Chapter 71: Training Session
A few days had passed since the concert had happened, Faragonda was in her office, standing before the large mirror, showing her an image of Bloom, appearing downcasted as she laid by the hiss through her mirror. She smiles as Lockette was with her, holding a strand of her red/orange hair to lighten her mood.
"Poor Bloom, I wonder what's bothering her?" Faragonda was unable to know what was going on with Bloom's mind these days as she has been somewhat quiet.
"Darkar will target Cloud Tower next to get that piece of the codex."
"If my fairies and your witches work together they can protect the codex." Faragonda was confident in the Winx for how far they've grown since they first arrived in Alfea along with the help of the Keybladers.
Stepping out of the shadows was the headmistress of Cloud Tower, Griffin. Having to arrive in Alfea to have a private talk with Faragonda of the situation with Darkar after the first codex was taken from Red came up with a solution to build a stronger relation between fairies and witches to stop the threat. "You may be right but still, no witch likes the idea of working with fairies. Including myself."
Faragonda knew she was right on that subject, there have been some exceptions of cause with Mal despite being classed as a dark Fairy was also made a witch as a student of Cloud Tower, and also Mirta who was originally a witch before transferred to Alfea to become a Fairy. If only they can convince more on both sides to work together. "Well, we've got to find a way to put aside our differences.
"I don't know how, but I know who to ask." Griffin brings up a valid point but had other concerns on her mind. "There is still a matter of this foe, Kefka you mentioned, is after the Kaiju artifacts. If he intends to use them against us, it could start another war with the Kaiju Realm after almost a thousand years of uneasy peace."
"Yes, indeed it would, which is why this is also crucial with both forces working together." Faragonda still has hope to stop them while they have time. "The keybladers have already found two and are searching for the rest."
"And one of them is in possession of Kefka, so that means only two remain." Griffin clarified and did not like the odds. "They better find them before it's too late, or there are greater things to worry about. It's only a matter of time for the Monarchs to become active after all these centuries."
Faragonda fully understands what she was talking about, what she was told by the students of the Trix now able to summon the Kaiju to battle was something she was afraid would happen. Getting the artifacts is of absolute importance to get them and hopes to perhaps return them to their owners as a sign of friendship between their two worlds.
She truly hopes they are doing the right thing.
Meanwhile within the city of Auradon, all seemed normal until a figure walked within the alleyway. "Seems to be a weak spot in the Veil. Time to bring out a creature."
Reaching out his hand and opening a dimensional tear to another world, something came through, small and fast when it scurried about in the alley before the rift was sealed.
"The creature is loose, now just has to cause some bit of mischief." Chuckling sinisterly as the creature left trails of smoke in its path.
"Let me see if I got this right, to protect the codex in this school, Faragonda is sending the Winx Club to Cloud Tower, which is full of witches to study?" Mal wanted to be sure she heard correctly from the headmistress of the plan. She did not expect Griffin to go along with, but doubts some of the Winx would even agree, maybe not Mirta, but definitely imagine Stella being openly against it.
Griffin sat behind her desk after explaining the situation to the keyblader. "You heard me correctly, Mal. In recorded history, no fairies have ever studied in Cloud Tower. At least, until now but Mirta's advice is most helpful. Even some of the teachers believe they wouldn't last 2 days in this school."
"I know one person that fits the bill." Mal easily imagined a certain blonde fairy. "You think they would go with it."
"Uncertain, but they are willing to take a few classes, I will offer their help." Griffin is willing to allow it to stop Darker and the Trix from obtaining the second fragment. "But unlike witches and fairies, keyblade wielders are entirely neutral and not bound to our system."
"And the reason I'm here is in case something goes south." Mal speculated.
"Precisely." The witch nodded. "With the other mission to find the remaining two artifacts, the masters still have numbers on their sides to find them. Now, you should get to class and join the fairies as they will be here any moment."
At the same time, the Winx Club along with Mirta, and Zing walked up the long stairway to the entrance of the school on foot. They came into the headmistress' office when they were informed that the second codex fragment would be targeted, needless to say they were not all entirely thrilled with the idea of going to study in Cloud Tower. Faragonda reminded them of the importance of protecting the Codex from falling into Darkar's hand as. Tecna stated no witch in the history of Magix has ever asked a fairy's help due to their stubborn pride, but to Mirta's advice, the witches believe that many fairies these days have had it easy and wouldn't last a day or two to learn from Cloud Tower. Faragonda even stated that unlike witches, fairies are not slaves to pride and offered them the chance to take part in studying about witch magic, then Griffin will accept their help protecting the fragment. The majority of the girls knew it was important. They'll be allowed to bring their Titans with them as the other keybladers will not be with them for this assignment, so they will need to be prepared for anything.
Layla was thinking of Piff back at the school and didn't want to leave her behind, but did not want her to be in danger. Fortunately, she was in the company of the other pixies. "I wish Piff could come along."
Zing flew beside her and changed her outfit into a witch's outfit, with a pointy nose and riding a broomstick to fly. "I'll get you my pretty and your little Piff too!" Spoke in a classic witch stereotype.
"She wouldn't be happy. Cloud Tower's energy is too negative." Tecna told them, as reasons for not bringing the bonded pixies with them.
