Shuriki couldn't believe the demons had failed. She also couldn't believe there were more of them. The Caballero del Infierno let out a roar, it was clear that these demons knew who they were. He glared at the boy with the strange looking sword.

Mal almost seemed to know what was being thought. She took a step back and placed her one arm over Sofia and one arm over Isabel. "No one really thought two little girl's would come into this place without a plan right? And that plan came straight from Sofia." She stated

"Brilliant, I knew they wouldn't let us down." James remarked.

"It doesn't matter." Shuriki growled. "I don't know who you meddlesome pests are but you won't be changing anything. No teenage trouble makers will stand in my way." The Invocador summoned Imps and another Caballero del Infierno. "Destroy them." She commanded.

"Mal." Isabel gasped. The purple haired girl turned to see the Elemental del Dolor heading toward them, its two green eyes glowing menacingly. "If that thing gets going we're going to be overwhelmed. It…" She started.

"We know." Mal promised. Sofia wondered what had happened to make them such experts on these demons. Unknown the Elemental del Dolor or Pain Elemental had been one of the demons they had faced when they had attacked the Aqua Base in Mariner Bay. "Jay, can you take that thing out?"

"You got it Mal." Jay answered, perhaps a bit too gleefully. With the soul scimitar in hand he rushed toward the creature. "Come on them Pain Elemental freak, let's dance."

"We have to free the Elena and everyone else." Isabel now said to Mal.

"But if we do it now then they'll be vulnerable." Sofia pointed out. "They don't have their weapons or anything." She saw the bag in the corner. "It's over there; Shuriki must have brought them here for some reason."

Mal glanced around. Unsurprisingly her friends were already fighting the demons, though the Invocador was quickly replacing Imps. She only hoped it didn't decide to pull out much more. But in the meantime she knew what needed to happen. "Amy!" She called out to her rose haired twin sister. "Get the bag in the corner."

Amy nodded and started toward it. Elena noticed that and was immediately worried even as Naomi caught on as well. "That Imp thing is going to leap at her." Sure enough the demon did just that. Amy could have killed it with her rose lance but she didn't have the time; everyone was shocked to see that the demon leapt right through her as she activated her intangibility. A fireball went right through her as well.

"Now that's impressive." Gabe said. "I wish I had that. Hey Mateo, any chance there's a spell like that? Maybe in bottle form."

"That must be very helpful." Jorge said, saving the young wizard in the making from answering that, as he made his way behind Naomi and placed his hands comfortingly on her shoulders. He could feel how shaken she was from nearly being assaulted by Pierce again but this was certainly making her push that to the back of her mind.

They watched as Shuriki tried to attack Amy now with her own magic, but the young girl was able to avoid that one too with intangibility and snatched up the scepter of light. "No." Shuriki growled. "Stop her."

The Caballero del Infierno tried to step on her but with the same results; intangibility protected her from it. Elena sure hoped there wasn't some limit on how many times she could do that.

"I think that switch would let out Elena and our friends." Isabel now said to Mal as she pointed to an eerie looking thing that wasn't there originally when the fortress was constructed. She didn't want to think about why it looked like it was constructed out of bones, with a skull at the center glowing red. "And there is another one over there." They could see it, the switch that kept Hildegard and those with her captive. "I just don't know how to free them."

"Let Amy get the weapons first and then we'll free your friends." Mal said. The disturbing switches, while new to all of them as well, none the less did not surprise the purple haired girl given what they knew about their adversaries.

Sofia glanced to the right and saw Jay fighting what he had called the Pain Elemental. He moved very quickly from left to right, slashing at the demon as quickly as he could and even tried his best to aim for the eyes. It seemed to stop the thing from summoning flaming skulls.

"We need to shut that thing up or it'll exhaust us into defeat." Carlos said and ran toward the Invocador. He leapt at it but it vanished at the last second and appeared somewhere else. "Ah, shoot."

"That thing is such a pain." Lonnie said. "We're going to have to get it from a distance." She saw though that Audrey had too many demons in her way for a clear shot at the Invocador as well.

"I really wish we had a barrage of cards to toss at that thing." Evie noted. That would have been what Ally had brought to the table if she were there. She let an Imp toss a fireball at her and then tried to deflect it at the Invocador but it again pulled its swap and vanish trick.

"No kidding." Lonnie agreed as she tossed one of her tessens and took out that Imp. "I never realized how much we relied on numbers to help us turn tides in big fights."

Sofia and Isabel were impressed to see Jay leap up and behind the Pain Elemental before driving the sword through the floating demon and this time it faded away to nothing. Jay rolled to his feet and tried to brush his hair back. "There. Piece of cake." He commented idly, though it was a slight exaggeration before moving in to help his friends with the other demons.

Amy reached the bag and picked it up. One of the Imps jumped toward her while her back was turned but didn't get to attack her as the tidal boomerang struck it, causing it to dissipate in its form of death. She looked to her friend Aquiella and smiled. "Thanks." She called.

