Chapter 1 Review Responses

iNatsuBlueCyan789:

Thanks. I'm glad you like it. For the first few chapters there will be the space of, at most, a week between posts.

Catspat31:

I'm glad that you enjoy the story overall.

When I wrote Numbah, it wasn't a mistake.

I wrote it that way because it's how the kids refer to themselves in the show. I actually make a point of bringing this to to the attention of readers in Chapter three, where the agified operatives say number instead of numbuh.

Fictionlover94:

Yes, This will be continued. I've already completed a couple of chapters. It looks like this story could end up being quite long, as I am already writing down parts for up through seven chapters.

How On Earth?

Chapter 2

Numbuh Zero hit the ground hard. He looked back at his dad, who was currently celebrating his victory. Then he glanced up the moon, feeling fear creep into the forefront of his mind as he saw that the KND Moon Base still remained rooted to Earth's natural satellite. What happened, Nigel?

Riiiip. Monty looked back to see that Grandfather had torn a page out of the book. He dropped it and reached for the KND's greatest symbol again. The sight made the man sick to his stomach as a sense of hopelessness washed over him. What now? He had no more ideas. Something had gone wrong on the moon base and Nigel was beyond his reach. His wife was probably a Citizombie by now. And now the book of KND…

Suddenly, before Grandfather could tear out another page, the one that he had allowed to drop zipped back up through the air and into the book.

"What the…?" Grandfather exclaimed, his expression momentarily mirroring Monty's own feelings of confusion before growling and shredding the book in a swipe, only to have it reform in his hands. The old man, now becoming quite angry, growled in frustration and shot flames from his eyes. The book was momentarily set ablaze but the flames quickly fizzled out, leaving the ancient text apparently unharmed.

Well, maybe there's still some hope after all, Numbuh Zero thought as he watched the senior throw the book to the ground in fury. Then he suddenly realized he needed to get out of sight before his pappy remembered him. He saw that he had landed near one of the secret tunnel entrances to the room where the book had been stored. Actually, it was the very tunnel he'd tucked the Recommissioning Module into after Nigel left. Not that it would be much use, now that he had taken it apart. But how would he get in without Grandfather or his Citizombie army noticing?

Almost as if in response to his thoughts, something flew out of the sky and crashed down the street in the opposite direction of where he was. As everyone else watched the object descend, he rushed over to the spot in the grass and lifted the trap door.

He hoped that Nigel wasn't over there. The last thing he wanted was for the boy to fall into his pappy's hands. He had a feeling the old man would have no qualms in using Nigel to hurt him. He might turn the boy into a Citizombie or even… No! Surely he wouldn't do that.

He pulled the trap door shut above him and ran down the dark corridor.

Meanwhile, Grandfather hovered in the air as he looked at the crashed object in fascination. It was a silver thing, obviously some new age metal contraption. As he watched, it opened to reveal a group of well-dressed children. "Why are there still brats about?" He glanced at the villains behind him and yelled, "I thought you said everyone else was dealt with!"

"We didn't know," Mr. Boss stated in self-defense as the other villains flinched back and cowered.

"Well, I'll deal with it," Grandfather stated and started toward the children, whom were looking up at him fearfully as they huddled together. He needed something to distract him from the disappointment of failing to destroy the book anyway.

"Wait, Pappy! They're mine," a voice called out.

Grandfather rolled his eyes, although no one could tell because of their glow. Then he looked toward the delightful mansion to see Benedict with his head out the nearest window. His youngest son was wearing a canary yellow gown with pink trimming over his silhouetted form. The suit itself so dark it had to be store bought, rather than his natural one. There was also container of rocky road ice-cream in his hands. The sight was infuriating. For goodness sake, could he possibly be any more embarrassing.

Grandfather growled in frustration and looked at the youngsters again. Clearly, they were children he'd taken under his wing after messing them up too much to do anything else with them, rather than blood. For a moment, the old man considered agifying them anyway but then remembered the younger man's most recent fit of rage. Attacking those kids, if they could be called that, may be the fastest way to make him a bigger problem than Monty…Monty! How could he have forgotten?

"Fine, I'll leave your 'children' be. Just keep them out of my way, Ben," he called out before turning away and looking at the house next door. Meanwhile the children fled toward Father's mansion as fast as they could while still moving as one large group, hoping to get as far away from the older being as possible.

