AN: Hey guys! As promised, another Sunday, another chapter! Sorry this one took longer to post than last week-this one needed a bit more revising than the previous one.

Reviews!

Abbygail Coon2: I say the truth will be doing a wee bit of both, actually! And either way it will be pain painful AF with the way they're bonding lol. And YES I too am excited to show Stella's Moon Magic!

Immaterium: Glad to be back too and yes, I wish there was more Bloom and Valtor fics too-they have so much chemitsry!

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Thirteen: The Disappearance of Baltor Mike

Sky wrung his hands as he walked through the hallways of Alfea, only shifting his face into a practiced smile and wave when a giggling fairy or three waved his way. He was worried—had been since he'd gone to class that morning only to be told he was wanted at Alfea.

There he'd been, sitting in class with the rest of the guys when a solemn looking Saladin had entered, stopping Codatora's class on heros' ethics in its tracks. The Headmaster didn't come down often, preferring to let Codatora handle any issues that may go on at Red Fountain, so to see him there and with a face spelling trouble at that…

Sky became even more tense when he saw that the elusive headmaster was heading towards him. Oh no, what had happened? If he'd been in trouble for something, Codatora would've ate him out for it by now, so—crap, Brandon wasn't here. Did something happen at Eraklyon? Was—? Everyone's heads jerked sharply from Saladin moving through the lecture hall to the door opening up, Brandon barreling in. "Sorry, sorry!" Codatora gave him an unimpressed snort but he and the others returned their gazes to Saladin as he finally reached the relievedly slumped form of Sky.

"I don't know what for," Saladin began, and his voice cut sharply through the thick silence. "But the Headmistress of Alfea wishes to speak with you. Urgently."

Brandon whistled as he moved up the stairs to take his seat. "Got caught canoodling with the pretty redhead, Brandon?" Codatora made another snort of disapproval when a few boys snickered, but the humor dissipated once more at Saladin's glare.

Sky swallowed and nodded hesitantly. "Yes, sir. I'll go now, Sir." Eyes followed him as he packed up his books and left the classroom, footsteps echoing against the round walls. Headmaster Saladin must have been lying—if he didn't know what the matter was, there'd be no need to have such a worried face. He took out his phone and checked to see if he had missed any calls or texts from his parents—nothing. He even scrolled through social media and any news sites he could find, but there was nothing on his home dimension.

There was something about the museum fiasco from two days ago, though.

Sky stopped walking as he read the article from the Fairy Times. The building was the front cover, along with the crowd of concerned onlookers. Explosion at Magix Museum! The article cried out, detailing a "mysterious and spontaneous fire" coming from the Sparx exhibit.

But it wasn't spontaneous, and Deputy Headmistress Grizelda—

That was it. That's what they wanted him for. Bloom. He was almost certain this meeting had to do with Bloom and her weird freak out. And five minutes later, as he sat in the Headmistress's office and exchanged pleasantries, his fears were realized.

"What do you know of this friend of yours?"

"Oh…uh," Sky shuffled. "Well she came from Earth and she was being trained in magic by her mentor."

"Mentor?" Faragonda repeated.

Sky swallowed, eyes darting to the pursed lip and sternly glaring Grizelda before turning back to the equally serious Faragonda. "Right. His name was…" Sky frowned. It was something super weird he remembered Valtor…? No…oh! "Oh! Right, Baltor Mike."

The two women became extremely tense.

"This girl and Baltor Mike," Grizelda said slowly. "Do you think you can get ahold of them by any chance?"

"Without seeming…suspicious?" Faragonda added.

Sky opened and closed his mouth, eyes darting between the two women. "Uh…yeah but—ma'am…s, what's going—?"

"Answer the question, please, Prince Sky," Faragonda urged.

"I-is Bloom in trouble?"

"Very much so, it would seem," Grizelda said grimly. "But not with us."

"What do you mean?" Sky asked worriedly.

The two women exchanged glances before turning back to him. "Sky," Faragonda said. "We need you to do something for us."

Bloom hit the concrete with a grunt of pain before rolling out the way of a jet of flame. Before she could get up, she was forced to throw up a barrier to block another blast, and then zipped into the air to avoid another.

It was the second subway training session in a row where Valtor was going harder than usual, and she had a hunch it had nothing to do with trying to make her a better fighter.

