Disclaimers: Jimmy, my main man, is © Paramount Pictures and Viacom International

The 'fweaky lookin' quote is from Disney's 'Tarzan'. I'm crossing Disney with Nickelodeon? (gasp!) Yeah. Gotta problem with it?

Sonic, Cream, Amy Rose, and Shadow are (unfortunately) © Sega and Sonic Team.

And John Yugerty, er Fidgety, I mean, Fogerty...is copyright himself, I guess.

Reviews: ()() Wowsers bowsers, look at these reviews! Thanks, you guys! I guess I better respond:

lucyrocks73: I know what you mean. Stories that have glaring grammar problems can be irritating.

Majestic Twelve: The Good Son? I don't think I've ever seen it. But thanks! And I loved Cindy and Jimmy's MultiVerse Adventure!

CuriousGeorge33: (blushes) Aw, shucks. Thanks.

fanjimmy: Well, not really...but there will be a good scene about those e-mails...(grins evilly)

Well, this is chapter four, y'all! And I got it done in record time! Just what did Cindy mean by, Oh, no? Will Karen finally meet Jimmy and the gang? Will she go crazy from Sheen? Who doesn't? Anyway, on with it!

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Cindy groaned slightly. "You're...staying the whole summer?" she repeated, dreading the answer.

Karen's grin grew wider, if possible. "Yuppers!" she chirped, squeezing her cousin's shoulders. "I can't wait!"

Libby looked on with a slightly bemused smile, glancing at Cindy's darkening expression with some concern.

Karen sighed. "You wouldn't believe how long I've been waiting for this, Cinds. We've got a lot to talk about." Her face fell then, and she let her cousin go. She turned toward the living room. "I'm gonna go unpack, all right?" she said softly over her shoulder.

Cindy nodded uncertainly. "All right." After hearing the footsteps on the stairwell, she moaned and turned to Libby. "Oh, no!" she wailed. "Why did she have to come? Why?"

Libby still stared at the doorway. "What do you think she meant, you have to talk?" she asked.

Cindy shrugged, too bogged in her own problems to care. "Who knows? Probably wants to talk about some hick stuff only she'd know about." She slumped into a chair, uncaring of the cookies lying before her.

Libby sat beside her. "That's mean," she admonished quietly.

"Yeah, well, it's the truth. Who cares what happens in Hicksville, North Carolina? I don't!"

Libby moved her hand to cover Cindy's that fidgeted with the tablecloth fringe. "Cindy, she looked really worried. Something might be wrong, something bad."

"What? Her chickens got some kind of chicken pox? Heaven forbid!" she snapped sarcastically.

Libby's concerned expression only grew. "Cindy, this isn't like you. What happened with you guys? She seemed happy to see you. Why aren't you happy to see her?"

Cindy raised her gaze to that of her friend's, her green eyes snapping. "We're totally different, all right? She's the hicky hick from Hicksville, Hick Country who's into sci-fi and all that boy junk. She prefers John Yugerty, or Fidgety, or whatever, to the N Street Guys! She drives me crazy! At least when I'm not around her, I have some sanity!"

Libby shook her head in amazement. "I can't believe you," she said in wonderment. "The way you're acting, you can't really back up that statement. Just because she's not into boy bands and that kinda stuff, you're rejecting her? I just can't believe you," she repeated, pushing away her chair and standing. She gazed at her friend with something resembling pity in her eyes. "Call me when you get everything straight, OK?" With that, she vacated the room, her head still shaking.

Cindy glared after her friend. "You don't get it," she muttered. "You don't have a cousin who'd beat Nerdtron at the Geekiest Geek Convention." Realizing she was talking to herself, and according to a certain boy genius, that was a sign of losing your sanity, she grumbled under her breath and shoved away from the table. As she automatically put away the cookies, as her mother had taught her since she'd turned four, she didn't hear the footsteps on the wooden floor trudging to the stairs.

