Fanfic / Enter Ken Finlayson

Enter Ken Finlayson is the first part of a Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja fan fic series by Jet556.

The plot? Ken Finlayson is a new kid in Norrisville. He's heard that there are monsters, robots and a ninja but he hasn't seen them. His conclusion? It is all a conspiracy! Randy Cunningham is in on it! The Weienrmans are in on it! The crazy snake man at the end of his street is in on it! The poster of Anne Hathaway in his basement is in on it! He is going to prove that this is a conspiracy!

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Examples:

• Abusive Parents: Cerdic's step-father Hugleik used to beat him. Naturally, Cerdic's younger son Niall is shocked to hear that "Uncle Hugleik" used to beat his father.
• Adaptational Villainy: An odd example since it is not as much an canon character but rather their past lives. For instance in Past Lives stories "The Mongol Invasions and Conquests" and "The Fall of the Western Empire" sees Randy's past lives as a Mongol khan and a Goth king respectively.
• Alien Abduction: "Abduction No. 1" features Randy and Theresa being abducted by aliens, Martians specifically... That look like soft-ball sized wasps and instead of abducting them via a spaceship the Martians abduct Randy and Theresa by having a group of them grabbing them and lifting off the ground. Previous story "Massachusetts" introduced these Martians as attempting to abduct Heidi and Debbie.
• All Just a Dream: The plot of "Niall Warburton and the Conundrum of the Mummy." Previous stories such as "The Good, the Bad and the Randy" and "Randy Marks the Spot" also used this trope as did a later story "Wendigo."
• Ambiguously Brown: The second chapter of "Snickery When Damp" manages to use this trope without the individual in question actually appearing in person. Mrs. Finlayson is only identified as Afro-Eurasian and since "Afro-Eurasia" is the name of the collected landmass that is Africa, Europe and Asia that does not narrow down anything, which Heidi of course lampshades. Apparently that is the extent of the rest of the Finlayson family's knowledge and would they ever find out Mrs. Finlayson would kill the entire family, extending it to in-laws and the children of Ken's older half-sister Ulrica.
• Ambiguously Human: Mrs. Finlayson comes across as this. She hasn't appeared in person yet but apparently when she is in a specific area blood starts dripping down walls and dogs start forming into packs. Also she was recently in the hospital for cosmetic surgery for her chin, lips, cheeks and eyelids which only begs the question what she even looks like period let alone beforehand. The first chapter of "Expiry by Lamplight" establishes all of this. The second chapter has Theresa describe Mrs. Finlayson as a "not quite human woman." The second chapter of "The Eerie Safari" continues the blood theme with her presence including blood running from faucets as well and, unrelated to the blood theme, Niall, as his female alter ego Alexis, mistakes his step-grandmother for a hat rack. In this story we also get some information about her appearance and it includes broader nostrils, dry lamellar derma and barbed honed fangs and a resemblance to a whippet.
• Analogy Backfire: In "Mc Fist's Automated Anarchy" (No, really. That is the actual title.) Mc Fist compares himself to the Nubian conquerors of Egypt as he is conquering Norrisville. What he fails to realize and what Jet makes a point of noting in the narration is that the Nubian's eventually lost Egypt.
• Animalistic Abomination: Moloch the Death Raptor, pre-Sorcerer powering him up.
• Animal Motifs: You don't even need to say what with Crazy Snake Man. The man's doorbell makes the sounds of a rattlesnake's rattle!
• Artistic License – History: Apparently Hannibal Mc Fist has mixed up William Wallace and Shaka Zulu. No, really.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti:
  • The Yeti makes an appearance in "Paris and Tibet."
  • The story "Sasquatch" goes into deal beyond the anthropoid cryptids of the North America being something Rick is recording.
• Bittersweet Ending: Just because the show doesn't has these doesn't mean Jet himself won't avoid them.
  • "Killer Chimps in Norrisville"" ends with the titular bloodthirsty anthropoids dead but Niall, a pacifist has undergone an emotional breakdown by killing one of the chimps.
  • "The Ninja's Anthropoid Deed" ends with Norrisville liberated from the anthropoid army but Randy having been turned into one by Mc Fist.
  • "Mc Fist's Automated Anarchy" ends with Hannibal Mc Fist at long last behind bars but Randy is still in the form of an anthropoid.
• Bound and Gagged: To Niall twice.
  • The first time is in "Melonheads" where his wrist are taped together around a tree and there is tape over his mouth.
  • The second time is in "Paper Thin Disguise" where he is handcuffed and there is tape over his mouth. The fifth chapter of the story, in which it happens, is even called "Bound and Gagged."
