A/N: Thank you for all the reviews. It's nice to see that you enjoy the story so far. Despite the long three-year hiatus I took.

Also (you might hate me for this), but I've decided not to add the specialists in the story, simply because they don't really add anything to the plot. Maybe I'll change my mind later on, or I'll add them in future stories, but at this point in time, they simply won't fit into the plot. But I will put in some reference to Red Fountain, one way or another. I hope you all understand.

Anyways, back to the story!

±HynotisisAnime Reader±

Downtown Magix was now the go-to-place for witches since they weren't allowed to batter the fairies like they used to. This area in Magix basically contained some restaurants, one hair salon, a mall and a few lit-up areas - but it was basically a run-down alleyway for the most part: one of the reasons why fairies won't dare come down this side of Magix.

Apart from the fact that it was a run-down alleyway, it was also very dark. If you were a fairy, and you somehow stumbled across here, you would be taken by a witch - or a gang of witches in a few seconds flat; once that happened, they could do as they pleased to the fairy. As always, the end of the story wasn't the best. Sometimes, the fairy would usually come out badly battered and bruised, probably bleeding rapidly on to their deathbed. If that was the case, the fairy would only have mere minutes to try and get up to Magix to seek medical attention. But unfortunately, in most cases, the fairy would be so badly injured from the assaults, and blood was coming out of them like a river, that the witches just threw the fairy on to the middle of the streets, either to get run over by a vehicle (which in DownTown Magix mainly witches drove, so they wouldn't care), or just let her bleed to death.

There have been a few cases where a fairy has made it out alive with little to no injuries; most of the time they used magic to escape the hands of the witches. There have only been one or two cases where a fairy has escaped the hands of the witches without the use of magic.

Otherwise, it was basically ruled at Alfea, and any other fairy school surrounding the Magix area, that Downtown Magix was a no-go area. It wasn't in a rulebook or anything, but it was just a major precaution that many took seriously. You either had to be really brave to go in that area or just plain stupid.

Flora and Bloom arrived at Lorsque Cafe. Lorsque was a run-down, no longer used cafe, that had been abandoned for some while. It was also right at the end of Downtown Magix, where barely any witches went for some odd reason. This made it an ideal location to discuss a plan without being spied on.

Flora and Bloom got off their motorbikes and hid them in plain sight, just before going to the alleyway near the cafe. Lost Alleyway (as they called it), was old and abandoned, and mainly clean surprisingly as no one rarely went here... especially after that incident with the sophomore witch and some monster - apparently, after the witch was killed by the so-called monster, anyone who entered that alleyway would hear her spirit and be forever haunted.

Turns out that 'incident' was just made up by Musa so the three of them could at least have some peace and quiet in public.

The whole alleyway was pitch black and windy.

The duo went down the alleyway for at least five minutes before hearing a hissing sort of voice.

"Hey - to your right."

And out of the shadows appeared Musa - the girl was wearing a dark blue t-shirt with a g-clef attached to the corner of it. She wore black trousers that went down to her ankles (Musa liked those kinds of trousers), along with plain, crimson red boots that reached to her ankles. The girl's hair was blue, short (unlike the other two), looked like it had been recently cut, and parted into pigtails.

Bloom turned around to see the music witch, as so did Flora, following suit.

The three of them just grinned at each other, staring into each other's eyes for a few moments until Flora spoke up:

"So. What's the plan?"

"Well..." started Musa, "the plan is..."

"It'd better be good." the nature witch hastily interrupted

Musa sighed. Every time Musa was starting to state something, this would happen.

"Well, Flora, I was about to comment on how we could get the Robe without having to rely on Darcy to have it physically in her hands. But...since you want to interrupt yet again, I think I'll w-"

"Wait!" interrupted Flora yet again, "I want to hear."

Bloom pulled Flora's cheek. She herself had got tired of Flora's constant interrupting. And this was the final straw.

"Then," Bloom stated in anger, "why don't you just shut up for once, and listen!"

Flora couldn't take her leader's words seriously. She had to laugh.

