Disclaimer: See chapters one and two.

I hope that problem with all those strange squiggly lines is going to be fixed. Those things make it hard to read the story! And that's just annoying. Also, I got some reviews of people thinking that I'm putting the TND and KND counterparts together as couples. Let me tell you, I'M NOT!!! I like 1/5, 3/4, and 2/Lizzie stuff. What did I do to them then? You'll have to read and find out!

~*Chapter 4*~

The sun shone over the horizon the next day. All of the KND and four of the TND had made it out of the battle with the Delightful Children and Delightful Teens the night before, but Number 1 was missing. The KND tree house headquarters was destroyed, leaving the KND without a secret base. They were invited to stay at the TND tree house until they could rebuild their base, but Numbah 1 refused to go until he knew what happened to Number 1, or even to just know if she was still alive. He had spent the entire night looking through the debris and remnants of his base, desperately searching for his teenage counterpart. By morning, his shirt and shorts were dirty and his face had smudges of dust on it. His sunglasses were bent the wrong way and one of his boots had a tear in the side. He was that determined to find her.

"Numbah 1," Numbah 5 began. "Would you give it a rest? We can look for her later. There's no use wasting all your energy like this."

"I don't care!" Numbah 1 announced. "I am going to find Number 1 no matter what! I don't care if I have to do it alone for days!"

"You've already searched all night." Number 2 pointed out. "There aren't many more places we can look."

"Then I'll recheck every place!" Numbah 1 fought back. "I will find her!"

The TND and the KND wore frowns on their faces as they began to walk away to help Numbah 1 find Number 1. Eventually, Numbah 3 came upon something weird. She saw red fabric underneath a large piece of fallen wood. It twitched for a moment and Numbah 3 jumped back.

"Numbah 1," she called nervously. "I think you'd better come take a look at this!"

Numbah 1 ran over with the rest of the Next Door gang to see what Numbah 3 had found. Numbah 1 pushed the large piece of wood off the red fabric. Up stood a body with the red fabric on it attached to two arms, two legs, two hands, two feet, and a head. Whoever it was, it was in one piece. The being they saw wore a red, tight sweater that ended above her belly button. The black skirt she wore looked like a hip-hugging mini. She wore Adidas Three Stripers that seemed to hurt her feet. She had messy dirty blonde hair that was starting to streak gray at the roots. The KND and the TND weren't quite sure what they were looking at, until the lady growled viciously. Numbah 1 was the first to understand.

"Number 1!" he shouted, tears of relief filling his eyes. The lady shot a haunting stare at him.

"Yup." Numbah 2 agreed. "That's Number 1 alright."

The lady shot her gaze towards him, but soon bought her head down in weakness.

"Not anymore." She said. "I was once Number 1 of the Teens Next Door, but now, look at me! Those Delightfuls, they did this to me."

"Number 1, that happened to me once!" Numbah 1 tried to reassure her. "We can switch it back!"

"Don't bother." She said. "For the way I've acted all these years, and to my fellow team members, and towards your team, this is what I deserve. This is the punishment I receive."

"Don't talk like that!" Numbah 1 commanded. "We'll get you switched back, Number 1! I promise."

"That's Miss Un to you!" Number 1 spat out harshly. "I'm not Number 1 anymore. I'm just Megan Un."

"But we need a leader!" Number 5 tried to convince her. "That's what the rules say!"

"I appreciate what you're trying to do," Megan began. "But it's just no use. I've lost my confidence, my friends, and now my adolescence."

"We can change that!" Numbah 1 was now desperate to find a logical excuse. "I promise! Just stay with us!"

"I can't accept that." Megan said regretfully. "I'm an adult now, and that means I have to take care of myself. I have to go find a job to make money so I can continue to live in general. I guess this is good-bye."

"Don't go!" Numbah 1 ordered. "We don't want you to go!"

"Yeah!" Number 4 agreed. "The Teens Next Door need you!"

"You have to stay!" Number 3 finished.

Megan pretended that she didn't hear her former team members and friends calling after her. She took a few steps forward and stopped short. She turned back towards them.

"What did you guys tell Mrs. Uno when she came home?" she asked.

"We told her that you went home early for a family emergency and the tree house was destroyed due to a storm that unexpectedly hit the area." Number 2 answered. Number 1 gave her former team one last smile and turned and left, walking down the sidewalk into the Real World, though it seemed like the road to nowhere. Right before she was out of sight, she turned and looked Numbah 1 in the eyes. He could tell that even at a distance. Tears started forming in Megan's eyes and she mouthed:

"I'm sorry, for everything." She then turned, and continued walking, until she was completely out of sight.

Things weren't going so well at the TND tree house a few days later. Each of the KND were invited to stay in their counterpart's room. Numbah 1 had locked himself in Megan's former room. He hadn't come out since he got there, and he hadn't eaten in days. He wouldn't let anyone enter, and when they figured that out, they decided to leave him alone.

Inside Megan's old room, Numbah 1 lied down on her bed staring up at the ceiling and occasionally moving his eyes to catch what was in her room. Her bed comforter was black and her sheets were red. Her pillow cases were black, too. The walls of her room were covered with posters she had torn out of magazines. Most of them had punk and rock bands on them while some had cartoon logos on them. She had a giant computer in a corner of her room where she had formerly received transmissions for missions and played games in her spare time. She had a mirror on the other side of her room that had voo doo dolls and punk make-up on the desk it laid on. Next to her bed was a red Rainbow Monkey that Number 2 had given her last Christmas. Numbah 1 looked down and grabbed the cute stuffed animal. He hugged it close as painful tears formed in his eyes.

"Why?" he asked himself. "Why did it have to be Number 1?"

