DISCLAIMER: OK, for anyone who missed it the first twenty times, I don’t own Generation X. The characters in this fic belong to those nice people at Marvel, and I’m just borrowing them for a little while in order to spread a little Halloween cheer (if there is such a thing). Feedback is appreciated. Flames will be ignored. And Matt, here’s your cameo -- so quit whinin’ ya big baby! (*grin*) NOTE: This refers to someone from real life who specifically asked to be included in this fic and is not a reference to anyone in the fanfic community.

Angelo looked at the trio of demonic faces that passed in front of him and took an involuntary step backward. Damn, those things were ugly. He definitely did not want to be here. Not on these streets, and certainly not tonight of all nights. He shuddered as a four-foot-tall figure trotted past him, its red-and-black face the only part of its body visible beneath the black cloak it wore. Angelo hated these miniature freaks. They were dirty and sticky and grabby and smelled like the bottom of his gym locker. In short, the little monsters were the most disgusting things he had ever seen.

Angelo turned to Monet, who was walking next to him. "Remind me to thank Sean for making us take the little ones trick-or-treating." He dodged out of the way as a pint-sized Anakin Skywalker ran past, chased by an equally tiny Darth Maul. He decided he really did hate kids. Especially kids who were engaged in an insane pursuit of chocolate, which on this night pretty much included all of them.

Which was why it was so unfortunate that Nicole had decided to attach herself to him for what seemed like the entire night.

"Lighten up, Angelo," Everett told his friend. "You act like you're being sent to your death or something. It's only for a few hours, and this is one of the few chances Leech and Artie have to go out in public without image inducers." Everett looked up as Artie and Leech raced back toward them, examining the goodies they had just received. Jubilee followed a short distance behind with Nicole and Claudette in tow.

Jubilee grinned as the twins ran back to their sister. "They had Chunkles at that house," she informed her friends.

"Chunkilicious!" Leech added with a grin, holding up his bag.

"It's not just for Artie and Leech," Monet told Angelo. "The twins needed a night out, too." She clasped her own hand firmly around Claudette's. Monet had been very overprotective of her younger sisters ever since they had been freed from the Penance body, but when she found out that Leech and Artie were going out on Halloween, she had insisted that the girls come along too.

Angelo looked at the two girls, standing their in their gaudy dresses and decked from head to toe in Monet's costume jewelry. As usual, they were dressed identically, though Claudette hadn't put up a fight like Nicole did when Monet insisted that they wear coats. Angelo cracked a smile at the two little princesses walking alongside him.

"At least they look like normal, sane people." Angelo grinned and looked toward Jubilee. "Unlike *some* people I could mention ..."

"Just for that you're not getting any of my candy," Jubilee shot back.

Angelo grabbed his heart and staggered for a few steps. "You wound me, chica." Jubilee giggled.

Everett fell back a few steps so he could walk next to Jubilee. "So, what are you supposed to be, anyway?" he asked.

"Duh! Don't you know anything important?" She looked at the blank stare on Everett's face and sighed. "I'm a Pokémon trainer!" She grinned as she tugged the brim of her red-and-white cap and tossed him the stuffed animal she was carrying. "See? I caught a Pickachu!" Everett held the animal at arm's length and examined it curiously.

"Jubilee?"

"What, Leech?"

"Artie wants to know why you dressed up like Ash."

Jubilee cracked her gum. "'Cuz I'd freeze my butt off in this weather if I went as Misty."

Artie appeared thoughtful for a minute, then nodded at his little green friend.

"Artie says OK."

Nicole tugged on Angelo's arm. "How come you don't have a costume?"

"Because he wore his already at the dance," Monet explained to her with a smile. "You wouldn't people to see him to wear the same thing twice, would you?

"Besides, it's bad enough he wore it the first time," she mumbled.

"I heard that, chica."

"Whatever." Monet stopped and bent down to fix to loose laces on Claudette's shoe. She looked up at her younger autistic sister and sighed, wondering if the girl had even the slightest comprehension of what it meant to go trick-or-treating. Probably not, she thought as she stood up and took her sister's hand.

"Leech says hurry up!"

"We're coming, Leech. Sheesh! Kids." Jubilee rummaged through her bag of candy trying to find another Snickers.

"So you're saying you don't like my fashion sense, chica?"

"Leech and Artie want more candy!"

"Lack of sense would be more appropriate." Monet smirked. "Unless, of course, you intended to look like you walked out of a bad western movie."

