This was finished faster and it is so much longer than I expected, but while my dopamine of this show is still high, I might as well go with the flow LMAO

Once again, thanks to my amazing beta-reader Frosty_Skies for beta-reading this! You're the cheese!

Randy opened his eyes, only for him to see nothing but pitch black. Confused, he waved his hands in the air, then placed them on his eyes, just to be sure he didn't have them closed.

"Uh, hello?" he asked, unsure. He was certain that he had his eyes open right now, but all he could see was darkness.

Then, a hand grabbed him, prompting him to jump out of his skin. "Yo, Cunningham. Is this you?" Howard's voice instantly calmed him down.

"Oh, thank cheese, it's you buddy," he said quietly, hanging on to the hand that was still holding his arm tightly. Even though he knew he was holding Howard, he still couldn't see him. Or anything really. "Where are we anyway?"

He could only assume that Howard couldn't see anything, like him, since the red-head whispered back, "Oh, I don't know. Hey, can we put the whole 'Ninja argument' we had earlier aside and get us out of here!?"

Randy was about to comment on that, but then they heard a groan. And another sound, and then some mumbling. Next–

"OW! Some shoob just stepped on my foot!"

"WHO'S ON TOP OF ME!? GET OFF!"

"Why is it so dark?! I'm afraid of the dark!"

"Oh, I love the dark!"

"HEY! Someone took my dang bag! 'The juice!?"

"OH YEAH! BASH JUST TOOK SOMEONE'S BAG!"

More voices spoke, and they all started to mush together and grew louder. Howard tried to clear his throat harshly to get Randy's attention. "Uh, I think it's time for the Ninja to get us out of here. This place is starting to turn into a war zone."

Randy rolled his eyes, even though Howard couldn't see. "That's the thing, Howard!" he said, before leaning down and whispering to the shorter boy's ear, "I don't have my suit, I left it in my satchel at the library!"

Howard's eyes widened, then he sighed loudly in frustration. "Of course ya did, you absolute shoob!"

Randy took offense to the tone, "It wasn't my honking fault, I–" but he was cut off again as a light suddenly shone brightly. It made him close his eyes automatically with a wince. Some people even shouted or said a cuss word in shock at the light that blinded them.

"EVERYONE! PLEASE REMAIN CALM!"

A loud voice echoed through the place. Randy rubbed his stinging eyes, before he opened them once again and was surprised to see that it was the same Ninja from earlier. He started growing nervous. With his ninja suit out of the picture, Randy couldn't help but think that maybe this "Ninja" took his mask and book when he was out of the library!

Meanwhile, despite the Ninja's command, not a lot of people stopped chattering with their peers or the teachers who wanted to ask some questions. Randy looked around the place and his eyes widened. They were in some sort of massive theater room, and then, upon further looking, he realized that everyone from the drill was here, from his classmates to the Senior students that he didn't even know the names of! Not to mention there were also some teachers here, from Ms. Driscoll and her skeleton husband to Smith to even teachers he only gets to see when walking through the school corridors.

Randy got out of his shock when he felt a hand on his arm again. Howard was holding his arm firmly, but was staring at the Ninja in front of them. The Ninja threw a ball that Randy was familiar with and forced Howard to look down. "What are you– agh!" Howard said just as another bright flash exploded, causing some of the students to scream.

"SETTLE DOWN, you guys!" The Ninja yelled, his voice on the edge of desperation to get the student body to quiet down.

This caused almost everyone to do what they were told, mostly because they didn't want another flash bomb to happen, and partly because they were starting to realize that this was terribly serious. The Ninja appreciated this and began speaking again. "I know all of you are confused and freaked out right now, b-but– uh…" the Ninja stuttered, causing Randy to question if the Ninja knew what he was doing.

His question was answered when he heard the Ninja loudly mumble to himself, "Agh, this isn't supposed to happen. Why did everyone get sent here, too!?"