Karen stared at her hand that rested on the banister through eyes blurred with tears. She always seemed so nice...at the reunions, she talked to me when even Jer and Cherry wouldn't.

The hand formed into a fist as a familiar voice echoed through her head. Don't get mad, the voice taunted. Get even. Ignore her. Make her feel as bad as you do.

Like you have with your father? another voice asked.

Make her feel like you do. The first voice drowned out the second. Make her hurt. Don't let her get away with it! You don't deserve to be treated that way!

As the voices warred with each other, the first beginning to win out, Karen felt the anger, the incredible rage that'd drained away, return with a vengeance. You're not a hick! Show her who's a hick! Fight back! Aim low, make it hurt!

No! She just doesn't understand!

Shut up, Karen mentally told the second voice. Who asked you, anyway? Stomping up to the guest room, she resolved that Cindy would never call her that again. I'll show you just who's a hick, Cynthia Vortex...and it's a lesson you won't ever forget.

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"Finished!" Jimmy stated, though not with a small amount of excitement, as he leapt away from the computer and faced his two friends.

"Ultra Lord! Ultra Lord! Ultra Lord!" Sheen jumped up and dashed toward his friend, who motioned frantically for him to slow down. The spiky haired boy, of course, didn't notice, and ran headlong in a solid steel invention- he couldn't remember the name of it- that Jimmy had built a few months before.

"Sheen! Are you OK?" Carl asked worriedly, making his way to where his friend sat on the hard concrete floor, rubbing his forehead, which incredibly did not exhibit any signs of bruising.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." He jumped back up, looking expectantly at Jimmy. "So? Are you finished?"

Jimmy, after making sure Sheen really was all right, grinned and turned to his dog. "Gentleman, may I present to you, The Inverted Game Pyramid!"

On cue, Goddard's back panels opened and the holo-emitter emerged. Switching on, it showed the face of a young girl, humanoid in appearance, with green skin, orange eyes, and a mischievous look.

With a yelp, Jimmy grabbed Goddard's head. "The IGP, IGP!!!" Amid Sheen's snickers and Carl's confusion, the holographic presentation changed to a picture of a relatively small pyramid with two pads sitting before it. Regaining his composure, Jimmy started his monologue. "As you can see, it looks much like the original Game Pyramid. But instead of sending you to the game..." Pausing, he grinned widely. "It sends the game to you! Or rather, select characters."

"Cool! Ultra Lord! Ultra Lord! Ultra Lord!" Sheen chanted.

"No!" Carl protested. "Lloyd!"

Sheen got in Carl's face. "No, it's gonna be Ultra Lord!" he yelled. Usually passive, Carl got right back in Sheen's face. "Lloyd!" "Ultra Lord!" "Lloyd!" "Ultra Lord!" "LLOYD!!!" "ULTRA LORD!!!"

Jimmy tried to pry the two apart. "Guys, guys! Settle down!" Successfully pulling them apart, he sighed. "We'll meet everybody, OK? Once I build it, the limit's two at a time from each game." He gave Sheen another look, as if to say, Don't even think about it.

Sheen, of course, ignored the silent warning. "Ultra Lord and Robo-Fiend!" he yelled, causing Jimmy to cover his ears to protect them.

"No!" Carl yelled. "Lloyd and Lara!"

"Lara?" Sheen and Jimmy asked together, giving each other questioning looks.

Carl grinned stupidly. "Yep. Lara Llama from 'Lara Llama and The Tomb of King Leroy'."

Jimmy rolled his eyes. What will they think of next? "OK, but just one game at a time, guys. After all, it will be the IGP's maiden voyage."

Sheen's eye glazed over. "The wha?"

Jimmy started to answer, then decided it'd be useless. "I'll start building it now." He gave the other two pointed looks.

"Uh, yeah, The Wonderful World of Llamas is coming on in a little while," Carl said, taking the hint. He tugged on Sheen's shirt.

