And here it is, the last chapter of "Nicktoons: The Final Countdown". Last time, Jimmy passed out after using his Neutronic Mech-Suit to save Max. Will fate be the same as last time?

Enjoy…

Chapter 19: A New Future

Everything was pitch-black at first. But soon a bright light began to shine through, blinding everything as it broke through the darkness. Soon everything became blurry until his sight began to adjust. An unfamiliar ceiling with a light post shining on top was the first thing that was noticed.

Jimmy Neutron's eyes were half-open as soon as he woke up. He noticed that he was lying in bed, and was wearing an oxygen mask on his face. He slowly sat up in the bed and when the covers fell off him, he noticed a bunch of nodes strapped to his bare chest that were connected to a vitals machine next to his bed. It was now apparent to him that he was in the hospital, possibly because he had weakened to unconsciousness after using his Neutronic Mech-Suit.

He was feeling better, so he decided to remove the oxygen mask. But as soon as he did, he coughed and held his throat, now unable to breathe. It took him till now to realize the reason for the oxygen he was breathing in while asleep: he was in the Bikini Bottom hospital, and would probably drown at any minute without air to breathe. This showed when the vitals machine he was attached to began to beep rapidly.

Jimmy struggled to hold his breath, looking around for any sign of oxygen to survive. He noticed on a small table next to him was a piece of his Neutronic Air Gum with a note under it which he quickly read, 'Jimmy: Chew this once you wake up!' Without a second thought, he stuffed the gum in his mouth and quickly chewed it until he could feel air in his lungs. He exhaled deeply in relief and the vitals machine returned to its normal rhythm.

"Glad to see you're finally awake." A voice rang out. Jimmy turned his head to see Danny Fenton sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, reading a magazine.

"Danny?" Jimmy asked in surprise, wondering how long he'd been there. "What am I doing here? What happened after I used the mech-suit?"

"Not surprised you don't remember much." Danny casually explained as he continued reading the magazine. "After you passed out, we didn't have time to take you anywhere else before you were drained completely. So we brought you here to be treated and rest up. The doctors have been doing a great job keeping you alive."

"Oh." Jimmy said, still feeling unsure, but decided to drop it. "So…where's everyone else?"

Danny looked up from his magazine at Jimmy. "Well, after you used Platform to make DarkEvil LaserPants 'history', Max, SpongeBorg, and SpongeTron returned Platform to Max's dad. And the good thing is that he took it apart so it could never be used by anyone like DarkEvil again."

"That's fantastic." Jimmy said with a smile, but then wondered, "But what about Darry and the kids?"

"Darry, Tammy, and Tommy took all the deactivated SpongeCog robots into the future where they'll be held at Nicktoons HQ and sealed away."

"Okay. That's good."

"And Timmy and Tak have been fixing all the damage caused to our worlds from all that's happened."

"Great." Jimmy replied until he remembered something. "But wait! What about Danielle?"

"She's been staying with SpongeBob this whole time." Danny said contently, while going back to reading his magazine. "She refused to leave until she knew you were alright."

Jimmy felt himself getting flustered, but shook it off. "Wow," he said in amazement. "A lot's happened in a couple hours."

"Hours?" Danny questioned as he looked back at Jimmy in bewilderment. "Jimmy, it's been like four days."

"WHAT?" Jimmy yelled in alarm. "You mean I've been in a coma for four days?"

But Danny suddenly chuckles, "Just kidding." He went back to reading his magazine and nonchalantly added, "Actually…it's been three weeks."

"Th- Th- Three weeks?" Jimmy got a horrified expression and clasped his chest as the vitals machine began beeping rapidly again.

But before he could have a proper heart attack, the door suddenly flung open and Danielle came into the room, stunned to see Jimmy finally awake.

"Jimmy!" Dani shouted with a blissful smile. "You're okay!"

Before Jimmy knew it, Dani rushed over, jumped on top of his bed, and wrapped her arms around him, planting her lips on Jimmy's for a kiss. Jimmy sat there in stun with his face red until Dani finally let go of him.

They both stared at each other in silence until Dani blushed and spoke, "I- I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me."

"I think I do." Jimmy replied, but smiled and placed his hand on the back of her head. "It's something a genius can get used to."

Dani smiled again and moved her forehead close to his. Danny stared at this, but quickly buried his face in the magazine. "Please…Don't mind me." He muttered.

But afterwards, Darry suddenly runs into the room, surprised to see what is going on as the two teens stare at him as well. But Darry just smiles and says, "Jimmy, you're awake." Then he runs back down the hall, shouting, "Guys! Jimmy's finally awake!"

