Author's Notes: I'm really sorry about the long wait; it's just that I've had writer's block. But I'm back on track, more or less, I hope to get the last few chapters up soon. The holidays are coming up in under three weeks and so hopefully I'll do a lot of writing then.

Disclaimer: On the first chapter if needed.

Chapter Four: The KRR and Much More.

            Wallabee crawled out the locker, his ego more bruised than his person. He looked up at Kuki and Hoagie who were giving him sympathetic looks and scowled. This wasn't making him feel any better.

"I take it that you didn't find anything out."

"No ah didn't but when ah next see that girl ahm gonna kill her!"

"I wonder why they won't tell us." Kuki said thoughtfully, fiddling with the sleeve of her green jumper.

"It doesn't matter! What matter's is that that they aren't telling us something that we deserve tah know." Kuki stared at the blonde boy in front of her. He was seething, fists clenched tightly by his side, his whole body shacking with repressed anger.

"She really must have kicked your arse for you to act like this." Wallabee snarled and rounded on Kuki, the girl obviously not realising how much that innocent statement annoyed him.

"Ahm gonna hunt her down and beat her till she's screams for mercy."

"Abby doesn't do screaming nor does she beg for mercy. So I suggest that you don't bother." The trio turned round to see Nigel standing before them, a folder tucked under his arm. Kuki shoved Hoagie forward suddenly, Abby couldn't be reasoned with but this Nigel character seemed less violent. Perhaps Hoagie could get him to tell them what was going on.

"Er . . . Right. We'll make sure Wally doesn't try anything." Hoagie stuttered out, looking up at the imposing boy before him. Who didn't do anything to suggest he had heard Hoagie.

"So . . . Err . . you gonna tell us what's going on?" The boy rose an eyebrow; Hoagie could feel a blush making it's way across his cheeks. This kid was making him feel like a complete idiot.

"Please?" Hoagie asked again, pleading didn't really appeal to him but they needed to find out what was going on. Nigel shook his head slightly and turned round to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Inside the classroom, the normal place for one to go to for lessons." He muttered sarcastically as he wandered in, Hoagie looked sheepishly over at Kuki and Wallabee.

"Don't worry Hoagie."

"Yeah, we're gonna get them."

            "They're persistent, aren't they?" Nigel said as he slid into his seat beside Abby. The girl nodded at him. Their persistence, though annoying, was a good thing. Being determined to solve a mystery was a trait that was looked for in all potential candidates. But they had to be more careful, the trio couldn't know what was going on until the threat had past. They had to get rid of the KRR first. Though Abby's opinion was soon going to change.

            Kuki smiled as she pulled her walkie-talkie out her pocket, pressing the 'on' button she smiled brightly into the mini speaker. Even though she knew the other two couldn't see her.

"Hey!"

"Kuki, you seen them?" The Japanese girl giggled into the walkie-talkie.

"No silly, I just wanted to say hello."

"Kuki," Wallabee growled down the walkie-talkie. "Don't call unless you see them."

"Alright Wally." Kuki muttered, turning the mini device off she slid to the floor. Ms Smith hadn't forgotten about Abby and Nigel walking out on her and she had given them detention for the first half of lunch. She would have given it to them for the whole of lunch but they had given in their homework (which Abby had taken out of Wallabee's bag and given it in with the excuse that they had left it at home and had gone to get it) so she couldn't. Wallabee, Hoagie and Kuki had raced back to Hoagie's house and picked up the boy's walkie-talkies. They had stationed themselves at different parts of the school, Kuki was in the corridor that their classroom was, Wallabee was near the canteen and Hoagie was in the playground. Their plan was to follow the pair and see where they went, then they would see if they could find any information lying about er . . . where ever they went. Kuki looked round the corner and with a quiet squeak she pulled back.

"Wally, they're coming." And sure enough Abby and Nigel strode past Kuki and down the corridor towards . . .

"The canteen, they're going to the canteen."

