Disclaimer: ...Duh...KND is mine! All mine!! MWA HA HA! Huh? What are you doing? Who's that? NO!! NOT THE BRIEFCASE!! ANYTHING BUT THE BRIEFCASE!! I'LL BE GOOD NEXT TIME!!!!

Ah, another one falls prey to the Lawyer-Sueing-Syndrome. KND belongs to Mr. Warburton and Co., not me. Watch what you say, everyone!

A/N: Wow, my fourth chappie already! I'm trying to hold out on Op: FF for the time being so everyone has a fair shot at voting, so I'm turning as much effort on this story before school starts. After that, heh...I dunno what'll happen. Let's hope something nice. But before we start, thanks for all the reviews!

Julayla: If you're having difficulty with writing the acronyms for your stories, I strongly suggest you try using a thesaurus. Ever since I found my computer had one, I've literally 'used and abused' it. Look up the original word you want to use and see if there are any that match the letter for the acronym you're using for your title. And don't forget to tell me how it came out!

AkitoSana: If you will step this way you'll notice a large, gaping plot hole in the middle of the text. Yup, I'll admit, I'm taking a chance with Tommy and Mushi's involvement, and you're entirely right about his assignment to watch the tree house, but I needed a good excuse for why his parents won't miss him. Not only that, but I have no clue how Mushi managed to acquire their tickets. Like she said, "Voila!" Hey, who knows, but it sounds about right...sort of...

And on the questions of couples, I'm sorry to say, bucksfan7, but I think I'm going to focus more on 2/5 rather than 1/5. From the way I look at it, you've basically got the 1/5ness covered and there's no way I could ever compete, plus Miss Puar had a very good point; it is a little clichéd. Adorable, but it's been done. But don't worry—I won't completely leave them out. You know Abby won't let Nigel get away from those beaches that easily! XD

And I think I'm going to continue with Mushi/Tommy as well, for the heck of it. I consider this story to be primarily experimental, which leads me to my last drawling author's note. This chapter and many from here on out will be taking place in Australia, so my accuracy and factuality may not be one-hundred percent. If you see anything historically inaccurate or such, PLEASE let me know—I hate being wrong. If you're interested in learning more about Australia and Australian slang, check out some links I threw in my bio, since I couldn't put them up on the story. Enjoy!

Operation: AUSTRALIA

Chapter Four:

"A Few Kangaroos Loose in the Top Paddock"

(Some Slightly Unusual Encounters)

Okay, so that's not exactly what it means, but it pretty much sums up this chapter...

There are some things in life money can't buy. For everything else, there's yah rellies, so treat 'em roight!

Those words of advice echoed through Wally's mind as the passengers filed off the airplane. For all the griping and complaining he had done, it was worth it to be home. That first step off the plane was always the best—nothing in the world could ever compare to the smell of the air. It just felt different, but New South Wales was one of his favorite places and the Sydney markets had a distinct scent of their own he'd never forget. He stuffed his CD player into his carry-on bag and smoothed out his hair. It didn't matter how messy it was if Skip was meeting them, but if gram was there...

"Alright, kiddies, here we are! Welcome to Australia, the Land Down Under," Phyllis announced in a mock tour-guide voice as she began to unbuckle her seatbelt. Wally winced—the sooner they were off the plane, the better. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stand the mysterious woman and her obnoxious habits.

He could tell he wasn't alone in his thoughts. The flight would have been a completely different experience if she hadn't been there. The first half was pleasant—she was sleeping then. But once she woke up all she had done was continuously question his friends about their families, hobbies—basically everything. And when she wasn't playing "20 Questions", that cruddy cell phone of hers was ringing off the hook. Of course, their lives were interesting enough to share with her, but she never mentioned her own. Whenever she got a call, she dashed off to the restroom to talk, once for almost a half an hour. (This was unsurprisingly one of the more enjoyable moments of the flight)

Nigel was irritated more than any of them, however. It was obvious how much he had been looking forward to the trip, mostly because of their planned visit to the Australian Kids Next Door station, but things were looking pretty slim. With Phyllis hanging around, they couldn't even address each other by their codenames. Wally turned around in his seat and watched Nigel help Phyllis with her seatbelt. It looked as though one of her nails had chipped when she was undoing the buckle, and Nigel, on his best behavior, was attempting to undo the buckle for her, since she refused to try again after damaging her nail. How he managed to help while keeping a straight face amazed Wally to no end—but he was sure they'd all get an earful from Nigel about his dislike over the woman as soon as she was out of earshot.

