A/N: Well, here's chapter eleven. There's only going to be five more chapters after this one, then I'll get started on the sequel, which is what I've been wanting to write since before I started this fic.
Disclaimer: The Fairly Oddparents is copyright Butch Hartman, Federator, Nickelodeon, and Viacom. It's not mine.
Wanda opened her eyes. At least, she thought she did. All she could see was blackness. It wasn't until she saw Trixie, also regaining consciousness, that she realized she had her eyes wide open.
Before either of the girls could speak, the darkness started to fade. The room around them became clearer and clearer until they recognized it as the room they had been in original, or at least one that looked a lot like it. The major change was that, even with the blackness faded, it was quite dark. The blackness all receded to one point.
"Anti-Juandissimo," Wanda said with a sneer.
The anti-fairy grinned evilly. "That's right. We couldn't have you leaving just yet. Remy and Juandissimo wouldn't like that too much."
"I don't get it," Trixie said. "I thought anti-fairies were supposed to be the complete opposite of their fairies."
"They are," Wanda stated plainly, "but this isn't Anti-Juandissimo."
Grinning, "Anti-Juandissimo" began to laugh. Then, his skin began to blacken even darker than it was normally. His features began to disappear, and even his shape began to distort. Finally, what stood in front of the girls was a formless dark figure…a shadow.
"What is that?" Trixie screamed, clearly disturbed by what she saw.
"It's one of Timmy's more dangerous enemies, the Shadow," Wanda said. "Or, more accurately, one of the Shadow's creations."
"You're a bright fairy," the creature said. "Yes, the shadow did create me from his very essence. I am his servant, and I was ordered to bring the two of you here."
"Wait, then, where's the real Anti-Juandissimo?" Trixie asked.
The servant smiled. "Well, when Juandissimo went rogue, we used him and his opposite as part of a magical experiment, and it was a complete success! Juandissimo and his anti-fairy are now merged as one!"
Wanda's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she heard that. A fairy and an anti-fairy merging? Was that even possible?
Trixie, however, wasn't phased. She lifted her hand to deliver a blast, but gasped when she realized that she wasn't wearing her gloves.
Seeing her shocked expression, the servant smiled and lifted one of his arms. Just above his palm floated the gloves and Wanda's wand. "You won't be needing these," he said, engulfing them in shadows.
"Give those back!" Trixie demanded.
"Hmmm…no," the servant said after false thought. "But I'll tell you what. Master Shadow told me to keep the two of you entertained, so I'll play a little game with the two of you."
Wanda blinked. "A game?" she asked, not believing she heard the evil creature correctly. "Our friends are in danger and you want us to play a game?"
The servant gave a malicious grin. "Of course. If you win, I'll return your weapons to you. That will give you a chance to defeat me and escape. But if I win, the two of you will remain in here until master Shadow allows you to leave."
"Or until Timmy rescues us," Trixie added.
The servant laughed at that "In the highly unlikely event that happens, yes, you will be freed. Until then, let's play our little game."
"Fine," Wanda snapped. "What is this game?"
"Just a little test of intellect," the creature stated. "I will ask you a few questions. If you answer ten of them correctly, I will let you go. And don't worry, they'll all be questions an average human could answer."
Wanda was surprised that the challenge seemed so easy, but she never let her guard down. "Fine. What's question one?"
"A house has all four sides facing south. A bear walks by the house. What color is the bear?"
Silence.
"That made no sense at all!" Wanda yelled angrily. "There's no way of knowing the bear's color!"
"Yes there is," the servant is. "you're just not thinking hard enough."
"Look, you better give us an answerable question, or I'm going to find a way to hurt you without my wand!"
"Wait…" Trixie said. "The answer is white!"
The servant looked shocked. "What…how…you couldn't have possibly figured it out!"
Wanda was equally surprised. "Yeah, how did you figure it out?"
Trixie smiled. "If all four walls are facing south, the only place it could be is the North Pole, and there's only one kind of bear there: a polar bear."
Wanda's face brightened. "That was brilliant!"
The servant gritted his teeth. "That was only the first question. There are nine others. Now, here's one you'll never get: what can go all the way around the world, yet stay in a corner?"
Trixie and Wanda looked at each other, then began racking their brains to come up with an answer.
Chester liked comic books. He really did. He loved the Crimson Chin comic most of all. He loved the art, the story, and the action.
However, he didn't like getting attack by the Chin's most powerful antagonist. The Nega-Chin was the third floor's guardian, and he was anxious to get revenge on "Cleft" for his past defeats.
And right now, he was hitting Chester with a blast from his nega-vision. The tow headed boy brought his shield up to block, but the sheer force of the attack still pushed him back, causing him to fall backwards onto his back.
