Chapter Text
There’s something magical about science. On the outside it only took a flick of a switch could light up an entire room. One look under the hood revealed a bunch of complicated mechanics. Each mechanic needed to function perfectly for the desired outcome.
Let there be light indeed.
How was that not pure magic? In a figurative sense of the word, magic in a sense of wonder. Because magic was not real. Reason and logic were, and those are what Jimmy Neutron thrived off of. Hard cold logic and facts.
Which made the whirlwind of one of his friends all the more mind boggling.
And the year had started off so simple too… It started off on a quiet February. January had come and gone. It dragged on to it's absolute limit but it had still managed to pass. Until something popped up on his sensors, some usual activity was caught in the crossfire. It was nothing too overly dramatic, he had no reason to call in his teammates or drag his friends along.
It was something Goddard and his brains could figure out in less than a day. A quick mission.
It had been a while since Jimmy had gone on a solo mission. When he was younger he went on solo adventures all the time. Nowadays he went on plenty of adventures with his friends. Correction: friends and one acquaintances.
Jimmy would never consider Cindy Vortex a friend, nor a girlfriend. Their attempts at dating went as well as mixing water and oil together. Never again.
He loved Carl and Sheen and his adventures with them. It took a while to warm up to Cindy and Libby but after a certain point, the idea of going on an adventure without them seemed impossible. The five of them together had become a consistent chaos, but a controlled chaos. One Jimmy knew better than the workings of the inside of a clock. It was tongue and cheek fun and low stakes, most of the time.
But there were moments when Jimmy wished he didn't have to deal with the burdens of being a boy genius. Then he remembered what life was like when he had all his intelligence drained away. A puddle where an ocean of knowledge used to be. Impulsive, reckless, and carefree.
That was not worth it.
He took his role as the leader of the Nicktoons Unite very seriously. A team name he refused to acknowledge until it was too late to come up with a proper one. No one remembered how they settled on such an absurd thing. He was pretty it had something to do with a jukebox that he had called a nickelodeon aloud one time. A bit of teasing came from the whole misunderstanding, but if he had to pinpoint where the origin was it probably started there.
As Jimmy continued to be in his own bubble a pleasant ding went off. The doors automatically slid open. He would add better security against his friends but they always managed to bypass it. When he learned Carl had a bag of his hair he stopped trying to navigate their attempts to get in. They'd always win.
Jimmy didn’t bother to look at who walked through. A visitor was the last thing he needed.
“I’m busy, no adventures today.” Jimmy checked off a few things on his checklist.
“Busy doing what? Being a nerd. Up top.” Timmy said as he put a singular hand up in the air. The smallest of the holograms went and gave Timmy a high five.
Periwinkle, the newest hologram in Timmy's increasing roster of powerful technology. Who gave him all that those powerful devices he'd never know.
Jimmy had tried to asked where the tiny hologram came from only for the older two holograms to get defensive. Timmy insisted it was their child. Not something he completely understood, maybe the holograms needed to see each other as family in order to work properly. More often than not they treated Timmy as a son, more than his actual parents did.
Their newest addition to the computer program family was usually attached to Timmy as a purple watch. Jimmy turned into his own mini game, to try and find out where Cosmo, Wanda, and Peri were when they were disguised. It was easy to spot the green and purple that clashed with Timmy’s outfit. Wanda was a bit more difficult from time to time.
Jimmy exhaled as he put his clipboard down, “In case you truly wanted to know, I’m going on a reconnaissance mission. There’s been unusual activity in a mountainous island."
“Do you think that’s where the evil versions of us have set up base?” Timmy asked slowly buzzing with energy. He always loved a good battle or class of evil versus good.
Jimmy shook his head, “I don’t think they’re the cause of this. They're more direct with their attacks on us. Bold and quick. This is just usual." He hummed in thought. It wasn't Calamitous or Beautiful Gorgeous, they were both hanging out on a beach in Malibu. Evil Jimmy was off finding his own version the Nicktoons Unite, apparently Doodlebob was too much of a wild force to control. "It's probably nothing." He tacked on at the end. None of his serious enemies were interested in some boring moutain island unless it had a good view.
