Chapter 57: The Crypt of the Codex
With their first mission of a kaiju relic found, the Keyblade masters strongly advise having them secured in Radiant Garden to keep a close eye until they can find some solution to contact the monarchs and return them to the owners safely. Ansem also saw this as a chance to study its power and make it easier to find the rest of the relics scattered across the Worlds.
Despite their success, they only had some stroke of luck when Kefka used it to summon one of the Kaiju that attacked the city of Airlandis showed how much they need to keep up with their training and support the Winx the next time the Trix made an appearance.
Taren was resting up at school using one of the spare dorms to sort things during his stay as he was helping things out for the new students coming, hoping this would work out for them while supporting Ben's decision for his coronation coming up. When the team came back to Magix, they got word about an incident about the professor being attacked… by the Winx when they assumed he was a threat in disguise when Tecna found a book in the library that shared a lot of coincidences to his behavior at Alfea.
Only to find out it was just a fictional story and in the end ended up having to take a quiz as punishment. The only ones in their group that were spared were Bloom, who was not aware of what was happening when she was focused on her studying and Flora was off-world with the others on their mission and was spared the punishment.
Despite how it was cleared up, this did not end Taren's suspicions about him and considered keeping a close eye on the Paladin. And be very cautious should Avalon-if he is indeed who he claims may be an agent of Darkar. Or working with another such as Kefka.
And speaking about the professor, Bloom goes on about her new teacher with Taren.
"Taren, he is absolutely incredible! All he did was look into my eyes and he knew I was dreaming of my parents." Listening to his girlfriend getting excited about him made Taren feel a moment of jealousy when he only knew little about this Paladin after his previous one.
"No doubt that's what you've been dreaming about every night." Taren could simply guess since she had been thinking about them. "So did he help you find anything else to answer your questions?"
Bloom responded with glee to his question. "Yes. With his magic he showed me my family tree."
"That's good to know, I've barely scratched the surface of mine."
Needless to say there were so many in the vault, all preserved throughout the centuries and had only read a few… pages, to his embarrassment and barely knew much of his family's ancestral cultures and stuff. Looking through the one written by his grandfather to find out anything about Tatsurion, skimming through the pages while listening to his girlfriend going on about the professor and the stuff he did.
"It was an unbelievable feeling. And after that, Avalon used another spell and he..." She heard him mumbling some words and wasn't sure if he was paying attention. Uncertain what was going on at his side and tried to get his attention. "Taren, are you listening?"
Pulled away from his thoughts to hear her and felt slightly sheepish for doing that to her. "Yeah, sorry, I probably got a little too focused on finding some info about my family as well, probably sidetracked. But most of all the assignment we've been given."
"I just heard about that! Something about finding some relics?" Bloom pondered about the mission. "If it wasn't for the lot of extra credit professor Avalon gave me I would have been a big help."
Feeling guilty for not bringing her along when they had little time with the important assignment. "Yeah, guess it must suck. But at least you get the chance to find out more about your family, right?"
Only gets a moment of pause until he hears her response. "Well… you got me on that part. And don't think I don't know about that other stunt you pulled at Red Fountain."
Flinches when he realized she caught on to it and thought Flora wouldn't say anything, but knowing sooner or later Bloom would find out and be mad at him. "Ah, r-right, you heard about that?" Scratches the back of his head in nervousness and apologizes. "Okay, yeah, I know it was reckless and had a talk from Flora. But we had no other option and were on the clock."
"Even if that meant getting yourself hurt to fight off a giant monster? What were you thinking?"
"Not much to be honest." Taren reluctantly responded. Obviously she was mad by the sound of her voice and wanted to assure her about it. "Listen, I know you have the right to be mad and promise I won't do something like that again without being more prepared."
"You better. Otherwise we'll have to tell your mother about it." Bloom responded, causing the keyblader to chuckle in response.
"Really funny, Bloom. Always like your sense of humor" Taren assumed it was until his smile slowly changed in a sense of worry when she didn't respond and made him think if she was serious. "You.. you are joking, right?" He was starting to go pale with no response, only silence as the teen started to panic. "If my mom knew what happened, she'll ground me for months! Please say, your just kidding."
"Mmm… Maybe~" He could hear the sound of her taunting him from the phone, almost as if she was acting like a devious villain for making him sound scared and giggles. Taren was not sure wether to be turned on or not.
"You've been spending too much time with Mal. I knew her influence would spread its as if you became a different person." He would have to keep a close watch on his girlfriends. "Anyway, I gotta help Ben with the coronation and to make the new students feel welcomed."
"That sounds great and hope we're invited. I just hope they be given a chance."
"It's Mal I'm concerned if anyone knew about her. Ben better know what he's doing." Taren didn't have any doubts for this plan before he becomes king.
"She still has our support so that's nothing to worry about. Love you, Taren."
"Love you too, Bloom. And just try to be careful, okay?" Taren said out of worry for her, receiving a calm laugh from his girlfriend.
"I'll be fine, we'll be doing our self defence class so should get some pointers. Bye!"
They hang up and only hope things would go well without any problems. He was glad to not let his emotions get the better of him, while supportive for Bloom to find out more about her parents when he could have asked his mom to help fill in about her mom when they met.
It was just something about that paladin professor really seem off and how he appears to help Bloom and not many. Something about him did not sit right with Taren.
