Issue 35: The Trial

The Trial is the thirty-fifth issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
By some miracle, the Magic Dimension survived the conquest of a power-hungry wizard by the name of Valtor. Though the Winx were able to overcome many hardships and earn their Enchantix, many realms within the Magic Dimension are still reeling from the effects of Valtor's attacks. The Fortress of Light Council struggles to piece together everything that happened in Magix and this ultimately leads to them holding a trial for Headmistress Griffin, as certain councilmen believe that she is at fault for the Trix allying themselves to Valtor.

Plot
The state of the Magic Dimension is being disrupted as riots break out in the streets of Magix City, forests have been completely burned down and Cloud Tower has seemingly dissolved away into nothingness.

At the Fortress of Light Council, Counselor Givelian is expressing his outrage towards the fact that a powerful wizard is wreaking havoc and the Council has done nothing to stop him. Other Council members explain that this wizard would be a difficult task for anybody, but Givelian refuses to let this excuse the "irresponsible behavior" of the headmasters. He proposes an official investigation to be opened in order to determine any failures or omissions they do not know about and a majority of the Council agrees. The head of the Council also agrees and proceeds to allow the investigation, while also allowing the investigation to help them understand the situation of things so that they may figure out how to prevent such a disaster from befalling the Magic Dimension a second time. He then announces that the headmasters of the magic colleges in Magix will be called to the Council to explain what happened but since they are so busy, the head of the Council declares that they will meet with the headmasters in a week from now, with Headmistress Faragonda scheduled to come first. The meeting is adjourned as Givelian, Yerka and another Council member smirk towards one another, confirming that their plans are now in place. At Alfea, Bloom's diary is shocked to hear that the headmasters will be put on trial for the latest events and is a bit mad at Bloom for not saying anything sooner. Bloom admits that she had not told her diary earlier but reminds him that he at least knows what she and the Winx have been through, with all of Magix at risk of being destroyed. Her diary then remembers that the power has been going out a lot recently and that his batteries had run out completely during on of the blackouts, but, luckily, he did not lose any data. As he tries to talk, Kiko starts to fly around with his new pair of wings, which greatly annoys Bloom's diary. Bloom tells Kiko to stop trying to annoy her and her diary and to leave them in peace, but before her diary can get a big head, she tells him to be nicer to Kiko. Her diary apologizes and urges Bloom to go on with the rest of her story. Bloom then tells her diary that wonderful things have also been happening, such as Aisha finding a boyfriend. She explains that he is a very good-looking and nice boy to Aisha and that he is a prince named Nabu. He and Aisha plan to get married someday, but her diary gets confused as to why Bloom referred to him as "Ophir" before calling him Nabu. Bloom decides that it would be best to explain it from the beginning and tells her diary that it all started when Aisha's parents and Nabu's parents arranged a marriage between the two of them without either of their consent and without the two of them even knowing the other person. Aisha was devastated by the news because she did not want anything to do with it. Nabu did not want to be in an arranged marriage either, so he fled Andros in secret and came to Alfea. Her diary asks why Nabu would come to Alfea, to which Bloom explains that Nabu pretended to be a student wizard under the name "Ophir" in an attempt to learn about his arranged fiancee without Aisha knowing about it. Bloom then decides to summarize the story by telling her diary that the two of them got to know each other and Aisha eventually fell in love with Nabu without know that he was really her arranged fiancee. Bloom's diary then asks what Nabu and Aisha told their parents, to which Bloom explains that their parents accepted their decision and told Aisha and Nabu that they would wait before the two would truly get married. Her diary then asks Bloom to explain why she mentioned Magix being at risk of destruction since Aisha's love story was not the reason behind the multiple blackouts. Bloom then explains to her diary about Valtor, who she believes is possibly the worst enemy she and the Winx have ever faced. She explains that Valtor was being held prisoner for all of eternity within the deepest parts of the Omega Dimension, until the Trix freed him. With their help, Valtor was able to take complete control of Andros, Aisha's home kingdom, and he began his rampage on the Magic Dimension in an attempt to take control of it all. Bloom then reveals to her diary that as she and the Winx fought against Valtor, she learned that he was the son of the Ancestral Witches sent to destroy them and that he may have been behind the disappearance of her birth parents. She begins to panic as her diary tries to keep her calm by letting her know that if she managed to defeat someone as evil as Valtor, then she is fully capable of finding her birth parents. As she wipes her eyes and calms herself down, her diary asks if everything is alright now. Bloom tells him that everything is fine now and that thanks to all of the suffering Valtor caused them, many wonderful things happened to them once they were able to overcome it all. She reveals that she and the Winx have successfully become Enchantix fairies, which means that they have gained incredible powers. She then starts to worry about Faragonda and the other headmasters that will have to stand trial at the Fortress of Light, as their newfound powers will not be able to help them.

