Winx Club: The Dragon Awakens

by RayeWonderland

Bloom, a teen girl from Earth discovers she has magical abilities and enrolls in the Alfea College for Fairies. Along with her newfound friend Stella, a fairy princess, Bloom meets her other flatmates Flora, Musa, and Tecna. Together, they form the Winx Club and fight off the wicked Trix! This is a rewrite and I don't own anything from the Winx Club franchise.

5. Black Mud Swamp

Summary:

The aspiring fairies talk about some of their respective incidents at the gala after their big fight and crazy things had happened, but after that, they get to experience their first outdoor exercise at the Black Mud swamp. The students aren't excited about this trip at all. The troll is being transported to the Magix Prison by the Specialists, but soon a set of unfortunate events will have the Winx and Specialists cross paths and go on an adventure, whether some of them want to or not. They have to apply all their magical powers to escape from this life-threatening maze.

A/N:

Not much to say, except hey guys, happy to be posting Chapter 5 today and on a wednesday this time! Enjoy :)

Reviews are welcomed, as long as it's about the story itself. NO CO-WRITING REVIEWS ALLOWED; COMMENTS DELETED ON SIGHT.

This is a rewrite. Changes have been made that conflict with the original canon, characters are different so please go in knowing this, whether you like it or not please understand this is a rewrite. This is a long fic, and I did add a lot so enjoy my very long chapters :)

Chapter 5: Black Mud Swamp

The next morning things had returned to normal, much to the dismay of the students. The gala may have started slow, but it picked up quickly and continued way past midnight, with many attendees out past curfew. Griselda had a field day tracking down these wayward students and sending them back to their rooms or Red Fountain. She even had to clean up the vomit some kids left from sneaking in drinks.

Many girls felt like they wanted to sleep for the next few days, unfortunately, classes were about to start in the next two hours. Tecna wasn't one of those girls, having left the dance way before midnight. She wasn't that much of a party girl, something she didn't regret since she enjoyed waking up in the morning without feeling sluggish.

"As usual, this is the most relaxin' time of the day," Tecna said aloud, taking a seat on the large purple couch, in the living room, coffee mug in hand. She took a quick sip, unbothered by the heat. "Just me, mah thoughts an' mah drink."

As she continued sipping her coffee, Bloom shuffled into the room, wearing jogging pants and a worn-out t-shirt. She rubbed her eyes, barely getting a wink of sleep. A few strands of hair covered her face. She spotted Tecna cheerfully relaxing on the couch in the living room. Her wide grin made Bloom groan as she wiped some drool off her lips. She couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy for her content flatmate unwinding without a care in the world while she was sleepless.

Too much bright light Bloom thought in her head as she covered her eyes from the illumination in the living room.

Tecna spotted the aggravated and tired-looking girl and smiled at her. "Mornin' Bloom," she greeted, causing Bloom's ears to ring. "Nice to see you're up early as well."

"Not…so…loud," Bloom mumbled, rubbing her temples, "My dizzy feels head."

Tecna cocked her head. "I hate it when that happens," she sympathized. "You look plum tuckered out. I reckon you didn't sleep too fine?"

Bloom shook her head groaning. "I think it was two and a half maybe… three hours of sleep I got. If you can count that," she guessed, swaying. "After that, I stared at the ceiling because trying to sleep was clearly not happening. You'd think after washing over a thousand dishes I'd be sleeping like a baby." Bloom chuckled, rubbing her head. At this point, all she could do is laugh even if it pained her to do so. "Think not!"

"Well, that dawgone sucks," Tecna said taking another sip from her coffee. She then placed her mug on the coffee table and stood up to lead Bloom to the couch. "I already know what it is; those partiers kept you up, right?" Tecna didn't give her exhausted flatmate a chance to answer. "They did fo' me! Bless their hearts, but those boys and gals were wilder than a hyper hound after it spots an intruder!" Bloom attempted to reply again, but Tecna simply patted her on the back nearly knocking her over before continuing. "I mean, I make sure to go to bed at a reasonable time an' then I hear them hootin' an' hollerin' through the halls like there was a fyre. I was fixin' to give 'em a piece of mind if'n Griselda hadn't. It was that right?"

Tecna waited for Bloom to answer but the girl had her head buried in her hands as she leaned forward. She kept groaning while smacking her lips to get some saliva, but it felt dry. There was a pounding in her brain and people talking seemed to make it worse. She was trying to figure out what part of her hurt the most; her head, brain, eyes, or just everything? After a second, she sat up taking a breath.

"No," she answered, reclining on the couch. She exhaled, sprawling her hands out and adjusting in it to get more comfortable. "Oh, this sofa is soft and warm, I like that."

"Girl, you ain't all there, are ya?" Tecna asked.

"Haha," Bloom sarcastically said. "I think whatever that purple goop was I drank last night gave me a massive hangover."

"Oh yeah, some of the boys snuck somethin' in and poured it into the punch when the staff wasn't lookin'," Tecna explained. "I found out after mah second drink. You can taste that stuff in an instant."

Bloom, realizing why she felt so awful, slapped a hand over her eyes. "Oh great, I got drunk at my first school dance. This is why I skip these things."

Tecna nodded but also resisted the urge to laugh at how delirious her flatmate was. "How much did ya have, three?"

"Yeah… plus four… and then multiply it by two," Bloom said, averting eye contact.

"Oh, for Pete's sake, you for real had fourteen cups of that stuff?!" Tecna scolded quickly doing the math in her head.

Bloom blushed. "It was really tasty!"

"You gals," Tecna said, shaking her head.

"Whatever," Bloom mumbled with a smirk. She didn't feel like being lectured in her current state. "Anyways, is that why you're up early? Couldn't handle the good stuff?"

"Quite the contrary, fyrecracker," Tecna replied. "Shucks, mah ma and pa taught me that wakin' up at the crack of dawn gives you plenty of time to enjoy the day,"

"Interesting philosophy," Bloom said through a yawn. "You've always done this?"

"Since I was a babe," Tecna boasted. "You should try it." This suggestion made Bloom laugh hoarsely, but this immediately created a banging sensation in her head. She started rubbing her forehead again cursing the boys who spiked the punch. "Hey, I'm serious. Once you do it, you'll nevah wanna turn back."

"Not to insult you… mostly, but I'm not much of a morning person," Bloom said, pointing at her tired eyes. "At least I won't have to worry about oversleeping again."

"See there's a silver linin' to everythin'," Tecna said, patting the girl on the leg.

Bloom's eyes darted to the cocky girl giving her a slight glare. She was not in the mood for anything, but Tecna wasn't bothered by the girl's anger. "Best move them eyes back or they'll get stuck that way."

Bloom ground her teeth. "I feel both tired and not tired at the same god damn time."

"Well, do you want somethin' to help wake you up?" Tecna questioned. "I make a mean cup o' bean juice that'll give you some mighty energy."

Bloom raised an eyebrow too tired to question it.

"Coffee," Tecna answered for her.

"Oh… huh," Bloom said, chuckling at the realization. "Coffee would be nice, sure. Give me the biggest cup possible."

"No problem, fyrecracker," Tecna said, springing from the couch without hesitation. She almost had the same energy as Musa. Almost. She eagerly went into the kitchen and pulled a medium-sized coffee maker out of the top cabinets.

While she moved things around Stella trudged in, rubbing her eyes. She had on a matching peach crop top and shorts. A robe was wrapped around her body.

She stretched out her arms, letting out a loud yawn. "Oi, what is with all the ruckus?" she complained. "Do you realize what time it is? A regal person, such as I, must get her beauty rest, you know."

Bloom, who was now laying on the couch, said, "Sorry Princess, we didn't mean to interrupt your beauty sleep." She lifted her body slightly to look over at the Princess. "It's not really helping you."

"Good to see you're chipper this morning," Stella said with a curt smile. She sashayed over and plopped down in a purple armchair next to the couch. "Also, you shouldn't throw those stones from your glass house, darling."

"Whatever Princess, at least I wasn't out all night," Bloom retorted. "By the way, your hair looks a mess."

Stella's hair had gone from wavy, flowing, and sleek to a blonde frizzy, limp bedhead mess. The Princess blushed and then quickly regained some composure. "This is why I need eight hours of uninterrupted sleep!"

"Oh, I didn't know uninterrupted sleeping makes your hair perfect," Bloom quipped.

"You know what I mean!" Stella said, reaching over and swatting the girl playfully on the leg. "The dance was fun and all, but all that product ruins a girl's hair. I should really get my own personal hair care line for this issue."

"You don't have one already?"

"It's in the works," Stella replied. "On the bright side, I did have a great time with Prince Sky. He's such a sweetie."

"That's great," Bloom said, plugging her slightly ringing ears before begging, "could you not talk so loud?"

Stella giggled. "You're being such a grumbly rump."

Bloom lifted her head. "Grumbly what?"

"It's a phrase we use on Solaria for grouchy bodies."

"Grumbly rump, I am," Bloom said, throwing her arm up in an exaggerated manner.

Stella giggled again. "Anyway, we had our fun together. Me, him, and a flask Perten Doux that he snuck in." she leaned in towards Bloom before whispering. "That's a popular wine, by the way."

"That must be what the boys snuck in and put into the freaking punch… great." Bloom surmised exhaustedly glaring at the ceiling. "Now I know what to avoid."

Stella snapped her fingers. "That's why you were so giggly last night! As well as being flushed like a Luminos Clutch."

"I'm assuming that's red?" Bloom questioned sitting up. Stella recoiled when she fully saw how disheveled her bestie looked. Bloom blinked slowly at the reaction silently accepting the girl's response.

"Quite," Stella replied, patting the girl on the knee. "Guess Sky wasn't the only one who snuck in proper drinks." She glanced over at Tecna before asking her, "Tecna, darling, did you have some of the punch as well?"

"As I told Bloom, I only had two drinks and stopped myself," Tecna said, getting the coffee ready. "Them fools had some nerve sneakin' in intoxicatin' drinks. Thank goodness I didn't get caught up in the melee."

"You are no fun," Stella said, crossing her legs. "But hey, Bloomie, getting sloshed happens to the best of us…" she paused with a grin. "Except me, of course."

Stella tittered as Bloom laid her head back to stare back at the ceiling. She couldn't help thinking, Resist the urge to thwack the Princess on the head.

"Yes, just a few sips, that's all. I couldn't imagine myself getting intoxicated at one of those galas. I'd be completely mortified."

Bloom chuckled. "That's where you cross the line?"

"Of course!" Stella replied, sounding shocked Bloom would think less of her. "I can't tell you all the sordid details, but let's just say I gave him a night to remember."

"Aw, did you kiss him before midnight?" Bloom teased.

Stella rolled her eyes. "Oh please, sweetie, we're simply friends—who occasionally like to get frisky—away from that, no, I am not dating him. We just hang out."

"And make out," Bloom added.

Stella winked. "Exactly."

Bloom sighed. "I'm learning so many things about you."

"Bestie's have to," Stella said plopping down next to Bloom. "Speaking about the dance, how did things go between you and Brandon?"

"Me and Brandon?" Bloom paused, nibbling on her bottom lip. "Uh, nothing much; we danced and talked for a while before I had to go wash dishes."

"Wait a sec, you kept talking to him?" Stella asked, astonished. "Hm, I didn't see that, I must've been with Sky at the time… I most certainly was." The Princess had a pleasant smile on her face that made Bloom groan with a skewed frown. "Well, what did you talk about?"

"Nothing important," Bloom shrugged, her memory still pretty foggy. "I barely remember anything."

Tecna came back into the living room with a piping hot cup of coffee almost filled to the top. It gave a robust and pleasant hazelnut aroma that made Bloom smile as she remembered the lattes she had back on Earth. "Here ya go, a strong cuppa bean juice. Be careful; it's hot," she said, carefully handing the cup to Bloom. "Would you like any, Princess?"

"I don't drink coffee," Stella replied, causing Tecna to be taken aback in offense, responding with a wide-eyed expression. Stella shrugged before poking Bloom in the arm. "Come now Bloom, you're seriously telling me nothing occurred? You couldn't have been that drunk that you can't remember your time with a handsome bloke. I know you're hiding something, and I don't want you to hold back any details. Now dish."

"Nothing 'occurred'," Bloom said until thoughts began flowing in her brain about what transpired last night. Her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. Stella took notice of this and started poking her in the belly. "It wasn't anything important," she repeated, looking away from the Princess. "Now let me drink my coffee in peace."

"You are such a liar, something happened!" Stella pestered, causing Bloom to jolt slightly at the loud noise. "You must tell me!"

Stella placed a hand on Bloom's arm causing the girl to look down at the Princess's hand. "If you start shaking me, this coffee is decorating your hair."

"Threats shall not deter me." Stella pulled her hand back in spite of her words.

Bloom rolled her eyes as she blew on the coffee to cool it down, deciding not to reply. A small smile did form on her lips from the Princess's intrigue, but she wasn't in the mood to discuss what happened.

That didn't dissuade Stella; she just kept poking the girl's shoulder to get more information.

"If I tell you, will you stop talking?"

Stella nodded.

Bloom took a long sip from her cup and continued staring at the wall as the Princess waited for a response. She was willing to sacrifice possible silence to keep her conversation secret for the time being.

Tecna chucked.

Stella groaned covering her face.

"What're we talkin' about?" Tecna asked, joining the conversation.

"Bloom is withholding information about what happened with her and Brandon at the dance," Stella complained. "That's not fair Bloom, I told you about me and Sky."

"Would you leave the girl alone? She had a tough night already," Tecna said, backing Bloom up.

Bloom took a small sip from her cup before clearing her throat. "Thank you, Tecna."

"You're not helping." Stella pouted. "Is it secretive? I can keep a secret; I'm the master at keeping secrets!"

"Yeah, tell us, tell us. We can keep a secret!" Musa chimed in, popping her head out from behind the couch. Tecna and Stella smiled, seeing her. She looked perky as usual. She had on a matching strawberry crop top and pajama shorts with an eye mask atop her forehead while also wearing her regular glasses. "I wanna know so much now!"

Bloom groaned, nearly spilling her coffee. "I said, nothing happened. Stop pestering me about it!"

Musa pouted. "Aw, can't you tell us a little bit?"

Bloom groaned again. "Even if something did happen, I'm not saying—Musa, when the freak did you even come in?"

"I snuck in when Tecna came back with coffee; you were distracted when I crawled in," Musa replied, resting her chin in her hand. "Sorry, you got drunk at the party. You were red-faced and giggly all night. It was kind of adorable."

"It was, wasn't it?" Stella agreed.

Bloom blushed. "Shut up."

"Sooooo," Musa sang, keeping her chin resting in her hand. "Did you kiss him?"

Bloom held her head down in frustration. "I'm not answering that."

Stella gasped. "Oh, then something did occur? Bloom, you tease!" the Princess playfully slapped Bloom's arm. She stared at the Princess unsure of what was going on. "Love, something definitely happens when you say, 'I'm not answering that'. Was there a chance you kissed him at least?"

"I never said that!" Bloom exclaimed, the headache returning. "Oh God, why did I yell?"

"If you did kiss him, you'd tell us, right?" Musa questioned, poking Bloom's head.

"You are not helping," the hungover girl grumbled.

Tecna went back to drinking her coffee while Musa and Stella kept pestering Bloom. The commotion caused Flora to walk into the living room, visibly annoyed. She let out a loud whistle that got everyone's attention. Bloom noticed her tired roommate still had her hair in a chunky, messy braid, covered by a satin floral headscarf. She simply wore a long green nightgown that went past her knees. She had a tired but annoyed expression on her face.

"Flora, you're awake, please join us," Bloom begged, changing the subject.

"Morning all," Flora greeted, gliding with her body movements. It was almost like she got a full night's rest, although she didn't look like it. Bloom wanted to know her secret. "You woke me up, but I don't care. I got enough sleep for the night. I was totally exhausted when my head hit the pillow, though. So many streamers to take down."

"I know how you feel, my migraine still hasn't gone away," Bloom said, rubbing her forehead. "Can you guys keep it down? The noises are hurting my brain."

"What noise?!" Stella shouted with a mischievous smile causing Bloom to jolt and a splash of coffee to spill on her hands.

"I hate you," Bloom mumbled glaring at the giggling friend.

Stella shrugged with a smirk.

"I totally agree with Bloom; what is with all the chattering this morning?" Flora questioned scratching her head.

"Sorry Flora," Musa apologized. "We were just talking about the dance."

"Really?" Flora said, perking up. "Well don't leave me out of it."

The hippie scurried over to the armchair that Stella occupied a minute ago and sat down.

"Okay so, like, I thought the dance was, like, all right. I talked to a couple cute boys and girls, didn't do much dancing as much as swaying because swaying is much more relaxing you know, like right?" Flora paused waiting for the girls to agree, but Musa was the only one nodding. "The boys were so nice, but not my types. The food though was super bland, like blech, I mean at least the two vegan options they had. Away from that minor difficulty, the music was great, thanks to the illustrious Musa."

Musa blushed, dipping her head down a little behind the couch.

"And the decorations were amazing, thanks to me mostly," Flora added.

"Yes, you bought the silverware and plates. The dance would've been a wreck without them," Bloom sarcastically said.

"I know right, that and streamers," Flora replied, oblivious. "What did you guys think?"

"It was… marvelous!" Stella squealed, causing Bloom to shutter in annoyance. The Princess grabbed a pillow with a goofy look on her face. "It wasn't as fun as partying at 'The Crimson Room', but that didn't stop me from having a blast! There were so many cute blokes who I knew just when they started at Red Fountain. Although they were tough to recognize, they were just so fit."

"Yeah, but I saw a certain boy who wouldn't stop following you like a puppy," Musa teased. "Prince Sky!"

"Ah, yes, Prince Sky, a dignified, handsome, quirky, and funny bloke. He truly was charming last night," Stella simpered. "He absolutely adores me and could barely keep his hands off me the entire night."

"We noticed," Tecna muttered, taking another sip from her mug. "When y'all weren't takin' shots from that flask of his, you had your hands all over each other. It was awkward. I'd never do somethin' like that. That stuff should be in private, not shown to everyone."

"Tecna, don't be such a stick in the mud; we were just having a little fun, you know, until that prat Griselda spoiled it," Stella replied grimacing. "I mean, it didn't stop us from having a good time. I told him we would meet again, after all."

"How are you going to do that with Griselda breathing down your neck?" Bloom questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"That is a problem, true, but who's to say that I want to see him so soon?" Stella said nonchalantly. "For the moment, what's important is the passion and excitement of it all."

"You could do that or instead of obsessing over Sky, you could focus on important things like studying?" Bloom suggested. "Never thought I'd say that."

"Hey, don't try changing the subject; you can't get off that easily," Stella pried, poking her bestie on the nose. "Tell us what you did with Brandon and spare no details."

"Uh… Tecna didn't go yet," Bloom said, pointing towards the distracted girl.

Tecna paused with the cup at her lips as all eyes fell on her. Her eyes darted to her, the tired girl who avoided eye contact with her as she sipped her coffee. The southern-sounding girl looked ready to pour her coffee all over the girl's head.

Tecna huffed. "Seriously? Ugh, I really don't feel like talkin' about it or thinkin' about it."

"Now we must know," Stella demanded. Her eyes seemed to gleam like there were stars in them at the prospect of juicy gossip.

Tecna sighed, placing her cup on the table. "It was so embarrassin'."

"Embarrassing, like someone spilled a drink on your dress?" Flora inquired, interested.

