"Five hundred sacks of potatoes on the wall, five hundred sacks of potatoes, take it down and pass it around, four hundred and ninety nine sacks of potatoes on the wall. four hundred and ninety nine-"
"Alice, if you sing that song one more time I will unleash a beat that will be ringing in your ears for days." Musa groaned.
They had all gathered one day in the big kitchen of Alfea, pealing potatoes for Bloom's Potions 101 class project which wills the person who drinks it to give good advice the next day.
"You know," Bloom started. "I'd feel like a total dork if this doesn't work."
"Is that because you chose the hardest recipe in the book or the fact that we have been pealing potatoes for the past three hours?" Alice asked.
"It wasn't the hardest recipe in the book!" Bloom protested. "It was in the New Self-Improvement Guide for Fairies."
Musa laughed. "What was the formula again?"
Bloom looked down at her book. "A thousand pealed potatoes, a bushel of whipweed, a magic back flip, and your good decisions on the next day; and then good judgement is guaranteed."
"A magic back flip?" Alice questioned with a face. "Do I even need to say how weird the magic world is?"
"Magix Dimension, hunny." Flora giggled.
In the next second, the door to the kitchen burst open and there stood the rounded looking chef in the doorway. He was a dour looking man that Mrs Fairagonda introduced to the school on their first day, and with every meal they had to thank him because they were courteous young girls.
"Aha!" His accent was very Italian, and reminded Alice of Mario. At this realisation, she smirked a little. "I thought I heard little itty-bitty voices in here! What are you girls doing in my kitchen, eh?"
"Uh...we were just working on a project for Potions." Bloom explained awkwardly. I guess she had forgotten to ask permission to use the kitchen space.
"Look at this mess!" He pressed his hands firmly to his head, as if he was trying to dull a headache.
Bloom tied her arms behind her back and looked down at the floor apologetically, she kicked the ground behind her.
"Relax Mistro." Musa said, throwing the chef one of the potatoes in which he nearly missed. "Have a spud."
Flora threw Alice a grey flat hat to which she put on her head.
"Top o' the mornin' tae ye laddie, my name's j-"
"What is this?!" He shrieked, ignoring Alice completely.
"That's dinner." Flora said, biting her nail.
"Bloom was making it." Alice said, taking off the hat and swinging it around on her index finger. "Since she's making us do all this hard labour."
The chef turned to Bloom. "That's not how you cook!"
"How hard can it be to make an omelette?" Musa snorted, as they all took a station.
"You must show love to your food." He said, stars twinkling in his eyes. "You must put the passion into your cooking."
Alice mixed two eggs in a bowl, adding some salt and pepper into the gooey mix and poured it into the sizzling pan. As it started to darken on both sides, she threw in some chopped cheese, ham and tomato slices and folded everything over.
As she took a look at the other girls...let's just say their omelettes were more like fried eggs. Each of them proceeded to flip theirs in the air successfully, all except Bloom who got hers stuck in the ceiling fan.
They all watched as the ceiling fan turned slowly with the little egg hanging half off of one of the fans.
"I'll get it." Flora jogged over to the dial for the fan, as she twisted it; the fan only turned faster and faster.
"I don't think that's it, Flora!" Tecna shouted.
"Go little omelette, spinnin' like a DJ, like it's your birthday, like you got your biggest fan, gonna surf you like a ham..." Musa rapped. While doing this, Alice threw her arms up in the air.
"You spin me right round, baby, right round, like a record baby, right round, right round-"
"Knock it off!" The chef stomped his big foot. "I see you need to be instructed in singing as well as cooking in a kitchen-!" Flora finally figured out how to turn off the fan, but the 'omelette' flew off until it made a splatting noise across the chef's face.
Alice held her hand over her mouth to stop herself from snickering, but figured that she'd soon fail to keep in her laughter, so she ran out the room.
"Normally I would find this funny." He wiped the remnants of the omelette from his face with his apron as he growled. "But since I am the one with the egg on my face; I will not laugh. You might want to scram before the head mistress gets here." With that, he ran off and passed Alice.
She took a moment to contain herself before she walked back in the room with the same smirk on her face as she looked at the girls.
The timer pinged for the oven.
"The whipweed is almost done." Flora stated, after she had checked the oven and set the timer again.
The door crashed open again and they all turned around to expect to see the chef again but with the addition of Ms. Griselda and Ms. Fairagonda, but were instead greeted by the smug face of the uncooperative Stella.
"What's the sitch in the kitch, girls?" She asked with the same smug look. Obviously something was up, and Tecna had probably felt it as well.
"You being fashionably late can only mean a social engagement."
"Yeaaaah..." Stella giggled at herself a little. "I know I said that I'd help you guys out but, you're just gonna have to let me play a good excuse card today!"
"Uh huh." Alice tutted. "And which one are you going to play today?"
"The Prince Sky one!" She giggled again, zinging a card out of thin air and waved it in front of their faces. "He invited me on a date to some place called the 'Black Lagoon Café' tonight!"
