Marino was welcomed by the autumn breeze as he stepped out.

It enveloped his whole body. A smile crawled upon his face. He had a cerulean blue sack over his shoulder. It killed him to be doing this, but he was doing this for his own good.

Chiro stopped him by putting his hand on his other shoulder. Marino looked back. Chiro and Sprx stood behind him.

"You know you don't have to leave, right?" Chiro started. "We can handle everything. You can relax here."

"I could, however," Marino looked away, "you know how I am. I cannot be in the center of chaos and not do something about it. I appreciate the thought, Uncle Chiro, but this is a necessity for me. I have everything I need with me."

He patted the sack and knocked on his helmet.

"I even have my helmet with me if you require a way to contact me. I let the others know about my departure already. I will see everyone tonight."

He walked away from Chiro. His tail swayed from side to side.

"Marino-"

"Let 'im go, Kid." Sprx stopped Chiro from going after him. "He clearly needs this. Marino's gonna be fine. Happy Halloween, Marino!"

Marino looked back as he kept walking. He smiled and waved at Sprx, acknowledging his words.

"C'mon, Kid, let's go. We still gotta get everything ready."

Sprx went back inside. Chiro followed him after looking at Marino one last time.

Everyone was getting everything ready for tonight. A lot of the decorations had been done beforehand earlier in the month, but they wanted to do final touches for the night. It was mainly Otto and Chiro's idea to decorate. Everyone had candy on the side for any trick-or-treaters that would come by.

Nearly everyone dressed up for the holiday. The only ones around that didn't dress up were the Hyperforce, at least not yet.

Emerald and Peridot helped with the candy, the two being in a princess and knight costume respectively. They wanted to go with a matching pair of costumes, and they ended up with something more medieval. Their costumes would've been switched around, but the knight costume bothered Emerald after a while.

Magma also helped out, but he mainly brought them over. After he brought the bowl over, he readjusted his werewolf costume. He wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to be that year, so Chiro brought him out to the costume store for him to look at everything. It still took him a bit to figure out what he wanted, but he decided on the costume he wore right now.

When he felt a tap on his shoulder, Magma turned around. He jumped so bad he could've been on the table with the candy. Emerald had to make sure the candy didn't fall off the table. Soma moved the hood on his grim reaper costume.

"I'm sorry, Magma! Are you okay?" Soma asked.

"Hell no!" Magma took a deep breath. "I nearly had a heart attack! Next time, keep ya damn hood down!"

"I'm sorry!" Soma repeated.

Chiro awkwardly laughed at the scene.

Well, at least nothing too chaotic was happening yet.

Jasper stepped away from the scene and walked the other direction. She put whatever gag she had in mind in her clown hair. She whistled innocently as she walked away, her clown shoes making a sound with every step.

Chiro felt goosebumps rise on his skin. He didn't want to tell the kids what they could and couldn't wear, but man he still didn't like clowns.

He decided to walk over to the kitchen. Maybe the others needed help.

When Chiro entered, he saw Nova and Otto take out the cookies. Astral eyed the fresh batch and raised a hand. Antauri smacked it down. A light gasp escaped the teenager as he rubbed the hand.

"If you want a cookie, you have to wait." Antauri scolded. "If you wish to have them sooner, help decorate. Besides, one of the trays they pulled out is specifically for Diamond."

Astral whined while his little archeology hat fell down.

Kaminari sat there eating a cookie, wagging her tail immensely. Chiro couldn't help but smile at the hybrid pirate. He walked over to her and ruffled her hair.

Her tail stopped wagging as she whined. She tried to swat away his hand and cover her head.

"Daddy! Stop it! Papa Gibson just brushed it!" She puffed out her cheeks.

He snickered. "Ah if he has a problem with it, he can take it up with me."

He looked at the others. Nova put in a couple cupcake trays into the oven.

"Do you guys need any help?" Chiro asked.

"Yeah, you could get some icing out for us." Nova said.

Aero held out some of the icing.

"Here, Mama."

"Oh!" She took them from her. "Didn't hear you come in, sweetie!"

They rubbed the back of his neck, almost messing up the mummy wrappings.

"Ah, I just came in for a drink. I'll, uh, be out of your way in a moment."

He grabbed a bottle of kool-aid out. She went to walk out the kitchen.

