"The Sensational Night Shadow in… The Jacked Up Headless Reunion"

Chapter 1

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

This Episode has been updated as of 11/18/2019

In the city of Seattle, Washington, 2035…

Mason Moonstone: The Sensational Night Shadow, sat inside his studio and worked on his art alongside his business partner/boss, Nelson Pines, also known as Project: C2S-N.E.L.S.O.N. of the Robotic Services of Seattle Corporation.

Nelson was a five-foot and nine-inch robot with a red, bronze, and silver color scheme. His face was human-like and resembled an average civilian that wore bronze glasses over a red-colored face, and he had golden eyes with black pupils. His upper body was mostly red with a little bit of bronze paint that went over his shoulders. The top half of his arms were silver while the lower part, including his hands, were red. His fingers were painted black. Lastly, he had bronze circles around his elbows, shoulders, knees, and ankles.

As for the lower half of his body, he was built with a bronze waist with a red belt attached to a silver buckle. His legs were silver, and his kneecaps were bronze. His feet were red and had bronze and silver sculpting that resembled shoes. The tip of his feet were solid black.

For his work uniform, he had a black apron along with golden goggles over his glasses.

Mason had somewhat of the same attire, but he wore more of an armored smock than his boss did. He also had a pair of heavy-duty goggles to protect himself.

The two of them were working on a sculpture made of stone. They were hired to make this by someone who planned to pay them a ton of money, so they jumped right on the offer and agreed to make the piece for the customer.

They've been working for a few weeks on the stone artifact: it was close to being completed. All they needed to do was chisel a few rough pieces of stone off of it to make the texture smoother. Mason used a standard chisel to take out any edges that had a few pebbles or other fragments of stone sticking out whereas Nelson used his enhanced optic programming to zoom in on them.

Using a laser that shot out of his finger, he decimated the hard edges and made the texture smoother by morphing his other hand's finger into a smoothing chisel. He rubbed off the edge and continued working.

Around their studio, materials ranging from wood to marble were neatly organized on an armada of shelves and tools sat around the desks; they were placed by the type they were. The walls were beige, and the floor was mostly wooden with a red-carpet underneath where Mason and Nelson worked.

The thing that kept the room filled with light was a bright chandelier on the ceiling; a thousand lights reflected off of Nelson's body.

Speaking of Nelson, he looked over at his employee, who was standing on a ladder as he worked on the top part of the piece. He nodded his head and flipped open his goggles. Using the jet boosters on the bottom of his feet, he flew over to his partner and tapped him on the shoulder.

Mason stopped working and looked at his partner/boss. "What's up, Doc?"

"Getting tired?" Nelson asked. His voice was cybernetic.

"Little bit," Mason replied, stretching his shoulders. "My back's killing me from leaning over like this. I would take a small break, but I wanna get this done. That guy's giving us a thousand bucks, right?"

"Two thousand bucks, actually," Nelson pointed with a smile. "And I think we're pretty much done. Come on down, Mr. Stone Builder, let's see our gorgeous masterpiece."

Climbing down from the latter, Mason pressed a button on his black armor and watched it morph back into its original form; a watch. He adjusted the time on the watch and walked to the front of the sculpture he made, standing next to Nelson.

"So, Whatcha think?" the red robot inquired.

Standing before them was a massive stone piece that included a woman looking petrified, as she was trapped in the arms of a man in his underpants. He had long hair that reached down to his abs and his tongue was sticking out. He was going in for a kiss, much to the woman's dismay. Although, one facial detail on her looked like she was going to enjoy this.

But as for Mason and Nelson… they didn't enjoy it one bit.

The former stroked his chin and stuck his hands in his orange pockets. "Hmm… I know this guy's giving us two grand for this, but don't you think this is a little strange. I mean, this looks like that one Michael Jackson piece we made for that one woman."

"Look on the bright side, they're no children in this one."

"Oh, Jesus Christ, I can't believe you brought that up again."

"Hey, you brought it up first."

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Mason turned to the door, hearing a loud sound on the other side.

