Chapter Nine: Jimmy Neutron and the Morning After
"A- And, he sprays the entire control panel with mucas- and the robot starts going crazy. Crushing buildings, laughing hysterically- drinking tea without crumpets- so the Emporer asked me to stop it. So, Nesmith and I challenged the robot to a fight to the death! Anyway, long story short- the planet got covered with cheese, and Dorkus' house got filled with this weird goo I found. Also, fire. Well... mostly fire."
Jimmy grit his teeth as he did his best to keep his hands steady. It had been a long night so far- and Jimmy had spent the majority of his time replacing circuits in Goddards body. It looked like Goddards central processing unit had been unaffected, but there were still a wide variety of neural circuitry that had been completely fried. That meant, basically- rebuilding large portions of Goddards boy and his brain from scratch.
It was an easy enough job under normal circumstances. But unfortunately... these were not normal circumstances. Before Cindy and Libby had left- he made sure to scan their brains, as well as Carl and Sheens. He compared them to the scans of his own- and luckily, he had found nothing in their brains that would suggest that they had the same problem. Jimmy frowned, and wiped away some of the streams of sweat that had started to make their way down his face.
The scans of his brain were unsettling to say the least. As far as he could tell, large portions of it appeared to be covered in some kind of... organism. Of course- that was just speculation on his part. It was difficult to tell exactly what it was from the fuzzy black splotches that seemed to be showing up on the scans. All he could tell was that it wasn't just covering the surface. It had some kind of system of roots, burying themselves deeper into his brain. And while he hadn't been having much trouble with basic thought before- the Taters incident had apparently made the problem get much worse.
Now- he was even having trouble remembering how to put pieces together and create circuitboards- something he had been doing on a regular basis since he was eight.
"Are you listening, Jimmy!?" Sheen demanded.
Jimmy nodded. "Yeah, Sheen. Tell me more about your time on Zeenu." he said. Sheen frowned. "Are you sure? Because I think it already sent Carl to sleep..." he said. Jimmy smiled. It was probably almost daybreak already, and his friends had stayed with him in the lab the entire night.
"No its okay- your extremely grating voice makes it really hard to fall asleep." said Jimmy. "Oh, well thats good- hey!" yelled Sheen. Jimmy smiled. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you earlier about your time there... I've just been... kinda busy." he explained.
Sheen shrugged. "Aw- thats okay, Jimmy. Your always busy making something or saving Earth or whatever... It's cool!" he exclaimed. Jimmy smiled weakly. "Thanks, Sheen... Could you-" he was about to ask, only to be rudely and loudly interrupted. "What!? You want me to work of the electric stuff for a while!? Do the welding!? I'll do whatever I can!" Sheen exclaimed.
"Could you tell me what time it is?"
Sheen stood at attention, and gave a loyal salute. "You got it, Jimmy! New York, or Los Angeles?" he asked.
"Retroville."
"Alright- Its... um... hmm... oh! Its three episodes of Ultralord untill breakfast!" he yelled. "So... about six thirty?" asked Jimmy. Sheen shrugged. "Well, give or take." he said.
Jimmy nodded to himself. "Well... okay... Thats another long period of time I've spent without sleep..." he muttered. "I wonder if this... brain... problem... is the cause of my erratic sleep patterns as well..." he frowned. Of course- there was another possible reason as well. A certain dream that he had been having all too often recently.
He shuddered. That was not something he wanted to think about. Instead, he finished the last bits of rewiring in Goddards head, and closed it up with a laser. Jimmy took a deep breath. "Goddard? Wake mode." he ordered.
Suddenly, Goddards eyes lit up. "Rrrgh?" he grumbled as he stood himself up.
"Bark! Bark!"
"Goddard!" Jimmy yelled. He quickly wrapped his arms around the metal dogs head. "I'm glad your okay..." he muttered. Goddard licked him across the cheek and barked again. "Yeah... I should have known that it would take more than that to destroy you." said Jimmy, before quickly rubbing his eyes with his sleeve. Goddard barked happily, and gave his master another lick across the face.
