Picking up where we left off...
In Auradon Prep library, Mal is continuously pounding on the door in an attempt to open it. While she does, Evie is reading a book about the story Snow White, Carlos is reading a book about the story of the 101 Dalmatians, and Jay is just kicking back. Two minutes have passed and Mal still won't stop pounding the door.
"Mal, that door's not going to budge," said Jay.
"Need I remind you that we have four problems to take care of?" retorted Mal.
"Since that potion Katie used also blocks cell signals, we can't call for help," reminded Jay. "Give it a break already."
Meanwhile, Clover, Robin, and Mia are still searching for Mal. They looked everywhere in the castle, but she wasn't there. Robin suggested they try the school. When they heard pounding, they found the library. Mia peeks through the keyhole and saw Mal repeatedly hitting the door.
"She's in here," said Mia.
"Why can't she just magic her way out of there?" wondered Robin.
"Maybe those other villain kids did something to the door?" guessed Clover.
"Well, touch it," said Mia.
Clover slowly reaches for the door. When his paw finally touches the wood, he got shocked.
"Ouch," he said, clutching his paw in pain.
"Let's go find Fairy God Mother," suggested Mia.
"What about the potion?" asked Robin.
"Just smash it," said Clover.
Mia and Robin fly to the ceiling and drop the vial, smashing it into pieces. However, the destroyed vial releases a blue cloud that clouds the library door. Inside, Mal was still pounding on the door, until she stepped back when the door was being covered in blue smoke. Evie, Carlos, and Jay almost fell out of their chairs at the sight of this.
"What just happened?" asked Carlos.
"Let me answer that," said Mal.
Mal kicks the door and it finally opens. She looks down and saw both Sofia's animal friends and a destroyed vial.
"Uh... thank you," said Mal, feeling awkward talking to animals.
Robin and Mia immediately grab Mal by the sleeve and started pulling her.
"Hey, what gives?" Mal reacted.
"I think they want us to follow them," said Carlos.
Robin and Mia started flying away while Clover follows. The VKs exchange looks before following Sofia's animals.
At the Broken Bridge, the Frightening Foursome have arrived with Sofia tied and still unconscious. They see the Fire Range just staring at the Isle of the Lost.
"One minute to spare," she started.
"We upheld our end of the bargain," said Katie. "Are you gonna spare our parents?"
"The bomb stays on the Isle," said the Fire Ranger.
"The wasn't the deal," retorted Uri.
"The deal is that I don't blow up the Isle today if you give me the princess," clarified the Fire Ranger. "If you're so worried about your parents, then you can join them in their timely demise."
Evelyn waves her hand and causes the four villain kids to faint. Evelyn takes out the remote and was about to push the button, until she was interrupted by a voice from the distance.
"Evelyn!"
She saw Mal and her friends coming towards her.
"I knew you'd come," said Evelyn.
"Let our friend go," demanded Carlos.
"If you want her, you're gonna have to fight for her," said Evelyn, drawing her electric sword.
"Hey, wait, that's my idea," said Carlos,
"She did steal your plans," reminded Evie.
"Actually, she made it before she stole your plans," said Mal. "She used it in our fight at the warehouse the other night."
"I took a peek at your plans once before," said Evelyn.
"An electric sword? Doesn't quite fit with her name," said Jay.
"That's what I said," said Mal.
"Enough!" yelled Evelyn.
Evelyn charges at Mal. Evie, Jay, and Carlos spread out. As always, Mal uses her reflexes to avoid Evelyn's strikes. While Mal is busy dodging, her other friends were getting ready to strike from behind.
"Um, can someone explain why our old friends are lying down on the floor?" wondered Jay, noticing Katie and her gang unconscious.
"Clearly, Evelyn broke them out again. I'm guessing she asked them to kidnap Sofia," said Evie.
"Evelyn must've double-crossed them," said Carlos.
"No surprise there. She's not a fan of our kind," said Jay.
