Hello again! To nicktoons-pl-14 and WinterLoveSong, you both get cookies for answering correctly! I'll let you decide which kind you prefer. ;) As for the continuation of this story, this chapter's a little longer than what I usually post, but it was so good that I couldn't bear to break it up into smaller chapters. (It was nine pages in MS Word). Enjoy and don't forget to review!

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When we last left everyone, Jimmy and his friends were hanging out in his lab admiring his new rocket creation. Currently, the boy genius was getting ready to perform a full body check on the Mark V when he noticed something was missing from it.

"Aw gas planet, I forgot the rear-view mirrors up in my room," muttered Jimmy.

"What are they doing up there?" asked Carl.

"I was working on them last night and I set them down on my night table. I'll just be a few minutes, guys."

Jimmy then went over to his elevator and pushed the up arrow for his apartment. The doors opened and Jimmy stepped inside. The doors then slid closed, and after a few seconds, they opened into a rather spacious apartment. Jimmy walked out into his foyer and proceeded down the hallway towards the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. Jimmy entered his bedroom just as his television screen started to glow bright orange and Erica tumbled out into the living room. She giggled as she stood up and clapped her hands together before admiring the large room before her as the TV screen went black again. Now, Erica didn't change to an animated character like one would think she did, but instead kept her Real World look, a la Who Framed Roger Rabbit. As she looked around the room, her eyes fell onto a large glass orb sitting next to a plastic model of a uranium atom on the coffee table in front of the television. Erica didn't even care that she was in a place that was strange to her despite her mother always telling her to avoid such places. After her little adventure through the television, she was having too much fun to be worried about the consequences of her actions. She picked up the orb and suddenly realized how heavy it was. It was actually a paperweight that Cindy had given to Jimmy a few weeks earlier, and the weight of it was proving to be too much for Erica to hold on to.

Jimmy found the rear-view mirrors for the Mark V right where he left them on his nightstand, and was leaving his bedroom when he heard a dull thud come from the living room followed by a soft giggle. Jimmy let out an exasperated sigh as he headed towards the noise.

"Guys, I said that I was going to be a few minutes. And you better not be touching my uranium atom, Sheen."

When Jimmy finally made it to his living room, he found Erica standing next to the coffee table with the paperweight at her feet. She stared back at him with wide eyes and waved at him.

"Hi!"

"AAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Jimmy dropped the rear-view mirrors in surprise and they landed on the carpet with a dull thud. Erica then skipped into the kitchen, as Jimmy stood in his living room in complete shock.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?" he managed to ask after his initial shock wore off.

Erica ignored him and continued to skip around his kitchen.

Jimmy studied her for a while as she stopped in front of the refrigerator and began to look at all the magnets stuck to its surface. "Hmmm, she doesn't seem to possess an animated look to her at all… Could she be…?" A realization then struck Jimmy. "Are you from the Real World?"

"No, I'm from Sand Fransickso," replied Erica as she turned to look at him.

"You mean San Francisco, right? No, I'm talking about…" Jimmy then paused for a moment. "Wait a minute…do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"

"Sure I do. You're talking about where I'm from, and that's Sand Fransickso."

Jimmy could see that this was going nowhere. He let out a sigh as Erica tried to open the refrigerator.

"I'm thirsty."

Jimmy hesitated for a moment before answering. "What would you like to drink?" he asked.

"Milk."

"Okay… I think I might have some."

Jimmy cautiously went into his kitchen and walked past Erica to a cabinet where he got out a glass and poured her some milk from the refrigerator. He handed it to her uneasily like she might bite him if he made a wrong move and she drank it happily in the middle of the kitchen. As she continued to drink, Jimmy started to edge his way towards the elevator.

"I'm just gonna head downstairs for a moment," said Jimmy as he pushed the down arrow for his lab. "Don't go anywhere…except maybe back to where you came from," he half-whispered.

