Chapter 1: The famous and the unknown
Notes:
This whole fic is going to end up being a mess... scratch that, it's already a mess. Don't expect too much from whatever this is.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It has been weeks since the Sorcerer was set free and defeated together with evil Julian. Randy's life began to normalize itself. Well, it became as normal as it was when he first started out as a ninja, which isn't that normal, but it's more normal than fighting two overpowered evil beings. There weren't that many threats after that. In fact, there wasn't much to do at all. Occasionally, McFist Industries launched products too early or something was out of order, but that was it. Life was beginning to get boring. His duty as a ninja was beginning to become boring.
Now, Cunningham was walking down the hall to his locker hoping to find Howard. He went passed several of his classmates, most of whom ignored his presence unless he did something cool or stupid. If they did give him attention it was short lived, considering some of the people in this school don't even remember his name the moment one of his "ideas to get fame gone wrong" is forgotten.
Soon enough, Randy finally ended up in front of his locker and he didn't have to wait long until his best friend showed up at his locker too.
"Howard! What the cheese man?!" the guy exclaimed turning to his best friend.
"What? Is there something on my face?" asked Howard.
"No, there is nothing on your face," said Randy letting his annoyance be heard through his tone. "And if there was, you wouldn't actually care about it."
"Yeah, I wouldn't," Howard chuckled and began to walk in the direction of their classroom together with Cunningham. "So, what is it?"
"Why weren't you at school yesterday? Not only did I have to sit through the entire day at school all alone, but you skipped out on our game night!"
"Oh, right. I kind of broke my phone... Funny story, actually. It just doesn't end that funny... I ended up breaking more than just my phone, so, I was grounded for the end of the day." Howard blurred out in a quieter tone.
"That doesn't explain why you didn't show up for school!"
"Oh, yeah. It's also a funny story."
They walked into their math classroom and sat down at their sits. The bell haven't rang yet, so, the majority of the students in the classroom were chatting among themselves.
"Have you heard? Apparently, some popular kid is returning back to school today." came from one of the students.
"You mean Norisu?" said another student, who by voice sounded like one of the girls. "My older sister said he was cute."
Randy overheard the conversation and he turned to Howard silently asking him if he knows what their classmates are talking about. Weinerman just shrugged his shoulders.
Before Randy could ask his classmates about what was going on, the bell rang and the teacher began the lesson.
When the class ended Randy and Howard walked out of the classroom. They walked down the hall in the direction of their next class as the teens noticed a huge robot that looked like a teddy bear. The two teenagers exchanged glances. Cunningham smirked. Howard sighed at the realization what was coming next.
"It's ninja o-clock isn't?" the red head asked.
"It is, my friend." said Randy as he pulled out the ninja mask revealing it to his friend. "It is."
Randy sprinted down the hall. He already had his eyes on the washroom and increased his speed to get there faster. Suddenly, the teen ninja bumped into someone and fell to the ground. On his way down he dropped the mask. The moment the guy touched the ground, he grabbed the mask and after standing up, he kept running for the washroom leaving the guy he just knocked down sitting on the floor. The one thing the ninja noticed about the guy, were his short, red hair. The teen just threw a quick apology and disappeared behind the washroom door.
Randy ran into the nearest, somewhat clean stall and put the mask on, feeling how the rest of the suit covered his body.
Soon enough the ninja appeared on top of the principal's car from the red smoke with his popular line: "smoke bomb".
After defeating that robot, which only took a few minutes, Randy went back to his classes. By the time lunch rolled around Cunningham found himself sitting at the same table as he always did.
"So, you are telling me that you think that robot was not made by Viceroy?" Howard asked.
"No, I'm sure it was one of McFist's bots, but something about how it seemed already broken even before I fought it makes me think, it wasn't meant to destroy me." Randy answered. "I don't know ok? I just don't know why he would go after me now and I'm sure they wouldn't send a broken robot after me... or maybe they would. I'm just upset that there isn't much to do. I am the ninja after all, and there is no ninjaing to do lately."
"Well, you already did your duty by defeating the Sorcerer," commented Howard, but he said that in a quieter tone considering the other might not react well to it. To his misfortune, his friend did hear him.
"Exactly, what else am I suppose to do? The more time passes the more I begin to think that maybe..." he paused a little. "... what if... What if my time as the ninja is over? And there is no need for the ninja anymore? I was a ninja for a few months! It hasn't even been a year! Hardly half a year."
"Well, if that's the case, that means that you would have more time to figure out how to get us"
The chatter in the lunch room began to quiet down as the door opened and someone walked in. Everyone turns to look at the person.
Randy looked over to the guy who got everyone's attention. He was surprised to see familiar bright red hair. The guy wore a black T-shirt, a soccer jacket and jeans. Randy stared at the guy as he walked by while everyone was greeting him, some gave him a high-five and a few girls ran up to him asking him how his day was. What was even more surprising is that the guy walked over to Bash's table and sat down without being beaten up on the spot. It was the opposite actually, the two acted like their were bros since kindergarten.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Randy asked while being totally confused.
"Yes." Aggressively answered Howard. "I see some shoob that just showed up and got all of the glory and fame for nothing. Who does he think he is?"
"I think, he's the guy I bumped into earlier today." Randy pointed out.
"So, who is he?"
"How am I suppose to know? I didn't ask him, I was too busy trying to get my mask on, so I can go and beat up a robot." Randy said with frustration.
