A NOTE TO ALL MY READERS: This may very well be the last Fanfic I upload at FFnet. The reason is because I keep getting grief when I have to convert my fanfics so they'll display properly, and it's really becoming more hassle than it's worth. Any future 'fics of mine will be on my personal homepage (Link is in my bio).
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The five were laying in a perfect pentagon, with their heads near each other as they watched the clouds. "That one kinda looks like a duck," Kuki Sanban commented.
"Hmmm. I think it looks more like a cow." Said Hoagie.
"A -cow-?" Kuki giggled. "Don't be silly"
"That one over there looks kind of like an octopus," Nigel said with a smile.
Everyone looked towards where Nigel's finger, and soon Wally said "Wow, it -does!- It even has eight tentacles"
"Yea... and that one there looks like a butterfly." Abby added, almost distractedly.
"That one looks like a butterfly too!" Nigel said. "And that one looks like--" Nigel stopped in mid-sentance as he saw an object flash across the sky.
"Looked like what?" Begged Wally, "Come on man, tell us"
"Did anyone but me see that thing that flew across the sky just now"
Then everyone was looking as far as they could see. Soon, they were confirming that they had all seen nothing. Abby asked "What did it look like"
"It was too fast to have been an airplane. It was like a streak... a yellow streak"
"I bet it was a -comet!-" Wallabee said enthusiastically.
"Or a shooting star!" Kuki volunteered cheerfully.
"What do -you- think it was, Nigel?" Abby asked.
Nigel sat up, and all could see a smile fixed upon his face. Clearly, he had an idea.
"I bet it was a school bus"
"A -school bus?-" asked the others in unison as they sat up and looked at him quizzically.
"They can fly pretty fast, you know. Ours used to go a gazillion miles an hour"
Kuki Sanban rolled her eyes and quickly lay back down, saying "Oh no, not -this- again"
"I'm serious!" Said Nigel, "We used to fly around in it all the time"
"Yea," said Hoagie in a disinterested tone, "And we had rebuilt the engine so that it ran on root beer. You've told us all this before, Nigel"
"But I -mean- it! And we used to stop evil adults from carrying out their evil plans for world domination"
"And -I- always saved the day!" said Wallabee Beatles with a proud smile on his face. "Ain't that right, -Numbuh One"
"Well... most of the time"
"Yea, I was a real -hero!- Numbuh Three was -the man"
"Umm, Wallabee," Nigel corrected, pointing to Kuki, "-Kuki- was Numbuh Three"
Wallabee's smile dropped for a moment, and then he replied "Oh, right. So who was I again"
"You were Numbuh -Four"
"Oh, that's right. My lucky number"
Wallabee smiled at the sky as Nigel Uno sighed and lay back down.
-
"Man, it seems like only yesterday this thing was brand-spankin' new!" said Hoagie P. Gilligan to Nigel Uno. Hoagie was showing Nigel a bicycle that he had gotten two years ago and left in his garage. "When did it have time to get all these cobwebs on it"
"I guess you must've been busy for the last two years," said Nigel.
"Yea, I guess so." Hoagie scratched his head, "You know, it's funny, but I can't even -remember- the last two years. I can't even remember the last -four- years, actually. I guess whatever I was busy with, had to be really boring"
Hoagie cleaned the cobwebs off his bike, then rolled it foreward a bit before noticing "Oh man, one of the bolts is loose. Umm, there's a toolbox right over there, can you hand it to me? Thanks." Tools in hand, Hoagie immediately began doing repair work. "Seat's loose too. By the way Nigel... how did we meet"
Nigel didn't answer straight away, he first asked "You can't remember?" As if he was surprised.
"No man. In fact, it seems like the first time I met you was when we all came out of that theme park ride. You ran up to us, said 'well, that was fun, wasn't it?' and then bought us all ice cream. I thought that was pretty weird, because I could swear I've never seen you before. But then you know our names and ages, and Tommy and my mom knew you, and then Abby's sister knew me and her dad made cookies for us like he'd seen us before, so I figured we must've hanged out. Man, you'd think I'd be able to remember stuff like this"
Nigel smiled, and told Hoagie where and how they had truly met.
It wasn't until three months later that he began talking about the Kids Next Door.
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Hoagie sat up and sighed, then said "Anyone up for a game of AeroWars at the arcade"
Nigel looked at him, and said "The arcade shut down a year ago"
"What?" Hoagie asked in complete surprise, then a thought struck him, and he lay back down with an "Oh"
"That one looks like a kitty!" Kuki innocently stated, pointing out a cloud.
