Author's Note
Hello again, everyone! Thank you for your patience and putting up with my prolonged absence!
Boy, where has the time gone, huh? Honestly, I didn't think it would take so long to upload this, but I couldn't help myself: I'm such a sucker for detail and continuity!
And last but not least, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is the property of John A. Davis, O Entertainment and DNA Productions, while The Fairly OddParents is the property of Butch Hartman, Frederator, Inc. and Billionfold, Inc.
Picking up where we left off . . .
— — — — — —
In all honesty, Sheen probably should've known better than to shake hands with a vengeful kung-fu warrior. As soon as Sheen clutched Yoo-Yee's hand, the kung-fu warrior felt a slight zap on the back of his head and a current of electricity flow through his body. Sheen suddenly felt Yoo-Yee's grip tighten around his hand.
"Okay, you can let go of my hand now, Yoo-Yee," Sheen insisted as he tried to pull away. But Yoo-Yee's grip never let up, and not only that, a wicked smile formed on Yoo-Yee's face. And before Sheen could react, he was catapulted over Yoo-Yee's shoulder and thrown across the makeshift ring.
"Whoa!" Sheen exclaimed, as he went flying through the air, arms and legs flailing wildly until he landed on his back with a thud.
Again, Yoo-Yee felt another slight zap; however, it increased in intensity and Yoo-Yee felt his body absorb the shock. He then rose into the air and made his way toward the sprawled-out Sheen.
"Come on, Chosen One! Show me your so-called kung-fu capabilities!" taunted the kung-fu warrior, using air quotes on the last two words. Disoriented, Sheen slowly got up and assumed the best fighting stance he could muster. He then took a swing at Yoo-Yee, who dodged the meek punch with ease and dealt two consecutive blows to Sheen's stomach.
As a result, Sheen doubled over in pain and fell to his knees on the pavement. Yoo-Yee then picked Sheen up and, with a loud, battle cry, once more threw him across the ring. However, the kung-fu warrior zoomed across the ring at light speed and caught Sheen by the back of his Ultralord shirt before he hit the ground.
"Maybe you want to take a rain check?" asked Sheen.
For a third time, Yoo-Yee felt the computer chip zap him and another jolt of electricity course through his body. "No more games, Chosen One! This ends now!" Yoo-Yee shouted. And with that, he soared upward into the sky, taking Sheen with him.
Sheen struggled and writhed in Yoo-Yee's grasp, but what prevented him from doing it too much was the sight of Retroville getting smaller and smaller the higher Yoo-Yee ascended. Finally, the kung-fu warrior rose up to an altitude where, upon looking down, Retroville could no longer been seen.
"So, tell me, Chosen One: if you've spent all this time perfecting your martial arts, then you must have gained the Eye of the Tiger, just like me, right?" taunted the kung-fu warrior.
"Uh, yes?" Sheen answered, fear evident in his response. "I just might not have used it so much since the last time I obtained it."
"Silence your lies! It is time for you to take the plunge—literally! And now, I relinquish you of your title of Chosen One—which at first didn't belong to me, but now does—and I complete my revenge by bidding you a long-awaited goodbye . . . and good riddance!" And with that, Yoo-Yee let go of Sheen's shirt and he began to plummet toward the earth, flailing and screaming once more.
— — — — — —
While the duel between Sheen and Yoo-Yee was getting underway, a "POOF!" appeared in the park. And when the cloud cleared, Jimmy, Cindy, Libby, and Carl found themselves levitating in mid-air for a brief second before they fell to the ground. Another "POOF!" followed not long after, as the kids picked themselves up. When that cloud cleared, Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof appeared beside them. This being his first trip to Retroville, Poof marveled at his newfound bulginess and took in the sights while his parents began to argue.
"You just had to turn us all into statues, didn't you, Wanda?" Cosmo argued.
"What are you talking about? We have the same magic!" Wanda argued back.
"But at least my wand was pointed away from the kids."
"You had your wand upside down, you idiot!"
"No, I didn't!"
"Yes, you did! That's what caused us and them to feel the side effects of Timmy's request!"
"No, it wasn't!"
"Yes, it was!"
"No, it wasn't!"
"Yes, it was!"
"STOP IT! STOP IT! CAN'T YOU SEE YOUR CONSTANT FIGHTING IS TEARING US ALL APART?!" shouted Carl, who covered his ears and turned his head toward the sky.
After a couple of awkward glances between the kids, Cosmo, and Wanda, the green-haired fairy sighed dejectedly. "Maybe Carl's right, Wanda. We shouldn't have let our emotions affect our magic."
"And what's worse, we wrongfully accused Timmy of something he would've never done. What's important right now is that we find Timmy and apologize to him. Agreed?"
"Agreed." And with that, the two fairies shared a loving hug.
"Maybe you could learn a little something from Cosmo and Wanda's argument, Jimmy," Libby inquired.
"What they were arguing about has no legitimate relation to the predicament between Sheen and I." In response to Jimmy's show of stubbornness and/or pride, Libby just rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Poof; group hug!" said Cosmo; unfortunately, there was no response from the fairy baby. "Uh, Wanda? Where's Poof?"
"What do you mean, 'Where's Poof?' Don't tell me you lost him, after what we've just been through?"
"Cosmo? Wanda?" Cindy said to them, pointing down the street. The fairies followed the direction of Cindy's finger and indeed saw their son bouncing down the street like a ball.
"Poof, poof, poof," the fairy baby exclaimed happily with each bounce until he disappeared around a nearby corner.
"Oops," Cosmo replied.
"You know what that means, Cosmo," Wanda stated, a clearly agitated look on her face. Without a word, Cosmo surrendered his wand to his wife and then lowered himself to the ground.
"What does that mean?" Carl asked.
Wanda then waved both wands and Cosmo was enveloped in a cloud marked "WOOF!" When the cloud cleared, Cosmo had been turned into a green Border Collie.
