Randy's first instinct is to call Howard.

To be fair, this is his first instinct when faced with most anything. Got a D on one of his tests? Call Howard. Saw a weird cat outside school that day? Call Howard. Found out the guy that works the drive through at KFC is faking a Scottish accent for no apparent reason? Call Howard.

This time he tries to hold off for a while, though, if only because he knows if he doesn't he'll completely forget to go to the store afterwards.

Still, ten minutes later, only a block away from the grocery store, he finds he's dialed Howard without even meaning to.

He realizes, suddenly, phone to his ear, that he has a better reason for not calling Howard. He realizes that he doesn't want to have this conversation on the phone. This is a face-to-face kind of matter. This is big.

Like, how is he even gonna start?

'I remember stuff now?'

Howard would just reply something along the lines of, 'You remembered to go to the store one time, that doesn't mean you suddenly have a great memory.'

'I remembered high school?'

'Great', Howard would retort. 'Now you should get to work remembering college, since that's the stuff that matters now.'

Oh man, Randy has no idea how he's going to explain this clearly and concisely to Howard, certainly not on the phone.

Luckily for him in his moment of blind panic, Howard doesn't pick up. It beeps and Howard's message, 'You know what to do, Cunningham' plays as Randy's heart calms back down.

Not for long, though. Because he remembers. This moment feels surreal.

It feels...it feels good.

So Randy wallows in it for awhile. He eventually wanders into the store, grabs breakfast, and wanders out, feeling like he's physically glowing from all this positive emotion (later, he won't be able to remember if he paid for the groceries or not and that should worry him, but it won't, he'll still be too happy).

This is a conversation that needs to happen within hugging range, Randy decides as he all-but-dances in the direction of their dorms. There is too much emotion inside him right now that can only be expressed through intense hugging.

Then something else hits him. It hits him on the stairs, which isn't the greatest place for an epiphany and he almost drops the milk, but he manages to catch it, thoughts far away.

He will never have a better chance to mess with his friends.

Not Howard, specifically, because Randy hasn't figured out how to lie to him for more than ten minutes, but...the others. The Secret Trio.

Jake and Danny are heroes and people Randy can always count on, but they are also so, so terrible.

Competitive. Moody. Bad at jokes. A bad combination of self-serving and self-sacrificing, which is just frankly irritating to work with.

Yes, Randy knows he fits right in (thank you, Howard).

However, the worst thing about all three of them is that they can hold grudges for years. 'That doesn't sound so bad', one might think. 'Sucks for their enemies, maybe, but friends would be good, right?'

Wrong. Or, everything might have be okay if the Prank War of Sophomore Year had not gone down.

Randy doesn't remember how it started. Maybe it was the week Danny decided to prank call them and leave weird voice-mails in what he swears is 'Ghost Language' (Randy still refuses to believe that's a real thing – it's gotta be just gibberish Danny is coming up with, albeit consistent gibberish).

Maybe it was when, during a relatively unimportant fight they all happened to be present for, the Ninja accidentally threw a bee ball in Jake's face.

Maybe it was when Jake created a bunch of doppelgangers right before Randy and Danny came up to visit, just to taunt Danny for being unable to duplicate his ghost form yet.

However it began didn't matter in the long run. What mattered was how quickly – and how intensely – it escalated.

Yeah. It got...bad.

Jake was grounded for three months, Randy was banned for life from Amity Park Mall, and Danny had to work two summers to compensate for some of the damages they caused.

It ended when all their loved ones got together and decided on an intervention, for the good of everyone's friendship and the safety of the earth. They peer-pressured the Secret Trio into a treaty.

It was for the best. It probably saved lives. It definitely saved innocent property like cars and buildings that surely would've gotten caught in the middle.

But now they're all older, in college, they've matured, and Randy will never have a better opportunity to mess with them so bad.

There's so many things he can now get back at them for. Plus, technically he shouldn't remember the 'treaty' at all, so technically he wouldn't be breaking what he shouldn't know exists...

He finds a familiar feeling sort of ping in the back of his mind – it popped up oodles when he was the Ninja, always right before he would tragically misinterpret Nomicon's advice or do something even he would later admit was incredibly impulsive.

It's that tiny, tiny voice of reason that nervously mumbles that Randy is going to regret this later, that if he just stopped and thought for a moment he would realize this is a terrible idea.

But that's not really how Randy rolls. That tiny voice is immediately overridden by all the cool, super bruce ways he's going to really wonk his friends up and that same voice will only be remembered much, much later, when consequences for his actions start sinking in.

That's later though. Today, Randy is nothing but excited.

He's got plans.

Randy blinks, realizing he's still standing on the landing between stairs, only one flight and a hallway between him and his dorm. What really gets him moving is the fact that the milk is starting to drip.

He makes it to the door and locks it behind him, putting the groceries away and following the sounds of video games to the living room.

There sits Howard on the couch, controller in hand and eyes firmly fixed on the TV screen, seemingly deaf to the sounds of Randy coming back.

Howard is exactly the same as when Randy left earlier. He doesn't appear to have moved an inch.

Nothing about him has changed.

All the same, Randy feels like he hasn't seen him in forever and a surplus of affection bubbles up. A particular memory plays in his mind, of Howard defending Randy!Ninja to Memoryless!Randy.

