Angel: It was a wonder that I even updated today, because the rest of my week is busy! And this is all before I start school next week...too much craziness going on for me lately, man. Why is that XD Literally my entire week is filled with appointments, and I have to drive to ALL of them!
Howard and Randy are at the Game Hole, the taller boy watching his friend play. "Yes! A corpsicle in the wood chipper almost puts me in the lead."
Randy steps up to him just as Amy arrives in the arcade, looking around. "Oh, that's adorable. You've got your little hopes up thinking you're going to beat me."
Howard groans as Amy sees the two, smiling to herself. "Oh no! Your Zucker Zombie attack. That looks really hard," Randy puts on a conflicted face, trying to egg Howard on. "Want me to play for you?"
"Knock it off, Cunningham!" Howard replies in annoyance as Amy steps up to them.
"Knock what off?" Randy asks innocently.
"Hey Howard, hey Ran," She waves to them.
"Oh ho ho, nice try, Cunningham, bringing Smith to distract me! We both know that she's your distraction, not mine!"
"Dude," Randy hisses at him as Amy smirks in amusement at him.
"Is that so?"
"W-Well...no," He stammers, rubbing his neck. "That is so far from the truth."
"But seriously, I'm not here to distract you. Why would I do that?" Amy stares at Howard.
"Because he always tries to get in my head and make me choke," Howard points to the smug Randy. "Well, not today. Not with my signature move: taunt with offensive gesture," The player pulls up his shirt, showing his belly. "Befuddle with unnecessary backflip, and kapow!" He kicks the head off a zombie. "Helicopter kick! And that's how you do it. Smith, get me some victory nachos."
"No. I only came here because Randy asked me to," She waves her phone, Howard giving Randy an accusing look.
"I thought you were too busy studying to hang out with us," He places his hands on his hips, mocking her.
"No, I was trying to figure out what to cook for dinner," She raises a brow. "How'd you get that confused with studying?"
"Ohh...see, that's what you're always doing, so I just assumed."
"Aw, great job. Except you missed one," Randy points at the screen. Howard panics as he runs up to the screen. "Sneak up corpse!"
A zombie appears from a pipe, biting the player. And thus, Howard loses the game. "Noooooo!" Howard lets out a cry of despair. "No, no, no!" He slams his fists against the controls.
"There can be only one Future Time Radioactive Zombie Punch champion, and I am that one," Randy gestures to himself. Howard glares at him, clenching his fists. "Hey, walk with me, my friends. Let us gaze upon my many high scoring accomplishments here at the Game Hole." He leads them through the arcade, showing posters that all have Randy in first place. Howard either has 2nd or 3rd.
"Wow. That's really fascinating," Amy murmurs and Randy has a big smile on his face from the compliment.
"Stupid Hole of Fame," Howard grumbles in annoyance, pouting.
"Howard, poor sportsmanship is not a good color on you."
"I call rematch," He glares at Randy for his cockiness.
"What would be the point? There are no games left for me to beat you at," Randy states, turning to Amy. "So, Ames, wanna get a milkshake?"
"Sounds like you folks could use yourselves a fresh game," Greg speaks up as he arrives. "We just plugged in a brand new title!"
A guy plugs in the game, and the screen lights up in green. "Skipow!"
Randy and Howard gasp in excitement. "You, me, that game, now," Howard declares, pointing at it.
"Are you sure, Howard? I mean, that's a lot of losing in one day," Randy looks at him in amusement.
"We're doing this!" Howard snaps at him.
"I mean, if you wanna lose again for like the 23rd time in a row..." Amy smiles lightly and Howard grunts at Randy, who has his hands behind his back.
"You too, Smith?! I thought we were cool!"
"Oh, we are. But you act like a jerk to me sometimes, so this is a little comeuppance for me," She grins as Randy looks proud that she's on his side.
McFist's ship is being flown by Viceroy. The businessman himself is blindfolded, his back to the window. "Viceroy, I demand you tell me where we're going. I DEMAND IT!"
