~Tough Spider~

Once there was a Poptropican named Young Jumper. She and her best friends, Shy Leaf and Wild Knuckle, lived on Reality TV Island. Until just last year, they were friends with Moody Bug, but then he moved to far away, Super Power Island, because his dad got a job at a local bank.
It was the day before Halloween and, with her parents’ permission, Young Jumper got to go in the blimp to pick up Moody Bug from Super Power Island because the civilians on Super Power don’t celebrate Halloween.
She had called Moody’s house the day before she had left, but no one answered.
“Thank you for calling the Bug residence. If you are trying to reach Moody Bug, he surely will return your call if he is not busy being chased by spiders. If he is being chased by spiders, you better hope the spiders get bored and run away, because Moody Bug is very afraid of spiders. Thank you. At the tone, please leave a message. *beeeeeeep*”
“Hi, Moody,” said Young into the phone. “I thought you may want to come to Reality TV to celebrate Halloween with us, since I heard they don’t celebrate it at Super Power island. See ya. Bye.”
The next day, Young Jumper guided her blimp all the way to Super Power Island. It was noon by the time she got there. She was glad to see Moody had gotten her message, and he was waiting by the Comic Shop.
However, Moody always got his holidays mixed up. Last year, Moody went as a firework, and Young groaned when she saw he was wearing an Easter bunny outfit.
“Did it get it right this time?” asked Moody with a smile on his face. “At the Masks and Capes shop, they had it on sale for only 50 credits!”
“Well,” said Young, “I guess it’s better to go as bunny than a rocket. After all, there are some evil bunnies out there, right? Isn’t there a villain named Dr. Hare who looks like a rabbit?
Moody nodded his head. “My cousin, Short Bug, who lives on 24 Carrot Isalnd, said he devastated the island. But let’s talk about happier things. What are Shy and Wild going as?”
“I don’t know!” said Young. “Let’s go to Reality TV and find out. Oh, and my dad said you’re sleeping over at my house tonight.”
“That’ll be great!” said Moody.
So they got into the blimp and made the long journey all the way back to Reality TV.
It was very late when they got back, and they ate dinner composed of doughnuts from Mike’s groceries before going to bed.
Young was having trouble sleeping because of Moody’s snoring. She was about to fall asleep, when all of a sudden, she heard a loud “THUMP!”
She bolted up in her bed. It sounded like somebody was trying to brake in!
THUMP!
“M-Moody?” Young asked. “Did you hear that?”
“Unggghh. I’m trying to sleep…” he replied.
“But did you not just hear two loud thumps?”
“No, don’t know what you’re talking about. Now let me sleep….. zzzzzzz……. zzzzzzzz…. zzzz….” Moody had fallen asleep again.
Cautiously, Young put her head down and went to sleep.
When they woke up, they went into the kitchen. The TV was on.
“What do you think, Friendly Ice?” asked the reporter on TV.
“I wish they hadn’t done it. My kids were really looking forward to it this year.”
“What’s going on?” asked Young.
Young’s Dad pushed a newspaper in front of her.
“Halloween Banned on Reality TV Island!” the headline screamed at her.
“Yikes!” said Moody, who was reading over her shoulder. “‘Halloween encourages young poptropicans to get involved in seedy activity?’ That’s ridiculous!”
“Who decided to ban Halloween, anyway?” Young asked.
“Man, that really stinks,” said the reporter on TV. “Say, who decided to ban Halloween anyway?”
“It was our new mayor that people don’t really like, Mordred. I really don’t think this will help his popularity ratings,” the Poptropican being interviewed replied.
“I see,” replied the reporter. “Just really quickly, as we only have thirty seconds left, where should Poptropicans who live on Reality TV Island go if they still want to celebrate Halloween?”
“I’d recommend going to Spy Island. They still celebrate Halloween, and there’s a great place there where you can be a spy and hunt for clues. These clues are supposed to tell you something when you find all of them. Plus, it’s pretty close to Reality TV Island.”
“Thank you!” said the reporter. “Now, it’s time for us to hear from Shark Tooth Island’s mayor about their recent shark sighting.”
Young’s Dad turned off the TV.
