Hi there! Please review when you done, and be honest. I especially want to hear what you thought about the pacing of the story. With that said, ENJOY!
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BEREHH! BEREHH! BEREHH!
The rude sound of a six o'clock alarm belched forth, cutting through the quiet, predawn stillness of a Monday morning.
"UrrahgmMMaurrmmmmm..." came the even ruder reply from a girl sized lump lying snuggled under the covers.
BERRREHH! BERRREHH! BERRREHH!
The alarm grew more frantic, demanding "push my button" satisfaction from its unwilling slave slumbering among her sheets. "Oh-h-hh-h", Jenny groaned, rolling over so that her face was buried deep in her pillow, a futile attempt to block out the noise.
The digital display on the alarm clock flashed bright red, and then a pixilated angry face appeared where the numbers had been. "HEY! LAZY BUTT! GET OUT OF BED!" the clock barked, "YOU'RE GONNA BE LA-ATE!"
"Stupid clock", grumbled Jenny. She slid a hand out from under the covers and began groping for the source of her annoyance. Hmm, I seem to be running a little sluggishly this morning, she thought, reading the performance display that had appeared in front of her eyes. She located the clock, and pressed down on the OFF button... WHICH SHE SMASHED RIGHT THROUGH! Pieces of plastic splintered off as the clock was crushed beneath Jenny's finger, and smoke began to appear from the now smoldering circuit board.
"Errrrrrrr", Jenny growled, "not only was it annoying, but it was shoddily built, too." She was definitely feeling slightly off her gyros, and it was making her just a little grumpy. Guess I need to get ready for school.
She flung off her covers, the force of which created such a whirlwind that all of the loose papers in her room flew up into the air. Jenny watched as they floated to the ground, settling in haphazard piles on the floor and furniture.
Okay, that's never been a problem before, she thought, brushing a piece a paper from her lap. The blow crumpled the paper, sending it flying into the wall where it became imbedded.
"AHHH!" Jenny cried out in surprise. "This is getting really weird!" She rolled out of bed, putting her feet on the floor, or, rather, through the floor. She tried standing, but began to wobble, flailing her arms like windmills to keep her balance. She fell, face first. Acting quickly, Jenny managed to deploy her pigtail jets in reverse, catching herself just a few inches off the floor. If she could sweat, there would definitely be beads of it forming across her brow. Now THAT was close.
Gingerly, on her hands and knees, she crawled to the door, being careful not to bump into anything along the way. Got to get downstairs to mom. She reached her door and eased herself up. Jenny grabbed hold of the doorknob, which she twisted and pulled to get open. The round piece of metal broke off in her hand, where it was pulverized by her grip.
Jenny looked down at the crushed, mangled knob she held in front of her. Her pigtails drooped in disbelief. Oh, no! Wh-what's happened to me? Slowly, her hands dropped to her sides, and she let the doorknob remains fall to the floor , where it landed with a dull thud. She started to tremble, her body shaking with angry frustration. Her eyes grew misty, and she squeezed them shut, forcing a single tear to roll down her cheek. With a stifled sob, she cried out at the top of her lungs "MOOOOMMMMYY! HEELLLLP!"
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Dr. Wakeman hovered over her basement's stainless steel laboratory table, where she was captivated by the activities of a small glob of green, gelatinous goo. In her hand, she held a large, needle-like electric probe, which she was using to shock her specimen in five-second intervals.
"...Three...Four...Five!" Ka-Z-ZAP! "Oh MY!" The blob had quivered slightly, and then turned blazing hot pink.
Fascinating, she thought. I must show XJ-9. That is, if she ever decides to get up. I wonder what she could be doing. Certainly, that charming clock I purchased for her should be sufficient stimulus to awaken her from sleep mode. Perhaps I should che- hmm? What's this?
Her attention snapped back toward her specimen, which was currently staging an escape from its Petri dish prison. She watched as it squirmed and jiggled its way across the tabletop. "Astounding", she said, giving the tiny fugitive another high voltage shock with her probe. ZAPITY-ZAP!
Suddenly, Dr. Wakeman's ears perked. "Wait, was that...?" She paused, listening intently. There, I heard it again. Unmistakable where the cries of her robot daughter as they drifted down the basement stairs.
And that is no ordinary cry, she was shocked to realize. That's the Ultra Hyper Cry of Extreme Duress! Dr. Wakeman had programmed that signal into Jenny only to be used in the greatest of emergencies, such as when backup was crucially needed to complete a mission or to defend the Earth.
