Author's note: Hello again! It's been a while, eh? Well, the fic ideas are flowing thick and fast lately, so it's hard to know which fic to update. XD

Also, if any of you have any one-shot ideas, let me know and I'll consider them!

Yet again, I've stepped into unfamiliar territory with this one-shot, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Lastly... wow. This is the longest one-shot of the collection yet! XD I seriously didn't mean for it to be this long, but never mind. Lol.

Fright Night

After a while of travelling, Ash, Dawn, Brock and Pikachu had come across an unusual sight. Directly in front of them was a festival, complete with stalls manned by pokémon, jack-o-lanterns hanging from wires that trailed between trees, and other various pokémon ordering food and playing games at the stalls. There were no humans anywhere to be found, and a banner across the entrance read 'Pokémon Halloween Festival! No humans allowed!'

"What is this place?" Dawn asked curiously.

"It looks pretty cool!" Ash said enthusiastically.

"I dunno," Brock replied, flipping through a guide book. "There's nothing in the guide book about it."

A woman with long, reddish purple hair appeared in front of them, wearing a blue top hat and tuxedo that matched her eyes. "Welcome, welcome!" she said cheerfully.

A man with short, bluish purple hair appeared beside her, wearing a green top hat and tuxedo that matched his eyes. "This is the brand-spanking new Pokémon Halloween Festival!" he said just as cheerfully.

They both spoke at the same time. "No humans allowed!"

"Except for us, of course," the woman added.

"But we're not going in," the man finished, "so we don't count!"

The woman tipped her purple top hat. "So... are you three here to let loose your pokémon so they can enjoy some Halloween fun?"

Dawn walked forward and squinted at the pair. "Say..." she said slowly, "you two wouldn't happen to be Team Rocket, would you?"

The pair blinked at her. "Who?" the man asked.

There was a sudden crashing noise behind them. Spinning around to look, the group spotted Jessie, James and Meowth in a crumpled heap at the base of a tree.

Jessie jumped to her feet, outraged. "You little twerp!" she yelled. "The one time you recognise us, it's not even us!"

James also jumped to his feet. "If you're going to do that, at least get it right!" he wailed. "I work hard on those disguises!"

Meowth also jumped to his feet. "How dare ya mistake dose cheap knockoffs for us!" he yelled.

"Team Rocket!" Ash called out angrily. "Quick, Pikachu, get rid of 'em with Thunderbolt!"

"(Right!)" Pikachu replied with a nod before leaping off Ash's shoulder.

Once he landed on the floor, he charged up electricity in his cheeks. Once powered up, it shot from Pikachu's body straight into the trio, who screamed in agony. Soon after, there was an explosion and they went soaring through the air.

"Hey!" Jessie yelled. "We didn't even do anything yet!"

"Oh, how cruel the world is...!" James said mournfully.

"Well, you know what dey say..." Meowth said with a shrug, "don't do de time if you can't do de crime!"

All three cried out at the same time as they flew away. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaain!"

Once they'd disappeared over the horizon, the gang turned back to the pair in tuxedos. They were blinking in surprise.

"I'm so sorry about that!" Dawn said with a nervous smile. "I guess you're not Team Rocket after all!"

The woman laughed awkwardly. "No worries, no worries!" she replied with a wave of her hand. "I'll admit, we do look pretty similar."

The man nodded in agreement. "Definitely," he added.

The woman clapped her hands together. "Now, will you be letting your pokémon have fun in the Halloween festival?"

Ash smiled. "Sure!" he replied. He glanced down at Pikachu. "You interested, buddy?"

Pikachu nodded. "(Yeah!)" he said. "(Sounds like fun!)"

"It'll be nice for them to have a little down time," Brock added.

"No doubt!" Dawn replied. "They've worked hard lately, so they deserve it."

All three took out their pokéballs and yelled, "Come on out!" while throwing them into the air. After doing this a few times, all of the pokémon were standing in front of them.

"Now," the woman said, grinning, "it'll be three dollars per pokémon."

"Huh?" Ash asked, shocked.

The man laughed. "Oh, come now," he said. "Did you think it would be free?" The pair each held out a hand. "Three dollars each."

Dawn squinted at them again. "... Are you sure you're not Team Rocket?" she asked.

