Disclaimer: I don't own Fairly Oddparents. That's copyright Nickelodeon, Federator, and Buch Hartman.
The small group of heroes soon succeeded in finding the stairs to the next floor and began heading to the next floor. Midway up the steps, however, a thought occurred to Orion. "Hey, how can we be so sure Trixie and Wanda are on a higher floor?"
"Where else would they keep them?" Timmy replied as he raced upward. When they reached the second floor, they discovered the steps to the third level had been destroyed, preventing them from going any further. "See? They're trying to keep us from reaching them!'
"Let's go in the second level," Chester suggested. "Maybe we can find another flight of steps there."
This seemed like as good of an idea as any, so Timmy pushed open the door separating the stairway from the floor's lobby…
…and found himself face-to-face with his imaginary ex-friend.
"Hey there, Tim-Tim," Gary said mockingly.
"Gary," Timmy said angrily. "I should have known you'd be in on this."
"Um, excuse me for not knowing," Chester said, "but what is the cool new student from a few months ago doing here?"
"He's really my imaginary friend…I'll explain later," Timmy replied, drawing his swords. He then turned to Gary. "Look, I'm in no mood to deal with you. I just took out the leader of the pixies, along with an entire army of those cone domes. What can you possibly do?"
Gary gave a malicious grin. "If you think I'm so puny, Tim-Tim, why don't you just attack me?"
The rational part of Timmy's brain was telling him that Gary was planning something and that just charging was a very bad idea. But Timmy rarely listened to that part of his brain, which was probably why he had so many enemies. Adding to the factor was the fact that Trixie was still trapped in here somewhere. He was acting under love, which was notorious for completely disabling rationality anyway, so he paid the uneasy feeling no heed. He instead charged straight at his imaginary friend.
He, of course, regretted the action, as Gary sidestepped him.
Then, he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder.
Timmy fell to the ground. He quickly scrambled to his feet and turned around.
Gary was now holding a pair of strange weapons, one in each hand. He was holding it by a hilt like a sword. From the top of the hilt came a blade, which curved down across the unwished wish's palm. One of the blades had a small amount of blood on it…Timmy's blood!
"Punching knives. Cool," Gary said, punching again. Timmy dodged the attack, then noticed his friends coming to help him.
Unfortunately, Gary noticed as well. "Cos, I wish you'd keep those other two busy!"
Suddenly, Cosmo turned his wand on Orion and hit him with a humongous blast of water. As the red haired fairy was knocked into an adjacent wall, Cosmo turned toward Chester and shot out another blast. The young boy brought up his shield, which stopped him from getting soaked, but still pushed him back.
"Cosmo, what the hell are you doing?" Orion asked as he rose to his feet.
Gary smiled and answered for him. "I'm from Tim-Tim's imagination. I'm a part of him. Therefore, his godparents have to listen to me!"
"No! I wish…" Timmy began, but he was cut off when Gary punched him again, the blade of his weapon cutting him across the chest. He was sent to the ground, a great pain filling his chest.
"Not cool Tim-Tim. But do you know what's even less cool? Being stuck in your head for five years, then banished to this place to live with a bunch of geeks! Believe me, I've been waiting for this!"
Timmy's logic was incorrect. Trixie and Wanda were still on the first floor. The group had completely passed them.
The two girls were unaware of this, however. They were also unaware of how Juandissimo's anti-fairy managed to get locked up by an allegiance of Timmy's worst enemies.
Anti-Juandissimo looked quite a bit different from his counterpart. While the fairy was muscular, he was practically skin and bone. His hair was disheveled and messy. There were bags under his eyes and pimples on his face. In other words, he was incredibly unattractive, truly opposite of his fairy counterpart.
"Hey, isn't hat the opposite of that fairy that dragged you here?" Trixie asked.
"Yeah," Wanda answered. "And if Juandissimo is evil, then his anti-fairy must be good," she concluded logically. She looked in at the poor creature. "How'd you get here?"
"Juandissimo…when he went evil, he knew I would turn good. He…had to keep me from…warning Jorgen about his betrayal. Please…get me out of here."
"Of course," Wanda said. She quickly began fiddling with the lock on the door.
Unfortunately, unlike the lock to the storage room, this lock was much better protected. Wanda couldn't pick it, even with her magic.
"Great," Wanda muttered. "This thing's magic. Only the key will open it."
"Hey, I thought I saw the Anti-Fool carrying a set of keys," Trixie said. "Maybe the key to this cell was on him when he attacked us."
Wanda sighed. "I guess that's our only option," she said. She turned to Anti-Juandissimo. "We'll be right back."
Punching knives were human weapons. Timmy knew this. He vaguely remembered seeing one on a class field trip that Crocker had dragged them on to a museum of some kind. They were openly used in the mortal world.
