by Joy
NOTE: Yup, this is the final chapter. . .And there will be a brief epilogue after this too. Glad you liked my last chapter and a third story should be on the way shortly after I've completely finished this one. I'll probably even add a little bio of the next generation of Boggs in the preview! ^_^
Oh yes, and welcome back Gold Eyed Falcon! I'm glad to see you updating your stories again. *grin*
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Chapter Thirteen - Reason to Celebrate
Rayford skillfully landed his Stealth Hawk in the Monsters Inc parking lot. It lowered itself down to the parking lot vertically, thrusters from the underside of the jet easing it onto the concrete. It kicked up dust as it neared the ground and the wheels provided the jet with a soft landing. Ray cut the engines and the roof of the jet popped up.
The three agents climbed out of the aircraft. They were met by the sight of CDA agents running around picking up jet pieces that had fallen to the ground and studying them. Others were gathering information from a very shocked Sulley and Mike. Ray motioned for Caylin and Siarra to follow him as he weaved around the working CDA members towards the company CEO and his buddy.
"Hi guys!" Caylin called, waving to them.
Sulley excused himself from the eager CDA agents and approached them. "Hi Caylin," he said, briefly looking at the other two monsters he had with him. "What brings you here?"
Mike tore himself away from the crowd to join his big, blue buddy. "Hi Caylin. Whaddya know?" he began. "I'm having one of the most boring days of my entire life and then - WHAM - something like this happens. . ."
Ray gave them a faint smile. "We've actually come to see the crash site."
He held back from telling them that Randall and Leia were on the jet. He wasn't in the mood to answer all the questions he percieved they would give him once he explained about it. He also didn't want to worry them if they didn't already know. All he wanted was to know if his son was alright. Right now, his goal was focused on it.
"I don't see why not," Sulley said, looking the purple lizard-monster over once more. "Hey, aren't you Rayford Boggs - Randall's dad?"
Ray nodded. "Yes, I'm him," he replied. "Nice to meet you in person. . .Sulley, is it? And Mike."
Mike grinned and shook his hand, cupping his other hand over the side of his mouth to talk to Sulley. "He's pretty nice for being related to Lizard Boy," he commented.
Sulley smirked a bit and poked him. "Be nice, Mikey."
Mike chuckled and ushered the trio towards the door. He just then noticed the girl they had with them. "And who's the pretty gecko girl?" he smirked, looking at Caylin. "Your girlfriend, Caylin?"
Siarra's expression turned into one of surprised shocked and she folded her arms, eyeing at the green, one-eyed monster. "GIRLFRIEND?!?"
"Eek!! Sorry lady," Mike yelped, hiding on the other side of Caylin. "I just assumed. . ."
"That I was his girl? Sorry, but I'm sort of a one-monster spy," she replied simply. "By the way, the name's Siarra. Not 'lady'."
Mike held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Nice to have. . .uh. . .made your aquaintance," he replied. "Just don't, like, whack me or anything. . .You sorta look like you want to. . ."
Caylin laughed and punched her lightly in the shoulder. "She thinks she's Ms. Tough-Girl," he said, smiling gently Siarra's way.
She just half-rolled her eyes, though she couldn't stop a small smile from appearing on her face. 'Cute, boy. Cute,' she thought to herself. Yeah, she wouldn't admit it aloud, though, but he WAS pretty cute. His sense of humor was refreshing too. It seemed to be a break from her normally serious routine. She kinda liked it. . .
Sulley chuckled. "Nice to meet you too, Siarra," he said. "The crash site is pretty high up, so we'll have to take the elevator. Actually, that jet sort of. . . crashed through my office wall." He smiled with amusement at the irony of the event.
"I guess it was a good thing you weren't inside," Caylin replied, chuckling. "Or you would have finished the day with a bang." He laughed at his own joke.
Mike laughed too. "Bang - I get it!" he chuckled. "Sulley and me were actually leaving when it happened. We were heading out the door when a loud crash echoed through the building. For a moment, I thought George blew something up again." He grinned.