Pikachu was thoroughly enjoying himself at this festival. The stalls, the jack-o-lanterns... it was all so exciting and new. Not to mention, it was a pokémon-only zone, which was a rare treat. He had to admit, as much as he loved Ash, it was nice to have a break from the guy every now and then.

Munching on his shish kebab, he walked over to a nearby stand and noticed that it was a shooting gallery. Buizel and Croagunk were currently competing to win a stick of cotton candy, so he watched them in amusement.

"(Give it up!)" Buizel said with a grin. "(That cotton candy's mine!)"

"(Right...)" Croagunk replied lazily. "(Sure...)"

Turning away, Pikachu walked further along the stalls, watching all his fellow pokémon, as well as some pokémon that he didn't know, playing games and ordering food. It really was a peaceful atmosphere.

Stopping near another stall, he noticed Buneary playing a ring toss game where the prize was a large lollipop of the winner's choice. He watched her lose a few times, but she stubbornly refused to give up. By the time the ring actually hooked onto something, Pikachu had already finished his shish kebab and thrown the stick into a trash can.

"(Hey, Pikachu!)" Buneary called out as she hopped over, the large yellow lollipop now in her paw.

Pikachu smiled at her. "(Hey, Buneary,)" he replied. "(Nice job with the ring toss!)"

Buneary giggled. "(Thanks! I've been trying for ages to win this thing.)" She held the lollipop out to him. "(Here you go!)"

He blinked at her. "(Huh? You're giving it to me?)"

"(Uh-huh! I know how much you like sweet and sour candy, and this lollipop is lemon-flavoured!)" She giggled quietly, staring at her foot as it shuffled on the floor. "(It also reminded me of you, since it's yellow and all...)"

He slowly took it from her, still amazed. "(Thanks, Buneary... but you won this, right? I'd feel kinda bad eating it.)"

She covered her mouth with her paws and turned away with another giggle. "(You silly! I won it for you!)"

He was so flattered by this that he blushed. Then, embarrassed at his reaction, he scratched the back of his head. "(Aheh... well, gee, thanks. I-)" Suddenly, the ear-piercing scream of a rattata filled the air, causing Pikachu to snap to attention. "(What the-?)"

Buneary pointed to a small, nearby building that was dark blue and dark purple. "(It came from over there!)"

Pikachu frowned in determination. "(Let's go!)"

Putting the stick of the lollipop in his mouth, he ran on all fours with Buneary hopping beside him. Once he reached the building, he stopped as he noticed a sandshrew standing outside the entrance with a cheerful smile on his face. This confused Pikachu, so he stood on two legs and took the lollipop from his mouth to ask the sandshrew what was going on.

"(Ah, hello!)" the sandshrew said. "(Are you here for the haunted house?)"

"(Haunted house?)" Buneary asked from next to Pikachu.

"(Yes. I can guarantee it's the scariest thing you'll ever see in your lifetime! Wait one moment, while my last customer leaves.)"

After a few moments, a rattata emerged from the building, shaking and stumbling as he walked. "(Scary...)" he mumbled as he walked past the three pokémon, not even noticing their presence. "(So... scary... Never... again...)"

The sandshrew beamed. "(Thank you! Come again!)"

Pikachu stared after the rattata, then turned to face the building, a sudden fire of curiosity burning up from within him. What could be in there that would scare the rattata spitless like that? He just had to know. He also felt the need to prove that he could handle whatever it was that was so scary, and that he wouldn't come out stuttering in terror, like the rattata had.

Grinning in determination, he nodded. "(Alright, I'm in!)" he said.

"(What?)" Buneary asked in horror.

"(Fabulous!)" the sandshrew replied. He waved a paw towards the entrance. "(Well, in you go!)"

"(Great!)" He looked at Buneary. "(Wanna come with me, Buneary?)"

Buneary looked torn. She glanced up at the building, down at Pikachu, then over at the entrance. She gulped, fiddling her paws and shuffling her foot. "(Well...)" she replied.

His gaze softened in understanding. "(Hey, you don't have to. You just wait here and I'll be out in a bit, okay?)" He turned away and walked towards the door. "(See you later!)"

