Damn it. Tegryn was trying to take a well-earned nap after spending the day brushing up on being dark and nasty (although to his credit, he'd resisted the temptation to be nasty to a cute little duckling that seemed particularly fond of Icy), but this one little nagging thought had been disturbing him for the last five minutes or so.
'Why don't you go to Cloud Tower?'
Damn it, there it is again. Is five minutes of shut-eye really too much to ask? Just quit bugging me.
'Why don't you go to Cloud Tower?'
Alright, alright - if you're so insistent, I'll go to Cloud Tower... just shut up already.
He got up with a growl, and set off looking for his new 'friends'. He soon found them having their dinner.
"Hey... why don't we go to Cloud Tower?"
They looked up at him, puzzled.
"Why would we want to do that?"
"I dunno, just seemed like a good idea."
"Hmmm..." Icy pondered with a scheming look on her face. "Maybe it is a good idea - after all, you're in league with that pixie Discorda, aren't you? It might make it a bit easier to get her part of the Codex."
"Yes," said Darcy. "And if she doesn't hand it over, the four of us should be more than enough to get what we want. There'll be no stopping us!"
"Heh," smirked Tegryn. "Aren't you glad I joined you now? Come on then, let's go."
Soon enough, the four arrived at their destination. "Discorda!" Tegryn bellowed at the top of his voice, his voice echoing off the stone walls. "Discorda! Get out here NOW!"
Discorda's tiny figure stepped out of the shadows. She looked at the company her apprentice was keeping and gave a grunt of disapproval. "I heard the rumours but I was really hoping they weren't true - sadly I was mistaken. Anyway, what brings you here?"
"I would've thought you'd have guessed by now - we want the Codex. You can save yourself a lot of trouble by handing it over right now - you can't take all four of us on!"
"Perhaps not on my own," Discorda started, "But luckily for me we're not the only ones here." At that cue, the fairies and specialists emerged behind the Cloud Tower pixie.
Tegryn smiled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were expecting us... how very perceptive of you." Then finally it dawned on him. "Ah! It was you who was planting that suggestion in my head just now, wasn't it? You planned to lure me here - why?"
Musa stepped forward. "I told you I wouldn't give up on you."
"Hmmph! And I told you we were finished the moment you and that creep Riven started fooling around behind my back."
"Creep?" snarled Riven as he stepped forward. "Just listen, okay? I was hypnotised into falling for Musa, and besides, it wasn't even Musa that I was kissing back there - in fact, it was probably her," he said, jabbing his finger in Darcy's direction. "Don't you get it? Musa loves YOU, not me, and the sooner you get that into your thick head, the better!"
Tegryn fixed Riven with a ferocious look that could kïll, his features filled with pure hatred and darkening by the second. "You dare to speak to me like that after what you did? You're gonna pay for that, big time..." he thundered, summoning his dark powers as he did so. "RAGE BLAST!"
"Teggy! No!" cried Musa, but it was too late. Tegryn's blast, amplified by the dark bracelet and the pure loathing he had built up inside of him, slammed into Riven and sent him flying into the wall behind him with sickening force. Riven collapsed to the ground in a heap of broken bones.
"RIVEN!" Charlotte cried as she rushed over to her stricken boyfriend. She looked up at Tegryn with tear-filled eyes. "Teggy, what's wrong with you? How could you do that?"
He looked down at them in disgust. "That's nothing compared to what he did to me... and YOU, in case you've forgotten."
"But he's innocent - he's already told you, he was hypnotised! How many more times do we have to tell you? Why can't you see you've been tricked? Why don't you listen?" she sobbed.
Tegryn snorted. "So they've taken you in with their lies as well, have they? You've decided to side with them against me - and I used to think you were my best friend. How you can stand by him after his betrayal really is beyond me."
"Enough fooling around!" snapped Icy impatiently as the three witches stepped menacingly forward. "Much as we would love to see these pixies get pasted, we came here for the Codex, not to mess around with these dweebs."
"Yes, don't make it harder on yourselves," Stormy sneered. "We're going to get it one way or another, and when we do, we'll be all-powerful! Nothing will be able to stop us - that power will be OURS!"
Stormy's ranting got Tegryn thinking - all-powerful, eh? Why should that power be shared when it could belong to him, and him alone?
"Ours? OURS? Hmph... I don't think so."
"What?" Darcy snapped, as they turned round and glared at their comrade.
Tegryn chuckled menacingly. "What was it you girls said to me back in the Hex Café? Ah yes... be as evil, as nasty, and as selfish as I want, wasn't it? You know what? I'm gonna take that advice and keep the Codex for myself!"
"Why you dirty, sneaky little..."
"Don't get me wrong girls, I'm ever so grateful for your help... but now you've outlived your usefulness. Goodbye!" Tegryn waved as he conjured up a portal beneath their feet. He looked on with a wicked sense of satisfaction as they disappeared, screaming obscenities at him as they did so.
"Now then, where were we? Ah yes, the Codex. Hand it over and I'll be on my way."
"I don't think so," said Sky as he, Brandon, Timmy and Helia confronted him with their weapons drawn. "You'll be sorry for what you did to Riven. Prepare yourself!"