Author's Note: Thanks for making me notice a mistake, snowboarder9. I went back and changed it so that Jimmy's always working on Mike.
Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron or any related characters.
It was around midnight when Cindy and Betty emerged from the jungle. Jimmy ran over to them.
"Where's Butch?" he nervously asked.
Cindy waited a moment before answering. "One problem at a time, Jimmy," she said as she handed him her backpack. They both ran back to Mike. Betty and Nick went to wake the camp. They crowded around Jimmy, Cindy, and Mike.
Jimmy opened the backpack and examined the tools that Cindy had brought back. Scissors, that's good. Some scrap metal, that won't help right now. Flashlight, that's going to come in handy. A sewing kit, that's what I'm talking about. "Good job, Cind," he told her. He gently kissed her cheek before setting to work.
"Shouldn't you boil that stuff or something?" she asked.
Jimmy shook his head. "No time. We're losing him fast," he told everyone.
The other thirty survivors anxiously looked on as Jimmy took the flashlight and shined it on Mike's wound. Jimmy smiled a little as he saw that no organs were punctured. He got out the sewing kit and began stitching the wound. Suddenly Mike stopped breathing. Jimmy desperately threw down his tools and began giving CPR. The entire camp held it's breath.
"Come on, come on," Jimmy whispered as he started the chest compressions. "We haven't come this close for you to die now." Jimmy gave two more rescue breaths. After another two cycles of breaths and compression Mike still wasn't breathing. "COME ON!" Jimmy angrily shouted as he punched Mike's chest.
After another few seconds Jimmy abruptly stopped. Everyone crowded a little closer as Jimmy sighed. He grabbed a nearby blanket and threw it over Mike. Jimmy stood up, running his hands through his air. He began walking down the beach, away from the camp.
"Jimmy!" Cindy shouted as she began to run after him.
Libby grabbed her arm. "No. He needs to handle this himself," she told Cindy.
Several hours later Jimmy came back to the camp. He noticed that all of the survivors were in the jungle. He walked over to them and saw that Mike was lying in a hole in the ground. Everyone was silently standing by. Cindy walked over to Jimmy.
"We're giving him a funeral. We thought that you should-," he told him.
Jimmy just nodded and stood behind the grave, facing the rest of the camp.
"Early this morning we lost our first classmate. His name was Michael Stephens. He gave his life trying to secure food for us. He died so that we might have a chance to live." Jimmy paused for a moment, trying to think of what else to say.
"Nine days ago we all crashed on this island. Thirty-three of us survived. We thought that this would be a fun little adventure for a day or two, and then we'd get rescued. If anything good came of Mike's death, it is that we now know the seriousness of this situation. No longer is this a game, but a fight for survival. We must all pitch in and work if we want to survive.
Thanks to Mike, we can put a human face on death. Thanks to him we now know what will happen if we're not careful. Thanks to Mike, we have motivation to live. Thirty-three of us survived, and now thirty-two live. And we're going to keep it that way.
So thanks, Mike. Thanks for giving your life so that we may live. Thanks for showing us that this isn't a game. May you rest in peace. Amen," Jimmy said. Everyone bowed their heads for a moment. Jimmy bent down and picked up a handful of dirt. He threw it in the grave. Everyone stepped forward and did the same.
As the crowd started to disperse Jimmy walked towards Cindy. He braced himself, knowing that the answer to this question would hurt. "What happened to Butch?"
Cindy sighed as she looked at Jimmy's tired face. She couldn't stand to break his heart. "He, he tripped and fell off a cliff on our way to the cockpit last night. He's gone."
Jimmy sat down on the ground and buried his head in his hands. He couldn't believe what was happening. "Thirty-one. Not thirty-two," he mumbled, before going back to the beach.
