Chapter Twenty-Four: Jimmy Neutron and the Exodus Pathway
Jimmy took a deep breath. He had been walking aimlessly through the darkness for a while now. Every now and again he would trip over something. After the third time this happened, he finally managed to find what felt like a wall. Keeping one hand against it, he continued to walk. "I hope this is leading out and not further in..." he mumbled to himself. "My sense of time passing appears to have been affected by this enviroment... I wonder if that's purely psychological- or if it is indeed a result of whatever alien atmosphere I'm in..."
"Well, I'm still wearing the protection suit- so at least I have that... Of course, it would probably be of infinite help if I still had my wristwatch... or any access to technology at all..." Jimmy groaned. His legs were starting to go numb, and he still couldn't see any sign that he would find the end of the tunnel any time soon. "I probably should have stayed and asked that fake version of Cindy a few more questions... Or, well-... Maybe not. If she's really connected to Sally, then she'd probably just be more annoying than helpful..." he muttered.
Suddenly, he stopped. Everything was quiet. Except...
Jimmy blinked. "Is that... the sound of the ocean?" he muttered. He held his breath and tried to focus. Sure enough, he could hear the sound of waves crashing in the distance. He let out a long sigh of relief. "Alright, well... Not too long now... I hope."
And with that, Jimmy continued to walk.
The crimson rain had stopped falling. And the thick black smoke seemed to have disappeared from the night sky. It was quiet. Slowly, the door to Jimmy's clubhouse opened up, and Sheen poked his head out. "Uh... I think he's gone now, you guys." he said. "What? Let me see!" yelled Carl. Carl's head poked out of the doorway, just above Sheens.
"Yeah... It looks okay..." he muttered.
Suddenly, Libby's head poked out of the door way above Carl, and Cindy's head above hers. "Do you two have any idea what's goin' on?" asked Libby. "Well, we were actually on our way over to ask Jimmy about it... You know- the rain lookin' like blood and all... we thought that maybe it was another one of his Halloween practical jokes or somethin'." said Sheen.
"Except, it's not halloween... Is it?" asked Carl.
Sheen thought for a moment. "Huh... your right, Carl. Plus, usually whenever he tries to do a scary stuff- it usually turns out super lame. Or- you know, it tries to kill us all." said Sheen. "Those are the fun ones."
"Somehow, I think that this might have more to do with that rich kid than any of Jimmy's... things." said Libby.
Suddenly, everything began to tremble. Bursts of spectacular red light sprung out from Jimmy's backyard. A shrill scream rang through the air, as the clubhouse creaked and sputtered under the force of the tremors. Finally, one enormous burst of red light shot out from the middle of the backyard. Slowly, it began to fizzle away- as did the few beams of light that were escaping through cracks in the surface.
There were a few seconds of silence. All four of them could feel their heart beating against their chests. Then- they heard a voice.
"I am sure you fools are still about. You people have always seemed to be attracted to chaos... I suppose that's why you lot hang around Neutron in the first place."
Cindy grit her teeth. It was Eustace. As she carefully scanned the area outside for any trace of him, Carl cleared his throat. "He... He's up there..." he whispered. Everyone looked up. There was Eustace. Hovering high in the night sky. There were long plumes of smoke escaping from a few dark patches on his body. It was easier to see his eyes in the moonlight- as well as his hair.
Red, and black. His pale skin seemed to glow in the light, as his lips slowly curled up into a smile. He brought his hand out in front of him. "It would appear that his entire laboratory sits right here, underground- correct?" he asked. There was a long pause. "Oh- don't worry. I am already quite aware. He was never all too good about keeping his little playground a secret, now was he?" Eustace's smile began to grow wider as he spoke. "He has spent so much time in there- hasn't he? Most of his life, I would venture to guess. Whenever he's not out there causing trouble- he is here. Toiling away at some useless invention or other. Why- it's enough to make one sick, isn't it?"
With that, a small red orb began to form in his hand. Eustace chuckled to himself. Suddenly, thousands of smaller red orbs burst out of the original. Each one of them raining down directly onto Jimmy's backyard. It ripped through the first few layers of dirt in less than a second. Then- there were explosions. The sound of metal bending and twisting, glass shattering, and loud speakers screaming about a 'Red-Alert!' before being quickly snuffed out. As the hail of energy continued to fall, one of them fell astray- smashing directly into the front of the Neutron home. There was another explosion, obliterating almost half the house.
After a few minutes of this, Eustace finally drew to a stop. Underneath him, Jimmy's backyard had been turned into one massive hole, stretching all the way from the house, to the door of the clubhouse. Eustace grit his teeth. 'His allies continue to reside amongst that 'clubhouse'. Are you, perhaps... planning to spare them?' asked a deep voice from somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind.
