DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN RANDY CUNNINGHAM 9TH GRADE NINJA NOR LIFE AND TIMES OF JUNIPER LEE
Over at the open field now made to look like a medieval fair, several geeks in their outlandish costumes gathered together for the Grand LARPing event. They were eagerly awaiting for the Master of Ceremonies, Brock Octane, to begin the festivities. After a few minutes, the action movie star approached the stage wearing his Grave Puncher costume to promote his new movie coming out. "Testing, testing, is this thing on?" Brock said tapping the mic causing that annoying feedback sound. "Greeting you all. I am Brock Octane, action movie star and model. And I welcome you all to the Grand LARPing competition!" The crowds cheered with anticipation. "Where you will all go on a epic quest for the grand prize, a collection of rare cheap plastic magic toys for your little nerd games." Some of the staff with him on stage revealed the prize inside a beautiful display case. If the LARPers were insulted by that remark they didn't show it and simply cheered on. "Oh and don't forget, to check out my new movie Grave Puncher II vs Davey Jones Lockers. Which we are showing a special preview later today!" This brought even greater cheers since that's what a majority of the people came to see.
Due to their special guest status, the kids from Norrisville were standing right next to the stage, waiting for the event to begin. "Do we really have to do this? My costume is riding up." Howard complaining in his dwarf costume. Trying to adjust his pants since they were giving him a wedgie.
"Of course we do, this is for Julian," Randy, wearing an elf costume complete with bow and suction cup arrows, insisted. Howard mumbled in protest, he always hated how Randy had such high morals when it came to helping others, always ruining their cheese. Randy sighed sadly watching his friend struggling with his costume. Although he hated to do it, Randy decided not to tell his best friend what June and the others said about Julian. He didn't want Howard jumping the gun, as he often does. Just in case they were wrong about him.
"Oh isn't his exciting. Soon I will have them in my possession." White Julian dressed as a white magician said suspiciously and rather ominously, almost showing his true face.
"You have to win it first," Randy reminded him. Keeping a close eye on Julian just in case what those other kids said about him is true.
"Oh right of course, if we win," White Julian stuttered. While he is confident that he can win easily, he didn't want to show his hand just yet. Especially since he hasn't heard word of the Ninja or that other girl's demise yet.
Speaking of Juniper, she was somewhere in this sea of nerds, dressed as a Amazon Princess. Her brother Dennis was dressed as a wizard, and Ray-Ray was a gnome. (It was the only costume left that will fit him.) Monroe was dressed as a demon dog so that he could assist if necessary. "So do you see anything suspicious lass?" Monroe asked.
"Yeah, everyone here," June grumbled. She really didn't want to do this, but she knew that Julian was participating in this event so this would be the best time to catch him before he does whatever it is he's planning.
"Now were are going to go through the rules of this event. Each team has been given a different starting point. Now clues and hints have been set up all over the park...um excuse me." Brock covered the mic with his hand as some of the organizers whispered something to him. "What I'm not saying that." Brocks voice went over the speakers despite him not even talking into it. "Fine," he moaned. "Like I was saying, clues and hints have been set up all across the magical kingdom of Larptopia. Man I feel stupid for saying that. You're objective is to find three key items that will allow you to enter the Evil King's castle where you will battle to free the land from his tyranny! I wish you all the best of luck. Especially to the sick boy" Brock gave a wink in Julian's direction. "Who may be casting his final die after today...Oops that came out wrong." Brock gulped realizing what he just said. Rather than try and correct himself, he made a mad dash off the stage to save himself any further embarrassment.
"And so LET THE GAMES BEGIN!" one of the organizers finished. With that all of the LARPers hurried to their starting points.
White Julian along with his friends began their 'quest'. Their first obstacle was a bridge with a troll under it. "I cast a tsunami spell to wash away that villainous troll away.
"A water spell against a bridge troll, get real." the player dressed as troll laughed. Never the less, the two combatants rolled their 30 sided dice. For Julian to win, he needed to roll a 10, and the troll just needed any number above 5. Everyone held their breath as the dice came to a stop. The troll's die landed on 15 while Julian's die was at 20. "Hah, looks like your attack failed. You lose." the troll gloated.
"Um why don't you take another look," White Julian suggested. He then used his magic to get the dice to twist around so that now his said 10 and the troll's read 1. "Oh look. It seems my attack was super effective. I win." White Julian cheered.
"Okay then. AAAAHHHHH!" the troll player pretended to be washed down river.
"Well that was fun, shall we continue." White Julian said not really asking his friends.
