(…) means twin's telepathy and ((…)) means Cosmo and Wanda telepathy.
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 23. A Villain Explained
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
It was funny. Though he'd heard the expression a million times before, he'd never understood what it meant. Truthfully, he'd never even thought it meant anything at all. But in a fraction of a second, he not only comprehended it's meaning completely…he appreciated it as well.
He'd always thought he could never feel more love than he already did for Wanda and that alone had seemed to him to be bigger than the endless skies above. But how wrong he had been. The instant he saw her step into the room, so bold and beautiful even with her colors dulled down from the lack of magic, he'd wanted to simply explode from the sheer joy and utter ecstasy that made his heart swell. It was the richest, most powerful feeling of love of he'd ever known.
He was still scared as hell for her knowing it was all a trap, yet the hope and pride that filled him at the same time… This was his wife that braved the odds of danger to rescue him. Without magic, without any safety net to catch her, she had run right in even with his warning. Nothing was more important to her just then, than saving him.
And now, as Wanda stood like a rock staring back at Crocker, it was clear she was ready to do what ever it took to rescue him.
"So, my little friend, we meet again," said Crocker as he maneuvered his motorized chair forward towards her. "And just look how neatly I've caught you in my little trap."
Wanda looked behind her at the sound of a scuffing shoe to see several men approaching from behind and beside her, each with their electrical sticks of pain.
"Oh, no. Its no use running this time. I have the home field advantage so to speak, though, I don't think you'd want to leave just yet, would you? There's something here you came for. Someone you're hoping to free no doubt?"
Wanda made no reply as she continued to stare Crocker down.
Crocker gave a little sarcastic pout.
"Ohhh, nothing to say? Come now. I would have thought you'd have had plenty of time to construct a few choice phrases for me by this point. Perhaps a few snappy word plays…or a little mocking sarcasm maybe?"
Wanda continued to stare at Crocker steadily as she said flatly, "I'm not your friend."
Cosmo could see the look on his wife's face and his heart ached at it. To one not so well versed in her expressions, they would never have noticed that fleeting moment of anguish in her eyes. But he'd seen it and knew it nearly killed her to say those four little words. And only he knew why.
Crocker smiled.
"Oh you may want to be. I don't doubt for a second that before I'm done with you, you'll wish you were. You'll even try to make me one before all is said and done. When you can't stand the pain… Especially if its pain from who I have here."
Crocker waved an arm towards Cosmo and when Wanda looked over at him, he saw her eyes widen, emotion filling the expressive orbs. Even if he could, he wouldn't have needed to sense it to tell what she was feeling at that moment. She was absolutely elated at the sight of him. Even with her obvious anguish at his dilemma, she was utterly overjoyed to finally see him alive after almost twenty four hours. She was feeling now exactly the same thing he had when he had seen her come through that door.
"COSMO!" cried Wanda aloud.
"A sight for sore eyes, eh?" chuckled Crocker. Wanda turned back to him, the anger in her eyes burning like a wild fire. Crocker seemed not to notice or care.
"Yes. I knew you'd come for him. Oh, I'm sure you'll try and say that you came for all of them. Its what all good heroes would say, right? But the truth of it is that you came for him first and foremost. And I knew that. I was counting on it in fact."
Wanda glared at Crocker.
"And now that I am here, what do you plan on doing with us? I can't imagine its just a friendly little get together you've arranged."
Cosmo almost smiled. That was his wife refusing to rise to the bait. She wasn't going to let Crocker get her to lose her focus or dictate where it all led. There was only one person in the world who could succeed at that and that was Cosmo himself. A fact he'd always been rather proud of.
Crocker tapped his chin almost thoughtfully.
"Hmm. Oh, lets see...what did I have on the agenda for today…oh yes! Torture, torture, a little more torture…a side of humiliation, I certainly can't forget the degradation…and oh! Did I mention torture?"
Wanda rolled her eyes.
"If your purpose is to get me to feel a little pain, then I should probably warn you I've learned to have a remarkably high threshold for it."
