29.1 (Awesomedude17)
*CLANG*
*FWOOSH*
*GULP*
The two Looper set their glasses of milk down as they relaxed after a long day of training/seeing how mundane their skills could get before one of them inevitably tried something over the top.
"Well I'll be damned. You're one of the few who dared to attack a cucco even after it's been known what happens when you hurt a cucco, and got away with it." Link smirked with a chuckle.
"To be fair, those chuchus were doing similar things to them, so I just gave them encouragement." Diaspro replied.
"Still, it seems that your skill with the bow and arrow is great... for a Non-Looper."
"I much prefer swords, thank you. I've actually been collecting some, and Techna always remarked how impressive my collection was whenever she saw it."
"So, what would you say is your favorite?"
"That would be like asking me what my favorite gem is. I could choose one, but it's very difficult to say. I have multiple favorites, and they all do different things. For example-" Diaspro took out an unusually shaped sword. "This is a colichemarde. as you can see, the base is much thicker than the rest of the blade. It's mainly used to deflect sabres." She took out a katana. "No explanation needed here." She took out a claymore. "Too big for my tastes, but I'd say that it has it uses. Point is, there's so many to choose from that you cannot just choose one."
"That makes sense. It's just like how I grab various doodads throughout my journeys and I simply can't choose one that I definitely say is my favorite. I can see how..."
"...Link?"
"Shhh, quiet down."
"What's going on?" Diaspro asked with confusion.
"It's Ganondorf, and while he's Awake, he has lost something he really liked and has been taking it out on me. I do not-"
"Link."
Link sighed and turned to the King of Gerudos. "Ganondorf."
"Where is my sword?"
"Remind me what it looks like again?"
"I've commissioned a gold sword for decoration a few weeks ago and it was lost during delivery, and knowing you, you must have found it at some point."
"And I keep telling you, I've never seen a gold sword this Loop."
"Wait. Is it this?" Diaspro took out a gold sword from her Pocket.
"Exactly. Where'd you find this?"
"Some Gerudos were stealing it, but it lacked a delivery address, so I just assumed that it was theirs."
"...Well, I suppose I've got some things to say to them at least, and Link, I apologize for my behavior. Now then, I'll take my leave." Ganondorf took his sword and left.
"Link, I'm sorry that-"
"Diaspro, rule number one of living in my Loop is that nine times out of ten, you're fine with regards to kleptomania."
"That doesn't sound healthy."
"Tell that to half the people from the video game Branches."
29.2 (Jeanne Summers)
Timmy tightened the last screw of the panel and sat back with a sigh. According to his mental list, that should have been the last of the repairs for the ship's engines. Now he just had to finish fixing... everything else.
The sound of footsteps over the metal floor reached his ears, he turned to the door in time to see Brandon stick his head in, followed by the rest of his body when he spotted Timmy.
"Hey man, I brought those things you wanted," Brandon lifted the box in his arms an inch.
"Thanks Brandon, can you carry them to the... actually you'd better just follow me," Timmy grimaced as he stood, stretching his muscles. He'd spent far too long hunched over in awkward positions the past two days.
Brandon stepped back to allow Timmy through the door, then followed him down the corridor.
"So how are the repairs coming along, anyway?"
"Well, I've finished the engine, so we can get power to the systems now, see how bad they actually are, but even if not everything needs a fix then... maybe another week."
Brandon snorted, "by the time you've got this ship flying, we probably won't need the ship any more."
"If that's the case, I'm putting it in my Pocket and keeping it," Timmy chuckled, waving Brandon towards a bench where he could put down the box.
"You can try, but Diaspro did buy it, so you'd probably have to fight her for it."
"Has she even got the room in her Pocket for it?"
"Maybe if she moved everything out of her Pocket and into the ship, then put the ship in? It's not the biggest ship out there."
"Right, which brings up another question," Timmy paused to fiddle with a control panel, "what good is this ship? I mean, she said it was for transporting goods, but there's merchant vessels and actual trade ships for that, ones that could carry a more significant sized cargo."
Brandon shrugged, "I think she's more concerned about the medical supplies that aren't getting through to the Colonies in the Ifrit Belt right now. She probably knows that this ship won't be any help, but with the interference stopping teleportation in the sector, this is the only thing she can do to feel like she's helping." At Timmy's look he added, "even if you are doing most of the manual labour."
"Maybe I should take our next loop together to teach her how to maintain a ship, it's important to know, and if this scenario ever happens again, she can help with the repairs."
"Speaking of helping you repair the ship, anything I can do to help, while I'm here?"
"Ambassador, I do understand that, but if you'd-"
"I really don't think you do princess Diaspro, because if you did, you'd understand why we can't give your colonies aid dealing with their... pirate problem." The man sneered at her and walked away. Diaspro sneered at his back, squeezing her hands as she imagined wringing his neck.
