Issue 133: The First Fairy Hunter

The First Fairy Hunter is the one-hundred and thirty-third issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
The Winx, along with Morgana, decide to sit in on one of Nebula's classes at the Tir Na Nog College, and find that two young fairies, Lydia and Nadine, have become skilled in casting illusions. Strangely enough, Nebula is enraged by this and has the two girls expelled upon seeing this, and the Winx quickly learn that Nebula has been harboring a deep-seated fear of illusion magic ever since she had been defeated by Yllidith, the Lord of the Fairy Hunters, during a terrible event in the middle of the Great Fairy Hunt. Things begin to take a turn for the worst when Yllidith breaks free from his imprisonment having tricked Lydia and Nadine into breaking the seal that had been keeping him back. Now freed, Yllidith begins to exact his revenge on the Earth Fairies by trying to destroy the College. And, as the Winx figure out a way to stop the evil wizard, Nebula needs to overcome her fears if they wish to stand any chance.

Plot
The Winx and Morgana have decided to pay the Tir Na Nog College a visit, most likely to gauge the progress of the many young Earth Fairies that attend the school. And so, as the six famous heroes and former Earth Fairy High Queen sit in to observe the class, Nebula has one of her students, a young fairy named Julia, show off her magical abilities to act as an example. However, when Julia earns praise from the Winx for successfully levitating a few nearby objects, a classmate of hers named Lydia insists that Julia's earlier display was nothing impressive and that she and her friend can do much better. When Julia tries to retaliate, Lydia creates two perfect magical doubles that surround Julia, which earns her the praise of Morgana. This then prompts Lydia's friend, Nadine, to show off her own abilities by using illusory magic to make herself look like a perfect double to Morgana. Though their displays of magic impress the former Earth Fairy High Queen, Nebula becomes enraged and demands that they stop. She then has both fairies suspended for their actions as they were aware of the central rule of the school: that illusory magic is banned and should never be casted.

Moments afterwards, as the Winx and Morgana explore the halls of Tir Na Nog College, Stella asks the girls if they believed Nebula's earlier outburst to have been way too harsh, to which Bloom agrees with since both Lydia and Nadine performed their spells correctly. Morgana also agrees with their grievances but claims to understand Nebula's reaction as illusory magic is one of the more dangerous forms of magic. She mentions that Nebula had forbidden its use for a particular reason and reveals that to have been due to the defeat she faced at the hands of Yllidtih, Lord of the Fairy Hunters. Naturally, hearing such a title causes the Winx to worry and Tecna asks the former high queen if this Yllidith was as strong as Ogron and his comrades when they had to face them years ago. Morgana is unable to easily put these worries to rest though, as Yllidith proved to be much more powerful compared to Ogron and his group, and his mastery of illusions was what made him the most dangerous Fairy Hunter of them all. In fact, Yllidith's magical prowess earned him both fear and respect from his fellow Fairy Hunters, and it was thanks to his guidance that the Earth Fairies were nearly wiped out during an event known as the Siege of Tir Na Nog.

Nebula had tried to oppose the Hunters single-handedly but was quickly bested by Yllidith due to his expertise and her inexperience and wild, unhinged rage. It was not until Morgana combined her powers with the other three Major Fairies that Yllidith was finally defeated and the other Fairy Hunters were driven away, leaving Tir Na Nog intact. However, Yllidith was not obliterated in the battle, but was instead imprisoned within the Dungeons of Tir Na Nog where he remains even in the present day!

When asked why none of the Fairy Hunters have tried to free their lord, Morgana further reveals that the highly ambitious Ogron wanted nothing more than to succeed Yllidith and become the new Lord of the Fairy Hunters under any means. In truth, he had been conspiring to overthrow Yllidith for a long time but was never strong enough to defeat him on his own. Tecna, now aware of Yllidith's power, tells Morgana that she risks putting everyone on Tir Na Nog in danger by keeping him trapped beneath the school, but Morgana insists that the former Fairy Hunter would never be capable of escaping as he remains trapped within a specialized cell that had been reinforced with her magic and is still being monitored thoroughly by Nebula.