Tecna shook her head. "I wish."

"Wow, that must've been, like, super bad," Flora said.

"You have no idea how much of an understatement that is," Tecna grimaced.

"Well, don't leave us hanging," Stella said, intrigued as she snuggled the pillow closer to her chest. "We're your mates after all."

Tecna closed her eyes, her cheeks turning bright pink. "All right, I suppose y'all can be trusted. To start, do any of y'all remember that Timmy-boy? The tall fella with the auburn hair an' square glasses. Tried to give me some egg, but I rejected it?"

"Timmy?" Stella pondered. "Ah yes I do know of that chap; he's the ugly one of his group."

Tecna nodded. "Glad to see you know him on account of… we got real close last night," she grumbled, furrowing her eyebrows. "Y'all promise to not laugh when I tell you this?"

"We promise," Musa swore, crossing her index finger across her heart.

"Y'all all promise?" Tecna stressed, staring intensely at her flatmates.

"Would you just tell us!" Bloom insisted.

"All right, all right," Tecna relented. "It all happened after the craziness with them witches. I was chattin' with some gals from mah Geomantic Research class, mindin' mah own business when this fool came along!"

Tecna covered her face as the details of what happened came flowing back into her mind.

…

As things started winding down, Tecna convened with a couple of girls from her Geomantic Research class; they stood near the dance floor and were busy discussing which structure was stronger: sand or rock.

"—This is a tough thing figurin' this out especially takin' into account the formation of both rock an' soil, we need to be mighty careful on how we choose the foundation to structure out construct," Tecna surmised. "I think-"

Before Tecna could conclude her theory the girl with flowing lime-green hair interjected. "Sand would be inefficient. It's too fine and doesn't hold itself together unless there's a sticking agent like water, and even then, water dries pretty quickly. It's not a stable foundation. Solid stone would be our best bet."

"I mean-" Tecna said before being cut off again causing her to withdraw her response, dejected.

"You are so wrong, April," a girl with short, spiky black hair scoffed. "Rock is way too unwieldy to make structures from, especially if we're gonna animate them. Sand has the mobility needed to ensure a smooth movement; plus, how do you explain sandcastles? Those hold up pretty well."

"Ivy for the last time sandcastles do not count; it's been shown not to hold its shape, especially if too much water causes breakdown," April critiqued.

"Yeah, well… uh… darn, I had a rebuttal for that." Ivy pouted. "You threw me off!"

"Threw you off or disproved your sand idea?" the green-haired girl bragged, crossing her arms in triumph.

"If I may interpose, I think what Ivy was tryin' to say is that although rock is mo'e solid, givin' the ability to withstand blows and distribute impact, sand has the added advantage of bein' able to reconstruct without crackin'. Therefo'e it'd be the betta option," Tecna hypothesized.

Ivy and April's eyes widened in shock. April opened her mouth, prepared to give a witty rebuttal to that speculation but backed down unable to say anything else.

"Wow, really? You know what, I hadn't thought of that," April acquiesced, rethinking her decision.

"That's exactly what I was going to say," Ivy replied, motioning her thumb to the smirking girl. "Thank you, Tecna."

"Mm-hm," Tecna hummed, crossing her arms. She wasn't even surprised the girls didn't take her seriously at first, she had dealt with that before.

"I guess we can test our theories next time in class," April countered.

"And I'll be right," Ivy bragged.

Tecna laughed. The girls changed the subject to guessing what structure would be a better building material. As they continued their conversation, a boy with auburn hair walked across the dance floor with his head down, searching for something important. He paid no attention to the people he was mindlessly pushing out the way.

"Excuse me… you're in the way," he mumbled, "I'm searching for something extremely important and you're in the way." he elbowed a girl in her side, moving her out of his path. The girl glared at him, but Timmy didn't bother apologizing, since his mind was focused on finding that item. "Where is it?"

He finally spotted the item, a yellow and orange battery, near Tecna's dress. As she continued her discussion with the girls, the auburn-haired boy tried to stealthily reach down and grab the battery before the farm girl could notice him. As he did, Tecna took a step back to shift her weight, causing her bottom to collide directly with the side of his face.

"What in tarnation?" Tecna questioned, turning around to find the nervous boy staring at her. Once she saw where he was, she gave a glare that could almost turn him to stone. "Yo' did not do what I think yo' just did."

"Oh dear… um… I can explain," the boy whimpered.

Before he could finish his sentence, Tecna gripped him by the collar of his suit and slammed him against a wall with such force, it almost knocked his glasses off. He sucked his bottom lip as tiny droplets of sweat started to form. The vein on Tecna's forehead became apparent as it started throbbing while she glared intensely at the boy.

"Well, if it ain't yo', cowboy. Yo' flippin' sneaky mutt! You pervert! How dare yo' grab mah butt like it's yer playthin'!" Tecna raged. "Were you thinkin' I wouldn't notice?"

"Miss, th- this is a huge misunderstanding if you'd just let me clarify-" The cowboy stammered.

"Shut your pie hole an' don't be callin' me, miss! I ain't yer momma!" Tecna shouted, gaining stares from a few dancers. "Now yo' better gimme one good reason why I shouldn't break yer nose right now! An' trust me, cowboy, I can do it an' get away with it."

"Well to start my name is Timmy, not cowboy," Timmy introduced, but Tecna wasn't in the mood for that. He gulped nervously. "Now Mis- Ma'a- I honestly have no idea what your name is, but… angry magenta-haired girl, you've got it all wrong!" he explained. "Firstly, while I was inspecting the memory in my video camera, the camera slipped out my ha- hands, which are in the air!" Timmy raised both hands to his head to avoid touching Tecna again. "And landed on the floor. Now the camera itself didn't sustain much damage, but both the batteries fell out. Second, while searching for said batteries, I spotted one near your legs, and I was going to get it without disturbing you, but when I tried to retrieve it, you stepped back to... where my face was, and the rest occurred."

Tecna raised an eyebrow unsure of how to respond, realizing that this might've just been a misunderstanding after all, but she wasn't ready to admit she was wrong. "Fool, do I look like I was born yesterday? That has to be the worst excuse I've eva heard!" she shouted, tightening her grip around the nervous boy's collar.

"It's not an excuse! Look you probably can't comprehend the importance of this product," Tecna's eyes narrowed ready to toss the boy over her shoulder, but Timmy didn't seem to notice. "I have the battery in my hand. S- see?" he whimpered, holding out his hand. Tecna released his collar to check his hand and saw the battery in his sweaty palms.

Tecna's face became a bright pink at the sudden confirmation of the boy's claims. She wasn't sure what to say next.

"These metal hydraulic batteries are costly, and I can't afford to lose them. Again, you probably can't comprehend that." Tecna stepped closer to the boy, making him back up against the wall nervously. "Also, I promise I won't ever bump into your butt again. However, this wouldn't have occurred if you hadn't moved- that came out wrong… and I can see by your red face you agree."

"So, you're sayin' it is MY fault?! Yo'… yo' slimy varmint, I oughta flay your hyde an' make it into a stew right here and now!" Tecna threatened.

"You have a lot of… creative insults and threats, magenta-haired girl," Timmy said, causing Tecna to groan. "How about instead of 'flaying my hyde', as you so eloquently put it, you could help me look for the other battery? There were two that fell out, and you'd be doing me a huge favor."

"What?" Tecna shouted.

"Um, can you calm down? You are kind of making a scene," Timmy requested, only causing Tecna's blood to boil… more.

"Why yo'—" Tecna said before being cut off by snickering. She turned around, finding most of her classmates and the students from Red Fountain staring at her, some laughing. That only made, as Timmy put it, the magenta-haired girl's face turn a deeper red as her attention went back to Timmy, who smiled nervously. "Dadgummit, this is all yer fault!"

...

Tecna sighed as the ending of the story concluded with her avoiding eye contact with the rest of her flatmates. "An' that's pretty much what went down," she said. "As yo' can see, it wasn't exactly a stellar experience."

She waited for the other girls to respond. At first, they blankly stared at her, seeming unsure of what to say, but then Musa, of all people, started giggling. Tecna glared at her flatmate as short stack tried to control herself. Unfortunately for her, Musa's infectious laughter passed on to the other girls who struggled to hold back.

Tecna's cheeks turned a blushing bright pink as she crossed her arms, somewhat offended. "Yo' said yo' weren't finna laugh!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Stella laughed unapologetically, "but that is literally the funniest thing I've ever heard."

"It ain't no laughin' matter!" Tecna disagreed, clenching her fist angrily. "He nearly made me lose it."

"Nearly?" Bloom said through chortles. "I can't believe he bumped into your butt face first."

"Yo' wouldn't be sayin' that if it was yo'," Tecna grumbled.

"Don't you think you might've been a tad too harsh on the guy?" Flora questioned, wiping a tear from her eye. "It was an accident after all."

"Yeah, you didn't hurt him after that did you?" Musa asked, concerned.

"I was fixin' to but restrained myself. Could you blame me though?" Tecna defended. "Accident or not, can't yo' see how silly that boy was? Treatin' a battery like it's the most important thing in the universe an' then actin' like I couldn't comprehend it. I bet he couldn't comprehend how to upgrade a phone without havin' to take it to a shop."

"Well, did you actually find the other battery?" Musa asked curiously.

"I mean yeah. We found it af'er I calmed down. A battery like that actually is an amazin' example of technology even for somethin' so small," Tecna answered, gaining baffled reactions from her flatmates. "What? I felt bad for snappin' at him, at least a tiny bit. That fella ain't so bad. Bless his heart, he's an insufferable beanstalk, but he seems mighty intelligent an' knows a lot about electrolyte reactions, which fixed that whole booty bump situation. I wasn't in the mood to still talk about it, though."

With that, she plopped back down on the couch and snatched her cup off the table in a huff to drink her coffee. It seemed to calm her down.

"It's nice everything worked out," Musa said, patting the girl on her back. "Do you think you'll meet him again?"

"Probably, probably not. Doesn't really matter. Mah mind ain't focused on boys," Tecna replied. "He's lucky it was an accident, or I would've broken his nose with one hand."

Stella placed a hand on the girl's knee before reminding her, "Then you would've been suspended."

Tecna simply gave a nonchalant hand wave.

"Well now that I recounted what happened last night," Tecna gave Bloom a sideways glare before shouting, "Thank yo' for that, Bloom!" The ringing sensation returned to Bloom's ears. She shrugged with a weak smile in return before sipping from her cup. It saved her some time at least and kept her curious flatmates distracted. "Sho't stack, you've been awfully quiet. Did you happen to meet anyone last night?"

Bloom gave Tecna a thankful smile for not bringing attention back to her which Tecna returned with a light elbow shove to the hungover girl.

"Um, me?" Musa squeaked, lowering her head behind the couch. "What can I say? I met a lot of people last night; it was hard to keep track. Who's to say I might've met a cute boy?"

"Did you?" Bloom questioned, glancing at the blushing surprisingly shy girl.

"Maybe," Musa muttered, ducking behind the couch. "And… maybe we danced for like three minutes."

"Well, geez, don't hold back any details," Bloom teased in a high-pitched voice like Musa's.

"Okay, okay, you got me!" Musa relented, bending backward on the couch. "After dancing with a few people and enjoying some snacks, I went outside to the garden to get some fresh air. That's where I saw…this amazingly cute boy standing outside by himself!" Musa swooned, thinking about the boy again. "I don't know why but seeing him by himself had a weird effect on me…"

Musa's eyes seemed to sparkle as she remembered her interaction with the boy.

...

Musa stood by the garden's open entrance, swinging her arms from side to side, staring at the mysterious spiky-haired boy as he texted on his phone, not paying attention to his surroundings.

Everything about him is so cute and he is rocking that suit, Musa thought while smiling.

She swayed her head from side to side as she mulled over whether she should talk to him or keep staring at him. On one hand, interaction is the best option, but on the other hand, staring at him from afar was good too, if not somewhat creepy.

At a certain point, he seemed to feel Musa's eyes on him. He slowly turned his head towards her, Musa futilely held her head down, although it was too late. When she lifted it back up, the boy was still staring at her. She waved in an eager yet anxious manner with a wide grin on her face.

The boy appeared to be rolling his eyes before turning his focus back on his phone.

Musa bit her lip; she might as well go talk to him now, especially since he caught her staring at him. She was good at introductions after all. She pounded her right fist into her left palm ready to go over. She could've walked casually up to him but instead, she did a strange side-step slide while flapping her arms like a bird, it was as if her brain wasn't sending the right message to her feet on how to walk.

The boy only gave her a passing glance as she came over.

"Hi, I'm Musa Tori, people call me Musa. I- I'm a first-year student at Alfea, you probably already know that; I mean, why else would I be at this dance if I weren't a student at Alfea! A witch? What? No! Anyways, I saw you by yourself and thought you needed a person to talk to, so… hello again!" Musa effused.

"Hey," the boy mumbled, keeping his eyes on the phone.

"What's your name?" Musa asked, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Doesn't matter," the boy replied.

"Wanna keep it a secret, that's cool. I understand that; I'm pretty cool myself," Musa bragged, attempting to lean back, nearly toppling to the ground.

"Mm-hm."

"You're really cute- cuticles!" Musa said changing the last word, her eyes shifting. "Your cuticles are really good on your hands, what product do you use?"

"Don't know."

"Oh, okay."

An awkward silence fell over the two after that. The boy hadn't even pulled his eyes away from the phone as his fingers moved across the screen. Musa's smile dropped as she couldn't come up with anything to talk about which was peculiar since she could strike up a conversation with anyone.

She clicked her tongue afraid to walk away since she already initiated a conversation with him. Walking away would be weird, right? Right! She couldn't end a conversation that way. Musa tapped her chin, figuring out an ice breaker when she suddenly snapped her fingers. Her wide grin reappeared across her face.

"Wanna dance?" she cheerfully requested.

"Eh, maybe lat-" the boy replied, although he didn't have much say as the eager girl snatched him by the arm, leading him back onto the dance hall. "Wait, I didn't say yes!"

Musa simply giggled in response before swinging the boy around the lit-up dance floor, which he frantically tried to escape from, but the girl had a surprising amount of strength and a tight grip around his wrist. A few dancers stared at them, but Musa didn't seem to pay attention to that or her dance partner's red face.

...

"We danced for what felt like forever," Musa finished, continuing to hang upside down. "He's a good dance partner too and he looked so cute in his suit."

Bloom giggled, shaking her head. "He was cute, wasn't he?"

"I mean totally!" Musa exclaimed. "But not too cute, you know?"

Each girl stared at the other before replying, "Oh yeah, of course."

"I felt like a Princess with him," Musa blushed.

"That's interesting because from what I saw, you were doing most of the dancing," Bloom clarified.

"He did say he wasn't much of a dancer but admitted he still enjoyed it," Musa giggled. "After that, he left. He said he had to meet up with some friends. I was fine with that, though, cause I got to dance with a super cute boy."

"That's it? I was hoping for some real action, sparks flying, something. What a bloody disappointment," Stella complained, kicking one leg atop the other.

Musa flipped herself over on the couch so now she was laying on her stomach. She rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, Stella bells, it doesn't matter if sparks flew or not, I still got to dance with him. Be still my beating heart, for I danced with a cute boy."

Bloom couldn't help but shake her head again, admiring her flatmate's smitten energy.

Musa sighed. "It's a shame I never caught his name though."

"I'll tell you what his name is," Stella said, perking up the already chipper girl. "You said he had magenta hair, was it spikey?"

"Yes, that's him!" Musa exclaimed, sliding to the floor, but she quickly recovered and sprang up. "Do you know who he is?"

"That's Riven; he's an odd case. Always wanting to be by himself, giving everyone the cold shoulder, barely talks, and when he does, it's barely audible."

"Hmm, he did seem to have an air of mystery as they say, but I bet he's awesome when you get to know him," Musa said plopping down next to Tecna. "Did I mention he also really cuuute?"

"You said it about five times," Bloom replied, taking a break from her coffee drinking. "I'd watch my back, a 'cute' boy might turn out to be a real asshole. I've dealt with a couple of them."

"Turn out to be? I know this bloke, he is an arsehole, completely nasty and rude!" Stella critiqued with a grimace. "Love, he isn't your type. Musa, you haven't been my flatmate for long, but I already know that you don't have a single bad bone in your body. He does."

"That's why you're our sweet lil sho't stack," Tecna complimented, ruffling the girl's hair.

"Uff, you're judging a book by its cover and as my papa always says, a book is good no matter what the cover looks like," Musa reasoned. "He might be a shy guy; it doesn't mean I can't get to know him. I've met boys like him and at first, they're all tough and stoic, but then I get to know them and they're nicer than a puppy."

"I bet you think you can change him," Bloom teased. "Break into his chocolate egg and get the cream-filled center."

"You can't fix what is already cute," Musa said, clasping her hands together.

"I'm warning you; you should find someone else if you want to have a good relationship," Stella insisted, but Musa wasn't hearing it as she sprang from her spot with a pillow and bonked the Princess with it in a playful manner.

"Don't judge a book by its cover!" Musa sang.

"All right, I relent just take this bleeding pillow off my face!" Stella said giggling. She pushed the girl away then her eyes shifted to Bloom. She poked her in the arm with a mischievous smile. "Love, we've all shared our stories; now it's your turn."

"Boy, would you look at the time? Gotta take a shower," Bloom attempted to flee until Tecna pushed her back down on the couch by her shoulders.

"Nuh-uh, if I was forced to tell 'em about the booty bump, you definitely ain't gettin' out of this that easily," she said. "Would ya just tell 'em already so they'll leave you alone?"

"Don't you want to hear about the dishwashing? All the interesting people I had to work with?" Bloom offered instead of recounting what happened. Her cheeks turned a bright pink making the girls more intrigued.

"The more you try to evade, the more we want to hear," Stella pointed out.

Bloom groaned. "Fine!"

Musa and Stella cheered.

Bloom covered her face in frustration then started, "After me and Brandon danced, we started talking about… stuff."

Musa switched places with Tecna and scooted closer to Bloom making her frown annoyed. She rubbed her forehead as she started remembering the details of what happened. She already had a massive hangover, she wasn't exactly in the mood to talk about anything from last night, but if it quieted her friends, she'd tell them.

"Okay, so…"

...

As things winded down Brandon and Bloom sat at one of the empty tables having a conversation about Earth and Eraklyon, respectively. Although Brandon was asking more questions than Bloom was.

"So, you're seriously telling me there's no dragons, ogres, trolls, pixies, unicorns-"

Bloom giggled, resting her head on the table. "Goldilocks let me be clear, whatever magical creature you're thinking of, we don't have there; all of it is basically make-believe to us."

"Man," Brandon frowned. "What about mermaids?"

Bloom sighed slightly annoyed. "Nope-a-dope."

"Okay, well, if you meet one of them, don't piss them off," Brandon said. "Learned that the hard way."

"Lesson to remember," Bloom said, pointing her arm and index finger in the air. She took a sip from her drink as she felt her body get weirdly warm. She stared at Brandon continuing to giggle and grabbed a strand of his hair. "Your hair is purdy."

Brandon laughed. "Yours it too my delirious friend." He attempted to boop Bloom's nose, but she quickly swatted it away.

"Don't even try it, goldi," Bloom semi-threatened.

Brandon nodded. "Well, I am sorry I keep asking you all these questions," he apologized. "I'm just curious about your home world; it's so strange none of you know these things exist."

