It was a dark Halloween night and the suburbs were packed nearly to the brim with civilians, young and old, wearing costumes that ranged from goofy to scary to rather cool-looking. They were of course, in search of one common thing: Candy to fill their baskets and stuff their faces with. A group of kids walked towards the Okajima residence dressed up as the Power Rangers before an older kid, dressed as the green ranger rang the doorbell.
"I'll get it!", Rock shouted from behind the closed door before opening it up, dressed like a vampire complete with fake fangs, a dark suit, and a cape with red underneath. "Trick or Treat!", the Power Rangers cheerfully said with the younger ones eagerly holding out their baskets. "Oooh, Power Rangers! Nice!", Rock complimented as he gave each of them a handful of candy. "I have all the different toys and DVDs!", the red ranger added. "That's so cool!", Rock smiled, "I haven't seen them in forever.". "You gotta see it, mister! There's a big dinosaur robot in there too!", the red ranger enthusiastically replied. Rock chuckled at the child's glee, "Well, I'll see about that. You kids have a fun Halloween!". With that said, the six rangers waved goodbye as they left before Rock closed the door and walked further inside the house.
"Revy! Riley! You two almost ready?", Rock called out to his two girls. "Yeah, lemme just finish up!", Revy shouted back.
Meanwhile, Revy was in Riley's room helping get her stuff together. The former was dressed as a werewolf with a ripped plaid shirt, ripped jeans, furry gloves, and wolf ears attached to a headband as well as some black paint on her nose. The latter, however, was dressed up as a pirate with an open black jacket, white shirt, black shoes, and even had a hat and eyepatch to go along with it. Riley was then handed her Halloween basket and a toy cutlass sword. "Do I look cool, Mommy?", Riley happily asked her mother. Revy couldn't help but smile looking at her daughter, "The coolest pirate in all the seven seas.", she answered much to Riley's delight; she was innocently unaware of the irony of her choice of costume.
"Let's get goin' before it gets too late.", Revy said as she led Riley downstairs to go on a nightly escapade of trick-or-treating. "Kay, we're ready.", Revy informed Rock, "What do we do about the candy?". "I guess leave the bowl outside in case more kids come.", Rock shrugged. Revy grabbed the basket of candy meant for the trick-or-treaters to take outside before Rock suddenly grabbed his camera. "Okay Riley,"Rock said, grabbing her attention, "Say…'Arrrgh'!".
Riley raised her cutlass into the air as she shouted, "Arrrgh!", before her father took the picture. Rock showed her and Revy the picture, "Very nice!", Revy commented. "I hope we can try getting a picture of all three of us at some point," Rock said. "Maybe ask one of the people at the houses.", Riley suggested. "Yeah, maybe…", Rock nodded and shrugged. Before they could continue their discussion, the doorbell suddenly rang again. "I'll get it.", Revy said as she walked towards the door and opened it.
"Kay kids, you guys are the last we're gonna be answerin'...", Revy nonchalantly informed as she put the basket by the door, "We're headin' off, so you guys can just get the candy from-". Revy immediately stopped what she was doing as she looked up in both bewilderment and surprise to see who it was. "Hello, Rebecca.", Lotton greeted whilst dressed up like Cyclops from Marvel's X-Men.
"Lotton? The hell are you doing here?", Revy asked with a raised eyebrow. "We come here too, Twinkie.", Shenhua chimed in as she and Sawyer walked up to the Okajima doorstep. Sawyer was dressed up as Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre…a fitting costume to say the least, but Shenhua was in her normal attire. "That doesn't exactly answer my question, what are you doing here?", Revy asked again while folding her arms and tilting her head slightly.
"We just wanted to have a nice Halloween outside Roanapur.", Lotton answered. "Too much laced candy in Roanapur.", Shenhua added, which Sawyer nodded in agreement to. "And you guys specifically chose here because…", Revy replied. "We tried to go to Venezuela at first, but things unfortunately didn't work out.", Lotton explained. "You only wanted to go there to see girlfriend.", Shenhua retorted. "She gets lonely sometimes.", Lotton responded with a shrug.
Revy sighed, "Well, we're just about to leave now and take Riley trick-or-treatin'...so grab whatever candy you want and-What the fuck is that?!", she slightly jumped at Sawyer pulling out what looked like a decapitated head with its scalp removed. "Don't worry….it's not real.", Sawyer assured, speaking through her electrolarynx, "Decapitated heads decompose way too fast.". Her tone and explanation didn't exactly do much to ease Revy, but she kept herself from lashing out in front of her family. "Chinglish?!", Riley suddenly walked in on the scene with Rock, "What are you doing here?". "Ooh, Twinkie Jr. look so good in pirate costume!", Shenhua complimented.
