Falling for Autumn

[yankeesrule3526]

2023.09.24
We are excited to announce a new monthly egg, available now! Find out what is inside next week.

2023.10.01

“It’s a failure! Lock it away!” were the first words which my conscious mind can remember. Back then, everything was new and exciting. The bright lights in the laboratories. People constantly surrounding me. Even when they lifted me up and brought me into my cold cell, I didn’t think of escape immediately. I hoped that maybe they would let me out again soon.

But “soon” never came.
Through the small window in the door, I could see scientists running up and down the sterile-looking hallway, carrying either plates with food, or lifeless beings in their arms. What began as new and exciting turned into fear. I feared that one day, I would be one of those that got carried around and never to be seen again.
Sometimes, a scientist named Jerry came into my cell with needles, threads and scissors. Jerry was nice to me, and he even tried to patch my torn rag, but when he took a fateful peek under it, he panicked and slammed the door to my cell shut, before collapsing in front of it. Other scientists carried his body away, and I never saw him again.
After this incident, my cell door only ever opened when I was getting fed. Meager meals, hardly enough to sustain my growing hunger.
But at least, I had something to do now. Jerry had left the sewing kit in my cell, and I was able to take a peek into one of the opposite cells, where they kept another experiment. It looked like a walking egg with boxing gloves, so I tried to recreate it with the sewing kit. Quickly, I ran into the problem of not having something to fill the plushy’s body with. So I made a difficult decision and cut the neck of my disguise open, pulled out some of the stuffing and used it to create my first friend.
Day and night I worked on it, perfecting my small buddy. I wanted to show it to the creature in the opposite cell. Wanted to show them that we were not alone. But when I was finally done, the door to the other cell was standing open, and scientists were carrying the creature’s lifeless body out of it.
I was devastated.
That night, I was holding close to my plushy friend and cried myself to sleep.

Days went by and I felt myself slowly starving. The meals they brought me got even smaller, until one day, they completely stopped.
My door wasn’t opened at the usual feeding time. In fact, I hadn’t seen a single scientist in the hallway all day. The ceiling lights were flickering, and I felt a strange presence close to me.
Then I heard a door getting opened. I almost didn’t care anymore. They’d just carry out another lifeless creature. But there was a small shimmer of hope that I would be given something to eat. So I dragged myself to the door and looked through the small window. I saw someone who didn’t look like one of the scientists. They were carrying out an egg that looked like it was made of jelly. I hammered against the door, but they didn’t seem to notice me. Then they turned around and went away again. A while later, they returned, took another egg and left again. After the fifth time, I stopped trying to get their attention.
After the eighth time, I was too tired to watch them.

When I woke up again, the feeling of the strange presence was gone. But I smelled something. Right in front of me, someone had placed a berry on the ground. The sweet scent of the curvy, pink fruit made my belly growl in anticipation. Without hesitation, I wolfed the thing down. Almost instantly, I felt my strength partially returning. I looked around in the room and realized that the door to my cell stood wide open. And in front of the door, in the middle of the hallway, there was another berry. Good! I was still hungry.
Now that I was standing in the hallway and munched on the second fruit, I was slowly feeling alive again. I wasn’t quite sure what to do now. So I headed back into my cell, grabbed my plushy friend, and thought about my next steps. With my cell being open, it was only a matter of time until the scientists would come back to lock me in again. And maybe there were more berries waiting for me behind the next corner?
So I left my cell. The air in the hallway was old and stale, and I slowly made my way down the hallway, passing multiple open cell doors with no inmates inside. It dawned on me that the scientists had abandoned us. Something had caused them to abruptly leave this place behind. But who freed us from our prisons then? A question that would stay unanswered for now.

A cool breeze caught my attention, and instinctively I turned into the direction that it came from. Following it, it led me to the open exit. Leaving the flickering lights behind me, I stepped into the cold air. There were trees with orange leaves all around me, and behind me the entrance to the laboratory. The whole building was flickering now. And then it vanished. The prison that had been my home just disappeared before my eyes, with no signs of return.
I clutched my plushy friend tighter, knowing that I would be on my own now, with nowhere to go. I should have been glad that I escaped the laboratory, but at this moment I didn’t feel happy. Everything I knew was gone. A wave of sadness washed over me. Staring at my comfort buddy, I just sat there and wailed.

I don’t know how long I had been sitting there, when suddenly a voice behind me grabbed my attention and pulled my thoughts away from my sorrows. “Is everything alright?”
“No.” I said without looking up. “I lost my home and I don’t know where to go.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” the voice answered, closer to me now. “Can I help you somehow?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I listened to the stranger circling me. Inspecting me. “Wow! You really nailed the run-down look with your costume! And this plushy of yours is ultra cute! Is it a Togepi? No… A Hitmonchan? Not quite… What is it?”
“A friend.” I said timidly.
“Well, I can see that, with how tight you’re holding onto it. Come on now, don’t be shy. Why don’t you tell me who you are?”
I had no idea who I was. “I’m just me.”
“Mi? Short for Mimikyu? Works for me. I adore your costume. You’ll have to come trick-or-treating with us! I was just on the way to gather my friends, so we can begin at dusk! What do you say? It’s more fun than going alone!”
For the first time, I looked up to see who was talking to me. And I was shocked to see what looked like it could have been another experiment, just like myself. Just like my cell neighbor who didn’t make it. Could she really be another one who escaped the laboratory, with her black fur, and sharp horns and the six fluffy tails?
“Who are you?” I asked her instead of answering.
“Fear me!” a devious smile formed on her face. “For I am Vuldoom! My mom a simple Vulpix, and my father a fearsome Houndoom! And I am here to collect the souls of those who wander alone in the night! So you better come with me, or you are doomed as well. I promise, there will be lots of candy!”
Winking at me, she moved forward, leaving me baffled.
“Wait for me!” I exclaimed and followed her as fast as I could. “I have so many questions!”


