Okay, there is an important note that everyone needs to take into an account before they read this chapter: Somewhere between the last chapter and this chapter, Prada the Pixie of Fashion magically appeared in the Resort Realm, changed the boys into their school uniform, made fun of Stella since it looks like she has a neck tie wrapped around her head and then vanished for no apparent reason. Now it might all seem a little random, I know, but it's the only explanation I can give to how the boys change clothes so fast.
So now that that's all cleaned up, here we go.
Chapter Twenty-Two – Last Resort
"By my count, we need to take on ten monster a piece," Tecna calculated, taking into account the number of monsters closing in on them and estimating just how many people it would take the bring some of them down.
"Ten's not so bad," Bloom said, trying to sound positive in the face of certain pain. "Come on!"
"All you fairies who have your charmix you should fly out of here and save yourselves," Flora suggested but to which none of the fairies warmed to.
"No way!" Bloom instantly objected.
"Fairies don't abandon their friends!" Stella added sternly.
"We won't leave you either," Lockette assured the group.
"All for one includes pixies too you know," Amore told them. The pixies may be small and seemingly useless, but they were loyal to the end which had to count for something. Also, their magic hadn't been completely neutralised by the Resort Realms anti-magic shield, which meant that not only did they have the ability to fly, but some of their other magic was still of use to them, such as Lockette's sense of direction and Digit's logical calculations.
"Hold on. I've got a really good idea," Timmy suddenly spoke up. "Riven knows the way through these invisible net traps, right?"
Bloom nodded. "Right, but the monsters don't."
"That could work," Tecna agreed, already seeing where this plan was going.
"Come on," Riven ordered, moving off. "Follow me."
The group followed his lead, but Timmy lagged behind as he pulled out a communication device and radioed, "Charlie Horse to Poet Man: Code nineteen."
"Timmy!" Tecna scolded. "There's a time and a place for gadgets! Come on! Hurry!"
Riven came to a stop on the edge of the traps and quickly scanned them to get his bearings. The others blinked and slowly started to see the grid in front of them, but Riven would always be able to see it better. "Okay, listen up! If we make our way to the centre areas of the traps with out tripping any, the monster will chase us and get caught in the nets. So let's split up and make our stand over there, over there and over there."
There was no time to explain their plan in further detail, but whether it was from understanding or by chance, the group moved off into the traps without tripping anything, and the monsters followed them right into them. One maned wolf leapt at a few of the girls, but instead of hitting any of them, it triggered a trap. The net tightened around it and lifted the wolf into the air where it thrashed in vain to break free.
"Yes!" Bloom cheered, watching the wolf struggle.
"Got one over here, too!" Musa reported as another monster landed itself in the Trix's traps.
"Here come the big guys!" Layla warned as the herblasaurs entered the area where the traps were, but the second they put their feet down, the traps seized them.
"Timmy, you are a genius," Riven grinned, watching the trapped monsters as the others cheered loudly.
"Trapped in their own traps. This rocks!" Musa applauded.
"Not all of them. Look out!" Sky warned as a hunter troll made its way to the edge of the traps. Instead of walking right into them like the other monsters had, the troll used the nets that held the wolves and the herblasaurs to swing right over the traps. And of course, land traps were useless against sky scorpions.
"Just follow me. Step where I step," Riven ordered since they were going to head into a new area of traps and they didn't have time for the others to adjust their mental awareness so they could see them. Everyone was so focused on getting to safety that none of them noticed that Layla was falling behind until it was too late.
"What do you mean we lost her?!" Musa shouted, her temper barely in check. The group had finally come to rest alongside a brook, but their peace was short lived when they realised that Layla was missing. "How could you guys let this happen?!"
"Layla's a smart, athletic girl. If anyone was going to be left behind, I never would have picked it to be her," Brandon said, and he felt several pairs of female eyes glare at him. "Okay, I may have worded that wrong. What I meant to say was – "
"We've got to find her," Tecna interrupted. "Perhaps if we split up to cover more ground then we could – "
"With the Trix out there? No thank you," Stella objected. "If we split up we're more likely to land ourselves in more trouble."
Sky nodded. "That's a good point."
"So we just leave Layla out there?" Musa questioned. "The Trix are just as likely to run into her while she's on her own and she doesn't have her charmix yet. They'll crush her and she'll have no back up unless we go out and find her."
Sky kept nodding. "Another good point."
"So what do we do?" Bloom asked.
"We do both," Riven answered.
"Do you think before you speak?" Brandon asked.
"Are you going to let me finish?" Riven snapped, glaring at the squire for a moment before continuing. "We need to do some reconnaissance on the situation but we can't exactly go walking around or the witches will see us so we should send the pixies out to scout for us."
"Fairies," Musa corrected without even really thinking about it.
"No. I actually mean pixies this time," Riven told her. "They're small and there's plenty of them so they'll be able to cover more ground. And seriously, who's going to notice a couple extra bugs floating around the forest."
"Although it was put rather insultingly, Riven does have a point," Tune said, looking as if she was considering using her umbrella as a spear again. "After all, Layla went all the way to Shadow Haunt for us. The least we can do is can do is go out into the forest for her."
"Yeah! Let's go find Layla!" Chatta cheered, and before anyone could stop them, all six pixies flew off into the forest in search of their friend. All the fairies looked concerned – both about Layla and their pixies – but they all knew that they had to stay put until they had more information.
"This might actually work," Sky said, staring off in the direction one of the pixies had gone off in. He had tried to keep his eye on her as long as he could, and he had lost her in a matter of seconds.
