MPC 33 "I'm sorry."

On a quiet day the house was full of hustle and bustle, after all it was the day of Halloween. It was Denizen’s favorite holiday, though there were far more reasons for all the busy preparations. It was also an anniversary one that he shared with two of his closest friends, possibly the few he would call a family. None should be mistaken though, after all, the two were not human but Digimon. Only the three shared the secret of what they were celebrating, yet it did not really matter, after all, all three of them, despite their personalities, liked a good party. Not to mention, aside from the anniversary, both of the girls celebrated their birthdays on this day so it was doubly reason to make this a good party.

All three were busy on this day, one preparing food another decorations while the third was working on costumes. Though that was the main division of labor, they helped each other once they had a break between their own chores. Mara, the Arukenimon seamstress, was working on the costumes for the three, while the two Digimon might already fit in with how their bodies looked, they still wanted to dress up. Not to mention Lin, the Bastemon librarian, was really hyped to go trick or treating later, after all, despite her usual serious attitude in the library, she was still playful as a kitten deep down.

No matter where one looked both inside and out, the house was decorated with pumpkins, bats and anything one might think is connected to Halloween, though Denizen hoped no one would question the many spiders and ghost cats littered in and about the vicinity. Lin did take it a bit overboard, while Mara, instead of toning the Bastemon down, even added to the chaos. Though truthfully he was happy as the house was kind of lonely with only himself decorating, after all, the many years prior he usually spent the time working in his lab despite loving the holiday.

The professor heard a beeping noise from the kitchen, which brought him out of his daydream. It seemed like the initial blend was done so he could continue working on the cake and pie, not to mention the cookies. After washing his hands he continued cooking, it would take time but he would prepare a feast for the duo, after all, it was an anniversary. Smiling to himself he continued, seemingly not noticing the cat ears behind the counter, though when Lin tried to sneak a taste of the meat that was prepared to be cooked later, a ladle lightly hit her hand. “Oww~” The Bastemon playfully tried to act in pain but it was easy to see through. Denizen could only sigh at that. ”Really? You should know better than to sneak out some food Lin.” he said with a stern face, that immediately broke up into a grin, as he lightly rubbed Lin’s hair.

”Sheesh, can’t win against you. Here, have some cookies and warm milk, take some to Mara as well. All right?” Denizen smiled as he placed the big plate of cookies and two mugs with steaming milk onto a tray, only to hand it to Lin right after. ”All right, don’t work too much, I know Mara just as much as myself want to spend today relaxing and reminiscing with you and not have you spend the whole day in the kitchen!” The professor grinned slightly. "Not to mention dress me up and go trick or treating?” He teased, something he rarely did to others. Still he only did that to those he cared about so not many knew this side of him.

A shade of crimson lined the cheeks of the Bastemon as she heard that. ”That is beside the point!” Lin stormed off with a huff, though she took the tray with her so at least she was not truly mad, or so Denizen thought. He had a bit more to prepare, but at least most of the dishes were done, while only some of the meat needed to finish cooking, but that did not need much of his attention, as most of his house was watched over by the AI that he also had a hand in creating. ”Well back to work, I need to check up on Mara as well, maybe she needs some help with sewing.” he did feel slightly guilty leaving the costumes to the Arukenimon, but nothing he could do in that regard. After standing there for a few moments he went back to the kitchen. There was more work to be done.

In a far off corner of the living room quietly sat Mara, moving her hands with precise and quick motions. She silently worked on the Halloween costumes and while she might have a neutral expression, deep down she was focusing as she wanted to get the best results she could, not that she would admit that to anyone. She did tend to hide her expressions even from those closest to her, which did create some pretty comical situations. Quietly, seam after seam, stitch after stitch she progressed, so focused was she on her work, that she did not notice Lin until the Bastemon sat right next to her.

Slightly surprised, yet not showing it in her expression she looked at Lin. ”Is there something the matter? You don’t usually sneak up on me like that.” Lin raised her eyebrow at those words but shrugged regardless, after all, she knew that Mara did not like showing her emotions openly, yet after the time the two spent together, she already knew how to read her friends moods. ”Well, you’ve been working quite a while and since I am done, I brought you some cookies and milk~” the girl smiled with a cattish grin.

Mara did not show it but she smirked inwardly. ”More like you tried to sneak some food out of the kitchen and Denizen caught you red handed.” Lin had a surprised expression for a split second, but it became a smile really fast, though Mara still caught it. ”Furthermore being softhearted as he is, he gave you something to take with you and share with me so you would not feel bad, am I right?”

A feeling of shock came over the Bastemon, after all Mara was spot on, despite not seeing anything. Of course Lin did not notice the faint, teasing smile on the Arukenimon’s face, due to being slightly panicked. After a cough she answered. ”Well, does it matter, you need a break anyway, you work too much, so take a break, all right?” Lin passed the cup with milk to Mara after the latter put away her sewing.

Both girls enjoyed the warm milk and cookies, the taste was just as they liked. It seemed their host really know when and how to hit the proper strings to make them relax and content. Lin looked at Mara and grinned. ”No matter what you might say, you are enjoying those, eh Mara?” The Arukenimon looked at Lin, seemingly not getting the meaning of her words. To which the Bastemon just pointed to her cheek. As Mara touched it she felt them being loose, with quite a smile plastered to her face. Surprised as normally she had no issues hiding her innermost thoughts she could only sigh. ”Well, his food is just too delicious.” Mara continued to smile but it was more subdued now.

