Daytime came around and the group approached the tree. It seemed to be a long way down from the hole and there was end in sight. Even Ally was a bit intimidated as she didn't remember getting to Wonderland that way though she remembered her mother talking about that as her first journey.
"Alright, well, let's get this going." Mal said with a bit of uncertainty. Ben took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"You people give up to easily." Jordan laughed. "Of course that might be because of the fact none of you are genies."
"You have any better ideas?" Audrey questioned.
"Pick your choice." Jordan said. "I can make us a ladder of some sort, or we could go in style of a sorts and I could conjure up a large magic carpet for us to take down."
None of them were sure what would be safer; both of them presented their share of dangers, especially when they didn't know what they were descending into. Finally Mal said, "Well if we're going to do it this way let's do it in style."
Evie laughed. "Magic carpet ride please." She said.
Jordan laughed a little. "I like that idea better anyway." She revealed. "My dad actually is friends with a magic carpet, it's sentient or at least as sentient as a rug can be. I don't think he created it though."
"Will ours be sentient?" Carlos asked.
"Not as far as I know." Jordan answered. "If somehow that happens I'd be surprised."
"I think I'd rather not have an intelligent rug anyway." Audrey replied. Being slightly afraid of heights going down this hole via magic carpet seemed only marginally safer than dropping right in, which like Mal is what she expected to have to do. "Decorations shouldn't be moving on their own."
"I think there's a point where my parents might not have agreed with you." Ben pointed out teasingly.
"That was different, the people in his castle didn't start out as decorations and stuff." Audrey commented with a smile and roll of her eye.
Jordan magically formed a magic carpet big enough to accommodate them all. It had some barriers around it to help stop anyone from falling out of it and even seemed to have seatbelts. "Safety first." Jordan said half-jokingly.
While Jordan used her own magic to levitate on the carpet and on the front where she would presumably using the labels to try to drive, Ben helped Mal on, Carlos helped Jane on, Jay helped Evie and Audrey on, Aziz helped Ally and Lonnie on. Then the four boys got on the carpet themselves. "Here we go ladies and gentlemen." Jordan announced.
"You'll finally get some answers Ally." Lonnie said to the blonde softly. "You must be looking forward to it."
"Sort of." Ally said with a soft shrug. "I mean, the fact that we have to do this makes me feel apprehensive, that we're going to walk into something bad."
"Look on the bright side." Carlos tried to say lightly. "Maybe she just got stuck having tea time."
"I wish it were that simple." Ally replied honestly.
"Any idea how long this descent will take?" Mal asked her.
"I'm afraid not." Ally answered. "It could be another minute or it could be hours…possibly longer."
It soon became clear that it was going to be more than a minute. It seemed like the tree route was growing grooves and other characteristics. There wasn't much to do except for watch the scenery and a little bit of conversation. Mal laid her head on Ben's shoulder and he wrapped that arm around her.
Jay looked to Audrey. "How are you doing?" He asked. He was the only one who knew she was afraid of heights, at least as far as he knew. He figured only Ben might know that and he was a little distracted himself at the moment.
The brunette princess nodded. "As long as I don't look down, I can handle it." She said softly. "Thanks for the concern though." She was looking to the side, trying to help that feeling when she tensed just a bit. "I think I just saw something moving." She reported louder to the others.
"I didn't see anything." Carlos said, who had been looking around but in the opposite side.
"Everyone keep an eye out." Mal instructed. "If something is trying to ambush us I'd rather it not work."
They kept alert. Each of them could have sworn they saw some form of amusement but nothing concrete. Lonnie cocked her head a bit. "I thought I saw wings, like a bugs…a wasp." She said, her voice growing a bit quieter.
"Can we move any faster?" Aziz asked Jordan.
"It's a carpet, not a race car." Jordan said simply. "We're going as fast as we can, sort to speak."
They saw several large wasps emerge from the crevices of the tree's tunnel. And they also had bows and arrows, which they immediately started to shoot at the carpet. They heard Ally say, "My mother said nothing about this at all."
One arrow cut across Lonnie's cheek and she yelped in pain. "That's very sharp." She noted as her hand went to cheek and came away with a bit of blood on her fingers. "We have to be very careful about this."
There was one resource that Mal had at her disposal that she could use in front of Ally and Aziz. She took out her spell book to find a spell to protect them. "Slings and arrows, give us a scape to avoid our sorrows."