"Aero, you don't have to leave!" Otto grabbed his arm. "Ya could help out with the cookies! Same with the cupcakes once they're done!"

"Otto's right, there's no need to leave just yet. If you wish to help, we'd appreciate it." Antauri smiled.

Aero looked down for a moment. Afterwards, she looked up.

"…Yeah, I'll help out."

"Go on grab some icing then! And keep it away from Otto so he doesn't eat it all," Nova joked. She looked at Chiro, "I guess we got it covered. Make sure everything's good and see if Gibson needs help."

Chiro nodded in response.

He turned around to leave. He walked by Kami who finished up her cookie. After she grabbed her hat, she walked beside Chiro.

She looked around Chiro. He raised an eyebrow at her. Kami then looked at him.

"So where's Papa Sprx?" She asked.

He looked around him. He thought Sprx was still next to him.

"Huh. Guess he might be with your siblings." Chiro answered.

Her tail dropped to the ground as her eyebrows slanted downwards.

Dactyle looked in the mirror.

They stared at the fake blood on their vampire fangs. They looked at it at all angles. After a moment, they smiled.

"Thanks, Father Gibson," Dactyle looked back. "I appreciate the help! I would've asked Dia, but I have no idea where she is right now. She's not even in her study."

"That's unusual. I don't recall her saying anything about participating in any holiday activities today…"

Gibson hummed as he rested his mouth on his hands. His tail flicked to his other side.

While it was possible Diamond left her study to grab something, he wondered what she had in mind. He decided to push it to the side, thinking it was probably nothing to worry about.

Gibson smiled at Dactyle.

"It was nothing, love. Go have fun, alright?"

They kissed his forehead. "I will, though it would be more fun if you joined us!" They said in a sing-song manner.

"I'd love to, though I doubt they'd let me terrorize the trick-or-treaters. Besides, I have to make sure no threats come upon us while everyone has fun."

The door suddenly whooshed open. The family's grim reaper came in and walked up to Gibson with a book in hand. It was placed down in front of him; he looked at it.

"Ah, I was wondering about that. Thank you-"

Just like that, their little grim reaper was gone. That was quicker than he or Dactyle expected.

"Guess Soma's too busy right now." Dactyle crossed their arms. "Well, not that I can blame him, he's been left with plenty of responsibility. かわいそうに。"

"I wouldn't say "poor thing" necessarily. He has us to help out, after all."

Dactyle simply nodded in response. They hugged Gibson before running off. Their tail poked outside of their dress and wagged immensely.

Gibson could only smile and chuckle at one of his children's excitement. He was sure most of the others were just as excited. Even if he would be stuck in the main room for the night, he'd be able to find ways to entertain himself. Rereading the book that was just returned to him would be one way of doing so.

He smirked, maybe he could still have a little fun from the control center. There were surely ways to do some harmless scares and get some thrills.

Maybe traumatize a citizen or five.

Gibson suddenly felt a hand touch his shoulder and he jumped. He quickly spun around and pulled his drill out.

Sprx held his hands up and took a step back. His eyes had widened slightly. He snorted and snickered. Gibson relaxed a little; his hand transformed back.

"Damn, Brain Strain, either you're pretty jumpy tonight or you're maskin' again, and I hope it ain't that."

Gibson shook his head. "No, of course not. I simply didn't expect you."

Sprx smirked and snickered. Even if it was unintentional, he figured he startled the blue scientist. Harmless, but fitting considering everything. He wondered if he could team up with Jasper and do some intentional scaring him by doing some pranks.

Gibson saw the look on his face. He knew exactly what he was thinking. If Sprx voiced it, he'd knock that cowboy hat right off his head. He quietly sighed through his nostrils.

Sprx put his hand on Gibson's face and kissed his cheek. Gibson pecked his lips.

He got up and grabbed the book.

Chiro came into the lab. "Hey, Gibson, do you need help with anything?"

"No, I believe I'll have everything handled monitoring the city. Thank you, though."

Gibson walked past him. Sprx and Chiro exited the lab as well. Sprx leaned onto the wall. Chiro looked down at him.

"I was wondering where you went." Chiro said.

Sprx shrugged. "Decided to get into costume and see how Gibson was doing. Might do somethin' with Jasper later, give him a little ole surprise."

