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Happy Halloween everyone!
Here's the second of the three Trick-or-Treat stories I've been working on so I hope you enjoy~
This big group of little ones (and a chaperone) needs no introduction... it's Team Pre-K~
Individual info to follow in their solo pics linked below, for now just enjoy their story~
One thing you learned quickly when running ANY kind of children's store, particularly a store young children might frequent in large numbers was that you made sure they had a chaperone. Then you made sure the chaperone was paying attention. Then you watched all the kids like a hawk ANYWAY cause children were devious, innocent little creatures past all the cuteness and could cause trouble without meaning to as easily as one might breath. Having all these things in mind Ms. Calico quickly moved to greet the miltank herding the pack of kids into her store. The meowstic giving her an award winning smile that didn't at all reveal how worried she was the tykes were gonna start running around breaking stuff at any moment.
"Hi there! Not often we get whole classes in here at once, anything I can help you with?"
"Oh, just thought I'd bring them in to pick out their costumes for this year~ I'll be taking them all trick-or-treating after all… don't worry, they're well behaved. I promise." the miltank said, apparently guessing the thoughts in the cat's head. She was rather surprised by the girl's voice, at first glance she'd thought the girl might be a young adult but it was obvious she was a teen. Ms. Calico wasn't quite sure she'd have let a teen watch this many kids at once though so her reassurance wasn't very… well… reassuring. "Do they need any help picking out their costumes?" she asked, slightly warily as she watched the little riolu girl squeak in fear, caught off guard by the same inflatable cofagrigus that'd surprised the poochyena earlier and hide behind the teddiursa boy. The other kids were spreading out around the store and she was just waiting to start hearing stuff getting knocked over.
"Oh no, they'll ask for help if they need it. Thanks for offering though."
"… alright… I'll keep my eye on them though just in case…"
*****************
Doing her best to keep an eye on all of the little ones the meowstic found that harder than expected as all six of them branched out and went their separate ways. She found herself wandering through the kid’s costume section listening for any sign of them, or more specifically any sign they’re causing trouble, when she felt a tug on her pants leg. Looking down she found it was the teddiursa boy from earlier… who was blushing his head off and doing everything he could not to look up at her, which wasn’t a good sign in most case. She gave him the benefit of the doubt though and knelt down next to him like he was motioning for her to do. To her surprise he pushed a costume into her paws and stood on his tippie toes to whisper in her ear.
Turning the barbarian costume over in her paws Ms. Calico had to bite her tongue to keep from letting out a small giggle at the question he’d just whispered to her, knowing it’d hurt the poor kids feelings. She couldn’t resist a glance down at the blushing bear’s pants though before giving him the most reassuring smile she could “I’m sure it’ll fit, these costumes are stretchy and should go over… those, no problem.” she said, keeping her voice down as she placed the costume in the kid’s paws. He looked like he should have been out of those by now and acted like he knew it, so no reason to make thing any harder for him. Especially since he was being so well behaved. “Dunno if the hat will fit on you though… but I have an idea~ We have some prop clubs and axes that’d go with your costume, how about I go help you pick one out?” she offered, standing back up and offering him her paw…
It was adorable how he tried to act like a big boy, puffing himself up for a moment and trying to look like he could do it himself... before reluctantly taking the offered paw and letting her lead him off~
*****************
With that little one helped, and the teddiursa off to help his little riolu friend who seemed to be having trouble with the shops motion activated displays (the poor girl), Ms. Calico resumed her search to make sure the other little ones weren’t getting into anything they shouldn’t… and nearly tripped over one of them as she rounded a costume rack and had to stop short. It was the little gothita from earlier as the small girl looked just as surprised as the meowstic was. “O-oh! I-I’m sorry!” the girl squeaked, scooting back and out of the cat’s way and looking a little flustered. “It’s fine, it’s fine, I just didn’t see you there.” Ms. Calico quickly assured the girl, kneeling down to make sure she was okay… and noticing the costume in her chubby little hands “Is this the costume you want sweetie?” she asked, taking note of something she didn’t think the girl realized.
“O-oh! Y-yes… w… we agreed we’d go t-trick-or-treating together this year!” the girl squeaked nervously as Ms. Calico had to resist cooing over her. The little dear was obviously well mannered but so shy~ She could almost see the gear’s turning frantically in the gothita’s head trying to figure out what to say as she stuttered and stammered “S-so M-Maddie suggested w-we pick a t-theme and I… um… I’m g-gonna be a wizard!” she quickly exclaimed, holding the costume up “I… I t-think this costume will work I… I’m n-not used t-to picking out my o-own outfits or a-anything…” she stuttered, trailing off and looking down… only to let out a little eep as the meowstic gently patted her head “It’ll work just fine dear, just don’t forget to get a wand too~ Can’t be a wizard without one of those and we’ve got some fun, sparkly light up ones right over here!” Ms. Calico chirped, gently herding the blushing little psychic type along.
