Winx Club Rewrite: Flame of the Dragon

By ArachCobra and Givenea

Authors Note: Some of you may be wondering why? Why make this? Well, it all started when my girlfriend wanted me to watch the second season of Winx Club, not because she was a big fan, or even a regular fan, but because she thought it would be funny. It might have stayed that, me and my girlfriend watching and mocking the show, if she hadn't run across a funny fact. Techna's design was based on the musician Pink. And then she started pondering how Techna would be if she acted more like Pink did in her videos. Then it kinda spiralled out of control, as we bounced ideas back and forth between each others, how the characters could be improved, how plot holes could be closed, how scenes could be altered to make more sense. In the end, we had so much material that we thought we might as well go through with it and just rewrite the damn show. So now, we have watched all currently available episodes and here is our take on how the show could be improved. Like it, hate it, have your own suggestions? Just write to us in the comments.

Beta: Moka-girl

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Event

Gardenia was a middle sized city, lying on the west coast of USA in the state of California. It wasn't a particularly famous town, but it was reasonably popular amongst tourists for its pristine beaches, and a couple of middle sized businesses had their headquarters in the middle of the city. Plus, it had managed to attract the usual chains of stores that always seems to pop up whenever a city reached a certain size, such as Walmart, McDonald's and Starbucks.

In the suburbs of Gardenia lived the Peterson family, consisting of Vanessa, Mike and their daughter Bloom. They lived in an average-sized house and had done so for the last fourteen years, having moved in shortly after Bloom had become part of the family. She had her own room on the first floor with blue walls covered with sketches of things both real and imaginary. Prominent themes were not only beautiful landscapes, but also fairies, elves and other such graceful beings of legend.

And on a sunny Tuesday in the middle of June, the girl herself was snoozing quietly under her duvet, her orange-red hair flowing messily out over her pillow. She could probably have continued sleeping for quite a while, if she hadn't been woken by a stern:

"Are you still sleeping now?"

Groggily, Bloom forced her eyes open and mumbled something unintelligible before glancing at the clock by her bedside. It took a couple of seconds for her brain to register the time. With a yelp, she almost fell from her bed.

"Oh no, I'm late, I'm late," she gasped, struggling to free herself from her duvet.

She tumbled off of her bed, almost falling to the floor in the process of running for her clothes. Her mother just kept watching her daughter, counting the seconds. Suddenly, Bloom froze while simultaneously trying to fix her hair and put her pants on.

"Summer break," she said. "School's closed." There was a short pause. "MOM!" Annoyed, she pouted.

"Sixteen seconds, much better than last year," chuckled Vanessa. "Breakfast, however, is ready despite the summer break, so there's that."

Bloom sighed in a manner that was supposed to sound annoyed. The effect was ruined by her attempt at hiding an amused smile. As her mom left the room, she continued to put on clothes, albeit at a pace that didn't risk breaking any limbs.

A couple of minutes later, Bloom descended down the stairs, having found a blue and pale yellow top and matching jeans to wear. She entered the kitchen and sat down at the small table."Morning dad."

Her dad, Mike, who was currently busy with today's paper, was a fairly muscular man with blond hair and a fondness for blue clothing, one which he shared with Bloom. Her mom, who had just arrived with a dish full of pancakes, was a lightly built lady with brown hair, who wore a pair of blue overalls almost constantly.

As she sat down, Mike asked:

"So when could Jenny watch the store?"

"Not until the twentieth. She's visiting her grandmother."

"Excellent. I'll tell my boss I'll take my vacation there then. He's been curious, knows we go on vacation this time of year and all that." Pleased, Mike put down his newspaper.

"We're going back to that beach resort again this year?" asked Bloom.

"Yep." Then, noticing his daughter's slightly unhappy expression, he asked: "Something wrong?"

"Well, no, not wrong," said Bloom. "It's just, Mitzi has been bragging about her ski trip, Jonas is going to Vegas, Jonathan and Bob to New York and we're going to the same place we've been since..." Bloom thought about it for a moment. "Well, since ever."

"Don't you like it there?" asked her mom, concerned.

"It's fun enough. It's just, I'd really like to go somewhere else for a change." Morose, she poked a pancake with a fork.

"Yeah, it would be nice, but it's the best combination of low price and quality," said her dad.

"I know. You said so last year," said Bloom.

"Well, we'll have fun as usual," said her mom. After a moment, she added: "But I think we have something that might just help on it all." Her daughter looked quite curious. "Here's a hint. It's got two wheels."

Bloom's face lit up in a big smile and she had to visibly restrain herself from just pouring her breakfast down her throat.

...

"Is this really necessary?" asked Bloom, as she was led outside with her dad holding his quite sizeable hands over her eyes.

"Of course it is. It's a surprise," added her dad joyfully. "And here it is."

With that, he let go of her head. In front of them was a new bicycle. It was red with a basket in front that was filled with what Bloom suspected were flowers from her mom's store.

Vanessa studied her daughter's face carefully. Bloom went from lit up with expectations, to a twinge disappointed. It was gone in a flash, and she turned around to give her mother a hug while saying "Thank you" with an earnest smile marking her face.

"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?" Her dad chucked as he received his own hug.

"Of course I wouldn't forget thanking you," said his daughter with a smile. "I think I'll try it out on a trip to the park. I think Kiko will like it."