He turned towards Nelson, who was standing closest to the door. He sat down on a blue/white hover chair and poured himself a glass of wine. He opened up his mouth and consumed the whole drink, including the glass itself.

Rolling his eyes, the man walked towards the door. "Oh, don't worry, Nelson. I'll get the door." He said with sarcasm.

"Good, go get it," Nelson replied, drinking another glass of wine.

Opening the door, Mason was greeted to a grey, box-shaped robot wearing a mailman's uniform and cap. It was holding a couple of letters as well as a package in its hands.

"MAIL CALL." It beeped.

"Why thank you," Mason smiled, kindly taking the mail from the robot's hands.

But before he closed the door, the robot began making more beeping sounds and moving its head. Around its neck, a silver can with a red label that said, "Tip Jar" on it. It continued to do this until Mason smiled and snapped his fingers.

Reaching into his pocket, Mason pulled out an orange cough drop and placed it in the jar.

"Get well soon, buddy," he said, closing the door.

The robot slowly looked down at the cough drop and lowered its head in shame. It turned around and walked away, flipping the man off in secret.

Inside, Nelson finished his sixth glass of wine when he saw Mason approach him with the mail.

"Oh, anything good?" Nelson inquired, getting up from his chair.

Mason flipped through the letters and placed the package down. "Let's see, I got some more student loan bills."

"You still haven't paid those off yet?"

"They like to bullshit me, that's all… anyways, we have letters from your sister, death threats, death threats from your sister, this one package you ordered from eBay, and… some letter from Treedome High School."

Nelson raised a silver eyebrow. "Treedome High School… as in the same Treedome High School that was infested with 'funny' memes, moronic teachers, and a principal who acted like one of those 'hip' dads you see on TV?"

"Yep,"

"No way," Nelson smiled. He reached for the letter. "Let me see, let me see, what does it say?"

Mason handed him the letter and watched him open it up; inside was a titanium plate. Nelson took it out and scanned it, wondering what it could be for. He rubbed his head and adjusted his glasses before reaching in the envelope and pulling out a small yellow paper with instructions on it. He placed the plate down and read it.

"Place the tablet down and say, 'I wish to speak to the father of memes.' What the-"

ZAP!

"Holy shit!" Mason jumped back out of fear.

The tablet suddenly projected a blue holographic image of an old man with a wrinkly chin appeared on the screen. For some reason, he was seen wearing a bright purple bunny suit with a yellow stomach.

"Yo, rad dawgs and kool kats! It's your boy, Principal Appleseed Johnny. You know, your super hip principal from the class of 2028? Of course, you remember me, how wouldn't? After all, I am the dankest principal you've ever had, right, dawgs and kats? Hahahahahahahahahaha!"

Mason and Nelson cringed as soon as their old principal started doing disco dance moves from the 90s'.

"Anyways, if you're seeing this message, it means it's time for our annual Treedome High School reunion. That's right, it's that time of the year again! Students and their guests are invited to Paris, France for our 14th high school reunion for a chance to get back together with old friends, old bullies, run into your ex-boyfriends and girlfriends and explain to them why you never called back after so long."

Mason glared at his boss, who rubbed his head and gave a nervous chuckle.

"We're offering a lot of swag at our get together like snack tables, beverages, and even our very own art contest. Which will feature all of our talented artists from 2028! Don't be a bum, come join the fun at the 14th Treedome High School reunion… see ya there, fellow kids!"

The holographic image disappeared, and a blue light went back inside the metal tablet.

Mason picked it up and stared at it for a few seconds. While he thought the message itself was cringy, he forgot that it's been seven years since he graduated high school and two years since he got his bachelor's degree in college. He didn't think he would get an invitation for his high school reunion again, mainly because he hated high school when he was a teenager.

He looked down at the tablet one more time before he chucked it over his shoulder. "Pass!"

"Now, hold on a minute!" Nelson said, he stretched his silver arm out and caught the tablet before it fell in the garbage. "You're gonna pass on a once in a lifetime opportunity?"

"First of all, high school reunions happen every year, they're not once in a lifetime. Second, despite the art class I took, I hated that school. It's the exact reason why our generation will screw this planet into a coma."

