~Riley's P.O.V~

"Why I agreed to afterschool tutoring is a question in itself." I mumbled to myself as I stalked down the empty hallway.

Normally helping students at first wasn't so bad....until Marci McFist thought it was a good idea to sign her son up.

Putting it lightly, I always knew Bash wasn't the brightest but that session nearly took all my mental strength just to get through the hour.

Massaging my temple as I continued to walk, I started slowing down when I began to hear....music?

Looking around, I was able to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

The janitor's closet.

Walking over to the door, I opened it just a crack and peered inside to see Randy playing a Keytar and Howard on some beats(eletronic drums).

                              Randy: "It's four PM and I'm still at school!" 

                              Howard: "It's all good I ain't P-Slim's fool!" 

                              Randy: "I can't remember when I was ever bored-er," 

                       Both: "Cause I got a terminal case of detention-deficit-disorder!"

                                              "I got that detention deficit disorder!" 

                                                                     "I got it bad!" 

I unknowingly tapped my foot and bobbed my head to the beat of their instrumental solo. I knew these two could play but I didn't know they were this good!

They finished with Howard throwing his drum sticks into the air and catching them.

"We are 30 Seconds to Math!" Randy said to the inviable audience. 

"Good night!" Howard said.

Deciding to make my presence known, I opened the door fully and walked in while clapping. "That was awesome guys!"

The boy's heads snapped towards me, looking surprised. "Riley/Davis!"

"W-w-what are you doing h-here?!" Rand stuttered while fiddling with his keytar.

"Just passing by from a tutoring session when I heard your awesome playing! Please tell me you guys are competing in the Battle of the Bands."

Randy opened his mouth to answer but Howard beat him to it. "Heck yeah we are! And we're gonna win and shove it in my sister's face! She wins every year." He then leaned against his drum set in annoyance, causing the drums to let out a noise.

Not that Heidi didn't deserve it, her group is pretty talented. But her winning streak was getting kind of old.

"Not this year." Randy said as he draped an arm around Howard. "Tonight, 30 Seconds to Math joins Norrisville's rock elite, permanently markered on the Stall of Fame." 

He then looked at me, seeming shy. "Uh, do you want to stay and watch us rehearse?"

I smiled at him. "Sure."

Sitting down on a near by crate, I watched as they got back into position.

"Let's take it from the top." Randy said about to play.

Before they could start, the door opened and Janitor Sundown (A/N: Thats his real name.) walked in carrying a bucket. 

"Sorry, boys." He sees me and tipped his hat in greeting. "Oh, and lady." I smiled a bit before it turned into a disgusted frown when he held up a bucket filled with....I didn't even know, all I could make out was the fish bones. "Got a Code Orange in my bucket here. I'd get outta splashin' distance if I was you." 

A piece of glob slime spilled on the ground.

I'm out.

The three of us quickly and carefully walked out of the room, doing our best to get as much distance from the bucket as we passed.

~Bing!~

Grabbing my phone from my pocket, I see I got a text from Rachel.

Rachel: Hey, we still up for milkshakes before the show tonight?

                                                                                    Yeah, I'll be there in a sec

I pocketed my phone before looking back at the guys. "Sorry guys but I got to go. I'll see you at the show tonight. Later."

Quickly walking away before they could say something back.

Walking through the hallway, I passed by a window only to freeze and walk backwards towards the widow and looked outside to see some robo-apes unloading some crates from a truck.

"Robo-apes?" I said while watching them. "Whatever they're doing, it cant be good."

Ducking behind a corner, I reached for my mask but stopped for a sec. I took a quick peak at my phone to see the time.

'5:05 P.M'

"10 minutes, and then I'll meet up with Rachel."

Switching my phone for my mask, I put it on and jumped out the window.

Throwing a smoke bomb on top of the truck and jumped into it.

"SMOKEBOMB!"

Looking to my right as the blue smoke started disappearing, I see Ninja with his sword in hand appear in his red smoke.

"Hello Ninja." I greeted as I took out my tessens.

"Nice to see you, Kuno." Ninja greeted back.

We then both looked down at the robo-apes as Ninja pulled out another sword and pointed them at the robo-apes as he spoke. "We have no idea what you Robo-Apes are up to, but were not gonna let you get away with it!"

He then jumped down with me right behind him. As he came down, he sliced a robo-ape in half yelling, "Ninja slice!" 

I quickly sliced off a robo-ape's arms causing it to drop a crate and then cut off its head.

Two robo-apes try to make a break for it.

"Where do you think your going?!" I yelled as I threw my tessens and sliced both their heads off.

"Uh-oh." The last robo-ape started to run but it seemed Ninja had a different idea.

