Terrifying tales of recess
Halloween, a holiday celebrated and loved world wide by all kids, a day to dress up and scare friends and family as well as go trick or treating to get free candy.
It was on this spooky day that we see a bunch of kids dressed up in their costumes while at school, all running out as soon as the bell rang.
"Hello, kids, I'm Principal Prickly." Prickly said as he kneeled down on one knee by the steps leading to the main hallway. "As you've no doubt noticed, today is Halloween here at Third Street School. What better time to remind you of some nifty Halloween hints? One, consider this day an exciting opportunity to practice healthy nutrition. Two, wash your hands with an antibacterial soap after knocking on your neighbours' doors. Three, please be quiet. Four--" Prickly cuts himself off as he starts choking, standing up to grab his head in pain, only to pull his head off to reveal it was just Butch in a mask. "Ah, don't worry. It's me, Butch. And that was just a mask." Butch took off the rest of his Prickly costume. "Had you pretty scared, didn't I? Well, good, 'cause that's what Halloween's all about. Getting dressed up, getting candy, and getting scared out of your wits! It's also about being careful. Some pretty scary stuff can happen when you don't watch your P's and Q's. Take this scary story, for example, of something that really,
actually, truly happened, bringing new meaning to the old saying that you are what you eat.
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CHILDREN OF THE CORNCHIP
We start this story off with the sound of a phone ringing. "Hello. This is the operator."
"Transatlantic operator?" Mr Kelso said into the phone, his voice sounding panicked. "Get me Gothicshire Foods."
"Yes, sir. I'll try ringing them."
"Please hurry. This is a snack-chip emergency." As Mr Kelso was on the phone his shop's door open and cornchip girl walked in, Mr Kelso signalled for cornchip girl to hold on for a little bit.
"Sorry, luv, but their line is dead." Said the operator over the phone.
"dead? But they just sent an order of chips that have never been tested!" Mr Kelso turned away from cornchip girl, he was talking about a new brand of potato chips called 'Yeoldecrisps'. "I can't sell chips that have never been tested!"
"Um... I'll test them." Cornchip girl said, and as Mr Kelso was distracted by the phone call he was able to stop her as she grabbed one of the chips and ate it. "Mmm. These are tasty." She said before her voice went deep. "Very tasty."
"You gotta ring through again. I'm afraid something terrible--" Mr Kelso looked behind him when he saw a monstrous shadow loom over him. When he turned to see what was happening he dropped the phone before screaming as growls could be heard.
The lights to the convenience store turn off as the open sign gets turned to closed by a monstrous hand.
The next day at third Street elementary school we see the students all starting to make their way into the school for the start of the day.
Gretchen, in a panicked state, ran up to her friends. "Guys! Guys! Did you hear the news? Mr. Kelso was attacked by a monster! I picked up the police bulletin on my cellular satellite array."
"Poor sweet Kelso." Said Mikey feeling bad as Mr Kelso was known and loved by all kids.
"He's OK, Mikey. They've already downgraded his condition from scared stiff to spooked silly." Gretchen said to calm her friends down. "However, his pyramid of canned yams will never recover."
Gus walked a little away from his friends. "Oh, no. It's happening all over again."
"You know something about this, Gus?" Vince asked.
"Only that when my dad was stationed
in Gothicshire, England, a monster was attacking shopkeepers all over the city. I got so scared, I slept with a torch." Gus said, but the other seven just looked at him confused. "That's Brit talk for flashlight."
"Well, you won't need a torch with us around, Gus." TJ reassured Gus, before turning to Gretchen. "Gretch, you got Galileo with you?"
"Does the quadratic formula got a square root?" Gretchen answered holding up Galileo.
"That I do not know. What I do know is this... We've got a monster to find."
During recess the group of eight went to the back of the playground and Gretchen used Galileo to compare monster attacks. "Indeed, Gretchen, there is a similarity between the Gothicshire monster and the attack on your Mr. Kelso. After several attacks on corner markets, Scotland Yard captured the Gothicshire monster and locked him in a cage suspended above a vat of sulfuric acid. But the next day, it had transformed into... a man!"
"Woah!" All eight gasped.
"So they had to let him go." Galileo finished.
"Hey, Teej, that's just like that episode
of 'Monster Hunter, P.I.' 'The thing that turned into a man.'" Vince said, comparing this to a TV show he watches.
"Right, and if I know my American history, our monster must have some kind of transforming potion." TJ concludes.