The dragon-fire witch gritted her teeth, vexed at the nature witch's antics. With a flick of her hands, the laughter abruptly stopped. Her mouth was sealed shut, and her body was now a still sculpture. Perfect.

"Now. What were you saying about that plan?"

"Well, what I was about to say was that..."

Alfea. 5:39 pm, Local Time

The tour was just about wrapping up. Icy was exhausted. Two hours was the most amount of walking she ever had to do in her life. Darcy, and the other fairies, however, looked just fine, as if they were just going out on a light stroll. So she was happy when Faragonda finally spoke up again.

"And our tour concludes here" announced Faragonda.

It took Icy a few seconds to realise it, but they were back in the main hall now. Right where they started. And that's when she remembered that after the tour, they would have to go to their dorms... which required even more walking... and she didn't even know where they were for starters. Icy wanted to faint on the floor at that exact moment. Training to be a fairy was too much. And classes weren't starting until tomorrow.

"I hope you all enjoyed the tour. Remember, classes, start tomorrow, so from that day onwards, you'll start your journey into becoming fully fledged, guardian fairies for your home planets..."

Icy leaned over to Darcy, "Home planet? What does that-"

"Shhh!" Darcy hissed quietly. Icy leaned up forward again to her starting position, now trying with all her effort to keep awake and not collapse.

"... and I wish you all the best of your studies during your time here at Alfea..."

Icy smiled. She didn't care about anything else. All she wanted to do was get the hell out of there, on to a bed and shut out the world for the rest of the day. She then started day-dreaming about her cosy bed in her pyjamas and what the room would be like and -

"...remember girls: What is the one rule you must always obey during your time here?"

"To stay away from the witches of CloudTower." the fairies chored all together like they were soldiers in the military. Which they (sort of) were. Icy joined in too, but she just about mouthed the sentence, as she couldn't really remember the thing altogether. Maybe it was said earlier on during the tour?

"Good." Faragonda praised. "Now", Faragonda turned her body sideways and put her hand out to the freshmen fairies so they could see the two sets of staircases, "up along those staircases are your dorms. You will either be allocated to the first floor, so you would only need to go along the first set of stairs, or the second floor, which in this case, you would need to go along both. This is your first official test."

The freshmen fairies were now in a panic as they now realised the inevitable reality that they could be kicked out if they could not do it successfully. Fairies were struggling to breathe, crying, fainting. All sorts of reactions were presented in the main hall. From Icy and Darcy, the few who looked like they couldn't care less (although Icy was really tired), to a freshman with auburn hair who was screaming down the place. The freshmen had no idea they were meant to prepare for a test. The scene was a nightmare to look at.

"Enough!" Griselda shouted at the top of her lungs. The freshmen paused their panic festival and looked at the staircase once again, although most of them now looked at the inanimate object petrified.

Faragonda resumed again, " as I said, this is your first official test - "

"So then why didn't you tell us about the test?" a freshmen fairy asked with a quite demanding tone "aren't we meant to prepare for tests?"

'Normal tests, such as Magical Studies where you learn the theory behind magic - yes. But tests where you have to use your powers, such as in the Magic Chamber which we have in Alfea, which you will use during your time here, and the test you are about to do now - no."

The fairies - including Icy and Darcy - looked at Faragonda complete bewilderment.

The headmistress continued, not even looking at the fairies' faces, "when you got your acceptance letter to Alfea, we've presumed that you could already do some spells to a basic level. Not a lot - just like 10 or 20. Alfea is a prestigious fairy school - you will be starting your studies developing the basics and going onto more complex spells. Most fairy schools start right from the basics, so they graduate in 4-5 years, unlike here, where we presume that you can handle your powers adequately well when you start, so we fast track the process so you graduate in 3 years."

Most of the fairies looked in horror again. They didn't know that they had to know to use their powers to some basic accuracy. They didn't know they had to know a minimum of 10 spells by heart and not muck up on them. All of them didn't know that they were so highly expected off on their first day.

