It was time to make an entrance! He slithered up in the way, still grinning madly. The monster could not see him. This would be hilarious. He stood arched on his first set of legs so he would have three pairs of useable arms- it made him taller. He planted the hands on his hips and in a short few seconds, the green monster flailed and fell back with a confused grunt.

"What the?" He mumbled, standing up swiftly. He eyed the spot in front of him, a corner of his mouth arched.

Then, right as he was getting ready to jab at the air, Randall quickly allowed himself into being and half hissed in a whisper "Wazowski!"

"Waaah!" Mike stepped back, startled immensely. His big blue-green eye looked up widely at the taller monster's head. It was quite a surprise the child hadn't woken from this. "Randall!" He whispered harshly in disbelief. He looked torn between talking to him and darting back into the closet- into the monster's world.

"Hey, Mike." Randall chuckled darkly. "How's it been on the other side?" The innocent question was tainted with angry overtones. "Since when were you a scarer?"

Mike bit his lip and looked highly tense, now keeping a distance. "What are you doing here?" He whispered roughly.

"I was banished here, remember?" Randall wrung his first two sets of hands, falling back so his third set supported him as normal.

"Yeah but, in a kid's room?" He paused. "Oh wait- oh no you don't- you can't go back through my door, ohhhhh no!"

Randall chuckled again, lowering his head slightly. "Clever. Who's gonna stop me, pipsqueak?"

The green monster shook his head (which was pretty much his whole body) and scowled. "Listen, pal, if you go back you'll just be held at the factory until the police can get there to take you off to jail. Who knows, maybe they'll just banish you somewhere there are no humans!"

This seemed to throw him off a moment, but he didn't falter. "I can sneak in with my invisibility, duh."

Mike's scowl deepened. "Then become an outlaw, see if I care!" He threw his hands up. "Nobody is gonna let you off easy for what you did. We don't need backwards thinkers like you anyhow, things have changed. So even if they ever did let you out of jail, and you got a job, you wouldn't be any good at it." He pointed at the lizard, glaring.

This hit Randall hard. Who did this little thing think he was? He growled dangerously, lips parting to show his uneven teeth, eyes narrowed.

Mike lifted up his hands defensively, showing his palms. "Woah woah, calm down! Okay just, calm down, I'll show you what I mean. But you're not getting through my door! Watch and learn, lizard face." He smirked smugly and swaggered to the kid's bed.

Randall kept his eyes glued to Mike as he strutted to the bed side. Mike looked back at him and rose his brow. "You uh, might want to go invisible. You'll probably scare the daylights out of her." He whispered.

"Oh!" Randall quickly left the field of vision.

"Thank you." Mike said sweetly. He reached over to a lamp on a table sitting beside the bed, clicked it on, and cleared his throat. "Elizabeth!" He began, somewhat loudly.

The light from her lamp and the sound of his voice woke her from her slumber. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes sleepily, then proceeded to stare at Mike with wide eyes. She smiled at him, showing blunt baby teeth. He'd been through this door a good few times already. She knew the drill.

Randall, by now, was already highly confused. Was this a new scare tactic? Couldn't be, she seemed pleased to see him. When Mike began to play out a string of simple but amusing jokes, Randall's mouth unconsciously fell open.

The little girl giggled, but that wasn't what Mike was looking for. He hated this bit, but it almost always worked; he grinned and said "Hey, watch this!" Then jabbed himself painfully in his eye. He grimaced and yelped, and the child began to laugh much louder now. Time for the finale. "Thank you, thank you very much!" He bowed his head, took a step back and pretended to fall over onto his bottom. "Ouch!" He said, and she began to crackle.

"You fell down!" She got out through her laughs, pointing at him.

Mike stood up clumsily and backed towards the closet. He looked where Randall had been standing, assuming he hadn't moved, and grinned. "See?" He mouthed silently.

Suddenly filled with confusion and anger, Randall appeared in the room. He didn't care the child could see him- that was the point! He snarled towards Mike then looked at Elizabeth.

She didn't seem scared of him at all. Just shocked. Another monster was in her room- more jokes? She watched him in wait, laughter gone.

"Change, Randall. You're not going back. I'll tell Sulley hi for you." Mike said aloud, hand on the door knob. He twisted it and before he took a step in, turned back and added "You're better off here, not cooped up in a jail cell. You won't ever go back to Monstropolis." Then he left.

Randall balled his fists, and stomped up to the closet door the moment it shut. He hissed under his breath and slung the door open, but the portal to the other side had quickly been broken. He stared a moment at the small dark room. Why hadn't he made a break for the door earlier? Why did he have to wait and talk to that stupid little green ball? Maybe curiosity and pride had gotten the better of him. Maybe, though he'd never admit out loud, he really didn't want to leave so easily.

The purple monster closed the door gently then turned back to the kid who was still watching him. "What are you lookin' at?" He asked, sounding dejected.

Elizabeth shrugged. "I'unno." She smiled and rose her chin. "I hadn't found out yet!" Her smile grew.

Randall narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "Little brat. You should be scared of me." He mumbled with a sigh. "You didn't see anything, you got it, kid?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "You're not no fun, like th'other one."

