Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all began with Professor Calamitous in his evil lair on a snowy mountain. After discovering alternate Earths, he had just started skimming through potential new allies in hopes of finally bringing down the infamous boy genius, Jimmy Neutron. However, very little progress has been made as each candidate was either a petty thief from a parallel world or someone Jimmy had already beaten. What Calamitous needed was the technology his nemesis used to contact Timmy Turner and the world of the Fairies, which he had already started hatching a plan to gain access to.

To pass the time, he started looking through his list of schemes to see if he could pull off one of them himself. Most of these documents were incomplete, as they were written before his recent ventures into shock therapy for his ADHD. Either they cut off mid-planning or disregard what to do if they succeed. His last attempt to flood the world by nuking Mount Everest wasn't exactly given much thought over the aftermath. Two that were, however, stuck out to him the most. Sure, he didn't know how he'd be able to pull them off, but at least he knew where he'd be going with them.

These two bullets went as follows:

1. Starting a universal war with an army of robots
2. Manipulating the universe into a war with each other

Both points had to do with the same thing, but Calamitous would take much time to iron out the logistics. If, for example, the resulting conflict led to his world being destroyed, where would he go? Admittedly, this was part of his upcoming scheme once he found other villains to crossover. But at least he'd have other planets to fall back on. He didn't know if either of them would be worth it besides Fairy World, though it didn't matter at this point.

Just a few years later, the Professor realized how wrong he was. His robot scheme had failed, and his earlier crossover with other villains almost succeeded had it not been thwarted by a particular yellow headache. On top of that, it made Calamitous look like more of an idiot when he forgot to hide his Doomsday Machine's backup power supply. His Syndicate failed, but it came very close to victory. So, at the very least, his assembled team would stay in contact. This included Vlad Plasmius and Mr. Crocker, but Plankton was notably absent because they forgot he existed, likely because of his size. Plus, neither wanted to deal with Spongebob right now, so they ignored any mention of him.

Together, this trio of evildoers revisited the second bullet point of manipulating worlds into going to war. The problem was that they needed to give everyone a reason to fight amongst themselves. Thanks to Vlad, they knew there was a neighboring universe out there that they could potentially visit and coax into fighting their own. But then something else came to mind. When Vlad was stranded in space after his plan for world domination failed, he stumbled upon an alien creature named Globulous Maximus, who shapeshifted into a Spongebob look-alike. Panicked, Vlad accidentally killed him by shooting his giant eye out and splattering the creature across the cosmos. But at least he'd be able to study whatever the alien was. Coincidentally, Calamitous already knew of Globulous thanks to his daughter, Beautiful Gorgeous, who reluctantly had to help Jimmy and his allies against the Morphoid. And because of that, they also knew of the existence of Volcano Island and a certain laboratory used to study an ancient evil. On top of that, the heroes had already fought this threat and sealed him in an interdimensional prison.

The Syndicate knew they had to release him. Vlad would go there to release the Mawgu from his prison while the Professor and Denzel went through a ghost portal to get to the neighboring universe. Once they made it through, the two landed in the middle of some suburban neighborhood next to an extraordinary illusion drawn in the middle of the sidewalk. The reality was that this was all a piece of the land converted into an asteroid floating in the middle of TV static. Wherever they were, they found they could still hover around and look to see if there were any inhabitants they could speak to. But all they could find were very strange beings of different art styles stuck on repeat in their homes, forgotten by reality. This would take a minute, but at the very least, Calamitous knew they were on the right track. He didn't know how he knew. He just had a feeling.

Meanwhile, Vlad made it inside the Mawgu Lair, where its portal was still maintained should Danny and his friends be needed again. All the doors leading outside were sealed and guarded by several armored crab men who were none the wiser of the threat inside. After studying the devices kept in the facility, Vlad eventually sensed the Mawgu's presence and carefully summoned a massive portal between dimensions. This process also required the warp gates surrounding him, and it took a lot of his strength to pull it off undetected. Ultimately, he succeeded, and the ancient, rock-like creature emerged from his prison.

The Mawgu was overjoyed to see that his proclamation of returning to face the chosen ones was correct. He would have his revenge in time. But he needed to know who set him free and why. Vlad told him about everything the heroes had done in his absence and that the Syndicate, now more than ever, wanted to see them fall. They knew how powerful the Mawgu was; strong enough that the heroes couldn't beat him with mere physical blows, and powerful enough to tear apart the fabric of reality. Unfortunately, after being trapped for a few years, he was left virtually famished for much of his dark energy. Luckily for him, the other two members of the Syndicate were already on it.

In the Void, Crocker, and Calamitous eventually stumbled upon another tear in the realm and left beacons for Vlad to come to meet them. Unlike the Void, this part of reality was pitch black, with only a giant, halo-like structure surrounding it. In the center, a screen of sorts showed monitors of different productions hard at work, making new cartoons and adding new episodes to existing properties. One of these was Fairly Oddparents, which recently added a dog named Sparky and the development of a new show called Adventure Time. Once Vlad returned with the Mawgu and saw the footage as well , he froze. This wasn't meant to be seen by mortal eyes. This was the Fourth Wall, bordering the fictional realm and reality.

Looking through all the data stored in this supercomputer, Calamitous learned that his own series, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, had been on repeat since 2006, with the addition of the crossover, Globs of Doom. Other shows, such as Mighty B and Catscratch, stopped airing in an even shorter amount of time, while Cartoon Network is just beginning to discontinue their CN Real block. It seemed that whenever a show ends, they go on a perpetual loop until the end of time, while those that get canceled without much fanfare remain frozen. In either case, both would have to wait for new material to break the cycle. But shows like Spongebob continue to air just fine and seem even more popular with their audience than those it crossed over with. It's no wonder, subconsciously, the Syndicate hated Spongebob despite the three of them never meeting the guy before Nicktoons Unite.