After a few moments of walking, his feet stepped over the threshold and into the building. It was at this moment that he saw Buneary out of the corner of his eye, frantically running to his side before slowing to a walk. He smiled, touched by her need to come with him.

Buneary really didn't want to be in this haunted house. She absolutely hated dark and creepy places like this. Why did Pikachu have to come in here? What point would it prove? Well, maybe that he was as strong and fearless as she already knew him to be... but he was being stupid. Who knows what the heck was hiding in the darkest depths of this building? Then again, she was just as stupid for following him in... but, if he was going to do it, then she would, too. She'd follow him anywhere. Plus, it might help show him that she could be just as strong as he was.

Pikachu stopped and pointed. "(Hey, Buneary,)" he said, "(check that out!)"

Buneary didn't really want to look, as she was afraid of being scared spitless, but she forced herself to. What she saw was disgusting, and rather creepy, but not really scary. Behind a human-sized glass window that stretched taller than Brock, she saw two statues, one a vigoroth and one a zangoose. The vigoroth – a zombie with large gaping wounds all over its body and lifeless white eyes – was clawing out the flesh of the zangoose, who was screaming in a mixture of fear and agony.

"(Eww...)" Buneary said, cringing. She hid behind Pikachu to get the vile image out of her line of sight. "(That's so disgusting.)"

"(Yeah,)" Pikachu replied. There was a sudden slurping sound. It took Buneary a moment to realise that he was licking his lollipop. "(Not scary, though, huh?)"

"(Well, no...)"

"(Come on.)" Pikachu walked on. Terrified of being left alone, Buneary make sure to follow closely behind. "(There must be something scary in here.)"

Buneary whimpered and clung to Pikachu's back. "(Pikachu...)"

Pikachu stopped again. "(Oh, hey, look.)" There was a chomping sound as he bit into the lollipop and started chewing it. "(That's pretty cool.)"

Buneary looked and saw another glass window. Behind it were two more zombie statues, one of a lucario and one of an armaldo, both of which had lifeless white eyes and gaping wounds. The lucario was holding a chainsaw that was covered in blood. The armaldo was holding a battleaxe that was also covered in blood, and the two weapons were clashing together in a fierce battle.

Buneary did think it was interesting, but she still didn't like it. She shook her head in protest. "(Pikachu, can we get out of here soon?)"

"(Hmm?)" There was another slurp as Pikachu licked his lollipop. "(You wanna leave, Buneary)?"

She nodded. "(Uh-huh...)"

"(You're scared?)"

She didn't want to answer that question honestly, as she was trying to be strong, but she couldn't take much more creepy stuff. Plus, she was still worried about what that rattata had screamed over earlier.

"(Uh-huh...)"

Pikachu gently turned around, pulling away from her so that he could face her. She looked up into his smiling face and automatically felt better. All light could disappear from the world, but the sun could still shine out of Pikachu's face.

He held out the lollipop. "(Here. Have some of this. It might cheer you up.)"

She blinked at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. "(Huh? You're sure?)"

"(Of course! Go on, take a bite.)"

Suddenly excited about sharing a lollipop with Pikachu, she licked it. The thrill of tasting what he'd tasted caused her to blush and giggle in happiness. She took a bite out of it, enjoying the slightly sour, but mostly sweet, taste in her mouth.

"(Mmm...)"

"(Good, isn't it?)" He took a bite and munched it. After a minute, he swallowed it. "(How's about we finish it together and head back out?)"

Buneary swallowed, then smiled. "(Okay!)" She took another bite. This continued for a while, until only the stick was left.

Pikachu used the stick to point towards the exit. "(Alright, then, let's go.)"

"(Right behind you!)"

They began to make their way back where they came from, and Buneary no longer felt scared. She had nothing to fear, anyway, since the only things in there were creepy, disgusting statues, but being with Pikachu made her feel like nothing in the world could touch her.

"(Not so fast...)" the voice of a lucario suddenly said.

Buneary froze, her heart pounding in terror, and noticed that Pikachu had stopped next to her. Unwilling to believe what she'd just heard, she turned slowly to look behind her, Pikachu doing the same. There, directly in front of them, was the lucario with the chainsaw. It was no longer behind the glass window.

Instantly, the most repugnant smell hit her nostrils. It was a smell that she'd never encountered before, but she knew exactly what it was: the smell of a rotting corpse. Terror swept over her in waves.

