Chapter 9: The Hover Car

By Dory/Jessie

The school office rang with a dull tone, and a pretty receptionist picked it up, "Hello this is Lindbergh Elementary School, this is Rebecca Block speaking," she answered while twirling her hair.

"Yes, this is Mrs. Neutron, I'm the mother of Jimmy Neutron," a voice that sounded like Jimmy's mom replied.

"Ah yes, Mrs. N, we know a lot about your son – like the time he almost blew up the -," she was cut off by an annoyed voice.

The annoyed Mrs. Neutron voice responded, "Never mind that," her voice cooled, "I just wanted to let you know that the students Jimmy Neutron, Cindy Vortex, Carl Wheezer, Sheen Estevez, and Libby Folfax were taken out of school today, for – uh," the voice paused and Miss Block swore she heard in the background a voice saying 'help me out here', then coming back as Mrs. Neutron and saying, "We took them out for dentist appointments and they won't be back until the day after tomorrow."

Rebecca arched an eyebrow and stared at nothing in disbelief, "a day and a half for five children to get their teeth looked at?"

"Uh, yes?" The voice replied carefully.

The young receptionist, who was probably in her early twenties seemed to be seriously thinking, "Hmmm," she paused and turned back to being all giddy and junk, "Okie dokie! I'll write them in and they're excused till they come back. Have fun!" And she hung up, putting gum into her mouth and smacking on it.

In Jimmy's lab, Jimmy gave a sigh of relief as he hung up his phone, which had the Neutron Enceplo Synthesizer attached to it, the machine had been modified to have voice-altering capabilities which made him sound like his mother, "That went easier than I expected."

Victoria looked around the lab, "Very impressive – so, how are we getting to the country? And what about our parents?"

Sheen was busy playing a game on Jimmy's large-screened computer and began spinning around in the desk chair, "Do we get to teleport ourselves? Use the Stratlo rocket thingy?"

"Do we get to use safe things?" Libby asked nervously, and Carl nodded in agreement.

Jimmy waved his hand like it was no big deal, "we're using my new and improved hover car. It can fit more people and go twenty times faster than the original."

Libby crossed her arms and projected her attitude, "Uh-huh, yeah well new and improved to some people is more like shiny-looking and deadly with you, Jimmy."

Victoria nodded, "Not to disagree with you Jimmy, but I did see that hover car explode this morning."

"It's our only choice – anything else is too small, not fast enough, or not working at the moment (Sheen whispers, "That's reassuring."), but just give me some hours and I can work it perfectly," Jimmy concluded, ignoring Sheen's comment.

Carl raised his hand timidly, "But – what if we don't have a few hours?"

Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck, looking at Victoria, "I'm sorry your majesty, but it's our only choice."

Victoria nodded with a sigh, "Yes well – what do we do about our parents?"

"VOX will call our parents later on, explaining we're on a school field trip and won't be back till the day after tomorrow – giving us plenty of time and no suspicion," Jimmy stated simply.

The others looked at him oddly, and Libby responded, "No suspicion over a field trip that lasts like two days?"

There was a moment of silence as Jimmy twiddled his thumbs thinking of a reply, "Have you guys noticed our parents and most of the adults in our town aren't very – bright?"

The others nodded simultaneously, Jimmy nodded and added, "If that receptionist was able to by past that whole five kids being gone for a day and a half to go to a dentist appointment – our parents can probably believe a very long field trip."

Victoria laughed for a moment, realizing they were serious and then shut up. Jimmy had moved the hover car into the lab and was working on it; little to no communication was made during the time Jimmy worked on the car. All was silent and there was little movement from the others. Jimmy has insisted he could do it himself, but an hour and a half later, Victoria was near hysterics, and Jimmy was still nowhere near being done.

Pacing back and forth, Jimmy had soot all over him, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

"Are you done yet?" Sheen asked in a monotone mumble.

"No."

Victoria sat slumped on Jimmy's couch, watching him soundlessly, and Carl was playing a llama game on the computer. Libby has eventually put on her headphones and went into a bit of a music trance, sitting next to Victoria. Sheen was lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling.

"Are you done NOW?" Sheen asked, not taking his eyes off the ceiling.

Jimmy looked over at Sheen, "No, Sheen."

Another minute, "Now?"

