Chapter 19

Norrisville Part 1

With their adventures at 101 Dalmatian Street now behind them, Molly and Libby piloted their gummiship into the sky until they reverted back to their human forms. Now that they were humans once more, it took them both awhile to get used to standing on two legs once again.

"Aww. I miss being a puppy already." Molly said with a pout.

Libby giggled. "It's okay, Molly! At least the Dalmatians are now safe from Cruella!"

It was at that moment when Chirithy appeared next to Molly and Libby. "Libby is right! The important thing is that we saved another world from the darkness!"

"Still, I can't believe that Maleficent helped Cruella." Molly thought back to when she saw Maleficent.

"Wait, Maleficent was here too?" Libby asked, surprised.

Molly nodded. "She tried to help Cruella kill the puppies. I know that Maleficent is evil, but that was a new low, even for her!"

"This is why we need to stop Maleficent before she can cause anymore harm." Chirithy explained.

"With any luck, we'll hopefully stop her in the next world we visit." Libby hoped.

"Speaking of which, looks like we just arrived at our next world!" Molly pointed in the distance.

It was at that moment when everyone took notice of the new world, which looked to be some kind of high school. Ready to visit the next world, Molly and Libby landed their gummiship and stepped out before they took a look around.

Right in front of them, stood a normal high school with a bunch of students leaving for the school day. As Molly and Libby looked around, they realized that there were no Heartless around. Despite that, they couldn't be too careful, so neither of them weren't ready to let their guards down just yet. As they searched around the school, Molly and Libby suddenly heard screams from the students as they started to flee in terror.

Knowing that it was the Heartless, Molly and Libby summoned their keyblades and ran towards where they heard the screaming. It was at that moment when they ran towards a football field and encountered the Heartless just like they expected, but there was something about them that looked a little off.

"Hey, Libby. Is it just me, or do the Heartless look a little different?" Molly asked.

"Now that you mention it, they do look different from the usual kind of Heartless we fought." Libby noticed. "They kind of look like ninjas?"

Upon taking a closer look, Molly and Libby noticed that the Heartless all wore dark ninja attires, with their yellow eyes being the only things visible from underneath their masks. At that moment, the Heartless took notice of Molly and Libby before throwing shurikens at them.

Surprised by this, Molly and Libby raised their keyblades and blocked the shurikens one by one. As the girls were distracted, the ninja Heartless ran at them with lightning fast speed and punched them both to the ground. The Heartless were about to punch Molly and Libby again before they quickly got up from the ground and countered with their keyblade strikes. By the time they recovered, Molly and Libby realized that they were already surrounded by countless Heartless.

They were just about ready to brace themselves for a tough fight before they suddenly heard someone yell, "Smoke bomb!"

In a cloud of smoke, a ninja suddenly appeared with a sword in hand. Unlike the Heartless, this ninja appeared to be human underneath his attire. With a slash of his sword, the ninja cut through countless Heartless, much to Molly and Libby's surprise.

"Sweet baby corn! That was incredible!" Molly exclaimed.

"Yeah, you were amazing!" Libby agreed. "Who are you?"

The ninja turned to Molly and Libby with a triumphant pose. "I am the protector of Norrisville High, but you can call me, The Ninja!"

"The Ninja?" Libby repeated. "Not exactly the most creative name."

Before they could continue their conversation, more Heartless surrounded them, causing them to raise their weapons in defense. As the fight continued, Molly and Libby casted their most powerful fire, ice, and lightning spells, taking out a large chunk of the Heartless. Seeing this impressed the Ninja as he hadn't seen any fighting moves like that before.

"What the juice?" The Ninja tried to process what he just saw while still focusing on fighting the Heartless. "That was awesome! How did you two do that?"

"Well, we have both been fighting these creatures for awhile, and we had to learn some magic to fight back against them." Molly explained, defeating another Heartless with her keyblade.

"Focus, you two! The fight isn't over yet!" Libby pointed out.

More Heartless surrounded everyone, but the Heartless were slowly wiped out as Molly, Libby, and the Ninja blocked more shurikens with their weapons and slashed their enemies. Before long, everyone looked around to see that there was not a single Heartless in sight, so they all began to relax.

With that, everyone put their weapons away, relieved that the fight was now over.

"Whew! Thanks for the help!" Molly thanked. "You really saved us!"

"Eh, it's no biggie! I'm used to fighting monsters like that anyway!" the Ninja explained.

"So, if you protect this school, does that mean that you are a student here?" Libby asked, noticing that the Ninja looks like a teenager.

"Uh." the Ninja darted his eyes to the side, not wanting to give away his secret identity. "Smoke bomb!" Desperate to get out of the conversation, the Ninja threw a smoke bomb, covering the surrounding area in smoke.

Both, Molly and Libby coughed as they tried to see through the smoke all around them. By the time the smoke cleared up, they noticed that the Ninja already left.

"Huh? Where did he go?" Molly asked, confused.

Libby looked around before she noticed something in the distance. "There he is!"

