Bloom stood silently and let her wings fold, turning her back into a normal girl.
"Ohhhhhh..." Stella looked like she was about to fall into a dead swoon. "Your outfit was fairy fabulous, Bloom! You should have seen yourself!"
"We're so happy!" squealed Flora. "It was so frightening, you know, watching that woman torture you so. I was crying!"
"We're so sorry none of us stepped forward to help," Musa added solemnly.
"I'm especially sorry," said Sky, stepping forward and wrapping Bloom in a warm embrace. "I should have stepped forward, but I was such a coward. The goddess scared me half to death."
"Don't apologize," Bloom said and buried her nose in his chest. The fear and pain and terror still clutched at Bloom's chest, though, spiking into her like a cactus.
"You...have...got...to...be...KIDDING ME!" yelled Ember. Her whole body was as red as her black-and-scarlet Amazon outfit.
"That's right," Echo said calmly with a sort of you-better-believe-me attitude. "A simple song and dance sent Averil back here so fast she smashed into me and almost knocked my head off."
Ember growled in her throat, low and menacing. "That's it. I'm going to go attack them myself! And my sisters are coming with me!"
Virtually oblivious to Ember's rage, Echo shrugged. "Seethe all you want to, Ember, one of those fairies is now powerful enough to survive on this island."
Ember's rage was instantly replaced with panic. "Powerful...enough...to...come...here?
"You better believe it."
Then that meant that their (Ember's and the mystery fairy's) power levels were exactly equivalent. There was no way this fairy could possibly battle a goddess, but she was powerful enough to fight out a close one with someone like Ember.
Ember forced herself to be confident. She scooped up her spear and her bow, and slung her quiver of gold-tipped arrows over her shoulder. She rubbed the red stone on her Amazon headpiece for good luck.
"If all else fails, I'm calling the Black Dancer," she called over her shoulder while simultaneously motioning for her resting Amazon sisters to get up and go to battle.
Echo's violet eyes widened dangerously. "Oh no, not Dancer," she said quickly. "
"Yes, I will call Dancer," Ember said firmly. "Come, sisters. We must fight to the death."
You will learn about the deadly Black Dancer later in the story.
"Look at those bright birds," Flora said happily while they all sat on their rather bare and hostile sandy island.
Bloom looked where she was pointing and saw all the brilliant scarlet creatures soaring through the air towards them, far away, moving at a leisurely yet hurried pace.
Suddenly, she squinted, and her heart filled with terror. Seriously? Now we have to go through this?
"Flora," she said slowly. "Those aren't birds."
"Is that them, Ember?"
"Yes," Ember said with savage glee. "Taisiya," she said, addressing her second-in-command Amazon. "Tell everyone to get their bows ready. These invaders are not going to make it into the island on my watch."
A storm of long, gold-tipped arrows rained down upon the Winx and the Specialists. Bloom transformed at once.
"Dragon Blaze!" Red and gold sparks spiraled out in all directions, but they did little to subdue the arrows.
Bloom realized that she did not have a lot of control over her spells. "Burning Aura!" she tried desperately.
Fortunately, a glowing orange dome quickly enveloped her and her friends. Most of the arrow's tips pierced the barrier, but did not even get close to touching them. One arrow, undoubtedly the leader's, managed to get wedged inside the barrier about halfway. The tip was inches away from the center of Bloom's forehead.
The leading Amazon, who had regal gold and scarlet feathers attached to her headpiece, dove toward Bloom, spear ready. Bloom prepared herself for battle.
Ember dove as fast as she could out of the air and towards the red-haired fairy, who was dressed in regal blue and orange and had magnificent gold wings. Right before she could throw her spear, the fairy held up her forearm. "Burning Aura!" she cried again.
A glowing golden circle with a dragon on it appeared on her forearm. Ember barely had time to make a u-turn before the fairy swung back her arm and-
WHOMP!
Ember was thrown back fifteen feet. She clutched her burning nose while waiting for the pain to recede. What the heck did the fairy hit her with?
Bloom quickly prepared herself for further attack as her friends swiftly launched into Believix form. Sky was in a battle with one Amazon. Helia had successfully managed to temporarily submerge three of them with his laser string glove. Even Lockette bopped one on the nose with her tiny key.
Chatta flew in circles around a particularly muscular and fearsome Amazon, taunting her. "What, you can't catch me? Even with that big spear of yours? And that really bulky body? Huh? HUH? You can't-AHH!" she cried as the Amazon, enraged, grabbed her and enclosed her in a tight fist, before flinging her towards the surrounding ocean.
"Chatta!" cried Flora. A foot above the water, Flora swooped down and caught her safely in one hand.
Chatta straightened her rumpled wings and with a fearful yelp, flew to hide within Flora's thick brown hair.
