Hallow's Eve Wish: Best in Show

Managed to conjure enough energy (and enough luck) to get a good Midjourney Halloween caption done for y'all. And it's still the 31st for me so it's still on time for Halloween! Enjoy!]

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Steven stared down at the tiny pumpkin sitting on his front steps and sighed. The thirty-four year old accountant should have gotten to the store sooner and he definitely should have been practicing on his carving more than he actually had been over the past year. Which was not at all. And now the poor gourd had to sit there in the cold with nothing but a extremely poor attempt at 'art' chisled into it. What should have been the image of a dragon was more like a very sickly looking bird puking it guts out as it plummeted from the sky above.

"Ugh, I suck" Steven muttered to himself, wiping his forehead in frustration. He just wanted to win the annual pumpkin carving contest so badly! Sure maybe it was just a gift card, but just ONCE he wanted to win! But he was just too busy to dedicate the time required to hone his knife skills. And instead of winning he'd once again be met with nothing more than a bunch of judgemental 'hmms' and 'ohhs' from the judging committee that was making it's way down the street at this very moment!  Steven looked towards the festive procession as it moved from house to house in the neighborhood, making down on their precious clipboards what they thought about the arrayed jack'o'lanterns. He felt a brief spike of hate and anger at being snubbed the past two years, barely even getting a mention by the Karen of a Boomer leader of the committee 'thanking' everyone who participated! But in the end, as much as he wanted to blame the older generation for ignoring him, Steven knew that it was just his fault. He should have practiced more and gotten a better pumpkin.

"This is so stupid. God, I just wish my pumpkin had a great carving so I had a shot at winning!" The account huffed as the judges stopped at his neighbor's house.

"Oooh, nice one. Granted!" Chuckled a sinister, slimy sounding voice, and before Steven could even turn around he felt himself...changing! The world grew around him as he shrank! He was no tall Adonis but he'd lost almost a foot of his height in an instant! Long hair tumbled over his shoulders and into his face, and he swiped at the foreign locks with a slender hand before he was almost knocked off-balance as his torso exploded outwards as he grew...breasts!? and then he almost tumbled backwards as his new hips and butt burst into existence.

"Oh, oh god! I'M A WOM-" Steven called out in an alien voice before said voice went silent. He pawed at his mouth for a moment, finding plump new lips locked shut in a soft smile! And then his body froze entirely, his new arms grasping at his mouth and Steven's new long hair a wild tussle around a very pretty face, the accountant having not even noticed that his skeleton sweater had changed to nothing but a scant, almost see-through robe!

"Ah, perfect. Now hold still...heh!" The voice whispered again with another chuckle, and Steven felt himself shrinking once more! This time it wasn't a matter of inches, but entire feet as the world rose above the changed man like mountains rising from the sea! In mere moments he was barely twelve inches tall! But the strange transformation wasn't finished yet as the feeling of being horrendously bloated took over nearly all of Steven's mind as his feminine form swelled in a grotesque fashion! He could no longer feel his arms or legs and his hair was painfully stiff and standing straight up from the top of his skull! But then the world suddenly went...orange? The evening sky vanished and was replaced by darkness, his motionless, bloated and round body only feeling the chilly Halloween air.

'Oh god, what is happening!? Someone help me!?' Steven cried out, and for a moment he felt as if his cry had been answered...Only for the pain of something sharp stabbing into him! He screamed as the sharp, cutting pain dragged itself along the top of his head and then with a sickeningly loud POP! the top of his head was removed entirely!

"Bleh, this is the gross part. Almost done though!" The voice said again, and then Steven felt the horrible feeling of being bloated slowly recede as something large and gangly and not entirely Human reached inside of him and pulled out his guts! He wanted to cry out so badly, but there was only silence and the new feeling of being hollow. And then the pain began once more as quick, expert cuts sliced at his impossibly thick skin! But with each cut the world outside came into focus more and more, and Steven allowed himself a brief moment of hope...Until he realized he still couldn't move, of course.

"Ah, good, I remembered your pattern. That's why I changed you into a woman first, after all. And now the finishing piece..." The voice said again, and with the hiss of a match lighting, Steven felt a warm, but irritating flicker of heat from...behind him? And then a warm light was cast upon the darkening cemet of his sidewalk...And the shape outlined was that of a gorgeous woman!

'What? Is that a...oh god. Oh please no. I'm a jack'o'lantern!' Steven wailed as loud as he could, pleading that someone, anyone, would hear him and save him from his fate. But no help came, and the only company he had was the formless voice, snickering at him as the judges walked up to his home.

"Oh, that's wonderful! Steven really upped his game this year!"

"Those eyes! It's almost as if she's watching us!"

"Definitely top five!"

Steven screamed as the judges stopped over him, observing his carved curvy form for a few minutes before moving on. And then the voice spoke again.

"Don't worry, if you win, you'll change back. But your Hallow's End wish was to have a shot at winning so...hope the other pumpkins are worse looking than you! Good luck!" The voice snickered again before vanishing into the darkening night, leaving a small and defenseless jack'o'lantern with a pretty woman carved in it to do nothing but wait for it's new fate. Would Steven win and become human again, or was his new life simply to lose, rot away on the stairs watching the world pass him by and his life fading as rot and mold took over? The pumpkin could do nothing but sit and flicker and hope it got 'best in show!'.

Happy Halloween!