Punishment AND BEES – Part two


Kitty and Blade were rushing through the Black Mud Swamp. Or well tried to after all they had an important mission and the only ruins Blade knew where they possibly could find a powerful sword, were the old Red Fountain ruins of course. Currently, they were walking along at the edge of the swamp bordering the Roccaluce lake.

"Woah, can you see that!" Blade stopped for the hundredth time. And pulled Kitty back. Both stared entranced at a bunch of dragonflies as their wings vibrated they gave off coloured waves. Painting strange and intriguing pictures into the air.

"Amazing…" Kitty poked her finger into the coloured lines and swirled them around, "Tch, tchihihihi, I am drawing with air…"

"Ooooh, your pretty good. Is that…ahahaha" Blade chuckled

"Yes, don't you think, those two look especially close?" Kitty grinned mischievously.

Blade couldn't stop laughing, "No way! They aren't THAT close!"

"Oh really, I heard they are roaming each other's schools quite frequently. Tchihihihihi," Kitty glanced to Blade, who was speechless as she noticed a rustle far off in the bushes and something yellow blink through. "Oh no, quick hide! Yellow boars he'll eat you alive! If he smells you…" She grabbed Blade's hand and tossed her into the lake or well tried to.

Blade more or less stumbled into the lake and fell over. But at the edges, the lake wasn't all that deep, "What about you!?"

"I'll be fine, I'm a Witch, dark magic remember!" Kitty pushed her back again with her foot and held her down.

Blade was just a few centimetres under the surface. Yellow boars were in their mating season at the moment and they were attracted to light magic like crazy since that was what the females released together with pheromones to signal they were ready for mating. Professor Zyron had warned all the students in his classes. One of the reasons that there currently were no missions for Fairies in the Black Mud Swamp, that she had to risk it. They had to destroy the evil master. Yet, as good as the plan was to hide underwater she had forgotten to take a deep breath. So, the air bubbles rose up and Blade pushed her head upwards. "Is it gone?!"

"NO! What are you doing?" Kitty got a bit hysterical there. "Go underwater, we can't waste our magic on that. What if the evil one detects our magic if we use it too often!?"

"He can do that?! Of course, he can… but I can't breathe that long underwater…" Blade whispered as she stared wide-eyed at the rustling bushes.

"You have to! For the mission," Kitty pushed her down again with her foot. Their time was up. The beast would break through the undergrowth any second now.

'Shit, shit, what do I do… what do I… How could I forget? You can breathe with Winx underwater!" Blade transformed and finally could breathe underwater patiently she waited on Kitty to pull her up.

Kitty stared at the wild Boar, it seemed irritated. Starring, endlessly. She gazed below, 'What the fuck why is the sun in the water!? Wait where is Blade? Oh no, she got eaten by the sun!' She gawked at the boar again. It wouldn't leave. "CHHHHHHH" She hissed like a cat. 'I got to save her!"

'I could swear I smelled Blade…The Fairies shouldn't be here at this time of the year…oooh' Knut stared at the hissing Witch unsure what to do. The Witch was getting agitated. 'She's scary…I no like Witches…' Knut, Alfea's Janitor Ogre, couldn't smell Blade anywhere anymore and slowly backed away. 'No, no, must have been my imagina- imag…? Imagination…' Knut adjusted his giant boxes on the back and slowly walked backwards to get away. The Trix still had left a sourer taste. Since the Fairies shouldn't enter the swamp and most Professors were too busy. He was tasked with getting some swamp mud for potion class.

The wild boar turned around and left. Kitty stared below, that sun was shining so bright. Bubbles rose and Kitty stumbled backwards, "Blade? Blade!" Relieved she stared at Blade. "What spell was that!? You vanished into a sun… and now it's on your back." She pointed at her bright white wings.

"Sun? Woah? My wings are on fire!" Blade panicked and dissolved her Winx transformation. She was a bit out of breath and pulled up the map. "Oh no! we Evil One used a time spell… look we lost so many hours already!" Time was nothing more than a loose concept to the two. Kitty had pushed her underwater not just for a few minutes but actually a good hour before Blade had come back up.

"No way!" Kitty seized her arm and stared at the clock. "We haven't even found the sword yet…" She moaned. "This must be the works of the Evil One! Quick we got to hurry and summon the protector. We need to get the Viola back to the Dark Great One! Oh and here" She smeared Blade some barriers into the face. It stank so bad. "That gotta keep the boars away." She laughed and pulled her along. They had to get to the ruins.

"Kitty, wait!" Blade whispered shocked and threw herself on Kitty and they smashed to the ground. "Look, a minion of the Evil One…"

"What the heck is wrong wit-" Kitty shut up. Blade signed her to be silent and pointed down the rolling hill. And there it was a giant minion of the Evil one covered in the fur of a yellow boar, was that the same one they had seen? That minion was collecting the blood of mother nature and putting it into huge sealed wooden boxes.

"We got to stop it. Or Nature will die…" Blade bit her lip. How could the Evil One dare to destroy nature, use it as some sort of farming ground for its blood?

"Better idea," Kitty grinned devilishly. "We steal the minion and use it for our own. If we kill it, the Evil One surely will know."

"You think…" Blade simply wanted to get rid of it, "You're right the Evil One already has warped time among many other things, like… like… oh no, I can't remember, what did he d-?!"

Kitty pressed her hand hard on Blade's mouth, "SSHHHH. If it spots us it will be all over…"

"We need a trap…" Blade nodded. "Oh, I know…" Blade pulled out a sparkling key ring from her trousers. "If we enchant this and lay it in the minion's path. It will have to pick it up and bring it back to its master."

"Yes, yes, I put a spell on it, so once it touches the ring it will listen to us. We take the nature's blood and the minion with us. We'll use the Evil One's weapons agains-" Now it was her turn to get silenced by Blade.

"Sshhhh not so loud," They crawled backwards and prepared the trap.

