Kids Next Door Gameverse: The Nextgen Kids

[Gamen Watch]

My friends, welcome to the beginning of The Nextgen Kids. This saga was founded on the cartoon Codename: Kids Next Door and stars the children of its canon characters along with OCs. You do not need to know the cartoon very well to follow this story, nor do you need to know any other featured crossovers as this story will adapt them in unique ways.




Likewise, it's also fine if you haven't read the First Gen series preceding this story. The Nextgen Series is going to be the majority of the Gameverse. The following chapters will introduce our long-running main characters and the mantles they carry from their parents. I hope you come to enjoy their adventures, their friendships, and the wild universe they protect.




First Day




The seven-year-old youth stood anxious at a massive, circular landing pad hidden in the woods, alongside several other kids. Knowing what was to come, he felt unsure, and was afraid something might go wrong. He turned to his right as his mother and father were arriving to see him off, with his mother pushing his father's wheelchair. His mother's hair reflected his own, albeit longer: black with a blue stripe down the middle.




"Hey, Dillon. You ready for your first day at Arctic Training?" his father, Nolan York asked. He had dark hair and wore a brown trenchcoat with black boots, though his body seemed muscular.




"I guess so. I mean, what if I'm not good enough to be an operative? What if I get kicked out because I'm a bender?"




Nolan chuckled, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "Son, I already told you they don't discriminate, anymore. I named you and your shadow after two of the greatest operatives the Kids Next Door's ever had. I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think you would become just as good, if not greater, than they were."




"But if they give you trouble, I'm sure Midna can straighten them out." his mother, Danika replied.




An impish spirit came out of Danika's shadow: she had a monochrome body with cyan lines, a stone helmet that only exposed her right eye, and an orange ponytail that looked like a hand. "Awe, you just love using me to threaten people. What an honor for me. Eee hee!"




"Besides, Mason and Sheila and your other friends are gonna be there." Nolan said. "Oh! Here they come now."




As he said, the Uno family, Dimalanta family, and Frantic family were arriving with their kids. "Hey, Dillon!" Mason ran over and greeted. He had black hair and a hoodie-sweater with a flame design. "You all set for KND training?"




"Is it gonna be ripper or what?!" Sheila shouted. She was a tan-skinned girl with messy black hair, distinct for her raccoon ears and tail. She wore sandals and fairly light, summery clothes.




"You bet I am!"




"Oh, yes, of course." Midna said, floating beside Dillon. "Any bit of encouragement gets any child ready for action, doesn't it?" She smirked, making Dillon blush a little.




"Hm hm hm! Tell me about it." Rachel Uno replied. "Took us forever to get Cheren here to come along. Thankfully, we had Azelf to help give him a boost."




"But I'm only six years old." Cheren argued. He wore a red shirt matching his glasses and chestnut hair.




"Come on, Cheren!" his brother, Chris nudged him. "Why wouldn't they let us in? Our mom and dad were two of the best operatives back then! They even took out a whole army of demons!"




"I still don't believe that either!"




"Oi, the ship's almost 'ere." Sheila's mum, Marine said. "Ya'd best be gettin' ready, mates."




The massive 4x4 aircraft was coming down for a landing. The doors of the ship opened as all the kids were piling on. At this time, Danika's shadow, Cheshire, seemed to be scolding Dillon's shadow, Mario, waving her finger at him. "Come on, Cheshire, he's good and ready." Danika told her, pulling the shadow back. Cheshire only shrugged.




"Good luck, Dillon!" Nolan called.




"I will! Good-bye, Dad!" The excited shadowbender waved and ran onto the ship with the many other cadets.




The adults smiled and waved as the ship lifted off for Antarctica. "I hope he'll be okay." Nolan said.




"Ah, quit worrying, Nolan." Danika replied, playfully slapping him. "Who wouldn't let him in? He's already got a reputation thanks to us."




"I know. That's what I'm worried about…"




Quahog Bank




Citizens were sent screaming and flying out of the bank by the attacking wind-themed villain. Teen Tornado (though he was now an adult) spun rapidly in a tornado and sucked in all of the dollar bills he could, stuffing them all inside a bag. "This might actually be a cliché villain thing to you bankers, but trust me, it'll all be worth it, after I-" He quickly ducked when a grappling hook shot by and almost caught him.




There were two men at the doorway: one wore a trenchcoat, wheelchair, and gas mask and the other wore a frosty blue robe and skull mask that had clenching teeth. "Well, we were nice enough to let you out of your frosty prison and live your teenagehood, and this is the thanks we get." Sandman spoke snarkily. "What's wrong, Tornado? Losing your edge as a decent villain, you'd have to resort to robbing banks like Dr. Light?"




"Hey, if you're an adult now, why do you still call yourself Teen Tornado?" Coldman asked.




"Well, I couldn't think of a decent alliteration involving me being an adult, and something to do with wind!" the villain responded.




"Why not 'Airy Adult'?" Coldman asked.




"Ehh… I'm not really feeling that."




"Or you could just call yourself 'Tornado.'" Sandman suggested.




"Mm, I guess so… Anyway, I'm robbing this bank for the Brotherhood's sake, so they can be ready after their return!"




"It doesn't matter!" Sandman decided. "The villains are staying where they are. And you're going back to your nice, comfy straitjacket."




"Bring it, Sandy!" Tornado immediately threw a blast of wind to push them out, but the duo stood their ground as Coldman shot an icicle, chopping the bag of money open. Tornado grit his teeth in anger and spun into a tornado, zooming over to catch them inside and throw them across the room. Sandman got back onto his chair and fired his gas gun, swallowing the entire room in green smoke. To avoid sucking it in, Tornado simply twirled around to blow the gas around. But as a result, Coldman unleashed a breeze of ice that was also sucked into the tornado, and the villain was frozen in an ice cube.




Moments later, the police had arrived, hauled the supervillain into their truck, and closed the door. An elderly officer in a wheelchair rolled up. "Well, boys, I'd stand and salute you, but this is the best I can do." Joe Swanson spoke, saluting the two heroes.




"Hehe. No problem, Officer Swanson." Sandman chuckled.




"Alright, we're takin' this guy back to headquarters and thawin' him out so we can fit him in the straitjacket." Joe decided.




"Wouldn't it be safer to just leave him frozen?" Coldman asked.




"Yeah, but Mayor West doesn't want us to do that just in case he happens to be the Avatar."




A few feet away, Mayor Adam West himself glared at them and spoke, "You'll thank me when there's no war with the Fire Nation. You'll thank me…"




"Eh, it could happen. He is an airbender, after all." Coldman reminded.




"Take care, Sandman." Officer Swanson and his police gathered into their cars and left.




"Ahh, welp, another day, another hundred dollars saved from being stolen, eh, Nolan?" Yuki asked.




"Heh, guess so." Sandman chuckled.




"So, how's that son of yours doing? He went off to Arctic Training, didn't he?"




"Yeah. Yours, too?"




"E-yep. Miyuki already started yesterday, same with her friends. She wasn't too excited. I bet Dillon was excited, wasn't he?"




"Yeah, but he needed a little encouragement."




"Well, let's just hope he doesn't end up having exactly the same experience. Anyway, later Nolan." The ice-themed hero skied off towards the heavens on his floating ice trail. The Sandman proceeded to head back home as well.




York Household




The half-crippled hero entered his home and hung his outfit on the hanger. The house was quiet, with the exception of his wife, Danika, taking a shower upstairs as she hummed a tune to herself. Nolan moved his wheelchair up the stairs using the built-in lift and made his way to the bedroom. He noticed steam coming out from under the door to their bathroom and could strongly hear Danika's humming, the same tune that her sister sang when Danika was depressed. Nolan stopped beside his bed and released an exhausted sigh, his mind filled with thoughts. Though hearing the sound of his wife's beautiful humming was enough to sooth his mind a little.




After a while, Nolan heard the rushing of water stop, and Danika was stepping out of her shower. Moments later, she came back into the bedroom, her hair a dry-wet as she wore only a short, sleeveless top that showed her bellybutton, cleavage, and a long black skirt. The goth woman smiled seeing her husband. "Hey, hey, there's my Sandyman." She cooed as she stepped over to sit down on his lap, putting an arm around him. "Back already? Who's the unlucky sap that got thrashed today?"




"Uh, Teen Tornado, actually." He blushed and chuckled. "He was robbing a bank."




"Is that all? Boy, villains aren't what they used to be, huh." she stated, getting up off him. "Need any help?"




"Hang on, I got it." Nolan grunted, using all the strength he could in his legs to stand up. Nolan trembled a little as he was almost at full height, struggling to limp over.




Nolan looked up as Danika took hold of his hand, his wife smiling. Nolan smiled back as Danika lifted her husband up and set him on the bed on his back. Afterwards, Danika plopped onto the bed beside him and rolled on her side, putting an arm and leg around Nolan. "Well, can, you, believe, that? Dillon's first day at CND. It feels like only yesterday when we were in his shoes."




"Yeah, but with a few major differences."




"Still, it's been a while since we've had the house to ourselves. But since Dillon's at training, Midna's out at town, I don't need to work today, and you're all done with your superhero duties… we might as well make the best of things." The woman pulled Nolan's head in closer and embraced him in a kiss. Nolan peacefully shut his eyes and returned it.




"Hehe, not now, Danika!" Nolan laughed after they broke apart. "I'm tired. Plus, I got a lot on my mind right now."




"What? Bad guy threatening to reveal your secret identity or something? I thought everyone knew by now."




"No, it's not that." Nolan frowned. "It's…It's about Dillon. I'm worried."




"What? You don't think some maniacal super-genius is spying on him, too, do you?"




"Not particularly, but… well, you remember that info you got from the Chronicler, right? It's going to come true in three years. Are we sure Dillon and the others will be ready in that time?"




"I'm sure things will work out. And either way, we can't rush him. We just have to let him grow on his own."




Nolan released another sigh. "Maybe…"




"Damn right 'maybe.'" Danika smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Now how about we take a little nap? It's been a long day for you, and the sleep could relieve the stress."




"Heh, you're tellin' me…" Nolan chuckled; he's rarely gotten much sleep because of his Sandman duties.




"Yeah… good night." Danika had her shadow switch the lamp off behind her and kept her arm around Nolan as she drifted into sleep, her head rested against his chest.




Nolan's mind was still plagued with thoughts and worry. The man gave a tired yawn, kicking his boots to the floor before going to sleep with her.




Nolan found himself in the middle of a plain of darkness, looking around confused.




"Hehehehehehehehe." He heard a creepy, though familiar laughter. He looked up behind him as Peter Griffin lied on a floating bed of fruit with a fountain of juice, more fat than Nolan had remembered. "Hiya, Nolan. It's me, Peter Griffin, that guy who lived close to your house and always did the crazy shenanigans. In your dreams, you see me as a fat and lazy guy, lying on a bed of fruit and scratching my tummy. You didn't really like me that much." He smiled mischievously.




"Uh-huh, um… is there a reason I'm having this dream?"




"Don't look at me, I ain't the super genius. He's over there." He pointed behind Nolan.




"Hello… Nolan."




The man gasped and turned at the familiar robotic voice. "Brain!"




"It's been a while, Nolan…" the Sith Lord spoke, wearing a chef's hat on his dome as he used a mechanical tentacle to flip burgers on a grill. "How has life been treating you these days?"




"Just fine, thank you for asking. And… why are you flipping burgers?"




"This is a dream, Nolan. Dreams have very unnatural things. Why would I take any interest in burgers whatsoever?"




"I dunno. To bathe in their grease?"




"Nolan, you have a son, yes? What's he like?"




"Hey, you stay away from him, you hear?!" he yelled in anger.




"I was only asking. It peaks me… so curiously… how a simple boy like him dreams of being like his father. I am curious to know if everyone will treat him fairly; the son of one of the Kids Next Door's biggest traitors."




"I never betrayed the Kids Next Door. You tricked me."




"Then you betrayed them. Sticks and stones may break your bones… but words are a far more efficient method, wouldn't you agree? Because of my outstanding persuasion, you willingly betrayed your organization because you saw the accuracy of my words. There was no brainwashing involved or any of the sort, and therefore, you betrayed them."




"Fine, but whatever it is you're trying to pull, it won't work."




"I am not trying to 'pull' anything. I am just trying to warn you, Nolan. The Dark Side has always been strong around you, it still is. You may have redeemed yourself, but the past cannot be forgotten. Who's to say your son will have a fair treatment? Sure, some operatives may take an interest in the boy whose father vanquished the last of the Sith Lords. But others will despise him. They will see the darkness inside him long before it awakens. And it will be their fault that the darkness will awaken at all."




Nolan remained silent and glared at the Sith Lord. The disembodied brain turned and proceeded to roll away. "Well, I must be off now, to the Underworld. I have nowhere else to go seeing as you murdered me. Jerk. Oh yes: one more thing." He turned back around. "If you happen to see Lehcar, please inform her that her father was rather impressed with her actions at the wedding. Good-bye, Nolan." The Brain rolled out of Nolan's vision.




"Hey, can you hand me one of those burgers?" Peter Griffin asked Nolan, who remained motionless. "Nolan? NOLAN?" Peter's voice faded to an echo as whiteness engulfed Nolan.




"Guh!" Nolan yelped, shooting awake in his bed. He looked to his left at the digital clock on his nightstand. It was 11:30 a.m., half an hour later since they went to sleep. He glanced down and found Danika's arm still wrapped around him, her head still rested on his chest as she peacefully slept. Not wanting to wake her, Nolan quietly lied back down and sighed.




KND Arctic Base




The Kids Next Door had seen massive changes 17 years ago. Their organization was once based on childish principals, decreeing that vegetables were bad, school was bad, cleanliness was bad, but eventually, the previous generation saw the error in those principals. They learned the importance of eating healthy and of having a decent education. The true value of childhood was not to shun adulthood, but to make friends, be curious, explore the world, and keep an open mind to anything. And there was no cooler way to do those things than becoming a KND operative.




Those who joined would be encouraged to build their skills and develop early independence. Naturally, a huge part of becoming an operative involved fighting all kinds of strange villains, whether they were comical supervillains, alien overlords, or even demons. It was a tall order, and though it seemed like there were many operatives, their numbers were dwarfed by how many kids attempted training, but failed. Not every kid had the physical or mental resolve to undertake this career. Arctic Training was the first step to separate the talented from the untalented. And even among those who joined, there was a hierarchy. Some operatives were more capable and stronger for higher tasks than others.




That said, every operative had their own skills that defined them. Some were better at combat, others excelled at technology, some were great at stealth, or perhaps they possessed some other talent that would benefit their sector. Arctic Training required cadets to be proficient in at least one skill. They were put through all kinds of tests ranging from acrobatics, piloting, stamina endurance, fighting, etc.. The cadets had to warm their selves up to these trials and prepare for what might be expected of them, but not every cadet would be good at everything.




However, there was another massive change that occurred 17 years ago: the arrival of element benders, aliens, and general metahuman types. When the existence of gods and spirits became officially known to the KND in the previous era, their minds and teachings became far more broad and open. Their universe stretched far wider than their single planet, their single organization. Ever since then, element benders or aliens have become the norm, and as such, Arctic Training had to improve its training regimen.




The base had new courses set up for metahuman and bender types. Most of the operatives were inside rooms where stuffed dolls of different people popped out, good guys and bad guys. Sheila stood her ground and kept a focused look as she readied her Light Fist. A dummy popped out, designed like Mad Mod, and she punched and destroyed it, a dummy of Nigel, and she held back, one of Lyle T. Rourke, which she destroyed, one of Magolor, which she destroyed, one of Patton, and she held back, and then one more of Dimentia. Sheila was about to punch it, but remembered the story about Dimentia's redemption, so she smirked and wagged her finger in a 'no-no' fashion.




Sunni and Darcy Chariton had blindfolds over their eyes as both of them held lightsabers; Darcy a green one and Sunni a blue one. Both of them stood back-to-back as various dummies popped out around them. Sunni gave a battle cry as they raised their swords to begin slicing the enemies. Darcy jumped around and kept a calm look as she quickly stabbed dummies of Wintergreen, Consuela, and Monsieur Mallah, avoiding dummies of Yang, Kami, and Matthew Dimalanta. Sunni kept a fierce look, giving battle cries as she rapidly swung at dummies of Zant, Bokkun, and the Ice King, avoiding dummies of Fanny, Wally, and Marine. Afterwards, two dummies of the Almighty Tallest, Red and Purple came up, and both sisters did a spin-leap over and sliced the heads right off of them.




That's when another dummy popped up right behind Sunni and pushed her, and she angrily spun around to slice the head off the Morgan Uno dummy. As she panted angrily, both of them removed their blindfolds as red alarms blared. "Ally slain. Ally slain. Ally slain." The computer repeated. Darcy smirked at her sister and wagged a finger, and Sunni only glared in annoyance.




Lee and Leanne Grayson were currently sneaking through a dark chamber with searchlights, using their Shadow Veil to quickly sneak around and hide behind barrels. At one point, Leanne tripped and fell, and the girl looked back and gasped as the searchlight was looming in, too frozen with fear to hide in a shadow. But to her good fortune, somebody pulled her into their own Shadow Veil just in time. The other shadow carried her to the safe place where her brother waited and dropped her out, coming out as well to reveal to be Dillon York.




"Phew, thanks!" Leanne sighed in relief.




"Heh, don't mention it." Dillon smiled, scratching the back of his head.




"Heh, come on, Leanne! You can't always have someone saving your butt!" Lee taunted.




"Oh, shut up, Lee! Anyway, thanks again for the save. I'm Leanne Andrea, and this is my brother, Lee Andrew."




"Oh, cool! My name's Dillon, Dillon York. And this here's my shadow, Mario. Say 'hi', Mario!" the shadow of Dillon smiled and waved.




