Numbuh 1 was right behind Numbuh 60 who was right behind Numbuh 86 "I was meaning to ask, what are you two after in this race? I know Numbuh 60 likes races but it just doesn't seem like the type of thing Numbuh 86 would do"
"None of your business!" Numbuh 86 yelled at him
Numbuh 60 and Numbuh 1 looked at the girl and shrugged while looking at each other "Anyway, they have a limited edition model kit for an M1 Abrams"
"You are a huge nerd for those things huh?" Numbuh 1 pointed out
"It's just a hobby for when I don't have anything to do at Arctic Base" Numbuh 60 scratched the back of his head a bit embarrassed"What about you?"
"I'm probably getting my hands on that memory card for my treehouse, I could try improving my security system from last year" Numbuh 1 smiled to himself just at the thought
"Yeah, and I'm the nerd huh?" Numbuh 60 laughed
"WOULD THE TWO OF YOU SHUT UP! INCOMING!" Numbuh 86 dodged an explosion coming in her direction
Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 60 barely dodge it as well, both boys looked ahead only to see a giant ship far away shooting "Is that…" Numbuh 60 grabbed his binoculars and saw the delightful children on top of the giant ship laughing "Were they at the starting line?" Numbuh 60 asked
"I don't think they care about that" Numbuh 1 pointed out readying his weapons to fight the delightfuls
Further ahead Rachel was dodging the bullets the delightfuls ship shot at her and Numbuh 5 "Just my luck…" Rachel rolled her eyes in annoyance then readied her yield sign
Numbuh 5 jumped out of her armchair and started attacking the ship, Rachel did the same tearing holes in their weapons with her yield sign while Numbuh 5 baited the weapons to shoot themselves "So, Numbuh 1" Numbuh 5 snickered
"So?" Rachel raised an eyebrow while deflecting a bullet
"He is taking part in the race because of you" Numbuh 5 snickered
"What? Why?" Numbuh 362 asked as a bit annoyed by Numbuh 5's antics
"The boy is head over heels for you, don't play dumb with me" Numbuh 5 said
"Even if he was and I'm not saying he is… Why talk about it right now?" Rachel blushed as she approached the delightfuls
"Figured you would like to know" Numbuh 5 chuckled she then heard more people approaching them it was Numbuh 1 along with Numbuh 86 and 60 "Guess we are the only remaining competitors"
Rachel sighed as she looked at Numbuh 1 then turned her attention to the delightfuls grabbing them by the collar of their shirt "Huh?" Rachel noticed the delightfuls were just dolls, there was a note attached to their back "Let me see… Couldn't take part in this year's toobathon but figured Nigel Uno would like to destroy our tube again" Rachel then heard a ticking noise coming from their seat "You have got to be kidding m-" before she could finish the giant ship exploded sending everyone up in the air, Rachel was falling when she saw their tubes were still in working condition despite the explosion, she then noticed her friends were all unconscious falling to the floor the girl sighed "The things I do for you guys…" She pressed a button that inflated her surfboard tube even further which saved everyone from certain death by cushioning their fall
"We are… alive?" Numbuh 1 said
"Yeah, you guys can thank me later I'm grabbing your tube Nigel, Bye" Rachel hopped on Numbuh 1's jet-ski and left the others behind in a hurry
Numbuh 1 sighed then smiled as Rachel disappeared in the distance "She is amazing" he said
"You can admire her later Romeo, we have to go!" Numbuh 5 jumped on her armchair then left along with Numbuh 60 and 86 who also left in their tubes
It didn't take long for Numbuh 1 to learn how to deflate Rachel's tube the boy soon caught up with his friends who were now trying to surpass Rachel "What is her deal? I never saw her so pumped to win anything like that" Numbuh 1 asked
Numbuh 5 chuckled "She would kill me if I told you"
"She told you?" Numbuh 86 chuckled
"Yeah, girl is silly, it's not that embarrassing" Numbuh 5 grinned "But I suppose she wouldn't want a certain someone to know" Abby told Numbuh 86 as both girls chuckled
While that, Rachel was riding Numbuh 1's tube with fire in her eyes "Just a little more, the finish line is nearby" The girl said then calmed down for a second as she whiffed the tube she was on "Wow… it has his smell…" the girl smiled to herself while blushing then slapped herself "Focus!" She then smiled again as she saw the finish line, she grabbed Numbuh 1's binoculars, the girl almost fell out of the tube upon seeing who was ahead of her
Numbuh 2 was paddling viciously as he reached the finish line while the crowd cheered him
Rachel finished in second shortly after the girl jumped out of her tube and walked towards Numbuh 2 "HOW?!"
