I feel like this one is going up much quicker than last time (because it is). Anyway, hope you enjoy!


Episode 7: Camping Trip

Professor Palladium stood at the front of the classroom, pulling names out of a hat. "Cassandra and Cicada," he called out.

Cicada turned her head around to see the girl with curly blonde hair staring out the window. "The clouds don't agree to that," Cassandra said.

"These partners are non-negotiable," Palladium said. It had to be the eighth time he had said so. "You two will be at site nine."

There was a map on his board with twelve sites marked off in different areas of Magix's abundant nature. They had another weekend practical, and this was a partner project, each at a different campsite.

He reached into his hat again. "Trend and Kaida," he announced. "Site eight."

"Yes!" Trend cheered. As usual, Kaida was the most prepared. Or at least she had studied up the most. Most girls had their fingers crossed to go with Emma. Trend, however, was just happy to be going with one of her friends.

"Emma and Daniela," Palladium called out. "Site ten."

Angel felt her breath catch. There were only two names left. She turned in her seat to see Avery, the only other name not called. Avery was staring back at her with her light blue eyes. Clearly, she wasn't happy to be paired with her either.

"Professor Palladium," Avery raised her hand. "I think I should do this alone. You have an extra site."

"Non-negotiable, Avery," Palladium said. "You and Angel will have site two."

Angel groaned. "I am so gonna fail this," she said looking at Cicada. "Mostly because I'm gonna kill her."

"Well, at least she's kind of natury," Cicada said. "Cass day dreams... like, all the time."

"Well, at least neither of you got Trend," Emma said.

"I heard that, Emma," Trend said.


"Look, Angel, it could be worse," Helena said on yet another video chat. "What if you had to do it alone? Or with a witch?"

"Who did you have to do it with?" Angel asked.

"That would be me," Angel heard a smooth voice in the background and saw a girl walk up to the screen. "So you're Hel's cous that she always talks of." The girl had black hair in a braid, tanned skin, and was gorgeous, almost as much so as Trend, but in a more exotic way. "I'm Cleo."

"Oh, Helena has told me so much about you," Angel said brightening.

"Cleo?" Trend called from across the room.

"Hey, Trendy," Cleo said.

"You two know one another?" Angel asked.

"We work together," Trend said. "I make clothes."

"And I model," Cleo said. Trend smiled brightly.

Angel frowned slightly that her video chat with Helena was being taken over by Trend and Cleo. "Talk to you later, Helena," Angel said, pushing away from her desk. Trend simply slipped into Angel's place.


"How do we get to these places?" Cicada asked the next day.

"Weren't you listening in class?" Kaida asked.

"Do I ever? Cicada asked.

Kaida sighed. "The Specialists of Red Fountain will take us."

"Great," Angel said brightly. "Maybe Brandon will be my coach."

"I personally would like to just drive the Wind Rider myself," Emma said.

"You ready Kaida?" Trend asked as they reached the quad.

"As I'll ever be," Kaida said with a groan. She was still not comfortable around boys, especially ons she didn't know.

"Good, because I have our rides," she said, grabbing the shorter girl's arm and dragging her to a pair of handsome boys.

"Hey, Emma, over here," Daniela called where she was standing by two guys.

Cicada and Angel saw Emma smile, before running forward, jumping on a Wind Rider, grabbing Daniela, and taking off out of the gates. The two boys looked at one another, before jumping awkwardly on the other and following.

"What are you two laughing at?" Charm asked as he and his squad approached.

"Oh, nothing particular," Cicada said. She smiled at him and Marvel. "Wanna be my chauffeur?"

"Uh... I guess," Marvel said. "Who's your partner?"

"Hello, Princes," Cassandra said appearing next to Cicada's side, suddenly remembering that she knew Marvel and Charm. She threw an arm over Cicada's shoulders. "We're so glad to be working together."

"Oh, now you want to be my partner?" Cicada asked, lifting an eyebrow, but following the two princes to their Wind Riders.

