Happy Birthday, LoveLoveLovix! This one's for you!
"I'm bored, you girls! Isn't there something we could do?" Stella complained.
"We could go out in Gardenia and find somewhere new to eat..." Musa suggested.
"Nah, we did that yesterday! And I just went shopping online so that's not an option either..." Stella sighed.
The other five Winx girls gasped in shock.
"Stella doesn't want to go shopping? Never would have seen that coming..." Aisha said.
"I know, right?" Bloom nodded in agreement. "But I have an idea. There's this popular Earth game that I used to play a lot when I lived here before. Maybe we could try playing it?" She suggested.
"What's it called?" Flora asked.
"It's a game called Monopoly. Basically it's one of those tycoon type games where you buy properties and erect houses and hotels on them and you collect rent from another player when they land on your properties. You can buy utilities and train stations too and there are a lot of other things involved..." Bloom gave them the basics of the game.
"This... 'Monopoly' game sounds interesting. Bring it out here and let's try playing it!" Tecna said.
Just then, Roxy walked into the Love and Pet with Artu on his leash, letting him loose as soon as they were well inside the shop.
"Hey girls! What's up?" She asked.
"I'm just about to show the other Winx how to play Monopoly. Do you mind being the banker for this game?" Bloom asked as she rummaged through a cupboard and brought out the Monopoly box she had stored there.
"Sure, why not?" Roxy shrugged as she helped Bloom set up the game on the ground and watched as the older fairy conjured up cushions for them all to sit around the board game comfortably.
"Now. First we have to choose which tokens we want to play as..." Bloom emptied the pieces out onto the board.
"I always like to play with the dog token..." Roxy commented.
"And I like using the thimble. When I play, I'm always the thimble." Bloom said, picking up that token.
"I want the hat!" Musa reached for that token.
"Car for me!" Aisha and Stella reached for the car at once and immediately turned to glare at one another.
"I claimed it first!" They exclaimed.
"Girls, girls! There's no need to quarrel. That's easily solved!" Bloom said.
"How so, Bloom?" Stella asked.
"Simple. We just play Rock, Paper, Scissors. It's another Earth game. I'll show you how to play that really quickly..."
Fifteen minutes later...
"That was an... interesting version of Rock, Paper, Scissors..." Roxy said, wide-eyed as Aisha gloated in victory, clutching the car token while Stella pouted as she lay sprawled over the ground, smoking slightly. She settled for the train without further argument.
Tecna took the steamboat while Flora settled for the horse and soon the game was underway.
"Okay, so that's $1500 for everyone. You're supposed to have two $500 bills, two $100 bills, two $ 50 bills, six $20 bills and five each of $10, $5 and $1 dollar bills. Everyone has that?" Roxy asked as she neatened the remaining money in the box.
"Yeah, but... How are you supposed to buy so much property with only $1500?" Tecna asked, raising an eyebrow at the wad of "money" that she held.
"It's just a game, Tecna. It's not like you're buying real property..." Bloom pointed out.
As time passed, they really began to get into the game.
"You do your business your way and I'll do my business my way, Stella!" Aisha chortled as Stella landed on one of Aisha's railroads (she had managed to buy them all).
"Just you wait. I'm going to get you for that!" Stella growled.
"Yeah... right..." Aisha snorted.
"You're lucky. Meanwhile I'm here stuck in jail. Why do I always keep ending up in jail?" Musa complained.
"Just bad luck, I guess..." Flora shrugged as she rolled the dice and ended up landing on Chance.
She reached for the card and immediately smiled when she saw what she had gotten.
"Take a walk on the Boardwalk..." She read as she moved her piece around to the appropriate space.
"So that's $400, right, Roxy?" Flora asked her as she flicked through her wad of Monopoly money.
"Yep." Roxy nodded as she handed the Fairy of Nature the title deed for that property.
"I'd like to put up houses on both of those, please..." Flora said.
"Gladly." Roxy giggled at the look on some of the other fairies' faces as they saw Flora putting up houses on the two most expensive properties on the board.
"So who do you think will win, Artu?" Roxy asked as she patted her dog's head idly.
"That's a silly question, Roxy! It's just a matter of time before Stella the Shrewd has it all!" Stella exclaimed, looking confident.
"There's still five other people playing you know..." Tecna looked annoyed as she paid Bloom some rent on Atlantic Avenue.
"She's not going to win as long as the rest of us are in the game!" Musa declared, after finally being able to escape jail.
"Oh yeah? Just wait until I get you. Maybe I'll even sell you Baltic Avenue cheap so you can put a slum up there and collect like, $6 rent..." Stella taunted.
After a little while, the game grew even more intense.
"FLORA! You gotta keep something in reserve! You'll wipe yourself out, putting up all of those hotels!" Aisha exclaimed.
"Oh trust me, I know what I'm doing..." Flora smiled serenely.
"Yeah right. You're totally going to go bankrupt..." Stella started laughing, but stopped abruptly when she saw where she had landed on her next turn.
"HOW MUCH RENT?! IMPOSSIBLE! I DEMAND A RECOUNT!"
Stella shouted as her hair flaring out with magic energy crackling through it, startling all the pets in the store and making Artu yelp in surprise.
"Sorry, Stella. This is a hard-nosed business here! No freebies at this hotel!" Flora giggled as the Fairy of the Sun's eyes narrowed at the hotel Flora had on the Boardwalk property.
Stella muttered under her breath as she handed over Flora rent, making everyone else giggle.
"Stella, it's just a game! Don't get so worked up over it!" Roxy exclaimed.
"Telling her that is futile, Roxy. Once she sets her eyes on something, she's not going to stop until she gets it..." Tecna said as she collected rent from Bloom on Pennsylvania Avenue.
A vein in Stella's forehead throbbed as she sat there, fuming.
"Jeez, Stella. There's no need to get worked up over a game..." Aisha said as she took up a Community Chest card.
"You have won second prize in a beauty contest. Collect $10." The Androsian fairy raised an eyebrow. "Why only second prize and why only $10?" She asked.
"It's just the way the game was made, I suppose. Don't think too much on it." Bloom shrugged.
"Whatever."
By this point, near the end of the agreed timeframe for playing the game, Stella was nearly bankrupt and was really starting to lose her cool.
The last straw came for her when she landed (once again) on Flora's Park Place property with a hotel.
"That's it! I give up!" Stella stood up and flipped over the board game, sending the cards, money and tokens soaring through the air and the fairy pets scattering for cover.
She had actually activated the Sceptre of Solaria and aimed it at the game board before Roxy rather bravely (and perhaps foolishly) stepped in between the glowing Sceptre and the unfortunate Monopoly game board.
"Stella, Stella! Calm down!" Bloom put her hands on her friend's shoulders.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry. I guess I am a bit of a sore loser..." Stella looked sheepish.
"A BIT?!" Everyone else exclaimed.
Roxy rolled her eyes.
"Anyway, last time I checked, Flora was winning, Tecna was second, Aisha third, Musa fourth, Bloom fifth and Stella of course, last..." The Fairy of Animals ducked behind the counter in case Stella felt the need to rage again.
"I think we should forget about playing board games for a while..." Bloom suggested quietly.
"Agreed!" Everyone else said in unison.