Chapter 2: Hair-Raising Fun
I hope to get this story out of the way for others. One thing I have in mind is in high demand on tumblr. But I won't rush this story. The maze will be in the works here and the real spooky fun happens in the next chapter.
Enjoy!
After Dub Skull finished his set, he came down for a meet and greet. With the festival's opening performance over and done with, the festival activities Poppy and Viva planned got underway. And of course, whatever Dub Skull had ready to throw into the mix. Once Dub Skull's meet and greet was done with, that's when Branch thought it'd be a good time to talk with him. He, his brothers, Poppy, Viva, and Barb all came to see him. While Storm and Thunder went to resume preparing the hayrides.
"Hey, Terror of the Seas!" Barb yelled, getting his attention. His head perked up at her voice, turning towards them with his fanged smile. "We need to talk."
"Hi Barb!" Dub Skull greeted, giving each other a fist bump. "What's up?"
"Ask him." She pointed at Branch.
"Branch, how can I help you?" Dub Skull asked.
"So, Dub Skull, I've got this plan." Branch said.
"Is it a spooky plan?" Dub Skull asked.
"Yes, it is." Branch answered.
"I like it already, go on."
Branch debriefed Dub Skull his idea for his haunted maze. And how Branch needed his scary knowhow to bring it to its max. Dub Skull was more than up for the task. Branch had also brought a copy of his maze he pulled out of his hair to show him. Taking a close look at what Branch designed so far, Dub Skull had a few ideas already brewing.
"So, what do you think?" Branch rolled back up his plans. "Can you help me make it better?"
"Undoubtedly." Dub Skull rubbed his hands together. "But no reason we can't plan and have a good time. Let's go grab something to eat. Who's up for eyeball dumplings and candy cockroaches?"
"Sure!" Barb said. "You hungry Korn?"
"I believe the real question is 'when am I not hungry'." Korn smirked.
"Totally!" Poppy said. "Right Branch?"
"Sounds good to me." Branch agreed.
"How is it you can make something sound gross and appetizing at the same time?" Spruce asked Dub Skull.
"It's a gift." He shrugged.
"You guys go ahead." JD wandering off. "I'm gonna go scout out the rest of the festivities. Meet up with y'all later."
"And I think I'll go give Storm and Thunder a hand getting the hayrides rolling." Clay said, heading in the direction the tragons went. "But as soon as they got it handled, I promise I'll make it for the maze."
"Alright." Floyd waved. "We'll see you guys later."
"Come on." Dub Skull guided them. "I've planned out plenty of spooktacular snacks. Most of them are of my own recipes."
"And they all sound just as good as the others?" Spruce followed him.
"Ya know, I've heard about your restaurant's cheesy oysters." Dub Skull replied. "Those don't exactly sound appetizing to me either." Spruce was about to argue but remembered they weren't exactly a menu favorite.
"Touché."
Back at the Hayrides.
"Is that the last of it?" Thunder groaned, as his sister threw another batch of hay into wagon.
"It should be." Storm answered, brushing her hands. "You can go take a nap if you want. I can start the first few rides myself."
"Thanks sis." He sighed. "Depending on how many will want to ride, I'm gonna need all the strength I can get." He stretched and headed to the Bunker for some quiet rest. As Storm grabbed a paper and clipboard from her hair, she noticed Clay walking her way.
"Hey Clay!" Storm greeted. "Can I help you, or are you here to reserve your guys' hayride?"
"Actually, I came here to help you guys." Clay explained. "You already have all the hay you guys need?"
"Yeah." She answered. "Thunder went to get some rest. But the festival only just started. I can handle the first few rides myself. I'm sure Thunder will be back by the time we really get busy." Storm then had an idea. "Come to think of it." She handed the clipboard and a pen to Clay. "Going through the group sign-up sheet would've been tricky with the harness on for me. Think you can keep track of who rides?"
"In my sleep." he confidently replied, cracking his knuckles.
"Well then take a nap and let's get started." Storm started putting on the first wagon's harness. "Because I think we have some takers." He turned to see what she meant; a small number of trolls started coming to them.
"Okay so what's important to keep track of is how many will fit in each wagon, their collective weight, how many are going individually or in groups, and how long each is willing to wait." Clay thought it over, taking it all on the clipboard. "I'm sure I'll have it all figured out in time for the maze." He looked back at Storm ready and strapped up to pull the wagon. "Let's do this." He nodded, and she did the same as he was about to greet the first attendees.
Hair-o-Ween Festival.
Dub Skull came over to the Branch and the others' tables with a plate of some special spooky food.
"Who's up for my specialty, brain shaped meatloaf anyone?" he asked, setting the plate down on one of the tables.
