Disclaimer: I don't own the Monsters, Inc. franchise.

Hydroelectrical Power

Chapter 1: A New Alternative

Inside their office at Monsters, Inc., James Patrick "Sulley" Sullivan and Michael "Mike" Wazowski were watching tv show "I Scream! U Scream!", hosted by a pair of conjoined twin monsters named Jack and Jill. "And Monstropolis rejoices as fugitive Randall Boggs is recaptured." Jill commented. "In addition to his previous crimes working for Henry Waternoose and Johnny Worthington, Boggs was caught stealing props from jokesters and framing Mike Wazowski, known as the one jokester who doesn't need props to make children laugh."

"That's right!" Mike proudly exclaimed.

"With that, laugh energy is once again safe for use!" Jack exclaimed.

"At least until Scream Industries convinces the world to accept their alternative energy." Jill replied, shocking practically everyone who was watching their show.

"Another alternative?" Mike asked.

"It seems not everyone willing to seek alternative sources of power was willing to rely on ours." Sulley commented.

"That's right, Jill." Jack agreed with his sister. "Eugene Roberts, new CEO of Scream Industries, is introducing a new way to generate power. Let's talk to him."

A screen in their show features a Dilophosaurus-like monster. "Thank you, Jack and Jill." Eugene Roberts replied. "Two months ago, when Johnny Worthington III was caught stealing laugh power from Monsters, Inc. and trying to pass it as scream power generated by Fear Co., it looked like laugh power would completely replace scream power. However, we at Scream Industries were already working at another kind of power source."

"And how does that power work, Mr. Roberts?" Jill asked.

"At C.R.E.E.P., there was a monster running inside a wheel to generate power and it was noted that running there for 18 hours generated 1 hour of power." Roberts explained. "Seeing that made me wonder if there was a way to make that wheel spin faster and I discussed it with Scream Industries' then CEO and we devised a way to use a waterfall. I believe humans call it "hydroelectrical power"."

"Are you turning water into power?" Jack asked.

"No, the water remains being water." Roberts answered. "I'm only using it to spin the wheels that generate the power but we may call it "water power" for short."

"Catchy name." Sulley commented.

"Whose side are you on?" Mike asked his friend.

"Mr. Roberts, what do you have to say to those who accuse you of only seeking that alternative because you're no longer scary?" Jill asked and he quickly pulled a scary pose on the hosts. "Wow, you still have it!" She commented. "You even knocked off my brother's wig."

"My real hair." Jack replied.

"Anyway, why don't you just switch to laugh power or stay with scream power?" Jill asked Roberts.

"Human kids aren't easy to scare nowadays, which was what led Henry Waternoose the Third to abduct them." Roberts said. "Laugh power might be better and I'm grateful to Monsters, Inc. for opening people's minds to alternative energy sources, but children's mood changes. Not to mention the toxicity factor. Every monster grew up being taught that human kids are the most toxic creatures in existence."

"But are they?" Jack asked. "Nothing happened to those who got too close to the one they used to convince Monstropolis to embrace laugh power."

"There must be some reason for it to be dangerous to mix scream power and laugh power." Roberts said. "We even acquired a scream extractor in case of accidental mix-ups since we're using laugh power for now. Scream Industries' goal is to avoid the toxicity and the uncertainties of scare and laughter by eventually reaching a level where we no longer need humans to generate power."

"And people called us crazy for introducing laugh power." Mike said.

"Mr. Roberts, what about the scarers and the jokesters working for your company?" Jill asked.

"They will get a place at Scream Industries even if they're no longer needed as either scarers or jokesters." Roberts replied and then another monster approached him.

"Is that Professor Brandywine?" Mike asked Sulley.

"Who?" Sulley asked back, surprising Mike.

"Pardon the interruption, Mr. Roberts." Professor Brandywine stated in monotone. "We are ready to collect hydroelectrical energy."

"Yes, that's him alright." Mike commented, unable to forget how his former scream can design teacher sounded.

"He does sound familiar but I still don't remember him." Sulley commented.

"I'm glad to hear it, Professor." Roberts said and then addressed Jack and Jill. "Jack, Jill, this is Professor William Brandywine, teacher for Scream Can Design 101 at Monsters University."

"Now I remember him." Sulley said, still sore over being kicked out of Monsters University's scare program.

"Nice to meet you, Professor Brandywine." Jack politely said.

"Charmed." Professor Brandywine stated, still sounding dull.

"Professor Brandywine, how do you feel about the introduction of a new alternative power source?" Jill asked.

"Excited." Professor Brandywine answered albeit his tone didn't show any excitement. "Not only we are reaching another step towards avoiding the toxicity but we are hopefully also developing a newfound respect for can designing. Monsters, Inc. had to develop a new can model to contain laugh power."

Eugene Roberts then activated the power generation. "A new era of energy generation has begun." He declared.

