"Timmy, please!"
"No, Tecna," said Timmy. "I'm not staying her like a coward doing nothing."
"You're being irrational," Tecna retorted.
"Then I am being irrational," said Timmy.
Tecna sighed and sat down on the chair next to her.
She wanted Timmy to stay on Zenith and take care of Trevor and her company because she couldn't and didn't want to leave any of those things behind but Timmy insisted on going to Magix with her. It seemed impossible to convince him otherwise but Tecna had to try because there was no alternative. So she stayed silent for a moment to think about her next words.
"Listen," she said. "I know that you want to help but one person more or less won't matter. Let me finish," she added as Timmy tried to interrupt her. "You can be useful here. Trevor needs you, and so does our company – I wouldn't trust anyone else with this but you."
"So why aren't you staying?"
Tecna hesitated. Obviously the simple answer was that she was way more useful than him but she couldn't tell him that – even though he most likely knew it was the truth.
She tried to ignore his question and said instead, "I've already failed because I was acting like a coward by not talking to the royal family and ask for her help."
"You're not a coward," said Timmy fiercely. "You already knew they wouldn't listen."
"You're right. But I was also scared." Tecna sighed. "The only thing I can do to make up for it is to go to Magix and fight. But someone has to stay and that someone has to be you."
Timmy looked at her for a while in silence. Then he sighed and said, "Alright, I'll stay. But don't complain afterwards if you needed me," he added.
Tecna answered with a quiet laugh. "Thank you," she said and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I'm going to say goodbye to Trevor and then I'll leave. Is he still in his playroom?"
"Yes, if he didn't get out again," said Timmy. "So young but already so smart … I've no idea how we'll deal with it."
"He'll probably be like you," Tecna replied laughing and Timmy gave her a smile. She knew he liked it when she talked about similarities between him and Trevor, as it gave Timmy the feeling that he was actually his son.
Trevor is his son, Tecna told herself again and again. Trevor was like Timmys biological son but Tecna didn't feel like his biological mother and she can't imagine that she'll ever feel the way Timmy did. However, she tried to leave those thoughts unspoken, for Timmy's sake.
Tecna has never witnessed Alfea this full, not even during her first year when all of the magical schools gathered together to fight the Trix.
She had tested her new teleporter – it should make traveling between planets easier, and maybe even make it possible to travel between dimensions – but this one didn't work quiet as much as Tecna would've liked, because Tecna had arrived in the midst of fighters from Domino, rather far away from the actual castle. Perhaps it had been the shield that prevented her from landing within Alfea's castle but no matter if it was the fault of Tecna's teleporter or Faragonda's shield, Tecna now had to walk.
The forest was full of people and it was difficult to get through all of them, and when Tecna had finally arrived at Alfea, she stopped for a short moment to look around because trying to find a way through all of those living things would take some time.
"Tecna!" called Bloom who came towards Tecna with a happy smile while Tecna was trying to enter Alfea through one of the side entrances. Bloom gave her a short hug then said, "If I was you I wouldn't go in there, the floors are filled with people. Here," she added and gave Tecna a ring. Tecna took the ring, knowing that it was a teleportation ring. Those things usually weren't that useful as you couldn't really travel that far, but she immediately realized that they were of use in this case. "All the others have one too, this way we don't have to go through all those people to get from place to place," explained Bloom, confirming Tecna's thoughts. "One of the place's this ring takes you to is Faragonda's office. You should better go there immediately. She said she wanted to see you as soon as you arrive."
Tecna nodded, touched the ring with one of her fingers and thought of Faragonda's office – and not even a second later she stood in front of the big, wooded door. She knocked and entered.
"Ah, Tecna," Faragonda greeted her. Tecna's former headmistress smiled but Tecna thought that she seemed rather tired.
"You wanted to see me?", Tecna asked.
"Yes, please take a seat," Faragonda said and Tecna did so. "I have a task for you," she explained and after a short moment she added, "As you may have already noticed, we are short on fighters. Some do believe that we have more than enough, but I am not as certain."
Even though the amount of people had overwhelmed Tecna on her arrival, she had to admit that there were in fact rather few of them, if you looked at the situation they were in. Suddenly Tecna felt guilty.
"I'm sorry, Miss Faragonda," she said. "If I had known we don't have enough fighters, I'd have talked with Zenith's government. Unfortunately, I didn't because..." She didn't continue.
"I know," Faragonda said softly, and as Tecna looked at her surprised she added, "Well, I didn't actually know, but I thought you might act that way and I'm happy you did."
Now Tecna was completely lost but she stayed silent and let Faragonda talk. "I'm aware that not everybody on Zenith is supporting you, to put it nicely. Had you talked to them our hope of recruiting fighters from Zenith would've been destroyed from the beginning."
"That wasn't really 'put nicely'," Tecna replied.
