KIDS NEXT DOOR

CODENAME: D.E.L.I.G.H.T.F.U.L.

Delightful

Enemy

Likes

Impossible

Girl

Hidden

Terrifically

From

Unusual

Liker

"Kids Next Door, battle stations!" Nigel Uno, or rather, Numbuh 1, screamed.

Numbuhs One to Five scrambled to their positions, each of them pointing their weapons at the intruders. Wally Beatles, or Numbuh 4, pointed his gumball gun and pressed a switch that launched lots of multicolored gumballs at the intruders, who had just emerged from a ship. The ship's design couldn't be seen through the mist, so Sector V thought they were intruders.

"I DIDN'T GIVE THE SIGNAL YET!" Numbuh 1 roared, but as he said that, he waved his arms, which was the signal.

Kuki Sanban, or, more precisely, Numbuh 3, shot teddy bears with her gun at one of the intruders. A barely audible 'oof!' was heard from the intruder, and the person fell to the floor.

"STOP! STOOOP!" One of the intruders screamed. Sector V identified it as Numbuh 362's voice.

Hoagie Gilligan, or Numbuh 2, dropped his B.A.J.O.O.K.A. and said sheepishly, "Sorry Numbuh 362. We thought you were an intruder, the way you entered the tree house…"

"Yeah, well, that was certainly a great way to welcome the foreign operative." Numbuh 362 said sarcastically.

Numbuh 3 squealed, "Ooh! Are we having a house party? Visitors mean a house party!"

"Numbuh 3, we're not having a house party." Abigail Lincoln, or, Numbuh 5, said. "Numbuh 5 thinks that Numbuh 362 has a lot of explaining to do."

Numbuh 362 sighed, but she explained, "OK, see, we've got this plan all worked out…"

"WHAT PLAN?" Numbuh 4 shouted impatiently.

The blond girl snapped, "I'm getting to that! Now, the plan was to have one foreign operative stay with a sector for around, oh, two weeks at the most, but the length of the stay may be permanent. Now, Sector V was tagged it for the first two weeks, and I took it upon myself to bring her here myself."

"A girl?" The three boys asked simultaneously, with disbelieving looks on their faces.

Numbuh 362 nodded. "Yeah. Numbuh 6.13 of Sector R. Leader of Sector R. One of the five leaders in the Philippine Kids Next Door." The girl jerked her thumb at the girl behind her, who stepped into view.

"Numbuh 6.13, reporting for duty, sir!" The girl said. Like any other Filipino, Numbuh 6.13 had raven black hair and dark, yet seemingly bright brown eyes. But, unlike any other Filipino, Numbuh 6.13 had fair toned skin, and not the brown skinned tone of the Philippine citizens. She was also one inch shorter than Numbuh 3, but an inch taller than Numbuh 4.

Numbuh 4 observed her closely before muttering, "If Numbuh 362 hadn't mentioned she was an operative, I would've thought she was one of the Delightful Dorks…"

It was true that Numbuh 6.13 looked like one of the Delightful Children from Down the Lane, because of the sailor suit she was wearing. But the sailor suit wasn't really like the Delightfuls' at all, because, in the middle of the ribbon that tied up the collar sat a bottle cap badge with the number '6.13' on it, similar to the number 2 on Numbuh 2's hat. Her socks were lime green, and her sneakers were mauve and white. A white flower clip kept her hair from going into her eyes.

"You will refer to her as Numbuh 6.13 here in the tree house, and outside as Flordeluna. Or, Luna, if you will…" Numbuh 362 glanced at Numbuh 6.13 curiously, awaiting her reaction.

Numbuh 6.13 giggled softly. "Call me Luna."

Numbuh 362 saluted. "Then I'd best be off then. I'm supposed to be doing something important at the moon base. Sector V, thank you. Oh yeah," Numbuh 362 entered the ship again before bringing out a suitcase. "Numbuh 6.13, here's your stuff. Now goodbye." She launched herself into space once again.

Eerie silence passed between the six operatives for a few minutes, Sector V having a stare down with the leader of Sector R. Then, Numbuh 3 spoke up.

"Do you like Rainbow Monkeys?" The Japanese operative asked sweetly.

Numbuh 4 face palmed. "That's not the way you're supposed to greet her!"

"What are Rainbow Monkeys?" The Filipino operative questioned curiously.