Getting fed up with getting more questions than answers, Randy finally decided to talk. "Uh, Ninja," he emphasized, which made the hero look at him again. "Why the juice are all of us in some weird, massive theater? And how did we exactly get here?" Some people agreed with this as they were wondering the same thing.

The Ninja tried to mask his nervousness with faux confidence. "Well, actually. Sending you all here isn't part of the plan," he said, giving a meek shrug. "I was only supposed to transport you here."

Randy started at that. Him? What would this Ninja need him for- oh.

The freshman grew anxious at that. Was this a trap? From McFist or the Sorcerer? How was he supposed to save these people without revealing his identity? And how could he even save them if he didn't have his ninja suit?

"Me? W-Why do you need me?" Randy said, cursing himself for stuttering.

The Ninja stared at him, before he took out a very familiar book (not bothered at showing it to the people around them) and showed it to Randy. The Nomicon in the Ninja's hand glowed and Randy felt a sense of foreboding. "I'm sorry I have to do this, but the longer we stay here, the more Norrisville in my present is turning into nothing but dust! I need your help."

Randy was sure someone in the quiet audience just shouted "Ah, what now-?", and yeah, that was the exact thing that came to his mind as well just before the gears in his head stopped.

"Look, I know this is absurd, and I'm basically jeopardizing your identity here, but–"

Someone's voice from the audience yelled loudly, the sound of pushing people (and their complaints) could be heard as well. A voice Randy was all too familiar with, now. "WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! What are you talking about!?" came the noise of Hannibal McFist.

Randy clenched his fists tightly, refusing to turn around. Maybe if he didn't look, it wouldn't be him–

"Hannibal, maybe you should look where you're flailing your arms. You almost hit me with your robotic one." And just like that, Randy's hopes crumbled to dust.

"You sent us here without an explanation, and then just after 5 minutes, there's hundreds of kids in here, too!?" McFist exclaimed furiously, pointing his good hand at the Ninja.

While Randy wished McFist wasn't with them, he did have a good point. He didn't know that McFist was in the room with them until now. And his confusion seemed genuine, too…

"Was this not his plan at all?" Randy couldn't help but wonder.

The Ninja held up his hands in defense, "Okay, look. Don't yell and cheese, I'm going to give you all an explanation."

That shut everyone up because finally! They could finally learn why they were brought here and what was going on.

"Everyone that isn't McFist, Viceroy, and him," he pointed at each person he stated, before facing the audience, "Wasn't supposed to be here."

This caused a plethora of outbursts from the students and teachers alike. Randy stared at the Ninja, unsure of what to think. The Ninja tried to clear his throat loudly, causing a domino effect of the front row students to shush the ones behind.

"In my time, Norrisville is in danger. And I, the Ninja, was searching for my predecessor so that I could figure out how he defeated the great chaos," the Ninja took a breath, before continuing, "It might sound crazy, and it kind of is, but I was tasked to find him and teleport him here so that we can watch how it all began and the way he defeated it."

More shouts of questions erupted in the room. A mix of "What does he mean by predecessor?" and "Why that kid?" and "This is so honking weird and unbelievable."

The Ninja quieted the place down with another flash ball. "Look, we don't have time, and I can't answer all your questions. I'm going to assume that we will all be here for a while though, so you might want to take note of your questions for later."

The Ninja turned to P-Slims as the Principal startled from suddenly having the Ninja's attention. "Principal Slims, do you think you can ask your faculty teachers to take the sections of each batch and make them sit in the chairs?" He asked, pointing to the side where a bunch of auditorium chairs were.

Principal Slimovitz nodded and started gathering all the teachers to talk about the plan. Meanwhile, McFist and Viceroy were talking about the whole situation.

"This is serious, Sir! I honestly think that that Ninja over there," Viceroy pointed at the hero, who was speaking to one of the more frightened students of the bunch, calming them down, "is telling the truth about all of this! He was holding a device that was, no doubt, my creation."

McFist sneered. "Viceroy, I don't care about your dumb creations, right now. How are you sure that he's actually not lying to us and is about to out us to the entirety of these kids!?"

