Kids Next Door

Operation: A.N.G.E.L.

Angelic

Nuisances

Guardians

Eliminate

Loftily

Chapter 05.

Note: Vensy is used with permission of Vensy-Chan her creator.

It was wrong, Vensy realized. There wasn't anything else it was, what Numbah Four did to that creature, it was wrong. The creature wasn't attacking Numbah Four, why did Numbah Four need to attack it? He didn't.

Vensy watched as the monstrous flatworm started to fade from the plain.

"Hey What's up Three-Sixty-Two?" Numbah Five greeted the leader of Kids Next Door. She and Numbah Two had just gotten out of the arrival bay. They did not know why she had summoned them.

"Hey, Numbah Five, Numbah Two, thanks for coming on such short notice," Numbah Three-Sixty-Two said cheerfully. "After hearing about the last angel attack we decided that it might be a good idea to up our defenses a bit. From your layouts, Hoagie, we built another E.V.A.G.E.L.I.O.N. Unit. We request you look it over to make sure our modifications won't interfere with its functionality."

"Oh, certainly," Numbah Two said enthusiastically. He was eager to see how they modified it.

"Numbah Five, you were summoned because we decided that you would be the best choice for a pilot for this new E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. Your combat skills are far superior to the other Operatives. You are hear to get 'synchronized' with the new unit so that you can assist in the next combat."

"There are going to be more of those monsters?" Numbah Two asked not wanting to really know the answer.

Vensy was in English class. Of all the classes she hated, this was the one she hated the most. Words were inadequate to describe the hatred she felt. Her rage.

But for now, she needed to focus. For some unknown reason she decided that Luke might have some insight into what happened, what that monster was. Unlike most girls her age, she relied on those impulses not out of curiosity, but because they were too often startlingly right.

When the bell finally rang signaling the end of the school day, Vensy rushed over to Luke and started, "Hey Luke I was wonderi--"

"Save it," Luke said coldly. "I won't talk to a traitor like you."

Vensy's face crumpled as Luke walked away wearing a stone face. He didn't really want to be mean to a girl, he didn't like it, but he knew he couldn't trust her. She had betrayed him. She joined the Kids Next Door, she was probably even his replacement too.

Vensy went home as soon and as quickly as she could. Anyone who saw her would tell you that she looked like a zombie, a living dead. That was how she felt. She always had felt that Luke was her best friend, the one person she could really talk to. Now he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. She was all alone again.

It was Vensy's first day at preschool. Despite how her life was so much better now than it was last year, she still was not very happy. Her Aunt made her dress up in this dress, the dress was such a loud bright color, she hated it. The other children were loud and scary. She was afraid of them, they seemed wild and unpredictable.

Most of the children left her alone. But one boy, he was a real pest, he kept on asking her questions and smiling at her, trying to conjole her into not pouting. For the most part he just annoyed her. When it was nap time, he told her that he'd get a nap-mat for her too. Unfortunately the boy decided that the two mats on the bottom of the pile were the most desirable. The other children got quite a laugh when the rest of the rugs fell on the boy.

Vensy felt bad for the boy, she didn't like it when people stared at her, she figured she'd curl up and die if they all laughed at her. She was surprised to see the boy not crying but laughing with the other children. He picked himself up and gave her a rug. She smiled, and decided that she wanted to be strong and not care if others laughed at her like the boy.

The two became fast friends, and although the boy never outgrew his clumsiness, Luke and Vensy remained good friends.

Luke's whole day was not going well. First his mom woke him up late, so he almost missed the bus, then he found out he forgot his history assignment on the kitchen table, and to top it all off Vensy, the betrayer, bugged him after school. Then, when he figured he had some chance of getting some good news, he found out that the last Angel that Xanthanos' summoned failed.

"What? After we went through all that trouble to get that artifact for you!" Luke criticized exasperatedly. "I was under the impression that it almost made you a god!"

Xanthanos raised his eyebrow at the boy. He never really liked children that much, which was one reason why he and Luvara never bother to have their own. He didn't like their ignorance and their cheeky attitudes. Instead of turning the lad into a toad Xanthanos decided to serve him humble pie. He tossed a five inch thick book at Luke and said pointedly, "If you aren't happy with our selection of summons, here have the almanac and YOU pick an unbeatable one!"

Luke spent what felt like hours looking through the book. There were more summon-able entities than Luke would've thought could possibly exist. Most of the names were in an odd scripts, he couldn't begin to guess as to how they were pronounced. Thankfully the almanac had a "translation" spell on it that translated everything else.

After the sun had long since set, and the moon rose, Luke found the angel he thought would be able to defeat the Kids Next Door. He called to Xanthanos, "Hey, Mr. Xanthanos, I think this one would do the trick!"

And it was summoned.

The operatives of sector W could only scratch their heads, after evacuating and running a safe distance away, at the latest monster. When you think of monster, generally something furry or scale-covered or vaguely humanoid at least. This monster was a giant cube. Floating above the ground. It was beyond surreal.

Then the big floating cube, shot a huge laser down at sector W's club house and destroyed it utterly. It moved on from there, going towards Kids Next Door central earth base.

Sector W could only watch and hope that the E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N.s beat the angel there.

"How does Numbah Five get this basted contraption to move!" Numbah Five asked frustrated. She was the newest pilot for the newest E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. And it wasn't all easy. She had a new respect for Numbah Four and how he was able to pilot his unit in the previous combats.

The angel was faster than the previous two. Probably because it didn't need to walk to tunnel, it merely floated. Numbah Four and his machine hadn't arrived by the time Numbah Five realized that she would have to start fighting it. The base she was training at was the "old" central headquarters, before the moon-base.

Numbah Five was able to dodge the drilling laser and get to the surface, thanks to a make-shift giant elevator they Kids Next Door engineers came up with, but she wasn't used to piloting the E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. Yet and her unit was only able to make one clumsy stab at the floating cube before falling to the ground.

Numbah Five tried to get her mech unit to pick itself up, she willed it, she played with the controls, but it just lied there. The angel, however, was much more active and took advantage of the opportunity. It turned its laser drill from the underground base to the E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. Unit that was right next to it. It cut off the large hand that held the knife. It severed the other hand of the mech too, to be safe. It went back to drilling into the underground base.

Meanwhile:

"We have to get her out of there now!" Numbah Two exclaimed, waving his arms around frantically. "Without the hands she's helpless out there! Where is Numbah Four and the other unit?"