Chapter 3: Bribery and Disappointment
Jimbo exited Inglebert Middle School with Elwood. They walked over to the hoverbike stands, mounting their hoverbikes. As the best friends took off, Jimbo turned the opposite direction.
"Hey Jimbo, our houses are this way," Elwood stated.
"Yeah, I know," said Jimbo, "I have to go pick up some stuff." He held the acceleration and sped off. Elwood noticed a cart attached to the back of Jimbo's vehicle.
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As Jimbo sped through Xandox, he looked around for some decent stores. His eyes fell on a shop called Mac's Tech Shop. Hey, RJ might like that, he thought.
He went through the dirty automatic door. An electronic bell chimed from the top of the door, and a young guy slid out to the checkout counter.
"W'sup, I'm Jake. You want sumthin' or what?" said the boy. He had an extremely tapered head, his body was a slightly darker color than Jimbo's, and he was wearing a pair of retro blue glasses with three eyes staring back at Jimbo.
"Uh, no thanks, I'm just looking," Jimbo said. He looked around. It was a very dingy and dark room with piles of elecronical junk on many shelves. Jimbo walked over to a lower shelf on the right.
"Yo, dude, you gotta get that," said Jake. He came out from behind the counter. Jimbo glanced down to see that Jake had no legs. In their place there was a large hoverdisk.
"Uh...are you..."Jimbo stuttered.
"You thought it right, man. I'm half Limbon. My pop was a Limbon, my momma was a Martian. I'm a mixed up dude, man!"
"Right...so what's this?" Jimbo pointed at a small stick with wires sticking out this way and that.
"Hey, I don't really know, home fry. That's Mac's field. He's my brainy uncle, y'know what I'm sayin'?"
"Oh, okay...well, do ya think that a URF robot will like it?"
"I don't know, little green dude. Maybe...hey!"
"What?"
"Those military home dogs like all that old and amazing stuff, right?"
"Umm...I guess..."
"S'cool, s'cool. Come over here." Jake hovered over to a door that had and EMPLOYEES ONLY sign above it. Jimbo followed.
"Yo, my unc's not home yet, so we gotta be quick. This is his private projects, man." Jake pointed to a swiveling chair with many computer screens, buttons and wires surrounding it. "This," he started, "Is the Mactrix. Mac uses it to control life. He can create or modify anything in the entire universe. But I think he only uses it for some project he started in college, not for gettin' sweet stuff out of nowhere, y'know what I'm sayin?"
"Wow...that is pretty cool..."
"Yeah, but it's illegal, so keep your mouth shut."
"Okay...what is this?" Jimbo pointed to a large white box with a small door on the top.
"Dude, that's an ancient artifact. Mac found it deep underground, he says it's from like 700 years ago. He tweaked it so that it does something...I forgot what it was...pretty cool stuff, though."
"Umm...an artifact, huh? I'll take it."
A 30 minutes later, Jimbo had his cart full. He heard the electronic chime play, and looked over to the dirty door. A Limbon walked in.
"Dude, it's Uncle Mac!" whispered Jake. "Hide your cart, man. He doesn't want me to sell some of that stuff."
"Jolly good day, Jake," said Mac. He had a strange speech disorder that kept him from pronouncing r's. "Serving a customer, eh?"
"Yeh, yeh, j-just selling him normal stuff," stuttered Jake.
"Listen," whispered Jimbo, "If your uncle wants to keep these, then I probably shouldn't buy them."
"Naw, naw, you buy 'em, dude. I'll take care of it."
"Really? You promise?"
"Sure, sure. Here's the total." He pointed at the screen. Jimbo's jaw dropped.
"Umm..uh...lemme see..." Jimbo pulled out his wallet. "I've been saving up for some hovershoes for two years...oh, man...but...but...this is more important. I could get sued if I don't get this, and I'll be a disappointment to my parents...oh well, goodbye hovershoes..."
He sighed and pulled out his virtual cash card, scanned it, and saw the number on the card drop to zero. Jimbo trudged out, attached the cart to the back of his hoverbike, and sped off.
"Yo, lil' green dude!" Jake yelled, holding up a blue backpack. "You forgot your backpack!"
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As he reached his mobile home, he dragged the cart to the back door. He would have to sneak it in. He put his palm on the scanner and the door unlocked and opened. He tiptoed over to the back door, being as quiet as possible.
"Hey, son, how was school?"
Jimbo froze. It was Dad.
"Uh..h-hey, Dad," Jimbo said nervously.
"What took you so long? It's almost dinnertime."
Jimbo looked outside, only to see a purple and orange sunset. "Um...I was...er..." Think fast, think fast. "Iwasfixingamonitorwithmisterplazo!" Jimbo blurted out quickly. He hoped that his dad would be convinced. Please, please...
"Oh, okay, Jimbo. It's good to know you were helping someone out." Dad walked through the door into the kitchen.
Whew, thought Jimbo. Man, now I feel horrible. I have been lieing quite a bit to my parents these past few days, and they think I'm doing something good. But I could be costing us our house, our hovercar, and everything else we own. Oh, man.
Jimbo pulled the cart into his room. He opened his closet and brought RJ out.
"What's all this?" RJ asked.
"It's for you," answered Jimbo.
"Oh, really? Well, what did I do that was so special?"
"Well...ah...you know..."
"Oh, this is so I won't sue you, isn't it?"
"Well...er...yes."
"Don't worry, like I said before, it was my fault. I can't take all of this."
"Really?" Jimbo's eyes lit up. "So...I can just return all of this, and get my hovershoes! Yeah baby, YEAH!" He hopped up on the dresser and did a funky jig. RJ just rolled his eyes and went back into the closet.
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The next day, Jimbo headed for Mac's Tech Shop after school, carrying the cart of electronic devices on the back of his hoverbike again. He raced inside, and lifted the extremely heavy cart up to Jake.
"I would like to return all of this," said Jimbo, struggling to keep the cart up.
"Hey, sorry dude, can't help ya there," Jake pointed to a sign. NO REFUNDS, it said. Jimbo dropped the cart on his foot, shocked. He trudged out of the shop again, and sped off to his house. Instead of hovershoes, those long two years of saving up were wasted on a pile of junk that he would never use. Why me, he thought. Why me?
"Yo, I almost forgot!" hollered Jake. "YOU FORGOT YOUR BACKPACK, DUDE!"
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So that's Chapter 3. I hope you liked it.
Oh yeah, and here's some info on Mac and the Limbons:
Mac- Mac owns a little dingy shop on Xandox, and graduated from OASGHPU. Limbons are trained to be scientists and inventors. Mac invents many things, including the amazing Mactrix, which allows him to create, modify, or enhance any living or nonliving thing in the entire universe. Don't worry, though, he only uses it for scientific purposes (Top Secret, so shhhh!). Limbons can live for up to 200 years, but to live this long, they gradually lose their limbs. Mac is 120 years old, and doesn't have arms or legs. Jake is 52 (but that is equivalent to a human that's 14 years old), and only has his arms. Here's a pic of the two:
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Hmm...hello?
