Chapter 59: Homesick
Mal took the Ebonhawk with Riku to escort her while she was surprised to be brought back to Earth, and to New Olympia where she was to meet Hera. Riku tagged along to meet the Queen of Olympus.
"So you think she will help out to get this relic from Hades?" Mal asked the silver haired keyblader, at least that was what she was hoping for.
Riku shook his head. "Not exactly, it's Hades' dominion and while she's the queen and Zeus a little absent due to being drained of his powers for the time being, she needs to focus on helping the heroes. I still think we should have got your friends to help."
"I know but, Ben is busy preparing for the big day coming and Taren, while being a powerhouse, could draw a lot of attention. I might have some in mind for the mission but need to speak with her first." Much as she would have if it was the other way round, but was another reason why she asked to keep this from them.
"They'll find out eventually." Riku stated.
"I know, and will have a good reason." Hopefully getting the relic would make up for it. "What was it again?"
"The Cloak of Dark Illusions, the artifact of the Darkness Civilization." Riku explains. "If it's like the sword, it would no doubt control the Kaiju of darkness."
"And it just happens to be in the one place it could be found." Mal softly groans until they are greeted by Hera. "Of all the places, why did it have to be that one?"
Riku was a little curious if she knew something he didn't and was about to ask when they saw Hera coming towards them.
"Welcome, it is good to see you again, Mal." The queen gave a warm welcome to the female keyblade apprentice and then turned to Riku. "Master Riku, a pleasure to see you as well."
Riku nodded and shook her hand. "Same to you, Hera. How's Zeus? Haven't seen him for a while since the breakout."
Hera sighed as she was concerned for her husband's well being. "For the moment he is recovering his energy but too soon to be active I'm afraid. He wanted to ensure the heroes are kept safe in this school, especially for our grandson. Fortunately, he's been through worse and will soon regain his powers in time but remains in hiding."
"If you ever see him, tell Zeus we hope he gets well." Riku hoped the king of Olympus was taking it easy, and now needed to move on to the dire situation. "You mentioned that Hades has this cloak in his lair. How do you know about this?"
"Word had spread fast across many worlds as the great sorcerer had told us of the situation. Olympus would gladly offer help for what your students did to aid the young heroes." This earned a sense of relief to them of the help they would get from the Olympian Gods. Yet she noticed the absence of the two boys with them. "I assume you would need the heroes' help for this quest?"
"Things got a little complicated after an incident back on Magix, but I'm willing to offer a hand." Mal tells her and already had an idea of some who could help. "With your permission to gain access to the Underworld, it would be a big help."
It would not be trouble for Hera to provide them access to the Underworld, but for Mal she would indeed need some assistance. "It will be dangerous but with your abilities to use the shadows and the keyblade, it will make the journey much easier." Hera advised her.
"Sounds rough." Riku commented.
"Indeed, fortunately the young heroes foiled his plans and helped return Cerberus to the Underworld. Though you still need to be very cautious." She warned them and soon the heroes entered the room and spotted Mal with Hera.
"Mal? Long time no see!" Theresa greeted her with a warm friendly smile and was happy to see her again.
"This is a surprise, didn't expect to see you again so soon." Archie said.
"What brings you back, anything going on?" Jay asked, while happy to see a familiar face but curious for what reason for coming back beside a social visit.
Mal nodded and glad to see them again. "Good to see you, so hows the hero business going? By the way this is Riku, he's the previous generation and master rank."
Riku nodded to them with a smile. "Good to see you, and Herry, congrats on your first heroics, your dad must be proud."
Herry chuckled and smiled back at the silver haired keybearer. "Thanks, and Phil has been keeping me in good shape."
"It's both amazing and scary, but so much has happened after you guys left." Herry could hardly wait to fill her in with the events.
Much as Hera wishes to let them catch up on their adventures, she had to remind them of the situation and stepped in. "I'm afraid that it will have to wait, the reason I summoned you here is to help young Mal on a mission to retrieve an artefact."
"What sort of artefact is it?" Jay pondered.
