

"Sho and Wally... They're you're friends that you've known since you were children. Is that right?" Lucy questioned.

"That was until they both moved away, but you still managed to keep in touch with them." Gray said.

"That's right. They came to view me like I was there sister." Erza said. "It would be great to see them again, but I wish it was under better circumstances. They're message says the whole town sounds a little uneasy about something." The gang drove into town to see Erza's old friends. When they drove into the town square, they could see two people waiting for them: Sho and Wally.

"Big Sis!" Sho called.

"How you be doing, Erza?! You looking dandy." Wally said.

"Sho! Wally!" Erza called as she ran out of the van and hugged both of them. "It's great to see both of you again. It's nice to hear you call me that again, Sho. Wally, I see you're still trying to be a gangster. I told you those types of movies would mess with your head."

"What are you talking about? I'm the cat's pajamas." Wally said.

"I told you that no one talks like that anymore." Sho complained.

"Let me introduce you to my friends. That's Gray, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy." Erza said as she introduced each one of them.

"It's nice to meet you guys. Erza's told us about you in each of your messages." Sho said as he was starting to get uneasy. "Thank goodness you guys are here because the town could really use help. You guys really solve mysteries involving ghosts and monsters, right?"

"That's what we do." Natsu said. "It doesn't even matter if we're trying or not. They tend to find us."

"Well, the whole town could really use your dandy detective work." Wally claimed.

"Calm down. Just tell us what's going on." Erza said.

"We actually have a monster of our own in this town. It's called...Jack-O-Head." Sho said.

"Jack-O-Head? That doesn't sound so scary." Gray said.

"Who is he?" Erza questioned.

"He's this monster that has pumpkin for a head." Sho said. "He roams around at night and a lot of people are scared of him. They say that when he catches you, he'll place a jack-o-lantern over your head. When that happens, you turn into one of his pumpkin-headed zombies. He's been causing some terror around our town for a long time. Some people are afraid to go out at night."

"A monster that could turn people into pumpkin-headed zombies? That does sound a little creepy." Lucy said. Happy imagined what that would be like as he even tried shaping his head like a pumpkin and walked around like a zombie.

"No one knows what to do. That's why when you told us about your mystery solving business, we thought you could help." Wally said.

"Of course we will help." Erza said as they have another mystery on their hands.

"What else can you tell us about this monster?" Gray asked.

"Well, a lot of people do think Farmer Paul has something to do with it." Sho said.

"Who?" Lucy questioned.

"Farmer Paul. He lives east side of town and runs a pumpkin patch, but he's a mean one." Wally said. "He doesn't really like people being on his property."

"Sounds like a good place to start." Gray said. "Let's get to work guys. Let's see what we can find about this Jack-O-Head. That has got to be the weirdest sounding monster name I've ever heard."

...

The Gang

Hearing about this monster terrorizing the town, the gang got to work to find out more about what is really going on. That's why they're meeting with this Farm Paul and see if he really has anything to do with it.

"Do you guys really think there's some sort of pumpkin monster around here?" Natsu questioned.

"Well, something has Sho and Wally spooked." Erza said.

"We'll find out soon enough. Here's Farm Paul's farm." Gray said as they could see a farm coming up, but there were a bunch of keep out signs. That didn't stop them as they pulled up to the farm.

"Sheesh. This place is sort of creepy." Natsu said with Happy a little nervous to go in there. "Why do you guys think he doesn't want anyone snooping around?"

"Hard to say. People are just paranoid or something." Gray said. "Let's go in, but be careful." All of them moved inside the farm and had a look around to see if this guy really had anything to do with the monster that's been roaming around. They all moved carefully and were careful not to disturbed anything.

"I've never seen pumpkins when it wasn't fall. This guy must really know what he's doing." Natsu said. Happy confirmed that as he tapped one of the pumpkins and it seemed like a nice, ripe, and firm.

"He sure does have a lot." Lucy said as she looked around and saw there were pumpkin everywhere. "If he doesn't like people on his property, what does he do with all of them?"

"I wonder what he has in there." Erza said as she looked directly at the farm and wanted to investigate it.

"What are you all doing on my farm?!" They all looked and were met with Farmer Paul himself. He wore brown overalls with red plaid shirt with him having brown hair. He was giving off this intense feeling like just his presence was scary. "Did you not read the signs? People aren't allowed here. This here is private property."

