Hello again. Here is the next chapter. Just so you know, when you see dots between paragraphs, that means that there's a jump in time between paragraphs. Just so you all won't get confused. Enjoy. Next chapter will be the start of the second movie.
Over the next six months, things seemed to be peaceful for the citizens of Auradon. Mostly. It seemed that strange things started to happen after the VKs arrived in Auradon.
...
About a month after Ben's coronation, everyone was looking forward to the big Tourney game against Neverland and the homecoming dance the following night. Ben and Mal were looking forward to the dance as a couple. True to Ben's word, he didn't pressure her about their relationship and Mal was grateful for that. It was getting harder for the two of them to spend time together as Ben's kingly duties kept him busy.
Unfortunately, their plans had to change. Ben was called away by the council to discuss the recent earthquakes, hurricanes, and sandstorms that were plaguing Auradon. Merlin was very vocal about the kingdom of Camelot being terrorized by a mysterious beast and wanted Ben to lift the ban on magic that King Adam decreed. Ben wanted to say yes, as Merlin was one of the people he secretly met with before his reign started about wanting to lift the ban after he became King. But Ben knew that physical evidence was needed first. He let Merlin magically transport him to Camelot as that was quickest. He and Merlin split up to look for the creature, which Ben secretly was happy about as he had his lightsaber with him and didn't want to let Merlin know about it. He found the creature and discovered it was a dragon. It was similar in color to Maleficent, but Ben could tell that it wasn't her. He activated his lightsaber and started to fight the dragon, using his Force agility to dodge attacks, and he managed to hurt its face, giving it a scar similar to what had as Kylo Ren. The dragon then disappeared in a puff of smoke and dirt before Ben could stop it and he met up with Merlin and told him about the dragon, but that it wasn't Maleficent as she was still a lizard. Ben granted Merlin the use of his magic and Merlin said they could track the dragon based on some blood and a scale it left behind by Ben's attack, which Ben obviously lied about how the dragon got its wound.
They tracked the dragon to Charmington and Cinderellasburg, where they discovered that is was a shapeshifter as now it was a serpent. They went to Neverland where the fairies told them that the dwarves discovered that the creature was using the mining tunnels to get around Auradon without being seen. Merlin suddenly realized who the shapeshifter was and he and Ben magically teleported to the tunnels.
While Ben was dealing with that, the VKs had received messages to return home before the next full moon. Through research from Carlos, thanks to Ben gifting them cell phones and computers, they discovered the Anti-Heroes movement and their upcoming meeting at Evie's old house, so the four snuck away to the Isle during the homecoming dance. Mal felt bad that she didn't tell Ben about their plan, but she knew that he was dealing with other problems. Although she didn't know that Ben already knew of their plan thanks to the Force as Ben constantly mentally checked in on her while he was away. He understood why the Core 4 had to do this as he would have done the same thing.
The VKs looked for their parents, minus Mal, and discovered that their parents were missing. Then they go to Evie's house where the meeting was taking place. What Mal didn't realize was that Uma was watching the group from the shadows. "Why can't I strike her now?" Uma thought. "Because," the voice from the amulet she found hissed. "She is nowhere near the point of breaking yet. She still has her strength and her mind is stable. Besides, right now we are going to enact step 1. Plus, you aren't fully prepared to strike her down as you don't have access to your magic. Patience is needed. Now, do it." Uma nodded and closed her eyes, the amulet glowing around her neck. With it, she established a psychic connection to Mal's mind since she was in close range of doing so. It would hold even when Mal returned to Auradon even though the two would be split by the barrier. "It's done," Uma thought. "Once she returns to Auradon, my revenge will begin." She chuckled as she disappeared into the shadows.
The VKs discovered that the Anti-Heroes movement was actually created by the wizard Yen Sid and contained people that wanted to learn how to be good. Yen Sid pulled them aside and said, "The barrier is creating tremendous pressure in the atmosphere and has pushed magic underground and created the Endless Catacombs of Doom, which goes from the Isle to Auradon. Your parents are traveling through them now to escape, but also to get their talismans. Those talismans are growing in power and causing the earthquakes, hurricanes, and sandstorms in Auradon. You need to retrieve them before your parents do and stop them from escaping to Auradon. Go now."
