Epilogue: Going Back Home

It was raining. And it was dark.

Jimmy took a deep breath, as he looked up at the sky. Black clouds had covered the sky- so the only source of light he had came from the dull orange glow of the streetlights. Jimmy took a deep breath, and shivered. It was so cold. And standing out in the rain was only making it worse.

He had to move. And from what he could see- there was only one place he could go.

With his arms wrapped around his body in a vain attempt to fight the cold, Jimmy moved off of the sidewalk and approached the house. The Neutron home still looked the same. He was somewhat received by that. He had an urge to go around the house to check if his clubhouse was there too. But, he didn't. He was pretty sure it wasn't going to be there.

He took another deep breath- and was about to knock on the door, when something stopped him. It wasn't the illogical fear he had that his parents wouldn't recognise him. He knew they wouldn't. So why... Why would he be afraid to see that look in their eyes? Why would he be afraid that his parents would look at him like... a stranger?

He frowned. That was silly. Besides- he had to do this. He had nowhere else to go.

Jimmy moved to knock again. This time- he was stopped by something else. A voice. And, a presence.

"It is lovely to meet you, Mister Neutron."

Jimmy spun around in an instant. Behind him, there stood a collection of black smoke and tentacles, all wrapped together inside a small brown cloak. He couldn't see it's face properly. But he could see the tentacles writhing around underneath the cloak.

Jimmy grit his teeth. "What do you want?" he growled.

The cloaked darkling looked at him for a moment, and chuckled. "Believe it or not, Neutron- We are not all mindless puppets. And... We are not all agents of chaos."

Jimmy frowned. "You'll have to forgive me if I'm a little sceptical."

The creature sighed. "Your so stubborn... " it growled. "Look- I came all this way to speak to you... Would it kill you to act like a civilised human being for once?"

"I'm perfectly civilised! I'm just a little tired of dealing with deep-voiced jerks in cloaks. I've kind of got other things to deal with you know."

"Oh- That is typical. Nobody else's problems matter! Because Dweebtron has his own problems to deal with. Would it kill you to just listen to me for once!?"

"I don't even know who you are!"

"Please. You just don't want to listen to somebody call you selfish because you know it's true."

"It is not! I just got done re-creating the fabric of reality! Not to mention all those times I saved the world, and the universe!"

"Yeah, after you put it in jeopardy a million times! And whose the one that couldn't stop Bricker before he destroyed the fabric of reality in the first place- huh? You only did what you did so you could play hero, and have everybody give you all of the attention."

Finally, Jimmy had enough. "Alright- You know what? If all you came here to do was call me selfish; then I think you've succeeded. So you can go now." he said. With that, he turned around again, to knock on the door.

"Wait."

Jimmy paused.

"Look- that... That's not what I'm here for, okay? I'm here... to give you a message."

Jimmy sighed. "What is it?" he asked.

"Well... It's from William and Sally."

Jimmy blinked. He turned back around to face the creature in the cloak. "They made it okay?" he asked. The creature nodded, and Jimmy breathed a sigh of releif. "Good... How are they?"

The creature sighed. "Well... I don't know. They're kind of... missing."

Jimmy frowned. "They are...?" he muttered. "What happened? I was sure I put them back on Earth..."

"Yeah, well... They spent a lot of time jumping around from place to place. Or- so I heard. Apparently, they visited everyone you used to be connected too... So that they could tie all the threads together again- and find the pieces of your mind that were scattered all over the place."

"And... Are they the reason I'm... back?" he asked.

The creature nodded. "Uh-huh. They worked pretty hard at it- but when everything was ready, they still needed a lot of energy to bring you back- so they asked Timmy Turner. He was a lot of help but... he couldn't restore everybodys memory of you. He couldn't make it as if you had existed. He just... made it so you do now."

Jimmy nodded. "Okay... So, nobody'll remember me... And my lab, and all my inventions... they never even existed..." he muttered.

"Uh- yeah. That's what I said, isn't it?"

Jimmy shot the creature a glare. "Do you have any idea what could have happened to William and Sally?" he asked.