She gave a meaningful glance at Cosmo and he gave a nervous little smile in response, knowing exactly what she was talking about. Years of his mistakes had toughened her quite a bit and even after only the first four thousand years of living with him, she could take a flamethrower in the face with barely a blink…magic or no.
Crocker didn't seem impressed however.
"And death? How's your threshold level for that?"
Wanda paused at the thought.
"Okay. I'll admit to having a relatively decent allergy to it. But I'd think that everyone here would agree to having one as well. Even embittered old men with one foot in the grave already."
That one had surprised even Cosmo, but to look at Crocker he understood why the last bit had been added.
Wanda was still keeping the score of the conversation higher on her side of the field and with the teeth grinding look now coming from Crocker, she'd obviously just scored another point.
"So what is it this time?" continued Wanda, taking her verbal advantage further. "Trying to rule earth again, maybe take Fairy World over a second time…or are we just keeping it simple as usual and looking for earth shattering proof that fairies exist?"
Crocker's grimace turned to a smile and Wanda gave a wary look.
((Be careful, Wanda!)) Cosmo sent to her. She didn't reply with anything more than a quick flick of her eyes in his direction, but he couldn't truthfully be sure if she'd gotten the warning. Everything she'd sent to him earlier had come to him garbled and broken and he'd wondered if maybe his thoughts sounded the same to her.
"Oh, I've grown up since the last time we met my dear. World domination, no matter which world, doesn't interest me anymore. As you can plainly see I'm a bit too old and, well, a bit too frail for such high aspirations these days. I'm settling for something just a bit less grandiose. And as for proving the existence of you and your kind, well... Lets just say I'm far more interested in making you a true fairy tale, rather showing everyone you were ever real."
Wanda blinked in slight confusion, Crocker's encouragement to continue.
"Revenge, my dear. You see, when I'm done having my fun first, all your little friends will be dead."
The world seemed to fall away from every fairy there as it was suddenly clear that what most had feared would happen, but didn't want to believe, was affirmed to them. Some of the fairies cried out, others yelled in indignation, many panicked…and Wanda and Cosmo could only look at Crocker in sickened shock and perturbed awe.
"And would you like to know who I'm going to start with my little friend? Hmmm?"
Cosmo shuddered.
'Don't say Wanda! Please don't say Wanda!' he thought to himself fervently.
Crocker grinned his maniacal smile and with a slow intentional movement, extended an arm and pointed to Cosmo.
"Phew" breathed Cosmo for a moment, thankful the man hadn't pointed at his wife. A second later however, his eyes went wide as he realized that it was himself the man was indicating.
"Hey!" he complained indignantly.
The look of dread that crossed Wanda's face was clear to everyone this time.
"Don't like that idea at all, do you?" goaded Crocker.
Wanda took a deep breath to steady herself.
"Why?" she questioned simply.
Crocked looked at her in dumb amazement.
"Why? WHY? You of all fairies should know why. Because of what you did to me. You and that green haired friend of yours. Although, I don't wonder if 'friend' might be too mild a word for what you and he are, is it?"
Once more, Wanda was not to be baited. She wasn't going to say anything about her relationship with Cosmo and risk giving the old man more to draw his attention back to Cosmo.
"All we ever did was try to protect ourselves and those around us from you," she said.
"Liar! You destroyed me! You turned everyone against me. You made me into a laughing stock. I couldn't even walk out of my mother's house without someone staring or pointing! 'Oh look! There goes the resident crazy man of Dimmsdale, Denzel Crocker! He thinks fairies are real so he must be nuts!' And all the while you were laughing behind my back!"
"Actually, we did most of our laughing in your face," said Cosmo with a grin.
Caught by both Wanda's unhappy grimace and Crocker's malevolent glare, Cosmo gave a nervous half smile.
"Heh," he said timidly. "I'll be quiet now."
"Good," said Wanda and Crocker at the same time. They looked at each other for a moment in surprise before their glaring contest continued and Cosmo harrumphed lightly to himself.
"Everything you're accusing us of," said Wanda to Crocker. "…you did to yourself. You made your own mistakes and you're going to have to accept them. You said you've grown up since the last time we met…well, sad to say I don't see it. If you did anything, I'd say you've turned into more of a child than the average child."
