Thousands of Fairies are getting sick, so anti-fairies are close behind. Anti-Cosmo decides to take full advantage of that.
Anti-Cosmo floated at the base of the big anti-wand, his own wand attached to it in some weird, badly made contraption. This happened to be near the edge of the dark red clouds, giving the anti-fairy one of the best views of Fairy World from his placement. Of course, Anti-Cosmo didn't care about that in the slightest. He was preoccupied with the contraption.
"Excellent," he said to himself, "just one click more and power will be mine!" He laughed maniacally as he pushed the button on the device. The current that coursed through happened to use the young anti-fairy as a conductor too.
Millions of volts of electricity spread throughout his tiny body in a matter of seconds. Being immortal, it didn't kill him, but it hurt a lot more than he thought it would. As quickly as he could, the device was let go of, making it fall off of the anti-big wand. Anti-clouds are so hard and brittle that his homemade magic siphoning device shattered on impact.
"Well, that was a complete waste," Anti-Cosmo complained. The electroshock made his hair stick spike out as far as it could and covered him in black residue, so he grabbed his rattle to use its minimal magic to help get him cleaned up. Before he even started to try and use magic, the rattle glowed, making him stop in his tracks. It continued pulsing, then noises started coming from it. A voice actually. It was a static-y and bored sounding voice, but Anti-Cosmo understood it regardless.
"Is anybody there?" the voice asked.
Anti-Cosmo looked at his wand, amazed. "A broadcast… where? Why? Did I actually do something correctly for once in my life?"
"Oh hey," The voice said, gaining excitement. Apparently it heard the anti-child. "This sucks right. Where are you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know? Well, I'm not going to tell you, stalker. And yeah, life does suck. "
You could practically hear the joy drain from the broadcaster as he realized what he was talking to. "Anti-Fairy World?"
"Wow, I'm impressed. You got that just from my witty remark?"
"You won't be any help," the person complained. "Can you give this broadcast to someone in Fairy World?"
"What? No! I'm not going to Fairy World! Do it yourself you fairy with your big magic, colorful eyes, and good economy!" He assumed it was a fairy on the other end. Not many other creatures would have guessed anti-fairy just from that and want something delivered in Fairy World.
The person broadcasting didn't seem to disagree with this guess. He, instead, made it audibly apparent that he was annoyed with Anti-Cosmo. "Do you not have any news in your bizarroville over there?"
"No. Especially not Fairy news."
"Well, you should."
"Oh, what a high and mighty fairy. Tell me, do you have anti-fairy news in perfect-land?"
The fairy was silent. Anti-Cosmo already knew the answer, so the quiet was just a reassurance. "Looks like I'll have to tell you. I guess it'll be better than doing nothing," he eventually said. "So, everything in Fairy World is shut down. Everything! Everybody is stuck inside their homes because there's a highly contagious disease going around. It's a strange mutation of the chicken poofs, so the usual cure won't work."
Anti-Cosmo knew about chicken poofs (A/N: they're FOP canon, btw). While highly contagious, only one person could spread it, that being the original person who got it. Turning fairies into chickens, and anti-fairies into cows a couple days later, was basically the only symptom, besides just a general lack of energy, inability to fly, and occasional sneezes and coughs, so it wasn't really seen as a threat unless it got to Earth. It shouldn't get anybody too worried in Fairy World, even if the cure didn't work. "A strange mutation, huh? How's it different?" Knowing that he'd deal with the reverse of the effects soon, he might as well learn about it ahead of time.
"It's more of a sickness than usual. The infected become chickens, yes, but their magic goes rogue. The infected can't use it correctly. This makes it even worse considering that now everybody is contagious, not just one person, so it's really going crazy with who it affects. To try and stop the spread, everybody is forced to stay as far away from everybody else as possible. Some fairies didn't listen and went to Earth, so now the fairy godparents are being recalled and, to stop the faulty magic, the big wand has been mostly powered off. Nobody knows how to cure it, but I hear that they're trying. I live alone, hence why I'm talking to you. Luckly, I'm one of the few without it."
