Michael and James: Energy Harvesters!!

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

So, I’ve decided to put up a new humanized parody. However, unlike Star Vacation, this one will seriously deviate from the plotline at some points. I originally was going to start work on Omicron Kappa Rulez!, but maybe another time.

The basis of this story will be that the characters are actually humanoid beings on another planet, and they have the power to shape-shift into fantastic creature and beast unlike anything on Earth. They also possess wormhole travel and can produce electricity by means of harnessing human sound.

You’ve probably already guessed what this is a parody of, so without further ado…

(cover made with old Microsoft ClipArt)

Prologue

It was late at night in a big city. A figure in a yellow Poison Control hazmat suit ran swiftly down the street to a large building where many Poison Control vans were parked behind a fence of barbed wire. Once inside the building, he knocked on a door that read “Chief”.

“Come in,” a slightly irritated, elderly female voice spoke.

The figure in the yellow suit entered the office with a folder of papers. He laid them down on the desk. The woman seated at the desk switched on her Luxo lamp, and began looking through the papers, which contained some very advanced-looking schematics.

“What is this? Your free time doodling?!” the woman growled.

“No, chief,” the man in the yellow suit replied, “I was able to retrieve these schematics from the desk of the dispatch manager for Energy Floor F over at M. Energy Incorporated. Apparently, he has mysteriously vanished and was last seen 2 days ago, which was when the call was put through to our offices. One of the portal managers, Jeffrey Fungus, tells me that he discovered the body of the former clerk laying next to his desk. Looking at these schematics, I am judging that they may be for a machine, but its use strikes me as being very suspicious, possibly even illegal. I was wondering if you could look into the matter.”

“Mysteriously vanishing manager, suspicious machine blueprints… has the CEO said anything about this?” the woman inquired.

“Strangely, not,” the man replied, “He is slightly shaken by the loss, however.”

“Ehhh…” the woman moved out of her seat as if she were a Hutt from Star Wars, “This seems like the perfect opportunity to go undercover. I will go in as the new dispatch manager for Energy Floor F, and I will demand DOUBLE the paperwork for all the activity going on the floor. Because with my eyes around, I will be watching. ALWAYS WATCHING…”

The woman stared out her window, her gaze cast on a large building out in the distance, with a logo that appeared to be a blue “M” with an eye inside it.

I have a feeling that something illegal is going on, the woman told herself, and I will uncover it, even if it takes me years.

In the city of Osaka, Japan, a little girl named Mariko Tachibana was born. She was raised by her mother and father, Fumiko Hanazawa and Kenjiro Tachibana, who also owned three Japanese Bobtail cats, all of which she nicknamed “Neko-chan” (Japanese meaning “Kitty”). In fact, her love of cats was so much so, that she nicknamed any fluffy animal she saw “Neko-chan”, but at the same time, she had an intense fear of reptiles, largely due to a vivid nightmare where she saw a large reptilian-like creature appear before her and attempt to torture and suffocate her as it hissed in her ear. Every night, Mariko would hit and bang the walls of her bedroom, believing that the creature was camouflaged into her flowery pink wallpaper, and if she were lucky, she would kill it. But her mother just believed that she was just going through that “monster in the closet” phase that almost every child on planet Earth went through…

2 Years Later…

“Good night Jared.”

“Good night Mom. Good night Dad.”

–

It was the dead of night as a young boy of about eight years of age slept in his bed, only the light of a full moon shining through the window. Drawings of giraffes and horses were taped to the soft yellow wallpaper. The silence that fell upon the bedroom was disturbed by the sound of thumping footsteps. The boy awoke from his bed slightly, looking around, only to see nothing unusual in sight, then went back to sleep. Just as he did, the silhouette of a large, dinosaur-like beast rose from the side of the bed, waving four long tentacle arms, and its eyes glowing a dim red, when suddenly, it growled loud enough that the boy flipped up wide awake and screaming. Unfortunately, the boy’s wails frightened the beast as well, who yelped as he stepped one foot on a skateboard, and the other on a soccer ball, which caused him to slip in the air and land on a pile of giant silver jax. The beast cried out in pain as it lay on its side and spun in circles at the same time.

“Simulation terminated! Simulation terminated!” announced a computer voice.

As if out of nowhere, ceiling lights immediately switched on, revealing the bedroom to be a simulated environment stage with a robot boy in the bed, and a woman with orange hair, white camisole, black blazer, and a chevron-patterned red skirt sat at a control panel table. To her right was a group of students wearing ID tags and holding clipboards with crumpled note papers on them.

“Thaddeus Bile!” the woman called out, “You have made a very fatal mistake in this simulation. Can you tell me what you did wrong?”

The beast stood up, morphing into a human being with a spiked mace-ball tail, “Actually, my friends call me ‘Phlegm’. I think I may have stepped on a soccer ball.”

“Wrong!” Ms. Flint answered, “Can anyone tell me what Mr. Bile’s mistake was?!”

The students were silent as Ms. Flint re-winded the tape on one of the computer screens.

“See, there’s your mistake, Mr. Bile,” Ms. Flint pointed on the screen. “You left the door wide open. And do you know why that’s dangerous?”

“Uh, it could let in a draft?” Thaddeus asked.

“It could let in a CHILD.” boomed a voice from the shadows. A huge crab-legged beast walked in on the situation, morphing into a human man with a red-vested tuxedo.

“Mr. Waternoose!” Ms. Flint exclaimed, “You were watching this whole time?”

“One touch from an Earth child is fatal enough,” continued Mr. Waternoose, “Leaving a door wide open could potentially incite the child to enter our world, and it could spell disaster for all of us.”

“Mr. Waternoose, I don’t want to collect energy for our world!” a student panicked, “I’ll die out there in an Earth bedroom!!!”

“I understand it is a dangerous job,” Mr. Waternoose followed up, “But it is a necessary business and sacrifice for the benefit of our world. I need employees like you who can bring us big numbers in providing energy for our city. I need employees who are tough and can face Earth children without breaking a sweat. I need employees in whom fear runs through their veins as their strength. I need employees like…JAMES P. SULLIVAN.”

So, hope you enjoyed the prologue. I’m just giving in a test run to see if it will become popular and if members want to read it.

[ObsessedWithPixar]

I am completely wowed by the opening for this one, JSWeC! The entire concept is insanely cool; humanizing or otherwise with MI had never crossed my mind, but this works extremely well! I really like the intensity we’re building up as well as the way you’ve retold that story’s familiar opening in your own unique way. And yesssss I really want to see fanart for this Keep it up! I’m really enjoying this one!

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

Thanks, OWP! And just in time.

I finished the first chapter recently, and I’m pretty happy with it. I will give you a few notes on some fancy terms that you will find in this story.

Kaiju: Japanese for “monster” (怪獣) and the name of the race of humanoid shapeshifters. In the real world, you might often hear this word in association with the tradition of Japanese monster movies, such as Godzilla (Kaiju Eiga; literally “Monster Film”)

Matsuri: Japanese meaning “festival” or “holiday” (祭り), and the name of the kaiju home planet. I chose this word because their world appears very “festive” with all the colors and cuteness going around.

Lux Nova: Latin meaning “New Light”, and will serve an important purpose in the story (not gonna spoil it now; read the chapter to find out its importance)

Also, be sure to keep an eye out for a slight MU cameo!

Ok… so, here’s Chapter One!

Chapter One: Walk to Work

6:57 A.M. The beeping ring of an alarm clock sounds as James Sullivan, a man with purple-spotted blue hair and ridged horns is snoring in his bed; his hairy arms sprawled out as his alarm still rings, and the quilted comforter halfway down his hairy torso. He tosses to his side as he yawns deep and loudly. That is when a voice that sounds like the morning radio breaks through the beeping of the clock.

“Good morning Kaiju City!” the voice began to announce, “It’s 6:57 A.M. and it’s turning out to be a lovely sunny morning. Temperature’s a moderate 65°F, which is good news for you reptiles, and it’s looking like the perfect day to, I don’t know, lay around in bed or GETTING UP TO GO TO WORK!!!”

That last line seemed to be spoken through a megaphone, which caused James to fall out of his bed and to the floor due to the shock it caused him.

“Oh, Mike, did you really have to–” James began, looking up only to see a short-statured young man with horns, bright green hair covering one of his eyes, and green pajamas with eyeballs printed on them, standing over him with a megaphone in his hand. This was Michael Wazowski; James roommate, work partner, and best friend.

“You better get up if you want to beat that all-time Scare Record!” shouted Michael through his megaphone again.

The hairy man stood up, dressed only in pajama pants as he trudged over to the bathroom. Michael stood there with his megaphone, tapping his foot on the wooden floor.

“Come on Sulley!” Michael cheered as James was brushing his teeth, “Fight that plaque! Kaiju don’t have plaque!”

After that, James began his morning workout routine, with Michael there to help and motivate him. He started by pretending to roar at twins in bunk beds, the moving on to running away from human dummies Michael had constructed out of cardboard and yard sticks. They finished with some push-ups hanging from the ceiling.

“Come on, 119? I wanna see 120-- oh what’s that? 121? That’s a new record!” Michael cheered with pom-poms, “Come on, we’ve still got time for some morning television and breakfast before we go to work.”

Michael and James got out their TV tables and sat down with their bowls of Spooky Charms marshmallow cereal and blue milk. James also had the addition of a Monster™ Energy Drink sitting by his cereal bowl as he reached for the remote.

“Maybe I’ll be able to catch that special on the History Channel about the so-called ‘Ancient Prophecy’,” James told Michael.

“Sure thing,” Michael answered, “Oh, look! It’s the new commercial!!!”

During the commercial break on the History Channel, an advertisement appeared on TV, featuring a giant factory and people wearing jumpsuits and blue hard hats. A CEO-like voice narrated over the images being shown of energy and power usage.

“Here at M. Energy Incorporated, we pioneer innovative and breakthrough technology to power your city. We warm your home, we light your dark, and our energy is always clean and refined. The window of innocence is shrinking, but we match children on Earth to their perfect kaiju suited to their fears to produce only the highest quality scream energy.”

An image of a person using a virtual reality simulation with glasses was shown on screen roaring loudly as he snuck around.

“I’m M. Energy Incorporated!” one hard-hat worker stated.

“I’m also M. Energy Incorporated!” said another worker.

“I’m M. Energy Incorporated, and I’ve been in this business for quite a while,” Mr. Waternoose appeared on the screen with a cart of yellow canisters, “And I could not have gotten here without the help of all our loyal and wonderful, hard-working employees here; aren’t they just the cutest bunch ever?!!”

The scene then switched from a cutesy, googly-eyed Mr. Waternoose cuddling a plush canister to that of the lobby, where a bunch of employees were featured in a group shout in front of the reception desk, with Michael and James standing up front. The logo for the company appeared on screen, right over Michael’s face.

“Here at M. Energy Incorporated,” began James, “We always make sure that we put our best foot forward to serve a much greater need; to provide the necessities needed for our people to survive.”

“M. Energy Incorporated!” Mr. Waternoose’s voice boomed, “We Scare, because We Care.”

After the commercial finished, Michael stared at the screen in disbelief.

“I don’t believe it…” Michael started off, “I was… IN A TV COMMERCIAL!!!”

James facepalmed as Michael started dancing and singing, “Look at me, I was on TV!!!” all around the room, until the TV announcer said, “And now, for our History Channel special of the day, the Ancient Lux Nova Prophecy: Fact or Fable?”

“Oh boy, it’s on Mike!” James cheered.

“This prophecy was written many centuries ago,” began a professor with glasses and a suit, “Linguists who specialize in historical languages have decoded the text, but unfortunately, not its meaning.”

“Lux Nova literally means ‘New Light’ in the Ancient Classical Kaiju tongue,” the narrator began, “For centuries, historians have tried to figure out what this ‘new light’ could possibly be. Could it be a new era of knowledge on Matsuri? Could it be that our sun will enter a new stage of its star life? Or is it something that is beyond the grasp of even our minds today?”

“The prophecy text is still a mystery today,” started a woman with her red hair done in buns, “It tells of a time coming when a shadow of impending darkness threatens to destroy our way of life, a chosen child from the other realm shall set foot in the realm of the kaiju, and impart on them a gift of new light. It also states that the chosen child will be identified by two things. First, it will be young and incapable of speech as of yet, and second this child shall have three fears, which when manifest together will cause the child much torment.”

“The three fears are: reptiles, serpentine hissing, and invisibility,” the narrator explained as ancient frescos and mosaics were shown depicting a human child in sleepwear glowing and ready to unleash a power blast as a serpentine, lizard-like creature appeared before it, adorned with the frond crest of an iguana and seeming to appeared out of a patterned bedroom wall as it hissed its blue forked tongue; a sinister glare appearing in its glistening green eyes.

“Please Michael, don’t go saying anything on the Energy Floor today, alright?” James asked a favor.

“You know you just ruined the fun of this program, right,” Michael grunted, “Besides, even if we did make note of this to you-know-who, he’d think it’s all bogus anyway.”

“However,” the red-haired woman continued, “It says that with the help of two guardians, this chosen one shall subdue these fears, and only then give the kaiju, that being us, this gift of Lux Nova.”

“As far as the two guardians go, not much is known about them, other than they will protect this child and help it subdue the three fears,” the narrator continued, “which actually, point to one specific race of kaiju: the vanishing lizard.”

“It is surprising that this prophecy would paint a vanishing lizard in such an antagonistic light,” a science specialist named Professor Brandywine began speaking, “Normally, vanishing lizards are quite the opposite; loving, warm, friendly, hospitable, and known to be sweet, cuddly, and adorable beyond all belief. It’s in their nature to crave companionship, warm hugs, and having their antennae petted. So, if this prophecy is true, then it must be mentioning a member of this race that would be an exception, not the rule.”

Footage of rapidly-changing time in a city was shown, as the narrator concluded with, “From the looks of it, this prophecy could just be another bogus legend. Many claim in this day that it is indeed coming true, with a power shortage signaling the ‘impending darkness’. However, none of the other signs have come to pass, and it’s all just probably mass hysteria in the wake of a power blackout. Besides, if a human child were to set foot on this world, can you imagine all the Poison Control center agents that would be scrambled across the world?! In conclusion, this prophecy is a joke. Oh, and by the way, ALIENS.”

Michael sat there, staring at the screen as James switched it off, saying “Well Mike, that was a very educational insight on historical ancient stupidity with their legends of light vs. dark. And now it’s time for us to go to the energy plant where we will work to keep people out of the dark.”

Before they knew it, Michael and James were out the door, walking down the sidewalk, greeting most of their friends as they went their way.

“Are you sure we can’t take the car?” asked Michael.

“Nope,” answered James, “We’ve got a power shortage coming, so it’s best if we save the energy. That’s why were walking.”

As the two continued to stroll along they also greeted a local grocer and some kids playing Double Dutch jump rope. A man passed by reading his morning newspaper, unfortunately sneezing fire on it. A garbage collector walked by the grocery, sweeping up the trash then eating it. James even greeted a neighbor who transformed into a dinosaur-like being with the clucking of a chicken.

“Have a good day, Ted!” James told the large beast as it crossed the intersection. James and Michael followed along.

“This is it Mike,” began James, “Today, I may just break that record. I won’t be mad if I don’t, I’ll just be okay with whatever the results are today.”

