It was the day of the tournament. The sun was shining bright and the excitement ran through the school. On the courtyard stood a stadium with benches surrounding the field. Team Shield was standing in Wizgiz's classroom.
"Alright girls, this is it." The professor said. "The first fairy to get three points wins the round." "You will each face one opponent from Team Sword and at the end the team who wins the most rounds wins the entire tournament, is that clear?"
"I've never seen him this serious." Tecna whispered.
Flora and Samara hid their laughter behind their hands.
"Now, round 1 will begin in ten minutes." Wizgiz said. "Samara you will go up against Crystal."
Samara nodded.
"Round 2 will be Tecna against Musa." Wizgiz said. "So I want you to prepare yourself while Samara is busy."
Tecna gulped.
"The rest of you can check the schedule on the board."
Wizgiz snapped his fingers and the names appeared on the blackboard.
"Good luck and have fun!"
Samara and Wizgiz made their way to the field. The benches were filled with students and staffmembers.
"I'll be sitting right there." Wizgiz said. "If you want to surrender, shoot red fireworks into the sky, Faragonda will stop the fight right away."
The professor shot a worried look towards Samara's leg.
"No worry professor, my leg is totally healed." Samara said.
Wizgiz nodded and headed to his seat. Samara walked onto the field and saw her opponent do the same. The girl was quite tall, had long hair in many small braids and light blue eyes.
"Hi there, my name's Crystal." She said while holding out her hand.
Samara smiled and took Crystal's hand. "Hi, I'm Samara."
"Alright girls, take position." Faragonda's voice sounded above everyone elses. Seemed she was using a spell to make her voice louder.
Samara took her position in the middle of the left side of the field. Faragonda told them to transform and in a flash of dark blue light, Samara changed her appearance into the silver top, short trousers and fingerless gloves. Her wings came out just underneath her hair. Crystal had also transformed. She was now wearing a lavender croptop with same colored skirt. Her braids now had lavender colored ribbons intertwined.
"Let's see what you've got." The girl said.
"One, two, three, GO!" Faragonda's voice sounded.
Crystal went straight into the attack. She flew to Samara and shot shards of gemstones towards her. Samara saw that the stones were aimed straight at her in a thin line and conjured a shield in the form of the full moon to shield her upper body. The gemstones flew into the shield and were shattered to dust.
The scorebord that flew high up in the air showed 1 point for Samara. But Crystal came back with her second attack. Huge pillars of gems suddenly surrounded Samara, ready to crush her. The fairy of the Moon focussed and conjured a force field all around her. The pillars started to tumble towards her but were stopped by the magic force field. Samara concentrated in all her might but the pillars were incredibly heavy.
The crowd was going wild and Samara could hear their cheers. Sweat was falling from her forehead.
Come on…you can do this… She thought to herself.
Crystal was giving it her all. The girl used her magic to add more and more weight to the pillars, ready to crack the force field thus winning her first point. Samara could feel her feet sinking away in the ground.
No…I will not yield, I am unwavering!
Samara combined all her strenght, put her feet firmly on the ground and expanded the force field. Slowly but surely the pillars started to move into the other direction, away from her. With one final burst of power, Samara expanded the field to such length that the pillars fell down in the opposite direction.
"No!" Crystal yelled.
Samara let down her forcefield and fell down on her knees. She was breathing heavily.
The scorebord showed a 2 at Samara's side. Just one more point to go. Applause sounded from the left side of the benches and Samara could see Wizgiz jumping up and down on his seat.
"This isn't over yet!" Crystal said.
Before Samara had a chance to react, she was blown away by a powerfull attack.
"Ooof…" She groaned as she hit the ground hard.
"I didn't see that one coming…" She said as the scorebord above now showed 2-1.
"That was the idea." Crystal said with a smile. "Talking about not seeing things, how about this?"
The girl brought her hands together and a shining light started to form between them. Samara knew what was coming and acted fast. She had to get close to Crystal before it was too late. Completely drawn into the fight, Samara kicked off and flew towards the fairy as fast as she could. When she was close enough, she created a forcefield around Crystal. The lavender colored fairy had no idea what was happening, panicked and released her attack inside the force field. A bright, blinding light filled the orb.
"Aaaah!" Crystal yelled as the force field disappeared. "I can't see, I can't see!"
Crystal carefully lowered herself to the ground.
The scorebord now showed 3-1, making Samara the winner. But the fairy did not rejoice. Now that the adrenaline of the fight was over the fairy of the Moon realized something.
She was flying. High, very high in the air. Panic started to take over. There was nothing underneath her feet, nothing to ground herself with.
Oh god, oh no, oh no!
She was starting to see spots in her vision. Suddenly she saw someone run into the field. Her heart made a little leap of hope.