"Or something edible." Galileo theorised. "A salty snack food, for example. In fact, it's imperative that you all be on the lookout for…" Galileo shuts down as his batteries run out.
"Come on, froggy, spill, before I croak you!" Spinelli threatened the now turned off machine.
"Gadzooks! I'm afraid Galileo's batteries
have run down." Said Gretchen as she couldn't turn Galileo back on.
"What bad, creepy, unlikely timing." Said Paloma.
The eight friends stopped talking as soon as the bush behind them started to rustle. "What was that!" Gus asked as they all turned to look at said bush.
As Mikey started to shake and stutter, Dede walked up to the bush, looking at the other side only to grab the back of a shirt and drag the person out. "What are you doing here, Randall?"
"Hehe…Hello, chums." Randall stammers.
"Randall!" The others all exclaimed.
Spinelli, angry that Randall was spying on them, started to point at him. "Where do you get off calling us 'chums'?"
"We uncursed humans are all chums when there's a monster stalking the school." Randall answers as Dede lets his shirt go.
"Stalking the school!" Asked Gus.
"Could it be?" Asked Mikey.
"That's what I hear, seems Kelso came
out of his heebie-jeebies long enough in the hospital this morning to say the monster who attacked him was a student from our school." Randall informs the eight.
"But-- but that's a terrifying development!" Vince stammers.
"Who could it be?" Mikey asked.
"I don't know. I just say we stick together
and keep an eye out." TJ said before they all heard a whistling.
Looking over they saw that it was just cornchip girl walking past. "Hey, Cornchip Girl, where you going?" Dede asked her younger friend.
"Cafeteria. I'm helping out today." Cornchip girl answers.
"Well, be careful. There's a monster prowling around school." TJ warns.
"I know. I know." Cornchip girl says as she walks off to the cafeteria.
When cornchip girl gets to the cafeteria she talks to the lunch ladies about the lunch menu. "You wanna add chips to our menu?" Irma asked almost smugly.
"They taste very good." Cornchip girl said, hoping they'd change their mind. "The kids will be wolfing them down."
"Look, girlie, if we wanted kids eating
food that tasted good--" said the other lunch lady.
"We'd retire." Irma finished before the two laughed.
"Um, I'm afraid I can't take no for an answer." Cornchip girl said before she took one of the crisps out of the bag and ate it.
At the start of lunchtime our group of eight friends were all in the cafeteria with Gretchen putting new batteries into Galileo. "Battery installation is complete
and Galileo is now fully operational."
"Turn him on, Gretch, fast!" TJ said.
Gretchen did just that, Galileo appeared on screen dressed in pyjamas. "Oh, hello, Gretchen! I guess I dozed off." He yawns.
"No time for pleasantries, Galileo." Said Gretchen. "You were about to tell us the secret of the monster's transformation."
"Oh, dear me, as I was saying you must
all be on the lookout for…"
"Here, Mikey." Cornchip girl said, handing Mikey a bag of crisps.
"Mmm. English crisps. With new spicy wolfsbane flavour." Mikey said as he walked over to his friends.
"Mikey, no!" Dede called out as she ran to knock the tray out of Mikey's hands.
"But, Dede, why did you jostle me?" Mikey asked, confused as to why Dede would do that.
"It's those chips, Mikey, they're the ones that turn people into--" TJ starts before he is interrupted.
"A monster?" Cornchip girl said before she ate one of the crisps, transforming into a monster in front of everyone.
"Run for your ever-loving lives!" TJ screams as everyone runs away from the now transformed cornchip girl.
Growls, snorts and kids screaming was all that could be heard from the cafeteria. After a while cornchip girl runs out of the cafeteria, tearing the doors off as she goes. "Hey, you! No running in the halls!" Principal Prickly said as all he saw cornchip girl blur past him. "And no ripping off these doors!"
"Well, everyone, I surmise we've found our monster." Gretchen said as they all watched where cornchip girl once was.
"And I say we should go after it." Gus said, making the others gasp at him. "Guys, there comes a time in every Nine-year-old's life when he's gotta face his monsters. Meet me at the roof-access ladder in five minutes."
Five minutes later the other seven arrived at the rooftop ladder just like Gus asked. "Look! The monster's prints end
at the access ladder." Dede said as she knelt down looking at the footprints.
"How'd Gus know?" Spinelli asked.
"Elementary, my dear Spinelli." Gus said as he walked near the group, dressed like Sherlock holms.