"Of course it will," Riven said confidently, sinking down to the ground to try and get comfortable while he waited. A few of the other followed his example, but as comfortable as they may be, none of them could relax while the Trix and half their party were still out there. That worry doubled when one by one the pixies all returned without news of Layla's whereabouts.
"So what's the plan now?" Bloom asked when all the pixies except Piff had returned. Layla was still missing, there was a forest full of monsters hunting them down and of course the ominous shadow of the Trix loomed over everything. They needed to come up with a game plan to retaliate against this impossible threat.
"Running's a mistake," Timmy instantly threw out. "I think our best tactical move is if we set up some traps of our own."
Most of them nodded, but before anyone could voice their own opinions, the sound of baby-like babbling filled the air as Piff came flying out of the tress. "Piff's back," Flora said.
"Without Layla," Musa added.
Everyone watch as Piff flew over and sat herself in Bloom's hand. The normally sleepy pixie was very much awake, and clutched in her tiny little hand was a piece of material she had found while out scouting for Layla. "Piff, you couldn't find her?" Bloom asked to which Piff replied in incoherent babble, but they all understood what she was trying to tell them when she held up the piece of material she had found.
"Isn't that a piece of Layla's shirt?" Stella asked, a look of panic on her face.
"Okay, nobody start thinking the worst," Brandon ordered, trying to stop everyone from jumping to conclusions.
"That's right. Not yet," Sky agreed as Lockette flew over to takes a closer look at the cloth Piff had found. Piff went on to tell her something, but none of the teenagers could understand what she was saying.
"She's said she found that piece of fabric hanging on a cliff," Digit translated Piff's babble to everyone.
"Lockette, can you use this to try and sense where Layla is?" Bloom asked her bonded pixie, and instead of replying, Lockette simply removed the clip for her hair and extended it out into her wand.
"I can sense Layla's in that direction," Lockette reported, after concentrating on her powers for a moment. Lockette may not be as reliable in emergency situations as some of the other pixies were, but if there was one thing they could trust her on it was her sense of direction.
Pushing off Riven's shoulder as means to helping her get to her feet, Musa stood up, ready to follow Lockette's lead. "Come on. Let's go."
"Is she okay, Lockette?" Stella asked as the group walked.
"That I can't tell," Lockette informed them regretfully. The group remained silent as they walked, and it wasn't long before Lockette led them to a cliff simular to the one they had been trapped against not long ago. "She's down there."
"Okay everybody, let's go get Layla," Bloom told everyone, looking as if she was ready to BASE jump off the cliff in search for her friend. Unfortunately, there were several other issues going on asides from Layla that needed their attention, namely what they were going to do about the Trix.
"Guys look, I know we've got to find Layla but we've also got to set up a battle base of some sorts," Timmy pointed out and everyone knew he had a point.
"Alright Timster, you're in charge with this one," Sky delegated. "Just tell us what to do."
"Wait, why is he in charge?" Tecna asked, actually sounding a little annoyed about Timmy's promotion.
"Because Timmy's aced every tactics and strategies class we've ever taken," Riven answered her.
"No one's better than Timmy," Brandon added. Sky, Brandon and Riven may be competitive against each other in class, but there was no denying that Timmy as a much better student than any of them could ever be. If Timmy had been born with a more athletic physic, chances were that their squad would have had a completely different chain of command.
"Bloom, why don't you and Lockette take the rest of the pixies and go search for Layla while we set up camp," Timmy suggested. He didn't really like the idea of splitting up, but they had too many things to deal with at the moment to have everyone focused on one thing at once. Bloom had her charmix and the pixies were willing to go through anything to protect the Winx Club. Timmy believed that Bloom would be in less danger on her own than if she stayed with the group.
But that didn't mean Sky wasn't going to worry. "Be careful, okay?"
"Are you sure we shouldn't go with you?" Flora asked as Bloom lowered herself over the edge of the cliff.
"Don't worry, you guys. I can handle this," Bloom assured them. No sooner had those words left her lips than the rock she had one of her feet balance on slipped loose, causing her to almost fall. The Last Princess of Sparx let out a surprised scream, but she managed to find her feet on a ledge a little lower down. "I'm okay!" Bloom yelled before laughing shakily. "No worries!"
"I can't look anymore," Stella said, turning away. "I hate cliffs."
"Don't worry babe. We won't be sending you over any cliffs on this mission," Brandon promised her, reaching over to take her hand in his before looking eagerly at Timmy. "So, Timster, what's the plan?"
"That's the plan?" Brandon asked sceptically when Timmy had finished explaining his idea.
Sky shot his squire an unimpressed look. "I don't see you coming up anything better."
"Hey, I'm not saying its bad or nothing, it's just that have ya seen how long it takes construction workers to build a house? It takes them forever, and we don't have any of the tools or training or even a pants line to make us a proper builders cleavage (1)," Brandon pointed out. Riven pulled a disgusted face at Brandon's final comment, but said nothing.
"Well I think it's a good plan," Musa spoke up. "And since no one else is useful enough to come up with anything, I say we do it."
Timmy's plan was simple enough. There were two main objectives; trapping the witches and dispelling the monsters. The boys would do as much as they could physically, but there were certain parts which would depend on magic, such as coming up with a way to counter the witches' hypnotic control over the monsters. Most of their efforts, however, went into trapping the Trix. They needed a way to bait them without putting anyone in danger, which is where Timmy had come up with the idea of building a log cabin that would never pass a safety inspection since the Trix had proven in the past that they couldn't pass up an opportunity to destroy a building of any kind.
