The twin thrusters roaring behind James' jetpack were extinguished with the push of a button. Jimmy smoothly descended, felt his feet gain purchase on the asphalt below, and marched towards the Candy Bar. He was a dozen paces from the welcoming double doors when a familiar pace popped out.

For the first time that day, an easy smile spread across Jimmy's lips. Ike returned the gesture with a wave and half-smile as they halted a few feet apart.

Jimmy glanced down at his watch despite already knowing the time; it was barely past noon. "Leaving this early?"

"Early?" Ike wearily asked. "I've been working here for the past three hours."

"Getting all your homework done in one go?"

"Naw," Ike said with a shake of his head. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a thick envelope. "Doing something more important."

Jimmy's eyes drifted to the letter, but Ike didn't give him time to contemplate what was inside. "Listen, Jim," Ike carefully began. "The bible would have been more than enough. But Sandy?" Ike's fingers gripped the envelope tighter, and he gently pulled off his sunglasses.

Brown and blue eyes silently met as Ike contemplated his next words. At last, he steadily offered, "If you ever need anything, just ask."

"It was just a book and an address," Jimmy calmly answered. There was a moment's pause, then Jimmy offered the barest hints of a playful grin.

Ike huffed in amusement as he stepped forward and placed a hand on James' shoulder. A reverse image of the night before, Ike squeezed his hand and said, "It was more." Ike released his grasp, gently patted Jimmy's shoulder, and pulled away. "Merry Christmas, Jim."

"Same to you, Ike," Jimmy offered as both kids strolled past each other. They'd only made it five paces before Ike snapped his fingers. Both kids craned their necks and stared at each other.

"And if you ever need a number six on an adventure, maybe you'll give me a call?"

Jimmy didn't need to weigh his answer. "You bet." Satisfied, Ike continued his stroll and Jimmy entered the Candy Bar.

James shivered in the doorway and took a moment to appreciate the restaurant's warmth. He rubbed his hands together and scanned the half dozen patrons strewn about the establishment. He cocked his head at the absence of his friend, but this confusion fled as the bathroom door swung open. "Hey," he offered with a wave.

Libby Folfax flashed grin as she approached the genius. "Hey yourself."

"Been waiting long?" Jimmy asked as he let Libby lead the way to their gang's usual booth.

"Ten minutes," Libby answered with a shrug. "I saw Ike, but he was pretty busy."

Jimmy nodded as Libby took her seat in the semicircular booth. Jimmy stood by the table and quietly asked, "So, why did you want to meet here?"

"I figured we'd just have a chat," Libby answered as James moved towards the opposite end of the table. She crossed her arms, flipped a palm, and nonchalantly added, "Maybe about Cindy."

Jimmy froze just above the cushion. His nervous eyes bore into Libby's serene pupils. "She told you?"

"Obviously," Libby shot back.

Jimmy sighed and nervously gripped the edge of the table. "You want to chew me out like her mom will?"

A twitch of Libby's lips revealed her surprise. "No," she quietly said while slowly shaking her head. The squeaking of sneakers on linoleum rang out as she said, "I just wanted to congratulate you."

Jimmy turned to his side and saw Sam approach with a tray holding two chocolate shakes. Libby's voice softly went on, "I bought us a couple shakes."

Shame weighed Jimmy's eyes down and anchored them to the floor. He slid onto his seat and tentatively grabbed his drink. Voice muddled with contempt, he whispered a quick, "Thanks."

Libby pulled her own drink towards her. Both kids fiddled with their straws until Libby explained, "I know we never really talk. Not just the two of us, I mean. But I wanted to let you know, I'm glad you guys kissed." Jimmy glanced up at her, and Libby offered a sincere smile. "It was always obvious you two belonged together."

An awkward silence hung in the air as both children struggled to figure out what to say next. At last, Jimmy asked, "So it was clear from the beginning, huh?"