So well spoken and polite for her age and trying to be a big girl… the store owner didn’t have the heart to tell her that she was pretty sure the outfit she’d picked out was a size or three too big~
************************
The meowstic was starting to relax a little since the kids hadn’t caused any trouble yet… just as there was a sudden POP sound followed by a girly shriek and a blue and pink blur shooting past her. The poor riolu had managed to trigger ANOTHER motion activated fright… though she’d had problems with this one before. A pop-up gengar that went from box-to-spook in a few seconds with a nice, jarring POP noise. She’d even had adults get startled by that one, but the local haunted houses liked them so she kept it on the sales floor. “What scared Jules THIS tim-” a little girl’s voice chimed… followed by an identical POP and following girly shriek from before. Except this time it was followed by a SMACK noise and something hitting the ground with a dull thump which brought Ms. Calico running to find-
It was the little dratini girl from earlier, with a bulgy eyed look somewhere between frightened and furious, as she stood there tensed up next to… a knocked over pop-up Gengar. She’d obviously been startled by it and smacked the the thing hard enough to knock it over… not the first time that’d happened. A quick glance told her the fright was okay so her immediate concern turned to the dratini. She had kids knock over a fright that scared them before and immediately run off crying or start trying to smash the thing so she was expecting something similar that she’d have to deal with. To her surprise the girl instead did a quick look around and-
“You didn’t see or hear anything.”
The meowstic had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at how serious the kid was trying to sound as she glared at the older woman while saying that. Trying to deny she’d gotten scared and smacked the thing? Someone was a little too big for their britches… but considering the kind of brats she’d dealt with before this was adorably quaint~ “Right, I didn’t see or hear anything~” she said as she noticed the dragon puffing up at her barely hidden amusement and quickly decided to change the topic “I see you’ve got your costume picked out already?” Ms. Calico motioned to the costume in the dratini’s hands. “Yeah, what of it?” the girl said, hugging the outfit close as the meowstic marveled at the amount of attitude packed into such a tiny package. “Going to be an archer then?” she asked, starting to get an idea of what the trick-or-treat groups theme might be.
“Yeah! It comes with-”
“No shooting anyone with the suction cup arrows Sammi.”
“Oh come on! That’s why I picked it!”
Ms. Calico had to bite her tongue again to keep from laughing as the miltank, who’d come running as well when the girl had kicked the gengar over, called out to her and made the dratini whirl around in adorable protest. She decided to leave this little argument to the babysitter though and check on the other kids, the miltank seemed to have things well in hand after all~
**********************
The first little one the meowstic managed to find was the little riolu… who looked lost, pitiful, and jumpy though Ms. Calico wasn’t surprised since she’d managed to trigger most of the frights in the store. “Hey there-” she called, about to ask if she could help the girl back to the proper costume section… buuuut she was cut off as the puppy turned to look at her and accidentally bumped one of the surprise boxes. Which made it pop open with a prerecorded BOO as the puppy received an unexpected smooch from a plushie woobat on a spring. The riolu let out another squeal of surprise and stumbled backwards, plopping on her bottom. Considering the “plushies on a spring” tended to get more giggles than screams Ms. Calico concluded there was two possibilities… either the pup was younger than she thought… or the little girl had gotten one too many scares for the afternoon and was overly jumpy because of it.
The solution to both possibilities was to scoop the precious pup up and cuddle her close. As Ms. Calico rested the riolu’s head on her shoulder and rubbed the little ones back she was a bit surprised to not hear the crinkle of disposable undies under the girl’s shorts, but she decided to ignore that for the moment. “Want some help finding the costumes again~?” she cooed gently, waiting for the trembling puppy to calm down enough to nod before she started to walk towards where the toddler girls costumes were kept. She had an outfit in mind for the spritely little pup… and she was pretty sure it’d match perfectly with their group theme. “S-sorry… n-not good with surprise scares…” the puppy mumbled, sounding a bit embarrassed as she carried her. “Don’t worry about it.” Ms. Calico said, still doing her best to reassure the riolu “Lots of people get scared by those surprises, it’s what they’re made for after al-”
“That one!”
“Huh?” the meowstic stopped short as to her surprise the puppy gracefully leaped from her arms and scurried over to a rack of costumes. Being impressed by the large toddler’s feat came secondary to the realization “That’s the boy’s costumes…” it didn’t seem to deter the riolu though as she pulled a costume out and held it aloft. A cavaliers costume complete with massive feathered hat, cape, and little toy rapier. “This one! This is the one I want!” she chirped eagerly, earlier panic forgotten in favor of bouncing happily from foot to foot. Ms. Calico had actually thought a fairy costume, particularly one of the ballet themed ones, would have been perfect for the girl… but she looked so happy the best she could manage to try and sway her was a half-hearted “You sure that’s the one you want?” which was answered with eager, starry eyed nodding.
“Alright then, why don’t you go show your teddiursa friend? I’m sure he’d love to see it~” Ms. Calico cooed as the puppy was off like a shot. So long as she stuck with her friend there’d be somebody to keep the spooks away at least… even if it was technically a boy’s costume there was no way the meowstic could say no to such an adorable little girl~
*****************************
Of course, she hadn’t expected all of the group to be such sweeties… and yes she counted the dratini among them since other than that little tantrum the girl had been perfectly behaved. But there was always one semi-bad apple in the bunch and as Ms. Calico returned to the front of the store she caught the this group’s one in the act.
“Put them back.”
“... put what back?”
“That candy bowl wasn’t empty when all of you came in, now put it back. One piece per customer.”
The munchlax girl’s blank expression didn’t change even as she begrudgingly forked fistfulls of candy out of her overall pockets and put them back in the bowl. Somehow it didn’t surprise the meowstic one bit that the troublemaker was the oldest looking kid in the group. “There… now… have you picked out a costume?” she asked once it looked liked the girl had given up all her ill-gotten goods, even if the kid’s empty hands made the answer to the question fairly obvious. “Nope.” was the surprisingly blunt answer. “Well since I can’t trust you not to raid the candy… why don’t you come with me? I think I know just the costume for you.” she said, offering the girl her hand… it unfortunately didn’t work as well as it had on the teddiursa as the girl didn’t budge.
