Authors note: So this chapter was supposed to be part of the last one, but I didn't want to make it too long to start things off, so I took the time to split it into different sections in order to make the third chapter the most action packed.

This chapter will not be too action packed as well, but when the next chapter is made, I promise things will start to get really interesting since this sets up one of the MANY new villains for Randy. If you want to know about the other villains or create new ones to help out with the story, just PM me and I will be more than willing to chat.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter 2: Risk and Reward

O-O-O

The rest of the school day wasn't very thrilling.

Aside from getting used to the new schedule and dealing with the random robot attack only for Randy to save the day once more, it was pretty boring. The robots seemed to have gotten less effective at fighting Randy as he grew stronger, along with losing creativity since today's bot of the week was a robotic snail.

Unknown to almost everyone in Norrisville – much to Randy's displeasure – these robot attacks were all because of Hannibal Mcfist, the business man who put up a show of benevolence to the town in order to gain total monopoly of Norrisville. Randy may not have liked the man very much, but even he had to admit he had a place in the town; who else would have the best products in town?

"I think Viceroy is starting to run out of ideas." Randy commented, waving goodbye to Theresa as he walked home with Howard. "That robo-snail didn't take long for me to turn it into escargot."

"I'll admit it, despite making that really bad pun about snails; the part when you threw that fireball and blew it up was awesome!" Howard exclaimed, taking out his phone.

Randy was then showed footage of the lunch break fight, right at the end where Howard managed to record the moment Randy fried the robo-snail with a tengu fireball in his brief few seconds of Ninja rage; a move he used sparingly.

"This is going to get me so many views!"

"Is it really?" Randy questioned. "Robots are getting really old, dude."

Randy had to admit, he was starting to get bored of being a ninja for once. When he first received his powers, he was amazed at the power he held in his hands yet never let it drove him mad. Overtime, Randy came to accept his responsibilities and better himself as a ninja every day, always learning new lessons and becoming the hero Norrisville needed.

But he never thought he could get bored of his powers.

With the Sorcerer defeated, Julian back to normal, and every other foe he's ever dealt with taken care of in their own right except for Mcfist, his mad scientist assistant Viceroy and the occasional gang, Randy had gotten used to being a hero in his prime. Even though the 'Army thugs' from the morning as Randy had dubbed them worried him, he felt that he could take care of them again should more appear.

"Mcfist has nothing that can touch me." Randy gloated. "Robot apes, robot snails, not even robot amoebas."

"How was that a thing?" Howard though back to the amoebas. "Just… why amoebas?"

"I'm telling you, dude. Mcfist has nothing left up his sleeve." Randy continued. "The ninja is just too much for him to handle."

"And yet the ninja still can't beat Grave Punchers." Howard remarked.

"Not unless he gets there first!" Randy sprinted ahead of his friend to his house, leaving behind a wheezing Howard.

"No fair!" Howard ran after his friend. "Not again!"

O-O-O

While Randy and Howard raced each other home for another session of Grave punchers and junk food, one person simply walked home silently and alone, preferring to go by himself and without any attention.

William was in a dark place of mind, wandering off in his own thoughts as he walked to downtown Norrisville. Life hasn't been the same for him after last spring, being diagnosed with a rare disease could change a person's outlook on life, and he didn't have the heart to tell the few people outside of family about it; popping pills on a daily basis to keep himself preserved.

"Heh, don't have the heart." William thought to himself. "Still have some kind of humor at least."

Despite the doctor's strong recommendations, William had made himself take a long walk across town; he always preferred walking to smell the fresh air over driving cars any day. He would have rode his bike on this beautiful sunny day, but even he knew that was a bad idea due to his… rare condition.

A ringtone played from his pocket, promoting the boy to take out his phone and answer it.

"Hi sweetie." Said a feminine voice on the line. "How's your first day of school?"

"Not much." William responded, forming a small smile on his face. "How's work going?"

"Long hours again." His mother responded. "I might not make it home until after midnight."

"Again? But I worked overtime at the yogurt shop."

"And I appreciate that; you're a good son and I'm lucky to have you helping me." His mom said. "But it takes more than selling frozen yogurt to pay off the mortgage."

"I guess we can cancel our movie night…again."

"I know it's hard but, we can get through this." His mother assured. "No matter what happens, we'll be alright."

William sighed. "Why did I have to get sick then?"

His mother paused for a moment. "Life can get hard… things happen."

His mother stopped talking after William could hear some background chatting on the phone, before getting a hasty response from his mother.

"Sorry sweetie, I need to go. You can order takeout today when you get home."

"Alright." William said disappointingly. "Love you, mom."

"Love you too."

After hanging up, William knew what he had to do now. He had a feeling that this would happen, knowing full well what he was going to do would be his biggest risk yet, but he had to do it. Bills were piling up and his mother was struggling to pay them, not to mention his medical bills were almost due to be paid.

