Jordan was not the only one who realized their mistake. Mal realized it too as she glanced around the village as they passed the waterfall. She realized that only the sides of the house missed the view of the waterfall, every other house had one. Forgetting for the moment that passing close to the other side would have been like sticking their heads in a guillotine obscuring any noise meant nothing if they were being looked at directly.
The next moment they were surrounded on three sides by the Wasp Queen and her drones, and Jane jumped just a little as she heard the small but loud rock slide. It took a moment for her to be glad that Ally, Aziz and Jordan had not been dragged out of their hiding place.
"Your journey ends here." Wasp Queen repeated. "Surrender now or die."
Mal shook her head. "No." She answered simply as she licked her lips a bit nervous. The odds were not exactly in their favor. She tried a long shot here. "Bring us Alice Liddell and we'll leave Wonderland." She bargained. All they had really wanted was their friend's mother back after all.
It didn't stop Ben and Audrey from looking at her slightly shocked. Freeing Wonderland from Red Queen's tyranny ranked pretty high on their thought process, by products of Auradon at its finest.
The Wasp Queen laughed. "I hold the advantage girl, and you think you can bargain with me?" She questioned. "I can admire the guts but the truth is that even if I wanted to go with that," She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "And let me stress that I do NOT want to, it wouldn't matter. The Red Queen would have my head for that agreement."
Mal expected as much. She hadn't been keen on abandoning Wonderland to them either. Now it didn't matter. "Then you're right. For one of our groups this journey does end here, but I think you've got odds on the wrong side." She looked to her team mates. "Let's get to work."
Mal, Audrey, Evie, Jay, Carlos, and Audrey pulled out their iPhones, input their codes into their number pads and transformed. Ben formed his sword and shield and brought them together to transform into the Auradon Knight. Jane used the magic wand to transform into the white ranger. They all stood ready for battle.
"Bring me their heads." Wasp Queen commanded her underlings. "The Red Queen will appreciate the gesture I'm sure."
"Well we don't want that to happen." Audrey noted as she formed her silver bow.
"No we don't." Mal agreed as she formed her staff.
Lonnie formed her tessens, Jay formed his scimitar, Carlos formed his clawed daggers, Evie drew her mirror shield, Jane had the magic wand ready to use as a weapon and Ben had already drawn his sword and raised his shield.
It was not a moment too soon. Lonnie, Jay and Ben turned to deal with the spear carriers by the waterfall while the rest of the team got ready to deal with the ones moving in from the houses, all except for Mal who faced in the same direction as the Wasp Queen.
"I don't like this." Ally whispered softly. "They have to face a fight on three sides and are practically outnumbered." The blonde looked to her two friends. "And this side is barricaded so retreat isn't even an option…not that it exactly was in the first place."
"Let's see if we can even out these odds a little." Jordan said mischievously as she formed a magnet in both of her hands. "If I can get ahold of the blasters or one of the wasp's weapons we can ty to back the rangers up."
The wasps came in from all sides, aiming straight for the rangers. Audrey had no time to worry about using her weapon as a bow, it made her grateful that each of her weapons sides were sharpened to a fine point so she could fight up close.
Jay was more than at home with close combat with the scimitar and Lonnie was doing almost as well with her tessens. In another situation it could have been likened to an elegant but dangerous dance. Carlos almost fought like a wild animal, ironic given his original fear of dogs that had turned to love.
Evie was finding it harder to fight. She could deflect attacks well enough with her mirror shield but since they were physical attacks there wasn't really much to reflect. She used her blaster to help her offensively as she would blast any of the wasps that came to close to her.
Ben and Mal were working together to take out the wasps as much as they could. That lasted only moments before they were separated by a huge landing figure between them. It was the Wasp Queen herself. And she seemed to have eyes for Mal.
Jordan drew a sword from one of the first fallen wasps that Aziz took into hand. The genie girl knew she couldn't take Evie's blaster, the blue ranger needed it herself. She aimed for Audrey's blaster since the red ranger had her hands full already but it was harder to take a weapon from a moving target, especially since she didn't want to take the bow and leave Audrey defenseless.
Ben wanted to go to Mal's aid but didn't for three reasons. The first was that there were still too many wasp's around them. The second was that he wasn't sure he could make a difference on his own, they all had to go to her together and in fact out of all of the other warriors he was probably the only one who couldn't do much to help her power wise. The final one was that he knew she could take care of herself.
