ReddistheRose: Thanks. I tend to get worked up easily; you learn to ignore it.
The Legendary Frob: Yeah, I knew it wasn't my best. Of course, if I waited till I was completely satisfied with a chapter, updates would be few and far between. It was just missing that little extra…oomph, I guess.
Everybody Else: I would like to take the time to thank each and every one of you, but if I did that, 1) I'd leave several out, and 2) You'd never get to the story, which I assume is the reason you're reading this. At least, I hope. So, instead of thanking each and every one of you personally, I'll send you this generic, general, one-for-everybody: THANK YOU!
I can't believe how screwed up High School can make you feel. So, yeah, blame the almost-month-long wait on the stupid belief that you can't get anywhere in this world without at least a high school education and two years of a foreign language. Or, the author's obvious lack of self-discipline, watching TV and reading practically every Hey Arnold! fic there was. Whichever.
BTW, separations in this chapter will be made by the sequence 'XOXO'. Hopefully. We'll see!
Anywhoo, (can you tell I really love that word?) on with the story!
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Chapter 7: One Eyed, One Horned Flying Purple People Eater
'Landing was easy. Getting what I need and leaving peacefully is the hard part, I fear,' Jimmy thought to himself as he withdrew the key from the ignition. Activating the cloaking device and thrusting the key into his pocket, he pulled a backpack from the driver's seat and quickly strapped it onto his back.
Making his way into the very dense green that was the local flora, he withdrew a tracking device from his pack. Holding it in both hands, he let it guide him ever deeper into the forest.
After about an hour's worth of trekking through unknown, alien substances in strange and unfamiliar territory, the tracking device, which had previously been slowly increasing in volume and decreasing in the amount of time between each beep, starting going crazy with a very loud, very annoying, continuous beep.
Allowing a big smile to adorn his sweaty, dirt streaked face; he immediately threw the device to the ground (along with his backpack) and started vehemently probing through his pack. Finding what he needed, he began to shovel dirt and fling it far and wide to reach the intent of his journey to this far away planet.
After several minutes of hard labor and a couple 'deep breath' breaks, an exuberant "YES! I found it!" could be heard within a three mile radius of Jimmy. Taking a closer look at it, he found it quite enchanting, heck, he'd even go so far as to say it was breathtaking. Cupping it in his hands, he kneeled on the ground and brought it close to his face. "Wow…"he breathed. "The Aurora Borealis Stone. Named for the event in nature the colorful swirls of the stone reminded Sir Walter the Seventh of, the stone is said to cast a powerful spell on the person or persons who are exposed to it for a few hours or more. No one has ever been able to, er, do anything with it as of yet. But Jimmy Neutron isn't just anybody."
Figuring approximately how long it would take him to reach his lab, and mentally calculating how long he figured he had been exposed to its supposed 'enigmatic powers', he realized he needed to reach his rocket: pronto.
Jimmy sprinted from the innermost sanctum of the deep forest, the small stone lodged in his cupped hands. Stopping for a quick breath in a clearing near the forests' edge, he looked around, trying to decide which way his rocket was. Having a sudden stroke of genius, he pulled his keys out of his backpack and deactivated the cloaking device. He was glad he had installed a new feature in it: when deactivated, the cloaking device would make the Strato blink furiously bright several times before becoming completely solid in color. Scanning the horizon for anything even remotely looking like it was winking at him, he quickly spotted said rocket and made a mad dash for it.
"I could've sworn I heard something behind me…"he said to himself. Still running, but slowing his pace just a tad, he looked over his shoulder and was extremely shocked to find a rather large, literal, wave of white light speedily catching up with him. Of course, the number one rule of most things is always watch where you're going. Unfortunately, he wasn't necessarily heeding this rule and consequently ended up running smack dab into something and falling on his back.
Something soft.
Something with hands…that much he knew because the something had latched onto his right hand and was trying to drag him up from his spot on the ground.
What had gotten him up off HIS spot? Yes, he was classifying it as his spot. He was so comfortable. And tired, he realized suddenly as a yawn escaped him.
"What? Do I bore you Neutron?"
Wait a minute. He knew that voice.
"Cindy! What are you doing here? How'd you get to this planet? Nevermind. Have you seen my backpack? I have something in there that I need to put in a containment field in the lab." He was struggling to open his eyes. Were they always this hard to open before? He didn't think so…
He finally managed to halfway open them, revealing a cross-armed Cindy standing before him, in all her foot-tapping, scowling, fiery eyed glory.
"No, I've not seen your dumb backpack," said she. Cindy looked around, and her face lit up when she spotted two trees standing parallel to each other, with about 5 foot between them. Running over to them, she turned to Jimmy and beckoned him to follow her. He found himself almost readily obeying her. When he was close enough to reach out and touch her, she giggled and disappeared behind the tree on her right.
Shocked by her sudden appearance, then sudden disappearance, he found himself quickly walking the circumference of the tree she'd disappeared behind. Coming back to his starting place without having any luck whatsoever, he did the only thing he could think of in his rather weary state of mind.