"We're really sorry." Lucy said.

"The thing is we're actually investigating the monster known as Jack-O-Head." Gray said. "We thought that since this was a pumpkin patch, we might find something here. You wouldn't happen to know about it, would you?"

"Yeah... I've heard of that monster." Farmer Paul said as he moved a little closer to the gang with all of them getting a little nervous. "I hear that he goes after rotten people that don't seem to mind their own business. I heard that he walks around at night looking for new people to turn into his children. I also know that everyone thinks I have something to do with it, so unless you have something that says I do, get off my property!" He shouted.

"Yes, sir." Lucy said as they all ran out of there like their lives depended on it. They all climbed into the van and drove off as fast as they could. "That was the scariest man I ever met that didn't wear a costume."

"He really doesn't like people on his property." Gray said. "It has me wondering what he could be hiding on that farm."

"Gray, stop for a moment!" Erza said with Gray pulling over like she said. "Look there!" They all looked and could see a trail of pumpkin guts and seeds. They all got out and took a closer look at it. "Pumpkin guts and seeds that lead into the woods."

"Maybe this Jack-O-Head came by here. I say we try to find this pumpkin monster." Gray said.

"Well, we need to follow this trail before the animals eat it away." Lucy said.

"But we also need to keep an eye on Farmer Paul." Gray said. "Natsu and Happy, you two stay here and keep an eye on him. We'll follow the trail."

"Why do we get the crazy farmer?" Natsu questioned.

"Would you rather go find the monster and risked being turned into one of his zombies?" Gray teased.

"Suddenly, watching the crazy farmer doesn't seem so bad." Natsu said as he and Happy made their way back to the farm.

...

Gray and the Girls

Gray and the girls followed the trail of pumpkin guts into the woods to see if they could find this Jack-O-Head. They had a look around the woods, but it was already getting dark and the trail is starting to get cold.

"Oh no. I was afraid of this. It looks like some of the animals that live here have eaten some of the pumpkin guts." Lucy said.

"Or maybe we went in the wrong direction. Maybe we should have followed the trail going the other way." Erza said.

"Well, it's getting dark. That means we should be seeing this monster soon." Gray said. "I wonder if Happy and Natsu have found anything with Farmer Paul yet." The three of them kept on moving until something happened and Erza ended up falling over.

"Erza! Are you okay?!" Lucy said.

"I think so, but I tripped over something." Erza said.

"More like you got snared." Gray said as they took a look and saw some sort of wire coiled around Erza. "When you tripped over this wire, it must have wrapped around your legs. Not a bad trap, but what's it going out here in the first place?"

"Maybe some careless hunter left it out here. Let's just try to get her out of it." Lucy said.

"And hurry up. It's pretty tight that's it starting to hurt." Erza said. Lucy and Gray tried to get Erza out of that trap, but their backs were turned to something else. They missed Jack-O-Head coming out and he crept his way right over to them like they were unsuspecting victims and he was about to pounce.

...

Farmer Paul's Farm

While the others were trying to find this Jack-O-Head, Natsu and Happy tried staying near the farm. The place was even creepier at night, but they were able to keep themselves hidden. The two of them carefully looked around for anything, but it seemed like they were alone. There wasn't a light on or anything.

"We're in luck, Happy. It looks like the crazy farmer isn't here." Natsu said as he took a flashlight and looked around. The two of them went back in and had a look around. "Careful, Happy. We don't want that creep to know we were here. Make sure you find clues." As they were searching, Happy spotted something. That's why he climbed up Natsu and pointed the flashlight to the ground. "Tire tracks! I thought this guy didn't like people being around here, and it doesn't look like he's got a vehicle." Natsu followed the tracks up to the farm and on the road. "How can he have company when he doesn't want anyone around?"

"Meow." Natsu followed that meow and saw Happy sitting on a table that had other pumpkins on it.

"Careful, Happy. Remember that we don't want him to know we were here." Natsu said. Happy knew that, but he still fiddled around with the pumpkins and actually knocked one over. "Happy!" He called as he hurried and caught it. "I said be careful!" He claimed, but then he noticed the stem falling off. "Huh? It's carved?" Natsu looked inside and couldn't believe it. "Holy cow! There's cash inside this pumpkin!" He said as he could see wads of cash inside it. "What would all this be doing in a pumpkin?" He said. Happy thought of something as he tried to look like he was giving the thumbs up. "Yeah. I've heard of green thumb, but this is not what they meant. Hey, there's something else in here." He reached inside and pulled out what looked like a plate for money. "What's this doing in here?" This was getting really weird, but there was no time to think about it as he heard his phone go off and saw it was Lucy. "Hey, Lucy." He answered. "You won't believe what me and Happy found."

