Manny, Quincy, Nina, and Jordan ran up behind Freddie. The five of them craned their necks to see the enormous monsters.
Yapzilla let out a bloodcurdling screech that shattered the glass at the front of the building. The monster’s high-pitched squawk was even louder than before. Freddie felt his tummy fat jiggle with the sonic vibrations of Yapzilla’s inhuman squawk.
The kids covered their ears with their headsets, but it couldn’t block out the sound. Freddie fell to his knees, unable to move, pressing the padded headphones into his ears as hard as he could. He looked over at Manny, who had his eyes shut tight, clasping the headphones to the sides of his own head.
“OMG,” Nina shouted. “I feel like my brain’s going to explode.”
“Make it stop!” Quincy cried.
Freddie could barely hear his friends’ yelling over the screeching monster. He felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his skull.
Jordan ran toward a pile of rubble. He picked up a stray brick off the ground. With a loud grunt, he threw the brick into the air with all his strength.
The brick sailed up and up and up, aiming straight at Yapzilla’s screeching mouth.
GULP.
Yapzilla choked, then went quiet.
Freddie dropped his hands from his ears as the shrieking finally stopped.
16
Yapzilla’s silence, however, didn’t last long. The gigantic two-mouthed beast made a gagging sound and spat out the brick like a Tic Tac. She reared her other neck mouth back and unleashed a massive rolling fireball.
“Look out!” Nina shouted at the top of her lungs as they ducked behind the wall of the school’s lobby. The swath of fire lasted for a few seconds, and Freddie felt beads of sweat trickle down his face from the heat.
Then with a sudden stomp forward, Kraydon crouched low on his hind legs. He peered his spiraling Cyclops eye through the doorway and sent out a pulsating eye beam right at the kids.
“Run!” Freddie tackled Manny out of the way.
As he hit the ground, Freddie felt the pulse of the monster’s eye beam. It felt ten times stronger than before. Freddie and Manny stopped, dropped, and rolled into a classroom, just out of harm’s way.
A few moments later, the pulse stopped and the boys got to their feet. They looked back out into the hall and gasped. They couldn’t believe their eyes.
Jordan, Nina, and Quincy were completely frozen in stone.
They stood in different action poses, caught in time as they tried to escape Kraydon’s gaze.
“He’s going to smash them!” Manny shouted as Kraydon raised his mammoth tail and swung for the kids.
Freddie raced into the hall, grabbing the stone Nina and dragging it into a doorway. “Come on!” he shouted to Manny. Manny sprinted after him, pulling at the Quincy statue.
Kraydon’s tail smashed through the ceiling as the boys pulled Jordan’s statue out of the way. With the three bullies now frozen in stone, Freddie and Manny were on their own.
Sort of . . .
All of a sudden, the building rumbled, and the boys spun around as Oddo burst through the roof of the school.
Tiny Mungo clung to the giant fuzzball’s fur.
Another screech from the giant double-mouthed freak shocked their eardrums, and the boys crumpled to the floor of the lobby.
With his ears plugged, Freddie stared up at Oddo. His monster seemed unaffected by the supersonic screech. That’s a good sign, Freddie thought. Oddo is working! He had given the monster retractable ears that could open and close.
Oddo gazed down at Freddie with a sweet smile that quickly changed into an angry scowl as he focused on the monster bullies. Mungo jumped off his humongous friend and landed on the floor. The fuzzy monster stepped outside the school and bounced himself off the ground on his big belly. Oddo whirled around in the air, clocking Yapzilla across her neck with all three of his arms spinning like a pinwheel.
One mouth was silenced, but the other mouth blasted a huge stream of fire at Oddo.
“No!” Manny shrieked as the fireball consumed Oddo.
But the flames had no effect. Oddo’s fur burned to a crisp and then sprouted back in a big puff almost immediately.
Now Kraydon emitted a low growl, watching the action in front of him. His eyeball swirled and shot out its energy pulse toward the two good monsters.
The giant fuzzy oddball didn’t seem to notice Kraydon’s eye swirling.
“Oddo!” Freddie hollered at their monster. “Get out of the way! He’ll turn you into a rock!”
