A/N: Here it is, folks, the penultimate chapter of True Heroes!
Disclaimer: Fairly Oddparents copyright Butch Hartman, Billionfold, Nickelodeon, and Viacom. Superhero trademark DC and Marvel.
As brave as the Magician tried to appear, he could not stop himself from trembling at the presence of one of the most terrifying villains to walk the Earth. The dark aura that the Nega-Chin emitted was enough to send most heroes packing.
But the young hero-in-training was surprisingly brave. Swallowing his fear, he tossed out two more hands of magic cards. However, this time the experienced villain was more than ready. He dodged the attacks easily and was soon right in front of his tiny adversary.
While the Nega-Chin was moving slower (the Magician had actually seen him run up to him) he was still moving fast enough to act before the brown-haired hero could react. In no time the Magician was pinned against a broken building wall, being held by his neck. As the boy gulped, the villain gave a malicious smile. He pulled his victim away from the wall, then proceeded to slam him against the wall as hard as possible.
In an instant, the Magician's vision went red with pain. His back felt like it had been ripped open, which was probably a safe assumption. He was then pulled away again, gripped by one of his legs, and slammed against the ground. Now it felt like his head was splitting open. His top hat, which had amazingly stayed on the whole time, finally rolled off to the side. As he reached for it, a heavily muscular leg slammed onto his back, cracking his spine with an audible snap.
As the boy cried and groaned in agony, the Nega-Chin grinned, revealing his sharp teeth. "Did you really think an insignificant brat like you could beat me?" he laughed, kicking him in the side, forcing him on his back and breaking a few ribs as well.
His vision blurred, the Magician looked over at his fallen comrades. "I…can't…lose…" he moaned, attempting to get up.
"You're persistent, I'll give you that…and skilled. I wouldn't expect a kid like you to last against me, let alone damage me. For that, I'll end your suffering," he said, positioning himself over the small hero. He put his fists together in a single ball and raised it over his head.
"No …" the Magician said weakly as he realized what was coming. He looked over at his teammates. "Trixie…Chester…Tootie…I can't fail them."
"Aw, how sweet. Don't worry, I'll take care of them. They'll make good generals in my army." With that, he slammed his two fists down on his victim's head.
However, to the Nega-Chin's surprise, the attack was blocked.
The Magician, previously withering in agony, had blocked the attack with both hands, showing no signs of strain. He was now glowing a white aura. And, as a final thing the Nega-Chin realized when he snapped out of shock, was that it hurt to touch him.
The evil alternate yelled and pulled his arms back, looking at his hands. They looked burned, with pieces of his costume melting and missing.
Before he could fully comprehend what had happened, the Magician, now seemingly free of injury or fatigue, rose to his feet, pulled two hands of cards from his sleeves, and threw them with the grace and skill of a ninja warrior. The cards flew into the mighty villain, slicing skin and becoming embedded in his stomach. As he angrily pulled the projectiles out, his opponent lifted his hat off the ground and pointed its brim at the Nega-Chin.
"Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat," he said with wit. At that moment, a wave of what appeared to be stuffed rabbit plushies erupted from the top hat, bearing full force at the terrifying villain. The projectiles hit their mark, causing damage due to their intense magic concentration.
"That's it!" the alternate yelled, throwing the final plushie aside. "I am going to break you in two!" He suddenly flew forward, and before the Magician could react he was punched in the face. He went flying back, but before he landed his incredibly quick opponent ran into his flight path and used both his fists to slam the boy into the ground.
When the Magician hit the ground, he immediately heard the unmistakable sound of the Nega-Vision powering up. Using reflexes better than he had before, he rolled out of the way and to his feet just as the rays scorched the earth. Quickly he reached into his left sleeve with his opposite glove and pulled out a multicolored scarf rope of great length. Swinging it like a whip, the colorful band wrapped itself around the alternate's eyes, blinding him and burning his face.
As the Nega-Chin attempted to pull the band free, the Magician ran forward and punched him repeatedly in the stomach, every quick jab burning through the villain's abs.
Nearly thirty feet away, Wonder Gal began to twitch before slowly pushing herself up. Wiping some dust out of her eyes, she looked over to where her boyfriend and the terrifying villain were doing battle. At the same time, A.J. began to stir.
"What's going on?" the boy genius quipped as he climbed back into his hoverchair.
"I think Timmy's powers have come forward just in time," the girl said.
"How very deus ex machina," A.J. sighed.
Back on the battlefield, the Nega-Chin managed to pull his makeshift blindfold off and land a punch on his opponent, sending him flying. Using some very impressive reflexes, the Magician managed to land on his feet. But immediately the dark creature leapt toward him. For a moment, he thought to dodge, but then he got an idea. As the towering villain got closer, he crouched to the ground. When his opponent got close enough, he pulled a card out of his sleeve and jumped toward his opponent with the unusual weapon out front. Instead of using it as a projectile, he slammed it into his chest.
For a tense split second, the world stopped. The Nega-Chin froze as the light item pierced his dark heart. From his chest, veins of light spread over his body. Finally, he gave an earsplitting cry of pain was he fell to the ground.