Okay, just focus on him, only on him….
Slowly she started to move down towards the field. The thought that her wings would disappear at any second was frightning her but she forced herself to keep moving. Finally she was almost down and Palladium took her by the hand to guide her the last bit.
"Excellent job." He said while pretending to shake her hand as to congratulate her victory.
Samara stared at him with wide eyes and he gestured slightly to the benches. Everyone was watching them.
"Th…thank you…professor…" She stammered.
She could still feel her heart racing.
"Lass that was amazing!" Wizgiz shouted as he too ran onto the field.
Samara smiled and turned back to Palladium only to find him gone. He was walking Crystal to the exit of the stadium, leaving Samara and Wizgiz alone.
"I think you should head back to the classroom and rest a bit." Wizgiz said still with a wide smile on his face. "Make sure to eat and drink something."
Samara nodded and started to walk to the classroom. Her legs were a bit unstable and she knew for sure that if she didn't get to sit down soon, she would collapse. All of team Shield, except from Tecna were standing there waiting for her.
"That was awesome!" One girl with short brown hair said.
Flora guided Samara to her chair. "Here you go." The fairy of Nature handed her a can of soda.
"Thanks." Samara muttered grateful.
She took a moment to breath in and out deeply and finally her heart calmed down a bit.
"You look completely drained." Flora said worried. "Is your leg acting up?"
"No, my leg is fine." Samara said annoyed. "Would people please stop asking me that?"
Flora shot her a hurt look but didn't say anything. Both of them looked at the huge magic screen against the wall. Tecna and Musa had just transformed and were about to begin.
The second round was brutal. Both Tecna and Musa gave it their all and the crowd held in their breath while watching. In the end, Musa created two huge boomboxes that created such a powerful sound that some of the windows of Alfea shattered. Unfortunately that was not all that shattered as Tecna's shield was blown to pieces, making Musa the winner with a score of 2-3.
Now teams Sword and Shield were tied. Tecna, Flora and Samara watched inside the classroom how Stella defeated her opponent, while getting scowled by Griselda for blinding the entire crowd in the process. Flora was in the 9th round. The score was 4-4. If Flora lost, all hope was gone for Team Shield. Samara watched the blackboard and saw her name next to Bloom's. That was going to be something…
"Do you think she'll win?" Tecna asked, the uncertainty clear in her voice.
"Of course she will." Samara said, wanting to sound a lot more confident than she did.
"I need to head to the stadium for the final round." Samara said.
"Good luck!" Tecna said.
"Thanks."
Samara walked outside. The nice warm day had made place for the cool evening. The sky was a mixture of orange and purple. As she approached the stadium, a huge wall of branches appeared. Seemed Flora's match had begun. Samara stood at the left entrance to the field and watched. Flora was doing her best. The score was 1-2. Bloom was standing on the opposite side of the field with next to her, Palladium. They were talking and the elf was gesturing wild with his arms. Even from that far away Samara could still tell that he was excited. A smile krept up on her face. She kept staring at him until she was brought out of her trance by loud applause from the left side of the benches. Samara looked at Flora to see that her wall had hold firmly. The score was 3-2, leaving Flora the victor.
"You did it!" Samara yelled as she hugged Flora.
"I did, I can't believe it but I won!" Flora said.
"Well done!" Wizgiz screamed as he hopped off his seat straight onto the field. "We're in the lead!"
"Just one more round and we'll win the tournament." Flora said.
Samara gulped. This was it, her against Bloom.
"No pressure though." Wizgiz said as he looked at Samara's face. "I'm proud of you all no matter what." "Besides we can't lose anymore, it's a win or a tie."
"Even if it means that professor Palladium and you will have to share the win?" Samara asked.
A dark shadow ran across the leprachaun's face. The professor swallowed hard.
"Even then." He said.
"Good luck!" Flora said.
Samara stepped onto the field. She saw how Palladium put a hand on Bloom's shoulder and gave her an encouraging nod. The fairy of the Dragon Flame stepped onto the field as well.
"The last round." Bloom said. "Are you up for this?"
"We can't lose anymore." Samara said. "Are you up for this?"
The fairies smiled at each other and shook hands.
"Alright, here we go." Faragonda said. "Fairies, transform!"
Samara and Bloom did as they were told and in a few seconds they were covered in silver and blue sparkling outfits with wings.
"One, two, three, GO!"
Bloom immediately took off to the sky. Samara kept an eye on her from the ground.
Dancing flames!
Bloom raised her hands towards Samara and a rain of tiny flames came crashing down. Samara quickly raised her hands abover her and conjured her full moon shield. The tiny flames fell on top of the shield and around her, but didn't harm her.
The scorebord showed 1-0.