"Excuse me for trying to spice up our latest plan to destroy the Ninja and Kunoichi," Viceroy retorts back. He stands up, pressing a button to replace the driver. Now it's an inflatable Viceroy on autopilot. "Behold!" He removes the blindfold from the man and his brain arm. McFist gasps as he stands up. "Jack Hammer."
It's an unmoving robot with a hammer. "Why isn't he wearing a shirt?" McFist asks, staring at it.
"Jack is the most sophisticated Ninja/Kunoichi luring, trapping, capturing robot I've ever created." Viceroy smiles proudly.
"Excellent! Get on with it! Lure, trap, capture!" McFist exclaims eagerly.
"One teeny, tiny problemo," Viceroy pinches his fingers together.
"Oh, here it comes," McFist deadpans as he knows that there's a catch with Viceroy's inventions.
"As it turns out, Jack's engineering is so brilliantly complex, even I am unable to control it," The scientist gestures to himself.
"You made a robot NO ONE CAN CONTROL!" McFist screams at him.
"I didn't say 'no one can control it.' It takes someone with superior hand-eye coordination, and an insatiable thirst for destruction. Qualities only found in...a teenage gamer."
"It's got laser mapped, photorealistic, multi-plane renderings of Norrisville," Randy reads the description. He turns to his friends in excitement. "You win by destroying every building in town!"
"Huh," Amy pushes up her glasses. "Well, it's definitely cool-looking," She looks at the screen.
"Oh! I call school!" Howard tries to get through the bars that lead to the game.
"Hey, look! Free nachos!" Randy points behind Howard. He falls for it, and this gives Randy the chance to jump onto the platform. He laughs, Amy shaking her head slowly. Howard turns around, angry by what just happened.
"That's it! You mess with my head, you jump the queue, and now you bring nachos into your trickery? You sir, have gone too far!"
Randy ignores him and stares at the gaming controller. "What the juice?"
"It's definitely not the most obvious controller I've seen," Amy looks over his shoulder at it.
"Hey Howard, Ames, what should I do for my next wall pic? What do you think?" He messes up his hair. "Bed head? Gonna sneeze?" He acts like he's going to sneeze. "No, no, no. Monkey face."
Amy giggles at the last one. "Monkey face...ha ha!"
He takes that as her answer with a grin.
"Let's pound this town!" The game starts up and Randy takes the controller, pressing a button on it. The player comes to life as he has a hard hat and overalls.
Jack Hammer inside McFist's ship opens up his eyes. The hatch behind him opens up and he falls out. He lands while creating two holes in the road. Some kids run off screaming.
"Hey, Howard. Check it out," Randy grins at the screen as it's a pixel image of town. "Time to take out the trash...truck." With his controller, he uses it like a baseball bat to knock the truck away. Outside, the truck slides to a stop on the road.
Jack stands in front of Charlie Clucker's. "Say goodbye to Charlie Clucker's," Randy grins at Howard, about to swing again.
"You leave the Bucket out of this," Howard warns him.
Jack knocks the head off the chicken, and the boy gasps in horror. "Oops," The taller boy has an innocent look on his face. Then he jumps up and smashes the top of another building. He spins around, Howard ducking his head each time. Amy just steps away from him as he smashes through two buildings at the same time.
"Hey, Smith, I'll pay you 5 bucks if you make Cunningham choke on the game," Howard whispers to her.
"No thanks, I think I'll enjoy this," She smiles, crossing her arms as he glares up at her.
"Joke's on you, I stole the 5 bucks from your wallet."
"Wha-" She snatches it from him, huffing.
"Cunningham, when I get in there, oh, I'm going to beat you so bad, you'll make roadkill look cute," Howard threatens him.
"If you get in here," Randy corrects his friend. "You should snack up, I'm going to be a while."
"Good idea," Amy smiles a bit, walking off to the Game Hole. "Nachos for me!"
"Can I have some?" Howard calls out to her.
"As long as you pay me back for the 25 other boxes of nachos you asked me to get," Amy turns to him with an amused smile. Randy smirks at the wide-eyed Howard, who waves it off.
