{"id":4065,"date":"2017-10-31T07:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/wildwire\/?p=4065"},"modified":"2021-10-29T12:41:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T16:41:02","slug":"the-halloween-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/our-faves\/the-halloween-takeover\/","title":{"rendered":"The Halloween Takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get into the Halloween<\/strong><\/span> spirit with this spooky<\/em><\/strong> story…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShrooom, flap flap<\/em>\u201d \u201cshrooom, flap flap<\/em>\u201d this was the noise that Barticus the bat made as he flew back and forth, pacing in the dark cave. It wasn\u2019t night time yet, so his brothers and sisters were still fast asleep.<\/p>\n

\"bats,<\/p>\n

Barticus couldn\u2019t imagine sleeping at a time like this, not when it was the most hated, worstest day of the year\u2026 Halloween<\/strong><\/span>. Barticus loved to celebrate all the bat holidays, even battyismist, but every year he dreaded October 31st<\/sup>. \u00a0As a night time loving mammal, you may think that Barticus would like a holiday filled with all things scary and spooky<\/strong> but you\u2019d be wrong.<\/p>\n

The reflection of the moon came pouring down as Barticus flew at top speed out of the cave. \u00a0Barticus soared over the corn fields and towards the small houses in neat rows lined with Halloween<\/span><\/strong> decorations, staring down at what he hated about this time of year.<\/p>\n

Sure, everyone loves a smiling pumpkin, or a witch hat, but why did bats<\/em><\/strong> have to be a spooky sign of Halloween? Barticus didn\u2019t like the idea of people being scared of bats, because really they were some of the nicest animals around. Why couldn\u2019t bats be the sign for something warm and fuzzy like Valentine\u2019s Day – \u00a0they were lovable mammals<\/strong> <\/span>too! Nicer than those pesky mosquitoes\u2026 \u00a0After all, what has bitten you more often: \u00a0a blood sucking insect or an adorable lovable bat?<\/p>\n

This Halloween was going to be different though, Barticus had a plan that would leave everyone jumping with fright<\/strong>\u2026 but this time it won\u2019t be at bats it would be at something much, much scarier\u2026..<\/p>\n

The night before, Barticus had been soaring by a house when he saw a little boy playing at his computer, he was jumping up and down with excitement as the clicks of his mouse made the lemur jump from tree to tree. From the poster of Cosmo the Lemur on the wall to the Bring Back the Wild buttons, Barticus could tell this kid\u2019s favourite animal wasn\u2019t a bat.<\/p>\n

\n

It was at that moment that Barticus realized if he was going to make bats the new cute animal in town, he was going to have to give humans something else to be scared of at Halloween<\/span><\/strong>. That is how he came up with his plan, which after much debate; he called \u201cThe Evil Lemur Master Plan<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barticus couldn\u2019t pull this off alone so he teamed up with his best friends, Signor spider and BB the black cat, to take back Halloween. As Barticus landed by the big oak tree, he saw that Signor the spider had already begun decorating BB the black cat. With a paint brush dripping with white paint, Signor had made BB\u2019s tail look just like a ring-tailed lemur. \u201cThat looks great Signor, but she needs rings around her eyes too\u201d. With a few more brush strokes, Signor had transformed BB the black cat into a ring-tailed lemur<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Halloween<\/p>\n

\u201cFinished at last. Now practice your lemur growl\u201d said Signor.<\/p>\n

On that cue nothing happened\u2026 because BB the black cat had been sitting to be painted for so long that she had fallen asleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cBB!\u201d screeched Barticus.<\/p>\n

BB jumped up, \u201cOk, ok what is all the noise about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSignor has finished, you\u2019re now a lemur!\u201d said Barticus.<\/p>\n

BB looked down at her tail. \u201cWell, I would have added a few more rings but I guess it will do\u201d she replied, \u201c let\u2019s go show some kids that there is something scarier at Halloween than bats, spiders and black cats!<\/strong>\u201d said Barticus. With that, the \u201cEvil Lemur Master Plan<\/em>\u201d crew was off to bring fear and fright and all things spooky to kids everywhere!<\/p>\n

