Howard and Randy were behind the stage and they could hear the applause for the teen that had just finished her routine. Randy was up next.
"Do you remember what to do Howard?" He nodded.
The dancer exited and his name was called. Taking a deep breath to clear his mind, he stepped on stage.
Randy still can't believe how he got into this position. McFist was hosting a dance competition and the winner got a trophy. Only it is no ordinary trophy: it had been infused with the Sorcerer's stank magic, more so than the usual dose that happens at school. Whoever won it would be stanked as soon as they had negative emotions. The hope was is that if the winner can dance well then they might be able to beat the Ninja with their moves.
He had overheard this when he was tracking a robot through the ductwork at McFist Industries- don't ask. It had involved puppets, false teeth, and a screwdriver and it was not something he wanted to go through again.
Joke's on Mcfist though, the Ninja is going to win the competition.
Or so he hoped.
The teen was not wearing the ninja suit, but black McSkinnies and a black McHoodie. The hood would be up for the entire show and he planned on keeping his face obscure so that McFist and Viceroy couldn't easily recognize him if something went wrong. Randy had thought about wearing the suit underneath his clothes; however the NinjaNomicon was against using the suit for personal gain. He had tried to argue that it was for the protection of the town, but Nomi was adamant saying 'The right action with the wrong motive can be ruinous'.
Before he got on stage, the lights went out. Murmurs of confusion rose from the audience. Was this part of the show? It was.
Randy cracked his knuckles as the first chords of the song came on, with them the lights. The brief power outage made it look like he had suddenly appeared. Thanks Howard.
The song was the instrumental version of "Let it Rock" by Kevin Rudolf. It had an electronic undertone and had a great rhythm. He stood still until the music paused and the drums started. He quickly dropped to the floor and spun his body around without letting his legs touch the floor, using only his arms for support. Alternating arms, he brought his legs back to the floor and did a series of complex twists. The audience 'oooed' and awed, marveling at his acrobatics.
The beat changed and he then transitioned into cartwheels across the length of the stage.
Being a ninja had some perks; while he was more flexible when wearing the ninja suit, the technique never left him. When NomiRandy had shown off some moves to ward off Bash, Randy had vowed that he'd be that cool and learn break dancing. Girls like that, right?
After another minute or so of audio, Randy had demonstrated some of his best moves that he'd learned from being the Ninja. He'd even managed to keep the hood from falling during the back flips. For a final move, Randy somersaulted toward the audience, ending on one knee like a proposal. Head still facing down, he stood up fully and stooped into a bow.
The teen looked up during the applause and spotted Heidi in the audience, winking at her. She must have come to watch the Dancing Fish or report on the competition for the school. After all, many other students were competing. So far he had spotted Theresa doing ballet, Flute Girl and Stevens doing tango, and Bucky trying to do the Macarena.
Sauntering off stage, Randy grinned at the next person coming on. He didn't recognize him but thought he might be a sophomore.
All the contestants waited backstage either for their turn or the final bow. Howard had already gone and joined his sister in the audience. So far so good. No robots or mutated teenagers… One annoying thing about waiting backstage is that you couldn't see your opponent's routine. Something was happening up there and it didn't sound good. The teen came running back, not in tears, though still devastated. He ran out the back door and away from the Norrisville Theater Hall. No one moved to follow him.
The loudspeaker called the participants to the stage and they filed out. There was near twenty of them, not all from Norrisville.
"Let's give a hearty round of applause for these fantastic dancers!" Viceroy announced. The judges table was right in front of the stage. "There can only be one winner though." The crowds roar became wilder, everyone enthusiastically calling out the names of their favorites.
"And the winner is…" Instinctually, the crowd began a drumroll. "Randy Cunningham!"
Randy threw a fist in the air, basking in the praise of the masses. He had done it! The Sorcerer's plan had failed and he was officially recognized as having the brucest moves ever.
For one last trick, the teen flipped off the stage instead of walking around to accept the trophy. Viceroy handed it to him and the photographers took pictures for the newspaper. Holding the trophy was like holding bottled hatred. If he hadn't known better, Randy would have said he could smell the stank on it.
The scientist gave him a sideways glance. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
Randy coughed, sinking down into the safety of the hoodie. "Nope. Never met 'cha before." Viceroy looked puzzled, but said no more.
The purple-haired teen walked over to Howard.
"Yo, did we do awesome or what?" The pudgy boy exclaimed.
"We?" Randy questioned.
Howard nodded. "I helped."
He was about to interject that he had done most of the work when the room started to shake. A large, purple figure busted through the door, leaving destruction in its wake.
"Tat trofvee sood haf ben meen!" The figure, closely resembling a Cyclops and an elephant, had a garbled voice. Randy ran as fast as he could to the men's bathroom. Letting the monster have the trophy could make things ten times worse. Being an awkward, gangly freak of nature, it ran much slower. That gave Randy enough time to suit up. "It's Ninja O'clock!"
The Stankaphant was stomping around like a hurricane; uprooting chairs, threatening people and roaring louder than a clap of thunder.
"TROFVEE?"
The Ninja swung to the stage using his scarf. "Looking for this?" He proudly waved it in the air.
"TROFVEE!"
The stanked former contestant grabbed for the award, but the Ninja jumped over his head. "Too slow!"
The sponsor of the competition watched in horror. "WHY DOES THE NINJA HAVE THE TROPHY?" McFist had two volumes: loud and extremely loud. Therefore he spent most of his time yelling.
"I'm sure I don't know sir, but perhaps he took it from that kid," Viceroy paused, thinking. "Randy Cunningham, yes?"
"I don't care just fix it!" The short, angry man shouted. The scientist sighed, wondering how his eardrums stayed intact after all these years.
"Very well." Viceroy consented, pressing a button on his remote.
Suddenly, a flock of tap dancing penguins surrounded the Ninja. Only, these weren't normal robot penguins, they also shot lasers.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Said both the Ninja and McFict, though with different levels of volume.
"Ninja chain sickle!" The Ninja swung the long weapon around, destroying every one of them. "Is that the best you can do?"
In the excitement of the moment, he had forgotten about the Stankaphant. It sent him flying across the theater.
"TROFVEE!"
The Ninja laid on the floor, staring dazed at the object in question. What had the NinjaNomicon said earlier? Something about how doing the right thing with the wrong motive can be bad? He supposed that he had signed up for more than to just protect Norrisville, being recognized publicly had been a great added bonus. Maybe Nomi was saying he had to give the trophy up… Without giving it another thought, the Ninja tossed the prize to the stanked boy.
It had the opposite effect of what he had previously thought. Instead of stanking him more (if that was possible) it returned him to normal. The Ninja shrugged; glad his hunch had been right.
"Smoke bomb!"
Randy later found Howard and his sister, who had been waiting outside the theater to make sure he got out okay. Or at least, that's what Howard was doing. Heidi said she was gathering information for her webcast Monday, but she was secretly concerned too.
In the end, Randy didn't care about losing the trophy. He had his best friend and the town was safe, what more could he ask for?
Kinda got the idea from Liliana Dragonshard, but I've been wanting to write something where Randy can break dance for a long time. Prolly since NomiRandy was introduced. I wrote this in one sitting so its kinda iffy but what evs. I'm sorry if you object to this Liliana, but besides a few sentences that i reused it has a completely different plot.