At the same time, the trial at the Fortress of Light commences as Faragonda is allowed to speak. Faragonda thanks the Council members for giving her permission to speak and begins by showing them scenes of what the Winx had to face as they helped combat the forces of evil. She shows them scenes of Timmy and Sky trying to defend themselves from an incoming whirlwind, an attack on Alfea, and of the Winx being surrounded by flames within the Alfea Libraries, prior to them achieving Enchantix. The day quickly drags on as Faragonda concludes her presentation by claiming to the Council that all of the students from each of the magic colleges of Magix have behaved in an exemplary fashion and their heroic actions were what allowed them to thwart the evil menace known as Valtor brilliantly. She then claims that three witches from Cloud Tower must be severely punished as they have betrayed the trust of the Council by allying themselves with Valtor in an attempt to rule the Magic Dimension with him. As she shows the Council a scene where the Trix are helping Valtor take control of Andros from the Omega Portal, she requests that they be expelled from Cloud Tower. A Council member thanks Faragonda for her detailed presentation and commends her for doing her best in combatting Valtor, but Givelian interjects, claiming that Faragonda's presentation must be discussed further. Givelian asks Faragonda if she truly believes that the other headmasters have behaved as noble as she has, to which Faragonda believes so. Givelian expresses his doubts in Faragonda's claim as the same three witches that have caused trouble for the Magic Dimension twice in the past have gone and allied themselves with another evil force under Headmistress Griffin's supervision. He blames Griffin because, while it is natural for students to make mistakes, it should be the headmaster's responsibility to prevent any further ones in time and proposes that she take the same punishment as the Trix. Just then, Counselor Yerka raises his hand and proposes that Griffin be discharged from her position as headmistress of Cloud Tower in order to entrust the school to a more capable wizard. Since no one in the Council would like to take up the task, Yerka proposes that he should be left in charge. The head of the Council thanks Givelian and Yerka for their proposal but he believes that the decision would be too hasty and proposes that Griffin should be able to defend herself if they are already speaking ill of her. Before Givelian can object, Faragonda cuts in, agreeing with the head of the Council since it would be fair to let Griffin defend herself in a trial. The head of the Council chimes in before the situation gets out of hand and announces that Griffin will appear within two days to defend herself.

As the meeting is adjourned, Yerka tells Givelian that it will be a lot harder to replace the current headmasters with ones that favor their ideals more. Givelian admits to this but tells Yerka that they must keep trying, as taking control of Magix's magic colleges will be essential in raising young wizards, fairies and witches that will favor and even nominate him to become the new head of the Council. Faragonda, Griffin and Saladin may be highly favored by most of the Council but Givelian is confident that they will be able to have them all replaced, starting with Griffin due to the current circumstances. Yerka asks Givelian how they will go about doing so, to which Givelian begins to show intrigue in the Trix, believing that they may be of use to their plans. Yerka claims that they are "tough little nuts" that are currently being punished for their crimes at Cloud Tower, and so Givelian sends Yerka to talk to the Trix in order to get them to work for them.