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad."

"Not bad? Not bad!? You're kidding, right? Everywhere you looked, you saw unfunny memes, teachers dressed like gangsters, and superintendents doing dances from some mobile game!"

"You mean, Fortnite?"

"Don't speak of that cancer!" Mason took a deep breath, maintaining his equanimity. "Sorry about the rant, but I am not a fan of the teaching staff there. My dad thought of pulling me out of the school because of that, but I said no because A) there were no other high schools in Paris besides that one. And B) I didn't want to leave that art class because it inspired me to pursue my dream of sculpting. Yeah, I was teased and mocked by some of the more 'talented' students, but still, my art teacher and the class itself helped me out."

"And if it weren't for your talent, I wouldn't have hired a creative person like yourself."

"Exactly! Thank you, Nelson!"

"However, I feel that we should go back."

"Why?"

Nelson rubbed his head again and tapped his black fingers together. "You see… when Principal Appleseed Johnny said, 'get a chance to talk to old loved ones' and you glared at me… that reminded me of my boyfriend."

"Which one? You've had a lot during high school."

"The blonde one."

"You've slept with plenty of blondes, both human and robot, so which one? Be specific."

"I think his name was Chad or something. I don't know, I've slept with so many men and women that I've stopped counting after forty-two… anyways, I need you to come to the high school reunion with me, so I can apologize to him."

Mason raised an eyebrow. "Why can't you do that yourself?"

"Well, because… because… uh… it's because… um…"

Dunnere secretly popped out of his master's shoulder and shook his head in disgust. He hated the fact that Nelson didn't give his robotic heart to a single soulmate. The idea of sleeping around with multiple humans and robots, regardless of their gender, made him disappointed in the red robot. He went back inside his master's body.

And just in time as Nelson figured out his response. "Since you two were friends in high school, you could help me figure out the apology. Because if I do it, I'd say something stupid or offensive."

"I still think you should do it yourself. He was your boyfriend and you did love him for a short period of time, so I believe you should do it. And besides, I swore to myself that I would never step inside that school ever again. Sorry, Nelson, but my answer is no."

As Mason walked back to the sculpture, Nelson rubbed his head and moaned.

"I'll give you a raise."

Mason turned around and glared at his boss.

Nelson gave an awkward smile. "It could probably get rid of those student loans."

The young boy shook his head and sighed. "Son of a bitch… fine, I'll go with you."

"YES!" Nelson cheered, as he started doing a happy dance in the middle of the studio. "Oh! And feel free to bring anyone you want with you! Just in case you wanna show them around later."

"The only person I would take there is Sydney and trust me when I say this, there's no way in hell she'd wanna step foot in that school."

Inside Mason and Sydney's apartment in the Cabano Hotel…

The superhero got home not too long ago and told his girlfriend about the whole situation. He even asked her if she wanted to accompany him on his trip to Paris. So, he leaned back and waited for a response along the lines of, "Hell no! I ain't going back to school!" or "No thanks, I'm busy today."

But instead, he got a response he didn't expect.

"Oh, my god! I would absolutely love to go with you!"

"Wait… what?"

Sydney grabbed her boyfriend's shoulders and sat next to him on their brown couch. "What? Did you think I wouldn't wanna go back to your high school and see where your artistic talent came from? Come on, Mason, you know me better than that!"

"Sydney, you don't understand," Mason grabbed his girlfriend's arms and gently took them off his shoulder, holding her hands. "That place… is a massive shithole, I don't want you going in there."

"Then why are you going, huh?" Sydney gave a sassy smirk.

"Because I have to help Nelson settle some love issues."

"Have I told you I hate that guy? He's such a dick."

"I know, but he pays me well and he's giving me a raise."

"But it's his fault he has no single soulmate. He is what Dion would call, 'Runaround Sue.' But in all seriousness, I wanna go with you. You rarely talk about your old days in high school, so I want to come."

"Well… look, I-"

"Don't make me beg."

"What?"

Sydney got down on her knees and wrapped her arms around Mason's body, showering him with the same puppy dog eyes her sister always gives.