"There will be time enough for them, later." Eustace snarled.
'Oh? And, are you certain that you simply lack the force of will to finally, and truly, destroy your enemies?'
"Oh, shut your mouth. I will remind you that I am the master here. Keep up your insolent drivel and I shall certainly have the 'force of will' to kick you out." growled Eustace. The deep voice seemed to chuckle at that. "You really are an arrogant one, aren't you?" it asked.
Eustace frowned, as his body slowly faded to black. Soon- he was gone.
It was quiet once again, as Sheen, Carl, Libby and Cindy slowly made their way out of the clubhouse- walking carefully around the edge of the hole, until they made it back onto the sidewalk.
Time seemed to come to a stop, as the four of them gaped at the massive hole in the ground. They could see the bottom- nor could they see any sign of light, or hear the sound of any activity emanating from it. Each of them felt their own cold chill run down their spine.
Sheen's voice cracked as he spoke. "D-... D-did Jimmy... is he..." he mumbled.
More silence.
Finally, Cindy grit her teeth, turned around and walked away. "Hey! Where are you going? You've got to help Jimmy- he could still be... down there..." said Carl, his voice trailing off in the end. Cindy stopped walking- but she didn't turn around. "I'm... going to sleep..." she muttered. With that, she made her way across the street and back to her house.
Carl, Sheen and Libby stood there for a moment. "I... I'd better go with her..." muttered Libby. Sheen opened his mouth to say something- but stopped himself before words could escape. Libby followed Cindy across the street, leaving Carl and Sheen all alone.
"Achoo!" Carl hastily wiped his nose- only to sneeze again. They suddenly remembered that they were both drenched in red rain water- or whatever it was- as they both began to shiver under the nights cool breeze. Carl and Sheen spared each other a glance.
"Jimmy always makes it. No matter what... he'll find a way... to come back." muttered Sheen. Carl nodded. "Yeah... he... he can do anything." he said. With another self assuring nod, Carl sneezed again. "I'm gunna go home... hopefully, mom's cleaned the quarantine room since last time..." muttered Carl.
"Yeah... good night, Carl... See you at school tomorrow." said Sheen.
With that, they split up- and headed back to their own respective homes.
Carl, Sheen and Libby, in that moment- each shared the hope that when they got to school, they would find Jimmy at his desk, scribbling something about some new, crazy invention.
Cindy on the other hand, as she laid in bed, couldn't help but imagine the worst.
A world without Jimmy Neutron.
In the Neutron home, Hugh slowly made his way down stairs. Yawning, he went into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator. He squinted at the brightness of the fridge light, as he searched for something to quench his thirst. Finally, his eyes landed upon a small juice carton, with a big duck sticker on it.
That one was his.
Hugh grabbed the carton, and opened it- quickly downing a few good gulps of orange juice, before putting it back into the fridge. As he made his way back up stairs, he noticed something a little odd. The front of the house seemed to be missing a wall. He blinked at it for a moment. "Huh... I don't remember installing any new holes..." he mumbled.
With that, he went back to bed.
Jimmy's feet sunk a few inches into the sand, as he took his first tentative steps out of the tunnel. "What... what is this place..." he muttered to himself.
It looked like a beach. The sand was paper white- so much so that Jimmy had thought it to be snow, until he carefully picked up a hand full of it, and watched it fall through his fingers. It was fine- almost like a powder. Beyond the sand was an ocean of dark liquid. Waves gently brushed against the shore, creating that familiar sound of the ocean.
All around him, Jimmy could also see massive pieces of black stone jutting out of the ground, and some more jagged rock breaking through the surface of the black sea. The rock on the land all seemed either smooth, or at most- slightly rugged around the edges. In comparison, the stone poking through the surface of the sea was jagged and warped, some of them seemed to be twisted into odd shapes, while others simply looked like jagged spikes.
Jimmy took a deep breath. The sky was as equally black as the sea, the only source of light coming dimly from the moon that hung in the sky. Upon noticing the moon, Jimmy blinked. Then, he frowned. "That's... that's impossible..." he muttered.
The moon, lit with a faint blue glow- was in the shape of a heart. Not the organ- but the shape more commonly known as a 'love' heart. He stared at it for a moment. Finally, he shook his head. There was no time to be staring at things and trying to figure out how they managed to defy common laws of science. He had a job to do.