"CINDY! Come out; come out, wherever you are!"
As if by magic, she reappeared right behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around in surprise.
"Miss me? No matter. What do you think? This dress?" she held up a dress to her that looked to be completely made out of tree bark. Purple tree bark. "Or this one?" She held yet another tree bark dress up to her, except this one was pink bark with a myriad of tiny slivers of something Jimmy could've sworn was the Aurora Borealis Stone.
Oh no. No, not this again! No, no, no! He was not going to go through this again; this, this, this torture that females seemed to enjoy!
Looking up, he saw that Cindy's mouth was moving but no words were coming out. Instead, a shrill and rather annoying ring was escaping her mouth. In fact, if Jimmy didn't know better he would think that Cindy was a walking…
He never got to finish this thought, however, because he was immediately engulfed by black. He was doggedly trying to keep his eyes open, but they were becoming so…heavy…
Finally allowing them to shut completely, he welcomed the darkness, and the annoying ring that seemed to accompany it…
Jimmy lazily drug his arm from beneath the covers of his bed and pounded on his alarm clock several times. Rolling over on his stomach, he hid his face in his pillow, awaiting his other almost daily alarm clock that unfortunately did not have a snooze button, to call him down for breakfast.
After lying there for what seemed to Jimmy as more than his ritualistic five minutes, he surrendered to the land of the living. Folding the cover over itself, he swung his legs to the floor and immediately brought them back up. Not only was his hardwood floor cold beneath his bare feet, but apparently all the walking he had done yesterday (with worn out shoes that both Cindy and his mother had warned him not to wear; as he would be doing a lot of walking) had damaged his feet more than he cared to admit. He found, upon closer examination, a blister that was forming on the bottom of his left foot, and what he thought might become a bruise on the inside of his right foot.
Today is going to be a long day, thought Jimmy as he trudged through his morning ritual. After he had completed this daunting task, he said a fervent 'thank goodness it's Friday' over and over in his head as he painfully made his way to the breakfast nook, muttering 'Ow' with each passing step he took. Hugh, although clearly caught up in his duck war, noticed his son reluctantly take the last few steps to the table where, once he had sat down, had rested his chin on the tabletop and looked as if he was going to go back to sleep.
"Heh, heh, did that little blond girl wear you out with all her ideas about spending ridiculously high amounts of money on something she'll only wear once, Jimbo?"
Jimmy nodded somberly. "Why do girls enjoy shopping so much? It's pointless and...and…pointless!" He spread his arms out to emphasize his point.
Hugh became thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Beat's me, scout. I guess it's just one of those mysteries of life. Like where that other sock goes when you put two of them in the dryer."
Jimmy shook his head. "Well, I hate it. It's stupid and it's a complete waste of time. Plus, my feet are killing me!"
Judy turned from her position at the stove and gave Jimmy a knowing glare. "Well, I hate to say I told you so, but I did try to get you to wear your other shoes."
In response, he just put his head back down. Cindy did good on her threat to pay him back too; she had phoned shortly after nine, exclaiming she had just heard through the grapevine about this new, fabulous boutique in the uptown mall and wanted him to go with her. So he had reluctantly agreed, or closer to the truth, he had been threatened into accompanying her.
Around ten, she had shown up at his door wearing makeup (which, as he had yet to figure out, excited him quite a good deal) and carrying a small hand bag which, as she explained later, held everything a girl could possibly want on a shopping expedition. Had he known that she didn't use the term 'expedition' lightly, he would have high-tailed it back to his lab and locked the doors.
He hated shopping with a passion; he had discovered that much yesterday about noon, when he had already been shopping about two hours with Cindy. They had been to a total of three shops; one shoe and the other two dress boutiques.
And the next several hours had firmly reinforced and supported his opinion that shopping should be considered capital punishment ten times over. To make a long story short, he trudged home that night roughly somewhere between nine-thirty and ten, had seriously contemplated camping out in the living room, and had finally made a last-ditch effort to trek up the stairs to his bed where he was soon sawing logs.
And I thought I was sore last night! He thought as he tiredly chewed the toast his mother set in front of him. Munching on the second piece, he heard the bus pull up outside. He didn't recognize at first what that oh-so familiar sound was, but upon recognizing it, he got up quite speedily and made a mad dash for the door. He stepped out just in time to watch it pull away from the curb in front of his house.
Irony of ironies, he heard his mother exclaim, "Have a nice day at school today!" just as he stepped off the steps. This has to be some kind of bad omen or something, he thought as he made his way to his garage to retrieve his hovercraft.
A few minutes later, he was feeling the wind brushing his hair back as he smoothly sped toward Lindberg Elementary. This is going to be such a loooonnnnng day…
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Anyone walking along the sidewalk (the one that crossed on the corner of Main and Twenty-first) on a balmy spring day would have noticed that a particular fanatic boy of Hispanic lineage walking placidly toward the town's only local elementary school.