Evelyn continues to fail to strike Mal, so she decided to use magic. She unleashes a magic blast and gets a direct hit on Mal. She activates the sword and started shocking Mal, but she was stopped when Carlos throws a paint bomb at her, causing her to drop the sword. Mal recovers, ignites her fist, and punches Evelyn in the face, partially shattering her helmet. Mal was about to strike again, but when she looked at Evelyn's exposed eye, she paused. Evelyn strikes at Mal, but she dodges the blow and kicks Evelyn twice. Mal sends her ignited fist towards Evelyn's face, but the Ranger blocks the strike, then gives Mal a critical blow across the face.
Evie jumps out of the bushes and attacks Evelyn, but Evelyn quickly takes down Evie with one punch and a simple magic blast. Jay and Carlos attack Evelyn at the same time. Evelyn manages to hold her own, largely thanks to her metal suit, and fends off the two. She knocks down Carlos with a kick and uses her magic to push Jay towards a tree.
Evelyn looks back at Mal. "I must admit. Your friends have fire, but they're pathetic."
"You learned from me," reminded Mal.
Mal was about to get up, but Evelyn straps the sorceress to the ground with cuffs glued to the earth, neutralizing her magic. She picks up her sword and approaches a still-unconscious Carlos.
"Do you know why I wanted the princess?" asked Evelyn.
"Leverage to make us surrender?" guessed Mal.
"No," replied Evelyn. "I needed you and your friends to show up, because this is the time one of you have to die for the cause."
"Uh, I'm right here," sassed Mal, pointing out that Evelyn is standing near Carlos instead of her.
"I'm not going to kill you yet," said Evelyn. "Our final fight will come at another time, but first, I want to see the real you in battle."
"What do you mean?" asked Mal.
"You've seen what I'm capable of. True, I learned from you, but grief and determination drive me to bring out my best," said Evelyn. "As for you, you're a deadly fighter, I have to admit. You may not have a long experience in magic, but you do have a lot of fire in your heart. But I want to see what you're truly capable of. I want to see if grief can turn you into a living weapons deadlier than I am."
"No, no," pleaded Mal, knowing what Evelyn's words mean. "Please, Evelyn. Don't do this."
"You should've stayed dead while you were ahead, Mal," said Evelyn.
Evelyn activates her sword and sends an electric beam at Carlos, but, out of nowhere, Sofia jumps in the way and takes the hit. Carlos started to wake up, only to see Evelyn shocking Sofia non-stop. Carlos takes out a mini-bomb and throws it at Evelyn, blowing her back, stopping Sofia's torture. Sofia faints. Carlos immediately tends to his friend.
"Sofia, please, don't this to me again," pleaded Carlos, hoping she alive.
Evelyn gets up and, for some reason, frees Mal from her cuffs.
"I'll see you later. I have a castle to attack," said Evelyn before disappearing.
Evie finally wakes up and sees Carlos holding Sofia in his arms. Jay also wakes up, clutching his head. Mal immediately rushes towards the tech prodigy.
"Is she alright?" asked Mal.
Carlos removes Sofia's ropes and puts his fingers on her wrist, trying to feel a pulse. He says, "She's alive." Suddenly, Carlos got shocked and retracted his fingers. "But her body absorbed too much electricity. I don't know if she's ever gonna wake up."
"What just happened here?" asked Jay.
"Sofia saved Carlos. Again," answered Mal. "She took another hit for him."
"Is she gonna be okay?" asked Evie.
"She's alive and that's good enough for me," answered Mal. "But right now, we have other matters to attend to."
"What?" asked Jay.
"Evelyn didn't just bring us here to kill one of us. She lured us away from the castle so she can attack," said Mal. "We have to go."
"What about Sofia?" asked Carlos.
"Take her to a hospital, then meet us at the castle," said Mal.
"What about our old friends?" asked Evie, pointing to the Frightening Foursome.
Mal waves her finger and chants, "At the sound of a broken teacup, wake em 'up." Mal casts her spell on the four. Mal poofs up a teacup on her hand and drops it, shattering it to pieces. The sound woke up Katie and her gang. Mal immediately walked over and grabbed Katie in an unfriendly manner.
"Why did you do it?" asked Mal furiously.
"You mean kidnap the princess? The Fire Ranger threatened to blow up the Isle today if we don't," answered Katie.
The look on Mal's face tells that she was surprised at Katie's answer.
"You were worried about your parents," said Mal.