"No," Faragonda agreed with a small smile. "but it's nonetheless the truth. I've talked to Zenith."
"And?" Tecna asked curiously.
"They said no," Faragonda sighed. "But there's more important matters to discuss," she added immediately. "We need to fight with the people we have and I need your help for that." She searched through the amounts of papers on her desk until she had found the one she was looking for and handed it to Tecna. "Here's a list with all fighters we have," she explained.
"But that's over a million," Tecna realized after glancing over it. Of course with a threat like Valtor there should have been more that signed up but she can't really imagine that this isn't enough.
Faragonda, however, didn't seem to agree. "I fear that Valtor was able to recruit even more," she said.
"Okay," Tecna replied. She would never question Faragonda's intuition – even if it was unreasonable. "Only about ten thousand from Magix?" she asked while she continued to look at the list.
"That's only the number we have at Alfea right now. The others are in the city," Faragonda explained.
"What are those 'free fighters'?" Tecna continued asking.
"Fighters from different planets who came freely and without an army," Faragonda replied. "Most of them are friends or people that owe me," she added.
"There's a lot of people that owe you," Tecna muttered then asked, "And what am I supposed to do?"
Faragonda sighed again and her face got darker. "We don't know the size of Valtor's army," she started. "We don't know when he will attack or where or how many attacks he has planned. Cloud Tower and Red Fountain have been closed, civilians have been evacuated to Domino, and Magix and Alfea are the bases. But we can't do more because we lack knowledge." She paused then looked directly at Tecna. "I wanted to ask you if you could possibly come up with the best strategy for us?"
"Well," Tecna replied, thinking. "With all those unknown variables there a thousand of possibilities. To calculate the most successful it could take some time."
"How long?" Faragonda wanted to know.
Tecna thought about it then said, "Give me two hours."
Faragonda smiled.
Afterward Faragonda had sent Tecna with tasks to give the rest of them. Even though Tecna would never admit it out loud, she liked telling everyone else what to do, even if she only tells them what Faragonda said.
When Tecna arrived in the hall where the others were no one seemed to notice her, as everyone was deep in conversations.
Tecna cleared her throat. Some of them turned around to greet her, only Musa and Flora went towards her to embrace her.
"Can everyone listen for a moment," Tecna said but no one seemed to listen. Tecna didn't mind to hold a speech in public, but getting the attention of other people has never been one of her strengths.
"Shut up!" Musa shouted and suddenly everyone went quiet.
"Oh, hi Tecna," Stella said smiling. Musa looked at Tecna and rolled her eyes. Tecna smiled but immediately turned serious again.
"Thanks, Musa," she said. Then she said more loudly, "I've got two orders from Faragonda. One of them is to give you your tasks."
"Please don't let it'll be something exhausting," Stella whined. Tecna almost laughed because she already knew Stella wouldn't like her task at all.
However, Tecna ignored Stella and said instead, "First Aisha, Daphne and Helia should go back to their armies."
The reaction to this announcement wasn't that positive. Flora wanted to stay with Helia, Aisha didn't want to go without Anne, while both Helia and Anne told them that it was alright, and both Daphne and Thoren demanded they should stay together.
"Calm down," Tecna shouted and this time everyone went quiet immediately. "Those are Miss Faragonda's orders. She needs everyone, and you can control your fighters well on your own. Make sure they stay in their areas, we don't need any chaos. Look that everyone has a place to sleep and enough food."
Daphne and Thoren shared a look, nodded at each other and then Daphne left using the ring. Flora sighed, gave Helia a short kiss and then he left as well. Aisha still had to be convinced by Anne, but Anne succeeded in the end, so Aisha left as well.
"Now, Anne," said Tecna as Aisha had left. "Faragonda wants you to guard the Water Stars."
"Why me?" Anne asked confused.
"She believes that no one else would agree to sit behind those walls while everyone else is fighting Valtor," Tecna explained. She had found this decision weird as well.
"But what if Valtor gets there? I don't have any magical powers," Anne retorted. There was no fear in her voice, she just seemed to be in disbelieve that she was the right one for the task.
"Here," said Tecna and gave her a bracelet with a big, blue orb in the middle. "When someone breaks in you just have to push this button," Tecna explained and pointed at the orb. "A strong and stable shield will appear around you and the Water Stars, and Faragonda will be at your side within minutes."
Anne didn't seem convinced but nodded nonetheless. Tecna turned to Flora. "Flora, you're helping in the kitchen and make sure that the food has enough energy so everyone is staying awake and fit."
"You want her to drug us?" Musa asked with raised eyebrows.
Tecna ignored her and said, "Now, Stella and Brandon-"
"Please don't tell me we're servants," Stella pleaded, realizing what her task was going to be.
"Actually … yes," said Tecna. "You have to make sure that everyone has enough to eat and drink."
"Can't I do something else?"
"No."
