In a world where directors really say–
"Cut!”
Jimmy yelled.
Some people
“Carl!”
Carl volunteered.
Really like . . .
“What?
No one said my name yet!”
Cheese.
“You
keep a wedge of cheese in your back pocket?” Sheen said.
“Of
course, doesn’t everybody?” Carl replied.
From
the author that brought you the fantastic
The Competition, the “Best Premise
Award” and “Kipfisto
Fanfics Award” winning It’s a Matter of
Life and Death, the
fabulous, highly recommended by Kipfisto’s
Fanfics Awards, but unfinished Diamonds
Ain’t a Girl’s Best Friend, and the half-written yet
unpublished My Life in a Mystery,
Sunnstar brings you . . .
“Dun, dun dun
dun dun dun
dun!” Sheen said.
Hey Mara, can I get a drum roll please?
**Mara
S. runs onstage
with a drum and rolls it across the floor**
“Hey
you kids, come back here with my drum!” a man dressed in a cheesy blue
and
white band outfit yelled, running after the instrument as in bounced
down the
stairs.
Thanks Mara!
“No
problem, it’s my job,” Carl answered.
Sunnstar
brings you . . . The Hunt!
A
RACHEL ORIGINAL
Sponsored
by Nick.com and the fantastic NickeChris, now
newly hosted on IDOJ
Dedicated
to Mara S.
(Ivory23), Ally B. (Bjont), Sammy D.
(UltraSam),
Rachel (InvdrKitty), Sarah
(TtlAngel1), and last
but not least Gwen! (1Tigercub1)
Based
on the fanfiction by Rachel L. (Sunnstar)
The Hunt
COMING
SOON TO
COMPUTERS NEAR YOU
Chapter 1
“Sheen—Sheen—SHEEN!” Ms. Fowl screamed. She
had been showing them a documentary on trees and trying to wake Sheen
up from
his deep sleep. Sheen was just about to yell at her when the door
opened.
“Hello everybody!” Principal Willoughby
announced cheerily. “I need to see Jimmy, Cindy, Sheen, Libby, and Carl
in my
office, pronto! Ta-ta!”
“Thanks
Nerd-tron, what did you do now?” Cindy moaned. Her boring-movie-nap had
been so
good.
“Nothing!!” Jimmy exclaimed defensively, raising his
head from his desk. “Well aside from launch another toaster into the
Milky Way
and accidentally hit a small meteor, sending it to Uranus . . . but
“Hey
Jim, did you get any chocolate from the Milky Way that you brought to
school?”
Sheen wanted to know. His “sugar radar” had woken him up, and
“What?
No, the Milky Way is all rock, and the occasional twenty percent off
toaster,
and has nothing to do with actual milk . . . or the chocolate.”
“How
do you know?” Carl demanded. His bargain-hunting ears had heard the
words
“twenty percent off” and sent off alarms in his brain, which revived
him from
his mid-class snooze. “Have you every actually been there?”
“Yes, several times,” Jimmy retorted. “Actually nine times—seven of
which you
were there, one of which was yesterday.”
“Oh, no wonder there’s pebble in my shoe! I thought I
slept-walked into the
“Um,
guys, can we go to the office already? You know
The
five of them left the room. Sheen came back in and cut the TV cord at
the plug,
gave a thumbs up to the room of half-conscious students, and almost
left the
room when Ms. Fowl sat up.
“I like . . . banana and raspberry,” she murmured in her sleep. She
fell back
on her desk again, snoring.
Sheen
took a bow.
“What
do you think
“Maybe
he wants to tell us that llamas are extinct,” Sheen taunted him.
“Aaaaaah,”
Carl screamed, “the horror!!”
Sheen
laughed so hard he walked into
Chapter
2
“So,
uh, Principal Willoughby, what seems to be the problem?” Jimmy asked
nervously.
“Problem? There is no problem! Corki, explain,”
“Hello,
young movie stars!” Corki Shiatzu said in ever-cool voice, pushing down
his
sunglasses.
“Excuse
me?” Sheen squeaked.
“Movie?” Libby squealed.
“Stars!” Cindy shrieked.
“What
are you talking about?” Jimmy wanted to know.
“Well,
me and the boys were talking, and we think a boy genius whose brains
get him
into trouble would make a great movie!” the famous director explained.
“And
we get to be in it?” Carl exclaimed hopefully.
“My,
my, someone woke up on the dumb side of the bed,” Corki snapped. “Of
course
you’re in it, who else do you think I’d find to play the nerdy best
friend, the
good-looking third wheel, the mean crush, and the supa-hip pop diva? The Weird Store?!”
“Whoa,
dude, what’s wrong with you?” Sheen said, surprised.
Corki
shook his head.
“Supa-sorry,
everyone—”
“Who
cares, what’s the movie about?”
“There’s
an evil scientist that’s trying to blow up the world, and he’ll do it
in three
hours, and the only way to stop him is to find the inactivation
microchip.
Meanwhile, the two main characters are having a race to find it in the
New
Zealand Retroland. The only way to find it is to finish the race first,
which
is more of a scavenger hunt for clues. Any
questions?”
“When
do we start filming?” Jimmy asked eagerly.
“Tomorrow
morning at nine,” Corki answered in a suave voice.
*
* *
“I
don’t know, Neutron,” Cindy said after school at the Candy Bar. “This
whole
thing seems a little fishy to me.”
“Oh, that’s my ice cream,” Carl explained. “Sam couldn’t figure out
what to put
in the Penguin Swirl, so he replaced penguins with little pieces of
fish.”
Sheen
and Libby gave him repulsive looks while Jimmy argued with Cindy.
“Come on! How could this be fishy? It seems perfectly acceptable to me.”
“Neutron,
don’t you remember the last time we tried to make a movie?” Cindy
protested. “We
all believed that that Quentin Smithee guy was for real but he turned
out to be
Professor Calamitous in disguise, trying to kill us!”
The
two of them get a faraway look in their eyes as they remember that
fateful
incident, though quite differently: Cindy was under the mistaken
impression
that she had been the one to “save the day.”
