Ninja No Show
As with my previous story, featuring Frozen, I wrote this for fun/out of boredom. I'm not looking for ways to improve my writing. The rc9gn fandom needed some more stories, so I thought I'd contribute. Enjoy!
"Remember, Cunningham, video game marathon at my house tonight! Gotta get our Grave Puncher on before this long break! SPRING BREAK!" This was yelled by a short, chubby, red haired teen. He looked expectantly up at his friend.
"SPRING BREEEAK! Aight' Howard, gonna need some SLAPPAGE!" The taller, lankier, purple haired boy yelled back. The two friends proceeded to do an intricate high-five/secret handshake combination, while hollering. The two were walking down their school hallway, after their last class had ended. Passing students stared at the freshmen, but they didn't seem to notice, or care.
"Goodbye, Randy! Have a good break!" A purple haired girl walked by, fiddling with a twirling baton nervously.
"Bye Teresa!" Randy said quickly, and turned back to his friend Howard.
"This is sooo bruce. Almost two weeks of no school, no homework, no McFist…" Randy let the last word linger a bit. Well…hopefully no McFist. Or sorcerer. That'd be wonk.
"Yeah, you better hope no McFist. Cunningham, this break is going to be the cheese, the best of the year. You wanna know why? There's going to be no NNS!" Howard yelled, pumping his fist happily. Randy laughed nervously as his best friend brought that term up again. Ninja No Show referred to the times where he and Howard had planned something together, and Randy was late due to the fact that he had to ninja out. He wish he didn't have to do this, but McFist and the sorcerer always seemed to pick the worst times. Howard didn't understand it was his responsibility either, and he felt bad to make the boy so upset. Randy and Howard had been friends since before kindergarten, but when Randy had become Norrisville's ninja, their friendship became a little strained. He knew, deep down, that Howard understood, he just felt bad.
The two jumped down the steps by the front door, and began walking to Howard's house. The air was warm, and the sun was out. The perfect start to a spring break.
"Hey Howard, can I sleep over tonight? I forgot my mom was at work again." Howard looked up at his friend. Randy was avoiding eye contact, but Howard knew why.
"Of course, bro." He said softly.
"Bruce! I'm just getting a new pair of clothes, because I took mine home from your house last time. I'll be right there!"
Randy ran down the street, toward a house a few blocks away. That was always Randy's line. He knew that Randy's mom almost never came home. And when she did, she was drunk. After Randy's parents had divorced when he was 10, he was alone a lot. He had never seen him cry though, so he always figured his friend just had an under-active sad gland. Does that exist? Howard thought to himself. Well, let's just say it does.
Howard happily walked into his house, forgetting the earlier, sadder thoughts, putting his house key on the kitchen table as he walked by. He made sure to leave the front door unlocked for his friend. He said hi to his sister, Heidi, and grabbed some food for Randy and himself and walked downstairs. He decided not to put in a new game of Grave Puncher, not yet. He'd wait for his friend. He'd be there any second. He checked the time on his phone. 3:18.
He'd be here any minute.
Randy shoved a new pair of clothes in his backpack, along with a six-pack of McRoot Beer for Howard and himself. He checked his watch, 3:18. He took the stairs, two at a time, and almost skipped out of the house. He couldn't wait to start spring break with Howard. He was just passing a stop sign when he heard a loud crash, and creaming shortly afterward. Randy looked up, on guard. A large robot was at school! Really, McFist?! Randy growled to himself. He carefully stowed his backpack in some bushes next to him, and pulled on the ninja mask. The ninja suit materialized, a black garment with red trim. He also had a long red scarf, which he could use as a weapon, and could make weapons come out of. Randy still couldn't believe how honkin' cheese the suit was. He checked the time again. 3:20.
This will only take a minute.
"Ninja sprint, ninja sprint, ninja sprint!" Randy yelled, as he ran toward the robot. He pulled his sword out, and leaped into the air, ready to slice some metal in half. He didn't anticipate the robot…well…anticipating his move, and felt himself being whacked away. He slammed into the ground and slid a few feet. Wow. Good thing this suit protects most injuries. Randy thought, as he got up again.
"Ninja slice! Ninja slice!" He was trying to fight the robot with his sword, but it seemed to know how to counter every attack Randy could think of. What the juice? At least I'm distracting it, and the other students have escaped. The fight between the robot and the ninja continued.
"Where IS he?" Howard mumbled to himself as he checked his phone for the millionth time.