"Last year I found this detour that leads straight to the finish line" Numbuh 2 said while lifting his trophy
"I can't believe it!" Rachel kneeled on the floor covering her face groaning "I just wanted the Doctor Time space and the continuum figure!"
"Wait, that was why you took part in the race?" Numbuh 1 was behind Rachel holding a third-place trophy
Rachel turned to see Numbuh 1 looking at her a bit confused, Rachel smiled at him panicking inside, soon her skin started to turn white and her vision started fading out as the girl fainted
"Rachel!" Numbuh 1 grabbed her right in time
Numbuh 86 placed her hand on top of the girl's forehead "She just got shocked, she will be fine" Numbuh 86 chuckled "Wasn't really that serious" She smiled at Numbuh 5
"Told ya" Numbuh 5 said
"I don't get it" Numbuh 1 looked at the two girls quite confused
"The girl likes you fool, she didn't want you finding out that she likes this stuff, probably has a whole collection" Numbuh 86 sighed
"But she told me she liked the show once, what is the point?" Numbuh 1 shrugged
"Don't even try, boys don't work like us" Numbuh 5 patted Numbuh 86 on the back while shaking her head
"Anyway… I don't mind if she likes this kind of stuff" Numbuh 1 said still a bit confused
"Hey, I'm in on this for the trophy, here" Numbuh 2 presented Numbuh 1 with a box containing the figure Rachel wanted
"Uhhh… Thanks? I will gift it to her once she wakes up" Numbuh 1 gave Numbuh 2 a nod as the boy left to celebrate his victory raising his trophy for all to see while carrying Betsy on his shoulder
A few hours later Rachel was in the Sector V treehouse covering her face in embarrassment, Numbuh 1 was right next to her looking at the Figure still inside the box "Everything went wrong"
"Well not everything, you got the figure" Numbuh 1 said while analyzing the toy "It's kinda cool to be honest" The boy said
"You don't need to lie, it's so nerdy" Rachel groaned
"Yeah, but it's cool, I don't mind" Numbuh 1 chuckled "Feeling better?" He asked while trying to find a way to open the box
"Much better, don't open it though, it's a collectors item" Rachel took the box out of his hands then stored it in her backpack "See you" She got up
"Wait, I wanted to ask you something" Numbuh 1 grabbed the girl by the shoulder "Is it true? You like me?"
"Can't really trust Numbuh 86 and Numbuh 5 to keep a secret huh?" Rachel sighed "Yeah, don't feel obligated to share the feeling, things are cool as they are between us to me" She smiled at him blushing a bit
"N-No way, I share the same feelings… I like you Rachel" Numbuh 1 said scratching the side of his head a bit embarrassed
Rachel proceeded to hug the Sector V leader "That's nice… Wanna… Wanna hang out one of these days? Like a date or something like that…?" She asked
"It would be my pleasure" Numbuh 1 said then kissed the girl on the cheek
"Hey… Come on give me a proper kiss" She chuckled then kissed the boy right on the lips "See you…" She waved him goodbye before leaving his treehouse
"Told you Toobathon was going to be nice" Numbuh 5 who was watching the whole thing was grinning at Numbuh 1
"No comments… by the way, aren't we missing something?" Numbuh 1 asked
Far away from there Numbuh 4 and Numbuh 3 were laying down on the deserted island looking at the stars, Kuki was hugging Wally while the boy patted her on the head "We should start radioing the Treehouse to get us out of here…" Numbuh 4 said
"Just a few more minutes pleeeease" Numbuh 3 giggled
Numbuh 4 groaned "Alright, just a few more minutes…" The couple ended up returning to the treehouse the next morning after being rescued by the rest of his teammates.