"I can be your ride, Angel," Brandon said smiling at her. "Who is your partner?"

Angel turned her head toward where Avery was sitting at the fountain. Most of the others were gone. "Trine, would you be a dear and drive her?"

"If I must," Trine said with an annoyed eye roll.

"Oh, and feel free to show her some of your more advanced tricks," Angel said, smiling.

At that, Trine smiled. "You know, this might actually be fun."

Avery looked up at Trine when he walked over. "Can I help you?"

"Well, if you want to walk to your campsite..." Trine said. Avery just stared at him. "Angel sent me over to give you a lift."

Avery rolled her own eyes and stood.

A short time later, Avery was falling off Trine's Wind Rider as he pulled to a stop. He could have arrived well before Angel and Brandon, who pulled up moments later, but he had taken the liberty of winding between trees, jumping fallen logs, and even a flip at one point. Avery's look of sheer terror gave Angel a lot of satisfaction.

"Send someone else to take me back," Avery said pointing at Trine. "I am never getting back on a Wind Rider with you."

"Whatever you say, Sweetheart," Trine said with a laugh. "Coming Brandon?"

Brandon nodded. "I'll see you in two days," he said giving Angel a kiss on the cheek. And then the two boys began out of there.

"I guess we should start setting up the campsite," Angel said, turning to their pile of supplies.

"What, do you expect me to do all the work?" Avery asked, crossing her arms.

"Nevermind, I'll just do it myself," Angel said and walked to the tent.


"Have you ever hunted before?" Daniela asked Emma as she created an emerald spear.

"Not for food," Emma said. "But I've been on hunts. When haughty rich parliament members want to go hunting, they bring along one of the guardians. I'm pretty sure I have better aim than they do. That or we eat grass all weekend."

"Have fun hunting," Daniela said. "I'll just... start the fire?"

"Collect wood," Emma said. "I'll do the rest when I get back."

"Okay," Daniela said. "But only because you insist." Somehow, she didn't seem upset that she would be doing basically nothing.

"Oh, and if you'd like to find some water or berries," Emma said. "But, don't eat the berries until I approve. Or drink the water until we've boiled it to kill all the bacteria."

"And you'll bring back food?" Daniela asked.

"Real meat," Emma said. "You can bet on that."


Cicada had to set up the tent the regular way, because Cassandra refused to allow her tent to be set up by insects, in case a few decided not to leave when done. She also refused to help with that herself, claiming it would ruin her manicure.

"Could you at least work on the fire?" Cicada asked as she nailed down the last of the pins.

"Oh, manicure," Cassandra said.

"What are you going to do, then?" Cicada asked, staring at the girl.

Cassandra looked up at the clouds. "It's not going to rain," she said. "And there's an apple tree west of here."

"Then go get apples," Cicada said.

"Manicure," Cassandra said again holding up her fingers for Cicada to see.

"Oh, those are so pretty," Cicada said brightly. "Can I see?"

"Sure," Cassandra said, holding out her hands.

Cicada's eyes flashed and the tips of Cassandra's purple nails all broke. "Well, look at that, too bad your manicure is ruined. Now, fire and apples please or you'll be waking up to an ant parade on your face."


"Well, at least we won't have any trouble getting water," Kaida said, looking at the waterfall next to their campsite. She turned around when Trend didn't respond to see that Trend had decided against using the provided tent and had, somehow, managed to create a much larger pink tent complete with frills, lace, tassels, and windows. Kaida could only imagine what the inside would look like.

"Just because we're in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean we have to give up fashion," Trend said. She motioned to Kaida's outfit. "Can I play?"

"No," Kaida said. "This is a serious exercise and we need to focus. This is a large portion of our grade."

"And what's wrong looking good while doing it?" Trend asked.

"Trend, there's no one here to see us," Kaida said. "Now, we need to get supplies for a fire, find some food source, and make sure we don't upset the balance of nature as we do so."

"Oh, look, a butterfly," Trend said, seeing the brightly colored winged insect land on her tent.

