1Disclaimer: I don't own The Fairly OddParents. it belongs to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman.
Author's Note: What's that? This story isn't dead? Yeah, I decided to take a break from this story but now I have time to revisit it with the quarantine going on. I won't promise any sort of regular chapter uploading schedule, but rest assured that the story will continue. Without further ado, here's Chapter 9.
Chapter 9: Gotcha
Thursday, March 18, 10:45 A.M.
28:55:00, 28:54:59, 28:54:58...
X, Jen, Crocker, and Dark Laser were approaching the main exit to the fortress. X insisted Vicky and Gary stay and guard the Turners, because he knew they'd only complain about the cold instead of being useful. "It's outside, but it can't escape," he said.
"Get your parkas ready," said Jen as she put on a heavy coat. She gave a similar one to Crocker and a lighter one to X, whose mechanical components usually generated enough heat to keep his biological components warm outside, but was still adamant enough about self-preservation. Dark Laser, being purely mechanical, didn't need a jacket. He used the opportunity to open up the main door. The four of them exited as quickly as possible, and Laser shut the door.
"Dark Laser and I will go clockwise. Jen, Crocker: go counterclockwise," said X. "That way we'll trap it."
X and Crocker were each armed with a butterfly net, and Jen and Laser were each armed with a tracker.
"Alright, let's go!" said Jen. The four of them began running as fast as possible in their assigned directions. Jen and Crocker would probably get there first, so the former could have the satisfaction of catching a fairy before it goes in X's net.
Looking at the trackers, it became clear that Binky was in a panicked state. He was quickly pacing back and forth, but didn't leave a small general area. He was strategizing in his head how he could do this. He could fight, but chances are that if he's focused on fighting, someone would come up from behind and take him by surprise. He could hide inside the fortress, but he didn't know the true scope of what's inside. They could bait him into a giant fairy trap just like they baited him with the file. Just as he was about to give up all hope, the solution suddenly came to him. There would be a near-foolproof way for him to escape this, but he'd have to execute it quickly. He could sense them closing in. Could he do it? He focused as hard as he could as he—
"GOTCHA!" yelled Crocker who had successfully caught Binky in his net. The fairy struggled to escape, but of course, his struggles were in vain.
"I know fairies are small, but you're mighty wimpy," said Crocker, eyeing the bald elf-looking fairy.
"I think X has mentioned him before," said Jen. "I believe this is the one reserved for menial labor."
"How fortunate for you," said Crocker as he brought Binky toward his face. Binky winced once he got a close-up view of Crocker's deformed looks. Denzel Crocker was once a cute, kind boy. It sickened Binky knowing fairy magic was the cause of the man's deteriorating physical and mental state.
"I got him!" Crocker shouted as he saw X and Laser approaching.
"Great job," said X. "Put him in my net."
Crocker emptied Binky into X's net very carefully so that the fairy couldn't slip out.
X looked at the fairy and showcased his metallic smile. "Ah, Binky," he said. "Do you recognize me?"
Binky thought real hard about it. Someone like X would be hard to forget, but Binky couldn't place him anywhere in his thousands of years of memory. "Should I?" he feebly asked.
"No," said X, with a hint of sadness in his voice, "I was just hoping that there was a chance." The cyborg quickly regained his composure. "Anyway, it makes sense that you'd be the one Jorgen sent. After all, he couldn't care less if you were killed."
"Jorgen cares about me."
"Does he?" X immediately fired back with. "Think about all the times he treated you like an object. He caused you pain when you were sick. He left you spinning on a wheel for six-and-a-half centuries for pete's sake!"
As much as he hated to admit it, Binky knew X had a point. "I guess he doesn't," the fairy dejectedly said.
Jen picked up the file which Binky had dropped in his panicked state. "I see you found the file we conspicuously left exposed in the conspicuously unlocked room," she said.
Binky gave her a smug look. "I knew I was bait but it was the only option I had. Either that or face Jorgen's wrath."
"Thus further proving my point," said X. "Binky, you're more intelligent than Jorgen makes you out to be. You should be promoted." X looked Binky straight in the eye. "Should be promoted. Unfortunately, you won't get the chance." X lessened the intensity of his gaze a little bit. "First things first, let's get down to business. The magic detectors have done their job, but they'll just be annoying with a constant magical presence. I wish they were off."
Binky didn't do anything. After about ten seconds, X grabbed him by the neck through Crocker's net. "I made a wish. You'd better grant it before I squeeze so hard your puny head pops off your even punier body!"
"But I'm in a net!"
"Stick the tip of your wand out the top of it," said Jen. "It should work."
As far as Binky knew, no fairy had ever tried this before, but he knew he had no other choice. He stuck the star-shaped portion of his wand outside of the net and saw it was indeed functional. Although fairies and their wands work interdependently, they're ultimately two distinct entities.
Binky had enough control over his wand as an average human who had got their hands on one. Luckily, he had enough experience with it to use it properly without any internal magic. The wand glowed and the two trackers displayed an "offline" message.
"Next, I wish we were all in the central control room," said X.
"What are you going to do to me when we get there?" asked Binky.