"NO – SHEEN," Jimmy raised his voice as he began tinkering a little more with the machine.

Sheen waited for another moment, "N-,"

"NO!" Jimmy responded before Sheen could even get one measly word out of his mouth.

"Jeez Jimmy, you don't have to yell," Sheen replied as Jimmy rolled his eyes.

Jimmy gave a loud sigh, "Try to entertain yourself Sheen – do anything – just don't ask me if I'm done for a while, ok?"

Sheen shrugged, "Fine – whatever," Jimmy sighed happily and a moment went by, Sheen twitched around for a moment and then started singing, "It's a small world after all -."

"SHEEN!"

"Ok, ok, sorry – you did say anything. Fine," Sheen rolled his eyes this time and looked back up to the ceiling, "Hey – did you know Jimmy – your ceiling, if you squint your eyes a little, the scratches on your ceiling look like Ultra Lord's head!"

"I am SO sick of this!" Victoria suddenly screamed, causing Libby to jump and take off her headphones, and for Carl to spin around in the chair and stop playing the game. A frustrated Victoria walked over across the room, stepped over Sheen, and walked up to the hover car and pointed a finger at it, "I am going to make this thing work IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO," her voice dripped with venom, and even Jimmy and Sheen backed away, terrified.

KICK – Victoria's foot collided against the side of the hover car with a loud thud, and Jimmy gasped in horror, "Victoria, what are you doing?"

But suddenly a little puttering noise came from the engine, slowly it became faster, and faster, until the hover car began to float on its own. Such an amazing miracle, Jimmy and the others jaws dropped open, and Victoria didn't move at all except to stare in wide-eyed shock.

Jimmy shook his head, "Whatever – I don't have time to analyze this, no pun intended – but come on guys! We got a country to save!"

The others went back to normal and cheered, Victoria embraced Jimmy in a huge hug and after they collected some necessary materials, they all hopped in and sped off to save Victoria's home country.

Hours went by – and they lacked in conversation. At brief points she would discuss with some of them about living in the castle, Libby in particular found it fascinating. At moments Victoria would find herself crying and reaching out at the cold sea – like the airplane was just at her grasps, even if it wasn't. When having it on auto pilot, Jimmy would help the others in comforting her, convincing her everything would be just fine.

The trip was quite fast, but with all the time they had spent, and the different time zones, it was very early in the morning. Darkness had long since covered the land when they landed on the beach shores, it was a gorgeous sight, and Jimmy found himself wishing Cindy was there so he could make some sort of smooth move and attempt the whole romantic thing, something that Jimmy didn't have much knowledge of.

"Which way to your castle?" Libby looked around and then looked up – seeing a very large and noticeable castle not that far in front of them, "oh – heh."

"Oh, how convenient!" Carl smiled with his hands together.

Sheen turned to him, "You mean that we basically have to just walk like 50 steps and we're there?"

Carl shook his head, "No – that it's by a little romantic beach."

Libby nodded in agreement, but Sheen rolled his eyes, "Man, am I the only real man here?" The only response he got was a scoff from Libby.

Jimmy looked at the surroundings, "Should we go right in, or try to sneak in?" This place had to be guarded like crazy, but it was early in the morning and there was no direct sight of any sort of guards or police force. It was sort of weird when you think about it.

Victoria shook her head in disagreement, "It's my castle, my kingdom, and they'll welcome me in with open arms."

"GOTCHYA!" Was screamed in a crude voice moments later when they reached the gate. After knocking, and no reply, they seemed to doubt whether anyone was even in the castle. That was until out of nowhere a dozen or so guardsmen grabbed them all and brought them inside.

Libby was attempting to scream with her high-pitched voice, but something was stuffed in her mouth causing any sound she made to be muted or reduced to barely audible muffles. Carl was being carried by two guards do to his weight, and not having the strength to attack them, couldn't do anything except possibly try to make himself heavier so that they would have to drop him – which, obviously didn't work. The guards were way too strong for Carl's weight to completely effect their hold on him.

Jimmy was cuffed, as he was the only one flailing about, trying to make them drop him. Being the smartest of the group, he knew what to do in emergency situations, but his mouth was soon covered by duck tape, his legs cuffed, and he suddenly went limp from exhaustion.