"I"ll fill you all in about it on the way. They found where it was, which is why I had to come." Mal would probably wish for more help if it was simply but needed to save the universe from falling into chaos. "It's a special cloak that's in possession of Hades, lord of the dead."
"The god of the underworld?" Jay remembered from his knowledge of Greek mythology. "You need to go to that place?"
Riku nods to confirm it. "Yep, I'm sure you guys have yet to meet him."
Herry knew much about him from his father's stories. "Oh yeah, especially when he tried to take over the universe with some of the escaped Titans."
"Like father, like son." Atlanta could already picture it.
"Also known for his fiery attitude when he gets mad." Riku remembers one of the past enemies Sora once confronted. "Luckily he was thwarted thanks to Hercules along with my friends many years ago when we were about your age."
The male model, Neil, was a little uneasy about something and asked a question. "Uh, do we have to watch out for… any dead people? I might not be so comfortable about it if its so important."
Mal rolled her eyes and sighed. "Relax, Neil, not everyone will be going. Too risky for all of us."
"She's correct, Hades is cunning and powerful in his domain." Hera nodded to agree. "Which is why I have chosen three of you to go with her."
Jay turned to Riku. "Aren't you part of this?"
"I can help Mal to get to the Underworld but would have to stay behind for the moment. And besides, she insisted on doing this to test her limits as a keyblade wielder." With future exams to come, it will be a chance for each of them to learn on their own just like how Sora and Riku did when they were teenagers.
But nothing about not bringing allies to support them.
"If you need anyone fast, count me in." Atlanta was eager for some action.
"I'm all for giving a helping hand." Herry volunteers.
Mal smiled and accepted the offer. "Could use someone to give a good chase. Anyone else?"
Archie shrugged his shoulders to step in. "Why not, gonna need a extra hand."
Odis didn't seem so confident about it. "Much as I want but can't, someone has to help the others in case of an emergency and need the brains."
It was understandable and nothing against it, Jay had something on his mind. "Wait, even if you can retrieve this cloak, how exactly are we to go into the underworld?"
"That's easy, according to their laws for two things to get there. You need be a hero." Riku explained.
"Got that covered." Neil said with confidence.
"And you must be dead." Which threw the blonde by surprise.
"That sucks."
"That's one of the things none of us wants." Mal simply stated and not so keen on dying. However, this won't stop her from getting into the Underworld. "I just need to use the right spell to take us down there."
"Then you better be prepared for anything Hades is not to be underestimated. I wish you the best of luck." Hera wishes them luck as they prepare for their journey. "I hope Mal knows what she is doing.
"Why? Far as I know, I'm sure Hades doesn't scare her." Riku said with confidence.
"You mean you don't know?" Hera was surprised to ask him.
"Know what?" Riku asked and when the young teens were gone as she told him.
"WHAT?!"
"So how is everything going on back at Red Fountain with you guys?" Taren called through the screen to chat with his friends to check on them.
"We're doing alright, Timmy's recovering but still a little shaken." Brandon replied, telling him about how Timmy tried to confront Kefka, only to have been intimidated by his fierce power and almost took his life.
Taren understood and was relieved his uncle came in time to save him. "Yeah, I heard. I'm sorry we couldn't have come sooner."
"Hey, don't sweat it, bud. We didn't see it coming." The brunette assured him that he didn't need to blame himself. "So anything on the new artifacts you guys are searching for?"
"So far, Mal was picked for this mission, but said they were letting her have some help. I don't know why but where it is must be important." Although he could have gone with her while Ben was preparing for the coronation in a few days should Kefka or the Trix be there. However, he can use the time to spend with Bloom on her magic training to help out before he gets called away on a mission. "Least I can help the girls out and maybe offer some help with their training."
"Same for us, Sky feels we need to be ready and not repeat what happened." Brandon stated. "And I agree after getting our asses kicked."
"I agree. And maybe some clues from my ancestors' journals could be the answer, if any had encountered something like this." Taren held one of the journals he was reading. "Maybe I can ask Timmy for some help, it could ease his mind from the other day."
Brandon could see that being the ideal to help their smartest member of the team to find something to improve their abilities and use the knowledge to their advantage. "I don't see how he won't, since he heard about that buried vault on the island, he wanted to get to know about the keyblade magic and worlds."