She was getting really, really annoyed with absolutely everybody in politics.
The Colonies of the Ifrit Belt weren't even her colonies, nor the colonies of Eraklyon, they were founded by a group of people form dozens of different worlds, founded for the purpose of mining the rare and hard to obtain ore and mineral resources of the Belt.
While they'd been bringing out saleable goods in large enough quantities, planets from all over the magical dimension had been happy to lend aid and perform supply runs to the mines. But now that the sector had been under constant harassment from pirates for several months, they hadn't been able to deliver any merchandise in too long for the other worlds, and despite two dozen worlds with in range when the Colonies sent out a distress signal reporting a plague and low medical supplies, no one was lifting a finger to help.
She knew why, all of the worlds were waiting for the Colonists to die out, before the planets would send their own forces, in a race to occupy and claim pre-existing infrastructures, to claim the Belt's bounty for their own planet, rather than being forced to share what the Colonists sold to everyone with the coin to pay.
A long time ago she would have agreed, she would have waited for the Colonies to die out, aided in Eraklyon's take over, possibly fighting other militarised Guardian Fairies for the claim.
Teleporting to the shipyard where her derelict ship sat, bought with her own private funds, Diaspro wished it wasn't just her and Flora and the two boys awake. As a group, the Winx Club had immense political pull, they might have been able to convince someone to send ships to help.
"So, yeah." Timmy nudged his glasses back up as he waited for Diaspro's response, she frowned, clearly weighing her options. Timmy hesitated, then added, "personally, I'd wait another ten hours, I can do a few more patch jobs that will hold long enough while we're flying for me to finish on route."
Diaspro nodded in agreement, and looked at Brandon, who spoke before she had the chance.
"If you reckon you can fly her, I can help Timmy with the repairs."
"Thank you, both of you. I'll have the medical supplies ready to go in ten hours."
"Are you going to call in Flora?" Timmy asked, curious, but Diaspro shook her head.
"I'll call her, but only to let her know where we're going, the Belt is full of minerals that block magic, all kinds of it. If something goes wrong... well having someone who knows where we've gone might be helpful. I know it's mean, but I don't really trust anyone else to not let it slip, and there are factions who would stop us."
"The governments of the worlds really want these Colonies that badly?"
"The Belt has some of the richest deposits of rare minerals and ores in the entire universe, including Estrantonium."
"Isn't that the stuff that... from the... the..." Brandon looked like he was about to be sick.
"What? What's Estrantonium? I've never heard of it," Timmy looked between the pair, confused.
"That's because, as far as I'm aware, it only exist in this variation of the timeline. There's an ancient artefact, Eraklyon has it now, but it's out of power. It's said that long, long ago, before fairies became the Guardians of worlds, that this artefact destroyed twenty-nine planets. Estrantonium, is the radioactive substance which powers it. If someone had a supply of it, it would be a small matter to steal the artefact."
"But, if the Colonists have been mining the Belt..."
"The Belt was only colonised thirty-four years ago, but the first thing in their charter, is the promise to never mine or sell Estrantonium to any planet. Ever. But an invading force, who came in after everyone died off, well, they wouldn't be bound but that charter, by oath, honour or magic."
"The way you're talking, it's starting to sound like this plague, and this sudden onset pirate problem, is part of a conspiracy." Brandon huffed, leaning against a wall.
"The pirates aren't 'sudden onset,'" Diaspro argued, "but they did experience a sudden upswing in activity, and from the rumours, an influx of better weaponry."
Timmy let out a disgusted noise, and grabbed his tool kit, "I'd better get started on the shields and cloaking, if the life support fails we've got suits, and navigation should be fine, as long as we keep heading in the right direction."
"Thank you Timmy, I really appreciate this. I know we don't get to hang out very often, but you've really helped me out a lot here, even though you didn't have to."
"Of course I did, I'm a Specialist, we're heroes in training, and no offence princess, but you are clearly a damsel in distress." Diaspro gave him a bemused look, and bid the boys good luck in their repairs, while she headed out to prepare the supplies for transport.
'Damnit, damnit, DAMNIT!' Timmy cursed to himself as he crawled along the engineering access tubes. 'I should have finished the sensors before I started on the life support. Flora gave us those pot plants and everything, Life Support was not a priority problem, why didn't I just leave it?'
Now the ship was floating on the edge of The Ifrit Belt, and swarming with space pirates. He'd taken to the tubes to get a better handle on the situation, he counted twelve insurgents remaining, Brandon was down for the count, after taking out three, Diaspro had managed to take four, before they'd hit her with a paralytic. Combined with the Belt's anti-magic effects, that took her out of the running until the paralytic wore off. Timmy planned to have their ship back before then.
First he had to get to the main power circuits on the next deck up.
