A Monstrous Mistake

Chapter 3: ...Another Opens

    They were in the middle of a gigantic room that could hold half of Portorosso. Everywhere they looked, Luca and Alberto could see (where those doors?) being lifted into the air or set into ports by claw-like devices. But as surprising as all of the doors were, the duo was even more surprised to see dozens of monsters walking around.

Luca was more than accustomed to seeing sea monsters. But these were nothing like the sea monsters of Portorosso. There were small ones, big ones, hairy ones, scaly ones, tentacled ones, some with sharp claws, some with many eyes, and some with no eyes at all. They came in all shapes and colors. And they were all walking in and out of the doors almost as soon as they landed in the ports.

"Luca," Alberto whispered, sounding as awed and confused as his friend, "do you hear that?"

Faint screaming could be heard each time a monster went through a door. The sound didn't seem to concern the monsters, but each shriek sent a chill down Luca's spine. Apparently, Francesca wasn't the only one who'd been visited by a monster.

Francesca. He suddenly felt like panicking. He and Alberto needed to get back through Francesca's closet door! He grabbed his best friend's arm and looked around. Francesca's closet was easy to identify from the rest, as it was a bright pink with a few star stickers on it. Alberto was about to make a run for the door when Luca pulled him back. He was about to protest when his friend put his finger over his lips, then pointed. 

The monster who'd inadvertently pulled the boys into this strange place swiped a plastic card across a panel next to the door port. The wire had fallen off of his foot, leaving no evidence of the boys' trap. He looked confused, as if trying to figure out what exactly had happened, then quickly shook his head, as if deciding not to think about it. 

Luca's heart sank as Francesca's door was lifted into the air, and carried across the room into a tunnel. A cold panic was building up inside him. How were they going to find it again? And, more importantly, what were they going to do? 

A bell went off, and all of the monsters began sending the doors away and leaving the room. When the last ones had left, Alberto stepped out from behind the cans. They had long since dried off, and appeared human. 

"Alberto," Luca asked, trying not to sound as scared as he was, "what just happened?"

"I don't know," his best friend admitted. "But isn't it cool?"

"Get back here," Luca urged. "We need to stay hidden. At least until we know what's going on."

"Okay, okay." He went back to Luca, and crouched behind the yellow cans. "But we won't learn anything if we just stay here." He looked around, and eyed an abandoned water bottle on a desk. It was see-through, and as big as a barrel (likely belonging to one of the gigantic monsters they'd seen a minute before). And it still held a lot of water. 

Alberto darted out from behind the cans, grabbed the water bottle, and poured some of it over his head. He immediately transformed into a sea monster, and threw Luca a look of encouragement. 

He hesitated. He really wanted to stay hidden until Francesca's door came back. They didn't know anything about these monsters. What if they eat sea monsters? Or humans? What if they ate sea monsters that sometimes looked like humans? 

But then he took a breath. Silenzio, bruno. He jumped up, ran as fast as his legs could carry him, and held still while Alberto dumped water on his head. His blue-green scales reappeared on his arms, and he looked up at Alberto's determined face.

"See? Humans call us monsters. So we'll blend right in. As long as we have this," he said, holding up the now half-full water bottle, "we can pretend we've been in this world all our lives. Then we find Francesca's door and go home. Easy."

Luca doubted that it would be that easy. But, they didn't have a lot of options. So the two started in the direction the other monsters had gone. It wasn't long before they started to see other monsters. Alberto had been right; they blended in fairly well. But they were already running low on water. 

"Are you two lost?" The pair was startled by a squeaky voice. They turned to see two monsters, who seemed to have been taking out the trash. One was skinny and orange, while the other was shorter, light green, and had four arms. 

"Y-Yeah," Luca answered, trying to act casual. "We're--" He glanced around, and saw the almost empty water bottle. "We're looking for water."

"Oh, sure." The orange monster pointed down the hall. "We just put a shipment of water packs away in the store room. You can help yourself."

"Water packs are what aquatic monsters like you can use while you're on land!" 

The orange monster hit the green one on the side of the head. "Shut up! They know what water packs are, you don't have to explain it!"

"You shut up, I'm trying to be helpful!"

Luca grabbed Alberto's hand, and they slipped away while the orange and green monsters argued. The storage room was just where the orange monster had pointed, and they ducked in right as they dried off completely.

In the center of the room was a rack of objects that reminded Luca of the backpacks the kids at school wore. Alberto put one on, then pressed the green button on the side. A spray of mist shot out of the top, emitting just enough water to get Alberto wet (and thus restoring his sea monster form) without getting everything else wet in the process. Luca quickly followed his lead.

"Okay, now that we can blend in," Alberto whispered as they slipped out of the storage room, "we just need to figure out where they keep the doors." 

This was easier said than done. They quickly realized that a majority of the monsters were adults, which meant that they, as the only kids in the building, got more than a few stares. 

Luca, feeling nervous, didn't notice when he passed a slime monster. Or that said monster left a trail, which he promptly slipped on. He would have landed flat on his back if someone hadn't caught him.

"Are you okay, kid? You need to watch your step." Luca was set back on his feet, and took a second to catch his breath before turning to see a large, blue, furry, yet friendly-sounding monster. Alberto, who'd been more afraid of Luca getting hurt than he wanted to admit, was quickly at his friend's side.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, sir."

"Please, call me Sulley. Glad that you're okay."

"What are you kids doing here, anyway?" Alberto and Luca's attention was drawn to a smaller, green monster with one giant eye, who'd been walking towards Sulley. "Are your parents somewhere around here?"

"No," Luca said, thinking quickly. "We're...doing a report for school! Right, Alberto?"

"Right! Really important, we wanted to get started right away." 

"Okay then. But you'll have to come back tomorrow." Sulley gestured to the front doors, which all of the monsters were leaving through. "It's closing time. If you come back in the morning, you should be able to work on your report."

"Okay, thank you Sulley, and--" Luca paused, realizing he didn't know the other monster's name. 

"Mike Wazowski." The cyclops waved to the kids. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye!" Alberto called as he grabbed Luca's hand and led him through a door. Luca was about to ask what they were doing when Alberto shushed him. 

"I have a plan."