Chapter 3: Episode 1 - Last Stall on the Left / Lights, Camera, Reaction!
Yk the drill.
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The three got back to the crowd of students and teachers. Principal Slimovitz was talking to a teacher when he noticed them come back. He waved goodbye to the teacher before walking toward them.
"Ah, there you are, Ninja," he said. "I have just asked each of the faculty to assign their students to their own chairs. There's two classrooms per batch." he waved a hand to where everyone was neatly arranged. The teachers had agreed that each grade level would be seated together from the freshmen, who were put at the lowest part of the stadium, to the seniors, who were at the highest.
"Oh, by the way, Randy Cunningham and Howard Weinerman, correct?" P-Slims asked, prompting the freshmen to nod. "Good, you guys are in that area." He pointed to three, unoccupied chairs on the 4th row. The Principal quickly dismissed them as he told them to get to their seats.
Quickly enough, Randy and Howard were already in their assigned chairs. Each and every one of their classmates were already seated, and it made Randy's nerves spring high. The feeling of anxious foreboding came back, and he wasn't sure why exactly. He still didn't know how they were going to do this and find out what the Ninja of the future was looking for.
"Are we actually going to watch the future like it's some sort of Netflix series?" He overheard a fellow classmate ask.
"That's one way of saying it," another said. "But still, don't you think this is a little… weird?"
"Right? This is so suspicious," Debbie Kang replied, thoughtfully tapping her chin. "Like, how are we sure that this isn't just some kind of trap?"
Randy was thinking the same thing, despite all the evidence he'd gathered so far. Nevertheless, he couldn't dwell on it any further when the Ninja and P-Slims departed. Slimovitz went up to his own chair on the left side of the 1st row, beside all the other teachers. The Ninja was then calling everyone's attention to listen to him. The chatter of the room died down a little as they all intently listened to what he had to say.
The Ninja clapped his hands. "Okay, so, like I said earlier, we're going to be watching a series of episodes about the Ninja in your timeline from when he started all the way to the part where he defeated the Sorcerer."
Everyone was silently whispering to themselves once more. Some were excited to see what was going to happen, while others were nervous or skeptical. The Ninja held up both hands, a sign that quieted them down. "I know you guys already have questions, especially on who the cheese is the Sorcerer, but we'll all find out together."
The Ninja's eyes looked around the students before settling on Randy, "Alright, are we good to go?"
Randy could feel Howard's eyes on him, and he didn't know whether to stay still or look back. He hesitated in responding for a bit, if he agreed then that means everyone will know his secret identity, includingarch-enemies.
But what else was there to hide, anyway? The whole school will know by now who he actually is if they still hadn't already figured it out. And if what Matthew said was true, then the fate of Norrisville was in his hands. Then a bunch of words started to write in front of him.
"The answer which one seeks is when the future takes hold."
He already knew his choice.
Randy sent Matthew a meek nod with a shrug, and Matthew nodded back. The Ninja fiddled with his sash, looking for something. It took a few seconds, but the Ninja found it and pulled it out. It looked almost the same as the device that exploded earlier, but with a few differences. Instead of four, small screens, the device had one screen and a green button.
The Ninja pressed the button and used his scarf to send him flying to his own seat, right beside the vacant one beside Randy. The huge black screen turned into nothing but static. Some people tensed up, in awe of the massive TV in front of them and were eager to watch. Others, like Randy, were more wary of what they were about to see and curious at what secrets they were going to find out.
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Suspenseful electronic music and narration begin playing as the screen shows buildings of Norrisville in a cartoony artstyle. It zooms in closer to a bunch of monsters and robots, before it reveals the high school and the Ninja that they all know well.
"For 800 years, Norrisville High has been protected by a Ninja."
It cuts to the hero standing on a platform. Paper monsters begin to pop up, only to be defeated easily. Then the NinjaNomicon shows up before the next scene cuts in.
"No one knows that every 4 years, a new warrior is chosen!"
"Wait, just every 4 years? But Why?" a senior student asked his friend next to him.
The friend just shrugged. "Dude, I literally have no idea. It'll probably be answered later."
GO NINJA!
"A freshman to fight the forces of evil!"
The screen is following red and black clothes that move on their own as a bunch of familiar faces show up. The clothes find the room where Howard and Randy were at. The shorter teen is about to exit the room, while Randy is packing his things, when it suddenly starts wrapping the purple-haired freshman, the camera moving to match the timing as the music begins to pick up.
"I am the Ninja."
The Ninja stands in a battle stance, where Randy once was.
"I… am Randy Cunningham!"
"Hey! I just saw myself!" multiple people were saying the same familiar words as they pointed at the screen.
"That shoob I didn't invite to the Bash Splash is the Ninja!?" Bash's obnoxious voice yelled, "How come he's the Ninja!?"
