Chapter 36: The Army of Darkness
Headmistress Griffin was in her office with Mal and Lea after the failed attempt to capture the Trix after exposing them to her. Griffin was not very happy when she found out Tezzeret was using the very school as a hideout for their meetings and determined to find anything out of the ordinary that was used within Trix's dorm room. But feeling somewhat responsible for overlooking the facts right in front of her and made certain to inform the entire school of their expulsion.
"Still can't reach Taren or Bloom. Something must have happened to them." Mal said after she tried to call them.
"You think the Trix or Tezzeret may have something to do with it?" Lea pondered. "He somehow sealed the pathway between our dimensions, so a planet shouldn't be a problem."
"With the magic of the keyblade it's quite possible." Griffin shared her opinion with the young witch while sat behind her desk to focus on the situation that concerned the headmistress. "I should have seen it from the beginning, if only I wasn't held back on traditions none of this would have happened. And I must apologies for what they did to your daughter, Master Lea." She would have blamed Mirta's parents, namely Lea for turning Mirta into a pumpkin after she found out what they did.
"All I know is she's safe in Alfea and they're trying everything to restore Mirta back to her normal self." Lea said as he puts on his coat to open up a portal. "The only ones I like to blame are the three spoiled brats themselves for the mess we're in. I will call Faragonda about the situation, we must prepare for the worst. You wanna tag along, kid?"
Mal shook her head. "Thanks, but I'll catch up and try to find anything useful. If I'm right, this place would be the first to attack with their knowledge on dark spells and curses."
"Gotcha." Lea nods his head, opens up the corridor of darkness to step through, but he stops for a moment to look back. "Oh, by the way, if you find an ogre named Knut, tell him I sent you."
"Wait, what?" Before Mal could ask him about what he meant, the portal vanished. "What did he mean by that?" She knew of the henchman that served the Trix, but what did he want with the ogre for?
"Apologies for the intrusion, headmistress, but we found the Trix in the dining hall and thought to inform you."
Unexpected to see them come back so sudden and teleported in the high levels of the hall to find the trio, surprising many students who were having their meals after they heard the Trix were publicly expelled. Mal stood beside her without having her disguise now that it be pointless, not sure why they came back but something about the Trix seem off.
"I'm surprised you have the nerve to come back after I decided to have you expelled for your involvement with a fugitive." Griffin glared at the three after making her statement clear. "This is my school and I will not let you wreak havoc in here!"
Raising her hands to encase them in a green barrier. The Trix did not seem bothered by the situation which didn't escape Mal's curiosity until she watched Icy lifted a hand to the edge and their surprise how she turned the barrier into solid ice, instantly shattering it and threw the broken shards back towards them.
Mal stood before the headmistress and summoned her keyblade. "Reflect!" Brings up the protective shield to block the counterattack, but to her surprise how strong it felt and send them flying across the hall. Mal landed on her back, skidding across the floor while Griffin almost fell on the table and would have had taken further damage had Mal not step in.
The young witch shook her head and groaned, this was not like the fight with the Trix from before. "Damn, okay, that was unexpected." She looked to see Griffin a little bruised and gets up to check on her along with two other teachers running to them.
"Miss Griffin! Are you all right?" A woman with dark teal hair and eyes with a purple mark under her left eye, a hooked nose with a pair of people eye shadow. She wears a long turtleneck sweater with a light purple belt, pants, and amethyst boots. Another was rather tall with pale skin, a long thin nose, and also had eye shadows with red lips. Black hair with white streaks on the sides and down the middle to form a steep widow's peak, wearing a damson-colored outfit with sleeves that extend to her elbows.
Mal helped her up and used some magic to heal the headmistress. "She's just a bit bruised, Zarathrustra." She didn't know what happened and thought for certain they could not get out of a powerful spell to trap them in. This certainly made her feel uneasy about the situation.
The teachers nodded and approved her aide and focused their attention on the Trix. "Your behavior is unacceptable!"
Stormy responded with a mocking laugh and wanting to show them their new powers. "Ha! And what are you gonna do? Give us detention?" Stormy taunted them and takes her to turn to uses her powers on the students. Focusing on the portion of the Dragon's Flame inside her and feeling the growing surge of power flowing through her, electrical charges of energy danced and swirled around her.
Mal finished her job and saw how powerful Stormy was before, even shocked to see this sudden growth of power when she summons a powerful tornado, swooping up everyone up and hurling them around the room. Mal was startled and able to stay on the ground, but the two teachers weren't so lucky when they were tossed out of the window, much to both the keybearer and the headmistress' shock.
"How did she even do that?!" Mal exclaimed and knew for certain that Stormy could not be that powerful. But her thoughts were interrupted when she hears the sound of women screaming, falling from the air, and about to hit the ground.
"Never mind that, help the students!" Griffin told her and jumped down, used her spells to save the students by teleporting them safely on the ground.
