Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 1

"What do you mean Fungus is taken care of?" the chameleon monster asked in a rather annoyed fashion.

After waking up from his long sleep, Randall checked the clock and realized he slept in too much. He definitely took advantage of all that relaxation in one night. He rushed to the company after that as fast as he could. When he arrived, he met up with Sullivan again, which was then he realized that he was the new CEO of the company. He figured that the fur rug had a better life after he was tossed away, but he never guessed that he would be the big guy. And here he was, wanting to work for him. He then remembered what he said to Wazowski the last time he was here; "Even the great James P. Sullivan is gonna be working for ME." He felt a slight pang of guilt when he approached his new boss just remembering that remark.

But when they were in Sullivan's office, Randall was left aghast when he was told that his partner, Fungus, was on his own; as a Laugher. He did not know how to make children laugh. Unless a child thought his scars were hilarious, he thought he'd be hopeless. But knowing that Sullivan is helping him personally, this is his one chance of getting himself back together. But he would have to make a huge effort to thrive in this new job.

"I'm sorry, Randall. He already has his own assistant." Sullivan said in his gruff but kind voice. "But as of now, you're employed as a Laugher."

"I'm... I'm no entertainer, Sullivan." Randall said in his calmest voice, even though he was irritated beyond belief that he was left alone. "I can't be a Laugher on my own."

"Randall, if you want the job—"

"No, I do want the job," Randall interrupted. "I will try my best; my hardest. But the real problem here is who will be my assistant, then?"

Sullivan sighed then and slipped out a file from his desk drawer. As Randall looked through the file, Sullivan explained that the lizard's new assistant was a young monster named Vanessa "Vanessie" Jazmine Loch. When he read the name, his eyes widened in surprise and was so interested that he ignored everything Sullivan said then.

He remembered hearing that Loch Ness, or "Nessie", was banished many years ago and was never heard from again. He then figured that this "Vanessie" could be her daughter or granddaughter. He couldn't be sure. But learning that a possible spawn of Nessie herself still in Monstropolis confused him so. Had she been abandoned, how could she have thrived all this time; about 20 years, without her mother. His head throbbed and he closed his eyes to ease the throbbing. He was still trying to get used to things around here.

As Sullivan went on, sounding like gibberish echoing quietly on his mind, Randall went through the pages of the file. He saw her photo and personal info. She was light-aqua skinned with black spots on her face. Three on each cheek, he noticed. Her eyes were very dark brown, for he noticed the flash of the photo made a small flicker of chocolate brown on each of her eyes. She had thick eyelashes, a round snout and a shy mouth. What really intrigues him was the color of her short, boyish hair. It was a vibrant red color, which made him curious since he remembered seeing old newspapers of Nessie and she had black hair. He wondered if this Vanessie dyed her hair this way. All in all, from what he saw in this face shot of Vanessie, he admitted that she was pretty.

He looked through her personal info and saw that she was 23 years old. Two years his junior. But even though they were a few years apart, it's obvious he's be the ugliest of the two. He thought how they'd look like working together: the pretty porpoise monster being assistant to a beaten and scarred lizard. How could Sullivan pair them up like this?

"So you're having me work with Vanessie, huh?" Randall interrupted his boss.

"Ah, yes," Sullivan said bluntly. "Why do you ask?"

It was a while that Randall sat silently, his eyes looming over the single picture he held of her, wondering about her and her history. This information was pretty much worthless to know much about this monster. For all he knew, he didn't want to become a burden to her.

"Nothing..."

"Is there something we need to elaborate?"

Randall thought before he said straight out, "Was she left alone? After Nessie was gone?"

"Well—"

He was about to explain until there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Sullivan said.

The door creaked open and Celia Mae's head popped inside. "Hey, Sulley. I got someone here for you. Are you busy to speak with her?" she said as she gave a detesting glare at Randall. Had he been the Randall before, he would flicked a tongue at her and chuckled, but instead, he ignored her and shook his head in an annoyed fashion.

"Oh, let her in." Sullivan said cheerful manner.

When Celia opened the door completely, Randall saw her; now not as an emotionless photo.

Vanessie stood outside the door in a shy pose; one impatient foot behind the other, which he noticed were stained black to the ankle. One arm was raised timidly to behind her flipper-ear to fix her red hair, her forearms also stained black, looking like gloves. Her body, like her face was covered in black spots, and her underbelly was a pale light green color. But he stared at her extremely shy eyes. Immediately then, he could see a sense of fear in them. He figured it was his scar giving the horrible impression. Already, he felt like a burden to her.

"Come in, come in, sweetie." Sullivan said soothingly, stretching an arm to her.

