The Numberland Princess

Numberblocks Meet World

When Brooke and the Numberblocks made it back to Numberland, they had quite a lot to tell everybody. The revelation that Brooke was genuine royalty surprised and amazed the rest of the Numberblocks, and it was the main topic of conversation for the rest of the day.

"A princess! Can you believe it?" Three gushed to Four. "And we're getting honored as the people who raised her!" It was clear she was already hungering for the attention she was sure to receive from the humans of Earth.

"Now remember Three," Five interjected, "we're going to the celebration to support Brooke and introduce ourselves to humanity. From what I've been told the whole world will be watching us." This was the wrong choice of words, as it only stoked Three's ego further.

"The whole world's gonna see me, me, me!" Three sang, apparently forgetting she wasn't going to be the center of attention. Hopefully the other Numberblocks would be able to reign her in.

Brooke was excited, but also nervous. If the Numberblocks had given a shock to every human they met so far, how would the rest of humanity react to them? She was optimistic, but had a feeling not everyone would be so accepting of her foster family.

Five saw her looking doubtful, so she walked over and put a comforting gloved hand on Brooke's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry, I'm sure things will go great."

Brooke gave a small smile. "Thanks Five, but I'm still a bit scared of what might happen."

"Well no worries, we'll all be there," Five assured her. "And no matter what happens tomorrow, we'll face it together."

---

When the next day came, all of Numberland was abuzz with excitement. Numberblocks were getting themselves ready, planning what to say to the humans and what to do in their world, and overall anticipating the impending meeting between species.

Soon it came time for everybody to head to Earth. Fifteen and her agents had created a larger version of the portal for everybody to go through, and with Brooke in the lead the Numberblocks all gradually made it through. On the other side was the royal castle's courtyard, where there were already many humans awaiting the Numberblocks' arrival.

Queen Theresa ran to hug Brooke as soon as she saw her. Adrien was quick to greet the agents, his heart fluttering when Twenty-Six greeted him in return. It didn't take too long before all the Numberblocks were in the courtyard, and Queen Theresa stood up on a podium to address them.

"Dearest Numberblocks, thank you all for raising my daughter and the princess of this country. Without you she may not have survived at all. And though I've only been reunited with her for less than a day, I can tell you've given her a wonderful life. We humans welcome you to Earth with open arms, and hope for our species to have a bright future together."

The Numberblocks were all filled with joy, grateful to have found Brooke and happy that their life with her had led to this moment. Soon everyone left the courtyard and made their way to the town, where celebrations were in full swing. Numberblocks and humans began to intermingle, both sides curious about the other.

Three of course ate up the attention she got, showing off her juggling and other tricks at every opportunity. Five rolled her eyes at this, but wasn't above showing off herself, playing her guitar for a small crowd of people. When somebody asked how she was able to pluck the strings without fingers, she paused for a few seconds, having a brief internal crisis. Then she shrugged the question off and continued playing.

Twenty-One, who had missed out on coming to Earth the first time, was eager to explore every inch of this town. She decided to use her rays to fly around and scope out the place, her and the other rectangles' ability to fly surprising many humans down below.

While Brooke and the other Numberblocks enjoyed interacting with several humans, Twenty-Six decided to spend time with one human in particular. He could tell that Adrien had some level of feelings for him, and though Twenty-Six didn't exactly feel the same way, he still wanted to get to know his fellow agent more.

"So, what do you like to do when you're off duty?" Twenty-Six asked.

"I like reading books, mostly science fiction novels," Adrien replied. And it feels like I'm living in one of them, his thoughts added. "What do numbers do all day?"

"Lots of things," said Twenty-Six. "There's so much to do in Numberland. We've got clubs, games, you name it."

Adrien let Twenty-Six describe the various locations of Numberland, from the clubhouse to the castle. The Numberblocks' lives seemed so easy compared to that of humans, with them not having to worry about things like money or government, and being able to have fun whenever they wanted.

"Do you ever have any real problems?" Adrien finally asked, thinking the Numberblocks had everything easy.

"There are Octonaughty, the Terrible Twos and the Terrible Twenties," Twenty-Six answered. "They love causing trouble. But never anything we can't fix."

"Is that all?"

"Pretty much."

"Wow. So basically, almost nothing goes wrong in Numberland."

"Yeah, it's a great place." Twenty-Six's smile faded. "What sort of problems do you humans have?"

Adrien suddenly remembered every bad thing humanity had ever done. Yeah, the Numberblocks would definitely have trouble handling such topics. So he went with, "A lot. But we're working through them."

Twenty-Six wisely decided not to ask for elaboration.

---

While Five was taking a break from playing her guitar for the public, Queen Theresa decided to talk with her. "I need to know what it was like to raise Brooke." She'd missed out on her daughter's childhood, so now she could only experience it through the Numberblocks' stories.

"It wasn't easy, I'll tell you that," Five began. "Count yourself lucky you never had to deal with dirty diapers." Queen Theresa giggled a bit at this. "But still, it was worth it. We've had so many wonderful moments together..." She closed her eyes and began to reminisce...

---

Five was resting beneath a tree on a hilltop, mindlessly strumming away at her guitar while she watched Ten show a 5-year-old Brooke the stars through a telescope.

"Will I ever go into space like you do?" asked Brooke.

"Well, you can't really survive up there like Numberblocks can," answered Ten. "But maybe someday we'll find a way for you to go up there."

"I wanna explore the whole universe beyond Numberland!" Brooke exclaimed, bouncing up and down.

Five chuckled. "That's gonna take quite a while."

---

"She's had a drive to explore the world from the very beginning," Five continued. "She shares that with all us Numberblocks. It's part of why we're so excited to be here, in the human world. It's a vast uncharted territory for us, and we've never been afraid of new places."

"Then I hope you Numberblocks will be welcomed everywhere you go," said Queen Theresa, though she knew there would always be those who just couldn't accept the Numberblocks, no matter how good-hearted they were. And judging from the fact he hadn't shown his face at all today, King Andrew seemed to be one of them.

She pushed the thought of him aside. Today was a joyous event, and she didn't want to spend it worrying. So she asked Five more questions about Brooke and her upbringing, and the guitarist was happy to answer every one of them.