Issue 87: Gregory's Fury

Gregory's Fury is the eighty-seventh issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
After discovering his dormant magical abilities, Gregory has become Neruman's new target, as he plans to use him as a pawn. Gregory's extreme rage and unstable emotions leave him vulnerable, allowing the Wizards of the Black Circle to manipulate his feelings and coax him into joining the side of evil. Cindy and the Winx must now try to talk some sense into him.

Plot
It is an average day in the city of Gardenia and the Winx are spending it teaching two young fairies how to use their magic. Bloom advises that Carmen think about how her spells would be useful to others as Carmen carefully levitates a brush and a bottle of milk towards a couple of fairy pets. During the lesson, Cindy notices Kiko trying to reach for a red toy car on top of a table that is too tall for him, so she takes it upon herself to help Kiko get the toy car with a bit of magic. However, Cindy quickly loses control of her levitation spell and almost drops Kiko! Luckily, she is able to place catch Kiko safely set him on the floor, but Cindy starts to think that she will never be able to become as good a fairy as either Bloom or Flora. Flora assures Cindy that she just needs more practice using magic as she and Carmen had only discovered their powers recently. Bloom then reminds the two young girls of an important lesson: to never use magic for their own personal gain. Cindy assures Bloom that they will keep the lesson in mind and thanks Bloom. Bloom then tells Cindy and Carmen that she and the Winx will be staying in Gardenia for a while longer and she hopes that the two of them will stay inside the Love &amp; Pet shop to practice their magic. Carmen claims that they will do so but she is curious as to why the Winx are holding off on returning to Alfea. Bloom reveals that they still need to find Morgana's necklace as it had unfortunately fallen into the hands of the Wizards of the Black Circle and the Wizards have hidden it somewhere. After hearing this, Cindy and Carmen become more determined to help the Winx in whatever way they can and Bloom thanks the girls as she and Flora exit the pet shop.

Just then, Cindy catches sight of her phone vibrating on top of a table and she remembers that she had a date scheduled for tonight at the Frutti Music Bar with a boy named Gregory. Carmen urges for Cindy to go meet up with Gregory as she promises to keep in eye on the shop while she is out. Cindy then thanks Carmen as she rushes outside.



A short while later, Cindy arrives at the Frutti Music Bar and catches sight of Gregory leaving. She manages to stop him but Gregory is furious over how long she made him wait. Cindy tries to explain herself but Gregory is already aware that she had been with the Winx again and he accuses her of favoring them over him. He further accuses Cindy of neglecting him by claiming that she acts like he does not even exist ever since she had discovered "those tricks." Cindy corrects Gregory by telling him that "those tricks" are her magic and it has become an important part of her life after she had discovered them, even if it was only recently. She clarifies that Bloom has been teaching her on how to use her powers and believes that it is only natural that she would spend lots of time with her as her pupil. Gregory then starts to apologize for lashing out as he and Cindy embrace and Cindy assures him that no amount of magic would be able to change her feelings for him. However, the couple is interrupted by an ill-mannered blonde man named Darren, who turns out to be Cindy's ex-boyfriend. Cindy tries to get Darren to leave Gregory alone but Darren continues to instigate until Cindy tells Gregory not to mind Darren as he is not worth getting riled up over. Things start to get bothersome once Darren grabs Cindy by the wrist as he goes on about how Cindy deserves someone who would protect her and claims that she will come around to him sooner or later. In that moment, Gregory snaps at Darren, shouting at him to shut his mouth and, just like that, Darren's mouth closes shut; he can't even reopen it! Confused by what just happened, Gregory asks Cindy about what she just did, however, Cindy believes that she was not the one who shut Darren's mouth with magic. Instead, she concludes that it was Gregory's doing and quickly becomes ecstatic.

A short while after the incident, Cindy takes Gregory over to the Winx Loft and explains to the Winx what happened. Even though Cindy is excited over her boyfriend possibly having magical powers, Gregory is still in denial over it and believes that there is no way he could be a wizard. Cindy explains to Gregory that he does in fact have magic powers and suspects that they must have been dormant until now because the Winx had brought magic back to Earth. Bloom tries to assure Gregory that he is not alone in this as she is confident that there are many other people out there who are unaware of their magical gift. She is certain that they will be able to awaken and grow their magical powers by believing in themselves. Bloom then encourages Gregory to try and lift himself off of the ground, but Stella cuts in, believing that levitation may be too hard for Gregory to handle without the proper training. Surprisingly, Gregory is able to lift himself up from the floor with considerable ease!



