(This has been an absolute blast so far. I'm grateful for the reviews I've gotten so far, and I'm happy to know so many people like my writing. This fic is officially done, but I hope you're all eagerly awaiting "The Winds Of Change". Also, you can follow my Randall blog for fic peeks and art at thescalypurplemonster on tumblr.

Here's a little insight of what's to come:

Immediately following the events of "Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You", Randall has managed to find his way back to Monstropolis. What he gets is everything but a welcoming committee, but all that matters to the lizard is putting things back to the way they were. But he quickly realizes things are so much different now. The revolution of their energy crisis has been solved without him, and Waternoose is gone. To top it off, he's under strict probhation with little wiggle room to move. He wants nothing to do with the way the company works now, but it's either adapt to the new ways, or be banished once more. And it may depend on only one child to make either outcome happen.

Also, a small shout out to my absolute favorite Randall fic on here called "Family" (I forget the author), but that's where I get most of my inspiration. It's the most well written fanfic I have ever seen in this fandom.)

Boo awoke at half past seven to her aunt eagerly snapping up the blinds to her window, the light that poured in stinging her eyes.

"Git up, hon, I got a great surprise for ya! Yer cousin Louise is coming over fer a visit! She ain't much older than you, only six years old. Ah'm sure you'll both get along great!"

The three year old whimpered subtly, wanting anything than to play with anymore loud, crazy relatives. She'd much rather stay up in he bedroom and draw all day, until she could go visit Lizzy tonight. Actually, given she hadn't gone back home until the moon had gone to bed, she'd rather sleep.

"We thought we'd take y'all to see the purple lizard today!" That woke her up. "Been wantin' to' see it myself." She tried smiling reassuringly at the girl. "Don't worry, 'e's not very dangerous cooped up in there."

This crazy lady had no idea.

"Edith!" Uncle Ed shouted from downstairs, as a fist suddenly pounded on the front door. "Louise is here!"

Boo blinked as Edith gave a squeal of delight, suddenly grabbed her, and pulled the girl's jumper on inside out, and her shoes on the wrong feet. The toddler whined and tugged at the twisted straps all the way down the stairs.

Louise reminded Boo of her aunt, but a little cleaner. She had on a shaggy pair of overalls, and her red hair went down to her back in a single braid. She had so many freckles you couldn't even see her face if you tried. "Howdy! Ah'm Louise!" She grinned, and was missing a tooth. "Nice ta' meet ya! What's yer name?"

Still grappling with her mismatched shoes and uncomfortable straps, Boo puffed her chest out proudly and said, "Boo!" To her surprise, Louise didn't laugh at her like most of the other adults did. She just grinned back.

"Cool name!"

Boo's chocolate eyes brightened with shock and giddiness. She gave a happy babble of delight and took her new friend's hand, leading her into the living room to play. Louise happily obliged and followed her, accidentally stepping on several of Boo's drawings on the way. She gasped and hopped back. "Aw, gee, Ah'm sorry about that!"

Boo felt a flutter in her tummy as Louise slowly picked up a drawing of her Kitty. She bit her lower lip, just waiting for the six year old to start laughing and say she was crazy, or just adorable for having such an interesting imaginary friend—as her mother would put it.

"Wow!" Louise gasped. "This polka-dotted fuzzy guy kinda reminds me of the monster that visits me at night! Only he's orange mostly. He only has one horn on his head."

Anyone else in this household would have rolled their eyes or laugh and pinch Louise's cheeks. Boo, however gave a gasp of shock and turned to Louise. "Monster?"

"Yeah." Louise's cheek pressed against the top of her hand, as she thought fondly to the many nights her friend would visit her. "Aw, he's a swell friend too. Ya wouldn't think monsters would be so sweet, but this one is. He comes to mah room every night to make me laugh. Sometimes he just leaves as soon as he's got me a gigglin' mess, but I've gotten him to stay with me fer a bit."

Boo looked amazed by this.

"The thing with adults is they don't understand or believe there's such things as monsters. It's what they tell ya from the beginnin' of time, monster's don't exist. But they do. Ah've given up trying to make 'em believe—just as long as they don't make me switch rooms or somethin'. Ah don't wanna lose 'im."

"Kids!" Edith shouted from the porch. "Come on, we're gettin' ready ta' go now!"

It was the first time Randall had actually been fully coherent since he was captured. Apparently a new, spindly little worker that had forgotten to give him a light sedative before the people arrived was the reason for that. Interns...

