A/N: Eh, so, I have so many ideas for one-shots floating around my head that I just have to knock them out one by one. Especially before I lose my writing Muse again for months on end. Anyway, review reply time!
ROCuevas: Thank you kindly!
Guest 1: Their date at the Candy bar, huh. Not a bad idea to be honest. I could do that.
Guest 2: You do? Then I might just finish writing it!
braygirl: Thank you very much! I try to be descriptive without going overboard with it as that can get annoying. I like to let people visualize some aspects on their own, after all.
Cutie5: Thank you for your kind review and you are welcome! I am glad to fulfill the canon-age stories that some people, like us, prefer. There's a whole lot to explore with that, but some people just like writing high school stuff, which is boring and overdone to me.
Well, I didn't think the scenes were that good, even though I try my best to stick to the show in a lot of ways, but I do go outside of it for certain aspects. Anyway, you're in luck, here's another one-shot for you to enjoy.
So this is a sort of one-shot series within a one-shot series where they travel to different dimensions just to be curious. And because they have nothing better to do, ha ha. I have a bunch of different dimension ideas, but feel free to toss some my way.
This one is about as much as the dimension as it is about Jimmy and Cindy because they are just too cute to write about, I can't help it.
Story 5: Dimension Troubles
Dimension 1: The Cool Kid
A soft zhing sound reverberated across Retroville Park as two young figures materialized out of thin air near the center fountain. Both of them ended up landing on their rear ends as they fell a couple of feet to the ground, causing them to groan.
"I guess I still need to calibrate the Dimensional Transporter to a more accurate trajectory," Jimmy said and stood up, offering a hand to Cindy who accepted it
"Gee, you think?" Cindy said sarcastically as she looked around at their surroundings. "So, where the heck are we, anyway?"
"I'm not sure, but it's clear we're in Retroville," Jimmy responded as he looked around as well, noting the time of day as he looked up into the night sky. "Judging on the position of the stars, I'd say it's a little after ten here."
"Ten? We left around four in the afternoon, how could it be ten here?" Jimmy just shrugged in response.
"Different dimension, different rules I suppose. We'll have to set up camp somewhere until morning," Jimmy stated as he grabbed Cindy's hand and began leading her towards the wooded area of the park.
"Why can't we just go to our houses? We could sneak in and sneak out before our counterparts wake up," she suggested.
"Come on Cindy, you're smarter than that! It's too risky. They must never know we are here unless it is an emergency, understand? I explained the rules before we left. I know it's not like time travel where we could mess up the timeline, but we could unbalance these dimensions if we're not careful. We're just here to observe, anyway," Jimmy explained as he and Cindy found a decent spot to camp in for the night. The young genius pulled out his Hypercube from his backpack and started emptying it of the camping gear he had packed.
"Well, this whole thing was my idea to begin with, don't I get a say in anything?" Cindy grumbled as she helped Jimmy prepare their camp.
"Of course you do! You always get a say, but when it comes to our safety, you tend to be a bit more… 'carefree' shall we say?"
"And what do you mean by 'carefree' exactly?!" Cindy growled with a scowl adorning her face as she set up the sleeping bags.
"Look, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it has certainly helped us a lot in the past, but in this instance, please follow my rules for this?" Jimmy pleaded and finished setting up the fire pit. "I don't want you to get hurt because of a stupid miscalculation or misunderstanding. We don't know anything about these dimensions other than the fact that they are in Retroville. For all we know, you or I could be a wanted criminal in this one! So just…" He could not finish his sentence, instead he started using vague gestures to try and get his point across.
Cindy sighed but conceded to his point. Jimmy had always been the more cautious of the two of them when it came to dangerous situations, while she had been more 'jump headfirst into a problem' to try and solve them. It had saved their butts several times, like he had mentioned, but in cases like this, caution was the more preferable option.
"Alright, I see your point," she said and sat down next to him in front of the fire that now burned in the fire pit and leaned up against him. He put an arm around her waist as he prepared the meals that were brought with them with one hand.
"Don't worry, we'll probably end up needing your 'expertise' in at least one of these dimensions," Jimmy said with a chuckle. Cindy just rolled her eyes.
They ate their meals in silence, both lost in their current comfort and thoughts before Cindy broke it with a question.
"So, what do you think we'll find in this dimension?" Cindy asked.
"I'm not sure. It could be anything. Current dimensional theory suggests that one random variable change in one dimension causes it to separate to create a whole new one. So, even the most minute of choices will cause a dimensional split. There could be an infinite number of dimensions, and a lot of them will more than likely end up resembling our own, just with small twists to them," he explained as he polished off his meal and threw the biodegradable container into the fire. Cindy hummed in response before letting out a short laugh as she, too, tossed her container into the fire.
"Does that mean you could be popular and not a total nerd in some of them?" Cindy asked with an amused grin. Jimmy grimaced before lightly glaring at his amused girlfriend, but answered her regardless.
"Gee, thanks, shows just how much you love me, huh?"
"Aw, you know I love messing with you, Jimmy. Besides, you've brought out my inner nerd and I've learned to embrace it, that has to count for something," she replied, poking him lightly in the nose. He could not help but grin and laughed a bit at the ticklish feeling.
"I guess it does! But to answer your question, it's a distinct possibility, yes. There's also the possibility that I am a total drool monkey in some of them." Cindy let out a put-upon sigh at the memory of him draining his own mind.
"Please don't remind me of the time we almost died because you decided to become an even bigger idiot than our friends," Cindy said and Jimmy frowned.
"Hey, that wasn't my intention! And Carl and Sheen aren't that stupid." Jimmy defended and Cindy gave him a deadpan look.
"Just last week Sheen convinced Carl that sticking crayons up your nose and spinning around in circles three times would summon a fairy godmother who can grant you any wish you want," she said in a monotone voice and the young genius rubbed the back of his neck as a wave of secondhand embarrassment ran through him.
"Point taken. Anyway, you're curious about my counterparts, but I'm equally curious about yours and our friends' counterparts. Who knows what we will come across with them," he said and lifted an eyebrow at seeing the smile on Cindy's face grow. "Just what are you thinking about?"
"Just imagining you as one of the popular kids is all," she said and giggled and Jimmy sighed.
"We may come across it, but that's never going to happen in our dimension. Not that I care one atom about popularity in the first place, it's just an asinine human construct used to demoralize the larger minority of people and has zero benefits to the world of science," he explained with a roll of the eyes. "Anyway, we should get some sleep, we're going to need it." Jimmy stood up and offered a hand to Cindy who took it.
"But I'm not even tired!" Cindy complained as she dusted off her pants.
"I know, the time difference is going to cause jet lag, but I came prepared for that eventuality," he said and pulled out a bottle of pills from his Hypercube.
"Oh no bucko, I am not taking some unknown pills that you created!" Jimmy just gave her a half-lidded look.
"They're just Melatonin capsules," he said without emotion. 'That I modified to be stronger,' he silently thought with a mental chuckle. Cindy let out a nervous laugh.
"Oh, heh, sorry. Hand me one, then." They each took a pill and swallowed them before heading over to the sleeping bags that Cindy had laid out earlier. Jimmy noticed how close together they were and lifted a questioning eyebrow at his girlfriend.
"What? There's not that much space around here," she tried to explain, but Jimmy looked around the rather large area before sighing and giving in.
After a quick kiss goodnight, they crawled into their respective sleeping bags and shifted around to get comfortable in them.
Before he drifted off into dreamland, Jimmy felt Cindy drape an arm around him as she sought out and clutched his hand, interlacing their fingers. He smiled at the soft sigh of contentment from her as Morpheus finally claimed him.
"Why are we here at the butt crack of dawn, again?" Cindy grumbled in complaint as Jimmy disengaged his jetpack after landing on the concrete below them.
