Hi there ). Now is the seventh chapter, and to accompany you is my friend, Jimmy (he's a waffle!). Don't mind him, he's just here for the free doughnuts…YAY DOUGHNUTS! ….ahem I'm okay. Oh yes, and I have a new favorite show. It's with those two English kids, Charlie and Lola, and it's on Disney's playhouse. It was very cool, and now my head is speaking in an English accent…. Yay. Anyway… I'm officially working on my new fic, though I haven't quite finished the prologue. I have to tweak it some.
Also, I did make this chapter long, but it didn't surpass the second chapter, which is what I was trying to make it so. Yet, it was longer than the third. So yay. I don't know why the length of the chapters matters, anyway…o-O
I do not own Codename: Kids Next Door.
Now, the seventh chapter:
Fear
For the rest of November, Wally wasn't allowed to go on any missions, one of his favorite things to do. Instead, whenever the alarm blared, he would become sulky and fold his arms in a sour fashion, knowing that despite whether he pleaded or not, Numbuh One would always refuse to let Wally go along. Then, the day came where Wally's now old, dirty cast would be removed. His arm was beginning to feel suffocated, anyway, but he did enjoy all of the attention for the first couple weeks. He even ended up in the school paper, which he took very egotistically. The others in Sector V were also relieved, although they didn't show it. Wally was starting to become a bit too absorbed in everyone's reaction, and they missed their fighter being able to do his job.
At the peak of December, Wally was riding in the backseat of the car. Since it was now cold out, he had to wear his blue windbreaker jacket that had fleece material inside. There was no conversation during the car ride with Wally's mother: not because they were upset with each other or anything, but just because there were no lectures to be given or any retorts to be shouted. For the ride, Numbuh Four watched the world blur by through the window, leaning his cheek in his palm, as usual.
He thought about how much he enjoyed being the center of attention. Usually, only a couple of crazy girls chased after him, and he was friends with anyone who played a sport. When he broke his arm, possibly the entire school knew him and thought he was cool. That let him walk around like he was famous, wearing a grin and saying 'hi' back to someone at least seven times in the hallways. For a while there, he had his popularity. Fancy that.
The car door shut, and Wally's vague attention sprang to his use. He found that he was the only person in the car, then scrambled to join his mother outside of the vehicle.
Both of them walked along the parking lot, then up five cement steps to an additional part of the hospital. Wally opened the door and entered before his mom, who checked him in at a desk. They both walked down a long hallway, and entered through one of the doors towards the end. The room was extremely bright, and looked like an average doctor's office. Numbuh Four hopped up on the plush bench with that wide strip of crinkly, glossy-looking paper laid across it, and waited.
Soon a doctor opened the door, turning the previously silent room into commotion.
"Mister Beatles, I believe it's time to get that cast off…" said Dr. Wateman, while scanning up and down the papers on his clip board. Then, he lifted what Wally thought looked like a miniature saw from the table against the bench where Wally was seated.
"Say goodbye" instructed the doctor jokingly. Wally watched as he flicked the saw and made the little blade vibrate violently. The blade came closer and closer to the rough outside of the cast as Numbuh Four watched in interest. When the mini-saw reached it, it began carving through the cast's shell, and all of the ink that had worn away over the while. When it was all off, there was the cotton layer left. The doctor used a small pair of sharp scissors to slice through it, and then Wally saw his arm. It wasn't exactly a nice sight, and only in a boy's opinion, as Wally's was, could be called "Cool." The scrawny arm of his was pruned and Dr. Wateman gestured Wally to the sink, and cleaned off all of the scarcely visible bacteria that had been collected on there.
"Okay, you're all done," the man said.
"That's it?" Wally was surprised because that only lasted for about five minutes.
"What, did you want me to cut your arm off too or something?" Dr. Wateman chuckled. Wally raised an eyebrow suspiciously, the trust for his doctor decreasing slightly, although it was just a joke. From being in the Kids Next Door organization, it could never be possible to fully trust any adult beside your parents.
Dr. Wateman returned to his clipboard papers, and Mrs. Beatles went to exit the room, Wally following. He looked back at the remains of his cast, and suddenly spotted one specific piece marked with a signature including a little heart dotting the 'i'. Quickly, he snatched it, and shoved it into his jean pocket, without anyone noticing.
POW!