The comic book villain would have followed up on his attack if Timmy hadn't chosen then to try and attack. He leapt straight at the Chin's alternate self with both of his swords above his head, hoping to bring both of them down on his target. However, the Nega-Chin quickly whirled around and caught the child warrior by the throat.
"You know, Cleft, you've been a thorn in my side for a long time. When you and Brain Boy ruined my plans with the Staff of Nega Megatude, that was the last straw. This time, I'm not playing around. I'm going to squeeze the life out of you!"
With that, he tightened his grip on Timmy's throat. He pain was immense. Now, all the villain had to do was tighten his grip a little more and he could crush the boy's windpipe.
However, fate once again smiled on Timmy. At that moment, Orion summoned all his energy into one fireball that he shot right at the cruel alternate's back.
The Nega-Chin was usually resistant to fire. However, this was fire generated by magic, which meant it packed quite a bit more energy. The attack surprised the long time villain, but he had enough experience that he didn't release Timmy. Instead, he turned around to face his attacker.
He was greeted by a blast of water to the face, courtesy of Cosmo. As the super villain sputtered and coughed, Chester swung his flail straight into his gut. The magical weapon damaged the Nega-Chin enough to cause him to drop his captive. Timmy fell to the floor. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he jumped forward and slashed both his swords across the comic book dweller's chest.
The Nega-Chin staggered back. Timmy leapt forward to give another attack, but the evil alternate recovered too quickly and gave the young warrior a super powered punch to the face. Timmy went flying across the room, hitting the wall on the other side with a sickening crack.
Before the Nega-Chin could follow up this attack, twin blasts of fire and water struck him, pushing him back. Unfortunately, he quickly regained his composure and fired a blast of nega-vision at the source of the blasts. Both Cosmo and Orion yelled in pain as the attack ripped through their bodies.
As the two fairies fell to the ground, moaning in pain, Chester ran toward the alternate, swinging his flail strait at his face. Seeing this, the Nega-Chin swung his mighty chin and knocked the spiked ball away from him. He then flew straight at his attacker, grabbing him by his shirt and lifting him into the air.
Just before the Nega-Chin ended Chester's life, Timmy dashed to him and sliced in the back. Caught off guard, the Nega-Chin began to turn around, but Timmy drove his blades into the villain again, causing him to drop Chester and go staggering back.
Unfortunately, it seemed like the evil double would never be defeated, as he quickly was standing strong again.
"This is getting annoying. Now, I'm going to crush you!"
"A stamp," Trixie realized. "The answer's a stamp!"
The servant fumed. "Lucky guess," he spat. "but those were just warm ups. Now, question three is a real challenge. What do humans take everywhere, but the more they take, the more they leave behind?"
Now it was Wanda's turn to fume. "I'm getting sick of these stupid questions." She turned to Trixie. "Well, what do you take everywhere?"
Trixie thought. "Good question. Maybe it has something to do with the way we travel."
"You mean by walking? You can't really take that or leave it behind"
Suddenly, Trixie brightened up. "Wait, that's it! The answer is footsteps!'
The servant didn't take that too well. "I bet you think you're really smart."
"Well…yeah," Trixie admitted. "I mean, I've answered your riddles so far."
"Those are the key words. You've only lasted 'so far' and there's still seven more to go. Now, what is every living thing doing at the same time?"
Trixie sighed. She was getting annoyed as well. She turned to Wanda. "So, do fairies breath?"
"No. Plus, humans can hold their breath, remember?"
"Oh yeah. So, what could it be?"
Wanda rubbed her chin in thought. "I don't kn…wait! The answer is getting older! Everyone is getting older!"
"How could you get that?" the servant asked, stunned. "No one's ever gotten that one! You two weren't supposed to get this far!"
"Yeah, but we have," Wanda snapped. "Now give us the next question so we can hurry up and beat you."
"Fine. What is heavy forward, but backwards it's not?"
The two girls looked at each other. "Well, think you can figure this out?" Wanda asked.
Trixie shook her head. "I really haven't had much experience with heavy lifting, so I wouldn't know."
Wanda rolled her eyes. "Figures. I bet all the work you've ever done is a ton of Crocker's assign…wait, that's it! The answer is a ton! It's heavy, but backwards, it spells not! We're halfway through!"
By now, the servant's teeth were grinding against each other. "Maybe, but I promise that that's as far as you'll get!"
The Nega-Chin had proven to be a worthy adversary for the Crimson Chin several times over. In the Comic Book World, he struck terror into the hearts of its inhabitants. Many times over, he had battled his alternate and, on some occasions, had actually won.
On the occasions he had escaped into the real world, he had caused even more trouble. He had attacked Dimmsdale and defeated Mighty Mom and Dyno Dad and ruined Timmy's superhero wish. Still, on both occasions, Timmy had defeated him under the guise of Cleft. Because of that, the evil alternate held a very big grudge against the pink capped boy.