To be continued

2023.10.08

“Where are we going?” I asked. We had left the forest behind a while ago and were now in the open fields.
“I told you, I’m on my way to meet with a couple of friends, so we can go trick-or-treating together!” Vuldoom answered.
“That doesn’t explain anything! What is this trick-or-treating thing?”
Vuldoom tilted her head. “Listen, I like your whole backstory shtick, and you are really in-character, but please don’t play dumb!”
“But I AM dumb…” I sheepishly said, not loud enough for her to hear it. I felt my emotions coming to the boil again, and I had to fight back the tears once more. But since I didn’t know where else to go, I followed Vuldoom silently to wherever she wanted to take me.

“We are there! This is where all my friends live!” she exclaimed and nodded in the direction of a small town. “Come on, don’t conk out now!”
Vuldoom sped up her steps, almost running now, and I had trouble keeping up with her pace. I still had my plushy friend wrapped tightly in my arm and tried to follow her as fast as I could. But I wasn’t used to running, and so my rag got tangled up in a plant on the ground causing me to tumble and fall down. The world was spinning around me, as I was rolling down the small hill.
When I finally came to a stop, I was facing the sky. The dizzy feeling was still there, but I forced myself to stand up. And then I saw it. Over the knoll flew something with glowing red eyes that scanned the ground like searchlights.
I had experienced this once in the laboratory. One night, an experiment escaped its cell only for the scientists to search for it and take it back into its cell while it was screaming in pain.
Panic rose within me. I wouldn’t go back! This thing - whatever it was - was clearly searching for me. I looked for Vuldoom, but she was nowhere to be seen. This was bad! I had to hide somewhere.
Looking around, the small town nearby seemed to offer no good hiding spots. The open gardens would easily expose me. But then something caught my attention. A bag with a pumpkin painted on its fabric, and a patch which looked just like mine. I ran for it.
The flapping sound of the flying searcher was coming closer. Maybe it had spotted me already, but I had to hope for the case that it hadn’t. I made it to the bag and crawled inside it. And then I stayed still and just listened.
The noises were muffled, but now it sounded like the searcher was directly above me. For a moment, I pondered if I should leave the bag and try to flee. But then, the sound disappeared in the distance and I sighed with relief.
And suddenly I heard footsteps. They had me. They knew where I was hiding, and now they would get me. But I wouldn’t go down without a fight!
The bag was getting opened, and I was ready to jump at any potential attacker.
“Are you trying to nab my treats?” an angry voice asked me.
“Oh, there you are!” I heard Vuldoom’s voice. “I thought, you got lost.”
Warily I stuck my head out of the bag, and I realized that Vuldoom and what looked like another experiment were staring at me.
“May I introduce? This is Mi!” said Vuldoom. “Mi? This is Witcheon!”
“And I should curse you for trying to steal my treats!” the ice-blue creature hissed.
“Calm down. There are no treats in this bag and you know that.” Vuldoom tapped her friend’s snout with her paw.
“Not yet! But we are going to get a mighty fine load of candy tonight! Mighty fine, I say!” Witcheon shook her head. “And for that, I need my bag. So get out of it!”
“Sorry…” I lowered my head and stepped out of her bag.
“Now, what are we waiting for? There’s no time to lose! Let’s gather the rest of our friends!” Vuldoom urged.
“Yeah, let’s hit the road!” Witcheon replied.
I glanced at the sky, searching for the mysterious flapping thing. But it was gone. Hopefully I was safe now.
And then a piercing shriek resounded through the streets.

To be continued

You can get your own "Witcheon", aka Treat Glaceon, as a guaranteed click prize for the rest of the month.

2023.10.13

I was pulled with them. Before I could react, Vuldoom had grabbed me by the hand and started to run towards the scream. And Witcheon followed as fast as she was able to, with the bag in her mouth and her hat dangerously wobbling in the wind.
“What was that scream?” I asked.
“I whow whef voif! Whef’f awower of our frienff! Founff wike he’f in danger!” Vuldoom answered, her voice muffled by my arm in her mouth.
“And we can help him?” I asked.
“Let’s hope so!” Witcheon replied, before she spotted two other creatures in front of a house and turned her head to them. “Oh no! They are already starting to go from door to door!”
She kept running, but that didn’t keep her from shouting at them. “Oi! You cheaters! You better leave some candy for us! Otherwise, even Arceus will be having trouble puzzling you back together once I’m done with you!”
Irritated, the two turned their heads towards us. One of them was wearing a white mask with black holes that were seemingly staring right into my soul. Its tail was ending in a hand that tightly gripped a hatchet. For a moment I thought it would throw the sharp woodcutting tool at us, but its companion, a creature completely made of bones, stopped them by pulling at its shoulder and shaking its boney head.
“Oh, I hate these two…” Witcheon grumbled.
Vuldoom just rolled her eyes, and then we turned left into the next road. At the end of it there was a shadowy figure, looming over someone. And as we came closer, it was like we were entering a bubble of darkness…

To be continued

Jason Aipom and Skeleton Cubone can be found in the Game Corner Prize Shop for the next 48 hours.


