A/N: ...I'm so embaressed. I am inexcusably late.
I'm sorry.
That is all.
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Kids Next Door Mission...
Operation: F.O.R.G.E.T.
Fragments
Of
Recovery
Gradually
Enable
Team
Chapter 31-
'Numbuh 2, we should be reaching Jamie's place pretty soon. We should land somewhere,' Numbuh 1 said from where he sat in the SCAMPER. Numbuh 2 saluted and proceeded to look for a patch of clear ground they could touch down on.
Numbuh 1 hadn't felt right that morning. He could have sworn he wasn't the only one walking to the treehouse.
The others had just rolled their eyes at him when he tried to tell them.
'Quit being so paranoid, man!' Numbuh 5 had scolded.
But he was still convinced that there had been someone there.
There was an electronic whir as the SCAMPER came to a halt on land once more.
'Are you sure she'll be home, Robert?' Numbuh 202 asked, hopping out of his seat.
'Positive. Jamie always sleeps in whenever she gets the chance.'
'Okay, I guess we're going in then.'
So, the nine of them headed around the back of the house, where Numbuh 263 had instructed them that Jamie's room was.
'Uh, guys?' Numbuh 3 called, her brow creasing.
'Yeah, Numbuh 3?'
'How are we supposed to get Jamie to come outside?'
...
There was no answer.
'We'll figure that out after we have the antidote ready,' Numbh 1 said, gesturing for Numbuh 2 to get out the canisters and measuring cups and other assorted apparatus he had brought along.
~(*)~
The old car that Wally and Joey were in pulled into a carpark next to the beach. The first thing you could see was, well, the sea.
They got out of the car, unpacked the mountains of things they had brought along and headed towards the sand.
Their thongs sank lower into the sand, and the loads they were carrying made it all the harder to walk on the sand.
Joey wondered if maybe taking off his thongs would help him walk easier. So, he stopped for a moment and removed the shoes from his feet, one at a time, and set them down bare on the sand.
...
'Ow!'
The sand was hot.
Really hot.
Joey (very quickly) got his thongs back on, and continued trudging through the sand with everyone else.
'Put that towel down here, Wallaby!' Wally's mother called to him. He was just looking into the ocean, how the water seemed to create its own light from the reflections of the sun.
Okay, he wasn't completely over his whole fear of the water thing. But he was better than he had been as a kid. He could swim (kind of) and he felt better if he had something like a bodyboard, something that floated, out with him, but he still kind of liked to stay to the shallower water.
'Alroight, mum. Can we go in now?' He replied half-spreading half-dropping the towel under the spot where his father and his uncle were trying to set up an umbrella, already making his way to the shore.
'Hold on, Wally. You need sunscreen first!'
'Awww, muu-uum!'
'Come on. You too, Joey! Both of you need sunscreen on before you go anywhere near that water.'
Wally groaned and reluctantly picked up the bottle of SPF 30, squirting some out into his palm. He got his arms, his legs, and his face, and then tried to squirm his way out of his mother's grip when she attempted to rub more on.
Eventually, he escaped, and headed with his bodyboard, to the water.
'Hey, wait up Wally!' Jack and Sammy called out, each dragging their own board down the beach. The waves were mid-sized; no large swells, but still good for boarding.
Joey looked longingly at the three older boys, as he sat, his mother still fussing about his sunscreen, and trying to paint his face pink with a tube of Zinc. Eventually, when she turned around to get yet another bottle of sunscreen or whatever, Joey ran, grabbed his old, second-hand board, and raced hopefully after the older boys.
Gabbie was already out there, her being smart, she had told the parents that she had 'put her sunscreen on back at the house', which may or may not have been true.
'You ever been bodyboarding, Joey?' She asked him as he finally reached where the others were standing. The water on them was only waist-deep, but for Joey, it was sloshing around just below his shoulders.
'Nope,' he replied.
'Just be careful, keep the wrist strap on, and if you get into trouble, stay calm and focus on floating. But that probably won't happen; it's pretty tame today.' Gabbie instructed, giving him a reassuring smile. Joey couldn't help but feel a little nervous. But, determined to prove he wasn't just a little kid who couldn't handle a wave, he mounted his board (with a little difficulty) and listened as the others gave him the basic instructions on what to do when a good wave came along.