And hope she be careful around him.
"Alright, it's coming to that day and need to be ready to give the kids a chance to prove are nothing like their parents. It will be easy." Mal tried to raise her spirits up by speaking with her reflection and seemed to almost done the trick. Until seconds late she sighed and lost her confidence. "Ugh, who am I kidding? This won't work!"
While she has support of the fairies for this task to help the children earn a brighter future, she was not so certain despite the strong faith by Ben to do this. "Why did he pick me for this?"
"Mal? You free?" Popping into the bedroom was her friend Evie who noticed her being down. "What's wrong? Aren't you excited that we're all going to this prep school? Oh, I hope to see any good looking boys, you think their prince ?"
Mal mentally sighs over her best friend's obsession of winning a prince's heart to be queen like her mother, not wanting to get the idea with her secret crush. "Evie, don't get any ideas in that head of yours. Doubt any who know of your mother would want to have any relationship with you from what I heard."
"But how will I be the fairest of them all if I don't find my prince?" Evie sighs dramatically.
Mal had to give some comfort to her friend, patting her head softly. "There, there, you'll find one in the future. Provided you don't put them under a spell."
The blue haired girl gave a pouted look and playfully stuck her tongue out and decided to change the subject. "So who else will be joining on this little group?"
Having an idea who would be her best choices out of many kids. "Well, I considered those apart for us… Jay and Carlos."
"Oh great! It be like old times! Well, maybe if Jay doesn't try stealing stuff." Eve brought up.
"True, and Carlos I need to keep my Digimon and the other two from a distance, is a little spooked and afraid of them." Mal could imagine the sight of Gabumon and Agumon in their champion forms would be enough to terrify him.
"Speaking of ideas… maybe, you could…" Evie tries to finish the sentence but hesitated, causing Mal to give a questionable look with her arms crossed over her chest and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah?"
What she would ask Mal came as a surprise. "Maybe take us on your adventures?"
"What?! Evie, no!" Mal waved her hand as her answer. "It's too dangerous at the moment when not only there are evil witches, but a crazy circus clown after us."
"But maybe not those that put us in danger, you told us all sorts of stories and I really would love to see these fairies!" Eve said. "And a school full of heroic hunks is not something to turn pass up. But a crazy clown? Come on, we hear stuff like that a lot."
That part she figured and had a reason for it. "Ever heard of one that has magic and uses a razor sharp scythe?"
"Ye...Ah, no." She gave a long pause until finishing her sentence when Mal had point. "Alright, maybe not on missions but maybe a chance for us to prove ourselves on less dangerous adventures?"
It seemed pretty clear Evie really wanted to take part in these travels, and would be nice to bring her friends but worries for their well being, not even sure what world they would arrive and what dangers lurk. Maybe ask her mentors to permit them some bit of training or just to worlds to get the experience.
"Well… maybe a good idea."
"Yay!" Eve pounced on her best friend to embrace her.
"But only if you guys promise to stay close and on worlds that are not dangerous." Mal stated. "Be better to just explore and have fun."
Evie took that offer and nodded. "Sure, and maybe have fun with those cute Digimon you have. I'll go and pack my things." Makes her leave to get packing
Mal could only pity them for her best friend's weakness for anything cute. She would have to warn the Winx to keep the pixies out of sight from her reach.
The Winx were very excited for the self-defense class in hopes to improve their combat skills in hopes to support their friends against the Trix, they were told not to use their Titans and focus more on their . They would have thought the keybladers would give some pointers some time and maybe thought if Macbeth were to train them like he did with the young keybearers, or perhaps Axel but they had not received word about it from Mirta as she would have known about it, but would have been embarrassed to have a parent at the same school she's in.
Uncertain what they will learn from their new class, but maybe be worth all the wait.
"Come on, Stella, our first defense." Musa called out to Stella who they were waiting for.
"Coming!" Stella rushed over to the door in front of her friends before they would step inside. "Hold on! I'm going in first. The professor could be a looker like Avalon and we're about to get physical." She took a quick peek into the classroom to know who it was. "Yuck!" She let out a cry and looked back to her friends, with a paled and horrified look on her face.
"What's wrong? You look as if you've seen something horrible." Tecna said, and when they all found out who it was, they all shared the same look.
"Griselda?!"
Standing in the hallway was the Head of Discipline herself waiting for the rest of the class to attend. Noticing Winx outside her class with lack of patience. "Will you girls ever learn to get to class on time?" She asked with a stern tone.
"This is our magic self defense class, shouldn't our teacher be here?" Stella asked and expected someone else or believed to be in the wrong class.
"I am here." Griselda stated. "And consider yourself lucky, without a teacher of my caliber, you don't stand a chance against the Trix or anyone else."
This was considered to be a long day for the Winx.
Meanwhile in Darkar's lair, the dark phoenix walked into the throne room where the Trix were present and kneeled before him while he took a seat on his throne.
"At your service, master Darkar."
"The keybladers are back in their homeworld and the state of alert has been lowered at Red Fountain. You know what that means?" Darkar revealed to his enforcers who shared a mutual excitement over the news. "Now is the time to strike."
"We will go and claim the codex, master. And we'll eradicate whoever dares to put themselves in our way." Icy proclaims in hopes to succeed on their mission.
"Then go! And don't disappoint me." On his command the Trix flew off on their mission.
