Hello. I haven't written fanfiction in many years, but a number of things have popped up this year that have greatly inspired me, and one of them is Monsters vs. Aliens. I anticipated it for many months and am quite irritated by the fact that I have only seen it twice. But here's my fic! I call it "The Good Life". A largely plotless detailing of the monsters' lives after they save the world!

The Good Life

Chapter 1: The Mansion

"All right," said the Missing Link, hefting a Wii Remote. "I call player one. Last one to say 'go' is out."

"Go," said Susan.

"Go," said B.O.B.

"Go," said Dr. Cockroach.

"Cool," said Link. He tossed remotes to the other three. "Sorry, Insecto."

Insectosaurus nodded, unbothered.

The five monsters were at their new home, a lavish mansion on a cliff overlooking the ocean just outside of Modesto. Each of the mansion's three stories was high-ceilinged enough for Susan to stand comfortably, and the cliff was just the right height that Insectosaurus could stand at the foot of the cliff and peer through the windows.

Link inserted the Wii Sports disc and selected bowling. The monsters owned a gigantic television set, with surround sound, Wii, Blu-Ray, and Apple TV. Saving the world had its perks, and money was readily available in seemingly endless supply. The monsters had all the food, clothes, and entertainment they could ever imagine.

Link swung his Wii-mote and bowled a flawless strike. "Hmm," he said thoughtfully. "I don't like that. So far, I'm off to a bad start."

Susan laughed appreciatively, then delicately raised her own controller. It had taken some getting used to, but after some time she had learned how to make her movements subtle enough that she didn't destroy anything. In her practice, she had gone through four televisions and at least twenty Wii-motes.

Now, however, she bowled a perfect Brooklyn strike.

"Well done, Susan," said Dr. Cockroach, applauding. "You're up, B.O.B."

B.O.B. slid up off the couch and held up his Wii-mote. He moved his character back and forth, back and forth, then switched modes and slanted the path of the ball from side to side. He squinted at the screen and moved himself from side to side.

"Uh, dude?" Link said. "What are you doing?"

"I'm contemplating," B.O.B. replied.

"I see. Well, don't! Just bowl already."

"I want to get this exactly right," B.O.B. insisted. "Just give me a second."

He considered for a few more moments, then bowled. The ball curved wildly and only knocked down the #7 pin.

"Smooth," Link chuckled.

"I got 'em right where I want 'em," B.O.B. said smugly. He bowled again, this time only hitting the #10 pin.

"Good strategy," Link said. "Could use some work, though."

Dr. Cockroach stood up to bowl. An alarm on his wristwatch went off, and he glanced out the window. "Escargantua is getting away again," he reported. "Do you mind, Insectosaurus?"

Insectosaurus looked down the mansion's driveway, where the giant snail was indeed making a run for it. He fluttered into the air, scooped Escargantua up, and set it back in the house's fenced-in yard.

The defeat of the Parisian monster was not as glamorous as the team had expected. The snail was barely larger than Susan, perfectly harmless, and by all appearances only as intelligent as a normal snail. The monsters had spent some time debating what to do with it, but hadn't yet gotten to a conclusion.

They finished their game of Wii Bowling. B.O.B. scored an all-time worst of 16, Dr. Cockroach had a reasonably good score of 130, and Link and Susan were tied at 240.

A derisive screech came from outside the back window.

Link bristled. "Is that right, pal?" he snarled. "I suppose you can do better? All right, you and me, baseball, right now."

"SCREECH."

"Well, if you need some time to prepare, I understand…"

"SCREECH."

"Right now? You sure? If you say so…"

Link clicked on baseball. Susan passed her Wii-mote out the window, and Insectosaurus caught it in his spindly hand. Link held his remote like a bat, and Insectosaurus pressed the A and B buttons to throw a splitter. Link didn't swing. Insectosaurus threw another splitter, and Link still didn't move.

"I can do this all day, pal," Link growled.

Insectosaurus threw a curveball, and Link hit a double. Link chuckled. "I am so going to whip your hide," he said.

"You realize," Susan noted, "that if you two actually played baseball, Insectosaurus would pound you five miles through solid rock, don't you?"

"Yeah, well, that's why we've got the Wii," Link retorted. "Besides, how could a 35-story butterfly play baseball anyway?"

"Ooh, I know this one," said B.O.B. "Anything he wants, right?"

The others were silent for a moment. Dr. Cockroach suddenly nodded, laughed, and said, "I think that's the answer to 'What does a 35-story butterfly eat?'"

"Ah," said Link. "Anything he wants. Good try, B.O.B."

Insectosaurus threw a fastball straight down the middle, and Link hit it spectacularly.

"Uh, guys?" said B.O.B. "Escargantua's getting away again."

Insectosaurus sighed and spread his wings, but Susan held up a hand to stop him. "I'll get him, Insecto," she said. "You keep playing."

Susan ran down the driveway and hauled Escargantua back to the backyard. She ran back to the living room as soon as she could.

"What'd I miss?" she asked.

"Mercy rule," Link said, smirking. "I just smeared Insecto all over the field. Hey, Doc, I was just thinking, I think Escargantua is really causing us more trouble than he's worth. I mean, the idea of a new monster was exciting, but it really doesn't work when our only interaction with him is catching him and bringing him back. Do you think you could rig something up? Turn him back into a snail?"

"Perhaps," Dr. Cockroach said thoughtfully. "The circumstances that made Escargantua grow are quite different from what affected Susan and Insectosaurus… perhaps I could work something out to reverse the effects. Hmm… Susan, could you run to the kitchen and fetch some soy milk and a powdered fruit drink? Ah… wild cherry, if you could. And, B.O.B., if you could get the toothbrush jar from the bathroom…"

Susan and B.O.B. obeyed him as he muttered under his breath. When they returned, Dr. Cockroach mixed the milk and the wild cherry fruit drink in the toothbrush jar. The drink immediately took on a neon-green glow. "Perfect," Dr. Cockroach said. "Now, all I need is something to charge it… aha…"

He grabbed a paperclip from the computer desk, bent it, and dipped it in the concoction. It immediately sparked with electricity. "Excellent… mua-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sorry."

"See, that is just cool," Susan said. "I never would have guessed that wild cherry fruit drink in soy milk with a paper clip in a ceramic jar would do that. You're a genius, Doctor."

"Great," Link said dimly. "Now, who's up for some tennis?"

"You four go ahead," Dr. Cockroach said. "I'll test this out on the subject."

Dr. Cockroach headed to the backyard as the others hooked up their remotes.

"I want to be on Insectosaurus' team!" B.O.B. said excitedly.

Link raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Insecto's almost as bad as you."

"Yeah, and you and Susan are the best. It's fair!"

Link smirked up at Susan. "Yep, that's fair all right."

Dr. Cockroach returned, looking a bit upset.

"You okay, Doc?" Link asked.

"Fine," he replied. "Escargantua shrank to about two feet long… I couldn't get it any smaller, and according to the rules, it's still big enough to qualify as a monster. So I just ate it."

Link nodded. "Yeah, that works."