“This makes me really mad,” Young said. “We took Moody all the way over from Super Power Island to Reality TV Island to celebrate Halloween, and then we find out that Halloween is banned!”
“We could always get Shy and Wild and go to Spy Island. I think that thing where you get to be a spy sounds fun!”
“We could do that,” Young’s Dad replied. “I think I can trust the four of you to spend a day on Spy Island without me.”
“Alright then!” said Young. “Let’s get Shy and Wild and go!”
And so they were off. After running to get Shy and Wild, who lived a couple of blocks away, everyone was off in the blimp to Spy Island.
“I’m glad you came and got us, Young,” Shy said. “Should we try to solve Spy Island while we’re there?”
“It’s Halloween,” Wild said. “I don’t want to do an island quest today. It’s so much work. Besides, we have beaten Early Poptropica, Time Tangled, Nabooti, Big Nate, and Great Pumpkin islands. That’s enough for now. I have all those items we got in my backpack with me, even the water bucket from Early Poptropica the settler said I could keep.”
Soon the four arrived on Spy Island.
Shy looked at his watch.
“It’s only ten AM,” he said. “It’s WAY too early to start trick-or-treating.”
“Let’s go to that place they were talking about on TV,” Moody suggested. “It’d be so cool to be a spy and sneak around everywhere.”
Wild stared at Moody.
“Really?” he said. “You usually don’t like things like this because you think they’re too suspenseful. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I’m sure,” Moody replied. “I guess I’ve had a change of heart!”
After looking around on the island for a little bit, Shy found the place they were looking for.
“That place looks a bit odd,” Young thought. “Why aren’t there any windows?”
“It says here that they don’t open until five,” Wild said.
“Then we can come back here after we go trick-or-treating!” Moody said. “What time is it now?”
“It’s just about noon,” Shy said.
“That explains why I’m so hungry! Let’s go to that bistro across the street. Maybe they have carrots,” Moody said, licking his chops.
“Carrots!?” Wild asked. “Moody, you used to be allergic to carrots!”
“I thought I told you,” Moody said. “I have a doctor’s note saying that I’m not allergic to anything anymore. Not even peanut butter.”
“You were never allergic to peanut butter,” Wild replied.
“I wasn’t? Then the doctor must have written down the wrong thing. Let’s go in! I need to go to the bathroom anyways,” Moody said. He went in.
Wild looked around suspiciously and said to Young and Shy, “There’s something wrong with him. A doctor can’t cure an allergy.” He paused for a minute. “Let’s go in,” he said, and the three of them entered. Young noticed that the name of the bistro was the “Bad Bistro.” Could this mean something?
Moody was still in the bathroom when they entered, so they sat down at a table.
“What is wrong with him?” Wild asked them. “He is not acting like himself. Is there any chance–” Wild stopped and lowered his voice “–that this isn’t actually Moody?”
Young suddenly remembered the thumping in the middle of the night. She told Wild and Shy about that.
“I really don’t know what it was,” she said, “but Moody said that he hadn’t heard it. It’d be pretty hard not to hear a loud thumping coming from right outside your room.”
“Let’s let him have the carrots and see what happens,” said Shy. “Wild, get out that cell phone you found on Nabooti and get ready to call 911 (the emergency number: cops, fire, and paramedics) in case something goes wrong. Hide it under the table though, so Moody can’t see it.”
Wild did what he was told, and Moody came out of the bathroom. Shy asked him if he was feeling okay, and he said that he was. He ended up getting the carrot soup. When it came, he took his first bite and said “See? I’m not allergic to carrots anymore! In fact, I think they’re my new favorite food!”
Shy, Wild, and Young all looked at each other. They thought this was weird. Really weird.
Young decided to ignore it for now and watch some TV while waiting for her burger. The TV was showing that Reality TV show which took place on her home island. It was pretty intense, since it was down to just two contestants: Freddy Fry and Bret Batter. They were playing “Balanced Diet,” that weird game where the players try to balance a stick with fruits magically appearing on it. Suddenly the screen flashed the words “PBS – Poptropica Broadcasting Service presents to you BREAKING NEWS!”
“…and we interrupt this program to bring you breaking news! Exclusive on the PBS, or Poptropica Broadcasting Service! Halloween has been banned on another Poptropica island!” the TV screamed.