"Sounds like an excellent idea," agreed her mother. Mike and Vanessa watched as their daughter hurried back into the house.

"See, I told you she would like it," said Mike, turning to his wife.

"Yes, but she had obviously hoped for a scooter. Well, maybe one day. We could always save up money for it."

Mike scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know. Scooters are a bit dangerous. I mean, I heard John's neighbour's son once..."

"We can't always base our decisions on what could possibly go wrong. If we did, we would never be able to leave the house. And you know that." Smiling, she sent a poke to her husband's chest.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just worried, you know. She's almost an adult and I..."

Vanessa interrupted him with a: "I know. Now shhh, she's coming back down."

Bloom almost jumped out the door, holding a grey guinea pig in her hands. She placed it in the basket and bid her parents goodbye. As she began cycling down the road, she heard her dad call out: "Drive carefully! And be home at six!"

"I will," she called back.

...

As Bloom drove towards the park, she noted a group of her classmates had gathered in a side street. Curious, she drove over to see what was going on. She recognised the group. Jasper, the class clown with freckles, Sabrina, the cute girl who was obsessed with the newest trends in shoes and Jowan, the football player. As the centre of attention, presenting her new scooter, was Mitzi Monet.

A girl with long black hair, dark-blue somewhat pointy glasses, a green top and khaki capris. Seeing her new scooter made Bloom a bit jealous. Mitzi bragging over said scooter just made her roll her eyes.

"It's just a shame I won't have a chance to use it much over the next month, because we will be going on a ski trip." Mitzi's tone was dramatic, and she was obviously enjoying every second of attention she was getting.

"Hey, nice scooter," said Bloom as she stopped her bicycle besides them. "When did you get it?"

"Why, this very morning in fact." Mitzi then petted the thing like it was a domestic animal. "And it's not just any scooter, it's a very expensive, quality model."

"Which model?" asked Bloom.

Mitzi opened her mouth as if to answer, paused a bit, then started checking the scooter.

"Gee, must be really good the way you completely forgot it." The redhead laughed as Mitzi tried to figure out where the mark was on the scooter.

"Oh, ha ha," said the black haired girl: "And for your information it's a PGO." She looked up. "And I bet you don't know which model your..." She paused for a moment. "Huh, new bike?"

"Yep, also got it just today," said Bloom. "And mine even came with flowers."

"Because that is the deal-breaker when it comes to two wheeled transports," said Jasper. "Whether it has plants or not."

This caused a chuckle in the group of teenagers.

"So anyway, when will you be going on vacation?" continued Bloom.

"Plane leaves tomorrow," answered Mitzi with a smile. "What about you Bloom? Oh wait, let me guess." She made an exaggerated thinking pose, ending up resembling a female, teenage version of The Thinker. "After careful deliberation, I've deduced that you're going to the beach," she said with triumphant pointing.

"Finally figured out basic pattern recognition," Bloom shot back. This caused another chuckle from the teens. "Anyways, I gotta get going. Kiko and me have planned a trip to the park. Isn't that right Kiko?" she asked, petting the guinea pig that was busy nibbling on a flower.

Saying her farewells, she continued on towards the park.

...

The park was a fairly large and well kept place and was considered by many Gardenians to be the pride of the town. Bloom knew that her mom had donated several plants from her own shop over the years. It was a nice, open place with enough space for her to find a somewhat secluded spot for her and her pet to rest in. With a happy sigh, she sat down and brought out her sketchbook and pencils.

"You know Kiko, I really wish mum and dad would take me on a vacation to somewhere other than the beach," she said to her pet, whilst sketching a nearby oak tree. "I mean, I know they want to go somewhere else too. And I know that vacations to the mountains or New York aren't cheap." She paused for a moment. "Well, I guess we could get to New York even on our budget. But we wouldn't exactly be able to do anything." She continued sketching. "Maybe if my dad gets another promotion it could happen. Or if mother's store gets a bit more famous. Hmm, maybe I should help her set up a website. That could work, right Kiko?" She gave her pet a look as it scurried amongst the grass. "Well, I guess you're happy as long as there's grass, huh?"

She grinned and went back to drawing, making sure to keep an eye on her pet.

Almost an hour had passed and Bloom was just putting the finishing touches on her work when a roar unlike anything she had ever heard before rocked the park. She yelped and snapped the tip of her pen. Kiko immediately bolted back towards her.

"What in the blazes was that?" she asked, hurriedly grabbing the animal.

Then, several strange sounds could be heard not far from them and Bloom though she could hear yelling. Panicked yelling.

Cursing herself for forgetting to bring her cellphone, she placed Kiko back in the basket so she at least knew where he was and then ran towards the sounds.

As she hurried through the thicket, she could see a nearby glade through the trees. And what she saw mystified her. A girl with long blond hair, an orange backpack, quite noticeable black eye shadow, even from a distance, and a once beautiful green halter top and orange skirt. However, both pieces of cloth were torn and the girl was visibly bleeding from a couple of long scratches. She was holding a long white staff with a sun motif at the top, grasping on to it with enough force to turn her knuckles white, as if letting go would kill her.

With a horribly screeching sound, a red and black thing with wicked claws and sharp fangs jumped at the blonde. With a desperate swing, she hit the creature with a resounding crack, sending the beast to the grass in a heap, where it then dissolved into nothing. The girl was breathing heavily and as Bloom carefully sneaked closer, she could see sweat dripping from the blonde's face.

