While Leon was rushing back to the castle, the battle was still taking place with the servants and the remaining members of the mob who had managed to evade their attacks, still willing to put up a fight, in spite of the latter seeing several of their comrades being bundled out, injured and humiliated that they were defeated by furniture and household objects.

Beauden was now the leader as he believed that as the winner of the Games, it gave him that right and instructed the mob to regroup and gather their torches, guns and forks to burn and shoot any object that dared stood in their way.

However, he was way over his head and while he was the most athletic boy in the mob and the village, it did not mean that he was an effective leader nor did he anticipate that a large wardrobe, with an operatic woman's voice that rang out a tune as she jumped down the stairs, would land on him, which Madame Armoire did.

Beauden managed to get up and used a nearby club that had been discarded by a villager earlier to swing a few hits at Madame Armoire, but she easily dodged them and opened up her drawers, smacking the boy with them which dazed him.

Before he had a chance to recover and land another hit, she bundled him inside her as he struggled furiously while she thrashed back and forth.

'Got you now, dearie!' she said, as she continued thrashing, paying no heed to the boy's screams to be let out, 'let's see how you would look in some LOVELY clothes I have in my drawers!'

Eventually Beauden was tossed out and was now wearing the hideous pink dress and purple and pink jacket that Madame Armoire had tried to get Leon to wear and he screamed in horror as he looked at the horrendous and feminine clothes, while the wardrobe chuckled at him.

'I knew that these clothes would come in handy one day,' she said.

For the hapless and humiliated Beauden, being beat up and dressed in feminine and revolting clothes by a wardrobe was too much to bear.

It did not do his image of being the Gaston Games winner and the most athletic boy in the village who could beat anyone at sports any good and all of his dignity had disappeared, as he looked ridiculous with his bruises that he had gotten from being thrown around inside Madame Armoire and he hoped that no one would see him look like this.

To add further insult to injury, his arch-rival, Stephane, having been thwarted by the two suits of armour outside the small room, when he and two other boys had tried to enter, thinking that the castle's riches would be in there, saw him dressed in the clothes, which made Beauden blush and use his arms in a vain attempt to cover them up.

Stephane laughed his head off at seeing his rival looking ridiculous, taking great delight at seeing the so-called Gaston Games winner look like a pathetic, sissy girl.

'Looking good, Beaudy!' he said as he wolf-whistled and the two boys laughed at him, seeing the Gaston Games champion in hideous and feminine garments and that angered Beauden, more so than usual.

And like he usually did whenever Stephane riled him up, he retaliated by engaging in a full-out brawl with him and soon, both boys forgot all about the battle with the castle occupants and the beast as they rolled out of the castle and down the steps, punching and hitting each other.

That effectively eliminated them both from the fight but they no longer cared as they were now more interested in fighting EACH OTHER.

Upstairs, with all the commotion going on below her, Amandine was making her way down the East Wing, kicking every door down in her pursuit of the terrible creature that had taken Leon away from her, keeping her eye out for any clues, scents or trails that the beast may have left.

Each time she had reached a dead end as every room she had broken into had been empty but Amandine was not giving up easily and was in no mood to be sent on a wild goose chase, as she kept walking down the corridor, determined to find her prey.

'Where are you, Beasty?' she cooed in a sing-song voice, hoping that it would lure the creature out,

'I know you're here somewhere! Come on out, you can't hide from me forever, because I WILL FIND YOU and I'll soon teach you to take my future husband away from me!'

Laughing evilly and confident that no one was in her way, as her henchmen, as useless as they were, were keeping the objects at bay, she then walked towards the West Wing, hoping that was where the hideous creature would be and she was going to pay for stealing Leon from her.

Elsewhere, Cogsworth, wearing the same hat and sash that he wore in the first battle was dealing with a young man who had picked him up and tried to open his case and swing his pendulum and he was certainly punching above his weight, literally as he landed a few punches on his hapless victim.

'Take that, you encroacher!' he said, hitting the man on the nose who yelped in alarm and dropped him.