"Your name sounds familiar, Dillon." Leanne said, rubbing her chin in thought.




"Yeah… Isn't your dad the legendary operative Numbuh 2030, who saved the Kids Next Door from the Brotherhood of Evil?" Lee asked.




"He sure is!" Dillon exclaimed.




"Wow! I never thought I would meet the son of a celebrity." Leanne said. "Your dad was awesome! At least, in the stories he was."




"You bet he is! My dad was the best operative on the planet!"




"Oh, please." said a smug voice. Behind them were a pair of twins, a boy and a girl. The boy had black hair with green eyes, and the girl had brown hair, blue eyes, and a rather round head.




"Hey, you're Mr. and Mrs. Murphy's kids." Dillon remembered. "Zach and Maddy, right?




"Yeah, then you should remember your dad wasn't so great." Maddy replied. "They said your dad betrayed everyone."




"Yeah, but he saved everyone."




"All so freaks like you could be legal in the KND."




"The heck is that supposed to mean?!"




"You know how many of you benders were showing off their powers since we got here? You all think you're better than everyone else 'cause of what you have, and it's all your dad's fault. Well, Zach and I are going to be even BETTER, just wait!"




"That's right!" Zach declared. "Just wait'll I grow out my nosehairs and make whips out of them!"




Maddy practically fainted from her brother's ridiculousness. "Zach, you and I need to have a talk about that show you're watching…" On that note, they left.




"I thought Dad said they didn't discriminate, anymore." Dillon said.




"I guess some people still do." Leanne shrugged.




Cleveland Milk Bar




Shortly after his nap, Nolan had gone to Cleveland, Virginia, to meet up with Nigel Uno and Doug Murphy at a bar made up of several milk-themed elements, such as cow wallpaper. "Whose idea was it to set up a Milk Bar?" Nigel asked.




"They set it up as a place for adults to drink without getting 'drunk.'" Nolan answered.




"Well, it sure hasn't worked for Marine over there." Doug said, pointing over at the raccoon woman, who held a glass of milk in her hand in a drunk state.




"Oi! …Ya rotten Tails drongo, you." Marine yelled drunkenly at a random person. "Why didn't ya, mmm, take me snowboarding at the mountain level. Ya-…" There was a rumbling sound before Marine released a loud, "BUURP, no good… drongo…" The woman had another chug of milk before fainting to the ground, the glass shattering.




"Hey, guys, do you ever think about if our kids are 'safe' going to Arctic Training?" Nolan asked.




"What are you talking about? You think their plane crashed or something?" Doug asked.




"Oh, boy." Nigel rolled his eyes, already knowing where this was going. "What's on your mind this time, Nolan?"




"It's about my son. What if the other kids are treating him poorly? You only need a little bit of that to start turning evil."




"You need to stop worrying, Nolan." Nigel told him. "Dillon went with a bunch of his friends. As long as he has his friends, he doesn't have a chance of turning evil."




"And as for being 'safe,' heh, you forget what he's getting into." Doug chuckled. "I remember when Father invaded Arctic Base during training. And didn't those cadets kick his butt?"




"Yep." Nigel chuckled. "Those same cadets became my sector's rivals for a time. Meanwhile, Tommy assumed some vigilante persona that… didn't really go anywhere. Not like yours, Nolan."




"It's just weird though." Nolan said. "None of our own parents had to feel this way because they were decommissioned. Oblivious to the KND. But we kept our memories to share our knowledge and experience with our kids… and it just worries me. Knowing what they're about to go through. Especially that… stuff we learned from Chronicler."




"Yeah, that really worries me, too." Nigel agreed. "But it's also because we can share our experiences that they'll be more prepared than we were. That being said… I still don't know if we should tell them that prophecy either. It'd make them afraid and…"




"It would just hurt their childhood." Nolan said. "Then we'd be betraying a core principle of the KND. Sigh…"




Brookfield Insane Asylum




Joe Swanson and his officers, along with Mayor West, stood around and watched as a couple men were slowly thawing out Tornado's body using blowtorches. "Okay, boys, just take it nice and slow and thaw out the head, then we'll inject him with this knockout toxin." Joe instructed, pulling out a syringe with some purple liquid. "That should buy us enough time to thaw him out fully and slip on a straitjacket."




"Hmph. Filthy metahumans." Mayor West said with a smug look.




"But, aren't you a metahuman?" an officer asked.




"Oh! Why, thank you, Memory Fairy!" Mayor West smiled.




While they were all focused on the frozen villain, a tiny figure watched them and smirked from atop a security camera in the corner. "Hn hn hn. Foolish humans. Time for a wakeup call." He was a rotten red bean with yellow vine-arms and a face with rotten teeth. Hannibal Roy Bean jumped in front of the camera's lens and spoke in a country accent, "Play the song, Ying-Ying."




Inside the monitor room, the Ying-Ying Bird stood atop the control desk as two guards lay unconscious behind her. The bird smirked and saluted before inserting a disk into a slot. The bird pecked the start button, and the many inhabitants at the asylum bore confusion as the song began to play.




"Yes, a lap dance is always better when the stripper is cryin'-"




"THE OTHER SONG, YING-YING!!"




The bird flinched at her master's shout and hurriedly pecked her beak at another button a few times and played something else.




"AAAH! AAAHH! OH MY GOOOD!!" Joe screamed as everyone pressed their hands against their ears. Painfully loud guitar solos ruptured through the asylum.




"Sucks ta have ears." Hannibal smirked, jumping to the floor below. "Thank ya, Steve!" The bean hurriedly hopped his way across the floor as the officers still trembled and shook from the painful sounds. The entire building was quaking as a result of the obnoxious rock-and-roll, and the ice that imprisoned Tornado was slowly cracking. In only a few seconds, the ice shattered and Tornado was free.




"Good gods." Adam West stared with amazement. "It's the Avatar!" he exclaimed and happily pointed. "Hooray! Hey, everyone! Everyone!" He ran out into the other rooms and started waving his arms. "The Avatar is back! We're SAVED! The Avatar is back!"




"Someone oughta check to see if he wasn't an inmate here." an officer suggested.




Teen Tornado shielded his ears from the deafening music, too. Eventually, Ying-Ying pecked the button and made the music silence before soaring out of there. Regaining his composure, Tornado began rapidly spinning around as officers tried to shoot him, but was able to suck in all their guns and blow them all against the walls. The villain came to a halt as Hannibal Bean hopped onto his shoulder. "Feelin' the cold shoulder?"




"Shut it and show me the way outta here."




York Household




When Arctic Training had finally come to an end around 2:30, the cadets had been dropped off at their respective states and headed back for their homes. "Mom, Dad, I'm back!" Dillon yelled happily, dashing into his home.




"Hey, welcome back, Honey!" Danika greeted, bending over to hug him.




Nolan slowly entered the living room and approached them with a slight worried expression. "Heh, hey, Son… how was your first day at Arctic Training?"




"It was great!" Dillon jumped. "I got to dodge searchlights, I got to kill robots, and I met new friends and everything! Of course, I DID meet up with a couple of jerks," Dillon said with a grumpy look, "who were saying bad things…"




"What kinds of bad things?"




"It was Zach and Maddy. They were sayin' bad things about us 'cause they don't have bending. Well, I'll show them! They're just jealous!"




Murphy Household




The Murphy children had returned home and were eating dinner. "So, how was Arctic Training?" Gwen asked.




"It was alright. Except…" Maddy began.




"What?" Doug asked.




"We met Dillon there. He kept talking about his dad and acting like a bigshot. Why did they have to let all those benders join the KND, anyway? They're gonna try and hog all the glory and treat us like a trash!"




"Maddy…" Gwen sighed with sympathy. Her daughter hated metahumans and benders ever since that incident. When they were 3 years old… Gwen wished she could've prevented it sooner. But this is something they may have to live with for a while.




York Household




"Dillon, it's true that joining the KND is the most amazing experience," Nolan began, "but you have to understand that not everything will be perfect. You may not get along with every operative you meet. I know Zach and Maddy hurt your feelings, but the fact is, they have their reasons for hating metahumans. One day, they'll realize they were wrong to hate you, but for now, you can't be angry at them, and you can't act like you're better. You have to look at each other as fellow operatives with the same goals in mind. Do you understand?"




"I…I think I do. But what if they never do? What if they make benders illegal again?"




"Then we'll put a stop to it all over again. But I don't think it's gonna happen, Dillon. The world is different now. It's growing. There's going to be plenty of benders and even more amazing people, and the Murphys will have to get used to it. But let me ask one more thing of you, Dillon: don't try to be like me."




"W-What? Why not?"




"Because my story is already done. It's your story now, Dillon, and it's your friends' stories. Become your own operative and make your own amazing tale."




"Heh heh heh. Okay, Dad. I promise."




"Yeah, but YOUR story isn't done EITHER, Nolan." Midna remarked, peeping out of Danika's shadow. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be playing dress-up every night instead of making us money."




"Hey, Danika works for GUN now, they pay a lot!"




"Then you had better show up for dinner when I tell you to, Nolan." Dani said, flicking his nose. "I don't want my hard-earned money going to waste."




"Ha ha! Yes, dear…" Nolan flushed.




Forest area




Nighttime had come just as Hannibal and Tornado made it to a forest, and the villain was panting heavily. "Boy, I'm glad we made it outta that. So, what's the occasion?"




"The occasion: an anniversary." Hannibal spoke. "Those rotten Kids Next Door spoiled my plans long ago. But with Ganon defeated, Ah have the perfect plan of revenge. As soon as we free the other frozen villains from GUN, of course. Also, Ah lost my Yin-Yang Yo-yos after that battle, and Ah need to get them back if Ah'm ever to bring the Kids Next Door to its knees. If everything goes accordin' to plan, the world shall be consumed by the might of the Chaos Kin. YEEEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" As Hannibal laughed, his Ying-Ying Bird screeched and joined in.







Zach and Maddy are Numbuh 227's characters. Here are other small Sandman one-shots.




Picture




Just another boring day in the York Household. Nolan York sat on his wheelchair by the couch, calmly reading the day's newspaper. "Hm… strange sightings of little people in the forest. Interesting…" he mumbled to himself.




He heard a pair of feet scurrying his way and put his paper down, seeing his 5-year-old son, Dillon with a piece of paper. "Dad, Dad! Look what I have!"




"What is it?"




"I drew you a picture, Dad! Look!" he handed his father the paper. "It's you, Mom, and Ms. Dickson fighting the army of evil villains, like Mom told me!" Nolan observed the drawing of him and his friends, drawn as stick characters with smiling faces. Danika was colored black and had long hair, with some blue in the middle of it. Nolan was also colored black and had a bit more scribbled hair, and was sitting in what he assumed to be a black wheelchair. April Dickson was colored red and had long, yellow hair. The three were on the left of the picture, while the right seemed to have a bunch of blackness scribbled, with angry faces inside of it.




"Hehe. You know we had a couple more people with us, right?" Nolan chuckled.




"Well, yeah, but…" Dillon shifted his foot along the floor, "I ran out of room. But she said it was mostly you, anyway. Do you like it, Dad?"




Nolan smiled and ruffled his son's hair. "I love it, Son. It really brings back memories…"




This next one was made on the anniversary of Nolan York's creation.

The clouds were gray and gloomy over the ruins of the ancient factory. Nolan York slowly approached a small gravestone, which was set up before a fallen statue of a cloaked figure. The man held a bouquet of gray, dried flowers in his lap, not much emotion on his face as he dropped the bouquet onto the dirt patch. As he sat and stared at the grave before him, his black-clothed wife, Danika approached him. "After everything that happened… you'd still bother to pay him a visit?"

Nolan gave a light sigh. "Twenty years ago today… he brought me in and changed my life. It was evil, what he did. But at the same time… he taught me a lot of things. If it wasn't for him… I never would've found the right path. I never would've learned… what was truly important to me. And I certainly would've never met you."

"Hm hm." Danika smiled and lightly chuckled.

"And the reality was, he was just the same. It's just… he was never able to find his right path. Even with a second chance…"

"Hmm. Well, even after what he did… it's still great that someone's looking after him. Even in death. You're really sweet, Nolan."

"Hehe… No…" Nolan sheepishly grinned. "Anyway, let's go home. He may be gone, but that won't discourage his followers." The two adults returned to their 4x4 ship, leaving the flowers on the lone grave.

R.I.P.: Revan Bane Sidious. Numbuh 23 BBY of KND, Prince of the Sith.


Happy Fanfiction birthday, Nolan! Your awesomeness knows no limits!

 

[Gamen Watch]

This group of one-shots will introduce my favorite Nextgen Kid, along with two of her friends. Some of the segments in this chapter were written by my friend, Mika (Numbuh 6.13), who also helped make several of the main characters. While I made my own edits to her segments, I still wanted to maintain parts of her writing style.




Prelude to Adventure

A peaceful noon on Azultown's eastern beach. The waves brushed along the shore, but the beach was completely barren, except for one woman. Marine Frantic, the 25-year-old Mobian raccoon, sat on the beach with her right hand propped against the ground behind her, and her left leg stretched out. She clutched a bottle of rum in her left hand as she drank. Marine was dressed sloppily; in a small, light-green T-shirt that greatly showed her belly, and short black shorts. Her arms went over her shirt, but it was kept up by her cleavage. She had no shoes on her orange-furred legs and her expression looked drunk.

Her sky-blue eyes focused intently on the sea. A particular spot had been emitting slight bubbles. She was focused on that spot for several minutes. Waiting…

"GAAASP!" Finally, someone emerged from that spot and swam to shore. She was Sheila Frantic, Marine's 5-year-old daughter, in a green T-shirt, black shorts, and bare feet. She was a tan-skinned Australian human, but had brown raccoon ears and a tail. She hurried up to her mother and dropped a few small shells, two gold coins, and a necklace, still dripping wet.

Marine had another drink and grinned widely. "Well, it looks like ya made it, Sheila!"

"Pleah!" she angrily spat some water out. "Wot was all THAT for, Mum?! I swam all the way down there just for junk! Oi almost drowned!"

"He he he! Well, wasn't it a thrill, Sheila?! Divin' ta dark depths, not knowin' what lies?"

"Hmmm… well, maybe a little bit. But Oi wanted ta find a whole CAVERN o' treasuhs!! But I only found a few itty-bits!"

"Heh heh heh." Marine wrapped an arm around her daughter. "Sheila… the whole point to adventurin' is exploring brand new places, learning new things, and using those new things to explore OTHER places! I mean, Ay taught you how ta swim so ya could see what lies under the waves of our own beach! And now that you're a great swimmer, aren'tcha glad ya saw what was under there?"

"But I didn't FIND anything!!" she stomped in anger. "Wot's the point of goin' to all this rubbish if ya don't find anything?!"

"Sheila… have I ever told you about the King of the Pirates?"

"King o' the… Pirates?"

"Yeh… ya see, Sheila, the best people in this entire world are pirates. Pirates sail the briny sea, free from all the troubles o' the world, lookin' fer only adventures. They chase dreams and the wind shows them the way. But there was one pirate… who was greater than all the others. 'e was the King. And he sailed this WHOLE world. Legends say that before 'e passed on, he left a GREAT treasure, the most amazin' treasure anyone's evuh seen. 'e told the world, if they wanted 'is treasure, they could have it. But they'd have ta find it. And so… hundreds o' pirates, all over the world, set sail to find it."

"But did anyone evuh find it, Mum??"

"Hehe, o' course not, Sheila! Ta this day, no one even knows if the treasure was real. He mighta just been trickin' a bunch of blokes inta goin' out and havin' great adventures. All we know for sure is… it worked."

Marine turned her daughter around to face the endless sea. "Sheila… the sea is endless. The UNIVERSE is endless. There's no limit to how many adventuhs you could have. That's what all them pirates thought. Maybe there was a treasure, maybe there wasn't. But because o' that bloke… so many people got to experience that freedom. Oi want you to have that kind o' freedom, too. There's so much in the world ya wanna look at. So many great things…"

Oddly, Sheila felt enticed by her mother's words. Her young blue eyes couldn't look away from the sea's endless waves. Just what great things was she talking about? What could possibly exist over those waves? More importantly, is the treasure really real? Now, more than ever… Sheila wanted to know.

"And it's not just the sea Ah'm talkin' about." Marine mentioned. "Adventuh can exist anywhere. Have ya ever wondered what's above those clouds?" Sheila looked up, gazing at the fluffy white clouds overhead. "Or under the earth?" Sheila pressed her left raccoon ear to the sandy ground. "Even the grass beneath our feet! Oi bet there's LOADS of adventures right under our noses!"

Sheila gripped her nose and pulled it up, trying desperately to look under it. She let go and shook her head. "But Mum, Oi thought pirates were bad?"

"Ehhh, there are bad types out there, Sheila… loike Davy Jones or Blackbeard. They were pretty bad blokes. But they lived by the same morals, Sheila: pirates are free. They've raised their sails, and marked the sea their territory. They've seen many wonders our eyes could nevuh comprehend. They've seen the world… for what it is…"

"…Didju ever try to find the treasure, Mum?"

"Weeell, Oi did. But then Oi found me own treasure."

"Really?? Wot??"

"Your dad. And then Oi got you." She smacked Sheila's back. "You're the shiniest treasure I evuh coulda had. And I want ya to have a happy life."

Sheila felt touched by her mother's words. An ecstatic expression appeared on her face as she said excitedly, "Let's go find it, Mum!"

"Hm?"

"The treasuh, the treasuh!" Sheila jumped. "Let's go find it together and have RIPPER adventuhs!"

"Hehehehe!" Marine plopped a hand on her head. "Yer too young, ya little dinga! But when yer a little older… Oi want you to take yer friends and have GREAT adventures! And find all sorts of ripper treasuhs!"

