They continue reading.


Chapter 11: Runaway

Randall didn't know what to do. He had been looking for his book for days and he still hasn't found it. He was in his room, looking at an old scrapbook, that his parents gave him to look at. He opened the book to a picture of when he was on his ninth birthday. Randall studied the picture, how young and innocent he was, before he was kidnapped. He shut the book, unable to look at it.

He stood up and left his apartment. He had packed a few things and went over to his parent's house. He had gone to a 24 hour coffee shop and got himself a latte. When he walked out, he had bumped into Needleman.

"Ah!" Randall exclaimed as the hot coffee got on him. "Watch where ya going!"

"Sorry… Randall!" He exclaimed.

"Needleman?"

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Getting a Latte, why?"

"U-uh no reason…"

"Right… we'll I gotta go." Randall told him, walking off.

Needleman had started to run back to the gang. He ran back in, almost tripping over his feet.

"Guys! Y-you won't believe who I just saw!"

"Who?" Smitty asked.

"Randall! He was getting a latte!"

"Why does that not surprise me?" Mike asked.

"Well Randall does like his coffee, now who's turn is it to read?" Sulley asked.

"I got it," Smitty replied, taking the book.

"Chapter 11: Taken.

A year after the incident, I was sitting in my room, working on my science fair project. I've won the fair for three years in a row and I wasn't going to stop my streak yet. I was working on my newest project, an electromagnetic magnet. It was about my size. I had taken a pack of soda and placed it under the magnet. I pulled out the remote and it the button.

The magnet brought the soda up to it and smashed it. Soda went everywhere. I was drenched. I started to clean up the soda. My invention worked! I would've let out a scream of excitement, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise.

"Isn't this great Teddy? My invention worked! I'm going to win first place again!"

Teddy smiled and I started to pack it up.

"This is going to be perfect!" I exclaimed.

"As long as Spencer McDouglus doesn't beat you."

"Spencer…" I hissed.

Spencer McDouglus was my arch rival. He was a reptile like me, only he was blue with a green tail and with the same pink tipped fronds. He was the first reptile that I meet since I was an infant. When we meet I thought we were going to be friends, but it turned to where we become hated enemies, so that philosophy was a bust.

"Well he's not gonna. He's beat me at everything except the spelling bee and the science fair and he's not going to start this year! I, Randall J. Boggs, will not let Spencer beat me!"

"Randall! Are you ready?" Cheryal called.

"In a minute!" I called, putting my project in my special hovercraft wagon. What? They don't call me a prodigy for nothing. I figured that my genius would be too hard for normal monsters to handle. I started pulling my wagon down the stairs and pulled it outside.

I sat it in my project in the trunk, my wagon going into it as well. I shut it and got into the back seat. I buckled myself in. The science fair and spelling bee was the only thing that cheered me up. Emilia and Cheryal had got into the car and drove to the school. I looked at the science fair pamphlet, hugging it. The science fair was the only place that I felt like myself.

When we arrived, I scrambled out, waiting for Emilia and Cheryal to open the trunk. When they did, I grabbed my project.

"Randall slow down honey, you'll end up tripping and hurt yourself." Emilia told me.

"I can't help it mom! The science fair is my area! Just like the spelling bee!"

"Okay, just don't get a little too ahead of yourself okay?"

"Promise mom." I replied, pulling my wagon in.

I went inside to see Mr. Longslug and Mrs. Evens.

"Hello Randall, I see you have another project for us this year; I'm guessing you're going to blow us away again?" Mrs. Even asked.

"You bet!" I told her, "So where do I set up at?"

"Near the back, your name is on the table." Mr. Longslug told me.

"Thank you."

I pulled my wagon to the back of the room, looking for my name. I saw it and started to set my project up. I started to set it up. When I was done I had covered it up.

"We're still not allowed to see your project?" Emilia asked as she and Cheryal came up.

"Nope, it's going to be a surprise." I told them.

"Okay, we can't wait to see what our little genius had come up with this time," Cheryal smiled.

"Thanks mom, can I have a few minutes to fix a few things?" I asked.

"Of course, we'll go get some punch, do want us to bring you some?"

"No thanks. I don't like punch,"

"Oh I'm sorry, honey I forgot,"

"Good-bye…" I told them, pushing them away.

"Okay, okay, we're gone, you don't see us anymore," Cheryal replied, walking away with Emilia.

I had uncovered it and started checking on my project. I grabbed my screwdriver and started fixing one of the loose bolts. I grabbed a six pack of grape soda and started testing my project. The six pack went up to the magnet, smashing and spraying soda everywhere. I smiled.

"Well, well, so this is the famous Randall Boggs invention," a smooth voice replied.

I turned around to see Spencer. The little stuck up rich boy that I hate. I growled.

"Hmm, nothing special, not like what Daddy's scientist has done for me."

