askmeanjudge replied to your post “Imagine Randy having to explain to Danny and Jake how he is going to...”
Ah man, no. I just like to hear your ideas. Not musing. XD
Well, perhaps not something to muse on on your part, but it can be on mine. *grins*
I don’t think Randy would tell them any time soon. He’s not the sort of person to throw something like that out there and ruin a good mood. Sometimes, he’d genuinely forget about it, just because he’s having so much fun.
But then his final year would approach, and suddenly the end of all of this would feel like it’s looming. He’d know he has to say something, but he’s not sure how, or when.
There are mere months left by the time the others notice that Randy hasn’t shaken this mood and confront him about it. Something must be up, despite discretely checking with Howard and confirming that nothing major has changed for Randy at either school or home. And these guys are his friends, so Randy doesn’t want to lie; he’s spent too much of these past few years lying to people, just to keep his secret about being the Ninja, and this is one they’d find out soon enough, anyway.
Besides. He has to tell them. They need to know that one day soon he won’t be there for them.
Neither Danny nor Jake are strangers to the ideas of a mind wipe. They’ve both seen it done. They know the consequences. Danny used it to his advantage, keeping his secret and having more time to figure out a better way to tell his parents--and the other people he chooses to tell, as opposed to just being exposed. But Jake? This was how Jake lost Rose.
Jake knows exactly what it’s like to look an old friend in the face and have them not know you at all. Not remember any of the things you’ve done together. Because it’s somehow deemed better for them not to know all that, to remember living an edited version of the truth instead and carrying on as if it’s always been that way--since, as far as they know, it has been.
Rose had to forget everything for her own safety, too. And for theirs, in case retaining her memories came at a cost. (Rewriting time and reality is tricky business, and they’ve all dabbled far too much in that.)
But Jake never gave up on her, and that paid off. She remembered, and the world didn’t end. She helped them prevent something really bad, and the Huntsclan didn’t return. Things got a lot better for both of them.
Really, can he be blamed for not believing that Randy--and everyone else--will be better if Randy just forgets everything?
He’s the one to make the rash promise that he won’t let that happen, that he won’t let Randy be mind-wiped and have everything lost. And then he heads home, because he needs to talk to Fu and Gramps and their contacts in the magical community, because there has to be something that can be done. Trixie and Spud avoiding being mind-wiped, and no one went back and demanded Jake do that to them even after it became painfully clear that they still knew everything, and no one’s questioned Rose’s knowledge, either. And if the dragons are okay with this, some old book should be.
Maybe Fu knows of a loophole, too. He’s good with those. Would just making Randy not be able to talk about being the Ninja outside of the presence of certain people be enough?
After Jake’s gone, Danny clears his throat rather awkwardly. “I’m sorry,” he says, because he doesn’t know what else to say. He knows better than to wish things were different when he doesn’t have Desiree in a thermos.
And he knows that sometimes, you have to let people go.
He’s sure Dani will turn up some day, but he doesn’t know when. She hasn’t written or called or emailed or sent letters via Cujo or anything. But he also knows that telling too many people about her, about who and frankly what she really is, will just make things so much harder. She’s better off if people don’t know. If they just think she’s his cousin.
And with Randy, well.... Danny isn’t happy about this, but he doesn’t know how to change it. Even if he went into the Nomicon, what would arguing for Randy’s sake do? Would First Ninja even listen to him? The idea of compiling the knowledge of the previous Ninjas makes sense, and it’s helped Randy. He’s used that resource. If he has to move on, it kinda is selfish to refuse to give back and add to that resource. And it might be dangerous, if Randy knows something that could prevent a future Ninja from making a deadly mistake.
Danny’s not great at arguing logistics or anything like that. He relies on Jazz and Sam and, to a lesser extent, Tucker. And he knows Randy’s situation is different from his and Jake’s--not just in how he got his powers but in what he protects. Jake is supposed to protect all of the United States, and feasibly, any magical creature within them can call on him for aid. Danny’s taken on the role of protector of Amity Park, but most of the ghosts don’t bother him nearly as much as he used to, and his parents will still be there even if he and Valerie move on. He’s not tied there.
But the Ninja is meant to protect Norrisville. Technically, he’s meant to protect Norrisville alone. But isn’t that only because the Sorcerer used to be trapped there? With him gone, doesn’t that mean the rules have changed? Doesn’t it mean the rules could be changed?
It’s a hope that Danny clings to, but he doesn’t want to say anything yet. He doesn’t want to promise Randy that he can fix this if he can’t. He needs to look into this. If no one else, Clockwork will know. He might not tell, but he’d know, and Danny can get enough of an answer in the way that Clockwork dodges his question--or if he even decides to be around to allow Danny to ask it. (For all that he claims that he can’t interfere, he’s painfully transparent, and Danny suspects that’s deliberate. A way to get around the Observants who try to constrain Clockwork when he’s not meant to be constrained.)
“We’ll figure something out,” Danny says instead, not even sure what Randy had mumbled before. That’s the safest answer he has to all this at the moment. They might not be able to figure out a solution. They might not be able to stop this. But they can try, and they can make plans to reintroduce themselves to Randy if they have to. Or try to make him remember--photographic evidence and video and all that--or just rebuild their friendship from scratch if they have to. It’s worth trying, even if it doesn’t work.
Besides, being the Ninja isn’t Randy’s entire identity. He’ll still have the heart of a hero even without the mask, If it has to be an end, that doesn’t mean it can’t also be a new beginning.
❛ i mean no disrespect howard , it’s just that our previous escapades to this hellish underground wasteland haven’t exactly yielded the safest results one could say. ❜
in all honestly , as fascinating as the various torture devices that existed in underground gym were , he had too close a call with one too many of them ( that is to say , one ) to be entirely comfortable in the dark catacombs. it was dank and creepy - two things that he loved very much - but it was also deadly , which was something he had learned wasn’t as cool as he once thought it was.
❛ perhaps we should go back and admit defeat at the hands of this mechanical maze of muscle building machinery ? you . . . you do remember the way back right ? ❜
Sparky's following him close behind, hands gripping the straps of her backpack as she glances around nervously at the risk of being caught.
" Well, I guess I can get behind the whole 'being mad' thing. But I did offer to help you with science. " She shrugs. " Your grade, not mine I guess. "
She grins, pushing past the school doors into the outside world. " Mm, I definitely would rather be shooting pixels instead of sitting in boring ol' class, though. I wanna play that one game where you're a spaceship shooting at other spaceships! "
Imagine Randy having to explain to Danny and Jake how he is going to get mindwiped?
“I’m not like you guys,” Randy said, knowing even as he did so that Danny and Jake didn’t understand. “I won’t always be the Ninja, and once I finish high school, I have to, um, forget everything. The Nomicon will take all my memories about being the Ninja, and everything I’ve done as the Ninja, to help the next Ninja and to keep them safe, and, uh, that means I probably won’t…remember you once it’s over.”
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askmeanjudge replied to your post “askmeanjudge replied to your post “Imagine Randy having to explain to...”
It's nice to see the trio care. tbh.
I really can’t think of a scenario where they wouldn’t care if they were friends. A falling out might happen between two of them, in which case the third might step up and try to make amends before something happens, but I don’t think two of them would keep a grudge against Randy and not do anything when all it would mean, in the end, is that they’d be mad at him for something he didn’t remember doing. So, I much prefer the idea of them scrambling to do something to help, even if they aren’t successful--or even if Randy decides to prank them and pretend they aren’t successful.