“So, can I come with?” Timmy pleaded and latched onto Jimmy's arm. “Pretty please? I promise I can help!”
“No.” Jimmy yanked his arm away. He continued to flip through the information on his device. Every bit of missing data was crucial and it was his job to remedy those gaps in knowledge. “You are only asking because you’re bored. And whenever you’re bored, it causes me problems.”
“What? No way.” He scoffed, crossing his arms. “Name one time.”
Oh, he could do better than name one incident.
“Goddard,” Jimmy waved his dog over. He had been ready for this moment for years, “Show montage #732.”
Goddard barked as a monitor display jut out from his mechanical body. A series of Turner’s recorded mishaps started to play. Countless of segments of Turner dropping inventions or stuff, listening to loud music to a very irritated Jimmy in the background, or future Jimmy destroying a portal from Goddard's point of view.
“Hang on a minute, one of those was clearly you from the future–”
“The fact that my future self felt the need to even prevent us from going to the future speaks volumes of your character.” Jimmy cut him off.
“Who’s to say he was doing it to stop me? Hm?" Turner got all up in Jimmy's face. "What if he was trying to stop you.” He pointed at Jimmy's chest. Jimmy slapped the hand away from his chest. The close proximity made him a bit dizzy.
"Well I’m not a reckless idiot unlike someone I know.”
Cosmo leaned in towards Wanda, “I think he’s talking about you.”
Wanda rolled her eyes, "I highly doubt that."
Goddard put away the monitor and barked.
"See! Goddard agrees with me." Cosmo said and Wanda only groaned. Seemed like even sentient technology had limits to dealing with Cosmo. Glad to know it wasn't just him.
“If you don’t let me go I’ll just wish to go.” Timmy crossed his arms and smirked, like that plan was foolproof. Peri copied Turner's motion.
The two acted like siblings more than they did robot assistant and customer. It would be cute it if it wasn't annoying.
Jimmy truly did hate how illogical things were around Timmy. He refused to believe in magic. Not that he ever would because magic wasn't real. Yet the way reality seemed to bend around Timmy and his computer programs caused so many questions. They were helpful in the best of times, shape shifting into tangible weapons for Timmy on missions.
The function they served always escaped him. Were they there to help Timmy? Possibly. They also provided interesting input, almost parental. They were a tight knit group of four and they were surprisingly tight lipped on why they did the things they did. Over the years hologram felt like too small of a box for what the four of them could do together. But it's the only thing that came close.
Whether he liked it or not, Jimmy had already lost this battle. The computer programs could force him to take Timmy on the mission, they've done it in the past and they could do it again.
“Fine," Jimmy groaned. "You and your holograms can come with.”
“Yes!” Timmy jumped in enthusiasm. He then extended that excitement into an iron grip around Jimmy’s waist.
This was also a new development. The almost vomit inducing physicality of Timmy’s presence. Just a few years ago Timmy refused to hold hands stating that it made him uncomfortable. Now he nudged Jimmy, high fived holograms, and went as far as to initiate a hug like this one.
Hugs were becoming more and more likely when it came to interaction with Turner.
Perhaps Jimmy had always required a bit of time to reach that level of closeness. Or maybe it was something specific to Jimmy. It was hard to pinpoint. In any case it was still an interesting shift within Timmy's habit. Something that made Jimmy's stomach a bit uneasy but in a good way.
“But you have to do exactly what I say.” Jimmy shoved Turner off, “And I mean it!”
“Yeah, yeah." Turner waved his hand around in the air. "Don’t worry about that Neutron.”
“I worry too much.” Jimmy could sense the headache that would soon come. "Goddard, holograms, Timmy, follow me."
Jimmy opened up a quick portal to the island with a smaller hand held device. Using portals between locations in his home dimensions used up a lot less energy and technology than a portal to a different dimension.
The moment he stepped through he found himself on a sandy beach not too dissimilar to the one he stuck on with Cindy a year or two back. The hot dry swept through with the ocean mist to reach his noise.
