World of Winx - Episode 104

The Monster Under the City is the fourth episode of the first season of World of Winx.

Synopsis
Using his technical skills, Naoki helps the Winx fake their live appearance, then acts as Crocodile Man bait so they can confront him in the sewer.

Plot
The Crocodile Man lurches towards the Winx as they back away in fright. Bloom demands that the creature stay away from them, but this prompts him to fling rocks and dirt at them with his tail. The Crocodile Man then picks up a nearby robot figure with his tail and prepares to throw it at the Winx. Stella calls for help and before the Crocodile Man can throw the robot, someone jumps in front of the group of fairies. It is Super Naoki: defender of universes and avenger of the oppressed! The Crocodile Man throws the robot at the girls but Super Naoki is able to destroy it before it can hit any of them. As he basks in the Winx cheering for him, Super Naoki is caught by the Crocodile Man's tail! A green glow surrounds Super Naoki as he tries to break free. Tecna cheers Super Naoki on and insists that he is their last hope. As Super Naoki tries to break free of the Crocodile Man's grip, he is interrupted by a voice asking how he was able to do so.

It turns out that Naoki is explaining what happened to the same group of boys that teased him at the comic book store. He asks if they forgot about his special aura and claims that, first, he managed to drain the monster of its energy. Then he unleashed a flurry of attacks onto the beast before beating it with his light shot. Naoki is then interrupted by Tecna who lightly scolds him. Naoki claims that he was just trying to tell a story but Bloom insists that there is no time for stories; it is time for action. The Winx begin to exit the building as Naoki trails behind them, saying goodbye to his new friends. Before they leave, Stella hands the three boys a card. She tells them that they are the Winx and that they work as talent scouts in order to find new talent. The three boys gleefully clutch the card as they can barely contain their smiles. In another part of the building, Bloom scolds Naoki by telling him that their mission is supposed to be kept secret as a lot of people's lives could be in danger, including his own. Naoki apologizes, admitting that he got carried away, but he proclaims that it is just fantastic that he gets to help real fairies. The girls manage to quiet him down as Naoki apologizes again. Aisha then asks if Tecna was able to find anything out about the strange watch, but Tecna is not having any luck. It remains as something made from an unidentifiable material of unknown origin. Aisha simplifies this by stating that they still do not know what the watch is and Bloom walks up to hold it, adding that they also do not know how it works. Flora chimes in by claiming that they can figure out who the watch belongs to and, when asked what she means, Flora clarifies that it must belong to the Crocodile Man. She suspects that the creature lost the watch in their recent fight and Aisha remembers that they still need to come up with a plan to catch him. Musa adds that they will need to do so before the Crocodile Man can capture Naoki. Flora claims that she observed the creature for quite a while during the fight and learned that direct attacks have no effect on the creature. She believes that they should be able to guess the creatures moves by luring him with some kind of bait, implying that they use Naoki. Naoki is all for being the bait but Aisha advises for him to slow down and she tells Flora that her plan may be too dangerous. Flora insists that it will be safe if Naoki comes with them and the girls all look at each other as they try to figure out their next move. Flora then looks over her should to find a potted plant and she begins to form more of a plan. However, her concentration is broken by the beeping of Bloom's Winx Watch.

Bloom answers the call and finds that Ace is on the other line. He demands to know where they will be going to find the next talent and Bloom claims that they will be bound to find more talent as they stay in New York. Ace then tells her that he will be sending the camera drones their way and demands that they get going. Now with the Wow! camera drones following them, Aisha becomes frustrated since this means that they will have to give up their hunt for the Crocodile Man. However, Naoki assures the girls that he has a plan. On the set of WOW, Ace does his usual introduction and he, the judges and the audience watch as the Winx eagerly rush into the Winxmobile. Stella tells the audience that they will be right with them after a quick change of makeup and the backdoors of the Winxmobile close. Act then announces to everyone that the Winx have spotted another talent hiding in the city of Manhattan, but they should be uncovering them very soon. He notices that their Winxmobile is not moving and tells the girls that the audience is eagerly awaiting them. The audience begins to chant for the Winx but the Winxmobile still has not moved. Suddenly, the video footage gets distorted for a moment and the Winx appear outside in their journalist outfits. Ace then encourages everyone to give their amazing talent scouts a round of applause.