"Anytime." Aquiella replied as she caught her weapon on the way back.

Amy started back toward the field where Elena and the others were. The intangibility came into great handy for that too. Elena just hoped there was no side effect, like there would be if she used the scepter of light for that length of time. She would have been out for days; even with the orb that would restore her strength it would have taken a toll on her.

Mal shook her head. "Here's the slightly disturbing part." She commented and placed her hand on top of the skull switch that was nearest them. She had to place her fingers in the eye sockets and the mouth and had to twist the skull. There seemed to be a sickening cracking sound and the skull was moved to the right and the field dropped.

Amy tossed the bag at them. Elena caught it and handed Gabe his spear, Mateo his tamborita, and Naomi her throwing ax. Amy was about to toss the scepter of light when from out of seemingly nowhere a demon showed up, Sofia would have compared it to a gorilla with some sort of weird armor on it. It flared like it was only half in their dimension and it slammed into Amy despite her intangibility.

"Oh no." Mal gasped. She had never seen a demon like this one before and she ran over with her staff raised to go help her twin sister before the demon got its jaws on her.

"Mateo, Jorge. Fall back with Sonya to Sofia's family and Christina and protect them." She ordered. "Gabe, Naomi. Let's give our brave new friends a hand sending Shuriki and these demons packing." She said. Together they all started into the fray.

Melody went over to take Mal's place protecting the young princesses but Sofia touched her arm to get her attention. "She can help too." She said as she pointed to Sonya. "She's really really strong but without her ring she's trapped as a mermaid." She held up the moon ring she had recovered. "We have to get this to her."

"Plus without it she might die." Isabel added. "As a human she won't dry out, but as a mermaid it must be slowly killing her. I don't know what's kept her going this long as it is."

Melody shook her head. "We can't leave you two unprotected." She reminded them. She glanced at Sonya as Jorge sat her by Amber and James. "But there is something I can do to help her. Just like my grandfather did for my mother when she chose to be with my father." She aimed the trident and shot a magical glow at Sonya.

To Mateo's shock Sonya was lifted up and she started to glow. Then her tail disappeared and her legs reformed, as did miraculously her clothing. She was released just as one of the guards tried to grab at Christina. Lightning quick she lashed out and her foot connected with his jaw hard, sending him sprawling to the ground. She recovered his sword and smiled. "It's good to be back." She said happily. She took a step forward and felt herself falter a little.

"I don't think you're up to full strength just yet." Mateo warned her. "Be careful."

Sonya nodded. She didn't want to say it but the one good thing about this was that she was no longer near death. She waved appreciatively at Melody, who smiled back. Then she turned that sword on another Imp, taking it out of the fight.

Gabe dove right into the fight, taking out the Imps as best as he could. Mal slammed her staff hard into the armored shifter. It stumbled back with a growl. Then Elena came up and offered her hand out. Amy smiled, let the crown princess help her up and then held out the scepter of light. "I think this belongs to you Princess Elena." She said.

"Thank you." Elena said and turned back to the demon and aimed her scepter. "Blaze." She called out. The scepter glowed and shot a beam of light out that destroyed the demon, turning it into nothing. Clearly it wasn't as durable as the Caballero del Infierno. She felt her energy waning though since it took some energy to do so, and the crown princess had not entered this fight refreshed.

Ben slashed through a couple of Imps before one of the Caballero del Infierno's appeared and swatted Ben hard. He went flying hard and hit the field, crashing awkwardly. "Ben." Mal called out in horror, wanting to rush to her boyfriend.

Shuriki laughed. "Missing something there?" She asked them all. Elena glanced at her and realized that the evil sorceress knew something they did not. She had to guess it was because of the demons. "You're missing half of your friends; you're missing your powers. You've taken on a mission you cannot succeed in."

"You're wrong Shuriki." Evie said. "We can do this." She unleashed an attack that she liked to think of as storming mirror force at several of the Imps. Still one thing the evil sorceress said was true; this was a lot harder when they couldn't morph.

"I don't know what they may be missing Shuriki. But they have us too." Elena said to her. "And we will stop you." She took a step forward and faltered, going to one knee.

"Looks like you don't have what it takes Elena." Shuriki taunted.

Ben had Aquiella at his side now. "Are you okay your majesty?" He asked her.

"I'm not so used to fighting without my armor or shield." He noted. "That really stings."

Blaze moved forward and grabbed Ben's sword before it could be stepped on by Caballero del Infierno. It swiped at the small owl like animal called a bujito but missed. She let the sword go and landed in front of Elena. Ben saw it and smiled. "Princess Elena, use the sword." He said to her. "It can help you."

Mal saw it too. "Yeah." She said. "Trust Ben."

The crown princess nodded and reached for the sword. She was surprised at how warm it felt in her hands. It was unlike any sword she had ever seen. An Imp jumped out at her and she barely dodged it, cleaving through the demon. She wasn't aware that Ben had taken out four Imps already and she heard it in her head Use Us. It commanded, making her jump slightly.