Knut finally had finished collecting gallons of mud in the boxes, "Uuff, so heavy… why do I always have to do those things…" He whined a bit. He stepped along the path back to Alfea as his nose twitched. "This smells like Blade and not like Blade… so weird…" He looked around, all the fairies knew not to come here after all. Then Knut spotted something shimmering in the grass. It smelled like Blade, a lot. He stepped closer. "What? ..." He picked it up indeed this was Blades. "Oh no, did something happen to her again?! Bla-" Without warning the Ogre got hit by dark magic cone of light and everything turned black before his eyes for just a second.

"Yeah, we did it!" Kitty rejoiced.

Blade pointed her phanto-sword at the towering minion, "You sure?"

"Very sure. Spin minion!" Kitty demanded and Knut followed suit.

"Amazing, you need to teach me that spell!" Blade's eyes sparkled.

"Blade, we got to focus, the mission… now that we have stolen the minion. And the blood of mother earth… surely, we have drawn the wrath of the Evil One. We need to hurry to the ruins. We must find the sword of power!" Kitty made an epic pose as she stood with one foot on one of the mud boxes and pointed towards the sky.

"Right… but the ruins are that way…" Blade pointed to the opposite direction.

With speed, Kitty turned her arm around, "To the ruins! Minion take the boxes."

"Kitty we can't call the minion a minion. We are not barbarians, who think lowly of their underlings…." Blade protested.

"Right. We are on the light side! Fighting for justice and freedom. What shall we call it then?" Kitty asked intrigued.

"It's on our side sooo, friendly…hmmm" That minion was huge. Blade scratched her head, "Friendly mountain…?"

"Go forth Friendly Mountain," Kitty hopped on top of the shoulder of the beast and waved Blade upwards. "To the RUINS!" Blade jumped up as well and the construct of Ogre, boxes and Fairies made their way to the Red Fountain ruins.

Blade spotted the broken bridge in front of the three. "Oh no…evil is nearby" Blade felt a bit sick or nervous at least this place was giving her some goosebumps.

"What do you mean "oh no"? There is no evil nearby," Kitty was confused. There was nothing but the bright blue sky which slowly was turning a bit darker on the edges as it had become early evening.

"No, I can feel it… something is off," Blade jumped off the Friendly Mountain and transformed into her Shadion. She approached the bridge edge as out of nowhere a voice echoed.

"Ms Blade, what are you doing at the Red Fountain ruins again? I thought your mission was to get a Viola Iternis in the Witches' forest," a nagging but firm voice of a woman could be heard.

"A dark angel…" Kitty commented as she jumped off the minion as well. "Do you think it's on our side?" She whispered into Blade's ear. "Don't spill the beans…"

Blade shrugged unsurely, but she had to answer something.

"Hello? You there? Blade?" The voice sounded a bit worried.

"Yes, I am here. Everything is A-Okay. We already got the flower," Blade glared at Kitty who just had hit her hard on the shoulder.

"Don't tell me you are doing your parkour…." Griselda got a bit nit-picky.

"No, of course not, we're simply strolling around…." Blade uttered in defence. "How does that dark angel know of my training…" Blade replied quietly and looked worried to Kitty

"It sees everything," Kitty whispered into her ear ominous. "It must be another minion of the Evil one…"

"We? Are you with the boys from Red Fountain? Well, anyways, I will turn of the active tracking then. Please next time give us or Griffin a call straight away. And remember if you want to stay in Alfea be here before the dome comes down, otherwise, you got the option of Cloud Tower." Griselda hung up.

Blade had not really listened to most of what the voice said. The concept of something watching and seeing everything was scary and fascinating at the same time. "Huh, the voice is gone…"

"It said something about towers… right? Maybe it was on our side…" Kitty giggled for no reason whatsoever.

"Maybe it was an independent being…" Kitty's gaze wandered to the Red Fountain school flying in the sky. She shook Blade wildly. "I think, that's it. It's not a dark angel, it's a RED angel!"

"Woah, that thing is huge… and it's crying. Maybe it's sad…" Blade started to cry. There were endless water streams running down that angel's face.

"The Evil One must have hurt it greatly. Blade, we got to stop him. His reign has to end," She stared straight into her eyes. "We can do this!"

"YES!" Blade stared towards the bridge. Firmly they walked to the edge. 'So far…' Blade scratched her head as she looked across. "Let's get that sword." She jumped into the air as did Kitty they flew over the gab. Suddenly Blade stopped mid-air. "Shit…"

Kitty shook her head, "What's wrong? There is clearly no trap…" She turned around. Blade was stuck and was pushing against an invisible wall. "Are you kidding me?!"

"No, something is preventing me from crossing…" Blade had a really bad feeling about this.

"We need that sword, we are running out of time…" Kitty bit her nails. "I can cross easily… how can there be a force field?!"

"Kitty go on ahead. I'll find a way. I promise you," Blade held her hand against the invisible shield. "Don't forget you are a chosen one."

Kitty flew closer and pressed her hand against the force field, indeed now there was a wall, "But Blade we are a team… you are a chosen one as well," She was deeply worried. She didn't want to split up or be alone. "But this is our journey…"

"I know, I'll find a way… Promise. Just get the sword. You can do this. Remember the unicorn said that we'll face obstacles. This is just a minor setback. Now go," Blade tried to pep talk Kitty.

"What if that's what the Evil one wants?" Kitty ground her teeth, this was a bad idea.

Blade smiled, "I'll be right here. I'll find a way. Now shoo, get that sword, little Sorceress."

"You better not slack off, Sparkles," Kitty grinned and rushed over the bridge gab towards the ruins.