"Oh no." Ally gasped as she saw the Wasp Queen all but towering over the group, starting toward Mal. Jordan glanced at the sight too and grimaced. It was kind of a catch twenty two as the Wasp Queen was bigger than a regular monster but not big enough to make it worth using any of their zords, assuming they even had access to them in Wonderland.
"I have my eye on you purple ranger." Wasp Queen declared. "There is someone who will be quite happy to see you brought down a peg or two."
Mal's face would have shown confusion had she not been helmeted. She didn't know that her mother was behind a good portion of what had been wrought upon Wonderland. "I don't know who around here would be so interested in me." The purple ranger declared. "But you're going to find that I'm not easy to bring down."
Jordan finally got a hold of Audrey's laser and handed it to Ally before making the magnet vanish. Ally looked at her in confusion. "Don't you need one too?" She asked.
"I'll get one on the field." Jordan answered the blonde. "For now my magic will be my weapon." Now she moved her glance to include Aziz. "Let's go help out Jane and Ben so that way the other rangers can go to Mal's aid."
That idea was in fact implanted in the minds of Jay, Carlos, Evie, Lonnie and Audrey but were running into the wasps which seemed to be endless. One of the wasps with a polearm struck Lonnie and she landed hard.
"We're coming M!" Evie tried to reassure her but was then subsequently struck in the back by another wasp.
"Evie!" The purple ranger gasped and tried to run to her chosen sister but the Wasp Queen turned around and slammed into her with her stinger. She fell back hard and her back hitting the pole near the gate didn't help either.
Audrey drew her bow in an attempt to shoot an arrow directly at Wasps Queen's head only for two of the samurai wasps to strike Audrey hard. Before they could finish her off Jay was defending her, but he had brought two more samurai wasps with him.
"Finish them off my minions." Wasp Queen commanded as the wasps were descending on all three sides.
Then two laser blasts and several magic strikes struck around the wasp warriors, sending many of them sprawling. Ben and the seven rangers were really glad to see Aziz, Ally and Jordan coming in from the one unguarded area. It was a mixture of relief that they had back up and relief that their friends hadn't been in the way of the rock slide they had heard as the trap was sprung.
"I had wondered where the daughter of Alice had gone off to." The Wasp Queen admitted. "Do you three really think you can change the flow of this battle?"
"Damn right." Jordan stated heatedly as she unleashed another wave of magic at some of the approaching wasps. Aziz dived in to help Lonnie get to Evie's side. Ally helped Jay to take out the wasps that were trying to descend on him and Audrey.
The Wasp Queen let out something that was between a growl and a hiss and made to leap at Ally but Mal had recovered by that time and moved to intercept, delivering a jump kick right into the Queen's back and then as the monster turned she drove her staff hard into her chest. "You said you wanted me." Mal reminded her dangerously. "Don't you dare turn your back on me now."
"Little brat." Wasp Queen growled and tried to bring her appendages down on either side of Mal's head but the purple ranger blocked with her own weapon and then came down to one knee to slam her staff again into the Wasp Queen's chest.
Aziz helped Evie to stand. "Mal can't stop the Wasp Queen on her own." He stated to the two girls. "Give her a hand."
"You can't do this alone either." Lonnie pointed out. "You're less protected than we are."
"Don't worry, I've got his back." Jane promised. "Go help Mal."
Lonnie stopped just long enough to take out her blaster and give to Aziz. "Just in case you need it. If not, then give it to Jordan." She instructed and then the two rangers moved toward their leader.
Carlos and Ben, combined with Ally's long range support, helped back the wasps off of Jay and Audrey. Ben then looked to the three rangers. "Mal needs you. Go help her. I'll make my way to Jordan and Ally and help them deal with these wasps." He instructed.
Carlos gave Ben his blaster. "Give that to Jordan." He instructed. "Just in case she needs more than her magic."
Ben nodded and then started to make his way to the two female civilians who still seemed pretty capable of holding their own. The young king suspected that Jordan's magic had a lot to do with that one. He also saw Aziz and Jane fighting as well but he thought they were dangerously close to the edge near the water fall.
The Wasp Queen slammed her head hard into Mal's chest and she fell back, finding it hard to breathe. She hit the ground hard, coughing. The Wasp Queen laughed and leaned down to grab Mal but Audrey leapt out and shot an arrow right into her chest.
That caused her to back off a step and that was followed by a double strike from Carlos and Lonnie, and a follow up kick from Jay that sent her flying back.
Evie knelt down to Mal. "Are you okay M?" She asked as she gently rubbed her chosen sister's back.
"Y-yeah." Mal got out as she took a deep breath. "That was a one heck of a wallop."