The girls were in their seats and were made to listen to the least favourite teacher they expected. Listening to her lectures of how to defend themselves in a dangerous situation. "Now, you are up against an enemy much more powerful than you. This enemy has just cast a terribly destructive spell, what do you do?
Musa decided to answer, thinking it was an obvious question. "Well, we combine powers."
"Ha, too late, Musa. You've just been pulverized into oblivion." Griselda responded, surprising the fairy of music. Decided to give the answer to the class. "Young ladies, what you must do is dodge the attack."
"Good thing she told us otherwise I would have just stood there until I'd finally get hit." Stella made a joke, unfortunately it reached the teacher's ears.
"Miss Stella, since you already know it all, let's show the others how it's done. You try to attack me, if you can."
Stella had a feeling she was going to regret it after letting her mouth do the talking.
The self defense class has gathered outside in their winx forms as requested by their teacher for demonstrations.
"Okay everybody, your classmate Stella will demonstrate for us how to launch a successful attack. Stella, Francis, get in line please."
"Who does Griselda think she is anyway? I mean all we need are some tacky green uniforms and we're ready for the army." The Solarian princess complained. "And no but really, an Alfea fairy deserves a little more respect."
"You really ought to save your breath for the fight, young lady." Griselda reminded Stella of the values of combat against her would-be foes. Decided it was time to start the demonstrationt o see the limit of their abilities. "Alright then, show me what you have got."
Stella was all too eager to prove to the teacher what she was made off. Sun-Up Attack!" She shoots a ball of magic from her hand and throws it at Griselda with her back turned.
"Barrier absorb!" Without looking, Griselda conjured a shield of green magic to protect her, much to the girls' surprise by her quick response.
Stella recovered from her surprise and tried another move. "Full Power Sundown!" Flies upwards and creates another ball of light from her staff. This time Griselda glances over her shoulder with a confident look and extends her left hand directly to the coming sphere. "Reflect shield!" She again creates another shield, only this time it deflects Stella's attack right back at her, knocking her to the ground.
"You should have dodged it, Miss Stella." Griselda said and was not impressed. "Now attack all together!"
"Alright, let's go!" Musa was ready for her as all of the fairies took the air to try and surround the teacher.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Griselda taunted them with Tecna, Flora and Amryl making their moves to attack.
"Digital Glitch!"
"Floral Whirlpool!"
"Devouring Beam!"
"Fer Midex!" Griselda yelled out to conjure a powerful shield to take on the combined attacks.
"That wasn't an ordinary barrier." Amaryl said.
"That magic, it was an immunity spell." Tecna realised how it was different from the other spells the teacher previously used/
"Let's see her try to block my power jabs." Layla glows in purple and creates a sphere in each hand to throw at her target, however Griselda swiftly waves her hand to disperse the attack.
"Bloom, it's our turn." Musa tells the redhead to do their part.
Bloom nods to show she was ready. "Right, let's do it."
"She can't be invincible." Musa decided to make an idea in mind. "Sonic Bomb!"
"Enversio Cinosmab" With another defense spell to make an aura surrounding her body and once again unharmed.
Musa could not believe what happened and assumed it would work. "Ah! She canceled out the sound with an opposing wave!""Come on, Bloom! It's all up to you!" Stella cheered for her best friend who was the strongest fairy on their team.
Bloom then performs a spell with her magic to make an attack. "Incandescent Sphere!" Knowing it had to work and threw it towards Griselda. "Go!"
The smiling Griselda barely moved to avoid the attack and simply caught it with her hand. "Bloom, is that the best you can do?"
The students knew they were no match for her and return to the ground, Flora runs over to Bloom.
"Bloom!"
Tecna comes over to ask Griselda over what she saw during the training. "Professor, what kind of spell did you use?"
"Were you never told to raise your hand before speaking in class?" Griselda scolded the stuttered student.
"S-Sorry."
"If the Trix were here, or someone who was as powerful as a keyblade Wielder like your friends for example, they'd have torn you to bits." She questioned them of the situation if it was a real life battle that could cost them more than mere bruises. "Now I want you to think very seriously about what you have learned here today. And save your questions for our next lesson."
Bloom took a moment to realize she was right, while she had fought against the Trix and had some luck, there were indeed more powerful foes like Tezzeret and Dakar who is said to be powerful, hearing the stories about this Kefka who the Keybladers fought, even Mirta told them he was a lot stronger than them. She didn't think they could stand a chance.
"Bloom, are you feeling okay?" Hearing Flora ask out of concern.
"I dunno, I guess I was just a little out of it." Maybe some rest to clear her head would sort things out.
"The sword is safely secured inside the fault as ordered from Lady Namine and Ansem to keep it safe along with the other artifacts found." The head guards of the vault were the former members of the Dilan and Aeleus. Dilan wields the lance while Aeleus holds a giant axe-sword strapped to his back.
Leon nodded with approval after the kids came back with a sword, having decided it was too risky to be left in Magix with the Trix running loose and agreed to keep it safe and any other artifacts they find until they know what to do with them for the time being. This would allow the scientists to do some research on its mana to know more about the type of magic, along with the data they received of the Kaiju to deal with them in the future. "Sounds good, and no one else would get in?"
Aeleus nods his head to confirm it. "Positive, sir. with your orders it was to be sure the sword be secured with a barrier with the help of Merlin's magic.
