A GD fanfic

Mario Di Giacomo
and Jason Low

GONE BATTY

 Gina watched as Brianna made some last-minute alterations to Raphiel's
costume. "Don't you think you're a little old for this?" Gina posed to Brianna.
 "Sis, I'm only three and a half," Brianna pointed out with a smirk, tugging at
Raph's collar and then standing back. "There we go." She faced Gina. "Hey,
watch this!"
 Gina watched as Brianna pointed out a miniature holographic projector in her
sleeve. She held her hands out and a red sphere of light formed between them,
which, after a moment, she threw down the hall. "Cool, huh?!"
 Gina gasped, and Brianna looked up to see Britanny entering the intersection
down the hall. Brianna laughed and yelled out, "Hey Brit--THINK FAST!"
 Britanny looked and screamed, throwing herself to the floor. The sphere of
light raced at her until it got about twenty feet away, then started
dissipating, fading into nothingness and passing overhead as little streaks of
light, almost like miniature shooting stars lazily drifting by.
 "BRIANNA!" Brit hollered as she realized she was still intact.
 "You'd better watch it with that," Gina said to Bri' as the latter went into a
giggling frenzy. "Not everyone will appreciate your sense of humor."
 "Oh, c'mon now.." Brianna protested.
 "Well, remember the flash-bang that got into the neighbors' yard last year?"
 Brianna held her hands in front of her. "Enough out of you, or you're next."
She cackled and checked the mirror one more time. "I wish the red had taken
care of my spots, too," she mumbled, looking at her hair, then shrugged and
said to Raphiel, "C'mon, let's get movin'!"
 "Before we go," he said, "I have a question.. will this coloring come out of
my fur?"
 "Oh, kwitcher bellyachin'!" Brianna said, grabbing his hand. "You make a cute
Zel anyway!"
 Gina smiled as the two ran out towards the lift. "But are you looking for
cute, or scaring people?" she wondered aloud.

 About a mile or so away, high above the scores of trick-or-treaters roaming
the suburban streets, two bats flew from out of nowhere and, in a flash, became
humanoid figures.
 "Gah! I hate Earth," the female said as she formed. "Pathetically happy and
nice and all.. I can barely stand the place, even on All Hallow's Eve."
 "Don't complain, Natasha," the male vampire said. "At least all we have to do
is spend the night, and then we can return to our usual routines."
 She shot a look at him. "Don't start with me, Vlad," she countered. "Mister
'The-Council-won't-DREAM-of-decertifying-US'. Feh! Mandatory hours indeed."
 "How was I to know they would hold us to a minimum amount of time in the field
each century?" he shrugged. "Let's just get it over with and go home."
 "So where shall we begin?" she grumbled, then cut herself short. "Wait..
wait.. I.."
 "What is it?"
 "There!" she pointed, indicating a pair of people walking down a street,
carrying bags. She smiled and said almost hungrily, "Can't you feel them? The
one is so, SO young and innocent.." Her smile became a grin. "And a perfect
target.."
 "And the other one," Vlad said with an agreeable smile, "is equally
appetizing. There's almost a hint of.. duality within her."
 "Shall we?" Natasha asked, turning to face Vlad.
 He smiled again. "Let's."
 The two worked their way towards the unsuspecting couple.

