Chapter 28: Steel and Fire

Mirta opened her eyes, awakened by the birds singing. She rubbed her eyes as they got used to the light, and slowly she stretched herself. She couldn't help but smile when she remembered her kiss with Marco last night. She hadn't told anybody yet, and couldn't wait to do so. After getting dressed with her usual clothes, she opened the large windows of her room to see the magnificent gardens of the Royal Palace. She also saw that Flora was there, admiring all the flowers and plants.

"So typical of Flora", Mirta chuckled. After seeing Flora, Mirta's desire to tell somebody about her last night's kiss grew even more. She transformed and flew out of the window.

While the fairy of nature was looking at the different flowers of the garden, she heard a voice calling -or better said, yelling- her name from above. It was Mirta. She landed in front of Flora, and returned to her civilian form.

"Hey, Mirta," Flora said cheerfully, but immediately frowned. "Everything's alright? You look really flustered."

"You'll never guess what happened to me last night!" Mirta said, excited like a little kid.

"No, but I'm sure that you're dying to tell me," Flora said, almost laughing, and placed a hand on the redhead's shoulder.

"Marco kissed me!" said Mirta, bouncing up and down.

"Really? Flora beamed with joy. "That's great, Mirta! And how was it?"

"Well, I don't remember much..." Mirta said, putting her index finger on her lips. "Marco and I were lying on the grass, looking at the stars and talking and then... it happened."

"I'm so happy for you," Flora said. "But you should calm down. You're the fairy of emotion, remember? Your powers may go into overdrive!" Both she and Mirta laughed.

"You know, I never thought of asking you this before, but now... how was your first kiss with Helia?" Mirta asked.

"Well, it was far less romantic than yours, I'm sure of that," Flora replied while remembering.

"Oh, don't say that," Mirta protested, and frowned.

"It was in Shadowhaunt," said Flora. Mirta was taken aback. Yes, that was indeed, the least romantic place in the universe. Maybe second to the Omega Dimension. "We were going to rescue Bloom, and the specialists were going to hold Darkar's monsters off so we could have a chance. None of us were sure if we were going to make it out alive."

"So he kissed you before facing death. He wanted his last memory to be about you. That's pretty sweet if you ask me," Mirta said.

They walked silently for some moments, until Mirta spoke up again.

"Do you know how long are we going to stay here?" the redhead asked.

Flora shook her head. "No, but I hope that stay here for some time. Domino is a really nice place to stay, and much cozier than Lumyon. Don't tell Marco I said that!" Both girls laughed.

"Speaking of Marco, I think I'm going to look for him," Mirta said, and she and Flora bid themselves goodbye. Of course, Flora knew that she'd want to see Marco again.

After much searching and asking, Mirta found her beloved in the least likely place for a paladin to be: in the castle's stables. The stables were the home of many beasts that the army of Domino used. Most of them were reptilian, or, like she found out later, related to dragons (there were dragons as well) of many sizes.

The largest beasts were the monocrons, green large lizards with bulky bodies and short but straight legs, their backs covered with scales hard as steel, and a huge horn on its nose. They looked like a rhino with reptilian features.

Next to them were the aliraptors, svelte green bipedal lizards of almost two meters tall, with short forearms but long hind legs, tails and necks. If one looked at them closely, they'd see that they were like a snake with arms and legs, since its tail and neck weren't attached to the body, but was a continuation of it.

And finally, there were the dragons like those she saw at Red Fountain, used as flying mounts by the highest ranking soldiers and knights. However, this had red skin instead of white, and were also bigger.

Mirta saw that Marco was quietly looked at something. It was a large white egg with green spots.

"Marco?"

"Oh, hi, Mirta! You came here at the right moment! It's about to hatch!" the paladin said enthusiastically.

"Um, yeah, that's fine, but I wanted to talk with you about something else," Mirta said. However, Marco didn't reply. "Um, you know, what happened yesterday? At night? When you and I kissed?"

Marco sighed heavily, as if he was going to do or say something he wasn't going to enjoy. "Did you like it?"

"Of course I did! It was wonderful! Didn't you feel the same?" asked Mirta.

