"This has to be some kind of mistake." Evie said. "Some flaw in the system since the repairs or something." She seemed shocked.
"He would never do that to us or the planet." Jay agreed. "He would never."
"Ben is too good." Mal agreed. "He's my prince, my king and he would never really betray anyone."
"There's no mistake." Jane told them all. "The system is running precisely to specs." She looked to them all. "The first time that the knight appeared Ben had disappeared, supposedly to take on his people. Until this latest thing they had never around at the same time."
"And even that was the Reviveslime." Doug added.
"But it still doesn't make any sense." Lonnie interjected. "How could this have happened? How could we have not seen it?"
"I'm afraid it is possible my children." They heard from the stairway and turned to see Fairy Godmother coming down into the command center.
"Mom!" Audrey gasped and ran over, throwing her arms around her. She let some of her tears start to fall. "I was so afraid I'd lose you."
Fairy Godmother hugged her back tightly and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry this scared you so much my dear." She said softly. She moved to the side with her daughter. "And I pray you never have to go through something like that again." Carlos checked Jane's iPhone and saw that the nurse had tried to call Jane while they were all having their break downs.
The six rangers and Jordan waited a minute for their friend to enjoy the fact that her mother was alive and well before the genie girl finally had to interrupt them. "You said that you knew what lead up to all of this." She said softly. "We need to know what so that we can figure out what to do about it."
"I'm afraid that this, in a manner of speaking, all my fault." They now heard from the command center stairs and saw two figures. The first was the former king and former beast, Ben's father. The second was his wife Belle.
"Your majesties." Lonnie said as all the teens rose and showed them the proper respect.
"What do you mean it's your fault?" Mal asked him.
"Belle and I heard about what happened to Fairy Godmother and we went to see her. She woke and took us what was going on, she showed us some of the pictures she had." Ben's father explained. "I recognized Nerissa."
"How?" Evie asked.
"She's the one who cursed him to the beast form that I met so long ago." Belle replied simply. "The one who inadvertently put us together."
Jane now looked at some of the scans Jordan had pulled from Ben as they continued to explain. She had a theory of her own though.
"That spell that she cast on me to make me a Beast, it was apparently for more than my unkind behavior." He explained. "Even then our enemies were putting their plans into motion. A quick check of my DNA revealed something in my genetic code."
"You mean even when Queen Belle fell in love with you and broke the spell of that rose, the part that made you a beast was still in you." Evie said. "And still is." He nodded in agreement.
"And that was passed on to Ben when he was conceived." Jane finished up. She looked up. "They knew that if the curse was broken they could use the element of that to help out their plans for when Paradias returned."
"They had it set up so when they showed up they would be able to use him as their…their champion." Audrey got out in shock. "That's why the iPhone," She held up what had become her powers, what had become her connection to people she had grown to become close to and care about. "Didn't bond with him when he took it up."
Mal looked at them all with a bit of fire in her eyes. "And that's why Reviveslime sent me to the Dark Dimension. Paradias has to know this and he knew that if I ever found out Ben was the knight that I would have the highest chance of bringing him back to us again." She realized.
"There's also the beast gene in there that Ben inadvertently got from his father." Lonnie added now. "That's why Sermaya sees him as a brother of sorts. Maybe he might figure out a way to make Ben like his father was when under the curse."
"So are we still doomed then?" Jordan asked with some amusement.
"No." Mal said simply. She looked down to her hand and to look at the ring Ben had given her just before his coronation and then at his parents. "It's not over, we're not doomed. I will bring my boyfriend back here, to me. To us." She looked around. "Evie, come with me. We're going to get some sandwiches to refresh ourselves and then we're going back out there and finding that knight…finding Ben. And we won't leave that fight until we're dead or he comes home."
Everyone worked to regroup. Audrey had gone out to get some drinks and saw people leaving the gym now that the attacks had passed for the moment. She saw Chad leaving the building and had an idea. Surely he isn't so mad at Ben and I that he'll refuse to help us bring him home again. The brunette princess mused. She ran to catch up with him and called out, "Chad, wait!"
He rolled his eyes and turned to give Audrey a venomous glare. "I told you to stay away from me." He said dangerously. She almost swore the guy was going mad.
"Chad, we need your help." Audrey said to him. "It's Ben. You have to help us bring Ben home."
He said nothing but waited for the princess to continue her explanation.