Sulley opened the door for them to enter into and followed them inside. CDA agents had just gotten inside, heading towards the crash site themselves to search for survivors. One labelled '4533' stopped them in the doorway, pointing at the other working agents, who were entering the elevator.
"The crash site is blocked off from access," he said. "Only authorized personnel are allowed inside Mr. Sullivan's office until we give it clearance."
Siarra sighed and glanced at Sulley. "What do we do now?"
"Tackle 'em for the touchdown?" Caylin joked.
Ray held up a hand to his friends, indicating that he could handle it on his own, and approached the CDA agent. The lizard-monster reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out an SSO ID card. He held it up in front of the CDA agent. "I'm the SSO President," he declared. "Please step aside, sir."
4533 leaned forward to look at the ID card and immediately realized his mistake. He stepped aside. "My apologies, Mr. Boggs," he said. "Go ahead."
The CDA agent tried to stop Caylin and Siarra, but Caylin pushed 4533's arm aside. "We're with him," Caylin said, jerking a thumb in Ray's direction. "My best friend was the pilot of the aircraft."
The CDA agents respectfully stepped out of the elevator to allow Ray and his friends inside. The SSO president smiled and gave them a nod of gratitude before letting the doors slide closed. The elevator began to slowly rise upward and Mike gave Rayford an approving grin.
"You know, if only I could do that with Roz. . ." he said thoughtfully.
Sulley chuckled at the bit of humor, but then something Caylin said earlier hit him. He looked at Ray. "You mean Randall's up there??" he asked with surprise. "I didn't know he could fly a jet. . .But then again, I don't know what you've been teaching him at the SSO in the first place."
Caylin gave him a goofy smile. "That's cuz he can't," he replied simply. "Pretty good flying for a guy who's never had classes, don't you say?"
Mike shook his head. "I guess you can admit one thing; Lizard Boy's got guts," he said. "Well, you know, not that I couldn't have done the same thing. . .You know how I love driving - all those 'vroom-vrooms' and 'honk-honks'. . ."
The elevator stopped at the second highest floor and the doors slid open. Rayford was the first out. He was desperate to know if anyone survived. He knew he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if his son had died. Rayford jogged over to the door labelled 'CEO Office' and slowly opened the door, dreading what would be behind it.
He looked around the room. The front end of the smoking Shockwave had demolished Sulley's desk, shattered glass was scattered around the room, various knick-knacks and papers were strewn on the floor. It looked like a tornado and an earthquake had hit the place. The gap where the outside wall used to stand was much larger than the crushed jet, giving them a wide view of the city below.
The first thing that caught Ray's eye, though, was the smashed cockpit. The glass built into the roof was cracked and shattered, it sort of resembled an accordian they way it had crunched up. He ran over to it and peered inside, part of him hoping to see someone but the other part hoping that he didn't. No one was inside. . .
Only Randall's cracked helmet remained. . .
Ray reached inside and picked it up, running his three fingers over the crack in it. A look of deep remorse was written on his face. Where were they? Did they survive? What happened? His fronds drooped, looking at the charred helmet, and the father let out a sad sigh. He didn't turn around to look at his friends. Not even when Sulley said his name. Was this his fault? Should he have done things differently?
As if she could read his mind, Siarra approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "This isn't your fault, Mr. Boggs," she said. "Don't blame yourself."
"Yeah Ray," Caylin agreed, trying to cheer him up. "Knowing Randall, I bet he had a clever plan of some sort."
Rayford was about to reply, when a sound made him stop. It seemed that he wasn't the only one to heard it. The rest of the monsters stopped what they were doing to listen too.
"Ow!! Don't grab my fronds - it hurts!"
"Sorry Randall. . ."
"Hey, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that sounds like Lizard Boy and his girl," Mike said.
"Randall?? Leia?" Rayford called, trying to locate where the sound was coming from.
"DAD??" came Randall's surprised reply. "We're over here!"