Erica halted her drinking for a moment. "Mike Wazowski!" she shouted.

Jimmy stared at her for a moment before quickly walking into the elevator and pushing the arrow for ground level. "O-kay…" He had no idea that Monsters, Inc. is Erica's favorite movie, so he didn't understand the slight reference.

Back down in the lab, Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Sheen were waiting for Jimmy to return and Cindy was getting anxious.

"Geeze, how long does it take to retrieve some stupid rear-view mirrors, huh? If he doesn't show up in the next fifteen seconds, I'm going up there to see what's going on."

"Relax, girl," replied Libby. "He said he wouldn't be long. And I think it's cute that you're concerned about him."

"I'm not concerned about him," snapped Cindy. "I just…want to see his rocket completely finished."

"Since when do you care about his inventions?"

Cindy blushed a little. "Well…some of his inventions are pretty cool."

"Mmm-hmm. And you're not just saying that because they've saved us numerous times in the past, right?" smiled Libby.

"Well…"

"Don't play dumb with me; I know that you like him. We all do." Libby gestured to everyone present, including herself.

Cindy opened her mouth to say something, but closed it. At this point, Timmy arrived at the lab and noticed everyone standing around the Mark V. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Hey, Timmy," replied Cindy as he walked over to the group. "What brings you here?"

"I wanted to drop by to see how Jimmy was doing and also see if he has any new inventions." Timmy then got a better look at the Mark V. "Judging by this cool-looking rocket here, I'd say that he's been pretty busy lately."

"Yeah, he has."

Just then, the elevator dinged and Jimmy stepped out looking somewhat confused.

"Dude, where have you been?" asked Sheen. "Cindy was ready to go up to your apartment and drag you back down here!"

Libby and Carl snickered.

"You were?" Jimmy asked Cindy.

"Um…not really…but we were all worried about you."

"Mostly Cindy was," said Sheen.

Libby turned around and winked at him.

"Hey, Timmy," said Jimmy once he noticed his friend amongst the group.

"Hey."

"You guys are never going to believe this, but there is a girl up in my apartment," said Jimmy. "She just showed up and was thirsty so I offered her some milk and now she's standing in my kitchen drinking it."

Cindy's expression turned serious. "What?! If it's Betty Quinlin up there I'm going to march right up there and kick her butt!"

"Relax, Cindy. She's just this toddler who's really cheerful and looks like she's about three-years-old."

"And you left her upstairs in your kitchen?"

"Well, it's not like I had a choice!"

"You could have brought her down here!"

"I don't think she needs that kind of exposure. Plus, she also mentioned someone named Mike Wazowski. Is there anywhere around here by that name?"

"I don't think so…"

Jimmy's voice then went down to a whisper. "Guys, I think she might be from the Real World."

Everyone gasped.

"What makes you say that?" asked Timmy.

"She just pops out of nowhere while I'm in my bedroom looking for the rear-view mirrors for the Mark V and she doesn't have an animated look to her at all."

"Well, let's go upstairs and find out who she really is then," replied Libby as she walked over to the elevator and pressed the up arrow. "I'm curious as to how she ended up in Jimmy's apartment as well. She could have picked a better choice though," she laughed.

Everyone else laughed too as Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"Hah, hah, very funny guys…"

Everyone walked into the elevator and soon the car made it to Jimmy's apartment. After the elevator dinged and everyone exited the car into the foyer, the group went down the hallway towards the kitchen. Except, when they got there, there was no one present. The kitchen was empty.

"Hello?" asked Jimmy. "Where did she go? I left her here in the kitchen drinking milk. She was standing right at that spot." Jimmy pointed to the place where Erica once stood to make his point.

"Dude, I think that you've been imagining things," said Timmy. "You haven't been taking any medication lately, have you?"

"I'm not crazy, Timmy! I know I left that young girl standing in my kitchen drinking milk!"

"Alright, relax dude," replied Timmy, while putting up his hands in defense.

