Chapter 19
The ROR house was packed with monsters. They all turned when the Oozmas walked in. “Uh, hello,” Squishy said nervously.
The crowd stared at them blankly. Then recognition swept through the group, and the party monsters hooted and shouted happily.
“Oozma Kappa!”
“These guys are crazy!”
“What you did today was insane!”
Mike looked at his team and smiled. “Oozma Kappa,” he said, “tonight, we party like Scarers!” Art quickly burst onto the dance floor, twisting and gyrating wildly.
Don also strutted his stuff, and Squishy started dancing with the PNKs, who seemed to really enjoy his company. “I’ve never stayed up this late in my life!” he told the girls.
Then Squishy spotted Sulley standing off to the side by himself and decided to lasso him onto the dance floor. Reluctantly, Sulley gave in and was pulled into the crowd. Soon, he was doing some monster moves of his own.
While the team danced, Mike wandered out into the hallway. Along the walls were portraits of past Scare Games winners. And there, set on a pedestal, was the Scare Games trophy, which the RORs had won last year. Looking at the golden trophy, Mike could see his own reflection. It made him look exactly as he felt: big and impressive. I can win, he thought.
Meanwhile, at the party, Johnny noticed the Oozmas on the dance floor. He whistled and called out to the crowd, “Hey, quiet! QUIET! On behalf of the RORs, we’d like to congratulate all the teams that have made it this far! Let’s hear it for the PNKs! Looking good, ladies!”
The girls took a little bow, and the crowd cheered. “HSS!” Johnny continued. “Very creepy!” After more cheering, he turned back to the crowd. “And finally, the surprise team of the scare games, OOZMA KAPPA! Come on over, guys.”
The crowd parted and a spotlight hit the Oozmas. “Let’s hear it for Oozma Kappa!” Johnny cried.
The Oozmas smiled. But suddenly, without warning, gallons of paint were tossed into their midst, splattering the entire group.
The crowd was confused, but Johnny started laughing. Then a machine shot glitter confetti at the Oozmas and a ROR tossed a bucket of flowers. “The most adorable monsters on campus!” Johnny howled. Then he shouted, “Release the stuffed animals!”
Another ROR brother yanked on a rope that was connected to a net. A huge pile of cute little stuffed animals dropped on top of the Oozmas. A camera clicked and caught the Oozmas’ glittery, horrified expressions.
The next day, the humiliating photo was on the front page of the school newspaper. Mike was doing his best to keep his team’s morale high, but it wasn’t easy. “Don’t worry. Nobody reads the school newspaper,” Mike said as they walked to class.
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure they read the quad,” Art replied. Mike looked up and saw the entire quad plastered with the same embarrassing photo. Students were looking at the photos and laughing. And just when it felt like it couldn’t get worse, Mike and the Oozmas saw a monster flying through the air — pulling a banner with the words “Cutie Kappa” on it.
Up ahead, Johnny and the RORs were busy selling T-shirts and mugs featuring the Oozma photo. Mike was furious. “Hey, what are you doing?” he demanded.
“Raising a little money for charity,” Johnny replied with a laugh.
“I want you to stop making us look like fools,” Mike said angrily.
Johnny held up a copy of the Campus Roar and pointed at the Oozmas’ ridiculous picture. “You’re making yourselves look like fools,” he said. “Let’s be honest, guys. You’re never gonna be real Scarers, because real Scarers look like us.”
Then Johnny flipped the newspaper over and pointed to a Monsters, Inc., ad in the classifieds. “But hey, if you really want to work at a scare floor, they’re always hiring in the mail room.” Johnny and the crowd laughed.
Sulley couldn’t take any more. Fuming, he turned and walked away. The Oozmas, sad and dejected, were close behind. “Hey, hold up!” Mike called after them. “Don’t listen to him! We just need to keep trying —”
Sulley turned and faced Mike. “No, you need to stop trying! We’re just embarrassing ourselves. You can train monsters like this all you want, but you can’t change who they are.”
As the Oozmas watched Sulley leave, Don turned to Mike. “We appreciate everything you’ve done, but he’s right. No matter how much we train, we’ll never look like them.” He sighed. “We’re built for other things.”
The Oozmas left, following Sulley back to their house. Their heads were all hanging low when Mike got an idea. “Guys!” he said, a new light in his eyes. “I’ve been doing this all wrong. We’re going on a little field trip!”
第 19 章
精嚇會會所里擠滿了怪獸。OK會隊員一進門,所有人都齊刷刷地轉過身來,“那個,大家好。”史乖寶緊張兮兮地打了個招呼。
大家一臉茫然地注視著OK會成員。可是,這些怪獸很快就認出了他們,接著還爆發(fā)出一陣熱烈的歡呼聲。
“是OK會!”
“這些家伙簡直酷斃了!”
“你們今天表現得太亮眼了!”
