Thanks to: Meg, Spongey and Kira, who all seemed to enjoy the thought of Darcy sucking her thumb.
BTW - we haven't had Season Three here yet in the UK - we're usually about a year or so behind the rest of the world when it comes to Winx, so I have to make do with the pictures on Michael's Favorites. I'm not doing Charmixes here, cos quite frankly I didn't like the whole Charmix thing. Enchantixes on the other hand are all rather spiffy, and I'll see if I can get them into future storylines.
Random Quote: "We threw everything at them. The kitchen sink, golf clubs, emptied the garage and threw it at them. Unfortunately, it was not enough, but at least my garage is tidy" (Ian Holloway, after Plymouth Argyle's defeat to Watford in the FA Cup quarter-final, 2007)
Just like the last time, the events of this chapter are happening similtaneously with the previous three chapters.
One or two parts of this chapter are a litte bit graphic, so I've given this an M-rating (although it is borderline), just to be on the safe side.
In the central section of the newly-divided room, Bloom, Musa, Tegryn and Irma faced up to Icy, who hovered above them with an evil glint in her eye.
"Oh... a bunch of pixies and a little kindergartener? That's disappointing - I was hoping for more of a challenge." Icy said sarcastically, shaking her head.
"You hear that Teggy? She called you a kindergartener!" Irma said out of the corner of her mouth.
"Why, the cheeky little mare." Tegryn sniggered.
"What's so funny?" Icy growled, visibly displeased with the cheeky banter that was being played out before her.
"Well, this whole situation really." Tegryn replied calmly. "Let's say for a moment that your boss actually succeeds in his little hare-brained scheme. Do you honestly believe that Darkar would share all that power with you three witches?"
Icy's small mouth broke into a wry smile. "I've got news for you Teggy - he's already has given us a share. Care for a taster?"
With that, Icy thrust her hand forward and fired a small volley of ice darts straight at Tegryn. But he didn't budge - instead all he did was thrust his own hand out, and smiled with satisfaction as the darts disappeared into nothingness with a shimmering dark ripple before they could even touch him.
"I wouldn't be so smug if I was you, 'cos you're not the only one here with a power-up. You're forgetting - I have witch's magic in me too, which means I also get stronger down here instead of weaker."
"Hmph! Then let's just see how good you really are!" the ice witch snorted as she unleashed a hail of ice darts in their direction. Once again, Tegryn used his Void Barrier defence, confident that his increased power would be enough to keep it going. But as Icy continued her relentless attack, Tegryn could gradually feel himself weaken, and the strain began to show on his face.
"Hey Tegryn - I could keep this going all day. How about you?" Icy taunted as she upped the tempo.
Tegryn grunted as he struggled to maintain his grip until eventually, the pressure proved too much and one of the ice darts slipped through his defences. He turned his body, trying desperately to avoid it but it zipped across him, ripping an ugly gash on his chest. As he clutched his body in pain, he finally released his hold on the Void Barrier, but thankfully Bloom was on hand to protect her friends with a shield of her own.
"Phew! Nice save, Bloom!" Musa exclaimed as she tended to her fiancé. "Teggy, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." he groaned. "Man, those things sting!"
"So what do we do now?" Irma asked. "We can't just sit here and let that witch try and turn us into shish kebabs."
"I've got a plan." Musa replied as she stood up. "Let's just hope she ain't wearing earplugs. Subwoofer Blast!"
As Icy continued her assault, she failed to notice the pair of giant speakers that had suddenly appeared on either side of her. In fact, she didn't notice them until she was deafened by a immense bass note which blasted her in stereo. She clutched her ringing ears in pain and slumped to the floor. At this point, Tegryn stood up and held out his hands - this was just the opening he was looking for. At first nothing happened, but then the ground around Icy began to swell and undulate before she was rocked by a series of loud explosions.
"Wow! Did you just do that?" said Musa in astonishment.
"Just putting those earth magic lessons to good use!" Tegryn replied with a wry grin.
"Oh, Corny'll be so proud of you." said Irma sarcastically.
As the friends enjoyed their little joke, Icy was becoming angrier by the second, and she growled as she picked herself up.
"So you think that's funny do you? Well laugh at this! Avalanche!"
From out of nowhere, a tsunami of snow suddenly engulfed our heroines (and hero), its coldness cutting through them like a knife. With no defence, they were quickly swamped and soon found themselves chest deep in the freezing torrent, and barely able to move.
"Oh man, we're sitting ducks." Musa cried as she shivered - short red dresses aren't really the ideal thing to wear in subzero temperatures.
"You're kidding me, right?" Irma replied. "How can we be sitting ducks when she's just given me a shedload of ammo to play with?"
"Ammo?"
Tegryn clicked his fingers, or at least tried to. "Of course! After all, this is just cold water, right?"