"Even though I don't like Bash, he has a point," Debbie replied and turned to Randy and Howard with a skeptical, "How come you of all people became the Ninja?"
Randy looked right back at her with a roll of his eyes, and Howard just stuck his tongue out at her, earning them both a scoff. Matthew just looked at them awkwardly.
"Randy! Why didn't you tell us that you were the Ninja!?" Doug's irritating voice said.
"Can it, Doug!" Howard replied for Randy, who was actually going to say the same thing.
SMOKE BOOOOOMB!
What the hey! Come on, you! What the juice!? He's so bruce! Besta cheese, Ninja freeze! Ninja rock, don't stop!
What the hey! Come on, you! Do it, Ninja! What the juice!? He's a hero! Come on, fighter! Just a freshman, and a Ninjaaaa!
An epic guitar solo begins to play as it shows the Sorcerer releasing stank from the sewers and turning Theresa, who was being hit on by Stevens, and Julian, who was sitting in the gym, into monsters.
Then it cuts to the cafeteria doors exploding, only to reveal McFist and Viceroy. Lastly, Bucky becomes one of the monsters as well during the marching band. It cuts to some of the students being afraid, only to be cheering when the Ninja shows up. It pans out from the Ninja to the rampaging attackers. The Ninja, however, destroys each and every one of the robots and destanks the students in beat with the music before yelling out,
"SMOKE BOMB!"
RANDY CUNNINGHAM 9TH GRADE NINJA
The screen started to load, and the entire room took that as an opportunity to chatter amongst themselves. Some were shouting at how awesome that intro was, others were talking about how the theme song was either really catchy or cringe.
"I'll admit, that was a pretty epic start," Rachel's friend said to her.
"Yeah! That was so squee-tacular!" the sophomore girl agreed.
Bucky couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, I still can't believe that Randy's the Ninja!"
Flute Girl scoffed and crossed her arms. "Me neither, honestly."
Ignoring the comments, Randy asked Matthew in astonishment, "I knew you said we were going to watch this like an episodic series, but I didn't expect there to be an actual theme song. How did that happen?"
The older boy in the ninja suit shrugged. "I don't really know either. The Mr. Viceroy in my timeline never got to fully explain how the devices he gave me work. There wasn't any time."
As quickly as the chatter started, it ended as the screen started again.
It shows the front of Norrisville High School as the bell rings to signal the start of class, and in large font, there reads "LAST STALL ON THE LEFT".
The screen cuts off to reveal Mr. Bannister. "Welcome, freshmen. I'm sure you're bummed to be back in school," he says in a relaxed way, before– "Well SO AM I!" he yells and it is so loud that it actually sends a student flying off of his chair.
"500 words, what you did on your summer vacation!" he finishes, then sits down, grabs some files, and aggressively staples them with the stapler, causing some students to flinch.
"Man, thank goodness that we're sophomores now," an upperclassman said.
Her friend nodded his head. "Couldn't agree more, but I feel kinda bad for the newbies," he said, snickering a little.
The screen switches to Randy, who's thinking, then starts writing on the paper, with his voice narrating what he is writing.
"Name: Randy Cunningham. Grade: 9," he narrates before the screen cuts to his paper. "Title, what I did on my summer–"
Howard's head pops up. "Pst, Cunningham, let me copy off ya'," he says.
"Seriously?" Heidi mocked her little brother. "You still need Andy to copy off an essay?"
"It's Ra–" Randy was about to say, but stopped himself. "Y'know what? Nevermind."
Howard rolled his eyes. "So sorry, Heidi, but not everyone is as pristine and perfect as you are," he said goadingly. Heidi only let out another scoff at the younger boy's retort.
Randy leans back and argues, "Howard, we can't turn in the exact same essay."
"Yeah, but we had the exact same summer," Howard counters, but is then hit by a shoe on the back of his head, causing the boy to land his chin on Randy's desk. The two looked in the direction where the shoe was, while Howard is angrily rubbing his bruised scalp.
The screen switched back to Mr. Bannister, who had his feet up and revealed some calluses and chipped nails. "NO TALKING!" he yelled and pointed at Howard with a scowl.
"GROSS!" Theresa said, covering her eyes. Someone else started to hurl at the sight, but was able to hold it in.
"Ugh, why would you put your feet up like that!?" Mrs. Driscoll exclaimed to his co-teacher, who looked unbothered.
"Look, the world is a cruel place," Mr. Bannister replied. "My foot won't do any damage to the entire world, so just let it be."
Back to Randy and Howard, Randy starts narrating once more as he thinks about their summer. "Well, it wasn't the exact same."