"We maybe villains, but our parents are, well, our parents," said Katie. "Who are we to just let them die?"
"You guys actually care for them," said Evie.
Katie and her friends hanged their heads, feeling a little disappointed at themselves for showing signs of compassion.
"Yes," said Katie all of a sudden.
Mal lets go of Katie and thinks.
"I have a proposition," said Mal. "You help us stop the Fire Ranger from taking over the castle, and we'll take you back to the rehabilitation center."
"I thought you said we can't be helped," retorted Katie.
"That was before now," said Mal. "If you guys are capable of love, then you have the chance to be good."
"I'd rather go home than go back there," said Garth.
"Sorry, Mal, but we just don't 'want' to be good," said Uri, emphasizing "want."
"Do you at least want payback on Evelyn?" offered Evie.
"Evelyn?" questioned Fernando, confused.
"Oh, sorry. That's the Fire Ranger's real name," clarified Jay.
"We'll go with you," said Katie, agreeing to the deal. "On one condition. You don't take us back to the rehabilitation center. You invite us back to Auradon Prep."
"Why would you want that? Freedom to cause chaos?" accused Mal.
"Do you want us to help you or not?" retorted Katie.
Mal glares at Katie for a few seconds before saying, "Deal."
Carlos carries Sofia's body and walks away, while Mal takes Evie, Jay, and Katie's gang with her to the castle, via teleportation.
As soon as Mal and her party poofed into the guest bedroom, they saw Ben looking outside the window. He heard the sound of magic and turned around to see Mal, Evie, Jay, and the Frightening Foursome.
"Care to explain?" started Ben.
"They're helping us," said Mal.
"We need all the help we can get," said Ben. "You may want to look."
Everyone looks outside the window to see the knights from the Order of the White Fire attacking the castle guards. The battle was one-sided since the Order's knights were equipped with new weapons, thanks to the theft of Carlos' plans. The knights' arsenal included arrows with tips coated with a sleeping formula, bombs the release liquid steel instead of paint, and blasters that fire stink bombs.
"This doesn't look good," said Evie.
"I think that's obvious," said Uri sarcastically.
"Do you want a punch to the face?" threatened Evie.
"Enough," interrupted Mal. "We have to go."
"Wait, where are the others?" asked Jay.
"In the other guest bedroom," answered Ben.
"I thought you didn't want your men to fight because you're afraid of losing anyone," recalled Mal.
"True, but my parents talked me into giving out a different order," said Ben.
"Do you mind if we crash the party?" asked Mal.
"Go ahead," replied Ben. He looks at the entire party and realizes something. "Where's Carlos? Where's Sofia?"
"Sofia got hurt. Carlos is taking her to the hospital," answered Mal.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go," said Evie.
"Take care out there," said Ben.
Mal didn't speak. She just smiled and plants a kiss on Ben's cheek.
Katie sighed, disgusted. "Can we go now?"
Mal snaps her fingers and teleports herself and her party outside.
The fights goes on, but the castle guards are beginning to diminish in number. Dozens of guards are either unconscious or glued to the ground by hardened liquid steel. Mal and her party arrive and immediately get in the action. Meanwhile, at a safe distance from the castle, Evelyn observes the fight.
"Any further orders, mistress?" asked a knight.
"Give me my sonic cannon," ordered Evelyn.
Back in the castle grounds, the number of castle guards standing continue to decrease, while the VKs remain standing.
"This is nuts," said Garth.
"If you don't like this, you can always leave," said Jay.
"Focus!" yelled Mal.
Mal, as always, is being a loose cannon on the battlefield. Striking left and right, flipping and jumping, and using her instincts to get the upper hand. One knight kept trying to shoot her with a stink bomb blaster, but Mal, as always, is too agile. She gets closer to the knight, kicks the gun away from his hand, and gives him a flip kick. Mal saw a bomb roll towards her. She gets out of the way as it blows up. Mal saw the knight who threw it and charges towards him. She slides through in between his legs and gives him and kick in the back.
Evie was using the sprayer Carlos made for her. Of course, since she doesn't have a second bottle of sleeping perfume, she had to get her hands dirty to keep her perfume from being wasted. Using her martial arts skills, Evie was paving her way through knights almost as easily as Mal does. However, one knight sneaks up behind her and cuts the tube connected to her sprayer. Luckily for Evie, she doesn't need her perfume. She just gave the knight a hard punch to the helmet.