No one would've known if Howard had just shrugged and let it go. But Howard called him awesome, and the best person he'd ever known, and that's just the latest in a long line of things Howard has done to show he cares, but today it shines the brightest.

"Hey, you're back already?" Howard says, not looking up. 'Already', like Randy hasn't been gone for a few hours on what should've been a quick milk run.

Randy can't fight back a grin. He meant to make a cool entrance, or say something really poetic, or even try some Ninja move as his regular Cunningham self.

All that abruptly evaporates as he stares at Howard.

"You think I'm awesome." He says. He might sound a little smug about it. "You think I'm the best."

He's giggling a little, too. It's great and Howard can't deny it, he knows he said it, and Randy is going to hold this over his head for months –

Howard blinks up at him, confused.

"What?"

"Two months ago, we were talking about the Ninja and you said something about him being 'the best person you'd ever met', if I recall correctly."

Howard's eyes are wide. He's dropped the controller, forgetting to pause the game. He doesn't even seem to notice his player dying in the background.

"Cunningham, what – "

Randy knows he's grinning like a crazy person but he remembers and nothing can take his excitement away from him. Randy realizes he's bouncing too, standing in front of Howard. He makes no effort to reel it in.

"Howard, Howard, ask me what time it is."

"Cunningham..." Realization is creeping onto Howard's face and he looks annoyed, relieved, and fond, all at the same time.

"Go on. Ask me." Randy insists.

"What time is it, Cunningham?"

Randy makes a big show of looking down at his naked wrist and frowning at it for a second.

"Hmm..like four, maybe four twenty, maybe four twenty-five at th– it's half past Ninja o'clock!"

Howard laughs at that for the first time ever.

"You absolute jerk!" He yells, smiling. "You remember?"

"If you're referring to the fact that I, Randy Cunningham, was once the very bruce Ninja of Norrisville – "

"The very annoying Ninja of Norrisville." Howard cuts in.

"Then yes, I do remember."

"But – but how?" Howard wants to know. "I thought you got memory-wiped for good."

"Well, yes," Randy admits. "I mean, it was supposed to be for good. I sorta ran into the current Ninja today and went into the Nomicon – "

Howard holds up a hand, eyebrow raised, I'm-totally-judging-you face on.

"Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me you stole the Nomicon from the current Ninja?"

That would make himself sound cooler (also, more terrible), but Randy is already telling the truth before he can edit the story to make him sound more bruce.

"Nah, I found him unconscious in an alley. I guess he got his butt kicked by some monster or something."

"Sounds familiar."

"Okay, no," Randy says, crossing his arms over his chest. "But that's not the point. I got schloomped into the Nomicon and in there I remember everything, right, and so I asked the book if it was cool for me to just keep those memories instead of getting mind-wiped again – "

"And the book agreed?" Howard asks, sounding incredulous. Which is fair. During Randy's time as the Ninja, his best friend and his ancient book of ninja wisdom were rarely on the same page. Nomicon disagreed with Randy himself most of the time.

Randy wants to cry – he's glad things were so different this time.

"Yeah." He says. "It let me keep my memories. I guess it agreed with me, that I was a better person for being the Ninja. It did say the current Ninja was going to keep an eye on me though..."

Howard smiles at him.

"I'm glad you remembered, Cunningham."

"Yeah?" It's like spotting Bigfoot, seeing Howard act so sincere.

"Yeah. I can't face early morning math without my Cinnamon Toast Crunch." Howard says, deadpan.

Randy laughs and hugs the jerk anyway.

"Have you told the two lame-os, yet?" Howard asks a little later, talking about Danny and Jake.

It's a sign that Randy is too distracted to roll his eyes and correct Howard.

"About that," He says instead, grin broadening, "I was thinking of not telling them."

Usually, that would do it. Howard doesn't need much convincing to not do things he didn't really want to do, especially if it involved Danny and Jake (Howard doesn't hate them, but he never clicks with them and Randy has never figured out why, although he suspects Howard is jealous that Randy has more than one friend).

Today, though, things go differently.

Howard scowls at him.

"Don't be a douche, Cunningham. Don't you think they'd want to know?"

Randy supposes it wasn't all great for Howard, watching his best friend lose his memory. He supposes it might've, at times, even been terrible, if Howard can summon such empathy even towards the other two members of the Secret Trio.

Randy's glee settles into something slightly calmer. He hadn't wanted to hurt anyone.

"Well, yeah, but...look, my plan is to wait to tell them and use this as an advantage."

Howard raises an eyebrow at him, unhappiness lifting as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"Is this about the Prank War of Sophomore year?"

"It's about the Prank War of Sophomore year." Randy agrees.

With that, Howard begins to smirk and Randy knows he's got his best friend on-board.

"You are gonna tell them later, though, right?"

"Sure, sure." Randy says, waving a hand dismissively. "Now come on. You're gonna help me plan what to do first."

A/N: The alternate summary for this fic is 'where Randy embodies the But it was funny, huh? guy from Gabriel Iglesias comedy skits and nearly destroys cities in the process'.

This is a sequel to my other fic Can't Remember, Can't Forget, but all you really need to know to read this one is that the Secret Trio was a thing, Randy got mindwiped at the end of high school, then months later got to remember on the condition that he leaves the new Ninja alone.

I'll try and update every other week or so.

Thank you for reading! Please review and fav!