Abby in Wonderland
By Lalita
Disclaimer~ Yes, I own Kids Next Door. Or, at least I did in my dream last night… Actually, Codename: Kids Next Door belongs to richer, older beings than me. All I own is the plot, and since I'm obviously not making any money off of it, don't sue me!!!
Author's Notes~ Well, this is weird. This is my first Codename: Kids Next Door, so if I've got something wrong, tell me. Constructive criticism is always encouraged, and as for flames… They will be used to burn the bottle of hair growing formula the Delightful Children plan to give to Numbah One. He's cute like he is. Please read and, for the sake of the Christmas sprit, leave a review and chocolate chip cookies. ^____^ I'm totally unsure of the pairings yet, but I think there will be some slight 1/5, possibly some 5/274, and 3/4.
Summary~ Numbah Five winds up finding out there's a big, bad world outside of the KND. When she returns to the group, she finds out a lot of things have changed. But her team feels like she's the only one that's different, and that the change was not for the better. Will Abby turn against them and help the KND grow up? Or will they save Abby from the clutches of evil adulthood? Read to find out…
Prologue~ Round and Round Abby Goes, When She'll Stop - Nobody Knows!
The familiar cry shot out through the air, but Numbah Five couldn't bring herself to even open an eye. The afternoon sunlight was glaring through the window through the cracks that her curtains hadn't covered. She simply moaned and drew her covers higher over her head. It might be one on the afternoon, but it was still too early for a mission.
"Kids Next Door! Battle stations!" Numbah Five- or, Abby- felt like leaping out of bed just so she could tell Numbah One to shut it. Instead, she growled into her pillow. Come on, the whole neighborhood of kids wasn't going to die without the KND for one day. The mission probably wasn't even that important. If it was anything like the last one, Numbah Five wasn't even going to think about getting her lazy self up. What had it gotten her last time? The team hadn't needed her. The mission ended up with Abby clutching a bruised head and Numbah One working himself all up just because she had messed up once.
Speak of the devil, Numbah One shouted one last time. Numbah Five didn't attempt to place one foot out of bed. She rolled over, oblivious to the current storm that was headed her way. This storm was Nigel Uno, Numbah One, and Leader of the Kids Next Door.
The storm burst through the door. "Do ya know how to knock?" Abby snapped crankily, but the words were mumbled to her pillow and thus did not reach Numbah One's ears.
"Numbah Five! Why didn't you report?" Numbah One demanded, striding across the room. His footsteps echoed like thunder in Abby's head. She wanted to tell him to shut up and give her some peace and quiet, but all that came out was a feeble groan.
"Numbah Five?" Numbah Three had poked her head into the room. Her eyes were wide. Abby kept her eyes closed tightly, as if she kept them closed long enough, when she opened them there wouldn't be anybody there. She opened her right eye. Damn. Numbah Three was still in the doorway, and Numbah One stood accusingly in the center of the room.
"What?" she asked, her voice coming out harsh and scratchy. She grimaced. On top of feeling like complete and total dog doo, she sounded like a frog, too. Just great.
Numbah One looked like he was about to say something, something along the lines of "Kids Next Door have a mission and this mission includes being ready whenever kids need help," but he didn't. Maybe he was worn out from the forty-minute argument they had yesterday, over who had to go and get pizza. Abby cracked a wry grin. And maybe the Delightful Children had donated their entire fortune to charity.
"Do you feel alright, Numbah Five?" Numbah One asked, looking more closely at Abby. She closed her eyes. "She really doesn't look that well," he thought, and felt a slight stab of guilt at feeling so angry with her.
"Numbah Five feels fine," Abby said, without much conviction. Resigning herself to her fate, she attempted to roll out of bed and stand up. The result was a very dizzy Abby lying on the floor and a very concerned Numbah One helping her back to bed. She closed her eyes again, but the world tilted and so she opened them, blinking. Numbah One had expertly laid a hand on her forehead and declared it burning.
"No shit," Abby said, drawing a low chuckle from Numbah One. But her forehead wasn't the only hot thing. Numbah One's cheeks were so red he was in danger of becoming a lava lamp.
Numbah Four yelled from somewhere down the hall, "We gonna go bust up those damn delightful freaks or what?"
Numbah One glanced at Abby and said, "Rest. You'll sit this one out, Numbah Five." Then he left the room without glancing back, taking Numbah Three with him. Kuki waved goodbye to Abby and hummed to herself all the way down the hall.
Abby tossed and turned for a few minutes, making sounds of frustration at her inability to sleep- or to do anything else, for that matter. No shit her head felt like it was on fire. She was sick, that's what, and she had been for the past few days or so.
Unsteadily, Abby rose to her feet. She looked down and blushed. She was wearing only a faded blue jersey of some sort. No wonder Numbah One had turned red when she had fallen out of bed.
She yawned, fighting the temptation to crawl back in bed. True, she hated being left out of the team, and she hated anything that could connect her with the word weak, but a day off really wasn't so bad. She stretched her arms over her head, and then went off to investigate the fridge, stopping occasionally to lean against the wall and steady herself. "Why's Numbah Five so dizzy?" she said aloud, angry at the way the tree house seemed to lurch in different directions.
But when she was knocked off her feet, Abby knew for sure that this wasn't just her dizziness. A horrible grinding sound filled her ears and Abby was pitched straight across the room. "What the hell? Numbah Five ain't likin' this," she yelled.
Stray items came hurtling across the room, a couple knocking into Abby now and then. The coffee table- why the hell did Numbah One have a coffee table?- skid across the floor, leaving scratch marks on the floor. The whole tree house was shaking, and Abby hung on for dear life as it felt like she, and the tree house, was ripped from the tree.
Abby didn't know how it happened, but it felt like the entire tree house was flying through the air. She was spinning, spinning rapidly, spinning out of control! She moaned and clutched her stomach, grateful she hadn't ate anything that day. But why was the entire world spinning? Why was black creeping at the edges of the room? And why was the floor so close... so... soft?