"Hopefully they, hcc, find out," Bloom said through a hiccup. "Maybe they'll have the same reaction as me."

Brandon chuckled, placing his hand on top of Bloom's before quickly removing it with a slight blush on his cheeks. She couldn't help but adore the boy's shyness.

"You don't have to keep saying sorry either. I literally don't care half the time," Bloom reassured. "And I can't stay mad at a goofball like you."

Bloom tried to flick her finger across Brandon's nose, but missed it and started laughing hoarsely making Brandon join in. They laughed for a few seconds, ignoring the people staring at them like they were crazy.

Bloom took a sharp inhale, catching her breath. She then fiddled with the thin straw in her drink and took another quick sip. "Okay, so there being a president, you understand, but a lack of dragons is where you draw the line?"

"Yes, because dragons are awesome," Brandon replied, crossing his arms. "When I was younger, my parents used to take me to this farm where dragons are raised. They're so friendly and you can ride them!"

Brandon's eyes seemed to glimmer as he reminisced on the mere thought of dragons. He then grabbed Bloom's hands before saying. "You have no idea how amazing that is!"

"That does sound fun," she agreed. "To be honest, I can't believe there's a realm where all those things do exist. I always thought it was make-believe, yet at the same time, a small part of me hoped it was real."

"And the small part of you was right!" Brandon exclaimed, throwing him and Bloom's hands in the air as they kept them clasped together before releasing them, making Bloom chortle again. "Yes! The more I make you laugh the more you can't be mad at me."

"That's not how it works, Goldi," Bloom replied with a smirk. "It's take gonna… It's make gonna… take gonna?" she chortled. "It's gonna take a lot more than a few chuckles to make me forget what you and hcc your team did."

"I can't catch a break with you," Brandon pretended to pout. "Well, I'll do whatever it 'make gonna' to make us friends."

"I really do admire your goofiness," Bloom complimented.

She attempted to take another sip from her drink, but Brandon pushed it away. "I think you have had enough to drink."

"Ooh puh-lease, it's just a harmless wittle drink, not a thing at all that can infect… effect… affect me," Bloom said, stumbling over her words and putting on a weird New York/Boston accent. Little did she realize how intoxicating the drink really was.

Brandon smiled. "All right, but it's your last one, my drunk little fairy," he said, causing Bloom to rest her arm on the table and lay the side of her face in her free hand while looking at him admiringly.

Bloom was buzzed.

"Hey, again sorry for the questions," Brandon apologized, making Bloom roll her eyes with a goofy smile. "But since there's not really any magic on Earth, is it hard to control your powers?"

"Kinda, but I'm getting better," Bloom replied. A devious grin formed on her lips; she placed her hand to the side while saying in a valley girl accent. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course, my lips are sealed."

"Cool," Bloom looked over her shoulders then pulled Brandon closer to her. The boy looked somewhat nervous, but the bemused and obviously tipsy artist wasn't going to hurt him this time. "Okay, an hour ago I finally was able to transform and fought three witches all by myself."

"Awesome, stunning and you've fought your first set of witches," Brandon complimented, causing blood to rush to Bloom's cheeks. Once she noticed how close they were to each other, how close their lips were, she pulled away starting to feel dizzy. "That's absolutely amazing! How were you able to defeat them?"

"Uh… I didn't actually like, defeat them, they got away, but I put up a good fight," Bloom said shyly. She fiddled with her fingers ashamed. "It's not as impressive once I mentioned that part."

"Hey, don't worry, it was your first time," Brandon reassured. "At least you didn't unintentionally destroy someone's house."

Bloom raised an eyebrow before bumping her fist against his arm playfully. "Yeah, that would suck."

"I mean it though, no matter the conclusion, you should still be proud of yourself," Brandon congratulated. "I would shout to the whole world my successes."

"I wouldn't go that far," Bloom said, holding her head down. "Honestly I probably won't be able to transform again."

"Why's that, love?" Brandon asked, confused.

"When I like, transformed, I had this strong amount of confidence and fury," Bloom explained, leaving out the part about the voice. "I… I don't think I'll be able to get it back."

Brandon frowned. "Don't say that. Your powers are just rusty and you're in a new realm. You said so yourself that your planet really doesn't have magic, which conflicts with your magic and makes it difficult to use it. Just because you're having trouble doesn't mean you're a failure."

Bloom fiddled with her hands again. "Yeah, but-"

"Look at me," Brandon said, lifting Bloom's head by her chin. "You got this."

Bloom could feel her face get warm as she stared into Brandon's crystal blue eyes. She wasn't sure what was going on with her, but her heart felt like it was racing. She resisted the urge to call Brandon 'purdy' again and bit her bottom lip.

"The loopy feels loopy," Bloom replied, her speech becoming slurred. Brandon gave her a bemused expression. "I mean, thank you."

"No problem," Brandon said, removing his hand and taking a sip from his drink while Bloom tried to regain her composure.

She brushed some hair to her back. "Um, right, so like, why don't you tell me more about Eraklyon?"

"Sure, what would you like to know?"

"Hm… I could ask a boatload…" Bloom snorted giggling. "Boatload." She then shook her head going back to what she was about to ask. "You told me Eraklyon is a monarchy; what's it like? Being so close to the royal family and everything must be pretty exciting. Are there any special privileges only royalty have?"

"Nah, not really, they pretty much just have an arse ton of work. Honestly, being a noble isn't as great as everyone perceives it," Brandon explained. "There are lessons to learn, thick books to read, paperwork… so much paperwork to fill out, then there's listening to citizens' complaints, douchey paparazzi, and let's not ignore the incessant politics. It's all rather draining."

"Wow a doodle, that's a lot," Bloom said, giving Brandon a perplexed stare. "You seem to know an awful lot about royal life. You leaving something out, tough guy like say, being a secret member of the royal family?"

"What? No, no, no, no, no!" Brandon stuttered. "I've just been friends with Sky for a long, long time and he tells me about this stuff. Honest!"

Bloom gave the boy another perplexed look. "Calm down, dude. I'm just joking, no need- hcc no need to get all worked up in a tizzy."

"Oh, you're right," Brandon said, easing his nerves. "What else do you want to know?"

Bloom took another long sip from her purple liquid-filled cup making her brain feel dizzier. "Next question, mister Brandon, are there any political marriages or something like that?" she asked, before adding. "I know that's super strange to ask, I'm just kind of curious."

"No worries, I don't mind answering," Brandon replied with a smile. "It's not uncommon where I'm from, but they're decreasing in numbers, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, it's still fairly popular among certain nobles. I know Sky's parents met that way, but they do care for each other a lot. Not every pairing is that lucky though."

"Yeah, I mean pairing up two rando's is just so strange… no offense."

Brandon shrugged. "I know exactly what you're talking about, so none taken."

"Wait, so since nobles still do it, does that mean Princey has someone betrothed to him?"

Brandon shook his head, coming off nervous. "What? Not at all. Most certainly not. He is very much single!"

Bloom put her hands up to calm the frantic blond down. "I was only wondering since he and Stel have been all over each other. They're at it right now."

Brandon and Bloom turned to a corner on the right side of the room where Sky and Stella were. Their bodies close together, their lips parting every few seconds. Bloom could almost hear the slurping sounds they were making. She was surprised the Princess or prince could catch their breath as they kept kissing in the corner. Stella placed her hand on Sky's cheek as her eyes drifted to Griselda, storming over to her. She grabbed Sky by the hand and scurried away with him outside.

"I assumed they were betrothed or whatever," Bloom said.

"Ooooh, yeah," Brandon tilted his head to the side. "I don't know what they have."

"They sure can go at it, though," Bloom mumbled. "You sure got worked up over that betrothed part. Something you'd like to say; are you smitten for a certain prince? Are you pining for your best friend? Come on, tell me."

Bloom scooted her chair closer to the bodyguard making him scoot back before saying, "He's not exactly my type." He gave her a coy look afterward making Bloom blush.

"My, my, Mr. Brandon, are you trying to seduce me?" Bloom said, leaning her arm against the table. "Because if you are, stop it. This girl is off-limits."

Bloom said that last part in an exaggerated perky pop star voice while pointing at herself with both hands. She wasn't sure why she was acting like this. Even recounting the story made her blush in shame.

"No then," Brandon replied with a wink.

"Anyway," Bloom said, changing the subject and fighting the butterflies in her stomach. "Back onto the prince, what's it like being his bodyguard? What's the guy like when he's not in public? Does he hcc- do anything super embarrassing. Like hiccupping mid-conversation?"

Brandon chuckled, patting the ditzy girl on the knee. "Sky's a pleasant mate to have around. Tough, good fighter, nice, and fearless. I barely have to do anything to keep him safe because he's an expert in protecting himself. My mate has a great personality, always helping me out when I'm having troubles; he's a great friend that's for sure."

"Wow, it's nice to see you two have a good relationship," Bloom admitted. "He just doesn't seem all that… princely though. No offense, Brandon, but he doesn't carry himself like a royal."

Brandon had a look of aggravation on his face. "Sky doesn't need to act like some regal oaf to be a prince, you know."

"No, no, I know that I'm just saying that he doesn't have the kind of body language a prince would have… if that makes sense. He's a bit too… relaxed like the rest of us," Bloom said, trying to clarify what she meant. "Like I saw him tossing snacks into his mouth while we were dancing. You, on the other hand, have this kind of—"

"Wh- what are you even implying, that I'm some prince as well? Me, a humble bodyguard? Like, what, even, what the what?!" Brandon accused, struggling to form the correct words.

Bloom blinked in response before saying, "I wasn't trying to imply anything; I was just making a statement. Jeez, dude, you are getting way worked up over all this. Sorry I brought it up."

"No, it's my fault," Brandon said, scratching his neck. "I'm, uh, sort of sensitive-"

"And defensive."

"Yes, that as well, about certain things regarding the royal family. I've been asked some strange things involving them, a lot. Yours weren't bad and I shouldn't have reacted that way, I'm so-"

Bloom covered his mouth. "Shush, shushy, no more apologizing." She pulled her hands away and stroked his hair making the boy's eyes shift to where her hand was. "Your hair is really purdy."

The fully intoxicated girl held her head down, giggling like a giddy child while saying, "I want purdy hair like you! Mine is all curly-soo and knotty."

"Thank you," Brandon said laughing. "How many of those have you had?"

"This many!" Bloom held out both her hands with a wide, drunken grin on her face. "And four extra ones. I want more!"

"I'm cutting you off for the night," Brandon said, sliding the little liquid-filled cup away from her, and making her pout.

"You're a mister no fun!" she whined in a baby voice. Brandon patted her knee again with a small smile. "And I didn't intend to make you uncomfortable or anything like that. It's just everything in this worl- realm is still new to me."

Brandon nodded. "I get it; I'd probably be the same if I went to earth. There are seriously no dragons there… at all?"

Bloom made a circle with her hand. "Zero."

Brandon covered his eyes, shaking his head with a groan. Although it was apparent, he was joking when he glanced at Bloom, waiting for her to laugh.

She did while shaking her head. "You're pretty funny for a bodyguard."

"I try, I try."

"Ever consider becoming a stand-up comedian?"

"Who, me? Nah, I'm really busy with Sky and all that, I—" Brandon said until he was interrupted by Prince Sky walking over to the two while calling Brandon's name. "Speaking of Sky."

Bloom looked over to the young prince and faintly waved. "I thought you and the Princess were busy swapping spit." She noticed how pink Sky's lips were, the same as Stella's pink lipstick.

"A guy has to take a break," Sky said before facing Brandon. "Hey dude, I need you, like right now. Sorry Bloom, but I'm going to have to take Brandon away from you. Now."

"Can't it wait?" Brandon complained.

Sky shook his head.

"It's fine," Bloom said. "Thought we should wrap up out- our convo anyways."

"O- oh really?" Brandon worriedly asked.

"Yeah, I have to wash the dishes tonight and I should probably head back there to get started," Bloom said, noticing that dishes were being collected from tables. She stood up, swaying to the music. "I could sway to this all night. Swaying makes me feel like I'm on a boat except no puking."

Bloom spun on her heel, dancing strangely as some patrons looked on, chuckling, Sky covered his mouth attempting and failing to hold back his laughter as Brandon blushed with a smile.

"Yeah… that's always nice," Brandon agreed, standing up as well.

"First drink I see," Sky realized. "You get used to the hangov-"

Brandon immediately elbowed the prince in the stomach, making Sky clutch it in pain. Bloom was too busy swaying to question why.

"Shut up," Brandon commanded. "Now you said washing dishes, they're forcing you to clean dishes? Don't they have workers for that?"

"Yeah, the students," Bloom jokingly replied.

Brandon blinked at Bloom for a second, then looked over at Sky. The prince simply shrugged, unsure what to say as well. They could not wrap their heads around having to do menial tasks such as washing dishes. Usually, this would annoy Bloom, but for right now she couldn't have cared less.

A crooked smile went across Bloom's face as she scratched her head. "Never mind, the point is some students were assigned with washing dishes; I was one of them. It sucks, but hey it's living."

"Oh okay, I could never do that," Brandon said.

"When you're in charge of protecting a prince, I doubt you have to do anything else," Bloom said.

"Yup and he needs to do that now, Brandon come on," Sky said, grabbing the bodyguard's arm.

Brandon impatiently slapped the prince's hand away. "One more minute."

Sky crossed his arms, tapping his foot on the floor upset. "Use that one minute wisely!"

Bloom giggled. "Brandon, it's fine. Princey needs you for something important and I don't want to wake- take up your time. Hcc. Hopefully, we can continue our convo later."

"Uh, yes, continue our convo later… lates," Brandon said, trying and failing to sound cool. He made two-finger guns and pretended to shoot at the girl to which she covered her heart in mock pain.

"Hey, hey, you know that minute? It's up!" Sky exclaimed.

"Would you give me a second!" Brandon hissed. "Uh, um, Bloom…" he nervously took the girl's hand to give her a handshake, much to Bloom's confusion. "It was- it was a pleasure meeting you again, have a good night."

Bloom raised her eyebrow as the boy kept shaking her hand. "Can you let go of my hand?"

Brandon quickly released his grip while Sky pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Dude, I don't have time for this," he said, grabbing the boy's arm and dragging him away; almost like he was saving the bodyguard from making a bigger fool of himself. As he led Brandon away, he called over his shoulder, "Drink lots of coffee in the morning Bloom."

"Gotcha, princey," Bloom said.

"Bye Bloom," Brandon called waving. Bloom waved back then spun on her heel.

"Dishwashing let's go!" she shouted walking behind the dish collector.

...

"And that's all that happened, no kissing under the moonlight or exchanging numbers. We only talked, that's it," Bloom ended, avoiding eye contact with everyone. She sighed, shifting her eyes toward Stella. "There, happy?"

The Princess nodded before saying, "Wow, you cannot hold your liquor, can you?"

"It was my first time," Bloom mumbled. "If I had known what was in it, I would've only had two, so I didn't make a fool of myself."

"I'm glad you didn't leave them details out though," Tecna said chuckling. "You were drunker than a skunk."

Musa giggled. "You thought his hair was purdy, not pretty…"

"Purdy," everyone except Bloom said in a teasing tone.

Bloom groaned, covering her face with her mug.

"I am rather disappointed though," Stella said, causing the girl to look at her silently wondering what the Princess was expecting her to say. "That was really it? A cute bloke touched you, talked to you, and even blushed and all you did was 'talk'?"

"Yup," Bloom replied, gulping down a large amount of coffee from her cup. "What did you expect? We'd dance through the night and then profess our love for each other at midnight?"

"Yes!" Stella and Musa yelled together.

Bloom scoffed. "Right, well it didn't; I was freaking drunk for most of our conversation-"

"You mean convo," Flora corrected.

"Yeah that," Bloom grumbled. "I was drunk during most of it so… I wasn't in my right state of mind and even if I was, nothing would've happened."

"You say that now," Stella teased. "But I mostly kid, I know this wouldn't be some fairy tale, but darling, Brandon is so adorable; he could be perfect for you."

Bloom gave Stella a suspicious look. "Perfect for me?"

"I mean like as friends… sort of," Stella said dreamily. "He was scared of just being around you, but then you opened up that aggressive shell and talked to him. I just assumed you mellowed down and you two would hit it off."

"I literally met him a few days ago," Bloom pointed out. "He seems all right, but trust me, he is not my type."

"You're not wrong about that," Tecna mumbled. "You give off the, 'I'll punch you in the face if you look at me wrong' vibe."

"Didn't you nearly break a man's nose?" Bloom reminded.

"Semantics," Tecna excused. "I'm just agreein' with ya."

"Bloomie, you had to be a little smitten with him, I bet him touching your chin felt electrifying!" Musa said, leaning back onto Bloom's lap. "Even if you were a little tipsy."

"Exactly I was more than tipsy, I was blitzed. Him touching my arm would've made me blush," Bloom excused.

"Don't intoxicatin' drinks make you act like your true self?" Tecna asked, with a smirk on her face.

"Yeah, shut up," Bloom responded angrily. "Someone could've told me the punch was spiked!"

"By the time I found out, you said you were on your fifth drink, and I didn't want to ruin your good time," Flora said. "You were dancing weirdly with Brandon at that point."

"Even though the music wasn't playing," Musa added.

"On your fifth drink?" Stella shook her head disapprovingly. "Love, you got to work on your tolerance levels."

The other girls laughed as Bloom's cheeks became warm again. She groaned with an annoyed expression. "Stop making fun of me, I have a massive hangover. I need to be comforted."

"You'll be fine, just keep drinking your coffee," Stella advised, patting her on the back.

"Anyways, as I said, Brandon was acting really weird and defensive with some of the stuff I asked him. It was nice talking to him, but he's a strange guy."

Stella giggled, wrapping her arm around Bloom's shoulder. "Bloom, Bloom, Bloom, you know how boys are, all of them are strange," she said. "Although, maybe he was so infatuated with you that he got flustered and didn't know what to say. I've had blokes do that with me too."

Bloom pushed the girl's arm off her and nodded. "Right well, I seriously don't need to deal with boys and relationships or all that mumbo jumbo. I'm still trying to figure out how to use my powers."

"Ooo, I like that word, mumbo jumbo. I'm gonna use that!" Musa said approvingly. "What's it mean?"

"Something meaningless," Bloom answered.

Tecna nodded. "I can agree with that there sentiment."

"Me too," Flora added. "Honestly, like, all boys are strange and overrated."

"I guess I share that sentiment as well. Being tied down to someone while young and gorgeous isn't for me," Stella agreed. "Plus, being around boys for so long made me notice that they are all just shy wallflowers. Sure, they're big and tough, but deep down, they're more fragile than a butterfly."

"Told ya," Musa chimed in.

"That's possibly the most logical thing I've heard from you so far," Bloom half-joked.

"I'm a Princess, darling; you should never doubt my word," she replied, attempting to poke the red-head on the nose. Bloom dodged while laughing.

All the girls laughed while Tecna checked her watch.

"Shucks, it's almost time to get ready for breakfast," she said. "We've been talkin' that long?"

"Looks like it," Bloom said, swishing her coffee around in the cup.

Musa sat up before saying, "Our retelling of the different situations we had at the dance helped pass the time. That also means we're becoming…" the eager girl jumped up on the couch nearly causing Bloom to spill her coffee. "Best friends!"

"Maybe," Bloom and Stella simultaneously agreed.

"Not to interrupt this love-fest, but we need to get ready, like now," Flora said, standing up. "As much as I enjoyed our gab session, we don't need a repeat of yesterday, isn't that right, Bloom?"