They all gathered around Stella, all of them looking at the card. Alice's eyebrow quirked when she saw it.
Musa gasped. "A handwritten letter! You go, Stella! Whoo!" She waved her hand in the air.
Stella sighed. "Yeah I know. But the only problem is that I don't know what to wear! I'm in desperate need of second opinions."
"Say no more Stella!" Bloom cried, jumping in to save the day.
They all ran up the stairs and into their dorm room until they came in front of Stella's bedroom door. When she opened it, and they all saw in the room for the very first time since Stella's bedroom is considered to be her own private space, they were all greeted by a much bigger room than any of them had imagined. In the middle of the room, there was a huge king sized bed resting against the wall. There were two other doors, one leading presumably to her own onsuite and the other leading into her own large walk-in wardrobe. Stella walked in and pushed all her clothes back, revealing a whole room full of clothes. It looked more like a clothing store, everyone's jaws dropped in shock.
I don't think Stella really knows how much clothes are actually here... Alice looked at the proud face of Stella.
"You had a whole other row back there?" Bloom gasped.
Alice patted Bloom's shoulder. "I think the correct term is a dozen rows..."
"Doesn't this guy Sky lose points because of the short notice?" Tecna pointed out, getting back to the point of why they were brought there in the first place.
"Yeah, but he gets bonus points for the formal invitation!" Stella strode over one of the racks, meanwhile Flora had already caught her eye on a beautiful black dress.
"Do you think I could borrow this sometime?" She asked, holding the dress in front of her form to give the other girls a good look. "I don't own much black and I-"
"Yeah, hello Flora!" Stella waved in front of Flora's face. "We're here about me!"
With a sigh, Flora put the dress back on the rack.
"...I'm guessing there's an excellent reason behind this dress." Tecna gave a giggle, holding up a hideous pink dress that looked like it vomited black dots. It had blue edging to the collar and the cuffs. "Where in the realms did you get that thing Stella?"
"I designed it." Stella said, matter-of-factly. When Alice noticed it, she tried to suppress the fit of giggles she felt in her chest and her throat.
"Oh, well, it's very..." Tecna started, biting her lip and not being able to find a word for the hideous thing without hurting Stella's feelings.
"Very what?" Stella asked, turning to Tecna with a look that urged Tecna to test her.
"Hey Stella, what about this one?" Bloom interrupted just in time, holding up a hanger that held a baby blue evening dress and a pair of matching gloves. Stella nearly skipped over to Bloom and jump-hugged her.
"That's perfect Bloom!" She cried. "You're the best!"
She took the dress from Bloom's hands and rushed off to go put it on.
"So..." Bloom started. "Will Brandon be there?"
Why would he be? This is a date, Bloom. Not a hangout.
"No, Sky gave his servant the night off." Stella answered, and Alice's jaw dropped.
"Brandon is not Prince Sky's servant!" She turned so that her back was to Stella. "The correct term is First Royal Squire!"
"Talk to me about these heels." Stella wasn't even listening to Bloom ramble on about her little boy crush. "Too intense?"
Alice stepped forward, glaring at Stella.
"Girl-" Flora held out a hand to stop her.
"They're not very practical." Tecna answered.
Stella went over to sit on her bed, she pointed over to the desk which was filled with perfumes and make-ups and nail varnishes in colour coordination. "Musa, be a dear and bring me that chest please?"
"Of course, your highness." Musa said sarcastically. She walked over to the chest on the table, lifting it up from the sides and nearly toppled over by the weight of it as she put it on the bed. "What's in there?"
"Just a few accessories that I've kept over the years." Stella answered, lifting the lid to reveal more than a few accessories.
"Just a few now?" Musa whispered to herself.
"The Ring of Solaria." Stella said with a smile, plucking it out from the top of the pile and put it on her finger. She twisted it a few times before she took it off again. "Eh, maybe not. Alice, do you mind keeping an eye on this for me? Just for tonight. Tomorrow, I'll ask for it back."
"Uh, do you really think that's the safest option now?" Alice said, shaking her head. "I have a tendency to lose every piece of jewellery I own."
"Bloom then?" Stella gave the puppy dog eyes to Bloom, and Bloom gave in with a sigh.
"Fine, why do you want me to have it anyway? Weren't you going to wear it?" Bloom asked, taking the ring from Stella's hand and put in safely on her index finger.
"When I have it, I have a tendency to cast love spells at any guy I meet before I get to know them. Besides, something tells me that I won't be needing any magic tonight." She smiled and did a twirl.
"So, the love spells are for the second date eh?" Alice said with a laugh, setting off the other girls.
"No!" Stella huffed. "I'm confident that I won't need any love spells with this one!"
"What I don't understand is that you're getting yourself so stressed about meeting some guy." Tecna shook her head.
"He's not just some guy, Tecna! He's a Prince!" Stella exclaimed, then suddenly a foul stench filled the air.
"Okay, who let one off?" Alice asked, pinching her nose.
"The one who smelt it dealt it." Bloom said, turning to Alice.
"The one who said the rhyme did the crime." Alice smiled to Bloom.
