Again this is more of a filler chapter than anything because Tecna was onscreen most of the time. Though I will say that seeing her become more emotional throughout the seasons, especially in this specific episode was nerve wrecking. Seeing Tecna panic when he friends are falling asleep, I could probably use that for a voice reference in the near future. Honestly I thought the scene with Elyssa was kinda pointless, but I wanted Tecna to be the type of person not to trust so easily especially considering her upbringing. Do you think the fact that Elyssa is too fascinated by Tecna is too creepy or too forward? Please let me know so I can fix it. Otherwise, enjoy the next chapter.
Winx Club Episode Dialogue (c) Iginio Straffi And Rainbow S.r.l
Chapter Eleven: The Monster and the Willow
Now that the Winx and I had the extra time to study for our simulator midterm, most of us took this to our advantage. Even though Bloom passed her exam, she didn't hesitate to spend time assisting us to prepare. Flora was especially enthusiastic about passing the exam, and early a few mornings after Bloom's mishap in the simulation chamber, I heard the nature fairy knock on my bedroom door. Musa stepped out of the room momentarily, so I was alone. I turned around to acknowledge her.
"Hey Flora, how is your studying coming along, do you want me to quiz you later on this afternoon?" I asked her.
"No, thanks Tecna, but I've been doing a few experiments with some plant species, but I need a specific environment for one of them to thrive. I need a dark and confined space, it's the best thing for this type of plant." She explained.
"All right," I agreed without hesitation, "it sounds harmless enough." So, Flora placed a small pot in the back of my closet and shut the door.
"Is there anything I need to do for you?" I inquired, "I'd rather not destroy your plants by accident."
"Don't worry about it, Tecna," She reassured me with a genuine smile, "I'll just come in each day and water it, and the rest happens on its own. Thank you for your help." I acknowledged her thanks as she left my bedroom.
The next morning, I was using the spare time I had to prepare for my own simulator midterm, I was going to choose the first option that Professor Palladium gave us. Flora came in to water the seeds that she asked me to keep in my closet, though what I didn't count of was those seeds were growing frantically within twenty four hours. I got dressed, but as I was about to put on a pair of my purple trousers with green stripes, I realized that they had shrunk the last time I washed them, so I had no choice but to dig in my closet for another pair. While I was looking in the dark, something suddenly grabbed me by the waist and dragged me in, wrapping itself around my body, tying me up so I couldn't escape. I wasn't able to see what exactly was slowly taking me hostage, and before I knew it, I was completely trapped. I tried yelling for help, unfortunately they were cut short when whatever had captured me wrapped itself around my mouth and continued to tangle me up. Thankfully I managed to put on the new pair of pants before being held captive. By now, I couldn't move, I couldn't even kick the door to get anybody's attention, how long would I be in here before anybody noticed? About half an hour later, I heard Musa come back in the room, I could tell it was her because of the way her footsteps sounded and the fact that I could hear her humming a tune while she passed my closet. I tried making some noise, which came out very muffled, and apparently Musa couldn't even hear me, and she had sonar hearing. I attempted to cry out louder, but after a few minutes I gave up. It felt like forever before I heard someone else come in our bedroom.
"Hi Musa, have you seen Tecna?" I heard Flora ask. When I get out of this closet she is not going to hear the end of this. She never even told me what the plants were that she put in my closet, or even warned me about things to look for that were out of the ordinary.
"No, haven't seen her since this morning." Musa answered the nature fairy immediately after she inquired about where I was.
"Are you guys having any trouble with my plants?" Flora continued to inquire, she sounded like she was getting closer, but then distant again. Am I ever having trouble with Flora's plants, they are keeping me hostage in my own closet! By now I could feel the vines digging deeper into my arms and around me, a number of unsettling things crossed my mind while I wondered what these plants would want from me.
"Huh, what do you mean, we have plants in our room?" Musa's response was quizzical, it was strange that Flora didn't ask Musa's permission to use our room for plant storage, but only asked me. I didn't tell Musa because I was under the impression that the seeds were harmless and wouldn't grow at an exponential rate within just a day! I'm
"Yes, I asked Tecna to keep a few seeds in the dark inside her closet." Flora clarified, finally I was able to see light as she opened up the door. Now I could call as loud as possible and she could finally hear me, "Tecna?" I continued moaning loudly in anger while she used her magic to make the plant release me.
"It's about time," I shouted with great irritation, now able to move out of my restraints and get myself free by opening the second closet door, "I was just looking for a pair of trousers, when this creepy crawly thing grabbed me!" By this time, Bloom and Stella entered the room as well. They must have heard all the noise that was going on in here.
"Musa, she was in there all day and you didn't notice a thing!" Stella began to scold her.
"I'm not in the habit of snooping in other people's closets!" Musa answered the Solarian princess, and I appreciated my roommate's respect for my privacy. Although this would've been the one exception where I would have forgiven her for it.