"That was just one time," Bloom groaned. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Well, frankly, I don't care whether I'm late or not, but I really don't want to deal with Griselda."

"Fine, fine, jeez, you make someone late, one time, and they never let it go," Bloom complained.

"Enough bickering, gals, we can't start this morning that way," Stella said, standing up. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get all this hairspray out of my hair before it becomes a ratty clump. I'll see you all at breakfast, cheerio."

Stella headed back into her room, closing the door behind her.

"I'd better get goin' too," Tecna agreed, jumping up. "And you're comin' with me, Musa. You have to tidy up that bed of yours. We don't want it to be messy or Griselda will get on yer case again."

"Righto, Tecna, tidy ho!" Musa said, marching past Tecna into their room.

Tecna shook her head, following behind the girl. "I love that sho't stack."

Flora and Bloom were the last two left behind on the couch. "You're coming with me, Bloom. I'm not going to be late again because of you."

She stood up and pulled the red-head towards their room by her wrist.

"Hey, the coffee!" Bloom exclaimed as coffee spilled from her cup while Flora yanked her from the couch. She reluctantly set the cup down, following behind Flora.

...

Two hours later, the girls were sitting at a table together fraternizing; everything had returned to its regular routine. Although Griselda had to punish a handful of students who groggily sat at a table close to the faculty. Each one was struggling to stay awake. Bloom, fortunately, had recovered thanks to the coffee and a concoction Flora had given her before she started getting ready. It left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth, but it definitely decreased her hangover.

She found herself eating unfamiliar and bland food in the dining hall once again. She had arrived before Griselda could say anything. Then, almost like clockwork, Faragonda rose from her seat and tapped her long flute glass with a teaspoon.

"Students, I hope you had a pleasant night… I know some did more than others," Faragonda quipped, staring at the table of exhausted girls who tried to munch on their grits. "You gals sure did give Jeanie a fun time last night."

Griselda sighed annoyed, sipping her tea.

Faragonda laughed, causing a few girls to follow with her, but most moaned and murmured. "Oh, perk up everybody," the white-haired lady said, as lively as ever. "I've got great news; tomorrow morning, dear students, is the annual Alfea Field Trip! A trip to the Black Mud Swamp. Yay!"

Faragonda clapped eagerly.

"Black mud swamp… that doesn't sound pleasant at all," Bloom critiqued.

"It's not," Stella mumbled back, pushing her food around with her fork. "Faragonda even knows that but doesn't want to show it."

Faragonda didn't show any disdain for the trip and her energy hadn't wavered along with her wide grin. "This is an exhilarating experience for the entire school and will involve you and your flatmates working together. So much fun!"

Bloom couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes, she may have liked Faragonda, but she couldn't get on board with her energy right now. She stared at the Princess with a judging look, Stella simply nodded in agreement.

"I know you're all as excited as I am and the best part, you ready?" Faragonda said although she didn't wait for anyone to respond as she sashayed over to the young elf teacher. "Mr. Palladium will be the instructor for this fun trip! He's done it for the last twenty years and he'll be doing it again this year! Stand sweetie!" Faragonda tapped Palladium on the shoulder, but the man nervously blushed while in the middle of chewing on his toast.

"Me?" he muttered through his mouthful of toast.

"Don't worry, I won't intrude on your breakfast," Faragonda patted the man on the head before gliding back over to her seat. "He's going to be a great guide for this fun trip. Now, you will be supplied with proper uniforms and tools for tomorrow's adventure. This is a very special trip. I won't spoil the big surprise though, but expect to be hands-on in the field."

With that, the headmistress sat back down and went back to eating.

"That means we can't use magic," Stella whispered to her flatmates so no one else would hear them. "There, I spared you fifteen minutes of Pallidum rambling."

"Oh, we should be fine then. Y'all got me after all," Tecna said confidently. "I know my way around a forest if I do say so myself."

"Not this one, love," Stella countered. "Be ready for pure omega torture."

"Greeaat," Bloom moaned. Ever since the incident with the ogre in the forest back on Earth, the girl didn't want to step foot in any forestry for a while.

"Oh also," Faragonda remembered, jumping from her seat. "Students, one last thing, because I am a fair and reasonable woman and can see how… thoroughly tired most of you are, I have decided that classes are canceled for today! You may go back to resting and relaxing until tomorrow."

The students cheered, although faintly because of how hungover a lot of them were.

Griselda, on the other hand, nearly spat out her tea as she jumped from her seat. "What?" she exclaimed. "Faragonda, may I remind you that we already canceled classes once? Students have to learn; we can't do this twice in a row."

Faragonda sighed before turning Griselda towards the occupying table near them. "Jeanie, that girl is asleep in her grits and that one is struggling to eat her toast. I'm doing them a favor."

"Why must you always be so lenient?" Griselda questioned, irritated.

"Because I was them once, and they deserve a break," Faragonda replied before sitting back down, thus ending the discussion.

Griselda glared at the students before begrudgingly sitting down as well, grumbling to herself. Bloom returned to her breakfast, silently wondering if giving the students a weekly schedule was some sort of in-joke on the staff's part. Hey, at least she'd get to sleep off her hangover.

...

The next day at eight in the morning, the students of Alfea waited in the Black Mud Swamp where their elvish teacher, Calypso Palladium was pacing the ground, mumbling to himself nervously. Five minutes earlier, Palladium and the students had teleported there thanks to a gate ring, which was better for Bloom to go through. No puking this time around. The elvish man, although this was his twentieth time doing this trip, seemed fidgety about giving the first speech to his audience.

Bloom and her flatmates stood together with some distance away from the other girls. Bloom readjusted her tight khaki shorts. The whole outfit was itchy and uncomfortable. Each girl had on the same outfit; a long-sleeved button-up khaki shirt that made them feel like they were in a sauna and matching scratchy khaki shorts. The outfit finished off with clunky hiking boots that managed to be a size too small for every girl's feet. A cumbersome backpack full of tools to use on the trip was supplied to them.

"It's official, this is the worst," Bloom complained, scratching her leg. "At least I got to add a little color to my outfit."

Stella laughed. "I would've gone for a chartreuse or hazel, but the color suits you."

Bloom kicked up her leg in a dramatic pose to show off her leggings, black with red roses etched around them, underneath her shorts; that was the only thing Griselda allowed her to wear. Stella wore a brand new long, silk orange scarf, Musa decorated her pigtails with baby blue scrunchies, Flora wore a pink fedora, and Tecna… well Tecna kept to the required ensemble because as she said, "I don't need to glamorize for hikin' through the forest."

"These trainers are bloody murder on my feet," Stella whined, lifting up her left leg and digging a finger into the heel to loosen it, but it didn't do anything. "I wish they would let me wear my pumps."

"Through the forest?" Flora scratched her head.

"If I'm going to suffer through this, I want to do it in style!" Stella replied.

"Aw, buck up, you're about to go on an exhilaratin' trip around a beautiful forest," Tecna reassured, keeping a tight grip on the backpack.

Bloom and Stella stared at the girl as if she just said she bathed in mayonnaise. Flora and Musa seemed to be the opposite and showed excitement about the trip like Tecna was.

"That is always nice," Flora agreed, twirling a strand of her hair while chewing some gum.

"For the last time, it's not a beautiful forest; it's literally called the Black Mud Swamp!" Stella rebuffed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Is that a trademark name?" Musa inquired.

"Might as well be this place is awful!" Stella exclaimed. "Simply the worst, and I wish Palladium would hurry along so we can get this over with!"

"Just waiting for eight to arrive, Miss. Davenwood," Palladium said, appearing behind Stella, startling her.

The Princess jolted back, nearly falling into Bloom's arms, causing everyone except Stella to laugh. "Stop sneaking up on people; Wizgiz already does that enough."

"Yeah, but it's fun seeing you react like that every time," Palladium said with a sincere smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach."

With that, Palladium vanished again and appeared at the front of the class, much to the girl's amazement as they all turned to face him. He checked his watch before saying, "One more minute."

"He's so adorable," Flora said giggling.

"Adorably annoying," Stella grumbled.

Palladium snapped his fingers as the last second finished and the watch changed to eight. "All right, we're ready!" he said, facing his students. "Can everyone hear me? I sure hope so because this is important information." The elf rambled in a mixture of excitement and nervousness. "Awesome, okay, so today is the annual Alfea Field Trip around the Black Mud Swamp. It's an exercise of sorts, and well… well, you'll be told the rest after it's over."

"Why?" a couple of girls, including Tecna, asked simultaneously.

Palladium brought his arms up confused. "Why does everyone always ask that during these trips?"

"Because you're hiding something!" A girl accused.

A bunch of students began to complain and whine at the sweating teacher who took a few steps backward.

Bloom nudged Stella. "You know all about this assignment, what else is he leaving out?"

"Oh, don't you worry, you'll find out soon enough," Stella answered. "I want to leave it as a surprise for you gals."

"Gee, thanks," Bloom dryly said.

Palladium covered his face frustrated before putting two fingers in his mouth and letting out a loud, ear-piercing whistle. Silencing the students.

The elf cleared his throat. "Thank you."

"Professor Palladium, do you have any bug spray?" a student with black hair asked, scratching her knee. "A mosquito just bit me!"

"Well, we are in a swamp; it's just a mosquito. It's not a big deal," Palladium excused. "There should be some spray in your backpack, though."

"But it's swelling," the girl whined, continuing to scratch her thigh. The girl fretfully showed off her swelling, pulsating, green thigh, causing some girls to recoil in disgust.

"Oh my!" Palladium said, backing away. "Uh, there should be some ointment in there for that too, but that definitely wasn't a mosquito."

"Nice, giant bugs that can make me swell up like a balloon, this is going to be so much fun," Bloom said sarcastically, clapping.

"As I was saying," Palladium said, taking a few steps away from the girl who was frantically searching for ointment. "A good fairy should be able to listen to what nature tells them. Today's exercise is designed to put your skills to the test. As everyone here has learned, magic is used for many applications, but what would happen if you were in a situation where you couldn't use your magic? Where you had to rely on other means such as the voice of nature?"

A few students scratched their heads, confused.

"And here it comes," Stella said, twirling her index finger in the air.

"What I'm getting at is today you shall be maneuvering through the Black Mud Swamp without using any magic! Isn't it exciting?" Palladium clapped eagerly, much to the girls' appalled reactions. "Hide your excitement; I know how happy all of you are. Today, each group has six hours to get out of the Black Mud Swamp and reach the clearing in the middle of the forest, where I'll be waiting, without using any magic except for listening to the voice of nature and the tools provided to you. Make sure to follow its advice. Any questions?"

A girl with orange-blonde hair raised her hand looking exhausted. "Do upperclassmen have the option to skip this stupid field trip?"

"Sorry, Amaryl, but everyone must participate," Palladium said. "Unless you want cleaning duties for the next week."

What is with the school and cleaning punishments? Bloom thought in her head.

"Any other questions before I send you off on this exciting trip?" Palladium asked, but was met with silence. "Great! Now you better get started and remember only the voice of nature will be your guide, and it's not enough to hear the voice; you must listen to it as well. Bye now." With that, the elven teacher raised his hand in the air while waving and vanished before the girl's eyes.

"Yeah, but-" Amaryl said before slumping her shoulders. "I hate it when he does that."

Girls began walking through the forest with no way of knowing where to go and unsure if this was even a safe trip.

"I think I zoned out; what was the voice of nature again?" Flora asked.

"Nobody knows because he never seems to explain it," Stella answered, texting on her phone.

"Cool. No map, no idea what the clearing looks like or where it is in this vast amount of foliage, and really no idea what the freak the voice of nature is… yes, this is how I wanted to spend my Wednesday!" Bloom said in frustration while readjusting her outfit. She scratched her leg again, praying it wasn't a leg swelling bug bite. "We'll just wade through this dangerous swamp with just a backpack of probably useless supplies and can't use our magic. Thanks, teach."

"Told you, it'd be omega torture," Stella said her eyes still focused on her phone. "And don't ask me how I got out of this situation, I blocked that shite trip after it was over."

"Well, it could be worse," Musa said, skipping around.

"Musa, so naïve," Stella derided, looking away from her phone and now at her flatmate who seemed to have a bundle of energy. "Before we start this dreadful journey, Bloom, come close to me."

"Why?" Bloom asked, suspicious.

"Selfies, of course," Stella answered matter of fact. She pulled the redhead close to her hip before saying, "Now, smile."

Bloom groaned at first as the girl started snapping pictures, but weakly smiled after the third picture. While they were busy, girls passing by stared at them with judgmental expressions. After the sixth picture, Stella stared at each one with an approving look.

"I look absolutely stunning, and you look… effervescent as usual," Stella complimented, with slight hesitation.

"Good response," Bloom said with a nod.

"Let's take some more," Stella offered. "Flatmates, you may join in as well."

Bloom chuckled. "What about the field trip?"

"We have six hours," Stella excused, bringing the girl back to her hip again and snapping a few more pictures. Her flatmates stood to the side for a few seconds, the other girls stared at Bloom and Stella weirdly, but Musa was the first to hop in with a wide grin on her face, followed by Flora and Tecna. Bloom took notice of the students staring at them and lifted up her right fist ready to raise her middle finger, but Stella took notice and yanked it down before laughing. Some girls passing by giggled in agreement with Stella while others walked away annoyed.

"You are a dastardly fiend," Stella jokingly insulted.

"How dare you call me such names," Bloom said in mock shock.

"Away from your misdeeds, I really appreciate the pics, gals," Stella said, admiring each snapshot. "I really needed some new pictures of friends for my phone."

"Because she doesn't have any friends," Amaryl insulted, walking past them. "You'd think a Princess would have plenty of them, guess not. Why is that Princess?"

Stella frowned and held her head down.

Bloom walked closer to Amaryl with a sly smile. "At least she's still a Princess; what's your excuse for being a bitch?" She may not have planned on defending Stella, she was still getting used to her extravagant behavior, but she knew one thing, only she and her flatmates were going to make snide remarks to her.

Amaryl clenched her fist and gritted her teeth in response.

"Wow, looks like she found someone perfect for her," she said, turning on her heel and storming off with her group. "Losers."

Stella wrapped her arms around Bloom from behind with a smile. The redhead patted her arm before responding, "You got two more seconds."

After two seconds, the Princess pulled away happily. "Thanks, darling," she paused, starting to walk down the trail with her flatmates following behind her. "She used to be my old flatmate. We didn't get along, to say the least."

"I don't blame ya," Tecna said. "Dealin' with that chick must've been a thorn in your side."

"It wasn't a pleasant experience, to say the least," Stella replied, stepping over a long tree branch. "At least I have you, girls, with me. Now let's get out of the swamp."

...

As the fairies transverse through the swamp at another location far away from the Black Mud Swamp, in the woods outside the imposing structure of Cloud Tower, three witches.

The girls groaned as they fell back on their beds, well Darcy and Icy landed on their respective beds while Stormy fell atop Icy making the girl flail her arms and let out muffled screams.

"Get the omega off me!" she shouted, shoving the girl off her and onto the floor.

"Ow," Stormy said sitting up. "Free at last! I really hate Zarathustra's lessons! I'm skipping the rest of the day, all in favor?"

Darcy and Icy raised their hands in agreement. As the white-haired girl sat up in bed she was met with a disgustingly cute creature in front of her, the purple duck. The duck waddles closer to her, making her jolt back revolted.

"Quack, quack," the duck said with big puppy dog eyes. He opened his arms going in for a hug, but the witch grabbed him by his waist and glared at him.

"I hate you!" she hissed before flinging the innocent animal across the room. The duck hit Darcy's closet and slid down to the floor. After a second of silence, he sprang back up and waddled around the room. "I'm going to kill those fairies!"

"In due time," Darcy said calmly. "Right now, we have more important tasks to focus on."

"Yes, and since we have some extra time, let's discuss our plans for getting the bimbo Princess's ring," Icy said, standing up and walking around the room. "I have-"

"We're not using Knut this time," Darcy said. "There's only so much stupid I can take."

Icy and Stormy simultaneously said, "Agreed."

"That's why I have-" Icy started before Stormy interjected causing the ice witch to frown.

"Plus, three ogre attacks in a row will definitely set off major alarm bells," Stormy added. "And that ginger fairy already knows enough about us."

"Quite, my dumb sister," Icy insulted patting the red-clad witch on the head.

Stormy groaned, attempting to bite her sister's hand in retaliation. "So, then what's our plan, my bitch of a sister?"

"Already got it covered," Icy replied with a sinister grin. "Let's just say your girl knows her way around the Red Fountain ships."

"What?" Stormy questioned scratching her head.

"She tampered with the cage the troll is in, idiot," Darcy informed, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, I know that I just wanted it clarified!" Stormy lied, trying to save face. "So, for more clarification, even though I can guess how, how did you do that?"

"Well for 'clarification' it wasn't easy, it took a lot of maneuvering," Icy bragged. "Gotta keep it secret though."

"So, you used a gate ring as well as the lock picking kit you bought at the swap meet and-" Darcy started explaining every detail even though she wasn't there but could read her sister like a book.

Icy's eyes darted to her brunette sister before she shouted, "We don't need to go over the details!"

"Right," Darcy replied, adjusting her glasses. "Well, dear sister I have this to ask since you have everything tied neatly into a bow, what will happen if the troll can't get the ring?"

Stormy nodded. "Yeah, what if the troll gets recaptured and he confesses?"

Icy's eyes widened at the sudden realization of the holes in her plan. "Don't you think I know that! I have a backup plan, I always do. You see I… oh right, I enhanced the troll, so it'll be harder to defeat him. We head to the Black Mud Swamp where those little fairies are doing their dumb exercise and use some magic here and there and boom! We get rid of the evidence and get what we need."

Darcy walked over to her sister with her arms crossed. "How long did it take you to form that plan?"

"Shut the fuck up and get your shit," Icy said. "We're headed to Black Mud Swamp."

"Yeah, but we need a good excuse," Stormy pointed out.

"We do, remember our foliage in the wild for potions assignment?" Icy asked with a sly smile.

"I'm not following," Stormy said, missing the point.

Icy and Darcy facepalmed at their sister's ignorance.

Darcy shook her head before patting Stormy on the back. "We'll explain on the way."

...

Back in the Black Mud Swamp, Bloom and her flatmates kept walking through the woody part of the swamp until they came across a large section of swamp water and waded through it to get to the other end of the forest. As they strode through the waters, a strange odor became more and more noticeable. Soon small bubbles were popping up in the liquid around them.

"This place is actually worse than I remember," Stella complained, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Holy Dragon, something is crawling up my leg! Get it off!"

Flora stared at the girl with an amused look. "It's just a little swamp lizard," she casually pulled the creature off Stella's thigh. "Aren't you the cutest little thing? Poor girl must've wanted to make a friend."

She scratched the lizard's neck; the animal made a weird purring sound that unnerved the Solarian Princess.

Stella didn't seem to be in the mood as her face contorted into a disgusted expression. "Get that wretched barmy away from me!" she demanded, backing away from Flora who was calmly stroking the lizard's head.

"Suit yourself, off you go, little one. Return to your humble abode." Flora gingerly laid the lizard back into the water where it swam away. The brunette clasped her hands together lovingly. "Adorable, aren't they?"

Bloom, Tecna, and Musa chuckled. Stella, however, was squirming and rubbing her leg to remove the lizard germs.