The two friends found themselves on the front steps of a giant energy collection facility, the blue “M” eye logo boldly emblazoned on the main tower as if it were overlooking the city.

I’m working on Chapter Two already, which is guaranteed to fill up 10 laugh canisters. Until then, hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this epic tale! (aside from the prologue)

[ObsessedWithPixar]

Applauds wildly This first chapter has been fantastic! I really love the elements of fantasy and legend you’ve incorporated into it; I think it gives a really cool and unique touch to this variation of MI. Very excited to see more! Also, yes, I caught the MU cameo

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

OWP: Glad you liked it. The whole “ancient prophecy” thing is actually [spoil]supposed to make Boo more important to the story, and that she actually has a purpose rather than just setting foot in the monster world and Sulley having to take her back.[/spoil] I’ll tell you this, though:

Roz and Waternoose are the only two characters who believe in the prophecy. However, they each take different approaches to it. Roz wants to see it unfold without any interference, while Waternoose wants to solve the mystery of Lux Nova by taking it upon himself to capture the chosen one and extract the gift from him/her.

And points for finding the MU cameo. I thought Professor Brandywine making a short appearance would make a nice shout-out.

And now, I have Chapter Two ready! This one is pretty extensive with all the description going on, but it is very fun too. Hilarious, and it (hopefully) manages to keep everyone in-character. Also, see if you can find a meme-based joke within the dialogue.

Chapter Two: In the Zone Today!

Michael and James stepped through the revolving doors of M. Energy Incorporated, greeting all their fellow employees as they made their way to the reception desk. However, they were stopped by a pair of hapless janitors who were waving polka-dot printed memorabilia, which included pennants, soda hats, and foam fingers that read “#1 Sullivan”.

“Go get em’ Sullivan!!!” cheered the janitors, “You’re our all-time favorite hero!”

“Uh, thanks,” James answered, “I’m uh, quite flattered.”

“We love you so much!!!” The janitors bounced as their eyes turned all googly, “You’ll do a good job, we know it!”

“Uh, yeah,” James continued, “If you want me to do well, just please calm down with all the flattery; I may just lose my concentration that way.”

“Oh ok,” said the janitor with the yellow uniform and clown nose, “I understand.”

“See ya’ guys!” James bid them good day as he continued over to the front desk.

“You’re amazing Sullivan!!!” the janitor with the green uniform and rocker haircut called out.

“Stop!” the other janitor told his friend, “You’ll make him lose his focus!”

Michael and James finally made it to the reception desk, where a young woman with long purple hair covering one eye and a sequined green dress sat, answering the phone and wearing a headset.

“Hello, my Shmoopsie-Poo,” Michael began in a slightly mushy tone.

“Googly-Bear!” exclaimed the young woman, “How are you today?”

“Just fine, Celia,” Michael continued, “By the way, Happy Birthday!”

“Oh, you remembered,” Celia sighed lovingly, “That’s wonderful! Anything special planned?”

“Oh, not much,” Michael continued smoothly, “Just a little sushi bar known as Harryhausen’s.”

At that moment, Celia’s visible eye became a white circle with a dark outline, her mouth gaped open in shock as a blue spiral background appeared behind her.

“Harryhausen’s?!!” Celia was still reeling from the shock, “But… how, Michael?”

“Not to worry,” began Michael, “Sulley here got us covered with the reservations.”

James smiled, “Yes, I sure did, Celia…Wheelia…?”

“So, remember tonight at 6:30,” Michael noted.

“I’ll be sure!” Celia added.

“Just think,” began Michael as he strided off with James, “♫ You and Me, Me and You… Together Forever!!! ♫”

The two found themselves freshening up in the one of the locker rooms. James put away his fur jacket in his locker, while Michael zipped up his jumpsuit and adjusted his work boots.

“Hey, I wanted to say earlier,” began Michael, “Thanks for making the reservations for Celia and me.”

“Well, what can I say,” James answered, “You’re gonna take Celia to dinner for her birthday, and I’ve got that scare record to hopefully break.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll do a good job,” Michael continued as he turned to admire himself in the mirror, “We’ll just get through the day as usual, and then it’s just me… and Celia!”

As Michael finished putting his tin lunchbox in his locker, the locker door seemed to shut itself. He was slightly puzzled by this phenomenon.

“Huh? Something must be wrong with my locker,” Michael told himself as he opened his locker again, but it slammed shut by what seemed to be an invisible force. All of a sudden, the hanging lamps seemed to swing as if it they were part of a horror movie set.

“Wazowski… Sullivan…” a sinister yet sultry voice seemed to call out of the thin air.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!” Michael yelped as he hid behind James, “Where’s it coming from?”

At that moment, that’s when their answer was revealed. Right before the two friends eyes, a young man materialized as the camera pans from his snakeskin loafers and argyle socks, up his tailored pinstripe pants, damask waistcoat vest, and dotted shirt, topped with a chevron-printed velvet tailcoat, and accessorized with a fade-dye snakeskin tie, shimmering cufflinks, and leather bindings with chains hanging from his hips and wrists. His face was pale yet delicate as the high-resolution graphics in the Final Fantasy games, adorned with emeralds for eyes and crowned with flowing hair, which was a brilliant iridescent purple as the rest of his wardrobe, but gathered in a ponytail that swirled blue at the end, and three magenta-tipped cowlicks stood up above his head. He stood on the bench that Michael had been sitting on; his hands neatly folded behind his back. This fine-looking man was named Randall Boggs; the only person formidable enough to challenge James’ reputation as the top energy harvester, and also the most attractive person alive, according to a popular celebrity magazine.

“Well, what do you know,” Randall hissed with his indigo-colored water monitor tongue, “It scares Earth children AND kaiju alike.”

“I wasn’t scared!” Michael retorted, “Sulley, tell him I wasn’t scared.”

“You better believe it,” Randall began as he slipped off his tailcoat, folding it neatly and putting it in his locker.

“Believe what?” James asked.

“I’m in the zone today, Sullivan!” Randall exclaimed as he danced on the bench, flipping his long hair and swaying his slender frame; the chains on his hips jingling loudly, “Gonna do some serious scaring, putting up some big numbers.”

Ok Randall, that has got to be the worst gloating dance I’ve ever seen from you, James thought to himself as Michael taped the scene with his video camera.

This would be MonsTube gold! Michael pondered as he continued filming, Now to think of the music I could remix this to.

“Let’s face it Sullivan,” Randall folded his arms across his chest, “I’ve got a loyal fanbase and you don’t!”

“Actually, you just have fangirls,” Michael explained, “Sulley here has not only fangirls, but fanboys, fan-kids, fan-families, and even fan-pets.”

Michael pointed over to a group of crazed teenage girls standing at the entrance of the locker room, all wearing purple fashion tops bearing Randall’s likeness and captions such as “I Randall!”, “Lizard Luv 4EVER!”, “Blending In Is Cool” and even “Future Mrs. Boggs”. Some even had lizard-themed accessories, such as tattoos, earrings, swirly bracelets, hair barrettes, belly jewels, rings, and necklaces. The girls giggled and squealed as they waved picket signs and banners with cheesy slogans that read “We Heart Randall!”, “Boggs Brigade”, “Stylin’ Scales!”, " We’re Fan-dalls!", among others.

“And now, let’s take a look at Sulley’s fanbase,” Michael flipped open a photo album containing pictures of James mingling with his more diverse fan demographics, such as petting dogs, smiling in group photos with fur-clad fangirls and fanboys alike, and giving hugs to little children who told him that he was “so cuddly and soft and fluffy and warm and nice”. One of the quotes by the children read, “We love you Sulley! You’re all huggable and will always be better than that stupid stinky mean lizard man.” Randall’s hands formed into fists as his pretty jade eyes turned an eerie white and a flaming background exploded behind him after he read those words off the page.

“Um, I still have better fans!” Randall tried to launch a counterattack, his face still flushed red in anger, “Children aren’t really my favorite anyway. They’re so annoying and get ice cream and slobbery candy all over my clothes.”

Michael began, “Well, you better stop being such a nuisance–”

“Shhhh! Shhhh!” Randall hissed as he threw his arms around the pair, “Do you hear that? It’s the winds of change.”

The words seemed to slip into James’ and Michael’s ears as a stinging venom. Randall released his grip on them, and just slithered off so smoothly as he made his way out of the locker room.

“See ya’ on the floor, Sullivan,” Randall hissed his serpentine tongue at the pair again, turning to the group of crazed fangirls to blow them some kisses.

“Nya, nya blah blah winds of change blah blah,” Michael muttered to himself.

“Don’t let him bother you,” James advised his friend, “He’s just trying to mess with us.”

“I know,” Michael began, “But that’s just, wow.”

“So lizard.” James responded.

“Much creep.” Michael answered back.

“Such annoying.”

“So scales.”

“Such squint.”

“Wow. Much reptile.” The two concluded in unison.

Michael stood outside an office window, as he began to speak nonsensical sounding sentences, along the lines of “Roz, my tender oozing blossom, you look quite lovely today. Did you get a new haircut or something?”

“WAZOWSKI!” an elderly woman, Roz, grunted as she threw down her newspaper, “You forgot to turn in your paperwork last night again, didn’t you?”

“Uh…” Michael panicked, “Yes. By the way, I notice a new scent in the air. Is that a new perfume?”

“Can it, Wazowski!” Roz growled again, “You ain’t gonna talk your way out of paperwork this time!”

James came running down the hall just as Roz got back to reading her newspaper, with a headline that read “BABY BORN WITH FIVE HEADS: PARENTS THRILLED”, and took a sip of coffee out of a mug that read “No Paperwork, No Dates”. Michael turned around to see his friend sprinting towards his location as he carried a giant folder of papers.

“Roz, here’s my paperwork–” James exclaimed until he suddenly slipped on a wet floor surface, failing to realize the Caution sign the janitor had put. He slid so fast towards Michael, that the scene all of a sudden turned slow-motion. Michael whipped around, only to inadvertently hit Roz’s desk and send a metal stick-like device flying in the air. James abruptly collided against Michael as Roz reached for a pair of sunglasses and put them on, and the metal device landed on James’s back, emitting a flash ten times stronger than that of a camera.

After the camera returned to normal speed filming, Roz removed her sunglasses, shocked at the scene. James stood up, picking up the metal stick and his paperwork folder handing them both to the dispatch manager.

“That’ll teach ya,” Roz growled, “The good news is that you got the paperwork in. The bad news is that you’ve just been hit by my neuralizer.”

“Your what?” asked Michael.

“It’s this device that is supposed to make people forget things, especially if they’re confidential and accidentally discovered. Mine was set to 7:52 A.M., so I don’t know what you just forgot. Sorry about that.”

Apparently, Roz was telling the truth. Michael and James had no memory of anything they’ve done in the time window between 7:52 and the present time. They even lost their memory of having sat down to breakfast and television, thus, wiping their minds of the History Channel program James had been so enthusiastic about seeing. On the bright side, they did remember training and exercising for their work day. James then went his way to the standby room where all the other Energy Harvesters were supposed to wait while the Portal Summoners set up the Energy Floor. Michael greeted a janitor who was mopping the floor as he went inside the work area.

The Energy Floor was large and spacious, with various stations with desks and portal connection platforms. Michael opened a folder with various key cards, of which he took one and swiped it into a keypad. The other Portal Summoners did the same, and a long train of what appeared to be framed closet doors instantly swung into view from an overhead zipline. Michael stood there, confident and smiling. Right next to him, however, stood another Portal Summoner, nervously shaking as he went through his folder, counting how many key cards he had on hand. He had deep red hair, which appeared unkempt, and was dressed in a red jumpsuit, blue boots, red gloves, black-rimmed glasses, and a blue hard hat. In contrast to Michael, he appeared covered in dark bruises and burn marks, freshly healed scars, and multiple tears in the back of his jumpsuit indicated he had received over forty lashes. To put a cherry on top of it all, he was literally chained to his station; the chains connecting to a shock collar and bracelets tightly clamped around his neck, wrists, and ankles. This Portal Summoner was named Jeffrey Fungus.

“Hey, Fungus!” Michael greeted Jeffrey cheerfully, “Making sure you’ve got enough door cards?”

“Mike!” exclaimed Jeffrey, “Sorry, I am. Nervous about today, I feel greatly. Two Energy Harvesters going head to head to break the record, we’ve got.”

“Yeah, I know,” Michael continued, “And surprisingly, this is the first time you don’t simply address me as ‘Wazowski’.”

“All right everybody!” announced a man standing at a podium, sporting a headset as he motioned to all the Portal Summoners, “We’ve got our stations all online, and it seems like everybody’s prepared. Okay, bring in the Energy Harvesters!!!”

The main entrance to the Energy Floor suddenly flung wide open, revealing a glowing white background, out of which a shadow of a mass group emerged.

For those who are wondering, this is what a water monitor lizard’s tongue looks like:

[ObsessedWithPixar]

Another great chapter! You continue to do great doing MI your own cool way! Loved the amount of description and attention to detail (Randall must look absolutely fabulous ), the way you’re tying all the events together, and the comedic moments (hehe the “MonsTube” bit was awesome ). Anxiously awaiting the next part!

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

OWP: Thank you very much! I am working hard to put a lot of detail into this story, mainly to give life to the many visuals this version of the story is supposed to evoke. And I’m glad you took notice of Randall; he is actually meant to be depicted as beautiful, yet extremely cold-blooded.

One note I will put up before reading this chapter. The sequences decribed at the beginning are base on what are called henshin sequences in anime. These are transformation sequences that detail every aspect of a character transforming, and are mostly characteristic on anime shows that either involve superheroes, giant robots (mecha), or the ever-popular magical girl shows.

Here’s a few examples of magical girl henshin sequences, just to get an idea of what to expect:

Shugo Chara transformations

Suite PreCure transformation

HeartCatch PreCure transformation

Whew! Now that I got that out of the way, here’s Chapter Three!

Chapter Three: Making the Quota

The Energy Harvesters had entered their work zone. At the head of the group was James, who marched with a staunch determination written on his face. Each Harvester then headed to his or her respective station, where they faced the doors that stood before them.

“All right!” called the announcer as he shut the windows so that no sunlight could enter the area, “Everyone, initiate your transformation!”

At that exact moment, all the Energy Harvesters shouted out their respective catchphrases, which resulted in their bare bodies becoming glowing silhouettes as they each entered through colorful vortexes. James called out “I am ready to unleash the beast within!” and his form became enveloped in a white light which was thrown through a blue vortex patterned with purple polka dots. He could feel his body increasing in size and changing physiologically; arms growing longer and more muscled, hands and feet becoming paws and gaining claws, tail extending, face becoming like that of a bear, and starting from his head, hair spreading all over him like fur. He landed on the floor, emerging from a glowing light as he roared louder than the pride of a hundred lions. He introduced himself as “The raging beast whose roar will awaken even the heaviest of sleepers, James P. Sullivan!”