At that moment, a deep, guttural voice growled:

"Hand over the staff, girl, or my pets will tear you apart."

The girl stared at something, fear obvious in her eyes. Bloom followed her line of sight. When she saw what had worried the stranger, the redhead gasped.

On the other side of the glade, surrounded by a dozen of the small red creatures, stood a massive humanoid being. Its skin was a sandy brown and covered enormous bulging muscles. The creature was slightly hunched over, with two beady little eyes, a set of brown overalls and an impressive, well-kept beard.

"You'll never get the Sceptre of Solaria, you ugly brute," wheezed the blonde, obviously trying hard to sound intimidating.

The creature grunted a simple barked order in an unfamiliar language. The small red creatures attacked. Three of them jumped towards the blonde and Bloom found herself holding her breath. Then, the whole glade lit up, as if a flash bang had gone off. The creatures tumbled and rolled on the grass, trying desperately to regain their sight. Before they could recover, the blonde lowered her hand and pointed her staff. From it, fired a searing beam of light that bisected two of the creatures. Another launched itself at the girl with its maw wide open, but she merely fired another beam straight down its gullet. The dead creature fell to the earth like a rock and dissolved into glimmering dust.

Bloom found herself biting her lip. She had never seen creatures like these before, nor people doing what the girl was doing. She wanted to help, but wasn't sure if she should. Or even how she should.

The massive humanoid grunted, dissatisfied at the destruction of its little companions, then set off with a roar, charging towards the girl with frightening speed. She yelped and just barely managed to throw herself to the side, before the creature's ham sized fist ploughed through the air where her head had been moments before. It smashed into a tree with enough force to make several large cracks in the bark. The girl landed roughly on the grass.

Immediately, she had to scramble away as the massive being turned and tried to crush her with a haymaker. Instead of killing her, it left an impressive dent in the earth with such resounding force, that even Bloom could feel it in her legs.

The blonde quickly tried to get herself away from the creature and hurried up on her legs. "One move and I'll fry your eyes out," she warned, her voice ragged.

Despite her bravado, it's was obvious from her shaking that she wasn't nearly as confident in her victory as she tried to sound. The sand coloured creature merely glared at her, as if judging how to approach the staff wielder. At that moment, Bloom noticed something. Two of the red creatures were sneaking up on the blonde, quietly moving closer. They were preparing to jump the girl.

"BEHIND YOU!" yelled Bloom.

Immediately, the girl half turned and fired another blinding flash that sent the creatures scurrying back. The massive humanoid turned its head towards the red haired intruder and barked another order, causing several of the red beings to change target from the blonde to Bloom.

She tried to back off, but one of the creatures jumped and managed to attach itself to her leg, forcing the needle-like points of its claws into her flesh. With a scream, Bloom fell to the ground and tried to kick the creature off. She planted a foot in the middle of its face, sending it reeling back. In the process, it tore long gashes in both her jeans and leg. She cried out in pain once more, then watched in panic as another one jumped for her head. The being, however, took a ball of searing light in the back from the blonde, frying it instantly. The girl tried to give Bloom a reassuring smile, but immediately had to dodge, as the large humanoid tried to grab hold of her.

Desperate, Bloom tried to crawl away as several more creatures stalked towards her, the staff wielder now too busy trying not to get hit to help her. Just then, Bloom felt something inside her. It felt like a pure font of energy, growing greater by the second. As the creatures launched themselves at her, she screamed and held up her hands to defend herself. And then, the energy in her ignited.

A scorching wall of fire exploded from her hands, incinerating the attacking creatures. The wall continued onwards with the sound of roaring flames and the blonde barely managed to throw herself out of the way. Her attacker was not so lucky. It hit it in its right side, which caused it to roar in pain. As the flames subsided, Bloom could see that most of the creature's arm had been scorched to the point of blackening and much of its side was already blistering from the heat. The being clutched its wounded arm and pulled back, eyeing the redhead with fury. Then, it barked another order and what creatures remained attached themselves to the massive humanoid.

With a sudden flash, they were all gone.

The blonde stared at the spot where the being had been for a few seconds, before she allowed herself to collapse on the grass.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Bloom, running over to her.

"I'm fine, now that I'm no longer at the risk of becoming a Solarian flatcake," the stranger sighed. "What about you? Your leg got torn up."

"It's not so bad," said Bloom, eyeing her bleeding leg. It would take a couple of days to heal, but it wasn't as bad as she had initially feared. "But, who are you? And what were those creatures? And how did you do that light thing? And..."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," said the blonde. "One question at the time."

With Bloom's help, she managed to get up on her legs, though it obviously pained her to do so. She tried to adjust her torn clothes, but had little success in making it look good.

Giving up, she said: "I'm princess Stella of the Guildenstern Dynasty of Solaria." She then tried to pose a bit. Though due to her somewhat battered state, it didn't look particularly impressive.

Bloom merely cocked her head in confusion.

"You know, Solaria? The jewel of the planet of Horus?" Stella continued.

"Honestly, I have no idea what you are talking about," said Bloom. Indeed, she looked completely mystified.

"Come on, my dad was all over TV recently, what with, like, the whole helping the Durken Nomads after a rival tribe had poisoned one of their oases. Doesn't that ring a bell?"

