"Me?" Jane asked. "What can I do?"
Fairy Godmother approached her daughter. "There is one source of magic in Auradon that I know of that can counter even this Crimson Sage." She revealed. She held up her hand and in it appeared the magic wand; the very same one that she had used to help Cinderella so many years ago, the same one that Maleficent had sent Mal and her chosen siblings to steal, the same one that Jane had wanted at the coronation to make herself beautiful as she couldn't see the beauty that she already had. Now she presented it to Jane. "And you must use it to help your friends regain their powers."
Now she had the seven teen's rapt attention.
Jane herself looked stunned. "I…I don't have the experience to fight…or defeat him." She said in shock.
"You don't have the experience, but with the wand you will have the intuition." Fairy Godmother replied, still holding the wand out. "But in your hands as you are right now, it's more than just a magic wand, but the key to you taking your rightful place as the White Auradon Ranger."
"You'd be one of us Jane." Lonnie said with measured excitement.
"But I held the wand at the ceremony, I couldn't control it…" She started.
"You weren't ready for it then though." Mal said with a small smile. "You took it because I manipulated you; it was gotten for the wrong reasons." She took a small step forward. "This time, you'd be taking it for the right reasons."
Jane very reluctantly reached out and took the magic wand from her mother. The instant her fingers came in contact with it though it seemed right this time. It didn't fight her at all. In fact this time a white glow came from the wand and enveloped her just as the iPhones had done to the other six rangers.
"So what's the plan M?" Evie asked as she looked to the view screen where the students, including Doug, were currently being held.
Mal bit her lip. "Jane can't go confront Crimson Sage on her own." She said to herself. "We can't let the students stay held hostage too." She looked to Audrey, Evie, Jay, Carlos and Lonnie. "Go with Jane. I don't know how much you can help, but at least she won't be alone." She looked to Ben. "You and I have to go help those students."
Fairy Godmother looked at the three Auradon teens. "You three will have to pull yourselves together long enough to support Jane then. Only that way can she stop Crimson Sage and allow you to rescue your parents."
Each of them nodded their heads in agreement. "We'll make it through." Audrey promised.
"When they get our powers back we'll have Fairy Godmother transport your iPhone and your equipment to you." Jay promised their two friends.
"We just have to take out some sick grape things." Mal tried to joke. "We have it easy. You guys have the hard part. Be careful."
Mal and Ben reluctantly split from their friends while Jane joined the other five rangers to deal with Crimson Sage. It didn't take long for the six to get to the conference hall where Crimson Sage had remained.
"Release our parents right now." Audrey demanded as the old monster saw them approaching.
"We've been over this young princess." Crimson Sage said tauntingly. "Perhaps in the future but not now." He shrugged. "Or perhaps not."
"They will be set free." Jane said with a confidence she wasn't entirely feeling. "Or you'll have to deal with me."
He laughed. "I know who you are; it's too bad that you and your mother weren't trapped in my spell." He said. "But I know that you don't have what it takes to stop me, nor would your mother even at her prime."
"You're wrong." Jane said and then held out her mother's…now her magic wand. "With this I can restore my friend's powers and stop you without losing those we care about." Or so she hoped.
"What do they want?" Aziz questioned quietly. "Why are they holding us here?"
Doug and Jordan exchanged glances. They each suspected it had something to do with their friends, either as a trap or a diversion, they weren't sure which. But they couldn't tell that to Ally and Aziz or anyone else for that matter.
"Perhaps they want something from our archives." Ally suggested softly. "Something in our history perhaps."
"That seems unlikely." Jordan said. She was sure there was nothing they would have needed from them, even if that were true and not just a way to deflect the rangers and Ben. Of course they had no way of knowing that Crimson Sage had stolen their powers from them. She then quickly added, "But I guess anything is possible."
They found the dark knight coming up to their table. "Nice to see you again." He said with a smirk.
Ally and Aziz didn't get it but Jordan and Doug did. "Don't you have something better to do you wash out?" Jordan snapped.
Chad laughed. "Very overconfident aren't you?" He asked her. He knew that a genie could probably deal with him if she felt so inclined. So instead he reached out and grabbed a hold of Ally's arm, forcing her to stand up. He brought the sword to her neck. "Feeling confident now?"
Aziz shot up and shoved the armored Chad in the chest hard, forcing him away from Ally. "Back off hotshot." He snapped.