The Core 4 headed down to the Catacombs of Doom to search for their talismans and their parents. All four of them had to go through different trails to get their talismans. Evie had to climb a toxic tree to claim the golden apple and took a bite of it after being tricked by it and sees visions of her friends abandoning her, which she knew wasn't true as she is always surrounded by her friends and woke up. Jay had to overcome the temptation to leave his friends to gain riches, and that lets him obtain his father's magical staff. Carlos had to conquer his fear of his mother to get her magical ring, and had to resist her taunts to use its power to kill her and he stood up to her and was freed from the visions. Mal had to climb Maleficent Mountain to obtain a dragon's egg. Her test was different from the others. She needed to rely on her friends instead of doing the test on her own. As Mal was doing the test, Ben could sense her fear and as Merlin was talking with the fairies of Neverland, he hid in a hallway and went into meditation to reach out to her. He knew it was a risk, revealing their mental connection to her, but it was a risk worth taking in his eyes. He saw the mountain she had to climb and her fear of falling off. He called out in her head, "Mal!" Mal turned around shouting, "Ben? He can't be here. It must be the test trying to trick me." "Mal," Ben called again mentally. "Don't be afraid. You aren't alone. Your friends are here. Call them for help. Please." Mal nodded and called her friends for help to get down the mountain. At the bottom, she wondered how Ben could be in her mind, and she put that thought away for now to ask Ben later.
The Core 4 made their way through the tunnels after getting their talismans and saw Merlin and Ben appear out of thin air. Ben ran up and hugged Mal, glad to see that she was alright. Mal pulled back and asked, "Wait. I heard your voice while going through my test. How did you know I was there?" "I don't know," Ben lied. "I heard your voice in my head and you sounded afraid. I felt your fear somehow. So I just replied back hoping that somehow you would hear me. I guess this could be related to our connection." Mal seemed to buy it for now as Merlin said, "We have been looking for the creature attacking Auradon. It's Mim. She's using these tunnels to terrorize Auradon." "Wait," Evie said. "We discovered that it was our parents' talismans that were creating the earthquakes, hurricanes, and sandstorms in Auradon. And Yen Sid told us that these tunnels connect to Auradon. We have to close them up so none of our parents can escape."
Suddenly a purple mist appeared and took the shape of Mad Madam Mim. "I knew it," Merlin said. Mim laughed evilly as Mal and the other VKs scowled. But they saw a long scar across her face and Mal said, "Looks like someone got you bad, Mim." Mim growled and said, "This wound won't heal after…." But Ben didn't want Mim to reveal how Ben hurt her and secretly waved his hand to a rock above and caused it to crash onto Mim's head before she could say anything else. Mim whined in pain as Merlin said, "I thought I might see you here, Mim. Up to your old tricks, are you? I'm sorry to say that your mischief ends now." Mim just giggled and said, "Oh, I don't think so, you geezer, I'm having way too much fun!"
She transformed into a dragon and started to attack the group. Merlin tried attacking Mim with magic from his wand, but Mim turned into a fox to dodge it. Mim also turned into a rhino to charge in but Jay and Carlos tried to throw boulders at her, a chicken to avoid the boulders, a crocodile to try to eat Carlos, and back into a dragon when everyone surrounded her. Merlin turned into a sparrow to avoid Mim's fire, but Mim conjured a cage to trap him in. Mim then swatted Ben with her tail that he couldn't dodge in time, knocking into the cavern walls. "Ben!" Mal cried. Mim started walking toward them as Mal and her friends started to debate on whether to use their talismans or not.