This could be it. This could be the wedge that causes the heroes' worlds to split up. All they had to do was tell certain cartoons what looping is, why they were canceled, and who's still prevalent in the eyes of their respective network. And while those such as Jimmy and the friends he met are busy with them, the Syndicate can circle back to the Toybots and Morphoids, and use them as their army of choice. Other villains from Cartoon Network would be great fall guys for them, but once they go back in time, Aku and the Mawgu would be their true final members, and no one would oppose them. It would be perfect. The time of war is-

Suddenly, all three of the villains were smacked aside by the Mawgu! He knew exactly what all this was. As an interdimensional being, he could see into areas of the cosmos ordinarily inaccessible to most mortals, including a meta-reality. Grinning with a flare in his beading red eyes, he told the three, "Fools...! You have no idea what you have done for me."

Not wanting the real world to affect the fictional realm more than it has, he waved his clawed hand and sealed the mirror behind him. He was perfectly content with the multiverse, knowing what it actually was. But he had a different plan in mind for the coming days. It wouldn't be a spark of war, but rather an outbreak. A spread of absolute nothingness. Only this time would it be amplified now that he has access to all known reality. Rapidly, his body began to morph in and out of code, and his evil influence sprouted purple tendrils and digital blocks all over the room.

This was NOT part of the plan. Calamitous didn't know what to do. Crocker began pointing fingers at him, blaming him for suggesting the Mawgu in the first place, while Vlad blamed them both for having him release the dark creature. Since he's the one who did it, however, he hoped he would pull off another trick by opening up several ghost portals around the Mawgu. Each rift caused his rocky exterior to rattle and come apart at the seams. But underneath all that, the ooze within the Mawgu had already converted into a mass of physical data that burst into a wave of chaos. As Calamitous saw it, this darkness instantly consumed him and Crocker before they had time to finish a sentence. Vlad, attempting to save himself, opened a portal back to the Ghost Zone and closed it behind him. Unlucky for him, with how many portals he opened to stop the Mawgu from absorbing into the Fourth Wall, he accidentally spread his code across the realm he's now in, which has already begun to consume some of the doors surrounding him.

Before he knew it, a swarm of digital ooze was engulfing Plasmius, who could only sigh to himself in his final moments, " Oh cheese logs..."

Chapter Text

A new crossover was just ending in CN City. K.O., Raven, Garnet, and Ben 10 had defeated a multiversal threat named Strike, who acted as the embodiment of cancelation. It was strange how no one out of the thousands he gathered but the four could beat him. But it didn't matter. The city was safe, and all the characters were unfrozen, so they were ready to return to their respective worlds. But just before K.O. could exit, the portal closed right before him. Odd, but he could just get another and leave out that one. Raven figured it was because of all the interdimensional jargon Strike was pulling to access all these cartoons. And just as she began to think, several other portals started closing around town. The only ones that didn't were Adventure Time's and Samurai Jack's, which was stranger since Jack wasn't in town. When he arrived out of the portal, he was bearded and rugged, wearing barely anything besides a lower half of samurai armor and screaming at everyone to run.
 
Behind him, a pitch-black swarm of digital and organic matter began spewing. In seconds, the four who defeated Strike became the first to go into the embrace of whatever this was. And within milliseconds of her time left, Raven thought of every possible explanation as to what it could be. Could it be antimatter? No. Something told her she'd know if it was, and this was close, but not quite it. A demon, perhaps? Also close, but not exactly that. A cosmic entity? Yes, though she wouldn't have time to figure out who it was, and frankly, she wouldn't know regardless.
 
Everyone else near her immediately began to flee, and Jack approached the closest crowd to cover them. He already had his sword, but his appearance hadn't changed to how he used to look now that the timeline had been altered. Lazlo, Billy, and Mordecai were next on the list of victims, while Dexter got to work reconfiguring the nearest portal back to his lab. He didn't like guests being in there, but it was large enough to hold many people in case of a disaster. Or at least he would if it weren't for his sister, Dee Dee, wandering inside and pressing the all-shutdown button while her brother was gone. Even without contact, Dexter knew fully that his silly, noodly sister did something she shouldn't have. He'd be unfathomably pissed about it were it not for the KND Treehouse still standing with special defenses already in action. And it just happens to come with its own warp gate for the super children's group. It'd be hasty to work around the clock if it's broken down, but at least then, they'd have better chances of escaping.
 
The only problem was shutting down all the portals in one go. Of the many people trying to defend themselves, Prohyas stood out. No one knew or really cared much for him, believing he was just another character explicitly created for this crossover to fill up space. In reality, he was the brother of someone from a different cartoon. He had his trusty Dolphin Magisword ready to try and spray the mass with a tidal wave. But all it did was slow it down for a few seconds before he was consumed in darkness. While he still had time, he flung his weapon and pouch for anyone to grab. Dexter couldn't help but notice the Hyperspace Magisword fall out of the bag. Curious about it, he grabbed it and activated the device. To his surprise, it opened a portal to the Warrior's cartoon. And by reverse engineering it, he found the perfect way to close the two swarm tunnels.
 
Dexter was astounded by this. However, he also found these weapons too ridiculous and impractical to be labeled swords. As Gumball put it, Jack's sword was more of a Magisword than that, and the samurai had much to discuss. Once everyone recollected themselves, they regrouped at the KND Treehouse. This swarm that followed Jack needed to be explained immediately, and he would provide the answers they sought.
 

 
A lot has changed since Jimmy Neutron's childhood. It was around 10 years since he'd crossed over with anyone, and his world's grown dramatically in that long period. His lab is now his permanent residence, conveniently still underneath his parent's house. After fully cementing his relationship with Cindy, he became a family man, staying in touch with his friends and parents. All seemed well as Jimmy prepared to go out with his wife somewhere. But before they could kiss each other a good morning, Goddard barked in a panic.
 