"Right now, I'm concerned about these Trix such as this Darcy character who can use illusions." Leon said. "We just need to keep our guard up as we can if they know of our world's whereabouts and the artifact. Make sure the guards are prepared should we need them."
They agreed to do so as the brunette leaves them to guard the artifact, and comes across his long time friend Cloud Strife who arrived back on Radiant Garden. He had been the same as usual and at the times he helped his friends protect the remains of their world against the Heartless and Organization XIII during the Keyblade War, even though his personal battle against Sephiroth finally came to an end brought him years of peace but still hard to forget the scars from his past."Was wondering when you showed up, seen anything new on your trip?"
Using his common trait to shrug his shoulders before replying back. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Anything to catch up?"
"Just found some new stuff the kids brought back, looking into anything we know about this Kefka Palazzo. Don't suppose you heard about him?" Leon asked the spikey blonde upon mentioning the name.
Cloud took a moment to ponder. "Hmm, can't say that I have. Why?"
Leon decided to show him a pad with the footage of Kefka displaying his abilities and magic during the fights with Taren, Ben and Mal. Observing his skills and magic very much alike to their own. "So far he's been causing more trouble after the stunt he pulled on Earth and appears to have allied with the witches. He was after the artifacts that according to Yen Sid can summon and control creatures called the Kaiju. Our teams spread a little thin and thought if you knew about it."
"And you need many like me to watch out for this guy." Cloud could already have guessed the situation. "Sure, it's not the first time I've run into someone with bizarre taste in outfits. But maybe I might ask anyone who might know of him."
Appreciating the help needed from his comrade. "Good to know, but maybe take some time to chill. Aerith would no doubt be glad to know your back and same for Tifa. Maybe offer to help train the new generation."
He thought about it and was interested to see how good his nephew had improved during his training from how much his father spoke about the teen and also this power he wields, but preferred to see it for himself and maybe a demonstration from the prince and this witch as well.
"Yeah, I guess your-"
Suddenly Leon was receiving a transmission, identified as Lea and answered it. "Lea? What's up?"
On the screen Lea was concerned and sounds of explosions can be heard. "It's the Trix! They've become bold to attack Red Fountain again and the Specialists are trying to hold them off."
"Do you need help? We can open up a portal from our world to Magix instantly." Leon suggested.
"Better hurry, they're after something called the Codex, I know for a fact that it can't be good. Need any available for backup!"
"Tell them we're on our way as soon as possible." Leon then sends the message to their friends of the situation. "Seems like old times, huh?"
"Nothing ever changes." Cloud agreed with him and dashed off into action.
Meanwhile in Magix as the Trix had launched a surprise attack on the school, the Specialists were immediately sent into action using their fighters and dragons to defend Red Fountain. Codatorta and a few of the students were in the Control Room coordinating the Specialists.
Timmy found something about the energy sphere the Specialists were chasing, further analysis and knew something was off about it "Analysis of the sphere shows massive potential. But it's holding back electromagnet power."
Riven entered the Control Room from an elevator to give his report. "Codatorta, I'd recognise Darcy's style anywhere. That sphere is just a ploy to divert our attention."
This concerned Codatorta if the Trix were behind this and could only mean one thing for them to make their appearance some time after the Grimm War. They must be after the Codex and a perfect moment with the Keybladers not around to stop them. "I should have known the Trix would be back. They'll be trying to get to basement levels, they're after the Codex."
The squadrans that were chasing the purple sphere immediately received a message from their Head Teacher. "All senior guards to the Codex room ready for battle. First year Specialists, mount your dragons and defend access to lower levels."
Sky noticed the sphere had stopped moving and responded to the Control Room. "Codatorta, the sphere stopped attacking. What do we do?"
"Position yourselves over the lake. The Trix might strike from there."
The prince figured if it had something to do with the Codex, then it must be trouble from either the Trix or Kefka. Only thing in common is both mean trouble was nearby.
Entering the Control Room was Helia in his specialist uniform with Bloom, Flora, and Tecna who arrived at the School. They were going to visit their friends to see how they were doing when the Winx noticed the situation and came right away to do something to help. "Codatorta, Bloom, Flora, and Tecna are here. They are offering to help.:
"Oh, hi girls." Timmy greeted them and was surprised by their visit.
"Thank you for the offer, but please sit tight and let us Specialists handle the situation." As much as he appreciates their help, he just felt this is something for the Specialists to deal with and not risk for their safety.
"Um, any word on the Keybladers?" Tecna pondered to know of their whereabouts.]
"So far we only have Professer Lea on guard, but knowing him he would send word to the others should this Kefka fellow make his move." The Head Teacher informed, learning from the reports from Sky's previous confrontations and the keybladers made him and the Headmaster worried if he ever shows up to face the Specialists.
Bloom mentally sighed and wished to do something to help, but all they can do is stay put and let her friends handle it. She hopes.
In the midst of battle, the Trix flew towards the school while the Specialists were confused and distracted, taking the opportunity to make the next move of their plan.
"Frost Storm!" Icy shots out an ice blast to coat the portion of the dome roof in ice to weaken the outer layers.
"Raining Thunder!" Stormy made her turn and created a hole from the roof, destroying it to allow the Trix entry to continue their pursuit for the Codex..
