It was late when Mike piled all the Oozmas into Ms. Squibbles's car — with Ms. Squibbles's driving. After a long drive, Mike told her to pull into a dark parking lot. "Thanks, Mom!" Squishy said as the group climbed out and stretched.

Ms. Squibbles waved. "Have fun, kids! I'll just be here listening to my tunes¹." She rolled up her window, and the car began to vibrate with the thud of heavy metal music.

Art looked around. "So where are we?" he asked Mike.

All the Oozmas followed Mike as he walked toward a large gate and gazed upward. "The big leagues," Mike said solemnly.

Everyone looked up and saw the sign: MONSTERS, INC.

"Holy roly-poly!" Don said, awestruck. Even Sulley was stunned².

Mike held up a pair of wire cutters and the Oozmas gasped³. "We're not stopping here," Mike told them. Moments later, he had cut a big hole in the wire fence — right next to the No Trespassing⁴ sign.

"This is crazy! We're gonna get arrested!" Squishy whispered as Mike led the group up a ladder and onto the roof of Monsters, Inc.

"Shh!" Mike said, leading them toward a big window.

As the group peered through the window, everyone's eyes went wide. "Whoa!" someone exclaimed. They were looking down onto a real scare floor, full of Scarers going in and out of active doors to the human world.

"Take a good look, fellas," Mike said, pointing to the Scarers below. "See what they all have in common?"

Squishy stared hard at the workers down on the scare floor. They were of different shapes, colors, and sizes. "No, not really," Squishy said finally, feeling confused.

"Exactly!" Mike exclaimed. "There's no one type of Scarer. The best Scarers use their differences to their advantage."

"Wow," Squishy said, watching a blobby Scarer expand himself to enormous size.

"Terri, look!" Terry called to his brother. They both stared as a three-headed Scarer came out from an active door.

Sulley was impressed, too. He watched the Scarers for a while, then glanced over at Mike with new respect. Maybe Mike was right.

Don gasped as he noticed an older monster on the floor. "Hey, look at that old fella racking up the big numbers!"

Mike smiled. "Don, that 'old fella' is Earl 'The Terror' Thompson!"

"What?" Sulley said, astounded⁵. "Where?" Then he laughed. "Wow! That's really him! I still have his rookie card!"

"Me too!" Mike said, and for the first time, they realized they had something in common. "You collect scare cards, huh?" Mike asked.

"Yep," Sulley replied proudly. "Four hundred and fifty of 'em."

"Impressive," Mike said, nodding. "I have six thousand. Still in mint condition. But, you know, four-fifty's pretty good, too."

Squishy, inspired by what he saw on the floor, made a scary face and let out a roar. "Hey, look at me," he said, "I'm Earl 'The Terror' Thompson!"

"Hey, that was pretty good!" Art said.

Mike and Sulley watched the Oozmas grow excited as they realized they might actually achieve their dreams.

Then Sulley turned to Mike with a sigh. "I've been a real jerk, haven't I?"

"So have I," Mike admitted. "But it's not too late. We could be a great team. We just to need to start working together —"

"Hey! What are you doing up there?" a security guard yelled.

The entire group froze in surprise. Then Art panicked. "I can't go back to jail!" he cried, and raced away across the rooftop. Mike and the other Oozmas followed.

"They're right behind us!" Don cried as Sulley pulled him along. The gang hustled⁶ up a ladder, hoping to hide on a higher rooftop. But they were too slow.

"There they are, up there!" the security guard shouted. A whole group of guards was chasing them now. "Get 'em!"

Mike gasped as the guards climbed the ladder, hot on their tails and tentacles⁷. Mike led the Oozmas to a ledge⁸ and jumped to a lower rooftop. Squishy was the last to jump. Terrified, he teetered on the ledge, then fell. Sulley reached out his long arm and caught him just in time. "Thanks, brother," Squishy gasped.

Sulley put Squishy on his shoulders and ran. "Don't mention it," Sulley said as he caught up to Mike and the other Oozma Kappas.

It wasn't long before Don was out of breath and falling behind. "I'm fine, really," Don said, gasping⁹. "It's just a little heart attack." Sulley picked Don up, too, and kept running.

"Stop right there!" a guard shouted. "Don't move!" But Sulley, who was now carrying all the Oozmas, plowed¹⁰ through. He jumped to the ground and sprinted¹¹ to the car.

"Mom! Start the car!" Squishy yelled as they ducked out through the fence.

Ms. Squibbles lowered her window and smiled. "What, dear?"

"Start the car!" Squishy howled. "THE CAR! Start the car!"