“No dresses, nothing girly.” the munchlax said flatly, apparently laying out her “Terms” for agreeing to the meowstics help… which wasn’t an issue since what Ms. Calico had in mind didn’t fall into either of those categories. “Deal. Now come along.” she said, walking further into the store before glancing back to make sure that yes the munchlax WAS following her and hadn’t gone back to raiding the candy. Leading her along they arrived at the grade schooler costumes as the meowstic pulled a specific one of the rack and held it up for the girl to see. “Here we are, a rogue.” she said… before realizing a first grader likely didn’t know what that was “It’s like a thief.” she quickly added before holding it out for the munchlax to take. After a minute worth of awkward silence the girl finally took the costume from her hands and started turning it over, looking at all the details.
After a few more minutes of silence passed the mewostic was starting to worry something was wrong when the girl finally spoke. “I’ll work.” she said, her expression still unnervingly mask like “Thank you, I didn’t really have any ideas.” she continued as Ms. Calico noted there wasn’t an apology for her earlier candy thievery or any acknowledgement of the correlation between that and the costume. In fact there wasn’t much emotion or inflection there either. It wasn’t really her place but she was starting to wonder if something was wrong with the little girl and if she should have been gentler in her earlier scoldings.
“Oh, also could you go help my brother?” the girl suddenly spoke up, shaking Ms. Calico from her thoughts “He’s the pichu and he’s probably having trouble finding a costume of his own too.. I’d help him but you know the store better than me so please go help him. Please.” The meowstic picked up a hint of emotion in that deadpan and gave the munchlax a smile “Of course, I’ll be happy to help your brother.” she said, too happy with the cute big-sister nature of the request to question the odd nature of the sibling pair. “Just promise me you won’t go raiding the candy bowl while I do, alright?” she added as she turned away to go find the pichu… and was only slightly surprised to hear “Do I have to?” from the girl as she left.
There was one in every group after all.
************************
She didn’t have to look far to find the little pichu in question. The adorably chubby fellow was looking through a rack of costumes with a pitifully forlorn expression on his face. Luckily she didn’t have to worry about surprising him as his massive ears twitched and swiveled the moment she got close. “Hey little guy~” she said gently, kneeling down to him as he turned to look at her “Need some help?” She wasn’t quite sure where to place his age among the other kids but she was going to guess he was near the bottom alongside the riolu… and the soft squeak of “Chuuuuu” that left his lips seemed to confirm this for her. “Y-yes p-please, chuuu.” he squeaked, Ms. Calico resisting the urge to coo at him “I… I’m not sure w-what to be this y-year, chuuuu… w-we’re supposed to be a-adventurers…”
“Uh huh~ I know. Your little friends have picked out their costumes already last I checked~” the meowstic started ticking off her fingers as she listed them “You have a barbarian, a cavalier, an archer, a wizard, and your sister is a big bad candy thief… and her costume is a thief too~” she said, chuckling at her little joke before frowning to see the pichu wasn’t giggling along with her “So, what would you like to be?I can make a few suggestions if you’d like?” she offered, gently ruffling the pichu’s short hair. “O-okay, chuu-” he stuttered out… before letting out a squeak oft “Chuu!” as Ms. Calico slipped her paws under his armpits and hoisted him into the air “Oooph! Lots of baby fat huh little guy? No worries, just means there’s more of you to look adorable~” she cooed, smiling and making silly face for the pichu “Now, I think the costume you’d like is riiiiiiiight over here~”
“Adventuring parties can have clowns in them, right~? Or are they jesters…” she wondered aloud as she held up the costume for him to see. A cute polkadot onesie with neck ruffles, massive shoes and gloves, a fluffy rainbow wig, and of course a big red nose~ She couldn’t hide her disappointment when the pichu frantically shook his head, cheeks noticeably more pink. “Alright, alright… how about this?” she asks, picking out a prince costume next. Little vest, puffy sleeves, puffy pants (it didn’t FEEL like he was diapered but given how little he was acting she couldn’t be sure), tights, cape, and a little crown “I know Adventures have princes in them~ No?” she frowned a little as the pichu shook his head again, making squeaking noises and babbling like he’d gone pre-verbal. And his cheeks were DEFINITELY a bright shade of pink now.
“Alright, alright, how about… oh, this is cute~ Meowth in boots!” she held the set of footed jammies with attached footwear and hat up. There was a bit of cute irony with the idea of a mouse dressed as a cat… but the pichu shook his head again as she sighed and put the costume back on the rack. No matter, she’d suited picky kids before so she’d just have to keep searching. Letting her hands drift along the costumes she picked up a gargoyle costume and held it against the pichu’s chubby frame to get an idea of how it’d look. A stone grey bodysuit with lots of matching foam padding to give it a bulky, rocky look with a large set of wings attached alongside a horned helmet and mask combination. She and the pichu shared a look for a moment before they BOTH shook their heads. A little too scary for a kid the pichu’s age, a little to hot for him, and the wings were way too big for his small frame… which left her back at square one…
“Well, might as well give it a shot.” she was out of ideas that fit the theme soooooo… “How about this little guy? Bet you’re a fan of him huh~?” she cooed, holding up a thickly padded, soft, and cushie Bernie the Purple Dragonite themed costume “And you can wear it as jammies on cold nights afterwards, what do you say~?” she cooed, holding the plush suit out for the pichu to feel… and sighed as the pichu started making drawn out, pitiful “chuuuuuuu” squeaks as he furiously shook his head. His big ears whipping the air as he did so. She’d been hoping this one would work since between how padded the suit was and how plump the pichu was the result could only be precious~ “Alright, maybe it’d be better if you tried to find something you’d like. Okay little guy?” she said, setting the boy down and giving him a tushie pat in the direction of a costume rack they hadn’t gone through yet "Just point at anything that catches your eye and I’ll get it down for you.” she cooed, trying to sound reassuring despite getting a feeling they were going to be here for a while.
