Stay Strong Geronimo! (Geronimo Stilton Micekings #4) Read online

  Welcome to the Ancient

  FAr north

  . . .

  And the

  World oF the micekings

  !

  WHERE THEY LIVE:

  Miceking Island

  CAPITAL:

  Mouseborg, home of the Stiltonord family

  OTHER VILlAGES:

  Oofadale, village of the Oofa Oofas, and Feargard,

  village of the vilekings

  CLIMATE:

  Cold, cold, cold, especially when the icy north wind blows!

  TYPICAL FOoD:

  Gloog, a superstinky but fabumouse stew. The secret

  recipe is closely guarded by the wife of the miceking chief.

  NATIONAL DRINK:

  Finnbrew, made of equal parts codfish juice and

  herring juice, with a splash of squid ink

  MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION:

  The drekar, a light but very fast ship

  GREATEST HONOR:

  The miceking helmet. It is only earned when a

  mouse performs an act of courage or wins a Miceking Challenge.

  UNIT OF MEASUREMENT:

  A mouseking tail (full tail, half tail, third tail,

  quarter tail)

  ENEMIES:

  The terrible dragons who live in Beastgard

  meet the stiltonord FAmily

  . . .

  GERONIMO

  Advisor to the

  miceking chief

  TRAP

  The most famouse

  inventor in Mouseborg

  BENJAMIN

  Geronimo’s nephew

  THEA

  A horse trainer who

  works well with all kinds

  of animals

  BUGSILDA

  Benjamin’s best

  friend

  And the evil drAgons

  !

  SIZzLE

  The cook

  . . .

  GOBbLER THE PUTRID

  The fierce king of the

  dragons is a Devourer!

  The dragons are

  divided into 5

  clans, all of which

  are terbifying!

  1. Devourers

  They love to eat micekings raw —

  no cooking necessary.

  2. Steamers

  They grab micekings, then fly over

  volcanoes so the steam and smoke make them taste good.

  3. Biters

  Before eating micekings, they nibble

  them delicately to see if they like

  them or not.

  4. Slurpers

  They wrap their long tongues around

  micekings and slurp them up.

  5. Rinsers

  As soon as they catch micekings,

  they rinse them in a stream to wash

  them off.

  Geronimo Stilton

  MICEKINGS

  Scholastic Inc.

  STAY STRONG,

  GERONIMO!

  Copyright © 2015 by Edizioni Piemme S.p.A., Palazzo Mondadori, Via

  Mondadori 1, 20090 Segrate, Italy. International Rights © Atlantyca S.p.A.

  English translation © 2017 by Atlantyca S.p.A.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any

  responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  GERONIMO STILTON names, characters, and related indicia are copyright,

  trademark, and exclusive license of Atlantyca S.p.A. All rights reserved. The

  moral right of the author has been asserted. Based on an original idea by

  Elisabetta Dami. www.geronimostilton.com

  Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920, 557 Broadway, New York,

  NY 10012. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered

  trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  Stilton is the name of a famous English cheese. It is a registered trademark

  of the Stilton Cheese Makers’ Association. For more information, go to

  www.stiltoncheese.com.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded,

  decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information

  storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic

  or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written

  permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, please contact

  Atlantyca S.p.A., Via Leopardi 8, 20123 Milan, Italy; e-mail foreignrights@

  atlantyca.it, www.atlantyca.com.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are

  either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any

  resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events,

  or locales is entirely coincidental.

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-08870-0

  Text by Geronimo Stilton

  Original title La rivincita delle topinghe!

  Cover by Giuseppe Facciotto (pencils) and Flavio Ferron (ink and color)

  Illustrations by Giuseppe Facciotto (pencils) and Alessandro Costa (ink and

  color)

  Graphics by Chiara Cebraro

  Special thanks to Tracey West

  Translated by Emily Clement

  Interior design by Becky James

  First printing 2017

  drAgon

  Alert!

  It was a

  splendid

  fall morning in

  Mouseborg, the capital of Miceking Island.

  The

  colorful

  leaves waved in the gentle

  breeze.