But, as he had found out recently, there had been a time when the magical and mortal realms were connected, so it wasn't surprising that magical versions of such things existed.
Naturally, the Shadow hadn't neglected to teach Gary how to fight. After all, Gary was little good in combat. It was only through his charisma that he had become the leader of the unwished. Shadow had spent the time in which the Dark Alliance had been formed to train the boy. He knew that swords or a bow would be expected. But punching knives weren't well known weapons, meaning the imaginary friend had the element of surprise.
Smiling, Gary punched Timmy one more, this time in the stomach. By some miracle the attack hadn't cut too deep, sending only a small trickle of blood flowing from the wound. Gary aimed his next punch to his opponents face.
This time, his blade met Timmy's, who immediately swung with his other sword directly at the unwished's side. This swords was blocked with the other punching knife. With all four blades in contact, Gary pushed forward, trying to send his former friend back. Timmy managed to brace himself and keep from falling over. He kept his swords locked with Gary's knives.
Suddenly and very quickly, Gary took a step back, pulling his knives back as well. Timmy fell forward, his swords barely missing his rogue wish. Taking advantage of Timmy's temporary disorientation, Gary stepped forward and punched again.
In what could be considered a bout of extreme luck, Timmy managed to react in time. He jumped to the left, while the knife passed through the air his body had been occupying moments earlier. Timmy quickly swung one of his swords, hoping to strike his opponent while he was off-guard.
He was only semi-successful. His sword managed to cut its way through Gary's jacket, causing it to rip. Gary took a few steps back to avoid any further attacks, then allowed himself a split second to survey the damage done to his clothes. He looked up and glared at his creator.
"That wasn't cool, Tim-Tim," Gary sneered. Following that remark, he charged forward, his blade covered fists flying.
Blade met blade as Timmy blocked the attacks. For a moment, it looked like the two were at a stalemate.
Then, suddenly, Timmy felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Screaming in pain and surprise, he lessened the grip on his swords. Unfortunately, this allowed Gary to drive his punching knives into Timmy's ribs.
Feeling an immense pain, Timmy fell to the ground, his swords clanging on the ground. As he moaned in pain, he looked up to see what had attacked him from behind.
His eyes widened in shock, and he had to do a double take to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. The one who had attacked him from behind…was Gary! An exact duplicate of him…or was that the original and he had been fighting the fake?
"That magical copier you left behind works wonders, Tim-Tim!" the second Gary said smugly.
"The Shadow let me use it, and that's cool!" the first one added.
"He only let me make a single copy, but that should be more than enough," the second Gary finished. With that, both versions of the imaginary friend pulled back their fists, ready to strike Timmy.
Even in his state of immense pain, the young boy's survival instinct kicked in. As two blade covered fists came down on him, Timmy managed to roll out of the way, allowing him to temporarily escape harm. Unfortunately, it turned out to be very temporary, as the Garys kept their eyes on him and punched again. Timmy desperately backed up, clumsily and narrowly avoiding the twin attackers. A split second afterward, he recalled his swords to him.
This move had an unexpected side effect. While Timmy was backing up, both of the Garys had stepped between their opponent and the swords. Therefore, when the swords returned to their master, it flew past the pair of unwished, giving them both cuts in their legs.
Giving twin cries of pain, Gary and his clone fell on one knee, grabbing their legs in pain, in an action done so in sync that it was like one was a reflection of the other.
Taking advantage of the situation, Timmy lunged forward with both his swords, hoping to cut both of the identical enemies at once. However, in another harmonious motion, both Garys leapt back, performing a back flip and landing on their good legs.
Immediately following that, both Garys ran forward, supposedly ignoring the pains in their legs. As they neared Timmy, they both pulled back their fists, then punched. Timmy brought his swords up and blocked both fists at once. Unfortunately, both of them had another fist, and they used it.
Desperate to avoid the attack, Timmy leaned back, and ended up losing his balance and landing on his back. Both Garys stumbled forward, having lost their equilibrium due to momentum. Timmy took advantage of this and brought his legs up, kicking both of the imaginary friends in the gut.
Still in a perfect simultaneous form, both Garys fell onto their knees, clutching their stomachs. Timmy immediately rose to his feet, standing in between the stunned unwished. The pink clad warrior took both his swords and hit both Garys in the back of the head with the sword handles' bottoms.
Gary and Gary fell flat on their faces, moaning about the splitting headaches they had. Timmy looked at the scene and smiled.
"I guess nothing multiplied by two is still nothing," he said smugly. He then turned his sight on Cosmo, who was still unwillingly doing battle with his teammates. "Cosmo, I wish…" he began.
Of course, he didn't finish, because at that moment, the swords were telling him to do something: duck.
He did, just as two punching knives sailed through where his neck should have been. Both Garys were back on their feet and ready for battle.