On the other hand Lin would not let it go as she lightly poked Mara’s cheek. ”Come on, it is more than that right?” The Arukenimon blushed a bit, to which her tormentor only teased her more. ”Come on, say it~” She teased, to which Mara’ expression only became stern. ”What about you? Are you any different? I think not, after all you are behaving quite differently here than in the Digital world.”

An expression of surprise appeared on Lin’s face, her ears and tail standing at attention, though right after she made a fussy expression, puffing up her cheeks. ”Oh stop it, I get it already. Sorry I will not do it again.” She looked away with a huff. To which Mara only shook her head. ”Yare, yare.” She sighed and reached towards Lin’s head, lightly petting the Bastemon like she would a cat. ”Mrmrmmah~” A sound of a content purry cat could be heard.

”I think both of us took it too far Lin, forgive me?” While most of the things that were not said were understood by each of the girls, Lin could not be mad at Mara for more than a few moments after all. ”Only if you forgive me Marmar.” She looked at the Arukenimon with a meaningful expression. ”All right, don’t call me than though, all right?” Mara said with a slight chuckle.

With the little argument settled, both girls could go back to enjoying the milk and cookies. Eating quietly they enjoyed the sweets, both happy as always when they were at Den’s house. Unknown to them the professor watched their little exchange with a smile. He knew that despite anything, the two girls were the closest friends, no matter how much they argued or teased one another. After all the outgoing Lin and quiet Mara had what the other lacked, but also gave the other so much more then they themselves thought.

”You two having fun?” He smiled at the two girls. Lin made some space between her and Mara so Den could sit down, which he did. Mara only nodded while faintly smiling while Lin yawned quite loudly. ”Tired, Lin? Rest a bit, it will be a few hours before the food is ready, take a nap before that.” Only a murmur was an answer as the just before lively Bastemon curled up with her head on Den’s thigh as a lap pillow. Soft breathing sounds could be heard soon after.

Mara smiled at her friend. ”She really tired herself out, well she was decorating the whole house after all.” she lightly chuckled and reached out to finish her work. Before she could though, Denizen took the unfinished costume into his hands. ”You rest as well Mara, I can tell you are just as tired. Just lay down and rest, I’ll finish, is not much left to do anyway.” Mara wanted to protest, yet instead a yawn escaped her lips, making her cheeks flush pink. Denizen did not say anything but smiled, patting his free thigh for her to use as a pillow. Obediently Mara laid down as well, falling asleep soon after.

Smiling Denizen continued Mara’s work, relaxing with the two resting quietly as he petted their heads from time to time. The costumes did not need a lot of work, so he finished them in about an hour, he knew he would need to wake the girls up soon, but for now, he relaxed and watched them sleep quietly.

While sleeping both Mara and Lin had content faces, both felt secure, despite being in the human world. To them Denizen was someone important, he helped them when they needed it, while not asking for anything in return. For them, that was what counted, after all, he needed a lot of help himself, he was too easily distracted and engrossed in his work, making them worry a lot. However that was something the two accepted, yet would not say out loud.

Mara was the first to stir, her awakening slow and quiet. She sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes as she was still not properly awake. Denizen smiled lightly and gently petted her head, the Arukenimon leaned it, but when it dawned on her, she quickly distanced herself… to the edge of the couch. Her face was flushed yet as she looked at Denizen, he was waking up Lin. Sighing, relieved Mara just clamed herself, her complexion soon getting back to normal, though she was chastising herself for her unsightly behavior.

Soon after Mara, also Lin woke up. Though as she stretched she almost punched Denizen, who luckily managed to dodge at the last moment, though her fist still grazed his nose. a”LIN!” Mara yelled, to which the Bastemon noticed she almost hit the professor, who at the time was lightly rubbing his nose. ”Oh my! Are you all right? I’m sorry!” Lin made an apologetic expression. ”No worries, but I hope you two are rested. Mara I finished the costumes, food should be ready as well, let’s eat and go out, see how Halloween is being celebrated this year.”

After the two Digimon looked at the time, they helped prepare the table to eat, after all it was their anniversary… and they slightly overslept. Still, they enjoyed their dinner happily, as the food consisted of all the dishes they so loved to eat. Not to mention they loved Denizen’s cooking after all. Afterwards they put the dishes into the dishwasher and went to change.

All three of them looked quite good in their costumes, after all it was Mara’s work and she was known for making amazing clothes and realistic costumes. Lin, was dressed into a classic witch outfit, inclusive with a long dress and pointy hat, though the many spiderlike accessories gave her dress a peculiar charm. Mara on the other hand was in her normal Digimon for, but wrapped in bandages and a lovely vest and skirt. She looked like a royal spider mummy. Denizen on the other hand had a bit more to put on, after all he needed to put on some makeup and a very intricate fox costume. Inclusive with animatronic elements that moved the ears tail and other parts. It took a while to make, but with Mara’s help it was not as hard.