"No, none of those things sound remotely familiar," admitted Bloom.

"Then I have totally landed out in the boonies," sighed Stella. "Where am I?"

"Gardenia," answered Bloom. It was Stella's turn to look confused. She didn't seem to understand what Bloom was saying. "California?" tried Bloom. "America? How about Earth?" There was a short, silent pause. "You don't even know what planet Earth is, do you?"

"Nope, but interdimensional geography is not my strong side," admitted Stella, tone casual as if that was a normal thing.

"Wait, interdimensional? You're from another world?"

"Of course, silly." Bloom still seemed utterly flabbergasted, so Stella continued: "Gosh, you really had no idea, did you?"

"No. I didn't even know that there were other worlds," Bloom said, looking shocked.

"Hmm, I wasn't really prepared for this," said Stella. "To be honest, I landed here quite by accident. I was out shopping for some new fabric when that brute suddenly barged into the shop and tried to corner me. I panicked and tried to gate away. Bad idea." Bloom still wore a puzzled frown, so Stella explained: "My staff, the Sceptre of Solaris, can open gates between worlds. However, one has to focus and, well, I was panicking. So it brought me here. Would have escaped that big bully had he not managed to throw a gate ring at me the moment he figured I was going to gate away."

"Gate ring?" asked Bloom, still confused.

"That thing." Stella pointed at a ring left where the beastly humanoid had stood. "It's enchanted so that even people who can't do magic can teleport between it and another location. And I don't know how to disenchant something like that, so we should get away before that ogre gates back. They kinda heal fast."

"Wait, that thing was an ogre?" said Bloom in a tone somewhere between shock and amazement. "I didn't think they existed."

"A bit uncommon in most places, but if you know where to look, there's plenty of them. Anyway, do you know of a safe place nearby. I kinda need to rest? I'm so beat that I risk ending up somewhere totally horrible if I try to gate away right now."

"Yeah, sure, you could stay at my place," answered Bloom and led Stella through the woods. "So he was an ogre. What were those little things?"

"Imps," answered Stella. "Small magical constructs. Cheap and easy to mass produce."

"And you? Are you some sort of sorceress or witch or something?" asked the redhead as she grabbed her bike.

"A witch? Puh-lease." Stella rolled her eyes. "I'm a fairy."

"Really?" asked Bloom as the two of them slowly made their way through the park. "I thought fairies were smaller. And had wings."

"No, now you're thinking of pixies. A fairy is, like, a type of magic user."

"Wow," said Bloom, slowly trying to take it all in. She didn't even bother denying the existence of magic after the battle she'd been witness to. She just accepted the facts, as groundbreaking as they were. "That all sounds amazing. So why was that ogre after you?"

"Beats me. I know he wanted the sceptre and that's just about it. My family is popular, but no royal family is without enemies," said Stella with a shrug. She focused on her staff for a moment and in a flash it transformed into a ring with a sun motif. Noting Bloom's sudden expression of amazement, she said with a smirk: "You're really easy to impress."

"Yeah, well, we don't have real magic around here," said Bloom sadly. "I've always wanted to see some, but this is still way beyond what I expected. I mean, laser beam, imps, portals. I'm still working on making my brain accept that that just happened."

"Hmm, well, I could tell you some, but I'm hardly a walking encyclopedia," mumbled Stella. "Wait, if you're completely unfamiliar with magic, how did you pull of that awesome fire spell? That wasn't exactly newbie material."

"You know," said Bloom slowly, staring at her hand. "I really don't know."

...

The ogre winced as he felt the slightly painful tingling in his arm, indicating that he was regenerating. It was taking longer than usual on account of the fire messing with the process. He was in the process of letting a couple of imps he had in reserve out of their cages, when a shrill loud voice yelled:

"KNUT!"

Knut sighed in annoyance. Shadows began covering the room he was sets of massive white eyes were staring down at him. He turned around and let himself fall down on the floor.

"My ladies. You require my attention?"

"We have noted your return. We have also noted the complete lack of the Sceptre of Solaria." That came from another voice, this one smooth and controlled.

"It wasn't my fault, my ladies. I had the girl on the ropes, but another magi interfered," said Knut while trying to remain in a position that was suitably subservient. "I sent my imps to keep her out of the fight, but then she conjured a massive flame wave. Look at my arm." He demonstrated by showing his blackened arm. "I had to retreat and recover. I lost too many imps and dared not continue the fight."

"Coward," sneered a third voice impatiently.

"So, who was this interloper?" asked the second voice.

"Well, she had red hair and blue clothes," explained Knut quickly.

"And?" That question came from the first voice. After a moment, Knut shrugged and tried to look as apologetic as possible.

"You forgot to wear your damn glasses again, didn't you?" hissed the third voice. "So on top of being cowardly and nearly blind, you're also as dumb as a fucking doorknob. I bet you aren't even sure if it really was a girl."

"Reasonably sure," said Knut with as tiny a voice as he could muster, but he was met with a deafening roar of:

"SILENCE!"

"Why did we hire this guy again?" asked the first voice.

"Because he's strong, a good tracker and grants us plausible deniability," sighed the second voice, as if she had already explained it a couple of times by now. "Not that it matters much, now that he has lost track of her."

