The rest of the ocean cruise was incident free and they arrived at the next dock and the group disembarked, receiving several words of appreciation over getting rid of Snowblaze and the Skeleshark. "It doesn't seem to occur to anyone else that if we weren't on the ship they might not have been attacked." Jay noted with some amusement.
Audrey shook her head. "It seems to me that if it hasn't occurred to anyone that would seem to say that Skeleshark has attacked ships before for no good reason." She ventured.
"I'd bet anything on that." Ben agreed as he looked around. It was still pretty cold and it wasn't more than a couple of miles to the mountain. "So I guess we should start on our way then."
"That's what we're going to do." Mal agreed. "We have to be as quick and quiet as we can be."
"So if we run into more of those samurai wasps what are Ally, Jordan and I supposed to do about them?" Aziz asked.
Jordan laughed a little. "Speak for yourself, I am a genie after all." She remarked.
"We can always lend you a blaster." Mal answered simply. "That Skeleshark situation was pretty unique, most of the time we can just use our main weapons." She side stepped to avoid a large rock that she could see twisting ankles in its long life.
They stopped by a small inn long enough to get an idea of where they needed to go. A reluctant grasshopper told them about a small entrance in the mountains eastern base that they could use to climb the mountain if they wanted to take that chance. He also cautioned them about that being the wasp's base.
Afterwards they started toward the mountains. They had to cross a wooded area, almost like a forest but wasn't nearly as lively as Auradon Forests or even the wintry forest they had crossed to get to the cruise ship. "Sometimes I think we should start dreading the forests." Jane noted. "Very little good seems to come from it lately."
"The enchanted lake that was used to cure me from Sermaya's hold was also in the forest." Ben pointed out reasonably and then shrugged. "Though maybe that's the exception to the rule."
"Really it's not the forests fault, or the sea, or wherever these monsters might emerge from." Lonnie pointed out reasonably. "The one who's at fault here is the things that create these monsters, be it from Paradias or whoever influenced Wonderland to this point."
"I'm still a bit confused on that." Ally admitted. "If Sermaya isn't linked to Paradias where does he fit into this?"
"He's an ancient beast that was reawakened from his slumber, either by Paradias's soldiers or by us accidently when we went searching for the Auradon Megazord." Evie explained as she moved some hair out of her eyes. "He wants to rebuild his civilization which was apparently wiped out before we came about on the planet." She ducked under a low hanging branch. "We don't know what happened that resulted in their civilizations near extinction."
Carlos jumped over a log and then helped Jane over it. Aziz got over and helped Ally over it as well. "So when we were coming here and we found those soldiers, it wasn't really Jordan's spell that drove them away was it?" He asked.
"My spell was mainly for show." Jordan answered with a shrug. She simply floated over the large fallen log. "The real work was done by Mal's dragon zord."
The purple haired girl took out her crystallized dragon from her pocket and showed it to Aziz and Ally, even letting the blonde hold it when she looked at it curiously. "I used a spell on my dragon zord that lets it stay near me in that condition, though I have to free it in order to use the zord or to let it get some exercise." Mal explained. "I did the same thing for Ben's horse zord."
Ally handed the crystallized dragon back to Mal. "What about the Auradon Megazord?" She asked.
"Our battle zord isn't composed of animals like there's are, it's one big machine." Audrey explained as Jay helped her over the fallen log, making sure she didn't lose her balance on the way down by keeping his hand on her arm gently. "It resides in that mountain when we aren't using it to fight."
They soon reached the mountain base and turned to the east to find the opening the grasshopper described, sticking to the wooded area in case any of the samurai wasps were patrolling the area. Ben rationalized it made sense since this was the base access for the hive.
About a half hour later they found the opening, as well as discovering the young king was right. There were two guards standing by the entrance. It seemed a bit odd and they briefly wondered if they were supposed to be heading into a trap but ultimately it didn't matter as they had to go this way and confront the enemy anyway.
"So how do we get rid of these guards?" Carlos asked quietly. "I mean I know we could attack directly but maybe it would be better if they didn't know who had knocked them out, just in case there's any sort of secrecy we can exploit."
"Too bad we don't have an enchanted spinning wheel." Jay joked lightly and he and Carlos couldn't help but exchange a quiet high five.
"Oh, will you two get over it." Mal responded quietly with a small glare mixed with annoyance and amusement. She then looked back to the wasps on guard. "They're facing toward us. We can't really do anything to them without them knowing we're coming."
"I think there is a way." Ally said. "Maybe I can confuse them." She looked to the group. "If I run away fast enough they might think I'm my mother and that she got away. They'll pursue me."
Evie shook her head. "No way, we won't leave you behind." She protested.