"It's four o'clock! He said he'd be here any minute." He pulled out his phone again, and sent a quick text out. Where are you, Cunningham?! He stared at the phone, and a few minutes later he got a response. Robot, school, can't talk be there soon! Howard could scream in frustration. He was always doing this! He ruined them hanging out, he ruined their schoolwork, and he was tired of it. He almost wished Randy had never become the ninja at all. He ran a hand through his reddish-brown hair, and reluctantly opened up a game on his phone.
Randy was tired, and as he swung for the hundredth time he missed, got slammed into the ground. Got back up. Repeat. He and the robot were now on the school roof, but that didn't seem to stop it. Suddenly, the robot seemed to switch attack modes. The…thing…shot out a claw, close to Randy's face. Randy was alert enough to dodge, but he wasn't quick enough. He felt the claw dig through the skin on his cheek, ripping through the ninja mask.
"Ow!" He exclaimed, putting a hand up to his cheek. The robot took his distraction as a ticket to victory, and shot out another claw. This one wrapped around his skinny body, and the shaking teen was lifted to the robot's face. It began to speak.
"Why do you try this, ninja?" The robot's metallic voice drawled. What the juice? It can talk? Its eyes stared emptily into Randy's. Randy struggled in the claw arm, but he was too tired.
"Don't you realize, it's futile? Not just this fight, young boy. Every fight. I can see into your mind, ninja. Don't you realize, that no one truly loves you? They're in love with the ninja, not you. Soon even that will fall when I defeat you. But, your friends, family…you have a secret fear they don't love you. Well it's true. Your daddy hasn't called in four years. Your mommy could care less about you. You were the problem in their marriage, don't you realize? They would've been better off without you." Randy stopped struggling, and listened to the robot. Was he…right..? No… Keep fighting…
"Don't struggle, ninja. It's not worth it. You're not worth it. You're worthless. You can easily be replaced. Even your best friend hates you, because you always have to be the ninja. He wouldn't even care if you were gone. Everyone hates you, ninja. You're hopeless. You're scared, scared to be the ninja, I can tell. You should be. You will fail, just like you fear. And everyone will hate you even more. You can't be the ninja!"
Randy was shaking in the claw hand, trying to forget the robot's words. He knew, deep down, the robot was right. He then remembered it was made by McFist, so he tried to convince himself it was just a tactic to let his guard down. With the last bit of his remaining strength, he shoved the claw apart and dropped to the roof floor beneath him. He backed up, this time without a sword. He ran full tilt at the robot, and tackled it. Luckily, the robot wasn't able to get its footing on time, and the two went hurtling off the roof. Randy shot his scarf out, and lassoed it around the flagpole, so he could watch the robot crash into the ground, shattering into a million pieces. Randy slid to the dirt beneath him, and took off the mask, shoving it in his pocket. He wrapped his arms around his shaking body, and began to walk towards Howard's house. It was getting dark. In his sadness, he forgot to grab his backpack. He walked up to his best friend's door, and painted a smile on his face. He tried to look as animated as he could, and stepped through. He heard Howard cursing at a phone game in the basement, and jumped down the stairs.
"Hey, Howard." Howard looked up and saw Randy sit down on the chair across from him.
"Hey, Howard? HEY, HOWARD? It's almost five o'clock, two hours after you said you'd be here, and you greet me with HEY HOWARD!" He saw Randy cringe, but he didn't care.
"You just had to go ninja out, didn't you?! And it took forever!" Howard yelled angrily.
"S-sorry Howard. I know you're mad at me. The robot was just really d-d-difficult to beat." Randy said, trying to get his voice not to waver.
"Hard to beat! It took two hours! It's five o' clock! You'd think that you would be a better ninja if you could beat things faster!" Howard huffed angrily, crossing his arms. He heard a sniffle come from the chair opposite him, and he looked over in surprise.
"I k-k-know. I'm sorry I r-really am. I k-know I'm a b-bad ninja. And an even worse f-f-friend. I'm so worthless-s-s…" Randy cried out suddenly, his voice shaking on every word. He leaned his head into his knees and began to cry, remembering everything the robot had said to him. He knew it was true, and years of pent up emotion suddenly came forth. He had never cried in front of Howard, and that made him sob harder, thinking about how pathetic he looked.
Howard's eyes were wide, looking at Randy. He was…crying? Oh no…he's crying. What happened? I swear to God I'll murder whatever it was that made him think like this. Did he just call himself worthless? He is NOT worthless. Howard pushed himself up from the couch, and stood in front of Randy. The boy was crying into his knees, refusing to look up. He sighed, and grabbed Randy's hands, pulling him up. Randy rose to full height, still looking down. Howard walked him over to the couch, and sat him so they were facing each other.