The lizard sighed again as he slipped away from color. He slinked quickly and silently into the hall, down the stairs, and (after unlocking it of course) out the door- which he left wide open.

He decided he did not want to go back to Mercy's house right away. They would meet at the park as she had instructed. Park, swings, noon. In truth he really just wanted to be alone right now. So Randall found his way to the park after some time from the neighborhood the child lived on and zipped up a tree. He lay on a branch far up near the top. From there he could reflect and stare up at the sky, which was dotted with dim blinking stars.

Randall was just a big mean lizard; a bully. He had almost been a murder before he was kicked clean out of the other realm. The more he thought about it the stupider his original plan had been. Did he honestly think he would have been able to get revenge on Sulley without getting caught then thrown in some damp, rank jail cell? What was he trying to prove? He had no one to impress. He came to the sad conclusion that this was unhealthy. He needed to move on. But it was such a hard thing to do; to forget everything you worked for. To let yourself be slowly reduced to nothing in the minds of peers.

As he wrapped his tail protectively around the branch and glanced down at the picnic table below, he grew tired. His anger was gone. The monster felt alone and lost. He turned himself invisible (hoping not to turn visible in his sleep) and started to drift off. As he did so, he began to long for the smooth touch of human skin upon his cold scales again.

He woke up several times during the night.


"What happened?" Asked a dismayed Mercy, having stood from her swing. She was giving Randall such a sad face it would break his heart if it hadn't already been broken.

Anne was torn between feeling bad for him and being ecstatic he had come back. She was hanging off one of his bottom arms and pouting up at him. While her posture demanded playfulness her face tried to show compassion.

Randall, who was sitting in the grass and ignoring Anne, shook his head. "The door was active." He shrugged with his top arms. He had appeared to them minutes before, but hadn't the spirit to make it a sneak attack like last time. He simply settled in the grass and let them see him.

"Yeah, and?" Mercy walked slowly over and sat cross legged in the grass in front of him. When he didn't reply and took to staring down at the green blades she added "Randall, are you okay? I'm sorry."

Anne groaned and slumped down so her knees touched the ground. She nuzzled her forehead on the arm she was latched to. "It'll be alright, maybe y'can get in another door?"

Randall sneered at nothing in particular and shook his head again. "No, there won't be anymore doors Anne."

Anne looked up at the side of his head. "Why?" She asked innocently.

There was a pause. "Randall?" Mercy asked, unsure. "Tell us." She reached out a hand and gently tapped his chin, so that he would lift up his head and look at her.

Finally looking the older sister in the eyes, he got the guts to explain. "I met a guy I knew. And we talked and- and things are just different now, and I don't even know why I wanted to go back. I mean, I KNEW why but- ugh!" He shut his eyes and ran a hand to smooth his fronds back. "I just can't go back. Not anymore, Mercy. That little twerp was right." His eyes opened and he looked wearily at the human in front of him.

"Oh, dear." She sighed, tilting her head. She moved to the other side of him and laced an arm through his other bottom limb, being that Anne had the other. She patted his hand and laid her head on his shoulder. "It'll be okay. Okay?"

Anne had gone back to nuzzling his arm."Yeah, it'll be okay, Randy." Her playfulness had gone with the seriousness of the moment. "I promise!"

Randall looked at the two and frowned. "There's something I haven't told you."

"Hm?" Mercy hummed, glancing up at him.

Randall fidgeted with his top hands and looked uneasy. "About why I'm here."

Anne nodded. "Y'never did tell us all th'way!"

"Well," Randall began, pitch rising at the end. "I was working with this guy. Sullivan, a co-worker, had been top scarer for a long time, and I wanted to get to the top. Y'know? Maybe I did it for the wrong reasons. And I-"

"Hey wait!" Mercy yelped. "You said YOU were top scarer!"

He ducked his head a little. "Yeah well I lied. I didn't think I was going to ever tell you the truth." He looked guilty, in a humorous sort of way.

Mercy shook her head at him and rose an eyebrow. "Continue the story." She said throatily.

He blinked and complied. "Anyways, so I was working with that guy and designed this big machine. Thought I was some sort of genius. It was going to make me more than top scarer- I'd be famous!" He grinned slightly a the thought. "But it failed. I snatched a kid and probably would have sucked the life out of her. Because who knew trying to suck screams straight from a kid's mouth would actually suffocate them, huh?"

Mercy stared at him for a long time, then Anne broke the awkward silence. "N'now you're here with us? Cause you done gone and almost murdered someone?" She asked in disbelief. Randall lowered his head and stared at the ground.

"You regret it, huh?" Finally came Mercy's voice.

"Yeah." He sighed. The three sat in the sun quietly before Randall finally asked "Now what?"

Mercy shrugged. "Now we go home, I suppose. Before anybody else arrives." It was as if Randall didn't just admit to being an almost-murderer a moment ago.

Mercy stood up and offered a hand. Though Randall really didn't need it (he could honestly drag her down) he took her hand and stood up on his four legs; Anne went up with him, still latched on. The little girl and the monster walked with Mercy back to her truck in silence.

In their oblivious state, the trio did not notice that they had been observed all the while.


'Ugggggh' describes my current state of emotions

Thank you for reading, I appreciate all reviews.