Chapter Text
Ahhh Retroville, a peaceful city that just so happens to house the largest density of mad scientists and villains in the entire USA. It's not anyone's fault really, if it weren't for those two things, it'd be pretty peaceful.
The air was filled with the smell of burnt hotdogs, not because anyone was having a barbecue, but because it was the smell of many experiments gone wrong, permanently staining the air. The mayor's been getting complaints about this, but they've been ignored due to budget cuts. Gotta save up enough money for the next inane attraction to give him more money!
Even though Retroville was far from absolutely perfect, it was still considered home to one James Issac Neutron, but most people call him Jimmy.
The young boy genius was currently holed up in his lab built in his backyard shed. It was a necessary modification to fulfill Jimmy's requirements to pursue his scientific career (plus his parents probably wouldn't be happy to have a lab inside the house).
Jimmy mindlessly typed equations and schematics inside his computer for later projects, thinking that right now he could really go for a purple flurp soda. You see, it's been a few years since he's had a significant run in with any world ending threat that would tear his friends and family apart. Sure, he still had fun with his inventions at the tender age of 15, but without a driving motive to stop a really pathetic adult that for some reason has beef with a kid, things just seemed a little dull. Like right now, it's just busy work, not the actual inventing he loves doing. Maybe he should finish that claw machine backpack...it's been a work in progress for a while...
"...Hmm...Goddard, be a good boy and fetch my screwdriver..." Jimmy called from the back of him, all without taking his eyes off the screen.
He could hear rummaging, the sound of tools being disorganized as his beloved pet searched for what Jimmy asked for. Maybe he should upgrade Goddard to make sure he doesn't mess up his lab too much. A small ow came from the background too, but Jimmy payed no mind, too focused on the equation in front of him...when a human hand gave him the screwdriver, instead of the metal mouth of his dog. Jimmy, knowing he specifically put in sensors to alert to human presence in his lab, took a double take and looked to who the hand belonged to.
He was met with a big pair of buck teeth, smiling at him devilishly, "What, the boy genius can't be bothered to look for his own stuff?"
Jimmy scoffed, "That's what I have technology for Turner, to do it for me-" he looked over to Goddard, who seemed a little hurt, "a-and to give them belly rubs, of course."
"Always the sensitive type, huh?" Timmy handed off the screwdriver, looking to Jimmy's giant computer screen, "oooh what'cha making?"
"Nothing in particular to be honest..." A pause, "...anyway what are you even doing here Turner? As far as I know the world isn't ending and Cindy isn't even in town." Not like he'd know the Cindy part, but whatever.
At that Timmy looked away sheepishly, scratching his head. In all his time of knowing Timmy, he's always the type to say what's on his mind, whether it was for the better or for the worse. After teaming up to make and defeat Shirley (and teaming up with a ghost and a sponge on multiple occasions), they'd make frequent visits with each other, having found an odd friendship. They were complete opposites, but bonding with the fact that they're not that well liked by their peers helped a lot. They were the boys that no one understood, regardless if they were regular or genius. But in recent times, being in high school kept them both busy, and visits weren't as frequent as they'd like to be. So to see Turner was a bit of a surprise to the boy genius.
Timmy finally spoke, sort of defensively, "What, a guy can't come say hi to his friend?"
"Not without wanting something."
"Dude I'm serious! Cosmo and Wanda are on a vacation and only...uuh, the giant military fairy program in the sky knows where AJ and Chester are..."
"Wait, your fairy programs are on a vacation? How does that work?"
"Uuh, it's a reprogramming retreat in the Bahamas?"
Jimmy wasn't totally convinced, but honestly Timmy wasn't here to be interrogated by him, "Ooookay, so you're actually just here to hang out? No strings attached?"
"Come on Neutron, am I the type of guy to lie?"
"Timmy you lie on a daily basis, you're not really good at being morally sound."
"Uuugh whatever! I'm not lying this time okay? Cross my heart!" Timmy used his fingers to make an x over his heart. Well that did seem pretty legit. Jimmy would believe him, but the second he lied about one detail his trust for him would go down, but only a little. He still liked the guy.
The boys sat in silence, the only sound being made was Jimmy typing away on his computer. He wasn’t much for conversation, all he really talked about was science, but he wasn't sure if Turner would find that interesting. Jimmy was sure he was fascinated by his inventions, but not super excited about the smaller details that goes into making them, like how this and that works. It made him kinda sad, it was his favorite part of inventing.