"I mean, it started out the same." Screen changes as a montage of their entire summer starts. The two run in Randy's room, sliding down to the TV and breaking-open a Grave Puncher video game. When that's done, they open another video game, and another, and one more.
"But then a week ago, something epic happened," Randy says as the screen shows the TV where they're punching a ton of graves, then…
"Congratulations. You have punched all the graves."
The two do a complex handshake before posing at the last second. "And the day after that, something even epic-er happened."
Randy opens the door to his room, only for him to find a box and a silhouette of a man slowly leaving. The man is revealed to have a cowboy hat on, orange-hair, and blue eyes, before quickly leaving through the window.
"Uh, isn't that our bus guy?" Juggo asked.
Randy narrowed his eyes, before they widened in surprise. "Now that I see him more clearly, it honking is!"
The freshman walks up to the book and opens it. The insides of the box glow as Randy picks it up. "The NinjaNomicon," Randy reads, before- "Eh," he says and throws the ancient book with the rest of the pile of books.
"WHY WOULD YOU JUST THROW AN ANCIENT BOOK LIKE THAT?" Matthew exclaimed, causing Randy to flinch and laugh nervously.
Randy picks up another paper, reading, "You are the Ninja," and then realizing the words, he takes out the mask from the box. "Oh. My. Sweeeet!"
"I have to tell Howard!" he exclaims before reading one last note, "You can't tell anyone!"
"I'm guessing he failed miserably on the first few days?" Julian asked and almost their entire class agreed with him, making Randy sputter out incoherent words of disbelief.
"Now, come on, you guys! Don't be like that," Bucky exclaimed.
Randy sighed, "Thank you–"
"–It was probably just a few hours," Bucky ended with an innocent grin, shutting Randy up.
"I mean, there's a possibility that he didn't actually tell him, right?" Theresa said and was met with silence. "Right?" She tried again, but still nothing. Debbie patted her shoulder comfortingly.
"That is very unlikely, girl, but props for trying," Debbie answered.
Randy slumped. "You guys are the worst," he said in a defeated tone, which caused his batchmates and a few others to laugh.
He frowns, "Aw, that's wonk!" before immediately grinning and wearing the mask. His eyes widen as he is lifted up from the air and the clothes start wrapping itself on him, turning him from just a freshman to the Norrisville Ninja.
"Listen, I don't know how it works, but the ninja suit is the straight-up cheese." Randy gets up in a flashy position, before deliberately destroying his stuff. "It lets me do things I could never, ever do."
"I am Randy Cunningham," he proclaims, doing a series of fighting poses. "I am the Ninja!"
"Well, that looked pretty bruce!" a junior student said and a few others murmured in agreement.
"Hey! I gave you that toy robot just last week." Howard scowled at Randy, who just grinned innocently.
The screen takes us back to the school, in present time. "It's pretty much the coolest thing ever! Only bummer is, I can't tell anyone," he says, before leaning back and looking at Howard. "Not even my best friend."
"Alright, who's gonna bet me that he'll tell him?" A sophomore asked, gaining a bunch of replies.
"Me and my girlfriend, Sarah, bet that he'll tell the dude at lunch!" Sam Healey, one of the Wave Slayers, declared.
"I think it's going to be a misunderstanding," Doug said.
"I bet he'll tell him just after classes!" exclaimed one of the freshman blonde twins.
Juggo shrugged, "Honestly, I think that the best friend is going to find out."
Randy looked in confusion. "Are people actually betting on this right now?"
"Well, you have to admit, it is pretty entertaining," Matthew replied, before joining in, "I bet he'll tell him the minute there's a monster attack!"
Randy just looked at Matthew with a 'Seriously?' expression.
"Pencils down!" Mr. Bannister shouts and starts grabbing the papers.
"And now I'm realizing, this probably wasn't the best topic for my essay," Randy says as the screen zooms out to show his paper, which was full of "I'M THE NINJA" stuff.
"You just realized that now?" Morgan said with an amused scoff.
Before the teacher can take away his paper, he shreds it and gives it to him in pieces with a wide grin. Mr. Bannister scowls. "What's this supposed to be?"
Quick on his feet, Randy replies, "Uh. My commentary on the fleeting nature of summer…?" He says this sheepishly.
"Mm, excellent use of metaphor!"
"Well, now I know the actual reason why he tore his paper apart," Mr. Bannister said. "Still a pretty clever excuse if you ask me."
"Nice save, my dude!" Buttermaker said with a smile.
"Aced it!" Randy exclaims.
"I'll give you a B," Mr. Bannister says, walking away. "B-ced it!" Randy corrects himself.
The scene changes to Bucky, who is running away from Bash. "Go away, Bash! I don't want a wedgie!"
Randy and Howard exit the classroom when Bash comes into view, waving half of Bucky's underwear. "I already gave you a wedgie. I just wanna give ya' your change!"
