Chapter 16

Fall 30, 2003

Today is the Pumpkin Festival. In the city, this day is better known as Halloween. A day when children dress up in costumes, and go from door to door collecting treats from their neighbors. Forget-Me-Not Valley and Mineral Town also celebrate this day meant for children.

Now that Yuki has a daughter of his own, he allows his own to participate in the festival. Sometime in the late afternoon, Choco bursts out of her home impatiently to start the festival. Today she is dressed up in a witch costume, wearing a maroon colored cape and a pointed maroon colored hat. In one hand, she carries a bag used to collect treats, and a broom in the other.

Choco takes a deep breath of the cold Fall air. Winter is coming soon, so she needs to be careful not to catch a cold. But still, she is happy that the weather is fair. Yuki comes out of the house soon afterwards, since this is a festival dedicated for children, he will stay home like all the other adults.

Choco turns around and says to Yuki, “okay, I'm off to go get some candy! Bye bye dad!”

Just before Choco runs off, the words, “wait a second Choco!” stops her. Choco takes a deep stressful sigh knowing full well what her father is going to say to her. He walks up to her and kneels down to her height. Choco knows that when Yuki does this, he is going to tell her something serious.

“Okay Choco, before you leave to go collect candy, let's review the rules. Okay, first-”

“Stay on the path that we planned,” said Choco interrupting Yuki. She knows the rules by heart, so she recites them in his place. “Don't wander off with strangers, don't cause trouble for the other villagers, make sure I say 'Thank You' every time I get a treat, always stay in a group, I'm only allowed to collect treats in Forget-Me-Not Valley and Mineral Town, and don't eat any candy until I get home.” Choco sighs and says, “I know, we've been though this a million times already. Can I go now?”

Yuki raises his index finger and asks, “what about the most important rule?”

Choco rolls her eyes and answers, “make sure I come home by 7 O'clock.”

Yuki smiles and nods sending Choco off to hunt for treats. She then hugs Yuki thanking him for allowing her to go. At first, Yuki was against sending her off alone. But it's a festival, and she needs to enjoy it with the other children. As Choco runs out of the farm to join with her group, she passes Muffy who is on her way to visit Yuki.

Muffy is planning to take advantage of the fact that Yuki is alone to make a move on him. She has even brought a small bag with her filled with the tools she needs to accomplish her goal. But as Choco passes her, Muffy stops to take a long look at Choco's costume. She doesn't say anything, only stands there wondering. After a few seconds, she moves ahead to meet up with Yuki who is still waving at Choco.

After greeting one another as usual, Muffy asks curiously, “hey Yuki, what's up with Choco's costume? I know that it's Pumpkin Day, but why a witch? Couldn't you choose something cuter, like a panda or a rabbit?”

“I wanted to,” answered Yuki. “But at the costume store, Choco wanted that costume and nothing else. She wouldn't stop crying until I agreed to buy it for her. She may be changing, but deep inside, she's still a kid. Rather than fight with her, I just let her choose what she wanted to wear.”

“I see,” said Muffy. She then presents Yuki with the small bag she brought with her and continues, “hey, I thought that you would be alone today. So how about we watch some movies?”

“Movies?” asked Yuki. He then takes the bag, and checks what titles that Muffy has brought with her. They are all older titles like “Friday the 13th”, “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Halloween”, and “Jaws”. All horror movies from the 1970's and 1980's era.

“It's a tradition in my hometown to watch horror movies during Halloween. Even though we are not in the city anymore, I thought that we would watch them anyway. After all, you're not doing anything but waiting for Choco to come back home.”

Yuki takes a good look at Muffy's suspiciously smiling face. He catches on quickly what she has planned. After several years of knowing her tactics, Yuki has already come up with countermeasures to all her plans.

Yuki returns the videos and says, “that sounds like a good idea! But my living room is a bit messy, so let me clean up first, okay?” Before Muffy answers, Yuki jets back in his house to prepare. Muffy waits outside several minutes until she gets invited inside. She becomes suspicious that she doesn't hear Yuki cleaning or moving anything around. Curious to what Yuki is really doing, she tries to press her ear to hear what's going on. But before she has a chance, Yuki opens his door. “Sorry about that, all clean! Come inside, and we'll put something on!”

As Yuki walks inside to prepare some popcorn, Muffy leers at him awkwardly. She knows that Yuki did not do any cleaning, but she ignores that fact now that she is finally invited into the house. After the popcorn and drinks are ready, they start with the first title, Halloween.

