Things didn't look too hot downtown. The Sorcerer had taken up residence on top of some of the office buildings, and his stank was brewing up a wicked storm. Randy was three blocks away, and the wind still nearly tore him from the rooftop he clung to. The clouds that churned in the sky were a sickly grey-green colour, but the lightning that flashed and the thunder that rolled overhead meant they definitely weren't just for show.

If Randy couldn't get the Sorcerer back into the pit, this was the beginning of the end.

Man, he did not want to be the Ninja who wonked things up that badly. Again.

Of course, his idea that Danny could just push out the Sorcerer's stank by possessing the stanked kids had gone nowhere. Howard was making slow progress when it came to destanking kids by boosting their confidence and renewing their will to fight, but Randy was pretty sure that only really worked with the kids Spectra had seen. That's what she'd taken from them in the first place, after all, and the Sorcerer had preyed upon the hole that had left in them.

Plenty of people were cowering in buildings now, waiting for the Ninja to save them before they resumed their daily business; they didn't understand that this was the honkin' Sorcerer, and if anyone clued into the fact that he was distinctly different from the usual enemies the Ninja fought, they didn't know what that meant. There had been plenty more people on the streets, though, walking or driving or biking or doing something where the Sorcerer had gotten to them.

Those were people the Sorcerer had managed to stank by preying upon little more than their terror, the chaos he generated. If they were anything like the battle rats Randy had fought before, he could deal with some of them just by beating them. One good hit could destank them, even. At least, that's how it had been last time.

Randy just wasn't sure how much last time was going to hold true for this time.

The wind died just long enough for Randy's scarf to wrap around the fire escape of the next building, but it picked up with a vengeance when he leapt. He swung wide, wildly out of control, and at some point in his flailing lost his grip and hung by his neck alone. Randy had horrible visions of his scarf strangling him to death but in the next moment, the gust of wind blew itself out and Randy slammed into the side of the building. His scarf unfurled itself and he slid none-too-gracefully to the ground in a daze.

"Ninja?"

Randy forced himself to his feet and looked around for the source of the voice. He recognized it; it was one of his schoolmates, though at the moment his brain couldn't supply him with a name or a face. At any rate, it was someone who wasn't stanked, so either someone who hadn't gotten stanked in the first place or who had been destanked by Howard earlier.

"Over here."

Randy's eyes finally fell on Pradeep, who was crouched in the shadows behind a dumpster. Randy joined him. "You need to get to McFist Industries," Randy croaked. He wasn't sure it would help—it could very well backfire on him, if the Sorcerer attacked the building once everyone was in it and they were sitting ducks—but Pradeep wasn't any safer out here. If Danny wasn't way off base with the idea that they might be able to get rid of the Sorcerer's stank the same way the Fentons got rid of ghosts, then Pradeep was definitely better off with them.

The French horn player didn't look too great, though. Cowering aside, he'd lost his hat at some point between the school and here, and the rest of his band uniform had definitely seen better days. It was torn in a few places, his sash was ripped clean off, some of the buttons were missing, and those stains weren't just from sitting in the marching band section at games.

Pradeep nodded absently, as if he weren't really paying attention to what Randy was saying. His eyes had turned from Randy to the point where the Sorcerer stood up on the skyline. They couldn't see him now, not from this vantage point, but there was no mistaking that that was where the Sorcerer was. The eye of the storm swirled above him.

"Who is he, Ninja?" Pradeep asked, still not looking at Randy. His voice sounded hollow, broken, a pale mockery of what it should be.

Randy slid from his crouch to sit cross-legged on the cold cement. "He's the Sorcerer. He's bad news, but you don't need to worry. I've got this covered." Randy swallowed, remembering the Nomicon's words. "I've got a bit of help so things don't go south."

"More people are turning into monsters than usual."

Randy wondered if Pradeep or anyone else realized now that people became monsters because of the Sorcerer. "Then I'll make sure more people than usual get turned back," Randy said firmly. He couldn't let anyone doubt him, couldn't give the Sorcerer any more hold over people. "You let me worry about the Sorcerer. You worry about getting to McFist Industries, okay?"

Pradeep turned to look at him then, and the uncertainty was clear in his eyes.