Libby took the first sip of her shake and smacked her lips before answering. "I mean, thinking back to fifth grade, there was no real reason for you two to be so mean to each other. She tried to buy you as a slave and you left a girl-eating plant on her doorstep just because you both wanted to be the smartest kid in class? That's not normal."

Jimmy thought back to how aggressive his and Cindy's rivalry had been in those early days of their relationship. "No argument there," he glumly admitted while tasting his own drink.

"So other than hating each other, what else could make two people act that nuts?"

Both kids sucked on their straws, the obvious answer hanging unspoken in the air.

Libby pulled her mouth from her shake and studied James. She didn't know the genius as well as she'd like, but it was obvious there was something more than the awkwardness of their meeting silencing him. "How do you feel about this? About you and Cindy?"

Jimmy tapped his fingers against the glass before meeting Libby's gaze. He wasn't sure what it was that made him answer truthfully. Perhaps it was his guilt at assuming she had asked him here only to hurt him. Maybe it was the desire to use any available tool to stop him from screwing up his new relationship. There was also the chance that there was an artistic side of James yearning for symmetry. After all, he was the only one of his friends who'd failed to be helped by another the day before. Whatever the cause, the next words James spoke held nothing but the truth.

"I'm scared," he admitted.

The candid confession surprised Libby, and for a moment she simply stirred her thick drink. "Are you doing that thing again where you pretend a kiss doesn't mean anything?"

James though back to that time he had grabbed Cindy in an alleyway; remembered how quickly they'd pretended to forget the plunge they'd taken.

"No," Jimmy plainly answered. "It meant everything to me." His eyes drifted to the condensation on the glass. He studied a few beads of water race towards the table as he explained, "I just don't want to screw it up."

A droplet of water was just about to hit the table when Libby's voice drew his gaze. "Why are you worried about that?"

Conceding to the whole truth, Jimmy licked his lips and chose his words wisely. "Maybe Cindy and I had a weird friendship before."

Libby prepared to interject with a sarcastic remark, but she bit her tongue at the last moment.

"But," Jimmy went on, "we kept it going for two years. We knew what we were doing. But this…this new thing?" Jimmy sighed. "What do we know about being a couple?"

Libby huffed in friendly amusement. "Nothing," Libby answered. "But it's not like you two were," she struggled to find the right word, "static for the past two years. You kept shifting between enemies, rivals, and friends. You kept making leaps the whole time. This is just another one."

Jimmy considered her words and deemed them valid. "I just," Jimmy flicked his tongue over his lips and admitted to Libby, "it took yesterday to make me realize how much I wanted this. How much I wanted," Jimmy shook his head but realized there was no point in any further denials. "How much I wanted her."

"Hey," Libby softly began while pushing her shake to the side. Jimmy reflected her movements, and the two friends stared at each other. "We're not stupid. We know how unlikely it is that we'll stay with our elementary school sweethearts forever. It's a losing game, but we've got better odds than most. And that's because what we have with Sheen and Cindy is real," she begged Jimmy to understand.

"I don't like Sheen because he's a jock or because he's handsome. I didn't even like him at first! I love him because over the past two years he's shown me that he cares about who I am inside. Because even when I'm at my lowest," Libby's eyes briefly glazed over as she thought back to the day before, "he's the one who can lift me back up.

"And you don't love Cindy just because she's got a cute ponytail. You love her because she's the only person in this school who can understand what you do in your lab all day. Because she pushes you to be better. Because even when two acted like you hated each other, when the chips were down, she was always there for you."

Libby leaned back against her seat and watched James decipher her words. He blinked a few times in slow succession as he truly considered what she'd stated. "That was," Jimmy hesitated and arched both eyebrows in impish awe, "a very apt description of our relationships."

Libby wryly studied her nails as she answered, "I have my moments, you know."

"You sure do." A smile twitched over Jimmy's lips, but his expression turned serious as he realized that he wasn't the only one who deserved a pep talk. He wasn't in as articulate a mood as Libby, but he offered what he could. Jimmy cleared his throat and asked, "Libs?"