"Are you here to trick-or-treat too?", Rock asked. "Talky Guy and Scary Lady are here too.", Riley pointed out to him. "Hello Riley.", Lotton waved with Sawyer. "They came all the way here from Roanapur to have a decent Halloween for once.", Revy told her husband. "We also have no idea where to go, so it'd be helpful if you three can show us around here.", Lotton added. Rock nodded and shrugged his shoulders, "Alright, you three can come with us then. Just please don't do anything that would get us any attention". "Don't worry, we more civilized than a lot of people in Roanapur.", Shenhua assured. "You still have your weapons though.", Rock pointed out. "Well ya, what we supposed to do when mugger try to get us?", Shenhua retorted. "Fair enough, I guess.", Rock shrugged his shoulders.
"Where do we go first?", Sawyer asked. "Usually, we head right and then do a whole loop around the neighborhood.", Revy answered. "Are there any haunted houses you three go to?", Lotton asked. "They're too scary…", Riley responded with slight fear in her voice. "Plus Revy kept assaulting all the scare actors.", Rock added, which made his wife turn her head to him. "Hey, it was self defense and you know it!", Revy snapped back. "You almost pulled a gun on someone last year for startling you.", Rock argued, "We were lucky to not get charged with aggravated assault.". "Well either way, we start leaving now.", Shenhua advised. "Yeah, yeah, let's not keep little Jack Sparrow here waiting.", Revy nodded as her eyes glanced down at Riley.
"They're gonna be outta candy soon!", Riley impatiently tugged on Revy's leg. "I just said we're going right now.", Revy assured her. "We'll lead the way.", Rock said before the group of six started walking. Thankfully in a neighborhood full of costumed pedistrans, the Freeloaders managed to blend in quite well. Shenhua and Sawyer even got complimented for their 'very realistic props' a few times.
Unfortunately for Lotton, while his costume did get recognized and praised, people saw him as 'the guy whose girlfriend gets stolen by Wolverine', something Lotton very much blames the Fox X-Men movies for popularizing. At some point, he even gave Rock a full blown rant when he mentioned watching both X-Men and X2 with Revy when they came out in theaters about how Cyclops was done injustice which everyone else tried their best to tune out.
"And that's why when the next X-Men movie comes out, they should fire the director and replace it with someone who will actually give the respect Scott Summers so rightfully deserves.", Lotton finished ranting. "Yeah, we'll just have to see…", Rock sighed in agreement but also wanting him to shut up. Eventually though, the Freeloaders and the Okajimas made it to the first available house. Revy walked with Riley to the door with Sawyer following them as well.
"Wait, why are you following us, Scary Lady?", Riley asked her. "I wanna get some candy too, y'know.", Sawyer replied. Revy was about to say something back to her, but ultimately shrugged her shoulders before ringing the doorbell. An old lady answered the door, "Hello?". "Trick or treat!", Riley said, raising her basket along with Sawyer raising hers. "Oooh, what a lovely pirate costume you have dear…", the old lady complimented as she grabbed the bowl of candy and gave some of it to Riley before turning to Sawyer. "Your costume is very scary, missy.", she said while giving the gothic woman some candy, "Be careful where you swing that chainsaw of yours, teens like you get pretty careless.". Sawyer simply nodded as she watched a few pieces of candy fall into her basket while Revy had to hold in a bit of laughter.
"You two have a Happy Halloween, girls.", the old lady said walking back into her house. "Happy Halloween!", Riley waved with Sawyer. Once they started walking again, Revy then laughed at Sawyer much to the latter's dismay. "What's so funny?", she asked in a noticeably annoyed tone even through her electrolarynx. Revy snickered, "Nothin', just that lady thought you were a kid cuz of how short you are.". Sawyer simply glared at the former gunslinger, "I will have you know…I just turned 30 last week.", she retored. Revy shook her head, "And I'm a hundred years old.", she sarcastically remarked which only served to annoy Sawyer even more.
The three girls then made it back to Rock, Shenhua, and Lotton. Lotton was once again going on a tangent much to Rock's annoyance. "The hell are they talkin' about, Chinglish?", Revy asked. "Lotton still on about Cyclops guy from X-Men.", Shenhua sighed, "He very passionate about him. Said Wolverine guy is overrated or something too.". Revy glared at Lotton upon hearing that remark, she's gonna have words with him later. "What about Sawyer and Twinkie Jr.? You get any candy?", she asked them in a softer tone. "I got chocolate and Starburst!", Riley said as she showed off her basket. "M and Skittles.", Sawyer informed, also holding out her basket. Shenhua smiled and nodded, "Very nice.".