"I felt... weird," Marco said, shaking his head. "Okay, I'll be sincere: I've never felt so confused and scared in my entire life."

"Would it help if I tell you that those are my feelings exactly?" Mirta asked while she batted her eyes playfully.

"Then... what we do know?" the paladin asked.

Mirta pulled Marco closer, and kissed him on the lips again. The paladin was astonished first, but he kissed her back.

"How about going on a date? Just you and me?" asked Mirta. "You know, get to know each other a bit better,"

"I already know a lot about you."

"Really? What is my favorite color?" Mirta asked quickly. Marco began to stammer, but Mirta kept talking. "My favorite meal? My favorite movie? Books? Did I tell you about my first day at Alfea?"

Marco sighed in defeat, and smiled at her. "Okay, you win."

"How's dinner and a movie sound? Wait for me at the gates of the castle at seven, okay?"

"Sounds great," Marco replied, smiling.

"By the way..." Mirta said looking around. "What are you doing here? I thought that maybe you were with Sky and Brandon, sparring or something like that."

Marco couldn't help but laugh. "Do you think that that's all what I do? Sure, I love to train and improve my skills with the sword and magic, but I also like these big fellas as well. Don't you like animals?"

"Of course I do. But I'm more of a puppy or cat person," said Mirta, taking a look at all the creatures around her.

"I thought that witches liked something more... fierce," Marco said.

"Well, I'm less of a witch than my appearance suggests," Mirta said with a shrug.

Suddenly, the egg Marco was watching cracked open, revealing a tiny dragon whelp inside. It looked like a really thin lizard with wings. It let out some high pitched yelps.

"Oh my," Mirta said, witnessing the dragon whelp. "It's so... cute! I can't believe that it will grow up into one of those monsters," Mirta said, pointing out the adult dragons around her.

"Dragons are beautiful, just in a different way," the paladin said. "Many people may find fangs, scales and claws ugly, but when I see a creature like that, I see the beauty of their strength, their majesty, and their uniqueness. When you go past their appearance and learn more about them, and know how they truly are, you'll see that they're fascinating creatures."

Two stable boys came and put the newborn dragon whelp inside a cage, and took it away.

"Well, I better leave before this smell gets into my clothes," Mirta joked. "Remember our date! And don't be late!"

The paladin saw the redhead, now his girlfriend, leaving the stables. Yes, he would be looking forward to the afternoon.

From one of the balconies of the Domino Royal Palace, Sky was witnessing the vast Capital City in all its glory. It was hard for him (and for just anybody) to imagine that, a year ago the beautiful world where he and his friends were temporarily staying was a frozen wasteland, almost as dangerous and inhospitable as the Omega Dimension. But things change in ways no one can imagine. The more the young king observed Domino, the more he remembered his home world, Eraklyon, which was as majestic as Domino, but now was a dark hell, and wondered if he could save it.

"Sky?" a voice from behind said. The blond king turned around, to see his fellow monarch, Oritel.

"Oh, good morning, your highness," Sky saluted politely as Oritel deserved.

"Drop the decorum, please. You soon will be my son in law. Call me simply Oritel," the brunet king said, smiling at Sky. "Anyway, have you seen Bloom?"

"Yes, this morning. She said that she'd hit the city again with Stella and Aisha."

"I see," Oritel said thoughtfully, "I wanted to talk with her, but guess that'll have to wait."

"Everything okay?" Sky ventured to ask.

"What? Oh, yes, everything's fine!" Oritel was quick to say. "But... I noticed that she's a bit distant. I was hoping that she'd spend some time with me and her mother. Anyway, guess that she's a young adult who prefers to hang out with her friends rather than with her old dad."

"Hey, you're not that old," Sky said, making Oritel to chuckle.

"I'm not? Still, I can't help but feel old," the brown haired man said. "One day you're living a happy life with your wife and your two daughters, and one day, BLAM! Your older daughter is gone, and the younger is a woman that you can't even recognize. "

"Well... things that are gone may come back some day. You're the very proof of it," Sky pointed out. "Just like I hope my kingdom will come back soon"

"It's too wonderful a day to spoil it inside the walls of the castle. Come on, let's go for a walk, now that we have time to know each other a bit better."