"Cosmo and I have this ongoing thing where whoever loses Poof has to become a search dog in order to find him," Wanda explained. In her left hand, she held a leash that led down to Cosmo's collar; in her right, she held both their wands.
"Yeah. Unfortunately, this is the fifteenth time this has happened now," Cosmo stated sadly. The collar he was wearing was equipped with a feature that gave him the ability to talk.
"And how many times have you lost Poof, Cosmo?" Jimmy asked.
"Fifteen times." The kids looked to Wanda as if to confirm this.
"It's true; I am the responsible one, after all," the pink-haired fairy responded. "Okay, this is what we'll have to do, then: you kids look for Timmy and Sheen while we look for our son. We'll meet up with you later once we locate Poof."
"You know, I could just use my watch to locate Poof, if you'd like," Jimmy offered. "It'd be a lot easier."
"Thanks, Jimmy, but the responsible one has got this under control," And before the gang could say anything, Wanda said to her canine husband, "Let's go, Sparky!"
"Once you lose Poof, I'm gonna turn you into a Cocky Spaniel," Cosmo muttered as he and Wanda made their way down the street Poof had been.
During this time, Yoo-Yee had begun his skyward ascension with Sheen.
"Well, Jimmy, do you think you could use your watch to find Sheen, then?" Libby requested.
Jimmy did show some reluctance, but not wanting a repeat of earlier today, he complied. Through his watch's TV screen, Jimmy once more conducted a brief sweep of the town to locate Sheen. But just like before, the words "UNABLE TO LOCATE" came up as the end result.
"That's funny," Jimmy responded. "He should be in Retroville; there's no other place besides here or Dimmsdale Sheen would go."
"Could he still be in Dimmsdale?" Libby asked.
"Unlikely. I was able to do a quick scan of Dimmsdale just before we came here."
"Well, what about Zeenu?" Carl suggested.
"Carl, don't be ridiculous. My lab is on full lockdown mode; there's no way he's getting in there."
"Then how about we find Timmy? Maybe he knows where Sheen is," recommended Cindy.
"Couldn't hurt to try." This time, the search yielded a positive result: a blinking red dot, indicating Timmy's location. "There he is! It looks like he's at the Candy Bar."
"Good enough for me!" Libby said. She then pushed Jimmy aside and made her way to the ice cream parlor.
"Libby, wait!" Cindy called out after her. But when the dark-skinned girl neither responded back nor slowed down, Cindy decided to follow her best friend, with Carl running right behind her.
Jimmy sighed exasperatedly. "Some inter-dimensional pursuit this is turning out to be," he said, before he too, joined the chase.
— — — — — —
By the time Jimmy arrived at the Candy Bar, he saw his friends gathered in a circle near the entrance. Once he caught up to them, he realized they were huddled around Timmy, who was slowly coming into consciousness.
"Timmy, are you okay?" Cindy asked.
"Ugh, my head," Timmy groaned. Still a little dazed, he managed to pick himself up.
"You'll be fine, Timmy," Libby was quick to declare. "Now, do you know where Sheen is?"
"Not since we were separated in that crowd."
"What crowd?" inquired Jimmy.
"Earlier, Sheen and I heard a siren of some sort go off and that's when everybody started screaming and running for their lives. Then came the crowd and my subsequent blackout."
"That must have been Retroville's emergency siren system. Do you know what was the town running from?"
"That I don't remember. I only recall Sheen telling me there was no time."
"So, again, where's Sheen?" Libby repeated in an urgent tone.
"Up there," Carl responded fearfully, pointing up at the sky. A worried look was plastered across his face.
"What are you talking about?" asked Libby. Her answer, however, came in the form of a faint scream that slowly got higher in pitch. The kids turned to where Carl was looking and saw Sheen screaming as he plummeted toward the earth, limbs flailing wildly. All the kids, save for Jimmy, copied Carl's expression.
"Sheen!" Libby shouted.
"I got it," Jimmy replied nonchalantly. He then held up his arm and shot a tractor beam from his watch. The tractor beam eventually made contact with Sheen, freezing him in mid-fall. The tractor beam then pulled Sheen toward Jimmy. Once Jimmy had Sheen back on the ground, he turned the tractor beam off and unfroze him. Oddly, Sheen resumed his screaming.
"Sheen," Jimmy said. But Sheen continued screaming while his friends looked on confusedly.
"Sheen!" Libby intervened. Immediately, Sheen stopped.
"Huh? Oh, hey Libby!" Sheen replied. "What are you guys doing here?" Almost instantly, his expression turned from confusion to fright. "Oh no! I've met my untimely end! I hope your fates weren't as painful as mine!"
Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Sheen, calm down; you're still alive. I just saved you from that untimely end."
With that realization, Sheen breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew! Well, that was a close one." But once more, his expression changed to fright. "Wait a minute. If I'm still alive, then that means . . . "
"NO!" boomed an angry voice.
All the kids then looked up and saw Yoo-Yee levitating above them, his eyes focused intently on Sheen.
"Uh-oh," responded Sheen.
"Who is that?" asked Timmy.
"You remember that crazy ninja I told you about earlier?" Sheen asked. Timmy nodded and Sheen smiled and chuckled sheepishly as if to say 'Ta-da!'
"You are still moving! And breathing! And you lack external and internal damages! How is this possible?!"
"Why is he speaking like that?" wondered Timmy aloud.
It was then that Yoo-Yee noticed the presence of Sheen's friends. "Of course! The friends of the Chosen One!"
"Chosen One?" Sheen cleared his throat and then waved meekly at Timmy, smiling sheepishly again. "Did I miss something here?"
"Silence!" Yoo-Yee announced. He then put the index finger and thumb of his right hand into his mouth and whistled shrilly. The ninjas who formed the makeshift arena suddenly vaulted over the roof of the Candy Bar and surrounded the six kids. All the ninjas assumed fighting stances, poised to attack at Yoo-Yee's command.