"Okay, I'll keep my cool, but I'd really like to know what kind of seeds they were." I told Flora as I rubbed my wrist, because of the position I was tied up in, the plant had my right wrist tied a bit tight.
"Uh, they were... um... triple Ss." Flora hesitated.
"Triple Ss?" I was now infuriated, what did that stand for, what did that mean? I had no idea what species of plant that was, and for her not to give me any information about what she was keeping in my closet, and for me to find out this way, I had never been this furious. I had wasted the entire morning being tied up in my closet because of her plants!
"Sequoia Sepralifeous Swifta." Flora quivered, her voice getting quieter as she spoke.
"What?" I finally lost it, as little as I knew about plants, I knew that those species were known to grab whoever disturbed their darkness and keep them there until they had lost their nutrients, it was their source of food while in their natural environment. Luckily was no where near that state, those plants could have completed sucked the life right out of me!
"I didn't think they would grow so fast, I swear to you, I had no idea!" Flora pleaded for my forgiveness, falling to her knees waving her arms in her air in protest. She sounded like she was about to cry.
"All right, Tecna, don't go bananas, take a deep breath..," this was a simple calming exercise that Flora herself taught us not too long ago, it was ironic that she would be the one I'd lose my cool on, "now let's remain calm."
"Oh Tecna, I'm so sorry." Flora continued to beg as I sat on my bed, taking my comb and beginning to brush my hair from the tangled mess it had most likely turned into while I was tied up.
"It's all well and good, Flora, but I think that.., those killer string beans have got to go." Stella piped in, obviously she too had an incident involving Flora's plants.
"You're right, I'll come and get everything in a sec, then I'll take myself and my stuff over to Black Mud Swamp." Flora agreed sadly as she got up to leave the room.
"Black Mud Swamp?" Bloom asked her with a hint of concern in her voice.
"The rooms at Alfea are not suited for my experiments." Flora clarified after turning to the rest of us while continuing to leave.
"But you can't move to the swamp, we all know the place is horrible." Bloom protested, "We don't want you to go there. Right.., girls? Is that a yes or a no?" I didn't really want Flora to go to Black Mud Swamp alone, but if it meant her plants would not be holding me captive in my own closet, then I didn't mind if she just did her experiments there. Before we even opened our mouths, the door closed and Flora was gone.
"Ugh, I don't believe this!" Bloom sighed, " Flora was just trying to prepare for her big exam!"
"Bloom, we all have to study," says the only one of us who couldn't be bothered to actually study, Stella, "but when we study, we don't tear up her clothes..!"
"Nor do we try to strangle her." I added, still with irritation in my voice.
"Oh, come on girls, don't be so hard on her." Bloom insisted, "Flora's exam is coming up soon and.., anyway I.., well I promised Flora I was going to help her, and where I come from, promises are kept, all right!" And she left to follow Flora out to Black Mud Swamp. As the door slammed, we gasped in surprise.
"I think Bloom has a point." Musa sighed after moments of complete silence.
"I think so too," I admitted, "I am mad at Flora for not telling me what kind of plants she was keeping in my closet, and being tied up and potentially killed by them. Though I also know that she would help us study, no matter what."
"Let's go find them." Stella suggested as we all left the bedroom that Musa and I shared. We finally caught up to Bloom as she was talking to Flora while she was packing, and Stella knocked on the door.
"Hey Flora, we're sorry we freaked out on you, you were only trying to do your experiments and study for the big simulator test." She began.
"Yeah, and we want to help you out, I know you'd do the same for us." Musa added.
"So, as much as I personally don't want to do this, we'd like to go to Black Mud Swamp as a team and help you get what you need for the exam." I concluded.
"That would be so great girls!" Flora cheered, "thank you very much."
We all helped Flora pack her things and head out towards a nice spot by the river in the Black Mud Swamp. After setting up her equipment, we took a break, Flora was looking in her bag for a book that she brought with her, the book was filled with information about all different types of plant and flower species that she needed for her experiments.
"I still can't believe it," She replied cheerfully, "I never thought you'd have followed me here."
"Yeah, me neither." Stella groaned sarcastically, lifting up her muddy feet, only Stella would wear platform shoes to a swamp expedition.
"The truth is, we couldn't let you come here by yourself." Musa admitted, she was sitting patiently on a rock with Kiko standing beside her.
"They may be a bit grumpy sometimes, but they care about you." Bloom began before she was immediately interrupted by Stella.
"Anyway, I hope this camping trip doesn't last too long." the Solarian princess stated with a hint of annoyance in her tone.
"If you all help me find this magic flower, it won't last long at all," Flora informed us, taking out her book of all the flowers that exited in the Magical Dimension, " See, this is the Cheerful Gladiolas." She opened her book to a page that she marked with a purple ribbon, and we saw a picture of a remarkable flower.
