AN: The second chapter of this story is here.

Anon/Guest Reviews:

KhaliseeAvatar: Glad you enjoyed the first chapter. Hopefully you will enjoy the rest of this story.

Jimmy, Carl and Sheen were all hanging out in Jimmy's lab playing video games on The Neutronic Game Pyramid. This time, they played with controllers instead of literally stepping inside the virtual world. They had combined their favourite games; Llama Leaping, Ulralord vs Megalord and Chemistry Simulator. The end result was for Ultralord to design a chemical powerful enough to defeat Megalord while at the same time, leaping over llamas.

It was the middle of the afternoon in Retroville. Not that anyone could tell. The lab being so deep underground, no natural lighting could light up the room. Instead, artificial lighting kept the lab in light all the time. Visitors had no sense of time without the digital clock perched high on one of the walls of the lab. At this stage they had been playing for almost six hours with few breaks. It was one of the few times since the fifth grade where the boys hanged out together without the girls. Currently, Sheen was the only one playing. He was sitting upside down with his feet in the air. Jimmy and Carl was forced to stay away to prevent from getting smacked by trailing feet.

"Man, this game is child's play," said Sheen. "This is the tenth round in a row that I've won."

"That's because you're playing on level one," said Jimmy. "Are you sure you don't want me t-"

"NO! I'm on a hot streak. Ultralord needs me."

Jimmy sighed and crossed his arms. It was difficult to convince Sheen to get away from anything remotely related to Ultralord. Well, almost anything.

"Hey, Libby!" Jimmy shouted while waving to a random place.

"My queen," Sheen greeted. He leaped into the air, somehow landing on both feet and looked around trying to find Libby but could not find her. While distracted, Megalord managed to defeat Ultralord by crushing him with his iron fist.

"GAME OVER," declared the in-game announcer. The words 'Ultralord has been defeated' was shown flashing on the screen overlooking a dead Ultralord and a laughing Megalord.

"Hey!" Sheen shouted while pointing at Jimmy. "You tricked me."

Jimmy raised his arms in defence while Carl was laughing. "Sorry Sheen. It was the only way for you to stop playing."

"By using my one true weakness. You monster." Sheen was starting to become dramatic. Jimmy should have seen it coming.

"Aren't the girls at the mall though today?" asked Carl. "They did say they wouldn't get back until later."

Jimmy turned around to face Carl. "They are. I just didn't think Sheen would fall for that trick. But in all honestly, I'm not surprised."

"I'm more surprised they are still going out."

It wasn't just Carl who was surprised but the rest of the gang as well. Cindy had thought Libby was at wit's end by dating Sheen. Somehow they had lasted just over three years as a couple with no sign of slowing down. Realising Sheen made Libby happy, Cindy figured he was not that bad of a person. Just misunderstood. Still, she does get annoyed by his antics on almost a daily basis.

"Me too to be honest," Sheen said. "But that's not what the most surprising thing is. What's more surprising is Jimmy and Cindy are not dating."

"Please," scoffed Jimmy. Jimmy turned his back and walked away so the other two wouldn't see him blushing. "Why would I ever go out with Cindy? She doesn't like me in that way."

"After dating Libby for so many years, I start to pick up on signs. You know I'm not as clueless as I used to be."

"I get that, but Cindy and I will never be in a relationship in a million years."

"But what about that time in fifth grade?" asked Carl.

"Yeah, and all that flirting when you two thought you were alone," said Sheen.

"Don't forget the hand holding."

"Those events all happened in the past," Jimmy said. "I may for a brief moment had a thing for her but I definitely do not now."

"Even the kissing?"

"We kissed once. That's it. We decided to stay friends and it was the best decision we made."

"Then why are you blushing?" asked Sheen.

"I'm not blushing. Even if I was blushing, how would you know?"

"Despite the fact your back is facing us when we are talking about Cindy, you are standing in front of a mirror. We can see you blushing dude."

Jimmy gasped as he realised Sheen was right. He was too preoccupied thinking about Cindy to notice the mirror in the first place. Sheen was right, he was blushing. Jimmy never thought his face could be that red as it almost looked like a ripe tomato. He thought for a moment about denying the accusation but hesitantly told them the truth.