No doubt something the keyblade masters would greatly approve with the dire situation of the more powerful foes they have fought and look for the possible answers from the past, he had discovered this ability called Formchange that can turn their keyblades into many other forms, maybe to ask his parents to teach him this ability when he gets back home. And also to master the use of his Dragon flame magic to bind with his keyblade.
"I can ask the professors to share their brains with the two geniuses." Taren suggested, leaning his head to the side, where Brandon noticed a pinkish mark on his neck.
"Hey, what's that on your neck? Some rash?"
Taren suddenly shot his right hand on his neck to cover it. "My neck? No nothing, why?" Acting oblivious to what he was saying, but couldn't hide the faint tint of flush on his cheeks that the Specialist noticed, realising what it was and gave a sly smile.
"Oooh, I see. Seems you had a little fun with your girls?"
Taren didn't want to respond to that statement of what happened when he and Bloom got back to her dorm, what he thought would be some studying on that book she decided to take a break and with just the two of them in the dorm, she decided to make most of the free time making out with him. Finding it a little embarrassing to be caught with it and retorts back. "If it was you and Stella, you would feel the same way." Not wanting to continue this discussion further or share what went on between him and Bloom for that matter.
"I gotta go, pal. Gotta check on the others, take care." Brandon told him while holding on the smirk on his face. "Tell Stella I'm okay and hope she's taking care of herself."
Taren switches the communication off and resumes his reading of Chandra's journals, getting to the part of the events after the Earth Fairies' disappearance.
"Since the war had ended and the disappearance of the Earth Fairies, we were unable to find any of the survivors whether they had fled somewhere to escape the war or… something terrible had happened to them. This brings back terrible memories of seeing my people had suffered by my former mentor, forcing the remaining survivors into hiding and unable to return home within their lifetime."
"It also happened at the time when the Fae, their rivals, had suddenly been exiled from the island of Avalon by their king. Something about some disagreement with his queen, the masters say we were not to interfere with their affairs unless it was serious so maybe it would settle for a time. They are said to have always squabbled over any small arguments and escalated very fast, even with the Fairies. Despite things being calm at this time, we had no sign of any activities from those Amphibious invaders after discovering Earth being their next target for invasion but for some reason they never showed up. Guess the war must have reached their world and spooked them, but doubt it."
"However, this does show some form of comfort to raise my children and to prepare them for whatever challenges they will face. I will also have to pass on the Dragonflame to my firstborn as the next vessel in the near future."
Finding out there are other races on Earth came to a surprise that fairies and humans weren't the only ones to exist on the same world. Apparently he found out there was another race called Gargoyles from Macbeth who recalled stories of many back in Scotland, yet like the Fairies, the majority of them vanished by humans hunting them, some may have gone into hiding to survive after many centuries.
With the information about passing on the flame to a successor, if only he can find some way of contacting them just like before.
Taren finds himself suspended in a familiar dream state, but this time suspended when the flames erupted around him.
"Young one."
A male voice spoke through the flames, taking the form of a figure appearing before him. It appeared to be a man with a strong build frame, HIs attire appeared to be red-themed along with the robes and spiked shoulder pads, his face was hidden behind the red mask with two horns curving upwards, long wild white hair flowing.
Taren had no idea who he was, maybe another ancestor and the previous wielder of the Dragon Flame. "Who are you?
The masked man was silent for a moment until he spoke with his amber eyes narrowed through the eye holes. "I see. So you have not yet fully connected with the Dragon Flame. Neither has the princess."
Uncertain what he's talking about, not fully connected? "Fully connected? What are you talking about? I thought it was after the whole Tezzeret thing."
"You have a long way to go, young Taren. But I came to warn you that a great danger is near, you must aid the princess and help her resist the dark phoenix's temptations." The masked man warned Taren, who realized he was talking about Bloom and feared that she was in danger.
Feeling the connection between them was reaching the limit, Taren needed answers and guidance from. Extends his hand out to him as he was now fading away. "Wait, who are you? I need some advice to help me!"
