Prologue
A/N: I apologise to anyone who had been following my previous story Endgame. I did intend to finish it, but I had just had too much to do at the time; and when I did come back to it I just didn't have the enthusiasm anymore for that story. This isn't the start of a new series though; so I intend to have this finished within a couple of months at the most. Enjoy, and please review.
Retroville, 31/5/2009.
The explosion could be witnessed from several miles away. Later those unfortunate enough to have seen the blast would question how it could be that anything could have ever survived. Interestingly the explosion didn't injure any passer-by's at the time, the police would theorise that it had been a controlled blast; designed to be more spectacle than destruction. Many would advocate the theory as a way of saying that there had to be a survivor, that if it had indeed been a controlled blast then he surely would have taken precautions. An escape pod would was the most recurring thought. But if indeed the blast had been engineered it was clear something went wrong for him. That day James Isaac Neutron vanished.
A huge search was conducted, the likes of which had never been seen before; all over the globe satellites were deployed to look for his likeness; NASA commissioned a rocket to ensure he hadn't gone into space again. He was never found. Eventually the authorities had no choice but to declare Jimmy dead. Some people were devastated, simply never recovering. Judy Neutron died a few years after burying her only child, Hugh moved away from the memories. Others, like Cindy Vortex; mourned, then moved on. Time passed, and though the conspiracy theories continued to mount about his survival; more and more people started to believe it had been a freak accident. That finally he had pushed himself too far; his whole body simply vaporised in the explosion.
Retroville, 24/9/2022
His feet stung with pain as he ran thorough streets and alleys; ignoring the tiny shards of glass embedded in his body; none were life threatening, although they were crushed glass had cut open the soles of his feet. Still he pushed on, eyes watering; he felt as though he had emerged from the womb once more; every sensation somehow new; no time to familiarise himself with the basics now; he had to lose the people tracking him.
Climbing over a wall he dropped down to the other side and kept on running, sprinting as fast as his worn muscles would let him. When he could no longer hear the footsteps from behind of him he stopped; and promptly collapsed. The adrenaline on which he had been running was gone. All at once his entire body had become limp, the agony instantly setting in from having done too much too quickly. It was after all the first time he could remember using his muscles in thirteen years; an intelligence as brilliant as his should have concluded quicker that the course of action he had taken was not the brightest.
Still what was done was done, there was no going back now. After resting a while he began to perform stretches, simple movements in order to get used to it all again. Making sure he could move normally, he walked over to a shop window and looked at himself in the shop window. His face had matured, the rest of his body had caught up with the size of his head; no longer making it as obviously oversized as before. It was obvious he had aged everyday of the missing years; but there was only one question on Jimmy's mind as he stared at his reflection. Why could he not remember anything about the last thirteen years of his life?