"That's a pretty flower," Stella commented, "but are you sure it can be found around here?"
"Absolutely, the ecosystem of this swamp is quite diversified." Flora answered.
"And what do you need it for, exactly?" Musa continued to inquire for the rest of us.
"The essence of the Cheerful Gladiolas is an antidote for the witches' sadness spell." Flora told us with a proud and joyous laugh.
"Very well then, what are we waiting for?" The Princess of Solaria urged the rest of our group, "Let's go and get the flower so we can get back."
"It's not as easy as that," Flora warned us while she put her book back in her bag, "it's a very skittish flower, it doesn't let itself be picked."
"Don't tell me we're going to have to coax it into following us of its own free will." Stella sighed, "I've had it with walking plants."
"Actually, we just have to ask the flower to extend one of its petals," Flora explained, taking out a flower shaped container with and opening it, "and then I'll use a drop of this mixture, one of my inventions, and.., check this out." Flora squeezed a sample on a random leaf, and it fell to the ground. Kiko looked down at the pink puddle on the ground, and as he watched closely, grass magically sprouted upward from the ground and took him by surprise.
"That was fast." Musa remarked after we saw what just happened.
"I can create an infinite number of artificial petals." Flora concluded as she put the lid back on the container.
"This is great, let's get to work right away," Bloom announced with excitement before turning towards her pet bunny, "Kiko, you stay right here okay, the swamp is not a good place for you to walk about."
"Can I stay too, I won't wander off, I promise?" Stella begged, "Cross my heart."
"Stella, please, don't start complaining already." Musa huffed as we began walking further away from the campsite.
"Who's complaining, I was just asking a simple question?" Stella replied innocently, "Then we'll go right back to Alfea right?"
"Stella!" We all shouted in unison.
It wasn't long before Stella begin to complain about her shoes, she definitely should have worn something that was more practical than platforms. However, despite her objections, she still continued walking on until she finally had enough of stepping in all the mud.
"Oh no, why oh why are swamps so...?" Stella whined, not being able to think of anything to finish her statement until Musa piped in.
"Swampy?" The music fairy continued for her in a joking manner.
"Your comments are uncalled for, Musa." Stella groaned, wipping the mud from her shoe with a cloth.
"So is your outfit, for goodness sake, this is a muddy swamp not a fashion show." Musa pointed out.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Stella shot back irritably, "A Winx is always a Winx and-" Just then, she lost her balance and fell in the mud.
"Stella?" Flora called as we all gasped, turning around after we noticed that she fell.
"She's over there!" Musa called while we began running towards her through the long grasses and shrubs of the swamp.
"Stella, are you okay?" Bloom asked her best friend, she was sitting next to a tree, completely covered in dirt.
"No, I'm not okay," She complained while getting up off the dirty ground, "I'm tired and dirty and my feet are killing me from all that walking about, If only we'd find these stupid flowers." Sudden Flora gasped, I noticed she had spotted something nearby.
"Hush, quiet." She warned Stella softly.
"No, I refuse to be quiet!" Stella protested, "You said we'd find them and all-" before Stella could continue, Flora covered her mouth with her hand and the princess just mumbled through her hand.
"Look Stella," Flora whispered, "there, on the water." We turned to look at the lake we were walking beside, and we watched as two small creatures were swimming, laughing and playing around the lily pads.
"Wow, they're so beautiful." Bloom whispered as we continued to watch them play.
"Yes, and they're so tiny." Musa observed, but just seconds later, Stella bit down on Flora's fingers causing her to shriek and startle the little creatures of the lake.
"Ground walkers, let's go, quick!" one of them cried out in fear as the began flying away into the water to hide.
"No, no, no," Flora protested, "wait, wait, please, we don't want to hurt you, we're your friends, and.., we need your help." In a few seconds the two creatures began to slowly come out of their hiding place.
"Oh, all right then," one of the two creatures hesitated, "are you sure that you do not wish to bring harm to us?"
"Oh, no, all we want is a simple favour from you and we'll be on our way." Bloom reassured them.
"Well, if you are telling the truth that you won't hurt us, and you really need our help, our nymph village is over in that direction." The second nymph told us, pointing to our right in the far clearing of the lake.
"Thank you so much." Flora called as we began to follow the two nymphs to the location of their village. As we walked, Flora began exploring the exciting wonderland of plants near the water that created the miniature nymph village.
"What an amazing place, I mean look at all the flowers. The lilies and gladioli, the water nymphs were right to bring us here, I'm sure we'll be able to find what we're looking for." She began, sniffing the flowers as Stella gasped in surprise, "What is it Stella, a cat got your tongue or what?"
"Look down there, in the water..." Stella stammered, and when we looked, we could see bubbles and numerous nymphs swimming around. That must've been the nymphs' village, surrounded by all the plants around the lake.