However, there was one noticeable thing about his previous victories, the fact that the Crimson Chin was present. It had been him who had truly defeated the Nega-Chin before. Then, when he tried using the Staff of Nega Megatude, it had been Jimmy Neutron (as Brain Boy) who had catapulted him to success. This time, there was none of that. None of the Chin's powers to save him. None of Jimmy's smarts to out wit his opponent. He had Chester, who was still learning to use his weapons, two fairies, whose magic was noticeably weaker when used on the super powered villain, and two Light Swords, which he wasn't sure he was used to yet.
In other words, for the fiftieth time that day, things weren't looking good.
Things began looking even less good when the Nega-Chin began charging up his nega-vision. As the beams of evil energy erupted from his eyes, Timmy jumped with all the strength in his legs to avoid the attack. The beams stuck the floor, but the villain quickly turned his head, trying to catch the boy in his gaze. Timmy continued running around the room, staying one step ahead of the attack.
This attack didn't do unnoticed by the Nega-Chin's other opponents. Cosmo reacted the quickest. He charged forward, wand powering up. When he was in attacking distance, he swung his wand.
His attack failed, because he was halted by the Nega-Chin's giant fist wrapping around his neck. The villain brought him forward and, in an act of utter cruelty, put him in the beam of nega-vision shooting from his eyes.
Even a magical body like Cosmo's was easily weak against the attack. The green haired fairy screamed in agony as the beam ripped through his body, setting his nerves on fire. Cosmo was, at this point, truly fearing for his life.
Immediately after hearing his godfather's cries of pain, Timmy turned in the direction of his opponent and, seeing the danger he was in, leapt forward, swords ready. However, as soon as he was in distance, the Nega-Chin stopped his attack and grabbed Timmy out of the air, his oversized fingers squeezing the boy's windpipe.
The comic book villain smiled, revealing a row of sharp teeth. "Like a moth to the flame," he said simply.
At that moment, he turned around and swung his oversized chin. This was to knock Chester's flail, which the tow headed boy had swung in an attempt to help his friend, back at him. As the spiked ball neared him, Chester lifted his shield up to block, putting the object in front of him just in time to protect himself. Because he hadn't had the time to properly brace himself, he lost his balance and fell on his back.
The Nega-Chin followed up this attack by throwing Cosmo's limp form at Orion, who was attempting to charge up a massive fireball. However, the nearly unconscious fairy struck his comrade, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Orion's wand accidentally went off, causing the charged fireball to fly from the wand and hit the wall, leaving black scorch marks.
With his other opponents temporarily incapacitated, the Nega-Chin turned his attention to the warrior squirming in his fist. Timmy was panicking, desperately waving his arms, hoping to hurt his captive. However, the evil doppelganger also had the upper parts of his arms pinned to his sides, making any kind of swing near impossible. The boy looked up into the villains glowing red eyes in fear.
"Well, this is it," the Nega-Chin commented. "I suppose I should say some humorous one-liner, but that's too much like my goody-goody alternate, so I'm just going to snap your neck like a twig." With that, he grabbed the top of Timmy's head with his other hand and prepared for the kill.
"What gets wetter the more it dries?" the servant asked.
Now that was a confusing question. Trixie and Wanda entered deep thought to try and figure out how such a paradox was possible. After a minute, Wanda finally understood.
"A towel. It dries people off, and the more it dries someone, the wetter it becomes!"
The servant tried not to show it, but he was becoming more and more nervous. That made six riddles they had answered correctly. Only four more and he would be forced to keep his promise and return the weapons. Then he'd be forced to ace them in a fair fight. And if he lost…well, he didn't want to think about what his creator would do to him.
"Lucky guess," he muttered. "Let's see…alright, what reflects but never shows itself?"
Trixie came up with an answer immediately, but thought she should talk to Wanda about it first. "Do you think the answer could be light?"
Wanda shook her head. "No, light can be seen…but sound can't! The answer's an echo!"
The servant was truly shocked that the riddle had been answered correctly. "How'd you know that! You must be cheating!"
"No, we're just smarter than you," Trixie said, dismissing the notion. "Now come on, we only have to answer two more."
"Fine. What does everyone get, but nobody wants?"
Once again, the two girls entered deep thought. After a few minutes of thinking, Trixie had an answer. "Sick. Everybody gets sick, but nobody wants to."
"Alright! That means we have just one more riddle to go!" Wanda commented.
"Maybe, but you'll never get this one. What food do you remove the outside, cook the inside, eat the outside, and throw away the inside?"
Silence.
Wanda turned to Trixie. "Well, is any fancy rich people food like that?"
"Not that I know of. What about fairy food?"