2023.10.15

For a moment, my world turned pitch black. And judging by the shocked gasps of Vuldoom and Witcheon I knew that theirs must have, too.
Then colors returned, but they were dull and washed out, as if a veil of darkness was still covering them. And the dark creature responsible for it was slowly turning its head to us. A head that looked like a cloud of fog that covered one of its eyes. But the other one was bright blue and was glaring at us.
A feint laughter was the only sound the creature made, before it slowly began floating into the sky, where it suddenly disappeared.
“Come back here, you creep!” I heard Witcheon shouting, but to no avail. The creature was already gone.
“Oh no…” Vuldoom sprinted towards the object lying on the ground. I could’ve sworn that it had been another experiment before, but now it was just an egg. It was dark gray with a brown tip, and two golden lines with a golden dot in the middle. The shape vaguely reminded me of an eye.
“What happened to him?” Witcheon ran up to her friend and poked the egg with her paw.
“I think, this Pokémon turned him back into an egg.” I heard Vuldoom saying.
“Pokémon?” I asked, coming closer. “Is that the name of that creature?”
“Would you cut the role-playing for once? Can’t you see that this is serious?” Witcheon snarled at me.
Vuldoom nodded. “If you don’t want to help, just keep your mouth shut, okay? We need to think of a way to get him back to normal!”
Of course. I was useless again. Another potential friend I couldn’t save. Tearing up, I wanted to hug my comfort plushy tighter, when I realized that it was gone. I must have lost it!
“Okay.” I sheepishly said, before slowly removing myself from the scene. “I’m going to search for my plushy then.”
I haven’t even gotten out of earshot, when I heard Witcheon talking again. “Good riddance. One less to share our candy with.”
“Care to make it two?” Vuldoom snickered and smacked the egg so hard that I heard it cracking even from the distance.
Disheartened and frightened about the sudden change of those who I thought could have been my new friends, I started running, before they would get the idea to attack me too.

“Where do you think, you are going, failure?” I heard a familiar voice behind me that made me stop dead in my tracks.
“I’m sorry, Doctor Victor, I swear I locked it away! I don’t know how it could escape its cell!” another voice said. I recognized that voice as well. It belonged to Jerry.
When I turned around, I was back in the sterile-looking laboratory. The walls had just appeared next to me and the two humans were looking down at me. Doctor Victor was twirling his mustache with two fingers, while Jerry came closer to me, ready to lift me up and take me back to my cell.
No! I wouldn’t go back!
I made a few steps backwards, but I stepped on my rag, lost my balance and fell on my back. Closing my eyes in pain, I waited for the inevitable to happen.

To be continued

We are excited to announce a new monthly egg, available now! Find out what is inside next week.

2023.10.22

Jerry should have reached me by now. The pain from hitting the ground was still pulsing through my body, but I just had to open my eyes. The two scientists were gone. And so was the laboratory that had surrounded us. I blinked in confusion, when I noticed something interesting. The veil of darkness was slowly getting pulled away from the neighborhood and was moving towards me. But instead of engulfing me, it all went under my rag and vanished.

I stood up, so that my rag was touching the ground again, and immediately, the pull came to a halt. With my hand, I lifted my disguise a little, and once more the darkness came flowing in my direction. And I noticed something else. My plushy friend had reappeared as if it had never been gone. I was holding it closely while moving through the streets and removing the darkness, when I spotted another experiment lying on the ground, both front paws covering its eyes, like it was cowering in fear. It was covered in many golden ornaments, like the ankh on its tail, or the nemes around its head. Next to it was a discarded was-sceptre with a golden head at the top of it.
And Vuldoom and Witcheon were there as well. They had their eyes closed, and it looked like they were sleeping, but their facial expressions made it seem like they were having the worst kind of nightmares. And the agonized yelping that came from them every few moments only reinforced my assumption of them being under the same spell that I had been. But I was still unsure, since they had been so happy earlier that I was gone.
The ornamented creature on the other hand hadn't done me any harm, so I decided to try my luck. I had expected at least some reaction, when I carefully poked it, but it continued to cover its eyes in fear, seemingly not even noticing me.
If this creature was trapped in the same nightmarish visions that I had been, it would probably need more than just a gentle poke to wake it up.
"I'm sorry!" I apologized, before hitting the creature with my free hand. The surprised bark that followed was more of what I had in mind when I had tried to poke it before.
The creature jumped up on all fours, snarling angrily at me, but I just lifted my hands. "I don't want to hurt you! But you were trapped in a bad dream and-"
"A nightmare from Darkrai! Where is it? I'm going to shred it to pieces! But thank you for rescuing me, little friend." the creature bowed his head, which caused the golden ornaments to strum quietly. "This deed won't be forgotten when the time comes for your heart being put on the scales!"
"I have no idea what you are talking about, but it’s sounding pretty creepy." I said while cautiously taking a step back.
"Fear not. I'm merely a judge of good and bad deeds. And Darkrai’s heart will be way more heavy than Maat’s feather if it continues doing such gruesome misdeeds!” he said.
“Isn’t a feather always lighter than a heart?” I questioned, which made the creature laugh.
“You’re a funny one. Call me Anpu.” he replied, making me only slightly more confused.
“I’m Mi… at least that’s what they called me.” I gestured in the direction of Vuldoom and Witcheon, who were both still laying on the ground.
“Ah, my friends.” Anpu said. “Looks like Darkrai got them as well. Nothing that a small bite can’t fix.”
With that, Anpu lunged at Witcheon and sank his teeth into her rear end. And with a yelp, she woke up from the nightmare that plagued her. She threw colorful curses at Anpu, and I didn’t understand even half of them, but from harmless sounding ones like “May a Snorlax roll over you in its sleep!” to a really menacing “Go hug a Sliggoo!”, everything seemed to work out for the foul-mouthed Witcheon.
Anpu ignored most of the tirade, and instead went over to Vuldoom, before carefully sinking his teeth into her bum as well. Another yelp, this one not as ear-piercing as Witcheon’s and Vuldoom was awake, too.
“Oh, sure! Be careful with your loved one, huh?” Witcheon grumbled, while licking the spot where she was bitten.
Vuldoom bonked her head against Anpu’s leg and snuggled him. “Thank you!”
“Don’t thank me. Thank Mi!” Anpu said. “Our little friend was the one who woke me up.”
“So, where has Mi bitten you?” Witcheon inspected him.
“I didn’t bite him. I just slapped him.” I said.
“Of course.” she shook her head. “Thank you anyway for waking up this idiot.”
“Hey!” Vuldoom said. “Language!”
“Sorry, dear.” Witcheon sighed. “Anyway. We have lost enough time already! Where is our candy scout? It’s already getting dark!”