"Do not fear, we are always with you. Perhaps next time you will know me and I will be there to guide that courage to its full potential." Once he had finished his speech, his astral form had vanished. Taren soon feels he was being pulled away and hearing the last words before his vision went bright.
"May your heart be your guiding key."
A knock on the door snapped him out of the thought, realising he had some spiritual contact with one of the predecessors but never understood what his words meant. Decided to put it aside and opened the door to find Flora and Layla outside. He noticed the two had a concerned and worried look on their faces. "Flora? Is something the matter?"
"I'm sorry if we disturbed you or anything. But we need your help." Flora sounded very worried when Layla explained the situation.
"The pixies haven't come back from their game, we think something might have happened.
Not liking the feeling of this if the Trix or Darkar were up to no good. "So much for having a nice day. Okay, I'll help, where are the others?""
"Just outside the school to meet us, this way." Layla took the lead to join the rest of the Winx. Taren had a feeling something was not right if the Pixies were gone.
Both the Winx and Taren began their search for the pixies, Stella explained the last thing they heard from the pixies was a game they were playing called Bamboozle ball but it was hours until they noticed something was off. It would be tricky to find them at night, so it was a good idea to take a few lanterns with them. Taren suggested both he and Layla summon their Digimon to help out, the Androsian princess thought it was a good idea if they run into any trouble.
Stella couldn't help but worry for the Pixies and hope nothing happened to them. "I wonder where the pixies are. I sure hope they're not in trouble."
"Don't worry, I'm sure they will be alright." Taren wanted to assure her.
"He's right, they probably tired themselves out and fell asleep or something." Bloom could only hope so.
Agumon went ahead of the group and picked up a scent. "Hey, I smell something."
Gomamon did the same and caught a familiar scent. "Yeah, that's them alright, they're close."
Bloom held out her lantern to where the small Bamboozle stadium was set up where she spotted the pixies flying away. "Hey, Lockette."
"She's in here, let's go after her." Layla tells them and went after the pixies, she was baffled of what was going on with them as they should have seen them but never behaved this way. They needed to find out fast before they get too far into the forest.
They were able to catch up to them by the maze garden, Taren noticed the pixies were not as bright as they always have and looked tired or down
Bloom spoke out of concern for the pixies after their disappearing stunt, but was relieved they were save. "There you are, we were worried about you.
"We must get back to Pixie Village." Chatta stated in a calm and neutral response, something that was not in her character.
"Wait, are you serious?" Taren thought if they were out of their minds if they knew what would happen. "That's crazy! Have you forgotten about the dangers like Darkar for example?"
Bloom nodded to agree with him, knowing that going back to their home village at the moment is too dangerous. "You know that Lord Darkar will follow you, and you know that he must never ever find out where the village is."
"Bloom, wait." Layla held her back and decided to find out for what reason the pixies want to go back home. "Why do you want to go home so much?
"Because." Digit tried to think of a response but suddenly reported back at her with her arms crossed as if her mind was made up. "Just because."
"'Because' is not logical, Digit." Tecna didn't understand what was going on and lectured her bonded pixie, waving her finger at her. "This isn't like you at all.
"Amore, stop this nonsense immediately and come over here." Stella tells her off.
"No, we're homesick, we wanna go." Amore responded back.
"Pixies, scatter!" Chatta took flight with the others followed, Agumon and Gomamon tried to catch them but they were too fast for them.
Even Taren didn't see this coming and should have seen this coming. "Okay, so much for talking. now I'm sure something is going on with them."
"We gotta go after them!" Bloom then transformed with the others and did the same while Taren called out his Keyblade.
Flora went after Chatta who flew into the tunnel on the playing field. Knowing what she would be doing is wrong but only to help her bonded pixie. "I'm so sorry about this, Chatta. Earth Cage!" She trapped Chatta in the tunnel making vines as a form of a cage to trap her inside. Confronting the startled pixie while relieved she was unharmed. "Chatta, there is no way I can let you go."
With Stella who was chasing Amore through the forest, yet having a difficult time with being so dark to see where she was going. "Amore, come back here!" She flew into a branch and fell to the ground before she could reach out towards Amore, yet able to recover but was frustrated by the disadvantage. "It's so dark out here, I can't see a thing." Held out her hand and created an orb of light, bringing a more clear vision of her surroundings. "Illuminate!"