“But
this is different,” Jimmy tried to explain. “We all know Corki, we’ve
seen him
a thousand times—he judged our science fair, for
“I’m
telling you, I just don’t have a good feeling about this!” Cindy said.
“Cindy,
please, just be in the movie, or else we
might not be
able to do it!” Jimmy begged.
“Don’t you want to be a star?” Libby coaxed her.
“Of
course I do!” Cindy said, caving. “But I don’t have to be in it,
they’ll find
someone to replace me!”
“You mean like Betty Quinlan?” Libby pointed out.
“Okay,
I’m in,” Cindy said immediately. “But any funny business, I’m warning
you,
Neutron, and I’m quitting.”
“Deal.”
Yeah
right.
Chapter 3
“Everybody here?” Corki yelled over his
sunglasses.
“Everybody
but Carl,” Libby informed him.
“Well,
where is he? If he’s not here in five minutes he is so fi—”
“Here
I am! Here I am,” Carl said, panting.
“What took you so long?” Cindy barked. “I’m ready for my close-up!”
“Sorry,
sorry, but I was at the bakery and I couldn’t decide whether to get
chocolate,
sprinkled, or powdered donuts, so I ended up getting all of them at the
last
minute,” he apologized.
“What?!” Sheen yelled.
“I
know! Why were you getting donuts in the first place?! We have people
for that,
don’t we?” Corki snapped his fingers. A bald guy
wearing a
baseball hat appeared out of nowhere with a powdered donut and handed
it to
Corki.
“Don’t
you remember? Yesterday you appointed me official handler of nuts, and
I
figured donuts counted!”
The
picture fades into a flashback:
“Hi Corki!” Carl said.
“Hello,” Corki said wearily.
“Hi Corki!”
“Um, hello.”
“HI
CORKI!”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Well,
I was wondering if there was anything you needed me to do on set, you
know,
like anything?” Carl smiled hopefully.
“Kid,
you’re in the movie,” Corki retorted.
“Oh,
please? Please please please please please please PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE—”
“You’re
nuts! Now leave me alone, I need to work on my tan.”
“Nuts,
right, got it! I’m on it, Corki!” Carl exclaimed, running off.
The
picture faded back into reality.
“Sheen,
what were you screaming about?” Carl asked.
“You
got powdered donuts?” Sheen cried. “How could you?! They’re like balls
of
white, powdery evil!”
Jimmy
shook his head and said “So Corki, I’ve been thinking—”
“Here
we go,” Cindy said exasperatedly.
Jimmy
glared at her. “And I think it would be best if we get our scripts now,
so we
can start memorizing our lines.”
“Scripts?” Corki blinked in surprise. “Silly boy,
there are no scripts! This is what we in
“But there’s no such thing as an ad lib—” Cindy began.
“So!”
Corki interrupted her. “Are we ready to start filming?”
“Yeah,” all five of them said at the same time.
“Then—”
“Action!” Sheen yelled.
Everyone
else looked at him.
“Sorry, just trying to help,” Sheen said, insulted. “Dun,
dun
dun dun dun dun dun! And, action!”
Chapter 4
“You
ready to go down, Vortex?” Jimmy threatened.
“Oh,
please, it doesn’t matter, it’s just a movie anyway,” Cindy yawned.
“Did
I mention that the winning team gets a million dollars per person?”
Corki
added.
“You’re
going down, Neutron!” Cindy yelled.
“Wait,
Corki, that’s not fair! We only have two people and they have three!”
Libby
protested.
“Hey,
Libbs, Sheen and Carl aren’t real people,
their
half-brains make them half people. Actually, I think we have the
advantage—two
smarts against one smart and two idiots.” Cindy was smirking at the
boys’ team.
“Hey!!
I don’t know what you said, but it sounded mean, so as soon as the
words
process through my tiny, peanut-sized brain I’ll think of something to
say
back,” Sheen said confusedly.
“Young
movie stars!” Corki interjected crossly. “Will you start already?
Here’s your
first clue! And, action!”
“Cut!”
Jimmy yelled, and Corki groaned. “We don’t even know what to do!”
Corki snapped his fingers and the same guy came back with another
donut. Corki
ate it and gave Cindy and Jimmy maps, watches, and identical papers:
~*Rules,
Instructions, and Guidelines*~
1.
Read your first clue and look at the map. Try to find your next clue
based on
the riddle of the first one. (Girls’ clues are pink and boys’ are blue.)
2.
When you find a clue, use your magnetic watches to beam in the papers.
They may
be on the top of rides or in the car in front of you.
3.
Once you’ve found your last clue, the riddle will lead you to more
clues and
eventually the last one, along with the microchip.
4.
If you find the microchip first, you win.
5.
None of your clues lead to the same place, except for the chip.
6.
If you find the other team’s clue, you may not destroy it, hide it,
take it, or
change the writing. If you do, your team will be instantly
disqualified. There
are cameras everywhere, so if you cheat, we’ll know. (This is
why there
is no camera crew as well.)
7.
Keep your eyes open and good luck!
8. Go!
Cindy
and Jimmy were both reading it aloud to their teams. As soon as they
read
number eight, they both opened their clues.
Chapter
5
Girls:
“Come
on, open it faster, open it faster!” Libby
hurried.
“I
am, I am!” Cindy said. “Come over here where
they
can’t hear us.”
She
opened up the pink piece of paper and put in on the table in front of
them.
This is what it said:
(Picture
of a fire) – E + ST + (Picture of a stop sign) + (Picture of a mailbox)
+
(Picture of a ghost with a speech bubble and an arrow pointing to the
question
mark in it) + (Picture of Cindy) + R
“Huh?”
Libby said. Her eyes were glazing over.
“Okay,
let’s solve this one at a time,” Cindy instructed. She took a pen out
of her
pocket and started writing on the back of her instructions sheet.
“Fire
minus E plus ST, so that’s ‘First,’ and then I guess ‘stop . . .’ then
the
mailbox is probably ‘mail,’ and what’s this thing with the ghost? It’s
pointing
to the speech bubble, what does that mean?”