"We won't have to." Audrey told the blue haired girl. "Ally runs, they go after her. They won't realize when someone takes them out from behind."
"Give it a few minutes Ally." Jay said to her and he pointed to a small grassy area in the east. "Carlos and I can sneak over there and lie in waiting. When the wasps pass us we'll take them down. They won't even know what hit them."
"Are you sure that's going to work?" Ben asked at the same time that Aziz questioned, "Why is it that you two get to do that?"
"We're as sure as we are of anything if we want to keep our cover for now." Jay said to Ben and then looked to Aziz, who should have technically been his own rival rather than a team mate or friend. "And unless you've been spending time sneaking around Auradon, pretty sure we're the biggest stealth experts here."
Mal knew technically she and Evie could have done it too, but that was beside the point. Jay was still the ex-thief among them plus he was the strongest of the four of them and Carlos was smaller than both girls and it made it easier for him to move undetected though the purple haired girl knew she was stronger than he was. "Alright then, get going." She told them.
The two boys nodded and started moving through the brush. Aziz realized that Jay was indeed right. If he wasn't watching them move right now he would never have known that they were moving. In fact after a minute he wasn't even sure where they were, for all he knew that had just stopped.
"Hey Mal, how does Ally get their attention without giving us away?" Lonnie asked her quietly. "I mean this was the entrance we were given, we don't know if there are any others."
Mal bit her lip as she thought about that one but it was Jordan who came to the rescue there. "I can take Ally into the cave with my magic. If she makes a mad dash they shouldn't question the poof of our entrance." She said quietly. "Or look inside to see that she wasn't alone."
"Can you get by the guards that way?" Ben asked Ally quietly as he looked over at her. He felt kind of bad that so much of this plan relied on her.
Ally nodded. "They're not expecting it, I can slip under their appendages and then make a dash toward the east where Jay and Carlos are waiting...presumably." She answered as she looked that way but saw no sign of them. Which was the point really but seeing some sign would have made her feel better.
Mal waited another moment, feeling tense. Ben placed his hand on hers made her relax slightly and she shot him a grateful smile. Sometimes she wondered how she handled the strain of leadership as well as she did. She had read somewhere that great leaders did not seek it out but rather had it handed to them and she hoped she would someday exemplify that line. After another moment she looked to Ally and Jordan. "Hit it." She said.
The genie girl took Ally's shoulder and the two of them were gone. They appeared in the cave and Jordan quickly ducked behind a medium sized boulder as Ally made a run for it. The noise attracted the wasp guard's attention and they turned in time to see Ally.
They made a grab for her and the blonde was tempted to panic for a moment but the movement actually made it easier to dodge under their appendages and then run toward the east. She heard them pursuing her and ran as fast as she could. She didn't see Jay or Carlos and that worried her.
The boys saw Ally run by them. They heard the wasps coming because of the buzzing sound they seemed to be making before they saw them. As they were going by Jay reached over and grabbed his wasp by the neck, putting a good choke hold on it and making it pass out. Carlos meanwhile had gotten a hold of his own and was keeping on its back, almost wrestling it. He didn't have the strength to choke it or anything but it was enough of a distraction for Jay to give it a good punch to the side of the head, knocking it out too.
They heard footsteps but saw it was only Ally. "I must say that was a very impressive show gentleman." She said between taking a few breaths of air, her chest heaving a bit from exertion she didn't usually put out. "Glad that you were watching my back after all."
The three of them continued back to find Jordan coming out of the cave and the rest of the team coming out from their hiding spots. They all converged by the cave entrance. "Is everyone alright?" Mal asked.
The two boys and Jordan nodded. Ally's breath had returned to her by that point. "No worse for the wear, surprising as that might be." She responded.
"Then let's get inside and find the Wasp Queen so we can take her out of power." Mal said with a wave of her hand. The group nodded in agreement and followed the purple haired girl into the mountains.
They found themselves surrounded by gray rocks. In a way they were all disappointed, considering the majestic forest with the animal sounds and the far large than should be hatter with the wheel chair bottomed mouse, and the wintry forest with the talking birds and penguins and walrus captain's and snow beasts and yet the mountains looked….like they didn't belong in Wonderland.
"Somehow this is the most bizarre place of all here right now." Evie said quietly, as if she were afraid to disrupt something.
"How ironic that in the kingdom of the mad, it's a place that looks so normal that would draw the comparisons of psychotic thought." They heard from in front of them, but saw nothing for a moment. Then the odd smile appeared followed a moment later by the tall gaunt form of the Cheshire cat.
"It's you again." Aziz said with no joy.
"I promise that I haven't really missed you all that much either." Cheshire cat said with his trademark grin. "Though I see you've already made remarkable progress. You haven't even seen the Red Queen or the Jabberwock and you've already managed to make them really mad."