Grandfather was again caught off guard as he looked at the building with its tree sprouting out of the center, at the top of which was a KND base… but he'd used his powers change all the bases into tapioca factories that crushed the trees supporting them. How could this one still be standing? No matter, that's probably where Monty was hiding. Grandfather focused his energy on the building, willing it to become a factory but, to his utter surprise, instead of changing into a wonderful tapioca production center, nothing happened.

Fine then, he'd tear that plant apart to find his son if he had to. It would be a good way to vent his anger at this whole situation anyway.

He slowly floated over to the tree but stopped as a thought struck him. Would it really be to his benefit to go after Monty now or should he wait. The book had yet to be destroyed and it would be much more effective in ending his son's rebellion if he could drop the manuscript's ashes in at his feet.

There was also something else. Monty wasn't stupid, Grandfather knew this well. He wouldn't have been so openly defiant unless it was part of some bigger plan but what? Then the old man remembered Monty mentioning his own son. If he hadn't been so focused on agifying Montgomery, he might have realized that the man was blatantly admitting to being up to something and that his child was involved.

Hmm, time certainly has flown, the old man realized. There was a now child somewhere out there for which the name Grandfather was more than just a villainous title. Had he really been so far out of the loop that he had missed out on actually becoming a grandparent? When Monty used that device on him years ago, it hadn't just erased his old memories; it had also made it so that newer ones got sort of scrambled together. Until today, all his memories had been a jumbled mess, random and out of order, both in importance and through time. They were only just starting to organize themselves correctly within his mind. But, even with all of these issues, surely he'd remember something like that.

Did his son simply decide not to tell him? No, that wasn't it. In fact, dredging up one of these mixed up memories, he recalled Monty talking to him over the phone a few years back about his boy having to be rushed to the hospital, something about his head. It must have been serious for him to have been so stressed.

Well, whatever it was, the boy must have pulled through if he was helping with whatever his own pappy had been planning. And the boy in question most certainly would still be a child, whether their plan succeeded or not. No normal Citizombie was strong enough to overpower any of his direct descendants, only he could do that.

Perhaps if he wanted to get Monty back in line, the key would be finding the boy. Yes, he thought as a smile came back to his face, he had no doubt that Monty would value his own child over the diary of a bunch of snot nosed brats, most of which had probably grown old and died long before he was even born.

It would also be a much better approach than using his powers on his eldest son. He'd prefer to have Monty's obedience without altering his personality, even if by the small amount that agifying him would have done. Sure, he'd mope for a while but he'd get over it eventually.

Grandfather wondered how old his grandchild was. If he was the right age, the old man had something in mind for the continuation of the family's evil legacy. All he'd really be doing is giving the boy his birth right, anyway. Monty certainly wouldn't see it that way, though.

"Don't you think I'm finished with you, Montgomery Uno!" He called out, causing the ground to shake as he did so.

He turned back to his elderly audience. "Back to the convention center, all of you!" Then he floated over, grabbed up the book and launched himself into the air. He still planned to destroy it. He wanted to do this now more than ever before, since the blasted thing was proving to be resistant to his powers.

He glanced at the crowd heading back up the hill. It would take them some time to to get back to the convention center; he could fly around the city a couple of times and clear his head while he waited.

As the monstrous being flew off into the sky, a second pod fell from the heavens and crashed into the ground just beneath the only known KND Tree House on the planet that had withstood the effects Grandfathers powers.

Four children who still partially Citizombified, crawled out. The kids moved toward the back of the house, jumping the Uno family's fence. They proceeded to a small ladder that was draped over a strip of the tree's trunk that protruded from back of the house, it's roots spread across the back yard. The back yard where Numbuh One had spent his childhood before joining the Kids Next Door and all but moving into the building suspended in the tree's branches.

"Come on guys," Numbuh Five said, "let's get up into the tree house and get this gear working properly. There's no telling how long the batteries will last and Numbuh Five doesn't feel like turning into an ugly old lady again for a good fifty years."

"What's the point," Numbah four said, depressed. "Without Numbah One, we're doomed for sure."

Numbuh Three looked at her friend angrily, "How can you say that, Numbuh Four. Numbuh One just sacrificed himself to save us."

"She's right," Numbuh Two stated "and Numbuh One certainly wouldn't want us to just give up. For his sake, as well as for the rest of the world."

