FIRST ISSUE: Hay has been seeing a screaming creature in her nightmares, but she tries to forget about it, as she's off to visit Eric. Once there, she meets the Ibsens, an older couple who know Eric's family. Karl Ibsen tells Hay the story of the ragorlang, a creature that sucks the life energy from people and feeds it to its master. Kids have been behaving oddly and disappearing in Open Hill and it does turn out to be the ragorlang. One comes for Hay, who had transformed to investigate a noise in the night. Alerted by the transformation, Will brings the others to fight it off. Hay and Eric spend time together and he mentions a conference Karl Ibsen will be speaking at, along with Dean Collins, Will's new stepdad. Hay is excited because if she and Will tag along, she can see Eric again. They're interrupted by Eric's creepy principal, the world's briefest red herring, because he's nobody. Time jumps and it's a few days later. Will, Hay and Dean are off to the conference, while the other guardians use the portal to keep an eye on things. Dean asks Hay to get him a drink as an excuse to have time alone with Will. He's nervous and he wants her to quiz him. While getting said drink, Hay is approached by Karl Ibsen, who tells her Eric is sick. She stupidly goes off with him and it's then revealed that Tecla Ibsen, his wife, controls the ragorlang, which attacks Hay again. W.I.T.C.H. goes to the rescue and they get Hay back, but Tecla now knows the girls are magical and can be the best source of energy for her. She uses the ragorlang to keep looking younger.
SECOND ISSUE: Cornelia and Peter have tension. Still. On the way home, Peter is rear-ended, pushing his car into...Cornelia's bitchy grandmother's. Ugh. In the middle of a talk via the portal, Yan Lin goes missing. W.I.T.C.H. goes to the rescue once again and Hay is the one who saves the day. Peter ends up sending an apology note and flowers, which of course Bitchy Grandma has to approve of.
THIRD ISSUE: Irma yells at her stepmother, then flees to the attic, where she finds letters from when her stepmom and her dad were dating. Their backstory is cute and Irma feels guilty for her bad behavior. She ends up setting up a day at the lake were Anna, her stepmom, used to live and even tracks down her old best friends, a hyper set of redheaded twins.
FOURTH ISSUE: The cultural exchange is beginning and Irma is paired with Erin, a gorgeous girl who holds her own against bullies. But as soon as she appears, infighting begins amongst W.I.T.C.H. Erin is actually a magical being that's got a grudge against the guardians. Taranee uses her telepathy to peer into Irma's mind and they see what happened when ragorlangs attacked Erin's home. So they know the ragorlangs are involved and they know Erin is controlling Irma. They realize Tecla is behind this. The other guardians confront Erin and try to make her see that Tecla is manipulating her. They use the portal to bring Erin's superhot brother Kader to the bookstore. He saved all their people from the ragorlangs except Erin, who was separated and mock-saved by Tecla. Kader will stay in the bookstore while they investigate.
This is an odd volume because the seeds for the storylines are being sewn throughout more separate stories. It was nice to see Hay then Cornelia then Irma have individual problems that were somewhat wrapped up in the course of an issue. Whenever they focus on Irma alone, she always grows a lot as a character. The storyline with Yan Lin's kidnapping was the weakest of the lot, but still nice because Hay got to shine. Erin and Kader are both fun characters and I love their designs. It's always nice to see more magical people. Though Kader is another older guy being semi-paired with girls way too young. I'd like to see more balanced relationships age-wise. These girls almost always end up liking older guys, which is fine, but the guys consistently like them back. Why are you all looking for such young girls? Slightly problematic.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Taranee, Irma, Will.
Separating Taranee from Hay, she didn't stand out this volume and Hay did, but Hay, Taranee and Irma are really close in ranking. Like just a smidge ahead of each other.
FIRST ISSUE: Karl Ibsen is in disguise as the guy running the cultural exchange. He sees Uriah and his buddies being bullies, so he gives them special pins in payment for their help. These pins create weaker versions of the ragorlang from their bad side, leaving the boys acting good for once. Cornelia and Irma both flirt with Kader. Irma likes him, but Corny's just doing it for funsies. The three ragorlang created from the bullies attack Cornelia in her room and the others go to the rescue. Superbrat Lilian put a recorder under Cornelia's bed, which taped the entire battle and Cornelia has to pay her to get it back...right in front of her parents. I don't know how they fail so badly with Lilian. Would you let your kid record another and then not punish her? Let the other kid pay money to stop the younger one? I mean seriously. Taranee's mom is a turbo bitch, but Cornelia's parents are the weakest of the bunch. They never stand up to the bitchy grandmother and Lilian is constantly an out of control mini-bully. Kader helps the guardians tie the school bullies to the ragorlangs via the pins they're wearing. There's a battle at an amusement park and they win, but then they say goodbye to Kader and Erin, who return to their people via the portal.