“If they say Spy Island,” Young said, “then I’m going to throw my glass at the TV.”
The PBS logo flashed away and a news reporter started speaking. “Halloween is now banned on Great Pumpkin Island. Like Reality TV Island, the island was banned because it was thought to encourage young children to get involved in seedy activity. The ban was made by the mayor of the island, Purple Panda, who was influenced by the ban on Reality TV Island announced early this morning. Now we will hear from a resident of the island. Loud Ice, thank you for coming.”
The man being interviewed sighed.
“Now,” the reporter asked, “How do you feel about the ban of Halloween?”
Loud Ice’s face turned red and bounced up and down. “It makes me so mad!” he said. “Halloween is really the only holiday we celebrate on Great Pumpkin Island! It’s very important to us and it helps our economy. I’m one of the pumpkin farmers and this is really going to hurt business! It’s also a big part of our culture. Everybody celebrates Halloween on our island – we treasure it! It is expected of our children to go out trick-or-treating!” Loud Ice started to cry. “I’m just… so sad…” He ran off of the TV screen.
“That concludes our breaking news report. Thank you for watching. Now back to our previous program,” the news reporter said.
“This is really weird,” Shy said. First Super Power, then Reality TV, and now Great Pumpkin. I mean, I can kind of understand why they would stop celebrating it on two islands, but Great Pumpkin banning Halloween is ridiculous. For crying out loud, it has the word ‘pumpkin’ in its name!”
Right about then, everyone’s food arrived. They ate. Young thought her burger was good, despite the name of the bistro.
Soon everybody had finished. They paid and left. They explored the island and found the three roads that they would be trick-or-treating on: Main Street, Balding Avenue, and Toupee Terrace. Soon it was time to go trick-or-treating, and everyone put on their costumes. Moody put on his rabbit costume, Young put on her skeleton costume, Shy put on his ghost costume, and Wild put on his green mask he had gotten on Great Pumpkin Island.
“Wild, that’s only a mask. Wear a real costume,” Shy said.
“Fine,” Wild said angrily. He ripped it off. “I’m going as myself this year.”
About an hour and lots of candy later, Young and her friends decided that they were done trick-or-treating.
“Look at all this candy we got!” Young said.
“Wow. This is the most I’ve ever gotten from trick-or-treating,” Shy replied.
“See? I told you. They loved my costume,” said Wild.
Moody stayed quiet. He was busy eating his candy. After a few pieces, though, he said, “That place where you can be a spy is open now. Can we please go there? Pleeeasssee?”
Young sighed. “Alright,” she said, “but when did you start to like these kinds of things? You used to call the suspense too scary.”
“I’m a whole year older than the last time you saw me,” said Moody. “A lot of things have happened, and I’ve changed my opinions. Alright, let’s go!”
As the four of them walked down Main Street, Young thought about the strangeness of Moody’s behavior. “It’s just like Wild said,” she thought. “It’s like he’s someone else. I really wonder if this has anything to do with those noises last night.”
Eventually, the group came to the building labeled “Spy HQ.” They went in. A man with gray hair wearing a white suit with a bow-tie was sitting at the front desk. Young and her friends went  up to him.
“Hello,” he said. “I am Director D. Do you want to be spies?”
“Yes,” Moody said. “It sounds like fun!”
“Okay,” Director D. said. “Your task is simple, but difficult. You must find these three metal capsules. Each one contains a clue. Once you find them, report back to me. They are all hidden somewhere on this island. Here is a device that will help you find them. It will beep faster as you get closer to the metal capsules.”
With that, Director D. gave Shy the device. It was beeping very slowly.
“That’s all I know. Good luck!” said Director D.
“Why are we doing this?” asked Wild. “What’s the point of doing this? What will these clues tell us?”
Director D. looked around. Then he motioned for the four poptropicans to come closer.
“These clues…” he said quietly, so quiet that Young could barely hear him, “These clues will tell you why Halloween is being banned. It’s not because it ‘Encourages seedy activity in young children’ like the news says it does.”
The director got up.
“If you want to know the truth, then find these clues.” He then walked away.
“I knew there was a more important reason for the bans!” Young said.