Sulley waved the others over to the gap in the wall. Rayford was the first to join him. Sulley pointed down the side of the building and sure enough, Randall and Leia were right there, hanging on for dear life. A wave of relief washed over Ray to see his son and his friend unscathed. There didn't seem to be a single scratch on them, which was a surprise all in itself.
Caylin scratched his head as he looked down at them. "How the heck did you guys get way down there?"
Randall had a cord attached to the roof of the building, which they were now hanging from. It was obviously one of his spy gadgets that had kept them suspended for so long - the ever-trusty grappling hook. Leia was hanging on desperately to Randall, her arms around his shoulders. Randall had tried to climb up, but the weight of the both of them tired him out to the point that they had to stop only several meters from the edge of Sulley's office.
"Randall and I jumped out of the jet before it crashed into the building," Leia called up to him. "Can you help us? I don't think I can hold on for much longer. . .Oh yeah, and I think Randall's getting tired of holding me too." She managed to give Randall a smile and he gave her a sideways glance, smirking a bit.
Caylin nodded. "No problemo guys," he said. "You'll be up here with us before you can say 'Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious'!"
"I don't think I can say that. . ." Leia joked.
Siarra laughed and punched Caylin in the shoulder lightly. "Don't say that, or it might give them the idea that we'll be here all night trying to get them up," she joked. Caylin grinned at her.
Rayford grabbed the cord that kept the two suspended and began pulling them up. He was joined by Sulley, Siarra, and Caylin. Mike, meanwhile, was acting as an overseer - basically directing orders to them on how they should go about pulling them up. Soon, they had both of them on solid ground.
They were covered with soot and a few bruses began to show up here and there, but otherwise there didn't seem to be anything wrong with either of the agents. Randall helped Leia to her feet. The bond between them was obvious in the way the two looked at each other. Rayford smiled to himself as he watched.
"That was pretty quick thinking with the grappling hook there, son," Rayford admitted, pulling Randall close in a thankful embrace. "I'm just glad the both of you are okay."
Randall gave him a lopsided grin in return and hugged his father back. "Thanks," he replied. "Your advice was pretty good too."
"Awww, Lizard Boy and Lizard Dad are getting mushy. . ." Mike said.
Randall shot Mike a glance. "Can it, Wazowski," he replied, flashing him a small smile afterwards.
Sulley chuckled. "Well, it seems that some things haven't changed. . ."
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"Boy, this place is fancier than my mom's house. . ." Mike marveled, looking around one of the large auditoriums in the newly-repaired SSO building.
It had taken no more than a week to completely repair the damage done to the SSO from the Shockwave attack. Randall's father had decided to throw a party to welcome new members and to commemorate the success of the rebuilding effort. Agents of all shapes and sizes danced to the music that played in the background while others stood on the sidelines, chatting casually and sharing stories of their latest adventures.
It was a formal sort of party - most of the men in tuxedos and most of the women wearing dresses. The mayor of Monstropolis was even invited. So, things were very bustling and busy. Once and awhile, waiters would pass by with appetizing platters of little snacks. Mike, Ceila, and Sulley had just entered the large, domed room and felt quite lost.
Sulley looked around at the crowd. "Let's see of we can spot Randall or Caylin," he said.
"Lucky for you to say, Big Guy, you're five feet taller than I am!" Mike replied. "It's all a forest of legs, flippers, and tentacles down here. . ." Ceila giggled.
"Hey guys, over here," Randall called, waving a hand in the air to let them know where he was.
Sulley and company politely tried to weave their way through the crowd to reach Randall. He was all decked out in a handsome tuxedo and bow tie. To them, he looked much different than the Randall they were used to working with way back when. But it was a pleasant change. Even Mike was beginning to get used to the 'new Randall'. They also noticed that Leia was standing there with him too, wearing a lovely sea green dress that seemed to compliment her pink eyes. Her long, golden hair was pulled back in a traditional Japanese bun.
She waved to them. "Hi guys. How was the trip down here?" she greeted them.
Sulley was about to answer her when Mike spoke up. "It was great! I got to drive all the way," he replied. "Best hour of driving I had. There's something about a good-looking top hat and a speeding car that's really relaxing. . ."