Mal did so and followed the same idea, using Teleport to the ground and created shadows large enough to engulf the students inside and appear around her. Many were surprised to see who Mal was with a keyblade. She glared at the Trix over the stunt they pulled. "Alright, something about you seems different but doesn't change the fact that you are about to get your ass kicked!"
Icy narrowed her glare to the purple-haired witch. "And you think you can take us on with our new powers?"
Mal noticed Griffin appeared by her and took the chance to keep her distracted for her to attack. "Bind." Held up the Shadow of Redemption high and held the three of them in their place, allowing Griffin to use one of her powerful spells to attack. However, she noticed that they didn't seem bothered at all, and to her shock, Darcy appeared out of nowhere and caught the green orb that was for them.
"Surprised? Let's just say we've had a little fiery attitude boost." Icy's eyes began to glow, but instead of the usual white, these were orange. Mal's fear began to realize what this was and may be out of her league. "This is for the humiliations you caused us, Lilith. Time to make you into an ice sculpture!" Before Icy could finish her off, she had her back turned and was blasted by Griffin.
"Your fight is with me, not with my students!" Griffin proclaimed.
Mal watched as Icy now turned to the headmistress who has blasted her to the wall and freezes her up to the lower body and arms. "In case you haven't gotten it yet, Miss Griffin, we're in charge now. Witches of Cloud Tower, listen up."
"We are about to effect several changes around here." Darcy declared to make them listen."
"And if you don't like it, by all means, speak up." Stormy added.
"We're open to criticism." Darcy said, yet she knew they got the picture after the demonstration the Trix performed.
"Yeah, I got one. Either you must be the craziest bunch of morons I ever met, or you just want the attention." Mal spoke up, standing on her feet with her keyblade in her hand.
The Trix glared at her and found her more annoying to deal with. "Guess we could make you an example.
Black shadows emerge from the ground and took the form of saber-toothed cats, the Grimm snarl and turned their attentions to the keyblade wielder with their teeth ready to tear her apart like a piece of meat. "Let's see how you do with the Sabyr Tear her limb from limb" Darcy commanded the Grimm as more surrounded Mal.
"Yeah, you may have some upgrades if you can call it that by stealing. But I learned new tricks." Mal said, swirling her keyblade along with her body. "Dream Pirate!" Using the summons to bring the Dark Civilization creature. The pirate-themed creature looked at her for a moment and remembered their previous confrontation, but to her relief, it decided to work with her and attack the Grimm.
The Sabyr run towards them as the first one tried to attack the Dream Pirate, but failed when it flew over and cleaved through its head, danced in midair, and thrusts the cutlets into the chest.
Mal sweeps across to dodge the first one's attempt to strike with the paws, using Quake to throw it off and incinerated using some spells for the attack, threw her keyblade towards the next one from the side. "Wind Raid!" The Keyblade was guided by the wind to hit the surprised Grimm on multiple strikes until it collapsed to the ground and evaporates and returns to her hand to catch it like a boomerang.
She gasped and found another leaping over her and came close to sink its teeth and claws at her, but to her surprise, it was sliced in half from top to bottom and both sides split apart before it could touch her. Mal found it was done by the Dream Pirate and nodded. "Thanks, no hard feelings about before." Smiled sheepishly to bring it up and saw more moving towards a group of terrified witches, cornering them with four, forcing Mal to think fast before they could gain the advantage. Summoning the tree soldiers like before, they immediately attack the Grimm to save the students. Mal joined the battle, slashing through two and kicked one of them in the back for the Dream Pirate to finish the job.
"Magnet Spiral!"
The Sabyr felt themselves being pulled in towards her, trying to get away but the gravitaional pull on them was too strong to escape and hurled towards Mal. Within close raing, they were struck down by her attacks, along with her summoned creatures to finish the rest.
Icy growls and gritted her teeth. "You think you're tough, huh? Let's see you handle some new friends of ours?" Icy waves her hands and summoned a new force, this time there were three humanoids, black and grey cloaks with ghostly white eyes and almost like phantoms. This would have surprised her until she realized what they were wielding.
Keyblades.
Yet they looked fractured and almost corrupt, nowhere near as the actual blades like hers and almost similar to Tezzeret's the first time she saw it.
The Trix began to smirk to decided to introduce their new army. "Mal, meet the Fallen Blade army. Fallen Blades, Mal."
Mal barely had time to react when one of them launched themselves at her, swirling through mid-air, and clashed his blade with hers, forcing her back a few feet by one of them. Another appeared behind her and flung her across, the other attacked the Dream Pirate before it could come to aid its summoner and used Thunder to electrocute the creature and the tree warriors.
Mal tried to avoid the numerous attacks of the lightning close to her, along with the coming attacks aimed at her. It was pretty much certain these creatures were skilled in magic and combat. Trying to not be creeped out by their appearances as though they were actual ghosts.