Sheen walked over to where Carl was sleeping- on a mattress in the middle of the lab. "Aw... he's sleeping like an angel..." he said with a smile. As if on cue, Carl opened his mouth.
"Snnaaauuurrrgghh..." he snorted.
"AAAAH! It's a monster! Kill it! Kiiiilll it!" Sheen screamed.
"SHE-EEN! It's just Carl snoring!" yelled Jimmy. Sheen got back to his feet, looking embarrassed. "Oh, yeah... I knew that... WAKE UP CARL!" he bellowed. The entire lab practically shook with the sheer volume of Sheens voice. If he didn't feel like he had just had somebody hit him over the head with a speaker playing the sound of nails on a chalkboard really loudly- Jimmy would have been impressed.
Naturally, Carl stayed perfectly asleep.
Jimmy walked over, still recovering from Sheens insanely high volume, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Sheen, if you want wake Carl up- you have to do this." he instructed. Jimmy took a few steps closer to Carl, and cleared his throat.
"Wah- Who's making all that noise? I'm trying to sleep..." Carl complained as he rubbed his eyes. "Wow- thats impressive, Jimmy!" said Sheen. Jimmy gave a modest shrug, and then went back to his computer chair. Carl looked at Sheen and frowned. "What time is it, Sheen?" he asked.
"Uh... I would saaaay... about three episodes of Ultralord until breakfast!" Sheen exclaimed. "Oh, so about six thirty..." said Carl, with a yawn. "I should be getting back to my folks soon... Mom'll be making some hypoallergenic paste for breakfast... unless..." he stood himself up slowly, and walked over to Jimmy. "Do you think your Mom'll make us breakfast, Jimmy?" he asked.
Jimmy shrugged. "I geuss if you asked nicely." he said.
Carl thrust his arms in the air in triumph, and then slowly let them fall back to his sides. "Um... did you manage to find out whats... wrong?" he asked, quietly. Jimmy sighed. "Only from the pictures... And what little data I've been able to pull from the bioscans just seems to show that whatever it is... its completely alien. And as far as the Neutron satellite can tell- I am the only person on Earth who has it..." he said.
Carl scratched his head. "So its a... virus?" he asked. Sheen suddenly popped his head in front of the computer screen, looking excited. "Oh! Is it like that black goo from Ultralord episode three thousands and sixty-seven; 'Ultralord versus the Marvel Lawyers?'" he asked. Jimmy started to shake his head- and then stopped.
"Actually... it might be alittle similair. Although this thing seems to act more like... some kind of moss or something..." he frowned. "And for some reason- its only integrated itself with my brain. I haven't found any signs of it anywhere else on- or inside of, my body..."
Sheen nodded. "Huh... Your not gonna crack your head open and have a look, are you? I mean- it'd be cool and all, but the last time I did that- it really hurt." said Sheen. Jimmy sighed. "I have considered that..." he said, trailing off when he saw Carls horrified face. "But I decided against it. It could be very dangerous."
"Yeah... don't do that, Jim." said Carl.
"Don't worry- I won't."
The three of them fell into a rare silence for a few short minutes- until Carls stomach made a loud gurgling sound. "Oh... sorry- I didn't eat dinner..." said Carl. "Oh... I don't think any of us did..." said Jimmy. He couldn't help but feel guilty about this. He knew that not eating for long periods of time was unhealthy- and although he didn't care too much when he did it, his two best human friends in the world were another story.
Jimmy smiled, and called Goddard over.
"Hey, why don't we all go into the house for breakfast?" he asked.
Goddard let out a happy yip- Carl and Sheen did the same. Jimmy chuckled, and pushed the keyboard out from in front of him.
It was time to eat.