Jimmy stared, dumbfounded, "They're still here?"

"I wasn't the only one waiting for you." Dani mentioned as she got off the bed.

Danny tossed Jimmy his shirt and pants. "You better get dressed and come on out." He suggested as he walked out of the room with Dani. "Everyone's waiting."

Soon afterwards when Jimmy was dressed, he left the hospital and was greeted by the rest of the Nicktoons and Time Fixers team. The younger children (and SpongeBob) immediately showered him with hugs, happy to see him finally awaken from his three week long coma. While Timmy and Tak just took the "manly" way and pat his shoulders to show how much he worried them, but expressed their joy to see him back on his feet. Max, however, just simply told Jimmy he was glad he was okay.

A couple hours later, the group went to Amity Park as it was unfortunately time for the group to part ways. The first to go was Max and SpongeBorg. Though saying goodbye was much easier said than done. After all they've been through, Max was still ill-tempered as ever, so they all had to choose their choice of words carefully.
"We're really gonna miss you, Max." Sam said as she rested her arms affectionately around Danny. "If it hadn't been for you, we would've all been doomed and I never would've got Danny back." Her boyfriend smiled and held her close.

"Sure." Max boredly said. "Whatever."

Timmy sighed and added, "You may have given us a headache since you came, but we really do owe you one."

"Sure."

"No more talking back to people, okay?" Dani added.

"Okay."

"And try to be a little nicer." Tommy bluntly suggested.

Max just rolled his eyes and responded, "Whatever."

"Keep working on your skills, Max." Tammy said with a warm smile. "You got potential just like your father."

Max's eyes seemed to brighten for a quick second, but even if it did, he instantly shook it off and dully responded, "Yeah, fine."

SpongeBorg beeped heartily as he shook SpongeTron's hand and went over to Max, beeping something enthusiastic to him which seemed to stun Max.

"You and SpongeBorg take care of each other, Max." SpongeTron said tenderly until he grinned and boldly shouted, "Because trust me when I say, robots are the best companions you can ever have!"

Max couldn't help but chuckle and say, "Don't worry. I wouldn't give up SpongeBorg for anything."

At long last, Darry stepped forward and gave a small smile to the younger boy. Unlike everyone else, Max didn't seem to know any witty comments to give him like he usually did for Darry. "Scottie…" all he could say.

"It's 'Darry'." Darry corrected, not even losing his friendly smile. "Take care of yourself." He extended his hand out to him. "And be nice to a certain ghost kid in the far future, okay?"

Max stared at it for a few seconds, but ultimately smiled and grabbed his hand, returning with a handshake.

He then glanced over at Jimmy in the group, but remained silent and didn't acknowledge him. SpongeBorg walked over to him and held out a Recaller. Max nodded and walked away with him, prepared to leave. But when SpongeBorg was about to activate the device, Max's face scrunched up and he ran back.

"Jimmy!" Max cried as he ran through the group and clutched onto Jimmy's legs, much to the genius's shock. "I can't go back!" he shouted as he cried in tears. "I'll miss you! You're the best friend I ever had."

Jimmy stood there in shock as he stared down at Max clutch and cry on him with probably the most genuine tears since he first met him.

"I'm sorry about everything I said before." Max continued saying as he still clutched Jimmy's leg. "I'm not really like that. It's just that when you have powers like mine…"

But Jimmy just knelt down to him and held his shoulders. "It's okay, Max. I understand." He said warmly with a smile.

Without warning, Max suddenly jumped onto Jimmy and hugged him tightly. "I love you." He told Jimmy. "…Dad."

Hearing Max call him that for the first time, Jimmy returned his hug and replied, "I love you too, Max."

Afterwards, Max finally let go and ran back over to SpongeBorg, who activated the Recaller and created a portal that would take them back home. SpongeBorg grabbed Max's hand, and Max looked back at the group one last time and smiled before walking into the portal.

After the portal disappeared, everyone stood there in silence, especially Jimmy, who no one could tell what he was feeling right now. Dani then decided to break the silence by confronting Jimmy. "Are you okay, Jimmy?" she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

But Jimmy suddenly turned to the group with a happy smile. "Of course I am." He answered merrily. "Why wouldn't I be?"

They were happy to see Jimmy back to his old self even with Max now back home. Danny turned to the Time Fixers and asked, "So I guess this means you'll be going back home too?"

"Yeah," Darry answered with a nod. "Our parents are expecting us back right now."

"Well, we just want to thank you for everything." Jimmy said as he held his hand out. "We couldn't have done it without all of you."

"Same here." Darry responded as he shook Jimmy's hand.

