The Watching 'A Shinobi's Legacy Continues'

by Chaos'sReign

Multi crossovers, I own nothing aside from OCs, this is non-profit and under fair use. Mature content will be mentioned later on do not read if under age

10. Chapter 9

HELLO! Welcome everybody to what you all been waiting for, a new chapter to the watching. Now if you've gone to read the main story of the watching 'A Shinobi's Legacy Continues' you'll know due to the authors note that currently serves as the (temporary)11th chapter that I have been having a lot happen this year and its slowed my writing a bit, but hopefully things get better for me and I can start writing more regulary. i'm also a perfectionist so I tend to take longer to write stuff so sorry that adds to the time on updates.

But now the wait is over readers I give to you the next chapter to the watching.

Please read note at the end of the chapter.

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"So Hannah," Rachel starts as everyone in the viewing room was taking a break to get to know the Frightsiders. While some individuals were brave enough to talk to the monsters, most gravitated to Hannah, the most normal one in the bunch, and Scary Godmother, the least terrifying creature. "How long have you known these monsters?"

"They prefer to be called Frightsiders," Hannah clarified. "And to answer your question, Rachel, I've known them ever since I was just six years old."

"Wow, that long?" Rachel said with a surprised expression.

Patton decided to speak up now that his superior asked her own question. "Frightsiders?"

"Yeah, because they are from the Frightside, which is one of the monster worlds," Hannah explained. "It's the same place where the other Rachel and Nathan were when they found that jack-o' lantern."

Scary Godmother decided to chime in regarding her home.

"And just to be clear, one cannot just go to the Frightside by getting lost in a forest," the frizzled orange-haired witch said. "The Frightside exists in a different plane of existence which runs parallel to this world, and the only way to get there is through magic or a natural gateway that periodically connects the two realms."

"Like that jack-o' lantern?" Fanny asked, remembering the magical properties and sentience that the jack-o' lantern displayed.

The head of Decommissioning received a nod in confirmation from the witch. "That's right, dear."

"I'm guessing your next question is about how I got to the Frightside, right?" Hannah rhetorically asked with a smile, to which she gets nods from the Supreme Leader and her close subordinates. "Well, it all started when on Halloween night when I was just six years old. Back then, I was terrified of monsters. I was so scared in fact that I also kept a flashlight with me at night."

"We-were you scared of the dark too?" Sonya piped up. She shrink in her spot when she noticed she got the attention of Hannah, Scary Godmother, and her superiors. To her surprise and comfort, Hannah gave her a reassuring smile.

"To be honest, I was scared of the dark at first before my cousin Jimmy told me about monsters," Hannah said as she thought back to her much younger days, at least a year before she ever met Scary Godmother.

It all seems so fuzzy now, but she remembered how she used to be fearful of the dark, which was replaced by a fear of monsters when her older cousin told her about Halloween monsters. She was just five at the time, the age which her parents determined was the proper age to have her go out trick-or-treating, which is also when Jimmy's parents gave him the responsibility to watch over her, stating that he was now old enough to have responsibilities such as watching his little cousin.

Hannah would later realize that he only told her about monsters at such a young age as a way to get out of watching over her if she stays in the comfort of her own room during Halloween, which he almost succeeded a year later. She smiled at a particularly fond memory of another Halloween night when she finally grew closer to her cousin.

"Let me guess, your cousin was already a teen at the time?" Rachel said with a deadpan look.

Hannah raised an eyebrow at the rather odd question. She answered nonetheless. "I don't think so. Jimmy's about six years older than I am, so he was just eleven at the time."

Fanny scoffs and angrily mutters under her breath, "Typical stoopid boy tryin' to scare little girls."

"Oh, it's alright," Hannah waved it off. "it was Halloween, and what's Halloween without scares?"

"Hahaha!"

The kids were scared stiff they heard the multi-eye creature let out a bellowing laugh.

"Oh, that takes me back!" Bug-a-boo laughed.

Hannah giggled before noticing the odd looks from the others. "It's an inside joke. Anyway, where was I? Oh right, on the night when I first met Scary Godmother, I was supposed to be watched over by my cousin, but he got his friends to help him play a prank on me. They tricked me with this story that I must sacrifice some of my Halloween candy inside this old spook house in my hometown or else every kid in the world will be eaten."

Patton deadpanned at the last part, "Where have I heard that before?" He has heard countless stories that were designed to frighten kids. He has heard it all before.

"I did what they told me, and they locked me inside."

"That's horrible!" Rachel exclaimed. And she said she was only six at the time? That was just cruel.

"Ah hope they got wha' they deserve!" Yelled an angry Numbuh 86.

"Oh, believe me, they got a taste of their own medicine," Hannah said before giggling, remembering how she and the Frightsiders scared the snot out of her cousin and his friends.

"And I think it's only appropriate that I continue with the story," Scary Godmother said. "I heard my little fairy princess needed me,"

Rachel raises an eyebrow. "You make it sound like you've already known Hannah before she actually met you."

Scary Godmother just smiled and nodded at the Supreme Leader, impressed by her intuition.

"Well, my sweetie, if there's one thing that you should know me is that I'm the Paragon of Halloween."

The higher ups of the KND recalled how Hagoromo referred to the witch with batwings that title.

"You're probably wondering what the Paragon of Halloween means," Hannah spoke up, speaking for her godmother. "To be it simply, Scary Godmother is the icon of Halloween just like how Santa is the icon of Christmas."

Her words surprised the members of the Kids Next Door. None more so than Sector V, who all personally met the icon of Christmas and his team of superpowered elves.

Patton was the first to get out of his stupor. "Wait, if you're the face of Halloween, how come we've never heard of you? Shouldn't you be popular as Santa?"

Once again, Hannah spoke for her godmother.

"Scary Godmother wasn't always the icon," she said. "In fact, she's still fairly new in the job even though she only had the job for 80+ years or so."

Patton, Rachel and Fanny stared at Scary Godmother in shock after hearing this tidbit. "80 years?!" All three of them looked up and down, studying Scary Godmother's appearance, with their minds in complete disbelief. Their first thought was that there was no way this lady who looked to be in her 30's could possibly be that old, but then again up until now they also did not think monsters were real.

Proving herself worth her position amongst her peers Rachel recovered enough to speak.

"80 years," Rachel repeated while processing the rest of Hannah's explanation. "So Scary Godmother is not the first?"

Once again, Scary Godmother was impressed by Rachel's sharp ear and mind.

"Yes, my dear," Scary Godmother. "In fact, I'm currently the third Paragon."

"Excuse me, but does this mean your name really isn't Scary Godmother?" Patton asked with a raised hand. "Like how Santa's real name is actually is Saint Nick?"

Scary Godmother smiled fondly at the mention of her senior holiday icon and his little group of superpowered elves, who were a delight when they visited on a previous Halloween night.

"Yes, my name is actually Tabitha, but I prefer going by 'Scary Godmother.' It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" She said with a smile. "Anyway, like Santa who knows who has been naughty or nice, I know the ones loves Halloween, and no other kid loves Halloween than my own little Hannah Marie. When I heard her crying on that very Halloween night, I took it upon myself to help her."

Hannah blushed from embarrassment a bit, but she smiled when she fondly remembered Scary Godmother consoling her at the spook house.

They wound have continued with the little Q&A, but they were soon interrupted by the sudden arrival of Skully and Bug-a-boo.

"Excuse us for interrupting you, sweetie, but mister Hagoromo announced that the viewing is going to continue at any moment now. It's best we all head on over before it starts."

Rachel nods at first before her mind registers the last thing Skully said.

"Wait, you all? Will you not be continuing to watch with us?"

Scary Godmother looked apologetically upon the children. "I'm afraid so dears, with everything we've seen in our short time here. We, as members of the supernatural, have a responsibility to ensure that our peaceful co-existence is not put into jeopardy."

By this time, Count Max and his family arrived with Count Spankulot following shortly behind.

"Right you are, Scary Godmother. I, myself, intend to do some investigating and have some of my servants and minions go out and travel to other lands in the supernatural realm to look into things."

He rather not mention the name of that...abomination, but his plans was still clear as day to the icon of Halloween.

Ruby turns to Spankulot and gives him a hug. "Goodbye, cousin. It was good to see you again. Please, do not be a stranger and do come and stop by our home in the Frightside sometimes. It would be a pleasure having you."

Orson steps forward and hugs the spank happy vampire. "Bye, uncle Nandru."

Count Spankulot smiles and returns the hug. "It will be my honor. Farewell Ruby, and you as well, Orson." Count Spankulot then faces towards Count Max giving a short head bow of respect to his fellow count who in turn does the same.

"Good night and good luck, Count Albu. May your investigations prove favorable."

Count Max's eyes drifted briefly to their surrounding and company before carefully saying, "Yes, hopefully any findings I gather will show there to be no storms brewing upon the horizon. Farewell, Count Blooddriver, and as Ruby said herself, do stop by sometime whenever you may be in the neighborhood."

Knowing what this meant for her, Hannah looked to Rachel, Patton, and Fanny. She felt disappointed at the thought of leaving but understood that they could not stay forever, she herself still had her studies to do after all.

As he watched this go on Patton could not help but think back to the fact that they had been told by both the man 'Hagoromo' and woman 'Renet' that time on Earth was supposedly frozen to a stand still.

"Unless they lied to us, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Typical adults." Patton thought suspiciously. Despite his suspicions, he looked towards Scary Godmother and asked. "Isn't time frozen on Earth, though? You shouldn't have to go if that's the case."

At his question, Rachel and Fanny began to recall that fact and they too began to wonder about that. But before they could voice their own responses and questions Renet appeared before them smiling.

"Hiya everyone, I was looking for you kids and couldn't help over hearing your conversation." Renet paused to make sure she had everyone's attention then continued to explain. "While its true that time on Earth is stopped for now, it's actually the mortal half that's on a time still. The supernatural side, on the other hand, is currently unaffected and left the time to continue to flow due to certain reasons. But should anything from the supernatural side cross over into the mortal realm then they too will be frozen in suspended animation."

With that announced, Renet returned to Hagoromo's side without giving any further clarification or let any one ask any questions.

Fanny turned to Hannah, "But wha' abou' ya, lass? You're from da mortal half, ain't ya not?"

A big grin appeared on the brunette's face. "I am, but I actually go to a supernatural school."

That was a bombshell that none of the KND members were expecting to hear from Hannah.

"A supernatural school!?"

"Yep," Hannah replied, acting like it was no big deal, although she was failing to hide her giggles from behind her hand. "I've been going to supernatural school ever since I met Scary Godmother."

Rachel, Fanny, and Patton were speechless. They have just learned about icon of Halloween and a little more about the monster worlds, but none of that compare to hearing about a human going to a monster. How often does that happen?

"Uh...what exactly do you learn in a supernatural school?" Rachel asked out of curiosity.

"Well, supernatural schools actually," Hannah clarified, having been enrolled to two supernatural and graduated the first school at least one year ago. She thought back to her teachings from the supernatural schools she has attended and was enrolled thanks to Scary Godmother. "First I was enrolled in Miss Grimwood's Finishing School for Ghouls to learn about the etiquettes and the different supernatural worlds."

"Finishing school?" Patton repeated. "You mean those schools for girls to learn how to be all fancy and stuff?"

"Yep," Hannah said with a smile as she reminisced of the fond memories she has when she attended Miss Grimwood's school. Her mind clicked as a thought came to mind. "Scary Godmother, do you still have that book album with those photos from my time at Miss Grimwood's school?"

"Why, of course, my dear," Scary Godmother said as her hands glowed briefly before an item appeared in midair. It was a photo album, which she levitated towards her goddaughter. "Here you go, deary."

"Thank you," said an appreciative Hannah Marie as inspected the book and quickly a notice a makeshift bookmark in between the pages. She opened the album at the saved page and, almost falling out of the pages was a folded piece of paper. Hannah hold onto the paper showing before showing the album to the KND operatives she has gotten close to.

"Here are the friends I made at Miss Grimwood's Finishing School for Ghouls."

Rachel, Fanny, and Patton took steps closer to get a better look at the photos. The first photo they notice was a younger Hannah Marie playing the pipe organ with a girl who was oddly blue with blue hair that has a white streak and wearing a matching blue dress. From a glance, the blue girl is likely a cheery kind if her wide smile, that could light up an entire room, was any indication. What was the most striking of her appearance was that she was somehow transparent.

"Is that girl a ghost?" Patton asked, saying the question that was shared by him, Rachel, and Fanny.

"Yep, that's Phatasma the ghost, she's daughter of the Phantom," Hannah answered. "But she prefers to be called Phanty. She's really great with the pipe organ, but she's very talented in a lot of instruments."

"She must be great at parties," Patton commented with light tone.

"She is."

The KND operatives continued looking at the photos, and saw the next girl they saw with Hannah in another photograph. In this one, Hannah and this other girl were working at some arts-and-craft station. This girl also wore a blue dress like the ghost girl, but with the sleeves cut off and a bow. Her striking feature? Fur that covered her from head to toe, making her monster species obvious; her fur was mostly brown with the exception of big curly hair, which was a bright orange. Additionally, her eyes has slitted red pupils and yellow sclera, and has sharp claws. Despite having a muscular physique that could take on multiple adults all at once and having razor sharp claws, the photo clearly showed that this girl have expert-level dexterity to carefully hold some delicate crafting tools.

"That's Winnie the werewolf," Hannah said. "She was the top athlete at Miss Grimwood's Finishing school before we all graduated and she still holds some PE school records that hasn't been broken to this day, not even by other werewolf students."

Fanny smirked, liking the sound of this Winnie.

"Don't let her tough exterior fool you though, she's quite the artist." Hannah added.

The next photo the KND operative looked at also has Winnie on it with another girl. This new girl, from appearance alone, was the youngest one in the photo and was covered from head to toe in white bandages, showing that she is a mummy. The only visible parts of her were her baby-blue eyes that screamed innocents. To finish her appearance, she has a pink bow on the top of her bandaged-wrapped head. In the photo, the little mummy was trying her hardest to do a pull up, and Winnie and Hannah were encouraging her.

"That's Tanis, she's a mummy and she was the youngest student when I was still attending Grimwood's Finishing School. She's graduating this year."

"Oh!" Scary Godmother's head snapped in realization. "That reminds me, my good old friend Olga Grimwood said she needs my help with setting up this year's graduation party, which will be two months from now."

"I can help with that, Scary Godmother." Offered Hannah, which she got a smile of appreciation in return.

Meanwhile, the KND operatives continued looking and were a little put off by the next photo. In this one, only Hannah could be seen and surrounding her were some test tubes and beakers that were all each filled with strange looking fluids with some bubbling and others were letting out some steam. The real odd part was that Hannah was talking...to the empty space right next to her.

"Uh, Hannah?" Rachel got her attention. She placed a finger on the focused photo. "What exactly are you doing here?"

The brunette raised an eyebrow in confusion from that oddly asked question before turning her attention to the photo Rachel was talking about.

"Oh!"