"The Flipweed!" Flora squeeked, and then everyone started filing out of the room haphazardly.
"Wait guys! We aren't done yet!" Stella called, racing out of the room and stopped at the door to watch them take off down the hall.
"Sorry Stella!" Alice shouted back, shrugging her arms as she ran. "If this one doesn't go well then we'll definitely be prepared for the next one!"
"Alice!" Musa laughed, slapped Alice's arm playfully as they rounded the corner. "Have a good time Stella!"
"Well, at least the flipweed is done." Alice said, pointing to the oven that poured out smoke and filled the entirety of the kitchen. She turned to Bloom who started biting her thumbnail. "Well done Bloom, I think you'll definitely get an 'A' for this assignment." She remarked sarcastically.
"'Well' and 'Done' are two words rarely used together wherever you girls get involved." Behind them stood the demon teacher, Ms Griselda, and the evil cook that sold them out. "Air-rollus." The smoke instantly swirled in a circle as quick as lightning and burst into glittering dust from the spell. "The mistro tells me that you-"
"Here! I got the- Uuuh!" Flora had managed to detach the fire extinguisher from the opposite side of the room but it proved too heavy for her as she tripped over her own feet and fell, accidentally pressing in the clip to set off the fire extinguisher. Foam burst from the nozzle, and splattered on Ms. Griselda's face which made Alice have to bite her lip to prevent herself from laughing. Looking around, she saw that the other girls had to do the same.
Ms. Griselda wiped her face with her hand, foam flying to the floor as she did so. If she wasn't angry before, then she was definitely angry now.
"Since you're having such a good time in the kitchen, you can just spend the rest of the night here; cooking dinner for the entire school!" She boomed, storming out of the door and followed by the Chef.
Bloom turned to the girls. "Which means that we can still finish the potion." She smiled.
"Bloom..." Alice groaned, flopping down onto the beanbag on the floor with a sigh and squishing her face against it. "I hate you so much right now..." She wiggled her toes, and jumped in the air a little when Musa dropped herself onto the same beanbag. Not really paying attention to the others around her, she looked on to the absent light of Stella's room - wondering why she hadn't even seen Helia yet and why Stella must get the luck while she couldn't even see her own boyfriend.
"Why doesn't Riven ask me out like Sky did with Stella?!" Musa pointed and crossed her arms. "Just saying!"
"Because Riven isn't really the type to come out and confess his feelings to anybody." Alice mumbled against the beanbag. "Plus, you've literally not even talked to him on your own yet and Stella has known Sky longer than you've known Riven."
Bloom entered the living room of their dorm with a huge smile. "Well, I've taken the potion! It should kick-in by the morning."
"Musa wants to go out with Riven." Tecna announced, gaining an incredulous look from Musa.
"What?!" Bloom shrieked. "Seriously?! How come you want to go out with someone so rude?"
Musa opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Tecna. "I've heard that some boys act rude because they are crushing." Tecna pointed out.
Bloom tapped her chin and nodded. "That could be it." They laughed at Musa's 'I give up on all of you' face. "I'll tell you tomorrow when my good judgement potion kicks in. But it's getting late already, so let's get to bed."
Bloom and Flora left the room to go to bed as Musa and Tecna grabbed an arm each of Alice and began dragging her off to her bed.
"STELLA!"
Alice eyes shot open at the alarmed scream that came from the room next to her, she knew that scream all to well, and rushed out of her room. It seemed as if she wasn't the only one who awake from her slumber as Musa and Tecna dragged themselves out of the room after her.
What they saw was a bit startling.
Flora and Bloom's door lay wide open, pitch black inside except from the lights outside illuminating across the room and Stella standing in the middle of piles of accessories and paperwork that lay skewed on the floor.
"Stella! What are you doing?!" Alice yelled, rubbing her eyes. She had never really been a morning person. "If you're up then have a little decency for those who are still trying to sleep!"
Stella looked between all of them sheepishly. "Hiya, what's up?"
"What do you mean, what's up?" Alice grumbled. "I'll give you what's up..."
"We were going to ask you that, Stella. What are you doing in here? What's with all the noise?" Tecna asked, pointing to the thrown open drawers and the various items on the floor.
"Just..." Stella started, casting her eyes towards Alice who gave her a look. "Just doing a little spring cleaning, yeah!"
"Who are you and what have you done to Stella?" Musa said, with an over-fantasized gasp.
"So what time did you get in last night, Stel? We didn't hear you." Bloom asked, her worry laced with her tone.
"Yeah." Flora winked, shifting onto her right foot and holding her hip as if she were a fashion model. She had the stunning looks to be one. "How did the date go, Stella? We expect every detail."
"I got in late and the date went fine, okay?" Stella said, agitated. She stormed out of the room, and made her way towards her bedroom. Before she could even open the door, Alice slammed her hand against the door frame and proceeded to give Stella a menacing glare. The weirdest part about this was that Stella gave a totally unlike Stella evil smirk.