Sonya heard and looked in that direction. "Wow, is that…" She wondered. Amber looked in that direction and when Christina looked at her curiously she told her, "I think that sword just talked." Naomi heard it too and turned in shock.

That distraction was enough for Pierce to move in and slap the ax from her hand before slapping Naomi across the face hard, knocking her on her back. "I keep telling you this was inevitable Naomi." He said with lust as he reached down and started to tear at the top of her dress. "You belong to me, nothing can change that."

Audrey saw this and some part of her knew that while the demons should be dealt with first, it was more important. But she also saw the fear and the helplessness in the blonde's eyes and she knew several points in her own life recently where that look had to have been in her eyes because of Chad's growing obsession with her. She moved in out of instinct and drove her knee into the side of Pierce's face.

He fell hard and glared at the brunette princess. "First her and now you. What is it with you people?" He demanded.

"I won't let you hurt her." Audrey vowed as she raised her bow. Normally she preferred not to fight up close but she felt as if she should make the exception for this guy. She moved in and slashed the pointed end of her bow at him. He dodged and tried to strike Audrey but she blocked it and leapt up, slamming her knee into his chest. He stumbled backwards as she hit the ground gracefully before leaning down and twirling around, her leg connecting with the back of his right leg hard. He took a hard landing on the ground.

Naomi was shocked and impressed. The truth was that she had spent the last year being very afraid of running into him again, knowing he would probably come after her again. He had been a very imposing and menacing figure and yet here was this girl only a little older than herself beating him down like he was nothing.

Pierce rose and swung his fist straight at her. Audrey dropped her bow and brought her arms up. She allowed his fist to get past her only to hook her arms around his and tossed him over her head and into a wall. She had seen her friend Raphael do that once, only he used his own weapons, three pronged daggers called sais to do it. "Believe it or not I learned that from a mutant turtle." She said with amusement as she recovered her bow.

Elena wasn't sure what to do at first but then she saw the Caballero del Infierno turn toward Sofia and Isabel. "No, leave my sisters alone!" She yelled out and tossed the sword. It glowed as it traveled toward the large demon and it stabbed right into its back. It let out a roar and then vanished just as easily as the Imp had. Ben had never been in a position to notice it, but another effect of the Praeleanthor sword was to restore energy, and it was something Elena felt easily since she had weakened herself to destroy the demon that attacked Amy with her scepter.

"You're wasting your time Elena. You and all of your little friends." Shuriki growled. "You can't fight us all."

Mal suddenly nodded and looked to Elena. "She's right Princess Elena." She said. "We can't fight them all. We have the weapons and the skills, but not the extra strength or the protection."

"We can't just give up." Elena retorted.

"And we won't." Mal promised her. She raised her voice. "Aquiella, bring Ben with you. Melody, bring Sofia and Isabel with you. Everyone fall back." She pointed to where the rest of Elena and Sofia's friends and family were. "Right there." Audrey helped Naomi up.

Elena didn't know what Mal was planning but didn't argue with her even as Esteban questioned the purple haired girl, "What is wrong with you? You're putting innocents in danger." He indicated his grandparents, Sofia's family and Christina although none of them seemed upset about this change of plans.

Together they all fell back, making Shuriki laugh. "What sort of trick is this?" She asked.

"Let me tell you a secret Shuriki." Mal said to her. "My mother is one of the most feared villains of my world, her name is Maleficent. But what I didn't know until almost a year ago was that my mother was only second place to another evil that attacked my world not long after the United States of Auradon was formed."

"Our parents couldn't defeat it on their own." Ben said, picking up the story. "But they had help from an intergalactic wizard."

"Yes, yes." Shuriki said dismissively. It was clear to Elena somehow the demons had told her this stuff already. "I hear this wizard has…I meant had a bad habit of relying on teenagers to do his dirty work."

"We've faced a lot Shuriki." Audrey now said. "Some of us watched friends betray us." She hesitated a moment and was surprised to find Naomi reach out and clasp her hand gently. The two exchanged small smiles, and Mal could see a bond form between the two of them based on something that most people would be lucky not to understand. "Some of us watched family turn against them."

At that Amy frowned. Maleficent had turned her back on both of her daughters; likewise Jay, Evie and Carlos were sure their parents thought the same way. "But we've had good times too." Amy added. "We gained new friends, more than you can possibly understand." She thought about Alex, the son of Anna and Kristoff of Arendelle, who she had a massive crush on. She had made great friends with Melody, Aquiella and Ellie the daughter of Queen Elsa of Arendelle. She had even become friends with Audrey, something the rose haired girl would have thought impossible.

"We've faced ancient primal beings and won." Jay now said. "We've faced the loss of our memories, our friendships, and won. We've even stopped an alien invasion."

"But those were with our powers." Mal conceded. "Our first victory really was stopping my mother at Ben's coronation. We did that with just magic and our hearts. And that was also how we stopped that ancient evil from long ago, when he destroyed our base and our access to our powers."

