"Everyone, settle down," the guards told the fussy crowd as the group came out of the castle with their queen.
"What's going on, your majesty?" AJ asked.
"For your test of loyalty, you must prove yourselves loyal to the Moon Kingdom," Moonbeam replied.
"Ok... how?" Blaze questioned.
"Simple," Moonbeam raised her tire before stomping it on the ground, causing two large creatures glowing with moonlight to sprout out from the ground. "You must defeat these moon abominations AND defend the people before they get hurt,"
"We can do that!" Starla declared. "Right, fellas?"
"Right," Blaze nodded. "And I have an idea- some of us will fight these monsters, and the others will get the people to safety."
"Zeg, Starla, Watts, Gabby and I can battle the abominations while the rest of you get the people to safety," Stripes suggested, unleashing his tiger claws.
"Good idea," AJ nodded.
The group then spread out to go with their plan. Moonbeam watched with amusement, taking out another bag of popcorn to munch on. Crusher stared at his sister with a raised eyebrow.
"You DO know how risky this test is to our people, right?"
"Don't worry about it, little brother," Moonbeam assured him. "These abominations will only chase the people, not hurt them,"
"Well, I guess that's good to-"
Suddenly, there was a rumble, and the siblings turned to see dark fog suddenly creep out from nowhere.
"W-What...?"
Pickle gulped and hid behind Crusher. Moonbeam moved forward, a tire over her brother and his friend protectively as she took out her sword. She muttered words under her breath, causing the abominations to disappear, much to the group's confusion.
"What the- did we fail the test?" Darington asked.
"No, the test is paused," Moonbeam glanced around cautiously. "Someone's coming,"
"Indeed, there is." A familiar voice echoed through the fog. "And that someone is... ME!"
With a flick, Moonbeam's sword flew from her tire, and everyone turned to see the fog clear out to reveal the evil wizard standing in front of the castle with an evil grin.
"Solano?! How did you find us?!" Stripes yelled
"Oh, easy," Solano smirked. "I've been tracking you all the whole time,"
"Dang it..." Starla muttered.
"AJ, you and I will help Crusher and Pickle defend the queen," Blaze instructed. "The rest of you, get everyone to safety."
"No! Leave him to me!" Moonbeam took out another sword and charged forward.
Solano smirked and leapt to the side before grabbing her sword away. He then hit his staff on the ground, causing a cage to appear around the queen.
"No!"
Everyone was shocked while Crusher was horrified as Solano used his magic to lift the cage. He then turned to the group and chuckled.
"Thank you for leading me here, but now, I must go with the queen," he taunted before turning. "Ta-ta!"
With that, he disappeared with the cage, causing the people to go in distress.
"No, nononononononononono!" Crusher panicked. "What are we gonna do?! Moonbeam has been kidnapped by this psychopath! Guh, I wish my sister could-"
Crusher's mouth clamped shut once he saw the group's horrified expressions change to shock.
"Uh... oops,"
"Wait wait wait... Queen Moonbeam is your SISTER?!" Darington shrieked.
"That means you knew the way here cause you were BORN here!" Stripes realized.
"Crusher... why didn't you say anything?" Blaze questioned.
"I..." Crusher sighed. "Guys, I can explain-"
"Traitors!" the group turned to see the villagers glaring at them.
"No no!" Gabby tried to explain. "We had no idea he was tracking us!"
"You still le"You still led him here!" one villager yelled.
"I bet they knew the whole time!" another muttered. "They ARE working for Solano!"
"Zeg and friends not working for evil wizard!" Zeg defended.
"GET THEM!" a third villager yelled, raising a pitchfork.
"Uh oh..." Darington gulped as the villagers surrounded them.
"Wait, STOP!" Crusher drove forward. "This isn't their fault... it's mine,"
"Yours?!"
The group and the villagers stared at him in disbelief. Even Pickle couldn't seem to believe it as the dark blue truck nodded.
"Yes, mine," he spoke. "I'M the one who led the group here. I should've been the one to realize that we were being followed. I... I'm sorry,"
"Crusher..." Blaze said softly. "This isn't your fault."
"It is because this is my people," Crusher sighed. "And I... I've been ashamed of them for a while now,"
"What?" the group looked surprised. "How come?"
"Well... you guys don't know the full history of the Moon Kingdom," Crusher grabbed the book from Stripes and opened it to the first pages. "Years ago, the first Moon King had tried to the same as what Solano had done and had successfully done so. Luckily, a hero stopped him and brought back the sun. But after he was defeated, our people still had the title of 'evil' in our kingdom for centuries... which is something that me and my sister aren't REALLY proud of..."
The villagers all murmured and nodded in unison before turning to their prince.
"That's understandable, your highness," one of them spoke. "Not all of us are proud to be a citizen of the Moon Kingdom either,"
"You're not...?" the group turned to them, surprised.
"Whenever we leave the village, others usually see us as evil beings," another admitted.
"That's why we're cautious of newcomers," a third spoke. "We're cautious that they might hurt us like others do,"
"And now without our queen, we won't be protected!" a fourth wailed.
"Don't worry, everyone," Blaze assured them. "We'll get your queen back,"
"But... how?" Darington asked in a whisper.
"Well, we all know where Solano might be taking the queen," Blaze said.
"Axle City!" they all exclaimed.
"We better get there fast," Crusher held out his tire to command the moon when he got a blast of cold, causing him to shiver.
"Are you okay?" Watts asked.
"Y-Yeah... just a little cold, that's all," Crusher shuddered. "The moon's frozen in place, after all, and it effects the kingdom and the wielders just as much,"
"But how will we get back?" AJ asked. "It took us forever to get here!"
Crusher took a deep breath before reaching out for the moon again. After a while, a beam of light from the moon dawned upon them, and they felt themselves being lifted from the ground.
"Woah!" the group gasped.
"Just hang on!" Crusher told them. "Moonlight, bring us to home!"
At once, the beam of light gave a dark blue glow, and the group let out a gasp as they disappeared from the kingdom and found themselves in the park of Axle City, landing on the grass with a slight thud.