"Your not getting off that easy! Come on! Tell! Tell!" Bloom chanted, none of the others but Alice could sense the vibes that Stella gave off.
Stella didn't look back at them. "Umm...Yeah, pretty romantic."
"Did he walk you home? Did he kiss you goodnight?" Bloom pushed on, becoming more excited.
"Uh come on! Don't you people have your own lives?! How totally pathetic!" Stella yelled, knocking Alice's hand and body out of the way to open her bedroom door. "Ugh!" She grunted, before she disappeared and slammed the door.
"Stella!" Alice shouted after her, trying to force open Stella's bedroom door that had been locked. She was unaware of the door handle that began to melt in her grasp, and it glistened in it's red hot glory. "Don't you think your going just a bit overboard?!"
"Alice!" Flora shrieked, prying Alice's hand away from the door handle. by taking her wrist. As they looked on, the door handle had engraved her fingers deep within the metal and the butt was loosely hanging from where it melted.
Everyone stared at Alice in disbelief, Alice couldn't quite believe it either.
"In light of what just happened," Flora began. "I think your Winx is surfacing."
Alice stared in shock. My magic?
I don't get it.
Why is it that mine is the only power that is destructive?
Alice looked at the door handle again. If that means that I control fire, why is it that Bloom didn't harm the things around her?
"You girls look marvellous! Now let's get your normal heads back!" Professor Wizgiz, who stood a top of his desk, looked around at his class. Who all had pumpkin heads. Professor Wizgiz raised his hands in the air with excitement. "Now repeat after me! Decapaduncan!"
"Decapaduncan!" Fairy dust sparkled around their faces and their heads slowly changed back into human ones.
The only problem was that when Alice tried to transform her head into a pumpkin, only the green stalk sprouted on her head and now she can't get rid of it. It appeared as if another girl in the class had the same problem, except the fact that this girl had managed to actually change into a pumpkin.
"Wow! That was awesome!" Bloom shouted from behind Alice, holding her arms around her head.
Pumpkin head girl's arm shot up. "Uh! Professor Wizgiz! It didn't work! What do I do? What do I do?!"
"Don't be alarmed Miss Becca. All this means is that you're thinking to hard about the pumpkin still!" Professor exclaimed.
"I can't help it!" She held her head. "What do I do? Get my head back!"
"You need a good scare! Let's see-" Wizgiz rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a small mouse. "Here you go!"
The small mouse roared at her and she jumped from her seat.
"No, no! Get it away!" Within the next moment, Becca's head glittered with fairy dust and her head turned back to normal. Becca was naturally very pretty.
"We'll find the anecdote one day Grandpa!" Wizgiz turned to the little mouse. "I promise."
"Thanks Wizzy." The mouse said before he jumped back inside Wizgiz's pocket. Alice snickered at the craziness of her little leprechaun teacher. When the bell rang, everyone rose from their chairs. "For our first full body transformation tomorrow, we'll keep it simple and easy; you'll be transforming into slugs!"
"EEEW!"
"I guess little Miss-All-That decided not to come to class!" Musa pointed out after class had ended, and they were all walking to their next one.
"Something must be bothering her for her to act out like that…" Flora muttered, loud enough for the group to hear her. She gasped when Tecna strode on ahead with a huff.
"Who cares? She was beyond rude this morning!"
Bloom stopped walking and the others followed in suit. "She's still our friend you guys, and if something's wrong then we need to be there for her."
When none of the girls answered, Alice piped up. "I agree."
Stella was naturally the most self centred girl she had ever met with her concern for fashion, clothes and whatever she deemed plausible to slap on her face at various intervals during the day. But even Stella had a soft side when it came to her friends, and Stella surely never acted out like they way she had been doing.
"I'll go check on her." – "I'll go see her."
Bloom and Alice looked at each other before coming to a silent agreement.
"Let's both go then." Alice said, before she and Bloom began running for the dorms.
"Wait! Bloom, Alice! We have Palladium next!" Flora called out after them before they turned a corner.
"We'll be back soon!" Alice shouted back, before she fell rather unceremoniously onto a man with bleached blonde locks and eyes that pierced into hers like a crashing tide. "Julian!"
He seemed to wince a little upon contact. "Hi…my Lady..." He greeted, with the same air of flirtatiousness as always. "I'm guessing your going to see the Blonde Princessa."
"Yes…? But how did you…?"
"I've just seen her, let's just say that the flying chair caught me by surprise." He chuckled. "Didn't think she had it in her."
Alice's eyes widened. "She threw a CHAIR at you?"
"It wasn't particularly aimed at me; I think I just startled her." He said. "I just heard a lot of commotion coming from your dorms, and when I went to go check it out; I saw her. I asked what she was doing and then she threw the chair."
Alice felt rage seep into her again as she composed herself. "That's it! I've had enough of her attitude! Friend or not, you DO NOT hurt other friends!"
Reaching for Julian's hand just out of nature, she began storming her way up the stairs until she reached the dorms. When she came to her specific dorm that she shared with Stella and the other girls, she kicked the door open.
