Hello! I have finally returned, after a little bit of a block! :D

Really it was more me fretting over different ideas from the old draft and which still work for the new! But my fretting is over (...for now)

And now we can really get back into it! Enjoy!

NOTEPASS

Network

On

Torn

Eardogged

Paper

Activates

Sinister

Scheme

Snow.

There was snow everywhere. The wind blew harshly, carrying snowflakes across the cloudy bluish gray sky. No sign of life was around…aside from a teenaged boy in the middle of the storm.

"...Hello?" Patton looked around the frozen wasteland. Despite the blistering wind, he didn't feel cold in the slightest. In fact, it all felt..familiar.

"Is anyone there?" he called out again.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright!" A faint voice caught Patton's attention behind him.

"Yes? Hi!" Patton walked towards the voice. Through the wind, he could start to make out a figure in the distance. "I thought I was alone out here!"

"Of course you're not alone", the voice cried out. From the sound of it, it was a girl, probably a few years younger than him. "But with your moves you might as well have been. We can't thank you enough for saving our butts!"

"Wait…I SAVED you?", Patton was confused. "I don't even know how I got here! How could I have saved you?" The teenager pointed his hand out, and gasped when he saw an orange glove around it.

"What the-", Patton looked at his gloved hands. "Where did I get these from? I thought these gloves belong to-"

"Come on, sir", the figure waved over. "We're going back to celebrate your successful mission!"

"Wait, celebrate?", that brought Patton's mind back to the figure. "Wait what mission?! But I didn't DO anything!"

"Of course you did!" The figure shouted again. "You're a HERO!"

Patton was very confused. He was called a lot of things. A "loser", a "klutz", a "failure", a "dork" most commonly. But this was a new one. Nobody he knew had ever called him a "hero" before.

"...I am?", Patton asked quietly. Less to the figure, and more to himself. He looked back up and saw the figure slowly grow smaller and smaller in the distance.

"WAIT", he started running towards the figure as fast as he could. Despite the good progress he was making (HOW was he running so fast in a blizzard?!), the figure wasn't getting any bigger. "What did I do?! What missions?! How am I a hero?!"

Despite his shouting, the figure didn't stop. It kept running further and further through the snow, which was starting to blow heavier.

"Wait PLEASE", Patton cried out. The snow was making it hard to see the figure. "Where are you even going?!"

"You know EXACTLY where sir", the figure cried out. "To the-"

But before she could finish her sentence, the figure suddenly dropped below the snow. Almost as if she had vanished.

"What the?!" Patton breathed heavily in panic. The snow was blowing even heavier now, the sky almost looked like another sheet of white. He tried to run where she had fallen, but couldn't find anything.

Anything, except for appeared to be a small pine tree. Growing randomly in the middle of the barren landscape.

"But…but how…what IS that?", Patton squinted further down at the tree, noticing a small flag waving above it. The snow blew heavier now, blocking a good chunk of the flag from his view.

"NO", Patton tried to grab at the flag, trying to pull it closer. Close enough to his face to read. But the snow was fighting against him, blowing with all its might in front of Patton's face.

"WHAT IS IT?!"

"AAAA!"

Patton jolted awake in his bed. He panted and looked around the new surroundings. His spotless floor (the clutter either in drawers or pushed towards the wall), his Christmas lights on the walls, the icicles hanging from the ceiling. He was back in his bedroom. Outside the window, the sun was barely creeping over the horizon, the black sky just starting to turn blue.

Patton sighed, his breathing slowed back to normal. "Just another nightmare", he stretched up from bed, getting dressed and preparing to start the day.

He wasn't even surprised anymore that his sheets were wet anymore. It was just a constant of his life now. Everytime he had a nightmare, he'd have a new load of laundry to match. He wasn't sure what his nightmares as a kid were, probably something typical like monsters or something. But since his teen years, they grew so much more…. vivid. And yet still so vague, so strange. And strangely so familiar….but he couldn't pinpoint why.

Patton got his sheets together to head downstairs to the washing machine. "...A hero", he repeated the words from the dream. He sighed. "I wish I really WAS a hero."

Patton made it to his destination. As he shoved the sheets into the wash, he looked down at the pajama pants in the load.

He gulped, remembering the events of yesterday.

'Maybe I could just stay home today',he thought about it.'... No, Mom doesn't allow that unless I'm sick….maybe I could fake being sick…ugh! But then I'd have to lie. Mom trusts me…oh who am I kidding? I'm doomed!'

