Diclaimers: How many times I gotta tell you folks? I do NOT own Jimmy Neutron. The good people at Paramount Pictures and Viacom International do. Though I wish I owned Sheen... And if you don't know who owns Sonic, let me quote Meldar Prime: What, do you people live in a cave?! And if you do...I sincerely apologize (sweatdrop). SEGA and Sonic Team own the Floating Island, Sonic, the Master Emerald, and his furry friends. (cries) I wanna own Shadow-San!
Shadow: --; And am I glad you don't...
Reviews: Aw, thanks, you guys! You're so nice! Sorry if I missed anybody...
fanjimmy: Uh...Shadow, perhaps?
kpgrl0816: Hehe.
yay: Ah, but I can't very well do that. That's a whole other story...(grins mysteriously)
Majestic Twelve: Thankies! And please, for the love of Ultra Lord, write another story!
PinkPowerRanger07: (blushes) Aw, stop it! Thanks! And I'm impatient too. Pff.
Neutron Phantom: Well, thank you! I, myself, think my style isn't expressive enough, though...
soldier!!!!!: Aw, you're so nice! ...when you want to be! (winks) Love ya, bro!
shadowedstar213: Hehehe. Can you imagine the look on Cindy and Jimmy's face?!
Note: Minds, when Karen is addressing Cindy, is pronounced like Cinds. Just so you know.
Now it's time for the apologies for the late-ness. I've gotten rather caught up in my Sonic fan-dom...again. --; But there's a really awesome site! And it's called Netraptor, followed by a dot and an o-r-g. I spelled it out like that because, for SOME reason, the good ol' boys here at FanFiction won't let me write it out like normal. (growl) Who came up with all these rules of theirs, anyways? (dodges tomatoes) Yeesh! I'm kidding!
I'll let you know if I find any awesome JN fan sites, but so far, no dice.
I'm also working on various other projects, such as the New World series, my web site, an exchange at NetRaptor...(shakes her head) It's a wonder I get anything done. Sorry this chapter took so long. (dodges the tomatoes..again) I AM SORRY!!!
(clears throat) Well, here's Chappie 5! Really, nothing more to see here...MOVE IT ALONG!!!
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Karen silently followed her cousin down the stairs, out the front door, and across the street. "Where is this invention, anyway?" she asked finally as they stepped onto the Neutrons' front lawn.
"Neutron's lab."
She nodded. "And, uh, that would be...where?"
Cindy pointed to a small shack. As they neared, she directed Karen to stand on the mat outside the door. "Hey, Nerdtron! Open up!"
Karen stared down at the mat in confusion. "Why do I have to stand heeeeeeere?!" Without warning, the green rug gave out from under them and sent them down a long slide.
Fortunately, Goddard had reminded his master to replace the mattress underneath the opening, and the two Vortexes fell out onto it.
Karen looked around in wonder as she stood and brushed her pants off. "Whoa," she breathed, taking in all the inventions and parts strewn around from the recent effort of building the IGP.
Cindy shrugged off her wonder carelessly. "Where is it, Neutron?" she demanded, standing with Karen.
Jimmy appeared from behind a mechanical behemoth. "Uh, right here."
When Cindy went toward it, he stepped in front to stop her. "I haven't tested it yet," he protested. "I don't even know what the side effects of attempting something like this would be!"
"Step aside, Neutron!" She effortlessly shoved the startled boy genius away and stepped to a section clearly marked, 'Player'.
"No, Cindy! It might-" Jimmy's words were cut short by a very audible rumble.
Vox's main screen started flashing red. "Foreign object entering the atmosphere," the calm voice stated.
Jimmy, now ignoring Cindy and the IGP, ran for the screen. "Display object's dimensions and speed," he ordered. The schematics appeared at his command. He studied them intently, his fingers racing across the keyboard.
Cindy forgot the IGP, too. She studied the screen with the same intensity as the brown haired boy.
Karen looked, too, but it made no sense. "Uh...what is it, you guys?" she asked nervously.
The boy genius shot a glance over his shoulder, then did a double take. "Who are you?" he asked curiously.
"Never mind that!" Cindy snapped. "That's a space rock!"
Karen frowned in frustration. "A whatta what? What's a space rock?"
Cindy reached over Jimmy's shoulder and typed a few commands. "Long story short, it's bad news."
The trio silently watched as the screen displayed a clear view of the rock. Numbers flashed across the screen. Jimmy let out a low, absent whistle as he scanned the numerals popping up. "It's huge. Bigger than any of the others." His forehead creased as he frowned. "I've gotta stop it, and soon. See," he keyed a few commands, "it's heading for the lake. At this speed, and if it hits the water...well, we can say bye-bye to any fish for the next few years."
