So, recall how Aleph Zero had another plan brewing? Well, I think it's high time we finally see what it was.


Everyone was feeling pretty good at the moment. How could they not be? After all, not only was the race able to run without being sabotaged, but several members of the Galactic Kids Next Door had been captured, with Numbuh 55555, Numbuh 11:11 and Numbuh XXX being among them. Arrests were quickly made, as were arrangements for therapy for most of them. While none of the Kids Next Door operatives had managed to make the top three in the race, they were still being cheered just as much.

And if there's one thing that most of them learned quickly, it was that Dragox was also extremely well known for its parties.

"These are way better than the ones back home!" Cree cheered as she raised her arms.

"That's because Father isn't around to put restrictions on us!" Chad joked. Their (former?) boss would often refuse to let the teenagers working under him get wild in any way. The one they threw at his manor was partly payback for that fact, but Father probably didn't even know Dragox existed. So the teens were quick to grab the party bull by the horns and enjoy themselves, not that the kids weren't having any less fun.

"Wally! Come dance with me! We need to show up Fanny!" Kuki called out to her boyfriend, who was lingering near the wall. Normally, Wally would have said no, but any chance to show up Numbuh 86 was one he was taking.

"Ya better be able to keep up!" He declared as he allowed Kuki to drag him onto the dance floor.

"Weird seeing human food out this far…" Abby noted as she looked over one of the buffet tables, which was loaded with foods that she knew for a fact came from Earth.

"Look, humans are flawed and primitive…but you guys make awesome food," Dr. Witherton declared as he came over to load up his plate.

"Shouldn't you be working on Sector Z?" Abby questioned.

"Finished already," The doctor declared as he pointed to another part of the dance hall. Looking over, Abby noticed Lenny and Alessandra catching a slightly less robotic looking David and Constance up on everything that had been happening. "I've been learning as I go. It takes a lot less time now!"

"Well, Numbuh 5 guesses that's a plus," Abby admitted with a smile. Looking around, she noticed that Hoagie was coming over to gather up some food himself. "Save some for the rest of us."

"No problem, Supreme Leader!" Hoagie responded with a joking salute. Abby replied by playfully slugging him in the shoulder for taking some food for herself.


"Oh c'mon Hatty! We've gotta dance!" Hook begged his boyfriend.

"Hook, ya know ah ain't much of a dancer," Hathor said, trying to avoid upsetting his boyfriend. "Besides, even if ah was, ah'm not much good at it anyways." Considering that they all had six legs, Scorptaurs were not known for their dancing skills

"I'm not that good either!" Hook assured him. "Besides! We're just here to chill and have some fun! And…I just want to spend some time with you."

Hathor sighed. He couldn't resist. "Alright. Just one dance." Hook smiled and began to happily wag his tail as he dragged his boyfriend onto the dancefloor.


"It's good to see Hathor relax for once," Octavia noted as she watched as Hook and Hathor began what seemed like dance number five. Neither were all that good at it, but they didn't see to care. After all, they had each other and what more could either really want?

"It's good for all of us to relax," Leongar pointed out to her. "This whole deal is stressful…even if it's not as bad as it was ten years ago."

"The only reason it isn't as bad was because we went public with everything that Numbuh Aleph Zero had been doing, so everyone knew not to take a deal from him." Octavia pointed out. "And I think it's still pretty stressful. It wasn't your brother dangling over a pit of lava." When Leongar flinched, Octavia knew she went a little too far. "Er…sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"I know…but it still hurts knowing what he's doing and what he's still capable of." Leongar admitted. "But…I don't know if we can stop him."

"We will. I know we will," Octavia assured her boyfriend as she wrapped her arms around him. Leongar eagerly returned the gesture. Considering that a slow song had just begun, it didn't take long for the duo to begin swaying to the music.


"You alright kid?" Flarias, having taken a break from karaoke, asked Rachel, who was hovering near the wall.

"Just…not sure what to do here," The younger girl admitted as she looked out at the couples dancing. She wanted so badly to be on the dance floor with them in Nigel's arms, but that dream was pretty much never going to happen now.

"Well, if it means anything, I'm not much of a dancer either." Flarias said awkwardly. "Er…I'm not good at small talk."

"You're fine," Rachel assured her. "It's just…I guess I'm still upset about Nigel." Flarias sucked in a breath. She was not good at comforting people and now she was pretty much forced to either say nothing and look like the universe's biggest jerk or try to bumble her way through it. Somehow, the second option looked better.