Back in New York, it turns out that the camera drones have been hacked by none other than Naoki! Stella asks if he is sure that the drones cannot see them and Naoki explains that they have been hooked up to his video game. The drones think that they are filming the Winx when, in actuality, they are recording the girls' virtual models. Stella makes silly faces and noises at the camera drones until Bloom tells her that that is enough. Though, Stella cannot resist sticking her tongue at the drones one last time before leaving. Now that they have Ace distracted, Bloom asks if any of the girls have any idea as to how they will start their search. Flora approaches the same potted plant from earlier and notices that the plant's flowers have been closed tight; almost as if the flowers were trying to protect themselves. After touching one of the curled-up flower buds, Flora closes her eyes to read what she feels. Images of pulsing vines, vines being snapped and flowers closing up flow through Flora's mind and she claims to be sensing feelings of dread, anxiety, fear and pain. Her eyes flash open and Bloom calls out to her. Flora explains that nature has sensed a hostile presence that it neither human nor plant. Aisha concludes that it is the Crocodile Man and Flora reveals that she may know where he is hiding.

Elsewhere in New York, the Winx and Naoki return to the alleyway where the Crocodile Man made his first attack and go down into the sewers to find him. Naoki expresses his excitement for the mission at every step of the way until Aisha quiets him down. She asks if he wants them to get caught but Naoki insists that he needs to be loud enough in order to be suitable bait. Musa advises for Naoki not to overreact as the Crocodile Man is a very intelligent creature. Little does the group realize is that the Crocodile Man is spying on them from under the sewer water. Bloom hopes that they will be able to learn more about the mysterious watch if they capture the Crocodile Man and advises everyone to stay on guard. As the seven of them continue combing the sewers for their target, Bloom slips the strange watch into her pocket. Later on, they come across a sewer grate that was forced down into the sewers. As Bloom tries to piece these two things together, the Crocodile Man leaps out from the waters behind her and attacks! Bloom is able to roll out of the Crocodile Man's range and the Winx get ready to fight back. Bloom and Aisha leap over to the other side of the sewers as Flora and Tecna dodge the Crocodile Man's next attack. Tecna bounces off of the wall and manages to kick the creature across the face. Flora runs up the creature, jumps and stomps on his face, which also propels her to the other end of the sewers. The Crocodile Man lunges at Bloom and Flora but the two fairies easily jump out of the way. The Crocodile Man scales the walls and goes charging after Stella and Musa. Just as he is about to attack Musa, Aisha leaps at him and kicks his head away. She and the Crocodile Man begin to square off, one on one, with Aisha dodging and stopping every one of the creature's blows. Musa then grabs Aisha and moves her out of the way of the Crocodile Man's last attack. Naoki, who was hiding behind a corner, peers out to see how the confrontation is going, only to end up right in the Crocodile Man's line of sight. Luckily, Flora is able to catch Naoki and whisk him to the opposite side of the sewers. The Crocodile Man tries to pursue them but he is kicked in the face by Bloom and reels back from the attack. The first person that the creature notices after recovering is Tecna and he lunges at her. She and Bloom dodge the attack and get ready for the next but, in that moment, the Crocodile Man catches a glimpse of the strange watch slipping out of Bloom's pocket. He then dives into the sewer water and swims after Bloom. The Crocodile Man manages to stop Bloom in her tracks but she barely dodges his attack and is able to flee. Bloom flees down the corridor on the right as the creature gives chase, completely ignoring Tecna. Bloom keeps running until she hits a dead-end and the Crocodile Man leaps out from behind the fairy to corner her. Aisha and Musa rush to the scene where Aisha throws a rock at one of the nearby pipes. This causes the pipe to burst and spew gushing water directly at the Crocodile Man, which flings him back into the sewer water. From there, the Crocodile Man decides to flee. Bloom turns back to the girls as she is relieved that they were able to come to her rescue.

With everything settled, Flora is confused about why her plan did not work out. Naoki wonders why the Crocodile Man did not come after him and Flora deduces that it was possibly due to Naoki not being the creature's target. She quickly realizes what this all means but it is too late; the Crocodile Man has come back for round two! Everyone manages to get out of the way using the dust and dirt the creature kicked up as cover. Noticing that no one is around, the Crocodile Man leaves to continue hunting them down, until he is stopped by a rock hitting his head. He turns around to find Naoki taunting him, calling him "an old lizard who is slow and near-sighted." The Crocodile Man glares down at Naoki who only taunts him some more. The creature then lunges at Naoki but ends up phasing through the boy! He slams his tail down on Naoki again and realizes that he was nothing more than a hologram. Bloom then drops down from the ceiling and attacks the Crocodile Man, which causes him to flee. Once he is gone, Naoki comes out from a nearby corner as he tinkers on his phone. Bloom praises Naoki on a job well done and Naoki claims that it was all thanks to the latest projection technology. Stella asks if they have to dive into the water now until she is interrupted by Bloom's beeping Winx Watch. To make matters worse, it is Ace who is calling them.

