Betty hovered in the air surveying the battle, as it raged across the island, as the four lions raced into action.
"These young fools think they can defeat me with machines. These are not lions. All I see is a bunch of little kittens. I'll give them some nice playthings." Betty said to herself, as she laughed manically. She held her hands outstretched over her head and concentrated. She could feel the power rush through her and a large portal opened in a clearing a few hundred yards south of the battle. Two giant mice emerged and two large balls of string. Each one was as large as a five story building.
The gang was occupied as they dodged laser blasts and suicidal gargoyles with bombs strapped to their backs. No one noticed what Betty was up to. To make matters worse the large red dragon they had seen earlier was joining the onslaught of attackers. The dragon flew over Eustace and Jet in the black lion. Its shadow was massive and it appeared to have blocked out the sun.
"Whoa that dragon is a little larger than our dragon friends." Eustace said as he steered his lion to follow it. The dragon arched its wings and dived diagonally. "It's going after Carl!" Jet shouted in alarm.
"Watch your flank Carl!" Eustace shouted frantically into the mike.
"What?" Carl replied the fear racing through him. He clumsily pulled back on the accelerator and leaned left on the controls sending the yellow lion spiraling off awkwardly. Through pure dumb luck he avoided the dragon's attack by mere inches.
"Thanks Eustace. I wouldn't have noticed it in time." Carl replied in a rather shaky voice.
The dragon banked around and catching a warm gust of air shot high into a large patch of cumulus clouds.
"Keep an eye out for it to return" Jet commanded from within the black lion where he sat next to Eustace.
"We got more things to worry about guys!" Libby shouted "Mice!"
"So what, Libby? What's the big deal over a little mouse?" Sheen asked.
"Look to your left Sheen!" Eustace shouted.
Sheen turned and looked. "Ahhh! Giant mice!"
Libby's lion shuttered as a one of the massive balls of string crashed into it.
Cindy and Jimmy:
The door shattered as the serpent men soldiers bashed their way into the room. The lead soldier reached the hole in the wall moments after Jimmy and Cindy had flown out of it.
"Halt! Come back here!" he shouted as he opened fire. His first shot buzzed right by Cindy's left ear.
"They're shooting at us, Jimmy!" Cindy shouted hysterically.
"Cindy, go left!" Jimmy shouted. She immediately steered to the left as they continued to increase the distance between themselves and the source of the shots.
"Whoa that was close!" Cindy shouted as a second shot tore the fabric of her left sleeve.
The next shot clipped Cindy in the heel of her right boot destroying its flight capability. Jimmy felt his stomach lurch, as Cindy, who he clung to, suddenly pitched to the side.
"Jimmy hold on!" Cindy shouted.
"I'm trying Cindy!" Jimmy shouted in fear as he struggled to maintain his grip around her neck, as Cindy flew uncontrollably back and forth underneath him. Luckily their sporadic movements aided them in narrowly missing several other shots.
Cindy managed to stabilize their balance and hovered forty feet in the air. She struggled to maintain her balance on the remaining hover shoe, while supporting Jimmy's weight on her back.
"Stop moving Neutron! You're going to make us fall." Cindy complained.
"I'm trying the best I can Cindy, and since when do you call me Neutron these days?" Jimmy asked slightly hurt.
"Sorry Jimmy, I'm just a little scared at the moment and old habits die hard. Besides, this isn't the time to worry about such things." Cindy replied.
"You're right. Sorry I'm just a little nervous. This is probably a bad time to mention that the shoes will only allow you to descend if both are operational." Jimmy said.
"Oh my god! Jimmy, why didn't you say something about that earlier?" Cindy demanded.
"I'm sorry, Cindy, but I didn't picture being shot at when I designed them." Jimmy replied.
She frantically looked back at the soldier aiming his rifle in her and Jimmy's location. He had stopped firing.
"Stay where you are. My men will get you down. "The soldier shouted. He turned to speak to others in the room and gave out orders in a strange language that neither child could figure out, before returning to aiming his weapon at Cindy and Jimmy, where they hovered in front of him 40 feet away.