The next thing you saw was a grown man, wearing some type of garb resembling the scales of a fish, fell to the ground. There were many more people lying near him, wearing the same fish suit, knocked out cold. Numbuh Four rubbed his fist in his palm by habit, with a satisfied smirk on his face. At sudden, someone gripped his shoulder. He turned around, flinging his fist as he did, his stomach tightened with alert. His punch crashed into someone's palm, and when he looked up, Numbuh Four saw it was Numbuh Five who came to him.
"Numbuh Four, we gotta go!" she said in a rush. She started out the door of the large room that was aligned with fishing net and towers of card board boxes along the walls. There was a ray of light shooting through a grimy window making the floating dust visible in the place next to the pier, otherwise it was dark and groggy.
See, there was someone trying to capture a treasure chest at the beach, or at least that's what Numbuh Four heard, so the team was trying to stop them.
Wally followed Numbuh Five out through the wide opening of the storage room, where the daylight shined and he could breathe clearly. The two rushed down the wooden board walk ground along all of the other piers, the other side being rippled water showing their reflection. Wally dare not look. He reacted like a cat to water, only five times worse. It just didn't work, because of that one day at his uncle's house back in Australia.
"Oh, man!" whined six-year-old Wally, the boy with the blonde bowl-shaped haircut, wearing an orange T-shirt, jeans, and broken in white sneakers. He watched as his soccer ball floated gently across the pool water. Being as brave and fearless as he could be, Wally leaned over the edge of the in-ground pool on his knees. His arm reached out as far as it could, him inching closer just a bit, until suddenly, he slipped off!
SPLASH! Wally's cheeks puffed out, as he fell further and further in the deep water. His heart was leaping with panic, with him scared to death. Waving his arms around frantically, and kicking his legs barely got him further, while he could feel warm tears well up in his eyes although he was underwater. Wally never cried, unless he got severely hurt, which was only once. He thought he was going to die right there. Just as he was loosing air, his head starting to pound from the pressure of water, he felt something secure itself around his waist. His eye opened to see a blur, but Wally could see an arm around him, then he felt himself going up quickly. He could feel his heart beating rapidly, now because of lack of oxygen. Even though it was making Wally's emerald eyes burn, he kept one open to look up at the approaching light.
Before he knew it, Wally's head was above the water. Immediately, he hacked up water, and whoever just saved his life set him on the pool's cement ledge. Once the person got up, Wally could see that it was his cousin Adam who dove under.
"Are you okay?" Adam asked, hopping up on the ledge as well. Adam was very nice, and protective of those he cared about. He had blonde hair, a bit more of a sandier color than Wally's and freckles on his cheeks. Wally nodded, but a few warm tears dripped down his face, hidden by all of the water he was drenched with.
"I thought I was gonna die…" he croaked.
"It's okay, I saved you. You'll be alright, just don't go into the water again until you learn to swim, okay?" Adam advised comfortingly, speaking in an Australian accent just like his younger cousin. Wally nodded again, and took one more glance at the pool as his cousin stood up and lead him back inside. Never again would Wally even dip a finger in any unit of water, he promised himself.
This is why Numbuh Four never wanted to learn to swim, and always became so stubborn over the subject. There really was something he was afraid of, and no way, no how, would he ever stop refusing. Soon, Numbuh Five stopped at the end of a dock. She looked prepared to jump in.
"Eh…Numbuh Five, where are we—AHH!" Before Wally could finish asking, something huge made a splash after reaching the surface of the ocean, then an inflatable object attached to the bottom of it kept it there. The splash was so big, it soaked Wally and Abby. Once Numbuh Four removed the water on his eyelids, he opened his eyes to see a vehicle bobbing in front of him, at the end of the dock. It was just about the shape and size of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R., but with different designs, and it was a teal blue color, except for the inflatable balloon keeping it afloat, which was orange. The door shifted open, and Numbuh Five stepped up into this vehicle. Yet, Numbuh Four stood behind, still on the dock.
Once he put two and two together, Wally discovered that this vehicle was a submarine, and on this mission, he would have to ride in it; underwater; With a chance of the windows cracking from the pressure of deep water, and then the entire thing flooding. Oh, Wally could just picture the terrifying scene of him loosing air and no one being able to make it to the surface of the water. At such a mental image, Wally stepped backward.
"We don't have time to stand there all day, Numbuh Four!" said Numbuh One. Wally slowly shook his head, terror written in his eyes. Then, next to Numbuh One, appeared someone else. And at first sight, Wally groaned, feeling now disappointed inside and out. There stood the girl with the spaghetti strainer on her head, and the metal shield fanning out, hiding her red hair.