To be continued

2023.10.29

“On my way!” I heard a voice yelling from above. And then there was the mysterious flapping sound from earlier. My eyes widened in shock and when I looked up, I saw it. Glowing red eyes like searchlights. The searcher was back and had found me. There was nowhere to hide now.
“We’ve been waiting for you!” Vuldoom wagged her tails happily.
"I couldn't find you earlier! There was this strange bubble of darkness." the searcher said, landing next to us. Up close, the creature didn't look as scary anymore, but I was still trying to hide behind Vuldoom's wagging tail, which didn't work out as well as I hoped it would.
"Who is that?" the red-eyed creature that carried a chain of strange-looking balls, asked.
"That's Mi. They saved us from Darkrai's nightmares." Anpu said.
"A Darkrai? Here? So that's where that bubble came from."
"Ahem! We are wasting our time here!" Witcheon urged us. "I don't care where Darkrai came from or what it is doing here, because we need to hurry up if we want to get the good candy, and not just the rest that not even the hungriest Swalot would eat!"
"Yeah, let's get going. Did you scout any good places for us to trick ‘r treat at, my dear Drone?" Anpu asked.
"You bet I did!" the creature smiled. “You gave me a clear description for what I should look out for, and I found a lot of houses that are matching it!”

To be continued

Complete the limited time Halloween Match pack to have a chance at winning Drone Pumpkaboo. You are limited in how many you can win.


2023.10.31
The stunning conclusion to the story is hidden behind the following spoiler, as it is a bit long.

Spoiler:

After a short argument with Witcheon that we could collect all the candy in her bag and share them fairly later, everyone got their own bag, because she said that we would only try to steal her hard-earned candy that way.
Drone led the way, and I was still keeping my distance to him, which he seemed to notice after a while. “I think, I know you…” he said, scanning me with his red eyes. “Oh, right! You are the one hiding in the bag earlier! I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“But you did. I thought you’d take me back to the laboratory.” I looked down at the ground.
“What laboratory? The next laboratory is hours away. I couldn’t fly that long, even if I wanted. And you look way too heavy, to carry you with me, no offense!” Drone replied.
“The one in the forest.” I answered. “I escaped from there.”
“Your backstory kinda doesn’t make sense, but I’ll try not too hard to think about it. It’s Halloween, and it’s about having fun, not about creating the best backstory!” he said and left my side again to continue leading the group.
“Wrong!” Witcheon interposed. “It’s about getting the most candy!”
“It’s about having fun with your friends while collecting candy.” Vuldoom corrected.
“And about scaring others.” Anpu nodded.
“What is fun about scaring others?” I asked. “Getting scared by Darkrai wasn’t fun.”
“You’ll see soon enough, once you are on the other end of the scales!” he smiled.

We reached the first house that Drone had led us to and Vuldoom rang the doorbell. A creature opened the door and all the others screamed “Trick or treat!” while pretending to be scary. And apparently, it worked. The creature in the door lifted her hand to her forehead in shock and almost fell over, before picking up the courage and telling us to take her candy, but not her life.
“You’re lucky… this time!” I heard Witcheon mumble, while she picked three treats from the wicker basket. We others only took two, because Vuldoom told me that it was good form to do so. When I asked her about the three pieces that Witcheon took, she said that she hadn’t seen it, and I was too scared to ask the others about it after getting a death stare from Witcheon with the whispered threat “Snitcheons get Stitcheons!”
I had no idea what that meant, but I decided to keep my mouth shut.

And so we went from house to house. We scared the poor creatures inside and basically robbed them of their candy, but none of them seemed to be mad about it. And whenever Vuldoom didn’t look, Witcheon took more candy than it was considered good form. I think, she tried to bribe me for my silence, because sometimes, she took a fourth one and gave it to me.

There were other groups out on the streets as well, laughing and talking, and whenever we crossed them, Witcheon gave them advice on where to get the best candy. Obviously, she never mentioned any of the houses that Drone had scouted for us. “The less competition, the better. Let them ring on those doors which inhabitants only give out chocolate bars that were already expired when Sinnoh was still called Hisui! This will leave more of the good stuff for us. And if no one else visits the houses that we already visited, maybe there are enough treats left for us in a bonus round on our way back home later!”
Anpu shook his head. “You are a criminal mastermind.”
“One of us has to be the smart one.” she grinned. Then she turned her head to me. “And you, Mi? Can you at least try to be scary when we ring on the next door?”
I thought about what happened to Jerry when he lifted my rag and took a peek under it. “Last time I scared someone, I scared him so hard that he died.” I sheepishly said.
“Maybe try to scare them not so hard then?” she suggested. “Can you do that?”
I sighed. “I can try.”

It turned out that pretending to be scary was a lot more fun than actually being scary. And I gave my best at pretending!
At the next house, I hid in the bushes, while the rest of the group rang at the door. The owner opened, and the others were more or less trying to scare him, before it was time for me to make my big entrance. I elongated my arm and grabbed Anpu by the ankle before pulling him into the bush, while he was screaming for help. One by one I grabbed them and pulled them away from the door, and the owner was forced to watch in shock. When we were all in the bush together, we jumped out from it and screamed “Trick or treat!” which earned us way more than the usual two pieces of candy for each of us.
“Five?” Witcheon asked in disbelief. “Mi, you are a gold mine! Keep this up, and we'll be overloaded with candy by the end of our tour!"
It felt good to be encouraged by the toughest member of the group, so I kept trying my best at the houses that followed, and it paid off.