She could hear the sound of Amore whimpering and very close, so close she found Amore hiding behind a log. "Ha! There you are. No more running, okay? I don't wanna ruin my shoes."
Bloom flew overhead of the maze when she was chasing Lockette and lost her, but knowing she was in there and would have to come out eventually. She decided to use a trick to make her come out. "Lockette? Where's my little baby pixie?"
The leader of the Winx could not find her for a moment with no response, but then spotted her coming out of the exit when she flew past her.
"Stop!"
A spell was called out and casted on the pixie, causing her body to freeze up for a moment and allow Bloom to create a small barrier to trap her in."Gotcha."
Coming out of the corner was Taren with a smirk. "Nice work."
Lockette tried to break free from the barrier she was trapped in. "Let me go! Let me go!"
Bloom felt bad for doing this to her pixie but had to stop her from getting captured. She knelt down on her knees with Taren beside her. "Sorry, no can do 'til I know what's going on with you, Lockette."
Taren would agree with her, suddenly his digivice was acting up and wondered what was going on. "Uh?" Uncertain why but was picking up something from the forest, he had a feeling something was going on and hope it didn't pose a threat.
"What's wrong?" Bloom pondered.
"Not sure, but picking up something in the area."
Digit and Tune were flying through the forest with both Musa and Tecna chasing after them.
Tecna could not see very clearly but had an idea that could help them locate the remaining pixies. "Musa, can you use your sonar to pinpoint their location?"
"No, it won't work, too many trees, the waves will just bounce back." Musa explained to her. "Can't you use the net?"
Tecna doubted that it would work. "If Digit goes online, I can find her. Otherwise I'm as lost as you are."
Tune was worried and feeling the urge to return to her home village. "It's not right for a pixie to be away from home for so long. Let's hurry."
"I'll try to find a faster route." Digit uses her navigator to select a route for them to take. It was showing her one to use. Okay, we're over here."
However, Tecna was working her skills to track them down and locked onto the pixies' location. "Ha! I've got her location."
They took cover behind the trees and bushes, keeping themselves hiding until they spotted Digit and Tune flying towards their location without knowing they were there, the two made their move and jumped out from behind grab them, Musa catching Tune in her arms and Techna using Firewall to trap Digit from escaping.
"Come on, I'm not gonna hurt you Digit." Tecna tried to reason with her from struggling.
"Musa, this is extremely rude of you." Tune scolds her bonded fairy while struggles to escape from her arms.
Musa refused to budge. "I'm very sorry, I just wanna help."
"We should head back to Alfea." Tecna suggested, but stopped when her device picked up something but saw something was there and gone. "Strange. I thought I picked up something."
"Whatever it is, more reason to take them back." Musa didn't want to stick around for long and make their way back to the school. Had they stayed for long, the girls would have heard a sound of wings flapping so fast and a soft growlm, hiding from the shadows was none other than the Snimon that was following them like a predator and was about to ambush them when they appear to not be ordinary prey. Decided to wait and buy itself time to ambush the selected prey in this new strange world it stumbled upon.
With the pixies, minus Piff, have been brought back and put into a box to keep them from escaping.
"Let us go!" Chatta screamed out of her lungs.
"That's enough out of you!" Stella scolded her. "Now is everyone here?"
"Yes." Musa said, but then realised they were missing the baby pixie. "Uh, no, where's Piff?"
Flora gasped. "Oh no, do you think Piff got away?"
"I'm sure she can't have gone too far." Taren stated to assure her when he spotted Layla landed before them. "Any sign of your pixie, Layla?"
"Don't worry, she's over there!" Layla pointed towards Gomama with Piff on his back. "She flew about 10 feet and had to stop to take a nap."
"It was either me or land on Agumon's head." Gomamon made a joke to make some laughs
"Think now is to take them to Faragonda and find out what's going on." Taren suggested with everyone agreeing to the idea and hopefully the headmistress can help them.