"The old lady thought Miss Leatherface here was a kid.", Revy snidely pointed out which made Sawyer fold her arms and pout. "Don't worry, Sawyer.", Shenhua sympathetically looked at her, "Think of it as other way of saying 'You look very young'.". "That doesn't exactly make me feel better, but okay…", Sawyer replied. "What house should we go to next?", Rock asked. "There's a big house where they give alotta candy I wanna go to!", Riley answered. "Well, let's start headin' there then!", Revy enthusiastically replied.
The six of them started walking again, now in search of the big house serving more candy than the others. This one took quite a hot minute to find, not to mention the detours they took to other houses that Riley was unable to resist getting candy from; Revy held her hand as she went with her daughter to each house which Shenhua noticed. "I know I already saw you before but still surprises me how much of good mom you are, Twinkie.", she complimented.
"It's a learning experience," Revy said. "Only question I have is why you no tell her my real name?", Shenhua asked in a somewhat annoyed manner. "I think it's funnier if I didn't.", Revy bluntly answered much to Shenhua's dismay. "Plus you call me Twinkie and her Twinkie Jr. so…", Revy explained and shrugged her shoulders. Shenhua was about to speak, but she couldn't figure out how to counterpoint that and reluctantly accepted defeat, "You win this round, bitch…", she muttered.
After a few more minutes of walking, the Okajimas and the Freeloaders manage to spot the big house serving vast amounts of candy. And with more candy being handed out, the front yard was abundant with eager trick-or-treaters, young and old. "There it is!", Riley pointed out in excitement, "The big house with lotsa candy!". "Yeah, I see it too.", Rock smiled and nodded. "Y'know what to do, Riley sweetie.", Revy added. Before either parent could walk with her though, Riley went running towards the door despite the vast amount of people in front of her. She managed to bump into quite a lot of people as a result including the boy dressed as the red Power Ranger Rock had encountered earlier. Rock and Revy went after her with Sawyer following as well, wanting more candy.
Riley stood on her tiptoes as she rang the doorbell with her parents and Sawyer soon catching up and the door opened. "Trick or treat!", she cheerfully said, holding out her basket. "Wow, a pirate! That's awesome!", a man answered the door before dumping some candy into Riley's basket. Sawyer then appeared with her basket in hand, ready to get some candy as well. "And we got Jason Voorhees!", another woman showed up to hand out the candy. "It's Leatherface…", Sawyer corrected her in a somewhat irritated tone.
"Jason, Leatherface, Michael, Freddy, all those killer people sound the same to me.", the woman chuckled. "They are not all the same!", Sawyer snapped at her, "They don't even have the same weapon of choice! How ignorant can you-". Before things could escalate into an actual argument, Revy grabbed Sawyer by the arm and dragged her away. "She's a bit cranky tonight…", Revy said to the wealthy couple before they and Riley departed. Once out of their sight, Revy brought Riley and Sawyer back to their group.
"What the… heck was that about?", Revy scornfully asked the cleaner, "Were you tryin' to cause a scene?!". Sawyer simply looked away and frowned with folded arms. Revy groaned, "Chinglish, you talk to her. She ain't my kid.". "You mad they got your costume wrong or something?", Shenhua asked in a softer tone. "It's not my fault they were too stupid to know popular slasher characters...", Sawyer replied. "Yes, some people are stupid.", Shenhua nodded, "But remember that we not in Roanapur, we in normal city now. Can't just pick fights with people."
"I was not going to fight with them….", Sawyer pouted. "It's okay, Scary Lady.", Riley chimed in, "I know you're the scary guy with the chainsaw.". "Thank you.", Sawyer nodded in a deadpan manner. "And I know Talky Guy is dressed like the guy with the laser eyes and Wolverine always flirts with his girlfriend!". "His name is Cyclops!", Lotton corrected, "And Wolverine's overrated; the movies glorify him and make Cyclops look bad. Also they're not lasers, their optic blasts there is a difference-.". "Lotton, she's five.", Rock interrupted him before he could go on another tangent about his favorite X-Men.