The creature shrugged. "Not really- But... they did leave a note..." it muttered, as it rummaged around its cloak pockets. Finally, it pulled out a small golden envelope. "Here." it said. Jimmy took the envelope, and examined it for a moment. Across the front of it, was 'To Jimmy' in beautiful cursive handwriting. The envelope looked like it had been ripped open, and then hastily taped back together. Jimmy sent the creature a look- and sure enough, it began to whistle innocently.

He took out the letter, and read it.

'To Jimmy. What's up? Nothin'? Cool. The end.

...

...

PSYCHE! Actually, there's tons of cool stuff I could write in this. Hopefully our friend will give you all of the boring 'explanation' stuff so I don't have to write it all down. Timmy Turner is a nice kid, by the way. Did you know that he's got a pink hat? I thought it was some kinda lame hipster move- but nope! One hundred percent sincere.

Anyway, so- There are still a lot of things in the universe, and the multiverse out there. Some of it's even cooler than the Xyzcek Aden- (though the Xyzcek Aden is pretty sweet. Just saying.) and while William and were out collecting the pieces of you that were all scattered about... We found some very interesting things.

I wish I could tell you- but I can't. If somebody picks this thing up, then... well- let's just say... bad stuff will happen. You've still got enemies out there, Jimmy. And you'll probably have to keep on playing hero.

I'm sorry we won't be there to help you with what's coming... But it'll be safer for all of us if we go down our own path for a while. I'm sorry, that I couldn't say any of this stuff in person but... Thank you, Jimmy. For saving me- and saving William.

You grew up to be so awesome, Jimmy. Don't ever forget how awesome you are. And I know it might be hard, with nobody remembering your existence and all... But don't give up. The strongest ties can never be broken. And in time... their memories might come back.

Don't give up hope. After all- you remembered me, didn't you?

Alright- we've gotta blast. Love you, Jimmy! We'll come back as soon as we can- and you can buy us a milkshake! Oh- I heard the Candy Bar has this thing called a 'Mega Chocolate Detonation'. We've gotta try it! We'll have stomach cramps for weeks!

Love, Sally.'

Jimmy smiled. Then, he noticed that there was another piece of paper behind the first one. He moved it to the front, and started reading.

'To Jimmy. Hey, this is William. I'm sorry we had to write letters like this... I kinda wanted to see you face to face so I could apologise for... you know... destroying all of reality. Yeah. That was my bad.

I don't know when we'll be able to see each other again... Or if we'll ever be able to see each other again... So I just wanted to say... Thank you. You didn't have to give me a second chance... In truth- I don't believe I really deserved it. But... You gave it to me. And now... I'm starting to feel more and more like my old self everyday.

I saw into the heart of darkness when I got lost in the dark matter dimension. I saw visions of things that were... pretty bad. But now... I'm going to try and be strong. And not crumble underneath the nightmares. Soon... you'll probably have to do the same. And you won't have the power of the Xyzcek Aden to back you up.

Your friends will be your strength. Don't be afraid to rely on them. I'm sure they'll help- and so will we. As soon as we can.

Until then. Jimmy- I wish you all the best. I'm not really gonna be as... you know... gushy, as Sally got. But... again, thanks. For everything.

Good luck, Jimmy. I know you can do it.

- W. Bricker'

Jimmy closed the letters, and carefully placed them back into the envelope. Then, he took a deep breath, and smiled. Then, he turned his attention back to the creature in the cloak. "Is that all?" he asked.

The creature nodded, slowly.

"... Thank you, for giving this to me." said Jimmy.

The creature huffed. "Whatever. I only did it as a favour to Bricker, anyway." it muttered.

"Still, though... Thanks..." Jimmy trailed off for a moment, and frowned. "Hey- I uh... You didn't tell me your name..." he said. The creature gave a low growl. "You already have a few guesses... don't you?" it asked.

Jimmy nodded.

"Well then- why don't you just guess then, Mister Know-it-all." she growled. Jimmy shook his head. "No... Just... tell me." he muttered. The creature huffed again, before taking off it's hood.

A plume of black smoke rose into the air as she did. There was a mass of long black tentacles on her head- apparently filling in for her hair. Her skin was a dark shade of grey, and decorated with small tattoos and scars. One of her eyes was red, and the other yellow. But- even with all of those things that made her look like a completely different creature, Jimmy could still recognise her face.