Meanwhile, at another part of the Fortress of Light, Faragonda is worrying over Griffin, as Yerka and Givelian will be ready to tear her entire defense apart if she even makes the slightest mistake. Saladin cannot believe that Givelian would stoop so low as to try and profit from a catastrophe and Faragonda believes that he will not be able to get away with it. Saladin then asks why Griffin had not come with them, to which Faragonda reveals that she could not leave Cloud Tower because she has to receive Yerka, Givelian's most loyal follower, as he has to come to Cloud Tower to conduct an investigation. Knowing Yerka's intentions, Faragonda is worried that something may go awry. Just as Faragonda feared, a Red Fountain shuttle arrives at Cloud Tower, which Yerka is a passenger of. Yerka and Griffin greet each other as Griffin comments on how he had to use a Red Fountain shuttle to make it there. Yerka claims that thanks to Valtor's rampage, the Fortress of Light had to up its security and that going through wormholes is a lot less comfortable than it used to be. Griffin claims to understand Yerka's concerns and asks why he came to Cloud Tower in the first place, to which Yerka explains that he had been sent by the Council to talk to the Trix to hear their point of view of the disaster. If the Trix turn out to be as undisciplined as everyone claims then it would help in Griffin's defense. With this in mind, Griffin reluctantly shows Yerka the way to the Trix's dorm.

Yerka enters their dorm only to be met with them screaming at him about how they do not wish to speak to anybody. Yerka then claims that he is actually their to alleviate their sentences which catch the Trix's interest. Icy asks if Yerka would be able to get them out of their dorm, to which Yerka claims that he possibly could and begins to explain his position in the Fortress of Light Council. Icy does not find his position to be all that important until Yerka explains that he and Givelian do not believe that the Trix are truly evil and that, most importantly, they wish to get Griffin out of the picture. Once she begins to understand the situation at hand, Icy asks Yerka what would happen if Griffin were found to be guilty, to which Yerka reveals to the Trix that she would be relieved of her position as headmistress as a new headmaster or headmistress would take her place. Icy doubts that Yerka's plan would work as Griffin has many supporters within the Council until Yerka claims that it would only pose a problem if she were to make it to the Council safely. Icy asks what Yerka could be going on about, to which he explains that if something were to happen that would cause Griffin to arrive late or not at all, she would look bad in front of the Council, causing more Council members to even vote against her. Yerka notices the time and takes his leave as the Trix begin to plot how they will make Griffin late for her trial. Stormy asks Icy how they will be able to make Griffin's trip to the Fortress of Light difficult, to which Icy explains that she will be taking a Specialist shuttle there. She then claims that she is in the mood to pay Red Fountain a little visit.

At Red Fountain, Codatorta tells Brandon that his shuttle is all set to take Griffin to the Fortress of Light, but before they set off, they will need to enter in new coordinates for the shuttle's interdimensional portal. As Brandon and Codatorta leave, Codatorta leaves Helia in charge of keeping watch of the hangar so that no intruders come to tamper with anything. Just behind a nearby cliff of rocks, Icy comments on how lucky they are that Valtor's attacks have caused Red Fountain to only have one hangar available until Darcy quiets her down when she notices that someone is coming out of the hangar. The Trix see Helia leaving the hangar to keep watch from the outside, and Stormy asks Icy how they will go about their plan. Icy explains to her sisters that they will sabotage the interdimensional portal device from inside the shuttle so that Griffin will not arrive to the Fortress of Light in time for her trial and, since Helia is the one guarding the shuttle, she has come up with a rather clever way to distract him. Stormy asks what she could mean by this and Icy reminds them that while they were with Valtor, they picked up many new dark spells. Icy finds a suitable tree for her spell, which she uses to make it look like a Specialist. She then suggests that Stormy flirt with the Specialist dummy a bit as she uses a spell to disguise Stormy, making her look like Flora. Stormy begins to understand the plan Icy has in mind as Icy urges her to distract Helia for them. Stormy then takes the Specialist dummy with her as Icy and Darcy promise to take care of the shuttle. As Helia scouts the outside of the hangars, he catches "Flora" in the arms of another "Specialist." The two of them kiss, which greatly shocks Helia as he tries to chase them down in order to talk to "Flora." Little does he know that two of the Trix are sneaking into the hangar as he chases after "Flora." Icy and Darcy laugh at Helia desperately trying to chase "Flora" down as they sneak into the hangars.