Habalone had been a pirate for all his life, his mother had been a pirate, her father had been a pirate, hells, his baby sister was going to be a pirate, once she'd stopped all that silly witch business. He'd taken big ships and small, stolen food and fuel, medicines as people. If it could be stolen, he and his crew had taken it at some point.
This newest ship though, the one with the medicine and only two crew - one of them a real pretty lady who'd fetch a good price on market, and a fit young man who might fetch an even better one – the ship showed signs of recent repairs, and the cargo wasn't cheap, but when the ship had first shown up on sensors, it had looked like it had come from a junk yard.
It kept playing up too, systems shutting down and starting up when they shouldn't have, metal grating suddenly electrifying. The crew was dropping one by one. Habalone was in charge of this particular raid, so he was the one who had to call for the retreat.
But Hells if he was going to lose a ship to a ghost.
The ships intercom crackled to life, buzzing with static. Habalone looked around, afraid. He'd been wrong, so wrong. This haunted ship was far more dangerous than he thought.
'I have a present for you,' a voice came through the static, 'why don't you come down to the cargo bay.' The intercom shut off with a squeal.
"All crew members, abandon the ship, I repeat, all crew, we're leaving. NOW!"
Timmy kept his face blank as he stacked the crew members of the pirate ship, these were not the fun movie pirates who went about causing chaos for corrupt governments. These were cold blooded murderers, he'd over heard them talking about selling Diaspro and Brandon in slave markets. And worse.
Long, long, long ago, in baseline, Tecna had called him a coward for choosing not to fight.
She'd been wrong. Timmy simply knew how to pick his battles.
He also knew when to go over that line, the imaginary one that people wrongly believed separated Heroes from the rest of the law enforcing and military forces.
Double checking the invaders were all there – Brandon's three, Diaspro's four, his eleven – he picked up the radio, and turned on the intercom.
"I have a present for you."
Watching from the access tube high above, the one no one would notice if they hadn't known it was there, Timmy watched the leader of the pirates take in his crew. Then he flicked a switch and locked all the exits.
He turned the intercom back on. "Tell me pirate, who do you work for, who sent you after this ship?" below, the pirate looked confused.
"No one, I'm the captain, I don't answer to no one."
"The weapons you and your men carried, where did you get them?"
"We stole them, we're pirates, it's what we do!"
"I know what you do, pirate. Where did the weapons come from, don't lie to me again."
"I ain't lying, we stole 'em. A transport vessel several months back, piss poor armour, almost no weapons of it's own, just passing through, but had crates of good tech and weapons."
"Where was it from?"
"Why do you care, ghost? Why should I tell you?"
"Oh, you don't need to, I just didn't want to waste time when you could have just told me."
Timmy began the process of opening the cargo bay's outer doors.
"-and there will be a ship waiting, are you sure you want to go back in snookums?"
"I'm sure Stella, we still need to deliver the medicines to the Colonies, but thanks for having our backs on this one."
"Of course, you stay safe, no more being captured by pirates!"
"You got it," Brandon smiled at his girlfriend, and closed the link. He turned to Timmy and Diaspro, who was still having trouble moving her hands right.
"You two heard that?"
"Yeah, it was really nice of Stella to send Royal Military to intercept the Pirate ship for us," Diaspro's speech was a little slurred as her mouth refused to cooperate completely. "How are you doing Timmy, what you had to do couldn't have been easy."
"No, it wasn't. But it had to be done, this pirate plague has to be stopped, and so does the kingdom arming them."
Brandon put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, and the trio sat in silence for a moment longer.
Until Diaspro slipped off the bench with a squeak, her muscles responding like jelly as she tried and failed to stay upright.
29.3 (Awesomedude17)
Diaspro Awoke, found herself bound up, and in a cage with Bloom.
"You Awake?"
"Mmm Mmmmmm."
"Yeah, blame the Trix for this. Namely, Darcy. Also, Deadpool got involved, mostly to watch this unfold."
Diaspro groaned as she unbound herself with ease. Removing her gag, she looked around to see that things were... romantic.
"Okay, rose petals around us, a table with a lit candle, Careless Whisper playing in the background. What are those witches thinking?"
"They're thinking the same logic that got Flora and Techna together, when Musa put them in a cage."
"UGH! Alright, enough of this." Diaspro took out a Buster Sword, cut through the bars with ease, and hopped out. "Bloom, let's give those witches some reasons why we'll never become a thing."
"With pleasure." Bloom said as fire engulfed her hands.
The two enemies-turned-friends burst through the door to find three shocked witches and Deadpool who had a bucket of popcorn.
"Told you they'd break out. I knew that when you brought out Wham!, you were trying too hard. Enjoy the shitstorm directed at you. I'll be here, barely giving a crap." Deadpool began to munch on some popcorn.
Bloom, ignoring the latex-wearing lunatic who probably only came to watch the plan unravel, approached the Trix.
"Alright girls, let me make one thing clear for all of you. I am not interested in Diaspro in that way, and I'm sure she's not interested in me either."