Wanda folded her arms then with an almost haughty turn of her head before she added, "Honestly, with the intelligence I'm seeing here, it surprises me you could even manage to come up with this pathetic scheme in the first place."
Cosmo stared wide eyed at his wife.
Okay. Even he knew that this was pushing it. If there was one thing Crocker was vain about, it was his intelligence and past experience said that he would defend it. Strongly. And by the look on Crocker's face, he was about to do just that.
xxxxxxxxx
(Man! I cannot believe she ditched us again!) moaned Tommy.
(Believe it,) said his sister. (But I can understand why.)
(Understand? Understand! What's there to understand? She left us out again!)
Tammy looked at her brother.
(She's just in a hurry to find Cosmo. Besides, she must really feel like he's close by to just go off like that.)
(Its still not fair,) argued the boy.
(Maybe not too us.)
(What? Are you on her side? You're the one that wanted to yell at her for ditching us last night to go wandering the streets of Dimmsdale all by herself.)
(Yeah. But that was different. We didn't know she'd gone because we were asleep.)
(So? She still went off without us! It still looks like the same scenario to me.)
Tammy gave her brother a steady stare.
(What's different is that this time, we know she's gone AND we know which direction she went in.)
Tommy gave Tammy a clueless look.
The girl sighed.
(Its different because this time, we can go follow her,) supplied Tammy.
(Oh! But how are we gonna' do that with Daddy right there?)
(Tommy, he's not going to stand there all day. He's eventually going to go inside and look around. All we have to do is wait until they go.)
(Oh! I get it!)
(About time.)
(Hey!)
"Alright boys," they heard their father suddenly call out to the officers, "We'll take each building one at a time. We get in, we spread out. Keep your radios on but try to stay quiet. No sense warning anyone we don't want getting away with a lot of senseless chatter. Got it?"
The men nodded in response and as they began to move off to the first building, Tim turned to look at the kids.
"You two," he said flatly as he pointed to them firmly. "Stay put. We have enough to talk about when we get home as it is."
Tammy and Tommy both gave 'caught in the cookie jar' guilty looks.
(Wow. He is not happy with us at all,) noted Tommy.
(And he's going to be even less happy with us if he catches out of the car,) added Tammy.
The two waited until their father and all the men, including Mr. Ibrahim, had entered the first building completely before Tammy looked at Tommy.
(Time to move.)
Tommy nodded.
The two kids quickly followed Wanda's example and scrambled out the car window quietly, refraining from using the door to avoid having to shut it and make any unnecessary noise. There was, after all, a driver in the front seat of the limo, and they highly preferred not alerting him to their absence in case he had heard their father's order to 'stay put'. They certainly didn't need him chasing after them while they were busy trying to find Wanda and Cosmo.
To the side street and the first goldfish bush they ran, trying to maintain a position out of sight of the front passenger side window to avoid notice by the driver. They ducked behind the bush and paused to listen, but when no calls rang out after them, they quickly dashed to the next bush. Again, there were no shouts, and as the two made it to the third bush they both sighed in relief knowing they were now completely out of sight of the car. There was no longer reason to pause at each bush and so they ran on to the very last one where they finally stopped and took stock of what was around them closely.
(I say we go in that last building. I mean, there's nothing else here to look at otherwise,) said Tommy.
Tammy nodded and led the way over to and in the front door.
Once inside, they made they way through the quiet building, choosing to use the higher catwalks above the ground floor.
(Man! This place is huge,) said Tommy as he looked about. (I wonder why nothing's on though.)
Tammy glanced about.
(I don't know. Mr. Ibrahim did say this whole place was practically fully automated. Maybe this one is shut down early for the day or something.)
Tommy shook his head.
(I don't think so. It's gotta' be something else. See those huge vat looking things down there? I think they're for melting the metal they use to make the Vic-Bots.)
(So?) said Tammy.
