Not gonna lie, this chapter is mainly filler before the next big event. But hey, some cute bonding moments never hurt anyone, right?
"So…now what?" Hook asked as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. After the group returned to Nevolla, they were expecting to be fully ready for anything. Yet…
No one seemed to have any clue what to do next.
"This was a lot easier when we still had a basic idea of where Numbuh Aleph Zero would strike next," Octavia grumbled as she pinched the bridge of her beak.
"Er, Numbuh 666? Didn't you hack one of those computers or something?" Hathor asked.
"Yep. But there was no info on where they were docked or where they wanted to hit next," Dr. Witherton responded before scowling and crossing his arms. "All I found was all the ways Numbuh XXX corrupted MY projects!"
"Well…I could try asking the prisoners we captured when we found Numbuhs 60 and 362," Leongar offered.
"Why didn't you do that already!?" Flarias snapped as she slammed her hands on the table.
"There was a lot going on, Flarias," Leongar pointed out. "I wasn't thinking about it at the moment." The Dragconious looked like she wanted to say something, but merely decided to be quiet and sit back down.
"So until then, what do we do?" Rachel had to ask. Truthly, she wasn't entirely sure she was ready for a mission mentally, physically or emotionally, but being a Kids Next Door operative meant that you always had to be ready to defend helpless kids.
"Rest," Leongar said as he stood up from his chair. "Via, would you like to come with me?"
"Of course," Octavia said with a nod of her head.
"So are the rest of us dismissed?" Dr. Witherton asked. "Because I have a few things I want to mess with."
"Just stay out of the armory," Leongar said as he and his girlfriend took his leave. Everyone else took the chance to leave as well.
"Yo, Hat?" Hook asked as he walked over to his boyfriend, who was taking in the view from atop a balcony.
"Yes, poppet?" Hathor responded as he turned around, frowning a little when he saw Hook frowning.
"I've got a question, but it's kinda dumb," Hook admitted. Hathor understood. Hook had always been accused of being the "stupid one" of the team and while he didn't outwardly let it show, he had always been bothered by it, especially when compared to Octavia's leadership or Witherton's talent with inventing.
"Ah won't think it's stupid. Promise," Hathor assured his love.
"Okay, so…why do people like Aleph Zero do all this bad stuff?" Hook asked, causing Hathor to do a double take. Out of everything he was expecting from Hook, that wasn't even on the list. From what he could see out of the corner of his eye, Silvo was just as shocked. "Like, we were all super nice to him when we were all ankle slappers, so it's not like he turned on us because we were treating him like a quimby! And he came from money too so it wasn't that! I dunno…"
"Hook…as much as ah to say it, some people are just naturally varmint," Hathor admitted as he leaned on the railing. "There's no real way to explain it. They're just…bad medicine."
"...Is it a bad thing I still don't really get it?" Hook asked. Silvo shifted into a softer and cuddly former and dropped himself into Hook's arms. "Uh, thanks little dude."
"Hook, ah don't think it's bad ya don't really get it," Hathor admitted. "If anything, pretty sure it makes you a better person for it."
Hook smiled at this. "Thanks Hatty. You somehow always know how to cheer me up," Hathor merely responded with a kiss, which Hook gleefully returned.
"Well, glad to see I haven't lost my touch," Dr. Witherton noticed as he looked over the results of his latest update to the wither bombs. They were rotting away even the toughest of metals faster than ever! Content, the doctor leaned back in his chair, just in time to hear the door open. "Flarias? That you?"
"Not even close," Rachel said as she walked in. This did prompt Dr. Witherton to turn around.
"Gotta admit, I wasn't expecting to see you," The doctor admitted as he rubbed the back of his head. "You don't seem like the type to be interested in the work I'm known for."
"I actually came here to thank you for…whatever you did to heal me," Rachel admitted. All of her wounds, sans a few cuts, had healed completely. It was like they weren't even there.
"Oh…you're welcome?" Witherton almost sounded confused as he responded.
"You don't get compliments a lot, do you?" Rachel said in an almost teasing manner.
"I get plenty!" Witherton snapped. "Just…not a lot of my medical stuff. Not what I'm really known for and I made pretty much all of it the same way my favorite musical artists did-lots of pain killers and teenage angst."
"Uh…" Now Rachel was at a loss for words. "Good for you?"