Using his broad sword, Brandon was in charge of cutting the trees down while Sky and Riven had the job of moving the logs over to the site and help Timmy construct the crudely built cabin.
"Two more and we'll be set, Brandon," Timmy told Brandon after looking over what they had built so far. Brandon didn't say it, but Timmy knew that he was silently crying out in joy. Cutting down trees took a lot out of a guy, hero or not.
"Timmy, are you sure we should cut notches in the middle over every roof beam?" Sky asked, pausing in his labouring. His strict upbringing had led him to be a bit of a perfectionist, and even when he knew it was intended to be poorly built, he still didn't like the idea of not making some the best it could possibly be.
"Positive," Timmy assured him. "And hey Riven, don't forget to set up that net behind that rock to the east."
"It's done," Riven reported. Luckily they had packed several phantom nets in their supplies to make their job a little easier.
"Excellent. Keep it up. I'm gonna go see how Stella and Musa are going," Timmy said. Stella and Musa had been spending the last half an hour using their chamix's to levitate rocks across a stream to act as a dam. "Looks like the water's holding. Good job, you guys."
"As if you expected anything else from us," Stella said with a flick her of blonde hair. Timmy didn't know whether it was because she had made up with Brandon or because they were actually doing something that she found interesting, but Stella's mood had suddenly made a change for the better. And with everything that was happening at the moment, Timmy was thankful to have one less things to worry about.
"You could help, you know," Sky snapped at Riven, who had been standing around doing nothing apart from watching Sky work for the last few minutes.
"I am helping," Riven smirked back. "I'm supervising."
"That's not helping."
"Hey, I don't need to help if I don't want to. I was the one who found the Trix and worked out what they were up to, I was the one who got you guys through the traps and I was the one who thought of sending out the pixies as recon. As far as I'm concerned, I'm done for the day. It's time for you guys to pull your weight."
"I'm tempted to just let the witches kill you."
"Only tempted?"
"Riven, leave Sky alone and go be useful somewhere else," Timmy ordered, walking over to observe the cabin Sky had been working. "Keep chopping, Sky. Remember, we want this roof to be totally collapsible."
"Timmy, why are we doing this?" Sky asked, unable to hold his tongue any longer. "I mean, I get the idea of having something for the Trix to target besides us, but why are we making so collapsible? Wouldn't it be a better idea to make it strong enough to survive an attack in case we need a strong hold?"
"No. I don't like the idea of us being trapped."
"But if we – "
"Icy's a show off," Timmy interrupted. "She always has been and she always will be. You saw her during the Great Witch Invasion. She rode all the way to Alfea on a throne of rot just because she wanted to make an entrance. I wouldn't be surprised if she's out there right now looking for the biggest, fiercest-looking monster for her to ride around on while she's hunting us down. And if we offer her a stage, she's gonna get right up on it."
"Oh, right," Sky said, looking down at the cabin. "I take it this is the stage?"
"Yup. Icy will love it."
"And if she doesn't."
"We'll find a way to bait her."
"What have you got planned?"
"I'm still kind of in the midst of working it out," Timmy confessed. "But as soon as I work it all out I'll be sure to fill you in on it."
"Kay, I'll have your back when you work it out."
"Thanks Sky. I might hold you to that," Timmy grinned thankfully. After glancing over the cabin one final time, Timmy left Sky to finish off and went to look for the girls. "Hey girls! We need you over here!"
"Coming!" Stella called, and a few seconds later, the Princess of Solaria, Musa and Flora had all come running over to him. "Ready and awaiting your instructions, Commander Timmy."
"Good," Timmy nodded, but he couldn't help but notice that someone was missing. "Where's Tecna?"
"She stayed back to finish off some of the traps," Flora informed him.
"Oh, okay. That's a good idea," Timmy covered, leading them off. "We think we may have come up with a way to unspell the monsters. Brandon's been collecting a fruit that he found growing in the area. It's not on any of the lists of dangerous plants we have, so we're thinking that if we put a countering spell in the fruit and fed it to them, Darcy's hypnotic hold over them should diminish. Please tell me that's right, or else we've just had Brandon collect a mountain load of fruit for nothing."
"He could sell them at market," Stella suggested helpfully.
"And yes, you're right," Musa answered Timmy's original question.
"That's a puffuldaf," Flora informed everyone when Brandon and his mountain of fruit came into view. "They are a non-poisonous fruit, but they're very sweet. One whole fruit is equivalent to eating a bucket full of candy in one sitting, but I'm sure that the monsters in this area have adapted themselves to the fruit over the years."
"I guess the same can't be said about the tourist," Musa grinned, noticing the way Brandon was clutching his stomach. "How much did you eat?"
"About a half of one," Brandon cringed. "My guts are aching."
"Oh, poor baby," Stella cooed, giving him a quick hug and tried not to smile when he let out a pained groan. Although she knew it sometimes annoyed his friends, she had always loved Brandon's childish nature. No matter what the situation, she could always trust him to be joking and upbeat about it all, and it was something she had missed over the last few months. Brandon always knew how to make her laugh and that long stretch of silence since their fight had left her feeling down and cranky, but now that the two of them had stopped being so stubborn, it felt to Stella like her sun was returning to her after a long and difficult night. She just couldn't wait for all this drama to be over so they could really make-up.
"I just wanted to see what they tasted like."
"I know Snookums."
"I realise that you're on the edge of a diabetic coma, but can we try and focus please?" Timmy asked.