Oritel took Sky to the same gardens where Mirta and Flora were a few hours ago. Sky was a bit nervous, fiddling with his fingers. He had realized that he was Oritel's daughter's future husband after all, and wanted to know more things about him. Sky already had gone through that the times he visited Earth and met Mike and Vanessa. He was as nice and polite as he could be, and made a good impression. They were on good terms, but he could saw a bit of worry in Mike's eyes, maybe the natural overprotective instinct many dads have. It felt weird to have to go through that again.

"Sky, you and I are both kings. Even if you're inexperienced at ruling a nation, you'll realize that we have to make hard decisions pretty much every day of our lives," the king of Domino began.

"Yes, I know."

"Then, let me test you," Oritel said before clearing his throat. "Imagine a garden like this one, only split in two parts. On one part, there are many flowers, but they're pretty common, such as roses and daisies. In the other side, however, there's an extremely rare flower that takes a hundred years to blossom. Now imagine that the garden is on fire. You only have enough water to save one half of the garden. Which half would you choose?"

Sky thought carefully his answer. The question was an obvious allegory: in case of emergency, would Sky save as many strange people as he could, or would he abandon them to their luck and focus on his loved ones? If he chose the half of common flowers, it'll mean that he cares about people he doesn't know, but would forsake his loved ones, giving the impression that the needs of the many outweigh the few. On the other hand, of he chose the rare flower, it would mean that he cares a lot about his loved ones, but wouldn't give a damn about other people that may be dependent on him. He'd look like somebody completely selfish.

In conclusion: there was no right answer for that question. Or maybe there was, but wasn't obvious.

"I think that my garden wouldn't be split in two halves for starters. The rare flower and the common ones would be together in one place, so it's easier to protect in case of a fire," Sky finally answered, and looked at Oritel.

"Ingenious answer," Oritel smiled at him. "The purpose of this dilemma is to show somebody that, with careful planning and anticipation, hard decisions are much less difficult to make."

"I was thinking that I could ask somebody else for help and water in order to save both halves of the garden as well," the blond king continued.

"Ah, yes, a lesson about having trustful people at your side at every moment. However, there will be situations in which you forgot about placing the flowers together, or there's nobody to give you additional water. And if that time comes, you must act fast."

"What would you do, then?" Sky said, turning the question at him. "Would you save the half of the common flowers, or the half of the rare one?"

Oritel paused for a moment before revealing his answer. "I'd take a moment to see which one would be easier to save, and go for that one."

Sky was astonished by how fast Oritel answered such a hard question.

He noticed this, and finally said: "Sometimes it's necessary to make sacrifices. It's harder to save somebody who's close to death than somebody who isn't."

Like the night before, the Capital of Domino was swarming with people and was a hive of activity. Most stores were closed, but there were many restaurants and discotheques where people spent the night, having a great time.

Among the people having a great time were the Winx girls and the specialists, although not all of them. Bloom and Sky were spending the night with Oritel and Mariam, and Tecna and Timmy were at the Forge, now that they had another chance to see the technological marvel again.

When Musa told Tecna that she needed to forget about machines and have some fun, "Learning about ancient machines is fun. At least to me," the rose haired girl replied.

Mirta and Marco were also in the Capital City, but they were elsewhere, enjoying their date. Everybody agreed that they needed some time alone with each other.

"So, I was thinking," Stella began while she stirred her drink. "When are you guys going to take me to Solaria? You say it's my birthplace, yet I've never seen it."

"Soon, Stella. As soon as this mess with the Man in Black is resolved," Brandon said.

"But that could take forever!"

"Come on, you have to be patient, " Flora said in a reassuring tone.

"Yeah, if we go to Solaria soon it will be because it's in danger, like what happened with Melody," Musa said darkly.

"But I'm sure that it would help me to remember," Stella whined, and slumped on her seat. "Or if I see somebody from my family, like my dad."