The girls all applaud and praise Gregory as Stella claims that he possesses a unique talent. Musa chimes in to say that she believes Gregory has the potential of becoming a great wizard so long as he has more self-confidence and Stella proposes that they send Gregory off to the Fortress of Light so that he can train there. Bloom agrees with the idea and claims that the wizards there will have no choice but to train Gregory. Though Gregory started off hesitant about the whole idea, he ultimately decides to take the Winx's advice and train at the Fortress of Light.



Later that night, Gregory is sent to the Fortress of Light for an examination. There, he is examined by three Councilmen who all agree that he possesses a great potential in the magical arts. Gregory asks if this means that they will train him but one of the Councilmen claims that they refuse to do so. When asked why, the Councilman claims that no one person should be able to possess as much power as Gregory does. Another one of the Councilmen adds that, even if they were to train Gregory, there would not be enough discipline in the universe that would be able to save him from himself. Gregory asks what they mean by that and one of the Councilmen replies by telling Gregory that there is a lot of anger built up inside of him; immense feelings of hatred that he tries to hide. Gregory begins to snap as he lashes out at the Councilmen for making such claims when they do not know him. One of the Councilmen continues to insist that Gregory's insecurities and uncertainties can be used as weapons against him, as there are powerful wizards lurking about that could easily exploit those aspects of his personality. The third Councilman realizes that Gregory is unaware of the story of Neruman and explains that Gregory would be at a large risk as Neruman, the Lord of the Shadows, has the ability to feed off of the suffering of others. Bloom hears this claim and suspects that Neruman may be behind the shadows that attacked her at the shipyard. At the same time, Gregory's examination hearing had ended and Bloom starts to believe that the Councilmen may have been right in their refusal to teach him. Gregory, on the other hand, is upset at the Winx because they promised that the Fortress of Light Councilmen would train him. Tecna tries to assure Gregory that they will train him once he is ready but Gregory lashes out by destroying Tecna's desktop as he now believes that the Winx had lied to him. He then storms out of the loft, tired of their excuses and goes on a rampage through the city. During his rampage, Gregory marvels at the strength of his powers and wonders why the Fortress of Light wizards refuse to teach him. In that moment, a large shadow creeps up behind Gregory and whispers dark thoughts into his ear, causing Gregory to conclude that the wizards refuse to teach him because they fear him. The shadow continues to whisper these dark thoughts into Gregory's ear as he begins to think that he does not need help from the Winx and even thinks that he is superior to the Fortress of Light wizards. Gregory then decides to show the Fortress of Light what he is capable of and as he heads off on his way, the shadow returns to Neruman, hoping that his master will be satisfied by all of the anger he managed to absorb from the young wizard.

Neruman allows for his shadow to come forth and, when the two merge, Neruman is delighted to feel all of the negative energy. As the energy courses through Neruman's body, his eldest slave proposes that he make the young wizard their newest ally, however, Neruman has other plans. He thinks that it would be much better to have Gregory made into his newest pawn and he orders his slave to send the Wizards of the Black Circle after Gregory in order to test his magic.