Randy saw Bucky nearby, who waved at that unknown guy. Cunningham jolted from his seat and pulled Bucky closer.
"Hey, do you by any chance know who that is?" the teen pointed at the red-haired guy sitting with the biggest jerk of their school.
"Yeah, that's Nomi Norisu, I think..." Bucky answered. "Pretty sure he is the captain of the soccer team and the most popular guy in school."
"Wait if he is the most popular kid in school, how come we have never heard of him?" Randy asked not quite believing in what Bucky said.
"He had some family emergency and was not able to be present in school for the majority of the year, obviously." blurred out flute girl who was passing by.
Randy let Bucky go, and the blond made his way back to his own table.
"Cunningham, do you know what it means?" Weinerman sounded excited.
"Uhm, no?" Randy raised an eyebrow.
"It means that we should try to befriend him." Howard put his arm around Randy's shoulders. "Look at him. Everybody loves him and he is surrounded by the girls. Just imagine how much more popular we would get just for being seen around that guy."
"Well, uhm..." Randy looked at the guy that his best friend was talking about. He was right, it would give them the popularity in school that they so wanted, but would being friends just for popularity be worth it? "Howard, I don't know about this. This guy seems cool and stuff, but... I don't know if it's worth it. Also, I doubt he would want to even talk to us. He is buddies with Bash!"
"Good point. But..." Howard stretched out the last word. "We can still try to. It's always worth it. And you did befriend Bash once already, so how hard is to befriend his friend?"
Randy was about to protest, but decided to consider it as a potentially good idea. He pulled out the NinjaNomicon to shloomp on it, but his wrist was grabbed by Weinerman.
"NO! I won't let that book ruin everything again." Howard pushed the book back into the bag. "Now, how about you make this decision by yourself."
"Fine." The teen ninja finally gave up. "Maybe it is a good idea. So, how are we doing this?"
"Huh? You're asking me? Pretty sure that's your job."
"Well, we definitely can't approach him now while he is that close to Bash."
"So, what you are saying is that we should corner him all alone and pressure him into a friendship?"
"More like convince him, but yes."
The duo has been all day trying to catch the guy alone, would it be coming out of a classroom, a washroom, or just standing around alone in the corridor, and nothing came out of it. Norisu was always with Bash or with one of his other goons, which meant that it was not safe to approach. There was one time during the break between classes when the two attempted to squeeze their way to the upperclassman, but as soon as they got close, the guy was surrounded by girls, who were mainly freshmen. By the end of the day, they had to give up on the idea.
Now, Randy was walking out of the main doors, Howard was already somewhere outside. Even though the two had agreed to meet up in the halls, the latter decided he needed "fresh air" (who knows what that actually means when it is said by Howard) and warned Cunningham last minute.
Most of the other students have already left. The teen walked to the steps and began to slowly come down, while at the same time looking through his bag not paying much attention to anything in front of him, so, it was invadable that he ended up crushing into someone and the two of them stumbled down. The two landed on the pavement, Cunningham on top.
"I'm sorry, man," Cunningham mumbled while pushing himself up. "I wasn't loo-..." The teen finally looked at the guy below him, recognizing the bright red hair.
"It's fine." Norisu replied giving him somewhat of an awkward smile. "I can see you have a tendency to knock people off their feet." the guy laughed a little, but it wasn't in any way mean. Just a genuine and innocent laugh.
"Well, I just usually knocked myself of my feet rather than other people, but I guess that happens too. Occasionally," Randy offered a hand to the other teen who gladly took it, then pulled the red head off the ground. "I'm Randy, by the way. Randy Cunningham." the ninja decided not to lose an opportunity, which he might not get again any time soon.
"Nomi Norisu. Pleased to meet you."
"Cunningham!" Howard yelled out from farther off in the distance, he was quickly approaching. "How long am I suppose to wait for you? Game Hole isn't gonna come to us!"
"You could've went without me. I could have easily caught up," Randy replied.
"How could you ever think I would go anywhere without you?" said Howard putting on a fake offended tone. "What kind of person do you think I am?"
"Your friend?" Nomi asked, glaring at Randy.
"Yeah," Randy turned his attention back to Norisu. "That's Howard, my best friend."
Howard's face suddenly changed to a shocked one the moment he realized who was standing next to them. He began to make aggressive eye contact with Randy occasionally moving his eyes to Nomi to signal him to do something in regards to their plan.
Randy rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"Listen, Nomi," he began. "Howard and I are going to the Game Hole, and we were actually bringing a third player... but... that dude just... bailed on us... last minute... yes. That's exactly what happened." Randy put on a wide and awkward smile hoping that Norisu would buy it, the latter just kept quietly smiling at him, awaiting for the teen to make the offer. "Would you like to come with us instead?"
"Sure, I don't have much to do today, anyway," Nomi replied completely ignoring Randy's nervousness.
"Cool."
"So, what are we waiting for?" Howard chimed in. "Let's go!" He grabbed Randy and pulled him hard, forcing him to start walking.
The two walked in front while Norisu followed them.
"'A dude bailed on us'? What were you saying back there, Cunningham?" Howard asked in a whisper.
"I don't know, I panicked. I didn't rehearse this, alright? Thought, if I would ask him straight forward with no excuse we would look desperate." Randy replied in the same hushed voice.
"Well, congrats, we look twice as desperate, as much as a couple of shoobs in front of the most popular guy in school," Howard's whisper turned into a hushed yell, which was, luckily, still quiet enough to not let Nomi hear him.