While balancing the opened album with one arm, Hannah unfolded the folded paper with her free hand. Once it was fully open, Hannah showed them its content. From the worn appearance of the paper itself, the paper was a at least a couple of years and has a portrait of a young girl, sketched in pencil and colored with water color.

The girl was a light purple from head to toe. She was wearing bluish-purple eyeshadows and red lipsticks. She has green eyes, and her hair was long, almost reaching her feet, and it was mostly purple that was darker than her skin with a lighter portion at the top of her head. Her attire consists of a purple dress with a slit, a red belt, and red high-heeled shoes.

"This is Sibella Dracula," Hannah said. "You can't see her in any photos because she's a vampire. In the photo, she's helping me with brewing potions for Potion Brewing 101."

Once her species was revealed, the KND operatives look at her lips and, sure enough, they saw that she has fangs that were sticking out from her slightly-opened smile.

A blush and a goofy smile made its way to the usual stone-face Patton. Both Rachel and Fanny rolled their eyes at that.

"A vampire brewing potions?" Rachel said, finding that scenario odd. "Never heard vampires do that before."

"Don't believe everything you hear and watch from movies; they are not always true." Hannah replied with a smirk. "Also, anyone can brew potions, even humans. Witches are famous for potion brewing because they pioneered the craft, and pretty much only witches can be masters of potion brewing."

Fanny rubbed her chin, as a thought came to mind.

"Do ya know a potion that can turn someone into a frog?"

Patton snapped from his lovey-dovey daze when he heard Fanny asked that question and saw that side glance. He promptly took a step back while sending a pleading look to Hannah.

Hannah just giggled at Fanny's question.

"Sorry, but turning into a frog, that's a bit out of my level of expertise."

"Hang on," Rachel cuts in. "Sibella Dracula? Is she related to-?"

"She is not!" Before Rachel could finish her question, she was interrupted by the two adult male vampires.

The angry shrieks from the counts caught everyone off guard. Everyone turned to them; they saw them with their mouths wide open and brandishing their fangs, and their eyes glowing a menacing red. If they turned to the side, they would have seen a reserved Countess Ruby, who was trying her hardest not to do the same as her husband and cousin.

"Uh, dad? Uncle Nandru?" Orsen said as he floated to them.

The concerned look on the younger vampire's face snapped Count Max and Count Nandru from their enraged state. Max fake a cough into his hand to ease away his anger while Spankulot avoided everyone's gazes and let his long cape drape his entire body, showing that he is not in the mood to talk.

Orsen floated next Hannah. He said to the Supreme Leader and her subordinates.

"Sorry about that."

While the higher-ups of the KND were rattled by the vampires' outburst, they still tried to be civil. From the looks of it, the mention of Dracula seems to be a sore subject. Like that... child eater.

"It's alright," Rachel assured with her two subordinates saying the same reply.

"Yeah, it's fine."

"That's good." Orson smiled, or at least tried the best he could without looking terrifying with his long fangs. "Oh! I haven't introduced myself, have I? My name is Orson Albu."

At first, the KND operatives were a bit reluctant to interact with this vampire considering his teen-like appearance, but then Rachel saw Hannah gave the teen vampire a smile and a nod for his. If she can trust him, then they could too.

"Hi, Orson." The Supreme Leader greeted. "I'm Rachel, and this is Fanny and Patton."

Her subordinates did not vocal a greeting, but did wave their hands at the teen vampire.

"Nice to meet you three," Orson replied back before frowning a bit. "Again, I'm sorry about my dad and uncle, but Dracula is bit of a touchy subject, especially to those two."

"Why?" Patton asked, curious to know why the mention of Dracula would cause those two to snap. He turned them before turning his attention back to Orson and leaning close to him and Hannah to whisper, "Isn't Dracula the leader of the vampires? At least, that's what I learned from some vampire movies."

"Like Hannah said, don't believe everything you see on movies and books made by humans," Orson said with a slight glare before letting a groan of disgust. "Especially the Twilight movies. Yeah, you don't want to mention those movies around a vampire like me unless you have a death wish."

Patton raised his hands and took a step back. Although he has not read that book series that has somehow gotten the attention of many girls, he rather take his chances being around a peeved vampire. Rachel and Fanny followed suite.

Temporarily forgetting his earlier displeasure, Count Max looked questioningly. "Twilight? Movies? As in those moving pictures? Why would one make such a thing about the phasing of the sun?"

Orson sighed. "No, dad. It's an abomination of entertainment some humans made based on a book that's hardly any better, and a lot of mortal girls seem to like for al'hollows knows why."

At that moment, more than half the girls from 12 to 17 blushed nervously, some choosing to look around elsewhere or feign coughing.

Similarly, a blushing Rachel and Fanny, and even Hannah rubbed either their shoulder or arm in an embarrassed fashion while letting out a few nervous chuckles as they did so.

"..Yeah... who would?" Hannah said while looking anywhere else but at the vampire. Orson sent a raised eyebrow in suspicious at his first human friend.

Seeing his fellow was still of confused, Spankulot decided to give an abridged version.

"Count Max, you know how a lot of movies inaccurately depict us vampires?" Spankulot asked, to which he received a nod. "The Twilight movies are the worst ones."

"...I see," Max said with a disappointing tone. Yet another reason why he hates ignorant humans. And his wife wonders why he does not like to travel to the mortal realm on those occasions that Ruby suggested and arranged.

"Anyway," Orson started, going back to the previous conversation before he hatefully mentioned that trash of a movie. "Dracula was never a leader of the vampires. No, according to what my parents has told me, Dracula was a tyrant who was cruel to both humans and vampires. Especially to humans, whom Dracula saw nothing more than as food and even almost accomplish on turning humans into nothing more than as farm animals."

That bit of information got the blood of the KND operatives and those who were listening to the conversion to stop cold to hear such a monster was actually about turn the human society into nothing more than farms of of cattle to be slaughtered and be used a source of food

"Orson!"

"Ow!" Orson grunted when Hannah elbowed his side. "What? They already know about the Gazole, so what's one more actual monster for them to learn about? Especially one that is dead?"

"D-dead?" Fanny managed to stutter, "Dracula is dead?"

"Yes." Spoke both Max and Spankulot as they both floated to be the center of attention.

"It is as my nephew has said," Spankulot said. "Dracula was also a tyrant to his fellow vampires."

"Feh," Max growled with a scoff and his eyes glowing once again. "Tyrant does not even begin to describe Dracula's cruelty."

"Indeed," Spankulot nodded. "And after many vampire lives suffered and perished because of him, a revolt began against him. Although more vampire lives ended, it was worth it to finally get rid of him once and for all."

Hearing that got everyone to calm down. Hannah continued from there.

"And after Dracula died, his name became a title to those who survived and lived through the whole battle against Dracula," Hannah said, remember that particular trivia from history class at Miss Grimwood's Finishing School. "Sibella's dad being one of them."

"And it was to be supposed to be just a title!" Max growled once. Oh how he wishes that name could have just be forgotten in history. "But then Klaus just had to be so prideful and conceited to change his family name to honor that... that... abomination!"

Hannah frowned. "But Sibella's dad doesn't honor him, he just likes proving that he survived against him."

Count Max narrowed his eyes, but turned his gaze away before he could snap at his son's best friend.

Feeling an air of awkwardness coming, Rachel decided to try and move things along. She turned back to the photo album that Hannah was still holding. She pointed at the last unmentioned girl among the pages. This girl has huge head of hair with a white streak, bolts on her neck, and was wearing a green dress. In the photo, Hannah was with the remaining girl and they were both at workbench with soldering iron in their hands as they worked on gadgets.

"Oh hey! Who is this girl?"

Hannah knew what the blonde girl was doing. She smiled in appreciation.

"Oh, that's Elsa Frankenteen. She's the daughter of-"

"Wait, Frankenteen?" Patton interrupted. "Don't you mean Frankenstein? That monster which that quack doctor create-" The drill sergeant was soon interrupted himself when the redhaired girl standing next to him slapped him across the face. "Ow! Hey! What was that for, Numbuh 86!?"

"Stoopid boy!" Fanny exclaimed. "Frankenstein wasn't da munster, it was da name of dat quack doctor."

"She's right," Hannah agreed with the Irish operative. "Also, the doctor's name wasn't actually Frankenstein. It's actually Frankenteen, which mister Boris took as his last name."

That clarification got a round of Oh's from those who were listening and a "His first name is Boris?" from Patton.

Hannah continued. "Anyway, Elsa was the smartest girl at Miss Grimwood's school when we were still enrolled there and-"

"Excuse me, miss Hannah Marie," Hagoromo cut in. "I am sorry, but the next viewing will be starting soon."

Hannah blushes in embarrassment before looking apologetic. "Oh right, sorry sir."

Hagoromo waves it off. "No harm done, little one."

"Well, it's been fun everyone, and it was nice to actually spend time among mortals, but it is time to go, unfortunately." Scary Godmother said frowning slightly at the end, not liking that her goddaughter's time with her new friends was cut short, but she knew that she and her friends have responsibilities to take care of. Not to mention Hannah's studies.

The frizzy-haired witch then smiled when an idea came to mind. Make that two ideas. "Oh! But first!"

While waving her hands in a swirling motion, Scary Godmother mutters a small spell that conjured up a crystal ball that was small to be held in someone's palm. Smiling at the magical object she had created, she levitated it over to Rachel, who held and stared at it in curiosity.

"Here you go, kiddos." Scary Godmother says with a smile. She then explains, "If at anytime you want to speak with us or Hannah, all you'll have to do is call into it."

Rachel smiled as she pocketed the crystal ball. "Thank you, Scary Godmother."

Said witch smiled back before she turned to her goddaughter. ""Hannah, may I see that magic key I gave you?"

Hannah fished through her pocket for a quick moment before pulling out a heart-shaped with features that makes it also resemble a skeleton face. When she handed it over to her godmother, she saw the confused look from her new friends

"That's a magic key that temporarily makes a portal to Scary Godmother's home whenever I use it on any door," she explained.

The KND members were at an awe at such a useful magical item and were a bit jealous that she owns such an item.

"Not anymore it will," Scary Godmother declared as she waved a hand over the magic key, sprinkling some magic over it. The key glowed brightly for a bit before returning to normal. Though it remains visually the same, to any magic user, they can tell it has been altered. "My dear, Hannah, over the years, my pride for you has only grown, especially when I heard nothing but great things about you from your teachers, and I believe that you more than enough deserve this. I altered your key, which will now let you open doorways to any destination in mind."

Hannah smiled brightly from having her key getting such big upgrade. Not only that, but her godmother was also proud her; nothing more could bring her such joy. She got back her key and inspected it. "But I only make doorways to locations I've been to before, right?"

Scary Godmother once again smiled, proud that her goddaughter figured that part out from just inspecting the key.

"That's right, my dear, so you can back here any time have break" Scary Godmother explained before putting on a stern expression. "But I expect you not to slip on your magical studies, and considering how big of a distraction this can get, I expect nothing less than 95% on your next test!"

Hannah giggled. "You got it, Scary Godmother." That got her godmother to smile back.

Max floated up to the young brunette. "Hannah, if it's not too much to ask, but can you open a doorway back to my castle? I would like to start working on my investigation as soon as possible." Referring to his plans about that accursed child eater.

"No problem, mister Albu," Hannah said as she walked to the first and nearest door she saw.

"It's count Al-ow!" Max was cut off by his wife jabbing his side with her elbow. He rubbed his now tender side. "What?"

"Max, dear," Ruby began. "Hannah has known us for more half her life now, don't you think she has the right to call you mister Max or just Max?"

"She can call me father if she and Ors-Ow!" Max was once again cut as he was hit in the side, harder this time. He sent a hurt expression to his beloved. "My dear, you wound me."

Instead of receiving sympathy from his wife as the count thought he would, his wife grabs his ear and starts pulling, basically subduing him and dragging him with her vampire-level physical strength.

"I've told you once, I've told you a million times, beloved," Ruby began, yanking her husband's ear a couple of times as she continued to speak. "In this day in age, Hannah is considered too young to wed. Honestly, I thought you understood by now, but I was proven wrong with the way you reacted when young Rachel's other self's dad was protesting against the idea his daughter was interested in young Nathan."

"What kind of patriarch be against his daughter marrying such a fine specimen like young Nathan." Max's words earned an even stronger tug in the ear from his wife. "OW! Ruby, my dear, please, go easy on me!"

Orson could only groan in embarrassment at the scene his parents were making, which was receiving a lot of attention from the viewers. He received a comforting pat on the shoulder from his mother's cousin.

While that was happening, Hannah made to the front of the janitorial closet. As she inserted her magic key into the keyhole, she thought of castle Albu in her mind. She has been there plenty of times in the past when either Orson or Orson's parents invites her over, so she can clearly picture it in her head, successfully creating a doorway to the castle.

The moment she turned the knob and opened the door, tumbling out of the closet was Numbuhs 13 and 65.3, with a newly made portal appearing behind them.

Both boys, mostly Herbie, were soaked in dirty smelly water. Water that was once in a bucket that the clumsy Numbuh 13 found in the closet and tried to place on Numbuh 65.3's head in order to show it could be used as a helmet like the one he himself wears.

"FREEDOM! I'm finally fre-!" Herbie cried out in joy before both he and Numbuh 13 finally took notice of the supernatural individuals. "MONSTERS!"

"GAH AAH!" Numbuh 13 freaked out as he tried to run away, but tripped on his perpetually untied shoelaces.

The communication officer was so scared that he could barely move from his spot, he only had enough motor function to grab the current bane of his existent into a hug, which the clumsy operative returned in fear.

Patton blinked for a second before suddenly remembering that it was Numbuh 362 who had thrown the two in there.

"Oh, right we forgot about them."

"Ah didn't, "Fanny smirked. During the whole time the two most annoying boys in the KND organization, in her opinion at least regarding Numbuh 65.3, she secretly enjoyed their suffering, mostly Numbuh 65.3's suffering from being stuck in a closet with the most unlucky operative.

Seeing both operatives that had earned her ire once more and still not wanting to deal with either of them, an idea came to Rachel's mind.

"Oh, that's right, they didn't get to know you, guys." She said to the Frightsiders, who all looked at the two scared boys in confusion. "Why don't you take them with you to get them up to speed?" Rachel suggests with a sickly dark sweet smile.

Harry the werewolf, in one of his occasional moments of consideration for someone else, looks uncertain. "But-" He started, but he did not get to say much as he quickly took note of the hard look the girl was sending his way the moment he opened his mouth, effectively shutting him up.

Skully leans to both Bug-a-boo and Harry. "We better do as she says." He whispers, which the two nodded and agreed.

Rachel sees Numbuhs 65.3 and 13 both shivering in fear and having trouble standing, let alone do any running from the Frightsiders.

"Excuse me, mister Bug-a-boo? Can you carry them? They seem to be unable to stand, let alone walk." She says with a false tone of concern for the two.

Bug-a-boo nods. "Sure thing, little lady."

Panicking, both Numbuhs 65.3 and 13 tried to crawl away but were inevitably picked up by the most terrifying Frightsider, who slung them over his shoulders and carried them into the portal.

