Soft Shadows
A Short Story Costarring Shadow

Twilight gleamed through the awnings of shops on Langston Road in downtown Eddington.  The city street gave way to golden radiances beckoning people home after a long day at work.  Cars idled quietly down the thoroughfare as rush hour traffic finally subsided.

A lone man traipsed down the sidewalk adjacent to the businesses shuttering their doors for the night.  He stood impressively at a girth of six-foot-six.  Thick brunette locks draped backwardly down his head and stubble covered his strong chin.  Donning a gray Dragonite shirt and blue jeans, the green-eyed man’s rugged build was silhouetted by them more than they concealed it.  His black cleats clacked against the pavement with every step as he fiddled around on his smartphone during his walk home.

Passing back various shops, he motioned by a sideways glance at the meticulous displays up in the storefront windows.  Miscellaneous toys for sale at one off-brand toyshop, a jewelry store with luxurious trinkets, amongst others paupering various home goods all caught his attention.  Window shopping had its perks right now since he didn’t have time during the daylight hours to pop into the merchantiles, but he could easily plan on purchases for later.

Ducking into an adjacent alleyway now, the waning light of dusk gave way to rather unique shadows.  Knowing well nighttime’s dangers, the man readied a switchblade kept in his pocket, need he be ready to stab his way out of a possible mugging or ambush.  Nobody appeared to be close by, save for the miscellaneous dumpsters where hobos might sleep in and random doors from which people might exit.

Proceeding down the sidestreet, the man stuffed his phone away into his other pocket.  Leeringly he made a quiet pace through the dank environment, hoping to leave without incident.  Noisey clanging came from a few dumpsters, only to be revealed as the scurrying of vermin scavenging food within them.  A few doorways creaked open slowly, only to have employees from stores quickly rush out to dunk trash bags into the disposal and hastily return indoors with barely a look in his direction.  Even so, he didn’t want to let his guard down just yet.

About halfway through the aisle, he stopped near the backdoor of a certain shop that suddenly piqued his curiosity.  Cocking his head slightly to the left, the man noticed the door was ajar with a questionable light coming from it.  Against his better judgment, he staggered towards it as if beckoned by something.

Through the hint of a crack in the entry, he peered inside.  There was but a single dim bulb illuminating the store room of what appeared to be an old costume shop.  Dusty boxes covered with cobwebs were shoved in the far corners, while the stray arms and feet of random animal mascot costumes littered the floor.  Leaning in a bit closer, he just faintly made out the sounds of mice scurrying beneath the floorboards.

Hearing voices from another room, the man instinctively withdrew towards nearby garbage cans.  He crouched a little as if to hide from whomever was coming outside.  A few moments passed with nobody coming outside, however.  Assuring himself of the fact, he impulsively returned to the curious portal to see if he’d spot anything new.

Tugging on the handle gently, the door creaked open enough for him to peek inside a tad easier.  Nothing apparently changed in the past moment or two, though now the light seemed somewhat brighter.  Most of the floor was visible, revealing the tattered remains of torn costumes as well as suspicious debris strewn about where it hadn’t been previously.

Inquisitively he pulled the door further open for even better visibility.  Peeking inwardly, the man found himself instinctively yanking it open the rest of the way.  Soon after, he found himself drawn inside as if invited by an unseen force.  Creeping towards the center of the dim chamber, the backdoor silently closed behind him.

Standing dead center under the light, the man’s eyes slowly adjusted to the otherwise dark interior.  Amongst the various costumes, he noticed several oversized Pokemon outfits just stored haphazardly.  An old Pikachu outfit had been stuffed in the far corner, its fur faded and matted as well as the arms and legs pulling apart somewhat at the seams.  Likewise, a Lapras costume was folded-up unevenly nearby with the headpiece laying sideways on the floor with a saddened expression.

Glancing around more, he felt a presence of unease here.  It seemed like someone watched him from somewhere nearby, but he couldn't figure out exactly where.  Only costumes laid dormantly on the floor and nobody had entered the room since he came in.