"Maybe you've been working too hard lately," suggested Cindy.

"Now, don't you start," warned Jimmy.

"All I'm saying is that maybe you should consider taking more breaks. You look like you've been stressed lately, and I'm starting to worry about you."

Jimmy was caught off-guard by that last statement. "You are?"

Cindy's cheeks reddened, but before she could say anything, a flush was heard down the hall.

"The bathroom!" yelled Jimmy as he took off for the room with his friends right behind him.

When he reached the bathroom, Jimmy looked around, but didn't see anyone. His eyes came to rest on the toilet with the water swirling down the bowl and he let out a yell thinking that Erica might have flushed herself. Timmy, Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Sheen entered the bathroom (it was quite large) and noticed Jimmy looking down into the toilet bowl.

"What are you doing Jim?" asked Carl. "You weren't just blowing chunks, were you?"

Cindy made a face. "Eeeewww… I don't want to think about that!"

"Well, we are in a bathroom."

"In answering your question Carl, I was just wondering if the girl might have flushed herself down the toilet," replied Jimmy.

"I don't think that's possible," said Libby.

"Well, if this girl is truly from the Real World, then there is no telling what capabilities she may possess. For all we know, she could shoot lasers out of her eyes."

"Cool!" shouted Sheen. "Now I really want to meet her!"

"I was using hyperbole, Sheen."

"Isn't that when your muscle cells grow and increase in size?"

"That's hypertrophy, Sheen," replied Libby. "And I'm surprised that you actually know what it means."

"Well, Ultralord has some pretty big muscles and when you're his number one fan, you have to know these things."

Libby just rolled her eyes.

"So, getting back on topic, where is this young girl you claimed you saw in your kitchen?" Cindy asked Jimmy.

"I don't know, Cindy. We all heard the toilet flush, so she has to be in the apartment somewhere."

"If she even exists."

"She does exist and I'm going to prove it to you."

Jimmy was just about to exit the bathroom and go search in his bedroom for Erica, when everyone heard a giggle come from the bathtub behind the shower curtain. Jimmy pulled back the curtain to reveal Erica smiling up at everyone.

"Whoa, she really does exist," said Cindy in amazement.

"Told ya so," replied Jimmy.

"Aw, you're so cute!" cooed Libby. "What is your name?"

"Erica."

"That's a nice name. How old are you?"

"I'm three," replied Erica while holding up three fingers.

"What are you doing in Jimmy's bathtub?"

"Playing hide-and-seek."

"Cool, I want to play too!" shouted Sheen.

"Sheen, you're not playing hide-and-seek in my bathtub," said Jimmy.

"How did you get here?" Libby asked Erica.

"I walked to the bathroom from the kitchen."

"No, I mean how did you end up in Jimmy's apartment?"

"Ohhhhhh…my television brought me here."

Everyone exchanged glances.

"How did that happen?" asked Timmy.

"I drew on my television at my house and then it glowed orange and I ended up here."

Everyone exchanged glances again. They all knew that orange is the official color of Nickelodeon besides green.

"Do you think you could show us?" suggested Carl.

"Sure!"

Erica then quickly got out of the bathtub and ran out of the room towards the living room with everyone right behind her. She stopped in front of Jimmy's television and began to draw the figure-eights on the screen with her right index finger.

"First, I did this…" Erica drew a clockwise figure-eight. "Then this…" She then drew one counterclockwise. "And then this…" Finally, she drew one clockwise, and tried to put her hand through the screen, but ended up hitting solid glass. "Ow...! TV's broken…"

"Well, it looks like Erica cannot go back the same way she came in then…" mused Timmy.

"Then it looks like we'll just have to find a different way to send you back home," Jimmy said to Erica.

"Do you think she needs to go back through a television?" asked Carl.

"From her interpretations, that's how she claims she got here."

"So, if your television is not producing the same effect for Erica, then we need to find the right one," replied Cindy.