Tried to use strike Raid, but to her shock, they performed the Stopra and used Flowmation to attack her from all sides, forcing Mal into the defensive stands to use Reflect and Gravity to halt their attacks, but another attack of a Windstrike form one of them continuously struck the shield until it shattered.
Without warning, she was struck in the stomach by the blunt side of the corrupted keyblade and coughed, sent flying, and landed against the wall. Grunting in pain by the sheer force of their strengths, Mal panted and tried to keep her breathing steady as she could not afford to stay long and needed to alert the others if the Trix have just arrived. Focusing on the power she had to into her fingers, the energy danced around her, and the soft winds and energy danced around.
"If you're willing to surrender, we might go soft on you. But you did put up a fight with these guys." Icy said, gesturing to the Fallen Blade warriors as she and the Trix approached her.
"So what's your answer?" Darcy asked, folding her arms in front for an answer.
Mal didn't say a word and gave a soft chuckle, confusing the Trix and some of the students who watched in silence. "Even if you have the Flame, you won't win using shortcuts." Gave a smirk and threw her hands out and summed a wall of green fire towards the startled Trix who were so focused on trying to keep themselves from being scorched, they failed to see Mal make a run for it.
What no one expected was instead of a door, she ran right towards a window, but one of the creatures tried to block her path, however, this did not stop Mal's attempt to escape and gathered the strength to propel herself through him and slashed her keyblade horizontally, surprisingly destroyed it and threw herself with her hands out front.
"She's crazy!" Stormy was in shock that she would do something like that. But what came next stunned them all when Mal sprouted wings out of her back the moment she broke through the glass and flew so fast.
"Since when did she can transform like that?" Darcy asked in bewilderment when she had never seen this power before.
"Never mind, even if she tries to warn the others we have what we came for," Icy told them. "Let her run, we'll deal with her and the others later." Turns her attention back to Griffin who remained silent and narrowed her hard glare at them. "Call the others, tell them we have Cloud Tower."
Mal flapped her wings to stay in the air after recently transformed, given she had no choice but to make an escape when at her limit, those things the Trix called forth were really strong but somewhat able to take one of them down so means they were not all-powerful, at least for now.
But as she was making her escape, numerous portals started manifest across the skies and growing large than she can imagine. Mal watched as dozens of airships emerge from them, almost metallic in silver and gold accent by design, what else caught her startlement were a vast horde of Grimm flying in the air, Nevermores and Lancers, but other creatures she never saw before looked almost like winged lions. Mal propelled herself downwards to the ground before they take notice of her presence, swooping down to the trees for cover and watched them fly over towards Cloud Tower.
"I get the feeling this has to be Tezzeret's army." Mal was focus on the events above, she suddenly felt a large hand on her shoulder and reacted by waving her right arm across to make a tree reached down and grab whoever came at her.
"AHH! W-Wait!"
It was to her surprise and confusion, was the Trix's ogre henchman named Knut hanging upside by the legs. "Give me one good reason why I should toss you back to your bosses?"
Knut flinches upon the threat she gave him and desperately waved his hands to her to plead for mercy. "No, wait! If they find out about me, they'll do terrible things to me than just glue glasses to my eyes!"
"Find out about what?" But then she remembered something from what Lea told her about the ogre. "Wait… do you know a guy named Lea who sent you?"
"Red spikey hair, green eyes and wears a black coat? Yeah, I know him!" Knut responded and nodded his head frantically. "I was actually the one who gave him the info on the Trix."
Uncertain if she heard him correctly, but could have sworn the ogre told her he was a spy. Not even sure if she believed him or not. "You? A spy? How do I know this isn't just a trick?"
"I've been giving Lea info on their activities, how else did you think the headmistress of Alfea showed up when they snuck in to the school." Knut recalled the day they had a party.
"That was you?" Mal remembered that nightand thought it seem a little odd for their timely arrival before the Trix could have succeesed in searching for the Drgaon Flame, they just assumed it was Macbeth who did that.
Absorbing this knowledge seemed to make her believe him. "That would explain a lot but never occur to me. But how did they get that power boost?"
"Probably got it after stealing the magic from your friend, Bloom on Domino." Knut answered. "Uh, could you put me down, please? Feeling the pressure to my head."
"Oh, right." Slowly lowering him down to the ground to let him stand up. "If what your saying is true then Red Fountain could be their next target." Casting a spell to teleport them away in hopes of making their way to warn the Specialists and Macbeth.
The snow fell over the group after the ship made a rough landing, fortunately, the snow somehow softened the landing and made little damage. "Everyone all right?" Kairi asked the girls if they were fine.
Bloom brushed the snow off her and didn't seem injured. "We're okay."
"Yeah, but what happened? Did they had a malfunction?" Tecna asked, wiping the goggles to see.
"Uh, I really could use a hot bath after this." Stella groaned and wrapped herself in her arms to warm up.
Flora looked about to noticed Taren and his father were missing. "Anyone see where Taren or Sora could be?"