"Randy. Look at me." Howard said, cupping his hand under his friend's cheek and lifting it up. His friend looked at him with watery eyes and tear stained cheeks. Howard noticed a red line across Randy's cheek.
"Randy, what's this?" He asked, gently touching the cut. Randy sniffled and rubbed his nose with his sleeve.
"The robot cut me when I wasn't looking. I would've anticipated it if I had been a better ninja…" more tears leaked out of his friend's eyes. Howard's heart broke at the sight of his lifelong best friend like this. Randy didn't even cry when his parent's split up, didn't even cry when his mom started coming home drunk. He knew something bigger had happened, and he was determined to find out what.
"Dude, you're a honkin' bruce ninja. You were willing to sacrifice yourself to banish the sorceress, which by the way you shouldn't EVER try again. You've beaten countless robots, and stanked monsters. You even beat the sorcerer, when we met the first ninja. Why would you think you're a bad ninja?"
Randy took a deep breath and leaned his side against the couch. He was still looking down. His blue eyes came into contact with Howard's shoes, and he stared at the shoelaces as he began to speak again.
"Viceroy and McFist designed the robot to bring out and make me recognize my worst inner fears…it told me how bad of a ninja I was. It told me that nobody really loved me, they just loved the ninja. It said that…t-that my mom and dad never l-l-loved me. It said I was the problem with their m-m-marriage, and they would have been b-better off without me." Randy paused for a minute, to try and fix his shaky voice.
"Randy that's awful, I mean…" Randy looked back up at Howard, meeting his warm brown eyes. They were also full of concern. Randy shook his head. Howard stopped, realizing his friend wasn't finished.
"That wasn't it. It also said I could be easily replaced…by another student, or something, I guess. It said I was worthless, hopeless…and everyone hates me. A-a-and it said I was a horrible friend. It said that you hated me, because of the ninja thing. It said you wouldn't c-care at all if I wasn't there…it said you d-d-didn't even care about me anymore. A-and I know deep down that it w-was right…" Randy began to cry again, still trying to look at Howard's shoelace.
"Randy. Look at me. Not at my shoes," Howard once again reached over to lift Randy's face up so he could look at him. His heart broke once more, realizing his best friend was afraid to look at him.
"Like you said, the robot was designed by Viceroy to bring out your inner fears. None of that was true, it was just your fears. You couldn't be easily replaced as the ninja. The Nomicon chose you, remember? It chose you for a reason. You're brave, strong, and selfless. As much as I hate that book, it's right. People don't hate you, either. In fact, the only negative attention you probably get is that we both kinda just blend in with the other freshmen. No one actually hates you, just people don't know you. And the people that do know you, love you. I'm not sure about your dad now, I never really talked to him, but your mom loves you Randy, she's just trying to cope with the divorce. She knows you have other people who love you like family. Like me. Randy, how could you think I hated you? Sure, I get upset about the ninja thing, but I know deep down it's your job. I just wish that the robots and monsters chose different times to get all wonk. And it said I wouldn't care at all if you suddenly weren't there? Bro, I can't imagine life without you. You're my best friend, dude. I love you, you s-schoob. No homo. Don't you ever l-l-leave me, jerk, do you understand?" Howard felt himself begin to cry at the last few words, thinking about Randy being gone, but he didn't care. He remembered feeling like this in the split seconds his best friend had sacrificed himself and jumped into the portal to the Realm of Shadows, bringing the sorceress down with him. He had never felt such intense fear, except maybe the time Randy sacrificed himself again in the swamp, when he had almost been killed by a panther. He had managed to save Randy after the whole portal incident, and he wanted to save him now. This time from a portal of his own fears.
Randy wiped a few of Howard's tears away, and gave him a watery smile.
"You really mean that?" Randy asked, smiling at Howard's beautiful, if a little sappy, speech. Howard nodded, wiping his eyes, embarrassed. Randy reached out nervously. The two hadn't hugged since elementary school, but now seemed like the right time. Howard looked up and met him halfway.
The two embraced for a long time, silently crying until they couldn't cry anymore. They were still hugging when Howard spoke again.
"Will you always talk to me when you feel down?" he asked, more into Randy's shoulder than anything. He felt his friend nod, and they relaxed again.
Heidi walked downstairs quite a few hours later, to tell them to go to bed. She caught sight of the two on the couch. They were fast asleep. Howard was sprawled on the couch, his arm across Randy. Randy had his head on Howard's stomach, and he was shivering. Heidi laughed, wishing she had her phone on her so she could take a picture. She picked a blanket up off the floor, and covered the two of them. Randy stopped shivering, and the two smiled in their sleep. She walked upstairs, marveling at how close the two boys were.