"Can we please just focus!" the Princess seethed. "Blimey, I need to disinfect my leg."

"Oh, quit your whinin' I swear these high-class folk ain't ever stepped foot in the wilderness," Tecna scoffed, struggling to move through the water with her heavy pack. Stella stuck her tongue out at the girl in response. "Anyways, I've noticed that these bubbles could indicate that we're standin' on the back of a subterranean sludge slug."

Stella squeaked before jumping into Bloom's arms causing her to carry her like an infant. Bloom sucked her bottom lip to reserve her anger as she struggled to hold the Princess.

"Glad we could get this close," she said before letting the girl go back to her feet.

Tecna gave a disapproving glance before saying, "Bottom line, they ain't friendly, but don't y'all worry, I'll take care of it. A standby spell oughta do the trick."

Tecna raised her hand ready to shoot an enchantment just in case there was a sludge slug, but Musa frantically lowered her friend's hand.

"Tecna, don't!" she exclaimed. "We can't use magic, remember?"

"We have to listen to the voice of nature; just use your senses," Flora advised.

"I already did; it's obvious those bubbles are dangerous!" Tecna said, struggling to lift her hand back up, but Musa was a surprisingly strong person.

"Haven't you been listening? We have to use our other senses instead of magic, such as smell," Flora stated, taking a big whiff.

The other girls followed suit and sniffed the air around them before regretting that instantly and each covering their noses.

"Who stepped on a skunk!" Musa complained, waving away the vile air.

"Jesus Christ, it smells like a gas station bathroom," Bloom critiqued gagging.

"I've never set foot in one of those vehicle fill-up bathrooms, but I have been near one," Stella said, resisting the urge to vomit. "Your description is very accurate. Holy Dragon's breath!"

"Okay, so like smell wasn't the best option, but another sense is sight," Flora said. "And I happen to spy some very unstable bubbles." The flower girl pointed towards ever-growing bubbles with a wary look on her face. "Like, I think they're about to pop, so we should probably hop out the water!"

The girls quickly rushed out of the swamp and hid behind a far enough tree when, in an instant, the bubbles began to pop, releasing more noxious odors.

"That was a close one," Musa said, wiping sweat from her brow. "Point for us!"

"Yeah, we real lucky, especially since I'm pretty sure that gas was acidic," Tecna theorized.

"What makes you think that?" Bloom asked.

"Just the meltin' tree over there," Tecna replied, motioning to a dying tree that had captured the smell of the heated gas.

"No!" Flora exclaimed, nearly running over to the dying evergreen until she was held back by Tecna. She struggled for several seconds until the tree's trunk weakened to the point that it gave way, causing it to crash down into the swamp. The nature girl held her head down, trying not to scream. "A moment of silence for our lovely tree friend."

With small tears in her eyes, Flora removed her hat and held her head down, mourning the loss of the many dying foliage around her. The other girls reluctantly followed along, although it felt awkward as a solid minute passed. Tecna impatiently checked her watch. Bloom walked over to her with her arms crossed.

"So… we avoid the swamp parts of the black mud swamp?" she whispered, breaking the silence.

"Sounds like a plan," Tecna nodded. "Let's go this way instead."

The rest of the girls walked away leaving Flora behind who stared at the fallen tree one last time before being led away by a supportive Musa, patting her back.

"You know what we need right now as best buddies?" Musa asked, continuing to comfort Flora. "A team name!"

"No, we don't," Bloom said, swatting away a large bug.

"Don't be like that, Bloomie, think about it. We're flatmates, we fought together-"

Bloom interjected with a dry reply. "You guys fought together."

"There's always time," Musa said with a wink. "But we also used magic together! Which in essence means we need a team name!"

"Our illustrious Musa is correct," Stella agreed with an approving smile. "We need an ace team name!"

"What about the Veggie Fighters?" Flora said, perking up.

Tecna laughed. "Flo'a, that's too silly. We need somethin that'll unite us."

"What about the Stellar fighters!" Stella suggested.

Bloom pursed her lips with a raised right eyebrow. "So, your name with the word fighters?"

"It's stellar, not Stella, but…" the Princess paused, bumping her fist together shyly. "It can be Stella if you'd like."

The girls silently stared at Stella for a few seconds before Musa jumped in, "What about the fantastic five? Or magic girls or maybe magix girls! Where it all started."

"Don't want to be reminded of Magix," Bloom mumbled, trying to stay out of the conversation. "Can we just keep going?"

Tecna tapped her chin ignoring the redhead. "How about the… super li'l fairies?" Everyone but Tecna laughed, much to her bewilderment. "What's so funny? It could work!"

"Tecna," Musa started. "You alone prove the name wrong; you're like six feet tall."

"Five foot eight, thank you very much," Tecna corrected. "I still think the name works."

"What about-" Flora began with a raised index finger when Bloom jumped in, exaggeratedly swinging her arms.

"God, I can't believe I'm jumping into this, but if we're going to have a 'team name' we need something that reflects what we want to be. Majestic and beautiful," she said, but when she was met with stares, she blushed slightly. "What, I'm right."

"You are and I think we're like butterflies. We both transform with gorgeous wings… What about the wings club?" Stella suggested.

"Nah, that's not it," Bloom disagreed, walking over to Tecna while pondering names. She grabbed the backpack the girl was lugging, dropping it to the ground when she held it. "Ow." She groaned before unzipping the bag. "I know there's a notepad in here."

"Wings club sounds like an oldie show my mom and stepdad watch," Flora said. "What about 'The Butterflies'?"

"No, we need something catchy, something that rolls off the tongue," Bloom responded before retrieving a notepad and a pen from the bag. She clicked the pen and sat down, cross-legged.

"I could've sworn she wasn't involved with this," Tecna said with a raised eyebrow.

"Shush, my creative juices are flowing," Bloom replied, nibbling on the tip of the pen. "Now let me think… wings… butterflies… cool name… I got it!"

Bloom scribbled down on the pad eagerly, much to the surprise of her flatmates. Her tongue stuck out of her mouth as she jotted away. She loved thinking of new things to draw, and she hadn't really done that after what happened in Magix. At this moment though, her mind seemed to awaken her creative bug. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she kept going.

"I've never seen her this excited in the few days I've known her," Flora whispered to the other girls.

"I know… I love it!" Musa beamed.

After a minute passed, Bloom stood back up, keeping the notepad flipped on her side. "All right, how does this sound? The... 'Winx Club'!"

She flipped the notepad around to show the name written in fancy cursive and a four-petalled flower at the end of it. She waited for a response, but when she was met with silence, she lowered the pad.

"I mean… we don't have to go with it. It was dumb anyways," Bloom dejectedly said. She was ready to throw the pad away until she heard squealing coming from behind her, it was Musa.

"I… love it!" the blue-haired girl exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's actually brilliant," Stella complimented. "Nice thinking there, Bloom."

"You girls seriously like it?" Bloom asked, surprised.

Tecna nodded, slapping the girl on the back nearly toppling her over. "Why if that ain't somethin' that rolls off the tongue I don't know what is. Good one, fyrecracker."

"Yeah, Winx Club is totally cool," Flora said, staring at the name on the notepad. "It really pops, I like that."

"Bloomie, I'm so proud of you!" Musa hugged the girl tightly causing the redhead to wince in shock.

Bloom patted the girl on her arm before saying, "You can let go now."

Musa bounced back still grinning.

"Well, uh, thanks," Bloom said, trying to remain cool.

"I say as members of the newly formed Winx Club, we must promise to help each other and others always, never hide anything from each other, and fight against evil and injustice," Stella pledged, holding out her hand to form a pile. "Deal?"

"Deal!" Each girl said, placing their hand in the pile. "Winx Club!"

The girls giggled, making Bloom cover her mouth in shock. "What am I becoming?"

"It's called a fairy, darling," Stella said with a twinkle in her eye.

...

Above the swamps of Black Mud Swamp flew a vehicle. It was blue and white, shaped like a triangular shuttle, and flew quietly across the sky. Within it sat four specialists, Sky, Brandon, Timmy, and Riven. Riven was at the steering wheel, lazily scanning the horizon while Sky looked at his scanner, talking over the radio. Brandon sat by himself, texting away on his phone.

Brandon lifted his gaze from his phone, looking around. "You know, Sky, I have a strange feeling as if something bad is about to happen."

"Why's that?" Sky questioned.

"I don't know," Brandon replied, scratching his head. "Just feel it."

"You shouldn't worry, I have complete control of this aircraft," Riven reassured, taking his eyes from where he was staring.

"Oh, really," Brandon and Sky said, simultaneously, sounding unimpressed.

"Don't doubt my skills," Riven said, returning to watching over the skyline.

"Hey, isn't that the Black Mud Swamp down there?" Sky asked. "Are we going the right way?"

"Yup, Magix is north of here," Riven answered. "Just relax, I got this."

After Riven said that, Timmy entered the room from the cell room the troll was in. He was breathing nervously as he leaned back against the door.

"Our prisoner is calm… well as calm as a prisoner can be," he said.

Sky cocked his right eyebrow, not buying the glasses boy comment. "If he's calm, why are you trembling?"

"No reason, not like the troll attempted to spit on or grab for me," Timmy said, staggering over to a seat, his leg anxiously shaking. "Are we positive that the enclosure is secure?"

"Yes, the enclosure is fine," Riven said with an eye roll. "You guys are such complainers."

"It just seems that enclosure isn't secure at-" Timmy was cut off by a loud sound in the back of the ship followed by a fuming roar. "That sounded alarming."

"You don't say," Brandon said, staring at the rumbling door. "Oh shit."

A second later, the troll broke through the door, the hand he lost a few nights ago appeared to have magically grown back to his body. He glared at the boys one by one before focusing his attention on Timmy whose trembling increased. The troll made a menacing leer before charging at the auburn hair boy.

...

"We are the Winx, we are the Winx, come join the club," Musa sang, bouncing on her toes. "Eeee, we have a team name!"

"You're making me regret coming up with it," Bloom said, mildly annoyed and amused.

"Be proud, girlfriend," Musa said, bumping her hip against the girls. "You came up with the best name ever!"

Bloom shrugged, playing off that she didn't think the name was all that impressive but was subconsciously dancing happily in her head. As the girls kept walking, Bloom spotted a glimmer in the sky. "What's that?"

The other Winx members turned to what she was staring at and noticed an aircraft plummeting from the sky, crashing between trees as it went. The vessel came to a stop a few feet from where they were, smashing onto the swamp's soft ground. A monstrous growl was heard a second later, along with a few screams.

"Is that a Red Fountain ship?" Stella wondered, racing towards the crash. "I hope they're all right."

"Wait up!" Bloom called, following behind her. The rest of the group ran with her, along with other groups of girls. Once they reached the spot, Riven stumbled out of the aircraft, clutching his head in pain.

"Is this what I deserve for giving a warning for not securing the cage? Why must I be punished?!" Timmy lamented as Brandon struggled to drag the boy from the wreckage.

"I'm pretty sure you can walk," Sky commented, walking from the wreckage, wiping some dust from his suit.

"Can you walk?" Brandon asked.

"I mean yes but-" Timmy replied before the blond dropped him to the ground with an aggravated huff. "Well, that was discourteous."

"Are you guys, like, okay?" Flora asked, running over to them.

"We're fine; just an emergency landing," Riven said. Once he noticed his teammates glaring at him, he crossed his arms and shrugged. "It was for me."

"I'm pretty sure the troll got away," Sky said, rubbing his arm.

The rest of his teammates' eyes widened. Timmy and Brandon frantically covered Sky's mouth, but it was too late.

"You lost a troll!" Stella shouted, shocked.

The boys jolted, unsure of how to answer the girl. The other girls, who overheard Stella, began to gasp, and whisper nervously. While there was fearful clamoring, Tecna and Musa arrived.

"We're here!" Musa said, catching her breath. "Man, you girls run fassssst."

Her eyes slowly moved towards Riven, who stared at the blue-haired girl intensely, but then tensed up once he recognized her. After a second, the blue-haired girl got into a running pose and rushed toward the dark magenta-haired boy, leaving dust formed into her body at the original spot.

"How did she just do that?" Timmy questioned.

His question remained unanswered as Musa gasped at Riven. "You're the cute boy I met at the dance!"

"You're the girl that swung me around the dance floor," Riven said, taking a few steps backward, somewhat fearful she'd snatched his arm again.

Instead of that Musa danced around, bouncing on her toes. "You're just as cute as I remember!" she complimented. "I mean… holy guacamole!"

"I mean… you don't have to state the obvious," Riven said with a pompous smile.

"Oh my God," Bloom moaned, facepalming.

"She didn't state you're a massive twat so," Stella mumbled.

"I'm Musa Tori, but my friends call me Musa or Muse or Musical Musa!" Musa introduced. "Hiya again!"

"What do your non-friends call you?" Riven asked.

"Musa…" Musa answered her grin, widening.

"Right… ni- pleasur- sup," Riven stuttered, bobbing his head up a little. He cautiously took a few steps back, wanting to avoid the girl touching him.

Musa giggled, her face turning pink. She looked over to Bloom and whispered, "Isn't he cute?"

"Down girl," Bloom said, pulling the drooling Musa away from Riven, who was almost flexing in front of her. "You can tone it too, Romeo."

"Can we please focus?" Timmy said, snapping everyone's attention to him. "We lost a troll!"

"Well, whose fault is that?" Tecna asked rhetorically, appearing behind the auburn-haired boy.

Timmy jumped once he saw the girl behind him and took several steps away from her. "When did you do that?"

Tecna rolled her eyes. "Oh please, it ain't that hard sneakin' up on people," she replied, gaining a confused stare from the bewildered boy. "Nice to see you again, cowboy. Still upset, I rejected your egg?"

"Not going to respond to that," Timmy said, keeping his distance. "Have any of you ladies seen a troll?"

"I'm sorry, yeah, wait, let's go back to that," Bloom angrily said, remembering what Sky mentioned earlier. "How the hell did you guys let a troll escape?"

"We didn't let him escape," Riven defended. "There was an accident that we won't go into because it's none of your business."

"Plus, he's handcuffed," Timmy added.

Riven nodded.

Bloom's shoulders slumped annoyed at the boy's blasé responses, but as she looked down at the ground, she spotted a glimmer from something shiny. A large item which she reached down and picked up. She let out a frustrated groan. "These handcuffs, morons?"

It was the massive silver handcuffs the troll was supposed to be restrained with, laying open as if unlocked intentionally. Each boy stared at each other then back at the cuffs with their eyes wide open.

"You can say anything at any time," Bloom said, tapping her foot.

"Well, this is embarrassing," Timmy casually replied.

"Oh, dragon." Sky cleared his throat. "Uh, no need to worry, everybody, we got this. You guys go about your field trip." The brunette walked over to Stella and whispered. "It's the annual field trip, right?"

"Yes, love," Stella answered, covering her face in embarrassment.

"Yeah, so get back to your little trip and leave the problem to the specialists," Riven attempted to command but was simply met with glares from the girls. Bloom was ready to smack each boy on the head.

"Oh, the specialists are coming?" Stella sarcastically said. "Will they be thirty minutes late like you blokes?"

"Up top," Bloom congratulated, holding up her hand to which Stella high fived her casually with a small smile. She wasn't showing it, but she was kind of celebrating their small mutual agreement.

"Listen, you privileged Princess-" Riven started before being pulled back by Sky.

"What Riven means is that perhaps it would be best for you to go back to Alfea while we try to capture the troll," he rephrased.

"I can tell her to piss off myself, your highness," Riven insulted.

"Hey, you know another name we call twats?" Stella began holding up her fist preparing to show Riven a particular finger before Flora rushed over and held her hand down. "You know what, we don't need to be told what to do from overgrown muscle heads. You want to find a bleeding troll and get yourselves maimed? Be my guest."

"I agree with the Princess on this one," Amaryl said with a wave. "Have fun, losers."

Amaryl, her group, and other groups walked off, laughing at the boys, much to their frustration. After they were gone, Riven punched Sky in the arm.

"What was that for?!" Sky questioned, rubbing his bruised arm.

"For not shutting up," Riven said through gritted teeth. "Come on, let's find this stupid troll."

As the boys walked away dejected, the Winx looked on until Bloom whispered, "Maybe we should help them?"

"After the crappy attitude Riven just gave us?" Stella said, placing her hands on her hips. "I say we let that troll knock his head in."

"He was pretty rude," Flora hesitantly said. "I say we get back to our assignment and, like, let Riven and his gang handle that danger. That's their karma, not ours."

"I know he's an ass, but remember that is the troll that nearly destroyed my house. What if he attacks one of the girls?" Bloom reasoned. "Plus, isn't it weird how he escaped?"

"Fyrecrackers got a point, somethin' peculiar is goin' on here; let's do the kind gesture and help our boys out," Tecna said while setting her backpack down and cracking her sore neck.

"We should probably focus on the assignment," Stella said, attempting to walk the other way. Bloom yanked her by the arm and led her towards the ship causing the girl to pout.

"Wait up, y'all," Tecna called to the boys. "We're here to help!"

"You're not going to yank me by my collar again, are you?" Timmy asked, hiding behind Brandon.

"Oh man, you too, that's how I met the lovely Bloom," Brandon said, motioning towards the goth who waved back casually. "Small world, man."

"Yeah she didn't slam you against a wall," Timmy reminded. "Over nothing!"

"Oh, let it go, cowboy," Tecna said, waving away his concern. "I could've done far worse to ya."

"That doesn't make the situation better!" Timmy exclaimed.

"Whateva, move over. Let me see what we're dealin' with," Tecna pushed Timmy and Brandon to the side, nearly toppling them over, and walked onto the ship. After a few minutes, she walked back out, wiping her hands of imaginary dust. "Well, I found the problem, that their cage was sabotaged."

"What?!" The boys exclaimed.

"But that's Red Fountain tech, nobody can crack it," Brandon said surprised.

"Apparently you can; it ain't that hard, honestly," Tecna said. "All ya need is little magic here, a little lock pick there, and boom." As everyone stared at Tecna, wondering what she could have possibly done in her past. Her eyes shifted confused. "Y'all never raided yer parents' snack safe."

"Oh," everyone realized.

"We never had parents who had them," Bloom answered.

"Weird," Tecna mumbled. "What about the handcuffs, though? Whoever messed with those used mental powers to unlock 'em."

"Yeah, this is a psychic lock… how did you?" Timmy stared at Tecna, surprised.

"I studied it in my free time," Tecna said casually.

Musa looked down at the ground and then let out a shocked gasp which got everyone's attention changed to her. "Holy guacamole!"

"Holy what?" Timmy repeated, unsure of what he just heard.

"Feet!" Musa replied pointing down at large footprints in the soil. "Do you notice something… peculiar?"

"Yeah, that thing's got feet the size of an ocean liner!" Stella said, staring at the imprint.

"I don't think that's what she meant," Tecna said, examining the imprint. "These huge feet seem to leave no prints. They become less and less visible and then just vanish into thin air."

"It's as if…" Stella paused, rubbing her chin. "It's as if the troll was on an ultrasonic weight loss plan!"

Bloom chuckled at the Princess's line, which Stella was intending, Riven wasn't amused though.

"Why are you talking?" Riven asked, annoyed.

Stella slowly moved her eyes to the boy with a menacing glare. Sky quickly covered Riven's mouth to prevent him from insulting the Princess further.

Timmy cleared his throat, returning to the former subject. "The troll found a way to gradually achieve a state of weightlessness, like a levitating spell."

