Halloween Part 2

"Well, that party sure did suck." Jessica stated flatly.

"It wasn't THAT bad." Luna protested weakly.

"Nah, she's right Luna. What the HELL was the author thinking?" Mia said.

"Well, at least MY charecter was prtrayed to perfection." Nash said, more than a hint of arrogancein his voice.

"C'mon Nash...let's help clean this up." Alex said moderatly, picking up a full trash bag. And so the group cleaned up after their Halloween bash. It HAD been pretty bad, what with 17 people having dressed up as Dragonmaster Dyne. On a brighter side, Halloween was just a day away, and the world would be filled with free candy.

After cleaning up Alex prepared lunch, even though Nash said he could have done it better, having traveled with Nash, most of the group highly doubted that. Except Kyle, but he wasn't around to doubt anything.

"Hey, where's Kyle? I saw him at the beginning of the party, but then he disapeared." Alex said, lookign at Jessica.

"I have no clue where that brainless hunk of machoism is." Jessica remarked rather indignantly. No one else had seen him either.

"Alex. Oh Alllex. I've been looking all over for you Alex. But, I should have known you'd be here, wating away the day listening to how great Nash is." Nall said in his high pitched voice.

"Oh, hey Nall." Alex said. "Have you seen Kyle by any chance?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you Alex. I found him with a gallon of egg nog, passed out in his room."

"It figures, that pathetic simpleton can do nothing but get drunk and chase skirts." Nash said with tone of superiority, and fixed a smug look on his face just in time to have it wiped off by Jessica's fist in his face.

"Don't you EVER insult that BASTARD again. He may be a 'simpleton' but he's MY simpleton, and if you'll all excuse me, I have to go kick his ass!" Jessica yelled quite loudly and stormed off.
***
"C'mon, wake up and face the music Kyle." Jessica said, shaking her intoxicated boyfriend.

"Uhh, try and take it easy on him, Jess. It WAS a party and all, and a little alchohol never killed anyone." Alex said, he and the rest of the group having followed Jessica to Kyle's room to try and save him from the coming storm of Jessica's wrath. All except Luna that is, she didn't wanna get involved and stayed behind to do the dishes.

"Allghh. Oh, hi Jeshika, boph ov you aw vewy pretty today." Kyle slurred, becoming semi conscious.

"Oh Kyle! I'm so glad to see you awake! Thank you for the compliment." Jessica said excitedly, and gave Kyle a big hug, much to the surprise of everyone else, who's jaws collectively dropped.

"What are you being so nice to him for?" Nash attempted to say, but was cut off after "soo" by Alex's foot stomping on his. Jessica cast him an icy look, which stopped his complaints of pain. She then turned that look on Kyle, pulled back, and gave him a right cross that would level a pissed off rhinocerous. Kyle just rubbed his face and looked annoyed. Whether he was being mach or just too drunk to feel anyhting was anyones guess.

"Aww Jess, what did you have to do that for? I wasn't THAT drunk. You said as long as I could still count to 100 and pass all of the physical tests for intoxication that I could drink as much as I wanted! See, I'm fine!" Kyle said and attempted to touch his nose with his fingers, but ended up poking himself in one eye and shoving a finger up a nostril.

Jessica just looked at him, then turned away in a huff, and walked out, with Kyle trailing.

"C'mon Jess. Talk to me. Please?" His voice got more pathetic with each step untill he could no longer be heard.

Nash handed Nall five silver.

"I toooold you she wouldn't talk to him." Nall said victoriously. Everyone turned and looked quizzicly at the flying cat...errr...dragon. "What? When we saw he had found the egg nog Luna bought for Christmas, me and Nash made a few wagers, like on whether or not Jessica would talk to Kyle when she found him passed out drunk."

"But if he had just found the egg nog when you made the bet, you didn't KNOW he was gonna get stupified drunk, so how could you make the wager?" Mia said, trying to defend Kyle. The entire group looked at her incrediously.

"When Kyle finds booze, he WILL get drunk, just like when the sun sets, it WILL rise again the next day." Nash said, kind of annoyed he lost the bet.

"I give it an hour." Nall said.

"Nah...dinnertime." Nash said. The two looked at eachother, then Nash took Nall's paw and shook it.