"Bingo!" Irma replied with a smile as with just a wiggle of her finger, she lifted a huge ball of snow from around Tegryn and herself up into the air and hurled it straight at the unsuspecting Icy, hitting her full in the face with a soft 'flumph!'. The group sniggered at the comical sight of Icy buried under her own snow - light-hearted moments like these had been in short supply so far today. Unfortunately, the irate ice witch was about to make sure that merriment was very short-lived. With a look a thunder on her face, she picked herself up once more and shook the snow off the top of her head, although it probably would've melted in no time at all considering the fires of rage that were burning inside her.
"Why you little pipsqueak! I'm through playing - now you've had it! Ice Coffin!"
Irma stared wide-eyed at the ice-blue bolt streaked towards her before instinctely raising her arms up in front of her in self-defence.
"NO!" Tegryn roared as he flung himself through the air, clasping Irma around the stomach and rugby-tackling her to the ground to try and get her out of the way. They landed on top of each other in a sprawled heap on the floor.
"Are you okay Irm?" Tegryn asked as he started to pick himself up.
"Yeah, I'm fine..." she started before gasped in shock and pointing at him. "Teggy! Your leg!"
He looked down to see his left leg encased in a solid block of ice from the knee downwards.
"Oh man. This is no time to be getting cold feet!"
Icy chuckled. "Hmm! Now this IS interesting... and what a perfect opportunity for me to show off my improved powers too. Check THIS out!"
With that she raised a hand, which glowed an eerie shade of pale blue, and slowly rotated her wrist. Tegryn looked on at her, quite unsure what to expect, but he certainly wasn't expecting the faint groaning, grinding noise that suddenly came from his frozen leg. He looked down to see the ice slowly twisting and contorting... and taking his foot along for the ride. He grunted in pain as his ankle all-too-quickly reached its limit, then stopped.
"What's the matter Teggy? No more witty one-liners?"
"Well this is hardly a laughing matter, is it?"
"It certainly won't be for you." she replied with an evil glint in her eye. Tegryn knew instantly what that look meant.
"Hey! Hey, come on now Icy! Please! There's no need for this!" he pleaded, but Icy was having none it. Without saying a word, she made one final violent twisting motion of her hand. Tegryn's breath escaped him in a strangled gasp as, with a snapping of ligiment and sinew, his ankle was violently wrenched from its joint until it was left almost facing backwards away from the rest of his leg. As Tegryn writhed silently in pain, the others looked on aghast, Bloom and Musa in particular. They had known Icy for quite a while and they knew she was evil and wicked to the core, but they had no idea she could be so horribly cruel and sadistic.
"Icy, how could you?" Musa cried as she tried to fight her way through the snow to tend to her fallen love. "What's he ever done to you?"
Ignoring Musa's distress, Icy shook her head and tutted. "I'm very disappointed in you Tegryn. Don't get me wrong, 'cos the whole begging for mercy bit was so sweet, but I was hoping for something more along the lines of an agonised scream!"
"No way!" Tegryn muttered through clenched teeth as he sat himself up and glared at her. "You'll never get that satisfaction from me!"
Icy smiled as she raised both her hands together in front of her, her fists lightly clenched as though she was holding an invisible handlebar.
"Now now, there's no need to be so stubborn. Surely you can... BEND a little on this!" she said as she suddenly snapped the invisible bar with her hands. Tegryn's eyes bulged and he grunted sharply as he felt the ice press unexpectedly hard against the back of his leg. What happened next was something that would haunt Bloom, Irma and Musa for the rest of their lives. At that point, time seemed to stand still and all was silent, save for two sounds...
The sickeningly loud crack of Tegryn's shinbones being snapped clean in half with such brute force, the ice that encased his leg shattered itself into tiny pieces; and the scream of pure excruciating agony that forced its way out of Tegryn's lungs as the jagged shards of bone gouged their way through the skin and ripped through his trouser leg, quickly turning the light grey cotton into a sickly, glistening red.
The three girls stood motionless, staring in horror at the sight of their crippled companion, with the floor around him slowly turning into a crimson puddle. Eventually, Musa regained her senses and rushed over the Tegryn, cradling him in his struggle against the unbearable pain.
"Teggy! Oh Teggy!" she sobbed. He reached instinctively for her, gripping her arm tightly in a vain search for some comfort.
Musa felt so powerless, so utterly, utterly powerless. Her one true love needed her more than ever right now, in his one true moment of need, but what could she do? They say love conquers all, but how could it conquer something as terrible as this?
Irma knelt beside him on his other side, and gently laid her hand on his chest in a trembling, shocked silence, barely able to prevent herself from crying. Bloom remained standing, bending over slightly as she laid a supporting hand on Musa's shoulder whilst looking sadly at Tegryn, doing her best to avoid looking at his leg.
