Girls Are Such A Drag
By Lauren G.
Chapter 10: Operation: P.O.P.C.O.R.N.
Pompous
Old
People
Can't
Organize
Revenge
Numbers
Beginning Note: So sorry this has taken a while to get out. I am incredibly bored in college so I thought it was about time to get back to the computer… well, laptop. This is a little more 1/5 orientated but its still a 3/4 and will continue to be full of sappy goodness.
Kuki and Wally walked into the tree house that afternoon. Kuki had a bandage wrapped around her hand.
"Kuki!" Hoagie said. "Great to see you again."
"Thanks guys." Kuki said smiling at her friends. She and Wally sat down around the tire.
"So what are we doing today?" Wally asked. Nigel handed him a picture of a factory.
"This factory is being run by adults on the demand of the Delightful Children From Down The Lane. We need to investigate." Nigel told him.
"Why us?" Hoagie whined. "Why not the runts?" He jerked a thumb towards the numbered doors behind them. Nigel cleared his throat.
"Sarah and the others are on a uh… special mission." He said. Wally raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, if you call eating too much junk food and lying sick in bed with stomachaches a 'special mission'." Hoagie said, making quote motions with his fingers when he said 'special mission'. Nigel cleared his throat again.
"We'll leave them with some Pepto Bismol and head out to investigate the factory."
The teens headed off to check on the kids. Groans of discomfort echoed from all rooms.
"Too much….. popcorn…." Sarah muttered. "Popcorn…… super….. extra buttery…." There were popcorn kernels strewn all about the floor and the sheets of her bed, as were all the others rooms.
"Too much popcorn never did this to me. Especially SUPER extra buttery popcorn." Kuki spoke up.
"Popcorn…. Hmmm…" Abby said. "What kind of factory is this Nigie?"
"What?" Hoagie, Kuki, and Wally all looked over at Abby, who had gone red.
"What did you say?" Hoagie asked her.
"Nu… Nuthin'. Abigail just wants to know what type of factory the adults are working at." Abby said, tilting her cap over her face.
Nigel scratched his head, looking very flustered. He looked at the picture of the smoke gray building with several smokestacks.
"It doesn't say. Let's move out."
"Kids next…. Door… Battle stati- hoooorgh!" Said Sarah right before she threw up over the side of her bed.
"Coooool." Hoagie said.
---- Outside the Factory ----
" 'ow do we get in?" Wally asked Nigel, staring up at the 16ft chain link fence with barbed wire on the top.
"We could use the gate." Nigel said, pointing to their left at an ajar section of the fence. Wally went red.
"Come on!" Kuki said, grabbing his hand and tugging him along through the gate. They held hands the entire way to the large iron door leading into the factory. Nigel pressed a button next to the door and it opened with a creak. The 5 teens stepped into the factory. Their shadows were silhouetted on the floor by the light of the door. Their shadows disappeared as they entered further into the dark.
"There's something weird about this place." Hoagie said. "There's nobody here." Kuki let go of Wally's hand and stepped forward and sniffed the air.
"What is it?" Wally asked. Before Kuki could reply, lights blared on and an oddly familiar monotone laugh greeted them.
"Well well well, if it isn't the Kids Next Door."
"If it isn't the Delightful Children From Down the Lane." Nigel retorted back.
"We're so very glad you could visit our wonderful snack factory." They said. As Nigel and the others looked around them they could see boxes and boxes of sweets and snacks.
"We're here to shut this factory down!" Nigel called up to the Delightful Children who were looking down on them from a balcony.
"We'll see about that." All of the sudden, a jar rose up out of the floor underneath Abby, trapping her inside.
"Abby!" Nigel cried.
"Nigel!" She cried back, banging on the glass. Nigel ran up to the jar. All of the sudden it started filling with a sticky orange substance.
"Marmalade!" Abby said, backing away from the ooze.
"Guess Abby's really in a JAM." Hoagie said. Nigel rounded on him.
"Now is not a time for your puns! My girlfriend is trapped in a jar that is filling up with marmalade! Find me something that I can break it with… NOW!" Nigel roared. Hoagie shrunk back and ran towards a nearby supply closet.
"You meanies!" Kuki yelled up at the Delightful Children as goopy chaos ensued behind her..
"I ought to kick your ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Wally yelled as he was suddenly thrusted back by a large explosion of popcorn.
"Candy not good for little children!" said a fat granny looking lady, emerging from the massive pile of popcorn, along with other oddly dressed adults.
"Who are you?" Wally asked.
"We are adults against the Kids Next Door! You shouldn't be running errands for those cavity filled capers! You should be fighting alongside us!" Said a man with a purple body suit on, with a strange metal contraption around his mouth.
"Wally! Are you okay?" Kuki asked, popping her head out of the pile of popcorn. A group of shadows loomed over Kuki. She turned around. All the adults were glaring down at her.
