Hello! Here I am again with chapter 14! I decided Nigel needed a bit more praise, he's so smart and all, but he doesn't get so much of a spotlight here. Except - hm. You'll see.
And flame me if my description of Abby's dinner made you gain a few pounds.
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Codename: Kids Next Door, otherwise the shows would have been put on hiatus just like this story. But they didn't - I think? I don't have cartoon network on my tv, I wouldn't know. Enjoy, anyway!
Dragging Nigel along by the collar, Wally pelted down the school corridor, with Hoagie at his heels. They ignored the comments and scoldings of students and teachers alike, until one particularly burly young man blocked them from leaving the school.
"And where might midgets like you be off to?" He said nastily, sneering at Nigel, panting on the ground, clutching a stitch in his side, and Hoagie, hovering in Wally's shadow, looking all too eager to let the Aussie handle this all on his own. Wally, ever the oblivious one, puffed out his chest and glared straight into the 18-year-old's eyes. Nigel thought it was quite something to call them midgets – Wally was at least twice as broad-shouldered as the hallway-troll was, and Hoagie surely towered over him by a good two inches. The Brit, though gasping like a fish out of water on the floor, was quite tall himself, though not as much so as Hoagie. The latter didn't look so tall now, though, but Wally continued not to notice the lack of support he was getting from his companions. The hallway-stopper stepped forwards, and Hoagie shrunk some more. He winced at what Abby would have thought of this – but then, it was Wally's job to rush into something, make the situation a bit worse, then leave it to Nigel to sort it out.
"Where we're going," Wally said loudly, "'as little to do with you!"
"Really now?" the student sneered, stepping even closer. They were barely an inch apart now. Nigel was starting to recover and wondered how limited their obstacle's vocabulary was. "I happen to be interested – and when I'm interested, I like to be told!"
"So sorry to disappoint," Hoagie rolled his eyes. He couldn't help it. He grabbed Wally's shoulder to lead him past the student blocking them, but no go. Wally stayed put.
"Trying to escape, are we? You've been running from classes ever since you turned up from that land Down Under – are all the Australians so stupid, or is it just you?"
Nigel had never known Wally could be so patriotic. Hoagie had barely swept him aside before Wally swung at the boy's jaw. His aim was true: the boy howled in pain, grabbed Wally around the waist, and brought him down on the ground. Students flocked from their lockers, from inside the classrooms, to watch, cheering them on, as the boy continued to battle on the floor. Hoagie and Nigel were soon squashed to the wall, and unable to continue watching. The bell rang, but no one paid attention. Judging by the grunts and howls coming from the centre of the crowd, Wally was winning by a lot. Too soon for the other students, however, the Gym teacher jogged towards them, pushed his way through the crowd an easily separated the two boys, and sent them from school – they were suspended. When they got back, they'd have a week's worth of detention to deal with. Hoagie's heart lifted; they would have more than enough time to solve the mystery of Kuki's brainwash, rescue Abby, and he shouldn't feel guilty about being happy about Wally's punishment, it wasn't as though he would mind.
Wally stormed from the school, but Nigel held Hoagie back from following him.
"What is it?" He hissed. Nigel looked up at him grimly.
"It would look stupid if we all followed him out. We'll go to the toilets as the bell goes, then sneak out after everyone's in class."
"Um... okay. There's thirty minutes to go until then, what do we do?"
"Eat. I'm starving."
It didn't go as planned. When the bell rang, Hoagie and Nigel were safely inside their cubicles, waiting for the noise in the hallway to die down. Five minutes later, the school was silent besides the distant humming of the classes where teachers were lecturing. Nigel unlocked the door and stepped out, rapped on Hoagie's door to make sure he was coming, then crept out of the boys' bathroom. The hallway was deserted. He walked to the front doors of the school quickly, emerged out into the street, and made his way along the school's wall, ducking window, until he reached to corner. He breathed again, then looked around - Hoagie wasn't there.