Almost immediately, one of the Gary's threw another punch. Timmy blocked his blade with his own. As the two weapons pushed against each other, Timmy swung his other sword directly at the imaginary friend's face.
Unfortunately, Gary number two guarded for his look alike. With both of the Light Swords blocked, Timmy seemed defenseless against any further attacks. As such, the twin villains pulled back their free fists, each with a blade across the knuckles, and swung them at the young warrior's face.
Once again, Timmy was saved from a painful experience by his swords. The weapons were becoming more and more attached to their new master, and they were eager to protect him. They gave him a simple suggestion: take a few steps back.
Timmy did so, and it had very desirable effects. Both Gary's fell face first to the ground, a combination of their momentum and the fact that they were leaning toward their opponent a factor in their stumbling.
When they hit the floor, Timmy raised both of his swords, then slammed them down on the twin Garys. Unfortunately, both of them rolled out of the way in opposite directions.
The next thing he knew, two punching knife blades were a mere inch from his face.
Though his face was covered, it was clear that the jester fairy was quite nervous.
After making sure Trixie had gotten her weapon, he had poofed straight back into his master's lair. Right now, he was in his inner chamber.
The fairy was nervous because of the atmosphere surrounding his master was always one filled with dread. The one in charge, a mysterious figure that few ever saw, seemed to emit evil wherever he went.
"So, you made sure that Tang got her gloves?"
"Yes, master. But…why did you want her to get it? Wouldn't that just make things harder for us?"
"If the girl is capable of holding her own in battle, it might be an asset to us when I make Timmy my offer. Speaking of which…"
The mysterious creature summoned a large image in the otherwise dark room. On the screen was footage of Timmy fighting the army of pixies he had vanquished earlier.
"Such skill, such power," he uttered, sounding pleased. Then, his tone turned sour. "But it's with those accursed swords!"
"Is this going to affect out plans any?" the masked fairy asked.
"Maybe a little. Still, if we play this right, his inheritance of the swords could actually work in our favor."
Chester was having a hard time seeing clearly. With a fairy using water fought a fairy using fire, there was bound to be steam. By this time, Cosmo and Orion's attacks had gotten so intense that the battlefield had been covered in a blanket of steam so thick the tow headed boy was having a hard time seeing anything that wasn't right in front of him. The feuding fairies, however, were spared from this inconvenience simply because of their magic powers. Their eyesight immediately adjusted itself so they could see clearly. Because of this, Cosmo was focusing on Orion, who he knew could defend himself better.
It was fortunate that Gary hadn't ordered Cosmo to automatically kill them. The green haired fairy wasn't very bright, but he was just smart enough to abuse the wish's words. All he had to do was keep them busy, so he was purposely giving a lackluster fighting performance.
This was fortunate, because that was all his opponents were willing to give as well. Not wanting to hurt their ally, Chester and Orion were holding back. They tried having one of them fight Cosmo while the other helped Timmy, but this proved to be a useless plan. Any time one of them tried to get close to the pink capped swordsman the effects of the wish kicked in. Gary had wished that the others would be kept busy, so Cosmo became aware instantly whenever either of them broke from the fight and rushed to block him.
As Chester pushed through the thick steam, he tried in vain to locate the two fairies. His search was cut short when Orion suddenly crashed into the ground right next to his godchild. His landing was accompanied by a cry of. "Look out!"
The cry had been supplied by Cosmo, who was warning his friends that he was once again being forced to attack. Both godchild and godfather rolled out of the way in different directions as a blast of water slammed into the floor.
Orion immediately regained his composure and fired a blast of fire straight at his unwilling attacker. It wasn't very powerful, but it was enough to give Cosmo some serious burns, which could be healed after the battle. Its strength, however, proved to be a moot point, as it missed its target.
While Orion was firing, Chester got back on his feet and charged toward the green haired fairy. Unfortunately, he slipped on the floor, which was slippery thanks to the water from Cosmo's attack. Losing his footing, he landed on his back.
A bad situation became worse when Cosmo noticed Chester's slipup. Immediately, the wish gave him an order: attack.
Against every ounce of willpower in his body, Cosmo fired a hydro blast at the tow headed boy. Fortunately, he was able to shout, "Chester! Watch it!"
Thanks to Cosmo, the young boy realized what was coming just in time. He quickly lifted up his shield, which prevented damage…sort of. While it blocked the full power of the attack, the force of the blast of water pushed Chester into the ground, putting some serious strain on him.
The attack continued until Orion slammed into Cosmo, knocking him away and ending his attack. Chester quickly jumped to his feet. This proved to be a bad move, because the floor was still slippery. He slipped a few times before regaining his composure. He then glanced at the other battle. Timmy was fighting with twin Garys. How there were two of them, he had to find out later. What mattered is how well Timmy was doing. Right now, Chester couldn't tell. But if he didn't win soon, the three of them would be too weak for the upper levels, which undoubtedly held even stronger enemies. So, if the fight didn't end quickly, then it would all be over soon enough.