"AW, YEAH! GET BASHED BY THE BASH!" Bash exclaimed loudly, none of his goons cheered in fear of getting in trouble with the teachers.
"Ugh, what a bully," Rachel said, closing her fists in irritation.
"I have to agree, that is so mean," Theresa said, patting an embarrassed, whimpering Bucky on his back.
"Can we talk about this ninja situation?" Howard says and starts walking.
"N-Ninja situation? There is no ninja situation!" Randy follows the shorter teen nervously.
"Exactly! The no ninja situation. We've been in Norrisville for 2 days, and we haven't seen this guy once."
"I think he has to wait for like a monster or a robot to attack."
Howard frowns deeper. "Why aren't you more bummed about this? We're his number one fans!"
"I mean, it's not like he can just smoke bomb on by for a meet and greet," Randy counters, then thinks about it. "Or can he..?"
"Uh-oh, I think I know where this is going," A junior girl with a purple sweater said.
"Can we talk about how no one is taking Bash accountable for bullying Bucky though?" Debbie exclaimed. "Principal Slimovitz?"
Principal Slimovitz replied, "Don't you worry, Ms. Kang. I know for a fact that I spoke to his parents on that day, and I've got it all handled."
Scene changes to McFist Industries…
"You assured me you would destroy the Ninja," the scene pans out to McFist and Viceroy looking at a glass full of gas stank and the Sorcerer.
"Who's that…?" Theresa said as everyone else began whispering. Randy just narrowed his eyes at the Sorcerer, putting his hands in a fist as he cursed at the evil doer.
"Mr. McFist, who is that guy and what is he talking about?" Doug asked. Nobody shut the young boy up this time as they all stared at the man and Viceroy, who were both trying to hide from everyone's gazes as much as possible.
"But I haven't seen him all summer!" McFist argues, then looks at the scientist. "Have you seen him, Viceroy?" he asks, tugging at his collar.
The mad scientist turns to the Sorcerer. "I haven't seen him. Then again, he is the Ninja, so stealth is kind of his dealio."
"We have a plan," McFist states, "The second he pokes his little head out of his little ninja hidey-hole…. BAM! DESTROYED!"
The Sorcerer roars, "Do… not… FAIL…me…" Then he disappears.
"... I have a dozen questions right now," Heidi was the first to break the silence.
"Mr. McFist, was that true?" P-Slims said, worryingly, "Surely– that must have been a mistake! Surely that wasn't…" he trailed off.
Unable to stay silent anymore… "LOOK! I DIDN'T KNOW THAT THE NINJA WAS A KID, ALRIGHT?" McFist exploded as many gasped at the confession.
Soon, everyone erupted in a fit of outbursts and angry remarks towards the philanthropist and his genius scientist.
"Are you kidding!?"
"So what if the Ninja wasn't a kid!? Why would you help the villain?"
"WAIT! You're the guy that's been sending robots to the school!?"
"Um, let's not actually push aside the fact that the Ninja is a kid. Hannibal McFist–an actual adult–is trying to off a minor. Am I the only one that finds that so wrong!?"
"You vile shoob! What would you gain from destroying the Ninja? You already have a gazillion honking dollars that could make anyone jealous!"
"You guys are evil! So many of us almost died because you want to eliminate the Ninja, you wonk!"
The amount of voices continued to grow louder as more people ganged up on the two. Both adults were cowering in their seats.
Randy and Howard looked around at this. It was a mess and something that Randy had known would happen if the word got out. Randy looked to Matthew for help on what to do, but the older Ninja just shrugged in equal apprehension.
Suddenly, the entire theater shook, causing everyone to scream and shout. Matthew took this as an opportunity to put everyone back together. "Look, I know what we all found out just now is news, but we need to focus! Remember: Norrisville is at stake here and we cannot continue if we get side-tracked. So while this is relevant, let's put it aside for now and get back to the series."
Many hesitated in continuing, not done giving the adults a piece of their minds for wanting to destroy the ninja (and for others, a literal child). But they all gave in as soon as they saw reason and went back to watching the series.
A moment of silence, before the telephone starts ringing, causing the two inhabitants to jump out of their skins. "Mr. McFist, your wife is on the line."
McFist tries, and fails, to pick up the phone. Inhaling, he answers, "Hey sugarface!... I'm a teensy bit busy here… Of course, I'll meet you there, honeycakes!" he hangs up, then continuously bangs the phone in a fit of anger.
"How am I supposed to run an evil empire when my stepson keeps getting in trouble at school!?" he yells.
A few people could be heard scoffing at the comment and glaring at the older man, causing the evil philanthropist to wince.
"Kids," was Viceroy's only comment.
