Again thanks to pinksakura271 for the monster ideas and helping to inspire this plotline.
Heartwrecker left the school and into one of the market areas. His very appearance was enough to send people fleeing in terror. "Oh calm down." The monster taunted the populace. "If you take a moment to look at me I bet you'll really get to love me." He laughed as he tried to shoot the potion out at them.
"I doubt that one." He heard from behind. He turned to see Audrey, Jay, Lonnie, Carlos and Evie behind him. It was Jay who had spoken. "We don't even really know you and we're already sick of you."
"Look, its five little rangers all ready to get knocked down like bowling pins." Heartwrecker taunted. "Shouldn't there be six of you?" He asked mockingly.
"Like you don't already know what's going on." Audrey snapped. She looked to her team mates. "Come on guys, let's get to work." The five of them pulled out their iPhones and put in their numbers and morphed.
"I'm just trying to bring a little love into your lives." Heartwrecker said and sprayed the five of them down. "Can't you feel it?"
"The only thing you're going to be feeling is pain." Jay said. Heartwrecker realized they must be immune to his effects as long as they were morphed.
"Alright then kiddies. You don't want to feel the love, then you can feel the burn." With that Heartwrecker moved in to attack.
The five rangers formed their weapons and got ready. As he swung at Carlos, the yellow ranger dodged it. Lonnie moved in and tried to strike him with her tessens but the monster blocked it. Jay and Audrey moved in tried to strike him but he caught it and flipped them down hard. He then blasted at the four of them but Evie got in their way allowed her mirror shield to take the impact so that she could reflect it right back at the monster.
"Hah, that is so cool to see." Carlos admitted.
"That kind of stings." Heartwrecker growled and then came right at her. Evie rolled out of the way only for him to take a double kick from Carlos and Jay. Audrey and Lonnie shot an arrow and threw a tessen at him respectively and he was thrown back but only rolled up with barely a scratch.
"Solid glass apparently." Carlos noted. "That's going to be a tough nut to crack."
Jane watched Doug working on what he hoped would be a good chemical solution to reverse the love potion that had been given to Mal, she assumed before Heartwrecker had been created. That was in between watching the battle between the rest of the rangers and the monster play out on screen. She heard a noise only to see Chad starting to stir. "Just what we don't need." She muttered.
"Oh, Chaddie kins." Mal gushed. "Are you okay?"
"What?" He asked as he looked around and then remembered what was going on. "What is your problem Mal?" He demanded.
"Don't speak to my Mal that way." Ben warned.
"Maybe you haven't noticed Romeo, but it's 'your Mal' that is coming onto me." Chad snapped at him. "Maybe you need to get your girl under control here." That made Jane grimace in annoyance as she remembered Audrey commenting on outdated beliefs. Then the irate prince looked at them and ordered, "Doug, Jane. Tell me what is going on here, now."
"It's kind of complicated Chad." Doug tried to side step it without lying. "But don't worry, we'll have it taken care of so you can be on your way as soon as possible."
"I want you to tell me why the purple haired freak thinks I'm going to fall for her." Chad demanded.
"She's not 'falling for you'." Ben snapped at him. "She's being influenced by a spell. And the next time you call her a freak…"
"Okay, that's enough." Jane snapped. "Sit down." She said to Ben and then looked to Chad. "And shut up." Both boys looked surprised at her tone of voice and both of them complied, at least for now. She was afraid that wouldn't hold for long though. She looked to Doug. "We need a solution soon."
"I'm working on it." Doug promised her. He felt kind of bad for Chad since it wasn't really his fault that a love potion had been accidently given to her that made her fall in love with Chad. But it didn't dismiss the fact he was unforgivably rude to the isle kids. He had long surpassed even Audrey in that regard, let alone him or Jane. He was too busy to see the look that Ben gave Chad as Mal tried to cuddle up to him.
Jay was on his feet as the others were recovering but stopped when Heartwrecker aimed his arms at them again and he couldn't help but laugh. "I thought you already learned that we can't be affected by your little potion." He said.
