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The door to Heloise's lab whooshed open, and an energetic Jimmy cartwheeled in. "Heloise! Are you ready for the midnight premiere of the new Super Slugmeister movie?!" The boy could hardly contain his excitement. They'd all gotten tickets weeks ago and the agonizing wait was finally going to pay off! Not to mention if they saw the first showing they could avoid spoilers (a lesson learned after Beezy got spoiled waiting in line for Fluffy Pony Pals 8.)
Jimmy's arrival took Heloise by surprise; she'd been writing something down when the sudden voice caused her pen to zigzag across the page. "The Super Slugmeister Movie is tonight?!" Double-checking her calendar, Heloise realized she'd lost track of what day it was. "This is horrible! I can't make it!"
The blonde gasped. "What do you mean you can't make it?!"
"I've been swamped finishing up the last few products for the new Misery Inc. catalogue! The deadline is tomorrow morning and at this rate I'll just barely make it!" Heloise explained. Jimmy seemed to finally notice the abundance of unfinished inventions cluttering the lab. "Okay, this does look like a lot of work."
Heloise grabbed a wrench and used it to tighten a large bolt as she went on. "Dorkus screwed up and gave me the wrong deadline, and when I finally got the real one, he goes and gets himself put in the hospital. So what if his organs have been turned inside-out? He should've toughed it out and did his job! Now I've lost the miniscule bit of help I had!"
Watching as Heloise moved from the bolt and pushed the machine over to the 'finished' pile of inventions on the other side of the lab and then running back to start typing commands into another device, Jimmy scratched his head "There's no backup for if Dorkus is gone? Why don't you just build a robot assistant or something?" Heloise froze, a haunted stare in her eyes. "Never. Again."
Jimmy tapped his finger to his chin, and moments later, a lightbulb poofed over his head. "I know! How about I be your assistant?" Her typing ceased. "You'd do that?" When she looked back at the boy, he was already dressed in a lab coat, safety goggles and rubber gloves. "Sure! Anything to help you get out of here in time to see the movie!"
Although Two Shoes was normally a liability when it came to her work, there was no one else who would volunteer to help out. "Alright, but you have to do exactly as I tell you if you don't want to end up suffering a painful, but most likely amusing death!" "You got it, boss!"
OXOXOXOX
In a montage of progress, we see Jimmy holding a mechanical turkey steady while Heloise fixed the wires in its head. She gave her new assistant a thumbs up, which he returned while letting go of part of the turkey, who kicked him into the wall.
Heloise was welding together what looked like a big pair of pants with a fishing pole hooked into the back. A 'wedgy-pants' if you would. She held out her hands as Jimmy passed her whatever tools she asked for, describing them in a way Jimmy would understand, such as calling a welding C-clamp a 'handle with a nail in the top'. Jimmy continued to hand her each tool, although what she referred to as a 'pully-thing' recoiled in his face and sent him flying into the wall again.
A heavy robot head was being lowered onto the robot body. Heloise gestured how to move it while Jimmy worked the controls. The head successfully clamped down in place and the eyes lit up. The duo high-fived… and the robot punted Jimmy into the wall.
The sun's had set by the time they'd reached the final invention. Jimmy didn't have to do anything but watch as Heloise finished the calculations needed for the tonic they were making. "This is awesmazing! We're almost done and we still have two hours before the premiere!" the boy cheered. He wanted to spin around in his chair, though it had been wisely dead bolted in place by the girl going over the formula she'd created. "Honestly, I'm shocked that this worked out." Heloise admitted. "You actually really helped me out today."
Resting his cheek on the palm of his hand, Jimmy leaned over the table to look over at the girl. "Always happy to help, Heloise. Speaking of which, are you sure I can't help mix the chemicals?"
"Can you tell the difference between Grugly saliva and liquid nitroglycerin?" Heloise asked, not looking up from her equation.
Jimmy hesitated "... no."