With that all three of them headed out, into the twilight to enjoy some Trick or Treating. Though they did not go out to collect candy, they would be meeting up with a few of their friends to enjoy some fun time after dark.

While walking they saw many kids with their guardians walk around, some had more elaborate costumes while others not. Still all of them enjoyed themselves. Denizen fondly recalled some of his earlier memories as he walked with the two girls, after all even he had a time when he ran around like that, even if it was in different countries most of the time.

”Mara, Lin, if you do not mind there is a place I would love to show you.” While the two were quizzical neither of them protested, though Lin did have questions. ”What kind of place?” Denizen only smiled and pointed to a square not too far from where they stood. ”There, I remember the stalls always having some really interesting things, be it food or just little games on Halloween.” Lin looked curious while Mara did not change her expression though Den noted she did slightly increase her pace, which made him smile lightly, seems both of them were curious.

Once the trio arrived at the square, only then did the two girls notice that there were a lot more stalls then they at first assumed. While it was a Halloween themed, many of the stalls were selling food that were in the shapes one associated with Halloween, like bats, ghosts and other spooky or scary things. However there were also those that mostly were game booths where you could win prizes or just enjoy yourself.

Like usual Lin was drawn more to the food than anything else. ”Didn’t you just eat Lin?” Denizen asked with a worried voice, he was unsure if she was still hungry or if he made too little before. Lin looked at him and chuckled. ”Yes and it was delicious, but girls have a different stomach for sweets you know. Right Mara?” The Bastemon looked at the Arukenimon, but had to grin more, after all, Mara was just staring at the candied apples that looked like spooky pumpkins.

The professor had a poker face for a few seconds only to chuckle quietly. Without word he went and bought one for the two of them, handing an apple to each girl straight away. ”Thank you…” Nara lightly blushed and just like Lin bit into the apple straight away. Denizen did not expect their faces to soften so much, as both girls’ cheeks went pretty loose as they enjoyed their sweets. The professor mumbled to himself quietly ”Maybe we should actually try going around trick or treating after all…”

“Hey the trio over there!” A stallowner called out to the three of them. “Why not try your luck at the game? Hit the prize with the throwing ring and win a prize.” He grinned widely. Denizen looked at the girls and then at the booth, the prizes were nice, but not many were gone. Either the game was too hard or there was a trick, still why not, it was all in good fun, or so Den thought. ”Don’t see why not. Shall we you two?” He asked and both girls nodded as they finished up their food.

”So what are the rules?” he plainly asked the shopkeeper. “Well nothing hard, just use any of the three rings to hit the prize you want. If it falls down then it’s yours.” He smirked and Denizen knew why. Most of the prizes were plush figures or toys, which were not light, while the ‘rings’ as one might call them, while not light, they were not heavy either. Not to mention their balance was off as while they were rings, they had a gat attached to them, which unbalanced them greatly.

Nothing to do but try, Den thought. He threw the first one at a stuffed bunny dressed like Dracula. His throw missed, as did the second one, while the third clipped the bunny, but ultimately it didn’t get the plush down. Denizen wanted to get another three tries, but… “Only three tries per customer.” The shopkeep said. At least now the reason why most prizes were not won was clear. Den sighed but gave up, yet as he looked at Lin and Mara both of them had a really angry gleam in their eyes.

”What’s wrong you two?” He tilted his head at them, which was easy to see despite his mask. ”Oh, we just think we should give this game a try.” The Arukenimon grinned and Den got a really bad feeling, he looked to Lin to stop Mara but… she just nodded in consent. Den could only sigh inwardly and hope they would not take it overboard. Though the stallowner had no idea about that exchange he found something amiss, yet the prospect of an easy income made him just grin.

“Do the two pretty ladies want to try as well? Maybe you’ll do better than your friend.” He grinned to which both girls smiled sweetly. Denizen started praying inwardly, the two were pissed, he saw those smiles only once and hoped to never see them again. Fortunately for him, both Mara and Lin decided to hold back as to not cause too many issues in the human world. Though what went through their heads at the time was unclear to anyone.

The owner just continued. “As a Service to how pretty you two are I’ll throw in another two hoops each.” Denizen wanted to facepalm, did the guy just start hitting on the two girls? Lin looked to Mara and nodded, both took the rings and one after another were thrown and as one might expect prizes just kept falling down. The shopkeeper stood there with a dumbfounded expression, his mouth agape. Mara’s cough got him back to reality. ”The prizes?” He hurried up and gave the girls what they won, which was a total of ten big plushies. “Here you go…”

The two Digimon just smiled and pulled Denizen with them, continuing on their way. ”Really you two, did you have to do that?” He sighed, but did not mind being guided like that. The girls just looked at each other. ”Not really.” ”Just wanted to.” Both laughed heartily at that, to which Denizen just smiled.

While walking more and more groups of children could be seen knocking on doors and such. Looking at them, den had a thought. ”So what will you do with all those plushies?” ”Well…” ”We can always give them away?” The Arukenimon thought to which the Bastemon nodded. Needless to say, they did what they decided on. Giving the plushies to kids they thought would want them.

