Chapter 7: Shades of the Moon

August 22nd 2006 12:13pm (Retroville time)

Earth's Moon

"Clone?! How did you escape the Dark Matter Dimension?! It's scientifically impossible to!" Jimmy demanded. The other evil clones looked almost identical to the original kids, but their hair was scuffy and their clothes were a tad worn.

"Ever since you escaped from my last ditch effort to trap you with us, the planet started fading away. While I still had time, I invented a device to maintain the molecules on a small amount of us. After everyone else faded, we waited so long, we began to starve. Then out of nowhere, a scaley figure bearing horns and spikes found a way to teleport us out. We made a deal to be rid of you, so he provided the resources necessary to take me into Earth's orbit. Eventually, we made our way here onto this barren moon. Initially, we were gonna use that junk pile of yours you call a brother to lure you out here, but I guess that wasn't necessary since you brought everyone here in good time." Evil Jimmy explained.

"Scaley figure… with horns and spikes?" Jimmy processed. "I don't know who you're talking about!"

"That's not important. The point is, I have what is necessary to kill you Neutron! You and your friends!" Evil Jimmy spoke again.

"That will never happen. You and the others will be de-cloned before you get the chance!" Jimmy declared.

"Yeah, I'm not letting you touch my brother after what you did to my parents!" Brobot said defensively. Right after, Carl, Sheen, Cindy, Libby, Nick and Betty put on defensive stances.

"HA! You guys are idiots if you think you have a chance against us!" Evil Cindy spat out.

"Bring it on! We are the originals after all!" Cindy retorted.

"We-we're not actually fighting ourselves, are we?" Carl said timidly.

"I never thought I'd see myself as a trembling child. You're pathetic!" Evil Carl laughed.

"Don't let them talk to you like that Carl!" Sheen said. "I'll take you down with the power of Ultralord!"

"Wow. I can't believe a pipsqueak like you is rooting for Ultralord instead of Robofiend," Evil Sheen spoke in a sinister manner.

"Because Ultralord is the preserver of all good in the universe. Duh"

"Because of that, he deserves to lose at every point," Evil Sheen responded. "He's weak!"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK FAKER!" Sheen shouted and pointed aggressively at his evil counterpart.

"So… what's so evil about you?" Libby asked suspiciously.

"I think yodeling is better than any other musical genre," Evil Libby shrugged.

"Oh that tears it!"

"What's the plan Jimmy?" Betty asked.

"Goddard," Jimmy spoke over his watch. "I need you to bring us the N-Men packets and power suits, it's time we put them to good use. But not after engaging emergency protocol 03-14!" That protocol would signal an electric barrier surrounding the rest of the students that attended the field trip, keeping them safe from any outside threat. "Guys, until we see Goddard with the hypercube, run!"

"You're a fool for trying to escape me again Wimpy Dip! After them!" Evil Jimmy shouted.

"What're you talking about?" Betty wondered as she ran near Nick.

"Back on summer vacation, Jimmy invited the rest of us on the northern end of the country to do a practice run with his refined N-Men packets! Those that didn't have mutations, (or at least preferable mutations), had special kinds of weapons!" Nick explained. "As for the evil clones, I'm as confused as you are. I thought it was just Jimmy that got cloned."

"Hey Jimmy!" Betty called out. "I don't think I have any sort of defense against these imposters!"

"Great, then that's a load off our backs," Cindy said only loud enough for Jimmy to hear.

"Now's not the time!" Jimmy glared at Cindy who sheepishly smirked. "I prepared a prototype that wasn't quite finished for you at the time we camped. I finished it recently, but I hadn't the time to show you until now!"

"Ah okay, well thanks!" Betty said.

As they keep running, Carl's gradually slowing down and breathing heavily. "Go on without me guys!"

"Carl!" Sheen shouted. "Keep up with us!"

"I… can't hold out for much longer…" Carl panted heavily.