"Natsu, help!" Lucy said as she sounded scared. "We found Jack-O-Head, or rather he found us! He already got Gray and Erza, and now he's after me! You've got to... AWWWWW!"

"Lucy?! Lucy?!" Natsu called, but all he got was silence from the phone. "Something happened! Come on, Happy! The others need our help!" Natsu dropped the pumpkin, but he took the plate with him as he and Happy hurried out of there to help their friends.

...

Natsu and Happy

"Gray! Erza! Lucy! Where are you guys?!" Natsu called as he and Happy ran through the woods to try and find their friends, but there wasn't a sign of them anywhere. "I hope they're okay." He and Happy were really worried about them and needed to find them fast.

"HAHAHAHAHAH!"

"Happy, now is not time for laughing." Natsu said with annoyance, but that wasn't Happy. They heard the laughter again and were now faced with Jack-O-Head.

"Didn't anyone tell you it's not safe after dark around here?!" Jack-O-Head mocked.

"What did you do with our friends?!" Natsu called.

"Come and find out." Jack-O-Head said as it seemed like he was going to attack them. Natsu and Happy ran for it as they tried to get out of there. "There is no escape from me!"

"Says who?!" Natsu called as they tried running as fast as they could, but they ended up tripping over a wire and that caused a net to fall right over them.

"I have you now!" Jack-O-Head claimed, but Happy thought differently as he used his nails and cut their way out of the net and kept running. The two of them kept running from the monster, but they soon stumbled upon another trap. A net was about to rise up from underneath them, but they managed to jump out of the way. "You can't run forever!"

"Wanna bet!" Natsu called as they kept running, but Happy stopped just short of a pitfall. However, Natsu ran into Happy and they both fell in. They both hit the ground rather hard, but it seemed like they're trapped now. They heard laughter once again and saw him standing over them.

"Now the fun begins! Keep them occupied while I get a nice couple pumpkins." Jack-O-Head said as he just left the two of them down there.

"What did he mean by that?" Natsu said. That was when they heard grumbling. Both of them saw they weren't alone and saw Lucy, Gray, and Erza, but they had jack-o-lanterns for heads. They've been turned into pumpkin-headed zombies. "No! Guys! He's turned you all into pumpkin-headed zombies!" They didn't even talk like normal people anymore. "Guys, it's us! It's Natsu and Happy!" He said as they moved closer to him. "Oh man! I can't believe it! This is it!" He thought he and Happy were done for as Lucy came over to him. "Lucy! Come on! Look at me! It's me!" He said as he grabbed Lucy's pumpkin, but that's when she settled down. "Is it working? Is our love that strong?" She held up a finger and then tried pushing up the pumpkin with his hands. "Uh... You want me to lift your head up?" She confirmed that's what she wanted. Natsu tried doing that and it was on their tight. Lucy helped as she pushed up with the pumpkin. It was a tough fit, but they got it off and showed Lucy was still normal, but had a gag in her mouth. When that pumpkin was off, she removed it.

"Thank goodness. It smelled in there." Lucy said.

"You're okay!" Natsu said as he and Happy were glad to see that.

"We're not zombies. Gore face gagged us and put pumpkins on our heads." Lucy said. "Good thing they were carved or it would have been difficult to breath." Natsu and Lucy helped out Gray and Erza. They tried to get their pumpkins off and got them right off with them in the same condition as Lucy.

"Are you all okay?" Natsu questioned.

"We're fine." Erza said. "At least now we know how the monster turns people into "zombies". Once he caught us, he had us stuck down here and put pumpkins on our heads. With us being gagged, it almost sounded like we were turned into zombies. We couldn't tell anyone we were perfectly fine."

"We also noticed there were traps all over this area." Gray said.

"Yeah. Happy and I saw that too." Natsu said.

"And they didn't seem very whimsical for anything like a monster. They looked like regular traps." Lucy said. "That proves he's nothing but a big fake."

"But we still don't know what's going on. Did you two find anything back at Farmer Paul's place?" Gray said.

