by Tracey West
“Being surrounded by people to serve me is so refreshing,” Lance said with a satisfied sigh.
Freckle-faced, ginger-haired Aaron Fox came flying onto the terrace, riding his hover shield. He landed on the edge of the terrace and kick-flipped the shield into his hand.
“Lance, buddy, that golden hover board park you got out back is the bomb!” he told his friend.
“Are you talking about the small one near the golf course or the big one near the stable filled with golden unicorns?” Lance wanted to know.
Before Aaron could answer, Macy walked up, followed by a Squirebot butler.
“No, no thank you,” Macy was saying, annoyed. “I don’t need a jewel-encrusted napkin to wipe my face.”
She sighed and turned to her friends. “This place is like being back at the palace. Only, like, ten times worse.”
Lance laughed. “If by ‘worse’ you mean ‘fancier,’ then you’re right.”
He raised his arms in the air. “And some more golden slop for Hamletta!” he called out.
Suddenly, they heard a commotion outside. Clay looked over the terrace to see Jestro’s monster army storming the golden gates of Auremville! The Evil Mobile rolled along behind them.
Bam! Smash! The Evil Mobile came crashing through, and the terrified Squirebots scattered.
“Grab the gold! Take it all!” Jestro shouted with a gleeful cackle.
“Jestro’s attacking!” Clay said. “Hurry, knights! Set up a defense!”
As the knights ran to the mansion’s weapons room, the greedy monsters made their way through the streets of Auremville. They grabbed every gold brick, every gold streetlight, every gold bench. They snatched any gold item they could see and tossed it into the mouth of the Evil Mobile.
“Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!” they chanted.
Burnzie and Sparkks led the monster army down the road leading to the Richmond Mansion.
“Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!”
The two big monsters crashed through the glass doors and stomped up the stairs, followed by Globlins, Bloblins, and Scurriers. A group of Globlins bounced into the weapons room where the knights were gearing up.
Aaron grabbed a golden sword off the wall—and a Globlin took it right from him! Then the Globlin bounced off.
“They’re only interested in getting the gold,” Axl said.
“Well, they came to the right place,” Aaron said.
The knights were pretty confused. They had never met monsters who were only interested in stealing stuff.
“These monsters are greedy, aren’t they?” Macy said.
“Yeah, they do seem pretty wealth-focused,” Clay agreed.
“I resent that remark!” Lance called out. He was waving his lance at the monsters, but there were just too many to fight. They knocked him over as they marched back down the stairs.
Lance tumbled into the front hallway—just in time to see monsters carrying his parents away! They were perched in two golden chairs and seemed to have no idea that they were in the middle of a monster attack.
“Isn’t the carriage for the spa here a little early?” Goldie wondered.
“Seems so,” said Cuthbert. “I’m impressed with how early they are. And they seem to have an army of staff.”
Lance jumped to his feet. “Mom! Dad! They’re carrying you off!”
Cutherbert turned to him. “Well, at these prices, we shouldn’t expect to walk and dirty our golden shoes!”
“Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!” the monsters chanted.
The last remaining monsters ran out of the mansion. One of them grabbed Hamletta’s golden collar as he went past. Lance watched, helpless, as Jestro’s army marched away from the mansion.
Macy, Axl, Aaron, and Clay ran outside.
“Lance, they’ve taken your parents!” Macy cried.
“It’s worse than that,” Lance said. “They’ve taken all my gold!”
Will I have to live … poor?” Lance wailed, burying his face in his hands. “I’ll never survive!”
Lance stared to cry. Even Hamletta looked upset.
His fellow knights looked around. Jestro and his greedy monsters had stripped every bit of gold from Auremville.
“You know, money isn’t everything, Lance,” Macy reminded him.
“Bite your tongue!” Lance cried, jumping to his feet. “How am I supposed to get everyone to do my work for me if I have no money?”
“Have you ever thought that you could simply do your own work?” Clay asked.
Lance shook his head. “This is why it’s so difficult for me to hang out with commoners!” he said with a sigh.
“Believe me, that goes both ways, bro,” Aaron informed him.