Blade sat down again on the bridge. There was no time to check how big that shield was. "So, what to do?" Blade's mind was racing. "Probably is the Fairy magic… but I can't jump that far without using magic…"

"Sword… sword…" Kitty stumbled around in the ruins. Being alone was awkward it felt wrong, unsafe. She stopped. In front of her was a scene of horror. Melting ice spikes, several bigger puddles, statues of Wolfs frozen to the core, another cadaver ravaged by other wild animals with a hole through the shoulder. "Horrible, the poor things…" Kitty ran towards a smaller frozen Wolf. She hugged its giant front legs. "What did the Evil One do to you…?" She started to cry. This was just such a terrifying scene. She looked around all over the place were swords of all kind of sizes. Yet none stood out.

"Oh, holy ELEEEEEECTRON!" Blade was flailing around her arms. She was flying, well falling. She had no magic in use and didn't activate her Winx or Shadion.

"Blade?!" Kitty swiped the snot off her nose and jumped to her feet. "I'll catch you!" She pinpointed her drop location and waited.

"Ouch…" Blade crashed to the ground behind Kitty. "Nice save…"

"Ehhh… how did you teleport?!" Kitty was so confused. "How did you make it here? The shield?"

"Well… I couldn't jump that bridge so… Friendly Mountain threw me…" Blade dusted her clothes off. "Don't tell Palladium! Or Avalon, OR CODATORTA! I'll never hear the end of it!" her initial panic vanished as she spotted the frozen creatures. "Who would do this? This is…"

"Horrible… I know. I guess these were the protectors of the sword… Blade… I think the Evil One was quicker than us… we failed," Kitty was devastated. She sank to the floor as she leaned against the frozen wolf.

"…" Blade balled her hands. "No, we can't be too late! We can't give up yet. We just have to find… we can get it back. We have to! We're the chosen ones after all. Take heart."

Kitt shook her head vehemently, "No, don't you see it's pointless, we lost. The Evil One won! There is nothing more we can do!" she hammered on the ground. "If the protectors of the sword failed… then we got no chance what so ever… just admit it, Blade…"

Blade kneeled down in front of her and softly raised her chin, staring into her eyes, "Never say never, Kitty. We came this far, we gave our best and sometimes it still isn't enough. But Kitty, there is ALWAYS hope. Miracles CAN happen. I believe in you. Besides if that doesn't work…" Her smile turned devilish than insane. "We kill the vampire and get the list! AHAHAHAHA!" She laughed maniacally

"What Vampire?" Kitty was confused.

"Councillor Gadiel! He's got to die…" Her expression went dark.

"Okay makes sense, but why?" Kitty asked further.

"Didn't you listen? To get the names of the traitors of course! Then we kill them too! And then we find the asshole creating the red crystals and skin that son of a bitch alive. He will pay for what he did…" Blade growled. "Muhahaha, the revenge will be ALL mine! MINE ALONE! AHAHAHAHA!" Blade's laughter escalated even more.

Kitty's eyes widened, too scared to say something, 'Killer Lady….'

"WAIT!" Blade stopped abruptly.

"What?"

"We need to kill Avalon first. He is everywhere, he was right behind me. I didn't even see him move! He has to die first. Otherwise, we'll never catch that Vamp… Okay, we first kill Avalon, then the vampire, get the list, kill the traitors, kill the overlord, take the crystals, use them."

"NOO! You can't kill Avalon!" Kitty cheeks flushed. "I- I love HIM!"

"Heh? Why?! He's the enemy!" Blade got a bit hysterical.

"Have you seen our teachers? They are all just old hags! It's an unbalance in the universe..." she complained. "And he's like super-hot! You can't kill him!" Kitty protested.

"Alright new plan! You take your boyfriend on a date, I kill the vampire, we get the list, kill the traitors, boil the crystal dude alive, take the crystals and… wait…no that won't work…"

"What, why? You can't kill the Paladin!" Kitty got nervous.

"Palladium. I think they are a pair…" Blade muttered, "They kinda spent a LOT of time together…we have to kill him first! So, you can get your boyfriend back."

"No, we can't kill him either! If he dies Avalon will be devastated. He'll never go on a date with me then," Kitty explained. "We need to find him a new girlfriend… Griselda?"

"Mister sunshine and cloudy face? Yeah! Wait- no… we need a dude…" Blade ruffled through her hair.

"Wizgiz?" Kitty scratched her head this was a tricky undertaking indeed.

"YES! Perfect he can morph into a fake Avalon. Everyone's happy. Okay so, fake Avalon and Palladium go on a date, you distract the real one, I kill Gadiel. Take the list, burry every single one of those slime traitors alive, burn the crystal Lord at the stake, EVERYONE DIES. Yes, YES! It's a masterpiece! WE KILL THEM ALL! AHAHAHAHA, they'll pay for what they did to JEWELS EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. THEM! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Blade raised her hands to the sky and her fanatical laughter echoed throughout the ruins.

Kitty's lips wobbled, "Blade…you are scarring me…" She said real quietly. Blade was brimming with bloodlust.

In an instant, Blade stopped, "Okay, killing everyone is too much work… let's be happy Blade again! Now let's get that sword back! The Evil One has to be stopped!" Blade pulled Kitty up. "To the sword!" Blade pulled her in a random direction.

"I'm telling you those are tracks of the Evil One's army…" Blade pointed to some scuff marks.

Kitty glanced at them, "Something is afoot… there are so many prints, yet they are all the same…well samish…."

"Kevin!? Derek? Detlev… FLETCHER!" Memphis shouted through the ruins.

"Oh no, an Evil One's Captain!" Blade pulled Kitty behind a wall catching sight of an orange glow coming closer.

Kitty growled, "He must have stolen the sword! We must get it back…" She was ready for a fight and so was Blade.

Memphis shook his head, "Man, why did they run?! Freaking cowards, evil laughter my ass... Clearly, there is no villain in the ruins, GUYS?" Still no answer. "OH, COME ON! Where did you go? ..."

"We need a distraction then we can…" Blade loudly whispered to Kitty as she snorted.

"TAKE HIM OUT!" Kitty shouted enthusiastically and rushed around the corner.