"Harmonic Attack!" yelled Musa. A purple ray sent invisible waves rippling through the air. Five Amazons dodged it and closed in on her.
"Autumn Wind!" Flora sent a delicate gale-force wind, filled with leaves and flowers, towards the leader Amazon.
She gave a wicked grin and began to spin her spear at mind-boggling speed, so fast it made Bloom dizzy just to watch. The barrier of sorts created by her spinning spear sent the wind billowing back towards Flora and Layla.
"Ahh!" Bloom's two friends went down and both splashed into the water. Layla, naturally, was back out and homing in on the Amazons attacking Musa in no time.
However, Flora was rapidly sinking, and she tried her Speedix wings, but even they didn't help except to create a ton of sparkly bubbles.
It took both Nabu's and Layla's most powerful spells to disband the Amazons, and Riven quickly caught an extremely limp and beaten-up Musa.
The Winx was losing.
Flora was running out of air when Bloom finally splashed down into the water. Her magnificent gold wings propelled her towards Flora. She grabbed her cold hand and pulled her back up and out of the water.
"Flora!" Helia cried when he saw her. Chatta, who had escaped the thick brown hair right before Flora was submerged, quickly flew with him to check on the fairy of nature.
"Morphix Tidal Wave!" Layla fired a purple beam at what Bloom guessed to be the second-in-command Amazon. She grabbed her bow and literally batted it back at Layla, who gasped and dodged it right on time.
Bloom realized that stuck in their Believix forms, her Winx friends were not strong enough to fight the Amazons. At least the Specialists could sort of fight back, and the terrified pixies had retreated into the damaged airship.
Bloom thought hard about how she could make the Amazons go away. Wait! If the Amazons have no leader, there will be no one to carry out the orders. They'll have to retreat then.
After that, Bloom began to target the leading Amazon, who was easy to spot because of the huge, regal gold feathers on her headdress. She had not even hit her yet when suddenly, she whirled on her and fired an arrow directly at her heart.
Alarmed, Bloom tried to turn away from the arrow and go up into the air simultaneously, but her wings overbalanced her and the arrow found its home in her shoulder as she fell backwards. She had been able to avoid a fatal shot, but the pain was still so blinding that she bit her lip until it bled to contain an agonized scream.
The Amazon landed before her with a spear poised to throw. Bloom remembered a red beam of magic and a searing pain all over her body before she blacked out.
"Ohhhhhh..." Stella looked like she was about to fall into a dead swoon. "Your outfit was fairy fabulous, Bloom! You should have seen yourself!"
"We're so happy!" squealed Flora. "It was so frightening, you know, watching that woman torture you so. I was crying!"
"We're so sorry none of us stepped forward to help," Musa added solemnly.
"I'm especially sorry," said Sky, stepping forward and wrapping Bloom in a warm embrace. "I should have stepped forward, but I was such a coward. The goddess scared me half to death."
"Don't apologize," Bloom said and buried her nose in his chest. The fear and pain and terror still clutched at Bloom's chest, though, spiking into her like a cactus.
"You...have...got...to...be...KIDDING ME!" yelled Ember. Her whole body was as red as her black-and-scarlet Amazon outfit.
"That's right," Echo said calmly with a sort of you-better-believe-me attitude. "A simple song and dance sent Averil back here so fast she smashed into me and almost knocked my head off."
Ember growled in her throat, low and menacing. "That's it. I'm going to go attack them myself! And my sisters are coming with me!"
Virtually oblivious to Ember's rage, Echo shrugged. "Seethe all you want to, Ember, one of those fairies is now powerful enough to survive on this island."
Ember's rage was instantly replaced with panic. "Powerful...enough...to...come...here?
"You better believe it."
Then that meant that their (Ember's and the mystery fairy's) power levels were exactly equivalent. There was no way this fairy could possibly battle a goddess, but she was powerful enough to fight out a close one with someone like Ember.
Ember forced herself to be confident. She scooped up her spear and her bow, and slung her quiver of gold-tipped arrows over her shoulder. She rubbed the red stone on her Amazon headpiece for good luck.
"If all else fails, I'm calling the Black Dancer," she called over her shoulder while simultaneously motioning for her resting Amazon sisters to get up and go to battle.
Echo's violet eyes widened dangerously. "Oh no, not Dancer," she said quickly. "
"Yes, I will call Dancer," Ember said firmly. "Come, sisters. We must fight to the death."
You will learn about the deadly Black Dancer later in the story.
"Look at those bright birds," Flora said happily while they all sat on their rather bare and hostile sandy island.
Bloom looked where she was pointing and saw all the brilliant scarlet creatures soaring through the air towards them, far away, moving at a leisurely yet hurried pace.
