Here it is the Chapter 9 2.0 Remake of the story so get ready in
Chapter 9: The Statue Of The Seven Dragons
Tower Of Magix
As the chapter opens, Hex, Charmcaster, and The Wizard of Black Circle are getting closer as they make their way down into the tower of magi's more profound chambers. After getting through the second barrier, they start looking for the third. A corridor with roughly three doors on each side can be reached via the stairs. The floor appeared to have been created by skilled hands and had a lengthy red carpet adorned with multiple magical symbols. Even though the material has aged significantly over time, it still manages to appear amazing. The stone columns in the halls themselves appeared to be supporting the ceiling. You'd better watch out not to break them.
Charmcaster groaned, "Great, the further down we go, the more we have to search."
"Seems like we'll have to split up once more," Ogron replied.
As Charmcaster headed to the second room on the right, she said, "Hmph, fine with me."
The others had divided up to explore that area of the tower in quest of any hints that would lead to the third defense spell. Ogron discovered that he was in a kind of sleeping room. Even though no one was around to take care of the rooms, there was a single bed that appeared to be a little dusty but otherwise made. Along with a restroom and a work desk, the room featured a window providing some natural light.
Ogron murmured as he left the room, "Hmm...looks like a bedroom. Must have been a resting chamber for one of the old residents here. doesn't look like I'll find anything important here."
Hex appeared to be in a meeting room in the meanwhile. The unusual shape of an "x" seemed to be formed by the table in the center of the room. Hex rummaged through the chamber, gathering old files left behind before the tower was finally deserted. Other than that, he found nothing. A handful of them drew his attention because they involved a few pupils who were plotting to turn against the higher magic users.
Duman, Anagan, and Gantlos were rummaging in a room that appeared to be the residence of one of the mentioned magic users. Gantlos had settled down on the desk, and Duman had become a rat to explore the small spaces in the room.
"(Sigh...) Great...nothing around here but dust and old documents. I'm getting a feeling that searchin this floor might be a waste of time." Anagan grumbled.
Duman said in a high-pitched voice, "I wouldn't be so sure of that, Anagan." He was carrying a piece of parchment he had discovered inside the wall when he emerged from it.
Anagan said, "Where'd ya find that?"
"I found it stuck between two of the concrete blocks behind the wall." Duman responded,
Anagan took the paper from Duman and said, "Let me see that. Come on. Teach and Ogron will want to see this." He looked over the document and had a surprised expression on it. Then he, Duman, and Gantlos exit the room.
Duman said, trailing Anagan and Gantlos, "Hey wait, you didn't let me get a look at it."
Duman, Anagan, and Gantlos then head to regroup with Hex, Charmcaster, and Ogron.
Outside of The Tower.
We follow our heroes outdoors as they begin their fight with Dark Bloom. You would think that with so many people pitted against one fairy, the winner would be clear-cut. But just as the previous several times they battled her, Dark Bloom possessed considerably greater strength than her allies. A sky war has broken out. With a coordinated effort, Stella and Flora tried to ground the dark fairy, but Dark Bloom was too fast and easily sidestepped the attack, striking back with a dark fire bolt. To stop the attack, Stella had summoned a magical barrier. Before long, Dark Bloom was evading Aisha and Musa's blows. Musa's punch was sidestepped by Dark Bloom, who countered Aisha's blow with her own. But in her distraction, she was unceremoniously restrained in a massive hand encrusted with greenish-blue diamonds. Dark Bloom was gripped tightly, unable to move free.
On a crystal column, Diamondhead has ascended to confront Dark Bloom directly.
"Alright Bloom, spill it. Why are you acting like this? I know those guys must have done something that caused you to act like this." Diamondhead responded.
When Dark Bloom answered, she was still grinning. "Tell ya what, let me go and I'll tell ya."
"Oh come, do I look that stupid?" DiamondHead questioned.
Dark Bloom, whose light had turned dark orange, answered, "As a matter of fact, yes!" Shortly after, she managed to break free by conjuring a shockwave of fire magic that caused Diamond's head to fall off the column he had constructed. Not long after being set free, Dark Bloom pursued the petrosapien that was falling. With a blast that sent him hurtling even faster to the ground, she had charged her dark fire into her right hand. As DiamondHead touched down, a mark was left on the earth.
Diamondhead said as he stood up, "...Ugh...okay...so she's a bit tougher than I thought." However, he had noticed a jet of fire directly in his direction as he had glanced overhead. He lifted his left arm in preparation to block it, but Gwen had placed a purple mana shield over the stream.
