Glowinx Club - We Shine On Our Own

08. Teamwork

Florence leaned against the table at the front of the class, folding her hands. "Okay before we make our way into the simulator, I wanted to announce this year's big finals. Do not fret, children, you won't have to master mathematic rules or write spells down. That's what we do within the semester. The final for the first year is to achieve your Charmix. Around ten years ago we decided to put it into a six-week long vacation, almost at the end of your first semester. The scary part is, Charmix will be attained without your magical powers."

The class gasped and everyone started to chat quietly but Florence pushed herself off the edge of the table to clap a few times. "Hey hey, that wasn't an invitation to talk. We will seemingly take away your magical abilities but in emergencies we will of course give it back to you. The Alfea staff and I will provide a nice vacation of your choice for you guys where you'll be facing tasks – as Charmix is obtained in stressful situations and magic isn't in need of that. It's like a test to see how far you can go if – at this very moment – you are at loss of your magic powers and can only fight with your feelings. Once you reach your Charmix the spell is lifted and you can transform freely again. This comes in handy for a test in the Red Fountain too, so you'll be accompanied by a specialist force. We have some time left later to talk about it and I hope I didn't make you too nervous to take the simulator test now. Like I mentioned last week I'm taking you group by group into the simulator around the corner. We do the test but you stay in the simulator once it's over, so you won't be able to tell other students who haven't taken the test yet how it's gonna be. So," Florence checked her notes, "the first group is Cécilia, Alora, Elgan, Treasa and Minu. Please follow me."

The five friends did as told and entered the simulator room after the headmistress. Florence locked the door behind her and Palladium greeted them joyfully. "Ah, the smell of the simulator running. I can't wait for you to have your first real, little battle in the simulator – aside from the smallintroductions you already had. As soon as you see that the world around you has fully changed you can transform and start to look for your task. It will be pretty obvious; you will have to fight a monster we project. Florence will summon a protection spell on you so in case you are accidentally firing at a friend, they're protected from your powers."

The students agreed and Florence put the protection spell on them while Palladium opened the simulator's door for them to walk in. After all five of them entered he locked it and put the speakers on, pressing buttons left and right to prepare the simulation. "Alright, you five...Florence and I will not speak from this point on we can however still hear you very clearly. Our safe word is kitten-scarf because it can't be said in a normal conversation."

Cécilia snickered at the word and Treasa nudged her side with a stern look, letting Palladium continue. "In case anything bad happens and you need to leave the simulation, call out the safe word three times, okay? Three times. I will stop the simulation and unlock the door as fast as I possibly can. But that rarely happens, don't worry about that. For now, I wish you good luck and we will see you again in a few minutes!"

Palladium's voice trailed off and the lights on the side of the simulator turned on brightly and as soon as the last lamp started shining brightly, flooding the room with white light, the floor began to softly vibrate and earth with a few green spots started to spread throughout the simulator.

The five fairy friends turned around in awe as they watched the simulation unfold and noticed soon after nothing changed that they could finally transform.

When each of them was fully transformed Cécilia was the first to look around. "Okay, so...We know it's convergence class and our current topic is casting spells in unison."

Alora nodded and took a few steps back to study her surroundings. "Each of you get ready...the monster could be here any minute."

Minu jumped upwards and made a quick fly-over to check the surrounding from above, gasping when she saw a big monster in reach, walking aimlessly behind a cliff that wasn't visible from where the others stood. She looked down and pointed towards it. "Guys! There's a monster behind a hill or a cliff! That must be the one we gotta fight!"