"Actually, my mistresses, I dropped the gate ring before leaving, so I can follow the trail. She was bleeding and so was the other girl," explained the ogre. He said it quickly, so the voices wouldn't have the time to start yelling at him again.

"Hmm, that will have to do," said the first voice. "Then finish fixing yourself AND GET THAT SCEPTRE!"

...

"What happened? It looks like you were attacked by a wolf pack," said Mike with horror in his voice as Bloom helped Stella down on the couch. It had taken some time for Bloom to get the limping Stella to her home and the sky was already darkening.

"Actually, it's not that far off," said Bloom. "Though it is quite unbelievable,"

"What happened?" asked her mom as she came in with the first aid box.

"Yeah, one word: Ogre," said Bloom.

Her parents stared at her for a moment, before her dad asked:

"Like... As in a really big guy?"

"As in a brutal troll-like figure of myth," explained Bloom.

After a moment of silence, where the only thing that could be heard was the wincing of Stella getting her wounds cleaned, her father continued with a:

"Did you hit your head during all this?"

"Actually she's telling the truth. We, or rather I, wOUCH!... was attacked by an ogre and a pack of imps," said Stella. Vanessa gave Mike a confused look which he returned. "Also, I'm a fairy," continued Stella with a bright smile.

"That's it. I'm calling the police and the hospital," said Mike and went for a nearby phone. "You're obviously not well and I need to check up on this."

Stella huffed indignantly and a green flash exploded from her fingertips. Mike stared, confused, at her for a moment before slowly returning to trying to dial a number, while keeping an eye on Stella as if she could explode at any moment. Then he paused.

"Vanessa my dear, am I holding a banana?" he asked slowly, looking at the yellow fruit in his hand.

"Yes, dear," said Bloom's mum, who up until the flash of light had been applying bandages to Stella's wounds, her eyes wide with surprise.

"But I picked up the phone, which is now missing, right?" continued Bloom's father, staring at the banana as if breaking eye contact would cause it to go for his face.

"Yep."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," he said slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay, so maybe you're not cuckoo for coco puffs," he said, turning towards Stella. "Now, can I please have my phone back?"

"Uhm, sure, how does it work?" asked Stella.

"What do you mean by how does a phone work? Push button, call another phone," said Bloom's dad annoyed.

"Well, yeah, but I meant, like, the mechanical stuff inside," she said, trying to avoid eye contact while rubbing her neck. "I kinda sorta need to know that to transform it back."

"In other words I'm not getting my phone back," sighed Mike, rubbing his temples. "And today looked like it would be such a great day. But now my daughter has been mauled by ogres, goblins, monsters and god knows what else and has dragged a fairy into my house, who, on top of it all, has turned my phone into a frickin' banana." He stared at the aforementioned fruit with annoyance.

"There is one other thing," said Bloom slowly, not sure how to breach the topic.

Mike sighed again and said: "Let's hear it."

"Well, I saved Stella by somehow using magic," she said, fingering her hair nervously.

Her parents stared at each other for a moment.

"It's true, she unleashed a pretty powerful spell. I could totally see her going far with some training," said Stella cheerfully.

"Bloom, why don't you prepare a mattress upstairs for Stella. I think me and Dad needs to talk about this for a moment," said Vanessa.

"Sure," said Bloom, eager to leave behind the awkward mood that had settled over the room ever since the phone had been bananafied. "Come, it's right up the stairs,"

...

"Sorry 'bout the phone. I guess I kinda overreacted," said Stella sheepishly as she sat down on Bloom's bed.

"Well, it worked. No denying the magic in that trick," said Bloom. "So, what else can you tell me about other worlds? You said you were a fairy right? And you made it sound like an education. Where does one train to be a fairy? How does one..."

"Wow, slow down girl," said Stella whilst holding up her hands, as if to somehow push the swarm of questions back. "I learned what I know from the Alfea Institute of Fairy Magic."

"So there's an entire school dedicated to training people in being fairies," Bloom said with glee written all over her face. "How? With what? What can you do?"

"And again with the tidal wave of questions." Stella smirked. "See, I might not be the best to explain it, but here's how it works. Every fairy has this, what was it..." She paused. "A knack, I think Palladium called it. Sorta like, I don't know, your magical flavour. You're strongest when you draw power from your knack. Mine is light." She demonstrated this by making her fingertip glow as though it were a flashlight. "I'll take a wild guess and say yours is fire. Unless you're something completely exceptional, you usually don't pull of tricks like that one you did unless you're using your knack. By using different techniques, you then figure out how to make defensive magic, utility magic and so on. It involves a lot of practice and improvising as each knack has its own applications. Or at least, that's the explanation I got," Stella said with a shrug.

"How is turning my dad's phone into a banana related to light?" asked Bloom with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, as I said, one is strongest when using a knack, but that doesn't mean you can't learn spells of other elements. You're just more limited," explained Stella. "Listen, I am totally not the best to teach you this." Her eyes lit up. She seemed to have been inspired by something. Happy, she jumped up from the bed. Then, she visibly winced as her wounds started to ache. "Wish my knack was healing right about now," she gasped. "Anyways, why don't you enrol on Alfea? You seem to have potential and trust me on this, 'cause I got an eye for potential. In fact I can show you Alfea."

"You can? How?" asked Bloom, intrigued.