"Gee, way to ruin the moment," Cindy smirked. But Goddard's stance made him seem very adamant that something was wrong. Goddard had his interdimensional communicator, and Timmy urgently alerted Jimmy over something somewhat vague. The genius picked up the call and what could be described as the end of the world - At least when it came to Fairy World. Turner began to babel on for what felt like ages, explaining he was attending an anniversary party for him and his Fairy Godparents before tentacles made of numbers and barely coherent 3D meshes clouded the skies and distorted anything it touched. Many attempted to flee back to Earth, but all it did was open more entrances for the mass to break in, leading to Dimmsdale being engulfed in digital darkness. Jorgen Von Strangle and the Fairy World Council threw every ounce of magic at the entity and slowed it down for a while. That was until it reached the Big Wand, corrupting it and slowly draining every Fairy of their power. Jorgen's last command for Timmy was to wish to get himself and those he cared about to safety. Before long, Turner, his friends, and his family were all in Jimmy's neighborhood without the guardian of Fairy World and their magic.
 
Jimmy's brain immediately filled itself with question after question. What just happened? Who or what could have done this? The fact that the Big Wand was targeted before Dimmsdale almost sounded like a calculated attack, yet there's no threat he knows of that could achieve it on such a scale as incredibly quickly as it did. Could it be that the Syndicate has somehow returned after around a decade of silence, or is it an entirely new being akin to the Mawgu in terms of its abilities? Jimmy always liked to believe that Fairy World was just a computer simulation until he practiced magic to impress Betty Quinlan all those years ago. So could this be a matter of breaking the illusion?
 
All these thoughts disappeared as Goddard snapped Jimmy out of his failed brain blast. He told Timmy and his magic-less fairies to come with him back to his lab. Whatever was happening needed to be brought to every Nicktoon's attention.

In the upstairs satellite room of Fenton Works, Jazz Fenton was in her communications chair, sifting through records of ghostly activities worldwide. By now, Team Phantom, as some name it, have been solidified as Earth's protectors, having faced the likes of Vlad Plasmius, Undergrowth, the Ghost King, an evil version of Danny Phantom, the attack of the toybots, and even an asteroid. Little did they realize that the worst was yet to come from across the known universe. Jazz's job was to look for potential threats while the Fentons and Ghost allies were on patrol. So when she got an alert from Technus, she was prepared yet confused. Ignoring the fact that he hacked into a government satellite to get the message out, he explained that several doors in the Ghost Zone were suddenly opened and flooded with a virus-like entity. Some even led to other worlds in the universe, like the home of the Loud family, which barely took a second for it to be swallowed whole like a pill. The last moment captured was a selfie Lori took, failing to notice the colossal mesh forming in the skies above.
Another world taken out of the equation belonged to a now grown-up Tommy Pickles, who was outside with his family having a cookout when Angelica pulled up in a cybertruck to flex her wealth. To her chagrin, everyone couldn't help but laugh at its absurdity before the swarm immediately took over, giving them no time to react.
 
As Technus described more horrors, Jazz began contacting her brother. Danny was just on the other side of the city to meet Wulf, who, as Tucker translated, brought friends. While Danny didn't know the extent of the damage to the Ghost Zone, he knew it must've been devastating when his ghost senses continued to go off every few minutes. Skulker, Ember, Johnny, the Fright Knight, Pandora, and the Box Ghost all appeared one after the other in a panic. Fright Knight and Pandora basically led the evacuation of their homes after the monsters they unleashed failed to stop the incoming swarm. But as Maddie put it over the radio, the Ghost Zone and Earth are interconnected, meaning that whatever was corrupting all these dimensions would soon come to Amity Park. As if things couldn't get more disturbing, Danny received an emergency transmission from his old friend, Jimmy Neutron, who basically told him the same thing happened to Fairy World not long ago. The swarm likely invaded the place through one of the random doors in the Ghost Zone.

All this made Danny almost reminisce about their adventure on Volcano Island, since this situation sounded somewhat similar. Realizing this, Jimmy quickly tried to contact the island, hoping to get a response from Shelly, the Wise Old Hermit Crab. But no one would answer. Worried, he decided to activate the Universe Portal Machine in his lab with the coordinates set for the island and prepared to enter with Carl and Sheen. Sheen was very excited about this since he'd never been to that specific world, so he impulsively ran in first. Almost as soon as Carl and Jimmy ran in after him, they both leaped back out and shut the portal as quickly as possible. Timmy wanted to know what happened to Sheen, and the somber look on Jimmy's face and Carl's sobbing told him everything.

 
Then, Cindy remembered a similar scenario with the Nanobots, who tried deleting everyone besides Jimmy by converting them into digital matter. She hoped to assure Carl that they could bring Sheen and everyone else back. But Jimmy wasn't too sure of it himself. As always, he had an idea for how to approach this situation. But first, he needed to know if anyone else in his contacts was affected by this event. Luckily for him, Jenny, Tak, and Manny were already on speed dial. Manny didn't know about any of this. So when he got the message, he suited up and relayed the message to his family. Tak's communications were different, based on Juju artifacts, which he was fiddling with when he got the message that something terrible was coming. He already felt it when assisting Jaboba with a spell. Lok quickly got to work, scrambling to the streets and telling everyone that the world was ending without knowing what was responsible. So naturally, people began to panic until Tak managed to diffuse the situation before it could give him a headache.
 
As for Jenny, her communications were temporarily down while receiving an upgrade for her new adult body. So her mother took the call and immediately knew what it was. Once the robot popped back online and asked if she ever heard back from Vega, Dr. Wakeman really wished she didn't. Not because she felt her mechanical daughter couldn't handle it but because she didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. Simply put, Cluster Prime was obliterated. It's why Jenny's had no luck contacting Vega before receiving this upgrade, which is what Jenny was about to suggest. She was worried that former Queen Vexus was up to something more extreme than ever, and Nora was scanning her satellites to see if that was the case. But Jimmy cleared the air, explaining that this was happening universally. It just happens that Jenny's, Tak's, and El Tigre's worlds haven't seen it yet.
 
The last person Jimmy could contact was Spongebob Squarepants, who, surprisingly, called him first. According to him, half of Bikini Bottom disappeared from existence. Downtown and Rock Bottom were deleted while his neighborhood, the Krusty Krab, and the Chum Bucket remained. Sandy and Plankton were already hard at work analyzing the anomaly, trying to find a solution to this digital nightmare. And to Sandy's luck, she noticed code that seemed to suggest the Mawgu was involved somehow. That gave a big hint as to what was going on, and what Jimmy Neutron was about to tell Cindy would feel very validating.
 
