Nicktoons Unite!

Chapter 11: The Final Battle

As the hovercar raced through the air, Spongebob clutched his stomach and was beginning to look pale. Danny noticed this and asked, "You okay, dude? You look kinda sick."
"It takes awhile for some people to get used to flying in the hovercar." said Jimmy, not looking around. "Heck, it took Carl two months to stop spilling his lunch on my seats whenever we took off."

Spongebob shook his head. "No, it's not that," he said, "it's just the thought of battling our greatest enemies and stopping that Doomsday device is scaring the seahorses out of me. I mean, we can beat them...can we?"
Danny heroically puffed out his chest. "Of course we can! You said so yourself, Spongebob; we're heroes and heroes save the world." When the sponge didn't look convinced, the teen relaxed and put his arm around him. "To tell ya the truth, I'm a little nervous, too."

Spongebob's eyes widen. "Really? But you're a superhero; you shouldn't be afraid of anything."
Danny glanced away. "I am, but not about what's gonna happen to me. I'm afraid of what might happen to my friends and family. I don't know what I'll do if they..."
The teen trailed off, lowered his head and closed his eyes. There was a deafening silence.

Spongebob stared at him without saying anything; he had never seen Danny act this way before. Timmy turned to notice and a look of nervousness crossed his face. Jimmy too felt a pang of fear inside his belly. They all know what's at stake; if they fail, everything would be lost.
But Danny lifted his head, his emerald eyes flashing. "But we can't let our fear get the better of us; we can...no, we will defeat the Syndicate and save the multiverse. We'll fight to the very end to protect our homes and family."

As the teen continued, for the first time, a serious spread across Spongebob's face. Timmy raised his shoulders and Jimmy listened intently, but still keeping his eyes forward.
"So you guys still with me, then?" asked the genius. He was answered by a barking 'YEAH!' from his comrades.
He smiled and said, "I thought so."

The hovercar soon landed near an abandoned warehouse. Jimmy got out of the craft and headed towards the door, followed by Danny, Spongebob and Timmy. The door was already opened and swinging slightly on its hinges. The four boys cautiously made their way into the building. The inside of the warehouse had all manner of old equipment lying around and the windows were boarded up. Dust was everywhere; the boys felt their noses tickle as they walked, kicking up the dirty particles.

Jimmy looked at his electronic map, which emitted a ping every few seconds. As they walked, it pinged faster and faster until the genius stopped.
"Okay, we're right on top of the signal's whereabouts," Jimmy said, "but where's the Evil Syndicate?"
Timmy saw an odd square with a handle on the ground, right underneath the boy genius. "Could you move one step to the right, Neutron?"

A confused Jimmy sidestepped and the bucktooth kid pulled the handle upwards. Underneath the door was a hidden staircase leading to a lower level.
Spongebob nervously poked his head over it. "Maybe they're down there somewhere?"
"Only one way to find out." said Danny as he started down the stairs. The others, after a moment's hesitation, followed him.

As the four boys made their way down, it grew darker and darker. So dark, in fact, that Danny had to use his ghost powers to make a small, green glow in his hand as a flashlight. The walls looked as old as the warehouse they were just in, but Jimmy noticed a few footprints on the soft, sandy ground; someone was, and is still, here. At last, they made it to a large, metal door, clearly not part of the warehouse construction. Behind it the boys could hear noises.

At this point, the reality of the situation sunk in; their hearts began to beat faster, sweat was beginning to run down their faces and a knotted feeling grew inside them. After a long pause, Jimmy took a deep breath and said to his friends, "Well, gentlemen, this is it."
"Sure is," muttered Timmy, not taking his eyes off the entrance.

Spongebob was shaking like an underwater leaf, but managed to utter, "W-W-We have t-t-to be b-b-brave, guys."
"Don't worry; we can do it." assured Danny, but his Adam's Apple bobbed as he swallowed nervously.
Together, the four heroes pushed open the door. They gasped at what they saw inside.

The level had led them to a large computer station, similar to Jimmy's but much bigger. Everything was covered in metal, from the floor to the walls. In the middle stood a spectacular machine; it carried four pods on four sturdy, mechanical arms. From behind the device walked the four villains, smirking when they saw the intruders.
"You brats won't give up, will you?" sneered Professor Calamitous, "Maybe you'll change your mind once we gave you a demonstration of our...um...uh...power!"

Jimmy bravely stepped up. "You're not gonna get away with this, Calamitous!"
The professor snarled, "Watch me; Computer, initiate...um...ahhh...'Doomsday Countdown!'"

"DOOMSDAY COUNTDOWN INITIATED. 5 MINUTES UNTIL DETONATION. HAVE A NICE DAY," the computer spoke.