However, Francois quickly picked him up and shook him up and down; making him dizzy and his hat fell off as the huge, muscular boy twisted him roughly and tightly, making him scream in pain.

'HELP!' Cogsworth screamed as his hands went round his face, his cries for help going unnoticed, as Francois laughed at him, clearly amused by the clock's pain.

'Hee hee, look at the clock hands going round and round,' he laughed.

Then, quite suddenly, the burly boy screamed as he felt Lumiere burn him on his bottom, which made him drop Cogsworth, who landed on the ground as cogs and bolts came flying out of him and Lumiere helped him up.

'Lumiere, thank you for saving me from that thug of a boy,' Cogsworth said, as he put the cogs and bolts back inside him and placed his hat on his head.

'This is like when I stabbed LeFou in his bottom with the scissors when he tried to melt you with his torch in the first battle. Talk about role reversal!'

'Indeed it is, mon ami,' Lumiere said, 'I owed you for that and this was my way of repaying you, since you didn't like the kisses I gave you,' which he gave a chuckle at and tried to kiss him again but Cogsworth quickly pushed him away.

'Get off me!' he said, disgusted.

'Oh, come on Cogsworth, just for old time's sake?' Lumiere pleaded, 'after all, victory will soon be ours again!'

'No, absolutely not!' said Cogsworth, 'besides the battle isn't over so don't start celebrating just yet. We still have to get rid of the remaining members of the mob.'

But their moment of brief glory was soon ruined when Lumiere felt some wax trickle down him and heard a familar chuckle and realised that an old enemy was behind them with an evil grin on his face and holding a torch which was thrusting towards both Lumiere AND Cogsworth, intending to burn them both.

The clock and candelabra turned around and found themselves face to face with..

'LEFOU!' they both shouted, holding on to each other.

'Long time no see,' LeFou said, chuckling evilly, 'I told you I'll be back and this time it'll be third time lucky! And what luck that I managed to get the both of you together so I can burn you!' as he chuckled again.

'This is for you, Gaston, old buddy!' he shouted to the sky, as he thrust his torch towards the helpless candelabra and clock as they whimpered in fright.

More wax was dripping down Lumiere, nearly melting him, as he desperately tried to blow the flames out like he did the last time and Cogsworth felt the heat as it reflected on his glass case and his face.

'Well, this looks like the end,' Cogsworth said, sounding resigned, 'we're about to meet our fiery doom and LeFou will finally be victorious.'

'Not if I have anything to do with it!' Remy shouted from the stairs, having gone up there for some reason, which made the little man look up in confusion.

'LeFou, you better leave my buddies alone or you'll soon feel my wrath just like your co-leader did!' Remy said to him, which the little man sneered at, thinking that a washboard being able to disarm and defeat him was ridiculous.

'What are you going to do to stop me?' he said, 'You're just a washboard and I can burn you just as easily as this clock and candelabra!'

'I may just be a washboard but I'm more than capable of taking you down as that loser found out the hard way when he was literally all washed up and you underestimate me at your own peril since I'm willing to put myself in harm's way to protect those I love!'

'Attaboy, Remy, you show him!' George said, pleased that his pep talk had worked on his brother, but was worried about his cockiness and overconfidence.

'Prepare to taste defeat for the third time, LeFou, you weak and pathetic little MAN!' Remy said as he slid down the bannister, whooping and laughing, taking on the role that Cogsworth did when he stabbed LeFou in the bottom with a pair of scissors and saved Lumiere from being melted by him.

Remy didn't have any scissors or any weapons other than himself and his metal grooves but if Henri was anything to go by, they had proven to be very effective and there was no reason why it shouldn't be a second time.

'Go for it, Remy,' Cogsworth said, seeing the brave and somewhat foolish washboard come to their rescue, 'Do what I did to LeFou during the first enchantment and save us from this fiery torch that is about to burn us!'

'I never thought that I would be so glad that Remy would come to our rescue,' Lumiere said, surprised that his enemy, the man that had picked on him and humiliated him in his bets was risking his life to save both him and Cogsworth.