"Stay where you are or I'll shoot. I have you in my sights." The soldier yelled.
She looked down at the shoe that was keeping them from falling about forty feet to the ground below.
"Terrific. What a great rescue mission this turned out to be." Cindy grumbled, the frustration mounting within her.
Well Jimmy this would be a great time for you to have one of your brain blasts.
"Your right Vortex. I'll try…Think, think, think!" The synapses began to fire at an increasing rate as images began to flash through Jimmy's mind. An idea began to take root in his mind and as it bloomed he excitedly shouted "Brain blast!"
"Cindy let him hit you with his weapon." Jimmy shouted excitedly.
"Excuse me? Have you blown a gasket in that big brain of yours? I'm not going to let myself get shot." Cindy said angrily.
"No, you don't understand. Those pulse rifles work by focusing sunlight into an intense beam of energy." Jimmy said.
"That's really interesting Jimmy, but I don't see how that is going to…" Her words trailed off and her eyes went wide as she realized what Jimmy was getting at. "You mean if I let him shoot me it might increase my strength level enough enabling me to fly?"
"There is a slim chance. Without my equipment there is no way for me to gauge how quickly you're metabolizing solar radiation." Jimmy replied. "You might have already absorbed enough to at least handle the fall from here. Either way our chances of surviving this will be better if you get a concentrated dose."
He whispered "Though there is a slim chance that weapon will blow a hole in your chest the size of a barn door."
"What was that?" Cindy asked.
"Nothing!" Jimmy replied.
"Oh hell with it. Let's go for it." Cindy said. She braced her dangling left foot over the right one and slowly turned. She wobbled off balance and pitched awkwardly to the side, gliding a few feet. The guard immediately opened fire. Cindy's efforts were rewarded as her attempted spin caused her to rotate enough to shield Jimmy from the percussive blasts. The force of the shots sent her flipping head over heels, as she was blasted several yards further from the position they had just been in.
Time seemed to slow down as Jimmy lost his hold around Cindy's neck and was launched upward into the sky with a loud scream. Cindy felt the power surging through every cell in her body. The remaining hover shoe shorted out with a soft popping sound dropping her, like a stone.
"Jimmy!" She shouted as she hovered ten feet from the ground. She could see Jimmy falling as if it was in slow motion as her super speed kicked in. She raced forward into the air.
"Cindy you can fly again?" Jimmy said, feeling relieved, as she caught him in midair.
"It's a good thing you were right about the pulse rifles, Jimmy." She said as she placed him gently on the ground outside of the blue lion. She balled her hands into fists and said. "I feel stronger than ever, Jimmy."
"Look out Neutron!" Cindy shouted as a large shadow appeared over head. A Jimmy hulk landed in the spot that Cindy and Jimmy had just occupied. It looked around in frustration, clearly confused. "Excuse me?" A sweet voice said behind it. It turned to look for the source and received a mighty punch to the face sending it careening across the courtyard.
"That was close Cindy. How did you know it was coming?" Jimmy asked as he closed the distance between him and Cindy.
"I could hear it coming." Cindy replied.
"How very sensitive you are." Jimmy replied flirtatiously as he pulled her tight and kissed her.
She stepped back and wiped her lips with a smile. "What was that for?" Cindy asked.
"For saving my life." He said with a grin.
Betty materialized beside them. "Jimmy, how could you do this to me?" she shouted. "I thought we had a bond." Her eyes were filling with tears that were ready to gush.
Jimmy and Cindy both yelped by the sudden appearance.
"Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you." Betty said. "I'm here to speak to you. I've dispatched the guards. They aren't coming." She added, as if in response to the nervous glances Jimmy kept giving toward the fortress, and where the Jimmy hulk had smashed through the wall.
Jimmy nervously stepped closer to her. He kept his eyes locked on hers, as if searching for the slightest hint that she might attack.
"Well what do you want?" Jimmy asked.
"I want to know how you can do this to me, Jimmy? How can you leave me." Betty asked as her eyes filled with tears.
"Betty…." Jimmy began to say as he stepped toward her with his hands out. Cindy stopped him with a single hand placed softly to his chest. "Jimmy, please be careful. I don't trust her."