Randy swallowed, feeling his responsibility as the Ninja—and for this very situation—settle on his shoulders more heavily than before. "Your name's Pradeep, right?" Randy didn't wait for confirmation. "Do you think you can do something for me, Pradeep? As a favour for the Ninja?" At Pradeep's nod, Randy continued, "At McFist Industries, there's this girl, Jazz Fenton. Tall, long red hair, doesn't go to school with you. She's helping set up the safe house, so she might look busy, but she's one of the people that's helping me right now, just like you will be. Tell her…." Randy hesitated. He still wasn't sure what had happened with Tucker, and telling her about that wouldn't make things any better. He couldn't get her opinion on the Nomicon's advice, either, but he could give her a clue she might not have to figuring out what they needed to focus on to stay safe. "Just tell her I said willpower."

"What?"

"She might already know—" Randy wasn't sure how much Tucker had told her "—but if she doesn't, then she'll figure it out."

Pradeep didn't hide his confusion, but Randy was almost grateful for it. It seemed to snap the boy out of his stupor. "Willpower?" he repeated. "Why willpower?"

Randy grinned, even though Pradeep wouldn't be able to see it beneath the mask. "Ask her and see if she can tell you." He got to his feet, pulling out a smoke bomb as he did so. Pradeep had already seen one ungraceful entrance; he could at least make a better exit. "Smoke bomb!"

Randy was out of the alley long before the smoke had cleared. He stayed on the ground for now, not wanting to risk the Sorcerer seeing him moving between the rooftops when he was this close (or wanting to risk being strangled by his scarf again). When he came across the first monster who wasn't a school kid, he hit it hard. He couldn't knock the stank out of the person, though. The stank had a tighter hold on this guy—and presumably all the others—than it had upon the Sorcerer's battle rats back in 1213.

Mostly likely, the terror they'd felt when they'd seen the Sorcerer, the chaos that was spreading throughout the town.

He should've known it wasn't going to be this easy.

On the upside, he saw no sign of Tucker. He might not recognize all the people within the monsters, but Randy had spent enough time with Tucker that he was confident he'd be able to identify the guy's stanked self, and there was no monster that even came close to what Randy expected to see.

On the downside, he still had no idea where Tucker was, and the guy still wasn't answering his Fenton Phone.

"The Sorcerer definitely hasn't gotten Tucker," Randy reported once he was confident of that fact. He'd managed to destank a few more kids—Mick and some of the people in Morgan's dance troupe whose names he couldn't remember—and send them to McFist Industries, but there were still too many more to go. "We need to move though, guys. Even if no one's found the Tengu Stone—"

"You are not letting a bird demon fly up my butt again, Cunningham."

"Even if no one's found the Tengu Stone," Randy repeated fiercely, "I can't just keep focusing on everyone who's stanked and ignoring the Sorcerer. Putting off this fight is just going to make things worse. Tucker will turn up, Danny. Just grab the rest of the Sorcerer's power balls and stash them where he can't get them or see them and back me up when you get here, 'cause I can't wait much longer."

There was a very long pause, and Randy wasn't sure Danny would answer. Finally, "The only one left is yours. I'll hide it in your basement and meet up with you. What plan are we on?"

"The one where we make it up as we go."

"So, no element of surprise by working together?"

"Nothing that involves you fighting with my body," Randy said. "Anything else is fair game. There's gotta be something else to try before we hit that point." He thought for a moment. "Hey, maybe you could just overshadow the Sorcerer."

"Overshadowing is a battle of wills," came Danny's blunt reply, "and I'm not sure I'd win that one."

Randy winced, knowing what Danny didn't say: that he wasn't so sure he'd come out of it unaffected like he had when he'd tried overshadowing Heidi. He supposed that solution was entirely too easy to work. "You think Jazz will know what you're thinking when it comes to the extractor thing?"

"Yeah. But I'll need it even if it doesn't work."

"Gotcha. Howard? You and Jazz can try it out and get the thing away from Danny's parents before they realize you've got it. I'm gonna…." Randy swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. "I'm gonna go fight the Sorcerer."

Bash had graciously offered to 'take her to see the Ninja' when he realized there were plenty of monsters downtown, but Sam had declined. She'd said it looked like the Ninja was busy enough that they could see the factory first and then cheer him on after, which was the only reason she'd gotten Bash to avoid the city centre. Bash didn't seem to know enough not to get in the middle of things, and the last thing Sam needed was for either of them to be targeted. It sounded like Tucker had already gone MIA, and that worried her.

