Chapter 6: Mobs and Royal Decrees
"A tie is unacceptable!" Audrey complained. Saturday was finally in and the two schools were hoping to catch some air before they announced the next event, which shouldn't take place before Monday, but while it meant that everyone could relax outside of homework, it also meant that the personal feuding problems would still continue.
Meanwhile, Audrey and the others were busy installing the trophy from the cooking contest into the Hall of Trophies, the area where Auradon Prep put on display every single one of its won rewards during school competitions. The Hall of Trophies had half a wall full with nothing but golden trophies, medals, and victory photos of every single Pride Games they took part in.
"Because the school has a reputation to hold and winning second place or even a tie is not an option?" Martin suggested. He had come with Ruby to visit the Hall of Trophies as part of their usual romantic walks around campus during weekends but none of them expected to run into Sleeping Beauty's daughter complaining about being first place and tied at the same time.
"Precisely!" Audrey nodded. "I mean, look at all the winnings Auradon Prep had in the past. Do you see anything in particular that isn't gold?"
Ruby bent forward and watched her reflection on one of the relay race trophies. She grinned to herself. "Myself being quite healthy, thus proving that Alfred's cooking is the best butler-made?"
"Hey! Don't forget Bates!" Martin said defensively.
"Sorry. Second best butler-made," Ruby corrected herself. Her boyfriend grinned.
"Good save," Evie commented.
"All I'm saying is that we need to beat St Luther!" Audrey said. "Our school has the rep of winning every event as well as taking part in every Pride Games! If we start becoming second best, the amount of student applications will lower by next year!"
"Uh, what do applications have to do with the Pride Games?"
They turned to see who had spoken and saw that it was only Dusk with Disco Jam on her shoulders.
"Nothing important," Ben said. "Congratulations again on winning your first trophy."
"Yeah, trophy aside, I think we might be having a problem," Dusk said nervously.
"Much bigger than me," Disco Jam offered.
"What? Winning a tie isn't good enough for you?" Audrey snapped.
"Uh, no." Dusk blinked a deadpan look at Audrey. "See, we had some reformees arriving today because they ended spring break late and...Most of them are leading a mob in Malevia Village."
At 10:30am in the gates of Malevia Village
"Get back to the Isle Of The Lost!"
"Snobs! Go run back to your mommies and plush pillows!"
The gates of Malevia Village were being active with two mobs, one being from St Luther and the other from Auradon Prep, and both of them were harassing one another with insults.
"Enough!" Ben pushed his way through them until he and his friends put themselves in the middle. Literally. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I'll tell you what happened!" The mob from Auradon Prep (do we have to tell you they were all VKs?) made way for Minuit Sparkle, who held a glass bottle unleashing an infectious stench. "The reformees threw this Leech Stink Bomb at Penna's window and now she's unconscious at the nurse!"
"Voldemort's daughter shouldn't be in Auradon after everything she's done!" A girl from St Luther Rose spoke up from a lamppost, and judging by the other reformees agreeing with her through angry shouts, she must have led the mob. Her shoulder-length curly hair was black with one golden streak and her attire consisted of green reading glasses, a woolen grey sweater over a white long-sleeved shirt, a black-and-white harlequin skirt with pocket designed like crucifixes, black leggings and chunky heeled boots, a green tie, and several gothic jewelry. Her green eyes burned furiously. "Even if she was brainwashed as you claimed, she's still a menace and guilty of her past crimes!"
"And how do you know?" Mal asked. "What are you? Harry Potter's daughter?"
"Uh, actually Mal..." Dusk chuckled nervously. "That's Severus Snape's daughter and...apparently Penna murdered Sternia's dad."
Mal grimaced at the realization.
"Yes, my dad was Severus Snape and a fake Death Eater spying on Voldemort during the wars against him," Sternia said, "but once the Dark Lord decided my dad wasn't worth it anymore, he ordered his daughter, the witch Penna De Mort, to execute him herself. I had to watch with my own eyes my father getting dissected with unimaginable curses by De Mort and having his organs eaten by her serpent. And she could have made it less painful for me by using the Killing Curse, but no!"
"Look, I'm sorry about what happened to Snape," Ben tried to reason with her, "but..."
