On one side stood the purple Auradon Ranger Mal, the Auradon Knight Ben, the Red Auradon Ranger Audrey, the Black Auradon Ranger Jay, the Pink Auradon Ranger Lonnie, the yellow Auradon Ranger Carlos, the white Auradon Ranger Jane, and their new allies; the gold Auradon Ranger Jordan, the silver Auradon Ranger Aziz and the crystal Auradon Ranger Ally.
On the other side stood their last adversary, at least as far as they knew, the Red Queen; dictator of Wonderland. She had come to power after Maleficent had delivered a seed of power to her from an unknown source. And standing in front of her was a large creature that resembled the Card Guards, known as the Guardian.
"First this thing, then you." Aziz promised the Red Queen as he pointed his spear at her. "For Ally and her mother, and for everything you've put Wonderland through in your reign of terror."
The Red Queen looked up at the Guardian. "Crush them." She commanded simply.
The Guardian headed right toward them and tried to bring its huge axe down on the team, and they all dodged to the side.
"More like an executioner than a guardian." Jay noted. "He was clearly misnamed."
"Alright, so how do we take this thing down?" Carlos asked the team in general.
Ally thought a moment. "This thing is a combination of Card Guards." She mused and then looked to Jane, Jordan and Mal. "Do you think that you could use a spell in order to separate that thing out into its basic pieces? Like breaking a deck of cards down to a hand?"
Jordan snickered a bit. "Nice analogy there Ally, I can't imagine where that comparison came from." She drolled. "Still, that's a good idea." The genie girl who was now the gold ranger looked to Mal and Jane. "Any basic spell wouldn't be worth much against that big goon normally, but if we enhance it through me, or more specifically my lamp cannon."
Mal caught on. "It'd give us the punch we needed to make the spell work and bring him down to size." She finished.
"Great, let's go with that." Audrey said as she looked to the three girls. "We'll keep this thing distracted as long as we can while you guys implement Ally's idea."
The three of them backed up a bit as the rest of the ranger's readied their weapons and moved in to attack the giant Card Guardian. It tried to bring the axe down again but Jay and Lonnie, the closest to its strike, dodged out of the way.
"Luckily this thing seems to be as slow as it is large." Carlos pointed out.
Audrey was further back now as she aimed her silver bow. "It seems that way but we can't underestimate this thing. One blow that hits and someone is in trouble." Despite Jordan's potion her broken leg was fresh in her mind. She let off an arrow and it struck across the things shoulder, though it seemed to little effect.
Jane's recently broken arm was also on her mind. And seeing as how this guardian thing was as big as Jabberwock, if not as fast and cruel, she knew something like that happening again could be a real possibility. She had to force herself to focus, though right now it was up to Mal.
Mal's focus was a bit off too as the large guardian tried to take a swing at both her boyfriend and her chosen sister. Luckily both of them were able to dodge out of the way of that too. She closed her eyes and tried to think. She looked to Jane and Jordan. "Alright, hands out, repeat after me. Let's do this." She said.
The two girls followed Mal's lead, each having a hand on Jordan's lamp, plus the genie girl holding her weapon too. "Deadly deck of cards, reshuffle and disperse, this guard shall be no more." Mal recited. The two girls followed her lead and then Jordan shot the magical burst from her lamp.
The Guardian prepared to bring its axe down again, this time against Ally and Aziz when the beam struck it. It seemed to shimmer for a moment before pulling apart, followed by a cloud of smoke. By the time the smoke cleared there were eight Card Guards. But they found themselves surrounded by Audrey, Lonnie, Carlos, Jay, Aziz, Ally, Ben and Evie. One strike from each of the rangers finished off the Card Guards.
"Awesome work guys." Mal said the three of them rejoined their team. She exchanged high fives with Evie and then threw her arms around Ben in a hug. "One big guy down and one to go." She rejoiced.
Jane had to stop herself from throwing her arms around Carlos. Jordan had to try to stop herself from laughing.
Jay looked to Red Queen. "Your enforcer is gone, your guardian is gone. Give it up, you've lost." He stated.
The Red Queen laughed. "Have I?" She questioned. And with that her body started to shift and twist. Her arms grew longer and her hands were replaced by axes. Her stomach distorted to become a miniature version of what Jabberwock had. Armor seemed to engulf most of her body as her two legs became more like four wasp appendages. Her head split into three; one was her own head. The next was very similar to the Jabberwock. The final head was of unknown origin to them all but seemed to vaguely resembled a porcelain dolls head. "It's time for you kids to lose your heads." She declared.
Audrey looked over at him. "I think you jumped the gun there Jay." She noted nervously.
"Yeah, way to go Jay." Carlos drawled in a way that probably would have resulted in the black ranger roughhousing with him had the circumstances been different.
"At least she stayed our size." Lonnie noted as she got into a battle stance.