The time for action is NOW!, she realized. "I'M COMING, XJ NI-EN!"
With a cry typical of a certain warrior princess, Dr. Wakeman took her electric probe and placed it in her mouth, gripping it between her teeth. Then, with surprising speed and agility, she tore out of her lab and bounded up the basement stairs, taking them four at a time.
In a matter of seconds, she had arrived at Jenny's bedroom door at the end of the hall. Disregarding the "Do Not Disturb" sign and the skull and crossbones Jenny had taped to the outside, Dr. Wakeman grabbed the doorknob and twisted. Of course, it didn't turn.
Jammed!, she thought, grimacing. Taking a few steps back, she braced herself against the opposite wall. Then, crouching down in a cat-like stance, she launched herself at Jenny's door...
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Jenny sat, crossed legged, on her bedroom floor with her head in her hands, looking down at the fibers of her carpet.
Suddenly, there came a heavy *WHUMP* at her door that caused it to rattle in it's frame. This was followed by a string of unprintable muttering, and what sounded like someone limping away. The noise made Jenny look up in concern. She stood up as slowly as she could and tiptoed over to see what had happened.
Before she had taken even two steps, the door crashed inward, shattering the frame at its hinges. As it hit the ground, Jenny saw her mother dive off and roll forward, ending in the classic knife-fighting posture with electric probe at the ready.
Dr. Wakeman barred her teeth and growled in the most menacing of ways. She quickly scanned the surrounding area, and, when she only found Jenny standing in the middle of her room with a shocked look on her face, she straightened up, frowning, and placed her hands on her hips.
"XJ-9, why did you use the U.H.C.E.D.? I certainly do not see any reason for such a cacophony at this hour in the morning! What could have possibly prompted you to distract me from the valuable experiments I was performing in my laboratory? Well, what do you have to say?"
Jenny still hadn't recovered from her mother's spectacular entrance, so she simply pointed down at the lump of metal that had been her doorknob, where it lay on the floor between her feet.
"Yes, yes, I see the debris. What is your point?"
Jenny pointed to the piece of paper embedded in the wall.
"Okay, XJ-9. We've established that I made a slight mess when I entered, but you still have not given an explanation for using the emergency signal!"
Dumbfounded, Jenny turned on her heel and slowly made her way over to the bed. She bent over at the waist, and gave the base of the bed frame a tiny, little flick. The bed rocketed to the other side of the room. Without losing momentum, it crashed through the wall and sailed into the trees outside, where it got stuck in the branches.
"Hmmm...yes, I beginning to see your predicament, XJ-9", Dr. Wakeman conceded, scratching the back of her head with the electric probe. KER-ZAP!!
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"OooOoOOoo..." Dr. Wakeman's eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at the shiny, smiling toaster that hovered above her face.
"Why, are those Pop-Tarts in your slots, Ms. Happy Toaster?", she asked. "Pop-Tarts? Mom, are you alright?" "Of course I'm all right", Dr. Wakeman snapped, "and soon I'll be even better, once my mouth is full of warm, gooey, Pop-Tart deliciousness! Now, with a press of your tiny button..." She reached out with her finger and pushed the slider button down on the toaster.
"OWW!!! MY EYE!!"
Dr. Wakeman's vision suddenly snapped into focus. Her outstretched finger was planted squarely in Jenny's right eye, which had started to water up.
"Oh dear, XJ-9, I'm terribly sorry!"
"That's okay, Mom" Jenny said, blinking rapidly. "Um, could you, you know, take your finger out of, um..." she stammered.
"Oh, of course." Dr. Wakeman said, with a sheepish grin. "Now, where were we before my, *ahem*, incident?" she asked, standing up and brushing herself off.
Jenny nodded her head over at the jagged, gaping hole left in the wall from where she had launched her bed.
"Right. Augmented strength. I have an inkling of an idea as to what may have caused your current state, but I would like to run a full diagnostic, just to be sure." Scanning Jenny's room, she added,"Since your domicile has been reduced to little more than rubble, I will have to perform the diagnostic in my lab. Please, follow me."
Mrs. Wakeman picked her way through the wreckage, gradually making her way to the doorway. Jenny followed behind, taking large, exaggerated steps as quickly, but carefully, as possible. Eventually they made it, and, as Dr. Wakeman led the way through the broken doorframe, Jenny cast a single, woeful look back at her demolished room.
SIGH...
All right! Thanks for reading! I want your criticisms, so let them fly. Tell me what you liked, didn't like, and so forth. I already know what's going to be in the second chapter, but tell me what you would like to see more or less of.