"Actually, I think I'm good."
"That's what I thought," She grins as she walks up the stairs.
Principal Slimovitz is getting his car waxed, and he gasps happily when it comes out fully clean. "Oh! It may cost extra for the wax spray, but you're worth it."
Jack then grabs the car, lifting it up. The man looks up, seeing his car get thrown into the wax machine, which comes out destroyed.
"It never fails. You want a robot to destroy your car? Go get it washed," And with that, he walks off.
"When's this plan gonna start working?" McFist asks in frustration, slamming down a fist. "Cause right now the only thing getting killed, is my priceless McFist-a-Wax!"
"Patience, Hannibal," Viceroy tells him, "Jack is pro-destroy, the Ninja and Kunoichi are anti-destroy. When they both show up to stop my robot, they'll find their ninja sword and tessen are not match for Jack's Hammer." He giggles at his plan, and McFist chuckles along with him. But then his smile drops as there's another crash.
"He just destroyed the McWork-a-Plant..." Then another crash follows. "And the McEat-A-Plant!" And then the next one causes him to facepalm. "And the McFlex-a-Plex!" He sobs at this one.
Randy is still unaware that the robot is real as he's punching a building. Amy is eating nachos nearby, smacking Howard's hand away. The door opens and she glances to her left to see a terrified Bucky running in. He's panting as he hugs the wall, causing her to pay attention to him instead of the game. He runs up to the counter.
"Mr. Greg, there's a killer robot destroying the town!" He exclaims in distress. "Permission to cower in your Game Hole, sir."
Greg pulls the mic towards him to speak into it. "Attention Holers, there is a rampaging robot loose in the city. For your safety, we ask that you remain at Greg's Game Hole."
A crowd rushes towards the windows to see the robot stomping past. "While you're trapped here, why not pay a visit to Greg's Food Hole? It's hole-icious! Skipow!"
"Uh-oh, a rampaging robot," Howard tries to entice Randy into leaving so that he won't have that much of a high score. "That sure sounds like a job for the Ninja and the Kunoichi!" He stands in front of the game.
"Howard, even if I quit right now, you'll still never beat me," Randy brags to him.
Amy leans in towards him. "Okay, but I better go and deal with it. Meet up with me when you're finished."
He hums at her with a nod and she runs out the back door. She slides to a stop and jumps behind a trash can. She transforms into Kunoichi and leaps onto the road, running off.
"Just in case, I'll do this!" Randy separates the controller so that he's only holding the hammer part. He goes into Hammer Mode and starts hitting a building. He does this multiple times before it crumbles into pieces. "837,000! Good luck beating that, homie!" He brags to Howard as he has a game over, pointing to the console.
"Oh, you have outshoed yourself, my arrogant friend..." Howard snatches away the controller, watching the taller boy running off. "And you will pay. Okay, Jack!" He immediately takes over the game. "Let's earn us some points."
He hits a bus, flattening it. "Let's pound this town!"
The Jack robot comes to life again, Kunoichi landing on top of the red car nearby. "Okay, giant...robot that looks like Jack from the game?!" She opens her mouth in shock. "But if he's destroying the town, that means...oh no, Howard," She holds her head. The robot hits a building nearby and Howard sees her on screen.
"There's a Kunoichi in this game! Nothing personal, Kunoichi, but I just gotta do this!" He raises the hammer, and so does the robot. Her eyes widen and she backflips away from the car, which is smashed by the hammer. She looks past it and sees the hovercraft.
"McFist. Should've known," She mutters bitterly. She jumps onto the robot's leg, running up it and holding her fans. She's about to throw them when the robot turns around, smacking her away. She goes flying.
"Ah, Kunoichi before the Ninja. That's a first," McFist gestures to her. "But I told you the Ninja wouldn't show."
"Smoke bomb!" Ninja appears and leaps into action. He jumps up and catches his partner bridal style, landing near the car. "You okay?" He puts her down gently and she looks up at the robot.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"I told you he would," Viceroy says to his boss.