Shuriki laughed. "Touching. But it doesn't help you here." She stated.

Mal reached out, taking Sofia's hand in one of hers and Elena's hand in her other. Blaze landed on Elena's shoulder. Elena took Gabe's hand in her own. Everyone with weapons released theirs and took hold of another's hands, Audrey clasped Naomi's hand in one with Jay's in the other. Christina took Isabel's hand and Kara landed in between them.

"Enough of this nonsense." Shuriki spat. "Get them."

"Guess she didn't appreciate the story time." Naomi deadpanned.

"Everyone think about those you love, both near and far, and repeat after me." Mal said and recited, "The strength of evil is as good as none, when all of our hearts stand as one."

Everyone did as they were told. Mateo thought of his mother; Gabe and Christina thought of Javier and Carmen; Naomi thought of her father; Elena and her family thought of their long departed parents who still seemed to be a part of their lives; Sofia, James and Isabel thought all of their friends some of who were in the cells across and some who were not; Sonya thought of the ones who were basically her family the Queen of Merroway Cove Emmaline and her unofficial sisters Cora and Oona.

Mal and her friends thought of those they loved, from the remaining ten of their team; Jordan the daughter of Genie and Eden; Aziz the son of Aladdin and Jasmine, Ally the daughter of Alice Liddell, Jane the daughter of Fairy Godmother, Will (who was Lonnie's boyfriend) and his younger sister Whitney the son of Wendy Darling, Miranda the daughter of Merida, Ellie and Alex, Ruby the daughter of Eugene and Rapunzel and Grant the son of Evie and Snow White's sister Rose red. They thought about all of the interesting people and other such life they had met in their time.

The chant rose to a strong and powerful crescendo. "THE STRENGTH OF EVIL IS AS GOOD AS NONE WHEN ALL OF OUR HEARTS ARE AS ONE!" The last time they had used this spell against their biggest villain Paradias it has resulted in a large blast that encompassed the entire serpentine entity that it had become. This time though the spell resulted in large shockwave that shot all around them like stone that had been dropped in the water. The resulting shockwave spread and as it hit the demons they vanished away into nothing as they had upon their defeats, but this time there was no Invocador to replace them.

"This isn't over." Shuriki started and raised her wand. With a hoot Blaze surged forward again and clawed at the evil sorceress's wrist. With a howl of pain she lost her grip on her wand.

Elena dropped Mal's and Isabel's hands and recovered the Praeleanthor sword as well as her scepter of light and then ran forward, bringing the mystical weapon down on Shuriki's wand as hard as she could. Rather than snap in two pieces as it did when she had destroyed it the first time this time it shattered into several different pieces, which Elena didn't get but Mal did; it was like the ancient civilization behind the weapon was trying to ensure that it could never be used again.

"My wand." Shuriki gasped. "No."

Elena had the point of the Praeleanthor sword pointed at Shuriki's throat. "It's over Shuriki. Again." She declared.

"How's that for doing better?" Sofia couldn't help but ask, much to the amusement of her friends and family.

Shuriki looked annoyed them with them all for just a moment before the fortress seemed to lose all sense of light, to be enveloped in total darkness. Even when Elena called out, "Glow." Her scepter couldn't penetrate the darkness, a surprise to them all.

Deep dark laughter resounded and Audrey and Aquiella flinched just a bit as it was the same laughter they had heard in Ariel's castle the night that Chad tried to use demonic power to knock out the girl's and try to hurt Audrey. When the light was again in the room Shuriki was gone.

"No way those things bailed her out." Gabe stated despite the obvious.

Mal took a deep breath. It seemed hard to believe to her too but she couldn't deny that it wasn't impossible. "I think they did. They must have found her more useful than it seemed then." She concluded.

Audrey turned around to look for the man who she had stopped from assaulting Naomi but he was gone too. "Dang it." She muttered.

Jay started to walk back to the wall to free the others. "I guess that was kind of therapeutic for you, wasn't it Audrey?" He asked her and Audrey blushed just a little but had to nod in agreement. Naomi wondered what that meant.

"Perhaps they just killed her." Esteban suggested even as Jay went over and used the other switch to free the people in that cell, including Hildegard, Hugo, Clio and Erika.

"No, they didn't." Lonnie corrected him. "If they did they would have left her body behind. No Mal is right, for whatever reason they still have plans for her. Or perhaps with her."

"She wouldn't be the first human they've worked with to try to achieve their agendas." Melody agreed.

Sofia turned to Sonya. "I think this belongs to you Sonya." She said as she held up the moon ring that Shuriki had magically stripped from her.

"I…thank you Princess Sofia." Sonya said, holding back a burst of emotion. She hadn't thought she would feel so strongly to lose the ring after having it only a short amount of time but it had opened up a whole new world for her, an irony she wasn't entirely cognizant of considering some of the company she kept. She slipped the moon ring and she felt the energy around her dissipate as the natural magic of the moon ring was allowed to take over the job of the magic that Melody had cast.