Suddenly Mim couldn't move and roared, "What's going on? I can't move!" The Core 4 looked behind her and saw Solo with his hand raised to her. Mal almost shouted to him, but Solo put his finger to his lips to signal to them not to say anything as he didn't want Merlin to know. The four nodded as Mim said, "If I can't move, then I'll just roast you!" The four panicked as Solo quickly merged back with his body to be Ben again. He got up, mindful of his injuries still healing, and he summoned Excalibur, knowing that Artie from Camelot gave him permission to summon it. Ben ran in front of the frozen dragon and pointed the sword at her heart. "Excalibur!" Carlos shouted. "The one and only," Ben said. "The most powerful sword in Auradon. You know what it can do." "But," Ben mentally told Mim, shocked that she could hear the King's voice in her head. "I have another weapon that can do more damage than this. Now, there's certain memories of me that I want gone from your mind. Now!" Anakin and Luke appeared as Force spirits around Mim, who didn't see them, as no one except Ben could see them, although Mal saw a flash of something appear for a second, and the two used the Force to alter her memory of what Ben did. Mim shook her head in confusion as Merlin turned into a caterpillar and got out of the cage before turning back into a wizard and said, "So I suggest you save yourself the pain, Mim." The dragon snorted as Ben pressed the blade against her chest. Mim finally turned back into a hag again and said, "I'll miss Auradon so. The sheep were tasty." "But alas," Merlin said. "Auradon is not the place for you." He then waved his wand and sent Mim back to the Isle.
Everyone returned to Auradon and Merlin used his magic to send Evil Queen, Cruella, and Jafar, who were traveling through the tunnels, back to Auradon before sealing the tunnels forever. The Core 4 agreed to turn their talismans over to Fairy Godmother so that no one, not even them, could be tempted to use them. Ben was proud of all of them, Mal especially. They were bummed that they missed the homecoming dance, but they threw their own party in Carlos and Jay's dorm room that Ben was invited to, which he was grateful for.
...
Ben took advantage of this event to start lifting the ban on magic piece by piece. His father wasn't too happy about it, but Ben convinced him that magic can be used in a good way. Merlin's efforts were a success so magic could come back a little at a time. The magical people were thrilled with the news. He evaluated all of the magical beings in Auradon, including the ones in hiding that Agathe told him about, to see how to slowly let magic return to the kingdom. He let Genie have his genie appearance again and said that he could travel the world like he wanted, but his itinerary had to be approved by him. He gave King Triton back his trident so he could protect the seven seas. He tried to give Fairy Godmother back her wand, but she wanted it kept at the museum which he accepted. At night, Agathe helped him sneak out at meet with the hidden magical people and told them that he would be meeting with the council and telling them that he supported their return to the kingdom and they they could use their magic again, however nothing too big as that would make the council angry. "A little at a time," Ben told them. "The kingdom of Auradon is slowly coming around to liking magic again. You all need to win them over. Just trust me on this." Agathe was proud of Ben as the people cheered and she thought, "Young Skywalker has become a great king. He truly is getting a second chance at life."
...
As one semester ended and another began, Audrey decided to spend the next semester away from Auradonn Prep. She didn't want to be around the VKs and wanted to spend some time refreshing herself hoping that by the time she returned, Ben and Mal's relationship would fall and she would become engaged to Ben. Aurora wanted Audrey to take the time away to reflect on her behavior and find herself, sending the three good fairies with her. Ben knew that something big needed to happen to Audrey in order for her to change, but hoped for the best.
...
Ben had Carlos and Jay try out for the Swords and Shields team, of which they both made it. Ben told the team that he would not be returning as the captain which shocked everyone. He explained that his kingly duties took up his time so he couldn't do any extracurricular sports activities. But he wanted to at least choose the player who would take his place as captain. But he made a competition out of it. The person who could beat him, which Ben knew wasn't likely thanks to his saber skills, or come close to beating him, would be declared the new captain. One by one players were defeated quickly. Carlos didn't even fight Ben as he knew he was no match for Ben, and just sat and watch in awe of Ben's amazing sword skills. Jay, though, was up for the challenge and gave Ben a run for his money. Ben was holding back with the others as to not show off his skills thanks to the Force, but Jay was really starting to push him to do better. So Ben picked up the pace during their fight and just as Jay thought he would win, Ben shocked him by using some of his Force agility and won the match. Ben was impressed with Jay and named him captain. All the other players were thrilled, except Chad as he was still apprehensive around the VKs.
...
