A/N: Mal and Evie at Swords and Shields practice! Yay! I'm sorry that I have been gone so long. I've had a lot of writer's block from endlessly writing college application essays.

For those of you waiting for "Scars Exposed and Secrets Unfold", I'm working on it. Since my writing style is mostly trying to figure out "what would character do/say now?" I have come across an issue. I realized that in my original plan, I didn't take one character's likely action into account, and now I'm trying to fix it.

Thank you all, and happy reading!

Disclaimer: Descendants is property of Disney Channel. I make no claim to own the characters, and have only written this only with love for Descendants and its characters. Thank you.

A few weeks after Cotillion, Jay stopped Lonnie after class.

"Hey, do you have anything special planned for practice today?" She raised an eyebrow.

"That depends. What's up?" Jay shifted his feet.

"Well, uh, we might be having some… guests today." Lonnie raised her eyebrows, silently asking who, and Jay scratched his head sheepishly.

"Back before Cotillion, I may have asked Mal and Evie about stopping by some time, so that we could have a tournament. They just couldn't come… until today." In reality, Jay and Carlos had both been bugging the girls to come to practice since the day that they'd made the team, but neither of them could find the time. Evie was too busy with school and Evie's 4 Hearts to take an afternoon off, and Mal had been dedicating any free moment she could find to Ben. Today, however, was different. Mal's schedule had cleared out a lot after Cotillion, since she wasn't wasting any more time trying to learn to be someone else. Then, after crushing her midterms last week, Evie claimed that she needed a day off. Upon hearing this, Jay had mentioned them coming to Swords and Shields practice again. The girls thought it might be fun to "show the ROAR team what a real fight looks like" - Mal's words - and said that they'd come. It was only this morning that Jay realized that he should have told Lonnie about this plan, since she is the team captain now. If she didn't like it, then Jay would have three angry girls: his captain, a dragon, and Evie. He didn't know which would be the worst, but together they would be a very bad combination. Very bad for Jay at least. Luckily for him, after she thought about it for a few seconds, Lonnie nodded.

"That's okay. I think that'd be good. Give the team some practice against different fighting techniques." Jay smiled in relief.

"Thanks!" Lonnie grinned.

"If you see any of the guys, tell them to put on full padding. We'll use the real swords. I'm sure Mal and Evie can handle it, but I have some extra padding if they want it." Jay nodded excitedly before he jogged off to find the girls.

"Great! I'll tell them." This will be fun.

Lonnie put a bin down on the floor before she whistled and called all of the guys to attention. She had talked to Mal and Evie, and Mal had said that Ben was even taking the time to come. Her friends had refused the padding and uniforms that she offered, even the masks. Ben had his own, and Mal and Evie said they'd be more comfortable without them. The three were now waiting outside, and the tournament was a go.

"Today we are doing something a little different." Carlos and Jay looked at one another. "We're having a practice tournament."

"Great!" Chad interruped. "I can show you wimps what a real champion looks like." Lonnie rolled her eyes while Jay and Carlos struggled not to laugh.

"We'll also be joined by some new opponents." She turned toward the main entrance and grinned. "Come on out!"

Mal, Evie, and Ben walked into the Swords and Shields arena. Ben was in his old practice uniform, but both girls were in full leather, turning the heads of all the guys there.

"Ben's here, too?" Carlos asked Jay. Ben, and everyone else, had heard him.

"I'll make it an even number," he shrugged. "Though I do hope I get eliminated soon, so that I can watch my beautiful girlfriend." Mal blushed as Ben held her hand, and Chad scoffed.

"We can't fight girls. They can't even be on the team."

Mal and Evie looked at one another. They'd each managed to make it to some of Jay and Carlos's tournaments.

"Are you scared you'll lose?" Mal asked innocently. Jay and Carlos struggled not to laugh, and Chad scoffed again.

"Of course not!"

"I see no reason not to have the tournament," Lonnie said quickly. "We'll compete in pairs. Like in an actual sword fight, whoever disarms their opponent first wins. Once your match is over, you can step off to the side and wait. The winner will then move on to the next round and face a new opponent." Chad frowned at the change in rules, but wisely said nothing.

Mal and Evie watched Lonnie, ready to start. They wore clothes that they had worn on the Isle because naturally it was the best material for sword fighting. You didn't walk around the Isle in anything but leather. It was more resistant than fabric, and Evie designed their clothes to be flexible enough to jump and maneuver in: essentials for any type of fight. It looked tough too, and appearance was half of any battle. Evie had always wondered why the Swords and Shields team wore mesh uniforms. The boys always looked exposed, since they didn't even protect their arms. Lonnie had apparently thought of this, too, as she opened the bin at her feet.