"You wanted a shower, right? We'll have to use the school's showers before the faculty shows up," Jimmy explained as he began searching for a way into Lindbergh Elementary School as Cindy tailed after him, a grumpy look on her face.
"Yeah, but at five in the morning?"
"If this dimension is even somewhat similar to ours, the school staff won't show up until around six-thirty if we're lucky. Bingo!" Jimmy exclaimed as he found their way in. "They left a window cracked open." He pushed it up and the two preteens hopped into the dark, deserted classroom. The young genius pulled up his newly installed flashlight from his watch and guided their way through the room and out into the hallway beyond.
"Okay, the building's infrastructure looks like an exact copy of our's from what I can tell so far, so the gym showers should be in the same spot as well," he said as he guided Cindy by hand through the dark building. They soon found the showers and Jimmy handed her a bottle of all-in-one wash and a change of clothes from the Hypercube before grabbing his own.
"Alright, hold up! One, why do I have to use this hospital crap? And two, why do you have my clothes in there?" Jimmy let out a sigh.
'She's really not a morning person, is she?' Jimmy thought.
"Because that 'hospital crap' is better to use when we're out in the middle of nowhere or somewhere out in space than normal hygiene products as they do not require water to use. And because I asked all of you a while ago to give me extra pairs of your clothes to change into when needed, remember?" Jimmy explained, using air quotes as he said 'hospital crap'.
"Oh, right, sorry, it slipped my mind," Cindy apologized with a yawn. "Sorry for being a grouch, I don't usually wake up earlier than seven-thirty." Jimmy chuckled a bit.
"It's alright, maybe the shower will wake you up a bit." With that, the two split to take their respective showers.
Not too long after that, the two of them were sitting in a secluded spot on the playground clean and refreshed as Jimmy prepared some breakfast.
"I honestly didn't even know you could cook, Jimmy," Cindy said as she ate the simple egg sandwiches he had created for the two of them.
"Eh, when you work late in a lab some nights, you learn to make basic stuff," he explained with a small shrug before digging into his own sandwich.
"Makes sense. So what's the plan here? I know you don't want us to be seen, so how are you going to accomplish that?" Cindy asked.
"I added a cloaking device to my watch that will allow us to turn invisible to everyone else but each other. It also masks sound and scent," Jimmy replied, polishing off his breakfast and drinking his bottle of orange juice.
"Scent?" Cindy asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why scent?"
"You never know! Dimensional changes don't have to just happen in recent times, the changes could have happened at any point in the universe's history, so we may come across humans that have the olfactory capabilities of a cat or dog, or human-dog people or something," he said. Cindy laughed a bit after she finished her sandwich.
"Human-dog people? Akin to Anubis? That would be hilarious!" Jimmy smiled and shook his head.
"I was envisioning people who were like werewolves, to be honest." He let out a howl and they both cracked up, quieting down as the sounds of cars and people started to become louder.
"Looks like the staff has arrived. Now, the cloaking device will only last six hours before it has to recharge, so we'll have to leave around noon for two hours before we can use it again. I'm working on extending its battery life, but it's slow going," Jimmy explained before activating the device.
"Wait, how do you know it's working if we can see each other," Cindy asked skeptically. Jimmy pointed to his arm as he held it up.
"Do you see a faint red outline?"
"Yeah," Cindy responded as she squinted, barely seeing the red outline her boyfriend mentioned.
"That means it's working. Now come on, let's head to the front of the school and play a card game while we wait on the students to show up," Jimmy stated and stood up, pulling Cindy up with him. He knew he did not have to do that, but the young genius took any opportunity to hold his girlfriend's hand.
They walked hand-in-hand to an out-of-the-way area by the steps and started playing various card games from the deck of cards he brought with him.
The two of them were in the middle of a heated game of War when the first students started to arrive. Jimmy swiftly put away his deck of cards before he and Cindy stood up in haste, peering around the staircase.
No one they knew personally was there yet, but that was no surprise. It was not until fifteen minutes later that they spotted Cindy's counterpart as she arrived on a bicycle. She did not seem that much different other than the fact that she slipped into the school unnoticed by everyone else without saying a word to anyone.
"Huh. That was weird. Am I a complete outcast here?" Cindy remarked with her eyebrows furrowed in contemplation.
"I dunno, we'll probably find out later. Look, there's Sheen, Carl, and Libby," Jimmy pointed out, pointing a finger at the three kids walking down the sidewalk talking to each other. From what he could see, Sheen was holding some sort of thick book under his arm, though it did not look like an educational book.
"I'm hoping he will sign my Ultra Lord: Art of the Series: Part 1 today! It has five hundred pages of glorious art detailing the creation from the two pilots all the way to episode 700! Part 2 hasn't come out, yet, but I'm hoping it will soon," Sheen exclaimed excitedly.
"I dunno, Sheen, he's a nice guy, but autographs? He might say no, so don't get your hopes up," Libby said as she readjusted her backpack.
"I agree with Libby," Carl said.
"You always agree with Libby, Carl," Sheen grumbled, clutching his book closer to himself.
Jimmy and Cindy looked at one another with raised eyebrows.
"I wonder who they are talking about?" Cindy asked as they watched Sheen and Carl get into a verbal argument. "And why am I not hanging with Libby?"
"Different dimension, different rules. And we'll find out soon, I imagine," Jimmy responded with what he said earlier. Their waiting did not last long as the sound of a motorcycle in the distance drew the attention of every student that was currently outside, and Cindy noticed the excited looks on the faces of most of the student population.
"He's almost here!" One student shouted in excitement. Excited chatter rang through the courtyard as an expensive-looking Harley-Davidson pulled up, holding two riders. Jimmy and Cindy's mouths dropped open in astonishment when they saw who it was.
"That's your dad! If that's him, then that must mean the kid riding with him is…"
"Me," Jimmy finished as his counterpart hopped off the motorcycle and took off his helmet, tossing his head back to flip his hair into a loose style. He handed the helmet to his father, gave him a fist bump, and turned around amidst excited cheering as his father took off.
Cindy noted the stylish sapphire-colored long-sleeved shirt and the comfortable-looking black slacks her boyfriend's counterpart was wearing.
"Wow, you look hot in that! We're definitely going shopping when we get back," Cindy stated, ogling the other Jimmy as her Jimmy growled in jealousy.
"Hey, eyes off the prize there, Vortex, he's not your boyfriend!"
"Oh don't get your underwear in a twist, I know that," Cindy said with a roll of her eyes.
They watched as Jimmy's counterpart strolled up towards the school with a confident swagger, though there was a friendly smile on his face.
"James! Hi James!"
"How are you doing today, James? Need any help carrying your backpack?"
"I LOVE YOU, JAMES!"
Jimmy looked at Cindy with a raised eyebrow as more and more kids called out to his counterpart.
"What was that you were saying about popularity last night?"
"Huh, I must be psychic," Cindy said with a smirk, though Jimmy just snorted.
"Highly unlikely. Still, this is fascinating! How all this attention doesn't rattle my counterpart's nerves confuses me, but he must be used to it. Oh, look, Sheen is approaching him. Let's go in closer and watch." They quickly followed behind Sheen and stood nearby as the hyperactive boy vibrated with excitement. The two of them heard Libby sigh in resignation.
"James! James! Could you please sign my Ultra Lord: Art of the Series: Part 1? I'll do whatever you want for a week if you do!" James just smiled and chuckled.
"That won't be necessary, Sheen. Here, hand me your book," he said with kindness and pulled out a fancy-looking pen, signing the inside cover of the enormous book with a fancy scrawl. He surrounded his signature of 'JAMES NEUTRON' with his famous atom symbol, which Jimmy and Cindy now realized were on the inside cufflinks of his shirt.