(Well, I saw this show on TV, about how they make cars, and the car makers had huge vats for melting the metal they use for the frames kinda' like these only bigger. They said on the show though that these things have to be kept on and at a steady temperature all the time or else it won't melt the metal right. And when they start to heat them up to use after being cold, they have to do it slowly and it can take almost two days before they're hot enough. Its not hot at all in here so I think they've been off for a while. They either don't need this building right now, or something is wrong with it that they shut it down.)
Tammy stopped walking to look back at Tommy with a curious and slightly surprised look.
(You learned that off of television?)
Tommy smiled.
(Yep!)
Tammy just shook her head before continuing on, her brother smiling happily as he trailed her. He couldn't always claim to know more than his sister, but when he could, he was most pleased with himself.
After another few minutes of walking and looking about, Tammy paused to listen. From an opening in a wall just before them, the sound of voices speaking trailed out to their ears.
(Do you hear that?)
(Yeah. There's someone in there,) confirmed Tommy.
(Let's get closer, but keep it quiet.)
The boy nodded and the two crept in softly. Once through the opening, they could hear the voices far more clearly and could tell that one of the people talking was their godmother. The other was a man, but they could see nothing of the floor below them save for snippets through the tubes and piping, girders and beams that criss-crossed the upper area where they moved. There were even tracks from which thick pulley chains for lifting and maneuvering heavy pieces of equipment were suspended, many with their massive hooks secured to the catwalk railings.
The two inched along carefully until they were very nearly over the scene itself and could look down with an unobstructed view.
Below their position on the catwalk, a large workroom stretched out beneath and besides the building support structures, they also saw twenty huge glass like enclosures ringed along two walls. Within each, they clearly saw the hundreds of fairy faces peering out and at the two talkers. Wanda stood with some 7 men almost completely around her save for the direction in which she faced as she looked at an old man in a motorized chair. Just off to the side, and some thirty feet away from that point, sat two metal panels on which were held their fairy godfather and another fairy with black hair. Four guards stood beside them.
(What do we do now?) asked Tommy as he looked to his sister for the plan of action.
The girl grimaced.
(I'm not sure. Give me a minute to think.)
Tommy watched nervously as the man in the chair went silent, the wheels of his conveyance now moving forward towards Wanda.
(Hurry Tammy!) he implored as a strong sense of dread filled him. (I don't think she has a minute!)
xxxxxxxxx
Wanda felt both the pulls of fear and loathing as the man approached her, his righteous indignation clearly written on his craggy face. His encroaching nearness smacked of danger a thousand fold and she wanted to both run from it for safety and challenge it by meeting him halfway at the same time. But instead, she stood her ground and waited for his next move.
It was like a chess game, she absently thought for a brief second. A macabre and vicious one yes, but a chess game none-the-less. He made a move… She made hers… He attacked with his verbal bon mot… She countered… It was all a matter of watching and waiting and making the moves that counted the most to the win in the end. Right now, the best move was to let him keep talking, let him keep moving, let him waste time. Let him lead them further and further with false security until a chance came her way…until opportunity presented itself…and then she would strike for the checkmate.
Crocker stopped his chair directly before her and leered down at her before he hissed out an order to the men standing beside Cosmo and Wandissimo.
"Bring them down."
The men seemed to hesitate as if unsure they had heard the order correctly, but when Crocker added the sharp "Now!", the men quickly did as they were told and undid the binds holding the two fairies. For a second, an underlying curiosity caused Wanda to wonder what exactly Wandissimo had done to get strung up beside Cosmo, not that it really mattered. But she was just a bit curious.
The moment Cosmo was unhooked, he started to try to fight the men for freedom, but the minions were cautious and ready and the fairy's oddly sluggish movements were quickly countered with two of the men grabbing Cosmo's arms and holding him between them firmly. He tried to struggle but got nowhere, and so settled as he pouted at the guards. Wandissimo made no move to struggle at all. He let the other two men release his bonds without incident and so was held by only one man as the second went back to holding his prong ended weapon.
"If this one so much as lifts a finger towards me, you have my permission to pull them apart," said Crocker to the guards holding the pair. The men holding the fairies grinned at each other.
