I suck at action scenes.

Y'know, due to a typo, this chapter nearly co-starred Mr. T. Just thought you might want to know.

Review replies;

Cartooniac55: Yay, I have intersting trivia! No problem about not reviewing - I write this mainly for fun, anyway (though reviews do make me feel special XD). Thanks for reading!

SOLmaster: Aye, it does look bad, doesn't it? This story hasn't been particularly nice to them, really! XD Thanks for reviewing.

Zim'sMostLoyalServant: Here is the big fighty stuff. :D Incidentally, I find curse increasing is a power that villains forget a lot. Thanks for the review!

Chapter Nine: Cursebusters

Timmy sprinted down the street, panting as he approached the town hall in the middle of town. Behind him, Pete was quickly gaining, firing bolts of black magic from his hands.

Every now and then, Timmy fired back from the Starflinger, but found that Pete was an excellent dodger.

Behind them, Sandy and Sam were also heading for the centre of town, with the intention of helping to defeat the demon. At the very least, they could distract him.

Timmy ran onto the square before the town hall.

"Just…a bit…further," he panted. He was now severely regretting his poor gym record.

Suddenly, his foot was caught under an old tree root. Losing his footing, Timmy hurtled face first into the snow-covered grass. He slid about ten metres before he finally stopped.

Groaning, Timmy tried to pull himself onto his feet, but a boot quickly stamped down on his back.

Pete stood over Timmy, a deranged grin on his face.

"You can't win, Mr. Turner," he sneered, "No-one's ever defeated me. And believe me…they've tried."

Sam lunged at Pete, tackling him into the snow. Surprised, Pete found himself registering an ectogun aimed at his face.

"Tell that to Fenton tech," challenged Sam.

"An anti-ghost weapon?" demanded Pete, "Did you even listen to me? I told you! I'm not a ghost!"

"Save it," snapped Sam.

She pulled the trigger, and the ectoplasmic bolt bounced off Pete's face, ricocheting uselessly into the sky.

Pete laughed, and grabbed Sam by the collar.

"My turn," he snapped.

He climbed onto his feet and threw Sam into the snow. Before she could get up, he shot a burst of dark magic at her, encasing her completely.

When it receded, Sam was shut inside a small cage of ice, banging on the walls and yelling obscenities.

"Anyone else want to be a hero?" offered Pete.

Sandy made a battle pose, and barked a yell to Timmy.

"Turner," she snapped, "Get your butt up that tower!"

Timmy blinked, before nodding and running for the tower.

Pete laughed again as Sandy cracked her knuckles.

"This won't take long," he sneered.

Timmy crept up the clock-tower, shivering. Even for late at night in winter, the tower was unusually frigid. Behind him, Cosmo, Wanda and Poof had taken on the form of bats, and were warily looking around.

The tower was dark. A long, winding staircase led to the top, passing boarded up windows and old newspaper clippings from the 1950s. Large bugs and spiders crawled over the walls and floors. It smelt rather bad.

"Ooh!" noted Wanda, looking at an article, "President Eisenhower! We were his godparents, remember?"

Timmy looked at the article, an old poster proclaiming 'Ike for President.'

"What gives?" he asked, "That doesn't say Eisenhower; that says Ike! Who the heck is he?"

"He's…oh, never mind," shrugged Wanda, unamused.

"Hey, that one's pretty new!" grinned Cosmo, pointing to an article from 1962.

"Cuban Missile Crisis heats up," read Wanda, "Cosmo, I thought you said we'd never talk about that again."

"I still say it was Juandissimo's fault," said Cosmo, bluntly.

Timmy wasn't listening. He had found another row of clippings. His eyes widened as he read them.

"Guys," he whispered, "Look."

The fairies floated over to the wall, and read the articles.

"1964 – disappearances in Nebraska," read Wanda, "1968 – kids disappear in Alberta. 1972 – Britain. 1985 – Western Australia – there's one of these for every year!"

"…and all of them happen on Christmas Day," added Timmy, pointing at the date, "There's always three of them."

"What a coincidence!" exclaimed Cosmo, in complete sincerity.

"No, Cosmo," snapped Wanda, "It's the curse! It's been going on since this town was abandoned!"

"…and Jimmy, Danny and Spongebob are next," finished Timmy.

"Very correct."

Pete walked up the steps behind them, slowly clapping his hands. As an afterthought, he pulled an object from his pocket and flung it to the floor.

"I was right," he thought aloud, "It didn't take long."

Timmy looked at the object. It was a small, nicely made wooden figure, carved in the shape of a squirrel…

"Sandy," Wanda gasped.

"Yes," nodded Pete, "And now it's your turn."

"You've been cursing people since the Fifties?" mused Timmy, "But why? And why do they disappear on Christmas?"

"At midnight on Christmas," replied Pete, "Your friends will be pulled into a small portal. There they will be sent to…"

Pete shrugged.

"…well, the naughty bin's what the old boss called it. I couldn't care less," he continued, "Why do I do? Well…because it's fun!"

He gave a crooked grin.

"And now, Mr. Turner," he sneered, "You can't escape. There's no-one left to defend you…"

There was a loud crash from downstairs, and the door opened.

A figure raced upstairs, jumping into place behind Pete.

Timmy's jaw dropped in surprise. Pete's eyes widened.