Goddard walked up towards Jimmy's side and barked. He couldn't help himself but give toss Goddard a little treat. His mechanical dog bit down on the loose metal and burped making his creator laugh. A moment of pure bliss.
Timmy and his holograms stepped through the portal, drawing Jimmy attention from Goddard.
"Ough, portaling always makes me squeasy." Cosmo covered his mouth and looked more green than usual. The green hologram was already wearing his swim trunks while Wanda had sunglasses and held Peri with sunscreen.
"Not my favorite method of transportation but it's nice to save up on magic." Wanda said with a smile, always trying to be a supportive parental figure in the boys lives.
"Poof poof!" Peri added to the conversation. Not that it added much than a verbal agreement. It was a newer program so he'd let the hologram work on it's verbal communications. It probably randomly says it's little poof poofs to remind everyone that he existed.
“So what are we on the look out for?” Timmy said.
"This biome is experiencing unexpected tremors.” Jimmy pulled out a device that measured the tectonic plates' movements. They would show if it was the Earth shifting dramatically or the cause is something else. "We'll be heading off towards those tremors, maybe get some samples or perhaps find it's direct cause. It's too early to tell yet."
"Alright, lead the way boy genius." Timmy gestured to the general area they landed on.
"Just remember to be quiet. I want to observe the environment as close to its natural state of existence." He looked at his device and overlayed a map of the island to find an suitable path for them to hike.
"Huh?" Turner was clueless as ever, and Jimmy tried to spell it out as simply as he could.
"Me look at trees," Jimmy pointed to himself and the trees. "So hush." He pushed his pointer finger against his lips. He paid extra attention to the foliage as they entered the woods. It shouldn't be too different from the mainland but it was still important to take note of. There could be activity that showed human life or how the wildlife have been acting as of late.
Timmy scoffed, "I'm not a caveman."
"You might as well be!"
"Now look who isn't being quiet."
"Ugh." Jimmy's device picked a general path to start walking in, he marched on and everyone started to follow along.
A decent amount of time passed and they were further into the woods and along more rocky terrain. For the most part everyone kept the conversation to hush tones. Wanda and Cosmo were mainly cooing at their 'newborn' and taking pictures as they float along the trail.
Timmy joined in on the quiet fun but eventually seemed to get bored, as he often did and started to play games on his phone or tried to get a rise out of Jimmy. Whenever that happened all he had to do was send Goddard to help distract Turner.
Jimmy was too busy collecting samples. Although the accidental hike had started to take a toll on his body. He wasn't used to all this motion, he was meant to be hunched over in mildly cool lab. Not too cool, he still liked to wear his regular t-shirts inside.
Ugh, maybe he did need to exercise more. His legs were aching. Jimmy hated when his mom or physical education instructor was right. Or maybe he could invent something that could prevent the physical pain from occurring. How hard could that be?
"This is taking forever…" Timmy groaned and scrunched his face up with pure annoyance.
"This is why I wanted to go alone. There is no adventure, just science." He smiled at the thought. Jimmy surrounded by the unknown with only him to decode reality.
"Why are we even climbing up this stupid mountain anyway, I thought we were staying at the beach. Have a fun filler episode."
"I have no idea what that means."
"I'll get you to watch anime at some point. It's crucial to your survival."
"My survival?"
A rumble shook the ground.
Jimmy's eyes widened, "This! This is what we've been waiting for." They hadn't found anything in the time they were going about the island. It was time to start recording data.
"Uh Jimmy?"
"Not now, I'm gathering data."
"Jimmy–"
"Turner please–"
“Look out!” Timmy yelled as he pointed upward.
“You’re supposed to be quiet!” Jimmy whisper yelled back. But the rumble from below had counteracted his claim. He looked around. A fast approaching rock slide came into view.
Shit, shit, shit.
Out of all the fear reactions, freeze had to be the stupidest. He slid his device into his back pocket and tried to get his hypercube out from the other. His hands fumbled.
Okay, what did Jimmy have on him that could stop a rock slide? His brain was on over drive, there were too many options and only seconds to spare. His needed to calculate the odds, make sure he could do the things he needed to but the stress got him. His cube slipped from hands and tried to reach forward to grab it.