However something felt really off in some of the kid groups. For some reason Denizen had this nagging feeling in the back of his head. While he could not put his finger on it he looked to the girls who waved to the two kids they gave the last plushies to. ”What’s wrong? You’ve been out of it for a while.” Lin looked at Den quizzically to which the man shook his head. ””For some reason I have a feeling something is off, but I can’t put my finger on it.” He got lost in thought again after those words.

”I don’t see anything wrong to be honest just some kids running around and Digimon playing.” Mara looked at Lin. ”Where?” Lin just pointed to the group of five Digimon platying tag in a park near where they stood. ”Lin… this is the human world…” That was when Lin caught on, it was also when Denizen finally came to, the nagging at the back of his head was not gone, yet at the same time he had other things to worry about. Possibly a small portal opened and they got lost.

”I think we should see where those five came from and how to get them back to the digital world. Hopefully there won’t be any problems with getting them back.” The two girls nodded and made their way to the park where the Digimon played. While fortunate it may be that it was Halloween, it was still not good that there were Digimon in the human world. The park was fortunately empty, which might explain why no one noticed the Digimon yet, though that might change at any given time.

Once the tree were close, Lin called out to the playing Digis. ”Hey, what are you guys doing here? Did you get lost.” Her voice was friendly and was loud enough for them to hear, but also not enough to draw any attention. Mara and Den, stayed a bit behind Lin, as they figured they could let her handle it since she was the first one to call out.

“Who are you sis?” One of the little ones asked, it was an Agumon, albeit a small one. The little one’s friends also looked curiously at Lin, there was a Dorimon, Lalamon, Devimon and a Gatomon. Though some of them seemed like they were a bit more mature, they still behaved like little children which was kind of surprising to say the least. To both Mara and Den it seemed strange and gave a feeling of something being amiss. Yet as before one could not put a finger on it.

”Me? I’m Lin the Bastemon.” She smiled at them, ”Can yu kids tell me how you got here? I mean this is not the Digital world after all.” Denizen was about to interrupt Lin as she mentioned the Human world, but Mara stopped him. “Oh, the village elder told us to not be nuisances with the harvest. So we went to play a bit, we found a glovy, swirly rock and then appeared here. Then we played!” The Digimon paused. “Did we do something bad?” All five of them looked slightly sad and scared. ”No, nothing wrong, we were just worried. Do you remember where you came out from?”

The Digi kids seemed relieved and were talking one over the other. “We came out from a door!” “Then we saw some Bakemon and followed them!” “But,but, we lost them and ended up here.” “So we decided to not mind it and just play~!”

Looking at each other Liz, Denizen and Mara got the gist of it. Seemingly they found some hind of small gate to the Human world and got transported to the human world, afterwards seeing children dressed as ghosts they wanted to go to them and got lost ending up in this park. Since they had no other lead they just decided to play a bit. Well Denizen had already an idea how they could help the kids basing on how things were.

”Hey kids, would you like to go trick or treating?” Mara and Lin blinked not knowing why he suggested that to the Digimon. “Trick or treating?” the Agumon asked. ”Yeah, you go from door to door, saying ‘Trick or treat’ then get candy from the owners of that house. Well if not then you play a trick on them, but that should not be a problem.” the professor smiled. Mara got the idea after she heard the explanation but Lin seemed to have a quizzical look on her face.

Seeing Lin’s expression, Mara took her to the side. ”Since they came through a door going trick or treating with them may help us retrace their steps, finding the portal.” At those words Lin just facepalmed. ”Jeez.” She sighed and nodded, thinking to herself that she seriously was out of it too much today.

Looking at the other two Den smiled. ”Well we will need to take these five home and prepare a bit, after all they cannot go Trick or treating like this. They need candy buckets!” For some reason the professor was really happy, at least that is how that looked like to Lin and Mara. He himself though was only putting up a front, as he knew that not only did he need to find a way to hide the little ones from questioning eyes, he needed a way to find the portal to send them home.

“Candy? Yay~!” The little ones exclaimed after the words sunk in. Seems that they were all for it. Though Denizen has not seen many kids that would not be happy at the prospect of candy. For some reason though the feeling of wrongness got stronger, something was not right, but he did not have any idea why. That along with the nagging at the back of his head raised alarms, but for some reason his mind ignored them, or rather did not even register any of it. Maybe it was how the kids seemed happy and eager to play or something else entirely. Yet since neither Lin nor Mara seemed to feel anything was amiss, then there was possibly nothing wrong then.

The eight of them made their way back to Denizen’s house, chatting along the way. ”So how is the village you kids are from?” The kids looked troubled for a bit but then talked. “Well we can’t talk much about it. A normal place really. We work with the adults and play when we can.” One answered to which another continued. “We live in a forest, many adults are there and not many kids so we are always together. It is fun though!” The little one happily chimed in.

”So you play a lot then? Do you like your village?” Lin asked curious, she was interested to learn more about it due to knowing where most places were situated, so their village must be pretty hidden. “Yeah, we like to play, especially when we do not need to work.” After a pause he added. “Or when the village elder tells us to go and not disturb them.” They stopped talking as they arrived at Denizen’s home. To which the kids only quietly whispered amongst themselves. “Big…”

”Well here we are, I’ll go get the candy buckets. Lin, Mara, why not enjoy some sweets with the kids, it might take me a bit.” He said before leaving towards the inner part of the house. His destination was of course, the storage area where most unused things were kept. ”Well you heard him. Kids you sit over there on the chairs, we’ll bring you something good in a bit. Lin, come and help.” Mara called out to the dream eyed Lin, who as one might guess was already thinking about the food. Though Mara’s poke did get her out of it and she obediently followed.

