The next morning, Mike rolled over in his bunk¹ and onto a pillow of blue fur. Still snoring, Mike cuddled up to it and murmured, "I know you're a princess and I'm just a stable boy ..." Then he opened his eye and saw he was embracing Sulley's hand, which was hanging down from the upper bunk. "AGHHHH!" Mike screamed as he pushed the hand away.

Sulley woke up with a start and toppled out of bed. "What are you doing?" he yelled at Mike.

"Your grubby paw was in my bed!" Mike yelled back.

Sulley's eyes narrowed. "Were you kissing my hand?"

Mike pretended to laugh. "Kissing your hand? No! And what about all your shedding?"

"I don't shed," Sulley replied.

"Really?" Mike asked skeptically. He pounded Sulley's mattress², and a cloud of blue hair rose into the air.

Sulley just grumbled³ and tried to maneuver⁴ around Mike.

"Excuse me," said Mike, who was heading for the door. "Would you just let me —"

"I just want to get my stuff," Sulley growled⁵.

The two started to struggle as they tried to move around the little room, until both of them tumbled out the bedroom door and onto the hallway f loor.

Suddenly, there was a flash! Mike and Sulley looked up to see all the Oozmas gathered in the hallway. "First morning in the house!" Squishy exclaimed, holding up a camera.

"That's going in the album!" Art added.

Don came running up the stairs. "Guys! We got a letter! It's the first event of the Scare Games!" Mike, Sulley, and the other OKs quickly gathered around. Mike tried to take the letter from Don, but it kept sticking to the older monster's tentacles⁶. Don smiled meekly⁷ and struggled with the letter, muttering an apology, "Tentacles ... sticky."

Finally, Mike tore it loose and read the details. "Wait a second," Mike said, surprised. "They want us to meet where?"

That night, Mike, Sulley, and the Oozmas stepped into the campus's large, dark sewer⁸ drain. Water dripped from the ceiling, and the sound of their footsteps echoed eerily⁹ in the cold, damp tunnel. They turned a corner and saw a crowd. The Greek Council president and her vice¹⁰ president stood on a stage in the center of the floodlit sewer.

"Welcome to the first competition of the Scare Games: the Toxicity¹¹ Challenge!" the president said to the competing sororities and fraternities. "Every Scarer that enters a child's room has to navigate¹³ a minefield of deadly toxicity, because there is nothing more toxic¹² than a human child!"

The vice president continued, "But thanks to MU's biology department, we've found a close second — the stinging glow urchin¹⁴!"

The Oozmas watched a group of students carry in a large wooden box. The president reached inside with a metal claw and pulled out a round, spiky¹⁵ blue creature that hissed¹⁶ and sparked menacingly.

"Oooh," Art said softly. "I want to touch it."

The president pointed¹⁷ to the side of the stage, toward a tunnel strewn with hundreds of the glowing, crackling urchins¹⁸. Art seemed even more intrigued¹⁹. "This is the starting line," the vice president said. "The light at the end of the tunnel is the finish line. Whoever comes in last is eliminated from the Games."

"Eliminated?" Terry gasped²⁰.

Mike looked him in the eye. "We're not going to lose; all we need is right here," he said, pointing to his chest.

Squishy smiled. "You mean heart?"

"No, I mean me," Mike replied. "I'm gonna win the race for us."

Sulley looked at Mike like he'd lost his mind. "All right," Sulley said, pushing Mike out of the way. "That's very cute, but move, move. I'm gonna win this."

Mike pushed Sulley right back. "It's an obstacle course!" he said, looking up at him. "What are you going to do? Roar at it?"

The PNK sorority, in their bright pink tees, gathered next to the Oozmas. "Okay," one of the PNKs said to her team. "This is all about teamwork, so let's stick together!"

As the teams came to the starting line, the Greek Council president made a final announcement. "Attention, teams, one last thing. Scarers work in the dark."

Suddenly, the floodlit sewer went black. And the Oozma Kappas went from nervous to completely terrified.

