3/4★ Jack-O-Little

Fire Jack-O-Little

The mischief of a Jack-O-Little takes on numerous forms. Known examples include popping out from the dark and scaring people, hanging laundry inside out, picking all the hay out of a scarecrow’s head, and wandering around a graveyard making scary noises. By far the worst is when a Jack-O-Little knocks on the front door to a random house late at night and stays there for a long time without moving.

When a Jack-O-Lantie decides to stay in front of a house, most people go back to bed and wait for the next morning. When they come out again, they generally find that all of their shoes are missing, or their house’s entrance is filled with giant pumpkins that completely block the way out. If a Jack-O-Lantie decides to continue pranking a house, it sometimes results in the tennants moving out.

A certain master who was studying the ecology of Astromons once had a visitor come to his house. With a piece of candy in his mouth to keep his blood sugar high enough to keep concentrating, he headed toward the door to answer it. When he opened the door, he found a young girl atop a giant pumpkin. When the pumpkin began to speak, for some reason the master furrowed his brow and then stuck the candy he had been eating in the pumpkin’s mouth. To the girl, he gave chocolate that he happened to have in his pocket. The girl giggled and, seemingly satisfied, left. Word spread, and people ever since had candy and chocolate ready to give Jack-O-Lyn in case she ever comes by.

Water Jack-O-Little

Long, long ago, there lived a rich man named Jack. Despite his riches, Jack was cheap, so cheap that if others were as cheap as him, all the stores in Latecia would have gone out of business. But that was not Jack’s only problem. Jack enjoyed being mean to others, and seemed to always be in a bad mood. No one liked Jack.

No matter how rich or healthy a person may be, no one can live forever. Jack’s days were quickly coming to a close, until one day he was visited by a demon. Jack trapped the demon in a nearby pumpkin and demanded that the demon extend his life. The demon granted his wish.

After the time granted to him by the demon had passed, Jack died. Jack had hoped to receive the blessing of the goddess Stella and enter into heaven, but as the goddess of order, Stella did not approve of the repeated lies and evil deeds that had filled Jack’s life. With heaven closed to him, Jack called the demon once again and asked it to open the door to the underworld for him. It refused, and instead trapped him in a radiant pumpkin and threw him into the darkness. How this relates in any way to Jack-O-Lyn is still unknown, but doesn’t that chatterbox of a pumpkin just seem like it’s possessed by someone who just won’t be quiet?

Wood Jack-O-Little

miss the old days, back when everyone bowed to me. They used to be afraid of me. I loved the looks in their eyes back then. It made me want to hurt them more. I didn’t care if it isolated me. I hated everyone.

I tricked everyone I could, even a demon. I trapped it inside a pumpkin and restrained it with special chains I stole from the Astromasters’ Association. The demon had no choice but to do as I said. Seeing the look on that demon’s face made me feel much better than the fact that I had escaped death. Heh heh heh. I really was a terrible person.

“But then there was nowhere for me to go. I was doomed to wander for eternity. No one accepted me, and no one wanted me.”

“Haha! You’ve got me, don’t you?”

“…”

“I’ll always be by your side. Always. Let’s go be mean to that happy-looking person. Let’s go topple that bag full of grain. Let’s go surprise people walking in the dark. If we keep causing others trouble, they’ll hate us more and more. Isn’t that what you wanted? This is all what you wished for, right?”

Light Jack-O-Little

Observation Log No. 33-1

Observed by: Professor Julian

This pumpkin-headed Astromon’s main activities include floating and playing mischievious jokes on the unsuspecting. It has been said to target unlucky travelers, but has not demonstrated a particular preference when choosing its victims. For example, Test Subject #1 (myself) and Test Subject #2 (male Lattrix, 5 years old), despite their utter difference in both size and form, were both assaulted with fecal matter in equal measure.

Observation Log No. 33-12

Observed by: Professor Julian

The Astromon in question appears in the fall wearing a pumpkin mask. While each Astromon has its own preferences for weather and climate, very few are only observable during a specific season as the Jack-O-Lantie is. This Astromon is normally found on farms just before the harvest, and although it doesn’t do any direct damage, it is considered a nuisance due to the tricks it plays.

Observation Log No. 33-28

Observed by: Professor Julian

After a Jack-O-Lantie’s evolution, it turns into a young girl riding atop a giant pumpkin, each with their own personalities. She is a girl of few words, leaving room for the pumpkin to do most of the talking—and oh, does it talk…and talk, and talk. Should you ever find yourself caught in a conversation with the pumpkin, your only hope of escape is to stuff its mouth with copious amounts of sweets.

Dark Jack-O-Little

“As I walked toward the graveyard in the deep of the night, I once again remembered how much I resented my brothers, punishing my 12-year-old self for losing a simple eating contest. It wasn’t that I was scared—I was one of the bravest boys I knew—it was just that I wasn’t used to the night… Yeah, that’s it. It felt like any old thing could come crawling out any second. My oldest brother tried to scare me, saying there was a ghost in the cemetary that feasted on children. I just focused on getting the ronium flowers my brothers left there earlier in the day.”

“‘Eep!’ I had an embarrassing habit of making that noise whenever I was surprised. It was the sound I made that night when I felt something swoosh by. Luckily, I was sure no one had heard it. They had said the flowers were around the middle of the cemetary, but it was hard to make out individual objects in the darkness. I had no choice but to wait for the moon to come out from behind the clouds. As I paced deep in thought, rays of moonlight began to shine down, and in front of me I saw the ronium flowers…in the hands of a girl.”

“I stopped dead in my tracks. Well, not dead, but you know. This girl was unlike the snot-nosed Yurelle or Jeade or any other girls in the village that were my age. Standing in the moonlight with those ronium flowers, she exuded innocence and purity. She stared at the brightly shining flower petals and then, as if she had just remembered something, looked over and locked eyes with me. I took a step back, and it was only then that I saw the giant pumpkin she was riding. It was the source of the odd noise I had heard earlier and, I realized, was the source of my uneasiness. Had I known about it sooner, I would’ve run out of there without ever looking back. As I ran, I heard it say, ‘Can we eat that moving thing? Is that okay? Can we? Can we? Let’s eat it!’