Disclaimer: I ain't gonna waste time with witty remarks. I don't own KND.
A/N: Here I am! I'm cutting the 'weekend' deadline a little close though...
I feel like that person who runs into class at the last minute yelling 'I'M NOT LATE, I'M NOT LATE!'
Okay guys, I have good news and bad news.
Good news: School ends after this week, so I'll have eight straight weeks of writing! (On the downside, I might finish this fic. Depressing... Oh well, that's where sequel fics come in!
Bad news: My ballet concert is this weekend. I may be able to squeeze writing time in this week, but my weekend is booked. So it's either early or late with the next chapter.
READ I SAY, READ!
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Kids Next Door Mission...
Operation: F.O.R.G.E.T.
Fragments
Of
Recovery
Gradually
Enable
Team
Chapter 29- Flying High
'Hey Wally?'
'Yeah Joe?'
'Can we go to the beach as soon as we get to Australia?'
'Haha, sure we can.'
Joey and Wally were standing amidst a huge crowd of people at the airport. All of them looked in a rush, eagar to get somewhere, whether for leisure or for work.
'Come on, boys! We don't wanna miss the check-in time, do we?' The boys' father called to them, causing them to move themselves out of the airport's entryway, and straight into the thick of the crowd.
It was 4:30.
In the morning.
Wally had been up since half-past two, and he had to admit, he'd been groggy and cranky when his mother had opened his bedroom door...
'Wally?' His mother had whispered, pulling the door open a crack. Wally, awakened, and deeply annoyed, by the sliver of bright light that was projected through the gap. He groaned loudly.
'Aw, Come on, Wally. We've gotta go to tha airport!'
And as he came to his senses and realised what today was, his eyes flew open and his tiredness evaporated.
He sat bolt upright in his bed, so quick he almost made himself dizzy
'Ah'm awake!' he blurted, to no-one in particular.
...and since then he hadn't been worried about waking at obsenely early hours in freezing cold December weather.
In just fifteen hours he'd be in Sydney, Australia, enjoying the energizing December christmas heat.
Through the hustle and bustle the Beatles family pushed, dragging suitcases and carrying bags, in search of the check-in desk.
Eventually, they found it, after much arguing over directions and staring in confusion at all the numbers and letters and flight times on the electric boards.
It was about 5:15 when they got to the terminal they were to depart from, and they had about forty-five minutes until the flight left.
Wally sat in a not-so-comfortable seat, surrounded by other people, who were all going to the same place he was.
And the boredom set in again.
'Dad?'
'Yeah, Wally?'
'Can Ah have some money to get somethin' from the duty free shop?'
'Uhh..'
'Pleeeeease?'
'Alright then.'
So Wally and Joey left the boring terminal, where there was nothing but boring going on, and entered the duty-free, where there were lollies and monster truck magazines (of course, Wally only liked them for the pictures. Words took too much concentration).
Joey went to look at some of the activity sets, while Wally inspected the candy racks for the fruit jellies he loved.
He needed something to stop his ears from blocking up on the flight.
He and Joey ended up next to each other again, checking out headphones. Y'know, the expensive type, with the noise cancelling and stuff.
'Whot do ya think is goin' on back home?' Joey asked his brother.
'No idea, Joe. Ah really don't know.'
'Think they've made any progress on tha antidote?'
'Dunno. Ah hope so.'
Just then, the PA system pricked up, and Wally and Joey stopped to listen.
'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is a boarding call for Flight eleventy-thirty-teen to Sydney, Australia. That's flight eleventy-thirty-teen to Sydney, Australia, leaving in ten minutes. Thank you!'
The two boys looked at each other, sharing the same 'Crud, that's us!' look, before running to the counter to buy the packet of lollies and get the heck outta there.
But, as it turns out, they were making progress back home...
~(*)~
'Oh, for the love of- it's five forty-five in the morning! What the heck do you want, Hoagie?' Nigel hissed into his cell phone, eyes still half shut. He had just received a call from Numbuh 2. Before six am.
On a holiday.
'Nigel! I did it! I finished the antidote!' Hoagie yelled into the phone. Upon hearing this, Nigel immediately perked up.
'What?'
'The antidote is finished! I just perfected it just then!'
'Are you sure it's gonna work?'
'Absotively-poselutely!' Hoagie replied, his proud smile so wide that Nigel could hear it in his voice.