McFist points at Viceroy, "Just get down to your lab and build me something deadly, something dangerous, something with a cupholder!" his mechanical arm flails before breaking the cup on his desk to pieces and coffee spilling on his face, "You know what? Forget the cupholder, just make it deadly…"
Viceroy crosses out the cupholder.
Back at the school, Howard finishes his lunch, before looking at Randy's, "Cunningham, I know you're in the can, but if you don't want me to eat your tater lumps, just say so…" he says, crawling to the food.
"SMOKE BOMB!"
A puff of red smoke later and Randy, as the Ninja, stands on top of one of the tables. Everyone gasps as he yells, "Hello, students! 'Tis I, the Ninja!"
"I knew that he was going to do that!" the same junior in the purple sweater exclaimed.
"Oh! I remember this day now, it's also my first time seeing the Ninja since summer break!" the purple sweater girl's friend replied.
"Finally, yes!" Howard yells, along with a few other students who ran towards the Ninja, "Ninja! Hey, cork it, Cunningham! The Ninja just showed up!"
On a different scene, Principal Slimovitz is talking to McFist and Marci, with Bash. "In these 2 days of school alone, Bash has given 66 wedgies, 32 swirlies, and a Chattanooga Gravy Bowl."
"IN JUST TWO DAYS!?" Cass Simonson, a sophomore and Heidi's friend, exclaimed in horror.
"Yeah, how did he do all of that in just two days?" another sophomore said.
"But what was the gravy bowl thing?" a curious freshman from the other class asked.
"Is that even a real thing?" McFist asks, incredulous.
The Principal rotates his laptop to show the two adults the horrifying scene, leaving them to lean back on their seats, screaming. Bash cries out a satisfactory yell.
"Now, I'm also curious about what happened," Randy said aloud. Some of the witnesses shivered.
"Trust me, you don't actually want to know," they said, warningly.
"Oh, Principal Slimovitz, I just don't believe my little Bashford would ever do anything like that," Marci argues.
"Yeah, Ma. he's framing me!" Bash points, but a piece of underwear is stuck on his arm, making him hide it from her.
"How does she still not believe him after seeing that?" Cynthia, another one of Heidi's junior friends, said in disbelief.
"Ah, a mother's love can be blinding at times," Julian said with a giggle.
Some students from the hall start to yell, "Hey! The Ninja's in the cafeteria!"
"Oh, the Ninja!" P-Slims stands up and starts to run. "What say we take a fiver?" He's followed by Bash, who starts to make his way out. "I'm escaping!"
"You were saying something about having it handled earlier, Principal?" Debbie said, bemused. The said principal flinched and didn't dare look at her.
Marci sighs, "Oh, go on… If you don't destroy the Ninja now, it's all he'll talk about on the ride home."
"You know what, you're the best!" McFist plants a kiss on her face before running to the cafeteria himself.
McFist calls Viceroy and the scientist answers. "McFist Industries, Evil Genius Viceroy speaking," he says.
"The Ninja's at the school right now," McFist whisper-yells, pushing a kid out of the way. "Release the… the thing!"
"His name is Krakenstein."
"RELEASE THE KRAKENSTEIN!" A few eyes land on him, shutting McFist up.
Back to Viceroy, with a taser at hand, he starts electrifying the monster-enstein, and brings it to life. "Go forth, my Krakenstein… and destroy the Ninja!" The monster roars. "Well, he's about ye high, red scarf, black suit– oh, we- maybe it's navy blue.."
Without waiting, the Krakenstein roars and breaks the lab's wall, leaving Viceroy to ponder. "No, you're right, it is black. You never wear red with navy blue."
"Hey, what's wrong with navy blue and red together?" a junior boy asked in genuine confusion.
Some people looked at him weirdly, making him shrink back. "Ash, navy blue and red don't look good together."
The boy, Ash, scoffed. "Not true. I happen to like how they look together."
Heidi just rolled her eyes at him. "To each their own, I guess."
"Krakenstein? Like the Einstein monster? Couldn't come up with somethin' better?" The senior student, Rudd Rhymez, asked, making Viceroy scowl in offense.
"I mean, 'Krakenstein' is pretty creative, honestly," another senior admitted.
Randy nodded his head. "Hafta agree there. Krakenstein is better than me just calling it a monster."
With Randy… "Now as a ninja, I must be prepared to do this," punch, "and this," a kick, "and how could I forget–" he ends it with a jump-kick, making the crowd cheer.
"You've been great everybody. See ya next time. Remember to tip those lunch ladies and smokebo–" he's cut off by a pair of arms holding onto his leg. "NO! Wait, Ninja!"
"My buddy and I have been dying to meet you since we were kids. Please, just… hang out 'til he gets back?"