Patton pressed some buttons, and the washing machine started rumbling.

Fanny's loud snoring blared throughout the classroom. There was the Teen Leader, sitting at her desk, sleeping through the start of her first class.

Rachel, as usual, sat next to her, watching her friend sleeping. Class was about to start soon, and their teacher didn't take kindly to snoozers.

"Fan", Rachel tapped Fanny's shoulder.

"Huh? What? ATTACK!," Fanny reached for her S.R.I.R.A.C.H.A. as she jolted back up in her seat.

"Hey easy it's alright Fan. We're just in school," Rachel stopped the shorter teen from shooting all over the place. Noticing the lack of danger, Fanny put her weapon back and slumped back in her seat.

"I hate mornings," she groaned through a yawn. She pulled out a white notebook and set it on her desk. "Thanks for catching me before the class ACTUALLY started." Boy if she actually snored during that teacher's lecture-

"You ok?" Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Usually in the mornings, you're a lot more...awake."

"Yeah, I've just been up last night thinking."

"About your revenge", Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Some of it, yeah." Fanny looked at the floor, mumbling.

Part of her story was true. Last night, she really couldn't sleep. But that reflecting was not about revenge.

'Come on, it's just some dork. Get a grip already',Fanny thought. And yet that crying was still ringing in her ears. Every word from his cracky voice. That look when they parted ways…that hopeful and grateful look…

And those feelings it all brought her; hearing him blubber when his mother came to pick him up. Bartie, Virginia, and Wally snickering between numerous failed nicknames. That sinking feeling she got at the thought. It was all… dare she say… pity.

Fanny started to doze off again. Pity was a draining emotion after all. Rachel shook the redhead back awake in her seat.

"Well, what ARE you planning?"

Fanny was about to answer before she was interrupted by a large man in glasses entering the room.

"Alright enough talking", the teacher immediately started on his lesson. "Now, to listen about the 19th century in my uninterrupted monotone."

The class groaned. Fanny slumped in her seat, the teacher's drones becoming white noise to her thought process.

'So I have to be discreet with my attack. After The Steve's ambush failed, the KND are gonna prepare for something like that….'

"Psst"

Fanny's thoughts were interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. She turned to a random student in the desk behind her, who slipped a folded piece of paper on Fanny's desk.

Raising an eyebrow, Fanny opened the note, and read,

~You should pay attention, cause the 19th century is where I'm gonna send you~

Fanny looked up from the note and back to the student who sent it. The random girl just pointed a few desks behind her.

'Oh. I should've guessed',Fanny looked back at Anna, who gave Fanny a menacing glare and a finger throat slit. Fanny rolled her eyes and looked back at the front. Their teacher was still talking, and boring everybody.

"Maybe I can get into their cruddy Code Module- no, all that security around it. I can't get around that….hmm…maybe there's a way to GET around that on the inside..but how?'

Suddenly, the door busted open, finally interrupting the lecture. It was Patton, soaked from the shoulders above, and a toilet seat hanging around his neck. His jacket and scarf were dripping water on the carpet. He was met with stares from the teacher and laughs from his classmates.

"Patton, you're late."

"Sorry sir", Patton apologized awkwardly. "I was in the bathroom," he pointed to the toilet seat for emphasis.

"Well that's no excuse to come here late and rudely interrupt my monotone!"

"Oh trust me, sir," Anna rolled her eyes. "It's probably a good thing he went before class. Ya know, in case he falls asleep again" This was followed by a bunch of snickering. Patton turned red and looked down at his twiddling fingers.

"Alright everybody calm down," the teacher said as the laughter died down. "Now I know you might find humor about yesterday's," the man paused, then looked over at Patton, who was still standing by the door. "...accident", even the teacher couldn't help but snicker a little bit. "But I don't want to hear a single word about it during my class. You can talk and laugh about it after. Go to your seat."

Patton slumped over to the back where his desk was, but gulped at 2 familiar faces. Bartie and Virginia smirked at him, leaning on his desk in preparation.

Patton couldn't go back. Those 2 were SURE to eat him alive. He looked around for a possible empty desk, before finding one next to a certain short redhead in thought.

"Can I sit here?" Patton pointed to the desk beside her.

"Huh?" Fanny was brought back to reality at the sight of a tall geek talking to her.

'Oh. It's him again',Fanny looked wide-eyed at the guy. She looked over at the seat beside her.'But where's Kuki?...Oh yeah, her dentist appointment today. Figures she'd have it on the day I'm actually thinking about this dude…why AM I thinking about him so badly-'

"Answer him while we're young Fanny!"

