"DRAT!" Nina scowled as her crystal ball's vision blurred into a smoke of different colors. "THOSE PESTS DID A CLOAKING SPELL! HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO SEE WHERE THEY ARE NOW?!"
"You don't," Phoenix chuckled. "That's the purpose of the cloaking spell,"
"Give it up, Nina," Flame told the evil fairy. "When they get here, you will be defeated anyway, so give up now!"
"NEVER!" Nina snarled, coal black eyes glowing dark violet as she gritted her teeth and smirked. "I might not be able to see them, but when they get here, they'll NEVER get away alive! MWUHAHAHAHA!"
Meanwhile, the group had passed the canyon and were heading up a mountain plateau. From there, they flew down to find a rickety old tower standing in the clear field.
"There it is," Blaze said. "Nina's lair,"
"So, what's the plan?" Starla asked.
"We break in, free Mom and Dad and stop Nina!" Sparkle replied.
"That's a wish list, not a plan," Crusher grumbled.
"I have to agree with Crusher on this," Stripes nodded. "We need an actual plan if we want to make it out alive,"
"We can get in through that window on the roof," AJ pointed to the tower's roof. "but we only need a small team. The rest will wait out and surprise Nina in case it's a trap,"
"AJ and I'll lead the team in," Blaze offered. "Nina will be expecting me and AJ to rescue Mom and Dad, so we'll go in with Gabby, so she could check if Mom and Dad have any injuries she could fix, and Zeg, so he could destroy whatever prison they might be in,"
"Alright!" Gabby nodded as Zeg cheered.
"Stripes, Sparkle, you both will lead the back-up team," Blaze turned to his sister and his friend then turned over to the others. "The rest of you, prepare your magic,"
The group all nodded in agreement as they twirled their tires around to prepare their magic. Only Crusher didn't nod, but he didn't say anything and kept quiet.
He didn't know why, but there was something about the tower that felt… familiar to him somehow. It felt nostalgic, and the feeling made him uncomfortable and nauseous, but he knew better than to say something about it.
Not that anyone cared, anyway.
The group soon split, with Stripes and Sparkle leading the larger group aside as Blaze, AJ, Gabby and Zeg flew to the roof window. Gabby tugged on the window and shook her head.
"It's locked,"
"Zeg break window!" Zeg offered.
"Go ahead, Zeg," Blaze nodded and moved aside with the other two to make some room.
Zeg's horn glowed lime as he fluttered a little higher then he dove down with a cry, smashing the window open and crash down with a thud. Blaze gasped and flew in to his friend's side.
"Zeg! You okay?" he asked/whispered as AJ and Gabby followed him in.
"Zeg okay," Zeg nodded, shaking his head to clear away any debris. "Tower dark, though,"
"I'll light up the torches," AJ snapped his fingers, and his fire brightened up the place.
"BLAZE!"
"MOM! DAD!" Blaze turned at the voice and gasped when he found his parents in a large cage. "Are you two okay?! And Dad, your wing! It's burned!"
"We're okay, Blaze," Phoenix assured him.
"And I'm fine, Blaze," Flame smiled, trying to ignore his injured wing. "It just… hurts a little, but I'll be fine,"
"Zeg break cage!" Zeg cried out, his horn glowing again.
"No! Stop!" Phoenix yelled. "This cage is made out of dark magic. No ordinary fairy magic can destroy it!"
"But we HAVE to get you out of there!" Blaze hissed. "Maybe if we all combine our magic, we could—"
Suddenly, lightning came from inside the tower, followed by a clap of thunder, causing the group to jump and look around in alert. An echo of villainous laughter came after as dark smoke appeared from out of nowhere.
"Well, well, well," the smoke took shape and form as the voice spoke. "I see my sister dearest told you about our little arrangement, aye, Blaze and AJ?"
The smoke soon ceased, and in it's place stood Nina, a smirk on her face as she fluttered down them. Zeg and Blaze stood front of the cage, tires glowing in their magic as AJ and Gabby stood behind them, their hands glowing in their magic as well.
"Nina." Blaze growled. "Let my parents go!"
"Did you bring me my sister's crown?" Nina questioned. "No? Then your parents stay. After all, who will I torture and blackmail to get what I want?"
"You'll never be queen!" Blaze roared out, gritting his teeth. "You'd take all the magic in all the worlds, even the mortal world!"
"The mortals don't deserve any magic from any creature in all the realms!" Nina snapped as she twirled her tires around, her magic releasing into the air. "And I will make sure that no mortal wields any magic ever again!"
Her magic reached the ground, and out came all kinds of creatures. Fire leopards, ice lions, earth bighorns, water tigers, and more enchanted creatures all under Nina's magic influence.
"Now, wouldn't it be better if you all just gave in with a clear surrender?" Nina snickered. "You are all outnumbered, after all, and very much outmatched,"
"You're wrong, Nina!" Blaze grinned. "Yes, we're outnumbered, yes, but not outmatched!"
Nina looked confused, but before she could get a word in, there was a blast, and they all looked up to see the rest of the group bursting in, with Stripes and Sparkle in the lead. Phoenix and Flame gasped.
"SPARKLE!"
"Mom! Dad!" Sparkle flew down to her parents' cage. "Don't worry! We'll get you out of there!"
"BWUHAHAHAHAHA!" Nina laughed mockingly as the group joined in together to face her. "You children are hilarious!"
"Us children kicked the asses of your little minions before!" Starla cried out.