"I don't know how to explain this exactly but Ben has been…" Audrey hesitated. Nothing had been said about letting Chad in on this secret and she wasn't even sure she wanted to. But Ben was supposed to be Chad's friend. "He's been taken control of by the creatures that have been invading our world. We have to snap him out of it or the Power Rangers may have no choice but to kill him." We may have to kill him. She thought and shuddered. She knew Mal didn't want that and she sure didn't want to help kill her best friend but…what if it came to that or the world falling? "Will you please help us?"
Chad seemed to hesitate only a moment. "No." He said simply. "I won't help him. Or you. Or them."
Audrey felt shocked. She knew Chad had developed issues with Ben since he had decided to bring some of the isle kids over to Auradon, and those issues had only intensified as Jay proved great at tourney and Mal and Ben had gotten together, regardless of the circumstances that made it possible. She knew he had growing issues with her since she had chosen to accept them after the coronation and after they had become rangers she had grown close to them all, especially Mal and Jay.
But even with his issues with them she never thought that Chad would refuse to help Ben when it really came down to it. "Chad, Ben needs you." Audrey said. "He's your friend. You can't walk away from him now."
"He walked away from me, just like you and Lonnie and Jane and pretty much everyone else did." Chad snapped at her.
"All of our parents were affected by someone from the Isle of the Lost over there Chad, not just yours." Audrey replied, growing angry. "If Mal's mother had had her way where my mother is concerned I wouldn't be here. But that is on Maleficent, not Mal. What happened between your mother and her step family is not on any descendant she might have. And it doesn't affect you at all."
Chad's stare seemed to grow even more hateful if at all possible. "It's not just about our parents. It's about what they will do to us too." He spat.
Audrey shook her head. "You have no idea, NO idea, what Mal, Jay, Evie and Carlos have done for us since coming to Auradon, especially after the coronation. They stopped Maleficent from her plans, not me, not Ben and certainly not you." She stated vehemently. "And as for what they've done recently, it's not that you don't want to understand, it's that you don't want to understand. You won't see past your hate, fear and insecurity."
She never expected it despite the last two times. She never even saw it coming. Chad reached out and slapped her across the face hard, just as he had in her nightmares. Just like that a friend had turned against her. "Shut your mouth." He whispered to her threateningly. "The next time you speak to me like that I'll do more than just slap you across the face."
She looked shocked, she never would have imagined he could turn into the man she was seeing before him. "What have you become?" She asked in a whisper. She couldn't imagine how he could be this blind. She watched numbly as he turned and walked away.
Somehow she remembered to bring some water back to the command center with their sandwiches. Everyone started to try to eat, though for Jane, Doug, Carlos and Fairy Godmother it was eating as they went about their final repairs to the command center.
Jay looked at her. "Audrey, I think the left side of your face is starting to form a bruise." He said with concern. "Something happen?"
Audrey knew at that point she should say something to them about what happened, about Chad smacking her. They should know about it in case he ended up attacking them. She also knew what he did was wrong. Still, she also knew they needed to help Ben and stop them from destroying the world. "I…I think that I must have gotten it from the last fight, falling out of the megazord and hitting the ground."
Evie and Mal exchanged glances. They felt as if something weren't being said and by look alone knew they couldn't let that slide for long. But they too knew that time would have to come after they had Ben back and he could help them talk to Audrey. Lonnie too looked unsure but she wanted to believe that over what had really happened.
"How are we supposed to strip Ben of his powers anyway?" Jordan asked.
"We don't." Fairy Godmother responded simply. They all looked at her in shock. "The powers of that knight are not Paradias's. They belong to Ben. Their control over them has simply distorted those powers just as much as their control has been blinded from his mind."
Jane snapped her fingers. "Of course." She exclaimed. "When the iPhone scans the DNA of a potential host it's supposed to scan for any evidence of other powers in their DNA if applicable. It read the knight powers in Ben's DNA and that's why it refused to bond."
"He's not supposed to have been the enemy, he was supposed to be one of us the entire time." Mal said with certainty. "And we have to make sure that hope becomes reality."
"Here's your chance." Doug said. "The knight, Ben is back. He's heading toward town. Like he knows that it's time for the final confrontation."
"What if Reviveslime shows up or they grow?" Lonnie asked.
"If Reviveslime shows we keep him distracted." Audrey said to the others. "We can all help Ben but if it comes right down to it Mal has the best chance of bringing him home again."