"Come on, Syd," Mason rolled his eyes. "Don't do that. Your sister did that on our camping trip, so I am not falling for it."

The Spanish girl didn't care. Her face leaned closer to Mason's eyes; nothing was in his sight except for her adorable face. Dunnere popped out of Mason's body and snickered.

The man tugged on his orange hoodie and tried to looking away, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing worked. Sydney's hug became tighter, her eyes grew bigger, and her face drove closer. She even cried like a dog would, pouting her lips in the process.

"Urgh…" Mason scoffed. "I guess I have no choice, do I?... Fine, I'll take you with me."

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" Sydney cheered, as she hugged Mason again and showered his cheeks with kisses. She finally let him go and took out her cell phone. "I'm so sending a video message to Amber about this! Can she come too?"

"Might as well."

"Sweet! Love you, babe!" Sydney said, as she dialed her sister's number and walked into another room.

Mason got off the couch and saw Dunnere struggling to contain his laughter. The black salamander pointed at his master and laughed.

"You know, Dunnere, she drives me up the walls as much as you do," Mason walked into the kitchen area and took an apple off the fruit bowl on the table. He munched on it and gave another apple to his demon. "But that's what I love about her."

SLAM!

The door to the apartment suddenly slammed open and loud stomping was heard down the hall. Mason and Dunnere panicked, as they jumped in front of the path and smacked the intruder across the face. The intruder flipped over and fell right on his back.

He was none other than Mason's best friend… Jerry Vanderhoff.

"Jerry!?" Mason shouted. Dunnere facepalmed himself and shook his head.

"Ah, Verdammt, Mason!" Jerry moaned, rubbing his nose. "I think you broke something besides my spine."

Reaching his hand out, Mason helped Jerry up on his feet. The dark-skinned man brushed some dirt off his dark green jersey. He flicked a dust bunny off the number 75 on his attire.

"Sorry, Jer, but how about a warning next time?" Mason said. "I thought you were Technolocity or some member of the Void League."

"Yeah, I should have thought twice about that, lad," Jerry replied, adjusting his auburn/blonde hair. "But I gotta ask you something. Did you get a letter from Treedome High School by any chance?"

"About the reunion, yep."

"You ain't going, are ya?"

Mason nodded.

Jerry was shocked. "Why? Didn't you swear you'd never step foot in there again?"

"I know, but I have to go to help Nelson apologize to one of his many dates," Mason said, as he walked over to his couch. "Plus, Sydney wants to see what my art class was like."

"Typical Nelson. Can't find a single soulmate to give his non-existent heart to. What a shame."

"You coming along?"

"To the reunion?"

"Yep."

Jerry slapped his kneecaps and started laughing as if someone told the funniest joke in the world. He placed his hand against Mason's shoulder. To which the master and his demon shared a confused glance. The man laughed for a few seconds before he stopped and replied.

"Not to sound overdramatic or anything. Oh, who am I kidding? Hell no, I ain't going back there! Especially when Nelson's going. One would have to clean all the pigs at my family farm if they wanted me to go there… sorry, Mason, but there's nothing is gonna make me step foot in Treedome again!"

"Um… excuse me," said Sydney's sister, Amber Connor. She was right outside the apartment. "Hi, Mason. Hi, Jerry."

Sydney peeked her head around the corner of a room. "Yo, what's up, sista?"

"I would have knocked, but there seems to be no door, so I'll just let myself in," the Caucasian girl tugged her light green shirt and stepped into the apartment itself. "So, when are we leaving for Mason's reunion?"

"Just as soon as I pack my stuff!" Sydney smiled. She raced upstairs to fetch her belongings.

Jerry's eyes lit up with amazement. "Wait… you're going, Amber?"

"Of course, I'd love to see where Mason went to school," The blonde/green-haired girl smiled. "Are you coming with us, Jerry? I'd love to spend time with you."

Mason folded his arms. "Sorry, Amber, but he-"

"Is going!" Jerry covered his best friend's mouth. "Don't listen to Mason, he's just nervous that he's going back to school. Well, I should say that we're going back to school."

"Oh, you went there too?" Amber inquired. "Cool! Did you study anything particular?"