She thought he was joking at first, but the grim look on Jimmy's face told her he was serious. He told his wife to take his port-a-portal and evacuate as many people to Amity Park, Temorton, and Pupununu as possible with Carl and Libby's help. He would stay with Timmy Turner to start the first phase of his plan. Before she left, Jimmy knelt to Goddard and told him to go with her and keep her and their friends safe. Just in case neither of them saw each other again, he wanted him to know how much he loved him. Goddard was his greatest invention and his best friend, and the two couldn't help but shed a tear over it. Timmy told his folks to do the same. Get to safety, and he'll stay to help Jimmy, even though he doesn't know what he is helping him with.
 
Neutron explained that since Zim and DIb teamed up with him to face the Morphoids, he started researching the Irken Empire and learned much about their ships. First, they would confirm that their galaxy was still in good shape before going to Irken territory to do what Jimmy called "Window Shopping." If the Mawgu is involved, he knows he will come for the one who came up with the Rip Zipper as soon as possible. So he wanted to make sure no one was there for him to delete.

With that said, they got to work...

Chapter Text

At the Kids Next Door treehouse, Numbah 1, Gumball, Dexter, and Jack each had many questions. The most pressing question was: What on Earth spewed out the portals earlier? Why did it come from Jack and Finn's worlds, and what else could they have done to stop them? Jack then began to tell the tale of what happened from his perspective. While he did not know where the entity came from, he knew what it could do and how it affected his galaxy. The Samurai had come from the distant past, when the ancient demon named Aku returned from his seal created by Jack's father. Jack attempted to slay the creature but was thrown into the future where Aku's evil was law. For years, he had made many allies but lost his sword when, for a time, he lost himself once every exit back to the past was destroyed. Ashi, one of many assassins from a cult of worshippers of the demon, realized her father's wrongs and brought Jack back to the light. But when Jack finally recovered his sword, a somehow far darker force in the cosmos arrived from nowhere and absorbed Aku.
 
It seemed like Jack, Aku's spirit was reinvigorated when this entity consumed him. As a result, the world was quickly plunged into darkness. Those who allied themselves with Jack got to work evacuating those they would go to wherever was safe. Jack, on the other hand, would confront the anomaly, hoping to reverse the ill effects with the light of his sword. Under normal means, the blade would have slain the ancient demon. And somewhere within the entity's data, it probably has. But as he discovered, he alone wouldn't be enough to defeat it. It then began opening up portals to other worlds, including this unique one he now stands upon, giving Jack a window to follow the tendrils back here.
 
It certainly was a lot to take in for everyone present. Gumball even began eating popcorn with Dexter while listening to the Samurai. It was disheartening for Jack since he couldn't go back in time. But thanks to Ashi and their friends, he wasn't nearly as upset as he would be if things went the other way. Not to mention, as Dexter told him from experience, changing the past would drastically change the future. If Jack succeeded, chances are Ashi wouldn't exist in this form; maybe in general. Her new power she gained from Aku's blood was perhaps the only thing keeping her end of things intact as well. She and Scotsman's family were led by a familiar white wolf to a village Jack saved just weeks earlier from a horde of beetle drones, and the people there used their antennae to project current happenings outside their world. They were safe for now and would be evacuated to CN City shortly. However, the same couldn't be said for every other world in the CN universe, as everyone would soon discover.
 
While cartoons like Mighty Magiswords would take an epoch for the plague to reach, Teen Titans Go and Steven Universe were axed almost immediately. The last thing Steven could do was give Connie a warm embrace before they were both erased at the beach. The last of the show, Spinel, was eventually picked up by Dexter from the garden when he went to monitor the entity up close. It got on his nerves when he learned that she and his sister ran on the same wavelength, but he was content seeing them happy together.
 
K.O.'s world was in a state of chaos, with heroes and villains alike trying their own ways of handling the situation. The reason working together wasn't on the cards was because the heroes suspected Boxman to have abducted K.O., not knowing what actually happened to him. Every method they had failed, from the heroes combining their powers to Boxman constructing a laser that he thought would push back the virus before he, too, was consumed. However, everyone went radio silent when they saw Cosma fall from the sky in her gigantic form, splashing into the ocean and telling everyone to knock it off. She wasn't thrilled about working with the "good guys." But during her travels through space, she knew they would have to, seeing how powerful this monstrosity really was. Every world she planned on consuming was erased almost instantly, and it took every bit of strength she had to get to Earth. She knew not where K.O. was either, but she suspected it had to do with the spread. For the boy's sake, Mr. Gar, Venomous, Cosma, and Carol would lead the evacuation effort once Dexter opened a portal to CN City.
 
Elmore, on the other hand, barely had anything left to return to. However, unlike the other cartoons, the look of the aftermath of the viral attack resembled TV static rather than total blackness. This was obviously the Void, having expanded to the rest of town. Luckily, most of its residents were still alive, albeit glitched out, constantly repeating their actions from before the attack. The only two who weren't affected were Penny and Carrie, though just barely. Once Gumball returned, he teamed up with them to grab whoever they could and bring them back to the city, starting with Gumball's family, Bobert, Mr. Small, Rob, and Yuki, who was visiting Nicole for a fight. However, while Rob immediately set aside his differences with Gumball, seeing how terrible things were going, bringing him with the team wasn't a good idea. Because when he went through the portal to safety, whatever code he had left that held his already distorted figure together was vaporized. Because everyone from Elmore wasn't in Small's van or wearing tin foil hats, they glitched out too. But not nearly as much as Bobert, who began short-circuiting from the trip. Darwin and Anais figured that because he was a robot, it was much easier for him to get corrupted than everyone else. So, while they would recover and mourn the loss of Rob, Dexter and Anais would work to repair Bobert.
 