For someone who hadn't wanted to participate in this battle, for fear of losing his life and remembering his encounter with the Red Enchantress, Remy had been quite involved and had managed to defeat and disarm the co-leader, Henri and was willing to put himself in harm's way to save those he cared about, even if they were a sworn enemy of his.

'Such a brave and foolish man he is,' Lumiere said, glad that Remy was saving him, even though they were enemies, well, 'frienemies' really, like he and Cogsworth were.

Remy then jumped off the bannister and used his metal grooves to slide down the little man's bottom, which made him scream and drop his torch, holding his bottom and resigning to defeat yet again.

'Ha,ha, LeFou, once again you taste the bitterness of defeat!' taunted Remy, as the little man limped away, muttering curses to himself as victory had eluded him for a third time and it wasn't going to bring Gaston back.

He pondered why he had agreed to go along with this mob, especially since it was ending like it did the last time and wondered if Amandine was going to meet the same fate as her uncle.

However, Remy's second victory over a mob member was short-lived when Rebecca's screams pierced the air, as he turned around and saw that she was being held upside down by her legs as a villager held a torch near her and ignoring her terrified screams, which were for Remy as he hurriedly waddled over to her.

This time, the damsel in distress was not Babette, as it was in the first battle, as she had fought bravely with her fellow featherdusters, but Rebecca, as the villager was intending to burn her and he chuckled at seeing the frightened ragdoll struggling against his iron grip.

'Bye bye, little dolly!' the villager taunted as he waved his torch closer to her.

'REMY!' Rebecca screamed, 'Help me!'

'BECKS!' Remy shouted, waddling as fast as he could to rescue his beloved from the vicious flames that threatened to consume her, heart beating crazily, as everyone else watched in shock at seeing the poor defenceless ragdoll, the girl who they all loved and had suffered many hardships in her life , in such terrible danger.

'Don't you dare hurt her!' he shouted, determined that the wicked man was not going to burn his beloved, the girl he had pursued for years and had finally gotten together with her, not after all they had been through.

He jumped on the man, hoping to startle him but when that didn't work, as the man took no notice and he then slid down his back, tearing his clothes.

That finally got the man's attention and he yelped in pain, dropping both the torch and Rebecca as she landed on the floor, miraculously missing the torch as the light went out but unfortunately, as he did so, he found the washboard on his back and threw him off, sending him flying in the air.

Remy, for all his heroism and bravery, was slammed against the wall roughly and slid down, wheezing in pain as he slumped on the floor which confirmed his earlier fears about being hurt or killed.

The remaining members of the mob had gone into the kitchen chasing Sultan, who had stolen LeFou's shoe, like he had done the last time but Lila, having seen Francois about to attack the footstool with a pitchfork, jumped on his face which blocked his vision and batted her tassels against him, saving Sultan, who was obliviously chewing on the shoe.

They had also been pelted with rotten tomatoes by the mugs, spoons, bowls and plates, one of them being Nathalie who had said to them,

'You better get out of our kitchen!' as she threw a tomato at a villager.

And with Chef Bouche and the cutlery, particularly the sharp knives, scaring them off, it was the final straw as the hapless men surrendered and fled the castle, screaming and worse for the wear, embarrassed that they had been defeated by furniture and household objects and that they had disgraced themselves by being no better than their predecessors.

Not to mention they were leaving empty-handed, having failed to get the riches that were promised to them and were sporting numerous injuries that they had received from the occupants, who were celebrating victory for a second time, cheering and jumping up and down enthusically, caught up in their triumph.

They now had defeated the descendants of the first mob as they saw off the sorry men and boys and cheered ecstatically while shouting at and taunting them.

'And stay out!' Cogsworth shouted. Lumiere tapped him on the shoulder and kissed him on the cheeks, like he had tried to do earlier and the clock threw him off in disgust.

'Lumiere, don't do that!' he hissed, as he wiped his face, while the candelabra grinned at him.

'See ya, wouldn't want to be ya!' Chip taunted.

'Not so brave and tough now, are you?' George said, as the last member of the mob crawled out of the castle.