• Character Development: Ken is initially comes across as crazy and is referred to as cowardly and clumsy. Future stories show him to be quite sane, as well as brave and competent.
• Childhood Friends: Cerdic Warburton and Mort Weinerman are revealed to have known each other since kindergarten in the second chapter of "Snickery When Damp."
• Cool Old Guy: Ken's dad, Rick Finlayson, is seventy-one years old and has apparently lived a very interesting life. He's fought Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee and has apparently spoken with Ernest Hemingway. He is also pretty okay with his grandson Niall having a preference for girl's clothes.
• Cloudcuckoolander: What Ken appears to be. He is in fact completely sane but does come across as this.
• Darker and Edgier: Than the show these fan fictions are based on with bittersweet endings and the mentioned parental abuse Cerdic went through at the hands of his stepfather being notable examples of this trope.
• Demoted to Extra: The third story in the series, "Killer Chimps in Norrisville" introduced ninth grader Niall Warburton and the beginning of Ken's diminishing role from Jet 556's RC 9 GN stories. More recent stories have placed Ken back in the protagonist role with Niall not appearing too much anymore.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Apparently Rick walked out on his first wife, Ulrica's mother and thus Niall's grandmother, when she came at him with a knife for forgetting to buy goat cheese when grocery shopping.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Niall stands at a height of four feet, is thin, has long red hair that he keeps in a ponytail and braids, long eyelashes that he darkens and thickens with mascara, feminine eyes, has a pretty appearance and long fingernails. He also wears pink and an Alice band with ribbons. He also has a feminine voice and a preference for girl's clothes. He has cut his hair to medium length and has given up mascara but even then he still looks like a girl. He has also given up the pink Alice band with ribbons for a light blue one, also with ribbons. As of "The Eerie Safari" he has grown his hair long again with a braided appearance for his female alter ago Alexis Finlayson.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: There are entries from Ken's journal which do not appear from later stories; Ken is stated to have been born in Leeville, Ontario instead of Casablanca, Morocco; Ken seeming to be actually crazy... Although that could just be a case of Character Development. There are also moments when Norrisville is stated as being in the state of New York, predating the revelation that Norrisville is located in some New England state.
• Eldritch Abomination: Moloch the Death Raptor, post-Sorcerer powering him up.
• Empathic Environment: Apparently when Mrs. Finlayson is in a certain area dogs start forming into packs and blood starts dripping down walls. It is currently unknown of just how big the radius of these happenings are.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Everyone calls Crazy Snake Man Crazy Snake Man. Guy can't even remember his own name.
• Evil Twin: The Psycho Ninja, although he only appears in one story, fits this trope as being an evil ninja to combat Randy.
• Foregone Conclusion: In the Past Lives stories, if a character is called "Invulnerable" in the Dramatis Personae then they are usually going to die.
• Gonk: Ken's mom is heavily implied to be this but new implication is that she is far beyond gonk and in monstrous appearance territory.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Ken speaks this way, using "freak" as an expletive.
• Grand Finale: "Animals Amidst Us: Crossing to the Unexplained" is chronologically the last. Set four years after Ken's arrival in Norrisville, he and Heidi are Happily Married and they have an infant son named James.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: Past lives stories "Crusades" and "The English War" are anything but black and white with both sides for each conflict having both good and bad people, however the Crusaders and the English seem to be the ones sided with the most despite this trope.
• The Grotesque: Ken is a down-played example but he isn't going to be called the best looking guy at any point.
• Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: Ken's parents are this. Though in his early seventies, Rick is stated to look like he's in his late fifties and has the looks of Humphrey Bogart. Ken's mother on the other hand, though having yet to physically appear, has been confirmed by Ken to pretty much by Gonk as hell.
• How We Got Here: The title of the second chapter of "Paper Thin Disguise", being the start of bringing the readers up to speed of how Niall ended up Bound and Gagged in a cell.
• In Medias Res: The title of the first chapter of "Paper Thin Disguise" as it opens with Niall Bound and Gagged and being pushed into a cell.
• Jekyll & Hyde: "Denticle and Fingernail" is inspired by the original Stevenson story and thus this trope comes into play.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ken has his flaws but he is a nice guy.
• Killed Off for Real: Mc Fist in "The Space Conspiracy of Mc Fist."
• Killer Gorilla: Or in the case of "Killer Chimps in Norrisville" killer chimps, which should be obvious because it is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• May–December Romance: Ken is a result of one. His dad Rick is stated to be in his early seventies. It is later revealed that Niall's mom Ulrica is Rick's daughter from a previous marriage.
• Older Than They Look:
  • Niall is a minor example. He is fourteen but looks and sounds seven years younger. His child-like appearance is a factor.