"I WILL, Mum!!"

"Ah know ya will… now, come on." Marine stood up. "We're drivin' down ta Virginia fer a few days." She walked away as Sheila ran after. "You're about to meet yer first mate."




Who was that first mate Sheila was talking about? Find out now. Play the Cutscene Theme from Sonic Rush Adventure!

Beach

The bright noon sun shone high as Sheila Frantic perched onto a stone along a rocky shore. "Avast, first mate! The treasure be on the other side of that there cliffside, eh?" she exclaimed, aiming a wooden toy sword.

A black haired boy with dark grey eyes and black swim trunks limped forward. "Can't we take a break, Sheila? This whole 'pirate' thing can be really exhausting, y'know."

The chipper raccoon girl jumped down to him. "C'mon, Mason! 'ave a little fun, ya grumpy codger!"

"Don't you ever get tired?"

"Ah know how ta have fun! Mate, what's wrong with you? You've been downer than two seagulls drunk on rum!"

"I…I dunno. I've just felt… tired all week. Upset and…"

"Why're you upset then??"

"I don't know!"

It wasn't that anything was particularly wrong. Nothing bad happened. Mason simply didn't have Sheila's energy. He couldn't justify why he felt upset. It was just… part of him.

"Well, wot's a sheila to do, aye?" Sheila twisted a pinky in her right raccoon ear (not that she had any human ears). "You wanna just go lay under a tree then?"

"…N…no." And yet, the prospect of being away from Sheila did make him upset. He didn't know why she was so energetic, so happy… but being with her did make him happy.

"Then gimme a smile!" Sheila stuck fingers in his mouth to stretch it.

"Sheila!"

"Crikey, you'll become a seahorse if ya stay like that, mate! Now, c'mon! Le's go find that treasure! Adventure awaits!" And she continued on with gusto.

"…Aye-aye!" The boy followed with renewed enthusiasm.

The two of them came to a hidden area below a small cliff (that looked similar to Pride Rock) and found a strange conch shell necklace under a rock. "…Aw, strewth! Ah heard a story about this!"

"You did?"

"Yeah, me mum told me! A man and his beloved were off to sea… and the wife crafted this charm for good luck! But a storm took their ship… and when it seemed the gods would claim them, the man put this over his wife… and only she survived."

"Oh…" Mason felt upset all over again. "But why's it here? Just… on this random beach?"

"Maybe she lives in town, eh? Maybe she left it 'ere, praying for his return… ah well. Why don't you have it, Mason?" She put the necklace over him.

"M-Me?" Mason blushed.

"You 'ave trouble swimmin', don't ya? Keep it for good luck! 'Cause we're goin' sea searchin' now!" Sheila raced off to the sea. Smiling, Mason put a hand over the necklace, rushing after her.


This next part was written by Numbuh 6.13, with edits done by me.

Mika's Note: Hello, fanfiction people! This is one of the future kid pairings I have planned out! It debuts Matthew and Yin's daughter, and David and Ashley's son.



Purple Rose




Creak… creak…


It was 4 o'clock AM in the neighborhood, so it was terribly quiet, and every little sound could be heard. In this case, you could hear a swing being swung in a backyard nearby.

The swing was a wooden one, with two strong ropes making it hang from a tree's branch. It was also adorned with flowers in a certain pattern, which was blue, red, blue, and red flower.

Sitting on the swing was a young, 9 and ¾ year old girl, swinging slowly to an unknown beat that only she could hear. Her long, ebony hair flowed down behind her back, reaching up to her waist, and her mysterious midnight-blue eyes gazed at the sky in thought.

"Hey…"

The girl was startled as a familiar voice popped out of nowhere. Then, it clicked, and the girl ventured, "Lee?"

"Yeah, it's me." A boy with bowl-cut hair moved closer to the fence which separated him from the swing where the girl swung. His hair slightly shrouded his eyes, and he was half the girl's height. It was apparent that he had just woken up, because he was still wearing his Yipper pajamas and slippers. "What are you doing here, Haru?"

Haruka Dimalanta sighed. "I'm just swinging here. Can't a poisonbending freak get some time of her own on the swing?"

"A freak?" Lee repeated, sitting on the grass. "You're not a freak, Haru. You're blessed with special talents."

"You don't understand." Haruka said, jumping off the swing. Her midnight-blue sundress fluttered in the light breeze as she looked toward the green plains beyond her home. The wind blew leaves around her as she continued to speak. "No one has uses for poisonbenders, Lee." Haruka muttered, her eyes narrowed at the plains. "We control poisons that harm a human's mortal life, and other toxic things that are dangerous. I don't see how you wouldn't consider people like that freaks!"

Lee and Haruka were silent for a moment, before he mumbled, "You're special, Haru." His robin's egg-blue eyes gazed at Haruka's midnight-blue ones.

"Why?" Haruka's voice was slightly choked up as she clenched her fists uncharacteristically.

"Poisonbending's useful. You just haven't seen how, yet." His voice seemed to resonate a tone of a boy who had seen much more than what an average boy has seen. "Haru, let me over there. I have to tell you something only your ears should hear."

Silently, Haruka opened the door in the fence, letting Lee enter the Dimalantas' backyard. Her bangs were shielding her gaze from Lee, so he couldn't see the look of utter disbelief in her eyes. Once Haruka had closed the gate, she turned to Lee, her gaze searching for an easy answer. "Well, what were you going to tell me?"

"All I wanted to say was," Lee stated, stepping closer to her. He leaned in towards her ear, and Haruka listened carefully. "All I wanted to say was that maybe you are a freak in your eyes, but in my eyes, you're just a rose that turned a pretty purple. Oh, and a rose that gained some pretty untouchable thorns." And with that, he straightened up, and lightly leapt over the fence, partly because he wanted an easy exit, and partly because he could do so.

Haruka stared after him, the wind ruffling her nightgown's ruffles subtly as she watched him enter his next-door house without so much as a glance back in her direction. She turned to go back inside her house, but her satin slipper stepped on something thorny. For a moment, Haruka's eyes watered. It suddenly occurred to her that her father, Matthew, had worked in the garden with her twin brother, Mason, to clear away all the weeds and everything thorny. So, why did she step on something thorny?

Raising her foot daintily, Haruka could make out a long and lithe green stem, riddled with relatively sharp and spiky thorns. Her eyes moved to the right of the stem until she saw a very delicately dyed violet rose. Picking it up gingerly (without touching the thorns, which was very hard to do because it was nearly covered completely in them), Haruka examined it before looking back at Lee's house. Then, without another word, she reentered her home.

Two years later, a purple rose bush bloomed in Haruka's garden.



This segment was written by Numbuh 6.13, showing Mason and Haruka's relationship. (Also, edits done by me.)



Teach Me




Aah. The blissfully peaceful neighborhood of Cleveland, Virginia. It is 6:00 A.M., and so, there were no kids awake, leaving their parents in relative peace and quiet for the time being.

"Teach me!"

Well, I did say for the time being.

"No!"

OK, picture this. The Delightful Mansion. Then, move your gaze to the side. No, not that side, the other side, the other side! OK, good. That's the Dimalanta household, where Matthew, Yin, Haruka and Mason Dimalanta reside.

"I said, teach me!"

OK, ow, those voices hurt my ears. Who am I? I'm Mika, Numbuh June-13 of the KND. Otherwise known as Numbuh 6.13, the author of this one-shot. So stop paying attention to me and pay attention to the yelling voices behind the Dimalanta home.

"I said no!" a boy's voice yelled.

In reply to his statement, a girl's voice – Haruka's – demanded, "Why won't you teach me?"

"You're a girl!" Mason stated plainly. "Girls and poisonbending don't mix!"

In response, Haruka harrumphed and glared at him with her midnight-blue eyes. "Well, I'm a poisonbender whether you like it or not, so you have to teach me!"

"And what are the consequences if I don't teach you?" Mason hissed uncharacteristically, his black hair messed up because he tugged on it in frustration. It didn't help that he looked totally angry because he was wearing his favorite black T-shirt with a flame design on it.

Haruka smiled, well, smirked. She was definitely used to getting her way. "If you don't, Mum and Dad's gonna ban you from hanging out with Sheila."

Mason visibly paled. He cherished his moments with Sheila, and he didn't want his parents to actually ban him from her. Then, his fists furled and unfurled as he said, "You little-"

"Ah ah, remember about your temper!" Haruka's mouth curled up in a slight smile. Mason was so much fun to tease. "Sheila won't like it if you're a big ol' hothead!"

Mason sighed in defeat, but otherwise he reluctantly said, "Fine. I'll teach you how to poisonbend. But why not learn from Dad or his friends, they're fairly good. …Well, except Kaleo's dad, unless you wanna know how to fart."

There was silence from Haruka before she replied, "I want to learn from you. You're my brother, and Dad's nearly always too busy to teach me good tricks. Mum's not a poisonbender, so I'm turning to you."

"Oh." Immediately, a blush graced his cheeks as he realized that Haruka was putting her faith in him.

Haruka smiled before punching her brother on the shoulder lightly. "Baka. Even though I fight with you, you're still my brother. And siblings always care about each other, right?"

"Y-yeah." Mason twiddled his fingers before he suddenly felt his twin sister's fragile arms wrap around him in a hug. Immediately his cheeks flared up in embarrassment.

"Arigato, Kuya. (Thanks [Japanese], Big Brother [Tagalog].)" Haruka said before letting go of her brother. She then – almost instantly – whipped her brother with a gust of purple poisonous gas. Mason was flipped over and he belly-flopped onto the grass.

The boy blinked as Haruka teased, "Be alert, onee-san! Always be prepared!"

Then, a smile crept over his face as he stood up and tut-tutted Haruka. "That's not how you're supposed to bend! It goes like this…"




Numbuh 6.13 wrote this segment introducing Sector Z's children.




But Daaaad!




"Come on… come on…"

Since it was a quiet 4 o'clock morning in the neighborhood, you could hear every single noise coming out of houses with windows open. And it just so happened that the only house with their windows open was the Grayson Home.

In one of the rooms, a boy and a girl played Guitar Hero furtively, their fingers mercilessly tapping the colored buttons to the beat of "Dirty Little Secret," the girl's chosen song. It was the boy who had spoken, and he was currently neck and neck with his sister as they reached the last measure. Unfortunately, he missed a button, and lost a multitude of points, considering his sister chose Hard, and he chose Beginner.

"Aw…" The boy moaned, looking at the very big difference in scores.

The girl looked at him, which seemed strange, considering her brown bangs covered her eyes, which were a bright green. "…You fail…." She said simply.

"So what if I failed?" The boy retorted, taking off the guitar. "You couldn't even play to the beat of Digimon Adventure's 'Butterfly' on Medium, Leanne!"

Leanne Andrea Grayson looked crossly at her brother, but didn't say anything as she took the Wii remote out of the guitar she wore. "I'm bored, Lee. Can't we wake up Lulu and Denny?"

"You know Aunt Ogie wouldn't allow that." Lee Andrew Grayson looked unhappily at the Wii Remote. His father, David, had bought the Wii for all of their family members to play with, which meant everyone had their own remote. Cool, right?

"Diwata?" Leanne asked quietly, absently twirling the remote in her hand.

Lee shook his head. "Aunt Luna won't allow her to play either. It's too early." He tossed his Wii Remote into the box unhappily.

"Then we can eat breakfast." Leanne started towards the door to the big room she and Lee shared. "And don't you dare joke about breakfast. It's not a break."

…

"Morning, Dad. Morning, Mom." Lee said as he entered the dining room.

Leanne followed suit, only this time greeting the other people in the room. "Hi, Aunt Luna, Uncle Bruce, Aunt Olivia, Uncle Leonard."

Bruce Uno, a blonde man in a green sweater, looked up from his newspaper. "Ashley, have you been teaching them good manners? You know we aren't the Delightful Children anymore."

"Aw, come on, Bruce." Luna Martinez-Uno smiled sweetly. "Let Ash have her fun. She'll teach them good manners if she wants to. Right, Ogie?"

Ogie Ravenhearst-Whitby looked at them out of her glasses, and from the top of her book. The portly, tannish-skinned woman's eyes seemed to be smiling. "Yes, Ashley definitely will. She won't listen to you, Bruce."

"I most certainly will not." Ashley Sommers-Grayson smirked as she slid Lee and Leanne's plates towards them. "You two are certainly up early."

"I challenged Leanne to a Guitar Hero marathon." Lee boasted. Unfortunately…

Leanne said, "He lost on Beginner level." She smirked at her brother before taking a bite out of her scrambled eggs.

Lee glared at her, his blue eyes narrowed before he turned to his mother. "How come Diwata, Lulu, and Denny can't wake up this early?"

"They're nine years old, Lee." Lenny leaned back on his chair. "They'll wake up sooner or later, because it's Saturday."

"Wait for it…" David signaled with his fingers three, two, and one, just before three nine-year-olds burst into the room hyperactively. One of the children was a girl with blonde hair and a green sweater with a brown utility sash. As they hurried towards their respective parents, David smiled smugly at his son.

"Hi, Lee!" The blonde girl greeted to the sandy-blond.

Lee chuckled. "Hi, Dee Dee."



"What's for breakfast?"

"Ooh! Do we have paaancakes?" A small, but pudgy brown-skinned girl asked. Her round glasses nearly toppled off her face as she climbed into her father's lap. Her black hair, tied up in pigtails with two ribbons, bounced as she jumped up and down on Lenny's lap.

Lenny smiled at his daughter. "Yes, Lulu. You can request pancakes." His daughter's full name was Columbine, but she really preferred Lulu or Colly.

"How 'bout waffles? I love waffles!" A peach-skinned boy tugged at his mother's sleeve excitedly. You couldn't see his face because he wore his father's old football helmet. He was Daniel Whitby.

"Yes, Denny." Olivia giggled softly as she winked at Ashley knowingly.

Leanne looked at the others, quite unamused as she said, "Mom, could I go visit Mason Dimalanta?"

"Why, so you could make kissy faces at him?" Lee made a kissy face at his sister, who stuck out her tongue in reply.

"No, he's got Sheila already, doofus. And look who's talking, being a gentleman," Leanne emphasized the word, "to Haruka?"

Lee looked embarrassed as Dee Dee, Lulu, and Denny all crowded around him. His face was red as he tried really hard to endure their questions.

"Do you really like Ate Haru?" Dee Dee asked curiously, using a term her mother Luna often used for her. She was an only child, so Dee Dee never knew how to be called an older sister, or Ate.

"Have you kissed her?" Lulu bounced around him excitedly, giggling with glee. Kissing always interested Lulu.

"Do you liiiiike her?" Denny asked smugly.

David laughed as he stood up and shooed the three away from his son. "Alright, you three, eat your breakfast. Leanne, of course you can, if Lee goes, too."

"But-"

"No buts." David said firmly. "Either he goes, or you both don't. Or else I'll call Moonbase and proclaim your crushes on Haruka and Francis."

There was momentary silence in the dining room as Dee Dee, Lulu, and Denny munched on their breakfast. The adults were busy with their own things, and the twins just stood there, frozen, until the twins both screamed unhappily,

"DAAAAD!"




When developing your characters, try to apply situations or instances you encountered in real life! This came to mind when I was shopping with my mom one day.




You Have Strings


An average sunny day in Cleveland. Mason Dimalanta was walking downtown, joined by his friend, Dillon York. They didn't speak much, but it was pretty… weird. Dillon was intricately focused on Mason's sweater. All the little bitty dirt pieces and loose hairs that were common on his clothing. Except on various parts of that sweater were little white strings. As they walked, Mason felt a force lightly pinch his sweater from behind. He didn't mind at first, but it started to get annoying and curious. When Dillon seemed to reach and touch Mason's neck, the latter stopped and turned angrily, "What're you doing?"

"You have white strings on your shirt. Also this pink one." Several white strings and a pink one lay on his palm.

"So, what?"

"Why do you have strings on your shirt?"

"I dunno, it got mixed with the towels when Mom did laundry. Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Stop touchin' my strings."

"Why?"

"I don't want you touchin' my strings."

"Why?"

"'Cause."

"You want them back?"

"No, but I don't want you touchin' 'em."

"Okay."

"Good." So, they kept walking. Mason felt Dillon poke his back again. "Didn't I just say?!"

"I put the pink one back."

"Why?"

"It's pretty. It's shaped like an 'M.' Like Mario."

"Sigh…"

 

[Gamen Watch]

This session will introduce the Uno Family, including the main protagonist of the Nextgen Saga!




Mark of Courage


Piles of papers to sign. A small office with a view of space and Earth. A chair that made his rump sore. And all kinds of noise outside. This wasn't the glory Cheren Uno expected when he joined the Kids Next Door. But a weight greater than the moon rested on his shoulders.




Numbuh 3621 had brown hair, chestnut brown eyes, wore a red jacket with white hints and black pockets, and a white T-shirt underneath it. He also wore a pair of black jeggings and red rubber shoes with white hints.

He was interrupted from his work when a portly, nerdy boy, with a yellow T-shirt, white shoes, and blue shorts and glasses, walked in with a huge stack of papers. "Sir, I need you to deliver these forms for the new mission specs."

"Would it kill you to knock, Numbuh 65.49?" Cheren asked as the nerd just plopped the papers down on his desk. "Sigh, I'll get on it right away." he said begrudgingly, lifting the huge stack and walking out of his office, followed by the nerd.

"Also, Nebula's requesting if she can schedule a meeting with the rest of the Galactic Kid Council this Thursday at 1-"

"Larry, I'm a little busy right now, so can we just-" He was interrupted once more when Danny Jackson came over.

"Sir, Melody sent me up here. She was wondering if you had another helicopter the KNN could borrow. Drunk Philly ruined another one."

