Hi, sorry for taking so long to update but I was stomped on what to write and school had been very hard. But now the chapter is finished so I hope you like it. Now before we begin, I have some things to say: Since the site deleted my Fan fiction Gwenlan I'm gonna repost it on my DeviantArt account but it won't be soon because I want to concentrate on writing this story. But I'll let you know when I do. Ok, enough boring stuff, let's start the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own KND or any character except the ones I made up.
Let The Training Begin. I'll Make A KND Out Of You
Fanny Fulbright and the other cadets arrived at the training area and stood side-by-side in a line as they waited for Numbuh 600 to arrive. The Drill Sergeant arrived shortly, marching in with the expression of someone who took things seriously and you shouldn't dare to talk back in his face. He was an eleven-year-old boy with darkish-brown hair under a brown snow cap, wore a black jacket over a dark gray shirt, gray baggy pants and dark boots.
Numbuh 600 stopped in front of the cadets and looked at them with hard brown eyes before addressing them in a somewhat booming voice. "Attention cadets! Welcome to your first day in at the Kids next Door Artic Training Base! My name is Rocky Driller but here you'll refer to me as Numbuh 600, is that clear?"
"Yes!" Fanny said in unison with the rest of the cadets.
"Yes what?" Numbuh 600 again narrowed his eyes at them.
"Yes sir!" all the cadets saluted.
"Ow!" yelped the blond girl that was with Billy Horvitz. The clumsy boy had accidently hitted her on the face with his elbow when he saluted. "Watch it, Billy!"
"Hehe, sorry Mary-Lou," the klutz chuckled sheepishly.
Numbuh 600 gave Billy a very hard stare but said nothing. "Alright, follow me!" he turned and marched with the cadets following suit, all excited and/or nervous about what was ahead,
The Drill Sergeant led them down a halfway with various doors on each side; large glass windows showed the various training artifacts like robots, lasers and other stuff like that. 600 stopped in front of a door labeled "Level 1 Training Room", entered a code on the panel next to it, signaling the door to open and allow the sergeant and recruits to enter.
The room didn't looked as exciting as the others since the only things that appeared to be there were a bunch of dummies, targets with crude images of adults and teens and an obstacle course with obstacles that looked like playground equipment. In sum, it was obvious that some of the cadets were disappointed as they were expecting something more "extreme".
Numbuh 600 ignored the dissatisfied looks and instead went to the point. "In this room, you'll learn the basics of adult battling like combat and weapons usage. Afterwards, the training will focus on specific abilities like espionage, hand-to-hand combat, etc." While he was talking, the driller kept a firm gaze on the trainees, as if he wanted to see into their souls for any hints of fear. "Now I'm not going to sugar-coat this so take me seriously when I tell you that fighting adults and teenagers in no walk on the park. Some might wanna torture you, scare you or even plainly harm you, so it's my duty as your drill sergeant to prepare you for the dangers you'll face if you manage to graduate from training and join us in the fight to protect kids' rights."
"Bah! Oi won't need preparation!" an Australian accented voice said from the group. Wally Beatles walked to the front with a cocky grin on his face. "Why would my mates and I need it? After all, we beated the crud out of those teenagers an' saved Sector V." The Aussie stated proudly and sure, as some of the others stared at him in amazement while others were sure that Numbuh 600 will punch Wally for daring to speak out of line.
But surprisingly, he didn't look angry or upset; in fact he looked amused as if he didn't think Wally was being serious. "So, you think that you're though enough to be a full-fledged operative, Beatles?" Numbuh 600 asked, raising an eyebrow. Wally nodded and a mischievous smirk appeared on the trainer's face. "Well then, prove it!" In an instant, the driller withdrew what appeared to be a dart gun and fired it toward a tall post at the other side of the room. A small suction-cup dart flew out of the barrel and attached itself to the post, an electric spark originating from it and singeing some of the wood of the post. "Get that Taser-dart down."
Wally looked at the dart then at Numbuh 600 growling as he cracked his knuckles. "Oh right, I'll get your little toy down sergeant boy. It'll be very easy. He walked up to the post and he was about to climb it before 600 stopped him.