Bloom knew she was right. "Yeah, it would probably give our pixies massive headaches."
"Hey, Zing seems fine." Layla finds nothing appeared to be wrong with Zing… well, nothing fr unusual than ever.
"Don't worry Layla, I'll save you from the dark magic." Zing cackles, swinging her broomstick around.
The music fairy found the pixie's odd behavior rather amusing. "Yeah, but she's kinda…"
"Crazy? Like Genie?" Stella mentioned the blue genie when he was in Magix with them on the first year, comparing the two, almost a little similar.
"Come on, guys. We need to think about working together with the witches." Bloom reminds them of the reason for coming to Cloud Tower, while knowing the keybladers have been with them since then, she believes the witches could be a great help and put aside their differences. If they were to defeat their enemies, fairies and witches will have to work together.
Stella, however, was still uncertain about the whole idea of taking classes from witches. "Yeah right, and I don't even like being in a crowd where there's a single witch!"
"But they did help us fight the Trix last year." Bloom reminded her when they helped free them from during the war.
"You seem to forget that not only that they helped the Trix fight us a bunch of times!" Musa also seemed to share Stella's opinion but on a more personal level from her previous experience.
Drawing Layla's curiosity of the way Musa spoke about them. "Musa, did the witches do something to you?"
Musa remembered when she found Riven, who at the time was under a spell by the Trix, in a fit of rage she smacked Icy across the cheek. This resulted in Musa getting into a fight that escalated out of control between the witches who tagged along, and the Winx and keybladers when the Trix summoned a snaked Grimm. Till that day, aside from Mal and Mirta who did nothing wrong to her, she had trouble giving the idea of working with witches.
"Most witches want nothing more than to prove themselves better than a fairy." Mirta knew for certain from her time as a student in Cloud Tower. "With Mal being the only keyblader in school, we'll have to rely on our skills and backup." Referring to their Titans and Digimon to build up their numbers for when they'll confront the Trix.
Bloom fully agreed with Mirta, much as she wanted them to help, but with few of them around and so much to do. It would be selfish to say she wanted them to help the Winx, but while protecting the codex is important, so is finding the kaiju relics scattered about and preventing another crisis from happening. "I hope they realize that stopping Darkar and Kefka are more important."
"Don't you worry yourselves about that, little fairies." The girls arrived at the entrance, and standing before them were the professors Zarathrustra and Ediltrude who had been expecting them.
Even more I say." Professor Eildtrude begins to introduce herself and her sister before the fairies. "I am Professor Ediltrude and this is Professor Zarathustra. We're here to escort you."
"We've been told that you'll be staying with us until the danger is past." Zarathustra was aware of the Trix' plot to steal the codex, but did not seem to approve of the fairies to study about dark magic
"Or until our classes become too much for you, whichever comes first." Eildtrude didn't seem to believe they have what it takes, sharing a mutual grin with the fellow professor who had the same idea.
Knowing they were going to put some effort to push the fairies to the limit, but Bloom wasn't going to back down. "So, will you be showing around the building?"
"Actually, Cloud Tower is not your typical building." Ediltrude implied.
"It's a living creature with roots and branches." Zarathustra reveals the building's actual nature, surprising most of the fairies, except Mirta of the building, in fact alive.
Flora never expected the school to be a living being, she was aware that such things were possible as they were connected to magic, but not one of the main schools itself. "Roots and branches?"
"It's a magical entity created by ancient witches." Ediltrude answered her question, causing Stella to be grossed out and gagging. Making her think twice of entering it, or even ponder how anyone would set foot in it.
'I bet the others are having a better time than this!'
Back in Auradon, Taren was called by the masters for a special training while Ben had to do his royal duties, leaving him available for whatever it is they requested. They were leading him to the arena for a special training and a task to do. He followed Ventus and Aqua as they led the way.
"Since the Winx Club are on guard duty at Cloud Tower with the Trix likely to come after the second segment. We figured you should take the time to go into some training." Ventus tells him.
Taren was excited they were going to teach him something new, hopefully something useful to help in the future missions. "Great, but what about the others?"
"Ben will have his coming when he's got spare time and Mal is at Cloud Tower studying while also helping the Winx Club." Aqua stated. "But it doesn't mean you will just be alone."
"Which is why we have some new potential students to join." Ventus tells him, earning a surprise from Taren to hear about this.
"Really? More keybladers?"
"Not really, but some Ben suggested and even Mal thought would help them out." Aqua said, opening the doors and to the surprised Taren were Jay, Carlos and Evie. The members of the Villains Kids
"Hey, Taren. What up, man!" Jay greeted the redhead with a grin and came over to pat him on the back.
Carlos waves at him. "How's it going?"
It was great seeing the rest of the Villains Kids, he was mildly surprised to see them here and not on Auradon. "Hey, guys, I didn't think to see you guys here."
"They brought us here because we wanted to help out Mal." Evie answers. "After what she did for us, we wanted to repay her."
"Not to mention seeing new worlds and getting out of school work." Jay added, which earned an annoyed look from the keyblade masters and a bump on the elbow by Carlos to correct himself. "Which only for emergencies and help others.
Aqua rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Right, well, since after that incident at the coronation when we learned about Evie using magic, we believe they could have potential to be better than their parents back in the Isle."
