Two Percent
Number 5 slowly walked into the kitchen, bobbing her head up and down, headphones on and volume up.
She and Number 1 were the only ones to ever wake up so early, if you considered eight o' clock early anyway.
Abigail began preparing her Rainbow Munchies cereal, still bobbing her head and humming to herself.
"GOOD MORNING NUMBER FIIIVVVEEEE!"
Abby dropped the milk carton and nearly cried out in alarm, not expecting someone else to disturb her so early in the morning. She turned her head to identify the offender, though she felt confident she already knew.
"Good mornin, Numbuh three. Now would you be kind enough to help me clean up all this milk I spilled?" Her eyes narrowed, hands on her hips.
Kuki giggled. "Of course silly. I'm sorry I made you spill it, I'll clean it ALL up. " The Japanese girl joyously proceeded with her task.
Abby shook her head, and despite herself, smiled. That girl could get away with anything.
Number 5 opened another carton of milk, and this time, succeeded in preparing her delicious meal. After cleaning and singing, Number 3 decided to join her.
Both her and Sanban ate in relative silence. Eventually Kuki couldn't take it anymore, and decided to ask whatever was at the forefront of her mind.
"So is Wally alright? He looked pretty mad yesterday, and I haven't seen him since he went to bed last night...You talked to him right?" Sanban's eyes were full of concern for her friend.
By the time Abby and Wally had made it back upstairs the night before, the rest of their team had gone to asleep, or went back to their rooms. The two of them decided to retire as well, and parted ways.
Abigail smirked, every time she talked to this girl, she was reminded of the reasons why she considered her, her best friend. "Don't worry baby, Number four just needed to let out some pent up frustration. Far as I know, he should be back to normal by now." She leaned back in her chair, snapping her fingers.
Kuki sighed in relief, before a curious look made its way across her face.
"What did you two talk about?"
"Oh. Uhhhh...well you would have to talk to Numbuh four to find that out. It's kinda personal, ya know?"
"But Number fiiiiivvve! Pleeaaase?" She unleashed the best puppy dog face she could conjure against her friend. Perhaps she would give in to the cuteness!
Number 5 almost broke under the stare, until she reminded herself of the promise she made.
"No, sorry girl. But I made a promise I intend to keep. Why can't you just go talk to him about it? I'm sure he would...appreciate your concern." Abby winked, causing Kuki to blush.
"You know why Abigail-"
"Morning girls." Hoagie Gilligan sauntered into the room.
Kuki stopped herself short, but Abby didn't mind, she already knew what she was about to say.
"Mornin Numbuh two. You're up early today." Abigail casually replied.
"I got hungry. By the way, Number four scared the crud outta me last night on my way to bed! I started climbing up my ladder, ready to have a nice long sleep after reading some comics, and right when I reached the top, he jumped out of my bed and roared at me! He even threatened to knock the ladder over once I figured out it was him."
Kuki Sanban giggled, smiling innocently before commenting- "So that's what I heard last night!"
Number 5 chuckled, directing a mischievous grin in Hoagies direction. "Oooo wii, you musta screamed pretty loud for Number three to hear you. From the other side of the Tree House."
"Oh come on guys! It's too early to start making fun of me! I was going to ask you if he was mad at me or sumthin. But no, lets not let Hoagie finish what he wanted to say." Numbuh 2 retorted, waving his spoon in the air as he talked.
"Like I told my girl here, you'll have to talk to him yourself to figure that out." Number 5 answered calmly.
Kuki Sanban and Hoagie Gilligan exchanged glances, before switching their attention back to their cool friend.
"So, you and Number four have been hanging out a lot lately, huh?" Number three observed, her voice leveled out and became slightly deeper.
"They must have started 'training' together recently. Must be pressured to keep their titles as the two best hand to hand combatants in the KND after all." Hoagie sounded rather sarcastic.
'somethin aint right here...' Abigail Lincoln dropped her feet back to the floor and leaned forward.
"Ya, we have been hanging out and training together lately. Cause we are friends after all." She accentuated the word friend, hoping they would get the message.
The room grew tense, and right before Number three could reply,
"Good morning team, could someone go wake Number four? We need to leave for a mission in an hour or two and I want him to be prepared." she got interrupted by Number 1. He walked in, hands behind his back, and observed his surroundings before deciding to join the others in breaking their fast.