"Are you crazy?" exclaimed Danny, "You'll be destroyed too!"
Vlad Plasmious smiled evilly and placed a hand on the machine behind him. "Oh no, Daniel, we'll be just fine in these special pods; they'll protect us from the blast."
"Ever your FAIRIES can't save you now, Turner!" snarled Crocker.

Spongebob yelped, "We've gotta stop that Doomsday Device!"
Plankton shook his head. "What kind of amateurs do you think we are?"
"Yes," added Calamitous, "you see, I've never got to...uhh...ummm...making an...ahhh...override switch. Once it starts, you can't...ummm...stop it!"
"So," stated Vlad, "you could either surrender and accept your doom..."

"Or you could fight us to the bitter end!" glowered Crocker.
Plankton took out his weapon. "So, what's it gonna be?"
The four heroes stood their ground, giving the villains a serious and angry look.
Calamitous sighed, pulling out a laser sword. "So be...ummm...whatever, ATTACK, SYNDICATE!"

The Evil Syndicate charged the heroes and the team faced their attack head-on. The two groups collided in a haze of lasers, energy beams and blasts. Soon they were facing one-on-one fights; Danny and Vlad blasted and bashed one another with their ghost powers, Jimmy sword fought Calamitous, Timmy dodged Crocker's fairy-proof weapons and Spongebob tried to kick and punch away Plankton's force shield.

One minute later and the two teams were still duking it out, neither one of them giving an inch. Finally they broke apart for a moment. Both were exhausted and straining, having given almost all of their strength.
Professor Calamitous suddenly shouted, "We won't...um...lose this...uh...time!" and the villains launched their attacks all at once, completely surprising the heroes; Danny was blasted by Vlad's ghost ray, Jimmy was stunned from Calamitous's taser, Timmy was struck by Crocker's ray gun and Spongebob was flung to the ground from Plankton's pulse weapon.

The four boys were still standing, but the Syndicate wasn't done yet; they began giving the heroes a particularly brutal beating, punching, slashing, kicking, and blasting the four guys. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the villains stood back to examine their work; Danny lied on the his front in absolute pain, he suit almost shredded off. Timmy was on his back, his body shaking in agony. Spongebob moaned as he twitched in misery and Jimmy tried to stand up, but fell to his knees in a weakened state.

Vlad, looking at the exhausted kids, smirked. "It looks like they've learned their lesson."
"Good, I've had enough teaching for one day," muttered Crocker.
Calamitous walked to the pod machine. "Let's get into these pods before...umm...uhh...you know."
As they walked away, Plankton followed them and exclaimed, "World domination, here we come!"

Meanwhile, the four boys were starting to come to. Danny looked up and saw the Syndicate getting into their respective pods. He darted his eyes to the others, who looked just as upset as him at this unfortunate circumstance. The teen tried raising up on his arms, but they gave way and he fell onto his chest.
"No, c'mon," Danny mumbled to himself, trying again, "arms, don't fail me now."
Jimmy turned his head to the teen, panting. "Our bodies...won't listen...to us. We're...too weak..."

Timmy struggled to sit up. "Then our bodies better listen to us again. We can't give up now."
"If you say so, Timmy," muttered Cosmo, who received damage as a weapon, "but I've already given up." Wanda gave him a hard slap with her wand and spoke to the kids, "Timmy's absolutely right! You boys can't give up; you've come too far!"
Spongebob was able to sit up, although he was still shaking a little. "If we just believe in ourselves, there's nothing that can stop us, not even the Evil Syndicate."

Jimmy eye's widen. "Maybe we do have a chance; it been scientifically documented that mind over matter does exist, as long as you have enough faith."
The sponge stood up on shaky legs. "Well, I do!"
"I do!" Timmy chimed in as he rose up on two feet.
Danny's legs straightened out, making him stand full height. "So do I!"

Jimmy smiled in hope. He too was able to stand up. Looking at his friends, he could see the pain in their faces, but he also saw something else; something gleamed in their eyes like a flickering flame; something powerful enough to override their sense of self-preservation and continue to fight, even to the brink of death. Jimmy wasn't sure what that 'something' is, but that didn't matter now.

"HEY, CALAMITOUS!" shouted the genius at the top of his lungs.
The four surprised supervillains spun around. To their astonishment, the boys they had beaten to a pulp earlier were standing up.
"What? You want more?" asked Professor Calamitous.
Vlad stepped forward. "Obviously these brats won't listen to us; let's just get this over with!" He, the professor and the other two charged at the team, but this time, the heroes were ready.

Once again the two groups crashed into each other in a fury of attacks. But something was different; the heroes were starting to get the upper hand.

Danny nimbly dodged Vlad's oncoming rays and close combat attacks, lashing out with his ghost rays, uppercuts and body slams. The evil ghost man fell to the metal floor in a heap.
Jimmy countered Calamitous's laser sword with his own and was able to knock it out of his hands. With another swipe, he sent the professor crashing to the floor.
Timmy slid between Crocker's legs and blasted him with his fairy ray from behind, senting him crashing into the wall.
Spongebob used his karate chops and kicks to fling Plankton into the air and bashed the protozoa into the ground.