"A magic postcard," answered Stella. "Give me a moment, I got it somewhere down here."

...

With a flash, Knut reappeared in the glade he had left. Looking at the ground, he found and picked up the gate ring he had thrown when he retreated.

"Wear your glasses, idiot. Commit crimes for us, idiot. Get set on fire for us, because being wealthy schoolgirls we are obviously so much more important than you, idiot," he mockingly grumbled as the dozen of imps on his back jumped off. "I swear, if I didn't need the money that badly I would..." Cursing and grumbling Knut investigated the glade, carefully sniffing the air as he went. "Besides," he said to himself as a predatory smile lit up his face. "Who needs glasses when you've got a nose like mine?"

He lowered himself to the ground where blood had soaked the grass and gave it a whiff. With a grunting command, he ordered his diminutive minions to follow him as he marched through the park, sniffing the air like a bloodhound.

...

"Aha. Here it is," said Stella triumphantly, pulling a postcard from her bag.

"So, what's magical about it?" asked Bloom curiously.

"It allows you to visit the place it pictures," answered Stella. "Well, kinda. You'll see in a moment."

She held the postcard for a moment, while closing her eyes in concentration. And then she dropped it. As it slowly fell to the floor like a leaf from a tree, it expanded until it covered the prepared mattress.

"Wow, " said Bloom astonished.

"And then you just step in and it's like you're already there," said Stella, demonstrating by stepping onto the postcard and then sinking into its rippling surface.

Bloom stared in amazement, then slowly stepped closer to the now enormous card. Gently she knelt and prodded the surface, causing it to ripple. It didn't feel like liquid. In fact, Bloom didn't feel anything at all. Only the rippling of the picture confirmed that she was touching it. And then Stella's head suddenly popped up again, causing the redhead to fall back with a frightened yelp.

"Oops, sorry, sorry," said Stella apologetically while holding on to the edge of the postcard. "I remembered I had to make a phone call and reception is notoriously bad inside postcards."

"Never imagined I would ever hear someone say that," said Bloom while she rubbed her bum. "Who do you need to call?"

"Well, I have to at least try to report the ogre attack to the Red Fountain Barracks. They take care of these sorts of incidents with run amok creatures," explained Stella upon seeing Bloom's inquisitive look. "But I haven't brought my phone book, so instead, I'll be calling a friend of mine who is training at the Red Fountain Academy. Then he should be able to get the info to them." She began going through her bag again. "You just go in. I'll be with you in just a moment."

Nodding, Bloom carefully lowered herself into the postcard. Letting go of the edge, she suddenly found herself standing in a large courtyard. The sun was shining and a blue, cloudless sky covered the heaven. That was, except for the large square straight above Blooms head that instead showed her room. As the redhead looked around, she found herself more and more amazed.

The courtyard was covered in flagstone, small ornamental vases and large beds of flowers were scattered around, green benches were placed with regular intervals and old timey lanterns hung from iron poles.

As she continued to turn around, feeling like she was about to get dizzy from amazement, she saw the majestic buildings surrounding the plaza. They were tall, old looking buildings made from stone rose up into towers and parapets. They enclosed her on almost all sides, covered in royal blue roof tiles.

"Sorry for the wait," said Stella as she dropped in. "He said he would take care of it immediately."

"It's amazing," squealed Bloom, giddily jumping from foot to foot. "This is like something out of a fantasy. Except, you say it's real?"

"Well, it was pretty real last school year. Can't see why it would suddenly stop," said Stella. "Anyway, the real thing is much more amazing, because there's actual life, physical objects can be moved and WATCH OUT!" she suddenly cried out.

Bloom, who was jogging over to investigate a flowerpot, looked back over her shoulder, only to smack into something hard and flat.

"As I was about to say," continued Stella as she rushed over to help the fallen Bloom back on her feet. "The real deal doesn't have invisible walls."

"Sounds great," wheezed Bloom.

...

"Well, there has always been some mystery surrounding her," said Vanessa to her worriedly pacing husband.

"Yeah, but magic?" he said. "I mean, I am convinced it exists now, after having that pop up here," he continued, while giving the banana, which was now lying on the kitchen counter, the pointy finger. "But why hasn't she shown any signs before, if she really is magical?"

"Maybe she has and we've never noticed. Maybe magical people only manifest in their late teens. Who knows, it's not like we have anything to go by on this." Vanessa shrugged.

"And what if she has magic? Do we then have to send her off to some sort of wizard school where they learn to fly brooms and turn people's' phones into bananas?" he said, pacing back and forth.

"Maybe we should talk with this Stella about it," said Vanessa. "She's the only one who..."

Whatever else she would have said drowned in the resounding crash as their back door was knocked off its hinges. The two of them froze. They could clearly see the massive shape of Knut the ogre lumber into the house.

"Knock, knock," he growled. Imps started crawling into the house, clinging to the walls and ceiling. "I tracked an annoying blonde girl to this house. Her name is Stella. So if you could bring her here, that would be great."

"You," Mike said, placing himself between the terrifying creatures and his wife. "You're the creature Bloom described."

"Possibly," said the hulking figure with a shrug. Then he took a heavy step into the house. "Now where is Stella?"

The imps started to crawl closer, hissing and showing of their needle-like teeth.

