A/N: This is not some kind of bizarre shipping fic for the character names I used. The relationship represented is closer to friendship or brotherhood. But you can take it the other way if you want O_O
Episode Referral: League of Villains, Clash of the Cousins
This piece is extremely inspired by the song Everybody by Ingrid Michaelson. Also, Savin' Me by Nickelback and Keep the Streets Empty For Me by Fever Ray go along with this, in my opinion, but they played no part in its conception.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, therefore I do not own the characters either.
I do own the character Alexandria though. However, I did not discover the Velociraptor, which is not a Velocipede, an early type of bicycle or tricycle.
Ahem. Anyway.
The various calls of prehistoric carnivores and herbivores living through the vicious circle of life create a symphony piercing the humid night air. However, these noises are familiar to a preteen genius, who sits leaned against a large tree trunk. The sounds of the Cretaceous Era serve no part in keeping him awake, other than the knowledge that the keen, ruthless predators could spell the end of both him and his older companion if both are asleep.
From an onlooker's perspective, if one disregards his short stature, round face and lack of any signs of facial hair, he would look much older. Living in such a dangerous environment has molded him into a survivor. Despite the occasional drooping of his eyes, his gaze is as intelligent as ever, but it has gained an edgy glint. The dark circles under his eyes are more noticeable during the day and give him an intimidating appearance.
Not to mention the fact that building contraptions and weapons, along with running and climbing trees and cliffs, has made him as lean and muscular as a boy his age can be.
His hand slides rhythmically over the raptor whose head rests on his legs. It soothes him but at the same time reminds him to remain aware of where, or rather when he is. She stirs slightly, snuggling closer to her human counterpart. While he maintains an alertness of his senses, his thoughts drift off. Eleven years. Eleven, in fact nearly twelve horrifying years, he has fought for survival in this wretched, prehistoric jungle. He sometimes wonders whether or not it is actually a bizarre and strikingly detailed hallucination.
When the bottom of the moon, as it appears, is just about to sink behind the trees, it will be the exact time and date he was born. He knows this because his mental calculations are certainly not wrong. He's an evil genius, after all, well, maybe not so evil anymore.
"Then it'll be happy stinking birthday to me. Oh joy!" He mumbles darkly.
Regrets and "what ifs" play through his mind as always since the other villains abandoned him and the snotty buck-toothed guy. Those lizard-like morons, though lack-wits they were, knew what they were doing when they switched sides. With regret, comes anger, as he thinks about those spiteful freaks who left two of the group's members behind to fend for themselves.
Perhaps the reason they always lost to a certain other genius and his not as smart friends was because they underestimated them. It was predictable that they would not account for their goody-two-shoes enemy's cousin to be so resilient and persevering.
He helped that short old psychopath build the machine for crying out loud! That machine is irreplaceable without the proper resources, which were available from parts of the spaceship belonging to the inhuman creature he had to stay downwind of. It was mainly the young boy's genius skills that allowed them to live. His ingenuity gave life, so to speak, to nearly hopeless desire for returning to the 21st century with renewed vengeance. It was his brilliance he possessed at the mere age of five years old; the age he was at that time.
His ideas were not the old coot's or the outlandish being who looked like an elderly woman. Not that "king" who was close to helpless without his metal shell. Certainly not the putrid-smelling creature and the devilishly attractive woman who "fell in love" with each other thanks to that stupid love potion. He shudders and hops off that train of thought. It was too disgusting to think about.
The despicable group of ne'er do wells showed no gratitude whatsoever and went on their merry way, while two of their "comrades" were left to distract the giant aggressive reptiles. Those who escaped simply hoped those they left behind would get eaten. They miscalculated. However, the youngest of them, ingenious as he was and is, should have expected villains to betray him. Evil is loyal to no one, apparently. He barely keeps from snorting.
"When working with other villains, the phrase 'you snooze, you lose' rings true, as ridiculous as it might sound," he speaks to himself out loud.
Speaking to himself has become habit that has developed due to the unusual circumstances. He often finds himself irritated by it, but he continues it anyway, which causes occasional concern for his well-being from the older human that he clings to purely out of fear of loneliness. At least that's what he has managed to convince himself with his shining rationality.