Hesitantly, the man moved ahead towards an apparent set of double doors leading further into the building.  As he got closer, he noticed that this entry had actually been boarded off for a long time.  An old cardboard sign hanging from a string tied to  the doorknob read in faded bold lettering “DO NOT ENTER!”, which in turn was doubly underlined for emphasis.  Upon further inspection, nails holding the boards in place had given way over time, likely due to rot.  One board sagged somewhat on the left side, whilst the others seemed like they were about ready to fall off.

With a firm yank, he jostled the sagging one free and the others simply fell off with it.  A cloud of dust quickly filled the stagnant, musty air as they hit the floor.  He wafted it away from his face briefly.  Meanwhile, the doors seemed to have creaked open from the crash and/or removal of its barricade.  Pulling them open the rest of the way, the man cautiously stepped into the next room.

Unlike the store room, this place seemed almost pitch black.  There was no way his eyes could adjust to the mediocre lighting of this interior chamber.  So he decidedly pulled out his phone and fumbled to turn the flashlight on.  It wasn’t much, but he could better make out the menagerie about to beset him.

Numerous costumes were hung up on racks and displays all throughout a massive sales floor.  Everything from Pokemon suits to animal mascots and even costume accessories for Halloween seemed to be here.  The man went out into the main area to investigate further.  Upon closer inspection, they all appeared to be dusty old outfits with occasional cobwebs clinging to them as well as chew marks from whatever vermin got into them for nesting material.  A shame because he would’ve loved to have tried some on before leaving.

Pivoting around quickly, the man shouted out with a commanding report, “Who’s there?”

Deafening silence filled the room suddenly as he swept his light from side-to-side.  He swore he just heard someone sneaking up behind him or leastwise noises from across the room.  But there was nothing, just more costumes standing at attention amongst the displays.

Unsure whether it was just his imagination or the building settling, the man continued on with his lookover.  Shining his flashlight around the far corners of the room, he noticed one part of the store had been sectioned off exclusively for Pokemon costumes.  Ones out in the main shop appeared to be mostly popular Pokemon from the late 1990s and early 2000s such as Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Marill.  This new area seemed to have a better assortment of characters that the general public probably forgot about.

Heading off in that direction, his footsteps seemed to create echoey squeaks on the floorboards.  Given this place had been abandoned for some time, that shouldn’t be much of a surprise.  However, they seemed to be extra creaky from somewhere right behind him.

Turning about hastily, he caught the glimpse of a shadowy figure hightailing it off to the opposite corner of the store.  From the abrupt flash of his light, he saw that it was a tall, possibly slender thing with something lagging from its backside.  Most likely, someone in costume tried to mess with him given their hasty retreat.

“Hey!  Come back here!” he called out as he started running after them.  They were remarkably fast, so he had all he could do to catch up.  Rounding the partially walled-off section of the store, the man stood there in pure shock of what he saw.  Nothing.  Just more costumes.

This part of the shop seemed no different than the others.  The only thing remotely noteworthy was that there were anime-themed suits here.  Hello Kitty, Totoro, Lugia from Pokemon, amongst others had all been lined up neatly and arranged in orderly fashion.  Examining the singular Pokemon outfit here, he further deduced that it wasn’t just a standard Lugia, but specifically Shadow Lugia from the videogame Pokemon XD-Gale of Darkness.  A simple mistake he shouldn’t have made, given how religiously he played the game as a teenager, but the general design of the costume threw him off for a moment there.

Heading back to where he just came from, the man just barely noticed a glint of red coming from Shadow Lugia’s eyes as he turned away with his phone.  He dismissed it as the reflection of his flashlight while he turned back around, heading to the front of the shop.  More eerie squeaks came from the old hardwood as he walked towards the Pokemon costume displays, but he felt like there was nothing behind him this time to bother checking again.

As he entered the sectioned off area across the room, the man felt an unusual chill down his spine.  Someone was definitely watching him in here.  An impending sense of hostility emanated someplace among the bright and cheery Pokemon outfits strewn all about this place, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it came from.