"Hold on a second, Beatles," He walked over to him, carrying a heavy looking back pack in one hand. "You have to do it while this is on your back." With that he tossed the pack toward Wally.
The blond boy caught it, falling to his back by the weight. Wally placed it on his back and tried to lift it but it appeared to weight a ton! "Geez, mate! Wot's in this cruddy thing? Rocks?"
"My homework," Numbuh 600 answered simply. "But it shouldn't be too difficult to carry it, Beatles. After all you did beat the crud out of teenagers." He mimicked the words the Aussie had said earlier, obtaining some giggles from the other cadets (mainly from Fanny, Patton and Doug).
Wally growled in annoyance as he managed to stand somewhat straight with the heavy pack on his back. He gave a glance to the dart and began to climb the post. Despite the extra weight, Wally managed to get a few feet up the post. But then the heavy homework gave effect and Wally started to slip. He desperately tried to get a grip on the wood by burying his fingernails on it but the weight was too much and Wally plummeted downwards, landing painfully on his butt, making the other cadets laugh their heads off.
Numbuh 600 just chuckled softly as he walked over to the sore-butted kid. "Still think your though enough to fight adults, Beatles?" He helped the groaning boy to his feet and took his backpack back as Wally walked back to the group. "All right, who else wants to try?"
All of the cadets gave it a shoot but none of them were successful. Bartie landed face-first into the ice floor; Fanny M. slipped like Wally but she managed to land on her feet instead off her bottom; Doug managed to climb a quarter of the post before his hands lost their grip while his legs were still wrapped around the post, leaving the guy hanging upside-down and pack's contents spilling on the floor; Billy? Heck! He didn't even manage to get a few inches up the post. In the end, the only ones who managed to get almost to the top were Fanny Fulbright, Patton, Rachel and Nigel but like the others, they slipped before getting the dart.
After all the seven-year-olds unsuccessfully tried to retrieve the dart, they stood in a line before Numbuh 600, who looked clearly disappointed. "Well," He sighed, "looks like I have my work cut off for me." The driller pulled out several blasters from a nearby closet and handed them to the trainees. "Let's begin."
Numbuh 600 led them to the targets and activated them by pressing a button in the control panel. The targets began to move up and down and left to right as Fanny F. & co. tried to hit them with their weapons. All of them were doing mostly well 'cept for Gwen Tucker, who was trying to take aim at a large target. Closing her eyes, the girl pulled the trigger of her M.U.S.K.E.T. and fired but the stream of mustard missed and hit a mirror behind it instead. The mirror ricocheted condiment back at Gwen who ducked down to avoid it, resulting in Numbuh 600 getting covered in mustard.
The trainer wiped the mustard of his eyes and glared at Gwen who was rubbing the back of her head and grinning sheepishly. She was a very lousy shot.
After they finished the shooting practice (and Numbuh 600 washed himself) the driller tested them on the obstacle course. First they jumped over some fences, Fanny Fulbright, Patton, Rachel, Nigel, Abby, Wally and Kuki clearing them easily; Hoagie, Fanny M. Freyre, Bartie and Ginny had some problem jumping over but they made it while Billy knocked all of them down. Then cadets swung on some rope over a cream-filled pool. Fanny Freyre barely made it to the other side while Kade Jackson, a chubby African-American boy, slipped and fell right into the cream. Later, as they crossed some monkey bars, Virginia got stuck halfway and Numbuh 600 had to help her down. The final obstacle was to walk over a wooden beam set in between two high platforms that almost everybody cleared fine. But when Rachel's turn came, the blond gal found herself frozen in fear midway, the kids running behind crashing into her. Numbuh 600 shaked his head, frowning,
Next 600 stood in front of a weird machine that launched tennis balls. The cadets turned the machine on, letting it throw the green balls toward the driller who dodged all of them easily. Next Hoagie, Kuki and Fanny M. gave it a try, the three of them standing before the launcher. As the tennis balls were fired, Hoagie got hit every single time while F.M. dodges just a few. Kuki was the only one who wasn't hit, the cheerful Asian performing various ballet paces as the tennis balls flew past her.