"I'm not kidding," Witherton responded, almost uncharacteristically serious. "No matter what healing stuff I make, everyone will always know me for my weapons. Although, I guess when you are named for a bomb that literally withers things away, it's a given."
"Wait, what?" Rachel asked. "What do you mean you were named for it?"
"So, naming with species works a little differently than most others," Witherton began. "See, my ancestors were created in a lab by some nutbag many years ago. Wanted us to be as perfect as possible so he gave us the option to literally remove body parts we didn't want or could be replaced by better ones. Never gave the ancestors names either unless they did something impressive. Once we were set free by some other races, we chose to honor our ancestors by only giving our children names once they did something noteworthy or that the parents wanted to immortalize. Of course, this isn't always a good thing, considering I knew someone growing up named Snortlaugh." He couldn't help but chuckle at that memory and Rachel wasn't any better at holding back her giggles. "But for me, my name spawned from overhearing my parents ranting about some debris in the yard, saying they wish it could just wither away. So, my genius little mind got right to work and, within a day, I had invented something that could do just that-the wither bombs!"
"...Wait, if they literally break things down, why didn't we use them when we were blowing up the factory!?" Rachel interrupted.
"I know!" Witherton agreed. "I offered, but Leo thought it would be better to just use normal ones! Anyways, back to the story. As the name states, the bombs literally wither away anything they touch. And when you're a little kid who makes something no one else ever could have, it's kinda obvious what becomes your name. And before you ask, I've never tested it on living things. I know that my morals can seem…off to someone like you, but I'm not a monster."
"Is that why you got so mad about what Numbuh XXX has been doing?" Rachel couldn't help but ask. Witherton just sighed.
"You're preceptive," Was all he said. "I'm not a monster…but that doesn't stop people from seeing me as one."
"...If it means anything, I don't think you're a monster," Rachel said before heading out, not noticing Witherton looking at her in shock. He then cracked a smile.
"I knew I liked humanity!"
Patton didn't like not having anything to do. It made him antsy, especially since he usually had something to keep him busy. Even when he wasn't training cadets at the arctic base, he was training or doing something else to keep himself busy. But since everyone disbursed after the meeting, he had to settle for wandering around the halls of the castle.
"Does getting lost count as doing something?" He thought to himself as he looked around. He really had no actual idea where he was. It was like being in the Moonbase, only somehow more confusing.
BANG!
Patton jumped at the gunshot, pulling his own weapon out as a reflex, only to notice no one actually in the hallway with him. Instead, the gunshots seemed to be coming from inside the door at the end of the hall. Keeping his hand on his M.U.S.K.E.T, he made his way over and opened the door. Inside was a large training ground, with a shooting range at the far end of the room. Flarias stood in front of it, her tail gun named at the targets.
"Uh, Numbuh 417?" He asked. Flarias jumped a little, but calmed down when she saw it was Patton.
"Please call me by my name when we're not on duty," She asked in an exasperated manner. "It keeps me from thinking about how we're back in this stupid war."
"Sorry, just how I was trained," Patton admitted as he walked over to the firing range. Looking out, he saw that Flarias had already gone through several targets, going off how utterly riddled with holes they all were. "So…what are you doing?"
"Target practice," Flarias responded before firing off another succession of laser blasts.
"Er…I was kinda hoping for a little more than that," Patton admitted, trying to avoid directly saying that he was bored out of his mind.
"Wait, you were?!" Flarias asked, looking decently embarrassed. "Shit, I'm not good at social cues. Sorry, just…pissed off at everything and wanted to get some range out."
"The stuff at the factory set you off?" Patton asked. From his experience with Fanny, he knew that sometimes, just letting someone upset get their rage out was smarter than just trying to get them to calm down. And even if she didn't want to, Flarias clearly needed someone to rant too.
"Not even just that!" She began, taking a seat. "All of this could have been avoided if we'd nipped it in the bud when we had the chance, but by the time we noticed, it was already too late! People were losing their lives over this! Sure, they failed to blow up any actual planets, but with the amount of people they hurt, they might have well! Hell, that's how I lost the end of my tail!" Almost instantly, her hands flew to her mouth and Patton realized she hadn't intended to say that. He knew better than to question it.
"...And I thought the stuff I dealt with back home was bad," Patton admitted.
