Summerween (Part 3)
This couldn't be happening…
No correction it shouldn't be happening, and yet it was!
On the street, the haunting figure of the Halloween Trickster stalked up to them. The lights flickered as he passed. He stopped a few yards away from them and raised his hand. "Knock-knock!" The children backed up trying to create some distance between them and the beast. But The Trickster followed, and for each large step he took, they took two. "Where's my candy?" he asked.
Stan stood protectively in front of the others, holding up his fist. "W-we have it! I swear! All five hundred pieces!" He assured him. "Just check down there! We'll help!" He tipped his head to the disturbed bushes.
"I'm afraid that was your last chance." The Summerween Trickster growled and got ready to pounce.
Stan chucked a piece of candy at him. The candy merged into his throat. The Trickster laughed and as his clothes tore another set of arms sprouted from his back.
"Go, go, go, go!" Ford ordered.
His friends wasted no time running past the Summerween Trickster and out of the junkyard.
Stan took the lead followed by Fids, Buddy and Susan. While Ford, Heather and Cooper took up the rear.
The creature spun around and chased them, running on all fours with two limbs out ready to snatch them.
Fids tripped over his own oversized feet and fell on the road in a heap. His hood fell over his head and the bag with half a dozen pieces of candy in it spilled out. "Ahk! HELP!" he screamed as a large hand wrapped around his chest and drew him into the air. Although he hit the Trickster's wrist and fingers, the Summerween Trickster didn't even flinch.
Susan stopped and jumped up to grab him. Her fingers slipped on his shoes. The Trickster grabbed her.
Ford spun around to face him. He had to save his friends, or die trying, but much like Susan he wasn't any help. The Summerween Trickster grabbed him, too. "Oh no! STANLEY!"
Unfortunately, Stan was not better off as a hand grabbed him, too. Fids nearly wriggled out of the Summerween Trickster's grasp, but the creature's grip just tightened around him.
"Guys!" Heather screamed as she came to a screeching halt.
"What do we do?" Buddy screamed.
"What can we do?" Cooper asked.
"You die!" The Trickster said snatching them up laughing darkly.
Cooper looked about. "Oh Man. If I wasn't so stupid- argh!" He tried to struggle free to no avail.
"If only Dan was here." Ford said. "He'd know what to do."
Suddenly a car engine snarled behind them, and The Trickster exploded as an old truck burst through it. Bits and pieces of fluff, cloth, and hard pieces hit the rusted, brown exterior. The kids fell to the ground.
The passenger side door opened and to their surprise Maria walked out of the car, wearing a ghost costume. "Kids there you are." She said.
"Ria!" the kids cried and swarmed her truck.
"We have to run!" Stan yelled.
"I know you're late Ms. Pine says you're an hour past curfew." Ria scowled.
"No not that!" Ford screamed. "That!" He pointed at the Trickster, who was slowly starting to retake his shape.
Ria's face suddenly went very serious. "Kids in the car!"
The kids wasted no time obeying, Ria also climbed in and shut her door and, once their doors were shut, she locked them. "Seatbelts." She advised as the monster blocked their path. "This is gonna get messy."
"Dude I never knew she was so cool." Stan admitted.
Fids nodded.
Ria put her car into gear and slammed on the gas she bulldozered through the monster as she went. The act caused the Trickster to scatter once more.
"Yes!" Stan shouted. "We did it!"
"Wow you're a life saver." Buddy told Ria.
"No one messes with my family." Ria said.
I'm just glad it's over." Heather said and then flinched. "Ow." She rubbed her elbow, which had gotten hurt hitting the ground.
"Are you okay?" Cooper asked.
Heather turned away from him, giving him the cold shoulder.
Ford pulled out a bandage and goes to give to Heather, but he stops. He looks at Cooper as if debating.
Cooper goes to say something to Heather, but for once the guy can't find the right words. As if he knows saying something will only make matters worse. So, he says nothing, and in that moment, Ford knows what to do.
He wordlessly hands Cooper the bandage and gestures to Heather.
Cooper nods and opens the bandage before placing it on heather's hurt elbow.
Heather turns to look at him, obviously stunned.
Cooper offers a smile.
Fids looked back. "Uh, guys?"
Behind them, the Summerween Trickster reformed, this time into a blob with a yellow smiley face and four limbs. His clothes had been shredded away, bearing his lumpy dark whatever it was he was made of. The creature growled and launched himself from the ground.
The kids screamed as he landed on the car.
Ria hissed in surprise and fish-tailed her truck to try and dislodge the monster. The Trickster cackled and turned around so that his feet were on the dented hood. A pole snapped and caught on the Trickster, effectively throwing him off. The truck spun and skidded as the woman struggled to regain control over it.