Likewise, Randall, James’ co-worker, also experienced a similar process. His phrase was “Winds of change, I hear you. Carry me as you wish!” His delicate physique radiated blindingly as a glimmering purple snakeskin vortex appeared and swept him through it. Light winds in the vortex swayed him around in swirling motions as his form stretched out into a serpentine shape, his two arms splitting into four arms, same for his legs. His fingers and toes were then reduced to three on each hand and foot, resembling lamellae pads characteristic of a gecko. His ponytail swirled down his long spine and became a spiraling prehensile tail, his head was flattened like that of a skink lizard, eyes bulged, and he swept a hand over his cowlicks, which then turned into a trio of antennae-like fronds. Finally, starting from his tail, scales started to appear all over his body, with a brilliant blue at the tip of his tail progressing onto his back, then changing into an iridescent mosaic of purple and violet tones, culminating in the magenta-toned tips on his fronds. A glowing globe of light blasted on the floor, in which he finally emerged, gracefully dancing and hissing. He introduced himself as “The unseen serpent chameleon, the endless fuel of nightmares, Randall Boggs!” as he blew a kiss.

After the other Energy Harvesters finished transforming, each of them had to give their powers a test run. James performed a few work out moves as he sported a growl on his face. A muscular, dinosaur-like beast extended long claws from the bases of his hands, and gave a good roar. Jeffrey pulled out a wallpaper swatch board and placed it behind Randall, switching colors and patterns rapidly as his Harvester could blend in to. A slug-like creature inflated spikes all over his back, another beast put in a pair of fake teeth, a hulking monster put on a set of 16 eyes, and a being that resembled just a giant mouth with eyestalks got a good teeth brushing from his Portal Summoner.

Over on a wall section left and above of the floor entrance, a giant LCD screen lit up, displaying a map of what looked like a Mercator mapping of planet earth. The East Asian coastal areas, Indonesia, Singapore, and part of Australia were highlighted by a red stripe, and then the map shrunk as a leaderboard for all the Energy Harvesters on Energy Floor F appeared. At the top of the listing was the name “Sullivan” (サリバン) with an energy score of 99,479, and right beneath that, the name “Randall” (ランドール), his score totaling 99,351.

“Hey,” James began affectionately as he waved a paw, “May the best kaiju win.”

Randall turned is head away, facing his door. “I plan to,” he growled.

“All right!” called out the announcer, “We’ve got the East Asian coasts online, and Earth is right now in a full moon phase. Begin energy harvesting in 10, 9, 8, 7…3, 2, 1…”

The alarm sounded as the announcer gave the signal. The session had begun.

James ran right in through a cream colored door with orange slices printed on it. Michael quickly shut it as he checked the yellow canister connected to the door. Once he heard the sweet sound of a child’s blood-curdling cry of terror, he smiled as the red bar on the canister shot up to full capacity. James ran back through the door and closed it.

“How did I do?” asked the polka-dotted beast.

The computerized screen showed James’ score shoot up to 99,513.

“Not bad,” Michael remarked as he gave a thumbs-up, “Next door, coming right up!”

Meanwhile, in the station right next to that of Michael and James, Randall tightened his fists and growled fiercely as he rapidly swirled his lovely serpentine shape around a door with smiling candy printed all over it, shooting himself right through the portal. Jeffrey nervously watched the canister on the side of the door as it filled up with an ear-piercing scream. The amethyst lizard beauty then swirled right out of the door he had entered, shutting the door swiftly. He looked up at the leaderboard, only to see that his score only raised up to 99,372; a mere twenty-one points compared to the thirty-four points James had just gained.

“Still behind, you are, Randall,” began Jeffrey, “Re-aligning the screens, maybe—”

The lacertilian creature slapped Jeffrey on the face with the force of ten women in a reality show catfight, “Shut up! Just give me ANOTHER DOOR!!!”

“Aaahhh… alright!” Jeffrey sent the door back up, only to realize he was nosebleeding, but couldn’t stop to worry about it.

Beasts and creatures of all kinds went in and out of various doors that arrived at their respective stations, with the Portal Summoners assisting as best as they could, swiping key cards one after the other; doors parading on the zipline above. Canisters were filling up left and right, and various workers were loading them onto carts to be taken to the processing areas. Screams from the other side of the doors could be heard, filling up each and every battery-like canister available on the floor.

The manager looked on from his podium, when Mr. Waternoose entered the floor, observing the typical work scene.

“Well, Jerry,” began Mr. Waternoose addressing the manager by his actual name, “How are we doing?”

“Actually, Sir,” Jerry started, “We’re doing just fine. We may actually make our quota today.”

“Very well,” Mr. Waternoose answered as he folded his hands.

At that moment, one of the Portal Summoners was watching a canister slowly fill up, when all of a sudden, the power drained in an instant. He tapped the canister to see if there was something wrong with it, and that is when the muscular, dinosaur-like beast with the long claws burst out of the door, which was red with gold swirls printed on it. He started to cry as he buried his face in his clawed hands.

“What happened?” asked the peach-haired Portal Summoner.

“It was horrible!” the beast sobbed, “She tried to touch me! I COULD HAVE DIED!!!”

“She wasn’t scared of you?!” the Portal Summoner was alarmed, “But, she’s only six!”

“I COULD HAVE DIED!!!” the beast continued to moan, until his Portal Summoner slapped him.

“Get it together man!” the Portal Summoner scolded, “Janitors, we need a door shredder ASAP!”

The two janitors who were at the lobby earlier rushed into the scene with a large machine. The blond clown-nosed janitor pulled out a tape roller, and made an “X” over the door with yellow tape that read “VOID”. He and the other janitor pulled the door from its frame and inserted it into the machine as the one in the green suit pressed the button; the wood chipping loudly, but also rapidly. Before they knew it, all the wood was gone; only the doorknob deposited in a slot. The two young men took the machine back out of the work floor. The floor manager and the CEO were in disbelief at what they had just witnessed.

“That’s the 58th door that the company has lost this week!” Jerry was in shock.

“Human children these days,” Mr. Waternoose sighed, “They just don’t get scared like they used to.”

Over at another station, Jeffrey trembled nervously as he watched another canister fill up with an ear-piercing scream; Randall exiting the door as his assistant still shook uncontrollably, now with his attention turned to the large screen as he uttered the word “Master”.

“WHAT?!!” Randall slapped Jeffrey again with his upper-right gecko hand.

“Look,” Jeffrey pointed to the screen, unaware of the blood flowing profusely out of his nostrils.

Randall looked up at the jumbo computer screen leaderboard, watching his score shoot up considerably. As the number rose, the intercom came on; a female voice announcing, “Attention! We have a new top Energy Harvester: Randall Boggs.”

For a moment, Randall smiled at the sight of his name sitting on top of the name “Sullivan” on the leaderboard. The other Portal Summoners gathered around him, cheering him on as the beautiful reptile thought to himself, That’s right, Sullivan. Now you’ll finally know your place when you’ll be kissing the feet I walk with from this moment on—all four of them, to be exact.

The moment of glory came to a halt when Randall caught sight of Michael with over 20 of the yellow canisters, all filling up to capacity. James emerged out of a door covered in pink and blue clouds and puppies. He clasped his hands together and glared at Randall sternly, only speaking two words, “Slumber Party.”

James’ score continued to skyrocket on the computer screen well into the 100,000s, thus switching his name to be positioned right over Randall’s once more. The announcer voice came back on and said, “Oops! Never mind”.

The Portal Summoners who had previously been cheering Randall ran over to James and started applauding the polka-dotted beast.

“You rule Sullivan!!!” one Portal Summoner cheered.

“No one can beat you!” another one exclaimed.

“IT’S OVER 9000!!!” a third one hollered loudly.

Randall folded his upper arms across his chest, and placed his lower hands on his hips. He glared at Jeffrey menacingly and said, “If I don’t see another door in MY station in the next 5 seconds, I will PERSONALLY put you THROUGH THE SHREDDER!!!”

“B-but—Randall,” began Jeffrey, “If kill me you do, deliver the doors to our station, who will?”

Randall turned around dramatically as a sparkling pastel pink background appeared behind him; his fronds waving rhythmically as a light breeze of rose petals blew and his emerald eyes sparkled with tears of regret.

“Oh, Fungus,” Randall sighed deeply as his tears flowed, “You are right. How could I ever think of such a thing? Forgive me; after all, you are my only Portal Summoner!”

“The drama, please quit it Randall,” began Jeffrey, “Alright now, it is.”

The sparkling background and billowing rose petals disappeared as Randall stopped crying. He soon found his door manager hugging him tightly; his face pressed against the lizard’s smooth-scaled chest.

“You know, Fungus?” Randall started, “I’d really appreciate it if you’d get off me already.”

“I know,” Jeffrey sighed, “For sparing my life— again, I thank you.”

So, that’s Chapter Three for you. I might be posting up Chapters Four and Five this week as well, since I just had them reviewed. Wonder if my readers can hear the movie soundtrack as they read…

[ObsessedWithPixar]

This story’s taken me on quite a ride! Love the transformation sequences you wrote in – extremely cool! I know that I keep saying it, but the use of description and unique retelling are great! And the little in-jokes you’ve added are really awesome, like Fungus’s Yoda speech pattern and the “over 9000” gag Keep up the awesome work! And yeah, it’s hard not to read this scene with the soundtrack going in the background – except in some cases it adds a dubstep anime-pop sort of remix to the track

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

OWP: I’m so happy you’ve enjoyed it! And points for catching the fact that Fungus speaks like Yoda (I assume you get the reasoning behind it). I do wonder where the “over 9000” line is from, whether it’s from some show or movie, or if it’s just another internet meme. I just thought it went well with Sulley’s score on the leaderboard.

This week, Chapter Four is here! This chapter is a little more boring (with the exception of the incident at the beginning), but it’s to help warm you up for the extensive Chapter Five, which is where some action begins. However, here’s a little secret I’ll let you in on:

[spoiler]There are two Pixar Easter eggs hidden in this chapter.

The first one is an imitation of a scene from another Pixar movie, but is re-contextualized to fit in with the characters (the movie scene being spoofed is originally one of flirting, but changed to fit Randall’s contempt of Sulley, just so my readers don’t think Randall is actually flirting with Sulley or anything like that; I would never write that kind of stuff).

The second will involve Roz scolding Mike.[/spoiler]

Now that you know what to expect, have fun reading!

Chapter Four: Papers Before Dinner

Michael was having a conversation with another Portal Summoner; a green-haired man named Charlie, who was watching his canister fill up.

“I see George is doing a fine job,” Michael remarked.

“Oh yes,” replied Charlie, “George is one of the best kaiju to work with. He just takes it easy.”

A beast with yellow-striped orange fur and a single horn exited the door, saying, “Keep those doors coming, Charlie. I’m on a roll today.”

“That’s great George,” began Charlie, “Next door, coming right—2319! WE’VE GOT A 2319!!!”

Charlie caught sight of something George was completely unaware of; there was a child’s sock stuck to his furry back! Jerry, the floor manager, ran over to the emergency button and pressed it, which quickly sent a contamination alert throughout the entire work floor. In less than a second, vans and helicopters surrounded the facility as yellow-suited figures began dropping onto the scene as if it were a war zone.

“Oh no!” Mr. Waternoose exclaimed as he double-facepalmed, “Not the CDA!”

The yellow suited people rushed towards George and attempted to hold him down as they ordered him not to panic. One man grabbed a set of pliers and gently removed the sock from the beast’s back, and set it down on the floor. A group of the suited men then quickly screwed a dome tightly over the sock, and one of the men pressed a button on a remote, which caused an explosion under the small dome. The men swept up the ashes promptly.

“Oh, thanks,” began George, “That was a close one. Again, thank you so much for saving my life—”

Before George could finish thanking the yellow-suited team, they forced him into a portable shower, which ended up leaving him in nothing but a cone of shame. One of the men finished the job with a final waxing strip, leaving the beast completely furless.

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” George cried in pain.

“You are free to de-transform yourself now,” said one CDA agent.

George did revert back into his humanoid form, but screamed even louder when he realized that he actually was without any clothes. He ran like a crazed maniac across the Energy Floor, flailing his arms rapidly, and sprinting towards an exit as the camera filming this story places the M. Energy Incorporated company logo over him for censorship purposes. James, Michael, and Mr. Waternoose were left staring in disbelief at the George-shaped hole in the wall he just ran right through. Jerry set the “Accident Free for [47] Days” back to Zero, thus relieving the workers of their duty for the day.

“Great,” Mr. Waternoose facepalmed again, “An entire Energy Floor out of commission, all thanks to a sock.”

“It could’ve been worse,” James sighed, “Remember that time we had that kitten run in here too?”

“It’s a good thing the CDA had that dome handy like today,” Mr. Waternoose continued, “James, I’d like to talk for a moment.”

James followed the distinguished elderly man to the coffee machine at the entrance of the Energy Floor. Mr. Waternoose pulled out a cup, and dispensed himself some dark roast coffee from one of the machines.

“James,” Mr. Waternoose began, “This company has been in my family for three generations. But with this power shortage coming, oh James, I am desperate right now. I’m holding onto this company by only a thread, and it feels like it’s going to rip any day now. And you are, after all, my top Energy Harvester. I’m just hoping that with your skills and effort, we can store up as much energy as possible.”

“Well, I am doing my best, Mr. Waternoose,” James remarked, “That’s all I can do to help.”

“I would do anything to keep this company from going under,” Mr. Waternoose sighed, looking down at the clean marble floor of the hallway.

“Don’t be so sad,” James tried to comfort the CEO, “Maybe what this company needs is the old Waternoose scare: Yrrrrrrrrr-OWWWWWWW!!!”

“Whoa!” Mr. Waternoose was startled, “For a second there, I was startled by my own scare technique.”

The man and the fur beast chuckled to themselves. “See you around, James!” Mr. Waternoose bid his favorite employee farewell. As the man walked away through the hall, James walked back towards Michael, but was stopped by Randall, who was also still in his creature form, since neither of them had reverted back yet.

“Hey, Sullivan,” Randall slinked towards James; a smirk across his lizard face, “Heard you and Waternoose talkin’ about saving the company again. I agree with him, we have to do our best if we want to stay in the business, ya’ know.”

“Well, yeah,” James began, “And I’m guessing this has to do with you staying up on that leaderboard and someday beating me.”

An intense red blush appeared across Randall’s scaly complexion as he grunted deeply. It was not a blush of romance; far from it, actually. Rather, it was the embarrassment of having James figure out what the intention of his comment was about.

“Sullivan, why must you ruin the moment,” Randall sighed, inching closer to the furry beast.

“Seriously, I don’t get you sometimes,” James continued.

“Maybe, I think you need to be a little more…” Randall swiftly looped and slithered his serpentine form around James’ fur-covered build, “Flexible.”

James’ mouth gaped wide open, staring in utter confusion as Randall gracefully back-flipped his way out of the Energy Floor; all eight limbs in use.

“You know, Sulley,” began Michael, “It’s been another great day at work, wouldn’t you say, pal?”

“Yeah,” James answered, “We better hurry, since you’ve still got that dinner I made your reservations for.”

“You’re right!” Michael exclaimed, “That reminds me, do you have any deodorant I could borrow?”

“Sure,” James answered, “Do you want ‘Tropical Breeze’ or ‘Epic Mountain Spring’?”

“Are you sure you don’t have the ‘Chili Pepper’ fragrance?” Michael inquired.

"No, but I do have one called ‘Heat of the Moment’, " James handed a can of body spray to his friend.

