Chapter 11 - Dwindling Hope

11


"Oh crud!" Timmy managed to cry in shock. What happened?! He wished for Tootie to be taken home, didn't he? Ugh, he didn't specify which home, did he? And Wanda and Cosmo, such literal fairies, took her to the first home that popped into their minds: Timmy's.

"It is you, isn't it? Timmy Turner!" Tootie went on in a weak, but joyful voice, "You're alive!" She began to sway and Romi squealed in fright. Timmy darted forward to catch the girl before she could topple over, uttering a soft grunt as Tootie fainted dead away in his arms.

"Urgh. Awkward moment." he muttered and looked up at his friends. Caleb had a smirk on his face despite his mangled arm and battered body. Wanda looked oddly proud and Cosmo just floated there with a giant cotton swab rammed into one ear. Timmy scowled. "No one say anything." he growled and looked up at the dark-haired fairy, "So, who are you?"

"My name is Andromeda, Romi for short." the fairy answered shakily, "I told her to stay downstairs! Now she knows who you are!"

"Got it covered. Wanda, Cosmo, I wish Tootie was at her house, in her bed, and thinks all this was a dream!" Timmy called out and the two fairies lifted their wands to grant it. Tootie vanished in a puff of magical smoke. Romi gave a little bow to him in mid-air, wings fluttering nervously.

"Thank you for removing that trap from her room, and for helping us escape Remial." she told the boy, "Good luck in your quest, Timothy." With that, she disappeared as well. Timmy sighed tiredly and returned to his group. Luck; yeah, he was gonna need a ton of it now.

"We got our butts kicked in a real bad way, didn't we?" he groaned, flopping back into a chair. Caleb moved to check on the halfa lying on the sofa and pulled back as Danny Phantom shifted and opened his eyes. "Hey, Cousin Danny. How are you doing?" the brunet asked with a slight grin.

"Ugh.... I'm still in one piece. That's good enough for now." Danny muttered, sitting up and rubbing his head, "That was unreal!"

"Can you guys tell me what happened? It sounded like a war had broken out when I called you two!" Timmy cried, leaning forward in concern.

"More like a one-sided massacre." Caleb growled, "We reached the target sector like you instructed, but what we faced was unlike anything I've ever come across in my life. And I've lived a very long life."

"There's a huge black tower standing there, pumping out dozens of these anti-magic things." Danny continued, pressing down on a deep gash in one leg, "I tried to take it out by blasting it but the Ghost Ray didn't even scratch the walls of that thing! On top of that, it set off some kind of defense system and a couple dozen round things just flew out after me!" He winced in pain as he continued the pressure. "Some had blades, most had nets, but all of them seemed dead-set on piling into me. I could escape a few here and there by turning insubstantial, but I need to be solid to get the best effects of the Ghost Ray." he added and sighed, "I haven't been this battered since I first went up against Plasmius."

"I tried getting in for an interior assault through one of the main entryways, but the same system must have control of the anti-magic devices. They barred my way into the tower and ran me down, the whole mess of them. I can handle about five of those mechanical mutts on my own with little difficulty, but not more than a dozen!" Caleb sighed in irritation, "When I took to the sky to escape them, I became a second target to those flying drones. Between me and Danny, those things had plenty of opportunities to test the strength of their hulls and weapons." He shook his head grimly, "And each time we managed to get rid of a group of traps to get anywhere, the tower released dozens more to take their place. There are very few times in my life where I honestly thought I wouldn't survive to see the next sunrise. This night has become one of them." Timmy stared at them in horror. This was a nightmare! A tower in Dimmsdale, making these things constantly? No wonder he wasn't making a dent in the anti-magic shield!

"I wanted to use Ghostly Wail; I've improved on its use a lot over the years. When you said not to, I gave it another thought." Danny sighed, still applying pressure to his injured leg, "The way that tower is built, and the way it reacted to the Ghost Ray, even with the maximum amount of energy I put into it, I don't think Ghostly Wail could take it out. Not by itself, at least." He looked at Timmy curiously. "And what went on with you? How did you get so many robots ticked off? I thought they were gonna finish us off, we barely had anything left after that assault at the tower!"

"Our investigation of Remy's mansion went sour." Timmy groaned as the fairies sat on the back of his chair, looking downtrodden from the accounts, "He doesn't have any anti-magic gear of any kind, but he does have infrared and heat sensors. I triggered those alarms by mistake and he came down on me with some robot octopus he wished up." He rubbed his now healed side with a wry grin. "He got in a good hit. I didn't know Da Rules specified that only wishes that directly affect me personally were the ones that were banned. Paid for that cockiness with about half my blood supply." Timmy smiled up at his fairy godparents, proud of the parts they played in helping him, both at Remy's place and in poofing to human form before running into the anti-magic zone to carry him and Danny out safely. "Cosmo and Wanda were busy looking around for clues to whatever deal was between him and Crocker, so I had to keep Remy distracted. That's about when Tootie jumped in and started wishing things to help me."

"Girlfriend?" Danny asked with a grin. Timmy made a face, blushing despite himself.

"Dude, she's twelve, and she's more like my stalker than anything else. She used to have this huge thing for me when we were really little and she wouldn't leave me alone! I saw her Timmy Shrine once; geez, I still have nightmares about it!" he griped and shook his head, "Anyway, Remy is definitely nuts or something; he tried to steal Tootie's fairy just 'cause he thinks he's the only kid who should have fairy godparents. Then he tried to wish away my spells, which would have been a direct violation of Da Rules, so Juandissimo alerted him to my immunity." Caleb frowned at the report.