"Actually, you guys never really told us anything about life back on Earth," Flarias replied, sounding actually interested. "The most I really know is from all the media Doc and I consume."
"You…like all the stuff from our planet?" Patton asked.
"Duh!" Flarias responded with a hearty laugh before beginning to count off on her fingers. "You guys have awesome movies, cartoons, video games, and I don't even need to mention how freaking amazing your music is! Sure, it's not all accurate, but it's fun! And, of course, Doc says it makes for great inspiration for some of his stuff…although, take it from me, sometimes he gets inspired by the wrong stuff. Like, I love his insanity, but the next time he tries to make an unkillable lizard monster that hates everything, I'm actually gonna kill him."
"Yeah that sounds like a bad idea," Patton nervously agreed, deciding not to think about what other things Dr. Witherton had created based on that website. He then remembered something. "So…it's not just the Galactic Kids Next Door that have human disguises?"
"Nope! I've got one too! It's not as cool as my normal form," To emphasize her point, Flarias ran her hand along her body. "But it gets the job done. I usually just wait for the bulk resellers out here, but sometimes, I'll go for a big release of something."
"Can I see it?" Patton asked, deciding to just be straight forward this time. With a smirk, Flarias pulled back one of her sleeves, revealing a bracelet. She pressed a button on it, causing her to briefly glow. When the glow subsided, in place of a dragon like creature was now a human that was still very much identifiable as Flarias. Her mask was replaced with a pair of glasses, which also happened to expose a scar running across her left eye, her scales took the form of freckles scattered across her face, the markings on her wings now covered her arms and her tail had taken the form of a brunette ponytail. Her clothing also was a clear indication of her true identity. Her bandanna had remained, but the rest of the outfit consisted of a pair of black sweatpants, black steel tipped sneakers and a shirt with a dragon graphic on it.
"Like I said, not as cool as how I usually look, but I think I blend in," Flarias replied with a grin, revealing that she still had two fangs.
"Most humans don't have fangs," Patton opened out with an amused grin.
"Yeah, but I don't like to hide everything," She responded. "Besides, it's bad enough I have to pretend I'm shorter than I actually am." As if to show Patton what she meant, Flarias got to her feet, revealing that she was almost a few feet shorter.
"Well, most humans aren't like 8 feet tall," Patton mockingly responded, causing both of them to chuckle.
"Seems you have a sense of humor," Flarias responded before changing back to her normal form. "Now, you practice your own aim? Bet I could out shoot ya!"
Patton smirked, now extremely grateful he'd heard the noise. "I don't lose to adults!"
"Is something bothering you, my prince?" Dreads asked as he walked towards Leongar and Octavia. The latter seemed to be comforting the former.
"He couldn't get the location of the Galactic Kids Next Door's ship," Octavia replied. It wasn't for a lack of trying, either. But Aleph Zero proved himself far more clever than then either adult was expecting. "Apparently, when returning to the mothership, all the ships fly themselves back and the ship is usually docked in the middle of nowhere, so they don't have any planets or space marks to rely on."
"A clever tactic indeed," Dreads agreed. "Were you able to get any information?"
"A little, but it was mostly stuff we already knew," Leongar admitted. "I did get a few of them to consider turning on Aleph Zero, but I feel like they would need more of a push."
"Aleph Zero's indoctrination runs deep," Dreads replied with a grave nod. "But in regards to your goal of finding Aleph Zero's ship, perhaps I may be able to help?"
"How?" Octavia asked. "Gonna go in there and scare them so bad they'll just start giving us random locations they've been too?"
"No," Dreads bluntly responded as he pulled out a broken communication device that looked far less impressive than one crafted by Witherton. "I ran into a Galactic Kids Next Door operative not long ago. I was unable to capture them, but I was able to prevent them from doing whatever harm they intended. They left this here, presumably due to it getting so severely damaged during our fight. However, I believe that Doctor Witherton would likely be able to trace similar signals."
Almost instantly, Leongar perked up as he took the device from Dreads. "That might work! Thank you so much, Dreads!"
Dreads merely smiled before bowing. "But of course, my prince." As Leongar and Octavia headed off, his smile dropped and he headed off.
He did still have a bit of cleaning up to do from his fight with that Galactic Kids Next Door operative after all
So in the next chapter, we're gonna see how Dreads got that communication device…and I think you know which GKND operative he ran into.