+1 time he remembered

The day it all goes sideways is a Monday, which just figures.

Randy is walking to the store to buy some more milk and cereal, cause someone (Howard) ate all of it last night and if anyone expects them to make it to their 8 am class tomorrow, they're gonna need some breakfast. Howard opted to stay at the dorm and beat all of Randy's Grave Puncher highscores rather than tag along. He's generous like that.

But all of that stops mattering the moment Randy turns a corner and hears a strangely familiar crash. He knows it's the sound of a person bouncing off a dumpster, but for the life of him can't figure out how he knows that noise by heart.

He ducks his head between two building, in the alley where the crash came from. He can't not.

And it's...

It's the Ninja.

The Ninja is on the ground.

Randy is intensely aware that he's alone in this back street (reminiscent of an alley sans most of the trash), alone except for a beat up, unconscious Ninja ten feet from where he's standing.

Randy isn't sure why that fact is important, but it is.

He feels that hunger creep in again. For a moment, he's weirded out by himself, thinking he's gazing at the dude's face – those way too young eyes, closed now, flash through Randy's mind as just one reason why that would be shnasty – but then it clicks.

He wants the mask. His fingers itch with the desire to just slip it off the Ninja's head.

There's not even a coherent thought behind it, like wanting to know the Ninja's identity.

Randy doesn't care who this Ninja is. He doesn't care that he'd look stupid and down-right villainous, tugging the mask off of the Ninja and putting it on himself, with no other part of the ninja outfit on to go with it.

He just – he wants this. He can't explain why.

He needs it. It's his – or it used to be his, he can't tell, it's that familiar but lost feeling rising up again – and it's so close.

There's no one around. No one to discourage or shame him out of it, no one to goad him or prod him into continuation.

Randy is alone. Trembling, he steps towards the guy.

He gets close enough to feel the fabric beneath his fingertips, soft yet thick. The Ninja's troubled exhales are warm on his arm, even through the mask.

He expects those dark eyes to fly open at any moment and freezes, crouched over the guy.

Seconds tick by.

Nothing happens.

Nothing at all.

It's just Randy about to steal something from a guy who's saved so many lives through so many years.

The hunger doesn't lessen any, but guilt and reason begin to trickle in again.

"What am I doing?" Randy whispers to himself. He drops his hand, lowers his head.

What, so he's lowered himself to stealing from the Ninja, Norisville's number one hero?

He wanted to help people.

This, he knows with absolute certainty, won't help anyone.

Randy leans back, suddenly weary.

He wants to cry.

Instead, he reaches out yet again, this time making contact with the Ninja's shoulder.

"Ninja. Ninja, you gotta wake up," he calls. "There's some monster out there that needs a good butt kicking."

All he gets is a groan.

"Come on, man. People need you to save them. Who's gonna do it if you don't?"

"Five more minutes." The Ninja mumbles at him.

Randy sighs, settling back on his heels. He doesn't feel any urgency to wake Ninja up quickly, as he doesn't hear screaming or buildings being torn to pieces. Ninja probably has a few minutes to spare.

Something else nags at Randy. Something just as interesting as the mask and not quite as potentially dangerous.

"Where's your Nomicon?" Randy wonders, unable to help it. It wouldn't be stealing if he just borrowed it, right?

He isn't taking a part of the Ninja's suit and he doesn't want to keep the secret book of ninja knowledge (how does he know what a nomicon is?), exactly, he just wants a peek. He just wants answers.

That can't be wrong, can it?

It doesn't feel as wrong as stealing the mask did. His morals don't shriek as persistently at him as he tugs the book out from underneath the ninja, out from the bright red sash tied around said Ninja's waist.

The book is warm. It has circles of red on the cover as well as a bright green Ninja's mask.

With his fingers skimming the sides, delicately brushing the spine, Randy is calm. He's calmer than he's felt in weeks.

In that moment, he is absolutely certain that this book in his hands will give him all the answers he needs. Somehow, whatever is inside is going to tell him where to go from here.

Technically, this book isn't his. Technically, this is probably stealing or snooping or something maybe just impolite, but Randy isn't sure he cares.

He's been so, so lost.

Now he can finally find himself again.

This, this is the way. It has to be.

Taking in a deep breath, Randy smiles, and opens the book.

It's like coming home.

Everything floods back the moment he's sucked inside the Nomicon – he remembers being chosen, fighting monsters and robots, befriending Danny and Jake, defeating the sorcerer.

He remembers all of high school. No longer is it a distant fog, but every moment is clear, is accessible.

He remembers telling Howard about everything – though honestly, when doesn't he tell Howard everything? – and recalls even explaining, once, that after he graduated high school a new ninja would be chosen and that he would forget everything about his experience as the Ninja.

He recalls learning the final lesson once, by accident, and again, on purpose, with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.

Being the Ninja was the best part of his life. Saving people, fighting evil, being the hero...

He'd loved every second of it.

And he'd given it up, because he had to, because that's what he was supposed to do.

He hadn't been bitter, he remembers that, just sad.

Time flew by so quickly.

But he also clearly remembers how lost and empty he'd felt after high school, and wonders if by becoming the ninja he's become ruined for normal life, even if he couldn't remember being the ninja.

He hadn't known what to do – he still doesn't.

