I would like to say that 'The eternal optimist who always thinks of happy endings while on her permanently reserved position on the big comfy couch of denial' is not a crook. She has not now, nor has she ever lied about her involvement in bringing you chapter 5.

(…) means wonder twins telepathy and ((…)) means Cosmo and Wanda telepathy.

Hmmm, a reference to an older cartoon. I'm sure that the 'Wonder Twins' should be an easy one for you all to get!

Trixie21

No, I don't own FOP or any reference to its varied characters mentioned herein, and unless the new episodes that follow 'School's Out' begin showing the love again, I wouldn't want to. So, for now, Butch Hartman can keep his name tacked on…even if it is for nothing more than the royalties at this point.

Oh…and I don't own The Big Comfy Couch either. That belongs to some broadcasting company in Tennessee I think. : )

Fairly OddParents : The Next Generation

Chapter 5. The Next Step

It was time.

The first wave had been deployed without anyone being the wiser. Not in the factory, not in management…no one had a clue. And that was exactly the way the boss wanted it.

Too much time had been spent covering all the tracks and minor details. Too much money had been spent paying their way into the upper levels of the company. To many bodies had been cleverly disposed of by too many unsavory hit men. But it all led to this moment. And it was all going to be worth it.

"Sir! We're ready," called a minion from where he sat before a console of flashing lights and colored buttons.

"Excellent. Its time to begin phase three. Give me control at my station. I want to activate the first wave of troops myself."

Minion number 1 pressed several buttons, turned a knob and said, "Control at your station boss."

The boss's hands rubbed together gleefully as best as they could despite the jitters.

"Finally, after 20 years of waiting, my time has come! I'll see them all face to face once again and this time…there will be no one to stop me!"

A glowing orange switch on the control panel of the boss's special chair was flicked and an instant later, over a thousand pairs eyes began glowing across the world…an evil blood red.

xxxxxxxxx

"Uh! Oh no! Wanda! They have separate rooms! Does this mean we have to sleep in separate bowls?" asked Cosmo in a fit of terror as he held his wife's hands in his pleadingly, not even taking notice of the collage of posters and pictures of aliens and secret MIB organizations decorating Tommy's beige room.

"Why would you need to sleep in bowls?" asked Tommy.

"Because the long term disguise we usually use when we're in a home is as goldfish in a fish bowl," Wanda informed the boy as she glanced at her alarmed husband.

"Wanda!" cried Cosmo. "I don't want to be alone!"

"So, our getting goldfish the other week wasn't exactly coincidental, was it?" asked Tammy.

"Not really, no," replied Wanda with a smile as she pulled an arm free from Cosmo's terrified grasp to poof up their goldfish bowl replete with its purple castle, matching gravel bottom and clean clear water.

"Wanda!"

"Oh, Cosmo. Settle down for a minute," admonished the pink haired fairy resignedly. "They can either choose to keep us in one room only or they can take turns."

"But, but, but they wouldn't wish us stay in separate bowls…would they?"

Wanda smiled gently as she carefully extracted her other hand from Cosmo's death grip.

"Now dear, you know I would never let anyone separate us like that. If they can't come to an agreement, we'll just have to keep the bowl in the hall between their rooms."

"But no separating?"

"No separating."

Cosmo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew! Thank heavens. I just couldn't stand the thought of having to make my own breakfast! Or lunch…hmmm….or dinner….or in between meal snacks…or before bedtime snacks… Come to think of it the bed has to be made too. Well that's weird. Hey Wanda…how come they say the bed has to be 'made' too? Wouldn't that mean you'd have to cook it? Does that mean we could eat it too? Couldn't we just say we had to 'fix the bed' instead? Oh, wait. We do. But then doesn't saying that you had to 'fix it' imply that the bed was broken even if it wasn't? And what about saying 'fixing dinner?' Does that mean that when you say you're fixing dinner that you ruined it in the first place and have to go back and make it better?"

Wanda gave him a weary look.

Just then there came a strange whirring from the hallway.

