AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Aiyaa, this FanFiction is...well, I'll let you read on and find out. I hope you enjoy this short one-shot. Also No Yaoi, just friendship fluff and a slice of life. By the way, this is after Randy defeats the Sorcerer; however he defeats him. I just needed to write this to vent some energy at 1am in the morning.

Disclaimer: I do not own 9th Grade Ninja

The Last Day

Randy Cunningham had defeated the Sorcerer about a month ago and life was almost perfect. It was tough work, Randy had to admit, he and Howard almost died, but it was worth all that trouble. Now kids could go to school without the worry of rampaging monsters anymore. There was the occasional criminal squabble here and there, but it was no problem for the Ninja of course. A few kicks here and a punch there and it would all be over in a smoke-bomb. Life was certainly easier for our hero; he didn't have to go Ninja all the time, which allowed him to focus more on his studies.

Personality-wise, Randy had also matured greatly and was able to manage his time much more nicely than before, able to perfectly balance playing Grave Puncher and wasting time with studying and working on homework. Randy's grades had increased tremendously and his mother couldn't be prouder, not to mention he had gotten a kiss on the cheek and a box of chocolates from Theresa on Valentine's Day last week. He also got featured on Heidi's webcast as the most popular student alongside Howard. School life was good.

The Ninja Nomicon had sacrificed itself to protect Randy in the final battle and the only thing Randy would regret is not able to save the book as well, but the book had assured to him that he would succeed. Only after the final battle did Randy realize that only the book's "death" had given him the final push to finally end the Sorcerer once and for all. In a way, he was thankful for that.

On the other hand, McFist had realized the error of his mistake after the Sorcerer had harmed his family and was now an honest business man. The man had become more devoted to helping the poor and Viceroy had retired from being an evil scientist and currently lived in a pleasant villa on the more quiet side of Norrisville with his faithful amoeba pet, Nicholas, fully paid by his boss of course. Even Bash seemed to respect him.

No, Life couldn't get any better than this Randy decided and he was satisfied. He liked this new lifestyle.

There was one problem though. Ever since the final battle, he had been more and more unwilling to leave the comfort of his own bed. Even though his grades were almost perfect, he occasionally dozed off in class too. Randy also felt an unsettling feeling of weariness, no matter how much rest he got, but every day, he found the will to force himself out of bed to start his day. Randy was happy of course, so this small problem wasn't a really a bother to him.

Today, on Saturday in summer, he and Howard were going to test their new Soda-pop rockets in the park, which he had promised Howard to do before he Final Battle as a promise that he would come out of it okay. He did, so a promise was a promise, after all. Afterwards they were going to have a picnic with Theresa and the others. This day he had to forcefully wretch himself out of his bed, declining the temptation of falling back to sleep. No, for some reason he actually refused to go to sleep, even though he knew that if he went now to the park, he would be way too early. Randy pulled on his McClothing, grabbed his soda-rocket and shuffled out of his home. His parents were still asleep and he left a note on the fridge saying that he had left early for the park.

Randy looked around at the peaceful Norrisville morning. It was so peaceful; he could stay in this blissful life forever. He was aware of the worldwide problems, but it never affected the small town of Norrisville. He had nothing to worry about, he decided. The boy walked into the park and found the meeting place where Howard and he were supposed to send off the soda-pop rockets. He sat down on the nice cool grass.

It was just so peaceful and quiet, it must be a nice day today, Randy decided. The songs of the wind and the whispers of the grass around him lulled him into a sleepy trance. The purple-haired boy reminisced about his life. About how he one day walked in his room to find the Ninja Mask there, about how he had fought restlessly every day to protect everyone, about all his battles and how he won them, about all his mistakes and how he had fixed them, about how he had promised Howard that they'd be friends forever and that he'll win the final battle, about how the Nomicon had blocked the Sorcerer's attack that shattered it to pieces, about how he had poured out his soul onto his sword so he could slice the Sorcerer in half which finally ended his reign of terror. He had done everything he had wanted to do, Randy decided. The boy sprawled himself on the grass.

Why was he thinking about this? It wasn't like he was going to die anytime soon. He chuckled. Randy wanted to sleep, but something kept him awake. After a while of waiting, he heard the cheerful shouts that originated from his friend's voice.

"Cunningham! You're way too early!"

Randy looked up to see his rather chubby friend running towards him. He propped himself on his elbows so that he could look at Howard better when his friend breathlessly came up to him.

"Same can be said about you, buddy." He grinned stupidly. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided I'd come here early."

