The next few days following Numbuh 5's visit were quiet, the three official members of Sector V battling a few minor villains while the former members of Sector Z stayed in the treehouse, just in case.
"Man, it's been pretty quiet lately," Hoagie commented one day.
"I wanna kick some adult butt already," Wally grumbled, bored with the lack of evil adult activity. Suddenly, an alert went off, signalling an incoming transmission. Hoagie, Wally, and Kuki jumped up and headed to mission control quickly.
"Sector V! We have a mission for you," Numbuh 65.3 told them when the transmission connected. "We've recently heard rumors of Gramma Stuffum holding some poor kid captive and feeding them all sorts of gross food! We want you guys to go check it out."
"We're on it!" Hoagie answered, looking serious. The transmission ended, and Numbuh 2 turned to the other members. "Right, let's go! Kids Next Door, Battlestations!"
The three operatives loaded themselves into the scamper. "Look after the treehouse while we're gone, okay?" Hoagie told the former members of Sector Z before he boarded.
"You can count on us," Ashley answered, nodding in agreement.
"Great. We'll be back as soon as we can," Numbuh 2 said, boarding the airship and taking his seat as pilot. The S.C.A.M.P.E.R took off momentarily, speeding away to find out what was going on with Gramma Stuffum and the rumored captured kid.
The radar, curiously enough, led them to their elementary school. "So she's at school, that's not weird," Hoagie muttered.
"Aw man, this is a cruddy goose chase," Wally grumbled as they landed nearby, crossing his arms. "How can she be holdin' a kid captive in our own cruddy school?"
"I dunno, but we'll have to check things out," Numbuh 2 answered him, retrieving a splanker. "Let's get ready and get inside, then we'll see what's going on around here," he said, feeling a little suspicious of the whole situation himself.
The team left the scamper, looking for a way to get into the school. Eventually they found a way in, splitting up to try to find out what exactly was going on around here. Kuki started looking through classrooms and the girls' restrooms, while Wally was investigating the boys' restrooms, the gym, and more classrooms, leaving the cafeteria and kitchen areas to Hoagie.
Wally crept around as carefully as he could, turning and pointing his M.U.S.K.E.T in as many different directions as he could. "No cruddy food is gonna sneak up on me…" he muttered to himself, sneaking around the empty gymnasium. He checked the equipment room and found nothing, checking the boys' restroom attached to the main gym, and found nothing again. "I guess there ain't nothin' here," he commented. "We really are on a cruddy goose chase!"
He jumped as food started running across the gym, hiding behind a gym mat as the living food passed by him. He just raised an eyebrow as the food shouted something about an intruder, though his eyes widened when he managed to make out the word 'she'.
"Aw crud, Kuki!" he exclaimed after the food was gone, jumping out of his hiding place and running off to try to go find her. He left the gym through the other exit, turning a corner quickly before running into another group of food minions. "…Aw crud," he he repeated, firing a few shots at the food enemies before turning and running away from them, screaming.
"Get him!" the brussel sprouts at the head of the pack shouted, though they were knocked over and almost trampled in the resulting stampede as the rest of the food took off after Numbuh 4. The blonde glanced over his shoulder after a few minutes, not looking when he slammed into someone and fell to the floor with a grunt. "Hey, watch where yer goin'—Numbuh 3!" he said when he realized he'd slammed into the girl he was looking for, hopping up and giving her a hand.
"Aha, we've got you surrounded!" the dazed brussel sprouts proudly cried out, stumbling from side to side out of the crowd of food. "Alright, it's time we take these intruders to the kitchen!"
Meanwhile, Hoagie was peering into the cafeteria. It was more or less empty, to his surprise, and he darted inside, hiding behind whatever he could as he made his way through the room. He hid beside a vending machine, pressing himself as close against the wall as he could, as a few food minions ran by. He mentally sighed in relief as they went by, not noticing him before he continued on his way. He ended up near the kitchen doors, now having the cover of boxes stacked near and around the doors. He could hear Gramma Stuffum's laughter coming from inside, and he shuffled closer to try to get a peek into the room.
He couldn't see all that well, but he could make out a few things. For starters, Gramma Stuffum was in the middle of the room, waving a pot of indiscernable food about in her excitement. "And now, you silly skinny child, you will be fed!" she laughed loudly, food minions marching towards her captive eagerly. Hoagie frowned, not able to see who exactly the captured kid was from his current position. He backed off a little, deciding he ought to find the others for some back-up, when he saw the large amount of food minions marching into the cafeteria.
"Gramma Stuffum! We've caught the intruders!" the brussel sprout minions shouted excitedly. Gramma Stuffum turned from her captive, emerging from the kitchen.