"What?" Sheen asked irritably. "The Ultra Lord Show doesn't come on until five o'clock." Seeing Jimmy's look, he nodded quickly. "But, uh, that should give me time to get into my costume. Bye!"

With that, Carl and Sheen vacated the lab. Jimmy shook his head ruefully and looked at Goddard. "Sometimes, boy, I think Carl understands more of the subtle things of life than Sheen."

Goddard's view screen flipped open. "Sometimes?"

Laughing, Jimmy went to work. "I wonder what Miles would think about my nano-bots?" he mused. "He might know how to fix them." Shrugging, he attached two wires. "Only one way to find out..."

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Karen laid stomach down on her bed, casually flipping through A Teen's World, seeming to read but not seeing any of the words through the red haze obscuring her vision. Calling me a hick...who does she think she is?

Come on...you know how Aunt Lynn is. And she's bound to affect her own daughter. Can you really blame her? the voice returned.

Hmm, lemme see...YES!!! She's a self-absorbed, ill-trained, obnoxious little-

Temper, temper. So she called you a hick? So what? Maybe you are one, just a little bit. No reason to get mad.

Oh, really

As the voices battled tirelessly, Karen gave up pretending to read and stared broodingly out the window. The room she had, next to Cindy's, looked out over the street and the Neutron's. The walls and bedspread followed a theme; specifically, one of pink and Barbie. Since Cindy had given up her doll craze a year ago, Mrs. Vortex obviously had them put in this room. Why they hadn't simply gotten rid of them, Heaven only knew. Karen preferred a deep teal and dark purple. This room was way too cheerful for her taste. And for her mood.

She tried her best to ignore the voices, but they relentlessly continued arguing. The fact that she could hear them almost audibly worried her. Isn't that a sign of insanity?

Sighing, Karen closed the magazine and shoved off the bed, striding over to the window. She noted with some interest two boys, one tall and slim, the other short and pudgy, walking away from the Neutron house. They're Jimmy's friends, she realized. What're their names? Shawn and Carlton? No, no, Sheen and Carl. That's it.

Watching them swept some of the tension and frustration away. Why, she couldn't understand, but maybe it was simply because this took no thinking or puzzling. Whatever the reason, it took her mind off her troubles. The taller one -Sheen?- seemed to be yelling at his friend, but Carl shook his head forcefully and argued back.

Karen laughed softly to herself at the comedic scene. Her spirits lifted, her face broke into a smile, and she went back to sit on her bed. She flipped through her magazine, stopping at an article about teenagers and divorce. Just what I need...maybe there'll be something in here to help me with Momma and Daddy...

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An hour went by as she read everything between the covers. Feeling a sharp hunger pang, Karen closed her magazine and rolled off the bed. She noted with some disappointment she hadn't heard Cindy come up the stairs, then shrugged it off.

She left the room and walked down the stairs, her hand trailing along the banister. Upon reaching the bottom, she heard some voices in the living room and so directed her steps in that direction.

Her Aunt Lynn and Uncle Robert stood in the middle of the room. Lynn had her fists planted firmly on her hips, her mouth opened wide and yelling. Robert simply stood there, gazing at the ground, his hands in his pockets.

"You think you can stay away for hours at a time, and then have the nerve to come in here and tell me what to fix for supper?!" she shrieked.

Robert raised his head slightly. "I was just saying, maybe we can have your famous Baked Mac and Cheese tonight."

Lynn's green eyes glared at her husband. "What if I'm not going to fix that? What if I want to fix meatloaf?!"

Robert shrugged slightly. "Whatever you want to fix, Lynn," he responded quietly. He turned and walked away, leaving his wife to fume.

Karen watched all this with disbelief. Her mother never said anything like that to her father; if they ever got mad at each other, it was because of something big, like maybe if her father misplaced the money for the telephone bill. And I always thought Uncle Robert and Aunt Lynn were always nice to each other...