"I've been attracted to Prince Sky for so long that when I learned that he never loved me, everything went to Hell for me, so I've decided that I'm not going to get into any romantic relationship until I feel comfortable about it, and I'm not. Besides, I know that Loopers tend to more loose about their sexuality, but I can only see myself as straight as an arrow."
"And to add onto that, I've been waiting for Sky to Activate for a long time, and while he is a bit of an idiot for not taking care of his engagement with Diaspro here, he's still a nice guy, and my boyfriend, and nothing you'll do can change that, so how about you take your ship crazy moods, and shove them where the sun don't shine?"
The Trix were speechless.
"Man am I hoping that when this get put up on the TV Tropes page under Ship Sinking, it'll be hilarious."
"Okay, he's annoying me. Who is that, and why is he here?" Diaspro demanded.
"I'm the comic relief here, and also here to remind the readers of things that exist, like Facepalmistry's shot at the Misc. Loops thing that's been done for the third time, or that we need Tropes added to the newly created tropes page for this very compilation."
"...what" Diaspro said.
"He's Deadpool, he does this all the time."
"I... excuse me, I'm going to shout obscenities in the other room now."
"Be my guest after we make those witches pay." Bloom ignited herself on fire, causing the Trix to panic and retreat into their Subspace Pockets.
"Okay, I'm leaving now." Diaspro left.
"So... I heard season 6 sucked, Bloom. You want to talk about it?"
"I'm going to ignore you now." Bloom left the room.
"Pff... whatever. I've got popcorn, drenched in buttah!" Deadpool popped some popcorn into his mouth. "Soooo buttery."
29.4 (Jeanne Summers)
Diaspro teleported into Alfea and stopped stock still, the entire school was in fairy form and facing off against... a small boy? Flora was saying something as she hurtled spells at the child. Diaspro wasn't sure but she thought she caught the word 'Billy.' Eyes going wide she teleported over to the Anchor.
"Flora, what's going on? Is that Billy the MLE?"
"Yeah, start casting," Flora switched to her vampiric form and dove in for close combat. Diaspro flailed, she'd thought there was a patch to prevent Billy from looping in.
'Spells, okay, spells... isn't this kid some kind of indestructable!? He'd probably walk off the Life Stream loop version of Mete...or?' A dangerous plan blossomed in her mind. Shrugging she muttered "nothing much to loose," and flew down to the MLE.
"Hey Billy! Do you want to play with me? I Have a great game for you to try!"
The boy's head snapped around to her, Flora looked at her in horror, shaking her head.
"What game?"
"It's called 'Catch the Comet,'" Billy wrinkled his nose.
"Sounds dumb."
"Oh, well if you don't want to play... its probably just as well, you aren't really big enough anyway."
"I'm big enough, I wanna play, let me PLAY!"
"Alright, take my hand and we'll play," Diaspro held out her hand, the boy rushing over to grab it.
"How do we play?"
"Like this:" Diaspro shifted her grip on his hand and spun, teleporting as she went, "Catch. The. Comet!" Spinning rapidly like a top as she emerged in deep space, Diaspro released Billy, letting him sail out of her hastily constructed bubble of spells and into the void, directly into the path of an oncoming comet, travelling at implausible speeds towards a nearby black hole.
She let out a deep breath, giving the vanishing comet a cheeky salute as it carried the MLE to his doom. She wondered if she'd have time to get back or if the Black Hole's time dilation effect would-
Diaspro shrieked and swerved, pulling off to the side of the road. Panting she took stock, she was in a car, on a foggy road in... somewhere in America.
Why?
Fragments of memory came back to her, a childhood car crash, a family last in trauma, an ongoing search to reunite with them... and a clue, a ghost story, urban legend, fool's errand of a chance.
Turning off the engine, she opened her door, a glimmering light drawing her attention to an old book in the pocket.
Having met both Sly Cooper and Nancy Drew in the Loopers' Bar once, Diaspro knew the light wasn't some form of eye problem, and vowed to never make fun of the duo for their 'glitter vision' again.
With a sigh, Diaspro pulled the book free.
'Dark Dimensions'
'Sounds fun,' she opened the cover, the first page introduced her to the concept of the Dark Dimensions, places where terrible things had happened, and the negative energies had pulled whole towns into pocket dimensions of misery.
"Huh, it's like a G-rated Silent Hill... I really hope there's no Pyramid Head." Diaspro swore to herself as the page came loose, then huffed as she realised the rest of the book was illegible, and crumbling. Leaning back into her car she found a satchel and an empty journal, which she slipped the page into for safe keeping. A quick scrounge in the glove box turned up pens, several paper clips, sticky tape and a few protein bars, her water bottle was retrieved from the centre console.
Unsure what she'd need for the journey, she elected to take everything. The satchel still had plenty of room.