"If either of them grow, your zords will be ready." Fairy Godmother added as she handed Mal back her crystallized dragon. "Your dragon zord is sleeping, increasing its regenerative properties. If you need to summon your zord, it will be ready," She looked to the other rangers. "Just as the Auradon Megazord will be."
"Then let's get to work." Mal said. The six teens rose and they ascended the stairs and out of the command center and school room and went to meet Ben before he made it to a place where he could find anyone place with civilians that could be put in arms way.
"We meet again, Rangers." The knight said. "For the last time."
"This will be the last time we meet like this." Mal said. "We're onto you now, we know who you are." She looked at him closely. "We actually know more than you, I'm sure."
"I know all I need to know." The knight said.
"No, you don't." Audrey replied. "If you really did then you wouldn't be attacking us this way. We're your friends; I'm your best friend. Mal is your girlfriend."
The knight took a few steps toward them and Carlos had to resist the urge to take a few steps back. "Mal, shouldn't we be morphing right about now?" He asked her nervously.
Mal shook her head. "Not unless we have too. That is Ben under there and he needs to see the true faces of those Paradias is saying are his enemies." She replied. "And deep down you know we're not your enemies. We're your friends."
Jay nodded. "You're being manipulated Ben. This was Nerissa's plan long before you were born, when she cursed your father. You were their back up plan in case he broke free of that curse." He said to his team mate twice over.
"When you were born you got half of your father's genes, that's basic biology." Evie added. "But one of those genes was left over from that curse and as a result some part of the beast is in you, and that's the part Nerissa manipulated to make you turn against us like this."
"But they didn't give you those powers you've been using to fight us." Lonnie put in. "Those are your own powers Ben, also yours since birth that are simply being manipulated by Nerissa just as you are. That's why the red morpher wouldn't bond with you; Jane told us that the iPhones scan a person's DNA coding to try to make sure they don't have another source of power that will clash with it." She gave a small smile despite the situation. "You've always been one of us Ben, in more than just spirit. We just never knew it until now."
"Fight them Ben." Mal implored. "Come fight for the good side, just as you asked me and my siblings to do, come back to us. Come back to me." At that her hands clasped and came up to her chest as if begging. She would have done so if she thought that would help.
"That is enough." Reviveslime said and unleashed a turret of energy at the unmorphed team of rangers, sending them flying back hard into the ground. Evie skinned her arms and elbows as she landed. Carlos swore he felt his ribs crack. Audrey managed to land awkwardly enough to cause a jolt of pain to surge through the spot on her face where Chad had hit her earlier, and splitting that cheek now. Jay landed awkwardly on his hand and felt a couple fingers break. Lonnie landed hard enough to feel the air rushed from her lungs and a rush of pain from her head as it hit a small stone hard, hard enough to start a trickle of blood. Mal had the debatably easiest landing as she skinned her left arm and hit a tree trunk roughly.
Reviveslime started toward Mal but stopped long enough to kick Carlos hard in his ribs, not helping him any. He kicked Audrey and Lonnie aside. Evie had gotten up and tried to stop him but he stabbed her in the shoulder, eliciting a scream from her before tossing her aside onto Jay. "You made a dire mistake coming her unmorphed." Reviveslime said as the tip of sword met Mal's throat. "Now all of you will pay for your ignorance."
He reared his sword back to decapitate her when the knight's sword intercepted the strike. Reviveslime looked up at him. "What are you doing?" He demanded to know.
In truth the knight wasn't sure himself, but seeing the attack by this monster to unprotected people sparked something in him. "This…is not how things are supposed to work." He stammered out. "It is not honorable."
"This isn't about 'honor'." Reviveslime retorted. "It's about victory."
Mal thought about it a moment. Even without knowing he was Ben the knight had fought the rangers all face to face in the past, even engaging Mal one on one while her friends were finding their megazords. Whatever part of Ben that had always been there had not struck them when they were down so much, like when she was under the love potion or when she, Evie and Audrey had been trapped in their nightmares. In as much as evil could ever be, the knight had held some portion of Ben's honor. She even suspected the kidnap idea was Paradias's, the knight had gone along with it because that part of the knight acknowledged Paradias and Nerissa as his superiors and were following orders, just as he had when destroying the command center.
"There can be no true victory without honor." The knight said.
"Paradias doesn't know honor." Mal said now. "He's too power hungry for that. And really, you don't know what honor is. It's Ben that knows honor, and it's Ben that knows love. It's Ben trying to protect me, and you have to embrace being Ben."