The kids obediently sat at the table while the two girls prepared the cake and pies. At that time Denizen was rummaging through his storage, though it was not easy as he was still wearing his costume. Fortunately he knew where the candy buckets were so he did not have many issues with that. Taking the five buckets with him he went back to the living room where the girls were most likely already eating. Lin might be obvious about her sweet tooth, but Mara, despite hiding it, really loved sweets as well.

The girls brought the food out the moment Denizen came out. The cakes and pies, all neatly sliced into pieces that would be easy to eat. While they were hesitant at first, the kids began to eat when they saw both Mara and Lin enjoy the sweets. Still Denizen did not expect them to just start wolfing it down so fast. He had not even made it to the table and everything was gone from the plates.

”Sorry, seems we ate all of it…” Mara spoke with an apologetic tone, to which Lin and the kids had first surprised then slightly apologetic expressions. ”No worries, I was not hungry either way. Really glad you enjoyed it though. Ready to go trick or treating?” He smiled and held the buckets in his hands. Their shapes reminded one of pumpkins with scary faces drawn on them. Though they looked more cute than scary if Den was to be honest.

After having eaten and cleaning up the eight of them headed out to hopefully find the portal through which the kids came to the human world. Well that and to enjoy some good old Trick or Treating. After all it was Halloween after all. The kids looked happy at least, skipping along next to Mara and Lin, with Denizen leading the way a few steps ahead of the group.

After they came up to one of the houses Denizen turned towards the kids. ”All right, just do as we explained, ring the bell then say ‘Trick or Treat’ and we will see how it goes.” He smiled at them and the Digi kids nodded and went up to the house. After ringing the doorbell they waited. A nice old lady opened the door and the kids called out in unison “Trick or Treat!” To lady smiled broadly. “My aren’t you looking adorable. Here for you children” She took out a bowl of candy and put some into each of the children’s bucket. “Thank you~” They said and came back to us. The old lady looked over and waved, then went back inside her house.

”Good job~” Lin clapped her hands as she said so, Mara nodded to those words and Den just gave the kids a rub on their heads. Which was kind of awkward since he was still wearing the fox costume, while it had animatronics it was still slightly unnatural to move in. Still as long as the kids were happy all was well. ”Well then lets continue, we have more houses to visit.” He laughed ant guided them on.

While it was enjoyable it took some time to go from house to house. Though no one complained, especially since the little Digis shared their candy with both Lin and Mara. They offered some to Den as well but he declined, the costume head did not allow him to eat the candy. Despite being made really realistically.

The professor grimaced when he saw the next house they were headed to. ”Well… we might want to skip the next house. The person living there does not really celebrate Halloween… That and he is not that nice of a person.” He surmised but he did not notice he was talking to air since a few moments ago. When he turned around the kids were already ringing the door.

“Trick or Treat~!” They called out once the door opened, but what they got in return was just an angry middle-age man shouting at them while waving some kind of rod around. “THE HELL YOU RINGING MY DOOR FOR! WHAT TRICK OR TREAT?! GET LOAST YOU LITTLE!!!” He slammed the door shut and continued to shout even after they were closed. The kids were dumbfounded, just standing there. Denizen sighed and walked up to them. He kneeled down and softly said. ”Don’t worry about that guy. He is like that to all people. Well.. remember what I told you about trick or treating? You know the treats but now it is time for a trick.” He chuckled.

The kids looked up to him. “But how will we do that?” Which made Den smile inwardly. ”Well normally it is something not that nice, like egging their house or throwing toilet paper at their trees or roof… we will do something different though, why don’t you stay with Mara and Lin for a bit.” He ushered the kids to the two digimon. While himself he moved slightly differently.

His costume was a bot special, meaning it also dubbed as an exoskeleton that allowed the professor to do a lot of motions he would not be able to normally. Rather right now he could be counted as more like a werewolf… or fox… than a man in a suit. Thinking that he had the perfect trick he would pull onto the grumpy man for yelling at the kids.

Making sure that the kids were with Mara and Lin, he stealthily got closer to the door. Of course he was on all fours like an animal would normally be. Though what came next was slightly different as he pounced onto the wall, using extendable slaws on all paws to anchor himself onto the side of the house. Slowly he rang the doorbell. After which he waited. The door opened and his victim came out, but as there was no one in sight the grumpy man came back inside. Denizen rang the bell once more and the whole situation repeated itself three more times.

Agitated, the man started yelling “WHO IS RINGING MY DOORBELL?! YOU THINK IT’S FUNNY?! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I WILL…!” he did not get to finish, as at that point Denizen just tapped him on the shoulder. As the man looked behind him, then up, his face went pale as he was greeted by a visage of a giant fox hanging from his wall. Toppling to the ground and trying to crawl back, one could see he was terrified. Denizen just jumped off the wall behind the man on the ground, then slowly got up. Of course at that point his victim recollected himself and with a loud cry “MOMMY!!” Ran back into the house and began barricading the entrance.