 "How are we doing so far?" Raphiel asked Brianna, in between stuffing
mini-chocolate bars into his face.
 "Nuh.." she began, watching him eat. "Not bad," she tried again, "but the
whole point of Hallowe'en is that you dress up. So when people ask you what you
are, you don't answer 'a werecheetah', okay? Answer what you're dressed up as."
 "Oh, okay!" he said brightly. After a pause, he said "What AM I dressed up
as?"
 "You're Zelgadis," she reminded him. "Remember, from that anime we watched
last week?"
 "We watched so much, I have a hard time keeping them separated in my head," he
said, looking down at himself, "but I think it's coming back to me now."
 "Good. And, in case you've forgotten this too, I'm Lina Inverse."
 "Oh, the one with the..?" he said, bringing his hands together as if to form a
spell. As Brianna nodded, he did too. "That explains the light-thrower you were
showing Gina and Britanny before we left."
 "Yeah!" she said. "C'mon, let's hit a few more houses. We've gotta replenish
your stock now.. you're supposed to wait until we get home before you eat!"
 As Brianna dragged him down the street, he asked, "Is Zelgadis a werecheetah
too?"
 She was about to answer him when she saw something out of the corner of her
eye, high up and coming in fact. She slapped her side for the GyroJet pistol
that wasn't there, then leapt back as the something--or rather, the somethings,
plural, flew down at them, nearly taking their heads off before arcing back up
and flying away again.
 Brianna's eyes widened as the images sent to her brain finally convinced the
latter of what it was seeing. "ACK!!" she screeched, turning around and running
away a few feet. "Bats!"
 "What?" Raph said.
 Brianna was finally realizing she didn't have a weapon on her. "Th-those
were.. ewwww.. those were BATS!"
 Raph looked up at them with a smile. "Oh? Are they friendly?"
 "Run, Raph!" she countered. She looked up and saw, to her dismay, the bats
hanging there, almost looking as if they were relishing her reaction. Then they
dove at her and Raphiel again.
 Brianna turned and ran, but Raphiel stood his ground. A few feet in front of
him, the bats disappeared into a cloud of black and grey smoke with a POOF!,
just before two people appeared out of the other end of same cloud.
 Raph continued chewing on a Tootsie Roll as he watched the two people before
him. One was male, the other female, and both seemed to be grinning almost
evilly at him, fangs visible, kind of like the little fangs Brianna and
Britanny got when they realized there was only one can of tuna left in the
house, only bigger.
 "Wow!" Raphiel said to the two people before him. "Those are really great
costumes!"
 Vlad looked to Natasha, who was looking back at him. He shrugged and faced the
blue-grey creature before him again. "Raaarh!" he snarled, hoping he didn't
sound too corny.
 Natasha snarled and growled too, then said, "We are here for your blood, and
then your soul!"
 "You are?" Raphiel said. He rooted around in his bag. "I don't think I got any
sole yet tonight.. the neighbors tossed in a couple of cans of tuna, though, if
that's okay.."
 Again the two vampires trailed off bewilderedly, looking at one another and
then at Raphiel. Just then, Brianna found the nerve to run back to Raphiel and
tug on his arm. "C'mon!" she said. "Let's get outta here until we can--"
 "Oh, THERE you are, Brianna!" Raphiel said. "These folks're just hungry!
They're asking me if I have any sole, but I don't seem to.. (No halibut,
either..)"
 "No!" Brianna yelled at him, still tugging. "Soul! S-o-u-l soul! They're
VAMPIRES, Raph! Now c'mon, I don't have a gun with me! (Or a stake or
anything.. I wonder where that girl dressed up as Buffy went?)"
 "Why would you need a gun?" Raph pointed out. "You've got that super-weapon
you showed me and Gina and Britanny a while ago."
 "Uhhh.." Brianna said hesitantly, looking up to see the two vampires fold
their arms before them, wearing wide grins and staring hungrily at her. She
tried to tell herself that they were feasting on her morbid fear of bats, but
it wasn't helping.
 "Super weapon?" the female said, drawing it out slowly. "Oh, this should be
fun beyond belief."
 "Natasha, dear, remember what I was saying about her?" the male said. "Be
careful.."
 "Oh HUSH, Vlad!" Natasha snapped, then faced Brianna again. "Let's see it,
mortal. Hit us with your best shot."
 "U--uhh,.. okay.." Brianna said. She lifted her arms and hoped that Raph would
follow her once she turned around, for when she proved that the 'spell' was a
dud, she was going to turn away and pour on the speed, and not stop running
until she was under her bed back at the house.
 "Don't forget the words, Brianna," Raphiel pointed out joyfully. "You told me
the words're part of the whole effect."
 "Ohhh... Right," she said nervously. She tried to remember the phrases Lina
used in the anime, but her mind was running way too fast for her mouth to keep
up.
 "We're waiting, little girl," Natasha grinned.
 "Uhhm, .. d--darkness beyond c--crimson, twilight beyond blood, uh.." Brianna
began. It got even more mangled after that, and by the time she'd finished, she
had included part of the Pledge of Allegiance and some of Stone Cold Steve
Austin's trademark lines in there too, to fill up gaps in what she remembered.
Finally, she just said, "Oh, hell," and let the holodisplay go.
 Natasha smiled as the little red glow leapt from Brianna's hands. "Hah! No
spell you could cast can defeat my magic shiel--"
 She cut herself off as the little ball of light grew larger and larger and
showed no signs of being slowed by the magical damping around her. "oh.. sh.."
 Her eyes grew wide and she turned around, seeing Vlad doing the same. "RUN
AWAY! RUN AWAAAAAYYYY!" she screeched, trying to outrun the sphere of light.
 Brianna just stood there blinking. "Well, whaddaya know," she murmured.
 "Yay, Brianna!" Raphiel cheered, turning and hugging her. "I TOLD you it would
work! Now let's go do some more trick-or-treating; I'm empty again!"
 "You ARE??!" she blurted, looking into his bag full of empty wrappers.