"Come on Stella, we all miss our homes and families too," Brandon said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you try to have some fun? The Stella I remember was the most lively person I've ever met, and that's why I fell in love with her. Now she'd be enjoying the night, not grumbling. Don't you want to be that girl again?" Brandon smiled at her brightly. "So, how if we go to the dance floor? You loved to dance."

"Oooooookay..." Stella grumbled, and let Brandon took her to the dance floor.

"Maybe we should take a short trip to Solaria," Flora suggested. "I can't stand seeing Stella so gloomy. It's like seeing the sun blocked by gray clouds day after day."

"Hey, Stella's not a kid," Riven began. "Yeah, she went through something terrible, but that's not an excuse to indulge her every whim."

"Riven!" Musa yelled at her boyfriend. "You insensitive jerk!"

"I'm with Riven, Musa," Aisha interjected. "We'll go to Solaria only if it's absolutely necessary. Besides, she's starting to remember more things. Guess Mirta's therapy is working."

"Thank you," Riven said, and looked at Musa smugly.

"Too bad that this isn't like that time she was turned into a monster," Flora commented.

Everybody looked at her as if she said an obscenity. Nabu raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, somebody care to explain that?" asked the puzzled wizard. "And why was that good?"

Flora opened her eyes wide upon realizing how awful that sounded. "Sorry, I didn't mean that! I wanted to say that, when Stella was turned into a monster, we found a magic item called the Mirror of Truth that returned her to her normal appearance. I wish there was something that could restore her memories just as easily."

After that, Aisha explained Nabu how Chimera turned Stella into a hideous frog-like creature as part of a plan for her to usurp Stella's position as the princess of Solaria.

While they were talking, Flora noticed that her boyfriend was silent. Very silent. She decided she needed to know why.

"Helia, everything okay? You've been awfully quiet," Helia wasn't too talkative anyway, but Flora noticed that he was also distant, like his attention was somebody else.

"Those two guys. At the bar," Helia was looking at two men with sunglasses and coats that were constantly looking around, as if waiting the right moment to commit a felony. "They don't give me good vibes."

"Come on, relax. If they're up to no good, the City Guard will take care of them."

"Still, they make me feel uncomfortable," Helia said, and turned back to his girlfriend. "I have the feeling that something is going to happen, and it won't be pleasant."

As much as she wanted to deny it, Flora felt exactly the same way.

...

A lone figure was in a dark alleyway of the Capital of Domino. After making sure that nobody was watching her, she pulled a white gemstone from a pocket. The woman then whispered some words, and the gemstone glowed before projecting an image a man in a black armor wearing a silver mask.

"Master, I'm on Domino," Neyra said.

"Did anybody notice your presence?" asked the Man in Black.

"No, master. People here are happily naive. No wonder the ancestresses took down this place so easily."

"Don't underestimate Domino, my dear Neyra," the masked man advised. "It may look a harmless place, with all its green prairies, colorful flowers, and people so sweet they could give you diabetes. There's a good reason why its the most powerful kingdom of the known universe that only an army led by the ancestresses was able to crush."

"Then, allow me to test the bravery of its warriors," Neyra said as her face formed a wide grin.

"Sure, go ahead. Gaul and his minions are in position. Tell him to enter when you see it's the right time."

"Don't worry, Master. This won't last long."

"Of course it will. This won't be like Eraklyon. It will take lots of time and effort. It's a battle we can only win by slowly wearing them down."

"Don't worry, master, everything will be fine," the brunette witch said, ending the communication.

She looked around again to check that nobody was watching her. Anyway, it was a dark alley, and she spoke almost in a whisper to prevent anybody from hearing her. Before starting with the plan, she rolled up her sleeve to reveal a glowing red wrist cuff with a ruby on it. Her master gave it to her and another one to her sister; he called the artifact the Gloomix, and it would increase their power.

She already heard about the Gloomix: it was a variant from a fairy artifact called the Charmix. During the war with the Company of the Light, somebody started a game of stealing the charmix of every defeated fairy as a trophy, however some of the Coven's wizards got an idea: by inverting the positive energy of the Charmix, it could be used as a power booster for witches and dark mages, and thus, the Gloomix was born. Most Gloomix were destroyed by the Company of Light, and everybody with the knowledge to make them was dead. And one of the few remaining Gloomix was in her possession. And she'd need it for what she was about to do.