"Right," Brandon nodded. Pushing his suffering to the back of his mind, Brandon turned to address Stella and Musa since magic would be needed to finish this phase of the plan. "We need you to enchant these puffuldafs so when the creatures eat them they'll be de-spelled."
Musa nodded and picked up a stick in order to draw a circle in the dirt around the pile of fruit. Circles were used in magic since they amplified power and focused spells, and since they were working with such a limited amount of magic, they needed all the help they could get. "Anamlous mandurous."
"Magerasous," Stella finished off the spell.
"Wow," Flora gasped when the girls finished their casting. "You girls said all the right words and did all the right motions and didn't even ask for my help. I'm impressed. (2)"
Stella bowed jestingly. "Believe it or not, but I do pay attention in class."
"Let's hope it actual works," Brandon said, tossing some of the fruit into a bag. He'd have to divide the fruit up so that everyone had some of them otherwise their plan really wouldn't be very affective.
"Hey Musa, do you have enough charmix power for a brief reconnaissance flight?" Timmy asked the musical fairy. So far there hadn't been any sign of the Trix advancing, but he'd still like to know what they were up to so they didn't get ambushed. And since the pixies had all gone with Bloom, it looked like it was going to have to be a fairy that went scouting for them.
"I think so," Musa answered.
"Boy, Bloom and the pixies sure have been gone a long time," Stella sighed suddenly.
"Layla too," Flora reminded her. "I hope nothing's happened."
"C'mon guys, we gotta keep a positive attitude. Heroics 101, right?" Musa asked the two heroes who nodded. "Now you guys hang tight. I'll be right back."
"Be careful," Timmy called as he watched as Musa flew off. With the fruit spelled, the faulty cabin finished and the traps all sent, the group put their energy into deepening the stream Stella and Musa had dried out when they built the dam. It was already fairly deep, and with all of them working together, it didn't take long until Timmy's plan looked like it was reaching completion. "Okay you guys. I think that should do it."
"I don't understand what Icy, Darcy and Stormy are doing here," Tecna spoke up. "It's not like them to go around trying to witch us up without some other objective."
Everyone agreed that the witches attack didn't make much sense, but when Musa flew in from her scouting mission, she had a warning and some insight into the situation. "Guys! Get ready!" Musa called as she landed and transformed back out of her winx mode. "The witches are on their way and it turns out they're after Bloom!"
"What?" Sky gasped quietly as he felt his chest constrict. He had hoped that with the failed attempt to use Bloom's Dragon Fire to enslave the universe last year, the Trix would leave Bloom alone, but in retrospect he knew that was a foolish thing to hope for. And now that the Trix were working for Lord Darkar, his fears and concern for the safety of his girlfriend had double. But he had little time to dwell on panic, because at that moment – mounted on three dangerous-looking dragadons – came the Trix Sisters.
"Here they are," Stella informed everyone, but it wasn't as if they were going to miss them. Those dragadons they were riding were huge.
"Position everyone!" Timmy ordered. "Tecna, come with me!"
Timmy had already filled everyone in on what he wanted them to do, so without delay, everyone one moved off to their assigned positions. Brandon and Riven took to hiding behind trees and under bushes to await the Trix. Timmy took his place on top of the poorly built cabin to act as bait.
"Come on!" he said as he helped Tecna up onto the roof with him. He knew things weren't great between him and the digital fairy, but he wanted her to be close to him so he could at least keep an eye on her.
Sky – on his levi board – moved off to hid in a bush that looked suspiciously like an illicit plant (3). Poking his head out of the bushes, the prince saw Flora, Stella and Musa run past, looking for their places to hide. "Just keep going ladies."
Flora and Stella kept running, while Musa followed behind them. Musa was so focused on catching up to her friends that she almost jumped out of her skin when a strong hand seized her around the wrist and dragged her back behind a tree. She let out a loud gasp and probably would have screamed too if not for the fact that a hand covered her mouth to silence her and she felt a powerful chest that couldn't have belong to any of the Trix pressed against her back.
"Relax, pixie," a deep voice said hotly in her ear, and Musa felt a delightful shiver shoot down her spine and cause her toes to curl in her shoes. The grip on her loosened and Musa turned to see Riven moving deeper into the undergrowth. He looked back at her over his shoulder and glared at her with irritation that looked to her to be rather forced. "Are you coming or not?"
"You don't have to be so snappy about it," Musa told him, but she followed after him anyway. "You're the one who grabbed me, remember?"
"Technicalities."
"You could be a little nicer to me, you know."
"I could be," Riven answered simply, turning around suddenly so his face was right in hers. "Now, are you going to hide or do I have to throw you down?"
"Are we re-enacting a desert island scene from some romance novel?" Musa asked slyly, shocking Riven. Their relationship was complicated and mostly revolved around them tip-toeing around each other, so whenever one of them broke ranks and said something flirtatious or suggestive, it threw the other for a loop. Riven prided himself on being able to take a punch, but this was one hit from Musa that always left him breathless and scatter brained. Musa knew this, and couldn't suppress a grin as she sunk to the ground. "Now, are you going to hide or do I have to drag you down here."
Unable to think of any kind of response, Riven simply lay down next to her and tried not to look flustered. "I though I could use some back up," he tried to cover.
"Right," Musa smirked, not believing it for a second.
"Here they come," Tecna groaned as the witches drew closer. Monsters under Darcy's control flanked them on either side and the Trix's gloomix were glowing brightly. The Trix definitely had the advantage, but Timmy was confident in his plan. He had predicted correctly that the Trix would make some flashy entrance on some kind of monster, and he couldn't help but grin when the Trix dropped down into the dried out river bed.
