Hi, this takes place after the events of "Trouble with the clones", if you haven't watch it I give a brief explanation of the episode, but you should watch it anyways, just I case you want to understand better this story.
Without further ado, I give you chapter one.
Oh yeah, before I forget, this is a non-profit story. I do not own Jimmy Neutron and never will.
Chapter one: The Aftermath
Jimmy Neutron found himself sitting in his usual spot at the Candy Bar explaining to his best friends, Sheen Estevez and Carl Wheezer why had they almost dissolved into nothing merely two days ago. He had explained how his evil clone had got a hold of his Quantum Duplicating Device, which had the power of creating a perfect copy of anything, but unfortunately it destroyed the original in the process: "Hence why I haven't used it humans or animals." He had said. He had also told them how his evil clone, or as Sheen called him: 'Evil Jimmy' used his device and a dark matter chip to create an evil copy of the Earth, but since Jimmy's machine destroyed the original in the process their planet had begun to fade.
"Luckily I was able to undo the process in time and reverse its effects." Jimmy Neutron explained proudly. "But my clone destroyed the dark matter chip to tore his duplicate of the Earth to oblivion hoping to destroy me too."
"But how did that chip thingy destroyed the evil Earth, Jimmy?" Asked Sheen who was halfway done with his sundae.
"Was it a spicy kind of chip?" Asked Carl, who was sitting next to Sheen with an empty dessert bowl in front of him. "Because my mom says that those give me gases that's why she doesn't let me eat them."
"Carl the kind of chip I'm taking about isn't eatable, is the one you find in computers!" He responded frustrated putting his hand on his forehead. "And anyway, to answer your question, Sheen, I suspect that the chip contained some sort of mutated antimatter."
"Anti-water?"
"No Sheen, antimatter," Jimmy stressed his last words. "An extremely powerful substance that has the destructive power of a nuclear weapon when it comes in comes in contact with any ordinary form of matter. I think he modified it so that instead of it exploding when it comes in contact with matter, it slowly dissolves anything in it path, leaving only traces energy behind."
"Oh " Sheen said with a face that clearly said that he understood nothing of what he had just said.
"Anyway, I think that the antimatter was suspended in a magnetic field in a high vacuum so that it couldn't come in contact with matter, that would explain how is it that he got it into the chip." Continued Jimmy taking no notice of his friend's expression as he took a sip of his milkshake. "Though I can't be sure-"
"So how did you escape?" Quickly asked Carl before he continued with his explanation.
"I used my rocket to return to Earth and in the nick of time too! A second later and I would've been a goner." He said and used a gesture of his hands to add a dramatic effect to his tale. "Anyway, since the earth 1.2 -"
"Can't we just call it 'Evil Earth'?" Interrupted his red-haired friend.
"Fine!" Jimmy concluded clearly annoyed. " Since the 'Evil Earth', happy now?" He asked.
"Very much."
"Was destroyed," He continued. "I have detected traces of energy left after the aftermath. Which is normal for when antimatter destroys matter, but there is this one that is about my size -"
"Your size? Well then, there is nothing to worry about right, Nerdtron?" Seethed the blond girl who was sitting in a table in front of them and was apparently listening to their conversation the whole time. "A tiny speck of energy like that one couldn't be all that dangerous now, could it?"
As an expected reaction, everyone who turned around to listen to their conversation erupted in laughter, included Jimmy's friends and the dark-skinned girl sitting with the blond one.
"Ha, ha, ha." Jimmy laughed humorlessly trying to hide his embarrasment. "Very funny, Vortex. I'm splitting a side here."
"Just because you can't appreciate good comedy, it doesn't make it less funny, right Libby?" Cindy answered as she turned to face her best friend. By this time most of the people who were listening to their argument were engrossed in their own activities.
"You said it girl, but really we should let Jimmy continue with his most interesting tale." She concluded as she gestured to the Boy genius to continue.
"Thank you Libby." He said ignoring the comments from the blond girl as he resumed his explanation. "As I was saying, there is this one trace that isn't flowing like the rest. It is just stuck there but that's not the entire reason of why I'm worried so much. This 'tiny speck' if energy, as you would so kindly call it Cindy," He stated as he turned to face the girl in the table in front of him who in return just rolled her green eyes in annoyance. "Is actually doing what the scientific community though impossible. It is slowly becoming matter in its own accord."