Numbuh 1 gave a deep sigh, not wanting to leave his bed.
With a slight hesitation, he said;
'Okay, I'll be right over. Call the others, too. Meet at the treehouse?'
'In ten minutes,' Hoagie confirmed.
'Alright.'
Nigel hung up his cell, then flopped down on his bed, trying to convince himself to get up.
Eventually, he did pull himself up, but it took almost five whole minutes until he managed to stand up.
~(*)~
'But Kuki, you gotta come! This is a whole team affair!'
'I don't care! I'm tired. I don't wanna get up!'
Kuki yawned into the phone, half-asleep and half wanting to kill Hoagie for waking her up.
'Look, Kuki. I know you're tired, I am too. But I just finished the antidote and I really need the team down here so we can test this thing!'
...
'Oh-kay.'
'Thanks! Treehouse in ten minutes?'
'Yeah, yeah, I'll be there.'
Kuki pushed herself out of bed and over to her closet to throw on a pair of leggings, a large, furry green sweater, a beanie, and a pair of green boots with fuzzy balls hanging off them.
~(*)~
Abby, however, did not need to be woken up. She was already at the treehouse with Hoagie.
'You're positive this'll work?' She asked, hopping off the bench she had been sitting on to walk over to where he was standing.
'Yup,' was Hoagie's simple reply.
'How will we know?' Abby asked.
'We're gonna test it on someone.'
'What? Who?'
'Someone who's already turned.'
'Alriiight...'
The two of them left the lab, walking out into the living area and flopping down on the couch.
'When are the others getting' here?' Numbuh 5 asked, giving a yawn.
'Bout ten minutes. If they can be bothered getting up.'
'How d'you think Wally's going?'
'Pretty good, I'd say. Probably on the plane by now.'
Hoagie picked up the TV remote, and turned it on, hoping for some morning cartoons.
~(*)~
'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Express Airlines. We hope your flight is enjoyable, and our flight attendants are here to ensure that your flight is as pleasant as possible. The weather outside is slightly overcast but still suitable flying condition. Please turn your attention to the screens on the back of your seats for the safetly breifing.'
The air hostess on Wally's screen may as well have been tap dancing. Wally wasn't paying any attention to her. He figured out how to buckle his seatbelt, and was looking absent mindedly out the window, at the tarmac where planes were landing, taking off, and being guided by men in fluro vests.
It was about 6:25 by now, and the sun was starting to rise. The orange rays reached out over the horizon, and Wally smiled. Fourteen hour flight, an mp3 player with a fifteen hour battery life, and before he knew it he'd be there.
'We ask that you please keep your seatbacks and tray tables in the upright and locked position for both take-off and landing. Breakfast will be served one hour after take-off, if you'd like to order a meal you can order from the Express menu, which can be found in your seat pocket...'
How long had it been since he'd seen his family? They'd talked every once in a while, on the video phone or via e-mail or otherwise, but it just wasn't the same.
Who was there, hm...
Sammy and Kylie, they were about his age...
The little ones, Danny, Junior and the twins, Vinnie and Mellie...
Jack, Sharon and Gabbie, a little younger than him, but older than Joey...
And the oldest one, Katie.
And, of course, the Aunties and Uncles:
Kel and Grant, Jodie and Johnathon, Dianne and Mick.
'Currently the time is 12:30am in Sydney, Australia, and we are estimating our arrival time as approximately fourteen hours, fifteen minutes from now. This will be about 2:40pm in Australia, but this time could change as the flight progresses.'
Wally wondered if he could borrow one of his cousins' skimboards. He may prefer being buried in the sand to swimming or surfing, but skimboarding was pretty high up there with being completely submerged in sand.
'Thank-you for listening, ladies and gentlemen. We hope you enjoy the flight, and your stay in Australia, whether it be for buisiness or for leisure. We are about to begin our takeoff proceedures, so we request that you turn off all electrical items until further notice. Thank-you!'
Christmas day was sure to be a blast, with the whole huge family back together for the first time in almost twelve years.
Jostled from his thoughts, Wally felt the engines stirring underneath him.
The flight was about to leave.
~(*)~
Meanwhile, four out of the five Sector V members were at the treehouse, and four members of the younger Sector V were on their way, along with, of course, Numbuh 263.
Hoagie stood in the middle of the room, proudly holding his test tube up for everyone to see. It was a bluish-purple liquid, and it reflected the sun's light, almost seeming to glow slightly.