"What is this, a bag of holding?" it hadn't gotten much heavier, even with the full bottle of water, "this reality must be a game in the Hub." They were rife with weight defying bags.
Shutting the door with a thump, she eyed the foggy road ahead, a large gate in sight, and a (clearly wrong) 'dead end' sign, laying in the leaves on the other side of the road.
"Okay world, let's see what you've got."
Admin Space
Miele smiled as the confirmation email came through, Diaspro had been successfully implanted into the Dark Dimensions' trial run, no damage to her data; a note that there was possibility of an ability permanently grafting itself to her code, and the recovery of missing character data seemed to be working at last.
She just hoped it was enough, Maeve had seemed really upset that, despite 95% restoration of the world's data, the character data was resisting all efforts to retrieve or repair it. She also hoped Fand wouldn't bee too upset when she got back in the morning, but Miele had checked with Keech first, and the head of The Department for M.o.M. And D.A.D. Had said it would be fine.
In the Dark Dimensions Loop (trial run)
Face pulled into a scowl as she copied a picture of the town map into her journal, Diaspro tried not to curse. She'd finally realised, when she'd tried to conjure a light (then, when failing, attempted to pull a torch from her Pocket only to fail that as well,) that she was in a Safe-Mode Loop.
No Magic, No Pocket.
This was going to take a while.
29.5 (Jeanne Summers)
As per usual, Diaspro flung her arm out to catch the bannister as she missed the step on the palace staircase.
Not as per usual, she missed, slammed her hand into the railing, landed and slid down four steps with a thwump.
'What the fu-'
"Prince Jasper! Are you alright?"
Diaspro – no, Jasper – sat in shock, cataloguing the differences in her – his – body.
'Ah, that's what the fu-'
"Prince Jasper, do you... need some help?"
Diaspro/Jasper determined her/his ability to deal with the gender change, straightened her/his shoulders, and fixed the guards with an upset look.
"I... I can't do this any more!" she/he wailed, crocodile tears welling up, "I've tried, I have, but I just can't help it, it's who I am, and I refuse to pretend any more. No more of this Jasper nonsense, you will call me Diaspro. It's time for me to become who I was always meant to be!"
With her melodramatic declaration out of the way, Diaspro cast the spell she had been preparing for hundreds of loops, since she'd first found out about the occasional gender swapping.
Jasper's body shrank and morphed, becoming Diaspro's more familiar figure. With a snap of her fingers. The wizard prince's clothing became the more familiar fairy princess's dress. Wiping her tears from her face, she glared a challenge at the guards.
"Anybody have a problem with that?"
For a moment she thought the guards would cause a fuss, then one of them nudged another and they all agreed "no princess Diaspro, no problem."
Bloom (as Blake) looked at her with betrayed eyes.
"Why didn't Diaspro change?"
"Oh I did, but unlike you, I know how to perform a high level Y to X transmorgification enchantment."
Bloom crossed the room before Diaspro could blink.
"Teach me your ways!"
Flora made an agreeing hum, "these kinds of loops are pretty hard on Bloom, it might help if she knew she could change back at will."
"Although," Tecna asked, frowning, "how are you getting away with just suddenly being female in this loop?"
"Oh I made a scene, came out of the gender identity closet as female and transformed. It probably helps that Jasper was a wizard, they're expected to be a bit odd... honestly by the time they realise I'm not changing back, they'll be used to me being female and won't care any more." She shrugged and began teaching Bloom the hard to find gender swapping spell.
Stella almost punched Bloom when she found out. "WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME IMMEADIATELY!?"
"I'M SORRY!"
"Whatever, just TEACH ME! Ahem, sorry, I'm fine. But seriously teach me right now."
29.6 (lord Martiya)
"What do you want?" Icy bluntly asked Cornelia when she showed up.
"I have an offer for a truce." the visiting Looper said. "I guess you know what I've been doing?"
"You mean completely sealing Tritannus' cell, collapsing Darkar's lair on his head, robbing that warlord Yoshinoya blind, and stealing our fun with Mitzi?" Stormy asked, a bit bitter since she had realized WHO had ruined Mitzi before they could.
"I have a younger sister. But I take you know I'm tackling all the bullies of this Branch-and I believe you'll be interested in helping with my next target: Lightrock. After all, you haven't found anything bad enough for them yet..."
"And what would a little HERO like you know about making them pay?"
Cornelia simply smiled and gave the Trix some papers. She remained like that as the Trix read them, then incredulously re-read them multiple times until they accepted that Cornelia had done just that.
"And you call yourself a hero?!" Darcy asked, trying, and failing, to hide her admiration for what Cornelia had pulled.
"A very efficient one." Cornelia confirmed.
"Then how did YOU come up with this when WE couldn't?!" Icy demanded.