Fanny glared at the teacher as a couple of students snickered. "Uh, yeah sure. Whatever", Fanny waved it off. Patton sat beside her, relieved that he would escape some embarrassment, at least for a little while.

"Alright, now back to the lesson", the teacher looked back at the board, before glancing back. "Oh. And Patton?

"Yes sir?"

"If you pee on MY carpet, I will have you personally cleaning it up in detention!"

The class cracked up as Patton sank lower in his chair and muttered, "Yes sir."

Rachel looked over at Fanny, slumped on her desk over her notebook, on the verge of falling back asleep.

"Psst!"

She felt a tap on her shoulder from Abby next to her. A note followed after on Rachel's desk. Rachel unfolded the note.

~Fanny got any plans yet?~

Rachel wrote in her own journal, and discreetly passed it to Abby's desk.

~Nothing to report so far. Class started right when I was getting it out of her~

~Dang. Well, we don't gotta report back til the end of the day. She's gotta tell us sometime~

~True. Fanny DOES love to brag. That's something decommissioning hasn't changed~

Abby chuckled a little too loud at the last note.

"Settle down back there", the teacher glared back for a moment. Abby and Rachel looked at each other, deciding it was best to end their conversation while they still could.

Patton looked down at Fanny, still barely awake, and then at his temporary desk. He looked down at the small blue plastic bag in his hands, contemplating on how to give it to-

Suddenly, Patton's thoughts were interrupted when something hit the back of his head. He looked at the ground at a crumpled ball of paper near his feet. Grabbing it, and uncrumpling it, it read

~See ya at gym, Wet-lovsky~

Patton turned back to where his original desk was. Bartie and Virginia waved to him, grinning madly.

Fanny looked over behind them and then at the note in Patton's hand. "Wet-lovsky?"

A second ball of paper was thrown at Patton.

~We're still working on the name~

Fanny rolled her eyes, a whole afternoon of thinking and THAT was the best they could come up with?

Fanny looked back up at the front, the teacher still droning on and on. She slumped forward on her desk, her eyes started to droop again…getting so...tired…

Patton looked down at her. It really hit him just how small she was, hunched over her desk, as he noticed a thick textbook was the only thing getting her over the eye level. By contrast, he was rather cramped in the limited space the connected chair and desk provided. He looked back at the bag in his hands, and decided rather wake her, to drop it on her desk.

The sound on her desk jolted Fanny awake in enough time before her snoring started. She looked around, and saw the teacher still in front. So it wasn't him…but then was would've-?

Fanny's gaze looked down at her desk, and noticed the bag on top of her notebook. It was like a goodie bag a kid would get from a birthday party.

A small cough caught her attention. She looked over at the taller teenager. Patton grabbed his own notebook and wrote into it

~A Thank you. For…yesterday~

Fanny looked at the bag more, and untied it, not really sure what to expect. What could this guy possibly

Instead, what she found were a half a dozen cookies. She took one out, that appeared chocolate chip, the chips arranged in a smiley face.

'Is this some kind of joke?', Fanny thought to herself as she examined the cookie, almost expecting it to blow up or something. Cautiously, she took a bite out of it.

"Mmmm", Fanny nodded while she chewed. Her eyes went wide while taking in the test. "Mmmm!"

She reached into the bag for more, the plastic crinkling wildly.

"FULBRIGHT!"

Fanny gulped, figuratively and literally. At the front their teacher stopped his lecture, glaring at the short teenager. She quickly shoved the bag in her jacket.

"Is your little snack time so important to interrupt my lesson?!"

"...Sir that's a trick question isn't it?"

The teacher stood agape, as the students around them snickered.

"Well maybe I should be grateful. At least your chewing isn't as loud as your screeching."

"I do NOT screech!" Fanny said angrily as she started to scratch her throat. "Well, not unless it's deserved."

"Well it sounds like you're screeching NOW, interrupting my beautifully monotone lecture over nothing!" The teacher dramatically waved his arms around for emphasis.

"Exactly; over NOTHING!" Fanny exclaimed before she stopped to scratch her throat again, slowly breaking out into a rash. "That's what this entire class IS!"

"At this rate you're just ASKING for a detention"

"I'm ASK-HING for…uh..m" Fanny started to stutter as she scratched her throat. She started to cough as she continued. "F-Fooor…" she continued stuttering as her throat rash started to swell out.