Meanwhile, back at the Winx's loft, Cindy apologizes to Tecna over her broken desktop. Tecna tries to reassure Cindy by telling her that she can simply fix the desktop as it is Gregory that worries her more. Suddenly, the two of them are interrupted by Bloom, who tells them to take a look outside. As Cindy and the Winx exit the loft, they find that the street has been torn up as if a hurricane had just hit! Bloom suspects that this was Gregory's doing and Stella adds in that two men witnessed a young man destroy all the objects that he shot at. Flora points out that Gregory turned out to be much more powerful than they had originally thought as he managed to cause so much destruction without even lifting a finger! Bloom then concludes that they will have to stop Gregory before his temper gets any worse and Cindy agrees, adding in that they at least need to find him first. And so, Bloom, Stella, Flora, Tecna and Cindy follow the path of destruction Gregory had left behind until they find him brooding just next to the old abandoned lighthouse by the pier. Once spotted, Cindy runs up to Gregory and begs for him to listen to her. She tries to tell Gregory that none of this was Bloom's fault but he cuts Cindy off by pointing out how the Fortress of Light wizards offended him and the Winx did nothing but agree with them. Cindy holds Gregory's hands in hers as she tells them that she also thinks that the wizards were wrong to judge him like that. She tries to get Gregory to come back with her, but Gregory still cannot forgive them. He yells at Cindy to go back to her "stupid friends" if she wants but, as far as he is concerned, he wants nothing to do with the Winx. Cindy cannot believe what Gregory is saying and she wonders if she even knows him anymore. She then tells Gregory that if he forces her to choose between him and the Winx, then she will have no choice but to leave him. In that moment, the two of them hear a voice from above telling Cindy that Gregory is right for not wanting to trust the Winx and, once they look up, they see that the Wizards of the Black Circle have been eavesdropping! Ogron proclaims that the Winx are nothing but a group of liars who should not be trusted as he, Anagan and Gantlos descend from the top of the lighthouse. With the Wizards no longer in hiding, Bloom, Stella, Flora and Tecna go into their Believix ready to fight for Morgana's necklace.

Stella takes a moment to taunt the Wizards and has Flora bind the three of them up in her vines once she is done. However, instead of struggling, Anagan shouts that they are not here to fight and Gantlos reveals that they only came to deliver a message to Gregory: a message from Neruman. Bloom tries to warn Gregory not to get too close to the Wizards but Gregory simply tells Bloom not to order him around. Seeing this, Ogron claims that they all share a common enemy. That is when Anagan reveals that they came to offer help from the Lord of Shadows as he recognizes Gregory's strength. Gantlos then tells Gregory that they will be able to show him how to be feared and respected so long as he frees them from the vines. Having heard enough, Bloom shouts at the Wizards, demanding that they stop trying to coerce Gregory and tell them where they have hidden Morgana's necklace. Ogron acts like he has no idea what Bloom is talking about so Stella counters it by claiming that he, Anagan and Gantlos will just be stuck as their prisoners for a long time. That is until Gregory frees the trio. Ogron praises Gregory for making the right choice and claims that they will be sure to repay him for doing so. The three Wizards then try to escape as Ogron promises Gregory that they will meet him soon enough, however, Stella launches her Solar Storm at them in order to stop them. Ogron tries to attack back but Cindy casts a shield in order to protect Stella from it. Unfortunately, Cindy's magic is still fairly weak and she and Stella end up being blown back by Ogron's attack. Tecna tries to stop the Wizards but Stella claims that it does not matter anymore now that Cindy has been knocked out cold.