 "Ninja scarf-stopper!" Ninja used his scarf to grab the robo-ape by the leg causing it to fall to the ground.

We both jumped in front of it. 

"Tell us what McFist's got cookin'." Ninja said.

"I don't know the whole menu." The robot said. "I only handle appetizers."

I gave it a confused look. "Was that a joke?"

"No, Ninja and Kunoichi, we're caterers. We're catering the Battle of the Bands." 

I looked over at the truck and saw the logo."McFist Finger Foods, a division of McFist Industries?" 

'Oh this is not looking good.' I thought to myself grimace as I started piecing together the situation.

Ninja on the other hand, didn't. "Yeah, sure. If you guys are caterers, then how do you explain this crate full of ...." He sliced a crate open, letting wieners fall out. "..cocktail....weenies?"

"Uh, Ninja...." I said, not really knowing how to say we messed up.

"Well...looks our job here is-Smoke bomb!" Ninja then left.

"I am really sorry...." I apologized, embarrassed as I backed up and then smoked bombed away.

Ducking in a bush away from the scene, I pulled off my mask. Putting it in my bag, I looked at my phone and groaned.

'5:26 P.M'

"Crud."

                                                                      ~~Time Skip~~

"I'm here! I'm here! I'm here! I'm-" I said rounding a corner to come face to face with an upset Rachel, who had her arms crossed and did not look happy.

"...late..." I said sheepishly.

"Late." Rachel repeated making me wince in guilt.

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head. "I'm soooo sorry Rachel. I-I got held up in tutoring and I-"

"Riley are you hiding something?"

The question made me freeze as I looked at her and see that her angry expression become a sad one.

"I-um-I-I...."

"You are."

Not knowing how to answer, I closed my eyes without speaking, feeling ashamed.

Hearing footsteps, I opened my eyes to see Rachel turning away about to walk.

"Rachel wait." I grabbed her shoulder making her stop. I took a deep breath and out of the corner of my eye I see a faint blue glow coming from my bag in the reflection of a window.

"Y-yes, I am hiding something from you, cause I'm not allowed to tell you or anybody."

She looked confused. "Not allowed to? Riley you not making any sense. A-are you in some kind of trouble?"

"No-Kind of-No, no- because-"

"Because what?!"

"Because its dangerous!"

Everything went quiet as Rachel stared at me in surprise at my outburst.

I took a shaky breath. "I-its dangerous.... And trust me when I say this, if I had the chance to tell, you'd be the first to know. But I'm not allowed to..."

"I see..."

The silence was awkward and uncomfortable for a moment.

"Do you still wanna...." I gestured to the ice cream parlor.

She shook her head and started walking away. "I'm... not in the mood anymore, I'll see you at the show later. Bye...."

I reached out to stop her again but lowered it when I couldn't think of what to say. Sighing, I leaned against a wall and willing myself to not bash my head against it.

"Well today couldn't get any better." I huffed out sarcastically to no one.

A brighter blue glow shined through my bag.

"I stand corrected."

Glancing around for a sec, I smoothly ducked into an alleyway and hid beside a dumpster.

"This better be good Nomicon, cause I honestly don't know how today could get any worse." I said while taking the book out and flipping through it.

"Arwoooh!"

~Inside the Kunoichi Nomicon~

I yelled as I was falling through the book when a dragon came flying through. I watched as it flew around for a moment before it placed me on its back and flew towards me towards a samurai mask.

Once the I was close enough, the mouth of the mask opened revealing some words.

                              -Friendship is a weight the Kunoichi cannot carry-

I stared at the sentence, stunned, before a feeling of defiance swelled up inside me as I glared at the words.

"No way, Nomicon. I've been respecting your advice so far, but this is something I wont do!"

The dragon then flew up with a flash of light.

~Back outside~

I gasped as I returned to my body and then yelped in surprise when I noticed my head was really close to touching the dumpster.

Ew.

Looking down at the Nomicon as it glowed softly, I sighed and shoved it into my bag.

I pulled my legs up to my chest and placed my head on knees.

"Who knew this would be so hard....."

                                                                      ~~Time Skip~~

I was feeling, and probably looking, downcast as I walked through the crowd gathering for the Battel of the Bands.

"Riley?"

Not reacting at first, I lifted my head to see Randy with his keytar standing next to me.

"Oh uh, Hey Randy...." I greeted with a weak smile.

"Are you okay?" He asked looking concerned.

I stood a little straighter and shrugged. "Yeah, I'm fine...."

There was a beat of silence.

"Randy.... do you think I'm a good friend?"

My question seemed to catch him off guard as he fumbled with his answer. "Uh...what? Yes, why?"

"Its just-sigh- Rachel and I got into an argument earlier about me being late/ bailing and I don't know what to do."