Rock then checked the time on his watch, it was 9:00 PM. "It's getting late, we should be heading home now.", he suggested. "Yeah, that's enough Halloween for tonight.", Revy agreed before turning to the Freeloaders. "Ay Chinglish, we're gonna be headin' home now. Riley's gotta hit the sack real soon.". "Ah okay then.", Shenhua responded, "We going to find haunted house then-". "Wait, I wanna go too!", Riley suddenly spoke up. "Riley, it's past your bedtime.", Rock informed her. "But I'm not sleepy!", Riley argued back. "Didn't you say the haunted houses are too scary for you, anyway?", Lotton asked her, having remembered her previous statement.
"Well….uh….", Riley began pondering to find some sort of excuse not to go home and be out for at least a little while longer, "I wanna try and not be scared anymore!", she haphazardly explained. "Is that so?", Shenhua asked, tilting her head. "C'mon Riley, Chinglish and the others have other places to go.", Revy said, trying to dissuade her daughter. "Oh I don't mind, Twinkie.", Shenhua replied, "If Twinkie Jr. want to prove she's brave like mother, she can go with us.".
"C'mon Mommy, please please please pleeeeeease!", Riley begged until Revy caved in, "Alright fine, I guess we can stay out a bit longer.". "Revy-", Rock attempted to firmly respond only to get interrupted, "It's Halloween night, let's let her out a bit more then she's done.", Revy explained which Rock sighed as he reluctantly went along with it. "Okay, but after the haunted house we should go home.", he proclaimed.
With all that said, the Okajimas and the Freeloaders went to find a haunted house before eventually discovering a rather small dark and foreboding building with tombstones, skeletons, and ghosts decorating the place. "This looks like the place….", Sawyer said. "Y'sure you wanna head in there, sweetie?", Revy asked Riley. "Uh huh!", Riley eagerly nodded, "No hand holding this time!". "Okay then…", Revy shrugged her shoulders before they walked inside.
Upon entering the haunted house, organ music blared through the speakers with the sounds of sinister cackling echoing through the hall. Riley briefly shook but ultimately shrugged off that sense of fear coming down her spine. "Welcome to your worst nightmare!", a deep guttural voice said, "We hope you make yourself at home because once you enter, there's no going back.". "I'm not scared of you!", Riley defiantly yelled. "Oooh? Well…uh…let's see if you have what it takes to overcome this place.", the voice, caught off guard by her response, retorted before letting out a malevolent chuckle.
"I'll be holding onto Riley's candy basket... just so i don't have to pick it all up off the ground later…", Rock said before getting handed the basket full of candy and the six begin their way through the horror-themed attraction. The first room had a fog machine as well as several tombstones spread across it. "First trial of the way; A night with the living dead!", the guttural voice announced, "Can you find your way out before you become Frankenstein's lunch?!", it semi-mockingly asked. "First off, Frankenstein is not the name of the monster…it's the name of the scientist.", Sawyer corrected, "Second…he is not a zombie.". "...Correcting me will not save you!", the voice replied in a slightly annoyed manner.
The room flashed as a stock sound of lighting sounded off before multiple groaning and snarling noises started playing. "So now we have to find way out before zombies get us.", Shenhua noted. "Doubt it's that hard.", Revy replied, "These haunted houses are pretty cheaply ma-!", "RAAAAWRRGH!", a man in a zombie costume suddenly appeared, spooking the former gunslinger who promptly decked him in the face on instinct. Rock winced as he fell to the floor, another case of assault on his hands…
"Maybe the exit's over here.", Riley wandered to a corner before bumping into something tall and motionless. When she looked up, a zombie prop was right in front of her with its head falling off right by her feet. Riley jumped as the prop startled her and let out a noticeable yelp. Revy glanced at her daughter's reaction before the latter shook her head. "That wasn't very scary!", Riley folded her arms and huffed in false confidence.
"Look, there's the exit but it needs a code to unlock it.", Rock pointed at the door close by. "One of the zombies must have it.", Lotton added. "It's either with guy in costume or prop.", Shenhua looked around before a zombie suddenly fell from the ceiling and let out a loud growling sound which startled the assassin into decapitating it with one of her blades. Thankfully, it was a prop and not an actual person. "Scared the shit out of me.", she sighed in relief and slight annoyance. Thankfully, neither Riley or her parents were within earshot of her swearing.
Sawyer quietly looked around the scene to find which zombie had the code needed to unlock the door. The scenery did little to scare her as she's used to zombies in movies as well as her weekly picnics in the Roanapurian cemetery. The zombie that Revy knocked out didn't have the code anywhere on him, neither did the prop that scared Riley or Shenhua. Suddenly, another actor dressed like a zombie jumped in front of her, "BLRAAAARRGGH!", he loudly shouted.
