spiderbraids

I haven't finished the recap of 2x04 yet, so it'll be a while. May post other WC-related filler while you wait. But for now, a recap of 2x03. In a nutshell, pink lips finally gets to show her stuff.

To recap: The Trix are free, while Layla has rushed the Winx girls up to speed on herself and her situation.

Alfea's hospital room. Layla wakes up, and she opens the curtains and sees Piff flying outside. She rushes out of the room, and as she runs down the hall, she runs into Knut. Remember, the ogre who fought for the Trix most of last season before switching sides to Alfea, and then applying to be janitor? Well, here he is, with a broom. Anyways, after he leaves, she runs into FG and the Alfea nurse. FG says she once visited Layla's father many years ago, but she was too young to remember. Layla looks like her dad, but enough about that, she wants directions to outside.

Now that she's gotten some directions, she runs her little butt off (the Alfea nurse wonders where Layla's scurrying off to... after all, she's holding her clothes!) and rams down one student in the hall (she's looking at homework answers). Outside, two others wonder what she's doing in her PJs in the courtyard. "What planet is she from?" "Strange..." Except that in the Winx world, you could take that question seriously.

Piff apparently can't hover in her sleep. That said, she manages to wake up in time to avoid hitting the ground, and she heads into the Alfea building. Piff even heads into WizGiz's classroom where he's teaching that magic is based on the principle of inconsistent continuity. The heck...? Piff flies in, and everyone seems astonished. Anyways, Layla runs her little butt off into the room to catch Piff as she falls asleep again (and I really do mean "fall").

Outside, a pixie frog runs away from Seahorse.

FG's room. Layla's in her casual outfit now, and it's an interesting one at that. It is revealed that Layla was carried out through an underground river, and then she ran through the forest straight to Alfea. FG's wondering why the pixies have been kidnapped.. and pink lips has been wondering that herself, but she suspects blackmailing, or that Evil Guy wants something from them. Remember, Evil Guy sucks powers, and that makes him dangerous. FG's not so sure herself who this Evil Guy is, but the bottom line? They need to find the underground entrance and free those pixies. Meanwhile, FG's petting Piff. Hey, don't get so frisky, lady!

Later that day, in an empty classroom. FG has called the Winx fairies (also in their casuals, for the first time since the season premiere) to a meeting to organize a rescue mission. FG tells us that "Fairies and pixies have always been the closest of friends." She wants the pixies freed at any cost, and that prompts a quip from Sunshine here, "At any cost huh? Does that mean we get to skip class and still get full credit?" "Can you think of something else other than skipping class?"

Stella's like "If this mission's so dangerous, why not send the professors along?" That's actually a good question, Sunshine. FG's answer: "As professors, our job is to guide our students, and in case of emergency, we have to be available to help everyone." Musa asks, "So in other words, it's up to us to turn this prince into a pauper???" HEH. FG reminds them of how good they were against the Trix (come on, Bloom was the star and you know it!), but the pixies aren't really a priority, and FG doesn't want the fairies to confront Evil Guy. Especially because Evil Guy can suck powers, and therefore, he can use the Winx girls' own powers against them. Oh yes, insert shot of Digit and Lockette getting drained here. FG wants pink lips here to be the guide on this mission because she knows her way around. She leaves the room and has the others follow.

Pixie frog!

So the fairies are walking in the hall, as she's explaining that different powers are suited for different jobs. "Would you send a frog to live in a hot, dry desert?" Pixie frog freaks at the comment, as Tecna says she wouldn't do well, because her skin dries out in 1.4 hours. That won't be an issue because Tecna is staying here.

Flora doesn't get her next thought out her mouth before FG reveals that Tecna's technopowers are suited for monitoring the situation from Alfea. In fact, she's sending Bloom and Stella on the mission. Reasoning? Bloom has the Dragonfire, "the strongest magic of all" (yeah, right, just wait for the season finale), and Little Miss Sunshine's power here is helpful against shadow monsters. Musa's like "What about plant and sound powers?"