"Uggh…don't tell me your scared!" Numbuh 86 scoffed in her Irish accent, disgusted. She wasn't very sensitive…or nice. Okay, she was the kind of girl who you usually cowered under. Tougher than most boys, it seems she doesn't have any more emotions besides anger and frustration. Yet, that would make sense, for you can't be too kind when you're Head of Decommissioning over at Moon base.
"M-me? Scared? Pfft..yeah-yeah right…" Numbuh Four tried his hardest to make himself sound brave. He could tell he failed by the death look Fanny was giving him, though Numbuh One looked a bit sympathetic for one of his best friends.
"Yeah, sure. Why don't you go ride your pony, scaredy-cat." Fanny said, waving a hand.
Wally was at once intimidated. His fists curled threateningly.
"Would you care to repeat that, sheila?" Numbuh Four snarled, burning with defensive anger that he was on toes to release on the Irish.
"Scard-ey-cat!" Eighty-Six spat.
"At least my hair isn't all crazy…Fanny," Wally enjoyed saying that last part. By this time, Wally and Numbuh 86 had their face about an inch apart, each giving the grimmest death-glare they could.
"Numbuh Four, Numbuh Eighty- Six, you're on the same team, so why don't—" Nigel tried to say in a calm voice, but Fanny turned to him at once.
"Pipe it, Brit-boy!" she screeched.
Numbuh One looked offended, and Fanny gestured toward him quickly, as if she were moving in to hurt him.
"Yes s-sir…" Nigel said, scrunching down and slinking away. Poor behavior for a leader, eh?
"You can't talk to Numbuh One like that!" said Numbuh Four hotly.
"Looks like I broke that rule, shorty!" Fanny now turned to him.
"I'm about to break another one if you don't back off, girlie!" Wally threatened, now scarlet with rage. Not good.
"What do you think you could do to me?"
"A lot, it you don't shut up!"
"I'd like to see that…" she scoffed, sarcastically.
"You don't have to wait much longer!" said Wally threw gritting teeth. Then he gripped Fanny's shoulder's and they began a little fight. This was startling, because boys wouldn't hit girls. When someone mentioned this, Wally shot, "Yeah, she looks enough like one…can you tell the difference?" while struggling with her. Numbuh One stepped up again.
"YOU TWO! STOP THIS INSTANT!" he shouted over the action. Now Numbuh Five was behind him. "Y'all need to stop" said Abby. Numbuh Eighty-Six shoved Wally away from her when they were standing…
Suddenly, Numbuh Four slipped and couldn't quite comprehend the difference between the sky and the wooden dock. Then he heard a big 'SPLASH!'
But…it was above him. He could not breathe, and couldn't really hear. He'd felt this way before, and recognized it at once. Frantically throwing his arms and legs, this time he wasn't being stupid and being where he could stand. Wally was really, really drowning. And he sunk lower, loosing air, his face becoming purple, scared to death.
'I won't die, I won't die, I won't die….What if I never tell—'
On the dock, above him, Numbuh Three was panicking, opposed to everyone else. "He doesn't know how to swim, you guys!" she shrieked. The others looked slightly similar to her, especially Fanny.
"What about when he swam to the Nega-world?" Numbuh One suggested, hoping he was right.
"Why are we standing around? The boy is probably unconscious by now! Numbuh Five's goin' in!" she said hastily. And with that, she dived into the water.
Further and further Abby swam, until she could see orange among the blur of water. She propelled forward, able to hear her heart beating, hoping her friend was okay. Numbuh Five reaching out her arm, and grabbed a cushiony material, then swam upward, hustling. A life could be on the stake, this was no joke. When she burst through the surface of the water, she found Kuki and the others leaning over the edge of the dock in worry. Once Abby hopped on the dock, she quickly dragged Wally up there as well.
"Is he breathing, is he, is he?" Numbuh Three asked immediately, and Abby checked Numbuh Four's pulse by placing two fingers at a certain
spot on his neck.
"He needs mouth-to-mouth!" she said, and looked back up and Numbuh Three. They were on either side of him.
"You're the medical operative!" Hoagie yelped to Numbuh Three.
"Me? Me do it? I mean, I might not do it right, and he might--"
Though, before she could finish spazzing, Numbuh Five shoved her head down to his, and Numbuh Three did mouth-to-mouth. Why would she even hesitate? Well, it was Numbuh Three, and her naïve ways.