"There's a gaping hole in the roof of the arena." Timmy reported.
"What?" The girls were surprised to hear this.
"It's the Trix." Codatorta confirmed, now knowing it was time to let the Winx Club to help them. "Everyone go, use whatever means necessary. They must be stopped."
"Come on!" Flora said and Bloom followed her along with Helia to help them.
Tecna was about to join them but stopped for a moment to ask her crush. "Hey Timmy, aren't you coming to fight with us?"
"No Tecna, my place is here." As much as he could help them, but needed more in the Control Room to support the others.
'Oh Timmy...' Tecna would have said something but had to let him do his job to help the others.
The elevator opens and Sky is standing there. "Bloom? What are you doing here? Taren isn't here, is he?"
Bloom shook her head and was slightly disappointed to find he was not back yet. "No, but we thought to come and help out."
Riven stepped into the elevator to get their attention. "Maybe you noticed but we can't rely on them all the time, We got Lea to help and our Titans."
Sky nodded and knew he had a point where as their friends had other things in their lives to do as well. "You're right, Riven, let's go." The others soon joined them
"Follow me, I know exactly where the Codex is." Icy led the other two witches to where she remembered the first piece was hidden.
Stormy decided to cause some mischief by blowing up the control switch of the elevator to stall some time for them and also by trapping anyone inside it.
The Trix continued onwards when Sky, Riven, Tecna, Flora, and Bloom arrive to spot them while another student showed up to catch them. "Riven!" Throws a sword to Riven to catch it.
"Thanks. Let's go! Spencer, come with me!" The two then chase after the Trix, using a flight of stairs to catch them but find them nowhere in sight.
"Hey, where'd they go?"
"Over here."
Stormy calls out to them before Icy hits the two Specialists with her Ice magic, causing the two to fall to the ground. Riven refuses to give in and gets himself back up, grabbing a phantoblade and runs at the Trix, but Stormy throws him to the wall with her lightning blast to knock him unconscious. Sky and the Winx arrive at the scene, only a moment too late as the Trix fled before they could catch them.
"Brandon, the Trix are headed for hangar G4, can we get air support?" Sky asked Brandon.
"It'll be my pleasure, Sky."
The Trix made another turn into the hanger and noticed the many weapons that drew Stormy's notice. "Hmm, this must be the armory. We gotta destroy those weapons."
"Oh shut up, Stormy. We don't have time for this." Darcy argued, yet before they could argue what to do, the hangar doors opened and revealed Brandon standing on his ship to surprise them.
"Welcome to Red Fountain, ladies." Brandon jumps inside. Darcy was ready for a fight and made multiple versions of herself to surround the Squire. Brandon swings his sword at them, only to find too many to focus and also how fast they were moving.
The Darcy clones converged to attack at once. "Sphere of Midnight!" Four dark orbs grew and engulfed him. Unable to see anything at all and randomly swinging his sword until the clouds disappeared, Brandon felt so weak and fell to the ground with Darcy and her copies surrounding him once more.
"Hold it!" Darcy looked over to see the prince and the Winx with him running towards them.
"Well, who's my next little hero?" Icy taunts them with a smirk on her face.
"You're going down." Bloom said, ready for a fight with the Trix. "Magic Winx!"
The girls transformed into their Winx forms for combat. Icy did not seem bothered and decided to let Stormy have some bit of fun with them. "Okay Stormy, have a little fun but don't get too carried away."
Icy and Darcy flew off, leaving the excited Stormy behind.
"Take this!" Tecna attacks her with her magic with digitized streams of energy, but Stormh dodges them and responds by using her own magic
"Chain Lightning!"
Using a full blast to throw the Winx and Specialists to the ground, Helia appears unaffected and tries to capture Stormy with his ropes, once again, Stormy evades them by flying upwards when he could not reach.
Bloom did not like this at all and with Icy and Darcy on the move, they could be close to get what they were after. But she couldn't leave her friends behind in their condition..
"Bloom, I'll take care of her. You guys go after the Trix." Helia told her when he ran over to check on the injured Tecna.
Sky knew they could not let the Trix get away and needed to stop them. "Come on!" Leading the girls into the hallway when he hears Timmy's voice through the comm. "Sky, the Trix are getting near the Codex room. Go straight there, you might beat them to it."
"Thanks, Timmy." Sky followed his directions and opened the doors to an empty elevator shaft. "This is a shortcut! Come on!"
Jumps into the shaft and grabs hold of the elevator cables to slide down as Tecna, Bloom, and Flora fly after him to the next floor to make their way to the hallroom with a large statue in the center of the large room, right around the corner they were able to find Stormy.
Flora spotted her "Over there, I see her! Floral Whirlpool!" Using her magic to launch an attack on her.
"I hate flowers." Stormy muttered and countered her magic using her own, colliding both their magics in midair and rebounding on Flora, knocking her to the ground. Stormy snickered over her victory and proceeded to join her sisters.
"Flora!" Bloom and Tecna rushed over to check on her.
Flora grunted and sore, but not too badly hurt. "Don't worry, just go after them."
Bloom was relieved and nodded to let her rest up to recover. They noticed someone entering the hall immediately recognised the spiky flame user, Lea with his flaming chakrams.