As the two adults continued to argue, Randy and Howard walked somewhere else where they could have a little private chat by themselves.

"Howard, I'm not sure whether to trust him or not," Randy said, anxiously looking anywhere but the Ninja, who was instructing the teachers alongside Slimovitz.

"Well, you aren't the only one. That shoobie could have stolen that book and mask of yours when you left it and just made up everything else," Howard whispered back to him.

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Randy replied, "But there's also some part of me that thinks otherwise. The Nomicon he held didn't shine as bright or intense."

Before Howard could comment on that, the biffers jumped when the said hero appeared in front of them. The Ninja stood just a few inches from them, and Randy gulped. With how close the Ninja was, he could tell that he was taller and had more muscles than Randy did. And to add the fact that he didn't have his mask with him…

In other words, if he tried fighting this dude, he'd be done in less than a second.

"Hey, I need to talk to you. Alone," the Ninja said. Randy and Howard shared a glance at that, having a silent conversation with just their eye-contact.

Then Howard was the first one to speak up. "Alright dude," he said, stepping forward and holding his hands up. "That's a no-can-do thing. See, if you want to talk to my buddy here, you gotta talk to me, too." Randy smiled at his best friend, whereas the Ninja's masked eyebrows furrowed.

"But–"

"Sorry dude, I don't make the rules here," Howard shrugged.

The Ninja was starting to get impatient, they could tell. But whatever he was going to say next, it was cut off by a glow from his sash. He sighed, "Fine, you two better follow me, then." He turned around and walked away from the crowd of students.

With one last look at each other, Randy and Howard followed the hero to a more secluded area.

"Why?" Randy finally asked once they were sure that no one was eavesdropping on them. "I'm 98% sure you already know who I honking am, but I still have so many questions."

The Ninja sighed, he took the Nomicon out of his sash. "Like I said, Norrisville is in danger, and I need your help to save it," he answered as he opened the Nomicon. The ancient book started to create scribbles and words.

"Wait, since when does the Nomicon do that?" Randy asked.

The Ninja looked at him confused, "Do what?"

Howard pointed at the book, "That. Doesn't it make you fall on the ground and unconscious once you open it like Cunningham does?"

Now the Ninja really was confused, "It does? It has never done that to me before."

"Why's that–" Randy didn't get to finish the question as he was suddenly shloomped inside the Nomicon, along with the Ninja. Howard just stood over their unconscious bodies, glaring at the book.

"Oh, so you can't bring me with them?" Howard grumbled, sitting down on the cold floor, "Fine, be that way," he said before grabbing a marker from his pockets and opening the cap.

Inside the ancient book of ninja wisdom, Randy and the Ninja were screaming as they fell for what felt like an infinity, but it was only a few seconds at best. Randy glared at the Ninja, "You said the Nomicon doesn't do this anymore!?" he yelled at the still flailing Ninja.

"This is what you were talking about!?" he replied, "The Nomicon has never done this in my one year of being the Ninja! And where the juice is my suit!?" he said, almost on the verge of hysteria as he thought that this was how he was going to die.

This was new information for Randy to intake. This Ninja was supposedly a Sophomore now and had more ninja knowledge than he did. Not to mention Randy could now see what he actually looked outside the mask. His skin was tanned and he had dark blue hair and equally dark brown eyes. He was wearing a white, buttoned-up shirt with sleeves that were folded all the way to his wrists and trousers that were ripped. In short, Randy could describe him as one of the soon-to-be popular kids just based on his clothes.

And on top of the fact that he came to him because he "needed" him, then–

"How the juice are we still falling!?" Randy screamed, waving his hands in the air as if he was talking to the surroundings and not the Ninja.

Speaking of, the Ninja just stared at him with wide eyes, confused and shocked. "H-How are you not fazed by this!? We are literally falling to our deaths!"