She approached him suddenly, her eyes still lingering over Randall's scar until she fixed her gaze to her boss and shook hands with him.

"Thank you for the job, sir." she said in a balanced and calm voice. "I really needed it."

"Oh, call me Sulley. And it's no trouble, Vanessie." Sulley said, smiling warmly at the young monster.

"Ok, Sulley." she said neutrally before she looked back at Randall in the corner of her eye.

He knew she was nervous with him now. She entwined her fingers of her hands behind her back when she walked to her seat next to Randall's. He also noticed her not sitting fully on her seat; she left a small space of the seat vacant, he guessed, to be carefully away from him as possible. He couldn't blame her, but he felt worse that he grew angry with himself.

"Well, you came on time, Vanessie." Sulley said with a smile.

He spotted the girl give a slight shudder at the corner of his eye. It did feel a bit chilly in the room, but he also suspected it to be his own presence. It had to be the second. So far, he was intimidating her and he hasn't done or said anything to her yet.

"To get this going, I've chosen you two to be partners." We get it, Mr. Obvious. Randall thought to himself. "Vanessie here will be your assistant, Randall, and Vanessie... You will help out Randall in his new job here as a Laugher."

Vanessie said nothing, but nodded.

"Randall, I want you to help Vanessie out with how things work around here. It's about the same as before but more... Laugh-centered." Sulley advised.

"Sure, yeah." was Randall's only sarcasticresponse.

"Well, that's all I have to say to you two. The rest you can do on your own. Any questions?"

"I have one, sir—eh, Sulley." Vanessie blurted out suddenly. "Umm, may you tell me the hours I work here? Because I have another job someplace else for the night."

"Oh. It's up to four in the afternoon." Sulley said calmly.

"Oh, that'll do, thanks. My other job starts at six, so I guess it's fine." she said. Again, neutrally.

"You're welcome. Anything else?"

The room was silent for a few second when Randall was thinking about Vanessie having two jobs. He caught a glimpse of her foot repeatedly moving up and down impatiently. He figured she was very stressed and worried. He sighed.

"Well then, I guess that's it. Randall, you can start helping Vanessie around here and I wish the best for both of you."

"Thank you," Vanessie uttered.

Sulley got up to escort the two to the door when the young loch ness stood up and followed. Randall followed her confusedly and after Vanessie left the door, he stayed behind beside Sulley at the door and asked him, "You were about to tell me about her."

Sulley only whispered to him, "Bond with her. It's better to hear from her personally than from me."

Randall was disappointed. Inside, he grew angrier with himself, but he kept his composure and caught up to Vanessie.

Walking a few feet away from her, he never knew how to approach anyone kindly, let alone to a girl. He wasnt very fond of the opposite sex besides his own mother, whom he lost many years ago with his brother, Ned. He never knew his father, but he remembered his mother being so loving to him. She was perhaps his only light in his childhood. But other than her, he had no relationship to women. Even when he went to college, he was avoided since he had the very appearance of a nerd. He didn't have time for girls then, anyway. He was far too studious to be into that. But he now regretted not to be acquainted with skills to at least start small talk with girls.

He was so bad at starting a conversation that he stated with, "So, you have two jobs, huh?"

He clenched his teeth at the stupid and obvious question. But he was relieved a little when Vanessie replied.

"Yeah. I guess you can tell that I am a bit busy. I got a lot on my hands."

"And why is that?"

"Well, I try hard to... You know, keep up with everything."

"Sounds like it's hard."

"Where are you going with this, Randall Boggs?"

Randall stopped and squinted his eyes at her. "I'm trying to be nice, Vanessie."

"Please, call me by my real name, Vanessa. Not Vanessie. It bugs me..." she said in an irritated way.

"Okay, Vanessa, but it seems like so far, I'm putting the most effort into this stupid bonding charade."

"Then stop. Trying wouldn't do any good." Vanessa said coldly.

"You're being irrational."

"Not like you were years ago, right?"

"How did you—"

"The friend of our boss told me."

Wazowski. Randall may have put things aside, but now, being responsible for giving him a bad impression will earn Wazowski a nice whipping.

"I try to forget that."

"Well, I can't." she said quietly but spitefully.

Randall then changed his expression to one with hatred and adjusted his scales to look a darker shade of purple, narrowing his eyes at the young loch ness.

"Of course... Just like everyone else." he said. "I don't know what it is... My past, my appearance... Or my race..." he continued. "But just for you, I'll make it worth your while. You don't want Mr. Nice Guy, so be it."

Vanessa glared at him with narrowed eyes, like a cat's. "Whatever floats your boat."

"Now get out there and listen to whatever I say."

"Fine."