"What did he call me?" Said Spinelli.
"As you may recall from the 'Monster Hunter P.I.' season finale," Gus said smoking from a bubble pipe. "'Monsters on the rooftop,' hairy, transforming, English-style monsters always hide on the roof."
"Spiffy threads, Gus." Said Vince.
"Indeed. Now let's put an end to this madness."
As Gus was about to climb up the ladder he was stopped by a cockney accent. "Hold on, gov'nor. Me and me mates here would like to lend a hand." Said cockney kid as he and his two mates walked up to Gus. "That monster spilled our bloomin' lunch!"
"Glad for the help, cockney kid. Now, half of you come with me." Gus said looking at his friends. "The rest cover the playground." Gus looks up. "Dash it. A fog seems to be rolling in."
A bell tolls out as cockney kid climbs the ladder, joining his two friends along with Gus, Dede, TJ and Spinelli. "There's the hairy beast, behind that chimney!" Cockney kid calls out when he spots the transformed cornchip girl.
"After her, guys!" Gus orders as they all take chase. When there was nowhere left for cornchip girl to run, she started to growl and snarl. "OK, monster, time to cash in your chips!.
When the cornered cornchip girl tries to back away from Gus as he approaches her with a net, she almost ends up falling off of the roof but manages to grab the ledge just in time. "It's me in here, Gus. Help me."
As Gus went to reach down to her cornchip girl she growled at him, making him retreat. "Ah! So long, monster. This one's for Mr. Kelso!" Gus lifts up his foot and brings it down onto the hand cornchip girl was using to hold herself up.
As cornchip girl falls, screaming, she transforms back into herself. "Thank you, Mikey man." She said thankfully as Mikey had caught her.
"Gee, Gus, how'd you know that would work?" Spinelli asked as the four friends watched what had happened.
"Classic monster physics, Spinelli. Fear of falling will turn any transmogrified monster to its normal state. I first stumbled upon the idea about halfway up the ladder when I noticed how perilously high we were climbing." Gus started his explanation as they all climbed down the ladder and walked around the building to meet up with the others. "Adding in the fact that I knew
Mikey had gotten into position and he's never once yet dropped a falling human, I knew I couldn't go wrong. How are you feeling, Cornchip?"
"Much better, thanks to you guys, and this cocoa." Cornchip girl said as she was wrapped in a blanket, holding a cup of hot chocolate.
"Good news, we've rounded up all the bags of Yeolde Crisps." Vince said as he, Gretchen and cockney kid joined them.
"Please, put them where they'll never do harm to anyone again." Cornchip girl turned away from the bag Vince held up.
"You heard her, Vince, roof 'em." TJ said and Vince did just that. "Well, guys, chalk this up as a victory for our very own monster hunter." TJ rested his hand on Gus' shoulder.
"Gee, I'm just glad We never have to worry about scary creatures ever again!" Gus said.
The bag that Vince had threw up onto the roof and fell down, landing right in front of the kindergarteners. "Ooh, 'tato chips. Yum!" Capitan sticky said as he ate one, oc LT for growls to ring out.
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"And you thought them kindergarteners was cranky when they missed their nap." Butch said, having finished his first story. "I'm gonna take a break now so you kids can shake off your big old case of the willies. Then... Oh, then I'll be back. I expect you'll be back, too... Unless you're chicken!"
When we come back we see Butch walking alongside a chain link fence, sliding his toothpick along as he goes. "So, I see you came back for more real-life, terrifying tales that positively, absolutely, definitely, really happened! I respect that in a kid, which is funny, 'cause this next story's about just that… Respect. And what happens when there
just ain't enough of it."
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WHEN BIKES ATTACK
A new day at school shows our group of eight all putting their bikes away into the bike racks."There you go, dear Pegasus." Mikey said as he clips a card onto his bike's wheel, spinning it so it makes a noise. "Now when children hear your jolly sound, they'll always know it's you. Ah, it's such a pity I have to go inside and leave you here. And on such a glorious day as this. Huh?"
As Mikey said, a raindrop fell into his nose as thunder rings out. "Oh, no, thunder. We better get inside!"
"But-- but-- what about my Pegasus?" Mikey said as he watched some raindrops fall onto his bike.
"Don't worry about it. It's just a bike." Vince said as he and TJ put their bikes down.
"Yeah, they live to be outside." Said TJ as they started to make their way inside.
"Whereas we should take shelter from this eerily sudden and unexpected storm." Gretchen said as it was just her and Mikey left outside.