Anti-Cosmo looked, kind of begrudgingly, at Fairy World. The big wand did look much duller than usual. It wasn't a lie. It made sense why school was inexplicably canceled too, even though it just got off of a break. That meant everybody around him, and maybe even himself, would start turning into cows soon and stay like that for who knows how long. Their magic, since it was anti-magic, would go crazy too, not more sain. Their big anti-wand would probably be turned off, and then they'll be forced to stay home.
The thought of being stuck in his house with his family made Anti-Cosmo feel much more sick than any anti-illness could ever get him to be. Of course, anti-fairies couldn't be contagious, only the fairies could be, but Anti-Binky might be too big of an idiot to realize that. "H-how long has it been going on?" he asked.
"I don't know when it actually started, but it all started to get serious when Jorgen got it, like, four days ago."
Four days. That's enough of a gap for the anti-fairy delay to kick in. Anti-Cosmo's mind was slowly filled with dread for the upcoming misery. That was until an idea popped into his mind. "Jorgen got sick four days ago, but what about Binky?"
"Um, I would guess at about the same time. You know they work together, right?"
"And Cosmo. Is he infected? If so, before or after Binky?"
The fairy sounded confused. "That tiny ticking time bomb of destruction? Why should I know? And why do you care? Are you his opposite or something?"
"Nope. Gotta go. Thanks for the information I guess, and enjoy being sad and alone." Anti-Cosmo twisted his wand to end the transmission. He immediately started flying back toward civilization. "Let's just hope that bag of germs Cosmo got sick later than Binky did. With the element of surprise, health, and knowledge I should be able to take over Anti-Fairy World! Even with weak magic! This is history in the making!"
~~~~~~~~000~~~~~
Anti-Binky was sitting on his throne, thinking. "You know, that anti-bridge was a mistake."
"Why do you say that sir?"
"I don't know. It just feels like anti-fairies are using it willy nilly. Not even for bad luck related things. Back in my day, being able to go to Earth was a privilege, you know? Not just some every day, will of a whim."
Anti-Jorgen nodded. "Moo," he said.
"What?" Anti-Binky looked over to his companion, who was suddenly an awfully thin, blue cow. It was quite weird looking. "Is your Fagiggily Glad going good or something?"
"I-i don't know Sir," Anti-Jorgen said.
Anti-Binky sighed. "Well, it looks like you're sick." Anti-Jorgen sneezed, seemingly confirming that statement. "I don't wanna be around a diseased cow, so," Anti-Binky waved his hand as if to say 'go away'.
"As you wish sir," Anti-Jorgen said. He raised his wand to poof away, but it exploded everything instead. Now covered in ash, Anti-Binky glared at his second in command furiously. "Sorry sir, I'll walk home."
"You'd better." The door closed and Anti-Binky poofed himself clean. "What kind of messed up illness was that anyway? Anti-chicken poofs? Then what's with the explosion?" He groaned. "I hope Binky didn't get it." As if cued, Anti-Binky sneezed too. "Of course he did…" Anti-Fairy World's ruler felt himself turning into a cow and losing the ability to fly. "At least it won't get much wo-"
Before he could even finish his thought, Anti-Cosmo poofed into his castle with his rattle in his hand and a huge smile on his face. "Perfect!" the anti-child exclaimed.
Anti-Binky honestly forgot about Anti-Cosmo, it's been a while after all, but the second he saw him and his recognizable green eyes, he jumped to conclusions immediately. "You did this!"
Anti-Cosmo shook his head. "No, I was just lucky. Now prepare to lose your throne!"
Anti-Binky crossed his hooves and glanced at the baby blue rattle in Anti-Cosmo's hand. "What are you going to moo?"
