Chapter 16: All Fun And Games…
September 22nd, 2006 3:30pm
Retroville, TX
It was the 2nd day of the Fall Festival and there was a bit more planned since it started earlier. Aside from the fair minigames that were present the night before, there were quite a bit of events planned for the day. The first of the bunch was tug-of-war. One side consisted of Jimmy, Sheen, Nick, Betty and a couple others while the other side consisted of Cindy, Libby, Carl, Bolbi, Ike, and a couple others. It was quite an entertaining experience.
"Come on everyone! Pull!" Jimmy tried the best he could, but strength wasn't exactly his strong suit.
"With you on the other side, Neutron, this game should be a breeze!" Cindy quipped. "Come on guys! Pull!"
"I'm trying! My hands are a bit sweaty so it's hard to keep pulling!" Carl struggled.
"I'M NOT GONNA LOSE TO A BUNCH OF GIRLS AND WEAK BOYS!" Sheen proclaimed but even he was struggling.
"We'll see who's weak Sheen," Libby retorted and pulled the rope as much as she could.
"Why are we struggling?" Nick wondered. "They have Bubbly on their side, it should be an easy win!"
"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE BOLBI!" He shouted as he gave one final pull causing his team to win. "WOOHOO!"
"I think that's karma Nick," Betty chuckled as she started to get up. Everyone else gradually got up as well.
"Can't believe you won Carl!" Sheen said in disbelief.
"Ahem," Libby said, feeling annoyed.
"I've seen how strong you are so I'm less surprised by you winning."
"Nice save," Libby chuckled.
"What can I say," Carl gloated. "Under all this flab is a strong, muscular body."
"Good job Bolbi," Elke commented as she shook his hand, then turned to Carl. "You too Carl. You're strong like bull!"
"Well, I guess you'll need to get stronger if you're gonna have any luck taking me on next year!" Cindy said as she pulled him up.
"If I was in my hulk form, things would've ended differently," Jimmy retorted.
"Now we don't want this place to go up in flames now do we?" Cindy smirked.
"Hmm…" Libby looked in thought between the two.
Following that fun time was a game of archery. Everyone lined up in each row. "I've seen this happen several times in Ultralord. Let a pro show you how it's done." This met with a few eye rolls. He lined up his arrow and pulled the bow confidently and fired directly at the target. It wasn't quite a bullseye, but it was pretty close. Definitely closer than anyone expected which was met with some murmurs of shock in the crowd. He got a little more cocky and decided to fire one behind his back and while it almost hit, it bounced off from place to place until it hit Sheen in the leg. Since this was a family event, the arrows were plastic, but the force of the arrow knocked him down.
"Sheen, that was reckless!" Libby said, looking concerned. "Are you okay though?"
"I guess you could say, I took an arrow to the knee," Sheen chuckled. Libby rolled her eyes with a slight grin.
Nick and Cindy fired their arrows which were met with bullseyes. Carl was too nervous to aim properly so his arrow hit the floor under the target. Betty fired hers which hit the side of the target. Jimmy fired close to a bullseye, since he was precise, but missed a little but due to the mediocre upper body strength. Libby fired one and it hit the side as well. Everyone had fun with it overall. A few other games ranging from mountain climbing, horseshoe throwing, and relay races. It was all fun. They then had an early dinner break around 5:30pm, so the group sat at one of the park tables and had some hot dogs from the nearby stand. "Man! Today was a lot of fun! I can't wait to take part in the tournament tonight." Sheen said.
"I bet none of you stand a chance against Goddard. "This is your time to shine boy!" Goddard responded by wagging his tail. He wasn't allowed to partake in any events, so Jimmy had the suggestion of making one where he could be included, so they thought of doing a robot fighting tournament. Jimmy wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but warmed up to it as he realized how much he could show him.
"I wasn't able to make anything in time, but I can cheer you guys on," Betty said with a thumbs up.
"Likewise," Nick added with a side grin.
"I domt phink I can compete wiph Goddard," Carl said with his mouth full and then gulped what he had. "But I hope I can win a round or two."
"I know I'm looking forward to what I've been making for the tournament," Libby smirked.
"You know I'm not gonna go down without a fight, to either of you!" Cindy motioned to Jimmy and Libby.
"Amateurs…" Sheen snickered to himself thinking about his robot that he'll use. "Hey, we still have a little bit of time left. What should we do?"
"Wanna see who can get their partners the best prizes?" Carl suggested.
"Sure, why not?" Sheen shrugged and they ran off with Elke in tow. "You coming Libby?"
"I'll catch up in a second!" Libby said. "I gotta take care of something first!"
"I'll join you guys! Looking to see who's the funniest looking while doing it!" Nick walked off as he nodded at Libby, having an idea what she's thinking.
"Hey Jimmy! Mind joining me for a walk?" Libby motioned to the park grounds.
"Sure thing!" Jimmy said as he shrugged and joined her. "I'll be back boy."
This left Cindy and Libby alone with Goddard at the table they all had dinner at.
"So…" Betty tried to think of what to say, but nothing could come up.
"I…" Cindy started. "I want to apologize for how I treated you."
"This is new…" Betty awkwardly responded. "Where'd this come from?"
