Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or any related characters.
Jimmy awoke a few moments later, still in a state of shock. She kissed me! She kissed ME! Jimmy started hopping around and shouting "Yes!" He heard a branch snap behind him. He turned around and saw Cindy staring at him, clutching her sides and bent over laughing.
"I, uh, there was, uh, oh forget it. You kissed me and I'm happy, ok?" Jimmy shouted.
"Anyway, I got some food and water. I'll get to work on building us a shelter. Just get started on your lab so we can find out who's behind all of this," Cindy told him as she turned around and walked off. Jimmy couldn't help but stare at her as she walked away.
"Turn around and get to work, Jimmy," Cindy yelled without even looking behind her. Man, how does she do that? Jimmy thought as he got to work.
Three hours later Jimmy finally turned around from his work and saw a nice little campsite a few hundred yards away. Cindy had got a small fire going, and she had made a very small and primitive hut. Jimmy walked over and started checking things out. "Very nicely done, Cindy," he told her.
"Thanks Jimmy. How is your lab coming along?" she asked while leaning against a tree.
"I did the best I could with the supplies I had with me. Tomorrow I'll get to work on solving this mystery. What do you have for dinner?"
Cindy walked over and handed him some coconuts. Jimmy split them open with the laser on his watch. They sat on a log and watched the sun set.
"Major deja vu, huh?" Jimmy asked while grabbing her hand.
"Yep," Cindy replied while thinking of a similar situation that they were in three years ago. "You know, I still have that pearl that you gave me on the island," Cindy said.
"I can't believe you kept that," Jimmy said while shaking his head and smiling.
"Well, don't read too much into it. It's a pearl, not a flower," Cindy joked.
After a couple of hours of staring off into the distance in silence, Jimmy got up and walked over to the shelter Cindy had made. "I'm tired Cindy. See you in the morning," Jimmy said as he covered himself with a blanket.
"I'll be in in a few minutes," she told him. "Don't wet the bed, you'll ruin your eight year streak," Cindy yelled at him.
"I won't," he said as he closed his eyes. A second later they shot open. "Hey! That was a major violation of... well, ok. But we're even now, got it?" Jimmy shouted while covering his head with the blanket.
"Fine with me," Cindy said while laughing. After finishing sipping the milk from a coconut she walked over to the shelter and laid down a few feet away from Jimmy before falling asleep.
Cindy woke up the next morning and looked at her watch. 10:30! She thought. She didn't usually oversleep this much. She hopped off of the floor and went over to a pile of clothes in the corner. She started to change her clothes when Jimmy walked in.
"You up yet Cin- OH MY GOD! I am so sorry!" Jimmy yelled as he walked into the hut.
"Get out!' Cindy yelled as she covered herself with the blanket. Luckily she hadn't been completely naked.
"Of course," Jimmy said as he ran outside. "I am so sorry. I thought you would have come to see me before you dressed up. I should have knocked. I swear I didn't see, uh, much," Jimmy tried to explain. After a couple of moments Cindy walked out of the hut and gave him a glare.
"Here, erase it," Jimmy said as he handed her the hypno-beam. "Unless you don't want to, I mean, you don't have to erase it," Jimmy said while shrugging his shoulders and giving her a sheepish grin.
"Just shut up," Cindy said as she grabbed the hypno-beam and fired it. "You will forget the last five minutes and awaken when I snap my fingers," she commanded. She snapped her fingers and Jimmy woke up.
"What the, how did I get to the hut?" he asked with a confused look on his face.
"Never mind, just take me to your lab and show me your progress," Cindy said with a scowl.
"Uh, sure," Jimmy replied, still confused by what was going on. Within a minute the two teens were at his makeshift lab. "Well, I tried to tap into the cameras I have around Retroville."
Cindy gave him a cold stare. "Don't worry, they're not in anyone's houses or anything, just on street corners and stuff," he explained while inputting a command on the computer. "Luckily, I had one in the vicinity of one of the crime scenes. I might be able to access my files and figure out who the killer is," Jimmy said while pressing some more buttons.
All of a sudden an image appeared on screen. It was pretty fuzzy. "Why is it of so low quality?" she asked Jimmy.
"Hey, I'm doing the best I can with the equipment I brought with me. Plus, this happened at dusk, so the video will be dark. I can't believe that I never put a night vision feature on those cameras," he said as he hit himself on the head.
Jimmy pressed a button on his makeshift computer. All of a sudden the image started moving. In the distance Jimmy and Cindy could see a young woman walking through the park. It looked to be about seven o' clock, and it was pretty dark. She sat down on a bench and stared at the fountain. After a couple of minutes another figure walked up and pulled out a gun and shot her with it. He dropped the gun and ran off as the girl's body went limp.
"That poor woman," Cindy said.
