Twilight was falling as the Winx teleported everyone into a back alley a few streets away from the dock where the animal smugglers were.

'Okay, everyone,' Bloom began. 'Girls, let's transform back; we don't want a horde of reporters descending on us while we're trying to save Duman and the animals.' The Winx complied, changing back to their human forms. 'Um…' Bloom looked to the wizards. 'Is there any way you guys can make yourselves less…conspicuous?' She kind of had a point: the wizards were dressed in full goth clothing. They were pretty noticeable.

'Ooh, I know!' Stella exclaimed. 'I can just make you some new outfits!' She raised a hand, and Ogron and Gantlos exchanged panicked looks.

'Maybe not, Stella,' Flora said gently, catching Stella's arm before she could cast a spell. 'Not everyone wants your fashion advice.' Stella frowned, but didn't push it.

'Okay, guys.' Bloom headed for the mouth of the alley. 'We don't know exactly what we're dealing with, so, until we do, let's not get seen.' The others nodded and followed her, walking through dusky streets until they arrived at the edge of large docks.

'Um…What now?' Musa asked. 'This place is pretty big; where are we even going?' Roxy frowned.

'I…I can sense them.' The Fairy of Animals closed her eyes in concentration. 'Animals. Lots of animals.' Her expression twisted in distress. 'They're trapped. Scared.' Her breathing started to become shallow. 'Can't get out, can't get out, can't get out!'

'Roxy!' Bloom quickly put her hand on her friend's shoulder. 'Roxy, it's okay!' Roxy's eyes shot open, and her head whipped around.

'That way! They're that way! Come on, we need to save them!' Roxy shot off in the direction indicated, closely followed by the cub and Gantlos, who was wasting no time if Roxy had a lead on Duman.

'Roxy!' Bloom called. 'Gantlos! Wait for us!'

'They're not listening, Bloom,' Aisha said, taking off after Roxy. 'We're just going to have to keep up.'

The group ran after Roxy, Gantlos and the cub, who was going surprisingly fast for such a young animal, ducking past shipping crates and mysterious puddles that Stella did not appreciate stepping in.

Finally, Roxy and Gantlos came to a halt (on top of some shipping containers, much to everyone's chagrin), and everyone except Aisha and Anagan had to take a moment to catch their breath.

'Roxy…Don't do…that again,' Stella gasped, leaning against a shipping crate until she realised it was covered in rust and she squealed and leapt away from it, brushing frantically at her dress while Ogron rolled his eyes at her antics.

'Down there,' Roxy murmured, completely ignoring Stella. 'They're down there.'

'Where?' Bloom asked, walking forwards to look around a crate. In front of them was a large dock with at least ten ships of varying size with people walking around on them, and Roxy was glaring at them all furiously.

'Those ships,' Roxy snarled, still acutely sensing the animals' distress. 'There are animals trapped on all of them.'

'Hold on,' Stella said nervously. 'There's like a dozen ships down there. You're saying all of them belong to these smugglers?' Roxy nodded. '…That's a lot more smugglers than I was expecting.'

'So what?' Gantlos asked. 'We just need to get down there and free Duman and the animals.'

'Gantlos is right,' Roxy said. 'What are we waiting for? We can take them.'

'Calm down, Roxy,' Bloom said gently. 'We know we need to save Duman and the animals, but we need a plan before we go rushing in there.'

'Why?' Roxy burst out. 'We've got magic; why don't we just transform, bust in there and make them give us Duman and the animals?' Gantlos nodded emphatically, but Ogron held up a hand.

'Bloom's right. We need a plan, or else we could make the situation worse.' Roxy clenched her fists furiously and made a frustrated noise.

'Alright…' Bloom mused. 'We need to get the lay of the land…Tecna, can you run a scan?'

'I'm on it, Bloom.' Roxy had to refrain from growling; this was ridiculous! They knew where the animals were! Why were they waiting? She whimpered as she felt another wave of distress wash over her. She could feel the animals' pain; she couldn't just sit around and talk! Forget whatever Bloom and Ogron said: she was a fairy! She could take on some smugglers! She looked around for Gantlos, knowing he'd back her up on this, but she couldn't see the blonde wizard. She turned around in confusion, and froze. Gantlos was below her, running towards the boats. Clearly he was far too determined to save Duman to wait for everyone else to come up with a plan. She opened her mouth to say something to the others, but then she paused. Bloom and Ogron would just make him come back, and then they'd talk for a million years, which neither she nor Gantlos wanted.

She felt something nudge up against her legs, and she looked down to see the cub staring up at her questioningly. She looked back at the others, inspecting a slowly-generating digital map of the area on Tecna's phone, then back down at Gantlos's rapidly-retreating form. She knew what she needed to do.

Gantlos walked carefully through the docks, avoiding making any sound that would alert the smugglers to his presence. He felt a twinge of guilt at having left without telling Ogron and Anagan what he was doing, but he couldn't just stand there when Duman was within reach! He had to save him!

Hearing quiet footsteps behind him, he froze, listening intently. Was it a smuggler? If it was, he could blast Duman's location out of them. Keeping up the guise of not having heard anything, he prepared to turn. 3,2,1…

He whipped around and summoned seismic waves to his hands, readying himself to throw the smuggler into a crate.