"Yo, Num—ah, Wally, wake up Kuki, will ya?" Abby asked as she zipped up her bag with difficulty. "We gotta get goin'."

Wally grumbled an unintelligible answer and turned to his right. Kuki's head was slumped against the window, the empty orange juice cup still sitting in the cup holder by her shoulder. He apprehensively lifted his hand and tapped her on the shoulder. "Eh...Kuki? We're 'ere."

Abby rose from her seat and slung her carry-on over her shoulder. "Man, what a chicken. Y'think that's gonna wake her? You know Kuki sleeps like a rock."

Wally grimaced and tapped Kuki again. "'Ey, wake up, stupid," he called, this time louder. Kuki mumbled something in her sleep and unexpectedly latched onto his arm, her face nuzzled into his sleeve. "Rainbow...monkey........."

Abby raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah, exactly like that," she drawled, her voice saturated in sarcasm. "Like that'll work."

Wally cast her a furious glare, his face blazing red, then turned back to Kuki. "Ah am NOT a ruddy Rainbow Monkey, so wake UP!" he hollered, attracting the attention of the rest of his group, along with most of the departing passengers. Phyllis watched on in amusement after her seatbelt had been fixed, lovingly massaging her broken nail.

Kuki blinked a few times and cast Wally an inquisitive stare, her eyes still fogged over in a dreamy expression. "Wally? You're not a rainbow monkey..."

"Didn' Ah jus' say that?!"

She blinked again and let go of his arm. "Sorry, I was having a dream," she grinned and took her carry-on bag down from the shelf above her seat. "I bet you'll never ever guess what it was about!"

Abby and Wally exchanged glances. "Let's save dat fo' another day, okay, Kuki?" Abby impishly grinned at Wally and stepped into the aisle, moving to the side to let Nigel, Hoagie, and Phyllis pass, Wally and Kuki following close behind.

"I want everyone to stay together—no straying from the group!" Phyllis' shrill voice sounded as they walked onto Sydney's terminal. "You don't want to get lost." She waved, her arm narrowly missing a large potted plant near the door.

"No, but it'd be nice if you did," Hoagie whispered to Nigel. They both grinned in delight while watching Phyllis flamboyantly direct Kuki to the nearest wastebasket to throw away her empty cup.

"Well, then. Let's go find your uncle, shall we?" Phyllis asked and clapped her manicured hands together. The group had taken a few minutes to pull their baggage together and take some necessary bathroom stops along the way before they could start looking for Wally's uncle.

"His name is 'Skip', lady." Wally retorted and kicked the side of his bag in annoyance.

"And my name, young man, is Ms. Sympkin, and I'd advise you call me that. Understood?"

Wally glared and silently dragged his bag over to where the rest of the group was standing. "Ah'll call yeh whateva' Ah want ta."

Phyllis stood silently for a moment, absorbing this new information. Then, unexpectedly, she flashed one of her brightest and most obnoxious smiles yet. "That's the spirit!"

Nigel's eyebrows rose in surprise, his gaze meeting Abby's. They both shrugged and gave Wally a supportive smile. He frowned and began to tug at his bag again. The suitcase was almost as tall as him and three times as heavy. "Yeah...sure..." he mumbled and continued to pull at the suitcase handle.

"Um...let's go find your uncle then, Wally," Nigel remarked, uncomfortably breaking the silence following Wally's comment.

