Welcome to chapter 17 of The Games Next Door. In the last chapter we witnessed Nigel and Rachel defeat Numbuh 10 and 60. The next few chapters will be focusing on Hoagie and Abigail, because every member of Sector V has obstacles to face in this competition. Enjoy.


Hoagie and Abigail slowly made their way through the forest arena. Their meet up after the rush for weapons had gone surprisingly smooth, as both had agreed on certain voice signals, to let the other know that they were near. They had both managed to retrieve a weapon, with Abigail having a B.O.T.T.L.E.C.A.P. and Hoagie having a S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R.. Unfortunately, neither was one of the super powered weapons created by Hoagie and Professor XXXL. They were ok with this however, as it bettered their chances of running into a contestant that had one of their weapons, which would give them the chance to take that contestant out quickly. They had been walking for a while when suddenly they heard Robin Food make another announcement.

"Contestants of the Games Next Door. We are pleased to inform you, that two more contestants have been eliminated," announced Robin Food.

Abigail and Hoagie looked up to the sky and saw the faces of Eva and Patton appear, signalling that the two had been eliminated.

"I hope Nigel wasn't the one who had to face them. Fighting your former comrades is one thing, but having to fight your cousin would be horrible," said Hoagie.

"Knowing his luck, he probably did have to face her. Then again, those two came from the same district, so maybe they attacked together, and Nigel took out Patton, while Rachel took out Eva," said Abigail hopefully.

"We can only hope," said Hoagie, who then joked, "If that's the case, Nigel's the one who's gonna have to feel Fanny's rathe."

"Boy what you are talking about?" asked Abigail confused.

"Oh, come on Abby, everyone knew Fanny and Patton liked each other. They were just too stubborn to admit it," said Hoagie.

"And how would you know that?" asked Abigail.

"Abby, when you're as much of a lady's man as I am, you can always tell who likes who," boasted Hoagie proudly.

"Did you know Rachel liked Nigel?" asked Abigail.

"Well, no. But then again who did," said Hoagie in his defence.

"I did. I knew it before she started interrogating us about Nigel's disappearance," said Abigail.

"Well, if you're so observant, how did you not notice that Patton and Fanny liked each other?" asked Hoagie.

"Probably because I didn't have much to do with Patton, and Fanny's sexist attitude got on my nerves, so I just ignored her half the time. Much like how I ignored all your bad jokes," answered Abigail.

"Oh come on, my jokes weren't that bad," said Hoagie.

"Yes, they were," said Abigail.

"Well whatever, at least I knew Fanny liked Patton and vice versa. Ok, I didn't really know Rachel told me," admitted Hoagie.

Abigail groaned and rolled her eyes.

"How's about we focus on what's important. The games have only been going for about an hour, and eight contestants have already been eliminated. If we're not careful we could be next," said Abigail, reminding them of the dangerous situation they were in.

"Alright, alright. That means there are ten of them and six of us," said Hoagie.

"Yeah, and if the eliminations are accurate, there are still some very tough contestants left. Eva and Patton were tough, but some of the others are just as tough as they were, if not tougher," said Abigail.

"One of the contestants shouldn't even be in the games. He wasn't in the Kids Next Door and from what I understand, he didn't have any siblings in the KND," said Hoagie.

"Which begs the question, why has he been forced to compete?" asked Abigail.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling we're gonna find out," said Hoagie.

"What makes you say that?" asked Abigail.

"Abby, you know what he specialised in before the world was like it is. I have a feeling, that one way or another, the adults are gonna find a way to make us fight him. Make me fight him anyway," said Hoagie.

"Maybe, but we can't worry about that right now. Let's keep moving," said Abigail.

"Yeah, I'm honestly amazed we haven't been shot at already," said Hoagie, and the two continued on their current course.

Abigail and Hoagie walked for nearly two hours and did not find anyone. They also did not see any more announcements regarding contestants being eliminated. They knew this was only the calm before the storm, and sooner or later, they would be in for the fight of their lives. They kept walking, when suddenly Abigail noticed that something was floating down towards them, via a small parachute. She tapped on Hoagie's shoulder and directed his attention towards the sky. Abigail was about to intercept the falling object, before she was stopped by Hoagie.

"Wait, it could be a trap," suggested Hoagie.

"Hoagie, this is from a sponsor," said Abigail.

"How do you know?" asked Hoagie confused.

"Cree might not have managed to get sponsors during her time in the Games Next Door, but Maurice did and he told me this is how they sent them," said Abigail.

That explanation was good enough for Hoagie, and the two of them went to see what had been sent.

"Weird, I thought none of us had managed to get sponsors," stated Hoagie confused.

"Neither did I. But Abby has a feeling that one of us must have convinced someone last night, and gotten a last-minute sponsor," suggested Abigail.

"Well, let's see who it's for and what was sent," said Hoagie.

They opened the package that had come into their possession. Inside were a bunch of mechanical parts, a pair of aviator goggles and a note.

Dear Hoagie Gilligan,

Although we were firmly told by many other villains to not support you or your former teammates, after making the suggestion of bringing a Jetpack into the fight, me and a few others thought that would be a wonderful idea, to make the games more interesting. We even got President Father to agree, that this would make the games more entertaining.

I hope what we supplied was sufficient.

Please make the fight good.

Yours sincerely,

Robin Food and his Gang of Hungry Men.

"Well, Abby guesses you really made an impression last night," said Abigail, having read the note.