"I am so going to fail this," Kaida said, looking down.


"I'm going to get water," Avery said, standing after a few minutes of dead silence between her and Angel.

"I'm going to grow some fruits," Angel said. "Do you have a preference between grapes or strawberries?" Angel waited for the retort. What, no vegetables? Can't make an apple tree?

"Strawberries," the lavender-haired fairy said after a moment. She took a few steps toward where she knew a stream to be, then stopped. "Would you like me to fill your bottle too?"

Angel smiled. "Thanks, that would be great," She said, pulling out her water-bottle from her bag and handing it to Avery.

As Avery walked off, Angel pulled the strawberry seeds from her bag and chose a nice spot to plant them. Close to their site, but not so close that they would entangle in their tent or get burnt by the fire. They set up wood for a fire, but as Angel's powers were fire-based, they hadn't started it yet. She didn't want to waste wood when she could start one in an instant.


"What is that?" Daniela asked, her eyes wide as Emma returned from her hunting trip with a brown furred creature.

"It's a rabbit," Emma said, setting it down.

Daniela's eyes widened. "You killed a bunny?" She questioned. "But..."

"It's food," Emma said. Daniela's eyes watered a bit. "It was this or a few frogs that I saw."

"You know," Daniela's expression changed in a flash. "My grandmother had a great recipe for rabbit stew. And I hear roasted rabbit is a delicacy in some realms."

"I'll set up a spit once I have the fire going," Emma said. "Did you find berries or water?"

Daniela stared at Emma, then down at her recently painted toes. "About that..."

"You brought nail polish into the woods?" Emma asked, glaring at Daniela with her green eyes.

"So, I'm just gonna go look for water," Daniela said, standing up.


"Apples," Cassandra said, dropping a small bag in front of the fire that Cicada was building. She put down two bottles filled with water. "Water."

Cicada looked at the water for a moment, nodded her head. "We're going to need to boil that water," she said. She pointed at a dragonfly over her shoulder. "Ricardo said you got it from still water."

"Boiling it will make it hot," Cassandra said, opening her bottle and taking a swig. She made a face. "It tastes weird."

She then sat down and grabbed an apple.

"I wouldn't eat that one if I were you," Cicada said.

"Why, is it from a still tree?" Cassandra took a bite, then screamed.

"Because there's a worm in it," Cicada said as a small green worm wiggled out from where Cassandra took a bite.


The wood here is all wet," Kaida complained. She had built a pile of wood, but all the fires she started withered out and died while the wood didn't catch. She growled in frustration.

"Hey, um, can I try?" Trend questioned.

Kaida threw up her hands and stood up. "Go for it!"

Trend smiled, waited until Kaida wasn't looking, and wiggled her fingers. A moment later, Kaida turned around to a roaring fire, crackling leaves as they burnt and logs catching. She could feel the warmth on her face and smell the sweet scent that the burning wood gave off. Trend sighed, glad that her glamour worked on Kaida because there was no way that Trend was going to get the wet logs to burn.

"I'm thirsty," Trend said.

"Well, no trouble finding water," Kaida said, sitting by the pile of wood which she was convinced was a fire.

However, a moment later, she heard a yelp and a splash. Trend had slipped and fallen into the pool at the bottom of the water fall. She huffed and climbed back up, soaking wet.

"Oh, Trend, come here and dry off by the fire," Kaida said.

"Right," Trend nodded, her voice with a hard edge, ringing the water out of her hair. "The fire."

"Look, I know you're upset about ruining something, but the fire will make you feel better."


Avery and Angel still weren't talking as they prepped the rest of their campsite. It had been a long silence, and while okay with the quiet, Angel wasn't usually one for silence while in the company of others. Finally, Angel couldn't stand it anymore.

"You never made fun of us," Angel said.

"Huh?" Avery looked up to see Angel. "Oh, believe me, I have no respect for you and your friends."

"I know," Angel said. "But everyone was voicing their opinions of us the other week, but you never did."