"I'll do it!" Kuki jumped up and left in the blink of an eye.
Hoagie shook his head, Numbuh 5 silently thanked Nigel for the interruption. She was not prepared to deal with her friends strange reactions so early in the morning.
Kuki pranced happily through the halls, singing to herself the entire time. It was natural to her by now, so natural she rarely ever realized she was doing it. Many times someone else, usually Wallabee, would be the one to 'inform' her about her humming.
Once she reached the doorway with the large '4' on it, she stopped to listen. A strange noise emanated from Wallies room, it sounded like... guitars?! Why would Wally be sitting in his room ,all alone, listening to hard rock this early in the morning?
Whatever. Time to 'wake' him up!
She kicked his door open-"WALLY! IT'S TIME TO GET UP! THERE'S RAINBOW MUNCHIES WAITING FOR YOU IN THE KITCHEN!"
The music stopped after a few moments, she heard some movement, accompanied by a few grunts and curses. Finally, his head popped into view.
"Why do I have ta get up right now? I wanna listen to some music!" He yelled back from atop his Wrestling Ring.
"We have to get ready for a mission! Numbah one said so!" Kuki replied happily.
Wally sighed, perhaps it was time he faced reality again. "...Whateva. Ill be right down I guess."
True to his word, Wallabee Beetles jumped right down.
"How did you sleep grumpy head?" Wally looked up once she started talking again.
"Fine... Lets get movin."
The two polar opposites started back to the holy kitchen, one filled with Rainbow Munchies and soda.
For awhile it stayed perfectly silent, neither one talking. Kuki hummed softly to herself, and this time Number 4 didn't seem to mind. Both were too deep in thought to care about such small details.
Kuki stopped, earning a curious glance from Wallabee.
"Um...Number four?"
"What?"
"You okay? You seemed pretty upset yesterday..." She laced her fingers together, and looked straight into Wallies green eyes.
"...Uhh yeah. I'm fine...You okay?" He rubbed the back of his head and turned his face away, trying to hide the faint blush on his cheeks. This had turned awkward fast. Once he looked back, the girl answered.
She smiled at him. "Of course I am silly! Now come on, before Hoagie eats all the cereal!"
He finally let himself smile, damn she was good.
"Alright Team, after our successful infiltration of Fathers mansion, and destruction of their disgusting party, we need to be ready at all times for a counter attack. Be careful, never walk around alone. You'll make yourself an eas-"
"THIS is the mission I had to get up for?! Grocery shopping?! Of all the cruddy missions-Can't you guys do this job without me?"
Nigel simply adjusted his glasses, the interruption not disturbing him in the least.
"We know you hate grocery shopping, but none of us like it very much either. And since we all eat the food stored at the tree house, we must all chip in to keep it stocked up. Do you understand?"
Number four growled before replying. "OF course I understand. But I just thought since I'm apparently too stupid to follow simple orders, you would rather leave me behind unless you had something dumb for me to do!"
Nigel's eyes widened in confusion at his outburst, Number two went pale. A silence settled over the team for a second, none of them knowing how to react.
Number five was the first to recover, knowing she had to do something now or waste time sitting in a parking lot. "Now is not the time for this, lets get goin. C'mon Numbuh four." She put her arm around his shoulders. Then dropped it back down the second she noticed the strange glares she got from two of her teammates...
"...Wally and Kuki take care of the drinks, Abby, Hoagie and I will gather the food and...Delicacies." Nigel called them by their real names, everyone was slipping up now.
They headed out, ready to take on the world of grocery shopping. A realm where normally, adults ruled and kids followed, bored out of their minds. A place where parents could take hours to choose between two different kinds of milk, as the kid dreamed of getting back home to play video games and watch T.V..
But now, the Kids Next Door were here, and they were going to do things their way.
Number 3 and 4 worked together to gather the teams favorite carbonated drinks. Kuki threw, Wally caught.
"Numbuh four! CATCH!" Kuki rapidly tossed the last soda bottles they needed in his direction. Number 4 was not about to get shown up by some cruddy sheila.