"Aw, so you do have a heart that beats in there after all," Debbie said in a bantering tone.
"Sock off, Kang," Howard replied, "Yeah, this chest has a heart beating in it, and it ain't for you."
She rolled her eyes playfully, "Whatever, loser."
The Ninja scratches his head, "Aw, that's really cool of you. But I can't, I must go!"
Before he can leave, the Krakenstein crashes into the scene, which causes a lot of people to start screaming. "Yes, destroy. Destroy!"
"So not only did you plan on putting everyone's lives at stake, but you didn't think that you just put yours at stake as well?" Pradeep commented.
"Well, actually, my Krakenstein was designed to not endanger the lives of the people. It was only made to lure and take the Ninja," Viceroy explained calculatedly.
"Yeah, that doesn't make up for the amount of collateral damage that one monster caused!" Miss Wickwhacker exclaimed. "Slimovitz had to take some of the band's instruments away again in just the 2nd day of school so that we could pay for the damages!"
"Not to mention the amount of times my car was destroyed!" the Principal shouted in annoyance.
The monster starts causing havoc, everybody starts to run in different places. "My first monster fight… So honking cool!" the Ninja says, "Ninja flip!"
"I can see a reason why he's chosen as the Ninja," S. Ward Smith commented. "He's a bloofus through and through."
Randy just looked at the teacher, confused. "Uh… I'm a what?"
The metal shop teacher huffed exasperatedly, "One of the key factors of being the Ninja is bravery," he explained wistfully. "You're fearless. While the other students are running to save their skins, you're actually excited to fight a real monster head on. I don't see a lot of people like that often."
To the people who knew him, no one pointed out the fact that he actually couldn't see. Randy thought about what he said, letting it sink in. "Huh…" he thought. "I guess so."
"Monster, get ready to get–" he couldn't finish the sentence as he was thrown by the monster out of the cafeteria.
"Eesh! Cunningham, get back here! The Ninja's totally getting pwned," Howard says, texting Randy.
Outside the canteen, Ninja makes a massive dent on one of the lockers before taking his ringing phone out and reading the message. "I wouldn't say I'm getting pwned."
He does a spin kick on the monster, which causes it to fall, but gets up quickly. "Uh-oh," The Ninja realizes his mistake before getting sent crashing through the wall and towards a flight of stairs. He comedically starts falling, before groaning, "Aw, man, I am getting pwned. Ninja sprint!"
A few people giggled at the comedic timing, while Randy just sank a bit further in his chair, embarrassed. "Okay, no one actually told me it was that hard! It was my first battle!"
Howard wasn't even hiding the fact that he was hysterically laughing. "OH, man! This is the best day of my life–"
"Shove off, Howard," Randy said, playfully pushing the boy.
He enters the boys' bathroom and hides in one of the stalls. The Krakenstein breaks in and starts opening each stall one by one. With the last one, there sits an awkwardly crouched Ninja. "I wasn't hiding from you, if that's what you think."
Roaring, the monster walks towards the Ninja and closes the door. Several attempts of screaming and escaping later and the Ninja got out of the stall just a few seconds before the bell rang. "Ugh, now what?" noticing a pipe metal, he uses it to seal the monster and keep it from leaving the stall.
The scene cuts to a classroom Howard is in. Randy slides in and crashes, before quickly going to his seat. "Where have you been!?" Howard says in annoyance. "We were supposed to meet the Ninja together!"
"Man, but between you and me, he was kinda stankin' it up out there," Howard remarks, which hit a nerve.
"Come on Howard, I–" Randy backtracks, "Uh, the Ninja was doing his best, okay? It's not like there are instructions for being a ninja," then his eyes widen and he whispers, "The instructions!"
"Oh, so now he remembers!" S. Ward Smith commented again. Some people were wondering what he was talking about and eagerly waited for the scene to play.
Standing up, he yells, "I need. To use. The bathroom!" he points to the door, making everyone look at him.
The scene shifts to Randy biking all the way to his home in breaking speeds. A neighbor greets him, "Hey ya, Randy!"
"Dang, you bike fast," Hailey, the girl with the green beanie from Morgan's Dancing Fish group, said.
"He's speeding, honey," another girl with a pink hood, Lindsy, replied. "He only has, like, 5 minutes until the teachers get suspicious on where he actually went."
Entering his house, Randy drops to the pile of books on the floor and finds the Nomicon. "The NinjaNomicon," he says in relief, "Come on, baby. Drop some secret ninja knowledge on me."
Upon opening the book, Randy enters the realm of its pages. A series of ninjas and dragons appear before Randy hits a–supposed–wall and lands on his bottom. Randy scratches his head, question marks appearing on top of it as he looks at the words in front of him.
