Guess what hasn't changed? I still don't own the rights to Codename: Kids Next Door. I'll be sure to keep you updated on any changes in this…if any ever actually happen, that is.
Numbah Two was in the kitchen when Numbah Five escorted Dolores there. The pudgy pilot was in the process of procuring plenty of provisions. An overflowing glass of chocolate milk was precariously perched beside a pillar of pancakes, the latter oozing with sticky syrup and slabs of butter, all on a dangerously wobbling tray while he juggled a grapefruit and orange in the other hand.
"Hey girls!" he called out once he spotted the pair watching him. "You want some of this?"
"No thanks," the capped girl held up a hand. "Numbah Five can grab her own eats."
"I…I respectfully decline as well," stammered Dolores, eyeing the mounds of food with no small amount of trepidation. "I can find my own fare, thank you…"
"Suit yourselves…"
The mechanic shrugged, then tottered away to enjoy his robust breakfast elsewhere. The petite girl stared after him, half-expecting his foot to find some slippery board and send his platter and everything aboard it flying. Numbah Five chortled and shook her head, then started rummaging through the cabinets in search of her own sustenance.
"…Does Hoag…Numbah Two always procure that much for his morning meal?" the Delightful Child asked finally, turning back to face the quiet agent.
"Nah… Sometimes he eats more, sometimes he eats less," replied Five, still hunting for whatever sounded good this morning to her stomach. Feeling Dolores' dubious stare, she added, "He probably pulled an all-nighter or close to it repairing the S.K.Y.C.L.A.W. and worked up an appetite. You know how it is."
Dolores did not know how it was. However, rather than pursue the issue further, she started examining her surroundings again. Somehow, she hadn't expected for the Kids Next Door to have an actual kitchen as part of their Treehouse – she had figured that their parents brought out meals to their children when they were off playing in their base.
But this was apparently an actual kitchen built directly into their Treehouse, microwave, stove, oven and all. Everything appeared to be in perfect working order: the most telling evidence of this was the cooling skillet still resting on the stove. Dolores examined it closer and cringed at the sight of burning scraps of batter still stuck to the gleaming black surface.
(The Kids Next Door are most self-sufficient than we believed…but they apparently still can't clean up after themselves.)
Still, she couldn't help but find it fascinating that at least one of the Kids Next Door possessed rudimentary cooking skills. It did make a bit of sense that they would be able to provide for themselves to some degree, but… It was something Dolores had never really thought about before.
(And a boy, no less… I wonder if any of the other male members have learned the chef's trade as well?)
For no apparent reason, she got a surprisingly vivid picture in her head of Numbah Four wearing a frilly pink apron over his orange hoodie and blue jeans. The absurdity of the thought caused Dolores to giggle.
Numbah Five immediately looked over her shoulder at the girl. While the Delightful Child had been standing around lost in her musings, she had finally located a box of toaster pastries that sounded good enough. A pair was currently roasting in the toaster oven sitting in front of her, and she had been retrieving a plate when she heard the other girl chuckling softly.
Five smiled slyly. While she was a little curious as to what exactly Dolores had found so amusing, she was more pleased by the fact that she was laughing at all. Even better was the fact that it hadn't been the monotone cackling she so often heard on missions against the other girl's group. This was a far lighter sort of laughter.
"Care to share what's so funny, girl?" she inquired, eyeing her knowingly under the brim of her hat.
"Oh, um…Nothing, nothing," Dolores waved her off with a smile and a blush.
(I don't want to try and explain that the oddest mental image of their team's resident tough guy in an apron just sprang into my head and got me giggling.)
Five raised one eyebrow, but before she could press the issue any further, the toaster dinged brightly and popped out her pastries. She quickly transferred them to a paper plate, careful not to burn her fingers on the hot apple filling that had seeped out of the flaky crust, then turned back to face Dolores.
"You going to get something to eat or what?" she asked. Tilting her head to one side, she added, "Or do you need help?"
Dolores found herself bristling at the comment for some reason. Perhaps she perceived – or thought she perceived – something in the stealth operative's query that hinted she wondered if one of the Delightful Children was even capable of taking care of herself, the same way that the Kids Next Door could handle themselves.