Judy smiled to herself, as she watched her husband, her son and his friends all greedily eating their breakfast as if their lives depended on it. "You boys certainly have a healthy appetite.." she said, as Carl held his plate out and gave her a pleading look. With a small sigh, she put another round of pancakes on his plate- and watched them quickly disappear in a wild flurry of slurping and burping sounds.
As she started to put all of the dishes into the dishwasher, she remembered something. "Oh, no! I forgot to make my breakfast again!" she muttered. She frowned, and was about to pour herself a glass of orange juice to make up for it- when Jimmy stopped her.
"It's okay, mom. I'll do it." he said. Judy raised her eyebrows. "Really? Oh, Jimmy- It's okay. Orange juice will be fine, you don't need to use one of your new inventions just for me..." she said. Jimmy shook his head. "No... I can do it myself." he said.
Judy had to resist the urge to gasp. "Really, Jimmy?" she asked. Jimmy smiled and nodded, as he put the pan back on the stove and pulled out a bag of flour. He picked up the bowl that she had already used- rinced it, and started pouring in some ingredients, along with a handful of blueberries. Judy couldn't wipe the look of surprise off of her face.
He was doing everything completely correctly. Exact measurements- correct stirring posture... She looked at him with pride in her eyes. He had grown. She could tell. He had already gone up a size in clothes... He was getting big. She smiled. Her special little boy genius...
Slowly, her smile turned into a light frown. He really had been changing recently... and except for the past few days- she had been seeing less and less of Carl and Sheen. She had been over joyed the year before- when she noticed her son starting to hang around the blonde girl from across the street a little more often. But now, she never even heard him say her name.
And he hadn't been sleeping well recently either... even now, she could tell that he had spent the entire night awake- presumably working on something with Carl and Sheen in the lab.
"Are you... okay, Jimmy?" she asked.
"Of course. Cooking is basically the same as advanced chemistry anyway. Just add in the correct chemicals until you achieve the appropriate reaction, add heat- try not to let anything explode..." explained Jimmy. Judy shook her head.
"No, I mean... are you feeling okay?" she asked.
Jimmy shot Carl and Sheen a dangerous look- and neither of them said a thing. "I'm fine, mom." he said. Judy frowned. "Well... if you ever need to talk..." she trailed off, and Jimmy placed a plate of blueberry pancakes in her hands. "Here, mom." he said.
"I love you."
And with that, Jimmy left the kitchen- with Goddard trailing behind him. Sheen and Carl quickly licked their plates, set them on the table and followed their friend, while Hugh continued to talk to his 'breakfast duck' in complete ignorance of anything around him.
Judy took a deep breath. She knew that teenagers were supposed to be a lot to handle. She glanced at her husband, and around the corner- just in time to see Jimmy and his friends leave out the front door.
She really hoped that he was okay. That she could enjoy the plate of pancakes her son had made her without worrying about that look he had in his eyes. But, unfortunately- something, possibly mothers intuition, told her that her son was far from okay.
She just hoped that it was wrong.
Jimmy stood out in the driveway with Carl, Sheen and Goddard- silently wondering whether or not it was worth going to school. On one hand- he had promiced Libby that he would, so that they would have a chance to discuss everything as a group. On the other hand- it would probably mean dealing with Biff. And although Jimmy had fought countless aliens and supervillains- he still had next to no idea as to how to deal with a common bully.
He knew that- by the ethics of science- he couldn't really use an invention to freeze him, shrink him, turn him into cheese- or go back in time and stop him from ever being born. Mostly because he knew that it would probably end up causing even more trouble for himself if he did. In the end, Jimmy really just wanted to avoid it. He knew that running away from the problem probably didn't seem too couragous, but sometimes running away was the only way.
"What are you doing, Neutron!?"
Jimmy flinched at the unfortunate cosmic coincidence, and turned to face Cindy Vortex and Libby Folfax. They both looked pretty- as always. Cindy in particular- although, Jimmy told himself- she was still wearing the same clothes she always wore. With one notable exception, this time.