Sheen was dragging his feet on this particular Friday morning, the prized Ultra-Lord specimen in his backpack not being freed this morning to fly through the air towards the resident children's home away from home, as was his forte. Some might think this child was just a very peaceful, calm child, on his way to school. Well, one out of three isn't bad, right?
When he finally stepped on what was considered 'school property', he looked around before sighing and dumping himself haphazardly across the steps. Closing his eyes, he had just started to enter that oh-so-peaceful pre-deep sleep stage where he was awake but barely aware of his surroundings when a whirring sound, something like a large, muffled fan jolted him awake.
Opening his eyes, groaning, and looking up he saw his best friend and local genius had just landed his hovercraft and jumped (or rather, crawled slowly over the side as if in pain) out. Advancing slowly, Jimmy almost didn't see Sheen sprawled out across the steps until his foot made contact with something soft.
Looking down, he was puzzled by what he saw. "Sheen? What are you doing down there?"
Sheen muttered something about vats of pudding on a cold winter day. "Ugh, Sheen, come on. We have to go to school." Jimmy tugged at his arm. He really didn't have the strength or the patience for this right now.
Again Sheen mumbled something inaudible. What in the world did Sheen do yesterday? And I thought I was tired…
After a few more tries, he finally managed to pull a grumbling Sheen to a standing position. "Sheen, why were you taking a nap on the school's steps?"
Trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn, he started, "Well, I think it's kind of obvious when one is trying to sleep on the steps of a school that one would be…very… very…" Sheen paused, and during this pause his eye miraculously developed a nervous twitch.
Suddenly, he burst out, "Hide me Jimmy! Hide me, hide me! Please! Don't let her see me! She'll try to torture me again!" Sheen jumped behind Jimmy, trying to use him as a shield.
"Agh! Sheen! What are you doing! Don't let who see you? The only person I see is Libb-"
Pointing fanatically, he interrupted Jimmy. "Yes, yes! That's her! The evil one who won't let me go into the Ultra Lord boutique! Not even for five minutes!" He spun Jimmy around and until they were practically nose to nose, then shook him vigorously. "Five minutes! Not even five minutes! Please, hide me Jimmy! Hide me! EVIL!"
Sheen closed his eyes, and tried his best to, judging by what Jimmy saw, blend into part of the school scenery.
Apparently, he had to go shopping yesterday too. Thank goodness I wasn't the only one who had to suffer! Well, perhaps that's a bit selfish of me. But hey-it's always good to know you're not alone!
Libby stopped before she got to them, turned her head from side to side as if she was looking for someone, and when she looked in Jimmy's direction, immediately smiled, then scowled.
Sighing for what seemed like the umpteenth time since he had woken up this morning (doing some quick calculations in his head, he figured roughly he had sighed three times every hour) and it was only seven forty-five.
Girls are so complicated…
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Yep, I figure that's a good place to stop for now. Okay, in explaining a few things (because I feel they should be explained):
Chapter Title: So yeah, this particular subtitle didn't really pertain to the story in the slightest. Go figure. But, behind everything there is logic and reason (Sherlock Holmes, I'm thinking. It went something along the lines of that, in any case, despite who said it). In all actuality, I just couldn't think of anything to entitle this chapter, so I settled for something completely extraneous and irrelevant.
Updations: Okay, so this isn't really a word, but it sounds cool, right? Right? Well, I thought it did, anyway, lol. Um, I was going to post this over the weekend, didn't get it up in time, am putting it up now, and am terribly, terribly sorry for the long, long wait. At least it wasn't as long as the wait for chapter…three? Was it? I certainly hope not.
Quick explanation: I was going to post it over the weekend (as I said above) and then try to post something else over the Labor Day weekend. We have (fortunately) a four day weekend that, er, weekend, so it's possible but not probable, and I'm going to leave it at that.
School: Bear with me, I have Honors English/ Reading, Honors Algebra I/Data, and Spanish. I have Home Ec. also, but I mean really: Do I really need to study for cooking?
Other Miscellaneous Subjects That Don't Really Have a Category: I think I did very well on this chapter, and I particularly enjoyed writing the dream sequence.
I've seem to let slip some phrases into this chapter that one particular character from my next story uses a lot. Be on the lookout for those; also that stone that was in the dream above?
1) I claim all rights to it and every piece of artificial facts related to it. Just like books say, any and all, er, things in this story are purely fictional and entirely copyrighted by me: any relations to anyone living or dead or on another planet is purely coincidental.
2) I'm thinking of incorporating it somehow into my next story (which you all are probably really tired of hearing about by now). Be on the lookout for that sometime, well, in the near-but-not-too-soon future. lol.
If ever my notes get longer, I may go into shock. Seriously, lol. Anyway, tell me what you think about this chapter. I think I did better (way better, of course you couldn't really get much worse than chapter six), so tell me if you agree.
Kudos (and brownies! Mmm…brownies!) to me and all my loyal reviewers for making it this far. Only approximately two chapters to go! Yay me!