Raising his flashlight, the beam brightly engulfed numerous costumes setup in this area.  There was another Pikachu suit right next to him as well as other members of the evolutionary family including Pichu, Kantonian Raichu, and Alolan Raichu all standing at attention right in a row.  Glancing down the line, he noticed an oversized Mew outfit along with the Legendary Birds of Kanto and Ho-oh.  On the opposite side of the aisle stood a standard Lugia, a second Shadow Lugia, an anthropomorphized Kyogre, and a Groudon suit.  The coup-de-grace, however, at the end of the section was a highly decorated and precisely detailed replica of Palkia hanging elegantly inside a closed glass case that perfectly enshrined it from the elements.

Seemingly entranced, the man approached the costume in awe of the sheer quality it had.  Palkia wasn’t his favorite legendary from the Diamond and Pearl series, but the stunning features on the outfit brought the character basically to life.   If nothing else, he needed to try the suit on before leaving.

He slowly reached to undo the simple latch holding the case firmly shut when he suddenly heard more creaks coming up behind him again.  Pivoting around straight away, the same shadow from early suddenly darted behind the partition walling off the section he was in.  Shaking his head disapprovingly, he reached into his one pocket the switchblade he’d kept on-hand for defensive purposes.  Flipping it open, he wielded it like a dagger in his right hand while keeping his phone in his left one, moving forward to confront his stalker.

“Alright!  You wanna play that game, let’s play that game.  But we’re doing it my way.  I ain’t dealing with this crap tonight and you know it!” he shouted, trying to scare his pursuer out of their hiding place.

As he rounded the corner leading to the sales area again, he panned his phone’s flashlight around the room cautiously.  He wanted to expose whoever was in here with him from their hiding spot.  However, he also knew there weren’t a lot of places where they could actually go, even hiding amongst the costumes.  Steadying himself as he moved with his back to the wall, he quietly scanned for his assailant in hopes of avoiding an ambush.

“Where are you?  Show yourself!” he hollered again, hoping to provoke them.  A few moments passed but there was only silence.

Reaching the end of the sidewall, the man turned another corner leading to a space he hadn’t been in yet, shining his light around anxiously.  This section appeared to be mostly for animal mascots, primarily sports ones.  He saw foxes, chipmunks, and badgers of different types all lined up in rows.  Oddly enough, another Shadow Lugia suit was hung up on display here too.  Out of curiosity, he went up to it in order to get a closer look.

Stopping right before it between a baseball-playing fox and a soccer-playing raccoon, he held his phone high-up but with a downward angle so he could better inspect it.  This costume appeared impeccably well-made, consisting of a large purple body with a generally draconic form.  Its arms were plumped out with thick stuffing, giving them the semblance of wings with five large fingerlike feathers at their tips.  Likewise the suit had stocky legs dropping down from its lavender-colored underbelly, which in turn had three soft curly talons on each foot.  Shadow Lugia’s tail lagged down-and-around so that it curled out in front of its body onto the floor, revealing a set of matching fins on its end.  Aiming his lightsource upwards, the man looked at the craned neck of the beast, only to meet a pair of soulless red eyes staring curiously back at him from within separate light-purple fins protruding from the creature’s brow.

The man blinked twice before noticing the entity’s arm had moved to grab at his phone.  Jerking his left arm back, he thrust his other arm into the beast, stabbing it with his blade and ripping a small hole into its gut.  Some cotton pulled out as he yanked his weapon free while stepping away.  However, the monster just looked at him inquisitively, reeling its neck back-and-forth as it slowly stepped towards him.

Shaking his head annoyedly, the man dashed off sideways while keeping his focus on the entity coming after him.  Instinct told him to get away, but he knew to put some obstacles between himself and the monster first.  He knocked down some smaller displays as the Lugia plush-suit let out a horrifying scream.  Stopping a few steps outside of the sports mascot area, he watched as the creature immediately crouched into a half-lying position much like a bird.  Right afterwards, it spread its wings and straightened its tail as if readying for takeoff.