"Ben strongly supported this." Ventus tells him.
"So will we try to be keybladers like you guys?" Carlos pondered.
Ventus shakes his head. "Not easy, you have to inherit from a keyblade wielder who deems you worthy or be chosen by one." Knowing it's not entirely easy to obtain the honor of wielding one. "But, doesn't mean you kids don't have something special, so we thought something else could help."
Aqua nods and takes her turn. "You remember seeing your friends and the Trix in action using magic?" Getting a few nods from the teens as they responded. "We thought perhaps if you want to help out, its best to be sure you know what you lot will get yourselves in for."
"You think we dont know that?" Evie spoke. "We saw how Mal fought for us and want to help."
Seeing the determined looks on their faces, Aqua approved of their response. "Well, seeing as you three have already made up your minds. We could try some ideas that would give you a little helping hand. Like a summon."
"We're gonna learn that? Awesome." Jay jumped with excitement. "Are we gonna have like those Digimon or one of those summon types we've heard about?"
"Still having a bit of a look into the Digital world, and before any of you ask, we're still working on ways to travel to that world so better wait." Ventus tells them, much to the disappointment of the teens, but at least knowing they are considering it.
Knowing about the Digital World, Taren wouldn't admit he added that place to one of the worlds he wanted to explore.
Getting started with the simple lessons to help them with Aqua going first. "So, maybe to help you guys is to know a bit of summoning, there are several kinds as you noticed a few, Titan medallions, Digivices, and Summon Materia, and of course, keyblades." Showing them the Rainfall in her grip. "The keyblade can call forth anyone from another world with the strong bond formed, no matter where or how far that wielder is.
"We also found some new ones like the Duel gauntlet which allows the user to summon creatures from the Kaiju realm." Ventus pulls out a gauntlet, catching Taren's amazement of seeing more.
"You guys found more?" He asked them.
"Some, we managed to make more but not easy at first due to the type of magic it requires." The blonde keyblade master says. "Much like the Materia, you need to have full control."
"Cool, I'd like to have some of those for action." Jay looked at them. "Hey, any more of those medallions like the ones the others have?"
"We'll get to that first until you know each of them, but best to avoid using too many at once and know what you need." Aqua advised him about it.
"Cause it would drain a lot of our energy?" Carlos asked if he was right.
Aqua nods her head to confirm his question. "Right, so you gotta have to use what you have like the Winx and the Specialists using Titans, Mal, Taren and Ben with their Digimon as their main partners but will teach them how to use Summoning magic soon."
"So for the first, we're going to try out the Dueling gauntlets as an experiment to learn about them." Ventus hands out each of them a gauntlet. "That's where we come in to understand them more and be prepared as more and more of the Kaiju start to show up." Since they have been encountering more of the Kaiju, it was decided by the Masters to study the art and be ready to stop them from crossing over, while most importantly searching for the remaining artifacts to prevent an all out war between the Magic Dimension and the Kaiju. While they have found some new medallions for aid, they decided to keep some until the students have taken the next level of their powers.
Ventus' phone started vibrating and picked it up. "Uh, Aqua, think you might wanna look at this." The group looked at his phone which had news reports of fire across Auradon City.
"That can't be good."
Cloud Tower
The Winx girls s began their first lesson in the auditorium, finding so many witches in training gathered for the knowledge they were learning from their teachers. They found Mal and took the seats nearby to at least be with someone they know with so many witches giving them stern looks since they set food.
Tecna leans towards Mal before their teacher comes in. "So any word about the other artifacts being found."
"Not yet, still searching." Mal responds. "But so far they have narrowed down the ones belonging to the Light and Water Civilizations."
"Sounds like everyone is on edge to find them." Bloom says.
"Taking on monsters would have been better than being here." Stella whispers, but is shushed by Bloom and Mal to keep her voice down.
"Remember why we're here, Stella. We need the witches to gain our trust." Bloom reminded her, luckily no one heard them until the class went silent upon Griffin's arrival.
She began the lecture of their first lesson. "Welcome to Basic Witchcraft 101. The objective of this class is to teach beginners and honored guests the rudiments of dark magic.
"This is so embarrassing." Musa complained, still unable to believe they were actually taking this.
Layla didn't like how everyone was looking at them, making her feel uneasy about the attention they were giving. "Ever since we got here, the witches have done nothing but stare at us."
"They're jealous of our sense of style, that's why." Something of which Stella strongly believed in, causesing Mal to roll her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm sure that's the real reason." Mentally resisting the urge to groan as she wanted to hear the headmistress' lecture.
"We'll begin with a simple exercise, producing energy by conjuring up dark images." Griffin decided to choose one of the fairies for a demonstration. She turns her attention to Flora as the possible choice. "Flora, will you start us off?"
Flora didn't expect to be the first one to be volunteered. The fairy of nature was not sure how to perform it and responded to the headmistress with a question. "Aren't we gonna divide up in groups to practice first?"
"In groups?! Witches working in groups?!" Griffin exclaimed, finding such a question to be foolish. Ignoring the class laughing at Flora, she gave them a reminder about witches. "Listen up, fairies. Team members can betray one another, that's why a witch depends on no one but herself."
"Yes, but I mean-yes, ma'am. If that's how witchcraft works, then…" Flora decided to end the stuttering before making herself look bad even more.