"She murdered people, kidnapped and blackmailed, tricked people into fates they didn't want because she wanted to take over the world and destroy us all!" A redhead boy wearing a green jersey over the St Luther gym uniform spoke up. "She was the one who released Blackfire and put my mom's home planet under her tyranny!"
"At least my mom raised me best than your own dumb mother, cousin!" Noir Du Feu hissed.
"Say one more thing about my mother! I dare you!" His hands glowed with green energy while Noir responded with purple ones. The arguing was too much for anyone to handle...
"ENOUGH!"
A boy in a dark blue cloak and purple jumpsuit levitate himself down from the air. He brought down his hood, revealing himself to be a seventeen-year-old boy with grey skin and green hair. "Please don't start making me mad," he said calmly, which surprisingly the others took seriously. "The last thing we want is to stir serious conflict..."
It was so quick. Nobody could believe it when Ruby made such a jump and managed to cut the boy's cheek with her adamantium nails. He still kept his composure but brought a hand to his bloody cheek in awe.
"RUBY!" Ben said in disbelief. "Why did you attack him?"
"Why did I attack him?" Ruby screamed. "I attacked him because of all the schools we had to compete, it had to be with the one attended by him!" She pointed at the grey-skinned boy. "Corbeau Roth Logan, my ex-boyfriend!"
Dusk pinched her noise in frustration. "Oy..."
"That's the ruffian who cheated on you?" Martin exclaimed in horror.
"Ruffian? No, I'm the son of Raven and Beast Boy..." Corbeau began.
"Chap, do I look like I care?" Martin glared at Corbeau with a furious stare that was mutually returned by the latter.
"Oh, that's right!" Ruby hugged her boyfriend's arm while hissing at her ex-boyfriend. "What was it you said back when you broke my heart? I think it was 'that's the way it's done'. Isn't that what he told me, Martin?"
Martin nodded. "The insult!"
"That's the reformee who caused Ruby to be arrested?" Noir exclaimed. "Where's the penalty for heart abuse when you need one? And he's a family friend of my cousin to crown it all!"
"Yeah, well he wouldn't have sent Ruby to the Isle if someone hadn't messed up her life!" Sternia said. "And that someone is De Mort!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!"
The mobs silenced, especially the one from St Luther. Somebody made her way through the reformees, making them stand in lines like in the military. She was somewhere around twenty-seven years old with neck-long orange, grey-streaked hair that was split in half (one half being messily curvy and the other tied up in a tribal braid). Her slender, curvy Caucasian form was covered with matching indigo shoulder-less cropped top and mini shorts (both having red stripes patterns), a red belt with a golden clasp that matched those on her brown military boots, grayish green fingerless gloves made of lever, a choker necklace made of actual teeth and beads, and orange tribal tattoos of feline claws and a footprint on her neck and navel respectively. Judging by how the St Luther students stiffened nervously, she must have been some sort of authority over them.
"If I didn't know you were my students, I would have treated you the same way we'd treat wild animals back at home! Discipline through mauling!" She barked at them. "It's already disturbing enough that I have to teach you rascals, but having to deal with you people throwing teenage revolutions during a time like the Pride Games? Oh, I'm sure your parents will be pleased when they hear that you've been behaving like wild animals throwing bottles at other people's houses and aggressing your hosts as gratitude to having your life served on a silver platter!"
The reformees lowered their head in fear and shame.
"All of you in the mob had better scram!" the woman made them a shooing finger. "And if I don't see any of you doing thirty backward laps around the Tourney Field, you'll be having detention until any of you go to college! And if anything else happens like what you all just did, I'll personally have Principal Melchior ensure that none of you rascals ruin our reputation by participating in the Pride Games! Am I clear?"
"Yes, ma'am!" the reformees said.
"And where waiting for what?" the teacher barked in exasperation, forcing all her students to make a run for it. As soon as they were gone, she turned towards the VK mob. "What are you kids looking at? Get back to your frolicking!" The same thing happened to the VKs.
"Wow, she's almost as bad as Coach Kholtas!" Carlos exclaimed until the teacher faced him by a few inches.
"You got a problem?"
"Nope." He squirmed.
"Shari?" The teacher turned her head at Ruby, who seemed to have recognized the woman enough to call her 'Shari'. The latter must have recognized Ruby as well since her expression softened.