The others looked, and immediately Nigel said "Ooooh, there's a -dragon"
"A dragon! Wheeee! Maybe it's coming to be our friend"
"It could be coming to eat us!" Wallabee answered.
"Yea, that would be a real -drag-on!-" Hoagie said, right before he began laughing hysterically at his own joke.
Abby rolled her eyes and lay back down. Soon, everyone was laying flat on their backs once again, watching the clouds go by.
"That one looks kinda like a man on fire!" Pointed out Wallabee. Again everyone tilted their heads to look.
"Yea..." Nigel said, "And look... he has a pipe"
"Yea, he does, doesn't he"
"Yea... he kind of reminds me of"
Suddenly Kuki's hand slapped over Nigel's mouth. "Save it for later," she said, "Okay"
After hearing a muffled "Okay," she removed her hand from his mouth.
-
"Sooo, if we get decommissioned when we turn thirteen, why am I eleven?" Kuki asked Nigel Uno as they awaited the others under the shade of a tree. Though it was Fall, Kuki was not wearing her trademark green sweater, just a normal T-shirt. In fact, to hear her tell it, she had -never- worn a green sweater, least of which one with inexplicably long sleeves!
"Well... that part's kind of sad. You see," Nigel explained, "The adults were launching a major offensive. They were all gathered in the Wigglestein Mansion, which used to be right next door to our headquarters. We knew we would never win if their plans got off the ground, so we saw an opportunity and took it. We used a new and untested weapon, codename Project Gondork, also known as A Really Big Blue Shiny Laser Beam." He stopped to take a breath and let Kuki giggle at the silly name, then continued. "We fired it straight at the mansion, decimating it. The thing was, the beam kept going. At the trajectory we fired, we hit a KND base in Texas, as well as a KND transport ship when the beam finally flew off into space. No one was hurt, but a lot of Yipper cards got bent, thus losing their collector's value. The Moonbase council was really upset at us. After a long trial, they voted for our early decommissioning"
Kuki looked up at the sky for a moment, and then said "That's too sad. I think what -really- happened is that we made peace with the adults and then just resigned! At least, that's how it goes in -my- version of the story"
Nigel looked at her. "Kuki, there is no 'your version'. This -really happened"
Kuki laughed, then said "Don't be silly"
"I'm -not- being silly"
"Right, like a bunch of little kids could really build giant robots and big laser beams out of soda cans"
"We didn't -just- use soda, we also used fruit juice bags, bottlecaps, parts of broken bicycles, and a few loose ragdolls! Oh yea, and a mirror or two"
Kuki couldn't seem to stop laughing. "This is a put-on, right"
Nigel smirked. "All right, I know a way to prove it! See that tree branch up there? When we were in the Kids Next Door, we could easily catapult up there!" Nigel stood up, as did Kuki. "Now, back away, and run towards me," Nigel knelt and put his hands together, "When your foot steps in my hand, I'll launch you up and you grab that tree branch. Okay"
"Right..." Kuki said, backing away. A part of her was feeling a little timid about this as she looked at the knelt figure of Nigel Uno. What if she messed up and hurt him? What if his aim was off and she hit her head on the tree branch? Not that she thought he really had that kind of strength, to be sure, which presented a danger in itself.
But.
With a short cry, she came running at him. As planned, her right foot was in his hand. As planned, he launched. To her surprise, she made it... almost. She found herself clutching the tree branch, trying her best to hold on, to climb up.
Kuki fell right on top of Nigel Uno.
As they both lay flat on the ground, one atop the other, Kuki recovered a bit, and said "So... I can't do this with my bare hands, but I used to do this all the time while wearing a long-sleeved sweater, right"
Nigel was about to answer, when he heard a familiar voice ask "So, what exactly are ya'll doin"
He looked up. The voice had come from Abigail Lincoln. Next to her, Nigel could see Hoagie and Wally, pointing and laughing.
"Don't ask, guys," Nigel said in an irritated tone. "Just don't ask"
Kuki had hoped this would be the last of it, but Nigel Uno never admitted that he had made up the KND. In fact, it was like he became determined to prove that they exist, and that he, Kuki, and all their friends were former members. Kuki soon got tired of hearing it.
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"Hey, guys," Wallabee said, "I'm gettin' kinda tired of watchin' clouds all day. What say we do something else"
"Like what?" Abby asked.
"Well, the park's open! We could go swing"
"Or See-saw!" Exclaimed Hoagie.
"Yay!" Cheered Kuki.
"Sounds good to me," said Nigel, standing up. "Onward! To the park"
And the kids broke off into a run, seeing who could get there first. And of course, last one there was either a rotten egg, a broken wheel, or simply not very physically fit. At the end, they all pretended it was a photo finish, just because it didn't matter when in sight of those beautiful swing-sets, see-saws, and merry-go-rounds. It wasn't the Carnival, but it was the next best thing.
