“Trick or treat!”
“Wonderful!” exclaimed King Garn Chameel, clapping his big reptilian hands together. “My first ever trick-or-treaters! How exciting!”
Reina grinned and extended her candy bag, which appeared to be an official Grail Guardians duffel bag. As for her costume, it was an adorable Godzilla suit with the tail cut off, providing a hole for her own biological tail to stick through. It was a good fit for her, and while King Garn had no idea what “Godzilla” was, he felt a strange kinship with the costume as soon as he saw it.
The other trick-or-treater accompanying Reina was Tyger, dressed in a Kamen Rider Tiger costume. How appropriate. Due to the suit covering his face, King Garn wasn’t able to immediately recognize him, until, of course, Tyger’s rough, rowdy voice came snarling out from beneath his helmet. “‘First ever’? You ain’t got trick-or-treaters back in yer home world?”
The giant lizard man king shook his head. “Alas! We do not! The wonderful Planet ULTRA continues to provide me with marvelous new experiences!”
Reina jabbed her candy bag forward once more. “Trick or treat!”
“Indeedly doodly!” the king exclaimed. “One moment please, children! I shall go and retrieve your treats!”
As the king disappeared back into his home, Reina turned to Tyger with a big smile on her face. “Oh boy, a king! Kings’re super rich! I bet we’ll get tons of candy!”
“What, like the king size bars?”
“Hell yeah, dude!”
When King Garn returned, both Beasterizers’ eyes nearly popped out of their skulls. While they’d been expecting and anticipating king size chocolate bars, what they were instead being presented with, were chocolate bars the size of giant flat-screen TVs! Uh, except they were not nearly as flat as one flat-screen TV, but rather, they were as thick as an entire stack of flat-screen TVs!
“Holy shit!” Reina screamed as she fainted, tumbling down the long flight of stairs leading up to King Garn’s house.
“Rejoice! Enjoy your treats, my wonderful ultranian children! And have a fantastic Halloween!”
The king dropped the two colossal chocolate bars into Tyger’s hands, and even with the latter’s incredible physical strength, it took him a moment to adjust to the massive amount of weight he was now carrying.
After the door shut, Tyger stomped down the steps, tapping his foot against the unconscious Reina. “Oi. Get up.”
The chameleon girl bounced up to her feet, staring up at the chocolate bars. Tyger had to hold the two of them over each of his shoulders, they were so massive. “This is the best Halloween ever!”
“Yeah, no kiddin’,” Tyger replied, smirking beneath his helmet. “Bet those suckers’re gonna regret not comin’ with us tonight!”
“Totally!”
The two Beasterizers returned to the sidewalk with their hauls, ready to take on the next few houses, even if it was impossible for any of them to live up to King Garn’s.
But before they could continue, a car pulled up beside them, and from the backseat stepped out Ryuna. “Sup guys! Sorry I’m late. I was busy TP-ing Caedo’s house.”
“Hi Ryuna!” Reina greeted, frantically waving her hand both at the newcomer, as well as the car that had dropped her off. “Hi Ryuna’s mom! Hi Ryuna’s dad!”
Fuu rolled down the passenger’s window and stuck her head out, with a concerned look on her face. “Ryuna, sweetie, are you sure you don’t want to bring a coat? It might get cold soon!”
Her daughter waved her off. “I’m fine, Mom!”
After a bit of back-and-forth with Fuu offering coats to Reina and Tyger as well, all while warning them to not go anywhere with strangers, and to return home with their candy before eating it so their parents could make sure it was safe for consumption, the car finally departed the scene.
“Whew, sorry ‘bout that. My mom gets super worried about me sometimes.” Ryuna patted her hand against the top of Reina’s head. “Hey Reirei.” She then looked to Tyger. “Hey Tigger.”
Tyger remained still and silent.
Ryuna snapped her fingers in front of Tyger’s faceless helmet. “Hello? Tyger?”