"I have learned that." Heartwrecker promised and then unleashed a torrent of flames on them, followed by rockets on the bands around his wrists. They all struck the rangers hard, and it sent them flying back hard, crashing into a stand.
"Now that wasn't much fun at all." Evie moaned as she tried to get up. "I couldn't even get my mirror shield ready."
Heartwrecker leapt at them again. Audrey and Evie dodged to the right while Carlos and Jay dodged to the left. Lonnie raised her tessens and blocked the downward swing of the monster's arms. He lashed out though and kicked Lonnie in the stomach hard. He then swung out his arms and struck both Carlos and Audrey hard as they tried to move in to attack.
"That's enough out of you." Jay announced and tried again to attack with his scimitar. The monster blocked with his right hand and swung with his left. The black ranger brought his scimitar down and blocked it right as the monster's foot shot out and caught Jay in the chest hard, sending him backwards in a heap.
"We could really use Mal right about now." Evie noted as she was helping Carlos and Audrey to their feet.
Jane looked at Mal. "You hear that?" She asked the purple haired girl. "Our friends are losing out there, they could use all the power they can get right now." She knew they could use the Triangle Spark Blast on their own, and in fact was thinking that might be the only way they could defeat Heartwrecker if they ever got the chance to form it.
But they couldn't construct the Auradon blaster without Mal and her staff.
Mal watched the screen from her place by Chad. Part of her felt like she should be there to help them but another part of her didn't want to risk leaving Chad's side and have something bad happen to him. "Well…" She tried.
"Feel free to go freak girl." Chad bit off.
"I told you not to call her that." Ben snapped as he stood up. He was about ready to pounce at him but Mal was in the way and he stopped himself. He looked to Mal. "Let's go Mal. We can help take that monster out together."
Jane had a sudden image of Heartwrecker lighting Ben on fire, and the young king would not endure the attack the way her morphed friends could, hence reminding herself why Audrey had said they had to do this without Mal in the first place. She sighed and looked back to the battle. "Come on you guys. It's all on you."
"We all know Mal can't be here." Audrey said to them. "Rather we like it or not it's all on us." She looked around to the team. "So get your acts together and let's send this monster back where he belongs."
"Great motivational speech there." Jay said to the red ranger simply. Not that she didn't have a point which they all knew but he wasn't sure that was the best way to motivate.
Audrey hesitated and bit her lip. "Yeah, not the best." She conceded. "But when I said getting acts, together…I did include me in that."
"You better get your acts together if you want to break me bottle." Heartwrecker taunted and shot the rockets out at the rangers again.
Since there was no flame to act as a distraction it just gave Evie enough time to react. The blue ranger took the front and aimed her mirror shield at the attack. Some of the rockets struck far enough that she couldn't reflect it but at least it didn't really cause too many problems either. The remainder were deflected right back at the monster, who went flying and got a rough landing on top of it.
"We have a few minutes to think about our next move." Carlos said.
"What about the triangle blast?" Evie suggested.
"Don't we need Mal?" Carlos asked her.
Jay thought a moment and shook his head just as Audrey realized the same thing. "No." The black ranger stated. "We only need five of us, remember. We did it with Mal, but that was before Lonnie was part of the team."
"I hate to interrupt your meeting power brats, but I just don't like to stay down." Heartwrecker stated as he charged right at the Rangers and slammed into both Lonnie and Carlos. He then twirled around and used his cannon hands to slam into Jay and the other two girls.
"Someone really needs to take a load off." Carlos commented as he started to get up. "He's looking pretty tired to me."
"I think that might be us getting tired." Lonnie replied as she stood. "Clearly his glass isn't so breakable."
"Tell me about it." Evie remarked. "Even his own rockets weren't enough to apparently crack the glass."
"Tougher than I look, huh kiddies?" Heartwrecker taunted. "Tells you something doesn't it?"
"You know, you're right." Evie realized as she stood up beside Jay and Audrey. "It does tell us something." She took a deep breath. "That you can't win."
Heartwrecker seemed taken aback. "Huh? What? Have you been paying attention to this fight?" He demanded to know.