Heloise smirked. "Better leave this one to me." She grabbed a few vials from across the table, pouring and measuring them into a larger pot. Jimmy watched her with a smile on his face. This girl was the smartest person in Miseryville. He'd never seen anyone make such awesome creations back on Earth. Heloise was really special.
If Heloise had looked away from her concoction, she would have seen the smitten stare Jimmy was giving to her. Likewise, the boy himself didn't seem to be aware of how closely he was watching her.
A single drop of liquid fell into the pot, causing a puff of smoke to rise up. "And it's finished! Wanna see?" Heloise looked over across the table towards her temporary assistant.
"There's a lot of chemistry between us." Jimmy's words made Heloise do a double-take. Her eyes shimmered hopefully. "Really?" "Yeah, I can't see the tonic over all of these chemistry bottles." Jimmy clarified.
Heloise resisted the urge to slap her own forehead. She should have known.
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Another lazy weekend had rolled around, and what better way to spend such a beautiful day than staying inside a dark room playing video games! Heloise had invited Jimmy over to play this new game she got, partly so she could spend some quality time alone with him and partly because the game was notoriously difficult if you didn't do co-op mode.
A large TV had been rolled in front of the couch, and the two teens were seated with their controllers ready. "I've been waiting weeks to play Boss Battle Island! This is going to be so cool!" Jimmy was practically hopping in his seat as they waited for the main screen to load. "And it'll be much more fun with the two of us working together." Heloise batted her eyelashes at her partner, though it went unnoticed.
The character select screen loaded up. Heloise was player 1, so she got first pick on who to play as. "Mistress Mysterious, the dame of danger." Heloise chose a demon lady dressed like a witch. It was Jimmy's turn to pick next. He skimmed over the roster twice before settling on a muscular jungle adventurer. "Corporal Punishment, he brings pain to evil-doers everywhere!" Jimmy hammily announced.
A pleasant surprise for both of them was a special banner appearing, announcing they picked characters with a unique story mode together. "Oooh, we picked a synergy duo! That means we get extra plot!" Jimmy pointed to the words on the screen. "Plot huh, that's something we hardly ever get." Heloise quipped.
Running and gunning through the first few levels, Jimmy and Heloise worked together and cleared the boss fights one by one. The synergy duo they chose reflected how well in sync they were in their gameplay. They covered each other's weak spots and invented their own combination techniques, taking down bosses like 'Crying Clown BabyMan' or 'Lizard Arsonist' and who could forget the memorable battle against 'Zantabar the Bedwetter'? Between levels they were treated to special cutscenes with their characters, who they soon realized were love interests! Heloise had not anticipated this and was happily surprised, fantasizing about herself and Jimmy as their characters during said cutscenes.
Hours passed, and the duo had reached the penultimate boss fight. "I've got him paralyzed. Jimmy, attack the groin!" Heloise made an opening for her partner. "Got it! One Two-Shoes flying punch kick coming right up!" the boy rapidly pressed the buttons and had his character perform the combo move he'd come up with and watched as the attack rammed into the groin of the Robotic Dragon Barista. The aforementioned boss howled in pain as it was covered in small explosions and sank below the screen. "WOOHOO! Now there's only one more boss fight to go!" "Hold up-look at the graphics ratio! A cutscene is starting-" Heloise pointed out. It was odd. Usually there was a transition before a cutscene, but instead it melded itself seamlessly into the gameplay.
The final boss (some sort of Vulture headed man) appeared pre-maturely, sending an attack towards Heloise's character. Jimmy's pushed her away and took the attack, falling over dead. "DID THAT GUY JUST KILL ME?!" Jimmy shouted, enraged. "I still have two lives left. You can't kill me now!"