"Dude, what?" Branch questioned, staring at the loaf.
"Kudos on the realism!" Barb commented. It looked exactly like an actual brain.
"Perfect themed dinner for zombies, am I right?" Korn gave Barb a high five.
"I'll admit I'm both weirded out and impressed." Spruce took a close look at Dub Skull's meat loaf.
"That's about the usual response." Dub Skull responded.
"How do you do it?" Viva asked, amazed at the quality of his antics.
"Years of practice piled with natural talent and pursued interest." He answered.
"So, it just so happens you were born with skeletal markings, fangs, and a knack for spooky stuf-" Branch stopped and gagged when Dub Skull cut a piece of the brain meatloaf to hand out to everyone. "That is so wrong!" Dub Skull handed a plate to Poppy, and she happily tasted it.
"But it tastes so right!" Poppy praised. "Just try it Branch. Dub Skull is a good cook." Dub Skull to her recommendation handed a plate over to Branch.
"Fine." He took the plate. "But I don't have to like it."
"Wouldn't expect you to." Dub Skull said.
"You guys are done making the improvements to the maze?" Floyd asked, taking his own plate.
"Yes actually." Branch answered. "Faster than I thought too. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at your quick ideas and action when it comes to this stuff."
"I already had my own plans and ideas ready months in advance for today's festival." Dub Skull said. "All the scary food, my green water colored cauldron jacuzzi, and other surprises as well. In that time, plenty of new ideas came to me. Kept them off to the side in case I'd need them for whatever reason, like a haunted maze. My brain was as freshly cooked and ready to serve as this one!" He joked, gesturing to his loaf. Which everyone laughed at.
"I guess you're actually a lot like Branch and Clay in that way." Floyd commented. "Planning far in advance and for practically almost every contingency."
"I never thought of it that way." Branch said. "When you put it like that, it's pretty accura-AH!" Branch jumped at a loud noise coming from behind him out of nowhere. Everyone was startled and jumped at the sound, excluding Dub Skull, who casually just took a sip of his drink. They all sighed with relief, and some of them were annoyed when they saw it was just John Dory using a kazoo.
"I'm back, with a kazoo!" JD laughed at their reaction to his prank.
"Why?!" Barb shouted, having been scared too. Korn tried to help her calm down.
"Come on, its hair-o-ween!" JD explained. "Best night of the year for pranks and scares like that."
"Does someone have a towel?" Spruce asked. JD spooked him too, he lost grip of his own drink, and spastically tried to catch it. Ending with him failing and it spilt over him. Poppy and Viva grabbed some napkins for him to use for now.
"Sorry about that Bruce." JD apologized. "I got you guys good though, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did." Floyd humored him.
"Yes, I admit it." Branch grunted, sitting back down.
"It was more startling than scary, but yeah." Viva added. Poppy just nodded, given she was busy helping Spruce clean up. He evidently scared him too.
"And you?" JD asked Dub Skull.
"Sorry." He plainly answered, setting down his cup.
"He's unscarable." Barb said.
"Really?" JD asked, intrigued. "That sounds like a challenge."
"It's really not." Dub Skull said. "Seriously it'll never happen. You'll only be wasting your time."
"How could you be unscarable?" JD asked.
"Years of spooky indulgence has helped me to expect the unexpected." Dub Skull answered. "And anything dangerously scary I can usually handle so it's no big deal. That's my fearlosophy."
"Your what?" Poppy wondered.
"It's what I call anyone's personal take on fear." He explained.
"I think I get it." Viva said. "Sometimes when I've heard a story of something scary and I know what that thing would look like, at times the fear the story makes me blindly forget what's real and what's not. And I paranoidly think that thing might just be around me."
"I'm kind of the opposite." Floyd added. "When I've read a story like that, I know said thing isn't real so I'm not afraid of it being around. Although I do get afraid for the characters in said stories. Since it is real for them."
"Exactly!" Dub Skull said. "Those are your guys' fearlosophies." He points at Viva. "The fear you get from anything, even stories, effects your perspective on reality." Then he points to Floyd. "And you have a concrete grasp on reality and are afraid for those outside it. Although I'm sure it's safe for me to assume that you also have generic fears of for your own safety and those close to you."
"Yeah, exactly." Floyd seemed taken aback by how easily Dub Skull guessed his fears. "How'd you know that?"
"Other skills of mine include fear deduction." Dub Skull answered. "I tend to be able to guess what others are afraid of, and if they're afraid. No matter how much they try to hide it." He smirks at JD. "Like how I can tell John here is afraid of chopsticks."
"What!" JD yelled. Everyone else looked at him, some of them snickering.
"John Dory, is that true?" Spruce chuckled.