~(*)~
'Are you sure this is gonna work, Numbuh 1?' Numbuh 3 asked, from inside the makeshift ice-cream truck that was supposed to lure Jamie outside.
'Of course it will, Kuki. It works every time.'
'Okay then. Start the music Numbuh 5!'
Abby pulled the switch, and the sweet, tinkling music began. Kuki began to back the van out of the driveway they were parked in.
'Woah!' The others cried, jumping to get out of the way.
'..Oops, sorry.'
They drove up and down the street for ages, but no-one came out of their houses. No-one at all, not even the kids.
...It took a while before anyone realised why.
'Uh, Numbuh 1?'
'Yes, Numbuh 5?'
'Remind me again why anyone would want to buy ice-cream in the middle of December at seven in the morning!'
...
'Okay, we'll have to regroup and come up with a new plan. Numbuh 2, what kind of an idea was that? Who wants ice-cream in December?'
~(*)~
'Guys! Come back in, I see the ice-cream truck!' Wally heard Sammy call from a little way into shore.
'Sweet! I want a sundae!' Jack cried.
'I want a blurpleberry icicle!' Junior chimed.
'Tutti-fruity all the way!' Came Gabbie.
Wally turned his board around and began paddling into the shallower water, wondering if they would have the pacific breeze flavour he liked.
Joey was having a great time. He'd even caught a wave! Or, maybe it had caught him. Either way, he'd done it. Bodyboarding wasn't really as hard as he'd thought it would have been. All you had to do was find the right wave and time it just right. Of course, you also had to make sure you kept the nose of the board up to avoid being dumped.
Joey had learned that the hard way.
Several times.
He made his way in with the others. His fingers were wrinkly, and his eyes were stinging slightly with the tang of saltwater, but he was happy. Really happy.
He wondered what was going on with everyone back home. Just for a minute. He hoped they were okay. The last thing in the world he wanted was to get back home and find out that his team had turned as well.
He pushed that thought to the back of his mind. He couldn't let his worrying ruin his vacation. His team was good. They wouldn't let themselves turn. And anyway, they had Wally's team with them, too. Safety in numbuhs, right?
Joey assured himself one more time that his friends would be fine, before bouncing off to order himself a choc-top.
~(*)~
'I don't know about this, Numbuh 1...'
'It'll be fine, Hoagie, just dial the number.'
'Uh, if you say so..'
The dial tones beeped out as Hoagie keyed in the Jamie's cell number, then held the receiver up to his ear.
'It's ringing,' he whispered.
It was a while before anyone answered.
'H-hello?' A groggy voice said, from through the phone.
Hoagie put on the voice he had been practicing.
'Hi,' he said, trying to sound 'cool'.
'It's that... uhm, really popular guy from school.'
'Who?'
'You know, that, uh, really cool, cute guy.'
Hoagie covered the speaker with his hand for a minute.
'Did we not think of a name for this guy?'
The others just shrugged, so Hoagie uncovered the speaker and went back to talking to Jamie.
'So, what do you want?' Jamie asked, audibly trying to stifle a yawn.
'Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to.. go on a date with me.'
There was a moment of silence.
'Really? At 7:30 in the morning?'
Hoagie shot Nigel another 'we could have thought this through more' look, before saying;
'Yeah! I thought we could go out for breakfast.'
...
'Alright then. Where will I meet you?'
'At the coffee house down Main street in ten minutes?'
'Sure, whatever.'
She hung up after that.
'So what do we do now?' Numbuh 2 asked, putting the phone away.
'We wait outside the door with sleeping gas,' Numbuh 121 answered, already loading up a dart gun.
'Everything's sleeping gas with you, isn't it?' Nigel stated, remembering back to just before he was recommissioned.
'Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it,' Numbuh 505 justified, marching over to a position near the front door.
Numbuh 5 laughed.
'Haha, girl's got a point, Numbuh 1,' she said.
'The sleeping gas sure worked pretty well with you!'
