January 15th - 3:40am

Marie didn't even bat an eyelid when the door to their family trailer opened and shut with a bang, revealing her older sister. It wasn't uncommon for Lee to be wandering around at night, the way she would party all night or terrorize people until they couldn't take it anymore. Marie was somewhat past that stage of intense bullying herself, but she had taken on the persona tonight to weasel information out of anybody and everybody she came across.

"Did you find her?" she asked as Lee as the curly haired girl sat on the couch. The answer was obvious by the look on her face.

"Yes and no."

Marie raised an eyebrow. Not what she had been expecting. "What the hell, Lee? It can't be both, idiot."

Lee smacked her in the head, making her wince. "Yes it can, now shut up and listen! I ran into the little ginger twerp and her little brace face boyfriend. Said something about big Ed runnin' off in the direction of the Wilds while May chased him. I guess they're both somewhere over there."

"And you didn't notice May running off how? You were right there when it happened," Marie scolded. Sometimes she wondered who exactly was the oldest sibling.

"That's more than I can say for you, Marie. You didn't even come with us. Didn't you want to see your beloved sockhead?" Lee said, kicking off her shoes and sticking them on the table.

Marie crinkled her nose at the sudden odor. "I've decided to take a less hands on approach, if you will. I don't have the best brains of us for nothing, ya know. Besides, didn't you tell me before that he wasn't there? There wouldn't have been much point in me going. Too boring. No, Imma work on my master plan."

"Master plan? Care to share, Marie?" Lee said as Marie started cleaning up the trailer (the first time in a month, probably).

"Nope," Marie said. Her yellow-ish teeth showed clearly when she smiled. "Not for now, anyway. Shouldn't we be focusing on May? It's her own damn fault for being an idiot, but we can't just leave her out there to get mauled by, I dunno, a drop bear or somethin'."

"What the hell is a drop bear?" Lee positioned herself so she was completely lying on their small sofa.

Marie's smile grew wider. "This is why I'm the brains of this operation, Lee."

"Well, May can take care of herself. She got her butt into this mess so she can get herself out of it."

"Whatever."

The trailer was silent for a while save for the television and the clatter of the dishes as Marie washed up. Only a few years had passed since the three of them were in junior high, and if you were to ask the rest of the kids in Peach Creek, nothing had changed when it came to the Kankers. They didn't know what happened on the inside, though. Being who they were, they had a few dramas here and there. Custody issues, step-father drama, things like that. Their mother, still angry and bitter when it came to men, had told them that they were big enough to handle themselves now and was away from the trailer constantly. The only constant in their lives was each other and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the Cul-de-sac kids.

That was why Marie attempted (that was they keyword there) to back off from them, but old habits died hard. She was aggressive, and didn't she know it, but now that she wasn't such a child she had opened her eyes to sneakier methods of gaining attention. She wasn't the only one who had changed. From what she noticed from afar, Sarah had mellowed out a little and Jonny was less, well, strange. Plank was still in the picture, but she had seen less and less of him in the last few months. They were still scared of her though, and she would be the first to admit she got a secret kick out of that.

"Hey, Marie! Get your ass over here!" Lee called from the living area (it wasn't really big enough to be called a room).

"What are you yappin' about, Lee?" Marie shouted, placing the last couple of plates in the cabinet.

"The Eds are doin' something again!"

At the mention of their three favourite boys, Marie forgot about draining the sink and ran to the door where Lee now was. Sure enough, something was going on at the Cul-de-sac, and it wasn't hard to see at all. Cardboard boxes were in the process of being stacked up, surrounding the area. They were past the trees at this point, leaving the two sisters without any view of the Cul-de-sac. In the distance, they could see Rolf leading some Urban Rangers around the perimeter, shouting something inaudible.

"What the hell? Does this have something to do with what happened at school today?" Marie asked. "They shouldn't take it that seriously, geez."

Lee didn't listen, pinching the skin on her arm and dragging her out the trailer door. "C'mon, Marie! Time for a cookout!"

Marie yanked her arm back, rubbing the now red skin. "I think you mean stakeout, Lee. May's been rubbin' off on you."

"Shut it."

The two continued to argue as quietly as they could (an almost impossible feat for a Kanker) as they traveled through the park and to the entrance to the Cul-de-sac where they stopped short. The cardboard boxes were stacked high now, but that wasn't what they were amazed about. Two large pieces of wood were acting as a door system, the crack between them only big enough to let someone through. The two 'doors' had faces on them, resembling Plank.

"What the hell is this?" Marie asked as if she was looking at something disgusting. "They're closing off the Cul-de-sac? How dare they!"

Lee's grin was anything but kind. "Let's smash it in."

"No." Lee looked at Marie, shocked. "I have a better way. More fulfilling than smashing a couple of boxes."

January 15th - 9:32am

"Don't disturb my beauty sleep, Grim."

Even in the face of an alien invasion, Mandy didn't blink an eye. Considering everything she had gone through in terms of the Underworld and the supernatural, this felt like a piece of cake to her. Sleep was not to be interrupted, her parents still had to cater to her every whim, and Grim was still basically her slave. If it was up to her, Fuse would be in her hands if only so she could crush him, but that would take time.