"Sure. I'll get back to you on tha-"

"Sir." Mike Strongarm called, running over. "When were you going to fill in those orders for more bikes again?"

"As soon as I finish this-"

"Sir!" Emily Garley yelled, running over. "I need you to fill in those orders for more room at the museum."

"Sure, let me just-"

"Excuse me, Sir!" Lola Stork, of Sector IC, yelled as she approached. "My brother was wonderin' if you had any air fresheners, 'cause he can't stand our mom's smoke?"

"Um, yeah, I think those-"

"Sir, you have to deliver these forms!" Larry whined.

"How do you expect me to squeeze all these priceless artifacts in?" Emily asked.

"We're gonna need that helicopter." Danny said.

"Our bikes are getting rusted!" Mike yelled.

"Come on, dude, you know how Terry gets." Lola whined.

He was soon surrounded by swarms of operatives, all asking and begging for dumb requests. Cheren began to get a headache from all the voices at once. "RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" The leader erupted into burning flames, and all operatives backed away. The flames died down a bit, showing the panting boy's fiery eyes and gritting teeth. The operatives filled with fear. They've never seen their leader like this. He almost looked like he was willing to kill somebody.

Suddenly, a blonde-haired girl ran over and stood in the flaming boy's way. She had blue eyes, a sleeveless orange shirt and a blue polo shirt with its sleeves folded, a short blue-gray skirt and black tights, and a pair of white rubber shoes with blue hints and a blue headband. "Okay, people, question time's over, everyone get back to their sectors!" The operatives just did as told and cowered away.

She then walked over to her brother, putting a hand on his shoulder as his flames finally vanished. "You okay, Bro?"

"Sigh, yeah… thanks for the save, Aurora. Man, I never thought being leader would mean having to deal with EVERY, SINGLE problem."

"You just need to take a break. Come on, let's get a meatball sandwich."

"Okay…"

Numbuh Zero's Treehouse

An hour passed, and the two were now home, where Cheren and his mother were in the secret underground room of the treehouse, locked in a training battle. Rachel wore a light-blue T-shirt that showed her bellybutton and cleavage, short dark-blue shorts, light blue flip-flops with darker blue straps, and had her blonde hair in a small ponytail.

As the two swung their wooden swords at the other, Cheren flipped over his mother, but Rachel quickly turned and still swung. In a few seconds, Rachel's sword was knocked out of her hands, with Cheren smirking and aiming his sword. Rachel gave her own little smirk and said, "Well, someone's been workin' out."

"Hoo." He huffed, swinging at the air before taking a seat. "I wish…"

Rachel sat by him on the bench and put an arm around him. "What's wrong, Cherry?"

"Sigh…" Cheren put his face in his hands. "I'm just not sure if I can do it anymore. I've only been leader for a week now and the whole job's stressful as hell. I get too overworked, people are always wanting me to do stuff…"

"You just need to learn to say 'no' once in a while."

"I want to, but I don't wanna let anyone down. But if I did do all that stuff, I'd still probably let everyone down. Sigh… I'm just not cut out for this job."

Rachel thought for a second, then stood up. "Come on. Something I wanna show you."




He followed her into a dark room where a light shone on a sword sheathed inside a blue and yellow sheath, sitting atop a small pedestal. Rachel picked it up and pulled the shining sword out of its sheath. "This is the Master Sword. This used to be a weapon, passed down from leader to leader in the Kids Next Door. Of course, it's full power wouldn't work for just anyone. Before I became leader, this was just an old Yield sign. It wouldn't reveal its true form until held by the descendant of its previous owner. You wanna know why it finally revealed itself to me?"

"Because… you're the descendant?"

"Well, yes… but it's also because I found myself. I learned what my job truly meant and why I loved it. I didn't quite know it at first, though, but the sword… kinda already felt it." She sheathed the sword and held it over to her son. "Cheren… you're a great leader, too. Someday, you'll know why. You wear the Mark of Courage just as well as I did… and you might be able to use this sword one day, too."

Cheren took the sheath and drew the sword, staring at it as he waved it around. "Cool…"

"Hehe, sooner than you might think!" Rachel smiled, taking and putting the sword back, along with the sheath. "But of course, you'll need to relax a little, too."

"Yeah… maybe you're right. Thanks, Mom. I think I will keep trying!"

"That's the spirit! Now why don't you go play videogames with Panini? You deserve to relax."

"If you call Panini relaxing." The Uno boy smirked before running off. (Play Fi's Theme from Zelda: Skyward Sword!)

Rachel smiled in his direction as the sword glowed, and the blue and purple spirit, Fi came out. "Master, I sense much of your traits within him. I calculate a 90% probability he will be worthy of wielding the Master Sword."

"Hehehe, Fi." Rachel chuckled. "You and your obvious predictions. Of course he'll be able to wield the sword. If he was brave enough to take on the duties of babysitting a million kids, I can't think of anyone else. Besides… I see a lot of me in him, too…"

Numbuh 6.13 wrote this next segment, introducing Panini and Francis!

A Day In The Life of Cheren and Aurora



"I'm SO gonna kick your butt!"

"HA! You wish!"

It was another quiet day at the Uno household. Well, as quiet as it could get anyway, what with a certain brown-haired boy and a certain black-haired girl having a Pokémon battle on their DSes on the sofa. I'm not sure that's how you spell their plural, but oh well.

The brown-haired 9-year-old boy, Cheren Uno, smirked as he selected a move with his stylus. "HA! Gallade uses Shadow Blade! Take that, Panini!"

"Why should Ah care when Gothorita uses Psybeam?" The black-haired girl, Panini Drilovsky, who was also 9, hissed, tapping said move. Her Pokémon shot out a rainbow colored beam at Cheren's Gallade, making the Pokémon Confused.

Cheren gritted his teeth. "Gr…" His Gallade was down to one health bar, and he didn't have any Potions or Berries on him. Time to switch out. "Gallade, come back! You can do it, Zekrom!"

"Eat dirt, Zekrom!' Panini nearly screeched at her DS as she switched back Gothorita with Reshiram.

From the stairs in the Uno home, a blonde-haired girl and a red-haired boy just sat chatting, between bouts of watching their siblings screech bad words at each other over their Pokémon battle. The blonde – Aurora – simply smirked as Cheren shouted more words of profanity. They were SO lucky their parents were out.

"I can't believe Pan's going crazy over a little Pokémon battle." The red-haired boy commented. His name was Francis Drilovsky, Panini's older brother.

Aurora, 10 years old like Francis, chuckled. "They're both addicts at the art, huh?"

Francis looked outside, observing the sky. "Hey, wanna go outside? I'm tired of listening to them argue."

"Sure. Anywhere's better than here." Aurora agreed.

Francis outstretched his hand formally, bowing as Aurora took it, giggling. The two walked out of the house, hand in hand, before collapsing on the grass in a fit of giggles. Soon, they stopped, and they watched the clouds pass by.

"You looked so silly there, Fran!" Aurora giggled, spreading out her hands and feet on the grass. She looked so carefree. "Like some knight in an old movie!"

Francis laughed before imitating a chivalrous knight voice. "'Tis not a challenge for me, milady, for I am Sir Usely, a knight who is very serious!"

"Sirius is dead!" Aurora managed to choke out in between giggles, and suddenly, both ten-year-olds were laughing like there was no tomorrow.

Suddenly, Francis fell to silence. Aurora caught wind of his dreary aura. "Hey, Fran, what's wrong?"

"Well…" Francis murmured, watching as the wind blew the leaves in the tree in the Unos' backyard. He was silent for a few moments, before he finally said, "I… had a dream the other day. Where I was getting decommissioned."




"Heh. Irony, much?" He was the Head of Decommissioning, after all.




"Isn't it… weird? We stopped decommissioning overaged operatives and only target traitors. But there's been so many lately and the Teen Ninjas are still active. I wonder why. I'm worried if… it's just some kind of immature instinct inside us."

The blonde placed a hand on Francis's shoulder, making his onyx gaze travel up to meet her soft blue gaze. "Francis, you're a nice guy, OK? Far from any traitor. And you're my best friend!

"Heh heh…yeah. I guess the job just leaves an impression on my dreams. Hey, wanna get a smoothie?"

Aurora pumped her fist up in the air. "Mathematical!" she cried as they both stood up.

"You're watching Adventure Time again, aren't you?" Francis laughed.

Aurora smiled. "How'd you guess, 'Marshall Lee?'"

"I know you better than you think, 'Fionna'!" Francis laughed. The two best friends laughed their heads off, before cringing as Panini's high-pitched voice rang through the air.

"I'LL HAVE REVENGE ON YOU CHEREN, JUST YOU WAIT!"

Then came Cheren's voice. "YOU'RE JUST A SORE LOSER!"

"SAY THAT TO MY FACE!"

"I JUST DID!"

"WHY YOU LITTLE-"

"STOP THE PROFANITY!" Aurora yelled from the backyard, silencing the two. Then, without another word, the Uno girl and the Drilovsky boy both walked away.




Here's another one that Mika wrote.




HEWWO. This is not a DUSK chapter.

GUN: shoots me down

Lucario: uses Psychic and throws them to an uncharted island




She's A Lady


Thirty-year-old Patton Drilovsky grinned to himself, sneaking back into the bedroom that he shared with his wife, Fanny Fulbright-Drilovsky. In his arms was a rubber snake, some tacks, and a jar of toenails.

He considered this payback, what he was doing. The week before, Fanny had purposely switched his Army Navy underwear for Rainbow Monkey ones when he wasn't looking, added pepper to his coffee, and switched around the places of all his scrapbooks for every person he was close to. She had also dyed his beanie pink, and tied into knots the wires of his laptop with the help of Hoagie Gilligan. Now, he was out for sweet revenge.

"Heh heh heh…" Fanny was out on a shopping spree with Rachel and the other ladies, so he was free to do as he wished. Panini was out with her mother – apparently today was a mother and daughter bonding day for all the previous KND operatives, and if they didn't have daughters, they brought along their reluctant sons – and Francis was probably with Cheren at Moonbase.

Patton opened Fanny's underwear drawer. He grinned while sliding the snake into a position that made it seem as if it was living in that drawer before closing it shut. He then went to the computer and opened the computer's Word program before typing something. On the chair, he put the tacks.

What did he do with the jar of toenails? He took one of her older Rainbow Monkeys – for some reason Fanny never grew out of them – and made it hold the jar open before displaying it on a shelf for Fanny to see.

"This'll be good!" Patton snickered, sneaking out of the room only to bump into his son, Francis.

Francis yelped, waving his arms around. "I SWEAR ON NUMBUH ZERO I DIDN'T PUT SPIDERS IN PANINI'S DRESSER!"

"… Spiders?" Patton stared at his son. Except for the orange hair and freckles – inherited from his 'darling' mother – he was Patton's carbon copy, down to the hair style and the beanie – which was black instead of orange – and to the height. "Francis, just what did you do?"

Francis looked down. He was just nine years old, and Panini was eight. "I-I put fake s-spiders in Panini's dresser drawer… then I glued together all of her Barbie dolls by their hair…"

"Oh no…" Patton paled. It was no secret that Panini had inherited Fanny's explosive temper – hey, she was her carbon copy except for the fact that her hair was pitch-black – and the fact that they picked the same day to prank the two would make for an explosive reaction. "You know what happens when Mommy gets angry, right, Francis?"

Francis paled as well. "Yes, Daddy…"

"And you know what happens when little Pansy's angry, right?" Patton said.

The young boy nodded. "Daddy… what do we do?"

"We've got at least one minute to get away from here. I saw them coming a block away." Patton calculated before the door swung open, revealing Fanny and Panini. The mother was looking pleased while the daughter looked sulky, wearing an Irish-themed dress. "Oh, hey Fanny! Hey Panini! Francis and I were just about to go out!"

Fanny stared at her husband. He looked jumpy. "An' jus' where do ya think yer goin'?" she asked in her sharp accent.

"We're gonna go beat Cheren and his dad at Space Zoids!" Francis babbled, tugging on his father's sleeve nervously. "C'mon, Dad, let's go! Or else we'll lose the bet!"

Patton saluted to his wife and daughter before he and Francis zoomed towards the boy's S.C.A.M.P.E.R., flying for Moonbase. Fanny and Panini stared upwards before shrugging and entering their rooms.

Then, the world exploded.

"EEEEEEEK! MY BARBIE DOLLS!"

"TOENAILS! DISGUSTING!"

________________________________________

"Dad…" Francis asked quietly as his father maneuvered the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. to Moonbase.

Patton focused on the sky. "What is it, son?"

"Why is Mom scary when she's mad? Why is Panini scary when she's mad?" Francis asked curiously.

Patton flinched as he heard Fanny and Panini screeching from a C.O.O.L.-B.U.S. flying alongside them. "Because they're ladies, and ladies shouldn't be messed with. That's a lesson you should keep for your whole life."

"Then why did you marry Mom?" Francis asked slyly.

The man looked at his son. "That, Francis, is another story."


We'll end this with a smaller, casual segment debuting the GKND leaders.



Stars




A girl with brown skin, black and white hair, a black tux, black pants, black shoes, and a yellow left eye and black right eye tapped a pencil to her chin, eraser side, pondering thoughts as she stared at the piece of paper on her desk. Her door knocked, and she said, "Come in."




A boy, her younger brother, walked in. The right half of him was white while the left was black, including his hair. He wore a tux with black and white vertical stripes and had black eyes. "Hey, Nebula. Whatcha doin'?" he asked in a Jamaican accent.

"Hi Jerome. Just doing a little homework. Cruddy poetry. I can never think of what to write about."

"Mmmm… what about stars?"

"Stars?"

"Yeah. We live in Star Haven, anyway."

Nebula stood up and looked outside her window at the star-filled sky, the young Star Kids of Star Haven and Wisps flying about. It was a rather beautiful setting. It was always nighttime where they lived, or at least seemed nighttime, as the dark-blue sky was always filled with bright stars, and the river glinted their reflection. "Hmmm… Sounds kinda cliché, don't it?"

"I guess so. But considering what we do and where we live, it would be kind of typical, wouldn't it."

"Yeah… I guess." Nebula smiled, and decided to write about it.

 

[Gamen Watch]

This large batch of one-shots will introduce more Nextgenners, such as Eva's children! These are also some of the first Nextgen fics I wrote, so beware of corny dialogue.




Just Like Us


It was a peaceful summer's day when two children, a boy and a girl, were playing a game of Sonic Adventure 2 2-player mode. The boy wore a blue sweater, darker blue jeans, messy blonde hair, brown eyes, and had slight sun-tanned skin, while the girl wore a white T-shirt, black jeans, had black hair and matching eyes. The boy played as Sonic while the girl played as Amy in the stage, City Escape. Just before the boy could touch the Goal Ring, the girl used Amy's Time Stop, allowing her to pass him and win the stage.

"WOOHOO! And Melody owns you once again!" she cheered, doing a victory dance.

"Hey, no fair! You totally cheated!"

"It ain't cheating if they put it IN the game!

"Won't be cheating if I burn your butt either!"

"Someone's asking for a waterbending slice!"

"And someone's BEGGING to have their hair singed!"

"Are you challenging me?"

"Bring it, Mel!"

"YOU bring it, Chris!"

Chris stood and held flames in both hands, and Melody bent water out from a bottle. Rather than use their elements, the two suddenly tackled and began rolling and tugging each other on the floor.

"Alright, that's enough, you two!" They stopped fighting to see both their parents looking shamefully at them. "Chris, what did we tell you about using your powers?" Rachel asked.

Chris sighed, "Only use them for good, not petty fighting."

"Same to you, Melody." Eva scolded. She had orange hair done in a ponytail, a red top, and blue sarong. "If you're gonna beat your cousin, do it safely."

"Now, apologize." Nigel demanded. He was baldheaded with a plain gray shirt.

The two turned to each other and said, "Sorry." in unison.

"Good!" Kade Jackson chirped. "Now, come on, Mel! Let's go work on your jokes!" The man walked away, his daughter following.

"Chris, wanna go practice with your brother?" Rachel asked.

"Sure, whatever." With that, they walked away as well.

Nigel and Eva watched them leave, smiling. "Aren't they something, Nigel?" Eva asked.

"Yep! Just like us."

"Yep! Only MY daughter's inherited her uncle's cheating!"

"I did not cheat!"

"Did too, Rainbow Monkey Lover!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"AUGH!" The two tackled and began fighting each other on the ground.

Rachel, Kade, and the kids came back just to see this. "MOM!" Melody shouted.

"DAD!" Chris shouted.

The two stood up and blushed in embarrassment. "He/She started it!" they both shouted.

The kids smirked while their loved ones looked in disbelief.




Date?


"So, there you have it: despite a rather rough and violent childhood, Boba and Khryssa Fett are happily enjoying their life on Naboo." Melody Jackson spoke as she and her brother, Danny, were currently doing a KNN News segment. Danny was a slightly chubby African-American boy, wearing a blue T-shirt, khaki light-brown pants, and black shoes. "Coming up: we'll see how Ava and Kweeb are enjoying their lives on Aquaria."

"I'm surprised Ava didn't accidentally swallow him through making out by now!" Danny exclaimed, laughing at his joke.

Melody gave a little chuckle as well. "Well said there, Bro. Anyway, thank you for watching and see you next time." After their news segment ended, the news anchor siblings went to get some sodas from the fridge and sat down on the living room couch. "HOO! I can NOT talk that long without having a drink!"

"But since we're waterbenders, wouldn't we salivate more? Or salivate faster? I never noticed."


"Too weird to think about." The two opened their sodas and drank. They stopped after a while and released a sigh.

"Well, our relatives are coming over for family game night. We should probably get ready."