"Cindy..." he muttered. "Or... are you the evil clone of Cindy?"

Evil Cindy put her hands on her hips. "Well, the second one, obviously. Geez, Neutron. What're you blind?" she demanded. Jimmy shrugged. "Well, I dunno... You kind of just look like you put on too much make up for Halloween or something..." he muttered. Evil Cindy scoffed. "Well excuse me if I want to look presentable every now and again. Unlike you. I'll bet you have all sorts of nasty stuff going on in your 'tower of hair'".

"Why ya gotta take it there, Vortex!?"

"Oh, come on. If you didn't want people to make fun of your hair you'd comb it down like a normal person!"

"I like my hair the way it is!"

"Looking like a triple whipped fudgy-pop?"

"Yeah!" yelled Jimmy. "Now- is that all? Because I've kinda got stuff to do right now."

"Oh, sure! Be my guest! And while your at it, why don't you go ahead and drop off the face of the Earth?" growled Evil Cindy. With that, Jimmy and Evil Cindy huffed in unison, and turned away from each other. Before Evil Cindy could so much as make it to the sidewalk however, something stopped her.

"Cindy..."

Evil Cindy stopped in her tracks.

"I-... I mean... Evil Cindy..."

She clenched her fists.

"I'm sorry... about that. I, uh... I really am grateful." said Jimmy. "I don't-... I don't know what happened to you... or, the other evil clones... But... Look- When I re-created everything, I had the choice to leave you out. To leave all of the dark matter creatures... the darklings... out of it. But I didn't. Do you know why?" he asked.

Evil Cindy frowned. "Why?" she muttered.

"Because my clone is one of them. And... So was my best friend. I think... they've changed now. Both of them. Not too long ago, I didn't think that was possible. But now... Well... All I'm saying, is maybe you and all the others don't need to defined 'Evil'. Maybe... you can evolve beyond that."

Evil Cindy sighed. "You sound just like those two idiot friends of yours..." she muttered. Suddenly, the space in front of her began to twist, and churn. Until it finally took the shape of a swirling vortex. Before she stepped through it, Cindy shot him a look. "See you later, Dweebtron." she said.

Jimmy smiled, and waved his hand. "Yeah... I'll bring Carl and Sheen over for a visit sometime. Maybe we can have a look around on your 'Evil Earth'." he said. Evil Cindy twitched and shuddered. "You'd better not." she growled.

And with that- she stepped through the vortex, and disappeared. A few seconds later, the vortex seemed to evaporate into thin air.

Jimmy sighed. He knocked on the door, and took a deep breath. When he didn't hear any noise from inside, he pressed the doorbell. This time, he could hear movement inside, as the lights in his parents bedroom flickered to life. He held his breath. He didn't know why- but for some reason, he was nervous. He took another deep breath, and held the letters tightly in his hands.

Finally, the door opened.

"Um... Hi! My name's Jimmy!" said Jimmy.

Judy Neutron smiled. "Jimmy..." she muttered. "That's a nice name.."

Jimmy could feel some of the air leave his lungs. He grit his teeth. He hated himself for expected something else. And even more for being disappointed. Jimmy coughed, and cleared his throat. "Um... Listen... I... I'm kind of lost. I've never... I've never been to this town before. And, I don't really have anywhere else to go. So... If you wouldn't mind..." he trailed off for a moment, and they were left in silence.

Judy appeared to be lost in thought. Then, after staring at him for a while, she nodded. "Of course, honey. Come on in." she said. Then, she turned around and yelled up the staircase. "Hugh! We have a guest!"

"Is it pie?"

Jimmy smiled. Immediately, he felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. No- his parents didn't remember him. And no one else would either. In fact, it was as if he had never existed in the first place.

But even with all of that, he could still feel that familiar warmth in his chest.

He was home.

Meanwhile...

Kyaa-Graagh-Yest, or 'August' as he preferred to be called, was somewhat of a rarity among his species. The Gorlocks had a long history of being equally primitive and violent. And even as that had begun to change after their first contact with creatures from other planets, most Gorlocks remained extremely stubborn in the face of change.

However, August was different. He had grown up as an orphan, and spent all the time he could carefully studying alien culture, and the history of the universe. Now, he was a few cycles old- and had been blessed not only with a beautiful wife, but children; and, a grandchild.

