Chapter Text
Randy and his mom look at each other. They both looked up to the clock on the microwave, noting it was already 11 at night.
“That's odd, who could be out at this time?” Randy's mom asked. “Why don't you get into your pj's while I get the door, we can watch some movies afterward.” She said as she got up from her seat.
“Ok!” Randy said as he headed towards the stairs. As he started to go up the stairs, he could hear his mom open the front door and say “Hello”.
He looks over his to see a man. He looked to be in his 50s or 60s, with peppery hair that looked receding. Randy shrugged and continued up the stairs. He looked through his drawers. After a minute he finally found what he was looking for. He changed into his red sleep top and pants that had white edges. He did a once over in the mirror, saying to himself “I am looking Bruce tonight!”.
As he left his bedroom, he looked over to his open backpack where the NinjaNomicon sat realizing something.
“Hey Nomicon, lison could we hold off on lessons this weekend? I have a BIG AMAZEDNGLES plan for my mom's birthday weekend and I don’t want training to get in the way”. The Nomicon glowed red violently as if it was trying to scold Randy. “Oh come on, it's only one weekend! What's the worst that can happen!” Randy exclaimed as he left his room.
As he headed back downstairs, he noticed that the front door was closed. He looked over to the right into the living room. His mom was sitting down on the worn brown couch, hunched over and looking at her hands that were resting pulm up her lap. Surprised and worried, he stopped 3/4th down the stairs.
“Okaa-san?”
“Oh, Randy! I didn’t hear you come down” She said as she looked up from her hands and sat up straighter. Head turning towards him. “Come here, there's something we need to talk about.”
Randy looked at her with worry, going down the rest of the stairs and walking towards her. He sits down next to her and turns his body to her. She turned her head away from him, looking lost. As if she doesn’t know what to say.
“Lison, theres somethings… no, there was… well…” She says, trying to come up with something to say. Struggling to put what needs to be said into proper words.
“Mom, you’re worrying me. What's wrong? Was that guy at the door being a shoob or a jerkward? I can totally beat him up if you want.” Randy says, trying to comfort her.
“No, it wasn’t him,” She says quickly. Taking a deep breath, she continues, “I’m sorry, but it looks like our weekend plans are going to be put on hold”
“WHAT!” Shouted Randy, “Why?!
“There are some things that have come up. Things that I don’t want you to be involved in.” She says sadly as if it hurts her to say it. “Why don’t you invite Howard over tomorrow? I’ll be out all day, so you guys will have the house all to yourself. Wouldn’t that be fun!”
“But this is supposed to be our weekend!”
“I know!” She shouted in frustration and looked up to the ceiling, instantly cringing at her shout. Regretting even raising it.
Then in a quiet tone, turning to face him, she said in a quite stern tone, “I know and I’m sorry, but this is too important. This could change our lives, for the better or the worst. Or nothing could happen, but I’m not willing to take that risk. Besides, they would have never contacted me if that were the case.”
“But I still don’t understand why you can’t just ignore whoever this is. If it's that bad, why not contact the police or even try to get the ninjas' attention” Randy replied.
“Randy” She spoke more confidently, “When someone or something approaches with an intent, it is better to take action than to not”
They were both silent for a minute, as they stared at each other.
“What the juice does that mean?” Randy announced with a face of confusion.
She breaks out laughing at the face he made. “No, seriously! What does that mean?!” Randy exclaimed.
Calming down, she replied, “It means it is better to prepare when something is going on. For example, if there was a killer on the run in our area, we would take action and prepare ourselves with pepper spray or something similar in case we run into them. Or if McFist comes to announce a new phone, you can take action and get a job to save up for when it’s released. So then you have the money to buy it. It’s taking action and it can be for good or bad situations. Do you understand why I am doing this?”
“I kinda understand… I’m still not happy about it”
She leaned in and put her arms around Randy, hugging him in a gentle yet strong hug. He lifted his arms to hug her back. “I know, I’ll make it up to you. I’ll try to take next weekend off”
“You don’t have to”
“I know, but I want to,” She said softly. Slowly leaning them until they were both leaning against the back of the couch. They stayed like that for quite some time. After a while, she said “It’s getting pretty late. How about you head to bed”
“Ok, okaa-san”. They slowly detached themselves from each other. As Randy walked away, he noticed his mom sitting on the couch still. “Aren’t you going to bed too?” He stopped and asked.
“No, I’ve got some calls I need to make if I want tomorrow not to go horribly”
“Alright… Well try to get some sleep please” Randy smiled at her as he started to walk up the stairs.
“I will”
Once he reached his room and climbed up the his ladder to his bed, he started to feel his eyes droop. Suddenly he sat up and picked up his phone. After quickly dialing in a phone number, he said “Howard you are not going to believe what just happened!”