A force yanked him the collar. His hypercube got crushed by incoming rocks.
Jimmy watched as the rocks fell down the mountain, in the same spot he had just been. The dust from the event had made the surrounding area difficult to sparse. Along with the immediate lower air quality.
His heart continued to race.
A near brush with death. Is this what Danny felt as a ghost? The infinite pain from a landslide almost hurling towards, death in by a thousand mistakes or was it the quiet aftermath that hurt more?
How one wrong move could’ve ended him. The blood from his heart working overtime was the only noise that mattered. The endless knowledge he wanted always pursued didn't seem worth at the moment.
Because he was alive. The fact he hadn’t paid attention to his surroundings nearly cost him dearly. An amateur mistake. If it weren’t for Turner-
His eyes darted around until it landed on the buck-tooth boy.
“You alright?” Timmy had positioned himself right next to Jimmy. They floated with worry across their faces.
Jimmy couldn’t get a handle on his breathing. Every time he inhaled, the oxygen wasn’t sufficient enough. He needed more, he needed to be sure he was alive. The dirt between his fingers was too much. The heat and sweat that clung on from the rush of adrenaline had begun to suffocate him. He pushed a dry bit of air down into his lungs.
He clutched onto Timmy in a moment of weakness. Head onto his chest. Timmy's heart rate was slower, still fast but slower than Jimmy's. With a few deep breaths and careful consideration Jimmy was able to match his pacing.
He nodded, “I think… I think I’ll be fine.” He let go of Timmy.
Wanda exhaled, “That’s a relief.”
“Don’t you ever take a break from thinking?” Timmy let out a tense laugh.
“Timmy!” Wanda crossed her arms, “Now is not the time.”
“I love not thinking.” Cosmo smiled and Jimmy let out a laugh. A moment to appreciate a silly quip, intentional or not.
“Thank you,” Jimmy said. “For the concern and for uh… Saving me.” He looked directly at Timmy. He got up and brushed the dust off his clothes. It didn’t do much. His mom wouldn’t be happy he dirtied up a new pair of pants. He could probably explain what happened but then get an earful for a different reason.
“How many times have I saved you? I should start keeping track.” Timmy nudged him. The nudge knocked him a lot more off balance than usual, Timmy held out his arms and Jimmy used them to catch himself. He let out a tense laugh and stood tall, he didn't want to seem small in this moment.
Jimmy scoffed, “I’ve probably saved your sorry butt more than you’ve saved mine.”
Turner smirked.
“That is not an open invitation to start throwing me off cliffs to save me.” Jimmy nudged Timmy back.
“Yeah, yeah.” Timmy laughed as he waved Jimmy off. “So, what now?”
“Either we go home or start over from scratch." Jimmy slumpt his shoulders. "Since my hypercube has been destroyed along with all my other inventions and the data I’ve been collecting over the years, it's pointless to start over here and now.”
“Not if I wish it wasn't…” Timmy smiled as he looked up at his holograms.
"Well, if he isn't wishing for it." Cosmo shrugged.
"He does have to say 'I wish' if he wants us to fix it, and he will. Right Timmy?" Wanda did the mom thing with her voice. They were exceptionally scary at fulfilling the parental role.
"Yeah, yeah," Turner waved his hand in the air. "I wish Jimmy's stuff was alright."
"That's good enough," Wanda sighed.
Now, Jimmy had his doubts, "There's no way that you could–"
The fairies raised their wands, a pleasant chime and a sparkle of purple cloud revealed a new hypercube in Timmy's hands. Better than a new one, an exact replica of his once destroyed one. Down to the scratches he'd grown accustomed to.
"I– Um…" Jimmy couldn't form a sentence. All he could focus on was Timmy's fingers brushing against his hand as he passed over the hypercube.
"I believe the word you're looking for is 'thank you."
Jimmy's eyes snapped towards his friends as he grabbed the hypercube. "Those are two words." He would never let anyone make any mistakes in semantics.