"Any last words, Chosen One and company?"
"I do!" Libby responded. She then turned to face Sheen and took his hands in hers. "Sheen, before we meet our doom, I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. I should've known better than to believe you had eyes for another girl. You came through for me in Dimmsdale, and I couldn't be more grateful than to know a boy like you who would lay his life on the line just for me. Thank you." With her apology completed, she gave Sheen a loving hug.
"You're welcome, Libby," Sheen said, reciprocating the hug. "You know you'll always be my Ultra Love."
"Aw," swooned Carl, wiping tears from his eyes. "Could you hold me?" That he directed at Timmy.
Taken aback by Carl's request, Timmy responded, "Uh . . . I'm still kind of afraid of intimacy." He then sidestepped a couple feet away from Carl. "Maybe Jimmy or Cindy can do so."
"But they're already a couple."
"Enough!" Yoo-Yee shouted. "Get them!"
As the ninjas slowly began to advance on the kids, Libby whispered into Sheen's ear, "There's just one more thing I want to say, Sheen."
"What's that?" Sheen whispered back.
She then grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him hard on the lips. Sheen's eyes widened in surprise at first, but he gave in to Libby's show of affection and closed his eyes, reciprocating the kiss. When Libby pulled back, Sheen opened his eyes and Libby saw the image of a growling tiger in both of his pupils.
"Put a hurtin' on this fool for me."
With the Eye of the Tiger re-obtained and his confidence regained, Sheen once more assumed a fighting stance, a look of determination upon his face. Noticing this sudden turn-around in Sheen's attitude, the ninjas charged toward him.
Following a sudden barrage of punches and kicks, Yoo-Yee saw Sheen dispose of his ninja henchmen in a pile-up.
"This cannot be happening," Yoo-Yee told himself. "I have been showing him no mercy, and yet he continues to rise from the ashes, like some fiery man-bird!"
"Now he's talking to himself out loud. What's wrong with this guy?" Yoo-Yee overheard Timmy ask.
"I think it may stem from some insecurity issues he has," Sheen responded.
With an angry growl, Yoo-Yee felt another zap from the computer chip. After absorbing the shock, Yoo-Yee then dive-bombed down toward Sheen with an outstretched fist. But Sheen easily sidestepped this attack; caught off-guard by this move, Yoo-Yee's eyes widened in shock. He tried to readjust his direction, but instead he hit the pavement, landing on his stomach. Sheen then took the opportunity to dance an Irish jig on top of the dazed kung-fu warrior's head. During this routine, Sheen inadvertently undid Yoo-Yee's headband and it fell off his head. He then continued to dance his way across the kung-fu warrior's body. Eventually, he jumped off and gave a graceful bow. Seeing this, Yoo-Yee stood back up and accidently stepped on the computer chip. Since his mind was clouded with rage, however, this went unnoticed by the kung-fu warrior.
"Come on, Yoo-Yee," taunted Sheen. "Is that the best you can do?" He rose into the air and looked back down at the kung-fu warrior. "Catch me if you can!" With his challenge issued, Sheen took off toward the city. Yoo-Yee once more went airborne and wasted no time in pursuing Sheen.
— — — — — —
Meanwhile, Cosmo and Wanda made their way through downtown Retroville, trying to figure out where their son could've gone. They were currently walking down a street in the shopping district, not far from where Timmy and Sheen had arrived earlier. Still leading the way, Cosmo was sniffing the sidewalk the way a beachcomber would use a metal detector.
"Have you picked up on Poof's scent yet, Cosmo?" Wanda asked her canine husband. In her left hand, she held on tightly to her husband's leash; in her right, she was still holding their wands.
"I can't tell," Cosmo reported. "When was the last time you changed him?"
"No, not that scent!"
"Well, what other scent of his did you think I had picked up on?"
Wanda face-palmed herself in frustration. "The trail that Poof has been blazing through Retroville!"
A look of realization came across Cosmo's face. "Oh! Well, in that case, we might have to go back the way we came and start over again."
Just before Wanda could retort with a remark of her own, both fairies heard a metallic Clang! nearby.
"What was that?" asked Wanda.
"Maybe it was Poof," replied Cosmo.
"Poof? Honey, is that you?"
"I think it came from that alley." The alley Cosmo had indicated was across the street, next to Lucky Tony's House of Garlic.
"Well, go on, then, Cosmo. Retrieve him." She let Cosmo's leash drop to the ground.
"Why do I have to be the one to get him?"
She began counting off on her fingers: "Number one: you lost him; number two: you are the search dog; and number three: you will be in the doghouse if you don't. Need any other reasons?"
Cosmo chuckled nervously. "You always know just what to say, Wanda. Let me go get Poof!" Making sure to look both ways, Cosmo crossed the street and trotted into the alley.
Several minutes passed, leaving Wanda to wonder what was taking Cosmo so long. Looking both ways, she then floated across the street and approached the alley. "Cosmo?" she called out. But when no response was reciprocated, she made the choice to venture into the alley after her husband. About halfway through, she came upon Cosmo lying down on his stomach, fiddling with something in his paws and gnawing on it with his teeth.
"Cosmo?" Wanda called out again. The green dog stopped what he was doing and looked up at Wanda.
"Hey, Wanda, look what I found!"
"I thought you were looking for . . . "
"I was," interrupted Cosmo. "But then I found this neat little square chew toy, and my inner dog just couldn't resist. I had to play with it."
"Square chew toy? Let me see that." She held out her hand, waiting for Cosmo to hand it over. Cosmo, however, got up and began growling at Wanda.
"No, you can't have it! It's mine!" He then put his paw on top of the chew toy in a weak attempt to safeguard it. However, that action suddenly caused the chew toy to suck in Cosmo like a vacuum cleaner consumes a dust bunny. "Whoa! Wanda!" he was heard to shout before he disappeared within the confines of the chew toy.