"BRAKES!" Susan yelled, pointing to the Summerween Superstore they were about to hit.
Ria stomped on the breaks. The truck slowed, but still burst through the store and knocked over an aisle of supplies before stopping. The airbags deployed, but thanks to their seatbelts the kids had only gained a few bruises; they were alright.
Ria stumbled out of the car and helped the kids, shaky on their feet and in shock from the accident, out. The Summerween Trickster crawled out of the street and into the store. "Hide! All of you!" Ria ushered them into the aisles, out of sight. The Trickster tore off the truck door but, when he found its contents missing, stalked about the store.
The kids, who were all holding hands, pressed up against the back of one aisle.
"He's blocking our only exit!" Buddy hissed.
"No I think they have a staff only exist in the back." Ria assured them. "We might be able to make it." She peaks around the corner to see if the coast was clear. "Follow me."
They darted to the next aisle. The Trickster hesitated as it caught the movement but continued to search.
The group ducked into empty spaces inside the isle.
"Please let him leave," Ford thought.
The Trickster, growing increasingly more annoyed, skulked about the place and snarled.
"No one make a noise," Cooper breathed.
"Now you're concerned about the monster," Heather couldn't help but cut in snidely. "I thought all you cared about was Dan and those teens."
"Look I messed up." Cooper admitted. "I know that, and I know I can't take it back. I just think we're a bit old for this."
"That's exactly why we need to do it while we still can." Heather argued. "There aren't that many Halloweens left."
"I'm sorry." Cooper told her.
Sorry…
Cooper never said sorry, not for anything. So, Heather knew he was serious, and yet she looked to Ford as if unsure.
Ford gave her a nod. Yes, he could be a jerk and tell her to dump the jock, heck they'd probably be better off. But Ford had noticed exactly what Heather did just now.
Something had changed in Cooper tonight, he didn't know what, but for the first time the jerk was actually caring about someone else. And that deserved some points in a positive direction.
Heather placed her hand on Cooper's shoulder and nodded before placing a finger to her mouth.
Cooper understood there would be plenty of time for heart felt apologies later.
"This isn't working! He's going to eat us at this rate." Buddy pointed out.
"We need to get a disguise. Maybe we can fool him!" Ford suggested.
Susan pointed to the costumes in the aisle. "Come on!"
Soon enough, the kids were dressed in 3 hooded skeleton costumes, 2 archers, and a gorilla. Maria had also changed into a fairy. Now disguised, the group skittered through the store, often stopping in places and pretending to be signs, empty suits, or hiding in a cubby or piles of costumes.
Finally, they made it to the end.
"Okay, we get out and we run," Stan stated in a breath. "No looking back. No noise!"
Ford nodded. "Okay, we have everyone, right? Stanley, Fiddleford, Heather, Cooper, Susan, Maria–wait.
Buddy!
The group looked back to see their friends costume had snagged on a rack.
"Oh no! Get him!" Stan hissed.
Ford darted forward to try and help.
Too late!
"There you are!" the Trickster growled and ran for him.
"Hurry!" Buddy begged.
Ford managed to get him free seconds later and they darted for the exit.
The Trickster snarled and lunged at them. It pounced and grabbed Fids. They'd hardly had a chance to look back before the boy was eaten whole.
"Fiddleford!" Stan screamed and fell to his knees. "He was so young!"
Ford picked up a toy sword. "Hey, monster!" The Trickster turned on the boy as he charged.
Stan ran around to his other side so, when the Trickster attacked Ford, it ended up getting slapped in the face by a toy battleax. Susan struck one of his legs, causing it to buckle. The Trickster ignored the wound, even as it bled. Susan spats as "blood" hit her face. "What? Saltwater taffy?"
The Summerween Trickster cackled and swooped down on them. Stan cut the monster's wrist off. Bits of his 'blood' splattered onto his face. "Wait, you do taste like saltwater taffy!"
The Trickster grabbed the trio and held them up. Their weapons clanged to the floor. "Do you still not recognize me?" The Summerween Trickster prompted.
"Who cares?" Stan yelled. "You ate our friend."
"Take a look at my face." The Trickster said and took off his mask. "Take a good look."
Licorice framed what would be the creature's mouth. Candy corn jutted out of his gums like teeth.
Two pieces of round candy stood for his eyes. His entire body was made of–
"Loser candy?" Stan asked.
"That's right!" the Trickster hissed. "Did you ever stop and think about the candy at the bottom of the bag that no one likes? Every year the children of Gravity Falls throw away all the 'REJECTED' candy into the dump. So, I seek revenge; revenge on the picky children who cast me aside. I'm made of every tossed piece of black licorice, every discarded bar of old chocolate with like that white, powder stuff on it. You know that stuff!"