"Monet!" Nicole tugged on her sister's arm.

"But there's not just Pikachu!" Jubilee said as she tried to explain the entire Pokémon story to Everett. "There's Squirtle, Charmander, Jigglypuff, Horsey, Bulbasaur, Eevee ..." She counted off the creatures on her fingers.

Everett put his head and his hands and shook his head. "OK, OK, there's a lot of them. I get it."

"Pidgeoto, Starmie, Psiduck, Chancey ..."

"Jubilee!"

"Caterpie, Meowth, Haunter, Growlithe, Clefairy ..."

"ARGH! Stop it!"

Nicole walked in front of her sister. "Monet, I think you should ..."

"I wasn't trying to be a cowboy."

"Of course not. That would have been an improvement."

"MONET!"

Individual conversations ceased as everyone turned toward Nicole. Monet sighed. "What?"

Nicole pointed down the street. "Leech and Artie left."

"What?" Monet whipped around, scanning the area and finding the boys absent. "Where are they?"

The little girl shrugged. "They wanted to get more candy, but everyone was just standing around arguing."

"How long ago did they leave?"

"I don't know. A couple of minutes, I guess. They really wanted to go."

"Well, they couldn't have gone too far in only a few minutes," Everett said. He closed his eyes in concentration. "Maybe I can synch up to them and find them really quick."

Monet looked down at her sister, trying her best to stay patient. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I tried!" Nicole yelled, stamping her foot and summoning the indignant anger possessed by 8-year-old girls everywhere. She pointed at Monet and Angelo. "You two were fighting. You wouldn't listen."

"We weren't ..." Monet glared at Angelo. "Mr. Cassidy will just love this," she said sarcastically. "You did a great job keeping an eye on the boys."

"Hey, don't blame me! Jubecita's the one who let them eat half of their loot already. They probably ran off to restock."

Jubilee twirled around and stood on her toes, pulling herself up to her full height and doing her best to look Angelo dead in the eye. "I only told 'em to eat 'cause they needed something to kill the taste after *someone* decided to give them their first caramel-covered onion!"

Angelo cracked a grin. "I still can't believe they fell for that. Don't they teach kids anything anymore?"

"Caramel-covered onions?" Nicole echoed increduously, wrinkling her nose and shuddering. "Ewwwwww." She looked up at Angelo. "You didn't put anything in my bag, did you?"

"No, he didn't." Monet glared sideways at Angelo.

"'Cause that's really disgusting," Nicole chided him.

Angelo knelt on the grass next to the girl, speaking just loudly enough for Monet to overhear. "Nah, I gave the rest of them to your sister." He gave a brief nod toward Monet, who scowled in response. "See? That's why she's so cranky." Nicole giggled.

Meanwhile, Everett's eyes flew open as he tried to see into the distance. "Umm, Jubes, what exactly did you feed the kids?"

Jubilee chewed her lip as she thought. "Uh, Hershey bars, Reeses Pieces, SweetTarts, Lifesavers, chocolate-covered expresso beans ..."

"Oh, is that all?"

"No, that's not all." She stuck her tongue out at Monet. "Jelly beans, Twizzlers, bubble gum, Pixie Stix and, um ... oh, yeah! A coupla cans of Surge." She noticed her teammates confused stares. "They drank it before we left."

Everett moved Jubilee out of his path. "Well, that's probably why they can suddenly outrun Quicksilver."

"Can you find them?" Jubilee asked.

"Finding them's not the problem -- we have to worry about catching them."

"Dontcha think that'll be kinda hard when we've got the twins with us?"

Monet nodded. "There's no way they'll be able to keep up. We'll need to split up into teams."

Jubilee studied Monet as the older girl spoke. "Wait a minute ... Did we just agree on something?"

"Yes. I'm shocked myself."

"You agreed with me."

"Didn't we just establish that?"

Jubilee fought back a smile. "So you're saying I'm right?" she asked mischievously.

"Not now," Everett told Jubilee. He looked off in the direction where the two young boys had headed. "We'll go after Leech and Artie. Monet, can you link to us telepathically so you'll know when we've found them?"

"Of course."

"Let's go, Jubes," Everett said as he tugged his friend behind him.

Jubilee's voice trailed off as she and Everett headed down the dark street. "C'mon, when am I ever gonna get the chance to gloat like this again? Ev! You never let me have any fun."

