Thank you all for taking the time to check out my story! Right now I am currently going back and editing some of my old chapters. Including this one. I hope you all enjoy this!
Chapter 1: Town News
Jimmy Neutron woke up on a fine Saturday morning with a feeling of excitement overwhelming him. Today was the day that he had been waiting for for nearly two weeks. He, Carl, and Sheen were going to Retroland. After weeks of asking, and doing extra chores around the house, he was finally granted permission by his mother to go. He rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes while letting out a loud yawn. He grabbed the clock sitting by his bedside and looked at it. His blurry vision began to clear up after squinting his eyes at the time.
It was only 8 in the morning. The day before, the three had agreed not to leave until noon. Which meant that he had the whole morning to himself. He looked over to the foot of the bed and saw his old companion resting next to his feet. Might as well get some breakfast, Jimmy thought to himself.
"Goddard. Wake mode." Jimmy said out loud. Goddard's eyes opened almost instantly and he wagged his tail at the sight of his master. He hopped over to where Jimmy was laying and licked him on his cheek repeatedly. "Haha good boy!" Jimmy said happily petting him on the head. "C'mon boy. Let's go get some breakfast." Jimmy jumped out of bed.
Before reaching the door, Jimmy stopped and looked down at himself. He still wore the same red T-shirt and jeans he had on the day before. It was nearly 1:30 in the morning by the time he made it back to his room without waking up his parents last night. They would have grounded him for a month if they caught him up so late...again. But it wasn't his fault. The latest invention he had been working on for the past couple of weeks, kept him occupied in the lab until he realized how late it was. It also left him so exhausted that he had forgotten to change out of his clothes before going to sleep. For a moment, he mentally debated whether or not he should change into a new set of clothes. Then he remembered that he was hanging out with Carl and Sheen.
"Naaaah. They won't care." he shrugged carelessly to himself and continued walking out of his room.
"Bark! Bark!" Goddard agreed as he followed him out of the room while wagging his tail...
Downstairs, Judy Neutron was already in the kitchen making breakfast. "Good morning sweetie. Would you like some waffles?" she asked sweetly once Jimmy walked through the door with Goddard at his feet.
"Yes please." Jimmy said politely. He grabbed a glass cup from the cabinet above the sink and then walked to open the refrigerator.
He scanned through the small shelves of food and other beverages until he found the Tropicana orange juice sitting behind the milk carton. Jimmy poured the juice half way and walked on back to the table. He and Goddard both sat side by side.
"So are you going to Retroland today with Carl and Sheen?" Mrs. Neutron asked, adding more frozen waffles in the toaster.
He took a giant gulp of his orange juice before responding. "Yeah, only for a few hours. We should be back before or after five." Jimmy answered.
"Just be careful young man and stay out of trouble. Remember what the owner told you last time. No explosions or trying to increase the speed of the roller coasters with one of your inventions. Otherwise you'll be banned from Retroland for life." Mrs. Neutron warned him sternly.
"Don't worry mom. We'll be in the arcade most of the time. Alot of the rides are still getting repaired after what happened last time..." Jimmy muttered glumly. The memory of the park owner yelling at him at the police station suddenly popped into his mind.
"Well maybe if they knew how to make the roller-coasters go faster, I wouldn't have had to improve the rides myself." he uttered bitterly under his breath.
"Alight then. I don't want any funny business. Just for once have a normal Saturday with your friends." she said as the toaster popped up with the waffles. She put the waffles on a plate and handed it to Jimmy along with the bottle of syrup.
"Thanks mom." he said.
"Be sure to clean up once you finish eating. I'll be back in a little while." Mrs. Neutron said grabbing her purse from the counter.
"Where are you going so early in the morning?" Jimmy asked.
"The Farmer's market is back in town. The lines are such a drag the later it gets. It's better to get there as early as possible." she answered as she walked to the front door. "I'll see you in a few hours. Love you." she called out. Jimmy heard the front door close and knew that he was now all by himself.
He drowned his waffles in syrup and started eating. It didn't take long until the plate was left clean and empty. As soon as he finished his breakfast, he slid off the booth and put his plate in the sink.