She perked up at her nickname and met Jimmy's gaze.

"For what it's worth," Jimmy told her, "you should focus on making yourself happy. But I don't think you could ever manage to stop helping other people. Because you're honestly one of the best people I know."

After a moment of surprise, Libby stammered out a response. "Thank…thank you," she whispered. She shook her head and started to ask, "Did Sheen -"

Jimmy's eyes suddenly widened as his gaze slid over Libby's shoulder towards the center of the restaurant. He honed in on the new television Sam had recently instilled above the bar. James pointed at the screen, and Libby followed his gaze as he asked, "Sam, can you turn that up?"

Sam grumbled but obliged the request. Libby spun around in her seat, and both kids watched in awe as the local news began reporting on Retroville Middle School.


Across town, freshman reporter Anita Kan struggled to focus her stinging eyes on the her cameraman's lens. The scorching flames behind her licked her back, and the billowing smoke from the basement's windows burnt her throat. As her cameramen rang out his countdown, Anita allowed herself a few deep coughs before sucking in a lungful of acrid air. Her partner pointed towards her, and Anita flashed a wide smile.

"This is Anita Kan from Action Nine News," Anita's firm voice introduced her first segment. She felt her fingers dance with adrenaline and brushed them through her jet black ponytail. "I'm standing outside Retroville Middle School, which over the past twenty-four hours has experienced a startling sequence of events."

Anita motioned to the fire behind her, then at the nearby pile of a dozen dead velociraptors. "While I could certainly try to explain what led to this blazing inferno and pile of raptor corpses, I have an eyewitness here who could do a much better job."

Anita kept a nervous smile plastered on her face as she motioned for her guest to step into frame. An exhausted Veronica Wolf lurched towards her, rolling an enormous blank whiteboard. It took all of Anita's resolve to keep a steady composure while staring at the cooking teacher. The edges of her auburn hair were singed, numerous slash marks crisscrossed her clothes, and the knife in her hand was coated in dried rustic blood.

Anita shifted her pupils to stare at her news van, which had a monitor showing the news as it appeared on television. She raised an eyebrow at the chyron underneath the haggard instructor introduced her as Veronica "Turok" Wolf.

"Thanks, Anita," Veronica began while letting go of the whiteboard. "I'll take it from here." Anita took a step away from her guest as Veronica swung the knife around to make her point.

"So I started putting this all together last night," Veronica explained while flipping the whiteboard over. A simple flow chart was scrawled across the board.

Broken Pipe Flood Temporal Accelerator Heat New Biodome

"So here's what I got," Ms. Wolf explained while smacking her knife against the words Broken Pipe. The teacher's following words flew out in an adrenaline-induced staccato. "After I ate the Utahraptor, I finally settled in for my Veronica night. But then I heard the little pitter-patter of footsteps and found them," she slashed the knife towards the pile of velociraptors. "After fighting off that Mormon bastard those things were a piece of cake. But while I was hunting those little buggers I came across a broken water pipe. That's when I realized how all this started. Someone smashed the pipe and caused a flood in the basement."

"Fascinating," Anita answered. "Do you have any leads as to who caused this?"

"Well," Ms. Wolf said while tapping the knife against her chin, "I have absolutely no evidence to support this, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and firmly accuse the Spastic Spiz." Ms. Wolf flashed a quick glare at the camera, then let a pensive look wash over her once more. "But then I started wondering how the flood spread so fast and disappeared so quick. So I did some more of my investigating," Ms. Wolf held up air quotes, "and killed a Stegosaurus."

"So what did you find?" Anita asked. She blinked twice and clarified, "Other than a Stegosaurus."

"During my travels I noticed that the dinosaurs were clustered around a storage room. So I opened it up and found that!" Ms. Wolf jabbed her knife towards the basement's emergency exit, where she'd lugged what appeared to be an enormous generator. The only unusual thing about the device were the red atom painted on its side.