"I don't know if that was from her head striking your chest or if it was a delayed reaction from her stinger." Evie told her gently as she continued to rub her back. "Either way I think that your powers protected you from the worst of the effects."
"Shouldn't her dragon zord have protected her?" Carlos asked.
"None of those are magical attacks Carlos." Audrey reminded him. "One is purely physical and the other is poison, or venom, one of those two."
"Venom." Evie supplied helpfully. "At least in this case."
"Let's finish this." Mal said, sounding stronger than she had a moment ago. She took Lonnie and Audrey's offered hands and stood up at the same time as Evie did. Then the six rangers turned to face off against the Wasp Queen.
Ben cut his way through to the two girls. "Are you two alright?" He asked them.
Jordan nodded. "We're alright Ben." She said. She looked around. "We better go help Jane and Aziz, it'll be easiest if we're fighting back to back."
Ben nodded. "I agree." He said. "We're going to have to cut through them. I'll take the front, Ally you stay in between us and cover us. Jordan, do you want to stick to your magic or use this?" The knight held up the blaster Carlos had given him.
Jordan took the blaster in her left and let the magic crackle in her right hand. "I think I'll choose option c." She said with a smile. "The more the merrier."
"Good enough." Ben stated and then the three of them started to make their way over to the white ranger and Aziz.
The Wasp Queen had risen again by that point to see that six rangers ready to go. "I wanted the purple ranger, but if I have to take all of you down as well then so much the better." She stated and then raised her appendages and shot out stingers at them. It sent them all scattering and flying in all directions.
"Look what you did to my beauty." The Wasp Queen growled to Audrey as she ran an appendage over her face. "I'll make you pay Red Ranger." She leapt and tried to bring the large stinger on her rear down on Audrey but she rolled out of the way and kicked her back hard before standing.
"I might have done you a favor." Audrey said as she tried to bring her bow edge down on the queen but she was blocked and tossed aside. She landed by Evie and Carlos even as they were getting up and heading toward her.
Jay and Lonnie again tried to double team the queen only to be intercepted by her appendages this time and slashed across their chests hard.
Mal moved in and struck the queen again in the chest. She tried a follow up only to have the queen get a hold of her staff and then using it to strike Mal hard. She rolled back and landed by her friends as the staff was tossed back to her. "You're starting to bore me power rangers." She warned.
Mal glanced back to see the wasps were barely being held back by her knight, their white ranger and their three civilian friends. "We have to find a way to destroy the Wasp Queen." She concluded as she looked to her friends. "If we do that I think that it will kill off her drones and end this fight."
"That's now how it works in nature Mal." Lonnie reminded them softly. "In nature even if somehow you kill the queen, and normally it requires going through most of the hive anyway, there's always the chance of another one to take her place."
"That may be." Mal allowed. "We're going to have to hope the rules of Wonderland monsters don't follow the rules of reality." She looked at her team again. "We have to defeat the queen and hope it stops the drones."
"How do we do that?" Carlos asked her. "So far we've done little but bore her apparently." His voice sounded dry and sarcastic.
"Let's up the power level then." Mal answered. "Show her the power of neon."
"Great idea." Audrey replied. "Let's do it."
The six rangers again turned to face her and then each of them placed their hands on the small dragon scale embedded in the suit of their right arm, activating the neon powers. Their suits changed from regular colors to neon, though in Jay's case it was almost hard to see that.
"What is this?" Wasp Queen asked. "You think your little color change will do anything for you?"
"We'll find out, won't we?" Mal asked. She gestured toward Jay and Carlos and the two boys nodded. Quicker than before they leapt out and double attacked the Wasp Queen with their weapons.
Now Audrey leapt and used Jay's shoulders as leverage to get behind the Wasp Queen. As she turned to face the red ranger she shot a kick out at her abdomen and then struck her with the bow's edge. She twirled in recoil only to find a strike coming from Lonnie.
That allowed Mal to retrieve her fallen staff. She twirled it around and then brought it up in both of her hands, right above her head. Evie jumped off the staff and brought her mirror shield right now on the Wasp Queen's head. It would have broken the glass if it had been a regular mirror.
Then Mal rushed in and slammed her staff right into the monster's chest and she went sprawling back again.
Lightning quick the six rangers surrounded the Wasp Queen and then moved in with their weapons, bringing them down hard onto her body. That sent her recoiling even further and even crashing into one of the houses.
"Did we do it?" Lonnie asked.
"Don't think so." Carlos answered as he saw their five friends still fighting against the wasp army.