The pichu wobbled on his feet, making her fear they’d have a “Baby fall down go boom” incident, before he regained his balance and toddled over to the rack of costumes. She watched him shuffle and search through them with his chubby paws All the while she sorted through more possible ideas in her head, like that maybe he was more a Mark’s Marks baby than a Bernie one, since she wasn’t too optimistic he’d find something he’d like any time soon…
“Chuuuuuuuu…” Blinking she looked at the costume being held out to her as if waiting for her approval. She wasn’t able to hide a smile as she knelt down “Do you know what costume this is~?” she asked gently, listening to the blushing, flustered pichu’s stuttering and babble for a moment before continuing “This is a costume for something called a Cleric, they heal their friends and use good magic~ Do you understand?” she waited for the pichu to nod before chuckling a little.
“Good, cause I think it’d be just perfect for a little sweetie like you~”
***********************
“You said your name was Maddie?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Well Maddie you’re little ones are absolutely precious~ One of the best behaved groups of kids I’ve ever had in the store… for the most part.” Ms. Calico shot a glare towards the munchlax who was silently sneaker closer to the candy bowl… again. The group was gather near the front of the store to try and check out, though there were a few stragglers like the teddiursa showing the riolu some of the less scary props (which was adorable~), so the meowstic was taking the chance to talk to their babysitter… which actually brought a question to mind. “So, do you babysit all these little ones regularly?” she asked, smiling to the broad miltank who just chuckled and gave her a small smile “Well I look after them regularly, does that count?” Ms. Calico wasn’t sure if the girl was being coy or just teasing her… but either way she was willing to play along “I think it does… sooooo, are they a mixed age playgroup?” she asked. She only had rough guesses about all of their ages so she was honestly curious how old all these little ones were.
“Nope, they’re all in Pre-K~” the miltank said, sounding like she was struggling not to laugh… though the meowstic was too amazed by the answer to question why. “Wait, they’re really all in Pre-K? Some of them look so young… how old are they?” she asked, honestly surprised the riolu and teddiursa weren’t daycare kids. “Oh, older than you’d think. Most people are surprised by their ages~” the miltank said before turning away from her “Alright, if everybody has their costumes-” she said, addressing the assembled six little ones “we can check out now and…” she stopped mid sentence as Ms. Calico tapped her on the shoulder “Yes?” Maddie said, turning to look to her as it was Ms. Calico’s turn to smile “I’m going to have to object… you’re not ready to check out yet~” she said, pausing to chuckle a little at the miltank’s confused expression “You forgot a costume for one member of the group~” Ms. Calico explained.
“Oh? Who did we forget? Everybody-” Maddie started to say… as Ms. Calico had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing as she saw the realization, along with a blush, cross the miltank’s face. “O-oh no! I c-couldn’t! I d-didn’t budget for a costume! I’m just taking these little guys trick or treating is all s-so I w-won’t be dressing up this year!” she quickly stuttered, blushing brightly as the idea while holding her hands up defensively. Which just wouldn’t do as far as Ms. Calico was concerned~ It wouldn’t do at all~ “Hmmmm… nope~ I don’t think so~ Lets get a tiebreaker~ Hey, what do you little ones think~?” she cooed, turning to the assembled kids and in particularly looking to the two cutest ones (the riolu and pichu) for a little help “Do you think your babysitter needs a costume too~? Show of hands please~?” she sing-songed… hoping they’d go along with it since the dratini looked like the type who’d refuse to go along just because she was being asked to.
Fortunately, after a moment of confusion and some exchanged looks, hands started to raise… save for the riolu girl’s. Her hand shot straight up right away the moment the question had been asked. Soon all six of them, some begrudgingly, had their hands in the air as the meowstic turned to the miltank, a smug smile on her face “Well, looks like it’s been decided~ You need a costume~” she chirped as the poor cow somehow managed to look even more flustered than before. “B-but… m-my budget!” she squeaked… squeaking again when Ms. Calico put a friendly arm around her shoulders “Know just what to suggest for that~” the meowstic purred, confident she’d won this one “How about you buy a prop or two here, and I think I know JUST the ones, and take a look at the local thrift stores~? You can pick out some clothes from there to make a costume to go with the props and after Halloween you can use them separately as normal clothes~ How does that sound? That budget conscious enough for you~?” This wasn’t the first time she’d fielded this suggestion to somebody who didn’t wanna spend a lot of money on something they’d only wear once a year… it usually worked…
“Well… I… I guess I can see w-what you want to suggest…”
And it wasn’t failing today~ Yes, Ms. Calico loved her job and Halloween~
“Wonderful! Follow me then please… little ones too… and keep your hands out of that candy bowl little missy!”
The End.