“Well, we have to find the clues to find out what that reason is,” Shy said. “Where should we look first?”
“Let’s try the docks,” said Wild. “It seems like the seediest part of this island. Plus, there have got to be a million hiding places there.”
“To the docks we go!” said Moody.
They all marched over to the docks. The device began to beep faster. The docks were very dark, with an abandoned building. “Wild was right,” Young thought. “This is certainly the most seedy part of the island. Poptropica is pretty safe, but I really don’t want to be here right now.  Those beeps aren’t helping. They’re so high and so fast, they sound like something from that movie ‘Night of the Living Carrots’ I saw on 24 Carrot Island. This looks like a place where someone could jump out of nowhere and run off with you.”
CRASH!
Suddenly, a metal trash can toppled over. A dark figure jumped out from behind it, grabbed Moody and took off. Moody screamed. This startled the figure, who accidentally dropped Moody out of surprise and ran away. Moody fell into the water.
Young, Wild and Shy raced over to the water. Moody was floating, but he had lost consciousness. Moments later, it returned.
“What… What happened?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” said Young. “But we’re going home right now. This place is way too dangerous.”
“But look what I found!” Moody held up a metal capsule. “It was attached to a leg of the dock.”
“That’s great,” said Wild. “We’re going to return that to Mr. D and then we’re taking you back to Reality TV Island.”
“No. Please? I really want to finish this. There are only two more, and I think this is the only one on the docks,” Moody said.
Shy and Wild looked at Young. She stared at Moody for a while before saying, “Alright. We’ll find the other two. But then we’re going home.”
“Hurray!” Moody said. He climbed out of the water. “Let’s go return this to Mr. D. and see if he has any towels to dry me off.”
“Wait… What’s inside? What does the clue say?” Shy asked.
Moody tried to open the capsule. He failed.
“I can’t open it,” he said. “We probably need all three of them before we can open any of them. Let’s go back to Mr. D.”
The four of them went back to Main Street. Young wondered about the crime rate of Spy Island. “Maybe it’s higher than back home on Reality TV Island. Something like that would never happen to me at night. Never.”
They arrived at the Spy HQ and went in. They walked up to the front desk and told Director D. what had happened.
“My, my. Is that so? The docks are probably one of the most dangerous parts of Poptropica, but I didn’t think that would happen to any of you guys. Well, I don’t think that any other clues are hidden on the docks. Good luck on finding the other two clues!”
“Okay,” Moody said. “Where should we look next?”
“Well,” said Shy, “my map says that the docks are on the far western edge of Spy Island. That means that the other two clues have to be east of here, either on Balding Avenue or on Toupee Terrace.”
“Let’s check Balding Avenue first,” Wild said. “It’s closer.”
The four of them walked over to Balding Avenue. The beeps started getting faster.  They started to slow down once they got past the Bistro.
“The clue must be in that Bistro where we got lunch!” Young said. “Listen to how fast those beeps are going!”
“Eh,” said Moody. “They aren’t nearly as fast as they were when we were next to the clue on the dock.”
Shy went in. A few seconds later, he came back out and shook his head. “It completely stopped beeping when I went in there. Let’s move on to Toupee Terrace. Maybe there’s a clue there somewhere.”
As they turned on to Toupee Terrace, the beeping grew faster. It kept getting faster until they arrived at the foot of a building. Once they passed the doors, the beeping slowed.
“It has to be in this building!” Wild said.
“Well, there’s one problem. This door doesn’t have a handle. We can’t get in,” Young said. “Why wouldn’t a door have a handle?” she wondered.
“Maybe it’s on top of the building,” Shy suggested.
Everyone looked up.
“I think I see something glittering up there!” Moody said excitedly. “It must be the clue!”
“How on earth do we get up there?” Wild asked. “There are windowsills we can use to work our way to the top, but it looks like they give out an electric charge. That’s way too dangerous.”
“Look!” Young said, and pointed at a ladder that was leaning against a nearby fence. “It looks like someone was doing gutter work, but they didn’t finish. They left their ladder behind!”
“The only problem is that it’s in the wrong place,” Moody said. “How are we going to get that in front of the building?”
Shy ran over and tried to pick the ladder up. He dropped it after lifting it an inch or so off the ground.