With the passing of his wife, his passions were now focused almost entirely on ancient alien artifacts. And, against the wishes of his grandchild, he had just embarked on yet another journey- to study artifacts recently discovered on one of the most dangerous planets in the universe.

He had been forced to sneak out alone- because he knew that if he didn't- then April would no doubt try to follow him. Heck- as soon as she discovered he was gone, she was probably going to follow him anyway. That was why he had to be quick. Because although he had no problem putting himself in harms way in the pursuit of knowledge- he felt differently about it when it involved his grand-daughter.

He grit his teeth, as the space shuttle finally passed through the planets atmosphere. The air was thick with a dark grey fog. This made landing a little tricky- but he had been doing this for a very long time now, and alien planet exporation technology had advanced dramatically since his first exploration adventure.
"Surface is approximately 4.2 megalengths below."

August flinched at the ships computer voice. "Curse it..." he grumbled. "Computer! Why are you using Ultraurian measurements instead of Gorlockian measurements?" he demanded.

"Now ordered four hundred thousand space-pizza's to Earths sun."

"No- Wait, what!?" yelled August.

"Now calculating length in Gorlockian measurements..."

"Thank you..." muttered August.

"Also ordering eight hundred copies of Xelyvexian's Gone Wild!"

"Are you... Just trying to annoy me?" growled August.

The computer cleared its lack of throat. "No, no... Not at all. Hold up, dude- we're here." it said. Suddenly, the ship shook- as it landed on the planets surface. August scowled. "If you keep up this kind of behaviour, I won't think twice about returning you." he growled. The computer sniffled.

"Whatever, man! You don't understand me!" it yelled.

August rolled his eyes, and made his way out of the spaceship. At some point a few cycles ago, somebody had accidentally locked his ship computer on 'snotty teenager' mode. If he ever found out who that person was, he would have a few words to say to him- to say the least.

August put on his helmet, and attatched it to the rest of his space suit. He checked it, and double checked it. Finally, and with a satisfied nod, August stepped into de-contamination bay. It was important not to introduce any micro-organisims to the planet, and equally as important not to track any back with him. So, he stood still as a series of nozzles sprayed him with a thin white mist. It only took a few minutes- and then, the doors opened.

August stepped out onto the planets surface, and looked around. Everything was covered with the same thick grey fog. He couldn't even see his own feet in it- let alone the actual surface. He flicked a switch on the side of his helmet- and the lights on top of his helmet sprung to life. As soon as the beams of light his the fog, it seemed to evaporate. He looked down at his feet again, and blinked. The ground appeared to be made out of dark blue crystal. The surface of it was rough, and uneven- and littered with hundreds of tiny blue stones. August made a note to take a few specimens to analyze back at his lab, and stepped forward.

"Crunch!"

He looked down again. He had accidentally stepped on one of the blue stones, and surpringly- it appeared to have burst into thousands of pieces. They were brittle. The surface however, felt strong. He frowned, and moved forward. As he did his best to watch his step, he checked his wristband.
The ruins were very close. He looked around. In the distance, a few of the stones seemed to be changing color.

He frowned.

While doing his best to be careful where he stepped, August made his way over to the colorful stones. They were scattered across the blue surface, and glowing a dull green. Beyond the stones, stood a massive wall.

"Found it..." August muttered. Very slowly, August reached out his hand. The wall seemed to be made out of the same material as the surface. However- unlike the surface, the wall was smooth. As if it had been polished. As he ran his hand across its surface, he came across a group of markings- each of them etched into the surface of the wall. They were alien. But surprisingly- he couldn't recognise them.

He checked his wristband again. Then, he began to follow the wall.

After following it for a while, and making sure to both check his wristband and watch where he walked, he finally came to the entrance. It was a massive square opening, and inside, from what he could see, there was no trace of the grey fog, or anymore stones. He took a deep breath, and stepped inside.
It looked like a long hallway. The surface of the walls, the ceiling and the floor were all very similar to the surface of the wall outside. Smooth, blue, and decorated with hundreds of small aliens markings. As he ventured further however- the walls began to change color. He froze.