 
Across the multiverse in the Astrocar, Jimmy began to explain the full extent of his plan to Turner. When the Toybots and Morphoids attacked years ago, they met a member of an alien race known as the Irkens. Some of their technology was what Calamitous used to build his robot army, while Zim and his rival, Dib, worked with Jimmy to stop Globulous. While doing so, Jimmy learned about the Irken race from the two and even stayed in contact with Dib over Zim's activities. He last told him that the armada capital ship, The Massive, was sucked into an anomaly called the Florpus Hole. However, the cruiser that was swallowed up for all eternity was not the one that the Tallest used to own. The original, created by the endangered Vort engineers, was discarded and docked near the Irken world, Devastis, just in case their newest ship was destroyed or didn't have enough snack space as advertised. Not that the Tallest actually remembered its existence after making the switch.
 
Jimmy planned to use his Matter Duplicator on a larger scale, directly duplicating The Massive and returning it to Retroville. There, they'd modify the ship in record time to accommodate entire populations before copying it again more than enough times. These would then be used to evacuate as many worlds as they can before they're destroyed by the swarm. Luckily, because the Tallests had practically vanished, the Vort began an uprising against the Irken race and used the original Massive as a base of operations. As it turns out, they were already modifying the vessel after hearing about the swarm, and some would offer their services to Jimmy to help expedite the process. Zim wasn't unaware of this, and Dib didn't like working with his rival again. But when it came down to his father, Professor Membrane, discovering the anomaly through satellites, he knew he had to concede. Dib had to mince words about the Vort's involvement and their efforts to rebel against the Irken race. Instead, he told him if they didn't work together, Earth would be destroyed, and the Tallests would be so disappointed he lost another valuable planet, even though, in reality, the Tallests were gone. Good deal.
 
Everything was going smoothly for the upgrades to the Massive. But while they were making the necessary adjustments, the virus began looming over Retroville sooner than expected. Jimmy still wanted to make the upgrade happen here since he needed to gather the equipment from his lab to his Hypercube before returning to the newly dubbed "Neutron Lift Rafts." These 4 duplicate Massives were prepped and ready for launch. And with the coordinates set for Amity Park, Bikini Bottom, Tremorton, Pupununu, and anywhere else they can go, they rocketed out of Retroville just seconds away from the cartoon's complete consumption.
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter Text

At this point, nearly half the CN Universe was gone. Dexter had since returned home with some of the brightest minds he could gather to study as much of the virus as possible before he would need to leave his laboratory behind. The Symbiotic Titan, Cosma, the Megas XLR, Powerpuff Girls, Nicole Watterson, Yuki, and Rex Salazar would act as a defense for CN City. But as Cosma put it, the most they'd do is slow it down by a few seconds. The entity was evolving incredibly fast with every world it consumed, and it wouldn't be long for it to return.
 
To their horror, it almost arrived much sooner than expected. When Finn returns to Ooo, hoping to find someone alive despite the swarm having popped out of his series's portal, he returns empty-handed but seems otherwise OK. That was until he returned to Dexter's lab and exploded into a swarm of corrupted code, which immediately ate up a good chunk of the lab, along with the Professor and Numbuh 2. Venomous was the only survivor of the kamikaze. Though it was only for a few short minutes. His legs were blown apart from the viral explosion, but he had just enough time to hand over his notes to Dendy before he was utterly erased. His final message was recorded on his datapad and sent to Fink, Carol, Cosma, and the Boxbots, telling them not to give up on everyone for K.O. Boxman, and Laserblast. This realization that the Venomous was the latter especially hurt Carol, and she and Fink would spend some time together to mourn.
 
More reports came in as the situation went from bad to worse. While Juniper Lee, Ray Ray, Ophelia, Double D, Marie, May, Courage, Bloo, Wilt, and Mack would arrive at the city, the rest of their worlds were totally annihilated in less than an hour. It'd only be a matter of time before CN City would be next on the menu, and the survivors began to get worried. Some even grew more pessimistic as the more self-aware they became, the more they wondered if this was an act of God. Or, in this case, a corporate restructuring.
 

 
Once the Neutron Life Rafts arrived at Tremorton and Pupununu, the Jujus and XJ-Units led the evacuation, preparing to transport millions through the depths of space. It was also a testament to the robots' persistence since the people feared them years ago. But now that a more expansive, seemingly unstoppable threat had arrived at their doorstep, they knew they had to trust them. Some casualties still occurred in Tremorton when the virus arrived due to reluctance from those who still didn't trust the machines. But, a majority of the populace successfully made it off-world. However, the process did come with some complications. Every XJ model and some new ones made for emergency operations were upgraded in a rush, so some, such as XJ-6 or XJ-7, were missing defense systems. Others needed more time to get extra armor installed or even get so much as opposable thumbs. Regardless, they were a big help in the desertion of their world as it was quickly overtaken by the swarm.
 
Dani, Valerie, Cindy, and Libby would also begin gathering people from Pupununu with Tak, which was being devoured much quicker than anticipated thanks to the virus infecting the Juju realm. Unfortunately, the only casualty recorded was Lok, who ran head-first into combat (his demise), thinking he could stop the swarm by whacking it with a hammer. Though, ironically, this may have given his friends more time to escape by roughly 5 more seconds.
 
While all this was happening, El Tigre, Dib, and Danny would ensure their folks safely boarded the Rafts. And although Amity Park wasn't too close to being dissolved, Tucker, Jazz, and Technus estimated at least 12 days before it would go, and they weren't planning on waiting to see it play out. As soon as Danny made sure his and Manny's worlds were taken care of, he and Jimmy booked it straight to Bikini Bottom. By now, the swarm began to consume what was left of Spongebob's cartoon until all that remained were the two competing restaurants, the Chum Bucket and Krusty Krab. Both facilities were packed with just about everyone Spongebob knew personally. And as soon as their life raft arrived, he took it upon himself to direct everyone to safety just as the virus drew closer. However, Gary was far too slow to make it aboard. He was the last one unaccounted for, and the ship was just beginning to depart. So instead of hopping aboard like Patrick and Sandy insisted, Spongebob jumped towards the danger and didn't look back. The huge hatch doors began to shut as the Irken vessel lifted itself out of the ocean and the atmosphere.
 
