Memory
A/N: Number 11 of the 100 Theme Challenge.
Ok I decided to call this one memory even though it's not quite a memory. I started it out as something completely different but then it turned out like this and Memory seemed to fit the story best. I own nothing except the orange rainbow monkey and Numbuh 53. Oh and this is not in the series of the other one shots I was doing. You know how Wally and Kuki got together and then the other one shots followed them? This is a different 'series'
I sat by myself, thinking about rare silence that fell over the wooden tree house like a blanket over a bed. Usually there was so much noise, so much insanity…. So much fun. But not anymore. Not now anyway. It's over. Maybe not forever, maybe not for long but for now it's over.
I looked at the thing I held in my hands and allowed myself a small smile. So many memories, so many precious memories. All to be wiped away with a push of a button. That had already happened to my friends. Their memories of me, memories of our good times, and memories of each other have been wiped away and erased forever.
First it was Abby Lincoln or the ex-Numbuh 5. Oh she was incredible. So calm and cool all the time. My second-in-command and my best friend. She put so much into the organization and so much into the team, to be wiped away so quickly. I had asked her why she didn't try and escape the horrible fate which awaited her on the day of her 13th birthday and all she did was look at me with those big amber eyes.
"Numbuh 5's not gonna end up like Cree." She said simply before letting Numbuh 86 lead her away.
I remember crying then and crying hard. A few months later, my other best friend was… led away.
Wally Beetles to his teachers and Numbuh 4 to us. He was a great fighter and an even better friend. He had a very short temper but you could always count on him to get you out of trouble, unless it was him who was in trouble. When he was decommissioned I asked him the same question I had asked Num… I mean Abby. He, much like her, stared at me, making his emerald green eyes get very big.
"Ah couldn't do that to yeh." He had said before turning around and walking onto the decommissioning ship, never looking back.
Oh yes. I cried buckets after that. There were only three members of Sector V left. How depressing.
The next to be decommissioned (how I hate that word!) was Hoagie Gilligan or ex-Numbuh 2. I can't say that he was one of my best friends but we were definitely close. Especially after Wally and Abby 'left'. The slightly chubby 2x4 technology officer. Very easygoing and was always telling lame jokes. I remember him telling one right before I asked my trademark question and I decided to give him a laugh. I felt he deserved it.
But yes. I did ask that same question I had asked others before him. After I asked he tilted his head in a confused way and pushed his pilot's goggles up so I could see his smoky gray eyes and know that he was being serious.
"That never even crossed my mind." He had said solemnly before nodding at me and following the new Decommissioning Commander into the plane.
My eyes were wet all night and into the following week as well. I was almost alone. Great.
Two months after Hoagie had left it was Nigel Uno's or Numbuh 1's turn. He had been there with me all through the past decommissionings but now I was facing one alone. And yes. I'm sure you know what happened next. I asked the question one last time.
"Why don't you try to escape?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
Nigel took off his sunglasses and looked at me, just as Abby, Wally, and Hoagie had done before him.
"Because I have no wish to destroy what I've worked so hard to accomplish." He said gravely, before taking a deep breath and leaving in a plane. I looked up at the underside of the ship as it rose in the air and, strangely, my eyes were stone dry. There was no hint of me crying again. Maybe I had cried myself out. Perhaps I didn't see the use of crying anymore.
When the ship was but a spot in the sky, I turned my back on it and headed off to my bedroom. I was supposed to be clearing out Nigel's room so that when I was decommissioned the new Sector V could move in, but I just ignored that. I had never had to clean out my friend's room before. Wally, Hoagie or Nigel had done it before. For me it seemed insulting. We had been a team. A group of friends and I was supposed to dump their stuff in a box and leave it by the garbage? No. I wouldn't do it. I couldn't do it. I knew personally that Wally had put all of Abby's stuff in the attic of her house, Hoagie had put all Wally's stuff in the attic of his house and Nigel, of course, had put all Hoagie's stuff in the attic of his house. So I would put all Nigel's stuff in his attic. If they ever found the stuff it might help them remember. Remember all the times we had had together.
The only thing was… Who'd put my stuff in the attic of my house? No one. I was alone now. Maybe I could do it myself. But no. That would be breaking the tradition. So I'd leave my stuff. Just leave it for the new Numbuh 3. I hope they treat it well.
Currently I am waiting for my decommissioning ship to arrive. It's been 5 months since Abby's decommissioning, 4 since Wally's, 3 and a half since Hoagie's and 2 since Nigel's. Two long months that I have been alone. Not for long. I will meet new people in school. New friends. Maybe I'll meet old friends as well. Maybe.
I look up as the oh-so-familiar sound of that creaking decommissioning ship sounds for the fifth time in five months. Time to go.
I stand up, smile at the old orange rainbow monkey I had been hugging all morning, leave it on the couch and walk out to the aircraft hanger.
"Ready, Numbuh 3?" The new decommissioner, Numbuh 53 asked.
"Yes." I said. After all what else could I say? As I walked up the ramp I asked myself the question that I had already asked my friends.
Why don't I try to escape? I asked silently.
I thought a bit before the answer showed up clearly in my head.
You know. My friends all came up with good reasons. I can't seem to come up with a good reason not to escape. But I guess that it doesn't really matter. I wouldn't try to escape anyway. Not for the world. My friends all went quietly and so will I.
And so concludes the memoirs of one Kuki Sanban, aka Numbuh 3 of the greatest sector ever. There is just one more note that I decided to add to this.
This is just an epilogue like thing to add to the end of Sector V's journal, I want to tell what happened after. The group was reunited, through no help from me or anyone else.
Nigel Uno became a smart, leader like figure to a small group of friends. He met up with Wally Beetles and Abby Lincoln, as he had known them before the KND so now they hang out a lot.
Hoagie Gilligan became the winning science student for Gallagher High School and does hang out with Nigel, Abby and Wally. He was admitted into the group after he and Wally found a mutual love of cheese.
Wally Beetles became very interested in sports but still finds time to hang out with his friends. He is dating cheerleader Kuki Sanban who was the last of the former Sector V to join the group.
Abby Lincoln is…. Well she's just Abby Lincoln. Though there are rumors concerning her and Nigel.
So all in all, Sector V had a happy ending. Whether it was the way they wanted it to be or not. This is the last entry of Sector V's Diary as the legendary Sector V is gone, but it is opened often just to read their stories.
Best Wishes,
Numbuh 4
a.k.a.
Joey Beetles
Current Fighter for Sector V
THE END
A/N: Surprised? Didn't expect it to be Joey did you? Let me tell you, neither did I. I had a lot of trouble coming up with the person who'd be narrating the end. Oh well. Review if you want to. I just wrote this because I hadn't written anything in so long. Hope you enjoy.
Super Reader