Randall laughed, leaning his tail against the refreshments table and casually folding his arms. "I hear the mayor of Monstropolis is going to be speaking about us pretty soon," he said. "I've actually been talking to the guy about the banishment sentence they made manditory in Monstropolis."
"Randall told him his story," Leia added.
He nodded. "Yup," he replied. "He says he'll, at least, think it over. I'm hoping that it'll change. I mean, if I can change, why not others - y'know what I mean? I don't think banishment is necessary for everyone."
Sulley nodded thoughtfully. "Well, if you want to know my opinion," he said. "I think it should stay in law. But my opinion has changed a bit since we banished you and you came back and all of that. I think it should be used responsibly."
Randall half-grinned and gave him a nod. "Agreed."
Mike, meanwhile, was busy scanning the crowd or - at least - trying to. He looked back at Randall and Leia. "Where's Caylin?" he asked out of curiosity. "I heard he got a promotion and me and my Smootchy Poo want to congradulate him." Ceila nodded in agreement.
"Oh, Caylin?" Leia echoed him, smiling. "Well, if you look on the dance floor, you can see he's a bit busy now."
Mike glanced around someone's tail and followed Leia's gaze to the dance floor. There he was. Caylin was dancing with Siarra. Surprisingly, he was doing pretty well for a guy who professed to having hand-eye coordination problems. He didn't step on Siarra's foot once and they seemed to be having a great time. Caylin did a slick move, obviously trying to impress Siarra, but he kinda stepped on his tail in the process and fell over. Siarra just giggled and helped him back to his feet, Caylin blushing the whole time. Mike smirked.
"Me thinks he's got a crush," he commented.
Randall nodded. "I think she does too," he replied. "They've been spending alot of time together lately. He certainly loosened Siarra up a bit. The girl was so sarcastic."
Leia smiled, leaning her shoulder against Randall's as she watched the two dance. "Kinda like you?"
Randall just shrugged. "Maybe a bit. . ."
Leia laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "I think you've improved alot yourself," she added. "I'm proud of you, Randy."
Sulley grinned, watching Randall's scales blush a light red. He was about to tease them a bit about their own relationship, when Rayford and Naomi stepped onto a circular platform at the front of the room and asked for everyone's attention. The room slowly quieted down as monsters turned their attention towards the platform. The music flipped off and monsters took their seats. Naomi spoke into the microphone.
"On behalf of Rayford and myself, I'd like to thank you all for coming," she said, pleasantly smiling Randall and Leia's way as she noticed them sitting at the officials' table.
The crowd clapped.
"I have an announcement to make before handing the mike over to the mayor," she continued, looking up at a high-tech holograph that hovered in front of the podium - low enough for her to look over. It displayed her notes and announcements much like cue cards. "First of all, we'd like to welcome our new members. There are so many of you that I won't attempt to name each and every one of you. Please try to make them feel welcome. Be helpful to them."
More clapping followed as the existing agents applauded the newcomers.
"I think that'll be all, now here's the mayor," Naomi finished, stepping aside as the mayor of Monstropolis stepped in her place. He was a very Bile-like monster, though he looked to be a bit more serious.
The holographic screens flashed automatically to his notes as he got behind the podium. "Hello all," he said. "I'd like to thank the SSO Director and his wife for helping with the counter-attack effort against the evil Bad Guy Bureau. I'm sure the President would like to hear about the commendable efforts you've accomplished throughout the SSO agencies nationwide. I'll make sure he does."
The crowd met that comment with an uproar of applause. Randall and Leia both joined in the enthusiastic clapping. Rayford and Naomi simply gave the mayor a modest, but thankful nod.
"And, I'd like to ask Randall and Leia to step up to the platform, please," the mayor said.
Leia raised an eyebrow, looking at Randall as if to say 'your parents didn't mention anything about this'. Randall just shrugged in return as they pushed their seats back. Caylin mouthed from the table across the room, 'go on guys!'. Siarra nodded to them in agreement with Caylin's suggestion. So, they stood and made their way over to the platform, taking a place next to the mayor. He pulled out two ID cards, though they couldn't see what was on them.