"Cosmo!" Wanda exclaimed. She made a flying leap for her husband's leash, grabbing it and pulling it with all her might. In doing this, however, she accidently dropped both her and her husband's wands on the ground.
It was during this tug-of-war that Wanda finally realized what this "square chew toy" was: it was Jimmy's Hypercube. This sudden realization also made her remember that, not too long ago, Jimmy had programmed it to recapture all the anti-fairies when they escaped from Fairy World Prison and attempted to make every day in Dimmsdale Friday the 13th.
Although Wanda maintained her grip on Cosmo's leash the best she could, she was no match for the powerful suction of the Hypercube.
"No!" she wailed just before she, too, was sucked into the Hypercube.
— — — — — —
Yoo-Yee pursued Sheen all over the city, but the hyperactive boy could not be caught. Eventually, the chase brought both Sheen and Yoo-Yee to the Retroville Convention Center. They were currently hovering over the convention center's basketball-designed roof.
"Give it up, Chosen One!" Yoo-Yee argued. "You can't run from your fate forever! I am destined to become the new Chosen One!"
"I think you mean 'fly,' " corrected Sheen. "And besides, what could you do as Chosen One? You can't even bend your leg behind your head!"
"Maybe not, but I could do something like this!" He then repeated his shrill whistle like before. Hearing the sound of helicopter rotors, Sheen turned around and saw Yoo-Yee's helicopter arrive on the scene. Once the helicopter positioned itself a considerable distance from Sheen, Yoo-Yee signaled to the pilot by holding his index finger up. Understanding the signal, the pilot pressed a big red button on his control panel.
Sheen then saw a missile lower itself from beneath the helicopter and launch directly toward him. Folding his hands together, Sheen focused all his attention on the approaching missile. As it finally neared him, Sheen performed a powerful roundhouse kick that redirected the missile toward a different target. Thankfully, that target ended up being a condemned three-story building.
Sheen turned around to face the kung-fu warrior once more. "Nice try, Yoo-Yee! But it's going to take a lot more than your fists of fury and a missile to defeat the Chosen One!"
"Oh, really?" Yoo-Yee stated. "Well then, how about two?!" This time, Yoo-Yee held up two fingers. Realizing that Yoo-Yee was signaling to him again, the pilot once more pressed the big red button on his control panel and another missile was fired from beneath the helicopter. Hearing the launch, Sheen turned around to see the second missile heading his way. With no time to repeat his earlier success, Sheen was forced to flee, with the missile following closely behind him. Eventually, Yoo-Yee saw both Sheen and the missile disappear from sight. He then returned to his helicopter and cupped a hand around his ear in order to hear the upcoming explosion; nothing was heard, though.
"What is going on? Why is there no booming noise?" He cupped his hand around his ear once more. However, this time, he heard someone singing:
"I'm guiding a missile toward you . . ." There was no mistaking Sheen's voice, but when Yoo-Yee peered out of the helicopter and looked to his left, he saw nothing.
"This grudge you've been holding has got me feeling bluuue . . . " Sheen concluded. Yoo-Yee then looked to his right, but still saw nothing. However, when he turned back around, he saw his pilot leap out of the helicopter, a parachute strapped to his back.
"Wait a minute! What are you doing?" he called out to his falling pilot. But the only response he got was the pilot opening his parachute. Wondering what was going on, Yoo-Yee went over to the pilot's seat and looked through the windshield. It was there that Yoo-Yee understood why the pilot did what he did: Sheen was standing on top of the missile, riding it like a surfboard. And the missile was heading right toward the helicopter! As the missile neared the helicopter, Sheen back flipped off it and kept his distance.
His eyes widened with fear, Yoo-Yee screamed and bolted for the open door. But before he could jump out, the missile made contact with the helicopter and the aircraft instantly exploded. While Sheen covered his eyes, Yoo-Yee was sent flying. He bounced down the street like a stone skipping the surface of a pond before he ultimately landed—almost conveniently—at the top of the ninja pile-up, his gi considerably torn and his hair slightly singed. With an agonized groan, Yoo-Yee lost consciousness.
Sheen then landed on top of the fallen kung-fu warrior and bent his leg behind his head victoriously. From down below, Cindy, Libby, and Timmy congratulated Sheen for defeating Yoo-Yee. He floated down to meet his friends, accepting a kiss on the cheek from Libby, words of encouragement from Cindy, and a pat on the back from Timmy.
Jimmy, however, had not joined the celebration because his attention was focused more on the broken computer chip he discovered lying under Yoo-Yee's fallen headband. He twirled the computer chip around in his hand, analyzing it as much as he could.
"Hmm," Jimmy pondered to himself. "This technology is unlike anything I've seen before, almost other-worldly. How did Yoo-Yee come into possession of something like this?" He briefly turned to look at his friends crowding around Sheen and then looked back down at the computer chip. "I'm sure they'll understand," Jimmy finally decided. "I need to get to the lab and analyze this further. There's something going on here, and I don't like it one bit." He then took off down the street, heading for his lab.
Once the congratulations and words of praise had died down, Cindy noticed Timmy had left the huddle.
"Where are you going, Timmy?" Cindy called out.
"I'm going to try and find my fairy programs. Libby's apology to Sheen has made me realize that I should try to make amends with Cosmo and Wanda for what I said to them earlier. I'll be right back."
But suddenly, the kids heard a loud rumble and looked up to see dark clouds enveloping the blue sky. Flashes of thunder illuminated the clouds, while strong gusts of winds shook the leaves off the trees.
"What's happening?" Carl panicked.
"Yeah!" Sheen shouted. "What's with the sudden change in weather?"
"Leaping Leptons!" the kids heard Jimmy shout. A muffled exclamation followed shortly afterward.
"Jimmy?" Cindy asked, realizing her boyfriend had gone AWOL. "Where are you?"