She parted from Wally, listened to his heart beat, and then pressed down hard on his stomach, counted to three, and did this all over again while pinching his nose. The reason Numbuh Three suddenly became serious was because she finally realized that Wally had a chance of not making it. Numbuh Three didn't want to think any further than that…
It was hard for her to hide the blush, but she managed the grin. Would this count as kissing a boy? Sure felt so. What would her friends say? What would Wally say when he hears all of this when he wakes up? Apparently, Numbuh Three isn't very good at holding her train of strictness.
Suddenly, Wally twitched , but Kuki was too lost in thought to notice. She bent down to put her lips to his again, and didn't notice his eyes were slowly opening.
At first, Wally didn't notice what the hell was going on. All he knew was his stomach was tangled worse than a pumpkin patch, and he felt like he was floating. Yet, he could feel the air hitting him. There was something pressing against his lips, and he noticed it felt soft, whatever it may be. It also felt like he was swallowing air, or something like that.
Finally, Wally's eyes opened all the way up, and he could see the back of Numbuh Three's head and some of her hair tickling his nose. Utterly astonished, Wally pushed her off of him, and gasped for breath. She looked down at him, mouth hanging open a little, because she was so surprised. Did she just save her friend, no, one of her best friend's lives?
"Were you just kissing me?" Numbuh Four coughed, as every operative there besides himself let out the most relieved sigh.
"I-I…" Truthfully, Numbuh Three really wasn't sure of that question, herself. She looked up at Numbuh Five for some help in the situation. Abby was starring back at her, and got rid of the smirk on her face.
"No, its call Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," Numbuh Five answered him, and Kuki looked pretty relieved. Wally cast a suspicious look at Kuki, whose eyebrows were raised, eyes kind of widened.
"Eww…you kissed me!" he shrieked. It was hard to tell whether he was faking the disgust or not.
"I was not! I just saved your life!" Kuki said.
"Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!" Wally piped, wiping his mouth off.
"Do you really have to do that?" Kuki asked.
Wally looked up at his resource, her eyes. Right at them.
And to his surprise, if it could be taken any higher, they looked…hurt. Was she hurt that he was acting disgusted over her saving his life? Or maybe she thought he didn't like her kissing him. Wally thought about this for a bit, not noticing how he was looking at her. Just blankly, not disgusted anymore.
The others, especially Numbuh Three, were surprised to hear Wally mutter, "…Sorry."
The communicator in Numbuh One's pocket crackled to life, breaking the silence. Wally took a last second to look Kuki straight in the eye, then looked else-where.
Once Nigel returned the communicator, he said, "May we now continue the mission, without any more fights?" he glared at Wally and Fanny. Why was she with them anyway? Wally just wasn't paying attention when Numbuh One announced this, most likely.
When Wally was ready to enter the submarine, he stopped again. The thought of drowning twice in one day was just too much for Numbuh Four. Nigel looked behind understandingly.
"I guess…" he sighed, "You could skip the mission, Numbuh Four."
"Right."
'Heh heh…. She kissed me…'
Wally still felt all twisted and tangled over that.
Wally was still at the tree house before anyone else came, of course. Once he heard someone enter the room from behind the couch, he didn't turn around. For the past half an hour, he was half asleep.
"Hi Numbuh Four!" the voice greeted from behind Wally. His stomach wrung itself again even at the voice now. Well, he did kiss the girl. Or, the girl kissed him. Or, she gave him the mouth-to-mouth 'insert big confusing word here' thing. Secretly, (Wally wouldn't even be caught dead saying this, or showing any way that he felt it) deep down, really, really, really deep down, Numbuh Four wanted to classify this as his first kiss. He imagined with any other girl he knew, Wally would still be disgusted. But, Numbuh Three was never only any other girl he knew, now was she? Well, secrets are secrets. And he thought he was hiding his very most top-secretest secret of all very well. This secret surpasses any other, and he'd rather swim before confessing it, although he almost has a few times. But, those were the times where a ten-year-old boy could think it was the end for him, or for any use for this secret. Though, rather having to swim than ever mention one word of Numbuh Four's deepest, darkest, lowest, most astonishing (to very little people who have already taken clue; only Wally believed he was doing a good job of covering it up) was saying a lot. But for the memory's next event, a lot is to be said.
Numbuh Four pretended to be asleep, although he already knew Kuki would just wake him up anyway.
"Are you sleeping? You barely did anything!" Numbuh Three prodded a finger into Numbuh Four's arm.