He only laughed though it held no humor. "Aziz, pretty confident too. Even though you know nothing." He raised his sword. "You're not your father and I am not Jafar. If you fight me you will lose." He stated.
Two of the soldiers were sent flying over a study table. Everyone turned to see Mal and Ben standing where the soldiers had been only a moment earlier. "Miss us?" Mal asked with a glean in her eyes.
"You're not supposed to be here." The armored Chad said. "But if you two insist on being here then you'll die here." The soldiers started to move in on them.
Jane raised the wand, where for the first time she felt a bit of a break in it. It traveled down as if it were meant to be twisted. She did so and it proceeded to turn her into a power ranger, in this case a white ranger. Unlike the others she actually had a pair of small white wings. She wouldn't be crossing the globe in a heartbeat but she could reach Crimson Sage's level. This also included a light feathering that encircled her upper arms and chest. A brief touch of the feathers revealed that despite their soft looks they were really firm enough to provide some extra protection. She also saw that somehow this one had a dragon scale on the mid arm, which when needed would allow her access to the same neon armor that she and Lonnie had made for the other rangers and Ben.
"Wow, awesome." Audrey said quietly.
"I would have loved wings." Evie added with a sparkle in her eyes.
"So you can fly." Crimson Sage said with a laugh. "How delightful. But it will obviously take more than that to stop me."
Jane was wondering how exactly she could stop him. Then she heard her mother's voice over the helmet intercom. "Jane, I finished the test that you started when he first showed up." She said. "It looks like somehow that piece of wand was affected by the Iconian gateway that Alpha used to send the Space Rangers to help us deal with the Psycho Rangers. It penetrates worlds, time and space."
Jane brightened beneath her helmet as she put the pieces together. "It got caught in some residue from the gateway when they showed up and was returned when they left. Some part of his essence was in the wand and that brought him to his current form." She replied.
"I think that's what happened too." Fairy Godmother said. "If you can reverse the effect than his magic won't be strong enough to hold that spell. He wouldn't be gone at that point and it wasn't his choice to release the spell. It would free the building and everyone inside of it without killing them."
"But I can't reverse time." Jane protested. "It's a lucky break that I learned how to morph."
"Trust in yourself and follow your instincts." She advised her daughter. "You'll figure it out."
Jane hoped her mother was right. Crimson Sage floated over toward her. "Well I wasn't aware of another ranger when I did this so apparently I'll have to take you down the old fashioned way."
"I guess you have old down pat." Carlos said.
"That'll be quiet enough out of the peanut gallery." Crimson Sage declared and shot a blast of energy at the five teens. In a flash Jane was in front of them, using her magic to make the wings grow and shield herself with them as she protected her friends.
"So you can defend." Crimson Sage noted. "But it will take more than defense to defeat me."
"I know how I can defeat him." She revealed to her friends. "But I don't think I have the knowledge or experience to do it. I have to reverse the effect time had on him."
"Wow, that will be quite a feat." Carlos agreed.
"Can't you just like bippety boppity boo him into the past or something?" Audrey asked.
"Sending him back into the past isn't the solution." Lonnie corrected her. "Jane has to reverse the time effect on him to make him Red Magi again."
"The only ones who might be able to answer that is Mal or Jordan." Evie reflected. "We need them here."
Chad expected Mal and Ben to start fighting against the soldiers. What he wasn't expecting was for some of the other students to take advantage of this to help resist them. Aziz slammed his elbow into a soldier's face hard and then kicked another that tried to attack him.
Jordan gathered up a small magical shockwave and then unleashed it on a small group of soldiers.
Doug scrambled under the table only to come back up, having tripped the soldier nearest him.
Even Ally reacted, throwing one of the books at an approaching soldier. As it brushed the small object aside she had a chair in her hands that she slammed into the creature hard.
Ben leapt down to land in front of Chad. "In case it wasn't obvious, you are expelled from this school." He said to his former friend casually.
Chad was nice enough to put his sword and shield away, back into the ether where they seemed to come from. "I'll beat you down with my own iron fists. Something you seemed to lack." He vowed.
Jordan used a bolt of lightning to take down a soldier. Why aren't Mal and Ben morphed? Why aren't the others here? She wondered to herself.
A soldier tried to swipe at Aziz but he ducked underneath it, took the arm and flipped it over his soldier and then drove his elbow into the creature's chest.