Both the girls ran for the swings, leaving Wally disappointed, as there were only two. "Oh man, -I- wanted to swing"
"You can have mine after I'm done." Said Abby.
"Hey Wally," said Hoagie,"We can play on the see-saws until the girls get done"
"Okay." Wally agreed. He was disappointed, but doing one thing was better than doing nothing.
Nigel leaned against a tree and watched his friends. So innocent, so blissful, so -happy-. Nigel wondered why he couldn't be like them, able to enjoy the simple things in life.
Maybe, just maybe, he could.
Nigel walked to the Merry-go-round, and began spinning it. He pushed, and pushed, until it was going really fast... only to find that he couldn't get on it, because he was too busy being hypnotically attracted to it's spin.
No, it wasn't that, he realized as it began to slow down. He once more grabbed it, and pushed some more. This time, he got on. Holding onto a rail, he sat down and watched the outside world spin by. He was glad no one could see his tears as he thought about how much this thing reminded him of the Merry-Go-Rocket.
His eyes had dried by the time the spin stopped.
-
"So," Wallabee asked Nigel, during a workout on an excercise machine Wally had set up at home, "If we were -all- decommissioned, why weren't -your- memories erased"
"You can thank my girlfriend Lizzie for that," Nigel answered. "When I told her about the trial, she told me she had read somewhere that putting tinfoil between my teeth would block the memory-erasing machine. I tried to pass some to the rest of you, but didn't get a chance. So I took what I had and put it between my own teeth"
"Yea," Wallabee responded as he put down a weight. Sitting up, Wally asked "So, what was -I- like in the Kids Next Door"
Nigel smiled. "You were strong, brave... you once jumped on top of an ice cream truck"
"Really? Wow. Did I use a pole or something"
"No. You just ran and jumped"
"Awesome! 'Ey, while you're tellin' me all this, wanna have a sparrin' session"
"Sure," Nigel answered.
"Kay! Don't worry, I won't 'urt you!" Wally said as he threw a punch which Nigel effortlessly dodged.
"You had a crush on Kuki," Nigel told him with a smirk as he did a sweep kick, a kick Wally jumped with finesse.
"That giddy Japanese girl? No way!" Wally said as he attempted a series of punches, all of which Nigel either blocked or dodged. His last punch was a left-hander, and when Nigel caught it, Wally admitted "She is kinda cute though." Wally renewed his assault with a roundhouse kick, saying "I bet I was the best fighter on the team"
"Second best!" Said Nigel with a smirk as he caught Wally's kick, and then caused the Australian to lose his balance and fall to the floor. -I- was the the best"
Wally looked at him, first wonderingly, then with sparking eyes and a spreading smile.
"Awwwwwwweeeeeeeesooooooooooooooome"
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Abby swung higher and higher, until she almost felt like she could touch the clouds. Abby laughed as the wind crashed against her face, but the laughter ended when, on a foreward thrust, she saw Nigel, sitting on the merry-go-round and staring off into space. When she next approached the ground, Abby put her feet to the ground and brought herself to a near-instant stop. Then she stood, and walked slowly over to Nigel.
"Somethin' wrong, man?" She asked, sitting down next to him.
"Huh?" He looked at her. "Oh." He placed his forehead in his left hand. "I'm just bummed out. It's nothing serious"
"Being bummed out is serious enough!" Abby declared as she stood up and began spinning up the Merry-go-round. "Hold on tight!" she said, spinning it ever faster before boarding right next to Nigel. "Now tell me you're not enjoyin' this"
"I'm getting sick!" Nigel yelled back.
Abby laughed as the spin began to slow. "Okay then, somethin' else!" Abby grabbed Nigel's arm and pulled him off the merry-go-round.
As she was doing this, Kuki had stopped swining and came up to them, asking "What's going on"
"Nigel's sayin' he doesn't have enough fun." Abby told her.
"Uhh," Nigel tried to say, "I'm fine now! It seems I -am- having a bit of"
"Quick!" Abby said, "Help me get him on the swings"
"I've got a better idea!" Kuki said, giggling as she walked over to a tree, turned towards Nigel, and knelt with her hands forming a platform in front of her.
"Huh?" Abby asked, but Nigel immediately understood.
"No, Kuki, I can't do that! I might hurt you"
"---Just do it"
Nigel paused for a minute, then said "All right. You're going to have to let go of me, Abby." Abby did so, and Nigel got ready. Then, he ran. His right foot ended up in Kuki's hand-platform, and she launched him up into the leaves, where Nigel managed to just barely catch a tree branch and began struggling to climb on top of it!