"Didn't see you trying. Also, it worked. Don't know how, but it did," with these words Cunningham slowed his pace to let Norisu catch up to them.
Notes:
Quick note, this is not a new chapter, I know, but it is an edited one. So, I rewrote a few elements and added a little more content. I have now (somewhat) properly planned out this story, so the amount of chapters is changed. Also, some of the tags are also going to be changed (if a tag is taken out, it doesn't mean it's not gonna happen in this story at all, I might put it back, or it's just going to appear in one of the other fanfics in this series).
Chapter 2: Mayhem at the Game Hole
Summary:
Randy, Howard and Nomi go to the Game Hole.
Notes:
Finally, the second chapter is done. I'm gonna be honest, I actually forgot I was writing this fanfic after I first published the first chapter...
Chapter Text
Things had been quieter at McFist Industries. That was probably there was one less person to yell out randomly during the day.
They have already launched a few new products in the last few weeks, and the business was booming. However, there was no progress at all on their "ninja destruction business". McFist was determined to change that. Of course, he wasn't sure on how he was going to do that. More precisely, he didn't know how Viceroy was going to do that, but it was going to happen one day.
"Sir, I really don't understand why you would still be so obsessed with the idea of destroying the ninja," said Willem, while walking into his boss's office with the brand new blueprints of a robot that he was planning to use to at least entertain McFist's idea for the day.
"Of course, you don't," McFist spat out. "That's not something you would understand."
"Do you even have a reason?" Viceroy raised an eyebrow.
"Of course, I do!" yelled McFist slamming his mechanical fist on the table nearly spilling the tea that was placed on the said table. "Have you finished working on the new robot yet? Or are you here to my time?!"
"Well, I already have the blueprints and the robot is already in production," said Willem while looking over his blueprints in an attempt to avoid eye contact with his angered boss. "Also, just wanted to let you know that there is someone who wants to talk to you. She... kind of got through our security..."
"I am not taking any visitors at the moment!"
"But she already..."
"Was I not clear enough, Viceroy?!"
"Oh, but I think it would be in your best interest to make an exception..." an enchanting voice echoed through the room.
"Who's there?" McFist asked, while looking around. After a little bit of searching, he finally noticed a tall hooded figure that was standing in the corner of the room. A strange and ominous, purple glow was coming from her pearl necklace.
"I would really appreciate to have a little of your time, Hannibal..."
Back in Norrisville High. Back in the same classrooms with the same teachers he had for several years now. It's not as boring as it might have been. Things do change, it just takes awhile, but of course, even with those changes, his life is still the same. Going to classes, hanging around with the people, which don't stay around for that long. Helping out the ninja, making sure he is on track with his training and just simply won't just die earlier than expected. It might sound weird, but he actually envies them in a certain way. While, yes they have such an important duty on their hands, but ones their four years are up, it's over. They can move on with their lives. What about him? He is stuck in the same four walls. In the same stupid loophole. At this point, he doesn't even try to get to know people. He has no close friends, no lover, nothing. Well, what's the point? Especially considering that they are going to continue their life after school. It would hurt to watch them leave. Huh, as if he even had any in the first place. No, he has considered it. Tried to find someone even, but in the end - there is nothing. He has no friends, and teaches the ninja that he shouldn't have any either. Great, isn't it? Of course, he doesn't do it for a personal reason. Not his choice. That's just what the experience of the majority of the past ninjas was. But it can come off as him just projecting.
Finally, after months after his departure from this place, Nomi was standing at the front doors of the only place that he can call home. There weren't that many people outside. In fact, there was barely anyone. He came in early to settle back in more easily without nosy classmates getting in the way.
As he entered the building, he went straight to his locker. Good thing he contacted Slimovitz to let him know of his early return, considering that apparently they switched up everyone's lockers. While, they do that every year, his usually stays untouched, which was probably a part of the weird spell that everyone were put under to make sure that no one would question his presence there. More precisely, his overly long presence there. Of course, that meant that something is wrong if suddenly they went against their regular routine of not changing anything regarding him. Maybe it had something to do with the little problem he had last year, which caused him to look for help elsewhere... No, he is just overthinking it. They didn't find anything, and everything ended up being fine with him this academic year... Maybe last year's issue had something to do with the previous ninja? The handlers of his other body do tend to be reckless at times, the current one just keep proving that.
Before he could even open his locker, the guy felt a heavy arm wrap around his shoulders.
"Hey, bro! You're back!" loudly said Bash, while squeezing Norisu in a half-hug.
"Yes, I am. Glad to see you too, pal." Nomi replied with a bit of a cheerful demeanor, but his energy definitely didn't match that of his friend.
Yes, Nomi didn't technically considered that he had any close friends. Bash is his friend, his "bro" as the big guy put it, but it's not like Norisu can confide in Bash or anyone else in their friend group. He can't really trust them. But at least he was getting at least some social interaction.
"You've missed so much," said Bash just as enthusiastically.
"Well, you can fill me in, I'm all for it," said Nomi while finally leaving his things in the locker and closing it. "Let's go, we should get to class. People are going to start arriving soon, I'm not feeling like getting swooned over." he chuckled a little.
The two walked in the direction of their first class, while Bash kept babbling about all of the ways he used to torment the poor freshmen. He wasn't all that excited about class, and wouldn't care if he missed it, but if Norisu was going there, then so is he. Nomi on the other hand, just wanted to avoid as much interactions as possible with too big of a crowd, at least until first period is over and he doesn't feel half asleep.
