Disclaimer: I don't own KND.

LilP: Well, here goes chapter two! I will try and describe what all of them look like, since they are all 16/17. Enjoy!!

Chapter 2

Kuki grit her teeth, trying with all her will power not to cry. Tears trailed down her cheeks as her brain sent yet another message that her back had third-degree burns.

Wally was holding her hand and constantly stroking back her bangs that stuck to her forehead, telling her they were almost there. He couldn't look at the burns. They looked too painful. He couldn't imagine what it must feel like.

Suddenly Kuki's whimpering stopped. He looked at her and noticed her eyes were closed. "You guys!"

Abby ran over to Kuki and looked at her. "She's passed out from the pain". A worried look crossed her face. "Hoagie, step on it!"

Hoagie pushed on the pedal harder. Clouds zipped by and Nigel had to sit down from the force.

He looked at Kuki and his hands turned to fists. Damn Father, he thought viciously. He had failed again trying to beat him. He had to take drastic measures. He had to work harder.

The ship began to slow down and they landed at Sector V. The medical team was already there, opening the doors and putting Kuki on a stretcher. They went inside the tree house to the medical room, slamming the door behind them.

The others didn't know what to do. Wally stormed into his room, closing the door, and eventually going into his bathroom to take a shower.

Nigel walked slowly out of the ship, a distressed look on his face. He closed himself in his room also.

That left Numbah 2 and 5 all by themselves. Abby walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Hoagie followed her.

"Dis is getting too serious" Abby said as she put her head in her hands. "I don't think I can take it nomore".

Hoagie looked at Abby, and noticed for the first time that she had matured. Her skin, shiny with sweat, but otherwise flawless, was the most beautiful brown he had ever seen. Her black, silky hair was in a messy braid. Her athletic body was slumped on the table. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, at least we're not alone" He smiled at her. Abby looked at him and smiled a little bit as her eyes took in his shaggy brown hair to his beautiful eyes.

"Yeah" she breathed out. Hoagie certainly wasn't chubby anymore. He had grown taller than her and had nice muscley arms and chiseled features. She blushed and looked away.

Hoagie was about to say something when the medical room door opened and the team walked out.

Abby jumped from her chair. "How is she?"

The leader, a girl with blonde hair and brown eyes, frowned. "The burns are very serious. We have to do some skin grafts. It looks like she'll have a permanent scarring on her lower back."

Abby gasped. "But she'll…survive, right?"

The leader grinned. "Oh yes, definitely. It will take a few hours to do the grafting, as we will have to remove some skin from her legs to put on her back, and she will have to stay in bed for at least a month for it to heal. She will be in a great deal of pain, but it's not life threatening.

Hoagie smiled. "Thank you so much".

The leader smiled back and nodded as the team went back into the room. Suddenly, Wally burst out of his room.

"Whot did they say? Is Kuki alroigh'?"

Abby sighed and ran her fingers through her messy braid, untangling it and letting her hair down. "She has very serious burns and they have to do skin grafts. She'll have permanent scarring and she will be in a great deal of pain while it heals, but it's not life threatening."

Wally looked sullen. "How long does it take to heal?"

Hoagie piped up. "At least a month".

Wally growled. "Dammit!" He punched the fridge. Hoagie and Abby both jumped.

"Don't worry, Numbah 4, she'll be back to normal in no time!" Hoagie said as he took off his goggles.

Abby giggled. "You must really care about her, dontcha Numbah 4?"

Wally removed his hand from the fridge and glared at her, a blush staining his cheeks. "Ah'm just worried about her because she's my friend!" There was a dent in the fridge.

"Oh really?" Abby questioned him. "Are you sure?"

Wally glared and walked out of the room, muttering. "Ah don't have time for this". Numbah 5 smirked.

"Oh man, when will dat boy get a clue?"

She stretched. "Well, Numbah 5 has to go take a shower. I feel like I just walked out of an oven."

It was unusually quiet for the rest of the day. The operatives spent the whole day resting, showering, eating, or just thinking to themselves. Really, they were emotionally drained and worried about Kuki. They all wanted to talk to her.

A sigh escaped Wally's mouth. He was lying in the middle of his wrestling ring, trying to fall asleep, but he couldn't. Kuki getting attacked by Father kept replaying in his mind. He was standing right next to her, but he failed to protect her. It could be him with the burns, not her. And permanent scarring? Kuki was surely going to be upset about that.

"Kooks" He whispered out as he thought about her. He felt like he was the one to protect her, and although he cared about Numbah 1, 2, and 5 enough to want to protect them, Kuki was a little more special to him. He didn't know why, he had always felt that way about her, ever since he was 10 years old.