'We did it, we did it!' Babette cheered, 'we defeated those ruffians and I didn't lose any feathers this time!'

'Yes, ma cherie, I never knew you could be so capable of fighting that foolish boy just with your feathers!' Lumiere said, gathering her in his arms and kissing her, which made her giggle, 'You certainly weren't the damsel in distress this time!'

'I told you that I'm not always weak and delicate, I can fight when I need to and wasn't it thrilling? I felt a great rush when I fought that boy just by tickling him with my feathers and whipping dust in his face!' Babette said.

'You were right, Lumiere, we were all useful for the battle!' Amelie said.

'Those idiots might have had weapons and were bigger than us, but they hadn't counted on pure determination and the strength of enchanted household objects and furniture and had underestimated us at their own peril!

Wasn't it great when Raymond and I made that flamboyant pretty boy look like one of Sophie's paintings when the paint bottles and brushes splattered paint on him and messed up his hair?' she said, laughing, then felt the pang of sadness as she remembered that her daughter was still missing.

'That was funny, Amelie,' Chip said, as he did an imitation of Pierre, which made everyone laugh,

'My face! My beautiful, beautiful face! No, don't touch my hair! You do not touch my hair!' he said, flailing around, like the vain boy had done.

'It was great you were here this time, love,' said Mrs Potts, kissing her son.

'And we took on those thugs single-handedly!' Raymond said.

'No-handedly, you mean,' Cogsworth said, which made the easel chuckle,

'And that was all we needed, which was why we were victorious for a second time and for LeFou, it was not third time lucky for him and he should realise now that it's not going to bring Gaston back and get on with his life, never to bother or attack us again.'

'Thanks to Remy,' Lumiere said, 'If it wasn't for him, Cogsworth, mademoiselle Rebecca and I would be cinders by now.'

'Yes, he was so brave to fight off the cocky co-leader of the mob, LeFou and that villager who tried to burn poor Rebecca, even though he was so reluctant to take part in this battle, which is understandable, considering what had happened to him with the Red Enchantress and all,' Mrs Potts said.

'Don't let him take all the credit, we all helped too!' said George.

'That's right, we all did and this victory belongs to all of us,' Cogsworth said and everyone agreed.

They may have lost all hope of being human again but for now, they relished in their victory as they hugged and congratulated each other for they had managed yet again to overcome the odds and defeat a mob that had threatened them and their beloved mistress.

But there had been one casualty from this battle as Rebecca, unhurt from her ordeal, was getting up on her feet and gasped in horror at seeing Remy slumped against the wall where the villager had thrown him and not moving, having gotten hurt on her account.

'Oh no, Remy!' she said, running over to him with tears streaming down her face, 'Remy!'

Everyone quickly turned around to see what had happened and was saddened and shocked to see Remy lying hurt, having been thrown against the wall when he had saved Rebecca, his love, from the vicious torch of flames of the villager who had tried to burn her.

They had seen a different side to the washboard who they had always seen as a loudmouth and annoying, brash, obnoxious and rebellious amongst other things.

A brave and daring side that they had never seen, a washboard who had risked his life to save Rebecca, Lumiere and Cogsworth from a fiery fate, especially since he hadn't wanted to fight in the first place, using nothing but the metal grooves on him.

It was rather unfortunate that this battle, unlike the first one, where all the servants had been unscathed, had to have someone suffer an injury and it was Remy, although he had done so to save Rebecca, even if it meant risking his life and paying for it.

'Poor Remy,' Mrs Potts said.

'Is he…?' Chip gulped, not wanting to think the worst.

'I don't think so Chip, he may have bruised ribs, but I'm not a doctor, so I don't know. I just hope it's not too serious.' Lumiere said, 'after all he did risk his life to save me from LeFou, who was going to melt me again.'

'And to think that this man, who had been so brave, is actually the loudmouth launderer we always found annoying, brash, immature and was rebellious amongst other things?' Katrine said,

'It's like we've seen a different side that we didn't see before, like Leon did with the mistress..'