"Hey…if it means anything, I think he's just mislead. I don't think he's actually fully aware of everything. I, uh, think he's kinda just misled so I think that you could still bring him around," Flarias said, mentally praying that Rachel didn't notice how unsure she sounded. Granted, considering what had happened in the factory, Flarias was pretty sure that she knew Numbuh 1 better than the rest of her friends did and from what she had heard, he did sound legitimately misled.

"You really think so?" Rachel asked. "Sector V said that he sounded pretty sure of himself."

"I think he was more so just sure of the fake story he got, not the real one," Flarias said, smoothly adding onto her story. Once she got going, she could seamlessly weave a story.

"I hope you're right," Rachel admitted before nodding in a determined nod. "When we see him again, I know Sector V and I can make him see reason!"

"That's the spirit!" Flarias said with a laugh. Said laugh, as well as any more partying, was cut off by a wall getting smashed in.

"Hey! You're paying for that!" An older dragon, most likely the owner of the building that the party had been taking place in, snapped at the person stepping through the wall.

"N…Numbuh 1?" Hoagie asked as he tried to make out the figure, but all he could see was a silhouette that looked eerily like his former leader.

"Not…exactly," A voice declared as the figure stepped through the hole they had just made and it was then that everyone understood what exactly this figure meant. While it was clearly Numbuh 1's body being used, something else was clearly in control of it, as long tendrils of blue goo seemed to wrap around his arms, legs, chest and head, as well as giving him icy blue eyes not unlike the Delightful Children. It also reminded several people a bit too much of the boyfriend helmet incident.

"That's Numbuh Blob!" Dr. Witherton realized, pointing his claw at the figure while his other hand went for his gun. "He's a literal parasite…and he's got control over your friend!"

"Parasite is a strong word, doctor…" Numbuh Blob declared with a wave of his new hand. "I prefer the term 'better managing the body' for the host…who I will of course assimilate. Truthfully, I've always been picky over my vessel but this one is unmatched!" He then posed a few times, taking in both his new form and the horrified stares. "I didn't think Aleph Zero would actually give him to me, so I suppose I'm grateful he tried to run away."

"He did?" Numbuh 3 nervously asked. Everyone else felt their hearts skip a beat, but they didn't want to let themselves get their hopes up. This could be another trick.

"He did," Numbuh Blob said before letting out a garbled laugh. "Guess doc's nightmare bomb spooked him enough to finally look into things! Shame he didn't manage to get away!"

"Well then thanks for bringing him right to us!" Numbuh 4 declared. "Now we just gotta get your cruddy mitts offa him!"

"You're certainly welcome to try," Numbuh Blob smugly challenged. "But considering that I am currently connected to his nervous system, you'd probably kill him trying." Once again, he let out a garbled laugh, this time at the horror of everyone (and Numbuh 4's delayed reaction to everything, considering that Maurice had to quickly explain what a nervous system actually was to him). "So, since it seems like you are all at a crossroads, I guess I'll just skip to the fun part and kill you all!" Before anyone could react, he used some more goo to grow claws before lunging towards the group.

"Everyone get out of here!" Numbuh 4.3 Light Years roared out as he pulled out his poleaxe. All civilians attending the party quickly rushed off, leaving only the heroes and the parasite.

"You really think that will do anything?" Numbuh Blob taunted. "Once I'm finished with all of you, I think I'll have some fun and go on a little ramage here!" With that, he grabbed a table before hurling it at the group, forcing everyone to quickly scatter.

"How do we get that thing outta Numbuh 1?!" Numbuh 5 demanded.

"We can't. At least, not right now," Numbuh 666 revealed. "Your friend is going to have to wrestle enough control away that Numbuh Blob will lose his grip so we can separate them without hurting your friend further…and hopefully before he loses control permanently."

"Basically, start doing those speeches about how you know he's in there and that he just has to fight it!" Numbuh 8 Infinity called out as she and Numbuh Vine tried to hold the fusion in place.

"Well, you heard her!" Numbuh 5 called out to her friends. "Kids Next Door, Battle Stations!"


Numbuh 1 grunted as he tried once again to set himself free. He was trapped in his own mind, quite literally chained down as he was forced to watch Numbuh Blob try to use his body to kill his friends. But no matter how hard he pulled, he couldn't get free. He couldn't even get them to move.

"...What's the point?" Numbuh 1 finally questioned as he sat down, completely spent. "Everyone probably hates me anyways. After all, I'm part of the reason that all of those people in Craggleaction Park got hurt! Maybe it's best if I-"

"Numbuh 1!" A voice called out. Numbuh 1 perked up. He knew that voice!

