Randy wasn't at all surprised that his friends reacted badly at the news that the Ninjanomicon had given him. He expected it.
"Are you kidding me, Cunningham!? Please tell me that this is the messed up way for the book to make a joke!" Howard whined on the verge of tears. "I really thought that we'd seen the last of our summer woes!"
"Do you even know what 'woes' even means?" Heidi asked, trying to calm down her brother before he caused an even bigger scene.
"Nope, but I think it fits in this situation." Howard said, dropping his melodramatic act.
Randy wished that he could say that this was all a joke that Rosalyn and Plop Plop had cooked up, to see Howard squirm. But he had to tell them the truth. It wasn't a prank, which meant that they had one final adventure before the new school year came knocking. Randy hoped that it would be something small that wouldn't threaten the rest of the world or the people he cared about.
"Look guys, I don't like this any more than you do. But from what the Nomicon told me, the threat is either weak or passing. What the juice, we might not even have to deal with anything." Randy said, hoping to cheer up his friends.
"Don't feel bad, Randy. We know that you do not want this any more than we do." Heidi said, putting her hand on his shoulder for comfort. "Maybe we'll be lucky and the threat will pass on by, I hope so at least. Should we tell Gothetta, Elsa, Phanty and the other vampires about this?"
Randy felt a slight chill run down his spine. Normally, he would've jumped at the feel, but he'd gotten used to them. He had gotten so good at feeling them that he could tell the intentions of the one causing the chills with good accuracy. These chills told Randy that the one that was causing them was looking to scare him out of a joke or something. Randy relaxed slightly as he realized who was the one behind the chills he felt.
"Hi Phanty." Randy greeted. "Your chills don't scare me."
However, Phantasma didn't appear behind him or in front of him.
Randy, Howard and Heidi looked around.
"Where is she?" Howard asked.
"She's usually around when one of us feels some chills." Heidi pointed out. "Maybe it's just the wind that gave you those chills. Need me to warm you up~?" She asked teasingly.
"If you warm yourself up any more, your tail will come out." Phanty commented. "Wagging like a happy puppy."
Heidi's ears perked up at the sound of the ghost girl's voice. She looked around for the ghost, but she saw nothing.
"Down here!" Phanty called out.
Randy, Howard, and Heidi looked down at the sidewalk.
They were standing on top of a large puddle of blue ectoplasm. It had a large goofy smile that would've made the Cheshire Cat feel creeped out with a pair of glowing eyes that stared deep into their souls.
"...Hi guys!." Phanty said before looking at Heidi's skirt. "Nice underwear, Heidi."
Randy, Howard and Heidi each jumped out of fright. Randy assumed a defensive stance out of sheere reflex, while Howard hid behind him, and Heidi pulled down her skirt as her face flushed red like her hair.
Phantasma floated off the ground, laughing like a crazy woman. She really lived for the jokes that she played on her friends and the living.
"What the juice, Phanty?!" Randy asked as Phanty pulled herself together.
"Sorry guys! I saw this in a cartoon once and thought it was worth the try!" Phanty laughed, now being in her normal body. "I'll never get tired of doing that."
"Could you at least not look up my skirt?!" Heidi growled, her eyes glowing like those of a shewolf.
"What? I compliment your taste." Phanty said, before flying up to her friends' faces. "So, what's this new problem that's coming our way?"
Randy relaxed, knowing that there was no point in hiding it from his phantom friend and lover.
"We might have one more thing to face before school starts. But we don't know who or what we're dealing with. We could use the help in looking around." Randy admitted. "Are you willing to help out?"
Phanty thought about it, pretending to go over the idea like a philosopher that couldn't stop thinking of an idea. She then shrugged off like it was a decision as easy as choosing heads or tails in a coin toss.
"Ok. It will be fun. I'll get Elsa for the extra muscle!" Phantasma said, sky rocketing into the sky for their friend.
"I swear that girl has something alright." Heidi pointed out.
"My money is on ADD." Howard added.
"Well, I'll take whatever help we can get." Randy said. "We should start looking at different spots where this new threat could go to. Or could spring out from."
"And here in Norrisville that could be anywhere from the Last Stall of the school's bathroom to the old cemetery. We could use at least twice as many eyes." Heidi pointed out.
"We'll just check the places that we know will cause trouble." Randy clarified. "That leaves us with McFist Industries, The Gracey Manor, and-"
"Cunningham, please don't say it. Please let's not go there before we really have to!" Howard begged.
Randy rolled his eyes but couldn't help but sympathize with his best friend's feelings. He didn't like going there any more than he had to. But the biggest source of dark magic in Norrisville resided within the depths of that place. As much as neither of the former Freshmen liked to go back there, they had to. Randy helped his friend back to his feet before giving him a solemn look.
