A/N: Hey! I'm back! Hope you like this chapter, and don't think that it's too... boring. Anyway, thank-you to everyone who gave me ideas for names! They were all great! Review response time!

Numbuh T-25: Haha! How can you see into my mind like that? Yes, don't worry Nigel indeed... memories are funny things, aren't they? One minute they're here, the next gone, and then they're back again!

MoreThanMeetsTheEye96: Angst is my specialty! I don't know why, I just enjoy writing it. Uhm, I don't mean it in that way, but I just like it because... uh... I've made myself look like an idiot now, right?

Rehtseni: Thank-you! I like when I'm able to give that sort of moment when people think; hey! I remember that!

Okay, now you can read!

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Kids Next Door Mission...

Operation: F.O.R.G.E.T.

Fragments

Of

Recovery

Gradually

Enable

Team

Chapter 23 – Back to School

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

'Uggghh.'

Nigel groaned as his alarm clock just kept screaming at him. His head was pounding with its volume, as he felt his way around his bedside table, finally finding the off switch, and pushing it with a little more force than was needed.

'I'm up, I'm up,' he said to no-one in particular. He was tired. Unable to get to sleep until late last night, he was practically sleepwalking as he got up and headed over to his closet, pulling out a red t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans.

He got dressed, almost tripping over the legs of his pants for all his sleepiness.

Then, his phone went off, emitting a ding! noise to signify an incoming text message.

Abby Lincoln: Hey man! How're we going to handle today at school? Numbuh or no Numbuh?

Nigel frowned slightly in confusion, not knowing exactly what she meant by that.

Nigel Uno: And by that you mean...?

He put his phone down and finished packing his backpack, throwing in all the books and finished homework he needed. Once he was done and ready to head downstairs, his phone went off once again.

Abby Lincoln: I mean, how quiet are we going to be about this? Are we talking, a) talk about everything, just quietly, b) talk, but not much, and only when there aren't many others around, or c) just flat-out pretending it never happened?

Nigel desended the stairs, saying good morning to his parents before dropping a couple of slices of bread into the toaster. He knew that the others would not think they should bother with keeping the whole matter private. There was too much to talk about! Now that they had gone home and gotten some sleep, and they had had time to let the sheer awesome-ness of being recommissioned sink in, they were ready to talk and talk and talk about, well, everything. There was so much to cover!

But then, Numbuh 1, being Numbuh 1, wanted to keep this under wraps. What if some of the other teens knew who they were? If they saw them hanging out together, they might start to suspect something. And furthermore, any teen who knew the KND at all would recognise the use of the word 'Numbuh' instantly. They just couldn't know that there wasn't some listening device recording their whole conversation.

And that's why he was the paranoid one.

~(*)~

Kuki woke up before her alarm, breathing in deeply as she sat up, stretching her arms out behind her head. She found that she was, even though she was up earlier than usual, she was a lot sleepier than any other day. She had been up late last night, just thinking about everything, or thinking about nothing. She wasn't really sure which one it was.

She showered, dressed, had a quick breakfast, and when she was still running early, she managed to catch some TV before it was time to leave. The rainbow monkey kids hour was just finishing, and she found it sentimental -as well as plain enjoyable- to sit an watch it for a while.

Her phone beeped on the couch next to her, and, after taking the last spoonful of cereal, she picked it up to see that Numbuh 5 had left her a text.

Abby Lincoln: Hey Kuki. Nigel says we should keep the whole KND thing on the down-low, but I think it'd be okay to discuss it quietly as long as we don't do anything too rash. Seeya at school!

Kuki chuckled. Same old Numbuh 1 always worrying about something or someone being on their trail.

Kuki Sanban: Yeah, that'd be Nigel. Kay then, seeya then!

Sighing, she picked up her bag and headed out the door, just as her sister was ready to go.

'Bye, mom! Bye dad!' she yelled into the kitchen.

'Goodbye, honey,' her mother called over a mug of coffee.

'Be good at school today, girls!' her father, who was stressing out as per usual about the tiniest of things, yelled back.

Kuki left the house, with her sister, scowling for some unknown reason, following after her.

~(*)~

Wally woke, late as usual, having slept through his alarm. He yawned, in no hurry at all. He threw on an orange t-shirt and some old blue jeans and headed downstairs. Grabbing his bag and an apple from the fruit bowl, he was already out the door, shooting a quick 'bye' to his parents. But, of course, he did have time to turn to Joey, and give him a quick wink. Joey smiled back, and the exchange was just enough to assure both boys that what had happened the day before was not just a dream.

Wally yawned as he slipped into the driver's seat of his ute. Only a couple more weeks, then he would be on a plane to Oz. His phone vibrated on the dashboard in front of him, scuttling across towards the door. He grabbed it and slouched back in his seat to read it.

Kuki Sanban: Keeping things quiet today, Wally. We're gonna meet up at lunch to talk, but we gotta be careful about it. OK?

Wally thought about that for a minute. The school could be crawling with Teen Ninjas, and he was sure that the Delightful Dorks would be suspicious if they saw their former enemies sitting together in deep conversation when they weren't even meant to know each other.