Helia eventually catches up to "Flora" and the other "Specialist" as they gaze into each other's eyes, holding one another in their arms. Helia decides that he has seen enough and storms off.

Back at the hangar, Darcy sees Helia coming back and asks Icy if she has finished sabotaging the interdimensional portal device. Icy tells her that she just finished and the two of them run off before they are spotted by Helia. The two of them regroup with Stormy and the Specialist dummy, confirming that they finished up their part of the plan. Stormy claims that she actually had fun and then asks Icy what they need to do now. Icy tells them that they need to return to their dorm in Cloud Tower before anyone notices that they are gone and, as the three of them fly back, Icy explains that "those idiots" will get their job done for them.

Later that day, Brandon arrives at Cloud Tower and greets Griffin as she climbs aboard. Once she is on, he enters the coordinates Codatorta gave him and he drives the shuttle into the wormhole. Meanwhile, at Alfea, the Winx have just gotten word that Griffin had disappeared. Bloom tells the girls that Griselda received a call from Faragonda who told her that Griffin's shuttle had not arrived yet. Musa then reveals to the girls that Griffin and Brandon have been missing for three hours and there are no traces of either of them left behind. Stella starts panicking over the possibility of an accident and Bloom tries to calm her down. Tecna asks what they should do as she proclaims that she will be heading for Red Fountain. Bloom tells Tecna that they will all go and she has faith that this problem will be resolved quickly.

At Red Fountain, Codatorta tells the girls that not even a distress signal has been picked up. Bloom asks him what will happen to Griffin with the Fortress of Light Council, to which Codatorta reveals that he asked Faragonda to request an extension.

At the Fortress of Light, a Council member along with the head of the Council tell Faragonda that they will not wait any longer than 24 hours for Griffin to turn up. Faragonda reports back to Codatorta, telling him that they must try everything within their power to find Griffin and Brandon by tomorrow as they will not be able to get the Council to postpone her trial a second time. Codatorta claims that that is not enough time for them to search as they will not be able to repair the main radar screen in time. Bloom asks Codatorta where the shuttle may have gone, to which Codatorta reveals that Brandon and Griffin seem to be lost in between dimensions and without a signal, they will be lost forever. Stella begins to panic even more as the chances of finding Brandon seem very slim and, just then, the rest of the Specialists arrive.

Sky asks how everything is going, to which Bloom answers by telling him that they are all in a desperate situation; Stella being more desperate than all of them. Sky tries to assure Stella that Brandon will be able to make it out of all of this but Stella cannot seem to stop crying. Flora tries to say hi to Helia but he refuses to answer. Flora asks if anything is wrong with him, to which Helia asks if she really wants to know why he seems to be angry with her. Flora wants to know why, which is when Helia confronts Flora for going around with other boys romantically. Flora does not know what is causing Helia to think this and tries to ask Helia how he got that idea. Helia, however, is too angry to even be around her and storms off, warning her not to bother with him and telling her that he never wants to see her again.

When Flora comes back, Bloom asks if she is okay. Flora claims that she is fine, to which Bloom tells her that Stella is in terrible shape as she cannot seem to stop crying. Flora offers to take Stella back to Alfea as Bloom suggests that she take Musa with her while she, Tecna and Aisha stay to see if anything happens. Flora agrees to this and so she and Musa take Stella back to Alfea. At Alfea, Flora and Musa try to comfort Stella as they try to get her to sleep. Stella does not want to sleep so long as Brandon is lost in between dimensions but Flora insists that everything will turn out for the better by tomorrow and is able to ease Stella to sleep. She and Musa then leave Stella to get some rest as she mutters Brandon's name in her sleep.