"Alright, so I may have a thing for Cindy," said Jimmy defeated. "I've liked her since we were eleven. Just everything about her is perfect." He turned around to face them. He had a serious look on his face. "But please don't tell Cindy and Libby about this. I want to tell her in time."

"We promise," chorused Sheen and Carl. They were high-fiving each other. After years of denial, this was a big step. They could see the end game in sight.

"Thank you guys." Jimmy was relieved. Over the years, Carl and Sheen were a lot better at keeping secrets if asked of them. Occasionally, they might spill a secret, but only if threatened.

Out of nowhere, Jimmy starts to cough once more. The intensity is a lot greater than it was before. After a few seconds, the coughing subsides but Jimmy finds himself leaning against the wall trying to catch his breath.

"Jimmy, are you ok?" asked Carl. "You've been coughing a lot as of late."

"I'm fine Carl," said Jimmy.

"You don't sound fine Jimmy," said Sheen. "This reminds me of episode 478 of Ultralord where Ultralord gets hit with coughing gas. Luckily, he saves the day in the end."

"Well I am fine. Just been in the lab for too long again. School won't come soon enough." Jimmy pauses for a moment to catch his breath. "Come one, let's leave the lab for a bit."

"Sure thing Jimmy." Carl and Sheen looked at each other in worry. There was something Jimmy was not telling them. They just didn't know what. The three left the lab and went outside. As they made their way to the front of Jimmy's house, Jimmy spots Cindy and Libby walking down the road. Both of them are carrying several bags containing clothes they bought from the mall. Only Cindy's blond hair and Libby's black cornrow braids hairstyle could be seen.

"Hey Cindy and Libby," called Jimmy.

"Oh no, I am not falling for that trick again," said Sheen.

Cindy and Libby did not respond at first. With that many bags, it was a wonder how they could see let alone hear the guys. Cindy opened the front door to her house and left the bags by the staircase to take up to Cindy's room later. That in itself was going to be a mammoth task. Once Cindy and Libby dropped their gear off, they walked over to the guys.

"Hey guys," Libby finally responded. "Boy, my legs are killing me."

"Hey look, it really is Libby and Cindy."

"Of course it is Sheen," Carl said. "What girls do we know would actually talk to us."

"Good point."

"Anyway, how was your shopping spree?" asked Jimmy.

"It was fine," Cindy replied. "We managed to find some new outfits for when we start High School."

"Looks like you bought the entire store."

"We tried," Libby said. "The employees wouldn't let us."

The two girls reminisced about their shopping spree to the guys. According to Cindy and Libby, many of their classmates were also trying to find a new look. Cindy and Libby seemed to talk about their time at the mall for hours as both Sheen and Carl were struggling to keep their eyes open. Jimmy managed to change the subject to avoid the sounds of Carl snoring whenever he fell asleep.

"So," Jimmy started. "High School starts in just over a week. Want to go into space one more time. It has been a while since all of us have gone into space."

"As long as we don't go to the moon Neutron," Cindy said. "You know what happened last time."

"I'm well aware Vortex. Besides, that was three years ago and I got you home safely."

Cindy was about to counter argue before Libby interrupted another argument. "You guys, now is not the time. But I'm keen to go to space again."

"Hopefully, my scapula won't hurt," Carl said.

"Yay, we get to go into space again," Sheen excitedly said. "Will we finally see Ultralord?"

"No," Jimmy said.

"Darn it."

"Then it's settled. We'll meet at the front of lab at precisely 0800 on Thursday."

"Fine then," said Cindy. "Are you going to tell us exactly where we're going."

"It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you wouldn't it." Cindy scowled and placed her hands on her hips.

A couple of days later, Jimmy and Goddard was waiting in the front yard for the rest of the gang to show. He had kept them in the dark about where they were going. Not even a threat of a beating by Cindy or constant nagging by Carl could make Jimmy reveal the location. Cindy was also threating to not come on the trip but luckily Libby convinced her to think otherwise. Over the years, Libby has always looked forward to these trips as she realises not many people can do this sort of thing.

