The Final Battle

by Anna Wu

  Chapter 50: Epilogue

  Two Weeks Later

  "I, I just miss her so much," Libby moaned while crying. She and Carl were standing near the sidewalk outside Retroville Middle School, waiting for their first day of school to begin.

  "I know, Libby," Carl comforted her. "I miss Cindy too."

  Carl's words failed to subdue Libby's crying. She continued whimpering as a small stream of tears fell down her cheeks. Suddenly, Jimmy strolled up to the two of them with a wide smile on his face. "Hey guys," he said while giving a brief wave. He then noticed that Libby was crying and ran up to her. "Libby, what's wrong?"

  Libby sniffled and blew her nose into a tissue. "I just miss Cindy."

  Jimmy gave her an odd look. "Libby, we just saw her yesterday afternoon in the hospital!"

  Libby nodded while wiping the tears from her eyes. "I know, but we always show up extra early on the first day of school to wait outside together and make fun of you. It's tradition!"

  Cindy suddenly wheeled up behind Libby in a wheelchair. "Libby, you know that I'd never break tradition."

  Libby spun around, surprised to hear her best friend's voice. "Cindy!"

  Cindy smiled as Libby wrapped her arms around her neck and gave her a brief hug. Cindy then locked eyes with Jimmy. "Hello there, Spewtron."

  "Vortex," Jimmy angrily spat out while frowning.

  Cindy then smiled and rolled up to Jimmy. "Alright, tradition fulfilled. Happy Libby?"

  Libby nodded. "Yeah, you can drop the charade now."

  Cindy and Jimmy both breathed a sigh of relief. Jimmy grabbed Cindy's hand and lightly squeezed it. "I thought the doctor said that you were going to be bedridden for the next few days."

  Cindy looked up at him and stared into his blue eyes. "What, and fall behind in class and let you get a head start on the race for valedictorian? You wish," she flirtatiously said while twisting a few golden locks of her hair in her fingers. "But thanks for caring," she seriously told him.

  Jimmy bent down and stroked a few strands of her silky hair. "No problem," he while gently placing his lips onto hers.

  Like always, their romantic moment was interrupted. "Hey guys!" Sheen shrieked while hobbling over to his friends on crutches. He picked up his pace when he saw Libby, tripped over a rock, and fell down. Carl and Libby immediately lunged forward and caught him.

  "Thanks," Sheen said while adjusting his crutches. "How the heck did you use these things?" he asked Libby.

  Libby just smiled and gave Sheen a quick kiss on the cheek. Sheen's eyes lit up and he swooned once more, prompting Carl to steady him.

  The five kids were distracted by a car pulling up beside them. They immediately recognized it as Nick's father's. It came to a stop, and Nick jumped out of the front passenger seat. "Thanks for the ride, dad. See you later."

  "No problem, kiddo," Mr. Dean said while waving goodbye to Nick and gunning his car's engine. He quickly sped down the street, and Nick smiled as he watched the car disappear around the corner.

  "Chief," Nick said as he walked up to Jimmy and his friends. He gave a respectful nod, and Jimmy returned the gesture. He tossed his backpack down onto the ground and leaned against a stop sign. "Man, first day of school again. Seems like just yesterday we started sixth grade."

  Jimmy nodded. "Well, at least we got an extra few weeks of summer vacation. A couple weeks rescuing our parents…"

  "And a couple weeks for the adults to get the town back to normal," Cindy finished.

  There was a moment of silence as they pondered what to talk about next. Suddenly Sheen let out a yelp of excitement, and everyone looked at him. "What are you all doing after school today? Because I had the greatest idea!" he shouted.

  Everyone stared skeptically at Sheen. "If it has anything to do with Ultralord, I'm out," Cindy said while absentmindedly running her hands along her wheelchair's wheels.

  "No, even better!" Sheen ecstatically screamed. "Alright, listen up. We go to the park and play…" he paused for dramatic effect, "paintball!"

  Everyone groaned and shook their heads in disgust. "What?" Sheen angrily asked.