"But Billy's made a peculiar friend, Mandy." Grim's skull shifted so it looked like he was smiling. "Maybe it'll keep him occupied - or better, maybe it will kill him."

Realizing she wasn't about to get much sleep if Billy was around as well, Mandy climbed out of bed and yawned. She had slept in her clothes after going to sleep at four in the morning, too tired to much except crash onto her bed. Usually she had plenty of sleep, but alien invaders didn't really have the common courtesy to care about sleeping schedules.

"Make this quick, Grim. I have to go and make sure the 'villains' are doing their part soon," she said, taking the lead as she stomped throughout her house and to the front door where she could hear Billy shouting. "What did Dexter want to talk to you about, anyway? You didn't come back for hours."

"Dat's a secret. It didn't actually take that long. Dexter needed me to lab sit for him," Grim said, opening the front door for her as she always expected him to do.

Overnight, Endsville hadn't changed too much from the invasion, but there was a commotion coming from up the street. Probably from the power plant, Mandy guessed. That would have to come later, though. Right now, she would have to focus on the idiot on her front lawn, playing with - was that a fusion spawn?

"Billy, where did you get that disgusting thing?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Billy looked sincerely hurt. "Don't say that! Runty might hear you!" He turned to the green monster. "Don't worry about Mandy, Runty! She's just a meanie weenie."

"This wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be." Mandy looked up the road where she could still hear people shouting. "Maybe this will satisfy my craving for horror. Hopefully this invasion will provide that."

Not bothering to wait for Grim or Billy to reply, she strode up the street to the top of the hill. A crowd had gathered at the gates, but Mandy managed to force people to make a pathway for her. People had gotten used to Grim around Endsville, but Mandy herself on the other hand was able to influence others into doing her bidding with a single glare. Being scarier than death himself was something Mandy prided herself on.

"What's going on?" she asked to nobody in particular.

"Sounds like those green pod things are here again," came a voice Mandy recognized.

"Hello, Irwin." Mandy gave the boy a glance out of the corner of her eye. "Those 'green pod things' are called terrafusers, just so you know."

Irwin had a dreamy look in his eyes. "Always so knowledgeable. But, uh, how do you know that, Mandy?"

"Us three were at a meeting with Dexter last night. We heard the information then. I figured something like this would happen sooner rather than later, but why haven't the monsters spawned yet? From what you told me, Mandy, it happens pretty quickly," Grim said, stroking his bony chin. "It does seem pretty odd."

Mandy looked at the terrafuser. It was bigger than the other one she had seen the previous day, leaking Fusion matter, but no monsters were spawning from it. It didn't take too long for her to remember what Max had said during their meeting.

"The bigger ones are to spread Fusion matter, also known as the green substance surrounding the place. Apparently, those haven't been sent down yet, but it's only a matter of time."

It seemed that the time had come.

Grabbing Grim's scythe out of his hand, she pushed her way to the very front of the power plant, earning most people's attention. She cleared her throat loudly so the rest would see her. "Get away from the power plant, you ignoramuses. That green thing there is a terrafuser, and if you don't move you could become infected. Now go. Shoo. Scatter! I don't want to see any of you people here again unless I allow you to be here." She moved the scythe so it flashed dangerously in the morning sunlight. "Got that?"

And sure enough, people ran in all different directions. Even if Mandy hadn't been given the job of keeping the citizens away she would have done it if only to inspect the place herself, and she was about to suggest that to Billy, Grim, and Irwin (the only people left) when an annoying accent interrupted her train of thought.

"Thank you, Mandy. You've made my job a lot easier."

The four of them turned to see Dexter, holding a stack of blue cones in one hand and a button in the other. Mandy rose an eyebrow at him in question, but she didn't receive any answers as he started placing the cones around the perimeter of the nuclear plant. Due to its large area, he didn't emerge from behind it for five minutes, at which point he was a little out of breath. After placing the last cone down, he returned to them, covering his mouth as he coughed.

"I do not have the athleticism for this task," he said, but he didn't sound angry about it. It was more of an observation.

He pressed the button and they all watched as a force field shot up around the nuclear plant. At least Mandy assumed it was a force field. You could never be sure with Dexter and his inventions, something she had figured out from being in the same homeroom class as him. The amount of times he had blown up their classroom was too many to count on one hand, and even if she gave him some snarky comments afterwards, nothing every changed. She wouldn't even be surprised if those force fields exploded either.

"Dexter. What are these for?"

"To keep the infection from spreading of course," Dexter said. "These terrafusers showed up overnight and I've been working to contain the infection. I started with Downtown and only just got to the Suburbs. So many places, so little time. I am not looking forward to the Darklands, though. Even the Wilds sound too outdoorsy for me."

Grim's gaze was still on the force field (at least Mandy assumed it was as it was hard to tell when he didn't have eyes). "How are we supposed to get in and out, though. We probably won't even need to, but just in case."

"I already have it covered." Dexter took out something resembling a small communication device, speaking into it. "Okay, girls."