Links to their Solo Picture
Andrew
Jane
Petie
Jules
Sammi
Tabitha
Maddie
Hope you enjoyed all that, please fav & comment, and have a Happy Halloween =D
Characters owned by me
Pokemon NOT owned by me
Here's the second of the three Trick-or-Treat stories I've been working on so I hope you enjoy~
This big group of little ones (and a chaperone) needs no introduction... it's Team Pre-K~
Individual info to follow in their solo pics linked below, for now just enjoy their story~
One thing you learned quickly when running ANY kind of children's store, particularly a store young children might frequent in large numbers was that you made sure they had a chaperone. Then you made sure the chaperone was paying attention. Then you watched all the kids like a hawk ANYWAY cause children were devious, innocent little creatures past all the cuteness and could cause trouble without meaning to as easily as one might breath. Having all these things in mind Ms. Calico quickly moved to greet the miltank herding the pack of kids into her store. The meowstic giving her an award winning smile that didn't at all reveal how worried she was the tykes were gonna start running around breaking stuff at any moment.
"Hi there! Not often we get whole classes in here at once, anything I can help you with?"
"Oh, just thought I'd bring them in to pick out their costumes for this year~ I'll be taking them all trick-or-treating after all… don't worry, they're well behaved. I promise." the miltank said, apparently guessing the thoughts in the cat's head. She was rather surprised by the girl's voice, at first glance she'd thought the girl might be a young adult but it was obvious she was a teen. Ms. Calico wasn't quite sure she'd have let a teen watch this many kids at once though so her reassurance wasn't very… well… reassuring. "Do they need any help picking out their costumes?" she asked, slightly warily as she watched the little riolu girl squeak in fear, caught off guard by the same inflatable cofagrigus that'd surprised the poochyena earlier and hide behind the teddiursa boy. The other kids were spreading out around the store and she was just waiting to start hearing stuff getting knocked over.
"Oh no, they'll ask for help if they need it. Thanks for offering though."
"… alright… I'll keep my eye on them though just in case…"
*****************
Doing her best to keep an eye on all of the little ones the meowstic found that harder than expected as all six of them branched out and went their separate ways. She found herself wandering through the kid’s costume section listening for any sign of them, or more specifically any sign they’re causing trouble, when she felt a tug on her pants leg. Looking down she found it was the teddiursa boy from earlier… who was blushing his head off and doing everything he could not to look up at her, which wasn’t a good sign in most case. She gave him the benefit of the doubt though and knelt down next to him like he was motioning for her to do. To her surprise he pushed a costume into her paws and stood on his tippie toes to whisper in her ear.
Turning the barbarian costume over in her paws Ms. Calico had to bite her tongue to keep from letting out a small giggle at the question he’d just whispered to her, knowing it’d hurt the poor kids feelings. She couldn’t resist a glance down at the blushing bear’s pants though before giving him the most reassuring smile she could “I’m sure it’ll fit, these costumes are stretchy and should go over… those, no problem.” she said, keeping her voice down as she placed the costume in the kid’s paws. He looked like he should have been out of those by now and acted like he knew it, so no reason to make thing any harder for him. Especially since he was being so well behaved. “Dunno if the hat will fit on you though… but I have an idea~ We have some prop clubs and axes that’d go with your costume, how about I go help you pick one out?” she offered, standing back up and offering him her paw…
It was adorable how he tried to act like a big boy, puffing himself up for a moment and trying to look like he could do it himself... before reluctantly taking the offered paw and letting her lead him off~
*****************
With that little one helped, and the teddiursa off to help his little riolu friend who seemed to be having trouble with the shops motion activated displays (the poor girl), Ms. Calico resumed her search to make sure the other little ones weren’t getting into anything they shouldn’t… and nearly tripped over one of them as she rounded a costume rack and had to stop short. It was the little gothita from earlier as the small girl looked just as surprised as the meowstic was. “O-oh! I-I’m sorry!” the girl squeaked, scooting back and out of the cat’s way and looking a little flustered. “It’s fine, it’s fine, I just didn’t see you there.” Ms. Calico quickly assured the girl, kneeling down to make sure she was okay… and noticing the costume in her chubby little hands “Is this the costume you want sweetie?” she asked, taking note of something she didn’t think the girl realized.
“O-oh! Y-yes… w… we agreed we’d go t-trick-or-treating together this year!” the girl squeaked nervously as Ms. Calico had to resist cooing over her. The little dear was obviously well mannered but so shy~ She could almost see the gear’s turning frantically in the gothita’s head trying to figure out what to say as she stuttered and stammered “S-so M-Maddie suggested w-we pick a t-theme and I… um… I’m g-gonna be a wizard!” she quickly exclaimed, holding the costume up “I… I t-think this costume will work I… I’m n-not used t-to picking out my o-own outfits or a-anything…” she stuttered, trailing off and looking down… only to let out a little eep as the meowstic gently patted her head “It’ll work just fine dear, just don’t forget to get a wand too~ Can’t be a wizard without one of those and we’ve got some fun, sparkly light up ones right over here!” Ms. Calico chirped, gently herding the blushing little psychic type along.