Gwen grinned and added, "I thought I told you that I can't always be there to save your skin."
DiamondHead said as he stood up, "And I thought I told you I never asked."
Gwen questioned, "So, what's going on here?" as she looked up to see Dark Bloom and Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna, and Aisha fighting in the air once more.
"I don't know Gwen. When I first got here, Bloom was the one who offered me a place to stay. She seemed pretty nice." Diamondhead replied, "I'm guessing something happened after she got captured by the wizards, maybe they did something to her with some kind of spell that turned her evil."
"She definitely has dark magic flowing out of her body. But...there's a weak spot." Gwen replied.
Diamondhead asked, "Whaddaya mean by weak spot?"
"I mean that it's possible to bring her back. But the spell on her is powerful. I don't know how to counter it." Gwen responded.
"Then I guess I'll just have to wear Bloom out and capture her until we do." Diamondhead replied.
Dark Bloom, who had emerged abruptly behind Ben and Gwen, said, "I'd certainly like to see you try."
Diamondhead had been standing in front of Gwen, prepared to take the hit while Dark Bloom prepared another strike. But, she vanished just as DiamondHead was waiting for her to strike.
DiamondHead remarked, "Huh? What gives?" after noticing that Dark Bloom had vanished in front of him and peeking over his shoulder.
Gwen asked, "She's gone?"
Dark Bloom, who had now materialized in front of them, responded, "Not quite."
She'd shot off her attack, sending DiamondHead and Gwen reeling back a few yards or so as they turned to find Dark Bloom. They had eventually skidded to a stop, but not before Diamondhead had let go of Gwen. The red flashing Omnitrix on DiamondHead's chest had started a few seconds before he stopped. Ben was back to being a human in a matter of seconds.
Dark Bloom laughed as she lifted Ben up by the back of his shirt collar and said, "Ha, looks like your time run's out, Ben."
"Suppose you wanna talk about this," Ben replied.
As Dark Bloom used her magic on Ben, she exclaimed, "No, I don't care if anything happens to you now, time to." But, she was abruptly stopped when an unseen force bound her. Her arms became rigid and adhered to her sides.
Dark Bloom exclaimed, "Gah! I...I can't move!" as she became immobile.
Faragonda lowered her hand and replied, "There, that ought to hold you."
With a fight for breath, Dark Bloom yelled, "Let me go, you old hag!"
Faragonda put her thumb and index finger to Dark Bloom's head and flicked it, saying, "I think that's quite enough out of you young lady."
Dark Bloom exclaimed, "Ow!"
"What did you do to her?" Asked Ben.
Faragonda said, "I used a special binding spell." Dark Bloom was surrounded by silver chains. "Even with her power, I doubt she'll be going anywhere."
After their fight, the other Winx arrived shortly after. Sky had moved to talk to Dark Bloom and was ready to do so when Dark Bloom saw him coming and gave him a scowl, which made Sky stop trying to talk to her.
"I'll keep her held down here and try to figure out how to bring Bloom back to her senses," Faragonda replied.
"And we'll go in and stop them from finding that statue," Ben replied.
"However, I'll need someone to stay here as backup just in case Bloom manages to break free," Faragonda replied.
Dark Bloom smirked and said, "Which I will."
Sky said, "Miss Faragonda, I've got your back. I'm not going to leave Bloom while she's like this."
Bloom asked, "And what exactly do you plan to do, pretty boy? You weren't exactly helping the last time I showed up until you dropped to the ground."
Faragonda flicked her again and said, "Quiet!"
Dark Bloom hissed, "Grr..Stop that!" which made her flick her in the head once more.
Faragonda grinned and said, "Say another word. I insist." Dark Bloom simply decided to remain quiet for the time being. "Now, hurry! I imagine that they must at least be at the third defense spell by now."
To find Hex and the wizards and stop them before it was too late, Ben, The Winx, The Specialist, Gwen, and Max—who is equipped with an energy arm cannon—had set out for the Tower of Magix.
In the meantime, the wizards had found a section of the tapestry with additional magical symbols, all of which revolved around three main symbols. Three appeared: a mountain-like one, a pair of intersecting blades, and an open book-like one. There was a stone door behind the tapestry. There was just a handle on the side, so opening it didn't appear to take any special skills.
Charmcaster exclaimed, "No way, it can't be this easy." with incredulity.
"Then, by all means, open the door and find out," Ogron replied.
After doing so, Charmcaster pulled the stone door's handle. They discovered another stairwell with flames illuminating the descent as it had slowly slipped open.