At the ready Memphis went into an attack stance, "Blade, stop! Get a grip!" Memphis jumped backwards and up a ruin wall to gain some distance, 'Is she mind-controlled? By the Witch…no, she would never lose to a simple Witch… Are they both…?' However, his initial dread and worries vanished in an instant as he watched the two girl's stances were all wobbly and uncoordinated. "Wait, are you drunk?" He was lost for words.

"Fairy edge!" Blade created a magic light sword in her hand, "Villain, your journey ends here! You swore loyalty to the wrong side!" She addressed him high and mighty.

Kitty flared up her dark magic and punched into her hand, "Yeah, face the justice of the chosen ones!"

"No way… you are high," Memphis chuckled in disbelief, yet he stayed cautious, there was no telling what they would do. "Blade - put the pointy thing down, before you hurt yourself, please…" Memphis was gazing at them with a closed eye. He was ready to defend himself, 'Not good, what did they take? For crying out loud, they are completely out of it.'

"AHHHH!" Blade stormed at him and slashed away, "I'll rip you to pieces! For the Dark ONE!"

Kitty jumped forward transforming into a cat, "YEAH!"

Memphis watched as a little black kitten and Blade slashed through the air like maniacs, "Blade listen to me, calm down. What did you take? Was it spiked? How much did you take? If you needed stuff you should just have…" He sighed. The two girls were still air-fighting fanatically. "Yeah, right…not gonna get anything out of them... what to do?"

"Watch it, he's powerful, nothing is getting through!" Kitty swiped with her claws through the air. He was so close yet nothing landed. "He's trying to extract information out of you, tell him nothing, the MISSION from Mr Unicorn is too important!" Kitty hissed weary.

Memphis rubbed his eyes. They were at least standing ten meters apart, "I don't have time for this… one Chaos Squad is enough…" Memphis took out two bolas and flung them at the two. "Ha, ha, now you can't use magic anymore!" He simply bluffed going along with whatever they were hallucinating.

Blade's eyes widened as she fell to the ground and the weights wrapped around her. The Captain slid down and destroyed her sword, "Shit, he's too quick, Kitty?"

"You will pay for this!" Kitty reverted back to her normal form still enwrapped as the phanto-ropes stretched. "We'll never give up. NEVER!"

"Sure. Just stay put…" Memphis facepalmed, 'What to do with them? I can't bring them back to Alfea in that state, they'll get grounded. And I still have Chaos Squad to find… aaarrrgh, I'm not getting more stable duties because of this. Oh man, why always me?' He knotted them together and dragged them to the next best tree. He set up a shield to keep beasts away and tied them tight around the tree. "You'll stay here until your trip is over. 'T. MOVE." He turned around, "KEVIN!" He shouted angrily. 'That will hold them, they are so high they'll never get through that.'

"No, we first need to pick up the ladies…We can't leave them out here," Memphis explained for the hundredth time.

Detlef scratched this head, "You sure you didn't get hit by the villain? Blade would never take drugs."

Kevin nodded, "Yeah, I got to agree. She is a commoner, but she is not that stupid."

"I'm hungry… all that running…" Fletcher complained as always.

"Sure, we gather some food once we get the girls…" Memphis was at his nerve's end. "They are right up…. What the HECK!?" They had just all reached the ruins, but the shield was gone and so were the girls. There was a gaping hole in the ground. "Where did the tree go!? How? What? Damn it!" Memphis was cursing.

"I don't see a Fairy or a Witch… You sure you didn't hit your head?" Derek asked concerned.

"NO!" Memphis quickly checked for tracks, 'They can't just vanish into thin air…'

Kevin shouted, "BLADE!" Nothing. "Well seems like she already left. Maybe she felt better and made her way home."

"That's not how that works…" Memphis rolled his eyes and spotted huge tracks, the tracks of an Ogre. "Ah, crap. Alfea collected them…"

"And what if it was another Ogre?" Derek scratched his head a bit worried.

"Oh, brother… there are no other Ogres on Magix besides Knut. And I don't recall that there were any currently in Red Fountain," Detlef explained patiently. The tracks clearly lead in the direction of Alfea.

"Indeed," Memphis jumped up some ruin walls to gaze into the distance, but couldn't spot anything. "Welp, I tried. Sorry Blade, I did what I could…Well then, let's get our mission done. Before Codatorta has our heads…" He glanced back one more time before Chaos Squad rolled out again. "And don't you dare ditch me again!"

Knut, Blade and Kitty were staring at the sword, it was beautiful a masterpiece, glowing in a bright blue. Blade was enthralled, "Wow, Kitty, we did it! We stole the sword back! It's huge, am I glad that we have Friendly Mountain on our side!" She moved along the bark of the tree Knut had ripped it out to free them. The blue phanto-rope still wrapped around it.

"Yeah, if anything he can at least carry stuff," Kitty agreed, letting her gaze wander over the sword once again. It looked even more beautiful than she'd ever imagined – and it was even bigger than in her dreams, too! "I wonder what it'd feel like wielding it", she mused, completely caught up in her thoughts, "all this power... Maybe it'll grant wishes, too? I could have pancakes every morning for the rest of my life..." As if in trance she stumbled forward, a spark in her eyes as she reached out to touch the sword that'd save her and Blade and everyone else in this world.

"Alright, so what was next… ehmmm…" Blade scratched her head. "Oh, right… Towers, four meters high. No, wait, four towers, very high. And the protector needs to be higher than them… But where can we find four towers? That sounds like a castle or a fort…" Blade looked around, but besides glowing green and white flowers there was nothing around them. "How do we find those towers?!" She looked to Kitty concerned, "We have like ten minutes left. We need to hurry!"

Kitty knew that their mission was important and she knew that there wasn't much time left to ask questions. However, ... even though she was the chosen one she couldn't help but think about the possibilities the sword would grant her. Completely ecstatic, she grabbed both of Blade's Hands with her own. "We don't have to do that", Kitty exclaimed, louder than she anticipated, "we don't need to fulfil our mission. Let's just grab this sword and run away! It's you and me against the rest of the world! Common Blade, why bother with this stupid world anyway?" Kitty tightened her grip around Blade's wrist, before stepping close enough for their noses to barely touch. "We... we can have pancakes. Every morning", Kitty whispered softly.

