Team Umizoomi: Milli Novels & Stories

I noticed the smile drop from Tommy's face, he looked surprised, not annoyed, "Your mate?" At his words, I noticed the reaction of those around us. It was all the same; surprise. One of the women, a petite blond, stepped up, "Did I hear that correctly?" She drawled in a silky voice. "Betty, this is Mila. The new Luna of Midnight Moon." She looked amused when she turned to me, "Well, welcome home then. You're a human?" "Uh, was, technically." She turned to Lobo with a questioning look in her eye.

Milka clapped her hand over her mouth, and I slid up the bed to the head of it. “Nachos,” Aiden muttered. “You’re early,” I retorted. “We’ve got a date with Stuffy and Doc, right, Mi?” “Yeah, El!” Milka turned to look at Aiden. “My lub El. My lub Stuffy and Doc. And Elmo. And Peppa.”

I was surprised to see that even Zombie joined us for the training. We lined up and we waited for our instructions. “Alright guys, your mission today will be the following…” He gave us a mock mission where we only had 60 minutes to complete. There were five parts to the mission, each highlighting one of our team member’s specialties. After forming a plan of attack, we executed the mission in 56 minutes. Our reward was pizza from our favorite mom and pop pizza place down the street. As we waited for our food, Badger and I went to the ring to spar.

While Eliza looked around, I tried to get a perspective from Mila’s viewpoint. She was pinned down. Some of the teammates had managed to get over the fence, and even though the creatures were out front of the building, they were far enough way that the gunfire was holding them off. Mila was stuck, being dragged down into a black sea. Eliza would be in the same situation soon if she didn’t move.

With a deep breath, she backed away from the building and then took her best vertical leap, landing on the slanted overhang above the window she’d just broken. With no time to spare, she ran to the top of the building and down the other side where she could better see her teammates. Mila had creatures attached to both of her arms and was trying to kick them away while shouting directions, urging the rest of the team to leave her and get back to the SUV, but no one was going anywhere. All five of them were either surrounded by the enemy or in the process of being tugged to the ground by what seemed like thousands of spindly fingers.

Zoey We found a rhythm. Milo sat on the floor and drilled the knock like a secret handshake. Jarek listened to the world with the whole line of his body. When footsteps passed—light, heavy, hesitant—he named them. “Kitchen carriers.” “Outer rotation.” “Messenger running fast.” When I guessed right, one nod—gold star. Milo tried to fix my dead phone by whistling scales at it until the screen flickered an offended gray. “See? Progress.”

Her voice trembled as she began, "I…" Mila stood up, her tone gentle and comforting. "Terry, let's not scare her." Then, she reached out her hand and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Mila Winkler, a chemist working with the Trailblazer rocket research and development team." Imogen promptly shook Mila's hand and responded respectfully, "Hello, I'm Imogen Kingsley." "Trailblazer has faced several issues, leading to delays in its launch schedule. Data collected at its lowest point is inherently prone to discrepancies right from the beginning.

One caught my eye and grinned, and I immediately looked away. “Don’t you dare,” I hissed. Mila smirked. “What? Smile back? Wink? Throw my phone number?” “You’re ridiculous.” “And you’re boring.” We slid into a table before she could embarrass me further. She was buzzing, talking about how she was going to crush the games today, and I just focused on my food, pretending the world didn’t exist. After breakfast, we were herded outside like cattle. Basketball courts were already set up, and groups were being divided. Mila bounced on her toes, practically begging to be picked first. I got shoved into a team before I could protest.