“Boo,” Libby supplied.
“Boo
hoo,” Cindy said, trying to think.
“No
I mean the clue is ‘boo,’” she explained.
“Huh?”
“It’s pointing to a blank speech bubble from a ghost . . . and ghosts
say
‘boo,’ don’t they?” Libby pointed out.
“Genius,
pure genius,” Cindy muttered. “So that’s ‘boo’ and then a picture of
me? Oh, I
bet the answer is ‘me!’” and then that’s plus R, which makes it . . .
‘First
stop, mail boomer?” No, that doesn’t make sense—”
“First
stop, Maliboomer!” Libby exclaimed.
“Excuse
me?”
“It’s a ride, Cindy,” Libby said as if it were incredibly obvious,
“called the Maliboomer.”
“That’s
awesome!” Cindy exclaimed.
“So
all we have to do is go to the Maliboomer,
ride it,
and find the clue?” Libby asked.
“Let’s
go!”
“But wait, we don’t even know where to go,” Libby reasoned.
“That’s
why they gave us a map!” Cindy pointed out.
Both
girls studied the map intently and after ten seconds, Cindy folded it
back up.
“We
just go straight down there, turn left, run until we see this, turn
right, then
go straight, and we’re there.”
She
and Libby started running past the boys as fast as they could.
“What
are you doing?” Jimmy shouted.
Cindy
looked over her shoulder as she ran.
“Winning!”
Chapter
6
“Jimmy,”
Carl whined, “the girls are beating us!”
“I know, I know, but I can’t figure out this clue! Oh, if only I had my
decoder
watch!”
For
the billionth time, he peered hopefully at the paper as if the answer
would
jump out at him:
D
+ (picture of a car) – J + (picture of a
shirt with an arrow pointing to a white spot) – L + O + (picture of a
tree) + H
– RE + JU + (picture of a slanted L) – A
“I
mean, I know I’m supposed to be a genius, but this is ridiculous!”
Jimmy said
exasperatedly.
“Can’t
you just think harder? The girls probably already found their next
clue!” Carl
moaned.
“I’m
trying!” Jimmy told him crossly. “But, like, D + car – J? There’s no J
in car!”
He was becoming hysterical.
“Hey
Jim, can I try?” Sheen asked.
Jimmy
turned red-faced to Sheen, who was playing a Nintendo game with his
feet on the
table.
“What
makes you think that if I can’t figure it out, you could?!”
“Can
I just try?” Sheen said.
“Fine,”
Jimmy surrendered, turning his back to Sheen and crossing his arms,
“but I
guarantee you won’t be able to—”
“I
got the first word!”
“What?!” Jimmy exploded.
“Go
Sheen!” Carl cheered.
“See,
I may not be school smart—”
“You
can say that again,” Jimmy muttered.
“As
I was SAYING, before I was so RUDELY interrupted, that I may not be
school
smart, but I do know cars,” Sheen explained.
“Huh?”
the other two boys demanded.
“Look
. . . D plus a picture of a Jeep,” Sheen said as if it were the most
obvious
thing in the world, “minus J equals ‘Deep!’” he looked incredibly proud
of
himself.
“Uh
huh . . .” Jimmy said looking thoughtful. “Continue . . .”
“But
I don’t know what this is!” Sheen looked confused.
“Ah,
now that’s a face I recognize,” Jimmy teased him.
“Hey,
Jimmy, that’s not very n—AHH! Lint!” Carl
screamed.
“What?”
“Lint! On the paper . . . get it off!!” he
begged.
“Oh,
I get it! Lint minus L is int, plus O is ‘into!’” Now Sheen was getting
hysterical. “Plus a tree plus H, minus RE is . . . teh? No,
the!”
“I
know the next one!” Jimmy yelled excitedly. “That’s an angle! JU plus
angle
minus A is jungle . . . ‘Deep into the Jungle!’”
“But
that’s on the other side of the park! We’ll never get there in time!”
Carl
said.
“We
will with my rocket shoes!” Jimmy said, grinning.
“But
Jimmy, I’m sure those are against the rules,” Carl said worriedly.
“Won’t we be
disqualified?”
“Don’t
listen to him, Jimmy,” Sheen shrieked. “It doesn’t specifically say
‘You may
not use rocket shoes’ and besides, don’t you want to win?”
“You’re
right, Sheen,” Jimmy said, gaining confidence. “Gentlemen, grab on!”
Chapter
7
“This
looks so, so, so incredibly awesome!” Cindy shrieked.
“I
know, I know!” Libby squealed.
“It’s
like one big corkscrew!”
The
Maliboomer was like one big corkscrew: it
started out
purple at the bottom, then twisted around
and around,
the color fading to blue, green, yellow, then orange. At the very top
(painted
red) the car spun around “just like those teacups at
“Come
on, don’t just stand there!” Libby said. “Come on!”
“Have
fun!” the ride attendant shouted, after pulling the protection gear
over their
heads (after all, this was a level four out of four ride).
“We
will!” Libby answered.
Music
started playing from somewhere closer to her ears, and she realized
that there
were speakers in each seat.
“Cool,”
she said to herself, grinning.
“What!?” Cindy yelled from the seat next to her.
Unlike most rides, this one had a five-across-four-down setup instead
of the
basic one-after-the-other “car.”
“Nothing!” Libby called back.
The
ride started, and up they went. Around and around,
in a blur
of lilac, azure, jade, blonde, gold, and scarlet. When they got
to the
top, they started spinning around.
“I’m
gunna throw up!” Cindy cried.
“You
better not, there’s a clue!” Libby exclaimed.
Cindy
looked up and there indeed was a folded up piece of pink paper. Hoping
against
hope, she pushed the button on her watch and pointed the face up to the
top of
the track. Some kind of laser beamed out of the watch and up to the
clue and
sucked it in, until it stuck magnetically to the face of the clock.
“That’s
so cool!” Cindy and Libby cried at the same time.