It worried her even more because she didn't know enough to even guess what might have happened.

"Whoa, what's with the shiny green thing?"

Considering Bash had slowed to a crawl, it was easy for Sam to hear him over the rumble of the minibike. "Fenton Ghost Shield," she answered. "Keep going; it only keeps out ghosts, so you'll have no trouble getting through."

"Huh. How'd you know that?"

"Not the first one I've seen, definitely not going to be the last."

Bash didn't so much park the minibike once they got closer as run over a small sapling and nearly sideswipe one of the pyramid's slanting walls, but Sam was too used to driving with Danny's dad for that to faze her. She hopped off and hung her helmet on the handlebars. "Looks like all the action is over there," she said, pointing to an open bay farther down the side of the building.

Bash watched dumbly as a few school-age kids darted for the entrance, running across the open space as if their lives depended on it. "That's not the main entrance," he said.

Sam shrugged. "I'm going to check it out." She didn't care if he followed her, so she just took off.

She stopped just over the threshold of the loading dock. Inside the large storage room was organized chaos, and it was a kind she'd seen before, back in Amity Park. Jack and Maddie were flitting between the makeshift stations, and they'd recruited kids and adults alike to be in charge of each one. Someone had shoved a tray full of cookies into Jazz's arms at one point, but she was talking to a kid in what looked like a tattered band uniform, so most of her fare was disappearing when kids nipped up to swipe one or two or five treats while she stood there.

"Man, this don't look like no place where things are kept that I've ever seen," Bash said behind her. "This looks more like one of them busy places with all the people."

Sam spared a few seconds to work that through her head. "A mall?" It didn't really matter to her. "Anyway, I need to talk to Jazz. That girl," she added, pointing. "You just see if there's anyone you know to talk to."

Bash blinked. "Like the homework guy? Why would I talk to the homework guy when I don't have no homework to give him?"

Sam shrugged. "Maybe to find out what's going on?"

"Oh. Yeah. That's a good idea. I'm gonna do that."

Good. Sam weaved her way through the crowd and came up next to Jazz. "Hey," she said.

Jazz stared at her. "Sam? What are you doing here?"

"I'm running away from my parents. What else?"

Jazz raised her eyebrows.

"It's a dinner party. Why would I sit through that when all the action seems to be down here?"

"A dinner—?" Jazz broke off, her eyes widening. "With the McFists?"

"Who else?" Sam took off one of her Fenton Phones and handed it to Jazz. "Here, you might as well get back in the loop. From what I gather, this Howard kid is coming to meet you to get the Fenton Xtractor. The other boy, I forget his name, is going to attack the Sorcerer—" from what she'd seen outside, there was no doubt who that was "—and Danny's going to back him up once he hides these power ball things. Tucker's gone offline."

"I haven't heard from him, either, but maybe he just lost his Fenton Phone?" Jazz asked, slipping Sam's onto her left ear. "He was texting me earlier; said he gave up his phone, but he should still have his PDA and everything else he carries."

"Maybe. They're not sure; they can't find him. What's going on? Why isn't Danny taking the lead on this?"

"Because the Sorcerer isn't a ghost, and his magic packs a better punch than Desiree's." Jazz blew out a breath. "Randy's tangled with him before, though."

"He's this Ninja?"

"Don't say that too loudly. We're in his enemy's lair." Jazz pulled a face. "Well, McFist's, if not the Sorcerer's, but McFist is working for the Sorcerer, so it's the same difference."

"This guy sounds like a cross between Vortex and Desiree."

"His skills sound like they're more on par with Pariah Dark." Jazz glanced at her parents. "You want to know why we were really dragged here, Sam? It wasn't just this deal with McFist Industries. I'm not sure large scale production of FentonWorks products was the priority for either side when they agreed to this. Mom and Dad wanted to see how well Danny and I would do on our own when confronted with ghosts outside of Amity Park, to make sure we're prepared for the future when we're not under their wing. Near as I can guess, they heard stories about the Ninja and figured he was enough of a challenge to keep us on our toes but still something that we could handle."