SECOND ISSUE: The Oracle tells the girls they're now peace ambassadors and have to visit a huge laundry list of other worlds to inform them of this fact and see if they have any needs. These sequences provide random bits of comic relief. Taranee has an audition for a video and Martin is running for class office. Taranee doesn't get selected and is upset about it. The others help Martin campaign except Taranee refuses to do what Sheila suggests because her confidence has been broken and she's mean about it. Taranee is mean to Luke and Sheila in the studio, constantly beating herself up. Left alone, Taranee develops choreography for a performance for Martin's campaign. Her teacher sees her and gives her advice. He says her audition was flawless technically but "it had no soul." The choreography she's working on does. Martin wins. Taranee and the others do her choreography, which ends up on TV, so though she didn't get the audition, she got to shine in public in a far better way, doing something she designed. Irma and Sheila finally get to be friends because Irma stops being stubborn.
THIRD ISSUE: The Grumpers cause chaos with their school paper, which is a gossip rag with photos and articles of students in unflattering light. Including the principal, who's mad about it, but no one has seen the Grumpers. Hay and the others suspect the new school doctor, who's obsessed with looking at students' eyes, is somehow involved with the ragorlang. They break into his house to investigate and he's clearly involved in supernatural stuff. He has books and artifacts all over. They think he's working with the Ibsens. When he comes home and sits down to watch TV, the guardians stay in their invisible form. That's when everyone sees the Grumpers in a beauty pageant! They lose and the next day they're back at school, causing trouble with another gossip paper.
FOURTH ISSUE: Hay still struggles with nightmares and when she disappears in school and a ragorlang is briefly seen, the guardians are on the alert. It turns out Hay went home sick. Will meets Neil, a fellow swimmer. Hay realizes she was the ragorlang in the school and runs away. W.I.T.C.H. see that she used the portal and follow it to an old theater where Tecla is...and Hay the ragorlang. The school doctor, Folkner, appears and uses a box to try to capture Tecla's ragorlang. The guardians stop Hay by thinking good thoughts about her and their friendship so when she absorbs them, she realizes who they are. Folkner uses his box to pull the ragorlang out of her. Hay is finally free of it.
This one was a much weaker volume than the first. The ragorlang story keeps it all tied together, but the side stories aren't nearly as good.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Taranee, Irma, Will.
FIRST ISSUE: Hay is given instructions by Yan not to use the portal or go to Kandrakar that day. A pissed off We (honestly, did we really need a stupid sidekick?) opens it and some of Kandrakar's magic escapes to Earth. All day, everyone's wishes keep coming true with mostly comic consequences. After figuring out what happened, Will uses the Heart to collect the spare magic and return it to Kandrakar. All the wishes are undone with no one remembering anything. Part of the drama is Cornelia and Peter, but he finally asks her out at the end. The downside is that the magic rejuventated Tecla and she managed to keep it instead of it going back to Kandrakar.
SECOND ISSUE: There's a school trip to learn about sea turtles. The girls are all separated when Tecla arrives to attack. Folkner is on hand to help out. Tecla was able to create five ragorlangs, each with one of W.I.T.C.H.'s powers, and the girls are unable to fight their own power. But duh, they just teleport and swap ragorlangs. But the ragorlangs all join together, centered by the Shadow of the Heart, which is a dark copy of the Heart of Kandrakar. Will uses the Heart to defeat the one giant ragorlang and it also absorbs the Shadow of the Heart. Folkner captures the ragorlang in his trap box, but then he releases all the ones he's trapped...into himself.
THIRD ISSUE: Karmilla is in town for a concert and Taranee and her dancing friends are performing beforehand. Matt is back in town but he and Will are having difficulty meeting up. Peter and Cornelia are being really awkward, which makes me wonder if they had a pizza date or not. Suddenly, all the other kids stop moving. They're all being attacked at once by powers like the ragorlangs. The guardians transform and it's off to Folkner's house. Battle begins and then Tecla is there, too. She's still bad at first, but then the guardians manage to get through to her, so she helps them see the way to win. It's finally over. (AT LAST.) Everyone goes to Kandrakar, where the Ibsens will remain to start a new life. Back at the concert, Cornelia finally kisses Peter. Taranee performs her dance and Irma will get to meet Karmilla. Matt and Will finally see each other and everything seems okay.
And that wraps up the Ragorlang story arc. There were a few strong moments, but overall, this was definitely not my favorite. It felt really dragged out.
Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Taranee, Irma, Will.
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