"Say that was really lucky Julian," Howard complimented. He may not like this game, but he loves winning.
"Yeah especially how those dice moved after they stopped rolling." Randy accused.
"Well sometimes I like to make my own luck." White Julian laughed. Making Randy even more suspicious. Team Norrisville continued along with Julian using his magic to beat every opponent with a single roll. But of course this won't be a real quest if they didn't have to solve a few puzzles along the way. That's were Randy had his moment to shine. His natural gift of solving riddles allowed them to advance even further into the game. Howard didn't really have anything to contribute anything to the team, so just gave his teammates moral support.
Meanwhile over at Team Te Xuan Ze, June was having a hard time seeing the appeal of this type of game. Sure it is fun to have a fantasy setting, but for someone who actually fights monsters, having your fate decided by the roll of the dice just seems stupid. She had to hold the urge to just punch everyone out of her way. Luckily for her, Dennis is a master at this, so she really didn't have to too much. Even Ray-Ray, thanks to his extensive video gaming knowledge, had enough know how to solve some of the riddles, which turned out to be terrible puns. Still due to White Julian's cheating, they were still way behind.
"We've got to do something," June griped.
"Don't worry sis, I happen to know a few cheat codes." Dennis winked.
"Cheat codes? How can there be cheat codes in a live action nerd fest?" June ranted. She can understand cheat codes and easter eggs being in a video game, but she couldn't fathom how that could work for a real life role playing game.
"You just have to know a guy," Dennis said using his staff to knock on a tree. "I need to speak to the rat." Just then a guy in a rat costume poked his head out of the branches.
"What do you want?" the rat asked.
"I need a shortcut to the goal," Dennis whispered.
"It will cost ya," the rat said. Dennis and the rat started a quick negotiations. Pretty soon Dennis handed the rat a few items that they had collected during their quest and the rat handed Dennis all the things they needed to reach the final destination. With their objectives complete, both teams hurried to the Evil King's castle, arriving at the same time.
"Well it looks like we have met up with a rival team," White Julian sneered, recognizing the girl as the one who fought against the Ninja. Last thing he needed was her getting in his way.
"So what do we team up or something?" Randy wondered. If Julian really is a monster as that girl claims he is, he knew that he could use the help dealing with him. But if the girl was lying, then he'd want to keep an eye on her for any sign of treachery. Either way, staying close to June will work to his advantage.
"Sorry but this is a competition," Dennis reminded them all. "And according to the rules, if two teams encounter each other, they must battle to see who advance and who must forfeit their prizes." Dennis quoted.
"That suits me just fine," White Julian accepting the challenge. "I cast LIGHT CANNON!" Julian raising his magic staff wanting to end this quickly with and instant death attack.
"What for that spell to even hit you need to roll a 7 or 21," Dennis laughed.
"I like to live dangerously," White Julian grinned.
"Fine, then I use DARK SPEAR. I only need to an odd number to not only negate your light cannon, but if I get a 13 I will deal double damage to you." Dennis said reiterating the rules of the game.
"So what if he actually gets a 7 or 21?" June asked her brother.
"The light cannon is one of the most powerful light attack spells. A 7 or 21 will mean that we get incinerated." Dennis explained.
"That's why the chances of using it is so low," June finally understanding the rules.
With that, Dennis and White Julian rolled their dice, and it landed with White Julian getting 7, surprisingly without having him to cheat with magic, but Dennis die was about to land on 13. White Julian quickly released some white stank to change the outcome of the die, but to his surprise, the die repelled his magic. Looking at his opponents he noticed the little dog with them, grinning suspiciously and holding a vial that reeked with good magic. Monroe wasn't going to leave this to chance, so he charmed the die to land on 13 and surprisingly his potion also allowed him to block White Julian's spell.
"Yes 13, your party has been defeated!" Dennis declared after doing some quick calculations.
"No you cheated!" White Julian accused.
"Hey nobody likes a sore loser," June mocked.
"Besides, all you have to do is go back to the last check point and start over." Dennis said pretending to be a good sport.
Julian growled in frustration. While he is confident that he can make up for lost time rather quickly, he didn't want to risk letting these guys get to his prize first. Plus there's the fact that they just cheated him during the one time he didn't cheat. And that's something he won't stand for. "Hey look what is that?" White Julian cried pointing in some random direction.
"What!?" everyone looked off away from him. With everyone distracted White Julian unleashed a massive amount of white stank that covered the all across Larptopia, turning all of the Role Playing Players into the characters they were dressed as only they were monsters as well. Julian transformed himself into his monster form in order to draw suspicion away from himself for this development.