Ace paces around his dressing room demanding to know what Bloom and the Winx are doing as his two assistants try to tend to his hair. Bloom does not understand what Ace is talking about and asks what the problem is. Ace figures that this means it is only normal for the Winx to be acting out of their minds and Bloom tries to assure him that they will find some more new talents. Ace then asks Bloom if it is normal for any person to repeat the same sentence for two minutes straight and the call ends. The girls look back at Naoki with annoyed looks on their faces, as Naoki promised to take care of their cover. Footage of Musa and Stella asking a woman if she can sing plays over and over on a loop until it cuts to footage of Bloom and Aisha glitching out as they are seemingly moonwalking down the streets. Footage of Tecna and Flora walking into a door as they glitch out plays right afterwards until the same footage of Aisha and Bloom "moonwalking" is played again.

Ace continues his call with Bloom where Bloom tries to calm Ace down by claiming that it will not be the end of the world if they have a little screw-up. Ace insists that it is the end of the world because WOW is supposed to be a talent show, not a sitcom. He then tells Bloom that he will end the live show for today but he will not put up with any more nonsense tomorrow. As the show comes back from commercial break, Ace psyches himself up to host it once again.

On stage, Ace announces to everyone that, while the Winx have not been able to find any new talent, they can do some serious moonwalking. Cliff claims that Ace is the real talent in the show as the audience applauds and chants Ace's name. Margot claims that Puff could dance better than the Winx and Puff starts dancing on her arm. Ace then announces that WOW will be ending there for the day and that they will be able to find out if the Winx can find new talent tomorrow.

Back in the sewers, Naoki figures out that there was a bug in his system but he claims that once he fixes it, the program should be back up in no time. Bloom tells Naoki that he will not need to do so as they are now free from the live show for the rest of the day. Aisha insists that the live show about making kids' dreams come true is only creating more problems than anything else they have been dealing with and that is when Flora gets another idea. She praises Aisha and then reminds that girls that Annabelle was kidnapped shortly after making her dreams come true by performing at the Frutti Music Bar. Naoki was also chased by the Crocodile Man as he wanted to be appreciated by everyone for his own talents and Naoki adds that his dreams later came true once he became a tour guide for the Museum of Science Fiction. Tecna goes off of Flora's suspicions and concludes that the Thief will only go after talents who are about to bloom. Naoki cheers over how he was able to avoid danger but Stella still does not understand why the creature went after Bloom this time. Bloom suspects that the Crocodile Man must have been after the watch in her pocket and Flora claims that the creature will get the watch if he wants is so badly. Stella asks if Flora is joking but Flora confirms that she is not in the slightest. She then explains that, with the watch, they will be able to lure the Crocodile Man into a trap where they will be able to catch him. Even if he escapes, however, their plan will still be a success. Bloom asks what Flora means by that last phrase and Flora claims that they will finally figure out how the strange watch really works. So that night, the girls begin to execute Flora's plan.

The Winx and Naoki are all gathered just outside of the Winxmobile as Bloom is seated in its driver's seat. Aisha warns Bloom to be careful and tells her to keep the watch safe with her. Bloom gives Aisha the thumbs-up and drives off, attracting the Crocodile Man, who is lurking just behind the vehicle in the shadows. Bloom continues to drive through New York with the Crocodile Man lurking not too far behind her at every turn, until the creature reveals himself by punching a manhole cover into the air, where he stands in front of the Winxmobile. Bloom picks up speed to ram the creature in but the Crocodile Man slips back into the sewers, leaving Bloom to almost swerve out of control. She manages to regain stability with the Winxmobile but soon has to dodge a manhole cover that was thrown by the Crocodile Man. Bloom braces for impact but the Crocodile Man darts out of the way, leaving her to speed off. She tries to look for any sign of the Crocodile Man but it turns out that the creature has climbed onto the Winxmobile! He slashes the tires which causes Bloom to force the Winxmobile into a nearby park. The vehicle ends up barreling down towards a river in the middle of the park but Bloom manages to stop it before it completely crashes, just stopping it at the edge of the river. Bloom stumbles out of the Winxmobile, only to be attacked by the Crocodile Man. She drops the watch and the Crocodile Man reclaims it but is stopped by Flora. Soon enough, the rest of the Winx gather to surround the creature as Naoki hides behind a nearby tree. Naoki cheers for the girls to show the Crocodile Man how it is done and Bloom proclaims that the creature is now all Flora's. Flora uses her magic to bind down the creature with tree branches and it seems like their plan has succeeded! Aisha checks up on Bloom, who insists that she is fine thanks to Aisha's teachings, but the Crocodile Man breaks out of his bindings and attacks Flora and Musa! Bloom, Aisha and Tecna manage to dodge his next attack but the Crocodile Man goes directly after Bloom, chasing and attacking her through the park. Bloom hides behind a tree but is quickly chased away by the Crocodile Man. She regroups with the Winx and urges them all to concentrate so that they may access their special power. The girls transform and begin to fight the Crocodile Man, starting with Flora blasting a flurry of leaves at him but to no avail. The Crocodile Man darts off somewhere and Flora uses her "Nature Sense" to detect where the creature has hidden himself. She manages to locate him and leads the charge towards the creature, who turns out to be hiding behind a tree. The Crocodile Man charges at the girls but is blasted back by a spell from Stella. The creature then flings rocks at them with his tail but Tecna manages to shield Bloom and Flora from every one of the rocks. The Crocodile Man tries to flee by swimming through the river but he is stopped by Aisha, who conjures up a giant fist made from the river water to attack him. The impact causes the Crocodile Man to be flung back onto land and seems to have been knocked out. Naoki cheers the Winx on until it turns out that the creature is awake. Naoki taunts the creature until he starts to chase after him. Flora tries to stop the Crocodile Man in his tracks but the vines she has conjured up are too weak. As she darts back towards land, the Crocodile Man uses the watch to open up a strange portal. Flora tries to stop him with one last vine but the creature is able to escape into the portal. Aisha tells everyone that they can no longer track the Crocodile Man but Flora is certain that he will return, just not for Naoki. Naoki is a bit bummed out that the Winx no longer have to protect him but Flora assures him that he has been more help to them than he realizes. Aisha agrees, telling Naoki that he was very brave throughout the whole ordeal, and Stella adds that Naoki was even like their own superhero. Naoki nervously tries to compliment the Winx as well but he manages to confess that he found it to be really cool helping them out on their secret mission. He quickly remembers one more thing, pulls out a flashdrive from his pocket and hands it to Bloom. He says that he downloaded his game onto that flashdrive so that he could give it to them as a thank-you gift and Bloom thanks him for it. Suddenly, Naoki is given a big kiss on the cheek from Stella and can barely contain himself, which causes him to fall onto the ground.

