Hello everybody! How are you? Good I hope. Here is the next chapter so enjoy. Italics are thoughts.

Chapter seven: the cave

Under the bright sun shining over Alfea the winx club was waiting the arrival of a ship. They had decided to meet the new guy before briefing the specialists about the mission.

"So you are all in this school?"

"Yes Layla. You'll see, it's really a great place, the pixies will love it."

"Yeah! Flora is right, plus Red Fountain is not too far and it's full of handsome guys!"

"STELLA!"

"What?"

Layla couldn't help but laugh. Those girls were fun and being with them somehow decreased her worries about the pixies. Piff was still in this horrible place, she had to saver her!

"Oh look here they come!"

Indeed the noise of levabikes was roaring toward them and soon three bikers appeared. They took of their helmet and looked at the girl. The first biker was Sky, his blond hair looking even better thanks to the sun. He looked at Bloom and had a weak smile. He wanted so hard to make thing right between the fairy and him but he felt like no matter what it would hurt her. Bloom smiled at him shyly. She was not sure how she felt. Not yet.

The second biker was Brandon. He looked at Stella and gave her his best smile. The fairy of the sun blushed, he was so handsome and he was going with on this mission with her!

The last biker was a complete stranger. The girls noticed the black cape, and Stella raised an eyebrow, before he took of the helmet. He was brown with short hair and green eyes, rather muscled too.

"Ladies, allow me to introduce you to the new member of our team, Matt!" Brandon said.

"Hello Matt, and welcome to the club!"

Matt smiled and waved his hand.

"Hello everyone, nice to meet you. Damn they are more beautiful in real life. Especially Flora."

Matt looked at the girls. So here he was, facing people he had believe to be fictional. Still not completely sure if it was a good idea to be so close to them, he couldn't help but notice how the wind was playing with Floras' hair.

"Not bad, but not as good as my Brandon! And a black cape? Looks like I have some fashion work to do with him." Stella whispered to Bloom who rolled her eyes, a smile on her face.

"Ok Matt, the wonderful blonde is Stella, my girlfriend, the shy one is Flora, the one with red hair is Bloom, the purple haired one is Tecna, The one with pigtails is Musa and the last one is Layla."

"Alright" Matt said, "who requires our aid?"

"The pixies." Those poor things are trapped in Shadowhaunt, the lair of Lord Darkar. Layla will show us the way."

Bloom had spoken while looking at Matt. He seemed ok and she hoped he would quickly feel good with everyone.

Layla took a step forward, looking motivated.

"I won't let that monster do what he wants!"

"Don't worry. Your friends will be safe; we will make sure of that. Between the specialist's strength and the winx's magic, there is no room for defeat."

Matt had spoken with confidence. Of course he knew everything would not be as easy as that but he didn't want Layla to be too worried. It could be bad for her not being able to focus. The girl was a little surprise by his speech pattern, but she smiled. He was right; they would rescue the pixies no matter what!

At this moment a shuttle appeared in the sky, Riven in it. He unwounded a ladder and the rest of the boys plus Bloom, Layla, Stella and Tecna went into the shuttle. Then it took the group away, to the mission.

Musa turned to face Flora.

"So, what do you think? I find Matt interesting."

"Oh? Why?"

"Well, one he has a black cape, that's different and two I like the way he speaks, it's funny. Do you think he is the one who helped Mirta?"

"Oh, I forgot to ask!"

Meanwhile, in a monastery…

Three girls were sitting under a tree, bored to death. One with long white hair sighted again.

"We will never get out of this place! Oh I hate it, those flowers, the little birds, the blue sky… Sisters, I think I will be cruel if we get out. Like, very very cruel! More cruel that I have ever been!"

"Arrrgh I can't stand it anymore! Enough! ENOUGH!"

"Calm down Stormy, it's useless. We must act like good girls or else we will never get out."

"Sorry Darcy but it's above my strength. I hate hypocrisy."

At this point, a golden bird passed in sky, creating a rainbow behind him. Seeing this, Darcy rolled her eyes, Icy sighted stronger and Stormy clenched her fists in rage.

"A rainbow? A fucking RAINBOW? I HATE THIS PLACE!"

Darcy said nothing, hoping her sister would eventually shut up, but that was as likely as Icy falling in love with a fish.

Suddenly the sky turned red, storms and lightning creating a feeling of doomsday. Soon a portal appeared and a shape emerged out of it.

It looked like a skeleton wearing an armor. His mere presence killed light; his footsteps put the grass on fire. His eyes were hidden by the helmet but still the trix could feel the power emanating from him, they felt as if his judging gaze was burning their very souls.

"You, witches, come. From now on you belong to me, and you will obey my orders."

The Trix followed him, laughing and screaming with joy. At last, freedom! And a powerful, evil being wanted them; they were so famous, so important that even something like this creature of darkness called them!