"What does that mean, Neutron?" Asked Cindy who was actually intrigued.
"That's what worries me Cindy," He said as he looked at his drink as if it held the answer to her question. "For I have no idea. That's why I asked Goddard to keep an eye on it. It's only a matter of time before it gains shape and only then will I be able to know what it is. But, until then, there is nothing I can do about it. "
"So why worry? Maybe it will turn out to be nothing more than debris from the planet that was destroyed, right?" Libby said hopefully trying to ease the tense atmosphere that placed itself during the conversation.
"Or it could be a llama-eating monster name Betsy!" Sheen teased Carl.
"Make him stop!" This one cried in return.
"You're not helping Sheen." Jimmy concluded.
Jimmy Neutron had spent the best of an hour trying to reassure his friends that the energy probably was harmless and it would eventually become nothing but debris, yet since he wasn't even sure of it's true nature there was really but one solution: to wait.
Once Carl was relatively calm, Jimmy decided to go to the lab and check on the energy. Much to his surprise he didn't even need to use a special lens to be able to see it. Through his telescope he could clearly a red glowing blob that was becoming much more visible with each passing day.
A week had passed. The blob began to take form and according to his calculations, that said blob of energy had gained eleven pounds with each passing day, and after seven days it started to look human. Jimmy could clearly recognize its limbs and a head, but nothing else aside from that.
In Mrs. Fowl's class...
Fridays took their usual course. Miss Fowl gave a short explanation on the Declaration of Independence and Jimmy and Cindy began to bicker about the silliest details like if Thomas Jefferson was right-handed or not as well as if he was wearing a wig during said event. The teacher broke them up as usual and told them to begin their show and tell expositions. Jimmy was the first to go and as always, the rest of the class groaned.
"My fellow classmates, what I have here is the wave of the next step in cloning." He said as he proudly showed what appeared to be a digital camera with two lenses and two light bulbs on top of each. One was blue and the other one was red. "I present you the Quantum Duplicating Device 2.0."
"Nice Neutron," Cindy began. "Too bad that the camera was already invented!" This comment made the class erupt in laughter.
"Laugh if you want, but with this device I can duplicate anything in a matter of seconds."
"But didn't that device destroy the original thing you were copying?" Asked Libby who recalled that Jimmy explained that to Sheen and Carl in the Candy Bar a week ago.
"In my first attempt to construct it yes. But let me explain," He continued as he focused the apple on his teacher's desk with the lens with the blue light bulb on top. " This lens duplicates the atomic structure of any object and then it sends the information to the one next to it. The latter sends the duplicated information out of the device with a blast of energy and into the space in front of it. The amount of energy needed for the cloned atoms to form molecules and then duplicate the mass of said object is enough to light the entire city of Retroville for a month." He explained as he pressed the button on top of his invention and much to the astonishment of his fellow classmates another fruit materialized right next to Miss Fowl's in a matter of seconds.
"That's why the original stays intact. I don't need to borrow energy from it as I did last time, I give it its own. But for now I can only copy small objects." He finished as he took a bite from the cloned fruit.
The class cheered him because for once, his invention worked without exploding or causing some other sort of mayhem. As Jimmy headed towards his seat he noticed that the only person who wasn't smiling or clapping was none other than Cindy Vortex.
'And now, lets rub it in.' A satisfactory smile graced his lips.
"Anything you want to add Miss Vortex?" He asked innocently and loud enough for only her to hear it. As he was expecting, her hands balled into fists until her knuckles went from red to yellow until they finally turned white. Her face was flushed red with anger and her mouth was pursed into a straight thin line.
"That. Was. Quite. Impressive. Jimmy." Her last word was flowing with mockery as her lips curved into a smiled that looked as if she were in great pain.
"Why, thank you so much, Cindy." He said sweetly as he regained his seat.
'Show off.' She though bitterly as a faint blush caused by the sweet tone in his voice crept her cheeks.
The rest of the day went amazingly quietly as Cindy didn't argue with Jimmy, not even once. Which plastered the biggest satisfactory smile on the genius' face. Aside from that, and maybe one or two comments made by Sheen about how Ultra Lord could've given America its freedom in a matter of hours: 'As seen on the episode 267: The Independence of the planet Z'orgh,' the rest of the day remained uneventful.