"Look, I could never figure out how to use them correctly okay!" JD admitted. "During an attempt, one thing led to another and… let's just say I had to wear an eyepatch for a time." He blushed from embarrassment.
"Admitting fears like that, no matter how irrational, can be a huge relief you know." Dub Skull said. "Fear can be fun sometimes, in small intended occasional quantities. But at times if you let it get the best of you, it becomes the enemy." Floyd seemed to put some serious thought into Dub Skull's words. Which didn't go unnoticed by Dub Skull, but he decided to remain silent about it, for now at least.
"Those are… wow, very wise words Dub Skull." Barb commented, patting him on the back. "Props man."
"Thanks Barb." Dub Skull said. "If you guys want, before we get started on getting help putting together the maze, I could tell you guys a scary story?" Everyone exchanged looks silently asking what each other thought of the idea. Most for the special occasion of hair-o-ween were inclined to it.
"Well…" Branch started, but Poppy put her hand on his, lightly interrupting him.
"Come on Branch." Poppy said. "Just one story? It is hair-o-ween. And who better to tell it than the terror troll?" It was hard for him to say no to her. Her, Floyd, Spruce, JD, and Barb looked interested in a story too.
Branch sighed. "Go ahead Dub Skull."
With that, Dub Skull hovered over to a firepit he had ready in advance. "Well than my friends, won't you join me by the fire?" He gestured to them to come and sit. Poppy eagerly pulled Branch over, sitting next to her by the fire. Viva, Poppy, Branch and Floyd respectively sat on one bench. JD, Spruce, and Barb sat on the other, while Korn laid next to Barb.
"I may be good at making up spooktacular made-up stories." Dub Skull started. "But I'm going to go with one that really happened."
"Is this one of those 'this happened to a friend of someone my neighbor knew', kind of things?" JD asked.
"Oh, no." Dub Skull assured. "This actually happened, at the Troll Tree a long time ago. Before the tribes ever split up."
"Well?" Poppy wondered. "What happened?"
"This happened to a troll named Breezy." He started. "When hair-o-ween was only a few years old. A terrible storm raged past through the tree for three days. All the trolls had to take shelter and remained secluded that entire time. When it finally passed, the trolls were relieved to see no one got hurt. But after a while, Breezy realized that she hadn't seen her friend Jack Zepher after the storm. When she went to check on him, no one was home. Not a single hint nor hair was accounted for in his pod."
"Where did he go?" Spruce asked, frighted yet intrigued.
"No one knows." Dub Skull answered. "Search parties spread out for days, but they never found him. Eventually Breezy started to assume the worst had somehow happened to him during that storm."
"That's so sad." Viva commented.
"Yes, it is." Dub Skull agreed. "But Breezy wanted one last assurance of her friend's presence. His Pod since then had felt off, to anyone who came by. She wondered if perhaps Zeph was still there. That's when she had an idea. Breezy remembered how much she and Zeph loved hair-o-ween. All the pumpkins and the spooky decorations. Some believe the on the living plain, the soul's appears to us as some wisp of fire. So, she had an idea, a great idea that would become a hair-o-ween custom."
"There are so many." Poppy added. "Which one did she come up with?"
"Late one night, Breezy returned to Jack Zepher's pod with a pumpkin in hand." Dub Skull continued. "She knew that if he was truly still there, she had to draw his spirit out. Taking various tools, she carved a scary image into the gourd. Something hair-o-ween-like to get his attention. And for him to make his presence known, she placed a candle in the pumpkin. Then she waited and watched the candle in the carved pumpkin patiently. Against all odds hoping it would light."
"And did it?" Viva asked.
"Breezy waited for hours, never once taking her eyes off the candle." Dub Skull said. "She knew she could feel a presence, and she wanted Zeph to make his known. But time dragged on, and the candle didn't light. Eventually Breezy finally gave up and decided to leave. As she did though, making her way to the exit. In the corner of her eye, Breezy saw the candle was lit!"
"It was?" Branch asked in shock.
"Yes, but when Breezy turned to look at it-" Dub Skull continued. "-The pumpkin had disappeared."
"W-Where did it go?" Floyd asked.
"Many believe Jack Zepher's ghost took it as a gift" Dub Skull answered. "Since then, many trolls throughout the tree had said they've seen in sideways glances and in passing, a lit carved pumpkin out of nowhere. Yet when they blink or look to confirm, it would vanish without a trace. Many took inspiration from him and more began to carve candled pumpkins of their own for hair-o-ween nights. Breezy even named them after her friend, she called them Jack-o-Lanterns."
"That was so sweet of her." Poppy said.