"STELLA!" She yelled, storming into the room and trying to find the blonde. The culprit was found rummaging through Alice's things; various letters that she had kept in her drawer to send to her family, that she kept forgetting to send out were lying unceremoniously on the floor. Some were ripped, some were crumpled. All were important to her as they described her adventures so far at Alfea. "STELLA! WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?"
In a split second, Stella turned on Alice and fired an energy ball at her. Alice shielded her face with her arms, but before she got hit Julian rushed in front of her.
"DIMENTIS SHIELD!" He called. A purple bubble surrounded them and various dates flashed everywhere, changing at every split second. Alice noticed that his hair whipped around his face and beamed like rays of sunlight, he gleamed like a God and she felt her face heating up at the sight of this incredible occurrence. The last time she had seen him, but not really seen him, in action was when she first met him. Needless to say, she was even more mesmerized by him now than she was back then.
"Your little boyfriend won't stop me next time, little pixie!" Stella sneered, before she turned and ran towards the window and jumping from it.
Alice heard a growl escape from Julian's throat and as the purple shield disappeared; the glow of his hair remained. Absolutely mesmerized, she reached out for him but her hands caught empty air as he bolted out of the window after her.
"She threw a raging witch ball at you?" Flora gasped, thoroughly checking Alice over for any injury.
"Julian saved me…" Alice whispered, lost in thought with awe and mostly guilt with the fact that she didn't go after them.
"Well that just makes it all better doesn't it?" Musa said sarcastically, throwing her arms in the air. "She still aimed to hurt, Alice!"
"There's a technical term for the way she's been acting: Crazy!" Tecna swirled her finger around her head.
"That's not it." Bloom furrowed her eyebrows. "Something's definitely up, we know that much. B-But, I think they are being led into danger! My new powers of good judgement are telling me that we need to investigate into this!"
"Good call." Musa stated. "But….where do we start?"
"How about we go to the source of when this all started; Prince Sky of Eraklyon." Bloom said, punching her fist into her hand.
Alice's eyes shifted to Bloom; because Alice already knew the truth and the sooner they got to Red Fountain the better.
"So you have absolutely no idea what we're talking about?" Flora asked incredulously.
They all currently stood on the where many of the Red Fountain fighters were sparring and honing their skills, the sun reflected off of their swords so much that it was like the equivalent of a disco ball in a dark room.
"You know, not that I wouldn't ask her out...but ever since that little incident with the troll and the swamp; we haven't been allowed to leave campus, so uh, that makes dating a little difficult." Sky scratched his brown head of hair.
"But you sent an invitation, Sky." Bloom said, passing him the small invitation card.
"Huh? What's it say?" He asked in surprise.
"Sky spent so much of his time on his royal throne, that he never learned how to read! Hah-hah-hahah!" Riven cried with laughter, to which Alice punched him lightly on the shoulder for.
"Riven! Pay attention! Did you not hear a word I just said?" Alice hissed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I was listening..." Riven muttered, his face flushed in embarrassment, before he turned back around to face her and give her his full attention.
"Sorry that I couldn't be of more help to you." Sky apologised, handing back the invitation.
Bloom reached out for it. "It's okay, you've already given us important information that we needed."
A bell tolled from inside of the building, forcing all the boys surrounding them to halt what they were doing and retract their swords before they started running inside.
"I'm afraid we have to run ladies, so we'll speak to you later. Bye!" Sky said, before they took off for the building as well.
"This is just getting weird." Tecna pointed out.
"Well, at least now we know that Sky didn't send out the invitation to Stella." Bloom started. "Which means that we should really go to the address next. Shall we go?"
Before they started retreating in the direction in which they came, Musa spoke up.
"Uh...guys?" She drawled out. "Alice was definitely here with us a minute ago, right? I can't find her any where."
"Maybe she split up to search for clues? She did say that her father is in the police force." Tecna stated.
"I'm a little worried about her going off on her own." Flora said, her voice and expression laced with worry.
"I trust her to take care of herself, and if she's searching on her own to cover more ground then we must let her." Bloom said, albeit her expression was that of worry as well. What if Alice found the Trix and faced off against them, especially without magic?
"It's time to go to Magix."
With Alice's hand in his, they both ran inside the school through the open doors and blended in the crowd of boys hurdling their way into the building. She began to panic as the pushing became too much and she was soon separated from him, she stepped back and tried to observe the crowd for him.
She started to wonder if going off separately from the girls was such a good idea.
What happened next had taken her off guard, she felt the butterflies in her stomach rush like they had been caught in a whirlwind.
Riven had pinned her up against the wall, his arms at either side of her head as he looked at her with a sense of longing that she had never thought possible for him. In one fell swoop, he bent his head so that he was about level with her and his lips just inches away from hers. All she could do was look at him in complete surprised as he tilted his head and closed his eyes, their noses touching...
"Alice..." Within seconds, his glazed over eyes became amused ones.
Riven began laughing, and Alice looked at him as if he were completely off his head.
"You actually thought I was going to kiss you, didn't you!" He laughed, holding his stomach and stepping backwards. "The look on your face hahahaha!"