Turning around, he noticed a small path next to the cave entrance. Beyond it, he could see a long field of grey grass. He took a deep breath. He still had the Lithium Atom safely in his hand. As far as he knew, as long as he had that- he could do whatever it was he was expected to do.
The fact that he didn't really know what he was supposed to do, didn't really bother him. If everything was connected to Sally, then he felt confident that he would figure it out soon enough. For now, he had to move forward.
Jimmy hadn't been walking down the pathway for very long, when he noticed a light in the distance. Slowly, he made his way toward it. The path seemed to lead into a forest of massive black trees, and odd looking fungi. The brown leaves that hung on the branches of the trees seemed to all be of their own seperate shape and size. Some of them resembled something close to classic shapes such as squares and triangles, while others seemed to resemble a skull and crossbones, a chain, a star- or a snowflake. The only thing they had in common was their shade of brown.
Finally, Jimmy began to approach the source of the light. It was a campfire. And next to it, sat a young boy.
He looked to be somewhere around the age of nine. He was thin, and a little pale. He appeared to be asleep, while leaning his back against one of the trees. He was wearing simple looking black boots, and a dark blue pair of shorts, with a light blue shirt. Over his head, he seemed to be wearing some kind of... hood. It was white, with little bumps on the top, resembling a pair of cartoonish animal ears of some kind.
The boys face was peaceful as he slept, despite the bruises that were evident on his face, and all over his arms. In the boys lap, he seemed to be cradling a massive golden sword. Jimmy blinked. With the sword, the boy almost seemed to resemble a character from an RPG game of some sort.
'Is this kid an alien? He certainly looks human enough... Or, could he be another illusion or something...' pondered Jimmy. Finally, Jimmy cleared his throat. "Hey... kid? Um- do you know what this place is?" he asked.
The boys eyes shot open, and in a flash- he was on his feet, holding his sword out in front of his threateningly. "Ah! A monster!" he bellowed. "AWAY!"
Jimmy took a step back, and flinched. "Woah! Wait- Hold on! I'm not a monster!" he yelled.
The boy snorted. "You can't fool me! Look at your hair! Only monsters have hair like that! Except, you know... That, uh... Fudge-headed guy... you know, with the chocolate swril on his head... what was his name... um... Oh! Are you like, his fudge-headed brother or something?" he asked, lowering his sword for a moment.
There was a long pause, until Jimmy slowly shook his head.
"Ah-ha! So you admit that you're a monster!" yelled the boy.
"No! I'm not! I'm human!" yelled Jimmy. The boy blinked for a moment, and then frowned. "Nu-uh. Only demons live in the night-o-sphere. 'Sides, you kinda give off a 'monster' feeling..." he said.
Jimmy frowned. "Demons don't-... wait, the 'Night-O-Sphere'? Is that what this place is called?" he asked. The boy scratched his head with his sword, and shrugged. "Well, yeah- I think so. I mean, it's supposed to be..." he mumbled.
Jimmy slowly held out his hand. The Lithium Atom floated just above his palm. "Do you know anything about this?" asked Jimmy. The boy shook his head. "No- looks real cool, though." he said. "Can I touch it?"
Jimmy shook his head. "No. But- Are you sure? Your not some kind of program or something that'll lead me to the 'gate' that this is supposed to open?" asked Jimmy. The boy shook his head. "Nope. So- it's a magic key, huh? I have one of those too... Aw... I forgot... It's in my backpack..." he mumbled. "Anyway, back to what I was saying before- GET BACK, MONSTER! I MEAN- DEMON, OR- WHATEVER!" the boy yelled.
Jimmy frowned. "I told you- I'm human. Not a monster. Not a 'demon'. Human. Like you are- I mean... Well, like you seem to be, anyway." he explained.
The boy frowned, and shook his head stubbornly. "Like I said. Nuh-uh. 'Cuz I know, that I'm the lastest of all the humans in Ooo. So you can't be human. You gotta be part fudge-monster or something." said the boy.
Jimmy sighed. "Will you stop with the fudge stuff? It's my hair- okay?"
"Nobody has hair that ridiculous!"
"I do."
"Oh..." the boy pondered this for a moment. "Well... That turbo-awesome armour of yours don't really look like demon armor..." he muttered.
Jimmy's 'Danger Zone Protection Suit', which consisted of thick plates of alien metals and materials, did kind of look like a suit of 'armour'. Of course, it was colored bright yellow, and came with a small red atom on the breast pocket- along with a larger one on the back- which made it more resemble a super hero costume than anything else. Coupled with the tall yellow helmet that was designed to fit around his hair, and the diamond-glass screen over his face, Jimmy could understand how he might look a little 'odd', perhaps even a little 'inhuman'.