"Geez, slow dow—ah!" Bloom quickly shot a fireball at the one incoming, causing them both to explode and send her flying back against the graffiti covered wall. Valtor didn't even bother telling her about how "foolish it was to blow up another caster's spell unless absolutely certain it can be worked in your favor" like he had once before because he was too busy glaring off to the side with a deep frown. He gave a deep sigh before tuning back to her, hands alight with flames. "Again."

"Call me crazy," Bloom said as she jerked her hips to avoid one blast and leaped into the air to avoid the second. "But you seem like you're in a bad mood."

Valtor scoffed and gave his fists a clench. Recognizing the motion, Bloom darted left as the wall behind her exploded in a geyser of flame.

"Someone powerful has been made known of my existence—I'm not exactly sure why I should have an uppity attitude about it," Valtor said sardonically.

"It's just…" Bloom created a shield to stop another blast. "There has to be something we can do, right? They couldn't find you with the magic locater spell thing-a-ma-bob."

Valtor sighed and lowered his hand. His jaw worked and his gaze kept flickering to her then the ground as before finally saying, "I made a grave error the other day, and it is that reason that they will find me."

Bloom frowned and landed. "What sort of…error?"

"You recall Monday night when I came back from my flight…peeved?"

"Oh! You mean the day you were swearing at the sky and got caught in a trance? Yeah."

"I was not—in any case, yes, that day. The reason for my anger had to do with having a run-in with someone I knew would reveal my likeness to powerful people."

"Ooh," Bloom winced. "That's what you meant when you said an enemy would find you soon?"

"Correct," Valtor said gravely. "The fairy I ran in with didn't know me but given that that woman went after you yesterday—an underthing for that heinous woman—I can assume she gave her a description that resembled…well, me."

Huh. Yeah, that did suck. But it wasn't a completely impossible situation, right? Bloom wasn't a total braniac, sure, but there had to be some sort of wiggle space for them to get out of this pickle and she was nothing if not determined to find it. She did not want another power snatcher ruining her magical summer vacation.

Bloom frowned and crossed her ams with a hum, mulling over the issue at hand with a creased forehead. A moment later, her eyes lit up. "So, she doesn't know for sure you're here now, right?"

Valtor scoffed. "I don't see how she wouldn't."

"Okay but it's still just speculation!" Bloom insisted, getting more excited. She began flying around him with a slowly growing grin on her face. "The fairy probably told this enemy of yours you had long blonde hair, old-time-y clothes, fire powers and—" she turned to teasingly tap Valtor's nose with a finger. "—a handsome face."

Valtor smirked lightly at the compliment before steeling himself once more. "Your point?"

"You know who else is handsome has old-time-y clothes, long blonde hair and fire powers?" She landed and poked him the ribs this time. "Baltor Mike!"

Valtor frowned back at her. "I don't—" then his face slowly brightened with realization. He looked away from her, humming in thought. "Using my disguise to throw of the scent…clever I suppose but that would mean Baltor Mike would become a fugitive."

"We'll get you a new one with a better name!" Bloom said. "And then we can make up a new story of you being my older brother or something once Baltor Mike supposedly goes on the lam."

Valtor chuckled and smirked down at her. "Quite a devious plan from the mind of self-proclaimed karma collector Bloom Peters."

"Hey, it's deviousness with a cause!" Bloom said before leaping back into the air. "Now, let me try kicking your butt really quick so we can get to making Baltor Mike disappear!" she used the same Sailor Mars trick from before and scowled as each fire orb hit everything but Valtor.

His amused laughter didn't make failure sting any less.

Valtor watched in both amusement and curiosity as Bloom rapidly drew and crudely coloured a poster atop her sketchpad, singing a jaunty tune under her breath. It was simpler than the ones he'd seen of her prior—the drawing versions of both he and Bloom bore dot eyes and grinning bean mouths as they high-fived one another. Above was the title BLOOM AND VALTOR'S EPIC SCHEME with probably illegal scribbled at the corner. She finished the drawing at the same time she finished the song and showed it to him with a proud grin. "That was the Mission Impossible theme by the way," she said in reference to the song.

"Another Earth movie you'd like to show me?" Valtor guessed.

"Nah, I never liked those movies. Anyway, here's the plan." Bloom tapped at the numbered scribbled sentences beneath the drawing. "First, we devise a dramatic script complete with a battle. I 'defeat' you and you fly dramatically off into the sunset," she said. "Then, we wait till high noon where the most people get to watch the show way up above so we don't cause too much damage. Finally we celebrate with ice cream, popcorn, and a movie. Questions?"

