Once again, thanks for the reviews! Let's move on, shall we?
Disclaimer: I don't own any songs or the original characters, yada yada yada.
"Look to the cookie, Elaine. Look to the cookie."- Jerry, Seinfeld
Chapter 8: Hopelessly Devoted
"...kill me."
O.O! Jimmy fell on his face, having leaned forward on his toes. This was unexpected!
"Excuse me?" he kneeled up and rubbed his head.
"Mistress?" Coraham said.
"Please, Jimmy," Sneris ignored her, "Engage with me in battle and defeat me!"
"Is this another Helion custom?" he asked.
"Yes," she nodded, "Every person of my age group waits for someone to fight them. It is our honor to fall in battle and protect others from us. Not many are so lucky, but now you have come! Please, Jimmy! I beg you! Do this for me!" The elves started to cry.
"What about your girls?" Jimmy indicated the elves, "What are they to do?" They looked up at her with tear-streaked faces. Sneris looked at them all with sad affection. Heavens, they're only five years old!
"My friends," she said as they drew nearer, "You have all served me well and given me companionship in my lonely exile. You've all been with me all this time, so you knew this day would come. With the heavy heart of an employer, and the love I have for all of you, I release you into the custody of the boy genius of Earth, Jimmy Neutron, if he will have you."
"What?" Jimmy was confused, "You're giving them to me?"
"They like you, Jimmy," Sneris insisted, "and they will gladly serve you as they have served me! Right, girls?" The elves wholeheartedly agreed.
"Please, Master Neutron!" Coraham grabbed his hand like the 5-year-old she was, "We would love to serve you! Will you have us?" He looked at their adorably eager and identical faces with their brick-red hair and dull-green eyes (or rather, like a jungle green) and glittery blue skin (like Mystique on X-Men!). Could he take care of all these 20 sweet creatures? Eh, he'd figure something out.
"I'll take them in, Sneris," he said as he touched Coraham's head, "I'll do what I can for them." As the elves cheered, Sneris thanked him and her five heads shrunk until she was back to normal.
"I think I'm all right now," she said, "If you'll have the girls untie me, we can go back to bed. Our battle will be tomorrow night."
In the morning, someone knocked on the door.
"Miss Sneris," the greeter elf ran to her, "The suppliers are here!" The elves belonged to Jimmy now, but they would still work in Sneris' house until after the battle.
"Oh, good!" Sneris said, "Please, show them in!"
Jimmy hadn't slept since what happened. He was worried. How was he supposed to fight a woman with six heads? How would he take care of the girls? Could he really defeat Sneris?
He walked downstairs to see all sorts of species carrying crates, sacks, and all sorts of supplies.
"Oh, Jimmy!" Sneris approached him, "You're awake! Look! I forgot to tell you: I have suppliers that bring me food, clothes, letters, and cleaning stuff. They don't know about our battle, but a few last meals would be good."
Jimmy watched the suppliers. It was like watching Star Wars. One green alien in armor approached them and handed Sneris a stack of letters. He looked like someone Jimmy knew.
"Excuse me," he pulled the guy aside while Sneris checked her mail, "Are you a Gorlock?"
"Yay, good sir," he answered proudly, "Our message system doth reach to the utmost ends of the universe."
"Can you do express?" Jimmy asked.
"That costs extra," the Gorlock said.
"It usually does," Jimmy said, "Listen, I need to know something: Do you know of a warrior by the name of Chee-AAAA-toh?"
"Why yes, sir," he said with interest, "She be the daughter of one of the emperor's war princes with crew and ship enough to overtake the quadrant. How knowest thou, being an Earth dweller, of her existence?" (I don't know how he knows he's human; just move along.)
"That's not important right now," Jimmy said as he took out a quarter, "I need you to give her something for me." He fine-pointed his laser watch and wrote "April" on the quarter; then he put it in the Gorlock's hand and closed it around the coin.
"It's of vital importance that the lady Chee-AAAA-toh receives this as speedily as possible," Jimmy said, making eye contact, "And tell her this: Her friend of trust, Jimmy Neutron of Earth, is obliged to engage Sneris Ongada of Helios, currently living in exile on Calypso's Comet, in mighty one-on-one combat in fulfillment of a pact. Tell her I need armor, weapons, and a spaceship to take me and mine back to Earth."
"And this round thing?" the Gorlock held up the quarter, "What is she to make of it?"
"She'll recognize it," he smiled, "as a token of our friendship. She'll know it's me." The Gorlock stared at him.
"Wait a minute," he said, "Jimmy Neutron from that game show?"
"Yes, that's me," Jimmy rolled his eyes, "but could you please"--
"Oh yes, of course!" the guy said, "Anything for Jimmy Neutron!" He shook his hand vigorously.
