OK, I've got two things to say before we start this chapter.
One; I'm a total idiot. Having spent the whole story refering to the partner item for the Balance as being a diadem, I realised that I had the wrong thing - I meant to say amulet. It is hard to put a diadem around ones neck, after all.
The second thing is that I would like to shamelessly plug my new story in the Cartoon X-Overs section, E350's Happy Fluffy Reviews of Really Bad Fanfics. Also, if anyone's reading Revolution, I apologise greatly for the long hiatus and will get back to that once the Beginning is finished.
Now, review replies;
OddAuthor: I'm glad you liked my portrayal of Timmy, but if you ask me, you do a better job at him. Thanks for reading!
unknown20troper: Well, I couldn't finish this story without Crocker turning up again, could I? Thanks for the review!
Tweenisode Orange: He should call all three! XD Thanks!
Chapter Nine: Inner Demons
Timmy backed against the wall, horrified, as his dead allies shuffled towards him. Remy was still grinning, his arms crossed as he observed the scene.
"So this is Timmy Turner," he observed, "The boy who struck fear into the hearts of a government – backed against the wall and cowering in fear."
He shook his head.
"You really are pathetic, aren't you Turner?" he sneered.
"No…you can't be here, you can't be," wheezed Timmy.
"We are," replied Remy, "No thanks to you, incidentally. I mean look at this – all of us your friends and allies – just how much is your protection worth?"
"Go away," whimpered Timmy, squeezing his eyes shut.
"No," snorted Remy, simply.
He grabbed a sharp piece of rubble and pressed it against Timmy's arm.
"He's got two minutes," scowled Jimmy, looking down the hole, "I told him, I told him not to go down there…"
"I'm going in after him," declared Dani.
"Are you mad, woman?" demanded Sheen, "That's the tunnel of painful death…"
"You really know how to reassure someone, don't you Sheen," shot Dani, "See you when I get back."
"Dani, don't go in there!" ordered Jimmy, "I'm warning…"
Dani was already crawling down the hole.
Jimmy grimaced.
"Do I just have a face nobody listens to?" he lamented.
Crocker ducked a beam of dark magic sent at him by Freakshow and dived behind a table for cover. He fired his bazooka over the table, but missed. Grinning, Freakshow turned his attention to Mr. Krabs, who was now using a chair leg as a weapon.
"Why do you persist, Krabs?" he demanded.
"You stay away from me daughter!" snapped Mr. Krabs.
Freakshow gave it false consideration.
"No, I think I'll ignore you on that one," he decided.
He lunged at Mr. Krabs and decked him over the cheek with his fist. This winded Mr. Krabs, allowing Freakshow to force him to the ground and start choking him.
Then Jazz hit him in the back with a spanner.
Glaring, Freakshow turned to face his new opponent.
"Where did you get that?" he demanded.
Norm grinned as he floated up to Jazz.
"Hey, all-powerful genie here," replied Norm, "I've always wanted to watch someone beat up a guy with a spanner – looks like I'm getting my wish. That's a change."
Freakshow glowered, and performed a jump kick against Jazz's chest, before slamming a right uppercut into Norm's jaw. He was about to send another blow in Norm's direction, when he was grabbed by the neck from behind.
"Did you forget me?" grinned Crocker.
"Of, for goodness sakes!" cursed Freakshow, and he launched a left hook at the teacher.
Dani crawled out of the hole, to find Timmy curled up in a ball on the ground, whimpering. His environment protector was running dangerously low, with about twenty seconds left.
Dani jumped down into the room, and called out to the boy.
"Timmy…what's wrong?" she asked.
Timmy opened his eyes. His face was pale as a ghost.
"They won't go away," he shuddered.
"What won't go away?" enquired Dani, sitting on the ground next to him. She placed her environment protector in her hand and put in on her shoulder, protecting them both from the deadly radiation.
"Can't you see them?" whimpered Timmy, "Remy…everyone who's dead…because of me…"
Suddenly, Timmy scrunched up his eyes and screamed in pain.
"Timmy, what-"
"They're hurting me," groaned Timmy, snivelling a little and clutching his right arm, "They won't stop…"
Dani glanced at Timmy's arm. Not a single mark was on him.
"Timmy," said Dani, firmly, "It's not real. It's all in your head."
She glanced at the environment protector – one minute.
"B-but I can see them," stammered Timmy, "I can feel them, I…"
"Timmy, look at me," demanded Dani.
Timmy's head did not move.
"Look at me!" snapped Dani, grabbing his head and forcing him to look her in the eyes, "It's not real. It's just in your mind; you need to snap out of it!"
Timmy shook his head.
"They're all d-dead…b-b-because…because of me," he stuttered.
Dani gave a sad smile.
"That's not true," she replied, "Nobody has ever died because of you. Everybody you can see helped you by their own choice…they'd never want you to think anything different."
Timmy's lip shuddered.
"Let it out, Timmy," whispered Dani.
Timmy let out a sob, and buried his head on Dani's shoulder. Dani drew the boy into a hug, and rubbed his back sympathetically.
All the while, the environment protector ticked down…
In London, Great Britain, Colonel R. Atkinson sat in a small office at Thames House and waited. They had already hacked the computers of Cyclops – now all he needed was the go ahead.
In an airfield near London, Lieutenant Bishop paced up and down the tarmac impatiently, waiting for the green light to board the choppers.
In Retroville, Texas, an air of impatience had fallen over the lab. Molly, Valerie, Ember and Tootie were watching the main screen, waiting for the signal to go.
It had been an hour. They were now running behind schedule…
After what seemed like an eternity, Timmy came up from Dani's embrace and looked around, sniffling. The skeletal group were now gone, replaced by the form of Danny Fenton – slightly transparent, but at the very least not dead-looking.