The freshman looked at him, perplexed but instantly understood the Ninja's confusion. "Ohk right, this is new to you," he said, "Well, we won't actually die, we'll just hit the floor super–" and just like that, his face hit solid ground, while the Ninja landed on his back.

"Ow… hard."

Randy shook his head and didn't waste any time standing up. He looked around the area. The Ninja did the same thing, walking a bit closer to Randy.

"So, are we inside the NinjaNomicon right now?" The Ninja asked.

Randy snapped his fingers with a smirk. "Correct-o mundo!" He looked up to the sky that had a bunch of Japanese characters. "And if I'm right about this, we're going to get some words of wisdom."

As if on cue, scribbles began to write themselves across the sky, prompting both Randy and the Ninja to read.

"The answer which one seeks is when the future takes hold."

"Okay, so… what?" Randy asked. The lesson didn't make sense at all to him.

Meanwhile, the Ninja was scrutinizing the words carefully. The word answer was underlined twice, while the word future was written in a bolder font than the rest.

As if a light bulb just turned on, the Ninja understood what the book was talking about. He could only assume that it was talking to him more than Randy, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was getting his plan into action.

"Alright, I think the Nomicon is just telling me that I should start my plan, but we need to find a way out of here first," the Ninja instructed.

Randy nodded his head. "Usually, the Nomicon would either break the earth below me or spit me out," he said, "But before that, I seriously need a name to call you. Got a name there, Ninja?"

He looked at Randy, a bit hesitant to tell him, then he thought about it more. "I guess it's only fair that you know me since I already know who you are." He shrugged. "The name's Matthew Kang, but you can just call me Matt.

Finally having a name for the guy, Randy smiled and offered a hand. "Randy. Nice to meet you…" he trailed off as his eyes widened, "I'm sorry, did you just say Kang?"

The Ninja– Matthew looked at him in bewilderment. "Uh yeah? That's my last name."

Randy's eyes grew impossibly wider at that. "Kang. Like, Debbie Kang Kang?"

Matthew just got more confused at that. "Um… Yes? My older sister? How come you know her–" Matthew realized something. "OH. Man, I can't believe- so you were the guy my sister hated so much but her best friend talked abo–"

Before he could end that sentence, they were spit out of the book.

Howard jumped when Randy and the Ninja's bodies suddenly sprung up in a sitting position.

The Ninja groaned. "That was a nasty experience," he said, shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness from the after effects of getting out of the book.

"You'll get used to it," Randy replied, rubbing his aching head.

Howard stood up and gave Randy his hand to get him up. "So what did that stupid book say this time?"

Randy shrugged. "Something about an answer and the future or something. I didn't really get it," then he pointed to the Ninja, "but he did, so we're following him."

Howard lifted an eyebrow, then put up a fake smile. "Sorry, give a sec, would ya? I need to talk to my friend."

Not waiting for the Ninja to respond, Howard took Randy's hand and took him somewhere just a bit farther from the Ninja. Howard then whispered in Randy's ear, "what happened to 'not trusting' the shoob? Did something happen inside the Nomicon or something?"

Randy nodded his head, whispering back, "A lot. I finally know who the guy is under the mask and, apparently, he's a grade older than us, right now."

"No cheese. So, should we trust him now, 'cuz I'm still on the 'stay away from him' side," Howard said, air quoting the last part.

Randy thought about it. "I think it's safe to say we can trust him. I haven't seen him do anything suspicious, yet. And the Nomicon he had was legit."

The biffers stayed in silence, processing the info they just gave themselves, before Randy spoke again. "By the way, I just found out that the Debbie Kang actually has a br–" he was cut off once more by the Ninja appearing in between them, scaring the wits out of them.

"You guys better hurry, like I said before, we really don't have much time. And we're going to be here a while," the Ninja said, walking away for the two to follow them back to the student body.

With one last glance at each other, Randy and Howard followed. That was until…

"By the way, Randy, Howard drew a mustache on your face," the Ninja said, leading to Howard laughing hysterically and Randy punching Howard in the shoulder softly.