"I told YOU!" McFist glares at him. Ninja and Kunoichi slide to a stop as the robot turns around to them. He shakes his head rapidly.
"Wait a sec, wait a sec. Jack Hammer's real? What the juice?" He holds his head in shock.
"Yup, and it has McFist all over it. Look up there," Kunoichi points up to the hovercraft.
"Ugh," He narrows his eyes upon hearing this news.
"Oh, this game has a Ninja too?" Howard chuckles as he sees him on the screen from the game. "Oh, I am going to enjoy kicking your butt," He has a grin on his face.
"So you're telling me that Jack is programmed to be controlled by anyone who plays his game at the Game Hole?" Ninja asks Kunoichi as they're running side-by-side.
"That, and to capture us by a gamer determined enough to do the job for them," Kunoichi states, her hair flying past her. "And we both know what that means!"
"We have to stop Howard," Ninja declares, pulling out his phone. "Call Howard."
"Calling Mom," Is what he hears.
"No! How does that-?!" Ninja groans, hearing his partner laugh. "No, call Howard! Howard!"
His phone rings and he uses one hand to answer, using the other to play the game. "Hello? Oh, hey there, I was just about to punch you guys. Virtually speaking." If he even tried with the brunette, she'd hog-tie him before she could. Amy used to spend her summers at a rodeo when she was little.
"No Howard, you're literally punching us," Ninja insists to him. Both of them dodge the punches from the robot. "Jack Hammer isn't a video game." Kunoichi pulls him out of the way from another punch. "He's a real robot and he's beating up the city."
"Technically, you did too," Kunoichi points at him.
"Ohh...right..." He cringes in embarrassment.
"WATCH OUT!" She pushes him out of the way from an incoming car.
"Oh gosh, I guess I should stop, huh?" Howard asks with a supposed guilty look.
"Yes, great, thank you," Ninja says in relief, Kunoichi sagging her shoulders once she hears him.
"Are you kidding? You are not getting into my head with that weak sauce."
"Are. You. KIDDING ME?!" Kunoichi shouts into the phone, her anger boiling. "What more proof do you need? We are literally staring this robot in the face!"
"Ha! Now you've got Kuno backing you up? So low."
"Arrrgh!" Kunoichi growls in frustration, both of them ducking their heads from the hammer.
"I'm only half a mil away from your high score, buddy, and there is nothing you can say to stop me. Oh, and one other thing?" He holds up his phone, hanging up. "Boop."
"What?!" They both yell as Jack swings his hammer, ducking just in time.
"You just had to be smug," Kunoichi turns to her partner in annoyance. "You couldn't let it go, and now because of you, we're shoobed!" She pulls out her own phone, snapping a pic of the robot and sending it to Howard. All she gets is:
Not falling for it, Kuno! Blocked!
"Oh, he did NOT just block me!" Kunoichi points at her phone, trying to contact him, but there's no response.
"Call Howard!" Ninja says into the phone again.
"Calling Howard."
"Come on," Kunoichi urges, crossing her fingers.
A fart sound is heard from his voicemail message, and they look at the phone with a deadpan look. "Leave a message."
"Howard is such a jerk, so much so that he's gonna destroy the city until he has a shred of pride?!" Kunoichi drags a hand down her face, Ninja doing the same. "I have never been more angry at him until today..."
"Alright, Howard. You wanna play?" Ninja puts his phone away, glaring up at the robot. Kunoichi does the same. "Let's play. Ninja Chain Sickle!" He throws it at the hammer while Kunoichi grabs at it with her hair. The robot yanks them over to the side, and they get dragged along into the air while hanging on.
But then they decide to use this as they swing back around, one foot from each in the air. "Ninja Double Kick!" They shout in unison, kicking the back of the head together. It stumbles around before falling onto the road with a thud. They land back on the road, crouched down together.
"Oh ho! That was so bruce! I give us 1000 Ninja points! Fist bump me, Kuno!"
"We don't do that until the end, but why not?" She smiles a bit, fist bumping him. "That kick was pretty cool."