Tecna was beginning to have second thoughts of this. She whispers to Bloom next to her. "I don't want to learn any of this stuff."
Bloom could only sigh, Mal hears her and while not wanting to speak out in class to disrupt, she may understand Tecna's point of view, but given how powerful some witches are, sometimes learning from things you don't like can be an advantage. If they are ever going to defeat the Trix for good, learning a few things about how Witches use magic would be needed.
"Now everyone take out your textbooks and open them to page 3,026." Griffin walks to her desk and opens the book to give them a demonstration.
After returning to Cloud Tower after she transferred to Alfea, Mirta took the time to walk up to her former dorm room, where her picture had been crossed off the door. Uncertain if Lucy was either mad at her for leaving to become a fairy, or refuses to acknowledge her at all. Still, it was worth a try and talk to her, she knocks on the door, only to receive no response. Depressed, Mirta turns around and leaves, even if it was a difficult task, but she didn't want to give up hope of repairing their friendship.
"Fire spreading across Auradon City? That seems a little random." Evie did not like the sound of it, concerning this might be a crisis with so many fires going about.
"It would, but just picked up an energy spike somewhere and vanished." Aqua looked at the map where the fires started. "This seems a little more than a coincidence, but maybe check it out."
"And it seems to be coming near the school." Carlos looked at the map to study the patterns. But then thought of something they believed was magic. "Maybe it's something related to a fire element? Or a villain runs loose?"
Ventus took note of the boy, Carlos' intelligence to immediately summarize it. "Good perspective, we already had our drones to scan the energy and no doubt this is a Kaiju thing."
"Wait, you know what type it is?" Taren asked them.
Aqua confirms this to them. "After the incidents with the Grimm and other creatures we fought, we took a lot of time studying their energy signatures. So if any such as a magic-based Kaiju or a Digimon… or, and I hope not in our lifetime, another Heartless attack, we will be prepared."
had an idea for the students to train them. "Here's an idea as part of a little training, we go find the source and put a stop to it before it gets out of hand."
Aqua takes a liking to this idea and nods before turning to the teens. "And whoever catches this perp, wins."
"Sweet!" Jay liked the sound of that. "I'm in for some action!"
Taren grins, summoning his keyblade for action and activates his gauntlet. "I know one or two for the job. Agumon and Tat-"
"No." But before he could call them out, Ventus held out his hand in front of him. "This exercise is about using control and working alongside your summoned creature.
"And as much as we see your skills have improved, you need to learn to balance your abilities, Taren. Otherwise be wasting your strength."
He might have to agree with them and remembered to always be needing his partners when its important, and also if an actual battle happens for Tatsurion. But another thing that came to mind. "But what about the others, they haven't yet learned theirs."
"That's why we started on learning to control the Kaiju, they have some potential after Evie's demonstration of her magic. So be using less dangerous ones we found suited.
"Okay, that sounds good." Carlos didn't want to be teamed up with a dangerous monster, and something with big teeth and claws. "What sort of creatures are we using?"
"Are we gonna be partnered up with a Digimon of our own like the others?" Jay thought it would be awesome to have one of their own. "What about the Titans? From what we heard, they sound awesome.
"Unfortunately, we haven't fully understood the nature of the Digital World, we were just lucky to find some. But perhaps one day." Aqua didn't want to deflate their hopes, having to try to watch out for any dangerous ones that may pass through like the Snimon. For the moment, it would be better to train them first before knowing more of their potential gifts.
"For the creatures you will be working with are Water-type Kaiju to handle this situation. And found some for you three to use." Ventus gave one to Jay as he tried to focus into the mana filled gauntlet, it turned into a red and black flame pattern, which made him connected with fire just like Taren's but more lighter. Carlos' was more of a mixed blue with circuit patterns, making it look robotic. And Evie' was a yellow armored gauntlet.
This proved they have potential use of the mana for their first training. "We won't have much time to train, but consider this as an exercise to
Ventus uses the keyblade to summon the first one for them. "Steam Star Grapplog." Appearing before the group was a floating large starfish like creature, pink with five tendrils and another extending from the center of the body with black appendages, almost black and metallic. "Jay, this one will be partnered with you."
"Oh… great." Jay didn't seem too keen with the idea. "Never thought my first creature would be sushi." One of its tendrils aimed at his face and blasted his face with water. Growls and glares at the creature. "That better have been water!"
Evie covers her mouth to not laugh as did Taren before Aqua turned to the daughter of the Evil Queen. "Now, for Evie, we already summoned a creature for you to try out, a Bouyant Blowfish." Introducing her to a creature she will work on, a large floating puffer fish-like creature with curved beak-like mouth blue and purple scales, spiked needles from its rounded torso with the small curved fins. Evie was a little skeptical but took this as an assignment to learn about them.
It was now Carlos' turn. "So, uh, what would be my creature, masters?"
"We had looked into certain creatures, one we found could be suited for your smarts and learn from each other. Putting on the gauntlet, Aqua channels the mana to summon a creature suited for Carlos. "Reef Prince, Reef Prince Glu-urrgle." Water swirled around her like a circle before creating a portal before the keyblade master, the emblem of the portal had a blue wave with a darker blue circuit-shaped circle surrounding it appeared for a moment until a creature was summoned.