He continued hugging the Rainbow Monkey until he heard footsteps outside the door. He quickly set the stuffed animal down back in its spot as he saw the knob turn and the door open. There stood Numbah 5.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" he asked.

"You wouldn't have let me in even if I knocked." Numbah 5 pointed out. "It's just a good thing I know where the Teens Next Door keep all their spare keys, thanks to a little spying around the place."

Numbah 1 didn't seem too amused. He hung his head low as Numbah 5 walked over to him. She sat on the bed next to him.

"Do you want to tell Numbah 5 why you're so upset?" she asked. "I mean, she was a nasty little one."

"She isn't all that bad." Numbah 1 said in his counterpart's defense. "She and I talked before we were attacked, and the reason she's so mean is because of a bad past with the Delightful Teens from Down the Lane."

"Oh no." Numbah 5 said jokingly. "Not the whole flashback thing." That must've cheered Numbah 1 up, because he giggled for the first time days. He smiled at his team member. She smiled back.

{If only he'd brake up with Lizzie,} Numbah 5 thought. {Then we could be together.}

A ring on the phone next to Megan's bed interrupted Numbah 5's daydream. Numbah 1 picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Oh, um, hi." He heard the person on the other line say. "Is Number 1 there?"

"No." Numbah 1 said quickly. "I'm afraid, well, who might I ask is calling?"

"This is Number 10 of the Teens Next Door over in the next town." She said. "Who's this? Oh, Number 4! Are you trying to trick me with that British accent joke again?"

"No," Numbah 1 said. "This is Numbah 1 of the Kids Next Door. You might know me as Nigel?"

"Oh yeah!" Number 10 said in realization. "You were the kid Number 1 had to baby-sit a few nights ago along with his friends. Why are you at Number 1's base?"

"Our tree house has been destroyed," Numbah 1 answered. "Along with Number 1."

"Do you mean to tell me that she's dead?" Number 10 asked, her voice filled with worry.

"No," Numbah 1 said. "The Delightful Teens from Down the Lane used an age ray on her. She's been turned into an adult."

"Oh my God!" Number 10 screamed. "I can't believe it! Are you guys going to try to get her back to normal?"

"If we can find her." Numbah 1 said. "She left us."

"Oh," Number 10 sighed. "And it totally sucks that my team can't come to help you. It's part of the Teens Next Door Rules. No team of Teens Next Door may go to assist in a mission that another team of Teens Next Door are covering, or if Teens Next Door live in that area unless given special permission. And, trust me, it's impossible to get special permission these days. Well, I hope you find Number 1."

"Thanks." Numbah 1 said. "Bye." Numbah 1 hung up the phone and let his head drop again.

"Numbah 5 thinks you need some fresh air." Numbah 5 said, and she dragged her leader outside to a beautiful day.

Outside, the remainders of the TND and the KND sat on the front lawn staring out into the world aimlessly. A mail truck began coming up their street.

"Do you guys want to get the mail?" Number 3 asked.

"It's not the same without Number 1." Number 2 sighed. "Whenever the mail truck skipped her house, she'd always run after it and climb on the roof to one of the windows and diss the mail man until he'd stop and give us our mail. That was the only time we liked it when she dissed because it was funny."

"Oh, come on!" Number 3 fought back. "We can still get the mail without Number 1. Teens love getting mail!"

The mail truck drove past their tree house.

"See! Look!" Number 3 commanded. "The guy missed our place! Let's get him!"

"Well, okay." Number 4 said, standing up. "It could be fun."

Number 2 and Number 5 got up to join the rest of their remaining team.

"Do you kids want to come with us?" Number 3 asked. The KND shrugged and got up, following the running teens down the street. Eventually, they grabbed onto the mail truck and brought themselves up on the roof of it. Number 2 then leaned over the edge and looked in.

"Hi, Mr. Mail man!" she squealed. "You bring me any-woah!"

"What's wrong, Number 2?" Numbah 4 asked.

"She got me wrong, that's what!" the mail person said. "I'm Miss Post Woman now!"

"Number 1?" Numbah 1 asked in disbelief.

"That's Miss Un to you!" Megan snapped. "Now get off my truck!"

The KND and TND did as they were told, for once, and stood back in shock.

"So, did you bring me anything?" Number 2 tried again.

"Teenage brats," Megan mumbled, and took out a pile of mail from one of her bags. "Look, here's your mail, okay? Now will you punks leave me alone?"

With that, Megan drove off down the street leaving the KND and the TND dumbfounded.

"I can't believe it." Numbah 1 gasped.

"Well, at least we know where to catch her every day except Sunday around noon." Number 5 pointed out. "That's something."

"That's not enough for me." Numbah 1 announced. "Come on. We need to get back to the TND tree house. I think Number 1's been punished long enough."

"You've got a plan?" Numbah 2 asked.

"Yes," Numbah 1 confirmed. "But we're going to need a little back-up. Who of you in the Teens Next Door know of Number 10?"

"I do." Number 4 said, slightly raising her hand.

"Good." Numbah 1 announced. "We're going to need you, Number 4, to get that special permission that Teens Next Door need in order to get another team of Teens Next Door to help them. Do you think you can do it?"

"Sure." Number 4 answered. "All I have to do is tell them that it's Number 1 we're talking about and I've got it."

"Alright," Numbah 1 confirmed. "Kids Next Door, Teens Next Door, prepare for our next mission. We've got to get our Number 1 back, and the only way, is go see those Delightfuls. Number 4, you go back to the tree house, get the permission, and do a transmission between you and Number 10 through headphones. Once you do, and once Number 10 has a map of our town, come back here with one of the headphones. That way, we can easily transmit between each other."

"Got it." Number 4 saluted the KND leader and ran off to follow his orders.

~*End of Chapter Four*~