'Gantlos, it's me!' He stopped himself at the last second, staring in surprise at the girl in front of him.

'Roxy?' He dropped his arms to his sides. 'What are you doing?' He folded his arms. 'And, for the record, it's never a good idea to sneak up on me.' Roxy smirked.

'Yeah, I was getting that feeling. What do you think I'm doing? I'm coming with you! I'm not sitting around planning for a million years; I'm saving those animals.'

'Do the Winx know you're here?' Roxy raised an eyebrow and Gantlos sighed. 'No, of course they don't. Roxy, I'm not sure-' Roxy cut him off.

'Don't even think about telling me not to help, Gantlos. Because, believe me, I'm going in there, with or without you.' Gantlos smiled, impressed with her ferocity.

'I was just going to say that I'm not sure you should bring a tiger cub on a rescue mission.' He pointed down at the cub, which was lovingly rubbing itself against Roxy's legs. Roxy blushed.

'Oh. No, he's coming. You'll have as much luck getting him to leave as you'd have with me.' Gantlos nodded.

'Alright, just make sure he doesn't give us away.' Roxy nodded and bent to stroke the cub.

'Stay quiet, little one.' The cub mewed and licked her hand, and Roxy laughed softly. 'Good boy.' She got to her feet and her warm smile was replaced by a look of hard determination. 'Let's do this.'

'Hmm…I don't know exactly what kind of animals we're actually dealing with here…' Ogron mused. 'Roxy, what kind of animals do you sense?' There was no reply. 'Roxy?' Still no reply. He looked around. 'Has anyone seen Roxy?' Everyone looked around for the animal fairy.

'Roxy?' Bloom called. 'She's not here…' Ogron resisted the urge to groan. That wasn't good.

'Uh, guys?' Stella said nervously. 'I don't see Gantlos, either.' A quick glance around proved Stella to be correct; Gantlos was nowhere to be seen. Ogron facepalmed and muttered a very strong Gaelic expletive under his breath.

'So where do we head first?' Roxy asked in a hushed whisper, looking out at the boats from behind the crate they were using as a hiding place.

'There,' Gantlos said decisively, pointing at a boat across the docks. 'I think…I think that's where Duman is. Now that we're closer, I'm starting to sense him again. It's faint, but…'

'That boat it is,' Roxy said. 'Let's go.' Wizard, fairy and tiger slipped out from behind the crate, keeping to the shadows to avoid the men walking around.

'Okay, wait…' Gantlos murmured, ducking behind a pile of ropes next to the gangplank leading onto the ship. Men walked on and off, and it seemed impossible to find a time to slip aboard when they wouldn't be seen.

Roxy looked around, searching for an idea, and her gaze fell on a group of rats scavenging by the water's edge.

'Hey, Gantlos,' she hissed. 'Remember how I took you on when I first transformed?' Gantlos looked at her in confusion for a moment, before following her gaze to the rats, understanding dawning on his face.

'Go for it.' Roxy focused, creating a mental connection with the rats. Get them! The rats squeaked and swarmed a man standing next to the gangplank.

'Aah! What the-' Roxy winced as a stream of remarkably foul language spewed forth from his mouth, and even Gantlos grimaced. But the distraction worked: the smugglers were all staring at the man covered in rats, and no one was looking at the way onto the ship.

'Come on!' Roxy whispered, and they ran aboard the ship. 'So…' she asked quietly. 'Can you sense where Duman is?' Gantlos shook his head.

'No…' he whispered miserably. 'I can sense he's on this ship, but nothing more specific than that. His energy is really weak…' He sighed, and Roxy hesitantly put her hand on his arm. Gantlos stared at her in shock, and she smiled warmly at him.

'Hey…We're gonna find him; don't worry.' Gantlos smiled weakly.

'…Thanks.'

'Don't mention it. If we haven't got a location on Duman, let's just head in and try to find him or any animals.'

'Okay.' The cub meowed in agreement, and Roxy laughed softly as he prowled ahead like he was all grown up.

They walked for a minute, dodging smugglers, until Roxy stopped short next to a corridor.

'I can sense animals…Down there!' She moved to go down the corridor, but paused as Gantlos froze. 'What is-'

'Hey!' Roxy gasped and spun to see five guys standing at the end of the passage they were in. 'Who are you? How'd you get in here?'

'Hey, Blake,' hissed one of the guys. 'Look!' He pointed at the cub. 'That's the tiger we lost last night.' The one named Blake nodded and stepped forward.

'Okay, just give us the tiger and nobody gets hurt.'

'Not a chance,' Roxy snarled, stepping protectively in front of the cub. 'Let the animals you've captured go!' The men laughed.

'I'm not sure you're in any position to give us orders, kid. Just give us the cat and put your hands up.'

'No! Believix!' There was a flash of light, and Roxy transformed into her fairy form. 'Now…' She put her hands on her hips. 'Let the animals go, and take us to the shapeshifter you've captured.' One of the men laughed, albeit a little nervously.