  "Sheen, if I never see another gun in my life, that's fine by me," Jimmy said. Everyone nodded and agreed.

  "Oh, I see how it is!" Sheen screamed. "I finally find one thing that I'm good at, so you all just sweep it under the carpet and pretend it doesn't exist, just so you don't have to face the facts that I'm better than all of you at something! You make me sick!"

  Cindy rolled her eyes. "How the heck are we supposed to play paintball? I'm in this chair for another two weeks, you're in crutches, and every paintball gun in town got lost in space!"

  Sheen met her gaze, flinched at the strength in her eyes, and looked away. "Fine, make excuses," he said with disgust. "And why are you in a wheelchair anyway? If anyone deserves a comfy chair that other people push for you, it should be me!"

  Cindy tried to roll her way towards Sheen, but Jimmy pulled her back. "It's hard to walk when you got shot in the gut," she angrily said.

  As Sheen and Cindy continued to go at it, Jimmy stood next to Libby. "We're still going to the Candy Bar after school for that shake, right?" Libby asked.

  Jimmy smiled and nodded. "Definitely."

  Just then the warning bell rang, and everyone walked inside the school. Jimmy led the way towards the library, and everyone followed him. Everyone but Cindy plopped themselves down into five comfy chairs, and Cindy rolled up beside them.

  "You know," Jimmy began, "that really was one crazy adventure."

  "I almost wish that I had gone up there with you guys," Carl said. "Almost."

  "I still can't believe that Eustace Strych managed to do all of that," Libby said in disbelief. "I mean, he was really good. If it wasn't for Sheen, you guys would have been toast."

  Cindy stared once more at the skinny, insane, and dumb boy that sat across from her. She still found him irritating, but she couldn't help but respect him. And she hated to admit it, but she rather enjoyed having him around. Now that she was going out with Jimmy, she needed a new freak to pick on. She suddenly smiled as Jimmy grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers.

  "Well, I'm just glad that everything's back to normal," Libby said while leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes. "We're back in school, everyone's alive, our parents are back, and there are two less psychopaths after us."

  Carl and Sheen looked to each other, and Sheen gave a slight nod. "Yeah, about things being normal. Jimmy, Carl and I have something we need to tell you. You're not going to like it."

  Jimmy sensed that everyone was looking at him and immediately stopped walking his fingers up a giggling Cindy's arm. They both looked away from each other. "Um, sorry?" he said, not having listened to Sheen.

  Carl cleared his throat. "Jimmy, um, well, here's the thing," he mumbled while taking a puff of his inhaler. "Something's wrong."

  "Of course it is," Nick, Cindy, Libby, and Jimmy immediately answered.

  "Well," Sheen continued, "I better just say it. Me and Carl lost Chowder."

  Jimmy lifted an eyebrow in confusion. He waited a beat before answering. "You lost your soup?"

  "No!" Carl shouted, which earned him a nasty look from the librarian. He sunk back in his seat in embarrassment. "Your cat. We lost Chowder, your cat. Back after you and Nick had been gathering supplies you asked us to get your cat. He ran away!"

  "I can't believe that you didn't notice," Sheen told everyone.

  Jimmy was about to tell them that he didn't have a cat, but Sheen continued speaking. "Anyway, we felt really bad, so we got you this!" he excitedly told Jimmy while pulling a happy meal box out of his backpack. A soft meow emanated from it.

  "Oh no," Jimmy said while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

  "Oh yes!" Carl happily told Jimmy as Sheen pulled a tiny black and white kitten out of the cardboard box.

  "Awww!" Libby moaned while grabbing the kitty and clutching it to her chest.

  "No, no, no, no, no,
" Jimmy mumbled.

  "He's so cute!" Libby whispered as the kitten pawed at her necklace.

  Nick finally stood up and sighed. "I can't take this anymore. Libby, Cindy, Jimmy, you guys are cool." He pointed at Sheen and Carl. "You guys are weird. I'm going to hang with Ike in the gym," he said while grabbing his backpack and strolling out of the library.

  Jimmy stopped rubbing the bridge of his nose and looked over to Cindy, who just smiled at him. "It is very adorable," she said while laughing and glancing at the purring kitten.