"The coolest! We haven't done that in a while! Feels like old times."
"Huh. Good point. We should do more team moves," She rubs her chin as they grin.
Jack Hammer gets onto his feet, causing the two to get into defensive positions.
"That's right. I'm gonna lay down my signature move," Howard puts down the controller. "First I taunt," He holds up his shirt, shaking his belly. Jack Hammer does the same thing.
"Wow, that was an offensive gesture," Ninja points up at him, a bit weirded out.
"Is he really doing this?" Kunoichi sighs a bit. "His signature move?" Her eyes widen at that last question. "Wait, look out, he's doing the-!"
"Then I befuddle," The robot does a backflip.
"Backflip seemed a bit unnecessary," Ninja raises a brow, still weirded out.
"You know what it's gonna end with, MOVE!" Kunoichi tries to pull him away.
"Helicopter kick!"
The robot spins around like a helicopter, kicking both of them into someone's apartment. Ninja groans as he stands up, covered in undergarments. Kunoichi rests her arms over the sill, her hair slightly disheveled as she groans.
"Howard's signature move! How'd I miss that?"
Before Kunoichi can comment, he gets grabbed by the robot, the hole causing Kunoichi to fall onto the sidewalk. He's held right in front of Jack Hammer. Kunoichi slowly looks up from her spot.
"Ninja!" She shouts in alarm.
"Well, hey there, blinky light. What is it that you do?" Howard looks at a red button with a yellow exclamation point. He pushes it and before Kunoichi could do anything, he's thrown into the robot's mouth.
Eaten.
Her eyes widen as tears fall out of her face. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kunoichi shouts in horror. She doesn't even look at the robot anymore as she's shaking. All she could remember was him...all the times they've fought together...shared together...and finding out who they were...her heart is beating out of control as she takes shaky breaths. Just earlier, she was watching him play video games and taunting Howard, and now he was gone...
"Oh my god. Oh my god, no. No...no, no, no..." She continues crying, holding her head as she tries to compose herself, but it's proving to be impossible. It's like she wants to act, but nothing comes to mind. She feels like she can't breathe...
The feed goes out from Viceroy's end, and McFist joins his side. "Uh, what just happened?"
An alarm buzzes as they see the words 'Ninja Consumed!'
"We did it?" Viceroy asks in surprise, as he was expecting failure as usual.
"WE DID IT!" McFist exclaims, and they hug each other in glee, jumping up and down.
"Ninja consumed! Jack Hammer unlocked!" The game announces to Howard. The hammer turns into a drill, going right past Kunoichi.
"Ninja glow balls!" Ninja is actually alive as he's holding his glow balls, inside a small room with junk inside. "Okay, this is bad."
The walls start closing in. "Really bad." He drops the glow balls, grabbing a stop sign and holding it up horizontally to stop the process. It bends slightly, thankfully staying in place. However, he knows fully well that it won't last long.
"Oh man, Kuno, she's still out there," He looks away in worry, wondering how she must be feeling. He digs into his suit, pulling out his Ninja Nomicon. "Okay, Ninja Nomicon, surely I'm not the first Ninja to ever get trapped in a giant robot stomach. Could use a little help here."
He flips the book open, looking at the walls in fright. "Actually, a lot of help!"
The book lets him enter, and Randy flies through the air before seeing a doodle ninja with a doodle ninja. The monster breathes fire at him, winning the fight as the Ninja kneels in defeat. Then he turns around and defeats the monster with his previously fallen sword.
"A Ninja must know when winning is losing...and losing is winning. Kind of hoping for something a little more immediate here," Randy shrugs, a bit annoyed. "Like, I don't know, the exit's through the back door." His eyes widen as he realizes the solution. "Oh! Back door! I love you Nomicon."
Once he's out of the book, Ninja stands up, the stop sign snapping in half. "I'm going out the butt!" He cuts through, making a hole with his manrikigusari.