"I'm warning you, stay back," said Mike. "I got a..." He desperately grasped at the counter, trying to find something to defend himself with. "I got a ba... oh not this thing again," he sputtered as he noticed he was threatening a several ton heavyweight ogre with a banana. He threw it away and grabbed a chair instead.

"Last chance, human," growled Knut. "Blonde girl. Now."

"Leave my house. Now," Mike growled back.

"Have it your way," muttered the annoyed ogre, then barked an order.

Two imps launched themselves at Mike, but were knocked out of the air as he splintered the chair against their fragile forms, sending them flying into a cupboard, resulting in several dishes crashing to the floor. Another imp went for his leg, but the blond sent it flying past its master with a well aimed kick to the chin. Several more of the imps crawled closer, hissing and growling. Another suddenly jumped on the kitchen table and prepared to leap at Mike, but was knocked off the table by a well-aimed vase.

"Good throw, my dear," said Mike as he continued to back away from the advancing monsters.

"Thanks, but that was the only one I got," she said.

The two of them found themselves being pressed against the back end of the kitchen, the imps encircling them, though now a bit more careful in their approach.

"Last chance. The blonde girl," barked Knut.

"Over here!" It was Stella's voice.

Knut turned to the left, only to have a ball of radiance explode in his face.

He roared and stumbled backwards, then yelled orders to his imps, who immediately forgot everything about Mike and Vanessa and instead ran to the living room.

"Bloom, do you think you can pull off that flame thing again?" asked Stella as she transformed her ring back into a staff.

"Even if I could, I am not burning my parent's house down." Bloom watched worriedly as several imps crawl into the room.

She grabbed a lamp and prepared to fend off the advancing beasts, when the doorway into the room was pulverised by a charging Knut.

"I'M TIRED OF MESSING AROUND WITH YOU!" roared the furious ogre, aiming for Stella.

As she threw herself to the side, Knut crashed into the family's television with the force of a runaway freight train, splintering the electronic device and the table it stood on.

Meanwhile, Bloom found herself harried by the imps on all sides, the beings surrounding her, trying to find an opening. She swung the lamp to the best of her ability but found herself lacking space to properly fight in the living room. An imp leaped for her and she tried to dodge to the side but stumbled over a fold in the carpet, earning her three bleeding gashes in her shoulder as the creature flew past her.

"LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE!" roared her dad from the opening into the kitchen and started to hurl whatever he could after the creatures that were attacking his kid. Several of the imps immediately switched focus as knick-knacks and kitchen inventory was thrown after them, all set to the pounding symphony of Knut trying to hit Stella, who was jumping around the room trying to stay out of reach of the angry ogre.

¨DAD, WATCH OUT!" yelled Bloom, as she'd suddenly noticed an imp sneaking up on the side of her father.

Mike only just managed to turn towards the threat, before the beast sprang directly into his stomach with surprising force, sending the big guy stumbling back into the kitchen.

Horrified, Bloom smashed one imp into the floor with the lamp and leaped over another, which still managed claw another set of gashes in her legs. Nonetheless, Bloom managed to stumble into the kitchen.

There, her dad was lying on the floor, holding the frenzied imp away from his face with one hand as he tried to grasp for a weapon with his other hand.

The imp hissed, clawing bloody gashes in his arm, but was silenced when Mike jammed a banana down its throat. The diminutive beast immediately gave up its attempted face shredding and instead focused on removing the foreign ex-phone that had been lodged in its throat. Mike took the chance to get up. With a resounding crack, he brought his foot down on its back. As the beast dissolved, he remarked:

"Never would have guessed that thing would come in handy."

"GOT YOU!" sounded a guttural roar from the living room. Bloom turned around and saw, to her horror, that Knut had gotten his massive fists around Stella's torso. "Now I'll take tHEAAARRGGG!" roared the ogre, as Stella fired a concentrated beam of light directly into his eye.

Howling in pain, he hurled the blonde through air, sending her crashing through a window into the front garden.

"Stella!" yelped Bloom and leaped over a pair of imps while running for the front door.

Outside, Stella lay crumbled on the grass, surrounded by pieces of broken glass. Several pieces had lodged themselves in her back and blood began staining her clothes. Bloom rushed to her side and tried to help her up. And then the front of the house exploded.

Bloom stumbled back with the almost unconscious Stella in hand, as the massive ogre stomped out towards them, with a murderous glint in his remaining eye. He towered over Bloom and growled two words:

"Staff. Now."

Several imps were flanking him, ready to pounce upon the redhead. And then a grenade landed beside them. Knut barely had time to register it before it went off, sending several imps flying into the air and forcing the ogre back, which resulted in him crushing another imp under his foot.

"How about you surrender, now."

The voice was unfamiliar, and Bloom glanced towards where it came from in shock.

Four young men in blue and white full-body uniforms with capes had suddenly shown up. One was a bit lanky, had messy auburn hair and was brandishing a tube-like gun that was still smoking from having launched the grenade. Another had shoulder-length blond hair, fair skin and was brandishing a long sword. Besides him stood a guy with a bit of a tan and short brown hair, with a broadsword resting on his shoulder. The last young man had incredibly spiky, magenta hair and was impatiently swinging a sabre back and forth like a pendulum. Bloom noticed that the blades where glowing slightly, as if somehow... energized.

"Took them long enough," mumbled Stella groggily.

"Are you two okay?!" yelled the brown-haired guy.