Avery shrugged. "I figured that it wasn't my place," she said. "Anyway, everyone else did more than enough and, if you haven't noticed, I don't tend to jump on the bandwagon."

"I've noticed," Angel said. Another silence came. "Why are you so mean to Professor Palladium?"

"Because he doesn't really care about what I want," Avery said. Angel looked confused, so Avery continued. "He's my uncle."

"Then you should be much nicer to him if he's family," Angel said.

"I have no interest in being here," Avery said.

"Well, I'm not so over-joyed to be here with you either," Angel retorted.

"That's not what I meant," Avery said. "You want to be in Magix and at Alfea. I don't."

Angel was confused for a moment. "Where else would you want to go?"

"Look, my father didn't want me, so he shipped me off to live with my uncle," Avery said.

"You should be proud that Faragonda is allowing you to attend Alfea," Angel snapped.

"I don't want to be a fairy," Avery yelled. "Magic killed my mother." Angel was taken aback. "Now do you understand?"

"No," Angel said. "Instead of pretending it didn't happen, you should learn to harness and control your power to that it won't happen to you. So you can help people."

"Help people that hate me?" Avery scoffed. "My magic is dangerous, and almost impossible to control." Sh motions at Angel. "Not like your Dragon Fire, my magic is pure energy."

"Then you need to learn how to use it," Angel said. "How to turn it into something useful." She crossed her arms. "And you definitely won't learn how to control it if you just sit around and be moody all day during classes."

"It can't be controlled," Avery yelled, her eyes flashing white for a moment. She turned away and took a few deep breaths. "Look, it takes all my concentration to not los control doing the smallest things so I don't die from it. That could be why I'm so moody as you said."

"Only more proof that you need more practice and Alfea to teach you," Angel said.

Avery rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'm going to go fishing," she said.

"The stream is too shallow," Angel said.

"Then I'll follow it to where there are fish," she said before walking off.

Angel rolled her eyes and shot a small fireball at the wood to start the fire. She didn't know, maybe Avery would return with some fish to cook.

"Too bad that she'll come back to your mangled body," a voice said next to Angel.

Angel stumbled as she spun and gasped at the sight of Gaea. The earth woman chuckled as she stepped toward Angel. "but don't worry," she continued. "She won't have to live with the sight for long before I end her as well. How nice it was of your teacher to separate all you freshman for the weekend, giving me plenty of time to kill you all."

"You are not taking me down again!" Angel yelled. She yelled out, "Going Vixen!" and transformed into her fairy form. "This time it's your turn." Angel yelled out. She shot a few fireballs at Gaea, but the woman dodged them all with ease.

"I don't think you get it, little Angel," Gaea said when Angel stopped shooting and was heaving a few deep breaths. "Earth," she floated up a small patch of dirt and dropped it on the fire, dousing it, "will always beat fire."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Angel yelled and flew straight at Gaea, landing a punch on the woman's cheek.

Gaea fell to the ground shocked and lifted a hand to her cheek."You'll pay for that!" She threw her hands up and a wave of dirt flew at Angel threatening to bury her. Angel formed an energy force field. The dirt was too much and as hard as she tried, Angel could not hold her field. Eventually, the pressure of the dirt crushed her protective bubble. With the last bit Angel had, she powered up and out of the dirt. She then collapsed on the ground. She could only watch as Gaea walked toward her.

"Get bored and start shooting off fireworks?" Avery's voice called just before she walked back into view. "I forgot my pole and I saw explosions and… what the?" She stopped seeing Angel collapsed and a woman she didn't recognize standing over her.

"You're a new girl, I believe," Gaea said. She decided that Angel was down for the count and turned toward Avery. She smiled and advanced on the shocked fairy. "Still…"

Gaea pushed her hand in Avery's direction and a row of dirt began shooting up at her. Avery covered her face with her arms as a means of protection. Assuming that the dirt had taken care of Avery, Gaea turned back toward Angel before the dust had settled.

