Chapter 19: And So it Begins…
September 25th, 2006 5:47pm
Earth's Orbit
April was fast asleep in the cockpit. There was enough food to get her this far from when she initially escaped. Her time spent was sharpening her club, reflecting over past memories as well as eating and resting. However those days would come to an end when the proximity alarm sounded.
"Ugh, what is it?" April said half asleep. She then looked in front of her and saw the sapphire colored planet many know as Earth. "Perfect, Jimmy and the others are still here! Hopefully I'm not too late to warn them!" She then directed the escape pod to Retroville. Before she knew it, she could see the skyscrapers reflecting a gorgeous sunset. I guess I've taken sunsets for granted. April thought as she smiled a bit. Hopefully it's not the last one we'll see.
Next thing she knew, two military jets started flying up behind her. "This one of Neutron's tech?" the first pilot wondered.
"I don't know. That kid usually has something different every day," the second pilot remarked. "I'll put the general through." A few moments later a voice came through.
"Pilots 237 and 543, report!" General Abercrombie spoke.
"There's some kind of unknown craft in Retroville airspace sir. Awaiting orders."
"Shoot it down. Then take what remains back to base for extraction!"
"Yes sir!" Both pilots said as the call ended. They started with one missile which made a direct hit to the pod's engine.
"I thought earthlings were friendlier than this," April said annoyedly as she prepared for a bumpy landing. The pod crashed at the edge of the city. The two jets that pursued landed nearby. The pilots came out with some various equipment as well as a couple weapons to protect themselves. The door on the side of the pod opened to reveal April with her club at hand. "I don't have time for this! Take me to Jimmy Neutron!"
"We have orders to take you and your craft to base-" the first pilot said.
"Hold on," the second pilot interjected. "None of us knew anyone was flying it." He then activated his intercom. "Hey general!"
As he was contacting his superior officer, April decided to make a break for it. The pilots locked their jets and proceeded to run after her. "Hey wait!" The first pilot shouted.
"Hey general! Alien's on the move! What're your orders?" The second pilot asked again. Unfortunately, there was only static on the other side. "General?!" No response. "Great, if I'm to guess, comms are down."
"Probably has something to do with her!" The first pilot responded back.
A hundred feet ahead, April kept running. "If I was Jimmy, where would I be?" Her eyes pointed to sign on a lamp post which said RETROVILLE FALL FESTIVAL. Well that explains why I don't see a lot of people. She ran until she saw in the far distance, a circus-like tent - the same one in the advertisement. April smiled. "I can reach him!" Then a giant shadow darkened the area where April and the two pilots were. All three of them immediately stopped.
"What… is that?" The first pilot looked up.
"My God…" The second pilot watched in shock. "It can't be."
This was what I feared… April clenched her fist. It was a whole fleet of Yolkian ships. Each ship had side doors that opened up with Yolkians flying out by the hundreds. They were all possessing spears which were solid weapons for close quarters and long distance combat. The few people that were out and about were either running away or stunned in silence. "THIS WAS WHAT I NEEDED TO WARN HIM ABOUT!" April shouted at the pilots. "I could've made it in time if you didn't shoot me down!" She then ran off to the tent.
The first pilot was about to run after her but the second one pulled him back. "I feel as guilty as you do, but we need to reach the others. These ships are probably why we couldn't get a signal. Let's head back to our jets." The first pilot solemnly nodded.
As April was running closer to the tent, a dozen Yolkians landed in front of her ready to fight with some shooting her from afar. She then released a battle cry before drawing her club and fought her foes ahead. A little into the fight, she saw the tent go up in flames and disappear. I hope you weren't there. Wherever you are, I'll reach you soon!
Meanwhile at the arena, Jimmy sits still with what's left of his former mechanical canine. Tears continue to escape his eyes. His parents, Carl, Sheen, Cindy and Libby stood by his side wondering what to do to help. "Are you happy Eustace?" was the first thing Jimmy openly spoke.
"I'm sorry," he said in a condescending manner. "I didn't catch that."
"I SAID ARE YOU HAPPY YOU MONSTER?!" Jimmy shouted in fury while staring directly at the buck toothed kid.
"It's not my fault you decided to get attached to a machine. But yes, this does satisfy me greatly. Unfortunately, you need a lot of other people to impress if you are to last through this night."
