Winx Club 3x16: From the Ashes
Oct. 23rd, 2008 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderbraidsI've been busy these past couple weeks. Some of it's a bit personal, so I might put up a friends-only post for that. But anyway...
Previously on Winx Club, Bloom went off to Pyros to become stronger, while Timmy was adamant that Tecna was still alive, and started searching for her. Let's how things are getting along, shall we?
Red Fountain, night time. Timmy is still in his suit, and still at the computer. He's wide awake now, unlike the end of last week. For that matter, the scanner looks totally different from last week as well. It looks as if he's starting to fall asleep again. But then he notices a transmission signal from the spacepod. He gets to work using his ungloved hand, and soon we hear him say: "I don't believe it!" He hears Tecna's voice (for the first time since waaay back when) saying "This is a transmission from the Omega Dimension. Can anyone hear me?" We see Timmy starting to yell to the others to wake up, saying "Tecna is alive!" Sky and Brandon are the first up as Timmy blah-blah's a bunch of exposition adding, "She knew we'd never stop searching for her." Timmy continues, "Now, if I don't lose the signal I should be able to figure out where she's transmitting from." My first reaction: Timmy, like, dude, she already said in the message where she was transmitting from. On second thought, maybe he was hoping to get extra details?
We can't tell from the visuals, but apparently he just manages to hold the signal to get the extra details: "She's transmitting from Omega's inner quadrant. Tecna's not dead, and now we know exactly where she's located." We're shown a flashback to Tecna's sacrifice and Enchantix (bad writers! no biscuit!), as he continues: "Somehow, she's been able to survive alone in that frozen and forgotten place." Brandon decides to go load up the ship for the rescue mission, adding "She'll be happy to see you again." No doubt. "I'll give the Winx a call to let them know." (What, Stella hasn't told you that they're not calling themselves the Winx anymore?) While Sky sadly exposits about Bloom's Pyros training, Timmy adds "I bet you the girls are going to be tickled pink to hear about Tecna!" Sky: "Tell them to start packing: We leave at sun-up." Timmy delivers the news to Stella via Brandon's phone...
... as we head over to CT. More specifically, Val's office, where he's looking at some sort of sun. His eyes glow pink for some reason as the "sun" turns outs to be him watching the Specs. "I like staying awake at night, because that's when the most interesting discoveries are made. Come in."
Icy: "I hope you have a good reason for waking us up, Valtor!"
Val: "I have an excellent reason. Tecna somehow managed to send a message to Red Fountain from the Omega Dimension."
Stormy and Darcy: "HUH?" Icy: "That's impossible!"
Val: "I wouldn't worry ladies. Their chances of actually rescuing her are next to none."
Icy: "Nobody ever gets out of the Omega Dimension." Uh... I think I know 4 people who have. And I'm looking at them right now.
Val: "...Just like nobody ever gets off the island of Pyros." Val slowly walks over to the Trix as Icy asks: "What does Pyros have to do with anything???"
To a flashback, Val repeats the business of Bloom going there to strengthen her powers, adding, "The Island of Dragons is a dangerous place. Something terrible could happen to her there." Icy: "In other words, you want us to go check it out and make sure that it does, is that right?" And we see Val grinning.
And we fade to Alfea, where an RF ship is parked. We see Stella ask Sky: "Why aren't you coming with us?" Sky: "Codatorta (you remember him, right?) specifically asked Riven and me to stay at Red Fountain." Riven: "Yeah. The whole school's on high alert because of Valtor." Sky: "If too many of us go on the mission Red Fountain could be vulnerable. So Riven and I are going to stay on active duty, just in case the school is attacked." And Timmy comes in: "We're ready Stella. Just waiting for you." Stella: "I'm coming. Let's get a move on!" Sky: "Bye Stella." Riven: "See you!" Sky: "Hurry you guys. We can't wait to see Tecna again."
We see the Griz knocking on FG's door and coming in. Griz: "The girls are just about to leave." FG: "Well, thank you for keeping me posted Griselda." We see her look out the window, and we have a nice long pan past the fountain over to the ship, where we see your mission people: Brandon, Timmy, Flora, Layla, Musa, Stella... and someone we haven't seen in quite a long time (well, not really, but still...) We have a terrible animation goof (even worse than showing Bloom in her Enchantix gear) as we see Flora, Layla and Musa walking past Brandon, and it's obvious from the animation that they're supposed to be walking on to the RF ship, except that it's totally not there at all. We cut to a different angle, and we see Stella, Timmy, and... hey, welcome back again, Helia! And for the first time this season, he's in his Specs outfit.
As we see the ship fly off, we see FG say to the Griz: "You know, even though the dangers are great, I don't feel it's right to try to stop them." Griz: "I know. It's their destiny to go and save their friend." FG: "And I believe they will succeed."
