Sorry if the names are confusing, but where I live those are the names they used. The witches are the Trix, and Bloom wields the Dragon Flame.
Chapter Two – Phoenix Rising
Bloom was nervous. She and the other Winx would have to perform their demonstration soon, but the specialists had to finish first. Prince Sky, Brandon, Riven and Timmy were already done with the dragons, and now Riven and Brandon were demonstrating their prowess with the sword against each other.
The crowd, as far as Bloom could see, was enthralled by the furious combat of both boys. Parents who had signed their children on for the year were clearly already thinking of the day their children would be this skilled.
The battle seemed to never end. Bloom figured one of the boys had to lose so the demonstration would end, but Brandon and Riven were so equal in skill that Bloom feared everybody would be there until nightfall.
Not that she minded, since she didn't have to start until the boys finished. And the longer this took, the more her meeting with Sky's parents was postponed. Bloom sighed and stole a peak at the King and Queen of Erecneon before turning her attention back to the demonstration itself.
She was surprised when Sky suddenly interrupted the duel between Brandon and Riven, and around her she could see the rest of the audience weren't too pleased with the Prince.
Saladin, who was sitting beside Faragonda and Griffin, stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen, an applause for these outstanding young men. They are two of our best students, and they played a significant part in the War. But as fascinating as it is, this battle cannot continue. Other students of both Alfea and Red Fountain await their chance, amongst them a certain fairy I think you'll be interested to see. But now I shall introduce to you one other student here at Red Fountain. He is our finest student, and a warrior of great skill and honour. Prince Sky of Erecneon."
Sky bowed, and the crowd applauded. Bloom saw on their faces that part of them wanted the battle between Riven and Brandon to continue, but that another part was clearly interested in what was to happen now.
"We have demonstrated to you the skill of our students when fighting each other, but there is one test we still must take. You have all been photographed when you entered this arena and your pictures have been downloaded into our computer. We shall let our computer pick a random member of the crowd to face prince Sky."
Saladin pressed a button, and a large screen surfaced behind him. On the screen, Bloom saw the computer was busy shifting through what must have been a thousand photographs, before finally stopping.
The picture on the screen was that of a handsome young man with shoulder-long, green hair and bright green eyes. She scanned the crowd and spotted the young man, who was sitting almost near the battle-ground.
The young man rose and jumped onto the battle-ground, where Timmy handed him a sabre. He took the sabre and walked towards Sky, his face without the slightest hint of emotion.
On the screen behind Saladin the name of the young man appeared. A strange feeling came over Bloom as she saw the word 'Phoenix' flashing on and off on the screen, the letters as green as Phoenix's eyes.
Saladin sat back down, and all the specialists but Prince Sky vacated the battle-ground. Sky took out his own sword, and the public held their breath. Even Bloom, who at first had believed this would be a piece of cake for Sky. But Phoenix's calm demeanour unnerved her, and she couldn't explain the feeling that there was more to the young man than met the eye.
Sky attacked, jumping forward and lashing out at Phoenix. Phoenix reacted quickly, jumping to the side, but Sky reacted just as quickly and lashed out at the young man again.
Bloom saw the crowd was admiring Sky's skill with the sword, and on their faces she read that they believed it wouldn't be long ere Sky had Phoenix down. But deep down a feeling of unrest appeared, and she feared for Sky's safety without knowing why.
Sky continued his aggressive attack, jumping towards Phoenix and lashing out while the green-haired boy kept jumping back and sideways. Suddenly Sky saw his opportunity. He jumped forward, expecting Phoenix to jump sideways again. The green-haired boy did, and Sky swung his sword with all his strength.
Phoenix tried to block Sky's attack using his own sword, but it was knocked right out of his hand. Sky used his momentum to push Phoenix down on the ground, and held his sword dangerously close to the green-haired boy's face.
"I win. This battle is over," Sky said, slightly panting. "Indeed Sky of Erecneon is a great, golden warrior. But unlike our Prince here, not all that is gold glitters. This battle is far from over," Phoenix said, his voice causing Bloom to shiver.
Suddenly his eyes emitted light, as if a fire burned behind them. He lifted his hand and emitted from it waves of yellow light, which lifted Sky from were he stood and slammed him back down a few meters further.
Bloom immediately jumped from the grandstand and ran to Sky, who was unconscious. Brandon, Riven and Timmy jumped onto the battleground as well, and ran towards Phoenix. Brandon and Riven both with their swords at ready while Timmy took his laser pistol in his hand.
Phoenix eerily went from lying flat down to standing straight up without moving one limb. The light coming from his eyes intensified slightly just before he emitted more waves of yellow light, throwing the three specialists trying to surround him into the crowd.
Before Bloom even realized, she had transformed and was flying toward Phoenix. She hurled a fireball at the green-haired boy, but he lifted his hand again and emitted the waves of yellow light again, which made Bloom's fireball do a 180 and fly back towards her.
Bloom barely managed to dodge it, surprised at what Phoenix had done. She hung perfectly still in the air, watching her fireball speed towards the crowd. Just before she could move to interfere, the fireball crashed against a force field. Bloom looked up and saw Faragonda and Griffin on their feet, both with one hand pointing to the exact place the force field had been erected.
Bloom focused on Phoenix again and flew towards the green-haired boy once again, but just before he reached him his hole body began to emit the strange yellow light coming from his eyes and he levitated slightly before flying upward and dodging Bloom.
Bloom followed the boy with her eyes and wanted to fly after him, but in the exact moment she changed flight angle she was hit by waves of yellow light, which were the manifestation of Phoenix' telekinetic abilities, and was thrown onto the ground.
Almost immediately she shot back up while hurling another fireball at Phoenix. Phoenix dodged the fireball and tried to smash Bloom back onto the ground telekinetically, but she dodged his attack too and flew right into him.
Phoenix crashed onto the ground but immediately shot back up, the light his body was emitting suddenly much brighter. Bloom hurled a fireball at him just as he hurled a fireball at her. Both Bloom and Phoenix were knocked back by the power of the explosion when their fireballs collided, and both fell to the ground.
Suddenly Faragonda and Griffin both flew onto the battleground. Faragonda went to check on Bloom, while Griffin kneeled down by Phoenix. Meanwhile, Saladin stood up and motioned for the specialists to help the two headmistresses get the three unconscious people out of the arena.
The specialists, though still sore from their sudden and forced acquaintance with the stone stairs of the stands, immediately jumped to action. Brandon rushed to the side of his unconscious Prince, while Timmy helped Faragonda and Riven helped Griffin. The five of them managed to get Bloom, Phoenix and Sky out of the arena and into the new Red Fountain infirmary, which was closer than Alfea's.
The crowd was shocked. A boy handling his powers in like manner to Phoenix had never been seen before, since even the great Saladin required a staff and spells. And the power of the Dragon Flame was greater than they had ever imagined. But how could the boy meet Bloom head on?
Saladin noticed the unrest among the crowd and decided to move on. "After this wonderful battle, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to introduce to you four other students. Here are Musa, Flora, Techna and Princess Stella!"
The Winx, on their way out of the arena to go and see Bloom, all stood stock still and looked at each other. "What do we do?" Stella already knew the answer before she asked the question.
"We have no choice, he has already announced us," Flora answered. "Yeah, but we can't exactly go on with what we had planned," Musa interjected. "We do a free for all. Everyone against everyone, until only one is standing," Techna proposed, and all the Winx agreed.
And just as they entered the arena, Faragonda and Griffin laid down Phoenix on an infirmary bed.
T.B.C.