Mandy didn't even have the chance to ask before a shadow loomed over them, revealing two circular objects. Blossom and Bubbles were carrying both of them to the entrance of the nuclear plant, setting them down on either side of the force field. They both looked the same, appearing to be a platform with a blue robot on it. The poor androids looked scared, but all Mandy could do was give props to Dexter for making them feel the pain of humans. Pain was a beautiful thing.

"There you go, Dexter!" Bubbles chirped, floating over to them. "Hi, Mandy! Hi, Billy! Hi, Irwin!"

"Hello, Bubbles." Mandy wasn't very well acquainted with Bubbles, mainly because of the blue Powerpuff's positive attitude to absolutely everything.

Blossom was the one who noticed their questioning faces first. "This is a warp portal. All you have to do is talk to the Dexbot - those blue robots - and you'll be teleported into the Infected Zone."

Dexter looked at the girls and tapped his watch.

"We can't stay, sorry! Life is so busy." Bubbles flashed her a grin as she and her sister picked up Dexter and flew in the direction of Habitat Homes.

Mandy sighed. This invasion was more trouble than it was worth.

January 15th - 12:04pm

"Are you shittin' me?" Wally yelled. "I don't wanna go to some cruddy jungle! I should be on the front lines, kicking Fuse's butt!"

Kuki had a different outlook on the matter, which angered Wally even more. "Come on, Wally! It'll be fun!"

Despite Nigel returning to his home planet, Abby was still their leader since she had more experience as a teen operative. Besides, Nigel needed to get used to Earth again. It had changed quite a bit over the past few years, no matter how much politics tried to deny it. Right now, though, Wally wished they didn't even have a leader. He didn't want to be told what to do, where to fight, who his partner in each mission would be.

Hoagie gave him a knowing smirk. "Yeah, Wally. It'll be fun with just you two. Maybe you'll get that quarter back."

Wally groaned as everyone else but Kuki started laughing. Damn these teammates of his.

"Fine, fine, I'll go, dammit. Just let me get my things and we'll be gone, 'kay?"

He stormed into his room, which hadn't changed too much over the years, and grabbed a bag. He packed the essentials - clothes, hygiene products, badass boxing gloves. You couldn't go wrong with boxing gloves after all, even if they just barely fit over his clothes. There wasn't any organization to how he packed his things, but that was just how he liked it. As long as he knew where everything was, what was the problem? Everything would be all over his new room within a day of them being there anyway.

New room. Wally didn't like the sound of that. The outpost was meant for actual Kids Next Door operatives, but with them focusing on Moonbase and missions within their own territories, it was handed to the teenagers. That meant he would probably be in a room made for someone else, someone who was probably going to have a better time and actually be focused on Fuse like he should be. Abby was on the front lines, Hoagie's job was basically to help with anti-Fuse technology and the like, and Nigel was able to give information on other planets to the people who mattered. He and Kuki were stuck in a dead end job that really had nothing to do with Fuse other than one stupid Infected Zone, whatever that was. Maybe Kuki would enjoy the animals at least.

Kuki got on his nerves just as she did when they were ten, but all the same he still felt the same about her. His feelings were probably even stronger now that they were older, but he didn't know whether that was good or bad. She made him feel so good whenever she laughed at something he did, but it just made the hurt so much worse whenever she was angry or upset with him. He blamed it on his stupid teenage hormones, but he knew there was no getting around it. Just as Hoagie said, maybe it would be fun with just the two of them.

"Wally, are you ready?"

The girl that consumed his thoughts appeared at the doorway, as cheerful as ever with two bags slung over her shoulder, orange Rainbow Monkey in her arms. How many of those things was she going to bring?

"Got enough Rainbow Monkeys?" he asked, carrying his own bags to the door with ease. Being the hand-to-hand combat officer had its perks when it came to strength training. "We don't need a tree house full of those things."

Kuki giggled. "I only have this one."

"Why that one?"

"'Cause it's orange," the girl replied as if it explained everything. Whatever the reason, it wasn't obvious to Wally at all.

They made their way through the tree-house and back to the main room where the other three were waiting for them. Hoagie was too occupied to notice them come in, staring at the screens meant for interaction between the other planets within the Solar System and the moon. He had been trying since last night, but nothing had worked. Even Nigel hadn't been able to reach them.

"You guys ready?" Abby asked before turning to their technology officer. "Come on, Hoagie, let's get this goin'!"

"Huh?" A bewildered expression crossed his face. "Oh, yeah. Let's go."

They began walking towards the area the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. was, but they were rudely interrupted by a glowing light. Turning back around, Wally dropped his bags and instantly entered a defense position, staring in wait for something to come through the white circle that had formed in the middle of the room. They could hear shouting on the other end before people started falling through, landing on their floor in a pile one by one. There was a whole heap of them, something you would expect to see when a bus reached its last stop and a bunch of people just filed out.

The portal closed as quickly as it had come, leaving the visitors to look around in confusion. One of them, a boy with a white hat, looked at his dog.

"I don't think we're in Ooo anymore, Jake."

And a sorta cliffhanger? I don't know, but it'll basically continue from where it left off next chapter. Until then, have a nice day!