"Uh oh! Its that robot! Its coming up!" said Tommy in worry.

Instantly, Cosmo and Wanda transformed into goldfish and dropped into their fishbowl where they floated serenely just as the bedroom door flew open with a loud bang.

The Vic-Bot glared at the twins menacingly as they looked up from their respective interests in feigned curiosity, Tammy reading a Buck Landrunner comic on the edge of the bed and Tommy, a thick science book open to a chapter regarding the periodic table and the various elements it represented as he lay on the floor.

"Hmmm……" grumbled Vic-Bot as it looked about the room before eyeing the fishbowl suspiciously. It moved before the bowl and stared intently and after barely a moment, Cosmo lost his nerve and dove into the castle leaving Wanda to float alone and try as hard as she could not to stare back at the robot in distaste. Sending a robot to care for children…really! Children needed live interaction if they were going to learn to become well adjusted and healthy adults. Even Timmy should have been able to understand that one.

'So much for not making the same mistakes as his parents,' thought Wanda dryly.

Wanda hadn't heard of anyone mentioning anything in the Fairy Council about accidentally revealing to a robot the existence of fairy godparents, but she wasn't going to take the chance and risk challenging the monstrosity glaring in at her. So, she concentrated instead on swimming aimlessly around the limited space of the watery home trying to look as vapid and unassuming as any real goldfish might. That was usually Cosmo's job since he was just such a natural at it. But as Cosmo was temporarily indisposed due to his normal overwhelming panic when faced with something truly intimidating, it fell to her.

Vic-Bot glared at her one last time before giving the kids a final look and moving out and down the stairs. They waited for an extra minute just to be sure the robot was out of hearing distance before Cosmo and Wanda reappeared in their usual forms.

"Nice work assuming non attention grabbing positions," complimented Wanda to the kids.

The twins grinned

"Its easy with all my comics in here!" replied Tommy as he looked at the book in his hands…before immediately tossing it up in panic as if it were suddenly coated in cooties.

"Ew! A science book! The pain of knowledge! Ahhhhhh!"

Tammy looked at her brother in confusion a moment before looking down at her own hands and cringing before throwing the comic at her brother's face.

"Oh, gross! Inane, senseless boy drivel!"

"Buck Landrunner is not inane. He's awesome!"

"Yeah right! Some geeky wimp running around fighting bad guys with a laser sword hidden in a ring and totally unbelievable magic powers?"

"Hey!" came the joint indignant cries from Cosmo and Wanda.

Tammy looked at the two floating godparents, with hands on their hips.

"Magic huh?" she asked slowly with a nervous smile.

Cosmo and Wanda nodded once in unison.

"Oh. Sorry about that," apologized the brown haired girl sheepishly.

Wanda smiled gently.

"Apology accepted."

"Ya know, Tommy, " began Cosmo with an unusual air of contemplation. Wanda couldn't help but shudder in worry at the look. "Maybe Tammy might understand him better if she got to know him a little."

Wanda's eyebrows arched up.

Okay. That didn't seem so bad. It was actually quite…insightful…for Cosmo.

"How? She never reads anything but art or school stuff."

Cosmo waved it off absently.

"Who said she had to read? Its so overrated anyway."

"You mean, I can wish for Buck Landrunner to be out here with us?"

Uh oh.

"Or better, you could wish for us to be in the comic!"

"Wait, Cosmo! You remember what happened that one time when Timmy wished to be in his…" started Wanda but was quickly drowned out by an ecstatic Tommy.

"Cool! I wish the four of us were in my Buck Landrunner comic!"

Wanda grimaced.

"Why do I have the sudden sense that a terrifying déjà vu is about to occur," she muttered dismally.

Cosmo looked blankly at her.

"Déjà who?" he enquired in confusion.

"Vu," his wife repeated.

"Voodoo?" asked Tommy.

"Who do!" rhymed Cosmo.

"You do?" Tammy asked of Wanda.

"Do what?" the godmother asked in return, not following the train of thought from anyone just then.