Randy hummed as look of understanding grew on his face. "Yeah....I can understand that, the same thing happened to me and Howard earlier. The band broke up cause of it. I'm trying to make up."

I look at him surprised. "Really!? Wow, you two are always backing each other up. I'm surprised that happened much less the band breaking up."

"Yeah, I can say the same about you and Rachel."

I huffed out a laugh, "Guess we both need to step up for our friendships."

"Yeah...."

The crowed continued to gather as I threw myself at Randy and gave him a hug. "Thanks for talking with me Randy. I really appreciate it."

I feel him stiffen. "Uh....."

Looking over his shoulder I saw a familiar head of orange in the crowed. "Oh hey, there's Howard. You wanted to talk to him, right.

"Uh....."

Breaking the hug, I grab his hand and started dragging him over to Howard.

"Lets go."

"Uh....."

If I had looked at his face during all this, I would see him with a red face and a rebooting brain.

"Man, they are bro's." I heard Howard say as we got closer. "That's why they're so good."

When he said that, I felt Randy let go of my hand and stood next to Howard. "I know a power synth duo that can beat 'em."

Howard looked at him upset making Randy look sheepish. " 'Course the drum machinist would have to forgive the keytar player for being a total wonk."

Howard crossed his arms, still glaring. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"Because the-" Randy's eyes flicked towards me for a moment. "-c-certain someone...that we both know, told me not to be here. But I'm here."

Howard eyes flicked towards me before looking back at Randy. "I never liked that guy."

"So we good?" Randy asked.

Howard stared at him a moment longer before smiling. "Yeah we're good."

The two shared a fist-bump.

I smiled and unconsciously let my eyes travel around the crowed trying to catch sight of brown hair dressed in pink.

"Hey Riley."

I looked back at Randy and Howard as Randy said. "We're going to get ready backstage before we get called. We'll see you later."

"Later."

The two ran off as I started looking around for Rachel again. Not seeing her, I moved from my spot to get a better look only to stop when I stepped on something.

Looking down, I see I was stepping on a drumstick.

"Huh, Howard must have dropped this." I picked up the wooden stick and started jogging towards the backstage entrance.

Going in, I looked around and saw Howard, who was shirtless for some reason, and Randy setting up their instruments.

I walked over just in time for Howard to start freaking out about his missing drumstick.

"Whereisit!?Whereisit!?Whereisit!" Howard kept asking while looking around franticly.

Clearing my throat, I said. "Uh, Howard." I held up the stick.

Howard slumped in relief and snatched the piece of wood. Before Howard could saying, Heidi  ran up to us in a panic.

"My guitar is missing! Has anybody seen it?" She exclaimed, looking around. "It's dark pink with light pink skulls and a pink strap that says 'Heidi Weinerman' in hot pink letters."

That's a lot of pink. Rachel would probably want to see it.

Heidi then ran off in search of her guitar, with us watching her leave.

"Oookay. I'm gonna head back to the audience. Good luck you guys." I said before walking away.

Only to stop in my tracks at the sight of a robo-ape climbing up towards the upper part of the stage with certain pink guitar in hand.

"Of course...."I mumbled before running behind some thick curtains and putting on my mask.

Jumping out, I sped over to the last place I saw the robo-ape.

~Randy's P.O.V~

Riley, Howard, and I watch Heidi run off to look for her guitar.

"Oookay. I'm gonna head back to the audience. Good luck you guys." Riley said before walking away.

I may have stared after her a little more than I should, but looking in that general direction allowed me to see a robo-ape climbing away with Heidi's guitar.

"What the juice?" Tensing, I took a quick look at Howard, who was stretching, who then gave me a thumbs up with a smile.

I looked back the robo-ape, debating. "No,I will not NNS!"

A flash of blue caught my attention to see Kunoichi kicking the robo-ape mid-air and having them both go deeper into the back.

I sighed in relief. "Oh good, Kunoichi can handle this."

The sound of fighting was suddenly heard and for some reason I was the only one hearing it!

"She's okay. It Kuno, nothing knocks her down easily." I tried to reassure myself.

"OW! Why you-!" I heard her shout making me more anxious.

Looking at Howard again while hearing the fight, I felt my resistance break down as I sigh. "I'll just check it out and be back before Howard even notices." 

Hiding inside a dressing room, I pulled on my mask feeling the black and red ribbons wrap around me.

Then, I quickly dashed towards the battle. When I was I close enough to see my partner fighting off the robo-apes, I threw a smoke bomb next to her and jumped into the smoke.

Hey, guys gotta make an entrance. 

"Smoke bomb!" I yelled next to Kunoichi.

"And where were you?" Kunoichi asked while punching a robo-ape in the face.