"I'll be fine," she replied a bit curtly. "I'll just be a bit, though…"
"Fine, then," Five shrugged. "Numbah Five'll just be in the other room if you need her help with anything…"
With that, she sauntered out in such a way that any trace of a limp was rendered invisible. Once she was gone, whatever pride had motivated Dolores' blunt response immediately fled, and she visibly deflated.
(What was I thinking?! Jinkens has always been the one who handled our meals back home!)
The simple truth of the matter was, Dolores had never really given much thought to fixing anything for herself before. The household help prepared all of her meals: all she and the rest of her siblings needed to do for their repasts was show up on time. It was another point Father had drilled into them.
She eyed the various cabinets containing all sorts of odd cooking utensils and was overwhelmed. She briefly considered the thought of simply foregoing breakfast, but then discarded that notion. There was no telling what the day might bring, and if yesterday's activities with Kuki had been any indication, she would need all the energy she could get.
(Plus, perhaps my family will show up sometime later today to save me. I must be prepared to move quickly if such a thing occurs…)
Dolores frowned and started surveying the cabinets for something to get started with. She was determined to fend for herself until the rest of the Delightful Children retrieved her, as they surely would.
(Besides, if Hoagie can cook such an impressive platter for himself, how difficult a task could it be?)
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"So how did your roommate act last night?" Numbah Two asked between mouthfuls, looking at his teammate curiously across the table. "She didn't give you any trouble, did she?"
"No trouble at all," assured Five with a lazy wave of her hand. She took a bite out of one of her pastries, then looked thoughtful as she murmured, "Although…"
"Although what?"
"…Well, it was the strangest thing, but… This morning, Numbah Five found her tossing and turning and moaning and groaning like she was having some wicked nightmare."
"Really?" Two took a deep swig of his chocolate milk and absently wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand while wondering, "Did she say anything about it after she woke up? You know, mention what it was about?"
"She didn't say, but before I woke her up, she was screaming for 'Father' to stop."
"Stop? Stop what?"
"Numbah Five doesn't know," and the capped girl rubbed her chin thoughtfully, the motion disturbing the tiny flakes of crisp crust that had settled around her lips. "She was just wailing on and on about, 'No, Father, no!' and 'Please, Father, stop it!'"
She trailed off, considering for a while. Numbah Two turned back to his remaining pancakes, though he kept his ears tuned for the typically quiet girl's voice while he dug in. For a short period the only sound was fork tines gently scraping against a syrup-drenched plate.
That ended when Numbah Three skipped into the room, singing brightly in her native language.
"Itsumo, itsumo, itsu demo tsuuji atteru kara! Itsumo, itsumo, doko demo tonde ikeru wa!"
Numbah Five shook her head. She understood a little bit of Japanese, just enough to get the general gist of the song…though the upbeat manner in which Three was singing was clue enough to its meaning.
"Yo, Numbah Three!" she greeted her fellow female agent with a smile and wave.
"Good morning!" Three called back, waving back and prancing toward the kitchen.
"She's in a good mood this morning," Numbah Two observed dryly, looking up after the bubbly girl.
"Isn't she always?"
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The primary thing on Numbah Three's mind was grabbing a bowl and filling it to the brim with her favorite Rainbow Monkeys cereal. Just the thought of those brightly colored sugary simians and those hearts, stars and rainbow marshmallow bits made her taste buds tingle with anticipation.
When she entered the kitchen, however, her attention quickly focused on Dolores. The blonde girl was laboriously adding things into one of the smaller saucepans. Her curiosity piqued, Numbah Three peeked over the other girl's shoulder.
"What'cha making?" she asked.
"Breakfast," Dolores replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh." There was a brief pause, then: "I didn't know you were supposed to cook that."
"Of course you're supposed to cook it! Haven't you ever seen how they will mix this with strawberries and blueberries before to add flavor?"
"Oh." A shorter pause: "I didn't know you cooked strawberries and blueberries."
"…It's a Delightful Child thing. You wouldn't understand."
"Oh." After a few seconds: "Is it supposed to be bubbling like that?"
"…Yes. Why don't you go talk with your friends for a while and let me finish this up."
"Okay! …But why can't I stay here with you?"
"…I have secret ingredients to add."
"Oh! Like what?"
"Well if I told you, Kuki dear, they wouldn't be secret ingredients, would they?"
"I guess not…"
"I'll be along shortly and join you. Go on ahead."
"Okay!"