“You know, that’ll do,” Michael sprayed himself, “Thanks.”

As Michael was putting away his hard hat in his locker, loud sounds echoed across the locker room, including a voice that seemed to indicate crying out in pain, the cracking of a whip, and an electric taser emitting a powerful jolt.

“Sulley,” began Michael, “I think Fungus just got himself another forty lashes today.”

“You think?” James sighed.

The two strolled their way into the hallway. All Michael seemed to talk about was One: Celia and how much fun he was going to have taking her to dinner, and Two: how much of a romantic he claimed to be. James, on the other hand, was anxious to ask his friend a question.

“Um, Mike,” began James, “I’ve got to ask you something.”

“Yeah, sure, anything,” Michael half-listened.

“What about your paperwork?” James inquired.

Michael’s visible eye faded out as a dark shade came upon his face, and a sweat-drop floated besides his left temple. The background changed to a dark blue gradient as red spirals spun above his head.

“My—paperwork?” Michael knew he was in big trouble with Roz now, “I must’ve forgotten all about it!”

Michael started running towards Celia’s desk in the lobby, but he had and unfortunate run-in with Roz; her imposing form having rebounded the running Michael and knocking him down to the floor.

“I haven’t forgotten about the paper work,” Roz’s words froze Michael, who hadn’t even said a word to her, “And I’m very well familiar with the likes of you, Wazowski, wanting to ride off into the sunset with your long, flowing hair and be free and everything.”

James stared as if he were in anticipation, and soon many other workers started to stare at the awkward scene. Celia also looked on, confused by why everyone was standing so still.

“Your stunned silence is very amusing,” Roz broke the silence, slowly trudging away from Michael, her long golden skirt gracing the reflective tiling of the lobby floor. However, at the same moment, Celia came running over to her beloved Googly-Bear.

“Is everything alright?” Celia asked.

“Uh, yes!” Michael was nervous.

“Are we still on for tonight?” Celia continued.

“Of course we are!” Michael exclaimed, “It’s just that, you see, I—”

“Actually, Celia,” James interrupted, “I’ve got some paperwork to turn in, and Michael here just reminded me about it.”

Michael’s face faded out again in a dark shade. “Um, yeah. That’s what I was going to say.”

The green-haired young man walked over to James, and started whispering to him the instructions concerning the paper work.

“Got it!” James smiled.

“So, are we ready then?” Celia’s face beamed.

“Totally!” Michael cheered, “Just give me about half an hour to get ready at home, okay, Shmoopsie-Poo?”

“Wonderful!” Celia jumped for joy, “7:30 sharp!”

Michael waved goodbye to his friend as he and his girlfriend walked out of the building together. James turned his direction down towards the hallway.

“Let’s see here,” James began talking to himself, “The purple ones go to Roz, and the gold ones go to kaiju resources, and the black ones go the the— no, the gold ones go to Roz, and the purple ones go to kaiju resources, but then the black ones must go to the P.U.— oh this is so hard. How does Mike even—”

James’ concentration had been broken by an unusual sight on the Energy Floor. Unusual because it was closing time already, and if anyone else saw it, disciplinary action could be taken.

It was a door.

Now, let’s see what’s behind Door #1…

[ObsessedWithPixar]

This was quite a fun chapter continuing through this great story! I loved the subtle Pixar references, and of course, it continues to be extremely well-detailed and uniquely awesome! Looking forward to finding out what’s behind the door
Oh, and I think the “9000” joke has something to do with Dragonball Z; I’m not entirely sure, though.

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

OWP: Glad you liked it! (Wasn’t Randall’s Pixar spoof funny?)

Ok, after a week (wanted to post it up yesterday, but I was tied up with some studying), here’s Chapter Five. This one is highly extensive, and this one will deviate from the main plot, because although Michael and James are the most prominent characters during the incident that occur, several vantage points will be shown as well, to give new insight into some of the other characters.

Also, keep your eye out for an Illumination Entertainment animation reference.

And so… here it is.

Chapter Five: When One Door Opens

A single door. Stationed on the Energy Floor. It was white, with some pink and lilac flowers around the bottom for decoration. Not only was it stationed there, but it was also active, as indicated by the red light on its portal connectivity frame.

“Hello?” called out James, “There’s a door here.”

No one answered. Almost instinctively, James morphed into his beastly form, and entered the door.

“Hello?” James tried again, “Is anyone scaring in here?”

The room was empty. No one, neither a kaiju nor an Earth child seemed to be present. James closed the door tight, but still was unsure about sending the door back. Something didn’t seem right. As James was about to leave the area, he heard a noise; a thumping type noise. He looked around, nothing in sight. That is, until he looked behind and down and caught what would be the most frightening sight in all of Kaiju City, were it to be discovered by the authorities.

She was less than two feet tall, dressed in a pink nightshirt, lilac leggings, white socks, and her silky dark brown hair tied into high short pigtails with decorative magenta barrettes. Her puerile complexion was as clear and pale as porcelain and soft as velvet, and her eyes were a deep brown, yet glimmered through the narrow almond shaped frames they were encased in. She was simply playing around with James’ long and furry tail, fluffing the hair slightly, when she looked up at his face and smiled.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” James cried out. There was an actual girl from Earth, but walking on kaiju soil! James started panicking, because he knew what could happen if the public discovered her, and he didn’t even want to imagine what the CDA has planned if something like this were to come to their attention. The beast grabbed the girl with pliers and attempted to throw her back into her room with brute force, but it was no use. After he closed the door, the girl reappeared, giggling and babbling as she followed him around, carrying her toys and blanket in order to give to him.

“Get away from me!” James’ voice boomed, but the girl kept on following him. The beast tried stuffing the toys in a locker, but the girl climbed onto his back when he wasn’t looking. James screamed for dear life, trying to flush the toys down a toilet, but the rambunctious toddler popped up again, exclaiming “Neko-chan! Neko-chan!”.

James tried to communicate with her, but it was no use. Apparently, not only was he trying to talk to a child who was still incapable of proper human speech, but apparently she didn’t seem to speak his language either. “Neko-chan” was the only thing he could get from the girl’s speech, but did not have a single idea of what it meant.

“We need to get you back to your room right now,” James told the girl, picking her up and rushing her to the Energy Floor again, when all of a sudden, he heard soft footsteps coming from the other side, where plaster had been drying to repair the George-shaped hole from earlier that day. James took cover as a slim, yet familiar figure wandered in with an entire cart of vocal containment canisters.

“What’s Randall doing here?” James whispered to himself.

Randall stepped through the door, but quickly exited. James noticed a look of disappointment written on his co-worker’s face as he pressed some buttons on the control panel.

Wait! No! James watched as the door was sent back up to the ceiling, speeding away on the zip line. Randall walked away with the canister cart, but before he knew it, he had a sneeze. The purple haired man just walked away, talking to himself.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Randall whispered, “Besides, I’m in need of some unwinding.”

James started to worry. That door was the only way to prevent anything from happening to the toddler girl, and it was sent back up. Obviously, he could not obtain the portal key card, for this particular door was unfamiliar to him, and it was not one he’s ever really worked with either. Desperate to solve the problem, James stuffed the girl in a work bag and zipped it up tightly. He morphed back into his humanoid form as he ran out into the lobby, where he was greeted by the “Furry Fandom” a.k.a. the James P. Sullivan Fan Club.

“We love you Sullivan!!!” cheered some teen girls wearing furry hats, dresses, legwarmers, and matching purses.

“Take a picture with us!” exclaimed some boys with fur hats and polka-dot hoodies.

“Give us some hugs and autographs!” exclaimed a group of elementary school children in uniform.

James was now caught between his fans and getting outside the factory. With almost uncanny strength, James posed for some pictures that the teenagers took with their phones, and autographed various backpacks and managed to give the schoolchildren a massive group hug before dashing out the revolving doors with the bag in hand.

“He’s so fluffy, I’m gonna die!” exclaimed a girl with a single pigtail standing up on her head.

It was a busy, yet quiet night over at Harryhausen’s, Kaiju City’s most expensive sushi restaurant. A chef with a white headband was chopping up a salmon fillet, and serving it on a plate, which a waiter took to another table. Pete and Charlie from Energy Floor F were also there with some other co-workers, chatting as they ate. Over in a corner, however, sat Michael in a fancy green suit and tie, with Celia having put up most of her hair in a bun with jade chopsticks, and she was dressed in a beautiful green brocade kimono, and a matching purse sat on her seat.

“Oh, Googly-Bear!” Celia sighed dreamily, “I’ve had so many birthdays, but this one has to be the best one ever!”

“Oh, Shmoopsie-Poo,” Michael followed, “The way you say it just warms my heart.”

“The food, the ambience,” Celia picked up her chopsticks and took a bite out of her salmon nigiri, “It’s all so wonderful and a dream come true.”

“And now,” Michael began, lifting a glass of plum cider, “A toast, to the most beautiful kaiju to have graced Matsuri—SULLEY?!!”

“What do you mean, ‘Sulley’?” Celia grew confused.

“I thought I just saw Sulley running outside the window,” Michael tried to explain.

“Maybe your mind is too focused on work,” Celia tried to reason, “Let’s just focus on dinner right now.”

At that moment, James burst through the doors of the restaurant, desperate and distressed.

“James!” Celia exclaimed, “What are you doing here?”

“Celia, I need to talk with Mike,” James answered, grabbing a menu and hiding behind it.

“Ok, Sulley, this better be good,” Michael glared at James suspiciously.

James took a deep breath, “Alright, here it goes. You see, while I was trying to figure out the paperwork, I noticed a door was left unattended on our Energy Floor.”

“Unattended door?” At first, Michael was confused, until he remembered the embarrassing gloating dance he had recorded in the locker room earlier that morning:

I’m in the zone, today, Sullivan! Gonna do some serious scaring, putting up some big numbers.

“Randall! That cheater!” Michael’s face turned red in anger, “He’s trying to boost his numbers!”

“Yeah, about that,” James began to sweat, scratching the back of his head, “We have a bigger problem than just that.”

“What could be worse than Boggs’ bad work ethic?” Michael wondered.

James took another deep breath again, “Ook-lay in the ag-bay,” he spoke.

“I’m not getting any of you gibberish, Sulley,” Michael grew impatient.

“Look in the bag!” James whispered loudly.

Michael took a peek in the bag. “I see nothing,” he answered, “Is this a sick joke?”

“What do you mean—?” James looked in the bag, and saw that there was absolutely nothing in there.

“Oh no,” James panted desperately.

“What do you mean, ‘oh no’?” Michael folded his arms across his chest.

All of a sudden, a loud scream was heard from across the restaurant. The two men turned their attention to see exactly where the cry had come from.

This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening! James buried in face in his hands.

“Nothing says dinner like steak and vegetables!”

Over at another location in town, Randall was in the comfort of his tackily-decorated penthouse residence, seated at his personal dinner table as he cut a piece of steak into small, bite-sized pieces. He took a bit out of the soft, tender meat just as Jeffrey arrived, dressed up in a black suit and white dress shirt.

“Fungus, you’ve outdone yourself,” Randall began, tapping his napkin to his lips.

“Um, thanks,” Jeffrey replied, slightly shaky, “Glad you like it, I am.”

“Having you as my butler is the best decision I could have made,” Randall continued, “Can’t wait to see what’s for dessert tonight.”

“Like it, you will,” Jeffrey began, “When you finish dinner, bring it, I will. Speaking of life, a wife and kids to tend to, I have.”

“Uh huh,” Randall reached for his glass and took a sip of his beverage—an interesting blend of grapefruit soda, white grape juice, and rose water.

“It’s just that,” Jeffrey continued, “being your servant, taking more of my quality time away, it is. Being able to converse with my dear Patricia, I miss. Telling the kids that the reason I have so many injuries is because my tasks at work are ‘demanding and dangerous’, so as not to have my wife call the company and demand that I file a workplace violence lawsuit, I had to.”

Randall had finished his plate as he took another sip of his drink. “That’s very interesting, Fungus. Now, let’s see dessert.”

Jeffrey presented a platter with what looked to be a large chocolate-topped éclair. Randall grinned with delight as he took a bite out of the cream-filled pastry.

“This is delicious!” Randall was pleased, “I love these more than cupcakes, really.”

“Glad you like it, Master,” Jeffrey bowed politely.

“And while you’re at it, please prepare my bath,” Randall ordered, still enjoying his dessert.

Jeffrey’s face fell once again. “What soap do you want?” he inquired anxiously.

“Hmm,” Randall thought for a moment, “Mix the lavender and moonflower bubble soaps, and sprinkle the purple tulip and lotus petals this time. Also if you could have the room scented by the lavender sage candles, that would be nice.”

Jeffrey sighed exhaustedly. “Get started right away, I will,” he said, trudging away from the dining table.

“Aaaaaaaahhhh!!! Somebody help us! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!”

Back at Harryhausen’s, the patrons were running amuck, screaming for their lives. The sushi chef dropped everything he was doing as he started to dial a number on the phone.

"CDA, how may we help you? a voice on the phone asked.

“We’ve got a major issue going on here,” the sushi chef tried to stay calm.

“Is this a standard 2319?” asked the phone voice.

“Nope,” the sushi chef answered back, “We’ve got a full-on Code Black. I repeat, there’s a Code Black situation.”

The voice on the phone remained silent for a moment. “How are the patrons doing?”

“Not cooperating well,” the sushi chef responded, “There’s panic everywhere. Subject appears to be a toddler-aged Earth female who can’t even talk.”

“Stay calm, and try to keep the patrons under control,” the voice advised, “We will be sending in squadrons to deal with the situation.”

The sushi chef hung up promptly. He made his way over to a corner of the restaurant where everyone was cowering as the girl danced and clapped on a stage.

“Everyone,” began the sushi chef, “I want you all to stay calm. The authorities will be here in a moment and take care of the situation.”

“That thing scared me to death in our picture!” one of the patrons whispered loudly.

The girl kept on twirling around clapping as she babbled “Ya-ya-ba-ba-ra-ru-Boo!!!”

At that moment, everyone panicked again, screaming as they scrambled for the entrance. However, when they ran outside, the establishment was already surrounded by vans and helicopters; figures in yellow hazmat suits already scrambled into teams to round up the restaurant patrons and take them away for mass cleansings. James and Michael ran outside as well, seeing that the girl had run out into the streets. One woman with a fur stole and mandarin-style dress had dropped her satin clutch as suited men and women forced her into one of the vans, and the girl started playing with it. Fortunately, James was able to capture her in the bag. Suddenly, he noticed that Michael had not been following him for a few minutes.

“Mike!” James called out, “We need to go!”

“I’m trying to get Celia out of this mess!” Michael shouted back, but before he could make it out of the scene, two agents grabbed Celia out of his grasp, and threw her into a van before speeding away.

“Forget about Celia for now!” exclaimed James, “Come with me!”

Michael thought for a moment, and then started sprinting away towards James as they headed for an alley where the CDA would not find them.

“Can it get any worse than this?” Michael asked.

As if on cue, a loud noise like that of a giant explosion was heard across the city. A force field had been activated around the sushi restaurant. The two friends had been stopped in their tracks by the disturbance.

“Let’s go NOW!,” James remarked, “No time to relax.”

“Ahh! The best way to relax. A warm, fragrant bath after quite a day of scaring.”