"Farewell, Pegasus. May your rust proof paint prove worthy." Mikey said as he and Gretchen joined their other friend's. During class Mikey was standing up at the front reading out a poem he was working on. "Oh, Pegasus, your voice so tender is the ace 'neath your fender."
"It's a bike, for pete's sake." Spinelli whispered under her breath.
"Whom do I prefer to canoe, plane, zeppelin, or bus, none other than you, thou sweet-tempered Pegasus." Mikey finishes and the class claps for him. "Thank you, Third Street!"
"Thank you, Mikey." Said Miss Grotke. "And might I say, it was truly far-out how you attributed a human soul to an inanimate object."
"Hark!" Mikey said, hearing a clicking sound. "The pleasing sound my cherished Pegasus makes when I'm riding it, except I'm not riding it."
A crash sound is all they could hear next and Principal Prickly voice call out from the hallway. "Gosh darn it! Who put this thing here?"
"I didn't do nothing!" TJ said, thinking he'd get the blame for this.
When the group of eight and Miss Grotke leave the classroom, they see principal prickly on the floor with mikey's bike on top of him. "Pegasus! How did you get here?"
"So, this is your bike, eh, Blumberg?" Principal Prickly said as he stood up. "You know bikes aren't allowed indoors. Take it back outside where it belongs."
"This is very strange." Mikey grabbed his bike and started to walk it back outside. "I know I didn't leave Pegasus inside."
"There must be some logical explanation of how it got here." Gretchen said, hoping to come up with an explanation.
"I know. Pegasus wanted to be near me."
"Mikey, we got news about your bike. It's... a... bike! Huh?" Spinelli said but then Pegasus started to move forward on its own.
"Hey, it's rolling by itself!"
"Ok, that's freaky." Said Paloma as they all watched the bike.
"More like odd. It's impossible for a bike to stay balanced without a rider." Said Gretchen as Pegasus stopped and turned to face them. "That's odder and even more impossible!"
"Unless it's... alive!" Said Vince.
This made Mikey happy. "Alive? Oh, jolly Pegasus! I knew you had a soul!" Mikey started to make his way over to Pegasus. Pegasus however put its stand down and it's back wheel starts to spin. "Don't be afraid, little fella. Pegasus?"
"Uh... I don't think it's afraid anymore." Said Vince.
"Everyone, Run!" Dede said, making sure all her friends were in front of her as they ran through the school.
"Miss Finster. Miss Finster!" Principal Prickly screams as the eight kids run past him.
It seems the bike was just after the kids as it rode straight past Principal Prickly and kept chasing them. As they were all running Gretchen got out Galileo and was looking something up. "I'm flummoxed! This defies all known laws of physics!.
TJ leads the group into the first room he sees, after Dede enters the room she quickly shuts the door and rests her back against it. "What the heck is going on?"
"Oh, Pegasus, what have I done to incur your wrath and betrayal?" Mikey said sadly.
"Don't blame yourself, Mikey." TJ said as he puts a chair under the door handle so Dede doesn't have to keep the door closed. "Some bikes are just born bad."
"And what are you people doing here?" Menlo asked, not knowing what is going on.
"Mikey's bike is on a rampage!" Gus answered.
"I see." Menlo said not believing Gus at all.
The lights all turn out before they could try and convince Menlo of anything else. "Oh, no. The bike cut the power!"
"Don't worry. He's still gotta find us." TJ said just before the glass window on the door gets cracked.
Dede, still being close to the door, looks around the room before spotting something. "Quick, Menlo, the window jimmy!" Menlo grabs the pole and throws it over to Dede, who in turn shoves it threw the bike wheel when it finally smashes through the window. Seeing that the bike will be stuck for a little bit but not too long she pushed the chair out of the way and turned to the other eight kids in the room. "Come on!"
Once again, Dede made sure that they all made it out before she left. "But that's not the proper operation of a window-jimmy!" Menlo said as he ran with the others.
"You're seriously gonna be picky about that, right now!." Paloma asked as they all ran around the corner.
"Here! The supply closet! Go! Go! Go!" TJ said as he opened the door.
"We can't keep running forever!" Vince said when they were all in the closet. "Well, I could, but you guys can't!"
"Guys, what do bikes fear most?" TJ rhetorically asked.
"The internal combustion engine?" Said Gretchen.
"A sissy bar?" Said Gus.
"A bicycle built for two?" Asked Menlo.