"(Wh... What the heck?!)" Pikachu cried. His tone of voice betrayed his fear, which only heightened Buneary's panic.

"(You shall not leave here alive...)"

Pikachu stepped in front of Buneary and held out the lollipop stick. "(B-Back off!)"

Suddenly, the armaldo moved from where it was standing and slowly trudged towards the window. Every step it took pounded in Buneary's ears, until it phased through the glass to stand beside the lucario. Again, the repugnant smell swept over her and the intense fear caused an immediate desire to faint.

"(You will die tonight...)" the armaldo said, raising its battleaxe above its head in a slow and sluggish movement.

They were going to kill them! The zombies were actually going to kill them! Her fear rapidly increasing, she was unable to get her breathing under control.

Pikachu threw his stick to one side and charged up some electricity in his cheeks. "(See how you like this, then!)" he yelled. With a cry, he released the electricity, which shot towards the duo. Before it could hit them, though, they disappeared into thin air. Pikachu jumped in shock. "(Wha-?!)"

They reappeared right next to Buneary. Scared halfway to death, she screamed.

"(Die...)" the lucario said, firing up the chainsaw. It revved menacingly, promising the most painful, gory death possible if it touched her.

Buneary couldn't take any more. Wailing in fright, tears now streaking down her face, she hopped away as fast as she possibly could. She spared no thought for anything except her own life and fled deeper into the building.

Pikachu was terrified. He'd been trying to hide it, in order to stay strong for both himself and Buneary, but zombie statues coming to life and attacking him with chainsaws and battleaxes just wasn't normal. He'd been trying to get the situation under control, but his failure had led to Buneary running off. Unfortunately, she'd gone in the opposite direction of the entrance, and he had no idea how big this place was.

"(Die...)" the armaldo said, swinging the battleaxe at him.

Getting back to reality, he quickly rolled out of the way. The battleaxe crashed to the floor, right where he'd been a moment ago, and got stuck there. His heart pounding, he turned to face the lucario. The smell from the two was overwhelming, but he fought to ignore it, in favour of staying alive.

The lucario stared at him through blank eyes. "(You shall not live...)" it said.

Breathing deeply, to get his erratic breathing under control, Pikachu stared down the larger pokémon. "(Wanna bet?)" he challenged.

The chainsaw swung in his direction, so he ducked and rolled under it. He was horrified to think that, if he'd been a second slower, he'd have lost his head.

"(You must die...)" the armaldo said, as it pulled the battleaxe out of the floor.

Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream rang out through the building. Pikachu's heart stopped as he recognised it. "(Buneary!)" he screamed.

Suddenly, his life meant a little bit less to him than it had before. All he cared about in that moment was finding Buneary. Getting on all fours, he ran past the armaldo, narrowly missing another swing from the battleaxe, and set off in a desperate search for her.

Buneary wanted nothing more than to leave, but she simply couldn't. With the lucario and the armaldo blocking the entrance, and nowhere to hide in the building, she truly felt like she was going to die.

Charging up an Ice Beam, she fire an ice-cold jet of frost at her attackers. The zombie vigoroth and zangoose disappeared, and the Ice Beam, instead, froze the floor where they'd been standing. Scared witless, since she knew where they were going to appear next, Buneary flung herself to one side. As predicted, they appeared right where she'd been moments ago.

"(You shall die...)" the vigoroth said, flexing its razor sharp claws.

Buneary was at her wits' end. "(What do you want from me?!)" she screamed at them.

"(For you to die...)" the zangoose replied.

Suddenly, it dashed forwards, its claws outstretched and dripping with blood. Thinking quickly, Buneary used Bounce, catapulting herself over their heads and landing on her feet behind them. Taking this as her golden opportunity, she hopped away as fast as she could. Fresh tears continued to leak down her face, as her heart refused to stop racing.

Oh, Pikachu... Why did she have to run off and leave him?! Not only was she alone, but so was he!

Guilt weighed down her heart. She wanted to find him and apologise, but... what if she never...? She choked on a sob, the thought too unbearable to finish.

"(Pikachuuuu!)" she cried out.