“Ug. What’s that thing made of? It’s incredibly heavy!” he replied.
“I guess the only way to move it is if we work together,” Wild suggested.
Everyone decided to try that. They all lifted the ladder, and after a bit of struggling, they got it in front of the door.
“Look at that!” said Wild. “It’s the perfect height!” He climbed the ladder, got the capsule, and came back down.
“Let’s take this back to Mr. D,” he said. Everyone ran back to Main Street. They entered the Spy HQ.
“Back so soon?” asked Director D. He took the clue.
“How is your Halloween so far?” he asked.
“Good,” answered Shy.
“What do you think of the bans?” asked the director.
“They’re stupid,” Wild replied. “I hope they don’t ban it here anytime soon. I came from Super Power and went to Reality TV, to celebrate it there with my friends. Then it got banned there, so now we’re here.”
“I see,” Director D said. “So you don’t like the bans?”
“No,” said Moody. “They’re dumb. They’re ruining our fun.”
“I see,” Director D said again. “Well, you’re only one clue away from finding out why they’re happening! Good luck on finding your last clue!”
“Okay,” said Young. “The thing was beeping when we were in front of the bistro, so let’s go back there.”
The four poptropicans left the building and went back to the bistro where they had lunch. The speed of the beeping kept increasing until they were in front of the restaurant.
“Okay,” said Wild. “We know it’s not in the restaurant, but it has to be somewhere around here.”
“Maybe it’s on top of the building again,” Shy suggested. He climbed up to the top of the bistro using the windows and the bowl of spaghetti. He looked around the rooftop before looking back down at the other three poptropicans.
“It’s beeping faster up here,” he said, “but it’s not on this rooftop. It’s has to be higher up.”
Young looked up at the skyscrapers in front of her. “Yikes!” she thought. “We have to go all the way up there? That’s really dangerous! Plus, I’m afraid of heights!”
“Well, I guess I better go up,” said Shy. “I really don’t want to do this, though. That’s got to be at least like 1,000 feet up.”
“I’ll go,” said Moody. “I’m not afraid of heights.”
Moody climbed on top the bistro and took the device from Shy. Then he used the windowsills to climb to the top.
“Wow.” said Young when Moody was out of earshot. “That’s brave.”
Wild nodded. “He’s always been like that when it comes to hights.”
Moody kept climbing and climbing until he was almost at the top. There he stopped and looked at the wall of the building he was standing next to. He crouched down and looked at a hole in the building that was slightly too small for him. They he climbed back down.
When he reached the bistro, he said “I found the clue, but I can’t get to it.”
“Where is it?” asked Wild.
“It’s in a hole way up there. I can see it, but it’s way too far away to reach and I can’t fit in that hole. The only one who I think can fit in it is you, Young.”
Young gulped.
“M-Me?” she stammered. “I have to go a-all the way up t-there? “I’m t-terrified of h-heights a-and you kn-know it!”
“It’s the only way,” said Moody. “You can do it, though!”
“O-Okay,” Young stammered. “H-Here I g-go!”
Young slowly climbed up the building in front of her. “Don’t. Look. Down,” She thought to herself. “Whatever you do, don’t. Look. Down.”
Slowly but surely, Young climbed the building and came to the hole Moody was talking about. She crawled in. “Phew,” she thought. “I don’t have to worry about falling for now.” She saw the metal capsule, took it, and crawled back out. “Now how am I going to get down?” she thought.
Young thought about how Moody climbed down. He really just let himself fall from windowsill to windowsill. There was no way Young would do that, though. “There has to be an easier way down,” she thought. “But what?”
After looking at the situation for a bit, Young decided that the only way was the way Moody did it. She took a deep breath, jumped… AND MISSED! Young was falling rapidly straight down to Balding Avenue. She screamed. “I knew this was a bad idea,” she thought. She was going to die!  She closed her eyes.
PLOP!
Young opened her eyes. She was in Wild’s arms.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I used my jet pack I got from Early Poptropica Island to rescue you. That’s why we’re floating.”
Young looked down. They were still a long way up.
“I know the jet pack isn’t allowed here, but I thought I could use it, since it was an emergency.”
“J-Just go down,” Young stammered.
