A loud grumble of thunder woke Randy up from his deep trance. His eyes wildly looked around, only to see the insides of Norrisville High School was quite dark. Curious, he got up and slowly made his way towards the school's main doors, lowering his grey hood and chucked away the red mask he wore just now to conceal his still-bleeding nose, which he did not need it anymore.
Entering the vast lobby of the building, he then headed towards the doors and swung open one of them. A downpour and a howl of wind that blew strongly outside the school quickly drenched him wet with water from the gloomy clouds that were all over Norrisville, forcing him to immediately shut his eyes. He wiped his face until he figured all the stains on his visage were gone and fumbled for the door handle of the grand door he'd opened just now before he looked up into the grey sky, wondering.
'Why did everytime when something bad happened, it have to be raining?' he muttered with a weak smile. Slowly, he stepped back and closed the door, now was surrounded by the bleakness inside the lobby. A light source had brightened the large room a bit though, so he wasn't completely going to crash into something he didn't want to.
Randy knew, he couldn't go home now, especially when there's a rainstorm out there. His mom might babbling on him why he was wet if he ran the whole way to home, telling him he could catch a wonkin' cold. That's definitely not gonna happen. Besides, the wedgie might have been broadcasted to the whole town, in which he cannot bear the double humiliations he had went through.
His sapphire blue eyes fell onto the small yellow stone that was half-stuck outside and the other half was buried in the ground right at the middle of the lobby. He knew it was the Eye of Eternity, the magical stone that kept the spirit of the bird demon, the Tengu. The first Norrisville Ninja had locked it to obtain its feathers to weave the Ninja Mask he had now, tucked safely in his blue satchel. The oldest of the chosen Ninjas to protect Norrisville back on 800 years ago had used it to seal his arch-enemy, the Sorcerer using a key called the Sorcerer's Key. Now it was called the Carp's Eye, taken from the mosaic carp that covered at least a few metres of the red floor of the lobby.
The demon could possess anyone if it was set free by breaking the Stone, and only the Ninja could do that.
As he continued staring at the light-emitting Stone, he suddenly formed a thought. Howard had told him school had already over before he left. That meant he was all alone in the school. Except he acknowledged Norrisville High's janitor, Sundown was also inside, cleaning the whole building till his body ached, which he would not until at least 6 o' clock in the evening.
He cautiously looked around before he decided to do what he had firmly planned. After a while, he let out a deep breath, confirming there were no interruptions going to happen. His hands trembled slightly and he hold the shoulder strip of his satchel.
Randy walked towards the Eye of Eternity with his blue eyes bore deeply at the brightly-lit stone. His right hand reached out for his satchel and began searching something in the bag. After a while, he pulled it out, revealing a black-and-red Ninja sai he'd kept in his satchel for defense (just in case) and gripped it hard.
He then knelt in front of it, staring at the Stone with full of anger and hatred. The yellow light from it illuminated his face which returned being stained with trails of blood from his broken nose.
In the blink of his eyes, the faces of Norrisville High's students teetering and making fools out of him swam inside his head. Adrenaline rushed all over his body and the sai he took out of his Ninja suit shook heavily in his hand. He was determined to do it. He wanted to be free, away from anything, like a bird.
Randy held the weapon high, his focus was still on the Eye with their visages kept flashing. He closed his eyes, already picturing what will happen. He will lose control of the demon and even his life. With a shout, he pierced the sai's sharp tip deep into the floor and waited to hear a bird's shrill cry.
A few seconds passed but nothing happened, which wondered him. Re-opened his eyes, he faced down and was shocked.
He missed the target. By a few centimetres.
The Eye of Eternity was shining brightly as if to tease him for failing in breaking it. Enraged, he pulled it out and threw it to the other side of the room, panting. His clenched fists were white on his knees.
'That's it,' he said as the weapon hit one of the lockers that lined along each side of the vast lobby with a loud thud and landed on the floor with a clank. 'Being Randy Cunningham, you failed. Being the Ninja, double failed. Why can't I focus? I just have to jam the sai, that's all.' A faint buzzing sound suddenly went out from his bag and he, being fully depressed yelled in despair, 'Shut up, Nomicon!' The noise went silent as fast as it first came.
The teen ran his fingers over his tyrian purple hair, his gaze returned to the Stone, sobbing. Its yellow light continued to lit his face and he started blaming himself on what happened. That he was stupid to be disgraced twice a row in only a day. Not able to see Howard Weinerman was betraying him from behind. Did not do anything to stop the boy from leaving him. You are a honkin' wonkin' idiot, Randy, he thought.
He had lost hope to continue living. He wanted to die. For him, death is waaaay better than bearing a humiliation for life. Tears began to fall out of his eyes and hit his knuckles, his body was shaking very badly.
'I'm a failure!' he shouted out loud, his voice echoed inside Norrisville High. The sound entered one of the school's sewer pipes and eventually reached the place underneath the Eye of Eternity:
The Sorcerer's prison.
The wizard had heard everything from the moment Heidi showed the video of the Ninja to the whole town. 'Looks like we are going to have some fun, aren't we?' he asked the only companion he had in his prison, the grey rat. It nodded as if agreeing with him.
'Humiliation, desperation, loneliness – ' he ticked his four bony fingers as he talked '- facing a betrayal, broken heart, want to commit suicide, such a feast!' The rodent squeaked excitedly in return.
The Sorcerer stood up from his ancient stool and his hands suddenly produced clouds of black gas and he fired them towards the Eye, knowing his victim was there.
'This will be the day when you cannot stop me, Ninja!' He and his rat laughed evilly as the mysterious black stank headed to the outside world.