The Magician surveyed his fallen opponent. He noticed that his legs were melting into black goop. He realized what must be happening. His opponent was returning to the weakened form he had been in before he was resurrected…or maybe even disappearing for good. He realized something else.
"Wow, ironic. All that dark energy you collected to become invincible just left you vulnerable for my attacks. The ones that unlocked my powers told me that dark magic is always weak against light magic.
As more of the terrifying villain melted away, he spoke. "I admit, you're good…and focused. I was hoping to throw you off your game by ratting your relationship out to Wonder Man."
At that, the Magician's eyes bugged out. "That was you?"
Seemingly ignoring the hero-in-training, he continued speaking. "But even though you won, you only delayed things. Crocktopus will take over my organization and the new world order will still come, even if I'm gone. But before I go, I have a little parting gift for you."
With that, the Nega-Chin grabbed some of the goop that was once him and threw if forward. The Magician jumped to one side, expecting the attack to be for him, but the attack never even got close. He turned to the direction of the attack to see the goop land directly on wonder Gal.
Immediately the young girl started screaming in pain. The Magician's eyes bulged out. "Trixie!" he yelled, forgetting secret identities.
"I may be beat, but your little girlfriend's going down with me! You'll suffer for your meddling!" the Nega-Chin laughed.
Forgetting the villain dying on the battlefield, the Magician ran over to his fallen girlfriend. "Trixie, Trixie, please hold on!" he yelled as his other teammates began to get up.
It was at that point that two puffs of pink smoke appeared not ten feet away from the weary group. Cosmo and Wanda, in full face concealing uniform, appeared on the battlefield.
"Looks like Binky got his calculations right," Wanda muttered. "With the Nega-Chin dissolving, enough of that dark aura has gone down for us to be here."
"I don't get this design," Cosmo quipped obliviously as he surveyed the scene of destruction. "Some feng shui would really liven this place up!"
Before his pink haired wife could respond, Timmy ran up to the pair of fairies, barely coherent in his panic. "Guys, you've got to help Trixie! The Nega-Chin threw something at her, now she's in pain, I think she's dying, and…"
As the boy rambled, Wanda caught sight of the girl still screaming on the ground. Under her hood, her eyes expanded to twice their normal size. "Oh my gosh!" In a puff of pink smoke she was at the girl's side, her husband and godchild at her side soon after.
She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. A second later she pulled it back, crying in pain. After shaking her burning palm she ran the star end of her wand up and down the still screaming girl's body. When the star darkened, the pink haired fay cringed.
"This is bad. She's been infected with dark magic, too much for her to handle."
"Isn't there anything you can do for her?" the Magician pleaded.
"Not without a full blown magic lab," Wanda said sadly, "and we'll never get her to one in time."
"There has to be something!" the hero-in-training pleaded, sounding desperate.
"I'm sorry, Timmy, but putting out the amount of magic needed to save her would kill any fairy."
For a moment, the magical hero was silent. Then, he spoke. "What about my magic? Can you use that?"
Wanda looked at the boy for a moment, realization crossing her features. "We could… using all your magic, we might be able to cleanse the dark magic from her."
"So what are you waiting for?" the Magician cried.
"Well, there's a catch," Wanda said. "We'd be required to take the magic out of you to use it. And once we use it, it will be too tainted to put it back into you."
The hero pondered this. "You mean…"
"If we do this," the fay said, "you'll never be able to use your powers again."
The Magician looked at her girlfriend, still twitching on the ground. It wasn't a hard decision. "Trixie's worth it," he said firmly.
"If you're willing to do it…Cosmo, give me a hand."
"You got it!" her husband chirped happily, lifting his wand up. His wife did the same, both of them pointing the tips of their wands directly at their godchild's forehead.
Suddenly the brown-haired boy felt weak, like the life was being sucked out of him. That wasn't too far off. At that point a strand of light began erupting from his forehead, apparently pulled by the fairy's wands. He fell to his knees when, finally, the full strand was out, pulsating wildly.
Quickly but carefully the two fairies brought the magical strand over Wonder Gal, still twitching and screaming wildly. With some care, they draped the magic over the suffering girl.
Almost immediately the magic sank into her form, causing it to glow an almost angelic light. Instantly the darkness was absorbed and Wonder Gal slowed down, relaxing. She was now at peace. Almost instantly she drifted out of consciousness. Smiling, Timmy did the same.
The remaining six students watched this scene in awe. Suddenly, an evil laugh entered their ears. The looked to see the Nega-Chin, now only a head but still laughing.
"What are you so happy about?" A.J. asked. "We've won. You're dying and no one else got killed."
"You don't get it, do you?" he laughed as his facial features become distorted. "I may be powerful, but I'm far from the most powerful one to share my views."
Eight pairs of eyes widened at this. "What?" their voices shouted in unison.
"It was stupid to give those powers up. There will be others that will come, and now that you don't even have that magic, they'll roll right over you! I've done my job eliminating the greatest threat. I'll be remembered."
With that, he laughed his last as his head melted into goop, leaving a very worried group of heroes.