"Stray! How've you been?" Shari shared a fist-bump with Ruby and scanned her from head to toe. "I see you finally went up with the big cats!" She laughed at her own joke.
"Yes, I've been feline good!" The two of them laughed together, much to the others' confusion.
"Wait, you know this teacher from St Luther, Ruby?" Audrey blinked.
"Well, judging by the fact that Professor Sabertooth was once a..." Dusk got cut off by Shari: "Shouldn't you be running laps?"
"Ma'am, I'm a decent Equestrian girl and a student body president." Dusk crossed her arms. "Taking part in mobs is just immature."
"But you can't even keep a mob from happening?" Minuit asked sarcastically.
"Anyway," Ruby went back to the main topic. "Shari Sabertooth used to be a mentor of mine during my days as a cat burglar in Gotham. Everything she taught me, I used them when I was spending a year away from my mom before I got arrested." She then turned to look at her old mentor-friend. "Speaking of which, Shari, how come a part-time cat burglar like you is teaching at St Luther and WHY IS MY EX THERE?" The last words screamed their way out of her mouth that Shari had to slightly back away from Ruby in order to protect her hearing.
"Well, I ended being caught a year and a half ago after trying to pull a golden tooth out of a duke's mouth, but when my trial came, they looked a lot in my Anti-Heroic Resumé..."
"There's an Anti-Heroic Resumé?" Mal asked.
"Yep. If an antihero gets arrested, he or she can be pardoned or charged depending on their history. So while I could have been charged for multiple thefts and near murder attempt because some guy harassed me, I ended up pardoned because I was surprisingly good at holding a decent reputation along with my part-time criminal identity by graduating from college, taking part in charity events, donating at wig factories, and since my parents were Diego and Shira the sabertooth tigers, I had some credibility." Shari then scowled. "But of course, as well as being pardoned, I had to make up for the thefts, so they gave me three options: teaching at St Luther's, the place I actually went to before college, spending ten years on the Isle Of The Lost, or be confined to ten years as a sabertooth in a local petting zoo. And there's no way I'd let a bunch of brats touch me at the petting zoo!"
"Or spend ten years on the Isle?" Dusk put her hands on her hips.
"I could have gone with that but you know cats are not good in enclosed spaces and lots of water surrounding them." Shari shrugged. "So here I am, stuck at being a coach at St Luther until I'm old enough to retire...which might be at the age of 39, since most humanoid sabertooth tigers aren't known to last long ever since the Ice Age ended!" She reverted back to being calm. "Oh, yeah, sorry that you're going to have to deal with Corbeau, Stray, but he and the other students born from antiheroic superheroes and military officials have every right to attend St Luther. I can't help you out with that one... Even though I still understand why you dated him in the first place, the kid's a complete stiff tree!"
"How many times do you think I've been asking that?" Ruby hissed as her fists tightened. Martin gently patted her on the shoulder.
"Tea at Wonka Latte this afternoon?" he asked soothingly. Ruby lifted her head up and made a pause before answering: "Please pick me up at 3pm."
"Teatime isn't until four, Ruby." Martin frowned.
"Are you suggesting you don't want to spend all afternoon with me?" Ruby pouted and widened her eyes, making Martin shiver.
"I can pick you up at two! Just don't do the kitty eyes on me, I'm begging you!" Martin begged as he shielded his eyes from Ruby, who stopped her scenario and smiled pleasingly at him.
"That guy's a keeper." Shari pointed at Martin. "You'd better take good care of Stray here, pal, or I will be making you run laps around the tourney field until you wear out!"
"Shouldn't you be checking on the other students on the tourney field, Professor?" Dusk quickly asked Shari.
"You're right. I have to report to Principal Melchior about the rascals' misbehaving." She rubbed her hands mischievously.
At lunchtime, during the lunch break
"I assume you all understand why I'm severely disappointed with all of you."
Principal Melchior was pacing through the tables that were occupied by the St Luther students at lunchtime. His footsteps were literally making crunching sounds on the soft grass as if the outdoor cafeteria was made of smashed chips. None of the reformees said anything and nearly curled into their chairs, which stunned their rivals.