"Okay! Time for Plan A!" Timmy informed everyone. "Hurry! The witches are in place!"
"Alright, they're waiting for you Musa," Riven said. "You better get into position."
Musa pushed herself up and started to move out of hiding. "I'm on it."
"Go," Riven nodded, watching her and her fantastic legs go, and despite his best efforts, he couldn't stop a sly grin from spreading across his face. "Damn pixie."
"You're first, Musa," Timmy reminded her.
"Okay, I'm all set," Musa told him.
"Use your magic on the water."
"Okay, let's go charmix!" Musa shouted, and in a flash of red and white light Musa transformed into her winx form, complete with charmix. As soon as she had her wings, Musa flew over the dam she and Stella had created and gathered her magic. "Soundwaves!"
With a blast of sound magic, Musa manipulated the surface of the water, churning up waves until they spilled over the side of the dam and flooding the stream bed that the Trix and most of the monster were in. The rock dam that Musa and Stella had spent so much time on fell apart and the water that had been held back released itself in a deluge that swept the monsters and the witches downstream.
"Yeah! Let's what I'm talkin' 'bout!" Brandon celebrated as everyone else cheered.
"Yay! Timmy!" Tecna congratulated as they watched the now sopping wet Trix drag themselves out of the river and chase after their dragadons.
"Told you we could do it," Timmy couldn't help but grin.
"So hey, does this mean we can like go back to laying around and doing nothing?" Stella had to ask. She was so busy smiling at her own joke that she didn't see a sky scorpion swoop down at her until it had grabbed hold of her shoulders and had taken off into the air.
"Stella!" Brandon shouted in alarm, abandoning his post and moving off to save his girlfriend.
"Ah!! Drop me!" Stella screamed, but as the sky scorpion flew higher and her fear of heights kicked in, she started to consider not parting with the monster. "Oh no, don't drop me!"
Bolting up to higher ground, Brandon jumped right onto the sky scorpions back. Below them, the monsters moved in at attack the group, but all his attention was on saving his Stella. "Don't worry Stella, I gotcha!"
"Make it fly lower!" Stella told him. "Lower!"
"I'm trying, babe!"
"It's drooling on me!"
"Brandon! The fruit!" Timmy shouted from the ground. "Give it the de-spelled fruit!"
Understanding Timmy's point immediately, Brandon reached into his pockets and pulled out a spelled fruit and shoved it into the monsters mouth. He felt the monster flinch beneath him as the spell hit it, but then he felt it relax as it slowly slipped out from under Darcy's control.
"Hey sweetie, you might want to get ready for a pretty rough landing," Brandon warned as the sky scorpion dropped lower. Finally, when Stella was just a few feet off the ground, the sky scorpion released its hold on the princess. Stella managed to run for a few steps before she overbalanced and fell on her face. "Yeah!"
The couple waved at each other, but when the sky scorpion realised that it had a human on it back, it went as crazy as a bull at a rodeo. Brandon held on as long as he could, but as soon as he figured he was a short distance from the ground, he made a jump for it. He hit the ground hard and his knees buckled so that he ended up in a heap on the ground, but other than his pride, he was uninjured.
"Brandon!" Stella squealed, running over and pulling him off the ground into a hug. "Oh, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Are you?"
"Thanks to you," Stella said before squeezing him again. "How'd I get so lucky?"
Brandon simultaneously grinned in delight and felt incredibly stupid for even think that Stella didn't value him just because he was a squire. "I ask that question myself, but we're not done here."
"Right. Let's go kick some witch booty!"
"Okay, now for round two," Timmy said to himself as the Trix advanced upon them again on their dragadons. He and his friends had successfully removed most of the de-spelled monsters, but now the real game was going to being. "Tecna, don't follow me."
"What?" Tecna asked stupidly, not understanding what he was saying.
"Just stay here," Timmy repeated before turning his attention to waving at the Trix. "Hey witches. Hey!"
"Timmy, what do you think your doing?" Tecna shouted as he ran off, and she felt a strong stab of panic when the witches follow after him with murderous grins on their faces. "Timmy!"
But Timmy didn't hear her. Running at full pelt and laughing as if he was enjoying himself, Timmy tried his hardest to instigate the witches into following him right into their traps. "Nerd on the run!"
"Timmy! Be careful!"
"Don't worry about me! Sky's going to help me out! It's all part of the plan!" Timmy assured her, before looking around and seeing no sign of the prince. "Although, wait a minute, where is Sky? Sky?!"
"I got you, Timmy!" Sky called as he came flying in on his levi board. He had been waiting for the Trix to get closer to him before he made his move, even if that meant panicking his friend for a second. But now that he was free to move, he was going to do his very best to stop these witches in their tracks. After all, they were the ones putting his girlfriend in danger. Flying in, Sky swooped at Stormy and almost hit her right in the face.
"Hey! What was that?" Stormy flinched.
Sky's blue eyes narrowed as he pulled out his phantom blade. He had had enough of the Trix ruining what was supposed to be a relaxing trip. "The nerd run's over, witches."
"Yeah, whatever," Stormy sneered, shooting a lightning bolt at him, but her attacked missed.
"Get it, Stormy," Icy ordered.
"I'm trying too," Stormy growled, but then Sky swoops in again and nearly sliced her nose off. "Whoa!"