"YES! You're the best, James!" Sheen shouted before noticing the jealous glares of the other students. "Back, back you fiends! This is mine! AAAHHHH!" He suddenly started running as an angry mob of kids gave chase, trying to take his art book. They nearly ran into the invisible duo, so they stepped behind Jimmy's counterpart for safety. Said counterpart just sighed and shook his head before heading inside the school, pausing to give good mornings to Libby and Carl.
Jimmy and Cindy tagged behind him in pursuit.
"Well, this is interesting so far," Cindy commented.
"I'll say. Seems like I go by my actual name here, too. Let's see what happens next." They followed James to his locker, noticing that he had the same setup as Jimmy's. What happened next shocked the both of them speechless as Nick Dean approached him.
"Hey, Jim, what's up, man?" Nick asked and leaned up against the lockers. James looked up at him with an enormous smile.
"Nick! Buddy!" James exclaimed, holding out a fist to Nick as they performed a personal handshake that clearly had been done multiple times. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, dude, but I'm surprised you aren't here with your girlfriend. Wasn't she supposed to walk to school with you today?" Jimmy and Cindy could see the minute scowl on Nick's face as he mentioned James' girlfriend.
James sighed and shook his head.
"Yeah, she was supposed to, but she's been so moody lately that I've been avoiding her as much as possible," he explained as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"I warned you about that girl, man. She's an angel on the outside, but an absolute devil on the inside. And her reputation as the 'Dumpster' is totally true, you know," Nick explained as he pulled out a sucker and began sucking on it. "As soon as she gets what she wants from you, she'll dump you in a humiliating fashion."
"You know I don't follow rumors, Nick. Most of them end up false anyway. Besides, other than this past week with her mood swings, she hasn't done a single thing to make me question her motives," Jimmy said as he closed his locker door.
"Yet! Look, dude, I'm just looking out for you. I don't want to see my best bud hurt, ya know? Just do me a favor and keep an eye on her, okay? For me?" Nick pleaded as he put a hand on James' shoulder. James sighed and nodded as he and Nick began walking to their class, Jimmy and Cindy on their heels.
"Alright, but I'm telling you it's all just rumors. Betty and I haven't had any major issues in our relationship." Both Jimmy and Cindy skidded to a halt hearing that, letting the two guys ahead of them walk away out of their sight.
"BETTY?!" Cindy shouted in fury and nearly deafened poor Jimmy as he tried to cover his ears.
"Ow! Cindy! Why are you getting so upset? That's not even me!"
"It is in a way! What the heck is he, you, whatever, doing dating Ms. I'm-So-Perfect?!"
"I'm certain I don't know! Now please, calm down, this is a completely different dimension, remember? We'll just follow them around and see what's going to happen. Besides, if what Nick says is true, my counterpart may not be with Betty for much longer," Jimmy said trying to calm down the raging tornado that was his girlfriend. He grabbed her hands and massaged the back of them with his thumbs, which had the effect he was looking for. She took a few deep breaths and finally relaxed.
"You're right, I'm sorry. I just can't stand the thought of you dating her, different dimension or not," she stated and hugged Jimmy seeking more comfort. He returned the hug without complaint.
"And I'm sorry for getting jealous earlier. Now come on, let's get to their classroom and keep an eye on our counterparts," Jimmy said as he reluctantly broke out of the hug.
"Alright, but can we stop at the bathrooms first? I kind of need to go," Cindy asked as she shifted from foot to foot. Jimmy furrowed his eyebrows as he just now noticed his own need for relief.
"I do too, actually, so yes, let's go."
After relieving themselves, they quickly went in search of, hopefully, Ms. Fowl's classroom. When they came upon the door they were looking for, they peered in, thankful it was open, and gazed around to not only see Winifred Fowl but their counterparts as well.
They stepped in and stood in the front corner of the classroom to keep watch. Cindy nudged Jimmy and pointed to the Cindy that was sitting clear at the back of the class.
"Look, there's my counterpart," Cindy said.
"Yeah, I wonder why she sits at the back of the class?" Jimmy pondered as he studied the other Cindy, noting the undertone of sadness and loneliness on her face as she stared straight ahead into the back of his counterpart.
Cindy, however, picked up on the look of longing as well.
'Well, seems someone has a crush on this dimension's Jimmy. Ugh, just wish he wasn't with that bimbo,' Cindy thought sourly.
"I dunno. Like I said, maybe this Cindy is an outcast for some reason. Perhaps we should split up and tail them separately for the day and then meet up at noon out front?" Cindy suggested with a shrug and Jimmy hummed in thought.
"That should be fine, actually. As long as we're within a mile of each other, the cloaking device will keep us hidden. Alright, you follow your counterpart and I'll follow mine once class lets out for lunch and recess."
The two of them stood through some of the morning lesson with boredom. It did not take long for them to sit on the floor and relax against the back wall, leaning against each other. At some point, Jimmy started to gently stroke Cindy's hair to give his hands something to do, much to her enjoyment.
They did, however, learn that this dimension's Jimmy was indeed a genius, but he was far more humble and down to Earth about it.
"If only you were like this," Cindy said with a snort, but leaned back feeling blissful as Jimmy combed through her hair with his fingers.
"Hey, I wasn't much of a show-off until you moved in. Besides, I was trying to impress you, I think," Jimmy said as he thought back to when Cindy first moved to Retroville.
"R-really? Well, I hate to admit it, but it did work, I guess."
"It did?" Jimmy asked with a bit of surprise.
"Mm-hm, though I think I let my pride get in the way of my actual feelings on the matter for the longest time, so I turned it into a competition between us instead," Cindy explained, half-listening to the lesson going on around them.
"So what happened to change that? Enlighten me because I'm curious," Jimmy asked as he was now playing with her hair after taking it out of its ponytail that she always kept it in.
"Honestly? I don't know, it was a gradual thing, so I can't exactly pinpoint when my feelings started to change, but I do know they began to get stronger after that love potion incident," she explained, fully enjoying the sensations that Jimmy was giving her. She and Libby used to do this kind of thing all the time, but it was a rarity anymore. Thankfully her boyfriend was up to the task as he loved to stroke and play with her hair as though he were completely fascinated by it.
Jimmy winced at the memory of the love potion.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, by the way, especially about ejecting you from my lab like that. I know it probably hurt you," Jimmy apologized with a sigh.
"I won't lie and say that it didn't, because it definitely did. Just do me a favor and never create anymore love potions from here on out, got it?"
"Trust me, I learned my lesson from that," Jimmy said with a chuckle. "To be honest, I was going to use it to create an antidote so that Carl, Sheen, and I would never be able to fall in love." Cindy whipped around and stared Jimmy dead in the eyes with a small glare.
"Seriously?! Were you that afraid of girls that you would make something so immoral and disgusting?" Jimmy held up his hands in defense.
"Hey, I wasn't completely mature about it then! And I wasn't afraid of girls, it was being in a relationship that terrified me," Jimmy explained.
"But you were crushing on Quinlan at that point!" Cindy snarled as she crossed her arms. They were completely ignoring the classroom noise behind them, lost in their own world.
"Crush? Yes. In love? No. I just wanted her attention, I never wanted to date her." Cindy just blinked in shock.
"Really?" Cindy asked softly. Jimmy gently grasped her face in his hands.
"Really." He brought her close and kissed her tenderly. She shifted closer and pulled him against her as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He moved his hands and placed them on her upper back, using the opportunity to gently and slowly massage the area and her shoulders.
They were about to deepen the kiss when the school bell rang, startling them so bad they ended up bumping heads and falling backwards. They both groaned in pain and rubbed the sore spots on their heads.
"I completely forgot where we were," Jimmy said as he stood up, Cindy doing the same.
"Me too… alright, let's get back to what we came here for in the first place," she said as she watched their counterparts exit the classroom.
"Right. It's lunchtime, so let's head to the cafeteria and pilfer some food while we keep an eye on them until they separate from one another," Jimmy suggested.