Mal waved for the others to continue into the mountains, and the Cheshire cat seemed to walk above them as they did so. "I take it that what we did to Snowblaze has already been heard about then." The purple haired girl remarked dryly.
"Oh not just Jabberwock's winter fiend, but what you did to one of his water bound bone piles as well." The Cheshire cat answered with almost a shrug. "At this point I'd say the only reason your faces aren't on posters is because it would do more harm than good."
"Wouldn't that be a good thing for them?" Lonnie asked dubiously. "If they want us that bad people would be on the lookout for us."
"Ah, to live in your orderly little world." The Cheshire cat said with a smirk in his voice. "Where the monarch…sorry, patriarch, is loved by all, even if they don't have purple hair." That brought a bit of annoyance to Mal and Ben's faces. "The Red Queen doesn't rule by just, she rules by fear. And that fear is diminished if Wonderland knows about the opposition she found thus."
"Again with the riddles?" Carlos asked with a roll of his eyes.
Jane put her hand on his arm to calm him. "He means that if the world really knew about what would happen the population would lose fear of the Red Queen and would be more inclined to resist her." She translated for him.
"Better for her to use those under her command than the people who would be okay if she was kicked out of power." Ben agreed.
"I kind of feel like we're walking around in circles." Audrey said as she looked to Mal. "We need a better plan than that."
"Any better ideas?" Mal asked her archly.
"Stop and look around maybe." Audrey said with a bit of ire. "Make sure we're not missing anything."
"We're in a mountain Audrey, not a maze." Mal replied back. "It's not like the wasps are going to hide anything from each other, they have brains the size of walnuts."
"Okay you two, stop." Ben commanded. "That isn't going to help us either." The two girls exchanged looks of agreement but of course both of them were too stubborn to say they were each wrong out loud.
"I'm afraid Audrey is right." Ally said diplomatically. "We should take a better look around, although one would expect that they wouldn't be so…closed off with one another that hardly means anything."
"We of all people should know how well villains really work together." Evie reminded Mal gently. "If I were the Wasp Queen I would do what I could to make sure that the Red Queen and the Jabberwock can't get to me though any unexpected ways, and the mountain would be the way to do it."
"Spread out and look around everyone." Mal decided as she started over to examine a wall that at least to her seemed unnaturally smooth.
They had searched around the cave area as far as they could without losing sight of each other and Audrey was starting to think she may have jumped the gun when Jane looked up to ceiling and then called out for them. When they gathered around she asked, "What do you see?"
"Lots of stalagmites." Aziz answered with some boredom in his voice.
Mal caught on and frowned. "You were right Audrey, we should have been paying more attention." She relented and then pointed to the ceiling. "That stalagmite is different from the others, almost tapered down."
Evie caught on. "It's not just part of the cave, if a wasp were to fly up there it could pull the stalagmite down and they'd have an underground access to get into the hive." She replied.
Jane, Carlos and Aziz went back a little bit while Lonnie, Ben and Mal went further in a little bit. The two teams reconverged where they left the others. "It's not just this one either." Jane reported. "They have sections like these every two feet or so."
"So they can evacuate in a hurry." Audrey started.
"Or come out in one big army." Jay added ominously.
Evie had to admit she was a little impressed. "So they might even be hearing us talk right now." She said quietly. "They might know we're here."
"I don't know about that one." Mal replied softly. "Otherwise they would have attacked by now." A horrible realization struck the purple haired girl. "Unless they have some invasion planned."
"Or unless you're expected." Cheshire cat pointed out with a seemingly in appropriate huge grin given the dire conversation they were currently having. They had all honestly forgotten he was there.
"You think that's a real possibility?" Carlos questioned.
Ally didn't even have to think about it. "Yes." She answered softly but firmly. "They have my mother, they knew I'd be coming." She motioned toward the still but grinning form of the Cheshire cat. "He's already confirmed that they know about Snowblaze and Skeleshark being destroyed. They know I'm not alone, that I have people strong enough to accomplish just that."
"Either way we have to go this way if we intend to rescue Mrs. Liddell and stop all these negative forces in Wonderland." Ben reminded them all reasonably. "So let's get of these down and see what's in the hive."
"Piece of cake." Jordan said with a smirk. She raised her hand and twirled her pointed and middle finger and forced the stalagmite trigger to be released and open the hatch. Jay and Ben got one knee and set their arms out, hands together, so that they could start boosting up the girls. Mal went first, followed by Lonnie, Audrey and Evie.
"Your turn." Carlos said to Jane.
She shook her head. "I'm going last. We should have one person with powers down here just in case, and I can use the magic wand to boost me up there." She said to the man who secretly liked her, not that it wasn't exactly one sided. "Get everyone else up there."