All of Squarepants' friends began to cry. They thought they had just lost the one who brought them all together since day one. But Spongebob wasn't one of the thousands lost in the epidemic. He surprised his friends when he and Gary wandered into the hangar as the cruiser jumped to hyperspace. Ironically, Squidward was the most happy to learn that the annoying yellow one actually made it aboard. Patrick and Sandy were overjoyed, and Krabs and Plankton were glad to see the fry cook and his pet snail in one piece.
 
However, their victory did come at a cost. While Rocko, Manny, and Zim got most people off their worlds, series like Catscratch, Doug, Ren and Stimpy, The Wild Thornberry's, Hey Arnold... The swarm instantly swallowed many of them before the Life Rafts could arrive. Spongebob and Rocko were the last of the earliest Nicktoons, now that the rest had been wiped out.
 
Since the Universe Portal Machine couldn't be modified in time to transport entire populations, and the fear of the virus seeping through it, no portals were ever used while traveling through space. Luckily, it was safe to dock from ship to ship, as Jimmy found out when he found the Junkman's vessel without its villainous captain. Roxy was the only one aboard, and she and Goddard were happily reunited while Neutron, the Membranes, and Dr. Wakeman repurposed the ship. It couldn't hold a city's worth of people. So, instead, they converted it into a mobile headquarters for research and leadership. Mr. Krabs and the Fentons would serve as captains of their respective vessels while Sandy, Plankton, and any remaining scientists stuck to what was now called "The Hope Star."
 
 
 

Chapter Text

It's been over a week since the outbreak began, as more and more cartoons dropped almost every day. Some of these shows still needed to be aired by this time. Those brave enough to travel the stars did so voluntarily, hoping to find at least one world out there that wasn't consumed or even a gateway to an entirely new universe. But every turn led nowhere, and the solution to stopping this virus seemed lost. That was until one night, as Dexter began to rest after days of intense research, he was abruptly woken up by Numbah 1, leader of the KND. Apart from Jack, Nigel was the young scientist's closest associate. So when he barged into his lab, Dexter didn't complain; he just asked what he was doing.
 
Apparently, Cosma and Nicole reported back after taking a flight to try to clear their heads. All they could say was, "There's still hope."
 

 
Out in the depths of space, the Neutron Life Rafts continued to rescue as many as possible, while the Hope Star operated as a research station. Much progress had been made in the weeks that followed the fleet's formation, including confirmation that this was indeed a Syndicate scheme gone terribly wrong. When Beautiful Gorgeous approached Jimmy, she explained that her father was plotting something with Crocker and Vlad but never gave her the full details before he disappeared. BTSO Commander Baker also had his suspicions, believing Calamitous was planning to wage war on the universe after his agents found his secret headquarters shortly before the outbreak. There, they found several documents detailing schemes that never went anywhere. One of which had two ideas that had to do with the same thing. One just revolved around manipulating worlds into fighting each other.
 
This spooked Jimmy perhaps more than the virus itself because he couldn't imagine a timeline where he would be fighting against his longtime friends. Especially if it involved an optimist like Spongebob. They didn't know how it would've been done. But they were happy to see that it would never come to pass. Who knows where they'd be in the next 5 or so years if the Syndicate succeeded?
 
But that wasn't all. In Sandy's report on the swarm, she called it the Mawgu Virus, having found his name within the mass data. Its properties were very much like his, and it originated from Volcano Island via the Ghost Zone. But just before the science team could discuss further, the alarms went off and Jimmy was hailed back to the bridge. When he and Sandy arrived, Cindy was accompanied by two beings they'd never seen before. One was an asteroid-sized lizard hovering outside the ship, while the other was a blue cat standing inside. Nicole explained who she was and apologized for the scare. It's been difficult for Cosma to mass-shift after barely escaping the swarm's clutches more than enough times. And for once, she was grateful to see heroes in front of her. She and Nicole explained to the science wing of the fleet that they'd made the right call to evacuate. Roughly 90% of the Nicktoons Universe was gone, and Cartoon Network's was barely holding on. Dexter and his team noticed a confirmed pattern of some sort, and Jimmy, as leader of the Hope Star, went with Danny and Timmy to visit them.
 

 
Back in the present, the three Nicktoons began to report their findings to Dexter, Numbah 1, and Jack, while also admiring the look of CN City and getting to know whoever they could. This was entirely new territory for them, but they could sense a strange case familiarity between them. What became clear to everyone was that each universe had a much different understanding of reality. While the Nicktoons grasped an in-universe concept of their worlds, most Cartoon Network understood it on a meta-level, actively breaking the fourth wall like it was Who Framed Roger Rabbit. So when Dexter referred to their universe by the network, they were confused. Especially when they were told that the embodiment of cancelation popped up out of nowhere and started freezing random people.
 
But as they began combining their findings, Bobert suddenly booted up again in the repair bay. Initially, Anais believed her and Dexter's attempts were for nothing and kept him preserved just in case they wanted to try again. But now, it seemed that all they needed to do was be patient. However, something was different about the young robot. He spoke a lot more candidly than expected and expressed how good it was to see that the Nicktoons had made it to the CN Universe. The obvious question on everyone's mind was, "How did he know about the Nicktoons? Why is he acting so weird?" He explained that his virtual coma resulted from connecting with the Void when they escaped what remained of Elmore. Bobert was processing so much data that he had to shut himself off in order to avoid a complete breakdown. And with his understanding of reality, he confirmed that the Nicktoons were correct.
 
The swarm was not just made from the Mawgu, however. While, yes, he had much to do with it, he was making contact with other dimensional beings or chaos entities. But the two that stood out to him the most were Aku and the Lich. He and Aku share a history with each other, once comprised of the same darkness from long before the multiverse before the two were separated into their respective realms. It was like reuniting with a distant relative or childhood friend. And while the Lich was relatively new to him, the Mawgu was thrilled to see a like-minded individual who could terrorize anyone he encountered. It was brilliant that he came to an earlier point in Jack's cartoon to see Aku as well, since if the Mawgu visited Ooo in the present, the Lich wouldn't be there. Together, the three combined their data, making the virus even more potent than it already was.
 
