Well, giving this thing another shot. Let's see how this works out. This fanfiction will borrow element from the Leftovers series on HBO and the Left Behind books a bit.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. Just the plot and concept.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 - Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
"Jimmy! Get ready for church!"
"Ugh! Give me one more minute mom!
James Isaac Neutron was currently finishing off one of his older model of a Heat Ray. He turned off the intercom with his mother. Judy had started demanding the family lead a more Christian life as opposed to what they did. Well… Hugh thought Jesus should have been a duck, no surprise there, and Jimmy didn't believe in him period. The most he could accept at certain times was God was the first human created when the apes evolved, and evolution has carried him to higher state of intellect.
However, Judy was determined to change all of that, one way or the other. And the first step was bringing them to Church every Sunday.
The one thing Jimmy hated. Listening to a pastor preach. HE plain out did not believe in Christianity at all. The fables were too weird and just plain obnoxious. I mean how one man can get two of every animal on Earth to a boat and kept them alive on a boat for forty days. There were no way those animals repopulated in time before a gradual extinction unless God created more. So why didn't he just do that in the first place.
Much lest the rest of those fables.
Jimmy sighed, "Better hurry up, no one doesn't want to make mom angry."
He turned and looked at his lab. After five years it had grown exponentially. With a little bit of alien tech he had the proclaimed best science and engineering lab on Earth. Scientist around the world had started to bug him a lot nowadays, just for a glimpse at his lab. But he found a micro bug in his lab once and since shut it out from the world.
"And the devil will always try to corrupt our minds lest we use his greatest weakness, prayer to our God, reading the Bible daily; this drives him away from us for along as we keep our Lord Jesus in our heart, we cannot be tempted by satan's-
"Pastor Rodey?" Jimmy asked standing up, "Sorry for the interruption, but I don't understand why God just doesn't kill this "devil" and be done with it. Won't that end all of the sin in the world too?"
The congregation stared at Jimmy in disbelief. Pastor Rodey did not like being interrupted; he had to think of an answer fast. He had something to answer like this before. The truth was and is, pastor Rodey was a non-believer of Jesus and he only did the job because he had nowhere else to go and it provided him with the money to support his meager life. Of course his years at the church had made him better prepared as a fake pastor. He gave his answer without hesitation lingering even once in his voice.
"Our God is a God of love, His most vibrant emotion. He doesn't want man or the angels of heaven to fear Him after He kills the devil. He will play it according to His Will, where we will all soon see the devil's true nature, the non-believers will see and suffer the devil's wrath and only then will they understand why God will kill him then. This will happen after Christ's Second Coming."
Jimmy nodded and sat back down. To him the pastor still talks crap, I mean, he too had witnessed the many times, the Yolkians attack, the times Jimmy's invention malfunctioned and attacked the town. Where was God then? Jimmy had proved too many times, that a God cannot exist, he could easily go back in time and prove to everyone that, but he simply could not mess with the timeline.
He was starting to doze away when he noticed the blonde hair girl from his sciences classes, Kristie, wave and smile at him a few chairs across. He smiled back and continued to drone out the pastor's voice. He lay back in his chair and decided to take a nap. However the oh-so-ever watchful Judy pinched him and bent forward in agony rubbing his elbow.
"Ow Mom! What the f-, hell?" Jimmy whispered.
He didn't fail to notice Kristie laughing at him.
"Pay attention!" Judy scolded.
"Alright jeez mom!"
"Hey Sheen, where did Jimmy say he was going," asked Carl.
"I can't remember, I think to pray to Allah or something?" was his friend's reply.
"Too bad, we were going to check out the new Llama Adventure game with him now."
"No Carl, no, we weren't going to."
The two amigos were currently slouched on Sheen's couch bored. Libby was halfway across the country for a Graystar concert and Cindy was doing Tai Chi, or Karate, or Taekwondo. They didn't bother; it was one of it at least. And yes, the thought of what Cindy was doing did come to mind because, over the years, the group had become closer as friends, more like a family with Sheen and Libby officially together, and Cindy and Jimmy dating after figuring out their feelings for each other. Carl had managed to find a part-time job at the Candy Bar as a griller and cleaner after finding he was becoming a third wheel, but the group didn't made him to become one, and they all still hung out together a lot.
"Let's go to the Candy Bar man, I'm bored!" Sheen exclaimed getting up from his spot and putting his wallet in his pant. He headed out the door and Carl followed suit.
They walked in silence for a while, just looking at the same old Retroville they remembered as kids, the adventures they went on. It was Carl to break the silence.