"D-Danny?" gasped Dani – obviously she could see him too.
"You've finally unlocked yourself, Timmy," grinned Danny.
"What? I thought I did that three years ago!" mused Timmy.
"You unlocked the first part of yourself then, yeah," nodded Danny, "The rest of it was let out when you fought off your inner demons."
"So…that means I'm ready to face Freakshow, right?" realized Timmy.
"Hey, you were always ready," replied Danny, "It doesn't matter if you have powers or intelligence or strength or anything – you put your mind to it, and that's what'll let you win."
Timmy nodded.
"Do you have to go after this?" asked Dani.
"I'm afraid so, Dani," confirmed Danny.
"Oh," sighed Dani, miserably.
"Hey – I'll see you again, cuz," grinned Danny, "Sure, it'll probably be a pretty long time – well, at least I hope it would be a pretty long time – but we'll meet again. But until that happens, I don't want anyone crying over me – just promise me you'll have a good life, both of you."
There was a short pause.
"We will," nodded Dani, at last.
Danny grinned.
"Good luck, then," he farewelled, "I'll see you on the far side."
There was a flash of green light, and then he was gone.
Dani looked down at the environment protector and did a double-take.
"Holy – it's on zero!" she gasped, "We should be dead!"
Timmy looked at his own protector.
"That's odd," he said, confused, "According to this, there's no radiation in here."
Dani gave a small smile.
"Danny," she realized, "He saved our lives…why aren't we drowning?"
"Maybe these things protect against water more easily then radiation," shrugged Timmy, "Makes sense."
He climbed back into the hole and began to crawl back to Jimmy.
"Hey, Dani, where'd you get the hair band?" he asked as they made their way back down.
"What…"
Dani felt her hair, feeling the white hair band that had appeared in her hair.
"I don't know," she replied, "Maybe…"
"It's the Hairband for the Light," realised Timmy, "We don't find it, it finds us, remember?"
"Oh yeah," nodded Dani, "I guess this makes me your partner, right?"
"Guess so," grinned Timmy, "That's lucky – I was going to pick you anyway."
Jimmy, Sheen, Spongebob and Sandy stood, waiting, in the kitchen, Jimmy looking increasingly forlorn.
"They're dead," he blurted at last, "It's got to have been at least ten minutes since Dani went in."
"Dead, are we?"
"Yeah, dead as a – Timmy?" gasped Jimmy, as Timmy's head poked through the hole.
"Yep," grinned Timmy, as he and Dani climbed out, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we got it."
He held out the amulet.
"I knew you could do it!" beamed Spongebob.
Jimmy glared at Timmy.
"Never do that again," he snapped.
"Gotcha," nodded Timmy, grinning, "Anyway, let's go give a certain Freakshow the good news."
He led the group back to the main room.
Then he froze.
Jazz and Mr. Krabs were knelt over Crocker, slumped over a wall, whilst Freakshow was nowhere in sight.
"Mr. Crocker?" gasped Timmy, "What happened?"
"He got a Dark Magic burst to the chest," replied Norm.
Timmy nodded grimly, and walked up to his teacher.
"Turner," wheezed Crocker, "I…I'm sorry for the…the things that I did…"
"I got it," said Timmy, softly, "I forgive you."
Crocker gave Timmy a pleading look.
"May…may I see them, Timmy?"
Timmy was taken aback by the use of his first name.
Then he gave a small smile, and nodded.
"Cosmo, Wanda, can you come over here?" he asked.
Nervously, Cosmo and Wanda floated to Timmy's former enemy.
"Mr. Crocker, these are Cosmo and Wanda," he introduced, "My fairy god parents."
Crocker stared for a bit, before letting out a small chuckle.
"I was right," he said, weakly, "I was right all along."
He gave a cough.
"F…Fairy…God…Parents…" he gasped, his body shuddering feebly.
Then his eyes shut, and he was still.
Timmy stood still for a few seconds.
Then he pulled a radio from his pocket.
"It's time," he said simply.
"It's time.
"
"You heard the man," ordered Colonel Atkinson, glancing at Harker, "Get to the computer terminals and start shutting down Cyclops."
"Of course," nodded Harker.
"All units, relay orders for immediate take off," demanded Atkinson, speaking into his own radio, "Operation End Game is go, I repeat, Operation End Game is go."
"It's time."
Bishop gave a serious look, and hung up his radio.
"Alright, everyone to the choppers, we are go," he ordered, as the tarmac began to echo with activity, "ETA for take-off, five minutes."
He ran to the nearest chopper, where Sabre Team was assembling.
"Lock and load, people," he ordered.
"It's time."
Valerie glanced at her radio, and nodded. She reached forward, and pushed a button on Jimmy's computer terminal.
Loud klaxons immediately sounded throughout the lab.
"Everybody, get to Jimmy's…plane…things," ordered Chester, "We're going to Cyclops!"
The members of the Cave cheered.
Prime Minister Percy James had had a decidedly good afternoon, compared to his morning. He'd passed a bill he'd been interested in for a while, and had thoroughly slandered an MP he didn't like. He hadn't even needed to bother with 'that damn fool Atkinson'. All in all, a good day in the House.
He whistled as he walked back to 10 Downing Street, without a care in the world.
Then he was deafened by the sound of turbo jets as a flight of Harrier jets thundered above him.
Regaining his bearings, James looked to the sky. A grand armada of RAF and USAF fighters were zooming skywards, aided by some of the gravity bubbles used to access the Cyclops space station.
He stared for a moment.
Then he broke in to a colourful variety of swear words as he realised he'd been hung out to dry.
AN: If you ask me, the Jesus!Danny bit was a little bit too cheesy...