Numbuh 3 ran back to her room and brought out a Rainbow Monkey, which she showed to Numbuh 6.13. "This is a Rainbow Monkey! Aren't they cuuute?"

"I guess so…" Numbuh 6.13 glanced around. "Er, I haven't asked who you guys are yet. Sorry, so let's start again. I'm Numbuh 6.13, leader of Sector R of the Philippines."

"I am Nigel Uno." Numbuh 1 declared proudly. "Otherwise known as Numbuh 1, leader of Sector V of Virginia."

"My Hoagie is name, I mean my Numbuh is Gilligan." Numbuh 2 laughed nervously at his slip up. "I mean my name is Hoagie Gilligan, Numbuh 2!"

"I'm Numbuh 3!" Numbuh 3 giggled. "Kuki Sanban, nice to meet you! And this guy's Wally!" She tackled Numbuh 4 in a bone crunching hug.

The Australian operative winced as he said, "Name's Wally Beatles, or Numbuh 4. Oh crud, Kuki, stop hugging me, it hurts!"

"Hello, Numbuh 5 is pleased to meet ya. Abigail Lincoln, but you can call Numbuh 5 Abby." Numbuh Five smiled vaguely at the leader of Sector R.

Numbuh 1 cleared his throat. "Ahem, now that we've introduced each other, we'll have to discern who will have to share their room. Numbuh 5, Numbuh 3, you're the only girls of Sector V. Which one of you?"

"I don't mind!" Numbuh 3 said cheerfully.

Numbuh 5 nodded. "Numbuh 5 doesn't mind either."

"Then, if both of you don't mind, we'll settle this with the old Filipino tradition of bato-bato pick!" Numbuh 6.13 piped in.

"Bato bato pick?" Numbuh 4 asked, confused.

Numbuh 6.13 explained, "It's simple really. Its rock paper scissors. Though, paper isn't mentioned in the name…"

At the count of three, Numbuh 5 and Numbuh 3 engaged in a rock paper scissors match, and Numbuh 5 won. The girl pumped her fist into the air, screaming, "Numbuh 5 is so aweeesome!"

"OK, we'll bring your stuff into Numbuh 5's room later, but for now, let's just stay on the couch waay over there and ask Luna stuff." Numbuh 2 said. When he saw Numbuh 1 glaring at him, he shrugged. "Hey, since we're in our own clubhouse, we might as well call each other by our real first names, right?"

"Oh, all right." Nigel sighed. "Wally, come on, drag Luna's suitcase along."

Wally muttered a few words, to which Kuki giggled at as they traipsed towards the room where they do all sorts of stuff that was fun.

"So, who are the members in your Sector, Luna?" Hoagie asked curiously.

Luna mumbled something under her breath. "Come again?" Nigel said.

"Oh, sorry." Luna sighed quietly. "Well, you know me, the leader. I'm supposedly the toughest among the Philippine Sector leaders, and also the one a bit hated for being Delightful."

"You're a Delightful Dork?" Wally asked, nearly dropping Luna's suitcase.

"No." Luna shook her head. "It's simply the fact that I follow adults' orders without a fight is why they consider me a Delightfulized KND leader. But I'm not. I'm simply an infiltrator. Heck, would I be considered Delightful if I said words like crud, and if I'm nearly always a bit mean?"

"Now this I like." Wally smiled.

Abby waved her hand around. "OK, OK, Numbuh 5's getting impatient here. Now who did you say your members were?"

"Well… we've got my second in command, Samantha." Luna ticked off her members with one of her hands. "I guess she's the Numbuh 2 in my Sector, since she's a techno geek. The Numbuh 3 in my Sector is Ria, and the Numbuh 4 in my sector is, well, me, I guess. I'm kind of a blend of Numbuh 1 and 4. Flynn is our cool person, and the only guy…"

"WHAT?" Nigel, Hoagie, and Wally exclaimed.

"I said, Flynn is our cool person, and the only guy." Luna deadpanned, clearly oblivious to the looks of pure horror on their faces. "Then, Jacquiline, Raissa and Nicole are the sort of triplets in my Sector, and they're usually picked by me to go on spy missions. And we had one more member, but…" At this Luna nearly choked. "Bianca got…decommissioned…"

"Numbuh 5's so sorry." Abby patted Luna's back reassuringly. "Numbuh 5's sure Bianca was a good friend and a great operative.

"She was." Luna sighed. "My bestest friend, even. And now we barely talk to each other, after all we've been through!"