Ally shrieked a little as two of them approached her from either side and tried to swipe at her. She ducked both blows and then swept her leg out to trip one while Doug sprang on the back of the other one and forced him to topple to the floor.
Chad swung at Ben and he dodged it. The young king kicked him in the chest but the armor made sure the impact had very little effect. He then had to dodge a downward punch from his armored former friend, which probably would have crushed his skull had it connected.
Mal noticed that she didn't have as many soldiers on her as she thought she would have. She noticed from the corner of her eye that they had help fighting in the form of Jordan, Ally and Aziz. She wasn't too surprised to see the genie girl helping but seeing the other two students fighting was a bit of a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. She stole a yardstick from a table and started to use it as a staff to help her fight.
Jane knew Evie was right. They had the most experience with magic. She had all but passed out when she realized she had magic of her own. Still she had been watching the ranger's fight, guiding them and even coming up with many of the solutions. This should have been no different. Then she knew what she had to do to help even the odds. She had to restore her friend's powers.
The white ranger used her wand to make a couple doppelgangers of herself. Even her friend's couldn't tell which was real and which was fake. The three forms started to fly toward the box.
"Oh no you don't." Crimson Sage barked and sent a huge stream of energy at the left one. That just resulted in that one vanishing.
He lost balance just a bit as the center one put up an impressive aerial maneuver to get over him. He shot a hail of knives at the one who had just gone above him but that only resulted in a vanishing as well.
"Looks like you've been discovered white ranger." Crimson Sage taunted and unleashed an energy storm at the final form, who was only halfway to the box. But to his surprise the final one simply vanished as well.
"I'd think an extremely experienced caster like you would recognize a variant on the magic curtain trick." He heard from behind him, on the roof of the conference hall. "Just added a duplication spell to it." He turned to see her floating just above the roof actually as Jane decided she did not want to touch the fog surrounding the building. "I think I'll take my prize now." With that she reached down to take the box containing the iPhones, surrounded by sword and shield, into her hands.
"Way to go Jane." Carlos called out happily.
Crimson Sage unleashed another stream of energy, hoping to stop her from taking the powers back but with the box firmly in hand she moved out of the way of the attack. She faltered at the last second and ended up landing hard on the ground. She kept a hold of the box and found her friends beside her.
"Good job Jane." Audrey said softly as she took her shoulder to help her up.
"Thanks." Jane replied and handed the newly reinstated red ranger the box. "Make sure you guys get your powers so I can send this back to Mal and Ben."
Audrey nodded and started to open the box but Crimson Sage called out, "Remember young princess that if you open that box I will cancel the spell out and kill all of those inside the building."
"No you won't." Jane said confidently. It had taken her a moment to realize that the wand felt firmer now than it had the first time she had held it and she knew why. It had been reinforced to be used as a physical weapon, just as Audrey's bow had. "I won't let you extend that kind of concentration." She headed toward Crimson Sage, ready to fight him.
Carlos was about to call out to stop Jane, remembering the force shield that had stopped them from fighting Crimson Sage in the first place but before he could get out the warning the white ranger slipped through the shield and swung her wand.
"How did you do that?" Crimson Sage demanded as he blocked with his staff, proving he was not quite as weak as he had been going on about. "My force shield is still up."
"I know." Jane replied. "The wand gave me a force shield that matched the power levels of yours. It allowed me to slip through like it wasn't there."
"Impressive." Crimson Sage granted. Then he swung again and Jane dodged it, only to have to avoid a follow up attack. "You wanted in so let's see how well you can handle me."
With him distracted Audrey opened up the box and held it out to her four friends. Carlos had his iPhone almost immediately, followed by Jay. Lonnie took hers next and last was Evie. Then Audrey took out her own and set the box with Mal's iPhone on the ground, still surrounded by Ben's shield and sword. The brunette princess then texted Fairy Godmother to bring the box to them. It disappeared moments later.
"Okay guys." Audrey said. She felt her confidence slowly starting to return now that they seemed to have the edge over Crimson Sage again. It didn't completely sway her worry that something would go wrong and now cost her mother, father and everyone else in the building their lives. "Let's get to work."
The soldiers were so thinned out by now that Jordan looked to Doug, Ally and Aziz. "Start helping everyone get out of here." She told them. "Mal, Ben and I will finish this up."
"We'll be back to help." Aziz promised before he and the blonde began to usher students out of the door and the nearest window.