"For the longest time, I only saw you as someone who stole all the popularity from all the guys."
"You mean by calling me 'Ms. Perfect'?"
"And for stealing my… Neutron away from making his own decisions."
"I said he was yours if you stayed out of my face-"
"BUT," Cindy clarified. "I realized that was immature of me and I'm sorry. I've always thought of you as someone better than me. You always knew how to get attention where I didn't. Why is that?" She then looked down.
"I never actively sought attention," Betty pondered. "I just did what I did. If you want my advice, you are more bitter than most. You got attention, but it wasn't always what you wanted. At least, that was the case until middle school. You seemed to warm up the people, especially those you least expected to." She then winked. "You started to humble down, and that is how you get positive attention. I forgive you and…" she then whispered, "Looks like it's working with a certain someone."
Cindy instantly blushed. "What're you talking about?!"
Betty then chuckled. "We both know the truth, but I won't press the envelope."
Cindy then wanted to change the subject. "You know after this, we should hang out sometime. You, Libby and I."
"I'd like that." Betty smiled.
Goddard looked at both of them and his keyboard typed, "IF ONLY JIMMY SAW THIS PLAY OUT ;)"
Meanwhile, Jimmy and Libby were in silence while walking around the park, waiting until they were out of earshot from everyone else. "So, what did you wanna talk about?" Jimmy scratched the back of his head.
"Alright, spill," Libby cut to the chase.
"What?" Jimmy asked.
"Are you and Cin finally taking the hate part out of your love-hate relationship?" Libby interrogated with an eyebrow raised at him.
"Well I-" Jimmy trailed off. Wait, I shouldn't say anything after what happened before. "No, we're just friends, nothing more." Technically that's true for the time being.
"Yeah right," Libby rolled her eyes. "I know there's more to that story."
"Why should I say anything?"
"I promise I won't go overboard and gossip like before." (See "Lady Sings The News") Libby genuinely said while holding out her pinky.
"Okay, you better not tell anyone I said this." Jimmy held his pinky out and they swore. I got a memory eraser if things go south anyway. "As time went by, we would fight less and less and start to hang out more frequently."
"I take it, this started since the island trip?" Libby speculated.
"What gave you that idea?" Jimmy asked with Libby responding with an eyebrow raise. "Yeah, that was the first major event that changed things. That and the Intergalactic Showdown when we signed a contract to be friends." He then chuckled remembering how crazy that was. "But yeah, as crazy as it sounds, we gradually started liking each other more and it's probably a matter of time before we start dating, but I want to take it slow for now. I'm not entirely sure if that's something I'm ready for just yet."
"I can understand that, but I'll be happy for you both when it happens." Libby smiles. "I know we haven't hung out all that much, just ourselves but if you ever need any advice on dating or if you just wanna hang, I'm just a few miles away."
"Thank you!" Jimmy then wondered. "How's it with Sheen so far?"
"Crazy as usual," Libby shrugged with a side grin. "But that's part of the fun."
"Can't have Sheen without that, I suppose," Jimmy chuckled. "Guess we should-" His line of thought was interrupted by what looked to be a comet of some kind. A few seconds later, some military jets flew above in that direction. "Looks like something serious." Jimmy contemplated if he should head after it.
"Probably nothing the military couldn't handle." Libby reassured. "Come on, the tournament's about to start soon!" She grabbed Jimmy's hand and they ran to meet back with the others. Once they were all gathered, they met up inside a giant red and white circus tent at the edge of the fairgrounds. Everyone sat at some benches inside in this order. Sheen, Libby, Cindy, Jimmy with goddard on his lap, Carl, Elke, Betty and Nick were in one row. Most of their parents didn't sit too far behind them. It seemed like everyone in Retroville managed to fit in this tent.
At the center, Principal Willoughby spoke into the mic. "Hello everyone! So good to see a lot of familiar faces! Hope you all had a lot of fun at our first annual Fall Festival!" This was met with a round of applause. "Before we begin the Robot Blaze Tournament. We have to lay some ground rules. First, no cheating of any kind, allowed in the fights. Second… Well that's pretty much it. Have fun!"
"That's not alllll of it," came the familiar voice of Ms. Fowl. "The terms are if your robot can still move it's in the game. It's only until either the ooowner of the robots involved or if the robot breaks or shuts down, that would declare the game and the winning player would advance to the next match. Also, just in case the robots do any kind of damage outside the ring, we put some plexiglass around the ring to prevent that from happening, so go wild Retroville!" This was met with applause.
"Good luck kids!" Hugh shouted. "And remember, have fun with it!"
"Have fun my son!" Mr. Estevez.
"Knock the competition out darling!" Sasha yelled.
"Remember to not get too close to the glass Carl!" Mr. Wheezer said.
Jimmy and his friends looked at each other as he was petting Goddard. "May the best player win!"
As everyone was getting ready for their matchups. A certain boy around the same height Sheen walked into the tent. He sported buck teeth, brown hair, light tan skin and a red tuxedo suit. "Time for a little payback, James Neutron! About a few hundred million years worth!" He shouted as he laughed in a strange manner which gave him some strange looks. "Uh- pretend I'm not here!" He said to the people nearby feeling a tad embarrassed. Then said quietly. "Showtime!"
To Be Continued…