Of course, people noticed his presence fairly quickly and the more people entered the school, the more they were crowding the entrance to the class, but thanks to Bash and surprisingly, the teacher, who shooed out all of the students who didn't belong to their class, Nomi was left relatively alone with his thoughts.
After the class ended, he hurried to collect his things and leave the classroom. Of course, the moment he stepped foot in the hallway, he was surrounded by a few people, mostly from his grade, who continued to question him about his family and if things are better now. Of course, there was no family emergency, because there was no family at all, so, he had to make up lies on the spot. Bash and his friends that appeared out of nowhere, came to his rescue. Just their presence made people stay away, which he was thankful for. He was already used to the attention people gave him. He liked it even, but this much attention was too much even for him, especially after such a long trip that he had to make.
He was walking down the hallway together with Bash and his goons, half listening to their conversation, which he wasn't that much interested in. He noticed a familiar ginger head among the crowd of students.
"Hey, Heidi!" he called out to her. He wasn't all that excited to talk to most people, but that's because he didn't know any of them. She, on the other hand, is a familiar face and knowing her, if he didn't start a conversation with her on his own, she would've dragged him out of the pits of hell sooner or later.
The girl turned in his direction and after realizing who it was that was calling her, she put on a wide smile, quickly walking up to him.
"Oh, hi, Nomi, great to see you're back," she said cheerfully. "Probably weird coming back in the end of the year."
"It kind of is, but it's bearable," he said smiling back at her.
"You've missed a lot this year," she pointed out. "So many things happened, it's unbelievable that it all happened just in a span of a few months. And I thought our high school life was already crazy."
"I've heard. Bash kind of filled me in with some of the misadventures that took place in this school while I was gone."
"Bash? I'm scared to know what exactly he told you." she whispered to him, even though the big guy definitely wasn't listening to their conversation.
"Well, it was mainly just fragments of things he mentioned while talking about everything that happened to him specifically, but if I would assume it's only the fraction of what happened, I'm not surprised you find this year so wild."
Technically, he already knew the majority of the events that, specifically, surrounded the ninja, thanks to him being the one to guide that kid through all of it, but it's not like she can know that.
"If you want a proper run down of the events, the door to my studio is always open," she said while beginning to walk away.
He just nodded in response, and began to walk in the opposite direction. Not even a few minutes passed as he noticed that the majority of the students were crowding the windows. His friends also joined in. Must be some ninja related trouble, it always is. He chuckled to himself. It's funny how people found this so amusing, like some kind of show that was put up for them. Of course, usually this kind of behavior was annoying, considering it was making the ninja's job harder, but as long as they were at a safe distance and not in the ninja's way - let them.
He was just about to walk away, when someone ran into him and he fell on the cold, hard floor. He raised his head to see a guy with dark purple hair, who picked something off the floor, and ran off in the direction of the washrooms. Nomi was sure that he heard the guy mutter a "sorry" under his breath, but it was so quiet, he just as well could have been wrong.
Bash turned around to see Norisu sitting on the floor and staring at the washroom doors, probably lost in thought. He quickly came over to his friend and helped him up and began to loudly announce that whoever did this to his bro would definitely pay for it.
Meanwhile, Nomi was too occupied with thinking of just how cute that guy was. A feeling deep inside his chest kept telling him that he should find out who that was, but another told him that there was no point and he should pay him no mind. Strangely, the first one seemed to be winning.
The rest of the day went by as he expected. During lunch, the entire school had their eyes on him. There was so many people, especially, freshmen, whom he didn't know, who tried to talk to him. He still thought it was weird how people who had never seen him in their entire lives try to talk to him as if they were buds. Honestly, he didn't really mind, or cared. He liked the attention, not in the morning of course, then it felt like a swarm of bees were circling around his head. But it was still better than being hated by everyone. Yeah, he sometimes sounds indecisive about his social status, but oh, well. He doesn't care enough about that to figure that out.
What he did care about, is finding out who the guy that ran into him earlier was. Of course, he tried asking Heidi at some point, but she didn't give him a good enough answer. At first, she acted like she didn't know, but after a while, she said that it was probably a guy named "Sandy" or something like that, who was apparently friends with her "idiot of a brother". Then she went back to working and he decided not to take up any more of her time. The problem was, that he had no idea who her brother was, so that information didn't help. However, there was a piece of information that he got out of her that was a bit of a clue. Apparently, they were freshmen.
He spend all of the free time he had looking for that guy throughout the school. A few times, he thought he actually spotted him, but the guy would always leave before Nomi could get to him. It kind of looked like that guy was avoiding him. After a little while, Nomi realized that it was Bash that the teen was avoiding, not him, so, he ended up finding some lame excuse for them to separate, but Bash bought it. Finally, Nomi saw an opportunity to talk to that mysterious "Sandy", when he got surrounded by other freshmen for no reason, and the guy was gone.
Eventually, classes to to an end, and the students were leaving. Nomi lived in the school, so, he had no reason to leave the premises. But he still felt like getting a bit of fresh air. So, when most students have already left, he stepped outside.
He stood there for a few minutes, watching as the remaining students left the school. He watched some kid with ginger hair do a whole loop around the school for some reason. It looked like he was searching for something, but turned up empty handed.