Cindy then marched to Strych with her fists clenched. "And to think I found you the least bit likable. You're a good for nothing, selfish, heartless, greedy little-"
"I wouldn't go a step further if I were you," Eustace threatened as he aimed his watch at her. "You already know what this did to a tent, so what'll it do to a human? Would you like to find out?" Cindy stopped immediately and gradually backed up to the rest of her group. "That's what I thought. This is where the real fun begins." He lowered his weapon and pressed a few things on his watch.
Suddenly every TV, computer and basically anything with internet access paused whatever was playing with one singular message. "Greetings people of Earth!" Meldar spoke as millions across the world watched. "We interrupt this program to bring attention to one major issue. This planet has been put into danger time and time again. And this is all because of one adolescent male. The one you call Jimmy Neutron. He selfishly puts people's lives in jeopardy for his experiments. He left every adult in a quaint city in Texas to get abducted by the Yolkian race. And more recently, he stopped the Intergalactic Showdown, which broke tradition and has given him many enemies across the universe. And finally tonight all this will be realized as more than a mere tragedy or accident. But you all have yourselves to blame too for letting this kid and his cronies get away with as much as they did." A photo of Jimmy and his friends popped up. "But honestly, most of you probably didn't even know. I'm willing to bet it's not the first time your higher-ups lied to you. Leaves you wondering though. In these dark times, who can you trust?" The broadcast ended.
"Meldar's back? And he's here too?!" Sheen asked.
"And apparently so is everyone else that we've faced before." Libby processed.
"But how did everyone get back from the past?" Carl asked.
"Oh you'll find out in due time." Strych smirked.
"There's gotta be something we can do, right Jim Jam?" Hugh asked.
"No…" Jimmy started. "This… was the WORST CASE SCENARIO THAT I FEARED ALL ALONG!"
"Now Jimmy, please calm down and we can talk about-" Judy suggested.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Jimmy yelled. "I just lost my dog, all my enemies are back and then some and they just made me the most infamous person on Earth if not in existence! An invasion is happening, people are dying all because of me!"
"No, this is something we need to do together!" Cindy said.
"Yeah this is too big for you to handle on your own." Sheen said.
"We're the amigops." Carl softly said.
"There's no time to think of a plan!" Jimmy countered. "I've gotta get to my lab and stop them now!"
"Wait!" Libby said.
"No! I'm not gonna get anyone else hurt because of me. I'm gonna stop this while I still can!" Jimmy then activated his jet pack and flew off in the trajectory of his lab.
"JAMES!" "NEUTRON!" Judy and Cindy shouted simultaneously.
"You know I think Meldar has a point." Eustace commented. "Your hero has left you behind to die!"
"That's not what he's doing!" Carl retorted.
"Ah, but that's the execution if it all," Eustace walked away as a swarm of Yolkians arrived on the scene. "Hope to see you all never again!"
Nick and Betty ran down to where the others were to fight alongside them. Elke, on the other hand, ran away in panic.
"Wait!" Carl yelled to no avail. He, Sheen, Libby, Cindy, Betty, Nick, Judy and Hugh are left to fend for themselves while many others are attempting to evacuate across town.
Meanwhile Jimmy faced another horde of Yolkians while airborne. He was able to use his watch laser to take care of a few of them and used his power siphon to slice others that got close to him. After a while, he made it back to the lab. He used his hair like usual, but it was met with [ACCESS DENIED]. "Override code - Rocket Boy!" [EMERGENCY CLEARANCE GRANTED]. He made his way into the lab and noticed the place in disarray. "Vox! Play security footage in the past six hours." The screen lit up with the state of the lab from before.
"Well well well… So this is where the boy keeps his things…" A petite bald man with a mustache said.
"Calamitous," Jimmy noticed the professor holding a strand of his hair.
"So what's considered useful for a boy like Jimmy Neutron?" He looked around until he saw two nanobots in a cell near one of the shelves. "And who might you two be?"
"We're programmed to please our creator!" N-1 spoke.
"Unfortunately, he doesn't appreciate us…" N-2 spoke with distaste.
"Well, do you know his most useful assets?"
"Access the main computer. It might have something." N-1 spoke.
After a little bit of searching, he found a file called EvilCloneavi. Upon opening it, Evil Jimmy looked at Calamitous from his virtual prison.
