In a small laboratory in Retroville, scientist Carvey Avid was showing his facilities to a potential investor. They observed Carvey's interns working on an experiment.

Jimmy Neutron was one of these interns. He took a piece of cheese and placed it inside a mouse's cage.

"Come on, Jerry" he quietly called into the cage. A mouse popped it's nose from the miniature barn inside.

Without warning Allen, the other intern, came up behind Jimmy with a needle.

"The serum's ready." Allen eagerly announced.

"Just give him a second." Jimmy quietly responded.

Jerry then left his barn and immediately nibbled at the piece of cheese. Jimmy took this chance to gently grab a hold of Jerry. He carefully handled the mouse to keep it still.

"Alright, you ready Neutron?"

"This is such a bad idea."

Allen was clearly annoyed. "We're done talking about this. A potential investor is here-"

"OKAY, you're right. Forget I said it. Just be careful with that needle." Jimmy extended his hand to prepare Jerry the mouse for his injection.

In the next room Carvey and potential investor Donald Strych (Eustace's uncle) watched through the glass window.

Carvey, trying to sound smart, explained the experiment. "What we do is we take glial cells from human fetuses and nject them into the mouses brain. The mouse has 12 million glial cells of its own. Right now we're only injecting 300,000 human glial cells so it has a small fraction of human intelligence but is still a mouse in mind."

"Naturally." Donald responded as though he knew what he was talking about even though has no clue what Carvey is saying. "But why mice? Why not a stronger animal like a lion or even a monkey?"

"It would be wonderful if this serum worked on a predator as ferocious as a lion or even a wolf. But until we know it works I don't suggest taking such a risk."

"And monkeys? They're no harm."

"We briefly considered it but decided not to because of all the potential ethical issues."

"What ethical issues?"

"Well… Animal rights groups are more sensitive to stuff like that… it's not worth the trouble… and we also don't want to be associated with that Planet of the Apes movie."

"That can't happen, can it?"

"Oh no, that's only a movie. But my idea is if we can make these animals smarter and more productive they'll be much more efficient in ways that computers and machines can't be. People have always been able to train animals. It all comes from a natural bond that doesn't exist between man and technology. If we can get them to do more for us… well, just imagine the possibilities. There can be a great need for this."

"Won't people see it as slavery with animals?"

"No, not at all. We might get accused of that but that shouldn't be a problem. As long as there are people in this world that continue to own pets, there's no reason corporations can't have their own. The media will have a hard time justifying it."

Allen injected the serum into the mouse in the most painless way. immy put Jerry back in his cage. He took another piece of cheese from the table. "Here you go buddy, you've earned it."

Donald looked at the experiment fascinated. "I'll tell you what, I'll invest in you for the next 6 months for $1.5million and we'll see where this goes."

Carvey tried to conceal his expression of joy. "Perfect. Why don't we talk more in my office. I have to talk to these guys for a second."

Donald nodded and left the room. Carvey entered the lab.

"Great job guys! You get to keep your jobs for the next 6 months!"

"Yes!" Allen cheered.

"Does this mean we're getting more hours?" Jimmy asked.

Carvey's smile faded. "Well… You know I'll let you know more next week. For the next three days I'll supervise the lab myself. You guys are doing a great job though. Allen, you're doing a great handling the equipment. Jimmy, don't forget to lock the cage. I don't want Jerry to run out again."

There was a previous incident where Jimmy had left Jerry's cage open, only for 5 seconds as he walked across the room to pick up his tablet to take notes. In those 5 seconds, Carvey had walked in with a bunch of plastic tubes and somehow he managed to drop one of the tubes on the floor. And as he stepped on that tube he suddenly lost his balance and fell forward knocking Jerry's cage to the ground and let him run free. Carvey blamed the incident on Jimmy, despite the fact that Jimmy was quick to recover Jerry by calling him back through his distinctive, unimpressive whistle call that somehow got the attention of the mouse.