Evie looked at Carlos. "Not one word about the spell." She warned him. He was the one who usually had to mock the words that never the less made the intended spell happen.
Some of the wasps now flew out into the open and started to shoot at the magic carpet again. For a minute the arrows did protect them. Then Evie gasped in pain as one came through the bottom and scraped her thigh. "Why did that happen?" She asked.
Jane ran the spell through her mind. "Scape…land…it's not protecting the underside of the carpet." She revealed.
"We need another spell." Audrey said to Mal.
"Try taking the carpet into a spin." Jay suggested to the genie girl.
They were so concerned about finding a new spell and distracted by the wasps around, flying or stationary, shooting arrows at them that they didn't notice another much bigger figure that leapt up from some unknown place and brought a huge axe up with it that chopped the carpet in half. It was a miracle none of the teens got injured as well.
Each of the team wanted to ask what that was but the rapid descent was enough to break off any words that might have been said. Being in the back Carlos and Jane barely glanced a large figure that they swore was in white and red as it seemed to land on another crevice.
The fall seemed even longer than the flight. It started out with darkness and then gradually turned light, like they were falling from the sky. They even passed several clouds before seeing the ground coming up. It was a forest and before the group could really be worried about a killer landing they struck a blue mushroom and while the landing was not soft it lessened the free fall so that when they hit a small stream it didn't do much more than cause a rough landing.
"That could have been worse." Lonnie said as she started to rise. "Though not by much."
"Any crash you can walk away from…" Jordan started.
"It's probably a good thing that the carpet wasn't sentient after all." Evie noted as she stood.
"I don't recall anything about samurai wasps anywhere." Ally said as she tried to comb as much water out of her hair as possible.
The six original rangers checked their iPhones in order to make sure they were okay. They found that they were intact and they could still morph if they had too. But it seemed as if texts and calls weren't going to go through to Auradon. "We have no signals here." Carlos said. "We can't contact Doug or Fairy Godmother."
"What about your…your special apps?" Jordan asked.
"Working as far as we can tell." Mal answered.
"And are they really going to help us here?" Aziz questioned.
"You never know." Jay replied.
"Where do we go from here?" Lonnie asked now.
"I suggest we head into the forest." Ally replied. "I think it best that try to find some kind of cover before those wasps things decide to come down to our level."
"Or that thing that took out our carpet." Audrey added. "I'd rather that than the long fall we ended up taking."
The teens headed into the forest. Carlos and Jane told them what they had seen from their vantage on what had destroyed the carpet and everyone was slightly dismayed. "It almost sounds like a large and bulky playing card." Aziz said half-jokingly.
"That wouldn't be exactly consistent with what my mother has told me about Wonderland either." Ally said. "Though perhaps I should get used to the idea that things have changed around here, and certainly not for the better."
The eight warriors exchanged private glances. If they encountered that thing with no other knowledge of how to deal with it then the only alternative was to expose Ally and Aziz to the truth by morphing.
They were walking through the forest when they heard some rustling. Each teen tensed, ready to fight, but they saw nothing. They proceeded a bit further with the knowledge they were being followed but couldn't see anything. Then a voice said to them, "Are you lost or merely wandering around?"
"Show yourself." Jay demanded.
The figure appeared before them and Ally blinked in confusion. "If you are who I think you are, you've changed quite a bit." She remarked.
The figure in front of them was feline, tall and gaunt, with perhaps a shade of purple but certainly more grayish, almost dark. He smiled at them all and it seemed a bit weird, very Cheshire in appearance. "I am the Cheshire cat." He introduced with a glee. "And I believe I know exactly who you are, daughter of Alice." He looked to the others. "I see that, unlike your mother, you have brought along friends."
"Do you know where Mrs. Liddell is?" Jane asked the gaunt cat a bit nervously.
"There is no need to fret young lady." Cheshire cat said. "My growl is worse than my bite, or my scratch." They exchanged glances, not sure they believed what this animal was trying to sell. "I am sorry to say that I don't precisely know where Alice has ended up at."
"When was the last time you saw her?" Mal asked, feeling almost like she was dealing with her mother.
"Several days ago, when she decided it was best to go fix the mistake she left a while ago." Cheshire cat answered.
"Mistake?" Evie asked.