The Wasp Queen rose from the rubble. "Very nice rangers, you're stronger than I gave you credit for." She relented and then laughed. "But you're still not strong enough to defeat me."
Mal looked to her team. "Let's give the Triangle Blast a shot…" She started only to realize that wasn't an option. Jordan had Carlos's blaster while Ally had Audrey's blaster. "Scrap that, let's go with the Auradon blaster."
Mal's staff was the first placed, followed by Audrey's silver bow underneath it. Evie's shield was placed behind and then Jay laid on his scimitar. This was followed by Lonnie's tessens and Carlos's dagger claws on either side. They stood together and fired their blaster at the Wasp Queen.
They were all surprised to see it strike her hard. Clearly it had done a lot of damage. Also equally clearly was the fact that it didn't destroy the Wasp Queen. "Is that all you have power rangers?" She asked them, clearly working to catch her breath and collect herself. But she was still standing.
That surprised Ben and Jane as well, who saw that from their position. Jordan saw it too and looked to the two. "You two go and help them out." She told them. "We'll hold the fort. If we're lucky destroying Wasp Queen will end this fight." She had no way to know that Mal was hoping for the same conclusion.
Jane unleashed a stream of energy against a group of wasps and then looked to Ben. "Come on, let's go help the rangers out." She said. Together the two of them ran past the wasps, Ally covering their backs.
"It's up to us to keep them back." Ally said a bit nervously. She fired at another incoming samurai wasp.
"Don't worry Ally, we got it." Aziz promised as he continued to fight the samurai wasps up front. Jordan's magical energies was also a huge boost to their chances.
"No way." Evie gasped. "What do we do now M?"
"I don't know E." The purple ranger answered simply.
"Wait a minute." Audrey said. "What if we channel our neon energies into the blaster?"
"It's worth a shot." Mal agreed with their red ranger. "Get ready for round two."
Wasp Queen growled, "There won't be a round two, rangers." She started toward the six of them as they got ready for another attack but was interrupted as Jane and Ben kicked her back hard.
That was the time they needed to feed their neon energies into the Auradon blaster and again unleashed it against the Wasp Queen. This time she was destroyed in a blaze.
Aziz and the two girls exhaled in relief when the wasps fell to the ground too, dead now that their queen was gone. Jordan reflected that normally it's not how it would work in nature but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Alas, poor queen." The genie girl stated sarcastically.
For a moment every member of the group; ranger, knight, genie and human stayed where they were trying to catch their breaths. Each of them had had a huge fight on their hands and had barely come out the winners. It made them each dread trying to have to deal with the Jabberwock or the Red Queen. Still, they knew that was exactly what they had to do.
The eight warriors had started toward their friends when there was a large rumbling sound. Then the gates smashed into pieces as a large creature with mechanical wings landed on the ground between them all. From either side they could see the huge fire in its belly that each suspected was supposed to contain the heart. The large mechanical wings flapped for a moment.
Ally couldn't help but gasp in fright, she had heard of this thing occasionally from her mother and it had always given her nightmares. "The Jabberwock." She gasped. Sensing her fright Aziz stepped in front of her protectively, for what good it would do.
"That's the Jabberwock?" Carlos couldn't help but question. "What are we going to do against that thing?"
"Nothing." Said the Jabberwock's deep voice. "You can do nothing except bow to me and the Red Queen."
"That won't happen." Mal said. "We'll find a way to stop you and free Ally's mother."
Jabberwock cocked his head. "Ally's mother…ah, Alice Liddell." He laughed. "You wasted your time and your lives. She is dead." He stated.
"No, you're wrong." Ally retorted, though the thought brought tears to her eyes. "You think if my mother was dead that I wouldn't know it?" She placed her hand over her heart. "That I wouldn't feel it?"
"What you think you feel would feel is of no consequence to me, little girl." Jabberwock stated cruelly and then turns its head toward the three civilians. "But if it makes you feel better, than you can join her."
With one massive fireball delivered from its mouth the Jabberwock struck around the rocky terrain hard. The ground around them crumbled and the eight warriors saw them fall into the depths of the waterfalls terrain.
"No." Audrey called out. Together the eight of them started to try to go over there and do whatever they could to help their friends if possible.
Jabberwock turned toward them now and unleashed fiery rays of light, almost like the same fire that had struck their friends, and struck each of the rangers hard. "Not so fast, if you think you have what it takes to free Wonderland you will have to go through me."
The eight warriors looked up with some dread at the large winged creature which may have just killed Ally, Aziz and Jordan.