"Now what is that device?" Anita probed.

"Oh you know, just a standard Neutronian time accelerator!" Veronica screamed. She shoved her fingers towards Anita's face, who recoiled in shock. "Look at these wrinkles I got shutting that thing off!" Veronica pivoted towards the camera and screamed, "I know that thing's yours, Soft Serve! And I also know your puny little arms couldn't lug that thing around! I'm blaming Braids for that!"

Anita nervously tugged on Veronica's sleeve, sending two bloodshot eyes swiveling her way. "I'm sorry," Anita shakily said, "But you're saying that device accelerates time?"

"Duh doy!" Veronica shouted back. "Pick up a quantum physics book! That thing must isolate tachyons in the nearby environment, sap their energy, release Cherenkov radiation, and increase their velocity past subluminal speeds!"

"What?" Anita breathlessly asked.

"Look," Veronica took in a haggard breath and viciously coughed from the smoke. "Soft Serve's invention made the flood come and go quicker than it should have. But throw in the sweltering heat," Veronica bounced her knife off the word Heat on the blackboard, "And you've got the perfect recipe for a new Jurassic Age." Ms. Wolf tapped her blade on the words New Biodome.

Anita stared at the blackboard for a few seconds and slowly shook her head. "And why was the school so hot?"

"Because that Llama Lover adjusted the school's main thermostat!" Ms. Wolf roared. "You see? It was all Soft Serve's gang!" Ms. Wolf's eyes nervously shifted from side to side as she quietly admitted, "I don't know where Blondie fits in, but she must have done something! It'd be really lazy if the other four contributed but no one could figure out something for Blondie to do! That's a real C minus move!"

An enormous crashing sound caused Anita and Veronica to swivel their heads; the brick wall containing the emergency exit collapsed to the ground.

Veronica grit her teeth and groaned, "Son of a…that's the fourth wall that broke today!"

"Ms. Wolf," Anita firmly asked, "I don't know who any of these people are, but clearly you've identified who was responsible for the creation of these dinosaurs. But what about the fire?"

Ms. Wolf hesitated before sighing and shrugging. "Alright, ya got me. That one was my bad. I figured the basement was a lost cause after I took down the Stego. And I had a bunch of fuel to get rid of, so I just burnt the whole basement down."

Anita and Veronica stared at each other for a long moment as the smoke and heat washed over them. "That," Anita slowly shook her head, "is an incredible tale." She placed a hand against the receiver in her ear, nodded, and then offered Ms. Wolf a nervous grin. "I'm afraid we're going to have to wrap this story up, but do you have any final words for the viewers at home?"

"You bet I do!" Veronica roared while gripping Anita's microphone and lurching towards the camera. A close-up of crazed bloodshot eyes was transmitted across Retroville. "Every member of Soft Serve's gang is getting a month of detention the second Winter Break is over! You are going to repair every inch of this basement, buy me gallons of Faygo, and get me my damned Veronica night!"


Back inside the Candy Bar, Libby and Jimmy stared dumbfounded at the television screen. As Retroville Middle School disappeared from view and was replaced by two slack-jawed anchors at the news desk, Libby and Jimmy slowly turned to each other.

Silence hung in the air for a long moment, then James cautiously ventured, "You could have turned the time accelerator off."

"You could have told me to do that," Libby quietly snapped back. She sucked in a calming breath, then shook her head. "I guess detention's getting off pretty lightly for destroying a third of the school."

Jimmy grabbed his shake and leaned back in his booth. "I guess it's about time we get punished for something."

Libby huffed in amusement. "We did have a pretty clean run at Lindbergh, huh?" She took a sip from her icy drink and shook her head. "You know, I used to think that elementary school was nuts. But middle school takes the cake."

Jimmy nodded while tapping his hands against his own shake. He took a slow slip, watched the brown liquid dive deeper towards the bottom, and then asked, "What do you think high school will be like?"