"See that's what I mean, Jimmy. You're allowing this girl to come between us. I thought we had a bond." Betty said sadly as her human heart was breaking.
Jimmy replied, "You kidnapped me and brainwashed me. What kind of bond is that?"
"I made you better than you were. I did what was best for you." Betty replied.
"No, Betty! You did what was best for you!" Jimmy replied.
"I love you Jimmy. How can you choose that freak over me?" Betty demanded.
"Who are you calling a freak? You're not even real. You're just a figment of my imagination." Cindy replied angrily.
"Hey! I might have started that way, but that has changed. Sure in the dream world, I was a heartless creature that ran program. I did what I was designed to do. But things are different now. The longer I stay in this world, bonded to a human host, the more I feel emotions like a human. I feel love, jealousy, and unfortunately regret." Betty replied.
Jimmy felt a little confused by Betty's statement as he asked, "Human host? Regret?"
"Yes, I guess there is no point hiding the truth from you now. I really am Betty. She and I have become one organism."
"When I first gained access to this world I found that I was nothing more than a black shapeless thing. I realized that if I was going to truly survive in this world that I would need a host. You see, Jimmy, your house was not the first I went to. I went to Betty's house and found her sleeping in her bed. It was easy enough for me to latch on to her, to take over her mind, to become her." Betty replied.
"That's terrible. You can't just take over someone's body. That's just gruesome. You're just a worthless parasite." Cindy said angrily.
"What did you call me? Call me a worthless parasite, one more time." Betty replied angrily. Her eyes glowed with an unearthly light.
"Break it up you two." Jimmy said as he stepped forward to shield Cindy. His attempt to push her behind him failed. She was unmovable to his mere human strength. "Urrgh, get behind me Cindy." Jimmy said.
"Uhm Jimmy. I'm the invulnerable one. Remember?" she asked as she stepped between him and Betty.
"Cindy, we need to find out how to separate the parasite from Betty. Let's try to keep this civil." Jimmy protested as he tried to step around Cindy again.
"Yes, Cindy. Let's keep this civil. You wouldn't want to cause your friends anymore pain. Would you?" Betty asked; as she glanced at the battlefield that had grown abruptly quiet, since Betty had approached.
"I'm sorry, Betty. But I love Cindy. I can't be with you. How about we all go together to what's left of my lab. I'm sure we could find a way to return you safely to the dream world." Jimmy said sweetly.
"You mean separate me from my host." Betty said angrily. "I see where your loyalties lay, Jimmy Neutron. We could have ruled the world together. But, you had to choose her over me. "
She waved her hand and two small carbonium domes formed over Jimmy and Cindy, trapping them within.
"Hey!" Cindy shouted as she began pounding her fists against her dome. Hair line cracks formed. "When I get out of here, I'm going to whoop your parasitic butt."
"That is unlikely, Cindy." Betty said as she put her hands out over her head and concentrated. The dome healed and the sun tinted to a deep red.
Cindy punched the dome again. Her hand throbbed with pain. "Oww that hurt. What's happening to me?"
"I've merely set up a dome around the planet. It's filtering out that pesky radiation that gives you powers." Betty snapped her fingers and two full grown Tyrannosauruses emerged from the tree-line.
"Come Jimmy, I don't want you to see this." She said, gesturing toward Cindy and the approaching Rexes. Jimmy's dome vanished and Jimmy hypnotically stepped toward Betty. "Perhaps you will learn to love me if Cindy is out of the way. " She took Jimmy's hand and led him toward the fortress.
Cindy frantically looked back between the Rexes that were almost at her location, and where Betty was leading Jimmy.
Cindy stared at two pairs of large jaws that appeared in front of her. She watched as the Carbonium fogged up from rancid breath.
"Well at least this Carbonium dome should protect me from being a hot lunch." She said to herself.
To Cindy's horror the dome vanished. Her nostrils flared from a pungent smell as her hair ruffled as the breath hit her in the face. Her eyes went wide in terror. Her mind raced as she wondered if the pungent smell that could only be compared to urine was coming from the breath of the Rexes, or from her.
To be continued…