Blade blinked in confusion, before it dawned on her, "But... I like waffles", the fairy whispered back, just as softly.

Well... there goes this Plan, "Fine", Kitty sighed, "Fortress it is, then."

Blade looked to the friendly mountain, "You, there!" Blade grinned devilishly. "You'll tell us right now, where are the towers!" Her voice was all gravely and dark, menacing. She created a dark magic dagger and pointed it at the minion. "Speak, or fear the consequence!"

Kitty grabbed Blade's arm, "Don't pressure him like this", She scolded her lightly, "he is just an innocent... Mountain, who happened to get cursed by the Evil One. And he has only three brain cells, too. That's torture enough."

The Friendly Mountain like a robot answered, "That way." He was still under Kitty's spell and was at their backing. He pointed in the direction of Alfea.

Blade squinted her eyes suspiciously as she lowered her dagger, "Hmm… that was a quick answer. Oh no! Maybe he is leading us into a trap, Kitty. What can we do? If we don't trust him we won't find the towers and if we do we might run straight into another ambush! We're doomed either way…" Blade bit her lip. "Curse this Evil One and his armies of doom."

Kitty tilted her head, deep in her thoughts. She wanted to tell Blade that they should trust him because... why would the friendly mountain lie? There was a reason they put friendly in his name! But could she really take the responsibility of leading her friend into a trap? What if she wouldn't be the chosen one anymore if she let Blade straight into her death? "Well", the witch began slowly, scratching her head nervously, "Mhh... we could follow him for now. And right before we meet our destination we will send him in first! Maybe we can put a sign on him that says: I hate the Evil One! Yeah, that's it! We go in and insult them and then we act like it was the idea of Friendly Mountain! And then they'll put HIM inside the trap instead of us! That's genius!" Smiling, Kitty let go of Blade and confidently started walking in the direction the Mountain pointed at.

"MASTER PLAN!" Blade shouted out loud, and even a few birds got scared and took flight. She flung her dagger behind her and pointed at the sword. "Carry it, friendly mountain. And careful, no dents shall come to the mighty sword. We need it in tip-top condition." Happily, she hopped along and offered Kitty a high-five. Kitty missed at first and nearly fell flat on her nose but Blade caught her. Second try it worked.

Kitty skipped with Blade hand in hand through the forest, the colours and everything were amazing. And now the light changed from a warm green to reds and yellows, the sun was setting. Knut was dragging the sword behind him, and the crates with food for the Evil One's troops were still on his back. Now slowly the forest was fading into open grasslands and far off one could spot a street and the most sparkling, warm, fuzzy, pink walls of the enemy's fortress.

Kitty squinted her eyes, "Waah, no wonder the evil one prefers this fort... that's an ugly shade of brown!"

Blade snorted, "That's green, you, colour-blind idiot", the fairy objected, rolling her eyes.

"Actually, it's", Knut began, but the girls spun around to him simultaneously.

"Shut up!", they both hissed.

"Now, what do we do?", Kitty asked, "there must be a way to get in! Past the guards and the traps and the deadly flames of hell... Hmmmm... Oh, I know! The door on the back side! Or we could pretend were the janitor! Not the gardener, tho. Because... It's always the gardener - We'd get caught too soon that way. Or we could... Bribe them. With... Uhm..." Kitty looked around frantically. There had to be a way they could get the guards to let them past them and into the fortress! "With this!", she finally yelled out, ripping some grass out from underneath her feet, "they can't withstand... uh... this yummy meal!"

"Great idea! We still have the food rations int eh crates! We brew the best yummy meal and hide inside that way they won't even smell us. Nobody will suspect a hot meal! Kitty, you are a genius!" Blade looked around and pulled a few more berries mushrooms and leaves of and threw them all on the ground. "Let's make the best stew ever!" She created a light magic huge cooking spoon. "Friendly mountain, set down and open the crates! We are cooking!" She was on fire.

Kitty didn't even hesitate for a second. She grabbed one of the crates as soon as Knut followed his orders, ripping the wooden box open. Just to face a huge glop of some muddy substance. Kitty stopped for a brief second, inching a bit closer with her face to take a sniff out of the suspiciously looking stuff. And when she pulled away, her face lit up in excitement. "Hold your cooking spoon, dear fairy!", Kitty yelled, reaching her hand out to stop Blade from preparing the cooking stuff further, "No need to waste our time – the friendly mountain must've smelled our plan from the beginning and already made some delicious soup for us. Hail the Friendly Mountain!" She bowed her head thankfully to Knut, before reaching into the box with her hand. "But, of course, we don't wanna insult our dear friend. So, we gonna taste it first!", Kitty ordered, took out a handful of mud, spun around to Blade and shove the mud into the fairy's mouth. "Eat up, dear friend!", Kitty almost sang with happiness, "The Mountain took long time to prepare this for us!"

Blade swallowed a big chunk as she was unprepared, "…" She munched slowly, "It's a bit grainy… but wow, I think, even Sfoglia would be proud. Is that hint of pepper? You must try this!" Blade returned the favour and shoved some into Kitty's mouth. "Right? It's pepper and maybe a tiny bit of earthworm aftertaste! Evil One's army will eat it up whole. Perfect!"

Kitty almost choked on this stuff- uhm, delicious pudding soup. She had a feeling of sandpaper covering her tongue and throat but maybe this was intentional since she always forgot to keep herself hydrated and this way it was impossible that she could forget to drink! "How... thoughtful!", the witch whispered gratefully, tears gathering inside her eyes, "Friendly Mushroom, you will always have a special place inside my heart."

"It's Mountain, not mushroom", Blade retorted, "If you can't even remember his name, there is no way he means a lot to you..."