Unlike the other girls, however, Sawyer stood silently in an unimpressed manner. The actor tried again, but the results were about the same. The cleaner then noticed a piece of paper sticking out of the actor's pocket and simply yanked it away before heading to the rest of the group. "Seems Sawyer's got the code.", Rock said as she showed them the piece of paper she snatched. "Good job, Scary Lady!", Riley congratulated. Sawyer smiled brightly at that before typing in the four-digit code: 1-0-3-1.
With that, the first trial was done and the group moved onwards. "So you managed to survive the onslaught of zombies, I see.", the guttural voice said, "But now, your second trial awaits!". "And what would that be?", Revy asked with a raised eyebrow. "A game of tag…with a werewolf!", the voice answered before letting out another menacing laugh.
"Isn't that what you dressed as, Twinkie?", Shenhua asked, looking at her costume. "Yeah, was kinda made through some last minute shopping.", Revy answered. "It look very sloppy.", Shenhua bluntly told her. "Hey, at least I'm wearing a costume!", Revy snapped at her. "I got no idea what to wear!", Shenhua shrugged her shoulders. Rock and Lotton looked around the room before coming across an open cage door shrouded in darkness. "Wait so, where's the werewolf?", Rock asked before suddenly, an actor dressed in a full blown werewolf costume lunged out, complete with a hidden speaker making feral dog noises, and startled them both.
It tried to 'slash' at the two men with its claws, but only Rock was lucky to not get caught. "And one member is disqualified, five more to go~! Can you all survive the next five minutes?", the voice mockingly announced. "Sorry, Lotton.", Rock sighed. Lotton groaned in disappointment as he walked himself to the corner labeled 'Captured Prey' and sat down, "If my girlfriend was here, we would've won this effortlessly.", he sulked. Rock ran back to the group before they scattered across the room.
The next one to be out was Sawyer whose chainsaw only served to slow her down and she went to the 'Captured Prey' corner as well. Then came Rock, who stumbled while running away before getting tagged. Now only half the group remained untagged and still scattered. "I…I'm not scared of you! N-not at all!", Riley timidly told the werewolf as she trembled and quaked in her place. That only prompted the werewolf to snarl and go after her directly and Riley cried out in fear as their chase began.
Of course, hearing her daughter panically shriek and seeing her chased around brought out the more aggressive side of Revy and she rapidly charged at the actor. When Riley was cornered, Revy tackled the werewolf to the ground and started punching him repeatedly. "Hey hey hey! Revy!", Rock ran into the scene and restrained his wife by the shoulders, pulling her off the costumed actor, "Revy, stop!". "He was scaring Riley! Let me go!", Revy aggressively attempted to shake her way out of her husband's grasp. After a brief scuffle, Revy manages to break out but stops herself from laying more of a smackdown on the werewolf.
"You guys win this round….", the costumed actor groaned in pain. With that said, the remainder of the five minutes passed and the group was ready for the next round. "So you all bested the werewolf. Quite impressive!", the guttural voice commented, "But now, your final challenge will be unlike any other!", he then laughed over the speaker, oblivious to the pain his fellow actors were put through.
"Come on guys, one more room and we get to go home.", Rock said as the adults followed him. Riley stood behind, however, and scowled at the beaten up werewolf. "Riley, let's get going.", Rock told her. Before she followed her father though, Riley ran up to the werewolf actor and kicked him in the face. "Riley, no!", Rock firmly raised his voice at his daughter before grabbing her arm. "We don't hit people!", he reprimanded her. "But he was chasing me!", Riley whined at him.
Rock sighed, "If this place is too much for you, then I think we should leave.". "But there's still one more challenge!", Riley protested, "And it's the only way we get outta here!". "They only say that to scare people.", Rock explained, "I'm sure there's an exit somewhere.", he said looking around the room. "No, I'm pretty sure we have to walk through the whole thing.", Revy said. "Speaking of which, you and Shenhua need to cool it with the violence.", Rock spoke towards her. "I only decapitated prop, Twinkie the one who beat people up!", Shenhua retorted. "And you're very lucky it was a prop or else you'd get arrested for manslaughter.", Rock replied.