"Might as well continue working on that new invention before Carl and Sheen get here." Jimmy said glancing up at the duck clock hanging on the wall above the sink. It was barely 8:15 and he was already finished with breakfast. The best way to kill time now, was to resume his work in the lab.
He opened the kitchen door and closed it gently behind him. Goddard trotted beside him as they both crossed the lawn to his clubhouse. Jimmy pulled out a piece of his hair and held it up to the DNA scanner.
"Welcome Jimmy Neutron." Vox's voice said only seconds before the trap door opened from underneath the 'welcome' mat and sent them both falling down the large yellow tube until they landed hard on the floor of Jimmy's lab.
"Goddard, remind me to put a mattress under here." Jimmy said dusting off his pants and rubbing his bruised butt.
"Bark! Bark!" Goddard responded with a nod.
He sauntered over to his work table and examined his half finished invention. It looked almost identical to his shrink ray, but with different properties of course. Some of it's pieces still lay spread across the table along with a few sketches he had made while building it. Since it was mostly complete, he was able to tell the resemblance it had between his shrink ray. The only way to decipher the two inventions apart, was by the color. This one was all red with the Neutron symbol engraved behind it. He grabbed a screw driver and reviewed the blue prints that had been laid out in front of him. He continued working on it.
Goddard observed quietly as Jimmy furrowed his eyebrows and allowed his mind to focus on the one object in front of him...
"Almost finished boy. In just a few hours I will have completed the Neutronic Sleep Ray Three Thousand." Jimmy presented his invention proudly.
"It's not that big of an invention, but at least it can be perfect for getting out of any life threatening situations without any casualties." he explained. Goddard looked at the invention in awe.
"Unfortunately, I can't test it on humans yet. I still need to work out a few bugs. Once I can test it out in the Neutron simulator, I can detect if there is any chemical imbalance that may or may not be life threatening to whoever it is used on." Jimmy said with a concerned look on his face.
Goddard let out a low whine.
"Don't worry Goddard. I'll make sure it's safe before using it on anyone." Jimmy assured. "I need to know for sure that it's stabilized."
Goddard nodded and walked off to eat his bowl of lug-nuts. Jimmy sat down at his table and continued reviewing his work.
By the time he was adding his final touches on his new invention, Carl and Sheen were already knocking on his front door. Jimmy turned on his computer screen and was able to see the two boys standing outside waiting for him.
"Jimmy open up!" Sheen yelled pressing his eyes wide against the camera.
He pushed a red button on the remote by his keyboard, and saw his two friends suddenly disappear below the mat. Sheen came crashing down a minute later and lifted himself up from the floor while rubbing the back if his neck.
"Dang dude..." he whined as he rotated his neck back and forth. "Are you ever gonna find a better way to get us down here anytime so-"
His voice was immediately cut off from his last sentence when Carl came hurdling down on top of him a second later.
"Hey Jimmy?" Carl asked once he had safely landed. "Nice cushion by the way. You finally decided to buy one after all." he added gratefully. The red headed boy looked around and frowned. "Where's Sheen?"
"That's not a cushion..." Sheen muffled breathlessly under Carl's beefy arms. His chest crushed against the weight of his slightly hefty friend.
Carl looked down and lifted his head immediately. "Whoops. Sorry Sheen." he apologized sheepishly.
Sheen pushed the rest of Carl's body off of him and gasped desperately for air. He inhaled deeply for ten seconds as the oxygen began to re-enter his lungs. "How..(deep breath)..can..(deep breath)...you still..(inhale)...weigh that much!" he shouted abruptly into Carl's face. "You nearly crushed me to death! I felt like I just came out of a rock slide!"
"Sheen calm down." Jimmy said.
"Don't judge my big boned exterior. I've been working out like I'm supposed to." Carl whined defensively.
"Guys?" Jimmy called out weakly.
"Yeah, I can tell." Sheen scoffed sarcastically.
"You're just jealous that I actually work out and you don't." Carl huffed with his arms crossed.