Mateo came over and caught Sonya as she wavered. "We need to get her out of here. She needs to eat and get some rest." He said to Elena.

"I think we all do." Elena said. She leaned down and hugged Isabel and Sofia tightly. "Thank you two, for everything that you did." She looked up to Mal and her friends. "And thank you too. For protecting them and bringing them home to us."

"You're welcome. We were happy to help." Ben said with a courtly bow.

"And I believe this belongs to you." Elena offered the Praeleanthor sword to him, which the young king of Auradon took with a bow of his own.

Roland, Miranda and James hugged Sofia. Then Amber came up and as she embraced her sister she asked softly, "Um Sofia, isn't this the part where they just…poof out or something?" That was what happened with Rapunzel when they had met and although Princess Ivy had made her lose those memories at one point, Amber had found that the maruvian tiara she wore had given her back those memories.

Sofia too was curious for a moment until it hit her. "Only four of them were summoned from my amulet. The rest were summoned from the secret library. That must be how they're supposed to get home."

"I guess that means you better get them home now." James noted. "I'm sure they're eager to get home and see their friends and families again." He hugged Isabel happily. "I know I am."

"Perhaps before you go home, you would allow us to throw you a feast to thank you for what you've done for our world." Roland suggested. Miranda nodded in agreement.

Elena got up and took Mal's hands, startling the purple haired girl a little. Isabel followed suit by taking Amy's hands though the rose haired girl didn't seem quite as startled as her older twin sister did. "I think that's a great idea. What do you say?" Elena voiced.

Mal had to think about it only for a moment. The personal irony was not lost on her, when other friends of theirs had helped them out of a major jam, nothing less than her mother Maleficent turning back time so that her friends had never wound up in Auradon and erasing memories, they had insisted they stay for a celebration as well and they had been a bit uncomfortable but had agreed to it none the less.

She also couldn't deny she saw some personal connection already between her team and their new friends. Amy seemed happy to talk to Isabel and the young Avaloran princess was already taking her over to meet Christina, James and Amber. Audrey had leaned down to help fix up the hem of Naomi's dress, torn in several places because of Pierce's advances on her.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds great." Mal finally answered with a smile. Ben came over and placed an arm around his girlfriend. She looked to Elena. "But about what I said…my mother…"

Elena waved it off. "The sins of the parent is their own, not on the child...children." She amended after a glance at Amy. "No, you all proved today that you're good people."

"I told you I knew you were good people." Ben said as he kissed the purple haired girl on her cheek gently.

"Hey, we knew there was a reason we chose good." Evie added with a smile of her own.

It wasn't quite the same thing though as they did in Auradon, instead they simply made their way back to the Tri-kingdom picnic. The Auradon team didn't have to dress up in royal get up, which was kind of okay with the VK's, though the AK's were more used to formal dress.

"So this is an annual tradition?" Mal asked King Roland as she and Ben walked with Elena. "The picnic thing, not the demon invasion thing." She amended.

Elena laughed. "So I'm told. This was the first year anyone from Avalor was around for it. Unless you count the time I was in Sofia's amulet." She got confused looks from Ben and Mal. "It's…kind of a long story. See, originally Shuriki took Avalor from from my parents forty one years ago. She killed them and tried to kill me, but the amulet protected me by placing me inside of it until Sofia freed me. The royal sorcerer at the time Alakazar, Mateo's grandfather, placed my grandparents and my sister into a painting to protect them."

"Sounds like Shuriki would have been on the isle with us if she lived in Auradon." Mal noted. "Usurping a kingdom is a pretty hefty crime. At least E's mother did it legally, by marrying Snow's father."

"That amulet seems pretty powerful." Ben noted impressed. "I mean it summoned Mal, Evie, Lonnie and Audrey in the first place. The idea of a shrinking spell to get into the fortress was something Sofia said her amulet lets her do. She also said something about talking to animals and turning into a mermaid."

Elena nodded a bit. "Yeah, it's pretty powerful." She agreed. "It's one of the ancient maruvian artifacts, along with my scepter of light. Amber has a tiara, Naomi has a bracelet, Christina has a golden feather, we have an hourglass in Avalor and Sofia even says that there is an item called the ice fire shield that is also an artifact." Each of those maruvian items had been found during their adventures.

"That's a lot of power." Mal noted simply.

"Have you seen that sword of Ben's?" Elena asked. "It can take out that Caballero thing with one toss." She looked to Ben. "You know to use the scepter of light drains portions of my energy but when I used that Praeleanthor sword to stop that Caballero from hurting Sofia and Isabel it restored my energy."

Mal looked to Ben. "Is that new?" She asked him.

Ben shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not but I've never been drained of energy before either." He answered. He looked to Elena. "I'm glad that it helped you then crown princess."

