The boys had been practicing. A LOT. But only at night after they had changed.
"MIKE!" Micky screamed for the thousandth time, "This ISN'T gonna work. I can't keep a hold on these stupid drum sticks with these stupid wings!"
"Well, it's not as if we have a choice Micky, we HAVE to play this gig. Babbit's gonna kick us out if we don't pay the rent from three months ago soon." Mike explained, nearly dropping his guitar because his own feathers were pretty slippery.
Micky groaned a bit and picked up his drumsticks again.
Out of all of them, Peter seemed to be the only one who wasn't having any trouble at all. Which was surprising because his paws were far too small for playing the Bass, not to mention the Piano.
"Okay guys, Last Train, from the top!" Mike said, and they launched into the song for about the 20th time that evening.
Crystal sat on the couch and listened to them, letting the slightly off-key music lull her into a comfortable catnap.
They practiced all night until the sun came up and they changed back because tomorrow was the big gig and they still weren't ready.
As Mikes feathers slowly melted back into his double breasted red shirt he sighed. "Well, it'll have to do, lets get some sleep before the show tonight." He stalked off to bed in a fairly bad mood. The other three weren't much happier.

That evening they packed up the car before sunset. They had to be at the gig to set up before they changed, which Micky thought was fortunate because it was much easier to carry his drumset with arms rather then wings. Davy was pretty happy too because it meant he could mingle with the chicks a bit before he became a Chipmunk again. Mike and Peter were rather indifferent. Mike just wanted to get this show over with, he KNEW it was gonna be terrible. Peter just didn't care, he was happy to be himself, but he LOVED being a hare too.
They all climbed into the Monkeemobile and headed for the Vincent Van Go-Go, where they would set up and meet Crystal.
Everyone in the place was dressed in all types of weird, scary and wacky costumes. Peter stared at them with a big smile on his face. He loved Halloween.
"Come ON Peter!" said Micky, nudging him. Peter was blocking his way and Micky would kill someone if he had to carry in his stuff and set up as a giant parrot.
"Oh, sorry Micky..." said Peter, still clutching his base and taking in the sights.
Davy was already off flirting with a large group of girls.
"DAVY!" shouted Micky.
"Sheesh, cool it man!" said Mike.
"BUT but but.. I WANT TO SET UP NOOOWW!" Micky screeched. He was highly flustered.
"Man, I am anxious too, but we just gotta roll with the punches." said Mike and stalked off to set up.
"Roll with the...??" said Micky, not understanding. He shrugged and started to set up his drums.
"Okay, everyone!" announced a guy. "This is the Monkees! They are gonna play for us! Take it away, fellas!"
"Um.. we'd like to wait a bit, if you don't mind? We.. uh.. have this very precise.. thing set up.. we don't start playing till after the sun goes down.. you know.. Halloweeny sorta thing...." said Mike.
"Oh.. um..." said the guy.
"We have to change! It'll take a while. We have elaborate costumes!" said Davy, helping Mike out.
"Oh. Well, I guess that's okay. Just don't take too long!" said the guy and announced to the crowd that the Monkees had a special treat for them tonight.
"Oh geez... what are we gonna do?" said Micky.
"Well, at least our "costumes" will be groovy!" said Peter.
"Oh man you like this *WAY* too much!" said Davy, slapping him lightly on the face.
They all looked at their watches. Except Peter, who looked at his bare arm.
"Okay, we have 5 minutes till sundown. Let's go guys!" said Mike and they all sauntered into the spare room in the back, locking the door.
Five minutes later they were fully "dressed" and sauntered back out to the stage.
"Okay, um... we're back..." said Mike to the guy.
"Oh, WOW those are GREAT costumes! But I've sent some other bands up ahead of you cause I wasn't sure how long you'd need.
Feel free to mingle and get something to eat or drink.
Everything's free for the bands tonight!" said the guy.
"He.. got other bands?" asked Peter.
"Well, its a big party, and long. I'd hate to be playing the *WHOLE* thing and plus its really good money!" said Davy.
"Yeah, let's find Crystal. She'll be here any minute." said Mike. They all went and mingled a bit, grabbing a bite to eat here and there. Everyone complimented them on their costumes.
"Wow!" said Micky, drinking a Coke. "We should go to a wild swinging party EVERY Halloween!"
"I thought you didn't like being a parrot..." asked Peter.
"Oh well its pretty neat....... sometimes." said Micky, finishing off his Coke and going to get another one.
Mike and Davy were talking to a pair of girls who were sitting alone. Peter had found Crystal and was dancing with her.
Micky was drinking Cokes like there was no tomorrow cause they were free.
They listened to the other bands.
"Man, we could outplay them all, if we weren't animals..." said Mike.
"Yeah...." said Davy, twinkling at one of the girls.
"Wow you guys play!? How do you play with those costumes on?" asked a girl.
"Badly." said Mike.
The girls giggled.
"Well, we figured its better to look better than sound better at a Halloween party..." said Davy, still twinkling.
"Well, you guys look GREAT! I doubt anyone will notice you aren't playing as good."
This gave Mike and Davy more confidence. They went to find Micky and Peter as it was getting to be time for them to play.
The song that had been playing ended and Mike and Davy found Peter and Crystal.
"You guys gonna be okay?" She asked, brushing at her ears.
"Yeah, no problem." Said Peter with confidence. Mike and Davy smiled, they had been complimented on how they looked so much that they were floating on cloud nine and a half.
Micky walked over to them, finishing off about his 30th coke for the evening. "Well, ready or not, its time to play!" He said, extremely jumpy and hyper from all the caffeine.
Crystal went off to get herself some punch and the four WereMonkees headed for the stage.
"Now, Ladies and Gentleman, THE MONKEES!" The announcer yelled into the Mic as they slipped behind their instruments. They launched into their characteristic opening song Last Train To Clarksville smoothly. Halfway through the song Mike turned to wink at Micky and mouth 'We're doing GOOD!' at him. Micky grinned and sang the next verse with extra volume, partly because he was proud and partly because the 24th coke was finally kicking in.
They managed to pull off the whole first half of the show without a hitch. They were scheduled for a break before they finished up the set, so they all decided to go mingle a bit more.
Davy went off to find the girls he and Mike had been talking with earlier. Mike just kind of flopped down in the nearest chair (which isn't so easy for a chicken). Peter went in search of the punch and Micky went for another coke.
"You guys are doing GREAT!" Crystal said with a grin as she walked up to Mike.
"Thanks," Mike said smiling at her, "I really didn't think it was gonna go this well to tell you the truth." Crystal sat down across from him and shrugged a bit, "Well you're doin really well and I don't think ANYBODY is gonna get over your 'costumes'" She grinned a bit and Mike started to laugh.
Peter walked up to the table with a glass of punch for himself and Mike. "What's so funny?"
"Um, well, uh...." Mike said, "We were just laughin at our 'costumes'"
Peter looked down at his fur and shrugged.
"Guess you had to be there." Crystal said and yawned. "Man I dunno about you guys, but every time I change into a cat I get REALLY tired."
"Makes sense." Said Mike, "Micky gets really hyper, and its NOT just cause of all the coke he drinks. Davy just gets kinda jittery, Pete gets pretty laid-back, and I get... um... well I dunno what I get." Mike shrugged and looked up at Peter for an answer.
"And Mike starts pecking at things." Peter said with a smile. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that! NO MIKE, GET AWAY FROM MY EYES!!!!" Peter screeched and started running across the room, Mike close on his tail.
Davy watched them with a grin, but Micky didn't take much notice.