Suddenly, they heard a rustling noise coming from an open window in the Uno's kitchen, followed by a thump and a familiar voice exclaiming, "I remember that exit being bigger." Then, Montgomery Uno's head popped into sight to reveal that he was still his proper age. When he looked out the window to see the children who were now watching him, he stopped stared in amazement.

"Hi Nigel's Dad," the kids called out and waved, Numbuhs Three's and Four's old hands and arms looking far too oversized for their young bodies that were shielded by the glowing red of their birthday suits.

A smile suddenly sprung across the man's face as he momentarily disappeared from view before he opened the back door. He had the recommissioning module in his hand. It was about when he stepped out when the children noticed that, although he wasn't agified, there was definitely something different about him.

"Where's Nigel," he asked in a worried tone as he came out.

"Not here," Numbuh Five stated, looking suspiciously at the boy's dad. "Say, what are you doing with one of our toys?"

He looked at the moon, "is he still up there?" He asked, sadly.

"Yeah, but how did you know where he went?" Numbuh Four asked, voicing the suspicion that the other three were now feeling.

The middle aged man looked down at the device in his hands before saying, "because I was the one who came up with the plan of launching the Moon Base at Pappy."

For a moment the kids looked at him in a confused manner. He was about to try explaining when something clicked for Numbuh Five. "That's why I couldn't agify Numbuh One."

The others looked at her, as she continued, "He's related to Grandfather, and that would make you...Numbuh Zero!"

The man nodded, "Some DNA tracking device lead Nigel to me, he reactivated my memories using my old recommissioning module."

"Wait a minute," Numbuh Two said, "are you saying that the boy who took on Grandfather, the seventh founder of the Kids Next door and Numbuh Ones ultimate idol…"

"…is you?" Numbuh Four finished.

"His ultimate idol… really?" The middle aged man felt a smile come to his face for a short moment, despite the situation.

Suddenly, the kids broke out into rambunctious conversation all at once but stopped as Numbuh Three's suit shot out a spark. Numbuh Two looked at her and then toward everyone else. The birthday suits had been thrown together in a couple minutes, it was actually a wonder that they worked at all, let alone that they had lasted all this time. "We need to get to the base now, guys. Our suits aren't going to last much longer without proper adjustments. And with access to my equipment, I'd be able to complete the protection and free us of this," he said, gesturing to his oversized, over aged bottom half.

Having said this, he went over to the ladder and began to ascend, the joints his lower back and his legs, still those of an old man, screamed in protest. The other kids followed suit and finally, Nigel's dad climbed up the rope ladder, situating the device he held carefully as he did, so. Numbuh Two offered him a hand as he reached the small platform at the bottom of the stairs to the tree house.

As he moved closer to the trunk of the tree, he said "Why thank you Ho…OW!"

His statement had been cut short due to a kick in the shin and Numbuh Two looked at him apologetically before saying, "Sorry, my bottom half's still evil."

After climbing the stairs for a few minutes, Numbuh Zero commented, "by the way, what are you using for a backup power grid?"

"Backup power grid?" Numbuh Two asked in confusion.

"Yeah," he said, starting to sound winded, exhausted from his fight with Grandfather and the climb up the ladder and steps. He pointed up to the base: "I can see a few lights from here."

At this statement all the kids looked up.

Seeing that the man was right, Numbuh Two picked up the pace, his joints feeling somewhat better now that he'd been moving for a few minutes. He rushed to the next platform, signaling for Numbuh Five to follow him. There, he pressed a button next to the door in the side of the tree. This caused it to slide open, revealing an elevator. The pair looked at each other nervously.

"What do you think, Einstein?" Numbuh Five asked.

Numbuh Two shook his head, "I'm not sure but I know one way to find out." Then he called out, "Come on guys, we've got a working elevator here."

The other two children put on a burst of energy and rushed up the stairs but Numbuh Zero barely sped up at all. "I'm not used to climbing ladder and ten flights of stairs immediately after tussling with my dad," he stated as he finally reached the platform.

They all squeezed into the elevator, which was a tighter fit than usual with an adult among them. Then the door closed and they began to ascend. All of them moved their jaws or yawned to keep their ears equalized with the pressure change.