The teacher's eyebrows furrowed more as Fanny started coughing more. "Oh so now we have to resort to a cough for a copout Fulbright? Now that is a new level of-"

"Uh no I think she's serious sir", Rachel interrupted their verbal fight. "Fanny", Rachel looked down at her friend. "Are you ok?"

"I-I don't know w-what's-sths going on-th," she answered as her tongue started to swell up as well, drool starting to dribble out of her mouth. The whole class began to turn around to see the Teen Ninja Leader, now practically choking and drooling on her desk.

Fanny started to hear voices grow fainter, only making out certain words like "Fan?" "Is she alright?", and "To the nurse NOW"

And then everything went black.

"Uggghhh"

Fanny groaned and turned on the hard surface. She groggily lifted her head up and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw greeting her back to consciousness, was a large intense pair of brown eyes staring straight at her, about 2 inches away from her face.

"AAHHH!" She jolted up in fright before hitting her head on a cabinet. Another groan came out as she rubbed her forehead. Fanny looked around and realized she was sitting in the nurse's office. However, her view suddenly changed to a mixture of green and pink, and she was crushed by a large pair of arms.

"Oh thank goodness! You're awake!," she could faintly make out, muffled through a fuzzy hoodie.

"Mr Drilovsky, it wouldn't be best if you did that to her."

"Oh right. Sorry." Patton let Fanny go back to the exam table. Fanny looked up at the nurse by Patton.

"Ms Fulbright, how are you feeling?"

"Alright. My head hurts," Fanny answered while rubbing her head. "What happened?"

"In class, you swelled up," Patton said, "and started to choke, and then you passed out."

"Anaphylactic shock, Patton," the nurse corrected him and turned back to Fanny. "Do you remember anything that happened?"

"Uh..it was history class..talking with the teacher..then my throat started to itch after-", Fanny put her hands into her pocket, and felt something that jogged her memory. "After I ate these", she pulled out the bag of cookies from earlier.

"Oh yeah," Patton smiled and pointed to the bag. "I baked those for you."

Fanny stared at Patton.

"...You bake?," she asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I made that batch to say thank you for...you know...yesterday."

"Oh…. What kind of cookies are they?"

"Well I heard that you like chocolate chips so I thought I would try out a new special kind; chocolate chip peanut butter."

Patton's smiled faded as Fanny and the nurse started to sigh. Fanny in particular put her head in her hands in frustration.

"What?," he asked obliviously. The smaller teen looked up and stared at him above her sunglasses.

"Peanuts."

There was a moment of silent as Patton stood there, registering the answer.

A silence that immediately interrupted with a loud gasp and another hug.

W"Oh my gosh! I am SO sorry, I had no idea. Oh man I'm so STUPID! I really-"

"Would you let go of me?!" Fanny wrangled out of Patton's larger grasp. "I'll forgive it if it'll stop your blubbering," she then turned her attention to the nurse. "Can I go now?"

"Yes. Just take it easier for the rest of today."

"Ok," and with that, Fanny shakily hopped off the table and walked towards the door, "Thank you," she slurred out before leaving, Patton tailing behind her.

The hallways quickly flooded with teenagers in their class transition. Chatting, walking, making out in the middle of the hallway (the more inconsiderate ones). And among them were a tall black haired boy and a short redhead girl.

Fanny's vision was clearing up better and slowly regaining her center of gravity. And through both, she certainly noticed just how close behind a taller teenager boy was following.

"Hey", she looked up at Patton. "Do you mind backing up a little?"

"Sorry", Patton moved a step or 2 behind her way.

Fanny pulled the bag in her pocket and handed them to Patton "You should also probably have these back."

"Ok..sorry", Patton put them in his hoodie.

"And can you STOP saying sorry", Fanny grew frustrated. This one was followed by muttering and fidgeting from the taller teen.

"...you really wanna say it-"

"I DO!", Patton sighed. "I just feel really bad! I just wanted to give you something nice!" He hunched lower in shame at their predicament.

Fanny sighed, and thought about it. Admittedly, ya know BEFORE the anaphylaxis, the cookies DID taste pretty good.

"...Do you have another other cookies?"

Patton perked up a little. "Well, I DO have some sugar ones."

Fanny shrugged. "Eh it's not chocolate chip but alright."

"YEAH", Patton beamed brighter at the opportunity, and ran down the hallway.

"HEY", Fanny started to run behind him. Despite how close they started, Patton was quickly running ahead of her, dodging different students talking.

Dang, she thought, still trailing behind.Heis fast when he wants to be.