She decided not to go into the living room, just in case. So she went back around to the kitchen. Another hunger pang made itself felt. She remembered the money her mother had given her. Maybe Aunt Lynn won't mind if I just get me something small to eat...

Karen trudged back up the stairs, thinking about the scene she'd just witnessed. It seemed so weird to her, compared to what she grew up with. Fighting about meatloaf? The only person she knew that liked meatloaf that much was her mother, and she never fought with her father about it. A quote from one of her favorite movies summed it up, as far as she was concerned: It's fweaky lookin', that's what it is. Yeah, fweaky lookin'.

She passed Cindy's room on her way. Strange sounds came out of it. Deciding to post-pone her search for food, she went to check in on her cousin. After what she- Karen squashed the voice almost immediately as the door opened under her hand. Her blonde cousin lay curled into a fetal position on her bed, sobbing her heart out.

"Cindy?" she asked quietly. The girl sat up quickly, looking at her through teary eyes. Karen quietly closed the door behind her and crossed the room to sit on the edge of Cindy's bed.

Her cousin hurriedly wiped her eyes and sniffled. "Hi, Karen." She looked away.

"What's the matter?" Karen asked, noticing the way her cousin's shoulders shook ever so slightly.

Cindy looked back at her, fresh tears threatening. "My mother, that's what!" She fisted her hands tightly. "Why does she keep doing it? She keeps picking little fights with my dad, like where to go for vacation. It's stupid and pointless, but she keeps doing it anyway!"

Karen waited patiently as her younger cousin poured out her frustrations. "I think I know what you're talking about," she said slowly. "You mean, like the 'meatloaf or baked mac and cheese' fight a little while ago, right?"

Cindy looked at her cousin a little guiltily. "You heard it?" she asked lowly.

Karen nodded. "It kinda struck me as strange, too. I mean, my parents rarely ever fight, which makes the divorce confusing, but-"

"Divorce?" Her cousin stared at her. "Your parents are going to get divorced? Why?"

Karen shrugged. "I really don't know," she said sadly. "They won't tell me. And it's not like they had any really big fights right before it. Daddy even lives with us. I just don't get it."

Cindy sat there, looking thoughtful. "That's what you wanted to talk to me about, wasn't it?" she asked. When Karen nodded, a light blush colored her face before she turned away.

Yeah, yeah...you thought I was worried about my non-existent chickens getting the pox...

"Shut up!" Not realizing she'd spoken out loud, Karen didn't understand the look Cindy gave her. "What?"

Cindy stared at her cousin, not entirely assured of her sanity. "I...you just told me to shut up."

Karen's face turned even redder than Cindy's. "Um, I did? Sorry. I wasn't talking to you, I was just..." She let her words trail as she took in the other girl's dubious expression. "Never mind," she covered quickly.

Cindy watched her closely before shaking her head. "OK."

She jumped a little when her stomach growled loudly, begging for food. Giving a laugh, she wondered, "Do you think Mother would mind if we went out tonight?"

Karen shrugged. "It's a special occasion, right? After all, Karen Vortex in da hooouuuse!" She giggled at the look that crossed Cindy's face. "Get used to it, Cinds. After all," she put her arm around the younger girl's shoulder, "I'm gonna be here all summer." She grinned when Cindy groaned.

Cindy shook her head ruefully. "If I must," she sighed. She silently studied her cousin, then nodded to herself. Maybe this summer won't be so bad, after all...

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Jimmy beamed with delight as he stepped back, taking in the sight of his newest invention. "It's finished, Goddard!" he cried.

The mechanical dog woofed his approval. Thinking a moment, his view screen opened and revealed the words, "Call Cindy."

Jimmy's smile faded, and he looked from the IGP to Goddard, and back again. His shoulders slumped as he nodded. "You're right," he muttered, more to himself than anyone.