  "Well, our work is done," Sheen said as Carl helped him grab his crutches.

  "Yeah," Carl spoke while he and Sheen walked away from everyone, "me and Sheen have to hand in our summer reading."

  Jimmy vaguely heard Sheen ask, "There was summer reading?" as his two friends walked out the door.

  "Libby," Jimmy whispered, but Libby was still entranced by the ball of fur in her hands. "Libby!" Jimmy and Cindy both exclaimed.

  "What? Sorry," Libby apologized as the kitten pawed her face. "Jimmy, um, do you think that maybe…"

  "Yes, you can have the kitten," Jimmy told her.

  "Thanks!" Libby said while running out of the library, the kitten still clutched to her chest.

  Cindy stared after her best friend as Libby left the library. "Where is she going? You can't have a kitten in school."

  "I don't care," Jimmy answered while closing his eyes and leaning back in his seat. He loved his friends, but it didn't take long for them to tire him out. He then turned towards Cindy. "On a completely different note, you look lovely today," he complimented her while opening his eyes.

  Cindy giggled and blushed. "Oh, stop it. But do please continue."

  Jimmy grabbed her hand. "Are you sure you're ok? Didn't the doctor say you needed more rest?"

  Cindy smiled. He cares about me. "I'll be fine. How are you? Your jaw alright?"

  Jimmy opened his mouth and then closed it. "Feeling pretty good." He looked up at the clock and saw that they only had a few more minutes before first period. "Cindy, can I see your schedule?"

  Cindy nodded and took it out of her backpack. Jimmy took out his as well and they put them down on the circular table in front of them. They both leaned in to check them out, and they bumped heads. "Sorry," they both said while staring into each other's eyes and smiling.

  "Looks like we've got the first two blocks together," Jimmy said. "I know that Sheen, Carl, and Libby have the same lunch as us."

  The warning bell rang, and they both grabbed their schedules. "Can I roll you to class?" Jimmy chivalrously asked.

  "You may," Cindy answered. She looked up and saw Jimmy smiling down at her as he pushed her wheelchair out of the library.

  "Welcome to seventh grade honors English," Ms. Creek cheerfully said as her last two students rushed through the door just before the bell rang. One of them was the famous Jimmy Neutron, and he was pushing some young girl in a wheelchair. They took a seat next to each other in the front row.

  "I expect you two to be a little more prompt tomorrow," she sternly told the two of them.

  "Yes Ms. Creek," Jimmy and Cindy immediately answered.

  Ms. Creek smiled and nodded. "Good." She walked towards the blackboard and wrote her name on the board. "As most of you know from your schedules, I'm Ms. Creek, and I will be your English teacher for the rest of the year."

  "These are forms for your parents to fill out," she explained while passing out several stacks of papers. "And this is for your first assignment," she said while giving each student two blank pieces of paper.

  The class groaned as one collective body as soon as she mentioned the word assignment. "Now, I know that you all had an adventurous summer," Ms. Creek told everyone, "and I do thank you for saving me and my colleagues from that deranged little boy, but that does not change the fact that we all have a job to do. I must teach, and you must learn. So your first assignment is to write an essay. I want you to pair up and give me at least one thousand words on an exciting aspect of your summer vacation."

  The class began laughing and murmuring amongst each other. It wasn't hard for them to think of something exciting that they had done over the summer.

  Ms. Creek couldn't help but smile as well. "Now, I know that it is going to be very hard for you to think of an exciting adventure you've had, but please try. The paper is due first thing Monday morning. You may have the rest of the class to get started.

  Cindy rolled over to Jimmy's desk and felt the tip of her pencil to make sure that it was sharp. "James Neutron and Cynthia Vortex," she mumbled while writing both of their names on the top of their paper.

  Jimmy pulled his pencil out as well. He gently tugged the paper out of Cindy's grasp. "What should we call it?" Cindy asked.

  Jimmy thought for a moment and then smiled. He cracked his neck and wrote the title down underneath their names. "The Final Battle."