"Remind me of the babe!" sang Cosmo happily, more than a little delighted at his obscure and slightly dated reference.

Wanda rolled her eyes as she and Cosmo lifted their wands. Might as well get this one going. The sooner they got started, the sooner they would be done. Or dead. Whichever came first. Of course when it came to Cosmo, either one had just as much chance as the other of being the end result.

Tammy eyed her new godparents as she waved her arms frantically.

"Wait! No! I don't want to…"

POOF!

Too late.

xxxxxxxxx

Three hours later…

"No, thank you Tommy. The Power thanks you as well," said the black haired, short statured, ring toting hero of terra firma, Buck Landrunner.

Tommy beamed happily as Tammy rolled her eyes with a groan. This whole thing had been as lame as the ugly and uncomfortable dress she'd been forced to don for this. And the stupid bun she'd had to wear on the top of her head had taken the cake. It was totally the worst.

She took a quick glance at Cosmo and Wanda sitting just off to the right as a couple of giant, pink and green, salt and pepper shaker like robots. Their lower halves were smooth with ten rectangular plates sitting vertically like a metal skirt, each dotted with four bubbles that jutted out while the upper high domed top halves were separated with four horizontal rings. The two appendages they sported were nothing less than what looked like an egg whisk and a small sink plunger and they, according to the comic, couldn't do anything without the help of the stronger robots they commanded.

Maybe the dress and the bun weren't so bad. At least she didn't have to roll around looking like them, always get the mundane lines about some Maker's world domination plans, or yelling that they were going to be exterminated every ten seconds. And at least she wasn't covered in blaster scorch marks. Poor Wanda. She definitely did not look happy at all.

"We're glad we could be of assistance!" said Tommy to Buck. "Anytime you need us, just call."

He then turned to Wanda and Cosmo. "Okay guys! I wish we were back in my room!"

Wanda and Cosmo's whisk like appendages brought out their magic wands and in the blink of an eye the four were instantly back in Tommy's room, the comic book they had just spent the better part of three hours in, sitting on his bed.

Tommy turned and looked at Tammy.

"See! Didn't I tell you he was awesome!"

Tammy gave him a sisterly irritated look.

"Awesome? More like awful. That was the lamest thing I've ever been through in my entire life."

"What? How can you call him lame? He's great! Back me up on this one guys," entreated Tommy as he glanced at Wanda and Cosmo.

Wanda could only whistle distractedly and Cosmo looked decidedly unhappy about the position he was suddenly put in.

"Wanda?"

"Uh, well, its like this Tommy…I don't know how to say this but…it wasn't really all that entertaining."

Cosmo, seeing Wanda was finally prepared to say something about it, jumped in, "Entertaining? That was the most boring adventure I've ever seen! Even the Crimson Chin was more interesting than that guy! All that happened to us was getting blasted by randomly appearing guns out of no where!"

Wanda gave Cosmo an annoyed look as she flatly asked, "What do you mean, us?"

"Hey!" complained Tommy, upset that no one seemed to be on his side.

Wanda quickly tried to smooth things over.

"Its not that we didn't like him sport…its just that we sort of expected a little more from him with a super powered ring and all."

Tammy couldn't help but agree.

"It would have been better if there was some drama to it. I mean all he did was find a bad guy, beat him up or sword fight with him, and that was it until the next one. Where's the plot in it?"

"Its not supposed to have a plot! Its just for fun!"

"Well, if by fun you mean mindless excessive violence, poorly written dialog, and terrible line drawing, then I guess it delivered," said Cosmo with a half thoughtful look. "Personally, I still liked the Crimson Chin better. At least we got to be super powered dogs with respect in that one! The kibble wasn't half bad either…"

As she watched Wanda shake her head at her green haired husband's babbling, Tammy decided to take the discussion to a more personal zone. Wanda and Cosmo didn't seem so bad really, but she was used to dealing with her brother a little more privately. She knew if she could just appeal to his sense of fair play, he'd be fine. She just needed to do that without her new godfather's interruptions.

