On the big day, Mike and Randy were nervous but determined¹. They quizzed each other as they headed toward the School of Scaring.

From the ROR house across campus, Sulley saw Mike and scowled². "I am going to wipe the floor with that little know-it-all," Sulley told his ROR brothers.

"Yes, yes, you are, Big Blue." Then, to Sulley's shock, Johnny removed Sulley's ROR jacket and hung it over his own arm.

"Hey! Wait. What are you —"

Johnny smiled. "It's just a precaution. RORs are the best Scarers on campus, Sullivan. Can't have a member come in second to a beach ball."

"I'm gonna destroy that guy!" Sulley protested.

Johnny held up the jacket. "Well, then you'll get this back in no time. It's time to start delivering on that Sullivan name."

Sulley entered the classroom and dropped into a seat next to Mike and Randy. Professor Knight³ addressed the students. "Today's final will judge your ability to assess a child's fear and perform the appropriate scare ... in the scare simulator." Turning, he motioned toward a modular room that looked like a human child's bedroom. A small robotic child was tucked into the bed. The students stared at the machine nervously⁴.

"Dean Hardscrabble is with us this morning to see who will be moving on in the Scaring Program and who will not," Professor Knight continued. He gestured to Dean Hardscrabble, who stood to the side, unsmiling, as she casually⁵ adjusted her record-breaking scream can. "Let's get started!"

Soon, the first student stood onstage, ready to begin. "I am a five-year-old girl afraid of spiders and Santa Claus," Professor Knight said. "Which scare do you use?"

The student gulped⁶ as Dean Hardscrabble stretched her bat wings and f lew up to a window. "Uh, that's a Seasonal⁷ Creep-and-Crawl," the student said.

"Demonstrate," Professor Knight said.

The student walked through the door of the simulator, then lunged, roaring at the robotic child in bed. The student looked at Professor Knight, hoping he'd done it correctly. But the professor simply said, "Results will be posted outside my of f ice. Next!"

As students waited their turn at the simulator, Mike took out his textbook for some last-minute cramming⁸. Feeling resentful, Sulley stared at his rival. Then he noticed that the RORs were in the gallery, watching. Johnny gave Sulley a nod. Sulley nodded back, but he wasn't feeling it.

Sulley stood up and walked past Mike, "accidentally" knocking his books to the floor. "Hey, do you mind?" Mike said.

Sulley shrugged⁹. "Don't mind at all," he said, and began to stretch, warming up for his turn at the simulator.

Randy looked over at Sulley and said, "Come on, Mike. Let's just move."

Mike nodded and began to walk away. Then he changed his mind. He walked back to Sulley. "Stay out of my way," he said. "I worked really hard for this, unlike you."

Sulley just grinned and said, "That's because you don't belong here."

Mike stood there for a moment, his anger building. Then he turned to Sulley — and let out a loud ROAR!

Sulley f linched. Then he glanced into the stands and saw his ROR fraternity brothers watching. He couldn't let them think he was backing down. He took a deep breath and responded: "ROARRRR!" This time it was Mike's turn to flinch¹⁰. Sulley laughed. "That's what I thought," he said under his breath.

Sulley went back to practicing, but Mike wasn't willing to let it go. He got in Sulley's face and roared again. It wasn't long before the class's attention was turned to the two monsters facing off against each other.

"ROARR!"

"ROARRR!"

"ROOAARRRR!"

Randy looked up and saw that Dean Hardscrabble was watching, too. Sulley and Mike were moving closer to each other, roaring louder and louder. Then Sulley took a step back and accidentally bumped into the pedestal holding Dean Hardscrabble's famous scream can.

Everyone watched in horror as the scream can wobbled and clanged to the floor!

