Hie there! This is the chapter you've all been waiting for...again...Dammit, I'm so slow. Please forgive once again.

Now, I have a challenge. Susan's full name is a carefully organized anagram. If you can figure it out, EMAIL the answer to me. My adress is in my profile. DO NOT POST IT IN THE REVIEWS. Be sure to state who you are (Fanfiction net name if you have one).The answer will be revealed in the first chapter of book five (though indirectly) along with a list of people who got it right.

To top it all off, my new forum is up. Please join (link is in my profile)!

Purple Ghost Sausage: Thanks.

cakreut12: Exactumondo!

Green Phantom Queen: Yep. That is one obsessed chick.

venusgal100: It's a tricked out Gameboy Advanced.

Velvet Panther: Me too! And to think...it was only two books ago that we were talking about midterms. I'm slow that way. Pokemon rocks!
They're reach through helmets. I've seen Sith, but none of the others. It ROCKED. Not funny though...

fubkis-wraph: Yes, total Pokemon fanatic. Have been since I was seven. I have almost all the Gameboy RPGs.

Rainstorm Amaya: It's in my profile now. Click the second link (there was an error).

Chapter 5: Susan Gither

"C'mon, c'mon..."

Beads of sweat rolled down Jimmy's face. He had been sitting for almost an hour, waiting for the all-clear. But no all-clear came. The group was getting testy.

"Jimmy, when can we go?" Timmy said. "I'm bored!" He put his head on the table and fell asleep.

"Just...another...yes!" His watch beeped. He eagerly opened it.

His face fell as Sheen's came up. "Hey Jimmy!" he shouted. "What's up?"

"Uh, Sheen, could we do this another time?" Jimmy said, annoyed. "I'm-"

"Busy, yeah yeah. Just wanted to say hi."

"Whatever. Everything okay in Retroville?"

"Oh, the usual. Your parents went out last night, Carl wet his pants-again, Cindy's been going on and on and on about how much she misses you, and...how do you recharge Goddard?" He held up said dog, who semmed dead.

"Third plug to the left. Goodbye."

"Wait, to the left of what-" Sheen was cut off. Jimmy closed his watch.

"What a load of bull-" his watch beeped again. He opened it with much less enthusiasim.

As it happened, a message came across the tiny screen. Jimmy read it with a relieved look. "Finally," he mumbled. "We're ready." The last part was said rather loudly.

"Ready to go?" Timmy snapped awake. Everyone leaped up, ready to jump out the door.

Jimmy shook his head. "Far left corner."

"What?" Danny looked at the corner. All he saw was a purple fish eating a Krabby Patty.

"Other left, you ding-dong!"

"Oh." His head snapped over to the right left corner, and saw- a human. A perfectly normal human.

Normal being the operative word.

Actually, this human didn't look to 'normal' at all. Oh sure, she had a head, two arms, a neck, a torso and two legs, but other than that, she was odd. She had shoulder-length, middle-parted, choppy-cut firetruck red hair, with odd bangs. It was obviously dyed. One lock was brushed over the right side of her face. Her visible brown eye was intently focused on her Gameboy Advance.

Her clothes were like a cross between a kimono and everyday wear. Her Japanese flower printed shirt had a high collar. She had faded jeans and boots similar to Sam's. A watch like Jimmy's was on her wrist. But Danny didn't notice this. What he did notice was that she noticed them immedately. She shut off the game, looked right at them, and waved. "Hi!" She said cheerfully. Her voice was a bit like Help's. (Remember her?)

"Ehh...hello?" Wanda said uncertainly. Everyone else looked a bit uneasy also- but not Jimmy. He walked right up to her.

"Hello there," he said calmly. "Your trip was safe?"

"Yeah," the human said. She looked to be about eleven, but tall for her age. "Not fun though. Big delay." She looked around.

"So, this is the Roadtrip crew?"

"The what?" Danny lifted an eyebrow.

"Oh, hi there!" she said, as though she had just noticed him. "Nice to meet you. I'm Susan Idahe Gither, but you can just call me Susan. How's it going?"

"Uhh...that didn't really answer my question. Not that i'm not used to it anyway." He grimaced.

"Figured that," Susan said. "Frugal dorks... oh, what am I doing?You wanted to know what the Roadtrip crew was, right?"