Third time round, Sky was finished with warning shots. Flying in, Sky's board collided head on with Stormy's dragadon. He hit it right between the eyes and stunned it to the point where it actually collapsed. Stormy, however, wasn't going to let something as small as her mount collapsing stand in her way from causing some chaos. No sooner had her dragadon hit the ground than Stormy levitated herself off its back and moved over to one of her sisters.
"Darcy! Wait up!" Stormy called before dropping down behind Darcy. And with the three sisters on two dragadons, they continued to charge after Timmy, who was still doing his best to instigate the Trix.
"Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!" Timmy taunted them like a first-grade school kid. "What's wrong with you witches? You can't catch a little nerd on the run like me?"
Timmy continued to run, and he led them right over a trip wire which Riven pulled tight right in front of one of the monsters feet.
"Darcy! Watch out!" Stormy shouted when she noticed the trap, but by then it was too late. Darcy's dragadon ran straight into it and fell flat on its face, resulting in Darcy and Stormy getting thrown.
"Now Riven! Cut the line while they're down!" Timmy ordered. Riven pulled out sabre and cut the sapling that was holding back a net that he had set up earlier. The net was launched into the air and landed over Darcy, Stormy and the dragadon, tying them up and making Timmy laugh.
"Sweet," Riven grinned, taking delight is seeing his ex struggle against their bondages. But his gloating made him underestimate the witch, and how quickly her patience could wear out.
"I'll take care of this," Darcy snarled, hitting the net with her physic powers and blowing it off them. Once they were free, Darcy and Stormy took to the skies with their gloomixes fully charged.
"Not sweet."
"Hurry you big brut! Trample that whinny little nerd boy!" Icy ordered her dragadon, her patience also wearing thin, but that's how Timmy wanted it. He wanted Icy to get mad, because that makes her stupid, and when she followed him towards the cabin with her two sisters flanking her in the skies, it look like it was working.
"Timmy!" Tecna and Musa gasped. "Look out!"
"Just get out of the way, girls! Trust me!" Timmy told them. The girls hesitated, but they did as they were ordered. With a running jump, Timmy got onto roof and Icy followed. The second the dragadons weight was on that roof, it started to give way. Timmy managed to jump clear as the roof caved in, effectively trapping her. "Yeah! Alright!"
"Where is Bloom?" Icy demanded, unwilling to even entertain the thought that she had lost the upper hand. Timmy and Sky jumped down into the cabin with sword and gun raised.
"So er, who's the dork now, Icy?" Timmy had to ask.
Sky was a little more focused in getting answers than gloating. "Tell us what you want with Bloom?"
"Uh-uh-uh. Why would I do that? This isn't over," Icy reminded them as Darcy and Stormy entered from above. Sky suddenly didn't feel as confident as he had been a moment ago.
Timmy, however, remained secure in his victory. "But it's gonna be in a second."
"That's right," Icy agreed, walking forward with Darcy and Stormy flanking her on either side. "And you're gonna be the loser, loser."
"Your back up plan has a back up plan, right Timmy?" Sky asked quietly, not liking how the three Trix Sisters looked when they advanced on you all at once.
Darcy popped her hip into a very seductive stance, but she twisted it into something off putting by doing that weird thing with her fingers over her eyebrows (4). "So, how do you want to go? Physic blast?"
"Icy tomb?" Icy suggested.
"Or a burst of lighting?" Stormy almost purred.
"How 'bout all three at once, huh?" the three sisters all said as once. Sky braced himself for a world of pain, but it never came because just as the witches charge up their gloomixes, a shadow fell over them and a roaring sound from above when a Red Fountain squad ship entered the air space.
"Just in time," Timmy grinned, looking up at the ship he had been expecting for the last few hours.
"Where did that come from?" Stormy asked, and she paled when she saw the sided gunners of the ship readied themselves and aimed directly at the witches. "Uh-oh."
Without even issuing a warning, the guns open fire. Everyone jumped clear, but the cabin was blow to smithereens. Sky landed in a heap surround by large splinters that had once been trees. Sky didn't like to admit it, but he was a little upset that the cabin he had spent so much time and effort building was suddenly reduced to toothpicks. Sky felt torn between slapping their saviour on the back and punching him in the mouth, but when he saw who was sitting in the pilots seat, his jaw dropped.
"Hey there, dudes," Helia greeted, before setting the ship down on the ground.
"Helia!" Sky gasped. He knew that Helia was their back up, but since when did a pacifist fire on people with guns?
"Helia, what are you doing here?" Tecna asked, surprised to see him in this part in the universe.
"Timmy radioed me," Helia informed her. "I would have gotten here sooner but I had to bypass an asteroid field."
"Where is the Timister?" Brandon asked, looking around and not noticing his friend. The last time he had seen him was when Timmy and Sky had confronted the Trix, but then Helia had arrived and blasted the cabin into pieces. And judging from the worried looks on the faces of his friends, none of them had seen him either.
"Under there!" Musa suddenly gasped, her blue eyes wide and slightly panicked. Everyone followed her out stretched finger to the splintered debris of the cabin, and lying very still under several pieces of fractured timber was the mastermind behind their victory.
"Timmy!" Sky shouted, his mind reeling. He had been standing right next to Timmy when the guns had gone off. There was no way that Timmy could be hurt while Sky remained unscathed. That just wasn't fair.
"Oh! Timmy!" Tecna cried, running over with Sky to pull the wood off of Timmy.
"See you later, dorks!" Icy spat as she and her sisters flew off to return back to Shadow Haunt to face Lord Darkar without so much as a glimpse of their mission objective. Her words were tough, but it didn't disguise the fact that they were retreating.