Gregory runs to Cindy's side, demanding to know what the Winx have done to her. Bloom reveals that Cindy had been seriously injured by the attack but she tries to reassure Gregory that she will be able to heal Cindy with her Believix magic. Gregory then lashes out at Bloom, ordering for her to save Cindy as it was their fault for attacking the Wizards first. Bloom tries to defend herself until Flora stops her and tells her to let Gregory vent out his frustrations as he is too upset to fully understand the situation. Gregory quickly becomes distraught and leaves as he does not want Cindy to see him in such a state. Tecna tries to stop Gregory as Bloom uses her Believix power to heal Cindy. Luckily, Bloom is able to heal Cindy very quickly and Gregory takes a look back to see Flora and Stella helping a disoriented Cindy to her feet. Instead of running back to her, Gregory makes his way back home before Cindy can spot him. After the whole ordeal that had taken place, Gregory goes to sleep in his room, however, he is woken up by someone shouting at him just hours later. Gregory opens his eyes to find an enraged Cindy glaring at him from the foot of his bed and springs upwards. He asks Cindy how she managed to get in and why she came, but he is cut off by Cindy calling him weak. She then starts to walk away from him which causes Gregory to spring out of bed after her. He insists that he can change but Cindy calls him weak again and claims that he could not protect her as she phases into a shadow on the wall. Gregory pleads for Cindy not to leave him until he is met by a pair of glowing eyes. The shadow tells Gregory that Cindy is right about him being weak and claims that he can become invincible if he follows the teachings of Neruman. In that moment, Neruman enters Gregory's room from the shadow and Gregory remembers that it was the Wizards of the Black Circle, the wizards who work for Neruman, that hurt Cindy. Neruman simply dismisses that fact as being irrelevant and claims that Cindy would have never gotten hurt if the Winx never intervened. Gregory then admits that he does not know why Neruman is so fascinated by him, so Neruman explains that it is because he thinks that Gregory needs to show his true strength to those who refused to train him; those who did not believe in him. He demands that Gregory destroy the Fortress of Light wizards for their refusal and annihilate the Winx for stealing Cindy away. Gregory ultimately succumbs to Neruman's words and allies himself with him. He asks when his training will start and Neruman tells him that it will only start after he wakes up. Once that happens, he must follow his shadow, as it will show him the way to darkness. Gregory does so and he follows his shadow into a construction site somewhere else in Gardenia. A week passes and Cindy has arrived at the Winx Loft looking for a shoulder to cry on, as she blames herself for being so hard on Gregory. She cries to the Winx as she claims that none of this would have happened if she had not argued with him before the Wizards could get to him, but the Winx think otherwise. Bloom tries to get Cindy to calm down as Musa explains that Gregory must have been confused. She then asks for Cindy to picture herself in his shoes: he was rejected by the Fortress of Light Council right after discovering his magical powers and he ended up being caught up in a fight against the Wizards of the Black Circle all in the same day. Bloom and Aisha agree as Aisha tries to assure Cindy that, deep down, Gregory still wishes to do good and he will come back to her soon enough. She further claims that he may just need some alone time but Cindy fears that he may have sided with the Wizards as she has not seen or even heard from him in a little over a week. She claims to have this feeling that something serious has happened to him until Bloom reveals to Cindy that Tecna, Stella and Roxy are already out searching for him in the city. She tries to assure Cindy once again that everything will be okay in the end.

Just as Bloom had told Cindy, Tecna, Stella and Roxy have been combing the streets of Gardenia, looking for any clues as to where Gregory ended up. Unfortunately, they have not been able to pick up anything; Tecna's scanner cannot pick up any traces of Gregory's magic and none of his classmates have seen him for the past week. Stella suspects that they may have been looking in all the wrong places and Roxy concludes that they have not been asking the right "people" yet. When asked what she means, Roxy explains that certain things can be ignored by humans but those clues may have been picked up by certain "little friends." It is then that Roxy makes begins to pet one of the nearby alley cats in an attempt to get it to calm down so that she can establish a telepathic link with it. After a few seconds with its head resting on Roxy's hand, the alley cat springs forward and runs off. Stella wonders if Roxy scared the cat away until Roxy clarifies that the cat is trying to lead them somewhere. She then explains that the cat told her that it spotted a creepy-looking guy somewhere in the city just a few nights ago as she, Stella and Tecna follow the alley cat from close behind.

The three fairies soon find themselves approaching an empty construction site as Roxy tells Stella and Tecna that the alley cat claims to have seen the boy being rather agitated as he walked by himself at night. When the girls make it to the entrance of the site, Roxy tells the cat one last thing before it leaves. Stella asks what Roxy had to tell it and Roxy reveals that she told the cat to go to Love & Pet tomorrow as she wants to surprise Carmen's little sister with a pet cat. At the same time, Tecna's scanner has started to pick up four sources of magical energy nearby and she advises for Stella and Roxy to be more careful as she notifies Bloom. Though, little do the three of them know, they have already been spotted by Gantlos and Anagan. Anagan leaps from the top of one of the abandoned cranes to keep the Winx distracted long enough for Gantlos to warn Ogron of their arrival.

In another part of the site, Ogron is training Gregory and he is impressed with how much Gregory has improved in a week. However, he can feel that there is something holding Gregory back from truly mastering the dark arts. Gregory dodges Ogron's attack with ease and teleports behind him, growing more arrogant with every small success. Just as he is about to attack Ogron, Gantlos jumps in and calls an end to his training. He tells Gregory to save his energy for their real enemy: the Winx Club.