"Trolls can't cast spells though," Tecna said. "Unless…"

"Somebody helped him… probably three somebodies," Bloom responded, clenching her fist.

Stella tapped her chin with her lips pursed. "You don't think they-"

"I don't think, I know," Bloom answered. "We need to find them and stop them."

"Uh, no you don't, like I said, we got this covered, so you just go back to your little field exercise and leave the work to the men," Riven said, backing away and leading his group away. "We don't need your help."

"I feel like we do," Timmy reasoned.

Riven elbowed him in the side. "Shut up, four-eyes!" he insulted before the boys finally ran off.

"Bye, hope to see you soon!" Musa called, waving eagerly.

Bloom placed her hands on her hips mulling over what to do next. There were two options: Let the boys handle the troll situation themselves or they jump in and help especially since there were tons of other girls around who could get hurt or worse.

Stella seemed to know her decision as she moaned. "We're helping them, aren't we?"

"Are we really?" Musa inquired eagerly.

Bloom nodded at the girl, making the chipper girl bounce on her toes eagerly.

"So, we're just not doing the voice of nature assignment anymore?" Flora asked disappointed while fanning herself with her hat. "Because I really wanted to hear the voice of nature."

"Oh, give it a rest, there ain't no damn voice of nature, there's only silence," Tecna scoffed before adding. "And cicadas."

"Wait, let me try," Bloom said, focusing on her surroundings. She looked around; a cool breeze of wind blew across her face from the left side of her body. She couldn't hear a physical voice, but there was a mystical presence that gave her an inkling of where to go. "Whoa."

"What did momma nature suggest?" Tecna asked, uninterested.

"We start over there," Bloom pointed to a deeper part of the swamp. "Let's go."

The Winx minus Tecna started heading towards the direction Bloom pointed, but the country girl stayed for a second before letting out a sigh in defeat. "Voice of nature, I can't believe this bull. I betta not regret this!"

...

After the Specialists were a good distance away from the Winx, they entered a clearing filled with some suspicious-looking dark green vines. They seemed to be breathing and moving on their own.

"Get it off me!" Riven shouted, pushing a moving vine from his hip. "These things are alive!"

"That's impossible. No form of animal life can survive here!" Timmy said before a vine wrapped around his leg and yanked him down to the ground. "Ouch."

"You were saying?" Sky said, trying to fight off vines wrapping around his body. "Because they seem to be, like, alive."

"I'm positive they aren't alive," Timmy said, standing back up. The same vine wrapped around his hip and pulled him back down to the ground. "Ouch, again!"

"You sure?" Riven, Sky and Brandon asked Timmy impatiently.

"Okay… maybe they are alive," Timmy said, standing back up and readjusting his glasses. Once he saw the same vine slithering towards him, he started running. "Knock it off!"

"Don't you dare call for help; we can get out of this," Riven commanded, struggling to break free.

Timmy ignored Riven as the vine that took a liking to him had wrapped back around his leg and dragged him across the ground. Once Timmy realized he was in deep trouble he began to shout for help. Riven covered his eyes with his hand, angrily groaning.

"Please don't let Bloom see me like this," Brandon whispered wishfully, pouting as the vines knocked him to the ground as well.

As Timmy's calls echoed through the swamp, the Winx were walking along the path the Specialists had recently trailed on, but Flora quickly froze in place when she saw the dark green vines.

"Don't make a single noise," Flora whispered, taking a step back. "These are 'Quietus Carnivorous,' they hate noise and eat their prey after strangling them to death… neat, isn't it?"

"You and I have a different idea of neat," Bloom whispered, taking numerous steps back. She wasn't risking her life with this swamp, especially after that acid-melting swamp gas. Most of the Winx followed suit, Musa even covered her mouth, but there was one skeptic in the group.

"There's absolutely no way that's true," Stella refuted, not whispering. "I don't even remember this part of the forest and even, so I think you got your information wrong darling. There's no way these harmless vines can do any damage."

As Stella faced the group, a slithering vine slowly rose from behind her. The rest of the girls frantically tried to quiet her, some even motioning towards the vine behind her, but the Princess wasn't paying attention.

"You guys are such worrywarts, watch this," Stella said and without hesitation, she let out a loud whistle. Bloom pulled back, pinching the bridge of her nose. "See? Nothing happene- AAAH, bleeding omega!"

The vine that was surprisingly patient as they waited for their prey to incite an attack, grabbed Stella by the ankles and hung her upside down. The Princess began screaming, only angering the vines more. More seemed to appear ready to swipe at the rest of the group.

"Stella, shut up!" Bloom shushed, whispering irately.

Tecna quickly plopped the backpack on the ground and opened it to search for a weapon, but Flora stopped her, seeming to know what she was planning to do.

"Hurting them will only make them angrier," she warned. "I think I know what will help." Flora put a hand on her head and calmly walked over the vines, humming softly. The humming made the vines stop before grabbing the other girls. The relaxing energy that radiated from Flora slowly calmed the vines. They pulled back and released Stella, dropping her into the muck, staining her outfit and scarf.

"You, okay?" Bloom asked indifferently.

"Thank you for helping me up," Stella grumbled, angrily standing up and wiping mud off her uniform. She unwrapped the silk scarf around her neck and examined it sadly. "Father just gifted this to me. Damn it." She dropped the scarf to the ground which a vine seemed to like as it slid away with it.

"I'm sorry, but that was the funniest shit I've ever seen," Tecna whispered, stifling her laughter.

Stella rolled her eyes, but as a vine crept towards her, the Princess jumped onto Bloom, who instinctively caught her with an aggravated expression.

"Hello again," Bloom whispered, struggling to carry the girl's weight. Stella blushed before quietly lowering her legs back to the ground.

"Darling, as you say, will you keep your mouth shut now?" Flora asked, hands on her hips.

"I will," Stella whispered, nodding nervously.

"HELP!" a voice called out not too far from them startling the Winx girls. The girls quickly ran towards the noise, avoiding the ever-growing vines around them and making sure to keep quiet.

"HELP US!" Timmy shouted, still being dragged around by the vines that were now wrapped around his legs.

"Stop yelling, Timmy! I can't think straight!" Riven scolded, trying to formulate a plan in his head.

"Oh, I apologize, I can't really think straight either because these vines won't let go of my freaking leg!" Timmy shot back.

"Maybe if you stopped screaming like a little bitch, you could think," Riven insulted, his face turning red.

"I'm going to-" Timmy started struggling to stand up before the Specialists heard voices approaching. They waited for whatever it was to arrive with bated breath.

"Ah, there they are," Stella whispered, reaching the spot the boys were at. They let out a sigh of relief but immediately went back to struggling. "You boys need us or you got it?"

The boys glared at the girls before yelling, "HELP US!"

"Everything's going to be okay; they won't hurt you," Flora whispered, tiptoeing into the middle of the vine-infested clearing.

"What do you mean they won't hurt us? They're strangling… us…" Riven said, struggling to breathe.

"She's talking to the plants," Bloom whispered. "So, if you could just, you know, shut up or whisper, that'd be great. These things hate noise."

"Oh yeah like whispering will stop them from killing us," Riven said as the grip from the vines tightened around him.

Musa frantically rushed over and covered the boy's mouth who angrily grumbled at the blue-haired girl. "Flora keep doing your thing", she said in a hurried tone.

Flora nodded. "Thank you." She continued whispering to calm the foliage and like before it slowly worked as the vines released the Specialists. The boys fell to the ground, relieved, except Timmy, who was already on the floor.

"Don't worry, little buddies, just relax," Flora said, keeping her voice at a whisper with a slight giggle. She tenderly stroked one of the vines like it was a cat, unaware of the odd stares her friends were giving her. "Be mellow."

The vines pulled back and furled up, being at peace thanks to the plant fairy and leaving the blushing boys unharmed.

Flora breathed a sigh of relief. "All's good now."

"Let's get out of her-" Timmy whispered standing up before being yanked back down to the ground by the vine that had been clinging to him for the last few minutes. Apparently, it was his pet now. Tecna nearly burst into laughter before Musa and Bloom covered her mouth. "I swear to the eternal dragon if anyone laughs, I'll kill you."

...

The group raced away from the demonic vines and into another small, empty clearing. Bloom looked back, double-checking if any vines had followed them or if there were any in this new spot. Luckily, they seemed to be gone.

"Is this… the clearing… Palladium was talking about?" she asked, catching her breath.

"If it were, he'd be here probably partaking in some fruit he kept tucked in his pocket," Stella said, running her fingers through her hair.

"That reminds me, I need to eat a grapefruit later, I skipped it for breakfast," Flora said.

"If ya want to stick to them citrus fruits I'd recommend an orange," Tecna suggested. "Heard it helps the skin."

"Oh really?" Flora said, intrigued. "You see I thought-"

"Nobody cares!" Bloom and Riven said with the same inflection of annoyance. They looked at each other, but nodded in agreement.

Bloom rubbed her forehead while grumbling under her breath, "This is great, freaking great! I gotta tell you, Stella, I'm really enjoying this field trip, might tell my friends back home to check it out!"

"Hey, don't snap at me, I didn't plan this bleeding trip!" Stella snapped.

Bloom clenched her fist. "Yeah, well, you could've tried to stop it, you are a Princess!"

"I'm not that powerful!" Stella screamed looking away from the girl. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot angrily.

"Oh now you're not that powerful?" Bloom mocked. "Didn't you ramble about being able to buy a new 'real' ruby ring for your collection? You know, not the 'fake' ones commoner's use, the really real ones that they go through mines to find!"

"She would totally say that shit," Riven said, shaking his head with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry but getting the right jewel is not the same as us being in this situation," Stella said, crossing her arms. "You are treading on thin ice right now and I am not in the bleeding mood!"

"Hey, hey, no fighting right now, we just escaped a bunch of dangerous… foliage," Brandon intervened pushing Bloom back.

Sky pulled Stella back with his arm around her waist. This seemed to calm the girl who smiled at the boy.

Bloom was not sharing the same sentiment with Brandon.

"I'm gonna need you not to touch me right now," she scolded, pushing Brandon away. "By the way, thanks for not telling me about the drinks!"

"It wasn't that bad," Brandon reassured.

"Oh hey, you're that girl who was smashed last night," Riven said, recognizing Bloom. He started laughing, causing the flustered girl to clench her fist. "Dude, you were hilarious!"

"Ignore him," Brandon said, glaring at the boy. "Riven, zip it."

"I can't, it was so funny," Riven said, laughing loudly now. "She tried to man the DJ station and jump on a table."

Bloom groaned, hiding her face with her hair. She felt like she was the main attraction in a circus as she remembered how out of her element, she was last night. Her anger towards Brandon returned, giving the boy a cyan-colored eye-piercing glower. The blonde turned the other way to avoid eye contact with her.

"Look," Bloom said once Riven quieted down from chortling. "We're all together, we all know about the troll; I say we look for him as a group from now on. Safety in numbers and all that."

"I vote yes," Stella said dreamily, rubbing Sky's arm and tittering.

"I agree," Flora said with a shrug.

"Why not," Tecna said with a shrug. "Especially since right now, this pack is hurtin' my back and none of ya gals can really handle the weight."

Timmy noticed the country girl's eyes were focused directly on him as she adjusted the weight on the backpack. He frowned.

"I guess I'm up to being tortured even more," he begrudgingly said, accepting that he'd be stuck with Tecna for the rest of this trip.

"I'm up for anything!" Musa chirped, bouncing on her toes.

Riven, who had ended his laughing once Bloom suggested the idea, crossed his arms. "I refuse to team up with you."

"Why?" Bloom asked.

"Don't make me state the obvious," Riven said with a shrug. "I don't want to hurt your feelings."

"Go ahead, tell us," Bloom said calmly.

Riven sighed. "All I'm saying is, we, the men, are on a mission to find the troll we had to save you from. We don't need extra people getting hurt, especially a group of beginner fairies including one who just discovered her powers," he reasoned. "We already have to deal with Timmy, we don't need you."

"Hey screw you too," Timmy said, offended.

"Ignore him, you get what I mean, doll face?" Riven said, walking closer to Bloom.

She smiled curtly. She wasn't really affected by Riven's words, she even had to admit he had a point to a certain degree. She just didn't appreciate his tone and behavior and wasn't going to take this lying down. She prepared herself for a retort, but Sky seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"You know Riven, you've been an… an…" Sky paused, pondering the right word to use, but couldn't come up with the term to say.

Riven crossed his arms, smirking.

"An ass," Bloom supplied.

"Yes, thank you, you've been an ass all day and I'm getting real sick of it."

"Yeah, you're becoming annoying," Brandon agreed.

"Sorry I told the truth," Riven bluntly said. "It's not my fault they're weak."

"Riven, knock it off," Brandon commanded.

"Oh please, what are you going to do? You're just Prince Sky's yes-man. Why don't you dry hump him? Oh, wait, Stella already does that," Riven insulted.

Stella's eyes widened as her face turned bright pink. Bloom took a step back as the blonde glared ready to claw the magenta-haired boy's eyes out. After a brief second of seething, she stormed over to him before Sky restrained her. "Take that back, you bleeding twat!"

"What are you going to do about it?" Riven questioned, uninterested. "This is why I don't work with children."

"Release me!" Stella demanded.

"That's it; you're off the team, is that clear?" Sky said, keeping Stella restrained.

Musa gasped.

Riven covered his face, seeming to be racked with guilt. He shakingly removed his fingerless glove and used it to wipe his eyes. Everyone looked surprised. Musa even put her hand on his back.

"Are you going to be okay, Riven?" she asked.

Brandon rolled his eyes.

"Oh Dragon," Riven said, dramatically dropping his glove. "Not that, anything but that!" he dropped to his knees. "What have I done! Why must this happen to me? I was just starting to tolerate you guys. Why?"

"He's mocking me, isn't he?" Sky asked, annoyed.

"What? No, I truly do honor thy opinion," Riven stood back up and bowed dramatically. "Honorable Prince Sky!"

Sky groaned. Stella kept glaring at the boy.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," Riven dropped back to his knees in a mocking manner, much to the prince's anger. "Please forgive me, thy humble servant!"

Musa giggled, gaining a scowl from Stella and Sky. "That definitely was not funny… sorry."

"I'm eerily starting to like you," Bloom complimented.

"Same to you," Riven nodded. "Nice stockings."

Bloom looked down at her tights, flattered. "Thanks, doll face."

Brandon's eyes narrowed as he stepped in front of Bloom, coming off like he was protecting her. "Stop… flirting with the girls!"

"I wasn't, no offense," Riven said, putting up a hand.

"None taken, you're not my type. Trust me," Bloom replied, moving away from Brandon.

"Likewise," Riven said with a smirk.

"Aww, friendship bonding," Musa mused. "I love that!"

"What are you?" Riven questioned, staring at Musa oddly. The blue-haired girl just kept smiling, causing the boy to take a step back. "Look before you…" he chuckled. "Kick me out of the group, let's find the stupid troll, or do you want to keep arguing?"

"You started it!" Brandon and Sky shouted.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you coming or not?" Riven said, coolly walking away.

"I'm starting to love this guy," Bloom said following behind him.

Brandon groaned going on the trail as well. One by one the group followed along, except for Tecna and Timmy, the former yanked the latter by his collar.

"Oh, Dragon not again!" Timmy fretted.

Tecna chuckled, removing the pack from her shoulders. She looked at Timmy who stared back at her, wary of what she was about to do next.

"Stop bein' all stiff, cowboy. I ain't about to hurt ya," Tecna reassured. "Just carry my pack for me. My shoulders are achin' somethin' fierce."

"Oh 'kay," Timmy said hesitantly, taking the pack and placing it squarely on his shoulders. He adjusted the weight but seemed to have a good hold of the heavy pack. "Got it."

"Wow, yer a strong fella," Tecna said, starting down the path, and going along with the rest of the group. "Didn't think a bean stalk like you could handle it."

"I've dealt with worse," Timmy replied.

"I bet ya have," Tecna said, bumping her shoulder against his, nearly knocking the boy off his footing. She laughed, causing the boy to blush embarrassed. "I'm gonna enjoy messin' with ya," she joked. "Ya startle easily."

"Whatever," Timmy mumbled, adjusting his glasses.

Bloom looked back at the two and smiled seeing Tecna was warming up to Timmy. She looked over at Brandon and gave him a slight glare at first, but it softened when she saw how guilty Brandon looked, once he noticed her. She rolled her eyes and waved her hand to signal he could come closer to her. Although she didn't say anything, she lightly punched his arm, showing she was easing up. He playfully punched her back and she pretended to rub her arm.

The group kept walking through the swamp avoiding possible deadly plants, something Bloom never saw herself having to do, and strange animals that passed by them. The troll was nowhere to be found, almost as if the creature had vanished. After twenty minutes of searching for it, the gang approached a large body of water. The lake had slabs of rock sticking up from the water forming a path that could get them across it, but they were a distance away from them.

"I'll go first," Tecna volunteered. She carefully jumped onto a slab farthest from the group without faltering in her landing.

"Impressive," Timmy complimented, following behind Tecna. Although the magenta-haired girl was equally impressed he jumped with a large backpack on his back.

She smiled with her hands on her hips. The rest followed behind her, with Stella and Musa hopping last, but the moment Musa's feet hit the last slab, the ground below them started shaking.

"I don't want to alarm anyone, but my Clumpaturf is shaking," Musa said, swaying as her clump started moving.

"My, whatever Musa just said, is too," Stella agreed. "I've never been to this part of the swamp before."

"This is getting weirder," Bloom said, grabbing onto Flora who was close to her.

"I do believe that the key to the whole enterprise is to keep movin'. I doubt these clumps can handle the steady weight," Tecna estimated. "So, we should probably start hoppin'!"

The Winx and specialists began frantically jumping from one clump of turf to the other before running out of clumps leaving a massive gap in front of them, and the clumps started shaking again.

"I'm guessing we'll have to jump this one," Brandon said. "At least it can't get any worse."

"Why did you say that?" Riven and Bloom said simultaneously with the same tone of annoyance.

As if on cue, the waters began swirling and whirling, creating a whirlpool. Everyone glared at Brandon, who averted eye contact with them.

"I should probably go first," Brandon said, crouching down and taking a massive leap across the whirlpool. He landed, nearly tripping over his feet, but turned around and gave everyone a thumb up. "Who's next?"

Stella readied herself to jump, but unfortunately or fortunately, she fell backward, narrowly landing in the murky water until Sky caught her in his arms and carried her like a damsel in distress. Bloom breathed a sigh of relief that this wasn't her for the third time.

"Why hello, Sky," Stella said with a coy smile. "Are you strong enough to take the leap of faith while carrying a delicate frame?"

"You know it," Sky said with a knowing grin. Without hesitation, he jumped across the whirlpool with the Princess held tightly in his arms and they both landed on the ground. "You know, you're pretty light, Stellar Stella."

"Duh," Stella said with a hand wave. "And you're stronger than I remember, gotta test that out later."

"For dragon's sake, can someone go next, before I hurl," Riven demanded, clutching his stomach.

Musa clapped her hands, eager to jump next. "Leap of faaaaaaaaaith!" she exclaimed, leaping like a ballerina across the water and face planting into the dirt. "I'm okay."

One by one, each member jumped across the strong currents of the whirlpool that seemed to be getting more hectic as it swallowed more and more clumps of turf. The only people left on the quickly disappearing clumps were Bloom and Riven.

"You first, stockings," Riven offered.