Flora, now more aware of Nebula's tragic circumstances, proposes that some of them go back to her office to reassure and possibly console her, but Stella would much rather find and confront the recently expelled Lydia and Nadine. Bloom agrees with Stella's sentiment, now suspicious of how and where the two fairies learned of the illusion spells they had used. Later, Bloom's suspicions appear to be confirmed when she, Stella, Tecna and Musa are unable to find the two students and learns that they were spotted heading down to the school's basement.

Just as the student had reported, the Winx and Morgana find both Lydia and Nadine in the school's basement, scared and panicked over a mysterious professor becoming enraged with them having people follow them to another one of his lessons. The two beg for Morgana not to punish them and Morgana promises the possibility of overlooking their actions so long as they come clean and tell them the truth. And so, when asked of this professor's identity, the two Earth Fairies reveal that he is a strange man who lives in the basement and never shows himself, but rather teaches them by using telepathy.

The two of them had actually run into the professor by accident when they wandered into and quickly got lost in the basement. From that day forward, this professor had taught Lydia and Nadine how to strengthen and concentrate their magic better by having them channel it into a strange M-like seal on a nearby broken pillar. Seeing the nearly-broken seal causes Morgana to panic once she recognizes it as the same seal she had created to keep Yllidith imprisoned. Confused by the former high queen's reaction, Lydia questions what she means, only for her and the Winx to reveal to her and Nadine that their professor was none other than Yllidith, who projected into their minds and used them to break the seal and set him free. Though, just when Nadine realizes that they had been tricked, a voice cries out from behind Morgana over how they are now free to exact their revenge on both her and all of her fairies. Before anyone can properly react, Yllidith rises from the shadows behind Morgana and unleashes a spray of dark fire on the former high queen, knocking her out of the fight within mere moments of it beginning. Yllidith even mocks Morgana on her quick defeat, watching self-assuredly as Lydia and Nadine scramble to see if she is okay. Even when the Winx rush into their Bloomix forms and begin retaliating, Yllidith's prideful sneer never leaves his face, especially as the evil wizard quickly surrounds the six fairies with what appears to be an army of magical duplicates and begins his full-frontal assault. He barely gives the Winx any time to defend against his attacks and they remain unable to land any successful hits as all their counterattacks do nothing but faze through the magical doubles. To make matters worse, Tecna, after conducting a quick scan of the area with her computer, realizes that Yllidith is no longer in the basement and simply left nothing but doubles to keep them distracted. With this news at hand, Bloom prompts the girls into heading for Nebula's office to hopefully warn her, Flora and Aisha of Yllidith and his escape before he can get to Nebula. And so, as Musa chooses to stay behind to help Lydia and Nadine get Morgana to safety, Bloom, Stella and Tecna rush for Nebula's office with the hopes that they will beat Yllidith to the punch.

Meanwhile, as Flora and Aisha console Nebula in her office, Nebula apologizes and confesses to being in the wrong for expelling Lydia and Nadine. Flora tries to calm the distressed headmistress down by insisting that she should not dwell on everything now that they know of her reasons, while Aisha tries to tell her that having made such a mistake was natural, especially because Nebula was young and inexperienced at that time. Flora tries bringing up how much she had grown since then by reminding her of how Morgana had chose her to succeed her as Earth Fairy High Queen, but Nebula cannot shake her fear of illusions. Just then, Morgana appears just outside the door to Nebula's office claiming that Nebula's inability to overcome her weakness simply means she is not worthy to remain as the current Earth Fairy High Queen. She goes on to reprimand Nebula by calling her insecure and weak, declaring that she leave the College forever. Now enraged, Flora steps in between Morgana and Nebula, demanding to know why the former is being so spiteful and unfair. Nebula, however, believes Morgana to be correct in her harsh judgement and makes her way out, fully convinced that she does not deserve to stay in Tir Na Nog. Thankfully, though, the rest of the Winx manage to reach Nebula before she can leave and reveal to her that the Morgana that stands before her is none other than Yllidith masquerading as her. Yllidith immediately retaliates by firing a spray of dark fire at Stella to silence her and discards his disguise, confident that he will not be defeated by anyone even if they manage to find him.