  Most micekings are

  warriors

  , but I

  don’t like fighting. I decided to sneak away

  for a walk in the woods. There, I would find

  inspiration

  in nature, and —

  Sorry, I haven’t introduced

  myself! My name is

  Geronimo

  Stiltonord

  , and I am a

  mouseking and a

  scholar

  .

  That morning,

  I was a hungry

  scholar! I filled my backpack

  with

  one

  small

  barrel of fjordberry

  juice,

  two

  loaves

  of bread, and

  three

  wheels of super-

  stinky Stenchberg cheese.

  At the last minute,

  I added cheese wheel

  number

  four

  . Physical

  exercise gives me a

  big

  appetite

  !

  I whistled as I headed

  toward the woods. I strolled

  until I found myself in a silent

  clearing

  surrounded by nature.

  But before I could unpack my picnic, the

  sound of a horn rose up from Three Lookouts

  Cliff.

  too-toot!

  Too

  -

  Toooooooot!

  Squeak! It was the

  dragon alarm

  !

  Oh no! Dragons!

  the shield

  mouselet

  megA chAllenge

  When the dragon alarm soun
ded, everyone

  in the village was supposed to run to face the

  dragons. Did I mention that the dragons are

  fierce

  and terrible and always starving for

  fresh

  miceking meat?

  I ran back through the woods and

  rushed

  to the village in record miceking

  speed. When I arrived at the Great Stone

  Square, the other micekings were already

  there.

  “

  Draaagons!

  ” I yelled.

  Oddly, nobody else was yelling. Or

  running

  for the catapults. I ran over to

  Quick,

  get

  your

  weapons!

  Copper Ironpaws

  , the village

  blacksmith.

  “Copper, didn’t you hear

  the

  alarm

  ?” I asked. “Bring

  out the swords, the shields, the

  sledgehammers

  !”

  The blacksmith just stood there like a

  cheese log

  and didn’t answer.

  I looked around. All the other

  micekings were just standing

  there, too.

  “

  Holey cheese!

  ” I shouted. “Why

  isn’t anybody getting ready to

  fight

  the

  dragons?”

  Nobody answered me.

  “What is

  WRONG

  with you rodents?”

  I asked.

  Then

  Sven the Shouter

  ,

  our village leader, marched up to me.

  “Geronimo, you smarty-mouseking!” he

  shouted. (He always

  shouts

  . How do

  you think he got his name?) “Here you are

  at last!”

  “

  Sven! The d-d-d-dragons!

  ” I

  stuttered.

  He smacked my back with his massive paw.

  “There aren’t any dragons, you mollusk! We

  sounded the alarm to get you out of your

  hiding place

  .”

  “I wasn’t hiding,” I protested.

  Go sit down!

  “So says sven the shouter!”

  “Spare me the

  excuses

  , smarty-

  paws,” he said. “We’ve

  been

  LOOKING

  all over for you. It’s time

  to start the competition!”

  “

  Competition?

  What

  competition?” I asked.

  “Horns and thorns, don’t be a

  cheesehead

  !

  Just go sit in your spot at the judges’ table.

  That’s an order!” Sven shouted.

  the other micekings yelled.

  I

  sighed

  . So much for my picnic!

  Only then did I notice that a

  stage

  had been built in the village square. It

  was decorated

  festively

  . But, by my

  whiskers, I couldn’t think of what competition

  could be happening that day.

  The

  GREAT BEARD CHALLENGE

  to

  determine the mouseking with the thickest

  beard had been a few weeks earlier.

  The

  Stinky Codfish Festival

  was

  always held the first week of spring.

  The

  Miceking Games

  , which

  attracted micekings from all over the island,

  were planned for the summer.

  So . . . this must be the

  Shield Mouselet

  Mega Challenge

  ! Female warrior micekings

  are known as Shield Mouselets. Each fall,

  they compete to see who is the

  bravest

  ,

  strongest

  , and

  smartest

  .

  Everyone loved the challenge — except me!

  Sven always made me judge, and it always

  got me in

  big trouble

  .

  After I took my seat, my cousin

  Trap

  slid

  into the chair next to me.

  *

  To read more about Ratilde, check out my adventure

  The Famouse Fjord Race!