"Oooo, so you do have a bit of a bad boy streak in you, huh?" Cindy teased and he rolled his eyes.
"Hardly! I just don't feel like fixing anything right now," he said in response.
"Okay, forget bad boy, lazy boy would be more accurate," she stated with a giggle. Jimmy just shrugged.
"Guilty as charged. But one thing before we head there," he started, making Cindy curious.
"What?" She yelped as he swiftly pulled her closer and planted a quick kiss on her lips, startling her.
"For good luck," he said with a wink and walked out, Cindy quickly catching up to him after putting her hair back in its customary ponytail.
The two of them arrived at the school's cafeteria to hear the sound of chatter coming from within. They looked in and spotted their counterparts right off the bat. James, who was sitting with Nick, was surrounded by several kids whom Cindy would dub as 'groupies'.
Counterpart Cindy, on the other hand, was sitting by herself at the back of the cafeteria as far away from everyone else as possible.
"I'm gonna get to the bottom of why she's acting this way," Cindy grumbled as she glared at her counterpart.
"Yeah, it's making me rather curious as to why she is behaving like a recluse, myself, but let's get some lunch first," Jimmy said and headed towards the lunchline.
"Um, quick question, won't these kids freak out if they see floating food trays?" Cindy asked.
"Nah, anything we touch with our hands becomes cloaked as well, so we won't need to worry," he explained as he started piling up food on his tray with Cindy doing the same after his explanation.
They found an empty area in the cafeteria and dug in with gusto, feeling famished. The two decided to watch James as he was apparently demonstrating something he had made.
"While this is just a prototype and I am still working on it, I feel as though it will revolutionize art and literature as we know it. Not only that, but it will be a huge aid to those who do not have good motor functions or cannot move at all," James said, holding out what appeared to be a rather large-looking pen, though it seemed ordinary.
"Um, not to rain on your parade, James, but that looks like an ordinary pen to me," Nick said, pointing at it.
"Like I said, it's a prototype and a work in progress, it can't really do anything right now, but once it's finished and I have the bugs all worked out, it will be a self-writing pen that is able to tap into the owner's neurons as they fire electrical impulses between their synap- er, rather, their brainwaves for an easier term, and essentially read their thoughts, writing or drawing whatever is on their mind at the time." Everyone around him ooo-ed and aahh-ed as he explained his idea. "Eventually I want to create a computer that can do something similar, but I'd figured I would start small."
"Wow, that is a really cool idea! Why did I never think of that?" Jimmy said, feeling a tad envious of his counterpart and how he held everyone's attention with his, albeit unfinished, invention.
"Because you, Mr. Big Brain, like to make gadgets that have no functional life purpose, unless they help yourself in some way," Cindy remarked as she poked him none too gently in the upper arm, and he rubbed the spot with a small glare towards her. "Perhaps if you started to create things that could be an asset to everyone, you'd get everyone's attention like your counterpart here." Jimmy sighed.
"I suppose you're right. I used to be quite selfish with my inventions." Her raised eyebrow in his direction made him roll his eyes. "Okay, so I'm still a little selfish, I'm working on it! It's not something I can change about myself in a single day, you know." Cindy's look softened as she grabbed his hand.
"I know, it's hard for someone to change who they are in any capacity, and the fact that you are trying makes me proud of you," she said.
"Y-you are?" Jimmy asked meekly, staring down at their clasped hands, trying to avoid looking her in the eye lest he wanted to tear up. He rarely ever received compliments from anyone other than his parents and it was making him a bit emotional.
Her sudden kiss on his cheek caught him off guard.
"Of course. You definitely deserve far more praise than you get, but I think people just get jealous of what you can do. Me included." Jimmy finally looked her in the eye.
"You? Do you... still get jealous?" Cindy just shrugged.
"Not very often anymore, to be honest. I used to get insanely jealous, though. Not that I would have ever told you or anyone that," she said and Jimmy chuckled.
"Of course not, I probably would have gloated and rubbed it in your face," he admitted with a wide grin. She smirked in response and flicked his cowlick, causing it to flop over.
"Hey! You know how much trouble I've been going through lately to keep that up? It keeps falling over," Jimmy complained with a whine as he tried to right his hair with little success.
"Aw, but I think you look cute with it like that," she said, trying to keep his hands away from the fallen cowlick. He blushed madly at her words and stuttered out a response.
"R-regardless! It tickles my forehead all the time if I don't keep it erect."
"So style it then! Or you could put it into those handsome two-pronged horns you sometimes use that I absolutely adore." Jimmy could swear his entire face was on fire at this point.
"That's only for special occasions!" He swatted her hands away from his hair and she pouted as he finally managed to fix his cowlick. "Moving on from this. It looks like James is getting up to leave the cafeteria. I'm going to follow him."
"Hey, do you have one of your voice synthesizers you made last month on you?" Cindy suddenly asked before he stood up.
"Yes, why?" Jimmy asked suspiciously.
"Can I borrow it while you're gone? I have an idea."
"It better not cause any problems, Cindy," Jimmy said but relented, pulling out the microphone he had modified into what he called the Neutron Voice Synthesizer from his Hypercube. It allowed the user to change their voice when they spoke into it, and more recently as an addition, to project your voice into someone's head. Jimmy had not found a use for that yet, but he had a feeling Cindy was about to.
"It shouldn't, promise," she said, eagerly accepting the device.
"Shouldn't? You know what, I'm not even going to ask. Just be careful," he exclaimed before getting up, dumping his empty tray into a trash can, and running to catch up to his counterpart.
Cindy, meanwhile, got up and headed over to her counterpart, who was, by now, hunched over playing what appeared to be a Game Guy and lost in her own little world.
'Huh, wow, she is completely different from me. But how different is what I intend to find out,' Cindy thought to herself and sat across from her counterpart, adjusting the controls on the synthesizer to the correct frequency that she needed. 'Hopefully she can hear me.'
-Hey- The other Cindy's head shot up with a surprised look on her face.
"Who said that?"
-No one, I'm your subconscious-
"Ha, like I believe that! Someone is playing a nasty prank on me, and whoever you are, just stop!" She quietly demanded, clearly frustrated.
-Listen to me, I promise you I'm just your thoughts. How could anyone be doing this anyway?-
"I suppose that's true. Ugh, great, now I'm losing my mind, too. Can this year get any worse?" she asked, crossing her arms after setting down and shutting off her handheld.
-What happened?-
"You're my thoughts, you don't know?"
-I'm just thoughts, not your memories- The other Cindy just sighed.
"First, my best friend moves away, then my crush starts dating that hussie who treats her boyfriends like trash! And he's supposed to be a genius!" She growled out with clenched fists.
-Oh yes, now I remember. We still talk to our friend, don't we?-
"Yes, but it isn't the same without her here with me. I feel more alone than ever," counterpart Cindy said with a wobble in her voice, a morose look on her face. She looked ready to cry.
-Hey, buck up! Why don't we try making new friends?-
"Because no one else likes me, that's why," she said sadly, looking down.
-Are we sure about that? Or are we just avoiding other people to deceive ourselves into thinking that?-
"Maybe… not that it matters, everyone else already has their little groups they hang out with, they won't want some nobody butting in."
-We do have a point, I suppose. Have we tried talking to James yet?- The horrified look on the other Cindy's face said it all.
"No!" She squeaked out. "I could never!"
-Well why not? He's a nice guy, I'm sure he could be our friend-
"And accidentally blab that I'm in love with him at some point, while he has a girlfriend? I'd rather jump into a lake of molten lava."
-We know it won't last, Quinlan is a complete bitch-
"Yeah, but I still wouldn't have the courage to talk to him."