"Now my little friend," began Crocker in a grated tone, his body shaking almost continually now with his anger as he turned back toface Wanda. "Understand one thing. I am a genius. I was the one who created this entire plan from start to finish. I was the one who spent years researching and experimenting on every possibility of capturing and containing you and your kind. I was the one who figured out your weakness against nets. I discovered how to use an upside-down net formation to keep you from using your magic. No, they don't look like nets do they? But the tiny filament within the glass forms a net and as long as it is designed as such, it holds you. It was I who discovered your other weakness and the key to my complete control and ability to capture you. Do you remember little fairy, when I caught you and held you prisoner in that scepter? Hmmm?"
Wanda remembered. All too well. The pain of having her magic ripped from her at his will had never disappeared from her memory. It never would, and the nightmares that came from that would continue to plague her for many, many years to come.
"You didn't dare think how it could hold you when it wasn't a net, did you? Why you couldn't just 'poof' away as you usually do? But I did. I wondered. I theorized. I tested and I discovered. I wished for a scepter that could hold you and it did, but when I later went back and tested what little I could find of its remains, do you know what I discovered? Evidence of a little thought of substance called tungsten.
"Since I'm sure you more than likely wouldn't know anything about it, I'll tell you. tungsten is a particularly dense metal. It's quite heavy like lead, but unlike it's more common counterpart, at 6,192 degrees Fahrenheit, it has the highest melting point of all known metals. Its tensile strength is so strong it can be stretched into a string no thicker than a strand of fine hair. It's uses include glass-to-metal seals, filaments for electric lamps, X-ray targets, heating elements for electrical furnaces, electron and television tubes, metal evaporation work, missile and high-temperature applications, fluorescent lighting, and even in paints. Metal-working, mining, petroleum, chemical and tanning industries all use it. You see, its everywhere, but usually only in trace amounts.
"But in those few fragments of scepter, it made up almost 80 percent of the metal. Oh, there was a little iron and a touch of aluminum as well, but the main part of it was tungsten. So I wondered, 'Why tungsten? What was so special about that particular metal that it should account for almost 80 percent of a magically made fairy-holding scepter?' It took almost fifteen years of study and testing to figure it out, but eventually, I did.
"You see, tungsten has two wonderfully marvelous effects. The first is that much like it does with electricity, it makes a superb conductor of your magic. It's my theory that even though your magic at first appears to be an un-based unidentifiable form of existential creation, it actually exists as a form of energy no different than any other creatable form of power. It is created and harnessed through you and my experiments suggest that when you are 'creating' an item from 'thin air' so to speak, you are actually using those little wands of yours to gather the needed elements from the air and surrounding sources to be put together in the form which you are trying to create.
"When you make something 'disappear', you're really just doing the same process, but in reverse. The elements and molecules of an object are separated and then released out into the air or environment. I believe you are essentially just manipulating matter. Its just another form of power that though far beyond the range of man at this point, is no different from any other and just like anything else in the universe, it has a start and a finish. I haven't quite discovered yet what those may actually be, but that hardly matters at this point.
"The second little detail I discovered about tungsten is that quite normally there isn't enough in any one spot to affect you in any major way. But when there is enough present, it can actually interfere with your ability to harness your power. It inhibits you to some degree, conducting it away, but when you and your wands are completely surrounded by it, it completely nullifies your abilities. In such a state, it is impervious to your power and that, dear fairy, was the key. Once captured, how to contain you. So I surrounded your little friends with it. Everyone of those robots made by Ibrahim Scientific Electronics was constructed during their production with a cell made of tungsten, iron and aluminum."
"But how did you change them without getting caught?" asked Wanda, her head nearly spinning with the information she'd been forced to listen too thus far. Whether some of his theories were right or wrong, she'd never guessed…never imagined!…their magic could ever have been so scientifically experimented and its explanation arranged. It was suddenly clear that every attempt made by Crocker to capture them was not just an exercise in possessing them for proof of their existence. It was to test each of his ever evolving theories. He had truly been a scientist of the highest order; driven with blind determination to find the answers he sought.
And Wanda understood why. Should have seen it sooner in fact.
