Randy, for the second time today, was fighting a herd of imps. It was annoying, tedious work, and he hated it. The small creatures were swift and scratched and bit, and they just kept coming. It was lunch hour; the first time they had attacked was just prior to first period, forcing an already groggy ninja to fight.
Most students had fled by now, screaming at the top of their lungs. The principal's car had already been smashed in combat, a few trees uprooted with dirt hanging in clumps from the base, a few broken windows; the usual. Only one student remained: Theresa Fowler.
Theresa had climbed up the only tree still firmly rooted, swatting at the final two little devils with her baton. They floated in front of her, trying to snap at her as she bonked one on the head with the baton as the other bit firmly down onto it. As Randy rushed forth to save her, his mind was riddled with thoughts, running becoming subconscious. Aside from the scamps, no students had been stanked, he realized. No robots from McFist, nothing...he frowned as he reached the tree.
He swung his scarf around one gnawing the baton, tying around its neck. It hacked and faded away and the scarf fell down. The last imp looked to Randy, its snow white, pupil-less eyes widened. It screeched and tried to flee, but the Ninja was faster. He jumped forth, tackled it, and pushed it to the ground. As he put all his weight onto it, it faded as they all did.
Work done, he turned around to see the baton twirler, hair frazzled and messy, eyes wide and yet her lips curled up in a sincere smile. "Thank you, Ninja! Can you please help me down?"
"With pleasure." Randy hopped to the branch level she was on, plucked her off, and swept down to the ground and gently put her down. For a moment, he sighed with pleasure. The scent of something he couldn't quite place (maybe some perfume with vanilla scent) wafted to his nostrils. When her feet touched the ground, he cleared his throat and looked at her with half-lidded eyes carrying dark bags. "Can I ask you a few questions before you go, please?" he asked politely.
"Of course, Ninja." Theresa affirmed, using the hem of her skirt to begin wiping saliva off her baton. She stopped as the saliva began to glow slightly and she grimaced and stopped. Randy scratched the back of his neck.
"Refresh my memory, have there been any students turning into monsters or robots this week?" he asked. He had to; perhaps he just forgot about those issues in his stress over the little ghost monsters. Theresa shook her head.
"Uh-uh. Not since those things have been coming." she said quietly. Randy's frown deepened, but she didn't notice; his mask hid it.
"Thank you for your time. Smokebomb!" He tossed a smoke bomb to the ground and disappeared in its wake. Mere moments later Randy Cunningham, mask safely tucked into his backpack, walked into the high school. He didn't even notice his own feet taking him to the cafeteria. His mind was somewhere else. Eyes looked down to the ground.
The doors of the cafeteria swung open for him and he came in, finding his way to where Howard was eating. The aforementioned friend waved to him and he waved back, not really realizing he was lifting his hand. His backpack found its place on the floor, and Randy swung his legs over the seat. The Ninja's elbows bent against the tabletop and his palms supported his head, eyes now drifting out the nearest window.
Howard had noticed. He paused, place down the sandwich he was eating, and swallowed. His head cocked to the side a bit, with a small frown. "Randy?"
"Yeah?" Randy didn't look up as he responded.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine. Kind of." Randy finally folded his arms on the table and rested his head on his arms. His head turned to Howard. "I'm just...I'm just really anxious. Wanna know what I realized today? I realized that since those things came, the Sorcerer and McFist have been completely silent. Nothing's happened." He sat up straight, folded arms against his chest. "The question is why? Why haven't they attacked?"
His best friend shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they're scared of them or something?"
"That's the problem," Randy said, sounding hollow, "either they're scared of them, which is a warning sign that this is even more a threat than we thought, or they're in league with them somehow. Either is bad. Really, really bad." His eyes had bags under them, and he groaned loudly and his head met the tabletop, arms falling to his sides.
Howard patted his best friend on the back. "Hey, now, it's okay. Well, I mean, it's probably not okay at all," he rolled his eyes. Randy glared at him and Howard shrugged. "sorry, wrong choice of words. Anyways, if they are scared, let them be. We've got this. If they're with them...we still got this. Somehow. I guess if there's a will there's a way?"
Randy, although not really feeling any better, nodded. "You're right, Howard. I can only do what I can. Let's hope that power attack from the Nomicon works..."
"Cease fire!"
The three heroes stopped. Randy stopped Ninja Rage, Jake curtailed his fire breath, and Danny stopped his blast. They were in the lab again for another day of training, this time in the containment cell. True, it was supposed to be used for housing captured ghosts, but it served as a training cell that day.