Eventually, the rest of the gang arrived. The only hint Jimmy gave them was they were going to be there overnight. He recommended they bought an overnight bag with them. This caused Carl to bring two bags with him. One for his clothes and the other bag for his inhalers, even when he already had two inhalers in his pocket. Everyone else just had a small bag with them.

"Alright Neutron," Cindy said. "Mind telling us where we are going."

"Sure thing Cindy," Jimmy said. "Since High School starts in less than a week, we are going on a short trip to Mars."

"Why Mars?" Cindy remembered the last time they took a trip to Mars. It had ended with Eustace Strych teaming up with them to help defeat the Martians. The temporary truce had ended quite quickly with Eustace joining the League of Villains a couple of weeks later.

"We don't have the time to visit a new solar system though there is one with planets that is roughly the same size as Earth that we might visit in time. However, there is an astronomical phenomenon known as a triple conjunction where Mercury, Venus, and Earth can all be seen from the sky on Mars. I want to be the first person to document this event. It only appears to occur once every 20 years on average."

"That is quite amazing and romantic eh Cindy," Libby whispered to her best friend. Cindy scowled at Libby. Libby turns her attention back to Jimmy "But won't we be there for some time. We need to drink water and The Martians hate water. They did say they would destroy us if we ever brought back water onto the planet again."

"Right you are Libby. I've already thought about that and invented this. The Neutronic Water Patch. you just put it on your arm for an hour like so." Jimmy took a patch and put the patch on his left shoulder. The patch was only a couple of inches in diameter. "It's designed in a way where you if you don't drink water for up to 48 hours, you will still be absolutely fine."

"What's the side effect Jimmy?" asked Sheen. "I can take it."

"Who says there's any side effect?"

"Says every invention you've made Neutron," answered Cindy. "Such as the pants incident, your brain drain helmet and that salesman robot. Shall I continue Nerdtron."

"Alright, alright, you've made your point. The only side effect is you will be dehydrated after the 48 hours. I'm not sure why at the moment but I will fix it. But it does mean you are going to have to drink a lot of water once we get back."

"But Jimmy," Carl started. "I'm allergic to drinking a lot of water."

"No that's only carbonated water Carl so you will be absolutely fine."

"If you say so Jimmy." Carl seemed a bit more relieved.

"Alright guys, I'm bringing my hypercube with me. So just put your bags in it and we'll be off."

The other four did what Jimmy asked them to do. All of them including Goddard hopped into the Astrocar. The Astrocar had not changed much since winning the intergalactic showdown. The only noticeable difference was the stowaway beds in case of extremely long journeys. It would be used for tonight only.

Leaving early was vital to Jimmy. A one-way trip to Mars would take around four hours in the Astrocar which would leave plenty of time to see the event occur. However, they've been on many detours in past adventures which have often delayed whatever the gang originally wanted to do.

They left Earth on time. Jimmy as usual, was in the pilot's seat. He had asked Cindy to join him as co-pilot in case anything went bad. A few times, he couldn't help but notice his female colleague. He was noticing her a lot more than he had done in the past. He swore she was wearing an updated version of the flight suit she wore the last time they went to Mars. He remembered he couldn't stop staring at the perfection that was Cindy. His heart fluctuated in speed every time he would glance in her general direction.

Cindy on the other hand was staring at Jimmy almost constantly. She was wanting to catch his eye. On the few times she did, her face turned red. Luckily for her, this wasn't noticed by Jimmy. She could sense Jimmy was avoiding her gaze. She laughed inside at the boy. He wasn't even being subtle. She looked behind her to see what their friends were doing. Surprisingly, the three of them appeared not to pay attention to her actions. However, Libby did pay attention but she was good at hiding it. She was only pretending to read the latest fashion magazine. Watching Jimmy and Cindy together was better than any movie.

They were five minutes from touchdown when Jimmy spoke. "Prepare yourself. We're about to land."

The rest of the gang looked outside the window. From their viewpoint, the ground was fairly flat apart from the large mountain they could see directly below them.

"That is one big volcano," exclaimed Sheen. He had his face stuck against the window.

"Olympus Mons, also known as Mount Olympus," said Jimmy while looking straight ahead. "At just under 70,000 feet, it is the largest volcano or mountain in the solar system. We will be landing about one-third of the way up the mountain. It will give us the best views of the astronomical event."