"It's a miniature city!" Bloom proclaimed, trying to be quiet so we wouldn't frighten the nymphs.
"Fascinating, the water nymphs live in air bubbles under the leaf of a water lily." Flora explained to us. One of the nymphs popped its head out from the water and grabbed on to a close by lily pad.
"We don't mean to be rude or anything but uh.., we have a bit of a problem." She began softly, "See, we can't really invite you into house, you're kind of big, we have no room."
"But our queen has expressed the wish to meet you," the other nymph continued, "follow us." The two nymphs began swimming ahead to lead us to their queen, who was sitting on top of a throne made out of leaves.
"We are very happy to have you here." She began, "You see, we don't often receive visitors."
"Thank you for your warm welcome your..." Stella began before turning to Bloom in order to whisper in her ear, "Think I should say Your Littleness instead of Your Highness?"
"Majesty, try Your Majesty." Bloom advised quietly in response.
"You must've had a very long journey, you all look a bit tired." the nymph queen replied, "may I offer you some refreshments?"
"Actually, all we really want is to touch the petal of a Cheerful Gladiolas, may we?" Flora asked.
"Of course you may, I can tell you have a lot of respect for nature." The queen answered her happily.
"But... it seems almost incredible that nobody's ever met you before." The fairy from Lynphea thought.
"We keep a low profile, we know when to hide when we need to." She explained, "And then if so few creatures ever come around here, there must be a reason."
"Perhaps you've heard of something called The Great Monster of Black Island?" the nymph on her left asked us nervously.
"What, a monster lives around here?" Bloom inquired, it came as a surprise to us because this place was so peaceful and serene, it was hard to believe that anything bad could happen here.
"Yes, quite unfortunately, if you look over that way, right behind the Fog Bank, you'll see an island right in the middle of the swamp, and in a deep, underwater cave under the island, is where that horrible creature lives." The nymph queen specified, "It's a gigantic evil being which threatens my people daily."
"Why don't you move somewhere else?" Bloom wondered.
"Because our survival depends on a plant called Zillith, and it can only be found on that island," The queen informed her, "with great patience and more effort, we're able to make a strong and transparent type of material."
"That's what we use to manufacture the bubbles in which we live." the nymph on the queen's left added, "without the Zillith we'd have to live above water where predators await, but the Black Island monster makes it very difficult to gather Zillith leaves."
"Every once in a while, one of us volunteers to go to the island and try to pickat least one leaf, and this time it was Lusiz' turn." Suddenly the nymph sitting on the queen's left began sobbing, and turned to the queen for consolation.
"Why, what's wrong, what happened to Lusiz?" Bloom queried as our faces become stricken with worry and concern.
"She never came back." The queen answered as Bloom gasped in horror.
"That's terrible." Flora remarked sadly.
"It's our destiny, we've been living like this for quite some time." The queen informed us with a grim expression on her face.
"Well, I say its high time things changed," Bloom declared with great determination as the queen looked puzzled about what we were planning to do next, "You ready girls?"
"Ready when you are, Bloom!" Flora answered, and on cue, we began to transform, I observed that we were transforming a lot more often. It was a great opportunity to use my powers and practice flying in real situations. I also knew for a fact that I was going to take a long break from plants after this little adventure, I'd had enough and I couldn't wait to hear the low, steady hum of a computer modem again. It was like total and complete bliss to my ears, along with the sound of my fingers tapping at the keyboard and the click of the mouse every now and again. Those, of course, were the sounds that put me at ease and in a state of relaxation that I told the girls never to break me from when I was buried in the sensation of happiness that I could only achieve at my computer desk. Once everyone had finish transforming into their Magic Winx forms, we stood there, waiting for approval from the nymph queen.
"Marvellous!" she replied with great relief once she realized that we were fairies, and we were going to help put a step to the constant threat that loomed over the nymphs.
We started our decent toward the island, across the foggy swamp. There were many unique and strange things about our surroundings, I had noticed an owl with three eyes, it was very uncommon as far as I knew. Suddenly, Stella turned to the rest of us with a look of fear.
"Did you hear something?" She quivered nervously. Musa and I were flying right next to her, but we didn't here a thing, and Musa had sonar hearing.
"No I didn't." I answered while we continued flying towards the island.
"You know girls, I was just thinking..., the queen said that the monster was gigantic but to her we're big too, so if we average things out, the monster must be a medium sized creature, right?" Stella proposed as Musa and I looked at her, watching behind her, "It makes sense." Our surroundings began to get dark, and we turned around to see what the queen might have described as the monster's head emerge from the water. Unfortunately Stella's guess about the size of the monster was far from accurate, it was as gigantic as the nymph queen warned us it would be. We gasped slightly as the monster's head inched closer towards the Solarian princess.
