Emerging Compassions

Chapter 11(Part 1): Rescuing Jet Fusion

(Jimmy's POV)

"Are we THERE yet?" Sheen complained for the tenth time on our way to Indonesia.

I heard Cindy starting to climb out of her seat in the sidecar to the right of me, but Libby pulled her back in and scolded, "Girl, 2 things: one, we're 1,500 feet above the Earth's surface, and 2, leave Sheen alone! Sure, he's obnoxious and annoying sometimes, but ya can't change that! That's just who he is. Just leave him be, Cin."

Taking her seat again, Cindy muttered, "Okay, fine..."

Within 20 minutes, we had landed in a thick, humid, and dim rainforest. I'd found a spot clear enough for me to land my rocket, so I used it because it was easy to see my rocket from up to 100 feet away. "Okay," I told them, "I've placed a homing device on my rocket so it can be located in any event of an emergency. Goddard will display the coordinates on his radar screen. Now, let's focus on finding Jet. Just be careful, cuz you never know how well Calamitous has hidden any traps in the flora of this humid ecosystem. Now, follow me! C'mon, boy!"

Goddard jumped out of the rocket and bounded up to me, sticking with the rest of us as we explored the immensely dense rainforest.

Before long, we heard a splat nearby, so I turned around to see what had happened. I immediately saw that a papaya had landed on Cindy's head and splattered. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I saw the look on her face as she looked upwards to search for what had thrown a papaya on her head. The rest of us looked up, too, and it wasn't long before we spotted the fauna that had done that to her. Screeching far above our head, as if cheering itself on for what it did, was an orangutan!

"AAAUUGH! Stupid APE!" Cindy shouted, shaking her fist at the orangutan and wiping the papaya bits from her head, then stuck her tongue out at it and blew a strawberry.

The deranged ape just screeched again and mimicked her repeatedly.

She shook her fist at it again, yelling, "Stupid APE!" Then she and the rest of us went on our way, ever deeper into the forest.

Even stranger than that deranged ape was an odd clearing in the middle of the rainforest. Stopping the rest of them with my arms extended, I commanded, "Stop right here. It's not common for such a clearing to be in the middle of such an ecosystem. This could be a trap. Stay RIGHT here; I'm going to investigate aerially with Goddard's help. I mean it, Sheen! Goddard, 'chopper mode'."

His ears spinning around like helicopter blades, he took to the air after I grabbed one of his legs. As he flew me over the entire clearing, I observed it carefully to make note of anything out of the ordinary. Then, I saw something unusual: an odd, metal antenna sticking out of the ground with sparks being emitted from the tip, with an identical one just 5 feet away from it!

With that, I flew back to the gang and landed in front of them. Then I informed them anxiously, "Guys, I have located 2 sparking metal antennae sticking out of the ground just over 100 feet from our location, the work of Calamitous, no doubt! Back to my rocket!"

We then followed Goddard back to the rocket and climbed aboard it. Then I flew us back over the clearing to where the strange antennae were, then placed my rocket in "hover mode" so I could examine and deactivate them. I used my swiss army laser to slice them in half, thus deactivating them. I then flew back up 20 feet into the air, waiting to see what would happen.

We didn't have to wait long, because an automated door opened and brought up none other than Jet fusion, tied up and gagged in a deactivated electric chair. A short distance from him at a control panel of some sort was Calamitous!

"Stop RIGHT there, Professor Finbarr Calamitous!" I ordered, landing my rocket nearby and marching up to him.

"You're too late, Neutron! Once I press this button, your friend here will be electrocuted fatally!" he cackled maniacally.

"Oh, yeah?" Sheen taunted, blowing a strawberry at him.

"YEAH!" Calamitous fumed, holding his hand over the button.

"Not if I can help it!" I exclaimed, running up to a wire mass I saw between the chair and control panel and using my swiss army laser to cut it in half.

"NNNOOOOOO!" he shrieked, "My plan, my BEAUTIFUL plan, RUINED! You're gonna PAY for this, Neutron!"

"Oh? I don't think so. Carl, Sheen, untie and ungag Fusion and tie and gag Calamitous!" I instructed my friends.

As we ran back to my rocket, Carl and Sheen tied and gagged Calamitous, then ran back to the rocket, and as I started it up and lifted it off the ground, I heard muffled shouts from him that I couldn't comprehend, but at the time, I didn't care. I just had Fusion follow me back to BTSO in the US while using his rocket-powered shoes to follow us.

Once there, we all went back inside to find Commander Baker waiting for us. "Well done, Agent Neutron. Great to have you back, Agent Fusion," he told us, shaking Fusion's hand.

"It's great to be back, Commander. That Calamitous never gives up, does he?" Fusion replied.

"No, he does not, and I'm glad you're safe again in the hands of BTSO, Jet. It was my pleasure, Commander Baker," I told them, satisfied with my successful mission.

With that, Baker transported us back to Retroville with the touch of a button. We all carried on with our normal lives, content that all was well in our hometown and that nothing at all would be out of the ordinary again, at least, for the time being. Little did we know at the time how wrong we were...

(Part 2)

About 6 months went by without anything seeming insanely unusual. But, as time went by, I noticed a change in Cindy and Libby's appearances. Nothing changed except the size of their stomachs, which I assumed at first was the result of some odd weight gain, nothing more.

One day during that length of time, Cindy and I were in yet another argument about random scientific facts, again...

"I'm telling you, Vortex, phytoplankton are eaten by zooplankton, NOT minnows or anchovies!" I haplessly argued, pointing at her face.

"And for the last time, I do not CARE! Do I look like I do?" she spat at me.

"Uuhhh... No," Sheen put in out of nowhere.

"Shaddup, Ultra-Dweeb!" Cindy barked, then turned to face me again with a furious look on her face.

"Ugh... What do I care?" I groaned angrily, slapping my forehead, "Just leave me alone with your stupid bicker-!" Then I noticed something unusual about Cindy and commented inquisitively, "Uh, Vortex? Did your stomach just... MOVE?"

She looked down and saw that there was indeed movement in her protruding abdominal cavity. "Oh, my GOSH! I thought it was just indigestion and a bit of weight gain, but it just CAN'T be what I believe it is!"

"Can't be what WHAT is, Cindy?" Libby asked her, walking up to us, displaying similar weight gain on her part.

"Libs, do ya think this is normal for our age?" she wanted to know.

"Definitely NOT," her friend responded, "And we seem to be experiencing the same thing, girl!"

"Oh, GREAT! Neutron, there must be SOME explanation for this unusual phenomenon! Take us to your lab, now!" Cindy demanded, grabbing my hand and taking me over to my lab's entrance, soon followed by Libby, Sheen, and Carl.

I gave in and let them in. I ran some scans on both Cindy and Libby and, a few minutes later, found some results that were anything but normal...