"Hi!" Kuki said to them.
"Kuki! Run!" Wally said as one of the Adults drew an Ice Cream Cone shooter. Wally grabbed her hand and they ran from the adults, cone after sugary cone breaking into tiny bits as they missed their targets and collided with the walls.
Meanwhile- Abby was struggling to keep herself as close to the top of the jar as possible. The marmalade sloshed her around and clung to her clothes and hair.
"Will this do?" Hoagie said almost breathlessly, shoving a heavy tin of curiously strong mints into Nigel's hands. Nigel gripped the tin and began to reapetedly beat on the jar, rings of failing attempts echoing amongst Wally and Kuki's screams.
"Its not strong enough! I need something else!" Nigel said, throwing the mints aside. One of the adults in the troupe chasing after Kuki and Wally and tripped, a mean looking dentist drill falling out of the holster on their purple costume. Hoagie and Nigel spied it at the same time.
"Nigel!" Abby gasped, holding her head above the jelly.
"Abby!" Nigel cried, pressing his hands against the glass.
"Nigel, catch!" Hoagie called. He had picked up the drill and tossed it to Nigel. It sailed through the air, and with an almighty leap, Nigel caught it and flipped it on. He jammed the point of the drill into the jar and began to drill. The glass of the jar began to split and little pieces flew here and there. The cracks spread like the branches of a tree. Nigel yanked out the drill, stepped back, and kicked hard into the center of the crack. Glass shattered and fell, and the marmalade began to seep out, just in time.
"Nigel!" a sticky Abby said. She crawled out the hole and Nigel helped her up. Abby gave him a sticky hug.
"I was so scared." Nigel whispered in her ear. Abby just squeezed him tighter.
"Um… Nigel? Shouldn't we help Wally and Kuki?" Hoagie asked, very point blank. Kuki and Wally were still running in circles around the factory as the adults chased after them.
"Right. Hoagie, grab those licorice ropes." Nigel said, pointing to a crate off to the side.
"Abby, help me open this box of jawbreakers." Nigel told Abby.
"Well, Abby WOULD but uh…" Abby paused and looked down at their predicament. They were stuck together.
"Oh great." Nigel said. "Well…. On three, we'll move over the boxes, okay?"
"Okay." So in a team effort, Abby and Nigel made it over to the jawbreaker box and Nigel kicked it over. The colored candies spilled out onto the floor.
"I got the ropes!" Hoagie yelled. He grinned at the sight of Abby and Nigel stuck together. Nigel frowned for a moment before continuing orders.
"All right. When the adults come this way, and once they slide on the jawbreakers, we will trap and tie them up with the licorice ropes. Then we'll get out of here."
As if on cue. Kuki and Wally came around the corner and towards the others.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" They screamed. Just as they were about to hit the jawbreakers, Hoagie grabbed each of them by the backs of their shirts and pulled them out of the way. The adults, having no time to stop, slid into the jawbreakers and stumbled and slid into a pile of boxes on which a conveniently placed bucket of caramel stood, which promptly tipped over and covered the adults. Wally and Kuki rushed forward with the licorice ropes and tied up the adults.
"We will get you, old Kids Next Door!" the Delightful Children angrily announced. Everyone turned around to look up at them.
"Debbie?" Hoagie said, squinting up at the blonde girl in the white dress. Instead of a pink bow, she was now wearing a light blue one. The 4 other Delightful Children stared at Debbie. Debbie looked at her shoes.
"Father will be greatly disappointed at the mess the employees have made of his factory." The Delightful Children continued. They stepped back together into the shadows and disappeared.
"You know her?" Wally asked Hoagie. Hoagie put a hand in his pocket and drew out a pink ribbon. No one said anything.
"Well, lets head back to report to the others." Nigel said, breaking the ice. The teens headed out of the factory and back to the tree house.
Once at the tree house, Nigel changed clothes and Abby washed out her hair. Sarah and the others were improving, and had come out of their rooms to the hear the report.
"The factory indeed was being run by adult accomplices of the Delightful Children. We however, did not find out anything else." Nigel reported.
"Except Hoagie's 'Mystery Woman' is one of the Delightful Children." Wally spoke up. Hoagie punched him in the arm.
"Ooowwww!" Wally cried out, nursing his arm.
"Reeeeeeealllllly." Sarah said, a glint in her eye. She looked at Hoagie. She looked a Nigel. Nigel suddenly got it.
"Hoagie. We need your help."
End Chapter 10
Author's Note: Wow! I tell you what, WOW. I got this out! I am in the spirit! I am in the mood! I am in 'Rowling Mode'!. Once I figure out what I need to type next, I will have the next chapter up as soon as I can. I have college finals coming up, but am off for Christmas break in 3 weeks, and I have a month for that. So keep watch. I hope you all will! Please review, no trash, recycle.
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