"Thank you King Ben. For all that you and your friends did for us." Elena said and then reached out to take Mal's hand. "I guess we have a few things in common ourselves." She noted.

For a moment Mal didn't quite understand what she meant. While Elena had been a princess of a kingdom simply exiled by circumstances that she was able to change the purple haired girl was born on the Isle of the Lost and was only where she was by random chance. Then she realized it was more basic than that; they both had little sisters they would do anything for. "Yeah, I guess we do." She agreed.

Audrey and Jay approached Naomi and Jorge as they were dispensing drinks to the servants. "Hey, how are you?" Audrey asked Naomi.

"Feeling better, thanks." Naomi replied. "And thank you, for what you did. Pierce…he…" She hesitated, it was always hard to talk about Pierce assaulting her, especially since she had only said anything out loud a few hours ago.

"I think I know what he did." Audrey said with distaste. "I wish we had made sure he didn't escape, he should pay for what he did to you." And the brunette princess didn't even know Shuriki's former guard had also murdered Naomi's mother.

"At least both you and Elena stopped him from doing it to me again." Naomi said with a small smile.

Jorge looked a little confused and then looked to Jay. "She doesn't seem to be the uh…how shall I say this…sympathetic type." He confessed.

Jay laughed a little. "She didn't used to be. She's changed a lot since we met her." He admitted. "And…she and Ben had a friend turn against them. He beat up Audrey to get his dark powers and he's expressed the same kind of interest in doing to her that Pierce did to your friend." He clenched his fists together. "I won't let him."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Jorge said as he looked at Naomi. "If I have my way, even if he comes back he'll never lay a hand on Naomi again."

Out of the corner of her eye Lonnie noticed a carriage descending with three...wow flying horses, that was a new one on her and the Enchancian princess went over to them. The Asian princess had deduced that Sofia and her siblings were going to be spending some time in Avalor on some kind of abroad study program, almost in a way like what the VK's were doing except the royals parents wouldn't be disowning them for it. For some reason the sight made her miss Will and the rest of their friends.

The carriage had also revealed a young black haired girl who wore clothing that was often associated with the typical definition of a witch. Sofia seemed to know her and was happy to see her while her sister Amber also seemed to know her though she didn't seem quite so enthused about her presence, much like Audrey at seeing Mal for a while before they had really gotten to know each other.

"Hey are you okay?" Gabe asked Lonnie as he saw her brush a tear from her eye.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said. "Just seeing your friends," She gestured toward Mateo and Sonya. "It makes me miss my boyfriend Will." She sat down and Gabe sat down with her. "You know when my friends and I started doing what we did to protect Auradon I watched as they started to pair up or at least flirt with each other." She started ticking it off on her fingers. "Mal and Ben were dating beforehand, Jay and Audrey were flirting since like the start, Carlos and Jane were attracted to each other, Evie and Doug were attracted to each other, two of our other friends Ally and Aziz were dating. Only Jordan was single and as a genie she didn't really care. Then I met Will."

"It worked out then?" Gabe asked, curious. Some of that was for his own benefit too. He wondered if he and Elena could ever really be together because of their positions in life.

"Not right off." She answered. "First I was worried about keeping my secret. See, what we do in Auradon isn't known by the general public. It's just too dangerous. So I didn't know how to make it work. Then we got attacked and I had no choice but to expose my identity. He was so brave though, when that monster had me down he jumped in powerless to save me." She sighed a bit. "Then I discovered he and another guy we recruited was working for the enemy. He did it to protect his mother and little sister and even then when it came time he couldn't do it and was attacked as a result. But I still had a bit of a hard time dealing with it until Ben helped me out."

Gabe wasn't sure what to think. Granted the truth was that there were several complicated things going on from their end that just didn't seem to exist on his end, and yet at the same time it seemed like things were just differently complicated. "But you guys are happy now, right?" He asked and when Lonnie nodded he added, "Then it the end that's what really matters."

"I think almost everyone gets that at some point in their lives." Lonnie said encouragingly. "Even royal guards who have strong feelings for crown princesses." She smirked a bit at his shocked reaction. "I was watching all of my friends feel that way for others before I ever got to that point, you don't think I don't know the signs?"

Gabe shrugged almost embarrassed. They could see everyone gathering for the feast and got up to join them. Sofia took the black haired girl, who Lonnie overheard her name was Lucinda. over to Mateo and Sonya and introduced her friend to Sonya, and then she said, "Her mother thought it would be a good idea for Lucinda to come with us and study from you Mateo."

Mateo seemed shocked. "A witch? Intern with me?" He echoed. Lucinda felt a little upset that he would make that kind of judgment but that faded when he added, "I mean I barely know what I'm doing, she's actually probably more advanced than me. How do I teach her?"

Ah, now she understood. "Well, how about we call it studying together?" The little night witch suggested. That reminded Lonnie very much of Amy's situation with Alex, they were kind of an example of the blind leading the blind when it came to magic learning.

"Sounds good to me." Sonya said as she smiled at Mateo.