"No! Help! Don't let these monsters take me!" Herbie pleaded just as he was carried through. His pleas for help could still be heard even when he fully went through the doorway.

Harry and Skully had to drag a scared Numbuh 13 who tried clinging to the floor by his fingernails, but it was futile as the wolf and animated skeleton managed to drag him through the doorway.

The main viewers, minus Numbuh 86 who looked at 362 in admiration, looked put off and a little scared at what the Supreme Leader essentially did. If they did not already know that the Frightsiders were harmless, they would have thought that she was sending them to the gallows.

"Bye, Rachel! I'll come back as soon as I can!" Hannah bid her goodbyes as neared the portal doorway. "All this is just so interesting."

"Bye, Hannah!" Rachel returned as she waved before Hannah went through the portal with Scary Godmother following after after the witch waved goodbye. "I'll catch you up on anything you missed!"

"Make sure you study!" Patton yelled once Hannah disappeared from view. He received raised eyebrows from both Fanny and Rachel. "What? Do you want to risk her godmother blaming us if she slips on her grades and perhaps even hex us."

Fanny's eyes widened as wide as dinner plates. "MAKE SUR' YA STUDY, LASS!"

Rachel shakes her head at how ridiculous they were acting. Though she only knew the two for more than an hour at most, she has a feeling Scary Godmother would not do such a thing, let alone let anger cloud her judgement. Also, Hannah seems to be the studious type if the pictures of her in that supernatural finishing school was any indication.

Max went through the portal doorway while dragging her husband by his ear. Their embarrassed son soon followed them.

When last member of the Frightsiders left through the door, the portal immediately closed. Right on time too as the the screen came back to life and the show immediately began.

---

The current reigning Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door Chad Dickson was just about done for the day, but there is just one more task to do. Now, it was not an obligation or responsibility, but more of a personal one. Whenever he can, he likes to record on an old school tape recorder, an audio diary if you will, which was mostly about important statistics and current situations within the KND.

Numbuh 274 pulls out the tape recorder from the desk cabinet and placed it on his desk. He coughs to clear his throat before pressing the start button. He spoke through the mike.

"Log Date: July 2nd," He started. "Ice cream reserves are up by 10% compared to last month. Candy supply is way up by almost 50% compared to last month, mostly thanks to my brother taking down Stickybeard and his crew, and claiming his huge cache of candy for the KND." He chuckles at the last part before continuing. "On a different note, currently no hostile actions from the Delightful Children from Down the Lane or Father nor any sight of them for the past couple of weeks according to the reports from Sector V and our spy operatives. The leading theory of their disappearance is that they are on vacation. Hopefully, this peaceful time without Father and his creepy kids will continue during my temporary leave of absence."

The Delightful Children's eyes turned sharp and narrowed at being called 'creepy' but otherwise remained silent as the show continued.

Chad looks across his desk to see the framed photographs of him and his family. There is a total of three picture frames. One depicts him and his little brother, showing the older brother giving a noogie to the latter.

The female members of the audience all either cooed or giggled as the picture mentioned popped up on the screen.

Chad eyed the photo, feeling jealous of his alternate self for having the pleasures of older brotherhood. He was taken off his trance when he felt his hand getting grabbed. Turning to the side, he sees the comforting smile of his girlfriend. Returning the smile, Chad squeezes his hand to hold Stacey's hand before but resumed watching.

One of the other ones is a recent family photo of the Dicksons on the last day of school before summer vacation officially started. The last one is a photo of the family during one of the family road trips that was years ago when Nathan was still in preschool.

When the next photo came up, both Jacob and Samantha Dickson felt their hearts swell in joy before being overrun by a sense of yearning as they sadly eyed the photograph of what could have been. The two could not help it at that moment but think of all the possible what-ifs and missed family moments.

"Despite what my parents did recently," Chad continued speaking through the mike. "I'm still excited about this year's family trip. This year, we will be camping."

Taking a moment to pause during his log Chad picks up the photo of the last family trip and begins to reminisce.

"Nothing will ever beat the time when we first went to see Mt. Rushmore. Incidentally, on that very same trip, someone actually vandalized the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln with graffiti. Brilliant work of art by the way. Just to be clear, I mean the graffiti, not the giant bust sculptures of four dead presidents."

Everyone but the Dickson family blinked dumbly at this until finally their brains registered what had just been said then all at once they expressed what they all were thinking.

"WHAT!?"

"Uh, why did Numbuh 270 drew on Numbuh 5's face?" Asked a confused Wallabee Beetles

Abigail sighed, "No he didn't, Numbuh 4."

Kuki Sanban asked next, "So he drew on your sister's face?"

An angry tick mark appeared on the Second-in-command of Sector V. "No!"

"... ... ..." Numbuhs 3 and 4 looked at each other in confusion before asking, "He drew on your mo-"

"He's talking about Abraham Lincoln, you fools!" Abby screamed as stood up on her chair, which made her teammates cower in fear. Letting out a huff, Abby sit back down "And don't you even ask if Numbuh 5 is related to a president."

Chad lets out some chuckles as he admired the photo of his smiling family posing in front of the defaced heads of Mount Rushmore. The gigantic busts of the four presidents were painted with all the colors of the rainbow and drawings that were most likely done by a child. How this was done? Nobody knows, except for the culprit.

"PFFT~ BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!"

Laughter broke out though out the viewing room. While the adults were still flabbergasted that a mere child could do such a thing, the kids and teens were enjoying the vandalized famous landmark. Some even started holding sides and banging their fists against their armrests

"Hahaha!" The Steve laughed before taking a moment to catch his breath. "Okay, just for that, Chad's kid brother is alright with me!"

Many teens shared the same thought. If a kid, who was still in preschool, was able to do what they consider the ultimate prank, then he is cool in all of their books. Some even considered on pulling the prank themselves. Now if only the viewing reveals how Nathan was able to do such a thing without arousing suspicion at one of the most popular and most visited landmarks.

"On a side note, if schools are trying to teach us something, then they shouldn't sugarcoat it, especially the shady stuff that the US presidents have committed. Anyway, needless to say, everyone who was visiting the monument at the time was taken in and questioned by police. I can safely say with certainty that they never found any evidence that I, my brother, my parents, or all of us committed the crime."

The older Dickson son could still remember the frustrated looks on those cops after his family was told that they were free to leave. The sight was all so satisfying after they had the nerve to call his brother a brat.

The KND, in its entirety, smiled in glee at the level of payback that Nathan and the rest of the Dickson family dished out.

"Oh yeah, on that very same day, it's also the time I learned just how crafty my little brother can be, but honestly, I should have seen that coming. There was this one time he got in trouble in preschool when he got into a fight with a bully who was messing with his best friend, Rachel McKenzie. I wonder if that experience is what taught him to have no witness or evidence. Yeah, it probably was."

Numbuh 86 turned to her superior in disbelief. "Ya've been bullied, sir?"

Rachel replied, "I used to but after the first year in the KND, I used my combat training to kick his oversized butt."

The Irish operative's respect for her superior grew more from that.

As he pondered on the thought. Another thing came to Chad's mind concerning the McKenzie family something he had forgotten about until now.

"That reminds me, I forgot to tell Nathan that we're having a family cookout with our neighbors, the McKenzies, to celebrate the 4th of July." Chad thought aloud, which was recorded. He lets out a sigh; how could he hardly forgets something important to mention to his brother? He closed his tired eyes as he messages them to ease his fatigue. "Man, I really need a vacation. Good thing my parents have that covered. Oh well, Nathan will find out about those sooner or later."

This news gained the interest of both the Dicksons and the McKenzie siblings; all of them curious to see what more changes come in their personal lives.

Chad, however, could not help but feel bad for his younger other self yet also felt relief that he was no longer in the position of a very time-consuming job that left very little for personal time. Honestly, he prefers working at Luigi's Pizza than having to do... *shiver!*

Paperwork!

With that done, Chad puts the recorder away. He locks down his office before heading home.

---

Earlier, during Lunch

Moon Base Cafeteria

KND's starlet news girl Tara Warks, otherwise known as Numbuh 10, had been heavily interested in the viewing ever since it began and had been silently taking notes ever since it began. In just a small amount of time..."Wait how long has it been now?" Tara thought curiously for a minute before dropping the matter entirely.

She could not bother wasting her time worrying about that when she has a gold mine of news of the century going on right in front of her. While it is true that most of the KND were here witnessing this phenomenon, the KND news broadcast to all kids everywhere and this story was going to bring in ratings faster than pizza day at school.

"Come on, Boss-Man! I know you can move faster than this!" Virginia urged her 'horse.'

"Oooh, I smell drama~" Tara looked to where Virgina was, which was two seats to her right. The pretty redhead called out to her. "Your other seems very comfortable riding on her superior like that. Do you have anything you'd like to share with us? Eh, Numbuh 23?"

Virginia faced the reporter with a slight furrow of her eyebrows. She did the first thing that came to her mind. Blowing Numbuh 10 a razzberry.

"Oh!" Tara mocked feeling offended. "Such crass, I wonder what Nathan would do if he see his Candy Hound act so rude."

Virginia, as annoyed as she was, did not respond back to Numbuh 10's mocking. The reason? Because her mind was focused on the part of being called 'Nathan's Candy Hound.' For some reason, the idea sounded... she can not explain why, it was very appealing to her. Her mind was so focused at the thought that she barely felt her own face heating up.

She was then pulled from her musing when she heard some scribbling. Turning to the source, she sees Numbuh 10 writing on her notepad. As if she noticed her staring, Numbuh 10 took a pause from her writing to look at Virginia. The pretty redhead gave her a sly smirk and a wink before resuming her writing.

Virginia grunted and muttered under her breath, "She better not be writing about me."

As much as she wants to confront the famous anchor girl, she also does not want to cause a scene. She doesn't want to give Numbuh 86 more ammo to use for her scolding.

"You have your own two legs, you know!" Nathan snapped back. "Also, the cafeteria is only a couple of feet away!"

Rachel grumbled, which she has been doing behind the two during the whole short trip to the cafeteria.

"We're here!" Virginia exclaimed once they made it to their destination.

"Great, then you can get off me now," Nathan said. After Virginia finally gets off his back, Nathan took a quick look around the canteen and sees that the canteen was packed with operatives, most of whom have finished their mission of the day. He turned to the girls accompanying him. "You two find us a table, I'll get our lunches. My treat."

Rachel's eyes widen. "Wait, Nath-!"

"Thanks, Boss-Man! Get me all the corndogs you can get me!" Yelled Virginia, unintentionally cutting off Rachel, before running off to find a table. "Come on, Numbuh 362!"

The blonde girl felt her blood boil when she once again heard the brunette call her best friend that nickname. She calmed herself before turning back to Nathan.

"Nathan, I thought you were only paying for me."

The blonde boy shrugs. "Yeah, well she was one of my subordinates for my mission, so I don't mind. Besides, she was also stupefied by my parents."

"Yeah, so was every other operative," Rachel argued as she looks away and glances down at the ground. She really is not liking how this girl has crashed her lunch plan with her best friend.

"The other Numbuh 362 looks really upset. Doesn't she, Numbuh 5?" Kuki asked her fellow girl in Sector V, who sat beside her arms crossed and leaning back in her seat.

Numbuh 5 nods with a smirk. "Mmhmm~ Girl really got it hard for him."

Numbuh 3 tilts her head, seemingly confused by what Abigail meant before her eyes widen when realization hits her like a ton of bricks. Covering her mouth with her long sleeves, she began to giggle.

"Nathan and Rachel sit-!"

Before she could continue singing, Abigail slapped a hand over the Asian operative, effectively silencing her.

"Now's not the time, Numbuh 3," Numbuh 5 claimed with her eyebrows furrowed to show that she better listen to her.

The other operatives of Sector V sighed in relief. That was a close one. If Kuki actually finished with that song, who knows who she will anger? Rachel or Samantha? Either way, it was better for their health that they do not incur the wrath of either of them.

Nathan placed a hand on her shoulder, which made her look at him. He smiles warmly at her and said, "I'm paying for her lunch because she was my subordinate. I'm paying for your lunch because you're my best friend. And I'll gladly do it again in the future." His clarification somewhat put Rachel at ease as she smiles back. Nathan smiled brighter at that before urging her to go on. "Go, Rachel. I'll get our food."

"Alright, alright," Rachel complied with a small smile on her face. "You know what I want and my favorite ice cream."

"I know, a cheeseburger with no onions, a side of fries, and mint chip ice cream," Nathan replied.

Rachel smiled. Those were her favorites; this boy truly knows her well.

Rachel nodded before running off to catch up with Numbuh 23. Nathan waved at her before joining the line.

---

With Numbuhs 23 and 362

Looking around the cafeteria took a while but eventually, Numbuh 23 spotted an empty table.

"Over here! Here's one that's open!" She hollered as she beckoned Numbuh 362 over.

"How did Nathan put up with her?" Rachel thought. So far, the candy expert has really left a bad impression on the female spy operative, especially from how she has been acting around Numbuh 270, her superior. "She's just too energetic."

Virginia hopped up on her seat.

"Hey, Boss-lady!" She shouted, pointing towards 362 as she did.

The Supreme Leader, and those all around, looked at her with different thoughts going through their minds.

Rachel's eye twitched while all the others paled slightly mouths agape in horror or shock.

"What did she just say!"

"What does Numbuh 23 think she's doing!"

Rachel turns around to looks at Virginia with an annoyed expression on her face.

"What is it, Number 23?" Rachel asks somewhat snappishly.

Despite the look her leader was giving her, Virginia continued. "You need to chill! You're thinking like a sourpuss teen!" She shouted. Her sense of self-preservation had apparently checked out for the moment.

*GASP!*

Silence. For a few seconds the room was silent. The adults and teens watching in quiet surprise and curiosity. Although the teens were annoyed by the comment, none said a thing and instead opt to watch the scene unfold.

The KND operatives on the other hand were inwardly panicking and half were also shaking in their seats.

"What in the name of Yipper is she thinking!" Patton thought in alarm his hands grasping his hair and winter cap.

Fanny/86 was thinking similarly. "Wha's come over the lass! Has she gone mental?!"

If Rachel's eye hadn't been twitching before it was now. Rachels hands suddenly went up and tightly gripped the top of her seat.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!" She shouts at the top of her lungs causing surrounding operatives to sink down in their seats in attempt to make themselves less noticeable.

Patton leaned over to whisper in Fanny's ear. "Psst... Hey Numbuh 86, we need to do something fast!"

"Jus' wha do ya suggest? Do ya have a plan?" She whispered back but not once taking her eyes off her leader.

Unbeknownst to either Patton and Fanny, a silhouetted figure was walking towards them and as the figure got closer the figure was revealed to be Mr. Fizz. Before Patton and Fanny could discuss further on what to do to calm their leader, Mr. Fizz made a sound with his throat to catch their attention.

"Ahem."

Patton and Fanny whirled on the soda villain almost instantly and were surprised by the villain holding out to them a big wooden jug full of root beer float to them.

"You two should give this to the girl before she tears this room apart."