"Don't even think about it, Sprx." Gibson responded.

Chiro rolled his eyes before he swiped his hand up Sprx's hat. It went down enough to cover his vision. He chuckled as he moved it back up. Chiro walked away from him.

He might as well get into his own costume.

Emerald plugged it in.

The decorations on and around the Super Robot's feet lit up. She smiled and her tail wagged. Otto patted her head.

"Thanks for the help, Emmie!" He smiled. "You can go have fun now!"

Her tail wagged more. Emerald hugged him and kissed his cheek before she ran back inside.

Otto felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see the grim reaper behind him. He smiled wider and his tail wagged.

"Oh, hey honey! What's up?"

"Are the cupcakes and cookies done?" was signed.

He frowned. "They are, but you shouldn't have them until you're better."

An eyebrow was raised before the grim reaper hacked. Otto pushed.

"That just proves it. Get back inside, okay? I can get you something later, alright?"

A sigh. "…Alright."

"I know it sucks, but we'll keep 'em fresh for ya!"

Chiro passed by the little grim reaper as he put the helmet on. He watched in confusion.

"Huh, I thought we just passed Soma inside."

Sprx shrugged. "Eh, it doesn't help that there's a lot going on."

Chiro hummed in response. Something felt off, but he couldn't put a finger on it. He decided to put it to the side for now and grabbed a chair to sit on.

Sprx went over to Otto and they started talking. Otto's tail began wagging tremendously.

Little kids came by and held out their baskets as they said "trick or treat!" Jinmay, Slingshot, and Chiro handed out the candy.

The light inside the Super Robot turned red. Theatrical smoke came through. The kids stiffened up and bundled together. Chiro looked behind him with a raised eyebrow.

"What the…?"

Slingshot looked at the Super Robot, then back at Chiro. He pointed inside with his thumb.

"My Prototype said it was because of Gibson."

Chiro raised his hand to the side of his face. "Gibson! What did we tell you about terrorizing citizens?"

After a few seconds, everything turned to normal.

"Thanks! Don't do it again!" Chiro bent down. "Don't worry, you're safe here."

Meanwhile, in the Super Robot, Gibson scoffed as he used his tail to switch between cameras. He took a sip of his drink.

"For now they are," he mumbled to himself.

Jasper walked up to Magma.

She tried to be as quiet as possible. She had one hand on her clown nose and the other on the flower on her costume. A big smile rested on her face as she tried not to laugh.

It was bound to be a little funny.

Magma suddenly grabbed Jasper's arm with his tail. She yelped and jumped.

He turned to her. "Don't. Fuckin'. Dare."

Magma seemed calm enough, but his voice was stern and the look on his face told her he was serious. He let go of her arm. He stepped away, walking over to Aero.

Jasper simply whimpered. She slumped and her tail was dragged across the ground. Her shoes made sad squeaky noises.

…Maybe she could prank somebody else instead?

Kaminari sat down on her bed as she put the phone up to her ear.

"Hey, Mari." She started. "Sorry I'm calling, I know you said you didn't want to be bothered, but I miss you…"

"It is fine, Kaminari. You're one of the two only exceptions to my break tonight. I hope you are well."

"I am! I'm gonna be trick or treating with Papa Chiro in a bit, but I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine, thank you." Marino lightly chuckled; Kami could tell he had a smile. "Go ahead then, have fun. I do not wish to keep you."

She frowned. "You sure? I don't want you to feel lonely out there…"

"I'm fine, sweet sister. Again, you can always call me if you desire it. Have fun out there, okay? Be sure to get plenty for me as well."

She snickered at the request, joking or not. Kami knew how he was with candy, mainly from stories of what their parents told her since she wasn't around for some of those times. She would try to get him some too, though, since she wanted him to have candy to come back to.

"Alright, I will! Love you, Mari. I'll check on you later if you're not back by then."

"I love you too, Kaminari. I will see you later."

Kaminari hung up, grabbed her basket, and ran out the Super Robot.

Astral constantly readjusted his costume.

On one hand, they were probably fine and they didn't need to do so. On the other hand, he wanted to look nice too. It might've just been a costume, but it meant a lot to look nice in it at least.