But that was hardly the first time Jimmy has had to deal with Carvey's crap. Carvey was nice to Jimmy while he was interning with no pay. It wasn't until Carvey had to pay him that he started giving Jimmy a hard time for no reason. Carvey was a wannabe scientist who had no knowledge and just wanted fame. Financially he depended on a trust fund from his parents which was how he opened the lab. And despite having access to large amounts of money, Carvey ripped Jimmy off every check. Jimmy would calculate his own hours and know that he'd be missing $20-30 every check. He addressed the issue before but no matter how many times Jimmy proved it to his boss using basic math Carvey would always deny it and show him the "correct" way to calculate the amount for his check. He was quite miserable at his job, if you even want to call it that considering he only worked 1 or 2 days a week for 4-6 hour shifts. He absolutely hated it, but it was something to do.

"It'll be locked." Jimmy replied to Carvey. "Just please remember to feed him since you're supervising the lab this weekend."

"Oh, of course." Carvey carelessly responded. "Just make sure everything is put back in it's proper place. We can't have investors seeing a mess." Carvey took two envelopes out of his jacket. "Here are your checks." Allen and Jimmy grab their checks. "I'll see you guys Monday. Have a good weekend." Carvey left the lab.

Allen waves goodbye with a fake smile. "Bye boss. Have a good one."

"Kissass." Jimmy muttered to himself.

After all these years Jimmy continued to get around in his hover car. It wasn't until he went to Harvard that he changed the exterior to resemble a Hummer in order to impress the other college students. He had skipped high school, going directly to Harvard after junior high. Having a car that didn't look like an inflatable boat improved his social status. Whenever a cute girl in his dorm building needed a ride in the Boston area, Neutron was the first guy they'd go to. That hover car had gone through a lot. It had taken his childhood friends on many adventures and it had taken his college acquaintances on the most epic drunk adventures that any college student could've imagined. While there were some nights where Jimmy had fun he never had any close friendships with anyone at Harvard. Most of them used him for his car. He was never able to date anyone because no one would risk dating a minor. He was singled out as the weird guy that was too into science and incapable of being social. Even though he enjoyed his studies at school, emotionally he was a wreck. College, what was supposed to be the best experience of his life, was the loneliest Jimmy had ever felt.

It had been three and a half years since Jimmy graduated from Harvard. When he came back to Retroville everyone he knew was leaving for college, the only exception being Sheen. It was his last summer seeing any of the kids he grew up with. He never got the chance to see Cindy because she left the day after high school graduation to take summer classes at Stanford. With only the memory of their childhood rivalry this didn't really bother him at the time. Carl went away to school in Iowa and was getting closer to his dream of working with animals, especially llamas. His parents always went to visit him during school breaks and holidays that he never had a reason to come back to Retroville. Despite this he always tried to stay in contact with Jimmy. He even invited him to Iowa several times. But for whatever reason Jimmy made excuses. Sheen was forced to drop out of high school just before the final semester when his dad was arrested after being discovered with a laptop filled with child pornography. With his dad in prison, Sheen had nowhere to go. His Grandmother had passed away three years earlier. His mom ignored the existence of him and his father. Only his uncle Miguel was able to help by giving Sheen some money every month between the range of $100-300 depending on how much he could send. Although his uncle has continued to do it all these years it wasn't enough for Sheen to support himself. He became a full time dishwasher at The Candy Bar to cover his living expenses and continued to work there since. His relationship with Libby slowly faded away until they peacefully broke up when she went away to college.

At around 11:30 at night Sheen waited on the curb playing an Ultralord game on his iPhone as he smoked a cigarette. He used to be incredibly fit back in the day as the star quarterback of Retroville high. But since high school he had let himself go, gaining so much weight he was practically obese. His beard was never properly trimmed. Physically, he was a mess.

Jimmy pulled up the hover car to the curb. Sheen slowly got up and approached the car. As he opened the door, Jimmy stopped Sheen. "Please put that out for the millionth time. I'm tired of my car stinking of cigarettes."

"My bad, dude." Sheen said without worry.

Sheen took one last drag from the cigarette before throwing it on the ground and getting in the car. Jimmy drove off.

"Do you have that $10 for the ticket?" Sheen asked.