Following the shadow phoenix in his portal, they emerged in a corridor, out of the place that had become their worst nightmare. Curious, Icy turned to face her savior.

"Who are you?"

"Do not ask mortal, you will know soon enough. For now your clothes do not fit the purpose I have for the three of you."

With a clap of his armored fingers, Darkar turned the witches' clothes back into their usual outfits. The three girls smiled, loving the change. But as they were beginning to enjoy this new freedom, guards rushed to stop them.

"Oh no, not them! Lightning!"

The spell used by Stormy did nothing to stop the knights. Icy summoned a wall of ice, but the result was merely enough to slow the guards one second.

"They are immune to magic!" Darct growled. That was not good!

"Fools. It is your magic that is weak."

The shadow phoenix focused and soon a ball of dark energy appeared and touched the witches. At first they felt pain but the feeling was quickly replaced by joy as they felt their power growing.

"This is the gloomix. My gift to my minions. Use it well.

Darcy used a spell to blind the guards while her sisters were using their own elements to attack, resulting in a tornado of dark ice, freezing the guards and throwing them across the corridor. Darkar took his phoenix form, destroyed a wall and the four villains flew of, going to the lair of the lord of darkness.

In the shuttle…

Matt was checking the computer with Timmy, making sure that everything was right.

"It's the good direction Timmy?"

"Yes, don't worry. We'll be at the coordinates soon."

The specialist nodded before going to the center of the ship. Stella was cuddling with Brandon, Sky was showing some kind of device to Tecna while Layla and Bloom were talking about the pixies. Matt walked right to them.

"Excuse me, Layla?"

"Yes? What is it Matt?"

"What kind of enemies will we find in the cave?"

"Monsters. Some have a long neck and spit some kind of web and the others have a big head and a very strong jaw with sharp claws."

"I see. That means they can fight no matter the distance between them and us."

"By the way," said Bloom, "It's the first time I see a specialist with a black cape. I didn't know it was possible for a hero to have this color."

"Why, because black means evil?"

A little surprised, Bloom and Layla didn't answer immediately.

"Nah, don't worry I'm kidding. Black is my favorite color and since it wasn't forbidden to students to use this color, I chose it."

"But black is for special events only Matt! I know fashion isn't a guy thing but still. What if I changed the color to something more… you know, more specialist?"

"No thanks Stella."

Bloom remembered something and turned to face Matt.

"Oh before I forget, is it you who helped Mirta, one month ago?"

"A small girl, ex witch with reddish hair?"

"Yes, that's her. So you helped her!"

"Yes. She was being bullied and-"

"Sorry to interrupt guys, but we're at the coordinates." Timmy said.

Sky immediately activated his leader mode.

"Okay everyone, we will go into Darkar's lair from here. Timmy and Riven will go back to Alfea and follow our tracks thanks to the magi-computer Tecna gave to Timmy."

"Thanks again Tecna. It's amazing!"

"The girl blushed a little. "It's nothing Timmy."

The shuttle went into a hidden entrance. Sky unwounded the ladder and the team followed. They said good bye to Riven and Timmy, who went back to the school, and Layla took the lead, guiding them to Shadowhaunt. Tecna was analyzing the cave with her own magic, obtaining data.

"So far so good, we are on the good path".

Layla frowned. Of course it was the good path; she remembered it very well mind you.

A noise in the rocks stopped her to say something to the fairy of technology. She turned back and gasped.

"A monster!"

Everyone else could see the creature now. Some kind of lizard with a long neck, a dark skin and a tongue full of saliva, dropping on the floor. Before the group could do anything, other monsters get out of the shadows, growling. They could smell the blood in their veins; they already feel the sweet taste of their prey in their mouths. They were hungry.

The girls turned into their fairy form including Layla, which surprised Bloom because she didn't expect the new girl to be a fairy. Watching the transformation for the first time, Matt was a little disappointed. It was just a ball of light and then the girls were in their magical outfit.

"You're sure those clothes will protect you?"

"Don't worry Matt; it's tougher than it looks! Morphix!"

Everyone started fighting but the more they fought the more monsters came. Eventually Sky ordered to retreat and they started running. After a moment they found a door, locked. Bloom tried a fireball to open it but it failed. Brandon used an explosive device but it didn't work.

"We're trapped!"

"Brandon move!"

The specialist jumped on the left while Matt, putting all his strength in his fist, punched the door as hard as he could. Thanks to the phantogauntlets and the previous attacks, the door opened. The winx and specialists quickly jumped behind it and the boys forced the door to close. Once it was done Layla used her magic to seal the door. The monsters behind were still trying to open it, but it was in vain.

Matt frowned.

"And now?"

Here is the end of this chapter. See you at the next!