“What’s
that, ladies?” Jimmy gloated, with Carl and Sheen each holding onto an
ankle.
“Spew-tron!” Cindy burst out.
“Vortex,”
Jimmy retorted.
“Sheen?” Libby asked.
“Hey Libbs!” Sheen said.
“Estevez?!” Cindy exploded.
“Cindy!”
Sheen greeted her.
“Neutron!” Libby said angrily.
“Libby,”
Jimmy snapped.
“Carl!”
Carl volunteered. When everyone looked at him, he said, “What? No one
said my
name yet!”
“Spew-tron,
what are you doing?!” Cindy blew up.
“Winning!” Jimmy boasted, flying around the girls.
The ride was slowing down as it ended.
“Um,
Jimmy, how are we winning? We didn’t even get the second clue yet!”
Carl wanted
to know.
Jimmy
smacked his forehead and said, “Carl!”
“Oh ho-ho!” Cindy said excitedly. “Mr. Smarty-Pants
didn’t even get the second clue yet!”
“Thanks,
Carl,” Jimmy muttered sarcastically.
“No
problem, it’s my job,” Carl answered.
“Well,
for your information, we’re now two ahead of you!”
Cindy said triumphantly.
“Don’t you mean one?” Jimmy sneered, as the protection gear
automatically rose
over their heads.
Cindy
pulled the pink paper off her watch and waved it in Jimmy’s face. She
and Libby
started running as she called, “No, I mean two!”
Chapter
8
“Come on, Jimmy, faster, they’re beating us!” Sheen said.
“I
know, but we’re here, calm down!” Jimmy demanded.
He
landed his shoes and Carl and Sheen let go. They each raced through the
line
(empty, thankfully) and jumped into the first car they saw, that was
about to
start.
“Whew!
See guys? We can still win!” Jimmy said hopefully.
“Yeah, right,” Sheen muttered.
For
the next few minutes, Jimmy, Carl, and Sheen rode through a simulation
of the
jungle, complete with bird and tiger noises and—
“AAAHH! A spider! I’m allergic to spiders!” Carl
cried.
“Relax,
Carl, they’re fake!” Jimmy said.
“Really? How do you kn—AAAHHHHHH!”
They
had just turned a dark corner, and for a second it was all dark, but
then
suddenly a red light turned on, then another, and other—they were
imitating
bats’ eyes opening.
“I’m
allergic to rats!” Carl yelled.
“Carl,
they’re supposed to be bats!” Jimmy shouted over the screaming.
“AHH! I’m allergic to bats too!”
They
turned another corner, and it went dark again. The three of them (plus
the
other passengers) rode in darkness for nearly five seconds when Sheen
shouted,
“
Well,
of course, this scared Carl so much he would have jumped straight up in
the air
if there hadn’t been a seat belt. He even failed to notice that they
were
crossing a (fake) bridge until they were halfway across.
Jimmy
and Sheen had smartly put Carl in the middle so he couldn’t look over,
but when
he saw the bridge (and realized that it was shaking with the weight of
the car), he leaned over Sheen and looked
down. When he saw the
many, many feet under them—which of course let to the bottom of the
line, but
there was steam so he couldn’t see anybody—he panicked.
“OH
NO, Quentin Smithee has come to seek his revenge and broke the bridge!”
he
howled.
“Carl!”
Jimmy said, obviously annoyed. “The bridge is fine! See? There are
pretend
ropes over the metal or wood or whatever the bridge is, and they are
supposed
to be shaking like that!”
“Yeah,
it’s an opitcal issulion,”
Sheen added. A few people behind them laughed.
“I
knew that,” Carl said calmly. “Hey Jim, there’s a clue!”
Jimmy pressed the button on his watch and turned it towards the blue
piece of
paper. The watch beamed it in almost magically so the paper stuck
magnetically
to the face of the watch.
“Guys,
the ride is over, let’s go!” Sheen announced.
Chapter
9
After
finding two more clues apiece (girls’ at Splash Hill, on the ceiling
before the
bill fall, and in the Everest Bobsleds, in the bowl on jewels; and the
boys’ on
Space Hill, on a planet before takeoff, and the monorail overlooking
the park,
on a window) both the Red and Blue teams were on their ultimate
riddles.
Whichever team got to the appropriate attractions first would be
directed to
the microchip and the prize money. Everyone was nervous (Cindy hadn’t
been able
to think of a decent insult since running into the boys after Everest
Bobsleds), except for Carl, who was completely oblivious to the world
surrounding him due to his newfound obsession with his yo-yo (given to
him by
Jimmy to shut him up about complaining that he was bored and hungry).
The
pressure was on.
“Cindy,
we’ve been fast-walking forever, can’t we stop for like two seconds?”
Libby
panted.
“No!
You want to win that prize, don’t you?” Cindy said stubbornly.
“I
won’t be able to accept the prize if I’m dead,” Libby retorted.
“Besides, look
at that churro stand! How can you resist the perfect Mexican pastry?”
Libby
tried to tempt her.
“Churros
are from
“Come
on, please, just sit and read the clue!”
“Fine...
hey, can you get me a churro while you’re at it?” Cindy added, handing
her a
five-dollar-bill.
Libby
rolled her eyes and came back with two churros. Cindy opened the note
and read
it aloud:
You might be
sad, you might be glad,
Even full of terror,
But don’t you want to
beat the boys?
Don't you think that's fairer?
“‘Fairer’
isn’t a word,” Cindy commented.
“Oh
please, we don’t need to hear about your perfect 102.5 English average
now...
okay, so—fairer, terror—terror, obviously at Terror Tower!” Libby
ripped off
another bite of her churro. “Okay, now we can go.”
*
* *
Cindy
and Libby stepped in the pink-colored seats in the front row of
“Are
you ready?” Libby said nervously.
“Of
course I am!” Cindy lied. Even a dare-devil like her had never been on
anything
going over sixty miles an hour.
“Just
don’t forget to beam the clue down when you see it,” Libby reminded her.
