I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! I gave up on NaNoWriMo but I'll put up two chapters of the story this week. Please read and review!
connection re-established
"You've already seen mine. Now, it's your turn." They were sitting in the grass near the tire swing suspended from the big maple tree in Numbuh 78's front yard. "Please, Hoagie?" She blinked her big brown eyes at Numbuh Two. "Show me your deck."
"Well…okay." Numbuh Two dug a sweaty palm into one of his pockets, shuffled aside a few slices of Swiss and grabbed the container that held his pack of Yipper cards. With a nervous laugh, he handed them to Numbuh 78. He couldn't suppress a proud smile as she shuffled through the cards and nodded appraisingly. Numbuh 78 was a card collector herself so Numbuh Two knew she would appreciate some of his rarer finds.
"Nice. Really impressive." She grinned.
"Oh, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking you could crush my squadron with your deck. But it's not just what cards you have. It's how you use them."
"Is that right?"
"Yup. It's all about strategy."
Numbuh 78's smile was dazzling and, as Numbuh Two realized, wildly contagious. As he sat beside her, he knew that if any of his teammates could see the grin looping around his face they wouldn't let him hear the end of it. Good thing Numbuh One had decided to meet him back at the base.
"Speaking of strategy, I was wondering, what do you think would be the best strategy for persuading you to trade #13?"
"Oh, I don't know…#13's a really ultra rare card…but maybe I can think of something."
Numbuh 78 handed the deck of cards back to Numbuh Two. "Thanks for the movie, Hoagie. And the taffy apple. And the popcorn too. I'll have to remember to get cheese popcorn the next time I go."
"Maybe I could remind you."
"Maybe you could." She winked at him. "Goodnight, Hoagie."
"'Night." Numbuh Two sighed.
They walked down the street in silence. Numbuh One had the all-too-familiar taste of dirt in his mouth. Lizzie's arms were folded in front of her. She didn't even want to hold hands.
"You told me we were going to have this romantical evening and then you bring your friends along, and then, you're a zombie all evening—what was the movie about, Nigel? Were you even paying attention?
He hadn't been. Numbuh One didn't want Lizzie to be mad but…he really had other things on his mind.
Lizzie threw her hands up in exasperation. "I thought you liked being with me."
"Lizzie, I do like being with you! It's the only time I don't have to think--"
Lizzie recoiled. "You don't have to think when you're with me?"
"You know what I mean--"
"No, I don't, Nigel! You never talk to me. You never tell me what you're thinking. Gosh, I guess it's because you're not. You don't even have to use your big bald brain when you're with me. Isn't that relaxing?"
"Lizzie, I--"
She wasn't even listening to Numbuh One's protests. Lizzie shook her head "I knew it. I knew it. Why did you come out tonight? Why did you even come?"
Numbuh One considered this. "Because you wanted me to."
Lizzie stopped and whirled around, her eyes brimming with tears. "So you didn't want to?"
For a moment, Numbuh One was stunned. How could that have been the wrong answer? He tried to think of a recovery. "Lizzie, I—I wanted you to be happy."
"Well, I'm not!" She shouted. "You're not even trying. It's like you don't even care. Well, I don't care either! I know my way home. Why don't you go back to your stupid treehouse and leave me alone!" Lizzie stalked down the pavement.
