Going…Going…Green!

4 years ago…

Halloween was always a very festive time in Townsville. Children dressed up in costumes and trick-or-treated in their local neighborhoods. It seemed that everyone looked forward to Halloween…especially a "particular" group of neighborhood boys.

Who were these boys? Well, THEY were thirteen-year-old Ace Copular; eleven-year-olds Snake Ingleberry, Grubber Gribberish, and Billy Williams; and ten-year-old Arturo De La Guerra. As usual, when this gang got together, there was always a lot of frenzied commotion. Tonight, as they were putting their costumes on, they worked themselves up to a fever pitch of excitement! Ace was going as a vampire, Snake was a snake, Grubber was Frankenstein, Billy was an alien, and Arturo was a troll.

"Okay!" yelled Ace. "We're ready!" He put the finishing touches on his costume. "Let's go!"

"Hold on, Ace," said Arturo.

"What is it, Arturo?" asked Ace annoyed.

"Billy can't find his alien mask," said Arturo.

Ace turned to Billy. "Well, Billy, where did you last see it?"

"Duh, I don't know," said Billy. He turned around. "I was over here and then…"

Billy went on as Ace noticed the mask was hanging from the back of Billy's costume.

"Uh…Billy….." whispered Ace.

"Yeah?" He answered with a huge grin. Suddenly, Ace stretched the mask's chinstrap out as far as it would go behind Billy's head, and let it go. The mask flew back at Billy, snapping him in the back of the head.

"Oh, that's where it was," he said.

Arturo and Snake high-fived Ace and then the three rolled on the floor laughing.

After a minute, Ace exhaled. "Okay, now are we ready?" as he laughed.

"I'm in, I'm ready, and I am THE snake," said Snake as he slide his feet and tried to flick his tongue.

"Yeah!" replied Billy and Arturo together.

Grubber stood straight in a Frankenstein pose, flaring his fingers at his face. Then, he gave a thumbs up.

"Okay," said Ace. "Let's go!"

The five boys walked up and down the block. They went around the neighborhood, looking for people to scare. The streets were packed and filled with unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. Up and down the block they went, scaring everyone with their costumes and didn't stop until they got to the end of the block.

"I can't believe how many people we scared," howled Ace.

"Yeah," laughed Snake. "It was sooo easy."

"Oh yeah?!" said Ace. "You got scared the most out of anyone. When you saw that guy who was dressed as a mad scientist and he shoved that bottle of eyeballs at you, you screamed like a baby."

"No, I didn't," said Snake.

"Yeah, you did," said Ace. "You screamed louder than every kid on the block."

"Did Not!" said Snake. "I'm not afraid of anything."

"Okay," said Ace. "If you're really not afraid of anything, then prove it." He thought for a moment. Then, he had an idea and pointed behind him. "Why don't you…go in there?"

There, in front of the boys, stood a house that had been abandoned for quite some time. It was different than the rest of the houses on the block. It was two stories high with old, rotted wood trim and large round windows with old draperies that were still hanging. It was several feet away from the rest of the houses. Overtime, rumors began to spread about the house and how it was haunted, so people in the neighborhood avoided going near it.

Snake stared at the house. "In there?" He gulped.

"They say that if you go inside, you become a permanent house guest and you have to serve all the ghosts and mummies who live there for the rest of your life," continued Ace.

"G-ghosts and…m-mummies?" asked Snake nervously.

"Yeah," said Ace. "But, they're only rumors. So there wouldn't be any reason to not go in. Right? Unless, that is, you're scared."

"No way am I scared!" said Snake. He stared at the house as he slowly walked up the drive way.

"This is gonna be good," said Ace amused as he, Arturo, Billy, and Grubber followed Snake up the driveway laughing.

Once inside, they saw an empty living room, with cracked walls and broken windows. They looked around the house, but they started to see that it really was just a house.

"Wow, there really is nothing here," said Arturo.

"See?" said Snake. "I told you I wasn't afraid."

"Yeah, sure you weren't," said Ace not believing it. "Okay, boys. Let's get out of here."

They were almost out the door when they noticed Grubber staring at something.

"Grubber, come on," insisted Ace. He looked to see what he was looking at.

In the very back corner of the house was a small wooden, book case. A closer look revealed that the book case had a single book on it.

"That's weird," commented Ace. "One stupid book on the whole shelf?"

"Hey, lemme see it!" said Arturo.

Grubber took the book off the shelf, revealing what looked like a light switch. But unlike regular switches, which were vertical, this one was horizontal.

"Huh?" asked Ace as they stared at the switch. "What's that for?"