"Your own shell seems pretty tough to get through, and so is your little potion." Evie replied. "But that's all either of that is; a shell." She stepped forward a bit more. "It's nothing compared to true love, to true power brought on not by the corrupted forces of evil but by the pure power of friendship."
"Do you realize how corny that sounds?" Heartwrecker questioned.
Now Lonnie stepped forward. "Evie is right." The pink ranger declared. "I've seen how Mal and Ben are together. What they have is real and what you're making her feel for Chad is an illusion, to say nothing about the fact Chad doesn't feel that way at all." She got ready to fight now too. "Your house of lies will fall apart, unlike what they have."
Jane looked back at Mal. "Is any of this getting through to you Mal?" She asked. "They're right you know, about all of it."
Mal felt uncertain of herself for a moment and Jane swore she saw a flash of something in her eyes for just a moment before she shook it off. "No…my love for Chad is real." She said.
For once so far Ben's new possessive streak seemed to work in their favor. "No, it isn't Mal." He said as he reached out and grabbed her hands, placing them on his chest over his heart. "What we have is real, and true, and pure." He squeezed her hands gently. "Surely you remember that."
"That…is so corny…" Mal started with a smirk but it quickly faded. "And so…so…" Again the uncertainty was on her face.
"I think you got corny right on the first time, psycho." Chad muttered. Everyone ignored him.
"And it's not the love between you two." Doug added, making an effort to stay far enough away so as not to provoke Ben. "Remember your friends, the ones you came here with and made family. They're out there right now not only fighting for Auradon, but fighting for you. Even Audrey is out there for you."
Mal glanced at the screen again. "I…"
As if aware of the conversation in the chemistry lab all of the rangers had gotten up now. "They're both right." Audrey agreed as she raised her bow. "What was it that Mal said when we first became rangers…that the strength of evil is as good as none when five hearts are as one." She shook her head as she thought of Ben, about that silly little dog Dude that was probably in Carlos' room now who was really cute actually and Fairy Godmother and Jane. Even Doug who had apparently been in on the entire project too, all for a common cause, all for the good of the land. "No, Mal got that one wrong. It's when all our hearts are as one."
"And together, as one, we're going to bring you down." Jay declared.
"All our hearts, together as one." Mal whispered. Again Jane could see the spark in her eyes as if the purple haired girl was trying to fight the love potion's effects and was starting to succeed a little. She had not pulled her hands away from Ben's.
From the corner of her eye Jane saw Chad make a face of pure disgust. She wasn't sure if it was the sentiment itself that was the cause of it or if it was because that statement had come not from one of the isle kids but from Audrey, whom for a while he had assumed was on his side. For a moment the girl wished that Chad could see in them what she, Ben, Dug and Lonnie saw in them and what Audrey was very quickly starting to see in them.
Mal still seemed unwilling to pull herself away from either boy, regardless of what the spell was telling her and what her heart was now trying to remind her. But she seemed just a bit more like herself when she whispered, "Come on guys. You can do it. Take this thing down."
From one side Lonnie moved in with her tessens, from the other Jay moved in with his scimitar. Heartwrecker raised his arms to block both attacks, allowing Carlos to move in from behind Lonnie and Audrey to move in behind Jay and bring their weapons across his sides, sending him flipping end over end and landing hard.
"We need to find a way to crack that bottle." Lonnie said. "If we can do that it should at least give us the weak spot we need."
Jay looked to Audrey. "I have an idea on that one." He said to the red ranger and gave a small laugh. "At least assuming your aim is as good as you'd like to think it is."
Audrey laughed at the black ranger. "If you're thinking what I think you are, I can do it. The question is, are you strong enough to give me that chance?" She responded with her own laugh.
"Can you guys flirt later?" Carlos questioned as he saw Heartwrecker getting up.
"We were not flirting." Both Jay and Audrey reprimanded at the same time as the red ranger got an arrow ready in her bow and the black ranger headed toward one of the stands that happened to be selling sporting goods equipment.