His tail slumped and he pouted. Maybe they were worrying too much.

Soma went up to Astral and put his hands on his shoulders. He lightly massaged them to help Astral relax.

"What's troubling you, Astral?" Soma softly asked.

Astral looked away. "Greg's coming by…"

"Ah, I see."

Soma brushed them off, making sure there was nothing on them. He even plucked off a piece of brown fur that was on his clothes. He lightly adjusted their hat.

"No need to worry, for you're a rose that has the moon's spotlight on it. Nothing else in the graveyard will grab his attention."

Astral snickered. "While I get you just mean I look fine and he won't care, you can quit the Gothic talk."

"It wouldn't be me then if I didn't say things like that, now would it?" Soma pushed them along. "Go on, I'm sure he'll be here any moment now to pick you up."

Astral smiled and nodded. He hugged Soma before he ran off. Soma watched him leave with a smile.

That smile faded within seconds.

Everything felt too calm. He shouldn't complain about that, but he had a feeling that something was going to happen.

That was what made Soma worry a lot.

Jasper and Sprx peaked from behind one of the orb chairs.

Gibson sat there with his drink in hand. He switched cameras to the front of the Super Robot. Everything seemed fine. He sighed as he leaned onto his free hand. His tail slowly swished from side to side. He took a sip before he set the cup down.

Sprx looked at Jasper and put his finger up to his lips. Jasper simply nodded with a grin.

They went up to Gibson.

"Papa Gibthon!"

"What is it, Jasper-"

Jasper sprayed his face with water and Sprx threw a water balloon at him. When the water touched his face, he covered his face with a groan.

Gibson almost sounded… pained.

He curled up and his tail curled inwards.

Jasper and Sprx stared at him. They weren't expecting that reaction at all. Annoyed or surprised, definitely, but not this.

"What was in the water?!" Gibson cried out.

Jasper put her hands up to her mouth. Her eyes widened and color drained from her face. Sprx's tail dropped to the floor.

"It- It wath jutht water! Nothing thould- thould have been in it!" Jasper responded. "I'm thorry!"

Gibson lowered his hands from his eyes.

Thick, blue liquid came from the bottom of his optic lenses. It went down his cheeks until it reached his jawline.

Was… Was that his blood?

"Brain Strain?" Sprx took a couple steps forward. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay, Sprx."

His irises turned blood red. His lips stretched and twisted into a sinister grin. Gibson bared his sharp teeth, teeth that were sharper than ever.

Jasper's legs started shaking at the sight.

"In fact," Gibson's voice distorted and echoed, "I've never felt better!"

Gibson pulled out his drills. They started spinning.

Something told the two to start running.

Jasper forced herself to run to the tubes. Sprx followed suit.

They didn't go up when they went inside the tubes. It was like they didn't work all of a sudden despite them being fine just a moment ago.

She banged on the sides. "Work work work!"

Gibson stood up from his seat. He walked ever so slightly closer to the pink and orange monkeys.

Jasper just froze up and curled into a ball.

When he got close enough, he aimed at their faces and fired.

Sprx went to protect himself, but he got hit.

It was too late.

It was…

…blue jam?

Jasper licked it off her lips; it tasted pretty good actually.

It didn't stop her from crying though.

Gibson stopped spinning his drills. He looked at Jasper with concern. His hands turned to normal and he went up to her. He bent down and put his hand on her shoulder.

Sprx went over to Jasper as well.

"Hey, Jazzkie, are you okay?" Sprx asked.

"I didn't hurt you when I shot that, did I?"

Jasper whined and whimpered. "No. I-" She sniffed. "I thought you were pothethed by a- by a demon!"

Gibson sighed. So that was why she started crying. His little stunt and appearance didn't help matters any.

"Jasper, you really need to stop reading creepypastas. A good chunk of them are ridiculous and, quite frankly, not even that scary."

She whimpered again.

Gibson picked her up and hugged her. He simply wanted to play a little joke to get back at them for all the times they gave him heart attacks, especially Jasper with her pranks.

Now he just felt bad.

Magma went to Diamond's study.

He opened the door and took a step inside. He looked around from where he stood.

Dia wasn't in here either.

He hadn't seen her all evening and, admittedly, he was worried about her. Magma wanted to make sure she was alright, but if she wasn't in here, then he didn't know where she could be.