Meanwhile, Choco meets up with her group; Kate and Hugh. Kate is dressed up as a pink princess complete with dress and tiara. Her hair is let down as opposed to the pigtail braids that she normally has it done. Hugh is dressed up as The Hulk. Tattered shorts are the only clothing that he is wearing, and his skin is covered in green dye. For a kid his age, he is naturally buff, so there is no need for any more make up.

“Hi there!” yelled Choco as she approaches her friends. “Kate! you look so cute! Hugh. . . Who are you supposed to be?”

Hugh plays his role and yells, “you're asking Hulk? What Hulk look like, Einstein? Hulk just get big! Hulk strongest there is! Hulk not puny human! Hulk will smash!” As he says his lines, he tries his best to flex his muscles to impress Choco. Both Kate and Choco then laugh at how silly Hugh is acting.

“So Choco, what are you dressed as? A witch?” asked Kate.

Choco nods and answers, “yeah! Witches are so cool! They get to use magic, fly on brooms, and say lots of crazy things. Wouldn't it be nice if I was a real witch!”

Hugh and Kate then laugh at Choco. Hugh then beats his chest with his fists, and yells, “Hulk wants some candy! Hulk will get everyone to give treats, or Hulk will smash!” Everyone laughs again, and they all move to the first place on their list, the blue bar.

Choco knocks on the door of the bar, and waits patiently for someone to answer. Griffin comes out of the bar carrying a dish full of chocolate bars. Just the sight of the chocolates makes Choco drool with excitement. Everyone opens their bags to get some chocolates, and Griffin drops a bar in each of their bags. But as they're are getting their treats Choco notices that Muffy is not inside. Since she was so excited about Pumpkin Day, she failed to notice that she passed her at the farm.

Choco looks up at Griffin and says, “Hey mister, where's Muffy.” By now Choco has Muffy, Celia, Nami, Lumina, and Flora's name. But she still has not memorized many of the other villager's names, including Griffin.

“Muffy went out for the evening. But you don't have to worry, I'll be here to hand out treats.”

“But we're the only ones who live here,” commented Choco. “Who else are you giving out chocolates to?”

Griffin smiled and says, “sometimes, kids from other villages and towns nearby drops by to visit the valley.” He then drops another chocolate bar in the bags and continues, “I usually have leftovers anyway, so I'll give you all a special treat!”

Choco and her friends then dance happily knowing that they all got extra treats. They thank Griffin for the candies, then moved to the Inn. On the way to the inn, Choco desperately tries not to eat any chocolates. She sometimes finds herself reaching in the bag, but she did promise Yuki that she will hold out until she gets home.

Back at the farm, Yuki and Muffy are watching the movie. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, Muffy takes her attention off the movie, and pays more attention to Yuki. She feels that it's a perfect opportunity to make some advances in her relationship. She notices that Yuki's hand is resting on the couch, so she moves her hand to meet his. But just before she touches his hand, Yuki pulls it out of the way to get some popcorn.

Muffy's first attempt fails, but she is far from giving up. She returns her attention to the movie, and waits for a good opportunity. She plans to wait for a horrifying moment to jump at Yuki and embrace him. As soon as a good moment arrives, she closes her eyes, and lounges at Yuki. But she soon realizes that her arms are still empty. She opens her eyes, and sees that Yuki had bent down to tie his shoe laces.

Muff is getting impatient, but she is far from giving in. She resorts to plan C, which she thought was fool-proof. She continues to watch the movie, and waits for an open moment when Yuki's full attention is on the movie. As soon as she feels that he is, she climbs on the couch slowly and quietly. She gets into position to pounce catching him on the couch cushions. At that moment, she plans to kiss Yuki in the lips, and make out with him.

As soon as she was ready, she jumps! But before she lands, Yuki stands up from the couch, causing Muffy to crash on the cushions alone. Yuki turns around and says, “sorry, I need to use the bathroom a second. You don't have to push pause, I seen this movie a dozen times.”

Muffy quickly stands up and yells, “Yuki! What is the matter with you!? Can't you be a little bit more romantic at a time like this?”

“Romantic? What are you talking about? We are just friends, not dating.”

“Oh come on!” complained Muffy. “You're a single man, I'm a lonely girl alone in a big house. We should be doing unspeakable things to each other by now!”

“And that's where you're wrong!” yelled Nami. “You're not alone in this house.”

“What the hell are you doing here!?” demanded Muffy who was so preoccupied with the movie, that she never realized that someone else came into the house.

“What are you talking about? I'm here for the party,” answered Nami.

“Party? What party?” asked Muffy.

Just then, the front door opens and the other three girls start walking in each of them carrying potato chips, candy, drinks, and other party favors. As each of them march into the house, they all chant, “movie Party! Movie Party!”