“Don’t
sweat it.” Cindy hoped her tough voice didn’t reveal her queasiness.
Suddenly
a voice came over the intercom.
“Attention
all passengers, please keep your seatbelt on and your hands, arms,
feet, and
legs inside the vehicle at all times.”
“What’s
he talking about, this is an inside ride!” Cindy giggled. “Plus, we’re
the only
people in here.”
“Yeah, don’t you think that’s weird? And why were the front two seats
painted
pink and all the others are white?” Libby wanted to know. As she spoke,
her
seat started to vibrate as if the ride was starting.
“I
think it’s so we know the Pink Team knows we’re in the right ride,”
Cindy
guessed.
“I
don’t think s—AAAAAAAHH!!” Before she could finish her sentence, the
car sped
up the track faster than Libby had ever moved in her life.
She
could barely tell the difference when she and Cindy fell all the way
down again
and flew back up.
At
the very top of the five-hundred feet (Cindy’s math brain had solved
this math
before the ride started, and this little tidbit of information hadn’t
helped
her nausea), the chairs started shaking again. The heavy shaking slowed
down to
a minor vibration, and then it stopped. Libby could distinguish two
small,
round electronic devices that seemed to be minuscule cameras. When
Cindy
regained her vision (her eyes were practically spinning), she noticed a
little
piece of paper wedged between the two cameras—it was pink. As she
dazedly
pressed the button on her watch, the cameras began to flash.
But
they weren’t normal camera flash: first it was a blue flash, then after
a
pause, a series of short white flickers there was one long one,
starting with a
high-pitched whine that turned into a screech and then—
Chapter
10
“Hey
Jimmy, no offense or anything, but this is boring,” Sheen complained.
“How?” Jimmy asked exasperatedly.
“Well,
there’s nothing for me to do,” Sheen explained like it was the most
obvious
thing in the world.
“Well,
when Carl comes out of the bathroom I’ll let you figure out the clue,”
Jimmy
relented.
“Ah!
Thinking, it burns!” Sheen screamed.
“It’ll keep you not bored for like, ten whole seconds,” Jimmy joked.
At
that second, Carl came out of the bathroom looking much more relaxed.
“Ooh,
ooh, gimme gimme!” Sheen begged.
“Hey,
let me see!” Carl said. He and Jimmy looked over Sheen’s shoulder while
he read
slowly and inconsistently.
The next to
last clue
For the winning blue
group-y,
Will lead you to a
crazy ride,
So crazy that it’s
loopy!
“Hey
Carl, remember the loopy dance?” Sheen said.
“Oh yeah!” Carl laughed. “I’m loopy, I’m loopy, I’m loopy—”
“Guys! Come on! Sheen, what do you think this
clue means?” Jimmy said impatiently.
“That
we’re loopy?” Sheen asked innocently.
“No!”
“Fine! Then let’s go to a roller coaster with a
loop, sheesh!” Sheen exclaimed.
“Good
idea, Sheen,” Jimmy admired. “Wow, that
sounded really
odd.”
“Gee,
thanks,” Sheen said sarcastically.
“Okay,
so let’s go—”
“To Spine-Chillin’ Screamin’!” Sheen announced.
More Looks.
“Again, just trying to help.”
*
* *
“Man,
this is gunna be so awesome!” Sheen predicted excitedly as they were
stepping
into the seats.
“Yeah!” Carl agreed enthusiastically from the
back. “Unless of course something goes horribly, horribly wrong such as
getting
stuck on the top of the loop, like we did on Bat Out’a Heck.”
Jimmy and Sheen turned around before pulling the full-body “safety
thing” (in
Sheen’s words) and gave him blank stares.
“Now
why’d you have to go and say that, Carl?” Jimmy said irritably.
“Just
a way of keeping things ‘fresh,’” he said.
“Shhh,
it’s starting!” Sheen said in excitement. “Hey Jimmy, why do you think
the
front three seats were painted blue instead of white like the other
ones?”
“Probably
to let us know that the Blue Team is on the right—whoa!” Jimmy
speculated as
they rode straight down at a sudden burst of speed.
Carl
was screaming, “I’m gunna throw up!” when Jimmy noticed the loop—and
the blue
paper tied to the track. He was only able to push the button on his
watch
because of the unexpected (slight) deceleration.
“Why
are we slowing down?” Sheen asked. “We were about to go upside-down!”
“Don’t
complain,” Carl said in a sick voice.
There
was just enough time for Jimmy to grab the note at the top of the loop
because
as soon as he did a bright light out of nowhere starting flashing,
something
started whining, there was a loud pop and then there was a—
Chapter
11
“What—what—what?!”
sputtered Jimmy, after falling onto a hardwood floor.
“What
a bright light,” Cindy said sarcastically. (Apparently her lack of
insults had
worn off.) “That’s exactly what I said when I fell into this cage
about—” (she
checked her watch) “ten minutes ago? Which means
uh, WE
should be winning right now!”
Jimmy
tuned her out after the word “cage” and looked around. It was then that
he
realized that he had fallen directly into a steel cage from, looking
up, a huge hole in the steel ceiling, which
after several
seconds automatically slid shut.
“Where
are we?” he breathed.
Cindy
opened her mouth and a gasp came out of it, but from Carl.
“Jimmy!”
“What, what?” Jimmy explained,
wheeling around.
“Elaborate
your vocabulary,” Cindy muttered,
“Jimmy. . . my yo-yo fell!” he looked horrified.
Jimmy rolled
his eyes and demonstrated the proper way to rewind a yo-yo.
“But
Vortex, where in Eisenhower’s name are we?” Jimmy asked urgently.
“You
walked—oh, excuse me, fell right into
my little trap,” a voice said proudly (or arrogantly, in Cindy’s
opinion).
Once
again, Jimmy wheeled around, followed by Cindy, Libby, Sheen, and even
Carl.
(His yo-yo fell.)
“Yes,
you have fallen right into my trap,”
the voice continued. “See, this entire game was a setup. Knowing that
you’d
play along, I rigged both of the last rides to bring you here. Pretty
genius,
no?”