Libby smiled. "Even wackier, I'm sure." She released her drink and drummed her knuckles against the table. "And it's not far off."

Jimmy quickly nodded. "I used to to think that elementary school would never end," he admitted. "Six years just seemed like so long. But then it did," he said with a shrug. "And we're already halfway done our first year of middle school."

Libby slowly nodded in agreement. A quiet air hung over them, but Libby broke it with a venturous smile. "So, what will high school be like?" she repeated James' question. "I'm sure you'll be valedictorian and president of some science club."

Jimmy smiled and contemplated the next leg of their journey towards adulthood. "I think you'll run the school newspaper."

"Really?" Libby asked. She leaned back, abandoned her shake, and looked at James. She thought for a few seconds and said, "I can see that. But I'll write the editorials myself."

"Scathing reviews of the dress code?" Jimmy playfully offered.

"Like we'd let them give us a dress code," Libby offered a devilish grin. Both kids chuckled before she added, "Sheen should run track. Burn some of that energy off."

"Yeah," James agreed. "Think he'll become a jock and hang with Ike and Nick?"

"That'd be the day," Libby said with a shake of her head. "What about Cindy?"

Jimmy contemplated his girlfriend for a moment and said, "She'll be class president."

Libby shook her head. "You don't think she'll be disqualified for stuffing the ballot boxes with her name again?"

"No," Jimmy immediately answered. Libby cocked her head, so he slowly added, "I think we'll learn from our mistakes."

Libby considered the answer but couldn't help agreeing. "Guess you're right. Because I don't plan on getting fired from the paper for gossiping."

"Or extortion," Jimmy dryly added.

Libby narrowed her eyes but flashed a devilish smile back. "Well hopefully you don't lose valedictorian for, I don't know, sending being an out of control hall monitor. Or making a teacher a giant monster. Or cheating in gym class with super fast shoes. Or -"

"I get it," Jimmy grumbled. He felt that morning's dread simmer back up, but Libby's next words cooled him off.

"Hey," she gently said, "Like you said, we all made mistakes these past years. But we'll all learn from them. So," she smiled, "what will our pal Carl be up to in high school?"

Jimmy and Libby both considered the question for a long time. At last, Jimmy said, "Working part time at the petting zoo."

"That's all we got?" Libby asked.

"He's a wild card," Jimmy playfully answered.

"He does have potential," Libby agreed.

Both kids grinned, sucked the last dregs from their shakes, and pushed the empty glasses towards the end of the table.

"I have to say," Libby said while cracking her knuckles, "high school doesn't sound so bad."

"We paint a nice picture," Jimmy agreed. "But do you think it'll play out that way?"

Libby considered the question for a few moments, then answered with a half-smile. "I have no idea. But I think we got one part nailed down. It'll always be the five of us."

"No question," Jimmy immediately agreed.

Both children stared at the empty shakes. Libby rubbed her arm, let out a tiny sigh, and then looked up at James. "Thanks for meeting me here, Jim."

Jimmy perked up at his nickname, then quietly said, "Thanks for the shake."

Libby grinned and rose to her feet. "Well, if you ever want to grab another one, let me know." She took a step away from the table, but stopped as Jimmy's voice rang out.

"Maybe right now?"

Libby turned back to Jimmy, and was surprised by the flash of anxiety he spotted in his eyes. He flashed a nervous smile and added, "Next round's on me."

Libby granted Jim an easy smile back, and took her seat. "Sounds good to me."

Both friends waved Sam over, placed their order, and happily settled in for the afternoon.


Author's Note: I'm sorry it took so long to update, but at least this story was finished right around Christmas. This fic was a blast to write, and I hope you all enjoyed it. I want to give a special thanks to Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro, Farley Drexel, and Joe Stoppinghem for their multiple reviews. As always, I would love to heart what anyone thought of his story. If you leave a review I'll be sure to get back to you and answer any questions or comments you have. Thanks again, JN fans.