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Unprepared Chapter 1 - RC9GN Fanfic

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The roars of the monster were drowned out by his tumultuous thoughts. Nothing was registering to him. The monster swayed slightly on its paws, sizing up its competition before attacking. It pained Randy to think of her as an "it", but he had to dehumanize her somehow. He had to convince himself that this monster wasn't human anymore and couldn't think like a human or act like a human...

Shaking his head, he tried to focus on the task at hand. He was just trying to delay the inevitable. He knew being the Ninja had its downsides, but this in particular was beyond cruel. This was plain evil.

The katana was held in a vice grip. Randy mused that his knuckles would probably be white right now had he been able to see them. His arms faltered. Maybe this was a huge, cruel trick McFist was trying to pull. Maybe Viceroy had him trapped under some super science-y dream simulator to make him live through this nightmare. Maybe the ruthless monster was a hologram meant to throw off his focus and a real robot was behind him for a sneak attack.
The neon arrows and notes said otherwise. One bright green scribble in particular caught his attention. "Save them!" it seemed to scream before disappearing with the rest of the Nomicon's magical hoard of reminders. All of the arrows were pointing to the beast's head.

Her name was Maddie Coughlin. She was a soft spoken senior, an introvert. Every time Randy caught sight of her walking the halls of Norrisville High, she held a black sketch pad under her arm. He didn't know the specifics of what happened, but some shoob decided to grab the drawings and rip her best pencil sketch in half. For the first time in her history at Norrisville, she screamed insults (incredibly vulgar and harsh ones much to Randy's surprise) at her assailants. Mixed in with the cursing was the source of her paranoia: she had needed the picture for her portfolio. It was only a matter of time until the Sorcerer caught wind of her despair.

She destroyed half the school and nearly killed the student that had harassed her. Randy noticed when a pencil whizzed by his ear and smashed through the window. When she came rampaging through his classroom, Mrs. Driscoll promptly fainted while every other student panicked and ran for it. Howard managed to drag Driscoll to the door. "Cunningham, not to rush you or anything but there's a giant monster destroying the school. Call back when you get the chance, 'kay thanks BYE!" Ignoring his friend's usual sarcasm, he donned the mask and became Norrisville's idolized ninja.

"Ok, pencils as weapons? I mean, I didn't see that coming but it's a little on the lame side if you catch my drift," he commented. The monster seemed to listen to the criticism, pure green eyes sizing up the competition. She had a cat-like appearance, long claws and everything. The pencils were mounted on her tail and her brown messenger back hung around her neck. Unlike the other stank-ified students he'd had to fight, this one seemed to be aware of her surroundings. It unnerved him to say the least.

"Alright, it looks like you know what I'm saying," Randy said, taking small steps towards her. "So why don't you just show me what your most treasured thing is and we can get this all over with. How's that sound?" Apparently, she didn't like that. With a roar, the predator charged at its prey. With a shout of "Ninja dodge!" Randy leapt out of the way as the monster ran through the windowed wall. Well, that made protecting the rest of the school a bit easier. Outside battles were far less damaging than the inside ones.
Jumping through the hole, he noticed that Maddie was just picking herself off of the ground. Shaking her head, she turned her head side to side. "Um…what the juice are you doing?" The voice of the ninja caught her attention. Turning to the red and black clad figure, she anxiously pawed at the ground.

'I didn't want this!' she thought, clenching her eyes shut. 'Stop this, please STOP IT!' Letting out another roar of frustration, a smaller creature literally popped into existence. As in, there was this popping noise (kind of like a Snapple cap but, like, ten times louder) and this little…thing appeared. The beast was reptilian in nature, complete with head spikes, a tail, two horns on its head and sharp little fangs. "Again, I ask: what the juice?!" Randy asked to no one in particular. This had never happened before. Was that little thing part of the stank monster? Could he ignore it and continue fighting the original one? On one hand, he could zone out in the Nomicon for a few minutes and get an answer. On the other hand, he could solve it the fun way and just figure it out as he went along. Being Randy, he chose the latter.

Withdrawing the Ninja Sword from deep within the suit (seriously, how did that thing get there?), he poised himself for an attack. Leaping forwards, he shouted "Ninja slice!" and promptly cut through the tiny creature's body. It disappeared in a cloud of green energy, winding a trail around Randy and flowing back to the first monster. "Ok, so it's a part of you," he muttered. As if on cue, three more creatures materialized around him and bared their teeth. "You know, I'd say that's pretty honkin' bruce if these things weren't trying to bite my head off."