-Sometimes the biggest reward comes from taking the smallest leap of courage-
"When did I get so philosophical? Fine, I'll think about it," she said with a sigh. "Great, I'm telling my own thoughts I'll think. Might as well put me in the loony bin right now."
-That won't be necessary. It's perfectly normal for people to have conversations with themselves- Counterpart Cindy snorted.
"Let's tell that to our mother and see how well that goes."
Meanwhile
Jimmy managed to catch up to his counterpart as he entered the bathroom. He leaned against the wall outside the door to catch his breath while he waited. James may basically be himself, but he still wanted to respect his counterpart's privacy.
A minute later he exited the bathroom and stood there for a moment, looking around.
"I swear something feels… off about today, but I can't put my finger on it," James said to himself, and Jimmy held an unnecessary breath. "Oh well." He shrugged and began to walk back to the cafeteria, but stopped when he spotted Betty enter the girls' bathroom down the opposite hall with her friends.
Nick's words from earlier ran through his mind on autopilot without his say-so, nagging him to no end.
"You know what, I'm gonna prove him wrong. I'm sorry in advance, Betty, but I have someone that needs convincing you aren't who they say you are." With that, James began a silent march towards the girls' bathroom, pulling out what looked like a small mechanical fly from his pocket.
"Looks like my Spy Fly is going to get its first use today," he mumbled to himself, and Jimmy looked on in astonishment at the invention.
'I am going to definitely be making one of those things soon, that's so cool,' Jimmy thought as he watched his counterpart pull up his watch and activate the fly, controlling it as it slid under the bathroom door. Jimmy saw the camera feed on James' watch, but he swiftly shut it off once the fly was in a good position. Only audio could be heard from that point on.
Both Neutrons listened closely to the conversation that was happening behind the closed door.
"So, Betty, you're still dating James?"
"Of course, for now."
"Are you seriously going to dump him, too? He's like, the nicest, smartest, and most popular guy in this school! You know the backlash is going to be tremendous, right? He's not like those other guys you went out with." They heard Betty snort.
"That kid is only popular because of who his dad is, nothing more. Besides, I have a plan to make me the victim in this. That brat won't know what hit him!"
"I still think you're making a huge mistake with this one, Betty."
"I don't want your opinion, Tasha!"
"You don't care about him, like, at all?"
"I care about me, myself, and I, nothing more."
The audio suddenly cut off as Jimmy stood there, mouth agape the entire time. He could not believe what he had heard. How could someone be so cruel and heartless? He had fought villains that had more of a heart than that cold witch he just heard talking!
Jimmy turned his gaze towards his counterpart and watched as he robotically called back his Spy Fly, put it in his pocket, and walked away stiffly from the bathroom door. It did not take long for him to start running at full speed, and Jimmy had a heck of a time trying to keep up with James' fast pace.
He followed him all the way out to the playground and over to the running track, where his counterpart then dived behind the bleachers in the most out-of-the-way spot he could find. Jimmy had to lean against one of the bleachers, completely out of breath from the marathon run he had just endured.
'Ugh, I need to get into better shape,' he thought to himself as he took in massive gulps of air. The sound of deep, heartbroken sobbing snapped him out of it though, and he cautiously looked underneath the stands to see his counterpart hunched over, crying into his knees; his whole body heaving from the force of his sobs.
Jimmy had never cried like this, and he was certain he never wanted to if he could help it. It was not that it was pathetic, it was, in fact, the most heartbreaking sound and sight he had ever witnessed. He felt his heart clench in pain and sympathy for his counterpart. Jimmy wanted to comfort him, but he knew he could not, as much as it pained him.
Perhaps, though, he could get someone else to comfort him?
'Brain blast! Huh, been a while since I've said that. Anyway, time to play matchmaker with our counterparts,' Jimmy thought as he, reluctantly, ran back into the school towards the cafeteria. He saw Cindy sitting across from her counterpart talking into the synthesizer. He quickly walked up to her and waited until she was not talking into it before addressing the situation at hand.
"Cindy!" Jimmy hissed into her ear, startling her.
"What the heck, Neutron?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
"Never mind that, we have a major situation! You need to convince your counterpart to go out to the bleachers pronto!" Jimmy demanded, feeling a bit stressed over this whole thing.
"Why? What happened?" she asked, suddenly worried, her anger forgotten.
"I don't have time to explain, just do it!"
"Alright alright, keep your head on, sheesh," Cindy said and turned back to the device in her hand.
-You know, it's a lovely day outside, maybe we should head outside for the rest of the lunch period and sit at the bleachers-
"We're not allowed to go outside before recess, though," the other Cindy said.
-What's life if we don't break a rule here or there? Let's just pretend to head to the bathroom and instead go outside. Lunch is almost over, anyway, they won't know-
"True. Alright, let's do it! This cafeteria is getting stuffy anyway." Counterpart Cindy stood up and walked out the cafeteria doors, Jimmy and Cindy watching her before following at a slower pace.
Cindy looked at her boyfriend with curiosity written all over her face.
"Alright, will you please tell me what's going on now?" Jimmy sighed sadly and recounted what had occurred, and Cindy gained a horrified expression that was laced with a knowing look.
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised whatsoever, but I feel horrible for James, no one should have to deal with this."
They caught up to the other Cindy who was now by the running track. She stood there with a confused, yet concerned look on her face, and Cindy now knew why as she heard the heart-wrenching sobs from nearby.
The other Cindy slowly stepped closer to the bleachers and looked underneath them to see her crush crying his eyes out, which caused her to suck in a sharp breath. The noise startled James enough to get him to lift his head and look in her direction.
"Are… are you okay?" she asked dumbly. 'Duh, he's crying, of course he's not you idiot!'
"N-n-no! She-she's a horrible person! N-nick was right all along! How c-c-could I be so stupid?!" This prompted a new wave of tears from him as the other Cindy crawled underneath the bleachers towards the heartbroken boy.
"Hey, it's going to be alright, I promise," she said softly and gently as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Normally she would be ecstatic to be this close to him, but the other Cindy knew now was not the time for such a thing.
"How c-can you be s-so sure?" James managed to utter through his crying.
"Well, I'm not sure, but I just know everything will be okay in time," she said, managing to pull a broken laugh from James.
"Tha-that doesn't even make any sense," he mumbled, though she could detect a small smile on his face, but it disappeared just as quickly as it came. Her breath hitched as he leaned against her for comfort.
"It does if you don't think logically about it. Anyway, do… do you want to talk about it? It might help a bit," counterpart Cindy offered, and she saw him bite his bottom lip as he contemplated what she asked. Eventually, he gave a short nod as another sob broke through.
"Take your time," she whispered, wondering when the heck her hand began combing through his hair. It seemed to help calm down James, though, so counterpart Cindy continued to do it. 'Gosh, his hair is soft.'
He slowly, and she meant slowly, told her what happened and what he heard Betty say. Recounting it ripped open the wound again and he began a new wave of sobbing, latching on to counterpart Cindy, much to her complete surprise and secret delight.
Eventually he did calm down, feeling much better after getting it off his chest. His breathing was hitched as he tried to catch his breath, letting go of the other Cindy rather reluctantly.
"Ugh, I feel disgusting. Sorry for getting your shirt all gross," he apologized in a whisper, wiping his eyes and nose with his arm. Counterpart Cindy grimaced in disgust before pulling out a handkerchief and handing it to him. "Thanks."
"You're welcome, and it's alright, it's just a shirt, it can be cleaned. Are you feeling any better?" other Cindy asked nicely.
"Yeah, I am. Talking about it really did help," he replied, attempting to hand back her handkerchief, though she pushed it back towards him in disgust and told him to keep it.
"So, what are you gonna do now?" James sighed in sadness, his heart still feeling raw.
"I'm going to break up with her. I'm not going to let her play with my heart and emotions anymore."