Before any of the villains could get up again, the four heroes launched their most powerful attacks; Danny unleashed his Ghostly Wail, Jimmy lashed out with a Mega Beam, Timmy used his Star Blast and Spongebob gushed an enormous amount of high pressure water from his mouth. The Evil Syndicate didn't stand a chance and were flung to the ground.

After just a minute, the four heroes quickly retreated to the other side of the room. The villains lay next to one another and groaned in pain.
Jimmy panted, but was able to stand tall. "Looks like...you've lost again, professor. I've learned...a lesson in...teamwork today..."
"...But the lesson ends here!" finished an exhausted Timmy.
Professor Calamitous slowly stood up on shaky, stumpy legs. "Perhaps, but my Doomsday Device is still counting down and there's nothing you can do to stop it!"

At that moment, the computer blurted out, "30 SECONDS UNTIL DOOMSDAY."

The heroes cringed and gasped. "Only thirty seconds?! What do we do?" stammered Timmy.
"Maybe if I Overshadowed the device..." Danny wondered out loud, but then groaned, "No, that won't work."
Timmy piped up with an idea. "Maybe if I wished it into a black hole..."
"That won't work either, Tim," said Jimmy, "the Doomsday Device is still gonna detonate and destroy the multiverse."

While the three boys were conversing, Spongebob spied something sticking out of the device. He walked over and poked it, unsure what to do, but understanding what he was looking at.

"10 SECONDS TO DETONATION." stated the computer.

Jimmy had another thought. "Maybe I can rewire the circuits, but we don't have enough time."

"5...4...3..."

"What are we gonna do?!" exclaimed a frightened Danny.

"2...1..."

Suddenly the computer went dark. The lights were still on but the Doomsday Device had turned off.

Timmy blinked his eyes, stunned. When he found his voice he asked, "What happened?"
"That's what I want to know, too," Vlad snarled at the professor.
"I don't understand," stammered Calamitous, "that device should've detonated by now!"
Crocker glared at the shaking little man. "Well, it didn't..."
"...so what went wrong?" hissed Plankton.

Jimmy then noticed Spongebob wasn't standing next to him. He looked over at the device and gasped. Danny and Timmy followed his gaze and did the same. The Evil Syndicate narrowed their eyes at the occurrence and a dumbfounded look came over them. There was Spongebob, holding in his hand an electric plug. He looked at the plug and looked at the room. A big smile slowly spread across his face as he cheered,

"IT WORKED!"

"NOOOOOOO!" wailed Professor Calamitous, his hands on his head, "I've...umm...forgot the...uhh...backup power supply!" The other villains roared in frustration.
Spongebob tossed the plug onto the floor. "Whew, that was a close-" He was interrupted by Timmy, who hug-tackled him.
"Spongebob, you did it!" he happily exclaimed.

The bucktooth kid was followed by Jimmy, who also embraced the sponge. "You've saved the multiverse!"
Spongebob beamed. "I did?"
Suddenly all three of them where picked up and held close by someone. They looked up to see Danny's smiling face. "Way to go, Spongebob!" He then gave the three boys a squeeze.

Jimmy and Timmy were a little surprised but returned the hug to the happy teen. Spongebob put his arms around the two boys as well. The team stood in this position for a moment, joyful that they were all okay.

But, of course, the villains had to ruin the moment. Plankton gagged, "Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick."
Spongebob, Timmy and Jimmy jumped to the floor. "You villains are gonna go to jail for a long time," snarled the genius
Crocker began to turn tail. "You're gonna have to catch us first." But Timmy was able to stop him with a giant butterfly net, trapping the lunatic.
The three other bad guys spilt up after seeing this. "Every single-celled organism for himself!" cried Plankton.

"Oh no, you don't!" shouted Spongebob and he blew a bubble at the protozoa, trapping him inside the air-filled, liquid.
"Hey, get me outta here!" screamed Plankton as he pounded on the sides of the bubble, but to no avail.
Danny watched as Vlad made his way to the ceiling. "So how are you gonna stop me, you little rat?"

"Like this," the teen answered smartly and sucked the evil ghost man into the thermos. After the screaming villain disappeared into the device, Danny twisted the cap onto it, smirking, "I thought you would see that comin'."
All that was left of the Syndicate was Professor Calamitous, who cringed and backed away. Jimmy smiled and took out a glowing cube. He held it in front of the professor and pressed a button. A beam of light began to drag him into the cube.

"This isn't over, Jimmy Neutron!" screamed Calamitous as he disappeared into the device. "We'll be baaaaaaaaack!"

After the four villains were rounded up, Jimmy turned to his friends and said, "Well done, gentlemen. Now let's get back to the lab."