"Prudent," Valtor nodded, fist beneath his chest. "However we'll need a little something to make sure our deception sticks in the mind of that sun fairy. We can't have her running her mouth again, after all."

Bloom's grin faded. "You're not going to—"

"Kill her? No."

Bloom flinched. "I was going to say 'send her to limbo' or something but…good to know?"

He didn't bother reminding her that limbo was death but he supposed to the likes of Bloom, murder wasn't murder unless—ah, not now. He didn't want to argue with her now, not even in his own mind. Pushing past the quickly thickening air of discomfort, Valtor gently took the sketchpad as well as the pen she'd used to write before scratching out 3 and replacing it with a 4. He then added another step between the last two in a tiny cursive scrawl.

"Take over…the broadcasting station?" Bloom read out, squinting at the words in an attempt to make them out.

"Yes," Valtor confirmed. "With any luck, the news of our little play will be blaring all throughout the dimensions. I don't fancy sneaking into Alfea again and that fairy isn't the only one who saw me out of disguise, so it's not only a convenient solution but a catch-all."

Bloom paused as she glanced at him before smiling. "Yeah, okay. Sounds good. And it's not a painful spell, right?"

"Of course not," Valtor scoffed. "The spell, like most mind based ones are designed for subtlety. Pain is hardly discreet."

Bloom stood and clapped her hands together. "Alrighty! Plan Ghost is a-go!"

Sneak into Alfea again? What exactly did that mean?

It was a prominent thought on Bloom's mind as the two flew over Magix at nighttime. The streets far below were visible through the bright glare of street lights alone, and the sound of honking could be heard, but Bloom's mind had tuned all of it out. Instead her gaze kept flickering to her mentor as she flipped through one of his many spell books with a furrow to his brow.

Valtor had never mentioned going to Alfea, so he must've said that without thinking. Or, it could've been something he'd done a long time ago before they'd met but he mentioned it in tandem with the "sun fairy" hadn't he? Bloom knew a sun fairy at Alfea—vaguely albeit—and she remembered the weird night she met her too.

Had Valtor been there?

She could've asked, maybe. About Alfea and even about the sun shaped ring she'd seen rattling the day he'd flown out in a huff. But she was worried the reason was…bad. And sure Valtor wasn't really a morally upright citizen, but she didn't want him to be bad.

"Ah, D level foolishness," Valtor said in annoyance. "Still, it'll have to do. We don't want to know what else that woman has planned and we may find out if I try finding something more potent."

"So…your enemy is a woman?" Bloom asked.

"At least two of them are, yes."

"Is she…Fara…erm, the Headmistress for Alfea?" Hating the school, sneaking in, even exploding the TV when her face appeared…it would make sense. Plus, it'd mean that he was only going in there to try and…scope out the competition. Test how strong she was. Nothing too crazy, nothing too bad.

Valtor glanced at her briefly before nodding slowly. "Yes. Why?"

Bloom shrugged and felt a surge of relief at the same time. "Just a hunch."

Valtor chuckled and went back to the book, smoothing down the page that the wind was bending. "I suppose I'm not very subtle."

Bloom snorted. "You? Definitely not."

In the Magic Dimension—or at least Magix—Bloom had learned, a broadcasting station was actually a cool as heck hovering space shuttle. It was round and had several little windows slicing it's gray form in half, and a thin green beam was shooting up into the starry night sky.

"Whoa," Bloom breathed. "How many of these do we have to hack?"

"Just this one. You'll find that magic is fairly far reaching." He slammed the book shut with his hand. "Speaking of hacking, I'll need your help with this. The spell with my feeble magic alone won't do all too good but with the two of us combined, it'll do wonders."

Bloom smiled and nodded. "Alrighty! Just tell me what to do, Coach."

"We'll need to disable security first," Valtor said as the broadcasting station loomed over them with its size. "A nice electrocution spell should do the trick. Hand?" He hovered in the air and Bloom stopped with him, glancing curiously at the gloved hand he offered her. She took it and gasped when he squeezed; it was if her insides had been filled with fireworks.