"DAVY! I NEED MORE COKE!" he shouted loudly.
"Are you talking about... cocaine!?" said some people nearby.
"Heck no, man, I just need some Coke.. ya know, soda and stuff." said Micky.
"Oh..." said the people and shied away from him.
"Here Mick." said Davy, chucking him another bottle.
"Thanks!" said Micky and dove into it with much enthusiasm. Just then someone plucked out one of his feathers.
"Are these real?" he asked, just as Micky flew upwards and fluttered about, ultimately landing on one of the rafters.
"Um.. Miiikkkeee?" he whined weakly.
"Oh geez.." said Mike, Davy and Peter, and ran to catch him as he fell again.
Everyone stared. "Did he just FLY?!" they were whispering amongst themselves.
"Um, it was a special effect, everyone!" announced Mike, putting on a fake smile and a bit of showmanship and nudged Micky to take a bow.
Everyone applauded, and it was time for them to finish their set.
They went into Daydream Believer, PVS, and RSG, before the grand finale of I'm a Believer. Everyone loved them.
"Thanks everyone!" said Mike. "By the way, if anyone would like to hire us, we'd love to play for your events, but we have to uh.. limit them to the daytime."
Everyone was a bit confused by this but they got a few offers for birthday parties and even an odd wedding or two, all during the day, by the end of the night.

As the party began to break up it was almost dawn.
Unfortunately everybody kind of forgot about that.
Mike, Micky and Davy were packing the last of their equipment into the Monkeemobile while Crystal and Peter were thanking a couple of people who had asked the band to play at various events.
"Hey man, what's wrong with your costume?" One guy asked Peter.
Peter looked down to see his fur starting to get shorter and turn a bit red where his shirt would soon be. "Uh oh... MIKE!" he yelled, grabbing Crystals paw and running for the Monkeemobile. "MIIIIIKE!"
Mike, Micky and Davy all looked up at Peter and saw the problem immediately as he and Crystal ran toward them. All five of them ducked behind the Monkeemobile just as the sun came up.
"Hey, hey you guys okay?!" Asked the man who had been talking to Peter and Crystal.
All five of them peeked over the top of the car and stood up, looking as normal as could be. "Yup," Mike said, his voice cracking into a high pitch, he cleared his throat, "Yeah, just fine."
The guy did a double take. "How... I mean what.... uh..." He blinked, shook his head and said, "I think I better go home and get some sleep." He left without another word.
"Well I would say tonight was full of close calls." Micky said.
Mike groaned. "Lets just go home, Crystal you need a ride?"
"Nope, I'm just gonna walk home, its not too far from here." She yawned and waved at them as she walked away.
They all climbed into the Monkeemobile and headed back to the pad. "Well, it wasn't a COMPLETE disaster." Davy said with a yawn.
"Naw it turned out pretty good, but this not bein able to play at night thing is gonna cost us some gigs." Mike said.
"Who cares?" Peter asked, clueless as to why the other three were always so worried.
Micky didn't add any wisecracks as he normally would have because he was already fast asleep in the front seat, it had been a tiring evening for him.