Lonnie couldn't help but giggle a bit. That's what it looked like to me, unless I've been doing it wrong these last couple of years. She thought but had the grace not to say it out loud. She also remembered the celebration after coronation where Audrey had approached Jay for a dance and thought maybe she and Carlos weren't too wrong in that train of thought after all…and that had been just after she and Mal seemed to have made their peace with each other.
"Let's see if we can buy them a few extra seconds." Evie suggested to Carlos and Lonnie. Both rangers nodded in agreement and the three rangers charged the monster as it was recovering. It lashed out and tried to catch Carlos in the stomach but he twisted his clawed daggers to catch the attack. Evie and Lonnie came in from either side of the yellow ranger and kicked him in the chest hard, which with normal glass should have broken in or at least cracked it heavily.
Jay went over and grabbed the biggest weight that he could lift and throw with any sort of distance, which was a 70lb one and yelled, "Incoming!" So that Carlos and the two girls would know to get out of the way hopefully, before tossing the weight at the monster. It flew rather gracefully through the air before smashing against the monster and causing it to get a decent crack just on what would be the chest area, not quite enough to make any of the weird liquid inside of it leak out though.
Audrey lifted her bow and pulled the string back, taking just a moment for careful aim before unleashing the arrow toward Heartwrecker. He saw the move coming in just enough time to start to deflect the arrow but wasn't quick enough as the arrow impacted the shattered glass and sent him flying back in a flurry of explosions.
"Nice shot." Evie said to Audrey.
"Thanks." The red ranger responded. "But we're not done yet." Lonnie came to Audrey's other side and then Carlos and Jay were on the girls shoulders as they summoned their blasters and fired the Auradon Triangle Spark at the monster and destroyed it.
"Looks like they have it in the bag," Jane said happily as they saw the rangers getting ready to use their Auradon Triangle Spark attack.
"Great for them, I'm out of here." Chad decided and intentionally shoulder rammed into Mal on his way out.
"Hey!" Ben growled. Chad turned around to snap back but didn't have the chance as Ben punched his one-time friend right in the face. It took him aback for a moment as the young king snarled, "Don't ever bump into her again!"
"You and your feelings for these damn criminals." Chad yelled and then proceeded with a punch of his own into Ben's face.
"Ben? Chad?" Mal asked confused as she felt the effects of the potion slowly leaving her. "What…"
Ben glared at him despite the small amount of blood running down his lip. He felt as if he should say something to defend them but didn't have the words. Instead he tackled Chad to the ground hard and hit him in the face.
"Stop it." Jane said and tried to go over and take Ben's arm to calm him but just barely missed an elbow from the ricochet of a punch.
Chad reached up and elbowed Ben in the face hard and then kicked him in the stomach, sending him sprawling backwards and accidently crashing into Mal. He reached for a stool.
"Chad, stop." Doug warned as he tried to step in. "Don't do something you're going to regret later."
"Stay out of it dork." Chad snapped at Doug and then turned back to Ben and Mal. Ben was trying to tend to Mal even as the purple haired girl was promising him she was okay. He moved forward and slammed the stool down on Ben's back hard.
"Chad!" Jane exclaimed in shock.
Mal looked at Chad confused for a moment and then back to Ben.
"You should have never invited these criminals to our school, to our land!" Chad exclaimed as he hit Ben again. "They've ruined our lives!" He hit Ben again despite him trying to block it and the sound of a finger being broken might have been heard.
One would never know for sure whether it was the image of Chad trying to beat up on Ben or if the potion's effect had been negated because of the monsters destruction but all of a sudden reality hit Mal with perfect clarity and for an instant she felt disgust over feeling any sort of affection for Chad. The next moment horror over what she was seeing.
Her eyes glowed green as she instinctively tapped into the powers that were her birthright, being the daughter of one as powerful as Maleficent. The stool went flying out of his hands and crashing into the wall, the one that just happened to be closest to Jane. With a scream of shock the girl backed up further toward Doug.
Chad was paying no attention to how it happened and was ready to go at Ben again with his bare fists even as the young king was getting up again. Then Mal was in between them, where she laid a hand gently on Ben's chest. "Honey, calm down. It's over." She said reassuringly.
"He shoved you, he…" Ben started.