"Oh joy." Melody said, sarcastically. "How nice we get to enjoy a dinner with our egotistic auntie."

"Who? Rachel?"

"Not RACHEL, stupid, I mean Mor-"

"Hey, Numbuh 10.11!" The two turned to Eric Horvitz, a nerdy boy with a reddish-orange shirt with pockets, khaki gray shorts, brown shoes, short brown hair, glasses, and buckteeth.

"Hey, Eric." Melody greeted.

"Great segment today! Even better than the story about Dillon York catching Mason and Sheila making out in the Moonbase closet!"

"Well, I couldn't have done it without your brilliant paper organizing skills!" Melody complimented.

"Or Dillon's shadowbending!" Danny mentioned.

Eric blushed and chuckled nervously. "Well, my mom taught me well!"

"Anyway, we should probably go get ready for dinner." Melody said as she got up and walked past Eric.

"W-Wait!" Melody stopped at Eric's call. She turned to him as he scratched his head. "Um…are you doing anything tomorrow night?"

"Um…I don't think so."

"Really? Cool! Um, I was wondering if you wanna come over to my place. I just bought the new Avatar documentary on DVD. You could come over, and we could watch it, or something…"

"Well, sure! Hey, would you mind if I invited that cute Tom boy over, too? There is just something about that boy that heats me UP!"

"NO!! TOM TAYLOR IS NEVER SETTING FOOT IN MY HOUSE!"

Melody giggled playfully. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I don't wanna invite anyone! Sure, I'll come over!"

"YYYES! I have a DATE!"

"Date?"

"Ooh!" Eric covered his mouth in embarrassment and blushed. "Er, I mean, that is-"

"Oh, Eric, you silly!" Melody giggled, playfully pinching his cheek. "But it's no pressure, really. I'm just coming over to hang out. No big deal!"

"Uh…hehe. Okay." With that, Eric made for the exit. "Well, see you tomo—WHOA!" He screamed as he tripped on his shoelaces on the way out.

The nerdy boy blushed as Melody laughed. "If only you could tie as well as you organize." Melody walked over, bent down, and tied his laces together. "There you go. Won't trip very much like that."

Eric blushed once more. "Uh…thanks!" He chuckled nervously on his way out.

"Hehe! Well, Danny, time to get ready for game night."

"Okay." The siblings headed out the exit as well.




"Hey, that reminds me, how many are coming exactly?" Melody asked.

"Uncle Nigel felt the need to include the whole family."

"Oh joy… Nothing like being in a house with a jillion relatives."




"Our family's not THAT big, Melody!"




"Is it not?"




"Uh…" Danny considered their own family, the Uno Family, even the Dimalantas, Beans, and McClearys were technically their cousins. "I mean, it could be worse."




Popularity


The Kids Next Door Bike Hub was roaring with cheering kids as two operatives raced at high-speeds across the track. Mike Strongarm, Leader of the Bike Hub, wore a determined look, his feet swift as he spun the pedals of his bike. He wore a white T-shirt with purple stripes on its sides, matching pants, shoes, and a white helmet with purple to the side. Beside him, his rival, Terry Stork, a boy with a light-blue shirt, with longer dark-blue sleeves, and black pants and dark-gray rubber shoes, wore a frown with gritted teeth, extremely desperate to best the Bike Hub leader.

In the audience, a nerdy girl with blonde, messy hair, a white lab coat, yellow T-shirt underneath, purple and white shoes, and purple square glasses couldn't help but stare closely at the biker that was in the lead. She sighed dreamily. "He's so cool…"

Melody and Danny Jackson were standing beside her. "Well, you gonna ask him out or what?" Melody asked bluntly.

Emily jumped with a start. "What? No way! What if he thinks I'm a total nerd?"

"You are a total nerd, Emily!" Danny exclaimed, earning him a punch in the arm from Melody. "Ow! But like, what's wrong with that?"

"Hmm… I don't know."

"Come on, after the race, you should go over and talk to him." Melody encouraged.

Right at that moment, Mike came in victorious, getting off his bike and doing a victory dance. "And the winner is, once again, Numbuh 78-Speed, Mike Strongarm! And Terry Stork will need to pick up the pace for next time." announced Zach Murphy.

Terry Stork kicked his bike to the ground hatefully, and his shadow patted his shoulder as he stomped away.

"This is reporter Zach saying: if comedy doesn't work out for me, this might be my fallback career. And that… would be boring…"

"Now's your chance." Melody whispered. "Go talk to him." She pushed Emily in Mike's direction.

While Mike waved to his fans, Emily approached nervously, a red blush clearly visible on her face. "Uh…w-wow, Mike! You looked so cool in that race!" she said sheepishly.

"Always good to meet a fan." Mike smiled coolly. "Hey, aren't you that girl that works at the museum?"

"Y-Yeah! I'm, uh… Emily. N-Numbuh 303! I'm the one that told the history of the Negatar Realms, like how the first human poisonbenders established-"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember that!" he laughed, waving his hands. "Er, mostly…"

"Oh… sorry. I guess I can sort of ramble like that sometimes. To tell the truth, I'm still not sure if I'll stick with the museum or the science lab. I kinda jump between both, hehe."




"Well, depends what you like better, I guess. So, uh… wanna hang out sometime? When we're off duty?"

"Uuuuhh, sure!" Emily smiled, blushing madly deep down. "We could play videogames! D-Do you like… Star Fox?"

"Hehe, I could try! And, uh… I could use a little help on some math… if it's not too much trouble." He asked shamefully and sheepishly.

Emily laughed. "Sure thing. See you later?"

"See ya!" Mike got on his bike and rode away.

Emily waved good-bye, still blushing as Melody and Danny approached. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Mel asked.

"Heck no! I have a date!! WOOHOO!"

"You're not gonna die from the heat, are you?" Danny asked jokingly.

"Ehh, she'll be fine." Melody said. "Heck, she's doing better than a certain somebody I know."

As she thought of the boy in question, Eric Horvitz had gotten his shoelaces tangled up in his bike pedals, lost somewhere on the race course. It took quite a few hours for anyone to find him.

It's time to introduce the children of Harvey and Shaunie!




Practice


A normal day in West Virginia. The weather was nice. The air was quiet. Anthony McKenzie stared fiercely at his opponent, his bare feet locked firmly to the ground. Anthony wore a light-green T-shirt, tan khaki pants, had brown eyes, sandy-blond hair, buckteeth, and freckles. He was an earthbender and he did his best to get in touch with his element.

Which brings us to his opponent: a simple boulder, twice his own height. He stood under a towering cliffside within a forest. It may've been just a boulder, but Anthony needed to be steady. He kept his firm stance. He flexed his toes between the dirt. For in order to best this rock, he must be like a rock himself.

Anthony took a deep breath through his nose, then released calmly. He kept his stance for 10 minutes… but now he was ready. He raised his right foot and stomped with great force before throwing both fists against the boulder. "GUAH!" Immediately, the force sent him flying backward several feet. "Owww…" Needless to say, his head was aching from the impact.

"Ha ha ha HAA!" came the feminine laughter from a voice Anthony knew too well. "Prithee: yon boulder wast too MUCH for Anthony! HA ha ha ha!"

Floating above him, Anthony's best friend, Fybi Fulbright. She had frizzy orange hair, freckles on her cute face, and vibrant emerald-green eyes. She wore a dark-green sweater, khaki-brown skirt, and brown Greek sandals. She had pinkish-yellow angel wings in the shape of hearts. Her mother was a Nimbi; an angel person, and her father was human. She had a high Scottish accent.

She had very small feet compared to Anthony's, and while Anthony's were rough and dirty, Fybi's were smooth and soft. While Anthony's element was Earth, Fybi was an airbender. She rarely ever walked, and instead preferred to use her wings. In short, they were total opposites.

"It's NOT funny, Fybi!" Anthony yelled grumpily. "Uuuuugh!" The boy stood up and stomped angrily toward the boulder. "I don't get it! I stood here for TEN minutes, 'bein' a rock', and I STILL can't EARTHBEND! Why did I get giant feet if they weren't gonna help me push a BOULDER??"

"Mayhap yon boulder hath yonder brain. Ha ha HA!" Fybi laughed.

"Huuuuuh. What're you doing here anyway, Fybi?"

"Prithee, canst a friend not come to offer her support?" Fybi smiled as she lightly seated herself atop Anthony's head. "They say laughter be-eth the finest of medicines, so mayhap mine laughter givest thee strength to bend."

"Well, it DOESN'T. It makes me feel WORSE."

Fybi hovered off his head and landed to face him. "Pray, how sad. The mocking laughter worketh for Cheren all the time, when fair cousin Panini dost it to him. Mayhaps thou art just weak. 'Tis no wonder thou canst not bend."

"What would THAT have to do with anything?? Michelle was only TWO when SHE began bending! And she was already GREAT at it! How come she and MOM could lift a boulder with one hand and I can't even PUSH IT??"

"I doth not know. But most earthbenders possesseth unbreakable, rock hard spirit. Mayhaps thine doubt in thyself ist what maketh thee slump?"

"Well, why WOULDN'T I doubt myself? My sister's a buhmillion times better than me. Do you know how many times she's buried me halfway in the ground and laughed 'cause I couldn't get out?? I just wanna… nnnn!" Filling with rage, he swung his foot and kicked the boulder. "YOW!!" he stubbed his toes as a result.

Anthony's pain eased when Fybi put a hand on his shoulder. "Anthony… I am sorry thou feelst so small compared to thine sister… but thou mustn't let her laughs break thy stone heart. If there ist one thing thou hast over thine sister, it is thy years of pain and suffering through mastering thine element."

"(Sigh, can't you talk normally for once?) But how is THAT better over Michelle?"

"Michelle hast accomplished so much, through simple skill and talent. She wilt never know what true pains and struggles most must endure, to achieve the simplest of tasks. In time, Anthony, thou wilt be a powerful earthbender, but only after much toil and hardship. But such toil and hardship would feelst rewarding, once thou hast conquered it, and used it against thine sister. One day, she wilt lay defeated, and you shalt stand tall."

And just like that, Anthony's negative feelings were gone. He suddenly had a new purpose. …If he translated what Fybi was saying correctly. "…So you're saying… if I keep practicing… I might get strong enough to beat Michelle?"

"Aye. Thou willst." Fybi nodded. "And always know… thou hast my support." And the angel planted a small kiss on his cheek.

Anthony's face froze, and his cheeks turned red. He shook it off a few seconds later, smiling with confidence. "Well… thanks, Fybi." The McKenzie boy climbed and stood atop the boulder with sureness. "I'm gonna keep trying and KEEP getting stronger! And one day, I'll pick this boulder up, and bury HER in the dirt! Just you WAIT, MICHELLE! I—whoooOOA!" He lost balance and fell off the boulder.

Fybi shook her head, smiling. "Thou wilt need to work on thine stance…"

This one-shot introduces Anthony's sister.




Memories


The hot noon sun shone bright in the cloudless sky. Summer was just starting, and the weather has been boiling these past few days. Rachel Uno was enjoying the warm weather, lying back in a lawn chair in the backyard of their house. Her gold-blonde hair was wrapped in a ponytail, wearing only a bright-blue bellybutton shirt, short blue jean-shorts, and blue flip-flops, having her left leg crossed over her right, and her head rested on her hands.

"Geh! Give it back!"

Although she wasn't the Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door anymore, she still got to use her leadership skills in her new job, as the current principal of Gallagher Elementary. In fact, Dimentia got to do the same thing, as principal of the new Galaxia School. Like her KND job, it was pretty stressful, and almost every day she came home, she always took the time to relax.

"No! It's mine!"

Unlike her husband, Nigel, she always loved sunbathing. The warmth of the sun's rays, mixed with the cool breeze on her skin, always made her feel at peace.

"Come on, Michelle, give it back."

But it wasn't entirely peaceful today. Her 7-year-old nephew and 5-year-old niece were currently over. She frowned in slight annoyance, glancing to them on the other side of the yard, standing on the porch and tugging on a Nintendo 4DS. Anthony McKenzie, with his little sister, Michelle. And they were her brother, Harvey's, and his wife, Angie's kids. Michelle looked a lot like Angie like her brother did Harvey. Michelle wore a brown sweater, had dark-red hair, bright-blue eyes, and a purple skirt. She wore no shoes like her mom and brother, since they were earthbenders.

But every time she saw them bickering, she always forgot they were siblings. When she looked at them, all she saw was her baby brother fighting with the girl next door that always bugged him, just like the old days.

As the two kept trying to pry the device away from each other, Michelle stomped the ground and jabbed Anthony away with an earth chunk, jumping in victory after finally retrieving it. Anthony gritted his teeth in anger and attempted to send an earthquake toward her, stomping the ground, but accidentally sent it across the yard toward the relaxing woman. The quake pushed the chair over, knocking Rachel on the ground.

Anthony backed away in fright as Rachel got up and glared at them, and Michelle immediately pointed to her brother. "Anthony did it!"

"WHAT? You made me! Quit lying, Michelle!"

"Start truthing, Anthony!"

"That's not even a word!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"HARVEY, ANGIE, will you STOP-…" Rachel stopped herself, forgetting who they were. "Uh… I mean, Anthony, Michelle! Can't you take this somewhere else?"

"She started it!" Anthony refuted. "It's still MY turn with the DS!"

"Nuh-uh. Mom says we each get two hours per turn, and Anthony's is way past up."

"It is not."

"Alright, alright. Anthony, when did you get it?" Rachel asked.

"Three."

"And… what time is it now?"

Michelle checked the time on the 4DS. "5:02!"

"Okay, then it's Michelle's turn now."

"Yyyyes!" Michelle cheered.

"Aw, come on, Aunt Rachel! I-" Anthony tried to argue.

"Anthony…" Rachel glared. "Do you want your mom to take away your extra cookies?"

Anthony gulped and finally gave in. "Fine." He grumbled, stomping away.

"Thank you, Aunt Rachel!" Michelle hummed merrily to herself, skipping back in the house.

With them gone, Rachel set her lawn chair back up and went back to sunbathing, smiling and chuckling to herself. "Oh, Harvey. You really know how to raise your kids…"

This segment introduces Ava and Kweeb's kids in some adorable family bonding!




Alien Mother's Day


The tropics of Planet Aquaria were the perfect place to build a house and raise a family in peace. The weather was always fair, they had good food, and even T.V.. The daughter of the family, 9-year-old Makava, decided to spend a lazy afternoon watching reruns. She was defined by yellow skin with a tall antenna rising from her black, ponytailed hair, along with a purple dress. A swordsgirl in training, Makava's skin color was certainly unseen for Glomourians.

"We now return to The Amanda Show. Edited for aliens."

"It's TIME for an Asteroidbilly Moment!" The T.V. showed a couple alien hillbillies skip out of a house on an asteroid, chuckling crazily.

"Hey, hey! Knock-knock!"

"Huhu, who's there?!"

"Photon Phlaser!"

"Huhu, Photon Phlaser, who?!"

"Haha, Ah'm gonna hit ya in the head with a Photon Phlaser!"

"Huhu…huh?" The female asteroidbilly immediately whipped out a ray gun, firing a large, green laser straight at the male's head, burning it clean off. The female watched his body drop as she continued to dance and laugh.

Makava heard some small panting and looked over the couch. "Makava!" A tiny boy was hurrying frantically over the carpet. He was an inch tall, with white skin, big ears, puffy black hair, a blue jumpsuit, and black boots. "Don't tell her where I am!" the boy pled as he ran under the couch.

Vweeb was a year older than Makava, but remarkably smaller. His skin tone was more known for Glomourians, but Vweeb was born as the Kateenian of the family, inheriting his father's technical know-how and natural sneakiness.

Makava heard some footsteps approaching, automatically knowing it was their mom, because she and Makava were the only regular-sized people in the house. Makava went back to watching T.V., pretending nothing happened as Ava walked in. She was a tall and sturdy Glomourian warrior with thick proportions, her dress and hair a mirror of Makava's. With hands on her hips, Ava studied the floor. "Makava, have you seen your brother anywhere?"

"Uh, nope. Have you tried looking under your nose?"

Ava rolled her eyes downward and rubbed the bottom of her nose with her right index. "Nope."

"Between your toes?"

Ava looked down at her feet, spreading her toes for confirmation. "Not there. Now, where could he be?"

Vweeb ran to hide behind the back-left couch leg. His mother's colossal feet came thudding behind the couch, each step a small earthquake to the little Kateenian. The Glomourian crouched down and examined the underside of the couch. When she crawled around to the side, Vweeb sidled around the leg to stay out of her vision. He saw her stand up and walk to the front of the couch, so Vweeb ran to the leg on the other side to squeeze behind it as she looked around.

Makava internally wondered what Vweeb might've done to warrant hiding. Being as tall and strong as she was, it was very unwise to upset their mother. For the males, this was especially true: their smallness made them very susceptible to intimidation, so Ava could easily keep them in line if she needed to. She certainly wasn't a cruel or controlling mother, but a gentle grip of her bulky fingers or an occasional stomp of her foot usually silenced any misbehavior.

When Ava began to search elsewhere, Vweeb took this time to run out from under the couch to the living room table, laughing as he grabbed hold of the table's leg. "Haha! Safe!"

Ava looked down and saw her son smirking victoriously. "Aw, you clever little sneak! Where were you?"

"That's for me to know and you to find me there!"

Ava giggled as she bent down to pick up her little son, setting him in her left palm. "Well, you truly are the Hide-and-seek Prince."

"Oh, is that what you were doing?" Makava asked. "I thought Vweeb got in trouble for crashing the hovercraft again."

"Nah, we're just playing a little game." Ava assured. "And now that we've worked up some energy, it's time to go shopping!"

"Then let's-a go!" Vweeb chirped.