"Where are you going?" Avery asked as the dust cleared. Gaea turned to see Avery had transformed. Her purple hair was in small buns covering her head, with her bangs over her right eye. She was in a teal tube dress with a bubble skirt, lace-up stilettos, and had a ribbon around her left wrist. "This isn't finished."

Gaea smirked. "Fine." She lifted several boulders in the air and pushed them at Avery, top speed. Avery's blue eyes began to glow as she shot what looked like miniature energy swords at all of the boulders, bursting them in mid-air. Gaea sneered.

"My turn," Avery said. She yelled and a sword, sparking of energy appeared before her. "You messed with the wrong fairy," she said and charged at Gaea. When Avery sound her sword, Gaea dodged into the ground. Avery struck the ground with her sword, waves of energy pulsing through it and forced Gaea out.

"Take this, fairy!" One of Gaea's giants grew out of the ground and came at Avery. Avery released her sword and yelled, a huge blast of energy releasing from her body and destroying the creature in one blow.

This worried Gaea. She turned to run, but Avery knelt down and placed her hands flat on the ground which created a barrier so that Gaea couldn't access the earth. "You're not going anywhere that way."

Gaea turned, but a smirk crossed her face. "Then I'll just walk away. You can't hold this if you move."

"Oh no, you don't," Angel said, having finally recovered. She flew in front of Gaea and blasted a fireball at the woman. Gaea was thrown to the ground, landing near Avery. She stood as Angel came running, until suddenly, the barrier on the ground disappeared. Gaea sank in quickly, and all presence of her was gone moments later. Angel looked at her camping partner, and was surprised to see Avery was glowing, energy pulsing off her.

"What happened?" Angel asked accusingly.

"I can't hold it," Avery said and looked at Angel, her eyes pure white again.

Angel began to approach, but Avery held out her hand. "If you touch me, you'll absorb uncharted amounts of energy." Angel stopped for a second, considering, then grabbed Avery's hand, relieving her of massive amounts of energy. They both yelled as the energy flowed from Avery into Angel. Then Angel fell to the ground. Avery was back in her camping clothes and had stopped glowing.

"Angel, wake up," Avery said and crawled to where Angel was lying on the ground.

Angel's eyes fluttered. "Are you actually worried about me, Avery?"

Avery pushed away from Angel. "You saved me." She looked away, unable to meet Angel's eyes. Her voice was quiet. "I never would have controlled that amount energy on my own. It could have killed you."

"Yeah," Angel said. "But you saved me from Gaea first." Angel sat up, and a fireball burst from her hand, hitting the strawberry vines. "Whoops."

"It's the energy overflow," Avery said looking back at Angel. "You'll need to be careful."

"I think I need to grow some more fruit," Angel said.

"What, no vegetables?" Avery asked, but in a joking way.

Angel smiled and stuck out her hand. "Avery, I think we've had enough of this pointless hating. I mean, we hardly know one another."

"Are you calling a truce?" Avery asked, lifting a purple eyebrow.

"How about friends?" Angel asked.

Avery looked at Angel's hand, then grabbed onto it, shook it, and nodded. "Friends."

"Oh, and one more thing," Angel said. She wrapped her arms around Avery. "Friends hug."


And here's the part where I tell you all what has changed.

First, my E key has become very annoying. So, if there are any missing Es in the story, that's why.

Okay, for real though, they did not get to choose their partners this time, those were randomly chosen by Palladium. Which meant the only two groups that stayed the same were Kaida and Trend (for a future plot point) and Avery and Angel (for obvious reasons). This also meant that we get a little of Daniela and Cassandra. Also, I showed little snippets of the other partners, which was fun. Personally, I like playing with Daniela and Cassandra here and there.

And for those who want to know. Cass has curly blonde hair (her main feature) and brown eyes. Daniela has shortish brown hair (think chin length) and brown eyes.

The ending came from the original, with a few changes to dialogue and movement.

Hope you enjoyed and please review.