Timmy had concluded that one of three things were true.
One, the swords liked him more than he had previously thought and were reacting to him faster.
Two, there was some deity he had pleased who wanted him to live.
Three, if there was such a thing as luck, he had a ton of it, and it was working in his favor.
As soon as he had seen the punching knives, Timmy ducked so fast he was surprised when he had hit the ground. He had little time to rest, as both Garys advanced on him immediately afterward, swinging their blade covered fists strait at his neck.
Timmy brought his swords up just in time to avoid decapitation. The problem was, he was only blocking half of he blades his enemies had. Both Garys punched with their other fist. Timmy quickly leaned back, but did it so quickly that he lost his balance and fell on his back.
This mistake almost cost Timmy his life. His opponents noticed his moment of weakness and would not allow it to go unpunished. They both dove at him with their blade covered fists out.
Timmy, a bit dazed from the fall, didn't notice the attack until it was mere inches from his chest. His first instinct was to try to roll out of the way, but that ever present feeling in his head told him to do something else. As the twin enemies were about to land on him, Timmy quickly brought his legs up, catching both Garys in the stomach with a kick. He then pushed them over his head, sending them tumbling.
Immediately, he leapt to his feet and spun around. Without thinking about what he was doing, he thrust his sword into the gut of one of the Garys.
After a split second, Timmy's eyes widened in horror at what he had done. However, his fear and shock evaporated when the enemy he had stabbed did something strange. The Gary that had been damaged simply turned into dust, completely disappearing.
Timmy was confused for a moment before he realized that the foe he stabbed must have been the false Gary created by the magical copier. Giving a smug smile, he turned to the real Gary, who was getting back to his feet.
"Well, it's just you and me now, Gary."
Once Gary realized what happened, he gritted his teeth angrily. "that's what you think, Tim-Tim," he said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a small remote, immediately hitting a button.
Suddenly, a small portion of the wall began to open up. Inside, there was a small room that contained the magical copier.
Timmy immediately put two and two together and realized what Gary was planning. By that time, however, his enemy was already dashing toward the magical machine. Timmy broke into a dash as well, but it was futile. It as clear that Gary would reach it first.
Indeed, the imaginary friend was at the copier's controls seconds later. As he began pressing buttons, Timmy knew if he didn't do something quick, Gary would make another copy of himself. Acting on instinct. He lifted one of his swords and threw it forward like a javelin.
His aim was spot on. The sword pierced through the machine, sending sparks everywhere. Gary, caught of guard, brought his arms up to shield face from the sparks. Timmy, meanwhile, kept running forward, clutching his other sword with both hands. Gary lowered his arms and turned around just in time to get a sword slash across the chest.
Gary fell into the remains of the broken machine. His wounds weren't fatal, but he was definitely unconscious. Quickly, Timmy picked up his dropped sword and put in back in its hilt. He quickly disarmed Gary of his knives, then pulled the remote out of his coat. He stepped clear of the wall, then pressed the button. The wall closed up, leaving the injured unwished inside.
With his opponent defeated, Timmy turned to the other battle. Then, he said the words all three participants had been praying he would say since the battle began.
"I wish you'd stop fighting."
Instantly, Cosmo's attacks ceased at his godchild's wish. Chester and Orion sighed in relief.
"Finally," Orion exclaimed "You took your sweet time beating Gary."
"Hey, ease up, it was two against one," Timmy shot back.
"Uh, no feelings that I had to attack you guys, right?" Cosmo asked nervously.
"Right," Chester responded.
"Hate to interrupt, but we're on a rescue mission, remember?" Timmy said impatiently. "Let's get to the next floor."
"Shouldn't we get Gary out of there?" Norm asked.
"No. That fool was too easily beaten. Let him rot in there," the Shadow said coldly. "Besides, the next of us that's fighting will destroy Turner before he can even lift a finger!"
"Hey, what are you doing about Trixie and Wanda?" Remy demanded.
The Shadow gave a sinister smile. "Don't worry. It's all taken care of."
It took a while, but Wanda and Trixie had managed to find the key to Anti-Juandissimo's cell. The two girls unlocked the iron door and rushed over to consult the glitched anti-fairy.
"Are you okay?" Wanda asked. "Can you still use magic?"
To both of the girls' surprise, the anti-fairy gave an evil grin.
"Better than you could imagine."
Suddenly, he pointed both palms at the girls. What he shot out was…blackness. Shadows. That's the only way anyone could describe it. The shadows began engulfing the two girls, who desperately fought the darkness, but to no avail. In moments, they were covered, and everything went black.