"Somewhat!" Bloom yelled back.

"Good, just stay that way. We'll handle this!" yelled the blond.

Knut roared and his remaining four imps surged forward. The magenta-haired guy stepped forth and separated one imp's body from its head with a precise swing of his blade. He followed up the momentum of his swing and turned it into a fierce kick that send another imp backwards.

Two imps jumped for the blond, who with a quick manoeuvre skewered one imp with his blade and then dodged the other so it landed behind him, where it was quickly cloven by the brown-haired guy's blade. The last imp rose from the grass, hissed and was blown to kingdom come by the bespectacled young man, who had calmly reloaded the grenade launcher while the others slaughtered the other imps.

Knut roared in a mix of anger and frustration and charged the caped rescuers. He tried hitting the blond with a blow that would have pulverised him, if he hadn't danced to the side with an ease that came from many years experience, rewarding the ogre for its attack with a powerful slash to his side. Knut roared and turned to crush his opponent but fell to his knees as the sabre wielding warrior used the distraction to slice open the back of his legs. The brown-haired guy rushed forward and planted the pommel of his blade into the ogre's face, crushing his nose. The hulking humanoid roared as his sensitive nose was splintered and lashed out with his massive arms.

"Everyone, back away, now!" yelled the orange-haired guy, who had once more reloaded his gun.

The three others jumped away and the bespectacled warrior took aim. Knut's remaining eye widened in realization of what was about to happen and he held up his arms to protect himself. With a resounding explosion, he was launched backwards, where he landed heavily on the ground.

Slowly, he rose up again, coughing. His hand had been ruined and three fingers had been blown clear off. He snorted in anger and pain. Without warning, he disappeared in a flash of light.

"Where did he go?" said the blond.

"Something called a gate ring," answered Bloom. "Now please, help me get her inside."

The four guys rushed over and carefully helped bring the wounded Stella inside. Bloom looked around and noticed that lights had gone on all over the neighbourhood. There was no way people had not heard their scuffle.

Inside, Vanessa was already bandaging her husband's arm. As she saw the six people enter the ruined living room she immediately ran for Bloom and hugged her tightly.

"I was so worried," she whispered, close to tears.

Then Mike enveloped them both in a massive hug. After a few seconds, the parents let go of their daughter and turned towards the caped rescuers.

"Thank you so much for saving my daughter. If there's anything we can do to repay you..." started Mike, but was interrupted when the magenta-haired warrior said: "If you could just help me patch up Stella here, that will be fine."

"Shouldn't we bring her to the hospital?" asked Vanessa, concerned and eyeing the blonde's back.

"I got this," said magenta-haired warrior and pulled a small purple flask from his utility belt. "A combination of a healing potion and a dissolving potion. It will melt the glass, which will then be pushed out of her wounds as they heal. None the less, she will still need to rest a day or two so as to not reopen her wounds, so if you can keep her here, that would help."

"Sure. It's the least we can do," answered Vanessa with a nod.

As the two of them began fixing up Stella, the others turned to Bloom.

"So, you're Bloom. Stella told us about you," said the blond. "I'm Brandon, squire of Prince Sky here." He pointed at the brown-haired guy with his thumb.

"And my name's Timmy," said the young man with glasses. "The guy fixing up Stella over there is Riven."

"Are you guys the ones Stella contacted?" asked Bloom curiously.

"Yeah, me, her and Brandon here are old acquaintances," said Sky. "But he kinda forgot to mention that when Stella was in trouble, he meant that there was an ogre after her. Honestly, I'm surprised the others didn't get here first."

"What others?" asked Brandon in confusion.

After a short pause, Timmy said with a sigh: "Did you even contact the staff? Did you even contact anyone but us?"

"Well, uhm, no, I kinda figured we had to hurry," said Brandon while rubbing his neck.

"Geez." Timmy pinched his nose, annoyed. "I figured that when you said trouble it meant she needed a lift or something. You are so lucky we brought our equipment."

"I... even told him... to call the professionals," said Stella groggily as Riven and Vanessa finished bandaging her back.

"Everyone okay in there?" came a worried yell from outside.

"Great, the neighbours," said Mike. His tone was exasperated, yet worry was evident in his eyes..

"And that's our cue to leave," said Sky. "Look, we heard from Stella that this place isn't connected to the rest of the multiverse, so we'll try to see if we can't send something to help you with the repairs. Until then, just make something up and keep Stella hidden. I'm not sure this will be the best way to introduce your world to magic."

"I'm inclined to agree," grumbled Mike as he surveyed his broken home. "Alright, you guys can leave. Bloom, Vanessa, get the girl upstairs. I'll tell them that... well, not sure yet." He headed outside.

...

As Bloom and her mother carefully placed Stella on the mattress, she tiredly said: "Sorry for all the trouble I brought with me."

"Not your fault," said Vanessa. "You just get some sleep now."

"Is the magical world always like this?" asked Bloom.

"If it involved that much being hurled around by ogres every day, I would probably just have locked myself in my room," said Stella. She winced. "By the way, I know we've been kinda busy, what with the whole ogre imp combo attack, but have you thought about what I said?" Bloom looked nonplussed, urging Stella to clarify. "About Alfea. I still think you got potential."

Bloom looked at her mom, who just said: "We'll talk it through tomorrow. You two just get some rest."