'That's a very cute fairy costume, kid, but what are you gonna do now?'

'I am a real fairy!' Roxy spat.

'Yeah, yeah…and what's he?' The guy jerked his thumb towards Gantlos. 'One of Santa's elves?'

'Actually, he's an insanely powerful dark wizard,' Roxy replied casually.

'Yeah, right.' Roxy caught Gantlos's eye.

'I don't think they're gonna believe us like this.' She smirked. 'Maybe we should give them a demonstration.' Gantlos nodded and clapped his hands together, unleashing a sonic wave that knocked the men off their feet.

'What the hell?!' Blake scrambled to his feet and drew a dart gun.

'Scorpion's tail!' Roxy yelled, knocking the weapon out of his hands. She put her hand on her hip. 'Believe us now?'

'Hey, you!' Roxy whipped around to see at least a dozen more guys appear at the other end of the passage.

'Uh-oh.' Gantlos turned to see and swore under his breath, stomping his foot and knocking several of them off their feet.

'Wolf Talon!' Roxy knocked two guys down, but more kept coming for her. Okay, maybe Bloom and Ogron had a point about coming up with a plan. But she didn't have time to question her impulsive decision, needing to focus on blasting the men that just seemed to keep coming.

She spun around and blasted a guy, then gasped. A man was coming up behind Gantlos, about to hit him over the head with a pipe!

'Enchanted Cloak!' Roxy flung out her arms, creating a shield behind the wizard, stopping the smuggler in his tracks as his weapon bounced off the barrier. Gantlos looked at the shield in confusion, before turning his gaze to her.

'You're welcome!' She gave him a thumbs-up, and he smiled, then turned and blasted the smuggler into a wall.

They were holding their own, and Roxy was surprised to see that they actually made a pretty decent team, but suddenly a pained howl echoed through the ship, and Gantlos froze.

'I know that howl…' he murmured. 'Duman!' He turned to run towards the noise.

'Gantlos, look out!' Roxy cried, but she was too late to warn him as a man popped up seemingly out of nowhere and punched him in the head. 'Gantlos!' The wizard staggered back dizzily, clutching his head, and the man drew his dart gun.

Roxy summoned an attack, but froze as she heard a scared mewling from behind her. She whipped around, and horror painted itself across her expression as she saw the cub dangling by the scruff of his neck in the hands of a smuggler.

'Let him go!' The man only laughed in the face of her fury, and Roxy's blood turned to ice as she heard Gantlos gasp sharply; she spun around just in time to see him stagger backwards and collapse to the floor, several tranquilliser darts sticking out of his chest.

'Aah!' She felt a sharp pain in her side, and looked down in horror to see a dart in her own skin. Her vision started to blur, and she felt her legs go weak, eventually giving out underneath her and sending her toppling onto the ground. She tried desperately to keep her eyes open, but darkness was rapidly bleeding into the edges of her vision.

As she was losing consciousness, she could hear the men talking.

'Spread out and search the docks; they might not have come alone.'

'What do we do with them now?'

'Tie 'em up. They've got magic just like the other one; maybe they'll be worth something.'

Ogron struggled to remain calm as he, Anagan and the Winx began looking for Gantlos and Roxy. Dammit, Gantlos! What are you thinking? They'd started the day missing Duman, and now they'd somehow managed to lose Gantlos and Roxy. Fantastic.

'Hey, guys!' Flora exclaimed, and he hurried over, desperately hoping she'd spotted their missing companions. 'Look.' Flora pointed down at a set of paw-prints. 'I think these are from the cub!'

'Roxy would never leave the cub…' Tecna mused. 'I'd guess that if we follow these tracks, we'll find Roxy, and most likely Gantlos too.'

Bloom pinched the bridge of her nose and let out an exasperated sigh.

'Oh, Roxy. What are you thinking?'

'I'll tell you what she's thinking,' Ogron said frustratedly. 'She's thinking that she's a fairy, and she doesn't need a plan to take on some smugglers, because she's young, inexperienced and desperate to save those animals, and if she's with Gantlos, he hasn't corrected her, because he's so desperate to save Duman.' He took a deep breath. 'We need to find them as quickly as possible before they end up in over their heads.'

'Agreed.' Bloom nodded. 'Let's follow the tracks, and hopefully we'll find Roxy and Gantlos.' The group began following the paw-prints, keeping quiet so as not to alert anyone to their presence.

'You know, maybe we're panicking over nothing,' Stella said quietly after a minute. 'After all, Roxy's really good, and Gantlos is crazy powerful; what if they've already found Duman and freed the animals?' Ogron shook his head.

'I doubt that highly, Stella.' The Fairy of the Shining Sun folded her arms.

'And why is that?'

'Freeze!' Everyone whipped around to see at least two dozen men pointing weapons at them, and Ogron groaned.

'Because nothing is ever that easy.'

Yeah, were they really expecting Gantlos to wait around when he was that close to Duman? If you like the story, please review! Also, question: would anyone read a story about Bloom turning evil again after using the Black Circle? If you would, please let me know in a comment, because I've got a couple of chapters written and I'll focus more on the story if anyone thinks it sounds interesting.