Stella finds herself in a seemingly endless maze made of glass and as she tries to figure out her way through the maze, she comes face to face with Valtor, who begins to chase her. Just as Stella is trying to escape Valtor's pursuit, she catches a glimpse of Brandon's shuttle traveling through dimensions in one of the glass walls. She calls for Brandon to stop his shuttle and keeps crying out to him in hopes that he can actually hear her. Brandon then floats up to the glass wall she is behind and asks if she really is there because he cannot see her. Stella desperately tries to assure Brandon that she is with him and Brandon begins to explain to Stella that he and Griffin are, in fact, lost in between dimensions. He tells her to remember the coordinates X451, Y356, and Z054. Once Stella is confident that she has taken in the numbers, Brandon begins to disappear. As Stella starts to panic at the thought of losing Brandon again, Brandon just keeps telling her to not forget the numbers he told her and he disappears completely. Stella is left crying in front of the glass wall as she pleads for Brandon not to go. Stella suddenly finds herself back in her bed. She suspects that it must have all been a dream but she believes in her heart that that was the real Brandon talking to her. Flora and Tecna enter her room, asking what happened, and Stella reveals to them that Brandon visited her in her dreams to leave her a message. Flora tells her that that is not possible but Stella insists that he really did see her and to prove it, she tells Flora that he entrusted her with important numbers. She then tells the two that she needs to give the coordinates to Codatorta right away.

At Red Fountain, Codatorta is impressed by the coordinates Stella gave him and hopes that the coordinates are the exact location that Brandon and Griffin are. He enters in the locations and the radar begins picking up a signal! As everyone rejoices, Codatorta aims energy towards the coordinates in an attempt to bring the two back home. Once he does so, Brandon's shuttle appears just outside of Red Fountain and lands in the school's hangars. Brandon and Stella reunite and hold each other tightly as Griffin carefully exits close behind.

Tecna is impressed by Stella actually being able to make contact with Brandon through her dreams and Bloom asks how she was able to do it. Stella does not know how it happened but she does not find it to be important now that Brandon is with her again. Saladin approaches the group, claiming that there is an actual explanation behind Stella making contact with Brandon through dreams, and hints that Griffin knows about it, too. Griffin claims that love could possibly be the most powerful magic of all and insists that that is the only reason necessary to explaining what happened. Codatorta then comes to Saladin, claiming that he checked the shuttle and found that the interdimensional portal device inside had been sabotaged. He further explains that someone purposely created an error on the arrival point which caused this whole mess, but now that everything is fixed, Griffin should be able to get to the Fortress of Light for her trial. Brandon and Griffin quickly take off before she is any later.

Bloom wonders who could sabotage the shuttle's interdimensional portal device and Tecna immediately suspects that it was the Trix. Codatorta then asks if Helia saw anything suspicious since he was stationed to guard the hangars but Helia claims that he had not seen anything. Codatorta accepts Helia's reply and claims that all that matters now is that Griffin should be able to properly defend herself at the Council trial. Speaking of Griffin, she concludes her defense by stating that she did what was necessary during the war against Valtor and claims that she and the rest of the professors at Cloud Tower should not be at fault for the Trix allying themselves with him. The Council erupts with applause as the head of the Council declares that they will accept her explanations and close the case from there. However, the head of the Council finds Faragonda's request to expel the Trix to be too cruel and insists that the Council give them another chance. He then announces that he has accepted Givelian's suggestion to keep them under constant supervision of a professor that has their trust. Griffin humbly accepts the head of the Council's decision. Givelian is also relieved by this decision, as this opens up possibilities for his plan to come to fruition. He then instructs Yerka to prepare to leave for Cloud Tower and wait for further instructions.

