Author's Note: Happy Halloween, ladies and gentlemen. In celebration of this memorable night, I've decided to upload this very chapter which takes place on Halloween. I know the Halloween episode of Ducktales is much later in Season 3 and I'm getting ahead of myself, but seeing how it doesn't matter when in the story it takes place, I decided to upload this before the events of Season 3. I plan on doing the same with the Christmas episode.
Before reading, you should know that I plan to take a break from fanfic writing for the entire month of November. I've been writing and brainstorming a lot, and I need some time to recharge my batteries. I'll be back to uploading the stories again on December 1st.
Enjoy the chapter. Have a happy Halloween. Any and all comments are welcome.
The Duck triplets and Webby gathered in the living room with necessary supplies, including a map, backpacks, outfits, and glow sticks.
"This is it." Huey said. "One night. Every house in town, and we'll score enough to last us all year. Suit up!"
Howard walked in right after to see the kids in their costumes while standing beside a very large jack-o-lantern. Huey was wearing a costume that made him look like Gizmoduck, Webby wore a freakish monster costume, and Dewey only wore a blue Hawaiian shirt and an eyepatch. Howard himself wore a costume that made him dressed like the Collector.
"Blathering blatherskite, I love Halloween! The pageantry. The mischievous pranks. And, of course, the trick-or-treating. Yep, this will be the best Halloween ever! And it's even better because it's the first one we get to celebrate with Howard!"
"So this is Halloween, huh?" Howard asked looking around at the spooky decorations.
"That's right." Dewey proclaimed. "And I see you're already in costume, Howard, my man. The Collector, huh?"
"Well, Della wanted me to dress up as something scary, and who scarier than the most evil man I know?" Howard asked. "Kinda fits considering this is my first ever Halloween."
"Well, we'll be sure to give you the best first Halloween ever!" Webby declared. "So says I, Balor the Demon King of the Evil Eye!" Everyone stared at her blankly. "The evil eye curse that plagued 17th century Europe?" Still got nothing but stares. "The roots of Halloween? A day to disguise yourself to trick the demons or appease them with sweet treat offerings. A celebration of fear and conquering that fear!"
"I'm a pirate on vacation." Dewey said.
"Dewey, you're supposed to blend in with the monsters by wearing scary costumes." Webby informed.
"Webby, we've faced ACTUAL monsters." Howard said. "And they all needed more than just a scary costume to be defeated."
"Oh, trust me, Howard," Louie said, "There's nothing scary about tonight."
Huey noticed that Louie wasn't in costume. He was just wearing his green hoodie. "Who are you supposed to be?"
Louie pulled a red hat from his pocket and put it on his own head. He then began imitating Huey. "Junior Woodchuck Rule Nine Million…" He then returned to his normal tone. "Halloween is about candy and only candy."
"You are a lazy costumer." Huey said as he tried to take his hat back. "Quit stretching my hat!"
"We have the same head!" Louie said. "Forget the legwork, Howard. If you want a true Halloween experience, then I've got a plan that'll make us candy billionaires."
"Candy billionaires, you say?" Howard asked sounding interested. "And you're sure you thought it through, right? Any good scheme requires being absolutely sure."
"It's Louie." Huey said. "Any scheme of his is bound to have one big detail that he didn't think of, especially when it comes to Halloween."
"Shows what you know." Louie said. "Trust me, Howard. With the plan I got in mind, you won't ever have to worry about trick-or-treating again. And it'll be easy because Halloween has the safest scares of the entire year. Nothing's going to scare me from…"
As if on cue, the lights suddenly blacked out. Right after that, the jack-o-lantern burst open and a skeletal figure jumped out of it. Literally, a skeletal figure. It looked like a walking, talking duck skeleton with glowing bones. It growled when it emerged startling everybody.
"LEAVE THIS HOUSE!" He removed his mask revealing to be Scrooge behind it. "'Cause there will be no Halloween handouts here."
"Uncle Scrooge?" Howard asked. "Is this those 'safe scares' Louie was talking about?"
"Aye. I'll tell you all about it outside." Scrooge said.
Howard and the kids followed Scrooge outside the manor gates and closed them behind them. Howard looked aside and spotted his girlfriend, Della, and Donald there with them.
"This house is closed for Halloween!" Scrooge declared.