And we cut to Pyros and Bloom being chased by that big dragon, and the dragon she had last week is nowhere to be found. And she's running. Even though she's in her fairy outfit. Before long though, she gets the idea fly around... and lands in front of the big dragon and continues running. Uh...? And then she finds herself running straight towards a big pit with a whole bunch of rock columns jutting out. Bloom: "I can do it, I know I can. And I'm going to do it without magic. C'mon Bloom, show them who you are!"
And she starts jumping across the rock columns to evade the dragon's fire, and true to her word, she doesn't use her wings to assist in the jumping, before finishing her jumping with a sweet somersault. I should that note that when my mom saw Bloom jumping across the rocks, she was all, "She's good. Of course the main character has to be this good." I guess my mom knows a Mary Sue when sees one? (wink) Bloom runs clear into the forest, and the dragon stops giving chase. Bloom reaches a clearing in the forest... and she's safe.
Meanwhile, back to the RF ship, where Timmy tells Brandon that it'll be a tough mission... and ends up having to repeat himself because Brandon's mind was somewhere else. We get flashbacks to various parts of the Diaspro arc while he's talking: "I was thinking about Sky, how he wanted to apologize to Bloom for what had happened on Eraklyon, but by the time we got back, she'd already left for Pyros. He hates herself for hurting her... even though he wasn't himself when it happened because of that spell he was under." Dude, with all those flashbacks, all you're making me think is how badly Diaspro got jobbed and how they could have made her plotline better. Timmy: "I'm sure that everything will go right back to normal as soon as Bloom gets back from her training on Pyros." Brandon: "Well, I sure hope so."
Perky Stella asks when they're reaching the Omega Dimension, and they're just about there. Flora's with Timmy: "How you doing Timmy?" Timmy: "I'm okay because now I have hope." And speaking of characters who got jobbed this season, Helia comes to embrace Flora. Sweet... except, not really. Where was the character development for him, anyway?
And now Bloom is sleeping on the clearing she was at. We see a dark-skinned hand with long nails touch her head. She gets up and starts walking, with the owner of the hand nowhere to be seen. Ooh, mysterious. Bloom: "This island is getting more and more unbearable. I've already overcome so many obstacles. How many more are there going to be?... I'm tired..." Then we see the land begin to rumble. "An earthquake??? At least they don't lack variety here!" Which is more than can be said of the writing.
The ground splits right under Bloom and she jumps out the way, but the wind simply throws her back into the chasm. She says, "I can't do it. I can't hold on!" We then see her jump out of the chasm. Eh? No matter, the wind throws her back again, and a log knocks her back into the chasm. A lasso drags her back out as we see the chasm widen.
We fade out to some cave, where Bloom wakes up to see she who saved her just in time, and the owner of the hand we just saw: a dark skinned old lady with white hair. Bloom is grateful to her of course. We see a clay jug and mug, as the old lady pours some water and has Bloom drink up. And that's quite a big mug she's got there. Exposition time! "My name is Maya, and I live here where few creatures dare to venture." Bloom exposits the whole "I came here to get stronger" business for Maya, ending with "But so far, all I've been doing is fighting to survive. I don't know how to do this." Maya: "If you want to get stronger, you must open your heart and your mind." A shout out to both versions of the theme song, eh, lady? We see her tap her head a few times, apparently to read her mind, as we head into a flashback to her showdown against Val at CT with a Bloom voice-over basically telling her about Valtor. Bloom: "Now you know all about me." We have a walk and talk as they head out the cave. Maya: "Your motives are very noble." Bloom: "Since the realm I come from no longer exists, there's no way for me to get my Enchantix powers. And yet I do need to gain strength and courage." So, Tecna issues aside, you're accepting Val's story as gospel, eh? Don't rush to conclusions, sister. Maya: "You already are strong and brave, and your magic is very powerful. Your anger is great, but so is your positive energy. I can help you if you want." Bloom: "You know, I could really use some help right now." Maya: "You must learn to focus on your inner self. You already have everything you need." We gets closeups of the two women, and then a nice shot of them enjoying the view. Ahh.
And back to Omega, where the Specs have arrived. Brandon: "I do not like this place." HEH! Timmy: "Come on, let's try to find Tecna as quickly as possible." Helia finally gets his first line since the season premiere: "Here you go. Here's the mobile receiver, Timmy." Timmy: "Hey, thanks Helia." The thing appears to be monogrammed with Helia's name on it. Heh. "This thing should be able tell us exactly where Tecna is, unless... well..." Not so confident eh? Brandon: "Don't you worry, Timmy, everything will turn out just fine, you'll see."
And back to Pyros, where we see fairy Bloom meditating. We see her casting her powers. Er... Then we see Maya draw a ring with her staff. Then we see Bloom shoot at the ring and getting rid of it. Uh... what was that all about? Maya: "Not bad. You managed to control all of your energy and focus it on a single point." Bloom: "I didn't think I'd be able to." Maya: "You're getting in touch with your inner self. That's why your powers are getting so much stronger. That was a difficult test, and you passed it beautifully."
