Pokemon One-Shots and Headcanons

Halloween Scare

It was Halloween in the Kalos region, which meant that the streets were filled with children and Pokemon, all eagerly knocking on doors in hopes of receiving a few bars of chocolate or the occasional piece of gum. Most of the younger children were dressed as pumpkins and ghosts, while a few teenagers followed behind dressed as ghost-type Pokemon. One girl was even wearing a Mega Gengar costume.

Ash, Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena were celebrating Halloween as well, along with their Pokemon, and were currently in Clemont's room preparing their costumes. The raven-haired trainer had never celebrated Halloween before, and as such wasn't entirely sure what he should dress up as. Try as he might, none of the costumes he could think of seemed particularly appealing.

"Ugh, I can't think of anything. You guys got any ideas?" Ash asked finally, after failing to come up with a decent costume for a good half hour.

"Hmm...you could dress up as a ghost," Clemont suggested.

"Where would Ash get any white sheets from?" Bonnie pointed out. "I don't think Dad would be very happy if we cut up any of our bed sheets."

"Bonnie has a point," Serena agreed. "Maybe you could dress up as a ghost Pokemon, Ash? You do love Pokemon, after all."

"That's true, but all the Pokemon costumes sold out ages ago," Ash reminded the honey-blond girl.

"Oh, yeah," Serena replied sheepishly.

Bonnie shook her head. "You really do need to stop saving things until the last minute, Ash," she teased him.

The others shared a laugh at Ash's expense before Serena's eyes suddenly lit up. Before Ash could ask her what was going on, she turned and ran downstairs and out the door.

"What was that all about?" Bonnie asked in confusion, staring after the older girl.

Nearly an hour later, Serena returned with a paper bag in her hand. Setting the bag on the desk in Clemont's room, she pulled out its contents, which turned out to be a serial killer mask and a toy knife.

"What do you think?" she asked proudly. "I thought this would be a good costume for you, Ash."

"It looks really cool, but where did you get it?" Ash asked, surprised that Serena would own something like this.

"I have a cousin who's really into horror movies, and he sent this over for me," Serena explained. "I guess he wanted me to wear it, but he forgot that I don't like creepy things."

Bonnie, meanwhile, was jumping up and down excitedly. "Go on, Ash! Put it on, put it on!"

"Alright, alright," Ash chuckled, slipping the mask over his head. He turned to face his friends. "What do you guys think?"

The moment he turned around, Serena shrieked and jumped back slightly, while Bonnie grabbed onto Clemont's hand in fear. Clemont looked ready to faint himself, but managed to hold himself steady for his younger sister.

"Oh, uh, sorry guys," Ash said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess it's pretty scary, huh?"

"You could say that," Serena responded faintly. Then she straightened up again and smiled. "But on the bright side, looks like you're all ready for Halloween."

Ash nodded, then grinned to himself as an evil thought crossed his mind. This mask would be the perfect way to scare one of his Pokemon a little. But which one should he try to scare? He couldn't do it to Noibat; he was still a baby. Hawlucha would probably give him a High Jump Kick to the face if he tried it on him, not to mention his time as the forest champion had sharpened his senses quite a lot. Goodra was back in the wetlands, so he was a no-go as well. Talonflame loved horror movies, and would probably be more excited than frightened by his mask. Pikachu had been with him too long to be scared by a silly mask anymore. That just left Greninja.

With his plan in mind, Ash crept downstairs as quietly as possible. Fortunately, although Greninja's hearing was extremely sharp, the frog-ninja Pokemon was too busy talking to Hawlucha and didn't hear his trainer approaching. Silently, Ash walked up behind Greninja and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, but I think-what's the matter?" the frog Pokemon asked, turning around when Ash tapped his shoulder.

"Hello, Greninja," Ash said cheerfully, the mask still pulled over his face.

Of course, Ash had always known that Greninja was a fast Pokemon, but even he had never thought he would be able to sprint out the door and all the way down the street onto North Boulevard and past the entrance to Route 14 in a matter of two minutes.