The cyborg smiled. "Why ruin the surprise?"
Binky's nervously granted the wish and poofed them all inside.
"Hey, you guys were totally quick," said Gary. He quickly put away the checkers game he began with Vicky, thinking X would be gone for longer than a few minutes.
"Well, FAIRIES are quite predictable," said Crocker, doing one of his trademark spasms.
"Not like you at all," said Jen. Crocker was too focused on having successfully caught Binky that he didn't notice her sly insult.
X showcased the fairy in his net for everyone to see. "Well, here he is."
"That's him?" asked Vicky. "He seems pretty weak."
"Oh, he is. But his internal magic should be a good start." X brought Binky in front of the piece of machinery everyone had been working on previously. "Do you at least recognize this?"
Binky couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a glass sphere with an opening at the top and tubes leading out of it toward a command console. It was nearly identical to the device Jorgen built to drain fairy magic during Timmy's wish for his life to be more action-packed. The Fairy Council decided to overlook the incident since Jorgen's behavior was being influenced by the wish, but promised him severe punishment should he try again. Binky stared at the machine for a while, bringing X's impatience to a boiling point.
"Well, do you?" he asked sternly.
"Yes," said Binky nervously, "it's Jorgen's magic-draining machine."
"That's right. Six months ago I snuck into Jorgen's office and saw he still had the schematics for it. I discreetly made a copy now, I have this." X grinned evilly at Binky. "Do you know what we're going to do to you?"
"I have a fair idea."
"Good, open the hatch." X looked directly at Gary and Vicky, indicating that this time it was their turn to do work. He handed Vicky the net with Binky as she followed Gary up the ladder next to the machine. They twisted the heavy wheel that opened the hatch at top and dumped Binky in. Just like the one Jorgen built years before, it was impossible for any fairy to escape the glass container.
As Vicky and Gary climbed back down, X plugged a small cable into a port on the command console. He proceeded to connect the other end to his left arm, which had an identical port. It was primarily used as an emergency power source should his main internal one fail, but it found an additional use in X's latest scheme.
"You're planning to give yourself magic, aren't you?" said Binky from within.
"Oh, look who's so smart now. For over three years, I've sought revenge on those who made me into this cybernetic freak. I can't do that without magic." He put his hand on a large lever. "I know it's cliché, but do you have any last words?"
Binky hadn't heard of X before today but it seemed he should have. He thought about everything important that happened a little over three years ago, when it finally hit him. "Wait a minute! You're…" Binky hesitated, realizing how ridiculous his claim sounded. "No, it can't be."
"Come on, spit it out."
"You're—"
Binky never got to finish his statement as X yanked the lever. Binky could feel all of the magic being painfully drained from him into X. Slowly but surely, Binky was reduced to a pile of dust.
"Damn, that was dramatic," said Dark Laser.
"You gotta do what you gotta do," said X. He looked at a small digital readout he had installed on his left arm. It was put in place to show how many fairies were equivalent to the amount of magic he had. The readout displayed "0.4." The cyborg sighed. "Really Binky, that's the best you can do?"
"What happened?" asked Jen.
"Binky's got the equivalent magic of 0.4 regular fairies!" shouted X.
"I told you he was weak," said Vicky.
"Well, it should be enough to enhance the outside shield quite a bit." X snapped his fingers and the shield instantly grew from just surrounding the fortress to surrounding the entire continent. He knew that could take all of the magic he'd acquired, but he hoped there was enough for at least one more wish. To his happiness, the readout displayed "2 Wishes Left".
"Firstly, I wish that Jorgen wouldn't notice the increased size of the shields. Secondly, I wish that I had five rump roasts." He snapped his fingers twice, draining him of his remaining magic. However, he knew he'd get even more very shortly. The five rump roasts appeared in front of him.
Seeing the beef dinners in front of him, Dark Laser couldn't help but ask. "What's with the rump roasts?"
"For some unknown reason, fairies can't resist rump roast," said Jen.
"It's true!" yelled Crocker.
"There's one roast for each of you to attract a fairy," said X. "If you can't get more than one, that would be great, but five total should be good."
The six of them walked out of the room with the roasts, leaving the Turners behind as they were given sedatives to make them sleep.
It was very quiet, much quieter than it had ever been in there…
Binky made himself visible, still in disbelief that his plan worked. He successfully managed to place a significant portion, but still not the majority, of his magical power into a controllable clone. The clone was dead, but Binky still had enough power to assist Timmy once he arrived at the fortress.
He still had an idea of who X could be, but the idea seemed too far-fetched to entertain. He'd just have to wait and see.
3:40 P.M.
24:00:01, 24:00:00, 23:59:59...
"Alright, we've got 24 hours to go," said Timmy, and we need to work hard since we haven't made a lot of progress."
The Wishmakers were extremely vigilant for the whole day trying to spot a drone or other similar contraption but saw nothing. A few times it looked like they saw something, but every time they did the object would disappear almost instantly. The group decided to walk home from school instead of taking the bus since it would be easier to watch the sky that way.
"If I didn't know better," said Tootie, "I'd say X is trolling us with this drone."