"Should I see anymore of your youthful scandals like what you just did today, I won't be as easy-going as Balthazar was to you! For assaulting a student of our host school, despite her troubling background, you all have a warning! Expulsion from St Luther Rose Academy and a demand for drafting towards juvenile hall will leave a good mark on your academic credits!" His students whimpered, making it clear that he wasn't joking as he left to go back inside.
"The guy's a menace!" Ingwer said as she and Sean joined Ben, Dusk, and the others as they sat by the stairs to eat. "Does he know that juvie kids get shipped to the Isle? Not that I have pity for the reformees, but no teen should be on the Isle!"
Some people came towards them: Minuit and Jessie helping Penna sit on the steps. The daughter of Voldemort looked in a state worse than usual. Now her lavender skin was getting pale enough to match white paint on the houses at Barcelona. "Eesh, Penna, you look worse than usual!" Evie gasped.
"Jessie, please, sarcastic remark..." Penna groaned as she rubbed her eyes.
"Got it." The daughter of the Joker and Harley Quinn got up and stretched herself before standing in front of the others as if she were doing an outdoor performance. "The boss is currently unenthusiastic to perform her expression today, so I will be doing it as her understudy." She cleared her throat before bursting into an imitated voice of Penna De Mort that sounded so much like the real thing. "Well excuse me if I'm the one being tortured on the spine, but unlike some fortunate souls, I have the disadvantage of being unable to die! Get used to it!" Jessie then made a theatrical bow as some applauded.
"Wow, that was a good imitation!" Sean winked.
"Yeah, it almost seemed like the real thing! For a moment, I actually thought you were Penna!" Dusk said, making the others laugh. "Oh, wait until you meet Mina, she's so good at making impressions!"
An explosion suddenly came, startling everyone, and a scream followed. Some had to blink until they saw something falling down the sky, prompting them to scream and make a run for it until they saw that it was some sort of metal board with a fiery engine attached to the back. The smoke it caused started to disappear as it broke into pieces and sent two girls flying onto a tree.
"What the heck?" Ben exclaimed while Dusk and some of the other reformees went to see their two classmates trying to get down until Ronilda came in and kicked on the tree trunk, making the girls fall of the tree and reveal themselves as Grinchelda and the blue punk girl they had seen arriving at Auradon Prep in Ronilda's car.
"Grinchelda! Mina! What are you doing?" an exasperated Dusk demanded.
"Experimenting," Mina shrugged as she brushed off the leaves she got on her dark blue, black-bolt motif rock jacket and black metallic skirt. She also wore blue chunky heeled boots made of alligator skin, spiked jewelry on her necklace, wristbands, and belt, and black fingerless gloves. What surprised those from Auradon Prep was that her hair was unusually longer than it was last Wednesday. That day, her punk blue hair had been pulled to the left side of her head in a Mohawk style, but today it was long enough to reach her hips and was brushed and gelled to make it spiky like a porcupine's quills.
"We're working on the prototype for the XHS-100," Grinchelda said. "You know, the Xmas Hover Sleigh 100. That way finding parking won't be so terrible during Christmas deliveries!"
"I'm sorry, how is this going to help you deliver in the first place?" Minuit frowned. "You're telling me that you're going to carry a thousand presents all on your back while you have to fly around on this?"
"When the XHS-100 will be perfected!" Mina pulled Grinchelda into a friendly embrace. "It's all of MEGA, Mina and Grinchelda's Grandiose Association, the company we're planning on building together in the future! Unless of course, we call it GAME, Grinchelda and Mina's Enterprise!"
"Associate Mind, we agreed that MEGA works best due to your eccentric naming talents!" Grinchelda giggled. Without realizing it, the daughter of the Grinch and Martha May began snapping in rhythm, which led to a couple nearby Troll teens pushing a DJ set from which Dusk and Disco Jam began to toy with like they did back at the party.
"Ya ever notice how for some reason, people burst into song?" Ronilda asked Melgo while Mina and Grinchelda began dancing and jumping on the tables at the delight of the rhythmic clapping reformees.
Grinchelda: There's so much about business that most don't know,
Ya gotta do it in style and brains and make it a show.
I'm not gotta lie, I got da brains,
But when it comes to style, you my friend make a rose send whiny complains!