"And we'll do it again!" Watts charged up her electric tires with her magic.
"Tsk, you are children AND non-fairies by blood," Nina scoffed, glancing at each of them before resting her eyes on Crusher with a growl. "Though I must admit, for a non-fairy, you are very powerful…"
Crusher shifted uncomfortably under her gaze but glared back. Both sisters seemed to be interested in his magic, apparently, and he didn't like one bit of it.
"Guys, we need to take down the creatures AND banish the cage Mom and Dad are in," Blaze told them. "Sparkle, you and I will take care of the cage! The rest of you, you know what to do,"
"On it, B!" Darington grinned and flicked his tires around, causing more star shurikens to appear while Starla took out her magic lasso, and Stripes released his glowing claws.
Zeg's glowing horn brightened in color before he drove towards the creatures with a cry. Everyone else did the same, Crusher reluctantly as he used his wings to fly up for higher leverage while Pickle stayed where he was and turned one of the fire balls into a force field.
While Zeg destroyed most of the stone wolves, Stripes slashed some of the stem giants into bits. Darington, AJ and Watts shot the snow lions and the water tigers with their electricity, fire blasts and star shurikens, and Starla rounded up and took down the earth bighorns. Gabby used her magic to fix up a barricade around Nina to contain her, something which the evil fairy was trying to stop, but Crusher noticed this and tried to make himself useful and use his magic to strengthen the barricade, even as it closed around her.
"Fools!" Nina snarled as she blasted her magic at the barricade to burst out, but to no avail. "You can't trap me here forever! I WILL escape! Just you wait!"
Blaze and Sparkle, on the other hand, combined their magic together, twirling their tires as fast as they could before aiming at the cage. Phoenix and Flame helped them out with their own magic, uniting with their children's, causing the cage to slowly glow a fiery red, yellow, orange and silver. The dark magic of the cage tried to oppose to their family magic, but their bond was stronger, and in no time, the cage shattered and faded into dark smoke.
"Yes!" Blaze cheered before he and Sparkle dashed towards them. "Mom! Dad! You're free!"
"Thanks to you," Phoenix smiled as they both embraced their children. "All of you,"
"But, Dad, what about your wing?" Sparkle asked, worriedly glancing at the burnt wing of her father.
"It'll heal," Flame assured them with a smile as his wife wrapped a wing around him to help heal his wing. "Don't worry,"
"Daring-TOOON!"
The family turned and watched as the others took down the last of the enchanted creatures. Darington managed to aim one star shuriken to the last Wind Eagle, causing a blast of wind to throw him back. Blaze gasped and drove over to catch him.
"I got you, Darry!"
"Oof!" Darington blinked in surprise and felt himself blush as he met the other's worried ocean blue eyes. "O-Oh! Nice catch, B!"
Blaze smiled and set the stunt truck down. "Just glad that you're safe,"
Pickle sighed in relief and made the force field vanish as the others reunited with them.
"Phew!" Stripes sighed in relief. "It took a while, but we finally did it!"
"Yeah!" Starla agreed. "Nina's minions are gone!"
"And best of all, Mom and Dad are free!" Sparkle added with a cheer.
"NOOOOOOO!"
The group jumped and turned with a gasp to see Nina bursting out from the barricade, eyes and tires glowing fiery purple and midnight blue in rage as she gritted her teeth. Blaze growled and went forward to face her. The others followed after, causing them to corner the evil fairy.
Nina's eyes widened, the glow in her eyes ceasing as she backed up, realizing that she was cornered.
That she was trapped.
"Surrender now, Nina." Blaze spoke, the usually patience and calmness in his voice lightly overpowered by demand and slight rage. "You're outnumbered AND outmatched!"
Nina hissed but knew better than to try to fight, especially when all her minions were already destroyed. Besides, she could always try to get allies and escape prison again to get vengeance.
So, of course, she had to act.
"Oh, please, don't hurt me!" she spoke with a wail and crocodile tears. "There is a reason for my actions! Please hear me out!"
Well, she DID have a reason for her actions, but those reasons barely mattered to her anymore since…
"And what good reason would you have for trying to dethrone Queen Zilina, attempting to kill us and steal all of the magic in all the realms?!" Phoenix snarled, taking a drive beside her son.
"You don't understand!" Nina shook her head. "You see, Zilina might be older but she could never maintain her place in the throne without an heir since she refuses to marry anyone. I, on the other hand, had gotten a child, and I wanted to do anything for my son, even take the whole kingdom for him for his future! But Zilina refused to see reason, and it was thanks to her that I lost my son!"
The tears strolling down her cheeks was no lie. She truly did lose her son and missed him every day. This was what fueled up her act of vengeance; to take down her sister for making her lose her son.
The group exchanged glances, pitying the evil fairy.
The only ones who weren't sure about the other's words were Crusher, who narrowed his eyes at her as if he wanted to pity her but also he didn't want to, Phoenix and Flame, who didn't look convinced one bit, and Blaze and AJ, who both looked skeptical but could also could see the truth in her words and eyes.
"Your… son?" AJ crossed his arms. "Who's your son?"
"My precious little Inazuma…" Nina spoke before she twirled her tires around, causing a flash of light to blast towards the group.
Everyone was taken back with a gasp as a vision came to them. A vision of the Nina in the tower, a younger version of Nina, as she held a child in her tires, a child that looked awfully familiar…
"Crusher?!"