Nicktoons Unite!
Chapter 10: Journey to the Center of Goddard
When the four heroes arrived back at Jimmy's lab via the portal, the genius's friends were waiting for him; they were two girls and two boys; the first girl had blond hair tied in a single ponytail wearing shorts and a tanktop while the second girl had dark skin, a short haircut and wore long jeans and a t-shirt. The first boy was pudgy and wore brown glasses, red short hair and had shorts and a striped shirt, while the second boy was a thinner, had dark hair and wore a t-shirt with a odd symbol on it.
"Neutron!" screamed the blond girl in anger, "What's goin' on?"
Jimmy's eyes grew wide in surprise. "Cindy! How did you get in here? And what are you talking about?"
The dark skinned girl spoke up, "That crazy archenemy of yours is making a lot a trouble so we came to find ya."
"Calamitous?! Oh no..."
"'Oh no' is right!" exclaimed the skinny boy, "he's making me miss my Ultra Lord marathon. And I haven't even seen episode #92, 'Guardians of the Night Planet'!"
The pudgy boy cowered, "Is that mean Calamitous gonna try and rule Retroville again, Jimmy?"
The genius shook his head solemnly, "No, Carl, its much worse than that..." Before he could say more, Cindy noticed Timmy standing behind him and rushed up to the bucktooth boy.
"Timmy!" she exclaimed happily, "I'm so glad you're here!"
The bucktooth kid smiled. "It's good to see you again, Cindy." Then a suave look came over his face and he said, "Hey, once's this whole thing blows over, you wanna hang out in Dimmsdale?"
Cindy giggled and was about to answer when Jimmy glowered, "Turner! This isn't the time to flirt! Especially with her!"
The blond suddenly noticed Danny and Spongebob for the first time. "Who are those guys?"
Spongebob walked up and shook Cindy's hand. "Hi, I'm Spongebob! Nice to meet ya!"
The skinny's boy's eyes grew wide. "Awesome! He looks just like Dr. Absorbo from episode #136!"
Libby looked at Danny up and down. "So what are you supposed to be? Some kinda superhero or somethin'?"
"Sorta," the teen shrugged, but before he could say more, Jimmy's computer monitor flickered. The words, 'INCOMING TRANSMISSION', appeared onscreen and over the loudspeakers.
"Huh?" Jimmy said as he climbed into his chair and tapped on the keyboard. "Who could be?"
The answer appeared. On the monitor where the faces of Professor Calamitous, Vlad Plasmious, Plankton and Crocker. The heroes and friends gasped.
"Jimmy Neutron! Nice to see you...uh...umm...whatever," grumbled the professor. "We've just come to tell you that you're too late; the Doomsday Device is already powered up and ready to go. Once it goes off, Retroville will be...ummm...uhh..."
"Destroyed?" suggested Plankton.
"Obliterated?" asked Vlad.
"FAIRIES!" cried Crocker.
"Wiped off the map, along with you and your little friends!" scowled Calamitous.
Jimmy exclaimed, "You can't do that! If you destroy one universe, all the others will be destroyed as well!"
Calamitous waved off the warning. "Don't try to...um...uh...you know what, forget it. After Retroville is gone, everyone will bow down to the Evil Syndicate and we will rule the multiverse!"
Then he and the three villains started their evil laugh, "MUAHAHAHAHA!" Plankton turned to the others in glee, "Now that's an evil laugh. We should do this more often!"
Once the transmission ended, a worried look crossed the heroes. "We have to find Calamitous's lair before that machine blows!" exasperated Jimmy.
Spongebob then noticed Goddard acting strange, scratching himself with his back leg and shaking his metal head. The sponge saw a tiny, black dot jumping around on the dog's head cap.
"Uh, Jimmy?" asked Spongebob, pointing as his pet, "I think Goddard has fleas."
Upon hearing this, Cindy and her friend jumped onto the table. "FLEAS?! Ewwwww!"
"Aw c'mon," assured the skinny boy, "once you get used to it, they're aren't so bad."
The dark skinned girl gave the boy a fearful look and stammered, "Sheen, how do you know?"
"What, Libby?" Sheen said sheepishly, "I'm just sayin', it's not like I've ever had fleas. I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!"
Jimmy took out a magnifying glass. "Goddard doesn't get fleas, but I do see something jumping around on him." The genius looked through the glass and gasped. "That's not a flea! It's some type of robot the size and shape of a flea!"