He was fully alert by the time the crowds had arrived, and stayed on the ceiling when any of them came near. Disgusting creatures they were, even if many of the monsters now had a much different opinion on humans. His hadn't changed; if anything, his hatred for them had grown stronger at seeing what cruelties they were capable of. His opinion on the shrimp may have changed; she had gone from being toxic and disgusting to just plain annoying.

"Go on ahead Bobby, and take Boo and Louise to see the lizard."

His frills lifted in surprise. Boo?

Curiosity is what propelled him to scale down the back of the cage and slither to the bars. The first thing he saw was that same southern scum that had tried mangling him with a shovel a year ago. He hissed and swallowed back all the curses he wanted to snarl to the disgusting inbred, focusing instead on the familiar little toddler that was scuttling up to his bars. There was another kid with her.

"Wow, look at 'im, look at those scales! He sure is a weird gator!" Louise grinned. "He's got so many legs!"

The three year old looked up at him, and in habit, Randall snapped at her. "What are you doing here? Is bugging me all through the night just not enough for you now?" Instantly, he froze in fear when he realized what he did.

Thankfully, Bobby, the ever responsible babysitter was distracted talking to a woman over by the entrance, and most of the crowd was busy at the other exhibits. The only ones who had heard him was the shrimp and her little friend, whose mouth was currently on the ground.

"He can talk! Wow, is he ever cool!" Louise gushed. "He reminds me of my monster friend! You're so neat! Can I pet you and feed you popcorn?!"

Randall chose to ignore the rest of her question, gripping the bars tightly and staring wide eyed at her. "What did you say about monsters?"

"My pet monster!" Louise blabbed on. "He comes into my room every night, through mah closet! He's real funny looking—you remind me of him, even though he's a little cuter and you're a little uglier!" Randall scowled as Boo giggled.

"A closet? A monster visits you at night through a closet?"

"Are you hard of hearing or somethin'?"

"Answer the question, kid!"

"Yeah, he visits through my closet every night! Sometimes he even leaves the door open and I've been tempted to go through it, but, Ah dunno, I've been scared."

The lizard couldn't believe it. It was what he had been waiting for for a year. It was like the message of a very strange looking, obnoxious angel. "Where do you live?"

Louise pointed past the trailer Boo had come from, to a yellow one just down the street. "See that trailer there? That's where I live—it's the trailer with the flamingo thing in front that got its head bitten off by my dog. You gonna come play sometime?"

"Yeah, sure," Randall muttered, not even listening to her as his eyes fixated on the trailer in the distance. Boo had her fist in her mouth, biting it nervously. She felt stuck. Randall was mean. He was mean, nasty, and dangerous. She wanted to help him, but she didn't know if he was friendly enough yet to go back home. She didn't want him to hurt her Kitty.

"Louise, Boo, come on now!" Edith called to the children. "We're goin' home!"

Randall was on his hind legs for the first time in a while, finally strong enough to stand on his own. The shrimp's alcohol-medicine worked pretty well, he'd begrudgingly give her that much. For the first time since he had been given sedatives daily, he was going to try and camouflage. His only hope of getting out rode on whether he could do it or not.

He shut his eyes tightly in concentration, and vanished. He gave a grin that couldn't be seen in the darkness, happier than he could remember being in a while. His body dissolved back into shape, just waiting. He saw a guard in the distance, doing checks around the lot. Quickly, he vanished. It didn't take long for the guard to notice that a giant purple lizard had gone missing from the cage.

"What the-" He fumbled frantically with his handheld radio and hissed into the speaker. "Johnny! Johhny, ya read? Ah think the purple gator's gone missin'!"

"What?" a muffled voice hissed back. "Ya know the boss will kill us if that's true! Check the entire cage—I'll be out in a minute!"

A large, eager grin snaked across the monster's face as the guard came near. His body poised, ready to bolt the moment the door opened. Adrenaline pumped through him with every rattle as the guard struggled to open the door. He peered up to see if the gator was somehow attached to the ceiling. That's when Randall bolted.

He leaped over the guard's head, his invisible tail slapping the man in the face as he did so. The guard whirled around and threw a punch. It hit Randall in the chest, and he became visible again. He gave him a roundhouse kick, and the man stumbled haphazardly into the cage with a loud clang. A frightened cry sounded from behind it.

Randall whirled around to see terrified, brown eyes staring at him. "Kid?"

A sudden beam of light blinded them both from the distance, illuminating the furious features on another guard's face. "Hey, you two!" he shouted gruffly. "STOP!"

Boo bounded to the purple monster and clung to his back before he could throw her off. The guard already started racing towards them.