Meanwhile, Anagan launches a surprise attack on the three fairies by blasting Roxy to the ground before Stella can move her out of the way. He then tells Stella and Tecna that Gregory has now become one of them as he, Gantlos and Ogron emerge from the shadows of the construction site. Stella and Tecna still try to get Gregory to escape with them, but the two are only met by a blast of dark magic as Gregory declares them to be his enemy now. With the three of them completely disoriented, Ogron urges for Gregory to deal the final blow but, just as he is about to do so, Cindy and the rest of the Winx arrive just in the nick of time.

Ogron quickly attacks Flora and Aisha as Bloom tries to fight back by launching her Heart of the Dragon spell at Anagan, only to end up missing. Gantlos then retaliates by sending powerful shockwaves at Bloom and Musa, leaving Cindy as the only one left. Cindy takes this chance to try and bring Gregory back to his senses. Gregory tries to threaten Cindy into getting away from him but Cindy knows full well that he would never wish to hurt her and she tells him that the Wizards are just trying to use him. Ogron realizes that it is Gregory's feelings for Cindy that are making him weak so he urges for him to ignore her by promising to teach him all of the secrets to mastering the dark arts, so long as he destroys the Winx. Bloom manages to get up and she tells Gregory to listen to his heart; to return to Cindy's side because she still loves him. That is when Ogron snaps at Gregory and orders him to kill both Cindy and the Winx. This causes Gregory to retaliate and redirect his attack on the Wizards instead. Unable to put up a fair fight against eight fairies and a wizard as strong as Gregory, the Wizards escape by teleportation. Unfortunately, any hope of finding Morgana's necklace has gone with them. Bloom takes this moment to praise Gregory for making the right choice. Gregory admits to never being able to hurt Cindy but he still wants nothing to do with the Winx. Remembering the choice Cindy made at the lighthouse, Gregory takes it upon himself to break up with her as he believes he does not deserve her. Cindy is left watching teary-eyed as Gregory walks off into the sunset, with Bloom trying to reassure her that all wounds will heal with time, even if some do not heal as quickly as others.

Spells Used

 * Summer Vines - Used by Flora to bind down the Wizards of the Black Circle.
 * Solar Storm - Used by Stella in an attempt to stop the Wizards of the Black Circle from escaping.
 * Heart of the Dragon - Used by Bloom against Anagan.
 * Strength of Life - Used by Bloom to heal Cindy of her injuries.

Mistakes

 * The Winx's Believix forms hold a lot of errors throughout the issue.
 * Bloom's gloves have frills all along the wrist.
 * Stella's Believix appearance faces the most drastic changes, as she no longer has her pigtails, her gloves switch between being fingerless and being full gloves, and her wings have small ring-like patterns on them instead of stars.
 * Flora's top is a small fuzzy one instead of her usual flower-inspired one, her skirt is a normal pink and green miniskirt instead of her usual flower petal-inspired skirt and her bracelets are missing.
 * Tecna's sleeves have frills that stop at her elbow.
 * Musa's gloves have frills that stop at her forearms.
 * The yellow ombre streaks in Roxy's hair are not present throughout this issue. The blue paw print on her shirt also tends to go missing in between panels.
 * On page 1, as Bloom and Flora watch Carmen practice using her magic, Flora's eyebrows are missing.

Debuts

 * Gregory
 * Darren

Characters

 * The Winx Club
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Flora
 * Musa
 * Tecna
 * Aisha
 * Roxy
 * Fairies
 * Cindy
 * Carmen
 * Wizards
 * Gregory
 * Enemies
 * The Wizards of the Black Circle
 * Ogron
 * Anagan
 * Gantlos
 * Neruman
 * Neruman's Slaves
 * Humans
 * Darren
 * Earth Fairies
 * Morgana (mentioned)
 * Fortress of Light Councilmen
 * Animals
 * Kiko
 * Fairy Pets

Trivia

 * This is the first case in which the Winx meet a wizard from Earth.
 * This is also the one of the few cases in which the Winx find themselves facing the Wizards of the Black Circle after the events of Season 4.