Wild brought Young back down to the ground. Young was still shaken from her fall. She sat on the bench next to the bistro for a while to regain her balance.
After a while, she said “We’re going home.”
Moody slowly nodded.
Young spoke again. “We’re returning this last thing to Director D and then we’re going home. This thing has been way too dangerous. Moody almost got kidnapped, we could have gotten electrocuted, and I just almost died. If Wild didn’t have his jetpack…” Young shuddered.
Shy said slowly. “We should go home. What a crazy Halloween.”
“Well,” said Wild, “Let’s go back to Mr. D. I kind of want to know why Halloween is getting banned.”
“After I catch my breath,” said Young. “Let’s go wait inside the bistro.”
The four poptropicans went inside the bistro and got some water. They rested and watched TV. The news was on, and Young was only half listening, when of a sudden, the words “Breaking News” flashed across the screen.
“Halloween has been banned for all of Poptropica for next year,” the reporter said. “The mayors of the islands all came together and agreed that Halloween was creating dangerous thoughts in young ones. We-”
“Okay,” Young said. “That’s it. We’re going to find out why Halloween is getting banned.”
The four poptropicans left and went back to the Spy HQ.
“Do you have the last clue?” Director D asked.
“Yes,” Young said. She put the clue down on the desk.
Director D looked astonished. “H-h-how?” he stammered.
“What?” asked Wild.
Director D snapped his fingers. The doors locked.
“You managed to avoid all of my obstacles?! You got past Binary Bard, past the electrocuted windows, and you managed to not fall?!”
“That-That-That was all you?” Shy asked.
“Bwahahahaha! Yes. I am responsible for the Halloween bans. Hypnosis is very powerful, or ‘influential on other mayors,’ as the PBS called it. Although I couldn’t have done it without my helpers,” said Director D.
Moody ripped off his mask. He revealed himself to be Dr. Hare!
“You were right, Young,” said Dr. Hare. “I wasn’t Moody. I snuck into your house in the middle of the night and kidnapped Moody. I then took his place. I kept trying to make you guys die. I was the one who tried to make you get kidnapped by Binary Bard. Unfortunately, he accidently picked me up instead of one of you guys. I was against using the ladder. I was the one who made you guys climb to the top of the building. But I failed.”
Binary Bard appeared.
“I was the ‘figure’ who tried to kidnap Dr. Hare,” he said. “Bwahahahaha! Or as we say in my language, 01000010011101110110000101101000011000010110100001100001 01101000011000010110100001100001!”
“But then…” said Wild, “…why are you trying to destroy Halloween?”
“Because,” said Dr. Hare, “Halloween is fun for you guys. We don’t want you to have fun.”
“So,” said Director D, “we were going to kill you three, because you are our enemies. However, you have proven to be quite strong. So, we’re giving you a choice. You can suffer the same fate of your true friend Moody-” Director D snapped his fingers again and the mirror behind the front desk shattered to reveal Moody tied up behind it “-or you can join us and help us end all other sources of joy for Poptropicans.”
“‘End all other sources of joy for Poptropicans?!’” thought Young. “We can’t do that! And we can’t just give up either. Maybe we should-”
“Oh,” said Binary Bard, “I’m warning you that not only can Dr. Hare hypnotize you, but he also has his Rabbot and I have my mech! Or as we say in my language, 0100100100100000 011000010110110100100000011101110110000101110010011011100110100101101110011001110010000001111001-”
“SHUT UP!” Dr. Hare screamed. “Do you have any idea how annoying that is?!”
“So,” said Director D. “Which option do you chose? The first or the second?”
Young had no idea what to do. “Maybe I can tell Wild to call 911 without those guys noticing. Or maybe we should join and then trick these villains.”
Young looked at Wild and Shy. Wild clearly had no idea what to do, but Shy looked like he was forming a plan. Young stared at him in case he communicated with her in some subtle way.
“I’m giving you ten seconds,” said Director D. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six-”
“NEITHER!” Shy screamed. He ran over, threw off his ghost costume, threw it on Director D, tackled him, and punched him repeatedly. Binary Bard came running over to try to take out Shy. A flash of yellow light came from Binary Bard’s eye and hit Shy. He started screaming; he had been electrocuted.