"It would appear so. Looks like they really want me to compete in an aerial battle, and I have a feeling I know who they want me to have that battle with," said Hoagie seriously.

"Well how about it? You think you can make a Jetpack with the junk they gave you?" asked Abigail.

"Not a very good one, but I should be able to craft something that functions efficiently," said Hoagie, examining the packages contents.

"Well, Abby supposes that's better than nothing," said Abigail.

"I'd better get to work, because this will take a while," said Hoagie, taking some of the parts out of the package.

"No, not here. We're too out in the open. I think we should wait until we can find a place with more cover. I need to make sure I can cover you, should we run into trouble," suggested Abigail.

"Good idea let's get out of here," said Hoagie, picking up the package.

Abigail and Hoagie continued to walk for another half an hour, but no matter how hard they looked, they could not find any suitable cover to use. Eventually however, they found a place that seemed perfect. They found a small cave that seemed pretty dark. This ensured not only a good hiding place, but one that could hopefully allow them to see attackers coming, before they got spotted. They went into the cave and Hoagie got to work. Hoagie had to borrow a Flashlight from Abigail, so he could see what he was doing. He started working, while Abigail stood guard to see if anyone was coming. Hoagie was tinkering for nearly an hour, before he was able to produce something, he deemed suitable. It was not much, but Hoagie had managed to produce a working Jet Pack.

"Well, with the stuff I was given, this as good as we can get," said Hoagie, looking over his work.

"Well, maybe you won't have to use it for a while and if we're lucky, you might get sent more parts," said Abigail, trying to stay hopeful.

"We can only hope," said Hoagie, double checking everything he had done. "I think the best thing we can do for now, is go out and test it thing to ensure it works."

"Well, Abby doesn't see anyone coming, so let's see what this thing can do," said Abigail, and they left the cave.

Once outside, Hoagie put on the Jetpack and turned it on. To their relief, it seemed to be functional. Unfortunately, it was really load. If they did not turn it off quickly, they would alert everyone in the arena to their position. Hoagie turned the Jet Pack off and the engine died down.

"I knew this would be a problem when I saw the type of engine they sent," said Hoagie annoyed.

"Can you fix it?" asked Abigail.

"Not with the parts I currently have. Like you said, we may need to wait and see if I get sent anymore parts," said Hoagie.

"Well, what'd we do now?" asked Abigail.

"I don't know. If I were to give this a proper test, I might as well give the other contestants rifles and put on a duck costume," joked Hoagie, trying to make light of the situation.

"That bad huh?" asked Abigail.

"Yeah, it's not the best time to give this a test run. Anyway, that last test created a lot of noise, let's get out of here before someone finds us," said Hoagie.

"Good idea," said Abigail.

The two were about to head off, when another voice spoke.

"How's about we just skip the test run, and see what these things can do," said the voice.

Abigail and Hoagie turned to the direction of the person who had just spoke. Standing there, was a boy about the same age as them. He wore sunglasses and had orange hair, that was also a little yellow in the middle. This boy was known to Abigail and Hoagie, as Ace the Kid. He was also wearing a Jetpack nearly identical to Hoagie's. They had a feeling; he had also been sent a package by Robin Food.

"Hello Ace. We thought we might run into you," said Hoagie, knowing what was to come.

"As did I. After your interview last night, I had a feeling the adults would try to make a fight between us happen. I have to say I'm disappointed," said Ace.

"Why's that?" asked Abigail.

"I spotted you ages ago. Heck, I've been following you since you found your little care package. I decided to be generous and gave you the time you needed to build your flying device, and that's where I'm disappointed. It took me less than twenty minutes to build mine, while yours took nearly an hour. If I didn't know any better, I'd say your mechanical knowledge has gotten rusty over the past five years. I just hope your flying hasn't also gotten rusty, or this will be a very boring fight," said Ace arrogantly.

"I'll have you know I could've finished a lot quicker. I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't blow up in my face," said Hoagie, defending himself.

"Well either way, it's built now and it works. So, how's about we find out once and for all, who is the true king of the sky," said Ace, getting ready to start his Jetpack.

"Before we do, I want to ask you something," said Hoagie.

"What?" asked Ace impatiently.

"Why are you here Ace? Better yet, how are you here? You weren't a member of the Kids Next Door, and to my knowledge you didn't have any siblings who were KND personnel. You should've been excused from competing," said Hoagie, asking a question he had been dying to ask.

Ace responded as if he had been expecting this question.

"Well, if you must know, I was considered a big enough nuisance to be deemed worthy of competing," said Ace.

"What does that mean?" asked Abigail.

"I may not have been in the Kids Next Door, but I caused many problems for adults and I tried to help kids in my own way," said Ace.

"So, they treated you as if you were in the KND?" asked Hoagie.

"More or less. I was taken to court where it was decided, that I was to be put in the Districts with the members of the Kids Next Door, because although I wasn't actually a member, I was still making a stance against adult tyranny," said Ace. "Tell me, does that seem fair?"

"Not at all," said Hoagie.

"And yet, here I am," said Ace getting angry.

"Abby has a feeling you're not to happy about that," said Abigail.

"Of course I'm not. I was never in the Kids Next Door and here I am paying for their 'crimes'," said Ace. "But now, I can have my revenge on those responsible."


Thanks for reading Chapter 17. What did you think of me including Ace as a contestant? I know it might seem incorrect given what I've established for the story, but I could still see it happening given what the villains in Kids Next Door are like. I also thought it would make for great conflict and a memorable battle. Please let me know what you think. See you soon.