Written by: Teleportato
The hustling of footsteps is heard as the all-too familiar sound of Halloween festivities approaches our little house party get-together. Of course, who could forget the joys of trick-or-treating that sell the wonder of the holiday in the first place...
A knock on the door is made by a party of two, which creaks the door open into a dark entrance way. The voices of our various partygoers can be heard on the other side, but none seem aware of the two children’s presence.
"I told you this place would be a bust! The universal sign of 'Don’t come here we are too busy partying to give out candy' is that the front porch is out."
"I mean... we don’t really have much of a choice, the entire neighbourhood is dark out and their light was on until we got close. Not like we would have gained anything turning back at that point."
"Well they probably noticed us coming and decided to hit the lights out instead of saying to our face that they don’t have any candy. They should at least have the courtesy to leave out a sign next time..."
The two start to leave empty handed as their score for the night looks less bountiful by the door... but as they walk back they feel the chill of the night exponentially increase. A fog covers the yard as the pumpkins on the field start to give a blue aura. Almost feels like a certain hill.
Soon... a quick glow appears in the sky as suddenly one of our guests, dressed appears right in front of the two children. Slowly hovering down is none other than...
"What are these foolish... monsters that have awakened me from my slumber?"
"Oh, ummm, we’re sorry Mr..."
"It is Lord Shadow to you... and I shall not accept these excuses."
A quick stab at the ground with his scepter hits the gravel on the estate.
"You dare try to awaken me and not expect a reward for what your kind call bravery? After all, missing a day such as this to roam the land and skies on a Halloween night would have been an extreme tragedy, so I wish this will help pay my debt to you."
Shadow reaches behind his cloak and drops an amount of candy that more than doubled their total haul for the night of our ghoulish children, who are still awestruck by his performance.
Before they could give their thanks, the “vampirehog” disappears as quick as he came in a flash of bright blue. Suddenly, the door of the estate slams shut and the lights of the entrance way are lit up again as the fog dissipates.
Soon the hedgehog quickly drops his act and sits down for a second. Guess he must have dozed off in an accident and almost missed them showing up. Soon, he gets up to go grab more candy to prepare for the next set to arrive, when suddenly he has a fright of his own as Barack makes his presence known.
"So this is what you were doing while everyone thought you were brooding away from the rest of the group. And people were saying you just wanted to get away from my tacky costume."
"Mr. President, I tolerate your company most of our stay here, but I would go to Sonic if I wanted someone to tease me...And while it’s not the main reason, I will admit you dressing up as yourself is pretty tacky."
"Hey, I’ve been known for giving myself flattery before."
He shows a golden medal he had given to himself after their elimination.
"Anyways, I thought Squidward put out a sign that we weren’t giving out candy, so what exactly are you doing out here?"
"That sign was as tone-deaf as its writer, so I removed it. I scouted this neighbourhood beforehand and decided that this holiday needed me as a guardian of its long-standing tradition."
"Shadow, how do you even know what trick or treating is? Or was it..."
"The Ark staff always celebrated the holiday. I personally never understood it myself, but..."
Shadow, uncharacteristically, breaks eye contact and looks down on the ground.
"Maria... her festive mood seemed to be pretty contagious. She said it was a great time for everyone to break out of the norm and forget their normal problems, even if just for a night, with high spirits and wonder for everyone... which included herself."
"And so, you wanted to give that same experience of escaping to a fantasy when you felt like nobody else would?"
"...Yes, Mr. President. It has always been my promise to protect those who need it, and if it takes some candy and a costume to do it, I will."
"Shadow, I knew you were always one of my best agents. Not because of your strength as a weapon, but because of that heart of gold that you have. Even if it takes a lot of effort to work with you, I respect you for your morals always being your main priority."
"And I’ll tell you what, Maria would be proud of where you are now if she was here. Even if it’s not protecting the world directly from harm's way right now, you’ve done a lot to make people smile and forget their worries with your assistance here in this tournament, let alone tonight."
With that, Obama walks towards the door back to the party, giving a good look at Shadow.
"I assume you don’t want me to take over for a bit and let you have a chance to party with the rest tonight?"
"I may come in from time to time, but for the most part my duty is out here. Tell them I can’t be seen with your shoddy workmanship if they need to ask."
Obama chuckles, and hands Shadow over a candy bag from the main lobby, filled with various treats and goodies.
"Well, if you say so. That said, you got a monster party coming up at 12'o'clock, so I’ll leave you to it."
Obama closes the door and turns off the lights. Must have been watching our hedgehog’s routine for longer than he realized.
As Shadow prepares for his next act...he looks up at the night sky through the window as he almost feels a confirmation in the stars that she is, indeed, proud of him.
