The gang:
Jet led the group out into the light at the end of the tunnel. He was surprised to see the fallen space craft. The parents were clambering out of it like spiders, their pills having taken affect. Hundreds of serpent men were surrounding the area where the ship had landed, and two massive dragon like animals were acting like sentries, keeping the army back. A plume of dragon fire filled the air again and again as the dragons fought to keep the waves back. The commotion delayed anyone noticing that Cindy wasn't with them including N-1 and N-2.
"We have to help those guys." Jet shouted to the group of kids.
"It's our parents!" Carl shouted
"And Zix, Tee, and Travoltron, they must have all come to help rescue Jimmy!" Libby shouted back.
"But our powers will run out soon!" Eustace shouted.
"Eustace is right. We should use our powers while we can to get back to our mechs." Libby said.
"Right!" the group shouted in unison.
"Mechs?" asked as he eyed one of the lion shaped robots.
"Yeah, come on Jet, you can ride with me." Eustace said as he raced off toward the black lion.
The parents:
The parents scattered out of the smoldering space craft. Their bodies surged with power as the Total Health Boost capsules kicked in.
"Hey, what about us?" Zix shouted, as he watched the parents climb out of sight.
Judy stopped as she clung to the side of the ship, her hands sticking like Spiderman. "Hugh, we can't leave them behind." She shouted to Hugh as he climbed passed her.
"You're right Sugar Dumpling. Let's go back for them." Hugh said as he spun around and climbed back into the ship.
"How are we going to carry them out of the ship?" Hugh asked as they stood before Zix, Tee, and Travoltron.
"That's a good question, Hugh. I figured we could horseback ride them out one at a time." Judy responded.
"That's a great idea, me first." Travoltron said as he pushed his way past Zix and Tee.
"Wait a minute, what do you mean you first?" Zix demanded angrily.
"Yeah fool! What makes you so special?" Tee shouted as he joined in.
A fist fight nearly broke out until the light above was blocked out. All eyes turned upward toward the gaping hole in the ceiling of the ship. A massive dragon head was peering in at them.
"I believe I could give you a solution to your problem." Archimedes said with a gentle smile. "Why don't I carry you all out?"
"Uh, well that would be rather nice of you." Zix said in response.
"Climb onto my neck." He commanded in a kind voice as he slid his head deeper into the hole.
A moment later, and the group was airborne, as the dragon pulled away from the ship with a mighty flap of its wings.
The two dragons circled each other in the sky. Judy could see the other parents on a 2nd dragon that was gold colored. They waved excitedly back to each other.
"Look! Down there, you can see the kids." Judy shouted to Hugh.
Along the ground the kids raced toward their lion mechs. Judy felt some relieve to see the mechs fire up and begin to move around the ground below, all except a blue colored lion.
Cindy:
Cindy slowly regained consciousness. "Where am I?" she asked groggily of a shape she saw in her blurred vision.
She felt a comforting hand touch her shoulder. "Try to relax. You've been out longer than I expected. I was getting worried."
Her head was spinning and she turned to the side as the contents of her relatively empty stomach came up. "What's wrong with me?" Cindy asked.
"Your body reacted worse to the power sapping crystal than I anticipated. It took me some time to figure out why. A molecular scan shows that your DNA is no longer human." The blurred shape responded. The voice sounded distorted. She wasn't sure if it was due to her own senses being impaired at the moment. Based on what he was saying she figured it was General Tarken.
She pulled away from the hand. "You're a liar, General Tarken." Cindy said. She crawled a few steps backward into the sunlight that was coming through a small window. The light felt warm and comforting on her arm and face. She slowly felt her head stop spinning and her vision cleared. Her eyes went wide as she gazed at the face of the person speaking to her.
Jimmy smiled back at her. His eyes were sparkling blue in the light. Her heart raced for a moment before she frowned at the thought that this would be another imposter.
"You're not the real Jimmy. You're just a scaly shape shifter." Cindy spit as she spoke.
"No Cindy, it's really me. I was under Betty's spell for a while and yes I was a scaly shape shifter. But I purged all traces of Betty's venom from my system. Here, run a molecular scan on me yourself if you want. He held out small hand held device. It was the Neutron portable molecular scanner-Jimmy had created it for studying various foreign life forms on the go.
She felt a little skeptical but his eyes were clear, no longer containing the yellowish tint that might have betrayed the snake form. Her heart raced inside her chest. A part of her wanted to trust him immediately, but she took the scanner and waited impatiently for the results. The scan came up clean. She sighed with relieve.
Jimmy stood rigid in front of her but his arms kept moving a little up toward her, as if he wanted to reach out and hug her, but he was hesitating. She resisted long as she could, but lunged forward, finding herself in his arms.
"Oh Jimmy, I'm so glad I really found you this time." She said as she kissed him repeatedly. It was painful to force themselves to stop kissing, but they eventually did.