"Quiet, mine is doing something!" Heloise shushed her partner. Mistress Mysterious' text bubble popped up, exclaiming her despair over the man she loved. The sprite moved over to Corporal Punishment and leaned down to kiss him. Heloise stared in awe, continuing her self-indulgent fantasy, while Jimmy blushed red when he saw the kiss. 'Heloise's character and mine are kissing…' the implications were not lost on him. As they watched Jimmy's character return to life and profess his love for Heloise's, the players themselves couldn't help but glance at each other.
'So we accidentally picked characters that are lovers. Nothing weird about that. I mean, it's not like I'm the one actually kissing Heloise?' his face reddened further as the thought of kissing his best friend passed through his mind. 'Not that it could ever happen, I mean-that would be way too weird! You know what else is weird? Continuing to think about this any more than I should be!' Jimmy gave himself a mental slap in the face, forcing himself to focus on the game.
At last, the duo had reached the final boss battle. The intensity and preciseness of the battle caused both to forget about the prior cutscene as they worked down their foe's health bar. The time in the corner clocked in at over twelve minutes when the boss finally died for real (baring the fake out part way through as he assumed his final form of a giant bird with missiles it shot from its nostrils) and the two sat back and relaxed as the credits rolled "I can't feel my thumb." Jimmy shook out the cramps from mashing the attack button. "Yeah, nine hours of gameplay straight will do that to you. Next time, let's remember to save at the halfway point and break for snacks." Heloise cracked her knuckles, hearing the joints pop as the pain was relieved.
The credits scrolled to the end, finishing with an image of their characters holding each other in an embrace. "So, Jimmy, what'd you think of story mode? Anything in the game stand out to you?" Heloise coyly asked. The boy pondered back. The only notable thing that crossed his mind was that kiss scene. He couldn't figure out why he felt a flutter in his chest, thinking back to it. Could it have been because of the girl sitting beside him? Could his subconscious be telling him that he would have liked to see what it would be like for himself and Heloise to be in those roles?
… Nah!
"Oh! I really liked the part where the Spaceman Cow turned good and returned to his home planet!" Jimmy answered, remembering another part he really liked. It didn't seem to be the answer Heloise had been hoping for, but he'd answered truthfully; he couldn't have answered that it was the kiss scene since he associated it with her more than the game.
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"Come on-Pick up! Pick up!"
"In here!" an arm yanked Jimmy over towards a door, the sudden movement making him nearly drop the cellphone in his hand. Heloise tossed Jimmy inside the room and barricaded the door with a nearby table, while the boy landed on his back just as the call went to voicemail. "You've reached the phone of Beezy J. Heinous. Leave a message after the burp. BWAAAAARRRRPP!" Jimmy pulled the phone away from his ear at the loud belch. "Beez! It's Jimmy! This whole thing went south real fast! Turns out the old film reels are cursed and the characters from the old movies have come to life! They've got us locked in the studio and are after us! You gotta bail us out now, Bee-" the voicemail beeped, signaling that the message had reached its limit.
"Oh, what in sweet corn is Beezy doing right now?"
OXOXOXOX
Right outside the studio, Beezy was fast asleep in the car. He drooled over the steering wheel and snored loud enough to drown out the sound of his phone buzzing.
OXOXOXOX
Heloise wasn't one to sit by and wait for a rescue. She took out her trusty pocket welder and snatched some old film canisters from a box. Jimmy looked over to his companion, raising an eyebrow. "Uh, Heloise?"
"If we want to get out of here without joining the monotone masses, we'll need something to fight back with!" The scientist finished her alterations and shoved a makeshift weapon into Jimmy's arms. The metal canister had been torn apart and re-welded into a rough-looking shield for Jimmy, while Heloise took apart an old pair of scissors and melted the two halves into a single blade.
"How come all I get is a shield?" Jimmy whined.
"I don't trust you to not poke your eye out with anything sharper." Heloise twirled the blade in her hand while she removed the barricade "Just watch my back ok?" The table was pushed aside. The two teens peeked their eyes through the door cracks to see two black and white, grainy apparitions waiting for them.