The markings on the walls began to swirl, as the surface began to change color. Suddenly- everything was gold. And the markings had changed shape- into a language that he could actually read.

"A string of data from the great powers of light.

Split into two.

One faded away, as the other grew.

3 - 0 - 6 - 7

Jimmy Neutron will save us all.

The other will not.

Jimmy Neutron will give his all.

The other will not.

When two become one once again...

What then?"

August frowned. "Jimmy Neutron..." he muttered to himself. He had heard that name before... Suddenly- there was a flash. And August could see the shape of a human boy- with an incredibly big head. "That is Jimmy Neutron..." he muttered. "How could I have forgotten?"

Suddenly- the walls changed again. This time- they were black.

"Well, it's nice to see you- August."

August shuddered. He knew that voice. He turned around, and felt his stomach churn. "Meldar Prime." he spat.

The wrinkles of his pale yellow face began to move, as his mouth twisted into a big, disturbing grin. "It's so nice of you to fall for such a simple trap." said Meldar. "And even nicer of you come along without that granddaughter of yours that I've heard so much about."

August grit his teeth. "What are you doing here?" he growled. Meldar shrugged. "Oh, I'm here for you of course. I knew you couldn't resist coming to another dead planet to 'poke around'. It's a good thing I found this place..." he mused.

"What I just saw... was that another illusion of yours?" growled August. Meldar raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"The message I just saw on the wall! Did you write it!?" demanded August.

Meldar rolled his eyes. "Trust me- I've got no idea what your raving on about." he said. "Now- are you going to come quietly, or do you want to make this... violent?"

August lunged at him. But before he had crossed even half of the distance between them, Meldar had risen his hand into the air- and released a massive burst of power directly into Augusts face. He collapsed, in a heap.

Meldar rolled his eyes, and twirled his hand in the air. August began rise off the floor, and into the air. "Well, that was fun and all, August, but we've got work to do." he said. Before making his way out of the tunnel, he glanced at the wall, and frowned. He had discovered the planet himself a few cycles ago- and he had never come across anything even remotely interesting.

He glanced back at August.

"I wonder..." he mused. Then, he shook his head. He didn't have time to spare thinking about the delusions of an old Gorlockian.

He had a universe to conquer.

End of 'Xyzcek Aden'

(AN: Okay, so- I went through three different versions of this, all of them much longer. But, I found it hard to find endings for them. This one I think is better. And sometimes, less is more.

Now, back to business. As you could probably tell, I still have plenty ideas for adventures with Jimmy. Throughout writing this story, I had always planned to have Jimmy re-visit 'Evil Earth'. Unfortunately, I had to scrap that idea, because I wanted to move the story forward. I also have other ideas for villains and such, that I think might be worth writing down. So- here's the question.

Do you want to see a sequel? Let me know in a review, and don't be afraid to tell me what you might like to see. I personally would really like to do it- but it helps immensely to know that there are other people out there who might be interested.

Alright- thank you. Now... on to the review responses!)

Legend of Tomorrow / fanfictionstoryreviewer - Believe me, I have a lot of ideas for a sequel. In fact- if I do end up writing another one, it'll probably be even longer than this one. Well- we'll see. Thank you very much for your continued support.

Nicole Luna - My original idea for this was to have William and Sally show up infront of Carl and Sheen, and then Cindy and Libby respectively- and then give them invitation to a big party that would end with William and Sally using the gathering of people connected to Jimmy to bring him back. I wrote most of it, but the more I wrote, and the longer it got... It just kinda got dull for me. And even though I had fun with it at times, it was always hard to try and write it. Anyway- I wrote this instead. By the way- the August scene was always going to be in it.

88MilesPerHour - You know how before, you liked that the ending wasn't sappy and boring? Well- I hope I haven't ruined that. Like I said before; I went through heaps of different versions of this, and a lot re-writing and general frustration. Personally, I'm kind of happy with this epilogue... But I'm kinda afraid that other people won't like it. Especially since I got so few readers for the last two chapters... *ahem* Anyway- thank you very much for reading my story. It means a lot.

airauralintensity - Okay, well- '3067' is a part of a master code known as 'Light', that created the oldest universes. And... That's about as much as I should say. Thank you very much for reading, and let me just say; I love pies and ducks too.