Charmcaster asked, "How much further down do we have to go?"
Hex said, "As far as we must."
After making their way down the dimly lit stairs, the group eventually reached a different room that contained the third defense spell. They had entered a sizable area that was square and appeared to have just one exit: the entrance. big stone sculptures in the shape of a triangle were arranged on a big pedestal in the center of the space. Three things stood out: a massive rock, a sheet of paper, and an enormous set of scissors. Three impressions in the form of circles lay beneath the statues. The body parts of a massive beast lay scattered across the floor. Given that it had wing bones adjacent to its vertebrae, it appeared to be somewhat avian.
"This is the third one? It looks like a large-scale version of rock-paper-scissors." Charmcaster replied. "But how are we supposed to move them?"
Gantlos pointed out the slap placed in front of the puzzle to everyone, saying, "Look. There's something written here."
It reads: I commend you for making it this far. Here the third trial of your abilities you'll start. The next test will test your mind. But be warned, the puzzle is more than it looks.
Charmcaster asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know. But I assume we're to move these statues in order of what beats what." Ogron replied. "For example, since rock beats scissors, we should turn the rock in the direction of the scissors."
Abruptly, the stone slab with the text on it had lifted from the earth. With three images of the sculptures arranged in a triangle, the design on the slab appeared to be patterned after the puzzle.
Anagan said as he moved in the direction of the slab, "All right. This has to be the control." The circle with the boulder had seemed to turn when he had caught hold of it.
With the sculpture facing the direction of the scissors, Anagan remarked, "Now, let's turn the rock in that direction." When it did, the scissors pedestal was surrounded by a red glow and it had locked in place.
"Did that do it?" Gantlos questioned.
The dead bird had started to rattle, even though they were oblivious of it. The gang turned to look behind them when they heard the sound and noticed the moving bones.
Duman said, "It certainly did something."
The bones had joined and clicked into place in front of their eyes, reassembling the once-lifeless creature. The skeletal bird screamed as it got ready to strike.
In the meantime, our heroes had just discovered the staircase that descended into the corridor and had started looking for the wizards. The group had divided up to cover more territory. Ben had gotten together with his grandfather and cousin to update them on his health. Ben was seated in a chair in what appeared to be a study, and Gwen was looking through a few of the unsold books.
"So, these girls took care of you when you landed here? Glad to see you met some friendly folk to help you out." Max replied. "Still though, you shouldn't have gone charging off after him like that. You're lucky those girls found you and not that gang that's teamed up with Hex."
Ben slumped back in his chair and said, "I know Grandpa. I'll try not to be so reckless next time."
Gwen asked, "So you can use magic too? Guess you won't need my help."
"Hey, I've got some experience under my belt, but I'm more comfortable using my alien forms. You can stick to the magic stuff if you want." Ben replied.
Everyone on the present floor was shaken as a massive explosion suddenly emerged from inside the tower. Sections of the ceiling had cracked and fallen due to the shaking. A section of the ceiling was about to fall on Ben's head.
Grandpa Max said, "Ben, move!"
Ben had glanced in all directions, trying to figure out where the threat might be coming from, until he looked up and saw the section of the ceiling that was going to fall on top of him. Instead, the piece of the ceiling smashed the chair he was sitting in as he had jumped out of his seat and tumbled to the ground.
Ben asked, "The heck was that?"
"Someone or something is shaking up this tower," Max replied. "And with this place being as old as it is, that's definitely not a good thing. We'd better find them before they bring this whole place down on us."
Helia asked as he hurried into the room, "Is everyone alright?"
"We're fine. Considering one of us nearly got crushed to death," said Ben. "How's everybody doing?"
"A little shaken up, but they're fine. Also, we've found a stairwell that leads down to the next floor," Helia responded.
Meanwhile, Hex and Ogron had just delivered the final blow while touching the beast. The battle left the room severely damaged.
"That thing must have been the consequence of getting the wrong answer." Said Charmcaster.
"Well then, let's try getting it right!" Hex replied.
Ogron turned the boulder toward the paper and said, "Well, it doesn't look like that this thing follows the normal rules of the game. How about we try reversing the order?" When he did, a light circle illuminated in place of the color red.
"Looks like that did it. Is that beast moving again?" Hex replied.
Duman said, "Nope. Still just a pile of bones."
Ogron moved the scissors sculpture toward the rock and said, "Well then, I think this puzzle's solved." It was lit up with green light once more. Green light filled the three circles on the slab and the ones beneath the sculptures in the configuration. The tower rumbled a little, and then there was an opening that revealed another flight of stairs. The blackness at the foot of the steps had been partially illuminated by an odd, faint light.