"Gotcha Kuki." Wallabee looked out from behind the dustbin next to the door, watching as Abby and Nigel walked in. He snarled and fought back the desire to clout Abby over the head. Instead he quickly followed them, watching as Abby and Nigel wove their way through the crowd, towards the back door. Diving after them he saw them slip into the corridor then wander through another set of doors into the playground.

"Hoagie, they're coming your way."

"Roger that Wally, I'm on it." Hoagie stared intently at the canteen doors, determined not to be caught out by the mysterious pair. His effort was rewarded when the two slid out the door and walked briskly over to the fence. The pair crouched slightly before effortlessly clearing the fence in a single jump. Hoagie's eyes widened and he quickly ran over to the school gates, bumping into a number of people on the way as he tried to keep his eyes on the retreating pair.

"They've left the school grounds; I repeat they have left the school grounds. Meet me at the school gates." Hoagie flicked the on/off button on his walkie-talkie and continued to belt across the playground towards the gates. Which, luckily enough, weren't that far away from the spot where Abby and Nigel had jumped over. He saw Wallabee and Kuki racing towards him out of the corner of his eye, knowing that they would follow him, he sped up. They couldn't loose sight of their targets now; they had to find out what was going on.

            The trio ran across the grass, swiftly and silently. Or as silently as possible when you haven't had much experience in this sort of thing. Hoagie wiped his forehead with his arm, his sleeve coming away damp.

"How. . . long have we . . . been running?" Hoagie asked between taking huge gasps of air.

"Ten . . . minutes." Hoagie nodded, it didn't sound like long but when you're running pell-mell for a long distance, it is a very long time. They had passed their houses a while back, which was beginning to worry Hoagie. Where on earth where the pair leading them?

"What's . . . that?" Hoagie and Wallabee looked up and gasped, rising before them was a huge tree house. It was the size of a mansion and had a number of what looked like rockets poking out of it. The three friends watched in amazement as Abby and Nigel walked over and went inside.

"How are we going to break into that?" No one answered Wallabee, there wasn't a good answer. So they dropped down onto the ground and began to think. The three had been sitting on the grass contemplating their situation for a while when Abby's voice rang out through the air. "We know dat your dere, why don'tcha come in?" Blinking dazedly, they looked over at each other. It was either sit outside on the damp grass for no apparent reason as the two now knew they were there or go inside and demand answers. The trio instantly pulled themselves to their feet and walked over as the door opened up.

            "Abby thinks that dey didn't know that we knew that dey was there." Abby said around a chuckle as she moved away from the window. Nigel laughed, "Perhaps they can improve their senses with a bit of training." Abby nodded and dropped onto the sofa, her eyes patiently trained on the door. "Dey're gonna need everything they've got 'cos we gonna need all da help we can get if we're gonna beat the KRR." A quiet ping sounded and the doors opened, revealing a rather surprised Kuki, Wallabee and Hoagie.

"Comin' in?" Abby asked as none of them made an effort to step into the room, their eyes sweeping over the numerous objects inside including a huge computer and an array of weapons. Kuki smiled brightly and skipped into the room, sitting down beside Abby on the sofa and flashing her a smile.

"Hiya." Abby inclined her head at the girl but didn't say anything. Wallabee and Hoagie walked into the room, more cautious than their friend.

"Relax, if we wanted to attack you we would have done so already." The pair looked up at Nigel who was standing by a huge screen attached to a computer.

"I suppose you want to know what's going on then?" Nigel asked, adjusting his sunglasses slightly.

"That would be nice."

"Very well.

"The people that attacked you are known as the KRR. We have been fighting them for the last few months. But have failed in our attempts to get rid of them."

"What do you mean get rid of them? And exactly who are the KRR?"

"KRR stands for Kids Rights Reserved, they are a group of adults that want kids all over the world to spend all their time working and who aren't allowed to go out and play. The KRR are the main enemy of the KND at the moment.

The KND, Kids Next Door, are an origination run by children such as ourselves that go round and put an end to grown-ups like the KRR."

"Why?" Kuki asked, swinging her legs back and forth as she smiled up at Nigel.