"Worse, flat tires." Said TJ.
"No, T.J., I won't let you!" Said Mikey.
"Sorry, Mike-O, it's the only way."
The group starts looking around the supply closet for something they could use to flatten the bikes tires but came up empty handed. "Oh man. What are we gonna do now?" Vince asked.
"If memory serves me, we do have a full box of safety pins in one of the filing cabinets in the office." Menlo said.
"But… that means we'll have to go back out there." Gus stammers.
"Not quite." Dede says as she rests her ear up against the door to hear if the bike was nearby. "You all stay here. I'll go."
"Not alone ya won't." Spinelli denies.
"It'll be quicker and easier if I go alone. Too many people will cause too much noise and the bike'll find us."
"She has a point." Gretchen said seeing what Dede was on about.
Dede turns to look at Menlo. "Are the filing cabinets gonna be open?"
"No, most are locked." Menlo answered.
"Do you have the key on you? If so, give it to me." Dede held her hand out.
"Are you outta your mind? I can't just hand the key over to you." Menlo refused.
"Fine. Then you can come with me, I can use you as a shield if we run into Pegasus." Dede grabs Menlo's arm and was gonna drag him out of the closet before he backs up.
"Okay, okay. Here."
After Menlo hands Dede the keys she'll need, she puts her ear to the door to make sure the coast was still clear. Upon hearing nothing Dede quietly opens the door and sneaks out, closing it behind her. As Dede was sneaking around the school she was keeping an ear out for the bike, already having a plan on how to lose it when it finds her. As Dede was about to turn the last corner to make a straight dash for the office she heard the bike coming up from behind her and when she turned around the bike's light blinded her for a few seconds. Dede quickly turned on her heels and ran towards the office, but instead of going into the office she quickly rounded the left corner before she was seen running the other way, almost like she made a wrong turn, the bike saw Dede change her mind on where she was running to and followed her off to the right. When Dede and the bike was far enough away from the office the real Dede came out from her hiding spot, having used a hologram to trick the bike, and ran into the office quickly finding the box of pins and making her way back to her friends after making sure she deactivated the hologram.
Somewhere else in the school we see the bike looking around having lost the hologram Dede. "Are you sure you're up to chaining this thing?" Principal Prickly asked Miss Finster as they were hiding behind a corner, waiting if or the bike to come.
"Oh, yeah, it takes me back to my old eighteen-wheelin' days!" Miss Frinster said as she held a chain ready.
The two weren't prepared for the bike to sneak up on them, causing them to scream out when they were found.
After Dede got back to her friends they were all getting ready to put their plan into action, they were all stopped from hearing the screams. "It's Prickly." Said Vince.
"It's Finster." Said Spinelli.
"It's showtime." Said TJ.
Principal Prickly and Miss Finster were running through the school with the bike hot on their heels. "This... is... exactly why kids shouldn't bring... bikes to... school." Principal Prickly pants, before he tripped on a book, bringing Miss Finster down with him.
The two look over to see the bike closing in on them. As it reared up on its back tire Vince stepped up behind the two adults. "Hey, dirt bike... Think you can ace the tour de Vince?" As Vince ran back to his friends the bike was now chasing him, leaving the adults alone.
As Vince was running he ran past a bin that Dede was hiding behind, when she saw Vince run past her she quickly threw the safety pins out of the box on the floor in front of the speeding bike, effectively popping its tires. "No!" Mikey cries as he catches his bike. "I dreamed you would come to life but my dream became a -wheeled nightmare." Pegasus tried spinning its wheels. "Hush. Save your strength. The tires! They're reinflating!"
"Attention! Evacuate the school! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill!" Prickly announced and kids all ran out of the school screaming.
"But Pegasus is still after us!" Gus cried to Miss Finster as the nine kids ran up to her.
"I'm on it, boy." Miss Finster said as she hit a button on the control she was holding. The school doors close and lock, bars come down over the windows effectively putting the school in full lockdown mode. "You were right, sir. That SAL 4000 sure does come in handy. Welcome to your new prison,
you three-speed pile of junk!"
Pegasus can be seen banging it's front tire into one of the schools front windows, but is not able to break it because of the bars.
"Farewell, sweet Pegasus. Please understand that I loved you as no boy has ever loved a bike, but you were naughty, and so I'm glad you're imprisoned and can never hurt anyone again." Mikey said.