"At last, this will be the final stop," Hex grinned.
However, just as they were ready to advance to the next stage,
Ben exclaimed, "Hey!"
Ben's presence with The Winx, The Specialist, Gwen, and Max draws the attention of Hex, Charmcaster, and The Wizards.
"H-how did they-?" Duman exclaimed, looking a little taken aback at seeing Ben, The Winx, and the Specialist.
"Hmmm...it seems as though that foolish fairy has failed after all. A shame." Hex replied.
Stella glared at Hex and exclaimed, "You! You're the one who turned Bloom into Dark Bloom aren't you?"
"And what if I am? I'm afraid you're a bit outclassed here, child. You cannot stop us, now. But I cannot allow you to interfere at the final stage. So here. Entertain yourselves with this for the time being." Hex responded as he raised his weapon. The bones of the aviary they had just vanquished were encircled by the same strange purple light that enveloped it. It was back to life in a matter of seconds, its eyes glowing purple.
Ben yelled, "Oh come on!"
Gantlos laughed as he and the other Dark Magic users went down the stairway, "Catch you kiddies later."
Ben shouted, "Hey, get back here!" as he made an attempt to pursue them, Gwen and Max trailing behind.
However, they were halted upon discovering that the bone bird had placed its left foot in front of the entryway, blocking their path.
After turning on the Omnitrix, Ben exclaimed, "Out of the way, bird brain!"
Together, Ben, Gwen, Max, The Winx, and The Specialist launch an offensive to defeat the bony beast.
Outside the tower
While Sky attempted to speak with Bloom, Miss Faragonda continued to search for a means to undo the effects of the minus potion that had been applied to her.
Sky begged to get the real Bloom back to normal, saying, "Come on, Bloom. I know you're in there. Please, talk to me."
"You know, it's not going to work no matter how many times you say that. And frankly, I'm tired of just sitting here listening to your blubbering." Dark Bloom said, channeling her dark magic as a sickening purple aura surrounded her. "Plus, in case you haven't noticed, I'm still Bloom. I just pushed the goody goody side of me somewhere where she won't be such a nuisance." The magical cords that around her started to corrode and eventually burned away in a matter of seconds.
Bloom started to get up and stated, "For the record, I could've gotten out of that at any time."
However, Sky had taken hold of her arm and used both hands to hold her back.
"Bloom, please. Don't go. I don't want to have to fight you. But if you go there and unseal that statue, then you'll leave me with no choice." Sky's gaze was fierce.
However, Dark Bloom had only answered...
Dark Bloom shot Sky with a ball of dark fire, saying, "Then bring it." Sky had retreated a few steps and then stopped completely. In an attempt to check on Sky, Faragonda had hurried to his side. His chest now bore a sizable burn mark.
Faragonda questioned, "Sky, are you alright?"
Sky said, "Ugh...I'll be fine. Though I wish I could say the same thing about Bloom."
"Don't worry. Bloom still has a lot in there to deal with her. Just so long as they can stop Ogron and his cohorts from unsealing the statue." Faragonda replied.
Back within the walls of the tower of Magix, the bone aviary that stood in the way of our heroes' progress was still being battled. Helia had the opportunity to lasso its beak with his energy whip once it had made the decision to land, which kept it still for a little while. It allowed Ben and Max plenty of time to launch their attack. Max fired continuously from his arm energy gun, and Ben, as Heatblast, unleashed twin streams of fire. Its head and body had split apart due to an explosion created by the combined force of the two attacks. The bone bird's skull had fallen at Riven and Timmy's feet.
Timmy chuckled, "Wow...guess that guy couldn't get ahead in life." The joke had almost everyone's faces palmed.
After chasing the wizards down the stairs, Heatblast said, "Anyway, let's get moving. Who knows how long it'll take before those jerks find that hunk of rock."
A large circular room with symbols printed all over the walls was reached by descending the stairs. The room had several windows that let in the sound of the falling water outside. The location exuded an air of importance and mystery.
Max said, "This has to be the bottom floor."
Gwen started, "So then where did they-?" when someone cut her off.
Ogron asked, "Someone looking for us?" This made everyone turn to gaze to their right and see Ogron and his friends.
Standing around a series of symbols on the ground was the gathering of people who used dark magic. There was a depiction of a dragon with seven heads in the center.
Musa asked, "Is...is that...?"
"Yep. This is it. The very spot where those old crones sealed away the statue." Duman replied.