"Do it for the llamas!" Sheen encouraged him.

"You're right. I'll see the llamas after today!" Carl then somehow (yet slightly) ran faster than everyone else. A little later, and then the clones surrounded the group. There were about 43 of them in all. Sheen then put his arm in front of Libby in hopes of protecting her. Jimmy ignited his laser sword, and then both he, Cindy, Libby and Nick once again put on defensive stances.

"I've been waiting all this time to see you again Neutron, and I'm not just gonna let you slip out our grasp." Evil Jimmy said sinisterly.

"I won't allow it to end like this!" Jimmy said back.

"Sorry, but that's the way it goes unfortunately. Even if we lost many, we still have enough power to end it here and now!"

As the two Jimmy's were talking, Sheen and Carl were talking in the background. "Quick Carl, now's the time to do the thing!" Sheen whispered (as quietly as he could).

"What thing?" Carl asked. He then saw Sheen's mischievous expression. "Oh that? No offense Sheen, but I don't think it's a good time to practice that!"

"It's the only chance we've got until Goddard arrives." Sheen responded.

"What do you mean?" Brobot asked curiously.

"We've got to use the fusion technique." Sheen stated.

"Fusion technique?" Libby asked doubtfully.

"I saw it in a show once…" Sheen mumbled.

"Alright, I'll do it." Carl then stood by Sheen.

Both Carl and Sheen then shouted together as they did a curious synchronized dance. "Fusion... Ha!" They posed reflective to each other as they leaned towards one another and their index fingers touched each other. However, nothing happened.

"Well… this is kinda embarrassing." Sheen sighed.

"I told you it wasn't a good time, Sheen!" Carl shouted.

"What do you mean?!" Sheen retorted. "This was probably because you didn't have the same angle I did!"

"SILENCE!" Evil Jimmy shouted which shocked everyone. "Now to finish you all forever!" As soon as Evil Jimmy was signaling the attack, Goddard jumped in barking angrily.

"Thanks Goddard!" He then gave Jimmy the hyper cube and pulled the suits and packets out. To prevent the clones from attacking Goddard distracted them by firing his blasters all around (still out of harm's way for Jimmy and the others. Sheen, Libby and Cindy consumed their packets' contents, while Nick, Carl and Betty put on their gear. Betty sported a pink techno suit, which gave her two laser blades on each side.

"What's this do?" Betty asked Jimmy.

"The suit has corresponded with your dance moves, which convert your dancing talent into attack moves by using brainwaves, you're also able to form your own moves as well in conjunction with the blades," Jimmy stated proudly.

"And that means…?" Betty said, acting confused.

"You use your dance moves to attack in layman's terms." Jimmy then redirected attention to the fight at hand. "Goddard's blasts bought us time, but now it's our turn to finish this!"

The evil clones started running towards the main group. Nick smirked and teleported to a clone, sent a punch and/or a kick, and then teleported to the next clone to repeat the same process all over again. Sheen then followed suit by sprinting in the direction of the clones delivering lightning-fast punches in whomever was in his path. Libby used her invisibility to attack the clones from behind. Carl then used his jet pack and blaster. However, instead of tofu, it was a stun beam. He was grateful that he could fly, because his legs were beat. Betty ignited the two blades and went toward the clones to stun them unconscious. Surprisingly, despite still getting used to the suit, she was a quick learner and managed to slag a few of 'em. Cindy then flew and swooped in and took out a few of the clones from above. Goddard was firing all of his weapons at any clones that got near. Once he got an opening, he flew back towards the students thousands of feet away. Jimmy then powered the jetpack and flew towards Evil Jimmy with the laser sword still ignited. Evil Jimmy anticipated this and ducked the swing Jimmy threw and grabbed his leg. They both were airborne, but Jimmy was flying out of control and dropping his laser sword.

