this is a [test] of the emergency broadcast system

[titansno]

TEST DRIVE MEME

> The Park. Man, what a nice day out. Why not enjoy it? I'm sure -- shit, yep, there's some echo monsters.
> The Mall. Exactly what it says on the tin! Dodge the hordes of teenage mallrats or take part, whichever suits your tastes.
> Rainy Day. Agh, it's fucking awful out. And is it raining those vermilion things?? Now you've got an Echo to contend with on top of everything else. Find some shelter, quick!
> PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, HOW FUN
> The most horribly kitschy Arts and Crafts Fair you can imagine.
> Wild Card! Make up your own.

Comments

Randy Wienerman (Randy Cunningham) | Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja

[ninjaverb]

A: THE MALL

Rock Steelshred was doing a pubic appearance at the mall.

Superhero or not, no honkin' way Randy was missing out on this!

Somewhere in the back of Randy's mind, he knew that whoever he used to be would never have skipped out on superhero-ing duty to go to the mall. Even as Randy powered past stores toward the stage set up at the food court, he could feel this strange... weight in his stomach, like Taco Surprise Thursday at school except without the accompanying diarrhea. With every step he could feel that weird feeling creeping up his spine.

Was this... guilt?

...

WELP, it wasn't anything 40-ounce Giant Gulp^TM couldn't drown out! His other, more responsible past self clearly didn't have ROCK STEELSHRED in his world, else he probably would have bailed to see him, too.

The others would be fine on the mission without him. They were the good guys, after all. It's not like anyone would die if they were short one player, right?

B: SCHOOL (pre-echo)

Randy and Danny always sat at this picnic table before class started. It was tradition, emphasis on was. Lately, it seemed, Danny had been running way too late to actually hang out before class. Randy was all about sleeping in, sure, but would it kill Fenton to chug an energy drink or something and get his keister in gear? Before school and lunchtime were practically the only times the two of them could hang out anymore. These days, his best friend was way too busy for him.

The worst part was, Danny wouldn't even tell him why.

Still, Randy clung to the tradition diligently, wondering if maybe today was the day Danny would finally snap out of whatever weird phase he was going through and start acting normal again. Until then, Randy was content to hang out at this same old park bench, chugging his same old sugary caffeinated beverage, watching the rest of the student body wander by and get to hang out with their friends.

B

[not_good_not_wicked]

Hey look Randy, it's one of those new friends of Danny's. That new crowd of vaguely suspicious characters he always seems to be running off with.

"Hey, you're Randy, right? Danny said to pass on that he'd be late but would probably be around for lunch. Dunno why he can't just text you like a normal person."

Re: B

[ninjaverb]

"...Say what?" Randy pulled out his phone and checked it out of habit. Nope, no new messages. He stared, dumbfounded, before glancing up at the new girl. What was her name? Maria? Marcia?

"Seriously? If he's so late, when the heck did he get the chance to talk to you?"

[not_good_not_wicked]

Her brow furrowed in irritation. She didn't want to be here any more than he wants her to be here, "Last night. We were working on something for school."

A partial lie. They were working on SOMETHING last night. It had nothing to do with school.

[ninjaverb]

Randy stared at her, dumbfounded, then back to his phone again, before leaning back in his bench and giving a relaxed grin. "No honkin' way. No offense, Marcia, but what about you could possibly be more important to him than his best friend?"

B

[gogoghostpowers]

And for the first time in what must have been weeks, Danny finally made it to school early enough to uphold the tradition. Network stuff had been keeping him up late, either to get together with other network people to do some exploring, or to catch up on all his homework that he kept falling behind in due to everything going on.

Paradoxically, though, the earthquake he'd caused a few days earlier had been keeping him up so much, he just gave up on getting a good night's rest altogether. Which was how he found himself packing his bag for school at 6 am so he could finally show up early enough to meet with Randy again.

"Hey, Randy." He lifts a hand weakly in greeting as he drops his bag to the ground and slumps into the bench next to his friend.

Re: B

[ninjaverb]

He wanted to be mad. He really did. But finally seeing his bro before school again? It brought a grin to his face. "Fenton!" he clapped him on the back and pulled another can of caffeinated heart attacks from his backpack. "Look who decided to show up today. What the bruce has been keeping you these days?"

He wanted to savor the moment for now, before Danny inevitably broke the news that he didn't finish his half of their project due today.

[gogoghostpowers]

"Oh, you know...just--just trying to beat that one level of Destroyer. It's pretty brutal." He grinned weakly. It wasn't a total lie. He had spent a good portion of the night playing Destroyer, after tossing and turning for a few hours and giving up on sleep.

[ninjaverb]

Oh, yeah, that earthquake you totally ditched him to help cause? You know, when you didn't text to say where you were as people started dying and you were nowhere to be found? Yeah, that weighs on Randy's mind a lot, too.

"Yeah. Next level of Destroyer. It's a tough one. Might help to have some teamwork going on next time you try it." HINT HINT. He took another sip of his drink, savoring the sweet, sweet caffeine. "Anything... else you've been working on? Anything, say, our lives depend on?"

THAT PROJECT, FENTON. DID YOU DO THE PROJECT.

[gogoghostpowers]

You mean like try and keep the cops from abducting and killing innocent people, or stopping alien invasions? Well, yeah, Danny has certainly been busy with that, but he couldn't tell Randy about all of that!

"Uh...nnnno?" He scratched at his hat (hiding all of his untidy white hair, save for a few tufts that poke out of it nevertheless) slowly, with all the lumbering effort of the sleep deprived. "Was...was I supposed to be working on something?" He suddenly looked a lot more awake, though, with eyes wide open and sitting up straight, now that caught on to the implication that he was clearly missing something important here.

[ninjaverb]

"Ugggh," Randy's head lolled back behind his shoulders as he made a noise somewhere between a heavy sigh and a groan. It figures Danny would do it. "Never mind, Fenton. I did your half of the project, too."

[gogoghostpowers]

"Oh. Oh jeez, I--" Danny flopped back into the bench and covered his face with his hands, mumbling something unintelligible. Then he looked back up to Randy.

"I am so sorry man, I can't believe I just--I swore I wouldn't forget, I wrote it down this time and everything!" He opened his mouth to say more, but realized he didn't have anything else left to say, so he just flopped back on the bench again.

"...Thanks for covering me, though."

[ninjaverb]

"Save it, Danny. It's fine." Randy smeared a hand down his face before glancing over at his friend again. "Can't say I did it all for you. My grade was riding on it, too. Didn't want to fail this time."

Randy finished off the last of his drink and tossed the can onto the table. "What happened to you, dude?" First the weird emo thing with his hair and his contacts, then just disappearing all together?

[gogoghostpowers]

Danny looked down at his hands resting in his lap, not willing to meet Randy's eyes. It was true, Danny knew he'd been a terrible friend the past few months, ever since he found the network in July. But what was he supposed to say?

He ended up just giving a non-committal shrug. "I dunno, just...school's been really rough this year, I guess," he mumbled. Which also wasn't really a lie, strictly speaking. But it sounded like a lame excuse. Randy could probably tell it was a lame excuse. But he got the feeling that if he said anything else, it would just work against him.