Inside a spacious bathroom, there was Randall, sitting in a large tub in the corner, filled with warm water, mountains of soapy lavender bubbles, and bath petals scattered in the water. The scent of lavender permeated the room, thanks to the surrounding candles. Only his head, shoulders, feet, and crossed shins were visible, as the rest of him was hidden by the soap bubbles. The sounds of soft jazz played on a radio seated on a toiletries table.

“Mmmm…” Randall sighed in a slightly drowsy tone; his eyes closed. He sunk his head slightly into the water to blow some bubbles, when the relaxing tenor saxophone melody was interrupted by what sounded like a news channel fanfare. Randall immediately jolted upward at the abrupt disturbance, and his eyes shot open as well.

“We interrupt this soft jazz radio broadcast to bring you a breaking news report!” the radio voice announced, “For what seems to be the first time ever, a ‘Code Black’ has been issued, and of all places, the Harryhausen’s Sushi Restaurant! Witnesses claim that an Earth child has been spotted, and some information has been given to the authorities. Subject is described to be under 2 feet tall and female, but some eyewitness views are conflicting regarding the incident.”

“It flew over town, and used its laser vision to destroy my car!” one witness voice claimed.

“That’s nothing!” exclaimed another victim, “It picked me up with its mind powers!”

Randall stretched his arms behind his head, telling himself, “Ok, this is starting to sound like mass hysteria. An Energy Harvester like me knows that children from Earth do not have such abilities, but just in case—Fungus!!!”

Jeffrey entered the bathroom, and even more nervous than usual. “Um, yes?” he asked.

“Will you please lock all the doors and windows tightly,” Randall asked, switching the way his legs were crossed, “There’s been a report that a Code Black is being issued by the CDA, and although the reports seem more like mass hysteria, we can’t take any chances. There’s no official confirmation as of yet, but we need to be on the safe side.”

“Will do,” Jeffrey answered. He promptly exited the bathroom, leaving Randall to finish his soothing bath. The young man gently lathered the soap through his long, purple hair as the music returned on the radio.

In another location in town, Roz sat on a couch, watching the news on the television screen. She took a sip of her orange-infused White Tea as she heard the reports about the “laser vision” and “mind powers” being repeated on the screen. The news anchor had even brought in a science specialist, but even he was panicking, telling everyone to run for their lives. After the report was done, the woman got off of her couch and grabbed a worn notebook from her dining table. She went into a study-like room and sat down, flipping through both the notebook and what seemed to be a history book titled Legends and Prophecies of Old. Upon reaching a page titled “The Lux Nova Prophecy”, she began reading and highlighting pieces of text, as well as writing down in her notebook.

“Let’s see,” Roz began, “The impeding darkness is the power shortage, and it claims that when this happens, a child from the ‘realm of the sun’, shall set foot on the ‘realm of the moon’, and offer us this gift of new light. ‘Realm of the sun’ is what we call Earth, since humans are active during the daytime, and we, the kaiju, are the ‘realm of the moon’, because we are associated with night on Earth. Code Black can only mean one thing; an Earth child is indeed roaming our world, but sightings are unconfirmed by the CDA as of yet. Could the prophecy be possibly coming true?”

Roz continued to read the text, specifically the part where it told about the three fears and the two guardians. She put her pen down, pondering the meaning of the prophecy.

“Maybe the two guardians already have this child,” Roz reasoned, “And they’re probably protecting her from all the commotion going on. Hopefully no harm comes to her.”

“Get that thing away from me! I don’t want anything to do with it!”

Michael and James were back at their apartment but were hiding behind their couch as the girl twirled around the carpeted floor of the living room, babbling and giggling with a smile on her young face. The two men ran into the kitchen, and instantly returned, but clad in what appeared to be makeshift armor. James had put a colander on his head as a helmet and grabbed a trash lid as a shield. Michael was wearing a snorkeling set with oven mittens and a strainer over his face. They backed away as the girl clumsily waddled towards them.

“Why don’t we give her something to play with?” James asked.

“Well, what could you possibly give her to—” Michael’s visible eye widened, “No, no, you are not giving her my ‘Little Mikey’ doll!”

James grabbed a brown stuffed doll with one eye, two horns, and four legs off of a shelf. He made the doll dance for the girl, who was about to grab it before Michael slapped it out of James’ hand.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Michael grew nervous, seeing as the girl was about to cry.

And so, the girl began to cry. Michael rushed to shut the window from having the helicopters discover them as James tried to calm her down. However, the lights started to flicker on and off, until James picked up the doll again. As he was about to hand it back to her, a book fell off the shelf and flung it out of his hand, causing her to cry again.

“What are we going to do now?” Michael was desperate, “This is completely hopeless!”

As he ran to get a disinfectant spray, Michael tripped on his doll, then fell into the trash can. The force of his fall cause the old book shelf to break, and all the books fell into his mouth. To put some icing on the cake, the trash can fell right on top of the disinfectant spray can, and cause it to burst everywhere. James shielded the girl from the spray blast, which left Michael with a burning red eye. Amused by the sight, the child started to laugh. However, as her laughter grew in its intensity, so did the brightness of the lights; not only in their apartment, but also throughout the city.

“What is going on?” James felt a surge of fear as he noticed the lights’ power spiking beyond capacity.

Out in a quiet, recreational area, a young teen couple admired the vista overlooking the city from their car, when a giant, fiery mushroom cloud exploded, engulfing the city. Suddenly, the cloud disappeared, leaving only a plain of darkness.

Yeah…

By the way, if you have no idea what a nigiri is, here’s a picture of it:

[ObsessedWithPixar]

Wow! Great chapter again! I really enjoyed the way you shifted between different characters, particularly with Randall being completely pampered while Michael and James are completely panicking. And of course, all the things I’ve said before about its use of description, humor, unique form, clever writing, and fantasy element. Continually awesome!
And yes, Sulley is so fluffyyyy isn’t he? I remember on a MI featurette Mary Gibbs (the voice of Boo) simply describing him as “big and fluffy”

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

OWP: So glad you continue to enjoy it! The parts with Randall were actually some of my faves to write about, just because I wanted to shed some light on how he probably lives away from Michael and James at this point, and I ended up picturing him as living luxuriously and wealthy.

Anyways, here’s Chapter Six of my tale. This one injects a bit more fantasy elements besides the kaiju prophecy that [spoil]sets up the course of the story[/spoil], and sheds some light on [spoil]the connections and relations between humans and kaiju[/spoil]. Also, there’s some Japanese romaji text, courtesy of Google Translate (grammar may be off, but the idea is there). Hope you enjoy the ride!

Chapter Six: Chains of Fear

A match flickered in James hand as he brought it close to a candle wick, therefore illuminating the darkness of the night. He set it down by the fireplace to light the wood as well. Michael sat at a desk, drawing on endless sheets of paper and crumpling them. The girl sat down on the rug, drawing with crayons and slurping on a swirly lollipop at the same time.

“You know,” began Michael, “I think I’ve got a plan. Why don’t we dig a tunnel using spoons, and then release it into the wild!”

“I really don’t think that’s a wise idea,” James started off.

“Are you mad, Sulley?!!” Michael thought his friend had gone insane, “That thing is a killing machine! Just look at it, wanting to wipe us out!”

The girl continued slurping on her candy as she picked her nose with a crayon.

“Well, she doesn’t seem evil to me,” James continued.

“Like I said,” Michael tried to reason with him, “Spoons.”

“Mike, I think she’s getting tired,” James noted, “Let’s get her to bed already, and we’ll talk about returning her tomorrow.”

“Well, there’s no way she’s sleeping in my room!” Michael grunted.

James laid out a trail of candy pieces, which the small girl picked up and ate on her way to his bedroom. She started to feel drowsy, as indicated by her eyelids lowering and her arms swinging freely, yet slowly.

“Ok, here’s your spot—” James pointed to a pile of old newspapers, but the girl climbed into his bed. She made herself comfortable as she pulled the covers over her small body, at the same time laying a pile of papers she had drawn on by her side.

“I guess you can stay in my bed for the night,” James sighed as he began to walk out the door, until the girl suddenly jolted up and started to cry, but not out of disappointment like before, but out of panic.

“What is it now?” James inquired.

The girl pointed to James’ closet, which was shut closed, but she still pulled the covers over her face, as if she were trying to avoid its sight. She then reached for her crayon drawings, and pulled out one in particular that, although crudely drawn, seemed to depict a lizard-like monster with multiple limbs, bulging eyes, and what looked to be antennae on its head. At the sight, James’ face fell; his eyes fading out in a dark shade, a sweat drop forming beside his right temple, and a red blush of embarrassment spreading across his face.

Randall stretched out his arms, yawning slightly as he walked towards the door of his bedroom. He was now clothed in a set of amethyst-hued silk pajamas with a monogrammed pocket, and purple velvet slippers covered his feet. The light of Lunaris Prime, Matsuri’s moon, illuminated the room through the tall window. He stood before a king-sized bed, which was topped with a thick purple comforter that had gold designer patterning on it, along with his initials thrown in the mix. He pulled the comforter and purple linen sheets slightly as he slipped off his slippers, climbing onto the roomy bed and laying his body down on the purple mattress. He then reached at his night table and picked up a hot water bag, which he tucked under his pajama top as he pulled the covers over his small frame.

“I’ll beat you one day, Sullivan,” Randall murmured as he stretched his arms onto the pillows, drifting off into a deep sleep.

However, Randall did not lay so comfortably in his bed. While he usually slept like a baby, he tossed and turned slightly, as if he was sensing some sort of a disturbance, or if he was having a bad dream. He seemed to be speaking in Japanese, almost as if he were trying to communicate telepathically.

“Mariko wa, watashi wa anata no sonzai o kanchi suru koto ga dekiru. Anata wa koko ni iru?” Randall whispered in his sleep. (His words are translated as “Mariko, I can sense your presence. Are you here?”)

Randall found himself in a vivid dream, floating above the city as the stars twinkled brightly. Glowing chains formed on his hands, illuminating a trail that lead towards a small apartment building in the city; close to the M. Energy Incorporated facilities. He continued to speak, this time, saying, “Anata wa watashi, make pawā kara Mariko no Kaijū no Ichi o sukuu no ni yakudachimasu. Anata wa, watashi ga imamade mokugeki shita denryoku no saidai-ryō o seisan suru. Anata wa, watashi ga kanryō shinakereba naranai shigoto no tame ni saitekidesu.”
(Translation: “You will help me save Kaiju City from losing power, Mariko. You produce the highest amount of power I’ve ever witnessed. You are perfect for the job I must complete”.)

“Ah yes,” James sighed, “You’re scared of a monster in your closet. You think he’s probably gonna come out and scare ya’. Well, let me tell you something.”

James walked over to the closet and opened it. The girl shuddered under the sheets, only to peek and see that there was nothing there.

“There’s nothing!” James smiled, standing inside the small space. “See, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. There is no monster in your closet. Well, there’s me, but, I’m not gonna scare you. Trust me.”

The girl still whimpered. James sat down and decided to watch over her until she fell asleep; the ‘Little Mikey’ doll in her embrace. The hairy man then stood up, turning off the lights. He also took the pile of crayon drawings with him as he closed the door.

“So, how’s she doing?” Michael asked.

“She’s sleeping, and she’s fine right now,” James started off, “but… I think were in a lot more trouble than I’ve thought.”

“What could be worse that her presence here in Kaiju City?” Michael inquired.

“Well, it took me a while to get her to sleep,” James began, “She was afraid a monster was going to come through her closet.”

“Oh, no big deal,” Michael answered, “Don’t tell me she’s scared of you.”

“Not even the slightest,” James was beginning to grow worried, “And that’s the problem; she’s not assigned to me. That’s why she doesn’t fear me.”

“Oh really?” Michael grew curious, “Who is she assigned to, then?”

“Let’s see if this toddler-aged interpretation tells you anything,” James pulled out the crude drawing of the reptilian creature, scribbled with purple crayons.

Once again, Michael’s face faded out in a dark shade, with sweat drops forming on both sides of his head this time, and his complexion turned completely red. He fainted on the carpet; his visible eye becoming pure white and a ghostly white bubble floating out of his mouth.

“That’s some pretty hot water we’ve gotten ourselves into,” Michael mumbled in shock.

“I know,” James grunted, almost anxiously as he folded his arms, “Boiling.”

As Michael stood up, he heard a whimpering noise coming from James’ bedroom. They opened the door slightly, and realized that she was probably having a bad dream. James sighed, and simply said, “I can’t do anything about it.”

“Why?” asked Michael.

“Her chains of fear that bond her to her kaiju are active, and are unusually strong now, since she is in our world,” James explained, “We, not even her kaiju, can sever her bond of fear; she must do so herself when her time comes. Until then, it is that link that secures her as a viable power source.”

Michael and James closed the door again. The girl still tossed in the bed, and eventually saw herself appear in a vivid dream, also floating in the sky, glowing in a bright pink light, and glowing chains illuminating from her tiny hands. She met with a glowing purple serpentine figure, which floated above her, whispering, “Mariko, Mariko wa, watashi wa anata no kyōfu o kanjiru koto ga dekiru,” and hissing in her ear as it coiled around her fragile body. The two were chained, a bond of terror linking them. (Translation of Japanese: “Mariko, Mariko, I can sense your fear.”)

James lay down on the couch, pulling a blanket over his large build as Michael wandered off to his room. The man sighed, looking at the pile of drawings again; the one of the lizard monster distracting him the most.

James P. Sullivan was not this girl’s monster. Randall Boggs was.

The morning rays of Solis IX, Matsuri’s sun, shone through the window of the living room, opening the sapphire eyes of James, who was ready to roll out of his couch and land on the carpeted floor; a sight that is truly unsettling, nonetheless. Those same morning beams were shining through the window of the Boggs bedroom, illuminating a highly disheveled and tousled Randall, whose hands rested above his head as he opened his polished jade eyes while he let the golden warmth of the sun awaken his cold-blooded body. The camera, however, pans slowly as if filming a glorious sunrise panorama, all in all creating a much more picturesque image of waking up in the morning. He sat up with a bleary smile on his face, stepped into his slippers, and trudged across the lilac carpeted floor. Back at the Wazowski/Sullivan residence, James stood up after falling on the floor, only to smell the delicious aroma of eggs and bacon coming from the kitchen. He looked up and saw Michael in his bathrobe standing near the stove. He then walked over to his own bedroom, only to see that the little girl was still asleep. As the sunlight shone down on her, she opened her beautiful brown eyes, only to see the polka-dot haired man standing above her, saying, “Good Morning”.

James, Michael, and the girl sat down to a meal of pancakes, bacon, and eggs. The three remained silent, until Michael decided to speak.

“So, we need to get that girl back into the factory without anyone noticing,” began Michael, “Technically, she can pass of as a kaiju like us, but we need to make her look like one in our human mode, so to speak.”

“You’re right Mike,” James agreed, “Maybe, we can put a wig on her, because our hair is not the same as Earth human hair. We also need to make her a costume that does not look like Earth pajamas like these.”

“Great idea,” Michael started off, “But how do you think we’re gonna get the materials necessary to pull this off?!”