It was at that moment when Molly and Libby noticed the Ninja performing all kinds of jumps and flips before hiding behind the school. Curious, the girls chased after him and made their way behind the school, expecting to see the Ninja. Instead, they were both surprised to see a couple of teenage boys instead. One of them was a tall boy with dark-purple hair, a dark hoodie over his red t-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and a pair of black shoes. The other boy was short and chubby by comparison and had orange hair and wore a blue jacket over his dark blue t-shirt with the design of a squid on it, along with a pair of dark shorts and a pair of red sneakers.

"You should have seen it, Howard! Those monsters were everywhere, but they didn't stand a chance." the taller boy bragged.

The shorter boy with the orange hair rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah! I know what happened, Cunningham! I'm more interested in those two girls who helped you out! Did you get their names? They looked kind of cute!"

"First of all, no I didn't get their names. Secondly, keep dreaming, Howard! Those girls look way out of your league!"

"Hey, it could happen! Why are you the one who always gets the girls' attention anyway?" Howard asked.

"Because I'm the Ninja." the boy named, Cunningham explained.

As he listened to his friend, Howard took notice of Molly and Libby and started to panic. "Uh, Cunningham?"

Unfortunately, Cunningham wasn't paying attention to what Howard had to say. "Being the Ninja really has its perks, you know?"

"Cunningham." Howard repeated, losing his patience with his friend.

"I mean, how can you not enjoy being the Ninja?"

"Cunningham! Look behind you!" Howard yelled.

Confused, Cunningham turned around to be face to face with the same girls he fought the monsters with. It was at that moment when he realized that he messed up. He had to keep his identity a secret from everyone and the two people who he only just met today already found out who he was.

"Hi!" Molly greeted with a friendly wave. "You're the ninja who saved us, right?"

Cunningham started to panic as he tried to deny it. "Uh, no! He sounds like a pretty cool guy, but I can assure you I am not the ninja!"

"Hey, it's okay!" Libby assured. "We promise that we won't tell anyone about your secret identity!"

"That's right! It's the least we could do after you helped us defeat the Heartless!" Molly explained.

Seeing that he couldn't keep his identity a secret from them any longer, Cunningham let out a defeated sigh.

"Well, I'm not saying that I am the ninja, but if he were here right now, I'm sure he would say that he was happy to help!"

Soon, Howard stepped forward to speak to Molly and Libby. "Okay! So, now that this is over with, it's nice to meet you! I am Howard Weinerman! Would either of you lovely ladies like to go out with me?"

In response, Molly and Libby shared a couple of awkward glances with one another.

"Uh, thanks for asking, but Libby and I don't really like boys that way." Molly explained.

"Yeah, not to mention that Molly and I are already dating each other." Libby added.

It was at that moment when Cunningham burst into laughter. Of all the times Howard failed to ask a girl out, this had to be his biggest fail yet.

"Wow! You really walked into that one, Howard!" Cunningham laughed.

"Give me a break, Cunningham! It was worth a shot!" Howard crossed his arms in a pout.

Before Howard could argue anymore, he heard the noise of a trombone playing as one of the band geeks played a noise that went, 'Wah Wah Waaah' at Howard's misfortune.

"No one asked you, Stevens!" Howard said to the band geek.

Cunningham wiped a tear from his eye once he was done laughing. "Anyway, your names are Molly and Libby, right? It's nice to meet you! I'm Randy Cunningham! I have to admit, you two were pretty awesome back there!"

"Thanks!" Molly smiled. "So you fight monsters too?"

Randy nodded. "Yeah, it's kind of my thing! I've been protecting everyone as the Ninja for awhile!"

"But it also took him awhile to tell me he was the Ninja!" said Howard. "When Cunningham became the Ninja he didn't even bother telling his best friend."

"So, Randy has kept this really big secret from you this whole time? Gee, where have I heard that before?" Libby darted her eyes over towards Molly, thinking back to when Molly kept Scratch a secret from her.

Both, Molly and Randy awkwardly looked away from their best friends in response. Before long, Molly brought the awkward silence as she spoke up.

"Anyway, the Heartless we just fought aren't the only Heartless around. I think there are more Heartless attacking the town this very moment." Molly explained.

"That's not a problem! If those guys are still around, I'll just ask the Nomicon what to do!" Randy assured.

Libby raised a confused eyebrow. "The Nomicon? What's that?"

"The Nomicon is this book that teaches me all kinds of cool ninja knowledge! It's usually pretty wise when it comes to figuring out how to deal with my enemies, so maybe it can help us with our little Heartless problem!"

Molly liked the sound of that. If the Nomicon is as wise as it sounds, maybe it can provide an answer on how to get rid of the Heartless for good.

"If it can tell us how to defeat the Heartless, I think its worth a shot!" Molly replied.

"Great! The Nomicon is should be around here somewhere." Randy searched his backpack for a few moments before he realized something. "Aw man! I forgot I left it at home."

"Good going, Cunningham! The one time we desperately need that book and you don't even have it with you!" Howard complained.

"Relax! We'll just go to my house and get the Nomicon! No big deal! Come on! Let's go!"

With that, Molly and Libby followed Randy and Howard down the street to Randy's house. As they walked in silence, questions filled Molly and Libby's heads. Was the Nomicon really as wise as Randy claimed? And if it was, would it give them answers on how to free all worlds from the darkness? Either way, Molly and Libby had to at least try. If it was possible for them to be free of the Heartless for good, this could be their only chance.