Icy turned around to see some fairies that were about to cry or breakdown from the pressure the headmistress was already putting on them in the two hours they have been here...which included herself. Panic and fear rose in her body as to what to do. She wasn't a fairy. She didn't know any spells. All she did was make a force field and hurdled some energy at a few monsters and that was it. Not memorise and do proper spells. Icy wanted to throw up and run out of that hall at that exact moment. She wished she would've never taken Darcy's hand in the first place and go here under some fake aliases that she didn't even know. If she knew this was going to happen, she would've never come.

"I know what you're thinking," Darcy said to her. But it wasn't verbally. It was telepathically. "You'll be fine."

Icy looked creeped out for a while, before turning her head to Darcy, who only just smiled at her. Then the white-haired girl looked back to the staircases again.

"Now, during your first week at Alfea, you'll be doing a lot of tests to so we can see your magical abilities and your theory knowledge. After the tests are over, we will look back at the results, and every one of you will be put into sets according to your results. Set A: the top set and the set with the most advanced fairies who could speed track themselves to only spending two years here, down to Set H: the bottom set. Now, it doesn't mean that you're bad at magic, it just means you need a bit more help unlocking your powers."

Icy just glanced at Faragonda now. Set H was definitely her set.

"Well. Almost all of you. There are 250 of you in this room today, and we only have eight sets for 25 fairies in each set. Meaning that the bottom 50 will, unfortunately, have to leave Alfea."

An uproar of panic now filled the room. Some of the fairies have worked so hard to get here, and now they might have to go because their magic is scruffy or their knowledge is scruffy. Some knew that they weren't even going to pass tonight, which again included Icy, who, coming from Earth, had no idea how to hone her so-called 'powers', and had no magical knowledge on her at all.

Griselda, once again silenced the room. This time conjuring up a cane out of nowhere and hitting it hard on the ground. Icy was truly impressed.

"Now. Your first test is 'The Room Test'." Faragonda explained "This will test how well you can use your magic as well as logic. Now. Listen carefully -"

Some fairies were leaning forward.

"Before the test starts, you will all be scanned by this scanner which Professor DuFour has. This scanner will give you all a candidate number ranging from 1-250. This will be your candidate number for all of the test we do on you, and it is for our use only. Now, with the Room Test, the staircases will be out of use."

Faragonda clapped her hands together, and the stairs disappeared, which struck some fairies scared to death, as they now had no way to get up to their dorm.

"You will have to rely on your magic to find your dorm. The door to your dorm will have your name on it. When you have found your dorm, you officially pass the test, and the rest of the day is yours to spend. A point system is given through the magical aspect of these tests during the week. For the Room Test, the first person to find their dorm gets 250 points, the second person gets 249 points, the third 248, and so on until the last person finds their room, in which they will receive 1 point. The earlier you find your dorm, the more points you gain."

The fairies blankly stared.

"You will all have an hour to find your dorm. Once that hour is over, the staircases will reappear. Any fairies who still don't find their room after the hour will automatically be given a 0. Also, it is to note that fairies can't help other fairies under any conditions. This is an individual task to test your individual abilities. Any fairies found helping others will automatically be given a 0. Them and the fairy - or fairies by the looks of things. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Faragonda." The fairies choired.

"Good. Now Professor DuFour will now scan all of you. It will only take a few seconds and it won't hurt a bit."

Professor DuFour pointed the scanner at the freshman and pressed a green button. The button emitted a magenta wave of energy at the students. After 10 seconds, the wave of energy vanished.

Headmistress Faragonda now looked at the clock. It was now 5:59. She decided to start the test at 6 pm. "When a sparkling light appears and I say go, the test starts. Do you understand?"

No one said anything.

10 more seconds until 6 pm.

9

8

7

6

"The test will start in 5..." Faragonda started

"4..."

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

6 pm. Headmistress Faragonda emitted a sparkling light out of her hands and announced, "you may now begin. You have one hour. Good luck!"

But all anyone did was stay where they were put.

To be continued...

I have not updated this story in over a month and I am so sorry, but I just wasn't feeling up to it, and almost abandoned it (again). I'll try to update more regularly.

±HynotisisAnime Reader±