6 years ago. Wow, what a long time it had been. They had stayed a team, and all of them had changed so much. Especially Kuki. She still had small, beautiful eyes, legs that went on forever, and that silky, long black hair, but now she had developed a figure and well…she was very attractive. Many boys paid attention to her when all of them were out, and Kuki just giggled and waved at them. They don't call her "The Flirt" for nothing, Wally thought.

"You must really care about her, dontcha Numbah 4?"

Well, of course he did. They were friends. But…Wally occasionally had feelings of wanting to touch her, and he thought about her all the time. Maybe he did care for her a lot…

A door opened outside of his room and he heard Numbah 1 speak. "You're finished? Is Numbah 3 alright?"

An unfamiliar voice sounded. "Yes, Numbah 1. We are finished with the grafting. She is resting but you should be able to visit her tomorrow. Please alert us if there is infection or other problems."

"Thanks so much" Numbah 4 heard Hoagie's voice say. Tomorrow he'd be able to see her. He was happy with that, and he closed his eyes, falling into a deep slumber.

It stung. Her back felt odd, like there were pieces of glue all over it that she wanted to peel off. (You know, when you put glue on your hand, it dries, and you peel it off?) There was a faint beeping in the background, and somebody holding her hand. She opened her eyes, squinting at the bright lights.

"Kooks, girl, you're awake!"

Numbah 3 looked to her left and saw Numbah 5, with a bright smile on her face. She smiled back. "Hey Abby".

"Girl, how ya feelin'?"

Kuki frowned. "My back kind of…stings a little."

Abby frowned also. "But not a lot?"

Kuki shook her head. "No, it's tolerable. What happened to me, after I passed out in the ship?"

"The medical team was here, and they did skin grafts."

Kuki's eyes widened. "Really? It was that serious?"

Abby's frown got bigger. "You got hurt pretty bad by Father, you know. But don't worry, Kooks. You'll be betta in no time! Is there anything you want?"

Kuki nodded. "My orange rainbow monkey, please".

Abby left and came back with it in a few seconds. "You know, Numbah 4 is really frettin' about you". Abby shook her braid and sat down in the chair next to the bed. "You should see da dent in the fridge he put in there yesterday. Woo Wee!"

Kuki felt her cheeks get red. "Really?"

"Yep." The door opened. "Speak of the devil". Abby smirked and got up.

It was Wally. He quietly closed the door behind him. "Kuki? You're awake!"

Abby smiled. "I'm going to leave you two alone".

When Abby left, there was uncomfortable tension in the room. Kuki's face slowly turned red, and Wally sat down on the chair. "How are ya?"

Kuki shrugged. "I could be better".

Silence.

Wally cleared his throat. Kuki hugged her rainbow monkey, and suddenly, a tear fell down her cheek.

"Whot? Kuki, why are ya cryin'? Does your back hurt really badly? I'll go get Numbah 1 to call the medical team roight away!"

"No, Wally, it's not that!" She sighed. "I'm just sick of being…such a failure."

Numbah 4 looked confused. "You're not a failure, Kuki. Everybody gets hurt in battle at least once. It wasn' your fault."

She closed her eyes. "I wish I was strong like you guys". She sniffed. "I want to be a fighter like you".

Wally took her slender hand in his big one. "O' course you're strong. You always try your hardest in battle, even if you're really scared. Why would you want to be a fighter like me anyways? Most of the time I don't use my head. You're our doctor, Kooks. You're the best there is."

Kuki opened her eyes and smiled at Wally, blushing a little. His beautiful green eyes looked back at her. "Thank you, Wally" She squeezed his hand.

Wally's eyes widened and suddenly he became interested in the lovely polishing on the wood floor. "Uh….well….tha's what friend do, roight? Friends, yeah…" He quickly got out of the chair, and left, but not before letting his hand linger on hers for a few seconds.

She watched him go, the smile still on her face, but then it disappeared once the heavy door shut. Even though he told her she wasn't a failure, she still felt like she was. Being the weakest of them all made you feel that way occasionally. Especially when you were lying in a bed, with skin grafts on your third degree burns that will take at least a month to heal.

-----------------------------

Finally, the month passed. It was a very slow month. They couldn't take any missions because one of the operatives was injured. All of them took the opportunity to improve their performance for battle. Nigel barely ever came out of his room. Abby ran 5 miles everyday, and Hoagie was working on some new ship that was supposed to be his best yet. Wally constantly worked out and punched his punching bag, pretending it was Father.