Somebody tossed Grinchelda a rose that she ended up ripping the petals and tossing them to Mina like in a parade.
Mina: Ain't gonna lie, it's the Megamind gift!
That's my old man, in case ya missed.
He was like 'presentation is the trick',
That's why fashion and technology is as easy as puttin' on lipstick!
Mina uncapped a stick of blue lipstick and aimed it at the air, creating a ball of blue and red disco lights while most of the other reformees joined in the singing.
Reformees: Go for gold, shoot for the stars
You'll be walking down the carpet like superstars!
You geniuses!
Mina and Grinchelda: Check us under the disco sequences!
Reformees: You geniuses!
Mina and Grinchelda: We'll be piling with cash, no time for grievances!
Reformees: You'll be the ones we all wanna see!
Mina and Grinchelda: You can just put is now in the beauty category!
Mina and Grinchelda: Check us under the disco sequences!
Grinchelda: Just don't get me wrong or something,
I don't wanna be like the fancy pants that are always rushing!
But in the future MEGA dynasty we plan to built,
They'll be wishing to be like us and die in guilt!
Mina: Tech, coolness, badass, and creativity
Mashed together, we form one perfect individuality!
Grinchelda: In the business field, that's how we enter
Mina and Grinchelda: Lots of cash comes from working together!
As if rehearsed, the reformees pushed together the tables in order to let Mina and Grinchelda (both wearing shades) make their groove on them like on a catwalk while Troll teens shot glitter in the air full of Mina's light show.
Reformees: Go for gold, shoot for the stars
You'll be walking down the carpet like superstars!
You geniuses!
Mina and Grinchelda: Check us under the disco sequences!
Reformees: You geniuses!
Mina and Grinchelda: We'll be piling with cash, no time for grievances!
Reformees: You'll be the ones we all wanna see!
Mina and Grinchelda: You can just put is now in the beauty category!
Mina and Grinchelda: Check us under the disco sequences!
"That...was..." Ben clasped his hands together, unable to find the right word.
"Interesting?" Dusk suggested deadpan.
"Sure, let's go with that."
Later on in the afternoon
Unexpected rain came pouring later on in the afternoon, trapping some of the students in either their housing areas or the large game room that Auradon Prep kept closed unless it was pouring outside and wanted to spare the students from boredom. Since 3pm, the pool table, babyfoot, pinball machine, video game screen, regular TV, and the lounge chairs were filled with students from both schools who had no problem socializing with one another.
"Oh, I just got a text from Ruby!" Lonnie picked her phone while she, Dusk, Genny, and Mal were busy playing a game of Uno. "'Stuck in movie theater because of rain...'" Lonnie snorted a laugh as she read further on. "'Will be watching every single movie until it stops!'"
"They're actually spending three hours watching movies?" Genny put down her card. "HA! UNO!"
"Seriously? Again?" Mal groaned.
"We already managed to trick them into going to see a marathon of the first HOW I MET YOUR DEVIL season just so that we could finally push them out of the friend zone and into the romance zone!" Nora Belartiste snickered at the memory as she watched Gilliard Moss and Mystère Darkholme play another round of the Zombie Mayhem XII video game against Ronilda. "Didn't we, Gilliard?"
"Can't talk, I got a Squeeb Junior to take down!" Gilliard concentrated on tapping furiously on his control while Mystère did the same thing and Ronilda just played calmly.
"Wait for it..." Dusk held out her right hand and began to bring down her fingers one by one as if to count down the seconds until...
"BOOYAH! I win again!" Ronilda jumped on her seat and did another victory dance. "Ron's got the boys crushed on dah-feat!" She sang in a singsong voice.
"This is the twentieth time we played against her and she still managed to win!" Mystère angrily put his control back on the shelf while Ronilda was high-fiving her pet naked mole rat Reedy.
"Jesus, what do you do in your spare time?" Gilliard asked in exasperation at Ronilda.
