Hurray! Another chapter! Keep the replies coming; remember, criticism (KIND criticism, that is) always helps an author. So don't be afraid to point out mistakes. And one more thing...lemme think...what was it????

Oh, yeah. I DON'T OWN JIMMY NEUTRON!!!!!!

Chapter 8: Evil Laughter

Once the gang had created enough distance between them and the cannibals, they all slowed to a trudge. However, Cindy still continued to lead them through the vines and mud tirelessly, and Carl quickly grew weary.

"Could we…stop…and rest…for a little bit?" Carl panted.

"No!" Cindy replied irritably as she continued to press through the jungle.

"Jimmy isn't mean to us when we're in mortal danger," Carl complained.

Cindy spun to face him angrily. "Do I look like Neutron?"

"No," Sheen answered, "you look more like a cold-hearted Ultralord hater!"

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Oh boy, that's the greatest crime of all!"

At that instant an idea struck Libby. "Ya know, Sheen, I'm impressed. You've gone over twelve hours without seein' one Ultralord episode, and you've only had one emotional breakdown!"

Pulling out a bag of marshmallows from his pocket, Sheen stuffed some into his mouth as his eye twitched. "Massive amounts of highly concentrated sugar sustain me," he explained.

Freaked out, Libby and Cindy stare at Sheen, then glance at each other.

"OK, Sheen, ya really need to rest or somethin'," Libby advised.

"All right," Cindy relented, "we'll stop and let Ultra-freak and Llama Boy sleep before they hurt themselves."

Right away Carl collapsed to the ground and was soon sound asleep; Sheen followed his example soon enough. Libby and Cindy sat down, but they were unable to go to sleep right away. Both were still a little nervous that the natives might find them in the night. As they studied their dim surroundings, all was silent but an occasional stir as the jungle's nocturnal creatures moved about.

Libby ran a hand through her tangled hair and began examining the dirt on her clothes and fretting about it. Lost in her own thoughts, Cindy was deaf to her friend's words. She held her chin in her hand and frowned at the trees.

"I can't believe Neutron got himself in trouble and left us with these nerds!" she burst out.

Libby glanced up from her clothes to study her friend compassionately. "Relax, girl; we'll find him soon. He's probably fine."

Cindy lifted her head anxiously. "Who said I was worried about him?" she asked quickly.

Libby shook her head. "Whatever." Knowing it was useless to try talking to her friend about the subject further, she lay down to go to bed.

Too restless to sleep herself, Cindy wandered over to Goddard, who was sitting apart from the sleeping kids, and sat on a log beside him. As she patted his head, Goddard laid his head on her knee and whimpered. Cindy glanced down at him and tried to shove aside her own emotions, but it was useless. Sitting there, alone, with the darkness enveloping her, she couldn't ignore them anymore. No matter how angry and frustrated the boy genius had made her in times past, and no matter how much she may have denied it to her friends, she couldn't deny it to herself: she was worried about him.

Gazing out into the jungle, Cindy spoke softly into the night. "Where are you, Jimmy?"

Somewhere aboard her father's large, high-tech (but not quite finished) hovercraft, Beautiful Gorgeous studied a large radar screen with Jet Fusion at her side. Behind them, Jimmy sat in a chair with metal bands restraining his wrists and legs.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Beautiful Gorgeous snorted and laughed some more.

"Babe," Jet Fusion said dreamily, "you have the most beautifully musical laugh I've ever heard!"

"Jet, how can you side with her?!" Jimmy cried out. "Come on, you're Jet Fusion! She's trying to kill us! She's going to kill you! You've got to stop her!"

"How dare you say that about my little smoochie poo?!" Jet retorted.

Beautiful Gorgeous rolled her eyes. "Man, is he annoying," she muttered. Then she spoke aloud to Jimmy. "When are you going to get it, kid? He's with me. Give it up!" She turned to Jet Fusion. "Now, go find one of those idiots my father hired and tell him to head toward those dots on the radar screen!" she commanded.

Jet Fusion smiled idiotically at Beautiful Gorgeous and, with a bow, exited the room.

"Imbecile," Beautiful Gorgeous muttered.

"What did you do to him?!" Jimmy demanded.

"I didn't do anything!"

"That's not true!" Jimmy insisted.

"He's always been that empty-headed. And now he's going to help me with my ultimate evil plan: killing you, Jimmy Neutron, and all of your friends! Hahahahahahahha!"

Jimmy stared at Beautiful Gorgeous, a bit creeped out by her laughter. She snorted at the end of a long evil laugh and continues talking.

"Now that I know where your friends are, we'll take care of them for good!" She laughed yet again.

"Now would be a good time to start thinking of an escape plan," Jimmy told himself.

A/N: At last! Jimmy's back in this fic! Long time no see, eh?