"C'mon everyone, let's finish and fix up our costumes for tomorrow. And will you two find somehtig to bet on BESIDES Jess and Kyle's relationship?" Alex said authoritatively.

"Awww...c'mon Alex..."Nall whined.

"Yeah, we're not doing anyone any harm. Besides, I need to win a few silvers back from this sneak thief cat of yours." Nash said

"THIEF! This coming from the guy that took his girlfriend's..."

"Hey, that was different!"

"What is he talking about, Nash?"Mia said quietly.

"Yeah Nash..." Alex said.

"Nothing, Mia." Nall and Nash said simultaneosly and turned and walked out, rather quickly.

"So Nash, you still have that chicken costume from when you backstabbed us?"

"BACKSTABBED!?!?!? I was just protecting the woman I..."

"Oh can it, I just need to borrow the giant robot chicken. It's gonna be my costume!"

"But Nall...It's pretty big..." The mismatched and equally egotistical pair walked off, discussing (arguing?) about costumes.

"Well, I'll catch you later, Mia. I'm gonna go work on my costume. What are you gonna go as?" Alex said.

"Umm...I don't know...I think I'm, gonna find Luna and ask her to help me."

"Alright, see ya!" the two both left to take care of their costumes.

***

Dinner was a relatively quiet event, everyone was to afraid of the backlash to cut the tension in the air that hung between Jess and Kyle. Untill...

"I'm sorry Jess. Really. If it really bothers you that much, I'll stop drinking all together. Excpet for Christmas of course." Kyle said solemnly.

"Oh, Kyle. It's alright. Just don't get drunk all the time, it's no good for you. Your goign to end up killing yourself one day." Jessica said, and gave Kyle a big hug.

"You're not gonna hit me this time are you?" Kyle said, (mock?) fear in his voice.

Jessica smiled mischeviously. "Not this time, big guy." she said, patting him on the back. As the two kissed, the room broke out in applause, except for Nall, who simply tossed Nash is coins back. Nash wisely didn't gloat out of fear of Jessica. That was a first.

A look from Jessica silenced the applause, but she soon turned red and looked away.

***

The next day (Halloween!) The group gathered outside of Jessica's mansion in Meribia (They had all been staying there for a while now...) in full regalia.

Jessica was dressed as Lemia Ausa. Mia had settled on a Xenobia costume, and Nash got flustered becasue of what it showed off. Nash was dressed as...himself. Everyone would have suspected Nall was at it again, but Nall was inside the giant chicken suit that Nash had laying around. Luna was dressed as the real Goddess Althena, not the kinky S and M one. Kyle was dressed as some punk guy with a big sword and spikey blonde hair who he claimed was from a video game. Alex was dressed as Dragonmaster Dyne.

"Alright, you guys ready to go?" Alex said.

"Yeah!" The collective reply came.

"Ok, I've mapped out our route...We're gonna hit up the rich people first, cuz they have more candy to give out..."

"WAIT. Wait up puny mortals, err, I mean guys! I wanna go too!" Hel Mel, governer of Meribia and Jessica's father came running out of the mansion, with a giant, hollow, plastic pumpkin with a handle ot hold candy.

"Dad, c'mon. You don't even have a costume!" Jessica said, annoyed.

Mel came to a stop and gave Jessica a strange look."Whatever ARE you talking about?" He said in a eerily strange yet familiar voice. He proceded to take off his head, which turned out to be a very well done Mel mask. Underneath the mask was Ghaleon. "WHAT? This IS the day of the dead, and since you supposedly killed me, I've come back for my revenge! Urr, I mean candy!"

Everyone was speechless.

"Aww, c'mon, it's not like I'm trying to take over the world again or anything!"

"Ok, Ghaleon, you can come." It was Luna who spoke.

"Yeah, why the hell not?" Kyle said, slapping him on the back.

And so the set out. They day was going pretty well, there were no arguments untill a good fifteen minutes after the trick or treating started.

"My costume is SOOO much better." Kyle was saying.

"No WAY man. Mine catches the element of who I'm trying portray perfectly!" Nash countered.

"That's because your costume is YOU, jackass." Nall butted in. "Besides, MY costume is the greatest.

"Its a multicolored, 7 foot tall CHICKEN!" Nash retorted.

