Hi-ya! It's my first ever JN fan-fic, so please, don't hurt meeee!

Disclaimers:

Kris: Doh! I forgot this last chappie. (bangs her head) Stupid, stupid, stupid! OK, 'Born to Be Wild' is, as far as I know, (c) to Steppenwolf. And Live and Learn is (c) SEGA. Good song. Kinda creepy, though...(wanders off)

Jimmy: (walks on stage) Ahem. You'll have to excuse the author's lack of attention. Anyway, read!

Cindy: NEUTRON!!! Have you read this story yet?! It's got couples in it!

Jimmy: OO; Uh...see ya later! (runs as fast as his short legs can carry him)

Cindy: (chasing Jimmy) GET BACK HERE!!!

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At her mother's question, Karen stopped bobbing her head. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to hear clearly over 'Live and Learn', so she turned it off and wrapped the earphones around her neck. "Huh?"

"I said," Suzy explained patiently, "do you want a burger?"

Karen glanced around at everything. There was a lot more things around than in the rural country they'd been riding through the last time she'd bothered to look up. In fact, Cindy had described her town sort of like this one.

The drive-thru they were pulling into and her mother's expectant look brought Karen out of her reverie. "Um, sure. A double cheese, please." She nodded agreeably.

Suzy nodded, let out a small sigh of relief, and pulled up to the ordering booth.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like a double Mackie combo, with Dr. Pop for the drink, and a..." Her mother's voice seemed to fade into the background as Karen's eyes focused on one sign in particular. It sat on a building, and it said-

"Candy Bar! Mom, look, it's the Candy Bar!"

Suzy pulled forward to the first window, and glanced in the direction her over-excited daughter pointed. "Yes. And that means..." She waited for Karen to finish.

"It means we're almost there!" The teen nearly burst the windows with her excited screams. But Suzy didn't begrudge her the excitement. This was the first time in quite awhile she'd seen her this happy, this carefree. It gave her hope to see that excited twinkle in her eyes.

Even though they lived quite a bit away from each other, Karen and Cindy often exchanged mail, both the regular and electronic type. And Karen loved her younger cousin like the sister she'd never had.

The blond teen that took the money for their food stared at Karen. Under normal circumstances, the girl would've blushed beet red and turned away. But this situation was anything but normal, and so she grinned at the boy. He grinned back and waved as they pulled up to the second window.

The girl at that window smiled politely and handed the bag and drinks out the window. "Have a nice day!" she called as they drove away.

Karen turned to her mother, the grin still permeating her face. "Hey, Mom? Could we eat in the Candy Bar parking lot?"

Suzy smiled at her hyper daughter. "Sure, I don't see why not," she replied, turning in. As she parked and applied the emergency brake, Karen searched the parking lot.

"Kar, honey, just what're you doing?" Suzy winced inside, hoping Karen wouldn't explode at her again. But the teen simple replied, "Looking for Cindy."

Her mother nodded understandingly and reached into the bag she held with both hands. Pulling out a double cheeseburger and fries, she passed them on to her daughter, who started wolfing it all down as if she hadn't even seen food since Christmas.

"Whoa! Sweetheart, slow down! You'll get indigestion!"

Karen glanced at her mother. She slowed down, though she still ate rather fast for her mother's taste. She finished the burger and fries and started slurping her drink, still searching for her favorite cousin. She suddenly let out a high-pitched squeal and ducked down 'til only her eyes were showing through the window. "There she is!" She turned back to her mother slightly and asked, "Are you sure she doesn't know I'm here for the summer?"

Suzy nodded, still working on her salad. "Positive."

Satisfied at the answer, Karen turned back and watched Cindy with another girl her age. "That must be Libby," she murmured to no one in particular. After the two girls went in, she sat back up and finished her drink, still watching as three boys approached the glass doors. To one boy's side was a rather chubby kid, with glasses and red hair. The guy on the other side was a lot taller than his friends, and had spiky black hair matched with big brown eyes.

The boy in the middle was very short, although his hair more than made up for it, and he had bright blue eyes. He held the door open for his friends, then followed them in.

Up until now, it hadn't occurred to Karen who the boy might be. But his odd appearance, coupled with an e-mail she'd received from Cindy, brought one name to the front.

"Jimmy Neutron!"

"Who?" her mother asked.

"That's Jimmy, Cindy's boyfriend!

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Behind the counter, Sam whistled the tune from 'The Andy Griffith Show' while polishing a glass tumbler. He held it up to the light, inspecting it for any specks or blemishes. Satisfied, he set it with the others behind him.

A flash of blue caught his eye, and when he looked, he groaned. "Sheen."

The hyperactive 12-year-old ran to the counter, screeching to a halt mere inches from hitting his head.

Sam glanced at him through his glasses, his eyes narrowing warily.

"Good morning, Sam," Sheen said uncharacteristically politely.

"Whatever. Whaddya want, yeah?"

Sheen considered this, scratching his chin. "I would like a Strapplemelon Slam Dunk with whipped cream and Ameracachino cherries."

"It's maraschino," Sam replied dully, "and that'll be 5.98, yeah." He watched Sheen closely.

The boy whipped out his Ultra Lord wallet, pulled out a 5 and a 1, and handed them to the waiting Sam. "You can keep the change," he said pleasantly.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Gee, two whole cents. Thanks." He shook his head. "Go get in a booth and it'll be there soon, yeah."

Sheen moved aside to let Carl place his order. As he did so, he caught sight and sound of Cindy Vortex and Libby Folfax in a nearby booth, chatting up a storm. He grinned to himself and sidled up to the girls' table.

"So I said-" Cindy broke off mid-sentence when Sheen appeared. "What do you want, Ultra Freak?" she asked meanly.