"That isn't good. Did he recognize you?" the android asked.

"No. Time and his own arrogance wiped me from his memory. The only way he'll figure out who I am is if I have Wanda and Cosmo with me in full view." Timmy replied, relaxing in his chair only slightly, "I got us all out of there, but he sicced his robots after me for poking around his place. I tried to get to you guys, but the blood loss kept me from going any further." He waved a hand at the fairies above him. "Cosmo and Wanda were sent with Tootie for everyone's safety, and the robots showed up minutes later. We all know the rest."

"Total smackdown." the halfa agreed, "We're lucky we can all play dead."

"Peh. Who's playing?" Timmy grumbled, "Stopping my heart is easy but an internal Lightning spell to get it to beat again hurts like all get out!" He drummed his fingertips on the armrest irritably. "The sooner Dimmsdale is free, the sooner I can start my life over."

"Black towers manufacturing anti-magic and fairy capture devices; possible connections between Remy and Crocker; it's all insane!" Wanda cried in near despair, "If the combined powers of Caleb and Danny Phantom couldn't bring one tower down, how can we hope to destroy eight of them?!" Cosmo shrugged and brought out a large object from his pants pocket, juggling it in his small hands.

"We could try asking really, really nicely!" he suggested brightly. Wanda snatched the item from him. "Hey! I was doing important fairy stuff with that!" Cosmo complained. Timmy watched them both in confusion.

"What is that? Can I see?" he asked, holding out his hand. The pink-haired fairy looked it over, then placed it in his open palm.

"It looks like a switch of some kind. But, it's kind of broken." Wanda remarked, "There are a few wires sticking out." Timmy turned the switch over in his hands, puzzled. It was broken, with some mangled wires and a chipped plastic casing. It also looked very cheap, something one would find at a hardware store on sale.

"Cosmo, where did you find this?" Timmy asked the fairy, pointing at the switch. The green-haired fairy smiled and clapped his hands.

"It was in a box called 'Souvenirs' in a secret room in Remy's house!" he laughed.

"Why would a broken switch be stored in a rich kid's house like a special memento?" Timmy wondered aloud, studying it again. His cousin leaned forward to look at it himself.

"Rich people have their own way of seeing things." he replied, "You'd be surprised the kinds of things they place a great deal of value on." Timmy felt that cold chill again. Why was he getting that feeling of wrongness? "So what should Timmy do about the black towers, Caleb? As long as they stay up, it'll take a miracle for him to free the surrounding sectors of the city!"

"Well, nothing for now. Not while we're in this condition and Timmy still needs time to recover from the loss of blood." the android replied bluntly, "Immortal or not, he can't function without enough of that to keep his brain aware." The brunet frowned, glaring at the both of them in turn.

"Can you guys not talk about me like I'm not here?" he grumbled.

"Then, we'll need a better idea of what it is he's up against. Until a weakness is found in that tower's layout, any assault he tries and we aid with will ultimately fail." Caleb finished and gave the boy a look, "Sorry, but you looked as though you had tuned us out for the moment." Timmy sighed and shook his head.

"Never mind. I should be used to it anyway." he mumbled, then ground his teeth and slammed his fist against the armrest. "I can't believe how much power Crocker got backing him up since I left Dimmsdale!" he exploded, sending the fairies scattering into the air in panic before they could resettle themselves, "Whenever I dealt with him as a kid, he usually ruined himself without much help from me! Now he's got all of Dimmsdale in his hands and he's crushing the magic out of it!" He ran his fingers through his hair as the sudden burst of passion sputtered and died into dejection, eyes studying the switch half-heartedly. "I don't get it. Crocker always wanted to prove fairies exist by capturing one. With this anti-magic field, he's only blocking them out and preventing the fairies that are already here from doing anything that could reveal themselves."

"This is really confusing." Wanda agreed tiredly, reaching down to pat the boy on the head in an attempt to comfort him. For a minute or so, the group was silent, reflecting on the events of the night and what they had learned so far. It seemed as though Timmy's first steps into the world of a Hero would not be easily taken. Caleb held out his working hand suddenly, allowing the broken arm to hang at his side.

"I need to head back to New York for repairs. May I see that switch? There must be something special about it if Remy kept it hidden away." he remarked and pocketed the item when Timmy passed it on, "I'll set the equipment on Derris-Kharlan to focus on the tower in Dimmsdale for a full intensity scan. Maybe I'll learn something that will be of use to you." Danny stood with him, favoring one leg.

"I have to get home too. My parents think I spent the day at Sam's place so I'm gonna have a hell of a time explaining my injuries." he agreed and Timmy held out his hands.

"Let me help with that. Light of mana, soothe the wounds of this battered form! First Aid!" he exclaimed, sending a quick burst of healing magic to his cousin. Several small injuries faded away, leaving only a few of the more serious ones behind. Timmy sighed dejectedly. "Sorry, Cousin. I don't have the strength left to do a full heal." he apologized, "I used up a ton of mana dealing with Remy."

"It's okay. My ghostly regeneration can focus on these better now. Thanks." Danny returned and ruffled his hair, "Good night. Hope things turn out better tomorrow." With that, both Caleb and Danny Phantom stepped onto the teleporter disk, vanishing in a beam of light. Timmy waved good-bye, then sank back against the chair with a fairly defeated expression as Wanda began chattering on about his need for rest and basically grounded him from trap-hunting for the next three days.

"Why do I get the feeling that this will only get worse?" he groaned, "Yes, Wanda. I'm going to bed, Wanda. Please don't poke me with your wand, Wanda...."

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