Getting stronger by getting in touch with your inner self. Hmm, now where have I heard that before???
Back to Omega again, where Timmy has received a signal identical to that he received at RF, so it must be Tecna's. Musa: "Are you sure, Timmy?" Timmy: "I uploaded the original, and the locator just found it again. Let's head due north Brandon." And we finally see the RF ship land, and here come the Specs. Followed with the Winx... er, fairies. Flora: "It's freezing here!" Brandon: "Pretty inhospitable if you ask me." No f'n kidding. Stella: "I betcha they agree." And "they" are prisoner-cicles. Brandon: "I guess that's what you get if you're a prisoner in the Omega Dimension: Locked away in a block of ice for eternity." Timmy continues looking at his map thing, and it looks like a supersized version of the Nintendo DS. "I got it! I can feel it: Tecna's nearby." The Specs and fairies keep on going, eventually happening upon what looks like a big frozen letter J with an antenna sticking out of it, perched on a pile of rocks. "Alright, I found it!" Timmy takes the J: "Well, this is the transmitter that Tecna used, but... where is she?"
Hang on, where have I seen that transmitter before?
So, in the episode that finally buries the little-used Charmix once and for all, we see a remnant of that short-lived power boost. Ironic, eh?
The music goes ominous as we wipe back to another training session on Pyros, where we see Bloom running, jumping on rock formations, and lifting and throwing a rock. Maya: "We are now moving to a higher level of training, which means that should you fail, you're not likely to survive. Are you ready for the challenge Bloom?" Bloom: "Ready." Maya: "Now Bloom, behind you."
And behind Bloom is a large dragon. So here we go! The dragon breathes fire at Bloom, and Bloom counters with her own fire attack a couple times. The dragon swooshes his tail to create a airstream that knocks Bloom clear out of the air, but she manages to recover, before using her fire to shield herself from the dragon's breath, before sending a fire attack the dragon's way which, uh, I think knocks the dragon out the air (the animation's not clear on that). Maya calls Bloom "Excellent" as Bloom, in an act of showboating, forms a fireball around herself before exploding it away. Maya makes a praising gesture as Bloom sits on a rock to catch her breath. Maya's assessment: "Very well done. Your skills have improved so much in such a short time. Your magic is more focused and you're able to control your fear. Your powers have reached a whole new level of sophistication, Bloom." Bloom: "Am I that much better?" Maya: "Oh, you may not feel it, but I can see it. You're almost ready to go back to Magix, my dear." And we head into a flashback as Bloom v/o's: "Oh, Magix... I can't wait to see my friends again. I miss them so much. I really want to go home, but I know I still so much to learn here." In the flashback: The girls hugging Layla after she deblinded herself, Layla and Stella offering to teach Bloom princess lessons, the highfive for great teamwork, Bloom hugging Sky at Stella's party, and Bloom hugging her Earth parents.
Back to Timmy: "This place is like a maze! Finding Tecna here is going to be much harder than I thought." Brandon: "Well, in the meantime, it looks like somebody has found us." We see Flora and Helia gasp... and we see a bunch of non-iced prisoners. Timmy: "They put the transmitter here as a trap!"
Prisoner: "Who are you? What are you doing here in the Omega Dimension? You look a little too cute to be here." HEH. Timmy: "We're trying to find our friend, the girl who had this transmitter. Tell us what you did with her!" Helia: "Easy, Timmy... these guys look like serious trouble." HEH! We see the prisoner brandish his sword and run towards Timmy. Brandon blocks with his magisword: "Hey calm down there buddy! Why can't we all be friends?" HEH! We see Helia one-on-one with another prisoner, and in a totally awesome move, Helia jumps very high above the prisoner before laser roping his boots, knocking him down. Sweet.
We cut to the girls, and you know what a situation like this calls for. Enchantix Musa twirls and casts a Sound Wave Attack, knocking a couple prisoners off their feet. Enchantix Stella: "I'll warm up the place a little. Sun Beam Shower!" Enchantix Flora materializes a four-leaf-clover-shaped shield from her right arm to protect herself from a couple prisoners' gunshots, and we see Layla walking into shot with the shield she's had since the very first time we met her. She's holding the shield with her right arm also, leaving her left arm free to cast Enchanted Morphix, which essentially makes a bunch of prisoners look like they've just stepped in a truckload of chewed-up bubble-gum. "That should slow them down." It doesn't slow them down for long, though, since the prisoners get free of the Morphix, and end up closing in on the fairies, who retreat right off a cliff. And apparently, flopping over backwards makes Enchantix wings useless.
Horrified Brandon: "C'mon! Close in!" Helia: "Alright, time to take these guys down!" Brandon knocks a prisoner's sword clear out of his hands, while Helia uppercuts another. However, it's not long before the prisoners start playing dirty, pelting large boulders at the Specs and knocking them out. A prisoner takes Brandon's magisword: "Let's just lighten your load a little." Ouch.