Thinking that was enough Denizen just went to where the others were waiting for him. Of course once he rejoined, he looked at the shocked faces of the girls and the laughing children. ”And that kids is how you scare someone, or a trick if you will.” He scratched the back of his head while Lin and Mara just facepalmed. ”Don’t go teaching kids do things like that.” Lin added. ”yeah, it is not good to do things like that… though I have to admit that… was amusing.” she chuckled and Mara sighed. Though if one looked carefully, she was trying not to laugh, as her sides were lightly shaking from stifled laughter.

”Well, shall we go?” With which they continued on. After a while though the kids got restless… “is it?” “Maybe…” ”What is it kids?” The kids looked at her and took her by the hands. “Over here, I think this is where we appeared!” They chimed one over the other. Den looked at Mara and followed the children. They did not have to go far from where they stood, as their destination was a small shack on top of a hill. Though it looked out of place there for some reason. Not to mention Denizen did not remember it standing there before. Though he did not have time to ponder that, after all the kids just ran up to it and opened the door, dragging Lin right through the entrance…. Which was a glowing portal… not thinking much both Den and Mara jumped in, following after the kids and Lin… Neither of the three noticed at the time, but the portal to the digital world they entered was slightly different than the usual wild portals….

Once on the other side both Denizen and Mara saw a great field of pumpkins… being worked by pumpkins. Though once they looked closely they were Pumpkinmon, though there were at least fifty of them. All of them looked like farmers wearing dungarees and straw hats. Some were plowing the fields while others were picking up the pumpkins to transport them away. At first Denizen had no idea what to do, but fortunately they heard themselves being called.

”Denizen, Mara over here!” Lin was calling them from behind them. As they looked they saw the Bastemon and the kids waiting for them. Relieved the two went towards them, though as they passed the Pumpkinmon, Denizen once more felt that nagging feeling in the back of his head. This time though he began to be a bit worried, as this was the same kind of feeling before things went bad usually. While he became more cautious he also did not show it on his face… well wearing a full body costume helps in that regard.

As they came up next to the kids and Lin, an old looking pumpkin mon walked up to them. “Welcome to our village, we have had not have visitors for quite a while. I do hope our little ones did not cause you too much trouble.” He slowly said with a rather friendly voice. ”Not really, they are really good kids, right?” Lin smiled at the children. Though both Mara and Denizen assumed the reason why she did not mention the kids going to the Human world was to not get them in trouble. Though Mara did lightly drag Lin to the side a bit away so other would not hear. ”Is everything all right? Did you manage to check if the gate can be closed?” Lin nodded and whispered back. ”Yeah, we should be able to close it from the human world with no issue, at least that is how it looks like.” Mara just nodded to those words.

The Pumpkinmon continued. “You are really lucky though, we are almost done with the harvest and there will be a festival today! Hope you are willing to stay?” He chuckled lightly. As Denizen was about to decline the kids seemed to have sensed it and called out. “Please stay!” “It will be fun we promise!” “The festival is always fun!” Which seemed to convince both Mara and Lin to stay as they looked at Denizen in a meaningful way. He could only sigh. ”Well we can at least stay and see for a bit. We cannot stay long though, we have a long way home.” Which was of course a true reason yet at the same time he did not want to stay long, something told him he needed to be wary of something, he had no idea what though. He knew it was not due to the Pumpkinmon and the way they behaved, it was more like they felt familiar somehow, but he could not put his finger on it.

“Glad to hear, please follow me, one the Pumpkins are off the field then the festival can begin.” The village chief smiled. “Please follow me to where the festivities will be.” He said and began to lead the way, not having much choice Denizen, Mara and Lin, escorted by the kids, began following the mayor. As they walked, the professor made sure to observe the surroundings for anything out of the ordinary.

After walking for about twenty minutes they arrived at a rather large square, though it was not surrounded by any kind of houses, not to mention the few houses they passed could not be possibly used as living quarters, there were quite a few large storage barns, at least it looked that way as the Pumpkinmon were carrying the pumpkins from the fields over there. Mara looked around as did Lin. There were some booths, or rather aside from them there was a rather big stage and a few tables with long benches to sit on.

“Come sit, enjoy the festival, it will start soon.” The mayor urged the three to sit, while the kids left saying they will be back after a while. “Please the food will be brought in soon.” The mayor said and left. Before Denizen could protest, the sound of music came over from the stage. A group of five Pumpkinmon wearing suits was playing on instruments. The tune was quite catchy and soon many villagers gathered to dance and eat. Even in front of the trio pumpkin pies and other pumpkin related foods were placed. Which both Mara and Lin decided to try, while Denizen abstained from it.

While the girls ate, Denizen was looking around a bit, walking from stall to stall to see what they had. It was a really interesting harvest festival. But as for how far he saw, all of it was pumpkin related. The food, the activities, competitions. Well after all it was a village that grew Pumpkins. Looking around he saw the biggest pumpkin being chosen, some stalls where pumpkins were carved into many different shapes. That was interesting as not only were they made into decorations, but not only jack-o’-lanterns but also various boxes and other utensils.