What nobody sees is that the other bikes in the bike rack also all coming to life. "Gosh, the rain sure makes it dark." Gus said, looking up at the sky. "Hmm. That's better." As lights shine onto him.
When the kids looked over they saw all of the bikes surrounding them. "Oh, no! You too, red rocket?"
The kindergarteners all screamed as their trikes also came to life. "Back! Back! That's right. Bad trike!" Captain sticky said as he tried to hold them all back.
Pegasus had somehow got to the roof of the school before jumping down to be in front of all the other bikes, showing it was the leader. "Maybe we're done for, guys." Said TJ. "But you gotta admit, our bikes came to life... and that's pretty cool."
As the other kids agreed Dede and Miss Finster stood in front of all the students, slowly back them all up, both ready to call for help if they had no other choice. When the two managed to get the others on the other side of the road the school bus arrived, blocking the bike's path from getting any closer to them. "The bus. We're saved! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Principal Prickly said ushering all the kids onto the bus.
"The entire school on one vehicle?" Menlo asked, standing next to principal Prickly. "But that's far above the state-mandated maximum number of--"
"On the bus, Menlo!" Dede came as she pushed him and principal Prickly onto the bus, the doors closing and the bus driving off when she got on.
"About time the calvary showed up." Miss Finster said as they all managed to squeeze on.
"Let's hear it for the busdriver!" TJ shouts as they all cheer.
"What do you say, Bertha? Bertha?" Dede said and looked at the driver's seat when she didn't get an answer. Only to see that the bus was driving itself.
"Uh-oh."
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"So let that be a lesson to ya. Bikes and school buses got feelings, too. Treat 'em right, And if you know what's good for ya, don't leave them out in the rain." Butch said at the end of his season story.
"Ah, there's nothing more harmless and wholesome Than a playground during recess." Butch was walking the playground now.
"Boo!" Said a second grader dressed as a ghost.
Butch laughs and pats the kid on the head. "Good one, happy little kid." The kid runs off with his friends. "But did you ever wonder what happens around this joint when the sun goes down? If you're smart, you won't stick around to find out. Or you just might find yourself falling
down a dark, black hole of spookiness with no way out!"
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NIGHT OF THE LIVING FINSTERS
Another new day at school and Gus was playing with a toy tank at recess, he was happily in his own little world until his friends walked up to him. "Hey, Gus, you gotta stop playing with that tank and give it back to Milton."
"I know, Teej, but it's the haunted pumpkin head brigade!" Gus replied to TJ as he picked up the toy tank he's become very fond of. "They struck terror into the enemy and knocked down the Berlin wall! Unless you believe those history books!"
"Gus, you pinkie-swore Milton you'd give it back by recess!" Spinelli said, reminding Gus what he did.
"You never go back on a pinkie swear!
It's bad luck. Besides, you'd hate it if someone played with your toys and didn't give them back when they'd say they would." Dede, who takes promises, especially pinkie promises, seriously, said.
"I know, but--" Gus started.
Miss Finster walked up to the group of eight, seeing Gus with the toy. "No supernatural military toys on the playground, Griswald. Hand it over."
"But it's not mine! It's Milton's." Gus stood up, trying to get Miss Finster to change her mind about taking the toy.
"That's your problem, not mine." Miss Finster took the toy from Gus and walked off back to school.
"Hey, my tank!" Milton ran up when he saw what had happened before he turned to look at Gus. "Thanks a lot for breaking your pinky swear, Gus!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Gus apologised as Milton ran off after Miss Finster to try and get his toy back.
"Boy, that really was bad luck!" Said Spinelli.
"This is why you never break a promise." Dede said before she turned behind her at hearing screams.
The group looks over to see the diggers running out of their holes, both still screaming. "Whomping whales of worry, what's dogging the diggers?" TJ asked.
"Maybe they were simply exclaiming with joy at having dug very deep." Mikey said as they all looked down at the hole, not seeing the bottom.
"Oh, no! What if they found a skeleton?" Gus exclaimed. "I bet they found a skeleton. It's all my fault!"
"Hey, hey, buddy, relax. It's OK." Vince walked over to Gus to reassure him. "It takes a lot more than breaking a pinkie swear to bring skeletons around school."
Lawson and his friends walk over to the eight friends, ready to do what he does best. "Oh, yeah? If you're so sure nothing scary's in that hole, then how about this? I dare you to climb down into it."
"You're on!" Vince accepted the challenge.
"Well good, 'cause I wasn't finished. You gotta climb into that hole... at night! And stay in it all alone by yourself all night long! Ha ha!"