"So what? You waited until you had an audience to witness the unveiling?" Aisha replied. "Because if that's it, then you made the wrong choice."
Ogron waved his finger in a "uh, uh, uh" motion, saying, "Oh no, my dear. That isn't the case here."
"You see, in order for the final sealing to be undone, we need seven powerful magic users. Unfortunately, as you can plainly see, we only have six." Ogron replied.
"Really convenient, Well Bloom isn't able to join the party?" Heatblast replied.
Ogron grinned and said, "Maybe. Then again, Maybe not."
When our heroes said that they had seen Dark Bloom fly into view once more, they received conflicting reactions.
Dark Bloom landed next to the other Dark magic users and remarked, "I see you found the sealing spot of the statue. Guess you guys aren't as useless as I thought."
Charmcaster frowned and said, "Says the girl who spent most of her time chained up."
"Well, now it seems like we have the correct number needed," Ogron replied. "Now then, shall we begin?"
"I don't think so," Musa responded as she and Flora unleashed their power on the wizards. Unfortunately, Ogron had absorbed both of their magic attacks, so they were ineffective.
Ogron inquired, "Miss Dark Bloom, if you would do the honors?"
"Hmph, no problem." Dark Bloom answered, feeling horribly purple and surrounded by a menacing aura once more. What happened next was unexpected. A long, orange dragon made of fire magic had emerged as the purple aura had intensified.
Hex said, "That's it...the Dragon Flame!"
Heatblast questioned, "W-what is that? A dragon?"
"Close. It's the Dragon Flame. The source of Bloom's power and one of the dragons responsible for creating the magic dimension." Tecna replied.
"That's right, brainiac. I bet you know what I can do with it as well." Dark Bloom smiled, directing the dragon to release a jet of fire from its mouth with a forward-pointing index finger.
Our heroes had hardly moved aside to spare themselves any harm. However, the strike had produced a substantial wall of fire separating them from the wizards.
Gantlos commented, "Nice work."
Ben exclaimed, "You think a little fire is going to stop us? I'll blow this fire away in," but he was interrupted when a dog-shaped rock golem emerged from the fire and lunged toward him. Ben had rolled out of the path to escape being attacked by the monster.
Ben exclaimed, "Oh great, these guys again."
Before long, the wall of black flames had been broken by numerous more rock golems leaping out of the inferno.
"Well, now that they're distracted for a good while, let's get this done before they destroy all of my creatures," Charmcaster said.
Duman nodded and said, "I hear that."
And with that, the magic energy of Hex, Duman, Charmcaster, Anagan, Gantlos, Ogron, and Dark Bloom had come together in a circle and was being directed toward the seal. Pretty soon, a brilliant white light was emitted from the symbols that surrounded the image of the seven-headed dragon.
Aisha yelled, "Hurry! They're about to unseal the statue!" as she launched a dazzling pink energy beam that obliterated yet another rock golem.
They could see something rising out of the ground while they were still fighting. The statue was becoming more and more visible as it rose higher. Heatblast transformed back into Ben when the Omnitrix timed out, just as he was about to demolish another golem.
Ben angrily said, "No! Dang it! Dragon Wind!"
"Yes, Ben?" Dragon Wind said.
Ben answered, "Going to have to borrow a bit of your power."
Ben was suddenly encircled by a pale green aura, to which Dragon Wind replied, "Of course."
"Cyclone..." Ben started as he had arched his arms back, then he lunged them forward and exclaimed, "...CANNON!" realizing that a strong wind cyclone had effectively put out the dark flames that the Dragon flame had generated. Ben was a little tired from the heavy attack, but it didn't matter because his main goal was to halt the wizards. But when Ben dashed to the location of the unsealing, he paused, his eyes fixed on a massive statue that appeared to be carved out of the hardest rock possible. There were seven distinct dragon heads on the statue, each of them extending their necks as if they were prepared to roar.
Dragon Wind replied, "No...we're too late."
Our heroes have managed to catch up with the wizards, but they haven't been able to halt the unsealing. The people who utilize dark magic now hold the revealed statue of the seven dragons. Now that they have that rock in their possession, they can take the dragon flame. But it will be even harder now that Bloom has changed into Dark Bloom.
I've finished chapter 10 now. I created the following domain expansions for Rex, Zak, and Max Steel.
Rex: DOMAIN EXPANSION ENDLESS MACHINE.
Zak: DOMAIN EXPANSION KUR EMPIRE.
Max Steel: DOMAIN EXPANSION TURBO FORGE.