"And what's wrong with Twinkie beating up werewolf?", Shenhua questioned, "He was scaring Twinkie Jr. I think it justified!". "Assaulting someone until they can barely move for a harmless performance is not justified.", Rock argued. "Oh, you think scaring our kid is harmless?!", Revy snapped at him, "Haunted house or not, I'm not gonna just stand there and let them-". "Guys, guys, let's take it easy here!", Lotton chimed in, trying to ease the tension, "There's just one more room we have to go through and then we're done. We shouldn't spend our time arguing amongst ourselves". Sawyer nodded in agreement. Reluctantly, the rest of the adults quieted down before Revy looked at Riley clinging onto her leg.
"You're doing real good here.", Revy assured Riley as she gently rubbed her back to calm her down. "But I got scared two times already…", Riley replied. "And still you're willing to go through all of it.", Revy added, "That's bravery right there if ya ask me.". Riley smiled at her mother's words of encouragement, but still held onto her leg for a moment. "What if I get too scared to go to bed?", she asked. "Then either you get to sleep in your dad and I's room or I'll stay with you until you fall asleep.", Revy answered.
With all of that said, the Okajimas and the Freeloaders walk into the room dedicated to the final challenge: The Mummy's Maze. "And so comes your final challenge…", the guttural voice said, "Venture through many corners in search of the exit within the span of three minutes! All the while, our mummified friend will come after you!", the voice laughed. Suddenly, a buzzer came off as a sarcophagus opened behind them and an actor dressed like a mummy, covered in various bandages as he groaned and approached the group of six.
"Okay honestly, the mummy room feels like a repeat of the zombie room.", Lotton commented. Sawyer nodded in agreement, "They should've gone with vampires or ghosts…", she critiqued. "Now's not the time to criticize this place, we have to find our way through the maze.", Rock reminded them. Riley looked at the two diverging paths, one headed left and the other right, to see which one would be correct. "Let's go on the right path!", she said with the adults following her. By sheer luck, it proves to be the correct way to go. "Now what?", Revy asked her daughter, making her think for a moment, "Right again!".
They went through the right path again…only to reach a dead end. "Oh, dead end.", Revy commented. The group then saw the mummy catching up before heading left instead. But now to make things harder, three diverging paths were there. "Two minutes left!", the voice shouted, adding pressure to the little girl's train of thought. "It's either the one on the left, the middle, or the right.", Rock said. "The uhh…the middle?", Riley hesitantly answered before they headed to the middle which was another lucky guess.
They then reached the final section of the maze which had four diverging paths now. "Oh, maze extra tricky now…", Shenhua commented in a dismayed tone. "Maybe we should split up and take each path.", Lotton suggested. "Yeah, what Talky Guy said.", Riley nodded. "Which paths do we take though?", Revy asked. "The three of us will go on the one farthest to the left.", Rock answered, "Shenhua, Lotton, and Sawyer can choose whichever paths they want to go on.".
"But which path we each go on?", Shenhua asked. "I dunno, pick one.", Revy shrugged. "One minute left! Tick Tock…", the voice announced before the Okajimas took the far left path. Thinking quickly, the Freeloaders had to pick which paths they wanted to take. "I'll take the furthest one on the right.", Lotton said. "I'll go on the other left one.", Sawyer added. Shenhua nodded, "Then I go on other right path, but hurry back 'cause we only minute left.". "Plus the mummy.", Lotton informed. "Oh, mummy not so scary.", Shenhua shrugged off before hearing a groan as the mummy was right behind them and promptly knocked the actor out with a backwards hard chop.
With all that said, they split up on their respective paths to see which one was the correct one. And the correct path ended up being…Shenhua's. "My path has exit door!", she called out to the others. "Looks like Shenhua's the lucky one.", Rock commented. "Where are you, Chinglish?", Riley asked. "Go to close right path!", she answered. "45 seconds left!", the voice announced. "It's gonna be a pain getting to Chinglish's path before time runs out…", Revy commented, "We're gonna have to break some walls down…". Punching a hole through the cardboard wall on their right, Revy managed to tear open a hole and see Sawyer next to them. "C'mon, this is the quicker way to get to her.", Revy told Sawyer before the two created another hole that led to Shenhua's path.
Shenhua watched as the other four walked in the now-huge hole of the cardboard wall. "Surprised the mummy hasn't caught up to either of us yet.", Rock commented. "Oh he knocked out.", Shenhua informed. "...Why?", Rock dismayfully asked. "Give us more time to think.", Shenhua answered. "Well anyway, we gotta get Lotton now-", Revy said, about to bust open another cardboard hole only for Lotton to arrive, "No need for that, Rebecca.", he said. "30 seconds remain!", the voice announced. "Well what are we watin' for? Let's get outta here.", Revy said before opening the exit door with her and the five others following her. Now all that remained was a closed box and the exit to the haunted house.