“U-uh, hey!” he blurted out uncomfortably, nearly dropping the candy bars. “Wh-what’s up! Cool! Awesome! Merry Ha-Halloween!”
She turned back to Reina with a quizzical expression. “What’s up with him? Are those candy bars t-”
“Cool costume, Ryuna!” came the chameleon girl’s interruption. She was referring to the gauze wrapped around the older girl’s body, which she was now swiping her costumed paws at like a cat playing with yarn. “Are you a sexy mummy?”
Nodding, Ryuna replied, “Yup. I’ve been workin’ my ass off at the gym lately, and I wanna show off my progress, ya know?”
“Totally!” The chameleon girl swiveled around, bringing her tail into view. “I just bought a new ribbon for my tail, so I wanted to show it off too!”
“That’s cute!”
Afterwards, Ryuna inquired about the massive candy bars Tyger was holding, which prompted her (and Tyger) to return to King Garn’s house, where the big lizard man excitedly granted them with two more gigantic chocolate bars, seemingly not minding gifting Tyger a second one.
The trio strolled down the street, Ryuna up front, Reina skipping along in the middle, and Tyger marching slowly at the rear, his torso hunched forward from the weight of the four massive candy bars he was lugging around like a pack mule.
“So is everyone else late, too, or did only you guys show up?” Ryuna asked.
“It’s just us!” said Reina, speeding up her skipping until she was keeping pace with the older girl. “Kiria has to do security work at Annabelle’s manor, and Annabelle is handing out the candy! Zeo said he wanted to go to a party at his school instead, and Cain said trick-or-treating is dumb.”
“I see.”
“If you ask me, Cain’s the dumb one!” Reina giggled. “Look at these gigantic candy bars we’ve got!”
The girls turned over their shoulder towards Tyger, although he didn’t notice, given that the bars were forcing him to face downward lest he lose the support the back of his head was providing them.
“I wanted to invite my friend Kizzy,” said Ryuna as she turned and led the trio up the driveway of the next house. “But her family doesn’t believe in Halloween. Pretty lame, huh?”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Totally!”
While Ryuna had led them up to the front door, Reina was the one who giddily smashed her tail repeatedly against the doorbell.
When the door swung open, the three kids blurted out “Trick or treat!” (although Tyger struggled to speak the words clearly).
“My, how exciting!” Mary squealed, extending her candy bowl outward. “You three all look so cute!”
Reina thrust her fist into the bowl of candy like a spear lunging for an enemy’s heart, seizing the biggest fistfull she could manage, which admittedly was not very big. “Thank you!”
Ryuna took a handful and tossed it into her bag, then nodded her head back in Tyger’s direction. “Can I grab some for him, too?”
“Oh of course! My, what an absolute sweetheart you are, dear!” Mary got up on her tiptoes to get a clearer look at Tyger. “And oh my goodness, what a strong one you are! Such a gentleman, helping these lovely girls carry the heavy things!”
“N-no prob!” Tyger said, straining to get each word out. “A h-hero’s….always willin’ to do the liftin’!”
When they returned to the driveway, Reina was already chowing down at the candy she’d gotten. Ryuna followed suit, peeling open a lollipop for herself before taking out a tiny fun size candy bar.
She tapped her knuckles against Tyger’s plastic superhero helmet. “Hey, open up.”
“H-huh?”
“I’m gonna give you some candy.”
“Oh, uh, th-thanks….” he froze in place for a few moments. “I, uh, I can’t.”
She sighed, but that sigh soon turned into a smile. She had considered helping ease the load off of him by carrying some of the bars herself, but she recognized that the act was something of a source of pride for him. She (and everyone else) knew how much the idea of being a hero meant to him, so she decided to let him continue. “Alright then. We’ll take a break after the next house though, okay?”
“S-sure….”
The three trudged ever onward. By the time they’d made it over to the next house, Reina’s bag had been completely emptied of all her candy, making her even more excited to get a new batch.