"Let's try and find Cosmo and Wanda first," Timmy suggested. "I'm sure they can help us locate him." He was just about to take off when all of a sudden, Cindy saw Jimmy projected out of a nearby alley, his arms bound behind his back and his mouth gagged.
"Jimmy!" Cindy shouted and she raced toward her captive boyfriend. Noticing this, Libby, Carl, Sheen, and Timmy took off after her.
As the kids neared Jimmy, they noticed he was shaking his head repeatedly in quick succession. This caused them all to come to a screeching halt a few feet from him.
"Jimmy, you can stop shaking your head now," Timmy said. "We're here to save you."
"Of course you are," answered a sinister voice. "But I'm afraid I must intervene." The figure this sinister voice belonged to then floated out of the alley and made their presence known, hovering between Jimmy and the other kids.
"King Goobot!" Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Sheen exclaimed in horror. For some unknown reason, though, the four kids noticed he wasn't wearing his trademark crown.
Surprised by Goobot's appearance but unnerved by his statement, Timmy spoke up again. "And I'm afraid I must say otherwise, so if you could just kindly step aside . . . "
"All right. I see we're going to have to do this the hard way," Goobot responded. He then reached behind his back and pulled out his crown. As he put it on, Timmy felt his jaw drop slightly. This was because he noticed that Cosmo and Wanda's wands had somehow been fused to the top of Goobot's crown. The wands stuck out of the center of the crown like antennas. Unfortunately, Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Sheen also noticed the wands on Goobot's crown.
"Uh, guys?" Timmy whispered to the other four kids. "Run!" That, he shouted. The five kids took off running back the way they came, with Timmy leading the way. They were quick to reach the Candy Bar, but suddenly, Timmy found himself encased in a translucent purple bubble. Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Sheen stopped dead in their tracks upon witnessing Timmy's capture.
"Whoa!" he shouted. The bubble rose up, suspending Timmy in mid-air. A "POOF!" suddenly appeared next to the bubble, revealing Goobot and a levitating bound-and-gagged Jimmy.
"Running away: the oldest plan in the book," Goobot lamented sarcastically. "Personally, I was hoping for something a little more well-thought out."
"Goobot!" someone called out. Both Timmy and the alien king turned to see that Yoo-Yee had regained consciousness. He then leaped off the ninja pile and landed underneath Goobot. "You have returned!"
"Excuse me a minute," Goobot told Timmy in an annoyed tone. He then floated down to the kung-fu warrior. "What happened to the computer chip I gave you earlier, Yoo-Yee?"
Yoo-Yee felt the top of his head and finally realized that both his headband and the computer chip were gone. "Oh, no! I must've lost it in battle. A minor casualty, but no matter! Now that you're here, we shall be unstoppable!"
"No, Yoo-Yee, because you see, it does matter. Because it just so happens that when I captured Neutron, I found the broken remains of that computer chip in his possession." He then held out his hand and revealed the pieces of the computer chip to the kung-fu warrior.
"How could that be? Ugh! Why can't I remember what happened?"
"Maybe it's because you just lost your memory of the past events."
"What are you talking about?" Goobot responded to Yoo-Yee's question by snapping his fingers. Without warning, the kung-fu warrior was blasted from his spot and launched through the air. He then landed back on top of the ninja pile, dazed and disoriented.
"While I do appreciate the effort you put into our partnership, Yoo-Yee, I'm afraid you've outlived your usefulness to me."
"Huh? Who are you? Where am I?" the kung-fu warrior asked confusedly.
"Why, you're back home in Shangri-Llama. Where else would you be?" And with a sweep of the alien king's arm, Yoo-Yee and his pile of ninja henchmen vanished with a "SHANGRI-LLAMA POOF!"
"Now, where was I? Oh, yes!" Goobot then floated back up to the bubble he entrapped Timmy in.
"Where, uh, where did you, uh, get those?" Timmy asked worriedly, even though he already knew the answer.
Goobot knew Timmy was referring to the wands on his crown. "Who else? From you, of course!"
That was certainly not the answer Timmy was expecting. "Me?! What are you talking about?" Goobot instead reached behind his back again and brought out the Hypercube, holding it in his left hand. Holding out his right hand, a "POOF!" briefly enveloped it; when the cloud cleared, a magnifying glass had appeared. He positioned the magnifying glass in between the Hypercube and Timmy.
"See for yourself."
Peering through the magnifying glass, Timmy saw something he would've wished he hadn't: Cosmo (once more in his human form) and Wanda were trapped inside the Hypercube and had become entangled within a web of some sort. Both fairies struggled to free themselves, but they were powerless to do so. This was because the webbing they were caught in was actually the mesh of a butterfly net.
"Cosmo! Wanda!"
"Oh, are those the names you address them by?" Goobot stated, as he put away both the Hypercube and the magnifying glass. "I was going to call them Servant 1 and Servant 2, but they felt too tyrannical in context."
"Let them go, Goobot! They have nothing to do with this!"
Goobot began to circle around Timmy's bubble. "Au contraire; your fairy programs have everything to do with this, Timmy Turner."
The kids' eyes widened in shock hearing Goobot address Timmy by his first and last name; Timmy's eyes, however, widened the most.
"How do you know my name? And what makes you think that Cosmo and Wanda are my 'fairy programs,' as you so call them?" He made sure to use air quotes around the synonym.
Goobot chuckled evilly. "How I know your name and that Cosmo and Wanda are your 'fairy programs,' " —Goobot also made sure to use air quotes, but mockingly— "Is unimportant. What is important, though, is how I'm going to harness their power to my own benefit."
"Nice try, egghead! But the rules say you can't use magic to destroy people!"
"Who said anything about destroying people?" Goobot tauntingly asked. "Although that is a big part of my to-do list. And besides, rules were made to be broken." Goobot eventually stopped his circling, hovering to Timmy's immediate left.