It was a small blue with a translucent body, almost insect and alien-like with a cylinder-shaped head with two antenna-like protrusions sticking out of its heads and small sphere-shaped growth on the top of its head. It had a bizarre anatomy with two stubby legs that appear to be arms at the bottom and its upper limbs made for legs. The teens were somewhat... surprised by the appearance of such a bizarre little creature as it pulled itself up with Aqua standing beside it and gestures her hand to curious and observative Cyber Lord.
Jay lets out a laugh and pats his hand on Carlos' back. "Looks like something out of a bad sci fi movie, you should call him 'Gargle'."
Carlos realised they were serious and made him partnered up with this... thing, walks over to it to try and control it with his gauntlet. So far nothing has happened yet, or felt anything. He looks to both the masters if they mean it with Aqua nodding her head without a word as she made her choice. Suddenly, he felt something digging into his pocket and grabbed his phone. "What the-hey! Give that back!" Glu-urrgle swiped it from him to study the device, the small Cyber Lord wrestled with it until his stubby lower limbs latched onto his face. "Get off my face!" Fallen to the ground as the water creature jumps around to study other such technologies and books.
Carlos was not so sure about this one. "Uh, masters? Not that I want to question your choices, but I don't think I can control this one."
"Your gauntlet reacted to you, so that proves you have some potential, but need to find focus." Ventus assures him. "Unlike Titans and most summons, Kaiju and summoners need to build a bond between them."
"So give it time. it might even surprise you." Aqua says. "Taren, you stay with them and if any sign of danger, you know what to do."
Following their instructions to the core, he will make sure the others do well. "Don't worry, we'll find what's causing it and complete the mission."
The students including the Winx girls created purple spheres in their hands using negative energy. Griffin keeps a keen eye to see how they perform. While some performed well, others however had a hard time to master such art; one student got zapped by the sphere, another was suddenly attacked by a tentacle and held a strong grip around her, making the other students laugh. Griffin walks amongst the students, assessing their spheres.* Our spells require darkness as a primary source of energy, and so it's important to learn to subdue light.
"Very good. No, not dark enough. It's a little dusty." Griffin walks down the staircase and notices Musa's sphere, mildly surprised that she could do such a task. "Hmm, better than I'd expect from a fairy."
Taking it as an accomplishment made Musa smile for being able to do it. "Great."
Turns to Mal who was concentrating on her sphere. "Very good, Mal, but remember to keep channeling your inner darkness into the sphere." Turning her attention to the class. "Many of our spells require darkness as a primary source of energy, and so it's important to learn to subdue light.
Stella's sphere glows like a mini sun. "Sorry, but I don't do darkness."
The headmistress disapproves of this method. "You realize that your grades here will end up on your permanent record?"
Stella didn't seem concerned about it. "Have you seen my permanent record? These marks will fit right in."
Mal was having a hard time to focus with so much light shining in her view. "Hey, Stella, a little warning if you were gonna give us some."
"Professor, if I complete the spell, can I leave class early?" Bloom requested, she appeared to be tired out and unwell, drawing the headmistress' attention and mild concern when she noticed Bloom's sphere turning red.
"Are you feeling alright Bloom? Fairies don't normally summon up negative feelings so easily."
"I've had a bad week." Bloom responds.
While the girls are having some of their own issues, they remain unaware of the danger close by as the Trix have successfully snuck inside the school to search for the second fragment. Taking refuge inside one of the rooms with increased security, despite their efforts of finding it, they had little luck much to the frustrations of Stormy. In a fit of rage blasts a display containing glass.
Icy tries to stop her from getting caught if she continues. "Will you stop it? Someone's gonna hear us."
"No one's down here this time of day and I'm sick of trying to find a needle in a haystack." Stormy didn't seem concerned, too busy being annoyed by finding no clues of the codex piece's whereabouts.
"We don't have much of a choice." "We have control over the tower, let's just tell it to bring us the codex!" Stormy was sure they could find it without a problem.
However, Darcy was uncertain about it. "Griffin still has most of the tower under her power. "
"Well there's nothing around her, so let's split up and look for likely hiding places." Icy suggested, making it easier to find it.
Darcy didn't seem to mind the idea and went with it. "Fine."Both her and Icy then use the power of their Gloomix to make holes in the wall for them to fly into, once they entered them, the holes sealed up as if the wall was never damaged. With Stormy left behind, she decided to take another route, but stopped when she surprisingly found none other than Mirta back in Cloud Tower, curious to where she was going and could be of use to them. Silently following her, but staying far as she can to know where the former witch was going.
Mirta walked through the corridors to check on how the others were doing, she suddenly found Mal around the corner and called out to her. "Hey, Mal. Any luck with the witches?"
"So far, the Winx called some to chat, including your pal, Lucy, to work with us. Knowing them, they'd probably wanna do this on their own."
Mirta wouldn't be surprised by it. "Yeah, I guess it's gonna be harder than I thought." She also had something to ask her, something that's been on her mind for awhile and wanted to ask Mal something. "Say. Mal, I don't suppose that you happen to know anything about a fairy named Titania?"
Looks at her with an eyebrow raised and looks at her. "Titania? You mean the folk tale back at Auradon Museum? Why?"