Kunoichi has caught up with the robot as he's at the school. But then it suddenly cringes, tiptoeing away towards a bush. Then it clanks, literally farting out the Ninja. Jack Hammer stands up, smiling in relief while holding a newspaper. Her mouth opens in shock, not just for that, but because she sees him sitting on the grass.
"Did he just-"
"I believe he did," Viceroy interrupts the business man, a bit disgusted at the sight.
Ninja stands up, only to be tackled to the ground. "Ow! What-"
He hears crying, seeing the top of Kunoichi's mask as she's rested her face into his chest. She's hugging him as she's still shaking, but in relief. He stares at the top of her head before hugging her back, his eyes closing.
"Kuno..."
They stand up and she has her head down. He looks at her before she punches him in the arm. "Ow! Stop hurting me!"
"You stupid dumb shoob!" She lightly hits at his chest, tears running down her face. "Did you know how scared I was for literally 10 minutes?!"
"I'm sorry," He rubs his neck awkwardly. "Hey," He holds her cheeks, so he can finally look at her face. Her eyes are slightly red from the crying. "Don't cry. I'm okay, Kuno..." He reaches underneath her mask, wiping away her tears.
She leaps forward and hugs him again, this time tighter. "I...I thought I lost you..." She murmurs and he wraps his arms around her back, closing his eyes. Then she pulls back, kissing his cheek. His eyes widen as he gasps, literally looking like a statue.
"The Ninjas are getting away! Get them!" McFist points to them. Ninja snaps out of it and gasps, scooping her up into his arms and running off. They head towards the school, with Jack Hammer still chasing after them. Kunoichi jumps and lands on the ground, keeping up with him. Along the way, they jump from the swinging hammer. His phone rings and Kunoichi turns to him. He answers while they still sprint. Then Kunoichi's phone rings, and she answers the group call.
"Oh, hey buddies. Just wanted to let you know I'm 2,000 points away from beating Cunningham's score. What's up with you?"
"What's up?! What's up?!" Kunoichi screams at him, also finding him at fault for what happened to Ninja. "We've been trying to get rid of this robot you're controlling!"
"Sure," He rolls his eyes and the robot hits them, sending them into a dumpster.
"And this is why I don't care about scores," She mutters in pain.
"Howard, you have to listen to us!" Ninja insists to their best friend. "We're not lying, this is all real! You have to make the robot stop!"
"And there you go, doing it again. Trying to get in my head and make me choke. Oh Cunningham, desperation is not a good color on you. And you don't have to keep up the act, Smith, I know you're in on it."
"ARE YOU THAT STUBBORN?! I'm not IN on anything, and I'm not acting!" She shouts into the phone, huffing. The robot looms over the two. Ninja looks up at it as the lesson from the Nomicon appears.
"A Ninja must know when winning is losing...and losing is winning! Kuno," He turns to her. "If we want the robot to lose, I have to let Howard win!"
"Anything is better than this..." She gestures to the robot. They both jump onto the dumpster, standing side-by-side.
"Alright, Howard. You want the high score? Come and get-" The robot slams its hammer into the both of them, leaving their holes in the wall. They go through the hall of lockers like pinballs, landing on the ground. "Is that all you got? Is that it?"
Then pieces of the ceiling hit his knee and her foot. "Ah, gee!"
"Oh smoke bomb, that hurt!" She holds her foot, wincing in pain.
"I did it. I beat you, Cunningham!" Howard laughs from the phone. Pain definitely wasn't worth it, but at least he finally stopped... "I did it...I'm so proud." He's kneeling on the floor, actually crying. "Cunningham, Smith, I did it. I am so much better than you."
"Congrats, buddy. Now just hold on before I need you to do one more thing." He scoots over to Kunoichi, using the art of healing on her. She wiggles her foot, smiling up at him.
"Thanks...Howard sucks sometimes," Her eyes look weary, as she can just imagine the bragging they'll get when they see him again.
"Yup, but he is still our best friend," Ninja agrees with her.
The robot stands in front of a hole, Howard still controlling it. He moves the robot so that it does a flip, landing in the ground. Then the game glitches from the Game Hole as the robot explodes, never to be seen again. The pieces go flying into the hovercraft's window, but do no damage to it.