Then a thought struck him. "That's it! That's how Calamitous was able to get into my lab and steal the blueprints for my Dimensional Portal; he was using this flea-bot to spy on me!"
Spongebob scoured through the genius's equipment. "Well, let's get some tweezers and crush that little thing." But Jimmy stopped him.
"No, I've got a better idea; if we can find that flea-bot, we could use its signal to pinpoint the Evil Syndicate's whereabouts. I'll use my Shrink Ray to shrink us and the hovercar down so we can navigate through Goddard."
Danny said, "So we're gonna go where no man's gone before?"
"And never wanted to?" added Timmy.
Jimmy didn't listen to his comrade's complaints and brought out his shrink ray and hovercar. The latter had a pointed, coiled rod stabilized on a tall stand while the former was a round, dipped craft with seats inside and a control panel.
Jimmy looked at the monitor, which showed the robot's internal structure. "According to the readings, the flea-bot is located in Goddard's head, where most of his functions reside. Danny, Spongebob and Timmy, you're comin' with me. Cindy, Libby, Sheen and Carl, stay here and keep an eye on Goddard."
Sheen groaned, "Aw man, I'd never get to see the inside of Goddard."
"I don't," said Carl nervously, "there might be a whole host of nasty germs and sticky fluids that I could be allergic to."
'He's a robot; robot's don't have nasty germs and sticky fluids inside them," Cindy said, rolling her eyes.
Once the boys were ready, Jimmy commanded, "Cindy, if you will."
The blond smiled. "I've always wanted to shrink you down to size."
"Well, more than you are already." added Libby. The two girls laughed and pulled on the lever on the ray's stand. A buildup of energy buzzed at the tip and shot a beam of light at the hovercar and its passengers. Once the flash disappeared, the craft was gone.
Jimmy and the others opened their eyes. The shrink ray had worked; they were now super tiny and everything else was super big. The genius steered the hovercar to Goddard, who was still scratching his head.
"Don't worry, boy; we'll get that flea-bot outta ya." Jimmy said under his breath as the craft disappeared into the robot's nose.
Once inside, the hovercar zoomed through the Goddard's nasal passages, which were covered with thousands of blinking sensors.
"What are those things?" Timmy asked.
Jimmy answered, "These are special smell sensors that I installed in Goddard. I've actually created an entire sensory system in him so he can smell, taste, touch, hear and see just like any other organism."
He navigated the craft through the passages and soon began flying up. An electronic map showed that they were getting close to Goddard's head. Finally, they rose through a tube and appeared in a large space with green, computer graphic lines.
After landing the hovercar, the four boys stepped out. Not too far away, a platform extended to a closed elevator. A cube had Jimmy's face on it stood next to it.
The genius pointed at the elevator. "That will take us to Goddard's control system in his head, where the flea bot is hiding. But you guys have to get a security clearance to get there."
"As you can see," he continued, pointing at the Jimmy cube, "I've already have clearance."
Timmy said, "Well, duh, of course you do, but how do we get clearance?"
Jimmy answered by going to a control panel and taped a few keys. Suddenly the computer space morphed into a digital background of Jimmy's backyard, complete with his house and lawn.
"I've programmed Goddard to act like a normal dog." the genius said, "If you help him in his memory, he will trust you and grant you clearance. Each of you have to do this by yourselves."
Spongebob scratched his head. "What does he want?"
Jimmy opened the computerized fence gate and waved Spongebob through. "That's for you to find out. Most of the tasks are simple so you guys can do it quickly."
Spongebob walked through the lawn and whistled for the robot. "Goddard! Come, boy!"
A green, lined computer dog dashed towards the sponge. He play bowed and wagged his tail.
"Aw, do ya want to play? Huh, do ya?" cooed Spongebob, picking up a sphere. He waved it in the air like a ball, causing Goddard to bark in excitement.
Spongebob tossed the ball shouting, "Go and get it, boy!" The robot took off, extending his neck and catching the sphere in his mouth. He returned the ball to the sponge.
A sudden ping sound was heard and a cube with Spongebob's face on it appeared from the platform, glowing.
"That's it, Spongebob! You've got clearance!" said Jimmy.
The scene disappeared and Spongebob returned to the others, looking a little disappointed. "Aw, I wanted to play with Goddard a little longer."
Jimmy taped on the control panel and said, "You'll have plenty of time to play with him after we save the multiverse." He turned to Timmy. "You're up, Turner!"