"Oh yeah you're totally right Carl!" Sheen mocked as he threw his hands in the air dramatically. "Look at me, I'm so jealous of my best friend! I wish I could be heavier than Shamu too!"
"Guys?!"
"You better take that back or else!" Carl warned. He took a step closer to Sheen threateningly.
"What are you gonna do? Sit on me?" the hyperactive boy mocked.
"GUYS!" Jimmy yelled and stepped between his two freinds. "Will the two of you just quit it already!"
"He started it!" they both accused, pointing their index finger at eachother.
"I don't care who started it. I'm ending it!" Jimmy scolded. "Sheen, tell Carl you're sorry."
"What?!" Sheen looked at Jimmy reluctantly. "But he's the one who smashed-"
"- I said, tell Carl you're sorry." Jimmy cut in firmly.
Sheen slouched his shoulders and looked at Carl, who was smirking at him with his arms crossed.
"Carl...I'm..(gulps)..sorry." Sheen said hesitantly.
Jimmy smiled approvingly and walked back to his work table. Carl and Sheen followed after him.
"Sorry that not even a forklift can carry you..." Sheen whispered under his breath.
"So you ready to go then?" Carl asked.
"Yeah let's go already! I got 500 tokens we can use at the arcade! We can be there for hours." Sheen said happily. He took out a handful of golden tokens out of his front pocket and presented them to Carl and Jimmy proudly.
"Sheen, did you steal those tokens from your little sister again?" Jimmy asked skeptically.
His eyes widened with guilt at the sound of the question. "Maybe..." he said innocently.
Sheen put the tokens back in his pocket before any more questions were asked.
Carl looked down at Jimmy's hand and noticed the object he had been holding."Oooo! What's that Jim?" Carl asked curiously.
"It's just a little something I've been working on. I call it the Neutronic Sleep Ray Three thousand!" Jimmy said, proudly holding up his experiment.
"Cool! Does it shoot liquid acid that'll make your head explode into a million pieces?!" Sheen asked with a maniacal smile on his face. Jimmy rolled his eyes at his friend.
"Sheen in what part of the title made you think that this invention shoots liquid acid?" Jimmy asked. His voice already hinting a bit of irritation.
"Well..I-I..(taps his chin with the tip of his finger) Huh..I don't know." he said finally.
"What does your invention do Jimmy?" Carl asked.
"Well it's somewhat works the same way as my shrink ray. Basically the same design and operation, just used for different circumstances." he explained.
"What do you mean by that?" Sheen asked.
"Well it means that whoever is zapped by it, will automatically make them go unconscious for twelve hours..or so.." Jimmy mumbled the last sentence.
"Sweet! I wanna try it! I wanna try it! I wanna try it!" Sheen yelled trying to grab the invention out of Jimmy's hand. Jimmy pushed his face away.
"Sheen, no! I haven't completed it yet. If it doesn't work the way it's supposed to, you might end up staying asleep for the rest of your life. It's not safe to try it on humans just yet. Unless I know for sure that it's completely safe, it can cause some serious damage to your nervous system." Jimmy explained as he put the invention back on his table.
"Awww lame!" Sheen yelled in disappointment.
Jimmy patted him on the shoulder. "Cheer up Sheen. I promise, once I know that it's 75% stable, I'll test it out on you." he said brightly. Sheen smiled excitedly. "Now c'mon guys. Let's get going. I'll get my hover car."
Jimmy turned his attention to Goddard and smiled. "C'mon boy. Lets go."
The mechanical dog wagged his tail and ran to Jimmy's side obediantly.
The boys nodded and followed Jimmy out of his lab. In less than two minutes, they were out of the club house and walking into Jimmy's backyard.
"By the way Jim, I was meaning to ask you. What happened to your fence? Did a wild bear attack you guys or something?" Sheen asked.
Jimmy stopped walking and looked at him. "What are you talking about Sheen?" he asked in confusion.
"You didn't see?" Sheen asked.
"See what?"
"Look over there. Someone trashed your mom's garden and your fence." Carl said pointing across the yard.