“So, where are we going next?” Anpu asked, when we were back on the streets. We had been trick’r’treating for quite a while now, and the moon was already standing high in the night sky.
"Hate to break it to you, but this was the last house I could find with a decent amount of candy.” Drone said.
“Oh, come on!” Witcheon griped. “My bag isn’t even full!”
“Mine is.” Vuldoom said. “Yours is just bigger.”
Before a tiff could break out, I tried to find a solution. “How about we go to one last house?”
“Didn’t you listen? We have been at all the good ones already.” Drone buzzed.
“We haven’t been at that one.” I pointed to an old-looking building at the top of a small hill, where no streetlights guided the way. It looked like it would fall apart, if someone glanced at it the wrong way. And seemingly none of the other trick’r’treaters were paying attention to it.
Drone looked at the house. “That’s new. I swear, it wasn’t there when I was scouting earlier!”
“So you don’t know if it yields good candy or not?” Witcheon asked. “Good enough for me. Let’s risk it then!”
“What do you mean, it wasn’t there?” I asked, now hesitant again. “Is it normal that buildings just pop into existence?”
“Maybe I just overlooked it because it’s so far away from the street.” Drone tried to justify his mistake.
“Are you two coming, or are you just planning to stand there?” Witcheon called. She and the other two had already started walking towards the dark and eerie building.

What was once a wooden fence was now completely broken down, with only a few scattered poles still sticking in the ground to remind strangers that trespassing wasn’t allowed. The unmown grass in the front yard was sprawling so high that the first step of the creaky wooden staircase which let to the front door was hidden by it.
“No bell?!” Witcheon exclaimed.
“Just try knocking, dear.” Anpu sighed.
Witcheon lifted her paw and knocked, but to her surprise, the door just swung open with a sound that sent a shiver down my spine.
“Hey, Mi…” Vuldoom said with a concerned tone in her voice. “This was your idea. Do you want to go in first?”
“Go in?” I asked. “It seems like nobody is home. We should go.”
“Are you scared?” Witcheon asked. “Alright then, scaredy-meowth, I’ll go in first!”
She stepped into the hallway. “See? Nothing happens. Let’s find the bowl of candy and take everything we can!”
At that moment, multiple purple flames began to form around her. “What?” Witcheon asked and tried to step back, but one of the flames burned her hind paw, and she shrieked out in pain. “Anpu, if this is supposed to be some kind of joke, I swear to Arceus, I will tear you apart if you don’t stop this right now!”
“I’m not doing anything!” Anpu backed down in panic.
“Oh yeah? We will see about that!” she growled and blew a frosty breeze into the dancing flames. But instead of quenching them, it made them only circling faster. They grew higher and higher, until they fully enclosed Witcheon. Then we heard her scream, the flames died down, and our friend was gone. The only things left of her were her bag of candy and her hat.

“Where did she go?” Drone flew towards the spot where she had disappeared. He hectically scanned the area. “She’s gone! We have to search for her!”
“No way I’m going in there now!” Anpu said with a shaky voice.
“She’s our friend!” Vuldoom reminded him. “And I won’t leave her behind, wherever she might be!”
“Watch out!” I yelled, when I saw the purple flames forming anew around Drone. His eyes widened in shock, and he tried to fly away, but the flames followed him, circled faster around him and grew bigger. An ear-piercing scream was the last we heard from him. With a clanking sound, the chain with the balls that he had carried fell to the ground, right next to Witcheon’s bag.
“Nope! That’s it! I’m not setting a paw into this cursed building!” Anpu said and stepped back. Right into another purple flame that was beginning to form behind him.
“Run!” Vuldoom grabbed me and pulled me inside the building while Anpu’s terrified scream was cut off, and only his golden ornaments were left behind.
“They got burned alive!” I stammered. “And you are running towards the danger?”
“It didn’t look like they got burned. Looked more like they were carried away by some kind of will-o-wisps!” she panted while running around a corner.
“And why did their body fall apart then?” I asked.
“Mi, those were their costumes!” she sternly said.
“You keep using that word, but I don’t know what that means.” I felt helpless.
She stopped her running. “This thing you wear! That’s called a costume.”
“That’s my rag! I was born with it!” I insisted.
“Stop playing dumb!” she scorned me.
“But I AM dumb! This is just who I am! And you are Vuldoom!” I almost started crying.
“No, I’m a Vulpix who disguised herself for Halloween!” she yelled at me, while pulling her horns off from her head. They were fake! I couldn’t believe it. “I just love Anpu… Houndoom so much, that I wanted to be a Houndoom as well. Just for today! But now he is gone, and I’m scared!”
A purple flame appeared next to her.
“Watch out!” I shouted and Vulpix screamed when she saw the flame.
“Please help me! I don’t want to vanish like the others!” she begged me with tears running down her cheeks that washed away the artificial black coloring of her fur and revealed the orange color underneath it.
I didn’t know what to do. Lifting my rag would put her in danger as well, if she peeked under it. But what if she looked away?
“Close your eyes!” I commanded.
“Why?” she whined.
“Just trust me!” I grabbed my rag with my free hand.
She looked at me, frightened. But then she nodded and closed her eyes. I pulled up my rag just a little, but it was enough to create a suction that the flames were pulled into. I expected to get burned by them, but instead they just disappeared under my rag with a quiet fizzle.
As soon as the last flame was gone, I let go of my rag again. “It should be safe now.”
Vulpix opened her eyes and looked for the purple flames, but there wasn’t a single one left.
“How did you get rid of them?” she asked, looking at me like I was a monster.
“I told you, I’m an experiment.” I sighed.
“This wasn’t just a made up backstory for your persona?” she asked and came closer to me. “Can I see what’s underneath your rag?”
“No!” I stepped back. “The last one who took a look died.”
She froze in place. “I never know what is a lie and what is the truth with you.”
“I never lie.” I said. “It’s all true. The laboratory, the catastrophes, everything! I’m a failure. That’s why they locked me away!”
“Experiment or not, I don’t care.” she decided and came closer again. “You are our friend! You have a pure heart! You saved us. Saved me twice now. That’s not something a failure would be capable of!”
With that, she snuggled up against my rag. And I couldn’t help but tear up a little.
“Now, let’s go find our other friends!” she said after a while. "Alright! Where do we start searching?"

The dark hallways of the building seemed like a labyrinth, but we managed to navigate through it, until we reached a pair of stairs. One that went up, and another one that went down.
"Should we split up?" I hesitantly asked.
"Heck, no! What if the flames return? We're smarter than these folks in horror movies." Vulpix shook her head. "Let's search the basement first. If you find any creepy-looking books, don't read them out loud!"
"Um… sure." I said and followed her down the stairs.

