Chapter 20- Battle for survival.

The machines surrounded the group, and Eustace laughed triumphantly. Jimmy looked around, but the genius could see no way out. Eustace had him well and truly beaten. Now all he could do was wait to die.

"Just end it Strych." Jimmy muttered calmly, and The General and Eustace looked shocked.

"Desperate for the end already Neutron?" Eustace said mockingly.

"You have us beaten, so just kill us." Jimmy said, in the same calm tones as before.

"Now Neutron, I have a weakness for dramatics. I want to see you mentally broken first, then you will die." Eustace stared at the group, they had huddled together so they had a better defence; but it still would not be enough to stop the machines.

"What are you going to do Eustace, you have tried to torture me mentally before remember? In the end we beat you, and you became as you are now. Why don't you just kill us?"

"I think I know how I can torture you Jimmy." The General pointed towards Cindy, and the machines fired into her stomach. The teenage girl gazed at hole in her chest in shock, and fell to the ground.

Time seemed to suddenly stop for Jimmy in that moment, Cindy had been shot. Suddenly nothing else mattered. Only the welfare of his girlfriend mattered now. Jimmy ran to her side, and stared at the wound. It was fatal; it would take amazing power to heal that kind of injury. Jimmy felt tears well up in his eyes, how could this happen to him? He loved Cindy more than life, so why did she have to be taken from him? It felt so unfair; Cindy was going to die.

"Jimmy." She whispered the genius's name quietly, and he bent down beside her.

"I'm here Cindy." Jimmy smiled, and took the teenage girl's hand.

"I love you Jimmy." Cindy's voice became fainter; she was going to die any second.

"I love you to Cindy, just stay with us a little longer." Cindy's emerald eyes, which normally burnt with such a strong fire, were shallow, weak, and fading by the minute. Jimmy began to cry, nobody deserved to lose somebody they loved so much like this.

Libby and Nick stared at the couple, and Nick took hold of Libby's hand. She smiled at the boy, and he returned the smile. Libby began to cry as well, Cindy was her best friend; and she was going to lose her.

Carl gazed at the scene, and fell down on his knees. Eustace had taken one his best friends from him, and the evil billionaire could only laugh. Tears fell freely from Carl's eyes.

Jimmy felt Cindy's pulse, and then it stopped. She was dead. Suddenly Jimmy remembered when him and Cindy first met.

Six year old Jimmy Neutron walked into Retroville Park, and noticed a blond haired girl on the swings. He walked over to her, and thought that the girl was very pretty.

"Hi I'm Jimmy Neutron, what's your name?" The girl stared at him, smiled and then replied.

"My name is Cindy, Cindy Vortex." Jimmy smiled.

"I like that name, it has a certain ring to it." Jimmy looked thoughtful.

"I like your name as well, Jimmy." Cindy smiled.

"Jimmy and Cindy." Jimmy said thoughtfully, and he smiled at the girl.

"That sounds nice, Jimmy and Cindy. Sounds like something that could be said years from now, almost as if we're destined to get married or something." Cindy stared straight into Jimmy's eyes.

"Yeah, that would be nice." Cindy walked away, and Jimmy stared at her. For the first time he had a really good feeling about moving to Retroville, he was going to have a lot of fun.

Jimmy cried beside Cindy's dead body for minutes, but for the young genius it felt like hours of emotional torment.

"I told you I could hurt you Neutron." Eustace stated simply. Jimmy turned to look at his nemesis with rage in his eyes.

"You took her from me." He said plainly, his voice was empty and emotionless.

"What are you going to do?" Eustace challenged the genius.

"I loved her, and now she's gone." Jimmy let the tears flow from his face, and he turned to face Nick.

"Nick cover the others in a shield with your generators." Nick stared blankly at Jimmy.

"Why?"

"Just do it, and look after Libby." Jimmy turned to face Eustace and The General. "This is what I'm going to do." Jimmy placed his generators together, and held his arms up in the air. A light emitted from the blue devices, and then a massive explosion came from them. Nick and the others were blinded by the light as it grew brighter, until the dust cleared. Nick spotted Jimmy on the ground; the genius hadn't been able to shield himself. The group rushed over to their friend as fast as possible.

Jimmy was badly scarred, and he didn't appear to be breathing.

"Don't let him be dead." Carl prayed, as the group waited to see whether Jimmy would wake up. Suddenly the genius choked, and stood up. He rushed towards Cindy's body, and blasted her with his generators. The three friends stood confused as Jimmy blasted the body repeatedly.

"What's he doing?" Carl asked quietly.

"He's using his generators to see of he can revive her." Libby answered, and the friends waited with baited breath to find out whether Jimmy could bring Cindy back or not.

Jimmy stared at Cindy's motionless body, and knew what he had to do. He summoned all of his generators remaining power, and fed it into Cindy's heart. Jimmy concentrated, as he manipulated the raw energy to heal his girlfriends wound. Cindy suddenly spluttered, and woke up!

"Jimmy!" She shouted, and ran over to hug him. Tears began to once more pour down Jimmy's face.

"What's the matter?"

"I thought I'd lost you." He whispered softly.

"I'm alive." She said happily.

"And so am I." A chilling voice from behind them said.

The group turned to come to face to face with Eustace and The General once more.

"A brave attempt Neutron, but a foolish one." Jimmy let his generators drop the ground, they were completely drained.

"Jimmy catch!" Nick threw the genius his own generators.

"Are you sure?" The teenage genius asked.

"Yeah, I prefer laser swords anyway." Nick said confidently as he drew out a sword.

"I'll finish you all off myself." The General said, and he stepped forward.

"Carl, Libby defend the city. Cindy, Nick; lets end this." Jimmy said, and the three friends stepped forward to face The General in one final confrontation.

A.N. Cliffhanger! Don't worry I wasn't really going to kill Cindy, not for the minute anyway! One maincharacter won't make it to the end of the story though! Only about 10 more chapters before the final story will be released! I'm taking all suggestions on what it will be called, and who dies at the end of Rising Darkness! Make them in your review, or on my new forum! That's what it is there for!