Jimmy turned around and saw what Carl and Sheen were talking about. Part of their wooden fence was busted down leaving a large pile of broken wood everywhere. All the flowers looked as if they have been ripped out along with half of the lawn's grass. Revealing the dirt from within.
"Puking Pluto! Who did this?" Jimmy yelled frantically running to the scene.
"Oh, well, we kind of thought you knew Jimmy." Carl said scratching his head.
"How could I have not noticed this earlier? I was out here last night and just this morning." Jimmy said mostly to himself.
"Are you sure you didn't do it?" Sheen asked suggestively.
"Sheen, if I had been the one to ruin my lawn, don't you think I would have remembered?" Jimmy snapped.
"Well dang I don't know! I'm just trying to help." Sheen said somewhat hurt.
"Goddard! Show me the surveillance camera from outside the clubhouse between the hours of 1 A.M last night and 8 A.M this morning." Jimmy demanded.
"Bark! Bark!" Goddard opened up his chest and showed a video feed of the backyard last night.
Everything was quiet and peaceful. A couple of seconds into the video, they were all able to see Jimmy stepping out of his lab and walking slowly back to his house.
"If you were out at that time, how could you have not heard anything?" Carl asked.
"I don't know." Jimmy admitted with a sigh. "I guess I was just so tired that I slept threw it."
The boys went on with watching the video.
"I'm bored!" Sheen declared after a minute of total silence.
"Quiet Sheen! Goddard, fast forward the video." Jimmy said paying close attention to the footage.
Goddard did as he was told. Everything began to fast forward as the hours ticked away at the bottom of the screen.
1:30 a.m, 1:56 a.m, 2:36 a.m...the time continued ticking away and still nothing appeared. Jimmy's eyes remained focused on the screen. C'mon hurry up already.
Then, all of a sudden, at exactly 3:15 a.m, a large dark creature came crashing into the fence. The boys watched in horror as this creature picked itself back up on its four paws and looked around. They saw as it sniffing around the flowers curiously, before digging them out with its claws.
Because it was dark out, Jimmy couldn't figure out exaclty what it was. It looks too big to be a bear. Jimmy wondered. But then again, it made sense. The town lived just a few miles away from the woods so it is common for the citizens of Retroville to have a run in with bears. But this-
"-Pause the camera!" Jimmy yelled immediately. Goddard stopped the film just in time to capture the creature's full form. It was standing on it's hind legs, sniffing at the air. Jimmy looked closely at the picture. It was still slightly blurry. But it definitely wasn't a bear. It's body seemed very slim and looked to be about 14 to 15 feet tall with fur covering it from head to toe. It's ears slightly pointed upwards.
"Whoa.." Sheen uttered in amuzement.
"What is that Jimmy?" Carl asked in fear.
"I don't know." Jimmy said in a whisper. "Whatever it is, it trashed my lawn and may have possibly left some of it's DNA behind. That's all I'll need to track it." Jimmy said darkly.
Before either of them could say anything, they heard the sound of a helicopter fly by them. They looked up at the sky and saw a man poking his head out the window with a megaphone in his hand.
"Citizens of Retroville. The Mayor has issued an emergency town meeting. Please make your way to Retroville Town Hall immediately. The meeting will begin in 25 minutes. Thank you very much." The man turned off the megaphone and brought his head back inside. The helicopter flew off again.
The guys looked at eachother.
"We've gotta go to that meeting." Jimmy said nervously.
"What?! What about Retroland?" Sheen exclaimed.
"Sheen the mayor just called for an emergency town meeting. We have to go. I have a feeling it has something to do with whatever we just saw right now." Jimmy said with a scowl. "Everybody into the hover car." he demanded.
Carl and Sheen sighed in disappointment. They walked with Jimmy to his front lawn and made their way into town...
End of Chapter 1
A.N: Let me know how you guys like this story so far. I know it doesn't seem like much right now, but I like to build a little suspense. Anyways, let me know how you like this story so far and feel free to make any suggestions or ask any questions. Like I said before, I am doing a little meintenance on this story and fixing up or changing a few things around. So please have patience! Thanks again! And you may now move on to the next chapter...