As soon as Shadow Lugia sprang into the air, he darted away further into the darkness, stumbling over miscellaneous debris he flashlight didn’t reveal in his frantic run.  The bird slammed down viciously where he’d just been, making only a soft thumping noise in the darkness.  Glancing back, he only saw the faint outline of the thing tailing him, mere silhouettes visible in place of where its eyes should’ve been in the dingy lighting of the room.

Noticing he quickly approached a dead-end near the other side of the room, the man decidedly turned to face his attacker head on.  Shining his light back at the avian monstrosity closing in, he held out his knife again and readied to slash.  Once the entity realized he was cornered, it basically dove right at him as if to tackle the man to the ground.  He heard the sound of a zipper unzipping as it did.  At the very last second, he sidestepped a few feet to the left to let the bird slam into the displays behind him, all the while slashing a good part of its neck open to gut more stuffing from it.  Hitting the rack of mascot costumes hard, the bird suddenly buried itself in a pile of fur and fluff, after which the man vamoosed out of that part of the store.

Against his better judgment once more, the man had only one agenda at this point-get that Palkia costume basically preserved in mint condition out of its case.  Finding his way back to the sales floor, he took a long moment to get his bearings again.  The way out was directly behind him, while the Pokemon suit displays were way over in the far corner right next to the front door.  However, it appeared the front entry had been barred heavily from the outside and it seemed unlikely he’d get the same luck busting it open like the back entrance.

Assessing the area further to make certain there were no more threats, the man quietly headed back over to the Pokemon costumes.  Hastily but quietly passing up the other outfits just ready for the taking, he crept back over to the case with the amazing Palkia suit still intact.  He did notice something a bit off, though-the other Shadow Lugia suit from earlier had mysteriously vanished.  It wasn’t the biggest concern considering what he’d just been through, but it did baffle him a little.  Never the matter, more pressing things needed to be dealt with.

Upon reaching the Palkia display again, he undid the fastener holding the plexiglass door shut.  Gently opening it, the man reached inside and carefully pulled out the soft plush-styled bodysuit from the container.  Hefting it out under its own arms, he giddily pulled it in close to his own body and gave it a big hug like a stuffed animal.  The suit was incredibly soft to the touch while the varying pink accents made it soothing to hold.

Once he finished hugging the oversized Palkia costume, the man slung it over his shoulder with a fair amount of ease.  Turning to leave, he found himself deadlocked in the stare of something fierce across the room.  Even though the light from his phone wasn’t enough to illuminate that spot, it was plain as day that this was the same entity he just caused to slam into the displays at the other end of the store.  But then again, it seemed different somehow, as if it’d gotten larger and bulkier in the past couple minutes.  This time its eyes were glowing a heinous shade of red, much like the very creature it was supposed to depict.

The man quietly shuffled the Palkia suit so that it balanced on his shoulder better, while also readying his knife to slash at the thing if it got too close again.  Slowly but quietly, he motioned forward a couple steps.  Meanwhile the entity seemed content only to glare at him from a distance, leastwise until he probably got within striking range.  Spreading its wings out and crouching somewhat, the being seemed to be getting ready to attack him whenever the chance arose.

Creeping ever more slowly, the man mentally prepared to make a run for it with a mad charge if he had to.  As he began exiting that section of the store, his light range increased revealing this suit to indeed be significantly larger than the other one, almost as though it were the real Shadow Lugia from the videogame.  The apparent muscle structure it possessed compared to the first seemed drastically different too, much like a living being instead of a suit.  With but another step out into the foyer, the beast reared its head and gave out a ghastly scream.

Suddenly the man found himself running off towards the rear entrance from where he’d come.  Hearing the sound of miscellaneous racks and costumes being knocked over, he instantly knew this creature was keeping pace.  There was no questioning it kept right on his heels, unlike the other that had been just a bit slower.  Serpentining around items in the way didn’t seem to help as the unmistakable of this entity cooing angrily proved to be too close for comfort.