Timmy turned to face the alien king. "Not these rules. You'll never be able to break them."
"Maybe not, but there's nothing in these so-called rules that say I can't bend them, do they?"
"Uh . . . "
"That's what I thought. So I hate to burst your bubble, but . . . Oh, wait! No, I don't!" Suddenly, Goobot projected his hands outward toward Timmy. This action not only caused the bubble to pop, but it also launched Timmy through the air.
"YAAAAHHH!"
"Timmy!" Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Sheen shouted. As the four kids ran after Timmy, Goobot laughed evilly.
Timmy eventually landed in a tree in the park, ricocheting from branch to branch until he hit the ground, landing on his back.
"Timmy!" Cindy reiterated, once the four kids arrived at the impact site.
"Is anything broken?" questioned Carl.
Timmy slowly sat up, brushing himself off and picking a few leaves out of his hair. "No, I don't think so," he slightly groaned.
As Cindy and Libby helped Timmy to his feet, the kids heard Goobot's evil laughter. The alien king then appeared before them, with Jimmy floating beside him.
"While I'd love to stay and catch up on old times, I really must be getting going." The alien king turned his attention to Jimmy. "Say goodbye to your friends, Neutron!" Rubbing his hands together, a portal suddenly opened up behind him. But just as he was about to turn and enter it, Sheen made his voice heard.
"Wait a minute! If you're going to take him, you'll have to take me then, too!" he shouted bravely.
"Sheen!" scolded Libby. "What are you doing?"
"Hmm," Goobot contemplated, rubbing his chin. "You know, come to think of it, you did play a big part in the failure of my last plan. All right, then; the more, the merrier . . . for me, that is." With a snap of his fingers, Goobot imprisoned Sheen the same way he did to Jimmy and brought him to his side. The only difference between the two boys' captivity, however, was that Sheen had not been gagged. Jimmy shot an angry look toward Sheen.
"What?" Sheen answered. "It worked when you said it earlier." Jimmy just rolled his eyes in frustration.
"Oops. Almost forgot." Snapping his fingers, he gagged Sheen with a "POOF!". "Now if you'll excuse me," Goobot directed at Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Timmy. "I believe I hear world domination calling my name. And what a beautiful voice she has!" As he entered the portal, Sheen and Jimmy felt themselves forcibly pulled in after him. Once they was gone, the portal closed itself up. The dark clouds in the sky then slowly vanished, revealing the vast expanse of blue sky once more.
"What am I going to do?!" panicked Timmy, grabbing his hair with both hands. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't overreacted toward Cosmo and Wanda the way I did, they wouldn't be hostages of an evil alien right now! And with all that magic, who knows what he's going to do to this universe?"
"Oh, no! We're doomed!" cried out Carl.
"Timmy, calm down. It's okay," Cindy said soothingly, rubbing her hand on Timmy's back.
"Girl, what are you talking about?" interjected Libby. "If you haven't realized, that creep alien also kidnapped our boyfriends."
"I'm aware of that, Libby. But getting all worked up is not going to save them or Cosmo and Wanda. Right now, everyone just needs to calm down. That's what Goobot wants: for us to be afraid and unfocused. But if we work together and form a plan of attack, we'll at least have a fighting chance to defeat Goobot." Inspired by Cindy's words, Timmy was quick to pull himself together.
"You're right, Cindy!" Timmy responded. "Jimmy, Sheen, Cosmo and Wanda saved us earlier today. Now it's time for us to return the favor!" He then raised his fist jubilantly at the sky. "Let's do this!"
"Right on!" followed an equally inspired Libby. "It's time for us to put a hurtin' on this fool!"
But before they could go any further, they all heard the sound of someone crying. "Carl, will you stop crying already?" Cindy asked.
"What are you talking about? That's not me," came Carl's retort.
"Well, if it's not you, then who is it?" The kids listened closely, glancing around the park for the source of the crying.
"I think it's coming from that bush over there," Carl pointed out. Once the other kids spotted the bush Carl was referring to, the crying turned into a brief fit of sniffles. While the source of the sobbing was unknown to Cindy, Libby, and Carl, Timmy suddenly had an idea of who the crying culprit could be.
"Wait a minute," Timmy wondered. He walked over to the bush and began rustling its leaves. "Poof?" All of a sudden, someone leaped out of the bushes and tackled Timmy to the ground. Seeing their friend in danger, Cindy, Libby, and Carl ran over to help Timmy. But when they reached Timmy, they noticed the pink-hatted boy laughing and a baby bouncing happily on top of his stomach.
"Ha, ha, ha! It is you, Poof!" Timmy exclaimed joyfully.
"Poof?" the three kids asked inquisitively.
"Poof, poof, poof!" the fairy baby answered back. After hearing the sound of Timmy's voice, Poof's crying and sniffling had instantly stopped and was replaced by happy giggling. Once he stopped his bouncing, Timmy stood back up and hugged his godbrother.
"I'm so glad you're all right! I thought Goobot had taken you prisoner, as well!" However, the look on Poof's face did another 360 and became sad once more.
"Oh, no," Timmy suddenly realized. "Did you overhear us say that our friends and your parents had been captured?" Poof sadly nodded, his lower lip quivering.
"Aw, Poof," consoled Cindy, taking the fairy baby in her arms. "Everything's going to be all right. We're going to get your parents back safe and sound."
"Poof, poof?"
"I promise."
"You knew what he said?" an astounded Timmy asked.
"My nurturing female instincts have given me the ability to understand baby talk."
"Women have that ability?" Timmy scratched his head in confusion. "Wow! What else don't I know?"
"Poof, poof, poof, poof?"
"What did he say now?"
" 'Couldn't you just wish your friends and my parents free?' " Cindy interpreted. "Or at least something along the lines of that; that last 'poof' was lost in translation."
