The Buddies and their kids met outside Billy’s house. All of them were in costume. Alice was dressed as a witch, and her puppy, Rosebud, as a princess. Sam was an alien, and his puppy, Buddha, was a genie. Pete was a mummy, and his puppy, Mudbud, was a pirate. Bartleby was a cowboy, and his puppy, Budderball, was a superhero. Then, there were Billy and B-Dawg.

“Nice costume, matey.” Mudbud giggled. “Does the B stand for bunny?”

B-Dawg tried to play it cool. “This ain’t no ordinary rabbit costume, dawgs,” he said. “It’s a killer rabbit. Those things are da’ bomb!”

Billy held up his staff, pretending to be Warwick. “With the Howlloween Hound, I’ll control the world! Ha-ha-ha!” he cried, doing his best evil laugh.

“Hey, that was really good,” Bartleby said. “Now let’s go score some sugar!”

The friends and their pups set out into the streets of Fernfield. Lots of other kids were trick-or-treating, too. Most of the houses were draped with spooky decorations. The full moon shone brightly in the dark night sky.

Alice glanced at Billy’s staff. “Is that thing glowing?” she asked.

Billy looked at it curiously. Strangely enough, it was glowing. Weird.

“Uh, maybe it has batteries or something?” Billy said. He shrugged, and he and his friends continued on.

With the Buddies in tow, they walked toward their teacher’s house. It had more decorations than any other house in town. There were tombstones on the lawn and cobwebs in the trees. A mechanical ghost flew in circles above them.

The kids knocked on the door. Mrs. Carroll’s husband answered. He was dressed as a surfer version of Frankenstein’s monster.

“Trick-or-treat!” the kids sang out.

“Dude, sweet costume!” Pete added.

“That’s Frankendude to you!” Mr. Carroll replied.

Mrs. Carroll rushed up behind her husband. She was dressed as the Bride of Frankendude.

“Hello, children! Welcome to our spooooooky house!” she said. Then she and her husband handed out candy to the kids and dog biscuits to the Buddies.

“Oh, sweet mama!” Budderball exclaimed. “Why can’t it be Halloween every night?”

In another part of town, Pip was searching for the Buddies. He had to warn them about Warwick!

As he floated along, he was amazed by what he saw. “I’m not alone!” he exclaimed. “There are ghosts and goblins everywhere!”

But then he took a closer look and noticed some of the ghosts and goblins adjusting their masks and costumes. “They’re not real,” he realized.

He didn’t want to scare anyone. He found a sheet someone had dropped from their ghost costume, and draped it over himself as a disguise. Then he floated down the street.

Soon he spotted five familiar forms—the Buddies! He sped toward them, still covered by the sheet.

“Thank goodness I found you!” he cried. “I’m here to warn you about the Howlloween Hound.”

“How did you know about that?” Rosebud asked.

Pip pulled off the sheet, revealing his true form. B-Dawg screamed.

“Aaaah! It’s the Howlloween Hound! He’s following us!” he yelled.

“Aaaah!” the other Buddies screamed. And they all raced away.

“Not again!” Pip exclaimed. “Please, wait! I’m just trying to warn you!”

He flew after them.

“This ghost dawg just doesn’t give up!” B-Dawg cried. “What do we do?”

“I know a place,” Buddha suggested. “If there’s anyone who can help us with a paranormal problem, it’s Zelda.”

The Buddies were all so distracted they didn’t notice that they’d rushed right past the real Howlloween Hound. But the Howlloween Hound noticed the Buddies. He’d been sniffing all around town for those five puppies.

His spooky eyes narrowed as he watched the Buddies hurry off. “That must be them,” he growled.