Goddard fetched the rocket shaped phone and brought it expectantly to his master. With a sigh, Jimmy accepted it and dialed the numbers. "Cindy?" he asked apprehensively. "Yes, it's me, Vortex. What? Oh, yeah? Well, you're a- what? Oh. Um...I just called to tell you that, uh, the IGP's finished. The Inverted Game Pyramid. Yes. Yes. It's done. How does it work?" Grinning, he went on to ramble about the machine. "...and that's how- what? No, I haven't tested it yet." Wincing, he held the phone away from his ear. Goddard clearly heard Cindy say, "OK, I'll be there in a few minutes!"

"What?!" Jimmy tried to stop her. "Cindy, no, I-" He stared at the dead phone in his hand. With a groan, he sat on a chair, burying his head in his hands. "She's coming over right now, Goddard," he muttered.

Goddard's still opened view screen revealed the words, "She must be excited."

Jimmy gulped audibly. "Yeah, and if anything goes wrong..." he made a slashing motion across his throat. "I'm dead!"

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Karen watched her cousin curiously. "Was that Jimmy Neutron?"

Cindy nodded vigorously, her blonde ponytail swishing around as she placed her phone back on the dressing table. "He called to tell me his IGP's finished!" She bounced up from her bed, fairly dancing to her closet.

Karen's brow crinkled in concentration. "Run that by me again. The what?"

Cindy grabbed a T-shirt from the dresser drawers and held it up to her. Frowning at her reflection, she discarded the shirt and chose another one. "The IGP. It's the Inverted Game Pyramid." She beamed at her cousin in the mirror. "It lets you meet game and movie characters. Nerdtron knows all the fancy gibberish, but as far as he told me, it takes the personality of the characters and converts it into data we can understand better."

Karen's poker face firmly in place, she responded, "And that would be?"

"Holograms." She threw that shirt away and grabbed yet another.

Her brown haired cousin nodded slowly. "Okey doky smoky," she murmered, frowning at a wayward tuft of hair hanging in front of her eyes

Deciding on a pretty light purple shirt and matching shorts, Cindy changed quickly. Running for the door, she paused and glanced over her shoulder. "Would you like to come check it out?" she asked.

Karen grinned, jumping off the bed. "Who're we meeting?"

Cindy crouched close to the floor and grabbed something out of a bookshelf. Standing, she smiled widely and held the game up. "I'm meeting Tails. Who do you want to meet?"

Karen peered closely at the case, featuring three characters on the front. "I'd have to say..." She groaned slightly. "I can't pick! Shadow's cute, but then I'd love to meet Cream, and Amy seems cool, but then there's Sonic, and-"

Cindy gaped at her cousin, not believing her ears. "You-you like Sonic?" she stuttered.

Karen grinned slightly. "Didn't think I'd know who Sonic was, did you? I'll have you know I'm a major Shadow fan, and proud of it!" She thumped her chest proudly.

Her younger cousin shook her head in amazement. "Whatever," she said unsurely. "Let's go see if Nerdtron's done something right for once."

As she followed her cousin out the room, Karen's mind fixed on several different things: She seems to be getting used to me. Maybe I was making much ado about nothing And I thought Jimmy was her boyfriend? Why did she call him Nerdtron?

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Heh heh. Couldn't resist adding some Sonic fan-ness. I mean, come on: tell me Cindy doesn't strike you as a Tails fan? She has a soft side that she tries to hide, and her liking Tails (Tails: ()-();;;;;;;) would emphasize that. 'Sides...it's just too cuuuute!

9 and a quarter pages, people! Longest chapter so far! YAY!!! Hey-yo! Whoo! OK, OK, I'm stopping. Seriously.

Well, just R&R, I guess. Tell me what you liked, disliked, offer constructive criticism (not 'Hey, yo storie stinks!!11') or just comiserate with me the horrors of late-night writing.

Catch ya on the flip side!

Kris