Realizing this, Timmy slapped his palm against his forehead playfully. "That's a great idea, Poof! Why didn't I think of that before?" Timmy exclaimed. "Poof, I wish Jimmy, Sheen, Cosmo and Wanda were free from their imprisonment!"
"Poof, poof!" the fairy baby said, as he raised his rattle and shook it gleefully. But the solace was short-lived as the rattle gave off the dreadful sound of a raspberry being blown.
"Oh, I was afraid that was going to happen," Timmy lamented. Upon realizing Timmy's wish hadn't worked, Poof's lower lip began quivering slightly again.
Seeing this, Cindy resumed cradling Poof in her arms. "It's okay, Poof. It's not your fault; you did everything you could." She then leaned over to Timmy and whispered in his ear, "Why didn't it work?"
"I wonder," Timmy pondered. "Poof, let me see your rattle for a second."
Poof gave his rattle to Timmy who, after giving it a brief once-over, suddenly realized a horrifying fact. "Uh-oh," he stated.
"What's wrong, Timmy?" Carl asked.
"Of all the times this system has to take effect, of course it has to be now."
"System?" This question came from Libby.
"I remember Wanda telling me about this system she devised for Poof a while back so he could control his magic better. You see this here?" He then showed the back of the rattle to his three inter-dimensional friends. What they saw on the rattle's handle was what looked like the scale of a thermometer. From the top of the scale to the bottom of it, there were 10 different marks: the top mark was labeled as 10 and kept decreasing all the way down until it got to zero.
"I think so," Carl responded. He adjusted his glasses in order to get a better look.
"Poof, poof."
"Well, this gauge indicates how much magic is contained within Poof's rattle. And with every request I make, the magic in here decreases by one mark." The magic contained within the scale indicated that the mark was at 3. However, with Timmy's failed wish, the kids and Poof saw the magical mercury decrease to 2.
"Is that why your wish didn't work, Timmy?" Cindy asked.
"Sort of. When the magic in the rattle drops below 5, it sometimes gets a little harder for Poof to grant requests for me." He then gave the rattle back to Poof. "And since Poof doesn't know where Goobot took his parents, his magic isn't strong enough to retrieve them. In other words, we would have to be within close proximity of Goobot in order for Poof's magic to be effective."
"So basically Poof's rattle is like a cell phone and he's getting a bad reception?" hypothesized Libby.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that."
"So what do we do now?" Carl asked.
"The only thing we can do," Cindy answered. "Head to Jimmy's lab and find out where Goobot took our friends and Poof's parents."
"Poof, poof, poof!" the fairy baby said.
"You heard the baby! Let's get a move on!" Cindy replied. And with that, she, Libby, Timmy, and Poof headed for Jimmy's lab.
"Aw, I wanted to be the one to say 'To the lab!' " Carl lamented, as he followed his friends.
(Nucleic Scene-changer #3)
Once the kids and Poof arrived at Jimmy's clubhouse, they saw to their misfortune that the lab looked like a tornado had hit it. Apart from the clubhouse door lying in two jagged, horizontal halves inside and the vacant spot where VOX used to reside, there had been some other extensive damage done, which included: the clubhouse's satellite dish torn from the roof and lying on the ground; boards from the clubhouse wall scattered all over the backyard; the chair outside the lab overturned; and the clubhouse window shattered.
"Well, so much for Neutron's lab being on full lockdown mode," Cindy replied.
"Oh my gosh!" Timmy exclaimed. "Who did this?"
"It had to be Goobot. He must have known we would try to go after him, so he sabotaged the lab to prevent that from happening."
"Poof, poof," lamented the fairy baby.
"But how could Goobot have gotten in?" Carl wondered aloud. "Ever since Sheen stole Jimmy's rocket, Jimmy took both the security measures and proper precautions to prevent any future break-ins."
"He must have had Yoo-Yee rip VOX off the wall and destroy the door," Libby concluded. "And then he took care of the rest."
"So what happens now?" asked Timmy.
"Let's see if there's anything in the lab that can be salvaged," Cindy suggested.
Once they went inside, they found the lab's internal damage far to be worse than the lab's external damage: most of Jimmy's inventions had been destroyed, pieces of glass and wire were strewn all over the room, and Jimmy's computer screen had been smashed in, rendering it useless. But the worst thing the kids saw was the sight of Goddard lying discarded in a corner of the lab. As they all went over to the robotic canine, he remained unresponsive to their presence.
"Goddard!" Carl shouted. He kneeled by the robotic dog's side and, with arms outstretched, cried up at the ceiling. "Not the robotic one! Take me!"
While Libby went over to comfort Carl, who continued his dramatic ranting and raving ("He was a good boy . . . He was so young, so durable . . ."), Cindy analyzed the damage done to Goddard. Her diagnosis was not a positive one: "His batteries have been drained and . . . "
"Well, that's not as bad as we thought," interrupted Timmy. "Can't we just recharge him or something like that?"
"Timmy, there more to it than that," Cindy responded back. "I was also going to add that Goddard's circuit board has been fried."
"Okay, so couldn't we just replace the circuit board with a new one?"
"It wouldn't be that simple."
"Yeah," agreed Carl somberly. "Jimmy created Goddard's circuit board himself and only he would know how to repair it."
Timmy rubbed the sides of his chin with his index finger and thumb. "Maybe there's another way . . . " he contemplated hopefully.
"How so?" That came from Libby.
"Well, I wanted to conserve as much of Poof's magic as I possibly could. But seeing as how we'll need all the help we can get if we're going to rescue Cosmo, Wanda, Jimmy, and Sheen, I figure I could make an exception." And with that, he turned to Poof and said to his fairy godbrother: "Poof, I wish Goddard was repaired and restored to his normal settings."
The fairy baby then floated over to Goddard and tapped his rattle against the robotic dog's body. "Poof," he said. When that elicited no response, he banged his rattle aggressively against Goddard two more times. "Poof, poof!" he repeated, a little more impatient.