For ten years he mulled over many different options for revenge against those thoughtless cowards, if he ever found a way to get back home, back to his time period. With every year that passes, his hope of returning diminishes more and more. In the last year, he came to decide to just focus on surviving.
He began to get used to the idea of living out his days here, in this little place in time which seems to defy the laws of science by existing. His comprehension of it has been blurred by his hatred of inventions that can bend the formerly intangible space-time continuum. The threat of a headache begins to stab at his consciousness, and it is an annoyance he cannot afford. He shakes away the scientific and complicated thoughts racing through his weary mind.
Around a year ago, he reminisces, the hapless boy had witnessed, whilst concealed, a tragedy. A Tyrannosaurus Rex mercilessly slaughtered a pack of Velociraptors. The food chain of this Era is no doubt the toughest to ever exist. The gigantic carnivore managed to miss one. A young female, only recently hatched, had somehow evaded the ferocious clutches of the predator. On the other hand, maybe it just was not worth it. Whatever the case, she was left parent-less, sibling-less and helpless.
For the first time in his life, a boy of only eleven, cared about something other than himself. When he held the hatchling in his arm for the first time, he could almost swear his heart swelled like the Grinch's, if he didn't know it wasn't physically possible in a healthy manner.
The human and the dinosaur developed a bond over the past year, and soon the child even begun to care for the other human, a formerly spoiled brat. New feelings overwhelmed him, and he saw the technological human-ruled world he once lived in, and life itself, in an entirely different light.
'Love is foolish, but it's the only thing I have now, besides my brain and health,' he muses, this time, silently.
With that, he gives a long look at the deadly reptile using him as a pillow. His eyes then dart over to the sleeping figure of a man slightly curled up on a makeshift leaf-bed. Although the insufferable male human cannot hold a very intelligent conversation, at least the preteen has someone to talk to who is able to speak the English language. He sighs forlornly. Usually he's too busy surviving to let out a good, long, sad sigh.
Most painfully, he has come to realize that he had no viable basis for his actions toward his caring, brave, yet somewhat thick-headed cousin. The guy wasn't someone to hate, but in reality he would be a great ally to have. Even if he tends to cause problems, he has the good will to fix them. The boy trapped in a time period he does not belong in, has wondered, likely in vain, if upon inevitably crossing paths with his escapee enemies, the other genius would ponder what happened to the two who he had yet to see again.
It was extremely unlikely. The boy who vexed many evil people and beings would have become a man who no doubt received a great deal more respect from his peers, from the dullest to the most intelligent besides himself. Any of the dastardly fiends that escaped from this blasted era would either be retired, dead, or utterly uninterested, possibly off getting hitched, to pose any threat. The once aspiring delinquent rolled his eyes. If they did try to wreak havoc, they were probably no greater a problem than a simple scab.
The troublesome adventurer would currently either be in college, or he had already completed college, and he is working hard at whatever job he decided to tackle. The thought of him, happy, possibly dating that blonde he seemed fond of and having fun with his friends with barely any worries in the world caused jealousy to rise up inside of the boy who had become somewhat of a ruffian, reminding said boy of his villainous past. He grits his teeth.
On that note, if there is one thing he envies after years of going over the events that have taken place in the last close to twelve years, is the plucky genius's even pluckier friends. He suspected that never, in a million years, would the young inventor's group abandon him in favor of self-preservation, and it is possible that if he told them to go on without him, they would hesitate or still stay behind.
They definitely weren't exactly very brilliant, but they were nothing if not loyal, courageous and devoted, especially considering they chased him all the way into the space only to go to battle with vengeful villains, unequipped except for their friend's over-sized brain and strange powers they could barely control. He stifles the urge to laugh at the memories, despite the unfavorable outcome.
He happens to notice the fire dimming, and he snaps his wandering mind fully into focus. He notices the moon has slightly passed the Midnight marker. He jumps to his feet abruptly. The previously asleep Velociraptor lets out a startled yelp and stumbles backwards. As a member of a species that are lean mean killing machines, she easily steadies herself. She glares at her pack-mate.