"If you would like wrist guards or pads for your arms, you can take them now. We will be using the tournament swords." Jay and Carlos grabbed the wrist guards, and some of the other guys followed their example.

"What's the difference between normal swords and tournament swords?" Evie asked curiously. Before Lonnie could answer Carlos clarified.

"Tournament swords are real swords. For practice we usually use these smooth metal rods that don't cut anything."

"Those are a type of fencing sword," Ben said, even though it meant nothing to the two girls. Evie looked confused, not seeing the point in using different swords for practice, but nodded.

"Let's begin." Ben and the Swords and Shields team moved into two lines, and Jay and Carlos pulled Mal and Evie next to them.

"Just do what we do for the start," Jay said. Mal nodded. Ben had shown her and Evie the starting positions in the hallway before they came in. Lonnie stood across from Ben, and called out the commands to start the first round.

"Assemble. Salute. Lower the point. Masks down." Everyone lowered their masks but Mal and Evie, who had opted not to wear any. "On guard." The fight was on and the sound of swords clashing rose through the air. Mal was across from Chad, and she waited as he tried to attack, parrying his various thrusts. Evie danced around Taylor, who was finding it difficult to land a blow. Mal carefully watched Chad for a few seconds before becoming impatient.

"Okay, enough of this." She attacked, forcing Chad to take a step back. He frowned as he realized that he was beginning to lose, and lunged for her left shoulder. Mal hit his sword at the right angle to force it out of his hand. With striking accuracy, she hit the sword again from the bottom, sending the hilt into her hands. Chad stepped back in disbelief.

"What? But, that's not fair! How is that even possible?" Mal rolled her eyes as Chad continued to protest, choosing instead to step back and watch her friends in their matches. Ben and Lonnie were in a heated battle of jabs and rolls, while Jay and Carlos had each won their matches and stepped off to the side. Evie circled Taylor and spun her sword, catching his hilt and sending his sword clattering to the ground before she stepped on the blade. She didn't need to, since the match was over, but old habits die hard. You don't let the enemy take back their weapon.

"Wow," Taylor said. He raised his eyebrows, impressed. "That was incredible." Evie blushed as she picked his sword from the ground, and handed it back to him.

"Thanks." Lonnie and Ben were still fighting, and Mal noticed another pair of guys dueling that she didn't recognize. The match continued and Evie joined her on the edge of the arena's boundary lines. "Is it just me, or was that too easy?" She had spoken in a low voice, but the boys still heard her. "Shouldn't that have taken at least a couple minutes?" Jay and Carlos nodded in understanding. The other guys had gotten better since the start of the season, but Lonnie was still the only one who could really challenge them.

"Too easy?" Chad was still mad, and Taylor looked incredulous.

"Trust me, Princess. I didn't go easy on you." Mal turned to her friend to respond.

"They were just predictable." She tilted her head and pointed out, "They also have no actual experience." Evie nodded as she realized that sword fights probably weren't very common in Auradon. Doug didn't even know how to sword fight. Evie had been planning on teaching him ever since she learned that piece of information, but hadn't actually started yet.

"No experience?!" Chad scoffed. "I've been fencing since I was a kid!" Evie shook her head.

"No, that's not what she meant." She paused to figure out what to say, but Jay stepped into the conversation right on time.

"When Mal said experience, she didn't mean fencing or ROAR. She was talking about actual sword fights, like with pirates. You know, where you win, you live, you lose, you die."

"Or at least get out before you do," Carlos added. Taylor balked at their nonchalant tone.

"Did- You had those?" he asked in disbelief. The group did a collective shrug.

"Only in turf wars" Mal clarified calmly. Even Chad looked surprised as Evie, Jay, and Carlos nodded.

"Wait, wait." Chad said nervously. "Do you mean that you've fought pirates and almost died?!" Evie and Carlos both nodded as Mal shrugged, and Jay clapped his hand on Taylor's back.

"Yeah," he said. "I mean it's not that surprising, is it?" He looked back at the arena. "Hey looks like Ben and Lonnie are done. Now we only need to wait for Finn and Sanders" Ben jogged over to the group with Lonnie close behind, and went to stand beside his girlfriend.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

A/N: I will make a part II to this scene to do the next round. I just figured this was as good of a stopping point as any. Thanks!