Suddenly a gloved hand shot out of the hand, waving about before another to pull out the rest, revealing to be Sora when he got buried in a pile of snow. "I'm over here." Followed next to him was Taren and looked like a walking snowman. "Well, can't say the same for Frosty here." He Unable to resist the urge to joke, causing the rest of the girls and his wife to let out a laugh.
Taren found it less amusing when he pulled himself out and covered snow. "Ha ha, very funny. I forgot how to laugh(!)" Taren said with a hint of sarcasm and walks towards his dad. "Sooner we get on the ship, the better and stop Tez-"
"DON'T TAKE ANOTHER STEP, SNOW BEAST!"
Both looked up and the next thing they see Taren tackled to the ground and now in a dustball, exchanging fists.
"Get off me, you idiot!"
"Thought you could take on a Keyblader? Well, let's see you mess with Launchpad!"
Everyone was baffled by what was going on as a stranger tackled Taren into a fight over a misunderstanding. Kairi and Sora shared a mutual sigh before stepping in to separate the two.
"Launchpad! Easy, that's no snow monster!" Sora said when he pulled him by the arms.
The puzzled pilot heard him and now became confused. "Really? Then who?"
Kairi held her son and pulled his goggles to show his face. "Our son, Taren. Remember?"
Taren looked surprised to it was none other than Launchpad, the personal pilot and driver of Scrooge McDuck. "Launchpad?!"
"Taren?" Launchpad was confused until his expression changed to joy. "Taren! Oh, man, so you weren't one of those snow monsters. That's a relief"
Completely removed the snow off him after the brawl. "Nice to see you too(!)" Taren narrowed his eyes at him and was surprised to find him here. "But what are you doing? How are you in the Magic Dimension?"
"Hey, guys!" They see a small anthro duck dressed in a brown flight suit run towards them. "Sora! Kairi! Sorry about that, the storm was terrible and we have problems with the monsters everywhere."
"You haven't seen a giant yeti with two huge tusks around here?" Launchpad asks them.
"Relax, we took care of it." Musa told him in assurance. "The Yeti's no longer a problem."
"But we got bigger problems and need to go to Magix as soon as possible." Stella stated.
Sora nodded his head. "She's right, let's get on the ship and get going."
Taren had a bad feeling knowing about Launchpad's… odd piloting skills and easily distracted by a lot of things including his favorite TV show. "Uh, who exactly is flying the ship here?" Looking at the ship that had some bumps and somehow able to survive.
"That would be me, bro!" Launchpad answered with a smile, much to Taren's shock and horror when he was fully aware of Launchpad's skills in piloting... while crashing a lot. He was fighting the will to stand on his feet from falling over until Launchpad said. "Oh, and another pilot named Della to help."
Immediately felt relieved "Oh…thank god…Well, I mean for more help on the way back safely, right?" He mumbled, much to the confusion of the girls as to what was the problem.
The female duck was relieved, she took notice of the young red-haired boy and somewhat strangely familiar to him. "Do I know you?"
"Sure you do, Della." Sora smiled and patted his son on the head. "You remember Taren? All grown up."
Taren blinked and looked at his parents before the confused Della. "Wait… Della Duck? Donald's sister?" He remembered her as Donald's sister and was once missing for many years before the triplets were hatched.
"Taren? Wait, no way!" Suddenly Della rushed towards him and was startled to recognize him when his father said his name. She grabbed him by the collar and had a good look at him. "Oh my gosh! OHMYGOSH! It is you! Wow! The last time I saw you, you were just half the height you were! Man, you've grown a lot! But I could have sworn you had blue eyes."
"Yeah, that's another story." Taren feels that might be a common question about his eyes changed color. "But I thought you were lost forever!"
Della landed back on the ground. "I ended on the moon the whole time! And look!" Lifts her left leg was replaced with a handmade prosthetic leg. "A cyborg leg out of my ship! Pretty neat, huh? Junior Woodchuck Rule 42 states build things right the first time and they need modification."
"So that's where Huey gets it from." Taren could now see it now from looking at the mother.
"Yeah, a lot of things have happened and so much to tell you. But right now I got word from our friends the planet Magix is in trouble." Della stated and suddenly pointed her finger right at Taren. "And you got a lot of catching up to do with your parents. They've been worried sick of where you've been, Taren Strife!"
Taren groaned and knew he was not going to get off lightly.
"Let's just get on the ship and head to Magix, can't waste any more time in the situation we're in." Sora said.
They all climbed onto the ship and made a soft takeoff, a lot of the girls were exhausted from the fight and rest up for the trip. Kairi and Sora were in the cockpit with Della and Launchpad steering the ship.
"Man, can't believe your kid became a Keyblader just like you guys. And how his adventures start out reminds me of the story with yours, spikes?" Della told Sora.
Sora had to admit it sounded almost alike to his. "Yeah, when you mention it. Only I slept through a year and continued the adventures."