The other five teens had gotten up and were now kind of surrounding the monster, the knight and Mal. None of them looked especially ready to fight though. It was a feeling Mal understood as she tried to rise and felt dizzy herself.
"Stand back and allow me to finish these weaklings off or I'll make you the appetizer." Reviveslime warned the knight. After a moment of not moving he turned, this time toward Audrey and aimed to gut her with a loud, "Boo! As if trying to scare her.
That was also the wrong thing to do as that simple word sparked the memory of how Audrey had come to call someone…call him Bennie Boo. He lashed out and slashed the slime creature in the back.
"Ben?" Mal asked. "Are you in there? Can you hear me?"
"There is no…" The knight said and hesitated. "Mal…" He echoed.
"Fight it Ben." Audrey pleaded now, just as Mal had. "You're stronger than Paradias and his spells. I know you are."
"This is just another opponent of the field, man." Jay said. "Get by him and score the goal."
Mal made her way cautiously over to the knight. "Did you hear Audrey and Jay?" She asked. "Because they're both right. You can do it. I know you can do it too."
"Enough." Reviveslime spat and this time turned to attack Evie. Jay moved as quick as he could and with his good hand grabbed at the slime monster's wrist and it reminded the knight…it reminded Ben of when Chad had insulted Evie and Jay had stepped up to defend her during parent's day.
Except for one resounding difference. Then Audrey had been beside Chad. Now Audrey was by Evie's side and making sure she hadn't been knicked despite Jay's quick reaction. It reminded him how far his ex-had come with the others. He also dimly realized he was thinking as Ben, not as the knight persona forced upon him.
Mal was the first to notice something strange. The knight was a dark silver, almost black in many places. Those black areas were starting to fade away and that silver was getting lighter, almost as if it were being polished. "Come on Ben." She said to him. "You aren't Paradias's evil knight. You're my knight in shining armor, you have been ever since we first came to Auradon Prep."
Reviveslime was getting very irritated by now. He let his arm lose cohesion and as Jay slipped through it he hit Jay in the face hard. Then he turned and slammed into Mal hard. She felt her air knocked out through her lungs and she landed hard. He was now over her with his sword raised to stab her through the heart.
"Ben!" Evie yelled out now. "You heard Mal, be her knight in shining armor now!"
Another memory struck Ben. This one seemed like it was from another lifetime even though in truth it was a very recent memory. He saw himself towering over Mal in a dark place, ready to strike her down in that same manner.
"No!" Ben called out. He rushed toward Mal and as he did so all traces of the black in the armor faded away, to be replaced by what almost seemed to be sparkling silver as he struck Reviveslime hard, knocking him away from his girlfriend. "I won't let you harm Mal or my friends."
The purple haired girl immediately noticed the difference in his armor and felt elated. "Ben? Is that really you?" She asked.
Ben offered her his hand and helped her stand up. "Yes, Mal. It's really me. I'm back." He said.
"That's impossible." Reviveslime stated.
"That's where you're wrong." Ben said to him. "My love for my friends, my love for Mal, is stronger than any evil spell." He glanced at Mal. "It was a good idea for you all to face me as you are, not as power rangers. To make me see not my 'trained' enemies but my chosen family."
"You won't live long enough to celebrate it." Reviveslime promised. He charged toward the now seven teens.
The six teens pulled out their iPhones but Ben held ups his hand. "No guys." He said. "This one is on me." He made sure that Mal had support, in this case from Evie, and then moved to meet the slime monster himself.
"You betrayed us." Reviveslime said as he swung his sword at Ben.
Ben blocked it with the shield. "No, I finally came to my senses. If I betrayed anyone it was my team." He countered with a slash of his own that sent Reviveslime to the ground for a moment. Ben moved in to finish it and he dodged back.
"You choose them, you die with them." Reviveslime said. "Paradias will not forgive this." He swung his sword and Ben blocked with his own sword.
"Paradias won't have his dreams come true." Ben said. "He can't stop us. The strength of evil is as good as none, when all of our hearts act as one." He knocked him back and then collected energy in his sword. He swore he felt not only his own energy but that of his friends; the other six rangers, Doug and Jane, and even some he may not know of yet, enter the sword as he unleashed it on Reviveslime, and he exploded into little blue bits.
"Dude that was awesome." Carlos said as Ben came to them. "That so rocked."
"That was great man." Jay agreed.