A fallen castle guard gives his sword to Jay and the ex-thief puts it to good use, humiliating knight after knight in sword fighting. Cocky as always, Jay doesn't hesitate to take on the rear guard, most of them being archers. Jay dodges arrow after arrow and disarms the archers with his sword. He takes one arrow and sticks it into someone's shoulder, putting him to sleep.
The Frightening Foursome, however, are struggling to remain standing against the knights. Even though they're as deadly as the other VKs, they were having trouble fighting the well-trained knights. Katie's sword skills are exceptional, but the Order's knights were almost as or just as skilled as her. Uri uses her eight-legged form to gain the advantage, but already half of her tentacles have been hit by arrows. She hasn't fallen asleep yet, but in time, she will. Since there's no darkness to summon shadows, Fernando had to rely on sorcery, via his wand, which Mal repaired, using magic blasts and gags to overpower his enemies. Garth's dagger is too small compared to a sword, but he still manages to hold his own, if barely.
"These guys are good," said Garth.
"They make Queen of Hearts' guards look like three years olds with tantrums," added Uri, still fighting the urge to sleep.
"Don't surrender. Keep fighting," said Katie.
"Easy for you to say," said Fernando, trying to cast spells as fast as he can.
Meanwhile, at a hospital in the nearest village from the castle, Sofia lies down in bed, still in a coma. Carlos sits next to her, waiting for her to wake up. The doctor comes in.
"Is she gonna be okay, doctor?" asked Carlos.
"I'm not so sure," said the doctor. "Her body is in stasis from all that electricity, but... I'm sorry, but we don't know what to do. We can treat her wounds, but medication hasn't evolved to the point we can treat something like this. All we can do is hope that she will wake up."
Carlos hangs his head, clearly in despair, afraid that he will have to face Sofia's death once again. Carlos was turned away from his sorrow when he saw the news on the television about the ongoing onslaught at the castle.
"Keep me posted," said Carlos. Before he left, he tells Sofia, "Thank you."
Back at the castle, Katie and her gang were starting to fall. Archers have successfully hit all of Uri's tentacles, and the daughter of Ursula could no longer fight the temptation to sleep, due to absorbing too much of the sleeping formula. Garth loses his dagger when he attempted to fight two knights at the same time and is captured. Fernando was hit with three stink bombs and faints. Katie was surrounded and swords were pointed at her. She had no choice but to drop her sword and put her hands in the air. Mal, surprisingly, came to her rescue, and takes on all the knights surrounding Katie.
All of a sudden, everyone who wasn't a knight of the Order started hearing a loud noise, causing them to cover their ears and collapse. It was Evelyn, using her sonic cannon. The interruption results in the capture of every single VK left standing on the battlefield.
Evelyn approaches the captured teenagers and looks at Mal.
"Today is just not your day," taunted Evelyn.
"At least I don't have a bucket on my head," retorted Mal humorously.
Evelyn slaps Mal across the face. As always, the sorceress didn't care. She just remained smiling.
"Guards, take her with us," ordered Evelyn. "I want her to witness as I take the throne from her beloved king."
The knights take Mal along as Evelyn uses her sonic cannon to break down the front door. While a dozen knights join their leader, the rest of the VKs are left outside, guarded.
"Well, things could have been worse..." said Evie.
"Oh, would you stop?" yelled an irritated Katie.
"Be silent, children!" yelled a knight.
"You're not the boss of me," retorted Katie.
"But our boss would not hesitate to make you silent," said the knight.
"Why do you guys fight for her?" questioned Evie. "She's ruthless, aggressive, and blew up a dormitory full of innocent teenagers."
"Our loyalty is not to be questioned," replied a knight. "We don't fight for her. She expects us to fight for peace. When she overthrows the king, your kind will be banished and Auradon can once again be a land without worry."
"By forcing the people to bow down to a psychotic woman in a bucket helmet?" questioned Jay.
"She doesn't intend to force anything. True, she's forcing your king to step down, but that's it. She only hopes that the people will believe in her," said a knight.
