Author's Note: Posted on this penname so people can't incorrectly state that I don't write. I do, primarily on two other pennames which I surmise no one has figured out.
Given the nature of this story, I doubt it'll receive any attention and therefore, shall linger here while the people who believe I have wronged them take cracks at it without reading first.
Dexter's Laboratory belongs to Gennedy Tartovsky and Jimmy Neutron belongs to John A. Davis and Nick. And really, doesn't a Jimmy Neutron and Dexter's Lab crossover make more sense than a Jimmy Timmy Power Hour? Honestly.
Chapter One: Foolish Endeavours
Working in his lab, Dexter wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and sighed, leaning against his latest contraption. It had taken him seven hours thus far and it wasn't anywhere near complete. While he relished the physical activity in addition to formulating the equations and drawing up blueprints, he knew that it, like everything else he invented, stood a fair chance of being destroyed by DeeDee. All the hours of work, a labor of love, would be for naught. His meddlesome sister; curse her!
The boy genius grimaced, surveying the devices she'd wrecked yesterday. He hadn't time to mend them and continue the other arduous tasks demanding his attention. Loathe though he was to admit it, he needed an assistant, but the memories of his last few ones weren't conducive to locating one. He also knew that if he attempted to locate one, Mandark would shut him and his lab down immediately, particularly if he knew the reason behind it involved DeeDee.
Overhead, his computer inquired gently and Dexter waved her off. He ought to develop her into a more powerful machine, capable of driving all intruders out, but whenever he had an idea for an invention; he forgot whatever else he was working on and delved into his work. While that meant his huge lab was filled with such creative output, it also meant that each and every device had the propensity to be destroyed.
The logical answer was to create a device capable of funneling his mind into a very narrow scope so he could eliminate the source of his problems, but like everything else, that had a drawback too. If he funneled his mind into such a diminutive area, the chances were he'd somehow blind himself to another important task. Everything he did somehow backfired on him, so if he desired to work on something, he had better think long and hard before he endeavored on it. The lack of foresight killed him every time.
"Deeeex-teeeer," an annoyingly high pitched voice chirped in his ear and he whirled, gloved hands clutching his latest device. DeeDee beamed stupidly at him and he grimaced, aware that there were many, many buttons for her to push and a multitude of things that could go "boom" and with them, send him skyrocketing into the ceiling. Dexter pancake. Not pretty.
"What is it?" Dexter retorted, eyes flashing. "Can't you see you're impeding science?"
"Oooh..." DeeDee said, grinning from ear to ear and eyes widened at the object in his hand. "What's that?"
"This?" Dexter attempted to conceal his creation, but it was too late. DeeDee had already spotted it and snatched it out of his hand before he could as much as protest. The horrible thing was if he "tattled" on her, his parents would insist he had to share. Him, share his inventions with his idiot sister? Not a chance.
The small metallic device bounced in her large hands and each time it did, Dexter's stomach lurched. This particular machine could create small wormholes and, in addition to enabling interdimensional travel, bring people out of their native worlds and into this one. Unlike his other interdimensional portal, this one filtered potentially dangerous creatures and prevented their entrance. Dexter had high hopes for it, but if DeeDee demolished it, he'd be thwarted before he even attempted it.
"Don't you have something better to do?" Dexter asked pointedly, jumping up to retrieve it but failing miserably thanks to their height difference. DeeDee hummed, dancing around nonchalantly and driving his temper higher. She tossed it from hand to hand like a juggler might and it nearly plummeted to the ground. In that instant, Dexter saw its life flashing before his eyes. The initial conception, scribbling madly to figure out just how it would work, drawing up the blueprints, ascertaining which materials would best serve him, tinkering with it...and then, like everything else, its eventual demise at DeeDee's hands.
"Maybe," DeeDee replied, bouncing gleefully and spinning around, her long legs threatening to demolish still more of his lab. Desperate, Dexter commanded the computer to avert her calamitous path, but the steel arms failed to reach their target. She played in his lab like it was a game. Like destroying his hard wrought inventions was a game. Dexter growled at the thought.
He had to escape her, if only momentarily. While the machine in her hands was far from complete, it might function well enough to provide a decent exit. Hopefully, whatever universe he landed in had the technology necessary to transport him home and maybe, just maybe, he'd locate a fellow scientist with whom to share his most brilliant ideas. There was never anyone here with whom he could speak other than Mandark and the two loathed each other.
"Oooh," DeeDee cried, dancing and whirling into a corner of his lab where his wires and power supply ran. In a dingy, dusty area dwelt the computer's off switch, which, if pushed, would shut it off and send the lab into chaos. Dexter really had to stop designing his lab like that. His lack of foresight was giving DeeDee easy maneuverability.
"What does that do?" she trilled and her finger hovered precariously over it. Tossing his device away like it was meaningless, she fingered the switch. Dexter lunged, barely catching his beloved creation and he cradled it to his chest. Unfortunately, he didn't have long to relish its safe return because about five seconds later, the lab was sent into a melt down thanks to DeeDee. Warning whistles, sirens, and booms filled the air and DeeDee, predictably, waltzed off into areas unknown.