The reptile sucked in a sharp breath, instinct taking over as he took off towards the woods. Multiple limbs thudded rapidly against the ground as Randall's serpentine body shot through the foliage. Leaves smacked against his face, the scent of wet earth filling his lungs- the shout of the guard running through the woods to follow and the blinding lights flashing in his eyes all contorting his senses. He muttered about his rotten luck, grunting occasionally as the girl's little fingers tightened on his frills.

"Ah! Watch it, shri- OW!" he growled, ducking under a branch, the light disappearing through the bushes, suddenly wrapping himself around a tree, twisting around it as he climbed up, up, and up.

Despite the fear of being captured and placed back in that heinous cell, Randall scowled as the kid squished herself up against him, rolling his eyes as the lights faded. There was a pause, listening for crunching leaves or snapping twigs- and the monster sighed, leaning against the tree to let his heart and limbs take a breather.

"Alright, alright," he hissed, nudging Boo's head away from his neck, groaning as she only snuggled tighter. "What is this, you forget how to let go? Give me some space, kid!"

"All gone?" Boo whispered, her brown eyes scanning the night. She could see the trailer from here—they hadn't gone far into the woods. She saw the guard searching, but luckily, Randall's camouflage kept them out of sight.

"Yeah, they're gone. Now loosen up, will you?!"

It took a few seconds, and a lot of prying, but Boo finally loosened up, sliding down from his neck to sit on his back instead. It was easier to keep a hold of, since most of his body was a giant c-shape.

Randall slowly scaled down the pine tree, nudging the girl off his back. He was confident he'd find his way, even through the forest. They hadn't gone far in—far enough to lose the guards, but not far enough to get lost. He could see both trailers from here, which meant both he and the kid could get home safely (not that he at all cared if something were to snap her up right now mind you).

He was already turning to leave, and Boo gave a hesitant babble, which caused him to turn his head to her. The three year old stood there, shuffling almost shyly on her feet. A pink blush lit up her pale cheeks as she pulled out a piece of paper from inside her footie pajamas. She wasn't sure why she was giving this to him—it wasn't as if he wouldn't just throw it to the ground and crumple it.

It was nearly pitch black in the forest, but there was still a faint beam of moonlight that dappled through the leaves and illuminated what was on the paper. It was a picture of him, he realized, and wondered just how much she drew him. As much as her Kitty, perhaps?

He was smiling in the drawing, and he wondered to himself when he ever let a smile slip in front of the child. Or perhaps this was just the way she was imagining him when he'd be happy again? He had no idea, and he honestly felt floored.

Nobody had ever made anything for him—not that he could remember anyway. He was more or less the person that just stayed in the shadow of someone else (Sullivan), watching as they were praised and given gifts and patted on the back. He never got that from anyone, because everyone hated him (and to be fair, he despised everyone as well). The only monster he knew that didn't totally hate his guts was Fungus, and even then, Fungus had never made anything for him. Nothing more than a cup of coffee maybe.

The toddler kept the drawing held up. It covered her face, and Randall couldn't see her expression. He could still see that hopeful lilt in her brown eyes though.

The guards would probably find them soon, but the reptile stayed there as a sudden level of awkwardness washed over him. He wasn't sure how to receive this, so he decided to eliminate himself from the problem completely. "I don't have pockets, Shrimp. And if I did, I'd rather carry something necessary to my survival than a picture."

She lowered it slowly to her side, disappointment clear in her face. Randall felt almost grateful for the flood of light that saved him from any more exchange with the girl. He vanished from sight and took off towards the trailers, as a guard gently grabbed Boo from behind.

"How the heck did you manage to get out here, kid? Let's get you home."

He watched with wide, utterly perplexed eyes as a familiar monster—one he had worked with in the company for years- stood there balancing on a beach ball and juggling tomatoes in his paws. Boo's little friend sat there in her bed just laughing and clapping. Randall couldn't even believe this atrociousness—he was gonna get fired for good. He only hoped this was somebody's idea of a joke, and that things weren't really being run this way. But with how things had been declining before he banished, he wouldn't be surprised if Waternoose's sanity had completely deteriorated.

His eyes darted to the door, which the idiot had carelessly left open. Of course that wasn't a big surprise. Children weren't toxic. For all he knew after the events of Boo, they probably hosted picnics and tea parties for the children.

He slithered on his belly low to the floor, using his stealth to make sure he didn't bump into any of Louise's toys.

He stood there on all limbs, looking out into the bright light, the entrance to home. They may have forgotten how to work the company, but he'd show them. He'd remind them.

Randall Boggs was back.

TBC...