“I have a dreadlock wig,” began James, “And I’ve got sewing patterns for kimonos. I was thinking a yukata would do her well. I would just need to size the pattern to her measurements.”

“Yeah, but where are you going to get the fabric?” asked Michael.

James pointed to a purple chair with a circles pattern. Michael facepalmed, knowing that his buddy was willing to ruin a perfectly good chair for the purpose of disguising the human girl.

May not be posting for a while or so, but hope this story has thus been entertaining so far.

[ObsessedWithPixar]

Another great chapter! I’m very impressed with your use of Japanese even if it was just Google Translate, and the use of fantasy elements are really cool in this chapter, especially the “chains of fear” thing. Keep up the awesome work!

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

OWP: As always, glad you liked it. Basically, the whole concept of the “chains of fear”, is that Boo’s and Randall’s souls are bound together, but only she can break the link once she overcomes her fear of monsters; something that James and Michael cannot help her with, unfortunately.

And thus, Chapter Seven has arrived!!!

WARNING!

[spoiler]This chapter contains a scene of graphic, disturbing violence involving Fungus being nearly drowned. If you are afraid of this, you can skip the description when you reach it. It’s not too bad (I think), but it’s enough to make you feel sorry for him. Other than that, this chapter is still just as enjoyable.

In fact, this chapter is nothing compare to what’s going to happen to some other important characters in future chapters. [/spoiler]

Now that I got that out of the way, here’s the feature presentation:

Chapter Seven: …Or So Help Me!

“I can’t believe were taking that thing to work with us! And in disguise! I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if the authorities find out! We’d probably be thrown in jail, or worse, banished! Like Loch Ness, Sasquatch, Chupacabra, the Yeti, Dracula, Slender Man!”

Michael was clothed in a green t-shirt bearing a single large green eye and a smile, which he bought at the Disney Store, along with some green jeans and high tops as he walked with James, who was wearing a spotted hoodie, jeans, and a t-shirt that read “FREE HUGS extra fluffiness guaranteed” instead of his usual work clothing as well. And in his arms he carried the little girl, who was wearing a purple kimono with a lavender obi, and a wig of faded lilac dreadlocks sat on her head, crowned with a headband that had two bobbing monster eyes on it. The two walked through the factory doors, only to discover that numerous CDA agents were scouting out the lobby itself.

“This is going to be harder than I thought,” James muttered.

As the agents moved about, scanning every nook and with their high-tech detection equipment, Mr. Waternoose appeared, also nervous about what was going on.

“James! Michael!” Mr. Waternoose exclaimed, “Thank goodness you’re here. The CDA has been inspecting this place since before sunrise. I’m pretty sure you heard the news last night; the panic has caused most of everyone to stay home! You, Michael, must have been traumatized, having been there at the restaurant and immediately rushed out.”

Michael and James froze as their eyes turned into white circles with dark outlines, and sweat drops appeared near their heads.

“Yeah,” Michael grew nervous, “Pretty unexpected.”

“Shocking indeed,” James followed up.

“The important thing is that you’re all right,” Mr. Waternoose sighed, "We will continue working today, despite the authorities inspecting the place. Officially, we are on lockdown, but other than that, everything will proceed as normal.

James sighed, “Well, you see, I think I’ve got something to tell you, and—oh no!”

“What is it?” Mr. Waternoose asked, only for him to turn around and notice a yukata-clad child with dreadlock hair and a headband with googly monster eyes bobbing up and down.

“Aww!” Mr. Waternoose’s heart melted upon seeing the sight, “Who’s this little monster?”

“Uh, that’s my niece!” James blurted out anxiously, “I was just, uh, bringing her to daycare!”

Mr. Waternoose picked up the girl and handed her to James, “Very well, then.”

As the CEO walked away, Michael and James started running toward the hallway where the opening read “To Energy Floors: D E F”.

The two men arrived at the locker room, with James setting the girl down on the bench. Michael paced the floor, trying to whisper as best as he could.

“You know what, I’ve got a plan,” began Michael, “You stay here with the girl, and I’ll see if I could get the door card from Roz.”

“Good idea,” James whispered back, “I’ll be here, you can trust me.”

As Michael sprinted out of the locker room, James stayed watching the girl as she waddled on the bench, when she abruptly started to dance in a peculiar manner, panting at the same time. She looked up at James, hoping he would notice her.

“Hey, that’s a cute little dance you’ve got there,” James started, “It looks almost as if you need to go to the—oh.”

A dark shade fell over James’ eyes as they disappeared again. The girl was not dancing; she needed to use the bathroom.

James stood outside a stall in the bathroom as he listened to nothing but the soft babble-singing of the girl. He looked at the floor, until he heard the toilet flush. James then opened the stall, only to see that the girl had disappeared. Desperate, he whipped around, and found the girl standing outside the stall. As she ran around the bathroom, he decided that he would play with her a little.

“You sure are a fast one,” James told the girl, “Ok, now where could she be?”

The girl popped up again, this time in another stall. James followed her around by the sound of her giggles. He was actually starting to enjoy playing with this child. Meanwhile, Michael was outside in the hallway, taking a deep breath as he walked up to the administrative clerical office.

“Roz, my tender oozing blossom,” Michael started off.

As if she heard this one already, Roz only stared as Michael continued trying to flatter her, until he abruptly changed the subject.

“I need a door card,” explained Michael, “I heard Randall was working late last night, and I really need the key to the door he was using. Please?”

“You didn’t turn in your paperwork again,” Roz grunted.

“I know,” Michael was beginning to grow nervous, “But please, I need the door card.”

“The office is closed,” Roz answered, shutting the door on Michael’s hand.

The ensuing scream was so loud, birds were flying over the factory as mounds of white droppings fell, dogs ran loose through the streets, glass bottles at supermarkets shattered and flooded the aisles, bison stampeded through the fields, Alderaan exploded, and as Randall was finishing up in the locker room shower, smiling at himself in a mirror as he flipped his cowlicks, the mirror cracked, not to mention the plumbing bursting; the flood of water sweeping away his purple changing bags into the hallway.

Back in the men’s bathroom, James continued playing around with the girl, even though she seemed to have disappeared and found a good hiding place. He crawled on the floor, calling out with a booming giant voice, when Michael showed up; his hands in wrapped bandages, but also staring at his friend in disbelief.

“Uh, Sulley?” Michael asked, his mouth gaping wide open.

“I was just looking for the girl,” James tried to explain himself, “And now, I think I kinda lost her again. She’s really good at hiding.”

“Listen Sulley, we need to keep our eyes on that thing at all times,” Michael began.

As they continued talking, the girl waddled back towards James, giggling happily.

“There you are!” James lifted the girl in his arms, “Don’t wander too far, or else strangers could come and take you away.”

All of a sudden, the two men could hear a familiar voice echoing through the locker room halls, hollering, “I can’t believe it! I mean, what are the odds?! Of all the billions of children from that pathetic planet, and it just had to be Tachibana! MY PRECIOUS LITTLE SWEETIE HAS THE WHOLE CITY HOSTAGE IN A PLAGUE PANIC!!!”

“Come with me NOW!” James scooped up the girl in his arms, and hid with Michael in one of the stalls. The three heard footsteps growing louder in their intensity as they approached the bathroom.

“Now let’s see here,” said the voice, “Time to dry up.”

Randall had entered the bathroom, clothed with only two garments—a pair of gray socks, and a lightweight white dress shirt which was just long enough to retain his modesty. Water dripped continuously from his clinging hair, drenching the back of his shirt. He wrung out the excess liquid from his hair, and then plugged in a hairdryer; the blast of heat caressing his elegant amethyst tresses, making them glimmer and gleam as they flowed, and his cowlicks waved like satin ribbons. The background then started to turn a soft and silky lilac with sparkles and twinkles floating around, until Jeffrey stammered in, and the background disappeared.

“Randall! Found you, I have!” Jeffrey exclaimed nervously, “Your changing bags, I have recovered.”

“You startled me!” Randall exclaimed again. This time, he grabbed Jeffrey by the lapel of his red jumpsuit, tore it open, and reached for a chain hanging from his shock collar, pulling it tightly while forcing another hand onto the Portal Summoner’s chest, pushing him against the counter and his head landing in the sink. He then reached for the hot water faucet and switched it on, letting it run and its temperature increasing with each second. Randall then took the plug of his hair dryer, slowly lowering it towards the water.

“I’m searching the factory too!” Jeffrey cried out, the scalding water halfway towards his face.

“Wait! Shh-shh-shh,” Randall whispered to Jeffrey, whose head was submerged in the sink, save for his nose. He set aside the hair dryer and then disappeared, leaving Jeffrey to jolt his head out of the sink and fall on the floor, coughing up some water.

He’s gone! Jeffrey rejoiced in his mind, until he heard a loud kick on one of the bathroom stall doors. Randall had re-appeared from his camouflage mode, and continued to swing his feet and fists at every stall with the crushing force of a python. Jeffrey tried to stand on his knees and trudge over to his master.

“I promise you, Randall-sama!” Jeffrey cried desperately, “Gone from the factory, I was! Driving you home, is what I did.”

“Are you crazy, Fungus?” Randall glared at him, holding a newspaper in his hand “Of course you have nothing to do with this! Besides, as you said, you drove me home and made me dinner and my bath, so you have nothing to do with the child escaping. Unfortunately, of all the children that could have set foot in Kaiju City, it just had to be Little Sweetie.”

“Traced back to this factory, the child may be! And that’s the worst part!” Jeffrey panicked again.

“No need to worry,” Randall patted Jeffrey on the shoulder.

“Oh thank goodness!” Jeffrey sighed.

“But,” Randall pulled back, “When I find out whoever released Mariko Tachibana on kaiju soil, they will be DEAD!!!”

In his burst of rage, Randall high-kicked the stall door where James, Michael, and the girl were hiding. Surprisingly, he took not even the slightest notice of them. However, within the stall, the girl gasped at the sound of the name he just mentioned. James put a finger to the girl’s lips, and she remained silent.

“By the way, thanks for finding my changing bags,” Randall thanked Jeffrey, “Besides, there’s no one else here. Well, better get to business. Also, we’ve got to see if our machine is working properly. While you go check the machine, I’ll be on the hunt for Tachibana myself.”

Randall opened the largest of the gold-patterned purple bags and pulled out a belt, pair of slacks, dress shirt, suit jacket, tie, socks, underwear, and loafers. He slipped off the worn socks he was wearing, and it was not long before his temporary cover-up shirt ended up thrown on Jeffrey’s face, which had turned a traumatized blue.

After gathering his hair in a ponytail, Randall took his bags and left the room. However, Jeffrey was left laying on the floor. James opened the stall as Michael accidentally flushed himself down the toilet. Ignoring the scream emanating from the latrine, the girl waddled over to the fallen Portal Summoner, making sure to keep her dreadlock wig on tightly.

“Hey there little girl,” Jeffrey started off weakly, “Remind me of Mariko, one of Mr. Boggs’ assigned Earth children, you do. Except a kaiju, you are.”

Smiling at the sound of the name, the girl reached out a hand to pat Jeffrey’s hair. He had no idea that it really was the girl from Earth, so he did not mind her caring for him; he believed she was just an ordinary kaiju child, probably on her way to daycare. The girl tried to pick him up, but it was no use. She embraced Jeffrey’s head and kissed his cheek, giving off a light giggle.

“You’re so kind,” Jeffrey sighed, trying to smile.

The girl stayed comforting Jeffrey, not even giving a second glance to James, who was busy forcing a Titanium Suction Master 5000 plunger to unclog the toilet and free Michael.

“This is bad, this is bad, this is really, really bad!!”

A wet Michael covered in toilet paper stormed through the halls of the power plant; toilet paper stuck to his feet. Beside him was James, who was carrying the girl in his arms as they made their way to Energy Floor F.

“Did you get the portal card?” James asked.

The whole background turned black, and Michael turned a phantom white as red spirals spun atop his head.

“Uh, um, yes I did!” Michael exclaimed, returning the background and himself to normal.

The two found their way to their Energy Floor. Michael knew he had just lied, and to cover it up further, he took a portal card from someone else’s folder, swiped it in a keypad, and a door came riding on the zipline. However, the door was made of maple wood, and had old style hinges.

“See, here’s the door,” Michael announced, “Now we can send her home, and this mess is over!”

“Uh, Mike,” James started off, “That’s not her door.”

“What do you mean?” Michael was starting to grow anxious, “This is her door!”

Michael opened the door, and the sound of festive yodeling could be heard, “Seriously, we can just drop her off anywhere in the world, and nobody will know!”

“Still, that’s not her door,” James continued, “Her door is white, and it has pink and lilac flowers on it.”

“Who cares?!” Michael remarked, then turned to the door, “Have a safe trip home! Remember to write to your pal Mike Wazowski, any time!”

“Mai-wa-za-ki? Ra-zo-ra-su-ki?” the girl was trying to repeat the name, but with little success. She then started to waddle around again.

“Listen, I would have been happier if you just told me that you could not get the portal card from Roz,” James began, “We just need to find another way to return Boo-chan.”

“Excuse me, but what is ‘Boo-chan’?” Michael asked.

“You see, I did some research last night,” James explained, “She kept calling me ‘Neko-chan’, which I found out is Japanese, literally meaning ‘cat-friend’, so it’s like she’s calling me ‘Kitty’. So I decided to nickname her ‘Boo-chan’ (ブー ・ちゃん), because she keeps on babbling ‘Boo! Boo!’ all the time.”

“Sulley, you don’t name it,” Michael reprimanded, “You name it, you get attached to it. And if there’s only one thing I have on my mind right now, is to put that thing back where it came from, or SO HELP ME!!!”

After Michael had finished ranting, he noticed that all the other Portal Summoners were staring at him and James. Some CDA agents were even looking as well.

“Uh, um, we were rehearsing for um, a COMPANY PLAY!” Michael exclaimed as his visible eye disappeared in a dark shade and a sweat drop formed beside his right temple, “And it’s called Put That Thing Back Where It Came From, Or So Help Me!”

Michael started to dance and sing the words he just spoke, with James humming a beat. Everyone looked at them confused.

“Yeah, it’s a work in progress,” Michael continued.

“Um, Mike,” James interrupted, “I think she disappeared again.”

“What? NO!” Michael and James turned their attention, and saw that the girl had disappeared once again. They ran outside into the hallway, and everyone just returned to their normal business on the Energy Floor.

Hopefully I conjured up enough sympathy for Fungus. In the next chapter, there’s going to be several unexpected surprises you would have never seen coming.

[ObsessedWithPixar]

Another great chapter! The bit with Fungus and Boo was so sweet… :3 And I don’t know how you did it, but you made Mike getting his fingers crushed extra funny Keep it up, JSwC!

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

OWP: Thank you! I thought that Boo comforting Fungus would make a great addition to the story, especially after the way Randall tortured him this time.

And yes, Mike’s scream caused quite a uproar. I was kinda thinking about a moment from The Amanda Show, in which an audience member asked Amanda to shatter a glass of water with her voice, and she managed to shatter glass remotely from outside the studio (including a mirror Drake Bell looked into an smiled at), except the glass of water itself! That, and some episodes of Dexter’s Laboratory (refer to the episodes Dexter’s Rival and Dee Dee’s Rival when the antagonists introduces themselves to see where I’m coming from).