"Oooh, I'm getting all teary eyed." Wally rolled his eyes.

Luna ignored his backhanded comment. "Hey, is this the room you guys were talking about?" The group stopped in front of a door.

"Yeah. Nothing cruddy in here." Wally grinned, and entered the room, followed by Nigel, Abby, Luna, Hoagie and Kuki.

"Wooow. We haven't got anything like this back home! Ang galing!" Luna said in awe, though the last part was spoken in her native language.

"Say what?" Abby asked, hearing the two words roll off Luna's mouth.

Luna giggled. "Sorry. It means 'Awesome' in English."

"Crud! I'm getting a History lesson!" Wally clutched his head melodramatically.

Kuki rolled her eyes. "Silly Wally! That's a Language lesson, not a History lesson!"

"Whatever!"

Standing behind Luna, Hoagie could see a little bit of Luna's hairclip's behind, which looked metallic. He reached for it, and suddenly, Luna's eyes flashed as she grabbed the clip and threw it at Hoagie. The boy ducked immediately, but his hat was not spared. His hat came flying off his head, stuck to the flower hairclip, which immediately stuck itself to the wall.

"WHOAH!" Wally jaw dropped at Luna's show of skill.

Hoagie was surprised as Luna said simply, "No one touches the clip."

"How'd you do that?" Nigel asked, amazed.

Luna explained, "Simple. Sam develops weapons that suited each of our Sector members personally, and the F.L.U.R.I.K.E.N. is mine."

"What does that mean?" Kuki asked.

Luna walked over to the clip and pulled it out before grabbing the hat and walking back to Hoagie. "Sorry about your hat." She said apologetically."It means Fanciful Lilac Unleashes Really Important Kid Enigma Now."

"What a cruddy acronym." Wally muttered.

Luna chuckled lightly, as if she didn't mind. Then, a few seconds passed before she grabbed Wally by the front of his jacket and lifted him off the floor as if he was a feather. The Australian boy gulped uneasily.

"Insult the acronym one more time and I'll tear your guts out." Luna hissed with narrowed eyes. This was the side of Luna that was rarely seen, unless she was really irritated.

"OK! OK! Oh crud, put me down!" Wally begged. Luna brought him down again, but gently this time.

Luna smiled sweetly. "I'm glad you see my way, Wally!"

Mental Note. Hoagie thought, imagining a pencil scribbling on a notepad. Do not make Luna mad.

"OK, so, can you guys tell me what sorts of adults or enemies or somethings that you usually attack?" Luna headed for one of the sofas and sat down, a bit primly.

Nigel sat down in the sofa across her as he replied, "Well, we usually try and drive off the Toilenator…"

"Toilenator? That's a pretty stupid name." Luna said, leaning forward a bit in amused interest.

Abby laughed as she took a place beside Nigel. "Numbuh 5 thinks so too. Come on, he's practically stupid enough to be a Delightful Dork."

"Delightful Dork?" Luna was really interested now. "Who's that?"

"You mean who are they." Hoagie sat on Abby's other side, making the two other operatives on that couch groan in protest. "They're the Delightful Children From Down The Lane, five kids who were Delightfulized into obeying Father, an insane adult who wants kids to be obedient to adults everywhere."

"They sound like the enemies we fight back in the Philippines." Luna leaned back again, sighing. "They sound like the Insane Knife Loving Quadruplets Hidden In The Mountain."

"What the cruddy heck?" Wally took a seat beside Luna. "That sounds stupid!"

"Hey, they picked it themselves."Luna shrugged. "Come on Kuki, sit down beside Wally."

Kuki skipped to her seat and sat down, giving Wally another bone crushing hug. The boy could hardly breathe as Kuki hugged him as tight as she would hug her Hugging Lover Rainbow Monkey.

"DCFDTL, and IKLQHITM. Weird…" Nigel groaned as Abby was pushed into his side by a stretching Hoagie. "Enough with the pushing already!"

"So, tell me more about the Delightful Children." Luna was getting a vague memory from the name. Where had she heard it before? "What do they look like?"

"Well…" Abby was about to answer when the walls crashed down as a robot smashed into the wall. "There's your answer. Now quick, hide into that broom closet over there! We don' want them to see you!"

"Why in heck would you have a broom closet?" Luna asked, stupefied, before diving into the broom closet and closing the door up to a tiny crack, where she could see the battlefield.

"Well, well, well. Hello, Kids Next Door." Five voices chorused.