"I have had it!" Dexter pronounced, slamming his device down by accident. "No more DeeDees, no more intrusions, no more unwanted guests in my laboratory! I have-"
A cloud of pink smoke enveloped him and the last thing he said before leaving this universe was a soft, "Uh-oh."
Jimmy Neutron, meanwhile, studied his latest invention at all angles and grinned at Goddard, who woofed enthusiastically back. This particular device would filter certain people whose name rhymed with "Immy Urner" from entering Retroville uninvited. After the last few "adventures", he'd rather dangle above hungry piranhas than deal with him again. In fact, he could think of a plethora of things he'd rather contend with than Timmy. Goddard had already drawn up an impressive list.
"A few more modifications and it ought to be complete," Jimmy said, wiping his brow. In a few hours, he had a date with Carl, Sheen, Libby, and Cindy at the Candy Bar and he preferred to complete as much as he could of the interdimensional modifier as possible. Unfortunately, pioneering it meant journeying into Dimmsdale to acquire a bit of Timmy's DNA to prevent him from dropping in. Jimmy shuddered at the thought of their last encounter. He must have been under the influence of heavy narcotics in the first place to consider befriending him.
Yanking a Purple Flurp out of the fridge, he popped the can open and sipped happily. He strolled over to his lab chair to enjoy a brief but well deserved rest while Goddard checked the preliminary functions of the device. It wouldn't do to affix it to the portal and then have the entire thing explode in a violent (but entertaining) fireworks display. He'd been much more careful lately with his inventions, since he knew that the slightest incorrect calculation or maladjustment could demolish everything. Also, Cindy had commenced to pick on him about it and reminded him of his various well intentioned but less than stellar in execution "Jim-tech".
Goddard's mini helicopter blades spun atop his head and he prodded the interdimensional portal with his snout. Jimmy grimaced, recalling Timmy slipping his insipid video game inside him and wreaking havoc with his beloved dog's programming. Well, with the completion of his new ancillary piece, he'd never have to worry about him or anyone else cropping up. No more ludicrous prestidigitation, trite yet realistic holograms and, above all, no more unwanted visitors. At the thought, Jimmy grinned and Goddard barked, affirming his master's cheeriness.
And Cindy, although she wasn't at the moment, would be all his.
"Well, this was unanticipated," Dexter remarked to himself and, in the void in which he found himself currently, his voice echoed. He could distinguish nothing and wherever he walked, the darkness consumed his path. He didn't dare retreat and thus, plodded miserably onward. A genius though he might be, he was only eight and more than a little afraid of the dark. It didn't help that no matter where he turned, there was nothing but it everywhere. And in his lab or his room, he never had to subsist in a pitch black locale.
Judging by the area surrounding him, beneath his panic, he deemed that he was in the space between dimensions. While titling it pacified him slightly, Dexter never thought terribly well under duress and now was no exception. For once, he would have given anything to have DeeDee beside him babbling incoherently. At least it'd eliminate the stark nothingness.
"Just because it is dark means nothing," he told himself. "After all, darkness is an essential component in many scientific things. Black holes, outer space...monstrous beings from other dimensions..."
Gulping, he spurted forward. Where was the proverbial light that people always went on about? Why on earth was it so confoundedly dark? Dexter's heart skipped a beat and he refrained from screaming, but it was exceedingly difficult. He was petrified.
Knees buckling, he mentally commanded himself to calm. While that might have worked with an older child, it did absolutely nothing to help in this instance. He heard, distantly, DeeDee crashing around his lab and Mandark arriving on the scene. He wanted to run in that direction, but he didn't know where it was anymore or his exact location. He couldn't tell which end was up.
"DeeDee?" Dexter cried. "Mandark? Computer? Anyone?"
No one. The infernal dark loomed and Dexter whimpered. Stubbornly stepping ahead, he hoped fervently he'd unearth some light sooner or later. Perhaps if he focused his energies on arriving at a destination, any destination, he'd depart from this hellish realm.
Shutting his eyes (since it made no difference where he opened them or not here), he concentrated hard on a lab. A lab included scientists, none of whom would scorn his infantile terror, he hoped. Especially since he planned to keep that his little secret. A lab also included technology with which he could use to return to his universe.
Barely audible, he heard a boom and shuddered. Perhaps he ought to postpone his return. He'd rather not bear witness to his lab's destruction.
"A lab...any lab at all...I'm not choosy...c'mon..."
A light enveloped him and Dexter found himself dumped unceremoniously onto a hard surface. Without preamble, too grateful to care that it was contrary to his nature, Dexter latched himself onto the first person he saw. He blathered on incoherently and a hand pushed him off.
"Goddard, I thought that the contraption was supposed to filter out unwelcome visitors," the boy said and Dexter glanced up, having his first look at Jimmy Neutron, boy genius.