This time, there was a different result: Goddard began to emit a faint purple aura and rose up in the air. The kids watched in amazement as Goddard began spinning slowly in circles. The spinning then became more rapid and accelerated to the point where Goddard became nothing more than a metallic blur; eventually, though, the metallic blur diminished into nothing. Finally, a "POOF!" appeared where the robotic dog had been laying previously; when the cloud cleared, Goddard reappeared, fully restored to his normal settings. Upon his reactivation, Goddard happily barked twice.
"He's alive!" Carl exclaimed joyously. "He's alive!"
"Okay, now you're starting to overdo it, Frankenstein," Libby noted, pushing Carl away.
Both Timmy and Poof then looked at the back of his rattle; the magical mercury now decreased from 2 to 1. "The price we pay, I suppose. But you did a good job, Poof!"
"Poof, poof," the fairy baby cooed bashfully.
"All right, let's get down to brass tacks here," Cindy said. "Goddard! Jimmy, Sheen, and Timmy's computer programs have been captured by Goobot." Goddard growled ferociously upon hearing of his master's capture. "We need to know where Goobot took them."
"But how are we going to do that?" asked Timmy.
"Poof, poof?" copied Poof.
"Simple. I'll just have Goddard lock on to the frequency of Jimmy's watch. That way, we can pinpoint Goobot's location. Wherever Goobot is, that's where Jimmy, Sheen, Cosmo and Wanda are bound to be. Goddard?" Locking on to frequency of Jimmy's watch, the robotic dog then opened his chest plate to reveal his TV screen. The kids watched carefully as a series of images began flashing rapidly, each one showing a different location. This went on for a good couple of minutes until the flashing finally stopped. The image Goddard was displaying on his screen, however, was not a location of somewhere on Earth, but of somewhere in outer space. The location in question was an egg-shaped planet.
Cindy, Libby, and Carl each gasped in horror. "Is that a giant egg?" Timmy asked aloud.
"I was afraid of that," Cindy mumbled.
"Why? Where is that?"
"That's Yolkus, Timmy: the home of the Yolkians. Goobot's brought our friends and your fairy programs to his home planet."
"Who knows what horrors await them there?!" Carl lamented.
"Will you stop being so dramatic already?" demanded Libby.
"The Yolkians?" asked Timmy as Goddard closed his chest plate.
"They're a dangerous alien race, Timmy," Cindy explained. "They once kidnapped all the parents of Retroville and took them to be fed to Poultra. Then they invaded Earth and tried again to feed the town to Poultra."
"Who?"
"There's no time to explain," interjected Cindy. "We need to get there and fast! And I know just what we could use." She then turned around and the other kids, Poof, and Goddard followed her gaze: where Jimmy's scientific Lazy Susan used to be, his inter-dimensional portal had now occupied the space. Cindy then walked over to the portal and gave it a quick analysis, like she did earlier with Goddard.
"Goobot did a number on the portal," reported Cindy. "But I think I can temporarily get it working again, so we can use it to get to Yolkus."
"Well, get on it then, girl," Libby responded. "You are Neutron's better half, after all."
With the support of the other kids, Poof, and Goddard, Cindy repaired as much of the inter-dimensional portal as she could. She then entered the coordinates of Yolkus, and set the portal's destination for the Yolkian planet.
Once she was done, the kids, Poof, and Goddard stood in front of the portal. Before Cindy turned on the portal, though, she said this to her friends: "Now, like I said, there was a lot of extensive damage done to the portal. Keeping that in mind, once I turn the portal on, we'll have no more than a few minutes before the portal shuts itself down. So we'll have to make this run quick. Is everyone ready?"
Her question elicited a different response from Libby, Timmy, Goddard, and Carl, respectively:
"I've been ready!"
"Let's do this!"
"Bark, bark!"
"Just a second," Carl then took out his inhaler and puffed it briefly before putting it back in his pocket. "Okay, now I'm ready."
With the push of a button, Cindy turned the portal on. "All right. Here we go!" And with that, Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Goddard all ran up the steps and entered the portal. However, Timmy stopped mid-way to the portal when he noticed that Poof had not moved from his spot.
"Poof? What's wrong?" Timmy asked his fairy godbrother.
"Poof, poof," came the magical toddler's response. There was sadness in his voice and fear etched in his face.
Timmy walked over to Poof's side. "Are you afraid?" Poof nodded fervently.
"It's okay, Poof. To be honest, I'm afraid, too. I'm afraid of what might happen to Cosmo and Wanda. I'm afraid of what Goobot will do with all that magic at his disposal. And I'm sure Cindy and Libby are afraid for their boyfriends. Carl, I think, just is afraid. But you don't have to be afraid, Poof. Be brave for your parents. And Cindy, Libby, Carl, and I will be with you the whole time, I promise. Do you trust me?"
Something in Timmy's speech renewed Poof's fighting spirit and put his fears to rest. With a mighty shake of his rattle and his eyebrows furrowed, he answered Timmy's question with a confident "Poof, poof, poof!"
Suddenly, the lights on top of the portal began flickering intermittently. "We'd better hurry, Poof." Timmy then held out his hand. "Are you ready?" With a trusting smile, Poof took it and held on tight.
"Come on. Let's go kick some alien butt!"
"Poof!"
Timmy led Poof up the steps and both boys jumped through the portal.
With another flicker of light, the portal finally shut down.
(Nucleic Iris Out)
— — — — — —
And just when you thought Crocker capturing Cosmo and Wanda was bad . . .
For those of you who are wondering how Goobot knows Timmy's name and that Cosmo and Wanda are his "Fairy Programs," let me assure you: this is not an error. I plan to explain the reason in the first part of the next act.
Once again, it may take some time before the next update, but you know I will come through. So until then, let your imaginations run wild!
There's still one more act to go, so stay tuned!