"So Sheen, I was thinking of asking Chloe out, do you think I stand a chance," the boy asked. They were walking along a pavement, two blocks more to the Candy Bar.
"Hell yeah man, I've seen the way she looks at you. Definitely worth a shot if you ask me. And she's not bad on the eye either," Sheen snickered, seeing the red blush on Carl's face.
Just as Carl was about to talk, a street vagabond on the road held on to his pant yelling, "It's going to happen, He is coming. He is coming!"
The vagabond reached out to touch Sheen's face.
Sheen slapped the man's hand away. "Freak, get the hell away from us!"
He turned to Carl, "Dude, you alright?"
"Yeah, a harmless tramp, don't worry with him, let's be on our way."
"Talks crap, these hippie guys."
"Ri-right crap!" Carl stuttered.
"Come on, let's go, we're almost there," Sheen said.
"Aw tits, I left my wallet at your house!" Carl said checking his pockets. He paused as his mouth dropped.
"You got to be kidding me! That son of a bitch stole my money!" the red haired teen shouted running back to the direction they were before.
Sheen shook his head in dismay. "If only Ultra lord was here. If only Ultra lord was here…"
After church, Jimmy was just going to go straight home, when he bumped into Kristie. She bumped into him on purpose but he didn't seem to notice that.
"Hi Jimmy," the girl said shyly.
"Hey Kristie"
"I didn't know you were the church type, Jimmy," Kristie said.
"I'm really not," Jimmy replied, "My mother drags me here every Sunday, says I really need Jesus."
"You really need to start believing in the Lord Jimmy, less you want to go to Hell," Kristie said chuckling.
"Yeah, I doubt you could convince me to, good luck trying. But what about you? You really believe all of this?"
"Well," Kristie started, "I was kind of grew up with it. Part of my life now, I guess. No going back."
"Well, your life must suck," Jimmy chuckled quietly as Goddard came down on the spot.
"Yeah, it's a boring life. I'd prefer the wild adventures you guys went on when you were younger. That was a life I wanted."
"Well, I'll be leaving the planet soon to go to outer space, you can tag along, I mean if you want to" Jimmy offered with a smile.
Kristie nodded happily. "Really, I would love that!"
"Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, at my house. My friends are coming along too. Guess I'll see you thJimmy said while hopping onto Goddard.
"Correct Jimmy," Kristie smiled.
She noticed Jimmy wasn't going. "What're you waiting for genius?"
Jimmy shook his head. "Nothing got to blast!"
And with that he blasted off, making Kristie's hair scrambled in all direction.
Jimmy was zipping through the air when he decided to stop by the candy bar first for a purple flurp before heading over to see his friends. He always felt like having one after going to that stupid church.
Jimmy opened the door and entered to find to his surprise, Carl and Sheen were there. Carl seemed out of breath and sweaty.
"Hey guys, what happened to you," Jimmy said walking over and nodding to Sheen before looking at Carl.
"Some vagabond stole my wallet," Carl said between gritted teeth.
"You should have seen him Jimmy," Sheen said, "He was running after the dude with his hands flailing. You should have seen the people's faces when he tripped over a squirrel."
Jimmy couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's mishap. "Sorry Carl, but that image in my head really cracked me up. How much did you lose pal?"
"Fifty bucks," Carl muttered, "And Sam only pays ten bucks a week. Have you seen the toilets here, the things people do…"
"Uh yeah Carl, there's a reason most of us don't go there," Sheen said.
He turned to Jimmy. "So it's Sunday, you've wasted half your day at church, so you got to make up for lost times man!"
"Hey, Agent 34 is showing, want to go watch it?" Jimmy offered. "My treat"
"Nah, Libby said it sucked. "Cheap acting, poor CGI for the aliens and very bad green screen," replied Sheen.
"I heard a Llama documentary is being featured," said Carl excitedly.
His friends stared at him in disbelief, and annoyance.
"I'm sorry lieutenant Carl, it's a negative!" Sheen said.
"What'll be for you, yeah" Sam said coming to them by the counter.
"Purple flurp. Three," Jimmy said as Sam nodded to the order and went to get it for them. He arrived in less than twenty second with three cans for them.
"Anyway guys, if we can't think of anything to do, I'll just go work on an invention or something," Jimmy said dejectedly.
"Aw man, since we trapped the League of Villains in the past, life has since been very boring," Sheen sighed as he slurped his drink down.
"Well, that is still a good thing,'' Carl added, "We don't need that kind of danger anymore."
"Where the hell has your sense of adventure gone," muttered Sheen as he slouched on his chair seat.