He responds by stroking her nose the way she likes. She lets out a sound akin to purring unique to dinosaur-kind and possibly her species. He glances toward his human friend, but he is not surprised the slumbering man didn't wake up, as they are constantly bombarded with similar sounds all through the day and night.
"Shh, it's alright Alexandria," he tells the she-raptor comfortingly. She hums affectionately. Her name; noble, powerful, yet beautiful, feels sweet as it rolls from his tongue as always. She trots to stand slightly in front of him. Her sharp eyes dart over the landscape. She observes her awake pack-mate, the short one and her favorite, on the edge of her vision, as he walks over to her other pack-mate, the tall one who complains a lot.
The younger of the two shakes the sleeping man. He quickly pushes himself into a half sitting position, his arms holding his upper half away from the ground, and he locks his green-eyed, steely gaze on his young partner-in-crime's dark blue orbs. He finds that he can barely make out the boy's face in the dark, especially through his glazed vision.
"Is something amiss? I do not appreciate being forcibly separated from my quite pleasant dreams," he growls in a firm yet low voice.
The boy stares incredulously for a moment before he simply shakes his head 'no'. It's one of those moments when he's not entirely sure why he hasn't let the bossy rocks-for-brains wannabe beaver become a dinosaur appetizer. Those moments certainly happen far too often.
"It's your shift, Eu-stupid," He snaps, using a warped version of the man's name, in other words, a 'nickname'. A ghost of a smile flashes on the man's face for a second before vanishing. He climbs groggily to his feet and stretches.
"Noted, Ed-weirdo," he remarks, his voice nearly inaudible. The boy of which his words were directed rolls his eyes without commenting.
The not yet adolescent boy runs his fingers through his slightly curled up-do, not much unlike the hairstyle belonging to his cousin and former foe. It isn't entirely intentional, and he avoids thinking in depth about why he would subconsciously imitate his unbearably righteous cousin.
He lets out a yawn before he begins doing some repairs and shifting parts of the makeshift bed. After finishing that task, he adds a few twigs to the fire and blows lightly on the struggling flames. It flares up a bit before simmering down. It's not necessary for it to be too high. After all, they're just using it for light and protection because they do not require much heat in a jungle type environment.
The twenty-two year old, formerly obsessed with appearance and wealth, has allowed his hair to grow out wildly. It is by no means tangled, but he doesn't bother with it beyond that, considering he doesn't even have shampoo or hair gel. He leans against the tree trunk with his arms crossed. He does a quick scan of the area before settling his eyes on the eleven or twelve year old genius, who is settling in for his turn to sleep.
The man absentmindedly runs his hand over his rough, poorly shaved chin. He hadn't learned the proper technique while he was still in the correct era, never mind the fact his younger companion has to sharpen some kind of tool for him to use.
There is a sudden rustling. The appointed watchman jumps a bit at the noise and whips his head toward it. A small mammal runs from one portion of undergrowth to another. Blinking in disbelief at himself, he recrosses his arms. He is fully awake now, at least, the small fright preparing him to take on his job as sentry.
"Sleep well, Edward," He says stiffly. Edward nods to him. He then settles in, too tired to worry about the lack of comfort.
"Keep your eyes open, Eustace," He replies monotonously whilst his fiercely protective prehistoric bodyguard plops down at his side. Eustace's eyes and ears are open as he guards over his charges, who are drifting rapidly into the welcome haven of the dream world. They need only be comforted by each others presence.
"Yes!" Alexandria screeches happily in her clever yet mainly instinct driven mind, leaving one final thought for the night.
She grins in a disturbing way that only a carnivorous reptile can. "For we raid the Pterodactyl nests at dawn!"
The Fan-fiction Spell-check doesn't recognize Velociraptor as a word. Good job, Fan-fiction. Stupid red squiggly lines..
I loathe grammatical errors, so hopefully I don't have any of significance... there also seem to be some pretty long sentences.. uhh
I'm also not sure if this is a chronological possibility, but Season 3 was a bit messed up anyway, so I don't care! It's my own little head-canon :)
I wrote this a while ago, omg, but I didn't publish it then.