"Leave my son alone!" thundered Mr. Turner.

There were quieter footsteps, and Tucker meekly crept up behind him.

"Sorry," he whimpered, "He was all I could find."

Pete gritted his teeth.

"The elder Mr. Turner," he snarled, "I didn't see this one coming."

"Stay back," growled Mr. Turner, "You're not allowed to punish my son for no reason! That's my job!"

"Well, I have to say, you do a good job of it," shrugged Pete.

"Why thank you!" grinned Mr. Turner, "I'm glad you noticed…"

"Dad…he's the bad guy," reminded Timmy.

"Oh yeah," nodded Mr. Turner.

"Well, this won't take long either," shrugged Pete, "I'll just charge…"

Mr. Turner grabbed Pete's raising arm and pulled him towards him. He spun around and hurled the hooded demon down the stairs, barely missing Tucker.

"Run, Timmy, run!" called Mr. Turner.

Timmy blinked again, before running upstairs. Thankfully, Mr. Turner had not noticed the colourful bats following him.

Pete slammed into the ground at the bottom of the stairs. Letting out a roar, he jumped to his feet, and aimed a blast of dark magic at the pursuing parent. Mr. Turner dodged the blast, and (giving an over-the-top yell) launched into a jump kick.

He missed, and crashed into an old cabinet.

"How do you do that?" demanded Pete.

"Never underestimate the power of parental instincts!" shouted Mr. Turner, dramatically.

Pete attempted to give another blast, but Mr. Turner raced headfirst towards him and…bit his arm.

Pete gave a sharp cry, and lost focus of the dark magic. The bolt fired, hit a mirror and rebounded towards Pete's face. With a thud, it hit the demon, causing him to fall backwards into a pail of water.

Upon contact with the water, Pete screamed, and began to glow.

"Holy water?" asked Tucker, running downstairs to meet them.

"No, you twit!" snapped Pete, "This is processed tap-water that's been here fifty years! Do you know what's in this stuff?"

He gave another piercing cry, before falling out of the pail onto his face.

Pete lay on his face for about thirty seconds. He groaned, and began to climb to his feet, his vision blurred.

"…think it wore off when we threw him in the pail," he heard Tucker saying, "He's been weakened pretty badly…"

"Great. I've got some stuff to say about that ice prison."

Pete's vision focused. He found himself looking up at Sam, Tucker, Sandy and Mr. Turner, none of them looking especially pleased.

"Oh, you're kidding," he groaned.

"Save it, Pete," retorted Tucker.

The techno-geek gave a swift kick and Pete blacked out.

Timmy eased open the door at the top of the stairs, and winced when it creaked. He stepped into the bell room, his fairies cautiously following him. He could see from the large clock-face that the time was 11:55 – he had five minutes to work out what to do.

"I believe you have something that belongs to me, Timmy."

Timmy jumped, and looked around at the shadows.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

"I'm the Judge."

A figure in a purple cloak floated out of the shadows, a knowing grin on his face.

"Clockwork?" mused Timmy.

"Yes, Danny told you of me," nodded Clockwork, shifting into elder form, "I do believe you have something that belongs to me."

Timmy blinked for the third time that night, before feeling his pocket.

"The gems?" he asked, "They're yours?"

Clockwork nodded.

"They were only supposed to be used once," he lamented, "But they were stolen. I may be the ghost of time, but I cannot control demons. It's very lucky that you were the boy who would find them. Then again, I saw it coming."

"You see everything coming," reminded Timmy, pulling the gems from his pocket.

"You make a good point," grinned Clockwork, taking the gems.

"But I don't get it," quizzed Wanda, "If you knew we were going to get the gems, why didn't you just take them when we found them?"

"Non-interference," replied Clockwork, "I'm flaunting the Observants rules just by waiting until now. Besides, I wanted to see how well you could manage in breaking the curse yourselves."

"…but if you knew we were going to break the curse," mused Cosmo, "Then you knew how we'd manage, so you didn't need to…then…um…stop messing with my head!"

Clockwork gave a chuckle, and turned his back.

"Wait, Clockwork!" called Timmy.

Clockwork turned around.

"The curse?" reminded Timmy.

Clockwork gave a sagely grin, and nodded.

At 11:59 that night, he held the gems to the roof. They glowed brilliantly, floated above his hand…and exploded into light.

Danny woke up with his face in the snow.

Climbing onto his hands (and spitting out the snow), he glanced around quickly, and then he looked at his hands.

"I'm not a rock anymore," he announced.

He looked over to Jimmy, who had slipped off the van. The boy genius was juggling the hypercube in his hands. He beamed as it consistently failed to stick to his limbs.

Spongebob was running around them both, laughing and singing as he hugged his own spongy body. He gave a gleeful wave to Danny and Jimmy, who returned it.

"Turner did it," mused Jimmy, shaking his head.

"Of course he did!" replied Spongebob, "He's a Nicktoon! We do this stuff all the time!"

There was the sound of bells in the distance as the clock chimed twelve, but it was lost as a wave of euphoria hit Danny and Jimmy, and they joined Spongebob in celebrating and dancing in the snow.

The curse was broken.

As far as I know, Zwarte Pete is the only villain to be defeated by 50-year-old sewerage. :)