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"Don't just stand there. Get your mask on," Cyrus said to her. Piper just stood there with eyes wide, overcome with shock at everything going on. "Hey!" Piper finally came out of her trance when she felt Cyrus grab her shoulder and give her a rough shake. "Get your mask on," he said again.

Piper quickly fumbled for her mask in her messenger bag. When she got a hold of it, she dropped her bag on the ground and wrap the mask around her face, causing her ninja suit to suddenly materialize on her body. Strangely enough, the only thing the ninja suit didn't cover was the feathered earring she wore on her left ear. She reached up and took out her ribboned headband before using it to tie her hair up in a high ponytail. When she noticed Cyrus already reach the roof of the school, Piper immediately followed up after him.

"You're a ninja too?" Piper asked.

"Green," Cyrus replied. He pointed his finger down to the chaos below and said, "Red." Piper walked to the edge of the roof and saw a ninja in a black and red suit battling the robot had attacked the school.

"Another one? Aren't we going to help him?"

"No," Cyrus replied.

"No? Why not?"

"That's not our job. Red can handle it."

"What do you mean 'our job'?"

"Didn't your book tell you?"

"How do you know all of this?" Piper cried.

"My NinjaAtlas told me you'd arrive soon," he explained.

"That's how you knew I was a ninja?"

"Yes."

"I still don't understand why we're not helping him!"

"Relax. Red can take care of himself. We only interfere if his life is at risk or his identity is at risk of being exposed."

"I'm so confused," she whined.

"The Norisu Nine, a band of nine brothers who defended this land in ancient times from evil. Namely, the Sorcerer. All of Norrisville thinks that there's only one ninja, but there are nine," Cyrus explained.

"Nine?"

"Red down there hogs the spotlight, leaving the rest of us the opportunity to do our work without any trouble. Blue guards the Sorcerer's prison, Black and White do reconnaissance on the enemy, Gold, Pink and Orange are on perimeter duty while Violet and Green shadow Red. Our job is to make sure Red doesn't get himself killed or worse, expose his identity."

"Right because exposing his identity is worse than him dying. But I still don't understand why we aren't helping him!"

"We don't interfere unless it's absolutely necessary," Cyrus said in a serious tone.

"Does he even know about the rest of us?"

"No."

"No? Why not?"

"If he knows that he's meant to distract all of Norrisville, he's going to mess up, make a mistake, expose us! He does a better job when he doesn't know he's a red herring."

"But that's not fair! He should know about the rest of us!" As Piper moved to join the Red Ninja in battle, Cyrus stopped her and grabbed her arm roughly.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing? Red's not just a distraction. Thanks to him, the bad guys only think there's one of us. Do you have any idea the amount of destruction the Sorcerer and McFist would bring about if they knew there were really nine ninjas?"

"I…"

"One day, Red will know about the rest of us, but that day is not today. Until then, we shadow him. And if you try to expose us in any way, well, there's no shortage of ninja replacements around here," Cyrus narrowed his eyes in a deathly glare as he uttered his threat to Piper, who cowered in fright. She sheepishly stood behind him as he continued watching the Red Ninja battle the robot. With a swift stroke of his blade, Red sliced the head off the robot, defeating it. "All right, we're done here. And remember," he said, turning to Piper, "Every ninja of the Norisu Nine has their duty. Don't fail yours of you're out."

After she took off her mask and went back inside the school, Piper dashed into the girls' bathroom and into an empty stall. She pulled out the large square book in her bag: the NinjaCodex. It was black with violet markings along the cover, back and spine. When she opened the book, its pages flashed brightly and she felt her mind enter the book.

"Whooooooaaaa!" she cried, falling through the pages until she saw the ground appear beneath her. She flipped her body upright and managed to land on her feet perfectly. "Is it true? Are there other ninjas?" she asked the book. An image of nine ninjas appeared before her and Piper read out loud, "In ancient time, the Norisu Nine protected Norrisville from evil. While the youngest of them was the only survivor, each of the Nine had their own suits and bonded spirits that they passed on to chosen successors. When the Sorcerer breaks free from his prison one day, all the Norisu Nine will be needed to defeat him and restore harmony. So there are nine of us. But how come Red shouldn't know? If he's part of this team, he should at least know he's got teammates!" The image of ninjas disappeared as words formed in the sky. "Knowledge can do as much harm as good," she read. The images around her suddenly swirled around and she suddenly found herself back in her room. "So there's nine ninjas including myself and I can't tell Red… Cyrus made that very clear with his death threat."

When she came out of the bathroom, Piper caught sight of Randy and Howard in the hallway and ran up to them.. "Randy! I was so worried about you. You disappeared when that giant robot attacked!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, me? Hehe, nothing to worry about Piper. I just, uh, got somewhere so I could watch the ninja kick some robot butt!" Randy explained with a nervous laugh.

Piper cocked her eyebrow in suspicion, finding something odd about Randy's behavior. But she shrugged her shoulders and brushed the thought aside. She had only known him for less than a day after all. For all she knew, this could have been normal for him.

