Thanks to: Meg (don't worry, Timmy gave Tecna the 'keys' to the ship, so it's all good... well, apart from it getting wrecked, that is), and the BBC for starting season two of WITCH straight after they'd finished season one.

Random Quote: Why do seagulls fly over the sea? Because if they flew over the bay, they'd be bagels. (my boss's son's joke du jour - just to continue the awful joke thing going)

"Oh man - I think we're in trouble now."

Tegryn scrambled to his feet as the gang confronted the Ifrit, who stood ominously calm in the centre of their circle. The Ifrit had no need to panic - he could sense their fear a mile off, and that gave him a malicious sense of glee.

"What's the matter girls - scared? Don't worry. If you're really that frightened, I'll make sure your deaths are as quick as possible."

"Who's he calling a girl?" Tegryn muttered angrily under his breath as he felt the fury towards this thing building up inside him - kidnapping Will, putting him and his friends in danger, and this petty, albeit unintended insult... to say he was annoyed with this thing would be a major understatement.

"Right! Time to see what this creep's made of! RAGE BLAST!" he shouted as he adopted an attacking stance and let rip with his trademark strike. He looked on as the intense white beam of energy hurtled towards its target, the long grass of the clearing rustling wildly in its wake until finally it struck the Ifrit square in the back... and fizzled out into nothing.

Tegryn gasped, half in shock and half in disappointment. He put a whole load of effort into that shot, so how could his Rage Blast be so ineffective?

"It's just like I told you Teggy," Tecna said gravely. "It's completely impervious to our attacks."

"The pink-haired one is right," the Ifrit gloated as he turned to face his attacker. "Nothing can hurt me!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Tegryn smirked. "You look pretty hurt from where I'm standing."

"What? Teggy, what are you talking about?" Tecna gasped.

"Check out the scars on his chest. Someone's hurt him alright - and quite recently too!"

The Ifrit growled, visibly angered by the reminder of his encounter with Charlotte. "Yes, someone was indeed able to hurt me," he replied slowly, his fist bursting into flame as he prepared to launch into his Fire Wave attack, "But you won't be alive long enough to find out who!"

With that he slammed his hand down, and the ground in front of him burst into a massive wall of flame that rushed towards its victim. Tegryn looked on in horror at the huge fire speeding straight at him.

"Teggy! MOVE!"

But he couldn't move. He could only stand bolt upright, paralysed with fear, his eyes fixed on the approaching fire. This was one of the things he feared most in the world. In fact, being roasted to a crisp was his worst fear come true, and nothing or no-one could save him from it...

Thankfully, he was wrong.

Just when he thought it was too late, Taranee leapt in front of him and, with a scooping motion of her hands, forced the flames to jump over their heads and dissipate harmlessly into the air. Breathing slightly heavily, she turned and looked at Tegryn, who was still standing rooted to the spot, his eyes wide open in terror, his skin looking decidedly pale.

"Teggy, you could've been kîlled - why didn't you move?" the baffled Fire Guardian asked.

"I... I'm sorry. I just... I... kinda... spaced out, I guess." he stammered.

"Wow, Charlotte was right - you really are afraid of fire aren't you?" Irma said sympathetically as she and Musa rushed up to his side.

"C'mon babe," Musa said as she ushered her shaken fiancé away. "Hang back for a bit. We'll find a way of putting this jerk away."

"We can't attack him head on." Tegryn said quietly. "We gotta find another way... something different."

That 'something different' came quicker than he expected as, just as the Ifrit prepared himself for another strike, a thick forest of vines erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves hungrily around his limbs. Tegryn peered over to the other side of the clearing, although everybody already knew who was behind this - it was Flora's handiwork alright, with Cornelia stood next to her preparing to try something herself. At the Earth Guardian's command, a mass of woody stems exploded out of the soil and enveloped the already entangled Ifrit until he was nothing more than a knarled old trunk with a few arms and legs sticking out in almost comical fashion.

"Yow! What's that?" Musa yelled, pointing up at the sky where a mass of white clouds had suddenly formed above the Ifrit's head, swirling faster and faster until an eye had formed in the centre.

"Whoa! I've never seen anything like it!" Stella cried.

Tegryn chuckled, while Layla looked on with a smile - unlike the others, they had both seen this before.

"You guys have never seen Mirta in action before, have you?"

"Mirta?" Musa gasped as she looked over to where the young red-haired witch was standing with her arms aloft, grasping her fiercely-glowing Spirit Rod firmly in one hand.

"Uh-huh. I tell ya, you're gonna love this. If she connects with this attack, this fight's over!"

The gang looked up in awe as thin fingers of pure white energy started to jump from the edges of the eye, becoming more and more frequent until a brilliant ball started to form where they met in the centre. Quickly it became brighter and more intense, filling the sky with its light like a newborn sun. Mirta yelled out as she struggled to maintain the massive forces being generated until finally, satisified that she had built up enough power, she dropped her arms by her sides with a yell of "Cloud Burst!".

Released from her hold, the massive sphere of energy followed suit, bearing down on the trapped Ifrit quicker than the eye could see. It enveloped its victim, blinding all who looked upon it with its almost unbearable light before knocking them off their feet courtesy of the huge explosion that followed - so huge was the blast, it would've been no surprise if the whole of Majix had felt its quake.

As the dust settled and the rain of earth, vine and tree had stopped, they gathered on the edge of large crater that had left behind, and warily peered inside. Apart from the odd splinter of wood, there was nothing to be seen but scorched earth.

"Phew! Nothing could've survived that." Flora said quietly.

"You're right - getting out of that alive would be a scientific impossibility!" Tecna added. "Thank goodness that's over!"