And then, when the month passed, Kuki was back to normal, healed, healthy, and well…hyper. Her friends almost wanted her back in her bed, resting. Especially now that she had decided to bake a cake with her box of Rainbow Monkey Cake mix her sister Mushi had sent her as a get-well gift.

"IT'S A PIECE OF CAKE TO BAKE A PRETTY CAKE. YOU KNOW YOU CAN"T BE LAZY! YOU GOTTA DO THE COOKING BY THE BOOK! YOU KNO-

Several kitchen utensils were suddenly thrown at Kuki, stopping her singing. She stumbled back to see Numbah 5, rubbing her eyes and looking extremely irritated.

"Girl, I'm extremely happy that you're better and all dat, but do you HAVE to sing that song?"

Kuki pouted. "It's the baking cake song though. Of course I have to sing it. Anyways, it's a beautiful morning, don't you want to be awake?"

"It's fricken 6:03 AM, Kooks".

But Kuki just walked back to her bowl of cake mix, stirring and humming happily.

Inside his wrestling ring, Numbah 4 sat up, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Even though Numbah 3 was extremely annoying, she was back to normal again. He smiled and walked slowly out of his room, in just his pajamas pants, as he didn't sleep with a shirt on.

Abby was just getting herself a glass of chocolate milk when Wally walked in, oblivious to his shirtless-ness. She smirked and drank some of the milk. Ooh, is Numbah 3 going to have a hay day, she thought snickering to herself. Kuki was smiling and humming with her eyes closed, still stirring, until she decided to open her eyes and get the sugar out. Right when she opened her eyes she saw Wally, in all his sex-godness, drinking a glass of orange juice…. SHIRTLESS.

Promptly, she dropped the box of sugar on the counter, the contents going into the sink. Her eyes traced over his lean torso, the muscles, and his freakin' 6-PACK for goodness sake. A blush graced her face as he looked over at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Um…Numbah 3, yeh dropped the sugar. Don't you want to clean tha' up?"

Kuki nodded with her mouth open, trying not to drool, and looked over at Abby, who was laughing her head off. Kuki glared at her, and began to slowly clean up the sugar, as another shirtless guy walked in: Hoagie. "Ahah" Kuki allowed herself to say out loud, receiving another weird look from Numbah 4. Abby almost spit out her milk contents as Hoagie entered the room, and to her, looking really REALLY scrumptious, as he was especially lean and muscley too.

Now both of the boys looked confused, Wally especially. Kuki was laughing her head off now, and Abby was running away to spit the milk out. After a while, Numbah 3 contained herself and took a deep breath. Then….

"OOOOH! IT'S A PIECE OF CAKE TO BAKE A PRETTY CAKE! YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T BE LA-"

Many empty, plastic glasses were thrown at her.

Later that day, everybody was dressed, (with shirts ON) and ready for the day. Since it was summer, they didn't have high school and it was a brilliant, hot day. As Nigel was still cooped up in his room, Numbah 2 tried getting him out.

KNOCK KNOCK (on Nigel's door)

"Oh, Numbah 1!!! We're gonna go to the beach!"

Grunt.

"We want you to come"

"…So?"

"Well, don't you think it's time for a break?"

"No, I'm extremely busy. I don't have time for a break"

Silence. Hoagie looked at everyone else for help. Kuki smirked and went up to the door. "Oh, but Numbah 1, guess who's going to be there in all her swimsuit splendor? LIZZIE!"

Lot's of rustling was heard. Wally shook his head. "I don' understand wha' he sees in her. She looks like a fat version of Wilma from Scooby Doo to me." Hoagie laughed and Numbah 5 hit him over the head with a magazine, yelling at him. "She's slimmed out, you bonehead!" Numbah 1 emerged in a red t-shirt and black swim trunks; his sunglasses perched in their regular spot.

"So, who's ready?"

End of Chapter 2.

Ahah…sorry if this one was a bit boring. It will get tons more exciting. Don't worry! And Wally will be shirtless again on the beach in the next chapter.

"get's hit in the head with a mallot"

LilP: Ouch, who did that?

Kuki: It was me! Stay away from Numbah 4! He is MINE!

LilP: Hey, I'm writing this story! If you're mean to me, then I won't put you together after all!

Kuki: Oh yes you will! "holds up mallot" AIIIIIIIIII!

LilP: AH!

P.S. By the way, the song Kuki was singing is from the show "Lazy Town" on Nick Jr. HAAHAHHAHAH!