Additionally, the Ghost Zone sent the virus to almost every cartoon it could access, including a gateway to the CN Universe used by the Syndicate. As for its order of attack, as Bobert learned, the virus was reasonably inconsistent with its targets depending on the universe. For CN, it was jumping from world to world by order of popularity, hence why Teen Titans Go and Steven Universe were the first to go. The Nicktoons mostly went by order of release before going off on almost anyone regardless of the year. The exception, of course, was Spongebob, which delayed much of the swarm's attack since the series had multiple spin-offs. Each had their respective timeline of events clashed with the one the Nicktoons were familiar with. Once they were dealt with, the Mawgu Virus successfully erased Bikini Bottom, and now, it seems to have a greater reach than ever before.
 
This was all incredibly terrifying and shocking to everyone in the meeting. But it was all much needed to alleviate the team's anxieties. No wonder Bobert needed time to process this information. Now, it was just a matter of what to do to prevent the Mawgu from spreading anywhere else, with it seeming to slow down. Though interestingly enough, Dendy saw something odd after sending her last probe out to investigate. Some of the worlds they thought were gone are actually still present. But they've been converted into something more demonic and biological, like it was an organ. They knew this thanks to the sounds of a heartbeat coming from the once Villainous and Homeworld worlds. This confirmed that the virus wasn't just deleting cartoons but that Black Hat might have been added to the mix and seems to be scheming something through the swarm itself. All CN and Nick would need to do is find a solution to stop the plague before it infects the rest of reality.
 
There really was hope.
 
 

Chapter Text

Unknown to all but Clockwork, the truth of this event was that it was not the first of its kind. Multiple parallel timelines exist where a similar thing has happened sooner or later. One took the form of an apocalypse very much like this one in which a children's character was thrust into a meta outbreak where just about every Warner Bros cartoon was infected and used to spread across the universe. Another timeline didn't include a virus, but it depicted a prototype of XJ-9 fully understanding reality and seeking to go beyond the confines of Nickelodeon using the Toybots and various means from worlds exclusive to that timeline. The third, and perhaps most comparable of the bunch, involved Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon dealing with the repercussions of a prolonged war by the Syndicate and a meta outbreak by the end of it. And their stories would continue long after the war came to an end. Their last major threat was Black Hat in a desperate bid to nuke the Toonverse using a world from a Netflix reboot as a superweapon. Something that would've succeeded had it not been for the efforts of a boy from Summer Camp Island and a heroic copy of a villain from said reboot. Additionally, two other threats to the timeline, Trio (the Gameverse) and a corrupted Shenron (the Animeverse) were dealt with.
 
As the Hope Star was boarded with the brightest minds in the multiverse, working tirelessly to try and find an answer to the ever-growing swarm, Danny took the initiative to try and contact Clockwork again. With the Ghost Zone gone, the means to reach him seemed lost. But, because Clockwork's realm seemed to exist beyond the fabric of time, the Fentons believed they could meet him through other means. Something Bobert was able to confirm once he accessed the coordinates to the lair, thanks to his connection to the Void. Once they arrived, the team was told about the Toon Wars, the return of the toybots, the Gameverse, Pibby, and other similar but distinct timelines. But the last timeline brought up was about the closest thing to their current situation and likely would've been the future this multiverse was meant to have had the Mawgu not been released so soon. And with it came potential leads on how to defeat his virus. Timmy started by asking Clockwork if they had a chance against the Mawgu. And to no surprise, he answered no, with a firm zero percent chance. However, Danny knew to choose his words carefully with the timelord and asked him what worlds the Toonverse timeline had that were the most impactful on the universe. He knew he couldn't get a straight answer from the man, so he at least wanted to know of a good place to start to get a solution for themselves. Clockwork smiled and asked Dexter if he still had the Magisword from earlier.
 
Thanks to the Hyperspace sword he retrieved when Prohyas was erased, Dexter recognized that term. And as Clockwork put it, that show, while being relatively unremarkable in the real world, broke its limitations in the Toon Wars. This shocked Dexter more than anything because that was one of the only cartoons still intact. Everywhere else was either slated to be deleted soon or was already gone. To which Bobert reminded him that the virus first seemed to target whoever's cartoons were the most recognizable. The program likely thought nothing of the world because there's a degree of biased sentience. So, while they had time, the Life Rafts began making trips to Lyvsheria. It had more than enough space to house everyone aboard and those coming from Jack's world and CN City, which the Hope Star crew had a new plan for.
 

 
Once all the Life Rafts were boarded and brought to Lyvsheria, phase 1 of the multiverse's hail mary commenced. Dexter and the KND stayed behind to monitor how close the virus was to CN City while Samurai Jack sought whoever he could in Rhyboflaven to help him forge a new blade. There was a tale of a Final Magisword or something similar in Clockwork's recounting of events from other timelines. But without specific conditions, they wouldn't be able to recreate it. Instead, Jack planned on using his holy sword, combined with the powers of the most heroic toons, to create what Dexter called an Antivirus. This wouldn't be used to slice through waves of enemies but to plunge into CN City in preparation for the virus' arrival. But there was a problem. Bimm, the one mentioned in one of the timelines, was not the hero Jack was told about now. And the Final Magisword in legend simply didn't exist in this version of reality. He had to be the one to break it to Vambre Warrior that her brother wouldn't be coming back after he was devoured by the swarm. For a character most from CN City didn't even care for or ever knew existed, it really hurt seeing her upset. But, on the bright side, this was the push needed for her and her allies to lend just about all her Magiswords and magic to the project to save reality. With her and her brother's collection, they'd have better chances of stopping this ever-looming threat.
 