This was a set of habits that developed among KND members in response to the major changes in altitude whenever they moved between levels of their tree houses quickly. It reminded Numbuh Five of another "crazy" belief Numbuh one had that, even after decommissioning, ex-operatives still remembered their time in the KND on the subconscious level. One of the things he used to support the argument was the fact that even after teens left, this habit often still persisted amongst them.

Then the elevator stopped, bringing the girl out of her musings. It opened to reveal a trio of teenagers standing before them… or so it appeared.

"The Senior Citizen Squad," Numbuh Five Stated. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Grandma," Hoagie said as he waved to the girl leading the group.

"What?" Monty asked, becoming very confused, very quickly. The girl who was clearly the leader was young enough to be the boy's big sister. Why was he calling her Grandma?

"We're here to help save the world, of course." The girl said as her anti-aging cream wore off, making her recognizable as Lydia Gilligan. A couple moments later, the same thing happened to the other two teenagers. "Now, what took you so long to get here?"

"I was agified before I could use my gear. Numbuh One had to help me." He looked around and asked, "How'd you get the system working without hamsters?"

"I pulled out the schematics for your tapioca powered equipment. For now, the supply we brought along should sustain us, but we'll need to get some more soon. We were driving a shipment to the retirement home when this whole mess started and had to leave most of it to come here. We'll get it later. Grandfather's citizombies probably won't be looking for it, considering it wasn't made in their factories and therefore its existence is probably unknown."

Numbuh Zero looked at Numbuh Two and lifted an eyebrow as he said, "tapioca powered equipment?"

"Hey, so I accidently crashed a truckload of tapioca into the tree house. It could have happened to anyone. We needed to get rid of the stuff somehow and we didn't know about them, then," He stated, gesturing to the elderly trio.

"Well," Monty said, "it very well might be the best accident you could have made. I think the fact this building has held so much of the stuff might have fooled Grandfather's powers."

"Say what?" Numbuh Five asked in confusion.

"Tapioca has a heavy influence on Grandfathers powers. Because this tree house has held so much Tapioca at one time, it may be imbued with some protection, especially if you've got some of the stuff dried up in hidden corners of the tree house."

The kids cringed, recalling how despite all their attempts to clean it out, they did in fact keep finding the stuff caked to surfaces here and there, often with a dried nacho cheese as a layer underneath, a result of the hair eating lice incident. The stuff had become nearly impossible to remove, so, more often than not they left it, rather than mention their findings to the sector leader, who would order that the mess be scrubbed clean, even if they had to use chisels to succeed.

"Come on," the leader of the Senior Citizen squad said, distracting everyone, "let's get you completely back to your proper ages."

"Sounds great to Numbah Five."

"Yeah, my arms are really heavy." Numbuh Three stated.

"Mine, too," added Numbuh Four.

"Yeah, this being old thing is really getting old." Numbuh Two paused for a moment before saying, "getting old! Get it because…"

"Oh, Numbuh Five can believe this," the girl exclaimed as she slapped the back of the boys head with her hat a few times.

As the kids talked, the elderly woman pulled out a small cylindrical container.

"What is that?" Numbuh Two asked when Numbuh five finished getting on to him.

"This is anti-aging cream. You'd be amazed at the number of confused Citizombies we fought on the way over here. If we managed to pin them down long enough, we actually used this on them." She threw it to Hoagie, who caught it and opened it. "Don't use too much now, I had to deal with you while you were in your terrible two's once. I don't want to relive the experience for even a moment. Besides, we only have so much of it."

"Did you bring the people you helped here, too?" Numbuh Five inquired as she watched Numbuh Two dab a little bit on his cheeks, reverting to the age of six or seven as the last traces of the Citizombification disappeared.

"Yes and some others showed up here, too. They took advantage of the show going on down the lane to sneak in. A couple girls are actually here from Gallahager elementary, bearing news and gifts from the resistance group there."

Everyone looked at the old woman in amazement as she said this.

"And how many pockets of resistance do we know of, at this moment," Numbuh Zero asked.

"Currently, including us, three," the old woman stated, smiling at the shocked expression on the middle aged man's face. "Come now," she added, "surely you didn't inherit enough of Alexander's arrogance to actually believe that your family was the only group that could hold out against him."

There is no mention that I could find in the episodes about what Grandfather's real name was. For some reason, I thought that the name Alexander Uno would be a good name for him.