"I hate that stuff!" Stan exclaimed.
"I know," the Trickster growled. "So, I'm going to eat you." He hesitated at a barely audible, muffled noise. "Huh? What's- AGK!" The monster convulsed and dropped them. He took a step back and landed flat on his back.
And there standing before the now wounded monster was none other than…
"Cooper?" Stan gasped.
"Seriously?" The boy asked as he wiped some of the loser candy from his face. "All this because no one would eat you?" He scoffed. "You're worse than these losers!"
Suddenly Fids erupted from the monster's stomach and looked about. He looked down at the monster and his hands, which were, by now, covered in sticky sugar, and then up again. He threw his arms into the air with a laugh. "I ate my way through a candy monster!"
"You… like my candy?" The Trickster wheezed.
Cooper and Fids shared a look.
"Sure." Cooper said. "Whatever it takes to shut you up."
"Not me." Fids admitted. "I just know you're made of candy."
Everyone gave him an astonished look.
"What?" He asked. "Seriously am I the only one who knows the legend?"
"You could have shared!" Heather screamed.
"You mean you guys wouldn't have actually considered that eating him would work?" Fids asked.
"I wouldn't." Buddy admitted.
Tears of candy corn rolled down the Trickster's face and onto the floor. "All I've ever wanted was for someone to say that I was…!"
Cooper suddenly hit him with a bat causing his head to shatter into candy. "Yeah, we get it you're grateful." He shook his head. "And you guys wonder why I never want to hang." He said to Ford. "You're like weirdness magnets."
Heather gave him a warning look, but Ford shrugged.
"He's right you know." He told her.
"Weird things don't always happen when we hang out." Heather argued.
Suddenly the kid who'd been eaten first burst out of the monster's side, hands in the air and smile big. "I've been traumatized!" the little kid announced.
Cooper gave Heather a smug look.
Heather sighed. "Okay maybe it does." She admitted.
The monster stopped moving and Ria helped the kids off the Summerween Trickster.
"So, I guess this is the end of the Summerween Trickster." Stan said.
"Nope he'll be back next year." Fids assured him. "As long as there is someone to reject loser candy he will always return."
"Okay for now on you're telling us every legend your dad knows." Ford said. "No matter how ridiculous it sounds."
"Agreed." Fids said.
"Let's get you guys home." Ria urged, hobbling back outside. "Buddy, Cooper you and the girls will have to stay at the shack tonight."
The kids nodded sleepily, the walk back to the shack was long, and once inside Fids called.
"Ms. Pines? Hello?"
"Hey, Grauntie Mabel!" Stan yelled. "We're home!"
Mabel, still dressed walked into the front room. "There you are! Thank you for driving them here, Maria."
"Wasn't any trouble." Ria said. "They just got held up trying to lug their candy home." She lied.
"Got that much uh?" Mabel asked. "Well let's see it."
"We kind of lost it." Stan said.
"I knocked it in the river." Cooper admitted. "Being stupid."
Heather elbowed him. "Apology accepted." She told him.
Mabel sighed. "Well, at least you made it home safe…Fiddleford? Why are you covered in candy?"
Fids gave her a very serious face speaking with complete conviction, "I ate my way out of a candy Monster."
Silence…
Mabel blinked before shaking it off. "Well, I hope you left room." She said before she opened a trunk which was full of candy.
"Cool!" Stan exclaimed as he started to eat.
Buddy gave him a disgusted look.
"What?" Stan asked.
"How can you eat that?" Buddy asked.
"I will never be able to look at candy the same way again." Susan agreed.
Stan shrugged "More for me!" he concluded as Mabel went to turn on a scary movie for the kids.
"I'll call your fokes and let them know you're staying on the count of it being late." She told her nephews' friends as the kids sat down on the floor at various points nearby. Ford scooped some of the candy into a bowl and handed it to Stan as the show began.
"And now back to the fear guide from Terror Town Street!" the TV announced as it flicked to a tame horror movie featuring an alien and a terrified woman.
"You know, kids," Mabel started. "I realize that Summerween has a lot of candy in it. But I feel like the biggest part of Summerween is staying with the people you love…"
"And pure evil!" Stan added and broke into maniacal Laughter. Everyone else followed suit.
Fids piped up, "I ate a man alive tonight."
"I ate him first." Cooper boasted.
"And we're the weird ones?" Heather asked him teasingly.
"Maybe the weirdness is rubbing off on him." Stan suggested.
Cooper scoffed. "You wish." He said giving him a playful punch.
The kids laughed, like they had never laughed before, and why shouldn't they?
Sure, they had almost gotten eaten alive, but all in all it had turned out to be a perfect day.
-To Be Continued