"Let's see: practicing my ninjutsu, shopping at the mall, mostly at Club Banana, read comic books, train my Pokemon, play with Reedy, go to video game conventions with my pal Felicia Renton back in Middleton, blackmail Mr. B into letting me anything I want unless I want to send the fashion police running after him, keep letting my parents spoil me because they don't want me to be like them..." Ronilda grimaced as she continued her list, "cry in my pillow everytime I think about my ex, spend more time with Uncle Drew and Auntie Shego because my parents don't have time for me, punch a boxing bag with Ruby's face on it because she's with my ex, wallow over the fact that I haven't seen my parents for Christmas or my birthday since I was five, kick any tall, dark, barely handsome British guys because they'll just remind me of my tall, dark, super handsome ex, hate my parents because they left me in a Japanese monastery to be raised by ninjas...GIVE ME A BREAK!" Ronilda ran out of the break room in tears, leaving some of the other students who had been watching rather speechless.
"Eesh, I didn't realize that her life was that horrible," Gilliard said guilty.
"Put yourself in her shoes and pretend your Ronilda." Genny shuffled the Uno cards and passed them around. "Your mom's Kim Possible, who works as an international diplomat and travels a lot to keep peace due to her past experiences, and your dad's Ronald Stoppable, the current CEO of the Bueno Nacho Company who made serious cash by creating the sibling of his first BN creation the naco by bringing in the nachurrito, the hybrid of nachos and burritos. With all the money they make every week, your Mom and Dad are quintetrillionaires and make five times more than an average millionaire, which means that you get six mansions to live in, all the cars, clothes, jewels, celebutante fame, guys who keep hitting on you, and etcetera."
"The only problem in your perfect life is that with all their job businesses, your parents have zero time for you, which means that most of your family time is spent with your Uncle, Dr. Drakken, Auntie Shego, and 'Cousin' Melgo or with the rest of the Possible/Stoppable family or with your Japanese 'family' in Yamanouchi," Dusk filled in for Genny as the latter was busy giving Lonnie a Plus Four card. "And the only thing your parents can come up with as an excuse for not seeing you and suggesting that you don't do the same teenage crime-fighter career like Mom did is by sending you a card saying: 'Sorry we couldn't see you on your birthday. But hey! Here's a new car to convince you how much we love you!' Which then leads to a car accident that nearly threatens your life when your eight and your parents worry that everyone has a thing against you so they have to make you move into Yamanouchi, where you learn to be a ninja while still continuing to be a rebellious teenager who ended up stuck in St Luther with so many friendly reformees because you want all reckless trying to get attention from your folks!"
"And let's not forget the part in your life where you had to go after some monkey boy criminal for stealing a relic from your guardians and you ended up falling for the guy and sharing a 24 hour long mutual romance until he saw your parents' MISSING CHILD paper and he coldly rejected you because he thought you were toying with him, leaving you bitter and alone for years. The End."
Gilliard rubbed his webbed hands in uneasiness. "Eesh, now this makes me feel like I had it easy back on the Isle."
"Wait," Nora asked, "you mean he broke up with her rather badly and she's still crushing on him? That's messed up!"
"Welcome to my world," Dusk sighed.
"YES!" Mal threw her last card on the table, feeling victorious about finally winning a round, but when she saw that Genny, the expert at card shuffling and probability analysis, had managed to make sure that the only cards she, Lonnie, and Dusk had were cards that went from 0 to 2. "Oh, come on! That's it! I give up!"
"And the first place goes to moi!" Genny high-fived Dusk. "Way to go, second place!"
"Eh. I do my math homework," Dusk said. A scratching sound of non-stop channel switching bugged their ears and made them look at the Troll teens who still had a hard time figuring out which channel to watch. "Disco, would it kill you to finally pick a channel?"
"Not my fault that the only networks in the area are sports, soap operas, reality shows, and the news!" Disco Jam complained while motioning a hand at a blue Troll girl with light blue hair fashioned in a curly Renaissance hairstyle, a purple petticoat dress, and a glowworm wearing a matching dress that she cuddled in her arms. "And then there's Petite who's worried that Mrs. Twinkles can't watch any PG-rated channel!"
"I'll have you know that she has a very sensitive heart!" Petite said defensively in a surprising British accent. "Isn't that right, Mrs. Twinkles?" The glowworm only gave out a sound that sounded like 'Mew', thus making most of the students blink in confusion. The doors bursted open and Cassie and Mina came rushing in, scooting their way into the lounge chairs in order to sit next to Lonnie.