While all this was happening, Brobot watched Jimmy losing control. Thanks to Brobot's rocket, he was able to fly near. "I'm coming to save you big brother!" Brobot shouted.

"Brobot, don't!" Jimmy screamed. "You have to return with the rest of the students to be kept safe there!" Jimmy then realized his mistake.

"Oh so there's more of you to vanquish!" Evil Jimmy smirked.

"Take this you bad man!" Brobot lunged himself at Evil Jimmy, only for Evil Jimmy to grab Brobot, and detach from Jimmy altogether.

"BROBOT NO!" Jimmy shouted, but it was too late. Evil Jimmy took out one part of Brobot's plating leaving his wires exposed. He then ripped out his wires causing him to fall back to the moon's surface. Jimmy immediately left his evil counterpart to land near Brobot, or what's left of him. Even though the others were still fighting, they glanced at what happened with shocked faces. Jimmy then sniffled while kneeling near Brobot. "...no." Brobot's voice chip barely worked through the speakers.

"... Are… you proud of... me big brother?" Brobot spoke slowly as his eyes were glitching.

"Of course I am. I'm sorry I got you into all this…" Jimmy said quietly as tears went down from his eyes. "I know I don't show it often, but I do care about you."

"No… need… to apologize…" Brobot barely spoke. "You're… the… best brother I could… ask… for…" And with that, Brobot's eyes shut off as the machinery finally stopped inside him. Evil Jimmy stepped near Jimmy. "I guess that's the price to pay for being a genius," he smirked. Jimmy then glared darkly at his evil twin.

"You… will… be… DECLONED!" Jimmy then stood up and began throwing punches with Evil Jimmy. They may have been equally strong, but they had different strategies. Evil Jimmy played dirty and kicked some dust at Jimmy, rendering him from seeing a punch that knocked him to the ground.

In another part of the fight where Sheen was swinging punches with various evil clones, he then was about to swing a punch towards Evil Libby and she knew she couldn't dodge it, so she decided to fake a betrayed expression "Sheen stop!", temporarily convincing Sheen that he was about to hit the real Libby. This caused Sheen to hesitate his punch and miss her, giving her an opening to throw a roundhouse kick, knocking him forward onto the ground. Sheen would've gotten up, but he was petrified at what he thought would've happened, and ultimately confused at who was whom. Once Evil Libby was about to attack him again, he ran off to where he can see the battle from a distance to clear his mind.

"Any last words Neutron?" Evil Jimmy asked.

"Yeah…" Jimmy said as he stood up. "Look behind you!"

"Ha! I'm not gonna fall for that old trick, Wimpy Dip."

"Don't say I didn't warn ya," Jimmy slided out of the way when he saw the rest of the students and their teachers with stun rifles (which were from Jimmy's emergency compartments). "Let's help take down these imposters! Remember, if they are seen acting too hostile, they are the evil version!" They immediately outnumbered Evil Jimmy and his evil clones. His evil clones were being stunned unconscious one by one. Then, he saw the deactivated laser sword laying in the sand a few feet away. In a last ditch effort, he attempted to snatch it, but then it disappeared.

"What the-?" Evil Jimmy barely processed what happened when he took an instantaneous punch from Nick and then Jimmy managed to fire a stun blast from his watch laser to Evil Jimmy after Nick teleported to a safe distance.

"Whew," Betty said happily as everyone started cheering. "We did it!" Everyone regrouped, except Sheen and Jimmy.

Evil Jimmy came to face to face with the original. "What happen- No! I was supposed to defeat you sunshine!"

"You destroyed Brobot, and harmed my friends!" Jimmy shouted angrily. His friends (spare Sheen) noticed what he said. Then he regained composure. "Your counterfeit cronies are being decloned by Goddard as we speak. You're next, but first tell me who sent you!"

"Heh, the secret dies with me." Evil Jimmy smirked. "Because I'm not telling you anything!"

"That won't be the case," Jimmy countered. "Once Goddard's done, he'll scan any and all memories."