  “Trap, are you on the judges’ panel, too?”

  I asked.

  He chuckled. “Of course! A judge has to

  understand

  courage

  ,

  strength

  , and

  intelligence

  . And since I am brave,

  strong, and smart, I’ll be the

  perfect

  judge!”

  We heard an amused laugh behind us and

  turned to see a large female mouseking:

  Ratilde

  . “If anyone can judge the

  courage

  of a mouseking, it’s me!” she

  boasted as she sat down in the third judge’s

  chair.

  Trap and I nodded. Ratilde was captain of

  the ship

  Beauty of the Seas

  , and

  there wasn’t a single mouseking sailor who

  was

  braver

  than her.

  *

  “We all need courage to judge this contest,”

  Good luck!

  Come on,

  Thea!

  Go, Helga!

  Ready to judge?

  Well . . .

  Karina will

  win!

  Thanks!

  Yay, Thora!

  SHIELD MOUSELET

  THORA

  Sven the Shouter’s daughter

  is charming, brave, and good

  at everything she

  tries — and I

  have a big

  crush on

  her!

  HELGA

  She is as sweet as she is

  strong — and she makes

  Trap blush.

  I whispered to them

  both.

  “Why?” Trap asked.

  “Because there can

  only be one

  winner

  ,”

  I replied. “And then

  we are left with angry

  losers!”

  Just then, I saw

  that

  Thora

  was a

  contestant this year.

  She is

  Sven’s

  daughter — and my

  secret crush

  . I

  gulped. I had to pick

  Thora as the winner,

  right?

  The other

  contestants

  were Helga, Karina,

  MEGA CHALLENGE

  Karina

  This mouseking is

  fast, agile, and does

  everything with flair.

  Thea

  My sister, Thea, is a

  brilliant rodent! She

  loves

  adventure and

  competitions.

  and my sister, Thea.

  I

  gulped

  again.

  How could I vote

  against Helga, who

  is so

  strong

  ? Or

  Karina, the

  FASTEST

  mouseking around? Or

  my own

  talented

  sister, Thea?

  I could smell
trouble

  already . . . but then I

  smelled

  something

  else. Something very

  strong.

  I

  sniffed

  the air.

  “What is that strange

  stench?” I asked.

  Ratilde snorted and

  passed me a clothespin

  What a smell!

  to put on my nose. “Here you go, you

  wimpy

  mouseking

  !” she said.

  Then I saw that the

  smell

  was coming

  from the braided sash that would be awarded

  to the winning Shield Mouselet. It was made

  out of

  hot peppers

  ! Rotten ricotta,

  those peppers had such a

  strong scent

  that they were making my eyes water!

  Ratilde nudged me. “Look, smarty-

  mouseking, even Trap has

  watery

  eyes.”

  Logi Peppers

  Logi peppers are very strong

  hot peppers that are used in our

  famouse miceking hot pepper

  sauce, the hottest sauce there

  is! These peppers have a much,

  much, much stronger smell than

  even stinky miceking garlic.

  “It’s not

  the peppers,”

  Trap said.

  Then I noticed that Helga

  was

  smiling

  at him. My big

  cousin has such a

  tender

  heart!

  Begin the megA

  chAllenges!

  Sven the Shouter climbed onto the stage.

  “Citizens of Mouseborg, hear me!” he shouted.

  “Only the

  bravest

  ,

  strongest

  , and

  smartest

  contestant will win the Shield

  Mouselet Mega Challenge!”

  the crowd cheered.

  Sven raised his paw in the air. “Let the

  competition begin!”

  The first event was the

  shell

  challenge

  . Each contestant

  had to throw a

  razor-sharp

  shell at a straw target.

  “So says sven the shouter!”

  SHIVERING SQUIDS!

  My whiskers!

  Bull’s-eye!

  Those shells had points as sharp as

  DRAGONS’ CLAWS

  .

  Thea’s shell passed so close to me that it

  trimmed

  the ends of my whiskers! But

  she hit the

  bull’s-eye

  and won

  the contest.

  I’m all

  tangled up!

  I need more

  rope!

  The second event was the