 Vlad slowed from full gallop to simply a dead run a few moments later. Natasha
was still right beside him, screaming "RUN AWAAAY!". He looked over his
shoulder.
 "How close is it?" she asked him, panting.
 "It's.. it's gone," he said, slowing to a stop and turning around. "And so are
they."
 "What??" She stopped and looked down the street, then snapped, "Where did they
go?"
 "I can't tell, so many entities within reach," Vlad said.
 Natasha started stomping back the way they'd come. "Grr!" she growled. "How
DARE they run off like that! Come, Vlad! We'll find them and show them what it
means to attack the Queen of the Vampires!"
 Someone nearby cleared their throat just then. "Ahem," a female said in a
lilting voice.
 Vlad and Natasha turned as one to see a young blonde-haired human in a tight
outfit standing there smiling at them. Their eyes bugged out when they saw the
stake in her hand.
 "Did someone say.. vampires?" she grinned.

 Brianna turned the corner onto Wild Creek Trail and pointed out a house to
Raphiel. "Let's go there next! They always give out some really cool stuff!"
 "Okay!" he answered with his mouth full.
 She looked into his bag of goodies again, then rustled it. "Supply is just
barely keeping up with demand, isn't it? Aren't you gonna save any for later?"
 "Why would I do that?" he asked plainly as they walked up the front walk.
 "To eat later, dummy," she said with a smile.
 "Why would I do that?" he repeated. "I can eat it all now and save time!"
 She rolled her eyes. "Suit yourself," she said and clustered with the other
trick-or-treaters at the door.
 If the people in the house had any objections to doling out to a pair of
costumed people who towered a good three or four feet over the other ghosts and
witches and Pokebeasts, they didn't voice them. Then again, no one was
complaining about the fact that Brianna's Lina was just about the same height
as Raphiel's Zelgadis, either.
 "What are these?" Raph said, holding up the item from the last house.
 "Oh, they're really cool! Candy apples rolled in caramel and Rice Krispies!"
Brianna said. "They get better every year!"
 Raphiel took a bite out of his. After a moment, he mmmmm'ed and tried to say
something, but what with his mouth full, it was a lost cause.
 Brianna laughed. "I told you!" she said. She heard a rumbling just then, ears
picking up and twitching. "Hey.. you hear that?"
 "Hmmf mmmf?" he said, but it was apparent from the twitching his own ears were
doing, he was indeed hearing it. It sounded like it was coming from the street
they'd just left.
 Brianna walked down to Brook Forest Drive and looked down the direction they'd
come, paused and looked a little harder, then blinked. She wanted to run, but
her legs wouldn't move.
 The two vampires she and Raphiel had encountered earlier were running in her
direction, followed by every vampire hunter the streets had to offer, as if
they were putting on an impromptu show. There were at least half a dozen
Buffies and her friends, a couple versions of Blade, at least one 'D', and a
pair of Jack Crow clones. Every last one of them was racing down the street,
roaring and hooting and hollering as they chased Vlad and Natasha.
 "GANGWAY!" Natasha belted out, rushing past Brianna. Vlad was right with her,
and then the mob surged past. Most had styrofoam or rubber stakes made to look
wooden, but there was enough real wood being carried to make the vampires'
retreat worthwhile.
 The mob passed, and the street was silent again. Brianna stood right where
she'd been standing, staring in the direction the vampires and the mob had
gone. Other than the sound of the kids further up Wild Creek Trail, there
wasn't a sound to be heard.
 It was for that reason that she jumped a good five feet in the air when
Raphiel strolled up beside her and said out loud, "So what was going on?"
 "JINKIES!" she exclaimed as she touched down again. She glared at Raph for a
second, then softened. "It was nothing," she shrugged. "Nothing at all. Say,
did we do the other side of the street yet or not?"
 "I don't think so," he answered her. "I don't have anything from there,
anyway."
 "You don't have anything from ANYWHERE anymore," she pointed out with a smile,
turning back to the houses again. "C'mon, let's finish up this last street and
then go back home!"
 "Okay!" he nodded, falling into step behind her. The two of them hurried to
the east side of the street, trying to blend in with the other trick-or-
treaters again.