From here, it's Pyros on out. Maya: "Twilight is the perfect time for you to experience life's most magic moments." Maya opens a box to reveal a small vial: "This vial contains the magical essence of Pyros itself." Bloom: "The magical essence of Pyros?" Maya: "Yes. Every magical place has unique kind of essence, and not just every place, Bloom, but every magical being too. And that includes you." We see Maya dramatically hanging the vial on Bloom's fairy top, and from this point onward, Bloom's top no longer has the yellow jewel on it. Maya: "You see Bloom, just like Pryos, you are defined by the particular blend of magic which lies deep at your core. Now what you must do, is allow your own essence, and that of Pyors to come together and work as one." Bloom: "I need to merge my essence with that of Pyros? How do I do that?" Maya: "I can only help and guide you. It's up to you to become one with the power of the island."
We see the sun setting behind a mountain, and that ominous music can only mean one thing: The Trix are on Pyros also. Stormy: "We've been flying for over an hour. Now are you sure Bloom's here?" Icy: "We'll find her soon!" It appears that Darcy has noticed something. Icy: "Darcy, what's wrong?" Darcy: "Bloom's close by." So I take that her sensing power has returned now.
Maya and Bloom, getting ready to meditate. "Are you ready Bloom? "I am." Bloom begins her meditation, and the energy causes her to hover off the ground, with a large energy field enveloping her. Maya: "Good, Bloom. You now carry within you the magic of the dragons of Pyros."
We see the two meditate, and then we see the Trix flying into the energy envelope thing, prompting Stormy to ask: "What is going on here?" We see Bloom meditating with her vial glowing orange as we hear Stormy call out to Bloom. Bloom gets on her feet, and so does Maya. We see the Trix flying in, and Bloom looks exasperated as she says: "Sorry, no tourists allowed on Pyros." And I'm guessing that she says something different in Italian, because her expression doesn't go with that line at all. She flies over to the Trix, and fires a powerful fireball at them, sending them into a firey tornado and knocking them to the ground. Icy gets up, and after regaining her balance for a couple secs, she shoots some ice at Bloom. She gets out of the way, and the ice hits a tree. Bloom: "Guess you don't have much of a green thumb, Icy." We see Stormy and Darcy behind Bloom. Maya: "Behind you Bloom!" Stormy shoots her lightning rays. Bloom turns around to fly at Icy and Stormy, who launch a combined attack and put her in an ice coffin. Deja vu, anyone? The only thing missing is Icy scratching the ice, as she settles for tapping on it. And then as she walks back over to the others, the ice coffin explodes.
Darcy: "Bloom's gotten a whole lot tougher!"
Icy: "The tougher she thinks she is, the more fun we'll have destroying her!"
We see Bloom is not amused.
The girls go airborne. Stormy and Icy launch their respective attacks, and Bloom right arms a shield to protect herself from them. Bloom: "You're not going to destroy anybody!" Bloom throws a fireball at the two, and they get out of the way, before Darcy hits Bloom with her mind attack. Icy: "Oh, and before we finish you off, Valtor sent his regards." And Bloom has flashbacks of herself walking past Val before Stella's princess ball, getting threatened on Andros, and facing off against Val at CT. Back to today, as the Trix combine their attacks and keep firing at Bloom. The Enchantix theme starts up as Bloom says, "Valtor will not win... ever", and becomes an Enchantix.
We see a dragon swoosh past Bloom, then her eyelids gaining a pink tint, then her body (nude save for Maya's necklace) enveloped in fire as the dragon circles around her. Then we see a pink glove materialize on Bloom's arm, followed by a rather short set of blue leglets. We see a large blue cloth unfold itself into a cross and form Bloom's new outfit, with Maya's vial now framed with a heart (now where have I seen that before?). We see her wings sprout from her back and she assumes her rather EH finishing pose.
The first thing Bloom does coming out of the transformation is to block the combined attacks. Icy is all "HUH?!" as she sees Bloom in her Enchantix. Bloom fires a blast at the Trix, and then encloses them in a sphere, where their attacks have no effect. Bloom finishes with a fire attack on the sphere, but not before Icy lets out "We'll get you for this, Bloom!" Diaspro notwithstanding, we're pretty sure that means they'll be coming back later.
Bloom slumps over on the ground, and Maya comes over her. We get a good look at Bloom's new heart-decor hair decorations. "Enchantix! I did it, I can't believe I got my Enchantix powers!" Maya is all mm-hmm before she adds, "All the energy you possess was totally focused for one perfect moment, and that's what set your Enchantix free. It could only happen to someone who has the Dragonfire within." You're kidding me, right? "When you first arrived here, you were looking for answers, trying to find strength. You've come a long way since. You've found yourself, Bloom. Nothing will ever be the same." "And now I feel ready to return to Alfea, and see my friends again." Well, you're in for a surprise, Bloom... but that's for next time, when we also have the return of a certain someone with a certain something she shouldn't have.