Shortly afterwards, the girls have regrouped back inside the Winxmobile. Stella is frustrated with how close they were to catching the Talent Thief until Flora tells her not to worry as everything is still going according to plan. That is when Tecna reveals that, thanks to Flora, she installed a mini-radar onto the watch so that they would still be able to find it in case the creature had stolen it from Bloom. Aisha asks if Tecna's gadget is working this time and Tecna, after correcting Aisha, confirms that it is, meaning that she knows the Crocodile Man's whereabouts. Bloom asks where the Crocodile Man is then and Tecna's search reveals that he had escaped into the World of Dreams.

Major Events

 * The Winx deduce that the Magic Watch belongs to the Crocodile Man.
 * The hunt for the Crocodile Man begins.
 * The Winx confront the Crocodile Man in the sewers using Naoki as bait.
 * Flora's plan to use Naoki as Crocodile Man bait fails.
 * Naoki's virtual cover for the Winx is blown.
 * The Winx execute another plan to lure out the Crocodile Man.
 * The Crocodile Man evades capture by fleeing into the World of Dreams via the Magic Watch's portal.
 * Naoki is successfully kept safe from the Talent Thief.

Debuts
None.

Major Characters

 * Wow! Staff
 * Winx Club
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Tecna
 * Musa
 * Flora
 * Aisha

Recurring Characters

 * Wow! Staff
 * Ace
 * Margot
 * Cliff
 * Animals
 * Puff

Minor Characters

 * Talents
 * Naoki
 * Annabelle (mentioned)
 * Enemies
 * Crocodile Man
 * Humans
 * Jenny

Spells Used
None.

Theme Songs

 * Winx Club Sparkles of Light
 * The Wonderful World of Winx

Transformation Songs

 * Dreamix

Script

 * DuArt

Trivia
None.

Mistakes

 * As Stella explains that she and the girls are talent scouts, her glove is missing in one shot.
 * In the same scene, her eyebrows are colored incorrectly.
 * Bloom's spy glove disappears briefly when the camera zooms into her hand for a closer view of the Magic Watch.
 * In some scenes, Aisha's flower is missing in her Dreamix form.

Quotes
"Well, I watched [the Crocodile Man] for awhile, during out last fight: direct attacks have no effect on him. But maybe we can guess his moves by luring him with some kind of bait."

- Flora

"'With great power comes responsibility!'"

- Naoki

"So I'm safe? You...you guys don't have to protect me any more? I was just getting used to this."

- Naoki

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but you've helped us a lot."

- Flora

"Flora's right. You've been really brave."

"You're our superhero!"

- Stella

"Don't worry, Stella. It's all part of the plan."

- Flora

"It was Flora's idea. I installed a mini radar on the watch, so we could find it in case the creature took it. ... I know where the Crocodile Man is! ... No,, that's not... possible. He's in the World of Dreams!"

- Tecna