Bloom groaned. She started to fly around Samara quickly while a trail of fire came from her feet. Bloom flew faster and faster making Samara dizzy. The fairy of the Moon was now surrounded by fire. The heat was tremendous and the flames were closing in so fast that Samara had no chance to defend herself. This point was for Bloom.
1-1
The fight lasted forever. The sun was almost completely down and the staff members had to use magic to provide light sources around the stadium. Samara and Bloom were getting more and more driven to win. The attacks Bloom was throwing at Samara were getting more and more powerfull and Samara had to use all the knowledge she had of defening methods. Finally it was 2-2. The next point would decide if the tournament would end in a tie or a win for team Shield. Wizgiz was chewing on his hat. He had tried to shout words of advice to his student but it was no use, the noise in the stadium was too loud.
"Come on, let's end this!" Samara shouted.
She was still on the ground, with Bloom once again flying above her. The red haired fairy suddenly started to glow red. She was building up the energy for her attack. Samara panicked. What would she do with the little time she had? Fly up to Bloom and try the same trick as she did with Crystal? No only the thought made her heart sink. The princess of Eraklion instead steadied herself on the ground and conjured her force field again. She made sure to put as much energy into it as possible. This had to be the best shield she ever made.
Palladium watched with a frown as Bloom gathered more and more energy. This was not an attack they had practised during their lessons. He had no idea what was coming. He looked at Faragonda, who seemed to mirror his thoughts. She shot him a quick glance and the elf shook his head as sign that he was as surprised as her.
Bloom was at the top of her power. She didn't know where it all came from, perhaps it was her drive to win the match, all she knew was that this had to be the most powerful attack until now to win. With a roar she unleashed her power and was surprised when she saw that the attack came out in the shape of a red dragon, charging towards her friend.
Oh no, what did I do?!
On the ground, Samara saw how the beast of fire came charging at her.
What the hell is that?!
She didn't have much time to think anything else. A huge shockwave went through the stadium as the dragon collided with the shield. Samara felt her heels disappear into the ground as she tried her hardest to resist the attack. Even with the shield between her and the fire, Samara could feel the heat. For a moment the shield seemed to hold. The entire stadium was silent. Then a cracking sounded and the shield broke. Samara was hit by a powerful energy and flew a few meters back. She was certain that the dragon would hit her again and closed her eyes waiting for the collision, which never came. She opened her eyes and saw Faragonda, Wizgiz and Palladium stand in front of her. The three of them had combined their power to create a shield which was strong enough to last out the attack. The fire died out and all went dark.
Samara breathed heavily and needed a moment to register what had happened. Palladium and Wizgiz turned to her as Faragonda walked over to Bloom, who seemed completely in panick.
"Are you okay?" Palladium asked as he crouched down and took Samara by the shoulders.
"I think I am." Samara said as she slowly stood up. "What was that?"
"That was the Dragon's Flame…" Wizgiz said. "Bloom must have accidentally unleashed it in the heat of the match."
"I need to talk to her." Samara said. "It wasn't her fault."
"Give her some space, headmistress Faragonda wanted to speak to her first." Wizgiz said. The transformation professor turned to his collegue. "I think it's best if everyone goes back to their dorm."
Palladium nodded. The leprachaun walked away to find the other staff members. The elf turned to Samara. He eyed her suspiciously. "Are you alright?"
Samara stared back at him. Of course she wasn't alright, she was just blown away by the most powerfull force in the entire universe. But she wasn't weak.
"I'm sure professor." She said. "Just need to get to bed for a good night sleep."
Palladium sighed. "Please don't lie to me." He said. There was a sense of hurt in his voice and Samara felt an awefull feeling boiling up inside her.
The professor turned around and walked to professor Dufour on the other side of the stadium. Samara headed to her dorm by herself.
I'm fine…She thought to herself as she climbed the stairs of Alfea. A bit beaten up that's all, nothing a little sleep couldn't fix.
Samara opened the door to her dorm and immediately heard four voices talking through each other.
"There you are!"
"How are you feeling?"
"Where's Bloom?"
"What happened?"
"Bloom is with Faragonda, she lost control of her powers and accidentally used the power of the Dragon Flame, and I'm fine." Samara said.
Stella, Musa, Flora and Tecna stared at her. Samara let out a long sigh.
"I suggest that we all get to bed and talk things through in the morning." She said. "I also think that someone needs to stay up for Bloom, but not me."
The fairy of the Moon walked into her room and fell on her bed. Her entire body ached. She could hear the voices of the other girls talk in hushed tones. Tears welled up in her eyes. The words of Palladium echoed through her mind.
Please don't lie to me.
Samara turned on her back and stared at the ceiling.
"I am the princess of Eraklion…" She whispered. "Whatever bothers me….I am unwavering…"