"Wow, talk about a world record, sleeping for a year." Launchpad gave a whistle to sound impressed.
"Uh, not that sort of sleep, Launchpad." Sora told him.
Kairi would have wanted to see how her son was doing, probably still overcome with the shock to see her son again. "I'll go see how the others are doing." About to get up but was stopped by Sora grabbing her arm.
"Come on, just let them have a moment and we'll check on them when we get to Magix." Sora said with a warm smile. "Don't worry, he's not going anywhere."
The redhead sighs and sat back down. "I know, just… it feels like it's been ages." Feels him wrap around an arm around her to hug.
Della turned around and offered to share some advice with Kairi."Hey, I know how it feels, granted it took me 10 years to get back from the moon to see my family and my boys have grown up. But, for you, he was only about a year so that's something and can still a chance to catch up on things. Granted I gotten used to calling them the names Donald gave them."
"What were they suppose to be?" Sora asked her about the triplet ducks.
"Instead of Huey, Dewey, and Louie, their names suppose to be Jet, Turbo, and Rebel." Della told them and earned the baffled looks from the parents.
"Really?" Kairi asked her but wondered why anyone would call their kid with the odd choice of names. Much as she would have suggested a cool name for her kids, but doubt it would have been something that Della came up with.
"Yeah, I wrote it down for him in case no one understands him!" Della was annoyed the first time she heard about it after returning home to see her family. "But I grew to add those as nicknames instead. But what besides that, just be there for him and give support."
Kairi nodded and smiled. "Thanks. Might as well let them rest up, can ask Taren some questions about this relationship I found about him and that Bloom girl."
"Oooh, Taren's got a girlfriend? Lucky her, can't wait to find out the good stuff." Della said and smiled.
Not aware that Sora almost gave a surprised look when he heard her mention that red-haired girl when he spotted the one named Flora being very close to Taren. Not sure what was going on but he was going to have some words with him before Kairi does.
With no news of Mal's whereabouts, the Trix concluded she must have escaped and on her way to the other schools to warn them. But for now, the witches decided to use the spare time to announce their intentions to the school with all the students gathered for the assembly. Icy, Darcy, and Stormy within in their new thrones, looking down at the captured teachers and the Headmistress in a suspended orb to decide what to do with them until Icy was the first to speak up.
"Griffin, you and your students have just earned yourselves a nice vacation in the damp snake and rat-infested dungeons of Cloud Tower." Giving her the idea of a suitable punishment and received no response, which hardly mattered to them. "What? You're not happy? How ungrateful."
Griffin growled over how they dare treat her this way. "You wretch!"
"If you think you'll get away with this, you're wrong!" Ediltrude told them.
Icy simply smiles over their petty threats. "Oh, yeah, we all saw how you can stop us. It was very impressive(!)"
"You're making a big mistake. You're crazy to trust someone like Tezzeret!" Griffin tried to give reason to them. "Whatever it is he's planning could bring total chaos to not just the Magic Dimension, but many other worlds!"
"Really?" Icy leaned forward and glared at the headmistress. "Well, Miss Griffin, I dare you to say that again."
Griffin could tell she was serious and never thought they were this crazy enough to obtain power.
"Now, we will go down into the castle crypt, where the most powerful and dangerous spells are kept, and we'll call forth the Army of Darkness." Stormy proclaimed with a sinister grin. "They'll make a fine addition to our army alongside the Grimm."
Many of the teachers and even the students who have heard of the stories of the Army of Darkness knew full well they were a terrifying force of monstrous creatures, much similar to the Grimm, and possibly compared them to the Heartless due to take on many forms. They even believed the Army of Darkness was once used by ancient witches at the time of the Ancestral Witches once used them in battles, but proven to be too powerful even for those such as Griffin to control.
"You can't! No one has even been able to control the Army of Darkness. It will cause total destruction!" Griffin warned them.
Darcy receives a call from one of the Fallen Blade soldiers using the bracelet to speak. "We found the Crypt as you said, but think there be a problem." The image appeared in some dark library. "The book you mentioned… it's not here. The doors were already unlocked and someone must have taken it."
This news did not go well for the Trix when they had plans to use them for their own personal forces. "What?! Who could have-" They suddenly had the same idea and knew a certain person behind it, Icy grinds her teeth and slammed her fist to the armchairs.
Griffin could see their expressions that their plan was foiled and knew for certain something must have happened, and has a pretty clear idea on who.
Mal and Knut appeared before the red fountain gates after escaping the invading army, so far the building remains intact but who knows how long until the enemy shows up. "Looks like we made it in time. And if what you said is true… we have to warn the others. And maybe pay a little visit with someone." She mutters under her breath when saying the last sentence.
"That's how they somehow became a step ahead of you, obviously they put a spell on him." Knut explained as they walk to the gates.