"Thank you," Jimmy said, "Now go, quickly!" The Gorlock ran out, and Jimmy sighed; how he prayed that April would answer!
Meanwhile, rewinding back to the morning, Cindy and the others woke up very chilled.
'Why is it so cold?' Cindy thought with her eyes still closed, 'Even for outer space, this rock is drafty!'
"Uh, Cindy?" Libby touched her and squeaked, "Now would be a reeallly good time to wake up!" The blonde sat up.
"What the heck!" she gasped, "Where are we?"
They weren't on the asteroid at all! They were in a dungeon of some kind. A green pillar of light came on over each of them, and they floated 2 feet up.
"Hello, children," said Goobot, "Hope you enjoyed your nap, for it shall be your LAST!"
"Goobot!" they gasped, then looked at each other and went off, (simultaneously, btw) "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH JIMMY, YOU KLEENEX GUNK?" Goobot eyed them evilly and simply said, "He's dead."
"NO, HE'S NOT!" Cindy yelled. No one believed him anyway, but the icon trace on Cindy's hand seemed to say, "Heed him not, for he lies."
"You can't bluff with us, egg case!" Libby snapped, "We've got empirical evidence that he's alive, so you can take your stories and blow 'em out your...uh..." (There really wasn't anything to blow out, so she just trailed off.)
"What are you gonna do with us?" Carl whined.
"I...haven't really decided yet," Goobot said, then approached Cindy, "but rest assured: You'll never see your big-brained lover again." Then he left with his malice.
Cindy was shaking with rage. It seemed to thicken her pillar. Hot tears escaped her tear ducts.
"You know," Carl said, "this reminds me of a story Alex told us; the one about her ancestor, Karen of Troy, Helen of Troy's sister; she was captured by enemies and sang her way out."
They all knew the story; as Helen of Troy had a face to launch a thousand ships, so her sister–and now Alex–had a voice to draw a thousand tears (only if she sang a sad song). Cindy remembered her favorite part.
"As darkness is the absence of light," Alex had said, "so cruelty is the absence of love. The prison that held her had been built with the absence of love, though the enemy didn't know this. But Karen did, so she filled the void of cruelty with love." Cindy remembered asking how Karen had done that.
Alex had answered, "She sang a love song. She thought of the man she loved, and her family and friends; but mostly the man she loved. This love filled her heart, and the chains that had been forged from cruelty fell, for they could not cling to something they didn't understand."
"That's it!" Cindy calmly said, "Carl, you're a genius!"
"Not that I don't already know that," he said, "but...could you remind me why?"
"Remember what Alex said?" Cindy smiled, "Karen was able to escape because she filled the void of cruelty with love."
"Aha!" Sheen pointed, then dropped, "I don't get it."
"Just watch," said Libby as she looked at Cindy; Cindy was bowing her head with her eyes closed. She thought of Jimmy and her at eleven years old and all the times they came close to a confessional of their feelings but quickly started another argument to cover it up. She thought of the island they'd been stranded on together and how much closer they'd become while they were there. She remembered the pearl he'd dug through 137 oysters to find just for her; and she remembered, more recently, the night he'd proposed to her with the sunlight and moonlight dancing in the park fountain.
All these memories and more combined and bubbled forth from her heart in her own personal theme song by Olivia Newton John, "Hopelessly Devoted" from "Grease." Libby smiled. She remembered Cindy singing this to Jimmy on Karaoke at the Candy Bar when they were 13.
Cindy's pillar started to turn brighter, very subtly, as she got to the chorus.
But now,
there's nowhere to hide!
You push my love aside
Out of my head,
hopelessly devoted to you...
Hopelessly Devoted to you...
The pillar vibrated and pulsed with each held-out note, but when the song was over, it shattered, and Cindy landed on her feet with renewed confidence.
"Libby!" she turned to her, "You and the boys sing yourselves out, find the rocket, and storm the ship. I'm going to look for Goddard."
As Libby gathered her loving memories of Sheen and started to sing Debbie Gibson's "Lost In Your Eyes," Cindy took out a bobby pin, picked the prison lock, and snuck out. She wasn't sure what she was gonna do or how, but all she knew was that she had to find Goddard and (if lucky) somehow destroy the ship and all that remained of the Yolkians. But first, it was time to end it with Goobot, once and for all.
Author's Review:
I would've put the whole song, but I don't know all the words. Sorry.
Anyway, I hope you all will remember that the whole "that costs extra" line was from the JN episode where Calamitous first appears and kidnaps–er, dognaps–Goddard.
And I would like to tip my hat to Genius Flyboy and badwolf1 for calling it! It was "kill me!" XD Good call, y'all! Review please, everybody! Till next time!