"That might be the only advantage we have." Aziz noted grimly.
The heads rotated for a moment and then settled on the Jabberwock head. It unleashed a stream of fire that struck all of the warriors back, landing hard.
Ally moved to rise but before she could do so the Red Queen was now in front of her. She slammed her foot against the crystal ranger's chest and raised the axe. "So long ago I wanted to take your mother's head from her body." The Red Queen reminisced. "I'll just have to settle with her daughters instead." She descended her right axe down.
Aziz blocked with his spear while Ben hooked his sword over Red Queen's other arm. She struggled to break free when Lonnie and Audrey struck hard with their weapons and sent her flying back.
"Are you okay Ally?" Evie asked her. The blonde nodded.
The Red Queen channeled fire into her axe heads and then they shot from her body, going out at ramming speeds and slashing each of the rangers repeatedly, sending them fly back hard. Jay tried to block with his scimitar. "This witch is full of tricks." He muttered and then looked to Evie "No offense."
"None taken." The blue haired blue ranger responded easily. The truth was despite being the daughter of Grimholde the Evil Queen, she didn't feel all that connected to whatever magical heritage she should have.
Jane tried to take to the skies to avoid the fire axes and make a counter attack but one of the fiery blades followed her and slammed into her, forcing her back down to the ground.
"That's enough from these things." Lonnie stated as she used one of her tessen to knock it to the ground. Evie did the same with her mirror shield but was unable to reflect it. To their dismay the Red Queen regrew the axe heads.
"Somehow these eleven to one odds just don't seem too fair." Red Queen reflected amused. She raised one of her arms and several Card Guards appeared. She then motioned forward. "Attack."
"I guess that figures." Mused Audrey. "She would be able to summon those things."
"As long as she can't summon a Guardian I think we can handle it." Jordan replied.
Red Queen attacked Mal, Ben and Audrey as the rest of the rangers were roped into combat with the Card Guards. She tried to bring her axes down on Ben but the knight raised his shield to block it. The red and purple rangers leapt out and kicked her back, her face shifting from the Jabberwock to the Red Queen to let out a scream of rage, then shifted to the porcelain doll and shot out black gunk that struck the two girls down and also seemed to leave them sticking the ground. "Gross." Audrey murmured.
"Are you two okay?" Ben asked as he moved to help free his girlfriend and best friend but Red Queen moved forward and slashed the knight hard.
She got ready to again spray the black gunk, this time on Ben, when Evie got in the way with her mirror shield and reflected the shot back at her. It wasn't quick enough though as the Red Queen shifted to the face of the Jabberwock and used the fire to melt the gunk to cinders.
"Great, she just solved that mystery." Jane said as she came over to Mal and Audrey and used a minor fire incantation to burn off the black gunk. A Card Guard tried to attack the white ranger from behind but Mal shot her staff right into its face.
Jay was using his scimitar to battle the Card Guards. He looked to Lonnie who battled right beside him and mused, "I can't believe that these guys make me miss dealing with those soldiers of Paradias's."
Lonnie giggled. "No kidding. Not to mention Jabberwock making me long for a fight with Red Magi or one of those monsters of his. Except maybe that Invader of Nightmares." She added as she took out a Card Guard of her own. She had already decided a physical fight was one thing but a monster that drew out fears like he had with Mal, Evie and Audrey was another altogether.
"Something is seriously wrong with you two." Jordan intervened, only half kidding. "You're actually saying you miss dealing with Paradias in the middle of a fight with things that are actually worse than those." She blasted a few Card Guards with her lamp cannon.
"We've been on the job too long I guess." Carlos added as he took out a Card Guard.
It was as if Red Queen had overheard their conversation. "It won't matter." She said. "Your days on the job are just about done." Her head shifted to that of the Jabberwock and then slammed the axe hands into the ground, causing an earthquake. At the same times she unleashed a fiery beam that traveled along the same path and forced them all flying again.
"We've got to get our acts together." Mal said. "We have to take down the Red Queen."
"At least we took out the Card Guards." Carlos noted.
The Red Queen summoned more of them and Jay looked to the yellow ranger. "Dude, I swear if I had the chance I'd hurt you for saying that." He stated.
"You're going to have to hurt him later." Audrey said to him. "Right now…right now we need an idea."
"I think it's time for a little divide and conquer." Ben said to them. "I'll lead Aziz, Ally, Jordan and Jane against the Card Guards and we'll try to join up again if we can." He looked to Mal and Audrey. "The six of you have to take out the Red Queen."
"No problem at all." Audrey drolled with a roll of her eyes.
Mal didn't see any other choices. "Okay, we'll have to give it a shot." She said. "I think both teams should use the neon armor for a boost too."
All now eleven warriors activated the neon armor that was conceived by Lonnie and designed with help from Jane, Mal and Evie. Ben lead Aziz and the three female rangers into the fight first against the approaching Card Guards.