"The witches," Flora pointed out to the others.
"Forget them. Let them go. We've gotta help Timmy. Make sure he's okay," Brandon stressed, grabbing another log and using it as leverage to push wood off of Timmy. Slowly, Timmy sat up and the second he could keep himself upright on his own, Tecna and Sky descend on him to make sure he was alright.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Timmy assured them as his friends continued to fuss over him. "Seriously, I'm fine."
While Sky, Brandon and Tecna gave all their attention to Timmy, there were a few who weren't giving him any of theirs at all, namely Flora. Helia had exited the ship and she had been struggling to keep from openly staring at him. She was very much aware of how she felt about him, but what she didn't know was how to act on those feelings. All she knew was that whenever she was around him, she got a funny feeling in her stomach, she lost the ability to construct intelligent sentences and she often blushed for no apparent reason.
And she wasn't the only one who noticed that.
"Heads up, Flo," Musa smirked as Helia moved over to the group and some pink covered Flora's cheeks. "Boy alert."
Helia couldn't suppress a small smile brushing across his lips when he caught a glance of how stunning Flora looked with her rosy cheeks and her hair in braids. He had been very disappointed when his grandfather had denied him the chance of spending a week with Flora and her friends, but he was here now and he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to spend some time with her. However, his chances of talking to her was stalled when Riven came running over to discuss emergency evacuation in case of Timmy being seriously hurt, which Riven kindly pointed out was technically Helia's fault since he was the one who blew up the cabin.
"Guys, I promise you, I'm fine," Timmy stressed again, trying to stop his friends from fussing over him.
"Yeah, like we're gonna believe you," Brandon said. "You could be delirious from pain for all we know. Now, how many fingers am I holding up?"
"Brandon!"
"How many fingers?"
"Four."
"Four?!"
"Plus one thumb."
Brandon lowered his hand and gave Sky an unimpressed look. "He's a smart ass when he's hurt."
"Perhaps," Sky agreed. "But I think he's fine."
"You guys should have gone after the witches," Timmy told them from his place still on the ground. "I'm sorry I messed up."
"What are you talking about? Messed up? You're a hero today, Timmy," Tecna informed him, her eyes glowing in a delight and pride that Timmy hadn't seen in a long time. "You were totally amazing."
"It was just a bunch of tactical decisions based on proven battle strategies. I mean, it was nothing special," Timmy reminded her as he slowly got to his feet. He was still a bit disorientated so he had to hold onto Tecna to help keep his balance, and when he saw how worried she looked, he offered her a soft smile. "Hey, it's just what we do."
Noticing the way Timmy and Tecna were looking at each other, Sky promptly seized Brandon's arm and dragged him off so that the two technology enthusiasts could talk in private.
"I feel like I nearly lost you today and it made me realise," Tecna stammered as tears started to run down her cheeks, "that I've been mad at you because you would make the first move but really that just me being scared of stepping up myself and telling you how much I absolutely adore you."
Timmy suddenly felt as if his chest was going to explode with emotion from Tecna's words. He had spent the last few months trying to figure out what he did to make Tecna so mad at him, and it never occurred to him that it might have been because of something he hadn't done. But what surprised him even more was the fact that Tecna, who was normally so calm and collected, was actually crying. "Why are you crying Tecna?"
"I have no idea," Tecna confessed. "I didn't even know I could cry."
"Well they are tears but you're not sad so they seem illogical," Timmy pointed out, and Tecna couldn't help but laugh. In a flash, a small triangular brooch appeared on Tecna's chest where it shone for a moment before vanishing. "Hey! You got a charmix!"
"Hey everybody!" a voice called, and everyone looked up to see Bloom, the pixies and Layla walk out of the forest. "Look who me and the pixies found!"
"Hey!" Brandon greeted.
"Hey you guys!" Sky waved, utterly relieved that his girlfriend was safe.
"It's so great to see you all . . . Ah-coo!" Lockette sneezed. The Pixie of Portal's big eyes were red and watery and her nose was running. And one glance at the other pixies showed that she wasn't alone.
"Amore! What happened?" Stella asked, pulling her pixie into a soft embrace.
"I think we all have a small case of the pixie flu," Amore sniffed. "We were walking through these flowers and some of their pollen got sprayed into the air. Ever since then, we've been . . . we've been . . .we've . . . Ah-coo!"
"Is there any medication or something that we can give you?" Musa asked.
"No. Pixies are not like humans. Traditional medical salutations won't work on us," Digit informed them in a stuffy and congested sounding voice.
"The only option for us is the revisit the Flower of Life," Tune told them, a handkerchief held delicately up to her nose. "Our immune systems are weak because we've spent the last year at Alfea instead of at Pixie Village where we can easily access the Flower and its powers."
"Okay, so let's finish off here and head right back to Alfea," Bloom suggested.
"Looks like all the animals are back to normal," Flora noted.
Brandon grinned, patting a maned wolf that a few hours ago had been hunting them down. "Good, cause we're out of enchanted fruit."
"I heard about what you did, Helia," Bloom said. "Thanks for coming."
"I've always wanted to see the flowers here. I've heard they're beautiful," Helia told her, but he was looking at Flora when he spoke, and he felt a warm wave of pleasure when he saw her cheeks turn pink again.
"Hey guys! The pixies are really buggin' over here!" Musa called from her place surrounded by the pixies who were all sneezing their heads off.
"I just wanted to bounce on those things," Chatta told her friends. She felt guilty for getting them all sick, but there was no way she could have foreseen this. "They looked fine. I didn't know they would spew out all that . . . Ah-coo!"
