CHAPTER 1- END OF 2. SEASON
The last time Sky had been at Shadow Haunt, he had never actually been inside the castle, but he could tell within the first minute that he was inside that it wasn't a place he would like to visit again. Using Timmy's thermal imaging detector, they travelled through the hallways after the fairies. Luckily, they didn't run into any more shadow monsters, but at one stage they did stumble across Codatorta, Ms. Faragonda and Professor Griffin fighting yet another big, scary monster that was supposed to be extinct. Under Codatorta's instructions, the boys left the teachers to deal with the monsters and went to catch up with the Winx Club who had gone with the Pixie Elders to try and get into the Realm of Realix.
"If Lord Darkar's got all the pieces of the Codex, then how the hell are we supposed to get inside?" Brandon asked as they ran.
"I'm sure they've worked something out," Sky replied, not slowing his pace.
"Tecna!" Timmy called, running up to her and pulling her into a tight hug. Behind him, he sensed the rest of his squad come to a stop. "It's so good to see you."
"Let's save the reunion for later," Sky suggested, eager to find Bloom and finish off Lord Darkar. "We have to go find the others."
The rest of them followed after him at a run, and it wasn't long until they managed to find Lord Darkar's throne room, and waiting for them there was Musa and Flora.
"Helia," Flora greeted with a relieved smile, slipping her hand into his when he approached her and gave it a quick squeeze. Riven and Musa simply regarded each other from a far, and Musa silently nodded her head, signalling that she was unharmed. Once that was out of the way, they were able to focus on the situation at hand. "Lord Darkar's already combined the Codex and entered Realix."
"And Bloom?" Sky asked desperately.
"He must have taken her with him."
"So how do we get inside?" Brandon asked, putting his hands on his hips. After all, it wasn't as if they had another spare Codex floating around.
"That where we come in," a small voice full of authority told them, and for the first time, the boys noticed four new pixies had joined the fairies. Athena, the Pixie Elder of Red Fountain and Ninfea, Queen and Pixie Elder of Pixie Village they knew, but joining them was two new pixies, but at one glance, the boys knew who they were; Discorda, Pixie Elder of Cloud Tower and Concorda, Pixie Elder of Alfea. It had been Concorda who had spoken, and one look at her outfit told the boys which school she belonged to.
"We've used these ancient artefacts to open a portal to the Realm of Realix," Discorda informed them, gesturing to a glowing portal that they surrounded.
"Stella and Layla have already gone inside to face Lord Darkar, who has turned Bloom's heart to darkness," Athena told them, giving Sky a sympathetic and apologetic look.
"You must go in after them. Lord Darkar must be stopped," Ninfea said as she and the other Pixie Elders pulled on the edges of the portal, making it large enough for the humans to pass through. "We will stay here and keep the portal open. Now hurry."
"Right," Brandon nodded, but things suddenly became more urgent for him when he heard a familiar scream. "Stella!"
The second Brandon landed on the other side of the portal in the Realm of Realix, the first thing he saw was his beloved Stella who was stuck to the ground by some kind of brown, oozy sludge. Brandon assumed Layla was in some kind of simular state, but at the moment, the only thing he could focus on was his girlfriend.
"Now I'll finish you off," Darkar snarled, making Stella scream again, and that triggered Brandon into action.
"Back off!" Brandon shouted, "I said back off!"
With a disgusted look, Lord Darkar levitated himself into the air as he watched the rest of the teenagers enter the Realm of Realix through the portal. Where they landed was the ruins of what looked to be a temple, but now the realm had fallen into such disrepair that all that remained was half collapsed stone structure surrounded by cloud. "This is ridiculous!" he growled. "This is not some kind of prep school mixer!"
"Give it up Darkar," Sky spat, glaring at the creep who kidnapped his girlfriend. "We're going to put an end to this!"
"The only thing that's going to get put to an end is you!" Darkar shouted, hurling a powerful spell in their direction. Musa and Flora managed to side step it, but the rest where hit with a violet coloured spell that intensified the gravity being forced down on them. Floored by the sudden weight, the group fell to the ground alongside the still trapped Stella and Layla, and no matter how hard they tried they couldn't lift even one finger under the increased gravity.
"There's some kind of spell on me," Sky grunted, struggling to move. "I can't get up."