She hopped and hopped, desperately hoping to find her beloved yellow mouse, but she had no idea where she was. Trying to run away from the first set of zombie statues, she'd ended up going down several corridors and getting lost. To make matters worse, the vigoroth and zangoose from earlier had found her. How, she had no idea, since they should have been closer to the entrance than the lucario and armaldo, not further away!

"(Buneary?)" a faint voice called out. Recognising the voice, she halted in her tracks, relieved beyond belief.

"(Pikachu!)" She hopped down the next corridor with a huge smile on her face, knowing that everything would be alright now. "(Pikachu!)"

She stopped dead, her blood running cold as she saw him. Flesh was falling from his body, blood pooling at his feet, and that awful smell of rotting corpses was radiating from him. Her heart jumped to her throat. He was one of them now. Slowly, he turned his head towards her, revealing lifeless white eyes, and her emotions spilled from her in waves. Her body shook as the reality of the situation hit her, and she no longer felt the will to live. She collapsed to her paws and knees.

Pikachu skidded to a stop, his breath catching painfully in his throat at what he saw in front of him. There Buneary stood, covered in gaping wounds, eyes as white and lifeless as the zombies that had come before her. A lump formed where the breath had caught. There was no way that this could have happened to Buneary. He wasn't able to believe it. He didn't want to believe it! Cheerful, happy-go-lucky Buneary, become a rotting corpse, out to kill anyone who dared to venture into this haunted house?

"(Die, Pikachu...)" the buneary said, opening its mouth and bearing a set of razor-sharp teeth.

Trying to stop his body from shaking, he gulped down the lump and readied a battle stance on his four legs. "(What... What have you done with Buneary?)" he asked.

The buneary slowly walked towards him. "(I am Buneary... and you will die tonight...)"

As he watched the buneary's every move, he couldn't help but wonder where his friends were. Why had no one come to help them?! Surely, they'd heard the screams and wondered what was wrong!

"(I have succumbed to the darkness...)" the buneary continued, "(and so shall you...)

Pikachu faltered at the tragic sight, his vision growing misty. He quickly shook his head to clear it and focus.

His aching heart believed that this was the Buneary he'd come to know and care about, but his head simply refused to believe that it was her.

"(Die...)"

The buneary lunged at him, teeth bared as it snarled. He dodged out of the way and used Iron Tail, but, yet again, the blasted thing disappeared. He dashed to one side, avoiding it as it reappeared.

"(Pikachu, my love... succumb to darkness... Join me...)"

That comment managed to strike a nerve inside Pikachu. His tears suddenly flowed freely from his eyes and he cried for his possibly lost friend. He knew that she had strong feelings for him – feelings that he still wasn't sure whether or not he returned – so, if this really wasn't Buneary, that had been a really low blow.

Buneary watched helplessly from the floor as the pikachu descended upon her, baring razor-sharp teeth. She had no strength left to fight now. The only thing she'd had left in this haunted house had become a zombie. As she thought about Dawn, Ash, Brock and all the other pokémon, she tried to summon up more strength, but it was useless. The pokémon that she loved was a walking corpse.

Pikachu. He'd always been so brave and strong. Nothing could stand in his way, once he put his mind to it. He could do anything.

She felt a slight smile on her lips as she thought about him, then paused. Glancing up at the zombie pikachu, a thought suddenly struck her from nowhere.

He was still alive. He had to be!

Forcing strength back into her legs with this new revelation, she hopped to the side and rolled away.

"(What?)" the pikachu asked.

Buneary snarled at it, very angry and offended by how it had used her love for Pikachu against her. "(Slime!) she yelled. "(As if Pikachu could be killed by you creatures! He's better than that! He's stronger! And faster! He'd never let you kill him!)"

Powering up an Ice Beam, she fired off another blast of chilled air, which froze the floor when the pikachu disappeared. She wasn't through, however. She continued to fire the Ice Beam all around the room, freezing everything around her, in a mad attempt to catch it. When it reappeared, it screamed in pain as the Ice Beam hit it.

The strange occurrence stunned Buneary for a moment, but she took the opportunity to hop as fast as she could, past the twitching pikachu and down some more corridors. Eventually, she saw the real Pikachu, but he wasn't alone. She stopped hopping and watched in a mixture of horror and disbelief as a zombie buneary descended upon him. He was crying and shaking.

