Five

Dimmsdale, California : 2:02 p.m.

Timmy Turner was flat on his back, staring at the ceiling of his room. He'd spent most his time in this position lately, day-dreaming. Cindy Vortex filled his dreams and most of his waking thoughts as well. "She is so pretty" thought Timmy out loud. He sat up suddenly, half-expecting his fairy god-parents, Cosmo and Wanda to be laughing silently at him. Timmy then remembered that they were both on vacation in Fairy World. If they were here, thought Timmy to himself, then you could just wish Cindy here. Timmy sighed and fell back onto his pillow. "I wish Cindy was here", he moaned. Just happening to roll over, Timmy saw several purple lightning bolts shooting across the sky, and one particularly large bolt struck the ground right in front of his house. "Ahhh!" yelled Timmy falling of his bed in fright. He peeked over the safety of his bed, out the window, and into the outside street. A large charred black crater was all that remained of the lightning bolt. As Timmy watched, an equally purple wormhole opened in the street and someone flew out and land with a thud on the street right in front of Timmy's house. Timmy had been dreaming about this person so much lately, that he could've sworn it wasn't her. But it was.

A Parallel Universe : 2:01 p.m.

Cindy Vortex was starting to wonder if something had gone wrong with the portal, when a rift opened up in space and she was thrown out onto a very hard street. Great welcoming party, thought Cindy to herself, as she got to her feet. Now, where I?, Cindy wondered.

Once Timmy had finally convinced himself that it was the girl of his dreams that had landed on the street, he hastened downstairs to meet her.

Once Cindy had finally convinced herself that it was the house that she remembered in Dimmsdale on this street, she hastened to the front door to meet him.

Since these two paragraphs are almost exactly alike, you might be able to guess what happened. Cindy and Timmy hastened right into each other. Crunch!

"Timmy!" exclaimed Cindy, like she didn't know who she ran into.

"Hi Cindy", said Timmy nervously, "H-How are you?"

"Fine!" replied Cindy, brushing herself off, "You?"

"I'm okay, I guess", mumbled Timmy, "why are you here?"

"Oh, well", said Cindy, blushing, "Neutron doesn't appreciate me the way you do, and I was lonely."

"Really?" asked Timmy, perking up, "You like me better than him?"

"Well…" said Cindy, remembering all the romantic times she had had with Jimmy, the island, the news show… but still, Timmy sure did have style, "Sure".

"Yippee!" exclaimed Timmy, jumping a foot in the air, "Well", he said, "What do you really want to do?"

Cindy thought really hard, "I know!" she said.

Somewhere 37,000 feet over Missouri ; three days later

Jimmy Neutron was sitting in the comfort of first-class on a brand-new Boeing R747, heading for Texas. He was really considering running for President, since the White House had been so amazing. Jimmy's watch beeped twice, interrupted his future dreams. Even though the flight attendants and the seat-back safety card requested that passengers turn off and keep off their cell phones, Jimmy never turned off this particular device. The watch screen suggested that he read the last few nights' messages. Jimmy decided to not use voice control, to avoid strange looks from other passengers, and pressed OKAY. The first message was from his mom, asking how he was doing, and saying that she and his father were "so proud" at seeing their son on national television. Jimmy smiled as he moved on to the next message. Then his smile disappeared almost as quickly as it had come, and was replaced by a confused frown. The message was not from anyone, but was a critical alert. This could mean two things. One, something or someone had gotten into his lab when he wasn't there. And two, something serious had happened to one of his best friends (Sheen, Carl, Libby, and, yes, Cindy). Jimmy navigated the message menu and found the source. It was both. The signal wasn't strong enough to tell who was in some kind of trouble. Jimmy moved quickly on to the third and last message. It was from Libby.

Dear Jimmy, it read, I think Cindy must be in some kind of trouble, she's been gone for three days now. The entire town is searching for her, but I know you can find her faster than them. Please hurry home. Your friend Libby.

Jimmy was shocked. Cindy was missing? Well, at least he knew in advance who the alert was about. Well half of it, at least. He still didn't know who broke into his lab. Then there was a short beep and the seat-belt sign came back on. Here we go, thought Jimmy.

Retroville, Texas : 12:01 p.m.

As soon as Jimmy hopped out of his mom's car, he was swamped by everyone; reporters, the mayor's entire staff, and, most important, his good friends.

"Jimmy!" gasped Sheen breathlessly, "We need to talk!"

"Mr. Neutron", said the mayor, but Jimmy had already slipped away to the safety of his clubhouse, with Carl, Sheen, and Libby right behind him. Jimmy pulled out a little box from his pocket with some of his hair in it. He had seriously gotten tired of pulling his hair out of his head every time. Jimmy swiped the hair across the red sensor on the clubhouse door and VOX welcomed him back. Jimmy decided to check the first thing that would reveal who, if anyone, had broken into his lab.

"Carl", said Jimmy to his friend, pointing, "Can you go press that button for me?"

"Sure Jim", replied Carl, striding over to the opposite wall.

"What can I do Jimmy?" asked Libby anxiously, wanting to help.

"Do you see that old radio?" asked Jimmy, showing her.

"Yes", said Libby.

"Go twist the little knob on the front, and a chute will open in the floor", continued Jimmy, "Jump down the chute into my lab, and… oh don't worry, there's a pad, I promise", said Jimmy, in response to Libby's scared look. "then", said Jimmy," Just look around and see if anything is out of place or not organized, or broken, and call back up."

"Okay Jimmy", said Libby and hopped to follow Jimmy's instructions. Jimmy turned to the wall screen that Carl had activated. It showed the last few entries to the lab. The last one was three days ago at 1:55 p.m.

"That's the day Cindy disappeared", said Sheen, coming over, "she was at Libby's house, and then she left sort-of sad, about you, Libby says".

"I know", said Jimmy, "But I wasn't here on that day, was I?" Sheen shook his head. "Then", realized Jimmy, checking the screen, which read James Isaac Neutron under entrant, "If I didn't enter, then who did under my name?"

"Jimmy!" yelled Libby, "Come down here! I found something!".