"You tricked me! I thought you were being serious!" She yelped infuriated, crossing her arms. "Just take me to his brother, Riven. I don't have time for this!"
"Okay, okay. Jeez." He reclaimed his composure, and looked around the hallways. "Everything seems to be clear now, time to go."
They began walking down the halls, stealthily be it they are caught. Alice looked around a bit while they did, finding a few portraits that lined the walls. Riven suddenly stopped, remembering something as Alice bumped into the back of him.
"Hey-"
"There's classrooms nearby, we'll have to do this quickly or we'll be seen." He turned to her. "You're alright with playing hookie?"
She crossed her arms. "We have some holidays different to yours." She noted. "You alright playing hookie, Riven?"
He snorted. "My name is Riven, Alice."
She tilted her head at that.
"'To Split'."
Alice tried to hold herself back from laughter. "You're name doesn't define who you are Riven."
"I know, I just thought that you'd enjoy a bit of comedic relief as we play ninja." He smirked back at her, he then pointed ahead into another hallway. "He should be right down there."
"Okay, so the invitation said of some place called the Black Lagoon Cafe." Bloom pointed out as soon as they all got off the bus and gathered around near the bus stop. The city was beautiful no matter how many times she would visit, and couldn't help but look between the flying cars and the high buildings in wonderment.
Tecna had been searching on her phone the entire time for the Cafe, but they hadn't had any luck in finding it. "It's very peculiar, my search engine is very advanced."
"Well, if all else fails; resort to my own search engine!" Bloom cries, walking up to a man that is standing at the bus stop. "Excuse me, sir. Do you know where the Black Lagoon Cafe is?"
"WHAT?!" Alice stood there, outraged. Am I hearing things or did he really just say...
"I can't help you, miss. I'm sure you can understand." The man that stood in front of her remained in his monotonous drawl. "I am the school's president and head of the acrobatic bikers, I have a very busy schedule."
"But he's your BROTHER!" Alice fought back, throwing her hand out to the side. "You can't just not do anything!"
"But indeed I can. Me and my brother are very different which is why I don't associate with him." He said plainly. "I can't risk my reputation to save my little fairy brother."
His fingers circled and gripped his tea cup, raising the petite holder up towards his lips and slowly taking a sip to mock her... Until she stepped forward, snatched the tea cup from his hands and launched it at a wall. He looked to the shattered pieces on the floor in shock and then back to her, his expression turning from shock to anger as he stood up to confront her.
He towered over her easily. "Now you see here-"
"-No, you see here!" She cut him off, pointing an accusing finger at him. Despite her being much smaller than him, she was not afraid of him. "He's the first male fairy EVER. You act like you're the most spectacular specimen to walk the Earth, and you walk all over him because you're jealous. I may not know you very well, but you are certainly showing me that what your brother said was true. He doesn't deserve someone like you to save him, he's much better off without you."
"You're ridiculous for thinking that I'm jealous." He remarked, confused when she smiled.
"The only way that I'm ridiculous is for dancing with you at the ball. Good day." She turned around and stalked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Riven stood to the left of the door, out of sight but still in ear shot. "Riven, let's go. This buffoon will not help us."
"What do you want to do?" He asked, looking her over to see if she was okay and not hurt since he heard something shatter in the room.
"We're going to have to do this on our own." She explained, thinking. "How are you at riding a bike?"
He grinned.
"My feet are killing me." Flora exclaimed, settling down beside the other girls on the curb. An hour had already passed and they still had no leads to where the Cafe was.
"What I don't understand is how nobody in Magix has ever heard of this place." Bloom breathed, resting her chin on her hands.
"There's the possibility that somebody played a prank on Stella to put her into a bad mood." Musa pointed out.
"You know, I think Musa's right. Let's go back to Alfea." Tecna sighed, defeated.
"No." Bloom said quickly, and Flora yawned straight after. "Give me a minute to think."
"Bloom, just because you took that potion doesn't mean you're in charge." Tecna blurted out.
"I'm sorry if I care about our friend!" Bloom shot back.
"Oh brother..." Musa's head collapsed onto her knees.
"Ok people, just relax." Flora demanded, fed up with this now.
"Yeah Tecna!" Bloom spat.
"Bloom!"
"Did I hear you cats say that you're looking for the Black Lagoon Cafe?" An unknown voice asked from in front of them. They all looked up and were faced by a strange looking man who seemed to have no neck and his legs were too long for his body, he looked rather plumped around his middle and skin hung around his jaw line. His eyes lit up. "Wow, man. That joint is the hippest tip, y'know what I'm sayin'? It's like, totally underground! You cats have got to check it out! Though..." He looked them over, and scratched his head. "Maybe you're not cool enough."
"What?" Bloom shot up from her seat.
"No, no!" Flora pleaded.
"We're cool, we're super cool!" Bloom exclaimed.
"Yeah, we rock!" Musa shouted, clapping her hands together. "We were hip before hip was hip, now come on you gotta tell us where this place is!"