"Congratulations visitors!", the voice said, You've all made it out of my Three Spooky Trials! For that, I believe you earned an award… especially the little girl. Reach into the basket and claim your prize!". "A prize?! I wanna prize!", Riley eagerly exclaimed before running up to the box. "What you think Twinkie Jr's prize is gonna be?", Shenhua asked. "Probably some more candy or something.", Revy answered. Upon getting close enough to the box, Riley saw instructions taped to the table it was on. "To get your prize, press the big red button.", she read. Doing as the piece of paper said, Riley went ahead and pressed the big red button, her smile spreading wide across her face as she was all too eager to see what the prize was going to be.
A panel in the ceiling opened up in front of Riley before a pile of candy came crashing down onto the floor. Her eyes widened in amazement at how much was falling onto the floor, the adults were amazed too but Rock was lowkey dreading how much they'll have to pick up once it's all dumped. "Have all the candy in the world!", the announcer said. "Wow! Thanks, Scary Voice Guy!", Riley said as she grabbed a pile of it and put it in her basket. "Yeah…uh, no problem.", the voice replied.
The adults joined in to grab the candy and put it in Riley's basket…it was a lot. "Jesus Christ, did they buy all of Candyland or something?", Revy asked as the pile of candy dropped was only a quarter gone now. "Yeah, I don't think it's all going to fit in Riley's basket…", Rock said with his daughter's basket now getting filled to the brim. "Can we have some of the candy too?", Sawyer asked. "Yeah, Scary Lady! You guys can have some too!", Riley generously answered. With that said, the Freeloaders started filling Sawyer's basket with the remaining candy.
By the time Sawyer's basket was full, only about six pieces of candy were left; a chocolate bar, two Starburst packs, a lollipop, and two sour patches. "Okay, there's six of us here and six pieces of candy left on the floor so…who's calling dibs on which candy?", Rock asked. "I'm getting one of the sour patches.", Revy responded. "I want the chocolate!", Riley called out. "I take the lollipop.", Shenhua said. "I'll have one of the Starburst packs.", Lotton said. "Second sour patch for me.", Sawyer said. "Alright, then I'll have the second Starburst pack.", Rock said as he and everyone picked up their chosen candy.
Soon the Okajimas and the Freeloaders began heading back to the house. "Well, that was a fun night.", Rock said. "Yeah, I had a good time.", Revy nodded in agreement, "What about you sweetie, ya had fun trick-or-treating?", she asked Riley in a softer tone. "Yeah! I got lotta candy!", Riley excitedly looked into her basket making her parents chuckle slightly. "Don't eat it all in one night.", Rock advised her, "Save it so you'd have candy for a long while after.". "You don't let me have so much sugar after dinner anyway.", Riley commented. "Yeah and that still applies here too.", Rock added.
"What about you, Chinglish?", Revy asked, "You guys had a good time?". "For first Halloween outta Roanapur, ya we had good time.", Shenhua answered. "I need to get in touch with my girlfriend and ask about her Halloween when we get back to the motel.", Lotton commented. Sawyer was quietly looking at all the candy she collected with an eager smile on her face, she can't wait to get her hands on it later. Eventually, they all made it back to the Okajima residence. "Alright, let's put all your candy away first then you go say bye to everyone.", Rock said as he led Riley to the kitchen.
"So, you guys doing anything tomorrow or just headin' back to Roanapur?", Revy asked. "We have flight tomorrow, Mr. Chang let us borrow private jet but we wanna leave early as possible.", Shenhua explained. "Fair enough.", Revy shrugged. "I probably have a lot of bodies to clean up when we get back…", Sawyer despondently said, "Halloween tends to get pretty violent over there.". "Don't you have that assistant of yours to help?", Lotton asked her. "Yes, but bodies still rack pretty high…", Sawyer responded.
Soon Rock and Riley returned, "Alright before you go to bed, say bye to everyone.", he gently told her. "Bye Chinglish!", Riley waved at Shenhua. "Bye Twinkie Jr!", Shenhua waved back. "Bye Talky Guy! Bye Scary Lady!", Riley waved at Lotton and Sawyer respectively. "Bye Riley.", Lotton waved with Sawyer. Rock and Revy also bid farewell to the Freeloaders before they started walking out onto the driveway to wait for their cab to arrive. Rock then walked away with Riley to get her ready for bed, but Revy stayed at the front door.