"Sorry, we usually eat the same things humans do. I swear, Cosmo can eat such grotesque amounts of cheese and corn that…"
"Wait, that's it!" Trixie exclaimed. "With corn, you shuck the outside, cook the inside, eat the outside of the inside, the corn, then throw away the inside, the cob! The answer's corn on the cob!"
The servant's eyes widened in shock. "No! Impossible! How could you have answered all my riddles so easily?"
"What does that matter?" Wanda asked. "The point is we won. Now, hand over our weapons."
The servant growled, but lifted his hand, causing the gloves and wand to reappear. Quickly, Wanda gripped her wand and Trixie slipped her gloves back on. As the pair revealed in their reacquired weapons, the servant arched back.
"Don't forget, you still have to beat me, and I don't intend on letting you leave!" With that, his arms shot forward, turning into strands of darkness that were headed right for the two heroines.
Timmy's short yet surprisingly eventful life flashed before his eyes. He thought for sure this was it, that the swords couldn't help him, his friends couldn't save him, and that he was truly going to die.
However, he was once again saved at the last second. The Nega-Chin, in his haste to destroy Timmy, had made one little flaw. When he knocked Chester onto his back, he knew it would take the tow headed boy a few seconds to get in the right position to swing his flail again, precious seconds he could use to destroy his enemy.
But Chester showed quite a remarkable ability to think on his feet. Instead of trying to get up to swing again, he threw his shield directly into the Nega-Chin's back.
The attack didn't do much damage, but it served its purpose as a distraction. Immediately, the comic book fiend stopped what he was doing and turned around, annoyed at the interruption. He mind was temporarily off killing the boy in his grip.
It was long enough for Orion to fire a blast of blazing hot flames directly at him. Caught off guard, the evil alternate screamed in pain and dropped Timmy. Taking advantage of his new found freedom, the pink suited swordsman leapt up and slashed the villain across the chest.
The Nega-Chin stumbled back and fell to the ground, momentarily stunned. As Timmy recovered, he got an idea. He looked around for Cosmo, and found him laying on the ground, badly injured. Timmy became filled with distress, but quickly pushed it down, knowing he had to take advantage of this opportunity. He turned his best human friend. "Chester, quick, wish for my copy of the Essential Crimson Chin."
Chester was puzzled by the request, but made the wish. Seconds later, Orion poofed the comic into his godchild's hand. Immediately, the buck toothed boy snatched the comic from his friend's hands and dashed over to the stunned villain. He then opened the book.
"Alright, Nega-Chin, back to your world!" he said. Suddenly, the book began glowing, and the villain could feel himself being pulled in. Giving a cry of despair, the Crimson Chin's alternate was sucked back into the pages and panels it called home.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Timmy handed the book back to Chester. "You might want to make sure the door to the Comic Book World is closed." With that, he went to help his godfather.
The Nega-Chin stood atop a skyscraper, cursing into the night. "Curse that Cleft! He sucked me back into this two-dimensional world! How could this get any worse?"
"Did somebody say…justice?" a heroic voice yelled.
The Nega-Chin's eyes widened as he turned to see his alternate heading strait for him. Just before his pounding, he said two words.
"Oh smoof."
The Shadow pounded the arms of his chair angrily. "How? How did he get this far? That buck toothed brat should have been dead by now!"
Norm laughed. "My turn. Hey, Jeeves, think you could give me a hand?" he said, referring to Remy.
Remy growled at his nickname, but picked up the lava lamp. "I wish for three more wishes." Norm snapped his fingers and it was so.
"Now then, for wish number one, I wish you would destroy Turner, and wish number two, I wish the lamp was hidden in the arena so you could be close enough to it to perform your deadliest attacks!"
Grinning evilly, Norm snapped his fingers once more.
It didn't take the small group long to reach the next floor. Immediately after the battle, Cosmo used one of his potions to cure himself. Following that, he had poofed the comic containing the Nega-Chin back to Timmy's box of comics and insisted they continue on.
In no time they were on the fourth floor. As before, their path to the next floor was blocked, and the only way to continue on was to enter the floor's lobby and face whoever was waiting for them.
When they opened the door, they saw nothing, just an empty room. Still keeping their guard up, they cautiously entered the room.
When they were all inside, the door suddenly slammed shut. Seconds later, in a puff of purple smoke, several steel restraints appeared on the doorway, blocking any hope of escape.
Before the group could contemplate this development, an explosion of purple smoke caught their attention. When the smoke cleared, they saw a very unwelcome sight.
"Norm!" Timmy and Chester yelled angrily.
"A Fairy Idol winner?" Orion asked. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder."
"Hey, Turner, ever so sorry to interrupt your little rescue attempt, but Remy just made a wish. So I'm going to have to destroy you. I wish I could say it was nothing personal, but the truth is I always hated you're guts."
With that, he summoned a ball of magical energy in his palm and fired it at the group.