He turned around to go back inside, when he realized that there was someone right next to him. The guy had no time to react before the collision happened and both of them flew to the ground.
"I'm sorry man. I wasn't loo-..." a voice began talking as he felt the weight on his body lift itself up.
Nomi looked at the kid who was the reason he was lying on the pavement, only to see that same guy from earlier, who seemed to be just as flabbergasted as he was.
"It's fine." Norisu said, putting on a smile. "I can see you have a tendency to knock people off their feet." he chuckled a little, slightly gesturing at the position they were in.
"Well, I just usually knocked myself of my feet rather than other people, but I guess that happens too. Occasionally," the purple-haired guy helped him get back on his feet. "I'm Randy, by the way. Randy Cunningham."
Oh, so, it's Randy, not Sandy. He shouldn't be that surprised that Heidi got the name wrong.
"Nomi Norisu. Pleased to meet you."
"Cunningham!" the ginger kid from earlier ran up to them. "How long am I suppose to wait for you? Game Hole isn't gonna come to us!"
"You could've went without me. I could have easily caught up," Randy replied.
"How could you ever think I would go anywhere without you?" said the other kid with an offended tone, which was obviously put on just for show. "What kind of person do you think I am?"
"Your friend?" Nomi asked Randy.
"Yeah. That's Howard, my best friend."
That must be Heidi's brother then. Maybe Nomi didn't yet know the guy, but he had a suspicious feeling that he might as well find out the reason why this kid's own sister doesn't like him.
Howard's expression suddenly changed to a shocked one, then he began making some eye signal to Cunningham as if they were not awfully obvious, but Nomi decided to ignore it.
"Listen, Nomi," Randy began. "Howard and I are going to the Game Hole, and we were actually bringing a third player... but... that dude just... bailed on us... last minute... yes. That's exactly what happened. Would you like to come with us instead?"
"Sure, I don't have much to do today, anyway," Nomi replied. Of course, he knew that the teen just made that up, but he wasn't going to ruin this opportunity to get to know a person he had to searching for the entire day.
"Cool."
"So, what are we waiting for?" Howard chimed in. "Let's go!" He grabbed Randy and pulled him hard, forcing him to start walking.
The two were whispering among each other. Nomi wasn't going to intrude. It could be about their current situation, or potentially has something to do with the ginger's weird behavior from earlier, he didn't care enough to find out. It wasn't his business after all.
It took them about twenty minutes to get to their destination, and right away, got busy. It felt a little awkward at first, but the longer the trio played, the more they began to forget that only met a few hours ago.
However, Nomi would've preferred if it was just him and Randy. Howard frustrated him every now and then, but at least he was more rational than Bash could ever be, so, it was bearable.
Eventually, the trio decided to go up to the Food Hole, for a quick break. Every single time Nomi tried to start up a conversation with Randy, Howard kept interrupting. It was getting more and more frustrating by the second. He was about to give Weinerman a piece of his mind, but before that could happen they heard screams coming from outside and soon after, the wall with the front door was smashed in. An eight foot tall robot stepped foot inside.
Nomi turned to Randy to tell him that they have to leave just to realize that the guy was nowhere to be found. He stared at Howard, who just shrugged his shoulders and ducked under the table. Nomi followed his example. Some people ran into the washrooms, others attempted to run for it, most made it outside, the others had the exit blocked by the robot and they had to run back in.
Finally, the ninja appeared and began to fight the robot. Inside. A few of the arcade games were smashed to bits, as much as a few tables in the Food Hole. Nomi slowly made his way around the fight and straight to the exit. Howard followed him, while bubbling something about his entire life being destroy together with the games. Nomi just rolled his eyes, but did not comment.
The two made it out. Nomi looked back in, looking at the ninja, who was just thrown into a wall. The guy didn't even try to get the monster out of the building. Was it really that hard to just try to lure it out? Fighting these things in enclosed and small place was not smart at all, especially when there were still people there. Oh well, he already knew that this ninja tend to do things without thinking, and couldn't multitask it seems. He would have to talk to him about this later. Not directly of course, that's not allowed. The ninja can't know about Nomicon having another body, just as much as Nomi can't know who the ninja is.
Yeah, out of all people, Nomicon is not an exception. He doesn't actually know the reason. Possibly, for his and the ninja's safety, or just for the sake of Nomi not to get attached to them. They only stick around for four years, after all, some don't even get that long...
Logically, one might think that there is no way for him not to know who the ninja is, right? He is the one picking the ninja, right? He is the one teaching him and he might see the ninja without the mask, while they are inside his other vessel. Well, it might sound like the truth, and people might think that, but it's not exactly like that.
He doesn't actually know who picks the ninja. It's technically suppose to be him, but he never did it. Was it his other body's doing on its own? Is that even possible?
When Nomi communicates with the ninja, there is some sort of a block, which doesn't allow him to remember what the ninja looks or sounds like. His own existence is as much of a mystery to him as it is to everyone else.
The ninja was thrown around the building, following him being thrown out of the building overall. After a few more minutes, of the same pattern, the ninja finally won and after using the smoke bomb, he disappeared.
Meanwhile, Nomi walked back into the Game Hole, or what was left of it, with Howard in toe. The latter began running around and crying about all of the lost games, as if they wouldn't be able to fixed the place up by the next day.
Norisu began to look around in search of Randy, but it was as if the guy just disappeared. Suddenly, a strange feeling took over his entire body, and for a second he felt a little light headed. The ninja was calling him. Such awful timing, but he can't just ignore him for no reason. It might be something important.