A month before the Royal Cotillion, all of the different kingdoms in Auradon were having celebrations for the lead up to the cotillion. One such celebration happened outside the kingdom of Atlantica where Ben and the VKs are watching a musical performance put on by Sebastian. However, an unexpected storm struck causing the VKs to fear that it's due to their talismans of evil. They had Fairy Godmother destroy them, but that caused a burst of magic to be released, which caused the barrier to briefly disappear before reappearing. To make matters worse, the real cause of the storm was Arabella, Ariel's niece, who tried to use the trident but lost control of it and it flew away and landed just outside the Isle when the barrier was briefly down. Uma learned of this and felt that she could use it to try to get off the Isle.
The voice in her amulet warned her not to think carelessly about this as Uma for the past few months had been using the psychic link she created with Mal's mind to slowly send her nightmares to make her feel self-doubt about her place in Auradon and her relationship with Ben. Because of the distance between the two and the barrier, Uma couldn't read Mal's mind, only send her the nightmares. The voice promised that once Mal was back on the Isle permanently, Uma would see everything in Mal's mind and destroy her for good. So the voice didn't want Uma to get too distracted about the trident when their plan with Mal had been going so well. But Uma got cocky and chose to focus on the trident. She won the ship, Lost Revenge, and got crew mates such as Harry, son of Captain Hook, and Gil, son of Gaston.
The VKs tried to steal a boat to get to the Isle, but were caught by Fairy Godmother. Jane saw the VKs walking back to school and heard that her mother was going to expel them for what they did. She didn't want them to leave, especially Carlos, who has been trying to encourage her to try out for the cheerleading team and was helping her with her confidence.
Meanwhile, Ben was called away as Agrabah and Northern Wei were having negotiation problems and were about to go to war. He found out the olives from Agrabah had been falling over the great wall and that the flying carpets were giving off sonic booms. Ben, along with Lonnie who was from Northern Wei, went to to talk with the royal vizier of Agrabah to discuss a resolution. The vizier was surprised at the humbleness of Lonnie, which Ben was secretly hoping for as he knew Lonnie was a very humble person, and the two kingdoms came to a compromise. A great door would be built into the wall so the people of Argabah could come and go, and the two kingdoms would exchange agriculture tips. As Ben was thanking Lonnie for her help, a magical gust of wind picked Ben up and carried him toward Auradon Prep.
"How is this happening?" Ben thought to himself. "From the magic of the wind," Obi-Wan said in Ben's head. "This feels like Merlin's work." "But why am I going to Auradon Prep?" Ben thought. He closed his eyes and reached out his mind to Mal's, suspecting that this had something to do with her and her friends. He saw that they were about to be expelled for stealing a boat to get to the Isle to retrieve the trident. By the time he landed at Auradon Prep, he had a cover story planned out. He ran to Fairy Godmother's office as she was about to expel them and gave her the cover story that they were on a secret mission for him. Fairy Godmother bought it and let the VKs go. Ben thanked Jane, as she was the one to have Merlin send for Ben, and he had the VKs tell him the full story of what happened, despite already knowing thanks to reading Mal's mind. The VKs thank him and get onto the speedboat and head for the Isle. Ben ran back to his room so that he could astral project himself as Solo to watch over them during the mission.
Meanwhile, Uma figured out that the shell necklace she wears with the amulet can help her find the trident. She, Harry, and Gil, now calling themselves the Sea 3, find the trident and Uma swims down to retrieve it. However, Mal and her friends arrive at the same time. Mal pulls out her spell book and uses a time reversal spell to reverse time by a few minutes so that Uma could stay away from the trident. Mal dives down to get the trident, as Uma tries to use her magic seashell to stop Mal as she was just outside the barrier. Solo, who had flown invisibly in the sky above the VKs, saw this happening and used the Force to hold Uma back so that Mal could get the trident, but she loses her glove in the process. Solo sensed a disturbance in the Force coming from the direction of the Isle as Solo sensed something dark. "Could this be what got through the barrier when that hole was in it?" Solo thought. "I need to figure out what's going on later." Mal reaches the surface and sees Solo hovering in the air as she gives him a smile as thanks. Solo nods then disappears. The Core 4 head back to Auradon as Uma fumes, holding Mal's glove in her hand. The voice of the amulet said, "I told you not to get distracted by this. I knew you would fail. Now you must focus on your original plan for Mal." Uma grunted and said, "I could of had her. But something was holding me back. I saw him. The guardian of the Isle. He's protecting Mal and her friends! I thought he was on the Isle's side." The voice hummed and said, "Interesting. I wonder who he is. He could be the disturbance I have felt. For now, do not fret. Do not concern yourself with this guardian. Focus on your revenge." Uma grinned and said, "My revenge will happen. Being that close to Mal had me see that the nightmares are working on her. Now I'll just crack them up a notch and bide my time. She'll come crawling back to the Isle in no time."