Previously on Winx Club, Bloom went off to Pyros to become stronger, while Timmy was adamant that Tecna was still alive, and started searching for her. Let's how things are getting along, shall we?
Red Fountain, night time. Timmy is still in his suit, and still at the computer. He's wide awake now, unlike the end of last week. For that matter, the scanner looks totally different from last week as well. It looks as if he's starting to fall asleep again. But then he notices a transmission signal from the spacepod. He gets to work using his ungloved hand, and soon we hear him say: "I don't believe it!" He hears Tecna's voice (for the first time since waaay back when) saying "This is a transmission from the Omega Dimension. Can anyone hear me?" We see Timmy starting to yell to the others to wake up, saying "Tecna is alive!" Sky and Brandon are the first up as Timmy blah-blah's a bunch of exposition adding, "She knew we'd never stop searching for her." Timmy continues, "Now, if I don't lose the signal I should be able to figure out where she's transmitting from." My first reaction: Timmy, like, dude, she already said in the message where she was transmitting from. On second thought, maybe he was hoping to get extra details?
We can't tell from the visuals, but apparently he just manages to hold the signal to get the extra details: "She's transmitting from Omega's inner quadrant. Tecna's not dead, and now we know exactly where she's located." We're shown a flashback to Tecna's sacrifice and Enchantix (bad writers! no biscuit!), as he continues: "Somehow, she's been able to survive alone in that frozen and forgotten place." Brandon decides to go load up the ship for the rescue mission, adding "She'll be happy to see you again." No doubt. "I'll give the Winx a call to let them know." (What, Stella hasn't told you that they're not calling themselves the Winx anymore?) While Sky sadly exposits about Bloom's Pyros training, Timmy adds "I bet you the girls are going to be tickled pink to hear about Tecna!" Sky: "Tell them to start packing: We leave at sun-up." Timmy delivers the news to Stella via Brandon's phone...
... as we head over to CT. More specifically, Val's office, where he's looking at some sort of sun. His eyes glow pink for some reason as the "sun" turns outs to be him watching the Specs. "I like staying awake at night, because that's when the most interesting discoveries are made. Come in."
Icy: "I hope you have a good reason for waking us up, Valtor!"
Val: "I have an excellent reason. Tecna somehow managed to send a message to Red Fountain from the Omega Dimension."
Stormy and Darcy: "HUH?" Icy: "That's impossible!"
Val: "I wouldn't worry ladies. Their chances of actually rescuing her are next to none."
Icy: "Nobody ever gets out of the Omega Dimension." Uh... I think I know 4 people who have. And I'm looking at them right now.
Val: "...Just like nobody ever gets off the island of Pyros." Val slowly walks over to the Trix as Icy asks: "What does Pyros have to do with anything???"
To a flashback, Val repeats the business of Bloom going there to strengthen her powers, adding, "The Island of Dragons is a dangerous place. Something terrible could happen to her there." Icy: "In other words, you want us to go check it out and make sure that it does, is that right?" And we see Val grinning.
And we fade to Alfea, where an RF ship is parked. We see Stella ask Sky: "Why aren't you coming with us?" Sky: "Codatorta (you remember him, right?) specifically asked Riven and me to stay at Red Fountain." Riven: "Yeah. The whole school's on high alert because of Valtor." Sky: "If too many of us go on the mission Red Fountain could be vulnerable. So Riven and I are going to stay on active duty, just in case the school is attacked." And Timmy comes in: "We're ready Stella. Just waiting for you." Stella: "I'm coming. Let's get a move on!" Sky: "Bye Stella." Riven: "See you!" Sky: "Hurry you guys. We can't wait to see Tecna again."
We see the Griz knocking on FG's door and coming in. Griz: "The girls are just about to leave." FG: "Well, thank you for keeping me posted Griselda." We see her look out the window, and we have a nice long pan past the fountain over to the ship, where we see your mission people: Brandon, Timmy, Flora, Layla, Musa, Stella... and someone we haven't seen in quite a long time (well, not really, but still...) We have a terrible animation goof (even worse than showing Bloom in her Enchantix gear) as we see Flora, Layla and Musa walking past Brandon, and it's obvious from the animation that they're supposed to be walking on to the RF ship, except that it's totally not there at all. We cut to a different angle, and we see Stella, Timmy, and... hey, welcome back again, Helia! And for the first time this season, he's in his Specs outfit.
As we see the ship fly off, we see FG say to the Griz: "You know, even though the dangers are great, I don't feel it's right to try to stop them." Griz: "I know. It's their destiny to go and save their friend." FG: "And I believe they will succeed."
