Issue 13: Moonlight

Moonlight is the thirteenth issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
Restless from last night's celebrations, the Winx cannot help but talk about everything that had happened, from Bloom and Sky becoming official to Faragonda turning their memories of their battle against the Trix into educational films. In fact, looking back on their battle, Bloom now shifts her focus to finding out who her birth parents are and the Winx naturally agree to help her.

Also, because they had such a big part in the fight, Faragonda arranges a special trip for the Winx: a trip to Crystal Lake to gather liquid moonlight. Everything is going well, however, the inhabitants of a small town within the mountains seems to be keeping a sinister secret concerning the moon. Luckily, the Winx and Specialists gather up the moonlight needed for their mission and head back for their ship, but their luck soon runs out as they are attacked by a pack of wolves! Was this mission much more treacherous than they expected?

Plot
In their dorm, the Winx are talking about the party last night, celebrating their victory over the Trix and saving Magix. As Stella teases Bloom about Sky, she shows everyone else the scene where she and Sky shared a kiss; using it as "proof" that they are now an official couple. When Tecna tries to comment on this, Bloom shows everyone a scene where she is openly fawning over Timmy. Musa comments on how Faragonda turning their memories of the battle into educational films for future Alfea freshman was a genius idea. The girls all look back at their experiences in the battle when Bloom declares that she needs to look for her actual parents. The girls support her and promise to help her because they believe that they are unstoppable as a team.

Later that day, Faragonda announces that all of the students will be going on missions since most of the classrooms need to be repaired. As they line up to receive missions from Professor Wizgiz, Faragonda pulls the Winx over to give them some good news. She has decided to rename the concept of a modern fairy to "Winx" as a way of congratulating the Winx on their heroics. Due to this, today will be more like a holiday for the Winx girls, so Faragonda assigns them to go to the mountains and stock up on moonlight tomorrow. She even calls up the Specialists to accompany the Winx.

The next day comes around and the girls are waiting for the Specialists, when it turns out that Stella still is not finished packing because she cannot figure out what to wear. Bloom suggests a coin toss but, since Stella prepared five different sets of clothes, it would not work. Bloom then suggests she use a dice roll and Stella decides to prepare another set of clothes so that her choices will be equal to how many faces a die has. Bloom manages to get Stella out in time to meet up with the rest of the girls and the Specialists. Stella and Brandon flirt a bit and Sky asks how Bloom has been since the party. Riven comments on how their mission to collect moonlight is just "girly business," which ticks Musa off. As Timmy flies the ship off towards the mountains, Flora tells Musa that Riven is just acting tough to hide how he really is but Musa just thinks that Riven only acts that way to make himself seem more important than everyone else. Timmy decides to land their ship at the base of the mountains because the moonlight must be pure if they want to collect it.

As they set off for Crystal Lake, they find out that there is a party happening in a nearby village. When they go in to figure out what the party is about, they run into an old man who calls it the Full Moon Party. The old man insists that they relax and join in on the party but Sky tells him that they have to get to the mountains quickly. Once the townspeople hear this, the atmosphere suddenly becomes tense, so the group decides to leave.

As the Winx and Specialists make their way up the mountains, Tecna notices that their cellphones do not work and that a storm may be coming. Since it is too late to go back down the mountain, the group continues their trek, until a hail storm arrives and causes them to look for shelter. The group finds a cave to hide in but it is only Stella, Musa, Riven and Brandon; Tecna, Timmy, Bloom, Sky and Flora somehow got separated from them.

Meanwhile, Bloom's group needs to find higher ground otherwise they will be swept away by a rising river. As they tie ropes around their waists, Timmy trips and falls, accidentally making Tecna fall with him. Sky, Bloom and Flora grab onto the rope in time and try to pull them up but, because the ground is getting slippery, they are all about to fall until a man with blue hair comes down to help them. After Tecna and Timmy are safely back on land, the man says he is a woodcutter who lives in the mountains by himself and that his name is Karel. Sky explains that now that the hail storm is gone that they should go looking for their friends, but Karel insists that it is too dangerous since it is getting dark and invites them into his cottage. Flora and Bloom are able to convince Sky to let them accept Karel's invitation so that they can get some rest. Even though Karel is letting them stay for the night, he says that they have to be gone by morning.

They set up a fire to stay warm. Sky talks about how he thinks Bloom is destined for great things and Bloom comments about how Sky is too, since he will be king of Eraklyon one day. Timmy talks about how fire burns in on a scientific level until Tecna comments about how romantic it is. Flora thanks Karel for helping them earlier but wonders why he chooses to live by himself. Karel gets defensive and tells her to stop being nosy and to make sure that they leave first thing in the morning.

Back in the cave, Stella, Brandon, Riven and Musa have started a fire and decided to stay there for the night. Stella and Musa share their food and try to make some small talk but Riven avoids this by going to look for firewood.

In the morning, Bloom's group heads out to regroup with Stella's group and they all thank Karel for letting them stay for the night. They meet up and then head for Crystal Lake for the moonlight where each member from each group talk about what happened to them. Flora comments about how there was something weird about Karel but shrugs it off. They all make it to Crystal Lake and wait until nighttime to start stocking up on moonlight.

At night, Bloom notices that the water in the lake is so shiny that it is almost like liquid silver. Tecna then explains that, in order to get moonlight from the lake's water, they simply have to boil the water out of it. As the Winx gather all the moonlight they can, Musa and Riven talk about how the moonlight has a weird effect on people; Musa thinks that moonlight makes people more loving and romantic while Riven cannot say what he thinks because he thinks it is too hard to do so. Since the moon is so bright, the Winx and Specialists decide to walk down the mountain but, when they reach the woods, they are suddenly attacked by a pack of wolves. The Specialists stay back to fight off the wolves as the Winx head down the mountain with the moonlight. Bloom wonders why they can not transform and help the guys but Stella reminds her that their magic may not work since the mountains are just outside of Magix.

Somehow Flora gets separated from the Winx and she comes across Karel's cottage. She manages to make it inside before the wolves can get to her but Karel tells her that she should not even be there. Since it is too dark in his cottage, Flora takes out the vial of moonlight in order to find him but this turns Karel into a werewolf. Flora realizes that Karel wanted to get them out of the mountains as fast as possible because it is overrun with werewolves. Karel confesses that he did not want Flora seeing him like this but, since she has, he has no other choice but to tear her apart. Flora is able to conjure up strong vines to hold Karel down so she can make her escape and she runs off crying. She manages to make it down to the base of the mountains where everyone else is and they fly back to Alfea.

The next morning, Flora is studying on ways to help Karel so that he will not be forced to turn into a werewolf. Stella tries to cheer her up by saying that, since it is morning then he should be back to normal, but Flora still wants to help him somehow. She tells Stella that the vines used to bind Karel down have "become something different."

At Karel's cottage, Karel steps out of his cottage back to normal and sees that the vines have bloomed into flowers, reminding him of Flora.

Spells Used

 * "Grow fast, a barrier weave, in order that no one can leave." - Used by Flora to hold Karel down to make her escape.

Debuts

 * Karel

Mistakes
None.

Characters

 * Winx Club
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Flora
 * Tecna
 * Musa
 * Specialists
 * Sky
 * Brandon
 * Riven
 * Timmy


 * Alfea Staff
 * Faragonda
 * Griselda
 * Wizgiz
 * Palladium
 * Knut
 * Humans
 * Karel