Truthfully Denizen did not expect so many interesting things. The music was good, not to mention one could take part in many activities, while they were pumpkin related that was just using the produce that the village grew, so pumpkins were in abundance. On the other hand it seemed the food they served was also good, seeing how happily both Lin and Mara ate plate after plate. Denizen thought the villagers would be troubled, but they seemed to be happy to give them more.

However there was something bothering the man. Looking at how many people were in the square, the numbers did not match. After all the number of Pumpkinmon was far less than what he saw working in the field. Denizen decided to check his hunch, but for that he had to hide and sneak away. Fortunately no one was looking for or at him. Sneaking away was easy, especially with the help of his suit, and soon he was next to one of the storehouses that was used to store pumpkins. Without delay he went inside, opening and closing the side door quickly. His eyes widened at what he saw. Inside were numerous pumpkins, that is true, but at the same time at least twenty Pumpkinmon were sitting on the ground unmoving.

Quietly, Denizen tried to wake one of them up by shaking its arm, yet it did not work. Slowly and gently he poked the Pumpkinmons head. At the same time he felt a strange feeling from his fingertips. The head of the Digimon might be a pumpkin, but the Pumpkinmon he met in the past had a different texture to them… This one was clearly more like a normal pumpkin, with a slightly slimy feeling…

Denizen tried shaking the Digimon again, only to have its head fall off. Surprised the man jumped a bit away, but as he looked at the Pumpkinmon, he was shocked at what he saw. Underneath the pumpkin was a normal human head, for some reason the Digimon had a human inside of it. Though one that was really pale and looking sickly. As strange as it may be, upon examining the ‘digimon’ closer it turned out it was both part digimon and data, or more like a suit made out of digimon data.

Shocked at this his worry increased and he snuck back out. He did not notice but he was being watched, it were not the villagers though. Coming back to the square he noticed the music was different and much of the hustle and bustle was gone, though there were still people on the square. What shocked him was the sight of Mara and Lin with Pumpkins on their heads.

Trying to act natural as he approached he was stopped by the mayor with another pumpkin. “Ah, we were waiting for you. We were just doing a custom part of our festival. We give visitors these masks, or would helmets be better, as a souvenir.” He might be smiling though his eyes looked lifeless, like something that was devoid of emotions. ”No worries, I was thinking we should leave to be honest. We have a lot more things to do at home.” He smiled and went past the mayor, calling out to the two girls.

“Lin? Mara? Time to go home, we have a lot to do remember?” He got no answer, however before he could use something to get their attention the mayor pushed the pumpkin onto Denizen’s head. It was a bit dark yet that was not the issue, they were the mayors words that spelled disaster. “Another one joins the Pumpkinmon, glad to have so many new workers, right masters?” He turned towards someone Den could not see, but he knew if he did not take care of things right now, he would doom both himself and the Human world.

The mayor was glad, after all the masters would be pleased with his work, not to mention with so many new workers the pumpkins would be harvested faster. Really, such a good harvest festival. Though they might need to get rid of a few of the expired ones, they still worked but were really sluggish and clumsy. He bowed as his masters began to leave, grinning widely. Then he turned to the new addition to his workers. “You, go join the other two, then join the rest of the workers.”

Watching Denizen join Mara and Lin he turned around to continue his own work. Yet before he took a step a heavy impact hit him on the back of his head, due to which he fell to the ground. Groaning and confused, he looked at Denizen dumbfounded, as the pumpkins were supposed to take away his freedom of thought. Before he could say anything, or give any orders, he got shot twice more, as Denizen ripped off the pumpkins off of the girls’ heads liberating them. The attack knocked the mayor out cold.

”Lin, Mara, you all right? We need to run, this place is not the digital world, or some kind of nightmare took place here!” The girls still confused and groaning, were pulled by Denizen as he began moving towards the pumpkin fields where the portal was. ”What’s going on?” Mara asked concerned as she ran. ”The pumpkins control people, seems they were kidnapping ‘people’ from somewhere to make them workers.” Lin chimed in. ”We need to save them then.” Denizen just shook his head as he stopped, seeing the group of Pumpkinmon ahead of them. ”Too late, they are… already dead… or rather… undead.” He grimaced as he looked at the decaying Pumpkinmon, or rather Pumpkinmon and human zombies. The decay was clearly visible, giving them a ghostly visage with parts of their skin gone and bones showing.

The girls paled, they understood what he meant. Lin only managed to whisper. ”What about the children?” Denizen was quiet for a while as he observed the zombies. ”Don’t know… first we need to run… trust me.” He stopped suppressing his instincts and the voices that guided him, he had a bad hunch which he hoped would not come true. The girls were reluctant, but knew their companion had his own reasons for behaving like this, not to mention his feelings and hunches very often came true. They knew, despite him not saying anything, things were bad.

”Let’s go…” He turned towards the slowly attacking zombies, saying a small prayer. His suit entered combat mode, the claws and fangs extended, becoming akin to blades as he pounced, ripping the head off of the nearest zombie, splattering green liquid like blood all over the body. However once the zombie fell, it turned into data, to which Denizen hypothesized that the human-zombies were either humans converted to data, mutated Digimon or something else entirely. Though at this point he had no time to think about it.