Ben was keeping Chad distracted from the evacuation and was avoiding any injuries but it was about all he could do against his armored former friend without his own powers to back up his strength. He was glad that Mal and Jordan were almost done with the soldier's and hoped that perhaps three against one they might be able to overcome Chad's defensive advantage.
Jordan backed up to Mal. "Why didn't you two come here morphed?" She asked. "It would have been better for both of you, not to mention safer for King Bennie-Boo over there."
Mal chose to ignore the slight poke of amusement that Jordan had just done, knowing that was just her nature. "Bennie Boo," She inflected, which drew a smile from both of them. "And I couldn't do that." Now the purple haired girl's expression was more grim. "We had to give up our powers to Crimson Sage to save the people in the conference hall from death by some fog spell."
Jordan cocked her head. "Say what? A fog spell?" She asked as she shocked out a few more soldiers.
Mal nodded. "Yep, a gray fog that he placed there." She answered as she kicked took out a soldier.
"At least it wasn't black." Jordan noted with some relief.
Mal was about to ask her why the fog color mattered when the same box that she had last seen on top of the conference hall roof appeared. It was open and only had one iPhone; hers. She reached in and took it, then called out, "Ben! Incoming!" She tossed the box toward him.
The young king saw the box coming and moved to the side just as Chad's fist would have connected with his head. The box shattered into pieces and Ben reached over, getting a hold of his sword and shield. He then stood up and looked to Chad.
"Let's see how you like a fair game field." He declared and combined his sword and shield to give him his sparkly silver armor.
Mal meanwhile input her numbers 6319 into her iPhone and transformed herself. Using the dragon staff to take out the last soldiers was easy enough and then she joined Ben to confront Chad.
Ally and Aziz had gotten out the last of the students only to find that Mal and Ben were gone, to be replaced by the purple ranger and the silver knight. They both exchanged looks of slight puzzlement.
"It's two against one." Ben stated to Chad. "Game over."
"Four against one." Ally corrected from behind the dark knight. "At least, for what that might be worth." She already knew she and Aziz wouldn't bring much to this fight.
The knight glanced around and then took that chance to vanish.
Mal knew they had more important things to worry about. She looked to Ben. "We have to go help the others." She declared. The two brushed past Doug, Ally and Aziz as gently but quickly as they could and headed toward the conference hall.
Both students looked to Jordan. "When did they get here? Where did Mal and Ben go?" Aziz asked. The genie girl looked kind of lost on how to explain that one for a moment before she hastened to explain they had chased a couple of soldiers out the window. She wasn't sure they bought that.
The five teens put their numbers into their iPhones and transformed. They weren't sure what good it would do without the ability to penetrate the field but they wanted to be ready. Jane seemed to be holding her own well enough for the moment.
Mal and Ben quickly found them. "Glad to see we're all back." Mal said. "How did Jane get in there?"
"She said the wand instinctively cast a force shield of its own to get her past his." Carlos answered.
"Jane also said that her mother thinks we can reverse that effect, turn him back into the Red Magi he used to be." Lonnie said. "By reversing time."
"Is that even possible?" Ben asked. "And what does that do to everyone in the conference hall?"
"According to them since he'd still be alive and he would have lost control of the spell that should dissipate it without causing him harm." Audrey answered a little uncertainly. That seemed to be a mighty big if to her. "And Fairy Godmother says it is, but I don't know how, nor does Jane."
"We were hoping you would know Mal." Jay said. "Or at least have an idea."
Mal bit her lip, overwhelmed for a moment as anything involving magic and time were beyond her knowledge except on a rudimentary level. Then she had an idea, "There is one thing I can think of but it's risky." She said. "Time magic."
"What is that?" Audrey asked.
"A way to reverse time in an isolated area." Mal said. "The thing is it's a gamble. It could reverse time…or, hurt the user."
"We need another way." Carlos stated automatically.
"There is no other way." Mal replied. "Not unless we come up with one as in right this second."
Jane had heard their conversation from her helmet intercom. She made her decision. "There is no other way, not right now." She declared. She took a step back and let her instincts and the power of the wand take over.
Ben and the six rangers saw a clock face appear out of nowhere. Audrey and Ben even swore it looked like the one that struck midnight when Cinderella had gone to the ball, somewhat of a bitter reminder at this point. The two hands on the clock began to rotate.
"What is this?" Crimson Sage asked. He apparently had not known about time magic, not too much of a surprise considering that it wasn't exactly safe magic, more of a risk than a trick.
