Okay…

It's here…

What you've all been waiting for…

The one…

The only…

THE GRAND FINALE, CHAPTER TEN! THE EXCITING CLOSE TO 'SECLUDED POWER'!

So brace yourself…

FOR THE LAST CHAPTER OF A LIFE TIME!

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"Embarrassment- now!" Nigel ordered.

Wally thrust his hands forward, sending a fistful of light pink fire at his target: a very heavily-padded Hoagie.

The fire hit him with deadly precision in the center of his stomach. Hoagie took a step back from the blow, but otherwise appeared unharmed.

"Jealousy- now!"

The pink flames in Wally's fists turned a deep shade of green, and he threw his lit fists out in front of him once more, sending a ball of flames at Hoagie. Unlike the pink fire, the green sent poor Hoagie straight into a near-by tree. He quickly scrambled up and resumed his role as a walking target for Wally's blows.

"Happiness- now!"

Wally concentrated. So far, obtaining the light-blue magic that represented happiness had been the most difficult for him. The other emotions were simple. In fact, his favorites were anger and jealousy, which proved powerful time and again. But happiness was far more difficult. When the green flames in his hands failed to turn blue and simply resumed their neutral white, Nigel let out a heaving sigh.

"Numbah Four, this happens every time I tell you to use 'Happiness'. In fact, I don't think I've every seen it at all! Try harder! None of us are leaving until you get it. No, Numbah Three, he's to do it on his own." Kuki, who had about to ask if she could help him, shut her mouth.

The rest of the team, who had been watching and occasionally suggesting emotions for Wally to do when Nigel was taking a break to record what had been happening, groaned.

Wally concentrated harder than ever now. He imagined it- he pictured it- he did everything he could to try and convince 'Happiness' to show itself, but nothing worked. His magic was still white, and his cheeks were red and shining with sweat from effort. "Numbah One, Ah…Ah can't do it…" he panted.

"What if we were in the middle of some kind of mission, hmm? And our weapons were broken? And what if, by chance, we were depending on your magic? What if we needed the most power we could get? Would you still say you couldn't do it? Would you, still?"

"Numbah One, give the kid a break. He's been workin' all mornin'. Jus' look at him. He's tired, he's stressed, let him be." Abby said, putting her hands in their usual place on her hips.

"Let him be? How can I let him be when Global Command has informed us that the Delightful Children from down the Lane are plotting against us as we speak? We may need this sort of power! What happened last time can never be repeated-"

.:Flash Back:.

"Well, Kids Next Door, it looks as though we won't be meeting again. Sad, isn't it?" The Delightful Children mused. Nigel, Hoagie, Kuki, and Abby were all held by metal cuffs on the wall, their toes scarcely touching the ground beneath them. "But where is our dear friend, Wallabee? Ah, well. We'll find him eventually. But as for you four…"

The Delightful Children were perched in the cockpit of a good sized ship with a very good sized laser on its top. Their target: the four KND members chained to the wall. "Say goodnight, KIDS NEXT DOOR!"

Just as the laser was charged and ready to fire, a blur of orange knocked it out of place; a loud 'CRACK' in the air informed all of the kids that Wally's impact with the laser had impaired the beam, which sparked and whistled as it hit him instead of its original target.

"Numbah Four!" Kuki wailed, trying desperately to break the cuffs around her wrists.

Wally stood up shakily, looking as though he'd had a fight with a power socket and lost. His hair was spiked up with static electricity, exposing his rarely-seen eyes. He was surrounded by a soft yellow aura, no doubt a side affect from the laser not working correctly.

"You idiot! How could you have broken it? Father shall be furious! We must go for now, Kids next Door, but we shall meet again!" The Delightful Children yelled over their ship's motors as they took flight.

.:End Flash Back:.

The team was silent. Nigel shook his head and sighed. "You know what? Numbah Five's right. Numbah Four, you've got-" He checked his wrist watch, "two hours. I want you back here by then."

"Wait," Wally said quietly, "Ah don' want a break. Ah want ta try until Ah get it."

Nigel gave him a half-smile. "Excellent. That's the kind of attitude we need here."

He turned to Abby and grinned at her. She sighed and returned the favor.

"Alright," Nigel said thoughtfully, "Have at it then."

Wally frowned. "Uh…how?"

"Oh, I don't know. Think happy thoughts or something." Nigel said, frowning. His expression seemed to say, 'I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.'

Wally racked his brain for happy thoughts. He finally remembered his first kiss with Kuki, and held on to the memory. He clenched his hands into fists and clamped his eyes shut. He played the memory in his head over and over like a broken record, trying to go around the parts where he may have felt emotions other than happiness that could possibly interfere with what he was doing.

Wally did this for what seemed like forever. He felt a bead of sweat dibble down his brow. He didn't even feel his hands heat up. Nothing he did would work…

Suddenly, the earth shook beneath him and an ear-splitting explosion pierced the air. Wally's hands (no longer hot from his magic) flew over his ears to block out the noise. Thankfully, it stopped abruptly, and he was allowed to lower his hands to his sides and open his eyes. He gasped at what he saw. Hoagie whistled in amazement and whispered, "Sweeeeet."
A battle ship (it reminded Wally very much of a monster truck, the way it was built) with two large laser cannons on each side had landed before them. It was fairly small, yet big enough to hold the weight of its cannons, which were the biggest Wally had ever seen. He was honestly not surprised when five simultaneous cackles filled his ears.