--
Hoagie's locked door had, in fact, not opened in time, and ten minutes of fiddling with it - for all his excercising, he couldn't heave himself over it - passed quickly. He heard footsteps, someone was coming. He sat on the toilet with the top down and tucked his legs in, holding his breath. The footsteps stopped. Started again... slowly, whoever the footstepper was entered the bathroom, paced the length of the bathroom once, twice, three times... Hoagie's head started to spin with anxiety; the footstepper was looking for him. He had to do something, He stood up on the toilet, raised his arms over his head, pushed himself upwards... he could see the top of the footstepper's head, covered with smooth, dark hair... he was high up enough to put his legs on the ledge... please, please don't fall, let the clumsiness in his limbs just go away... just for a second... just for a moment...
The dark-haired boy finally stopped outside his cubicle. He pulled out a strange card, and inserted it in the door, where the lock was. It clicked open. Hoagie lifted himself up further. He thought of Abby, if only he could be around when Wally and Nigel rescue her, and then he thought of how stupid he must look - and that was all it took. Suddenly there was sweat on his palms; his hands slipped on the low walls of his cubicle, and he crashed down on the top of the toilet, right in front of the footstepper, who smiled unpleasantly.
"I have been sent to get you, Hoagie Gilligan."
Hoagie stood up, trying hard not to wince at the pain in his backside, and said, "Sent by who?"
The boy smirked. "By the teacher of course, Hoagie Gilligan." Hoagie backed away subconciously. What was with this guy?
"Um, right... could I have your name, please? It's sorta weird that you keep calling me by my full name, but I don't even know yours."
The kid's mouth curved, if possible, into and even wider and unpleasanter smirk than before. "Leonard. Leonard Wigglestein."
Hoagie's temper, for some reason, flared up. "Yeah, well, I'm not com-" he cut off. It wouldn't be a good idea to tell this guy what he was up to - he just knew it somehow. He would have to go Nigel on this boy - sneaky and clever. "Sure, sorry, the lock was stuck..."
"Come with me then, Hoagie Gilligan, Mrs. Thomas is waiting for you." Hoagie nodded, and followed Leonard obediently, his mind working furiously. Then it stuck on a good thought - he didn't have a class with Mrs. Thomas now. He'll just say he'd head to that class alone, and then dash out of school when Leonard was off to his own class. He smiled, but hid it quickly, trying to look confused and forgetful. Then he said, "Oh - Sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I don't have any classes with Mrs. Thomas right now, I've got -"
"- I know you don't have any classes with her!" Leonard suddenly sneered. Hoagie blinked once. Twice.
"Well then, see you - I've really got to get to class, I'm already -"
"Mrs. Thomas wants to see you, Hoagie Gilligan!" Hoagie blinked again, feeling rather stupid. Was he missing something?
"Um... can't it wait 'til after class?"
Leonard was sneering at him gleefully. "No."
"Does my teacher know?"
"No."
"But then - but then I'll lose points!" He exclaimed indignantly. The murmuring coming from a nearby classroom stopped. Leonard was surveyeing him with intense dislike. Hoagie sensed he was doing the same. Leonard then opened his mouth.
"Good," He said nastily, "It's no more than you deserve."
"What have you got to say about that?" Hoagie said, and he saw Leonard's hand dash towards his belt, then ease away.
"You will see Mrs. Thomas, Hoagie Gilligan. Now." The way of talking reminded him of Kuki when she was brainwashed. Leonard held on to Hoagie's arm with surprising strength, and led him down the hallway forcefully, like a guard. He finally opened a door for him at the end of the first-floor corridor, and closed the door behind both of them. Inside was a small gathering of people, who he had all seen before.
Leonard joined a group of girls and boys standing in the middle of the room, girls and boys he had seen many times before in class. There was a short, blonde girl, stunningly pretty with pale, almost blank eyes, an excessively tall boy with hair falling into his eyes, a boy with exactly the same body build as Wally, and a short, plump girl with olive skin and dark pigtails. Pacing up and down the length of the room, looking almost hungrily at a stack of paperwork on the teacher's desk, was a girl with curly, blonde hair that fell easily past her wiast and a curvy, girlish build, behind the desk sat a woman in her late thirties, with tidy, brown hair, and very pretty, sparkling eyes, and most surprising of all, in the corner, stood a girl with her bangs shading her colourless eyes - Kuki. Knowing no one would recognize him in a very friendly way, except perhaps the teacher, Hoagie stayed where he was. The teacher nodded to the blonde-haired girl, who rushed to the window, pushed a button, and immediately the shudders were in place. There was no light. Then, a warm, orange glow lit up the room, and he spotted the blonde girl next to a cozy-looking lamp. The teacher smiled warmly at him, and gestured towards a chair near the teachers desk. The blonde circled the room like a vulture - a very pretty vulture - as he sat down. She was eyeing him warily.