"Since then, Jack Zepher's ghost has pulled the playful prank of placing his jack-o-lantern in the most unlikely places, in the most unexpected times. Scaring and surprising any troll that crosses his path. A troll who spooks trolls even in death." Dub Skull kicked back. "Now that is a troll I respect."
"Wow, that sure was a spooky story." Spruce commented.
"Oh, come on." JD scoffed. "You don't actually believe that do you?"
"Why shouldn't we?" Barb asked him.
"Yeah, how do you think jack-o-lanterns came to be?" Korn added.
"Pumpkins have been a part of hair-o-ween a long time." JD started, crossing his arms. "Someone was gonna come up with the idea of carving them eventually. It's more believable then that legend at least."
"All legends are born from truth John Dory." Dub Skull said.
"Then how come none of us have even seen this haunted Jack-O-Lantern before?" he asked. "Most of us actually lived in the Troll Tree for a few hair-o-weens and never noticed it once." As he said that, Dub Skull noticed something and smiled.
"Don't ask me." Dub Skull raised his hands, and then pointed. "Ask him."
JD and everyone looked to where he was pointing to and were shocked. A jack-o-lantern appeared out of nowhere between their benches with an eerie green glowing candle burning inside.
"AHHH!" JD and everyone else minus Dub Skull jumped, screamed, and backed away from it in fear. The second they each blinked or rubbed their eyes in disbelief, the jack-o-lantern disappeared. The moment it did, everyone took a breath. Dub Skull burst into laughter.
"It was a pleasure setting you up for that!" He said to the ghost. "Their reaction was priceless!"
"Wow, that was awesome!" Poppy cheered. "And I thought your show was a good start to hair-o-ween." She took Branch's hand. "See Branch? This festival is already turning out unforgettable."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"I can vouch I won't be forgetting that anytime soon." Spruce got up pointing at where that jack-o-lantern was.
"Agreed." Floyd added. "Never seen anything like that before or heard anything like that story."
"That wasn't that funny." JD pouted at Dub Skull.
"Your right." Barb said sarcastically.
"Yeah, it was hysterical!" Korn added. The two rockers laughed, giving each other and Dub Skull a fist bump.
"If that's how you tell a story, I can't wait to see how what you put in Branch's maze." Viva said.
"Speaking of which." He got up. "I'd better head to the site and get some trolls started on putting it together. Then I think I'll chill in the cauldron jacuzzi. You guys should see about meeting up with Clay and taking that hayride together with Storm."
"That sounds like a plan." Viva agreed.
"Then I'll see you guys later." Dub Skull waved and started to leave.
"I think I'll tag along." Barb said, following him. "I wanna see how you get things started. Plus, I wouldn't mind a hot tub either. Korn, you coming?" She asked her tragon.
"Sure." He followed. "Why not."
"Bye guys!" Poppy waved at them. "Can't wait to see it!"
"You know what I think it'll be Poppy?" Viva asked with a big smile.
"Lemme guess." Poppy shared her excitement.
"Fantasti-maze-ing!" They said in unison.
"They really are sister." Branch shook his head.
"Yeah." Floyd agreed. Then he noticed JD was looking in the direction Dub Skull, Barb, and Korn went. Thinking hard about something by the looks on his face. He and Spruce looked at each other. They both had a feeling they knew what he was thinking about.
"Your not planning a revenge scare are you bro?" Spruce asked. "Cause Dub Skull said he's unscarable."
"And we've clearly seen more than one reason to believe him on what he's said so far." Floyd added.
"We'll see about that." JD schemed and started running off. "I'll be right there for the hayride, promise!"
"Let him go." Branch said. "Let's just go to the hayrides." He took Poppy's hand, starting to head that way.
"Alright." Spruce shrugged and followed.
"If you say so bro." Floyd agreed.
With Dub Skull, Barb, and Korn.
Dub Skull already got trolls to start work on the maze with the plans in hand. Barb and Korn simply watched. Then Dub Skull heard a voice whispering to him.
"Psst! Dub Skull, over here!"
He looked where the voice was coming from and came over to the figure who was hiding.
"Oh hey, it's you." Dub Skull said in delight. "What did you need?"
"My friends and I want to add our own little touches to the maze." They answered. "It's going to be a big surprise for Branch, Poppy, and their family."
"I do like surprises." Dub Skull muttered. "What did you have in mind?"
"Let's just say, it's going to be a night to remember."
To be continued.
Well, that was that! I think I did fairly good at the scary story. There was a bit of a reference to it. I would be impressed if anyone got it. Next chapter will probably be the last. There will be more to the maze then even Branch will be expecting. And a song I had in mind too. Hope you guys look forward to it.
Please leave a review!
Purple-Eyes Out!