And all through this, Icy's maniacal laughter was filling the room. "Now THAT'S more like it! THAT'S what I wanted to hear!"
That was enough. Bloom had had it with this witch.
"You two stay with Teggy," she said sternly before standing up straight and turning to look at Icy. "She won't get away with this."
Icy snorted as Bloom faced up to her, briefly rubbing her tender side.
"Oh please. How do you expect to beat me, Bloom? You can't even breathe properly!"
Bloom said nothing in reply, instead just glowing brightly with energy as she mustered every last flame of her Dragonfire.
"Very well pixie, if that's the way you want to play it!"
As the battle raged on around them, Musa looked sadly into Tegryn's eyes. They were screwed shut tightly in a grimace, with what seemed like thousands of lines etched into his face, each one telling of the utter torture that he was going through. His breathing was short and shallow, and his face unusually pale. Musa placed her hand tenderly on his cheek, and almost recoiled in horror. His skin was normally so warm and soft, but now it was unbelievably cold and clammy. As she stroked his skin, she could feel him shivering uncontrollably.
She knew exactly what that meant. He was going into shock and clearly losing a lot of blood... and all too quickly.
She had to do something, but she knew there was nothing she could do while Icy was still at large. She looked over her shoulder to see how Bloom was doing. She was just about holding her own for now, but her injury coupled with Icy's increased power and the fairies' growing weakness in this environment meant she was faring badly.
"Irma," Musa said softly.
The young Water Guardian didn't reply. She was lost in her own thoughts as she stared sadly at Tegryn. Just a couple of hours ago, he was happy, joking, laughing, and making her and her friends laugh too - her own goofy Big Irma. She had felt a very real connection between them from their very first meeting outside her school, and in such a short time the two of them had built up such a strong and unique rapport. Seeing him like this pained her immensely.
"Irma!"
"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry Musa." she said quietly, wiping away the tears that had gathered in the corners of her big blue eyes before they had the chance to start cascading down her pretty young face.
"We've got to help Bloom."
"But.. what about Teggy?"
"The sooner we take out that... that... witch... the sooner we can help him properly" she said with an angry snarl.
"But what can we do?"
"I've got an idea. Hit Icy with a water jet - give it everything you've got!"
"O-okay... if you're sure" she said shakily as she stood up and took aim. "Water!"
At Irma's command, a powerful jet of water shot forth from her hands and hit Icy, briefly forcing her back.
"Is that all you've got, little girl?" she spluttered as she fought against the current.
"Not yet it ain't!" Musa said as she joined her young friend. "Sonic Boom!" she yelled as she thrust her hands into the stream of water. Musa's shockwave attack was powerful enough on its own, but this time it was amplified by Irma's water jet, and with the jet already centred on Icy, Musa's souped-up attack could hardly miss. The ice witch grunted as she was smashed into the wall behind her, groaning as she slithered down in a most undignified fashion.
"Yes! We did it!" Irma said, trying not to get too over-excited. But her joy didn't last long as Icy flicked open her eyes and shook her sore head.
"Oh, that's it. I'm just not having fun here any more - it's time to finish you off once and for all!"
With that, she raised herself into the air, her arms crossed in front of her as she focused her energies. Flurries of ice-laden air swirled around her as she rose higher and higher. Bloom and Musa tried desperately to shoot her down with their attacks, but they were blocked by a shield that had wrapped itself around Icy. The flurries that surrounded her became denser and denser until suddenly she opened her eyes and raised her hands above her head.
"And now to put you pixies on ice, permanently! Ice Coffin!"
Icy's face was wild with malicious glee as she unleashed her final attack, one that would encase all four of her foes under a thick skin of ice, but that look of glee quickly became one of shock and surprise when something flickered in front of her - it was a shimmering orange bubble that had appeared around her in that very split second. The bolt of magic struck the side of the bubble and, with nowhere else left to go, it rapidly filled the inside with solid ice.
"No! NO! What's happening? You won't get away..." she screamed in rage before she was encased in her own spherical Ice Coffin suspended a good twenty feet up in the air. The girls looked on in amazement.
"Erm, Bloom? Was that you?" Musa asked.
"Nope. I mean, that looked like a Griselda Bubble, but who else knows...?"
They turned around and looked at Tegryn, who was still laid out on the floor, barely conscious, holding one arm up in front of him before letting it flop back down onto the ground. As he did so, the giant ice-ball (complete with extra added Icy) crashed to the floor with a loud BOOM that shook the ground, taking everyone off their feet. Soon, large cracks began to appear at the bottom of the two walls separating them from their friends, spreading upwards and growing larger until finally, they fell in on themselves.
A few seconds later, the dust had settled, and Musa, Bloom and Irma became painfully aware of the others staring in horror at the terrible sight that lay before them...