"Aw! But we were gonna do a haunted house!" Della complained.
"I wanted to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters!" Donald stated.
"And I wanted to scare those trick-or-treaters so that they'd never close their eyes again!" Della added.
"Well, you've certainly picked out the right costume for it." Howard said with a delightful smile that he shared with Della. "Aren't you a mischievous devil."
"And aren't you a wicked Collector." Della returned before giving Howard a kiss.
"Yuck. Grown up romance." Louie said disgusted.
"PDA aside," Scrooge said, "If you two want to pull off your childish gimmicks, then go bother Launchpad. I'm going guising."
"Guising?" Howard asked. "How is that NOT a childish Halloween gimmick?"
"It's different, Howard." Scrooge said. "Back in Glasgow, this was the one night a year I could eat sweets like a rich man's son. Through sheer hard work, I earned more treats than all the kids in town. And every year, I aim to reclaim that glory."
"But what if kids come here for candy?" Howard asked.
Scrooge didn't answer. He just pulled out an empty candy bowl and placed it in front of the gate. He then left a small card beside it that read "TAKE ONE."
"Oh, no. It appears someone has taken all the candy already, but who?" Scrooge feigned his confusion while putting his mask back on. "It's a spooky Halloween mystery." He laughed as he danced away from the house.
"Even around special nights like this, he continues to be cheap." Howard commented.
"Hey, Howard," Della said, "Thanks again for chaperoning the kids for their trick-or-treating."
"Anything for this family." Howard said. He got one last kiss from Della before turning to the kids. "All right, you four. Let's start this trick-or-treating thing."
"So what's this plan of yours?" Howard asked as soon as he and the kids went deep enough into Duckburg.
"I'm glad you asked, Howard." Huey said pulling out his neighborhood map. "First up, Rockerduck Estates for the big bars and Candy Corn relay. Then down to Silverbeak for the Haunted Hayride Spooktacular. And I've scheduled bathroom breaks, so just…" He struggled to hold in his need to "go". "Hold it 'til we get to Mrs. Klopeck's. Great bathroom, freshly tiled."
"Uh, Huey, not that going to the bathroom according to a written schedule isn't fun and all," Howard said, "But I kinda want to know Louie's plan."
"I was wondering when you were gonna shut him up." Louie said. "Lady, gentlemen, Huey…" Huey grimaced at that. "Instead of walking all over Duckburg for just a few bags full of candy, I have a perfect plan for us to go to one place where we can get all the candy we could ever want."
Dewey gasped excitedly. "We're going to a candy store?"
"No. It's nighttime. Candy stores are closed." Louie informed.
"We're gonna ROB a candy store?!" Dewey asked even more excited. Louie slapped himself in the face with that. "Oh, and it's perfect, because Howard here is an ex-thief!"
"WHAT?! WHERE'D YOU GET…" Howard panicked before calming down with a chuckle. "Sorry. I kinda forgot you all know now."
"Dewey, we're not going anywhere NEAR a candy store." Louie said. He then turned his head to a hilltop where a big, old, abandoned house was displayed. "We're going to Hazel House, the most haunted house in town."
"Louie, what makes you think we'll find any candy here?" Howard asked. "It looks like no one's been here in years."
"Good question, Howard. Allow me to explain." Louie said stepping in front of everyone. "Legend says, long ago, the house was hastily built on a gateway between the living and the dead. Every treater who dares to enter disappears along with their candy. Which means there's years worth of free candy inside!"
"Yarr!" Dewey exclaimed in a pirate tone. "A treasure fit for a relaxed buccaneer!"
"One last sweet score, and we will never have to trick or treat again." Louie exclaimed. "What do you think of that, Howard?"
Howard thought for a moment. "I mean, it's all right. But how do you know there actually IS a candy stash inside?"
"Howard's right, Louie." Huey said. "I've never even heard of this place. We want to trick or treat, not chase some phony myth from a phony Huey."
"If it is just a myth, then no harm in getting to the truth." Louie said.
"Why don't we just ask Howard what he thinks?" Webby asked. "I mean, he is responsible for us."
Howard thought some more. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt just to look around and see if there actually is a candy stash."
"But if we stray from the path, we'll lose valuable trick or treating." Huey said. "I made plans and everything."
"It's just one look around." Howard said. "Ten minutes tops. If we don't find any candy, we're leaving. Is it a deal, Louie?"