"Whatever!" Kitty's face turned red as Blade pointed out her mistake. What if Friendly Mountain now was insulted? "I... can't breath", the young witch gasped, terrified by the idea that the Mountain would no longer see her as a friend now.

"That's it!" Blade jumped up and pointed towards the boxes. "We need to breathe! And then we can hide inside the soup, eat even more of it and get into the fortress without any problems."

Kitty nodded quickly ignoring the fact that she was just on the verge of tears a few seconds ago. "That's brilliant!", The witch agreed, "Then, let's breathe!" Kitty inhaled at this as much as her lungs could.

Blade nodded and did the same. Yet the same problem. After like forever of standing around in the forest and turning blue. She had to breathe out and gasp for air, and so did Kitty. "Oh no… we'll never have enough air that way… We're doomed! Well never get inside…" Blade cried out loud falling to her knees in front of her collection of plants and mushrooms and barriers. She stared at some stalks. "I got it! We do it just like in the movies. You know those Gardenia movies with ninjas." She chopped through the air. "We use stalks and vanish in the soup!"

Kitty looked at her in confusion. "But I've never watched Gardenia movies", the witch dared to point out, "you... you're so much cooler than me..." And yet again, Kitty was on the verge of tears.

"That ain't true", Blade immediately jumped in and patted Kitty back, "You're way cooler! You... uh... are named after a mighty lion! You're Kitty the roaring plushie!"

Kitty smiled at this, "Yeah! Roaring plushie!", the witch now yelled happily too.

"And now stuff these stalks into your mouth and breath like you never did before mighty plushie!" Blade put the stalk into Kitty's mouth and pushed her friend into one of the boxes. "Breath, mighty lion, breathe!", Blade yelled encouragingly while Kitty gave off some gurgling sounds that were muffled by the mud. Blade took some stalks as well. "Now, Friendly mountain. Take us into the fortress. Take the sword as well, and hide it somewhere safe. Pretend that NOTHING IS WRONG! And, and… seek us out with the sword when the guards and soldiers are sleeping. We are counting on you. Friendly Mountain. We are counting on you…" blade stepped into the other box and slowly vanished beneath the soup. It was cosy and warm in the soup. 'Perfect, we'll rescue you, oh, Dark One. The Protector will rise!'

"Count on me," Knut closed off the boxes, he put in one hole each so the straws actually reached fresh air and put them back on his backpack and swung the tree with the Phanto-Rope around it on his shoulders and made his way to Alfea as ordered.

Knut waddled through the gates of Alfea. Straight aiming at the main entrance to the building complex. Griselda was rushing through the promenade when she spotted him.

"Knut!" She addressed him on edge. "What is this?" She pointed at the tree first adjusted her glasses and crossed her arms.

Knut blinked dumbfoundedly. The spell prevented him from answering anyone than his master, but he knew deep inside that he had to say something in order to keep his master save. Maybe that's why Kitty's spell allowed him to open his mouth and speak. "That's the great sword that I collected for some friends", he answered truthfully because, again, Kitty created this spell to make also sure he couldn't lie to anyone, "and I brought the mud with me, too."

"Great sword…" Griselda didn't know if she should scold him or send him to the doctor. She peaked around him and saw the boxes and the Phanto-Rope wrapped around the stomp. She sighed, "Knut…" Her headache was already growing. Knut loved to bring stuff he found in the forest back to school and keep it in his room. Yet a whole tree. "Thanks for bringing the mud. But you can't keep this. It's too big. That will never fit into your room. Take off the rope if you insist on keeping it…" She shook her head, this was a new range of stupidity. 'Maybe he got a cold or something…even for him that's…'

Internally Knut started panicking, "I can make it fit into my room!", he objected, almost begging on his knees, "Please, this means a lot to me and my friends. I never had friends before. And I swear it won't bother anyone! Ever! And did I mention that I have friends? But I will take this straight to my room now! I promise you'll never see it again!"

Griselda was even more perplexed as Knut the huge chunk fell to his knees begging. Faragonda was looking out of the window currently holding a class, already raising an eyebrow at the scene. "By the Great Dragon stand up!" She shushed him to hurry and rubbed her nose bridge. "Fine. Take the stupid tree… but not one leafe on the teachers' floor, you hear." She warned him with a stern tone. "If it doesn't fit you'll take it outside straight away. Or I will burn it to ash, we're an elite Fairy school, not some attic." She puffed half annoyed that he had convinced her to keep that stupid thing. She was about to leave to finish her other duties but stopped. "And Knut. You have friends here. You should know that by now. Let nobody tell you otherwise. And if students make fun of you for anything come straight to me. I'll beat some sense into them." She seriously meant it and then made her way to the teacher's lounge.

"Thank you, Mrs Griselda", Knut answered softly, but almost certain that she heard him while she walked away. He then got back up, grabbed his boxes and the great sword even tighter and made his way towards his room. "We're almost there, my masters!" Knut whispered towards the boxes.

"Almost where, Knut? You're talking to your mud, again?" Without a warning Avalon appeared in front of him; he must've come from around the corner. Curiously Avalon inspected the boxes, trying to figure out who the ogre was talking to.

"Not the mud! The magic sword! It grants wishes, probably…. Or so I heard," He had to divert the Paladin's gaze away from the boxes to protect his masters. "Griselda said I can keep it if it fits into my room," He added quickly. The tree crown was squished inside the teachers' hallway. It was a proper roadblock. "It will fit!"

Avalon laughed good-heartedly. The ogre was always acting a bit strange for his liking but then again. Then again Knut's only hobby was collecting weird stuff. He wouldn't judge him on that it was a harmless hobby after all. Even though it was quite weird, that Knut named his tree, 'the great sword... Ah, I'd heard weirder names.' Especially when it came to naming a pet. "I mean, if it's really that important, I could help you make it fit", he offered finally and pointed towards the giant tree, "Mutabilis magnitudo!" The tree glowed in a subtle golden shade, before turning back to its original colour. "If you say shrink, it'll reduce in size", the paladin explained after casting the spell, "and if you say enlarge it'll turn back to normal."