Right then, Wild ran over and got involved too. He snuck up right behind Binary Bard and opened his backpack. He tossed a few things out of it, including the cell phone, which broke into a bunch of pieces. Young saw what Wild was about to do and shouted “Bad idea!” but Wild didn’t seem to hear or listen and pulled out the bucket of water before dumping it all over Binary Bard.
Shy stopped getting electrocuted and collapsed against the floor. He lifted up the sheet that made the ghost costume and saw that Director D had been knocked out. Shy rolled away from him and then lost consciousness.
Binary Bard started screaming numbers in binary. The mechanical part of his face looked as if it was melting away. The human part of him was clearly being electrocuted.
Water conducts electricity, and so did the metal bucket Wild was holding. Wild also got electrocuted and became paralyzed and rooted to the spot. When the bucket was empty, he lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground away from Director D.
“So,” said Dr. Hare to Young. “I guess it’s just you and me. Well, Ms. Jumper, you are getting sleepy. Verrry verrry sleepppppy…”
“No she isn’t,” a familiar voice said. “And how dare you try to imposter me!” Moody punched Dr. Hare in the back of the head. Dr. Hare fell at the feet of Moody.
“H-How did you escape?” asked Dr. Hare.
“You didn’t tie me up very well,” said Moody. “As soon as Director D broke that glass, I was pretty much good to go. You on the other hand, are going to jail.”
“No, I’m not,” said Dr. Hare. He pushed Moody’s legs. Hard. Moody screamed and fell on top of Dr. Hare. He landed flat on the back of his head and was knocked out cold.
Dr. Hare rolled over out from under Moody and got up. “Now it really is just you and me,” he said.
Young looked around. There was nothing she could do. The cell phone wasn’t an option. She couldn’t leave.
“You are going to stay here until I get back,” said Dr. Hare. “Got that? You arre gooingg too staaay here uuuntiil I geet baaack.”
Young couldn’t think. She felt like she had no control and was being moved around like a puppet. Young vaguely noticed Dr. Hare going to get something.
Just then, someone got up from the pile of knocked out Poptropicans. Young couldn’t tell who it was. He said something, but Young couldn’t tell what. He said something else. He walked up right in front of her and said something. Then he smacked Young, which made her snap out of her hypnosis.
“What?” she asked.
“Art thou in need of assistance?” the person asked.
“Who are you?” Young asked.
“Thou art in the presence of the noble sir Mordread, to help folks who neediest help most,” said Mordread.
Suddenly Young understood what was going on. Mordread was Binary Bard before he had been fused with a machine (that was probably Director D or Dr. Hare’s doing) and the water had destroyed the machine in him, turning Binary Bard back into Mordread.
Young saw something pink moving towards them – Dr. Hare was coming back.
“Do you see that man over there? In the pink suit?” Young asked Mordread.
“Aye,” said Mordread. “’Tis a strange costume.”
“He is a bad man,” said Young to keep things simple. “And we need to get away from him.”
“Doesn’t thou want to slay him?” asked Mordread.
“Yes,” said Young, “but we need to escape with those three younger ones that were attacked.”
Moody regained consciousness. He got up and went over to Young and Mordread.
“Do you think the others are going to recover soon?” Young asked Moody.
“I don’t know. What are we doing about Dr. Hare?” Moody said.
“Alright,” said Dr. Hare. He was standing next to his Rabbot. “I have my Rabbot now. It’s time to make mashed carrots out of you guys!”
Dr. Hare got in his Rabbot and started marching it towards Moody, Young, and Mordread.
“I have an Idea,” said Moody.
“What?” asked Young.
“Follow me! Mordread, you stay here!” Moody shouted over the roar of the Rabbot engine. He stopped to pick up the empty water bucket before running over to right underneath the Rabbot.
“Climb a leg!” He shouted. He started climbing up the left leg.
Young didn’t know if this was a good idea or not, but she did what she was told. It was incredibly hard to hold on since Dr. Hare kept jiggering the legs to try to make Moody and Young fall off. Moody stopped at the waist of the Rabbot and waited for Young.
“Look for the door that leads to the engine!” he shouted.
“How do you know there is one?” Young asked.
“I don’t,” Moody shouted back. ”I’m just hoping!”