"If you wish to know more, you should go see Alice's closest friend, the Mad Hatter." Cheshire cat answered simply. "I am sure he would love to see you, daughter of Alice. It has been so long since you have been here." And before anyone could stop he vanished, that ingratiating smile the last to fade.
"He could have at least told us where to find this hatter guy." Lonnie said.
The group continued on, the forest was virtually silent and this was a sensation none of them were used to. Auradon Forest was almost always teeming with life. They found a connection of water that they suspected led back to the stream they had crashed by.
"Are we going around in circles?" Carlos wondered.
"I don't think so." Mal said. "But I wish I knew where we were going too."
Ally thought a moment. "I think we need to leave the forest. We might find the hatter toward the end of it, undoubtfully having some tea with mock turtle and the hare." She said. They started to follow her.
"Even in our world, it's hard to imagine talking animals." Ben remarked as they started on. "Except for Sermaya we don't have anything like that anywhere."
"Mom said Alpha said something to her about the Space Rangers meeting up with talking turtles." Jane said. "Didn't say much about it beyond, including how that happened."
"It had to be magic." Aziz said simply. "The fact is everything that happens that doesn't fit scientific belief is generally linked to magic."
"Not true." Mal replied. "In many ways people classify something as magic because they don't understand it." She stepped over a loose root and also took Evie's arm when she didn't see it. "Obviously I know firsthand magic exists, but sometimes the unexplainable is just science that they haven't understood yet."
"Sometimes they're one in the same." Jane added, giving Carlos a smile as he helped her over a tree stump. There was an unspoken question on rather it should be there or not, tree chopping was not supposed to be common in Wonderland. "Some areas of Auradon are run by equal amounts science; primarily technology, and magic." She was referring to their command center specifically but was willing to be other parts of Auradon might run in the same fashion.
"They're right you know, to the unenlightened the magic of science is the science of magic." They heard from behind them. They turned around Ally was once again uncertain of what she saw verse what her mother had told her.
The demeanor screamed insane while he wore a top hat of sorts; this all but spelled out Mad Hatter. But he was far taller than Ally had ever anticipated and they all swore the man's arms and legs were almost mechanical in nature, though not nearly as obvious or advanced as their own zords.
He cocked his head at the blonde. "You…you seem familiar." He said and came closer to look over her. Mal and Ben held close together, as if trying to offer each other some form of comfort, or to stop them the other from trying to get in the way. Jay and Audrey seemed to do the same thing.
Nothing however stopped Aziz from stepping in front of Ally protectively. He said nothing but the look in his eyes showed that he didn't need to. Mad Hatter didn't seem intimidated or concerned. "I haven't seen you since you were a wee lass, Ally." He cocked his head. "Or I don't remember it at any rate."
"I don't think he remembers much." Evie whispered to Lonnie. A smile crossed her lips and she had to stop herself from laughing even as she gave her blue haired friend a shushing gesture. They heard Jordan giggling a little though it didn't seem as if the hatter cared.
"Yes, I am Ally Liddell." She said firmly, her British accent stronger than they harder than they had ever heard in her softer terms. "I want to know where my mother is."
"All in good time, all in good time." Hatter promised as he stood up. "It's tea time now, come and join us. It's been a long time since I've had so many guests for afternoon tea." Standing he seemed almost two heads taller than even Ben or Jay. "Come, come."
"Hey, we don't have time for that. We have to find Ally's mother." Audrey tried to protest but was summarily ignored by the tall man. When he ignored them the group followed him.
It was only a few minutes' walk to an area that had a long table that was basically set up for tea. They saw what had to have been the mock turtle and the mouse. They noticed though that below the mouse's waist was instead what looked like a wheelchair.
"Once we sit down, I assure you I will do what I can to answer all of your questions." Mad Hatter told them all as he started to on what they assumed was making tea. "Never you mind, mind you never mind." He babbled.
"My mother always said Hatter was a bit off, but I don't think she meant it in quiet this way." Ally said softly to her team.
"What happened to the mouse?" Evie wondered with concern.
"It's yet another new development as far as I know." Ally answered.
"If we're having tea, don't we need crumpets?" Jay asked with a small smirk.
"Are we like supposed to bring something to this little party?" Mal asked Ben.
The young king shrugged. "I don't know." He answered. "That sometimes how it works in Auradon, especially with pot lucks. But how it works here, I just don't know."