Bloom nodded, then leaped across the currents, nearly toppling to the ground, but quickly catching her footing. Riven confidently attempted to jump last, but as he reached the ground, he lost his footing and fell into the water, being sucked into the whirlpool.

He held out his hand, shouting. "HELP!"

Tecna grabbed Riven's hand, struggling to remove him from the strong tides, but her body was pulled in next, causing Timmy to quickly remove his pack and grasp her by the ankles.

"Don't let go!" Tecna demanded, keeping a tight grip on Riven's hands as he clasped them onto Tecna's arm with both his hands.

"With your combined weight… it's difficult to keep a tight grip," Timmy replied, struggling to pull the two out.

"Boy, now is not the time to be callin' me fat, pull!" Tecna snapped, her grip on Riven loosening.

"I could use some help here!" Timmy shouted.

The rest of the Winx and Specialists ran over. Musa wrapped her arms around Timmy's waist, and she struggled to pull the group out of the waters. The rest followed suit.

"Don't let me drown, please!" Riven cried through water-filled screams. The boy looked terrified and on the verge of tears.

"I can't hold on much longer!" Timmy replied. In a flash, Riven's head vanished between the waters, along with the top half of Tecna's body. They made gurgles through the water. They couldn't breathe for much longer, especially Riven.

"Oh, dragon, everybody pull harder!" Stella ordered.

With everyone using their combined strengths, Tecna re-emerged from the waters, followed by Riven. The whirlpool became unstable with the release of the two bodies and spat the two occupants out. Everyone was knocked back by the currents and fell to the ground. Riven lay on the dirt, shaken and breathing heavily.

"Oh dear," Musa said, running over to him. "He needs mouth to mouth! I'll do it!"

Musa bent down and opened her mouth, preparing to give the boy CPR until he put his hand over her face and pushed her away. "I'm good."

Musa pouted.

"Holy pumpkin patch, that was insane!" Tecna said, catching her breath. "I think mah life flashed befo'e mah eyes… I lived a pleasant life." She then looked over at Timmy who was wiping his glasses on his suit, he noticed her staring and his eyes shifted skittishly. Tecna bobbed her head instead of getting angry before thanking him, "I owe ya one."

"No need," Timmy said. "That was most unpleasant." He then turned to Riven. "Bet you're glad you have the girls now, huh Riven?"

"I could've made it out myself," Riven said, regaining his composure.

"Oh totally," Bloom said with a smirk before imitating his voice. "Please, don't let me drown, please!"

The others laughed to try and ease the tension, but Riven didn't agree as his cheeks turned a crimson shade.

"Shut it, stockings," Riven said, standing up angrily. "Can we find this stupid troll already and never talk again?"

"Aww, I was… just starting to tolerate you," Musa jested, gaining chuckles from the Winx. Bloom even gave her thumbs up.

Riven turned to glare at her, but it only turned into a mischievous smile as he stared at the innocent-looking girl, who was secretly enjoying messing with him. He appeared to be enamored by the girl, much to his chagrin.

...

"I wanna go home!" Stella whined as they reached another similar-looking clearing, the fourth one in the last hour. "I wish I could be back in the flat, soaking in a bubble bath with a cup of peach pomegranate tea right now."

"A bath does sound nice," Bloom agreed, she walked closer to Stella and rested her head on the Princess's shoulder. The blonde didn't push her away as they walked in sync. "I wish we could find this stupid clearing or this stupid troll! How does Palladium expect us to find this clearing if he never told us what to look for?"

"Remember, we have to-" Flora said before being shut down.

"Follow the voice of nature!" the girls said before groaning.

"I'm so sick of that sayin'!" Tecna moaned, rubbing her sore shoulder.

"You girls sure sound excited about that," Riven mocked.

"Riven's right, we can't be so down in the dumps about this; we'll find this clearing and the troll! We're the Winx Club after all," Musa chipperly said. "The Winx can get out of any jam!"

"First of all, that's not what I meant," Riven corrected. "Secondly, Winx Club? You came up with a team name?"

"Yes, and it's awesome," Musa replied, hands on her hips. "And no matter what danger that falls into our hands, we can defeat it!"

The rest of the Winx let out exhausted cheers. After Musa said that though she was unnerved by a terrifying feminine scream and then a petrifying roar.

"Welp, we found the troll," Stella whimpered.

The Winx and Specialists rushed towards the sounds, running into a fifth small clearing. Three fairies, one being Amaryl, stood with their backs against a rock, cowering at a huge being in front of them. It was the troll; he looked just as hideous in the sunlight as he did at night. The creature raised its massive hand, thick claws ready to slash at the girls when he recoiled in pain as a blast of light hit him from behind.

It wasn't Stella, but Timmy who reacted quickly by shooting a sizzling plasma beam at the beast in the back of his head. It wasn't enough to kill him, but caused him mass amounts of pain. The troll slowly turned towards the group, its yellow beady eyes on a new threat, mostly Timmy again. The auburn-haired boy frantically shot him a second time on the top of his arm causing a green goopy liquid to spurt out and hit the girls behind him in the face.

The girls squirmed in disgust as the troll fell to his knees placing a clawed hand atop his wound while fighting the urge to cry.

"We should probably start running now," Timmy warned, fearfully lowering his gun. "Trolls heal fast."

"They what!" Bloom shouted before being led away by Stella as they ran over to a distant bush that the troll couldn't see them at because he was too busy wailing in pain.

"Hey, tough guy, what happened to your spinning blade?" Bloom asked Riven. "In fact, where are any of your weapons? All you have is a laser gun?"

"It's a plasma gun," Timmy corrected.

"Do you really think that's what I was asking?" Bloom chastised. "The specific gun you were using?!"

"Okay, so funny story about the weapons… we left them on the ship," Brandon said sheepishly.

The Winx girls' eyes widened before shouting, "Why?!"

"We don't have to explain ourselves," Riven defended, but the glares the girls were giving them were like a laser being pointed at their eyes. "Anyways, it's just a stupid troll."

"Who's searching for us," Flora pointed out, keeping her head down. "I doubt he practices a vegan diet."

"I was able to beat that thing a few nights ago," Riven said confidently. "I don't need my saber for this. I can take him!"

Riven prepared to jump up, ready to fight, but Sky placed his hand on the boy's head and pushed him back down.

"Ego aside, Riven is right," he said. "I have a plan, but it involves distracting him first."

The boys' focused their attention on the Winx, who each shared the same look of fear and surprise. They weren't expecting to be used as bait for a ferocious troll with a vendetta against two of them.

"Uh, okay, I regrettably ask, what is part two of this brilliant plan?" Stella warily questioned.

"Brandon and Timmy will grab hold of him, then Riven will knock him out! Easy enough, right?" Sky replied with his master plan.

Everyone stayed quiet for a few seconds as the troll kept roaring for them and the terrified girls behind him seemed to be frozen in shock and disgust from the goop covering their bodies. Bloom brought up her pointer finger preparing to object, but she was unsure of what to come from in this situation. Was it the lack of weapons, lack of cuffs, or lack of common sense? Either way, it seemed the boy was suffering from a severe concussion.

She lowered her hand and let out a defeated sigh.

"I don't know how this plan could fail," she sarcastically said. "Come on girls, let's be used as bait against the creature that can use us as toothpicks and heal quickly."

"Yay," the rest of the Winx cynically cheered. They slowly rose from the bush and separated into different spots in the clearing.

"All right, let's do this!" Sky said energetically.

Stella flailed her arms to get the troll's attention while her knees shivered. "Hey, big and ugly, over here!"

The troll turned and growled at Stella, remembering her from their last fight. He spotted her glimmering ring, remembering why he was freed from his cage. His eyes narrowed and he breathed like a bull preparing to gore the fighter. He dug his claws into the ground, getting ready to charge at her.

"Oh, bloody omega," Stella said, regretting her decision.

"Nah, over here, bet you can't catch me first!" Bloom called from his other side, pausing the troll before he could tackle the Princess to the ground.

He recognized both girls from the night he lost his arm, now he was angrier than ever as his yellow eyes turned a bright red. He had to get the ring, but he was mad at Bloom as well, even though she didn't do much to hurt him, she still aided in his defeat to a certain extent. He dug his claws in the dirt again ready to pounce on Bloom.

"This better fucking work," Bloom said through gritted teeth.

"Come get me instead!" Tecna called defiantly from the east. If she was fearful, she was hiding it well.

"No, come at us, we're ripe for the taking!" Flora said with Musa by her side. She stood at the west side of the troll and held up her and the other girl's hands. The blue-haired girl waved eagerly because much like Tecna, if she was scared, she hid it well. Each girl yelled and called from their respective spots aggravating the troll as every second passed.

The troll became confused, unsure of who to charge first, but at that moment, Timmy, missing the pack, and Brandon sprang into action and yanked the troll by his legs, tripping him backward. Riven and Sky stopped the troll before he could break free and restrained him by his arms, but the creature began thrashing around as Riven attempted to knock him unconscious.

"Knock him out already!" Sky ordered.

"I'm trying to get a clear shot!" Riven replied, clenching his fist in an attempt to whack the troll on the head.

Stella casually walked over to Bloom with her hands on her hips. "Didn't they have a plasma gun?"

"I'm just reasoning that they have a collective concussion," Bloom answered, shaking her head.

The troll growled before wrenching his arm free from the magenta-haired boy and grabbing the boy by his arm before saying, "This, for my arm!"

Before Riven could protest the troll threw him a few feet away from where he stood causing him to face plant into the dirt.

"That was tougher than I thought it'd be," Riven said groggily.

"You guys are doing a great job so far," Bloom sarcastically complimented.

With one man down the troll took advantage of this power and swung Sky and Brandon off his arm and leg respectively before grabbing Timmy by the leg and slamming him into the dirt five times. The onlookers watched in horror and pain at the poor boy's abuse. Timmy couldn't even scream as the wind was being knocked out of him with each body slam into the ground. Even though the troll was angry at Riven, he seemed to share the same animosity towards Timmy as well due to shooting him with a plasma gun.

After colliding with the ground five times, the beast tossed Timmy in the air where everyone watched in horror as he plummeted to the ground. Everyone thought the worst until he let out a weak groan.

The troll returned his attention to the Princess, but she had already prepared herself by turning her ring into her staff. When he tried to get close to her, the staff began to glow causing him to recoil as the memory of their last fight returned. Stella's eyes narrowed with a smirk. The troll let out another roar before escaping deeper into the forest.

Impressive. She didn't even seem scared, none of them did. I wonder if I looked scared. Bloom pondered in her head while giving the Princess an approving nod.

"I'm impressed you were able to handle their body slams," Tecna said, walking over to Timmy, looking over him with look of some concern, but mostly indifference.

"Mommy, when can we go on the ride again?" Timmy asked in a daze.

"Damn, that couldn't have gone any worse," Tecna critiqued walking over to Timmy and helping him up. "At least I'm good."

"I'm pretty sure I have dirt in my lungs now," Timmy said dazedly. "Magenta-haired girl, when did you get a twin?"

"Dontcha worry about that, cowboy," Tecna reassured, keeping a tight grip on the boy's shoulder. "Just keep thinkin' 'bout that ride."

"I'm pretty sure I'm covered in trolls' blood," A brunette girl whined, still frozen in her spot. "It smells like wet garbage."

Amaryl stormed over to Sky with a fuming look in her eyes. She wiped some green slop off her face before snidely saying, "Wow, great job there, Specialists, my heroes. Losers!"

"Is that your catchphrase or something?" Bloom asked, annoyed. She pointed to the other end of the forest. "Leave!"

"Gladly," Amaryl said, laughing and leaving with her group.

"Really, that's the thanks we get?" Brandon questioned, offended. "After we saved your asses?"

Bloom bit her bottom lip, restraining herself to say what she was thinking so as to not bring their moods down any further.

"Don't feel so down guys, we still have a chance to find the troll," Musa reminded. "In fact, the voice of nature is telling me… He went that way! Follow me!"

"I feel like I'm going to regret this," Riven said, staggering to his feet. "But whatever."

The Specialists and Winx followed behind an eager Musa who skipped down the forest path after the troll.

...

Deeper in the swamp, the troll walked into a heavily vegetated part of the swamp. Sniffing the air, he followed a sweet aroma until coming across three familiar witches.

"He's finally here," Stormy said, shifting through a bag of leaves and flowers. "About time!"

"Yeah and look, he has the ring… oh wait sorry my glasses were smudged," Darcy said adjusting her frames. "It's a whole lot of nothing!"

"Shut up!" Icy snapped. "And Stormy, would you stop eating the plants!"

"What?" Stormy paused, munching on some green unspecified leaves. Even though she had no idea what they were, where they came from, or even if they were safe, that didn't stop her from snacking on them. "I'm hungry. We literally skipped breakfast and lunch today!"

Icy pinched the bridge of her nose as the troll looked at the witches confused. "Uh-"

The ice witch brought up her index finger to silence the troll, then she began pacing, grumbling possible plans of what to do next and she needed one quickly as she heard voices coming down the path the troll walked through. Darcy and Stormy stared at each with the same annoyed expression.

"Okay, everything is under control. No ring, but hey, this is fine," the white-haired girl said, her voice shaking with rage. "Let's do Plan B, quickly!"

"On it," Darcy said, rubbing her hands in preparation. "Should I start?"

"Hey, my plan, I get to start!" Icy snapped.

Darcy rolled her eyes.

Icy ignored her and faced the troll. "Dear troll, now that you're here, empty-handed, we have something special to give you. A return to Oblivion!"

"I would have said it better," Darcy mumbled. Icy stuck her tongue out to her sister while raising her middle finger quickly.

The troll cocked his head confused, but before he could do anything else, the witches circled him and began chanting, "Send this creature back to Oblivion, nothing but pain he will experience."

A circle appeared at the bottom of the troll's feet and with the last word said, the troll let out a pained scream before vanishing in a puff of smoke and fire just as the Winx and Specialists arrived. Bloom locked eyes with Icy and glared at her intensely.

"Ah-ha, I knew it! You released the troll to attack us!" she accused. "Arrest them!"

"We have no power to do that… plus we're students," Sky reminded Bloom.

"For Christ's sake, they're evil!" Bloom shouted.

"What?" the witches collectively denied in high-pitched tones.

"Where would you get such a far-fetched idea… ginger fairy?" Icy questioned. "My dear sisters and I were just out collecting vegetation for our potions class when out of nowhere-"

"The boorish troll attacked us!" Stormy interrupted.

Icy sucked in her bottom lip before saying, "Wasn't aware we were finishing each other's sentences."

"Anyway, if it wasn't for us, he could've done some real damage," Darcy chimed in. "So, you're welcome."

"Thank… thank you?" Musa said, unsure of who to trust anymore.

"Likely story, we know it was you, who else could make that troll levitate and unlock the cage and bypass a… psychotic lock?" Bloom countered.

"Psychic lock," Timmy and Tecna corrected.

"Right!" Bloom said. "Don't act dumb."

"Yeah, you've been trying to take my ring for half a week," Stella mentioned. "You even had an ogre nearly kill us and you froze Bloom to a bloody wall!"

"They what?!" Brandon exclaimed shocked once he realized those were the witches Bloom was attacked by in Magix.

"Oh, that ogre? Harmless jokes, we were tasked with getting that ring by the school, but we had no idea he almost killed you," Icy excused. "And again, we're witches, we love to do some ribbing with you. I thought you fairies could take a joke."

"Told you they were sensitive," Stormy said, munching on more plants. "Have you tried the Green Clove? It's really earthy."

"That's the best kind to snack on," Flora agreed, gaining a smack on the head by Tecna.

Bloom clenched her fist then looked over at Brandon and pointed at Icy. "Are you seriously not going to arrest them?"

"As stated before, we have no jurisdiction and we're students," the brunette replied with a shrug.

"You heard the guy," Icy smirked. "You can't do anything to us and as you can clearly see." The ice witch dug deep into her pocket and pulled out a small bag of plants. Stormy and Darcy held up theirs as well, the weather witch's bag only had a few leaves left but each bag did have different plants in them. "We've just been minding our own business and almost got hurt. Then we destroyed the threat before it could go after any other weak fairies. This must be a new way for fairies to thank people."

"Seriously, how would we have time to do anything nefarious?" Darcy questioned; arms crossed. "We're not masterminds."

"Some of us are dumber than a doorknob, ain't that right, Icy?" Stormy said, sliding in an insult against her sister.

Icy laughed before elbowing the puffy-haired girl in the stomach. The girl crumpled to the ground in pain. She should've just eaten her food and remained quiet. "Want to continue your accusations or are we free to leave?"

Bloom glared at the Specialists, who shrugged in response before she could ask them a third time could they arrest the witches. She let out an aggravated sigh before slowly turning back to Icy.

"I'm watching you," Bloom threatened.

"Clichéd much?" Icy mocked.

Even though Bloom still didn't recall her incident with them, that line nearly set her off. Her left eye twitched, stepping closer to the ice witch, but Icy simply pushed her away.

"You can keep a watchful eye on us all you want, ginger fairy," Icy cooed, patting Bloom on the head. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have an assignment to complete."

"And get lunch?" Stormy begged.

Icy groaned walking past Bloom, making sure to intentionally bump her shoulder against the girl's, "Yes, just stop eating your assignment!"

"Finally!" Stormy said, rushing past Bloom and knocking against her shoulder next. Darcy rolled her eyes and followed behind, also striking the fiery goth on her shoulder. Bloom rubbed her left shoulder, bruised, and pissed off. As the witches left, the Winx and Specialists were silent and frustrated.

"Great work guys," Riven sarcastically congratulated.

Flora walked over to the fire fairy and patted her on the back. "Well, at least the troll was taken care of. So, there's that at least."

"Whatever," Bloom said, crossing her arms and storming away.

...

The Winx and Specialists spent the next thirty minutes resting after failing to catch the troll. Everyone was upset but kept quiet. Well, most of them. Riven and Sky were busy arguing about whose fault it was for the troll getting away, to begin with. Bloom paced in a circle for two minutes, trying to figure out how those witches bested them, again. As she finished the tenth circle, she spotted Brandon sitting by himself on a discarded tree trunk, looking dejected. She walked over to him and sat down next to him.

"Brandon, you like, okay?" Bloom asked, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. She wasn't really used to consoling people.

"Huh, yeah… I'm fine. It's just…" Sky sighed, burying his head in his hands. "After our first successful-ish mission; I thought we'd have this one… guess not."

"Don't say it like that," Bloom said. "Dude, we all failed today." That statement only made Brandon groan in defeat. "Wrong way to put this, my point is, it doesn't matter if we lost today. As Arianna Huffing once said, 'Failure is not the opposite of success, it's part of success'."

"Nice, my father has a saying as well, how did he put it? Oh right, 'If you fail at this, you fail at life!'" Brandon said, slouching. "At least you girls can say that you've been doing great all day with saving. We couldn't even stop vines, damn vines!"

"You guys saved those ungrateful fairies," Bloom reminded them.

"For a few seconds before he got away and some witches defeated him," Brandon countered. "Those girls weren't wrong; we're not specialists, we're a bunch of rookies, you even think so."

Bloom held her head down for a second before asking, "You ever seen Star Wars?"

"No."

"Well, it's about a ragtag team of rookies and has-beens saving the day from an evil leader, and guess what happened in the end?" Bloom asked. Brandon simply shrugged, unsure of what the answer was. "They saved the day, and all it took was three movies' worth of training and one of the main characters losing an arm, and then they did it! And you can too."

