Also known as Shadows In Bloom in the 4Kids dub.
Professor Avalon observes Bloom while she trains, wondering what she is training for. She explains that she feels things have been too quiet lately, as Lord Darkar hasn't made any moves since taking Cloud Tower's piece of the Codex. She feels Darkar may strike again soon, and continues hitting rocks with blasts of magic. However, she notes that her magic seems to have been gradually getting weaker ever since Darkar first showed up. Bloom expresses concern that the Trix will eventually find Alfea's secret archieve. As Avalon tries to comfort her, she admits that she accidentally stumbled upon it a while ago. Avalon tells her it'll be fine, and to promise not to tell anyone, not even him.
At Alfea, Timmy tries to approach Tecna, but she continues to act cold towards him. Tecna complains that Timmy's behaviour isn't logical, and Flora wonders if that's truly what's bothering her.
As they head back to Alfea, Avalon explains that Bloom's power weakening likely is connected to Darkar's power being the opposite of hers, and that she might be able to get her full strength back by reconnecting to the Dragon Flame. Avalon says he knows of something that might help, but that it isn't without risk. Lockette becomes worried, but Bloom decides to give it a try after Avalon says he thinks it'll work.
Avalon takes Bloom to his office to cast the spell. After taking a moment to tell an eavesdropping Stella, Musa and Flora to wait outside and that the spell will require his full concentration, he puts Bloom into a dream-like state. Bloom finds herself flying over Alfea, and spots her adoptive parents waving at her. She wants to take a moment to talk to them, but is pulled away by a mysterious force before she can. She sees her birth parents, along with the Great Dragon. She attempts to approach them, but a dark force attacks her before she can reach them.
Bloom wakes up from the dream, and Avalon asks what she remembers. Bloom describes her dream, and Avalon says it sounds like she managed to avoid the potential dangers. Bloom asks if she can test her powers now, but Avalon suggests she wait for a bit. After returning to her room, Stella, Musa and Flora ask Bloom about her birth parents, but Bloom admits she can't fully remember everything about the dream. Musa asks if the other girls want to hear a new dance track she wrote, and Stella and Flora leave with her, while Lockette asks Bloom if something is wrong.
Bloom admits that seeing her adoptive parents without even being able to talk to them in her dream before being sent to her birth parents felt weird, and Lockette comforts her. She then asks Bloom about her powers. Bloom figures she's waited long enough, and decides to transform and test out her powers to see if it worked. Bloom notes that she does feel stronger, but a dark energy soon begins to surround her and her eyes change color to gold.
Timmy shows up, asking Bloom if she's seen Tecna, getting the feeling she's been avoiding him. Bloom tells him that's probably not the case and offers to go with him to look for her. However, she suddenly starts using her power to play tricks on him, levitating him upside-down and putting his shoes on his hands. Musa and Layla come across them, before Bloom drops Timmy into a vase. Lockette thinks Bloom's strange behaviour has to do with her dream journey, and Musa goes to find Avalon.
After returning to her senses, Bloom admits that she felt something was controlling her. Avalon tells her she might've caught a mischievous shadow virus, and says he'll need some time to prepare a spell to remove it. Bloom apologizes to Timmy, but he forgives her and tells her to let him know if she sees Tecna. Avalon tells the other girls to look after Bloom while he works on the spell, and Stella suggests that a make-over might help keep her mind off of things.
Stella has Bloom and Lockette trying on different outfits, but after a while, the shadow virus starts to take control of Bloom again. Bloom tells the girls she has urgent business, and leaves. Lockette decides to go with her to keep an eye on her, while the others find Avalon. Bloom heads for the archieve, while Darkar at his hideout comments on how his plan is progressing smoothly.
