Ten minutes later

Hiding behind several small mounds of snow not too far from the lake, Grimsley and Leech, the pair of them keeping low so as not to be spotted, watched with frustration lingering in their eyes as if it were an emotion that was always there, never leaving them, as the fairies continued to dance and skate and perform all sorts of manoeuvres on the ice to their hearts content. They still felt the humiliation of Leech having that ice dress struck to his waist, which they had finally gotten off after about ten minutes of pulling and Grimsley swinging his troll friend by his legs into a tree in order to crack it; hence why he now had the bruises across his forehead and a few cracks in the branches covering his body.

"I still can't believe they humiliated us like that!" Grimsley growled vehemently.

"I just wish I could freeze them all on the spot and pluck them up one-by-one!" Leech replied, momentarily dreaming of him doing such a thing; savouring the tender and delicious taste of one of those fairies going right down his neck and into his stomach; his mouth quickly beginning to drawl with satisfaction over the prospect of this. He quickly reminded himself, however, that as long as they were on the ice, such a thing for him and Grimsley was impossible.

"There's gotta be a way to get them!" Leech muttered to himself, drumming his fingers on the snow below him, creating large holes where his fingers broke into the cold surface. "Don't we have anything?" he asked Grimsley hopefully.

To his surprise, Grimsley nodded. "As a matter of fact, we do!" he beamed. "We have these!" he put a hand behind him and pulled out a pair of human-sized ice skates. "With these, we can catch this lot easy!"

Leech gave him a puzzled look in reply and looked at the skates, then behind Grimsley at his back and then back at the skates. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"That! You just pulled a pair of ice skates out of nowhere and you don't have any pockets or space under the branches for 'em,"

Grimsley shrugged. "It's Hammerspace. You can pull anything out of nowhere with it,"

Leech 'hmmed' rubbing one of his fat fingers across his chin. "Do you think we can get a few clubs or guns or something from there as well?" he asked.

Grimsley shot Leech an annoyed look and placed a hand on where his hip would be, like a parent would when telling off a child. "Now c'mon, Leech, you know that sort of thing is not appropriate. Besides, that's a little harsh doing it that way,"

"What!" Leech scratched his head, a puzzled look on his face. "But … what we're doing now is kind of harsh, isn't it?" he asked.

Grimsley groaned. "No, it isn't! We're just simply getting something to eat! Now c'mon, my belly's starving!"

He pulled Leech back behind a taller set of snow hills so they were completely out of sight to the fairies, who were continuing their dancing and skating on the ice with great joy, though they were now a little on edge after what had happened earlier. Silvermist, who was sitting on the snow next to the ice to take a break from the skating, was often looking over her shoulder or at the surrounding hills and trees for any sign of the trolls. Even though they had rushed off quite quickly, there was no telling that that was the last they would be seeing of then; there was almost a certain chance, to Silvermist at least, that they would be back for round two.

"Hey, Sil!" Fawn called as she skated over, skidding to a halt next to her. She noticed the anxious expression on her friend's face. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm alright," she replied, rubbing her forehead with her gloved hand to get rid of a quick itch. "I just don't want those trolls to sneak up on us again," she added, looking over her shoulder again as if fearing that they were directly behind her.

"Ah, don't worry about it, Sil," Fawn reassured her, sitting down next to her. "They'll be long gone by now,"

Silvermist shook her head. "I don't think so, Fawn," but her animal fairy continued to persist in her view.

"Nah, they're definitely gone! I mean, if they were still here, they'd have shown up again by now!"

"And how right you are, little fairy!" a strangled voice suddenly exclaimed loudly from behind, stopping the skaters in their tracks and making Silvermist and Fawn jump. They turned to see Leech standing a few feet from them, a look of pleasure on his face as he licked his lips with his small, but slimy tongue, his stomach growling with pleasure at the sight of the two morsels in front of him. "Now, I'm going to give you two one chance only," he said, holding up one finger to emphasize his point. "Hop into my mouth quietly and we can settle this peacefully without any fuss!"

"Get lost, knucklehead!" Fawn snapped at him defiantly. "You're not taking us that easy!"

Leech only shook his head. "Alright, you asked for it!" he replied in a solemn voice of mock curtsey. "Get 'em, Grimsley!" he suddenly shouted.