FG and the fairies are all in the hall at this point. FG tells them to stand right there. FG casts a spell, and transforms the entire Alfea hall into a cave, and then tells Flora and Musa to try out their magic. Somehow, one shot they're all in their casuals, and then the next shot Flora and Musa are in their fairy outfits, sans transformation sequence.

Anyways, Flora's magic fizzles out immediately because there are no living plants in the cave. Now hang on, there were no living plants on Domino either, and she actually grew some plants there, some out of castle walls even! So what's the big deal here?

At least they still have sound, as Musa shoots a sonic blast into a wall. Apparently, sound powers are not that good to have in a cave either, as the vibrations cause a cave in, causing everyone to scurry around like rats. Musa is only saved from being hit by a rock caused by her own blast because FG lifts the simulation. And now everyone's back in their casuals.

Tecna seems impressed by FG's spell. She comments, "It's better than a computer controlled simulation." FG tells Flora and Musa, who's not too pleased herself, that their powers will be needed soon enough. And... scene.

Courtyard. The three fairies who are heading underground are now in hiking outfits, which look a bit like those from waaay back the 4th episode. (These new outfits, however, have no sleeves, and show the girls' navels... *sighs*) Piff is being a crybaby. Layla is promising her that she'll be back with the rest of the pixies. FG gives Layla a few light seeds, which she can use to drive away shadow monsters once. Tecna is sort of skeptic that a mission with three fairies will be any successful. FG says that a small mission is much less noticable, and besides, good ol' Saladin is here to announce that they won't be alone. Cue RF boys (SQUEE!) while Musa feels that it's just not fair that Bloom and Stella are going to have all the fun.

Sal announces he's lending FG his best students along on the mission. Guess who. Yup, Sky and Brandon, the prince and the pauper. Tecna's like "How conveeeenient," and tells Layla, "Looks like you'll have to play chaperone." Layla: "You mean love is their specialty?" Heh. "Uh oh, they heard me!" Double heh. Musa is especially teed off at Sal announcing that Layla's going to ride with Riven.

Yoooge RF plane! And there's Timmy. Of course Tecna's going to greet Timmy. What, you had any doubts?

As Musa looks a bit teed off that Layla's going to ride with Riven, listen to what Layla tells him. "Who says you get to drive?" "Huh?" "What, you think I've never driven a motorbike before?" HEE! She takes the helmet and shoves Riven to the back. Everyone's impressed. "Go Layla!" Piff babbles randomly. The hoverbikes fly off, and climb straight up to the RF plane, as the others leave.

Brandon tells us that "The Specialists can tackle absolutely anything." He rattles off a bunch of impressive technology they've got, like the Demolecularizer T 29 ("De-moisturizer what?") which, according to Codatorta, actually allows them to go through walls and other solid objects, and he's even having Timmy rev up the Owl's engine (oh, so that's what it's called?). Now, that's some speed there! "18 dragon power and titanium frame. What a dream machine!" All through this non-stop chitter-chatter, Layla's been like "Uh, Brandon?..." Well, turns out all that Layla wanted to say was: "The enemy's the other way." Whoops. Quick U-turn!

Alfea courtyard. Tecna's tracking the mission through a laptop. So far so good, but Tecna says it's going to take some effort to track the mission through the caves.

Cave area. From the Owl (seriously, the Owl?), Layla's pointing out various places, like the valley and the river she escaped with. However, she recommends that it's easier to enter through the old mines, which is where she saw the tar monsters go. Problem is, there's no place for Timmy to land, so they'll have to rope down. Sky climbs down the rope. Stella trips and drops something heart shaped, which then rolls off the cliff into the abyss. It turns out that this is her make-up case. Yeah, we get it, Stella, you're a fairy of fashion, but face it. You're not going to have much time to primp in these caves. As she climbs down she says, "For once, I miss school." As soon as everyone's off, Layla leads the mission into the cave, and the others in the Owl (honestly, the Owl?!) fly off.

You know, the Owl's a pretty awful name for a plane.