"It's a PEACOCK!"

"Chicken."

"Peacock!"

"How about I cook it and we find out?" Kyle interjected. Nall looked mollified,

"What, are you gonna marinade it in BEER like a steak?" Nall returned pointedly.

"Hey, you're just jealous because my sword is SOOO much bigger than yours." Jessica giggled, and Kyle shot her a look.

"Hey, my staff is way bigger than your sword. Why don't we ask Jess and Mia to compare?" Nash returned, holding up his wizard's staff. Kyle took the huge sword off of his back.

"Oh come ON." Ghaleon interjected. "My staff is MUCH bigger than either of those puny things." And while saying that he summoned his staff magicly. It WAS bigger.

"It does appear Ghaleon is the winner. His rod is quite large." Luna said quietly.

"And how would YOU know?" Alex said, getting annoyed. "Besides, it's a staff, not a rod!" Luna blushed, Ghaleon laughed, and Alex turned quite the shade of red. "Alright, everyone just quit arguing!" He said and stormed off. The group followed.

"So, Kyle, how does it feel, knowing Ghaleon's staff is bigger than sword?" Jessica said flirtatiously, with a wink.

"Ehh, size is nothing. It's how you USE it." Nash answered for Kyle, indignantly.

"Are you jealous, Nash?" Mia said, and giggled when Nash turned red. They continued on, reaping the rewards of the rich section, when someone bumped into Kyle and took his candy.

"Hey! Little bastard! You guys go on, I'm gonna get my candy back!" Kyle said, and took off after the kid, who was dressed as Dragonmaster Dyne.

"Well, I guess we should go on without him. C'mon, that house looks rich, and I think the guy who owns it works for the company that maked Charlston Chew!" Jessica said, pointing to a big house.

"Charleston Chew!?!?! SCORE!!! Last one there has hair worse than Nash!" Ghaleon said, and rocketed toward the house.

"Hey!" Nash said indignantly, then ran after the group.

Nall was the last one to the house, so Ghaleon looked at him, wiggled his fingers, and changed Nall's hair into a flock of seagulls haircut a hermaphrodite with one nostril would be proud of. Nall stuck his tongue out at Ghaleon, and because of the rude gesture got skipped when the owner opened the door a second later and handed everyone in the group (except Nall) a three foot long Charelston Chew.

***

"Damn kid...where did he go?" Kyle muttered to himself as he ran down the alley he had last seen the candy thief go down. He emerged from the dark alley into a small enclosed space. It had 6 or 7 people on it, but he couldn't see too well.

"Hey man, you want some? Five bux a hit!" Kyle turned to see the speaker. He was holding a small bag of candy and rubbing the fingers of his other hand together. He was kind of short, and was in a Dragonmaster Dyne costume. Kyle grabbed him.

"Hey punk! You're the kid that stole my candy!" Kyle yelled at him.

"Hey man, I didn't steal NOTHIN!"

"Your even wearing the same costume as him! Dressed up just like Dyne!" Kyle was rather outraged.

"Hey man! Everyone is dressed like one of the Four Heroes, except for Ghaleon, that is, n o one wants to be Ghaleon. But most people have Dyne costumes man! It's just like the Red Power Ranger 7 years ago, and no one wanted ot be the Black one!"

Kyle looked around. It was true, most of the other kids back here who he had only registered as shapes were indeed wearing Dyne costumes. A few Lemia Ausa's. and a couple of Hell Mels. But no Ghaleons. Dejected, he let the kid go.

"So man, what you say? Five bux a goody bag."

"Hey, don't you it's wrong to take advantage of other people's addictions?" Kyle said, looking icily at the kid.

"Whatever man, c-ya." He turned and began to walk away.

"Wait...got any Charelston Chew?"

"Man, I got all the Charleston Chew you need."

"Alright, here's five silver, fork it over."

Satisfied with his purchase of candy, he turned to join the others, and was met sqaurely with a tremendous brick to the head.

***

Cloud fell out of the Lifestream and into a dark alley. He had no clue where he was. There were lots of people running around and screaming trick or treat.

"Hey guys! I found Kyle!" A giant, multicolored chicken appeared in front of him. "I've been looking all over for you Kyle!"