"Deal." Louie agreed. "Candy for life!"
"With my cut, I can finally open that 24-hour candy store I've dreamed of since ten minutes ago!" Dewey declared.
Everyone headed on through the gate and toward the house, even Huey, albeit reluctantly. When they reached the door, Howard attempted to turn the doorknob, but it broke off easily.
"Oh, no. We'll never get in now." Huey said with a lack of enthusiasm in his tone. "Time to move on. This place is clearly…" He stopped for a moment when the door creaked open slowly. "…abandoned?"
"The bigger the trick, the sweeter the treat." Louie said.
"Just stay behind me, kids." Howard said. He lead them into the house and looked around at the old, ancient décor.
Howard looked down and spotted something on the floor. It looked like paper, but when he picked it up, he saw that it was a used candy wrapper. There was a note written on the blank side that read "NO ESCAPE". He looked on and saw even more candy wrappers making a trail toward a closed door.
"There. That door." Louie said. "That must be where the candy is."
"Louie, hold on." Howard advised. "A trail of used candy wrappers leading to a strange door? This feels like a trap."
"Come on, guys. We have a ghost butler." Louie reminded. "We have faced all kinds of monsters. Howard, you probably faced scary stuff in space, right?"
"Well, there was the time I had to spend the night in the lair of Lady Hellbender, the most dangerous beast-tamer in the galaxy." Howard said. "Let me tell you, she's got tons of monsters that'll put everything I've seen here to shame."
"That's what I'm talking about." Louie said. "So you probably won't mind going first. I mean, you are our chaperone."
Howard groaned. "Fine."
He walked over to the door and opened it. Inside, he and the kids stared anxiously at the old, creepy toys that were placed on shelves and crates.
"I have a bad feeling about this place." Howard said. "Is everyone accounted for back there?"
"I am." Huey said.
"Same here." Webby said.
"Hungry for candy." Louie said.
What came next was silence.
Howard looked around and gasped seeing that Dewey was missing. "Dewey? You here? You gonna make a cute little 'Dew' pun?"
"He couldn't have gotten far." Huey said as he and the others looked around. "You know, we should be at Ms. Swineson's bobbing for apples. You know, fun times. Not grim, traumatizing times."
"Over here, guys!" Dewey's voice was heard across the room. "I found it! The mother lode! It's all here."
Howard and the other kids followed the voice to a far side of the room where a TV set was turned on. They also found Dewey sitting in front of the TV facing directly at it.
"Dewey, I don't know what you're doing," Howard said nervously, "But could you come back with us so your mom doesn't kill me for losing you."
"Hi, guys." Everyone's eyes widened when they heard Dewey's voice again. But it didn't come from the TV area. It came from their left. They turned and saw Dewey walking up to them. "What's up?"
"If you're here," Huey said fearfully turning back to the TV, "Who's that?"
The small figure in front of the TV turned its head in a creepy 180 angle. It was NOT in fact Dewey, but a wooden puppet that looked very similar to him and even sounded like him.
"No escape." it said eerily as one of its eyes popped out.
The family screamed before finding more puppets that looked a lot like them. They screamed some more before hearing another creaking sound. A chest opened up in front of them, and something very tall and thin stepped out. It was another puppet in a black tux and bow tie laughing at them as it closed in on them
Howard felt his heard beating as he stepped back with the kids. "Kids… RUUUUUUN!"
The family turned and ran in a panic to the nearest door. But much to their surprise, when they opened it, they saw another door that was smaller. They opened it and found another smaller door. This went on until they could finally see the hallway on the other side. Howard led all the kids through before going through himself. Although, it was smaller than he wanted, so the kids had to pull him straight through. Once he made it, they slammed the door shut behind them.
Howard took a moment to catch his breath with the kids. "Okay. Would anyone mind telling me what THAT was supposed to be?"
"Why are you so scared?" Webby asked. "I thought you spent the night among the monsters that were collected by Lady Hellbender?"
"Lady Hellbender didn't have any creepy living dummies!" Howard said.
"We can get through this!" Louie said desperately. "Candy for life! Candy for life!"
Just then, the door was forced a crack open, and the one-eyed Dewey dummy stuck its head out. "Candy for death!"
"Don't you turn my motto back on me!" Louie shouted as he forced the closet back shut decapitating the Dewey dummy in the process.