He needed money and he needed it now.

So after a few hours of walking led William to a Mcfist warehouse in the industrial district just outside downtown, he set his sights on the large building for his latest heist. His current job working at that frozen yogurt parlor wasn't getting enough money; but it was neat getting free frozen yogurt for being an employee.

In fact, ever since he moved from his old hometown in Louisiana to Norrisville, he had been a thief for quite some time much. While he wasn't the stealthiest person in the world, what made him so good was how fast he could get in and out of a place, gone before anyone realizes something has been stolen.

His newest target was a Mcfist warehouse he staked out before school - thanks to a friend he knew in the black market in Norrisville - he was informed of something really valuable in this warehouse of Mcfist industries. All he knew was that it was some kind of new product that would fetch millions to the right buyer – specifically coming inside a grey metallic container with a special symbol of a mechanical fist on the side that should be arriving now - and at this point William would do anything he could just to get some cash.

The connection he had established was an anonymous source named Robo-V, getting his contact one day after a series of petty thefts by getting a strange note in a package delivered to him. It said the person was very impressed by his skills and wanted to recruit him for more valuable heists, and over the past few months he was getting bolder with every new mission.

"This had better be worth it."

After staking out across the block to wait for Mcfist's robo-ape guards to patrol away from the main entrance, William took out two more pills from his backpack and gulped them down, making a quick sprint across the street and climbed his way up and over the chain link fence.

It didn't take long for William to reach the large front doors of the warehouse, checking his sides to make sure no one saw what he was doing before easily picking the lock with a bobby pin. Once unlocked, William opened the large doors just enough for his body to slip through and closed the doors behind him before the guards could come back.

"Huh… that was easy."

William turned his attention to the area he was in, blown away at what he was seeing inside.

Inside the deceptive exterior of the warehouse hid a highly technological interior, grey metallic surfaces lit with green lights across the wide and expansive warehouse area. The whirring of large cranes transported metallic containers from cargo ships, stacking them neatly across the area and made few narrow pathways for the robo-apes lifting smaller cargo or patrolling the area.

"This is crazy. What the cheese is Mcfist up to..." William cursed himself in his thoughts. "Damn it, now I'm doing it."

He didn't dwell much on the subject of Norrisville slang, now he had to find that container and get whatever was inside it to deliver to Robo-V. William saw one of the metal containers to his left made a climbable stack, making a dash while avoiding a robo-ape's sight to grip onto the top of the edge and pull himself up.

After a few more climbs to the top of the stack, William could get a bird's eye view of the warehouse, trying to spot the container he was looking for. William spotted his prize, just being brought down across the other side of the warehouse.

"Now here comes the hard part where I hope I don't break my legs."

Taking a few steps back, William spotted a crane close by lifting a container to the other side of another stack of containers. He sprinted across and took a leap of faith, stretching out his legs as he jumped and landed atop the container being lifted to the other side.

Hiding in front the crane arm, William avoided the robotic gaze of the robo-ape operating the machinery, while hanging on the arm for dear life as he took calm breaths. Letting the adrenaline of parkour took a toll on his health, but it would be worth it if he could get his prize without being seen.

After the crane settled on the top position of the stack of containers, William quickly ran off to leap carefully down the stack, each time landing perfectly on the containers while making small leaps across other cranes.

William managed to get to his destination, the container perfectly placed on the bottom of the floor. As the crane that lifted the container let go and raised upward, William managed to jump again and take hold of the arm briefly, before jumping down on top of his prize container and leapt down.

In just a matter of a few minutes, William realized he was across the other side; commending his own efforts since he was timing the whole run in his head.

"I think that's a new record."

Seeing that the container held the same industrial lock as all others despite the fancy metallic appearance, William took out a set of heavy pliers he kept in his backpack for such an occasion, one he had spent the rest of his paycheck on, and gripped the locking mechanism tightly. Using enough strength, William managed to break the lock apart with great strain and creaked open the doors, taking a look at what he was supposed to be stealing today.

"That's far enough." Said a voice from behind to the surprise of the thief.

William turned to the source, much to his shock to find Hannibal's assistant and secret mad scientist Viceroy, accompanied by four robo-apes as an escort. William tried to make a break for it, but another four robo-apes blocked his way from his sides; surrounding the thief with nowhere else to go but to face Viceroy.

William always did have a habit with running into problems.

"You are quite a troublemaker, aren't you William?" Viceroy began. "Stealing wallets to prototypes from Mcfist Industries; I'm impressed."

"Impressed?" William inquired. "I just stole something from your boss, your really shady boss."

"But a very well paying boss." Viceroy commented. "One who pays well for talent; and then takes credit for it like the idea stealer he is, but that's irrelevant."

"How do you even know who I am?"

Viceroy gave the boy a grin.

"I think you should be asking Robo-V. After all, he was the one that gave you the package."

It didn't take long for William to put together who Robo-V really was.