"A-Abby?" He asked. He could see her trying to dodge the attacks Numbuh Blob was throwing at her, but refusing to back away.

"Numbuh 1, listen to me!" She called out. "If you want us to save you, you've gotta fight back! You need to get at least some control over your body so we can get rid of this guy!"

"Shouldn't be that hard for ya!" Numbuh 4 piped up, for once not trying to land a punch on his foe and actually trying to talk things out, at least in his own way. "You've never given up and you kicked bad guy butt all the time back home! So you should be able to do it again, even when they've got control of your body!"

"We all miss you!" It was Numbuh 3 talking this time. "But we can't hug and be friends again if that weird, gross alien is stealing your body!"

"Shut up!" Numbuh Blob snapped. "He can't hear you!"

"Keep going!" Numbuh 1 called out, even though he knew that they most likely couldn't hear him. He tried the chains again and was surprised to find that this time, they actually moved. Slowly, he began to walk towards the screen and the chains failed to stop him.

"You may be a stupid boy but even I can admit that you don't deserve this," Numbuh 86 grumbled, but Numbuh 1 could hear the heart and concern in her voice.

"If anyone takes you down, it's gonna be me!" Chad declared in a tone that once again made him seem like he didn't care, but it was clear he was trying his best to bring Numbuh 1 back to his senses. "So get back in control so we can finally have a real fight again!"

"Nigel, look, I know I treated you poorly during our time together, but I still respect you and I know that Nigel Uno would never give up, even when trapped in his own head!" Lizzie/Numbuh Vine exclaimed, her voice full of both conviction and regret.

"If you give up now, then I was clearly wrong to tell cadets that you were someone to look up to!" Numbuh 60 called out. Not exactly as personal as the others, but Numbuh 1 could tell the sentiment behind it.

"Numbuh 1, you're my best friend and I know for a fact that you would never let this clown hurt us!" Numbuh 2 spoke up, his voice soft and raw. "So please…come back to us!"

"Nigel, listen!" It was finally Numbuh 362 speaking. "We need you to fight back! We…no, I need you! I…I LOVE YOU!" With a grunt, Numbuh 1 swung his arm forward and heard the sound of something shatter behind him.


Back in the real world, everyone wasn't entirely sure how to react when Numbuh Blob suddenly began clutching "his" head and grunting like he was in pain.

"Get back in my head!" He snapped at seemingly no one.

"How about you get out of mine!?" A very welcome voice from the same body demanded.

"NUMBUH 1!" Everyone exclaimed. Numbuh 1's left hand began tearing Numbuh Blob off him and, much to everyone's joy, it was coming off easily, leaving only what appeared to be scar tissue behind on the exposed parts. One of his eyes shifted back into normal while the other was slowly beginning to return as well.

"Numbuh 666, now!" Numbuh 4.3 Light Years ordered as he pointed towards the struggling boy with his poleaxe.

"Numbuh 417! Catch!" Numbuh 666 called out as he tossed his airborne friend what looked like a taser. Numbuh Blob noticed, but wasn't able to regain any control. If anything, the fear only made it worse. As soon as Numbuh 417 slammed the taser into him, Numbuh Blob let out what sounded like a scream of pain as he seemingly melted. Numbuh 666 wasted no time in collecting what was left into a jar.

"Numbuh 1!" Numbuh 5 exclaimed as Numbuh 1 collapsed to the ground. He was breathing heavily.

"N-Numbuh 5?" Numbuh 1 managed out before coughing a few times. Everything hurt. His throat was dry. All of his limbs ached.

"Save your strength!" Numbuh 5 snapped at him, even if her voice was soft. "Just…just hang on." Numbuh 1 tried to speak again, but could only manage a nod.

"Is he gonna be okay?" A teary eyed Numbuh 3 nervously asked.

"He should be fine," Numbuh 6 Shot said as he slowly scooped the boy into his claws. "Numbuh 666 will be able to help him."

"He's gonna make it. I promise," Numbuh 666 assured them, his voice steely and determined. "Numbuh 6 Shot, bring him to my lab." As he was led off, Numbuh 1 managed to turn back to his friends and grunt out two words before finally passing out.

"I'm sorry…"


Oh hey look! A reference to something that isn't Helluva Boss! See, I can do it! But next time, Numbuh 1 tries to cope with what he did and learns that his friends are way too nice for their own good. See you then!