Kraydon’s gaze zeroed in on Oddo. But when it hit him, his fur only crumbled away and then rapidly grew back in a big fluffy poof. The giant fuzzy oddball was completely unaffected by Kraydon’s gaze.
Kraydon grunted and ran at Oddo with a ROOOOOAAAAR! He grabbed Oddo and threw him to the ground.
“Look out!” Freddie yelled, and bumped Manny out of the way as Kraydon’s back foot came down next to his friend’s head and cracked the floor.
Oddo broke free from Kraydon’s clutches and used his three arms to spring off the ground, clobbering Kraydon with a hard combo punch.
Kraydon flew back and let out a whimper as he flew out of the school, high over the playground, and landed in the parking lot. He almost hit the school bus that Mega-Q was still trapped in.
Freddie and Manny sprinted outside to watch the fight. Yapzilla charged forward to defend Kraydon, and now the three enormous monsters fought, grappling with one another, swinging their arms, rearing their necks, shooting flames, grunting, and growling. It was two against one and it was starting to look like Oddo was in trouble.
“There has to be a way to help him!” Manny shouted.
Kraydon and Yapzilla were teaming up to throttle Oddo. But something strange was happening. Oddo was bouncing right off a car, giggling like he thought it was the funniest thing in the entire world. Oddo laughed and laughed as if being hurled around by two monsters was hilarious.
That’s the way, Oddo, Freddie realized. Don’t let them get to you. They can’t hurt you if you don’t let them get to you.
Strangely, Yapzilla started to giggle, too. Even Kraydon let out a deep bellowing chuckle. Oddo laughed even harder.
Suddenly it seemed like the monsters weren’t trying to kill one another. It was just a big game!
“Look!” Manny pointed. “They think he’s funny!”
With all three monsters laughing now, Oddo bounced up and flung himself at both Yapzilla and Kraydon. He wrapped them up in his big fluffy arms, and they rolled through the parking lot playfully, squashing cars like they were nothing.
Kraydon shucked off Oddo’s headlock and threw another haymaker at Oddo’s gut. The furry, three-armed monster went sailing into the school bus where Mega-Q was still stuck.
Oddo bashed into the big yellow bus and flipped it over. Inside, Mega-Q flashed electric blue and let out a hideous squawk.
And then the windshield of the bus shattered in an explosion of thick glass bits.
Oddo climbed right back up and laughed heartily at the spill he had just taken. The big fluffy monster’s chuckle bellowed through the air. Yapzilla and Kraydon fell over they were laughing so hard.
But they were also laughing so hard they didn’t notice that Mega-Q had squirmed out of the busted windshield behind Oddo.
Freddie gasped as Mega-Q skittered toward his monster.
“Oddo! Watch out!” Manny cried.
Oddo spun around just as Mega-Q lunged at him.
The big, furry monster backed up quickly. Mega-Q’s legs stabbed fiercely at him.
Freddie was nervous. The entire time he had been designing Oddo, he hadn’t given him any defenses against Mega-Q. After all, Mega-Q had been trapped in the bus! Freddie had only been worried about Kraydon and Yapzilla.
Oddo flung his arms up in defense against Mega-Q’s blade-like leg attack. The milli-monster’s legs sliced gashes in Oddo’s arms. The monster’s fur flew off him in a flurry as Mega-Q kept coming
at him.
Oddo cowered against the school building, frightened and quivering, as the milli-monster scuttled toward him.
Mega-Q pounced, fast and violent, spiraling around Oddo’s body. Oddo spun and flailed, but Mega-Q’s legs pinched Oddo’s soft tummy, holding him in place.
For a long, sickening moment, Freddie watched in horror as the brainsect monster lifted its spindly needlepoint legs and stabbed Oddo in the back.
Oddo’s face went wide-eyed with surprise at the sudden pain. His mouth hung open slightly.
His eyes went blank.
17
Freddie’s heart sank as Oddo slumped to the ground. He cringed as Mega-Q’s legs slid out from Oddo’s sides, dripping pink goo onto the blacktop.
He couldn’t believe it. Oddo was down for the count. Jordan, Nina, and Quincy had all been turned to stone. Mega-Q was victorious.
And it was all Freddie’s fault.
A pit formed in his stomach. He couldn’t believe this was happening.