"What is it, what?" She asked, when we all turned around, screaming while we tried to avoid the monster's head as it went back into the water. We all huddled back to back, just to make sure we were all present.
"Maybe, uh... maybe it's gone." Flora thought fearfully, unfortunately she was wrong. The monster's head suddenly popped up from the water yet again, however we all managed to get out of the way, that is except for Musa.
"Oh no!" She called, she looked like she was trapped, and we turned back to see if we could get her away from it, but we couldn't.
"No!" Bloom shouted as we all yelled in horror, and suddenly the monster opened its huge mouth taking Musa with one big swoop and then, it sunk back down into the water. The rest of us huddled above the surface after watching the horrific scene. Stella immediately acted by impulse, shooting a blast of her magic towards the surface of the water, but instead of the monster's head, a small fish floated up to the top of the water.
"Oopsie." Stella gasped, noticing that she'd actually killed the fish with her powers.
"Where did it go?" Bloom wondered after we waited a few more seconds for anything to happen..
"Great." Bloom sighed when we huddled up back to back once more.
"Now what?" Stella inquired.
"There's only one thing to do," I told them seriously with fierce determination, "we've got to rescue Musa."
"Yes," Bloom agreed, "but how, water is not our element?"
"We could use the air bubble method just like the water nymphs do." Flora suggested as we continued looking down at the surface of the lake.
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Bloom encouraged her, "are you ready?"
"You bet!" We all answered in complete unison before simultaneously creating individual air bubbles for each of us to help us breath under water.
"And now for the final touch, Locks Luminous!" I shouted, snapping my fingers to make a light appear with my powers so that we could be able to see down in the water. Then we instantly dived down to search for Musa, once we were deep enough, I looked over to Bloom, "Can you see anything?"
"Down there, right at the bottom!" Flora called out, and with my light, we were able to see the head of the creature, hiding in the seaweed. However the head slowly moved away from view and we couldn't see it anymore.
"It went into its cave." Stella told us as we began swimming towards where the monster had been.
"Let's go!" Bloom urged as we went closer, and when we could see the monster's head again, we could see Musa unconscious in its mouth. When we swam right in front of it, it began to close its mouth, but before it could, Bloom managed to swim right in and grab Musa. However the monster closed its mouth before Bloom could get her out. Stella shrieked and the rest of us gasped with concern, thinking that the monster was going to swallow both Bloom and Musa whole. Although in just seconds its eyes began to glow, and magic sparkles emerged from out of the monster's nose. Bloom suddenly reappeared with Musa carried in her arms, still in the air bubble as the monster's eyes reopened. The use of magic within the monster's mouth had disturbed it, it growled ferociously, resulting in making the cave surrounding us to begin to rumble. Bloom was able to swim away with Musa before then, but all the movements brought Musa from unconsciousness.
"What's going on?" The music fairy questioned wearily as debris began to fall from the cave walls.
"We got to get out of here, now!" Flora shouted, there was no hesitation as we swam for the surface of the water. Once we hit air again, our bubbles popped, and we landed on the bank. As soon as I landed, I could sense that something was definitely off, something about the air in this particular area was different but I couldn't put my finger on it right that second.
"That was too close for comfort." Stella breathed once she landed on solid ground and the rest of us landed, catching our breaths.
"Where in the world are we?" Flora thought, "I've never been here before."
"I don't know, but we're probably on the island." Bloom observed while she took in our surroundings.
"If that's the case," I concluded, "then we should definitely keep our eyes opened."
"Why, the monster's gone right?" Stella asked with a big, unexpected yawn, "There's nothing to be afraid of."
"The monster isn't gone, he's just retreated back into his cave." I clarified for her as I began walking further onto the island while Musa began to follow me.
"Flora, do you know what sort of trees these are?" Bloom inquired as she touched the trunk of a tree that the entire island seemed to be populated with, they were everywhere.
"Um, they.., they look like Red Willows." Flora answered, letting out a yawn of her own.
"My, all my yawning is contagious." Stella yawned once again, I began to notice that both girls were starting to get extremely tired, even I was beginning to get a little drowsy, though I had a method to keep from looking fatigued when I didn't want to be.
"Looks like they were planted in a specific manner." I pointed out to Flora as we began following the path created by the way the Red Willows grew.
"That's typical of this trees, they grow in a spiral shape around their leader." Flora explained.
"These trees have a leader?" Stella asked with a slight giggle, "That's funny."
"It's as if they're positioned in such a way as to take us to their leader." Bloom concluded as we continued walking slowly, even she was beginning to yawn. Now I could sense that something was absolutely wrong in the air, I just didn't know the details of it yet. However it may have something to do with why Flora, Stella and now Bloom were yawning so much.
"What a beautiful place, isn't it?" Stella sighed tiredly, stretching her arms out with the little enthusiasm she had left in her.