"Believe in the weapon that is in the suit?" Randy reads. "Okay, so what's in the suit?" a bunch of arrows start to point at him as he comes to a realization, "I'm in the suit. I'm the weapon!"
"I just have to believe in me!" are his final words before the ninja drawing beside him hits Randy and tosses him out, making him gain consciousness once again.
A lot of people's voices began to grow, all commenting at how cool the Nomicon was and some wondering how it worked.
"Shweet! That was so cool!" Theresa yells in amazement.
"Wow, I've always wanted to enter a book," Princess, a freshman girl with blonde hair and long lashes, exclaimed.
Heidi hummed. "Is that some sort of lesson? And does that actually mean believing in yourself?"
S. Ward scoffed. "It is a lesson, but that - got the meaning all wrong. He's supposed to grab real weapons!"
Randy leaned closer to Howard's ear and whispered, "That guy knows a whole lot about ninja business."
"Right? It's kind of weird," Howard quietly answered.
Matthew looked at his own Nomicon, eyebrows furrowed. How come the Nomicon never did that to him? Did it always used to do that or was it just for a few of its students? And if it was the former, why did it stop? Was there a reason?
So many questions began swirling in his head, but they could all be answered later. Matthew was sure of it.
The scene goes back to Randy biking all the way to his school at equally breaking speeds. The same neighbor greets him, "See ya, Randy!"
Randy enters the school and starts running, but is stopped by Howard's leg peeking out at one of the halls. He lands in a not-so safe way. "Hey! Perfect, you're back. I got some great news."
"Dude, couldn't you have stopped him without tripping him like that?" a senior guy winced.
The school nurse, Marybeth, sighed. "I have to agree, he could have gotten seriously injured."
The taller teen puts his arms up, "Sorry, Howard, but I have to… um–" but he never gets to make an excuse as the bell rings and Howard yells, "No, no!" he clings to Randy's waist, making sure Randy does not leave. "You are going to stick around for this!"
"Turns out the Ninja couldn't beat that monster, so he just locked it in a basement stall!" Howard explains as a few people watch the weird display, with Randy making an awkward 'nothing to see here' shrug, "So, I let it out."
Alarmed, Randy yells, "You did what!?"
"What!?" Heidi, and a few other students, gasped. "Howard! Why the juice would you pull off something so dangerous!?"
Howard scoffed. "Oh, please! It wasn't that hard. The monster didn't even move until I left the bathroom."
"Yet you didn't think of the dangers or the fact that you could cause even more destruction by letting it out?" Debbie hissed angrily.
The short boy held up his hands in defense. "Hey, I knew the Ninja would come eventually!"
"Howard, that's not the point– oh, nevermind," Heidi groaned, tired of arguing.
"Yeah, now, the Ninja's gotta come back, and we can see him in action together," Howard finishes, unaware of–or possibly ignoring–his best friend's horror. Before Randy can tell Howard anything, a car crashes inside the hall they are in. They walk close enough to the broken wall to see the escaped monster wrecking havoc.
"You want to thank me now… or later? How should we do this?" Howard asks, while Randy looks at him in irritation.
Somewhere else, McFist slams open the door that leads to where the monster is at. "Where the heck is what's-his-crack?"
Just when he says that, Krakenstein sends Principal Slimovitz's broken car flying. McFist smirks, "There he is!" as the Principal screams, "My car!"
"Mr. McFist, you owe me a lot of money just for the destruction of my car," Principal Slimovitz demanded.
Randy and Howard walk toward the crowd, with Randy's mouth hanging open at the sheer mess the monster is creating. Howard looks unbothered by any of it, "Ninja action. Courtesy of moi," he says excitedly. "Who's the best friend ever?" he jumps to Randy to do their complex hand shake, only for him to realize that the taller teen is gone. "Are you kidding me!?"
"Not going to lie, I kind of get where the redhead newbie is coming from," a sophomore student commented. "I mean, if I were about to meet my idol without my best friend twice, I would probably be annoyed, too."
Heidi rolled her eyes. "Please, don't encourage him."
"Well, at least someone gets it!" Howard remarked.
"SMOKE BOMB!" The Ninja enters the scene and stands in front of the monster. All the students in the area start chanting his title as the Krakenstein continues to roar.
"I believe in me, I believe in me, I believe in me… kicking your butt," he waves at the monster to come closer.
The Krakenstein smashes all 6 of its fists together and the screen turns red before the warrior and monster fight. With a kick, the Ninja spins in the air and stands on the monster's face before landing on the ground. Krakenstein runs towards the Ninja, throwing out all sorts of punches, while the Ninja blocks them all easily while shouting, "Ninja block!"
With one last block, he kicks the last arm with a backflip. It hits the monster instead and sends it falling on the floor. "Who's getting pwned now?" he yells as the crowd chants even louder than before.