"What? You can't have help! It's against the rules!"

"And what are you going to do about it?" Spencer sneered at me.

I growled. I couldn't be a snitch, but following the rules was important! Without structure there would be nothing but chaos.

"Face it Spencer. You hate that fact that someone's better at something at you, so you can't let them work, or it looks bad on your family. News flash! The world doesn't revolve around you! So get used to the fact that someone is better at you at something! I will beat you, like I do every year and you'll have to get use to the fact."

"We'll see Boggs. We'll see…" He told me, walking off.

I growled. I grabbed one of the sodas and squeezed it, soda drizzling down my hand. I tossed the can behind me, having it land in the trash. That no good little rich kid! Rich kids shouldn't be allowed to join stuff if their parents were going to do it for them. I cleaned up the soda.

"Stupid Spencer. Thinks he owns everything when he doesn't."

I suddenly felt hands cover my eyes and the world was dark.

"Guess who," a voice replied.

"Fungus, uncover my eyes. I have work to do."

He uncovered my eyes. I went back to my machine.

"So what's your little doohickey do?" He asked.

"It's an electromagnet. I take this can of grape soda, and with this remote, I push this button and 11,000 magnetic tons will take this can and pull it up, the force will be so strong and it'll crush the can, causing the force of the magnet to push out the carbonated beverage."

"Wow… I may be up there with the nerds… but you my friend; I can't even understand what you say."

"You don't know genius."

"Mr. Boggs that was amazing!"

Me and Fungus turned around to see one of the judges. My mouth hanged open and I started stammering. I may be a boy genius, but some things not even I can be prepared for. My stomach started fluttering nervously.

"I-I-I… thank you sir…"

"We'll I know someone is still going to keep his winning streak." The judge told me.

He marked down something on his clipboard. I was shaking. What can I say? This and the spelling bee were the two biggest things in my life! And possibly my first kiss, but I knew I would never get that yet. (Not until I'm thirteen that is! I can't wait!)

Suddenly a tall stout green skinned monster wearing a pair of glasses went up to me. I tilted my head.

"Hello, I'm Mr. Slugworth."

"I'm sorry, I can't talk to strangers."

"But I'm from Child services."

"I don't care who you are, I'm not allowed to talk to strangers. Bye."

I started to walk away when he grabbed my arm.

"Hey! Let go!"

I tried to pull away, when I saw Emilia and Cheryal come over. Fungus was helping me get away, but man that dude was strong! Emilia and Cheryal came over to me and took me away.

"Do you want to tell us, why you had grabbed our son?" Emilia growled.

"I'm from Child Services. And I have a few complaints and references about your parenting style. And I came to see how well you were parenting him."

"Well as you can see, our child is fine."

"Right well I just want to ask Randall a few questions."

"Could this wait till after the science fair? Randall's been looking forward for this all year."

"Of course."

I looked at them, and opened my mouth to protest, but they pushed me towards my project, not giving me a word of how I felt about this. To be honest, I wasn't please. If I knew anything, Spencer or Mr. Plufinger, our next door neighbor had called him.

Well to sum it up, I won again; Spencer was mad, blah, blah, blah. You get the picture.

"You got lucky peasant."

"Not my fault for your disqualification. That's a lesson to you snob."

"Watch your mouth, nerd,"

"I don't have too."

"Randall!" Cheryal exclaimed when she heard me and Spencer at it.

Aw crap… I was so in for it. Emilia and Cheryal had raised me with the 'If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all' lesson. But I had ended up using Uncle Rhoul's tactic on not trying to be a push-over and to stand up for myself, and that didn't seem to work either.

"You know we don't make harsh comments to others."

"He started it," I muttered.

"I don't care if he started it or not, that's not how we raised you."

I knew there was only one way out of it.

"You're right mom; I'm really sorry Spencer, even if you never had a close bond with your parents, it was still very wrong for us to do what we did."

Spencer growled as I grinned.

"Thank you Randall. Now pack up, we have to go home."

"Yes mother," I replied as she took my hand.

I spun my head around and stuck my tongue at him. He growled at me, and I turned to look forward, smiling as I packed my stuff up. I pulled the wagon out and loaded the car. I climbed in, admiring the trophy that I got. Behind us, Mr. Slugworth was following us home. When we arrived, I pulled my stuff in, taking it to my room. I came back down to see Emilia and Cheryal talking to Mr. Slugworth.

"Ah Randall," Mr. Slugworth smiled. "Ready for those questions?"

I nodded as I went over to Emilia, being put on her lap.

"Now, are you a happy child?" he asked me.

"Moderately happy, why?"

"Have your parent's ever hurt you?"

"No!" I exclaimed. "Th-they would never!"

"Okay, there's no reason to get excited. Did your parents ever do anything, inappropriate with you?"