Wally Beatles: That's fine. Just hope we don't end up runin intoo enywon we used to no!

Wally may have been older, but that didn't mean he could spell a lot better!

Hey, at least he didn't use numbers in his spelling anymore.

~(*)~

Hoagie was asleep. Deeply. He snored loudly, as next to him, on his bedside table, his alarm clock opened at the top, produced a mechanical arm, complete with rubber animatronic hand, that proceeded to extend over to him, and begin poking him in the side.

He groaned, but rolled over and pushed the snooze button (more like slapped his hand on top of it, where it just happened to fall onto the snooze button.

But, much to his annoyance, his alarm clock was ready for that, and produced another hand, with a rather large horn attached, and this one, once right up against Hoagie's ear, blared an alarm loud enough to raise the dead, and certainly loud enough to cause his ears to ring.

But, Hoagie still didn't want to get up. He'd had a big night, and he was thinking about faking a sick day just to get out of getting up. But then, when the next phase of the alarm clock's cycle initiated, his eyes shot open and he began trying to clamber out of his sheets, wrestling with the blue and white covers to get out of the clock's way. But, it was too late. The rubber hand reached back inside the clock's body, only to return a few seconds later with a full to the brim pitcher of ice-cold water. Hoagie groaned again, this time louder, as he realised that he wasn't going to be able to get out of the way in time.

SPLASH!

'Why the crud did I make it do that, anyway?' He questioned himself, as he squelched his way out of the now soaking duvet, shivering, with water dripping into his pre-goggled eyes from his hair.

Fifteen minutes later, he was dry, dressed and downstairs, with his mother, his annoying grandmother, and "The Tommy." Hoagie chuckled as he remembered how he used to run around the house with that ridiculous cape (which he still did sometimes, actually) and sat down to eat.

He also received a text, just as he had left the door, five minutes after that.

Abby Lincoln: Hey Hoags! Nigel says we gotta be careful what we say today. He's probably just being paranoid again, but there are a couple of people we don't want to know about this. K?

Hoagie smiled at Numbuh 5's text. She had called him Hoags again. Well, maybe she had not said it personally, but Numbuh 2 could still hear her voice saying it in his head.

He typed a quick reply.

Hoagie Gilligan: Sure. Wonder what the Teen Ninjas would do if they found out...? See you at school ;)

Was the winky face too much? Should he have said 'you guys' instead of just 'you'? Too late, he thought, it was already sent.

Oh, well.

He started up his car, and headed off to school, anxious to see how the day would play out.

~(*)~

People were milling around the school hallways, some students leant against lockers, gossiping and giggling, some stressed out over last minute revision, others still would chase each other through the hallways, knocking over any student that happened to cross their path.

Numbuh 5 made her way to her locker, dodging to the side to avoid being hit by Fanny, who, whilst red-faced and clench-jawed, was in hot persuit of Patton, who was carrying a small brown book marked 'diary', laughing hysterically.

Abby shook her head, smiling as she remembered what iit was like seeing Numbuh 86 going on a Numbuh 60-hunt like this one, only sometimes, it was ten times worse.

'Hey, Num- Abby!' Kuki called, saving herself before she used the word that was, by Nigel's decree, forbidden.

'What's up, Kuki?' Abby waved back.

Before she could answer though, Wally strode into the hallway, tossing his bag next to his locker and continuing over to the two girls.

'T'sup, guys?' He greeted, letting himself fall back onto the wall next to them.

'Not much, what about you?' Kuki replied. Wally shrugged, giving a 'not bad' face.

'You going up there with us tonight?' Abby asked him, hoping that the emphasis on her words would tell him what she meant.

'Whot tha heck are you talkin' about?' Wally asked, oblivious as per usual. Abby sighed, rolled her eyes.

'I mean, I think the moon would be a cool thing to see tonight.' Again, she tried, but again, her efforts were fruitless.

'Abby, Ah have no idea what you're on about. Whaddaya mean, the moon?'

This time, Abby pulled Wally -by the ear, no less- right up to her mouth.

'I mean, are you goin' up to moonbase tonight, fool!' she hissed.

'Oooh! Well why didn't you say so?!' Wally

Abby just sighed once more, shaking her head, with her palm over her face.

Nigel and Hoagie walked in next, in deep conversation, not even noticing the countless times that their paths interuppted those of the other students'.

They hardly even seemed to register the presence of Kuki, Wally and Abby, just continuing to walk down the halls as if that was the only thing they came to school to do.

It was only when Abby grabbed Hoagie by the shoulder and span him around to face the group that they both realised their presence.

Hoagie stopped, and, once he had realised that his companion was no longer following him, Nigel did the same. A few seconds passed.

'Oh, hi Abby,' Hoagie said casually, then quickly added, with a nervous cough;

'and -ugh-hm- Kuki and Wally.'

'Hi, Hoagie,' Kuki greeted, pretending that she hadn't noticed Hoagie forgetting that she and Wally were there, knowing full well why that was. She almost smirked

at that thought. It was just like it had been four years ago.