"I'm afraid that we have to, Howard." Randy replied. "We are going to go back to high school!"
Howard recoiled in shock and fear.
"Randy, I love you and all but do you two need to be so dramatic?" Heidi asked.
"It is part of our character!" Randy replied, striking a heroic pose, pointing to the horizon.
"Wait, what was that last part?" Howard asked before shrugging it off.
The three teenagers met up with Elsa and Phantasma by the entrance to the Norrisville High School. They greeted their friends with hugs and handshakes before they turned to the building. Despite the situation, it was nice to see them and hang out for a little bit.
The old school building looked to be almost untouched by time. It was still strong after all the times that monsters and giant robots turned its walls and halls into rubble. One would wonder if the dark magic kept it from being completely demolished. It was the only thing that made sense, giving the school a feel of dread and a haunted sense that it would always be there, reminding students of the horrors that lay within its halls.
"So, this is your high school? It doesn't look like a bunch of monsters tore through it like a pack of animals." Elsa pointed out.
"Don't let its seemingly untouched look fool you, Elsa. This place has seen its fair share of wrecks." Heidi replied. "There was this one time the whole second floor was demolished and only one classroom was left. Students had to climb up to it through a ladder."
"A pain in the butt if you ask me. It feels like the universe played a joke on us." Howard added.
"Howard, you're only moaning about it because we had to give our presentation despite you not wanting to." Randy said. "We won't get anything if we just stay out here."
Randy pulled the doors open, letting out a ghostly wind from inside the school. He looked inside the school as they all walked inside. The entrance was completely dark with only the light from the windows casting any form of illumination. The Ninja of Norrisville couldn't help but feel like he was walking into the belly of a wolf. It was like when someone enters a foreclosed building or when someone steps into a graveyard in the middle of the night, all that was missing was the fog.
"Wow, this place is really dead." Phanty pointed out.
"You should see it when it's filled with students and teachers. It gets livelier, but I really think we should focus on what we came here to check." Heidi said.
"So, where are they?" Elsa asked.
Randy walked up to the Eye of Tengu, right in the middle of the large yellow koi fish-shaped tiles at the floor of the entrance. He kneeled next to it, feeling the power of the ancient bird still strong even after so many centuries.
"The Eye of Tengu appears to be in one piece, and it doesn't seem like anyone's tried to move it to open the prison." Randy said as his friends gathered around him.
"That's the prison where the Sorcerer was kept for all those 800 years?" Elsa asked, recalling the story of his friend's powers.
"I gotta say, I was expecting something more like a giant cage, maybe some chains or some hanging skeletons of some kind." Phanty said. "This looks more like the tiled floor of a spa."
"Yeah, I found it crazy the first time I heard it as well." Heidi said. "It feels like the people that made this decided to make it look completely inoffensive instead of a huge danger sign. Kinda weird that no one remembered that there was an 800 year old Sorcerer imprisoned down here. Like, maybe put up a big sign or something."
"Made that question myself, sis." Howard added.
"A few too many times, bud." Randy said getting back up. "It seems secure enough. Now, let's go check out some of the other spots."
"Are we just going to leave it like that?" Phanty asked.
"I've got the only key, and if something comes for it we'll know." Randy pointed out. "I'm more worried about this being the work of McFist or someone new."
Heidi pulled out a small spy camera and placed it next to the stairs.
"Just in case someone tries to make an unexpected visit." Heidi said as they all walked out of the school. "It'll activate as soon as it senses movement."
Back at the Norrisville Museum of Natural History, the vase was being examined by one of the curators.
"Hm, it looks relatively new. Like something you'd get in a gift shop." he commented. "Someone must've dropped it. It could just be a fancy looking thermus or something."
The curator looked at the vase. He grabbed the lid, wondering what could be inside it. When his phone began to ring. He took the call, ignoring the white smoke-like fog coming from the vase that he had just been looking at.
The green smoke began to seeth into the floor of the room. Like a ghostly entity crawling out from its own grave. The floor was now completely turned white with the fog, if it had been a bear trap then there was a good chance that one would've stepped on it, or on something much worse.
"Oh, I hate these Spam Calls."
The curator put his phone down just in time to see the whole room filled with the strange fog.
"What the-"
The lid flew off the vase, shattering as it struck the ceiling. From inside the vase a burst of fog came out like a volcano erupting from the deepest parts of the earth. The fog filled the rest of the room, causing the curator to flee out of the room like a bat out of hell, screaming like a little girl. The lights were blacked out by the fog as a figure crawled out of the vase breaking it.
"For thousands of years I lay dormant! But now I, Revolta, have awoken!"
Revolta looked around the room she had emerged in. She raised an eyebrow to see what was going on around her.
"What is this place? Where is the castle? All my work is gone!" Revolta cried out in rage. "I shall make the world suffer for that druid's interference!"