"70,000," said Sheen. "That's more than I can count."

"What's the largest number you know," asked Carl.

"Well apart from whatever number Jimmy just said. I would say 890."

"May I ask why?" Cindy asked.

"It's the number of episodes there have been of Ultralord," replied Libby. Cindy gave Libby a cold hard stare that could send shivers down anyone's spine. "What? Sheen made me sit through all the episodes just a couple of months ago."

Jimmy saw a ridge on the mountain directly ahead of him. He did a quick scan of the area and found the ridge was stable enough to hold them. As soon as Jimmy landed the Astrocar, Sheen bolted out the door. Jimmy, Libby and Cindy were not far behind him. Carl hesitated at first but soon followed. As soon as they got off the ship, they were amazed at the sight. Directly below them was a steep drop to the Martian surface. If they fell, they would reach the bottom in a few minutes. As they looked up, it was impossible to see the top. It seemed as if the mountain was in outer space.

"Alright, we're making good time," said Jimmy. "Just need to set up the equipment. It will take a couple of hours."

"Why do we even need equipment?" asked Carl. "Can't we see the event happening with just our eyes?"

"Only Earth. If you just look over there where I'm pointing to, you can see Earth." Jimmy pointed to an area that was in the distance. The other four tried to follow his arm. Eventually, they could see Earth. Being millions of miles away, Earth was about half the size of a marble. "We need the equipment so we can see Mercury and Venus. They're too far away and too small to see with the naked eye."

Jimmy set off to work immediately. The others helped in any way they could. Goddard was active at this time. He would be connected to the telescope to allow viewing of the event.

Sunset was upon them a lot quicker than they had anticipated. Jimmy was doing the final configurations of the machine. Everyone else was bored waiting but not as much as Sheen.

"Man, I'm bored," complained Sheen. "Can we go home now? I want to watch another 10 episodes of Ultralord."

"Enough Sheen!" snapped Jimmy. He was fuming. "I'm tired of you winging and complaining about you being bored. Find something to do."

Everyone else including Goddard looked at Jimmy weirdly. This was unlike him. One moment he was excited about the event and the next moment, he was angry. Sheen put his arms up in defence.

Jimmy quickly calmed down. He was confused about the sudden mood change as well. "I'm sorry Sheen. I don't know what came over me."

"It's ok Jimmy. I didn't mean to push your buttons."

"Thanks, Sheen. It won't happen again, I promise you. Now, configurations are all done and just in time too."

Jimmy was back to normal. It was lucky he had calmed down as Cindy swore he saw parts of his body turn green. She didn't want Jimmy to lose himself.

Over in the distance, the sun was setting. From their position, stars filled the night sky. More stars could be seen here than back on Earth.

"Alright, let's start this thing up Goddard."

"Will do Master," obeyed Goddard.

Goddard connected himself up to the equipment. It took a few seconds for the monitor to show the phenomenon.

"Wow!" said everyone except Jimmy.

"Just viewing this makes you appreciate life in its very essence," said Libby.

On the monitor, all three planets could be seen. It appeared as if the planets were all stuck in each other's gravitational fields. The three planets were all positioned at different points of a triangle. The layout of each planet could be seen in detail. It was beauty at its finest.

"Not only are we witnessing three planets in close proximity to one another," said Jimmy. "But in some ways, the entire population of Earth can be seen."

"Although, we've seen Earth from space many times," said Libby. "I've never thought about how beautiful the planet is. From what we hear on the news every day about war, political turmoil and diseases, you would think Earth would appear as barren as Mercury and Venus."

Two hours were spent looking at the monitor. Both Carl and Sheen became bored after 20 minutes and were doing their own thing. The remaining three watched as the planets continued on their orbital path. Most of the time was spent looking at Earth. Seeing the Earth rotate was something only few people experience in real-time. Goddard documented the event by taking photos. Jimmy had the intention of sending the photos to NASA once they got back. Eventually, it had gotten to a point where none of them could see the planets.

As it was long day for all of them, they spent the rest of the day relaxing except for Libby. She couldn't help but remember Jimmy's outburst from earlier. She decided to question him.