"It's very quiet." I thought, "hear the birds?"
"Actually I don't" Stella answered my question with a very tired sounding yawn.
"Exactly, and don't you think that's strange?" I continued to inquire, though I had a feeling I wasn't going to get much observation out of my Solarian friend, especially if she was too tired to think.
"No, it doesn't seem very strange to me." she replied.
"My, what a wonderful smell." Flora finally pointed out, there was a very sweet floral scent in the air when I noticed that something was wrong, however I knew the scent was common for nature, so I didn't give it a second thought until now.
"I detect it," I told them worriedly, "I better analyze its composition." Instantly I used my magic to create an analyzation centre around me, and I began typing wildly at its keys. All the data I have gathered was beginning to fit into place, and I could be able to see a connection. The sweet scent in the air was what was causing us to feel extremely fatigued.
"No, it can't be," I gasped as I realized what exactly was in the air around us, "this substance is sleeping gas! Girls, girls!" I turned around and the analyzation centre disappeared, Stella was one of the first to stop and take a nap, unfortunately it would last longer that she'd want.
"Yes, and those moss covered rocks are just like.., comfy pillows.., umm so soft." She mumbled slowly, drifting off to sleep. I started panicking, I was the only person there who know about the sleeping gas in the air, and all of my friends were falling asleep. If they all fell asleep, I had no idea what to do after they all were out.
"Stella, don't breathe, don't breathe," I started to freak out and turned on the air mask feature of my helmet so I didn't have to be breathe in the air myself, "no, wake up... Stella, don't close your eyes!"
"All right, set the alarm for seven." Stella groaned, I was definitely unable to get her to snap out of it, she was too far gone. Then I turned around, to see almost everyone else was falling asleep.
"Flora, Musa, oh no, wake up!" I shouted frantically, "Don't let yourselves fall asleep, please!"Honestly I didn't know what I was going to do alone, how was I going to get rid of this gas and wake up my friends? I finally realized why Lusiz hadn't come back from getting the Zillith leaf, she had fallen asleep on the way there, or, if not that, had been eaten by the monster. Hopefully it was the first of the two conclusions.
"Aw come on, Tecna, were so tired." Musa complained before shutting her eyes.
"Yeah, leave us alone." Flora piped in quietly before doing the same.
"Tecna!" I heard Bloom call, she was the only one besides me who was left standing.
"Bloom!" I shouted, running over to my red haired friend.
"I've got to.., must stay awake." Bloom mumbled, she finally collapsed backwards before I caught her in my grasp, "Look over there, Tecna, I.., I think it's the leader tree... The one Flora was talking about..., look at the meadow, animals are all sleeping... and over there, under the willow, it must be little Lusiz." That was all she could muster before finally falling asleep in my friendly grasp.
"Bloom!" I called asshe shut her eyes.
"Sorry, Tecna.., I..." Bloom murmured before she actually fell asleep. I laid her down on the ground comfortably, thinking for a moment before I knew exactly what I needed to do.
"I'll create an oxygen bubble." I said out loud, waving my hand above me as the dome materialized and formed down around Bloom and I, "I'll make a little opening, and let the bad air out." In seconds of my little procedure, Bloom began waking up, because I could hear her groan beside me.
"Thanks Tecna." She replied happily, I was slightly engaged in what I was doing that I didn't notice that she got up so quickly.
"Bloom, welcome back from the Dreamland." I replied gratefully, helping her to her feet within my dome.
"It's the willow, that deadly oder," Bloom told me as we both starred at it, "it comes from the willow."
"Well, then, let's get to work." I suggested as we both used our powers to make my oxygen bubble get larger and cover at least the centre of the island where we were. The birds began to wake up as all the sleeping gas escaped through the opening of the top of the dome. I looked over my shoulder to see Musa, Stella and Flora wake up, yawn and stretch.
"Well, I... where am I?" Musa asked after a stretch, "What happened?"
"Umm, turn off the light." Stella groaned, still half asleep, her comment about the light was kind of ironic considering she was the fairy of the sun and moon, "The alarm hasn't gone off yet." Just then, when she opened her eyes, she could see a tiny insect crawl up her arm, and she screamed.
"Get this thing off of me!" She panicked, "Quick, somebody do something!"
"Stella relax, it's just an innocent little insect." Musa reassured her while Flora couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably.
"Ah, disgusting!" Stella continued to scream, running out from the trees to try and shake the insect off her arm.
"Well, it worked," I replied with a smile, watching Stella hysterically run around trying to get the bug off, "sounds like everyone's wide awake."
"Yes, and not just them, look." Bloom pointed out, " All the animals are waking up." The birds that were sleeping around the leader tree were flying freely in the sky now that they were awake as well.
"We're back with you girls!" Musa announced once she, Flora and Stella walked over to us.