"Why is the forest spinning?" Amore asked groggily.
"I tried a healing spell but . . ." Bloom trailed off rather than trying to word just how ineffective her spell had been.
"The only thing that can cure a sick pixie is tea brewed from the Flower of Life and that's at Pixie Village," Layla informed them all.
"Well, in that case it seems this calm, relaxing vacation of yours is officially over," Sky told the girls.
"I think I'll stay and check out realms natural beauty," Helia said, earning him some looks off the rest of the boys there who knew exactly what he was up to.
"Have fun," Flora winked at him. "And tell me what kind of neat stuff you find."
The guys all laughed out loud at Helia's failure.
"I think she missed your point," Riven grinned, delighted that someone was as hopeless in wooing a girl as he was.
"Just get on the ship," Helia smiled, shoving Riven towards the ship and making his roommate laugh again. But he did head off to the ship, and the rest of them followed.
"Okay, so if you can just drop some of us off at Alfea, then we can tell Ms. Faragonda what happened here while a few of us can go to Pixies Village," Bloom explained.
"Some of us should head back to Red Fountain to brief Saladin too," Timmy suggested.
"But what about the final piece of the Codex?" Sky brought up. "Can we really risk giving away the location of Pixie Village? I mean, that was the place that Lord Darkar was originally looking for."
"Er, you don't have to worry about giving the location of Pixie Village away," Helia said, grabbing everyone's attention. "Icy found it."
"What!!" all the pixies shouted at once, followed by a round of coughing and sneezing.
"When?" Layla asked, her voice panicked.
"Yesterday. Athena sensed something was wrong so she sent one of her pixie pets to the village. Apparently Icy somehow found out where it was and stole the final piece of the Codex."
"So Darkar's got the Ultimate Power?" Stella asked, looking out the window as if the weather would be sign of whether an Apocalypse was happening or not.
"We don't know what's happening. All we know is that we've been watching the entrances to Shadow Haunt and the Under Realm, and so far there have been no movement," Helia told them.
"Apart for the Trix teleporting themselves to the Resort Realm," Brandon added sourly.
"Right," Helia agreed hesitantly.
"Is there any good news?" Riven grumbled from his place slouched against one of the panels.
"Well, it's a bit off topic, but Rouge's egg hatched."
Sky brightened at the news. "Really?"
"Yeah, you're grandparents," Helia grinned. "It's a little filly with purple wings. Shannon's gonna call her Amethyst."
"I'm beginning to notice a theme," Timmy grinned.
"Ah-coo!" Digit sneezed.
"Alright, enough standing around," Sky told everyone, getting them focused. "We've got to get back to Magix to get these pixies better. Full speed, Mr. Timmy."
"Aye Captain," Timmy saluted.
While Timmy and Sky focused on flying the ship and Riven brooded in silence, Helia turned his attention to Brandon. The two of them had never really gotten along, but the exact reason behind the tension was something that Helia had never been able to identify. And he knew that the only way he was going to discover what that reason was, was through confrontation. "You don't like me very much, do you?"
"What?" Brandon said, trying to play dumb. "I never said that."
"Not directly, no, but I do get the feeling that – "
"I don't don't like you," Brandon tried to assure Helia but only ended up confusing both of them. "Look, it's not that I don't like you or nothing. I just don't understand you. I mean, you say you're all for pacifism and then you go and blow Timmy up."
"Yeah, I agree that that probably wasn't my best moment."
"So what are you; a pacifist or a hero?"
"Can't I be both?"
"No, because that would make you an ox-moron."
Helia stared at Brandon for a moment before he understood what the squire was talking about. "It's oxymoron. And I guess I dunno what I believe. I mean, I understand while you guys want to up hold Red Fountain's name and protect the innocent, but at the same time I've listened to my dad and what he says makes a lot of sense."
"You really look up to you're dad, huh?" Brandon asked, unexpectedly stumbling onto common ground with Helia. The wasn't a person in the universe that Brandon looked up too more than his dad, and he had the feeling that Helia felt the same about his own father.
"Yeah," Helia nodded. "It's hard not too. He's one hell of a public speaker."
"That doesn't surprise me. I mean, I heard that debate you had with Riven about pacifism. That was impressive. Hell, you almost had me changing my mind about the issue," Brandon confessed.
"It's nothing compared to when my old man speaks," Helia told him and Brandon couldn't help but grin. Maybe Helia wasn't that bad after all.
"Hey, maybe you can start your own team of combat pacifists," Brandon suggested. "You're welcome to use the name ox-morons. You can have a whole ox theme going on, you know with the whole Horns of Justice attack."
"What? Like Taurus from the Zodiac Fighters?"
Brandon stared at him in disbelief. "You know the Zodiac Fighters?"
"Yeah. Who doesn't?"
"Helia, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship (5)."
(1) Personally, I couldn't understand Timmy's plan. I really didn't make any sense to me and I honestly don't believe they'd be able to do all that in a short amount of time. However, I've gotta work with what's given to me. Also, Builder's Cleavage: also known as Plumber's Cleavage, Crackage or Coin Slot
(2) I always thought Flora sounded very condescending during that bit
(3) Seriously, go check out this episode again. There's something suspicious about that bush
(4) I so don't get why she does that. It's not very appealing
(5) Ah, Casablanca. It's not my favourite movie off all time (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy holds that place firmly) but it definitely has the best script of all time. Nothing much really happens in it but it has great lines that are so sarcastic and subtle. I love it