Moody was right, though. Young found a door on the back of the Rabbot that said “Engine Room.”
Young threw it open and saw the massive engine. Moody arrived and went in. He stuffed the metal bucket in the engine. The bucket was electrocuted and it electrocuted the engine itself, causing sparks to fly everywhere. There were way too many sparks which made the gasoline explode. The Rabbot stopped moving and began to sway.
“NOW JUMP!” screamed Moody over the noise of the explosions.
“What!?” screamed Young.
“IT’S THE ONLY WAY!” screamed Moody. He took Young’s hand and jumped.
Both of them screamed. Mordread ran over. Somehow, he was able to catch them, and they survived the jump.
They ran to the opposite side of the huge room. The Rabbot exploded and completely toppled over. It landed right on Director D, who was just about to regain consciousness. Young was sure that both Director D and Dr. Hare were at least unconscious, if not dead.
The three poptropicans stood there for a few minutes. Moody broke the silence.
“We did it,” he said.
“What?” said Young.
“We did it! We saved Halloween!” Moody smiled.
“What about everyone else? What about Shy and Wild? What about Director D and Dr. Hare? What about Mordread?” Young asked.
“We need to get Shy and Wild to a hospital. Same with Director D and Dr. Hare, but then they’re going to jail. I don’t know what we should do with Mordread.”
“If possible, I’d accept it as an honor if thou would transport me back to my home island, Astro-Kinghts.”
“Mordread,” said Young, “do you remember anything?”
Mordread thought for a minute and said “I remember up until someone knocked me out and then since I slapped you.”
Moody went over to Director D. He lifted up the sheet.
“Do you remember this man?” he asked Mordread.
“Nay. Never seen him,” said Mordread after looking Director D over.
“Then it’s probably safe for you to go back to Astro-Kinghts Island,” said Young.
“Hey! Look what Director D has!” Moody said. Young and Mordread ran over. Moody pulled out a key from underneath the sheet. He ran over and tried it on the door. It fit. He opened the door.
“Let’s see if anyone has a phone we can barrow,” he said.
The Hair Club next door had a phone that they could barrow. Young called 911 and told them everything that happened. The police came over and took Dr. Hare and Director D to a hospital where they were immediately pronounced dead. Shy and Wild were taken to a different hospital, which happened to be on Reality TV island. Young and Moody went back there with their blimp, and Young told her father everything that had happened, who told Shy’s and Wild’s parents. Young and Moody went to the hospital to see Shy and Wild. Both were paralyzed due to the shock. Shy had regained consciousness, but Wild had not yet.
Young and Moody came running in to Shy’s room.
“Shy! Shy! Shy!” said Young. “Are you okay?”
Shy smiled. “I’m feeling much better,” he said. “How’s Wild?”
“He hasn’t regained consciousness yet,” said Moody.
“I hope he’s not… Do they think he’s… Is he…” Shy stammered.
Right then, Wild came in in a wheelchair.
“Hi guys!” he said. “I literally just regained consciousness, and I told the nurse that I wanted to visit you guys straight away! So here I am!”
Everyone smiled. Young hugged Wild.
Wild and Shy recovered. Shy was able to walk again after not too long. Wild, on the other hand, was much less fortunate. His legs were permanently paralyzed, and he would never be able to walk again. Other than that, though, he was back to his normal self.
Director D and Dr. Hare were buried in front of Erewhon Prison on Super Villain Island. The people thought that they were so terrible for doing what they did to Wild, Shy, Moody, and Young that they deserved to be buried as close as possible to the prison for the worst villains.
Mordread went back to Astro-Kinghts Island. The museum he owned about himself changed into a museum about the tale of Wild, Shy, Moody, and Young and how they saved Halloween.
Because of this, Wild, Shy, Moody, and Young became celebrities. Everyone knew about them, and everyone wanted to meet them.
The next year, on Halloween, Moody, Wild, and Shy went over to Young’s house. Young was going as a zombie, Shy was going as a skeleton, and Moody was going as Director D. Wild showed up without a costume.
“Wild,” said Young. “You don’t have a costume. What are you going as?”
Wild smiled. “This year,” he said, “I really can go as myself.”
The end!