"Yes, but did you see that he, or she, dropped the gun? I'll bet that it has my DNA on it somehow. Let me rewind and zoom in on the murderer," Jimmy said as he pushed a few more buttons. The mysterious figure was positioned on the center of the screen. Jimmy zoomed in as much as he could before the image got too fuzzy. "Ok, he looks a couple of inches taller than me," he said as he wrote that down in a notebook.
"Jimmy, does is having your DNA on the gun really enough evidence for them to arrest you?" Cindy asked.
"I don't know. It doesn't seem like enough to incriminate me. Why don't you go have some breakfast or something? I'm going to see if I can hack further into my lab's files. Maybe there's something I can use in there," Jimmy said as he buried his head in his hands.
"Alright, I'll check back in a little while. Don't give up," Cindy said as she kissed him on the cheek. She then walked back to the hut, ready to have something to eat.
Jimmy smiled for a moment before returning to his work. Figures. We finally get together and the police want me for murder. That kind of thing happens way too often.
After another hour of flipping switches and turning knobs Cindy returned to him. He turned around and stared at her. "Wow!"
Cindy had just come back from a swim and was in her bathing suit. "What is it?" she asked.
"Well, there was a rare toucan," he started. Oh for god's sake, she already kissed you. Enough denying things. "You just look really nice, that's all," he stuttered.
Cindy was a little surprised, but then again nothing was normal about this adventure. "So, any progress?" she asked.
"A little. I was able to hack into another crime scene's video. The one we saw earlier was his first murder, so he wasn't as experienced. This one should reveal more about how he framed me," Jimmy explained as he pulled up a file. He hit the play button and watched as the mysterious figure came into view.
This murder also took place at night, but it was close to a streetlight. "Ah, this is much better," Jimmy said as the victim came on the screen. He could see her a lot clearer than the first woman. Just then a masked person started sneaking up behind her. He was hunched down a little bit. The footage was fuzzy, but Jimmy could still see him pretty clearly. He put his hand around her mouth and stabbed her in her side several times. After she went limp in his arms he tossed her to the ground. The masked figure took a look around. He took a plastic bag out from his pocket and emptied its contents onto the woman.
"What is that stuff?" Cindy questioned.
"Let's see," Jimmy replied as he zoomed in on the bag's contents. "It looks like, yes, it's my hair," Jimmy said.
He pressed the play button and continued watching the video. Jimmy saw the man in the mask pull out a note from his pocket and place it in the victim's hands.
"What does it say?" Cindy asked Jimmy. He just shook his head.
"I'll never be able to zoom in enough to read it in this scene," he said. He fast forwarded the video until the cops came onto the scene the next day. One of them took the note from the woman. He carefully opened it with his gloved hands. He walked a little closer to the camera and turned his back to it. Jimmy could see the writing over the cop's shoulders. Jimmy paused it and zoomed in. He could read what the letter said.
You thought that I was nothing. You refused to respect me. You assumed that I was worthless because I'm just a kid. I'll show you all. Never again will you think that I am not a threat. That's four girls down, and there'll be a lot more. So keep your eyes peeled. I'll be lurking in the shadows, always watching you. Lock your doors and keep your guns loaded, because I'll kill again. I will never stop.
My name will be as well known as Jack the Ripper. Children will shudder in fear when they hear it. A never ending game of cat and mouse has begun. You will never escape my terror. My thirst for blood will never be quenched. Let the games begin.
Sincerely yours,
The Cutting Kid
"Well, that's very disturbing," Jimmy said as he finished reading the letter. "No wonder those FBI agents tried to kill me. This guy is a monster." Cindy nodded her head in agreement.
"So, let's go over what we know about this guy," Cindy suggested.
"Good idea," Jimmy replied. "He is trying to frame me for five brutal murders"
"He is a little taller than you," Cindy piped in.
"He somehow got my hair," Jimmy added.
"He likes to toy with the police," Cindy continued.
"Plus, he's trying to frame me specifically. It must be one of my enemies," Jimmy suggested as Cindy nodded. "Baby Eddie is obviously not a suspect. Professor Calamitous is too short. Beautiful gorgeous is too tall. Grandma Taters is too obese. The junkman doesn't fit the description. Maybe it's Nick," Jimmy said.
"Jimmy, you know that Nick is not smart enough to do all of this," Cindy reminded him.
"That's true. But who does that leave?" Jimmy asked.
"Eustace Strytch!" they both exclaimed at the same time.
"Besides, he lives near Retroville, which is where the murders happened!" Cindy shouted.
"That's gr- bad!" Jimmy said while lowering his head.
"Why?" Cindy asked.
"We'd practically be returning to the scene of the crime. It'll be hard to evade the police.
"Jimmy, we can do this. Besides, at least we have friends in Retroville," Cindy said.
"Ok, let's leave in the morning," Jimmy said angrily. He killed five innocent people and destroyed my good name. He will pay.