“Hey, what we really need to do is get your parents back,” Axl said.
“Yes, my parents,” Lance said, and then his mind drifted away, to a time not too long ago …
Lance was a teenager, and his parents had just told him that he was going away to study at Knights’ Academy.
“But why do I have to be a knight?” Lance had protested.
“Because that’s what a Richmond is supposed to do,” his father replied, sitting in his golden chair.
“But I want to be an actor and a celebrity!” Lance whined. Those things sounded, well, a lot easier than learning how to fight and defend the Realm and stuff like that.
“You’re going to be a knight and that’s final!” his father insisted, and Lance knew there was no point in arguing anymore. “That’s final!” meant that if Lance didn’t play along, the money train would stop. No more allowance. No more Squirebots to do his bidding.
So Lance had gone to Knights’ Academy, grumbling all the way. Then something funny had happened. Lance discovered that being a knight—especially a handsome, charming knight—had brought him legions of adoring fans. Crowds cheered for him and parents wanted him to take pictures with their babies.
His parents had helped make his dreams come true after all.
Lance glanced down at his new phone, at a photo of his mom and dad. They were smiling and looked happy. What would happen to them in the clutches of Jestro and his monsters?
“Fine, I’ll go,” Lance said. “But I want to make it clear that I’m going to save my money, and my parents are just a bonus.”
Ava and Robin rolled up in the Fortrex, and the knights climbed on board.
They had monsters to fight and people to save!
Outside Jestro’s castle, loud screams could be heard.
If Lance had been there, he might have thought it was his parents in terrible trouble. But it wasn’t Goldie and Cuthbert who were screaming.
It was the Globlin they were using as a tennis ball!
“Aaaaaiiiiieeeeee!” screeched the Globlin as it soared over a net crudely made from sticks.
Whack! Cuthbert hit the Globlin with his handmade tennis racket. It flew back over the net and then bounced onto the hard granite.
Smack! Goldie hit the Globlin and sent it flying toward Cuthbert.
Lance’s parents had no idea that their tennis ball was a monster. Or that they were being held prisoner in a castle. They thought they were at the spa! A fiery, dark, weird spa—but for all they knew, fiery, dark, and weird was the latest fad.
General Magmar walked in to check on his prisoners. Goldie turned when she saw him.
“We’d like a light lunch followed by a sauna and a rub-down,” Goldie informed him.
“You’ll get boiling tar pits and lava boulders!” snapped General Magmar angrily.
Goldie looked at Cuthbert and nodded. “Hot rock massage? I’ve always wanted to try that.”
General Magmar groaned in frustration and stomped away. He would have to do something about these prisoners!
He marched down to the castle dungeon, where Jestro was admiring a huge gold statue of himself. Piles and piles of gold coins, bars, and other gold objects surrounded him.
“This is so great! I’m literally covered in gold!” Jestro said happily.
The Book of Monsters looked at the statue and frowned. “Yeah, very artsy. Now we got work to do.”
Jestro was more interested in gold than doing any evil stuff at the moment.
“Look! I’m so shiny and golden!” he cried, still staring at the statue.
The Book of Monsters turned away from him. “Oh brother. This greed thing is going to his head! And warping his tiny little mind.”
General Magmar walked in and saluted.
“Evil Jestro, sir, these prisoners are most annoying and uncooperative,” he informed him.
“I didn’t want to take prisoners,” Jestro said, bouncing a gold coin in his hand. “But they were so, uh, golden, the monsters couldn’t resist. Do whatever you want with them.”
“Yes sir,” said General Magmar. His eyes narrowed. “I swear by all the evil I know that I … will … break them.”
The general turned and walked away.
“All these things distract us from finding more books,” The Book of Monsters muttered. Then he yelled to the Bookkeeper. “Hey, rub my chin! I’m thinking to myself.”
While Jestro played with his gold, General Magmar got to work.
First, he gathered Burnzie and Sparkks. They kept an eye on Goldie and Cuthbert. After playing tennis, Lance’s parents walked down a long corridor.
“I think the game room is this way, dear,” Goldie told her husband.