The young witch placed a hand on the floor and yelled:

"Summoning Spell!"

The people walking through the streets of the capital city stopped what they were doing to stare in awe at the pillar of red light that rose to the sky. Some thought that maybe it was a spectacle, to celebrate that the princess of their kingdom was back home again. However, the silence finally disappeared and the air was filled with screams of terror and panic.

From the red pillar of light, something appeared. It looked like a lion, only it was as big as a four story building, had black fur, a fiery red mane, long leather wings and a scorpion tail. The horrible beast let out a terrifying roar, as it watched the hysterical crowd that the citizens of the capital city turned into.

Standing on top of its head was Neyra, smirking in delight. She was also amazed to feel so much energy still flowing through her body after summoning the Great Masticore of Urahj. The other two times she summoned it, she felt incredibly tired afterward, to the point that her sister had to lend her some of her energy, or she had to take a restorative potion. But not this time. She smiled and enjoyed the destruction the masticore was causing. In a few minutes, the whole city would be in flames.

After all, the Great Masticore was the second most powerful creature she could summon.

Meanwhile, a couple kilometers away from the city and the Royal Palace, inside the Forge of Wonders, Tecna and Timmy were learning from Hagen the secrets of such a technological marvel from the distant past.

"...and once the piece is complete, it comes from this small lift," the old blacksmith explained.

"Hey, I was wondering... could the Forge be used to make something other than weapons or tools?" Tecna asked.

"What are you thinking, Tec?" her boyfriend asked.

"Pieces for machines, factories, vehicles and planes. Imagine, for example, an airship made with pieces of metal ten times lighter. It would take ten times less energy to fly, don't you think so?"

"But it will be just as resistant and durable," Timmy added.

"Exactly!" Tecna beamed. "Just think of the potential! All the things we could do with the technology of the Forge... we could speed the technological progress of the next thousand years to less than a decade!"

"You know, you have to be the first person, besides the creator of this place, who thinks of the Forge as something other than a magic weapons factory," Hagen intervened. "And honestly, that's something really good."

"Are you telling me that during your time as the Master Craftsman, you only used the Forge to produce weapons?" the pink haired fairy asked, shocked.

"Those were times of war, lass," Hagen gruffly replied. "Our main priority was the Ancient Coven."

"It has always been like that, Tecna. Not much longer after the first spaceships were invented, they were adapted to become war machines. Still, it doesn't erase all the good spaceships do every day, allowing people and goods to travel to one planet to another," Timmy said, attempting to console Tecna.

"Are you always that optimistic?" chuckled Tecna, raising an eyebrow.

"If I wasn't, maybe you would still be in the Omega Dimension," Timmy replied.

"Ah, touché."

Hagen cleared his throat loudly. He didn't want to see two teenagers getting all sugary with each other. "Now, is there anything I can show you?"

"Yes. I think it would be great if we could see it in action," Timmy suggested.

"Yes, it'd be nice to see how it works," Tecna added.

"Sorry, but that can't be. Even the simplest of the artifacts this place can create takes days of preparation," Hagen said. "Besides, when the Forge is used, it has to be for something important, not for trivialities."

"Okay, we understand and-" Tecna began, but stopped all of sudden.

"Tecna? Are you okay?" Timmy looked at her with worried eyes.

The rose haired girl turned at Timmy, equally worried.

"Undead. Hundreds. Coming here," she sputtered.

"WHAT?" Hagen roared. The old blacksmith began typing furiously on a keyboard. A holographic projection appeared before him: like Tecna said, lots and lots of skeletons were invading the Forge. "Where did those skeletons come from?"

"I'll call the others!" Timmy said while pulling out his badge and activating the alarm.

"Hopefully we can hold them off until the others arrive," said Tecna.

The panic quickly spread through the whole city. To make things worse, people were also being attacked by criminals like those Helia had been watching, who tossed away their coats, revealing their attire and weapons, and started attacking everybody. They already dispatched those at the bar, but there were still many freely roaming through the streets, while the masticore wrought havoc.