And we cut to Pyros and Bloom being chased by that big dragon, and the dragon she had last week is nowhere to be found. And she's running. Even though she's in her fairy outfit. Before long though, she gets the idea fly around... and lands in front of the big dragon and continues running. Uh...? And then she finds herself running straight towards a big pit with a whole bunch of rock columns jutting out. Bloom: "I can do it, I know I can. And I'm going to do it without magic. C'mon Bloom, show them who you are!"
And she starts jumping across the rock columns to evade the dragon's fire, and true to her word, she doesn't use her wings to assist in the jumping, before finishing her jumping with a sweet somersault. I should that note that when my mom saw Bloom jumping across the rocks, she was all, "She's good. Of course the main character has to be this good." I guess my mom knows a Mary Sue when sees one? (wink) Bloom runs clear into the forest, and the dragon stops giving chase. Bloom reaches a clearing in the forest... and she's safe.
Meanwhile, back to the RF ship, where Timmy tells Brandon that it'll be a tough mission... and ends up having to repeat himself because Brandon's mind was somewhere else. We get flashbacks to various parts of the Diaspro arc while he's talking: "I was thinking about Sky, how he wanted to apologize to Bloom for what had happened on Eraklyon, but by the time we got back, she'd already left for Pyros. He hates herself for hurting her... even though he wasn't himself when it happened because of that spell he was under." Dude, with all those flashbacks, all you're making me think is how badly Diaspro got jobbed and how they could have made her plotline better. Timmy: "I'm sure that everything will go right back to normal as soon as Bloom gets back from her training on Pyros." Brandon: "Well, I sure hope so."
Perky Stella asks when they're reaching the Omega Dimension, and they're just about there. Flora's with Timmy: "How you doing Timmy?" Timmy: "I'm okay because now I have hope." And speaking of characters who got jobbed this season, Helia comes to embrace Flora. Sweet... except, not really. Where was the character development for him, anyway?
And now Bloom is sleeping on the clearing she was at. We see a dark-skinned hand with long nails touch her head. She gets up and starts walking, with the owner of the hand nowhere to be seen. Ooh, mysterious. Bloom: "This island is getting more and more unbearable. I've already overcome so many obstacles. How many more are there going to be?... I'm tired..." Then we see the land begin to rumble. "An earthquake??? At least they don't lack variety here!" Which is more than can be said of the writing.
The ground splits right under Bloom and she jumps out the way, but the wind simply throws her back into the chasm. She says, "I can't do it. I can't hold on!" We then see her jump out of the chasm. Eh? No matter, the wind throws her back again, and a log knocks her back into the chasm. A lasso drags her back out as we see the chasm widen.
We fade out to some cave, where Bloom wakes up to see she who saved her just in time, and the owner of the hand we just saw: a dark skinned old lady with white hair. Bloom is grateful to her of course. We see a clay jug and mug, as the old lady pours some water and has Bloom drink up. And that's quite a big mug she's got there. Exposition time! "My name is Maya, and I live here where few creatures dare to venture." Bloom exposits the whole "I came here to get stronger" business for Maya, ending with "But so far, all I've been doing is fighting to survive. I don't know how to do this." Maya: "If you want to get stronger, you must open your heart and your mind." A shout out to both versions of the theme song, eh, lady? We see her tap her head a few times, apparently to read her mind, as we head into a flashback to her showdown against Val at CT with a Bloom voice-over basically telling her about Valtor. Bloom: "Now you know all about me." We have a walk and talk as they head out the cave. Maya: "Your motives are very noble." Bloom: "Since the realm I come from no longer exists, there's no way for me to get my Enchantix powers. And yet I do need to gain strength and courage." So, Tecna issues aside, you're accepting Val's story as gospel, eh? Don't rush to conclusions, sister. Maya: "You already are strong and brave, and your magic is very powerful. Your anger is great, but so is your positive energy. I can help you if you want." Bloom: "You know, I could really use some help right now." Maya: "You must learn to focus on your inner self. You already have everything you need." We gets closeups of the two women, and then a nice shot of them enjoying the view. Ahh.
And back to Omega, where the Specs have arrived. Brandon: "I do not like this place." HEH! Timmy: "Come on, let's try to find Tecna as quickly as possible." Helia finally gets his first line since the season premiere: "Here you go. Here's the mobile receiver, Timmy." Timmy: "Hey, thanks Helia." The thing appears to be monogrammed with Helia's name on it. Heh. "This thing should be able tell us exactly where Tecna is, unless... well..." Not so confident eh? Brandon: "Don't you worry, Timmy, everything will turn out just fine, you'll see."
And back to Pyros, where we see fairy Bloom meditating. We see her casting her powers. Er... Then we see Maya draw a ring with her staff. Then we see Bloom shoot at the ring and getting rid of it. Uh... what was that all about? Maya: "Not bad. You managed to control all of your energy and focus it on a single point." Bloom: "I didn't think I'd be able to." Maya: "You're getting in touch with your inner self. That's why your powers are getting so much stronger. That was a difficult test, and you passed it beautifully."
Getting stronger by getting in touch with your inner self. Hmm, now where have I heard that before???