'So now that it's done, are we gonna test it straight away?' Kuki asked, sitting on the back of the couch.
'Yeah. We just have to decide who we're testing it on.' Hoagie replied, placing the tube back on the rack. Nigel frowned in concern.
'What if it doesn't work? What'll happen to the test subject then?' he questioned.
'Well, I haven't put any dangerous chemicals in or anything. At the very worst, if it doesn't reverse the effect of the turning, our subject will get a pretty mild stomach ache.' Numbuh 2 explained, taking a seat himself. He yawned, which set off a domino effect that passed through everyone in the room. They were all tired, they were all cold, but they were all fully alert now.
'Alright then.' Nigel nodded.
The four of them went back to watching TV for another ten minutes or so, before the rest of the operatives they were waiting on arrived.
The situation was explained to the younger ones, and the question posed;
'Who do we test it on?'
At first, no-one stepped in with any solutions. But then...
Robert had been standing in the corner of the room, watching on quietly for most of the time he had been there. He knew who he wanted to have back first, but something kept him from saying anything.
He wanted Jamie back.
And apparently Numbuh 505 could sense this.
She looked back at him, tilted her head to the side slightly as if trying to figure something out, and then called;
'I think we should bring back Numbuh 8,860!'
Everyone's head swivelled to face her.
The idea was well received.
'Yeah! We should bring Jamie back!' Numbuh 303 agreed.
'Good idea,' said Numbuh 121.
'We haven't seen Jamie since the middle of October!' Numbuh 202 added.
So it was decided.
Jamie Clearway, Numbuh 8,860, was to be the first subject of the antidote Numbuh 2 had nicknamed 'T.H.A.T.T.'
The
Hopeful
Antidote
To
Turning
So, the two teams (and their soopreme leader) set off to the landing bay, to the S.C.A.M.P.E.R., and set off in the direction of Jamie's house.
~(*)~
'Good morning, sir. Would you like to order some breakfast?' The attandent asked Wally in a pleasant tone, stopping her cart next to his aisle.
'Uh, yeah, thanks. Can Ah have the... uhm, the bacon and eggs with pineapple juice, please?'
'Certainly. Anything else with that?'
'Joey, do you want anything?'
'Can I have bacon and eggs too?' Joey perked up. He had been napping for a while, and had a little bit of a crick in the back of his neck as a result.
'Of course. Two bacon and eggs, coming right up. I'll be back in a little while.' The air hostess continued on to the aisle behind Wally and Joey, the aisle that their parents were seated in.
'How much longer?' Joey asked, unsure of how long he'd been asleep.
'About thirteen and a half hours,' Wally smirked.
'...Oh.'
They sat in silence for a while, until their breakfasts came.
'How hot is it gonna be when we get to the airport, Wally?' Joey said, taking another forkful of fried egg.
'Ah dunno. Mum, what was the temperature meant ta be today?'
'Uhm, Ah think about thirty-four, wasn't it?' The boys' mother replied.
'Thirty-four? That's freezing!' Joey exclaimed, to which Wally only laughed.
'No, she means thirty-four degrees celsius,'
'Oh.'
'That's about ninety degrees fahrenheit, mate.'
'Oh, okay.'
'The two finished breakfast, and ended up playing games on their father's tablet and Joey's activity book for the next hour.
But finally, the time came when sleep caught up with them, and the thought of ten more hours on the plane caused them to wind down a little. After a quick walk to the bathroom and to stretch their legs, they settled back into their spots, leaned the seatback into a more comfortable position, and ordered a movie on the screen on the back of the chair in front of them.
Before the movie could finish, though, they were asleep, only to wake up much later with the promise of lunch.
Or, was it dinner? Or breakfast again? The timezones can get confusing.
-Eight hours later-
'Good afternoon passengers. We are about to begin our decent into Sydney Airport, Australia. The time is currently 2:37pm and the temperature is approximately thirty-six degrees celsius. We ask that all electrical items be switched off and all seatbacks and tray tables be returned to their locked positions. Please fasten your seatbelts. Thank-you!'
Wally and Joey looked at each other and smiled.
'Yesss!'
A/N: Okay, so that might not have been the most interesting chapter ever. At least it's something, right?
R&R, I promise next week's chapter will be better! Even if it is **cough cough** alittlelate **cough cough**
-Numbuh 25 over and out