Both Mara and Lin disregarded their sympathy, survival was first and foremost a priority. Both were throwing attacks left and right, decimating their enemies, until no zombie was left standing… or crawling… Which took a while, as the undead had this tenacity to keep standing despite losing body parts. ”Do not try to disarm them….” Both girls looked at him funny as he said that. ”You get what I mean, either destroy their head, decapitate or pierce their heart. They might be data and most likely malevolent spirits but they still did not deserve to suffer due to another’s plot."

Fighting the undead was not easy. Denizen was glad both Mara and Lin were with him as by himself, even with his suit, he’d be most certain unable to get out. Slightly smiling as he looked at the Arukenimon and Bastemon running beside him. Looking ahead he saw the portal back to the human world and fortunately not many zombies were guarding it, rather there were none, but Den did not associate it with a stroke of luck. Not only him, but also Mara an Lin felt uneasy about there being no guards at the portal. Maybe they had no time to go there or the so called ‘masters’ did not give more orders to the zombies. Neither of them knew.

As they were almost at the portal when a scream stopped them in their tracks. Turning to the side a bit behind the to look at the source of the scream, they saw the five children being assaulted by three zombies. Lin of course without hesitation leaped in to save the children, before anyone else could react. She made the zombies into mincemeat quite literally, Denizen felt sick in the stomach, as did Mara. ”Quickly to the portal.” Lin shouted.

The kids ran, the fastest was the Agumon, which was a few steps ahead of everyone else. Denizen and Mara stood at the portal watching the kids near. At the moment when the Agumon was almost at the portal… he was stabbed in the chest and thrown back right into the other running small Digimon… by Denizen himself. ”NOOO!” She ran up to the wounded digimon and as she was about to kneel. ”GET AWAY FROM THEM!!!” Denizens frantic shout made her body react faster than her thoughts did.

before she could ask why or shout, the wounded Agumon stood up, green blood seeping from the deep wound in its chest. “How did you know?” It asked simply, while the other fours’ color began to change. ”I didn’t, but this feeling I was getting since the beginning… I finally decided to heed Their words. Seems They were right.” The Agumon laughed as its and the other fours’ bodies began to merge, transforming into a great beast at least two or three times larger than any human. Fortunately Lin managed to snap out of it and make her way to the portal.

The Monster or maybe Masters would be a better description, roared. “HA, IT DOESN”T MATTER< WE CAN JUST GO AND CAPTURE MORE PEOPLE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PORTAL! YOU WON”T BE ABLE TO DEFEAT US ANYWAY!” Denizen just shrugged. ”That is true, but I learned something else. This place is not the digital world but a pocket server or dimension. Meaning this is the only exit. So… Bye~” Den pushed the girls through the portal and went through it himself after flipping the middle finger at the monster.

“…WHAT?!” Dumbfounded and totally out of it, the monster finally moved towards the portal, it expected an epic battle but instead got… nothing. On the other side of the portal though, Denizen, Mara and Lin prepared to close the portal, destroying the anchoring points that kept it open.

Denizen destroyed the last one and the swirling portal began to close, getting smaller fast. Before it closed though the Monster pushed its head through forcefully keeping it open. “I WILL GET YOU!” It roared and tried to widen the entrance, but at that exact moment something heavily hit it square in the face, making blood splatter from its nostrils. ”Eat fox head and begone, trash.” Denizen said calmly, after he just hit the enemy with his helmet, forcing it back through the portal.

After it closed, Mara incinerated both the blood and the helmet, leaving behind only glass. Wordlessly Denzien hugged the other two and whispered. ”Sorry that this day has been like this, if only I listened to Them in the first place.” Both Mara and Lin shook their heads, hugging him as well, trying to convey it was not his fault. ”Lets go home, I think we had enough for tonight…. Also.. sorry to say this so late… but Happy Birthday you two.” He smiled.

Though the girls were surprised at first then lightly laughed. ”True. It has been one heck of a birthday hasn’t it?” she smiled and lightly nudged Den. ”I will be honest, I thought you went crazy when you stabbed that… not sure what to call it.” She sighed. ”Well it was a monster in the end, but neither of us expected something like that to happen. Good thing its over…. But promise me that we will not separate when in an unknown place. I think we saw enough horror movies to know better.” Denizen shuddered at the thought. ”You should know I am not good with horror movies.” He sighed. ”You mean despite going through that and even worse in the past?” To which he just nodded.

Lin and Mara looked at each other with a very peculiar grin across their faces. ”Well then, I think we will be watching a movie marathon tonight.” She exclaimed happily to which Denizen just asked naively. ”Some thing fun to offset what just happened?” Lin smirked and Mara answered. ”Nope, a horror movie marathon is playing and we’re watching it, you included.” Her smile changed into an evil impish one. Denizen tried running but the two held him in place so there was nothing to be done. Resigning to his fate he cursed inwardly, seems the horrors for the day have not ended yet… this will be one Halloween Denizen will remember for the rest of his life… One that he will not want to ever go through again…. Thus ended this strange yet eventful Halloween night… However till dawn one could hear peculiar screams coming from a far off area… but that is something that does not need mention.