Numbuh One gaped, standing in her wake. How had that happened? What he'd meant to say was that being with Lizzie was so easy that he didn't have to think about it. All he had to do was smile at her and take her to see a movie every now and again and she doted on him. It was simple. Perhaps that wasn't the best reason to go out with a person but Numbuh One had enough stress and drama on the job. Especially in the past week. The Delightful Children From Down The Lane were behaving very strangely…they'd engaged them in three battles in the past seven days but every time, it'd been…too easy to get the delightful dorks on the run. Numbuh Five always got suspicious if missions were too easy. Maybe some of that unease was the cause of her recent moodiness. Numbuh One's thoughts returned to his relationship. Numbuh Five had always been skeptical of that too. Did she sense that things were "too easy" with Lizzie as well? Numbuh One glanced at the face of his watch before he used it activate his jet boots. It was getting late. He wondered if Numbuh Two had beaten him back to headquarters…
"Oh yeah, I win, oh yeah!" Numbuh Three sang as she bounced from foot to foot, mimicking her simian avatar in the Mega Ultra Fighters II arcade game. It was so much fun to trounce Wally. He'd go on and on about how his joystick was stiff and his keypad was sticky and how the game wasn't accepting his codes—just to make her feel better about beating him. Actually, Wally was a good player. She was just better. As he pouted and shouted "Crud!" at the screen, Numbuh Three grinned. "Wanna play again?"
"Aw, just put another quarter in! I'll win this time!"
"Sure you will!" Numbuh Three beamed at him. She pushed a coin into the slot and the gaming screen blared with bright color. A few seconds later, Wally's half of the screen went from dark to light and they both selected their players. Numbuh Three chose her reigning champion, Markane the Malaysian Magician. He was the cutest little monkey! He also had the coolest combination moves, like cartwheel kicks and skipping knuckle-breakers. She noticed that Numbuh Four had chosen Markane as well. Wally's monkey was wearing turquoise wristbands while hers was wearing red. The 16-bit referee began the match with a loud digital cry of "Challenge! Fight!" and Wally was already madly jamming his thumbs against the buttons and rocking the joystick back and forth in its cradle. Numbuh Three parried his punches for a moment, glancing over at Wally and the beads of sweat glistening on his nose. She smiled and took her hands off her controls.
Numbuh Three jerked his eyes away from the screen. "Numbuh Three, what are you doing? There's still like, a minute left in the match and I'm--" His mouth froze as his eyes caught the movement of Numbuh Three's hands. Coming down over his.
"Press A and C," Numbuh Three said, pressing the buttons down over the fingers of Wally's left hand, "and move diagonally." Her right hand maneuvered his. "See? It's easy." Turquoise Markane flew across the screen, a blur of lightning-fast moves. "Got it?"
"Yup."
Wally squeaked. His voice sounded like Huggykins Jr. Numbuh Three giggled. There were only about 15 seconds left in the match and Red Markane had taken a lot of damage from the lightning kick so when the bell sounded, Wally was victorious. "Yay!" Numbuh Three sang. "Numbuh Four wins!" She began her victory dance.
Wally stared at her, his eyes wide. He was so funny sometimes.
"That's one of the codes from the book I got you. I can show you some more. Wanna play one more round?"
Wally blinked a few times. "No," he said, and his voice sounded weird. Kind of like he was catching a cold. Kind of like a grown-up's. "Why don't we just go back to the treehouse?"
"Okay!" Numbuh Three couldn't stop smiling. Numbuh Four had beaten her at Ultra Mega Fighters for the first time on his twelfth birthday. Happy Birthday, Wally.
"She's not here." There was a note tacked to the refrigerator with a beetle-shaped magnet. Numbuh Two grabbed it as he opened the refrigerator door, in search of salami. After peeling three pink circles of it from the deli paper, he closed the fridge and went into the common room with the note.
"Let me see that," said Numbuh One. The note was short. 'Numbuh Five went home. Be back later.'
"Maybe it's a fake." Numbuh Two chewed on a slice of salami. "Why would she just go home?"
Numbuh One could think of a reason but he didn't say it. "You're right, Numbuh Two. We should go get her. You never know what might happen with Cree there. It might be a trap, waiting for Numbuh Five to spring it. She's probably not thinking straight after--" He clamped his mouth shut. Numbuh Two gave him a puzzled look. "Er, right. No time to waste!"
"Um, what about Numbuh Four and Numbuh Three?"
"I think we can handle Cree on our own, don't you?" Numbuh One pretended not to notice Numbuh Two's autonomic shudder. "Let's go!"
transmission interrupted