Norisu quickly walked to the stairs that lead to the Food Hole, sitting down at the lowest step, leaning his head against the wall transferring his consciousness to his alternate body.
He finally saw the silhouette of the ninja.
"Listen, Nomicon," the ninja said. "I got a question. What do I do now? Like, that the Sorcerer is gone? I am getting worried that I might not be needed anymore. My main duty was to defeat the Sorcerer. Now what? Like even McFist isn't a problem anymore... I think he isn't. Well, he did attack me just now, but that was probably some malfunction. He has no reason to go after me now."
He isn't stupid enough to actually believe that, is he?
"What am I suppose to do now? Protect the city from McFist's broken robot?"
The entire place lit up a few times to represent Nomi's frustration.
Did he really just bothered him over this? Did he have nothing better to do at the moment?
Maybe, Nomi was just frustrated that he had to get distracted from searching for his new friend.
"Ok, man, that's not really an answer," said the ninja. "Is there like a possibility of the Sorcerer to appear again? I'm not saying I want that to happen, but I guess, you get what I mean."
Nomi thought for a second, then engraved the following words in front of the ninja:
"The ninja that pays too much attention to the hurricane that has passed, wouldn't notice another one coming."
"Oh, c'mon, Nomicon. Can we not do this right now?" the ninja whined. "I was kind of hoping for a straight answer."
Well, you're not getting one.
"If you could tell me straight forward that would be nice. I don't have much time to figure out what that means. I kind of needs to get back to something."
Should have contacted him later then.
"What does this have to do with hurricanes, anyway?"
That's it. If he want's to figure it out, he can do it on his own.
The next second, the ninja fell into a hole that appeared right under his feet returning him to the real world. Nomi himself woke up a second later.
Norisu stood up and looked around. Weinerman was still crying over the games.
The door to the washroom opened and Randy ran out. He sprinted down towards the stairs and expectedly, he tripped on a piece that broke off a wall right by the steps flying forward.
Nomi reacted fast by catching the guy before he could reach the ground.
"You really do have a tendency for knocking yourself off your feet," Nomi laughed.
"I wouldn't lie about that," Randy let out an awkward laugh. "Thanks by the way."
"Cunningham!" Howard quickly ran towards them, with such speed that it actually shocked Nomi. It was as if the devil himself approached them. The shorter guy grabbed Randy by the shirt and began to shake him. "How could you?" he said, repeating over and over.
Nomi looked at them in confusion. Randy noticed the other's expression and quickly came up with a way out without outing himself as the ninja:
"Yeah, sorry guys, I really had to use the bathroom."
Howard first looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but after realizing that Nomi was right there with them, he began to play along.
"You just ditched us to go to the bathroom?!" he yelled. "And specifically when the monster attacked?"
"Well, when you gotta go, you gotta go." Randy said awkwardly.
"I kind of agree with Howard on that one," said Nomi. "It was not great timing. If the robot broke in there, you could've gotten hurt."
"It didn't happen, so, we're good." Randy said quickly and tried to change the topic. "We should probably wrap this up, considering the Game Hole isn't suitable for gaming at the moment." he gestured at the distraction.
"You're right," Nomi agreed and began to walk towards the street. "I should probably get going."
"Yeah, right. See you tomorrow at school then," Randy was trying to make a statement, but the last sentence sounded more like a question.
"Yup, see you then." said Nomi and began to walk out.
He didn't want to be leaving yet, but he had to. For some reason, the feeling of light headedness wasn't leaving. Is something actually wrong with him? It's not suppose to be like this. He isn't sick. He can't get sick. That's physically not possible. Why is this happening to him again? Why now?
He didn't even notice as he reached the school's front doors, and in the matter of minutes was already standing in the library. He couldn't take another step as he passed out.
Chapter 3: Old Problems, New Consequences
Summary:
Basically what happened the morning after Nomi passed out.
Chapter Text
Nomi slowly opened his eyes. His vision was still a little blurry and he was feeling a little dizzy.
He forced himself to sit up with all the strength he had, then buried his face in his hands. He sat like that for a few minutes before his vision normalized and he, finally, felt better.
Norisu looked around expecting to see bookshelves around him, but to his shock he saw a row of lockers and a narrow hallway. He was sure that last night he was able to make it to the library and fainted there, how did he end up here?
The guy stood up and began to slowly creep through the hallway. There was absolutely no one, not a single soul. He peaked into a classroom through the narrow window to look at the clock.
6:59.
Good. That means he woke up early enough for no one to notice that he was just laying on the floor for God-knows how long. That, also, meant that some of the teachers might start showing up soon.
He turned around and was just about to walk back to the library, when he realized someone was standing right behind him. He jumped a little, taking a step back. He relaxed again seeing a familiar face of the ninja's swordsmith.
"Feeling any better?" asked Mr. Smith.
"Uhm... yeah?" Nomi said, unsure of what the teacher was referring to. "Why?"
"Well, considering you were not feeling well earlier, I thought I'd check up on you."
"Earlier?" Nomi asked. He was pretty sure that he hasn't actually encountered Smith in a while.
"Boy, what's up with you? First, you wonder around the school as if you were walking corpse, now you pretend like none of that happened."
"I was wondering around the school?" Nomi now sounded even more confused.