"That should be easy enough," said Sheen brightly. "I mean, how many televisions are there in Nicktoons Studios anyway? Thirty?"

"Try hundreds, Sheen," replied Libby.

Sheen's expression slumped. "Oh…"

"We should keep an eye on her until we find the right television so that she doesn't get into trouble," said Jimmy. "Who knows what kind of mischief she could get herself into?"

"Yeah, being three is a very interesting age," mused Cindy. "Kids at that age are naturally curious about everything."

"So, it's settled then. We'll look after Erica and provide her with anything she might need until we can send her back home."

"Hey, speaking of Erica, where is she?" asked Carl.

Everyone looked around and discovered that Erica was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think she might have flushed herself, Jimmy?" Cindy asked smugly.

"Hah, hah."

Just then, a ding was heard and the sound of doors opening at the end of the hallway.

"The elevator!" gasped Libby.

Everyone immediately ran down the hall towards the elevator and saw Erica standing in the car staring back at them.

"Bye, bye!" she waved.

"Nooooo!" yelled Jimmy as he dove for the doors, but he was too late and they closed in his face. "Aw, gas planet…"

He then stood up and frantically pushed the down arrow for the elevator to return as soon as possible.

"We have to get down to my lab! There are some pretty dangerous inventions down there that a three-year-old shouldn't be playing around with. It's going to be our fault if she gets hurt while she's here," he said.

"Don't worry, Jimmy," said Timmy. "I'm sure that Erica won't even be interested in any of your inventions."

"Yeah, Jimmy," said Sheen. "She might be the type who likes blasting stuff with lasers."

"SHEEN!!!" everyone else yelled.

"Sorry…"

With a ding, the elevator doors opened and Erica stepped out into Jimmy's lab. She couldn't believe her eyes as she walked around the large room while looking over everything in wonder. One wall of the lab had dozens of inventions and gadgets lined up on shelves and one particular gadget caught Erica's eye. It was Jimmy's cheese ray and Erica carefully picked it up to get a closer look at it. As she was turning it over in her hands, the ray gun slipped from her grasp and crashed to the floor. It didn't break, but the resulting shock caused the gun to fire at the elevator doors behind Erica. She clapped her hands in glee and was about to go admire what the cheese ray did when the Mark V caught her eyes.

Back up in Jimmy's apartment, the swirly-haired genius continued to frantically push the down arrow to call back the elevator as soon as possible.

"Y'know, you're going to break that thing if you keep hammering away at it like that," remarked Libby.

"I know, but I just want to get down there and make sure that she doesn't touch any of my inventions or gadgets or get too close to the Mark V," said Jimmy. "Some of those things haven't been tested yet, and I don't think that a three-year-old would know how to handle them."

"Well duh, she's just a little kid," replied Cindy. "And besides, it's not like she's evil or anything and would want to destroy the world."

"We don't know that."

Cindy stared at Jimmy for a moment. "You can't be serious."

"The point is that we don't know what Erica's capable of despite being only three and from the Real World. However, I highly doubt that she could pilot the Mark V on her own."

The elevator finally made it back to Jimmy's apartment, and everyone clamored inside intent on getting down to the lab as quickly as possible. They had no idea that someone had been spying on Erica and them for the past half-hour just outside one of the upstairs windows.

"So, it looks like a human girl from the Real World has landed unexpectantly in Jimmy Neutron's apartment and Nicktoons Studios. I bet his Royal Highness would love to hear about this news."

The figure grinned evilly before going down to a waiting vehicle in an alleyway next to Jimmy's apartment and climbed inside. The vehicle then rose into the air and nearly crashed into the slime tower before flying up into space.

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Ooohhh...the plot's getting thicker...! ;) Any ideas on who this sinister-looking character might be? You'll find out soon enough as the story progresses. It might take me a while to post chapter four, but just be patient and I'll have it up as soon as possible! And don't forget to review!