"I'll cash my check tomorrow. You'll get it then."

"Cool. This Ultralord movie is gonna be the best one."

"Hopefully it'll be cool. But they'll never top the original."

"Whatever, we'll find out Wednesday. Can't wait to be in line for that midnight showing. Oh, by the way did you find out if you work that day?"

"I don't know yet. I work Monday though."

"You know what, don't worry about it. Carl can wait with me. What time you picking him up?"

"First thing tomorrow morning."

"Awesome man. It's been too long since the three amigops have gotten together." Jimmy smiled a little thinking back on when Carl came up with that name.

"Man, I really miss the old days." Sheen continued. "We should go on another adventure when Carl's here."

"Please don't get all nostalgic on me." Jimmy begged.

"Dude, we have two weeks to do it while he's on winter break. I can get a day off from work. And you're pretty much never working-"

Jimmy interrupted. "I have a job. I work."

"When you work more than a day a week and you make more money than me then I will acknowledge that you have a job." Sheen said acknowledge as though it were a big word for him to use. "Seriously dude, why don't you just quit. You can easily get a job at NASA or-"

Jimmy raised his voice. "You know what NASA said when I-"

"Okay." Sheen tried to calm him down. "Okay, I forgot. Sorry. But you know what I mean. You need something or you can just start your own company. You gotta look for a job-"

Jimmy interrupted again. "I have been looking." That was a lie. "You know, it's tough. Not everyone's getting jobs right out of college."

"You're one of the youngest people ever to graduate from college. Hell, I think you're the youngest guy to graduate from Harvard."

"Whatever."

"You know, we go through this every time. You're always complaining about how you hate work and you should get a better job or you talk about how you want to start building inventions again but you don't for some reason. Seriously dude, stop complaining."

"You're one to talk. You keep talking about how you want to start going to school or how you have to break up with your girlfriend and move out but you don't."

"Once again, I can't afford to start school because I don't have the money for it. I can't get financial aid because I have to have a GED in order to qualify and I don't have that because I didn't graduate from Retroville high. And yeah, I'm in a shitty relationship but it's best if I stay because it's easier on me financially if we both pay rent."

Sheen's iPhone started ringing with the ringtone of the musical theme of the wicked witch from "The Wizard of Oz." It was his girlfriend Alicia. Sheen unhappily answered the phone. "Hey… Yeah, I'm on my way back right now… I don't know, I can ask him." Sheen turned to Jimmy.

"Tell her I said 'yes'" Jimmy responded.

Sheen got back on the phone. "Yeah, he's cool with it. Do you want burgers or tacos?… Alright, I'll see you in a bit." Sheen hangs up.

Jimmy always drove Sheen back from work and almost every night it was the same. They would casually talk about whatever music, video games, and TV shows were popular with "Ultralord" being a common subject. They'd talk about work, Sheen's relationship and basic life problems. They'd talk about the things they'd want to do and then they'd always criticize the other for not doing it. After that, Sheen would pick up some food at a 24 hour drive thru for him and Alicia. It was always the same. They were both tired of it but they were both too lazy to do anything about it.

After getting food, Jimmy dropped off Sheen at his apartment and they parted ways for the night. When he got home he pulled up in his driveway. He made a quick glance across the street where he saw Sasha Vortex and someone else unpacking their car this late at night. It was too dark to see who the other person with her was. 'Maybe Cindy's mom went on a trip with her new boyfriend or something' he thought. He got out of the hover car and went inside.

Jimmy entered his house and went straight upstairs. He walked past his mother's bedroom where the light on Goddard's forehead was dimly lit the rest of the room. For years Goddard has slept comfortably at the foot of Judy's bed.

Jimmy entered his bedroom. The lights stayed off. He went to his computer and browsed through email and facebook. After seeing nothing worth his time he closed his laptop. Across the street he noticed a light suddenly turned off. He wasn't paying attention to where in the house the light came from but it just got his attention. Could've been Cindy's bedroom, he thought. he didn't really care to think about it much more than that.

Jimmy got up from his desk, dove forward and passed out the moment he landed on his bed.