An eerie calm fell upon the scene, the only noise being the faint rustling of the breeze playing through the nearby trees. But then, an altogether less welcoming sound joined in - a sinister, familiar chuckle coming from high above their heads.

"Oh no, no, no - it's not over yet... not for me at least."

The crowd gasped as they looked up. The remnants of cloud left over from Mirta's attack had started to take on a unnatural orange glow.

"Look! Up there!" Bloom shouted.

"Is that thing really up there? How did he escape?" Tecna asked.

"More to the point, what's he doing now?" asked Musa as a series of large orange orbs of energy slowly shot off away from them from within the clouds... and then turned in mid-air and swerved towards our heroines (and hero).

"INCOMING!" yelled Hay Lin as she pointed towards them.

"Umm... didn't you already do that line?" Irma quipped as they ducked at the last minute to avoid being struck by the magical projectiles.

"Come on - we have to get out of here!" Cornelia shouted as she and the others started to run. Seeing that an orb was closing in fast, she stopped and quickly threw up a wall of earth in an effort to stop it - but it was no use. The ball smashed through the makeshift shield as though it was made out of sand.

"I'll hold them off!" Taranee cried as she prepared to face one ball that was heading towards her at high speed.

"Shouldn't be too difficult..." she thought to herself, "These look like they're made from fire, just like his other attacks. I just have to do what I did last time and deflect it away"

Unfortunately her plan didn't quite go according to plan. Unlike the Fire Wave she dealt with before, this energy ball was a whole new kind of attack - more intense, and packing more power than its predecessor. With shocking force, the ball struck her square in the body, sending her flying and landing heavily on the ground.

"'Ranee!" Mimi and Nini yelled as they started to run to her aid.

"No!" Tegryn shouted. "You get out of here with the others. I'll deal with this!"

"But we..."

"GO!" he shouted even louder as he went to pick Taranee up.

"Teggy, look out!" she cried as she stood up, seeing that the same ball was circling around for another strike.

"Don't worry - I've got it... I think." Tegryn said as he closed his eyes and steadied himself. Taranee looked on wide-eyed in fright as the orb bore down onto them. At the last minute, with a cry of "Void Barrier!", Tegryn opened his eyes and thrust out his hands. The firey ball rushed forward to strike its intended target... and disappeared with a dark ripple.

Tegryn's stood still for a moment... then his body trembled and he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

"Teggy. What happened?" Taranee asked as Mimi, Nini, Musa and Irma rushed forward to join them.

"I've never seen you do that before Teggy - Void Barrier? What on Majix is that?" Musa asked.

"I... I guess it's kinda like my Magic Mirror spell... but I somehow tapped into my dark magic... I think I sent that thing into limbo... into nothingness."

"Wow. That must've taken a shedload of power. No wonder you're wiped."

"Yeah, you're right - it normally takes three witches to do that... powerful ones too... more powerful than me." he said weakly as he struggled to his feet. "I won't be doing that again in a hurry."

"That's a shame, 'cos here come some more!" Irma cried as she spotted three more moving quickly in their direction.

"Can you run?" Mimi asked.

"I'm not sure... I feel absolutely knackered right now." Tegryn replied.

"We'll carry you then!" said Nini with a wink as she and her sister hooked his arms over their shoulders and took off.

"But what about Musie and..."

"It's okay Teggy, just go!" Musa shouted from behind them.

"Yeah, we could do with the exercise anyway!" Irma grinned. "We'll catch you up."

"Okay, we'll race ya! Here we... whoa! Heads up girls!"

Tegryn and the twins had barely got ten feet off the ground when they were buzzed by the first of the three balls, causing them to veer dramatically to the side. Up ahead, two fireballs were circling round in front of them. Seeing this, the twins started to climb higher.

"Hold on Teggy..."
"Looks like we're taking the high road!"

Looking down below, he could see the others being hounded by countless orbs, sweeping above their heads, even bumping them as they tried to run away. Behind them, Musa, Taranee and Irma were making good ground - thankfully they weren't being hassled quite so much.

"Something's up. Those things... they're not actually trying to harm us - they're just take us where they want us to go. It's almost as if..." he said as he looked forwards. Up ahead, he could see that the high cliffs that bordered the clearing were quickly closing in on them. He recognised instantly what was happening. "It's a trap! Those things are herding us into a corner!"

Sure enough, even though they tried to make a break for open ground, the fireballs rudely bounced their quarry right where the Ifrit wanted them.

"Whoa!" Mimi yelled as one of the orange orbs flew just centimetres over their heads, causing them to dip suddenly. Above them, the other pair were hovering menacingly, getting ready to follow up what the first ball had started.

"Looks like it's a dead end for us too!"

The three set down in front of the others, who were stood panting, trapped in the corner where the two cliffs merged. Tegryn made his way over to Musa, who clung tightly to him.

"Teggy! Oh Teggy, are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks to the twins. At least you're all okay."

"Yeah, but for how long?" Bloom said gravely. "Look at those things - what are they doing?"

Bloom wasn't the only one who was slightly baffled. The fireballs, which had previously been fizzing around the place like nobody's business and causing them all sorts of bother, were now all more or less stationary, some at ground level, some at various points in the air, but all of them lined up... and all of them trapping them in the corner.

And then, inexplicably, they plunged into the ground. Almost instantly, the ground started to shake violently, and a huge wall of intense flame spewed out of the ground, arching around in mid-air to form a firey dome against the rocky cliff-faces. And then, to make things even worse, the dome of fire started to shrink in on itself, starting a slow, sinister march towards its helpless prey, and leaving a smouldering, blackened trail as it went. And from out of those flames, the Ifrit emerged, slowly marching forward to put an end to the puny beings it now had at its mercy.

They were well and truly trapped now, with no hope of escape.

"Oh man - I REALLY think we're in trouble now."