Knut panicked a bit at first but the great sword seemed unharmed. "Shrink?" The tree shrunk now it wasn't bigger than a normal sword and the phanto-rope adjusted accordingly. "Wow, you're so POWERFULL!" He was truly amazed. "Thank you, Professor Avalon."

"Not a problem at all. I have to go now, philosophy with the third years." He nodded kindly. "Oh, and Knut. I can assure you that, the 'sword' does not fulfil wishes." He moved on. 'Beauty lies in the holder's eyes. Tree as a sword… sounds like a kid's game… I wonder who named it a great sword. Blade? Nah, she's on that witch mission from Griffin she won't be back today. Besides the Fairies aren't allowed to go into the black mud forest. Their paths wouldn't cross at all. Maybe some Specialists.'

Knut sighed in relief as Avalon continued walking away. Now, hopefully, no one will interrupt him until he reaches his room! With that, the ogre hugged the tree tighter and quickly ran in the direction of his room.

Knut had brought the crates to the cellar and placed them in a corner. Yet it was not yet sleeping time so he didn't open the boxes as ordered. Instead, he finished some chores and waited for the sun to set. The dome went up at ten clock and Alfea and its inhabitants were going to bed. He waited two more hours to be sure that everyone was asleep and then tip-toed along the hallways back to the cellar. Sword at hand. And pried the lids open again. Yet no one came out at first. He stuck his hand in and pulled.

Blade was pulled upwards, "Fai…edg…" she gurgled as some soup flooded her mouth. And was ready to fight. But it was just the Friendly Mountain that had pulled her up. "You scar…ed meeeeeee…" She complained as from her open mouth mud splashed to the ground. She was set down by Knut. She looked around, "Yes it worked!" she exclaimed. "Kitty? KITTY?!" with haste she looked around.

Kitty's hand broke out of the thick mud surface, "I'm aliiiiiveee", she groaned in her best zombie voice as she rose from the soup, completely covered in it. Then, she tried climbing out of the box, slipped and fell back in."Neveeeer mind", she groaned, still acting like a Zombie, "I'm stillllll deeeeaaaddd."

"NOOO! The soup was too spicy she burned to death," Blade rushed to the box, "I'll always remember you. You were a great chosen one. I'll promise I'll never falter and finish our mission." Blade was crying, "The world is so unfair. She was just a Sorceress, who wanted to fight for good. To be a chosen one. Damn you, fate! …." Blade fell into a minute of silence.

Kitty's head poked out of the mud, gasping for air. "Yeah, and Avalon was her great boyfriend", she added, now crying, too, "She was the bravest Witch of all. Never backed down from a fight. Never stole her roommates' candy. Never... Wait. Who are we talking about, again?"

"No idea, you started it…" Blade scratched her head. What had they been talking about? "Anyways… no time to lose we have to summon the protector at all costs. He has to defeat the Evil One, so we can bring the viola to the Dark One! Kitty, you use summons what do we need? I have no idea. Knut where is the sword?"

"Here," Knut held out the smaller version. It was way easier to carry it around that way.

"Alright, young student, here is a lesson in summoning."

Clearing her throat, Kitty tried to gracefully step out of the mud box, slipped and fell to the ground. "Well, we need a great sacrifice", she continued explaining, while lying on the floor, "and we'll need some kind of vessel for the protector to take form. Both those things are placed inside this fortress, waiting for us to grab it. Also, we need a summoning circle, magic ink and some spell powder."

Blade scratched her head, "How are we supposed to find those things?", the fairy mumbled and sighed, "Well, I guess we can try?"

"Do or do not! There is no- Oh, Butterfly!" Kitty interrupted herself as she jumped from the ground and ran towards a giant spider, that crawled over the floor. "I'll need you as a sacrifice! Come baaaaacccckkkk!"

Blade helped in the chase that butterfly was fast, "It must have great magical power, so fast!" She slipped and fell as she made a hard turn and crashed into some barrels, which tumbled over and a white cloud arose. Blade coughed and waved her hand in front of her face. "Uurggh what is that?"

"Nooo, you let the sacrifice escape! Now we have to find someone else," Kitty pouted. She sneezed as the white dust crawled into her nostrils. "I guess that's our spell powder", Kitty finally answered, "but it looks different than normal. Mhh... How is this stuff called that you use to make bread, again?"

Blade frowned. "Flour?", the fairy answered and Kitty yelled in the same exact moment: "Sugar!"

"Oh well, it's one of those", the witch shrugged and pulled Blade back up, "and now hurry! To the ingredients!"

Blade misunderstood Kitty completely, 'So this is the first ingrediency… we have to secure it.' She pointed at the Ogre as Kitty was already out of the room. "Friendly Mountain, bring the stuff outside. We need to use it for the summing. Find us when you are done. Follow your nose! And be quiet. Pssshhhhh," Blade signed to be quiet and followed Kitty out of the cellar.

"Okay, so we got the eh…Vessel? So, we still need magic ink, a sacrifice and spell powder… Where would one keep those…. Hm…. Do you know what colour the ink has to be? Not that we get the wrong one and then puff no protector…" She glanced around the corners as they rushed through the hallways randomly, but with their goal in mind.

Kitty stood there completely dumbfounded. Did they need the powder, or didn't they? Oh well... If it really was sugar, their victory would only taste sweeter! "Wait for me, blue fairy", Kitty hissed, before rushing out of the room as well.

"And now, we start searching", the Sorceress declared, just to remember Blades question from before, "Uh... I guess we need, uh, black ink. No, no, no. Pink one. Nah, wait, uh, Blue? Shit, I can't remember!" Kitty bit her nails in frustration. 'What now? If we use the wrong ink we could screw up big time.' She snapped with her fingers, "I got it!" The Sorceress suddenly burst out, "We get a box of crayons, I cast a spell on them to turn them into our magic ink and then we just use every crayon colour for our summoning circle!"