Behind the cellar door was even more darkness. There were no windows down here, so not even the occasional moonlight could lighten up the room. So Vulpix took matters in her own paws. She breathed out a bright red flame that danced in front of her. And in the light of the flame, we spotted them. Witcheon, Anpu and Drone were laying on the ground, seemingly out cold. But there was something else. A majestic four-legged creature with a beautiful mane that someone had seemingly weaved starlight into. On its back sat a headless rider that wore a ruff made of pumpkins. And all of the carved pumpkin faces turned to us.
"Is this a costume, too?" I asked.
"I don't think so…" Vulpix gulped.
The rider grabbed one of the pumpkins, ripped it off its ruff and shook it. Its eyes began to glow with bright purple lights and liquid flames flowed out of its mouth, dripped to the ground and rushed towards us.
"Mi, use your experiment magic again!" Vulpix squeaked in fear.
"Step behind me!" I shouted.
She jumped behind me, and I lifted my rag a little. The flames were pulled under it and disappeared once more.
The creature neighed in confusion, with all the pumpkins tilting like heads. Then their eyes began to glow with the purple light again.
"Is that all you can do?" I asked provokingly.
But instead of flames, there was movement next to the creature. My friends were waking up again!
"Anpu!" Vulpix rushed over to her loved one, hugging him. Anpu returned the hug and opened his eyes. His purple glowing eyes.
"Step back from him!" I screamed. "That's not Anpu!"
Vulpix realized too late what was going on. Panic was in her eyes when she tried to free herself from the tight grip. And when liquid flames dripped from Anpu's mouth onto her fur, she screamed. Witcheon and Drone circled her, and purple light was all I could see, before they made way for their newly acquired member of the group of mindless minions.
Vulpix's eyes were glowing purple now as well and all four of them were slowly coming closer to me.
I was painfully reminded of the experiment that I couldn't save back in the laboratory. Even more so, when I realized that my comfort plushy was gone again, because as I wanted to grab it tightly, my hand was empty.
But instead of fear, another emotion was bubbling up now. Was this how anger felt like? I took a step forward into the creature's direction. "This stops now! I won't beg, and I won't hesitate to end you, if you continue with this! This is your one and only chance! Let them go!"
Another neighing came from the creature. It sounded like it was mocking me, while my friends still came closer behind me. I wouldn't fail them. I was done being a failure!
"You leave me no choice!" I sighed and grabbed my rag with both hands. "You brought this upon yourself!"
And with that, I pulled my rag up. Not just a little bit like I did for the darkness or the purple flames, no, I lifted it fully and faced the creature with it. The room in front of me began to warp and distort, and the creature screeched and whinnied in fear now. It stood up on its hind legs and tried to escape the suction. But it was already too late to stop now. Its forelegs distorted and were pulled under my rag, then the creature’s head and finally, the rest of it as well. A few loose objects like nails and screws were flying towards me and just like the creature, they vanished with no chance to return.
It took all of my strength to pull my rag down again, before I could turn around to my friends. The purple lights in their eyes were flickering, before they returned to normal.
“What happened?” Witcheon was the first to speak. “Where’s my candy bag?”
“Upstairs… Front door.” I muttered. I felt exhausted. Almost like I had overexerted myself. My vision was getting blurry. The last thing I saw were Vulpix and Witcheon rushing to my side, preventing me from falling over.

When I opened my eyes again, we were back on the street in front of the hill.
"Hey, Mi is still alive!" Witcheon announced. "Not tell us, how did you get rid of that thing?"
"You saved us, didn't you?" Vulpix smiled.
I simply nodded, but didn't elaborate.
"Come on, tell us what happened!" Anpu said.
I sighed. "I don't think I want to talk about it. I'm not proud of what I had to do."
"If Mi doesn't want to talk about it, we should respect that." Drone hummed.
"But I need to know!" Witcheon urged.
"Respect. That!" Drone repeated, silencing her.
"The threat is gone and won't come back. That's all that counts." I said.
"So? What are we going to do now? Get back to trick'r'treating?" Anpu asked.
"Heck, no! I'm done with scary things for this year!" Witcheon shook her head. "I'm glad that no one stole my candy while we were down in that basement. We shouldn't push our luck any further. I'm going home!"
"Sounds like a good idea. It was fun, but I'll never enter another spooky house again!" Drone agreed while lifting off. "See you later! Byeee!"
But before Drone could fly away, a shadowy figure almost crashed into him. For a brief moment, Drone looked at Darkrai in horror and Darkrai just stared back. Then it looked down at us, and although I was still exhausted, I made myself ready for another fight. A fight that never happened. Instead of attacking us, Darkrai just flew over our heads, and to the spooky house on the hill. The door closed behind the nightmare-inducing creature and in the next moment, the house disappeared as if it had never been there.
We all stared at the point where the house had been, too baffled to say anything.
“Has Darkrai been living here all the time?” Witcheon bursted out.
“Maybe the strange creature was responsible for scaring it out of its home, and it only attacked us with its nightmares in self-defense? What a poor thing.” Vulpix deduced.
“I bet, it gets pretty lonely in that house.” I said. “Hopefully, the plushy I lost in there can act as a makeshift friend, until Darkrai is ready for a real friendship.”
“Like it did with you?” Vulpix smiled.
“Exactly.” I nodded.
“Enough with this corny talk. Let’s head home.” Witcheon started walking, while pulling her full candy bag with her.
I wanted to follow them, until a concern crossed my mind. “This might sound weird, but… do any of you have a spare room where I can stay for a while?”
The rest of the group just laughed.