"Whoa," Bloom said for the second time that night. She turned to Valtor with wide eyes, and he in contrast had his closed, a pleased smile on his face. He opened them after a moment and turned to her with a mirrored grin before stating, "I'm going to give you some tech magic—a little something I picked up from Xenith before my power loss. It won't be much but—"

Bloom let out a pretty cartoonish "YOW!" and jerked her hand back as purple electricity racked across her body. It didn't hurt per se, but it was uncomfortably hot and tingly. It felt like her skin was just a little too close to an open and sparking power cord, and her muscles spasmed accordingly. Moments later, the purple electricity turned the same bright orange of her magic before dissipating, leaving a goosebump littered, shivering Bloom in its wake. "That was…I didn't like that."

"Hmm," Valtor tilted his head to the side and eyed her up and down curiously. "I suppose tech magic isn't your affinity. No matter, I can take it back once we're done here."

Bloom nodded fast. "Yes, please."

Valtor chuckled before continuing his flight towards the tower. "We will shoot electricity into its underbelly." Bloom nodded in understanding as they swooped under, avoiding the windows. She looked down at her hands and called magic into them, wincing as it sparked uncomfortably in her palms. "Ready?" Valtor prompted. Bloom took in a deep breath and nodded.

Valtor thrust his hands up and let the electricity explode out. Bloom followed suit, shrieking as she was shoved backwards through the air and sent pinwheeling.

She landed against Valtor's chest with an "oomph!" and blushed through a muttered apology. Valtor simply chuckled again before they both looked up at their handiwork. Electricity quickly ran up and around the broadcasting station before exploding into sparks that peppered the night sky. The lights could be seen flickering from the windows.

"Good, they should be in a bit of a panic trying to get systems running again—nobody to check if the magic's been tainted."

"Won't they wonder who attacked them?" Bloom asked.

"Thankfully for us, this place has a habit of getting struck by lightning. It's very near Cloud Tower, you see." He nodded upwards at the beam. "Now, to finish this up."

Bloom flew off Valtor's chest and the two shot quickly into the air where the beam was still shooting into the sky.

"I don't need to use electricity again, do I?" Bloom asked with a worried frown. She did not want to feel it—or get blasted into next century— again so soon after last time.

"No, just take my hand again." Bloom flitted over to his side and did as he asked, feeling the same warm surge and comforting feeling hum though her bones. Valtor held his free hand out towards the broadcasting beam and wiggled his fingers a bit. Violet magic snaked around his fingers before slipping off and twined with the green of the beam. Bloom watched the magic swim upstream as Valtor closed his eyes and murmured something under his breath. Bloom guessed it was part of the spell, because she could feel her magic burning hotter with his, flowing a bit faster between the connection of their hands.

Valtor then opened his eyes and lowered his hand. A pleased smirk graced his lips as he said, "It is done."

Bloom grinned at him as their hands dropped. "Now to get the script ready. I got some pretty good theatre experience."

"What grade?" Valtor asked in a humorously dubious tone as the two flew away from the broadcasting station.

Bloom stuck her tongue out at him. "Sophomore year, jerk."

"Aw, c'mon! You won't give me a little hint as to where you're going?" Brandon asked Sky. He was raising his eyebrows in an incredulous manner as he crunched weights, but there was a tilt of worry to his friend's lips.

"I'll be fine, Bran—erm, Sky—Dragon," Sky sighed and laughed a little as he checked his sword. "It's so weird saying my name in third-person."

"We don't have to carry on the charade when nobody else is around, do we?" Brandon asked.

Sky sighed tiredly once more as he called in the glowing laser of his sword and slid the hilt into his pant pocket. "We don't know who might be watching or listening so until the situation in Erkalyon is settled…"

"I get it," Brandon said with a sad smile before letting the weights drop and stretching his arms. "Make sure this super secret mission of yours doesn't get you killed, alright? Feels bad lying to all the ladies who want to get to know me."

Sky tossed a light grin over his shoulder. "And by ladies you mean Princess Stella, right?"

Brandon whistled sadly. "Dunno, man. I really messed up with that stupid egg thing."

"Oh come on! That wasn't you it was those witches."

"Yeah, but the vomit was mine."

Sky let out a bark of laughter that Brandon matched before leaving the dorm room with a quick wave over his shoulder. Bringing the guys along would be suspicious, Faragonda had said, especially since Bloom didn't know them well enough for pop in visits. True enough, even if Sky felt he could've made up some excuse (or at least Brandon could with his endless charisma), but if Bloom's mentor was actually dangerous she didn't want to risk tipping the guy off.