The process of slicing and regeneration continued for a few more minutes. Each time Randy tried to gain ground, another swarm of little monsters pushed him back. If he didn't find a way to the lead stank monster, he was going to be slicing these little guys for the rest of high school!  In a moment between spawning, he caught a glance at Maddie. Yellow and blue neon arrows lit up around the bestial cat, pointing towards the head region. His eyes widened when he noticed the messenger bag.

"Oh, I get it!" he exclaimed happily. "Her sketch pad is in the bag and that's what turned her into a monster! Wow, I am the cheese!" Ignoring the now angry looking red X's floating across his vision, he jumped into the air. "Ninja flip!" he called out, spinning head over heels towards the front of the beast. "Aaaaaand, ninja cut!" With one slice, the contents of the bag spilled out onto the ground. With a quick stab, he drove the katana through the black cover sketchpad.

Maddie growled.

"Wait, what the juice?" he yelled. Whoa, he'd been saying that a lot today. "That totally should have worked!  This is just completely wonk! I mean, what else could you hold dear-OW!" Flying backwards, Randy clutched his left side. The cat had swiped at him while he was rambling away. He really should stop doing that…

Flipping himself over into a crouched position, he winced. Chancing a glimpse down, he saw four rips in the ninja suit. Vaguely, he mused if he (or the Nomicon) could fix it. "I need to get my thoughts together," he mumbled to himself. Shaking his head, he used his left hand to dig around the seemingly endless pocket space in the red belt. He needed the Nomicon's help. An infuriated roar filled his ears. Looking up, he saw the cat-demon in a crouch. His eyes widened. Even he didn't need a cat expert to tell him what that meant.

"Where are those smoke bombs?" he whispered angrily. There was a growing wetness on the side his right hand was holding and it unsettled him. His left hand fumbled around the pocket, withdrawing four ninja balls. The monster growled.

"Ok, ok, um…let's see…ice? No. Electricity? No…there!" She charged. Trembling fingers gripped the small black and red orb. Panicked, Randy shouted, "SMOKE BOMB!" He heard the frustrated grunts before he disappeared. With a groan, he leaned on one of the few intact lab benches in Mrs. Driscoll's room. "Ugh, that was so wonk…" he murmured to himself.

"You got that right, Cunningham. You just got your butt kicked by a nerd." Randy's head shot up in surprise. Turning towards the source of the voice, he groaned.

"Howard," he whined. His bromigo was casually leaning against the destroyed doorframe, objectively staring at his right hand's fingernails. "What the juice are you doing here? Don't you see the insane cat-monster-demon-thing standing outside?"

"Yeah, I watched it destroy Slimovitz's car," Howard commented. He switched positions, propping his arm up on what was left of the wooden frame. "It gets less amusing after the fifth time." Giving Randy a once over, he raised an eyebrow. "Hey, why are you holding your stomach like that? Are you hungry or something 'cause right now's a really bad time for lunch."

"What are you talking about?" Then he remembered. His right hand was still firmly holding his side, where Maddie had…

As he looked down, his eyes widened.

Blood.

There was blood where that cat had clawed at him. Until now, he believed that the suit made him invincible. During monster fights or robot fights, he'd never sustained injury. Sure, there was a bruise here or there from being tossed into a locker or a wall or any other solid surface. Lifting his hand away, he saw three red gashes slowly oozing out his blood. The cloth around the area had been ripped and he could see the Tengu feathers that made up the suit. It was surreal.

'Focus Randy,' he told himself. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he recollected his thoughts. The reason he was here…the Nomicon!

"Howard, I need you to cover for me in case that," he pointed at the rampaging lioness-esque monster outside, "tries to come in here."

"What do I do if it does?" Howard exclaimed. "I don't wanna be kitty chow!"

"I don't know, shake me or something? Do whatever comes into your head first as long as it can wake me up. I think that's how these trances work…" Randy trailed off as he grabbed his backpack. Snatching the Nomicon from within the clutter, he headed over to the lab bench he'd previously been resting on. Setting up a chair, he winced again. Man, those claw wounds really stung. Maybe the suit gave him faster healing or something. It was magic after all.

Before pulling open the cover, he glanced at Howard. His friend gave him an unsteady thumbs-up while his eyes constantly darted towards the window. Without further distraction, Randy opened the ancient book.

The familiar feeling of vertigo gripped his mind as he descended deep into the book's writings. Passing by random fighting techniques, floating paper masks, and the occasional note of "I has ninja rings", the Nomicon finally stopped his spirit in a forest.