The duo nodded to each other and ambushed the ones waiting to ambush them. Heloise stabbed the one with a twirly mustache in the arm and kicked him in the neck. Jimmy shielded himself from the shoddy-special effect gorilla that swung its poorly made arms against the shield. The old-timey mustache villain was hurled through the air and landed on the gorilla. Heloise grabbed Jimmy by the hand and pulled him down the hall.
The teens entered a soundstage to find more old movie characters waiting for them. "I'll take-" Heloise surveyed the group "-pretty much all of them. You take that one." she pointed her blade at a little demon girl with braided hair. Heloise slashed away at everyone else (and enjoyed stabbing them way too much) while Jimmy was left with his single opponent. "Come on Heloise, this is too eas-" the little girl undid the ribbon in her hair and wrapped it around Jimmy's neck, choking him.
Flailing the shield around, a strip of film that hadn't been removed during the welding came out of a small hole. The strip fell onto the girl's foot and absorbing her back into it. Jimmy gasped for air, confused, until he noticed the strip. "If they get hit with the film, they go back inside it!"
Holding off a hunchbacked vampire, Heloise glanced back. "You don't say?" she smirked and tripped her foe, watching him tumble towards the film strip Jimmy held out and disappear on contact. "Shows over, pal!" Jimmy grinned at the captured character. "Oh, wait-I should have saved that for the last guy!" He regretted using the pun too early.
After that, most of the other movie characters were taken out pretty quickly. Heloise pushed and stabbed them towards Jimmy, who held out the film and recaptured them, with each face appearing on a single frame. The strip filled up until there was only one guy left. The black and white swamp creature fell backwards towards the wall, where Jimmy was waiting just a step away to touch it with the film. The swamp creature didn't vanish like the others, leading Jimmy to pull back the strip and discover every frame was used up. "This one's full! We need another one!"
Heloise looked around and spotted a single frame of film stuck underneath a stage light. She raced over to grab it as the swamp creature recovered and made a beeline for her. Jimmy hopped on its back and tried to pull it away, but was easily brushed aside.
Snatching the frame from under the light, Heloise was dismayed to find that the piece was torn and unusable. "If Jimmy weren't here, I'd let out a couple of choice words." The monster's growl came closer and Heloise turned around just a moment too late, its claw raised to tear into her.
"HELOISE!"
Moving on instinct, Jimmy jumped on top of Heloise and shielded her with his shield-covered back to the swamp creature. The claws ripped through the metal and exposed another small strip of film to him. The last movie character was sucked inside as the shield clattered to the ground. Groaning in pain, Jimmy sat up and held a hand to his back. "Jimmy-" "It's ok! That shield you made took most of the damage." The claw had managed to graze his shirt and skin, but it was much less than it would have been had he not been wearing the metal shield.
"That thing could have ripped you to shreds! What were you thinking!?" Heloise was angry at him, angry that she felt so worried about his wellbeing. Sure the boy got smacked and crushed on an episodic basis. Sometimes she did it to him herself, but she never wanted him to get seriously hurt.
"I was thinking of keeping that thing from hurting you!" Jimmy shot back. He couldn't really explain it, but when he saw Heloise in danger, he had to protect her. The thought of Heloise getting hurt outweighed the need to keep himself out of harm's way.
Heloise's face softened, touched that he risked himself for her. "You… why would you do that for me?"
There were a number of ways Jimmy could answer that, it could be that he was terrified of anything happening to her, it could have been because he wanted to keep her safe when the danger got too real, it could have been because of the warmth flooding his soul whenever he looked into her eyes. "You're… my best friend Heloise." he settled on that answer, but he still felt there was more to it than that.
The duo heard a strange honking noise and seconds later, a car rammed through the wall. Beezy poked his head out of the window. "BEEZY'S HERE!"
"Hooray! We're saved!" Jimmy cheered. Heloise wasn't impressed. "We already were."