"Good!" James looked up at the other Cindy with surprise. "I-I mean, good that you aren't gonna let her hurt you anymore. She doesn't deserve you, and she never did."
"You think so?" James asked shyly, fiddling with his hands.
"Of course! Anyone who would do that to a great guy like you deserves to have their head examined if you ask me." 'And then have it mounted on a pike,' counterpart Cindy thought viciously.
He suddenly looked up at her, staring for a few uncomfortable seconds.
"Is there something wrong?" other Cindy nervously asked.
"You're Cindy, Cindy Vortex, right?"
"Um, yes?" She was now confused. "How do you know who I am, though?"
"I study and observe people all the time, so I learn who they are pretty quickly. You sit behind me at the back of the class and are generally really quiet and a bit of a loner, right?"
"Yes..?" She was now thoroughly lost on where this was going to go.
"So why are you here comforting me? It seems out of character from my point of view. N-not that I don't appreciate it!" James said, holding up his hands as if to ward off an attack.
"I… don't know to be honest. It's like a little birdy told me to come out here at this exact time. It was like it was meant to happen. Fate, maybe," she explained with a shrug, though James snorted good-naturedly.
"I don't really believe in fate, but I do believe we had some outside help of some sort," he said, staring pointedly towards the end of the bleachers where Jimmy and Cindy were hidden.
"You think so?"
"I know so," he bluntly stated and stood up, walking towards the invisible Jimmy and Cindy, who by now were panicking. "Alright, shut off the cloaking device, I know you're there, whoever you are." James crossed his arms and waited, tapping his foot.
Jimmy and Cindy looked at each other and debated silently on whether they should do as James said.
"Drop it or I will do it for you," James threatened, holding up his watch.
"Gah," Jimmy uttered. "We have no choice." Cindy sighed as he dropped the cloaking effect, causing their counterparts to gasp in disbelief.
"What? But-but, how? Who are you?" James asked in total shock.
"Well, um, we're technically you two, just from a different dimension," Jimmy explained, rubbing the back of his neck.
"My question is, how did you know we were even here?" Cindy asked, a bit of aggravation seeping into her voice.
"Oh, I noticed some weird stuff happening and kind of figured something was up. Ghosts don't exist, so I knew it had to be at least one person hiding under a cloaking device of some sort," James explained. Jimmy and Cindy were astonished. "I'm very observant of my surroundings."
"You said you were from a different dimension? What are you doing here, then?" counterpart Cindy questioned, pointing at the two of them.
"We were bored," Cindy said bluntly with a shrug.
"Really? That's it? You were bored?" James asked in disbelief.
"Pretty much, yeah," Jimmy stated.
"Oh, well, then…" James muttered before looking at his watch. "Good Goddard, recess will be starting soon! Come on, follow me, I'll take you to my secret area where we can talk more in private." With that, he led them to his secret area, which happened to be an empty room off the east side of the building.
"I didn't even know this was here," Cindy remarked as she looked around the empty room.
"Yeah, no one ever comes over to this side of the school, so it's never used for anything. Anyway, let's talk! What's your dimension like?" James asked excitedly, his earlier sorrow forgotten for the time being.
"Well, uh, it's different from yours, but not by much. I'm not friends with Nick nor am I popular like you are," Jimmy started, but was elbowed gently by Cindy.
"Nor as humble," she butted in, giggling. Jimmy swatted her away playfully.
The other Cindy was eyeing them in thought, watching their interactions.
"So, are you two best friends or something?" other Cindy asked, scuffing her right foot on the ground. Jimmy and Cindy looked at each other.
"Yes, actually, we are," Jimmy started, but Cindy cut him off.
"But we're also dating!" Jimmy turned to glare at Cindy who just shrugged nonchalantly. "What? They were going to find out eventually."
"You two are… dating?" James said breathlessly, glancing over at counterpart Cindy as they shuffled away from each other a bit, feeling shy.
"Oh trust me, we went through hell and high water to get where we are, but yes, we're dating," Cindy explained with a smug grin. Jimmy just rolled his eyes.
"Hey, wait a minute, it was you who was talking to me in my head!" The other Cindy suddenly exclaimed, pointing a finger at her counterpart in accusation.
"Wait, she was doing what?" James asked in shock. Cindy rolled her eyes and pulled out Jimmy's invention.
"Hey!" Jimmy shouted in indignation and reached for his modified microphone, but Cindy held him off.
"Oh stop being so selfish! Don't tell me you weren't going to use his invention ideas when we got back," she remarked, pointing at James. "And don't lie, I know you." Jimmy huffed and crossed his arms, looking away. Counterpart James and Cindy looked at each other in surprise, but James quickly turned his attention back to the device in Cindy's hand.
"Anyway," Cindy drawled out, "this is what he calls his Voice Synthesizer. I'm not sure of the specifics of how it works, I just know how to work it. If Mr. Possessive will get over himself, I'm sure he can explain it." She pointedly looked at Jimmy who sighed in aggravation before snatching the microphone out of her hand.
"All I did was recalibrate and modify the electronic components of a microphone to change the frequency of someone's voice to match the voice data of anyone's I uploaded into the motherboard's memory chip. The modification I added, which I call ventriloquism in shorter terms, is more complicated and would take way too much time to explain, but it basically allows someone to project their voice into another person's mind," Jimmy explained, noticing that his Cindy seemed to follow along decently well, while the other Cindy seemed completely lost. James, though, looked to be thoroughly impressed.
"Huh, that is pretty cool! What practical purpose does it have?" James asked in honest curiosity.
"Does everything need to have a practical purpose?" Jimmy rebutted, feeling slightly offended.
"Well, sort of. What's the point in creating something if it has no real purpose to exist? I try to make things that help people in some way, it makes me feel fulfilled," James said with a shrug.
"Well, he's got you there, Jimmy. Most of the things you make only exist to inflate your already oversized ego," Cindy said with a giggle as she playfully elbowed him. He playfully, and gently, shoved her back with an eye roll.
"Oh be quiet, you! I made plenty of things that had a purpose! Like my hovercar, my rockets, Goddard, my watch, my lab security system, my-" Jimmy said while counting with his fingers, but was interrupted by his girlfriend.
"Yeah, all the stuff you make for yourself are practical, but the rest of it is junk! That Shrink Ray, that Cheese Ray, that stupid arch you keep modifying to work for various different reasons, the Hypno Ray, that stupid remote that gave me and Libby brain freeze, the nano-" She was going to continue, but Jimmy cut her off.
"None of those things are junk! And a lot of them have saved our lives!" Jimmy defended, raising his voice.
"Yeah, after nearly destroying our lives in the first place!"
"Most of that wasn't even my fault!"
"Well if you hadn't created them in the first place, we wouldn't have had any problems to begin with!" Jimmy growled at that, not really mad, but ready to end this argument. Most of the fights they had like this had no real heat or anger behind them, anymore, but were more along the lines of playful fighting.
Still, he wanted to stop this, as he had spotted the shocked looks of their counterparts as they did not realize the fight literally meant nothing bad, and the only way he knew how… was to pounce on Cindy and tickle her.
Her sudden screech of laughter shocked their two counterparts out of their stupor. The two of them flinched back in surprise by the sudden tickle fight that broke out between their dimensional visitors.
"Say it!" Jimmy demanded as he continued the onslaught, his own laughter being drowned out by Cindy's.
"N-n-never! I wi-will never s-s-say it," Cindy stuttered out between laughs.
This was a game between them that had recently developed- trying to get the other one to say 'mercy' through tickle fights or play wrestling, but neither one had given in up to this point. The reward for the winner? Whatever they wanted from the other for a month, within reason of course.
Eventually, the tables turned as Jimmy was now under fire from Cindy as she tried to get him to surrender.
"Should… should we stop this?" the other Cindy whispered to James as she watched the ensuing fight with wide eyes.