In certain children, marks were made…memories felt, not thought…and some of these children, once adults, were encouraged, almost impelled, to drive themselves forward with more flare and passion; never understanding their whole lives why they felt the need to do so. Their imaginations stretched and soared beyond all bounds of the common. Their expectations and drive were limitless. Their persistence only exceeded by their sheer potential.
This was for some children, the after effects of having had fairy godparents.
Confucius or K'ung-fu-tzu, Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Alexander Graham Bell, Grigory Rasputin, Alfred Nobel, Marie Curie, Theodore Roosevelt, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, Albert Einstein, Linda B. Buck, …these were but a few of the many who because of the marks left within them, made marks upon the world. No, they were not always for the positive, but the influence was there none the less.
"How did you fool an entire company?" asked Wanda, fighting to keep her head clear.
"I'm glad you asked!" crowed Crocker happily, visibly reveling in his hard earned knowledge.
"The first key to any decent plan of attack is money, and for this, lots of it. Fortunately, a little windfall from a dear departed uncle of mine set me up quite nicely and I was able pay a few designers and programmers within Ibrahim Scientific to make some very special modifications to their run programs and the design to allow for my little containment cells.
"Of course none of those poor fools ever received their full monetary payment since after I hired a veritable plethora of slightly more sinister associates, all of the Ibrahim Scientific employees that had so negligently dropped their loyalty to the company for the almighty dollar, found themselves dropped down some very deep holes in the ground. In the meantime, I made sure to have my regular minions in place within the facility to be sure that the production phase of the robots went according to plan. It's a most amazing thing that though the owner of the company has such stringent requirements for his programmers and designers, he'll let any Tom, Dick or Harry with sufficient training work in his industrial plants.
"Even with this being a predominantly automated complex, there are still people needed. Production foreman, repairmen, heating and cooling engineers, quality control inspectors… They still needed them and they hired every man I sent. You see, technically speaking, with all the men I had placed here, I ran this entire complex.
"I even created a dummy corporation and construction company to repair the "damage" my men placed in this particular melting and casting building. When it had to be closed for repair, my company made the lowest bid for the job making it simplistically easy to shuttle in and make everything you see here. Every piece of glass and tungsten, the cells, the little toys and nets you see my men carrying were all made and pieced together right here. With its side door and no unnecessary viewers, I could even be sure that the robots would return with their cargo unseen. And I saw it all. I planned it all. Every detail. Every bit of minutia. Nothing left unaccounted for. Even your arrival once we had your little companion. Everything."
Crocker leaned forward in his chair, his face now but a mere foot away from Wanda's.
"This was all created by me."
He tapped his head lightly as he said in a low menacing voice, "By my mind."
Sickened and more than a littletired of hisgloating, Wanda gave a cold glare back to Crocker.
"As twisted and broken a thing as that is," she retorted softly.
For a moment, Crocker gave her a surprised look, obviously shocked by the reply. But it was quickly replaced with a look of utter and ugly rage.
Without another word, Crocker jerked his arm back then swung out and down, and like a gunshot, the report of Crocker's strike echoed throughout the entire work room.
Pain streaked across her mind…
…and one fairy went mad.
Wow. This thing took a whole week to get down. Not including author notes and TYs, it's the longest chapter to date as well.I must be nuts.Oh, and for any who would care to know…the base information about tungsten, it's melting point, its uses…everything except for it's application against magic, which was a plot point constructed by me of course, is real and was researched for it's validity. Its such a weird name…Tungsten…almost as neat as Boron. (What Cosmo's brain is made of according to Wanda in 'School's Out,' lol!)
Discovered in 1783-- by Fausto and Juan Jose de Elhuyar -- the Swedish words "tung sten" mean "heavy stone". It's symbol on the periodic table is "W" from the word "wolfram", which is derived after the mineral wolframite, which is what tungsten was found in upon its discovery. It also has nuclear applications being used in kinetic energy penetrators, usually alloyed with nickel and iron or cobalt to form tungsten heavy alloys, as an alternative to depleted uranium. It's not normally a problem but most scientists suggest regarding it as highly toxic just to be on the safe side since in a metal dust form it presents a fire and explosion hazard. And China produces 75 of the world's tungsten. Strange, but all true.