"Walk away, Vince. It's crazy talk. We won't blame you." Paloma said, trying to get Vince to back down.
"But... he dared me." Vince answered.
Later on, at night, Vince was walking through the playground using his flashlight to help him see where he was going. When he reaches the digger's hole he sighs nervously. "OK. Here we go. Diggers' hole." A crow sounds out from nearby making Vince look at it. "Nothing wrong with that." Vince makes his way down the ladder, seeing all the different paths that they have managed to dig out. "Whoa. Those diggers sure have been busy. This isn't so bad. Kind of cozy, in fact." Vince starts walking through one of the tunnels. "I'll just hang out here till sunrise, and Lawson will feel like a big, fat--"
Vince screams as a hand lands on his shoulder, turning around he saw his seven friends all standing there. "Hello." Mikey waves.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"Well, Vince, you're our buddy, and you know what I always say, 'a buddy never lets a buddy sneak out without telling his parents, climb down into a dark, creepy hole at night, and stay there by himself.'" TJ answered on behalf of them all.
"Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no." Vince sighs. "You guys can't be here! Lawson dared me to come here alone! By myself! Having you guys here, it's like cheating! You never cheat on a dare."
"Oops."
"Tell me cheating on a dare isn't worse luck than breaking a pinkie swear!" Gus whines.
"It's way worse!" Spinelli said before the ground seemed to shake. The eight all grabbed into each other as part of the wall collapsed, revealing a metal fence.
"What's that?" Paloma asked as they all looked at it.
"Why, it looks like the old gate from a picturesque country graveyard" Mike answers.
"Gadzooks!" Said Gretchen. "We've uncovered the ancient Finster burial ground!"
"The what who what?" Asked Gus.
"It's the final resting place for Finsters from throughout the ages. It was rumoured to have been buried right here under our playground."
A squeaking sound is all that's heard causi the eight to look over at the gate, only to see it fall open onto the floor. "Miscreants." A zombie Frinster said as she walked out. "Miscreants!"
"Run!" Dede shouts as her friends all scream.
As they were all running another zombie Frinster breaks through the wall next to them. "Ne'er-do-wells."
Another came up though the floor blocking the kids paths. "Hooligans. Hooligans!"
The eight ran off into the other direction only to see a dead end. "Oh no.. we're trapped." Gus cried.
"No we're not, look a trap door! We're free!" Dede said as she opened the door she saw.
As her friends all cheered at her for finding a way out the wall next to them broke down to show another zombie Finster.
"We're in the cafeteria." TJ said as he pokes his head through the trap door. Dede was standing under the door holding her hands out so her friends could get up through the door quicker.
All the zombie Finster's that they've been running from started to creep up onto them, by now it was just Mikey and Dede left, but as Mikey was going through the trap door he got stuck. "Help! Help!" Mikey calls and the others run back to pull him out.
While Dede was waiting for them to do that she was fighting off all the zombies, quickly jumping up through the trap door when Mikey was finally out. However one of the zombie Finster's was able to grab her and climb up as well, as the zombie had Dede pinned down Spinelli tackled her off of Dede, knowing her glasses under one of the lunch tables. "Thanks." Dede said to her friend before they all got up and ran into the kitchen.
"Quick! In here!" TJ said as he held the door open. Just as the girls got into the kitchen the other zombie Finster's made their way up from the hole.
"Hurry! Lock the door!" Panicked Gretchen.
"The lock's broken." Paloma exclaimed as she kept trying to lock the door.
"Lousy vandal kids!" TJ growls angrily.
Seeing no other way, Dede slammed her back into the door when the zombie Finster's tried to open it. "Everybody, hold the door!"
All of her friends all joined Dede in trying to keep the doors closed themselves. "It's no good! There's too many of them!" Vince said.
"We've gotta do something!" Said Gus.
"Dede, Gretchen, look!" TJ points over to a big pot of tomato surprise.
"Of course!" Gretchen exclaimed, getting what TJ was hinting at.
"Will it work?"
"Hold the door! Let's go." Gretchen said looking at Dede and the two ran deeper into the kitchen while the other six tried to keep the doors closed.
Gretchen grabbed a big jar of pickles and emptied it out before having Dede slowly flip one of the pots of tomato surprise over to fill up the now empty jar. "Hurry up!" Spinelli shouts.
"Almost got it!" Gretchen shouts back as Dede climbs up some of the appliances to get to the water dispenser.