"We've spent way too much time around the X-Men," Angelo remarked with disgust. "We can't even do something as easy as trick-or-treating anymore without turning it into a full-blown mission."

Meanwhile ...

Shrieks echoed through the night as trick-or-treaters were tackled and knocked into the bushes. Ghosts, goblins and assorted cartoon characters attempted to hide from the torrent of energy that raced toward them. Homeowners slammed their doors shut and turned off the porchlights as mothers screamed and grabbed their children, trying to protect them from the danger that loomed ever closer.

And two little boys, one pink and one green, raced happily through the crowded streets, oblivious in their sugar rush to the uproar they had caused.

Artie projected an image of himself and Leech climbing a mountain made of candy. Leech ran beside him, nodding spastically as his pupiless eyes threatened to pop out of his head at any moment.

"Artie right! Leech say we get lots of candy on this street! Lots and LOTS of candy!"

Leech stood with his back to the doorframe, trying to support the small boy that stood on his back. "Artie reach doorbell yet?"

Artie stretched up and pressed the small, illuminated button, then jumped down from his friend's back. He projected an image of a bell ringing.

"Good! We get candy now." The two boys held out their bags expectantly as a shadow appeared from behind the door.

They smiled broadly as a young man with auburn hair opened the door. "Leech and Artie say trick-or-treat!"

"Leech and Artie, huh? Well, I'm Matt, and this is Candycorn." The boys stared at the young man, then looked at each other in confusion, as Matt was the only one at the door.

The young man realized his error. "Oh, sorry." He reached behind his back and held out a small orange-and-black stuffed cow. "Say hello to Candycorn!" Matt leaned forward to whisper to the boys. "He's a little shy," he said, moving the animal's front legs to make it look like it was covering its eyes.

"Umm ... we get candy now?" Leech was starting to get worried. This guy was even weirder than Banshee was when he drank that funny soda in the paper bag. Having to talk to a lunatic was bad enough, but now he and Artie might not get candy either. That would be much worse.

Matt jerked away, turning his back on the two boys and holding the stuffed cow to his chest protectively. "Now you hurt his feelings!" He looked down at the animal. "I don't think they should get candy now. Do you?" Matt made the animal shake its head back and forth.

Artie looked apologetic. He tugged on Leech's sleeve and looked at him, his unease clearly reflected in his eyes. The little green boy scrunched up his face at looked up at the auburn-haired man. He took a deep breath.

"Leech says ‘sorry,'" the little boy sighed. He looked toward Artie. A holographic image appeared over the pink boy's head showing the two of them hugging the stuffed cow.

Matt raised an eyebrow and studied the boys for a moment. "OK ... but you have to pet Candycorn."

"But Leech said ..."

"Pet the cow! Kiss the cow! LOVE THE COW!"

Leech and Artie looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Leech extended one tentative hand and gently patted the stuffed cow on the head.

"Leech say ‘good cow.'" He looked up hopefully. "Crazy man let Leech and Artie leave now?"

"Sure. Give 'em the candy," Matt told the stuffed animal. He made the cow dance over to a bag and grab a handful of assorted treats for each boy.

Artie flashed an overly enthusiastic grin at the young man, hoping to get away safely. Leech backed away slowly, afraid to take his eyes off the cow. "Leech and Artie say ‘thank you.'"

"You're welcome. Happy Halloween!" Matt started to close the door, then paused. "Hey, kids." The boys stopped dead in their tracks. "Be careful out there, 'kay? There's a lot of weirdos on the streets tonight."

"Can't we even go to a few more houses?"

Monet looked at her sister. "We're supposed to be looking for Artie and Leech, remember?"

"One more house?"

"No."

"But we're just standing here waiting for Everett and Jubilee to find them." Nicole kicked a stone across the street. "It's not fair. Claudette and I were good and now we can't go trick-or-treating. Why are we being punished?" She looked up at Angelo with her lower lip quivering.

Angelo shook his head. This was going to be bad. Very bad. There was only one thing worse than being around sticky little urchins, and that was being around sticky little urchins who burst into tears whenever they didn't get their way. Especially when they had a substantial audience of adults to see them crying. Angelo looked around at the many parents walking from house to house with their children. He saw them. He knew Nicole saw them. And worst of all, he knew that Nicole knew that he saw them.

Damn, this was giving him a headache. Better to just give in and let Monet deal with it. After all, it served her right for making fun of his clothes.