He moved away from the room and crossed his arms. Magma groaned and tapped his arm.

This wasn't like her at all.

Normally he'd be happy to leave her alone. She didn't bother him with her dumb high superiority bullshit, and he wouldn't get hurt from their usual fights. It was basically perfect for him.

Magma couldn't help but worry about her, though, he knew she wasn't feeling well. She wouldn't rest in bed, for her rest was being in her study room. He couldn't find her in either room whenever he looked.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder. Magma jumped.

The red monkey quickly spun to the side. He smacked the hand away.

"Soma! The hell did I say 'bout havin' that hood up?!"

"Uh, that's not me, Magma."

Magma looked behind him to see Soma standing there.

Wait, if he was there, then who was that?

The secondary grim reaper lifted her head up. Her eyes shined through the darkness of the hood. She pulled her arms back.

"What did I bloody tell you about being in my study, you hot-headed buffoon?"

Diamond coughed into her mask.

Magma stood back. He tightened his fists.

Soma walked up to them, but kept his distance.

"Diamond, you know he wouldn't just go in there without good reason."

"Don't go inside without my permission!"

She swung the scythe. Magma dodged it. His fists transformed into his gauntlets.

"Oh, sor-ry I wanted to make sure you're alright, ya damn headcase!" Magma growled.

Soma went between the two.

"Hey, hey, we don't need to start fighting. How about we take a few deep breaths, and we can talk things out."

"Stay out of this!" They snapped in unison.

They pushed him out of the way.

Diamond swung the scythe while Magma dodged and threw punches.

Soma scrambled to get his helmet on.

They weren't listening and he needed Marino's help.

All Marino heard was the wind.

He felt the falling leaves in his space. They landed below and around him, never on him. Marino was one with the peaceful, dancing nature around him.

One with his mind, one with his soul, one with the universe.

This was the break he needed. He should have done this years ago.

That was until his helmet rang.

Marino put it on his head, believing it to be Kaminari. He answered the transmission.

"Hello."

"Marino! Dia and Mags are fighting and I can't stop them!"

"Ah, have you tried-"

"They won't listen to me and they just push me out of the way! I need you, Marino! Come back!"

"I'm afraid I cannot." He denied. "I asked you if you were prepared to do this on your own, and you said that you were. I tried to make sure you were truly ready beforehand, but I'm afraid you are on your own. If you need help, I suggest you acquire Father Antauri's assistance."

"But-"

"I will help comfort you once I return. I wish you well, Soma. I love you."

"Marino I swear don't you dare hang up on me-"

Marino ended transmission.

He hated doing that, he wanted to help, but he had to take care of his mental state as well.

He noticed what time it was and laid his feet on the ground. Marino needed to stretch his body out. He couldn't allow his body to be stiff.

He stretched his arms, his legs, his neck, everything that could be stretched. His left leg went up to his right knee. Marino pushed it until he heard and felt a pop at the base of his leg.

Marino then floated in the air and crossed his legs as he returned to his meditation.

Magma fell to the floor.

He blocked her oncoming attack. Diamond pushed her blades against his gauntlets. He wrapped his tail around her waist. He slammed her to his side. Magma got on top of her. He hissed in pain from his leg. He pinned her down.

"Fuckin' hell, DG, even when you're sick you're aggressive!"

She snarled before she hacked. Diamond got one hand free. She punched him in the face. He fumbled, but he stayed on top of her. A bit of blood went down his lower lip.

Soma tried to separate them, but every attempt was futile.

It looked like he really did need Antauri's help after all. Soma turned around to run and get them.

Without a single word, however, Antauri phased through the wall. They saw what was going on. He glared at them.

Diamond kept Magma down on the floor. She held her arm back. She coughed.

"You've stepped into my study without permission for the last time."

He prepared himself for impact. He leaned against the floor as much as he could.

Diamond swung her arm down, but her arm stopped short of slashing his torso. She coughed and tried to move her hand with no success.

She suddenly got ripped away from him. Antauri brought her close to them. They had a scowl on his face.

"Diamond Galaxy, you're supposed to be taking it easy. You're sick. That's not to mention the fact you're fighting with Magma yet again."

Antauri looked at Magma, his expression unchanging.