Back to Omega again, where Timmy has received a signal identical to that he received at RF, so it must be Tecna's. Musa: "Are you sure, Timmy?" Timmy: "I uploaded the original, and the locator just found it again. Let's head due north Brandon." And we finally see the RF ship land, and here come the Specs. Followed with the Winx... er, fairies. Flora: "It's freezing here!" Brandon: "Pretty inhospitable if you ask me." No f'n kidding. Stella: "I betcha they agree." And "they" are prisoner-cicles. Brandon: "I guess that's what you get if you're a prisoner in the Omega Dimension: Locked away in a block of ice for eternity." Timmy continues looking at his map thing, and it looks like a supersized version of the Nintendo DS. "I got it! I can feel it: Tecna's nearby." The Specs and fairies keep on going, eventually happening upon what looks like a big frozen letter J with an antenna sticking out of it, perched on a pile of rocks. "Alright, I found it!" Timmy takes the J: "Well, this is the transmitter that Tecna used, but... where is she?"
Hang on, where have I seen that transmitter before?
So, in the episode that finally buries the little-used Charmix once and for all, we see a remnant of that short-lived power boost. Ironic, eh?
The music goes ominous as we wipe back to another training session on Pyros, where we see Bloom running, jumping on rock formations, and lifting and throwing a rock. Maya: "We are now moving to a higher level of training, which means that should you fail, you're not likely to survive. Are you ready for the challenge Bloom?" Bloom: "Ready." Maya: "Now Bloom, behind you."
And behind Bloom is a large dragon. So here we go! The dragon breathes fire at Bloom, and Bloom counters with her own fire attack a couple times. The dragon swooshes his tail to create a airstream that knocks Bloom clear out of the air, but she manages to recover, before using her fire to shield herself from the dragon's breath, before sending a fire attack the dragon's way which, uh, I think knocks the dragon out the air (the animation's not clear on that). Maya calls Bloom "Excellent" as Bloom, in an act of showboating, forms a fireball around herself before exploding it away. Maya makes a praising gesture as Bloom sits on a rock to catch her breath. Maya's assessment: "Very well done. Your skills have improved so much in such a short time. Your magic is more focused and you're able to control your fear. Your powers have reached a whole new level of sophistication, Bloom." Bloom: "Am I that much better?" Maya: "Oh, you may not feel it, but I can see it. You're almost ready to go back to Magix, my dear." And we head into a flashback as Bloom v/o's: "Oh, Magix... I can't wait to see my friends again. I miss them so much. I really want to go home, but I know I still so much to learn here." In the flashback: The girls hugging Layla after she deblinded herself, Layla and Stella offering to teach Bloom princess lessons, the highfive for great teamwork, Bloom hugging Sky at Stella's party, and Bloom hugging her Earth parents.
Back to Timmy: "This place is like a maze! Finding Tecna here is going to be much harder than I thought." Brandon: "Well, in the meantime, it looks like somebody has found us." We see Flora and Helia gasp... and we see a bunch of non-iced prisoners. Timmy: "They put the transmitter here as a trap!"
Prisoner: "Who are you? What are you doing here in the Omega Dimension? You look a little too cute to be here." HEH. Timmy: "We're trying to find our friend, the girl who had this transmitter. Tell us what you did with her!" Helia: "Easy, Timmy... these guys look like serious trouble." HEH! We see the prisoner brandish his sword and run towards Timmy. Brandon blocks with his magisword: "Hey calm down there buddy! Why can't we all be friends?" HEH! We see Helia one-on-one with another prisoner, and in a totally awesome move, Helia jumps very high above the prisoner before laser roping his boots, knocking him down. Sweet.
We cut to the girls, and you know what a situation like this calls for. Enchantix Musa twirls and casts a Sound Wave Attack, knocking a couple prisoners off their feet. Enchantix Stella: "I'll warm up the place a little. Sun Beam Shower!" Enchantix Flora materializes a four-leaf-clover-shaped shield from her right arm to protect herself from a couple prisoners' gunshots, and we see Layla walking into shot with the shield she's had since the very first time we met her. She's holding the shield with her right arm also, leaving her left arm free to cast Enchanted Morphix, which essentially makes a bunch of prisoners look like they've just stepped in a truckload of chewed-up bubble-gum. "That should slow them down." It doesn't slow them down for long, though, since the prisoners get free of the Morphix, and end up closing in on the fairies, who retreat right off a cliff. And apparently, flopping over backwards makes Enchantix wings useless.
Horrified Brandon: "C'mon! Close in!" Helia: "Alright, time to take these guys down!" Brandon knocks a prisoner's sword clear out of his hands, while Helia uppercuts another. However, it's not long before the prisoners start playing dirty, pelting large boulders at the Specs and knocking them out. A prisoner takes Brandon's magisword: "Let's just lighten your load a little." Ouch.