Back at Alfea, Tecna has lost the video feed. She's hoping to keep geosensing contact. Whatever that is.

Caves. Stella can't see where she's going because Sky's hogging the flashlight, and she trips. Stella decides to take things into her own hands, and transforms into her fairy outfit to use her sceptre to light things up. Alright, finally, some good transformation action. But wait a minute here. In the very first ep, didn't Stella summon her sceptre to take Bloom and her parents to Magix while still in her casual outfit? So why does she suddenly have to transform to use her sceptre? Anyways, the extra light not only allows them to see better (Bloom: "I liked it better before"... HEH!) but also makes her a beacon for the monsters in the cave. There's a door with a lock on it, and Little Miss Sunshine here tries her hand at shooting it, and it just absorbs the magic. The villains have prepared for everything apparently. Except for the Specialists that is. Meanwhile, they've got company. And it's not the John Ritter-Suzanne Sommers kind.

Timmy and Riven have returned to Alfea. Tecna informs the two that there are a bunch of unknown signals closing in on them, and the girls are headed to warn FG. Honestly, what kind of warning is this going to be anyway? Anyhow, the boys are right behind them.

Cave. Monsters are coming out everywhere, and while Sky suggests that he try Riven's lock picker (remember, Riven's an expert at picking locks, as long as they're not runic!), Brandon just wants to blow it up. The guys tell the fairies to stall for them. And Layla's brilliant plan is to transform. That's right, Layla's a fairy, we know this already, but Bloom's just finding this out now. Those pink lips of hers carry quite a scream there. Okay, who decided to redo the generic transformation music in a lower key?

Now that we get to see it in color, Layla's fairy outfit looks pretty cute, especially if you love green.

Everyone takes a few shots at the monsters, especially Bloom and Stella. Dragonfairy's fireballs aren't doing anything... "Then I'll just have to enlighten them! Girls, shut your eyes!" This is coming from Stella, of course... has she been slumming with Numbuh 2? She swings her scepter and takes out tons of shadow monsters. Good job. Really.

The door blows open, and everyone's running (or in the fairies' case, flying) through the door. The boys close it, and Brandon has to stab a monster's leg to get it to close. Pink lips sprays a mist of pink "magic glue" (that's what she calls it) to seal the door, and adds a few extra columns. After she sprays about 6-7 bars, she feels a bit weak and morphs back into her casuals, in this case her hiking outfit. After Sky takes her hand, they have to keep on running, since that ain't holding them monsters back forever, oh no.

Some time has passed. Stella says, "See, forget about the clunky flashlights. My scepter is the only way to light up a room." Brandon replies, "You may be the light of my life, but a good flashlight saved me more than once." Double HEH! Layla thinks that they should have been at the crystals by now. Bloom feels faint and morphs back into her hiking outfit, and Stella the fairy's not feeling too good herself. Sky has to turn his flashlight back on, and the next we see of Little Miss Sunshine she's back in her hiking outfit too. It turns out that she transformed an hour ago, and she's been in her fairy form since, and that's very draining. The fairies' powers have drained, and Layla realizes "I guess this just doesn't happen to the fairies from Andros." Layla recommends laying off the fairy outfits for a while. Evil Guy is watching, and he thinks Layla's stubborn. Apparently the witches are with Evil Guy too, if those shadows are any indication.

The fairies and boys keep on going. Now they're at the crystals. Layla decides to run down one path, and Brandon splits off to another, as everyone else follows Layla. They come to the same yooooge pit. Layla doesn't think it's a good time for them to split up... especially since there are more monsters coming out at Brandon's ledge. Pink lips flies down there to attack the monsters and quickly gets pinned to the wall with a monster's spit. Meanwhile, the other two girls try transforming, and it's not working. Brandon has to fight the monsters alone, and he immediately falls off the ledge with a monster. Stella takes a few steps back, and jumps right after Brandon. Bloom sinks to her knees and spends the next few seconds all "Oh my god", with tears in her eyes. That ain't a shallow pit they just fell down, you know?

Coming up next, Princess Amentia.