"That goes for you as well, Magma Cloud. You shouldn't be fighting with your sister."

"I just wanted to make sure that bitch was okay, but no, she wanna tear me to pieces because I step one foot into her study lookin' to see if she's in there!"

"Magma, you know how she is about that. Don't go in there anymore." They looked back at Diamond. "Stop getting angry and aggressive over that, Diamond."

"I'll do that the day I get along with that imbecile for good." Diamond crossed her arms and looked away.

"Rest your voice too. You know you shouldn't speak so much."

Diamond sighed in annoyance. She looked at Soma.

"I wasn't aware you were also going to be a grim reaper, by the way." She signed.

"Me neither." Soma responded.

Magma got up. He brushed himself off. He grumbled as he limped away so Gibson could look at his leg.

They sighed, wondering when two of his own kids would stop fighting like this. He kept Diamond in the air. He planned on getting her back to bed.

Get her some soup while he was at it.

Antauri looked at Soma. "They haven't been a pain, have they?"

"They were. I was about to get you, actually." He sighed as he slumped over. "I don't know how Marino does this on a regular basis, and I help him with this a lot."

Antauri closed their eyes. "Everyone is suited for different things. Being a supporting mediator is something you're more suited for. However, I'm sure Marino appreciates you taking over for the day regardless."

"I hope so…"

Soma also hoped he wouldn't have to do any more of this tonight.

Everything died down as the night went on.

There wasn't much insanity Soma had to deal with, thankfully.

Marino approached the Super Robot, feeling it was about time he returned. Chiro and Kaminari came back from trick or treating. Jinmay and Slingshot were getting ready to get everything inside since everything was done for the night.

When Kaminari saw Marino, she ran over to him. Her tail wagged as she hugged him.

"Marino! You're back!"

He chuckled and hugged her back. "It appears we both came back at the same time. How was your night?"

"Great!" She held up her basket, which almost overflowed. "I got plenty of candy for us both!"

He smiled seeing how happy she was. He took off her hat and ruffled her hair. She leaned into it.

"I'm glad you had fun, dear sister."

Then they suddenly heard someone approaching the area. Everyone looked and saw it was Greg and Astral.

Astral's tail wagged immensely. Greg kissed his cheek and put him down. He patted Astral's head.

"I love you and I'll see you later!" The gorilla looked up at the others and smiled. "Hi Kami, hi Marino, hi Mr. Fukuzawa!"

"Hi!" Kami waved.

Greg walked away.

Chiro looked at Astral with a growing sly smirk on his face.

"So…"

Astral blushed. He put his hand on Chiro's mouth to prevent him from speaking. His tail stopped wagging.

"Uncle Chiro, please don't."

Astral walked away. He might have a boyfriend, but they still didn't want any embarrassment from his family.

Chiro simply chuckled at how they responded.

Marino and Kaminari went inside. Soma immediately ran to Marino and hugged him. He hugged him tight.

"Oh my Shuggazoom you have no idea how glad I am that you're back-"

"Slow down, Soma. No need to speak so quickly."

Marino suddenly saw Jasper, who was still curled up into a ball. Sprx rubbed her back while she whined and pouted. Marino raised an eyebrow.

"What happened with her?" He asked.

Soma looked at Jasper. "Apparently, Father Gibson accidentally frightened her really badly. I think she's gonna believe he was possessed by a demon for a few days…"

He raised an eyebrow. "Looking up some .exe stuff again?"

"Uh-huh," Soma nodded.

Marino sighed.

They went to the decuplets' bedroom. Marino sat on his bed while Soma laid on his lap. Kaminari sat next to Marino and offered her candy.

Diamond saw them from her bed. She groaned and turned to her side.

Marino didn't want to know what happened with her. She didn't seem happy to be stuck in bed though, that's for certain.

Soma vented and the three ate candy until dinner was done.

A/N: This took a while to do lol, glad I started at the beginning of the month. Probably not as humorous as I wanted, but something silly for the holiday since I don't do holiday stuff that much (mainly because I don't always get them done on time like I'd love to).

Everyone can guess what the costumes are if they aren't already clear lol.

Also yes I have Astral a boyfriend, I did that a while back, I swear I'll do a proper chapter introducing him at some point cri