"Perspective: you are relatively hands-on people who never had many resources besides your own magic, while I am the daughter of a bank director. That's why I robbed Yoshinoya to begin with." she explained as she offered Icy her hand. "So... Truce for this Loop?"
Icy didn't answer, just shook her hand.
The throne room of Lightrock was in complete silence, except for Stormy snickering, as the Lord of the Knights and his closest assistants digested what Cornelia and the Trix had just announced them.
"What the-Could you please repeat that?" the lord said after a few minutes of shock.
"I said I've bought Lightrock out and you're fired. You and most of your torturers, but some I may keep if you haven't corrupted them enough." Cornelia replied as she showed him a copy of the relevant documents. "Now get out before I have you arrested for trespassing."
In the following months as "patients" in the new and reformed Lightrock, the Lord of the Knights and his closest assistants would regret having attacked the Loopers to try and keep the Fortress.
29.7 (Jeanne Summers)
Diaspro Woke up in a nice bed, opening her eyes to look around, she saw... nothing.
She closed and opened her eyes a few times, but still nothing.
"Wow it must be dark in here," carefully she conjured a night-light to her hand, a small ball of light which would get gradually brighter, so she didn't blind herself.
She waited, magic tingling in her palm, but the light didn't light. Dispelling it, she tried again, and again. Reaching out she ran her free hand over the hand which held the spell.
The spell was definitely there, she just couldn't see it.
She couldn't see.
Before the panic could set in, her loop memories hit her with all the force of a great typhoon. Sorting through them Diaspro calmed down, letting her new earthbending skills read the room as she sent and received vibrations.
It wasn't too different from the ground penetrating radar ability she used to find crystal veins in the ground, it was just... way more tuned.
"High definition," Diaspro giggled aloud.
Diaspro found she enjoyed earthbending, the way the earth responded to her, even the none jewel parts she'd always struggled with, the way she got to use her body rather than just casting with a flick of her wrist.
The way she could see everything.
Now if only the Beifong parents were understanding about her love of Earth Rumble...
29.8 (Jeanne Summers)
Diaspro Awakens.
Her first impulse – to fling out her hand to catch the railing – sends her tumbling out of bed and onto the floor. A very unfamiliar floor.
"What's wrong with you?" The voice is familiar, Diaspro turns and takes in the scene.
She's just fallen put of the fourth bed in a Cloud Tower dormitory, the Trix looking at her bleary eyed, having been woken by her fall. Or more likely, from her head smacking the bedside table loudly as she fell.
"Strange dream, just feeling kind of loopy," she Pings. Three Pings respond, none of the Trix indicate they felt a thing. Icy scoffs and throws off her blanket.
"Well, we're all awake now, we may as well get some work done before school starts."
The memories hit her suddenly, all at once, she reels for a moment. Then Diaspro, or rather: Goldy, witch of metal, fourth sister of the infamous Trix, whimpers.
Her witch form outfit is of an identical cut to her basic fairy form, but it was made of a pale yellow gold latex like material, her stone accessories swapped for metal ones, and a large G completed her outfit.
'It could have been worse,' she muses to herself as the witch quartet prepare to attack the Winx Club, 'I could have looked like a cheap, season one Stella knock off.'
"Goldy?" Flora gasps as she hears Diaspro's new in loop name, "really?"
"Yes, really, and honestly I'm choosing to look at the positives here: at least it wasn't 'Rusty' or worse: 'Irony.'" Diaspro see the exact instant Flora gets it, it's half a millisecond before she breaks down, howling with laughter.
Losing is both a foreign and familiar feeling, she'd lost a lot in her early days, been losing a lot since Waking in this loop, but for a long time now, she'd been on the winning side. Oh sure, she could switch sides, but she was kind of curious how being a Trix would play out.
Diaspro had never known a lot about Lightrock prison, she knew the Trix spoke of it with extreme hatred, it made the fairies shudder, but she'd never really thought about what it was like there.
As the guards shoved the Trix quartet toward the portal, Flora had to be held back.
"Diaspro, I'm sorry! I tried, but they won't let this go, I'M SORRY! Stay strong Diaspro, STAY STRONG!"
"Who the hell is Diaspro?"
When Darkar breaks them out, she grins menacingly, using the power of the Gloomix wrapped around her hips to summon various metals in the form of powder to her hands, scattering it about the entire complex.
Surely she can be forgiven for this, she'll suffer the Twilight Loop again if she has to, but this place had to burn.
The thermite fire burnt for hours.
Diaspro popped a prawn into her mouth, savouring the delicate flavours. Truly: no world did sea food like Andros.
"So what's it like, being a witch?" Aisha asked over her squid tube.
"So bizarre, I'm really trying to have fun with it though, but some of the stuff we're doing is just so: urgh."
"Are the powers that different though, the whole 'flying without wings' and stuff?"