So well spoken and polite for her age and trying to be a big girl… the store owner didn’t have the heart to tell her that she was pretty sure the outfit she’d picked out was a size or three too big~
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The meowstic was starting to relax a little since the kids hadn’t caused any trouble yet… just as there was a sudden POP sound followed by a girly shriek and a blue and pink blur shooting past her. The poor riolu had managed to trigger ANOTHER motion activated fright… though she’d had problems with this one before. A pop-up gengar that went from box-to-spook in a few seconds with a nice, jarring POP noise. She’d even had adults get startled by that one, but the local haunted houses liked them so she kept it on the sales floor. “What scared Jules THIS tim-” a little girl’s voice chimed… followed by an identical POP and following girly shriek from before. Except this time it was followed by a SMACK noise and something hitting the ground with a dull thump which brought Ms. Calico running to find-
It was the little dratini girl from earlier, with a bulgy eyed look somewhere between frightened and furious, as she stood there tensed up next to… a knocked over pop-up Gengar. She’d obviously been startled by it and smacked the the thing hard enough to knock it over… not the first time that’d happened. A quick glance told her the fright was okay so her immediate concern turned to the dratini. She had kids knock over a fright that scared them before and immediately run off crying or start trying to smash the thing so she was expecting something similar that she’d have to deal with. To her surprise the girl instead did a quick look around and-
“You didn’t see or hear anything.”
The meowstic had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at how serious the kid was trying to sound as she glared at the older woman while saying that. Trying to deny she’d gotten scared and smacked the thing? Someone was a little too big for their britches… but considering the kind of brats she’d dealt with before this was adorably quaint~ “Right, I didn’t see or hear anything~” she said as she noticed the dragon puffing up at her barely hidden amusement and quickly decided to change the topic “I see you’ve got your costume picked out already?” Ms. Calico motioned to the costume in the dratini’s hands. “Yeah, what of it?” the girl said, hugging the outfit close as the meowstic marveled at the amount of attitude packed into such a tiny package. “Going to be an archer then?” she asked, starting to get an idea of what the trick-or-treat groups theme might be.
“Yeah! It comes with-”
“No shooting anyone with the suction cup arrows Sammi.”
“Oh come on! That’s why I picked it!”
Ms. Calico had to bite her tongue again to keep from laughing as the miltank, who’d come running as well when the girl had kicked the gengar over, called out to her and made the dratini whirl around in adorable protest. She decided to leave this little argument to the babysitter though and check on the other kids, the miltank seemed to have things well in hand after all~
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The first little one the meowstic managed to find was the little riolu… who looked lost, pitiful, and jumpy though Ms. Calico wasn’t surprised since she’d managed to trigger most of the frights in the store. “Hey there-” she called, about to ask if she could help the girl back to the proper costume section… buuuut she was cut off as the puppy turned to look at her and accidentally bumped one of the surprise boxes. Which made it pop open with a prerecorded BOO as the puppy received an unexpected smooch from a plushie woobat on a spring. The riolu let out another squeal of surprise and stumbled backwards, plopping on her bottom. Considering the “plushies on a spring” tended to get more giggles than screams Ms. Calico concluded there was two possibilities… either the pup was younger than she thought… or the little girl had gotten one too many scares for the afternoon and was overly jumpy because of it.
The solution to both possibilities was to scoop the precious pup up and cuddle her close. As Ms. Calico rested the riolu’s head on her shoulder and rubbed the little ones back she was a bit surprised to not hear the crinkle of disposable undies under the girl’s shorts, but she decided to ignore that for the moment. “Want some help finding the costumes again~?” she cooed gently, waiting for the trembling puppy to calm down enough to nod before she started to walk towards where the toddler girls costumes were kept. She had an outfit in mind for the spritely little pup… and she was pretty sure it’d match perfectly with their group theme. “S-sorry… n-not good with surprise scares…” the puppy mumbled, sounding a bit embarrassed as she carried her. “Don’t worry about it.” Ms. Calico said, still doing her best to reassure the riolu “Lots of people get scared by those surprises, it’s what they’re made for after al-”
“That one!”
“Huh?” the meowstic stopped short as to her surprise the puppy gracefully leaped from her arms and scurried over to a rack of costumes. Being impressed by the large toddler’s feat came secondary to the realization “That’s the boy’s costumes…” it didn’t seem to deter the riolu though as she pulled a costume out and held it aloft. A cavaliers costume complete with massive feathered hat, cape, and little toy rapier. “This one! This is the one I want!” she chirped eagerly, earlier panic forgotten in favor of bouncing happily from foot to foot. Ms. Calico had actually thought a fairy costume, particularly one of the ballet themed ones, would have been perfect for the girl… but she looked so happy the best she could manage to try and sway her was a half-hearted “You sure that’s the one you want?” which was answered with eager, starry eyed nodding.
“Alright then, why don’t you go show your teddiursa friend? I’m sure he’d love to see it~” Ms. Calico cooed as the puppy was off like a shot. So long as she stuck with her friend there’d be somebody to keep the spooks away at least… even if it was technically a boy’s costume there was no way the meowstic could say no to such an adorable little girl~
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Of course, she hadn’t expected all of the group to be such sweeties… and yes she counted the dratini among them since other than that little tantrum the girl had been perfectly behaved. But there was always one semi-bad apple in the bunch and as Ms. Calico returned to the front of the store she caught the this group’s one in the act.
“Put them back.”
“... put what back?”
“That candy bowl wasn’t empty when all of you came in, now put it back. One piece per customer.”
The munchlax girl’s blank expression didn’t change even as she begrudgingly forked fistfulls of candy out of her overall pockets and put them back in the bowl. Somehow it didn’t surprise the meowstic one bit that the troublemaker was the oldest looking kid in the group. “There… now… have you picked out a costume?” she asked once it looked liked the girl had given up all her ill-gotten goods, even if the kid’s empty hands made the answer to the question fairly obvious. “Nope.” was the surprisingly blunt answer. “Well since I can’t trust you not to raid the candy… why don’t you come with me? I think I know just the costume for you.” she said, offering the girl her hand… it unfortunately didn’t work as well as it had on the teddiursa as the girl didn’t budge.