They helped Carlos up instead, though with some reluctance on his part. That was followed by Ally and Aziz. Carlos and Mal then got on their stomachs to help Jay and then Ben up while the girls kept watch to make sure they weren't ambushed. That left Jane, who despite her brave words made sure to get up to the same level as the others as quickly as magically possible.
"What is that smell?" Audrey asked disgusted. "It smells…I don't know what…"
Mal wrinkled her nose in disgust too. "Despair." She answered simply. "Some of the outskirts of the Island of the Lost smell like this too." She looked to the Auradon teens. "These wasps are just the cornerstone of Red Queen's army, I think most if not all things come through here to get to Jabberwock and the Red Queen, for even the slightest infraction."
Evie nodded as she understood it too while Jay and Carlos just looked overly grim with the realization. "I think one of the ideas of the Island was to try to give some kind of normal life, but truly evil people don't need magic and technology to inflict pain and suffering." Evie seemed to speculate, but then shuddered, making Lonnie think it might be more than speculation.
"So where are the wasps then?" Aziz asked.
"They have to be further up in the mountains." Jay said. "These look like tunnels more than anything else."
"That works out better for us." Lonnie noted. "That means we don't have to search for the area we need. It should lead us straight there." The Asian princess frowned a little bit. "Of course that would also further prove what Cheshire cat said was right." It was then that they noticed Cheshire cat had not followed them up, nor did they know when he had walked away from them, or faded as the case might be.
They followed the tunnel for what seemed like hours but really couldn't have been more than one hour tops before they found a large boulder in the way. Working together the four guys, Mal and Lonnie managed to push it aside enough for everyone to be able to squeeze through. They found more rocks, and beyond that a village.
"Think they built it?" Evie asked softly. The village itself didn't look at all like the hive they expected. Instead it looked like an old 16th century feudal oriental village, at least from everything they had seen in history books. "Or did they steal it from someone else?"
"My money is on the latter." Jay stated flatly. "So far I don't see anyone but something tells me they're all just waiting to ambush us." Further on they could see a large wooden gate that they figured they would have to pass to get to the Red Queen.
They heard a roaring sound and stayed put for about two minutes before realizing it never changed and Ben tried not to laugh. "That's only a waterfall." He informed them. "It's to the left of the village, and it doesn't sound that far away."
Mal nodded and smiled at her boyfriend. "Okay, we have two options. Run and hope we make it to the gate before they jump us or we try to sneak across and hope we get there before we get spotted." She told the team. It was unsafe to assume there weren't some wasps around despite none of them seen from their position.
"I think we should try to sneak our way through." Audrey volunteered. "Better to ride the rapids then face the hive."
"Can all of us really sneak across the area?" Aziz asked. "We have eleven of us here, and not to be mean but only four of us grew up sneaking around."
"Oh please." Mal said dismissively. "Like I ever snuck around. I'm the daughter of Maleficent."
Aziz shrugged. "Fair enough." He granted.
"You eight go on ahead." Jordan said to the fighters. "I'll stay back here with Ally and Aziz. If this works I can take these two and we can all but zip across without a problem." She didn't want to point out that the two civilians were safe if they were caught for whatever reason.
"Follow my lead, try to do what I do." Jay said. "If we do this right and they're not paying close attention we can sneak our way through." As he stood up he took Audrey's hand and told her. "Just to make sure you do it right."
The brunette princess would have been more offended if she hadn't enjoyed the feeling of his hand over hers. "If you insist." She said with an exaggerated eye roll.
"Oh, gag me." Mal said jokingly as she swatted their enjoined hands lightly. She none the less took the same idea with Ben. Carlos did the same thing with Jane. Evie reached out and took Lonnie's hand. Together the eight of them started across the area, following Jay's lead.
Ally noticed he lead them to the left, toward the waterfall. She surmised that was because it was harder to detect any noise that may or may not be made by the four coupled parts. It might have been fortuitous as Jane almost tripped over a half buried rock, while Audrey almost knocked over a basket of what they hoped were peaches.
Jordan watched too and then realized their mistake. "Ah, shoot." She muttered and was about to stand up when it became moot. From the houses and mountainside across from the waterfall the doors burst open and there were over two dozen samurai wasps. The mountainside held another dozen samurai wasps along with a dozen archer wasps.
The eight warriors turned around to see several wasps with spears fly up from the edge that lead to the small lake that the waterfall made.
And the gate that was their destination opened to reveal more samurai wasps and wasps with spears along with the one they had come looking for; the large Wasp Queen. She laughed. "Welcome to my trap, kiddies." She said derisively. Then from behind the three civilians they heard the tunnel collapse. "Your journey ends here."