 Back in the Realm of the Undead, Vlad was making protests and covering his
head to protect it. Natasha followed him around the room, smacking him
occasionally about the head and shoulders.
 "'A town full of easy marks' you said!"
 "Ow!"
 "'All we have to do is spend the night'!" she mocked him. "That was the WORST
night I've ever had! Spending a night on the mortal plane hiding from
power-crazy sorceresses and stake-wielding hordes! I should disintegrate you
for this!"
 "Ow!" Vlad exclaimed again, then under his breath added, "At least I wouldn't
feel it any more.."
 "WHAT?! I HEARD THAT!"
 "Here it comes," he muttered to himself, wincing.
 "...No," she said after a moment. "I still need you to verify my time to the
Council."
 "Of course," he nodded, regaining most of his composure.
 "And THEN I will disintegrate you!"
 He walked away, across the room, hoping to defuse the situation by dropping
the subject. After a moment, he said, "What shall we tell the Council?"
 "The truth," Natasha bit out, turning and staring him right in the eyes. "That
we immediately found two souls that were morbidly petrified of us and ran
screaming while we chased them all night! That the female tried her magic but
it was no match for our immense power!"
 "Of.. of course," Vlad nodded. "The truth! How silly of me."
 She grumbled and said, "I am DEFINITELY not going back there with you next
year!"

 An hour later, Brianna and Raphiel had finally finished their circuit of the
neighborhood and were heading back to the complex. Brianna had two bags filled
to the brim with candy (except for the one nearer Raph, as he was snatching
things out of the top of it). Raphiel's own two bags were all but empty, not
counting all the empty wrappers he was lugging around.
 "This is great!" Brianna giggled. "I can't wait to do this again next year!"
 "Yeah, I really enjoyed myself!" Raph enthused. "I want to do this again too!"
 "Raph, you are lucky you're not five feet square after all the piggin' out you
did tonigh--" Brianna began in a laughing voice, but stopped herself short. She
sniffed and looked around through the crowd they were milling through on their
way back to Beech Haven Road.
 "What's wrong?" Raphiel said.
 "Don't you smell that?"
 "Smell what?"
 Brianna paused. "Never mind, it's gone now."
 Raph added, "I smell chocolate, and peanut butter, and caramel, and almonds,
and nougat, and licorice, and whatever those cone thingies are.."
 Brianna laughed and punched him playfully on the upper arm. "Yeah, you would."

 Fifteen feet away and heading in the opposite direction, three people in
catsuits walked through the crowd, also heading home, also checking out their
night's haul.
 The girl with strange pink hair peeking out from under her furry hood slammed
her sack shut. "Like, it's SO unfair, y'know? All that hard work and no cheesy
pooffs?"
 "Don't remind me. $#I+!" the other female complained. "I can't go on like
this. I gotta get me some pooffs!"
 "You'll both survive without your addiction for one more week," the male told
his companions. "(Though whether or not *I* will is still up for grabs.)"
 "Oh, shut up! You don't have a freakin' clue!"
 "C'mon, guys? Don't fight, 'kay?" the pink-haired one suggested.
 "She's right. We still have an overabundance of candies," the male said.
"Let's get back to home base and divvy them up."
 "Awright!"
 "'Kay!" said the pink-haired one as they hurried around the corner.

				  end