"Good work, my brussel sprouts!" she beamed at them evilly. "Well, if it isn't those skinny Kids Next Door! Time to eat up!" she cackled, the food beginning to throw themselves at Wally and Kuki. They tried to fight it off, but there was just too much food; they were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer amount.
Hoagie took this time to sneak into the kitchen as quietly as he could, making his way over to the captive quickly. "Hey, I'm here to help you out," he told him, starting to untie him.
"Am I glad to see you," the African-American kid sighed in relief, standing up and stretching when he was freed.
"Y'know, you seem a little familiar," Hoagie said, looking thoughtful. "But I can't seem to place it right now…"
"Shouldn't we be helping those intruders that got caught?" the familiar boy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, let's go…" Numbuh 2 nodded, re-focusing on the mission. The two boys peered out the door, Gramma Stuffum laughing at her overly stuffed victims. "Now, how are we going to get out of here…There's just two of us versus her and her food army…" he hummed.
"I think I have a plan," the familiar boy told Hoagie, quickly explaining the plan to him. Hoagie just grinned, nodding.
"That just might work," he said, the two hurrying to put their—admittedly simple—plan into action.
"Now, to feed my prisoner," Gramma Stuffum smirked to herself, though a loud crash from the kitchen startled her. "What's going on?" she scowled, stomping towards the kitchen while her food minions followed her. She slammed the doors open, looking around the kitchen. A stack of boxes had toppled over, but otherwise the kitchen was empty. "Where did he go?!" she demanded, confused by the disappearance of the prisoner. "He needs to be fed!"
Wally and Kuki just groaned from being overfed, barely reacting when Hoagie and the other boy dropped down from the air vents above the cafeteria. "Don't worry guys, we're getting ya outta here," Hoagie whispered to them, the two boys starting to roll the other kids towards the doors quickly.
"Hey!" One of the brussel sprouts shouted from the kitchen doorway when the Kids Next Door operatives were just about out the door. "They're getting away! After them!" the vegetable demanded, though it was once again knocked over by its stampeding comrades, as the food surged after the four kids.
"Hurry!" Hoagie shouted, starting to run as he rolled Kuki along down the hallways. The other boy ran too, rolling Wally. "This way!" Hoagie called, slowing just enough to be able to make a left turn with his overstuffed teammate. The other boy did the same, keeping up with Numbuh 2 fairly easily. Food suddenly ran out in front of them, looking angry.
"What now?" the boy called to Hoagie, looking worried.
"Just run 'em over!" he yelled back, Numbuhs 3 and 4 shortly colliding and squishing the food minions ahead of them. "Wow, I can't believe that worked!"
"Ugh, so gross…" Wally groaned as the food was squashed.
"Get back here! You need to be fed!" Gramma Stuffum shouted from somewhere behind them. Hoagie and the other boy just kept running, looking for the front doors while avoiding or running over the enemy food.
"There it is! We're home free!" Numbuh 2 shouted, looking relieved as they reached the door…until Wally and Kuki got stuck in the doorframe together. The other boy groaned in despair, looking back and seeing the food minions just down the hall. "There's just one thing to do…"
"What?"
"Push!" Hoagie shouted in response, pushing against Kuki as hard as he could. The other boy used his shoulder, putting his weight into pushing against Wally, and after a few seconds both operatives were freed of the door and rolled towards the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. "C'mon, hurry, on board!" Numbuh 2 said, rushing out to roll Kuki on board. He turned and helped the other boy retrieve Wally, shutting the airship's door and lifting off just as the food came pouring out of the school behind them.
"Woohoo…" Kuki groaned, looking like she might be sick. Hoagie just sighed in relief, starting to fly them back towards the treehouse.
"Thanks for rescuing me," the familiar boy sighed, sinking into one of the chairs.
"No problem, it's what we do," Numbuh 2 answered. "Now, what's your name? I still can't entirely recognize you…"
"It's…" the other boy hesitated, suddenly looking a little nervous. "I'm…Lenny," he said at last, putting his hands up quickly. "But I'm not Delightfulized anymore, I swear! I woke up in some building near the school, and before I knew it, Gramma Stuffum captured me!" he explained, while Hoagie's jaw dropped.
"Lenny?! Oh boy, the others are going to be glad to see you…" he said, shocked that they'd been sent to find and rescue one of the former Sector Z members. He jumped when they got an incoming transmission, coming from the treehouse.
"Numbuh 2! Are you there? We've got a situation—teenagers are attacking the treehouse!" Constance shouted. "We're trying to hold them off, but there are a lot of them! We need help!"
Dun dun dun! Longest chapter yet, and it was the most unplanned one so far xD Enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review if you'd like!