~(*)~
The Beatles family had been at the beach the whole afternoon. It was getting into evening now, and the kids were sitting on the sand, burying Wally.
'Who wants fish and chips for dinner?' Uncle Grant called to everyone from under the slightly wonky umbrella. Everyone cheered.
So Grant took everyone's requests and the car and left for the strip of shops in the nearby street.
'You did pretty good out there, Joey,' Wally said, attempting to blow a fly out of his face with his breath.
'Thanks! But you were much better,' Joey replied.
Wally just laughed.
'Did you know that when Ah was your age Ah couldn't even go near water Ah was so scared?'
'What?'
'It's true mate. Ah was terrified!'
Joey laughed quietly.
'Y'know, Christmas is in a couple of days,' Wally continued.
'Yeah. It doesn't really feel like it though. It's too hot,' Joey stated.
'Mm. But it's a good way to be spending christmas, 'ay?' Jack cut in, flopping himself down on a towel behind the boys.
'Yeah. Yeah, it is.'
The sound of a car door closing behind them caused them all to turn around (Well, Wally had a little trouble with that).
It was Grant, back with the fish an chips.
'Who wants dinner?'
The kids broke into a chorus of 'I do, I do!' and the food was served.
~(*)~
'Is this girl gonna come out already?'
'Sh, sh, sh!'
'I'm just saying, she's been in there for like-'
'Shut up, Kuki!'
The kids back home had been hiding around Jamie Clearway's front doorstep for almost fifteen minutes, and everyone was beginning to get uncomfortable.
Numbuh 5 shifted in her spot, trying to loosen her legs, which were starting to cramp.
But then, finally, they heard footsteps coming down the stairway, and readied themselves for a quick fire. They readied the knock-out gas shots.
Door opened.
Split second.
Walking down the front steps.
Split second.
Shots fired, Sudden realisation.
Split second.
Too late.
Jamie was hit. She blinked vacantly a few times, sort of swaying on the spot. Breaths were held as they waited to see if it would work.
Then, Jamie sat down in the middle of her front step, then layed down.
Then, she was out cold. There were a few seconds of hesitation, just to make sure that she was really out, then, they got to work, everyone at once.
'Okay, Numbuh 2, get whatever you have to ready, Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 5, get her on a stretcher. Go!' Numbuh 1 instructed. Numbuh 121 copied, handing out orders to her team as well.
Robert, however, just got up and moved over to where Numbuhs 3 and 5 were starting to pick Jamie up and move her onto a stretcher that they'd had.
If this all went right, Jamie would be back, back as Numbuh 8,860 and back as his friend.
All they could do right now was hope.
~(*)~
Joey took another bite of his potato cake, enjoying the crunch-ingsound it made. The sun was beginning to set, and he could not have been happier. His brother, with considerable difficulty, had pulled himself out of the sand, and rinsed all of it off by order of their mother.
The water had darkened in colour, from the clear, bright blue it had been to a darker, deeper looking sapphire.
Wally came running back up the beach, shaking out the water from his hair.
'There,' he said, panting and sitting down again. 'Ah'm clean. Can Ah eat now?'
'Sure, kiddo!' His father said.
So Wally and Joey, and Jack and Junior and Gabbie and Sam, and Grant and Kel and the boys' mother and father spent the rest of the night running around in the dark orange twilight, playing tiggy and a bit of beach cricket and rolling down the little sandhills until it was time to go home.
And for just a little while, Joey's fears and worries completely left his mind.
Just for a little while.
~(*)~
Robert looked on wile Jamie's sleeping body was elevated on the stretcher, until she was positioned high enough for Hoagie to use T.H.A.T.T. on her.
'Are you sure it's going to work, Numbuh 2?' he asked, not taking his eyes off of Jamie.
'You want the truth? I have no idea.'
A/N: I know. I'm late. I should be punished. But, as a gihugic THANK YOU for not tracking me down and tearing my head off, I'm gonna get the next chapter to you SOOPER FAST. I swear! Operative's honour!
Bye for now! Next chapter will be the Christmas episode!
-Numbuh 25 over and out