The two boys who had been on a see-saw had come closer to see what was happening, and having witnessed the entire event, Hoagie said "Wow"
Wally walked up to the tree, and said "That's pretty cool, but you did it all wrong. If you had let -me- throw him, he'd be at the top"
"How do -you- know?" Kuki demanded.
"Because -everybody- knows that boys are stronger than girls"
"Oh yea!" Exclaimed Kuki as she tackled Wallabee to the ground, and then began tickling him under the arms. "Who'se stronger -now"
Broken between the laughter, Wally complained "Hey! This is -cheating"
"Say uncle!" The Asian demanded, "---Say uncle"
"Never! ---Hoagie! Get this girl off me"
Hoagie walked up next to him, thinking maybe he could help somehow, but then he caught a glare from Kuki's eyes and said "Ummm, sorry Wallabee, but I don't get involved in personal disputes"
"-Traitor!-" Wally exclaimed, though the cry was made almost incomprehensible by his laughter.
Hanging from his tree branch, Nigel had to admit that this was all -very- amusing.
The day began to darken, and it was time for the friends to head home. After going their seperate ways, Nigel was left walking home with Abby, who'se home was very close to his.
"In all honesty," Nigel admitted, "I think I had more fun today than I ever had in my entire life... even when I was in the Kids Next Door"
Abby giggled.
Nigel looked at her. "You believe me, right? That we were all in the Kids Next Door together"
"Well... I don't know about all this spies and secret weapons stuff," Abby said, "But... I'll give you this much: I can't seem to remember anything that happened in the last couple of years, up until about six months ago. You're all I've got to go on." She smiled at him, "So... until I find out something else, I guess I'll believe whatever you say. Just don't go sayin' I was your -girlfriend- or anything, okay"
Nigel replied with seriousness, "I -have- a girlfriend"
"Geez man, I was jus' jokin'!" Then Abby put a hand on him and said "Seriously man, If any of what you tell us is true, well... I'm glad you put the tinfoil between your teeth and were able to bring us together again. I just wish it hadn't bugged -you- so much"
"Huh?" Nigel asked, confused.
"It's like you don't have a life outside of the Kids Next Door sometimes, man. Like today when you got bummed out at the park. I don't know how, but I -know- the Kids Next Door had somethin' to do with that! I'm gonna be honest, man. I -wish- I could remember half the things you talk about, because it sure sounds awesome. But sometimes I wonder if they ain't doin' us a -favor- by erasin' our memories. Yours seem to tear you up sometimes"
He looked at her, and soon understood what she was saying. "You're right"
"This is my stop, see ya later Nigel!" Abby said, letting go of him and walking home.
"Goodnight, Abby." He said, waving.
-
"Don't come in! I'm putting on my Battle Ready Armor!" Abby called, responding to a knock at her bedroom door. Abby never got tired of that joke.
The answering voice was Cree's, who also got the joke and began laughing hysterically before saying "Well, I hope you find the instant dress-up button quick, else we're gonna be late for our trip to Oklahoma"
"I'm coming!" She said, quickly getting dressed. Some key belongings had already been packed, and Abby was ready to go.
Nigel had been anxious when he heard Abby's family was going to a theme park in Oklahoma. Theme parks are naturally dangerous places, and worse he wondered if Cree would try to off her sister in some despicable way. But the family came back a week later, and Abby was still alive and seemed like she had a lot of fun. Her and Cree had even taken a picture together.
Nigel brooded over this, during that week's date with Lizzie. Finally, interrupting a long stream of one-sided conversation coming from Lizzie's mouth, Nigel asked "Have you ever heard of the Kids Next door"
Lizzie blinked, then thought for a moment, then said "Nope, can't say as I have. Now as I was saying"
It was like all evidence had just disappeared, just like that. Nigel never saw a giant robot in the streets. He had seen Mr. Wigglestein since the decommissioning, only to find that the only "power of fire" he had was the matches he used to light his pipe. Finally, Nigel snuck into an R-rated movie, only to find out that they really -were- inappropriate for children.
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Ever since that trip to the park, Nigel Uno never again tried to argue that the Kids Next Door had been real. As time went on, he began talking about it less and less, until finally he stopped bringing it up at all. Nigel stopped living in a mental box, and he began to enjoy other things, and to tell other stories. But don't take this to mean that he lost faith, because Nigel Uno always did and will always thoroughly believe that he was a member of a super-secret organization called the Kids Next Door. But those days were over, he knew, and he knew it was time to move on.
There was another thing he never lost:
His four best friends.
THE END