Karen's eyes widened. "Anything else?"
Jimmy squinted at the screen. "It could cause a giant wave to crash over Retroville, effectively wiping out any signs of life." He turned his chair to face the gaping teen, who, of course, could not believe the casual tone he used.
"But I can stop it," he added, bolting from the chair. Once standing, he sprinted for the door, pausing to grab a stack of pancake looking blue things.
"Hey!" Cindy exclaimed, running after him. "We're coming, too!"
"Uh...we are?" Karen giggled nervously. "Why? I mean, he looks like he's got the situation under control, and I-"
Her cousin reached back, grabbed her hand, and practically dragged her to the door, although she stood a foot shorter than Karen. "If you're going, Neutron, so are we," Cindy insisted, her tone giving no way out.
Jimmy started to protest, then gave up, shaking his head in defeat. "Alright, but hurry up!"
Despite Karen's arguments, Cindy managed to get her out the door and into Jimmy's hovercraft. "I still don't see why we have to go," she continued as the two younger kids climbed in. "Honestly, I'd be way more of a hindrance than a help. I mean, I'm so clumsy, I broke Grandma's favorite flower vase. She was really close to killing me! Remember, Minds?"
Jimmy's eyes sparkled with laughter as he started the craft up. "Minds?" he taunted, the hover craft lifting and speeding toward the atmosphere.
Cindy crossed her arms, giving the back of his head, outlined by the darkness and faint lights of space, a ferocious glare. "It's a family nickname," she replied stiffly.
Jimmy carefully hid his smile and concentrated on the blinking instruments. "We should see it any second now..."
With a yelp, Karen pointed a shaking finger. "I-is th-that it?"
Cindy looked up. Her eyes widened as she took in the sheer size of the rock, the shadow of its form huge against the starry backdrop of space. "Whoa," she breathed.
Jimmy, too, looked up, but not with an astonished look like the two females. His was a studious glance, inspecting the rock for the tell-tale emblems and glyphs like the previous two.
"It's from April," he announced, startling the other passengers back into reality. "I'm going to try to slow it down. Hang on!
The craft shot up behind, and a blue tractor beam emitted from the from it and locked onto the rock. Jimmy struggled with the controls, sweat dripping down his face as he ordered more power to the beam.
"Just...a little more power..." He mashed a button, and the turbulent ride ended.
"Who's April?" Karen asked this while staring in stunned awe at the rock.
Cindy scowled at the mention of the alien girl. Jimmy laughed, a little nervously. "Uh...she's a- um, a friend."
Karen glanced at the look on her cousin's face. "Whose? Cindy's or yours?"
Jimmy, too, cautiously watched Cindy's expression. "Um...I really need to get some anti-gravitational pods on the underside of this rock," he recited quickly, glancing at the pancakes he'd gotten.
The teenager (the one in the rocket; in fact, the ONLY one thus far in this story...) cast a few glances between her companions. "So...you mean somebody's gotta climb out there and stick something on that thing?" she asked, going along with the change in conversation. After all, what with that look on her younger cousin's face...it was for the best.
Both younger kids looked at each other, then at her, almost as one. "Somebody needs to control my ship," Jimmy said slowly.
"And somebody really needs to keep an eye on these readings," Cindy finished.
Karen looked at them, the implication of their words sinking in. "You mean, you want me to- oh, no. No! I refuse!"
Cindy glared at her cousin. "Karen Vortex, we need you to- AGHHH!!!" The space craft trembled violently then, cutting her words short and causing its passengers to grab hold of anything in sight. In Jimmy's case, this meant Cindy, whom he quickly released.
Karen clutched the sides of her seat in a Vulcan death grip. Any tighter, and she'd be mind-melding with the space ship. "Wh-what was that?!" she demanded.
Jimmy peered at his onboard computer. "That is why I need you to get these anti-gravitational pods on it. If you don't..." He trailed off.
"Bye-bye Retroville?" Karen finished grimly.
The boy genius nodded, and she sighed in exasperation, forcing her fingers to let go. "Alright, alright, I'll do it," she muttered, climbing over the front seats and taking the pods from Jimmy. "But I'm not happy about it."
"Quit griping and get it over with!" Cindy yelled. Her cousin glanced at her, her expression darkening. "Let's see you do it, little Miss Bossy!" she snapped irritably.
Cindy tossed her head and glared at the instruments, deliberately ignoring Karen. Which the other girl hated more than anything.
Oh, great. Battle of the hormones. I thought Cindy was too young to have them though... Jimmy thought for a moment. Should I interrupt and risk my head...or just stay quiet? With a sigh, he tugged on the back of Karen's shirt. "Hello? We kind of have a crisis we need to avoid."
