Secret Trio: A New Start (BEING REWRITTEN)

Chapter 17 - Uninvited

"But what if the art of the ninja isn't enough?" Howard asked and I and the others began mumbling in agreement.

"Then, we're going to find more mentors capable of overpowering this great evil," Nomi said with strong conviction. "And if that isn't enough, we have to actively look for the gems."

"I already have mine," Jake reminded, "We just have to look for the rest of yours."

"Can't we track them somehow?" Randy asked.

We all turned to Nomi and the mentor sighed. "Unfortunately, I couldn't help you with this. I have no tools for you to use to track down the gems."

"Then, we'll have to look for them the old-fashioned way!" Jake said with certainty. "I found mine on the first week of school. I'm sure it will turn up eventually."

"That would be the best possibility," Nomi nodded. He hummed and then voiced, "There is also a chance that the gems are not here in Norrisville. They could be somewhere else entirely."

"We have to go on a field trip or something?" Howard asked.

"Most likely," Nomi nodded. "But before that," he snapped his fingers and smoke enveloped his body. His ninja garbs fit him gracefully and his eyes were filled with determination when he said, "I have to scour the city. You may join me at night but you must attend your classes during the day."

"Boo," Howard mumbled as he leaned back.

Randy looked Nomi up and down with worried eyes, but I guess he was unable to voice his thoughts as he turned away from his master. Nomi gave one last lookover at all of us, nodding, then disappeared with black smoke out of the door.

Once he was gone, Randy shifted uncomfortably in his seat and muttered, "I thought we freed him."

I placed a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort my friend. I knew what he was talking about. In the summer when we met, he asked for my help in freeing Nomi from the Nomicon. We thought we did it but then Nomi revealed his powers the way he did during the fight. I just hoped that Randy wouldn't blame himself for not being able to free Nomi completely.

Nigel pushed Jake away from him and then stood up. "I'm going to check on Sun," he excused himself and made haste upstairs.

It still bewilders me how Sun was important to all of this. I thought she was just an ordinary girl. But I guess that was how we all looked on the outside.

But whatever will come after this fight, I hope that we can brave through it together.

____

Randy's POV

I groaned as I cracked my back from the harsh training Nomi put us in. It was a week after the fight with the villain and at first, I was excited at the prospect of becoming more powerful but the training Nomi put us through was ridiculously straining. And seeing another poster of Battle of the Bands made Howard excited to the point he was pushing for us to start practicing.

"Everyone will know the name of the 'Secret Trio'!" Howard told us this morning.

"Isn't that the opposite of what we're supposed to be?" Jake chuckled and I couldn't help but laugh with him. Jake may be a pain in the ass most of the time considering our clashing personalities but I appreciate the times when we see eye-to-eye (even though I have to bend to see it hehe).

Anyway, right now, I'm in my locker, getting my things as school was letting out. I had to do something before meeting up with the others later for a group outing. We all had a hard week so Danny suggested to have us have a group hangout to try and de-stress. As much as Nomi protested, I was able to beg him to let us skip training this one day so we could all hang out. He relented and I'm excited for our day out!