There was no doorbell at this house, but there was a big, spooky-looking skeleton knocker, and each knock shook the wooden house from roof to foundation.
The door did not fling open; instead, a small slit towards the top opened up, and a pair of vigilant eyes angled down towards the trick-or-treaters. “The hell you brats want?”
Reina held her candy bag up. “Trick or treat!”
“Eh? The hell does that mean?”
“It’s Halloween,” Ryuna said. “Fork over the candy.”
The eyes moved away from the slit in the door, back towards the interior of the house. “Oi! Boss! There’s some kids outside demandin’ candy!”
The door flung wide open, and were it not for Reina’s fast reflexes, she would have been turned to chameleon paste.
“Argh! Tryna get yer grubby little claws on me treasure, are ya?!” Cap’n Nadia snarled.
“Wow! Cool pirate costume!” said Reina as she rushed over to Nadia’s side, examining the captain’s slightly-oversized coat. “Whoa! You even have a hook!”
“Aye!” Nadia said with a smile, proudly holding her hook hand up for everyone to see. “The great Cap’n Nadia, the Red Rose o’ the Salty Seas, only carries the finest treasure the world has to offer!”
The chameleon girl held her bag out once more. “Trick or treat!”
Nadia swiped the bag away with her hook hand. “I’ll be takin’ that!”
“Hey! That’s mine!”
From across the patio, Tyger growled, “Sounds like….criminal scum to me! Y-yer….goin’ down….!”
Tyger began to march forward and bring the pirate to justice, albeit at a snail’s pace.
Realizing he’d never make it to her in a timely manner, Ryuna was the one to step forward, confronting the pirate captain face-to-face. “That candy isn’t yours. It’s Reirei’s.”
A smug grin appeared on Nadia’s lips. “All the world’s treasures belong to the great Cap’n Nadia! Now walk the plank off me property before I have the Gunthorn blast you little brats to dust! Argh!”
Cackling with laughter, Nadia shut the door behind her, (non-hook) hand digging into the stolen bag of Halloween candy.
Ryuna narrowed her eyes, but her attention was soon taken as she realized that only she and Tyger remained on the patio. “Hey, where’s Reirei?”
Her question was answered a few moments later, as the front door once again opened, although this time very slowly and quietly. Strangely, no one actually stepped out from within the house, and the door shut itself back off.
Reina suddenly shut off her camouflage, returning to view, with a massive smile on her face, and a huge bag of stolen candy in her arms, along with her own duffel. “Trick or treat! Heeheehee!”
With a smile, Ryuna patted her head. “Nice!”
The trio continued on their trick-or-treating journey for another two hours or so, with Ryuna taking a bit of a detour to dump her and Reina’s candy wrapper trash onto the lawn of Caedo’s house, which was still covered shingle to cellar in toilet paper.
When they arrived at the next house of the night, and the door swung open, Reina yelled out “TRICK OR TREAT!” as loud as her little lungs could possibly manage.
It made Annabelle jump in place, but the elven girl soon recovered, breaking out into a giggle fit. “Oh, hi everyone!”
“Hi Annabelle!” Reina said, holding out her bag, beaming as her fellow Class G member tossed an extra generous helping of candy inside. “Is Kiria here?”
“No, I’m sorry. She’s watching the ranch right now. Last year someone tried to steal one of our horses for their Headless Horseman costume.”
“Wow, what a dickhead,” Ryuna said.
Annabelle smiled. “I love all your costumes!”
“How come you didn’t dress up, Annabelle?” Reina asked, digging into the bag for more candy. “Even if you’re not trick-or-treating, you still could’ve!”
The elven girls ears drooped low. “I….actually didn’t know that dressing up was part of Halloween….”
Ryuna raised an eyebrow. “Huh? You livin’ under a rock or something?”
From behind her, Tyger’s voice groaned out, “Nah that’s me….”
“Well then you can dress up with us next year, then!” Reina said. “And we’ll take you trick-or-treating too, okay?”