Behind them, General Magmar nodded to Burnzie. The big monster sent a sharp, spinning disc flying through the air. It sliced through a rock chandelier hanging down from the ceiling.
Bam! The chandelier came crashing to the ground—just a foot behind Goldie and Cuthbert. It had missed them!
“Aaaah!” General Magmar and Burnzie screamed as the spinning disc bounced back and almost sliced through them!
A little while later, General Magmar found Goldie and Cuthbert looking into a pool of bubbling lava. Goldie noticed him and frowned.
“General Manager, I don’t think the hot tub is quite hot enough,” she said.
“Oh, it will be!” General Magmar promised with an evil cackle. He nodded to Burnzie, who aimed a blast of fire at Lance’s parents!
But they had already turned and walked away! The blast missed them and scorched General Magmar. Burnzie gave a shrug of apology.
At dinnertime, Goldie and Cuthbert sat down at a big table to eat. General Magmar placed a bowl of nasty-looking soup in front of Goldie. The soup was making a loud, buzzing sound.
Cuthbert examined it and saw a fly shoot out of it.
“Excuse me, there’s a fly in my wife’s soup,” he told General Magmar.
The general laughed and slammed another bowl down in front of Cuthbert. “There are a THOUSAND flies in your wife’s soup! It’s fly soup! Now eat it! Eat it all!”
Goldie turned her head away. “Oh, these pretentious chefs! Take it away, take it away!”
“Aaaaaaaaaah!” screamed General Magmar in frustration. His cries echoed throughout the castle.
Goldie and Cuthbert were getting tired of what they thought was bad service. They went to Jestro’s gold-filled dungeon to complain.
“Then, when I asked for a fresh mini-umbrella in my drink, your general manager didn’t do a thing,” Goldie complained.
“Ah, you do know you folks are hostages here, right?” Jestro asked, as The Book of Monsters looked on.
“At these rates, and with this poor level of service, I would say so,” said Goldie.
“We are going to the manicure spa,” Cuthbert said. “I hope we don’t have to make any further complaints.”
The Richmonds left the dungeon in a huff.
General Magmar approached Jestro. “They’re awful! They complain about everything! They make unreasonable demands. And worse, they’re influencing the monsters …”
He pointed to Sparkks. He was reclining on a pile of rocks while Burnzie and two Scurriers polished him.
“Everyone around here is completely distracted by greed!” The Book of Monsters complained.
Jestro wasn’t listening. He was too busy playing with his gold.
“We could take back the prisoners,” Magmar suggested.
“Yes! And all of this gold and treasure,” said the book. “We have to get back to our core business of being evil.”
Jestro picked up a jester’s hat made out of gold. “But, I love my new hat!” he whined.
He put it on his head. Wham! The heavy hat sent him falling to the floor.
The Book of Monsters rolled his eyes. He couldn’t wait to get rid of all this dumb gold!
The knights steered the Fortrex through the countryside, searching for Jestro—and Lance’s parents.
Ava motioned for Clay and Macy to join her at the command center. She nodded toward the view screen.
“We’ve tracked Jestro’s position to the Lava Lands,” she explained. “Robin hit the Evil Mobile with a tracker—just before they took off with all the gold.”
“Obviously we’ll have to prepare a mission to rescue Lance’s parents,” Clay said.
“Meanwhile, Lance is busy preparing for life without coinage,” said Macy, nodding toward her fellow knight.
Lance was typing on his tablet, a look of misery on his face.
“I’ve been forced to sell pictures of myself on KnightBay,” he told Dennis, his servant Squirebot. “Me! Forced to be a member of the merchant class.”
He handed the tablet to Dennis. The Squirebot examined the smiling photo of Lance that was up for bidding.
“Sir, we’re up to three watchers on our auction!” he said happily. Lance just groaned.
Back at the command center, Ava had more to show Clay and Macy.
“I activated the camera on the tracker, and look at this,” Ava said. She pressed some keys and a picture of Jestro’s lair in the Lava Lands popped up.
“Looks like Jestro has a new castle!” Macy exclaimed.