Mateo looked kind of embarrassed, caught between his beautiful girlfriend and the enthusiastic little witch. "Yeah, why not? Sounds great." He concluded.

"Great." Sofia sad happily as she hugged her friend. "We'll all have so much fun together. At least as soon as I know what I'm going to be studying there."

Mateo looked to Mal and Carlos. "I really wish that you guys could come back to Avalor with us, there's a book there I really wish you guys could get a look at." She remarked and when they all looked at each other confused he added, "It's called the Enciclopedia Daemonica and it seems to be full of a lot of information about the demons."

"The problem is it's written in a language that we don't recognize." Christina added.

"Do you really think it would have that much useful information?" Lonnie wondered.

"It might." Evie replied. "I mean my Spanish is kind of non-existent but if I remember right that should translate to the demon encyclopedia. It probably has the most definitive history about their race and the most information ever collected on them."

"But would it really be helpful?" Jay asked as they all started to get some food together. "I mean for those of us who aren't total bookworms. We've proven we can beat these things down and that's all that matters."

"Remember what we were told Jay." Audrey said to him. "What we know is dangerous to our enemy, what we think we know is dangerous to us."

"It is good advice." Francisco noted admirably.

Mal smirked a little as she looked to Elena. "Yeah, we learned it from a giant rat." She told the crown princess coyly and Elena struggled for a moment to figure out how literally she should take that comment as she tore off a strip of chicken to give to Blaze.

Naomi also remembered Audrey mentioning a move she learned from a mutant ninja turtle. "You have some interesting friends." Naomi noted a with just a little bit of uncertainty.

"You have no idea." Audrey replied with a laugh. She understood the doubts she saw on many of their faces but she knew if it ever came down to it they would all be able to see the good hearts within the rough exteriors, just as she had.

Amy giggled too. She was sure that they would be just fine. She already was positive Sofia would be just fine with it. She was sure the young princess could be fine with almost anything.

"You seem to be a little young to be running an entire kingdom." Esteban said to Ben. "You must be very well trained." He hoped the young king was more prepared than the chancellor thought Elena was. Then again he silently noted that he had come here to help fight, and as grateful as they all were for that, it wasn't exactly royal practice.

"I do my best." Ben noted a bit uncertainly.

Elena repressed a sigh as she remembered King Juan Ramon of Cordoba reminding his Alonso that a ruler did what the people needed to be done and Naomi repressed an irritable sigh at Esteban's attitude. Mal found herself bristling a bit, not just for her boyfriend but her new friend, and for herself as well. She already knew that would be the kind of reaction she might someday face when she and Ben married and she became queen of Auradon. "Ben is a great king. He does the best thing for his people, even when it means it might not be the best for himself." She said.

"Remember when we first got our powers?" Jay asked his friends.

"I do." Audrey replied. "I wasn't even supposed to get any. Ben was supposed to get my powers, he was meant to defend Auradon from the beginning. But when Jane wrote the coding for the devices we use to channel the powers it was designed to look for other sources that were in our genes so it didn't interfere with anything else."

"And it found my knight powers in my system long before we even knew they were there. So it rejected me." Ben filled in. "But I realized Audrey had followed us and suggested she take the powers in my place, and it accepted her."

"So you were willing to fight to defend your kingdom, but you were also wise enough to know when it was time to step back." Roland said with approval. "Well done."

"And he hated it too." Mal revealed. "He hated seeing his friend's out risking their lives while all he could was watch. He felt much better unlocking his powers to help us out."

"Including that neat sword you have I guess." James said.

Ben shook his head. "The Praeleanthor sword came later on when my original weapons was broken and we learned that a former friend of mine was tapping into the same demonic powers that Shuriki was using." He told the young prince. "Some of our other friend's went to find a replacement weapon that could help us cope with the dark powers he was using and found that sword."

"Oh I wish I had the time to examine that sword." Isabel mused. "It must have so many interesting secrets. I can't even tell what kind of metal it's made out of."

Evie laughed. "Even if you could I'd still say good luck with that. Jane, Doug and I have been trying to get a better understanding of that sword and we're no closer now than we were when they first brought us the sword." She told the young Avaloran princess. "But if you ever want to discuss metallurgy with someone I have an idea on who you could do that with."

Kara bit into an empanada and smiled happily. "It's so sweet, I love it." She said as she then tore off a chunk to dip in honey the way that Isabel liked it. Beside her Clover was munching happily on a few leaves of lettuce.

Mal smirked and looked to Evie and commented, "Puffed deliciousness." To which her blue haired friend laughed herself.

"So what about this secret library thing that brought us here?" Amy asked Sofia as she reached for a few strawberries. Everyone noticed how she didn't eat much and in fact it didn't escape anyone's notice that she probably wouldn't be 100 pound soaking wet but since Mal and her friend's didn't seem to worry about it, everyone else tried not to dwell on it. "Is there a point where we could get stuck here or something?"