Now aware of the situation at hand, Flora and Aisha transform into their Bloomix and attempt to capture Yllidith before he can get away, but Aisha's Morphix Net fails to contain the evil wizard when he disappears into a strange cloud of nothingness. Nebula demands to know where the real Morgana is as she believes she will need her to stand a chance against Yllidith, and she quickly becomes insecure in her abilities when Stella reveals to her of how Morgana had been taken out by a surprise attack in their earlier bout. Bloom tries to encourage Nebula by reminding her of her current status as High Queen but Yllidith reappears behind the both of them to feed into Nebula's insecurities; mocking and reminding her of how he was capable of defeating her in the past. He then uses his magic to cause the College to shake and break down, which naturally causes all the students to fly into a panic. Nebula tries to get the Winx to flee with her until Tecna reveals that her computer is able to see through it all; that the collapse of Tir Na Nog College is nothing more than a large-scale illusion of Yllidith's creation. Nebula find herself unable to completely believe in Tecna's findings due to the realism of the illusion and, as Bloom tries to get her to face her fears, Yllidith attacks Tecna, destroying her computer to keep them from seeing through his illusions again.

With another encouraging push from Bloom, Nebula finally finds the strength to break free of her fears and releases a wave of magic that dispels of the wizard's illusions. Yllidith admits to being impressed with Nebula's growth but remains prideful in his belief of being undefeatable as Nebula still cannot face him without Morgana or the other Major Fairies. Just then, almost as if on cue, Morgana, Diana, Aurora and Sibylla appear just behind Yllidith ready to face him. Stella even remarks on the impossibility of all four fairies suddenly appearing all at once, which prompts Nadine into revealing to her and the Winx and she and Lydia had pooled their magic together to create magical copies of them. Aisha praises the two on their quick thinking and, with Yllidith still distracted, Nebula has Flora apprehend the former Fairy Hunter with magical vines. Before he can react and break himself free, Nebula and the Winx unleash a powerful Convergence spell that annihilates the wizard, defeating him forever.

With Yllidith now gone, Musa regroups with her friends while supporting a recovering Morgana. Morgana goes on to praise the Winx and Nebula for their efforts, specifically expressing how proud she is of Nebula for proving yet again that she deserved to be her successor. Nebula, now mostly done with cowering in fear at the very mention of illusions, turns to praise Lydia and Nadine for their magical replicas as their appearance acted as the pivotal moment in finally doing away with Yllidith. In addition to removing Lydia and Nadine's punishment, Nebula removes the ban on illusory magic from the school and encourages both them and any other curious Earth Fairies who wish to learn and improve on creating illusions.

Spells Used

 * Volcanic Attack - Used by Bloom against Yllidith but failed.
 * Decibel Barrier - Used by Musa to defend herself, Bloom and Tecna.
 * Organic Cube - Used by Tecna to defend herself, Bloom and Musa.
 * Light Spectrum - Used by Stella against one of Yllidith's duplicates.
 * Infinite Echo - Used by Musa against one of Yllidith's duplicates.
 * Morphix Net - Used by Aisha to apprehend Yllidith but failed.
 * Bloomix Convergence - Used by the Winx and Nebula to defeat Yllidith.

Mistakes

 * On the cover of the issue, Aisha's hair and skin tone has been lightened up significantly and her Mythix form is incorrectly colored; appearing more green than it should be.
 * Due to this, many often mistake her for being Roxy in a possible Mythix design she could have had.

Debuts

 * Julia
 * Nadine
 * Lydia
 * Tir Na Nog College Fairies
 * Yllidith
 * Aurora (flashback & illusion)
 * Sibylla (flashback & illusion)
 * Diana (flashback & illusion)

Characters

 * The Winx
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Flora
 * Musa
 * Tecna
 * Aisha


 * Earth Fairies
 * Nebula
 * Morgana
 * Sibylla (flashback & illusion)
 * Aurora (flashback & illusion)
 * Diana (flashback & illusion)
 * Tir Na Nog Students
 * Julia
 * Nadine
 * Lydia


 * Enemies
 * Yllidith
 * The Wizards of the Black Circle (all within flashbacks)
 * Ogron
 * Anagan
 * Gantlos
 * Duman

Trivia

 * This issue included the Winx Friends 4ever figurines.