"Uh...Got held up?" She sends me a look that says 'I don't believe you', so I turned away from her stare and looked back at he robo-apes pointing at the one holding the guitar.

 "I'm pretty sure that guitar doesn't belong to you." I exclaimed.

 "Heidi said we could borrow it?" The robot said unconvincingly.

"You're lying, Robo-ape!" I ignored the faint 'no duh' from behind me as I cracked my knuckles. "And now you're getting ninja punched!"

I suddenly stumbled forward and turned around in surprise to see Kuno holding back a robo-ape when it then pushed her into me. It then raised it's fist and sent it flying but we ducked in time and the robo-ape punched the head off the robo-ape that was holding the guitar.

The now headless robot dropped the guitar as Kuno kicked away the robo-ape that threw the punch.

I reached to grab the guitar only for another robot to grab it and run off. Trying to follow it, another robo-ape blocked my path at roared at me.

A blue and black tessen imbedded itself into the robot's head making it stagger back before falling to the ground.

"Ninja go! I'll take care of these guys!"

"Right!" Using my scarf, I wrapped it around a pole and pulled myself up towards an metal walkway(A/N: Seriously what is that thing called, I've looked!)

~Riley's P.O.V~

"Get him!" One of the few remaining robo-apes ordered a few of others making them run off after Ninja.

"Oh no you don't!" I yelled while taking out a chain-sickle. I threw the chain at them in order to stop them but a closer robo-ape caught the chain before it could.

The robot yanked the chain towards itself making me fly towards it. Having the blade still in hand, I rotated my body when I was close enough and sliced it's heard in half.

Turning towards the last robo-ape, it pounded it's chest and roared at me. It then charged. When it was about 10 feet away from me, I jumped into the air. The robo-ape stopped just under me looking up. When gravity brought me back down, I dug the blade of the chain-sickle into the robots head before jumping off it just as the head exploded.

Not seeing any remaining rob-apes, I ran in the direction Ninja went and started looking for him. Ducking to hide from any remaining students, I couldn't find Ninja anywhere. So I took off my mask off, after making sure no one was around, I made my way towards the exit as I heard Heidi begin her act.

                                        Heidi: "They wear a mask but don't we all?" 

                                    "When they're not around we have to stand tall...."

'Huh? Not bad.' I thought to myself, weaving through the crowd trying to find Rachel.

                                               "You've got a Hero in you,"

                                              "And I've got a Hero inside me too...." 

Spotting the brunette in white and pink, I started walking towards her when something stopped me in my tracks.

                                              "There's a Hero inside of us all!"

Looking towards the stage in time, I was able to some kind of wave washing over the crowd.

My then body ceased from moving as I see everyone's, and most likely mine as well, eyes glow yellow.

WHAT THE JUICE IS GOING ON!

"Check, two. One, two. Check, two." McFist!? "Who is the Ninja and Kunoichi?!"

"I'm the Ninja!" I heard a familiar voice call out.

Without any control over myself, I raised a hand into the air and shouted, "I'm the Kunoichi!"

Crudcrudcrudcrudcrudcrud!

I felt myself begin to sweat as the people around turn towards me and stared.

"....And I am the Ninja!" Howard?

"And you're the Ninja and Kunoichi!And you're the Ninja and Kunoichi!There's a Hero inside us all!"

It didn't take long for the whole crowd to start chanting 'I am the Ninja!' and ' I am the Kunoichi!'.

I so owe Howard for this!

I then see Howard climb up on to the stage, grab Heidi's guitar and smash it to bits.

"Howard, now I'll never win!" Heidi yelled at her brother.

Howard laughed while throwing up some rock signs. "Rock and roll!"

With... whatever that was gone, everyone went back to normal and the show continued.

Coming up behind Rachel, I tapped her shoulder. She turned around and gained an awkward look on her face.

"Hey..."

"Hey..."

I rubbed my arm awkwardly. "Listen, I'm really sorry that I've been a bad friend lately. I understand that these past few months have been.....frustrating and I'm so so sorry for being late or bailing for meet ups. I'll try to make it up to you in anyway I ca-"

I was cut off by arms rapping around me in a surprise hug.

It took me a sec before I hugged her back, though confused. "I thought you were mad...."

"I was..... now I'm just worried about what going on with you. I'm scared your getting hurt in someway and I cant help."

I felt a smile grow on my face. "Just being my friend is enough....."

She stepped back from the hug and gave me a stern look. "Alright, But the moment you can tell me what's going on....."

"You'll be the first to know."

We both laughed just as Randy and Howard stepped up to the stage.

"Prepare your ears for...." Randy announced just a dead robo-ape fell from above, making an awesome explosion. " 30 Seconds to Math!" 

I stared at the stage confused as the boys played.

'How did that robo-ape get up there?'