"Hey guys, I'm going to go finish that Heat Ray I was making, want to play Ultra lord: Rise of the Crooks virtually in the meanwhile," Jimmy said getting up and leaving the money under the tin can. "Plus I have to prepare for my journey to Planet Gorlock to make contact with April
Yeah, might as well, is Libby going to be back before we go?" Sheen asked.
"Nah, we can't wait on her. She'll sit this one out. I invited Kristie though, so she's coming."
After seeing their blank faces Jimmy responded, "She's in AP Calculus and AP Chemistry with me."
"Woo! Wait till Cindy hears that!" Carl whistled.
"Wait, why wait! Let's go tell her right now!" exploded Sheen mischievously eager.
"Oh hell no you don't!" screamed Jimmy as he held his two friends back by their shirts.
"I know I didn't think that one through, but Cindy's not going to get jealous," Jimmy explained as his friends calmed down, "Besides, Kristie is a nobody."
"A hot nobody," murmured Sheen, but Jimmy caught it.
The genius sighed, "Whatever, you guys coming over or what."
"Yeah, give me a second, going to washroom for a quick second," stated Carl.
"You sure you want to go there," Sheen asked.
"Trust me," Carl replied, "It's I who clean those stalls and I always kept them that way. I even ate off the- Never mind."
OF course his two friends had their eyebrows raised at him as Carl waddled off into the toilet.
"You know what, I'm not even going to ask him." Sheen said.
Jimmy agreed with him.
Cindy shuffled out of her car after coming back from tormenting, rigid training sessions. The tiredness was clearly visible on her face as sweat trickled down her left cheeks. She used her hands and wiped it off before locking her car.
At the same time, her dad's car pulled up on the driveway. Mr. Vortex was one of the few other Retroville citizens to follows in Judy's footstep; he and his five year old son Ramie visited the church weekly. This cumulated into constant domestic quarrelling in the house, usually Cindy taking her mom's side.
However she didn't need that stress right now. "Hey Dad, sorry you missed me this morning, had an early run before going to class. So I couldn't make it to church today."
Her father nodded with a grim like expression on his face. He had given trying to get his daughter and wife into a Christian lifestyle. But not almost.
"Hey, I saw that boy you like, Jimmy Neutron, there today," he stated hopefully.
"Yeah, only because his mom drags him there every Sunday against his will, Dad, you know that," firmly replied Cindy. "Hey, where's Ramie?"
"Slept away in the car, wake him up for me eh? I'm going over by Howard and the guys just now," he ruffed, before heading towards the front door.
Cindy's entire body was paining; she just wanted hot water, on her skin, right now. But she loved her little brother more than anything and went to greet him in the car. She opened the door and saw him sleeping, his body rising up and down from respiration.
Aw he looks so cute. That gives me an idea!
She poked him three times until he stirred and yawned. His hand flailed wide open and he rubbed his eyes.
"Where am I" the little boy yawned. His eyes scanned the car in a circle, until he met Cindy's face with a "boo"
"Ahhhh! Mommy!" the boy cried when he received the childish scare.
"Hahaha, you should have seen your face," chuckled Cindy lightly, "Come on, we have to go inside now. I am too tired to be standing here in the sun."
"Why did you scare me?" Ramie sniffled. "I don't want to talk to you anymore!"
Cindy smiled. "How about I carry you to that new ice-cream parlor that opened up the other day."
"Will you buy the really expensive nutty sundae for me," the little boy quietly quipped.
"Sure. Anything for you kiddo, it'll leave me broke for the next few days, but sure," Cindy laughed. "Alright, come on. Let's go inside, I have to fresh up, got another session in the afternoon."
Her brother nodded and they got out of the car and proceeded into the house.
"Can I go watch TV in your room?" Ramie asked hopefully.
"Sure, I'll be awhile in the bath," Cindy said.
Faster than Flash, the little boy raced up the stairs to the room. He sure was just like every other kid nowadays.
Cindy slipped into the bathtub and turned on the sprinkled. She let out a loud sigh as the hot water hit her worn out skin. She laid back and enjoyed the warm, beautiful feeling of relaxation. Nothing to think, worry or stress about. Just a peace of comfort laid over her.
What a morning. Sensei sure worked us out for the upcoming tournament in a few weeks.
Best to not think of martials arts now, I got enough to think about. School's going to start next week-
There I go! Thinking of school again!
"I cannot catch a break," Cindy sighed. "Not even in my mind."
After thirty idle minutes, she got out, wrapped herself in her towel and went to her room. She expected to see to her little brother there, but when she got there, strangely all she saw were her brother's clothed on the bed.
"Oh God, is he running naked in the house again, mom will scold him," Cindy sighed.