No "words of wisdom" appeared, so Randy took it as his cue to walk. There was only one straight, narrow path to follow through the trees. As he walked, he couldn't help but wonder why the book was wasting his time by making him find the advice. The messages he received were puzzling enough, why did he have to work to get them?

Before he could take another step, a large neon "X" blocked his path. A glowing arrow joined it, pointing down towards the ground. His eyes followed its path and he stared at his reflection from a small pool of water. Two stone koi fish were perched at the edges of the pool, water flowing out of their mouths.

"Alright Nomicon, it'd be really nice to tell me why I'm here," Randy said as he crossed his arms. Yeah, the place was pretty and peaceful, but he needed to go defeat that monster. Words began to form in the reflecting pool.

The world is made of good and evil.
The virtuous cannot always remain virtuous.
To save those he holds dear, a ninja must not show mercy to his enemy.
The world still turns. The sun still rises. The night still falls…
For it is the cruel fate of the universe.

Backing away from the message, Randy felt unsettled. The writing contained very few notations, only a circle around "mercy" and the last line highlighted. Was the book trying to tell him what he thought it was trying to tell him?

It disturbed him. This wasn't the book giving him advice; this was the book teaching him about something far beyond his control. Did past ninjas see this message? If so, how many had come to this place only to be told to do the unthinkable? The Ninja was an idol to the people of Norrisville and nothing horrendous had happened in his lifespan, right? He couldn't handle the pressure.

"Nomicon…are you sure I have to do this?" he asked uncertainly. Something resonated throughout the landscape, the primal roar of a cat of prey. Swiveling on his heels, Randy saw the pictures of a ninja a sphinx. Smaller pictures of demons sprouted out of the ground, the ninja disposing of them in one sword swipe. In a fluid motion, he had plunged the katana through the feline's head. Immediately, green energy exited the wound and the sphinx was replaced with a young girl's body. Her eyes were closed. Withdrawing the sword, the ninja carefully scooped the girl into his arms. Sadly, he carried the body away from the battlefield. The images disappeared in a puff of smoke. Off to the side, there was a picture of the Sorcerer laughing.

Randy couldn't take it.

"Why are you telling me to do this?!" he shouted. "She can't die now…I can't kill someone! Isn't there another way? Please, tell me there's something else I can do!" Two pieces of paper appeared before him. One began drawing out a scene where the ninja had imprisoned the demonic feline. With the help of the tiny monsters, it escaped and wreaked havoc on a village. In the other drawing, it depicted the situation where the ninja refused to fight. It ended in a similar way, except the ninja had perished with the village. There was no way around it. He would have to kill the girl and now he knew why.

Maddie Coughlin had no treasured possessions. At least, none she held higher than her imagination. There were probably millions of thoughts whirling around in that brain of hers. She was bound to get attached to one. So when it came to something she valued above everything else, her imagination was the key. That's why the mini monsters kept showing up. That's why she didn't go back to normal when the sketchpad was destroyed. That's why the Nomicon's arrows were pointing towards not her messenger bag, but her head.

Now he understood. This girl latched onto an idea and held it so close that it became her most treasured possession. To break the idea would break her world. On top of it, he didn't have a clue on how to break someone mentally. Neither option was desirable, but at least death offered closure.

But Randy wasn't a murderer. He didn't want to become one. He didn't want to kill an innocent person who was being manipulated by a higher force. Yet, there was no way around it.

When he became the Ninja, he never asked for this. He wanted to be a hero, but this was asking for too much. But deep in his heart, Randy knew that he had no say in the matter.

He wanted to protest, to shout and kick and curse the NinjaNomicon for all it was worth for setting him up for something so devastating. He just wanted to stay in the book and not face the reality, ignore the cries of help coming from his best friend.

Wait…Howard was shouting at him…

"No!" Randy shouted. Suddenly, he felt his spirit being pulled (or pushed) back into his body. Before he completely left the Nomicon, a tendril of golden energy encircled his body. The tip gently touched his left side as another wisp joined it. The second one tapped his forehead and he felt an overwhelming amount of guilt, sadness, comfort and sympathy pour through to his mind. He quickly realized that the Nomicon had travelled this path far too many times. It had seen things he could never imagine. Such an ancient entity confined to a couple hundred pages of text, it really was incredible. In that moment, Randy sent his own reassurance across the strange bond. The Nomicon was the only an essence of the past, yet it would be the only one who could comprehend every conflicting thought darting throughout his mind. They would console one another when the time came.

Now was time for action.

In a flash of light, Randy returned to his body with a gasp. Sitting up straight, he looked over his shoulder as his friend's screams echoed through his ears. Howard was cowering behind a half destroyed lab bench across the room. Hastily shoving the Nomicon back into his backpack, Randy mentally readied himself for the task at hand. But first thing was first, he had to get the cat back outside.