Timmy pointed to the screen, his eyes actually sparkling in the blue screen light, "ooooh what's that???"
Jimmy took a closer look that the file name, "hm...oh yeah, it's a memory eraser, it just erases your explicit memories, but not implicit memory. For example you would still know how to read and write, but would forget what happened at your 10th birthday party or something."
The schematic was almost complete actually. But it would take a miracle to put it into practice, it needed very specific (and expensive) parts to make, and Jimmy didn't have that kind of money. It was shocking to him honestly, he was able to make this whole lab but he wasn't able to make something so simple all because of money? It's the kind of ridiculous logic he was able to make now that he was older and more mature.
Timmy looked less interested now, in an unsettled way actually, "Oh...memory eraser huh? Ha...cool cool."
"Something wrong?"
"Nah it's just...gosh I don't know why I'm telling you this but I have like, kind of a fear of losing my memory."
Jimmy, for the first time this evening, turned his whole body to face Turner, "Really? You strike me as the type to be fearless. And it's so irrational too, why that?"
Timmy's entire posture shifted. He went from his arm resting over the chair he was sitting on, to his both his hands clamped together. Shoot, Jimmy didn't mean for this to get so personal. Was it because a family member lost their memory recently? He didn't even think before he spoke, now Timmy looks completely uncomfortable. As Cindy would say, way to go, Nerdtron...
"Uh, well-"
"I-It's fine Turner, I didn't think it was so personal, forget it." Jimmy turned back to the screen, wanting to drop the subject entirely.
"Actually, uhh...there's something about it that you should probably kno-"
Before Timmy could finish his sentence, an alarm went off in the lab. Jimmy's screen was now flooded with images of a meteor heading straight for earth. Great, more space debris, just what he needed.
Jimmy flung out of his chair, his lab coat swishing with the motion, "Sorry Timmy, you'll have to tell me later. I'll be right back-"
"Hey wait! Let me come with you!"
Jimmy stopped packing his bag, raising an eyebrow to his friend, "not to be rude Turner, but you'll get hurt if you don't have any way of defending yourself."
"Oh but that's where you're wrong, boy genius! For you see, Cosmo and Wanda left me with an emergency wand just in case I need to fight for myself!" Timmy pulled out said wand, waving it until it turned into a sword.
"Wait, so you still have your fairy program?"
"W-well no...it just turns into weapons and stuff, I can't actually make something with it..."
"Oooooh, so it's an immediate weapon generator?"
"Sure! If that's the excuse we're going with..."
"What?"
"Nothing! Just pack your stuff, big brain!"
After packing everything they'd need for the admittedly short trip, Jimmy hopped onto his newly invented multi terrain motorcycle. It can travel on rocky roads, and the skies! He's been trying to get a permit to sell these...
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Jimmy patted the seat behind him, waiting for the other to follow along to his suggestion.
In a shock to Jimmy, Timmy's face went red, "What?? Bro are you sure that's a good idea??"
"Turner what the heck are you talking about? We're losing time just standing here!" Jimmy outstretched his hand, beckoning him to get on quickly.
With a sigh, Timmy reluctantly climbed on, mumbling about how they look weird right now. Jimmy, of course, was completely oblivious to what he was talking about, reving up the engine, "you might want to hang on tight."
"H-hang onto wha-AAAAAAAAAH-!" They launched out of the skylight built into the shack, flying at hyper sonic speeds to make it to the meteor in time. Over the wind roaring in their ears, Timmy's scream could still be heard, his arms wrapped around Jimmy's waist as tightly as he could manage.
It was a quick and simple mission: repel the meteor back into space. Jimmy had done it before, but it was so long ago, he's sure he can do it again though. It all felt the same really, except he wasn't the cause for it like last time. A lot of significant things that happened nowadays weren't his fault, he'd grown out of recklessly endangering his friends for the sake of science, now nothing happens near as much as in the past. Is there really more to life then saving the world constantly? Jimmy's been trying to figure that out ever since his voice deepened.
Now getting closer and closer to the meteor, it actually seemed way bigger than originally anticipated. It's almost as if it had grown from the time it was spotted to the present.
"Hmm...I'm gonna need bigger plates..."
"BIGGER WHAT??"
Jimmy stopped in front of the meteor, a little more than concerned now that the size was right in front of them, hulking in comparison to his calculations. Was he a number off? Was his computer busted? Those should have been accurate numbers, so why was it so huge?