"Don't bother. I'll finish you off right where you are," Darkar grinned.
"No matter what you throw at us, we're going to save Bloom!"
"Save her? You make it sound like she doesn't want be here," Darkar almost purred, before turning to regard his new main girl. "Bloom, my dear, what is it that you want?"
"The Ultimate Power!" Bloom screamed. She was floating above the top of a pyramid-like altar, her hands raised above her head as she tried to gather the power. She was in her winx form, but it was not the outfit the boys were used to seeing. Her clothes and boots – which was usually a soft shade of pale blue – was now deepest black. Her wings now had an evil look about them, and her eyes had transformed from their beautiful shade of blue that Sky adored so much, to a wicked gold with cat-like pupils.
"Bloom!" Sky tried, but Bloom was too far into darkness to even hear his voice, let alone recognise it.
"You're not going to get away with this, Darkar!" Musa shouted, her body visibly shaking in rage.
"Oh, I think I am, and I highly doubt that a group of high school students are going to stop me!" Darkar growled, hurling another attack at the defenceless teens trapped on the ground. But Flora and Musa weren't about the let the Lord of Shadow Haunt hurt any more of their friends.
"Deflectus!" Musa shouted as she and Flora jumped in front of the attack to block it before it hit their friends. It held for a second, but then Flora's magic failed against the darkness of the Shadow Phoenix and her shield faulted, resulting in her bearing the bulk of Lord Darkar's attack.
"Ah! Flora!" Helia shouted as he watched her collapse onto the ground. He strained against the incredible weight bearing down on him to try to get to her, but he just couldn't move. His heart poured as he was forced to watch her lie lifelessly on the ground just a few feet away from him. He just felt so helpless. Flora stirred slightly and her green eyes fluttered open as she sought out his face.
"'I'm okay," she whispered before coughing feebly, but in actual fact, Lord Darkar's attack had drained her of most her energy. It was an effort for her to just remain conscious and keep breathing, so there was no way she'd be able to help rescue Bloom anymore.
"I'm gonna make you pay for that, Darkar," Musa growled, glaring at the Shadow Phoenix murderously.
"How are you going to do that when you don't exist anymore?" Lord Darkar asked her, conjuring up another of his dark spells and hurling it at her. Not expecting to find herself in the path of the most powerful spell she had ever encountered, Musa froze like a deer in headlights. Panic took over her mind to the point that even the idea of putting up a shield to protect herself never even occurred to her and all Musa could do was scream.
I don't know what exactly happened now, so I'll skip to trix.
Lord Darkar paused for a second, and then placed the voice. "Is that you Icy?"
It was Icy, but at the same time, it was not. A figure emerged from the portal, and it was like nothing any of them had ever seen before. It was human, but it was black like a silhouette and surrounded by an aura of purple, crimson and icy blue light. On her arms were Darcy and Stormy's gloomix's, and around her neck was the gloomix that belonged to Icy. Her hair was done up in pig tails that almost reached the floor, and when she spoke, her voice was a combination and overlap of the three Trix sisters. "Nobody uses us!"
"What do you want?" Lord Darkar demanded, not trouble at all by their sudden arrival.
"We want the Ultimate Power, just like you!" the Trix screamed. Instead of replying, Lord Darkar simply threw a spell at them, but the Trix easily teleported themselves away from the attack and reappeared behind him. "Ha!"
With a blast of cold air, the Trix attacked their former master from behind, encasing him in a block of ice. Lord Darkar's entombment was short lived, however, and with a blast of dark flames, he smashed his way out of the ice.
"So, do you think she has a chance?" Layla asked after she had flicked the last of the sludge off her. Although she was now free, the sludge had drained her and Stella of their energy, making them too weak to even consider going up against Lord Darkar. All their chances now lay, oddly enough, with the Trix.
"Maybe," Tecna shrugged. The Trix weren't the most dangerous witches in the universe for nothing, after all. "But it's small."
"Five percent?" Timmy estimated off the top of his head.
"As long as she's distracting Darkar, she's buying us time to try and figure this out," Stella pointed out, looking over at Bloom who was still summoning the energy to call upon the Ultimate Power.
"What do we do if she actually beats him?" Flora asked.
But even that was not a good scenario, as Tecna pointed out. "If either of them gains complete control of the Ultimate Power there will be no way to stop them."