"Where am I?"Cloud said, quite perplexed. He seemed to have fallen into a dimension where it was Halloween, that was obvious. He also must look a lot like someone named Kyle.

"Oh boy. You got about five seconds to straighten up Kyle, if Jessica finds out you wasted again, your dead!"

"Who ARE you?" Cloud asked, quite confuzzled.

"C'mon Kyle, let's go!" Jessica called out. Cloud walked out and siliently joined the group, deciding he should just play along until he knew just where he was.

***

"Ughhhhh" Kyle woke up with a huge lump on his head. He still had his costume on, but those bastard kids had taken all of his silver. He contemplated going after them, but he was in too much pain. Besides, he didn't even bring his wallet with him. He had just been holding on to Nall's money because there was no room in the giant chicken suit. Kyle groggily rose to his feet and stumbled out of the alley and into the street. What he saw was quite shocking. The whole group was walking along, and HE was with them. Well, not him, but someone wearign the same costume as him.

"Must be some kid who wanted ot join em. But where did he get such a crappy costume? Not nearly as good as MINE." Kyle grumlbed to himself as he staggered after the group.

"Hey guys, look. It's ANOTHER Kyle!" Mia said, pointign at someoen who was dressed similarly to Kyle and who was running after them calling out "Hey guys, wait up!"

"Don't be silly, Mia. Kyle's right here. Although who else would think up of such a RIDICULOUS costume I don't know." Nash said.

"Wow, theres something Nash DOESN'T know!" Nall said.

"Shut it cat!"

"Yeah, well you're a ...ninny ninny dumb dumb poopey head!"

"Hey guys. Who's the guy dressed like me?" Kyle ran up and asked, pointing at Cloud.

"No, you're dressed like ME. I'm Cloud, from Final Fantasy 7"

"No, I'M Cloud, and your just a guy in a shitty costume."

"No, I'm not wearing a costume. I AM Cloud!"

"Sure! After all, videogame characters are real people, too!"

"I'm serious. Besides, YOUR the videogame characters. Man, why did I have to fal into the Working Designs dimension?"

"So, your not Kyle?" Jessica asked.

"Umm. No. I just played along untill I could figure out where I was. It took a while because of all teh costumes."

"Then how did you figure it out?" Luna asked.

"Nash." Ghaleon asnwered for Cloud."Think about it. Since no one would dress up as Nash for Halloween, that meant that either Nash wasn't partcipating in Halloween, or had dressed up as himself. Anyone who played the game would know that!"

"Umm, so you're saying that we are just a video game?"

"Wait, that mean's I'm a videogame, too!" Cloud said. "Wow, that solves all of my problems! Since I'm the hero, I can go back and ditch my split personalities and decide to save the world because it's The Right Thing To Do! (tm)"

"Umm, we're all happy for you...but what does this all mean." Alex said, concerned at his new sprite based perspective.

"It doesn't really change anything, I guess." Luna said. "Now we have to help Cloud get back to Sqauresoft."

"We could mail him!" Kyle suggested."I still havn't filled out my registration card for FFIX, it has the address on it!" Everyone looked at him incrediously, except Cloud, who looked like he thought it was a good idea.

"I'll just use my dragon magic an dopen a portal." Nall said. Now everyone looked at him like he was dressed as a giant, multicolored chicken. "What, I can do it!" And he did. After exiting the costume, he chanted a few words and a portal opened up. Left with no other option, Cloud hopped in. The chicken suit immediatly followed as it was sucked in by extradimensional forces.

"My costume!!!" Nall cried out, and flew after it, but the portal closed before the cat sized dragon could reach it. "Oh well. It WAS Nash's anyway. Too bad, it was a great peacock."

"Come on, you pathetic doers of good. Let's go back to Alex's and trade candy." Ghaleon said. Everyone agreed.

***

"Oh Cloud!" Tifa ran up to the freshley reappeared hero of the game and gave him a big hug."Why are you dressed like a chicken?"

Barret and the rest of the team ran up. "Hey bro, great peacock outfit. I DIG it man!" Barret said.

***

Kyle was the last to be seated.

"Guess you didn't get your candy back, huh Kyle." Nall said." Oh, can I have that money I asked for you to hang onto back?"

The End