But the boy didn't pay attention to her words. His total concentration was on Libby. The dark-skinned girl slurped her milk shake, then looked up expectantly. "What is it, Sheen?" she asked impatiently. "What do you want?"

Sheen bowed over at the waist. "I want only to bask in your beauty, my queen," he replied.

Libby's eyes widened, and her cheeks darkened. Cindy spat out the Purple Flurp she'd been drinking. "What?!" she exclaimed.

Sheen peeked up at Libby, who was too surprised and embarrassed to say anything. He straightened and snapped a smart salute. "Adios, mi reina." He turned and walked to a booth where his Strapplemelon Slam Dunk already waited with Jimmy and Carl.

Libby gaped after him in shock. "D-did he just say what I think he said?" she sputtered.

Cindy scowled at the trio sitting across the aisle. "Yeah, he did," she muttered. "Creep." She turned back to her Flurp. "So, anyways, like I was saying..."

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Jimmy was typing away on a small pad while simultaneously drinking his Purple Flurp when Sheen arrived at the table. Next to him, a very happy Carl licked a delicious vanilla ice cream cone, with MiniButtons, O-he-o chunks, and Butterychoc pieces, as well as about 25 other candies.

Jimmy looked up as Sheen slid into the booth. "What were you doing over there?" he asked curiously.

Sheen shrugged. "Nothing much," he said, trying to pull off a casual tone, but not quite making it. He picked up a spoon and dug in. "Just stopped to say hi to Libby," he muttered around a mouthful of the Slam Dunk.

Half of Jimmy's mouth lifted in a dubious grin, but he simply shrugged and went back to his pad. "The 1 and 5 over..."

Carl finished his cone. He started playing with a napkin on the table. When he got bored with that, and neither Sheen nor Jimmy offered conversation, he turned to look out the window.

One car in particular caught his attention. Maybe because the woman looked familiar, or maybe it was because the girl in the passenger seat looked like Cindy. He wasn't sure, but as he continued watching, the woman cranked up the Beetle and drove off. The really strange thing was that the girl kept looking around, as if watching for someone.

"Carl? Hey, Carl?" Sheen knocked on the back of Carl's head.

"Ow!" Carl swatted Sheen's hand away and rubbed his head. "That hurts..."

Sheen took the last bite of his Slam Dunk. "Hey, Jim? Are you done yet?"

Jimmy still muttered to himself under his breath. "...but then the equivalent of pi..."

"Jimmy?" Sheen asked again. When he still didn't receive a reply, he snatched the small pad out of Jimmy's hand.

"Hey!" Jimmy sat forward and scrambled to yank it back, but Sheen held it away. "Why'd you do that?" he asked irritably.

Sheen shrugged. "You said you were going to tell us about your new invention, right?"

Carl nodded, agreeing with Sheen. "Yeah, that's what you said, Jim."

Jimmy thought for a moment. "Well, yeah," he admitted. "But I haven't finished the calculations and risk assessments yet. So could I please have my pad back?" he pleaded.

Sheen shook his head. "Just tell us about it already! What is it?!"

Jimmy sighed and sat back. "OK, OK. Well, you remember the Game Pyramid?"

"Do I ever!" Carl snorted in reminiscent laughter. "Yeah, that was good. The llamas...and the llamas...and more llamas..."

"Who cares about the llamas?!" Sheen stood up, slapping his palms down on the table. "Meeting Ultra Lord was AWESOME!"

Jimmy raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. "Anyway, my new invention is just like it, except instead of sending you to the game world-" He paused dramatically and grinned. "It sends the characters to you!"

Carl cheered loudly. "YAY! Lloyd from 'Llamapalooza 6'!"

"No way! Ultra Lord and Robofiend from 'Ultra Lord and Robofiend 4'!"

The three friends got strange looks from people in other booths, as well as a glare from Sam.

After managing to quiet his friends, Jimmy cleared his throat. "Actually, I've always wanted to meet Tails from 'Sonic Heroes.'" At his friends' blank looks, he explained. "See, Tails is from the Sonic the Hedgehog world, and he can invent just about anything. Like me."

Sheen's left eye twitched. "And..?"

Jimmy started to explain again, then gave up. "Never mind."

"Tails? Did you say Tails?" Jimmy looked up to see Cindy. She was staring at him with a strange look on her face. "Tails as in Miles 'Tails' Prower?" she continued.

Jimmy narrowed his eyes at the blonde girl. "And what if I did?" he replied coolly.

Cindy grabbed the front of his shirt. "What were you saying about him?" she demanded angrily. Jimmy started at the look on the girl's face. "Nothing! I just said that'd it'd be nice to meet him, that's all!" he said nervously.

"What, is this about another one of your inventions?" Libby had followed her now crazed friend. She casually propped her elbows on the table, cocking an eyebrow at Cindy.

Cindy's eyes widened. "Is it, Nerdtron?" she demanded. Jimmy, unable to say anything out of shock and fear-though mostly shock-nodded.

Cindy, never loosening her grip, dragged Jimmy out of the booth. "And you can meet Tails with it?" she asked. Again, the boy genius merely nodded. She smiled somewhat dangerously. "Well, then, what're we waiting for?"

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Kris: So..ya likey, ya hatey, what? Just give me some feedback. ForbiddenTrance said that they haven't given Cindy's parent's names, and I'm inclined to agree with her. If you know otherwise, or simply want to give me a suggestion for names, R&R! And another Q...

Q: (appears; looks around) OK, what's going on? Where's Picard?

Kris: (annoyed) Not THAT Q!

Q: (disappears)

Kris: Does anybody know if Cind's 'rents are divorced? 'Cause I've never seen her father. Lemme know!

'Til later!