Twinkly Mart

Set inside a glass dome atop an asteroid in the vastness of space, Twinkly Mart was a colorful rest spot on the star-glittered void. Upon finding her favorite squid soup on a high shelf, Ava reached up and pulled one down, then tried to grab another one, but it seemed too far back. "Ugh, they always put 'em where you can't reach."

"You mean, put 'em where YOU can't reach! Put me up there." Vweeb requested. Ava lifted her diminutive son onto the top shelf. The Kateenian ran behind the large can and, despite his small height, was able to push it over the edge for Ava to grab it.

"Haha! And they say tall boys are better!" Ava chortled.

On their way to the check-out line, Vweeb spotted a few familiar faces. "Mom, look! It's Arianna!"

Arianna Dunfree had purple skin with long, grass-green hair and two antennae. She wore a yellow- and green-striped shirt and khaki pants. "Hey, Cosmo, Nova!" Ava called to the girl's parents, green and pink-skinned respectively.

"Ava!" Nova called out in surprise.

"So, what's up with you two?" Cosmo asked, the family approaching her.

"Just shopping with Vweeb here."

"Heh, same here." Cosmo laughed. "The ladies were starving for Floran Carrots."

"Hello, Vweeb." Arianna smiled and waved upon spotting him.

"Hi, Ari!"

"Mrs. Vweeb's Mom, can I hold him for a little bit?"

"Hehe!" Ava knew her surname would be too hard for Ari to pronounce. "It's up to you, Vweeb."

"Yeah!" Arianna held her hands open, allowing Vweeb to jump onto them. The Harnitan carried him a short distance away, leaving their parents to chat. "Heh heh…" Vweeb sported a blush. "Pretty embarrassing, huh?"

"Why? Don't you like spending time with your mom? I think it's cute!"

"I do, but it makes me feel like a total softie. I can just imagine all the other kids calling me 'mama's boy.' I see her training Makava every other time, but… I feel like she still thinks I'm a little kid."

"Well, it is hard to tell how much you've grown."

"Ari!"

"Sorry!" she flushed blue. It was true, though. Vweeb and Ari had known each other since she was six and he was five years old. They were kindergartners of vastly different height, but a cute, friendly bond. As they grew older, Arianna would only grow huger in Vweeb's eyes, while he himself only looked the same to her. It would astonish Vweeb when all the kids he knew would grow into full adults. By then, would they still be seeing Vweeb as a cute little boy? "Um…have you ever asked if your mom could train you, too?"

"I don't know if I would make a good swordsman. You think giving the enemy little pokes would be helpful?"

"I don't know, but it could be good exercise. You should ask her!"

"Okay…"

"Alright, Vweeb, ready to go?" Ava asked, returning to collect the little man.

"See you later, Arianna!"

"Take care, you two!"

Parting ways with the Harnitan-Pumparian family, Ava stood at the back of the check-out lane. "So, you want some advanced training, huh?"

"Y-you were listening?!" Vweeb jumped.

"Sometimes, my ears can't help it! And to be honest, I was planning to give you my own brand of training, anyway. The universe has a lot of big enemies out there. You'll need to learn the right ways to defend yourself."

"Yeah…" The very idea had always been a concern on Vweeb's mind. "Hey, Mom… do you really think someone like me can make it as an operative?"

"Of course you can. The Kateenians are a strong and resilient race, just like the Glomourians. You just need to be brave, smart, fast, and wary. It won't be easy, but I know you can do it. 'Cause underneath that teeny cuteness is a big, strong man!"

"Ha ha ha…" Vweeb blushed, thankful for her encouragement. "…Say, Mom, when are we gonna visit your home planets, anyway?"

"Um…when the time is right." Ava frowned.

"But when's that?"

"It's sort of complicated, Vweeb. Nothing you need to worry about now…"

 

[Gamen Watch]

This next session will highlight the Murphy kids. Zach and Maddy were created by Numbuh 227, who requested the general plot lines of these segments.

Drowning

"Ahhh, Hotel Delfino." Gwen Murphy sighed as she, her husband, and their three-year-old twins stood before the entrance of a fancy hotel overlooking the sea. "The smell of the ocean, comfy rooms… and being away from home where Nolan's all crazy with his Sandman II crud."

"Didn't this use to be a restaurant?" Doug asked.

"Yeah, but they remade it into a hotel to make more money. Anyway, let's go get signed in. Come on, kids."

As the parents walked in, Maddy was about to follow them, but watched as her twin brother walked away into the bushes. "Zaaach! We're supposed to stay with ouw pawents!"

"But I thaw a theathnake!"

Maddy spared one quick glance to her parents and yelled, "Waaaiit!" chasing after her brother.

Maddy followed her brother down a steep slope to a rocky shore that overlooked the sea. "Zach, I weally think we should-" Maddy stopped when she bumped into her brother from behind.

"Whooa. Look at that." Zach said, pointing ahead. Standing along the rocks, overlooking the sea, was a woman with dark-purple hair and a purple, slick gown.

"Is that Misses Wicken?" Maddy asked.

"Why would she be hewe? Let's go closer."

"Zach, wait!" Maddy chased her brother again.

The strange woman spared a glance to her left to see the kids approaching. She smirked and chuckled to herself as she walked further ahead, disappearing over the other side of the hill. Zach and Maddy made it onto the hill where she stood, overlooking a cliffside where waves brushed strongly against it. "Whewe did she go?" Maddy asked.

"I dunno." Zach walked closer toward the edge and called out. "Hellooo?"

Maddy walked beside her brother and yelled, "HELLOOO?"

The woman quietly stood behind them, smirking to herself as her hair began to wave around. One of her hair strands stretched out along the ground like a snake, slithering closer and closer to Maddy as it…

"AHHH!" The snaky hair shoved the unsuspecting child over the ledge.

"MADDY!" Zach tried to grab her arm, but Maddy fell and splashed in the water. "Whuh-" Zach noticed the snaky hair beside him and turned as it retracted into the woman's head. "Hey!" Before his eyes, the woman vanished in a puff of dark smoke.

"Zaaaach!"

Zach gasped and looked over the edge, watching as his sister was washed away by the current. "Maddy!"

"Help! I can't swim-" Her sentence was cut short as she was pulled directly under the water, and Zach gasped in fright. Under the water, Maddy waved her arms and desperately tried to help herself back above the surface, but was pulled down by some curly thing around her legs. She looked down and noticed that same woman smirking while she dragged Maddy down using her hair-tentacle.

Zach was horrified as he watched bubbles emerge from where his sister had sunk, struggling to think straight. "Zach!" He turned as his mother and father hurried over. "What're you doing, where's Maddy?" Gwen asked quickly. Zach frightfully pointed to where the bubbles were coming from. Gwen immediately sucked in a breath and dove beneath the surface, leaving the boys in worry. To their relief, Gwen emerged from the water, holding Maddy tightly in her arms. Doug helped his wife back onto land as she rested Maddy on the ground, the child shivering.

"Honey, are you okay?" Gwen asked worriedly.

"I… never wanna… go swimming… again."

"Maddy-"

"I wanna go home!" she cried.

"It's okay, Maddy. We'll get our stuff and go back home."

"I…I'm sowwy…" Zach muttered in guilt.

Gwen sighed, "Don't worry, Zach. As soon as we get home, we can put this whole thing behind us, okay, Mad?" Gwen held her daughter's hand as the parents led their kids back up the slope.

Standing along the cliffside, the woman watched the family leave. "Ahhh, the smell of the sea. I haven't felt like this since I stood that sailor boy up a long time ago. Sorry, Palutena… but I've tainted one of your Seven Lights. Can't wait to see what results this has, hm ha ha ha ha ha ha!" The hair on her head transformed into hissing snakes as she vanished from the light.

New Dog


"Mom, Dad, why did we have to come here?" eight-year-old Zach Murphy complained. "I don't even want a pet."

"Your sister wants one." his mother, Gwen replied. "And it's her birthday."

"It's MY birthday, too!" Zach whined.

"Well, you got a new comedy kit." his father, Doug reminded. "Now it's Maddy's turn. Don't you want her to be happy?"

"Meh…"

Maddy Murphy happily skipped ahead of the rest of her family. They soon made it to the Quahog pet store, the walls aligned with stacks of cages of various animals. "Hey, y'all, welcome to Bruce's Pet Shop." The man behind the desk asked in a smooth tone. He had brown hair, a small brown mustache, and a slight 5-o'clock shadow. "Anything I can help y'all with?"

"Hey, Bruce." Doug greeted. "We're looking for a pet for our daughter."

"It's my birthday!" Maddy cheered.

"Oh, y'all a birthday girl!" Bruce smiled. "Well, let's see what we have for y'all today."

First, the man led them to a green parrot in a hanging birdcage. "This here's Flubber Jade, he came all the way from Brazil."

"Does it talk?" Zach asked.

"Nope! Just sits there and smiles like a dumbass!" the parrot said. "Squawk!"

"Eh…" Maddy looked uninterested.

"Let's look at other ones." Bruce said, leading them to a fish tank. "We just got this rare goldfish that feels human emotions."

Maddy looked at the goldfish, who stared back. "Well, it looks kinda cool."

"GET ME OUTTA HERE!" the fish suddenly yelled. "I'VE BEEN TRAPPED IN A FISH'S BODY AND SOLD TO THIS SHOP! LET ME OUUUT!"

"Euh! Never mind! That fish is freaky!"

"Suck on a salt lick, ***." the fish said with anger.

"Actually… I've sort of always wanted a puppy." Maddy said.

"A dog?? Can't we at least get a cat or something?" Zach asked.

"A dog would be nice." Doug shrugged.

"Well, this weird man showed up yesterday and sold us a brown German shepherd." Bruce said. "Jeffrey? Could you let the new dog in here?" he called to the other room.

At his call, a small, brown German shepherd scampered in, wagging its tail and panting with its tongue sticking out. The puppy immediately took notice of Maddy and smiled, running and standing to lean its paws on her as it licked her face. "Ha ha!" Maddy giggled. "It's so cute!"

"I'M cuter than that little runt!!" the fish yelled.

"Squawk!" the parrot chirped. "You ain't even cute enough to be a dumpster baby's 4th​ choice!"

"Looks like we got a buy." Gwen figured.

"Awww! I hate dogs. Do we really have to buy this?" Zach whined.

"Bwark! Little boy's jealous of the new puppy. Bwark!" the parrot squawked.

"What's its name?" Doug asked.

"Fellow said his name was Sparky. But I guess y'all c'n name him whatever." Bruce said.

"Sparky… I like that name!" Maddy smiled.

"Meh. It's okay, I guess." Zach shrugged.

"Aw, I'm glad you like him. Hey, Jeffrey!" Bruce called. "These li'l kids wanna buy the new puppy."

"Noooo waaay!" Jeffrey called from the other room.

"Way!"

"Oh, no!"

"Ah knooow!"

Maddy continued to giggle as the puppy licked her face, while Zach just frowned in disgust.

Unknown Location

In a pitch-black chamber, two beings watched a large monitor that showed from the eyes of the dog as it licked Maddy's face. "It worked, Lawrence! With my very own robo-puppy, we'll be able to keep an eye on this child at all times!" A tall, thin being said in a psychotic voice.

"Hm, indeed, Sir. But what need is there to spy on this particular child?" the other being, a shorter, slightly chubby butler, asked in a British tone.

"How should I know?! All I know is the Master wants us to keep an eye on her. As long as things go according to plan, I shall finally have my revenge on that Lombax. MWAAH HA HA HA-" His laughing was cut short when the monitor's screen turned to static, then switched to the image of a bunch of cowboys square-dancing.

"Oh dear… must've set the satellite transmission to the Cowboy Channel by accident."

"LAWREEEEEEEEENCE!"

Jealous

It was just a normal day up on Moonbase. Normal as it gets, anyway. The place seemed packed with benders and nonhumans today. Sheila Frantic, Fybi Fulbright, and Lola Stork were soaring around the air and tossing a Whizbee, along with the shadowbenders, Dillon, Lee, and Leanne, who popped and flew out of the shadows to take the Whizbee. Their very presence here made Maddy Murphy look in disgust. She didn't understand what they were thinking 20 years ago, letting people like them in such an otherwise great organization. They ruined the purity of what this organization used to be, stole all the glory from the normal operatives.

The decommissioning officer walked into the cafeteria with a frustrated look as she got a soda from the vending machine. "Stupid freaks…" she mumbled. "Why can't we just deport them. YOW!" she yelped and gripped her bottom when a flame hit her from behind.

"What was that?" Maddy turned and found a boy with messy blonde hair, a blue tracksuit and jeans, and red headband, who smirked as he blew smoke away from his fingertip.

"Uuugh. Whaddyou want, Chris?" she hatefully asked, taking the soda from the machine.

"Can't blame a kid for being curious. What do you have against us, anyway?"

"What wouldn't I have?" she asked, cracking open her soda as she faced away. "What're you even good for? All you people like to do is show off your powers and act better than everyone—YOW!" Chris burned her butt again.

The Uno boy blew the smoke away and said, "Well, you can't blame us for wanting to express ourselves. And when was the last time we said we were better than any of you?"

"Well, you're sure acting like it right now. For all we know, you all are gonna take over the world someday, and—YOOOW!" Burned her butt again. "Seriously! You're ruining my pants!"

"If we wanted to take over the world, we all probably wouldn't be here right now. But we are. Honestly, Maddy, I think you're just jealous."

"Jealous? Of what? That I can't have cat ears and a tail, or fly like a raccoon, or an angel, or a bat? And why do you care anyway, Chris? Is it because of what we say about Dillon?"

"Well, he is one of my friends. But I just want you to know, you and Zach don't need to hate on us like you do. The Kids Next Door's a way better place for accepting all these people, I would think. You ever see Sector W7? They're the perfect example."

"Pfft. Sector W7 is the worst."

"I think they symbolize what we're about perfectly. But just because you're a regular human, you don't need to feel jealous."

"I said I wasn't jealous! I just don't think it's right to have them around."

"Maddy, everyone says that. But I've seen the way you act. You feel weak. You feel powerless next to us. But you don't really have to. We're just the same as regular humans. Just… with powers."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the whole story, my mom keeps trying to tell me. But why shouldn't I? Almost every bad guy in KND history was some kind of metahuman, even the GUN Commander. Why shouldn't I hate them?"

"Well, because that hate might actually drive them to become evil. But not all of us think we're better than you. Frankly, I think you're kinda cool."

Maddy faced him curiously, "What does that mean?"

"I dunno. You're tough, I guess. I like tough girls. Not that I'm close to Pan or Sheila that way… Anyway, I need to go." He started to walk off. "But, remember what I said. And you might wanna get those pants fixed…"

"Hmm." Maddy only stood in thought, still holding her soda. "Whatever. The day I give them a chance is the day my brother grows a brain."

And speaking of which, Zach came up from behind, snickering as he pointed at her rear. "Didn't our parents teach you not to sit on the oven?"

"Grrr! ZAAACH!" Maddy hightailed after her laughing brother as she splashed the soda at him.


The following segments will focus on the "Werecat Family." Mind you, these characters will appear the least frequently… to the point I almost never involve them in any later stories. The exception is Rupert. He will be relevant much later on.




Pouncing




A peaceful sunny day at Ashland Park. Bruce Farley, a blonde man with a green sweater, peacefully sat on a bench, reading a newspaper. Unbeknownst to him, a pair of brown eyes was watching him from the bushes. There was a purring sound, like that of a hungry predator. Before he realized it, the adult was tackled to the ground by a girl with blonde hair, a black sweater, blue jeans, white shoes, and brown cat ears and a tail.




"Mommy, Mommy! I got him!" the 5-year-old exclaimed, holding her father down.




Violet, a woman with a black buttoned shirt and similar cat features, stood up from the bushes and walked over. "Good work, Lil!"




"Violet! What are you doing?" Bruce asked.




"Teaching our daughter how to hunt!"




"Vi! She's a half-CAT, not a half-LION!"




"So? Same family."




"Ugh! Okay, get off." Bruce chuckled a little, making his daughter get off for him to stand up. But when he did, Lilac just crouched and tackled him again. "AH!"




"I'm a lion! And YOU'RE an antelope!" Bruce just laughed as Lilac started tugging on his shirt with her sharp teeth.




At that moment, Lilac's aunt and uncle, Scarlet and Yang, and her cousin Berry walked by and noticed them. "What are you DOING?" Berry snapped. A fellow werecat with black ears and tail, Berry had light-brown hair, gray eyes, and a blue shirt and jeans.




"My daddy's an antelope, so I'm gonna EAT him!" she exclaimed, playfully gnawing on his ear.




"Ha ha! Maybe you could if you were a whole cat, but since you're part human, that's called cannibalism, and it's illegal in most parts of the world!"




"WHAT? Big words hurt, Daddy!"




"He means you're not allowed to eat humans, stupid." Berry retorted.




"MOOOM! Berry called me a bad word!"




"Did not."




"Did too!"




"That's enough, you two." Violet said, getting Lilac off of Bruce. "Why don't you two go play? And no more pouncing on your father, Lil."




"Okay. Let's go, Berry!" The two cat children ran off.




After Violet helped Bruce up, the adult tried to walk away, but was then tackled by Violet. "Didn't say I wasn't gonna do it."




"Come on, Vi!"




"RAH!" Lilac screamed, running over to help hold Bruce down.




As Scarlet and Yang smiled at this, Yang worriedly looked around. "Hey… where'd Berry go?"




"YAH!" Berry screamed, leaping out of a bush to tackle her father. As she held Yang down, Scarlet got on and held him down, too.




"You eat the arm, I'll eat the face." Scarlet immediately began making out with Yang as Berry chewed on his right arm.