"Maybe," said Cosmo, "but he must have forgotten about that drone over there."
Everyone froze. "What did you just say?" asked Wanda.
"There's a drone back there that's been following us for the past couple of minutes." He pointed toward a small black object hovering in the sky behind them. It was clearly not a bird.
"Why didn't you say anything!?" asked Trixie.
"Well, you guys were busy talking," said the green-haired fairy.
"I wish that drone would hover right here and stay there," said Timmy.
After Cosmo and Wanda granted Timmy's wish, the drone slowly descended and moved toward the Wishmakers, eventually coming to rest in front of them, hovering about four feet off the ground. The camera on it was clearly visible.
"Hi, X!" said Cosmo cheerily as he went right up toward the drone. Timmy pulled the tablet out of his backpack, seeing as X would likely engage them in conversation. Indeed, his image appeared on screen.
"Hello, Cosmo," said the cyborg. You look great, especially the rip in your shirt."
"What are you talking about?" asked Cosmo as a giant tear opened up on his left sleeve. "Oh, that."
"It appears you've wasted a lot of time now. After all, you've got less than 24 hours and you're still at square one."
"What do you mean?" asked Veronica. "We found your stupid drone."
X chuckled for a few seconds. "I only sent a drone because you thought I would. It served as a good distraction for several hours, didn't it?"
The Wishmakers all looked down in defeat, knowing X was right. He never gave any inclination of having a drone. That was just a plausible idea they had created.
"I want you to at least try so I'll give you a hint. There is only one camera. Notice how the one on the drone is clearly off. I've hidden the real one very covertly, so much so that you'll have to tear through things just to see it."
"What kind of things are we talking about?" asked Chester.
"Do you think I'll tell you everything?" asked X incredulously. "Just know that I have magic now. It's not a lot, but it's a good start. Enough to enhance my shields. Au revoir." X's image disappeared from the screen and the drone fell to the ground, deactivated.
"Alright," said Elmer, "that was a complete red herring."
"Yeah, no thanks to your idea," said Sanjay, pointing at A.J.
"You have to admit it was a good theory, though," said A.J.
The Wishmakers nodded in agreement and reached Timmy's house. They all went right back into the spots where they were almost a day ago and began brainstorming for better ideas. Well, all of them except for Cosmo. Surprisingly, he'd been thinking about what X had said, even though thinking is usually the last thing he'd do in a given situation.
"You look great, especially the rip in your shirt."
"especially the rip in your shirt."
"rip in your shirt."
The initial rip was on the lower backside of his sleeve. He figured that the real camera couldn't be on a high-up drone because it wouldn't be able to discern that much detail on his shirt. Cosmo realized X's camera had to be directly behind him in order to see the rip. But where? Where?
Suddenly the gears in his brain started turning for the first time in a while. An idea began to brew. He started to think about what was behind him. People! People were behind him. But these people weren't around all the time, and X said he'd been watching Timmy's life for a long time. Then that means...
"I've got it!" exclaimed Cosmo suddenly.
"What?" asked Tootie.
"I know where X's camera is!"
"No you don't," said Timmy, with the rest of the Wishmakers sharing his opinion.
"Yeah I do," said Cosmo matter-of-factly, "I'm having one of my sudden bursts of intelligence!"
"Then where is it?"
"X made it sound like he put the camera in something, right?"
"Right."
"Well, If he wanted to spy on your life, he would've put the camera in the one thing you almost always have with you: your hat!"
Everyone looked at Cosmo as if he'd grown five extra heads, especially Wanda. She'd known him for 10,000 years and that was the most intelligent thing he'd ever said by a significant margin.
"Turner, use this," said Mark as he handed Timmy a pocket knife. Timmy took off his hat and began to cut a hole in the front of it.
"Where did you get that?" asked Tootie.
"From the trash. You would not believe the totally radical stuff that people throw away.
Shortly after, Timmy had cut through the seams of his beloved pink hat. He quickly found what he was looking for: a small metallic object which looked like one of those spy gadgets from the Ryan McCain movies.
"How did you figure that out?" asked Poof.
"It's because he saw the rip in my shirt," said Cosmo, showing off the rip. In doing so the rip spread up the whole sleeve. Cosmo seemingly didn't notice. "That means the camera had to be right behind me."
X's image then reappeared on the tablet. "Congratulations, you've done well. I'm genuinely impressed." X wasn't lying. Cosmo was definitely the last person he expected to figure out where the camera is, let alone in about a minute.
"Thursday, March 18: Cosmo had another idea," Wanda wrote down in her small journal.
"When did you put the camera in his hat?" asked Trixie.
"One night a few years ago when you were sleeping," said X. "You're a surprisingly heavy sleeper."
"You've been spying on me for that long!?" asked a disbelieving Timmy.
"'Tis the truth. Just remember that you can't destroy the camera yet. You need it to figure out where I am. Make haste, not waste." With that, X disappeared from the screen once again.
Author's Note
Wow, this was without a doubt the longest chapter so far. I hope it wasn't too long.
Sorry for the cop out about X's identity. Don't worry, it'll be fully revealed in the next chapter.
As always, feel free to review & comment.