Realizing that his friend returned to reality, Howard offered a shaky smile. "Hey Cunningham," he yelled, "It's about time you joined the party. Now could you do me a favor and GET HER AWAY FROM ME?!" The feline clawed at the thick wood once again, releasing a snarl of frustration. Picking up a piece of debris, Randy threw it at the monster's head.

"Hey, you don't want to eat that!" he shouted, "It's got tiny hands!" Howard gave an indignant shout of "Not cool Ninja!" before Randy continued, "C'mon kitty, you want a challenge, right?" To be honest, it was the only thing he could think of. Not his best plan in the world, but it seemed to work. The monster let out a roar and tracked the Ninja's movements as he bound through the hole in the wall. Jumping after its prey, the lioness landed a good ten feet away from her red and black clad enemy. Howard poked his head up over the pile of debris he was hiding behind. Upon seeing that his attacker was gone, he let out a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, a crowd of students began to form around the warring figures. They enthusiastically cheered for the Ninja as their day's worth of entertainment was drawing to a close. Randy clenched his eyes shut, trying in vain to block out the sound. 'Please stop,' he silently begged them. 'You don't know what I have to do. Please, just go away...'

"Yo Ninja, look out!" His eyes flew open. The monster was right above him in mid-air, having jumped the distance between them.

"Ninja roll out of the way!" he shouted, tumbling away from the danger. He vaguely registered that he could move a bit more easily now. As the cat readied to pounce again, the musing automatically left his mind. More tiny demons sprouted to life, now interested in the crowd that was forming. Each growled maliciously, carefully tracking down a potential victim and slowly crawling towards them. The students finally had enough common sense to back away from the fight. Everyone could feel the tension in the air.

Without further hesitation, Randy unsheathed the katana. Keeping it in a vice grip, he steeled himself for dealing the final blow. He tried to focus, tried not to think about it, but every time he would see the shortest senior absentmindedly walking through the hallways of Norriville High. She was just a student…

No, he had to do this. Those little creatures were getting closer to the civilians, too close for comfort. He had to end this now before anyone got hurt. "Ninja sprint!" he shouted, surprising himself at how easily the words came out of his mouth.

Leaning over into a run, he held the sword behind him as he gained ground. "Ninja flip!" He leapt into the air, rotating once before landing behind his bewildered opponent. "Ninja slide!" Pushing off of the ground, he managed to slide across the grass. But before he could extend his sword for the deadly blow, he looked into her eyes. There was pain and suffering behind the pure green orbs. There was recognition and understanding and a pleading gaze that made his heart shutter-

Randy let out a shout of pain as he collided with another section of the grass. A burning agony spread across his chest and he heard the feline snarl and hiss at him. He heard it slowly walk over to him, stopping less than a foot away from his body. Carefully picking himself up into a kneeling position, he realized two things.

1. Maddie was still in there and trying to fight for control.

2. She wanted him to kill her.

That was all the closure he needed.

He looked once more into those desperate green eyes, but was surprised to find the depression replaced with sanguine determination. It was as if she was telling him it that everything would be ok, that no blame would be placed on him when everything was over. Before she could completely revert back into a bestial mentality, he uttered the last words she would ever hear.

"Ninja cut." The green energy left her body almost faster than the katana. The now normal teenage girl slumped forwards and into the Ninja's arms. Dropping his weapon, Randy carried the lifeless body in both arms. Sadly, he glanced over her now peaceful face. He knew he would never forgive himself.

Carrying the weight of the girl and the guilt, he began walking towards the now silent audience. He had a lot of explaining to do.
Summary: No amount of training could ever prepare him for what he had to do. He couldn't do it, but he had to. For the sake of everyone's safety, he would have to. But nothing, not even the Nomicon, could have prepared him to kill another human being.

A/N: The idea came up when I was sketching some RC9GN stuff. If a person is stanked, the thing they hold most dear makes them a monster. What if the thing they hold most dear isn't a physical item? Heh, I’m totally angsting up this fandom. :3

Anyways, I’m gonna split this into two or so parts because this is getting really long. I hope you enjoyed the angst fest so far! Dang, I’m twisted. :3 Leave feedback?

Chapter 2: [link]
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NotNights's avatar
Hey man I wanna come out here and say I'm loving this fanfiction so far.
I've drawn a few things based off of it in fact, I hope to do an actual picture based off it, if you wouldn't mind.
I'm excited for the next update on it!