"No, but Uncle Rhoul took me to a night club when I was seven does that help?"

He wrote something down on his clipboard. I looked up at Emilia and she shrugged. I looked back at Mr. Slugworth.

"Has your Uncle done anything else?"

"Uh… he watched some scary movies with me, uh… taught me how to pick-pocket…"

"What?"

"Mr. Slugworth, I promise you that we have stopped my brother and took care of everything. I promise you, that we would never let Randall do that."

"But Uncle Rhoul said…" I started.

"Honey? Why don't you go upstairs and play, while we grown-ups have a talk." Emilia told me, nudging me off.

"Soon I'll be eleven, then I get to know stuff." I told him, and walked off.

I went to the other room and hid behind the wall, eavesdropping on them. I blended into my surroundings and snuck into the room. I went up to the couch and poked my head from behind.

"Well given the fact of what happened to him, when he was nine, and what his Uncle has done, I have no choice but to take him away."

"What? You can't be serious!" Cheryal exclaimed.

"We've done everything we can to protect him!" Emilia added.

"I'm sorry, but he's not safe here. Your brother has put him in serious danger in the past, I have no choice but to do what is best."

"Mr. Slugworth please, Randall is our life! We vowed to protect him!" Cheryal told him.

I-I was going to be taken away? I shook my head. No, I couldn't be. I loved being Emilia and Cheryal! They were the best thing to happen to me! I staggered back. It was bad enough to live through what I have… but being taken away? No! I wouldn't let it happen. I unblended myself and ran up to Cheryal and hugged her.

"No! I don't wanna leave! I want to stay here and be with you! Don't let him take me!" I cried out, clinging onto her.

"Randall, it's going to be okay," Cheryal told me.

"No! I don't want to go!" I told her. "You're the best thing that happened to me! I don't want to go the orphanage again! I don't like it there! Don't let me go!"

Cheryal hugged me, stroking my fronds to settle me down. I didn't want to go back there. It was horrible.

"I don't want to go," I sobbed.

"You can't take him away,"

"I'm sorry but I have to, it's the law." Mr. Slugworth told her, grabbing my arm and pulling me away.

I started to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let go. I couldn't let him take me, I wanted to stay with them and I needed Teddy. I kicked him in the shin and ran off.

"I'm not going!" I yelled.

I slammed the door and locked it. I grabbed my book bag and started tossing a few things in. I tucked Teddy in and climbed out the window.

"Randall, what are you doing?" Teddy asked me.

"Running away so I can stay with Emilia and Cheryal."

"And running away is the best option?"

"I'm not fully running away, just till that man goes away. I'm going to call grandma, so I'm going to Fungus's house."

"Randall, go home now. You're too young to make this big of a decision, when Emilia and Cheryal find out that your gone, they'll panic! Please, go back."

"No." I ran up to Fungus's house and knocked on the door.

Fungus opened the door and saw me.

"Randall? What are you doing?"

"I-I ran away…"

"You what? Randall! You have to go back home!"

"N-no! He'll take me away!" I exclaimed as I walked in.

"Who will?"

"This Child Service guy! He's going to take me away and have me live in the orphanage!"

"So what do we do?"

"Can you call my grandma?"

"Which one? Emilia's side or Cheryal's?

"Cheryal's! Grandma's a lawyer. If she can win any case then she can get me to stay with Emilia and Cheryal and I don't have to go with that guy!"

"But she lives in Clawsville and that's seven hours away."

I had sat on the couch and buried my head in my knees. I didn't know what to do anymore. Emilia and Cheryal are the best parents I could ever ask for. Better than anyone that I met. I didn't want to be taken away. They taught me everything I know, showed me thinks that I didn't think would be possible, and I was going to lose all that.

"Maybe I can see if you can stay till she comes. But I don't feel comfortable about lying."

"Neither do I, but I can't let him take me away from Emilia and Cheryal."

"I'll make the call, so hang tight, make yourself comfortable, and I'll see how I can get my parents to get you to stay."

I gulped as I pulled Teddy out. I didn't want to leave, but I knew this would be the only way to stay with Emilia and Cheryal, but I knew that I wouldn't get to stay with them after this…"

"That must be horrible. To finally get a family that loves you and to be taken away…" Sulley replied.

"Yeah… real sad… who wants coffee?" Mike asked.

"Mike," Sulley scowled.

"I was kidding," Mike replied. "After all, Randall's life is such a tragedy."

Sulley rolled his eyes. He knew Mike was more understanding of Randall a little bit more. They could tell that Randall wasn't a jerk that they thought he was, but a misunderstood reptile, who wanted nothing but a family to love him.


Being taken away by Child Services is scary (I'm assuming). You never know what's going to happen to you. Thankfully Randall has his amazing moms and his logical best friend on his side!