"Alright, we'll take care of those scoundrels," Brandon said, pressing a button on his badge, and in less than a second he was wearing his Red Fountain uniform, weapons included. The others did the same. "You'll have to take care of that monster"

"I love how we always get the easy part," Musa said, and rolled her eyes. "Go Enchantix!"

"I think it won't be necessary," Flora said, pointing to the masticore. Some of Domino's fairies and dragon riders had arrived, ready to fight the colossal monster.

"Still, we go should go and help," Aisha suggested.

"Oh no, you won't!" a voice behind them said. They turned around to see Neyra floating in front of them. "I don't know how you do it, but you always manage to stand in our way."

"You!" Stella yelled in an accusatory tone. "And you are...?"

"Of course, it had to be you," Flora said. "What are you doing here? Do you plan to conquer Domino like you did Eraklyon?"

"I didn't came here to talk, but to burn this city to ashes," Neyra said darkly. "But now that you're here, I guess that I should roast you too and score some points with the master. Meteor Storm!"

The dark sky turned red, and huge fireballs fell upon the city, breaking and burning its buildings.

"Girls, this witch summoned that monster, so if we defeat her, the monster will be gone!" Flora declared.

"Then it will be easy! It's four versus one!" Stella said confidently.

"Do you think I'm going to let you catch me so easily? Think again!" Neyra said, before flying away from the four fairies.

Neyra was fast. Even with their Enchantix wings, they were unable to catch her. She sometimes even slowed her speed or stopped and let the Winx come near her before flying away again, as a way to mock them. This angered Aisha, Musa and Stella a lot.

Besides, they also had to dodge the incoming fireballs that relentlessly lashed the city. Some of them pulled down entire buildings. One of the fireballs destroyed a bridge, and the people who were crossing it fell to their deaths while the luckiest managed to grab to some projecting object.

"Morphix Bubbles!" Aisha yelled. The falling people were surrounded by a bubble of morphix, breaking their fall. Aisha then motioned her arms towards a safe zone, and placed the rescued people there.

"Good catch! Now I'll save those on the projections. Green Luxurious Ivy!" Flora said, while motioning her arms at the people she wanted to save. Several roots grew from the walls, wrapped around the townspeople, and pulled them up.

"Think fast!" Neyra shouted before blasting Flora with a fireball. "You either save the people or fight me, your choice!"

Aisha managed to catch Flora in time, while Musa and Stella faced Neyra.

"Putting innocent people in danger so you can fight against us more easily. You're a cowardly rat!" Musa said with all her spite.

"Say what you want, dear," Neyra said in a mocking tone before flying away again.

"Stella, Musa, get her, I'll take care of Flora and make sure that everybody's safe! We will catch up with you later!" Aisha said.

"Don't worry, leave it to us! Come on Stella!" Musa said with strong determination.

They resumed the chase. They were tempted to stop and help the people in danger, but the Domino fairies and the City Guard were already taking care of them. Musa and Stella had a more important mission. If they stopped Neyra and her masticore, the city would be safe. Or would it?

They found Neyra again, sitting on the head of a four meter tall statue of Daphne.

"I'm tired of this running game," Neyra said as she faked a yawn. "Shall we finish this already?"

"You bet!"

Neyra formed a fireball in each hand. "Time for you to perish! Twisted Hell!"

"Sonic Blast!"

The vortex of fire and the sound waves clashed, but the witch's spell was much stronger, and overwhelmed Musa's attack. She was forced to fly away to avoid being burned.

"Moon Beam!" Stella shouted, casting a beam of white light at the witch, who blocked it with a shield of fire.

"I know you. You're the amnesiac girl, aren't you?" asked Neyra. "Why are you with them? Why do you trust a bunch of strangers to the point of fighting alongside them?"

"They're all I have now. They also told me that it was thanks to you that I lost my memories!" Stella replied angrily.

"And you believe them, don't you? How are you so sure of what they say? Aren't you afraid that they might be using you?"