Unknown to the heroes, they were being observed by none other than Darkar himself during the events of the pixies trying to flee to return to their home village, little did the Winx or their allies realise that it was by his doing to cast a spell on the pixies to make them feel homesick and lead him to the next piece of the codex. While they have stopped the pixies from escaping, it was far from over. "Laugh while you still can, fairies. Soon it'll be time for tears."
This he would make certain and also to deal with the keyboarders. Despite being spread out and with their own missions, they still continue to get in his way. But with allies such as Kefka to keep them out of his way, he would not have to worry about them for the time being.
They brought the pixies to Faragonda in her office after explaining what happened to them, making the headmistress alarmed by this news and relieved they had not escaped. She called for them in her office after careful examination on the pixies for any spells and curses that might have been the cause of it.
"So where about's are the pixies?" Taren asked her.
Faragonda replied while sitting behind her desk. "I've put the pixies in a safe place. It will give us the time we need."
"But what's wrong with them?" Flora wanted to know what got into them for trying to make their way back to Pixie Village.
"They are under the influence of a homesickness spell. It compels them to return to their village." She told them and had a very good idea of who was behind it. "Frankly, I believe Lord Darkar is behind this."
"Miss Faragonda, you've been keeping something from us about Darkar and the pixies, am I right?" Tecna wanted to know what was going on as everyone else seemed to be clueless as to what was happening.
Taren agreed with her and crossed his arms as he was reching his limit of being kept out of the loop of what is really going ong. "That's something me and the others like to know as well. The Trix and Kefka went to a lot of trouble breaking into Red Fountain." A lot of them got hurt and so much worse had he and the keybalders not arrived, even Lea went with them to meet with Yen Sid but left him behind to have a private discussion. Even Ben and Mal were curious about what was going on.
"Does this have something to do with what the Trix stole?" Bloom joined in to know as they did after their friends were hurt. "The Specialists said they can't talk about it. What's going on?
Faragonda immediately knew they would find out and decided to let them in after what had happened in the previous events. "Saladin and I have discovered that Darkar is after the four quadrants of something called The Codex." Stepping out of her chair and stood before the window with her arms held behind her.
Unfamiliar by that name and wondered if it was very important for them to keep it a secret. "Is it a magical artifact?" Bloom asked her.
"Not quite." Faragonda stated and continued. "But if Darkar gets a hold of all four pieces, it'll be a disaster."
"A lot more than the artifacts we're trying to find?" Taren pondered and not liking the sound of it.
"Exactly."
"So the Trix got the first one in Red Fountain." Bloom said
Layla now understood the reason for the pixies' capture and their sudden need to go back home. If they return to their village, Darkar will follow them and know where their village is hiding. "That means another piece is kept in Pixie Village!"
Musa was curious to know about the remaining two pieces. "Uh, but what about the other two?"
"Cloud Tower and Alfea. That means we must be vigilant now that Darkar's plan is in motion." Faragonda proclaimed, unable to risk losing the other pieces.
"Do the masters know about this?" Taren asks the headmistress.
"Yes, and despite keeping this a secret they understood the priorities at these dark times. Both Prince Ben and Mal will know about this as well." Hoping to prevent the catastrophe from happening while they continue their search for the Kaiju artefacts from falling into the hands of Kefka for his own plans.
"Then we've gotta help the pixies." Flora proclaimed to find a solution to undo this spell to restore the pixies to their normal selves.
"But how?" Tecna was clueless about this as they were. "Taren, do you have any spells that could work on them?"
Taren wish he did but not so good with different magics. "Not as good without skills and training."
Faragonda had and idea and turned to Bloom. "Bloom, don't you think this is a great opportunity to test your new healing powers?"
Bloom gave a confident smile when she remembered that book she and Taren found in the library as it could be the answer to their problem. "Absolutely. I'll give it my best shot."
Appreciaitng the confidence in Bloom, Faragonda turns her attention to Taren. "Good. And Taren, perhaps you can stay behind as I need to speak with you about."
"Uh, sure." As the girls leave the office while wondering what the headmistress wanted to speak with him in private. "What exactly did you wanted to talk to me about?"