"It's Lea!" Bloom was surprised to find him here. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard what was happening and the headmaster agreed I should be with the guards, but due to the chaos and the students stuck in the shaft I got a little delayed." Lea explained to them and figured out what happened. "Let me guess, the Trix were here?"
Sky nods. "Yeah, and Flora took a big hit from Stormy."
Lea makes his way over to Flora and checks on her injuries. So far, the Lymphean appears physically fine and not needed to heal that much. "She's okay, nothing serious but should take a moment to rest. You'll need some help, which is where I came in and called the other keybalders to show up, which won't be long."
To hear the news of their friends arriving to help was enough to raise some hopes to stop them.
"Thank you, Lea." Bloom smiles and accepts his help. "Let's hope we can stop them."
Protecting the Codex were a group of guards standing at the entrance of the room with a large set of golden scales in the hall; they remained active since the attack occurred and so far no sign of the Trix. All seemed calm until the air started to grow cold, catching their attention and saw snowflakes falling when one of them noticed something was happening to the door.
"Look, over there!" The door was encased in ice and approaching them was none other than the Trix themselves.
Icy smiles and confidence with the Codex was within reach and ready to deal with the guards. "Ready?"
Using the powers of their Gloomix magic, extending their hands in the air and a light engulfed the room before the guards could do anything to stop them.
As they continued on with their pursuit, Tecna was pondering in her mind to figure out what caused the Trix to go to such lengths to infiltrate Red Fountain to get whatever it is they wanted. "What are the Trix after?"
"Something important, but I can't explain right now. You just gotta trust me." Much as Sky wanted to tell them but couldn't.
Lea had a basic idea when he was briefed, but assumed the girls knew about it but clearly they were left out of the loop. "Whatever it is, it can't be good if they get it."
The guards were trapped in solid ice by Icy's magic before they could have done anything to stop them. With no one guarding the scales, the Trix now had to figure out where to find the Codex as they stood before the scales.
"These scales are the key which will give us access to the codex." Icy knew it was something to do with the scales, but never had the chance to figure out what they were with the relics
"Shall we do this my way?" Stormy suggested, thinking of a simple brute force to do the trick.
Darcy mentally sighes. "Go ahead, smash stuff, it always works."
Stormy ignores her remark and proceeds to destroy the scale. "Mega Lightning Storm!" Taking a shot at it by blasting with lightning magic but showed no signs of damage at all. While it surprised Stormy of how it didn't work, Darcy and Icy expected it to happen.
"Uh, what's wrong Stormy?" Darcy asked, receiving no response when the scales rebound Stormy's magic back at her, sending the storm witch back a few feet.
"Stormy. Brilliant as always." Darcy muttered.
Icy folded her arms and shared the mutual idea with Darcy of how stupid that would be without seeing it was a protected. "Anyone could have guessed that it's booby-trapped."
"I'd say it's some kind of balancing act." Darcy concluded, inspecting the scales up close when she noticed a variety of items laid out in front of the scales: A carved statue in a hood, a feather, flute, sword, scroll, a pen, a crystal, disk and a wond. Each was different and could somehow be part of the puzzle. "Find the right weight and the door opens."
"And the balance must be achieved using one of these things." Icy caught on to where she was going and took a close observation of which of them could be the right answer.
"I bet they all trigger lethal traps, except for one." Darcy suspected.
Stormy got back on her feet, holding her back while slightly bruised and sore and wobbled over to the two. "That was too close for comfort."
Darcy ignored her sister and focused more on the items in front of her, trying to figure out which of them was the right choice. "The counter-weight is pretty heavy, so the stone looks like the logical choice, but that's too obvious. Then it must be its opposite…the feather." Turning her attention to the feather as her first guess and picks it up. Not willing to risk her life if it be fatal and decided to let someone else take the fall instead. "Oh, Icy, I'm sorry, this is your show, and anyway, I'm sure you want to be the one to unlock the codex."
Handing Icy the feather to let her take it. Not surprised by her cunning nature and saw right through her scheme. "Aww, you're a backstabbing coward, Darcy. And I love you for that." Rather than be deceived by her sister and offers the feather back to Darcy, much to her dismay.
"Go ahead, put the feather in! Or I'll cut you into tiny ice-cubes." Icy threatens the nervous Darcy.
Sighing in defeat and taking the feather back, she was within reach of the scale to put the feather on when a boomerang and a chakram suddenly flew through the air and stuck in a pillar near the Trix.
"Don't even think about it, witch!" Lea proclaimed and called back his chakram.
"You again? Ooh, I'm scared now." Icy wore a smug look on her face, unfazed by their threats.
Sky runs towards Icy with his lightsaber in hand and swings across her, but she dodges it and suspends in mid-air "Black Icicle!"
Sky dodges the attack when Lea jumps in and blocks it with his other chakram before it could hit Tecna. Darcy joins the battle and uses her magic to attack Bloom, but she conjures a barrier of her own and shoots an energy ball at Darcy, but she swiftly dodges it and takes the air to fly.
"Leave her to me." But as Stormy was about to attack, she evaded a shot that came close to her head.
The one who fired it was Timmy who made it in time with a blaster.
Tecna wore a bright smile to see Timmy show up to help them. "Alright, way to go, Timmy!"
"Good timing, kid." Lea nodded and shot out a fireball at Stormy with her guard down, causing the witch to cry out and feeling annoyed.