All of a sudden, the hill next to Leech seemed to explode, throwing large chunks of snow in all directions as if a bomb had gone off inside it. Out of the cloud of snow came Grimsley, only this time he was sporting two human sized ice skates, which were only just small enough for his feet to fit into without being too big. Fawn and Silvermist screamed and immediately took off as fast as they could; Grimsley in hot pursuit as he began to skate with relative ease. The other fairies quickly fled, scattering in all directions in an effort to get away from him.

"Ah, different choices! My favourite!" Grimsley exclaimed with glee as he skated after Tinkerbell, Bobble and Vidia, all of whom were skating as fast as they could to avoid getting caught and eaten.

As Grimsley chased the fairies all around the frozen lake, Leech occasionally sticking his hand out to try and grab one himself but missed, Sled, who was at the opposite end of the ice, heard a cry for help and looked to see Rosetta skating as fast as her legs would go with the troll hot on her heels. Iridessa and Gliss had managed to break away from Grimsley, but now he had his sights set on the garden fairy and was getting closer.

"Someone help me!" she cried vociferously.

At that moment, Sled sped into action like some kind of human viewed superhero, soaring over to Grimsley so fast that when he flew past him, just as the troll was about to grab Rosetta with his outstretched hand, he yelled out in surprise and fell backwards onto the ice, enabling the garden fairy to quickly skate away as fast as she could, relieved that she was safe, for the moment at least.

Sled, however, was not done yet. Using his magical abilities, he used the cold air and a handful of snow, he managed to quickly forge an ice club that, somehow, was almost six times his size, yet he wielded it as if it were a mere toy. Quickly, he fluttered over to Grimsley, who, having recovered from the shock of Sled flying past at such a terrific speed, was getting up from the ice, only to stop dead at the sight of Sled bringing back the enormous club he held in his hands.

WHAM! Despite his size, Sled was able to send Grimsley flying through the air. He landed with a thud as he ploughed right through a tree, the middle half of his body getting stuck inside it. His legs hung down from the hole, as did his head and neck on the other side of the tree trunk. His eyes rolled in dizziness, having been sent spinning after Sled had hit him around the head.

"Nice one, Sled!" Gliss shouted approvingly and he replied with a thumbs.

Meanwhile, Leech rushed over to his injured friend and tapped his head. "Grimsley?" he asked, but got no response other than a groan. Leech glared at the fairies when this happened. "Don't worry, I'll get 'em!" he said, rushing over to Grimsley's feet and pulling off the skates.

As the fairies regrouped, they saw Leech rush over to the edge of the frozen lake and put on the skates, exclaiming: "You're all going to pay for that! Get ready for your bones to be grinded into beds!"

"It's bread, numbnuts!" Tinkerbell replied.

"Whatever!" Leech rasped and set off onto the ice, determined to catch as many of the fairies as possible.

Panic gripped the group of fairies, until Gliss and Spike stepped forward. "Don't worry, guys. We got this," they reassured them, turning to face Leech completely as he neared them with every move of his legs.

Glee was all that was filling his mind at the moment. Two of these fairies were just standing there, literally giving themselves up to him! Ha, this was easier than he thought! And it also showed that he had more luck than Grimsley! Oh well, his friend could thank him later. Now was the time for food. He reached out with his hands, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and trailing behind him like a dog's would do when running as he neared the fairies.

Then, just as he was about to grab Gliss and Spike, they knelt down in unison as if they were about to engage in prayer and touched the ice with their hands. Almost simultaneously, the ice disappeared to reveal a large hole that was almost twice the size of Leech. The troll yelled out in fear and tried to stop himself by slamming his feet into the ice.

SPLASH! He fell into the water and disappeared beneath the freezing surface. Quickly, Gliss and Spike formed another layer of ice, sealing up the hole completely to prevent him from escaping.

"Nice one you two!" Iridessa commented happily.

"Yeah, that's the last we'll see of them!" Periwinkle added.

Underneath the ice, Leech held his position for a moment as if he was frozen. He looked up at the ice, now seeing that the hole was completely frozen over again, and a furious look came across his face. Steam blew out of his ears despite him being under water in freezing temperatures and he swam down further to the bottom of the lake, only a few metres to him, and bent low.

If they think that this ice'll stop me, they've got another thing coming! He thought angrily as he launched himself up towards the ice, bracing himself for the coming blow.