"Great, help us make this oxygen bubble a bit bigger." I instructed as all of us used our magic to make the bubble grow. It was now covering a portion of the leader willow tree, and the little nymph, Lusiz, who was sleeping there finally woke up. Once we knew our oxygen bubble was effective enough, we went to her, and Bloom bent down over to look at the small water nymph.
"You're Lusiz, right?" Bloom inquired.
"Yes, and I know who you are," Lusiz began, "I could never thank you enough for waking me up."
"But, how do you know how we are?" Bloom continued to ask.
"All the while I was sleeping, I remained in constant telepathic contact with the world around me." Lusiz explained, standing up, "So I knew you were coming." Suddenly we could feel a giant rumbling underneath our feet.
"The monster!" Musa shouted.
"No, no, it's not what you think, the monster isn't coming here," Lusiz told us, "he's already here." As she explained this, I kneeled down in front of her beside Bloom.
"Sorry, I don't follow." Bloom admitted, she didn't understand what Lusiz meant and neither did the rest of us.
"Let me explain, as we speak, we're all standing on top of the monster. As I told you, while I was asleep, I kept a mental contact with this place, and that's how I found out the truth. The island is actually a giant sleeping and sleepwalking turtle, all thanks to the Red Willow tree." She advised us.
"And the monster in the cave is nothing more than a turtle's head getting in and out of its shell." Bloom added.
"And the rumbling we just heard must've been the turtle trying to move about in the swamp." I concluded.
"If what you say is true, it means we've woken him up at last." Stella guessed.
"No, unfortunately your magic dome covers only a little section of his enormous shell," Lusiz clarified, "poor thing's walking in it's sleep and it's been doing so for eons."
"The protective barrier will vanish when we leave, and then, things will get back as they were before." I informed the rest of the girls. Suddenly the willow began to growl loudly, "What the... watch out!" We jumped out of the way as the willow began waving it's branches wildly.
"Oh my, it's gone crazy!" Lusiz cried out, suddenly the tree's branches broke the oxygen dome that we had created.
"Why you bully, I'll turn you into a bonsai, that'll teach you to pick on creatures that are smaller than you!" Bloom shouted furiously, then she shot her fire magic toward the lead Red Willow tree, however it used it's branches to block the attack. Then she realized what it's weakness was. "Of course, the roots, that's what I've got to strike, underground!" So Bloom blasted the willow tree once again, this time she hit the base of the tree. It began burning from the ground up, and it was stuck in place. Despite the fact that Flora hated to see plants suffering, she knew that the Red Willow was doing more harm to it's surroundings than good. So, Flora used her magic, and blasted the burnt tree. With her magic, she made it vanish, it was completely gone and magic butterflies surrounded the area.
"We did it!" Flora declared joyfully while giving Bloom a hug.
"Yes, we freed the turtle from the spell." her redhead friend agreed.
"It's another victory for the Winx!" Stella cheered with her fists in the air.
"The air is pure again," Lusiz sighed, taking in a breath, "do you hear that lovely sound?"
"It's the sound of the birds singing," Stella replied, "I can hear it this time."
"No, my friend, I'm talking about a much louder sound." Lusiz corrected Stella, "The sound ofnature awakening." It was true, the birds were finally flying, and I could imagine Flora could sense the feeling of nature's renewal.
We flew back to the main land with Lusiz, and the rest of the nymphs were overjoyed to see their friend home safe and sound, and the Winx and I had another audience with the nymph queen.
"How could we ever thank you enough?" The queen began while one of the other nymphs was sharing a hug of great relief with Lusizo, "You brought back our dear Lusiz, and freed us from a source of fear and anxiety."
"Oh and by the way, the monster... or should I say, the turtle... Uh, what's going to happen to it now?" Stella asked.
"Look over there, in the swamp." The queen added, pointing in the direction of the turtle as it finally departed from this part of Black Mud Swamp.
"Hey, it's moving," Stella cheered, "granted it's no speed boat, but it's moving."
"The creature is free now, and so it's following the path that life has laid out." The queen continued.
"But what are you going to do now?" Bloom asked, "You said the Zillith plant grows only on the turtle's shell?"
"Before it went away, the turtle let us collect as many as we could, we'll be okay for a while, we tried growing the Zillith in our soil but it doesn't work, unfortunately." The nymph queen told us sadly .
"Sooner or later we'll bound to one out of leaves." Lusiz added.
"If it's Mother Nature's will, so be it." the queen concluded.
"Hang on a second, even Mother Nature can use a friendly little boost sometimes." Flora reassured the nymphs as I noticed her dig in her bag once again.
"Flora, what are you looking for?" I asked her.
"My rapid growth formula, remember my magic drops?" she answered, "Watch this, Your Majesty." Flora dropped a bit of her formula on to one of the Zillith leaves, and in seconds the leaf multiplied into dozens and dozens more, which would last the water nymphs a very long time.