"What's with the sunglasses, Vortex?" he asked. Libby walked over to Carl and Sheen, and started to talk with them- while Cindy let out a loud snort. "What do you care, Neutron? I happen to have very sensitive eyes- thats all!" she yelled. "Oh? I wasn't aware that any part of you whats so ever could be considered 'sensitive'." said Jimmy. Cindy growled, and took a step closer to him.
"Why you pint-sized little whippy-dipped-"
"So, did you find out anything?" asked Libby, cutting her friend off before she said or did something she might regret. Jimmy sighed. "It's some kind of life form. An alien virus of some kind... I'm not sure what, though." he explained. "I was thinking about maybe contacting some aliens and asking them..." he said.
"So I'm guessing you three aren't planning on coming to school?" asked Libby. Jimmy shook his head. "Sorry, Libby. I-" Jimmy started, only to have Libby hold up a hand to stop him. "It's fine. We got to see you now- and you do look a little better." she said.
Jimmy sighed. "Yeah..." he muttered.
"Do you have any aliens in particular you plan on visiting?" asked Cindy, who was making no effort to mask the acid in her tone. Jimmy shrugged. "Not really... I was thinking about asking Tee about that. Or maybe Apri-" he started, only to be cut off by another angry snort from Cindy.
"Oh, I see how it is. Your just gonna use this as another excuse to hang out with your little green girlfriend, is that it?" she growled. "Well, whatever. You go have fun- While I have to go apologise to Nick for you ruining our date last night."
Libby was suddenly overcome by the sudden desire to hit Jimmy and Cindy over the head with her backpack and tell them both to shut up for once. But instead, she grit her teeth and did her best to ignore it. After all, if she just hit those two every time they made her want too- both of them would have probably suffered some severe concussions by now.
Jimmy sighed. This wasn't going well... And of course it wasn't. It never did.
He frowned. 'I... I might need her for this... if my brain is compromised out there and Goddard isn't able to help... Carl and Sheen could be in real danger.' he thought to himself. As much as he didn't want to admit it... he really did need her.
As she started to walk away, Jimmy opened his mouth to say something- but he couldn't find the words. 'Come on, Neutron... you can do this... just say it... ask her for help...' he told himself.
Even though it went against every fibre of his being, every memory of being her rival and every instinct he had to never let her see any weakness... Even though it was flying in the face of everything he knew, he also knew that without her- he might be putting himself and his friends, in mortal danger.
Plus... there was a small part of him hidden away deep inside... that wanted her to be there.
He cleared his throat.
"Would you like... to come with us?" he asked. Cindy stopped in her tracks. "What did you just say?" she asked, turning around to face him. It was hard to read her expression with those glasses on... Jimmy took a deep breath.
"I mean... would you like... to accompany me... and Carl, Sheen and Goddard... to find a way to... fix... my... brain?" he stuttered. Cindy huffed, and put her hands on her hips. "It'll take a lot more than some alien technology to fix whats wrong with your brain." she spat.
"Girl..." Libby muttered to herself in exasperation.
Jimmy sighed. "Maybe... will you help me?" he asked.
Libby smiled as she watched her friend. Although Cindy was doing her best to keep a straight face, Libby could see her legs turning to jelly at those words. 'Come on, Cin'... just say yes...' she thought to herself.
Cindy straightened herself up, and scowled. "Why should I help you, Neutron? What would I get out of it?" she growled.
Libby felt the urge to hit something again- so this time, she settled on Sheen.
"Ow! What was that for!?" he demanded, rubbing his shoulder.
Jimmy tried to pick his words carefully. "Well... um... I..." he trailed off, and tried to think. "I could... owe you one..." he finally muttered. Cindy huffed, and was about to turn around when she heard one more word from the little boy genius. The word that made her heart swell to an impossible degree.
Something that she had always secretly hoped that he would say to her one of these days.
"Please?"