“No dresses, nothing girly.” the munchlax said flatly, apparently laying out her “Terms” for agreeing to the meowstics help… which wasn’t an issue since what Ms. Calico had in mind didn’t fall into either of those categories. “Deal. Now come along.” she said, walking further into the store before glancing back to make sure that yes the munchlax WAS following her and hadn’t gone back to raiding the candy. Leading her along they arrived at the grade schooler costumes as the meowstic pulled a specific one of the rack and held it up for the girl to see. “Here we are, a rogue.” she said… before realizing a first grader likely didn’t know what that was “It’s like a thief.” she quickly added before holding it out for the munchlax to take. After a minute worth of awkward silence the girl finally took the costume from her hands and started turning it over, looking at all the details.
After a few more minutes of silence passed the mewostic was starting to worry something was wrong when the girl finally spoke. “I’ll work.” she said, her expression still unnervingly mask like “Thank you, I didn’t really have any ideas.” she continued as Ms. Calico noted there wasn’t an apology for her earlier candy thievery or any acknowledgement of the correlation between that and the costume. In fact there wasn’t much emotion or inflection there either. It wasn’t really her place but she was starting to wonder if something was wrong with the little girl and if she should have been gentler in her earlier scoldings.
“Oh, also could you go help my brother?” the girl suddenly spoke up, shaking Ms. Calico from her thoughts “He’s the pichu and he’s probably having trouble finding a costume of his own too.. I’d help him but you know the store better than me so please go help him. Please.” The meowstic picked up a hint of emotion in that deadpan and gave the munchlax a smile “Of course, I’ll be happy to help your brother.” she said, too happy with the cute big-sister nature of the request to question the odd nature of the sibling pair. “Just promise me you won’t go raiding the candy bowl while I do, alright?” she added as she turned away to go find the pichu… and was only slightly surprised to hear “Do I have to?” from the girl as she left.
There was one in every group after all.
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She didn’t have to look far to find the little pichu in question. The adorably chubby fellow was looking through a rack of costumes with a pitifully forlorn expression on his face. Luckily she didn’t have to worry about surprising him as his massive ears twitched and swiveled the moment she got close. “Hey little guy~” she said gently, kneeling down to him as he turned to look at her “Need some help?” She wasn’t quite sure where to place his age among the other kids but she was going to guess he was near the bottom alongside the riolu… and the soft squeak of “Chuuuuu” that left his lips seemed to confirm this for her. “Y-yes p-please, chuuu.” he squeaked, Ms. Calico resisting the urge to coo at him “I… I’m not sure w-what to be this y-year, chuuuu… w-we’re supposed to be a-adventurers…”
“Uh huh~ I know. Your little friends have picked out their costumes already last I checked~” the meowstic started ticking off her fingers as she listed them “You have a barbarian, a cavalier, an archer, a wizard, and your sister is a big bad candy thief… and her costume is a thief too~” she said, chuckling at her little joke before frowning to see the pichu wasn’t giggling along with her “So, what would you like to be?I can make a few suggestions if you’d like?” she offered, gently ruffling the pichu’s short hair. “O-okay, chuu-” he stuttered out… before letting out a squeak oft “Chuu!” as Ms. Calico slipped her paws under his armpits and hoisted him into the air “Oooph! Lots of baby fat huh little guy? No worries, just means there’s more of you to look adorable~” she cooed, smiling and making silly face for the pichu “Now, I think the costume you’d like is riiiiiiiight over here~”
“Adventuring parties can have clowns in them, right~? Or are they jesters…” she wondered aloud as she held up the costume for him to see. A cute polkadot onesie with neck ruffles, massive shoes and gloves, a fluffy rainbow wig, and of course a big red nose~ She couldn’t hide her disappointment when the pichu frantically shook his head, cheeks noticeably more pink. “Alright, alright… how about this?” she asks, picking out a prince costume next. Little vest, puffy sleeves, puffy pants (it didn’t FEEL like he was diapered but given how little he was acting she couldn’t be sure), tights, cape, and a little crown “I know Adventures have princes in them~ No?” she frowned a little as the pichu shook his head again, making squeaking noises and babbling like he’d gone pre-verbal. And his cheeks were DEFINITELY a bright shade of pink now.
“Alright, alright, how about… oh, this is cute~ Meowth in boots!” she held the set of footed jammies with attached footwear and hat up. There was a bit of cute irony with the idea of a mouse dressed as a cat… but the pichu shook his head again as she sighed and put the costume back on the rack. No matter, she’d suited picky kids before so she’d just have to keep searching. Letting her hands drift along the costumes she picked up a gargoyle costume and held it against the pichu’s chubby frame to get an idea of how it’d look. A stone grey bodysuit with lots of matching foam padding to give it a bulky, rocky look with a large set of wings attached alongside a horned helmet and mask combination. She and the pichu shared a look for a moment before they BOTH shook their heads. A little too scary for a kid the pichu’s age, a little to hot for him, and the wings were way too big for his small frame… which left her back at square one…
“Well, might as well give it a shot.” she was out of ideas that fit the theme soooooo… “How about this little guy? Bet you’re a fan of him huh~?” she cooed, holding up a thickly padded, soft, and cushie Bernie the Purple Dragonite themed costume “And you can wear it as jammies on cold nights afterwards, what do you say~?” she cooed, holding the plush suit out for the pichu to feel… and sighed as the pichu started making drawn out, pitiful “chuuuuuuu” squeaks as he furiously shook his head. His big ears whipping the air as he did so. She’d been hoping this one would work since between how padded the suit was and how plump the pichu was the result could only be precious~ “Alright, maybe it’d be better if you tried to find something you’d like. Okay little guy?” she said, setting the boy down and giving him a tushie pat in the direction of a costume rack they hadn’t gone through yet "Just point at anything that catches your eye and I’ll get it down for you.” she cooed, trying to sound reassuring despite getting a feeling they were going to be here for a while.