"Maybe I don't remember them, but they've done nothing but treat me with love and respect!" Stella replied as she cast another Moon Beam.

Neyra blocked it again. She noted that this attack was stronger than the one before.

"I never understood you fairies. You have great power, yet you use it to help others. Why? Those people don't deserve to be helped!" Neyra yelled with all her hate. "They should worship us, fear us!" She cast a stream of fire.

Musa rejoined the fight, and redirected Neyra's attack to the sky. "That's what you fight for, a world full of fear? Fear brings nothing but hate and unhappiness!" Musa said before casting a sound wave attack.

Neyra erected her fire shield again, but this time it couldn't block Musa's attack completely. "Sheep fear wolves, just like these little weak people should be afraid of us!"

"Oh, shut up! If you like fear so much, I'll teach you to fear ME!" Stella yelled. "Shooting Star!"

Stella shot a cluster of white stars at the fire witch, who was unable to block the attack, taking a great deal of harm.

"What's going on? Why are you so powerful all of sudden?" Neyra said, panting.

"Do you feel that? In the last fifteen minutes, about thirty fairies achieved their Enchantix," Musa explained. "And when that happens, other fairies get a power boost for a short time. Fairies become more powerful when we fight for others instead of ourselves. And we do that because we want to, but I don't expect you to understand."

"Shut up! You know nothing about me!" Neyra yelled, and flew away. However, this time she wasn't fleeing just to mock her enemies.

"Another chase? This is starting to get a bit tiresome," Stella whined.

"Come on Stella, we can't let her escape!"

And thus, Musa and Stella resumed the chase.

Meanwhile, at the Forge of Wonders, Tecna, Timmy and Hagen were fighting the invading skeletons. They almost reached the mechanical brain, but the three defenders managed to push them back to the Hall of Enlightenment.

"I wasn't expecting to see undead again," Tecna said while blasting a skeleton.

"Have you faced these monsters before?" asked Hagen.

"Many times," Timmy said, firing his two guns left and right.

"Far too many times for my taste," Tecna added. "I was hoping that with Gaul out of the picture, the Man in Black wouldn't have access to undead anymore."

"And why do you think such thing?" a familiar voice asked. Suddenly, all the skeletons stopped fighting. A cloud of black fog appeared before them, and Gaul emerged from it in all his undead glory. "Hello kids. I'm glad to see you again."

Hagen was startled upon seeing the lich, while Tecna and Timmy simply stared at him in awe.

"It can't be!" Timmy said in horror.

"Musa blew you up to pieces! I saw it?" Tecna shouted at him.

"Really? Well, you can't kill somebody who's already dead, now can you?" Gaul retorted.

"What are you doing here, monster? What do you want?" asked Hagen, pointing his sword at him.

"It isn't obvious? I came here to claim the Forge," Gaul said.

"Well, forget it! We already defeated you once, and will do it again!" Tecna said, defiantly.

"Really? I don't think so," Gaul said darkly. "Because my minions are attacking the capital city, keeping all your friends busy. Honestly, I was expecting this place to be empty, but one fairy, her boy toy, and an old man won't be too much trouble."

"Timmy, I need you and Hagen to keep those skeletons in check," Tecna whispered to him. "I'm going to fight him."

"What? But you can't do that! He's too powerful for you!" Timmy said, worried.

Tecna turned at him, and smiled. "Timmy, don't worry about me. If I survived a whole week alone on the Omega Dimension, I'm sure I can handle this." The pink haired fairy floated towards Gaul. "Shall we fight?"

"Do you plan to face me all by yourself?" Gaul asked, a bit surprised. "You're brave, but foolish."

Tecna adopted a battle stance. "No, it's you who's being a fool for underestimating my abilities. Now I'm going to show you what I'm capable of!"

Author's note: first of all, let me apologize again for the lateness of this chapter, but my writer's block refused to leave. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. As you can see there's a three way battle going on: Stella and Musa versus Tecna, the specialists versus the masticore and the mercenaries (it will be shown in the next chapter) and Tecna against Gaul. How will those battles turn out? Find out next chapter, and don't forget tpo share your opinion on this chapter with me via reviews!