The anti-child knew that he meant 'do', but that was a fine question. He didn't have enough time to plan. "Well, I can fly, use magic correctly, and so much more. You should hand over the throne nice and easy, before you get your sickly old body hurt." Anti-Cosmo hoped that Anti-Binky was a big enough idiot to realize he didn't have too much of an advantage. Sure, he did have the energy of a child, which was a lot, but his flying abilities and magic were far below average. In fact, his horrible flying was a big reason why he got pathetic magic in the first place. That and illiteracy.
Anti-Binky stared at him unimpressed. He sneezed, then said "that's all? Not even a friend this time?" Anti-Cosmo didn't respond. Rolling his eyes, Anti-Binky raised his wand. It glowed blue, but then poofed up a pile of rocks. "Huh?"
"This thing ruins magic," Anti-Cosmo says as he's lifting up the rocks with his magic. "So chanse #2. Give me the throne."
"No."
Anti-Cosmo grabbed a rock from the floating pile and threw it at his leader. It actually hit. Cows made better targets than anti-fairies, so it wouldn't be too hard to aim.
"Ow! What moo moo think moo're mooing!" The moos were obviously stand-ins for do or you.
"Getting a throne!" Anti-Cosmo threw another rock, and this one hit too.
Anti-Binky was not hard to infuriate, so Anti-Cosmo definitely got him to that point. His eyes glowed a deep angry red, and his wand quickly glowed too. The room got poofed on fire, but Anti-Cosmo didn't really care. It would hardly hurt. He threw another rock, but it missed this time, so he threw three at the anti-fairy cow all at once. They all landed. "Stop it!" Anti-Binky hissed at him.
Anti-Cosmo smiled and threw another rock. "I'll stop when you hand over Anti-Fairy World."
Anti-Binky's wand glowed again, poofing up carrots. "It's not working!" he seethed. Then sneezed.
Anti-Cosmo grabbed a carrot and put it into the fire. "Yeah. Your magic just makes random things, doesn't it? What are you trying to do?"
"Zap moo, wrap moo in iron, poof moo away, or anything like that!"
The carrot made a loud snap as Anti-Cosmo bit a piece off. "Sucks not having good magic, doesn't it?" He threw another rock. "And it looks like you can't do anything without magic…"
"I can get you without magic!" Anti-Binky growled. He tried to grab the anti-child, but he was floating out of reach of the grounded anti-cow.
Getting smugger and smugger by the minute, he threw the rest of the rocks, most of which landed. "Yep. Pretty pathetic. Be a doll and poof up some more rocks for me."
Anti-Binky looked ready to explode with anger. He tried to use magic again out of instinct, but it poofed up some wood instead.
"Ooo, that's better." Anti-Cosmo lifted the wood up to him, he caught that on fire and threw it at Anti-Binky. Anti-Binky tried to throw it back, but Anti-Cosmo dodged it. Being young did have some perks, like being small and agile, so it didn't hit. Anti-Binky started throwing the rocks too and they never hit either. All the while Anti-Cosmo was throwing burning wood and almost always hit.
It would probably look like a pretty stupid battle from an outsider's perspective, since it was basically a petty game of dodgeball with abnormal ball replacements, but it was making Anti-Binky so aggravated, and Anti-Cosmo way too proud of himself. Instinct, once again, caused Anti-Binky to poof up moths, which immediately died in the fire-filled room. Fed up with the faulty magic, Anti-Binky threw his wand at Anti-Cosmo. The young anti fairy immediately dropped everything, making his rattle disappear so he could catch the wand. He barely made it, but he managed to grab the wand midair.
A real wand brimming with anti-magic. His green eyes were practically glowing with excitement. It dawned on Anti-Binky that he messed up. With his magic wand, the most powerful one in Anti-Fairy World, even an idiot could take him over at this point. Anti-Cosmo was well aware of this too. He pointed the wand at Anti-Binky, who had a majority of his anger replaced with fear. Anti-Cosmo laughed evilly. "I told you, you could have just handed over the throne. But no, you make it come down to this."