All the boys panted, clutching their knees and bent over. This was not the first time they had attempted to combine their power. In the last hour they had tried at least five times to complete a successful power attack, but every single attempt failed. A number of reasons for failure happened: either attacks hit each other unequally or at odd angles, missed completely, or one of the boys got too tired and had to take a break.
Danny's sister Jazz had volunteered to time them and tell them when to stop and take a break. Her last call of cease fire led her to look at the exhausted boys sadly, unsure of what to say. Likewise, their friends looked on in concern. This was going to take awhile, and practice would make perfect. However, it seemed practice making perfect was taking far too long.
The ghost boy in the ground decided that enough was enough for one day. He flew forward, grasped the other two exhausted boys, and phased them through the cell wall. Danny changed back to normal, as did Randy and Jake. Danny looked towards Jazz.
"Jazz, I think we're done for the day. We're all exhausted."
"Okay. Anything I can do to help?" she asked kindly. Her younger brother smiled at her.
"No, you've helped enough. Thanks."
"No problem. Just let me know if you three need any more help." She pressed a button on the wall near the exit, and the cell fell onto a platform under the floor, which lowered it below ground. The floor moved over it and closed. With a quick smile, Jazz retreated up the stairs.
Randy finally let out an aggravated yell as she fell out of view. "I've had it! Why is this taking so long? Why?"
"I know, Randy, this is hard on all of us. No one here likes seeing the effects of what's happening." Danny replied sadly. "But your Nomicon, the Ghost Master of Time, and Jake's magical books all tell us that we need to practice."
"But-"
"Randy, man, listen." Trixie walked forth and placed a hand on Randy's shoulder. "I know this is frustrating. But if we rush in there right now and don't even know where we're goin', we're gonna be looking for a long, long time." she explained. "Even if we do find this weird, vague place, we're asking to have our butts handed to us just from trying to come within a thousand feet of the place."
"We'd be done for." Spud said. Randy threw a hand to his forehead, hunched over, and closed his eyes.
"I know, I just..." He sighed deeply. "I know." Howard looked just as pained as Randy, feeling deep pity for his best friend's stress. "It's just that the Sorcerer and McFist haven't sent out any guys to fight me recently. What if they're working with this guy?"
"Then we'll stop it. Nothing will come of it." Tucker stated confidently. "We've been doing this awhile; we know how these things work."
"We fight," Sam clarified, "have some witty banter, and then beat them however we can and all go home learning a valuable lesson about something."
"So true." Jake agreed.
"Yeah, that's pretty true." Danny laughed a little. Even Randy cracked a smile.
"I guess you're all right. Well, let's rest up a little and talk about tomorrow's meeting." he said. Everyone relaxed and began chit-chatter. No one had to leave yet, as the clock hadn't hit six, and a short break was nice. It was good they stayed, for within a moment or two, Maddie Fenton poked her head down into the lab. All the teenagers turned their attention to her.
She beamed. "Hey, kids, how's your science project going down here?"
"Good, Mom!" Danny replied.
"Great to hear! My husband and I can hear you all working hard down here. Explosions and bangs and all of that! Ah, the sounds of scientists at work!" Maddie nodded her head proudly, hands on her hips. "So, to reward all of you for being so diligent, we've ordered pizza tonight. Are you all in?"
"Oh, oh, oh! I am!" Howard raised his hand and waved eagerly. Free food, how wonderful! Randy snickered and smiled.
"Thanks, Mrs. Fenton. I'd love that. I just have to call my mom to let her know we're staying a little bit later."
"I'm cool with that." Trixie agreed with a grin.
"Yeah, me too." Spud said cheerfully.
"All of us would love that. I have to call my grandfather to let him know, too." Jake said. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Be up in the kitchen in about ten minutes; the pizza should be here by then." Maddie retreated, and Randy and Jake got their phones out and began dialing. Maddie looked quite pleased as she walked away. She could tell they were stressed; they were tired and grouchy, a fact you could tell just from looking at all of them. Sunken eyes, messy hair, frowns, especially from Danny, Randy, and Jake. The mother assumed it was due to the particularly difficult science project, whatever it was; Danny refused to tell her. Said it was a surprise.
Maddie did not question it. Though, she felt sympathy for them, so surely a good treat like pizza would help. The door rang, and she answered it. A few moments later the pizza was out in the kitchen, ready for consumption. She called everyone up, unaware of the interesting dinner conversation to follow.