"It is now my pleasure to personally present these two courageous agents with Level One passes," he said, handing each of them an ID card. "I find them worthy of such a promotion due to the events that occured last week. They showed commendable courage and resourcefulness in the face of danger. They also showed that they were willing to go above and beyond the call of duty by taking such extreme risks in helping to disarm Mr. Kilroy and his men. Please stand and give them a hand of applause."
Everyone in the room did as the were told, giving them a big round of applause. Rayford and Naomi looked especially proud as they commended their son and his girlfriend. Randall mouthed a 'thank you' to the mayor as the noise quieted. The mayor held up a finger to him, indicating that he wasn't finished yet.
"And I will also present them with the key to the city for saving our beloved Monstropolis," he finished, handing them a large key with a smile on his face. "You both deserve it."
Leia smiled. "Gee, I don't know what to say. . ." she laughed. "Aside from thank you, Mr. Mayor."
Randall nodded in agreement. "What she said," he chuckled. "Thanks."
The mayor nodded back and went back to the microphone, continuing on to the rebuilding of the SSO and his gratitude for their protection. Randall and Leia made their way back to their table, where their parents sat with some other high-ranking SSO workers. Caylin gave them an enthusiastic thumbs-up from his table, a big grin on his face.
"Way to go!" he mouthed to them.
Leia smiled and mouthed back a 'thanks!'. Rayford patted his son on the shoulder supportively, smiling proudly. "I'm very proud of you, son," he said, the pride just glowering off of him. He hugged Randall's shoulders. "I'll be looking forward to going on a few missions with you. That is, if you think you can catch up with your father now. . ." A teasing grin was on his face.
Randall smirked. "Oh, I think I can handle it," he replied.
Naomi looked just as proud as his father. "Spending more quality time with you might be a nice change from the norm," she said. "Perhaps we could see a movie together this weekend. Your friends are more than welcome to join the party. Your father often acts as if he's twenty anyways." She smiled.
Her son laughed. "No problem," he said. "But if I'm gonna be in espionage full-time, I'm going to have to make a sacrifice."
"Like?" his mother asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Like maybe resigning from Monsters Inc," he said. "I'm sure I'll have to talk with Sulley on that one, but I think they'll manage fine without me."
Leia nodded. "I think it'll be fun, though," she said. "Y'know, travelling all over the world and stuff. . .Going on missions. . .That kind of stuff. I've always wanted to travel to places other than Europe and Monstermerica. Like China perhaps, or something like that."
Randall sat back and nodded thoughtfully. "It'll definately be worthwhile," he agreed, glancing across the dance floor to see Sulley talking with another monster - a girl monster. "But I think I'll talk to Sulley about it later." He smirked, watching the conversation.
The mayor finally finished his speech and stepped off the platform. Music began to play once again and agents resumed their activities. Some gathered onto the dance floor and the lights dimmed slightly. Randall gave Leia a sideways glance, smiling softly. Now that all the hectic chaos of their last mission was over with, his mind was really able to drift off to thinking about spending time with her again. As he looked at her, he noticed how lovely she looked in the soft lighting of the room. His heart lept to think that she was his and his alone. Finally, he couldn't hold it in any longer. . .
"Will you dance with me, Leia?" he asked gently, smiling.
Leia met his eyes and smiled warmly. "You know I'd love to. . ."
Rayford and Naomi grinned as their son whisked Leia onto the dance floor with him. "You know, Naomi," Rayford said finally. "Wouldn't it be great to have grandkids?"
Naomi giggled. "Yes and, if you don't mind me saying," she replied, resting her head on his shoulder. "I think we will someday soon. . ."
THE END
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NOTE: Stay tuned for the Epilogue (to be written by Randall himself!) and the preview of my next story! I must say, like I do in all my stories, a BIG thanks to all of my readers for the compliments I have gotten on my stories! You guys motivate me to keep going! And, believe me, I won't let you guys down. ~_^