Archive of Our Own

Halloween was always a fun holiday. You got to dress up as a character from a favorite movie or television show. You got to eat as much chocolate and candy as you wanted. But then you'd almost immediately regret it after getting that nasty stomachache. Not to mention the sugar high you're so far up in the clouds on doesn't let you get any sleep that night.

But it's all worth it because it's the one night a year when it's socially acceptable to be wild and crazy in costume.

St. Patrick's Day doesn't count. Because who wants to dress up like a leprechaun? Besides Riley.

Shelby admired herself in the mirror. Though she decided to be Hermione Granger from Harry Potter the previous year, this Halloween she went to the complete opposite end of the spectrum. She decided to dress up as Lady Gaga.

More specifically, Lady Gaga and her meat dress.

Not made out of actual meat. Shelby thought of it, of course. But decided it would be dangerous to be wearing actual meat around Koda. Because he'd try to eat her like she was his favorite Bronto Burger. And Tyler wasn't going to allow that to happen. So one afternoon where they weren't pegged by one of Sledge's monsters, Shelby sat down and began to make her Halloween costume.

It wasn't that difficult. All she did was find some fabric that she could alter and make look like actual meat. Though she knew she was going to have to remind Koda not to take a bite out of her arm. This wasn't The Walking Dead and she wasn't Daryl Dixon. When Shelby was finished, she admired her handiwork set on the desk before her and nodded. "There we go, nobody's going to know what hit them when faux meat dress Lady Gaga shows up to the party."

The next day before the party, the Dino rangers decided to meet up in the lab before heading upstairs to the museum, where the party was being held for staff members and guests. Shelby wasn't all that surprised to see her boyfriend, Tyler Navarro there dressed as Aladdin. "Really? Lady Gaga and Aladdin? That's not weird or anything." Tyler just shrugged it off and pointed to Koda who emerged from his cave looking like Li Shang from Mulan.

"Why I wearing this?" Koda questioned and Tyler walked over and patted his friend's shoulder. "Because you're the perfect Li Shang!"

"Li Shang?" Koda was clearly confused, that just made Shelby make a mental note that they had to watch Mulan together as a group later. Of course Tyler and Chase would sit through the whole thing, singing every single song. Shelby can hear Chase now, Oh Riley! I'll make a man out of you! Oops, already did! Shelby shuddered at the mental image. That's not something she needed to be constantly reminded of.

Someone had just slid down the slide and entered the lab and while Shelby looked up, she saw Riley. "Whoa, Riley! Looking good!" He was dressed as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. The youngest ranger began to blush. "I just really wanted the sword but Chase wanted me to be Phillip."

Uh huh, of course Chase would.

"What! Shelby, no!"

There was a shout and with that accent, Shelby immediately knew it was Chase who had been standing behind her. When the pink ranger turned around, she saw Chase standing there in the exact same costume she was wearing.

Meat dress Lady Gaga.

"Chase! What the hell are you wearing?!"

"Isn't that obvious?" Chase asked while the other rangers began to gather around their pink and black, all of them trying to stifle back the laughter but obviously doing a terrible job at it. Riley was standing there, anxiously biting his lip but not doing anything to hold back the cheesy grin appearing on his face. Tyler completely lost it, he was holding his stomach from the over abundance of laughter. Koda was the most confused of them all, his gaze shifting from Shelby to Chase, then back to Shelby. "Why wear meat?"

"Unlike Shelby's, mine has actual bacon on it." Chase wagged an index finger in the air and Koda's eyes immediately lit up. "Bacon?"

"Yes, Koda. Bacon. You can't be meat dress Lady Gaga without some actual meat! And there's more where this came from."

Riley immediately smacked the palm of his hand to his forehead at the suggestiveness of his boyfriend. "I can't believe you just said that, Chase."

"Oh don't worry love, it's only for you."

Cue Riley's face turning beet red and more obnoxious laughter from Tyler.

When Chase looked to his side, Koda had been standing awfully close to him. "Koda? What exactly are you doing?"

Koda grinned mischievously and began sniffing Chase. "You smell like meat."

"Uh, yeah. Meat dress Lady Gaga."

Shelby began laughing, this is exactly why she didn't make her dress out of actual meat. She knew Koda was going to get hungry. She caught Riley's eye and he seemed to be thinking the same thing she was. He arched an eyebrow and walked up to his boyfriend. "It seems like Koda's going to try and eat you, Gaga."

It took a few seconds for the thought to process through Chase's brain and when it did, his eyes grew wide. "Oh no."

"Just one bite, Chase." Koda said as Chase began to slowly walk backwards away from him.

"Riley! Help!" Chase yelped as Koda began running after him, he had tried to used Riley as a shield but the younger man didn't want to get involved. It wasn't until somebody new appeared in the lab and as the newcomer cleared her throat, everyone stopped to look up and see Kendall standing there, also wearing a faux Lady Gaga meat dress.

"Oh, come on!" Chase shouted as he narrowly avoided Koda attempting to tackle him to the ground.

Shelby walked up to Riley and gently nudged his arm with her elbow. "So how many packs of bacon did he use?"

Riley sighed as he stood there, debating if he should step in and rescue his boyfriend or not. "A lot. That's one expensive meat dress. And it looks like Koda's going to eat it."

After a few minutes of torture for Chase and amusement for everyone else, Riley quickly intervened and was able to rescue Chase. "It's about time, Phillip! Now let me borrow your cape."

Needless to say, minus the incident, the Halloween party at the Amber Beach Dinosaur Museum was a complete success. And it was Koda who won first place in the costume contest.