"I just thought maybe if there was any more information about her, that's all." For some reason, Mirta couldn't get her mind off the subject. "I know it's odd, but since I heard that name it felt… familiar. Weird right?"
Surprised this came from Mirta of all people, Mal didn't know how to respond to such a question. "Ever tried the library, or maybe your dad? He might have seen some in his past. What's so interesting about her."
"No idea. But maybe-hey, do you hear that?" Mirta wasn't sure what she meant until they could hear voices.
Mal can hear it as well. "It's coming from the library." They went in and found the girls, both the WInx and several witches, including Lucy appear to be arguing with each other instead of working alongside with each other to stop the Trix.
"See that? Fairies can't agree with one another."
Groaning in annoyance, Mal pinches the bridge of her nose. "Ugh, I knew they were going to be like this. We better get in before they start turning each other into frogs or something."
Agreeing with her, Mirta opens the door and finds them arguing and at each other's throats, including her old friend Lucy. "What are you guys doing?"
"Collaborating. Isn't that obvious?" Stella answers.
Mal narrows her eyes at them with her hands on her hips. "Yeah, and we don't seem convinced."
"Mal's right. You're arguing, so who's watching the Trix?" Mirta reminded them of the reason they needed to work together to stop them.
Flora realized that they have been wasting time arguing and not making any progress. "Mirta's right. We must get together.
"Yeah, well I'll listen to Bloom before I listen to that traitor." One of the witches refuses to listen to Mirta.
Mal didn't like her tone but Mirta didn't budge and sought to remind them of other important issues at stake. "And if the Trix win 'cause you didn't cooperate, what do you think Griffin will do to you?" Mirta counters their argument.
The witches' colors suddenly dropped and went pale upon the mention of the headmistress, knowing if they failed their assignment for refusing to work with the fairies, it would mean big trouble for all of them.
Mal couldn't help but feel impressed by Mirta twisting the tables on them and snickers mentally, not wanting to be in any of their shoes right now.
Bloom appreciated her help as they seem to be ready to comply, much to her great relief. "Okay, everyone. This is our chance to stop the Trix before they get enough power to threaten all the Magic Dimensions. Let's make Griffin and Faragonda proud!"
"And kick some Trix ass!" Mal proclaimed, earning a cheer from everyone. Little do they know that they were being watched by Stormy using her magic to spy on them, hearing every word of their conversation.
"Stormy, have you found the Winx yet?" Icy asks her of any sign of the fairies.
Stormy indeed did so and found them with a fe witches. "Yep. It's just like Darkar figured."
"Let's catch up with Darcy. I see a weakling." Icy had an idea of who they will target and get the job done for them.
Mirta was finally back in her own dorm, sitting down on herold bed with Salamon sitting beside her while Lucy strolled around in circles. She found some of the photos of herself and Lucy when they were young, smiling fondly and decided to break the silence. "So did you have fun at the dance the other day?"
"Yeah, I did." Lucy responded in a friendly tone, as she seemed to have had some fun that night.
"It was like when we were kids, remember?" Mirta recalled their time together.
Lucy smiles and remembers very well. "The village fairs, you always dragged me to them."
"We had fun though, didn't we?"
"You had more fun there than at school, that's for sure." Lucy stated and remembered the times Mirta was usually bullied at school, until she met Lucy. "I remembered the time when that moment you got so mad at them, your magic manifested and created this big monster that scared away the kids from our class."
"No kidding, when my dad found out about it, I thought he was gonna be mad. But instead, he was proud." She remembered how he acted like he was going to 'punish' her but secretly gave a grin and a thumbs up. "I would have thought if I inherited his ability, I would have caused an inferno."
She was happy with what she had and her father had nothing against it. "Even though school was rough, you always wanted to be with the "big kids" in art class.
"Yeah, because I was better than them." Lucy still wanted to be one of the top witches she can be.
While Mirta had nothing against her best friend's dream, it was nice to talk and not argue. "You know, we've been through so much together."
"Remember the first day of school?" Lucy remembered how it happened to her, but it was so embarrassing while Mirta brought it up.
"You tried to sit with the Trix. I thought they'd turn you into a toad." Mirta smiles, while she was relieved for her friend was not hurt.
"And you were such a wimp, Griffin almost didn't almost let you in." Lucy held back the urge to laugh, but seeing how Mirta interacted with Mal gave her the confidence to stand up to the Trix, unlike her and got turned into a pumpkin. She felt bad about not being there for her, but happy that Mirta was making friends in Alfea.
"And she's not a wimp, Mirta fought off against a Snimon and helped the others." Salamon recalled the battle when they became partners, earning a surprise from Lucy.
Mirta nodded. "It's true, the first time we met, we got chased and almost ended up as a giant bug's meal." Showing her the image of the Snimon. "It wasn't the first one I encountered, I'm starting to get the hang of my new powers."
"For real? Wow, I didn't think you had it in you." Lucy noticed much of her was not like the old Mirta she remembered. "You've really changed, I mean in a good way. Got friends, stood up to the Trix and now became a fairy. You're almost different."
"Maybe I'd have been better off. Having a lot of fun at Alfea." It would have been different in a good way, but then she would not have met and friended the Winx or the Keybladers, especially going on adventures with them and having her own Digimon and Titan as partners.