McFist groans, blinding himself with the cloth again. "Take me home..."
"Well, you'd better get used to seeing my picture," Howard states as the three are standing next to the now out-of-order game. "We destroyed the game, so it looks like my face is gonna be up there permanently."
"It wasn't worth it," Amy deadpans at him.
"It's too bad your eyes are closed," Randy points out as Howard's face is all scrunched up in the photo. Amy snaps a picture with her phone.
"I'm keeping that one."
Howard groans at both her and his photo being wonk, but lets it go. "You know what? Don't care. All that matters is I beat you HARD!" He points at Randy.
"Yes, you did. You sure did. Cause I let you," The tall boy whispers that part, causing Amy to smile weakly.
Howard's eye twitches as he heard it. "Oh, it is so on. You. Me. Name the game and I will take. You. Down!"
It's as if his prayers have been answered as a nearby game activates, getting their attention. The two boys share a competitive look, dashing towards the game.
"You gonna watch me beat Howard again, Ames?" Randy smirks as he looks over his shoulder.
"Actually, I have to get going," She backs up a little, concerning him.
"Everything okay?"
She can still see him get eaten as she nervously waves a hand. "I, um, I might be coming down with something. I should go." She bumps into the door before opening it and dashing out of there.
"That was weird," Randy raises a brow, turning to Howard.
"It's like before-Smith: always being a weirdo and disappearing all the time. But after-Smith definitely wouldn't do that."
"I don't think it's about her being Kuno," Randy looks to the window. "Maybe I should check on her…"
"You can do that later. It's zombie kicking time!"
Randy shrugs and starts playing.
Amy pinches her nose as it's now nighttime. "I can't believe that I ran out of there like that. I mean, he knows who I am now, but…" She bites her lip. It's still in her head, the memory of him getting eaten…
She snaps out of it, going back to her dinner in front of her. She's sitting on the couch, watching TV before the door knocks.
"Hm?" She sits up, looking at the door. "I don't think Grandpa called to tell me he was visiting…"
Nevertheless, she puts her food on the coffee table, approaching the door. She opens it to see…
"Randy?" She asks in confusion, as she wasn't expecting him tonight. "It's not video game night, is it?"
"Every night is video game night to Howard," He replies and they both chuckle. Then he holds up her bag. "Here. You left so fast, you forgot your bag at the Game Hole. Your Nomicon's been buzzing for the past 20 minutes. Pretty much less of a downer than mine."
The Kunoichi Nomicon flashes at him, and he holds up his hands in defense.
"Oh man," She facepalms as she takes it from him. "Thank you, but you didn't have to give it to me personally. I would've picked it up from your house."
"Yeah, but… I wanted to make sure you were okay," He rubs the back of his neck. "I-I mean, you acted weird. Pre-Smith weird."
"What?" She blinks at the term, shaking her head. "Never mind. But I'm fine!"
"Hmm," He stares at her skeptically. "…Oh," Then he has a look of realization. Randy places his hands on her shoulders, looking at her in the eye. She blushes at the look he's giving her. "Ames, I know you were scared, but I wouldn't ever leave you all alone. If something bad happened to me, Howard would have to replace me."
They both shudder at the thought. "I wasn't just scared, I…!" She sighs slowly. "I just…lost it, okay? I can't do this all on my own, and I don't wanna think of a time where you aren't there to help me. I might be smart, but I need a partner. Someone who has my back, who makes me laugh, and can just be a friend." She looks up at him, sniffing.
"I need you."
His eyes soften and they share a hug. "… I need you too," He whispers in her ear. "I can't promise you that I won't risk myself to help Norrisville, but I can promise to be by your side while I still can."
She smiles a bit. That was all she wanted.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask," He pulls back, hands still on her shoulders. "When did you get the mask, anyway?"
"Call Howard and I'll tell you," She smiles a bit, chuckling. "Though I don't think it's that exciting."
Howard speeds over before Randy can even call him. "Are you kidding?! It's the bruce origin story of the Kunoichi!"