"Well I'll zap up some cookies for this, just in case." Jordan replied.
A few minutes passed, and after Jordan zapped up some cookies they all sat down for the tea party. Mal and Evie frowned just a bit, finding it too bitter for their preference. Carlos and Jay hardly even touched the tea.
For what it was worth the Auradon teens seemed a bit better off with it, or at least their reactions were harder to read. Then Audrey asked, "So what happened here?"
"I normally prefer Darjeeling in the afternoon, but we seem to be out so I settled for Early Grey." Mad Hatter answered absently.
"She meant with Wonderland." Mal emphasized a bit impatiently. "I don't know much about this place, but wasps and big things in your tunnel, and all of these mechanical things I'm guessing are not part of the normal line up."
"You know time tends to pass differently between our precious Wonderland and your little United Auradon Kingdom." Mad Hatter said almost idly just before sipping some tea. "What passes here is far from different from there."
"We didn't really come for a temporal lesson." Evie said a bit nervously.
"Ah, but you must understand." Hatter said to her. "Things are different from the last time that your mother was here before now."
"I think you mean my mother." Ally interrupted.
"Yes of course." Hatter said dismissively. He was getting on Mal and Audrey's nerves, the fact that they could agree on that, even privately, was kind of a miracle. "The last time your mother was here was just after you were born if I recall correctly."
"It had to have been later than that." Ben interjected diplomatically. "Auradon has had peace for decades, and we're only in our teens."
"Time passage my lad," Hatter reminded as if it were that simple. "Time passage." He cleared his throat. "Now then, my point is that Alice brought Ally here quite a long time ago, and after that happened things changed."
"What things?" Jay asked, barely keeping his temper in check.
"You all must think I'm mad." Hatter stated. "And no doubt I am. But not the same way that the Red Queen became mad." He suddenly rose as if forgetting they were supposed to be having tea time. "She's become mad with power, drunk with control."
"What do you mean?" Mal asked, suddenly having a bad feeling and fearing that they were getting to the point.
"Somehow the Red Queen became possessed of power unheard of in Wonderland…or I suspect even in Auradon…possibly the world." Hatter answered.
Jay again remembered his father saying something a bit similar to that. "And she caused all of this destruction?" He asked.
"Oh, no. Not alone." Hatter assured him. "She has her cards, and her multiple wasps with their queen running amok and the large guardian that roams for trouble and keeps things in nice disarray."
"What are you babbling about?" Aziz asked.
"Remember those wasp's that shot at us?" Jane asked him. "They have to have a queen somewhere, all bees and wasps do."
"The Jabberwock." Ally whispered. "That has to the large roaming guardian."
"What is that?" Audrey asked. "What did your mom tell you about that thing?"
"Nothing, she never mentioned it but I found it in some of my mother's things." Ally responded. "Large, almost insectoid of some sort. A predator of Wonderland."
"Yes, yes. The Jabberwock." Hatter agreed with some pride. "That's it. That's the guardian that roams Wonderland, destroying as it pleases. Playing with wasps. All in service to the Red Mad Queen."
"But how did all of this even happen?" Audrey asked. "Things can't become this distorted overnight, not even a place as bizarre as I've heard Wonderland is."
"Ah, that's the question of the hour." Hatter agreed a bit gleefully than either of the teens liked. "No one knows how Red Queen came to power precisely. Rumor has it that it started as all life does, with a seed. But this is no seed of life, but a seed of chaos, seed of destruction, even a seed of death."
A seed. Mal mused silently. Why does that sound so familiar? "What if we stop the Red Queen?" She asked.
"And we do that how?" Aziz asked. He didn't know that he was traveling with seven rangers and a knight.
"Even Wonderland isn't that flexible." Hatter replied. "You can't fix the damage, no no no. But stopping Red Queen, stopping Jabberwock, stopping the wasps, might stop the stopping."
Audrey rolled her eyes. "Can't we get an interpreter?" She asked.
"All we can do is prevent more damage, not reverse it." Ally translated and then looked to Hatter. "We can certainly try, but I have to know where my mother is?"
"You have to try. You have to try." Hatter seemingly repeated, seemingly inanely. "That sounds exactly like what Alice said. And where is she now, where is she now?" He drolled on, making Jay want to smack him. "In the Red Queens clutches she is now, and if she hasn't lost her head already she will soon enough."