"That's enough! Tornado Thunder!" Summoning a powerful tornado to catch her enemies off guard, the currents of the wind were too much for Bloom to handle and threw her along with Timmy, Tecna, and Sky to the ground. Lea struck the keyblade into the ground to prevent himself being pulled away, he noticed Sky was on his feet but stopped him before he could proceed to attack. "Let me try this, I've had some experience with ice users in my time."
Tightening the grip of the Bond of the Blaze, he shot forward so fast to catch Icy off guard, forcing her to dodge the attack and tried to blast him away with her ice magic. She had forgotten that she was dealing with a Keyblade Master, and with years of experience in combat. Lea swatted them with his keyblade and struck her hard with Fire Dash. This threw her to the ground by the strength of his power, but before he could attack.
Darcy realized they were no match against him, unable to risk the limit of their Gloomix to a Master like him. Remembered when he mentioned Mirta being his daughter and has a grudge against them for tormenting her at school, this would make sense for his forceful attacks. Before she could intervene to help with Stormy, Lea was about to make another blow when he was blasted in the back by an unexpected force to knock him out.
"Well, looks like I came just in time."
The Trix did not expect Kefka to show up, but on a moment such as this it couldn't have been a better time.
"What are you doing here? Darkar assigned this mission to us." Darcy pondered if he came here for his amusement or to belittle them again.
Kefka dusted his hands and answered her question. "Oh, I figured you would have needed some help and luckily for you I did when it appears not all of them keyblade wielders had left. But you should know they'll be on their way any moment now, so we don't have much time."
Realizing they had not much time to waste, Icy had to pick up the pace to figure out which is which. "The weight of Red Fountain?" She puts down the feather and thinks of what the items could represent. "Physical weight, moral weight, magical weight, weightlessness, economic weight, social weight, military weight, the weight of knowledge, and the weight of communication." Another possibility came to mind when she remembered all the Specialists use weapons in combat. "The specialists' are masters of weapons, it must be the sword, but that would be too easy. Now, Saladin's a wizard, it could be the crystal." But just when she was about to grab it, she stopped herself. "Wait!"
"What? Isn't that the answer?" Kefka thought.
"I did but then it came to me." Instead, she picks the statue when she finally figured out the answer. "That pompous Red Fountain attitude, the moral weight, unreal, I have to follow the path of morality. Well, I guess the ends justify the means."
Placing the figure wearing a robe and placing it on the scales, as it remained the same, concluding that they had solved the puzzle when a spiral staircase was revealed in the floor. With easy access, the four walk down the stairs to find the shard piece of the codex suspended in a protective case. Unaware of someone watching while in hiding, a pixie with fair skin, orange hair and olive eyes. Wearing a dress very similar to the ancient Greeks. Her hairstyle is a high bun with a golden hair tie and with two strands of hair hanging at both sides of her face. Wearing orange eyeshadow. Her wings are yellow with a green outline and big green spots at the edge. She was forced to hide from the four intruders who had found the first piece of the Codex.
"It's ours." Icy proclaimed. "The first quadrant of the codex."
Kefka could not help but hide his wide grin, he could feel its power and soon would have the rest of the pieces for their plan. 'One down. Three to go.'
Back with the Winx and the Specialists, Bloom was slowly regaining consciousness with some help of Lea healing her.
"Take it easy, red." Lea helped her up.
Bloom accepts his help and finds her friends bruised and sore. "Oh no. Are they alright?"
"Once I get them healed up, they will be." Lea assured her. "We need to be ready for what they got now." Unable to recall what hit him but couldn't have been the Trix. Either they grown stronger with their magic or had help.
"Considering that you solved the puzzle, the prize should be yours." Kefka stepped aside and allowed Icy to have this moment.
Icy appreciate the gesture of praise and uses her magic to break the case. But stops when she suddenly started to cover her ears with her hands as if she was in agony. "Stop this horrible noise! Stop it!"
Darcy and Stormy were baffled by what was going on.
"Make it stop!"
This did not escape Kefka's curiosity and felt something in the room, nodded to Darcy who had the same idea.
"What's going on, Darcy?" Stormy had no idea watch her vanish. "What are you doing?"
"Dealing with some pest control." Kefka answered.
The cause of Icy hearing so much noise came from the Pixie, Athena, to stop her from taking the Codex. "Hands off the code-" Darcy then reappears behind her and knocks her out with her magic.
Darcy smiles with her work. "Sorry little bug, did I hurt you?"
Stormy was amazed by how she did that. "How did you do that? You moved so fast."
"Alright, we have the codex now let's get out of here." Reminding them that they had limited time and had to escape before the real threat like the Keybladers would show up. Kefka makes his way up first and one of the Specialists, Timmy holding a blaster to shoot them
"Don't move! Stay right there!
Kefka had a moment to ponder and let out a laugh. "Oh, did I hear you right? You threatening us?"
Icy couldn't help but join in to mock Timmy. "Another boy who wants to play hero?"
"Come on, Timmy! Stop them!" Tecna encouraged him to stop them.
"Yes, Timmy, stop us." Hearing Kefka taunting him with his arms held wide. "We're right here. All you gotta do is shoot."
Timmy was ready to do so, but stopped when he felt this strong and terrifying feeling as he watched the one named Kefka casually walk up the stairs towards him with a grin and smug look on his pale face. 'What is… this feeling? I don't know why…. But it's… like he's ready to kill.'