"Lighten up, chica," he told Monet. "It's not their fault Leech and Artie ran off, and you did say they needed to have fun. Besides, don't you think we look just a little suspicious hanging out here at night with two little girls doing absolutely nothing? I mean, we're not exactly keeping a low profile here."

Monet looked at her sister's expectant face. Angelo was right. But how could that be possible? It wasn't like her to be wrong -- she was never wrong. It was against all the laws of nature for her to be wrong. But she had been wrong twice tonight (because agreeing with Jubilee was the same thing as being wrong). Monet was ready to scream. She couldn't be wrong again. She knew that this must stop. Now.

Unfortunately, the twins had taken Monet's moment of silent introspection as an opportunity to run to the nearest house. Monet turned around in time to see the girls ring the doorbell and collect their candy.

"Thanks," she scowled at Angelo. "Thanks a lot."

"De nada," he replied, and lit up a cigarette.

"I can't believe I have to skip trick-or-treating because of those two."

Everett glanced briefly at his friend as they walked quickly through the dark streets of Snow Valley. "Is that all you care about? Candy? Think about Leech and Artie for a minute. They could really get hurt out there all by themselves."

"Pu-leeze, Ev." Jubilee popped the bubble she had been blowing. "With everything they've been through, they should be able to handle themselves. And it's not like they're really alone anyway 'cuz there's all these parents and other kids around."

"They're not safe from everything. What if they fall and break an arm? Or get hit by a car? What if some psycho puts poison or razor blades in their candy and they eat it?"

Jubilee snorted. "That's just an urban legend."

"What?"

"I saw it on the Internet. I mean, sure, sometimes there's a psycho that just goes after one kid as a prank and sticks a coupla pins in the chocolate, but there's hardly ever just a random poisoning ... oh, unless you count all those kids who got sick when they ate the candy at their school Halloween party ... "

"Can we just get back to looking for Leech and Artie now?"

"Sheesh, what is it with you? I'm just trying to make you stop worrying." Jubilee thought for a moment. "Wanna hear about the kid who accidentally hanged himself at the haunted hayride?"

"No."

Artie sat on the grass with his feet hanging over the curb. He looked at his friend and grimaced, all the time projecting a holographic image of himself holding his stomach. Leech, looking much greener than he normally did, sat on the curb next to him.

"Leech's tummy hurt, too." He let out a small burp. "Leech think it time to go home now."

The hologram over Artie's head showed the friends they had left behind, huddled together and looking very frightened.

"Artie right. They prob'ly scared. Leech and Artie shouldn't let friends get lost like that."

He got up and tugged Artie's arm to help the little pink boy stand. They groaned and headed back in the direction from which they had come. "Leech and Artie go find friends. Then they not be lost and scared anymore."

Twenty-two houses later, Monet was getting ready to kill Angelo for giving into Nicole's repeated plea of "just one more house." Claudette's bag was overflowing with treats, and she had a feeling that Nicole's would have been, too, if she would stop eating her candy. She made a mental note not to let the girl spend so much time around Jubilee.

Nicole pointed down the block. "Oooh, I bet we'll get lots of candy over there!"

"Forget it. You've had enough sugar for one night."

"But, Monet ..."

"No way. That won't work this time. We have to -- " Monet cut herself off abruptly as she sensed something approaching them.

"Monet?"

"Shhh!" She looked around and saw nothing, but she could not ignore the feeling that the four of them were in grave danger.

All of a sudden a form emerged from the darkness, or rather, stepped out of a portal from an alternate dimension. Nicole's eyes went wide as a mummy-like creature stalked toward them.

Angelo tensed and got ready to fight. He knew that that Murmur was one of Emplate's henchman, a fact that made him all the more dangerous. Still, he didn't want to frighten the twins -- or the scores of young trick-or-treaters who still occupied the streets. He realized quickly that Emplate had made a smart decision in sending Murmur after them instead of coming himself. No one had noticed Murmur's arrival, and it was highly unlikely that a mummy would stand out among the crowd of assorted monsters. No one would realize the danger until it was too late.

Angelo tossed his cigarette on the ground. "Lemme guess," he said sarcastically. "You want to go get candy, too? Forget it. I've done enough of that for one night."

"That's a good trick, opening a portal like that," Monet told Murmur. "Did Marius teach you that? After we beat him back into his own dimension, I mean." She pushed Nicole and Claudette behind her. She had successfully fought this mutant before, but she still did not want to risk hurting her little sisters.

"You're coming with me," Murmur hissed at Monet.