Later, Numbuh 600 used hand-to-hand combat on a pretend battle with Bartie. The boy tried to evade the older kid's attacks but the driller punched him in the face, knocking Bartie back into the others. Virginia and Patton helped their friend up and pushed him back into the fight, shouting encouraging words.
At the end of the day, the sore cadets headed to the hangars to board the ships that will take them back home after a hard day of training. Numbuh 600 watched them leave, then hung his head in sadness and sighed. This day hadn't gone as well as he expected.
The next morning
The next day found Rachel McKenzie in the company of Fanny F. and Fanny M. the three girls staring at the dart still stuck on top of the post.
"Hmmp, stoopid dart!" seethed Fanny F. "Aye wish Ay knew a way ta get it down from da stoopid post!"
"Me two," nodded Rachel, agreeing with her friend. The blond then saw Numbuh 600's backpack nearby and picked it up. The bag was as heavy as ever so it took some effort. "There has to be a way to use this weight to our advantage but the question is how?"
Fanny M. beamed up, remembering something. "Hey, this reminds me of something I saw in a movie! I think I know what to do!"
"What is it?" asked Rachel and the other Fanny, both really interested.
The Puerto Rican girl motioned for them to come closer and whispered her idea to their ears.
"That could work," said Rachel, liking the idea fanny M. had.
Fanny F. agreed. "Aye, so let's give it a shot, lassies!
"Yeah!" the other girls cheered as the three put their plan into action.
Fanny F. grabbed one of the straps, swung the backpack around the post, grabbing the other strap in her other hand. Using the bags weight to balance her own, the Irish girl began to slowly climb up the wooden post. Rachel and Fanny M. encouraged their friend from the ground as she got closer and closer to the dart.
The two girls' cheers caught the attention of the other cadets who came over to see what was happening. After realizing what was going on, they all began to encourage redhead, the louder cheers coming from Patton. Fanny F. let the cheers fill her and willed herself to climb higher. She was so close now; the dart was just a few feet over her. Sweat rolled down her forehead as Fanny F. climbed the last of the post until she reached her goal. Panting because of the effort, the Irish girl sat on top of the post and smiled as she reached her hand down and plucked the dart of the wooden column. She held it high over her head as the cheering voices of her fellow cadets reached her ears, a sense of pride filling her soul.
Just outside the room's entrance, Rocky Driller aka Numbuh 600 stood, a look of amazement in his face. Huh, so she made it. He thought to himself and smiled. Maybe now things will go better.
And things did go better afterwards!
Fanny F.'s success inspired the others to do better on the training. Gwen still wasn't a very good shot but her aim was better than before. Now Billy jumped over the obstacles with easiness, though he still tripped on his feet. Kade Jackson swung over the pool filler with cream without any effort, earning a hug from his friend Eva Roberts. Rachel now jumped and did summersaults across the wooden beam, ignoring her fear of heights. Hoagie and Fanny M, Freyre joyfully laughed as they flipped and twisted with ease as they dodged the tennis balls by mere inches. And Bartie once again was in a one-on-one battle with Numbuh 600 but this time the dirty blond boy was more confident. Ducking to avoid a punch, Bartie upper-kicked Numbuh 600 on the chin and knocked the older kid down. 600 moaned slightly as he rubbed his chin but he still smiled at the great progress Bartie had made.
Now we see all the cadets standing in line as Numbuh 600 stood before them. The sergeant gave a salute that all of them returned proudly. They had all passed the basic training with good marks (even Billy) and now they were ready for more advanced training. Fanny Fulbright couldn't help but smile, for though they still had more work to do, she and her friends were one step closer to becoming Kids next Door operatives.
Chapter 12 is finally done! The training scene was sort of based on the 'Be a Man' song sequence from Mulan. On the next chapter Fanny Fulbright and the others are now operatives and we will see one of their missions. We'll have some more of Paddy and the others and introduce a new OC. Until next time! Read & Review!
Numbuh 227 out, peace!