After a moment for the fights to start Mal, Audrey, Evie, Jay, Carlos and Lonnie jumped over the action to land in front of the Red Queen. "We've about had enough of you." Audrey told the Red Queen. "From one red queen to another, it's time to put you down."
Carlos was about to point out that Audrey was not a queen but was shushed by Jay and Mal, the latter of who whispered, "Just let her go with it, it's a good line." Jay himself was starting to wonder if there was at least one thing the brunette princess was indeed a queen of.
Red Queen laughed manically. "All of you are just so confident in yourselves, and yet I've been the one with the upper hand this entire battle." She remarked. "Not counting the fact that my enforcer had beat you guys down to nothing before your friends back their lucked out."
"Jabberwock is gone." Mal reminded her firmly. "But don't worry about it, because soon you'll be joining him." She took her staff and moved in to engage Red Queen. A swing of the staff was blocked by an axe head and an appendage lashed out and slashed her hard.
Lonnie and Jay moved in and tried a double team attack. Her arms raised and blocked the attacks. Audrey tried to shoot an arrow at her but an appendage wrapped around the arrow and then tossed it hard.
Carlos tried to attack now and the Red Queen sidestepped it and brought the axe down hard on him. Evie moved in and tried to attack but was summarily blocked, then slashed hard.
"Okay time for a different tactic." Mal said as they gathered together.
"Reminding her that we're the good guys." Lonnie suggested humorously. That drew chuckles from the other rangers.
"I'm going to distract Red Queen." Mal told her team. "Now that we're all fully armed again, you guys give her the Auradon Triangle Blast." Her five team mates nodded in reluctant agreement.
Mal flipped her staff in her hands as she approached Red Queen. She laughed. "Haven't you learned your lesson yet purple ranger?" Red Queen asked. "You can't beat me."
"We'll see about that." Mal said and shot her staff at the Red Queen's face. She blocked it with one of her axes and Mal used that to carry her up and catch her in the face with her foot. She set her feet on the axe and flipped over and landed behind her. Red Queen turned around to continue her fight with Mal.
Audrey, Evie and Lonnie lined up together. Jay and Carlos jumped on top of their shoulders and then the five rangers took out their blasters and unleashed the Auradon Triangle Spark at the back of the Red Queen. It took out the appendages and she fell to the ground hard, but wasn't destroyed.
"What do we have to do to take her down?" Carlos wondered as he landed next to Evie. Jay had landed next to Audrey.
The Red Queen rose, but on human legs. She tried to attack Mal with her axe and the purple ranger blocked the attack, coming to a heartening realization; thanks to the forced change of legs she wasn't nearly as speedy as she had been before.
Lonnie noticed that too. "She's slower now." She told her other four team mates. "Let's get in there and help Mal. We might be able to take her now." They nodded in agreement.
All six rangers surrounded the Red Queen and moved in with their weapons. Despite the numbers advantage Red Queen again charged her axes up again and released them, striking the six rangers repeatedly.
Red Queen had been so distracted by dealing with the first team she had completely forgotten about the second team. With the latest Card Guard army down Ally took out her cards. "Let's play a game of fifty two card cut up." She declared.
She unleashed her crystalline cards and they slashed the two flying flaming axes down and still had plenty left over to strike the Red Queen multiple times.
Ben and Aziz moved in, gathering energy in their weapons and struck Red Queen at the same time, sending her flying again.
Mal looked to her team. "Let's finish this off, Auradon blaster style." She declared.
The five nodded. "Right." They agreed.
Jordan fired her Lamp Cannon at the Red Queen and she rose her axe hands to block the bulk of the attack but it still managed to damage her.
By that time the six rangers had assembled the Auradon blaster and unleashed a blast of energy at the Red Queen, which finally destroyed her in a literal blaze of glory. It sent the eleven warriors flying back as well, forcing them to power down.
"Did we at least get her?" Jordan asked.
Jane nodded. "I think so." She answered. When the smoke cleared Jane's assumption had been confirmed.
"Ally!" They heard Alice yell out as she slid down toward her daughter and again threw her arms around her. "Thank the heavens that your safe."
Ally felt herself start to cry again. "I'm so glad that you're okay. I thought I'd lost you." After a moment she pulled away and looked at her friends though she was still crying a little. "Thank you all for coming with me to Wonderland. I don't think I could have done this without you." She said.
Mal smiled at her. "We were glad to be of help." She felt a bit sad seeing Alice and Ally and knowing her mother would never show that affection for her.
"Oh, so glad to be of help." Maleficent said mockingly from the busted up part of the cave that the Guardian had come through. "You are such a disappointment to me Mal." She pointed her staff at the purple haired girl. "At this point I think it's safe to say that I have no daughter."