Meanwhile, as the virus fastly approached the crossover home world of Cartoon Network, the KND informed Dexter that it was time to flee. There simply wasn't enough time to get things done here. But Dexter was adamant that there was. He was going to stay there and wait for Jack to return. And just in the nick of time, he did. While he was out, every Magisword he gathered was magically merged with his sword to form the vaccine. All they needed to do was plant it into the city's main street, where Dexter installed a slot that led deep into the planet's core. So, as the skies darkened and the world began to collapse, Jack lunged his blade into the ground and fled with Dexter and the KND through a hyperspace portal to Lyvsheria, where they were met by Ashi and the Hope Star crew. By now, the team was stationed in the Adventure Academy, monitoring the virus with help from their new allies. Bobert and Goddard were a tremendous help keeping track of the approaching swarm while the rest remained in anticipation. They were petrified of what might become of them next. But during all this, Spongebob was giving them hope. He was the most optimistic out of everyone, and he assured them they would save the day together. Of course, Jimmy was technical, saying there's a 60.678% chance this will fail. But Danny was counting on the short odds that it wouldn't.
 
The waiting game was tough on everyone in the world. Cosma told Nicole she was free to be with her family if the virus showed up. Despite being a notorious supervillain, even she didn't want to take that away from her, especially after what happened to K.O. and Venomous. Carol even hugged Fink and told her she was proud of her despite not being personally attached to each other. Fink helped her son grow into the hero he was, and she was, by all accounts, her boss's pride and joy.
Meanwhile, Dr. Wakeman remained with her family of robots, referring to them as her daughters. If this was the end, she wanted them to know that she would always be proud of them, and it brought everyone to tears. Scotsman and his daughters played a short song on the bagpipes one last time, surprisingly touching for everyone around them. Danny and Sam embraced, keeping their fingers crossed for the plan to work. And Lyvsheria went into full alert. Somewhere in the fields, Cattus the One Blade was watching the skies get darker and more digitized, being joined by Bimm and her brother. They already lent their Magiswords to Vambre to help Jack, and they didn't want their friend to be left alone if their plan didn't work. Truthfully, Cattus wasn't even phased by all this. But he said he's happy he got to be their friend, whatever happens next. Little did he know that in another possible timeline, he and Bimm would've been the ones to save their world and the multiverse more than enough times. The three of them hugged, and time finally ran out for the crew of the Hope Star.
 
At this point, it's safe to say they were mortified by what would come. Bobert detected that the virus did indeed reach CN City. But when they thought it would detonate once absorbed, the swarm somehow avoided it. Instead, it made its way to Lyvsheria, almost as if it knew precisely where everyone was. And worse yet, several worlds it absorbed began appearing on the radar. Then, Jimmy and Dexter finally realized the scope of the virus' intelligence. With the Mawgu, Aku, the Lich, Black Hat, and other significant threats in the swarm's programming, it became sentient enough to plan around everyone's escape. This whole time, it was toying with the multiverse, baiting everyone into fleeing to safety, guaranteeing they would all be trapped in one place. Sure, it didn't expect them to plant something in CN City to kill it, but now everyone was stuck in a world they couldn't escape. It was clever of the escapees to go to a show the swarm could care less about. But it wouldn't have been long before it would be consumed.
 
Their plan was a complete and utter failure. But Cosma stomped her foot in irritation as people began to lose hope. She was not planning on waiting for the inevitable. She knew the antivirus must be capable if the swarm were to avoid it. So she snatched the Hyperspace Magisword from Dexter and opened a portal back to CN City. The next minute, she swelled to the size of a star and swallowed the world whole before shrinking back to normal and returning to Lyvsheria. Her eyes no longer carried a menacing yellow glow but an almost angelic blue mist, mesmerizing to anyone who saw her. Cosma scoffed it off and told everyone, "If you want the job done, do it yourself."
 
Before she took off, the former supervillain gave one last look at the crew who followed her up to this point and rocketed straight into the sky. An entire fleet of planetary dreadnoughts was waiting to infect the last of the Nicktoons and Cartoon Network, only to be met by a deeply annoyed Cosma. But as she rose, she felt someone holding onto her tail. It was Carol, and she already had her fist balled up to deliver the final blow to the Mawgu. She knew neither of them would survive the attack. But she wanted to do it for her son, her ex, and everyone lost in the outbreak as her heroic farewell. Cosma smirked and casually rolled her eyes, saying, "Heroes will be heroes. And together, they shot into the Mawgu fleet, followed by an Earth-shattering kaboom! In seconds, a wave of light splashed across the atmosphere of Lyvsheria as the infected worlds began to glitch and delete themselves. The fleet didn't even breach the atmosphere in time. And with the virus now engulfed in the antivirus, the evil influence of the Mawgu, the Syndicate, Black Hat, and other big names began to wither and die.
 

 
As brilliant as Jimmy Neutron was, he almost forgot how long it had been since he moved to Rhyboflaven with his family. By now, he was in his 30s, and what was once a medieval-style village became a bustling metropolis, much like the former CN City. The original buildings and roads were still intact. However, the vacant lands that weren't occupied by trees or natural formations were renovated to build new homes for the many survivors of the outbreak nearly a decade ago. The Adventure Academy was repurposed into a training program for up-and-coming heroes in memory of the ones from Lakewood Plaza Turbo. And Jack, Ashi, Vambre, and the Fentons become instructors for new fighters. The Wakemans, Powerpuff Girls, and Wattersons would become the world's defense force, known as the Toon Force, after Timmy Turner heard the name in one of the timelines Clockwork brought up. Jimmy, Dexter, Sandy, Anais, and Dendy would maintain the science division that saved the multiverse, continuing to research in the meta field should a threat like the swarm ever rise again.
 
Several statues were erected across the land to honor the fallen who didn't survive the purge or save the worlds that could. Shortly after the massive one based on Cosma was built, Jimmy was notified that Cartoon Network recently made new worlds. In time, the Toon Force would be reorganized to allow these new toons to thrive under their wing. And despite the damage caused by the swarm, the multiverse would find itself rapidly growing once more. The first series to be introduced to this new world would be a small island run by anthro witches for summer camp. Following this, Victor and Valentino would join Sheriff Mao Mao and his team in the Toon Force.

Fin