Timmy flipped him off and started walking again. “I’m never saving you from a pile of falling rocks again.” He blinked. “Woah, deja vu.”
“But seriously," Jimmy found his voice, out of the daze he'd been getting into recently when it came to Turner's presence. "Thank you for saving me back there.”
“If I find out there’s a nerd code that makes you indebted to me I’m pushing you in front of a train.”
“There is no nerd code.”
“Good." Timmy said simply. "Cause I don't want to push you in front of a train. Too much work.” He kicked a random bit of dirt.
“Right.” The corner of his lip raised a bit.
Timmy gave him a loose smile back. It was, different. Jimmy couldn't pinpoint what had changed but it was clear something had. His teeth were whiter, the sky more vibrant. Life was worth living. And he still had a life because of the boy in front of him.
It was odd to be so appreciative of life. Of everything.
They saved each other's lives all the time. But Jimmy had almost come alone. He could've died with no one knowing, without giving him a second thought. But Turner–Timmy, always pushed. He always pushed that boundary and while it could be annoying it was helpful. And, he was grateful for it.
Timmy clapped in his face. “Earth to Neutron!”
“Hey!” Jimmy smacked Turner’s hands away. “Why did you do that?”
“You were looking at me funny.” Timmy got up. He dusted off the dirt from his knees.
Jimmy rolled his eyes.
Their eyes connected yet again. He never did take note of how blue Timmy's eyes were. A pale blue with no pupils. It used to freak him out before but they were an endless ocean, ready to be explored.
“Uh…” Turner broke their eye contact. “You're staring again?” He rubbed the back of his neck.
Warmth rushed to Jimmy’s cheeks, “It’s not my fault your buck teeth are so big, they take up half my line of sight.” He blurted out.
Another rumble. This time Jimmy was not going to be caught off guard. He jumped right out of the way only for the ground to shake again, and again.
"What the heck is happening?" Timmy tried to keep himself steady.
"This isn't an earthquake," Jimmy's brain rattled around, "It's almost like–"
A giant mechanic robot emerged from behind the trees. Turner's holograms immediately went into disguise mode.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't old Jimmy Nerdtron. The boy genius who has been wrecking my entire island!"
"Eustace?" Jimmy groaned. That spoiled rich kid was so annoying, from trying to steal his friends to stalking him all the way to outer space. "And my name is Jimmy Neutron!" He was going to kill Cindy for cursing him with that dreaded nickname. No matter where he went it always followed him around.
"Jimmy Bore–tron and his sidekick Timmy Turner here on my little island." Eustace let out a laugh. He must've found himself hilarious because he let out of a deranged snort. By Eustace's side, his butler simply rolled his eyes. Jimmy could sympathize with that indeed.
"Woah, wait a one second." Timmy took a step between Jimmy and Eustace. "Sidekick? I'm not anybody's side kick if anything Jimmy is my side kick." He pointed to Jimmy.
"As if!" Jimmy crossed his arms. "I'd be the main character if we were in a television show. I'm smart and have make cool gadgets."
"Uh, nah. I'd be the main character because I'm cooler than you. Plus, nerdy characters are like you are sidekick material. Hello? Ever heard of the guy in the chair trope?"
"Gentlemen, bickering amongst yourselves is unbecoming." Blix, Eustace's butler said.
"Oh quiet you!" Eustace slapped his butler with the mech suit arm. "My show was on and it was getting quite good! There's nothing more entertaining than watching Jimmy fight with his sidekick."
"I'm NOT his sidekick." Timmy lied. He was totally sidekick material.
"Well, I'd never be your sidekick are you crazy?" Jimmy got up in his face. Turner got up in his face and they both started to talk over each other on reasons why the other would be a good sidekick.
"Focus!" Wanda whisper yelled as Timmy's watch.
That broke their argumentive daze.
"Right!" Timmy said, he turned around to face Eustace. "What are you doing here and how do you know my name?"
"Wha–We fought before?" Eustace said, it was almost like he was surprised he was forgettable or that other people had better things to do.
"I'd think I'd remember fighting you dude." He shrugged and looked to the side, "Knock off Remy Buxaplenty." Turner murmured that last bit.