At that moment, Muffy looks at Yuki. Yuki smiles back at Muffy while making a victory sign with his hands. She then realized that instead of cleaning the house like he said he was going to do, he invited the other four girls over to watch movies with them. That way, there is nothing that Muffy could do to him while everyone is present.

Muffy then stamps her feet yelling, “Yuki, this is so not fair!”

A couple of hours later, Choco and her friends finally finished raiding the village for treats. They are now on their way across the valley heading toward the dock. A boat waits for passengers at the beach for people heading to Mineral Town. Choco gets on the dock, she then turns around and waves at her friends yelling, “come on! Lets go to Mineral Town! I wanna get more candy, so lets go!”

Kate and Hugh look at one another. The idea is tempting, but they know they can't. Kate then looks at Choco, and says, “sorry, but mom and dad said I can't go to Mineral Town.”

Hugh flexes his muscles and yells, “Hulk can't go! Hulk gets mad! You don't want to see Hulk when he gets mad!”

Kate then pulls Hugh's ear and drags him away saying, “come on, stop being a ham. We have to go home, and show our parents our candy.”

“Ouch, okay, I get it! Stop pulling my ear!” cried Hugh dropping the Hulk act.

Choco laughs, and waves goodbye at her friends. She then boards the boat, and takes off to Mineral Town. Yuki did say that she can't go alone, but she has friends waiting in Mineral Town, so she'll be fine. She hasn't been there very often, but she became friends with the locals quickly. At the Mineral Town dock, she meets up with two other children about her same age.

One of them is Stu, a young boy with jet black hair. For pumpkin day, he is dressed up in a bear costume. He feels embarrassed wearing the childish plush outfit, but Choco finds it very cute. The other new friend is a little girl named May. She is a year younger with black hair as well. However, she is dressed up as a fairy princess. Complete with a green frilly dress, butterfly wings, and a hair band with bug antennae.

“Hi Stu, Hi May!” greeted Choco to her new friends. “I love your outfits! They are so cute!”

Stu's face turns red. “Thanks, I like your costume too,” he said. Like Hugh, Stu also has a small crush on Choco, but he has yet to say anything.

Choco grabbed their hands and ran into town yelling, “Come on! I want to get some candies now!” Then they all follow Choco through town collecting goodies.

Back at the farm, Yuki is having a good time watching movies with his own friends. Everyone yells, cheers, and jumps at every exciting moment the movies brings. The only person who is not enjoying the party is Muffy who is sulking on the couch. She was looking forward to spending the afternoon alone with Yuki. But Yuki still refuses to go out with any of the girls, so Muffy is out of luck.

One of the last places that Choco, Stu, and May visits is the Chicken Farm where Popuri lives. They knock on her door, and Popuri comes out. She becomes excited as soon as she sees Choco's face. She then turns around to call the rest of her family over to greet Choco.

“Hi there Choco!” cheered Popuri and Rick.

“Welcome Choco, you are just so adorable!” said Lillia.

The other two feel slightly left out, but they don't play too much mind to it. They are more interested in candies than attention.

“Hi there! It's Pumpkin Day, can we have some treats?” said Choco.

“Of course you can!” said Popuri cheerfully. She then runs into the house, and returns placing a treat in each of the bags.

Everyone checks the treats Popuri placed into their bags. But none of them are satisfied with what they got. Everyone pulls out the egg Popuri put in their bags, and Choco said, “this is not candy. . .”

Popuri then answers, “What? But eggs are so good for you!”

She was only kidding with them. Rick then came out with a tray of real treats, and he put some chocolates in their bags. After that, they went over to the Yodel ranch, and the treat hunt was then officially over. Choco says goodbye to her friends in Mineral Town, and take a boat back to Forget-Me-Not Valley.

On the way back home, Choco stops by the pond where she takes a break. She then checks the time, it is now 6:20pm. Plenty of time before Choco needs to go home. She had so much fun at the festival, she doesn't want to go home just yet. Without thinking, Choco reaches for a chocolate, and unwraps it.

Just before eating it, she stops herself and says, “wait, dad said that I should wait until I get home before I eat any chocolates. Dad trust me to follow his rules, so I better put this away.” But as she rewraps the chocolaty treat, the chocolate smell in the air makes her change her mind. She knows that she shouldn't, but the temptation is just too great. “I'll just have one, dad won't notice.”

So she eats the chocolate bar without hesitation. After gobbling down the milk chocolate treat, she then licks her fingers to remove any evidence that she was eating candy before she returned home. But then, something unusual happened to Choco. A huge jolt of pain ran through her body, she starts feeling hot and cold flashes in her head. She becomes dizzy, and standing up becomes difficult. Soon afterwards, her body becomes numb, and she collapses on the ground.