The group traveled across the terminal in unanimous agreement and arrived at the waiting room, Phyllis leading the procession. She halted as she reached the information desk, her shrewd eyes scanning around. "I don't see your uncle here yet—oh." Her eyes flickered over to a short, almost dwarf-like woman sitting in the farthest corner seat next to a stack of dated magazines. She looked to about eighty years old, her face sunken underneath numerous layers of finely etched wrinkles. Her hair was a wiry grey and she was wearing a scruffy t-shirt that said, "My Dad went to Cambodia and all he brought me back was this lousy t-shirt," in bold black letters.

The woman looked up from her book, her eyes narrowing. "Phyllis. Wot a pleasant surprise."

Phyllis uncomfortably cleared her throat. "Ah, why yes, it is, Mrs. Hamdan."

The old woman spat a dry laugh. "Shut yeh trap. I was lyin' through my teeth. An' call meh Fran, that is, if yeh want ta' live to see tomorra'." She disgustedly turned away from Phyllis and looked upon the rest of the group. "Ah see yeh've made it 'ere in one piece, Wally."

Wally sheepishly glanced over his bag. "G'day, gram."

His grandmother rose from her seat and carelessly tossed the book onto the side table. "Come closer so Ah can see yeh," she demanded. Wally cast his friends a hesitant glance and walked over to Fran. She studied his face over for a moment and then gave him a sharp slap on the side of his head. "Tha's for fergettin' ta write to yeh gram."

"But Ah wrote to yeh!"

"Cods wallop! Yeh only sent yeh uncle a letter an' left yeh poor gram with nothing," she remarked then curtly slapped the other side of his head with the back of her hand.

"Ow!! Wot was that one for?!"

"For whatever else yeh've done wrong that Ah don't know about yet," she answered austerely. "Because Ah know yeh too well."

As Wally rubbed his sore head, Nigel stepped forward from the crowd and held out his hand in greetings. "Hello, you must be Wally's grandmother. My name's Nigel and we just wanted to thank you for inviting us to spend the summer here with—"

"Ah, cut the crap. Down 'ere, it's winter time on the opposite side o' the hemisphere. Can't yeh mates speak for themselves? Ah bet yeh fancy yehself ta be their leader, eh?"

Nigel adjusted his sunglasses and straightened his posture, pleased for the recognition. "Well, actually—"

"Hey! Was that the 'International Second Edition Lower Hemisphere Yipper Collector's Guide' you were reading?!" Hoagie exclaimed as he pushed his way to the front, his eyes hungrily resting on the book Fran had been reading.

The old woman's face broke into a wrinkly grin. "Yeah, Ah can't go anywhere without a good book or two." She picked up her book and crammed it into a bulging flower-print knit bag.

"Awesome!" Hoagie cried and hastily covered his mouth after getting a sharp jab in the side from Abby. She cast him a warning look and gestured to him to keep quiet.

Phyllis, on the other hand, didn't appear to be amused, much to Wally's satisfaction. "Yes, well, it's nice to see you, Mrs. Hamdan, but I'm afraid we'll have to get going," she replied icily and ran her finger down the seam of her pocketbook, impatiently fingering the latch. "We still have a long way to travel; Skipper's ranch is quite a few miles away, as I'm sure you're aware of."

Fran sneered and slung her knit bag over her stooped shoulder. "Tryin' ta get rid of me, are yeh? Fool. I'm here to give you a ride there, if yeh didn't know," her eyes lit up in amusement. "Unless, Phyllis, you'd rather walk there instead."

The young woman's thin lip involuntarily twitched. "We'd be more than happy for your assistance, Mrs. Hamdan."

Wally's grandmother walked towards the lobby door and gave them a beckoning wave. "Ah thought so. So be a dear, Phyllis, an' call me 'Fran', willya?"

"Wow, I definitely wasn't expecting it to be so...big...."

"Well, what did you expect, stupid? We've been researching Australia with Mr. Pringle in school, like, since the Music Association for Gifted Students planned on taking this trip. Of course it's big."

