This one Jimmy Neutron story that my sister @sara-plutonium and I have been working on since 2003 officially has a title!
It’s now called Stars Align, as we both decided to keep the celestial/constellation theme as the main motif. The general idea behind the title itself was the concept of these characters coming together in such a serendipitous way, that it was as if the stars aligned in their favor. ;o; However! The story itself is split into three “books” or “arcs,” if you will, with each individual story focusing on our three main protagonists.
Altair’s introduction and the story of how he and Jimmy grow to be close friends. Most of this story takes place in Retroville - as Altair is stranded on earth after his spaceship crash-landed.
In order to ensure that the rest of the town doesn’t hurt Altair, Jimmy decides to create a human disguise for him so he can blend in, and also offers to help repair his ship so Altair can return to Mars. Jimmy ends up getting pulled along with Altair back to his home planet once the ship is fixed, but quickly finds out that there was more to the Martian’s seemingly random crash landing than he had originally thought.
Altair’s siblings are also introduced in this story, including his older brother Riegel, who ends up playing the role as the main antagonist since he has a personal vendetta against Jimmy.
After fleeing Mars from Riegel, Jimmy and Altair end up encountering a strange time rift in space that sends them almost 50 years into the future. There, they stop by an orbiting space station habitat in order to make sure they have enough supplies for prolonged space travel... and end up meeting the station’s notoriously spunky teenage rebel, Zenon Kar.
Altair and Zenon hit it off immediately, and Zenon begs to join the boys on their space adventures. However, upon leaving the space station, the time rift closes - leaving Zenon trapped 50 years in the past.
The three kids are still being pursued by Riegel, (who has every intention of capturing Jimmy once again), so they band together and become their own little family while they’re forced to venture out into deep space - landing on strange alien planets and encountering all kinds of wacky creatures and places along the way.
A few years have passed, the kids are closer than ever, and they’re still on the run from the Martian military. But all of that comes to a screeching halt once Riegel finally catches up to them. Altair is tragically killed in the following scuffle, and instead of taking responsibility for his troops being the cause of this accident, Riegel pins the blame on Jimmy and unfairly punishes both Jimmy and Zenon as a result.
Though it takes some time, Riegel eventually realizes the error of his ways and has a slight change of heart - eventually choosing to release the kids from captivity and vowing never to pursue them again.
Jimmy and Zenon return to Earth, both riddled with trauma and separation anxiety, and attempt to come to terms with losing their closest friend. Adjusting to a normal life without Altair proves to be difficult for them, but what truly matters from that point on is that they still have each other.
And there you have it. I figured it’d be good to give a quick overview of what happens throughout the story, since it’s something I’ve only ever shared in tiny blurbs or vague comments throughout the years.
This whole story and these characters are very dear to me, since it’s something my sis and I have been revisiting and fine-tuning for so many years. While it would work beautifully as a written fanfiction (and in my opinion, that would be the best way to share it in its entirety), the most I’ll likely be able to share would be more art if the inspiration comes to me ;o;
But for now, I hope this overview will suffice, and I’m looking forward to (hopefully!) sharing more content of these precious kiddos as time goes on.