"Sure did. You're not going to believe it. We found cash inside one of the pumpkins!" Natsu said.

"Cash?! As in actual money?!" Erza said. "Why would there be money inside a pumpkin?"

"I don't know, but we also found this in there." Natsu said as he took out the plate he found in the pumpkin. Lucy grabbed a hold of it and took a look at it.

"This looks like a plate used to make money." Lucy said. When she said that, she understood it all now. "I think I get it now. We just need to get out of here and trap pumpkin freak."

"And this guys saved us the trouble of setting a trap on him. Let's turn the tables on him." Gray said as they know of a way to catch.

...

Jack-O-Head

Jack-O-Head was on his way back with two fresh pumpkins to put on Natsu's and Happy's heads. He thought he had those kids caught, but he was about to prove them wrong.

"Hey, pumpkin. Did you miss us?!" Natsu said as he and Happy revealed themselves to him.

"You two?! How did you managed to escape?!" Jack-O-Head said.

"You're clearly as empty as those pumpkins if you thought that was actually going to hold us. What's more is that we know your secrets now. You're not as clever as you think." Natsu taunted.

"Is that so?!" Jack-O-Head said as he dropped his pumpkins and ran at the two of them. He took the bait as Natsu and Happy made a run for it. Natsu and Happy were running through the woods and they were luring him right to where he wanted. Gray and the girls took a few traps in the woods and altered it to be used as their own.

"All set." Gray said. "Once Happy and Natsu lure Jack-O-Head here, he'll trip over the hidden wire. Then, he'll bounce off the net and right into the pitfall we have placed."

"I hope it works. Here it comes." Lucy said as they saw them coming.

"Get ready, Happy. The trap should be just ahead." Natsu said as they kept running. They were suppose to step over the wire, but they actually fell into it themselves. The two of them tripped over the wire with them bouncing against the net. When that happened, they tackled into Jack-O-Head. Rather than falling into a pit, the three of them ended up tumbling down a hill.

"Natsu! Happy!" Lucy called as the three of them were worried they were hurt. They hurried down after them and saw Natsu and Happy right over Jack-O-Head.

"Are you two okay?!" Erza asked.

"Yeah. The monster broke our fall." Natsu said. That was when they saw the monster's head split open and the mask broke apart with them seeing his real face and who he really was.

"Just as we thought. Farmer Paul." Gray said.

"You darn meddling kids... Ooh... I got a splitting headache..." Farmer Paul said.

...

The Farm

Once they caught Farmer Paul, the gang called the police to apprehend him. They also invited Sho and Wally over to hear this.

"You kids are really something. Many people have been afraid of Farmer Paul and thought he had something to do with this monster, but we never had anything on him." The police officer said.

"We all knew he was a no good crony, but I'm still baffled as to what he wanted." Wally said.

"The real reason Farmer Paul wanted to keep people away from his property because he didn't want to take the chance of his counterfeiting operation being known." Gray said.

"Farmer Paul has a few contraptions inside that allow him make fake money, but it's pretty authentic." Erza said. "It might seem like he didn't want people around, but he really allowed those who were a part of it."

"And in order to avoid suspicion, he carved out his pumpkins and put all the fake money inside them to make it look like he was just selling his pumpkins." Lucy said. "However, he slipped up and placed one of the plates he uses to make the money in one of the pumpkins and that was the key piece to us solving this. He also became Jack-O-Head to make sure no one would come around."

"And he also set up a series of traps to help him catch people." Natsu said. "He made it look like he was turning them into pumpkin-headed zombies to make it look more authentic, but they were all just gagged with carved pumpkins placed on their heads."

"Well, thanks to all of you, Farmer Paul will be going away for a long time. The people here will be glad to know he's behind bars." The officer said.

"Thanks a lot, Big Sis! I knew we could count on you." Sho said.

"Catching monsters is what we do. Right, Happy?" Natsu said, but he noticed Happy was missing. "Where are you, little buddy?" He looked around until Happy showed himself, but he had a pumpkin on his head. "Nice try, Happy. You're not scaring anyone with that." He said as he poked at the pumpkin, but it fell off and Happy's head was missing. "His head!" He shouted in fear and ended up tripping over the pumpkins, but Happy popped his head right out and chuckled. Looks like Farmer Paul wasn't the only mischievous one on this farm.