He let out a deep breath before trudging forwards. With any luck, he could do what he'd been asked without a hitch. It wasn't too hard, really. All he had to do was subtly separate Bloom and Dangerous Guy, then call up Faragonda so she could send in backup.

Easy. Yet his hands were shaking on the handles of his motorbike. It probably had to do with Dangerous Guy, in all honesty. Sky had always had bad vibes towards him, and he was scared that he was going to see right through Sky and do something well…dangerous.

Sky took more deep breaths, tightening his grip. He could do this. He would—

He was forced to brake sharply as a crowd of people ran across the street in a panic.

What the hell?

Sky took his helmet off and shook his hair out. He glanced around where more pedestrians were gasping and pointing up. Sky followed their fingers and shocked eyes.

Bloom went flying from the air and crashed into the street. Sky and several other people gasped in horror as she groaned and pushed herself up from the formed crater. "Bloom!" Sky cried. He leaped off his bike and ran towards her, but before he could reach her, she'd shot into the sky again with flaming hands.

"How could you?! I trusted you, Baltor!"

Floating with glowing hands and facing the angry fairy was Baltor Mike himself, a wide grin on his face before he threw his head back and laughed.

"Oh, shit," Sky breathed.

Oh, this was fun. In fact it was the most fun idea Bloom had given Valtor thus far. He was lucky that the role he had to play required plenty of evil cackling because the glee behind them was genuine.

It was exhilarating, feeling he and Bloom's magic crackle and burn against one another, watching her apply all the lessons she'd learned with dramatic flourish, he didn't even mind that he was going to have to "lose" and run away before the authorities "caught him."

"You were a fool to trust me! A fool!" Valtor cackled as he tossed another fire ball at her. Bloom caught it in her palm before using the momentum the impact gave her to twist and shove it back at him with even more force, complete with a growl of exertion. Valtor let the spell hit him, and he was pleasantly surprised by how hard it hit. He smiled a bit with pride before dissipating and reappearing behind Bloom with another attack prepared. She whirled to face him, and his glowing fist connected with a barrier she'd sprung up "at the last minute". Sparks popped and sizzled, falling to the street below. "I will kill you! Kill you I say! And all who watch will know the validity of my villainy!"

"You hammed it up," Bloom would giggle later. And he had, but goodness it was fun to stretch his legs again, particularly with the fleshly stolen Solarian magic coursing through him.

Valtor wound back another fist filled with violet flame before slamming it against the barrier. It shattered in an explosion of glitter and Bloom over-dramatically cried out and fell from the sky in an elegant faint. He could've sworn he heard somebody cry out her name but he couldn't be sure, and anyway it was time that he chased her falling form encased in deadly flame according to the script.

The world darkened around his world of purple heat, and Valtor took a moment to appreciate his magic combing through his hair and caressing his muscles, then he moved his arms in a sweeping motion, pulling away the flames from his body and sending them towards the still falling Bloom. Gasps filled his ears and Bloom gasped awake. She gritted her teeth before getting control of her falling body and zooming upwards towards the ball of flame.

Valtor grinned lightly. And here came the grand finale.

The flames parted around and surrounded the fairy in flaming wings as she spun around and around in the fiery tunnel. She then turned to face him, eyes aglow and winning grin on her lips as she spread her arms wide. "Be gone, scourge of Magix!" she said as she brought one hand up to snap her fingers.

"And you weren't overacting?" Valtor would respond to her during that little celebration they'd have afterwards. Then she would giggle again and hold her thumb and finger apart. A little bit.

The flames thinned into little start bursts that pebbled against Valtor's body rapid fire. They hurt far less than his roars of pain and his singed, keeled over form would suggest. Snarling, he gave the smugly smirking Bloom a vicious glare before turning to the crowd below.

"Listen here!" Valtor boomed. "The Solarian Ring was only the beginning! I won't stop until every drop of power you have belongs to me! Baltor Mike!"

He then flew off into the distance, laughing to himself all the while. He and the heir of Sparx made a better team than even he had anticipated.

He was excited to see their first bout of mayhem on the television tonight.

AN: AAAND end! Bloom and Valtor finally getting into shenanigans together, woohoo!

See you next week!

Fantasy Fan OUT!