"Because if we didn't all the Kids across the world would have to stay at school 24/7 and not be allowed to have ice cream or sweets. They intend to have us kids locked up until we grow up and become one of them."

"That's great and all, thanks for making sure we get ice cream, but what does that have to do with us?"

"We believed that we had the KRR on the run until we received some information from our Head Quarters." Hoagie's mind went back to when Nigel was entering the classroom after he had tried to talk to him. There had been a folder under his arm.

"The KRR are intending to start brainwashing children into wanting to do homework. They plan to do this by getting teachers all over the world to send out specific signals when they show their students some sort of 'fun movie.' They start with our school.

"Me and Abby can not infiltrate and destroy the machine by ourselves. We need your help."

"I . . . I don't understand." Hoagie said quietly, his eyes a mixture of confusion and worry as he looked from Nigel to Abby. Nigel sighed and pulled his sunglasses off and rubbed them with the corner of his jumper.

"We had intended to recruit you, the three of you have potential but after we had defeated the KRR and it was deemed safe. Its dangerous recruiting new operatives when such a fierce enemy is attacking, you put them right in harms way, with no experience on how to deal with such things.

"Somehow the KRR found out about and went after you, intending to brainwash the three of you before you could help us out. But upon discovering what the KRR are up to we realised that we had to stop them.

"And, sadly enough, we can't do that alone. Care to join us?" Whatever the trio had been expecting, it hadn't been this. Joining up with these two mysterious kids, going off to fight a bunch of grown-ups who wanted to stop kids everywhere from being happy. It seemed like an idiotic idea. Completely mad. No one in the right mind would agree to something like this.

But who said that the three were sane?

"Okay, I don't like Ms Smith anyway so it be fun getting back at her." Kuki said with a smile. Abby rose an eyebrow at the girl's statement, it seemed a rather odd thing to say.

"If Kuki's goin' with yah, than so am ah. There ain't no way ahm gonna trust yah with protecting her." Wallabee said, crossing his arms as he leaned back into the sofa.

"Me too." Hoagie said eyes bright with excitement. Nigel nodded and stepped down from the stand, moving over to the computer. Abby stood up and stretched, cat-like, before looking over at Wallabee and Hoagie.

"Did ya ever stop ta think dat Kuki might not need ya protection?" The girl then walked out the door, once again leaving a stunned group behind her.

            "You didn't have to say that, you know."

"Abby knows." Nigel smiled and leaned against the door frame, watching her as she looked for her S.C.A.M.P.P. He shook his head; Abby had always been like that. She didn't like to talk unless it was important and she had a habit of talking in riddles when she did. She liked to help people but she wasn't too fond of getting to close to them. Getting close only hurt you. Or that's what she thought. He had been the only person she had ever truly befriended and she intended to keep it that way. He pushed away from the wall, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be okay, they weren't hurt you."

"How do ya know dat?" Abby asked, spinning round to face him. Her eyes tinted with fear. A fear that would always haunt her. Nigel cursed that fact; if he hadn't already gotten rid of the person that had done this to her he would have had to hurt them right now. Abby meant so much to him; she had always been by his side.

"Because I won't let them." A soft smile spread across her face at his protective words. She could always count on him, Nigel would always protect her. That was what best friends were for. She nodded and went back to looking for her weapon, spotting it under a pile of magazine she snatched it up. Before turning round to face her partner.

"Ya did everything ya could and Abby's here now and dat's what counts." She said knowingly when she noticed the look in his eyes over the top of his sunglasses. Nigel looked down at the floor. Abby had always been so good to him, if only he had been as good as friend as he had been to her as she was to him. He would never forgive himself for not being there in time to help her.

"It's over now, don't worry." Abby said, pausing a second to let go of her dignity. She quickly pulled Nigel into a hug, letting go a few seconds later. He flashed her a smile, knowing how much she despised showing her emotions. Just like him really.

"Ready to go and kick adult butt now?"

"Ya bet."

To Be Continued . . .

I just had to add the 1/5 moment in, even if it was only as friends. Hope you liked it. I'm sorry if it's kinda short but I just think it's an appropriate place to end.