"Hey Jimmy," called Libby. "Mind if I have a word with you in private?"

"Sure thing," answered Jimmy. He got up and walked over to where Libby was. Sheen also got up to follow them.

"Sheen. I only asked for Jimmy."

"I know, but it's my duty to protect you," said Sheen. "It's what Ultralord told me to do. To help those in need."

"That's sweet Sheen." Libby kissed him. "But no one will attack me alright. If so, I'll kick their arse so hard, they'll end up at Jupiter."

"That's my Libs." Sheen walked away leaving Jimmy alone with Libby.

"So, what's up?" asked Jimmy.

"It's about your outburst at Sheen earlier," answered Libby. Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes. I just want to know why. You've never been happier and you don't seem to argue with Cindy as much."

Jimmy hesitated for a moment. "I don't know. Just recently, I've been getting these mood swings. I've been able to control it but wasn't able to this time."

"What's been happening? First, you start coughing for the better part of a month. You've been experiencing headaches and now this. Jimmy, you do realise that we are worried about you."

"I appreciate that but there's nothing to worry about. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hit the sack."

Jimmy walked off towards the campsite where Carl and Sheen were while Libby stood rooted to the spot shaking her head. It was decided that they would camp under the stars tonight. Libby re-joined Cindy.

"Why did you talk to Neutron alone?" asked Cindy. She had her hands behind her head while viewing the cosmos.

"Just talking to Jimmy about what's been happening with him the last month," said Libby. "He says he's alright but there's something he's not telling us."

Cindy sat up. "I know and I'm little bit worried about him. He's the kind of guy where he ensures us everything is alright with him when he's not. But, if he is in denial, then you can't do anything about it."

"I suppose not. Well, not at this stage. Anyway, it's not like it can get worse."

"Of course not."

Cindy and Libby decided to hit the sleeping bag. Cindy was half asleep when she heard coughing coming from Jimmy. Concern came over her as she glanced over at the sleeping boy. She just hoped she knew what the problem was.

Morning came too soon for the five teenagers. After the long trip to Mars yesterday and the hours spent watching a monitor, they were dead tired. Groans came from all of them as they realised it will be a long trip back home. They would love to stay longer but they had already done what they set out to do in the first place.

Carl was the first one ready. After using up all but three of his inhalers, he was running out. The other four were not far behind him. Taking off, Jimmy took one last look behind him at the desolate planet. He felt a tinge of sadness at the realisation of not being able to do these adventures as much before. The trip marked the end of an era. An era which was short lived.

Eventually, they got back home. Throughout the trip, Jimmy had a tingly feeling shooting through his arm to which he enjoyed. He looked over and saw Cindy holding his hand. He was too tired to pull his arm away and just enjoyed the experience. Behind them, Libby was taking photos of them. She would use it to blackmail them later if it was needed.

Everyone else headed off to their respective houses. It was dusk. Jimmy looked up and saw the night sky. This was his favourite time of the day as that's when the stars would appear in the sky. Jimmy would often look at the skies at this time and wonder if he will ever visit those stars in his lifetime. After every adventure, he would mentally tick off the stars he had visited. If he could visit every star, he would.

Climbing up the stairs, Jimmy tripped and fell. Luckily, he fell forwards and not backwards. He managed to place his hands in front of him to cushion the fall preventing any injury. Unfortunately, he was struggling to get up. For some reason, his vision was pixelated. Before he could freak out, his vision had returned to normal and he managed to pick himself up. Jimmy made it to his room without any further drama.

"What's happening to me?" Jimmy asked himself. "I need to check myself. This is not normal." Jimmy wanted to go to the lab but tiredness got the better of him and collapsed on his bed. Goddard had followed Jimmy up the stairs to his room. He had noticed everything that was happening with Jimmy. Goddard hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. It seemed as if the worse had yet to come.

End of second chapter. This chapter was originally going to have a scene with all five friends spending the day at Retroland. That scene was about 2000 words in total. I deleted it because it was more filler than anything else. Honestly, this is only the start. The story in my opinion will pick up in pace around chapter four. Also leave a review and PM me if you have any questions about this story. I'll make sure to answer anything about this story without giving away any spoilers.