Victoria screamed and kicked, but a hand went over her mouth – it was the Captain, "Oh come now little Princess – haven't you always wanted a tour of your own dungeon."

She bit on the Captain's hand and he let go, she scowled and hissed, "Captain! I should have known it was you – once I tell the authorities -," but her mouth was covered again.

The Captain smiled pleasantly, but his reply dripped with poison, "Once I tell the authorities that you tried to impersonate royalty, and your friends tried to assassinate the royal family, it'll be off with ALL of your heads."

Victoria gave no response after that, he head dropped in despair and she felt tears roll up under her eyes – how could she put her whole country, all her friends and family, in such danger? If she and Cindy had never had that stupid and crazy idea, they would still have a chance.

"Captain, wasn't there five children?" A guard asked. And then, Victoria has a spark of hope; one of them had escaped, but whom?

The darkness was still everywhere, as the guards took the four prisoners through the back way so they could sneak them in the dungeon. The Captain replied, "No – I'm pretty sure there was only four," but unknown to him, deep in the bushes there had been someone to escape – and it had been Sheen.

Sheen whispered to himself, "Ha! The dive-for-the-bushes-when-evil-guard-people-try-to-attack-you maneuver! First used in episode 48 of Ultra Lord, of course," he smiled at himself proudly.

But what was he going to do now? Trying to sneak into the castle, or go after his friends – maybe stay in the bushes until all is clear and he could go and find Cindy in the castle. That sounded like a good idea – trying to find Cindy, she would know what to do! But Sheen's eyes suddenly drifted close, and he fell asleep.

If the others were watching him now, which they weren't, they would probably be thinking of something along the lines of "oh great – there's our big hero – sleeping in the bushes. We are SO doomed."

Being shoved down the stairs of a large dungeon wasn't a fun experience at all, despite popular belief; it was very much painful for the four kids. As the door opened you could see Miss Jones pacing back and forth in the new light that had crept in once they opened the door. She looked up, holding her hand over her eyes and literally shrieked as soon as she saw Victoria.

"Your highness! Your highness! Oh I knew you would come!" She ran for Victoria, but then Captain shoved the Princess down the steps. Luckily Miss Jones caught Victoria not so far down, but basically fell backwards almost in a comedic way, and landed on her bum, hugging the princess dearly as the others were shoved in, "I knew you'd come and save me," but then as soon as all four kids were shoved in, the door slammed shut and they were submerged in darkness, "Wait – you're in here too?" She let go of the Princess in disappointment, "Oh we're DOOMED."

"Nice to see you too Miss Jones," Victoria mumbled rubbing her head, "Have you been dropping Cindy on her head as well?"

Miss Jones turned to face where she thought Victoria was, "Cindy?"

Victoria couldn't help but smile, wishing she could see Miss Jones' shocked face, "Yes, Cindy – the girl who looks just like me and traded spots with me since the time before the other night's banquet."

There was silence as Libby took the sock out of her mouth and helped Carl up, than began searching around for Jimmy and Sheen, Miss Jones sat down at the end of the stairs, "That – wasn't you?" She paused, "My – dear – Lord, that explains so much," she looked at Victoria in the very, very dim light, "But it really is you now, right?"

"The one and, well, I guess only – even though my looks have been stolen," Victoria smiled and Miss Jones embraced her in a large hug, "Ok -," Victoria gasped for breath, "You can stop now," Miss Jones let go of her slowly, and then sat down again.

"Where's Jimmy?" Carl asked, and Libby added, "And Sheen?"

Victoria looked around, squinting her eyes, "Where are you guys?"

There was a bit of a thud as Libby and Carl ran into each other, but they eventually got in sight of Victoria, "Ok – I think they put something on Jimmy – because I know he was the one moving around a lot – but Sheen – I don't remember them grabbing Sheen," she paused for a moment, "He must have been the one to escape! He'll save us from being executed, right?"

There was some silence as Libby and Carl looked nervously at one another, Carl was the first to respond with a horrified, "We're DOOMED!"

"No kidding," Miss Jones mumbled.

Libby sighed, "Wow – I never thought I would say this, but Sheen's our only hope, unless we can find Jimmy."