“No.”
Cindy looked furious, but not as furious as Libby, after being informed
that
her dreams of being a star no longer existed. She, however, was too
angry to
speak.
“Well,
you didn’t think about it by yourself,” another, deeper voice said
irritably.
“Hey!”
Sheen said, cupping his hand over his head in order to see. “Can you
come out
of those shadows? I can’t tell who you are!”
“I,”
the first voice announced, this time definitely arrogantly, stepping
into the
light, “am Professor Calamitous. Surprised?”
“Oh
yeah,” Carl breathed.
“Of
course,” Jimmy said exasperatedly,
rolling his eyes (not to Carl’s statement, but because practically all
the
traps he’s fallen in were devised by Calamitous).
“No
way,” Libby fumed.
Chapter
12
After
getting over the shock and fury of seeing Professor Calamitous for the
umpteenth time, Libby was able to speak again. She opened her mouth and
just
when she was about to let Calamitous have it, the annoyed voice spoke
again.
“But,
‘Professor Calamitous’” (even
without seeing the body of the second voice Sheen could tell that he
was making
air quotes) “I am the one who came up with that master plan. I just . .
.
thoughtfully let you help me.” Jimmy rolled his eyes: even Cindy had
never
sounded so conceited.
“Mr.
Plan?” Carl spoke up. “Can you please, you know, reveal your identity
now?”
“Of
course, jellybag!” the voice said tauntingly.
“Jellybag
. . . well, this is great!” Jimmy said sarcastically, realizing who the
villain
was.
“Indeed
it is, jellybag leader. For I am . . .
Meldar!” and
Meldar floated out of the dark.
“Yup, just fantastic.”
“But
Meldar and Mr. Calamitous, what do you want?” Carl asked worriedly.
Sheen
started laughing at something that no one else noticed yet.
“That’s—”
Calamitous struck his evil pose— “‘Professor Calamitous’ to you!”
“Professor, huh?” Sheen said, amused. “If
you’re so
smart then what happened to your pants?”
Calamitous
looked down and realized that his pants were lying on the floor in a
gray heap.
He turned red and pulled then up again; Sheen continued laughing.
After
Jimmy got over this, the angry look returned to his face.
“So, Meldar, what’s your evil plan this
time?” Jimmy wanted to
know.
“Hey, what about me? I’ve had many more
evil plans than Meldar, why are you asking him?”
“Because
I’m the genius here, you’re just my assistant, remember nitwit?” Meldar
explained crossly.
“Excuse
me!”
Meldar
rolled his eyes and fished a bag out of his jacket pocket. He opened
the bag,
took out a piece of chocolate, and threw it into Calamitous’s mouth.
“Right,
I’m a nitwit, assistant, whatever,” he said, grinning.
Meldar
rolled his eyes again. “No wonder Beautiful Gorgeous left you.”
“Ahem.”
Jimmy cleared his throat. “Meldar . . . plan . . .
evil . . .
you?”
“Oh,
right.” Meldar fumbled through his pockets and found a miniature
flashlight; he
held it under his chin as though he were about to recite a ghost story.
“Remember
when Vandanna confiscated my cufflinks?”
“Hey, I confiscated them and gave
them to Vandanna!”
Jimmy protested.
“Ugh,
details,” Meldar said, rolling his eyes and waving his hand. “Anyway,
when Vandanna
confiscated my cufflinks she took out the activation microchip and
robotically
electrified it so I couldn’t remove it from its hiding spot.”
“And?” Jimmy prompted him.
“So,
you brainless little jellybags, I need you
to get it
for me!”
Jimmy
and Libby both raised an eyebrow.
“Excuse me, but what makes you think we’re gunna do it for THAT tone?”
Meldar
floated forward threateningly. Carl whimpered and crouched behind
Sheen, but
Jimmy took three steps forward. Meldar looked surprised.
“No way, Meldar!” Jimmy shouted.
“Yeah, in your dreams!” Libby proclaimed.
Cindy stared at her with a weird expression on her face.
“I
repeat, excuse me? You will do what I say or else.” Meldar flashed an
evil
grin.
Jimmy
was starting to look the slightest bit afraid, but Libby felt skeptical
and
looked angry. She took a few more steps forward and spoke. “Or what.”
Meldar
looked taken aback. “Well, I dunno, I
didn’t think
the head jellybag’s leader’s new
girlfriend would
challenge my royal evilness.”
“She’s
not my girlfriend!” Jimmy cried, at the same time as Cindy, Libby, and
Sheen.
“And you are NOT a royal evilness.”
“Yeah,”
Carl piped up, “that’s King Goobat.”
“Who’s
King Goobat?” Meldar asked, looking
bewildered.
“What?
Man, have you been living in outer space?” Sheen laughed. “King Goobat is only the weirdest,
most
annoying. . .” he trailed off when he saw Jimmy stifling a laugh. “Oh,
I guess
you have been living it outer space!”
“Pchduh, Sheen,
you should have said he lived in a cave!” Carl scoffed.
“But
he doesn’t!”
“That’s the point!”
“Argh,
enough with the flibberty-gibber!”
Meldar
shouted.
“Someone’s
been spending a little too much time with Cap’n Betty,” Sheen whispered to Carl. Meldar
scowled.
“As
I was saying, you five are gunna get the microchip for me and when I
rule the
world you’ll get a small financial reward, kapish?”
Jimmy
started to answer when Libby tapped his shoulder:
“Jimmy, what are we gunna do?” she hissed.
“Yeah
Neutron, if we don’t get the chip he’s gunna find something to finish
that ‘or
else,’ and if we do get it he’s gunna rule the world!” Cindy added.
“I
think he’s been spending a little too much time with Calamitous, too,”
Sheen
commented. “Isn’t taking over the world sort of his thing?”
“Neutron, think of something!”
Professor
Calamitous reappeared from the bathroom; this reminded Jimmy of
something.
“Think, think, think. . .” Jimmy muttered, closing his eyes and
clenching his
fists.