Evil Jimmy glowered. "Fine… it was by a scaly man with horns and spikes! He-" Suddenly, he was electrocuted to death by a drone. Jimmy immediately reacted by firing the watch laser at the drone, but it vanished. He then accessed his watch radar, but nothing was picking up. Jimmy then looked up to the stars at a threat that he will face at an eventual time in silence contemplating what he and the others will have to deal with at a later point.

1:37pm

All of the evil clones were gone and everyone was heading towards the ships for the trip back to Retroville. Libby noticed Sheen in the distance sitting down at a rock with his head in his arms. So she sat next to him.

"Hey Sheen." Libby spoke softly with concern. "Are you okay?"

"No," he said muffled in his arms. "I thought I almost hurt you." Libby then noticed fresh tears forming out of Sheen's eyes, and going down the path dried tears had gone through.

"What do you mean?" Libby asked. "You didn't come close to hurting me."

"I thought I did!" Sheen's face emerged from his arms. "Evil Libby played with my emotions. I was about to throw a punch, but for that moment, I thought it was you." Libby didn't know what else to do, other than to give him a hug, that he eagerly accepted. "You didn't hurt me though. That's what counts. She was just manipulating you. Don't take it personally. We're all going to be alright. Now are you gonna head back to the astro car with us, or will I have to carry you?" She smirked in an attempt to lift the mood. Thankfully it worked as Sheen decided to carry Libby and sprint back with his remaining energy. "I think you got that backwards Libbylicious."

"Don't call me that again." Libby glared in a playful manner, but she was relieved that she got through to him and lifted his spirits.

"I feel bad for Jimmy," Carl spoke near the ships. "I wish I could help, but I don't know what to say."

"I'll talk to him," Betty said. "I'm worried for him."

"No way, I'll talk to him instead," Cindy denied.

Betty then put her hand on Cindy's shoulder. "Please. I'm not doing this to get in between you two. Just let me comfort him."

"...Fine," Cindy stated reluctantly. "We'll go together then."

"That sounds fair," Betty agreed. They walked towards Jimmy in the distance with Goddard near where Brobot's scrap was. "Hey Jimmy," Betty started. "I'm sorry for what happened to Brobot."

"So am I," Cindy said genuinely while biting her lip. "I know it's hard to lose someone. But if you ever need someone to talk with to help you move forward, we're here for you."

"...Thanks." Jimmy said with tears in his eyes. "I regret the way I've treated him. Sure he was annoying, but he said I was the best brother and I was hardly there for him."

"Is it possible to repair him?" Betty asked curiously.

"No good." Jimmy shook his head. "His core memory circuits are fried. I could build another Brobot, but it wouldn't have the same impact."

"Is something else wrong?" Cindy noticed Jimmy's mind was on a few things.

"...Nope," Jimmy forced a smile. "That's about it." Cindy wasn't buying it, but she allowed it to slide for now. "Thanks for checking up on me," Jimmy then hugged both Betty and Cindy and they both returned it.

"Come on. Let's finally leave this boring place," Cindy spoke as she took his hand with Betty in tow. The three of them walked to the astro car. Before walking in, Jimmy took one last look up at the stars. Who are you? He wondered nervously.

Meanwhile in the dark corners of space, on a planet called Xoreon, stands the grey creature matching the description. He bore scaly skin, horns on two sides of his head, spiky shoulder blades and the lower half of the body was a giant tail. He was wearing two dark orange gloves and a dark blue jumpsuit. He sat on a chair going over the video footage of the moon battle.

"Very resourceful, Jimmy Neutron…" the mysterious creature spoke. "A nice… test run for what's to come. Tread your steps carefully from now on." He then broke into an evil laugh.

To be continued...

Whew that was quite the chapter I made. What do you think of this mysterious villain, what about Evil Jimmy, or Evil Libby's move? Please review!