"Hoagie Gilligan, isn't it?" The teacher said kindly. He nodded nervously. The blonde was watching him as though he might attack someone - or else as though she was extremely hungry. "Oh I remember you - look how tall you are!" The teacher said, but Hoagie just looked at her, mystified. "Oh, that's right, I'm sure you don't remember me. I'm Mrs. Thomas. I taught you when you were in fourth grade." She stopped smiling and looked at him seriously. "Now, Hoagie, let me tell you something. This is very improtant." Hoagie nodded. "Most people - almost everyone - can remember the lives they led when they were ten, but not you. Not Kuki, or Wally, or Nigel, or Abby. There are other children like you - they can't remember their pasts. I need to tell you why. This is the most important class you've ever had, Hoagie, the most important yet."
Hoagie's eyes widened behind his glasses. He saw a smirk flit across the blonde girl's face, but Mrs. Thomas sent her a venomous look, and continued kindly to Hoagie. "You were brainwashed, Hoagie."
"I... what?"
The sea smelt lovely; it was sunny and warm, but it remained a mystery how an old-fashioned pirate ship like the Sweet Revenge could go from Cleveland, Ohio, to some warm and sunny ocean below the equator. The water was sparkling blue and the sky was clear besides a few wispy, fragile-looking clouds. Abby breathed in. The air even tasted nice. She had asked the captain of the Sweet Revenge how he had gotten his ship all the way here in nothing but a few hours, but he just answered, "Aaaargh, tha's wha' yeh get when yeh put a good ship with some technology, lass." and then pulled a yellow lollipop from his scraggly beard.
One down side to the sudden warm weather was that Abby was still wearing her winter clothes. The long-sleeved cranberry shirt she had put on yesterday morning was soaking. She had been offered an old-fashioned dress - complete with a corset - but she had kindly refused. The dress didn't look too much cooler than her normal clothes were. Besides, a corset? She would rather drop dead, pirate ship or not. She turned from the edge of the boat, and jogged to her room, under the deck. It was nice and cool there. She stretched and realised she was exhausted; she had spent the entire afternoon learning how to help the crew in case things got messy, and Captain Stickybeard had even taught her how to steer the ship and read a compass. He said he'd explain everything that evening. Why did it have to take so long until dusk? She almost wished it would be winter again, so that night would fall sooner. She sighed impatiently, and climbed into her hammock. She fell alseep immediately.
"Hey, sleepyhead!"
"Mmph. Goway."
Poke poke.
"CREE!" Abby shot upwards, to see her sister wearing a dark red, armored costume.
"Hiya Abby, so glad to know you missed me." She said, grinning widely. "Stickybeard contacted me as soon as he had you - Abbs, we're going to tell you everything together, so I can fill in parts of the story that he doesn't know."
"Um... okay."
"I was worried sick. It's a good thing Stickybeard likes you so much."
"Yeah..."
"Peeyuw, you smell! Why didn't you take the dress the pirates offered? It's not so hot - besides, these things are filthy." Cree exclaimed, pointing at the shirt and Abby's jeans.
Abby pouted. "I don't wear dresses, Cree."
"Nah, you wouldn't fit into a corset anyway."
Two hours later, after much puffing and squeezing and pulling, Abby was in the pirate dress. She had just done it to prove Cree wrong, but she wasn't sure if it was worth it. She could hardly breathe; on the other hand, it was surprisingly cool. And, of course, it was beautiful. It looked as though it were made of caramel; it was long and shiny, with the light moving across it in slow, mysterious swirls, although light doesn't even work like that. The top part was stiff, but the skirt was long and flowing, and it was a relief not to have sweaty jeans sticking to her legs. It wasn't decorated very much besides with dark blue beads at the neck, which was so wide it felt as though it was about to fall off of her shoulders. It didn't, to her relief. After a while of walking around with it, she decided that she would get used to not being able to breathe, and showed Cree what she had accomplished. Her older sister exclaimed that she knew she could do it and that she looked gorgeous, and what would Hoagie say if he saw her now? Fortunately, Abby didn't have to think up some way to defend herself, because one of the French pirates came in and announced that Captain Stickybeard was ready to see her now. Cree followed Abby to Stickybeard's cabin. He was sucking on a rather large jawbreaker.
