It's Boxing Day, and you know what that means, don't you? Well, unless you live in the UK, you probably don't. In fact, even if you do live here, you don't anyway. It's a day of sales, crap football and half-decent movies on TV.
Thanks to: Spongey and Meg, for their kind thoughts and reviews - you guys are stars. So's everyone else who reviews this (hint hint!)
Random Quote: Would you mind not farting while I'm trying to save the world? (Doctor Who)
Phobos' eyes widened in delight at the sight of a thick cloud of dust that had quickly filled the room, his mighty attack blasting a gaping hole through the castle wall, seemingly obliterating his enemy in a single stroke. He smiled to himself - another foe vanquished by his mighty hand... but as he revelled in his victory, something hit him. Without warning, a single, purple bolt shot silently out of the cloud and hit him square between the eyes.
He reeled back in horror as the walls of the throne room started to bend and sway, as though they were nothing more than frail young trees caught in a stiff breeze. The floor twisted and churned underneath him and he fell to his knees, clutching his head as the Confusion spell took hold. He looked up at the cloud of dust, and as he did so he could see a wicked, evil face inside it, laughing at him, mocking him, enjoying this moment before it devoured him. And from this cloud, he could just make out three shapes approaching him.
"Heh. It doesn't matter how strong you are Princey-boy, your mind's just as vulnerable as everybody else's!" Darcy chuckled, her eyes glowing as she ratcheted up the pressure on his psyche.
"Ha! What a masterstroke - splitting up at the last second to make him think he'd beaten us! We rule!" Stormy gloated.
"Well, three heads are better than one!" Icy replied smugly.
"You... you won't... get... away with..." Phobos mumbled as he fired off a few lightning bolts in self-defence, which unfortunately for him were well-wide of their target, striking the ceiling and lightly showering the room with yet more rubble. Suddenly, he felt himself being lifted off his feet and slammed against a wall by a huge gust of wind. He was powerless to resist, straining to get free of Stormy's gale but quite unable to do so.
Icy laughed. "Okay, we've got you right where we want you. Now be a good little dog and stay... ICE COFFIN!"
Her frozen attack struck it's helpless target, and in a matter of seconds the almighty ruler of Meridian was pinned for good, encased in a cocoon of ice save for his head. Shivering and badly dizzied, he looked up blearily at the dark Trio standing triumphantly over him as the room distorted itself around them, and over at the far side of the room, he could see another... a fourth figure - tall, imposing, dark maroon in colour, slowly emerging from an eery light, laughing sinisterly.
"Excellent! Excellent! I knew you three wouldn't let me down! And you've made quite a mess too - a good finishing touch." The figure strode over to Phobos and stared at him intently. "Darcy... you may release your hold on him now."
The prince blinked and fought for breath as the spell on his mind was broken. Now he could see who was addressing him - this ominous, almost skeletal being, a tattered cloak hanging from his shoulders like wispy tendrils, his face nothing more than a featureless black shadow with only his mouth visible under his beak-shaped helmet.
"Who are you?" Phobos demanded angrily.
"I am Lord Darkar, soon to be the ruler of all that exists - and yes, I'm afraid that includes you and your pathetic little kingdom. Like everyone else, you will be powerless to stop me. Do you have anything else to say before I claim your powers for my own?"
An evil look appeared on Phobos' face, a look that said 'I have a scheme - let's see if you take the bait'.
"I have no idea how you came to be aware of my powers, and quite frankly I don't care... but don't think for a minute that mine is the ultimate power in this universe."
"Just what do you mean?"
"There is another source. One that resides in Kandrakar, a domain that lies at the very centre of existance. Control Kandrakar, and you control everything! But first you need the key."
"Really, and what is this key?"
"It's a crystal called the Heart of Kandrakar, and it's currently in the possession of a young girl - release me and I will tell you where to find her."
Icy interrupted him. "Wait! The Heart of Kandrakar? That's the crystal that Earth brat Will used on Tegryn, isn't it?"