"We need to find a way out!" Huey yelled.
"No! Not yet!" Louie yelled. "Try all the doors!"
The family split up and checked all the doors, but each one revealed a new monster that was unleashed. Dewey's door revealed a large, demonic clown that growled at him. Huey's door revealed a large, green blob with a duck skull swimming in it. Webby's door revealed a giant lobster claw that tried to grab her. Howard's door showed a wrinkled duck man with a fedora, a red-striped shirt, and a glove that had long blades for fingers.
One by one the monsters crawled out of their doors and approached the family, who were scared stiff at what was happening. Webby stepped up with a desperate plan.
"It is I, Balor the dark lord! To attack me, my fiends, is to attack one of your own!"
The monsters stopped to look confused before continuing to creep toward the family. Clearly, they weren't fooled. Louie then noticed another trail of candy wrappers that lead to a door behind them.
"Candy! Over there! The last door! It can't be any worse than in here!"
The family raced to the last door and opened it up to jump right through. They then found themselves outside where an array of gravestones were erect.
"Why would you ever say that?" Huey asked.
Howard grabbed a chair and propped it against the door they escaped from. It was good timing too, for the monsters inside started banging on the door trying to break it down.
"That should hold them." Howard said. "Though, I'm not sure for how long."
"Okay, we made it through the house." Huey said pulling out his map. "And with enough time to get to Mr. Houndenheimer's for…"
"But the legend." Louie interrupted. "Where was the candy stash. I've gotta go back in." He attempted to run back into the house, but Howard grabbed him to stop him. "Howard, let me go!"
"Louie, you go back in there, and you'll be monster chow!" Howard shouted. "A big pile of candy isn't worth the risk! That candy's probably expired by now!"
"Howard's right, Louie." Huey said. "Clearly, this was all nothing but another half-baked scheme. If we leave now, we can still pick up the back-half of the trick or treat trail."
"Last time I checked, we were a family of treasure-seeking adventurers." Louie said. "Why stop now? 'Cause this house isn't on your precious map? Well, I'm putting it on there!"
He grabbed the map and pulled on it, but Huey wouldn't let go. The two of them fought over it and rolled around the backyard wrestling on top of each other. It wasn't long though before Howard stepped in and split them up. He kept the two of them apart.
"Boys, that's enough!" Howard shouted. "If you two are gonna start a fight, at least give me time to sell tickets!"
Louie glared at his brother before picking up the map. That's when he noticed something. "Hey. Hazel House IS on this map."
"What?" Howard asked. He looked at the map and read the notes written on the house aloud. "'Hazel House. Fabled candy fortune here. Stay away.'"
Louie turned his angry attention toward Huey. "You KNEW about this?"
"No! …Okay, fine. Yes."
"For how long?" Howard asked.
"I heard about Hazel House from a campout with my Junior Woodchuck troop, and I knew that if Louie ever found out about it, he would force us to come here."
"You told us it was fake!" Louie shouted angrily. "You tried to get us to avoid it! What were you planning on, hoarding all the candy for yourself?!"
"It's not like that, I swear." Huey said.
"Boys, knock it off!" Howard called out. "Huey, if there actually WAS a candy stash here, would you still have wanted us to steer clear of it?"
"Yes. Whether the legend was true or not, going here would ruin the trick or treat route."
"You always do this," Louie said, "With the lists and the schedules."
"Do what? Try to keep us on track?" Huey countered. "I just wanted to have a traditional Halloween."
"Hey, hey, let's not spoil tonight." Webby said.
"Ahoy? Starboard side?" Dewey said with a fearful tone. Everyone looked over to their right seeing nothing but a gate. "Sorry. I meant port side."
Everyone looked the other way and saw a creepy, wet hand stick its hand out of an old well. They watched as a woman in a dirty dress and long, black hair crawled out with water dripping all over her body. She pointed at them and walked slowly toward them.
"No… escape." she said in a raspy tone.
The family were frightened out of their wits as they were led to the gate behind them. At that moment, the back door finally burst open, and all the monsters they saw before finally emerged. The clown. The blob. The living dummy. The ugly man with the knife glove. They all came out and corned the family to the gate where several monster appendages reached through and wrapped around them.
"We need to appease them! It's tradition!" Webby yelled out.