Sprinting past the checkout counter near the back of the store, the man felt a wave of relief come over him upon seeing the double doors to the storage room once again.  He tried his best to increase his footspeed, but it didn’t do much good as he was nearly out of the main store.  Right at the threshold into the back room, he desperately threw the Palkia suit inside and whipped his body around, only to be met by the angry silhouette of the monster glaring him dead in the eyes.  He immediately rushed to slam both doors shut before the beast could come in, only to hear something pat against the decrepit doors.  Holding them firmly closed a moment, he heard the moans of an anguished predator gripe over its meal having escaped, to which an eerie silence shortly followed.

Waiting a few long moments to reassure himself that the creatures had truly given up their pursuit, the man made certain the doors actually stayed shut before returning to his quarry.  He went over to pick up the luxurious Palkia suit from the floor, dusting off what little debris had collected on it due to him throwing it on the ground in panic.  There didn’t seem to be any damage to it, thank heavens.  Finishing his inspection of the prize, he slung the costume over his right shoulder again.

Closing the blade on his knife, he put it away along with his phone and finally headed for the exit.  Upon reaching it, he gave the door handle a firm push but it didn’t open.  Trying it again and again a few more times, the man resorted to kicking it open, only to no avail.  The only way out was a solid steel security door made to keep thieves out once it was firmly closed.  In a momentary lapse of judgment, the damn thing had been blown shut by the wind or something and locked him inside.

Pondering what to do now, he felt a soft tug on his left shoulder followed by the Palkia suit suddenly being tossed aside from his right one like a ragdoll.  There was the unmistakable sound of something unzipping behind him, and then the familiar sight of a purple handlike wing grabbing his side.  Before he knew it, he got stuffed inside one of the Shadow Lugia suits from earlier, the smaller one apparently given how snuggly it fit.  For a brief moment, he tried climbing back out of the suit only to be forced back inside by an oversized purple finger and the sinister face of his captor craning its neck over to watch him get zippered inside.

All was darkness now.  It seemed soft and cozy at first, but he quickly realized this would soon become a suffocating prison if he couldn’t figure out a way to get free.  Managing to stretch his arms and legs into the suit’s respective appendages, he did all he could to force his body to overtake the suit.  Twas all for naught, however, as the suit immediately knew what he attempted as it stiffened up its own form in order to keep him immobilized.  Once he was no longer able to squirm, the man quietly gave up.

Relaxing his muscles a bit, he felt the suit’s unusually soft lining and realized he actually enjoyed it.  It was surprisingly comforting, despite the fact that it’d just taken him literally hostage in its own body.  If not for that factoid, he might’ve actually bought it when the store had been open for business.  But he didn’t know it even existed until literally now.

Meanwhile he could feel the first stages of asphyxiation setting in.  There seemed to be an encroaching numbness taking over his body, and it became harder to breathe now.  Hallucinations were also coming on at this point as he felt his body parts begin to elongate, fitting more perfectly into the niches of the suit.  His arms stretched out like the wings of the suit, becoming soft and pliable enough to flatten out with the contours of the lining.  The legs of the suit seemingly tightened to fit along the growing thickness of his own stalky clodhoppers.  Neck outstretching so that his deforming face met the head of the suit, the lining eventually flattened his features into a soft pancake of fabric.  All the while, a lagging tail sprouted from his tailbone to fill out the space in the suit’s tail as did a zipper materialize down his now distended belly and plated fins sprouted from his back.  Madness before he drew his final breath, after which he finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

A short while later, he awoke to find himself strewn out on the floor of the very place he’d just tried to rob.  The man’s body felt awkward, literally flattened against the surface he had been laid out upon.  He could tell he was stretched out someway but didn’t entirely understand how.  In any case, he knew he was alive or at least conscious of whatever happened right now.

Grabbing him by the sides, one of the Shadow Lugia helped him get set up on the display they had just prepared for him.  He didn’t know exactly what was going on, but he instinctively felt that these two didn’t have hostile intentions anymore.  In fact, they seemed quite friendly.  No words were exchanged, but they made sure he knew they meant him no more harm.  Both took turns securing him into his new housing so that one day he would be prepared to welcome others to the family in the very way they’d welcomed him.  This was home now and he’d enjoy every moment of being a plush-suit.

End