"Sit down, lass, have somethin' to drink." He said, motioning to a chair pulled up to the table, and nodded to Cree for her to sit opposite him. The table was groaning under the weight of what Abby thought must have been the unhealthiest meal ever concocted: Berry juice for wine, a huge sugar loaf, slightly caramelized, ice cream, candy canes, a marzipan pig in the middle of the table with a caramel apple in its mouth, floating in what looked like a molten chocolate sauce, a fish made of violet jelly, its scales decorated with blue whipped cream. Besides these there were piles of cookies, mountains of mints, cakes with up to twelve layers of filling, a bowl with candies in it that were shaped like real fruits, glittering like gems in the candle light, and a yellow pudding trembling ominously. Besides each of them having gold plates with silver designs etched on them, silver cutlery and golden goblets, they each had a large bowl made of decorated glass, filled to the rim with puffy, snow-white whipped cream. Cree chuckled and pointed: All the way at the end of the table, which was attached to the wall of the cabin, stood a magnificent candy-sculpture. It depicted a dolphin, riding on the crest of a wave. The wave was made of tiny, multicoloured gumballs stuck together, and the dolphin was spun sugar that almost gleamed silver. Abby had never seen such beautiful - if unhealthy - dishes. Stickybeard nodded at both of them kindly. "Help yerselves," he said, reaching for a leg of the marzipan pig. Abby thought it was a bit of a shame to eat anything so magnificent. She soon learned that this was a mistake; the food tasted even better than it looked. She hadn't eaten so much in ages. After having eaten her way through candy pig, fish, cake, fruit, pudding and cookie, she found she couldn't eat a bite more, and if she did, her dress would either make her throw it all up again, or would explode. She leaned back, studying Stickybeard eagerly, but he was still busy eating. After watching him stuff in mouthful after mouthful of marzipan and pudding, she decided perhaps she wasn't so full after all, and dug in for a second time. Finally she stopped eating, along with Stickybeard and Cree, who ate surprisingly much despite how much she complained teenagely that she was too fat (which, by the way, wasn't true).
Stickybeard was now the one doing the studying. He eyed her with bright interest for a while, then finally opened his mouth and spoke, in his pleasant, raspy voice. "Yeh won' remember tha' I offered the post of first mate to yeh, would yeh, Abby?"
"No, sir." She said respectfully, though confused. Being a first mate on a ship like the Sweet Revenge was like a dream come true. Stickybeard spoke again.
"Tha' post is still open to yeh, lass, I know yeh've still got tha' spunk in yeh."
Cree beamed.
"Now, I know yeh've still got school an' all, but if yeh're ever interested in helpin' us out when yeh're not learnin', yeh're welcome."
"Thanks - Thank you, captain."
He clapped her on the shoulder - hard. Her face slammed into her whipped cream bowl; luckily, it was still partly full. Stickybeard, amazingly, didn't notice this, and spoke on. "I won' have yeh in my crew, though, if yeh don' know yer past. It's a special one, lass, an' I've 'specially asked Cree here to keep it a safe secret - yeh needed ter know at the right time. Wha' do yeh say to knowin' it all - the truth?"
Abby laughed for pure glee. "Captain, if you could tell me what's been goin' on, I'd be in yo' debt, and I promise I'll pay you back."
Stickybeard's face was slowly lit up with a grin, Cree was still beaming at her. "We have an accord then, lassie."
I like Stickybeard. I think he has a soft spot for Abby; I think he wants to develop a clever candy-brain like hers to its full potential or something. Review! Do you like my description of the caramel dress? I loved dreaming it up :) Gold must look so good on Abby. And evil old Mrs. Thomas... Maybe I'll create a were-poodle/spank-happy vampire feud, just like in real life mythology (contradiction, I know), I'm feeling so... so... epic-y. What do you think? Maybe a bit too epic-y? Don't worry, they're not going to start whipping out their wands at all. I'm no good at crossovers. Okay, I'm rambling. Just review, okay? Please?