Karen turned her back on Cindy. She climbed out and onto the nose of the rocket, slowly inching her way across until she reached the rock. She eased out onto the monstrosity and leaned forward to attach the pods.
Without warning, the craft and rock shook again. Karen screeched in terror and wrapped her arms as far as they'd reach around the rock.
With a kind of detached horror, she watched the blue beam emanating from Jimmy's ship disappear, leaving her and the giant hunk of ground with nothing to do but fall.
"CINDYYYY!!!" she shrieked. The younger girl kept getting farther and farther away, and Karen kept dropping, dropping, dropping.
OK, Vortex, think. What did Jimmy say about these things? She risked a quick glance at the flat, round, bluey pods. He said that they were anti-gravitational. Meaning they'll make this rock...float? Like the Floating Island? She contemplated this comparison a bit further, until the rock shook slightly and jolted her out of the daydream.
She slowly rose to her knees until she sat on her ankles, and studied the pods again. They're not the Master Emerald...but if they work, who cares?
Karen fell back to her stomach. Reaching around one edge of the rock, she stuck a pod on what was now, since the rock kept spinning, the bottom. One her way back up, she caught a glimpse of the giant patchwork quilt that was cities, and felt her stomach roll.
"Don't look down...don't look down..." she chanted quietly while she secured the other pods to different sides. Finished, she stopped chanting and closed her eyes, her hands in her lap, legs crossed. Please work, please work, please work...
She felt nothing. No slowing, no floating, nothing. But she could tell that the pods had slowed the rock from the sight of Jimmy and his ship finally catching up with her. The same blue light came from his ship and latched onto the rock, with no turbulence this time.
Quick as a wink, Karen scampered across the rock and onto the ship, grateful to be alive and relatively safe. "Let's get outta here, please!" she whimpered pitifully.
Jimmy's face wreathed in smiles, he nodded. The tiny ship, with its huge cargo, zoomed through the clouds to the Neutron's backyard.
Sometime during the trip to the atmosphere and Karen's high-flying act, Jimmy had two visitors who still stood outside his lab.
A spiky haired kid (Sheen?) knocked frantically on the door. "Jimmy!" he screamed. "Jimmy, open up!"
His frantic attitude, combined with the already scratchy quality, caused his voice to hit a high note that confused the poor bats a thousand miles south in San Jose.
Carl, covering his ears to protect them from the damage his friend's voice could undoubtedly do to them, had turned slightly and was the first of the pair to spot Jimmy's ship. He tapped the still screaming Sheen on the shoulder and pointed. "Look!"
Sheen turned slightly to give his friend a Look. "Carl, can't you see I'm doing something here?" He turned back toward the club house. "Jimmy! I know you can hear me, so open up!"
Clearly perturbed by his friend's cluelessness, Carl shoved him in the shoulder. "Sheen! He's not in his lab!"
Sheen, exasperated and hands on his hips, turned to Carl. "Oh, really? And how would you know?"
His pudgy friend pointed, finally getting his point across. "Because he's up there!"
Both boys looked up at the sky, then ducked as the ship flew dangerously close to the tops of their heads.
As soon as they touched the ground, Karen jumped out and away from the ship. "I am never, never getting on that thing again," she muttered, walking off to the clubhouse.
Jimmy hopped out after her and headed to the rock, which now lay peacefully on the ground near his house, giving no indication of the danger its presence had had only moments before. (A/N: Don't ask...)
He studied the symbols carefully, unmindful of anyone else. Reading the instructions, he accessed the control panel and typed the instructions, then stood back and watched the screen.
April's worried face appeared on-screen, and her words made Jimmy's heart sink. "Jimmy Neutron! I and my people need your help. The matrix generators- they're gone! I had them stored safely, where no one but I knew. But they are not there now!" She paused, gathering her thoughts, then continued. "I suspect Meldar; he's the only one besides us who knows about them. But how he could escape from Vandanna... Please, we need you! Please come soon!"
Jimmy looked up, and ended up looking into green eyes.
"What does that mean?" Karen asked softly. She felt worried, but why she should when she had no clue what the green girl was talking about, she didn't know. But the look on Jimmy's face, and the way the strange looking girl had talked...who knew what was going on?
Jimmy took a deep breath, looking away as he gathered his thoughts. He looked around at Cindy, Sheen, Carl, and Karen. "It means," he said slowly, "that we're going on a trip."
So...how was it? Please review. Sorry for the late-ness and the shortness. I promise to do some more thinking and writing, so you'll probably see a new chapter very soon. Promise.
R&R, peoples!