"No, I was pretending so you'd go away." Wally said flatly, sitting up lively. With his expression matching his tone of voice, Kuki couldn't tell how Wally was joking. She looked a little upset again, with Wally having to catch himself before thinking it was cute. And here, ladies and gentlemen, we learn what could be the result of a kiss…err—mouth-to-mouth situation. That too. "I was kidding!" Numbuh Four added quickly. Kuki turned her head straight, because it began to tilt in confusion.
"Oh, okay!"
Wally noticed how awkward it felt just to be around Numbuh Three. It never really felt too uncomfortable. Numbuh Four wondered if she felt the same way…
"Right, well, I came to check up on you and see if you were okay" said Kuki.
"Okay?" Wally seemed a little offended. He didn't like other people worrying about him; it made him feel like he wasn't being tough enough.
"Yup. You drowned, remember?"
It was still awkward in the atmosphere. So awkward, that Wally was almost tempted to make an excuse for leaving the room including that pretty face of hers.
"Sure. Yeah, I'm alright…"
"Are you absolutely positive? Are you sure your breathing alright?" now she sounded like a concerned mother. "Let me check…" she put her ear against his chest.
"Kooks, I'm fine…" said Wally, a little annoyed, shoved her off of him. Then, Numbuh Three looked at him thoughtfully.
"Were you scared?" she asked, just as Wally was going to continue in his viewing of the TV.
"Huh?"
"Were you scared of drowning?" Numbuh Three repeated. Wally shifted in his place, and remained silent. "Well…like…" he looked back up at Numbuh Three, who was looking at him to proceed in his reply.
"Tell the truth!" she added.
"Why do you need to cruddy know?" Numbuh Four snapped, now folding his arms.
"'Cause, I was wondering if you were ever scared of anything"
By this point, Wally was double irritated by the question and how his stomach kept turning. He remained silent, for he wasn't quite sure whether to say "yes" or "no". No reply made Numbuh Three assume her own conclusion, because she knew what kind of boy Wally was by now. A secretive one, who didn't like too tell his more sensitive side. Kuki let out a gasp.
"You are afraid of water!"
"I am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too, are too, are too!"
"Am not, am not, am not, am not times a gah-zillion!"
Kuki got up and began skipped around the couch singing, "Wally's afraid of wa-ter, Wally's afraid of wa-ter…" She only stopped when he caught her and covered her mouth with his palms.
"I'm not afraid of any dumb water!" Wally sneered.
"You are too! You never tried to learn to swim, and you never realize it when you can stand up in the water, and you filled your pool with sand."
"So? I don't need to learn to swim. And sand rocks, so I put all of it in my pool."
"Then prove it."
Wally froze. Was there really even a point to this? Even if there was, Wally didn't have time to ask himself this. He was too busy trying to think of an excuse he could use to hide the truth; water was not a strong point.
"I don't need to prove anything to anyone," Wally said sourly.
"I dare you!" she said, grinning.
"Dare?" Numbuh Four's eyebrow raised. Didn't he just do a dare? Didn't Numbuh Three notice? "Dare me to what?" this interested him.
"Dare you to learn to swim, silly! But not just any dare: a double-doggy-doughnut-doctor-dare!"
That meant he couldn't back out of it.
"And if I don't?"
"Hmm… I'll show pictures of you dressed as a girl at that sleepover." More grinning.
"What!" Wally piped.
"Plus, I dared you, and everyone knows you can't back out of a dare." Since when had Numbuh Three gotten so good at being persuasive, anyway?
Wally took a second or two to think, Here we go again. Well, he could just say no, yet Numbuh Four isn't the kind of guy to think things through. Most likely, his decision would mostly be affected by her threat; Wally really, really didn't need pictures of himself willingly dressed as a girl, attended to an event that included…girls.
"Fine! I'll show you and your cruddy pictures of me as a girl, that I am NOT afraid of any stupid water!" Wally shouted. Kuki extended her hand, and Wally shook it. "Deal." She said smugly, and then exited the room merrily, as though nothing had happened.
"Hey…" Numbuh Four said aloud to himself a moment or two later, "No one took any dumb pictures!"
"That was perfect, Numbuh Three," said Abby once Kuki left the room.
"Yes, I guess this isn't such a bad idea after all. He should learn to swim, it would help us out on any further missions," commented Numbuh One thoughtfully. Numbuh Two was in his room because the others thought he would go mad if he found out what they were trying to do:
teach Numbuh Four to swim.