"What you're not gonna ask about me? I'm hurt, new girl!" Howard cried.

"Oh, sorry Howard, but I didn't think you liked me very much."

"Well, that doesn't mean I still don't like being asked," Howard said, crossing his arms.

"Ok, ok, Howard, are you ok?" Piper asked.

"Yes, thank you," he replied.

"So, Piper, you doing anything after school?" Randy asked.

"Well, nothing actually."

"Cool, you wanna come over to my house? I just got the new Grave Puncher game and Howard and I were gonna play it!"

"Cunningham!" Howard interjected, but Randy simply shushed him.

"Grave Puncher?"

"Oh, Cunningham, this schoob doesn't even know what Grave Puncher is!" Howard cried, waving his short, stubby arms eccentrically.

"Hey, now I may not know what that means, but I do not appreciate being talked to like that!" Piper said, crossing her arms and glaring angrily at Howard.

"Could you excuse us for just a minute, Piper? Thanks," Randy grinned, taking Howard aside. "Howard, why are you being so rude?"

"Because the last thing we need is a chick coming between us, especially a chick who doesn't know anything about Norrisville!"

"That's because she literally got here a day ago, Howard! Besides, you remember how popular McFist's Nukid robot was when we all thought he was an actual new student? Piper's gonna be the talk of the week and then you and I can ride on her popularity to cool town!"

"You make a compelling argument, Cunningham," Howard thought for a moment. "All right fine. But if this gets us schoobed, it's on you!"

"I'll gladly take the heat, my friend. So," Randy said, turning back to Piper, "you wanna come check out Grave Puncher? We can show you all the neat moves!"

"Sure! Just let me text my mom. She's working late tonight so I have to take care of dinner myself."

"Oh, why don't you just have dinner with me and my folks?" Randy suggested.

"Really? I wouldn't want to impose…"

"It's fine, trust me. My parents'll be cool with it." When they got to Randy's house, he let his parents know that Piper would be staying for dinner before the three of them went up to Randy's room. "Ok, so what exactly is the point of this game?"

"Uh, punching graves, duh!" Howard said.

"Yeah, I get that from the name, but isn't there anything else you're supposed to do in the game?"

"Nope, isn't it Bruce?" Randy asked.

"Oh, it's something. Not sure if 'Bruce' is how I'd describe it though," Piper said, whispering that last part quietly. "And doesn't the game seem a bit offensive. I mean gravestones are markers for the dead. It's actually really insulting and offensive to vandalize them."

"Cunningham…" Howard muttered in annoyance. Piper decided to just give the controller back to Randy and watch the two boys play instead. She could tell Howard still didn't like her. It was like every little thing she said got on his nerves. But Randy seemed to like her! He was nice to her and very welcoming! And his parents were pretty nice too, though if Piper had to say, she'd think Randy would disagree. They seemed particularly happy that Randy 'brought a girl home', as they put it. Needless to say, she and Randy blushed so furiously when his parents had suggested that. Randy practically whined and complained at them for always embarrassing him. But Piper thought it was actually funny and kinda cute seeing him get so worked up like that. When dinner was over, Piper was getting ready to leave and Randy saw her out the door.

"Oh, wait, I think I left my phone in your room," Piper said, patting her pockets.

"No worries, I'll get it for you," he replied.

"Randy! I told you to do the dishes!" his mother called.

"Uh, I can get it. It's no problem," Piper said.

"You sure?" Randy asked.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want your mother to get mad at you. I'll see you tomorrow at school!" she said, rushing up the stairs to Randy's room while he went to do the dishes. "Ok, where did I leave you?" she asked herself, scanning Randy's messy room for her phone. "Ah, there you are!" she cried, picking up her phone when she spotted it on Randy's bed. Just as she turned to leave, she noticed the NinjaCodex in her bag vibrating and glowing. When she reached for it, she noticed something glowing red in Randy's bag, making the exact same noise as her Codex. Hesitantly and scanning around to make sure no one was around, she opened Randy's bag and gasped at what she saw. She pulled out a large black book with red markings, nearly identical to her Codex, that pulsated red. Beneath that, she pulled out a black and red mask. Once she the two items and realized what they were, she dropped them back in Randy's bag and stepped away from it with wide eyes. 'Randy's the Red Ninja?'

Dun dun dun! What will Piper do with this revelation?

Plus, I also thought it would be cool if the ninjas referred to each other by their color because they don't necessarily know each other's identities.

Anyway, this story will be moving at a relatively fast pace because it is a side project. Also, in case some of you guys think I'm portraying as too much of a flirt: I do not see Randy as a flirt or kind of guy actively trying to get a girlfriend. But, he's still a nice, polite and very caring guy, which can come across as flirty or even affectionate to some girls. Oh and just to be clear, I am intending for there to be some light romance between Piper and Randy, with a bit of a jealous Cyrus later in. So... love triangle, fun.

Next chapter: Piper struggles to keep her secret from Randy. Meanwhile, she tries to befriend Cyrus, her supposed "partner"