Several people began commenting on how cool that scene was. Randy felt a bit touched by the sentiments, despite not knowing a large number of the people.
"Okay, that was pretty epic," Debbie admitted quietly. Unfortunately for her, several people heard it, including:
"Oh, do my ears deceive me? Debs finally confesses something she finds epic?" Theresa teased.
Debbie lightly pushed her away, "Oh, come on, Theresa! I know you find it awesome the most."
That shut the girl up to be stunned instead. "I– well– of course! He's the Ninja and– you know…" she decided to just stay quiet all together after that.
Fixing its jaw, the Krakenstein is revealed to have a secret arm on its chest, which catches the Ninja in surprise and traps him on ground.
A majority yelled at that, surprised at the sudden and unexpected attack.
"Secret arm!" McFist yells, then talks to his mechanical arm, "That is so Viceroy."
The Ninja dodges just as a metal arm hits the ground beside him. "I don't get it. I'm believing!" he says, "What else could be in the suit!?" He starts looking around and pulls out a sword. Randy gasps in understanding as a bunch of doodles point at the weapon, "Ah, believe in the weapon that is in the suit!"
He cuts the arm holding him, causing the monster to roar in pain. "That makes way more sense," he gets back up and runs toward the monster to send him another kick.
"And now he gets it," S. Ward Smith said.
"Let's do this."
The Krakenstein runs towards him, but the Ninja just stands there in a fighting stance, waiting for it to get closer. Without even a single step, Ninja cuts up the monster quickly. The monster just stands there for a moment, before it starts to fall apart into pieces. A few watchers start to get sick.
McFist begins to scream at his defeat, "NOOOOOOoo… way! Dudes!" he finishes as he realizes the angry looks he's getting. "That was awesome!" he says melancholy as he walks away.
"Smooth," Bash's bro with the red hoodie commented.
"Ew, gross," Becky, one of Heidi's batchmates, said toward the chopped up monster.
Morgan sighed. "It looks like something out of a gore movie."
With one last look of the people chanting 'smoke bomb', the Ninja yells out the phrase, "Smoke bomb!"
The scene changes to Randy hiding away the mask and meeting up with an angry Howard. "Hey, Howard!" Randy greets innocently.
"Oh, you think I'm some sort of chowderhead?" Howard says, crossing his arms.
"I… don't know how to answer that."
A few people laughed at the interaction.
"Just so you know, I take offense to that," Howard said playfully, bumping Randy in the arm.
"Ow, heh, sorry," Randy said sheepishly.
I know what you've been up to."
"You do?"
"Yeah. First, you're gone; Ninja's here. And then, he's gone, and then, you're here. I know your secret, man," Howard explains matter-of-factly with a smug look.
"Howard, listen, I wanted to tell you–" Randy tries to explain, but gets cut off.
"Well, it's too late now! Yeah, I figured it all out. With my mind."
"Hah! I actually guessed it right!" Juggo exclaimed. "He figured it out!"
"How did Howard manage to figure something out?" Heidi said in a monotone voice.
"Wait, did you seriously know?" Debbie asked in surprise, and a few heads turned to Howard.
Howard made a so-so gesture, "Eh… you're about to see for yourself," he answered while Randy was trying not to laugh out loud.
"This is such a relief!" Randy exclaims, "It's been killing me that I couldn't tell you," he walks away to pull out the mask.
Howard grins, "I mean, sneaking off so you can have the bathroom all to yourself every time the Ninja shows up–" he gasps as he sees that his friend just turned into the Norrisville Ninja. "–Wait, you're the Ninja?"
Howard's grin grew wider for a different reason, "My best friend's the Ninja!" he says, ecstatic, while Randy was grinning under the mask. "This is incredible! I'm gonna tell everyone!"
"Of course," Debbie's surprise vanished instantly as Juggo's and a few others' hopes were crushed as they lost the bets.
"I don't know if I should laugh or feel bad for the people who were actually serious about the bet thing," Randy said.
Randy shakes his head. "You can't tell anyone," he says in a serious tone, causing Howard's mood to deflate a little.
"Aw, that stinks," Howard replies.
Randy holds onto Howard's shoulder as he looks for something. "No, Howard, this stinks." He lifts it up and throws it. "SMOKE BOMB!"
A puff of red smoke comes out of the ball and causes Howard to cough. "Oh, man. Those things smell like fart."
"You get used to it. You'd be surprised, you start liking it."
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End of Episode 1: Last Stall on the Left
Next Episode?
As the episode ended, everyone was left silent for a moment. No one knew what or how to break the silence, since there was a lot of information to process. That is until…
"... So, did I win the bet?" all heads turned to Doug. "I said that he'd find out because of a misunderstanding. That counts, right?"