Meanwhile, at Red Fountain, Helia is staring out into the sky until he gets a call from Flora. Flora is happy that Helia has finally answered her calls but she is still afraid that he is still upset with her. Helia confesses to Flora that he wants to apologize for being an idiot for treating her terribly and that he should have realized that what happened earlier was a trap set up to fool him. He claims that this will be the last time he will fall for such a trick, which confuses Flora and when she asks what he means by this, Helia tells her that he wants to be left alone; further confessing that he thinks that they should no longer see each other. Flora tries to figure out what happened but Helia hangs up on her before she could even take it all in. He then tells Codatorta that he wants to quit being a Specialist and leave Red Fountain. Codatorta asks what could have happened to make him want to leave and Helia claims that he simply is not cut out to be a Specialist. Codatorta tries to persuade Helia to change his mind because he always managed to persevere with flying colors, even when he had his doubts, but Helia insists that he keeps messing up because he does not know what he truly wants in life yet. He tells Codatorta that while he does not want to talk about the circumstances, he still needs to figure this out for himself. Helia insists that he will be fine on his own, which Codatorta also admits to believing and has Helia promise to come back within six months to at least talk about this again. However, Helia insists that he will not change his mind this time and leaves Red Fountain as the sun sets.

Spells Used

 * "Change thy form and wear a disguise; now young and handsome in everyone's eyes!" - Used by Icy to change the tree into a Specialist.

Mistakes

 * All throughout this issue, the gem on Brandon's Specialist uniform is either red, purple or orange.
 * On page 8, as Bloom remembers the Trix helping Valtor take over Andros, Stormy and Darcy's eye markings are missing, despite them being in their Witch Forms.
 * On page 9, as Bloom tells her diary that she and the Winx have achieved Enchantix, some of their Enchantix outfits have minor errors.
 * For Tecna, her top does not go beyond her breasts as it should, the borders of her Enchantix wings, as well as her sandals, her yellow instead of purple, her gloves are pink instead of blue, and the feathered accessories on her Enchantix outfit are all blue rather than being mostly purple and green on her top.
 * For Flora, most of her dress, as well as the borders of her Enchantix wings are purple instead of pink, and her gloves are colored in a color closer to her skin tone rather than being pink.
 * For Aisha, her skirt is an odd brownish color rather than being blue beyond the green and pink stripe.
 * On page 11, when Faragonda shows the Fortress of Light Council images of the students brave actions taken against Valtor, one of the images show the Winx being surrounded by a fire within the Alfea Libraries. Within that image, Bloom is missing the cyan gloves she usually has in her Winx form.
 * On page 21, as the Trix watch Yerka leave their room, Icy's eyes are no longer blue.
 * On page 39, as Tecna asks Stella how she was able to talk to Brandon through her dreams, Timmy's pin is grey instead of yellow.
 * Throughout this issue, Griffin's dress is completely black rather than being a dark scarlet color.

Debuts

 * Nabu
 * King Teredor
 * Valtor

Characters

 * The Winx
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Musa
 * Flora
 * Tecna
 * Aisha
 * The Specialists
 * Sky
 * Brandon
 * Timmy
 * Helia


 * Enemies
 * Valtor
 * The Trix
 * Icy
 * Darcy
 * Stormy
 * Givelian
 * Yerka
 * Alfea Staff
 * Faragonda
 * Griselda
 * Royalty
 * King Teredor
 * Nabu


 * Cloud Tower Staff
 * Griffin
 * Red Fountain Staff
 * Saladin
 * Codatorta
 * Fortress of Light Council
 * Head of the Council
 * Animals
 * Kiko

Trivia

 * This comic, much like Monsters on the Loose and Roxy the Seventh Fairy, is primarily a retelling of the events which happened in Season 3.
 * While Nabu is the son of a high ranking nobleman in the series, he is not a member of royalty like he is in the comics, where he is specifically described as a prince.