He was right the entire time. None of this is his anymore; the Nomicon, the mask, the job, it's all some new kid's now.

It would be cruel – so so wrong – to take that experience from someone else.

Especially since he knows how it feels.

"It's nice to see you again, Nomicon." He tells the book.

"Randy Cunningham. You are no longer the Ninja. You do not belong in here."

Maybe it's his imagination, but the Nomicon sounds a little exasperated, a little fond, just like it used to every time he wonked up.

"No, no, I know," He reassures it. "I just – well the new Ninja was there and I saw you and I just opened the Nomicon up and I didn't know I didn't belong here at the time because I'd forgotten but – "

Scrolls and drawings around him start to grow and flash red with a warning.

Still, it doesn't seem mean. It feels like the Nomicon saying, Randy, please just get to your point.

He swallows, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I'm not the Ninja anymore." He says. "But...do I have to forget? Can't I – can't I remember this time? Please?"

He's always been one of the more unconventional Ninjas. Maybe...maybe...he dares to hope that the Nomicon will let him keep this.

Nomicon doesn't say no. It doesn't say yes.

It shows him several memories, in the shape of doodles, of Mac Antfee refusing to let go and refusing to move on.

The memory of the power you can no longer possess will corrupt you. It writes on a scroll for him. It's a tiny slice of wisdom like the book used to dole out for him back when he was the Ninja.

Even this is nostalgic, leaving a bittersweet taste in his mouth.

"I don't...I won't get in the new Ninja's way." Randy says. He tries to say he doesn't want to be the Ninja anymore, but it would be a big fat lie and the Nomicon would know it.

"I won't even talk to him ever again. Please I..." He knows this isn't going to work, but he still wants to try, wants to hold on to this best version of himself for as long as he can.

"I can't be the Ninja again. It's not for me, anymore. But – but that was the best part of my life. It changed me. I'm a better person for it. I'm a better person because of you. Is it so wrong to want to stay that way?"

The Nomicon is silent, no words or voices present. What is it supposed to say? What can it say that Randy doesn't know, that he hasn't heard a hundred times already?

It was a long shot. It was hopeless. He knew that.

Randy sighs, and wipes at his wet eyes.

"You're right. You're right." He says around a lump in his throat. "It would probably drive me crazy, just like Mac Antfee, to remember all the cool junk I could do as the Ninja and never be able to do it again. I just...I've been really lost, these past few months. I knew something was missing, even through the mind-wipe. I guess..."

He closes his eyes and shrugs, trying for a smile.

"I guess it's something I'll just have to learn live with. Okay, Nomicon. Okay. I'm ready to...forget again."

It's a lie, but he's as ready as he'll ever be. Randy isn't going to fight the Nomicon, not anymore.

He's desperate, but he understands.

Suddenly the Nomicon's many voices boom around him,

" The Ninja will keep an eye on you, Randy Cunningham. Any sign of corruption and he will bring you back here."

Randy can't breathe. Does that mean –

Is the Nomicon saying –

The world swirls and he falls and falls, a crazy laugh bubbling from his lips.

Suddenly his eyes are open and he's on the ground of an alleyway, a book snapping shut in front of his face. There's a wrapper stuck to his sleeve and drool all down his chin.

But he still remembers.

"What the juice." He says. "What. The. Juice."

The new Ninja kid is still unconscious in front of him, which is good for Randy and probably bad for the whatever part of Norrisville is getting trashed by monsters right now.

Randy can't help but notice all the differences between his old suit and this new one and his fingers are still itching to grab that mask, but he won't.

Memoryless!Randy wouldn't grab it and neither would he.

Instead he laughs again, just because he feels like it.

He remembers.

The first thing he does is kneel beside the (gotta be Ninth grade, right?) Ninja and slap his face a couple times, shouting,

"Wake up!"

Again and again.

Finally the Ninja blinks and sits up and Randy wonders, leaning back, where this one's Howard is. Surely this guy has friends, right? Surely he's not doing this alone?

"You passed out, Ninja." He tells him, trying not to laugh again.

"Wait..what?"

"A monster must've kicked your butt." Randy reminds himself of his own early days, where monsters kicked his butt, and he feels a little more empathy trickle in.

"Oh, shoot, really? Aw man, I need to – " Ninja rolls backwards into standing, which is just showing off. "I need to go – "

He starts twirling one end of his scarf (and two dangling ends of an already mildly impractical scarf seems like something his enemies could really use against him in battle, but Randy supposes he didn't pick the outfit) and Randy says,

"Wait!" And he shoves the black-and-white book into Ninja's chest. "Don't forget your secret ninja diary, dude."

Ninja's eyes are wide. He looks from the book to Randy and back again.

"Uh...t-thanks?"

This kid is gonna have the best four years of his life, Randy thinks. It's not bitter.

It makes him genuinely smile.

"Thank you, Ninja. Now go save the day."

The Ninja looks at him with suspicion, but he does go.

Randy watches him run along rooftops and swing away for as long as he can.

Then he dusts himself off, and reminds himself that cereal ain't gonna buy itself.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I know I didn't wrap everything up. I might write another 5+1 about Randy and friends, and what he does with his life now that he remembers. but I dunno.

What do you think? Leave me a review, tell me if you liked it!