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"Target sighted, I have visual on the target."
Jimmy adjusted the binoculars against his eyes. He and Beezy were hiding in a large bush-shaped bush in the park. Their target was the 'new' heartthrob in town, Chad McHandsomington, and the girl he was with; Heloise. The 'new guy' showed an immediate interest in the girl, much to her visible displeasure. To Heloise, it was blatantly obvious that this guy was just Peep using a handsomeness enhancement potion, though no one else had caught on but her. Circumstances led to one another, and she had to put up with him for an afternoon. She was curious how long it would take before the urge to maim him was irresistible.
"Remind me again why we're spying on Heloise's date?" Beezy asked.
"I have a bad feeling about this guy. Something about him makes me uncomfortable." Jimmy answered, still watching through the binoculars. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he could imagine it was some gooey, flirty romantic junk that made his stomach barf. Which was, in fact, what 'Chad' was saying, though Heloise was having none of it.
Beezy raised an eyebrow, recognizing the signs from the last time Jimmy acted like this "Is it because you're jealous?" "Wha- no! Why would I be jealous of some guy with good hair and a chiseled chin?!" Jimmy finally looked away to face Beezy, missing Heloise slap 'Chad' across the face.
"I don't know, maybe it's cause he likes Heloise-for some odd reason-'' Beezy muttered that last part.
Scoffing, Jimmy crossed his arms. "Come on, Beez, why should that bother me? So what if she's paying more attention to him than me?" taking another peek through his binoculars, the blonde could see 'Chad' reaching out to hold Heloise's hand. Feeling another kick to his emotions, Jimmy couldn't explain why the idea of Heloise being in a relationship bothered him so much. It's not like she'd just abandon him. Beezy has a girlfriend and his friendship never changed.
Pushing down the binoculars (just as Heloise twisted Peep's arm for trying to hold her hand), Beezy gave Jimmy a knowing grin and pointed a finger at his face. "Dude, you are totally jealous!" "Am not!" the human boy smacked Beezy's arm away, blushing despite his denial. The demon shook his head, disappointed at how oblivious his best friend could be. If only Jimmy could be as wise and aware as he was, Beezy thought to himself as he reached for his snack and grabbed a pile of prickly thorns by mistake, eating them unaware of the mixup.
Continuing to watch his best friend and her supposed date, Jimmy wondered if maybe he should just give up and go home. All this was doing was making him upset. He watched sadly as 'Chad' leaned in for a kiss and turned away. "Let's just go home…"
"Cheer up Jimmy! Heloise doesn't even like that guy, anyway." Beezy reassured him, his mouth still stuffed with thorns and the distinct taste of his own blood. "How can you be so sure?" "Because she just nuked him with a sky laser." Jimmy snapped around towards Heloise's direction to see her walking away from a heavily charred figure. The scorch marks on the ground left behind by the blast somehow missed the one who fired it completely.
A smile returned to Miseryville's number one source of joy. "Yes! She doesn't like him after all!"
"If you're not jealous, how come you're so relieved by this?"
"... shut up."
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In an effort to impress Jez, Lucius held a disco night at the local dance club. The party was alive and bouncing as the majority of the cast grooved to the disco lights and questionable fashion choices. Jimmy had come dressed in his disco outfit from when he tried to finish Heloise's story, although he couldn't find his glasses and helmet (unaware Cerbee had taken them for personal use) and he had removed the roller skates on the shoes after crashing into several walls on the way over.
Instead of making a fool of himself on the dance floor, Jimmy walked along the back of the room, searching for someone in particular. Finally spotting a brunette ponytail, Jimmy hurried past the crowd and made his way over to the girl leaning against the wall. Heloise had her hair done up like when she went lava sailing with Jimmy and Peep (with the same earrings), and wore a new slim, light green, sleeveless dress that formed a choker around her neck. Her bored expression lit up when she saw the boy heading towards her. "Jimmy! Hi!"