Fury enveloped her. How dare they pull the same trick on him, too. "(Hey!)" she yelled.

Both pokémon turned towards her. Pikachu's eyes lit up in amazement. "(Buneary?)" he asked.

Buneary used Bounce and, as she began to fall towards the zombie buneary, she extended her foot. "(Leave him alone!)"

The buneary disappeared and Buneary landed on the floor. She quickly shoved Pikachu away and both rolled along the floor, stopping just as the buneary reappeared.

"(You're alive...)" Pikachu muttered in awe.

She looked over at him, and saw a mixture of affection and relief in his eyes. Her heart swelled, both at seeing that and at seeing him again.

She smiled back. "(Of course I am! You didn't think they'd kill me that easily, did you?)"

Pikachu chuckled somewhat nervously, then sobered up with a frown as he watched the zombie buneary. He climbed to his two feet, and Buneary did the same. Buneary, though, heard a noise behind her. Spinning around, she caught sight of the vigoroth and zangoose. Turning elsewhere, she saw the lucario, armaldo and zombie pikachu. Her heart pounded in fright at the sight of them all in one place at once.

Pikachu manoeuvred so that they were back to back. "(Okay, looks like we're surrounded.)" He paused. "(We're in this together... If we go down, we go down fighting.)"

As morbid as that sounded, Buneary agreed. No way was she allowing these things to take away either her life or Pikachu's. She would fight them with everything she had and more.

The zombies all slowly moved forward, until they formed a perfect circle around them. Buneary tensed, expecting a battle of epic proportions any minute now. She expected them all to strike at once, leaving little room for error. She tried to control her shaking. She was in this with Pikachu. It was do or die.

The zombies all stared intensely at them through their lifeless white eyes. Suddenly, they all started laughing. Buneary was perplexed.

A huge cloud of purple smoke erupted from the floorboards. Buneary coughed and hacked, as it got into her eyes, nose and throat, and Pikachu sounded like he was doing the same. When the cloud finally cleared, Buneary looked up and was completely floored at the sight that was before her.

Glancing around at what was once a circle of living zombie statues, she now saw a circle of ghost-type pokémon, all grinning mischievously at her and Pikachu. Forming the circle was a haunter, a gengar, a mismagius, a duskull, a shuppet and a banette.

"(What the...?)" Pikachu mumbled in confusion.

The gengar laughed. "(We really scared you two, didn't we?)" he asked.

The banette chuckled. "(Sure did!)" he replied for the duo. "(We run the world's best pokémon-only haunted house!)"

The mismagius nodded. "(We hope you enjoyed yourselves!)" she said.

Buneary, still traumatised from the night's events, couldn't speak for shock. Pikachu apparently couldn't, either, because he, too, remained silent.

"(You were probably wondering why no one heard you scream,)" the duskull said. He chuckled. "(It's because the walls are sound-proof! Outsiders can only hear you scream if you're right near the door.)"

The haunter cackled. "(Besides,) he said, "(it's not like you two were ever in any real danger.)"

"(Wasn't that fun?)" the shuppet asked. She giggled. "(Come again!)"

Pikachu walked slowly out of the haunted house with Buneary, still too shocked to really speak. It seemed that Buneary was just as traumatised, because she was also keeping quiet. Soon, they reached the front door. Walking out of it and into the darkening landscape, they saw the sandshrew, with his bright smile.

"(Thank you!)" he said cheerfully, as they walked past him. "(Come again!)"

They continued walking for a short while, neither one saying a word, until Pikachu eventually turned to Buneary. "(Buneary?)" he asked, blank-faced.

Buneary looked back at him, equally blank-faced. "(Yeah, Pikachu?)" she replied.

"(I think I've had enough of this festival now... I wanna go back to Ash.)"

"(Yeah, me too... I wanna get back to my pokéball and sleep.)"

Pikachu nodded, his expression not shifting. "(Alright, let's go.)"

Reaching a mutual agreement, the two of them left the festival grounds, and all other pokémon in them. Instead, they headed towards the place Ash, Dawn and Brock had said they'd be waiting for the group.

It was kind of a shame to abandon the food and games, but Pikachu figured they'd had enough Halloween 'fun' to last them a lifetime...

The End