Jimmy had no idea who Remy was, so he focused on what he did know, "You aren't supposed to be here Eustace."
"Correction, you aren't supposed to be here. Daddy bought me this private island after six months of not causing any mayhem. Can you believe it? And all I had to do was make Blix hide the police reports!"
"Yikes." Timmy grimaced. "I think this kid's got some serious issues." He whispered over to his holograms and Timmy.
Blix nodded in agreement.
"I heard that!" Eustace smacked his butler again. "You two have been nuisances. I have plans you know and I'm not going to let you get in the way of it!" Eustace shifted gears and the robot picked Jimmy up.
"Hey!" Jimmy started to squirm around. He was not going to be picked up like some last year's invention by Goddard. "Let me go!"
"Be careful what you wish for." Eustace gave a crooked smile and flung Jimmy towards the ocean. Through his screams he could see panic spread across Timmy's face as he no doubt tried to make a wish to help him. Fortunately Goddard and Jimmy had practiced this same maneuver over in the past.
"Goddard, plan 5H29!" He screamed.
Jimmy will have to add another safety maneuver for on coming avalanches.
Goddard sped up to him and caught onto his collar mid flight, tossed him up and transformed into rocket mode. Jimmy landed safely into the chair. All of this occurred before Timmy's reality bending technology teleported them right on the ground where the beach was. The sudden stop made him fall onto the sandy beach.
He spit out the sand that got on his mouth.
"That mission was a bust." Timmy had teleported right next to them. His fairies were not in disguise anymore. It was awkward to try and talk to them when they were.
"Not necessarily, at least we know Eustace is back causing trouble." Jimmy took a moment to readjust himself.
Today wasn't like he expected at all.
"I don't even know who that guy is." Timmy said.
"You've already met him five times before!" Jimmy put his head in his hands.
"Jimmy's right, you have fought him before." Wanda chimed in. "He was one of the first villains you fought with Jimmy. Remember? Before you made Shirley?"
"Really?" Timmy tilted head in consideration before shurgging it off. "Seems kinda forgettable."
"Of course he'd seem forgettable to you." Jimmy crossed his arms.
"Just remember he has big ugly buck teeth!" Cosmo said.
Timmy glared at the green hologram.
"What?" Cosmo asked before looking at Turner and then slightly down, "Oh…"
"Ugh," Timmy tapped his head like he was a drum set. "I'm ready to go home."
"Same here." Jimmy said. "Eustace will probably try to attack again."
"Barely an attack anyway. See you tomorrow? Shoot, tomorrow I've got school. I'll see you like Wednesday afternoon?"
"Sure thing." Jimmy smiled as he mentally reworked his to do list for Wednesday. It created a major inconvenience but that was the cost of being friends with Timmy Turner. Not that he'd ever admit to enjoying his friendship.
Jimmy couldn’t stop replaying the events of the day. It was late at night and he was doing the last bits of his night routine. He brushed his teeth with extra vigor and frustration. How foolish of him.
If Turner hadn’t been there, which… He almost wasn’t, then Jimmy would’ve… Well he wouldn’t need to pester Danny about basic questions about the dead.
He fell onto his bed. The thoughts swirled in his head. It wasn’t the first time he had done something dangerous. He did something dangerous nearly once a week.
This time felt different.
Usually he had to call the shots. He had to come up with the plans to get himself and others out of trouble. His gift was his mind, his reason, his thoughts. Until it became too much. That’s where Timmy pulled him back. Saved him.
Where Jimmy had been paralyzed by indecision, Timmy had cut through the noise with a simple action. His heart started to race at the thought. It seemed as though the nerves from earlier still got to him.
Goddard had wiggled his way right beside Jimmy. He had pet the smooth cool metal, a few dents and scratches have made their mark over the years. Though he would never trade Goddard for anything else in the world.
He had turned to the side of his bed and shut the light off. He didn’t need to dwell on the events from earlier. They would simply fade into the background. Another Jimmy Neutron adventure that happened to feature Timmy Turner.
It didn’t have to mean anything at all.