"Are you kidding? I'm not getting in the middle of that," James whispered back, feeling a tad envious of the close relationship that their counterparts clearly had. He and Betty never had anything even remotely close to what Jimmy and Cindy held as a couple.
It was highly unfair, he thought, but as he gave his dimension's Cindy a side-eyed look, James wondered if perhaps they could have something similar. The only problem was that they barely knew each other, but then again, he did not know Betty very well when they began dating.
Ugh, that was a big mistake, one he was not willing to make again. No, he would get to know his Cindy first and hopefully become friends in some capacity before even thinking of asking her out.
First, though, he had to end it with Betty, and James was not looking forward to that in the slightest. He was going to have to figure out how to do it without her twisting it into her favor and ruining his reputation and social standing.
Soon the tickle fight ended with Jimmy and Cindy laying on the floor next to one another completely out of breath, both panting rather heavily as they tried to catch their breath. Both of them had completely forgotten, again, where they were as Cindy rolled over and nuzzled into Jimmy's neck and shoulder affectionately, which caused him to blush a bit.
"I'm going to win this one day, you know that right?" Cindy whispered into his ear. Jimmy snorted in response.
"Keep dreaming, Vortex, this is one battle you won't win," he responded with a chuckle that died down slowly as he finally noticed the other two occupants in the room. They were both staring at them in silence with wide eyes. Jimmy shot up from the floor in embarrassment, startling Cindy.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry you two! We didn't mean- I mean, we sometimes get lost in each other and- ugh, I'm sorry," Jimmy said, trying to apologize profusely while holding up his hands. Cindy stood up soon after and dusted off her capris.
"Yeah, sorry about that. That happens sometimes," she explained more calmly, though feeling a bit embarrassed as well.
"It's… it's fine," James said softly and other Cindy nodded in agreement.
Soon, the four of them were sitting across from each other eager to ask and answer questions to satiate their curiosity.
"So… how did you end up so popular?" Jimmy asked James, wringing his hands, though he stopped when Cindy put her hand atop his to calm his motions.
"Oh, that? Well, Nick played a rather large role in that. We've been friends since kindergarten, and as he started getting popular, so did I. Of course, once dad's music career took off, that skyrocketed me to the top of the food chain, so to speak," James explained with a shrug.
"What made you want to be friends with Nick?" Cindy asked in curiosity.
"I really don't know to be honest. I saw him sitting alone one day and walked up to him, and things went from there," James said as he looked back on that day. "He just seemed lonely, so I wanted to rectify it, I think." Jimmy scrunched up his face as he recalled kindergarten. Yes, he remembered a younger Nick sitting all alone for most of the school year, but he never approached him as he was extremely shy back then and preferred to keep to himself.
"What about you?" James asked, startling Jimmy out of his trip down memory lane.
"Huh?" Jimmy responded eloquently.
"Are you popular, I mean? What's your story?" Jimmy released a short laugh at that and Cindy snorted.
"Hardly! Next to Carl and Sheen, I'm considered the biggest nerd this side of Retroville," Jimmy said in response with a wave of the hand.
"Oh he's popular alright, popular for nearly destroying the town on a weekly basis," Cindy said with a short giggle as Jimmy playfully shoved her.
"Seriously?' the other Cindy asked with raised eyebrows.
"Seriously."
"I told you most of that wasn't my fault!" Jimmy retorted with a scowl as he crossed his arms. "I didn't mean for any of that to happen! And that meteor that nearly crushed us definitely wasn't my fault." It was definitely his fault, though, but they would never know, not even him.
"I suppose you have a bit of a point, but whatever. What's your story, sister?" Cindy asked, pointing at her counterpart.
"Me?" the other Cindy questioned, feeling a bit startled. Cindy rolled her eyes with a deep sigh.
"No, the other blond girl that looks exactly like me in the room. Yes, you! Why are you such a loner?" Cindy asked with a bit of snark in her voice, causing Jimmy to elbow her none too gently.
"Ow! Neutron!"
"Be more sensitive, would ya?" Jimmy whispered. Cindy just grunted in response.
'Look who's talking, Mr. I'm-Rarely-Sensitive-To-Others,' Cindy thought to herself, though she could admit Jimmy had gotten better about it lately.
"Oh-oh, um… I've always been a bit of a loner, but it got worse when my best friend Jennifer moved away last summer. I was raised by my dad mostly as my mom is rarely around, but I'm glad she isn't, if I'm honest," other Cindy said, whispering that last part to herself.
Cindy raised an eyebrow. Being raised by their mutual dad, in a sense? That explained so much about her counterpart. If her dad was anything like Cindy's, he was a very mild-mannered, quiet man without a competitive bone in his body.
Their conversation delved into the more mundane aspects of their dimensions soon after. Jimmy and Cindy found out that their friends' counterparts had been friends for years, even before other Cindy moved to Retroville, which explained why she never became close friends with Libby.
Soon it moved on to James and his impending breakup with Betty, much to the joy of both Cindys.
"So what do you plan to do?" Cindy asked, looking at James in question. He sighed sadly and stared down at his interlaced hands.
"I don't know yet. I really don't want her to turn this whole breakup against me. Even if I did it in private with her, I now know she'll go blabbing it to the whole school," he said sullenly. Jimmy perked up as a thought crossed his mind.
"Hey, does that Spy Fly of yours record what it sees and hears?" Jimmy asked eagerly. James raised an eyebrow at how his counterpart knew about his little spying device, but did not question it.
"Spy Fly?" the other Cindy asked, looking at James, who ignored the question.
"It does, yes. Why?"
"Then I have an idea," Jimmy said with a devious smile on his face as he twisted his cupped hands together. James' confused look slowly morphed into a grin that matched Jimmy's.
"Ooooh, I see where you are going with this!"
"Is this going to work?" Cindy asked as the four of them stood in the school office. They had frozen the staff in place with one of James' inventions and had locked the office door to prevent anyone from entering it.
"It will definitely work," Jimmy stated as he and James worked on setting up the recording to be announced over the school speakers.
"I would have rather done this in private, but if it will expose who she really is and save my butt from social ostracization, then so be it," James remarked. The other Cindy just stood off to the side observing everything quietly.
"There, that should do it," Jimmy said as he and his counterpart finished setting everything up. "Now we just wait until all the students are back in their classrooms and the fun can begin."
"Dunno if we should call it 'fun' or not," Cindy said with a small roll of her eyes.
"I'd say seeing someone getting their comeuppance is fun, in a way," Jimmy replied with a smirk.
"Of course you would, you can be really vindictive when you want to be," Cindy said with a shake of her head. Jimmy just snorted in response and the four of them waited patiently as the recess bell rang.
Once the noise in the halls quieted down to nothing, Jimmy signaled to James to begin. He nervously picked up the microphone, cleared his throat, and took a deep breath before hitting the button on the intercom machine.
"Hello everyone, this is James Neutron with an important announcement for Betty Quinlan," he began. In her class, Betty looked up at the intercom speaker in the front corner of the classroom with a feeling of dread in her stomach.
"We're through! Done! Finished!" Gasps could be heard throughout the school at this and the whispering commenced, despite the teachers' best efforts to quiet down the students.
"And you want to know why? Well I'll play why, you backstabbing, heartless, evil- sorry… here's why," James said with a touch of malice, having to be elbowed by Jimmy before he continued on his rant. He pushed the button on his watch to activate the playback feature of his Spy Fly that they had connected to the intercom system. Soon the whole school heard the conversation that had transpired between Betty and her friends.
Everyone in Betty's class glared with hatred at the girl, who had sunk down in her seat as far as she could go.
'I'm ruined! How did he…?' Betty thought as the urge to flee the classroom and the heated glares of her classmates became stronger with each passing second.