The future Nicktoons then said their goodbyes to their friends, and SpongeTron created a portal that would take them back to their time period. Once the portal disappeared and the Time Fixers were gone. Sam put her arm around Dani and began to lead her away.

"Come on, Danielle." Sam said as the two walked away. "We better leave the guys alone."

"No kidding." Dani replied with a giggle.

Once the girls were gone, Jimmy turned to his teammates with a sheepish chuckle. "So…some week this turned out to be- or month I should say." He corrected after remembering he had been unconscious during the week he was talking about.

"Yeah," Danny agreed as he sat on the front steps of Fenton Works. "I never thought that after all these years; this is how we'd reunite."

"Of course it is." Timmy pointed out. "We're Nicktoons after all." He turned to Jimmy. "We're still Nicktoons, right?"

Jimmy stood there silently for a moment until he gave a small smile and answered, "Yeah…we are right now." But then he sadly frowned, "Unless you remember that we broke up."

"It's funny though." Tak began to speak up. "We broke up for the same reason we got back together. We won before and we won again. But would it really make sense to break up again even after all we went through?"

"That's right." SpongeBob agreed. "We're still a great team. We did the impossible and beat DarkEvil LaserPants, we even saved the future and saved a little kid's life." He slumped. "We can't break up now."

Jimmy seemed lost for words until Danny spoke up, "Cut it out, guys. You're putting enough pressure on him as it is." he smiled. "Look, even if we stay broken up, it wouldn't matter. We're still a great team whether we're together or not. Even if we don't see each other anymore, we can't hang out or fight side by side, we'll still have the memories of when we did; and as long as we have those, we'll never really break up."

Timmy, Tak, and SpongeBob thought over this and soon smiled and agreed to Danny's true words. Jimmy was happy to hear this as well, until the moment was broken by the sounds of their Recallers beeping on and off. Jimmy looked at his Recaller and said, "Looks like there's trouble downtown. Undergrowth is at it again."

"Well…" Danny said as he stood up and changed into ghost form. "Guess that's my call to answer."

As he was about to leave, Jimmy grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Wait." Danny turned to Jimmy, who looked up at him with a smirk, "Think you can use some help with this one?"

Timmy, Tak, and SpongeBob look surprised by this, but smile, and Danny crosses his arms and smiles as well, "One last mission, guys?"

Jimmy takes out his tornado blaster and quips, "Nicktoons…let's unite."

In the Ghost Zone, Clockwork was watching the whole event through his time portal and smiles as he sees everything unfold.

Darry peeks over him just as Clockwork morphs into an old man and becomes annoyed. "That's my dad!" Darry points out excitedly. "You should've seen us together. We were unstoppable!"

"I did see you together." Clockwork dully pointed out. "I see everything."

SpongeTron puts his hands on his hips and stands proudly. "I guess this is another job well done."

"Ain't that the truth." Tommy says, looking exhausted. "All I want to do now is go home and lie in bed and play mindless video games all day."

"Jimmy said he'd be here any minute to pick us up." Tammy pointed up until she sighed with a smile. "I actually got to see the moment when he started getting taller."

Tommy rolls his eyes and slaps his forehead.

"Hey kids." Jimmy said as he walked inside with baby Max in his arms. "Ready to go? We've been waiting for you."

Max giggles as Darry spots him and runs over. "Max!" he called out as he grabbed the baby and hugged him. "You don't know how happy I am to see you…in diapers!"

Max stares at him with a confused look, but Darry holds him out and says, "Can you say 'Darry'?"

"Goo!" Max babbled as he looked at Darry.

"No, no. Dare-ree."

"Dah…" Max struggled to say. "…wee."

"Close, but no."

Tammy, Tommy, and SpongeTron walk past him as they follow Jimmy to the Specter Speeder. "Let's get going already." Tommy urged. "Darrel Scott Fenton."

Tommy laughed, but not until Max repeated, "Scorry."

"No, no, no!" Darry groaned in frustration. "It's Darry! You don't learn that soon, you might end calling me that for the rest of your life."

Max hugged him happily while Darry just sighed with a smile. "Well…no matter what you call me- or what you become, we can still be friends. Besides, I still have ten more years to teach you how to say my real name. I'll keep at it even if takes twenty."

As Darry carried Max out of Clockwork's realm, to join his friends in going home, Max rested his head on Darry's shoulder and closed his eyes, "Darry.."

The End

And that's the end of the story. The present and future is saved once and for all. Please tell me what you thought of the chapter and the story in general. And thank you for reading, and be sure to check out all my other works if you're interested.