"The Fenton name goes far, huh?" Sam couldn't say she was really surprised. Jack and Maddie might have accepted that neither of their kids wanted to devote their life to hunting ghosts—at least as far as they knew—but they would do everything in their power to be assured that Jazz and Danny were prepared for what they would see as an inevitable ghost attack.

Jazz nodded absently and moved to set her empty cookie tray on a pile of currently-unused equipment. "This whole thing went downhill faster than any of us were expecting. Needless to say, Norrisville's problem isn't the same as Amity Park's. I'm not sure why Danny thinks the Xtractor will help. Mom and Dad have added more settings to it, so it'll do more than just suck a ghost out of whomever it's overshadowing, but at the end of the day, it's still designed to work on something where ectoplasm is actually involved."

Sam thought back to the conversations she'd overheard. "So you don't think it'll do any good against the Sorcerer? And the, uh, stank stuff?"

"I doubt it. They must have some plan, though. Randy told me willpower."

"They don't have a plan. And what does willpower have to do with anything?"

"I haven't figured…." Jazz trailed off. Her eyes went wide, but Sam had hung around Jazz long enough to know that it was with panic and not realization. "Dad! Hey, Dad!" She took off after him, and Sam followed at her heels. "Dad!"

They caught up with Jack just outside. He was armed with an array of ghost hunting equipment that they could see and probably more that they couldn't. "Jazzerincess, you should be helping your mother," he said. His eyes fell on Sam, but he didn't look surprised to see her. Maybe they thought she'd come with Tucker. "You let me handle this, Sam. There's more than enough work to do in the safe zone."

"Dad, you can't go out there."

"Your brother and Tucker haven't come back, Jazzy-pants, and your mother and I aren't about to leave them out there without someone with more experience to watch their backs."

"You're not going to be able to stop him," Sam murmured as Jack sprinted past the boundaries of the Ghost Shield.

"I know. I'm not even sure I'm in good enough shape to be following him. Sam, I hate to ask this, but—"

"I'm on it. Do you have anything that you know will work against this Sorcerer?" Jazz's expression answered Sam's question for her. "Never mind. I'll call in and let the others know I'm here. Want to find the Xtractor for me? I'll test it on one of the, uh, monsters."

"They're all just people the Sorcerer has transformed," Jazz warned.

"So like what Desiree can do to people, minus the ghost part. I get it."

Jazz bit her lip. "Wait here." She ran back inside, returning within moments with the Fenton Xtractor. "I've got it on the right setting," she said as she handed it to Sam. She held out a small bag with a couple of Maddie's Fenton Utility Weapons stuffed in it as well. "And take these in case you need them. Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it. You're sure you don't have any guesses about this willpower thing?"

"Just what it means. Strength of will. The Sorcerer preys on the weak, or at least he did, before he escaped. Now it seems like everyone's fair game."

"I'll be careful, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to take risks."

"Your judgement I trust," Jazz said.

Sam smirked. "Thanks. Keep texting Tucker; you're the only one of us who can really afford the distraction."

"I've got it covered."

Sam slung the bag over her shoulder, hoisted the Xtractor, and set off at a jog. "Hey, guys," she said into her Fenton Phone. "I've joined the party and passed my spare Fenton Phone on to Jazz, so she's back in the loop. I've the Fenton Xtractor. Where do you need me?"

After a beat, she heard Danny's incredulous voice. "Sam?"

"No, it's Paulina." Sam couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Turns out that dinner party I had to go to was here in Norrisville. I ditched my parents, got a ride to McFist Industries with Bash, and got the bare bones of the situation from the conversations you guys have been having and from Jazz. Your dad's gone out in the field, Danny. We couldn't stop him, but I'm following with the Xtractor. Jazz doesn't think it's gonna work, by the way."

"I'll swing by and pick you up."

"No, don't. You've got more important things to worry about. I can test this thing on my own. You go help that other guy. Randy. See if you guys can stop this Sorcerer before the entire town is destroyed."

"Sam—"

"Zip it, Fenton. The girl's right. I'll find her. There can't be that many people running towards the Sorcerer." There was pause. "It's Howard, by the way."

"I look forward to meeting you," Sam said. "I'll keep you posted on my location. Look for a black-haired girl hauling around something that looks like a vacuum cleaner."