Timmy piped in from behind him, nervousness wavering in his voice, "Jimmy? Are we gonna do something? I thought you said we were losing time-"
"Shut it Turner, I'm thinking."
"Well while you're thinking, I'm gonna blow that thing to smithereens!" Timmy stood over Jimmy, pulling out his wand to make a bazooka, "get me closer in there!"
"No, Turner! What's a bazooka gonna do to this behemoth?! It won't do any good!"
"Less talking more action!" Timmy's foot hit the button to put the motorcycle into gear, shooting them both toward the flaming rock in front of them. Jimmy quickly took the handles of the bike, making sure they don't fall off to their death. Looks like they were doing this...
Timmy, once close enough, shot at it, seeing the rocket fizzle out in the distance, and after a few seconds, an explosion hit the meteor...but it was way too small to have actually done anything. Timmy shot a few more, just to be sure...but it did nothing.
"See Timmy?! This isn't going to work-!"
Like a flare in the night sky, a flash so bright shot past the two of them, whizzing down to earth. It nearly shaved half of Timmy's hair off. A moment passed by, uncertain of what just happened.
"Did...did the meteor just shoot at us?" Timmy looked ahead, squinting his eyes to see in the distance. It wasn't over, it was far from over, "SHOOT, JIMMY-"
More flares (or more aptly lasers) attacked the boys, scrambling to try and make it back down to earth. What in puking plutonium is going on?! If the meteor was shooting down at them, then it wasn't a meteor at all! But then what the heck was it?! It sure as hell didn’t seem friendly, that's for certain.
Unfortunately, a laser made direct contact with Jimmy's back wheel, slowing down their getaway significantly. Timmy looked back, screaming right into Jimmy's ear, "DUDE, YOU'RE GONNA WANNA SEE THIS."
Looking back, both boys were met with the meteor morphing it's appearance, a screen slowly crawling onto its front. It was hard to explain, but it now looked more battle ship than meteor. It was supposed to be a quick and simple mission, not a call to action!
The screen turned on just like an old CRT, for being so futuristic it had the feeling of being outdated. The being that appeared on screen even felt far removed from any futuristic society. If anything, it looked like a clown.
It spoke, "Hello? Hello Hello??? IS THIS THING ON???? It is? Wonderful!" It coughed into its sleeve, "Hello inhabitants of planet 10^60! I am your amazing intergalactic entertainer for tonight and the rest of forever!" Big flashing letters appeared on top of her, spelling out "SOUL! I know I know, hold your applause for the end of the night please!"
Jimmy and Timmy looked at each other, confused, but not threatened by this alien's demeanor. "Uhh...she seems friendly?" Timmy chimed in.
"Now I know what all of you are thinking," SOUL began again, "YOOOO LOOK AT THAT WACK ROCK IN THE SKY! IT'S CRAMPIN' OUR STYLE, YO! And I totally hear your complains!...but not really because I'm up here and you're down there, ROFL! Anyway! I should really get to the point huh? Hmm let's see here..." she pulled out a long piece of paper, reading slowly from it, "Take...over...planet 10^60... ...steal...inhabitants...memories... ...gain...my...old...memories... ...Hm, that's it. You'd think there'd be more stuff since the paper is soooooooo loooooong...but yeah! Don't try to resist and all that stuff I guess, makes things harder, y'know?"
Of course Jimmy saw it coming a mile away, but Timmy's face of pure shock suggested the opposite for him. It was endearingly cute, not that Jimmy thought so.
"That jerk! We gotta stop her, Nerdtron!"
"Naturally." Jimmy spun the bike around, heading towards the rock ship thing. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best idea since the back tire was still busted, causing them to spin out of control as soon as Jimmy put any pressure on the gas. As soon as they started screaming, the alien on the screen took notice, "What the? Is there something on my screen...? Nope, just two 10^60-lings spinning out of control...wait, their unpredictable movements of spinning may interfere with my plan! BOYS, SICK 'EM!"
The lasers started up again, this time getting a good shot on them, sending them both flying off the bike (Timmy holding onto Jimmy's waist once again). "For good measure, send 'em to a random dimension, maybe go after 'em if you're feelin' extra mean. Don't want two conspicuous 10^60-lings doin' any funny business!"
Too busy screaming to realize what was happening, a pink portal came swooping in to "save" the boys from their certain death. It pulled them both into its dimension, closing up with a satisfying pop.
Somewhere, in some other dimension, two fairy programs felt a pang of loss for their human godchild. Maybe they should come back from their trip early...