Clay nodded. “Right. To the training area! So we can prepare to make an assault on Jestro!”
He marched off to gather training equipment. Macy followed him, frowning as she passed Lance.
Sure, we’ll rescue Lance’s parents, she thought. But with no help from Lance!
Back at Jestro’s castle, Goldie and Cuthbert were back in the dungeon, angry.
“This is the most poorly run spa I’ve ever seen!” Cuthbert complained.
“Because this isn’t a spa,” said a frustrated General Magmar. “It’s a terrible monster castle!”
Cuthbert still didn’t get it. “Your tar pit facial actually singed my eyebrows!” he yelled.
“Singed?” repeated General Magmar. “They were supposed to burn!”
The Richmonds weren’t the only ones unhappy at the castle. The monsters were unhappy, too.
“I want more gold!” Burnzie whined like a toddler.
“You can never have enough gold!” Sparkks whined along with him.
The Book of Monsters was out of patience. He turned to Jestro.
“That’s it! We’re implementing my new plan: Give It All Back,” fumed the book. “Right now!”
“Huh?” Jestro said, dropping the gold coins he was admiring.
Jestro might have been an evil jester, but The Book of Monsters was the one calling the shots. Jestro watched, horrified, as the monsters loaded all of the gold into a huge wagon. They lifted up Goldie and Cutherbert and dumped them on top of the gold. Then they pulled the wagon out of the castle and tied it to the back of the Evil Mobile.
The Book of Monsters climbed onto the Evil Mobile and nodded for Jestro to follow him.
“Why are we talking all the gold back?” Jestro moaned.
“Because it’s totally ruining our plan for evil domination,” The Book of Monsters replied.
The Evil Mobile roared to life and rolled away from the castle, pulling the wagon of gold behind it. The monster army followed behind.
As the Evil Mobile headed toward the villages of Knighton, the Fortrex zoomed towar
d the Lava Lands.
“I’ve got Jestro making a run toward the village of Seeling,” Ava reported to the team members gathered around her. They watched the blinking tracker on the view screen.
“Seeling? They’re the kingdom’s leading producer of caulk, sealing, and weatherization products,” Robin informed her.
“They might strip this village of its … weather stripping!” Clay cried. “We must defend this place!”
The knights raced for their vehicles. Lance revved up his Turbo Jouster. Clay jumped into his Rumble Blade. Axl climbed into his tank-like Tower Carrier. Macy powered up her Thunder Mace vehicle. Aaron fired up his Aero Striker. The Fortrex door opened up and the knights zoomed out.
They raced down the road, speeding up and down hills. Over the next crest, they saw the Evil Mobile coming toward them.
The Book of Monsters spotted the knights at the same time.
“For the love of monsters!” he yelled, and Burnzie and Sparkks moved ahead, surrounded by lines of Globlins, Bloblins, and Scurriers.
The knights fanned out on the road, blocking the monster army from moving forward.
“Free the Richmonds!” Clay cried as he sped toward the monsters.
“Free my riches!” Lance yelled.
The knights launched into assault mode. Aaron fired laser blasts from his jet’s guns. When the blasts hit the monsters, they exploded in flashes of light and returned to the book.
Axl charged at the monsters in his massive Tower Carrier. Bloblins and Globlins bounced off the vehicle, shrieking.
The laser cannons on Macy’s racer roared to life, blasting away more monsters. Clay fired shots from his rocket. Lance’s sleek cycle powered forward.
Burnzie pointed at Aaron’s Aero Striker. The cannon on the end of his arm opened up and fired at Aaron.
Boom! The blast sent the jet reeling. It nose-dived into the dirt. Aaron ejected and soared through the air on his hover shield, firing at the monsters with his crossbow.
Neeeiiiigh! Lance’s cycle transformed into Mecha Horse mode. The vehicle reared up on its hind legs and galloped toward Burnzie.
Vroom! Macy charged toward Sparkks in her racer. The big monster hopped right over her. She skidded into a cart of apples. Then she jumped out of her vehicle, swinging her mace at the one-eyed monster.