"Ramie ! Get over here right now!" Cindy yelled.
After hearing no response and trying again, Cindy got really worried and she was about to leave the room when her little brother popped through the door, in nothing but his underwear.
"Look Cindy! I'm an airplane!" Ramie shouted with joy.
Cindy however, was very annoyed. "Come out of my room now Ramie, and take those clothes with you. We're going for your ice cream just now, so put on some fresh clothes please. Or do you want me to call mom."
Ramie stopped immediately. "Command center, we have touchdown!" he shouted to no one and then turned to Cindy.
"You're a joy-killer; I don't know how Jimmy hangs out with you so much. He's fun, but you're a joy killer"
"Well good for Jimmy, too bad for you," Cindy said sticking her tongue out at him.
Her brother ran out of the room with a "Humph", leaving his clothes in the care of his sister.
Cindy sat across her brother, watching him eat his sundae, while waiting for a text from Libby. She of course had wanted to go with her best friend, but with her martial arts tournament next week, her mother forbids it. At least she'll be able to go to Gorlock with Jimmy, unless that skank April is there. Her fist unknowingly curled up and her teeth gritted.
Ramie was digging in on his sundae when he looked up and saw his sister's angry expression.
"Something *slurp* wrong with *slurp* you Cindy," he said swallowing.
"Huh," replied the blonde, suddenly knocked out of her thoughts.
"I said why you are looking so angry," Jamie repeated.
"Oh, nothing's wrong, just some old, stupid memory," Cindy chuckled.
"Ok, I am done here!" her brother exclaimed.
"Alright let's go, I'm going to see what the gang is up to," Cindy said. She led her brother outside.
Lorde's Royals started playing and Cindy picked up her cellphone to see Libby calling.
She tuned to her brother. "Stay here. I have to answer this."
She turned the opposite direction and picked up the call.
"Libby, how are you!"
"I'm fine girl! This concert so rocks!" the Afro-American yelled over the phone.
"I'm sure. You sound like you had a lot of fun. When are you coming back?"
"Day after tomorrow! You guys go ahead in space without me, I know Jimmy has delayed long enough for me, tell him I won't make it. I got to go now. Ricky's coming."
Cindy's eyes narrowed a bit. "Who's Ricky?"
There was a pause at the other end of the line. "He's a guy I met at the concert, he got me in to go backstage."
"Oh," Cindy said, "Well see you later?"
"Yep, tonight all night long girl!"
"Alright bye"
Cindy hung up her phone. Something about the way Libby mentioned Ricky seems off. Well, Libby's her best friend, she'll tell her later.
She turned around expecting to see a waiting brother; however, he seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
"Ramie?"
She looked around frantically, seeing her brother nowhere. She was getting worried, she peered through the glass in the parlor and didn't see him there either.
All of a sudden as in a flash, Cindy heard a loud BANG and screaming. She saw smoke quickly rise up from the end of the road. She couldn't worry about that right now; she had to find her brother. A wave of nostalgia fell over her and she flipped out her phone calling the one person she knew she could go for help. And then as in slow motion, cars pass her by and she saw no one at the steering wheel. The vehicle turned and headed in Cindy's direction.
Her eyes opened wide enough, she turned and rolled out of the way, dropping and damaging her phone in the process.
"Dammit!" Cindy screamed with ringing ears as another crash was heard some distance away.
Sheen and Jimmy had been waiting almost ten minutes for Carl. They knew about his bladder problem, but they didn't know it was this bad. Sheen was tapping his finger on the table when his eyes glimpsed at the newspaper next to him.
"Hey Jimmy, look at this!"
Jimmy was broken out of his calculations on a new invention when Sheen mentioned his name.
"Is Carl back?" he turned around hopefully. He was disappointed. "What do you want Sheen?"
"Look at this. Nicolai Carpathia promises Peace Treaty for Israel, Nuclear War avoided," Sheen read.
Jimmy took the newspaper, "Wow, I'm glad that this tycoon decided to go with the best option. That was what I was actually making the heat and freeze rays. I was supporting Israel in her war against her neighbor's weapons. I'd just have to make one and use the new cloning machine."
"Well, at least there isn't any war, right?" Sheen asked.
"I don't know Sheen, I met Nicolai, and I honestly do not trust him."
"Hmmmm…. What's taking Carl so damn long! I'm going to get him!" Sheen said frustrated.
"Let's go get him, something must be wrong," agreed Jimmy.
Little did they know, today was the last day, they would ever see their friend again.
Well there it is. If you liked this story follow it and perhaps leave a review. If you DID NOT liked this chapter, follow it and perhaps leave a review.