"Come one, it'll be fun," Brandon tried to sooth her but didn't succeed. Still, she followed them out of the hall, but not without loud complaints.
Tecna didn't want to waste anymore time, she still had a lot to do. So she turned to the rest of them and explained them what they had to do without accepting interruptions. "Riven and Thoren, you have to find three volunteers and keep watch on all four towers in shifts. Musa and Bloom, you are patrolling the shield. As there are so many people inside and outside, they are creating cracks. Close them."
Afterward, Tecna was searching for an empty classroom which hadnot been easy as almost every room in the whole school was full. Fortunately, she had been able to convince the new librarian, whose name she did not know, to let her enter the forbidden part of the library so she could work in peace.
Then Tecna started with her task. It was not the easiest task she ever had but also not the most difficult one. So without thinking too much she jumped into her calculations, and after she had finished calculating everything, created a plan and looked over everything, Tecna realized it took her only about an hour.
She collected everything and wanted to go to Faragonda's office but as she went back to the other part of the library she was taken aback by the huge amount of people that were there. She didn't know why they were here – maybe because there was no other place for them – but she just went back into the forbidden part and used her ring to arrive right in front of Faragonda's door.
"Come in," the headmistress replied after Tecna had knocked. Tecna entered and Faragonda smiled, again with a tired look on her face. "Ah Tecna, already finished?"
Tecna nodded. "Yes, Miss Faragonda," she said. "I would rather first explain everything to you and ask for your opinion before I present it to the rest."
"Of course," Faragonda said. "Sit down," she added and after Tecna sat down on one of the chairs she asked, "Do you want something to drink?"
Tecna shook her head. "No, thank you," she said. "I would rather like to get this over with as soon as possible."
"Well, then let's start."
Tecna put a map of their surroundings on the table and started talking. "It's best for us if Valtor has to fight through several areas and has several targets he has to decided between, rather then all of us waiting for him at Alfea or Magix. Though he's capable of fighting himself through all of those people, his army would stay behind." Faragonda nodded, agreeing. "As Domino has the biggest army, I've decided that they create some kind of wall which contains the whole area." Tecna drew a circle on the map to show Faragonda where she would put Domino's fighters. "First Valtor's people have to pass them."
"Which won't be that hard as parting them will make them weaker," Faragonda added.
"It will only stop them for a short amount of time, yes," Tecna agreed. "But after Valtor and his army passed them, the rest of Domino's army – and they won't be able to kill them all – will join the rest." Faragonda still looked at the map, thinking. Tecna had the feeling that Faragonda did not completely agree with her plan but she didn't say anything so Tecna continued. "Alfea and Magix will continue as bases. Roxy's earth fairies will support Magix. The fighters from Magix that are already here will stay as well as Andros' army."
"So Alfea will stay filled," Faragoda sighed.
"Yes," Tecna replied. "But there won't be too many at one place, just enough to compete against Valtor if he manages to get through."
"That sounds well thought out," said Faragonda but Tecna didn't hear any compliment just worries. If she doesn't like my plan why isn't she saying anything?
"It won't guarantee us to win," said Tecna. "We don't know enough about Valtor and his strategy, but for what we do know this is the best solution."
"And what about the rest?" Faragonda asked.
"Lynphea's army and the volunteers will be stationed between the lake, Alfea and Magix." Tecna drew the areas on the map. "This way they can stop Valtor and are able to move easily between place, depending on where they are needed. I expect this will be where the main battle will happen."
"Only if Valtor agrees," Faragonda added quietly. It seemed like she still wasn't happy about Tecna's plan but she seemed satisfied enough with it because after a short pause she said, "Thank you. This will help us, perhaps even grant us a victory."
"I'm not yet finished, Miss Faragonda," said Tecna. "There are two other things."
Faragonda didn't say anything but waited for Tecna to continue.
"I've thought about many different strategies, depending on what's about to happen and how we should react. Of course I can't expect even a small part of those people – not even the other Winx – to remember those possibilities and reactions. That's why I would like to create some kind of main base – I'll be in constant contact with all other bases, will know what's happening and can give orders on what to do next."
As Tecna had finished Faragonda smiled at her and said softly, "I already thought you might want to do something like that."
Tecna smiled back, then continued with the second part she wanted to discuss. "I've also thought that we – in case we have to flee – could use teleportion powder," she suggested.
Tecna wasn't sure if Faragonda liked this idea, because they haven't yet talked about the possibility of fleeing. It appeared like win or lose also meant life or death. Tecna didn't like this thought because even if Valtor won this did not immediately mean they lost everything, especially if they realized it soon enough.
Every fighter would take this powder, and should they lose, the powder only had to be activated and everyone – even the fallen ones – would get teleported to a certain place, depending on the powder's origin.
Faragonda seemed to think about it for a while then she said with a dark voice, "I'll create some and make sure everyone takes it." She sighed. "Valtor's victory might mean darkness but not the end."