"Spell or not, doesn't change a damn difference-is there something in your pocket?" Mal stopped from her track to see something ruffling inside his pocket.
"Oh, that's just probably Pepe, probably woke up." Reached his hand inside to pick u a small purple feathered duck in his hand. "Found him in woods and took him.
"Quack! Quack!"
This surprised Mal to see a softer side of the Ogre considering the times they fought him. Even had to admit the ducking was adorable looking. "Never thought to see something like that." As they went to the gates she turns around and sees a hoverbike with Riven. "There he is. Hold it right there, Riven!"
Yelled out his name but was too late when he took the helmet on and drove past them, she tried to blast him with magic to chase after the Specialist. "Get back here, you traitor!"
"Mal? What's going on?" The witch turned to see Ben and Sky running towards her but stopped to see Knut. "What's he doing here?" Ben asked her.
"Relax, he's on our side. Explain later, but Riven, on the other hand, isn't." Mal said with her arms crossed.
"What are you talking about?" Sky asked and seemed confused about what she trying to tell them.
"The Trix made Riven their little spy, he's been spilling out secrets to them for a while." Mal stated and sees the shocked faces on the two.
Sky became angry and frustrated with how he didn't see it earlier. "I don't believe it. So he was working for them?" Sky never thought Riven would turn trait
"Not exactly, seems the Trix put an enchantment on him to work for them and could be on his way to Cloud Tower." Mal told them. "A pity."
The boys looked at her in wonder. "Why is that?" Ben asked her.
"Would have been a reason for many of us to kick his ass for betraying us." She told them. "Sky, I need to speak to the headmaster, it's urgent he needs to know what happened in Cloud Tower."
The prince nodded. "Okay, follow me. And maybe Knut as well to explain everything."
Riven rode through the forest to make his way to Cloud Tower and share what he's found, barely avoided Mal and the Ogre who he remembered back on Earth. Not sure what they were doing, but didn't stop, judging by the expression on the keyblader's face and called him 'traitor', it could only mean that she found out his secret.
It didn't matter to him any and needed to alert the Trix, but never gotten a response from them for a while and decided to sneak in to find them. What he found surprised the Specialist was a flock of numerous Grimm all surrounding the building, but not only the Grimm but airships as well.
"What's going on? Why are the Grimm out in the open and who do those ships belong to?" Riven pondered on what was going on.
"Riven! Over here!" He heard Darcy's voice and finds her riding a Manticore Grimm, steering his Wind Rider to follow her towards the headmistress' office. Something about this seems off to him.
Darcy jumps off the Manticore's back to pass through the open window smiles to see Riven, takes his helmet off, and follows her with questions he wanted to ask.
"What's going on here? Since when does Griffin let you use her office or why there are more Grimm out in the open?" The Trix responded with a laugh.
"Since we took it from her." Stormy answered.
Further confusing Riven and felt something was wrong with the atmosphere in the room. "What do you mean? I don't know what you've done, but I don't like what's going on around here."
Stormy walked over to Riven, reaching for his cheek to stroke. "Oh, Riven. You're still in the dark, aren't you? But rest assured, you were fundamental to our success."
"We couldn't have done it without your help," Darcy said and started to float around him in circles alongside her fellow Trix.
"Your spying skills made all the difference in our power struggle with the fairies and the Keybladers." Icy revealed to the shocked Riven once he learned what they had done with him.
"No! You've tricked me!" Riven yelled and glared at the witches for using him. "Damn you! And I should have seen it!"
Riven activates his Phantoblade and tried to attack Icy but she vanished before his eyes and reappeared from behind, the same for Stormy who was nothing but a puff of clouds and continued to taunt the teen until they made their moves to attack.
Stormy's body was charged up with sparks of electricity dancing around her body.
"Sphere of Oblivion!" Darcy threw an orb at him but missed and struck the floor. Coating everything in darkness and purple mist. Riven had no idea what he was seeing as he saw many Grimm monsters and the Trix laughing from above but then felt his body in pain by many strikes, bruised and thrown across the room like a ragdoll until he fell to the ground.
Tezzeret stood within the bridge of his ship and almost felt like it hardly changed, everyone he knew back in the war did not age a day, apart from those who have mutated by the long exposure of the void dimension and have received mutations. He can easily tell many were startled by his appearance and not because of how much he's aged but by his appearance.
"Sir, we have received news Cloud Tower is under new management by the… Trix as you call them." One of his soldiers came up to share the news with him.
"Ah, good, seems they did not waste any more time. Inform them of my arrival and I will join them to broadcast our intentions to the remaining two schools." Tezzeret gave out the order.
"Yes sir" However he seems to have somewhat doubts about the plans. "B-But shouldn't we be less concerned as these are just schools to target and hardly consider children to be-UGH!" The officer he was clobbered by a metal fist and sent flying across the bridge, groaning in pain and tried to get up until he was hoisted from the floor by the collar to meet his leader's face who did not approve of his statement.