"With what?!" Howard asked.
"Well, we either need to give them candy or scare them off!"
"Yeah, I don't think any of that's going to work!" Howard yelled. "There's no way we can scare anything as horrifying as those monstrosities, and we don't have any candy!"
Just then, the monsters all stopped in their tracks. The wet woman pulled her hair off of her face and revealed her witch face.
"No candy?"
"What do you mean, no candy?" asked the clown, who removed his mask and showed that it was a werewolf in a costume.
At that moment, a series of spotlights shines on the backyard revealing the truth. All the gravestones were props that were hidden by a fog that came from a small machine. Most of the other monsters revealed their true forms too. The wet woman from the well was actually a witch, the clown a werewolf, the dummy a vampire, and the scarred man a mummy. Even the monster appendages that held them turned out to be body parts from Frankenstein's monster, who hopped out to reassemble himself.
The mummy sighed. "None of this turned out the way that it should have."
"Um… WHAT THE DUCK'S GOING ON HERE?!" Howard yelled. "Who and what are you people?"
The mummy turned to the family. "Right. My name is N'Kantu, the Living Mummy. I'm the director of this band of monsters here at Hazel House."
"An actual mummy?" Huey asked. "Because we've met a mummy before. Toth-Ra, and he didn't look ANYTHING like you."
"Mummy curses varies depending on the kingdom." N'Kantu said. "In my case, I'm basically just an immortal man with bandages all over his body."
"If you're actual monsters," Webby said, "Then surely, you must recognize Balor, the Demon King! Lord of blight and smite" All the monsters stared blankly at Webby.
The werewolf in the clown costume took a moment to sniff at the kids before stopping at Dewey. "Mmm. Pirate on vacation?"
"Arrgh!"
"Nice."
"I got a better question." Louie said. "WHERE ARE YA HIDING THE CANDY?!"
"We're not hiding any candy." N'Kantu informed. "That was supposed to be YOUR job."
"What are you talking about?" Louie asked.
"You brats are supposed to bring the offering." the witch said. "Candy's the only good reason to celebrate this holiday that is, frankly, pretty offensive to monsters."
"So for centuries," the vampire continued, "We tricked kids into coming here for scares so terrifying, they drop their sweets."
"So there is no secret candy stash?" Howard asked. "You guys just scare trick or treaters out of the house and eat everything they leave behind?"
"Exactly." N'Kantu answered.
"So you're like candy thieves?" Dewey asked.
"Hey! Can't go out in the daylight." the vampire said. "Not like there's some 24-hour candy store somewhere."
"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING!" Dewey yelled out.
"But why the extra costumes?" Huey asked. "You're already monsters."
"Kids today don't appreciate the classics." the werewolf answered. "You're scared of random kid stuff. Puppets? Clowns? Little girls in wells? What is wrong with you guys?"
The Frankenstein monster spoke up. "Frankenstein think it stem from latent fear of being perceives as childish and regressing to place where you no longer in control."
"Sheesh. Since when are you a therapist?" N'Kantu asked. "Witch, do we have time to lure in any other children?"
"I'm afraid not." the witch said. "It's midnight. Trick or treating's over, and we wasted it on these candiless fleshbags."
"I missed it." Huey realized sadly. "I missed Halloween." He walked over to slouch on a gravestone. Howard and Louie looked over at him before joining him.
"Kid, you okay?" Howard asked.
"No." Huey said miserably. "We wasted the whole night."
"Don't be like that." Louie said trying to cheer his brother up. "So we made a mistake. At least we're still alive. And we met some real-life monsters. That's a cool thing, right?"
Huey shook his head. "Back on the houseboat, Halloween was our biggest adventure every year. We'd suit up, face the unknown, search for the best candy. Sure, it was just neighborhood trick-or-treating, but it was ours. And what's worse is we failed to give Howard the ideal Halloween experience."
"What do you mean?" Howard asked.
"You've done so much for us." Huey answered. "Reuniting us with our mom. Settled Scrooge's bet with Glomgold. You even risked your life just to save our planet. I wanted your first Halloween experience to include embracing all the best parts of the night. And what happened instead? We get chased all over an old house for a pointless cause."
"I was just trying to help Howard experience the best of Halloween too, so I wanted to get him a lifetime supply of candy." Louie said realizing his error. "And that was the problem, wasn't it?"