Thanks to Monroe's preparations, the Lee kids had a protection spell from stank so the didn't transform. "Oh boy," June gulped seeing all the people turning into monsters. While fighting monsters is nothing new to her, she knew that all these people are just innocent victims. She can only hope that she can hold them off long enough so that the Ninja can share the secret of how to change them back, if he didn't think that she's responsible for all of this.
Randy, sensing that something was coming, was able to get himself and Howard to hide behind a big rock that somehow manage to protect them from the stank. "Well Howard, looks like it's Ninja o'clock." Randy said putting his mask on.
"I still don't see how you can say that without feeling stupid." Howard commented.
"I just do," Randy shrugged before jumping into the fray. As the Ninja started battling the monsters, he noticed June fighting as well. Naturally his first instinct told him that she must be responsible since she's not a monster, but the fact that she was fighting the monsters seem to contradict that. Still unsure whether or not to trust her, he saw that a couple of monsters were sneaking up behind her. Reacting to seeing someone in danger, the Ninja jumped in and fought off the monsters.
"You know I could have handled them on my own," June said punching one of the monsters she was fighting.
"That's gratitude for you," the Ninja complained fighting off another monster. Soon the two former foes were now fighting back to back.
"Sorry, it's just that you did try to kill me twice now," June pointed out.
"Yeah, my bad," the Ninja apologized. "But in my defense, I was just doing my job." he argued.
"Speaking of which, they say you're the only one who knows how to change these people back." June recalled.
"Yes I do." the Ninja bragged. "You have to destank them."
"And that means what exactly?" June asked in frustration, and not because this werewolf monster was trying to claw her eyes out.
"You have to find that which is most precious to the individual and destroy it." the Ninja explained.
"That will take forever!" June complained.
"The only other way is to attack the sorcerer or sorceress that causing all of this." the Ninja said glaring suspiciously at June.
"You still think I'm responsible for all this!" June protested kicking another monster away.
"Well if not you then who?" the Ninja asked.
"Him!" June pointing to Monster Julian. Naturally Randy didn't believe her, but he noticed that unlike the other monsters that were relentlessly attacking him and June, Monster Julian just seemed to be chillaxing and enjoy watching the other monsters attacking them. Very unusual behavior for a monster.
"Alright, I'll trust you for now, truce." the Ninja said extending his hand.
June hesitated for second before shaking it. "Truce," she agreed. The two then charged straight at Monster Julian. Monster Julian was shocked that the two would gang up on him, but that doesn't mean he wasn't prepared for this. When White Julian first came to Orchid Bay and during the tour. He noticed the rich amount of magic in the region. During his time alone, he learned how to temporarily harness the magic around him to give himself a huge power boost. The only draw back is that it will only last about 2 minutes, but that's 1 and a half more minutes than he needs to destroy the Ninja and the girl. Drawing in the magic of Orchid Bay, Monster Julian grew 3 times his size and easily swatted the Ninja and June like they were bugs. Of course after recovering, they still got up and tried again, only to suffer the same results. Seeing that Monster Julian is way out of their league, the two retreated behind the same rock that Howard, along with June's brothers and Monroe, was hiding behind.
"What do we do, he's a lot bigger and stronger now. We are totally shoobed!" the Ninja whined.
"It's not over yet," June said with defiance. Though she has no idea what can they do.
"But what can you do? That monsters is stronger than you two. You might have a chance if you could combined your powers." Monroe commented.
"Did that dog just talk?" the Ninja asked.
"No he just barked," Howard said rolling his eyes. Due to him not having any magical connection, he could not hear the Monroe talking.
Randy was about to retort when something Monroe said clicked in his head. "Wait, you said if we could combine our powers?" the Ninja repeated to the dog, seeing the doodles from the nomicon's lessons hovering around them.
"No I didn't say anything like that," Howard huffed since he thought Randy was still talking to him. "But that's a good idea though."
"Ropes intertwined are stronger than they are individually" the Ninja quoted reading the doodles floating around his head.
"What are you getting at?" June asked.
"Time to intertwine our powers!" the Ninja said removing his mask. Then without even giving anyone a chance to process what he just did, Randy placed the mask on Juniper Lee. With the mask now on her head, the ninja suit materialized on her person. The only differences is instead of red lines and red scarf, they were now pink; and the Norisu Nine mark have been replaced by the Juniper flower logo.
Inside the suit, June could feel it. Her own magically enhanced strength is being amplified by the suits power. With the surge of power coursing through her, June felt confident that she should be able to take out Monster Julian. "Let's do this," Ninja June said cracking her knuckles.