"Yes, yes..."

"It's you, me, Jimmy, and the rest of this mosh pit. Simple!" She laughed.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "I mean, why are we called that?"

"Oh! Simpler. But-"

"Yeah yeah, we can't know, it can't be discussed!" About now, Danny had just about HAD IT with secrecy. Oh sure, it was a way of life for him (hello, powers?), but he hated when others did it, especially with him. And over the past six days, that was all people seemed to do- keep secrets! He was about ready to pound her. But he knew girls had hidden powers (from experience), so he just shouted. "Y'know what? For almost a week, my friends and I have been stumbling around in the dark, going wherever unseen forces direct us, and getting into big trouble, all because some dumb people decide to go all secrety on us!"

"Hey Danny, put a can in it!" Susan urged. "I was just about to tell you! Calm down, will yeh?"

Danny ignored her pleading- and the fact that she knew his name. "I KNOW that you're part of this conspiracy," he said through clenched teeth. "I have questions, and you'd BETTER GIMME ANSWERS!"

"Uhh...Danny?" Sam tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to look around.

Everyone in the resturaunt was looking at them, eyes wide with fear. Many were slowly backing away, heading for the exit.

"Eh heh heh..." Susan said, with a big fake smile. "Maybe we should continue this angsty rant outside, huh?"

"Yeah, maybe we should." With big smiles, the group slowly backed out of the resturaunt, and broke into a run towards the nearest alley. Once there, Susan looked around.

"You want answers, huh?" Susan said non-threateningly. "Of course you do. Those morons drove you to it. Teasing is the beginning of exposure, don't you find?"

"Huh?" Cosmo said, tilting his head to one side.

"Ah, whatever. Anyway, be prepared. You may not like what you hear."

"All of you are part of a previously unknown operation. A few weeks ago, you were all hand-picked for this due to your...creative ways of getting out of tough situations. And believe me, this one's a toughie-your goal was to gather them all together as one. You were strewn across five universes, so we knew it would be hard."

"Four?" Tucker said, raising an eyebrow. "We've only been to three!"

Susan ignored him. "Agents were spread throught these universes, waiting for your arrival. One got creative. The agent tried to get rid of the danger on their own, to prevent the roadtrip altogether.But it didn't work-it was only delayed, but that was good. It gave us more time.So Operation Universal Roadtrip- as it is called- began."

"And?" Sam said. "This is quite interesting."

"I'm not making it up! Ask Jimmy!"

"He wouldn't tell us anything anyway," Timmy mumbled. He was about as sick and tired of secrecy as Danny was, ironically.

"Don't start that again! Anyway, after that, I didn't find out anything else.Morons thought I was too young to take part. TOO YOUNG? They're recruiting Jimmy for heck's sake! He's younger than I am!"

"And 500 times smarter," Jimmy interrupted. "There's no need to swear, Susan."

"I know," she said, blushing. "Sorry. Heh. But anyway, don't fear that I don't know anything else. I know someone who does- and is willing to tell."

"Who?"

"I don't know her name," Susan said. "But people call her the Guardian, the Guardian of Eternity. She is a mysterious etnity that protects us all. Rumor has it that she began Operation Universal Roadtrip. Jimmy himself is one of her agents."

"Are you an agent?" Tucker said.

"No. I is just a concerned friend, that's all." She made her famous big smile.

"And...where do we find this person?"

"I don't know," Susan said, shrugging. "I can try to track her biosignals with my GameComp, but it'll take a while."

"Don't care," Sam said. "We're closer to the answer than ever. We'll do whatever it takes."

"Okay, you owe me five bucks." She slipped out her Advance, transformed it into Comp mode, and typed some stuff. The screen showed a large star map. It kept scrolling back and forth.

"Eternity," she said. "Universes, worlds, lives. She could be anywhere. We'll let the program run." She slipped the device into her pocket. "In the meantime, we could have some fun. We have plenty of time. Come on! The town awaits!" She ran off. Everyone ran after her- except Danny.

He stood rooted to the spot, glaring. Sam immediately noticed this, and ran to him. "Danny?" she said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "but I'm kinda suspicious. There's something fishy going on with that Susan girl, and I don't mean trout."

Bye-SP