"OOMPH, OOMPH, OOMPH!" Bruce grunted as Lilac jumped on his chest a few times. Soon, both families were laughing as the kids tried chewing on their parents' arms.


Apology


Berry Bean was a new girl at McClintock Elementary. She was 5 years old and in kindergarten, and had only been going for a few days. She didn't fit in as well as much of the other students. …Mainly because she was a werecat. They were traits she inherited from her mother, which she got when she was young: black cat ears, a tail, and even long claws, on her fingers and toes, which she could grow in and out whenever she liked. She was also very quick like a cat, when she ran on all fours. But because of her different features, she was always picked on. Everyday at recess, she sat alone against the wall in the shadow of the school, staring at the ground with folded arms, like she was now.

Her cat ears perked when she heard a group of footsteps approach. She looked up with disgust as a group of first-graders walked up, led by Rupert Dickson, a blonde boy with an orange shirt and blue jeans. "Heey, look what the cat dragged in! Another cat! Shouldn't you be in your litter box?"

Berry looked away, her eyes furrowing as the kids laughed. While she was used to his simple remarks, they were still hurtful. And annoying.

"Why is she even here?" another kid asked. "Shouldn't she take a class that'll teach her own language?"

Berry growled and stood up, proceeding to walk away as they giggled some more.

"Hey, where are you going? Going to go poop in the bushes?" Rupert shot at her.

"Just leave me alone, Rupert." Berry told him, not turning around.

"Hey, why is your last name 'Bean,' anyway?? Is that because the only thing you eat is BEANS?? Makes sense why you STINK so bad."

Each word was making Berry more and more angry. Her sharp teeth grinded as her fingernails grew into sharp claws. "I wonder how much you go to the bathroom with all those beans?? I bet even other cats stay away from your litter bo-"

"RRRRAAAHH!" Having enough, Berry lunged at the first-grader, pinning him on his back on the ground.

The rest of Rupert's gang only shielded their eyes as Berry showed no mercy. "AAAAHH! STOP IT, STOP IT, YOU'RE HURTING ME, MOOOMMYYY!"

Berry dealt several scratches , getting blood all over her claws. She started gnawing and chewing on his left ear with her sharp teeth when a group of teachers came out, grabbing the cat-girl by the arms and trying to lift her up. "That's enough, young lady, we're calling your parents."

"Someone call an ambulance for this boy."

The following day…

Berry's parents had taken her to St. Sanban's Hospital, making their way to an upstairs, where Rupert's parents, Chad and Emily, were sitting outside of a room. "Is this his room?" Berry's father, Yang asked.

"Yah." Emily nodded.

"Okay, Ber, you know what to do." Berry's mother, Scarlet told her. The young werecat sighed and entered the room by herself.

Inside, she found Rupert Dickson lying on his hospital bed, wrapped in several bandages, with one over his left ear. Following her cat instincts, she pounced onto his bed beside him, sitting on all fours. "Hey, Rupy."

"Arrrr…" Rupert weakly opened his eyes and turned his head. "Oh… hey, Berry."

Berry sighed, her eyes still furrowed. "I'm… sorry. I shouldn't-a done that. But you had it comin'! Just saying."

"Yeah…" Rupert grunted. "I…I'm sorry, too. I was just… I dunno."

"Hmph." Berry maintained her scowl.

"M-My dad… he's always… trying to toughen me up and… making me box with him. I-I guess I thought… I was toughening you up, too."

"I'm already tough. But you hurt my feelings."

"Man, I'm really sorry, Ber. After I get out of here, you think I can… come over? Or somethin'?"

"…Okay." Berry said with a light smirk, licking the boy's left cheek. "Me and Lilac always wanted a bigger toy to play with."

"Hehehehe!"

 

[Gamen Watch]

These next segments introduce the Chariton family! Two of these were initially written for Numbuh 6.13's birthdays.




Happy 33


Streamers, balloons, and colorful party decorations littered the Chariton home as children worked tirelessly to set it all up. They were being ordered around by a girl in a black blouse, blue shirt, tan skin, blue knee-high socks, and brown hair. "Hurry up, you guys! Mom's gonna be home any minute!"

"Why are we helping throw a party for Mrs. Chariton, again?" Mason asked, filling plastic cups full of punch with Sheila and Haruka.

"Didn't she 'elp create you guys, Mate?" Sheila asked.

"What?"

"Er, that's not what she meant." Haruka replied. "She may not be our relative, but she is an old family friend of ours. You know that, right?"

"I mean, yeah… but I just wish it felt a bit less controlling."

"No, no, you're not pumping those balloons hard enough!" Sunni yelled to Harry Gilligan.

"Gee, I'm working hard as I can. My lungs don't have the strength to blow all these up. Couldn't we have invited Fybi?"




"'Cause last time I saw her blow balloons, they popped with the force of small hurricanes that blew down all the party snacks!"

"Um, Sunni, we have a problem." Lee Andrew called, running over beside Leanne. "Our shadows are choking on the scarfs we were gonna use for that party trick."

"Did you tell the shadows they aren't supposed to SWALLOW the scarfs?"

"Hey, guys, here they come!" Cheren yelled, seeing a car coming down the road.

"Quick, everybody hide!" Sunni ordered, switching off the lights as everyone ducked. Mario was about to reach up and grab one of the cookies off the table, but Dillon smacked his hand away and pulled his Shadow down.

The car finally pulled up and stopped on the driveway as Mr. and Mrs. Chariton stepped out. "Rainier, you kept driving us around for HOURS, what are you keeping me so busy for?" Mika asked joyfully. She was a tall Filipino woman with smooth black hair, a red shirt under a black vest and skirt, her glasses matching her shirt.

"Just calm down, Miky, you'll see soon enough." Rainier told her, pulling out his keys and using them to open the front door to their house. Mika's husband had onyx-black hair and dark-violet eyes behind blue glasses.




The whole house was pure darkness, so Rainier switched the lights on, and the children immediately jumped out. "SURPRISE!" Mika was startled and gasped.

"Happy birthday, Mom!" Sunni exclaimed.

"Awe, Sunni! Did you all do this for me?" Mika asked, looking around and seeing many of her friends' kids: Cheren, Chris, Diwata, and Aurora Uno, Harry, Artie, and Haylee Gilligan, Kirie Beatles, Mason and Haruka Dimalanta, Sheila Frantic, Dillon York, Lee and Leanne Grayson, and Daniel and Columbine Whitby.

"We sure did!" Mason exclaimed. "Just to say thanks for being a good friend to all of us."

"Yeah! You're almost as cool as Dad!" Dillon smiled.

"Oh, really, Dillon?" Leanne asked rhetorically. Her Shadow stuck her tongue out at him.

Mika only chuckled. "Oh, you kids."

"Look! We got the cake!" Panini Drilovsky called, walking in from the kitchen with her brother, Francis, as well as Lucario.

"Fresh from the oven." The aura fox smiled. "Baked with all the likes, with a hint of Firstborn chi."

"MEW Mew Mew!" the psychic Firstborn smiled, hovering over the cake. The two Drilovskys set the rectangle-shaped cake down, decorated with mostly white icing, with pink around the edges, a few tiny rings stuck in with pictures of Mew, Regice, and other Pokémon, 13 candles around the cake, and Happy 33, Numbuh June-13 written in pink icing on the center.

"Thirteen candles because that was your Numbuh." Chris told her.

"That's still kind of funny since she was born the 12th." Columbine said.

"Happy 33rd birthday, Mrs. Chariton!" Haruka smiled.

"You're the best, Mom." Sunni smiled.

"Awe, thanks, guys." Mika smiled, taking a seat in front of her cake. "You kids are the best!"




This next part was written after Numbuh 6.13 came up with a second daughter for Mika, thus debuting her and showcasing a piece of their characteristics.




Calm, Cool, and Collected




And so it came to pass that I, Malchior of Nol, did lay siege to the dread dragon, Rorek. Though it did seem that the dragon was greater than my magics could defeat. And… as the fell beast struck… I-

"Give it back, Michelle! It's my turn!"

"No! It's mine!"

Sunni Chariton was interrupted from her reading, angrily looking up at the bickering Anthony and Michelle McKenzie a few feet away. Sunni and her sister were currently at the park, relaxing under the shade of a tree as both of them each held their own book, reading from behind opposite ends of the tree. Sunni was quite enjoying the peace, until the two bickering siblings made their way over and started fighting over a 4DS. Sunni glanced behind the tree, her sister, Darcy rested on her front with her legs sticking up and crossed as she continued to read her book.

Darcy wore a simple spaghetti-strapped black dress cropped above her knees, dotted with purple rosettes, white knee socks, and black Mary Janes. In her hair, she wore a thin black headband with purple roses and purple ribbons. The younger sister had pale, peach-colored skin, onyx black hair that looked midnight-blue (with bangs that border on her eyes), and slanted dark-violet eyes.

"It's my turn to play it this time!" Anthony yelled, still desperately trying to pry the game away from his sister. "Give it back!"

"You tried to take it the first time! This is payback!" Michelle denied.

"Ugh. Aren't you gonna do something?" Sunni asked her sister.

"Eh…it's no big deal." Darcy stated simply, flipping a page.

Furrowing her eyes, Sunni shut her book for a moment and angrily approached the two McKenzies. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" she shouted, making the two cease fighting and frightfully face her. "Michelle, give him the freaking game already and get out of here before I go all mind-freak and make your heads explode!"

Michelle did what she said and shoved the handheld game into Anthony's hands. The two dashed away before the angry psychic could do anything. Sunni breathed a sigh of relief before going back under the tree and continuing to read.

Though it did seem the dragon was greater than my magics could defeat. And… as the fell beast struck! I-

The sounds of loud, obnoxious burping drew Sunni's attention away from the book. She faced ahead with a glare as Mason and Sheila were walking through the park, holding cans of their favorite soda as they threw burps at each other. Both of them ended with rather long burps, but Sheila's was longer, and Mason tried to release another one, but only little puffs of breath came out. "HHAHA! Ah win again, Mate!" the Faunus raccoon exclaimed.

"Not fair, Sheila! You have more soda than me!"

"Nuh-uh! Oi still got a li'le bit left!"

"Me too! Let's go again!"

"Foine!" With that, the two tilted their heads all the way back and engulfed what remained of the cans, releasing more burps. They then quickly pulled out two more cans and drank away. Annoyed by all of this, Sunni shut her book and angrily walked over. She swiped the cans from the two before they could drink again, tossed them in the air, and sent them flying away with an aerial-kick.

The two disappointedly watched their cans fly off in the distance before directing their attention at the angry Sunni. "Now go have your little 'burp-off' somewhere else before I turn you into dung beetles and squish you like BUGS!" Mason and Sheila exchanged frightful glances before backing away from the angry Chariton. With them gone, Sunni proceeded to go back under the tree and pick up her book.

"Turn them into dung beetles?" Darcy asked, disbelieved.

"Well, I can mind-trick them into thinking they're dung beetles, right? Close enough." With that, she continued to read.

-greater than my magics could defeat. And as the fell beast struck… I…-&%(^

"AHH! Stop squirting me, Rupert!" Berry Bean yelled as Rupert Dickson chased her and her cousin, Lilac Farley around with a water gun.

"Yeah, you're getting us wet!" the blonde-haired catgirl yelled.

"Come on, girls! Afraid of a little water?" the Dickson boy asked. While trying to shoot Berry at one point, the werecat jumped out of the way, causing Rupert to squirt Sunni, getting her book wet. "Whoops…" Rupert looked in fear.

Sunni slammed her book shut and angrily approached the Dickson. She used her psychic to lift the squirt gun above Rupert's head, squishing and twisting it up before ripping it in half, making the water spill over him. "Hey!"

"Repeat after me:" Sunni ordered, waving her hand by Rupert's face. "You will listen to what I say."

"I will listen to what you say…" Rupert repeated in a hypnotized tone.

"You will take these girls someplace else where you won't bother me."

"I will take these girls someplace else where we won't bother you…"

"Aww!" Lilac whined.

"You will also be their servant for the next several hours."

"I will also be their servant for the next several hours…"

"And do whatever they say."

"And do whatever they say…"

"Ooooh!" Lilac and Berry drew out in awe. The two 5-year-old werecats took Rupert by the arms and led him off. "Come on, Rupert. We'll let you wear a pretty dress while you trim our claws." Berry smirked.

"Yes, My Master…"

Sunni sighed in relief before going back to read her book under the tree.

And as the fell beast struck, I summoned the forces of my magic book. With a curse more ancient than foul Rorek itself, I-

"Hey, Sunni, what's up!" Sunni's expression turned to pure annoyance when the tiny alien, Vweeb jumped onto her book. Her hands trembled as she strongly resisted the urge to slam the book shut and squish the Kateenian. She looked up as Danny Jackson and Artie Gilligan ran over as well. "Great party for your mom the other day!"

"Yeah, Vweeb fell in the cake and almost got eaten by Sheila!" Danny laughed.

"Uugh! What do you guys want?" Sunni angrily asked.

Vweeb leapt back to stand between Artie and Danny as Danny pulled out a bottle of milk. "We're practicing for a talent show! Watch as the amazing Vweeb chugs down this entire half-gallon of milk!" Danny announced.

"Oh boy…" Sunni stated in disbelief, already knowing where this was headed.

Danny used his waterbending to bend the milk out of the bottle, and Vweeb kept his mouth wide open, letting Danny stuff some of the milk inside the Kateenian, puffing him up. "Now watch this!" Danny instructed as Artie held his mouth open, letting Danny bend the milk inside him. The two squirted the milk out of their noses and successfully shot it into the others' wide-open mouth.

"Euh!" Sunni cringed.

The two kept repeating this process and exchanging the squirted milk. "And now for the finish!" Danny spoke, and Artie proceeded to shoot what remained of his milk inside of Vweeb's mouth.

"Ulp… uh-oh…" Vweeb gulped, beginning to puff up even more. Sunni only put on a grossed and worried look, shielding her face with her book. "PLEEHHHH!" In a matter of seconds, Vweeb had unleashed an explosion of milk all over Sunni's body. "TA-DAAA!"

"So, whaddya think?" Artie asked.

"We're gonna go show Makava and Arianna later!" Danny said. "I think it's pretty neat!"

"AAUGH!" Sunni screamed, using psychic to blow the milk off of her, getting the boys wet. "Will you two just let me READ already?!"

"Alright, alright, geez!" Vweeb said as the boys raised hands in defense and walked away.

"Come on, guys, let's get more milk. Talk about a hothead!" Danny said.

As Sunni angrily sat back down to read, she glanced back at her sister, Darcy, who still lied on her front and swung her feet around in the air, continuing to read. "HOW can you still READ with all this going on?! Don't you get annoyed??"

"Eh… not really. I just go with the flow…" Darcy stated simply, peacefully turning another page in her book.

"Ugh!" Sunni only rolled her eyes.

"OI, EVERYBODY!" Sunni then faced ahead as Mad Mod ran into the center of the park. "Who's ready ta celebrate freedom aftuh nearly 20 years of bein' frozen in liquid nitrogen with a li'le playground roundhouse?!"

"YEEEAAAH!" the many Brotherhood villains cheered, charging into the park to begin wreaking loud, obnoxious havoc.

"Uugh…" Sunni only sat her book down and stood up. "I'll be back in a bit. I need to blow off some steam."

"Later, Sunni." Darcy stated simply, not taking her eyes off the book. With that, the older sister ran off and began pummeling every villain she could.




After a while, Sandman, Coldman, and a bunch of Kids Next Door operatives like Cheren, Aurora, Panini, and Francis ran into the park, the loud explosions and destruction growing even more while Darcy continued to read her book in peace. During which, a few broken, burning playground pieces landed beside her, and a screaming Gizmo ran around her in circles with his butt lit aflame as he flailed his arms. As her eyes kept on the book, she did hear her sister say, "Hey! It's the dragon from the book I was reading!"




This next one was dedicated to real-life Mika's 14th birthday.




Happy 4th




The Lavender Town Park was quite active this morning. At the same time, there was little activity going on. There were lots of kids that morning, but all were standing around, eyes focused on one thing: the little 4-year-old girl bubbly dancing about in one spot, her eyes closed as she made several gestures, such as pouring and drinking tea, getting pelted with several objects to carry, and falling over. To the kids, this was a regular thing to happen daily. The little girl would come to the park and ignore everything around her, acting like she was in her own little world. Some of them thought her to be oblivious, idiotic, or just plain mad.




Of course, little Mikaela Corella really was in her own little world. She only saw herself in Wonderland, partying with the eccentric Mad Hatter and the ecstatic March Hare. They were happily partying at the Tea Party Garden, celebrating Mika's unbirthday, even though it actually was her birthday. Everyone was there, happy to celebrate this special day. Not just the people of Wonderland, but other people, too, such as Pokémon, and strange, gray-skinned people with orange horns on their head. They had a wonderful time. There were messes everywhere. Everyone was happy.

While in the real world, there was nothing going on there at all. Just a weird little girl, with a crazy imagination. Mika Corella.

As Mika partied away in her Wonderland, the Tea Garden around her instantly vanished as a hand grabbed her arm. "Okay, Mika, you can party later." A woman chuckled. Mika opened her eyes at last to find the smiling face of her mother.

On the car ride home, Mika sat in the backseat, eyes focused on a simple pencil as she made it dance around in midair with her telekinesis. "Mommy… am I a weirdo?"

"Hm? Why are you asking that, honey?"

"The kids at the park keep saying I'm a weirdo… and… I keep seeing things no one else can see. I think I'm weird."

The mother chuckled, "Hm-hm, you're not weird, darling. You're just mad."

"Mad?"

"But let me tell you something: some of the best people are."

"Really?"

"Yes, and when we get home, I'd like to show you something."