She was sure Wanda would understand that.

(Look, Tommy, I don't have to like Buck Landrunner, and you don't have to like reading my literary classics. So, can we just agree to disagree?)

Tommy crossed his arms in a huff.

(I don't know.)

(Aw, come on Tommy. You have your thing and I have mine. Its not bad that we don't like everything the same. If we did, we'd never get to have something special to call our own. We'd have to share everything.)

Not happy with the idea of sharing everything with his sister, the boy conceded the point.

(Ohhh, alright. But can you at least stop putting him down?)

(Okay. As long as you stop reading my dairy.)

(Deal!), said Tommy before he suddenly turned red having realized the neat little trap his sister had caught him in. (Oh…uh…wait a minute… I didn't mean to say that I do read it…)

Tammy looked at him with a smug smirk.

(My point!) she chirped happily in his head.

Cosmo watched the twins anxiously.

"Wandaaaa, they're doing it again!" he whined nervously.

He just wasn't used to the idea of humans being able to talk to each other like that. Somehow, it seemed scary to him and it almost made the fact that he could do that with Wanda seem a little less special.

Just then he felt a hand on a his arm and he looked to see Wanda gazing at him with a gentle smile as her understanding support filtered through to him.

((Don't worry dear. They're just settling their differences. It has nothing to do with us.))

Her husband gave a grateful smile for her reassurance.

((How do you know? You said you couldn't hear their thoughts.))

((I can't. But I can read their faces well enough to know.))

Cosmo gave her a curious look.

((How do you do that?))

Wanda smirked ruefully.

((Well, I had to learn to read you if I was ever going to understand you. It just became natural after a while. Besides, a person has to get good at something in their lifetime, right? You speak monkey, and I read faces.))

((Oohhh.)) Cosmo paused, then sent with a sly smile, ((You're good at a lot of other things too ya' know.))

((Awww!))

Wanda hugged Cosmo tightly and Cosmo grinned.

'Goal!' thought Cosmo to himself happily.

"Aw man! Tammy! They're getting all mushy again!"

Tammy rolled her eyes at her brother.

"Will you grow up Tommy! They're married. That's what married people do! You don't mind it when Mom and Daddy hug."

"Yeah, but they're our parents. These guys are like…like…friends, or something. What kid wants to see their friends hugging each other?"

"Wanda! Ya' hear that? They consider us friends!" cheered Cosmo with a flip.

Wanda just smiled.

Ohhh…a couple of references in this one for you all! There's so many because it originally was a split chapter, but I didn't like the interruption. It broke the flow.

Lets see…

1. A crime fighting hero using a magical ring to create weapons and things…is anyone old enough (besides me!) to know who that was?

2. This will be the easiest one. Buck Landrunner was principally a play on one major character, but it could actually become a mention to two. I'll except either or both.

3. Super kudos and cyber cookies to you if you can tell me where the 'Voodoo - who do - you do - do what - remind me of the babe' reference comes from! J Personally, that's my favorite one!

And 4. Can anyone tell me what Cosmo and Wanda are and where I got the robot personas for them from? I tried to be as descriptive as I could with what they looked like but I think the bigger clues can be settled to the fact that they looked like salt and pepper shakers, they were fighting the 'Maker' and they used the term 'Exterminate' often. Answers will follow next week.

Thank you's this week include…

Moonjava - I'm glad you're enjoying where this is going, though I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet! I can't wait to see what you think when you get into more of the plot pieces.

Aerinsoul - Yay! Another update! Glad you enjoyed their conversations. And yes, I totally agree. Cosmo is THE most adorable thing out there! I'm a huge Wanda fan though too. She's a tough broad and she and I have a more than a few qualities in common.

Squirt-Anne - I'm so glad you like this and I hope that 'keeping an eye on this story' means you'll be continuing to review regularly too! ;) Like you, I wondered what was going to happen with Timmy's kids too, so I decided instead of wondering, why couldn't I come up with something? And just think…the best parts haven't even begun yet!

Trixie21