Cindy felt her heart skip a beat. He really needed her. His voice sounded so sincere. And... desperate. She bit her bottom lip. She had to make sure it didn't look like she was holding back a swoon when she said what she said next. She also had to force herself not to smile- or have any trace of joy in her voice whatsoever.
"Fine! Whatever!" she said. "Lets get this stupid thing over with!"
A wave of releif seemed to wash over not only Jimmy- but Libby, Sheen, Carl and Goddard too. The gang was finally back together.
Finally.
"We'll go using the space car. Its faster than any of the other rockets I have." said Jimmy. "Oh? Is it any safer? As I recall we've practically destroyed that car almost a dozen times already!" said Cindy. "Yes, its safe. As long as some people don't open the door while we're in deep space- or throw paper planes at the driver!" yelled Jimmy.
Cindy huffed. "Oh come on- Its really fun getting them to stick into your ridiculously large hair. Right guys?" she asked. Sheen nodded excitedly. "Yeah! I remember the time we got five of 'em in there and he didn't even notice!" said Sheen. The entire group burst into laughter, while Jimmy rolled his eyes.
He made his way over to the garage, and opened it- revealing his fathers car, 'the Duckie Mobile'. Jimmy quickly pressed a small button beside the door, and the Duckie Mobile suddenly flipped around into the floor- the space car suddenly taking its place. Jimmy pushed the space car into the driveway, and flipped the Duck Mobile back into its rightful place.
"Alright, everybody- get in!" said Jimmy.
"What? Now!? Don't we get some time to prepare!? And what about school, Neutron? I can't have a smudge on my perfect attendance record." said Cindy. "You've missed school before, Vortex. Just do what you usually do to keep your records clean." said Jimmy.
"Yeah! Like threaten the principal, or lie and cheat- oh! I haven't seen you steal yet-" Sheen was interrupted by a particularly fierce glare from Cindy, and quickly quieted down.
"Well at least give me an hour or so to go to my house and get ready!" Cindy demanded. "Your not going to put on that make up and the suit again are you? Because you know it distracts Jimmy when he's trying to drive and..." Carl said, before being faced by the withering glares of both Jimmy and Cindy. He closed his mouth, and joined Sheen in looked dejectedly at the ground.
Jimmy turned to face Cindy. "Fifteen minutes." he said.
"No way! Sixty minutes, end of discussion!" yelled Cindy.
Jimmy sighed. "Look, Cindy... as far as I know, whatever is wrong with me could be getting worse as we speak. I don't know if I have a lot of time..." he trailed off. Cindys face looked blank, but as far as Jimmy could tell- she seemed to be considering his words very carefully.
"Fine. Twenty minutes. Deal?" she asked.
Jimmy nodded. "Fine. Carl, Sheen? Why don't you guys go get yourselves ready too? I don't know how long we'll take." he said. Carl and Sheen nodded, and excitedly ran for their respective homes to grab their respective 'action figures'. Cindy and Libby walked across the street to Cindys house, while Jimmy decided to go into the house and pack a few things himself.
Just in case.
They met in front of the space car at the agreed upon time, each of them holding a bag full of things they had decided to bring along with them. Cindy had changed her clothes, and was now wearing a frilly pink shirt with a pink heart printed in the middle of it. It looked to be a little short for her- as it stopped just a few inches above her hips. Her pants were short as well, but only regular annoying kind of short that made them too short to be pants but too long to be shorts.
Jimmy tried his best not to look at the small bit of skin he could see between her shirt and her pants, and as such- missed the pair of golden earring that she was also wearing. Cindy didn't mind that, though. Watching him squirm around as he tried to figure out where to put his eyes worked well enough for her.
"Why are you still wearing those sunglasses?" he asked. Cindy huffed. "Because I'm cool." she stated, simply.
As everybody piled into the car, Jimmy double checked his inventory, and nodded. Then, he checked on Goddard. Goddard gave a small bark, to let his master know that he too was ready.