“O-okay! That sounds wonderful! Thank you!”
They all waved goodbye to one another, and then the trick-or-treat trio departed back down to the sidewalk.
“Think we should….” Tyger said, taking a momentary pause to grunt as he tried to hop in place and adjust the giant candy bars on his back. “C-call it a night….?”
“Aw, you scared of the dark, Tigger?” Ryuna teased. “I thought you were a big brave superhero.”
“P-piss off! I’m not scared of the dark!”
“Then why do you wanna call it quits already? It’s only ten.”
“I….I think my knees’re melting….”
Giggling, Reina threw her fist high into the air. “Okay! Let’s go back to my house and we can check out our candy and trade with each other!”
Ryuna smirked. “Uh, looks like you already ate all your candy, girl.”
“Nuh uh! I have the big humongous chocolate b-!”
A shrill voice suddenly cut through the air, stinging into each of their ears from behind. When they turned to face the source, they found themselves face-to-face with Caedo as he floated towards them, wings buzzing with fury.
“Ew, go away,” Ryuna said. “Nobody likes you, Caedo.”
“Quiet, you pompous hussy!” the hornet man spat back. “I know it was you who threw toilet paper and trash all over my home!”
“Oh yeah? You got any proof?”
He pointed a finger at Ryuna’s body. “You’re wearing toilet paper right now! And you look like a filthy skank, as well!”
“O-oi!” Tyger roared with the fury and anger of a sleepy kitten. “Quit t-talkin’ like that or I’ll….I’ll….throw yer ass into outer….space….got that?!”
“Who the hell are you?”
But before anyone could speak another word, the ground beneath all of their feet exploded, like mines detonating one after the other, spewing dirt and grass into the sky.
And in the midst of this sequence of explosions, the cold, boney hands of skelementals arose from underneath the earth, desperately grasping for any wandering trick-or-treaters’ ankles.
“AAAAAAHHH!” Reina screamed as she turned tail and took off sprinting.
Ryuna kicked at one of the skelementals’ hands before hopping away. However, she realized that Tyger didn’t have the means to make an escape of his own. She didn’t have time to just run in there, take some of the candy bars, and book it back out; the skelementals would surely grab both of them. She needed to distract them.
She pushed Caedo to the floor.
“Ow! What are you-?!”
The plan worked, prompting all of the skelemental hands to focus on grabbing Caedo. Not even increasing the speed of his wings could break him free from their grasp as their dull, chilling voices, like gravel grinding against metal, rang out, “Give….candy….please….”
Caedo spat at the skeletal hands. “I don’t have candy, you idiots!”
With the skelementals distracted, Ryuna rushed over to Tyger’s side, taking two of the massive candy bars from his back. “Oh, whoa, these are heavier than I thought….You really are strong, huh big boy?”
With the weight lessened, Tyger was now able to stand upright for the first time in eons, his spine popping back into place with force. “Holy hell, I’d almost forgotten what standin’ up felt like.”
Ryuna took his hand. “C’mon! Let’s get to Reirei’s!”
As the two rushed off to rejoin their chameleon friend, Caedo continued to squirm and struggle as the skelementals held him in place, slowly and continuously asking him for candy.
“I already told you; I don’t have candy! It’s bad for your health!” the hornet man hissed.
And still the skelementals begged and pleaded.
Until suddenly, like a heavy downpour of rain, candy rained upon them all, even Caedo. “Ack! What is this?”
The skelementals released their grip on Caedo, who quickly flew himself up from the ground, putting some distance between himself and the earthen monsters.
But what actually caught his attention was the silent, looming figure standing beside him, his armor shining silver-white like the moon and the stars in the night sky.
And in his hands was a giant bag full of Halloween candy; or, rather, half full, as he had been the source of the rain that cured the skelementals’ drought of sugar.
The U-Knight gave Caedo a simple nod of the head, then turned and walked away, back into the night.
Happy Halloween!