Victoria paused, and then moved around slowly, waving her arms and feet around, hoping to find something – cling, cling -, "Jimmy?" She touched the object her foot felt for another moment and got closer, "AH! T-t-hat's n-n-n-not Jimmy!" she screamed and moved away, having just kicked a pile of bones from – well, she didn't want to speculate about that. She shuddered, but kept moving around until her foot hit something much softer and less bony, "Jimmy!"

Moving down to her knees she felt around some more to figure out if it was Jimmy or not, she realized she had been kicking his hair and that he seemed to be knocked out, she used her strength to move him in a sitting position, and Libby and Carl quickly found them and sat down. Victoria shook Jimmy carefully, back and forth, hoping to wake him up. She quickly realized he had cuffs on his hands and legs, and tape on his mouth. Slowly- she removed the tape so not to hurt his mouth, and seemed to do fairly well at it, tossing it aside.

"Is he ok?" Carl asked nervously, but didn't get a response.

Victoria rocked him for a moment, then responded, "I think so – just knocked out a bit – he should wake up soon. Need to find a way to get these cuffs off."

Libby thought for a moment, "Do you have a bobby pin?"

Victoria turned her head sharply to Libby, "Like that actually works – and no, I don't."

"I do," Carl whispered in a small voice, and took out from his pocket several bobby pins.

Libby and Victoria raised their eyebrows and gave one another a perplexed look.

Carl responded to their facial expressions with a hesitant, "Their Jimmy's mom's ok! I was gonna give them back, honest –," but Libby waved her hand 'no' as Victoria grabbed the bobby pins anyways.

"I don't want to know Carl, seriously," was all Libby would respond.

Victoria added in, "Same here – hmm, I think this is actually working." There was some clicking, and one of the cuffs came undone – after three more tries, Jimmy was completely cuff-free, but still unconscious.

"Without Jimmy being awake, we have no one else!" Victoria sulked.

Libby looked up from Miss Jones who was still sulking by the stairs, and up at the door where some light came in, "Unless Sheen can pull off a miracle."

Suddenly the door was yanked open, and for a millisecond, they all thought that Sheen was there to save them, yet it was the Captain – with some boy.

"You'll stay down here with the rest of them and wait for your execution you little brat," Captain yelled at the struggling kid, and for a horrible moment, they all thought Sheen had been caught. The door slammed close, and the boy was beating at the door.

"You let me out of here! Once Victoria comes back it'll be your HEAD!" The boy yelled while pounding on the door.

"Josh?" Miss Jones and Victoria gasped at the same time; Josh turned around and recognized his mother at first.

"Mum? What are you doing here?" He was greeted by a huge hug the moment he reached the bottom of the steps.

"JOSH!" Victoria squealed, quickly handing Jimmy over to Carl and Libby, then proceeding to running to Josh as soon as his mother let him go.

"Princess- oof!" Josh was nearly thrown backwards as Victoria literally flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him several times on the cheek.

She continued to hug him tightly, and he hugged her back, she sighed, "I thought I'd never see you again."

Josh smiled, this was certainly the Victoria he knew and adored, but then he pulled back, "But – what are you doing here? Cindy told me about the switching thing."

She frowned, and let her arms drop to her sides, "I guess the Captain has had some horrible plan against my family – he's going to have us all executed," she took her index finger and ran it across her neck to show what she meant and sighed.

"Victoria – I think Jimmy's waking up," Libby said, half turning towards Victoria, who she could now see much better after adjusting to the darkness.

Victoria turned and walked over, "Jimmy?"

Jimmy slowly opened his eyes and Victoria, Josh, and Miss Jones came closer, "Cindy?"

There was a bit of a smile from his friends and Victoria shook her head, "No – no, it's Victoria. Listen – you feeling better?"

A little yawn escaped from Jimmy as he nodded and they all helped him stand up, he was a little wobbly, but strong enough to stand on his own, "I just need to activate the laser in my watch and we'll be out of her in," Jimmy paused, his eyes went wide as he stared at his watch, "Oh no!"

The others had almost began to smile, but they all glanced at one another, Victoria came closer and touched Jimmy on the shoulder, "What's wrong?"

Jimmy's head dropped down, "I'm sorry guys," he held up his watch which was smashed to pieces from the fall, "it looks like we're stuck here," he sighed, and Victoria rubbed Jimmy's shoulder, making Josh a tad jealous.

Libby shook her head, "we are through yet – Sheen will save us, I know it."

To Be Continued.