A Short While Later
"Well, I am definitely in huge trouble over that, but that was so worth it," James said with glee as the four of them were now hiding in a random janitor's closet as far from the school office as possible.
"Are you still upset about her?" other Cindy asked quietly.
"Honestly? A bit, but I will get over it soon enough. I thought we were close, but now I know we never were and it was all just a facade. Besides, I think I found someone who actually does care for me," James said, smiling at counterpart Cindy, who just shuffled awkwardly.
"Who?" she asked softly, though James did not answer and just continued to smile in her direction. Jimmy and Cindy looked at one another with knowing smiles.
"I think our work here is done," Jimmy whispered, and Cindy nodded.
"Yep. I thought you said you didn't want to interfere with these dimensions, though. What changed your mind?" Cindy asked in a whisper.
"Seeing someone heartbroken over a person who never cared for them, that's what. I wasn't going to stand by and let Betty ruin my counterpart. Besides, I could tell your counterpart had a huge crush on mine, and we know how we turned out," Jimmy explained in a whisper with a determined look on his face. He grasped Cindy's hand and held it tight to his as his determined look turned to one of love as he gazed into his girlfriend's emerald eyes. This caused her to blush a bit as a goofy smile stretched across her face.
"Yeah…" she said with a happy sigh. "We should get back to our dimension soon, don't you think?"
"I think so. We'll have plenty more to visit in the future," he stated, turning to their counterparts, who were now just staring at each other in silence with shy smiles on their faces. It nearly caused Jimmy to snort in amusement. He and Cindy were like that not too long ago, though they tended to turn their tender moments into arguments.
Man, they sure were dumb about it. You live and you learn, they say.
"Hey, um, guys? Sorry to ruin your moment there, but we are going to head back to our own dimension soon," Jimmy said, snapping the two counterparts out of their locked gaze.
"Aw, do you have to? Things were just beginning to get fun around here," James said with a pout.
"Yeah, sorry, we can't stay. Maybe we will visit again in the future, though."
"That would be nice," other Cindy said softly with a small smile. Jimmy pulled out the Dimensional Transporter from his Hypercube and began pushing buttons on it.
"Is that how you guys got here?" James asked, pointing at the remote-looking object in Jimmy's hand.
"Yep, it's my Dimensional Transporter. With its compact design, it wasn't easy to make, but I managed it," Jimmy replied proudly, still focusing on getting the settings needed to return home correct.
"He means he wouldn't stop bragging about it after it was finished," Cindy said with a smirk which earned her a one-handed shove from Jimmy.
"Huh. Maybe I will create one and end up in your guys' dimension one day," James said, still looking at the object in Jimmy's hand with fascination.
"There, all set. We'll return in about three minutes from now," Jimmy said and looked at their counterparts with a touch of sadness. "Well, I can't say it's been all fun, but it was nice meeting you two for the short time we were here." The other three in the room all mumbled the same sentiments in response.
Soon enough, Jimmy and Cindy were ensconced in a blue glow as they began fading away. They waved to their counterparts as they finally disappeared without a trace left behind.
"Well, that was something…" James murmured before turning to Cindy. "You want to grab a shake at the Candy Bar?"
"You mean ditch school for the rest of the day?" she asked in surprise.
"Yep."
"I'd love to."
"Ah!"
"Oof!"
Once again, Jimmy and Cindy landed on their rear ends from the air as they entered their own dimension.
"You better get that fixed or I will fix it by breaking it over your big head!" Cindy snarked, rubbing her backside as she stood up, noticing they were back in his lab. Jimmy just rolled his eyes and walked over to his computer and sat down.
Cindy watched in curiosity as he started entering data of some sort.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she walked over to him.
"I'm keeping track of the dimensions we visit by assigning them serial numbers and making notes about them, specifically if they are safe to return to or not," Jimmy explained distractedly as he typed. Cindy blinked at that.
"That's actually a smart idea," she remarked, draping her arms over his shoulders from behind.
"Well, I mean, I am a genius," he said with a small chuckle.
"Oh knock it off Mr. Ego," Cindy said, rolling her eyes.
"There, done," he said not too long after. Jimmy noted the time and what day it was after saving his document. "Well, we returned earlier than I thought, so I guess we have the whole day to ourselves before we have to make our presence known to everyone."
"Oh really, now?" Cindy cloyingly said, causing Jimmy to swallow nervously. "Well then, I say we finish what we started in that classroom, big boy." She turned Jimmy's chair around so that they were facing each other.
"Uh-um, w-well, I'm not sure we're really ready for that, Cindy, I mean, we're barely twelve and-" he started, but was quickly interrupted.
"Oh not that, Gutter Brain," she said with an amused huff. "I meant our make-out session."
"Oh, that, y-yeah, I can handle that," Jimmy said, pulling at his collar in embarrassment at where his thoughts turned to.
"But I want to try something new, if you don't mind?" Cindy said, suddenly turning a bit shy.
"What is it?"Jimmy asked, somewhat curious as to why his girlfriend was shy all of a sudden.
"Just… just follow along, okay? It might be awkward at first." Okay, now Jimmy was insanely curious as to what Cindy had in mind. That curiosity turned to shock as she abruptly straddled his lap, causing him to gasp.
"Wha-what are you…?"
"Shhhh," she shushed, putting a finger to his lips. He stared at her in question.
"Is this what you had in mind?" he managed to mumble, but Cindy just giggled.
"Not at all. This is." Without any further preemptive, she leaned in and captured his lips in a soft kiss.
'Well, this isn't unusual so far, so what does she have up her sleeve?' Jimmy thought as he got into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her back as he shut his eyes. They did not stay closed for long as they shot wide open in absolute shock as she forced her tongue into his mouth. He pulled back, breaking the kiss, and stared at her with wide eyes.
"Wha-? You want to French kiss?! Don't you think we're a bit… young for that? Making out like we do is one thing, but that?!" Jimmy said feeling absolutely stunned at the audacity of the girl on his lap.
"Come on, Jimmy, you know darn well we're way ahead of our peers anyway, what harm will it do?" Cindy argued with a pout.
"Well yeah, but-" He tried to argue back, but was interrupted.
"Please?" Cindy pleaded, giving him a puppy-dog look. He knew he lost the battle when she gave him that look. Jimmy released a defeated sigh and nodded.
"Alright, fine. Let's just go slow with it, then."
"Deal," she said and reconnected their lips. Their closed-mouthed kissing soon became opened as Cindy once again shoved her tongue into Jimmy's mouth, though with less force this time. He did not push back from the kiss this time, reluctantly accepting the turn of events that led to this moment.
His sudden moan as her tongue brushed along his startled him as he jumped a bit, but did not break the kiss. At first he just let her do what she wanted, shivering at the, surprising, pleasurable sensations she was causing. Soon, though, he began to participate, feeling bored of just sitting there.
It did not take long for them to get lost in their make-out session, fully enjoying this new, relatively unknown territory they were now indulging in. Jimmy had no idea what brought this on, and frankly, he did not care anymore. If he had anything to say about it, they would do this more often; it was the most enjoyable kissing he had ever experienced.
A few moments later they broke apart, panting, as air became a necessity. Cindy rested her forehead against Jimmy's as they laughed joyously.
"We're doing that more often," Cindy said breathlessly with a huge smile on her face.
"Definitely," Jimmy responded, feeling a bit dazed still.
"Do you regret it?"
"Not one bit."
"Good." With that, she dived right back in for another round.
Oh yes, Jimmy could easily get used to this.
END
A/N: Good grief this took forever, but I finally finished it.
So I like to headcanon that Jimmy has mild ADHD, which you saw a bit in this with having to keep his hands busy in some way. He's nothing like Sheen, of course, but regardless.
Anywho, see you next time. Oh yes, I raised the rating to T just to be safe, especially when I write a couple of one-shots I have in mind that talk about more mature themes.