Lucy looked at her friend as if she knew what she was thinking. "Don't tell me you want me to become a fairy?"
Giving a nervous smile on her face just by thinking about it. "Well…" However, she knew it was a long shot with Lucy's mind made up.
"No way! If I keep studying witchcraft, I'll get all kinds of power." Lucy made her decision very clear.
Mirta thought as much. "I guess some things never change."
"Hey, not all witches are like the Trix." Lucy told her and didn't want to be like the Trix after her experience with them. "That Mal may be tough, at least you're still friends with her and she's got a keyblade. But Lady Griffin is strong and proud. Someday, I'll be just like her!"
Mirta nods her head in accepting her friend's choice. "I understand."
"You know, just because you're not a witch anymore-"
"Doesn't mean we can't still be friends, right?" Mirta finishes her sentence and gives her best friend a hug as the two reconcile to accept each other for who they are.
"Right." Lucy smiles at her. "Though I wonder who else you've been looking for."
Uncertain what she meant, Mirta blinked her eyes as she was confused. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
Unable to hold back the smirk, Lucy folds her arms and continues. "I'm talking about a certain guy that you kept looking at back at the concert. Red hair, yellowish eyes and two girls in each arm ring any bells. Also a giant key sword?
Starting to piece together what she was talking about now, Mirta's freckled face suddenly went red as her eyes widened as she was referring to a certain teen she was crushing on. This earned a response to Lucy's expression that she knew and no use trying to deny it, she sighs and sunk on her old bed next to Salamon who remained silent of what was going on. "Am I that obvious?" Receiving only a nod from Lucy. "Alright, fine, it started out as a small crush as I thought Taren was cute, I would have backed off when I thought he was now dating Bloom and Flora. But… a while after spending time with him, I just suddenly became so nervous. He's really sweet, caring and cares for many just to help out."
"You think those fairies know about your thing for him?" While Lucy might not know if she supports Mirta, but would have suspected them to be jealous and even if he's a keyblader, she would give him a say or two if he's screwing with her best friend.
"I never told them. They'd probably be against it." But she knew Bloom and Flora were very nice as Flora had looked after her when she was a pumpkin. "I don't even think he might not like me that way. I'm not like the Winx or Mal."
This was now Salamon's turn to give her some encouragement. "You kidding, Mirta? You protected me and Zing from the Snimon and fought alongside me, even if we just met. You even stood up alongside your friends for the others on Auradon and helped them out."
"Your little pet here is right." Lucy tells her. "After how much you've accomplished on your own, even showing your face in Cloud Tower after leaving to become a fairy takes guts." Lucy saw how much she's changed and couldn't be happier, placing her hands on Mirta's shoulder. "I may not know what you see in that guy, but if you want to tell him, he should be lucky to have you."
Feeling touched by their words, Mirta gave a positive smile and pulled her in a hug. "Thanks, Lucy. And maybe you're right, I should probably need to build up the courage and tell him how I feel and if it doesn't I still wanna be there for the support."
"That's the Mirta I'm talking about." Lucy's expression changed from a proud look to a sternful scowl. "But if he upsets you in any way, I'll give him the most horrible curse there is. Keyblader or not!"
"Don't worry, I think I can manage. And I doubt Taren would do something like that." Knowing he wouldn't hurt her, but another thing that made her worry about something else. "But please, for the love of all things, don't tell my dad! He'll go on a rampage if he knew! And don't tell Mal as well, don't think she will be sort of keen about it.
After putting aside their petty differences and rekindled their friendship, Lucy took off on her own to get to class. She suddenly stopped and felt something was off, and made her nervous, which proven true as soon as Icey came through the wall, followed by Darcy and Stormy which terrified the witch that the Trix she used to look up to were here and surrounded her.
Icy never expected to run into of her former 'associates', but would do for their plans. "Well, well, well."
"What have we here?" Stormy appears behind Lucy, gasped in fright as they corner her.
"It's our old friend, Lucy." Darcy glares at her.
Icy confronts the scared Lucy to do as they say. "You are going to help us, right?"
Lucy backed up to a wall, her entire body quivering with fear of the Trix. Back then she would have admired them, but after what they did and unleashed the monstrous Grimm and the army of soldiers from another dimension to conquer Magix, she now realised why Mirta never trust them and how cruel they were of using the Witches of the school as living batteries for their power. "W-why don't you just leave me alone, huh?"
"Because we know you, Lucy." Stormy glares at her.
"You'll help us, yes or no?" Icy dares her to make the decision
Her body was too scared to move at all, Lucy panicked and had no chance to take them on by herself. Taking in Mirta's idea of standing up to them just like Mal did. But had to think of a way to escape, an insect that was just crawling by. That would make a perfect distraction and was now or never. "No!" She zaps the passing insect with her magic to increase its size. Catching the Trix's surprise by a moment of distraction, she attacks Icy using her magic, but had no effect on her as the Gloomix necklace she was wearing took the blow and absorbed the attack.
Icy was not at all too pleased by that stunt. "How DARE you attack me!"
"Hey, Stormy. I think Lucy needs to be reminded of what happens to those who fight the Trix." Darcy had an idea to make Lucy regret turning on them.
Her plan failed as they were ready to fight her. "Wait, no!" Pleads for mercy.