The end

For the next week, rare candy will be appearing all over Virtuadopt (minus the forum) to those lucky enough to find some. Collect enough candy, and Dullahan Calyrex may be lured out of the shadows and join your team! Candy can be redeemed here, and is also accessible via the Game Corner. Or, you can be like me and eat it instead


2023.11.14
We are excited to announce a new monthly egg, available now! Find out what is inside next week.

[Shade the Hero]

Woot! I'm looking forward to seeing what hatches from this. The guesses others have said so far are Mimikyu or Meowscarada. Either one is a good guess, but no matter what it is, I'm excited and can't wait to see it hatch! Thank you!

[Yoshiki]

Thank you very much for this new monthly. Curios what is inside.

[Glichu]

Thanks for this new monthly!

My guess would be Mewscarada or Ogerpon

[Dragonclaw]

My guess is plushie Meowscarada! Excited!

[Sabbo]

i like the patch on top of the egg^^. i'll go with guessing it to be Mimikyu.

[Tombery]

My guess is a plushie of Poltchageist

[Nery]

i would love a zombie-mimikyu with some patches and stitches

[yankeesrule3526]

“It’s a failure! Lock it away!” were the first words which my conscious mind can remember. Back then, everything was new and exciting. The bright lights in the laboratories. People constantly surrounding me. Even when they lifted me up and brought me into my cold cell, I didn’t think of escape immediately. I hoped that maybe they would let me out again soon.

But “soon” never came.
Through the small window in the door, I could see scientists running up and down the sterile-looking hallway, carrying either plates with food, or lifeless beings in their arms. What began as new and exciting turned into fear. I feared that one day, I would be one of those that got carried around and never to be seen again.
Sometimes, a scientist named Jerry came into my cell with needles, threads and scissors. Jerry was nice to me, and he even tried to patch my torn rag, but when he took a fateful peek under it, he panicked and slammed the door to my cell shut, before collapsing in front of it. Other scientists carried his body away, and I never saw him again.
After this incident, my cell door only ever opened when I was getting fed. Meager meals, hardly enough to sustain my growing hunger.
But at least, I had something to do now. Jerry had left the sewing kit in my cell, and I was able to take a peek into one of the opposite cells, where they kept another experiment. It looked like a walking egg with boxing gloves, so I tried to recreate it with the sewing kit. Quickly, I ran into the problem of not having something to fill the plushy’s body with. So I made a difficult decision and cut the neck of my disguise open, pulled out some of the stuffing and used it to create my first friend.
Day and night I worked on it, perfecting my small buddy. I wanted to show it to the creature in the opposite cell. Wanted to show them that we were not alone. But when I was finally done, the door to the other cell was standing open, and scientists were carrying the creature’s lifeless body out of it.
I was devastated.
That night, I was holding close to my plushy friend and cried myself to sleep.

Days went by and I felt myself slowly starving. The meals they brought me got even smaller, until one day, they completely stopped.
My door wasn’t opened at the usual feeding time. In fact, I hadn’t seen a single scientist in the hallway all day. The ceiling lights were flickering, and I felt a strange presence close to me.
Then I heard a door getting opened. I almost didn’t care anymore. They’d just carry out another lifeless creature. But there was a small shimmer of hope that I would be given something to eat. So I dragged myself to the door and looked through the small window. I saw someone who didn’t look like one of the scientists. They were carrying out an egg that looked like it was made of jelly. I hammered against the door, but they didn’t seem to notice me. Then they turned around and went away again. A while later, they returned, took another egg and left again. After the fifth time, I stopped trying to get their attention.
After the eighth time, I was too tired to watch them.

When I woke up again, the feeling of the strange presence was gone. But I smelled something. Right in front of me, someone had placed a berry on the ground. The sweet scent of the curvy, pink fruit made my belly growl in anticipation. Without hesitation, I wolfed the thing down. Almost instantly, I felt my strength partially returning. I looked around in the room and realized that the door to my cell stood wide open. And in front of the door, in the middle of the hallway, there was another berry. Good! I was still hungry.
Now that I was standing in the hallway and munched on the second fruit, I was slowly feeling alive again. I wasn’t quite sure what to do now. So I headed back into my cell, grabbed my plushy friend, and thought about my next steps. With my cell being open, it was only a matter of time until the scientists would come back to lock me in again. And maybe there were more berries waiting for me behind the next corner?
So I left my cell. The air in the hallway was old and stale, and I slowly made my way down the hallway, passing multiple open cell doors with no inmates inside. It dawned on me that the scientists had abandoned us. Something had caused them to abruptly leave this place behind. But who freed us from our prisons then? A question that would stay unanswered for now.

A cool breeze caught my attention, and instinctively I turned into the direction that it came from. Following it, it led me to the open exit. Leaving the flickering lights behind me, I stepped into the cold air. There were trees with orange leaves all around me, and behind me the entrance to the laboratory. The whole building was flickering now. And then it vanished. The prison that had been my home just disappeared before my eyes, with no signs of return.
I clutched my plushy friend tighter, knowing that I would be on my own now, with nowhere to go. I should have been glad that I escaped the laboratory, but at this moment I didn’t feel happy. Everything I knew was gone. A wave of sadness washed over me. Staring at my comfort buddy, I just sat there and wailed.

I don’t know how long I had been sitting there, when suddenly a voice behind me grabbed my attention and pulled my thoughts away from my sorrows. “Is everything alright?”
“No.” I said without looking up. “I lost my home and I don’t know where to go.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” the voice answered, closer to me now. “Can I help you somehow?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I listened to the stranger circling me. Inspecting me. “Wow! You really nailed the run-down look with your costume! And this plushy of yours is ultra cute! Is it a Togepi? No… A Hitmonchan? Not quite… What is it?”
“A friend.” I said timidly.
“Well, I can see that, with how tight you’re holding onto it. Come on now, don’t be shy. Why don’t you tell me who you are?”
I had no idea who I was. “I’m just me.”
“Mi? Short for Mimikyu? Works for me. I adore your costume. You’ll have to come trick-or-treating with us! I was just on the way to gather my friends, so we can begin at dusk! What do you say? It’s more fun than going alone!”
For the first time, I looked up to see who was talking to me. And I was shocked to see what looked like it could have been another experiment, just like myself. Just like my cell neighbor who didn’t make it. Could she really be another one who escaped the laboratory, with her black fur, and sharp horns and the six fluffy tails?
“Who are you?” I asked her instead of answering.
“Fear me!” a devious smile formed on her face. “For I am Vuldoom! My mom a simple Vulpix, and my father a fearsome Houndoom! And I am here to collect the souls of those who wander alone in the night! So you better come with me, or you are doomed as well. I promise, there will be lots of candy!”
Winking at me, she moved forward, leaving me baffled.
“Wait for me!” I exclaimed and followed her as fast as I could. “I have so many questions!”