"I just saw Theresa and the others coming." Howard answered, plopping himself next to Randy. "They'll be here soon."

"That's Bruce! That means we can launch the soda-rockets earlier!" Randy said, flipping himself on his stomach so he could find his rocket.

"I know right? It's weird how everyone woke up early today." Howard wondered, handing his friend his rocket which was just outside Randy's reach.

Randy and Howard sad blissfully continued their nonsense chatter together, unaware that it was their last. They talked about pointless things, like how the lunch lady made the best gravy fries or how the next Grave Puncher game was coming out next year. Even about what they're going to do tomorrow. It was such a pointless conversation, but neither minded since they were together, and that's all that mattered.

"Hey Howard, you know you're my best friend right?" Randy said to him. The boy wasn't even aware that he had said that.

"What are you talk about you schoob, of course I am." Howard said with a horrified look on his face. "Stop talking like you're going to die today, geez Cunningham."

"I know, I know." Randy said with a hazy look on his face. Then he chuckled. "It was a spur of the moment I guess."

"Well stop it, it's weirding me out." Howard replied, giving Randy a glare.

Before Randy could respond, he suddenly heard distant conversation and heads bopping in the near-distance. He grinned excitedly at Howard.

"Hey look! I see Theresa and the others!" Randy said, leaping on his feet and swiftly grabbing his soda-rocket. "Let's launch the rockets as a welcoming to them!"

"Yea! So we can eat straight afterwards!" replied Howard, taking his soda-rocket in his right hand.

The two best friends began to wildly shake their rocket and quickly set it on the ground. The rockets erupted, launching itself into the air. Theresa and the others arrived to see the rockets swirl in the air in an uncoordinated dance before falling to the ground. Soda sprayed everywhere, and all of the sudden, everyone erupted into joy.

Randy and Howard exchanged their signature handshake, which they had made up when they were little. It was such a simple kid thing, but every time they did it, they felt their bond together tighten. They ran around with the others, who happened to be Debby Kang, Bucky, Heidi, Stevens, and countless other friends. The friends ran around together, trying to catch the soda water as it rained down from the sky with their tongue. The shouts of joy and laughter drew many others to join in on the fun.

Soon the soda rained had stopped and the friends sat down for the picnic. After Randy and Howard had eaten their fill, they climbed a hill where they planned to watch clouds before heading to Greg's Gaming Hole to play arcade. They continued their pointless chatter together, laughing and reminiscing about how well their life had gotten since the defeat of the Sorcerer. No, life was good, even though no one knew that Randy had risked his neck to save Norrisville. Not yet anyway. Randy had planned to tell them next week during the school assembly.

It was a nice day, the best day ever, Randy decided as he lay down on the soft grass. He heard the wind sing again and the grass whisper to each other. He yawned. The boy had almost forgotten he was sleepy, but now that he was sitting still, he felt the weariness creep back into his bones. Randy glanced at Howard who had fallen asleep beside him, which only made him sleepier. Then he glanced at Theresa and the others who were chatting away nearby the hill they were resting on. He looked up to the sky and decided that he wanted to listen to the wings sing in his ears again. Randy put his hands behind his head, enjoying ever last bit of what he saw. It was his last one, but he didn't know that of course.

Randy didn't know that the darkness that started to invade his vision was permanent. He also didn't know that when he had poured his heart and soul onto his sword to defeat the Sorcerer that he didn't get enough back. Randy didn't know that he had only got just enough so he could fulfill his promise, the promise to shoot their soda-rocket with Howard. He just thought about how fun it was going to be after he woke up. He was going to beat Howard at the arcade again and get his picture taken on the wall. Randy chuckled softly to himself at the idea. He can't wait for that.

So he willingly closed his eyes, letting the bathe him in the warm sunshine as he fell into a peaceful slumber.

But you know, he never did wake up.

I'm so sorry I wrote this.
It started as a random drabble at 1AM in the morning, but it then morphed into this sad tale. I just...I don't know. Ugh...

In case you didn't understand the ending, yes, Randy had died in his sleep because he had unknowingly had sacrificed his soul to defeat the Sorcerer, but through sheer will he had lived long enough to allow himself to fulfill his promise to Howard, which was this silly wish to shoot a soda rocket together. I wanted Randy to die sleeping on the grass, so I came up with that stupid promise so they could go to the park :I

This was inspired by the Main Protagonist's death in Persona 3, which I swear was the most depressing thing ever in the history of games. I was also urged to write this after hearing "If Today Was Your Last Day" by Nickelback and unofficial score of Rue's Lullaby.

Aiyaa, I wrote such a depressing story...