"Hey Lotton, can ya come here for a quick second!", Revy called out to him. Lotton walked back to her front doorstep, "We're expecting a cab real soon so try to make it quick.", he said. "Yeah, yeah, just need to tell ya something.", Revy assured, catching his interest. Revy made Lotton lean closer to her before muttering, "Wolverine will always be way cooler and better than Cyclops will ever be!". She then slammed the door faster than the self-proclaimed Wizard could even respond.
With that out of the way, Revy went into her and Rock's room and started taking her costume off before switching into her black tank top and black underwear and undoing her hair. Soon Rock also came in, now also out of costume and instead wearing a white T-shirt with blue boxers. "Well, that was another successful Halloween, wasn't it?", Revy asked him. "Besides the…possible assault charges in the haunted house then yeah.", Rock replied. "They're probably not gonna remember either of us with their concussions anyway.", Revy shrugged off, "Besides, that werewolf guy fuckin' deserved it.".
"Okay…", Rock sighed, " Maybe the guy in the werewolf costume went a bit too far there.". "I'll take it…", Revy huffed before opening her sour patch and eating a few. Rock also opened his Starburst pack and began eating it as well. "What colors did ya get?", Revy asked. "I got yellow, red, and pink.", Rock answered, "Pink ones are my favorites.". Revy nodded as she finished eating her sour patch.
"I forgot if I asked you this already, but…", Rock said, "Before Roanapur, did you ever celebrate Halloween?". "Yep.", Revy answered, "Course, they were all pretty shitty...only time I enjoyed it was when I stole a bunch of bubblegum and chocolate bars from a gas station". "My Halloweens in Japan weren't all that special either.", Rock commented. "Hey, as long as Riley's Halloweens are great, they're great for me too.", Revy said which her husband agreed to, "Speaking of which, she asleep now?". "Cuddled up with Mr. Hissy as we speak.", Rock replied, "You wanna watch a scary movie to cap off the night?". Revy chuckled, "Sure, but make sure ya don't piss your pants or anything, Rocky Baby.", she teasingly smirked at him. Rock simply rolled his eyes.
"Guess we could go for some Chucky right about now.", Revy shrugged. "Okay, Child's Play it is then.", Rock said as he grabbed his copy of the movie and put it in the DVD player below their TV. A few loading menus later, Rock played the movie and put an arm around his wife's shoulder as she slightly leaned her head on him. They stayed silent for most of the movie though Revy could hardly take it seriously considering the killer is a talking doll and everything before they ultimately passed out around the end. They would've stayed dead asleep had a knock on their bedroom door not suddenly awakened them.
"Mommy! Daddy!", Riley frantically cried out as she knocked on the door repeatedly. Rock and Revy's eyes immediately opened up upon hearing their daughter and immediately opened the door for her. Riley then ran into her parents arms as they tried to calm the scared, tearful child down. "Hey hey hey, what…what happened?", Rock asked in a concerned tone. "I-I…I had a bad dream where…the big werewolf tried to eat me!", Riley whimpered. "Hey it's okay, you're safe with us.", Revy assured, still hugging Riley.
"C-can….can I still sleep here?", Riley asked, remembering her mother's offer in case she were unable to sleep after the haunted house. "Of course you can!", Revy answered, "You want us to go get Mr. Hissy too?". Riley nodded before Rock went to grab Riley's snake plushie from her bed. Revy then led Riley to the bed where she turned off the TV and they lied down. Revy wrapped an arm around her daughter and held her tight from behind, "It's okay, the werewolf and any other monster trying to get ya is gone.". "What if they come back?", Riley quietly asked. "Then I'll hop inside your dreams and kick their butts.", Revy warmly replied.
Soon Rock returned with Mr. Hissy and put him in front of Riley for her to cuddle with. Then he started to lay down before snuggling with Revy, putting an arm around her torso. "Guess we're all sharing the bed tonight.", Rock commented. "Yep.", Revy yawned and nodded, "Also if I see that guy in the werewolf costume again, I'm blowin' his damn head off.", she whispered. "Revy…", Rock sternly mumbled. She sighed in response as Riley then managed to fall back asleep in her mother's arms.
Soon enough, both Rock and Revy joined their daughter in dreamland and they remained asleep for the rest of the night. Hopefully, the nightmare Riley just had would be a one time occurrence. However, that also came with the fact there's plenty of candy for her to enjoy for tomorrow and many more days to come…
If she doesn't eat it all in one sitting of course.