"Kinda of? I mean, the method for flying is different, but it still feels pretty similar, you know. A lot of the spells require dark energy, so I'm channeling any unresolved issues I have left over, which is a surprising amount. Honestly comparison might have been easier if I was the witch of Stone rather than Metal."
"Yeah, Goldy-locks, what's that about?" Musa finally looked up from drowning her fish is soy sauce.
"Oh," Aisha perked up, "you said you replaced Toph recently, right?"
"Oh hey yeah, she's a metal bender isn't she?" Musa asked.
Diaspro said nothing, her 'oh duh, way to be an idiot me,' expression said it for her. "Oh my god, we should make our own pro-bending team."
"We'd still need a fire bender for that," Aisha cut Diaspro off before she could get too excited. For a few seconds Diaspro looked confused, then her expression cleared and she smacked herself in the forehead lightly.
"Right, yeah, duh, of course. But like, after one of us gets to be a firebender..."
"Right... that might actually be fun, what would we call ourselves though?"
When they lost this time, the Trix quartet were able to get away.
For a short time.
Diaspro shivered in the cold of Omega, as much as she hated it, it as still preferable to Lightrock.
Valtor left with a swirl of his coat, the door thumping closed behind him.
"You do know what he's doing, don't you sisters?" The original Trix looked over at her, a low key animosity hanging over them. "Together, the four of us are incredibly powerful, Icy freed him, and he? Needs us, he just doesn't need us powerful enough to challenge him. He keeps showing one of us favour, ignoring the rest, and who he favours keeps changing."
Diaspro's words sunk in.
"He's playing us," Stormy seethed. Darcy scowled, and Icy eyed Diaspro with a considering look.
"Well then, little sister, what do you suggest we do about it?"
"We do what witches do, after all: backstabbing is as backstabbing does, one good knifing deserves another, yes?"
The Trix cackled, and begun to plan their revolt.
If asked later, Diaspro would deny allowing the team up with Tritanus was for petty movie referencing reasons.
Roxy floated beside the Winx, Artu barking in the background as the Trix prepared to retreat. Fixing her gaze solely on the Earth fairy, Diaspro amazed herself by keeping a straight face as she yelled back to the girl.
"I'll get you young fairy, and your little dog too!"
The sound of Flora's face palm travelled really well over the water.
29.9 (Firehawk242, Masterweaver)
Bloom hummed cheerfully as she started settling into the dorm room she would be sharing with Musa for the next three years. The door still said Flora was the other inhabitant of the room, but it was an all-hands loop. The living conditions would be rearranged soon enough. It'd been a while since everyone was Awake at the same time. Hopefully it would be a good loop.
Her phone buzzed, informing her of an incoming call. Who would be calling her this early? She picked it up and answered. "Bloom speaking."
"Hey, Bloom, it's Sk- Uh, Brandon. Can we talk?" Sky's voice came through the receiver.
"Sure," Bloom said. "What's up?"
"Uh, I mean... can we talk in person?" Sky asked.
"Alright. Stop by my dorm, I'm still getting myself organized in here."
"Uh, yeah, I'll be right over." He hung up.
So that was what this was about. The rare loops where Sky was honest enough to tell her about Diaspro this soon were probably some of her favorites. She didn't always end up dating honest Sky, but she certainly respected him more than most of the versions of him. This loop just kept getting better!
Sky walked in the door to find Bloom hanging up the last of her clothes. "Oh hey Brandon," she said, closing the closet. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Um. First, my name's Sky, not Brandon. Sorry about that. Second, um, do you remember doing some of-" That was as far as he got before Bloom grabbed him by the arm, flipped him, and hurled him against the wall. Water coalesced from the air and she blasted Sky back, pinning him to the wall and freezing him in place.
"Bloom? Bloom!" Sky shouted as she quickly advanced, both her eyes and her hand aflame, her fist drawing back for a punch.
Flora and Musa paused on their way back from requesting the room transfer as a gout of flame ripped through the wall of Bloom's and now Musa's room and blew out into the quad.
"Should we check on that?" Musa asked.
"I vote for no," Flora said.
"Probably a good idea," Musa said.
Sky glanced at the sizzling hole next to his head. "Bloom?" he all but whimpered.
"Tell me, Sky," Bloom said, righteous anger dripping from every word. "Tell me. How much do you remember? Seven years? Fourteen? Twenty one? More?"
"Seven! Seven!" Sky said. "Just seven!"
Bloom stared at him, her eyes still burning. She took a deep breath, then let it out. "Stay right there." She pulled out her phone and started dialing.
"O-okay," Sky said.
Diaspro was finalizing her paperwork for late entry to Alfea when her phone rang. She answered it quickly, still looking over the paperwork. "Diaspro speaking."
"Diaspro, it's Bloom. I need you at Alfea right now."
"Bloom? What's up? I take it you're looping?"
"Yes, and I really don't want to explain this over the phone. Please, I need you here right now."