麥克看著自己的隊友,笑著說:“OK會的兄弟們,今晚就讓我們一起盡情狂歡吧!”說罷,阿拱已經跳進了舞池,盡情旋轉著。
老唐也得意地炫耀著自己的舞技。史乖寶則和粉紅美少女隊的姑娘們跳起舞來,他似乎很受這些女孩兒的歡迎。史乖寶對她們說:“長這么大,我還從沒玩到這么晚過!”
這時,史乖寶發(fā)現毛怪正遠遠地獨自站在一邊,就決定把他拉到舞池中央。毛怪只好不情愿地走進了人群。很快,他也跳起了自己獨創(chuàng)的怪獸舞步。
隊員們都沉浸在舞會中,而麥克則走出舞池,來到大廳里。大廳墻上掛著歷屆“驚嚇杯”冠軍的畫像,廳里還有一個基座,上面放著精嚇會去年贏得的驚嚇賽獎杯。金燦燦的獎杯上倒映出麥克的身影,看起來分外高大威猛。麥克也覺得自己正是如此。我會成為冠軍的。麥克默默地對自己說。
在派對上,強哥發(fā)現了在舞池中跳舞的OK會成員們。他吹了一記口哨,對著怪獸們大聲說:“嘿,安靜!安靜!現在我要代表精嚇會祝賀所有晉級的隊伍!讓我們掌聲歡迎美少女隊!姑娘們,你們今晚真漂亮!”
姑娘們輕輕鞠了一躬,在場的怪獸一下子歡呼起來。“接下來是黑絲絲隊!”強哥接著說道,“她們非常會嚇人!”一陣更大的歡呼聲過后,強哥轉過身面對著大家說:“今晚壓軸出場的是本次比賽中的黑馬,OK會隊!來吧,小伙子們!”
人群退到兩邊,一束聚光燈照在了OK會隊員身上。“掌聲歡迎!”強哥大聲喊道。
隊員們綻放出燦爛的笑容??赏蝗?,幾大桶油漆猝不及防地傾倒下來,潑得他們滿身都是。
大伙兒都沒緩過神,強哥卻哈哈大笑起來。這時一臺機器朝OK會射出了五彩禮炮,一名精嚇會成員朝空中拋出一大捧鮮花。“歡迎全校最可愛的怪獸們!”強哥大聲號叫著,“再來點兒毛絨玩具吧!”
另一名精嚇會成員將一根連接著網兜的繩子猛地一拉,一大堆可愛的毛絨玩具便掉落到OK會隊員的頭上。邊上的照相機“咔嚓咔嚓”地記錄下了隊員們絢麗多彩卻又驚恐萬分的面孔。
第二天,這張充滿羞辱色彩的照片出現在校報的首頁。麥克盡可能地讓大家振作起來:“別擔心,沒人會看校報的。”可這并不太管用。大伙兒一邊聽麥克說著,一邊走向教室。
“對,校報是沒人看,但四方坪一定有人看啊。”阿拱回答道。麥克一抬頭,發(fā)現整個四方坪都貼滿了他們的窘照,同學們一邊看一邊笑。這時麥克和大家的心情都已跌到了谷底,沒想到一只怪獸從空中飛過——邊飛邊展開一張橫幅,上面寫著“小可愛OK會”。
而就在不遠處,強哥和精嚇會的其他成員正忙著兜售印有那張OK會照片的T恤衫和水杯。麥克氣壞了,大聲質問道:“嘿!你們在干什么?”
“只是為慈善機構募集點資金而已。”強哥笑嘻嘻地回答。
麥克怒不可遏地說:“我要你們馬上停止丑化我們形象的舉動!”
強哥舉起一份校報,指著OK會那張滑稽的照片說道:“是你們自己搞得像傻瓜一樣。實話告訴你們,小子,你們永遠都不可能成為真正的驚嚇專員,因為像我們這樣的才是!”
強哥翻過報紙,指著分類信息上怪獸電力公司的廣告說:“不過,如果你們真想在那兒的驚嚇層找份差事,可以去收發(fā)室看看,他們那兒常年招聘員工。”說完,強哥和周圍的同學又大笑起來。
毛怪再也聽不下去了。他氣得冒煙,頭也不回地離開了人群。OK會的其他成員也都灰心喪氣地緊跟在毛怪身后。“喂,等一下!”麥克在后面大聲喊道,“別理他,我們只要再加把勁兒——”
毛怪轉過身來沖麥克喊道:“夠了,你別再費勁了!我們只是在自取其辱而已。你可以按照自己的方法訓練隊友,但你不可能改變他們的本質。”
大家只能眼睜睜地看著毛怪離開。老唐嘆了口氣,對麥克說:“謝謝你所做的一切。但他說得對,不管怎么練習,我們也不可能像精嚇會那樣,我們不是這塊料。”
大家都跟著毛怪回會所了,一個個都垂頭喪氣的。麥克靈光一閃,有了主意。“大伙兒,”他就像發(fā)現了新大陸一樣說道,“之前我都弄錯了。我們要做的是實地考察!”