Howard looked over at the two boys. "Wait. So you two went through all that trouble for me?"
Huey nodded. "This is your first ever Halloween, Howard. It deserved to be special. Meanwhile for us, any Halloween now could be our last one."
Howard smiled and sat closer to the boys. "Kids, as far as I'm concerned, you both succeeded in giving me the best first Halloween."
"What?" Louie asked. "But we didn't get any candy."
"And we didn't check out the Halloween attractions across Duckburg." Huey added.
"Sure, none of that stuff ever really happened," Howard said, "But it was still very memorable. This is exactly the kind of Halloween misadventure you'd expect from the Duck family. And if it was because of you kids, then I have no complaints. And hey, you don't have to worry about getting too old for Halloween. I mean, me, your mother, your Uncle Donald, and Uncle Scrooge are all adults, and we're living the night to the fullest."
Louie smiled at that. "Thanks, Howard. So really, who cares about candy?"
"WE DO!"
Frankenstein's monster appeared over them with an angry expression. He grouped up with the rest of the angry monsters who surrounded the ducks again.
"Hey, what's the big idea? I thought you stopped attacking us!" Howard protested.
"We're monsters, you fool!" N'Kantu bellowed. "We need our sweets! Our appeasements!"
"No more tricks!" the werewolf howled.
"You owe us treats!" the vampire said.
"And we don't scare so easy!" the witch finished.
"Uh, Webby," Dewey said, "What happened when the Celtics ran out of treats to appease the demons with?"
"Usually, they fed on children." Webby informed.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Howard cried out stepping in front. "If you want these kids, you're gonna have to go through me!"
"Fine by me." N'Kantu said. Suddenly, he shot out long strands of his bandages and wrapped them around Howard binding him in place. "You know, we've never had an alien before. I wonder how you'll taste."
Howard gulped. It looked like it was up for him and the kids.
Just then, everyone stopped to hear a loud, buzzing sound coming from the fake wall behind them. They turned and saw a large duck man break into the set with a hockey mask, a mechanic jumpsuit, and a large, handheld buzzsaw.
"ANOTHER ONE!" Dewey yelled.
"That's not one of ours!" the vampire said fearfully.
"This ends now, demons." the mechanic said with a familiar voice.
"Launchpad?" Howard asked.
Launchpad yelled as he ran after the monsters. He tripped over a rock and fell down the well, but he quickly broke through the ground intent on slaying the monsters, who all panicked and ran back into the house.
"Uh, what's going on?" Huey asked.
"I don't know, but I'm getting to the bottom of it." Howard said heading into the house to follow Launchpad, who ran into the house to chase after the monsters.
The monsters screamed as they ran down the hallway. There, they found Della and Donald, who looked at them confusingly.
"Creepy twins!" the werewolf screamed as he ran with the monsters into the nearest room.
"Hey!" Donald cried out knocking at the door. "Have you seen our friend, Launchpad?"
"What is that horrible, garbled moaning?" N'Kantu asked with fear dilating his eyes. "He's possessed!"
"Oh. Hey, Launchpad."
Launchpad's first burst through the door causing all the monsters to back off. Launchpad stepped into the room where he found the dummy lookalike of Dewey. He stared at it with growing resentment toward the monsters.
"What have you done to DEWEY?!" Launchpad yelled chasing the monsters out of the room.
At that moment, Howard ran back into the hotel taking a break for heavy breaths. "Hoo, boy. Running around all night sure makes a duck tired."
"Howard?" Donald asked. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to watch the kids?"
"The kids are fine." Howard said. "I've got a better question. What's with Launchpad? Why is he acting crazier than usual?"
"Well, as it turns out, Launchpad's never heard of Halloween." Della explained. "He thinks that every year, monsters steal souls from people's houses because he read some weird scroll when he was a kid."
"What?" Howard asked. "That's crazy. Who in their right mind would think…" He stopped himself when he remembered who he was talking about.
"Launchpad could really hurt somebody!" Donald yelled. "We've got to stop him!"
Back out at the foyer, the monsters tried to reach the front door, but stopped when they heard a loud banging knock coming from the other side. A skeletal hand broke right through making a hole in the door. After that, Scrooge's masked face appeared peeking through the hole.
"Trick! Or! Treat!"