Wow. I can’t believe I made it this far! Chapter Eight has arrived, and it’s got some more Pixar cameos (some are very subtle, and I might need to point them out in the end, but spoiler tagged), and a surprise twist you NEVER SAW COMING!!!

Okay, I’ll quit rambling now… Roll Film!

Chapter Eight: The Whistle Blows in 5 Minutes!

“You know you got us into this mess Sulley! We will fix this mess, and we won’t stop 'til she’s out of our hair!”

At that very moment as the pair were running, Randall came running towards the Energy Floor. He was now clothed in a dotted suit jacket, zebra slacks, checkered dress shirt, geometric tie and socks, and his signature snakeskin loafers. The camera then slows down as the purple-haired man slipped on the clean tiled floor, thrusting him forward towards James, getting faceplanted on the larger man’s chest fur. The accident caused Randall to turn blue with purple polka dots; however, the camera returned to its default speed.

“What are you two doing?!!” Randall shouted, reverting back to his normal color scheme and thinking, Eww! Will someone get this big, walking carpet outta my way?!?!!

“Um, we were just rehearsing for a musical!” James answered, “It was Mike’s idea.”

“♫She’s out of out haaaaaaaair♫!!!” Michael sung, sounding off-key.

“Can it, Wazowski!” Randall growled, “This may or may not involve you.”

“What is it now, Randall?” James asked.

“Word on the street is that there’s a child on the loose, and that she’s been traced back to the factory,” Randall began, his newspaper tucked under his left arm as he took a bite out of a gourmet candy bar, “Would you happen to know about this at all?”

James spotted the girl running in the distance. “Nope, not at all,” he answered, “If you’ll excuse me—”

“Why in such a hurry, Sullivan?” Randall purred, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“My niece!” James blurted out, “I have to take her to daycare.”

“Very smooth, Sullivan,” Randall chuckled sarcastically, “Very smooth.”

“You know,” began Michael, “I don’t know who has the child, but if I were you, I’d put all my money on Waxford.”

A Portal Summoner with a light green jumpsuit was leaving a folder at the dispatch office, but turned his attention when he heard his name called out.

“Hey, Waxford!” Randall’s green eyes glowed creepily as he charged towards Waxford with a whip and chains. Meanwhile, James and Michael had decided to split up; James went straight down the east hall, while Michael headed for the north hall. As he ran, a cyclopic squid woman with Gorgon hair and cones of shame came speeding down the hall.

“Michael!” the monstrous woman yelled, who then morphed into Celia, “Michael Wazowski, last night was the worst birthday of all the birthdays in the history of like, ever!!!”

“Celia, I’m so sorry,” Michael was shaken, “You see, Sulley and I are in a bit of a situation—”

“Tell me what’s going on!!!” Celia demanded, her hair morphing back into hissing snakes.

“Is this about the sushi?” Michael asked, feeling somewhat stupid.

“SUSHI?!! You think this is about SUSHI?!?!!” Celia’s anger kindled even more, until Michael swooped her down for a passionate kiss. Unfortunately, she resisted and punched him to the floor.

“No, no! I don’t want any of that!” Celia cried, still angered, “From this day forth, we are through, Michael!!!”

Celia turned back as Michael ran away, trying to hold back his tears. However, Randall had witnessed the whole scene. Casually, he slinked up towards the woman; her face burning in a mix of rage, sorrow, and confusion.

“So sorry that Wazowski messed up your birthday,” Randall’s honeyed words seem to distract Celia from her fury, “Maybe he’s just not the one for you, sweetie.”

“I never wanna see that one-eyed cretin again,” Celia sobbed.

“Don’t cry, you’re such a sweet girl, you know that,” Randall reached for an abstract-print purple silk handkerchief folded in his jacket pocket, and took it out to clean Celia’s tears.

“For someone who’s very mysterious and slithery, you seem quite caring,” Celia started to calm down, “And you know what? I like mysterious.”

Randall grinned. As her heard Celia giggle softly, he started to picture her with her silky purple hair gathered into a pair of bouncy pigtails with flower barrettes, and the background in his vision was pink/peach silk with roses and sparkles.

“Celia,” Randall started off, “Do you like to style your hair?”

“Sure,” Celia answered, “Is there a style in particular that you think may look good on me?”

“Pigtails,” Randall responded, blushing, “I’ve always liked them. And they go perfect with such a sweet and playful character as yours. Also, can you defend yourself with a baseball bat?”

“Um,” Celia was puzzled for a moment, “I’m not sure, but I can learn if you want me to.”

“I’m sorry, I just needed a random question to further break the ice,” Randall blurted, his face and hair reddening.

“It’s okay,” Celia reassured him, stroking his cowlicks, “It was really nice sharing this time with you, Cutie.”

Celia gave Randall a kiss on his cheek, which made hearts appear on his face, his cowlicks stand up straight, and his ponytail wave by itself. She then walked away through the south hall. Meanwhile, Randall examined the newspaper again, specifically on the front page where a giant headline read “KID SIGHTING AT SUSHI BAR”, with the image of the toddler girl at the foreground of the picture. However, as he scanned the image, he caught sight of a familiar green-haired figure running in the background. He recognized it instantly, and the background became engulfed in burning flames and his eyes glowed white. The camera then focuses in letterbox-style only on his eyes, which have returned to their glistening emerald glory; the name “Wazowski!” appears in brush stroke lettering as he utters it in rage.

Michael was running, running through the innermost halls of the plant, where all the offices were located. He would not stop for anything. As he ran, he could only cry; cry his heart out since Cecelia Mae Stone, the woman who caught his eye from the very day she started working as a receptionist, the woman who meant the world to him, had just broken up with him. 

And of all things, over the fact that he could not rescue her from the panic last night at the restaurant. Unfortunately, Michael could not ever speak a word to her of what was really going on, and how he was involved in the scandal. As hard as he tried to forget the whole thing, he could not help but still picture Celia’s face when she smiled, clothed in a hat and spring dress as she opens a picnic basket; the sky blue, the grass green, and a gentle breeze of blossoms surrounding her.

Nonetheless, Michael burst through several doors in the halls, almost out of breath, but that did not stop him. That is, until he turned another corner, where he finally decided to take a break. He stopped, resting a hand on the wall where a gold-framed portrait of Mr. Waternoose hung.

I’m all alone now, Michael thought to himself, No one can see my sadness, and—

The eyes of the portrait blinked, turning a gleaming green. A familiar shape appeared, and its colors changed from that of the background to purples and skin tones. Randall had managed to catch up with Michael!

Randall charged at Michael, pinning him to the wall with his body; the purple one’s hands clenching the green one’s shoulders, and one knee on his right thigh.

“Where is she?!” Randall shouted, breathing down Michael’s face.

“What are you talking about?” Michael asked, terrified and choking under the hot and humid breath.

“Where is Mariko Tachibana!!!” Randall growled, slapping Michael on the face.

Randall keeps repeating that name, Michael pondered to himself under the crushing pressure discomfort, and bleeding nose, That must be the name of the girl!

“She’s here on the premises, isn’t she?!” Randall dropped Michael, letting him slump to the floor.

“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about,” Michael finally answered, pretending he did not know anything about the situation.

“I think I know how I can make this all go away,” Randall started off, this time more slightly soft-spoken and pointing to a clock, “What happens when the whistle blows in five minutes?”

“Um, I get a time out?” Michael asked, nervously.

“WRONG!” Randall shouted, then calmed himself down, “Everyone goes to lunch. And when that happens, the Energy Floor will be…”

“Painted?” Michael interrupted.

“EMPTY!” Randall grew furious at Michael’s “dumb” act, “The floor will be empty.”

Randall clenched his hands tightly around Michael’s forearms; his nails almost digging into his skin.

“That means that when the little hand is up, and the big hand is down, the portal will be in my station,” Randall explained, forcibly rotating Michael’s arms as if they were clock hands, “But when the little hand is pointing down, the portal will be gone. You have until then to return my little sweetie back home to her flowery boudoir in Osaka. Got it, Wazowski?!?”

Michael only nodded his head in agreement to Randall’s deal, at the same time thinking, Randall sure is strong and forceful, and…Sweetie? Really? At least “Boo-chan” is more unique.

Randall threw Michael to the floor. “You better have Tachibana with you on the Energy Floor!” he shouted as he walked away. Michael stood up, and also went on his way, wondering if James had found the girl.

James wandered through the halls, when he found the girl tagging along with a group of toddlers and a daycare teacher. However, after a few seconds, she wandered off, climbing into a trash can, which was taken away by the Energy Floor F janitors.

“My mom said the comic collecting is unhealthy,” began the chubby green-suited janitor, “But I need my hands on that super rare collector’s edition of Vampire Man #13.”

“That reminds me!” the clown-nosed janitor in the yellow suit interrupted, “I’ve got an action figure collection I’m working on.”

The girl quickly climbed out of the trash can as the janitors dumped the load into a small chute. However, one of the bobbing eyes of her headband became detached and lost in the garbage.

James came running down the hall when he saw the fake eyeball in the garbage pile, which was loaded onto a conveyor belt that he could only see through a window.

“NO!” James cried out as he watched the garbage load travel through the machine, pressed by a steam roller, shot by flamethrowers and rapid-fire lasers and bullets, missiles being launched at it, and finally cut by a slicing machine. The whole time, James was in shock, trying not to look but staring anyway as he pressed his big, strong palms to his face.

“And it’s 100% machine washable, Darling,” a short and stout, black-haired woman standing next to James remarked.

James burst into tears, running to the other end of the machine where all the garbage cubes were being deposited. Background music played in the room, the lyrics sounding something along the lines of “♫ Dressed like a dream your spirit seems to turn about! ♫ That Sunday shine is a certain sign, that you feel as fine as you look! ♫” However, the happy song could not even cheer up the polka-dot haired man as he carried a garbage cube with a bobbing eyeball sticking out of it, tears streaming down his face.

Michael was whistling as he walked down the halls where the daycare teacher was lecturing the children on the importance of energy harvesting, when James arrived, still sobbing over the garbage cube.

“Sulley!” exclaimed Michael, “Where’s the girl?”

James could not speak, still traumatized as he held up the cube towards Michael.

“What are you saying?” Michael was trying to make sense of this, until he heard a voice babbling, “Nyan, nyan! Neko-chan desu-nya!”

“I can still hear her calling for me,” James whimpered.

“Sulley, look behind you,” Michael pointed, to which James turned around and caught sight of the little girl, who was waddling happily towards the pair. James was overjoyed at seeing that the girl was safe and sound. He grabbed some glue and re-attached the bobbing eyeball to her headband. The girl then wandered towards the group of little children, listening to the teacher.

“Oh, there you are!” the teacher exhaled a sigh of relief, “I was beginning to wonder where you went, since I was just about to tell a joke.”

The girl did not understand much of what the teacher was saying, so she just clapped and smiled.

“Ok then,” began the teacher, “What did the brainy fish say to the cool fish? ‘Sorry, can’t hang out today; I’m in school!’.”

The little kids chuckled, but the girl started to laugh loud and hard, rolling all over the carpeted floor. The ceiling lights started to brighten and glow intensely, and the power surge could also be heard audibly. The energy being supplied to the lights continued to grow, until they eventually exploded with the force of an electromagnet shot down by a futuristic plasma cannon and sent crashing down on an abandoned fleet of import/export freight ships toppling like dominoes and bursting in flames. The little children started crying out of fear, but the teacher gave them a group hug, trying to comfort them in the wake of the fuse blow.

“Come here, Boo-chan!” James called out. The girl toddled her way towards him, and he scooped her up in his big, strong arms.

“Good news!” Michael exclaimed as they ran down the main hall, “I was able to get Mariko’s portal.”

James’ face lit up. “How, and—wait, her name really is Mariko? How do you know this?” he was astonished.

“Made a deal with Randall,” Michael explained, “He indeed is her Energy Harvester. He told me he would have the portal at lunch, so we have to get her there ASAP! I can’t believe it! All our problems have been solved!”

“That’s great—” James was relieved, until something Michael said made a dark shade come upon his eyes, a halo of sweat drops float around his head, and the background turned a black/crimson gradient.

“What is it, Sulley?” Michael asked, worried.

“Did you just say that you made a deal with Randall to get her portal?” James grew anxious, and his stomach turned.

“Of course,” Michael answered, just as they reached Energy Floor F, “And look! There it is!”

The Energy Floor was empty, save for the single white door with pink and lavender flowers painted on it. Michael cartwheeled and jumped for joy, even playing an “air guitar” on top of his desk.

“Mike, I don’t think we can trust him,” James started, “I heard him talking about a machine, and it got me a little worried.”

“Machine? Who cares?” Michael answered, “He said nothing about a machine to me. He just wanted to help me send Mariko back to Earth. Isn’t that great?”

“I don’t buy it at all.” James retorted, holding Mariko close.

Michael opened the door in frustration, smiled, and went inside.

“See, Mariko,” began Michael, “It’s your room! Ah, home sweet home for you. Just come with me, and everything will be swell! And look, there’s a pile of candy sitting right on your bed! Consider it a welcome home gift from Mr. Boggs!”

Michael started dancing on the pink bed inside the room, singing “Hello, my baby, Hello, my darling!”, completely unaware of the long shepherd’s crook about to yank him off the bed in a comedic fashion. The door slammed shut. James hid under the desk, still holding Mariko close to his body as the door flung open again, and out emerged Randall, with a large cart of yellow canisters. He wandered off with the cart, until he heard a noise that startled him. Instinctively, Randall camouflaged himself, but then slightly re-appeared under the desk James was hiding beneath as well. He smelled the area around, his emerald eyes gleaming under the low light. He then unblended fully, and continued rolling the cart down the hallway. James took Mariko in his arms, and quietly followed after Randall.

What. Just. HAPPENED TO MICHAEL?!!?!!

Pixar Cameos:

[spoil]- Edna Mode is the woman commenting on the garbage machine.[/spoil]

[spoil]- The fact that “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” is being played is because the garbage cubes resemble those in WALL-E.[/spoil]

[spoil]- When Boo’s laughter blows another fuse, the description of it is alluding to EVE blowing up those BnL shipping freighters with an electromagnet.[/spoil]

And if you thought this installment was something, wait until the next chapter, in which you may fall out of your seat and roll on the floor with uncontrollable laughter enough to blow up Monstropolis.

[ObsessedWithPixar]

Another great chapter, JSWeC! Some very fun stuff here, loved the Pixar cameos, and I found the whole thing with Randall and Celia to work really well in adding to the tension. Can’t wait to see what happens next!

[JustSoWall-eCrazy]

OWP: Glad you enjoyed it. I’ve heard of Celia/Randall shipping, and I just thought of giving a little shout-out to the concept.

Anyways, after a long time, it has arrived… Chapter Nine!

And here’s you guide to in-jokes, including:

• Star Wars references

• MU flashback

• A Disney movie that:

[spoiler]1. Was released in the same year as Monsters, Inc.

2. Also stars Sulley’s voice actor, John Goodman

3. The antagonist in this film just happens to have purple as a theme color[/spoiler]

There’s other stuff too, but I won’t explain it now (especially if you haven’t seen Avatar: The Last Airbender). Other than that, here’s the chapter.