"We can't hold out!" Vince argues.
"They're breaking in!" Gus said.
"Now!" Dede shouts when she was finished screwing the jar into the dispenser, allowing Gretchen to turn the valve, making all the fire sprinklers in the cafeteria turn on, burning all the zombie Finster's with the tomato surprise.
Inside the kitchen all the kids could hear the zombie Finster's screaming. "What's happening?" Asked Gus.
"It sounds terrible!" Said Paloma.
"The stuff you put into the fire sprinklers, what was it?" Asked Vince, as he and the others all turned to look at both girls.
"Tomato surprise, Vince, left over from lunch." TJ answered for the girls.
"There's enough acid in it to melt an entire village full of zombies." Gretchen states.
"Poor, dumb, ghastly freaks." Gus said, looking at the doors that lead to the cafeteria. "They never knew what hit them."
The group of eight decided it would be best for them to stay inside the kitchen until morning, where they'll hopefully be able to get out without the zombies there, but after the eventful night that they've had it wasn't long till all of them fell asleep. "Guys! Wake up, it's morning!" Paloma said as she and Dede woke their friends up. Having been the first ones to wake up.
The six all yawned as they woke up, Dede opened the kitchen door and poked her head out to see if there were anymore zombies still about, instead she only saw Hank there, mopping the floor from the tomato surprise. "Confounded food fights." When Hank was finished he left the cafeteria.
Dede walked out with her friend trailing behind her, she got to where the trap door was and banged on the floor, only for it to feel fully solid. "The trap door, it's gone!"
The group quickly ran outside to see if they could enter from there again, only to find the diggers filling it back up. "You guys! You buried your hole!" Spinelli exclaimed. "You're stopping the zombies, right?"
The diggers just laughed at that question, thinking Spinelli was joking with them. "Zombies? You guys are funny. We're filling it in 'cause we're done with it. We're gonna start a new one over there." Dave said as he pointed to the other side of the playground.
"You didn't see any zombies?" Gus asked, shocked. "But yesterday, you ran out of here screaming!"
"Oh, yeah, Dave busted dad's best shovel digging in tunnel nine, he was pretty mad when we got home. Talk about your scary encounters!" Sam said as the two waved before walking off.
"It did happen, didn't it?" Vince asked as he was starting to second guess himself. "There were zombies, weren't there?"
"Maybe children shouldn't accept crazy dares and sneak out without their parent's knowledge and climb into deep holes in the middle of the night." Gretchen said, also starting to think it was all a crazy dream. "Maybe it's just too scary. Fear does strange things to the human mind. Perhaps, my friends… Perhaps... we imagined it all."
As the eight were all second guessing what they've been through, none of them thought to check the cafeteria fully, as if they did, they would have seen the pair of glasses that was knocked off if one of the zombie Finster's, just sitting there, right out of everyone's sight.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"So, there you have it, tales of terror that completely, actually happened…" butch said as he leaned back against a tree. "Or at least, that's what they tell me. And I believe them! Sort of. I mean, after all, they were scary, weren't they? And-- and what kind of person would make up stuff just to scare kids?" Butch then rips his head off, just to show it was another mask, but with Miss Finster underneath this time. "Maybe me?" She laughs evilly before starting to talk in butch's voice again. "The point is, don't do nothing dumb, because you just never know what weird stuff is gonna happen. Happy Halloween!"
……………………………………………
A/N - hope everyone has an amazing Halloween.
To answer a few more questions asked -
I've said before, I'm not sure yet on who or how many people will find out about Dedes life as a galactic guardian, I'm still working on that draft and how it'll affect everything from then on but I do have an idea I am massively leaning towards.
Crystal is mainly only persistent with Dede when it comes to her health and experiencing new things.
If people would like to see all the outfit choices I had for Dede, I have a few pages full of chibi drawings all dressed differently, as drawing chibis is a lot easier than a normal body.
As for pictures of Dedes home, I can try and draw some of the main rooms if more people wanna see.
Yes, I will be doing season 3 mission earth, it's why I'll slowly be starting to add more atomic Betty focused episodes in.
But on that note of mission earth, I have a question for you guys. Who do you think is going to replace Noah as the cadet that Dede will recommend?
I'm curious if anyone can guess on who I'll be having to replace Noah. I've already got the character in mind and it won't be long now till I do a few chapters that basically say who it'll be, for those who know season 2 of atomic Betty well will pick up on it.