"So either way, we're screwed," Brandon finally said out loud, watched the Trix try to tie Lord Darkar up with their pigtails, but their hold on his was short lived. The Trix persisted though, and the fight continued.
"All you ever did was sit around and give us orders!" the Trix raged as their fight with Lord Darkar continued. So far, Lord Darkar had been able to survive anything that the Trix had thrown at him, but the Trix were persistent – bless their little souls – and weren't about to give up. "Well guess what; we're now the boss of you!"
With a wicked sounding crack, the Trix blasted another hex at the Shadow Phoenix, but despite all their efforts, they didn't even make a dint in his armour. With an evil hiss, Lord Darkar began to summon up a terribly dark attack to counter the witches efforts, when Bloom suddenly let out a delighted, animal-like growl, which was just the signal Lord Darkar had been waiting for. "It's time to give us the Ultimate Power!" she screamed, her golden eyes burning with malicious intent.
"No Bloom!" Sky shouted, but she couldn't even hear him. "No!"
"I'll take that Bloom," the Trix told her, flying towards the dark fairy.
"No you won't," Darkar objected, blasting them from behind and sending them crashing into a pillar with terrible force. Knocked out cold, the Trix dropped to the ground in their combined state, and there they stayed for the rest of the battle. "No one's the boss of me!"
With a delighted growl, Bloom summoned the Ultimate Power. It burned between her hands in a bright purple and red light, and everyone who was still conscious could feel its power pulsate.
"Wait for me, my dear," Lord Darkar grinned, transforming into his Shadow Phoenix form and flying up to his position behind Bloom, officially joining the powers of darkness and light. "Let's do it."
"Bloom! No!" Sky shouted, but she still didn't hear him. Sky's chest constricted as he watched his girlfriend get used by Lord Darkar for his own twisted purposes. He knew that this was never what Bloom had wanted. She was a good person. She had risked so much in the past for others and now, when she needed help the most there was no one there that could help her. She had saved the Realm of Magix from the Army of Decay the year before. She had braved Shadow Haunt to help rescue the pixies. And she had saved Sky when Icy had spelled him into a hundred year sleep, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let that debt be unpaid.
"The power is ours!" Lord Darkar cheered loudly. After years of planning and waiting, his dreams were finally being realised. He had spent decades torturing that cloud spirit to do his bidding. He had waited years for the heir to the throne of Sparx to realise her power and master it. And now, after all this time, the Ultimate Power was his.
"No!" Stella and Flora both screamed in unison, refusing to believe that this was how it was going to end.
"And now, Bloom will hand it over to me and I will rule all the realms!"
"Sky," Lockette begged, her little voice wavering, but Sky knew what she was asking him. He was the only one who could turn her back to the fairy that she once was. He was the only one who could reach her heart and connect her back to her true self. Only he could do it.
The question was, just how was he going to do that?
"If I can talk to her, maybe she'll listen and I can reach beyond the spell," Sky suggested. It was a long shot, but at the moment it was the only option open to them. Forcing himself onto his feet, Sky stood up and stumbled towards her. Lord Darkar's spell was still weighing heavily on him, but he endured the pain and pressure until he was standing directly in front of his girlfriend at the foot of the altar.
"Sky?" Brandon called, but Sky ignored him. All his attention was fixed on his girlfriend.
"What are you going to do? Ask her to the prom?" Lord Darkar taunted. "Sorry, she's busy."
"Bloom," Sky called, but again she didn't respond to his voice. Her mind was focused on the Ultimate Power.
"Wait Bloom, try to listen to my voice," Sky begged. "It's me, your boyfriend."
"Boyfriend? I'm finnaly free, and you think you can just come and take me away?" Bloom replied sarcastically. " Never. "
"Bloom, please, Darkar put spell on you. You are not evil, and he isn't your master. "
Bloom: "That is nothing of your bussines, and yes he is. "
Sky: "Bloom…"
"Enough of this! Bloom is mine, forever!" Darkar said. "Give me the power, Bloom, now"
"Yes, master."
Sky falled, he can't longer withstand Darkar's spell.
Layla: "O, no."
In that moment, Bloom starts to shine and de-transform, but not because of Sky.
Darkar: "Mwahahaha. Ultimate power is mine!"