 

第二天早晨，麦克在床上翻了个身，滚到一个毛茸茸的蓝色枕头上。他一边打着呼噜，一边蜷缩在枕头上呓语道：“我知道你是公主，而我只是个小马夫……”接着，他睁开了眼睛，看到自己拥抱着的，正是毛怪从上铺耷拉下来的手！“啊啊啊啊啊！”麦克大喊着一把推开毛怪的手。

毛怪也被惊醒了，一下子从上铺掉了下来。“你在干吗？”他朝麦克大喊道。

“你的脏爪子跑到我床上来了！”麦克也朝他大喊。

毛怪眯起眼睛问道：“你刚才在亲我的手？”

麦克假装大笑着说：“亲你的手？才怪！还有，你掉毛是怎么回事？”

“我不掉毛。”毛怪回答。

“是吗？”麦克怀疑地问道。他用力拍了一下毛怪的床垫，扬起一大堆蓝色的毛发。

而毛怪只是嘟囔着，在麦克身旁小心地移动着身体。

“让一下，”麦克边朝门口走去边说，“你可不可以让我……”

“我只是想拿我的东西。”毛怪喊道。

他们俩都急着伸手去拿自己的东西，可狭窄的房间却让他们根本伸不开手脚。最终，两个人从卧室里一起挤出来，摔倒在楼道里。

突然，闪光灯闪了一下！麦克和毛怪抬起头，看到所有OK会的成员都聚集在楼道里。“这是你们在这儿的第一个早上！”史乖宝拿着一个照相机喊道。

“这是要放进相册里的！”阿拱补充说。

这时，老唐从楼下跑上来喊道：“兄弟们！我们收到了一封信！关于‘惊吓杯’的第一场比赛！”麦克、毛怪，还有其他OK会的成员都迅速聚了过来。麦克试图把信拿过来，可是信却被老唐的触手死死地吸住了。老唐温和地笑了笑，一边用力试图把信扯下来，一边道歉说：“我的触手……吸得太牢了。”

最后，麦克把信从触手上一点一点撕下来，开始看信的具体内容。“等一下，”麦克惊讶地说道，“他们这是想让我们去哪儿比赛啊？”

当晚，麦克、毛怪和OK会的成员一起走进了学校又大又黑的下水道。水从下水道顶上一滴一滴地落下来，他们的脚步声回荡在这个阴冷的管道里，听起来十分诡异。转过一个弯，他们看到了聚集在前方的人群。希腊议会的会长和副会长站在下水道里一个由泛光灯照亮的舞台中央。

“欢迎来到‘惊吓杯’第一场比赛的现场：剧毒障碍赛！”会长对所有参赛的兄弟会和姐妹会队伍说道，“每一位惊吓专员进入儿童的卧室后，都要绕过布满毒物的雷区，因为人类的孩子剧毒无比！”

副会长继续说道：“感谢怪大的生物系，为我们收集到了与人类孩子的物品性质相近的东西——荧光刺刺球！”

OK会的队员们看到一群学生抬来了一只大木箱。会长将一把金属钳伸到里面，掏出了一个蓝色的圆形刺刺球，它在黑暗中一闪一闪的，发出“嘶嘶”的声音，异常吓人。

“哦，”阿拱轻声说道，“我好想摸一摸。”

会长指了指舞台的另一侧，大家看到那边下水道的地面上撒了上百个刺刺球，每一个都在闪光，还发出“噼啪”的爆裂声。看到这儿，阿拱更兴奋了。“这里是起跑线，”副会长说道，“隧道另一端的灯是终点。最后一个到达终点的将会被淘汰。”

“被淘汰？”泰锐倒吸了一口气。

麦克看着泰锐说道：“我们不会被淘汰的，因为我们取胜的关键就在这儿。”他边说边指着自己的胸部。

史乖宝笑了：“我们的心？”

“不，我说的是我。”麦克回答道，“我会帮我们队赢的。”

毛怪看着麦克，好像麦克是疯了一样。“好啦好啦，”毛怪把麦克推到一边说，“你很可爱，但是麻烦你让让，看我怎么拿下这场比赛。”

麦克把毛怪推了回去，抬头看看他说道：“这是障碍赛！你靠什么赢？咆哮吗？”

粉红美少女队穿着亮粉色的T恤站在OK会成员旁边。只听其中一个女孩对她的队友说：“好啦，这场比赛的关键是团队合作，所以大家要团结起来！”

所有团队来到起跑线上之后，希腊议会的会长做了最后一次申明：“各位注意了，最后一项规则，比赛在黑暗中进行。”

突然间，之前由泛光灯照耀着的下水道变得一片漆黑。这下OK会的队员们从紧张变成了彻头彻尾的害怕。

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