...
The trident was returned to King Triton. Ben then asked Mal to the cotillion and Mal says yes, much to Ben's relief, as Ben wants to make Mal a Lady of the court as the step before they get engaged. Evie decides to hand over her magic mirror as it is a evil magical item. Mal debates whether to turn in her spell book, but decides against it for now. She was starting to feel pressure about her place in Auradon. She had been getting the nightmares, not knowing that they were from Uma, about Auradon rejecting her and Ben rejecting her. She was still glad that Ben wasn't putting any pressure on her about their relationship and her place at his side in Auradon, but she was starting to doubt herself and felt that she would never fit in as the person she is.
Plus, she was also still getting dreams about Solo and the brown haired girl. She saw their lightsaber clashing in a frozen forest, she saw them talking to each other from across space, and she felt the pain and sorrow the brown haired girl felt, from being abandoned by her parents to rejecting to join Solo in ruling together. She didn't understand why she was still getting these dreams, and why Solo was doing those horrible things, especially to the brown haired girl. Yet she never heard anyone in the dreams say the girl's name. And the dreams were choppy at best as they seemed foggy and unclear. Mal wanted to tell Ben about her nightmares fueling her self-doubt and the dreams with Solo and the brown haired girl, but her darkness crept in to taunt her about being weak and foolish so she didn't say anything. Then two weeks before the cotillion, Mal had Evie give her a makeover where she had her hair dyed blonde with purple tips and wore pastier clothes and more makeup. When Mal looked at herself in the mirror, she said, "If Auradon wants to see me as a potential Queen, then this is what I need to be."
...
Ben stood in his secret room talking to the Force spirits about what he felt when he was watching Mal retrieve the trident. "It felt dark," Ben said. "It felt like the Sith." "Impossible," Luke said. "Everything related to the Sith was destroyed millennia ago." "Don't be so sure," Anakin said. "The Sith always find some way to survive. Just look at…." "Don't mention that man's name!" Leia shouted. "I don't want to think about him." "But," Han said. "How could something like that get here? I thought we were the only ones to arrive here." "The Force is mysterious," Obi-Wan said. "Somehow a part of the Sith has lived on and sent something here. Something to cause trouble." "The Dark Side clouds everything," Yoda said. "Whatever is on the Isle is being blocked. By the barrier, maybe. But from you being close to the Isle, you have sensed its presence. Caution you must take." "Yoda's right, Ben," Padme said. "If you ever have to go to the Isle, for whatever reason, you must be on your guard. If something Force related is on the Isle, then it could harm you. And if it somehow gets out of that barrier, it would cause doom to everyone. And to what you are planning to do." Ben nodded and said, "I will be on my guard. I haven't been to the Isle since my coronation as I am busy with kingly duties. I still have been sending better food and goods, but I haven't seen what's happened to the Isle since Mal and her friends defied her mother. I will only go back to the Isle unless I absolutely have to. I still want to get the children off that Isle one day. I don't want anything evil coming off. I just need to keep my faith that the Force will protect me."
The Force spirits nodded as Ben thought, "I just hope everything with cotillion goes as planned. And hopefully soon my relationship with Mal will grow and Mal will declare her love for me and we will finally share our first kiss of true love. Then that betrothal contract will be broken. I wish that this will happen. I am being patient with Mal, but I'm running out of time. I just have to put my love and faith in her….."