Numbah Three retrieved her precious cereal and poured herself a nice heaping bowlful. Just before leaving the kitchen, however, she glanced back at Dolores, still toiling over her concoction. She didn't understand how anyone could find the mess she's glimpsed in that pot delectable, let alone stand that weird stench. And those tendrils of smoke that were beginning to rise from it made her eyes water when she stood too close.
But Dolores said it was a Delightful Child thing, so she shrugged it off and went to rejoin her friends. Her cereal looked all the more delicious by comparison, she knew that much!
#####
Numbah Four had arrived while Three was retrieving her breakfast. The short blonde had snatched a couple of untouched pancakes from Two's plate while the pilot wasn't paying attention and hurriedly devoured them. Numbah Five didn't bother to call him on it, for she was too busy musing over other matters.
Of course, she was brought back to the present when Numbah Three dropped her bowl with a loud clatter on the table and sat down beside her.
"Whatscha thinking 'bout, Numbah Five?"
"Oh, Numbah Five was just thinking about a little conversation she had with Dolores last night," she responded, looking over at the other female agent.
"Really?" Three leaned forward eagerly. "What did she say?"
"Oi! You actually talked to that bratty blonde?!" Numbah Four interrupted rudely, spitting out bits of pancake in his surprise.
"Why not?" Five shrugged and looked at the stubborn fighter distastefully. "She was staying in Numbah Five's room, after all. Why not talk to her?"
"Because she's one of them!" Four replied matter-of-factly.
The Australian slammed his hands down on the table to emphasize his point, making all the plates and glasses jump. His scathing tone made it perfectly clear to the others that he'd never even consider trying to hold any sort of discussion with one of the Delightful Children. He much preferred using his fists to get his messages across.
"Numbah Five just had a few questions she wanted to ask her, that's all," and Five shrugged nonchalantly again.
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
Before Five had a chance to reply, the strangest sound erupted from the kitchen behind them. The noise could only be described as a gigantic FOOM, and was accompanied by a flare of light that was visible through the open doorway. The four agents immediately sprang from their seats and scrambled into the kitchen to see what was happening.
It didn't take long for any of them to spot the problem: Dolores was standing in front of the stove staring at the thick black smoke that was issuing from the small pot sitting in front of her.
"Strange," she muttered under her breath, oblivious to the gawking Kids Next Door who had just entered. "I don't recall any of Jinkens' creations ever doing this before…"
She reached to switch off the stovetop, then squealed and jerked her arm back as several flames joined the acrid smoke billowing from out of the container, nearly catching her. Her frustration replaced by panic, she looked around frantically for some other way to get the blaze under control.
"Wow! I didn't know Delightful Children cooked like that!" Three commented brightly, admiring the pretty flames rising from the smoking pot.
"I-I don't think it's supposed to do that, Numbah Three!" Two observed, already hurrying forward to help out.
Numbah Five also acted quickly, grabbing Dolores' arm and yanking her out of the way while Two and Four got the fire under control. The Delightful Child looked torn between relief and embarrassment, and watched nervously as the boys beat the blaze.
"Aw, look what you did! You ruined her breakfast!" scolded Three, sounding genuinely upset. She'd kind of wanted to see how it would turn out, but now it was clearly wreaked.
"Somehow, I think it was already ruined before we got in here," Four shot back, glaring at Dolores and waving a hand in front of his face in an attempt to ward off the smell. "What the heck was she trying to make, anyway?"
"Um, well…" Two looked carefully into the pot, chewing on the inside of his lip as he struggled to determine what the smoldering remains of its contents had once been. "I'd say it looks like cereal a-la flambé…"
"You were cooking cereal?!" shrilled Four incredulously.
"What, you mean you're not supposed to?" Dolores blurted, looking honestly surprised at this revelation.
Two, Four and Five stared at the pale girl for a long, awkward moment. The fighter's mouth was working silently as he struggled to come up with the most scathing retort possible, only to find he couldn't settle on one. Dolores looked back at them, then down at the ground, allowing her hair to cover her face again. They didn't have to say anything: she could tell just by looking at their dumbstruck faces that she'd managed to screw up again.
"Hey, do you think my Rainbow Monkeys cereal would taste even better if I started heating it up first?" Three wondered blithely.
"Only if you like the taste of charcoal," Four answered.
"Oh boy," Five shook her head. "It's a good thing Numbah One's not awake yet, that's for sure…"