Adjusting her glasses while keeping her eyes directly towards the young keyblader. "I noticed a sudden shift in your magical aura for some time now, much active than Bloom's." She stated as something Taren must have noticed. "I spoke with Yen Sid about this the other day and explained how you were trying to gain a better connection with the Dragon Flame."
He nods his head to confirm her explanation. "Yeah, since I made a full connection with Chandra, my distant ancestor and the first of my family as the vessal. I wanted to find out anything about my family's lost heritage and know about them." Taren informs her. "Before I knew about it, I kept getting visions of them using this power and the keyblades, still trying to figure out how to control."
Taking a moment to absorb this knowledge, the headmistress found it fascinating and never heard such a thing from the legends of the Dragon Flame to do that. In fact, she was uncertain if Bloom, princess Daphne, or any of their relatives had gained this ability. If it was, it would be no doubt have been kept secret for a reason. But one such theory came to mind. "Truth be told, this is entirely unknown to my knowledge and yet an interesting ability. My guess is it could have been done by each user who was a keyblade wielder as you mentioned your grandfather being one when he was alive."
"That could be possible. I'm still trying to figure much of it as I can but having a hard time." Taren had to admit it even when he was doing some research of anything and just found old adventures and few magical abilities too advance to learn. "It could be the same for Bloom, like when she was contacted many times from her sister."
"That is a good point." Faragonda admitted that he was right and perhaps there is a way to help Bloom to understand her powers more. "If we are to confront Darkar very soon, it is vital that both of you need to be at your full limit to face him."
"I might ask the keyblade masters to help out, maybe give some pointers to Bloom." Taren suggested.
Faragonda nodded to agree with his suggestion. "That would be a good idea, and maybe ask Avalon to allow Bloom some time off to let the Keyblade masters to help if she wishes."
Thinking it be a better idea, not certain why but he doesn't trust Avalon at all and remembered the warning he recieved from the masked user about a darkness close by and Bloom being in danger. "Yeah, good idea. Anything else to mention before I go?"
"Actually there is and was going to have the Winx but had to have a private talk with you for a moment." The headmistress walked to the door and opened it to reveal Mirta behind the door.
"Mirta? What's going on?" Taren was surprise to see her and curious about what is going on.
"It seemed that Mirta found something very interesting out in the forest and felt we may need your assistance." The headmistress explained to him, receiving a confused look on his face.
Arched an eyebrow and asked. "Why? Is it Kefka again?"
Faragonda shook her head to assure him. "Not exactly, I think its best we allow Mirta to tell you."
Mirta pulled out her bag which was unzipped for the time he noticed as she reached down and pulled out Salamon in her arms before gently putting her on the desk.
Taren was at first confused about what this was about. Did Mirta find a new pet? "Uh, something you wanna share?"
Mirta shook her head. "Not exactly, this is Salamon."
"Hi." Salamon spoke, surprising Taren to hear it speak. "Mirta told me you have Digimon as well."
"Wait-what?" Startled and blinked his eyes twice at the creature that revealed itself as a Digimon. "A digimon? How? Where did she even come from?"
"We were astonished as you are, according to our little guest she came through a rift between our two worlds." Faragonda stated.
"A rift? You mean here and their world?" Taren couldn't believe it as this would make this one the second digimon to cross over since he and his friends came to the Magic Dimension. He asks her to know more. "But how did you end up here?
Salamon took a moment to remember. "I remember wandering through the forest minding my own business, but for some reason I was searching for something."
"Searching? For what?" Mirta asked her.
"I dunno, it's been in my dream for some time." Salamon replied. "Then out of nowhere, Snimon came up and attacked me."
"Snimon?" Taren was unfamiliar with the name, brought out his digivice and repeated the phrase for any data on it when it revealed the image of the Digimon. Unknowingly caught Salamon's curiosity of the object in his hand when it displayed a holographic display of the image of Snimon.
Snimon
Champion Level
Vaccine Type
Special Attacks: Twin Sickle, Ultimate Twin Sickle, Shadow Slash
"That's the one alright. It was chasing her when it was chasing Zing." Mirta stated, after she told the headmistress what happened she was concerned for both Mirta and Zing's wellbeing but relieved they were unharmed.