While the conversation goes on, nobody notices Carlos sneaking up from behind the castle. He takes out three small silver balls and throws them at three knights, covering them in paint, before hiding. The knights spread out to look for the intruder. With the number of knights guarding the VKs decreased, Carlos sneaks up and takes down the remaining knights with a few more paint bombs and fighting moves he learned from his video games.
"'Bout time you showed up," said Jay.
"Sorry," apologized Carlos as he started untying his friends and enemies. "I had to stay at the hospital to know if Sofia's going to wake up."
"Is she?" asked Evie.
Carlos hesitated to answer.
"I understand," said Evie, knowing why Carlos didn't want to answer. "But she's still alive, right?"
Carlos nodded.
Inside the castle, Evelyn, her knights, and Mal are on their way to the throne room. When they finally arrived, instead of Ben, they found Audrey, Chad, Lonnie, Jane, and Doug.
"Ben figured you'd come here," said Audrey.
"Where is he?" asked Evelyn.
"Right behind you," answered Lonnie.
Evelyn turns around and saw Ben standing in the doorway, with his parents.
"If this is an attempt to ambush me, you've done a poor job," mocked Evelyn.
"We're not attacking. We're here to negotiate," said Ben. "First, let Mal go."
For some reason, Evelyn did as Ben said and releases Mal from her ropes. Mal walks towards Ben and gives him a hug.
"Do you actually believe you can persuade me to stop this with words, your majesty?" questioned Evelyn.
"I'm not going to persuade you. Mal is," said Ben.
Mal looked at Ben, but didn't question him. She walks forward and looks at Evelyn. "Evelyn, if you keep this up, the people will not accept you. You tried to kill me and blew up the dormitory. You're no better than the villains you hate."
"I never wanted to spill blood, but you were the one who pushed me," said Evelyn.
"I don't want us to enemies, Evelyn," said Mal. "Please, just stop this and give us a chance to make it up to you."
"You can do that by surrendering the throne to me," said Evelyn.
"If you won't stop, then we can have our final battle here and now," said Mal.
"Now's not the time," said Evelyn. "Just surrender now and no one gets hurt."
"Don't listen to her, Mal!"
Everyone looks outside the doorway. The voice came from Carlos, who is running in with Evie, Jay, Katie, Uri, Fernando, and Garth.
"No matter what you choose to do, someone will get hurt," said Evie.
"Let's finish this," declared Jay.
"Uh, please not in the castle," replied Belle.
Before another fight can begin, more of Evelyn's knights walk in. They all draw their swords, trying to force the heroes and VKs to surrender.
"Looks like you're outnumbered," said Evelyn with a smirk on her face.
"We surrender!" said Carlos, raising his arms.
"Carlos!" yelled Mal, Evie, and Jay.
Jay tells Evelyn, "We've taken on entire armies before."
"Now's not the time to be cocky, Jay," said Mal.
"We can't let Evelyn win," protested Evie.
"She's already won," said Mal.
Everyone looks at Mal, surprised at what she just said.
"For now," continued Mal. "Evelyn, the castle is yours, but we won't be your prisoners. We're leaving, but we'll be back to stop you. Cater to the public while you can. Let's see if they'll accept after everything you've done. When I get back, you're gonna pay. The war maybe yours, but the war between the two of us isn't over."
Mal snaps her fingers and teleports herself and her friends away.
Evelyn slowly walks towards the throne. She takes off her helmet and sits down.
All the knights present in the throne room cheered.
Evelyn starts to speak. "Now, I will give to you what I promise. Peace. But first, we have to show the people that our intentions are for the good of the kingdom. Let us show them why the Order of the White Fire exists. But let us not also forget that Mal and her flunkies are still out there. They will try to stop us. Send search parties all over the kingdom. It's not over until the villain kids are locked up in the Isle of the Lost."
As the knights prepare to fix up the castle, Evelyn heads to the top floor balcony and stares at the blue sky.
"Be prepared, Mal. When we see each other again, I hope you're ready to show your true colors. If you want to take back the kingdom, you're gonna have to end me."
All seems lost, but it's not over yet. Please be patient for the next chapter. I promise it'll come in a few days.
Leave a review. Please.