"Yeah. I noticed you walking in the hallways about an hour ago. Don't ya remember? I asked what you were doing up so early. You told me you were not feeling well, so, you wanted to go get some fresh air or something."
"Oh, right," Nomi put on a tiny smile, while nodding a little, more out of habit than anything else. "Sorry, I'm a little out of it this morning." That was a complete lie. He was actually feeling totally fine, now, especially compared to his state when he woke up. And he was pretty sure that he wasn't wondering around the school either, but worrying Smith was not something he wanted to do.
"Alright then," Smith said, there was something in his voice that told Nomi that he didn't fully buy it. "But you need to take care of yourself. Are you sure you're not sick?"
"You know I can't get sick," Nomi said.
"There is a first time for everything. Look, if you're still not feeling well, I can tell your teachers you ain't coming. I'm sure they will understand. You should go get some rest."
"There is nowhere to go, the whole school is going to be occupied in an hour or so."
"My forge would be empty. You can take a nap in the kitchen. I have some things down there, like a sleeping bag. You can grab some food out of the fridge too."
Nomi thought for a second before replying.
"No, I think I'm good. I'm feeling better, anyway."
"Alright, then. But if you would need a place to crash at for the day, my classroom is always open." said Smith and walked away.
Norisu just watched him walk off, and the moment the man disappeared behind the corner, he leaned against the wall slowly sliding down until he reached the floor.
"What is going on?" he whispered under his breath.
He sat like that for a few more minutes thinking of any possible explanation to his situation, but after coming up with nothing, he decided to return to the library and wait there until the rest of the students come.
He had his own room in there which was hidden from everyone else. It was big enough for him to leave all of his stuff in there. He did still leave some things in the locker. It's not like he can go into his room every single time he needs something, when it is directly connected to the library. The spell might have helped cover up his long existence, but it didn't extend to his weird behavior, so, he had to act as normal as possible around everyone else.
One might think it's weird that Smith offered to lend his forge if Nomi had a room of his own, but in reality, there is no way to have proper rest during school hours. Smith's forge is under the school, while his room is inside of it. Unfortunately for him, his bedroom was not soundproof. Maybe it was just that his classmates were too loud, who knows? But even now, he would have to spend time sitting in the library itself, no matter how much he wanted to go lie in bed, he wouldn't be able to exit the room without someone noticing while people arrive.
Randy was running towards the school. He woke up late, and after coming outside, he realized that his bicycle was in no condition to be used. Its front wheel was nowhere to be found. He has no idea what happened to it, and will have to figure out later. It is probably something he should worry about, but he really had no time for that.
He finally ran through the front doors and sprinted towards his first class. He had no time to go to his locker, considering the bell was suppose to ring at any minute. The guy flew into the classroom right as the bell rang and took his seat next to his best friend who was already in his place.
"Cunningham, what took you so long?" said Howard in a hushed voice.
"I overslept," Randy replied. "Hey, have you seen Nomi around today? Is he still hanging around with Bash?"
"Yeah, I saw him. And yup. Still with Bash."
"Ugh. Do you think he would talk to us while that dude's around?"
"Maybe? I don't know."
"No talking during class!" the teacher yelled, staring straight at the boys, who went quiet for a second.
"We'll talk about that later." Randy whispered to his best friend.
The moment the class ended Randy and Howard hurried out into the hallway to search for their new friend. They finally noticed him near the cafeteria talking to Bash and the rest of the gang.
Nomi glanced in their direction, and smiled. He looked back at his friends and seemed to say something to them, but Randy couldn't make out what it was. After he was done, the entire friend group set off in the other direction of the hallway. Meanwhile, Nomi made his way to Randy.
"Hey, man!" said Randy.
"Hey, Randy," Nomi greeted him back with a smile, but he sounded awfully tired.
"I'm here too." Howard chimed in, standing in front of Randy.
"Hi, to you too, Howard," Nomi said but sounded far less excited.
"So, wanna spend some time with us after school?" asked Randy, pushing Howard off to the side.
"Uhm, I actually am busy today. I'm -..." said Nomi awkwardly.
Randy was watching him, not listening anymore. Something was off about the guy.
"Are ya feeling okay?" Randy asked suddenly.
"Yeah, why?" he sounded even more nervous now.
"You look... sickening..." Randy mentioned calmly, but when he realized how it sounded, he hurried to correct himself, "Not like ugly kind of sickening, but sick kind of sickening."
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just didn't get enough sleep last night," Nomi replied.
Suddenly, they heard Bash's voice from the other side of the hallway quickly approach them.
"I should probably go," Nomi said and began to walk in the direction of his overly loud friend.
Randy and Howard began walking to their next class. Howard began to talk about how they aren't gonna get much progress done in their plan if Bash would continue to interfere. Randy wasn't listening to him though. His thoughts were completely occupied with the image of Nomi. The guy actually looked sick. Why did he even come to school? If that was him, Randy would definitely bail on classes. But then again, that wasn't him and would bail on classes at any given moment, not just when he is sick.
He was dragged out of his thoughts by a loud bang outside of the school. Randy looked out of the nearby window. He didn't see a monster, but saw the principle's car flying by. Cunningham glanced at his friend, who stared back at him with a judgmental look.
"Go!" Howard exclaimed in annoyance. "Just make it quick. I do not want to spend an entire class with Mrs. Driscoll without you."
"It'll just take a minute," Randy replied happily and ran for the washrooms.