"Hey Heloise, what'cha doing back here?" the blonde boy stood beside her, shooting her a warm smile.
"Eh, just watching the train wreck of people trying to dance and failing miserably." Heloise shrugged. Not mentioning that she also hung back, since she didn't want to dance alone. "But I have to say, no one here dances as bad as you do, Jimmy."
"I'm not that bad." Jimmy defended his… well, it couldn't really be called dancing.
"Keep telling yourself that." Heloise muttered under her breath. "What about you? I figured you'd be with Sir Lumps-A-Lot."
The boy shrugged, pointing a finger towards the snack table. "Nah, he and Saffi are busy critiquing the snacks." The red demon and his girlfriend wore fake monocles as they held their plates of food like fancy people. "These fried snail nuggets are most refined, if I would indubitably say. Pray tell Miss Saffi, what is thine opinion on the fruity punch?" Saffi slurped up the entire punch bowl in one sip, then took a bite out of the bowl. "Sippy crunch!" her tone as faux-elegant as Beezy's.
Although Beezy and Saffi had broken up for a few months, the couple got back together when Beezy realized how much he missed his girl and brought her an old shoe full of yogurt. No one knows how Saffi felt about the breakup, but she happily accepted the offering. Heloise was still miffed that Beezy, of all people, had a more solid love life than her.
The current song playing over the speakers ended, and another one started up. The blonde's ear perked up as he recognized the tune. "Oh, I love this song! Wanna dance?" he held out his hand to the brunette beside him, who was startled that her crush was actually asking her to dance. "Absolutely!" Heloise linked her arm around his and they pulled each other onto the multicolored dance floor.
Jimmy was not off to a great start. He barely started dancing when Heloise intervened. "Maybe I should lead?" she didn't wait for an answer. She grabbed his hand and faced him towards her. Heloise did a simple move and led Jimmy to do the same, going slow at first as the boy got the hang of it. By the time of the first chorus, Heloise let go of his hand and the two danced side by side with Jimmy finally getting into the beat of the song.
The two twirled and disco'd across the illuminated surface, big grins spread across both of their faces. They moved in sync to the words of the song as the chorus came back around, 'Everything's great and we'll keep spinning, We have to go right back to the beginning. Affection is great, Affection's empowering. We have to go right back to the beginning!"
The instrumental arrived and the two couldn't look away from one another. Heloise was ecstatic to be dancing with Jimmy, his attention fully on her for once. Jimmy, likewise, could not take his eyes off of his dance partner. The lights colored her features and made her sparkle. Step by step, twist and turn, the duo were in their own world. When the chorus returned, Jimmy took Heloise by the hands and spun them both around in circles. Heloise closed her eyes and let out a genuine laugh. Jimmy's gaze softened as butterflies swarmed in his stomach.
The spinning stopped, and the duo finished up their dance as the song faded out. Their moves ended with Heloise dipping Jimmy towards the floor. They stared at each other momentarily. Heloise wondered if she should dare take a chance and lean in. The moment was cut short when everyone on the dance floor was pushed aside by Lucius, using a giant hand that looked like his to clear the floor so he and Jez could take the spotlight.
Jimmy and Heloise stumbled back, the former falling to the ground. The teen mad scientist seethed, already plotting to get back at Lucius for spoiling their mood. The boy got up and dusted himself off, his eyes darted between Heloise and the dance floor they had been standing seconds prior (with Lucius and Jez doing the exact same dance they used to win the rigged dance competition a while back) and settled on the girl next to him "I'm pretty sure the snack table is long gone by now, wanna head out and grab a milkshake?"
Once again, he offered his hand to Heloise, who hardly waited to take it. "I'd love that." The two made their way out of the club and onto the streets towards the closest diner. Jimmy couldn't really explain it, but the butterflies he felt during that dance hadn't gone away. He hadn't put two and two together yet, but one day soon he'd figure out he's in love with Heloise.