Revolta called upon her magic to go out of where she was. But nothing happened. She snapped her fingers, with only a tiny spark of power appeared. She looked at her four hands in horror.
"My magic! Damn you, Sha'a Gi!" Revolta shouted in rage. "I must find a way to replenish my power!" She sniffed at the air, smelling something of great power calling upon an ancient force. A smile spread across her face, the kind of smile a master of evil would have as soon as a plot crossed their minds.
"Oh yes, this smell is just what I wanted." Revolta sneered, walking towards the door.
Randy felt guilty for dragging his friends across town looking for something that he didn't even know was going to happen. They had spent the whole day scouting the different places that had even the slightest bit of magic or source of danger. The sun had gone down and they had come up with nothing.
"Well, I can easily say that we got our steps in for the day." Phanty pointed out.
"Speak for yourself, you floated all day long!" Howard said, rubbing his feet.
"Sorry about that guys. Didn't mean to waste most of the day on this." Randy apologised.
"Well, you can make it up to us by buying us a fancy dinner." Howard suggested, only getting a smack from Heidi.
"We know that you didn't mean to, Randy. But it isn't your fault. For all we know the threat is not interested in us or this city." Heidi said, trying to make him feel better.
"Yeah, maybe whatever it is is not that big of a deal." Elsa added. "What are the odds that your book got it wrong for once?"
"I'll name my children after you, Elsa, if you're right." Howard chidded. "I've been really hoping to pull one on the damn book for a whole year I swear."
"Hey, maybe it is for the best. We don't want to get the reputation of every day having something crazy happening. We don't want to be compared to that place, what was it called?" Phanty asked.
"Amity Park?" Randy suggested.
"Middleburg?" Heidi asked.
"New York?" Howard thought out loud. "Paris?"
"Echo Creek?" Elsa added.
"Yeah, I think that's the one. I think?" Phanty said.
Randy smiled, feeling a little better. Even though they hadn't found what was going on, he still got to hang out with his friends. Maybe Phanty and Elsa were right, whatever threat the Nomicon felt was either not going to bother with their hometown. He could only hope and be ready for whenever or if ever that thing would come out of the shadows. All he could do was spend the rest of the day with his friends and later on get together with Gothetta and the other vampire kids.
"So, what do we do now?" Randy asked. "Anybody got anything that they want to do?"
"I need to go buy some food for the manor, the chef is running out of food and since he sleeps all day, I offered to help." Elsa replied.
"I'm sold." Phanty replied.
"Grocery shopping? Really? I'm gonna go play video games." Howard said, pointing to the arcade.
"Well, more for us then." Heidi said, wrapping her arm around Randy's shoulder. "Let's go gals."
Randy laughed with Heidi, Phanty and Elsa. The girls saw this as a way to spend more time with the man they loved and cherished while his girlfriend was asleep. They loved Gothetta and all but they didn't really like how she was overly territorial over Randy at certain times. They walked towards the grocery shop as clouds of lightning and thunder gathered above their heads.
Amidst the streets of Norrisville, Revolta sniffed around, following the scent that was so alluring to her. She smelled nothing but pure uncut dark magic.
"I can smell it, I can feel myself getting closer to the magic." Revolta said, before stepping up to the road. "What is this strange black river of brimstone?" She asked, putting a foot on it to see the depth of it. "A road? I have been gone a long time. The forest has long left these ways."
Revolta was then run over by a car. She spun in the air as the speeding car drove off with none other than Bash on the wheel.
"Heck yeah! I'm driving!" Bash called out, driving off.
Revolta landed on the road face first. She slowly got up, peeling herself off the street with her hands. She glared at the foolish driver. Her red eyes narrowed in rage, but her sight grew to see what also laid before her. The lights of the city were a brand new sight for her. The old witch pulled herself to her feet, watching them in awe. Revolta had no other way of describing this but by comparing it to something like magic.
"It would seem that the humans have found a way to harness light to push back the creatures of the night." Revolta said, moving her jaw with one of her hands. "And underneath it all lies a power so dark."
Revolta snapped her jaw back in place before she dragged herself towards the city. She stuck to the shadows, following the scent of the dark magic. She heard a few calls and shouts from people on the street, getting splashes of water from passing cars and got a bag of garbage dropped on her head. Every step she took, she was reminded of what made her hate humans so long.
"I cannot believe how much humans have gotten worse over the centuries. Being stuck in that damn vase was a horrible eternity. But this! This is a mess, why haven't the creatures of the night finished the humans off already?" Revolta groaned, cursing her luck and her defeat.
She looked up to where the scent of dark magic was coming from. A sinister smile spread across her face. Revolta was going to make this new world her own and make sure the darkness ruled over the light. She was face to face with a white building that seemed to resemble a castle that had just been brought up without any borders to protect it. She looked at the words that appeared at the side of the entrance. Revolta waved her hand over the sign, using what little magic she had to translate it.
