Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 "COME ON, FRANKY!" SAID VAMPYRA. "We're missing all the fun!" "It sounds like a howling good time!" said Wolfy. "One more bolt to tighten," said Franky. "There! Now my windup monster is all ready for the village's first ever Monster Mash competition!" The villagers had been so thankful for the Junior Monster Scouts helping them before, that the mayor insisted the Junior Monster Scouts join them for the village's birthday celebration. To show the Junior Monster Scouts that the villagers were no longer afraid of the monsters (it had all been a big

misunderstanding), the mayor declared a special contest: a Monster Mash competition. Whoever created the coolest, the craziest, the most wonderful windup monster would win the first place ribbon and a hand-carved cuckoo clock, made by none other than the mayor himself! Franky set his wrench down and stepped back. His windup mechanical monster hopped up and down, clapping its claws and waving its tentacles. "That looks great, Franky!" said Wolfy.

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"First place ribbon, here I come," said Franky. "That cuckoo clock will look great in my room!" "Ribbon, schmibbon," said Vampyra. "Party, here I come!" "I can smell the popcorn from all the way up here!" said Wolfy. "Smell it all you want," said Franky. "I plan on tasting it! Oh, sweet butter, delicious salt..." He closed his eyes and spun in a circle. "Not if I get there first and eat it all!" teased Vampyra. She flipped her cape around herself and turned into a bat. Vampyra, Wolfy, and Franky flew, ran, and charged down the road away from Dracula's Castle, hooting, hollering, and howling. They were going to a party tonight, and they were very excited. Parties are very fun. And birthday parties are even more fun. Only, this birthday party

was not for just one person.... It was for the entire village! The village was one hundred fifty years old today, and they were having a great big birthday party. One hundred fifty is a lot of years, and so there was a lot of celebrating. Do you know who was not celebrating? Do you know who did not like the pop, pop, POP of the popcorn machine? Or the bright lights strung from the tents and buildings? Or the marching band? Or the merry-go-round? Or the sugary scent of fresh birthday cake? That's right... Baron Von Grump. He did not like any of those things. "Caw! Caw!" And neither did Edgar, his pet crow. Baron Von Grump folded his arms. He scrunched his big, black, bushy eyebrows. He glared out his window from the top of the rickety Old Windmill.

"Merry-go-round," he muttered. "There's nothing merry about it!" He picked up his violin and set the bow to the strings, but when he tried to play, the popcorn POPPED! He tried again. Pop-pop-POP! Then the music of the merry-go-round spun round and round, right in through his window. He marched to the other side of the room, took a deep breath, set the bow to the strings, and... Pop-pop-POP! Merry-go-round music. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM and trumpets trumpeting, horns blaring as the marching band marched through the village. "Noise, noise, noise, NOISE!" he bellowed. A long, high-pitched whistling sounded outside his window, and before he could close the shutters, a single firecracker landed inside his room.