Disclaimer: I don't own Fairly Odd Parents.

AN: Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If Losing Streak is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

Chapter 17: Observation

Norm's next attempt at observation went much better than his previous one. His master didn't have good sight, and therefore didn't see him well enough to recognize him as the "malevolent spirit."

His second wish for good sight however, so Norm's human observation time ended when his master realized, with his new sight, that Norm was the "malevolent spirit" and wished him back into his lamp.

Norm groaned. Typical. Whenever he had any kind of hope or success, something always thwarted it? If there were spirits, he wondered, did they have a grudge on him for stealing their worshippers? If so, Norm would be entirely willing to give them back to the spirits, since he didn't steal them on purpose.

Well, Norm supposed, he wouldn't be taking their hypothetical glory if the humans did not mistake him, a genie, for them.

Norm's next master was one of the wish-away-the-"spirit"-fast-so-I-don't-get-in-trouble types, so Norm didn't learn much there. However, he did begin to realize that it was a very common type of master in this society, which could actually be the entire world, but again, he wasn't sure about whether it was or not.

Norm knew that he wasn't a spirit, or heretical, so those masters always gave him a bad impression of humanity's listening skills, since he had always told them that he was not a spirit, he was a genie.

Next, he got an exploit-the-genie type. Those types were a gigantic pain in the butt since they always asked if they could wish for more wishes when they ran out, and didn't have any respect for him. At least the masters that thought he was an evil spirit had some kind of respect for him, even if Norm didn't like being called a fearful, malevolent spirit, that did mean people paid attention to him.

Norm wondered if he could use that to escape his lamp. Probably not, since who would want a malevolent spirit flying around freely? Norm bet that the answer was nobody, at least nobody sane.

The next master he got was an exploit-the-genie-only-in-kookier-ways type. Norm had no clue how one was supposed to learn anything about them that was concrete enough to come up with a plan that would work on any of them. Every other type was easy, but this one wasn't.

However, Norm did think he could make a plan to exploit an individual one if he knew them well enough. However, Norm didn't know anyone that well. The most he ever knew of someone was their three wishes, what they looked like, their gender, their name, and what type of master they were. Sometimes he knew less.

Any plan involving detailed knowledge of someone, or fake friendship was out then. Norm groaned.

After all this observing, he sure knew one thing: tricking his master into setting him free would be harder than he thought.