Kraydon and Yapzilla hung their heads, too, as they watched their new favorite monster oozing watery pink goo all over the pavement. And that’s when Freddie realized: these monsters weren’t just monsters. These monsters had feelings, too.
“Don’t just stand there, get him!” Freddie cried to Yapzilla and Kraydon. He pointed at Mega-Q.
Kraydon and Yapzilla scowled and approached the evil millipede monster. He had destroyed their favorite new playmate and now he was going to pay. They both charged, taking down Mega-Q in one big tackle. The trio of monsters rumbled, rolling around in a giant blurry flurry of motion.
Yapzilla sprayed a swath of fire. Mega-Q dodged Yapzilla’s flames, barrel-rolling out of the way. His electric current flashed and zapped a bolt of blue energy at Yapzilla.
BZZZZT!
The electric charge struck the two-headed monster right in her fire-breathing mouth. Yapzilla stumbled, but Kraydon was able to lumber forward and leap into the air.
Mega-Q looked up at the massive beast flying at him, and his slug eyes bugged out. At the last second, Mega-Q rolled on his back and stuck up his legs.
As Kraydon’s giant fist came down, Mega-Q’s legs pierced the flesh between Kraydon’s knuckles. The gigantic monster stumbled, yipping like a hurt puppy.
With his two mega nemeses down, Mega-Q then turned his attention toward Freddie and Manny. The boys looked at each other in panic and dashed back inside the school. Mungo raced ahead of them. But when Mungo reached the vending machine, he stopped dead in his tracks.
Manny looked down at Mungo, who was gazing at the vending machine, his mouth open, drooling onto the linoleum floor. “Yum yums . . .”
“Is that all you can think about right now?” Manny yelled, disappointed in his monster. “We’re about to get killed! Help us! Do something!”
Mungo shot him a hurt look, his googly eyes going wide. “Yum yums,” he said.
Freddie looked down at the weird little creature who wouldn’t grow. Why hadn’t he grown like Oddo? It didn’t make sense. The little monster looked up at Freddie now. “Yum yums,” Mungo said once again.
This time, though, when Mungo uttered the word yum yums, a lightbulb popped on in Freddie’s head.
“The yum yums!” Freddie shouted at Manny.
“What about them?” Manny asked.
“That’s the reason little Mungo wouldn’t grow! Silica makes things dehydrate,” Freddie said. “It sucks up all the water and dries everything out. That’s why they must have put so many in the 3D printer cartridge boxes . . . to make sure that pink goo stuff wouldn’t get all wet. . . .”
“So if we feed it to the monsters, you think they’ll shrink?” Manny asked.
“Mungo did,” said Freddie, pointing to the miniature monster. “He got wet and didn’t grow.”
“That’s how we fix this! We’re going to shrink them,” Freddie shouted.
“But Mungo ate them all!” Manny said.
“Not all.” Freddie looked up at the vending machine. Just like Jordan had said, there was the answer. Rows and rows of jerky in all three flavors.
Freddie pulled out his wallet. It was empty.
Dang!
He turned to Manny. “Do you have any money?”
“Nah, man, I’m broke right now. . . .”
Freddie clutched at his head, pacing back and forth. He looked at the slot with the flap door on the snack machine. His arm was too big to fit inside. Manny’s arm was too short to grab the beef jerky. They could smash the glass, but that might make too much noise, and they didn’t want to draw attention to where they were inside the building.
Then Freddie looked down at Mungo.
“Come here, little fella,” he said, picking the fuzzy little monster up. “Yum yums. You get yum yums!”
He placed him in the candy slot. Mungo looked up from inside and Freddie pointed to the beef jerky, tapping on the glass. The little monster climbed up to B 2, 3, and 4 and grabbed all the jerky: teriyaki, chipotle, and original. Twenty-four bags total. Each of them contained the small pouch of silica that would save them all.
“Well,” Manny said, “I guess it is pretty awesome to be small sometimes.”
Freddie ripped open the packages with Manny’s help. Mungo jumped down and slipped out of the vending machine.
Once they had collected all the silica packets, Freddie and Manny stuffed them in their pockets and ran outside. Mega-Q was still circling the fallen megamonsters, guarding his prey. Mungo nodded excitedly. “Yum yums?” He grabbed for the packets, but Freddie pulled them out of his reach. Mungo made a pouty face.