BB the black cat sat lying in wait, crouched up behind a garbage can in a dark alleyway. The paint on her fur that was supposed to make her look like a lemur had dried but it was starting to itch. BB was trying really hard not to lick her fur clean and focus on being a scary lemur<\/strong><\/em> when a gaggle of noisy kids started to come down the street.<\/p>\n

As the children approached, BB crouched down and launched herself out into the street landing right in front of the children. BB mustered her loudest and scariest call, screaming \u201cBOOOO!<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

The kids stood there staring at BB, and then broke out in laughter.<\/p>\n

BB was so shocked that she bolted back into the alleyway.\u00a0 Signor Spider and Barticus the bat came down from the roof top where they had been hiding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was that<\/em>?\u201d asked Signor, \u201cYou\u2019re supposed to be a scary lemur, not a ghost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand it\u201d, said Barticus, shaking his head, \u201cThey should have run away scared.\u00a0 \u00a0Maybe you should do something more like this – \u201d Barticus reached his wings up to make himself look really big and made a snarling face.<\/p>\n

BB sighed, \u201cI dunno\u2026\u00a0 At least when I was a black cat kids didn\u2019t laugh at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you wanted to be loveable and not have people cross the street when you come near?\u201d said Barticus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do\u2026 but maybe we can\u2019t change who we are.\u00a0 \u00a0Black cats bring bad luck and lemurs are cute, that\u2019s just the way it is.\u201d replied BB.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on\u201d said Barticus, as he grabbed BB and dragged her back towards the end of the alleyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time, scream and make your arms big like I showed you, here comes two kids\u2026 now ready\u2026 set…\u201d<\/p>\n

BB closed her eyes hoping that maybe the kids would go the other way, but as soon as their voices were close enough Barticus pushed BB out of the alleyway. BB screamed louder than before \u201cBlaaagggggg<\/em><\/strong>\u201d waving her arms all around and stomping her feet. The little boy and girl looked at the black cat painted with a ringed tail that had just jumped out at them, then looked at each other with puzzled expressions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey,\u201d the boy said, \u201cthat kinda looks like Cosmo, the Ring-tailed Lemur\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYa, he\u2019s kinda cute and fuzzy looking\u201d replied his sister.<\/p>\n

The boy and girl moved towards BB as Barticus and Signor came storming out of the alleyway. The boy and girl stopped in their tracks, \u201cEeeek it\u2019s a spider and a bat! <\/strong>Ruuun<\/strong><\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy screamed as he turned and ran away.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh\u2019 come on\u201d, shouted Barticus, \u201cso a screaming lemur who jumps out at you isn\u2019t scary but a quiet little bat is?\u00a0 That\u2019s just plain ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Barticus said this, he realized that the little girl was still standing in front of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy <\/strong>Halloween<\/strong><\/span>!<\/strong>\u201d she said with a big grin, as she turned and skipped off to catch up with her brother. As Barticus watched the girl leave he realized that not everyone was scared of him and that maybe some people put up pictures of bats, \u00a0spiders, and black cats because they like<\/em> them and not just to be scary.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, being a bat on Halloween <\/strong><\/span>may not be so bad after all.\u201d Barticus said as he looked down at BB, who had started trying to clean the paint off of her tail\u2026 and Signor, who had tangled himself in her fur trying to keep her from de-lemuring herself…<\/p>\n

From Everyone at Earth Rangers<\/h2>\n

Happy<\/span> H<\/em>a<\/em><\/span>l<\/em>l<\/em><\/span>o<\/em>w<\/em><\/span>e<\/em>e<\/em><\/span>n<\/em>!<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A story all about the scary spooky things that go bump in the night and Barticus the Bat’s epic Halloween prank!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[719,406,931],"tags":[177,256,123,257],"class_list":{"0":"post-4065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-halloween","8":"category-our-faves","9":"category-all","10":"tag-bats","11":"tag-halloween","12":"tag-kids","13":"tag-story"},"pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}