It wasn't long until they got home, and the mother led Mika upstairs to her room, where she got a book off Mika's nightstand and knelt down to show it to her. "You remember this, don't you?"

"Alice in Wonderland!" Mika cheered her favorite book's name.

"That's right! Alice was a real person, you know."

"She was?"

"Yes! Her adventures were inspirational! Like you, she had a powerful imagination. So powerful, that what she imagined became real."

"So… Wonderland was real?"

"No one knows. It could've been real, or she just imagined it so well, that she thought it was real. But the truth is… that's how a lot of things start. The Great Wall, your school, this house even, all started as someone's imagination. You're a mad girl, Mika, and that madness will help you accomplish many things."

"You mean I can create a Wonderland?" Mika asked, excitement all over her face.

"You can create any land you want!" her mom smiled, ruffling her hair. "Alright, let's go downstairs. Your friends will be showing up for your birthday soon." She stood up and guided her daughter downstairs.

"Hey, Mom? Can we celebrate my unbirthday, too?"

"We do that everyday, darling!"

"Not on my birthday!" They both laughed.

27 years later…

The memory played in 33-year-old Mikaela Chariton's head as she kneeled on the beach, bowing her head in respect. After all the happy years she's spent with her parents, she wishes they could still be here. She wonders if they're still watching her from the Spirit World now.

"Hey, Mom?" she looked up from her reminiscing at her oldest daughter, Sunni, who held up a cupcake. "We made a cake for you… but it sorta got ruined. So, we… bought some cupcakes."

What Mika was sure of was that her parents loved her, as much as she loved her daughters. "It's all I need." Mika smiled as she took the cupcake, eating away.

"Hey, Mrs. Chariton, hurry up!" Lee Andrew hurried out and yelled. "We're just about to play Pin The Sword Into Jack Noir!"

"Oh, we're coming!" Mika called as she got to her feet, her daughter and Lee already running off. Unbeknownst to her, someone was watching her: a strange woman in a long, blue dress, blond hair, and deep blue eyes: Alice.

Mika stopped, sensing the woman's presence, and turned. There was nothing there. Mika stared confusedly at the spot as her daughter yelled anxiously, "Mooooom!"

Mika shook out of her thoughts and hurried after her daughter. Alice remained in her spot and smiled at the grown woman.




Here's a Valentine's special focusing on Sunni and introducing Harry Gilligan.




Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day at Kids Next Door Moonbase. It was the holiday where most couples spent all day together, secret admirers slipped each other cards, and regular friends passed cards to each other, too. Frankly, it wasn't one of the most revered holidays in the KND, but Supreme Leader Numbuh 3621 felt like throwing a party up there, anyway, for holiday spirit, and also relieving a little boredom.

Heart-shaped balloons and usual party designs, colored red and pink, decorated the base, and there were tables of refreshments. Several groups of "friends," most of which were a boy and a girl who likely liked each other, met up and exchanged cards or other minor gifts. Emily Garley gave Mike Strongarm a mechanical beating heart, while he gave Emily a card that read, You make my heart pedal. Rupert Dickson got a mouse chew toy for Berry Bean and Lilac Farley to play with, and was currently playing Fetch with the two werecats. (Even though the three of them weren't really operatives, they heard about the party and nagged Sector W into bringing them.)

Dillon and Leanne were walking side-by-side, not knowing that their shadows were exchanging cards and flowers behind them. Vweeb gave Arianna a card, but it was too tiny for her to read, so Vweeb had to read it for her, embarrassingly. Cheren handed Panini a chocolate bunny, Nebula a card that opened a black hole when opened, and Lin Beifong some rock candy. He then left to give Miyuki Crystal something.

Larry MayHence was also going around and delivering flowers and cards to operatives from secret admirers. He gave his cousin, Aranea Fulbright, a card that said, My heart is wrapped around in your strings. She raised an eyebrow at who this could be from. Afterwards, Makava received a card. It read, You dissected my heart and stole my mind. It sounded a little weird to her, but she had an idea who it might be from. Zach Murphy then received a card, which read, I need no mouth to speak, for my heart says all. Anthony also received a card, but was told to give it to his little sister. Anthony glanced and saw it was from Timothy Gilligan.

The only one who didn't seem to be enjoying the occasion was Sunni Chariton. The psychic Filipino was over by the corner, leaned against the wall as her eyes were closed and she meditated to herself. Sunni was usually pretty down this holiday, since she didn't really have any close friends.

"You're sure quiet."

Sunni's eyes opened as she looked up and turned. "Oh. Hey, Harry."

"Why aren't you partying with everyone else?" Harry Gilligan asked in a calm, quiet fashion. He was an African-American boy with black hair in dreadlocks beneath a blue cap, a jacket matching his cap, and black shirt, slacks, and rubber shoes.

"I've never been so into Valentine's Day. Too many mushy feelings going around."

"Hehe. Yeah, I've never been too into the whole thing either. Still, don't you at least wanna hang out with your friends? It must be lonely over here. Where's your sister, anyway?"

"Hanging out with Sector W7 or something, I dunno. It's just so weird, you know… everybody's got someone to hang out with. I think even Mewtwo took interest in a Gardevoir he met."

Harry glanced around the Moonbase, watching as Fybi gave Anthony a pink apple that turned him into a peach, Danny Jackson and Haylee Gilligan exchanged technical ideas, Mason and Sheila crossing arms and drinking Purple Flurp, and saw Eric sweating, shaking, and blushing as he tried to hand a giggling Melody a card. "No kidding. It's amazing how many kids get into it."

"Yeah, and it's just so… cheesy. Like, all these boy/girl friend pairs ain't even trying to hide anything, they might as well all be dating. The only person I ever hang out with is my sister. I…I know it sounds weird to care about that stuff, but… sigh, somehow I don't feel valued as much."

"Well, to be honest, you're better off not gettin' involved with those kinds of relationships. We shouldn't have to worry about all that romance stuff until we're smelly, ugly teens. Still, I guess that's why a lot of these couples prefer to be called 'friends' at the moment."

"I guess you're right. But I'd still like someone else to be close to. I just feel so lonely most of the time."

"Don't worry. There's probably a hundred boys in the KND who think you're pretty. You got the looks, I'll give you that."

Sunni lightly smiled and blushed. "You think so, huh?"

"Well, yeah. That temper of yours is kinda cool, too. But that's just me."

Sunni looked away, still blushing.

"Oh. And I got this for you." Harry said, handing Sunni a card before turning to walk away.

"From you?"

Harry stopped and smirked, glancing behind him. "Heh. I told you I'm not into this stuff. If anything, the compliments were the card. Some cat came up to me randomly and wanted me to pass it. Later." He proceeded away.

Sunni curiously opened the card. On the center of the double-folded card was a large, red, bolded "R". She noticed four strands of some whitish-light-brown fur and picked it up, staring at it closely. Sunni only shrugged before walking off to find her sister.

Somewhere far away

A shadowed man, who looked to be wearing an orange suit, sat upon his throne and petted his large, panther-sized cat while watching the party on a large computer screen. "Mrooooww…"

We'll end off this chapter with another holiday segment, Mother's Day! Wait, didn't we just have that with Vweeb and Ava?

Mother's Day

Uno Household

Chris Uno was leading his mother, Rachel down into the secret treehouse, her eyes weary. "Chris, where on Earth are you taking me so early?"

"Check it out, Mom!" When Rachel opened her eyes, she made out the blurry images of her youngest son, Cheren, and her daughter, Aurora. When her eyes regained full vision, she looked to see a bunch of arrows stuck into the wall, alit with flames.

She was taken by slight surprise. "What is this?"

"I wanted to show you my archery skills, and Chris and Aurora wanted to show their firebending." Cheren replied sheepishly. "So I… shot a bunch of arrows into a heart and they threw flames at them to… light them up. Hehe—Whoa!" That's when the flames from the arrows began spreading around the rest of the treehouse.

Rachel only chuckled and shook her head. "Okay, kids, get the fire extinguishers." The three siblings blushed and ran off.

EiznekCm Household

Lehcar and Eeballaw were fast asleep this morning, too, but that was when Nerehc hurried in, shaking his mother awake. "Mother! Mother, wake up!"

Lehcar opened her weary eyes, moaning grumpily. "What is it, Nerry?"

"I made something for you, Mother." Nerehc told her as he led the crazy woman outside. When she regained full vision, she saw Happy Mother's Day burned into the backyard.

Lehcar stared curiously at the scorched black lettering. "What is this?"

"I lured a bunch of bugs in a row, then I poured oil on each of them before setting them all on fire. I… guess they didn't last long."

Lehcar smiled and patted her son's head. "You're such a mean kid."

Dimalanta Household

Yin Dimalanta was just waking up, yawning as she made her way to the house's kitchen. "AAAHH!" she was taken by total surprise when she found her kitchen in ruins, food splattered everywhere, gas broken, and an angry-sounding coffee maker. In the center of the chaos, Mason and Haruka stood covered in splat food. "What is this?!"

The two twins scratched their heads nervously as Mason replied, "Well, we… tried to make your day easier by… doing your chores."

Yin shook the surprise off and only chuckled happily as she walked over to hug her kids. "Oh, you kids are the best things I could ever have. O-kay, let's clean this up."

Lypbynopbolus Household

On Aquaria, Ava had just woken up as she was entering the living room with a bowl of squid pudding. "Moooom?" her ears perked at this minuscule shout. She looked down at the floor to see her tiny son, Vweeb.

"Oh, Vweeb! You should be careful, I barely watch where I'm going when I just wake up."

"Hehe! I made a card for you, Mom." Vweeb blushed as he held a little card up.

Ava set her food on the living room table and bent down for Vweeb to place the card on her finger. However, the card was way too tiny. "Um… I can't read this."

"Oh, um, I'll do it for you." Vweeb said as he took the card back. He blushed and said, "It says, 'Your heart is so big, I could build a house in it.'"

Ava giggled joyfully. "Oh, Vweeb! You're the biggest sweetie of all!" she said as she scooped him up and hugged him to her chest.

"Haha! Happy Mother's Day, Mom!"

"Mother's Day? What's that?"

"Um, it's a… Earth thing, I think."

"Hm-hm! Cute!"

McKenzie Household

Angie and Harvey were still sound asleep in bed when Anthony walked in. "Mom?"

He shook his mother by the arm and she tiredly woke up. "Mm?"

"I made you something for Mother's Day." He said as he held up what appeared to be a mud pie.

"Oh… is this-?"

"Yeah, it's a mud pie." Anthony replied. "You know, with mud. People make these, right?"

Angie stared at the mud pie for a bit before scooping a chunk in her hand and smashing it against her face. "Mmm! It tastes good, Anthony!"

"Huhu! Here, have some more!" he smiled as he threw more mud on her, while Angie did the same and threw mud on him. The two were happily laughing when Harvey woke up, annoyed.

"Man, I just cleaned these sheets…" he mumbled as he pressed his pillow over his face.

Heartly Household

Kami and Jeremiah Heartly were sound asleep, but were awakened by a cloud of pink smoke that was on the ceiling. Kami sat up quickly as she began coughing from the fumes, throwing her covers off as she yelled hoarsely, "Quick, Jeremiah, call the fire department." She hurriedly ran into the kitchen to find the source of the smoke, but found her tomboy daughter as she was trying to control the pink fumes. "Kimaya? What is this?"

"I, uh… grabbed some flowers from outside and wanted ta make 'em smell all nice for ya… I dunno."

Kami kept her hand over her mouth as she smiled. "Oh, Kimaya… cough! You're too sweet. Cough!"

Chariton Household

Things were not quite as happy in this household in the Philippines. While Darcy was calmly drawing a card up for her mother on the couch, Sunni was seated at the other end, rubbing her forehead. "Sunni, why don't you just make a card, like I'm doing?"

"Because I don't want to do something that's been done a thousand times. I wanna give our mom something she can really remember; that's what everyone else is probably doing."

"Come on, Sunni, it's not about how amazing the gift is, it's about showing our mom that we care."

"Pssh, yeah, if you're one of those 'short and simple' people. I wanna give our mom something that'll WOW her. Something she'll always wanna hold on to her whole life."

"How much 'wowing' are we talkin' about here? If you try to make something big, it might be too late. It's not like you can just grab your idea from the very reaches of your mind."

Right away, a bulb sparked in Sunni's mind. "Darcy! That's it!"

"What's it, Sun?"

"I'll show my mom how advanced I am in my psychicbending! By imagining something for her!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoooaa, Sunni. That's some advanced tech you're talking. We're way too young."

"No we aren't! How old was that Morgan lady when she imagined up her own siblings?"

"Good point, but like… she was descended from the Demon King, so she probably got stronger chi?"

"Big deal. Our mom was one of the best when she was young, so I should be just as good."

"But Sunni-"

"I'll be in my room, Darc. Make sure no one bothers me, I really need to focus." And before Darcy could say anything more, Sunni was gone up the stairs.

Having totally sealed herself inside, blocking any light out from the windows, Sunni was seated cross-legged on her bed, her eyes closed as she thought hard to herself. Let's see… what does our mom like? A lot of things, really. Well, she likes Pokémon, for one thing… That's it! I can imagine her favorite Pokémon! No, who am I kidding, she already has Mew. Plus, I could just fly up to Poké and capture the cruddy thing. MORE creative. Let's see, how about Homestuck, she's always obsessing over that. I know! I could imagine her favorite troll come to life! Let's see, who was her favorite again? Gaaaaargh! Come on, Sunni, you should know this!! Was it… Vriska, or… Sollux—NO, NO, NOOO! Wait! I got it! I'll imagine one of the trolls she created for that… Sburb Revisited fan thing. Yes, yes, she'll LOVE that! Arr, what's her favorite one from that? I should ask—NO! That'll ruin the surprise! Well, way to freaking go, Sunni! You don't know jack about your own mother! You are a terrible daughter! And you are uncreative! You don't deserve to BE her daughter! You're just a hopeless waste of a—

Darcy was still downstairs, drawing her letter, when the house suddenly shook from a loud explosion. The explosion startled their parents awake as well. They all ran up to see smoke coming from Sunni's room. They had a peek inside as Darcy screamed horrifically. "SUNNI!!"

St. Evangelista's Hospital

Sunni awoke in a bed, finding her parents and sister looking over her, and her forehead wrapped up in a bandage. "Nnnn-oooo…"

"Sunni, are you okay? What happened?" Mika asked.

"I was… trying to make something for you… Mom."

"She was trying to use her psychic to make something from her imagination." Darcy explained.

"What? Sunni, are you crazy? You know you're way too young for that."

"But… Morgan could do it…"

"Murr, that girl was overpowered. Sunni, why would you risk yourself like that?"

"Because… if you saw how skilled I was… you wouldn't think I'm a bad daughter."

"Sunni, why would you think that? I don't think I could imagine life without you. Sunni, the only gift I want is for you two to be safe, not to risk your life just to make me happy. Sunni, please promise me you won't do something crazy like that again. Please."

"Okay, Mom… I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Mika smiled. "Now why don't we go home so you can rest? Really, all you have is a really bad headache. We'll go home and you can rest on our bed."

"Thanks, Mom…" Sunni smiled peacefully as she drifted into sleep. The parents lifted her into a wheelchair as they began to push her out.

Unbeknownst to them, a mysterious creature peeked out from under the hospital bed. The creature had a crescent-moon-shaped head, a dark-blue body, and was infant-sized.

Unknown Location

"I don't believe it!" the shadowed figure in orange garb spoke with utter shock. "She's created another Firstborn! Then that means…" a smirk crossed his features, "there are 10 now!"


And this marks the end of the introductory one-shots. I hope I did a decent job setting up the characters and the world; we got to learn some of the bending styles, the characters' base conflicts and personalities, not to mention some foreshadowing of things to come. From here on, chapters will be much longer and will be mostly episodic conflicts.

 

[Gamen Watch]

Below is a list of the Nextgen Kids as well as links to their pictures if I have them. Use these pics to help visualize them during their scenes. This list also includes some kids who haven't formally debuted.


KND MOONBASE

Cheren Uno - Supreme KND Leader

Panini Drilovsky - Vice-leader, Firebender, Irish accent

Francis Drilovsky - Leader of Moonbase Guard

Maddy Murphy - Decommissioning officer, Francis's second-in-command

Zach Murphy - Decom. officer

Sunni and Darcy Chariton - Psychicbenders, Filipino

SECTOR V

Sheila Frantic - Expeditionist, lightbender, Australian accent, Faunus raccoon

Aurora Uno - Leader, Firebender

Chris Uno - Vice-leader, Firebender

Mason Dimalanta - Poisonbender

Haruka Dimalanta - Nurse, poisonbender

Dillon York - Shadowbender, son of vigilante hero, Sandman

Harry, Artie, and Haylee Gilligan - Technology Trio, though Harry specializes in rap

Kirie Beatles - Silent Combatant, only speaks in sign language

SECTOR W

Anthony McKenzie - Leader, Earthbender

Fybi Fulbright - Airbender, archer and pilot, Nimbi race, Irish and Shakespearean accent

Sally and Harvey Harper - Yo-yo Specialists

Aranea Fulbright - Spy

SECTOR IC

George and MaKayla King - Timebenders

Miyuki Crystal - Timebender, able to see the history of targets

Suki Crystal - Icebender

Lola and Terry Stork - Spies; Terry's a shadowbender and Lola's a Spank-Happy Vampire

Galactic KND

Nebula D. Winkiebottom - High Supreme Leader, Spacebender

Jerome D. Winkiebottom - Spacebender, Jamaican accent

Arianna Dunfree - Harnitan

Tronta Dunfree - Pumparian, uses Light Discs to fight

Vweeb - Kateenian (inch tall alien), wields Tri-gun

Makava - Glomourian (yellow skin), Swordsgirl, Vweeb's sister