"Sorry, but I have other plans."

The mummy-like creature grabbed her by her upper arm, and Monet jerked away. "Master wants you back," he told Monet as he waved his hand over her and the twins. "All three of you. And I'm going to make sure the master gets what he wants."

"Whoa, you better unwind those bandages a little. They're cutting off the oxygen to your brain -- assuming you have one, that is." Angelo stepped in between Monet and Murmur. "Your crazy if you think I'm just gonna stand here and let you suck them into an alternate universe."

"What you want does not matter!" Murmur pushed his way past Angelo and Monet and walked toward Nicole and Claudette. "And you can't protect yourself so far from your precious school. At least, not without publicly revealing who -- and what -- you really are."

"I said you're not taking them!" Angelo made a lunge for Murmur, but the mutant pushed him aside and he landed hard on the ground.

Monet yanked the mummy's bandages from behind, pulling him back to keep him from reaching the two girls. "No! You stay away from them, or so help me I'll follow you back and kill Marius myself!"

"What you want does not matter!" Murmur repeated. "The master's wishes must be ful-- ARRRGGGHHH!"

Angelo grabbed Monet back from the edge of the gaping hole that had suddenly appeared on the street. Monet looked up to see Nicole standing with Claudette on the opposite side, the autistic girl gripping a piece of chalk in her hand. Within a few seconds the circle vanished and the street returned to normal.

Monet stared down at the newly reformed street. "I'll bet Marius didn't teach him that."

Angelo scratched his head. "Um, what just happened?"

Nicole jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "Claudette made the bad man go away! When he stepped into the circle she drew, he was sent back to where he came from." Claudette, meanwhile, had returned the piece of chalk to her coat pocket, no longer interested in the world around her now that the danger had passed.

Monet knelt down and hugged her sisters. "Are you two alright?"

Nicole thought for a minute. "I think so ... but I think I'd feel a lot better if I could get some more candy." She gave her sister her best sad-eyed puppy face.

Monet sighed and grabbed her sisters' hands. "Come on."

Angelo kicked the chalk circle, causing a cloud of dust to rise as he did so. He noticed that the line had started to fade and would leave no trace of what had occurred there. "I've definitely spent too much time around the X-Men."

"Then there's the one about the psychic who said a madman dressed like Little Bo Peep would kill everyone in this college dorm on Halloween. 'Course, that one's not true, but a lot of people believe it anyway ..."

Everett sighed. Chasing two little boys who had overdosed on sugar was bad enough. Jubilee's incessant chatter (he still could not determine whether it was a result of the candy she had eaten or just part of her normal personality) was making it positively unbearable.

"Or the one about the babysitter who -- "

Everett held up his hand and motioned for her to be quiet. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Of course not, Everett realized. She hadn't heard that. She wouldn't have even heard a car exploding with the way she was babbling. "It sounded like someone in pain. Listen."

They stood there in silence for a few moments before Everett heard the noise again. He followed the sound around the corner and found its source sitting next to a row of bushes. Jubilee walked up beside Everett and raised an eyebrow at what she saw.

"So, is this, like, a good thing or a bad thing?"

"A little of both, I think." He closed his eyes in concentration. ~Uh, Monet? Can you hear me? We found them.~

"So, did ye have a good time tonight?" Sean asked his students as they walked into the kitchen. He was busy gathering empty candy wrappers and tossing them in the garbage.

Angelo slumped into the nearest seat and put his head on the table. "Sí, Seńor Cassidy. Muy bueno. We should do this every night."

Sean studied his students for a minute, then chuckled. "Aye, it looks like the wee ones ran you ragged tonight." He bent down to talk to the youngest children. "So, did ye lads and lasses get your fill of candy yet?"

"Oh, yes!" Nicole informed him. "We went to so many houses, Mr. Cassidy. Maybe even a hundred! We went all over the town!" Artie looked sick at the mention of candy, and Leech groaned in agreement.

Sean smiled. "Well, I'm glad ta hear it. The trick-or-treaters around here just about cleaned us out. Never thought we'd get so many visitors at a school, but stranger things have happened.

"No, I've never seen so many children in one night." He examined the contents of one leftover bag. "Seems like all we have left is a big bag of candy corn --"

"AACCCCCCCKKKKKKK! Leech no want to see cow again!" Sean and his students looked on in confusion as Leech and Artie raced out of the kitchen.

Sean scratched his head. "What do ye suppose that was all about?"