Chapter
13
The
traditional trip through Jimmy’s brain and purple things let to a
familiar
image of Calamitous going to the bathroom, five minutes ago. Suddenly
Jimmy
remembered when Calamitous had trapped Goddard and forced his to fix an
invention. Then he realized the way he had escaped was by pretending to
obey
Professor Calamitous to trick him.
“Brain blast!” Jimmy’s eyes snapped
open.
“So
what’s the plan?” Cindy and Libby asked together.
“Listen
up, guys—”
“I
hope there’s no secret plotting going on here!” Meldar said
disapprovingly.
“Of course not! We were just, um—”
Sheen stopped to think, something he doesn’t do very often.
“We. . . decided we’re gunna get the chip,” Jimmy
told him,
trying to make it sound as if he were admitting defeat.
“We
are?!” Sheen, Carl, and Libby exclaimed.
Meldar
looked surprised and pleased. Cindy, however, had known Jimmy long
enough to
know when he’s lying (this skill had come in particularly handy when he
tried
to trick Libby and her into testing an experiment) and this was one of
those
times.
“Yeah,
we are,” she spoke up, shooting a
meaningful look at Libby.
“Oh yeah!” Libby said, elbowing Sheen in the side.
Sheen gave a thumbs-up and rubbed the spot where she had jabbed him.
“So,”
Meldar said, as if he just wanted to clarify a few points, “if I
release you
know, you’ll get the chip as fast as you can?”
“Yes,” Cindy and Jimmy said at the same time.
“You
won’t do anything else? You’ll open your clues immediately and go
straight
there?”
“Yeah,” Cindy, Jimmy, and Libby agreed in unison.
“And,
assuming you get it, you’ll do nothing to destroy, harm, or change the
microchip?”
“Yes!”
all five kids yelled at once.
Meldar
cracked an evil smile.
“Perfect.”
Carl
shivered. This evil smile was, perhaps, the scariest thing he had seen
all day.
“Well?”
Calamitous said exasperatedly. “Aren’t you going to open your clues?”
Cindy became aware that a pink folded up piece of paper was sitting
expectantly
on her watch and opened it. Jimmy, somehow knowing they would be
identical,
didn’t move.
“Well?
What does it say?” Libby asked nervously.
“Cindy
cleared her throat and read her note—which, unlike all the others, was
printed
over a skill and crossbones sign—aloud:
Congratulations, you’ve
come this far,
But now, beware, you’ll
find out who you really are.
Although this clue
might be the last,
It could be friendships
that run out fast.
And now to find the
microchip,
You’d be wise to take
this tip:
Alas, tonight the moon
is full—
Ignoring that’d be
gullible
For when it reaches the
middle of the sky,
You’ll know just where
your secrets lie.
Congratulations, you’ve
come this far,
But now, beware,
you’ll
find out who you really are.
And
on that ominous note, Meldar let them out of their cage.
Chapter
14
“You
know, that gets more annoying every time,” Cindy commented, referring
to the
gigantic tube that sucked them out of the lair, much like the one in
Jimmy’s
lab.
“Listen,
guys, we need to get out of here,” Jimmy whispered urgently.
“But
you said—” Sheen began.
“Yeah,
yeah, I know what I said, but—”
“You’re
not thinking of ditching us, are you?” Calamitous’s
voice rang out.
“Oh, no, of course not!” Jimmy lied, looking
around for the source of the noise.
“Yes,
we thought this might happen,” Meldar informed them over a sort of
loudspeaker.
“That’s why we had a plan.”
And
then, Libby fell through the same chute they had just escaped from.
Screaming
her lungs out, she disappeared from sight.
“Give
Libby back!” Sheen bellowed.
“You
have until
“It’s
Libby!” Carl exclaimed.
“Jimmy,
we can’t just leave without Libby!” Cindy shrieked.
“Of
course we can’t!” Jimmy said, like it was the most obvious thing in the
world.
“Well,
what are we gunna d—” Sheen stopped abruptly.
“Did
she just call you Jimmy?” he and Carl asked together.
Cindy
blushed.
“Maybe,”
Jimmy muttered. “Anyway, here’s what we’re gunna do. Huddle up, guys.”
Meldar cleared his throat over the intercom.
“We’re
gunna get the chip, okay?!” Jimmy shouted, glaring at the spot where
Libby had
vanished.
“Excellent.”
Chapter
15
Hours
later, after passing the time by riding other coasters (carefully
avoiding
“Listen,
Meldar—”
“And
Professor Calamitous!” an indignant voice rang out.
“Listen,
Meldar and Professor Calamitous, we want Libby back to help us. So if
you don’t
give her back now, the deal’s off!”
Nobody answered for a few seconds, during which Meldar and Calamitous
were
obviously discussing his offer.
“Fine. But if we don’t get the chip by
Jimmy
rolled his eyes and muttered to Cindy “Tough negotiator” in a sarcastic
voice.
There
was an odd squelching noise, followed by a pop, and Libby was raised
from the
ground in front of them, shaking.
“Libby!”
Sheen yelled happily.
“What. . . happened
to you?” Jimmy demanded.
“They—they—played opera for six hours
straight! I was dying!”
The
boys all let out their breaths in relief, but Cindy looked absolutely
horrified. However, she didn’t say anything to console her best
friend—this was
unusual for her.
Jimmy
cleared his throat. “Well, it’s
Libby
shook her head and made herself stop
wondering why
such an ugly expression had glued itself to Cindy’s face. “Ahem, but
guys, look
closer at the moon. See where the light is shining?”
Indeed,
once they followed the trail of moonlight with their eyes, even the
half-asleep
Carl could distinguish their next destination.
And
then, at
Chapter
16
After
ten minutes of running through the park, the gang stopped to rest, bent
down
with their hands on their knees, panting. Carl took out his inhaler and
breathed.
Finally,
the dim sound of music registered in their ears. Libby looked up: where
was it
coming from?