He grinned. "Hey, I was just making sure. You know how it is, you guys are alright! Just shoot down the street there, follow it all the way out of town, cross the river and you're there! It's a little cottage near an orange oak tree."
They all look in the direction he was pointing as he explained it and then went to turn back around.
"Awesome, thanks so-"
They looked behind them to find out that he had left.
"That's weird." Tecna muttered.
"Where'd he go?" Flora asked, looking to her.
"I have no idea..." Tecna replied.
Bloom frowned at how suspicious that was, but wrote it off. "I think that's how hipsters are; they leave without saying goodbye."
As they all turned around to head in the direction where he pointed, the chubby man stood around the corner rubbing his hands and giggling away to himself.
"Hey," Alice turned around, coming face to face with Riven. "You want to find them, but how do you plan to do that when you have no idea where they are?"
Alice smiled. "Simple. I take Potions Class and we were tasked with creating any potion that interested us to test our level," Riven gave her a look to get her to make her point quicker. "It's lucky that I chose to make a locator potion. If I drink this, it should take effect instantly and will help me find whatever is lost."
"Your magical power hasn't even taken form yet, and you really think this potion that you made will help us find them?" Riven asked, incredulous of such a potion that would find people. Alice winced inwardly, the fact that she was the only one in school without the power to transform was still a touchy subject for her.
"It's at least worth a try, for Stella's sake and whatever Julian has gotten himself into." She unhooked her necklace and let the small glass bottle slide into her hands. Unscrewing the bottle, she brought the glass to her lips and let the liquid pass between them. She finished it within one gulp.
A silence filled the air for a few seconds as Alice seemed to be with her thoughts.
"...Alice?"
"It's a little abandoned cottage outside of town, there's a bridge across a river and a tall withered tree beside it." She said, her eyes appeared like glass as she looked at him.
"Do you know which exit from town?"
"The East exit." She replied, before she slipped a helmet on top of her head and clipped it in.
"Okay," he revved the gears to ensure the engine was in good order. Or it may just be a guy thing, Alice noted. "Hold on tight, this is going to be a bit bumpy if we're going on ground."
"Believe it or not, that's how all cars on Earth get around." Alice stated at his digging remark, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face into his back.
"You don't have to worry, I'm not going to fly this thing." Riven reassured her. "You don't have to freak out."
"Thank you, really." She smiled at the rare kindness she's only seen Riven show on very few occasions towards her.
They were finally on their way towards their destination.
"Potion or no potion, I have a feeling that the hipsters directions were right. We are exactly where he said we were to go." Bloom stated, looking around her. They had just crossed the bridge and the orange oak tree was in sight, along with the cottage just beside it.
"And that must be the Black Lagoon Cafe? It's precious but I-" Flora started, before she was interrupted.
"When we get back to Alfea, you should upgrade your search programme." Musa turned to Tecna, holding her hand over her mouth and laughing.
"My search programme works fine." Tecna frowned at her. "It's this place that's strange."
Flora had made her way to the oak tree and closed her eyes. "I agree with Tecna. This place feels very, very wrong." She placed her hand on the tree, a white glow emerged from her hands, and opened her eyes. "This tree isn't giving off a life force. It's dead, and it's been this way for a very long time."
"Are you sure?" Bloom asked.
They all turned as they heard a creak of the cottage door, and a gale almost blew them off their feet. Before they knew it, a green haze filled the air and the leaves fell off the tree in clusters.
"There's a change in the reality pressure! There's an illusion spell lifting!" Tecna stated.
They looked around them once more to see the beauty of the clearing reduced to somewhere horror movies were made.
"To be honest, I dug the illusion better." Musa mused.
They began walking towards the cottage to find the answers that they needed. "Well, there's no sense in turning back at this point right?"
"We're here!" Alice called over the engine, and Riven came to a stop. They both hopped off the vehicle and ran towards the cottage.
"Wait!" Riven pulled her back from entering the door as he caught a glimpse of what was inside.
Alice peaked in the window as she and Riven hid behind the door. Three figures stood in front of what she made out to be four other people with sparkling outfits that illuminated the dark room.
"What have you witches done with Stella?!" A familiar voice yelled from inside, Alice's eyes widened in shock as one of the figures pointed up to the rafters.
Stella floated above, with several rings binding her in place. They were shrinking by the second.
"You better let her go, now!"
"We will," One of the figures promised. "Just as soon as you give us the Ring of Solaria! And you better hurry up," She laughed viciously. "Because that portal coil up there will keep squeezing her tighter and tighter until she goes pop! Just like a big, fat zit!"
"That's it..." Alice felt anger boil in her. She stood behind the door, ready to kick it open.
"Alice, wait-"
Time's running out. What'll it be? Stella? Or the ring?
The door burst open, and fell onto the floor; breaking into pieces. As the girls turned around, Alice stood in it's place.
"You won't be getting the ring or Stella, you psychopaths!" Alice yelled. "Give her and Julian over now!"
"Oh no! Whatever is she going to do?" Darcy faked a fearful expression that only angered Alice more.
