by Joy
NOTE: I'm not too good at endings, so bear with me as I begin to wind things down. ^_^ Oh yeah, and sorry if this chapter sounds as if I was trying to do it fast. I really was in sort of a hurry since I'm not going to be able to write again for a few days.
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Chapter Eleven - The Journey Home
Randall spotted the warehouse as he let the back door of the lab swing open. He picked up the pace, jogging towards the large wooden building. Hopefully, the asylum people would come as fast as they had said they would. Randall reached the open doors of the warehouse and looked inside.
Monsters were busily letting each other out of their inprisonment. They were obviously doing a good job, because already more than half of them had gotten out of their cages. Randall walked inside and approached Caylin, touching him on the shoulder.
"Hey, how's it going?" he asked.
Caylin, who was busy unlocking another cage, turned around and smiled brightly. "Randall! Dude, I thought you had been caught or something. It was making me nervous," he said cheerfully. "Glad to see you're not some science experiment."
Sulley spoke up from his position nearby. "Hey, Randall, you made the call right?"
"Yeah," Randall replied, leaning back and folding his arms. "What makes you think I couldn't pull that one off myself?"
"Right now," Sulley answered, a smile forming on his face. "I wouldn't be surprised at anything. Good work."
"So, how much longer do ya think it'll take to get all these guys out?" Mike asked, a bit exhausted from his effort. "Those humans sure didn't waste any time picking them up."
"I don't think it'll take any longer than fifteen minutes," Sulley commented, opening another cage.
"Good. Cuz that's how long we have to get out of here," Randall cut in. "The asylum people are coming soon to. . heh-heh, pick up their cargo." A smirk crossed his face as he finished the sentence.
Caylin grinned. "Betcha we can do it in ten," he replied, looking around at the busy monsters. "Pick up the pace guys! We've got fifteen minutes!"
Within twelve minutes, all the monsters had been freed and they stood waiting for instruction. Randall pulled a door over from the shadows in the corner of the room and set it down. It was, evidently, the door the scientists had used to get into the monster world. Now, they were gonna use it - for the last time.
"Now, everyone, listen to me," Randall said loudly, so that everyone could hear. "If you want to go back to our world. This is your ticket to freedom. But you must go now!"
"Hey, I think there's something fishy going on in there," a human voice said outside.
"Maybe that invisible monster went in here. . ." another said suspiciously.
The monsters froze. "What are you waiting for? Go now!" Randall declared, heading for the door.
Leia caught up with him and grabbed his shoulder. "What are you doing?"
"Well, SOMEONE needs to distract them," Randall said.
Mike tapped him on the lower shoulder and grinned. "Those four feet of yours are working overtime," he said, motioning towards the door. "I've got an idea, Lizard Boy. Stay here and help the monsters. I'll take care of the scientist and his little crew."
Randall raised an eyebrow and opened the door for him. "Be my guest."
Mike smiled widely and marched out the door, right in front of the two scientists. They stared at him. "Hey! You're not supposed to be out of your cage!" one said in disbelief.
"You know what, you're right," Mike said, then turned around and shook his backside at them. "Neh, neh neh, neh neh neh! Try to get me!"
"Why you-" the scientist spat, trying to grab him. He fell in the dirt, instead.
Mike ran out of the way and laughed, running just a few steps ahead of the other one. Both of them chased him around like a couple of maniacs and Randall laughed as he watched them. He went inside and made sure all the monsters were making it through the door.
Suddenly, the sound of cars pulling in outside took his attention and he glanced out the dusty windows of the warehouse. It was the asylum vans. The drivers got out and began to grab the two scientists covered in dust outside. Others made thier way inside the underground lab to find the others. Randall grinned with satisfaction. His plan was working perfectly.
Just then, Mike walked in casually and shut the door behind him with his foot. He brushed off his hands. "Piece of cake," he said. "So, did everyone make it back?"
Leia nodded. "Every one."
"And now it's our turn," Caylin said, obviously eager to go home after their crazy adventure.
They all walked through the door and found themselves on Laughfloor C at Monsters Inc. It was empty and silent, since the other monsters were just as eager to go home as they were. Sulley took in a deep breath and let it out.
"I love the smell of slime in the morning," he said. "Smells like home, alright."
"Yeah, there's nothing like the monster world to make you feel like you're home again!" Mike agreed, going over to his desk and looking at some papers. He gasped and screamed.
Sulley ran over with Randall, Leia and Caylin. "What is it?" Sulley asked.
Mike grabbed the colored papers and shook it in his face. "THIS! I forgot to give Roz my paperwork! She's gonna chew me in half!" he exclaimed.
Sulley chuckled. "After what just happened to Monstropolis, that'll be the least of her worries."
"So. . .Sullivan. . ." Randall began, feeling a bit awkward at using a good attitude towards the big, hairy monster. "What do you want to do with this door? You're the CEO of this place."
"I'll get Needleman and Smitty over here to shred it right away," Sulley replied. "We don't want anything like this to happen again."
The memories of being banished by them flooded Randall's mind again at the mention of shredding doors and not wanting anything like that to happen again. It began to stir up the old hurt he had had against Sulley and Mike. Right now, he wasn't sure what to think of them. But now that he was back in the monster world again, he had another problem. He was jobless.
Randall sighed. "Hey Sullivan?" he began.
"Yeah?"