The bucktooth kid sauntered through the gate and stopped in the middle of the lawn. He noticed there were tons of dirt-filled holes all over. Goddard suddenly came up to him, whining.
"What's the matter, boy?" asked Timmy. The robot showed him with his monitor chest a metal bone.
Timmy understood. "You can't find your bone, huh? Don't worry; I'll help." He began digging through the holes and soon found what Goddard was looking for.
The robot barked happily and grabbed the bone from Timmy. "You're welcome." he mumbled.
Another ping announced Timmy's clearance check. The bucktooth retreated to his friends.
"You're turn, dude," he said, shoving Danny forward.
The teen growled, "Okay, okay, you don't hafta push."
Danny walked through the gate. Standing in the lawn, he heard yipping and saw Goddard turning a corner at high speed. He hid behind Danny's legs and whimpered. The teen was confused until he saw what was chasing the poor dog; a giant, computerized cat roared and snarled at the two. The monster was about to strike when Danny blasted it to pieces with his ghost ray.
After the cat disappeared, Goddard lept into the teen's arms and started licking him. "Haha, that tickles, boy!" Danny chuckled.
Jimmy smiled as he saw the last cube rise up from the platform. "Alright, that's everybody! Now let's go get that flea-bot, guys!"
Danny, Jimmy, Timmy and Spongebob left the computer space and climbed into the elevator. After a minute of rising, the car stopped and opened its doors. The four boys stepped out and scanned the surroundings; it was more of an electric panel than a brain and contained all manner of computer chips, wires and circuit boards.
"I don't understand, " said Jimmy, looking around. "The readings indicate that the flea-bot is nearby, but I don't see anything suspicious."
Suddenly, a large, mechanical insect landed on the ground in front of the heroes, who yelped in surprise.
"Ya know," said Danny, his hands glowing again, "you can afford to be wrong once in a while."
The flea-bot lept at the four, screeching. The boys dodged and the robot crashed into the wall. Suddenly the entire room shook from side to side, as if it was struck by an earthquake.
Timmy could barely stand up as he screamed, "Wah! What's goin' on?!"
"It's Goddard!" Jimmy yelled back, holding onto one of the panels for stability. He talked through his watch. "Guys, I need you to hold Goddard down!"
Danny was about to answer when he realized Jimmy wasn't talking to them; he was talking his friends outside. The shaking suddenly stopped and the four regained their footing just in time to see the flea-bot charge them again. Jimmy took out an electric taser and zapped the robot. Although the weapon stunned it, the flea-bot quickly recovered and slashed at the genius, who lept out of the way.
"This robot must have a strong resistance to electricity." said Jimmy, "Maybe if we combine all of our weapons together we could override it's circuits and shut it down."
Timmy grabbed his fairy-morphed blaster. "Works for me!"
"And me!" added Spongebob, waving his bubble wand.
The four lined up side to side and aimed their weapons at the flea-bot. The robot screeched again and lunged at them. In unison, the heroes let loose their powers: Danny blasted out a powerful ghost ray, Spongebob blew bubbles, Jimmy shot an electric pulse and Timmy launched a beam of fairy energy. The four beams combined into a super blast that zapped the flea-bot into submission.
The robot crumbled to the ground, sparking and smoking. Jimmy raced up and opened a compartment in its side. "Now the signal device should be around here somewhere..." He chirped an "AHA!" and pulled out the receiver. "Let's get outta here and take a closer look."
After returning to the lab from Goddard's insides and returning to normal size, the four heroes waited anxiously for the results. Finally, the computer pinged and showed a map of Retroville, a blinking icon in the upper right side.
"There!" Jimmy exclaimed, pointing at it, "That's where Calamitous's lair is located! We can take the hover car to get there."
Sheen pushed to the front and got into the genius's face. "Cool! Now we can go and save the world! Again!" he screamed excitedly.
Jimmy gently pushed him away. "Actually, by 'we', I mean Danny, Timmy, Spongebob and I."
The Ultra Lord fanatic looked disappointed, as did Carl. "But we really want to help you, Jim." confessed his pudgy friend.
"I don't!" Cindy sneered. Libby agreed and said, "Me neither!"
Jimmy climbed into the hovercar, motioning his comrades to do the same. "I'm sorry, guys," he said, looking at his longtime friends, "it's just too dangerous, even for me."
The statement was met by shocked looks, but he said nothing else and the hovercar sped away towards the professor's lair.