At Monsters, Inc.'s mess hall, other monsters were watching the news. "Great. Just great." Tylor Tuskmon sarcastically said. "First I spend years at Monster University to qualify as a scarer only to learn scarers became obsolete and replaced with jokesters. Now that I'm finally getting the hang of it, somebody is threatening the new job as well. With my luck, once I learn how to collect water power, Monstropolis will switch to solar power."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Tylor." Tylor's co-worker and jokester partner Val Little said. "Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Wazowski didn't spend all that effort establishing laugh power to give up that easily. The real surprise was learning Professor Brandywine still teaches."

"You knew him in spite of only staying in Monsters University for one day?" Tylor asked, surprised at this. "I stayed long enough to graduate and I'm barely aware of his existence."

"That's because his course isn't popular among scare students." Val explained. "And I've heard of Professor Brandywine from my Dad, who took his class after being rejected from the scare program."

Another monster joined their conversation. "I wouldn't be worried if I were you, college boy." Duncan P. Anderson said.

"Why not, Duncan?" Tylor asked.

"Even if Monsters, Inc. does switch from laugh power to water power, the both of you can simply become MIFTers again." Duncan explained. "I am the one who needs to worry." He muttered, still afraid Tylor wanted to become head MIFTer.

"See, Tylor?" Val happily asked, oblivious to Duncan's feelings. "Even if the door closes, a window will open."

But Duncan wasn't done speaking. "And besides, the extra machinery might make Roberts need more SIFTers."

"SIFTers?" Tylor and Val asked in confusion.

"MIFT stands for "Monsters, Inc. Facilities Team" so it makes sense to assume our counterparts from Scream Industries are known as "Scream Industries Facilities Team", SIFT for short." Duncan commented.

"Makes sense." Val replied. Tylor refused to comment.

Another employee, Roger Rogers a.k.a. Henry J. Waternoose IV, couldn't help but overhear that conversation. 'Uh-oh, I must warn Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Wazowski.' He thought.

Back at the tv show, Jack and Jill weren't done. "On another news, Fear Co. is back in business." Jill said. "We are now doing an interview with its new CEO, Chet Alexander."

"Way to go, Chet!" Mike exclaimed.

"Jack, Jill, it's nice to be in your show." Chet commented.

"Thank you, Mr. Alexander." Jack replied. "Mr. Alexander, which kind of power will the company produce under your rule?"

"We're switching to laugh power, Jack." Chet answered. "All scarers were given opportunities to become jokesters."

"I refused." Joy said, appearing on the screen. "I'm a scarer and won't downsize myself trying to make kids laugh instead of scream so now I'm working as a janitor. Anyway, thanks for expanding the lunch time, Mr. Alexander."

"It's a pleasure, Joy." Chet replied as she left his office to clean elsewhere. "I couldn't simply fire her after all the screams she got for the company."

"And what do you think about Scream Industries' idea of using water power, Mr. Alexander?" Jill asked.

"I think they had already spent too much on it by the time laugh power became a thing, Jill." Chet answered. "I don't blame them for looking for a power source that doesn't require us to approach human children but it turns out they're not as toxic as we were led to believe. I wonder if it was a rumor started to make us have no moral qualms about scaring the kids."

"Good theory." Sulley agreed.

"So, you're not trying to use water power, right?" Jill asked.

"That's right, Jill." Chet answered. "It's one thing to start all the trouble of building a way to harness water power back when one doesn't expect children to provide enough power to supply the world's needs but we at Fear Co. believe that, like Monsters, Inc., we can convert enough laugh power to avoid needing the new alternative provided by Mr. Roberts."

"One last question, Mr. Alexander." Jack said. "What happened to Johnny Worthington's shares of Fear Co.? Does his wife own them now?"

"No." Chet answered. "Because of Worthington's crimes, the company's bylaws allowed the other stockholders to buy his shares, which were sold by a pittance."

"That's it." Jill commented. "Thank you, Mr. Alexander."

"Will we hire Mrs. Worthington?" Mike asked Sulley.

"Too soon, Mike." Sulley answered.

After the interview was over, Eugene Roberts was inspecting Scream Industries' recently-built facilities. "How's everything going, Professor Brandywine?" He asked.

"We're producing more than expected, Mr. Roberts." Professor Brandywine answered, still showing no emotions. "Add this to the fact we can collect power 24/7 instead of having to wait for human children's bedtime, and we'll be able to eventually eliminate the need for human energy scream and laugh alike."

"Excellent." Roberts said. "We can finally avoid the toxicity in a way even the scare games couldn't have prepared us."

Meanwhile, at the local prison, a routine check-up was being done. "Johnny Worthington?" A guard asked.

"Here." Johnny replied.

"Henry Waternoose?" The guard asked but heard no reply. "Henry Waternoose?" He asked again and, since he still heard no reply, he took a look at the cell Henry Waternoose should be sharing with Johnny Worthington. "Worthington, where's your cellmate?" The guard asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Johnny asked in reply. "It's not my job to keep an eye on him."

"We'll talk about that later." The guard stated with a frown.

End chapter.

Author's Note: My OC Eugene Roberts was named after Eugene Falkenburg, engineer who worked on hydroelectrical power plants, and his son Robert, who introduced the concept of fast foods in Brazil.

Author's Note 2: For Eugene's face, try to picture Diego from Dino Ranch.