With a sigh, Jimmy slowly removed his helmet. He did so slowly, and only because of the way he had observed the boy breathing comfortably in whatever atmosphere they were in. Placing the helmet on the ground, Jimmy took a deep breath. "Now do you believe me?" asked Jimmy.
The boy scratched his head, and slowly poked at Jimmy's hair. "Oooh- it is hair..." he muttered. "Wait- so your really a human!?"
Jimmy nodded.
"But... I thought they were all dead, 'cept for me..." he mumbled.
Jimmy frowned. "Really... what universe are you from?" he asked. The boy scratched his head with the sword again. "Whatcha mean?" asked the boy. "Well... Where do you come from?" asked Jimmy. The boy thought about this for a moment. "Ooo. I'm not really from any kingdom, though. I mean, I've been to a whole bunch and all- but I'm kinda more of a freelance-y kinda guy." said the boy.
"Wait- what's it called?"
"Ooo."
"Ooh?"
"No 'H'."
"Oh..."
"No, 'Ooo'!"
Jimmy rubbed his forehead, and sighed. "Okay- your obviously from a different universe..." he mumbled. "I'm pretty sure mine doesn't have any place named 'Ooo' in it."
"Really? Well, where are you from?" asked the boy.
"Well... It's a place called 'Retroville'. It's kind of a town... but also a city. Like Dimmsdale, but in three dimensions." explained Jimmy. The boy looked excited. "Wow! I've never heard of Retro-whatever before! Is it cool!? How many dragons do you guys have? Fifty?" he asked.
"None." said Jimmy.
The boy looked disappointed. "Aw... How lame. Hey- do you know how to get to the Vampire King? I'm pretty sure he's the only one I can get to transport me the glob outta here." he explained.
Jimmy shook his head, and finally- there was a moment of silence between them. That- was when Jimmy noticed something amidst the darkness. A pair of beady yellow eyes. Jimmy barely had time to blink, before another pair of eyes appeared. And another. Soon, all of the darkness between the trees was filled with thousands of unblinking yellow orbs.
Jimmy cleared his throat. "Uh... Is there any chance that whatever has us surrounded are friends of yours?" he asked. The boy shook his head.
"Of course..." Jimmy grumbled.
Suddenly, there was a low rumbling in the air. The eyes began to move around. Jimmy had to squint to see the bodies that were attached to the eyes. There were thousands of them. Small creatures with long antennae, short stubby legs, and little arms with a set of claws attached. They probably wouldn't look overly threatening individually. But considering the overwhelming number of them... Jimmy gulped, as the creatures squirmed around each other.
"Okay... now, we have to be careful... and-"
"ATT-AAAACK!" screamed the boy, waving his sword in the air as he raised towards the creatures. Jimmy groaned. The creatures swarmed them in an instant. Before the boy could so much as swing his sword at them, Jimmy grabbed him by the arm- and ran. Brushing past a group of them, and narrowly avoiding their claws, he ran down the path, holding the boy by the arm the whole way.
"Hey! C'mon! I had them totally cornered!" yelled the boy.
"There's too many of them! We have to run!" yelled Jimmy. Ignoring the boys loud protests, Jimmy ran as fast as he could. Narrowly weaving through the trees, Jimmy tried to find the pathway again. He feel the creatures drawing closer, and he felt a kick of adrenalin rush through his body. He picked up the pace, and as he raced past the trees, he noticed them beginning to dwindle in number.
The darkness seemed to grow thick, and it was starting to get harder and harder for him to move. Eventually, he slowed to a stop. Breathing heavily, he turned to check on the boy he had dragged along with him.
He was unconscious, the hand that Jimmy had grabbed in order to get him away from the monsters was now limp. Jimmy gulped. "Hey... um... are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah..." grumbled to boy. Jimmy gave a loud sigh of relief.
"You *did* manage to slam me into a buncha tree's though..." the boy grumbled.
"Oh... well... uh... sorry about that..." said Jimmy. The boy stood himself up, and brushed himself off. He looked okay, if a little annoyed. "Well, it only hurt a bunch..." he muttered, gingerly rubbing his face. "Yeah... Sorry, again." said Jimmy. The boy shrugged, and looked around. "So... Um- This place is super quiet..." he muttered.
Jimmy nodded. The sound of the beach was now far behind, and now the only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat in the cold air of the seemingly barren feild. The boy frowned. "Now, but-... PB told me that the Night-O-Sphere is supposed to be filled with the endless screams of pain and despair..." he explained. "But I've been here for a while and all- have you heard any painful screaming?" he asked.