Mushi glared back at the dark haired boy walking in front of her as they left the terminal. As if to increase her annoyance, he swung his guitar case over his shoulder, scarcely missing her face. Of course she hadn't known it was going to be so large; she wasn't a member of the Music Whatever and she certainly hadn't studied with Mr. Whoever. She hitched up her little yellow bag close under her arm and gazed around in amazement.

"I bet you didn't know Australia is one of the most sparsely populated countries of the world either," the boy continued in a haughty voice, his guitar case jostling against his shoulder as he walked. "But that's because most areas are just big empty spaces. The majority of Australia's population is concentrated in the large cities."

"I knew that," Tommy interrupted from behind Mushi, his own suitcase giving him some difficulty. "I bet you didn't know that Great Britain used Australia as a place to send their prisoners and convicts, did you?"

The boy snickered and tossed his dark hair away from his face. "Yeah, right, like I'm going to believe something like that." He paused and cast them both a suspicious look. "Hey, where are your instrument cases? Don't tell me you two forgot them; this is the biggest trip of the school year!" He scanned their faces over with a perceptive stare. Mushi and Tommy exchanged nervous glances. "Now that I think of it, I don't recognize either of you. Are you two new?"

"Uh...." Mushi trailed off and turned to Tommy for support. However, he was nowhere to be found. "Tommy?!" She began to search frantically around and started to call his name again, when suddenly a hand shot out from behind the corner and pulled her away from the group of students in the terminal.

The boy who had been walking in front of her continued to talk obliviously and moved his guitar case from one shoulder to the other. "Well, what can I say; it's obvious someone as dimwitted as your friend would get lost here—you two definitely didn't pay attention to last week's lesson..." he trailed off as he turned around and discovered he was talking to no one. "Hey, where'd she go?"

"So, Mrs. Wally's Granmum, do you like to cook?"

"Cook? He didn' tell yeh much about me then, eh? Ah'm not allowed anywhere near the bloody stove. Not that Ah'd ever want ta use it."

Kuki's eyes grew wide as she fell into a silent shock. Fran certainly didn't fit the 'grandmotherly mold' she had been expecting. Actually, Fran didn't seem to fit any mold.

"AH! Turn left! LEFT!!" Phyllis hollered and held her manicured hand over her mouth in horror. "Mrs. Hamdan, are you absolutely sure you don't want me to drive?" she cried.

Fran laughed. "Eh, don't be such an old chook! Ah never get a chance ta drive anymore! Not since Gramps was a trucky for the shippin' factory—he'd let me have a go at it once in a while."

Nigel turned to Wally on his left, his face riddled with confusion. Wally sighed. "She's telling Phyllis ta lay off because me gram doesn't drive anymore—" he was cut off as the topless jeep recklessly sailed over a speed bump, "an' when me Gramps was a truck driver he'd let her drive the shippin' company truck occasionally."

Nigel nodded, but the frown didn't leave his face. "Um...Mrs. Hamdan—"

"Fran, boy; call me Fran."

"Yes, well, Fran...is your license still valid?"

"License? Yeh kids kill me! Thinkin' yeh're all grown up at such a young age—it's a riot," she laughed and began to sway her head to the side.

Nigel frowned again and shook his head, avoiding eye contact with Phyllis' disapproving stare on his left. The roofless jeep had obviously seen better days, and Fran had most likely driven on better roads, hopefully. They had been driving for almost two hours, half an hour through Sydney, New South Wales. According to Wally, his uncle lived on a ranch in the town of Bourke near Broken Hill—about 1170 kilometers from Sydney.

The first part of the ride was enjoyable—Wally had pointed out some scenic spots in the city; the beautiful Harbour Bridge, several amazing botanic gardens and parks including the Hyde Park, named after a famous park in London that Nigel had visited once. Passing by the Hyde Park had been interesting, but he still preferred the one in London better. He was disappointed they hadn't driven by the Sydney Opera House, he and Hoagie had been looking forward to seeing it.