  • Niall's maternal grandfather Rick Finlayson is another example. He is in his early seventies, but looks closer to his late fifties.
• Only Sane Man: A variation. "Only Intelligent Man." Ken seems to be the only one with any intelligence to figure out that Randy is the Ninja due to Randy always using his usual voice when he is the Ninja.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Oh, are they ever. We seem to have three kinds.
  • The first are humanoid bats quite simply called "Cave Demons."
  • The second are simply called Vampires but from what is said about them they don't look any more human than the Cave Demons. They seem to lack any powers just as the Cave Demons do.
  • The third is called "Strigoi." Looks human but has magic powers.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Niall wears a sailor fuku and a light blue headband with ribbons and suddenly no one but his parents recognize him and believe him to be a seven-year old girl. This trope appears in the most recent story, naturally titled: "Paper Thin Disguise." As of "The Eerie Safari" he has gone on to wear glasses, earrings and wearing his hair in braids when in his sailor fuku making the disguise less paper thin but at this point his hair has turned white from sickness so it is still paper thin.
• Purple Prose: Jet occasionally indulges this. There is no better example than in chapter nine of "Paris and Tibet" where Ken and Heidi have sex and we are given the short paragraph that says the following: "In Heidi's room they ravished and when they ravished it was not like a captor and abductee. Nor was it like a freer and freshly-freed. Instead it was as a disenthralled gentleman and a disenthralled gentlewoman, in an attack of ardor that demanded no further blaze."
• Reincarnation Romance: The side series of "Past Lives" shows Ken and Heidi to have been couples in previous lives, Randy and Theresa too.
• Relationship Upgrade: It took seventeen stories but by "Cave Demons and Vampires in Norrisville" Ken and Heidi are officially a couple.
• Sailor Fuku: Niall's preferred set of girl's clothes. He had a pink set but they shrunk in the wash and so he instead wears a realistically coloured set with a white blouse, a collar that is navy blue, white and grey, a navy blue skirt, something that could actually appear in real life.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: "Niall Warburton and the Conundrum of the Mummy" features the titular mummy being a person in a costume.
• Shout-Out
  • Crazy Snake Man is an obvious reference to Friends.
  • The Shawshank Redemption is mentioned when Ken mentions Warden Norton and the poster of Raquel Welch in the first chapter.
  • In the second chapter, Ken refers to Randy and Howard as Abbott and Costello.
  • In the ninth chapter, Ken refers to Crazy Snake Man's house as being like an Indiana Jones movie.
• Shout-Out to Shakespeare: "Nuptials of Absurdity" is a story set at a wedding, as the title states, and features yellow socks out of Twelfth Night and hijinks worthy of Benedick and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. On the Much Ado side of things, Ken even says "I am an ass" as allusion to Dogberry. Later in the same chapter Ken quotes Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream and after Ken exits the scene Niall paraphrases a line from that same play about if because Randy has Howard's love (brotherly but Niall isn't referencing this kind) if they are getting married.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Debbie Kang is this to Ken or so he claims.
• Snooping Little Kid: A subversion. Niall takes this role in the chapter that has this tropes name in "Paper Thin Disguise" but he is fourteen even if his height, appearance and voice makes him seem like a preteen girl.
• Spotting the Thread: Ken discovered that Randy was the Ninja due to Randy never using a different voice and posture as the Ninja.
• Starter Villain: Moloch the Death Raptor. He shows up halfway through the story this article is named after and is killed in the second to last chapter.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: As we are sure you have guessed from the Grand Finale entry on this page.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Mrs. Finlayson has a whippet and she resembles one. Her name is Hecate and its name is Trivia.
• Urban Legend: Ken's dad, Rick Finlayson, is the subject of one involving him having died from exhaustion after beating both Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee in a fight. Just not is the truth stranger than fiction, it is obviously wrong since Rick could not have predeceased Lee.
• Villain Decay: Mc Fist reaches the very bottom of this, after merchandising rights in "The Space Conspiracy of Mc Fist", where he threatens to drop a space station onto Norrisville unless they give him all of his money in five hours.
• Wendigo: Featured in the story "Wendigo" but that should be obvious.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Niall does crossdress and combined with Dude Looks Like a Lady and Older Than They Look, the fourteen year old boy ends up looking like a seven year old girl.
• Who Would Want to Watch Us?: Rick has a similar response to Heidi's suggestion that maybe he should host Ken's web-series "Animals Amidst Us: Crossing to the Unexplained" instead of his son and her boyfriend. Rick can't see himself as the host of anything but a dinner party and believes that web-series are for far younger people.