From here, it's Pyros on out. Maya: "Twilight is the perfect time for you to experience life's most magic moments." Maya opens a box to reveal a small vial: "This vial contains the magical essence of Pyros itself." Bloom: "The magical essence of Pyros?" Maya: "Yes. Every magical place has unique kind of essence, and not just every place, Bloom, but every magical being too. And that includes you." We see Maya dramatically hanging the vial on Bloom's fairy top, and from this point onward, Bloom's top no longer has the yellow jewel on it. Maya: "You see Bloom, just like Pryos, you are defined by the particular blend of magic which lies deep at your core. Now what you must do, is allow your own essence, and that of Pyors to come together and work as one." Bloom: "I need to merge my essence with that of Pyros? How do I do that?" Maya: "I can only help and guide you. It's up to you to become one with the power of the island."
We see the sun setting behind a mountain, and that ominous music can only mean one thing: The Trix are on Pyros also. Stormy: "We've been flying for over an hour. Now are you sure Bloom's here?" Icy: "We'll find her soon!" It appears that Darcy has noticed something. Icy: "Darcy, what's wrong?" Darcy: "Bloom's close by." So I take that her sensing power has returned now.
Maya and Bloom, getting ready to meditate. "Are you ready Bloom? "I am." Bloom begins her meditation, and the energy causes her to hover off the ground, with a large energy field enveloping her. Maya: "Good, Bloom. You now carry within you the magic of the dragons of Pyros."
We see the two meditate, and then we see the Trix flying into the energy envelope thing, prompting Stormy to ask: "What is going on here?" We see Bloom meditating with her vial glowing orange as we hear Stormy call out to Bloom. Bloom gets on her feet, and so does Maya. We see the Trix flying in, and Bloom looks exasperated as she says: "Sorry, no tourists allowed on Pyros." And I'm guessing that she says something different in Italian, because her expression doesn't go with that line at all. She flies over to the Trix, and fires a powerful fireball at them, sending them into a firey tornado and knocking them to the ground. Icy gets up, and after regaining her balance for a couple secs, she shoots some ice at Bloom. She gets out of the way, and the ice hits a tree. Bloom: "Guess you don't have much of a green thumb, Icy." We see Stormy and Darcy behind Bloom. Maya: "Behind you Bloom!" Stormy shoots her lightning rays. Bloom turns around to fly at Icy and Stormy, who launch a combined attack and put her in an ice coffin. Deja vu, anyone? The only thing missing is Icy scratching the ice, as she settles for tapping on it. And then as she walks back over to the others, the ice coffin explodes.
Darcy: "Bloom's gotten a whole lot tougher!"
Icy: "The tougher she thinks she is, the more fun we'll have destroying her!"
We see Bloom is not amused.
The girls go airborne. Stormy and Icy launch their respective attacks, and Bloom right arms a shield to protect herself from them. Bloom: "You're not going to destroy anybody!" Bloom throws a fireball at the two, and they get out of the way, before Darcy hits Bloom with her mind attack. Icy: "Oh, and before we finish you off, Valtor sent his regards." And Bloom has flashbacks of herself walking past Val before Stella's princess ball, getting threatened on Andros, and facing off against Val at CT. Back to today, as the Trix combine their attacks and keep firing at Bloom. The Enchantix theme starts up as Bloom says, "Valtor will not win... ever", and becomes an Enchantix.
We see a dragon swoosh past Bloom, then her eyelids gaining a pink tint, then her body (nude save for Maya's necklace) enveloped in fire as the dragon circles around her. Then we see a pink glove materialize on Bloom's arm, followed by a rather short set of blue leglets. We see a large blue cloth unfold itself into a cross and form Bloom's new outfit, with Maya's vial now framed with a heart (now where have I seen that before?). We see her wings sprout from her back and she assumes her rather EH finishing pose.
The first thing Bloom does coming out of the transformation is to block the combined attacks. Icy is all "HUH?!" as she sees Bloom in her Enchantix. Bloom fires a blast at the Trix, and then encloses them in a sphere, where their attacks have no effect. Bloom finishes with a fire attack on the sphere, but not before Icy lets out "We'll get you for this, Bloom!" Diaspro notwithstanding, we're pretty sure that means they'll be coming back later.
Bloom slumps over on the ground, and Maya comes over her. We get a good look at Bloom's new heart-decor hair decorations. "Enchantix! I did it, I can't believe I got my Enchantix powers!" Maya is all mm-hmm before she adds, "All the energy you possess was totally focused for one perfect moment, and that's what set your Enchantix free. It could only happen to someone who has the Dragonfire within." You're kidding me, right? "When you first arrived here, you were looking for answers, trying to find strength. You've come a long way since. You've found yourself, Bloom. Nothing will ever be the same." "And now I feel ready to return to Alfea, and see my friends again." Well, you're in for a surprise, Bloom... but that's for next time, when we also have the return of a certain someone with a certain something she shouldn't have.