Falling on deaf ears, Stormy blasts Lucy against the wall with full force, coating her with her dark magic and already at their mercy.
Lucy didn't think she was good enough, she wasn't like Mirta, at least she was brave to stand up to them. Ultimately, she gave in and now begged for her life. "I'll do whatever you want... just don't hurt me please." Begging them to spare her.
"That's more like it." Icy was satisfied with the answer and has something for Lucy to do for them.
While the Winx were taking Zarathustra's Class, Mal was called to the headmistress' office to give her report of the situation, she was excused from Zarathustra's teachings for the moment. Entering the office to find Headmistress Griffin and professor Ediltrude beside her, curious to what they wanted to see her, but no doubt about the current updates.
"You wanted to see me?" She asks.
"Indeed, it seems the students and the fairies seem to be searching every nook and cranny for any sign of the Trix. Looks like Bloom managed to convince them."
"Yeah, for now." Ediltrude crosses her arms.
"But that isn't why I brought you in, Mal. I recently spoke with the masters about the previous battle you had with the Trix on Auradon." Narrowing her eyes at the young witch student. "Is it true that they have started to gain new abilities such as summoning the Kaiju to fight?" Confirming her question by a simple nod which proved Griffin's worries, earning a shock of the professor to be aware of this.
"Are the Trix desperate to provoke another war with the creatures? How could they even be able work with them?"
"Obiviously they must have either spells or Dueling guantlets I've been told about." Mal gave an answer when she was researching about their kind. "They must have someone who know how to use them, summoning the Kaiju to fight with them."
"And with the shield in their hands, its only a matter of time they know how to use its power. And with rumors about Kefka gathering allies, I fear for what he is up to with those artefacts." Griffin did not like this at all. It is most imperative they find the Trix and stop them from stealing the Codex. "There is something I need you to do."
"I expect all the teachers to help if the codex is in danger!" Griffin knew it was important to protect the codex from Darkar and his followers.
For Ediltrude, she starting to realise how serious the headmistress was to go so far to allow the fairies to attend, and even have the Young keyblade apprentice to help with the witches to support them. "Did the Trix really become so powerful?"
"Faragonda and Yen Side had told me that Darkar has gifted them with special powers and after finding out they can use summoning creatures, it's only a matter of time they gain more power while we do nothing." Griffin felt something was off while discussing the issue with the professor after thier
Not daring to question the headmistress, but she thought they could handle it by moving the Codex to a more secured location. "If you're so worried about the codex why not send the teachers-
Realise something was off, Griffin stopped Ediltrude from revealing too much information. "DON'T mention it's location! Fiume-evernesco!" The doors vanished by her enchantment, revealing to them none other than Lucy herself who was eavesdropping on their every word. The girl was startled and to have been caught
"You were spying?!" Ediltrude exclaimed that one of their students would dare do such a thing.
Not wanting to stick around, Lucy rmade a run for it as fast as she can.
Unable to allow such deeds go unpunished, Ediltrude would catch her for questioning. "She won't get far, Lady-"
"No, stop!" Griffin stops her before doing anything. "She's scared that's all. Besides, I think what's happening here is fairly obvious." And if her instincts were right, it means the Trix were here.
Lucy ran as if her life depended on it, she knew Griffin would find out if she was spying but had no choice under fear of the Trix to hurt her. But now she was caught just before finding out where the Codex was. Making sure the coast was clear and calling out to them. "I-Icy, is that you?" No response and continued onwards when suddenly Zing ran into Zing who was flying about and scared each other, turning to the opposite direction.
But one of the pathways she took leads her towards Bloom, Flora, and Mirta.
Mirta was mildly surprised to see her, but something was not right as she looked terrified and white as a ghost. "Lucy, what's wrong?" Gave no response, Lucy was overwhelmed with shock and collapsed to the floor. Startled, Mirta kneels beside her and she wakes up. "Lucy? Are you alright?" She
Slowly regaining consciousness and finally spoke. "The… the Trix, they're already here."
"What?" Mirta thought she heard her wrong, but clearly they were already in Cloud Tower
"They're after me." Lucy proclaimed.
So I thought of ending it there with a cliffhanger, sorry about that but thought it be a good idea. Along with mixing some elements from Kaijudo episode "Om Nom Nom" with the VK to learn types of magic and summoning, while wasn't sure if they use Titans, or paired with Digimon partners but thought they be giving ideas of what different types there are and know how to deal with them to defend themselves if they one day go on missions with the heroes. It was a little tricky which type of civilization they be aligned with, so I figured Jay being the hot head with fire, Carlos the brains with water, Evie I was either thinking light or nature, so went with Light as darkness would be Mal's element.
And yes from the latest review, I'm looking for anyone who can offer some help as things at home are a little hectic with stuff I have to work on and being delayed, someone who can help with story build up, ideas, etc, maybe a co-writer to help.
Response to questions:
: I will consider some ideas, never had watched Slugterra unfortunately, did hear about it but maybe take a look at some episodes to think about it.
Nightmaster: from chapter 70, Yeah, no kidding, how could a bunch of 'heroes' be so easily tricked and confused by their own questions? HAd Phil met them, he'd think they were no where near the level as the keyblade masters and Hercules.