"How did you break the hold Betty had over you?" Cindy asked.
"It was the love Pheromone. When you hit me in the face with it, I felt such over whelming love for you that it broke the hypnosis I was under. After that it was an easy process of scanning my body and determining what was causing the snake like effects. I was then able to synthesize a simple serum consisting of anti-venom and nano-bots to administer it, and I was good as new. "Jimmy said proudly.
"And, you did this all within five minutes?" Cindy said surprised.
"Hey, I'm Jimmy Neutron." He said arrogantly as if that should be enough explanation. She went to say something rude in response but he kissed her gently on the lips before continuing.
"I wasn't lying about your DNA not being human. I think I can explain what must have happened. I had anticipated that you would use your N-men Packet at some point, which is why I had arranged to have the radiated crystal in place to cancel your powers out. I never intended for it to kill you though. It should have only made you weak like a human again. But that's just it technically you're no longer human."
"Why is that exactly?" Cindy asked.
"I found traces of the Nano-bot repair solution in your system. It is only logical to assume that your ingesting the N-men packet with the nano-bots inside you caused them to over load. They must have seen the change brought on by the N-men packet as a positive thing, and changed your DNA at the subatomic level." Jimmy said.
"My metabolism is being burned up isn't it?" Cindy said a pinch of fear in her voice.
"Actually, surprisingly no. You're body is handling the changes cleanly." Jimmy replied.
"But I don't have any of my powers, Jimmy." Cindy protested.
"You will, but it will take more time. You're body is an empty battery metaphorically of course. The longer you're exposed to solar radiation given off by the sun, the stronger you will get. It's a part of the change you went through to avoid burning out your metabolism. You will no longer be instantly charged by the sun the way you were before. But you're processing it more efficiently now, so you will store more of the energy and for longer." Jimmy replied.
"I'm a permanent freak than aren't I?" Cindy asked.
"Well technically speaking and only based on DNA, you are one of a kind. I can find a cure for it if you wish. I have a sample of your untainted DNA in the lab back in Retroville."
"That lab was destroyed Jimmy." Cindy said exasperated.
"Not entirely. The area that I contained the data is still intact. Anyhow, we can worry about such things later. Right now our parents, friends, the very world are in danger." Jimmy said.
"You're right! Let's go. We have to reach my lion. It's right outside in the courtyard." Cindy replied as she grabbed onto the ledge of the small window and peered outside. "I can see it right down there."
Jimmy looked out window. The lion glinted in the sun. "Follow me we can get outside this way." He said as he headed toward doorway. He stopped as the hallway leading to the room they were in filled with the sounds or armor clattering and voices chattering.
"Uh oh. Sounds like troops are on the way. They won't be friendly to either one of us at this point." Jimmy said as he raced toward the door, slammed it shut, and barred it with a thick heavy board. "We have to get out of here a different way!" he shouted as he ran back toward the window.
"This window is too small to climb through." He said in dismay.
"Can't you just pretend you're still General Tarken and order them to let us pass?" Cindy asked.
"No they'll sense that I'm human again. We have to get out of here on our own. The hole you made drilling into this room is too high to reach and this window is too small." Jimmy replied. The room echoed with pounding sounds as the troops battered the door.
"Move out of the way Jimmy. Maybe I'm strong enough to get through the wall." Cindy said to Jimmy as she grabbed on to the ledge and pulled with all her might. Her fingers ached and her muscles screamed with pain as she strained to pry the bricks lose.
The sunlight was beaming in on her face. She felt herself slowly getting stronger. The bricks remained intact for a few moments, but small hairline cracks began to appear. "Urrrr, I think….it's working….Jimmy." She said as she continued to pull back on the ledge.
Jimmy grabbed on to the ledge next to her and added to her effort. The top layer of bricks broke up, falling to the ground in chunks. The opening increased the amount of sunlight flowing in. The bricks began to break away easier under Cindy's ever increasing strength until the hole was large enough to allow safe passage out on to a small ledge that lined the structure.
Cindy climbed out onto the ledge into the sunlight. The ground was about ten yards below.
"Cindy, I don't know for sure if you're going to be strong enough to make this jump yet. " Jimmy said worried. His eyes glanced back at the wooden door that was beginning to bend inward from the pounding on the other side. It wouldn't hold much longer.
She closed her eyes and concentrated, but nothing happened. "I'm too weak to fly on my own." She said disappointed. We'll have to go around. Oh wait! I'm wearing my anti gravity boots."
"That's great. They might not hold both our weights though. "Cindy added.
"They will, but not for long. They will slow our descent enough to make it safe enough at the least." Jimmy said.
"Well hold on to me tight, Jimmy." Cindy said as the door broke inward with a screeching crash. Jimmy didn't look back as he wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders and felt his stomach lurch as the ground disappeared from under his feet as they lifted off. The room filled with the sounds of the incoming troops behind them.
To be continued…