Suddenly, she squinted, and her heart filled with terror. Seriously? Now we have to go through this?
"Flora," she said slowly. "Those aren't birds."
"Is that them, Ember?"
"Yes," Ember said with savage glee. "Taisiya," she said, addressing her second-in-command Amazon. "Tell everyone to get their bows ready. These invaders are not going to make it into the island on my watch."
A storm of long, gold-tipped arrows rained down upon the Winx and the Specialists. Bloom transformed at once.
"Dragon Blaze!" Red and gold sparks spiraled out in all directions, but they did little to subdue the arrows.
Bloom realized that she did not have a lot of control over her spells. "Burning Aura!" she tried desperately.
Fortunately, a glowing orange dome quickly enveloped her and her friends. Most of the arrow's tips pierced the barrier, but did not even get close to touching them. One arrow, undoubtedly the leader's, managed to get wedged inside the barrier about halfway. The tip was inches away from the center of Bloom's forehead.
The leading Amazon, who had regal gold and scarlet feathers attached to her headpiece, dove toward Bloom, spear ready. Bloom prepared herself for battle.
Ember dove as fast as she could out of the air and towards the red-haired fairy, who was dressed in regal blue and orange and had magnificent gold wings. Right before she could throw her spear, the fairy held up her forearm. "Burning Aura!" she cried again.
A glowing golden circle with a dragon on it appeared on her forearm. Ember barely had time to make a u-turn before the fairy swung back her arm and-
WHOMP!
Ember was thrown back fifteen feet. She clutched her burning nose while waiting for the pain to recede. What the heck did the fairy hit her with?
Bloom quickly prepared herself for further attack as her friends swiftly launched into Believix form. Sky was in a battle with one Amazon. Helia had successfully managed to temporarily submerge three of them with his laser string glove. Even Lockette bopped one on the nose with her tiny key.
Chatta flew in circles around a particularly muscular and fearsome Amazon, taunting her. "What, you can't catch me? Even with that big spear of yours? And that really bulky body? Huh? HUH? You can't-AHH!" she cried as the Amazon, enraged, grabbed her and enclosed her in a tight fist, before flinging her towards the surrounding ocean.
"Chatta!" cried Flora. A foot above the water, Flora swooped down and caught her safely in one hand.
Chatta straightened her rumpled wings and with a fearful yelp, flew to hide within Flora's thick brown hair.
"Harmonic Attack!" yelled Musa. A purple ray sent invisible waves rippling through the air. Five Amazons dodged it and closed in on her.
"Autumn Wind!" Flora sent a delicate gale-force wind, filled with leaves and flowers, towards the leader Amazon.
She gave a wicked grin and began to spin her spear at mind-boggling speed, so fast it made Bloom dizzy just to watch. The barrier of sorts created by her spinning spear sent the wind billowing back towards Flora and Layla.
"Ahh!" Bloom's two friends went down and both splashed into the water. Layla, naturally, was back out and homing in on the Amazons attacking Musa in no time.
However, Flora was rapidly sinking, and she tried her Speedix wings, but even they didn't help except to create a ton of sparkly bubbles.
It took both Nabu's and Layla's most powerful spells to disband the Amazons, and Riven quickly caught an extremely limp and beaten-up Musa.
The Winx was losing.
Flora was running out of air when Bloom finally splashed down into the water. Her magnificent gold wings propelled her towards Flora. She grabbed her cold hand and pulled her back up and out of the water.
"Flora!" Helia cried when he saw her. Chatta, who had escaped the thick brown hair right before Flora was submerged, quickly flew with him to check on the fairy of nature.
"Morphix Tidal Wave!" Layla fired a purple beam at what Bloom guessed to be the second-in-command Amazon. She grabbed her bow and literally batted it back at Layla, who gasped and dodged it right on time.
Bloom realized that stuck in their Believix forms, her Winx friends were not strong enough to fight the Amazons. At least the Specialists could sort of fight back, and the terrified pixies had retreated into the damaged airship.
Bloom thought hard about how she could make the Amazons go away. Wait! If the Amazons have no leader, there will be no one to carry out the orders. They'll have to retreat then.
After that, Bloom began to target the leading Amazon, who was easy to spot because of the huge, regal gold feathers on her headdress. She had not even hit her yet when suddenly, she whirled on her and fired an arrow directly at her heart.
Alarmed, Bloom tried to turn away from the arrow and go up into the air simultaneously, but her wings overbalanced her and the arrow found its home in her shoulder as she fell backwards. She had been able to avoid a fatal shot, but the pain was still so blinding that she bit her lip until it bled to contain an agonized scream.
The Amazon landed before her with a spear poised to throw. Bloom remembered a red beam of magic and a searing pain all over her body before she blacked out.