"Hey, Lon, where are Haya, Macy, Kory, and Xaos?" Cassie shook Lonnie by the arm. "I've been looking everywhere for them in order to have them sign a poster that Mina has and I CAN'T FIND THEM!"
"Oh, yeah, abut that," Lonnie said nervously. "I forgot to tell you that they kinda went on a trip with Louie King, his son Louie King Junior, and Sirenius..."
"LJ went with them?" Mina frowned.
"You know him?" Mal said.
"Sure we do. Since Louie King used to be King Louie, therefore an antihero, LJ was put in St Luther's since kindergarten."
"Well that explains why we never saw him in Auradon Prep."
"LJ kept saying for weeks that his dad was taking him on a trip to see a festival, but he wasn't precise when saying which one he was going to specifically..."
Loud music suddenly bursted from the TV and everyone saw that the Troll teens had finally picked the channel recording live the Festival of Music Awards in New York City. Citizens were going wild as the spokesmen brought in the top ten most nationally loved musicians and the latters performed their top hit songs before getting their deserved reward: a golden music note trophy. And guess who was singing in second place?
'And that, folks, was the Dark Rulers band from the Isle Of The Lost with their hit song 'Knock 'Em Dead', the #2 most popular sing in da nation!' The crowd went wild as the Dark Rulers bowed to them and did a happy group hug after receiving the Silver Music Note Trophy! The students from Auradon Prep cheered as they watched it on the TV screen.
"They actually made it in the top ten?" Cassie gasped in awe. "So cool!"
"That's why they went on the trip," Lonnie explained. "Ever since they were getting their music recorded through Louie King's radio station, fans went wild and the number of song purchases on ITunes really increased, so they got a call from the people in charge of the Festival of Music Awards and begged them to join the other popular musicians on a week-long national tour to sing at stadiums, charity events, and so on until they make their final stop today at New York where they reveal the top ten popular musicians in Auradon. It's still a shame that they only made it in second place..."
'And let's bring it up for Auradon's best musician ever! Also coming from the Isle and driving the crowd crazy with his hit song 'I'm Still Standing'! SIRENIUS DAZZLE!' And sure enough, the son of Adagio Dazzle himself was seen on TV being so happy as he held his golden trophy in front of the crowd cheering for him wildly.
"He made it?" Nora snorted. "Even after the Dark Rulers went to Auradon, he couldn't beat Penna, Jessie, and Minuit during the Battle Of The Bands!"
"They just took part in it because it was all part of 'Penna's great plan to take over the world by spying on us and see who had the most powerful marks of villainy while actually, she was brainwashed by her old man'." Mystère waved his hand dramatically. "Ring a bell?"
"Well, he does look kinda cute." Dusk tried to hold back a giggle. Maligna, who had been at the pool table, turned away from her game and addressed Dusk.
"Dusk, he's the bad guy's kid in our story, remember?" She arched an eyebrow.
"Uh, you'll have to be a bit more precise when you say the bad guy, because I hear that ponies from all over have a lot of bad guys." Mina pointed out. "I mean, there was Lonnie's would-have-been-future-mother-in-law, Havoc's annoying dad, a bullhead, a bunch of sirens, a communist unicorn, a hateful king, a morphing queen, school bullies, competitive horse brains, horsey sirens, your bragging old lady, Dusk's reformed raging she-demon old lady, a crazy alicorn who tried to rip off reality, a snobby principal, and some camp director who went all Gaia gaga."
Maligna rolled her eyes in exasperation. "The point is that it's been proved before that romantically pairing up arch-foes is not a good idea! Have you seen how Ronilda is ever since Martin Fiske broke up with her?"
"Maligna, I just said I thought Sirenius was cute. Where did you hear me say I wanted to date him? Although you are right about Ronilda being an entire emotional wreck..."
"Plus we should inform that VKs have been going out with Auradonians from different sides of history," Lonnie said. "So your negative comment is invalid."
"Let's be real, Fa Li, you were like literally mentally stalked by your boyfriend and most of the Auradonians at your school are dimwitted," Maligna scoffed. The Auradonian students from Auradon Prep present in the game room gasped in horror and were prepared to get violent until heaven got lucky and requested a mandatory gathering of the two schools in the auditorium.