The mosnters stood petrified shaking in place.
Meanwhile, Howard, Della, and Donald grabbed ahold of Launchpad's legs trying in vain to hold him as he approached the monsters ready to attack them with his tool. At the same time, Scrooge burst in dropping one of the candy pieces in his bag. The candy unwrapped itself, and the wrapper ended up on the floor. Launchpad noticed it and picked it up. He gasped when he thought he knew what it was.
"The sacred text." Launchpad said before reading it aloud. "'Monosodium glutamate, sucralose, polysorbate, blue 52, fructose, corn syrup, ARTIFICIAL FLAVORING'!"
"Kids?" Scrooge asked seeing everyone there. "What in Samhain is happening here?"
Launchpad stood silent waiting for something to happen. After a moment though, the monsters all burst out laughing.
"That… was… terrifying!" the witch declared happily. "Bravo, you black-hearted devil!"
"I haven't felt so undead in centuries." the vampire said.
"All that intense and horrifying build-up just for reading a list of candy ingredients?" N'Kantu laughed. "You can't make this stuff up anymore!"
"We learn from you." Frankenstein's monster said.
"Evil Mechanic is the real master of Halloween." the werewolf said.
"Hallow-what?" Launchpad asked. "I read the scroll. How are you still here?"
"Launchpad, there was no scroll. You've just been reading from a candy wrapper." Howard informed. "What's going on tonight has nothing to do with a demon curse of you. It's a holiday. I've only been on Earth for a quarter of a year, and even I know more about today than you."
"So… no one's in danger?" Launchpad asked.
"Well, we were until you showed up and gave these real monsters the scare of a lifetime." Howard said. He then turned to the Living Mummy. "So what do you think? Satisfied now?"
"Yes." N'Kantu nodded. "For a scare like that, we have been appeased guaranteed. Still, I wish we got some candy."
"Well, Gizmo-dork," Louie said turning to Huey, "You got an idea for how to fix that?"
Huey thought for a moment before smiling. "There is one house that I know hasn't given out any treats yet."
Even though it was after midnight, there were still a lot of kids eager for candy. The gates of McDuck Manor were open for them allowing a line of kids to be formed across the yard and right to Scrooge's front door where the Duck family were handing out full candy bars for everybody, even the monsters. Launchpad was also among them as they explained Halloween to him.
"So you're saying tonight's a holiday where you dress up in a fun costume and then go door-to-door with your friends and get free candy?"
"Yes, Launchpad." Louie said. "This is Halloween."
Webby was next in line as Scrooge gave her a candy bar. "Wow, Uncle Scrooge. Finally opening up your gates for Halloween, feeling the true spirit of the holiday. …You're charging them admission, aren't you?"
"And we're open all night." Scrooge said. "Dewey's idea."
"An all-night candy store." Dewey declared. "Yarr! It be a Halloween miracle."
Howard chuckled before looking over at Della. "So Donald told me you've been considering encouraging Launchpad's craziness to get a thrill out of scaring little kids."
Della laughed nervously. "He told you that, huh?"
"Well, he had to repeat it twice for me to understand, but yeah." Howard said.
Della sighed. "Yeah. I guess unleashing a confused man-child on a group of kids wasn't the best idea. I just loved getting scared every Halloween when I was a kid, and I wanted to give other kids the same experience."
Howard chuckled. "Well, don't get too obsessed. If tonight has taught me one thing, it's that Halloween isn't just about one thing. Sure, there are scares, but there's also candy." He threw a piece into his mouth. "And I gotta say, this night was plenty…" He stopped to clutch onto his stomach and groan.
"You okay?" Della asked with concern.
"I think there was something wrong with that candy." Howard groaned. "It feels like my face is gonna… gonna…" He gave a loud gagging sound as his face quickly melted off. It dripped off leaving nothing but his skull which terrified Della.
"AAAAHHH! HOWARD!"
At that moment, Howard laughed and tapped on a pin in his coat. His melted-off face disappeared revealing it to be merely a hologram and that he was fine and unharmed.
"You're right! Scares are a thrill, especially to your loved ones!" Howard laughed.
"You jerk!" Della shouted punching him in the arm. She then broke out into laughter joining her boyfriend. "Happy Halloween, Howard."
"Happy Halloween, Della." Howard said before returning to celebrate the night with the rest of his family.