Similarly, another conversation and action were taking place between Virginia and her teammate from Sector M, Numbuh 33. A female operative who is a redhead with blue eyes has golden earrings and wears a red dress with a white stripe at the end of her sleeves and skirt and at the middle of her dress. For KND equipment, she wears a pauldron with a spout, where she pulls her ponytail through to stick out, as a helmet, and regularly carries a jetpack. Real name: Haley Gem.

"Virginia, please...sit...back...down," Numbuh 33 said between each pull she made in an effort to bring Virginia back down from her standing point.

Virginia struggled to stay standing despite her teammate's plea. "No...way. I'm...not going...to just...take this lying down."

Virginia and Numbuh 33 continued to struggle like this until finally, after much pulling, a slight ripping reached Virginia's ears. The sudden brushing feeling around the front of her neck caught her attention. Both the sound and sensation caused her to temporarily lose focus and cease her resistance, which made it easier for Numbuh 33 to pull her back down into her seat.

Numbuh 33 sighed in both relief and exhaustion. "Finally." She breathed out while Virginia feels around before she pulls the front collar part of her shirt to find the damage, a small tear.

She groaned in displeasure. "Ugh, man...this was one of my favorites too." She complained before Numbuh 33 presented her a candy bar.

"Here, take it and please calm down, Ginny. Please." Haley begged, hoping that the only teammate she had currently at sector M, who was of her age group, did not continue getting into it with the Supreme Leader.

"Fine." Virginia relented as she took the candy bar and proceeded to unwrap it.

Numbuh 33 them looked to the operative who was sitting next to Virginia. "Mind if I take your seat, please? I'd like to try and keep her somewhat under control."

The operative nodded and went to take the now open seat three chairs to the right, while Haley sat down beside a now grumbling Virginia.

Back with the Supreme Leader and her entourage, a similar situation was happening as Rachel was being calmed down with the offer of a root beer float.

"It was nice of Boss-man to pay for our lunches, huh?" Virginia commented after Rachel sat down, starting up a conversation with her fellow female operative.

"That's Nathan for you," Rachel replied. Though she has her small share of misgivings with Numbuh 23, she still has to be polite. "He's the nicest guy you'll ever going to meet."

"Boy, I'll say." Agreed Virginia. "And strong too. I mean, have you ever seen how strong Boss-man is?"

"I know how strong he is. After all, he is my partner," Rachel said with a slight glare. She then thought, "She's really starting to sound like those fangirl operatives. For her sake, I hope she does not stray from her KND training and discipline. It's bad enough she's a candy junkie."

Virginia grumbles angrily but otherwise says nothing, choosing to instead take another bite out of her candy bar, she was not a fangirl!

Operative D meanwhile pats and rubs Virginia's back in an attempt to sooth the girl's temper.

"Oh! Then you and Boss-man must have been in tons of missions together!"

"Naturally." Said Rachel.

"Can you tell me some stories of those?"

That is where Rachel had to draw the line.

"The missions that Number 270 and I took part in are highly confidential," she replied sternly. "It's also against regulation to speak freely about past missions."

Sure Nathan told her earlier about the candy transport mission, but at least he made sure to not tell her in a not-so-populated area. Rachel turned around, hoping Nathan would arrive already.

Virginia rolled her eyes and says under her breath, "I wonder if Boss-man wouldn't be such a stick in the mud if he wasn't partners with you."

Rachel pauses in her consumption of ice cream and soda for a moment to glare at Virginia briefly before she returned to eating her mint chip aggressively.

Rachel whirled her head towards her. "What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing," Virginia quickly denied. Her superior did not appear to believe her as she just continued to stare at her with an analytical look, but Virginia just ignored her by looking away.

Soon a blanket of awkward silence fell on the two girls.

Focusing more on her stomach, Virginia started rummaging through her pockets. It was a good thing that she stuffed her pockets with some of Stickybeard's stolen candy when she was still in the ship's hull with Nathan or else her grumbling empty stomach will be bothering her during this whole wait. Pulling out her hand out, she sees some lollipops, butterscotch, pixie sticks, and some mini chocolate bars. The last of which looked melted, but thankfully still in their wrappers.

When her eyes lay on the chocolate bars, a memory played in her mind. On the day of her graduation. Blurry memories flashed in her mind, from waiting in line to finally become a fully fledge KND member to inserting her booger into the C.O.D.E.-M.O.D.U.L.E and then celebrating the graduation party with her fellow graduates, her drill sergeant, the Supreme Leader, and the Moon Base operatives.

"So that's where I saw him before," she thought. Being a fresh new operative at the time, she never really knew or heard of any big named operatives. She did not bother learning about them while she was being taught and trained at the Arctic Base by Numbuh 274, who was a drill sergeant at the time, and the only famous operative she knew about after hearing about what her fellow cadets told her about their drill sergeant, who single-handedly defeated the Grown-Up Gorilla Gang.

That was also the day she was infamously known to be a candy snatcher after swiping candy from every operative in the room, and it was all because she finally had the candy after going months without consuming any sweets. Candy and sweets are her weakness and the food at the Arctic Base were horrible, so you can only imagine her reaction to the first sweet taste of candy in months.

At this, mumbled voices of agreement from all the adult villains could be heard. Many of them began to wonder if it was actually done like that on purpose or not when they would recall how other prisoners, who were not adults, would claim the same thing.

Numbuh 86's eyes turned to Numbuh 60, who felt her staring.

"What?" Patton said indignantly before crossing his arms. "Don't look at me! Even I know the food's awful."

She went nuts and swiped everyone's candy. Her big swipe from that day was those Swedish chocolate bars that she swiped from a...blonde boy operative.

"Numbuh 362?"

Rachel turned back to the brunette after looking at the line again, wondering how long it will take Nathan to get the food.

"What is it?"

"Does Boss-man like Swedish chocolate?"

"It's his favorite chocolate." Rachel nodded before raising an eyebrow. "What? Did you finally remember that you stole from him?"

"Yeah..." Virginia trailed, looking a little sad now. She is really regretting that day now and regrets calling herself a candy expert when she has stolen candy from others. She thought to herself with a determined look. "I'll make it right."

Her mind flashbacked to when Numbuh 270 saved her. A light, almost unnoticeable, blush formed on her cheeks when she felt phantom sensations of being held by Nathan. Despite this, her mind was clear on one thing.

I'll pay you back, Boss-man."

When Virginia was done making her promise in her mind, she was soon brought back into reality when a cafeteria tray full of food was placed in front of her. She quickly took note that it was full of corn dogs, as she requested, with a side of onion rings. Looking up, she saw Numbuh 270.

"Sorry for the wait, Virginia," Nathan said apologetically before placing the other tray, that he was holding with his other hand, down in front of Rachel. "Here you go, Rachel."

"Thanks, Nathan."

"Uhh... Boss-man?" The brunette looked at him strangely.

"Yes?"

"How are you doing that and why?" She asked as she pointed at him. More specifically, at the top of his head where he was balancing a cafeteria tray.

The sight of this feat earned many wide eyes from all; except Casey and April who both had seen things like this and more many many times before, but still, it was impressive all the same.

"How? Just how can he do all these things?" Numbuh 2 said out loud not, asking to anyone in particular.

Nathan smirked playfully as he removed the tray from the top of his head. "Why? Because my hands were full. How? Practice, lots and lots of practice."

The blonde boy then place his tray down on the table, which is when Virginia noticed that the food barely looked disturbed. Boss-man just continues to impress.

"I'd say," Numbuh 86 says, still looking amazed. "This boy is jus' about everythin' tha rest aren't."

Numbuh 362 could only nod as she finished the last of her mint chip and soda but, even now, she was still feeling somewhat hot-tempered.

*Growl*

Virginia's growling stomach prompted the lone candy expert at the table to start eating, but when she looked down at her tray, she took note of the numerous corn dogs. Looking at the trays of her fellow KND operatives, she also saw big portions on their respective tray.

This got her to ask Nathan, "How were you able to pay for all of this, Boss-man?"

Nathan was just about to bite into his burger when Virginia asked her a question. "Huh? Oh, well technically, I didn't pay for it, Numbuh Change for a 20 paid for it all." He answered with a smirk.

"Huh?" The said operative looked confused by this.

He was not the only one as many others were too. Numbuh Change for a 20 would allow only one to put a meal on their tab but, in the end, would expect them to pay that tab the next day on top of their next meal. He would never pay for them, and it would not matter who they were, he will make no exceptions

Virginia raised an eyebrow in confusion and surprise. "You mean the cashier? That guy makes sure everyone pays for their own lunches. How'd you do that?"

"Easy, we did a trade"

"A trade?" Was every Kids Next Door operative's thoughts.

What could possibly be worth a trade that Numbuh Change for a 20 would even consider paying for someone's lunch?

Rachel looked at Nathan with a smirk. "You gave him one of your rare Yipper cards again?"

"Yep," Nathan confirmed. Numbuh Change for a 20, the operative who usually works as the cafeteria cashier, really knows his stuff when it comes to math and the monetary value of items. "Enough to cover all this and three scoops of ice cream for each of us if there are enough left."

"Oh." That made sense to them, well most of them who collects Yipper cards anyway. The rest, mostly the girls plus the teens and adults, on the other hand, rolled their eyes. Not one of them could understand why such things meant so much to the kids who collects them.

"I can't imagine trading any of my rare cards like that. Even if it were to get benefits like that." Numbuh 2 remarked at the mere thought of doing such a thing. It reminded him of the time he and Numbuh 42 had to trade one of their rare cards to get the rest of Sector V and Sector X from the nerds. After dealing with those werewolves-turned adult collectors.

Numbuh 2 sighs sadly. He would do it again for sure, albeit reluctantly, if it was for the safety of his friends and fellow Kids Next Door operatives.

The mention of ice cream got Virginia to almost start drooling, but manages to calm herself for the moment. "I didn't think you'd be into collecting Yipper cards, Boss-man," Virginia commented. She has seen plenty of boy operatives, and even some female operatives, playing with the rather famous trading card game. In her opinion, which is shared by plenty of other individuals, she finds the game to be nerdy.

"What? Just because I'm one of the top KND operatives that I can't play a trading card that was made for kids?" Nathan said jokingly which got some laughs from the two girls. "Also, while I do enjoy the strategic gameplay, Yipper cards have their advantages when it comes to my KND missions."

Now that really piqued Virginia's interest. "How so, Boss-man?"

Everyone watching was also curious and subconsciously leaning in to hear what else the boy used them for.

Nathan smirked and said this before taking a bit of his burger. "That would be telling."

The viewer groaned at this, feeling somewhat disappointed at not learning more.

Virginia grumbled and pouted at Nathan's answer or lack thereof. Frustrated, she angrily took a bite of one of the corndogs. Rachel smirked at Virginia in amusement. Hopefully, that will keep the Candy Hound quiet for a good long moment.

"Huh, Nathan is right, that is a fitting nickname for her." Rachel thought while repressing a laugh.

Nathan then lets out a chuckle, "Hehe."

Virginia, who continued to finish the last of her candy bar, paused in thought. "What's he laughing about?'

That got the two girls' attention.

"What's so funny, Boss-man?" Asked Virginia, who paused her eating.

"Sorry, sorry," Nathan apologized when still chuckling a bit. "It's just that when... when you eat your corndog... hehe..."

"Yes...?" Virginia trailed, urging him to finish. She has a deadpan look. For some reason, she felt she is not going to like Nathan's reason for laughing.

And her gut feeling was right.

"You look like a squirrel eating an acorn."

At hearing this, Virginia spits out bits of the candy bar she had been eating. Something that all who knew her never would have thought possible to see ever.

With shock and embarrassment on her face, Virginia sputters out, "W-w-what!?"

While she sat there in shock, others laughed as the mental image of a squirrel with Numbuh 23's face eating a corndog came to mind.

Even Numbuh 33 could not help but giggle a little at the comparison, which earned her a short look of betrayal from Virginia.

"Not you too, Haley."

"W-w-what!?" Virginia sputters in embarrassment and rage.

"Ah-ah-ah! Bad, Numbuh 23, you shouldn't go ruining the show with spoilers." Numbuh 10 chimed in a sing-song tone.

Virginia gritted her teeth at the news girl's teasing. Stealing back her patience, she ignored her before she continued to watch the screen. However, she turned back to the news girl where she saw Numbuh 10 scribbling something on her notepad.

Across from her, her other superior operative, Rachel, laughed also at Nathan's comment.

'Ha! serves her right' Rachel thought humorously. She was still peeved about her original lunch plan being altered because of hte candy junkie.

Unbeknownst to the group of three, a cute and well-known ginger-haired operative appeared from behind Virginia.

"Oooh~ Numbuh 23's table manners mimic that of a squirrel," the ginger operative said out loud with a giggle, which gained the attention of the three.

Nathan and Rachel looked behind Virginia while the brunette turned around to see Numbuh 10. Her real name? Tara Warks. Occupation: news anchorwoman of the KND Nightly News and the leader of Sector L. To top it all off, she is widely considered to be the prettiest female operative in the Kids Next Door. And for good reasons, mostly thanks to her exotic shade of orange hair, pretty green eyes, a soothing voice that can make any boy swoon, and a wonderful fashion sense.

As if to prove a point, all the KND boys sigh dreamily at the image of alternate Numbuh 10 on screen. Meanwhile all the girls just crossed their arms and huffed or glared at the boys in annoyance.

Virginia, who normally does not care too much about appearances outside of staying clean and keeping her hair tidy, could not help but also glare at Numbuh 10 with some small jealousy alongside her teammate and many other girls.

Numbuh 10, who seemingly does not notice the glares, continues writing on her notepad.

"What's she even writing?" Virginia wonders briefly before going back to watching the show.

They saw her write something down on a notepad. "That could make some headlines."

"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" Virginia pointed at Tara in curiosity. She felt she has seen the ginger girl before, but she can not put her finger on it.

Numbuh 362 looked at Numbuh 10 with an exasperated look. It took all of her willpower not to reach for a 2x4 weapon.

"She's Numbuh 10," Nathan answered. "You might have seen her on the news."

"Who watches the news?" Virginia asked with a deadpan look, asking the question half-rhetorically and half-seriously

"Figures you don't watch the news." Nathan returned the deadpan look. "In case you didn't notice from what she just said or the notepad she's holding, Numbuh 10 is the anchorwoman of the KND Nightly News."

Virginia's eyes widened before she turned back to the ginger girl. She finally noticed the notepad that Numbuh 10 was still writing on, most likely about Nathan's comment about comparing her table manners with that of a squirrel.

While watching this, Virginia could not help but turn to look at Numbuh 10 again, and, once again, sees her writing on her notepad

"Hey! Just what are you writing!" Virginia shouted.

Tara looked up from her notepad while quickly hiding her notes behind her back and smiled innocently. "Nothing~ I'm just writing stuff down for the nightly news, Squirrel-girl."

Virginia growled, her face turning red. "Oh no you don't!" She shouted before launching herself at the news girl, which started a scene of chaos as the two began to fight. This caused everyone to switch from watching the screen and shift to watching the fight between the two girls every so often.

