Issue 98: Return to the Amazon

Return to the Amazon is the ninety-eighth issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
Archaeologist Tobias ignores the Amazon Natives' warnings about the Snake King's curse and activates it by gifting the Ring of Fate to his girlfriend, Iris. The Snake King sets his course to find and wed Iris, it he succeeds the Earth and Iris will be in great peril. Following the instructions of Diana the Major Fairy of Nature, the Winx, Tobias, and Iris urgently head to the Amazons to stop the curse before it is too late!

Plot
On Earth, in Brazil, in the Heart of the Amazon Rainforest lies the ancient Temple of the Snake King. A prized archaeological find, archaeologist Tobias has finally found the temple and is amused to know that his colleagues will surely be envious of him. He proceeds into the temple but is warned by the Amazon Natives who had accompanied him that there is a curse. Having heard so many curses, Tobias had enough and told them they can stay outside while he entered the temple.

He immediately taken by the site of the temple with its incredible carved statues and a painting of the Snake King and a woman. Through a voice recorder, he documents his findings and finally reaches the throne room of the Snake King. The snake king himself is seated on his throne but next to him is an empty throne, specifically reserved for the king's bride. Tobias translates the scriptures found on both thrones. The first reads: "Wife... with her the Snake King will reclaim his kingdom." The second one: "There is no place for love to live in the Dark Lord." This final scriptures leaves him perplexed but then spots a ring on the empty throne. Taken by its beauty, Tobias knows who he will be gifting it to and takes the ring.

In Gardenia, the Winx are enjoying their time at the Frutti Music Bar, relaxing before their concert. Roxy takes their drink orders and the girls are surprised by their boyfriends. Bloom and Sky take a walk on the beach when someone calls for Bloom. It is Bloom's childhood friend Iris whom she saved from bullies during their school days. The girls introduce their boyfriends to each other and afterwards, Tobias present Iris the ring he found at the temple. Iris is delighted but Bloom senses dark energy emitting from the ring but before she could warn her friend, Iris had already put it on.

They are unaware that this has awaken the Snake King from his slumber. His awakening shakes the earth and causes animals to flee. He begins his search for the bride. The Amazonian fairies have been alerted to his awakening. Queen Diana, the Major Fairy of Nature, has her fairies heal the injured trees while she tracks down the Snake King through her mystical orb.

Meanwhile Bloom urges Iris to take off the ring which confuses Iris and enrages Tobias. Sky tries to calm Tobias down but is met with hostility until Bloom puts a stop to it. Bloom explains that she is a fairy to Iris and tells her that there is dark energy coming from the ring. Iris believes her because she tries to remove the ring but is unable to. Bloom tries but the ring shocks her and knocks her down. To make matters worse, the Snake King appears which causes an abrupt imbalance to nature. The earth shakes, the ocean quakes causing distress amongst the civilians. The Winx and Specialists step in to help.

Through her mystical orb, Diana sees that the Winx are now involved in the matter and proceeds to communicate with them. She explains the curse of the Snake King to them. He is a powerful and dangerous being, if he touches the Ring of Fate that is currently being worn by Iris, their wedding will commence. Nothing will stop it and with that comes great peril to the Earth and Iris. She also tells them how to fix the curse and that is for Iris to sit on the bride's throne and remove it. The Winx teleport Iris and Tobias to the Temple of the Snake King while the Specialists and Roxy stay behind to protect the civilians and hopefully buy sometime by distracting the Snake King.

In the Amazon jungles, Iris and Tobias argue about the cursed ring with Iris mentioning that he did not even ask her. The clueless Tobias has no idea what she is talking about (asking her to marry him). She expresses her annoyance to Bloom who reassures her that Tobias does love her in his own way. But stopping the curse is far more important right now. Tobias leads the way to the temple.

The Specialists try their best to restrain the king but he eventually overpowers them. Roxy checks up on them and Sky tells her they are not okay but him main concern now is the outcome of this curse as the king escaped them...

Meanwhile, the Winx, Tobias, and Iris enter the temple. There was a brief calm before the warrior statues come to life to follow their orders: keep the soon-to-be bride on the throne as they wait for the Snake King to return. They attack the Winx and Tobias while using veins to trap Iris onto the throne. The battle gets more difficult but some time was bought when Bloom realizes that these statues had been locked in the dark for so long they have become vulnerable to light. Stella takes care of that and this releases the veins on Iris but out of shear survival instincts, instead of taking off the ring, Iris gets off the throne. Tobias frantically reminds her to take off the ring but the frighten Iris does not have the strength nor courage to do so. The Winx are busy keeping the warrior statues at bay when the Snake King finally returns.

Tobias stands protectively in front of Iris and tells the king to back off. The king's imposing stature leaves him paralyzed and he refuses to do so because his wife is there. The panicked Tobias remembers the scriptures and proclaims his love for Iris. This freezes the king in place but still claims that Iris is his wife, Iris rejects him and takes off the ring, telling him that she is already taken. This stops the curse the Snake King is once again sealed on his throne.

Tobias explains to everyone how the king was defeated. Iris happily asks him if he truly does love her. Tobias, shy, stumbles on his words. He is then hushed by Iris who tells him not to say anything; he might ruin the moment. With the curse taken care of, the Winx head out to say hello to Diana who wastes no time in scolding Tobias for his actions. He reassures the Amazon Queen that he has learned his lesson and will not ignore any more warnings.

The Winx teleport everyone back to the Frutti Music Bar. Their boyfriends, Roxy, and the people are excited to see them back safe and sound. Everything is prepared for their concert thanks to everyone. The concert begins and everyone has a fun time.

Spells Used

 * Dragon Wing - Used to create a doom around a group of people to protect them from the crashing waves.
 * Dragon Heart - Used to attack the moving statues of the Snake King's temple.
 * Summer Thunder - Used to attack the moving statues of the Snake King's temple.
 * Sirius' Shield - Used to bring light and ware off the moving statues.

Mistakes

 * Throughout the issue, the Winx's Believix are either incorrectly drawn or missing certain parts.
 * On page 17, Sky's badge is green instead of blue.
 * On page 27, the speech bubble is incorrectly directed towards Bloom instead of Tobias who was reassuring Diana that he had learned his lesson.

Debuts

 * Tobias
 * Iris
 * Snake King
 * Temple of the Snake King

Characters

 * Winx Club
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Musa
 * Tecna
 * Aisha
 * Roxy


 * Specialists
 * Sky
 * Brandon
 * Helia
 * Riven
 * Timmy
 * Enemies
 * Snake King


 * Earth Fairies
 * Diana
 * Amazon Fairies
 * Humans
 * Tobias
 * Iris

Trivia
None.