"Should I bother packing?"
"No, I need you here now."
"Got it," Diaspro said. "Be there in ten seconds." She hung up, then backed away from her desk. "Believix, Zoomix!"
If Sky thought his day couldn't get worse after he'd been nearly flash-fried, he was quickly proven wrong when Diaspro appeared in a flash of light.
"So, what are you doing with him frozen to your wall?" Diaspro said, ignoring him.
"He's looping," Bloom said.
"Oh," Diaspro said.
"I figured you'd want to know."
"Thanks, I think."
Bloom rounded on Sky. "You have no idea how angry I am right about now. You remember one loop. How many do you think I remember? How many do you think Diaspro remembers?"
"Um... ten?" Sky said weakly.
The two fairies broke out laughing. It wasn't a pleasant sound.
"Try ten million," Bloom said. "You'll still be low. Diaspro's younger than me, a lot younger, but she still remembers several thousand. Millions of repeats of this. Millions of times you lied to me. Millions of times I loved you despite that."
"I'm-"
"Save it," Bloom said. "I don't want your words. You snared me the first time because you were a knight in shining armor, stepping straight out of a fairy tale to save the day. That won't work this time. I don't want a fairy tale. Not anymore. I want someone I can trust. Someone I like. Someone who actually deserves me loving him. And right now Sky? You're not good enough."
With that Bloom turned on her heel and marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her. The ice imprisoning Sky melted and he fell to the floor.
"You deserved that, you know," Diaspro said.
Sky just stared at her mutely, still in shock.
"We're going to have a quick chat, you and I," Diaspro said. "And then you're going to go back to Red Fountain. Ask Timmy and Brandon about the loops. They'll explain what's going on and show you the ropes."
"Okay," Sky acquiesced.
"Now, our chat," Diaspro said, sitting down on Bloom's bed like a queen on a throne. "I'm mostly over you. I know we're not going to happen, so you don't need to worry about that. Bloom, angry as she is, still loves you, at least a little. You are going to earn that love. You are going to make yourself the man she deserves, or you will answer to me. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Good," Diaspro said. She reached into her Pocket and pulled out a small metal band. "Do you recognize this? It's the engagement ring your family presented me with when our marriage was arranged. I don't know why, but I decided to keep a copy. Probably bad for me, but I did it anyways. I'm giving this to you."
She threw the ring at Sky, bouncing it off his chest. He carefully picked the ring up off the ground. "What should I do with it?" he asked, dazed.
"Keep it," Diaspro said. "When Timmy and Brandon explain how to make a Pocket to you, I want you to put it in there. And then, when you've redeemed yourself, I want to see it on Bloom's finger. When I see her wearing that ring, and wearing it as it was intended to be worn, THEN I'll forgive you. Not before. Got it?"
"Got it," Sky said.
"Good," Diaspro said. "Now get going, you've got a lot of work ahead of you."
"Hey Sky-whoa." Brandon watched the other boy stumble into the dorm. "She really rattled you, didn't she?"
"W...what?"
"Bloom. Flora called us, told us you were looping. Congrats on joining, by the way."
"...right." Sky nodded. "Looping. Time travel..."
"...You need a moment?"
"She almost took off my head."
Brandon winced. "Yeah. Um. Sky, you know why she did that, right?"
"I... I... Diaspro threw a ring at me, and Bloom almost burned my head off." Sky sat down on his bed heavily. "She was willing to kill me."
His squire stared at him for a moment or two.
After a moment, he sighed and pulled out his phone. "Flora? Yeah, can you pass a message on to Bloom for me? Tell her she overdid it and needs to stay away from Red Fountain for a bit. Yeah, I know, I know, but... trust me on this, it's going to take a while. Maybe not as much for Diaspro, but you may want to tell her to stay away too. I'll let you know when it's okay. Thanks, Flora."
Sky was still staring into nothing when Brandon put away his phone.
"Alright." He sat down next to him. "How much did they tell you?"
"About... what?"
"About the loops. How much did they tell you?"
"...nothing. They said nothing."
Brandon took a deep breath. "Hoooooboy. Alrighty, I'm going to have to tell you the whole story, and it's going to be a long and complicated one, but I need you to listen, okay?"
Sky managed to nod faintly.
"There's this tree called Yggdrasil..."
Hey, I'm actually in this one! Barely, but I am there!
29.1: Name a video game protagonist who isn't a kleptomaniac of some description.
29.2: Timmy's clearly been taking lessons from River Tam...
29.3: Freaking Deadpool.
29.4: On the one hand, overkill. On the other hand, Billy.
29.5: That's a thing they can do?
29.6: Still a better sanitarium than it was in baseline.
29.7: Pity those who can't see with their feet.
29.8: I don't think that's Flora's facepalm they're hearing. Now excuse me, I seem to have developed a headache.
29.9: Hell hath no fury...