The brunette stood on top of her seat. Tara looks up from her notepad to see the candy expert glaring down at her.

"Oh no, you don't!" Virginia screamed and attempted to jump on the child news anchor.

However, Tara easily shows her fellow operative that she is not just a pretty face or a girl who is into gossip. She easily saw Virginia's attack a mile away and evaded it rather easily as Virginia missed her by mere centimeters and landed face first onto the ground.

Virginia groaned at her failed attempt.

"Tsk tsk," Tara mocked amusingly while continuing to write on her notepad. "Table manners of a squirrel, but with the elegance of a bull."

Tara, despite her current struggle in her current little wrestling match with Virginia, could not help but smile and comment on what she heard.

"Hehe...my other me...has a point. You...have little...to...no grace!" Tara mocked while she struggled with pushing Virginia down into the ground.

Virginia growled and gritted her teeth harder before retorting. "How about...I grace...your face...with my fists!" She shouted as she broke loose from her position under Tara's pushing before proceeding to tackle her down.

As this was going down, some of the teens that sat beside 'The Steve' could not help but look to him and ask.

"Yo...uh dude? Shouldn't you or someone like...I don't know... do something?"

The Steve' sat there, ignoring his entourage while quietly looking towards where his little sister was currently fighting and seemingly deep in thought.

Virginia growled as she stood back up and once again attempted to get the notepad from the pretty operative, but Tara would just evade her.

This dance of dodges and lunges continued on for a bit, which was being witnessed by Nathan, Rachel, and the surrounding operatives from other tables who noticed the commotion.

Rachel shakes her head as she comments, "Your brother trained her during her cadet days, right? If I was him, I would be embarrassed to see her like this right now."

Nathan would have commented back on that, but something caught his eye. Even though Tara was keeping good track of Virginia, she was not taking account of her surroundings all that well.

Tara took another step back to avoid Virginia. She shakes her head in amusement.

"Hey, can you keep doing this until my sector arrives and film us? We still need something for the 7-PM news," Tara joked, which riled up Virginia even more.

At this, one of Tara's teammates/news crew, a random male operative, who is the cameramen, looked to the others and more specifically to Tara's co-news host, Numbuh 4casts.

"Hey, now that she mentions it, do you think we should?"

Numbuh 4casts grinned excitedly. "Of course, we should! Numbuh 10 is always talking about wanting to get more ratings, right? Well, what better way than to record a catfight between two lovely female operatives?! The male audience levels will rise even higher for sure!"

After taking what Numbuh 4casts said into consideration, the KND nightly news cameraman began recording the fight.

Expecting the same thing again, Tara proceeded to move before the brunette could even lounge at her, but this time, however, she made a mistake. If she had paid more attention to her surroundings, then she would have noticed the small spill of soda on the ground, which she just stepped on, and in turn, causes her to slip and fall backward.

"Oh!" Tara yelped when she suddenly lose her sense of balance and her sight became a blur.

Seeing this, Nathan exploded into action and sped over to Tara, catching her before she could fall and hit her head on the ground.

Despite being in the middle of a cat fight, Numbuh 10 could not help but watch and comment. "Ooh lalala~ now I'm jealous."

At hearing the news-girl's comment, Rachel turns sharply to where Numbuh 10 and 23 were and growled, scaring all those who sat in between the fight and their leader.

"That was close, are you okay, Numbuh 10?" Was the first thing Tara heard after she gathered her bearings. She knows she was about to fall, but someone saved her.

Opening her eyes, she saw the smiling but concerned look of Nathan Dickson looking down at her while he was still holding her with on her back and his other hand supporting her shoulder.

Adding the scene on screen with her growing frustrations, confusing wayward emotions and sudden odd growing intolerance with number 23 and now recently, to an even greater degree, with Numbuh 10.

Rachel breathed in heavily before hopping off her chair. Numbuhs 60 and 86 were both alarmed but kept to their seats as they carefully observed their leader stand completely still and unmoving until she turned and jumped over them. The Supreme Leader landed a few rows behind them before proceeding to make her way towards the pair fighting in the middle of the KND's viewing section.

"Think we should be concerned with how aggressive our leader has been getting lately" Patton asks his fellow superior without taking his eyes off the raging Numbuh 362.

Fanny switched her gaze from Numbuh 362 to the drill sergeant. "Wha'cha ya talkin about, Numbuh 60?"

Patton sighs somberly. "I mean, Numbuh 362 is twelve now-"

"Turnin' twelve, Numbuh 60. Turnin', as in she isn't yet," Fanny interjected, stressing the fact of her leader's age.

Patton looked at Fanny with a tired expression. "You know what I mean. I don't want to say it, but it's starting to become hard to ignore. I mean, look at her. Yeah, okay I get that this whole thing is what we have all been really getting into since watching, but doesn't Numbuh 362's response seem a little...more? It's not just how she acts but...I don't know, she just seems a little more different somehow. Haven't you noticed anything? You two are close friends, right?"

"Ouch!"

"Oow~ Boss lady, that hurt!" Virginia moaned while rubbing her injured head

Fanny looked back at Rachel, who had apparently conked both Virginia and and Tara's heads together. Oh, she did not stop there as she was now wrestling them both to the ground and putting them in a headlock with just one arm each. Fanny's eye trailed her friend's form as she took down the other two girls, seemingly entranced until she realized what she was doing and shook her head vigorously in an attempt to get her mind back in check.

A small blush visible upon her cheeks that anyone who were paying close attention would notice. Fortunately for her, most of everyone's focus was on Rachel's wrestling the two girls.

"I-er...well, she may be a bit...temper'd," 86 began slowly. "But, so what? Afta' everythin' we've seen, they've had it comin'."

Patton slumped in his chair a little and shook his head at Numbuh 86's apparent ignorance at what he was trying to hint at without earning the ire of every pubescent and teen girl around. Not to mention the female adults

Numbuh 10 gave a coy smile. "I'm good, now that I'm in the arms of KND's golden boy."

Tara momentarily ceased her struggles within her leader's headlock. "Ooow, golden boy now that's a-ouch!"

"Ow! What was that for boss lady?"

Both Tara and Virginia cried in pain after Rachel clonked their heads together once more, even harder this time.

Rachel said nothing, choosing to instead slam the two girls' heads together again once more before roughly dropping Numbuh 10 down and tossing Virginia into her seat. After finally dealing with the two, she made her way back to her seat. Plopping her butt down in her seat with an angry huff and arms crossed.

No one around her dared to speak.

Nathan looked at her questioningly but before he could speak, Rachel growled and shouted.

"Hey! How about you just say "thank you," like a normal person!" She raged from her seat while an equally peeved Virginia huffed from her standing point. "By the way, didn't you refer to our supreme leader as "KND's golden boy," just the other day? How about you focus more on being creative than being a-"

"What's going on here?!"

All commotion ceased and all eyes went towards the cafeteria entrance, where they spotted Numbuh 274.

Numbuh 274's eyes scanned the room and saw no one willing to speak up. Looking further into the cafeteria, he saw and noticed Nathan and co at the center of everything. With a sigh, Chad walked up to them and demanded an explanation. Before Nathan, Rachel or Virginia could speak, however, Numbuh 10 spoke up.

"Oh, nothing big, sir. I just came to ask our organization's bests if the rumors of them and of yourself going on leave for a while. Is it true or not?"

None seemed surprised by Numbuh 10's quick discovery of such rumors due to her being unofficially dubbed as the Gossip Queen.

Nathan and Rachel were surprised. Not by Numbuh 10's apparent knowledge of them going on leave, but by learning that the other were going to be gone for a short while.

"Yes, it's true but it's only for a short time," Chad answered tiredly.

"I see, any chance I can schedule an interview with you, your brother, and Numbuh 362?" Numbuh 10 asks, now in full reporter mode.

"Later. Now excuse me but I need to get myself some food," Chad said absolutely. He then turned to look at the surrounding operatives with a stern expression. " As for everyone else, resume your activities! There is nothing to see here!"

Not wanting to incur the wrath of their Supreme Leader, everyone went back to their what they were doing.

Numbuh 10 smiled. Numbuh 274's answer was definitely not a 'no.'

Tara groaned in pain when she made some facial movement, but she managed to smile at her alternate self for scoring such a big possible opportunity to interview two top KND operatives and the Supreme Leader. In this world, she never gotten a chance to even ask one question to the former Numbuh 274 and get an answer.

"Way to go me."

Best she leaves for now and waits for his response. This might be her only chance to get an interview with the top two operatives and Supreme Leader, so she better not push it.

"When you're ready, I'll be over there," Tara told him while pointing at a table from a distance away, where her sector was also having lunch. She then turned to Nathan, giving him a show of her batting eyes "Bye-bye, Nathan~"

Rachel took a deep intake of air and breathed out. "Must...not...strangle! Stay calm... stay clam..." She continued chanting this mantra in her head until she was calm.

Why, oh why was this affecting her so much?

Nathan watched Numbuh 10 walk away with one of his eyebrows raised in confusion. Why were her eyes fluttering like that? Does she have some medical eye condition or something? These questions filled his head.

Despite these questions, he was still aware of his surroundings.

"Don't play with your food, Numbuh 23."

Such as Virginia who grabbed one of her corn dogs and was about to throw it at the retreating anchorgirl.

Nathan turned around to give her a stern look. "Either you eat it or put it down."

Numbuh 33 nodded her head, impressed by how her alternate superior is handling Numbuh 23 and how he is already fully aware of how she thinks and acts. It took her a while to get the gist of Virginia's antics to be able to keep up with her and keep her out of trouble, which she still struggles with.

"Oh, he is good." Numbuh 2 commented, putting a lot of emphasis at the last word, to which many agreed.

Tara's eyes narrowed as the young news-girl frowned at the sight before turning her glare at the very girl whose counterpart was currently the screens focus.

"She wouldn't dare!"

As if sensing the heat from the glare Numbuh 10 was giving her, Virginia looked towards her and blew her a raspberry.

Seeing this Tara's eye twitched and a small low growl escaped her throat. Oh, if only she could get her hands on that girl right now, but her sore head from being bashed three against her now-rival's own head by the Supreme Leader quickly reminded that would be a bad idea.

Virginia grumbled. She was not done with the

She was not done with the anchorgirl, but with Nathan, plus Numbuh 274, around she would definitely be in big trouble. With the scene she made, she might already be in trouble. Lowering her head down in shame, she put down the corndog back on her tray. Her appetite was dampened.

"Virginia."

The brunette girl did not respond to her name. After a minute, her head was forced back up when she felt something poking her forehead.

Nathan was poking Virginia's forehead with his index and middle finger.

"Don't cause trouble, will you?" He said with his eyes lightly narrowed at her. He then gave sigh, "but I do see myself partly responsible for making that comment about you, but nevertheless, don't go attacking your fellow operatives."

He then push Virginia's forehead with the tip of his fingers, making her head jerk back a bit. Virginia let out a yelp when her head jerked. She grumbled as she rubbed her forehead.

"Yes, Boss-man."

"I'll hold you to that," Nathan responded as he walked back to take his seat next to Rachel. Not before placing something next to Virginia's tray. Virginia looked down next to her tray and what she saw made her eyes grow wide in surprise.

It was a slip of notepad paper more specifically from Numbuh 10's notepad and on it was the comment about her that Nathan had made when he compared her eating manners to that of a squirrel.

Tara gasps and sputters at the audacity and shock of this reveal. Virginia, on the other hand, had an appreciated look on her face, even though technically it never actually happened to her but to her other, she was grateful her alternate superior was watching her back.

"Thanks boss-man"

Next to her, Haley repeated Numbuh 2's comment once again.

"Oh, he is good."

---

Time Skip

July 4th

Dickson Family Resident

*Ding-dong~*

"Coming!" Called Samantha Dickson shortly after hearing the doorbell. She opened the door to see her neighbors, the McKenzies. "Phoebe, Connor! I'm so glad you can make it!"

All those present remained silent, continuing to watch the wide screen with slight interest in what was to occur. While the members of both the Mckenzie and Dickson families had more keen interest for obvious reasons.

Phoebe looked just like an older version of her daughter as they share the same facial features except the matriarch has brown hair, that was been tied into a bun in the back and a single hair bang going along the right side of her face, a button nose, and brown eyes. She was dressed in a blue blouse, white pants, and black sandal shoes. Meanwhile, her husband Connor looked like an older version of their son except with blonde hair that was a shade or two lighter than their daughter, and eyes that have a rare shade of purple. He wore a green collar shirt, brown pants, and gray and white shoes.

Numbuh 3 gasps and points before speaking up excitedly. "Wow! Look guys, Numbuh 362 looks a lot like her mom!"

Although the McKenzie matriarch appeared in the previous viewing, her true appearance was obscured by the makeup that she wore for her Bride of Frankenstein costume, so this is the first they are actually seeing her.

"Yeah, she really does." Numbuh 2 comments while analyzing the similarities between the parents and children.

Numbuh 86 turns to her friend/leader. "Tis is me firs time I seen yar mom. She's really pretty, Numbuh 362."

Their children stood before them. Rachel, for today, was dressed casually; gone was her typical KND outfit, and instead wore a light blue shirt, white shorts, and light blue shoes. Next was Harvey, who was wearing a purple shirt, reddish brown shorts, and white shoes.

"Hah!" Phoebe laughed. "As if we'll miss a cookout with you guys!"

"I brought baby back ribs," Phoebe's husband, Connor, steps forward and holds up a foil pan with the top wrapped in tin foil. "A family recipe and they're ready to be cooked."

Harvey's mouth began to water as he thought of those ribs.

Over by the spot nearest to where Renet and Hagoromo were, Casey and April began to reminisce of the time when they, the turtles and master Splinter hid from the Shredder at the little farm land that Casey's grandparents owned. They both recalled the few times they had a cookout and, of one particular time they did, Nathan appeared before them and after some convincing joined their little rag-tag family.

At the thought of family, April looked to where the Dicksons were and wondered how Nathan, if/when he shows up here, how would he take it? Here, just across from them, his parents were alive and looking for him and wanting to take him back as it turned out. April felt conflicted; on one hand, if he is reunited and convinced to stay with his birth family, Nathan could live a normal-ish normal life as this odd two, or at times, three-way bid for control battle for life could be.

Would Nathan give a life away from New York, away from all that he knew, life away from them and the turtles a chance? Or would the trauma he suffered and things he was forced to do all in the name of the Shredder will keep him from giving such a life a try?

April could not help but shed some tears at the thought. There was still so much that Nathan never told them, and all that all they did know was that his hands were forcibly stained with blood. Blood that he and others like him were forced to do things kids should never do.

The feeling of a hand resting on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts. Looking to her side, Casey gave her both a look of mutual understanding and comfort. Taking a few calming breaths, April quickly wiped her tears and resumed watching the screen before anyone else could take notice.'

"Nathan, wherever you are right now, if you do show up here...even if it will be hard, I hope that you'll take the chance to go and reunite with the family you have here and live the life you should've from the beginning."