"For a video, it doesn't show much." Calamitous sighed.
"That's because it's real time grandpa." Evil Jimmy quipped. "Who are you supposed to be?"
"I am Professor Finbarr Calamitous of the-"
"Oh, you're one of the "villains" Gortox talked about. Care to explain why he shot me in the back?!"
"I-I didn't even know you existed. At first glance, you'd be mistaken for the Jimmy I know, but the name says otherwise."
"Seeing that you were never aware, I'll set aside my grudges. But only if you do something for me."
"What do I get out of it?"
"I can show you his best one for you to use."
"Okay, what do you need?"
"I just need you to free me from this prison Neutron put me in. You don't have to put me back in my body since it's obsolete, but I can be free in this virtual matrix."
"Okay give me a second." A few minutes later, Calamitous found the code and unlocked the file. "Try now."
Evil Jimmy attempted to touch the border of his virtual cell only this time there is no longer an invisible wall. "Looks like I'm free, professor! Nanobots!" He turned his attention to the two machines. "Seeing that I share the same body as Jimmy Neutron, that makes me your creator, right?"
"Well…" N-2 stuttered.
"Technically yes." N-1 spoke.
"Once this fellow releases you both, you're free to do whatever it takes to perfect this world."
"Oh, I'm honored!" N-2 spoke happily.
"It's been too long!" N-1 spoke.
"As for you doc, you can use the robo walker and the freeze and cheese rays, which are in the back. Later!" Evil Jimmy disappeared in a flash of a light.
"Well I suppose that leaves you both to get freed." Professor Calamitous smirked as the Nanobots started to leave with their saucer. "Now to get what I need."
"The villains really did it…" Jimmy said in a monotone voice as the feed ended. "I knew it was a bad idea to revive him!" Jimmy slammed the floor and took a few deep breaths. "Okay. At least I know who's after me now. Some guy named Gortox. Now I just gotta focus on what I can do now. Think! Think! Think!" Into the depths of his mind, Jimmy thought of something, anything that could help. "May I present the Chrono-Arch. A portal through time, and this is just a general picture. Using DNA tracking, I was able to locate all three of our future selves." "Brain Blast!" Jimmy said has his reliable light bulb in his mind lit up. In the meantime, I can't leave my friends hanging." Jimmy then reactivated the Chrono-Arch and grabbed the N-Men packets and various gear each of them needed.
Meanwhile back at the midst of the fight, a portal appeared with Jimmy emerging from it. "Jimmy you're back!" Carl shouted happily. Judy then slapped her son. "Please don't scare me like that again."
"I'm sorry I left the way I did, but I have a plan for you all now." Jimmy explained. "I can reprogram the Chrono-Arch to set them in a distant part of the known galaxy without involving time travel."
"How would you fit all of them in a small portal?" Betty asked.
"I'll use my shrink ray's reverse effect. The portal will fit just about everything when gigantic."
"So what should we do then?" Libby asked.
"I have the packets and gear for the rest of you," Jimmy said as he handed them over to the respective person. "Sheen and Nick. I need you both to focus on evacuating everyone to any of the city's shelters."
"On it!" Sheen and Nick said in unison.
"Carl, I know this isn't your favorite power to use, but I need you to use the power to disable the oncoming hordes of Yolkians headed our way."
"I'll do it!" Carl declared.
"Cindy, if you're able to, I need you to take down the Yolkian ships. If they're coming from the ships, we can take 'em down. If you do that, they can't go far."
"You got it!" Cindy responded.
"Libby and Betty, I need you both on the ground to take care of the Yolkians down here."
"Sure thing Jimmy," Betty said.
"Mom and Dad?"
"Yes son?" Hugh asked. "What do you need us to do?"
"Watch my back while I make the arch." Jimmy then directed to everyone. "Let's go! LET'S SAVE WHAT WE CAN OF RETROVILLE!" everyone fist bumped each other before going their separate ways. "We've got quite the night ahead."
To Be Continued…
AN: Didn't mean to be as gone for as long as I was. It's been quite the semester. I had some personal issues come up and I decided it was a good idea to take on five classes as well as pick up more shifts at work, so I haven't had much time to do much else. Thankfully, I'm now taking a summer break, so hopefully these chapters will come up frequently for the next few months. Stay tuned!