Jimmy climbed into the car, and tried to ignore the fact that Cindy had apparently decided to sit in the seat right next to him. "What!?" she hissed. "I didn't say anything." said Jimmy, as he pulled up a screen from the glove compartment, and started to press a vast array of buttons.
"Are we there yet?" asked Carl.
"We haven't started moving yet, Carl. I was just going to call April-" Jimmy ignored another snort of disapproval from Cindy, "And see if she has any information on this." he explained.
"What? You mean you haven't talked to your alien buddies about this already? Then what did you do last night?" asked Libby. "Oh! I know- Libby! I know! He and I stayed up all night fixing Goddard! Carl fell asleep." said Sheen.
Carl looked indignant. "Well I went through a lot stress that night! First, I found out that there were no llama posters in the theatre- and then I thought that Jimmy as going to die, a-and I thought if I went to sleep I would have woken up from the nightmare..." Carl trailed off in what have been a poignant moment, if Sheen were not sitting right next to him.
"Thats no excuse!" he yelled.
"Is so!" Carl replied.
"Guys! Quiet down over there!" hissed Jimmy. His friends mumbled a 'sorry' as the small screen in the glove compartment flickered, and the image of a Gorlockian appeared on the screen.
It was not April. What little Jimmy knew about the Gorlock race was from trading messages with April every now and again. He could tell that the person on the screen was important.
As far as he could tell, the Gorlockian was male. With a long white beard hanging down past the screen. His eyes were a bright blue- which was odd for a Gorlockian. His face was ridden with scars and peircings. He snarled, revealing a set of sharp black teeth. Everybody in the car except Jimmy shuddered.
"Jimmy... Neutron?" the Gorlockian asked. Jimmy nodded. "With respect, I am Jimmy Neutron. Are you... Aprils grandfather?" he asked. The Gorlockian elder nodded slowly. "What business do you humans have with my grand-daughter." he asked. Jimmy cleared his throat. "We were hoping that she could direct us to an expert in alien... disease." he said.
Aprils grandfather raised his tired white eyebrows, and then frowned. "I see... Your eyes tell me that your mind has been weakened. Is this the case?" he asked.
Jimmy nodded.
"Very well. Come to my planet. I shall run some tests myself. It has been some time- but I was once known as a professor of sorts in the alien field." he said with a smile. "And I would be honoured to meet the human that 'April' has told me so much about."
Jimmy didn't miss the way he said the word 'April'. It seemed like he either didn't like it- or wasn't sure how to pronounce it. Either way, it made him nervous. Jimmy took a deep breath, and nodded.
"I'm on my way." he said.
"Excellent."
With a flash, the face disappeared from the screen. Jimmy turned to face his friends. "Is everybody ready?" he asked.
"Yeah!" They all yelled. Jimmy smiled. It was hard not to let their enthusiasm rub off on him.
"Let's blast!"
The car shot up into the air ripped through the Earths atmosphere and into space within a matter of seconds. Cindy let out a low whistle. No matter how many times they did that- it was still impressive. She slid the sunglasses further back on her face, and leaned back in her chair.
"You still haven't told me why you're wearing those sunglasses, Vortex." said Jimmy.
"Like I said... They make me look... cooler." she said.
Jimmy chuckled lightly to himself, as he began entering the coordinates for planet Gorlock into the cars main computer. Cindy sighed, and shot Libby a quick look of warning. Libby winked at her.
'Don't worry,' Libby thought to herself. 'I won't tell him that you're wearing those sunglasses to hide your pink and puffy eyes. And I also won't tell him about how you spent the whole night crying and hugging your picture of him.'
'Although...' she continued. 'You probably should.'
To Be Continued...
(AN: I would like to thank Zacharti and AntiqueDreams for writing reviews for the last chapter. I really do appreciate it, and I hope you guys will like this chapter too. As a reminder; please leave a review. Thank you.)