"Why, thank you, Connor. Oh! Where are my manners?" Samantha moved to the side. "Please, come in!"

Phoebe looked down at her children, who were standing in front of the parents. Rachel tried her best to not appear to be on guard in front of the enemy, but her effort only made her look rigid, as she eyed Samantha Dickson with a calculating look. The blonde mother of two boys noticed her stare, which she ignored, and just give Rachel a welcoming smile. Rachel frowned a bit at that.

"Kids, what do you say?" Phoebe said, pulling Rachel out of her thoughts

"Oh, uh... thank you, Mrs. Dickson," Rachel said as politely as possible while she walks inside. "For the invitation."

"Well, I wouldn't think to NOT invite my son's girlfriend." Said Samantha as Rachel walks past her.

"W-w-what!" Rachel sputters with shock.

Numbuh 60 was trying and failing not to laugh, so he did the next best thing: feigning a coughing fit.

*Cough* "Awkward." *cough* *cough*

Rachel turned to the drill sergeant, but only to see Patton focusing his gaze on screen. Not buying his act at playing innocent, she sent a small glare at him for a moment before turning back to the show.

Over in the villains section, Mr. Dickson chuckled lightly with a smile. He turned to look at his wife and noticed her with a contemplative look on her face.

Reaching towards her, he gently pats her on the shoulder. "Samantha? Honey?"

Hearing her husband speak Samantha snapped out of her train of thoughts and turned to him. "Hmm? What is it Jacob?"

"You seemed deep in thought, Samantha. What's on your mind?"

Samantha was silent for a minute, her gaze switching from her husband towards where Rachel was before quickly back at him. He caught where she was gazing, but decided not to voice it.

"Just thinking, Jacob. Just thinking about the possibilities." She finally answers him before going back to watching the show.

"Possibilities?" Jacob thought curiously while looking to where Rachel sat for a minute before looking back at his wife. With nothing much to comment about, he went back to watching the show but now with a more curious mind.

Mrs. Dickson's intimation caused Rachel to pause in mid-step while her father went rigid and gritted his teeth, which either went unnoticed or was ignored by everyone around. For a second, Rachel wanted to say something but for the sake of politeness, she bit back a retort before continuing on her way.

Harvey rudely walks in. "You got any soda?"

That earned him a light slap to the back of his head, which was still enough to hurt a little for the young boy.

Harvey rubbed the sore area. "Ow!"

"Young man, you know we forbid you from having soda, and that's not how you treat our hosts," Phoebe berated her son. She then pushed him further inside the house before she turned to Samantha. "I'm sorry about him."

At the mention of forbidding soda, most of the Kids Next Door members gasped at the thought. Just before any chatter could erupt, Numbuh 362 stood up to address the crowd.

"I know what you're all thinking, but in the case of my little brother, it's actually necessary that he doesn't drink any soda or any sugar at all, at least not a lot of it for medical reasons." With that said, Rachel sat back down.

The KND crowd, with exceptions like Numbuh 5 and several others, seemed confused and not sure what their leader could be talking about.

Over by the villain section, Mr. Fizz heard what Rachel said and nodded with approval to what she told. Though things like that was not the main reason behind the soda drinking age law, but it was a good public excuse considering how many parents went behind this movement when it concerns the health of their children.

Samantha just giggled at that and waved the incident off like it was nothing. "Oh, no worries. You know how boys are when they are at that age."

Phoebe smirked. "Funny. I don't recall Nathan being like my Harvey when he was his age."

Harvey pouted and crossed his arms when he heard his mother say that. Meanwhile, Rachel smirked at her little brother in amusement.

Samantha smirked, looking almost smug. "Hah! Yes, my little Nathan is still the kindest and most obedient little boy you'll ever going to meet."

Connor grumbled under his breath, disagreeing with Dickson's matriarch, which went unnoticed by both mothers.

"Oh I wish my son could be like one of your boys," Phoebe lamented. "He can really learn a thing or two from them."

Samantha rubbed her chin in thought. "Tutoring would definitely look good on a college application, but unfortunately my boys are already busy at the moment with their own extracurricular activities, not to mention the family camping trip tomorrow."

At the mention of college, Chad ran his hands through his hair and slouched in his chair, exhaling deeply while his girlfriend comforted him.

"I still think kids shouldn't be doing anything educational during summer vacation, apart from summer school, especially when Chad and Nathan are still young, but..." Phebe hummed in thought. "Perhaps I should follow your lead and set up extracurricular activities for my son as well."

Hearing what his mother was considering, even if it was in an alternate world, it almost caused Harvey to shoot out of his seat in a panic.

To the other operatives, the mere idea of summer school repulsed them and caused many to physically shiver with disgust.

Rachel knew it was blasphemy for kids to do any educational work during summer vacation, but she silently hoped that her parents will put her brother in extracurricular activities. Her bratty little brother can really get on her nerves at times. While she prayed, Harvey groaned again at the thought of having to do anything educational.

"I can help with that if you would like, "Samantha offered before she turned to the father of the McKenzie household. "Connor, you can just take those baby back ribs to the back. Jacob is also there with the boys."

Rachel saw an opportunity and took it. She holds her hands up and said, "Give it here, Dad. I'll help take it out back." Anything to get away from the woman who stupefied her as fast as possible.

Connor's face melted into a goofy smile from his little daughter wanting to help. He hands her the tin tray. "Thank you, princess."

Out of habit, Rachel groaned miserably and shouted. "Ugrrrah! Dad!"

Over with Sector V, Numbuh 4 snickered. "Pfft! Princes? What's next? Would she like us to bo-OW!" Numbuh 4 rubbed the back of his head as he glared at the culprit, Numbuh 5.

"What was that for-!?"

Numbuh 5 stared down at Numbuh 4 and made a shush. "Shhh! Be quiet fool! You trying to get us onto Numbuh 362's bad side!?"

Numbuh 2 followed up. "Yeah, Numbuh 4, who knows what kind of 'Royal' treat-OW!" Numbuh 2 looks to numbuh 5, rubbing the sore spot where she hit him. "Oh come on, Numbuh 5! That was going to be comedy gold. Ha! Get it? Gold like- Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay, okay I-OW!" Numbuh 2 tries to back away as Numbuh 5 repeatedly smacks him with her cap.

Numbuh 3 looked around her team with a puzzled look. "What kind of princess is Numbuh 362?"

By now, many of the surrounding KND operatives began to stare at the commotion that was Sector V. Seeing and feeling the numerous gazes from the surrounding operatives, a now nervous Numbuh 1 tries to calm his team down.

"Will you guys keep it down before everyone hears us!" He says in a hushed and exasperated tone.

Rachel flinched and blushed at the nickname before she angrily took the foil pan full of baby back ribs from her father. She immediately starts heading to the backyard with her little brother following her. "Ugh, Dad! Don't call me that!"

Her father felt his heart being crushed as he whimpered from how cold his daughter just acted towards him. He dishearteningly follows his children with a stormcloud over his head.

The mothers giggled at the scene.

"Haha! Well," Samantha started when her laughing started to cease. "If there's one thing I'm jealous of you Phoebe is that I've never got to experience what it is like to have a daughter. I love my boys with all my heart, but it's not like I can have girl talks with them."

Samantha hummed in thought, she had indeed thought of what it be would be like to have a daughter sometimes, but now, after seeing this, yearned nothing more than anything to have gotten to raise both her children instead of just one of them.

"You have two perfect little boys while I have a perfect daughter and a rowdy son, but you also want a daughter," Phoebe summarized. "Bit of a dilemma there, huh?"

Samantha nodded. "Yes, but if there's a silver lining, you did help look after my little Nathan when he was still just a baby, so in a way, he's also your son."

Phoebe smiled at that as she thought back to the times she babysat Nathan. One fond memory came to mind.

Flashback

She can still remember that day. She was watching both her daughter and her neighbor's youngest son. Her daughter was still less than a year old while little Nathan was a healthy 1-year-old.

It was an afternoon. Her husband was at work, Nathan's parents were also at their respective job and his older brother was at preschool. And it was feeding time. Now, usually taking care of a baby is a lot of work, let alone feeding them, so it stands to reason watching over two babies would be a nightmare. Not unless one of the babies is Nathan Dickson.

Unlike most babies who are fussy and messy when it comes to feeding time, baby Nathan was a perfect little angel. Already he has started feeding himself, all Phoebe needed to do was give him a bowl of his favorite baby food and a spoon.

"Happy baby~" Phoebe sang for little Nathan as he happily eats his baby food with barely any food going to waste.

"Goo!" Said the baby Dickson boy.

Many awws and coos erupted among the audience as baby Nathan appeared on screen.

The proud Dickson parents, on the other hand, remained silent while lovingly holding each other close as their hearts swelled in joy and love. This was their chance to see their youngest in his growing process, and they were not going to waste a second talking instead of watching.

Over by the teens with Chad and Stacie on the other hand.

Stacie, like many other girls, could not help but smile and coo at such an adorable sight. A thought of her boyfriend and what he might be thinking crossed her mind. Slowly, Stacie turned to look at Chad so as to not immediately draw his attention to herself and get a look of how felt watching this.

What she saw touched her heart.

The look on Chad's face, at first seemed chilled and uncaring, but his eyes told her something else entirely. Those stormy grayish blue orbs were fixated upon the young infant form of his younger brother apparent with a sense of care and...yearning? The corner of his mouth twitched upwards, briefly making a smile that was almost invisible, but she still saw it.

Chad's gaze would remain locked upon the screen for another minute longer until he would notice his girlfriend staring. "What?"

Stacie laughed and replied. "Nothing."

Phoebe smiled before hearing another baby cry. Her baby daughter. "Bua bua!"

Turning her head, the young mother saw her own infant, little Rachel McKenzie who was really being fussy at the moment. Phoebe knew that her baby daughter was only acting this way because she is keeping the two babies separate while she feeds them, and Rachel really does not like being far away from her playmate even though it was only a couple of feet in distance between their high chairs. She once tried feeding them with the two sitting right next to each other, but it only caused a big mess when her daughter initiated another playtime, which resulted in baby food getting all over the place.

Another round of aww's and comments about how adorable the scene or of the two babies went around. Meanwhile, Rachel had slumped into her chair and covered her face which was now turning a bright red from embarrassment.

"Why?! Why must this stupid watching show such an embarrassing and vulnerable side of myself and my life? What would any of this have to do with preparing us for what's coming?!" Rachel mentally raged on as the embarrassing scene continued for all to see.

Rachel was desperately reaching out with her tiny hands to Nathan, but it was no use.

"Rachel," Phoebe said to her daughter with a stern motherly voice. She holds a spoon of baby food. "Eat your food and then you can play with Nathan."

Her daughter frowned and pouted. She wants to play with Nathan now! Angrily, she grabbed the spoon from her mother, much to Phoebe's shock. At least her daughter was following her mother's words by eating her food as she scoops up as much baby and eat it, but got more mush on her face than in her mouth.

When she tried to scoop more from her bowl, the spoon slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.

Phoebe groaned a bit as she saw her baby start to tear up as she looks down at the spoon on the ground. Soon she was bawling with waterfall tears.

"WAHHHH!"

"Oh god! Please stop this!" Rachel pleaded in her head while briefly looking towards where Hagoromo.

The celestial robed being was floating with his eyes closed and legs crossed as if he was meditating. Whether he could hear her pleading prayer or not, she couldn't tell-

"Wait!"

Rachel peered harder in an attempt to get a clearer look at the supposed alien-like dignity's face, and, for a moment, she thought she caught a glimpse of a grin upon his face and...

"Is he laughing!?" She could not be sure but it looked almost as if he was holding back in a laugh!

"Oh no, don't cry! I'll get you another one!" Phoebe reasoned while picking up the now dirty spoon.

While her back was turned to the two babies, Nathan was looking at his crying playmate. He saw her drop her spoon, which resulted in her crying state. The gears in his infant mind turned as he tried to think up ways to help his playmate until he finally came to one conclusion

After scooping a spoonful from his own bowl, baby Nathan held up his spoon toward Rachel. "Gaa!"

The crowd looked stunned. Cree Lincoln seemed to be the only one who could find the ability to say what everyone was thinking, albeit barely.

"..I-is this boy..is this baby...seriously trying to feed another?" Cree said with eyes wide and her face full of disbelief.

When Phoebe turned back to the babies with a clean spoon in hand, she saw her daughter no longer crying as excitement was evident on her face. Rachel was once again trying to reach for Nathan, but for a whole new reason. Looking over at Nathan, she saw him holding up his spoon for Rachel.

Phoebe could only blink in astonishment at this scene but soon smiles at how adorable this was.

"Nathan? You want to help feed Rachel?" Walking over to her baby daughter, she moves Rachel's high chair so she can now be closer to Nathan.

Her daughter got even more excited when she was finally near her playmate. Now with the distance between the two closed and Rachel ready with her mouth wide open, Nathan started feeding Rachel with his spoon. After swallowing the first spoonful, Rachel started cheering.

"Awww~" Phoebe gushed with her hand over her heart. An idea soon came to mind. "Oh! I should be recording this!" After handing her baby daughter the new clean spoon, she hurriedly rushes to her and her husband's room to get the camera.

When she returned to the dining room, she found the two babies spoon-feeding each other all the while laughing and giggling after being a spoonful. She wasted no time recording the rest of this cute moment.

"So cute~!"

"You bet it is!" One girl from the teens section shouted from her seat, which was followed shortly by shouts of agreement from fellow occupants all round.

Grandma Stuff'em was the one who seemed to enjoy the scene the most. "Such a wonderful sight to see! Little ones being so well fed, even better when they are feeding each other and bonding!"

Flashback Ends

After that, feeding time was no longer a hassle as Nathan and Rachel continued to spoon-feed others the rest of their time as babies, and Phoebe made sure to always have her video camera with her to record these cute moments between her daughter and her best friend. Up until they started eating solid food. Although, they still feed each other in secret.

Phoebe took on a thinking pose. "You know, perhaps one day soon, we'll both gain what we want if your Nathan and my little Rachel continue to stay together and mature with each other."

Rachel gulped, dreading where this conversation was leading to.

"Ooh!" A wide smile grew on Samantha's face as she gushed at the thought. "I hope so! Just thinking about it has me hearing wedding bells ringing and makes me just want to jump with joy!"

Many of the NathanxRachel shippers grinned and some even cheered at the idea of such an outcome. While the NathanxVirginia shippers shook, their head brushing the scene off and hope that the mother of Virginia is also friends with Samantha Dickson

However, while the shippers were having their fun expressing how they felt, Rachel's reaction was both most expressive and attention grabbing.

*THUMP!*

"Numbuh 362!" Patton, Fanny and various other operatives exclaimed with worry after watching Rachel collapse on to the floor.

The fainted blonde girl was muttering softly of weddings, bells, and kids. One of the KND medical operatives and Numbuh 5 rushed to look over their fallen leader. After a minute of running through various checks, many of which Numbuh 5 did herself. By the end, both examiners breathed a sigh of relief before announcing all was alright and that Numbuh 362 would be up after a bit of rest.

Over at the adult's area, several conversations were going on.

