Emerging Compassions

Chapter 22: Unfortunately Slow Progress...

(Cindy's POV)

Shortly before we touched down at our temporary home in the cave, the rocket sputtered a bit, then plummeted down into the dense vegetation, but not before Jimmy managed to gain some control & land it gently into it.

Sher-Khan heard the noise & rushed over to us, not to hurt us, but because of his concern for us. "Is everybody okay here?" he wanted to know.

Clambering out of the rocket with the others, I told him, "Yeah, we're fine. No worries." Since WHEN did I use Aussie lingo?

"I'm glad you all are safe. Now I suggest you work towards curing your friend, because time's gradually running out for him," Sher-Khan added helpfully, gesturing with his paw to head into the cave. How'd he know about that? With those keen ears of his, he must've overheard it. Figures.

Suddenly, we heard an all-too-familiar deep voice coming from behind us say mockingly, "Hey, nice outfits, losers!"

We all turned around to see none other than Butch Pakovski emerging from the foliage behind us! How'd HE get here?

"Butch? How the heck did YOU get here?" Jimmy exclaimed out of shock.

"Exotic fishing trip with my dad & brother. We're searching for those rare species. Little did we know we'd find YOU guys here!" he replied, laughing hysterically & pointing at us, "And how did you come up with those loser outfits?"

"For your information, Butch," I snapped at him, "We were on a mission when a missile hit Jimmy's rocket, so we landed here, but since it's so flippin' humid here, we went for a swim, but monkeys ended up stealing our clothes, so I made these for us! And later, to make them last longer, he sprayed them with a special concoction he made! As if it's any of YOUR business, Pakovski!"

"Cindy, easy...," Libby cautioned me, "He still has the potential to beatcha up for sayin' that!"

"Got that right!" Butch interjected, pounding the palm of his hand with his fist a couple times.

I guess that did it for Carl, because he shrieked, "SHER-KHAN!"

With that, our loyal tiger bounded up in front of us & roared deafeningly in his face.

Butch's face turned pale as he turned tail & ran the heck outta there, hands held over his head & screaming at the top of his lungs. I could've SWORN I saw his eyes bug out as he ran off!

"That'll teach him not to torment my friends!" he reassured us, examining his paw as if he had a pedicure.

I couldn't hold it in anymore; I just burst out laughing hysterically when I remembered the look on his face when he ran from us! I had to hold onto the side of the rocket to keep myself from keeling over backwards in my hysterics. Finally, I calmed down enough to exclaim, "Pffffft, did you see the look on his FACE when he ran away? HYSTERICAL!"

"Oh, yeah!" Sheen whole-heartedly agreed, giggling, then coughing a bit. Even Jimmy laughed about it quite a bit.

Then, a few moments later, he regained his composure & informed us, "We better get going on this antidote! C'mon!"

After we ran back to the cave, Libby pointed out, "Neutron, only you know how to create such an antidote. The rest of us don't know a thing about it, not even Cindy."

"Yeah, it is mostly me who's doing this; in fact, 100% me," he noted, returning to his temporary lab to get started on it.

"I hope he knows what he's doing...," Carl said, worried as usual.

"Don't worry, Carl. He usually does," I reassured him, confident as usual about his typical success with similar scenarios.

Then we heard him utter a frustrated growl to himself, so we went over to where he was & I asked, "What seems to be the problem?"

"The problem is," Jimmy responded, glaring at no one in particular, "that this is going to take a lot longer than I previously suspected... This could take a few days to complete, at the very least. In order to create this antidote, I'll have to manually create the chemicals I'd normally have at hand back home, & that takes at least a few days. Once I've created them, I can administer them to each of the antidote's ingredients, then combine them, in order to complete it." He then sat in his lab chair, sat his elbows on his desk, & covered his face with his hands as he muttered, "Why must science become so increasingly difficult as the years progress? I hope I can cure Sheen in time; if not, I'm done for...!"

Sheen, Carl, & Libby quietly made their way closer to our makeshift home's entrance while I stayed behind to comfort him. At least, I tried to. I laid my hand on Jimmy's shoulder as I informed him, "I hope so, too, Jimmy, but even if you don't make the antidote in time, at least we won't have that annoying Ultra-Nuisance to get in our way..."

"Cindy!" he scolded me, his voice partially muffled because of his hands, "That's my best friend you're referring to! Retroville just wouldn't be the SAME if he wasn't there! What am I gonna DO?

"Besides, Libby would be heartbroken without him, & her child wouldn't have a paternal figure to look after him/her! Think about that...!"

I just let out a long sigh of defeat, thinking, He's right... Libby would be devastated if Sheen passed away, & her child wouldn't have a father... And it breaks my heart to see her, not to mention Jimmy, depressed & upset... Then I admitted, "Yeah, you're right, Jimmy. The sooner we save Sheen's life, the better! Now, stop acting all depressed & put that big brain of yours to work! Sheen's depending on you! You've saved people numerous times in the past, so why should this be any different? You can do it; I believe in you, Jimmy!" With that, I swiveled his chair around & gave him a big hug & a light kiss on the lips.

He returned the favor right back to me & said, "Thanks, Cindy. I needed those words of encouragement. I better get started if I wanna save Sheen!" He then turned back around to face his work & quickly got started on it.