"...How...how'd you know what we were talking about...?" Randy asks, looking between Amy's living room and Howard's house.
Randy and Howard lean in towards the girl eagerly after she's gotten them some hot chocolate and leftover chicken wings. She laughs at their eager expressions, taking a seat across from them. "Well, I haven't told anyone, but..."
The moving truck stopped in the house across from Howard's. He was too busy playing video games with Randy to pay attention.
"What's that?" Randy looked out the window.
"Oh, some shoob family moving in across from my place," Howard shrugged, looking at the screen. "Are we grave punching or what?"
The boy shrugged, going back to the game. Amy waved the moving truck forward, not noticing the strange messenger that gave Randy the Ninja Nomicon sneaking up to her. He placed a white box inside a box that was labeled 'Books'.
Amy gave a thumbs up to the driver, and he stopped the truck. He got out and walked up to her, holding out a form to her.
"Are your parents here, little lady?"
"Um, no, they're busy talking with McFist. About business meetings out of town, so it's just me today," She rubbed her neck nervously. He just shrugged it off, and let her sign it. If she mentioned McFist, then he knew not to question it further. Amy picked up her box of books, stepping inside the new house. It was already furnished, but she still had to move all the boxes inside, with help. She walked upstairs to her new room, putting the box down on the floor. She wiped sweat off her forehead before seeing the white box in front of her.
She looked outside the window, confused. "This wasn't in the box when I packed...maybe it got mixed up in the moving process?" She decided to open it to see if it was a toolbox. Instead, she found the Kunoichi Nomicon as it glowed pink. Amy picked it up into her hands, examining it. "What...?"
Then she saw the note that was underneath. "You are the Kunoichi. Wait, wait, wait, as in, the partner of the Ninja?! But I thought that they didn't allow it anymore!" She held up the white mask with pink lines over it.
"You can't tell anyone," She read the next line. She scoffed, waving it off. "Not like I have anyone to tell, I start school tomorrow. I don't think I'll make any friends." She usually kept to herself whenever she was at her old school...but that didn't mean she was unfriendly, she just didn't really initiate a conversation with anyone there.
She put on the mask, white and pink lines sprouting from herself. Then she turned into the Kunoichi, hands on her hips.
She kicked in the air, doing a few flips before landing on her feet. She would test it out on various objects, but she just moved here, and she couldn't afford to break anything.
"This is so cool!" She examined herself in the mirror, looking at her braid.
Howard and Randy end up laughing. "Wait, so you never planned on making friends here?" Randy asks her as she rubs her neck sheepishly.
"Hey, you didn't even know I was there until I came to school," She smiles at them playfully. "I was there the whole time, and all you did was play Grave Puncher!"
"It was Grave Puncher," Howard crosses his arms in defense and she rolls her eyes.
"If you hadn't interrupted my speech, I probably would've ignored you," She smiles a bit. "But I guess in some way, fate just worked."
"What did you think about me being your partner when you found out about the Ninja?" Randy raises a brow at her.
"Oh, I hated it," She reveals and he bites his lip sheepishly. "Don't feel bad, I know that you don't feel that way about me anymore. But after we worked together on our first fight, I regretted thinking that way...granted, I didn't know it was you in the first place."
"Still...sorry I was so against working with you," He rubs his arm.
"Yeah, you definitely didn't want to," Howard replies while eating a chicken wing, getting elbowed by Randy.
"But I wonder when our Nomicons decided to bring us to the same world," Randy rubs his chin.
"Probably to wonk things up for us more," Howard mutters under his breath as Amy snaps her fingers.
"I think it could've been when I was at my locker for the first time...we were talking about us, and I had my bag open for a brief minute. I zipped it up fast so that no one would see it. I saw it glow for a brief second."
"I remember that!" Randy gasps at her, gesturing to his book. "I thought it was a false alarm! But it was our Nomicons coming together!"
"Cool!" Amy holds up her Nomicon.
"Can we talk about anything else?" Howard asks impatiently and the girl rolls her eyes.