"Now, look who's getting scared," said Snake jokingly.

Ace looked at him annoyed for a few seconds and then thumped him in the nose.

"No way!" he insisted. "It's just a…a… light switch." He flicked the switch and nothing happened. "Huh? It's broken, come on, let's go."

Then, suddenly, a door slid sideways and revealed a secret passage way that opened next to the book case.

The boys stared in silence. "What…uh…is…that?" asked Billy.

"Some kind of secret stairway," said Arturo.

Ace's nerves started to grow, but he couldn't let his friends know that. "Come on, guys," he said. "There is nothing down there! I'll prove it to you."

They slowly went down the stairs, which lead to an empty, pitch black room.

"What is this place?" asked Arturo now scared.

"I don't know, but maybe we should go back upstairs," said Snake.

Now both scared and curious, Ace went a little deeper into the room and noticed a faint source of light coming from one of the corners of the basement. He slowly went over to it and saw a small wooden box emitting a green ring of light around it.

"Guys!" Ace called. "Over here!"

They all followed the sound of Ace's voice and ran over to him. Ace picked up the box.

"Billy thinks someone left a sandwich in there," said Billy. "I'm hungry."

"Why is there a green light around it?" asked Arturo.

"I don't know," said Ace. He looked at the box.

"What do you think is in it?" asked Snake.

"Only one way to find out," said Ace with apprehension. He opened the box and saw a small, glowing green rock.

"You've gotta be kidding," said Snake.

"That's it?" asked Arturo.

Ace closed the box. "I knew there was nothing here!"

"Awe, Billy was hungry," said Billy.

Snake turned to the group. "Ha ha, it was nothing and you dopes were scared like babies. It's a good thing you guys have someone like me who can stay calm in situations like this."

"Oh, really," mocked Ace. "You shrieked when the trees' branches scraped against the windows."

"I didn't shriek," said Snake. "I was…uh…Arturo's the one who shrieked." He pointed to Arturo.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "I didn't shriek. I wasn't scared at all."

"Yes, you were," argued Snake.

"You all were," said Ace.

"Billy thinks Grubber was the one who was scared," said Billy.

Ace smacked Arturo in the back of the head. You were all scared," he howled.

Then, the boys started pushing each other, laughing and running. But, in the middle of all that pushing, the box was knocked out of Ace's hands and the glowing green rock fell to their feet. Suddenly, a glowing green mist rose from the ground and surrounded the boys.

"W-what is this?" asked Snake.

"I don't know," said Ace. "But, I'm not sticking around to find out!" They ran up the stairs, out of the house, and down the block and didn't stop running until they got back to Ace's house.

As they got back inside, they slammed the front door and leaned against it, breathing heavily.

"What…the heck…was that," asked Arturo breathing heavily.

"I…don't know," said Ace. He caught his breath. "But, one thing's for sure, I won't be picking up any more green…aahh!" He noticed that everyone's skin turned green!

Ace looked at his hands and they were the same green color!

They all ran to the mirror and were shocked by what they saw. They turned completely green and each looked a lot like their costumes!

"Okay, let's not panic," said Ace. "This is probably just some Halloween prank."

"Yeah," said Arturo. "This mirror is probably just fixed and this green stuff probably comes off with water."

"Water?" questioned Ace. "We have to use WATER?"

They all stuck their hands under the faucet. All of them except Ace.

"Ace, come on," said Snake. "You have to get thisss ssstuff off."

"No way!" yelled Ace, "I'm not going near water!"

"I don't think it matters," said Arturo as he scrubbed and scrubbed! "It's not coming off!"

They turned off the faucet and went into the living room.

"Are we green now?" asked Billy.

"Looksss that way," said Snake.

Ace looked at his newly green hands. Then, he thought of something.

"You know, guys," said Ace. "This might not be so bad." His friends looked at him. "Think about it. We can scare people and use it into getting anything we want. No one is gonna wanna mess with a bunch of green guys."

"Maybe…" said Snake.

"Plus," Ace went on. "I've never heard of anyone else having green skin. This can be OUR thing. We can be our own little…gang."

"Yesss," said Snake. "The Green Team."

"No," said Arturo. "The Green Gang."

"What about just 'Green'?" asked Billy.

Grubber raspberried his idea.

"I've got it!" said Ace.

He stood up tall and spoke loudly as he spread his arms upward and outward. "THEGANGREEN GANG."

"And jussst think about how many people we can ssscare next Halloween!" said Snake.

"Billy like that," said Billy.

The boys laughed as they slapped and pushed each other as they all walked out. That, they agreed, was one thing that will never change.