He caught each one in the bag, not missing a beat. He smiled to himself, proud his reflexes were improving.
"Got it! Any left Kooks?!"
"No! Now we just need to get the milk and orange juice! Come on!" She pranced away, leaving Number four to carry all five bags full of carbonated goodness by himself.
Meanwhile, Numbers 1,2 and 5 gathered the teams favorite snacks, foods, and candies. Number 5 covered the candy, Number 1 gathered the 'food', and Number 2 made sure to get the snacks and ice cream.
They worked fast, gathering their goods into a single shopping cart.
"I hope the other two remembered to get one of these. Otherwise, Wally might end up carrying everything. Again." Sighed Number 1.
"Don't worry about them Number one. If it worked last time, it'll work again. Besides, Number four is too prideful to admit using a cart is easier. So Abby says, let em go."
"True. I still think we should bring them a cart once we are done. So we can get everything and go quicker. Before any of our enemies notice us." Hoagie decided to join them, as he finished picking out a few flavors of ice cream.
Nigel nodded his head. "Agreed. Do you think I collected enough corn dogs?" He raised his eyebrow toward the other two, wanting their input.
Abigail raised her eyebrows. "Yes, two bags full is more than enough. Lets go before Number three accidentally crushes Numbah four under a mound of soda and milk."
"2%? Or 1%? Which do you prefer Wally?"
Number 4 stood shaking under the combined weight of the soda, orange juice, and random grape juice Number 3 decided to throw on top. Waiting for Kuki Sanban to make a decision about which milk to choose.
"Oi' don't care! They're all milk! What difference does it make?" Perhaps he should have grabbed a cart...
"Hmm... Maybe I should get the whole milk. What do you think Wally?" She seemed to have not heard him the last time.
"GAAAHH! Just get the 2% so we can leave!"
"OKAY!"
She threw the milk on top energetically, Wallabee nearly collapsed under the added weight. But he stayed strong.
"Alright, Lets-get-outa-here!" Number 4 struggled with each step, causing Kuki to finally notice how much he was suffering.
"Here, let me take some for you." She went to take a couple, to try and relieve her... friend from some of the burden.
"No! I-Don't-Need-Any help. Come-on!" He slowly walked to the cashier. Kuki shrugged and happily skipped along side him. If he was gonna be stubborn, he would have to learn the hard way.
She was about to give in, and forcefully take some of the bags, but a greater relief got to them first.
"Hey! You two need some help?" Hoagie announced, riding a cart towards them, a smirk graced his features and a cowboy hat sat upon his head.
Wally nearly protested, but quickly changed his mind after almost falling over. So he dumped everything into the cart, secretly relieved he didn't have to carry them any more.
At the check out counter, all five helped pay for the amassed amount of goods. Of course, they were using KND funds, since they were using it for KND activities after all. The kids got some strange looks, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary took place.
Sector V exited the store, and headed towards their parked vehicle. Eager to get home and eat some of the new loot they had acquired.
"I. Hate. Shopping! I never want to do this again!" Number four stomped his foot on the concrete in a violent protest.
"Oh, but we got some shoppin to do next month baby!" Number five teased. It was too easy to get on his nerves.
"GAAAHH! Do it yourselves next time. I refuse to go ever again!"
No one spoke up, they all knew he would come with them, no matter what he said.
Before they entered their 'School Bus', Nigel turned around to congratulate his team on a job well done.
"This run turned out to be our fastest yet, and the only time we have not been attacked by Sticky Beard, Mr. Boss, or whatever villainous adult whom would dare to interfere with our shopping. Good job team." He smiled proudly, and they returned it in kind. He and his team worked together perfectly. Partly due to the fact they all had natural talent, but most of it was due to the fact of how close they were to each other, how much they understood each other. Each one of them trusted the rest of their team to get their backs, and not fail at their given job. His smile shrank, he would miss them once all this ended...
BOOOOM
The ground shook, shrapnel shot everywhere.
"What the cr-" Number 4 was cut off by yet another loud explosion, finishing off the School Bus aircraft.
Sector V's only way of transportation- destroyed!
"GREAT! How are we gonna get home now?!"
That was the least of their worries, as a mixture of ice cream men and Sticky Beards pirates surrounded them.