"I am a master mathematician. Give me a math equation and I'll solve it for ya in no less than five seconds."

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"I know."

Mason and Dunnere rolled their eyes. The former took Jerry's hand off his mouth.

"How about I leave you two love birds alone, so I can pack for my trip," Mason said with a stern tone in his voice.

"You go do that," Jerry grinned. As Mason went upstairs to his room, Amber and Jerry sat down on the couch. "So, got any math questions for me? I'll answer as many as you like."

"Yeah, why did they mix letters and numbers together?"

Jerry was stunned when he heard that question. He didn't think anyone in the world knew the answer to that query. "Well… um… it's… well, you see… I think it's because mathematicians wanted to give students a challenge by incorporating two complex topics together to create something new in the educational system, what am I saying? It's because those old mathematicians were assholes."

Upstairs inside her and Mason's bedroom, Sydney reached into her closet and took out a few shirts and pairs of pants. Even though they were just going to Mason's high school reunion, she hoped to stay in Paris for a while and explore the place. She had only been camping there and has never seen the actual city herself. She folded her clothes and neatly packed them into her suitcase.

In the process, she looked around her casual looking bedroom. The walls were painted dark gray and there was a large window door that lead to a balcony, giving the viewer a gorgeous look of Seattle itself. The carpet was a light blue while the bed itself was just a normal white mattress. However, there were two blankets on each side. One was a purple blanket with horses on it and the other one was a green blanket with Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it.

There was a bathroom on the left side of the room while the closet sat on the right. Sydney smiled at how dorky her boyfriend's blanket was and continued setting up her bag.

Around the corner, Mason came in, "talking" on the phone.

"Yeah, I know… uh-huh… I know I promised to help you Nelson, but I just can't come," he said. Sydney looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He was smiling throughout his conversation, indicating that he was lying. She silently grunted and shook her head. "I know I made a promise to you, but something came up?... what is it?... well, you see, I promised my dad I'd spent time with him this weekend. He wants to squeeze in a little father/son bonding time, that's all… great! I'm glad you understand, Nelson."

Just then, Mason's phone began to ring.

His eyes widened, as he looked over at his grumpy girlfriend. She folded her arms and raised her eyebrow again.

Mason did nothing but give a massive, guilty smile.

"Nice try, Night Liar," Sydney said. "How come you don't wanna go to this thing?"

"It's… because of my art class," Mason replied with a low sigh and a frown.

"What? I thought you loved your art class."

"I do, but throughout the beginning, I was teased and mocked for being different than everyone else. My classmates did artwork that was darker and linked with the emotions of people whereas I did sculptures and dioramas of famous places and stuff you'd see in a stop motion movie."

"Now, that makes me wanna see your shit even more! And who cares!? It's not your fault they don't have as much talent as you do!"

"Funny, that's what my art teacher said to me," Mason rubbed the back of his head.

Sydney approached her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around him. "Listen, I know you're going just because Nelson offered you a raise, but I want you to go because I want you to show me where you got your talent from… you know your artwork is awesome and you shouldn't let anyone tell you differently."

Mason nodded and smiled. He remembered being told this many years ago, back when he started out as Night Shadow and was about to graduate high school. He hugged his girlfriend back and bestowed a kiss upon her forehead.

"Bubba Shikka," he said.

"What?"

"Oh, sorry. That's a word I made up. For some reason, it keeps me calm when I feel nervous."

"Bubba Shikka?... Sounds like Night Shadow's battle cry."

Mason snapped his fingers. "Maybe it should be!"

Sydney chuckled.

"Look out, villains! Here comes The Sensational Night Shadow! Bubba Shikka!"

Sydney chuckled again and released her boyfriend. "Come on, Bubba Shikka man. Let's get ready for school."

"Yes, Masta Comedian!" Mason saluted her as if he was a soldier in the military. He approached his half of the closet and began packing his clothes. Dunnere popped out of his shoulders and nodded to his master. He was proud that he was fulfilling his promise to Nelson and that he was cool with showing Sydney around.

Both the salamander the human fist-bumped before they continued packing.