Blade nodded, that was obviously a solid plan. "But where do we find crayons of all things in a fortress of an over evil lord of doom…?" She snuck along the hallway and noticed an open door. "Pssh, look there a meeting room of the evil generals." She held Kitty back. And carefully opened the door wider. No one else was inside. The glow of the dome fell through the windows. It was a room with lots of seats and chaotic scribbling on a greenish wall. Blade pulled Kitty inside astonished by all that she could see she bumped into a chair toppling over it and there were several muffled thuds. "Watch it, this room is full of magical traps!" she warned Kitty as she pushed the chair off herself. "Woah, this must be their next attack on … on… hmmm…" Her sight fixated on whatever was drawn on that wall she couldn't decipher it.

"On Bernd, the mermaid", Kitty completed the sentence, dead serious, "We have to stop that no matter what! Bernds are threatened by extinction. Because no one names their kid Bernd anymore." The Sorceress took this matter, in fact, so seriously, that she walked close to the board and took a piece of chalk. "Leave Bernd alone or fear the power of the mighty plushie!", Kitty hissed dangerously, as she wrote exactly those words onto the board. "And now, we need to hurry and get the other ingredients," She paused for a moment, looking Blade in the eyes. "But you are right, dear friend, here are lots of traps and torture instruments, like this one!" Kitty pointed towards a long pointer baton, that sat on the right end of the table. "I got an idea! Transform Blade! I'll hop on your back and we'll fly out of here! They would never guess that we can fly!"

Blade nodded, "Right but first we need these magical powder sticks. That way we can create your coloured ink. I am sure of it, I read it in the magicWeb. It has to be true! The magicWeb doesn't lie!" She collected all the crayon boxes she could find even those in a drawer in the teacher's desk put them into her belt pouch and offered a piggyback ride, "Let's go!" Kitty jumped on and Blade imitated some flapping noises and rushed out of the room with her.

"Next is… the Vessel!" Kitty proclaimed in a loud whisper. And pointed randomly into directions.

"Aye, aye, Captain!", Blade agreed and followed Kitty's direction without asking questions.

"Into this room! We need their source of power; the chalk! Bernd will be saved!", Kitty howled and Blade followed with some parrot noises, before busting into an open classroom. They almost fell over, since Kitty was still on her back, but managed to keep their construction of stupidity upright. Without hesitation, Kitty swiped the chalk from the teacher's desk and shoved it into her shoes. "To the next one!", Kitty ordered.

"Yes, your Chosen One," Blade smiled brightly this was going better than expected, there weren't even guards around. They truly had successfully infiltrated a fortress of evil. It took them a while but at some point, all their pockets were filled with chalk. And they moved away from the torture rooms to what looked like the dining room. There even was a podium with the red velvet curtains. "Oh no, look those curtains they are drenched in blood… they are all red. Who do you think they killed? Specialists? Wizards… no for sure babies. It smells so clean in her… it has to be babies. A new-born fresh smell… just horrible…" Blade froze in place. The thought wouldn't leave her. It was stuck she sank to her knees. "I... I can't fly on… How are we supposed to defeat that Evil One, if he kills thousands of babies!" She hissed angrily and punched the floor with one hand.

"Aaaahhh!" Kitty yelped in surprise as she slid off Blades back. "They will pay for this", she whispered towards her blonde-haired fairy friend. Without turning back, Kitty stepped towards the curtains. "So, that's how you wanna play?", the Sorceress muttered in disgust, tears stinging in her eyes, "You kill our new-borns, you threaten Bernd and you keep torture instruments in here, ready to break the sanity of every good person that ever enters this place. I WILL MAKE YOU PAY! AAARRRGHHH!" In pure rage, Kitty grabbed one of her many chalks and started scribbling on the curtains. "New-born killers, beware! The mighty plushie will come for you! This was your last chance to do the right thing, but you failed and now you'll face the conse- Shit! No place left to write! I hate this!" In frustration, Kitty threw the chalk across the room, hit a golden vase and pushed it over the edge. It burst into a shower of broken pieces. "Ha! Take that! You kill newborns, I kill vases!", She yelled triumphally.

Blade was inspired by her Sorceress friend, "Yes, you are right, Kitty. We can't falter. We have to fight, and if it's the last thing we do." She raised her arm above her head aiming at the chair with the most ornaments. " . . ! PIERCING SPEAR!" She hurled her magic at the throne presumably of the general of this fortress. "Splinter, crack, fall to pieces. Your days are numbered! Wahahahaha!" She laughed satisfied as she watched the chair explode into a million pieces through the impact of her spear, which was stuck in the wall behind." She was panting, so much force she had put into it. "Now, let's get the ink to colourise it and the vessel."

"Ooooohhhh, you're right Blade, no more goofing around! This is war and we'll fight for what is right!" With that, Kitty jumped on a chair, to catapult herself into the air and made a roundhouse kick, letting the sole of her foot crash into one of the many, small chandeliers, that dangled above their heads. It came crashing down, raining broken glass onto the girls."Ahh, yes, shower in sweet, sweet revenge", Kitty mused, then she spun around to Blade, "And now, you're right, let's get the ingredients! And even more revenge!"

Palladium heard the beeping. "Hmmmm," he turned around at first, but there was no point to it. The beeping tone from the disk clearly stated that someone was using light magic inside the school and it wasn't one of the teachers. "What could a student do at this time of the night…?" Palladium rose and sat up. He checked the alarm clock, "It's a bit late for training… or studying…" He shook his head. And with a wave of his hand, he was fully clothed. He yawned as he picked up the disk and made his way. "Dining hall? Magic there? Why did I have to have guard duty tonight? ..."? He walked along the hallway straight to the hall, at least it was close by. Surely this was not a problem for which he would need to wake other Professors.