Kefka could easily read his face and knew the boy didn't have the will to take someone's life, hesitated and afraid by the trembling fingers on the trigger. "You never taken another's life before, have you?" He asked the startled marksman when he was right beside him. Allowing the Trix to walk right past him.
Timmy had no choice and admitted he was no match for them, especially against Kefka who had this mask of a comical villain, but a soul of a killer.
Lea saw what happened, he couldn't blame the kid for trying and could have risked his life when he had no idea how powerful they were. Sometimes it was best to admit defeat and fight another day.
"You're smart, I'll give you that. But there's one mistake in the rules of combat." Kefka said, leaving Timmy confused of what he meant until he spoke. "Never hesitate and it will cost you." Making a 180 spin to face Timmy from the back, his left hand cackling with magic dancing around as he was preparing to strike him down.
Bloom and Lea were too far to stop him, even Tecna who at first assumed he was too afraid to fight was about to be attacked by the psychopath. Everything was slow for Timmy as he watched the hand coming towards his face and thought this was it, making his moment to see Tecna in tears with her hand reaching out to him.
'I'm sorry, Tecna.' Never had the chance to tell the fairy how he felt about her.
CLANG!
Suddenly a miracle came to save him in the form of a giant sword that came between Timmy and Kefka and propelled the attack back a few feet.
"Wha-who?!" Kefka was baffled by what just happened.
"Leave. Now." The owner of the giant sword was a tall blonde haired male, appeared somewhat in his late 20s but can tell he appeared much older and the face that reminded him of the red haired keyblader, uncertain if they were related but feels strong power within him.
"W-Who is that?" Tecna was curious and for some reason his physical features reminded her of someone.
"That's Cloud Strife. One of the best from Radiant Garden." Lea introduces a familiar face to him.
"Strife? Wait, is he a relative to Taren's family?" Bloom recalled hearing about him from her boyfriend's family and never once met him until now. She was in awe of how he was able to hold such a large sword so easily with one hand.
Kefka decided it would be best to leave with the Trix completing their task. "Fine then, I only came out of boredom. Later." Kefka disappears in a flash of light before anyone could do anything.
Timmy was not sure who his savior was but very much grateful for his timely arrival. "You did good, kid. But next time don't hold back if you want to have a reason to fight." Timmy would have to remember that next time but then he was pounced by Tecna wrapping her arms around him tightly.
"T-Tecna?"
"I'm sorry! I-I thought you were a... coward at first." Tecna sniffled until she spoke again groggily. "But when that monster was about to-"
"Hey, hey, calm down. I know I was afraid and thought I wasn't... strong enough to take them on." Timmy assured her he was alright but could not have blamed her for hating him. "I'm sorry for letting you down."
Tecna couldn't help it when she was overwhelmed with grieve, worry and joy at the same time. But having her crush safe and not hurt was enough to put aside the choice he made just for thinking logically.
Cloud withdrew his Buster Sword and patted him on the shoulder before checking on the others. "Sorry we came late, a lot of people were injured from the damage and slowed us down."
"Ugh." Sky slowly regained consious with Lea's help
"This way! I think he went in here!" Then came another, revealing to be Taren and Mal who came with Riku and Flora with them, they found the place almost trashed and everyone injured.
Having a bad feeling they were too late. "Don't tell me, they got what they were after?" Mal muttered.
Reluctantly replied with a nod from the others.
Taren sighed and felt it was their fault for coming too late. "I guess we screwed up badly."
Bloom got up and walked over to him to give some comfort that he had nothing to blame himself. "No, we did. We just underestimated the Trix." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "But appreciate you coming."
Taren smiles and hugs her back, glances to his uncle and nods his head to thank him as Cloud silently nodded
Riku checked on the guards that remained frozen, he can feel they were unconcious and just needed to warm up. But his thoughts were on a more serious matter of what the Trix were after and could only mean trouble than just the relics they were after. "This isn't good."
"Tell me about." Lea walked over to him and was not pleased about it as his friend was. "Had it not been for that bastard clown, we wouldn't have had any trouble with the Trix."
"Don't blame yourself, Lea. No one saw this coming." Riku told him. "We need to help these kids be more ready." Not to mention to have a serious discussion with the schools of the situation if the Trix try another scheme.
I hope you all enjoyed it, sorry it was a little ate I was held up with lots of work at home so kept me busy for a while. I took the time to read some of your reviews since the had turned off the alert system. Iusually respond to reviews of people who are members and not all the time guests so can discuss what they think. I am actually happy to see the faves have reached past 100! Wasn't expecting many with lots of fanfics but appreciate all those who shown interest.
Gry25: Might be a nice idea, and can imagine her and Mal have a show down with a pair of knights. Not sure if they be singing but unless it be some contest sort of event. Yes, Valtor will appear in the next arc
Answer to a Guest's question: Yes, Cloud Strife from FF7
Heart: merlin will make a appearance in Alfea and can imagine some ideas of his entry, as a guest teacher? I guess that can work while he's working at Auradon Prep as well. Can imagine if he sees the future she would ask about her's... and no doubt Stella for other ideas.
For a filler idea I have in mind will give the heroes some form of team building. Just needing a certain bird to do the trick. That's all I have for now and until then, later everyone.