Alice made to step forward, and watched the frightened eyes of Stella as she did so.
Icy began to charge up a white misted sphere to throw at Alice. But she only looked the witch dead in the face.
"You will pay." Alice made to step forward again, but found that her body had become lighter. Everything around her had turned white, her clothes started to wither away with the flames of her anger which were replaced with glittering two pieced golden crop top and short skirt, adorned with black leggings and golden boots. She felt a small tug in the middle of her back, a set of wings sprouted outwards.
The light finally settled and everyone around Alice marveled at the sight of her.
"You were saying?" Alice smirked, holding out her hand. "Phoenix Fire!"
A bundling ball of shimmering fire emerged from the tips of her fingers, before she launched it at the three witches. The fire collided with Icy's ice blast and overwhelmed it.
Flora, Tecna and Musa stepped forward. It was obvious that the witches were outmatched now that Alice could transform.
"We can do this with you here, Alice!" Flora exclaimed.
"It's five against three now, you're outmatched!" Tecna said, summoning her shield into her hand.
"Yeah! We're gonna make you witches wish you never heard of Alfea!" Musa pointed a finger at the three.
Icy smirked. "Have it your way then." She turned to her sisters. "Let's teach these pixies a lesson they'll never forget, sisters."
Darcy and Stormy nodded as they all held their hands out in front of them.
"STOP!" A familiar voice yelled out, the figure running out in between the two groups and jolting his arms out to the sides; a white light erupting from his palms that made each of them screw their eyes shut at the brightness of it. "Dimentis Shield!"
Alice was the first one to open her eyes, and when she saw what had just happened - her eyes widened in shock. "Julian? Where did you come from?!"
Julian stood wedged between two perfect barriers that had stopped the attacks coming from both sides, everyone marveled at his talent of keeping up two barriers at once as no one has ever done so before.
He turned to face Alice's group. "Listen, they have you backed into a corner whether you are outnumbering them or not. They out skill you. They have you backed into a corner and your friend's life is being threatened."
Bloom, who had been staring at Stella the entire time watched as the rings wrapped around her body became smaller, and Stella's eyebrows furrowed in pain as she watched the scene play out before her.
"He's right." Bloom said, speaking in what felt like the first time in a century. "Okay, the wings are coming off."
She shut her eyes, a swoosh of air passing over her and her wings disappeared as well as her outfit within a second.
"We can't put Stella in any more danger." Bloom walked over to the three witches and slid the ring off of her finger and placed it on the palm of her hand. "You guys win this time."
Stella looked in dismay. "Bloom, no..."
Icy took the ring from Bloom's hand and smirked. "Good decision, I knew we could count on the soft heart of a fairy." Icy snapped her fingers and the white cloudy binds vanished from all over Stella, and she fell to the floor.
"Let's go." Icy laughed, throwing the ring up into the air as it transformed. "The sector is ours!"
The three witches, including Knut, had vanished in a pink mist. Once everything settled, Julian had released the two barriers and Bloom was the first to run over and pull Stella into a hug.
"You're here too?!" Musa exclaimed. "Why didn't you help us?!"
Riven shrugged his shoulders. "You looked like you were handling it, I wasn't worried at all."
He looks to Alice. "You did a good job in there from what I saw, Alice."
"We lost Stella's ring though..." She sulked.
"Don't be down about it," Julian patted her back. "It's rather my own fault for stepping in like I did, but you had just transformed and I didn't want you to overexert yourself."
"Julian?"
"Yeah?"
"I transformed." Alice looked at him, her smile reaching her eyes. Her constant worry was over, and so was the many nights she had been with Julian contemplating her worth to the Winx Club.
Now it was time to go home.
"That was a good decision you made tonight Bloom." They were all sat in the living room area, shattered from the day's events.
"Yeah, seriously." Stella agreed. "I thought I was a goner. If I had some of that potion last night then I would have known not to go on that 'date'!"
"Hey, you know what? Last night I almost forgot to mix in the Mandrake Beet." Bloom exclaimed. "Who knows what could have happened without my good judgement!"
Tecna stood up with the rest of them as they made their way to their rooms to collapse for the day. "No, wait! You were supposed to mix in a Mandrake root, not a Beet!"
Flora turned to Tecna. "She got the potion wrong, do you know what this means?"
Bloom pumped her fist. "I sure do Flora, this totally rules!"
"Bloom, what are you talking about?" Stella asked, with a yawn.
"I'm a natural, good decision maker." Bloom smiled, and Alice laughed at her.
"Go to bed, Bloom."
"I'm being serious! Just thinking about taking the potion gave me confidence, even though the potion didn't actually work!" Bloom put her hand on her chest where her heart is. "It's all my own confidence! You know girls, the witches may have scored a goal but they haven't won the game!"
"If you're done preaching, can we go to bed?" Alice yawned mockingly.
"What do you mean by a game?" Tecna asked.
"It's just an expression, Tecna." Stella explained.
Bloom smiled. "girls, we're gonna get that ring back!"