"Why, hello, Kids Next Door. It's so nice to see you again," The Delightful Children from down the Lane said with mock-politeness from the cockpit of their ship.

"Alroight, Delightful Dorks! Whatcha gonna do, shoot us with yer little cannons? Bring it on!" Wally said, spreading his legs shoulder-width apart and bringing his hands up in fighting stance.

"Oh, no, Wallabee. Not quite our plans. See, we were hoping to destroy you with our incredibly large solarcannons!" That much was true; their cannons were equipped with solar panels, made for collecting energy and fuel from sunlight.

Then it seemed to hit them- every member of the team. It quickly dawned on them that they were all unarmed. All except Wally, of course, who had his magic.

Wally narrowed his eyes. He felt anger welling up inside him. He knew what he had to do; just not how to do it.

The Delightful Children laughed. "Goodnight, dear friends."

As the cannons began collecting sunlight, solar energy flew to them like magnets; a rather annoying and lingering humming sound followed.

"Crud, crud, crud…" Wally whispered.

"Numbah Four! Stop the cannons!" Nigel yelled over the hum of the lasers.

"How?" he wailed. He tried not to panic, but he had never been very good at keeping a cool head when things got…well, like this.

"I don't care how! Just do it so we don't get hurt!" Nigel yelled. The humming was growing louder as the cannons gained more energy.

Wally concentrated. He was nervous, and that was making things difficult. I'm mad, he decided. I'm real mad. Mad, angry, furious, outraged…

He felt his hands grow hot with their familiar blood red flame. A loud explosion sounded, and he knew he was a bit late. Thankfully, he had been out of range, and his friends knew enough to get the heck out of the way when the laser fired.

The cannons were already back to humming and getting fuel. If only it wasn't sunny out, Wally thought bitterly as he collected his thoughts to get his magic powerful enough to make a successful blow, then those stupid cannons and their stupid panels- Wait! The panels!

He grinned devilishly as his magic grew hotter in his palms. He would aim enough fire at the panels to overheat and melt them! Just as the cannons fired a second time, Wally sprung into the air, dodging the beam. He landed straight on top of one of the cannons, and found the solar panel. His eyes flashed dangerously as he sent a steady flow of magic straight at the panel. It was energy-consuming to do, but it was the best shot he had.

"Wait!" The Delightful Children snapped, "What are you doing!"

"Oh, I see what he's doing," Nigel whispered to Abby from behind the tree they were using as cover. "He's destroying the panels…excellent…he's not so dumb after all…"

"No…no he isn't. But he's gettin' tired fast. Look at him."

Kuki whimpered. "We have to go help him!"

"We can't," Nigel admitted.

"'Anger' isn't strong enough! He's got to use 'Happiness' for his magic- anger won't work fast enough!"

"That's true," Nigel said slowly, "If he overworks himself, he could temporarily use up his magic and tap into his life-force, which would kill him- wait, Numbah Three! Where are you going? Get back here! I order you to get back here!"

But he was just too late. Kuki was already taking off toward Wally.

"Numbah Four! Don't use anger! Use happiness!" She shouted over the loud hum.

Wally looked at her, confused. Then he remembered: Happiness was stronger than Anger, and he was getting tired fast. He looked down at the panel he was getting rid of now, and just in time. "KUKI, TAKE COVER!" Kuki darted back behind the tree just as the panel exploded, leaving shards of panel everywhere. The laser was useless. Wally jumped off the cannon, panting. He nearly got his head blown off by the second laser, which fired seconds after he hit the ground. Thankfully, he moved. There were shards of panel cutting holes all over his hoodie and puncturing his skin, but he didn't care. He back-flipped onto the second cannon just as it began collecting energy again. His hands automatically turned red with anger, but he knew that wouldn't work.

Kuki watched him, thinking. How could she make him use happiness…she paused. Suddenly, she jumped out from behind the tree. She knew what she needed to do. "WALLY!" She called, instantly grabbing his attention despite the noise around them. "I love you!"

Wally's red fire first turned pink with shock, and then immediately light blue with happiness. "Destroy the cannon!" Nigel called, snapping him out of his momentary daydream.

He turned is attention to the panel. Suddenly, the ship moved.

"Get off, you menace!" The Delightful Children said harshly, as their ship took flight. They didn't go high; they still wanted to be able to shoot at the rest of the KND.

Wally planted his feet, and began sending a steady flow of magic at the panel. It worked instantly, and just as the Delightful Children spun the ship upside down to get Wally off, the panel exploded.

"We'll be back!" The Delightful Children called, flying away in their ship, which was damaged beyond repair.

"Wally!" Kuki called and Wally came crashing to the ground. He landed on his feet in a cat-like manner, but found it hard to stand because of how tired he was.

Kuki quickly wrapped him in a warm embrace. "Wally, you did it!" She told him quietly, "You really, really did it."

Wally's eyelids grew heavy. He was exhausted. "Ah love you, too, Kuki." And with that, he passed out in her arms, a smile on his face.

¢

Wow, that was kinda long.

But um…it's over.

Audience & me: -cries-

BUT I WILL WRITE A SEQUAL!

I WILL! I WILL, I WILL, I WILL!

MUAHAHAHA!

Thanks for reading, guys! Please review and come back to read the sequel!

-whistles with amazement-FIFTY REVIEWS! WOW!

Thanks again, guys!

lots o' luv,

jack