"This fella looks like a real killer, and says it would hunt anything that it can find." Taren read out what the Digivice revealed of the rogue Digimon. "It must have tracked her down through the portal and ended up here."
"And now it's somewhere close by." Griselda realized the threat of this creature if it came across anyone else. "I believe it would be best to keep the students within the school grounds for their safety."
Faragonda agreed with her for the safety of their students. "Yes, you're right." Turning to the two teens before her. "For the time being, it is best to keep this to ourselves and the Winx to start a panic until the situation has been dealt with."
The young keyblader nods his head as he clearly understood their reason to keep this between them as possible, and it would be a good idea to ask the Winx for help if they can. "Sure thing. But what are we to do with her?" Pointing to Salamon. "Can't let her wonder about on her own while in the school."
Mirta had to admit he was right and had an idea for the solution. "If it's okay, I could maybe keep an eye on her and if anyone asks I could say she was a pet I was looking after for the time being."
Faragonda took a moment to think about and admit Mirta had greatly improved her confidence since she achieved her fairy magic and helped the keybladers to stop Kefka. Also, the Digimon named Salamoj appears to stay close to her being then the others, possibly for saving her and trusts her more. "I don't see why not as long as our little guest has any objections."
The Digimon gave a response to her answer with a nod and jumped off the desk to land next to Mirta.
"Guess that answers that, I better go and see how BLoom is doing.
Taren was on his way to the winx's dorm to tell them what happened and how they will be surprised about another Digimon on the loose. "Man, just when I thought this day couldn't get any weirder."
"Help!"
He stopped from his tracks and heard a cry of help, immediately recognised it to be Bloom's and feared she was in danger. "Bloom!" Wasting no time and rushes in to find her in her bedroom, stops to see a large twisted plant with a set of terrifying jaws like it was ready to devour anything in sight. Finding Bloom by the desk in fear. "Bloom!"
"Taren!" She was happy to see him and when the plant monster noticed him, it went to attack by trying to snap its jaws at him.
Bloom then grabbed the book in her hands. "Hands off" She proclaimed and swatted the plant monster down so easily with one hit with the book, ending the brief moment of danger.
Taren sighed in relief and glad she was not hurt. "You alright? What just happened?"
Bloom was happy to see him and worried for her, she was confused as he was. "I don't know, I was doing some research on a purification spell and used it on the plant, but for some reason, it had a major monster growth."
Unexpected to find something like this as she picked up the book, uncertain what going on. "Just what is wrong with this book?"
Taren was not certain either, but something told him that book had a lot of dark aura around it. "I dunno, but think we should take this to Faragonda right away."
Within the darkest depths of the Underworld, the realm of the dead under the dominion of Hades himself, a purple rift formed out of the wall and emerged from it came Mal, followed by Herry, Archie and Atlanta after she had used a spell to take them to the Underworld with Hera's permission to help begin their search for the Cloak.
She couldn't believe they were here but had to do it to keep that artefact from the wrong hands. "Well, here we are. The Underworld."
Archie shivers, unable to believe they were actually here. "Looks cold and dark."
"Not to mention...ghosts." Atlanta spotted several ghosts of the dead drifting in one direction. "Can see why he must wanted to have Zeus' job so badly."
"Let's just keep moving, as long as my spell is active he won't know we're here but never know." Mal just wanted to get it and out of here fast, but not sure what it would turn out if they be confronted by Hades. The hardest part is to make him give them the cloak and can only hopes he has no idea how to use it for any scheme of his with Zeus temporally gone.
They make their way towards the river and found a hooded figure by the boat, he was the ferryman named Charon. According to Jay they would need the ferryman to take them through the river styx, but require payment.
Mal pulled out the small bag and offers a few Munny for them to pass. "Here's half of the payment to take us to the Underworld." The ferryman reached his hand out to accept the fee, but only half of it and reached for her bag until she pulled it away. "You'll get the rest on the way back."
In reluctance, he accepted and allowed them on his boat, they had to keep on the boat at times and try ignore the river that was filled with spirits of the deceased as the ferryman takes them to Hades' palace.