"Not that I know of." Sofia replied. She of course had only had people come through the secret library door portal twice. The first was Alakazar when she had learned about Elena and Avalor and the second time was when Queen Orchid had come through to help them stop her sister Princess Ivy. None had stuck around like this. Still, she had a feeling this was a very unique exception.

"What is with that scepter anyway?" Jay asked Elena. "Why did that sorceress want to destroy it anyway?"

"Ah, the scepter of light." Elena replied with a smile. "It's an ancient maruvian artifact that my dad had when he was king of Avalor. It didn't react like that to him though, it's an effect of being trapped inside Sofia's amulet for forty one years, it's also a maruvian artifact."

"Maruvian?" Aquiella asked now.

"They were an ancient civilization that was around in Avalor before we were." Mateo told her. "They disappeared without a trace; all that remains is their ruins and artifacts like those."

"They're all very pretty and seem to be pretty powerful." Amber added as she touched the tiara she wore in her hair. "My latest tiara is a maruvian artifact too, which also makes it one of the best of my tiaras though so far it hasn't shown any powers."

"I'm starting to think these demons might have had something to do with the Maruvian's disappearance." Gabe said now. "But we don't have any proof of that except for possibly whatever is in that book we have back in Avalor."

"Maybe we can get a look at it whenever we're here again." Evie volunteered.

Elena was happy to see most of her friends and family getting along with their rescuers though Esteban was still naturally rather distant for the most part. She sometimes wished she knew what had happened while her cousin had been made to serve under Shuriki in those forty one years.

By the time the feast was nearing an end they all knew it was coming time for Mal and her friends to head home. They weren't quite used to people cleaning up after them, that was something they usually did themselves unless Jordan's magic was involved. "Do you think that we'll ever see you guys again?" Christina asked them.

"Anything is possible." Melody said. "If you need our help I'm sure you'll come up with something."

"There's always the secret library." Sofia volunteered with a smile.

"Well I'm sure there has to be a way for you all to come back sometime." Roland said to them as Miranda came to stand beside him. On his other side Elena stood there with her grandparents. "We discussed this earlier today and we have our first dual proclamation."

Everyone else looked at them expectantly. Clearly no one else knew about it, even Esteban which miffed him just a little bit. Roland nodded to Elena to let her announce the big news. "As of today, we now pronounce Mal and all of her friends to be honorary citizens of both the kingdom of Avalor."

"And the kingdom of Enchancia." Miranda finished.

They all looked absolutely startled at that one. Amy reflected perhaps it shouldn't be such a surprise since they had done so for their ranger friends very quickly, even those who truthfully they hadn't met but were associated with them none the less. Ben took Mal's hand in his and stepped forward with Audrey and Evie with him. "On behalf of all of our people, we would be honored King Roland, Crown Princess Elena." He said with a bow, the two princesses and Mal curtsying as well.

Amy smiled happily as Sofia and Isabel hugged her happily.

"Well that's neat." Gabe said with a smile as he offered his hand to Jay. "Want to come join the royal guards? We could use moves like yours."

Jay took his hand and replied, "I think my friends need me in Auradon, but it's nice to know I've got a few options." The two laughed a little.

"Take care Naomi." Audrey said as she and the blonde exchanged hugs. "I'm sorry we couldn't stop Pierce in the process." It was a small shock to Lonnie, the Audrey she knew was not usually the hugging type. But then again, the two of them shared a very...unique bond even if it was not something either of them would have asked for.

"It'll be okay. I have Jorge and Elena and all of my friends to help me out." Naomi said as the two separated. "Thank you for helping me Audrey. I hope you stay safe too." She didn't have a name or anything but they all knew someone was targeting her too.

"By the way, nice bracelet." Audrey added as she squeezed the sides of the maruvian bracelet. "Very pretty."

"Thanks, I found it at the bottom of the ocean believe it or not." Naomi answered and the two laughed. They still didn't know for sure that it was a maruvian artifact like all of the other ones that they had floating around.

"Come on, I'll get you guys home." Sofia said.

"I'll go with you." Isabel said. "You're here because of both of us in a way; it's only fair that I help get you home too."

"I'll open us up a portal to get there." Melody volunteered as she held up the trident she used, which was really her grandfathers. Sofia went over and took Minimus's reigns so that she and Isabel could fly back when they were done.

"Be careful hermana's." Elena said. "We'll be here when you get back and we should be ready to go back to Avalor." She hugged both Sofia and Isabel. Melody opened a portal to the secret library.

Once there Sofia was surprised but not entirely shocked to find a new book in the secret library entitled We Choose Good-Auradon Force Saga. She placed it on the pedestal of the crystalline structure and it opened up the portal to allow them to go home.

"Thank you all again." Sofia said as she curtsied to them with Isabel following in that gesture. After they all took a moment to hug Sofia and Isabel again they returned to their own world. They saw just the briefest image of them showing back where they started, where Carlos was greeted by a hug from Jane and Fairy Godmother welcomed them home.