"Samantha? What's with that look?" Jacob questioned after seeing her gain an odd gleam in her eyes and a small smile spreading across her face.

"Oh nothing, Jake." Mrs. Dickson said somewhat teasingly. "Nothing at all."

Jacob remained silent for a moment before turning back to the screen, seemingly appearing as if he was just going to resume watching the show. To a certain extent, this was true but within his mind, he was thinking.

"Samantha has only ever called me Jake when she gets playful and mischievous, and the last time that happened was...last year's Christmas night!" Jacob remembered that night fondly, but could not help but glance at his wife, wondering just what she was thinking.

The two women continued to chat away happily for a few minutes before they went to join their families out in the backyard

---

"Now that the meat has finished marinating. It's time to cook," Jacob said to his sons. Both Chad and Nathan watched as their father showed them how to cook on a grill. "Listen carefully now, the time you cook steak and hamburger patties vary depending on how thick they are and how each person likes it cooked. Personally, I prefer medium rare, which is where there is still a little bit of red meat in the center, and still juicy. Then you have-"

Grandma Stuff'em hummed in thought before turning to Jacob Dickson. They began to engage the younger man in a short discussion about cooking. A topic of discussion that Father with great interest and enthusiasm was quick to join in.

As Jacob continued listing the choices of cooking, Rachel, Harvey, and their father, Connor, came into the yard. No sooner after that, so too did both family matriarchs.

Nathan smiled upon seeing Rachel and walked up to her. "Hi Rachel, how are you?" He then takes notice of the plate with tin foil covering it in her hands. "What's that?"

"I'm fine. I'm looking forward to tonight's firework display. And these-" Rachel said as she gestured to the plate in her hands, "are baby back ribs that my dad made."

As the tantalizing smell of cooked food got stronger and added to the smell of the ribs, Nathan could not help but lick his lips. "That sounds good. My dad got some steaks, hamburger patties, and hot dogs on the grill right now. He's going to have me try my hand at cooking a few patties myself."

Taking a brief pause from their conversation after hearing this, Grandma Stuff'em, Father, and Jacob watched and commented on what they heard.

"Oh! Teaching your children to cook? What a wonderful thing to do." Grandma Stuff'em praised Jacob while assuming that he would do the same as his alternate did.

Father, too, gave the man praise. "I concur, teaching your children to cook is a good lesson in responsibility and being more like an adult."

Jacob smiled at the praise and thanked his two villainous colleagues.

Rachel smiled "Really? I look forward to trying one then. I'll be your first food critic and tell ya what I think."

"Just don't hurt me if I don't cook your cheeseburger to your liking," Nathan joked. He chuckled when Rachel playful punched his chest in response to his joke.

The two blonde best friends share a laugh. They then took a moment to look at each other's attire. They were both usually in their combat-ready outfits, and Nathan only took off his hockey armor when in school or at home, so this is one of the rare moments they were wearing casual outfits.

"Rachel! Harvey!" Phoebe called for her two children. "Come help me set up the picnic table."

"Coming, Mom!" Rachel called back before placing the baby-back ribs near the grill and going over to help her mother. "Let's go, Harvey. Get off your Game Boy!"

The only son of the McKenzies groaned as he put away his personal gaming device, which he just pulled out mere moments ago. He wanted to argue, but he really does not want to be on his sister's bad side after what happened yesterday.

"I'm coming."

He followed his sister and their mother back inside the Dickson home where they gathered the plates and utensils. Mrs. Dickson was in the kitchen preparing mashed potatoes and canned corn as side dishes.

"Chad, Nathan," Jacob called his sons. "Why don't you two start cooking those burgers?"

Chad and Nathan responded nearly at the same time. "Okay!"

Nathan ran over to the grill where his brother was and had already started grilling three patties.

"Hey Chad, I want to cook both mine and Rachel's burgers. Can I cook them after you?"

Chad took a moment to flip the patties before turning to his brother. "Sure, but I'll have to watch over you to make sure you don't accidentally burn yourself."

Nathan nodded and took a seat in one of the chairs nearby, waiting and watching as his brother cooked the patties he had put on. While he waited, he looked around the backyard of his home. His eyes lingered on the sliding door to the kitchen, where his mom and three of the McKenzie family moving around, before looking over to the picnic table, where he saw his father chatting with the father of his best friend.

Finally, his eyes rested on the lone tree in the backyard. It was a fairly large tree and built near the top was a treehouse, his unofficial KND treehouse. It was a basic box-shaped wooden treehouse with a single open window that his father built around the time he was still a cadet. A quiet place he can escape to when he wants to relax and be by himself. It is also where he thinks up, designs, and tinkers with his 2x4 inventions.

The Dickson family took note of the seemingly ordinary looking treehouse. They do not have one in their own home.

Jacob remembered suggesting to Chad of building him a treehouse in the tree at the backyard, but the older Dickson son turned down the idea as he found no use in having one since he was busy with his school, extracurricular activities, and his responsibilities as a former KND operative.

Speaking of which, he actually has a new invention that he has been waiting for months to use on this very day.

"I hope every KND member enjoys what I have prepared for this year's 4th of July." Nathan with a smirk as he looks up at his treehouse, where his invention was stored and ready to be used tonight.

With this thought of Nathan's being broadcasted, the entirety of the Kids Next Door, minus Rachel who was still unconscious, watched on feeling curious and anxious to see what he had planned.

Finally, Chad declared he was finished and Nathan took over the grill, throwing a couple of patties on the grill to cook all the while Chad oversaw should the need for help were to arise.

---

Samantha and Phoebe carried out food they had in the kitchen while Harvey smoothed out the cover over the picnic table, Rachel, on the other hand, was spreading out the plates and silver wear on the table.

"Oh man, look at all that food!" Numbuh 4 exclaimed in excitement with some drooling from the side of his mouth.

To the rest of Sector V, the scene made them think back to the time they tried to crash in on the adults backyard party, but only to soon realize that they were severely outnumbered and out-gunned before having to make a speedy retreat while being chased by the party attendees.

Samantha Dickson appraised the setup and smiled in satisfaction. "Alright now, let's get everything and everyone gathered. Rachel, can you be dear and go get my boys to tell them that it's time to eat?"

Rachel nodded and made a run for where Nathan and Chad were, eager to get away from the uneasiness she feels when around the mother of her best friend.

"Hey, Rachel," Nathan greeted when he saw her coming. He was just about done with one patty left on the grill. "I'm almost done with cooking your burger, you're getting the freshest one."

"Thanks," Rachel said back with an appreciative smile. "The picnic table is ready, so we're just waiting for you."

"And it's my turn to grill, boys." Her father soon stepped up. He turned to his daughter. "Prin-, I mean, Rachel, if you wait a bit longer, you can have the first ribs of the night."

To his dismay, Rachel shakes her head. "It's okay, Dad. I'll help myself to Nathan's burgers."

Chad stepped a little closer to his brother when he saw Connor's eyes shift towards Nathan.

"Dude, looks like your brother has started getting on the father's bad side and he doesn't even realize it." Chuckie pointed out simply.

Chad, without taking his eyes off the screen, nodded. "Yep, seems that is the case. He better start learning to pick up on it fast for his own preservation sake."

The scene only made Stacie be reminded of the bane of S.I.S.T.E.R.H.O.O.D: overprotective fathers. It also reminded her to give her own father a stern talking to if he has, and no doubt he has been, been nothing but trouble towards her boyfriend.

He didn't know why but he felt it best that he keep Nathan close for Nathan's sake.

---

"These ribs are great, mister McKenzie!" Nathan complemented with a smile on his face before resuming chowing down on the rib he had in hand.

Connor McKenzie looked glum. "Yeah... sure, you're welcome." He grumbled, not that anyone at the table seemed to notice. Connor's eyes flickered to his family; his wife and son seemed to be enjoying the ribs too, as well as the rest of the Dickson family.

While it was nice to see others appreciate his cooking, but...

His daughter on the other hand...

Rachel, his precious little princess, was more in favor of eating the hamburgers that the youngest Dickson boy made rather than trying a single one of the ribs he cooked. This put a damper on his spirits. Call him silly but, to him, he felt like his daughter was drifting further away each day, When did children start growing up so fast? His daughter seemed to be becoming more independent and distant.

Well, distant towards him anyway, his daughter seemed to like to go to her mother more when she wanted something or ask questions.

Was he working too much? Was it simply an early phase of teenage rebellion or, in this case, a kid rebellion? Perhaps he had said or did something wrong but what?

Connor closed his eyes as he tried to think back on the past month but nothing he could recall seemed to stand out. Well...except yesterday when he barged into his daughters bedroom and came upon her eating spinach with Na-wait a minute!

Connor's eyes flickered toward where Nathan sat which happened to be right across from Rachel.

"Are they?" Connor shook his head. "No, nononono. It couldn't be. No maybe i'm just overthinking this. My daughter and the neighbor boy couldn't possibly be dat-NO! No, no I need to calm down. My little girl couldn't possibly.."

Paddy of sector W was watching the show when he felt a lot of shifting around in the seat on his right, which was no surprise to him since beside him was his sector leader and, sometimes friend, Harvey McKinzie, or better known to most as Numbuh 363.

"You okay, Harv?"

Harvey rolled his eyes to Paddy, looking annoyed as if the question itself annoyed him.

"I'm fine, except, of course, having my private life be played for all to see and becoming nauseated by the goofy-lovey-dovey junk that my sister is involved with! Your lucky you don't have to worry about this yourself." Harvey huffed.

"Ah nuts!"

Connor looked to his daughter and saw her shaking what seemed to be a now empty soda can. Connor was about to say something to her but, before he could, Nathan beat him to it.

"Out of soda huh? I'm almost out too. I'll go get us both some more. In the mean time, here." Nathan said as he handed out his own can of soda a gesture which now was causing the girl's father to panic. "There's not a lot but you can have what's left while I get us two more."

"No no no! Don't accept it princess its a ploy!" Connor inwardly cried and prayed she wouldn't but alas his went unanswered.

Rachel smiled with appreciation and took the offered soda. "Thanks Nathan."

"No problem. Be right back." That said Nathan ran off into the house while Connor looked on until he disappeared. With the boy gone Connor's attention went straight back to his daughter and to his horror saw as she proceeded to drink the soda that the boy had offered her.

"NOOOO!" Connor dismayed. "Thats an indirect kiss! That boy, he's diabolical! He's after my baby after all!" As these thoughts plagued his mind further Connor McKenzie would spend the rest of the day in a daze of dismay.

Both laughter and groans echoed through the viewing as the audience watched the scene play out.

Among those who groaned at mister McKenzie's over reaction was the S.I.S.T.E.R.H.O.O.D. Even though this display had nothing to do with them, they could not help but feel embarrassed and annoyed by the girl's father overreacting to such a harmless action. Though they could all agree that Rachel having fallen unconscious was an act of mercy since she would not have to witness this herself.

Harvey, too, was among those who groaned at his father's display. After all, this was the man he, kinda-sorta, admired and wanted to be like, not that he would ever go saying it out loud, especially after hearing this.

---

After lunch when all was done and put away, Samantha showed the McKenzies to the door.

"The food was delicious, Samantha. It was lovely." Phoebe McKenzie commented with her son on her left and her husband who stood in a daze on her right.

Samantha smiled brightly "Thank you, Phoebe. It was a joy having you all over. Will we be seeing you again tonight at the usual meet-up for the fireworks tonight?"

"You know it!" Phoebe said with cheer. "We wouldn't miss it for the world! We just wanted to go gather some more fireworks for us to shoot off before the official show happens. I imagine you all have your own cache of fireworks ready right?"

"Indeed we do," Samantha replied. "Jacob and the boys even made some special personal made fireworks this year." She said with pride.

Off to the side, Nathan and Rachel were having their own conversation.

"So Nathan. you ready for tonight?" Rachel began, feeling eager after having overheard Mrs. Dickson mention the customized fireworks that the boys of the Dickson family made. Knowing Nathan like she did she knew it had to be something to see.

"Oh, you know it." Nathan grinned with excitement and delight. "By this time tonight, every kid watching will see it."

"Oh, I'm sure, knowing you it'll be over the top too." Rachel said as she began to imagine what it would look like.

"Wha-who me? No, Pssh. Over the top? No, not at all." Nathan playfully denied.

"He's going over the top, isn't he?" Stacie asked Chad in a rhetoric manner.

Chad's response was immediate. "Oh yeah, totally going to go overboard, no doubt about it. What he's planning? I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine."

Shortly after, sunglasses appeared on the faces of all those in the room.

Before anyone could question the reason for the sunglasses, Hagoromo spoke.

"Before anyone tries to remove the sunglasses, I must warn you that doing so would be unadvisable. The next scene, despite being a simple viewing, can have quite the effect on the vision."

Everyone seemed skeptical at first, but none dared to argue. Not even the children, who could not help but wonder what was compelling them to listen.

Time Skip That Night

"Nathan?" Samantha addressed her youngest whole looking at the pair of sunglasses that were handed to her and all others that were present when it was the middle of the night. "Son, why do we need these sunglasses?" She asked while looking towards him strangely.

Chad said nothing and instead immediately put them on. His dad followed shortly as he took off his prescription before wearing his given pair of sunglasses.

"JustaprecautionpleaseputthemonI'llberightback!" Nathan shouted rapidly as he quickly sped off.

Numbuh 5, like so many others, looked lost to what was said. "What did he say?"

Numbuh 2 shrugged as he scratched the top of his aviation cap as he tried to decipher what his alternate superior just said.

"I couldn't quite catch it."

"Me neither." Numbuh 3 said looking more lost than anyone except Numbuh 4.

"Perhaps he was speaking in code?" Numbuh 1 offered an explanation.

"Nathan wait!" Rachel yelled after him as she ran close behind.

Samantha and Phoebe watched on as their children sped off. The two mothers looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and putting on the sunglasses that were handed to them. Phoebe then moved to make sure Harvey kept his pair on. All the while this went on, Connor still sat in a daze and had not reacted to a single thing since the lunch earlier that day with a pair of sunglasses sitting and folded in his lap.

Nathan ran far out away from where his family and the McKenzie's sat, who were all watching the last of the fireworks going off, with Rachel following close behind him.

As she watched him place the homemade rocket on the ground. "Nathan, we're pretty far out. How big is this going to be exactly?" Rachel asked somewhat worriedly as Nathan lit up the wick.

'sssss~!'

A second after she asked her question, the wick lit up and began to burn away.

"Notimetoexplaincomeon!" Nathan spoke quickly, almost unintelligibly, before grabbing Rachel's hand and pulling her along as he ran.

"Nathan! You're starting to drag me! Slo-Woah!" Before she could finish speaking, Nathan had turned around to face her and scooped her up before resuming running with Rachel in his arms carrying her like a princess or newly married bride.

Despite the growing anticipation for the coming firework display, some still could not help but find the scene adorable.

He continued to run a little more until he heard the rocket shoot off into the air. That is when he turned to face the coming explosion while Rachel was stunned silent blushing madly from the unexpected action that had just happened. Both of them. Alone, still a few feet away from their families without either one wearing a pair of sunglasses.