"The schools of Red Fountain, Alfea, and Cloud Tower have great knowledge of magic in this dimension, knowledge that would provide us the advantage of knowing our potential targets. "I have seen these so-called children possess strong magic and three are wielders of the keyblades if you are aware of the situation."His eyes became an orange glow as he speaks, making those close enough to see and become nervous.
"The last time I underestimated a child did this! Understand!" The soldier frantically nods his head in fear with the new power Tezzeret posses, he was released from the metallic grip and spoke out to all who listened. "Resume your duty at once, we have to prepare for the coming battle." He could not afford any more time to be wasted.
Another came up to him to report. "We send a scouting party to Domino, no sign of anyone present. They must have left the planet."
"Then prepare for the assault on Red Fountain. Be alert for any Keyblade wielders insight and those who possess Titans with them, they are not to be underestimated." Tezzeret advised them.
"Yes sir." The view changed upon the sight of Cloud Tower with his forces surrounding it and will make his way to join the Trix for the battle of Magix. But somehow, a strange feeling in the air as if something wasn't right. The power he now has under his control seems to be off… as if something was trying to call to it to fight back. Perhaps it was due to belonging to the ancient dragon itself before its passing but will do further analysis another time. And when Tezzeret is done with this world and returns to his own to obtain the power of Kingdom Hearts, he will not make the same mistake as before.
Mal and Knut were brought to the headmaster's off where they find the headmaster along with Macbeth as Yen Sid was on his way towards Alfea. She explained to them what she found out and the Trix taking over Cloud Tower, if it was not the end of the bad news, the Trix and Tezzeret now have the Dragon's Flame to summon an army.
Saladin gave a heavy sigh trying to absorb the knowledge Mal shared with them. "This is certainly not good at all, had the Trix not obtained one of the most powerful sources of magic known to the Dimension, they would hardly be considered a threat. But now with Tezzeret on their side, this could start an all-out war across Magix, possibly the entire Magic Dimension."
Macbeth shared the same idea and knew for certain his old enemy would take advantage of the situation and felt he should have gone with Taren and Bloom to be certain. "If only we had gone with them."
"None of us expected this," Mal said. "We thought we could ambush the Trix but they had an upper hand. And I know how they did it. They had a spy among us."
"A spy? Who?" Saladin asked her and surprised to hear they had a spy under their noses.
"Riven." Mal stated with a tone of disdain in her voice.
"Uh, actually he was under the spell of Darcy." Knut spoke up to correct her after he remained quiet and so far had not been sent to a cell, much to his relief when Mal pointed out he was a spy.
"Spelled or not, Riven will get what's coming to him." Sky would make Riven pay for his betrayal and who knows what he's told them.
"We'll deal with him another time, prince Sky." Saladin said. "But now we have more pressing matters, round up the specialists, and organize a defense strategy. The horde could appear at any moment on our doorstep. I will alert Faragonda and Yen Sid immediately."
"You might want to watch out for the others they brought back, something about Tezzeret's army." Knut told them and can see the surprised looks of everyone.
"Tezzert's army? I've heard about this from Macbeth, but to create their own from broken keyblades is unheard of." Saladin was familiar with some of the understandings of the keyblades, if a keyblade is lost so would the magic of its link to the wielder's heart. But how Tezzeret and some of his followers managed to accomplish such a task was unclear, apart from atrocities he committed. "This better not be another trick."
"Oh, no! I'm definitely on your side. I was working with Lea the whole time giving him information." Knut explained to them. "The Trix and Tezzeret had no idea, but I don't think he was fooled."
Macbeth had to admit but the ogre had a reasonable fact with Tezzeret more dangerous and cunning than the Trix. "If what he's said is true, then we have bigger problems to worry about."
Ben pulled out the lamp to alert Genie for some help. "Genie?"
Genie emerged from the lamp with a newspaper in his hands. "I can't believe it! Steven Spielberg is bringing the Animaniacs back! Oh, I always loved those guys, wonder if they bring back the giant chicken?"
"Ah-hem!"
Genie turned to see the boys and finds Mal. "Oh, hey! How's it going? Any news on the girls?"
"No luck, but think they may have trouble as we have over here. But, could you perhaps deal with a little something." Mal reached into her bag and tried to find something. "I know it's in here. I didn't want to risk it in the hands of the Trix." Pulled out a small bag and slides her arm despite its size. "Got it!" Pulls it out and in her hand was some book with a face out of some horror film.
Saladin immediately recognized the book in Mal's hand. "Where did you find that?!"
Genie felt his body shivered upon seeing the look of it. "Whoa! I don't know where you got that, kid. But I can smell incredible dark magic from it." Shifted into a blue hound to get a sniff of it. "Yep. Strong and dark, looks like something out of a horror movie."
"A book containing powerful curses and spells, something about the Army of Darkness to summon." Mal explained. "Had the Trix got their hands on it, we would have bigger problems so I… liberated it."