"What do we have to hope for Mal?" Jay asked her.
"Midnight." Mal answered simply. "Twelve on the dot."
"Those are pretty small odds." Carlos said with a shake of his head.
"Is there anything we can do to influence that?" Lonnie asked with worry.
"Pray." Audrey answered.
Mal had an idea though. She closed her eyes and began a small chant of her own.
They watched as the clock hands spun for a moment and then they started to slow, stopping once at ten and then another time at eleven. Then it seemed to stop moving altogether.
"Oh no." Carlos gasped. "Jane."
Audrey wasn't sure how far this effect would go. She tried to brace herself and saw the others following suit except for Mal. It looked to the red ranger like their leader was praying. It seemed an odd thing to do right now.
Then the clock chimed again as the hands moved to twelve. A vortex moved swirled around Jane and Red Magi. They others looked unsure of whether this was a good thing or not until Red Magi, not the old man that was calling himself Crimson Sage, landed hard on the ground. They saw Jane land softly to her feet as the spell on the conference hall shorted out and then vanished.
The seven warriors ran over to the stand with their eighth companion as they all looked to Red Magi. "Looks like your gambit failed to pay off." Jay said with a grin. "Time for you to pay for that."
"Not today Rangers." Red Magi said an then vanished.
For a moment they all felt frustration. Then Audrey, Lonnie and Ben powered down and ran toward the conference hall doors, desperately wanting to check on their parents.
After a moment the four isle teens powered down, as did Jane. "Welcome to the team Jane." Evie said as she gave her a one armed hug. "I think you'll do great."
"Me too." Mal agreed. "We can have that creative brain of yours on the field now instead of in the command center."
"Mom will still need someone to run it in my absence." Jane said. "I bet Doug is more than up to the task though." Together the five of them went into the room.
Mal saw Ben had just pulled away from Belle to talk to his father. She separated from her friends and went over to them. "Are you okay?" She asked Belle, feeling some concern for who she assumed would be her future mother in law.
"We all seem to be just fine Mal." Belle answered and patted her shoulder gently. "Thanks to you, Ben and your friends."
"Including Jane." Mal added and then stopped. "Wait, you know?"
Belle nodded. "Most of those on the council and their spouses know." She replied simply. A look passed between them at what was not mentioned. The knowledge that Chad's parents had to deal with his apparent betrayal of Auradon.
Lonnie was over with her parents celebrating their safe return. Evie and Carlos melted over to the side with Jane though she was awaiting her mother's return to the hall as well. Jay saw Audrey go over and throw her arms around both of her parents, who both hugged her back. He thought it might have been helpful to her on more than one level; he still wasn't sure she had even acknowledged Chad's anger with her, let alone dealt with it.
Then Audrey waved Jay over and he kind of relucatantly went over to her. Audrey took his hands in hers, in front of her parents. "Thanks for trying to keep me sane when this all happened." She said. She looked away embarrassed. "It seems I've need that a lol recently."
"It'll pass." Jay tried to assure her. "But in the meantime we're all here for you, remember that." Audrey wrapped her hands around his arm as she talked again to her parents and Jay decided he was okay with this, it was after all only for one night…he didn't know if that short time was good or bad.
Fairy Godmother came in moments later. Jane hugged her. "Thanks mom, for believing in me. Probably more than I've believed in myself."
She stroked her daughter's back gently. "Perhaps. But I think that will change now that you're a ranger, fighting with your friends to keep the world safe from harm."
As the evening progressed there came a time to dance. Ben led Mal out to the floor, as did Adam did to Belle. Carlos impulsively took Jane's hand to lead her to the floor, and their newest ranger let him do so. Evie and Lonnie conversed quietly though the blue haired girl wished she had Doug there. She hoped Lonnie found someone to spark her interests as well.
"Care to dance?" Jay asked Audrey with a gentlemanly but perhaps slightly exaggerated bow.
Audrey gave him a small curtsy. "I would love too." She replied. He took her hand and lead her to the dance floor.
Mal watched the two of them and laughed softly. "They're going to be an item sooner or later, mark my words." She said to Ben.
"Should we start circulating the nickname The Queen of Hearts for you?" Ben asked her with a teasing smile as he stroked her hair.
Mal laughed again. "No thank you." She replied and leaned up to kiss him on the lips gently. "Between being a ranger and being with you, I think my work is cut out enough for me."