 

在这个重要的日子，麦克和蓝道都非常紧张，但也都充满信心。去往惊吓学院的路上，他们还在互相提问考查对方。

毛怪从校园那头的精吓会会所出来，看到麦克，顿时皱起了眉头，对精吓会兄弟们说道：“我真想把那个‘万事通’踩在脚底下擦地。”

强哥答道：“没错，是的，你是该那么做，蓝色大个子。”接着，他把毛怪的精吓会会服脱下来搭在自己胳臂上，这让毛怪惊讶不已。

“嘿！等一下，你干吗……”

强哥笑着说：“我们只是以防万一。苏利文，毕竟精吓会会员都是学校的精英。我们可不能接受一个‘小沙滩球’的手下败将做成员。”

毛怪争辩道：“我会把他打得落花流水！”

强哥举起会服对毛怪说：“好，那你很快就能把衣服拿回去了。拿出行动来吧，证明你无愧于你的家族。”

毛怪走进教室，在麦克和蓝道身边坐了下来。奈特教授向同学们宣布道：“今天的期末考试将考查你们评估儿童恐惧类型的能力，以及做出适当惊吓的能力。考试地点在惊吓模拟舱。”说着，教授转过身，向大家展示了一间模拟的人类儿童卧室，一个仿真机器人儿童正盖着被子躺在床上。同学们盯着这个模拟舱，心里非常紧张。

教授继续说道：“今天早上，郝刻薄院长也会来到现场，见证谁能留在惊吓学院继续学习，谁会卷铺盖走人。”教授指了指站在一旁的院长，只见她表情严肃，摆弄了一下自己那只破纪录的尖叫收集罐。“好了，开始考试！”

很快，第一个学生就站到了台上，准备开始。“我是一个五岁的小女孩儿，害怕蜘蛛和圣诞老人，”教授说道，“你打算用哪种惊吓方式？”

这时，郝院长张开她那对蝙蝠似的翅膀飞到了窗边，这位学生吓得猛吸了口气，“呃……我会偷偷摸摸地爬进去。”学生说道。

“开始示范。”奈特教授说。

那位同学走进模拟舱，猛扑到床前，对着机器人小孩大吼一声。接着，他看着教授，希望得到他的肯定，然而教授只是简单地说了一句：“成绩会贴在我办公室门口。下一个！”

同学们在模拟舱边候考期间，麦克拿出课本打算最后恶补一下。毛怪对麦克心怀怨恨，狠狠地盯着这个对手。这时他注意到精吓会的成员也在大厅一旁围观。强哥对毛怪点了一下头，毛怪也回以一个点头，但他并没有找到状态。

毛怪站起身来向外走，经过麦克身旁时他“不小心”撞掉了麦克的书。“嘿！走路留点神！”麦克朝他喊道。

毛怪耸耸肩说道：“还真没留神。”然后他就开始舒展身体，为考试做热身。

蓝道看了看毛怪，对麦克说：“算了，麦克，我们换个位子吧。”

麦克点点头，准备走开。但他突然改变了主意，掉头朝毛怪走去，说道：“别来惹我，我不像你，我费了千辛万苦才考进来的。”

毛怪只是笑了笑说道：“那是因为你根本不属于这里。”

麦克愣在原地，愤怒在心中聚积。紧接着他对着毛怪——发出了一声响亮的咆哮！

毛怪退缩了一下。他瞥了眼看台上的精吓会成员，他们可都看着自己呢，决不能让他们认为自己被打倒了。于是，他深吸一口气，发出了一声更大的咆哮。这一回轮到麦克有点退缩了。毛怪笑了笑，轻声说道：“你果然不行啊。”

毛怪走回去继续练习，但麦克不愿就这么算了。他来到毛怪面前，又咆哮了一声。很快，班里的同学全都转过头来注视着这两只对峙的怪兽。

“吼！！”

“吼吼！！！”

“吼吼吼！！！！”

蓝道抬起头，看到郝刻薄院长也在看着他俩。麦克和毛怪离得越来越近，咆哮声也越来越大。接着，毛怪向后退了一步，不小心撞到了一个底座。而这个底座上摆放的正是郝刻薄院长那只著名的尖叫收集罐。

所有人都惊恐地盯着这个收集罐，眼睁睁地看着它晃来晃去，最后“哐当”一声摔到了地上！

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