Ms. Squibbles smiled. "Oh, okay," she said. Mike and the Oozmas piled in.

"Mom, go!" Squishy said as the guards climbed through the hole after them.

"Seat belts," Ms. Squibbles reminded her son and his friends with a smile.

The Oozmas frantically¹² buckled¹³ up as the guards moved closer. "Okay," Squishy panted. "Go!"

"Does anyone want gum?" Ms. Squibbles asked.

"JUST DRIVE!" Squishy hollered. But it was too late. The guards had caught up to the car. Desperate, Mike reached his foot over to the gas pedal and floored it. The car screeched¹⁴ out of the Monsters, Inc., parking lot.

"AAAAHHH!" the Oozmas screamed as the car tore down the road. Then they all started laughing.

"That was awesome¹⁵!" Terri said, and they looked back to see angry guards shaking their fists in the distance.

"Let's break in somewhere else!" Art cried.

Back home at the Oozma Kappa house, the Oozmas had a completely different attitude from earlier that day. Inspired, the group started training for the Scare Games with a confidence and determination they'd never had before. Ms. Squibbles sewed them yellow-and-green sweaters, for their fraternity colors. When Sulley and Mike put on their sweaters and Oozma hats, they exchanged a thumbs-up. They were a team!

From then on, all the Oozmas were up at six a.m. They were out on the quad¹⁶ practicing scaring drills every day. "Scary feet! Scary feet!" Mike shouted to them as they slithered, raced, and crawled across the field.

In the distance, Johnny and Chet watched the Oozmas practicing and shook their heads. The third Scare Games event was Don't Scare the Teen, and they were sure the Oozma Kappas didn't have a chance.

 

天色已经暗下来了，麦克张罗着让OK会的兄弟们挤进史太太的小汽车里——史太太负责开车。汽车行驶了好久，终于到达了目的地，麦克让史太太把车停到一个黑漆漆的停车场。“谢了，老妈！”史乖宝说着，随大伙儿一起跳下车，舒展了一下筋骨。

史太太朝他们挥挥手：“好好玩，孩子们！我就在车里听听小曲儿。”她摇起车窗，小汽车便随着重金属音乐的“砰砰”声震动起来。

阿拱环顾了一下四周，问麦克：“我们这是在哪儿？”

大家跟着麦克朝一扇大门走去，麦克抬头凝视着门上的大字，神情庄重地回答：“业界翘楚。”

所有人都抬起头，只见门上写着：怪兽电力公司。

“我的神啊！”老唐充满敬畏地感叹道。就连毛怪都吃惊不已。

麦克拿出一把钢丝钳，大家都紧张地倒吸了一口气。麦克对大家说：“我们要想办法进去。”不一会儿，麦克就在铁栅栏上剪出了一个大洞——就在“不得擅入”的告示牌旁边。

“这太疯狂了！我们会被抓起来的！”史乖宝低声说道，这时麦克带领大家爬上梯子，来到了怪兽电力公司的屋顶。

“嘘！”麦克边说边带领大家向一扇大窗户走去。

大家透过窗户向下望去，所有人都瞪大了眼睛。“哇哦！”有人忍不住叫出声来。他们朝下看到的是真正的惊吓层，许多惊吓专员正从一扇扇通往人类世界的大门中进进出出。

“兄弟们，好好看看，”麦克指着下面的惊吓专员们问道,“他们有什么共同点？”

史乖宝努力观察着惊吓层的工作人员，可是他们的身型、毛色和块头都各不相同。“嗯，好像没有。”看了一会儿之后，史乖宝一脸疑惑地说道。

“这就对了！”麦克说，“世界上没有两个完全相同的惊吓专员。优秀的惊吓专员应该懂得发挥自身所长。”

“哇哦。”史乖宝看见一位圆乎乎的惊吓专员将自己的身体鼓胀起来，显得体形异常庞大。

“泰瑞，快看！”泰锐大声呼叫着他的兄弟。兄弟俩目不转睛地盯着一位长着三个脑袋的惊吓专员从一扇工作状态的门里走出来。

毛怪也被深深地震撼了。他看了惊吓专员们一会儿，又瞅瞅麦克，眼睛里带着一丝从未有过的敬佩。也许麦克的坚持是对的。

老唐看到一只上了年纪的怪兽，不由得倒吸了一口气。“嘿，看那个老家伙，他得分不少啊！”

麦克笑了：“老唐，那个‘老家伙’可是‘恐怖者’厄尔·汤普森！”