The pichu wobbled on his feet, making her fear they’d have a “Baby fall down go boom” incident, before he regained his balance and toddled over to the rack of costumes. She watched him shuffle and search through them with his chubby paws All the while she sorted through more possible ideas in her head, like that maybe he was more a Mark’s Marks baby than a Bernie one, since she wasn’t too optimistic he’d find something he’d like any time soon…
“Chuuuuuuuu…” Blinking she looked at the costume being held out to her as if waiting for her approval. She wasn’t able to hide a smile as she knelt down “Do you know what costume this is~?” she asked gently, listening to the blushing, flustered pichu’s stuttering and babble for a moment before continuing “This is a costume for something called a Cleric, they heal their friends and use good magic~ Do you understand?” she waited for the pichu to nod before chuckling a little.
“Good, cause I think it’d be just perfect for a little sweetie like you~”
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“You said your name was Maddie?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Well Maddie you’re little ones are absolutely precious~ One of the best behaved groups of kids I’ve ever had in the store… for the most part.” Ms. Calico shot a glare towards the munchlax who was silently sneaker closer to the candy bowl… again. The group was gather near the front of the store to try and check out, though there were a few stragglers like the teddiursa showing the riolu some of the less scary props (which was adorable~), so the meowstic was taking the chance to talk to their babysitter… which actually brought a question to mind. “So, do you babysit all these little ones regularly?” she asked, smiling to the broad miltank who just chuckled and gave her a small smile “Well I look after them regularly, does that count?” Ms. Calico wasn’t sure if the girl was being coy or just teasing her… but either way she was willing to play along “I think it does… sooooo, are they a mixed age playgroup?” she asked. She only had rough guesses about all of their ages so she was honestly curious how old all these little ones were.
“Nope, they’re all in Pre-K~” the miltank said, sounding like she was struggling not to laugh… though the meowstic was too amazed by the answer to question why. “Wait, they’re really all in Pre-K? Some of them look so young… how old are they?” she asked, honestly surprised the riolu and teddiursa weren’t daycare kids. “Oh, older than you’d think. Most people are surprised by their ages~” the miltank said before turning away from her “Alright, if everybody has their costumes-” she said, addressing the assembled six little ones “we can check out now and…” she stopped mid sentence as Ms. Calico tapped her on the shoulder “Yes?” Maddie said, turning to look to her as it was Ms. Calico’s turn to smile “I’m going to have to object… you’re not ready to check out yet~” she said, pausing to chuckle a little at the miltank’s confused expression “You forgot a costume for one member of the group~” Ms. Calico explained.
“Oh? Who did we forget? Everybody-” Maddie started to say… as Ms. Calico had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing as she saw the realization, along with a blush, cross the miltank’s face. “O-oh no! I c-couldn’t! I d-didn’t budget for a costume! I’m just taking these little guys trick or treating is all s-so I w-won’t be dressing up this year!” she quickly stuttered, blushing brightly as the idea while holding her hands up defensively. Which just wouldn’t do as far as Ms. Calico was concerned~ It wouldn’t do at all~ “Hmmmm… nope~ I don’t think so~ Lets get a tiebreaker~ Hey, what do you little ones think~?” she cooed, turning to the assembled kids and in particularly looking to the two cutest ones (the riolu and pichu) for a little help “Do you think your babysitter needs a costume too~? Show of hands please~?” she sing-songed… hoping they’d go along with it since the dratini looked like the type who’d refuse to go along just because she was being asked to.
Fortunately, after a moment of confusion and some exchanged looks, hands started to raise… save for the riolu girl’s. Her hand shot straight up right away the moment the question had been asked. Soon all six of them, some begrudgingly, had their hands in the air as the meowstic turned to the miltank, a smug smile on her face “Well, looks like it’s been decided~ You need a costume~” she chirped as the poor cow somehow managed to look even more flustered than before. “B-but… m-my budget!” she squeaked… squeaking again when Ms. Calico put a friendly arm around her shoulders “Know just what to suggest for that~” the meowstic purred, confident she’d won this one “How about you buy a prop or two here, and I think I know JUST the ones, and take a look at the local thrift stores~? You can pick out some clothes from there to make a costume to go with the props and after Halloween you can use them separately as normal clothes~ How does that sound? That budget conscious enough for you~?” This wasn’t the first time she’d fielded this suggestion to somebody who didn’t wanna spend a lot of money on something they’d only wear once a year… it usually worked…
“Well… I… I guess I can see w-what you want to suggest…”
And it wasn’t failing today~ Yes, Ms. Calico loved her job and Halloween~
“Wonderful! Follow me then please… little ones too… and keep your hands out of that candy bowl little missy!”
The End.
Links to their Solo Picture
Andrew
Jane
Petie
Jules
Sammi
Tabitha
Maddie
Hope you enjoyed all that, please fav & comment, and have a Happy Halloween =D
Characters owned by me
Pokemon NOT owned by me
Category All / Pokemon
Species Pokemon
Size 826 x 631px
File Size 130.6 kB
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