Ben, Sky, and Macbeth shared a doubtful thought of the way she meant it. Given how she smiles nervously with everyone looking at her.
"And did Headmistress Griffin gave you permission to… liberate it, young lady?" Saladin asked her with his arms crossed over when waiting for an answer.
Mal knew she was in for it. "Uhh… not… exactly."
"Figures." Ben softly shakes his head while Sky tried to hold back the chuckle.
Macbeth resisted the urge to bring his hand to his face and groaned, but somewhat grateful that one disaster was averted. "Under normal circumstances, you would have been in big trouble. But I guess we should be grateful for it."
Saladin had to nod to agree with Macbeth. "Yes, I have to agree. I just hope Griffin would be understandable when this crisis is over. Just keep that book out of sight."
"Allow me." Genie takes the book out of her hands and begins wrapping it up, makes his way to the door, and finds the Aracuan bird dressed as a postman. "Delivery to someplace far away, please."
The bird nods and takes it away with a trail of smoke.
"We'll try to call the Winx again and find out what's happening." Sky said.
Saladin nodded. "Hurry, there's no time to-" Cut off from his sentence to see a projection appear in the room, revealing to be Tezzeret and the Trix.
"Saladin, you surprise me." Icy said and narrows her eyes towards the quivering Knut. "I didn't know you like to entertain traitors!"
"What do you want?" Saladin demanded. "Whatever it is, you will not succeed like your ancestors!"
The Trix ignored him as Tezzeret stepped forward to speak. "To seek an audience." Waves his synthetic hand across, bringing up the holographic image of Faragonda and Yen Sid.
"This is a message to both Alfea and Red Fountain. As you are aware, Cloud Tower has fallen to our combined forces. We now have obtained the great Dragon's Flame under our command, and will use it alongside our armies of Grimm and the fallen army to crush all resistance."
Macbeth growls and glares at the cyborg. "Tezzeret, what you're doing could trigger another war just like the previous Keyblade Wars."
"I am perfectly aware of what I am doing, a pity you have chosen a different path."
"At least my path is clear." Ready to bring his sword out to do battle with his old enemy.
"So be it, king of Scotland." Tezzeret mocks him. "And since the dear princess is without her magic, she can do nothing that her ancestor did so long ago. You have time to consider surrender or face annihilation."
"With the Dragon's Flame we have supreme power and we will stop at nothing until we have full control over the Magic Dimension!" Icy proclaimed. "Resistance is futile!"
"They're completely mad with power!" Faragonda said. "But with Tezzeret, the power in the hands of a former keyblader is beyond imagining."
"The Trix are just like their ancestors." Saladin shared with the group. and shocked to learn the fate of Cloud Tower.
"Except their ancestors could never have obtained the power of the Dragon Flame." Faragonda stated while she was still surprised and shocked to learn the fate of Cloud Tower.
"But we do have hope." Yen Sid spoke out to the group as he somewhat remained calm and silent during Tezzeret's announcement. "They do not know about our new reinforcements."
"What do you mean?" Macbeth asked the Keyblade Master.
Faragonda nodded and smiled with some hint of good news. "I just recieved news that the link between our worlds is open, already Sora and Kairi Strife have made their arrivals. They should be with their son by now."
"That's the best news I've heard all day, and perhaps there is hope in this dark crisis we face." This made Saladin relieved and take in the news. "We must call them and urge them to be here as possible. We don't have much time."
Yen Sid nods his head and placed his hand to his chest. "I wish you the best of luck. May your hearts be your guiding light."
Both Macbeth and Saladin nodded to him. "And to you old friend." Cutting off the communications to prepare themselves for battle. "Don't think because of my old age, I will not sit idly by and let my students risk their lives for the school and for the Magic Dimension."
Macbeth smiled in respect to the headmaster and doubted he would do such a thing. "And I am not a keyblade wielder, yet I managed to fight along side them. And even I am far older than you imagine." Giving out a soft chuckle before walking out of the room, pulls out his medalion as Macbeth will need his Titan to fight alongside him.
I hope you all enjoyed it as there be a lot of battles that's going to happen and see the Specialists' Titans, one of them you would have guessed from earlier. Now, I also have ideas for the keybladers themselves, I have considered them having Titans as summons along with the creatures from Kaijudo/duel masters, much like how Sora uses his own from the games. Just don't want to overpower them too much, only if they have to deal with a large number of enemies. I have some ideas for certain partners for them and will think of which other Titan to appear. And yes, will include Legendary Titans for story plots btu havent gotten that far up ahead.
So yes, I thought both sides used spies of their own and now revealed the little duck from the show, I figured why not introduce him for a small role, better than the treatment he got from Icy. Some ideas I have for the final battle of the first story arc, sorry spoilers! And will throw in some bit of elements from other shows for ideas in the next arc.
Hope you all doing alright during the COVID pandemic and wish you a happy halloween!