Blimey, part fifteen? Things are rattling on rather quickly now, aren't they?
PS: is it just me, or has fanfiction's editor gone on the blink today?

Thanks to: Meg (the only one to comment on the last chapter), and Bristol Rovers for making it to the third round of the FA Cup where they now face the mighty Hereford (snigger!)

No Thanks to: Toon Disney, who seems to have made it their raison d'etre to annoy Meg as much as possible.

Random Quote: You're so colorful, its making me nauseous! (Mai, from Aang The Last Avatar : Thanks Meg!)

Icy, Darcy and Stormy looked on impassively as Prince Phobos drew more and more power into him - if they were afraid, they certainly weren't showing it.

But was this an act of supreme bravery, or an act of supreme foolishness?

Probably option number two, judging by the sight that presented itself before them - the sight of the already-powerful regent somehow feeding from the walls, seeming to increasing in stature as he extracted strength from the fingers of energy that danced around the room. Eventually the light show died down and the prince stood before them, visibly fortified, with a faint aura surrounding his body and his eyes glowing.

"Do you understand now?" he sneered loudly. "This castle is more than just a mere building, it's more than just stone and mortar - it's a conduit through which all of Meridian's magical energy can be drawn to me. You girls wanted my power? NOW FEEL IT FOR YOURSELVES!"

With that, ultra-fierce bolts of lightning shot from his outstretched fingers and cannoned hard into the dark trio, smashing the breath out of them as it drove them into the wall behind them with tremendous force, a force that would've shattered a lesser being into a million pieces. But the Trix are made of sterner stuff and as they stood pinned by the crushing force of Phobos' attack, they looked at each other and nodded.

"That's it. All of this realm's power is in him now." Darcy grunted.

"It's time. Let's do it!" Icy replied.

The three girls closed their eyes and focused, crossing their arms in front of them as their Gloomixes started to glow with an intense brightness. As they drew upon their own inner strength, balls of energy started to form - one blue, one pink, one purple - surrounding their bodies in a protective shell, keeping Prince Phobos' attack at bay and growing ever-potent by the second until finally, Icy made their intentions clear.

"Sisters... GIVE ME YOUR POWER!"

At their command, the three balls merged slowly, their colours swirling into one another until, with a blinding flash, it formed a single ball, dissipating Phobos' lightning attack in an instant. The Prince looked aghast as out of the ball, a hellish figure emerged, feminine with twin ponytails, but nothing more than a black shadow except for the glowing Gloomixes around her neck and wrists, a shadow made even darker by the swirling black clouds that were suddenly billowing out of nothing overhead.

Phobos knew instantly what he was witnessing. It was the witches' combined form - MegaTrix.

"Interesting... you couldn't beat me seperately so you thought you'd try a combined effort," he said with a look of amusement on his face, before releasing an insane amount of energy in the girl's direction. With barely a flick of her wrist, she effortlessly deflected the attack and it drilled into a nearby wall, leaving huge chunks of debris strewn across the floor.

Undeterred, Phobos fired off a volley of shots at his opponent, one after the other. Normally, they were each powerful enough to floor a charging minotaur at a thousand paces, but against the collective power of the Trix, they were easily tossed aside - it was like flicking marshmallows into a fire. MegaTrix let out a quiet chuckle as a low rumbling started to emanate from the clouds above.

Glaring at the dark form, Phobos drew his hands in front of him, summoning up a larger ball of energy. "So you can deal with one shot at a time... let's see how well you handle ten at once!" With that, he flung his arms out, letting loose a broadside of bolts which careered almost randomly through the air before homing in on their target... but just as they were about to strike home, their target suddenly vanished.

"What?!"

As quickly as she vanished, MegaTrix reappeared barely ten yards in front of the prince. Before he could react, a huge tornado was summoned beneath him, sending him flying upwards and crashing hard into the ceiling with sickening force, then dropping back down towards the floor. Groggily, he picked himself up before he sent sent flying again, a mini-hurricane smashing him hard into a wall. MegaTrix grinned with malicious glee as she moved in for the kill, but a huge telekinetic wave from Prince Phobos returned the favour, sending her hurtling to the other side of the chamber before she could strike.

Skidding to a halt, MegaTrix turned to him and smiled. "Awww, don't tell me that's all the great Prince Phobos can do. Come on boy, try harder."

He snarled and wiped the blood from his mouth as he stood and charged himself up for a full-blooded strike, spurred on by her insulting reference to him as 'boy'. "Enough fooling around!" he yelled, "This finishes NOW!"

No response came from MegaTrix as she concentrated her efforts above her, raising herself up to the black clouds which all the while had been getting thicker and thicker, and had started to pulsate with an energy which seemed to fade in and out of the swirling mass. As MegaTrix yelled and threw her hands aloft, the cloud spectacularly erupted into life, spewing forth great torrents of power into her body before she channelled it into a single beam hurtling in Phobos' direction. He responded in kind, unleashing his own power into one great assault.

The two awesome attacks crashed into each other with apocalyptic force, like two sides of a scrum engaging each other with all their might, digging in deep, fighting hard for every inch, with both Phobos and MegaTrix pouring every ounce of strength they had into this battle of minds and magical muscle.

The stalemate continued until gradually, Phobos' force slowly began to advance, bit by bit, millimetre by millimetre. Determined to press home his advantage, he dug deep within his reserves in an effort to turn the screws just that little bit more. This was it... this impudent, disrespectful intruder would finally be punished for her misdemeanours. MegaTrix on the other hand seemed to ease back, as though she actually wanted him to win this tussle.

"That's it - he's fully committed to the attack"
"Now's our chance"
"It's time for the final strike... GO!"