"I have some, they're in my locker," Patton answered. His locker was right ahead in sight, Fanny running behind him.

The odd duo made it to Patton's locker as he unlocked it. He dug around for his backpack, in between a few books, papers, and-

"Diapers?" Fanny looked inside his locker, as she picked one up that had just fallen out.

"What?," Patton asked before turning to Fanny. "Oh! Those! Heh heh, Bartie and Virginia," he took it away from Fanny and shoved it back into his locker. "There were a bunch more in there this morning. It was like a tidal wave. You know how they are with their pranks."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah they are'', she said absentmindedly, looking better at Patton's locker. It was a LOT neater than hers, she'll give him that. Everything was relatively in its place on shelves. Books, multiple sided dice, Yipper cards still in their cases. She peeked over at his door, Patton still searching in his bag. And Fanny swore her mouth dropped where, right below a calendar, were pictures of Patton and-

"There it is! I knew I still had a few chocolate sugar left", Patton pulled out another small red bag. He looked down at Fanny, mouth agape looking at his door. "What's wrong?"

"You know SONIA", Fanny pointed to a picture of him and the operative, apparently in the middle of a tea party.

And it wasn't just pictures of him and Sonia. Also scattered around were pictures of Patton with Sonia, Lee, Tommy, and sometimes all 3, at different locations. The park, their houses, one even looked like a convention.

"Oh yeah", Patton smiled at the memories. "Her", he pointed at the pictures. "Lee, and Tommy. They're the best! Do you know them too?"

Fanny wasn't really sure what to say, so she just stood there.

'What the heck kind of teenager IS he',Fanny thought at the ludicrous photos.'... Actually I guess this DOES explain some things.'

"They're my best friends," Patton continued on. "I've known the 3 of them for years now. We do all sorts of things together; tea parties, Yipper rounds, Rainbow Monkey movies, yoyos-OO! Lee taught me how to grab the oven door with a yoyo once! Isn't that cool?"

Fanny sighed, suddenly remembering how Numbuh 84 grabbed a huge branch with a yoyo, and knocked Pete (or Peter?) straight into an office building. "...yeah….cool."

"It IS", Patton sighed, getting a little down. "I wish we could hang out more though. Sometimes they just get so busy. I'm not exactly sure what they do, but it takes up a LOT of their time."

Fanny's eyes went as wide as her jaw. "You mean you don't KNOW?!"

Patton shook his head. "Nope. I've asked them, but they just said it was "super double secret stuff". I think it has something to do with their treehouse though. I'm not allowed in there."

"...Lovsky, the amount of obliviousness you have to the obvious is near mind blowing."

"Thank you." Patton put his backpack back in his locker. "And thank you again, for uh, yesterday."

"Dude I told you it's my job."

"I-I know, but, it really DID mean a lot", Patton smiled sincerely. "I owe you for that."

Fanny shrugged. "Well I dunno if you OWE me-"

"I DO", Patton insisted. "It can be more than cookies. It can be-"

Patton was cut short when a bell rang for next class.

"Gasp! Gym!" Patton quickly gathered a bunch of gym clothes from his locker and shut the door. "I gotta go", he started to run off down a hallway, looking back at the shorter teen. "But anything you need The Fan! Just name it!'

Fanny thought about what she was hearing. She looked down at the floor, noticing one of the pictures had fallen from the locker door. On closer inspection, Fanny noticed a few smaller details; the handle of the S.U.G.A.H.-C.R.A.S.H. in Sonia's hand, the small painted KND logo on Lee's yoyo, and even, if she squinted, a full aerial attack happening outside the window. All the background details Fanny realized, Patton didn't even notice.

And a metaphorical lightbulb went off in the teen leader's head, with a large Grinch-ish grin stretching on her freckled face.

"ANYTHING?"

Rachel looked down at the phone in her textbook. Normally she would try to resist phone reading in class, but English was boring today. And she was just getting to the part where Doctor Time Space and a super natural hunter (she's pretty sure his name is Doug or something like that), were about to have their makeout get a little more intense when-

"Psst!"

Rachel shut her phone off fast, and looked behind her. Abby was holding a note to her. She grabbed it, curious at who it could be from. Until Abby, concerned, tilted her head down behind her. Rachel looked back at Fanny, smiling like a madwomen…well madDERwoman, in anticipation.

Rachel opened the note, and realized EXACTLY why. And saw written onto the note, by a crude doodle of a pink scarf wearing teenager,

~ I recently had a breakthrough :) ~