After a minute of waiting, the ninja had finally appeared in front of the rampaging robot that kept running, or more precisely, quickly crawling around the school property destroying anything in its way.
The robot crawled out from under the rumbles of the shed that it just destroy right in front of the ninja and stopped, staring straight at him. Randy was able to get a better look at the robot. It had a scorpion's metasoma, the body of a crab and an eagle's head.
"Is Viceroy out of ideas?!" the ninja exclaimed, laughing to himself. "Let's just get this over with." He pulled out his sword and ran towards the robot.
The moment he got close enough, the ninja swung his sword back to attack. The robot quickly moved its tail right in front of the ninja shielding itself.
Before it could do anything else, the ninja jumped off to the side creating a bit of a distance between him and the robot.
"What the juice?" Randy asked looking at the robot which seemed to have been left completely untouched. There wasn't even the slightest scratch on it.
The hybrid began to quickly approach him, ready to attack. The ninja pulled out a small ball out of his pocket.
"Ninja Boom Ball!" he exclaimed throwing the ball at the monster. The entire area where the robot stood was completely covered in smoke from the explosion. "Yes!" the ninja cheered, and was about to put away his sword to call it a day, when, suddenly, the creature's tail appeared out of the smoke slamming him into a wall with a huge force.
The teen felt a little lightheaded from the collision, but still forced himself to get up, without realizing the fact that the Nomicon slipped out of his suit and was now lying on the ground beside him. The robot began to quickly crawl towards him once again. And once again, Randy realized that there was absolutely no damage on the bot.
"Okay, that is definitely not how I thought this fight is gonna go," said Randy to himself. "But I'm sure I'll figure it out."
The ninja went for another attack that the robot block with ease. What was even the point of it blocking if it can't get hurt?
"How am I suppose to beat this thing?" asked Randy in between each hit. "I can't even scratch it." The teen jumped off to the side, to give him a few second to think. "Yeah, there is no way this is a mistake. They are after me again. But why? There is no more Sorcerer?" He looked straight at the robot's face. "What the juice do you want with me?"
The robot turned it's head to the spot where it threw the ninja just a little while ago, noticing the book on the ground. That kept emitting with red light in an attempt to catch it's owner's attention.
Randy followed the bot's gaze, noticing the Nomicon. Color completely drained from his face.
"Oh no," he let out before sprinting off in the direction of his mentor.
Unfortunately for him, the robot did the same. It crawled closer and closer to the book. Randy increased his speed, but it didn't seem like he can outrun the creature.
The bot quickly reached for the book with its stinger, and already made contact with it, when long, red fabric wrapped itself around the book, sliding it away from Viceroy's creation.
"Ninja Scarf Snatch!" the ninja exclaimed victoriously catching the book. "What? Too fast for you?" he taunted the robot, but regretted the next second when the creature jumped on him.
The ninja, instinctively, stuck out his sword in front of him, but did not have enough time to make a move and was pinned down by the monster's weight.
To his surprise, his sword went right into the hybrid's mouth and seemed to go right throw the metal in its head. Its head slid a little forward, closer to the ninja before it finally stopped after the sword reached the outer shell, which it wasn't able to slice through. It began to twitch causing more damage to itself, and after a few more seconds of Randy just staring at the robot in complete shock, the bot finally stopped moving.
The teen hero pushed the weight off of him and got back to his feet. He kicked the bot lightly to make sure it wasn't going to get up.
"Huh," he let out. "That was definitely something I have done on purpose. Definitely not an accident." he said half sarcastically, and with a bit of awkwardness.
He heard a buzzing sound, accompanied by the familiar flashing.
"Oh, right, Nomicon," Randy said hurrying to take out his book. "I am so sorry. I didn't see that you fell out." the teen looked at the book that was still flashing a little, and then noticed a weird slash mark on the side of it. "Ooh, boy. That's not good."
The bell was going to ring at any minute. Most students weren't even aware that the ninja was fighting a robot outside, and of course, there was no way for them to know what happened. But Nomi knew. He knew exactly what happened.
Don't get him wrong, he was glad the ninja succeeded, but he would've preferred if that didn't happen at his expense.
Everyone already left for their classes. He send his friends off as well, but he himself hid in the washroom under the excuse that he "needed to do his business". It always worked. Bash always took washroom breaks very seriously, and never questioned them no matter how inconvenient they were.
The guy locked himself in one of the stalls, clutching his right arm closer to his torso.
Why did it hurt so bad?
Norisu slowly pulled his arm away, revealing a long slash mark from his elbow right to the middle of his palm. It was glowing brightly. That only meant one thing. His other body got damaged and the wound was now reflecting itself upon this one.
How is this possible? His inanimate body was basically indestructible, yet it was damaged by some stupid robot.
"I am so sorry," ninja's voice faintly rang out in his head, but clear enough for Nomi to make out the words. "I didn't see that you fell out."
There was a short pause.
"Ooh, boy. That's not good."
Seems like he noticed it too.
Icicle_the_Hunter on Chapter 1 Thu 01 Dec 2022 12:51AM UTC
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roguendeavor on Chapter 1 Tue 22 Aug 2023 09:28PM UTC
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roguendeavor on Chapter 1 Tue 22 Aug 2023 09:30PM UTC
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DarkAngels003 on Chapter 1 Tue 22 Aug 2023 09:52PM UTC
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skatershots on Chapter 3 Mon 19 Aug 2024 02:19PM UTC
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