Concorda greets Bloom, noting it has been a while, but Bloom pays no attention to her as she begins looking through the books for the Codex. Lockette introduces herself to Concorda, while Bloom explains she's looking for the Codex to hand it over to Lord Darkar. After Bloom mocks Concorda, asking how something so small intends to stop her, Concorda responds by using a spell to shrink Bloom down to her size, while telling Lockette to go find help.
Bloom deduces that the hiding place of the Codex might be resistant to her spells, and begins destroying random books, while Concorda protests that the magic in those books would be lost. Concorda tries her best to prevent Bloom from burning everything, before Bloom decides to threaten Concorda herself. With Concorda's life at risk, one of her pixie pets hurries over to the book containing the Codex piece. The pixie pet flies off with the Codex piece and Bloom gives chase, this distracting her enough to end the spell burning Concorda.
Concorda, her pixie pets and Bloom continue fighting over the Codex as it drops, the pixie sea horse managing to take it back before Bloom gets it. Concorda instructs the pixie pet to flee into a gateway hidden in one of the books, but Bloom follows it and manages to take the Codex piece from it. Returning to the archive and returning to her normal size, Bloom is prepared to hand the piece over to Darkar. Just then, the rest of the Winx show up to try to stop her.
Not really wanting to fight their friend, Flora at first suggests they try bringing her to her senses by talking to her. It doesn't work, and Bloom just insults them, so Stella decides to see if one of her spells will help Bloom shake off the dark influence. Darkar tells Bloom to hold them off just a bit longer, as he has already sent Kerborg to pick up the Codex piece.
Stella's spell doesn't work, and Bloom starts attacking. Stella decides to try something a bit more powerful, catching Bloom off-guard. However, it still doesn't work. Lockette flies over to Bloom and kisses her cheek, telling her they're still friends and Bloom returns to her senses. With Bloom back to normal, the girls ask Bloom to return the Codex. However, Lockette's kiss only broke the spell for a few seconds, and Bloom shoots a fireball into the windows above to let Kerborg know her location and to allow him to pick up the Codex piece, in the process transforming into a darker version of her fairy form. While Dark Bloom is confronting Lockette, the Winx try to take this oppurtunity to try to stop her.
None of the girls' attacks seem to work, Stella decides to stop holding back and attacks Bloom with an even stronger spell, which Bloom counters with her own power, knocking the others down. Stella briefly worries that she might've accidentally disentigrated Bloom with that last attack, before Flora points out her location, about to hand over the Codex piece to Kerborg. Kerborg flies off with the Codex, just as Amore shows up bringing Avalon in to help. Avalon manages to easily reverse the spell, and the girls hurry to catch Bloom as she falls.
Back to her normal self, Bloom asks what happened. As Avalon explains, Bloom realizes what she did, and worries that she might have a relapse. Avalon assures her that he managed to completely remove the virus, and only wishes he'd gotten there sooner. Bloom apologizes for what she did, and says she'll get the Codex back somehow. Stella corrects her, saying they'll all get it back together. Bloom then tells Lockette that from what little she remembers while under the influence of the shadow virus, she knows that Lockette acted very bravely during the ordeal and tells her that she's proud of her.
Since the archive's location is no longer a secret, Condorda asks the other girls to assist in cleaning up the mess from the fight. While doing so, the girls assure Bloom they know it wasn't really her doing all those mean things. Tecna asks why she played those tricks on Timmy with the levitation spell, but Bloom doesn't know why either.
Kerborg brings the Codex to Darkar, who gloats that soon he'll have the last piece as well.
Tropes:
- Alternate Identity Amnesia: Bloom has no memory of what she said and did after Avalon removes the Shadow Virus from her.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Bloom for the majority of the episode.
- Evil Costume Switch: Near the end, when Bloom fully transforms into Dark Bloom.
- Hope Spot: At one point, Lockette appears to have broken the spell on Bloom. Unfortunately, it only broke the spell for a few seconds, and Bloom ends up fully transforming into Dark Bloom shortly afterwards.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Bloom gets these when corrupted by Darkar.