The students left as soon as the bell indicating the end of another school day rang. It was then that Jimmy's multipurpose watch began to beep as a sign that he was receiving a call. He flipped the screen open to begin communication and his friends gathered around him.
"Bark, bark" Was heard at the other side of the line.
"What is it boy?" He answered Goddard; as to how he could understand what the mechanical canine said was beyond any of the four kids surrounding him.
The robotic dog barked a few times more, then it awaited his master's answer before continuing again. After a few more minutes Jimmy's expression changed to one of concern and then to one of worry.
Since no one could really understand past the 'okays' and 'grunts' Jimmy occasionally made, Carl, Sheen, Libby and Cindy began to talk about their plans for the weekend.
"So we might go camping or to the beach," Libby was telling the other kids. "Though nothing is certain."
"Sounds perfect 'Love Puppet'." Sheen coolly stated stressing his last words with a seductive smile.
"What did he call you?" Cindy asked as she and Carl tried to suppress their laughter, but failed once Carl laughed so hard that had to clutch his sides.
Before Libby could pound Sheen, Jimmy cried in alert making everyone turn around to see what could distress him so.
"It what!" He exclaimed.
"Bark, bark."
"It disappeared when?" He asked, as his face grew pale. They could hear Goddard bark a few more times at the other end of the line and then the conversation ended.
"What's going on Jimmy?" Carl asked his best friend, concerned written all over his face.
"Yeah Neutron, it looks as if you've seen a ghost." Cindy simply said, though she was just as concerned as the red-haired boy.
"Remember that I told you last week about that there was some residual energy left by the destruction of the cloned Earth?" His friends nodded and Jimmy began to explain to them about how the energy gained mass, eleven pounds a day and today it weighted the same as him and also about how it began to take the shape of something closely resembling human.
"Well I also noted that it moves a few meters every hour getting closer to the Earth. But a few minutes ago Goddard told me that the thing has entered the Earth's atmosphere, he calculated that it fell somewhere the outskirts of Retroville. That much we're sure. But as to where exactly, we don't know."
"And, may I ask why?" Cindy sounded skeptic about the fact that it couldn't be traced now. "Knowing you, you probably put a device on it so you could track its every movement."
"You got that right Vortex, I planted a device on the fourth day, when it had enough mass, but according to Vox, it got destroyed after it passed the troposphere. That's why we know that it fell on the outskirts of Retroville, but many factors could've alter its landing, the wind being one of them. And since that thing it's not exactly human, well, there are pretty good chances it survived the fall."
"Let me get this right," Libby began. "Some humanoid kind of thing just fell into the Earth and it went unnoticed by your fancy machines and you don't know where exactly it fell, therefore you don't know if it's harmless or not? Couldn't the military track it as it was falling towards Earth?"
"Well, uhm, you see," Jimmy's cheeks were slightly red with embarrassment. "My device also blocked this object from being seen and tracked by the military, and it broke down to a point when they stop tracking anything that falls from space."
"Leave it to Neutron to hide what could possibly be a threat to humanity from the people who can actually handle it!" Cindy falsely congratulated him.
"Hey we don't know if it's a threat or not! It could be anything!" Jimmy defended himself. "Besides, if the military got a hold of it, they would destroy it in a matter of seconds! We need to examine this thing to know how is it possible that energy transformed into matter on its own accord, Vortex."
"As you said it, it could be anything, Nerdtron!" She spat. "What tells you it won't attack the Earth?"
Meanwhile a few miles outside Retroville...
A truck stopped abruptly at the sight of a kid, who appeared to be unconscious beside the highway. The driver stepped out of his vehicle and picked him up. Then he splashed some water of his canteen into his face.
The kid's eyelids opened slowly to reveal a set of cobalt blue eyes.
"Glad I found you kid, a few more hours under this desert sun and you would've been a goner," The driver said as relief washed over his face. "But what were you doing out here, the Texan desert is no place for a kid."
"I don't know." He lied.
"Well, where are you parents, kid?"
"I'm an orphan."
"Well, then do you have family somewhere? Is there some place you're heading to?"
"Actually kind sir," The words taste like venom in his mouth, but the driver took no notice of the disgusted kid's face. "I'm heading to Retroville."
"Me too! Hey let me take you there." The driver said as he opened the passenger door and the kid hoped in.
'Jimmy Neutron, I'm back.'
A/N:The explanation of the antimatter is taken from the book of Angels and Demons written by Dan Brown.