"Marvellous!" The queen replied happily.
"Oh yay!" One of the other nymphs cheered as they all began swimming joyously around the throne in a great celebration.
"Way to go Flora!" Stella encouraged our nature loving friend.
"Excellent." I added with a smile on my face, I could tell Flora felt good saving the nymphs from losing their most valuable resource.
"Now, are you going to let her use your rooms for her little experiments?" Bloom pressed, with all that was going on, I completely forgot what got us out here in the first place. I suppose I owed it to Flora to help her out, it was only until exams were done, and of course what happened this morning was only an accident. She did say she didn't know the plants were going to grow so fast, it was out of her hands.
"Well, I..." Stella began, trying to debate rather she should continue letting Flora use her room for it's good quality sunlight. Then I cleared my throat to ease the tension building within Stella while she decided.
"In light of what just happened, I guess we should reconsider the option." I told everyone hesitantly.
"Ah, never-mind girls, from now on I promise to make do with the space that I've got." Flora reassured us, putting each hand around our shoulders.
"Ladies, we could never thank you enough for all that you've done for us," the queen continued, "but as a token of our deep gratitude, we'd like to offer you this, Flora." Just then, a flower appeared before us and the nymphs, it was the flower Flora wanted for her cure for the witches' sadness spell.
"The Cheerful Gladiolas!" Flora exclaimed in surprise.
"It let itself be picked just for you." The queen told Flora as she gathered it in her grasp, "It knows you well treat it well."
"As soon as I get home, I'll put it in the richest soil." Flora promised, carefully standing up with the flower in her hands.
"That's great, Flora, now you're sure to ace your exam as usual." Bloom replied encouragingly.
"Thanks Bloom, and tomorrow is your turn, isn't it Stella?" Flora asked, and as soon as she mentioned it, the Princess of Solaria's face turned soar.
"Oh no." She sighed after a surprised gasp, and as friends, we all began laughing. Flora promised that once the nymphs ran low on Zillith leaves, they could come to Alfea and she would help resupply them so that they would never run out and have to migrate to another swamp.
When I returned back from Black Mud Swamp, I happened to bump into Elyssa on the quad of Alfea, it looked like she was hard at work with her nose in her textbook and her scribbler on her lap.
"Hey Tecna, what have you been up to besides completely dominating epicness." She asked, and just as quickly she lost me. I could never understand her way of speaking, it was like a totally different language sometimes. I just looked at her puzzled before she just laughed, "I just meant that you're awesome, I mean all those electronic gadgets you have and your powers over technology are amazing. I know I have powers that come from electricity but your magic can go much further than that."
"You barely know me through a hole in the wall." I pointed out.
"I know all that I need to determine how cool I think you are." Elyssa told me, and this was definitely a first for me, I've never been considered cool, or awesome, or epic for that matter, I didn't even know what that last one means, "So I heard your friend Bloom got caught in the simulation chamber when it malfunctioned, could you tell if it was going to do that or have your powers not developed that much yet?"
"Actually I could, unfortunately I didn't have any control over what happened in the simulator." I signed, "Professor Palladium told me I'm still a freshman and I couldn't be able to handle it. But the most important thing is that everyone is safe and the simulation chamber will be repaired by the end of the week so the rest of us can resume our midterms."
"That's the right idea Tecna, sometimes things are out of our control, but we just have to trust that it'll be okay in the end." Elyssa reassured me as we sat there lazily on the lush green grass. After a moment of staring silently, I turned to her again.
"So, how is your next performance coming along?" I wondered.
"Everything's pretty much done, I just bragged my agent to put the gig on hold until after exams so I can have full concentration on school." She told me, "Usually it's not very easy to get him to agree with something, but he said since everyone is doing exams anyway, their might not be much of a turn out if I had it during exams. Plus it'll be like a celebration before semester break, am I right?"
"Yes, that does make more sense," I agreed, the date was set for the Friday we had off for semester break, and hopefully there will be a huge audience for the reveal of her new image. Elyssa told me that I've inspired her to be free and expressing herself as a fairy, I still couldn't wrap my head around why that is, but my appearance and magic powers are definitely Intriguing to her, and she continued to reassure me that nothing dangerous would happen when we were at the night club she booked for the event. Though she also said that if I felt uncomfortable, she would instantly take me back to Alfea, that I could trust her with, some unexplained feeling told me I could trust her, it was illogical, and I was deeply skeptical. I didn't want to get myself in trouble either, I didn't have a reason not to trust her, but I never trusted anyone before, Ms. Faragonda was the first person I ever trusted, and that situation was kind of sprung on me, if I could trust the rest of the Winx now, maybe Elyssa was no different. Though, there is one thing I will never reveal to anyone, it would be too humiliating and life threatening, my life before Alfea, as Dr. Tonson's lab experiment.