Brandon frowned. "While I admire the comparison to has-beens and rookies, I doubt they were like us; all we do is argue."

Bloom giggled. "What did you say to me last night? Just because you're having troubles doesn't mean you're a failure."

"I'm pretty sure I was drunk at the time," Brandon excused, causing Bloom to unintentionally laugh. The blonde sighed again, resting his head on Bloom's shoulder before saying, "I'm a wreck."

Bloom shifted her eyes down at the boy's head on a part of her body. She felt both aggravation and more discomfort. She let out an aggravated cough.

"Let me have this," Brandon begged.

Bloom rolled her eyes and patted the boy on his chest. She looked over at her group of friends who were busy talking, but once Stella spotted her with Brandon on her shoulder she waved, looking eager about this. Bloom gave her a bemused smile and waved back. "Listen goldilocks, drunk or not, which if you were, it wasn't as bad as me, I know you can get better as a Specialist. As for the team thing, you're still getting to know them. I'm doing that with the… Winx and honestly, and do not tell them this, they aren't that bad."

"My lips are sealed," Brandon promised. "As for me, I don't think so. It's already been a bleeding year."

"Doesn't matter, you still got plenty of time to buddy up to them, minus Sky," Bloom reassured. "You have to at least try."

"All right, for you, because you're my new friend… right?" Brandon asked, hopeful.

"We'll see," Bloom reassured. "Now you have two seconds to remove your head from my shoulder because all I smell right now is cheap shampoo."

Brandon pulled back looking offended. "My hair washing regime doesn't involve cheap products."

Bloom laughed. "Sorry, not sorry." She stood up and held her hand out for the bodyguard who took it reluctantly. "Now go deal with that, before they kill each other."

Bloom pointed over to Riven and Sky arguing about whose fault it was the troll got away. Brandon facepalmed, disappointed at his teammates.

"Don't blame me, Sky! I didn't intend to be propelled five feet in the air!" Riven shouted.

"Actually, it was three feet," Timmy corrected.

"Well, at least I kept hold of him," Sky said.

"Until the troll threw you and Brandon off of him and body-slammed me into the ground so many times, I think it blurred my vision," Timmy corrected again.

"Stay out of this!" Riven and Sky shouted, pushing the boy away before exclaiming at each other, "This is all your fault!"

The boys began shouting insults at each other as everyone else looked on. Timmy pinched the bridge of his nose, realizing he was standing in the middle of two arguing buffoons. He huffed, slowly raising his plasma gun in the air, and shooting five non-lethal shots into the sky, silencing the two boys. "Would you both shut up!"

"He started it!" Riven and Brandon snapped shifting the blame on the other. "No, you started it!" they glared at each other with volatile expressions. "NO, YOU STARTED IT!"

The two started arguing again, causing Timmy to suck in his bottom lip, blinking angrily. He rose his gun in the air again and started shooting randomly while yelling, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

This silenced the boys again, who looked at him surprised. "Thank you. Now if we don't work as a freaking team for five minutes, then we'll never be able to succeed. I mean, for dragon's sake, I've seen two-year old's get along better than you two!"

"You may have a point," Sky reluctantly agreed, plugging his left ear from the loud plasma beam shots. "We shouldn't be fighting like children over whose fault it was… most of it was mine honestly."

"Nah, I should've brought the cuffs with us," Riven admitted. "Would've saved us some trouble and pain."

"I'm pretty sure he ruined vision in my left eye," Timmy added, placing his arms around the boy's shoulders. "Let's just agree everyone is at fault, except me."

"You were the most to blame," Riven said, chuckling. "Mr. I think the enclosure isn't secure, but won't do anything about it."

"I did warn you, but semantics," Timmy said, laughing.

"So, I'm not off the group?" Riven asked.

"Nah, I was just angry because you insulted my lady, but everything is cool," Brandon said, shaking the magenta-haired boy's hand. "Just don't do it again."

"Deal," Riven agreed. "Stella kind of scares me, anyway."

The boys laughed, making sure Stella couldn't hear them. Bloom and Brandon walked over to their respective groups as Sky, and Riven shook hands in agreement.

"Riven and I have called a truce," Sky said, walking closer to Brandon.

"I would've preferred everlasting peace, but I guess a truce is a good start," Brandon said, scratching his head.

"That's mighty nice an' all, but we should probably finish this mission of ours," Tecna said motioning to the Winx. "We only got…" she checked her watch. "Thirty damn minutes left?"

"And we still have no way of knowing where to go," Stella said, dejectedly.

"I know, I know," Musa replied eagerly, waving her hand in the air like an eager grade-schooler who wanted to be given cookies. "Flora, should I do this one, or do you want to?"

"Go ahead, small sprout," Flora replied with a small smile.

"Thanks," Musa said, bouncing on her toes. "We follow the VOICE OF NATURE! Now we have to be quiet and listen."

Musa and Flora both cupped their hands over their ears while the rest just walked around listening for any sounds to find their way out of the forest while the boys stood by, unsure of what role they were playing in this situation.

"Should we be listening too?" Sky asked.

"No, it's their assignment. We need to get back to the ship," Riven reminded. "How do we do that?"

"There's a tracking device on it, so we just follow that, with this," Timmy casually whipped out his phone and pressed a few buttons on it, activating a tracker. "This way."

Timmy began to leave, but Tecna grabbed him by his arm, causing him to tremble until she said, "See ya later, cowboy," she may have looked stoic when saying it, but enjoyed messing with him. She winked before adding. "But never ever touch my hindquarters again."

Timmy gulped. "Right, well gotta go now." With that, the boy ran off like a cheetah.

"He's such a weirdo," Sky said, chuckling, following behind Timmy. "Bye guys."

"Bye, cute boy!" Musa said to Riven. "Hope to see you again!"

"The feelings are…mutual," Riven said with a wink, now causing Musa to blush.

"Bye, Bloom," Brandon said, ignoring all the other girls. He walked over to her whispering, "oh, and don't worry, my first time getting drunk was way worse than yours. At least you didn't almost streak around town."

"You shouldn't have told me that," Bloom said with a sly smirk. "Now I have ammo to use against you."

"We'll see," Brandon replied.

Bloom playfully bumped her arm against his before saying, "Now, get out of here; you guys have a destroyed ship to return to."

Brandon laughed before running after his group, who were long down the path to find their destroyed ship. Bloom went back to finding the voice of nature but was met by a coyly smirking Princess.

"Shut up," Bloom said, scowling to hide her grin.

...

An hour had passed, and the moon slowly became visible in the sky as the Winx stumbled into the meadow, they seemed to have a knack for arriving in places at night. Amaryl and her group followed behind them. They found all the other students there laying or sitting on the ground exhausted. Palladium stood there as well, munching on an apple, and checking his watch.

"Awesome, you arrived," he said calmly upon seeing the last of the groups. "I'm so proud of you all, especially after I gave you no map, no direction, or even an idea of what the clearing looked like."

"Yeah, there were about five more we went to before finding this one," Bloom said, catching her breath. "Thanks for that!"

"Not to mention we had to fight a bleeding troll!" Stella snapped.

"Few people rarely ever actually reach the clearing on time," Palladium replied. "I was impressed with your fight against the troll and even though you were the last to arrive, at least you didn't use magic like some groups did."

"How would you have known-" Tecna questioned before Stella stepped in.

"He was tracking us this entire trip." She put her hands on her hips. "That's how my team failed the first time. That and Amaryl got lost."

"Well, whose fault was that?!" Amaryl retorted.

"Yours darling," Stella nonchalantly said while rubbing the temples of her forehead.

Palladium laughed, taking another bite from his apple. "Like I said last year, Miss. Davenwood, there are no grades. This was just a bit of a test run. Pass or fail basically. I would never grade on something as fun as the Alfea Field Trip."

Tecna glared at the teacher before shouting, "Then what the everlovin' crap stick was the point of any of this! I outta flay your hyde!"

"Good one," Bloom admitted. "Gotta use that."

"The point, Miss McCormick, was to teach you courage, initiative, and generosity as well as excellent decision-making capabilities. Which a majority of you did, the ones that didn't, shall sadly be spending the week cleaning the dorms for using magic on the assignment."

"Of course they are," Bloom whispered to Stella, who furrowed her brows.

"Oh, I think I get it," Flora said, stepping forward. "The destination wasn't like the point; the journey was. It was about relying on ourselves and not magic, especially if there's a situation where magic won't help us."

"Exactly, Miss Rosa," said Palladium with a wide smile. "You put it into better words than I could've."

Flora chipperly pumped her fist in the air.

"Yes, yes, that's nice and all, but can we please go back to the school!" Stella demanded. "My feet are sore, this ugly mess you call an outfit somehow looks worse being covered in dirt, I lost the scarf father gifted me, I've been bitten way too many times for comfort, and I'm sweaty and dirty in places I never thought would be a concern! I WANT TO LEAVE NOW!"

"Yeah." Bloom sighed. "I swear I smell like mildew right now."

"And this backpack weighs a freakin' ton!" Tecna complained, dropping the pack to her feet, and readjusting her back. "You ever carried a pack where only point one percent of the crap in there was useful? I have, and it dadgum strained my spine!"

"All in all, I'm feeling pretty good," Musa chipperly said, twirling on her toes. Flora nodded in agreement, wiping some dust off her hat.

"You better gate us back home, Palladium or my parents will sue this time!" Amaryl threatened, only making the elf teacher laugh. Every other girl wanted to argue, but they were far too exhausted to say anything coherent, just a few grumbles.

"All right, all right, I hear your concerns and agree, let's go home," Palladium said, burying the apple in the ground. "And I took care of my good deed for the day."

"What?" Bloom questioned, staring at the small pile of dirt. "He just buried an apple."

"It's simple, plant an apple and you gain a tree. He's just giving back to nature once she gave him a replenishing meal," Flora said, looping her arm around Bloom's. "Now, let's get home so that you can enjoy a much-needed shower."

After a short wait, the teacher pulled a crystal from his pocket, whispered a few enchantments, and the fairies found themselves back at Alfea; night had fallen there as well. Musa and Flora walked back to their dorms with a spring in their step while chatting happily with each other, unlike the other girls who walked groggily behind them.

...

At another location, on a cliff, some distance away from Alfea and the swamp appeared the magnificent Red Fountain Military Academy. It was an impressive castle structure built with yellow stone. Thick walls protected the sturdy-looking building. The brightest and strongest students attended Red Fountain and the place was highly esteemed and praised. Sadly, for four specialists, the only glory they were receiving was being scrutinized for their incompetence.

The imposing figure, Nyx Cordatora, stood before them in the Headmaster's office, and he shouted one last time, "How could you idiots lose a troll, twice?!"

"We-" Sky started.

"Shut up!" Cordatora shouted.

Sky gulped.

Cordatora rubbed his forehead. "I don't want to hear it; we'll discuss this when Saladin comes back, but for now, all of you, stable duty!"

"What the fuck!" Riven exclaimed. "That's not fair!"

Cordatora gave the boy a fiery glare that could've set the group ablaze if he could do that. Riven looked away, scowling. "You lost… a troll!"

"Twice," Timmy corrected, gaining glares from his teammates.

"Thank you for reminding me, Mr. Arithmos," the headmaster said, annoyed. "Now, get out of my office before I give you a worse punishment."

"What about the situation with the ship?" Brandon apprehensively questioned.

Cordatora didn't even need to say anything, he just stared at the boy, but it wasn't a normal stare. It was like he was showing the boy's fate if he kept talking. Brandon quickly left the room along with the rest of the team. The deputy headmaster kept mumbling to himself about how four guys managed to lose one troll and have their cage sabotaged. The boys stood out in the hallway, feeling like utter trash.

"If he let us explain, we wouldn't be getting stable duty," Riven mumbled. "This mission was a complete failure."

"Yeah, we lost a troll, had our ship hacked, and I'm pretty sure my shoulder has a crick in it," Timmy recounted, rubbing his sore shoulder. "Could be worse, though."

"That's true," Sky agreed. "At least we're not bathing a griffin again."

The boys shivered nervously at that vomit-inducing memory then started laughing.

"Hey, if I had to clean up the stables, it'd be with you losers," Riven said, punching Timmy in the arm playfully.

"What makes it better is Prince Sky is joining us," Timmy said, rubbing his arm. He wasn't really able to withstand the boy's punch. "Gotta get your hands dirty again, huh?"

"No, biggie," Sky shrugged. "I've dealt with worse. I at least have a group to do it with this time."

Brandon smiled.

"Oh, and can you guys do me a favor and stop calling me 'prince'? It makes me feel old," Sky requested, making his team laugh.

...

Later that day, after spending fifteen minutes in the shower, Bloom walked across the common room towards Stella's door. As she prepared to knock, she noticed that the door wasn't entirely closed, and from within she could hear Stella's voice.

"Well that blooming sucks," Stella said to somebody. "Doesn't matter though, you'll always be my hero."

"Hey, Princess, can I come in?" Bloom called, faintly knocking on the door.

"I don't know, can you?" Stella teased.

"I'm not doing this right now," Bloom dryly replied.

The Princess giggled before saying, "Of course, darling you can come in. Gotta go Sky, talk to you later."

Bloom pushed the door open and found her flatmate laying on her stomach and kicking her feet in the air gleefully. She looked relaxed, to say the least.

"You look happy," Bloom said, towel drying her hair.

"I feel it too," Stella replied. "I can see by your expression you're feeling good as well."

"Yeah, taking a shower after wading through muck does that to ya," Bloom blissfully replied. "Thanks for letting me use your shampoo and body wash."

"It's the least I can do, the rubbish care products you had were not going to cleanse your body, that stank would've been on you for a week. Honestly, though, there is no need to thank me, us being besties is thanks enough."

Bloom chuckled, holding her head down in defeat. She was slowly accepting her fate as the Princesses' new 'bestie'.

"Is there anything else you'd like to talk about? I'm all ears." Stella sat up in bed and patted an empty spot for her bestie to sit at.

Bloom remained in the doorway; she still didn't feel comfortable being around anybody in this new realm. "Just coming to tell you good night and… like sorry for snapping at you or whatever. Also, while today wasn't fun… to be honest, most of it was absolute hell and I hate swamps now, but I'm glad we could hang out today."

Stella's expression went from calm and somewhat tired, to a joyful grin and she almost appeared to be lighting up like a lamp. She rushed over to Bloom and gave her a tight hug. "OMD, thank you. I needed that right now! I enjoyed being with you today too, and thank you so much for defending me from Amaryl."

"When did I give you an invitation to constantly touch me?" Bloom complained, struggling to breathe.

"When you saved me in the woods from that ogre," Stella replied, keeping her tight grip.

"Right," Bloom said, patting the girl on her arm before slithering out of the Princess's restricting hold that felt like a boa constrictor was ensnaring itself around her. "Also, if anyone's going to make snide comments about you, it's gonna be me. Ain't that right, Princess?"

"Of course, firecracker," Stella said with a coy smile. "Oh, Bloom, while I have you, I wanted to talk about… Brandon."

"What is it?"

"Well, many of the royal families keep in touch with each other, and Sky, Brandon, and I were often on playdates at our respective castles. I've known them all my life, and well," Stella bit her bottom lip. She hesitated, almost seeming to be stuck on what she wanted to say next. "What I'm trying to say is I don't want Brandon to get hurt. He's a bit sensitive and goofy, and I really respect how nice you've been to him so far..." She looked down at her feet, taking slow deep breaths. This confused Bloom, who was wondering why she was being so suspicious. "You have to understand he's been through a lot. Like a lot, and I think you two would make great friends, so please try to be just as nice to him as you have been, for me?"

"Friends?" Bloom raised her left eyebrow in disbelief. "Whatever you say, Miss. Matchmaker."

Stella giggled. "I am not! Even though you two would be adorable together."

Bloom blushed, avoiding eye contact with the Princess, but the Princess knew her new bestie was hiding something. Mostly the fact that she did think Brandon was cute, but he wasn't her type. At least she was sure he maybe wasn't her type. The Princess nudged Bloom with her elbow while raising her eyebrows in a goofy manner and giggling.

"Ignoring that," Bloom said after a second of silence. "I'm not really the type to make promises," she admitted. "But I can at least be nicer to Goldilocks. Don't expect us to fall head over heels for each other, though."

"Head over heels?" Stella raised her eyebrow. "Interesting nomenclature."

"I'll be nicer to him. Okay?"

"Thank you," Stella hugged Bloom a second time, the uncomfortable feeling returned, but soon melted away a little as she was slowly getting used to the Princess's compassion. "You're such a good bestie."

"Let's just say companion for now," Bloom corrected with a half-hearted smile.

"Not happening, bestie from another nestie," Stella eagerly teased, poking Bloom in the hip.

Bloom chuckled before walking out of the room. "Night, Stella."

"Oh Bloom, one last thing," Stella said, grabbing her bestie by her arm. Bloom lowered her eyes down at the Princess's hand around her wrist. The Princess quickly pulled back. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Bloom said, forgiving the girl. "What's up now?"

"I just... It's just…. Well, you see…" Stella twirled a few strands of her hair. "You're the only friend I have so far, minus the other girls here, but I trust you the most and I will tell you as much as I can about myself, about my life, everything… but there are certain things I can't tell you… as of now and I hope you can understand. Okay?"

Bloom placed her towel on her shoulders and rubbed her forehead, letting out a hoarse laugh. Stella tensed slightly, waiting for the girl's response, but was simply met with a light punch to her arm.

"You are so overdramatic. I swear. We're just starting to be friends, dude," she replied. "Keep whatever secrets you wanna keep. That's your choice. I have a few of my own."

"Really?" Stella enthusiastically exclaimed.

"Duh, everyone has secrets, and if you don't want to tell them to me now, that's fine. Hell, you don't ever have to tell me, it's your business," Bloom reassured. "But… I'm glad you like me so far and I like you too."

Stella clapped eagerly. "Just when the right time comes I will tell you one of my more important secrets."

"Got it," Bloom nodded. "Now can I leave or are we continuing this heart to heart?"

Stella laughed. "You are free to leave. Thanks for talking, darling and have a wonderful night's sleep… dude?" She said, getting a little unsure on the last word before she attempted to playfully punch the girl. She forgot about her ring and accidentally hit the girl with the large ornament. Bloom rubbed it sorely, grimacing for a few seconds before the two locked eyes and began to laugh.

Bloom waved bye to the Princess and casually walked out. "Night, Stella."

Stella closed the door, coming off happy for the night. Bloom hummed to herself, feeling good about her conversation with the Princess, but she had a looming thought about the last thing she said about secrets. Obviously, everybody had their secrets, but what did Stella have that she still wasn't ready to tell her about, but wanted to tell her about… not telling her yet, but would eventually tell her those secrets. It almost gave her a headache thinking about it.

She glanced at the door, wanting to pry a little more, but changed her mind, returning to her room instead. Whatever the Princess wanted to tell her, she'd do it of her own volition. She wasn't going to force her especially since she was starting to like the girl, although she wasn't ready to admit it. She smiled jumping into her bed for a much-needed rest after her very long day. Probably one of many.

...

A/N:

End

I liked this chapter a lot and had tons of fun writing it especially since this was the longest and honestly hardest chapter to work on. When I originally wrote it, it didn't flow well, felt boring and slow, and sometimes didn't make much sense. Thanks to my friends and lots of breaks I finally got it right!

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Tune in next week for Chapter 6. Love you guys, good luck in all you do, and take care.