"Oh, come on, I've been the leader for so long. Surely there'll be mercy…"
Anti-Cosmo scoffed. "Not a chance." The wand started glowing, so Anti-Binky braced for impact. "It wasn't nice knowing moo."
Anti-Binky opened his eyes at the last word. He couldn't believe the perfection of the timing.
The room magically filled with water, which they were once again not affected by since they don't need to breathe. The pressure of the liquid did, however, break the walls of the castle, and flowed out and through the clouds. It also put out all of the fire and washed away the wood and rocks.
Ignoring the rather inconsequential water, Anti-Cosmo looked at the wand in his hands in horror. "No, no, no, no, no… this can't be moo! I was so close!" he cried. He was floating slowly toward the floor. "Stupid Cosmo and his stupid friends' stupid interactions and this stupid disease and stupid, stupid, stupid, stu-" his repetitive words got cut short by a sneeze. He was standing on the floor at this point, looking fully like a blue calf with big, green eyes filled with regret.
Anti-Binky stood over him, with all of the previous fury back, and also all of Anti-Cosmo's previous smugness. "So moo work on a no mercy policy, right? Well, let's see how well that works," Anti-Binky said.
Anti-Cosmo tried to poof away, but it just made flowers appear. Funny how in just a few seconds Anti-Cosmo went from thinking that this was the best plan ever to the worst in existence.
If the fairies were anything to go off of, it would take about ten days for all of the infected anti-fairies, which was a lot, to get back to normal. They did go into quarantine like the fairies, and it was even worse than what Anti-Cosmo imagined. Over a week of living with the torture both Anti-Binky and his mom provided, along with the added torture of not being able to see Anti-Wanda. He was too busy regretting all of his life choices that he didn't hear what was going on in the next room over.
Anti-Binky, who still resembled a cow, entered Anti-Schnozmo's room. The anti-teen was already on edge over the fact that he wasn't a cow like everybody else, since that probably meant that his opposite was doing something stupid, so seeing the leader of his world in his room horrified him. 'This is it,' he thought, knowing full well that Anti-Cosmo recently tried to take over Anti-Fairy World. 'This is when I disappear. Wiped out of existence.' Shaking like a leaf, he closed his eyes and braised for the worst.
"You're Anti-Schnozmo, right? The namby-pamby, small nosed freak of a brother-to-the-green-eyed-freak that can't lie or disobey orders?"
"Y-yes," he said, still braising. He guessed Anti-Binky got that information on him from his mother.
"Good. Your little brother has been a real thorn in my side for a while now. I need you to give him bigger problems to deal with than bugging me."
Anti-Schnozmo opened one eye. "W-what?"
"Ruin his life a little. Hit him where it hurts. You know him well enough, so it shouldn't be too hard. I would ask your mother, but funnily enough, she doesn't know much about what Anti-Cosmo likes. So, you think you can do that for me, your leader? Just make sure you say yes."
Anti-Schnozmo hesitated, but he knew there was nothing much he could really do. "Yes," he mumbled.
"Great, that's just what I like to hear. You're hired. I expect an update every month to make sure the nuisance is gone for good." Anti-Binky started walking out of the anti-teens room, grateful that he'll never have to deal with that close of a call ever again.
Anti-Schnozmo sat on his bed, frozen in fear. "I have to hit him where it hurts?" he repeated to himself. "I have to bring Anti-Wanda into this, don't I?"
A/N: So what do you think will happen next? Here's a bad hint: it will take place mostly at school. I read the last chapter's comments (and they're great, thanks so much BTW), so don't worry guest, Anti-Cosmo will hang out with his classmates again soon. Unless I change the story between now and when I publish it. Also, believe it or not I had the concept for this story a while ago, I just tweaked the illness a bit to be relevant-ish. I'd love to read your thoughts on this chapter too. Til next time