Then,
suddenly, a parade passed them by. The song playing was the tune to
“There They
Are, the Dominant Life Forms” song but without words. Colorful balloons
danced
ahead, followed by floats of people they couldn’t see in the distance.
“What
is this,
“Not
quite,” Libby said, grinning. “Did you notice who the people the floats
are
modeled after?”
Dozens
of. . . not people, they couldn’t be
human—dozens of
near-identical Meldars paraded by the five
kids, lifeless
expressions cloned on their faces. Every one of them was holding a puppet-master string that was attached to a
float—which, as Libby
had pointed, were supposed to be Jimmy and Cindy.
Sheen
burst out laughing. “They looked exactly like you guys!”
Cindy
managed to scrape her jaw off the floor and retort, “Yeah genius, we
know.”
The
toothpaste-ad smiles on their gigantic faces clearly came from their
school
pictures. Cindy felt sick: for long had Meldar planned this?
They
all sat there for several seconds and then, one by one, stood up,
looking
defeated.
“I
was so sure I was right!” Libby moaned.
“So was I,” Jimmy admitted.
Cindy
remained silent.
“Well,
this is great,” Sheen said sarcastically.
“We
don’t even have time to think of a new plan!” Carl cried, wringing his
hands.
Jimmy
stared at him. “What are you talking about? We should have at least
forty more
minutes!”
Carl
shook his head and said, “Nope. We’ve got, like, five more minutes.”
Cindy grabbed his wrist and watched in horror as the
“But—but—that’s
impossible!” Cindy spluttered.
“She’s
right!” Jimmy said, in the same tone of mingled shock and disbelief.
“That’s
scientifically impossible—it was
Libby
switched from amused at Cindy and Jimmy to slightly exasperated.
“Einstein and Einsteinette, in case you
forgot, Meldar and Calamitous are
gunna zap me back down to opera city if you don’t give them what they
want by
“Uh,
right,” Jimmy said hastily.
He
started to open his mouth again but was interrupted by a squeak:
Carl, for some reason, felt the impulse to look up just as the parade
was
fading away and saw—
“Guys! Look!”
Cindy
and Jimmy swiveled around and they too saw—their
clues!
The
two pieces of paper glittered in the moonlight, taunting them, urging
them to
run, for time was running out.
Cindy,
whatever she was, however jealous of Libby she was, was a seriously
competitive
girl. Even if there was no prize—the hopes of which were long gone—she
wanted
to win. She wanted to finally beat Jimmy at something.
Cindy
leapt into the air and ran, followed momentarily by Jimmy. They ran as
fast as
they could, Sheen, Libby, and Carl, right behind them, a race against
time.
“Ten!
Nine! Eight!”
Carl
and Sheen had taken it upon themselves to add more suspense and fear to
the
situation by counting away the seconds melodramatically. Meldar’s clock
could
be heard over the shouting, doing the same thing.
“Seven!
Six!”
Jimmy
and Cindy were nearing the Meldar-robots; Cindy was the first to notice
that
her clue was taped to float-Cindy’s left shoe. Tick, tock,
went the amplified clock.
“Five!”
Sheen,
Libby, and Carl were right behind their team captains. Time was
dwindling away
like the last grains of sand in an egg timer.
“Four!”
Time
seemed to pass in slow motion; Jimmy’s foot hit the ground as the other
jumped
up, flailing in the air as the seconds floated by.
“Three!”
The
other three were going anxious. Seconds crept along like hours and
Cindy and
Jimmy readied their index fingers on the buttons of their watches.
“Two!”
It
was almost unnerving to watch. Libby closed her eyes and Sheen and Carl
raised
their voices. Even the clock seemed more excited.
“
The
leaders of the blue and red team, definitely in slow motion, threw
themselves
in the air and, definitely in slow motion, each pushed a button—one of
them
first, but it was impossible to tell who—as the floor gave away beneath
them. Beams of light shot dramatically out of
Jimmy’s and Cindy’s watches
and the notes fell, somehow even faster than normal, through the hole
in the
ground just before the trap door closed. The blue and pink
papers stuck
to the faces of their watches as Jimmy, Cindy, Libby, Carl, and Sheen
screamed,
falling, falling, falling. . .
Chapter
17
“Sheen—Sheen—SHEEN!” Ms. Fowl screamed.
Sheen
woke up screaming. He picked his head up from his desk faster that
humanly
possible and, not still screaming, but breathing heavily, looked wildly
around
the classroom—classroom?!
Jimmy
awoke second, startled.
“Where—where—where
are we?” he demanded.
Carl
woke up screaming, not as loud as Sheen had been but at a respectable
volume
nonetheless.
“Meldar!”
he panted, swiveling around in his seat. “Calama—where
are they?”
Libby
was next, ironically the calmest of them all.
“Where—where
are we?” she asked nervously.
Cindy
woke up last.
“Neutron!”
she yelled furiously.
“Hey!”
Jimmy said defensively. “This wasn’t my fault!”
“But Meldar! And Professor Calamitous! Where are
they?” Carl asked, bewildered.
The
other students were looking very amused by this point.
“You—you
dreamed about Calamitous too?” Sheen said,
looking
more confused that ever.
“And Meldar?” Libby added.
“Yeah,
but—” Carl began.
“What
happened to the parade?” Jimmy looked
behind the annoyed Ms. Fowl, as if expecting to see a hundred Meldars in front of the chalkboard.
“So. . . we all dreamed the same thing?” Cindy
asked.
“I
guess,” Jimmy said uncertainly.
“It
was all just a dream?” Libby said disbelievingly.
“It
was all just a dream,” Carl told her happily.
“It
was all just a dream,” Sheen said dazedly, like he couldn’t believe it.
“It
was all just a dream,” Jimmy repeated more firmly, finally believing it
when he
saw that the watch on his wrist wasn’t magnetic and had no note on it.
Cindy
glanced at Libby, then at the notebook on her best friend’s desk: she
sighed in
relief upon seeing SE+LF 4EVER doodled numerous times on the cover.
Cindy
smiled.
“It
was all just a dream.”
. . . .