And that's our science lesson for today. Test on Monday! Lol. Just kidding.
And I have now reached a new level of detail geek, lol. In my list of famous folks from above, I included Linda B. Buck. Just so you know, she was a 2004 Nobel Laureate in Physiology /Medicine, along with Richard Axel, for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system. Basically for unraveling the newest secrets of our sense of smell. After the mentioning of the sense of smell two chapters ago, I thought it would be fun to add that little tidbit in. ;)
Now about the thanks you… Since the site no longer wants us to put replies to you fabulous reviewers at the bottom (or top!) of our chapters anymore, I will no longer be able to acknowledge you here, so I will be making my replies from this point through their new Review Reply feature…as soon as I figure out how to do that that is, lol. So this means that the following thank you's will be the last you'll see from me here. Though I may push the envelope and at least mention the names of reviewers each week. Personally, I think it kinda' stinks. I've always enjoyed reading the replies authors make to their readers and seriously, it make me wonder if our poor little author's notes will be axed next.
Band Geek - Yes! Cliff hangers! Ha ha ha ha! Lol. Well, C&W are at least in the same room again and that's definitely a start. Glad you liked the choppy warnings, and just to clarify…some of that will be explained in a future chapter, though I'd be willing to bet that by this time, you all have a fair idea of why it came out that way. Sorry to say that I don't think the end is going to be as nice as you're hoping it will be. I just can't see Crocker as the type that would just 'let them go'. I'm not sure Crocker's heart is quite so large as Erik's.
Invder Lava - Lol. But I love cliff hangers! "Love, love, love, love. So much love radiating off of Wanda." Yes, Wanda is definitely the loving type, and of course some of that love will give them a helping hand before this done. Opps. Did I give some kind of vague hint there? Lol. And no worries about not reviewing a few chapters. You've reviewed for most and that's great as it is. Besides, we all have lives besides the computer…well, except for maybe me. ;)
Amras Felagund - Yep! You got the messages right on. And wowie! You do love Star Wars! First "Yoda speak" and now Gungan. And WordPad it is my friend. It's what I use to upload each chapter anyway. J
Commander - Yay! You got to read it before you left! I'm so happy! Yes, Cosmo and Wanda are in the same room together, but it's not exactly happy happy joy joy for them is it? And I agree with you. Sesame Street is awesome. It entertains them and teaches them at the same time, but I do feel for you having to listen to (shudders) Teletubbies. At least these guys over here are beyond that stage. Thank goodness! Lol.
Fairly-Odd-Teen - Ah. C&W fluff. How I love it so. Let me count the ways…Lol. I try to stick with the more loving side of their relationship rather then write about their crueler treatment of each other. I prefer happy endings you see. ;) (Curtseys daintily) Thank you very much for the compliment and I feel the same as you. When a story can evoke a greater range of emotion, then you're there and practically a part of the story, not just the reader.
Lara Luna - Sometimes I do manage to get a good title in there. Lol. Glad you liked my minor explanation of C&W's relationship. It has to be my favorite thing to write about with those two. ;) So you liked the mind game! Awesome! I really liked that part too…as I'm sure you saw from my author notes at the bottom of that chapter, lol. And it's nice to know my story hasn't become boring. ;) Even better is knowing that you all have been catching all the little hints and clues throughout. I'm a 'connect the dots' kind of writer. The special details may be spaced out, but once you find them and connect them, it paints a pretty neat picture. BTW…I'll be looking for more FOP stories from you. Your one shot was just fabulous. The blurb back to my story was awesome too…but I do very much place the greater emphasis on the quality of your work. Absolutely magnifico. And no…I don't mean Wandissimo, lol.
Aerinsoul - Well, I hope that computer is all fixed up now! I certainly don't want to miss any of your reviews! Yeah, the scary torture part is coming, lol. Though I'm still out to lunch on who has the worst to deal with. And the ending is coming…soon. Just a few chapters away I think. NO! No bad love, please! I need the good kind. I can't live without the good kind!
Trixie21