"Will do."

Sam turned her mike off and shifted the Fenton Xtractor in her grip so it rested more on her hip. "I really hope this works," she muttered. Her parents were going to kill her when she finally got back.

But at least Norrisville would still be on the map.

The fear radiating from below was nearly intoxicating. He had waited centuries to feel this free again. He was taking his time, drawing it out, enjoying himself. He had plenty of time to kill the Ninja once he'd had time to stew. The Sorcerer decided he might even let him leave the pit long enough to see the destruction of his beloved town before he rid himself of the Ninja once and for all.

It turned out that he had not needed his friend the rat for transportation, either. He'd hardly destroyed the school before he'd come across a cowering student whose terror had a familiar taste, and he'd enlisted the boy's help to get a ride. The boy, of course, could not refuse, and the Sorcerer had him spinning webs to catch more prey. The order kept him tethered nearby, and the horror that permeated the air at the mere sight was more than satisfying.

The Sorcerer laughed quietly. He still needed to check in on McFist. While the Sorcerer was free, it was in no part due to the fool's guarantee, and he would make that quite clear if McFist dared to ask for his reward. There was no need to kill him, however. He could yet prove useful. The Sorcerer was well aware that times had changed. While there was a certain flair to storming into a town with a mischief of rats, there were undeniable benefits to being forearmed with knowledge, and McFist could provide that.

Having the Tengu Stone in his possession and having the Ninja out of the way was invaluable. With the Ninja gone and the suddenness of the Sorcerer's appearance, he hadn't even needed to utilize the Stone yet. He would be sure to enslave the Ninja's little friends before he showed the Ninja the destruction he had wrought upon his hometown, though. There was no need to give the Ninja any hope before his death.

"Ninja Air Fist!"

The Sorcerer was thrown from his feet (though not from the rooftop) and the rat leaped away from him. He sent a bit of power its way, transforming it into a proper battle rat. He was not afraid of this Ninja, who could never hope to defeat him while he held the Stone—at least, not on his own—but he was not so arrogant as to underestimate an opponent who had crawled from the pit.

"Ninja," the Sorcerer drawled as he got to his feet. "You've come to join the battle." He chuckled, and lightning flashed overhead as the power gathered in his hands. "Tell me, how did you escape?"

"Same way you did!" the Ninja shot back. It was nonsensical answer, considering that the Sorcerer very much doubted the Ninja knew how he had escaped, aside from the obvious. The Ninja narrowed his eyes and set his stance in a way the Sorcerer recognized from the fight eight hundred years past. Perhaps little time had passed for this Ninja, since he was the one who had come from the future and had fought with the other ninja, the First Ninja. He did not seem to have learned much more, if anything. "Ninja Air—"

The Sorcerer blasted the Ninja off the roof and then stifled a yawn. Perhaps he had been hasty in the transformation of his rat friend after all.

"Ninja Kick!"

The Sorcerer glanced upwards. The Ninja must have managed to wrap his scarf around something and turn his momentum to his advantage, swinging back up over the roof. The Sorcerer caught the Ninja's foot. "You're desperate to fight when you cannot win," he observed. The fact that he'd made a similar observation some eight hundred years ago was a moot point; this Ninja had had the help of another Ninja then, and now he did not. "I already have the Tengu Stone, Ninja. Would you care for a demonstration of its power?"

The Ninja's eyes went wide. "You what?"

The Sorcerer chuckled and tossed the Ninja away as easily as if he were flicking away a piece of lint. The Ninja flailed and fell. It was a pity. The Sorcerer had been ready for more of a fight, but who was he to complain? He was free. He had the Stone. He was unstoppable. Once he had destroyed the Ninja, he would enslave the citizens of Norrisville—or, perhaps, if the Ninja was being particularly insufferable, the Sorcerer would first enslave him and all his friends before destroying them. That would be satisfying. He had been getting awfully bored.

When he felt a prickle on the back of his neck, the Sorcerer smirked. He had not even needed the warning the rat had given him to know that the Ninja had returned. "You have much to learn, Ninja."

"Yeah?" It was not the Ninja's voice. "Well, maybe you do, too." And before the Sorcerer had a chance to turn around, he was knocked off his feet.