To be continued

[Shade the Hero]

Thank you, for giving us Vuldoom and for the chance to have it shiny. This is a favorite VA promo I've always wanted.

[BAS90]

This is my favorite Promo! Thanks for bringing it back! Does it come out in a certain type of weather?
Nevermind, I figured it out.

[Voegelchen]

Ahh finally I can get Vuldoom too! Thank you

[Temy]

.. ooooofff whut a long story o.O .. i need a bit time for understanding it all because of my bad english XD, but really a cuuuuteee pokemon you did there

[Densunes]

These halloween mons are so cute!!!

[yankeesrule3526]

“Where are we going?” I asked. We had left the forest behind a while ago and were now in the open fields.
“I told you, I’m on my way to meet with a couple of friends, so we can go trick-or-treating together!” Vuldoom answered.
“That doesn’t explain anything! What is this trick-or-treating thing?”
Vuldoom tilted her head. “Listen, I like your whole backstory shtick, and you are really in-character, but please don’t play dumb!”
“But I AM dumb…” I sheepishly said, not loud enough for her to hear it. I felt my emotions coming to the boil again, and I had to fight back the tears once more. But since I didn’t know where else to go, I followed Vuldoom silently to wherever she wanted to take me.

“We are there! This is where all my friends live!” she exclaimed and nodded in the direction of a small town. “Come on, don’t conk out now!”
Vuldoom sped up her steps, almost running now, and I had trouble keeping up with her pace. I still had my plushy friend wrapped tightly in my arm and tried to follow her as fast as I could. But I wasn’t used to running, and so my rag got tangled up in a plant on the ground causing me to tumble and fall down. The world was spinning around me, as I was rolling down the small hill.
When I finally came to a stop, I was facing the sky. The dizzy feeling was still there, but I forced myself to stand up. And then I saw it. Over the knoll flew something with glowing red eyes that scanned the ground like searchlights.
I had experienced this once in the laboratory. One night, an experiment escaped its cell only for the scientists to search for it and take it back into its cell while it was screaming in pain.
Panic rose within me. I wouldn’t go back! This thing - whatever it was - was clearly searching for me. I looked for Vuldoom, but she was nowhere to be seen. This was bad! I had to hide somewhere.
Looking around, the small town nearby seemed to offer no good hiding spots. The open gardens would easily expose me. But then something caught my attention. A bag with a pumpkin painted on its fabric, and a patch which looked just like mine. I ran for it.
The flapping sound of the flying searcher was coming closer. Maybe it had spotted me already, but I had to hope for the case that it hadn’t. I made it to the bag and crawled inside it. And then I stayed still and just listened.
The noises were muffled, but now it sounded like the searcher was directly above me. For a moment, I pondered if I should leave the bag and try to flee. But then, the sound disappeared in the distance and I sighed with relief.
And suddenly I heard footsteps. They had me. They knew where I was hiding, and now they would get me. But I wouldn’t go down without a fight!
The bag was getting opened, and I was ready to jump at any potential attacker.
“Are you trying to nab my treats?” an angry voice asked me.
“Oh, there you are!” I heard Vuldoom’s voice. “I thought, you got lost.”
Warily I stuck my head out of the bag, and I realized that Vuldoom and what looked like another experiment were staring at me.
“May I introduce? This is Mi!” said Vuldoom. “Mi? This is Witcheon!”
“And I should curse you for trying to steal my treats!” the ice-blue creature hissed.
“Calm down. There are no treats in this bag and you know that.” Vuldoom tapped her friend’s snout with her paw.
“Not yet! But we are going to get a mighty fine load of candy tonight! Mighty fine, I say!” Witcheon shook her head. “And for that, I need my bag. So get out of it!”
“Sorry…” I lowered my head and stepped out of her bag.
“Now, what are we waiting for? There’s no time to lose! Let’s gather the rest of our friends!” Vuldoom urged.
“Yeah, let’s hit the road!” Witcheon replied.
I glanced at the sky, searching for the mysterious flapping thing. But it was gone. Hopefully I was safe now.
And then a piercing shriek resounded through the streets.

To be continued

You can get your own "Witcheon", aka Treat Glaceon, as a guaranteed click prize for the rest of the month.

[FizikoKimya]

Hi I can't found promo egg, is it over?

[Yoshiki]

Hi I can't found promo egg, is it over?

monthly egg is over, but

Spoiler:

you can get Promo egg's by breeding Vulpix (female) and Houndoom (male) in Daycare until end of october. The monthly egg is now Abandoned Mimikyu - you can get it by trade (Global Trade Station).

[FizikoKimya]

Hi I can't found promo egg, is it over?

monthly egg is over, but

Spoiler:

you can get Promo egg's by breeding Vulpix (female) and Houndoom (male) in Daycare until end of october. The monthly egg is now Abandoned Mimikyu - you can get it by trade (Global Trade Station).

Sounds good thanks

[Yoshiki]

Hi I can't found promo egg, is it over?

monthly egg is over, but

Spoiler:

you can get Promo egg's by breeding Vulpix (female) and Houndoom (male) in Daycare until end of october. The monthly egg is now Abandoned Mimikyu - you can get it by trade (Global Trade Station).

Sounds good thanks

You are welcome. Good luck.

[Tombery]

Those textes are always so freaking long.. @_@