Freddie pointed at Mega-Q.
Mungo nodded.
Freddie pointed at Mega-Q again. “Give him yum yums. . . .”
Mungo nodded and took the armful of packets, Freddie handed him about a dozen, which was all he could carry. Mungo grinned and scarfed a yum yum.
“Mungo, wait!” Freddie said. “They ALL want yum yums. . . .”
Mungo nodded again. “Yum yums!” He popped another silica packet into his mouth and gulped it down. “Not for you!” Freddie said as he pointed at the monsters. “For them!”
“Yum yums,” Mungo said again, and took off.
Freddie turned toward Manny. “We’ve got to teach that little guy some new words. . . .”
The boys crept behind Mungo and got close to where the monster action was.
Kraydon and Yapzilla had gotten back on their feet and managed to get Mega-Q cornered against the school building.
Mega-Q jabbed his legs at Kraydon and Yapzilla, who managed to dodge him and keep him at bay. Kraydon roared and Yapzilla squawked and Mega-Q hissed. They couldn’t hold off much longer. It was clear something was about to give.
Then, in a wild, speedy blur, Mungo came zooming from around the corner of the building. The little guy leaped into the air and chucked the silica packets into Mega-Q’s mouth, like a shortstop hucking an out to first base.
Mega-Q gagged and swallowed them down with a glug.
Mungo then bounded off the ground again with his springy legs and did a little spin move in the air before tossing the other packets into the back of Kraydon’s and then Yapzilla’s throats.
An odd expression fell over the monsters’ faces as the silica packets started to dissolve inside them. They didn’t even realize what had hit them.
Mega-Q collapsed to the ground. His long millipede body writhed and shook. A pinkish-white froth shot out of his mouth. Mega-Q vomited and convulsed as he began to shrink. The more froth he spat up, the more he shrank. In a matter of a few minutes, he was back to the size that he was when he was first printed.
Kraydon and Yapzilla did the same, frothing and shrinking right before Freddie’s eyes. Soon, all three monsters lay motionless in puddles of their own mouth foam.
“Yay-yah!” Manny shouted and gave Freddie a high five. Mungo zipped over to them, sprang off the ground, and smacked both their hands.
“We did it!” Freddie hollered. �
��I can’t believe it. . . .”
But their celebration ended as they ran over to Oddo, who was limp and still on the pavement. Freddie crouched down next to his monster. He put his hand on Oddo’s furry arm and pet the monster. “Oddo?” he asked gently as he inspected the deep stab wound on his back.
“Is he?” Manny gulped down hard.
“He’s not responding,” Freddie said, a sadness creeping into his voice. “I think Mega-Q stabbed him too deep. . . .”
“Yum yums,” Mungo said.
“No, Mungo,” said Freddie. “He’s too hurt. He doesn’t want any yum yums.”
Mungo jumped onto Oddo’s belly and raced up to his mouth, stuffing a packet of silica pellets into the enormous fuzzball’s mouth and ramming it down his throat.
“Don’t, Mungo!” Manny said. “Stop!”
“Get off him!” Freddie cried, pulling the little monster off Oddo.
Just then, Oddo’s body began to shake, and the pink froth gurgled out of his mouth. The furry triple-armed monster shrank down.
Then, amazingly, Oddo’s wounds began to close up and heal. Soon enough, Oddo was the size of a grapefruit. Oddo’s eyes flicked open, and the shrunken monster started to giggle.
“He’s alive!” Freddie picked up the tiny creature and hugged him to his chest. “He’s alive!”
18
The rest of the shrunken monsters—Kraydon, Yapzilla, and Mega-Q—rose off the cement and stumbled over to Freddie and Manny. The boys picked up the toy-sized monsters and carried them inside the school. Through the hole in the hallway ceiling, they could see the sun break through the dark storm clouds.
Somewhere, there was a rainbow.
Freddie stopped next to the frozen statues of Jordan, Nina, and Quincy.
Freddie looked at his former enemies, but he no longer saw the kids who had bullied him and called him names. They weren’t monsters. They were people. People who made mistakes. People who were mean sometimes. And maybe they deserved a detention, but they didn’t deserve to be turned to stone forever.
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