"Norrisville High School?" Revolta read. "What is a school? It isn't that high to begin with. It must be an unhallowed monastery or something."
Revolta pushed the doors open, looking upon the entrance of the building. She started sniffing at the air, following the scent of the dark magic.
"Yes, yes, the power is close. I can smell it, I can taste it. So dark, so sinister, so-" Revolta recalled, until her nose was struck with a smell that she didn't quite like. She coughed as the smell clogged her nose and mouth. "Teenage spirit! *cough* *cough* This place reeks of it! *cough* *cough* My eyes are burning!" She wheezed out, rushing to a window to open it.
The ancient witch coughed out the window, trying to get as much clean air into her lungs. She was not one to exaggerate, but her nose was not used to the smells that a modern high school had. She wiped her eyes with two of her hands as she used her other two hands to fan wind into her face.
"I think I'm good now. Even if it costs me my nose and eyes, I'll get that power and turn this damn high school into a pile of rubble." Revolta growled.
Revolta stepped up to the seal where the Sorcerer's prison once laid. She looked at the Eye of Tengu, sensing its power. A power that sent shivers down her spine. She could tell that it was powerful, akin to a force of nature like a hurricane storm that destroyed a whole village or a raging inferno born out of the heat of the very sun. Revolta tried to touch it, but she couldn't tell the allegiance of the creature inside the eye. Her hand touched the yellow stone, causing her eyes to widen in shock at the sight of the beast within it. She saw a large black feathered bird with a white mask and face and a crown of red feathers. Revolta felt the power behind the red eyes of the beast and knew that she had to step back.
"You are powerful, beast. But you are not what I'm looking for." Revolta pointed out, shrugging off the cold sweat that ran down her back. "What I seek is below you."
Revolta stood back up, defiant till the end. She began chanting a spell. Her hands glowed green as her veins were filled with that very energy.
From beneath the ground and around the Eye of Tengu, the power of the Sorcerer's Balls slowly filtered into her body.
Revolta could feel her body getting stronger. She could tell that this was only a taste, and now she wanted more.
However, what she hadn't noticed was the camera that was capturing everything.
Randy, Heidi, Elsa and Phantasma exited the supermarket with two large bags of food inside their cart.
"You know, for a bunch of vampires they sure eat a lot." Phanty pointed out.
"Don't worry, thanks to Lady Kryptina's pointers we got a good deal." Elsa said. "Besides most of what we got were the ingredients that the chef needed that he couldn't get himself."
"I never knew there was a code to get pig's blood and bloody stakes at the butchers." Heidi said. "I think I'll use it later on. My wolf senses really have been giving me a craving for meat."
"At least this night ended without any problems." Randy said, just as Howard walked up to them.
"How was shopping?" Howard asked.
"It was-." Heidi began only to receive a notification on her phone. "Wow. Howard, you better start asking that book for the lottery numbers, because it was right."
"What?" Randy and Howard asked as Heidi showed them the pictures that she was receiving.
"I gotta go stop her!" Randy said, giving Howard his bags before running away to put his mask on.
In a flash of red light and black cloth, Randy had turned into the Ninja. He flung his red scarf at one of the streetlights, pulling himself upwards. He swung through the streets like a master, using the darkness of the night to remain hidden as he went off to protect his city from any that would do it and its people any harm.
"We're going after him, right?" Phanty asked.
"You got to ask?" Heidi said, pulling off her necklace.
Heidi and Elsa dumped their bags on Howard before rushing after Randy with Phanty at their side.
"Hey, what the juice?! What's going on?! What do I do with these?!" Howard asked, running after his friends while carrying all the groceries. "This is somehow the universe telling me to quit betting against the book. I just know it! Wait for me!"
Revolta felt stronger the more she sucked in the dark magic under her. She licked her lips savoring the power that she was filling her body with.
"Once I gain all this power, I will rule the world!" Revolta called out. "And no one can stop me!"
"SMOKE BOMB!"
A large cloud of orange smoke blew up in front of Revolta, breaking her concentration.
A kick sprung from the orange cloud, sending Revolta away from the Eye of Tengu.
"Sorry spider lady, but the school is closed for the summer!" Randy said, stepping between the witch and the Eye of Tengu. "You'll have to come back in, say, a few weeks."
"Insolent wretch, I will have your heart for getting in my way! For I am the mighty and powerful Revolta!" Revolta claimed with her magic pouring from her hands.
"Well I suppose when you look pretty revolting already, name options are pretty limited." Randy muttered. "If you want it so badly, come and take it!" He said, pulling out his Tengu Fire Sword. "Let's dance, ugly!"