All while the rocket traveled up until it was lost in the night sky.

Rachel breathed in heavily and stuttered. "Na-Nathan wha-"

"BOOM! CRACKLE!"

Right as soon as first round of explosions was heard, the entire room was flooded in a bright flash.

"WHOA!"

"HOLLY CRAP!"

"EPIC!"

"AWESOME!"

Many many more words of expression were used before the surprise of it all began to subside.

Rachel tried to speak but then when the explosion echoed in the sky a Bright white flash lit up the area.

Moon Base observation deck

An operative of the KND continued walking along the observation deck minding his own business when suddenly a bright light flash lit up at his side.

"Huh?"

Curious, the kid turned and peered through the window of the observation area. An action that was followed by all members within the Moon Base from where ever they were and saw the light form into words surrounded by multiple popping colorful explosions.

KIDS NEXT DOOR RULES!

The moment they saw this, every kid cheered, happily and proudly shouting, "KIDS NEXT DOOR RULES!" at the top of their lungs while pumping a fist up in the air.

The volume of the kids yelling made every adult villain wince and clutch their ears tightly in attempt to block out the shouting.

When all the Moon Base operatives saw and read Nathan's surprise, they all raise their fist and chanted.

Back on Earth

Still looking up towards the sky same as her friend Rachel, after finding her voice again. "Nathan?"

"Yeah, Rachel? Nathan asked while still looking up.

"How long until we can see again?"

"A few minutes give or take."

Chuckie blinked before removing his glasses and examined them before asking. "Dude, you mean to tell me that if we weren't wearing these we could have potentially gone blind?"

"Yep seems that way." Chad confirmed. "Albeit, it will only be temporary."

"Crazy." Stacie said still in awe at the power of the explosion. "Though it's not as crazy that your brother knows how to make gunpowder."

His girlfriend's statement made Chad's eyes widen. From what he has seen, his brother was quite the inventor, so he can only imagine what other devices his little brother has created, especially if he has created any with gunpowder used for weaponry. The thought of it makes him squirm a bit, and a bit protective. He hopes his other has warned his brother about the dangers of gun violence.

---

Next day

The day Nathan and Chad had been feeling uneasy about, the family camping trip was here. Where they vwould be alone with their parents for the next two days.

Currently, Nathan's parents were hooking up the camper to the family van, while Nathan and Rachel stood side by side by the curb. Rachel looked at Nathan with concern. "So this is it then? You going to be okay?"

Nathan stood stiffly in one spot and sighed. "Yeah, I should be fine. Chad and I usually like going camping but after what mom and dad pulled... it's just going to be awkward."

Rachel looked all around her. Looking towards her house, Rachel searched and saw no sign of her parents nor her little brother anywhere, then she looked back towards the Dickson house and saw Nathan's parents were too focused on their current task and Chad was nowhere in sight.

"Perfect!"

Quicker than one could blink, Rachel reached out and pulled Nathan into a tight hug catching him by surprise, and spoke in his ear. "It'll all be okay." After she says this, she lets go and takes a step back and coughs in her hand to cover her slightly flushed cheeks, and tries to act natural.

Once again, the NathanxRachel shippers let out hoots and hollers at the display .

"Atta, girl." Cree smiled in thought. Now if only that boy was here, maybe then the female leader of the KND could face her fears of age.

The surprised look on Nathan's face remained for a moment before a small smile took its place.

"Thanks for that, Rachel."

Rachel smiled back. "No problem."

After Rachel said that an awkward silence came over them. Nathan scratched the back of his head unsure of what to say while Rachel rocked back and forth on her heels.

After a minute Nathan spoke up first. "So... um... Rachel, you and your family are going out of town too, right?"

Rachel ceased her movement and frowned slightly at the reminder and groan in annoyance.

"Ugh, yeah, unfortunately. My dad thought it would be nice if we left to go see our extended family for a bit. His sister, who is my aunt, and her husband are nice enough. But my little cousin? She is such a pain every time we go see them! I have to make sure she doesn't bully Harvey and put her in her place. She is always trying to lord over everyone, she manages to scare both her parents and get them under her thumb." Rachel took a moment to take a breather, putting a pause in her rant.

Hearing some growling next to him, Paddy turned to Harvey. At first glance, the redhead boy thought his leader was growling again, but at closer inspection, he seemed to be staring into space.

Showing a concerned expression, Paddy carefully and gently asked his sector leader and friend. "Hey Harv, are you good?"

"I'm...fine." Harvey growled through gritting teeth.

Hearing this surprises Nathan, as it was a great deal since Rachel hardly ever mentions her extended family. "Wow, sounds like a brat."

"Hah!" Rachel laughs. "That's an understatement. You don't know half of it, she does it with everyone! But thanks to me and my efforts, I keep her from doing the same to my parents and Harvey. My aunt and uncle have no courage to stand up to her and are too afraid of her to tell anyone about it. I'm the only one it seems that can keep her somewhat in line since she can't enforce her will over me. One day. I hope I'll be able to find some way to keep her down or by some miracle, she eventually stops on her own. But I don't see that happening and all this is just her alone. She also has this friend, a boy who is the most disgusting and dumbest person alive, I swear!" Rachel expresses with great repulsion.

"Yeesh," Father commented after hearing about what the cousin of the leader of his enemies is like. He had a feeling that if he delightfullize this girl, he would be doing everyone a favor.

Although, for some reason, he also had the feeling that if he tries to do so, he will somehow regret messing with the Supreme Leader's cousin.

Guess he has to wait and see if this cousin will an appearance.

"Nathan!"

Nathan and Rachel looked to see Samantha Dickson calling out.

"Come on honey, time to go!" Samantha hollers from the van while Jacob finishes loading up.

Nathan sighs before looking back at Rachel.

"Well, I guess I better go then see ya later Rachel," Nathan says as he begins to walk away.

"Yeah, see ya," Rachel replies back, lowering her head slightly and feeling sad as her friend walks away, the sound of each step getting quieter the further he got.

Rachel sighs feeling depressed now with Nathan leaving and turns to walk back into her home. But then suddenly before she could even take a step, she hears someone running behind her followed by a pair of arms wrapping around her, Rachel turns head slightly to look and what she sees brought an intense heat to her face. It was Nathan hugging her from behind.

"Take care, I'll be back soon I promise." Nathan then lets go of the hug and runs back to his family, not knowing that his action had caused Rachel to mimic a cherry.

"Man, this girl has it bad for Nate." Casey said with a smile, feeling happy to see the life the boy he saw as a kid brother could have gotten, and perhaps still have the chance to experience. He can only hope, and no doubt April did too.

April leaned on him with a smile. "Yeah, she really does. Hopefully, he'll show up here soon too, and socialize with the kids here."

---

The ride was long but thankfully not as uncomfortably awkward and boring as it could have been since Chad and Nathan's parents allowed them to ride in the camper where they could sit and watch movies on the portable DVD player they had inside.

By the time the movie finished, they had arrived at the camping grounds. Once they stopped at the family's usual camping spot, Nathan and Chad raced for a place they frequently visited for peace.

Nathan was running down a dirt path that led towards a nearby creek, with Chad following close behind.

Nathan looked back behind him to see Chad following behind. "Come on, Chad! The last one there has to take the bottom bunk in the camper!" Nathan hollered.

"Get back here you little cheater!" Chad Shouted as he gave chase and was slowly catching up.

---

Nathan jumped and cheered. "Ha! I made it" He exclaimed as he arrived by the side of the running creek.

Chad soon appeared a second later. Both brothers looked only slightly out of breath.

"Yeah, of course, you did. You had a head start, you little cheater." Chad huffed. looking a little displeased but chose to let it go since he got to call dibs on the top bunk bed in the camper plus Nathan had gone through so much these last two months. Chad frowned as he recalled Nathan's injured state after he first returned from his trip there. The thought of it to this day still had no clue what happened.

This stirred a sense of worry, anger, and hopelessness but despite it all, he never pressed Nathan to tell him.

*Splash*

The sudden sound of the splashing of water caught Chad's attention.

Looking towards the creek, Chad saw Nathan with a stone in hand. Silently, the older brother watched as Nathan bent his knees and slightly brought his right arm back in his right hand and held a stone. Nathan stood there, taking a breath before throwing the stone. They watched as the rock bounced once then twice and so on until it reached halfway across before sinking.

Nathan growled and huffed in frustration at the result before looking for another stone on the creek bank.

Numbuh 2 scratched the top of his head in confusion. "I don't get it. What's he so upset about? That was a pretty far throw."

"Yeah, and what's the point in skipping rocks anyway?" Numbuh 4 followed and question.

Numbuh 5 rolled her eyes. Of course the hotheaded Australian operative did not see the importance of technique and practice that comes with stone skipping, which was harder than it looks.

Numbuh 1 pondered. "Hmm... maybe it's not just a simple activity. Maybe...its a kind of training exercise!"

Curious after overhearing the boys from Sector V, Stacie turned to Chad to ask him. "Sooo~ want to fill me in or do you not understand what's going on too?"

"I know what he's doing because I did and still, at times, do this too." Chad turned away from the screen to look at Stacie. "What he's doing is training and strengthening his body as a whole."

Stacie shot a confused look at Chad before giving a quick glance at the scene and then back at him, giving him a look that basically told him to explain.

"You see how he is constantly shifting his stances and switching between each arm every so often?" Chad began.

"Yeah?" Stacie replies.

Chad points to the scene and continues. "Look closely. Every time he moves before taking a stance, he is working on each important muscle little by little, and when he does take a stance, he is keeping everything but his arm and wrist still. Now, what this does is training his balance, his core muscles, his joints and combat forms. All of this is what he's doing aside from just practicing his aim and precision."

"Really?" Stacie asks, looking both surprised and uncertain.

Chad nods. "Of course, I've done this many times before in the past when the opportunity came. It also helps relax and makes one forget their troubles...when they're not using it for training purposes." Chad adds the second bit after a brief pause seeing as how on screen his little brother was clearly doing it for the training and not for the enjoyment side of it as everyone could clearly see.

Chad realized now why Nathan was in such a hurry to get to the creek. In the past, the two would practice skipping stones to improve their aim and throwing capabilities plus it was a good pastime and relaxing activity. Well, relaxing as long as there was not a goal one was trying to achieve.

Chad watched again as Nathan continue trying and failing to skip a stone to the other side before he looked and picked up a stone he felt was good enough and moved to one side so he was not directly behind Nathan and had a clear view. Just like Nathan, he crouched a little before bringing his arm back and threw the stone flicking his wrist slightly as he did so.

When the stone made contact Nathan snapped at attention and watched as the stone bounced and traveled across and made it to the edge of the other side of the creek. Nathan looked back to Chad who smirked at the succession before looking and focusing on him.

"It's not just about the strength you put in it but also in the wrist as well. Plus finding a good smooth stone." Chad said with a smile then looked down and picked up two more stones.

"Here," Chad said as he tossed one stone to Nathan, who easily caught it.

"Now watch me see how I do it," Chad instructed and then demonstrated how he had done it. Again after he through it Chad's stone reached the other side. Nathan looked on and then did the same taking a stance and throwing his stone making sure to flick his wrist a little before he let the rock go and watched it bounce and travel further than his last attempt but still fell short of reaching the other side.

Nathan frowned. "I swear one of these days I'm going to make it across-" He said then looked to Chad with a competitive look. "and I'll make it further than you."

Chad smiled cockily. "You can try but I won't stop improving either." Both brothers stayed silent looking at each other challengingly for a few seconds then both burst out laughing.

Once his laughter ceased Chad looked at Nathan then he spoke bringing him to attention. "You want to train here for a little bit before we head back to check in with mom and dad?"

The moment the word 'train' was heard, all the boys in the KND, most particularly those who felt disappointed in themselves after witnessing their alternate superior's strength against Stickybeard, sat up straight with some even pulled out notepads and crayon, or other such writing tools.

Most notable individuals doing this was Patton, several sector leaders, especially Numbuh 1, and it even includes Numbuh 4, who started to look studious. The latter of which many would make a crack about if it were not for the seriousness of the current situation.

Nathan smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Chad matched Nathan's smile with his own before dropping to a fighting stance prompting Nathan to do the same. "That's good. To be honest, training with you, little brother, is good training for me too since no one else can match me blow for blow like you. With you, I don't have to hold back too much."

"Whoa, wait a second, dude," Chuckie, feeling somewhat suspicious, addressed his friend and fellow football player. "Did, like, your other on screen just say, 'hold back on us?'"

Everyone, every kid, every teen, and every adult all around focused their attention on Chad.

Stacie, too, was surprised by this notion and looked to him, waiting to hear his answer.

Chad, despite his best efforts to look aloof and unaffected by the stares, turned bashful.

"Well...I...uh never felt a reason to go all out before." Chad said while chuckling somewhat nervously at some of the looks he was getting from a number of his fellow Teen Ninja and jocks.

"Unbelievable..." Father muttered as he thought of all the plans that could have succeeded if the boy was included in and fought earnestly. Then he thought again of the younger brother, who by now could be 13. If he could get these two to work together for him, then his goal of domination would be a cinch.

The Steve, Cree, and many other high ranking members of the Teen Ninja, after hearing Chad's confession, could not help but think of the wasted opportunities and failed operations. Many narrowed their eyes as they about the what-if outcomes. So many different desirable outcomes that could been achieved after each conflict with the KND if Chad did not hold back, whether if done knowingly or not.

The teens and adults were not the only ones thinking this either.

Over in the kid section, every KND operative leaders and high ranking operatives were especially panicked as they learned what their former leader can actually do and how dangerous he really was. Were they really just winning against the teens fro the skin of their teeth?

Nathan's smile grew as he took pride in that fact. "Ready when you are."

Chad picked up a rock. "When this rock hits the water we start." Chad chucked the stone in the air towards the creek not taking his eyes off Nathan as he did so.

One second passed.

Then another.

*Splash*

At the signaling splash, Nathan and Chad charged at one another until they were within arm's length and from there, their spar began with a flurry of punches and kicks that the brother would launch at one another or dodge and block.

The showing of this spar went on for a brief few seconds before the screen went dark. Despite its briefness, however, the shocking display of power stunned the audience into silence with more than a few eye-wide spectators and jaws wide open.

---

for those who don't know, fro - is short for from.

How was that everyone?! Some more old cartoon characters have been mentioned and no doubt many know where they're from. If you don't look up scooby doo movie ghoul school.

Some more hints to insights of what's to come in both stories has been hinted can you point them all out? A cyber cookie to each one you find there is a few that are easier to spot than most.

I have a special surprise coming up in the next chapter, readers. If you have any questions about Numbuh 274, Nathan, and Rachel that you would like Numbuh 10 to ask in an interview, please send them to me or to Evil HERO Malicious Bane through pm or in your reviews for this chapter. As a sprinkle of fun and a feeling of inclusion in the story, leave a Numbuh codename you'd like to go by when we mention your question!

I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Join us in the next update most likely is to be in the main story, see ya soon.