Stormy laughed in Phobos' face. "Oh dear. Looks like we don't need your help after all!"
"Yeah, thanks for the info!" Darcy added. "Come on LD, let's just destroy him now!"
Darkar held up his hand. "Not so fast. We may not need his information now, but he will still be useful to us."
Prince Phobos nodded. "That's right. I know the Guardian of the Heart and her friends. I know their strengths and weaknesses. Together, with our allied powers, we can defeat them and claim Kandrakar for ourselves!"
Darkar laughed loudly at this. "Claim it for OURselves? What ARE you talking about?"
"Now wait just a minute! You said..."
"I said you'd be helpful. I never said anything about an alliance!"
Phobos felt his heart drop when he heard this. His plan to worm his way out of this predicament was crashing down around him.
"But I thought we had a deal..."
Darkar smirked evilly. "Really? Well deal with THIS!" he yelled as he clasped Phobos' face with his hard elongated fingers. The chamber was quickly filled with the prince's screams as Darkar set to work, engulfing his head in a field of dark energy as he began drawing out his power in the cruelest way possible. And as Darkar absorbed Meridian's power into his own body, a strange thing began to happen. A faint black aura erupted around him, dancing around him like flames that carressed him rather than consumed him... but that wasn't all.
A transformation began to take place. His body grew taller and started to become more thick-set, almost muscular in places - even his spindly little backbone grew thicker. What could only be described as bony blades started to appear on his forearms, shoulders, back, ankles and toes, glistening like razor-sharp teeth that were hungry for the taste of flesh. A row of short, studded spikes ran down the centre of his head, in between a vicious pair of swept-back horns that had sprouted out from just above his eyes.
Darkar bellowed as he supped the last ounce of power from the fallen prince's body. He marvelled as he felt his new-found strength coursing through him, the dark flames around him growing ever larger, almost as if they were threatening to burst out of control. "Yes! YES! The Shadowfire has never burned so dark!"
"Hey LD. Weren't we supposed to get a share of that power?" Icy asked, her arms folded, looking slightly annoyed by Darkar's apparent selfishness.
"Oh, but you already have, my dear Icy. Can't you feel it?" Darkar replied as he released his grip on the near-unconscious Phobos. "Through me, the power in your Gloomix has increased many times over. The three of you are now more powerful than you've ever been before."
The girls looked at their dark charms - sure enough they were glowing fiercely, and they started to feel their greater power for themselves. Stormy looked particularly pleased.
"This is amazing! Come on, let test them out by wasting this loser world!" she said eagerly.
"No Stormy!" Darkar replied loudly. "We have more important things to attend to first. We'll return to Majix to put the next part of my plan into motion. Once we rule the universe and everything in it, then you can come back here and play with this world to your wicked heart's content."
And with that, Darkar raised his hand to open the portal... but no sooner had it opened, it immediately slammed shut. Confused, he tried again - same result.
"What is it? What's going on?" asked Darcy.
"There's something blocking the way, something preventing me from opening the portal back to Majix... some kind of barrier. No matter - I'll just treat it in the same way as I treat anything else that stands in my way... I'll smash straight through it!"
Darkar concentrated, pouring increasing amounts of force into breaching the invisible barrier until eventually, in a spectacular shower of sparks, the portal back to Majix was finally opened.
Meanwhile back in Alfea, the girls were just winding down after a hard night's slumber-partying and spin-the-bottling when all of a sudden Will shuddered uncontrollably. She sat up quickly in her sleeping bag, shivering and holding her body. She could tell that she had woken everybody else from their semi-sleep and that they were all looking at her wondering just what would make her act like this, but that didn't concern her - she couldn't help noticing that Bloom was also shuddering in exactly the same way.
"Hey Bloom? You felt it too?"
"Uh-huh," she replied shakily.
"Hey, what's going on? What did you guys feel?" Stella asked.
"I don't know Stell," Bloom answered, "But whatever it was, it wasn't good..."