CHAPTER X
FRIENDLY FOES
"Kitty!" Boo cried out. Tears began to well in her eyes.
"No, kid, he's gonna be fine! Don't cry! Please don't cry…" Mike put his hand over her mouth to keep her from crying, but all that did was make her cry louder.
"Guys, if we can't keep this kid quiet, we're gonna have a big problem on our hands!" Mike whispered to Donald, Goofy, Sora and Riku.
"Whaddya mean?" Goofy asked.
"Look – Monstropolis is otherwise referred to as "The Hidden City", as in hidden from humans. As in, if a human SOCK makes its way into the city, the cleanup crew blows it up…so imagine what would happen if they found out about Boo here! I don't really wanna think about it myself…but it wouldn't be pretty, I can tell ya that much."
"So…we need to get Boo back to her room? That should be easy with that door system you guys have…" Sora thought.
"If you only knew, kid. Let's at least get to the factory…we can-" Mike got cut off by a siren honk and flashing red lights.
"2319! 2319! A human intruder! This is not a drill!" yelled a voice.
"Great…RUN!" Mike screamed, as several beings of all shapes and sizes lapelled down ropes into the center of town. They wore yellow decontamination suits and had several scary looking devices that made Boo wail even louder than before.
"You can cry louder? How is that possible!" Mike screamed, as he led Goofy, Donald, Riku and Sora back into the scream factory, carrying Boo in his arms.
The men in yellow suits were gaining on them, throwing nets and metal domes toward them in hopes of catching the intruder. But Sora and Riku kept slicing through the nets and deflecting the domes as they ran around more corridors than they could count. Suddenly, they all stopped running.
"What's going on, Mike?" Riku said nervously, facing the men in yellow suits.
"Heh, ya know, I don't exactly know my way around this floor as well as I used to…"
Mike said as he put Boo down on the ground. "I guess they haven't put a door here yet…"
"Dead end? You led us into a dead end?" Donald quacked.
"Sorry, featherbrain, I didn't do it on purpose! Jeez, gimme a break…we got bigger problems!" said Mike, pointing at the men in yellow suits, slowly walking toward the six of them.
Sora and Riku called forth their keyblades.
"Glad to see it worked this time…" Sora said to Riku.
"Ya know? Me too," Riku smirked as he dove at the first of the seemingly endless men in yellow suits, knocking him back into the others.
Boo peeked out at the fight from behind Goofy's legs.
"Don't worry, little girly…Sora and Riku will protect you!" he smiled, but Boo still looked worried.
"Kitty?" she said.
Mike walked up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Not yet, Boo…we'll find him soon."
She smiled for the first time that night. But the smile was short lived as Sora flew by, knocked back by the army of men in yellow suits. Boo was caught off guard and screamed, sending a power surge through the corridor and exploding all of the lights.
"Perfect! Boo, you're a life saver! Quick guys, this way!" and he grabbed Boo up, led the friends back through the pitch back corridor right past the decontamination crew and into a well lit hallway.
"We're only a few halls from the main factory floor! All I gotta do is find Boo's door and we can drop her off! Sully was working on it just today…so the door should still be around somewhere…" Mike trailed off, taking a left through yet another corridor.
"Sir, I hear them down this hallway!" echoed down the corridor and into the friends' ears. It was one of the de-con crew members.
"Great, they caught up!" Riku said sourly.
Suddenly, a door a few paces ahead slammed open, revealing a large, grey, ugly monster. He had bulging eyes and many pointy legs, like some kind of grotesque, overgrown spider. Even given this appearance, he wore a very professional business suit and tie, and spoke like a true gentleman. Everyone but Mike stopped in their tracks, and Mike tried to hide Boo behind his back. But the monster had already seen her. All he did was smile.
"Mr. Waternoose, sir, I…I can explain!" Mike stammered.
"You know this guy?" Sora asked over Mike's shoulder.
"He's the boss…" Mike gulped.
"So formal! Henry J. Waternoose, lads. Quickly, in here," the monster hurried them all into the room.
Mr. Waternoose closed the door and smiled warmly at the friends. "Now, don't you worry, Mr. Wazowski. I understand the situation with the girl. Everything is going to be fine – she won't be harmed by the de-con crew and you most certainly won't be fired."
Sora and his friends chuckled. "Mr. Wazowski?"
"Mike! Call me Mike!" he yelled, though he breathed an audible sigh of relief, putting Boo down on the floor.
The room was small, dim and dank. It had very few amenities – there was the door to the hallway through which they came, but inside standing alone was another door that didn't seem to be connected to anything. It had a huge red light on the top of it, which wasn't glowing at this particular moment. A few posters around the room depicted terrifying monsters, which made Boo visibly shiver. Across from the standalone door in the center of the room was a large white sheet, obviously covering something. Donald put his arm around Boo, trying to keep her comfortable.
Mr. Waternoose, meanwhile, had his ear up to the door and was whispering something to himself. As the final footsteps of the de-con crew faded away from the hallway, he stepped back and smiled at everyone. "They've given up. The little girl is safe. Hand her to me."
"Well, with all due respect, sir, shouldn't we just bring her to the factory floor and put her back in her room?" Mike asked.
"Ah, Mr. Wazowski. How unfortunate that you should be attached to this particular human," Mr. Waternoose said, pulling the sheet from the object in the center of the room. What he revealed made them all gasp – a kind of torture device, with hand and leg clamps – designed to fit the human body. "It's my duty to run this company, boy. And how inefficient that we have to devote hundreds of workers and hundreds of hours to the old door system…my, we barely have enough scream energy to power our factory and the surrounding city! How terribly inefficient…"
He paced around the room, pointy legs clicking on the metal floor every step.
Mike swallowed hard. "So…what do you propose we do to…boost efficiency?" He knew he wasn't going to like the answer as he gripped Boo's arm tightly.
"Well, Mr. Wazowski…we are going to simply put the children into these machines and scare all of the screams out of them right here in Monstropolis!" he smiled deviously. "No fuss, no muss. No travel, no risk of 2319's, and best of all, no wasted energy! All the energy we make will be 100 efficient!"
"But you can't just STEAL children! That's terrible!" Sora yelled.
"Yeah…what about their families? Their friends? Their lives?" Riku demanded.
"I'm not going to steal all of the children, just some! Don't make me out to be some sort of…monster. The parents can always make new children! Who in the world will miss this one child?" Mr. Waternoose asked.
Boo's eyes started streaming with tears. "Kitty," she said softly.
Mike picked her up. "Don't worry, Boo. You'll see Kitty again. We're getting outta here, Waternoose, don't even try to stop us. I'm going to tell Roz and Celia and everyone else in the factory about your plan, and you'll be canned for good!"
The six friends quickly went for the door…but as they approached, the door started to…shift. It looked as if it were made of jelly. It turned purple before the friends started to back away. The shape changed, and soon they realized that it wasn't the door at all changing – it was what was in front of it. A nasal cackle came from the tall, purple monster standing in front of the door. He had a broad grin, filled with tiny, sharp teeth. The monster had a snakelike body and the head similar to a lizard's. It was definitely the definition of 'monster'.
Boo saw the creature and clung to Mike, screaming louder than she had all day. The few lights keeping the room lit exploded and the red bulb on the door in the center of the room glowed brightly.
"We only got one chance to save our butts! Move it through that door!" Mike yelled, pushing Sora, Donald, Riku and Goofy toward the door as Boo clung to his head.
"Randall, stop them at once!" cried out Mr. Waternoose in the dark. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a match – when he struck it, the small glow showed him that he was the only one left in the room.