Later, in the auditorium
"I can't believe the audacity of Maligna Trixie to call us Auradonians dimwitted!" Eleanor exclaimed after Mal told her what had happened in the game room.
"Perhaps Maligna just said it to make Dusk look bad," Gitane suggested.
"What makes you say that, Gitane?" Mal asked.
"Even though I only spent a month of 7th grade at St Luther, I knew Dusk and Maligna quite well and learned the heated tension between their mothers, Sunset Shimmer and Trixie. After Sunset Shimmer reformed from her mistake of stealing Equestrian magic to create an army of teenage zombies, most of the human teenagers had a hard time forgiving and assumed she wanted to sabotage things during the Battle Of The Bands. And Trixie...kinda personally ticked off Sunset in order to isolate her even further. That's why Maligna and Dusk are rivals: even though they are well-meaning, Maligna can't resist bragging and she feels inferior compared to Dusk, who's more popular and admired. I also heard that even though Maligna is currently a St Luther cheerleader and surprisingly in love with Speciosus, she still can't outshine Dusk's spark as student body president."
Ben tapped on his microphone to get everyone's attention. Fairy Godmother and Principal Melchior were both standing next to him and the former seemed to be tapping her fingers nervously on a royal scroll she was holding. "Everyone, thank you very much for coming," Ben said. "We have two situations going on: one good and one bad. The good one is that this Monday, the second Pride Games event will take place: the academic decathlon!" Cheers and murmurs were heard at the mention of the next event.
"The bad news is that all of the tension going on between Auradon Prep and St Luther is not helping at all with an upcoming problem." Ben gave the microphone to Fairy Godmother.
"Children," she said rather tensely, "I know that many you have problems to work on, but with what happened early today with the mobs at the housing area of most of my students, I fear that Auradon will be ruined." Her words caused the crowd to be rather confused, so Fairy Godmother continued in order to clear their minds. She showed them the scroll she was holding. "I just received a royal decree from the Fae Realm..."
"The Fae Realm?" Darcy Fae gasped. "That's the kingdom of the fairies! Every fairy, good or bad, is a servant to its rulers! Even the Fairy Godmother can't protest against their orders!"
"And right now they just unleashed the Fairy Queen and Bog King's last royal decree before they pass the throne to their sole son on this coming summer solstice." Fairy Godmother trembled as she told them the decree's content. "As his last royal action before switching his title to sovereign of the Fae Realm, the prince himself will have to go himself to the human realm, specifically in Auradon, to see if it's worth it to finally agree a royal alliance and future trading cooperation. It would be a blessing if he gives us a good review, but should he see us negatively, our kingdom's relation would be ruined and his royal ancestors the fairy deities Titania and Oberon would unleash curses on us all for 'dismissing fairy potential'!"
"But he's so stiff!" Carlos said. "Trying to impress him is almost like failing to impress Maleficent into not cursing your baby after not inviting her!"
"Wait, you met the prince?" Jay frowned.
"I went with Jane and her mom to the Fae Realm during the holidays. Charming place, but the royals there aren't as soft as the flowers. When is he coming?"
"Tomorrow," Ben answered. We'll be hosting a first-class evening at my castle to welcome him, and during the following weeks he'll be inspecting our ways of living and perhaps attend some of the Pride Games events until he has to go back to the Fae Realm to give his feedback and see if we're worth the bother. Since tomorrow night will be a first-class evening dinner for only royals and aristocrats, as it is traditional to welcome a royal diplomat as such, all the royal and aristocrat born currently present can attend and bring a date with them."
All the royal and aristocrat born were talking in excitement about the evening dinner. "But let us remind you that this is supposed to be a welcoming event to give his Highness a good impression of us," Principal Melchior warned. "So we hope that how you present yourself to his Highness tomorrow won't reflect how you've been behaving towards one another lately. The prince is visiting as an ambassador solely to investigate whether or not the Fae Realm and Auradon are worth allying for trading and mutual respect. Are we clear?"
The entire crowd nodded.
"Good. You are now all dismissed and I believe it's time for most of you to go nuts into figuring out what to wear for tomorrow."
The meeting was now over and soon enough, all those planning to go to tomorrow night's royal evening dinner were running back to their dorms, despite the possibility of being soaked, and throwing everything out of their closets in order to pick their outfits.