Chapter Nine: Vocal Extract-O-Matic 2001

A lime-green haired Portal Summoner named Frank wandered into the men’s locker room. He opened what appeared to be his locker, when a wet mass of toddler toys and a mobile burst towards his face. He started screaming for help, and it was not long before the hazmat suited figures rushed to the scene with their toy detectors, shouting out into their walkie-talkies, “2319! 2319!”. One agent even had a miniature force field on hand to activate for the cleansing process.

Meanwhile, in the hallway, James still carried Mariko, following the sound of Randall’s muttering. He eventually found a hallway with an unusual relief carving on it, on which Randall pulled a lever, and it admitted him in. Once James was able to catch up, he could not tell which lever Randall had activated. Mariko got off his arm, and pulled the left lever. However, that one was labeled “Sarlacc Pit”, and it dropped James through a secret trap-door.

“Try the other one!” James called out.

The little girl struggled to swing toward the right lever. James returned just in time to help her as he shook off a Sarlacc tooth caught in his jeans. After sending his lightsaber back to his locker via telekinesis, James helped Mariko pull down the right lever, which flung them in forcefully into what turned out to be a roller coaster with an Incan Empire theme. James managed to properly seat the girl in the car as he lowered the safety bar.

“Please remain seated, and keep your arms, hands, legs, and feet inside the vehicle at all times,” an intercom voice announced.

Before they knew it, the roller coaster had begun with a speeding steep drop, and then progressed at over 120 miles per hour through various twists, turns, and loops, some of which were decorated with Peruvian-style animal face gates; all in a predominantly purple color scheme with some hints of blue and soft magenta. Mariko clapped and chuckled, while James was trying to hold on for dear life due to the high speed of the ride. The attraction then finished with a downward spiraling vortex of snake-like tracks, which sent James and Mariko flying out of the car and towards the floor, now dressed up in lab coats and science goggles.

“Uh,” James was confused.

Mariko nodded her small head in disagreement as well.

The pair shed their lab coats and goggles, and then ran towards a labyrinth of giant pipes that seemed to be the factory’s main heating system. They could overhear voices talking; the echoes reverberating off the metal pipes.

“So, have her, you do?”

“Of course I got her Fungus!”

“Oh, huzzah!!!”

Jeffrey and Randall were having a private conversation which James decided to eavesdrop on. They looked and saw the two opening the canisters and pulling out a giant box.

“Finally, I will earn my honor,” Randall muttered to himself as if he were a prince banished from his own nation, and had just fulfilled an impossible quest to gain his honor back. However, he struggled to carry the box.

“Is it just me, or does this kid weigh like a couch potato passenger from a futuristic cruiseliner or something like that?” Randall inquired as Jeffrey helped him.

As soon as they unloaded the box, however, out tumbled Michael, much to their surprise. He landed perfectly in the seat.

“Wazowski!” Randall was shocked, “Where is it, you little one-eyed creh-tin?!”

“Actually, it’s CREE-tin,” Michael corrected, “And if you’re going to threaten me, you better do it properly.”

Randall folded his arms and grunted. He tapped his foot as Jeffrey was writing down some notes, and re-adjusting some joysticks on a control panel.

“Come on!” Michael started off, “Why don’t we talk about this? We could sit down to some lattes.”

“Like that’s really gonna do anything for me, Wazowski,” Randall scowled.

“Well, if you really think that kidnapping me is gonna help you cheat your way to the top—” Michael blurted out, until Randall cackled at the remark.

“You really think this is about that stupid Energy Harvesting record?” Randall formed his hand into a fist as he spoke, but then released it as he calmed himself down.

“Well, yeah,” began Michael, “until, you know, you, laughed, like that, and, well…”

“Nonsense,” Randall purred in a deceivingly comforting tone as he tapped Michael’s nose playfully. He then strapped the green-haired one’s hands onto the seat, and twirled around, dancing his way up a metal staircase that led to the overhead railing platform overlooking the scene, signaling Jeffrey with a snap of his fingers. Once he had blended into the soft blue light illuminating the space, Jeffrey began to push some buttons on his control panel, and pulled a small lever on the side.

“Um, wha—what’s that noise?” Michael began to panic, “What’s that big thing coming at me?”

A loud, rumbling noise could be heard as a large machine descended down from the ceiling, being lowered by an extendable pole. Red lights flashed on the sides of the strange mechanism, and what sounded like a “sliding down” noise against the support pole could be heard by Michael (even though nothing visible appeared to slide down the device, anyway).

What is that monstrosity? Michael was terrified by the peculiar machine.

The machine was now set in place. A behemoth of metal sat in front of Michael, resembling a giant laser rifle or cannon, with a nozzle about the size of his mouth directly positioned facing his face. Randall reappeared, this time posed on top of the machine, laying down on his stomach, straddling the invention with his knees, and stroking the nozzle as he lifted his head to look at Michael in the eye.

“Wazowski,” Randall began, “Say hello to the Vocal Extract-O-Matic 2001.”

Jeffrey then pulled down a large lever switch on the wall, illuminating a neon sign that read “Vocal Extract-O-Matic 2001!” positioned right over his master.

“Uh, hello,” Michael spoke to the machine.

Randall slithered off the hulking mechanism and slinked his way up to Michael. A grin appeared across his perfect face as he placed a hand on Michael’s green-haired head.

“This invention is designed to collect 15 times more screams that a single Energy Harvester can in one day,” he explained, stroking one of Michael’s horns with his thumb, “With this machine, why do I need to worry about the scare record? I guarantee you, even the great James P. Sullivan will be working for me, and also kissing both my feet and the ground I grace!”

Michael remained speechless as Randall walked over to the machine, and started adjusting some of the knobs and switches. In an instant, the nozzle of the machine started advancing slowly towards Michael’s mouth.

“Um, Randall?” Michael grew nervous, “That thing is coming towards me. Can it please stop coming towards me?!”

Randall only stood there; his hands on his hips as a devious grin crossed his lips. Fungus sat at the control panel, looking on. Behind some pipes, James and Mariko watched the scene unfold; the polka-dotted haired man in particular in surprise and shock.

I have to report this to Mr. Waternoose! James thought to himself, Unfortunately, he’s busy with that city emergency speech right now, and I don’t know what the rest of his schedule for today.

Outside in the main lobby, Mr. Waternoose was being recorded by newscasters as he was giving a speech to the city officials, managers, and some of the workers and other directors at the power plant. One in particular with amphibian features and a strange accent stepped up, and made an announcement after the Vice Chair of M. Energy Incorporated recognized him.

“In response to the direct threat to Kaiju City,” the city representative began, “Mesa propose that the City Council give immediately emergency powers to the CEO.”

Everyone started applauding at the decision, cheering, “Waternoose! Watenoose!”

“It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling,” Mr. Waternoose started off, “I love democracy… I love the Republic. But I am mild by nature, and I do not desire to see the
destruction of democracy. The power you give me I will lay down when this crisis has abated, I promise you. And as my first act with this new authority, I will create a grand army of Kaiju City to counter the threat of the Earth child.”

Everyone applauded again. Mr. Waternoose appeared anxious and distraught, but the ghost of a smile also crossed his face.

“Ok, Boo-chan!” James whispered to Mariko, “Stay put right here. I’m going to go find the connection to the machine so I can unplug it and save Mike.”

Mariko nodded in agreement and sat down. James snuck around the back, looking carefully to see if the machine had a connection, and where exactly was it plugged. He climbed around some pipes, and eventually found the outlet where about ten thick plugs were all jumbled together. Without any hesitation, James reached with his powerful hands, and with all the muscle in his biceps, pulled out all the cords in one attempt.

Just as the nozzle was less than a millimeter from Michael’s face, the machine retracted and stopped altogether.

“Fungus? What just happened?!!” Randall grew angry, tapping his foot as he folded his arms across his chest. James was able to unlock the restraints placed on Michael, and pulled his from the seat. As Randall scampered about, looking to restore the connection, Michael managed to throw Jeffrey into the seat and restrain him there. He then ran towards the control panel and adjusted the settings all to the highest levels. The two then picked up Mariko and ran for the exit that would lead them back into the hallway.

“Fungus!” Randall started off as he strolled down the metal stairs, “I got it up and running again, and— AAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The machine was operating on Jeffrey, who had turned a pale cream color, and his lips were swollen so red to the point that he looked as if he got a lip lift gone wrong. He fell out of the seat and into a small tub of water.

“Fungus!!!” Randall exclaimed, this time scared. He ran over and picked up Jeffrey, who was now once again soaked due to an accidental fall. He had no other choice at this point, but to perform a rigorous session of CPR on his Portal Summoner. His rescue efforts were cut short when a blue hologram of a cloaked figure appeared on a projector.

“How did the machine operate on the child?” the figure inquired in an eerie tone.

“Child unavailable,” answered Randall, “I had accidentally intercepted Wazowski instead, and somehow Fungus got in the way when the device was mysteriously unplugged.”

“Leave the machine alone until you have the child in possession,” the cloaked figure ordered, “And about Fungus, I don’t want this stunted slime in my sight again.”

Jeffrey’s face faded out in shame. Randall replied, “Yes, my Master.”

Outside in the hall, Michael and James were running with the little girl in cargo. They were desperate to bring the news of their grim discovery to light.

“What are we doing now?” Michael asked.

“We’re going to tell Waternoose about this,” James answered, “Of course, after his speech.”

“Good idea!” Michael agreed, “He needs to know, and I’m pretty sure he’ll listen.”

As they sprinted, they passed by Roz, who was seated in her office, re-watching security tapes that seemed to be over 2 ½ years old. She was studying them carefully to see what was going on.

“This is the night that the former dispatch manager vanished,” Roz told herself.

On the video, a white-haired man with a full beard and suit was resting on the desk that Roz now inhabited, when all of a sudden, a knife came flying out of nowhere, but there was something suspicious about its projectile; it didn’t fly randomly, it appeared as an invisible force was controlling it.

“Oh my!” Roz exclaimed, almost jumping out of her seat, “I must find out if there’s any invisible people here.”

“WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!”

Mr. Waternoose was in the training room, scolding Thaddeus Bile for his scaring technique once again.

“Come on,” Thaddeus sighed, “What else can I do?”

“Well, I’m going to be having an expert, actually my Employee of the Month for 11 months in a row, coming in to teach some of the trainees,” Mr. Waternoose answered.

Just as Mr. Waternoose was about to begin lecturing again, Michael and James burst through the double doors, panting breathlessly.

“James!” exclaimed Mr. Waternoose, “You’ve arrived, just in time! I need you to teach these students how to scare properly.”

“Mr. Waternoose, I can’t,” James started off as Mariko wandered onto the bedroom stage, “You see, there’s a bit of a situation going on here that I feel you need to know about—”

“You can tell me later James,” Mr. Waternoose brushed off his concern, “Right now, I need you to roar.”
"
I’m sorry, but," James tried to speak up.

“ROAR, James!” Mr. Waternoose commanded him.

Summoning all his strength, James morphed into his beast form, put up his paws, and with all the power of his vocal chords, released his signature roar; said to be louder than the pride of a hundred lions. The trainees applauded him for his power and effort.

While it impressed Mr. Waternoose and the trainees, however, Mariko had witnessed the scene and heard the frightening sound, that she started to burst into tears. She hid under the bed. James saw this, but when he tried to comfort her, she only shuddered away in disappointment.

“Boo-chan,” James whispered, morphing back into his humanoid form, “I’m not going to hurt you. I was only giving a demonstration to the newcomers at the factory.”

Mariko only continued sobbing. James then took a look at the computer screens showing his terrifying growl, wondering, If she’s not afraid of me, why is she crying now?

At that moment, images flashed into James’ mind. He remembered last night, how Mariko showed him the crude crayon drawing of Randall, a creature without fur but rather scales and a serpentine hissing. That’s when another image came to mind.

James now saw himself in a dim lecture hall; the only light coming from the midday sun through the windows of the domed ceiling. He was wearing a varsity letterman jacket, and he was only eighteen years old, a mere college freshmen, in this vision. A broken yellow energy canister lay on the floor as an elderly woman with deep burgundy hair and a matching suit approached him with the clicking of her high heels. As she was about to pose him a question, he roared and then replied by saying he didn’t need to know anything else but rely on his instinct.

“That ‘stuff’,” began the woman, “would have told you that this particular child is a 2-year old girl with a fear of snakes. A roar would not make her scream, but rather cry, therefore alerting the parents and thus exposing and endangering the kaiju and the Realm of the Moon…”

“Oh, Mr. Boggs! I never knew you were such a gentlemen!”

Celia sat at her receptionist’s desk as she sipped some green tea from a mug that read “Can It, Wazowski!”. Randall stood behind her, gently styling her purple hair into bouncy pigtails. He wove peach and white roses into the barrettes, making sure they stayed in place.

“Celia, dear,” Randall sighed, “You don’t know how relaxing this actually is for me. You know, since I have such a busy schedule.”

At that moment, a jazzy cell-phone ringtone sounded. Randall picked up the phone and answered it, saying, “I’ll be there in a moment.”

“What was it?” Celia asked.

“The boss,” Randall answered, “He needs to see me. I’ll be back soon, Shmoopsie-Poo.”

Randall left the lobby. Celia sighed longingly, but not for Randall. She was now starting to miss Michael and all the good times they had together.

“Uh oh,” For the first time in a long time, James felt real fear. In her crying, Mariko dropped her dreadlock wig, and wobbled her way towards Mr. Waternoose. She held on to his leg, burying her face in the gray fabric of his suit pants, and cleaning out her tears. The CEO picked up the girl, patting her on the back.

“Mr. Waternoose, I really have to tell you this,” James started, shaking, “She wandered in here last night, and I was trying to get her back to her room, but it’s been no use. And that’s not all. I think that she is secretly being used by Randall as a test subject for this weird machine.”

“I saw the machine myself!” Michael interrupted, “And it’s located in this ‘Secret Lab’, and everything; you have to see it!!!”

“James, it is so good of you to report this to me,” Mr. Waternoose seemed to sympathize with them, “You haven’t told anyone about this, have you?”

“Not at all,” James answered.

“Well, then,” Mr. Waternoose pressed a button on a keypad, and a door descended into the station. However, unlike regular doors, this one was made of metal.

“Uh, this isn’t her door,” James told the CEO.

“No, it’s not,” Mr. Waternoose affirmed, “It’s yours.”

At that very moment, Randall appeared, grinning. He opened the door, through which a blast of cold wind came.

“Are these the ‘winds of change’ Randall was talking about?” Michael asked himself, before Randall kicked both of them through the door.

Michael and James fell through a vortex of cold air, blue nebulae, and bright stars. They tried to hold onto each other; arms and legs intertwined, as they screamed for their lives as they fell down, down through the white blizzard, the temperature decreasing with the accelerating speed. The metal door was shut tightly behind them.

There was no way back.

[i]Oh no! Is there any hope for our heroic duo?

BTW, in case you didn’t get it the first time around…[/i]

Peruvian Roller Coaster

[ObsessedWithPixar]

Oh wow! Exciting chapter! The references were really great, especially the Waternoose-Palpatine thing; I wouldn’tve thought of it but it makes a lot of sense! And the MU flashback was really really cool, I also would never have made that connection between the two incidents, but it works really well! Looking forward to the next part for sure!