Jimmy shook his head.
The boy looked worried. "Uh-oh... maybe I got lost again..." he mumbled. "Is this some kinda... dark dimension? I think she said that there were a few... Aw, glob- what if I wound up somewhere real stupid again? Like that pastrami dimension..."
Jimmy frowned. "So... you're a dimension traveller?" he asked.
"I geuss..." the boy muttered. "I'm trying to find the big 'final boss' guy. I think he's supposed to be real big and powerful and junk. Have you seen him?" he asked.
Jimmy shook his head. "No. I haven't seen anything here except you and those... creatures." he explained.
There was a moment of silence, as the boy seemed to mull over this information. Finally, he drew a heavy sigh- and sat down. "Welp- There's no use thinkin' about stuff. Let's eat, okay? I think I've got an extra bar or two around here somewhere..." he muttered, as he dug his hands into his pockets.
"You want to eat now? Is this really an appropriate time?" asked Jimmy. The boy frowned. "Well, I was super hungry- and I was just about to eat somethin' when you showed up with all of those shadow-ey things." he grumbled.
"First of all- that wasn't my fault. And, second... Sorry about that. I tend to, uh... be magnet for trouble." said Jimmy. The boy raised his eyebrows. "Really? Me too! Oh! Look- I found an extra campfire stone..." said the boy, before pulling a rather large red orb from his pocket. The boy slowly placed it on the ground in front of him, and muttered something. All of a sudden- the ord burst into fire.
Jimmy blinked.
Finally, the boy pulled two candy bars out of his pocket. "Here! It's a Grandpa Sadness Bar- they're real good when you cook 'em." he explained. After throwing Jimmy one of the candy bars, the boy carefully unwrapped his own, and brought it close to the fire.
Jimmy stared for a moment, at the candy bar wrapper. On it, was a picture of an elderly looking purple man, with a long bushy beard. The man appeared to be weeping hysterically. Next to it, were the words 'Ultimate Misery Marshmallow Flavour!'. After staring at it for a while, he finally unwrapped it, and took a bite out of it. Jimmy let out a small sigh of relief, when he found that the bar seemed to taste like normal Marshmallow.
The boy carefully blew on his now cooked Marshmallow bar, and proceeded to devour the entire thing in one big gulp. "Paaah! That was satisfying!" he exclaimed. With that, he stood himself back up, and dusted himself off. "Okay- are you ready to go?" he asked.
Jimmy finished his candy bar, and after licking a few stray pieces of sugar from his fingers, glanced at the boy. "'Go'? Go where?" he asked. The boy shrugged, and gestured to the long winding path ahead of them. Jimmy blinked. "When did that show up?" he muttered to himself.
The boy, who had already started running down the road, turned around and waved back at Jimmy. "Come on, hurry up fudge-boy! You wanna get somewhere too, don't ya?" he yelled.
Jimmy frowned, and rubbed his head. "Why does everyone keep calling me that..." he muttered to himself.
To be continued...
(AN: Sorry for yet another delay. As I'm wrapping this story up, I'm just trying to make sure everything ties together- at least a little. There were a lot of things I wanted to happen in this chapter, but I ended up deciding to put it in the next one, in the hope that it'll make a little more sense there.
PS: The appearance of 'the boy' is a crossover between this story, and another story I'm writing. Later on in the other story, you'll see the same scenes through the eyes of 'the boy'.)
Qirtz Azmi - I like Evil Jimmy a lot too, and I'm definately going to try and find a way to either have him make another appearence, or maybe just write a oneshot with him in it, about his time as ruler of 'Nega-Retroville'.
fanfictionstoryreviewer - So, the puddle of blood... Well, I have a fairly long and complicated explanation for that, surrounding the dark matter lore that I've made up for this story. Basically, concentrated dark matter tends to either take the form of thick black smoke, bolts of red lightning, or a crimson liquid. Eustace's dark matter power is strong enough for his very presence to produce massive amounts of all three kinds of the energy, causing what is known as a 'Crimson Storm', where the energies seem to spread out and swirl amongst each other, often resulting in massive changes in the very fabric of reality. The pool of 'blood' that Carl and Sheen noticed was simply a puddle of the red liquid energy that was raining from the sky.
Guest - Thank you. Hopefully, the upcoming chapters will continue to spark interest.
Guest - My apologies. I'm doing my best to untangle a mess of stories in my head, and type them up in a way that makes sense. And even after a lot of effort, it still seems to be in vain. It's probably going to continue to be a challenge for me as I go on, which means that chapter updates may very well take a while. I can only ask you to be patient.