“It's about time!” said the Witch Princess who is watching Choco from her crystal ball.

At 8:00pm, Yuki is pacing around the house nervously. All the girls stands by watching Yuki as he walks in circles wearing a hole in the ground. They all know who he is waiting for. They all know that Choco promised to be at home an hour ago. At this point, everyone thinks that Choco is playing hookie, and decided on her own to get more candy. They have no idea what is really happening.

“Hey Yuki, are you okay?” asked Lumina.

“No, I am not okay,” snapped Yuki. “Choco is late, she promised to be here already, where in the world is she!”

“I'm sure she's fine,” said Nami who is laid back on the couch. “I bet she is still in Mineral Town hanging out with the folk down there. It's not often that they get to see your daughter, so someone down there might have invited her to a party. She's a kid, and kids always make their parents worry.”

Yuki stops for a moment to say, “even so, she should have called. I tell you, when she gets back, she is grounded for a week. No TV, no chocolate, and no hanging out with Kate and Hugh. And this time, I mean it!”

Everyone looks at one another, and giggle at Yuki's comment. Yuki then look sat them and asks, “what's so funny?”

Muffy chuckles a bit longer before saying, “nothing. But you're starting to sound like a real parent these days. I don't know about the rest, but I'm impressed.”

Yuki huffs and ignores them. He starts to walk around the room again. Several hours later, Yuki starts to become scared. All the other girls also start to worry. It's already 11:00pm, and it's pitch black outside. Everyone should have returned home, but everyone refuses to budge until Choco gets home.

“Where is she?” asked Yuki. “Being late is one thing, but this is too much!”

“I agree that it is rather late. It's already past Choco's bedtime, and she is till not home,” said Celia.

Everyone continues to wait, but then Yuki looks out the window, and realizes that it has already started to snow. Yuki couldn't wait around any longer. He knows that he should have been looking for Choco much sooner, but he thought he could at least trust her enough to come home on her own. So he runs over to the front door, and puts his jacket on.

“Yuki, are you going out to look for her?” asked Flora.

“Yeah I have no idea what happened to her, but she would never come home this late!”

“Is there anything we can do?” asked Muffy.

“Call someone! Get the Mineral Town police here now, and have a search party formed! Get as many people involved as possible! Also, call Grant and Chris, make sure that their kids are home!” Yuki then stormed out and ran around the valley looking for Choco. He first checks all of Choco's favorite places, but he cannot find her. He then pays a visit to Kate and Hugh's home. Everyone is safe and sound, but none of them has seen Choco since she left to Mineral Town.

Since Yuki knows that Choco has at least gone to Mineral Town, he decides to check there next. He is not sure if there is a boat that will take him there at that hour, but he still wants to check anyway. He cuts through Patrick and Cassey's home, then went by Cody's trailer. On the way to the beach, Yuki found himself at the pond. There he noticed the body of a little girl lying on the ground. He knew immediately that it was Choco.

Panicked and frantic, Yuki runs to Choco. She isn’t moving when Yuki calls her name which only makes him even more frightened. As soon as he reaches her, he picks her up, and carries her like a baby. He then shouts, “CHOCO!!! ARE YOU OKAY!!?”

Choco opens her eyes a little bit, and struggles an answer, “. . . Dad?”

“Choco, what's wrong with you!? Speak to me!”

“Dad. . . I don't feel so good. . . I can't move. . . My body.”

Yuki embraces Choco tightly wiping off the snow off of her saying, “Don't worry Choco, I'm here now. I'm going to get some help, please hang on!”

Yuki hurries back home. He is frightened and severely upset. He wants to cry, but he needs to be strong. Choco is in trouble, and he has no idea what is happening to her. All he wants to do now is get her out of the cold.

In the farm, Muffy is on the phone contacting police from Mineral Town. Not so long afterwards, Yuki bursts in carrying Choco in his arms. Everyone is shocked to see Choco in this state. They all circle around Yuki saying, “What happened?” “What's wrong with Choco?”

“I DON'T KNOW DAMMIT!!!” The sudden burst of Yuki's voice forces everyone to step away from him. Yuki takes several deep breaths, but he does not calm down. “Please! Call the doctor! Get the doctor here right now! Choco is not feeling well, and we need a doctor to take a look at her!”

Everyone nods, and they run out to bring the doctor. Since it's so late, they know that Doctor Hardy will not answer his phone. So the easiest thing to do is drag him back to the farm. As they all left to retrieve the doctor, Yuki brings Choco to her room. He covers her so that she could be warm, but Choco's condition does not improve. He just kneels down before her, and prays that nothing happens to her until the doctor arrives.