She soon stopped herself, not wanting to remind everyone of the reason for the battle and why the mob had come here in the first place, as it had been Leon who had left them with no hope of him returning, had broken Rose's heart and had shown her to the villagers, putting her and the servants in danger, even though he hadn't meant to.

'Well, this is a first,' Cogsworth said, sadly,

'One of us actually getting hurt in battle, if we don't count Adam being stabbed by Gaston, but I suppose there's a first time for everything and it's rather unfortunate that it had to be Remy, but he did it for us and for Rebecca, his love.'

The others nodded sadly at his comment, seeing their dear friend in the state that he was in and Rebecca holding him, crying and begging for him to wake up, as he still lay on the floor, not having moved a muscle.

George's eyes misted at seeing his little brother, the only family he had left and felt guilty about having persuaded him to fight as he too went to his side and saw Rebecca holding him, shedding tears.

'Oh, Remy,' George said, as his eyes went misty,

'I'm sorry that I talked you into this, you were right all along, but you were so brave to save Rebecca, Lumiere and Cogsworth and to fight off those thugs just by being yourself, as we all did.

No matter what I have said and what you have done, I'm glad you're my little brother and that we were able to defeat the mob, even if you paid the price for it.'

'Remy!' Rebecca cried out, as she cradled him in her arms,

'Oh, Remy, please wake up! Please be alright!' as she sobbed uncontrollably, her tears soaking in Remy's face, hoping that would awaken him.

Then suddenly, as if her tears had healing powers and hearing her sweet voice, Remy's eyes began to open and was obviously disoriented from his ordeal, for he said, quite groggily,

'But Master, Lumiere made me do it,'

That confused the others, especially Lumiere, who had no idea what he was talking about, but they were relieved that he was alive and alright, although winded which was hardly surprising considered he had been thrown against a wall quite roughly.

He smiled at Rebecca, who was looking at him with her beautiful green eyes which had tears in them.

'Becks,' he said, wheezing.

'Remy!' Rebecca exclaimed gleefully, as she hugged him,

'Oh, Remy, you saved me from that awful villager who was going to burn me! But are you okay? You were thrown against a wall, you know.'

'Yeah, I'm fine,' he said, trying to sit up, but found it difficult, as he felt a sharp pain in his grooves, where his ribs would've been,

'Or maybe not, I hope that I haven't broken any ribs, that is, if I have them, but are you okay, Becks?'

'Yes, I'm okay, thanks to you,' said Rebecca, smiling at him and stroking his face,

'Thank you so much, for what you did was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,' and she kissed him, which made him forget about his pain as a huge grin appeared on his face.

'You're welcome, Becks, I wasn't going to let that villager burn you, like LeFou was going to do to Cogsie and Lumsie!' Remy said.

'Oh, by the way, Lumsie, you can cancel my funeral, looks like I won't need it after all!' he then said which made Rebecca and everyone laugh.

'Yes, but you need Monsieur Hulliot to come and look at you, you might have a few bruised..' Lumiere said, trying to find the right word,

'..grooves but it's wonderful that we were able to fight off another mob just by being ourselves and protect our mistress, even if there is no hope of the boy returning to her and us. No one will be able to get to her now!'

But what the servants didn't know was that Rose, in spite of their victory over the mob and their efforts to protect her, was in even greater danger now, as Amandine had found the West Wing, getting closer to her, as she kept kicking down the doors.

Unlike in the East Wing, where she had met many dead ends, she didn't have to go very far before finding some hairs that were caught on a door which were definitely not human hair but not wolf or bear hair as she expected it to be but it had to be from the beast for sure.

She smiled to herself as she felt the coarse, rough hair in her fingers, knowing that her prey was behind that door and with no one guarding it, it would be a piece of cake to get in.

'I finally found you, Beasty,' she said and tiptoed into the room, armed with her bow and arrow which was poised to land the first shot, as she saw the sad, slumped figure of Rose looking out of a window and letting out moans of anguish.

The real battle was about to begin.

Stay tuned for the showdown between Rose and Amandine!

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