"So, yeh told me yeh like readin' Yipper, eh?" Fran asked Hoagie on her right. Ever since he learned Wally's grandmother was an avid Yipper fan, he had been very willing to take the seat next to the driver's seat in front, leaving Phyllis squished in the back of the jeep with the rest of the passengers; everyone sharing a seatbelt with a partner. Whether it was legal or not didn't seem to matter—they hadn't passed anyone else on the road for hours and Nigel was beginning to doubt they were even driving on a paved road anymore.

Hoagie nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, but I share my collection with Wally. I just got the first edition Yipper Holiday Special the other day! I packed it with me so if you want to see it I'll show you when we get to Skip's place."

Fran casually waved her hand, the jeep uncomfortably driving over a pile of bramble bushes. "Onya for yeh, but Ah've already got two copies 'o that one."

"Yes! We found 'em! Ah am SO getting a promotion!"

"You?! If Ah remember correctly, Ah was the one who spotted 'em at the terminal!"

Mushi and Tommy gazed up at their captors in confusion, both somewhat difficult to understand judging from their heavy Australian accents. To the left of Mushi stood a tall, twiggy boy of about eleven years old, his skin tanned from being outdoors frequently and his dark hair hidden under a large cooking pot with the number '38' scotch tapped to the front, the handle sticking out in the back. He snapped at the strap of overalls in impatience and cast a glare at the smaller one.

"Yeah, yeh spotted 'em alroight, but Ah was the one who got 'em. If we hadn't done anything they would've left with that stupid touristy group," the boy next to Tommy squeaked. He too was wearing a cooking pot over his head, but it practically covered his eyes. The number '39' was sloppily glued onto his pot, slightly off-center, and the '3' was written backwards.

"Would someone PLEASE tell me what is going on?!" Mushi hollered, shattering the thick tension forming in the air. The two boys cast her a shocked glance, almost as though they had forgotten she was there.

"Wot's goin' on? Yeh should know!" The taller of the two boys spoke up and proudly puffed out his chest. "Me brother and Ah were sent by the Australian Kids Next Door base to give yeh a proper greetin' an' all, mate. We got message from ya leader that yeh were comin'."

The younger boy feverishly nodded, his pot sliding over his face and painfully crashing into the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, an' this was the initiation assignment Numbah 112 gave me. My first job eva'!"

"Tha's roight," the taller boy added, his voice affectionate as he looked at the shorter boy. "Ah'm Numbah 38, an' this nipper's me brother, Numbah 39. He's only been workin' for a little while, but he can be quite a sponger. This is his first assignment."

Mushi held up her sleeves in the air and cocked her head to the side. "Wait, you mean to tell us that you've been...expecting us?"

Tommy frowned and kicked the side of his brown bag in frustration, bruising his toe in the process. "This is no fair! I wanted this to be a secret!" Mushi cast him a glare and kicked him in the shin, sending Tommy doubling over on his knees in pain.

Number 38 watched on in amusement. "O' course we've been expectin' yeh!" He dramatically flailed his arms in the air, smacking his brother in the side of the head, narrowly missing the pot. "We've been waiting practically our whole lives to meet you guys!"

Tommy stopped kicking his bag and turned to face Mushi, a flicker of fear crossing his face. She gave him a reassuring look and he returned it with a weak grin, directing his attention to "What do you mean by that? We've never been here before—how could you have waited your entire lives to meet someone you've never met?"

Number 39 peeked out from under the lid of his pot and smiled a wide toothy grin. "How could we not? Everyone knows yeh—you guys are famous! Ah never thought Ah'd get to meet Numbahs Two and Three from the Kids Next Door Sector V!"

To Be Continued

A/N: AGH! The dreaded cliff hanger! Sorry this chapter was kind of lacking in the fluffies; I wanted to make sure I squished in enough details about Australia so that you got an idea of just where the group is traveling. Plus, I was bad and I threw in more original characters. I'm such a hypocrite--I tell everyone to try and avoid using them, so I make up five of my own. Let me know what you think about the new characters, especially Fran Hamdan, Wally's 'gram'. (My sister wanted to know why her last name isn't "Beetles"; it's because she's his mother's mother.) By the way, the sites that I used for research are listed in my bio at the bottom, so if you're interested, check them out!