'Hey, guys,' Nigel said, looking slightly more alert than usual, showing everyone else that he was serious about his suspicions; he was somehow convinced that some teen ninja or possibly one of the more evil teachers was recording their conversation.

'You guys got your Algebra assignments done yet?' Abby asked, trying to make conversation.

Nigel froze.

'Guys...?' he started, 'when was that history assignment due?'

Everyone else's eyes grew wide.

'T-today,' Kuki cried. 'It's due today!'

But, before anyone could panic, Hoagie stepped forward.

'I, actually finished it,' he said, his face underneath those yellow-tinted goggles turning a light pink.

'Really? When?' Wally asked, even though he had looked before like he really hadn't cared whether or not the project had been done. He had a lot of unfinished -and never to be finished- schoolwork, and he really didn't mind adding to it.

'Hoagie, you are a saint!' Nigel sighed in relief. Hoagie smirked.

'It's what I do.'

'So, you guys sitting with us at lunch?' Abby asked Hoagie and Wally.

The two of them were more than ready to say yes, but both took a quick glance at Nigel before they did. Their leader's face had a small, unsure frown on it. They all knew that if they sat together, he would be worrying the whole time about what they said, how loud they said it, and even who they said it to. But then, none of them really paid any attention to Nigel's constant alertness anymore; they had lived with it for as long as they had known him.

'Yeah, sure. Not like I have anyone else to sit with now,' Wally replied finally.

'Yeah, about that; what's going on with you and "The Kidd" now?' Abby questioned him. Wally's frown grew deeper.

'Pfft. Nothin'. He ratted me out for somethin' Ah didn't do, Ah beat him up for it, and now he hates me. Well, now he hates me openly, at least.'

That got a series of slow nods from the rest of the group.

'What about you?' Kuki continued, facing Hoagie. 'You got anything better to do?'

Hoagie just shook his head, not wanting to explain that he would be sitting in the AV room thinking of other modifications he could possibly make to his remote control plane, helicoptor or mercedes benz.

'I'm in,' he said simply.

'Alright then, it's settled. We'll be under the Oak trees next to the oval,' Nigel confirmed. Abby smirked.

'Yeah, way out of the way where no-one can hear us.'

'Got that right,' Nigel said, ignoring her chiding of him.

Brrrrring!

The bell rang out, sending a new shiver of movement down the hallways as students began to open lockers and pick out books.

'Well, Ah guess we'd better go, then,' Wally groaned, head back against the wall. With the night everyone had had last night, and the amount of sleep they had all gotten, it was no wonder they weren't in the mood to concentrate. They just wanted to go back to the treehouse -go back even though it now belonged to the new sector V- and spend hours and hours and hours talking about everything they had missed about the KND, and about each other for three years, and about everything they could do now that they were back.

But, instead of doing that, escaping the halls that were filled with annoying teens and teens that they knew in a different life and teens that had the freckled, smiling faces of children, now hidden under a thick layer of make-up and hairspray, they headed off to their homerooms, all heaving deep breaths, preparing for what would be a long, long day.

Taking a seat in his class, Nigel thought again about the situation that the KND was in. If there was anything they could do to fix it. He wanted to help, but he knew the feeling he had somewhere in his stomach; he wanted an instant sort of solution. Something he could do now. But there was nothing he could think of. They didn't even know yet if the results of the turning could be reversed.

He was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he almst didn't notice Lizzie as she sat down beside him. Again. It made him feel uncomfortable with her just sitting there. He never used to have a problem with her sitting next to him. But then, he never really knew her until now.

Now, she wasn't just some girl who he thought maybe had a crush on him, she was a girl who he had a long, long history with. A girl he had really gone out with. And a girl who was, at one point, almost killed by his treehouse.

Nigel sighed through his teeth.

But before he knew it, homeroom was over, and it was off to first period; History. Assignment due, and, thanks to Hoagie, they would all be fine for it. He stepped into the room, which was just down the hall from his homeroom.

Everyone else arrived one by one, and each took a seat next to or behind or in front of the other, so that Sector V was sitting all together.

Class started, and the teacher's droning voice somehow seemed to make them feel instantly bored, instantly tired once more. But, they were still together, even if it was school.

'...Do we have any volunteers to show their presentations first?' The teacher dragged on. No hands went up.

'Ha. Volunteers. More like victims,' Hoagie joked to the others in a whisper.

And for just one moment, it felt like they were back in the fourth grade, back at Gallagher Elementary, all ten years old again, as if no time had passed since then, nothing had changed.

But then, it all came rushing back, reminding them that they were sixteen now. No longer kids.

But then, "teenager" was always more of an attitude than an age, wasn't it?

A/N: So? I'm still not sure about this chapter, sorry if you were bored out of your minds. I just needed a chapter or two before I let Wally head off home to Oz, and I needed filler. So, there you go. This is pretty much filler. Oh, and keep those name suggestions coming, if you haven't already! Okay, I'm done!

-Numbuh 25 over and out