As soon as Ben powered down he scooped Mal into his arms and twirled her around, then planted her down and kissed her on the lips. She responded whole heartedly. After the kiss he embraced both Audrey and Evie, then as he embraced Lonnie he high fived Jay and Carlos.
"Now this feels right." Audrey said with a small laugh.
"Come on Ben." Mal said. "We have to get back to the command center. There's a few people waiting for you."
"They did it." Paradias said dangerously. "They took back the king and added him into their fold."
Blue slime formed on the bridge and Reviveslime reappeared there. "I will make them all pay for this." He vowed. "Ben for his betrayal, the rangers for their constant interference. All of it."
"All is not lost." Nerissa said. "We have lost Ben, but the knight is still open to us." She held up a black orb. "This is the part of the powers that became corrupted due to our long influence over the boy. This time we shall not make the same mistake twice."
The first thing Ben got when they returned to the command center was a reunion with his parents, both of whom were overjoyed to have Ben back. They had seen the fight on the view screen and had been impressed that he had ultimately fought back the spell of his own will.
"Well it's about time you came to your senses your majesty." Jordan said jokingly as she gave him the smallest of bows. "Don't suppose I had a hand in zapping some of that sense into you?"
He actually did remember being sent to the command center to destroy it completely when Jordan had stepped in and put a stop to that. "Wait, when did you become part of the in crowd?" Ben asked.
"While you were out throttling your friends." Jordan replied coyly as she zapped some cups and for the six rangers and began to pour them a grape flavored healing potion to take care of their wounds, of which Carlos had had the worst of thanks to the cracked ribs. "Seriously, after slime bucket sent Mal to the Dark Dimension they decided they needed more magic than either Jane or Mal can provide, and after a bit soul searching myself, here I am."
"Welcome to the team then." Ben said.
"And welcome back to the team, your majesty." He heard and turned to see Fairy Godmother coming toward him. On either side of her was Jane and Doug.
Now Ben did something none of them had thought he would ever do. He kneeled before the three of them. "I am so sorry for what I did to you all." He said regretfully. "I'm thankful that I didn't permanently injure any of you. Please, forgive me."
"That wasn't you Ben." Jane said. "That was the beast part of you that Nerissa implanted so long ago."
"Yeah, it's fine." Doug added. "We know where the blame really lies.
Fairy Godmother leaned down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You weren't in control of yourself, my king. Now you are though, and I know you'll do the right thing." She looked up at the other six rangers. "With the seven of you fighting as one, our chances of beating Paradias has never looked better." She stood now and Ben followed.
"I know you'll do great son." His father said.
"We're so proud of you, of all you've accomplished." Belle added.
"Thanks mom, dad." Ben said. He wasn't sur he was worthy of that praise but he vowed to make himself worthy of it as the days progressed. He came over and sat next to Mal. He placed his arm around her as he looked at his friends. "Everyone feeling better?"
"I sure am." Carlos said as Jane came and sat next to him now. "That stuff of yours is a miracle Jordan. You should bottle it and sell it mass market."
"Not a bad idea." Jordan noted. She herself had sat cross legged and started to float up in the air a bit as she took a drink of water.
"Look on the bright side." Jay said to Ben now. "You took a walk on the dark side, lived to tell about it and now came back to the light side. You're definitely one of us now." The two guys laughed and again high fived. Then Jay added, "Not that that's always necessary to become part of us." He looked to Audrey, who smiled herself.
"I was so afraid I'd lost you." Mal said softly. "My nightmare had a lot to do with you leaving me, and in a sense you did."
"I guess I did." Ben admitted, feeling a little guilty. "But your love brought me back. And it always will." He kissed her on the cheek and held her close.
The moment was so sweet and the feelings of completeness were running so strong that Audrey didn't want to talk to Ben about Chad just yet. She figured it could wait until tomorrow. She placed her hand on the table. "I guess we're all a team now." She said. "And we're going to show Paradias what that means."
"We're a team." Jay seconded, placing his hand on Audrey's and making her feel very warm now.
"We all stand as one." Evie and Carlos said in unison as they placed their hands on top of the two rangers.
"United as one." Lonnie added, placing in her hand.
"Ranger powers or not." Jordan added as she landed and joined in. Jane followed suit as did Doug.
"The Auradon Rangers." Mal stated firmly as she placed her hand in. As Ben placed his hand on top of her she looked at him and practically beamed. "And the Auradon Knight. Together, hearts as one, evil doesn't stand a chance."