The one standing closest to her; Audrey, Evie and Ben saw their leader flinch. The blue haired girl was pretty sure that wasn't even a reaction that she would have expected. Angrily she stepped forward. "The only disappointment here is you, and she deserves better than you anyway." She stated.
Ben placed his hand on Mal's arm. "Turn your back on Mal and you do it to your own detriment, not hers." He agreed.
"Never mind guys." Mal said, though her chosen siblings knew her words weren't as flippant as she would have liked them to think it was. "We won mother. Unless you want to fight us, it's time for you to leave."
"Indeed it is Mal." Maleficent said. "This round has indeed gone to you but this isn't over." The evil fairy then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Mal?" Audrey asked as she looked to their leader.
Mal shook her head. "I'm fine Audrey." She said, more sharply than she had really intended. "We did what we came here for, and then some." She looked to Ally. "We helped you rescue your mother and we saved Wonderland. It's time go back to Auradon Prep." She turned her back and started to walk out of the cave. "We don't want to fall behind too much more in our classes." She tried to add as a joke.
Jordan, Jane and Carlos were right behind her. Aziz, Ally and Alice weren't far behind. Ben exchanged glances with Audrey and Evie before they started out with Jay also by them.
Very little was said as they descended the mountain and managed to find the dock again. By that time things were starting to change in Wonderland. The seas were starting to clear up, another influence of the corruption the Red Queen had brought upon her rise to power. Word was that several other minions that Red Queen commanded, along with a vast amount of Card Guards, had suddenly disappeared. As a result Walrus was more than happy to give them another free ride.
They managed to avoid any other encounters with Mad Hatter as they crossed the forest. "I must say, that was indeed well done." They heard and a moment later Cheshire cat reappeared. "Alice, it is truly good to see you again." That ingratiating smile still remained.
Ally had secretly hoped that with Wonderland's change the Cheshire cat would look as Alice had described him so long ago, a fat purple cat. But this one was still tall, gaunt, and not at all purple. "No thanks to you, you mangy cat." Alice said though it sounded like a joke. "You could have gotten me out sooner. Or at all."
"Sooner, perhaps." Cheshire cat conceded with a nod. "But as for at all…well, who do you think sent the message to your daughter in the other lands?"
"What?" Evie asked. She didn't understand that the other lands was what the Wonderland denizens called Auradon.
Mal didn't know that either but she made the obvious conclusion. "You were the one who told Ally that her mother was missing." Mal said softly. "When she called to talk to her."
"But of course." Cheshire cat responded. Lonnie suspected he would have taken a bow if he had been able to. "For me opposing the Red Queen and her allies would have been akin to suicide. But for the esteemed Power Rangers, the legacy of the once great wizard, anything is possible."
"And if we had failed?" Jay had to ask.
"Then you would not have been fit for the torch." Cheshire cat said as if it were obvious. "And Wonderland would have continued its descent into madness and cruelty. Auradon would have been no better, as without you and your powers Paradias would have likely taken over." He shrugged a bit "You can't possibly have expected that the other rangers are so devoid of their own problems that they could spare others indefinitely." No one really knew what to say to that one.
"We need to go home now." Alice said to Cheshire cat, breaking the silence. "Can you show us how?"
"You actually want to return to your dreary existence?" Cheshire cat teased as he walked toward the large tree stump they had originally come from. "If you must, the stump will be more than able to take you on your way." He then faded away again, the smile the last to go.
Soon they realized what Cheshire cat meant when they entered the hollowed out stump only to feel the bottom rise like an elevator, one that had not been active when the Red Queen had dominated the land.
Though it had seemed like weeks since they had left to go to Wonderland, in reality it had only been a couple of days. Upon arriving back in Auradon Jane texted her mother and asked to meet her while Evie texted Doug to get together. "I can't wait to tell my mother that we have three new rangers on our side."
"I'm going to walk my mother back home." Ally said to them. "I'll see you all tomorrow morning."
"Count on it." Audrey said. "We have a lot to show you. And you too." She looked to Aziz.
"Mal." Ben took her hand. "You want to get a bite to eat now?" He asked her.
The purple haired girl smiled but it seemed hollow. "Thanks, but no. I feel kind of worn out. I think I'm going to go take a nap." She leaned up and kissed Ben on the cheek gently and then looked to Evie. "See you at our room later." She said and as Evie nodded she walked away.
Audrey and Evie again exchanged worried looks. "Poor Mal." They heard Lonnie say now.
Jordan nodded solemnly too. As they walked back to Auradon Prep, minus Mal who had gone on ahead, and minus Ally and Alice, she said to them softly. "We saved Mrs. Liddell and maybe even Wonderland, but I think at least one of us paid a heavy price for it."
None of the others could disagree with it. Evie was the closest one of them who could even begin to understand what Mal must be feeing after what had happened.