"You… you're my contact?"

"Yes, and I understand why you do all this." Viceroy continued. "It must be hard to live under a roof with a single mother, barely paying your bills to stay in a modest home."

William's mother worked day and night at Mcfist industries, always nonstop at doing her best while trying to provide for herself and her only son. William knew if she ever found out that he was a thief; especially one who just tried stealing from her boss well… he knew it would be bad, so he just kept up the honest act and used the frozen yogurt parlor as a cover for where he got his real income from.

"You're just a boy trying to help out his mother. I can respect that."

"Are you going to sell me out?" William asked with bravado, hiding the fear of being caught inside. "You better pray they lock me up and throw away the key."

"Or else what?" Viceroy raised an eyebrow.

"Uh…" William never made good threats in the heat of the moment. "I'll tell everyone what's going on here?"

"Ha! And people are just going to believe the kid caught breaking and entering?" Viceroy inquired, before changing the subject. "But I won't say anything about this, and I won't hand you over to the police."

William grew suspicious of the man, but he heard him out in silence.

"You see, I've been keeping track of you ever since you received my contact. I must say that your talents are impressive for your age." Viceroy praised William. "Every heist you made was not just a quick buck for you to make; it was a series of tests that you passed."

"Lemme guess?" William spoke up. "This was the final exam?"

"And you passed with flying colors." Viceroy confirmed. "I don't want to arrest you; I want to hire you."

That was an offer that blew the young man's mind. An offer by Viceroy to join the company for his skills? There must have been more to this offer, no way would someone like this want to hire a kid who stole to make a living.

"Does it pay better than nicking wallets?"

"Of course it does." Viceroy responded quickly. "But before we sign the contract, let's talk about your… condition."

"What are you-

"No need to lie. I took a quick bio scan while you were zipping around. Garrick's disease, huh?" Viceroy said inquisitively. "I had an uncle with that; nasty way to go."

"Sorry for your loss. But why do you care?" William asked more frustratingly.

"Because I have a solution… a cure."

William stayed silent with shock and surprise, trying to hold in his skepticism.

"I've been working on some prototype nanotechnology in my spare time, and I need someone to test it out; preferably with your symptoms since it's an implant."

William held his chest with a free hand, right where his heart was.

"You want to put a foreign object in my heart?" William doubted the claims of the mad scientist. "I prefer it if you didn't poke holes in my guts, thank you very much."

"Rather than fix the ones you already have?" Viceroy countered. "I need someone to use this on, I made a promise to my uncle to find a cure and I plan on keeping it."

William thought about the opportunity. Could he really get his heart fixed up like that? Just one implant later and he could be normal like he used to, go back to the things he loved to do and live the life he should have lived? It seemed so easy for him to grasp onto this small chance on a company known to make the best products in the state; maybe even the country.

"Could it work?"

"Well, I wouldn't know for sure unless I tested it out, will I?"

William knew there had to be more.

"…What's the catch?" William asked, unsure if this was a good idea.

"If the chance to cure you is not enough, maybe getting a steady job in our company with good pay would help." Viceroy continued to temp the boy. "You'll have a wage so high, your mother will never have to work those long hours again. You can finally spend time with her like a real family. Not to mention we can cover your medical expenses that you've been dreading for some time now."

"I'll…" William hesitated, but only for a brief moment. "I'll do it... But why me? Why all this effort and offers just to have me work for you? I don't even like your products all that much."

"Let me answer that with a question; how far are willing to help your mother?"

William took a deep breath, answering as truthfully as possible. "I'd die for her."

Viceroy knew he had the boy in his hands, the mother truly motivated this child.

"Are you willing to kill for her?"

William was taken back by the statement.

"Kill? Jesus, man! I'm not a murderer." William protested.

"I guess you don't want my help then." Viceroy said casually.

He turned around and walked away, commanding his robo-apes to step away and let Ryder free to run off.

There was no way William could just give this up. This was the closest thing he had to an opportunity to truly help himself and his mother, and he was not going to throw it all away because he was scared of killing someone. Granted, he would never live himself down if he took a human life; but sacrifices had to be made if it meant putting back his family life again.

"Wait!" William called out, making Viceroy stop in his tracks. "Who is it?"

All part of his plan, Viceroy turned around and took out a metallic orb, activating a button on it to project a holographic image of the hero of Norrisville; The Ninja.

"Kill him, and everything you could possible need and want is yours."

"I can't believe this…" William said to himself in disbelief. "How do you expect me to kill the Ninja? He's the Ninja!"

Viceroy chuckled as he walked past the boy, opening the container door from before to reveal the sole object inside a high tech cylindrical stand. What was inside floating in its cylinder container was some sort of round and flat object, with a metallic shade of dark grey and a red glow of crimson in the center.

"My boy, your cure is also your greatest weapon!"

O-O-O

Disclaimer: I do not own Randy Cunningham 9th grade ninja.