"Why'd you banish me to that swamp?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know! That swamp. . .Why there, of all places?"
"Well, we just had a door handy and, uh. . .No reason really," Sulley explained, rubbing the back of his neck. He knew this was a sore subject for the lizard-monster. "We just grabbed a door and threw you in it."
"I see," Randall said, hiding the hurt in his voice. "So, if it was Antarctica, you wouldn't care, right? Sure, it's thirty below and I'm a reptile, but what the hey. ." He trailed off, looking away from him.
Sulley blinked. He had never once thought of the possiblity of him dying out there. Then again, he didn't really care until now. After all they had done to each other, they were finally finding mutual ground. He realized that if Randall hadn't come to rescue them, they probably would have ended up dead too. It wasn't something he expected his old rival to do for him after all the accusations and things he had done to him.
Sulley went over to Randall and patted him on the back. "Hey, Randall," he said, a friendly tone to his voice. "I just had an idea. Would you like to work for Monsters Inc. again?"
Randall's fronds perked up and he looked at the CEO skeptically. "Well, yeah, but don't you have everything in laughs now?" he asked. "I don't do comedian work."
"Exactly," Sulley replied. "And plenty of monsters have the same opinion as you. So, I thought we'd open up the Scarefloors again along with the Laughfloors. You'd scare the naughty kids and we'd take care of the good kids. What do you say?"
Randall rubbed his chin thoughtfully and held out a hand, shaking Sulley's. "Looks like you've got yourself a deal, Sullivan," he replied.
Sulley smiled. "By the way, we won't shove you through any more doors," he promised.
Randall smirked. "And if you do I'm taking you with me," he replied.
"Okay, enough mushy buddy-buddy stuff," Mike cut in. "I'm gonna go visit my Schmoopsie Poo. See you at work, Sulley."
Sulley chuckled and turned to Mike. "Oh, and when you go to visit Ceila," he said. "Tell her to give this message to the Board of Directors. . ."
While he conversed with Mike, Randall turned to Caylin and Leia. Both were smiling. "So, looks like you've got yourself a job," Caylin commented. "Congrats, Randall! I knew you had it in you all along. Hey, maybe I'll be your new scare assistant or something."
"Yeah, you did a great job," Leia agreed. "What'd I tell you?" She laughed lightly.
Randall chuckled. "Thanks guys," he said. "And, Caylin, I'd take you over Fungus anyday."
Leia sighed for a moment and looked up at the clock, then back at Randall. "You know," she began. "This has been a really fun ride and I'm glad things have worked out for you."
"Yeah, I never thought I'd be doing crazy things like this, but here I am," he said with a half-grin. "And maybe I'll even make it to the top Scarer spot, once Sullivan gets everything up and running."
She smiled brightly. "I'm happy for you," she replied. "It also looks like we made a few new friends."
"Yeah, who knew I'd be friends with Sullivan and Wazowski?" Randall said. "You've also been a pretty interesting friend too, to say the least."
She giggled. "'Interesting' am I?" she smiled, but it faded as the sunlight came through the skylights even more.
"What is it?" he asked, seeing her disappointment.
"Well, it's just that. . ." she began. "I probably won't be able to see you again. Not for awhile, at least."
Randall's brow furrowed. "Really? Why?"
"I'm a singer, Randy," she explained. "I'm travelling to Europe today for a year-long tour. . .But, maybe we'll meet again? Have some fun at the local amusement park or something. Caylin, Sulley, and Mike can come too."
Randall nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I think we can arrange something," he said. "Hey, it's just an afterthought, but would you like my phone number?"
Leia grinned and nodded. "And you can have mine," she replied. "I have a cell phone and it might be pretty backed up with calls when I'm on tour, but don't worry. I'll call you back. We can keep in touch."
Once they exchanged phone numbers, she ran off towards the door and stopped only to wave before disappearing around the corner. Caylin walked past Randall and turned around to look at him, walking backwards.
"So, you wanna walk with me back to our apartments?" Caylin asked. "We sure have alot of things to catch up on, right? Like that whole banishment thing with the little girl."
"You heard about that?" Randall asked, joining him.
"Hey, who hasn't?" Caylin laughed. "It was in the MI daily newspaper! And not to mention that time when Waternoose was hauled off to jail for helping you."
"He was?" Randall said with interest. He always disliked Waternoose for his partiality to Sulley, now this was a story he could get interested in. "Now this I've GOTTA hear. Tell me all about it. . ."
Caylin chuckled, knowing that would get his attention. "Okay here's the story. . ."
They were still talking as they disappeared out the Laughfloor doors, until both soon disappeared down the dimmed hallways of Monsters Inc.
THE END
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END NOTE: Thanks to everyone who sent me reviews and e-mails on this story. Yes, every one of you - even the ones I haven't listed. I promise you'll see a very exciting and original sequal as soon as I get everything together, so stay posted. (P.S. Look at the next chapter for info and stuff on my sequal. *wink wink*)
Big thank you to my loyal readers, supporters, and friends - Jackie; Kelley; Demonadramon; Sean Fogle; C-chan; Raptor Red; piewolvesandsuch; BlackGlovedWolf; Poofiemus; Melissa Mario Sister; Dracana Luna Challenge Master; my favorite fanfiction; silverswan1487; Eouen; and Crushed Velvet.
And keep a look out for another page of outtakes!