“什么？”毛怪惊叫起来，“哪里？”接着毛怪大笑起来：“哇哦！真的是他！我还有他的新秀卡呢。”

“我也是！”麦克头一次发现自己和毛怪竟然还有共同点，“你也收集惊吓卡吗？”麦克问道。

“当然啦，”毛怪自豪地回答，“我有450张呢。”

“不错，”麦克点点头说道：“我有6000张，都还是全新的。不过，450张也不错啦。”

史乖宝看着惊吓层上的一切，心里痒痒的，他做出一个吓人的表情，大吼一声：“嘿，看我，我是‘恐怖者’厄尔·汤普森！”

“嘿，不错嘛！”阿拱说道。

麦克和毛怪看到OK会队员们又一次变得斗志昂扬起来，大家也意识到他们也许确实有机会实现自己的梦想。

这时毛怪转向麦克，轻轻叹了口气说：“我之前表现得很混蛋，是吧？”

“我也是，”麦克坦白地说，“但现在还不算太晚，我们可以成为一支强大的队伍，大家只需要齐心协力——”

“喂！你们在那上面干吗？”一名保安厉声喝道。

大家被吓得愣住了。阿拱慌了，“我可不能再去坐一次牢！”他大喊一声，一溜烟从屋顶跑开了，麦克和其他人也紧跟上去。

“他们要追上来了！”老唐边跑边喊，毛怪一把拉住他向前冲去。大家手忙脚乱地爬上一架梯子，想躲到更高的屋顶上。但是，他们跑得太慢了。

“他们在那儿，在上面！”保安大喊一声，全体保安都出动了。他们一路追赶，高喊着：“抓住他们！”

保安们爬上梯子，紧追不舍，连尾巴和触角都用上了。麦克见此，倒吸一口冷气。他带领大家来到屋顶边缘，跳到另一片稍低的屋顶上。史乖宝是最后一个跳的，由于太过害怕，他在边缘处摇摇晃晃的，接着就掉了下去。好在毛怪伸出长长的手臂，及时抓住了史乖宝。“谢了，老兄。”史乖宝气喘吁吁地说。

毛怪将史乖宝扛到自己肩上奔跑起来，“别客气。”毛怪一边回答，一边赶上了麦克和其他OK会的成员。

不一会儿，老唐就累得喘不过气来，掉队了。“说真的，我没事儿，”他喘着粗气说，“就是心脏有些受不了。”毛怪又背起老唐向前跑去。

“给我站住！”身后传来保安的喊声，“别跑！”毛怪这时已经把所有队员都背到了身上，他冲破了阻拦，朝地上纵身一跃，全力向小汽车冲去。

“老妈！快开车！”一穿过栅栏，史乖宝就远远地喊了起来。

史太太摇下车窗，微笑着问道：“你说什么，宝贝儿？”

“快开车！”史乖宝吼道，“开车！快开车！”

史太太依旧微笑着说：“哦，好嘞。”大家一哄而上挤进车里。

“老妈，快走！”眼看保安们已经跟着穿过了栅栏，史乖宝急忙催道。

“系好安全带。”史太太微笑着提醒史乖宝和他的朋友们。

大家七手八脚地系上安全带，保安们已经越来越近了。史乖宝喘着气说：“好了，快走！”

“有人要口香糖吗？”史太太问道。

“快开车！”史乖宝号叫起来。但已经来不及了，保安们追上了小汽车。情急之下，麦克一脚踏上油门，一踩到底。汽车尖叫着开出了怪兽电力公司的停车场。

车子一路狂奔，“啊啊啊！”大家高声尖叫着，随即又开怀大笑起来。

“我们真了不起！”泰瑞说道。大家转过头，看见保安们在远处气急败坏地摇晃着拳头。

阿拱兴奋地说：“下次我们再闯闯别的地方看！”

回到OK会会所，每个人看起来都和早上完全不一样了。大家受到了鼓励，充满了从未有过的自信和决心，开始为“惊吓杯”做准备训练。史太太为大家织了黄绿相间的毛衣，这是OK会的专属颜色。毛怪和麦克穿上毛衣，戴上会帽，给彼此竖起了一个大拇指。他们是一个团队了！

从那天起，OK会所有成员每天六点钟就起床，来到四方坪练习惊吓。大家在训练场日复一日地练习着蜿蜒爬行、跑步和匍匐前进，而麦克则一遍又一遍地喊着：“下一招！下一招!”

不远处，强哥和喳喳看着不停练习的OK会成员摇了摇头。“惊吓杯”第三场比赛的主题是“避开青少年”，他们觉得OK会肯定没戏。

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