"It's over." Mal repeated to her boyfriend again, gently but more firmly. He seemed to reluctantly deflate and then she turned to Chad. "I don't care what your problem is with us, do you have any idea how stupid it was to try to beat someone up like that? You could have killed your friend, let alone the fact that he is also the KING." She lectured harshly.
Chad glared at Mal with more hatred than she had ever seen, even from Audrey when they had first come to Auradon Prep. "This is another one of your little games, isn't Maleficent Junior?" He spat at her. "Turning us against each other, pretending to have feelings for Bennie boy over there and even for me? You're pathetic."
The door opened and the five rangers came into the room. Carlos and Evie saw a startled Doug and a shaken Jane and went over to their budding crushes. Evie threw her arms gently around Doug, snapping him back to reality while Carlos knelt beside Jane and took her hand, squeezing it gently and snapping her back to reality.
Lonnie saw the broken stool and Ben's condition. "What happened in here?" She asked.
Audrey also looked at the two men, one of whom she had viewed as a friend for a while that might be no more now and one who had been a friend for as long as she could remember and was even someone she thought she loved for a while. "My god." She whispered. "What's going on?"
Chad turned toward the door and glared at Lonnie and Audrey. "Do you see what they're doing to us? To this place?" He questioned hotly at the two lovely princesses. "They're destroying everything."
"No Chad." Lonnie replied icily. "They're trying to make a new life for themselves, free of their parents influence. You're the one trying to destroy everything."
"Chad, they're trying." Audrey tried to implore gently. "They really are. They're not bad people. Just give them a chance, you'll see what Lonnie means. What I'm starting to see." Lonnie could see that not only did her fellow princess mean it but could also see that the four isle kids were touched by her words, as if that vocal confirmation was just as important to them as any actions they'd taken since becoming rangers together.
Chad shook his head. "You two are just as delusional as Ben is." He stated darkly. He started toward the door and Lonnie backed away from him as her icy gaze remained on him. Audrey tried to stop him, to try to make see reason but he reached out and shoved her shoulder hard, making her fall back with a small cry. Luckily for her Jay was there to break his fall, and luckily for Chad too as that was the only reason he didn't strike at the prince for his disrespect.
The tension in the room seemed to hit a crescendo for a moment until after Chad's footsteps echoed away. "He's right about one thing." Mal said gently. "He got dragged into some game between us and Paradias. They made me toy with him. That's not his fault."
"It doesn't excuse the way he's treated you guys since you showed up here." Lonnie replied, perhaps a bit sharper than she intended too. "It doesn't excuse him picking on Carlos in the field, it doesn't excuse his trying to beat down Ben, it doesn't excuse him shoving Audrey like that, and it doesn't excuse his whole attitude of late."
"Admittedly Ben did start the physical fight, although that's do to whatever it is that Sarmeya did to him." Doug said. "Which I guess only back Mal up, a little.
Mal reached over and got a tissue, then started to apply light pressure to Ben's lips to stop the blood. "I am so sorry Ben." She said softly to him. "I know it wasn't exactly my fault but I still feel horrible about pushing you to the side just because of some stupid love potion. And for Chad at that." Her face took on a brief look of disgust.
"It's okay Mal." Ben assured her gently as he reached out and stroked her hair. "Like I said to my dad, anything worth doing isn't easy. That includes relationships."
"You sure you're okay after that beat down, man?" Carlos asked as he was moving to help, not even really near touching Mal but Ben suddenly looked over at Carlos with a harsh look.
"Stay away from Mal." He said with a hint of menace in his voice. She placed her hand gently on his shoulder again and brushed a soft kiss over his cheek, making a gently shushing noise though she couldn't recall where she had ever heard that sort of soothing tone from in her life.
Everyone exchanged looks for a moment before Jay stated the obvious. "I guess our problems aren't over yet."
"No, they're not." Mal agreed as Carlos backed off closer to Jane. Luckily Ben didn't react negatively when Lonnie moved in to help them out. "Whatever Sarmeya did to Ben needs to be reversed too before something worse than that fight with Chad happens." She looked to her team mates. "But I have an idea on how we can reverse this."