The first thing they noticed as the helmet was coming off was the red hair that flowed straight down to her mid back. It looked like every attempt was made to keep it straight but it was just waiting for a chance to go curly again at the slightest movement. Her green eyes shined from her position by the light coming in from the doorway. "My name is Miranda." She introduced herself.
Belle brightened instantly. "Your Merida's daughter." She realized. "That's why your Scottish accent sounded so familiar." She looked to Ben, Audrey, and Lonnie. "It's been ages since she and her mother have been here though. It's no wonder you don't remember her."
"When did you get powers?" Jane asked.
"I found them a month or so ago in an old cave. It activated without me even trying, as if it knew that you guys needed help out here." Miranda explained to them "Glad to say that I've always been the active type. I was training in martial arts and swordplay since I was a wee lass, even younger than you two." She looked to Callie and Whitney.
"Since you're here are you going to enroll in Auradon Prep?" Ben asked her.
She nodded. "That would seem to be the wisest course to follow." She replied.
"That works out great then." Evie said. "You can room with me so that Amy and Mal can room together." She looked to the sisters. "We were looking for a new arrangement and this would work out great."
"The room across the hall just lost its occupants." Audrey supplied helpfully. "You two can move in across the hall so that at least you guys won't be too far apart."
"I'm alright with that you if you two are." Miranda said as she looked to them, and primarily Mal since the two, along with Jay and Carlos but were obviously housed in a different part of the school, had come in together.
"I'd be okay with that." Amy agreed.
Mal nodded. "Sounds like a plan then." She sighed. "If we can get the chance to make the move. We keep getting attacked every time we turn around."
"I hear that." Jay said with a sigh of his own. "I can't wait for this day to be over with."
"Why don't you guys stay for dinner today?" Belle suggested. "We can even have rooms made out for you so that you don't have to make the journey back to the school today. You can all arrange for your permanent moves tomorrow." Ben of course didn't need one made up as he still had his room from when he lived in the castle set up.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Carlos said. "I could use a nap right now."
Mal couldn't exactly argue that one. She had been poisoned, nearly gutted, feared her boyfriend would be crushed by a big beast freak when he was cut off from his powers and was certain for a minute she had lost her sister in a volcano. It made for a rather exhausting day.
Belle looked to the two servants that had been helping out since Mal had gotten poisoned. "Can you please take them to their rooms?" She requested. "So they can rest before dinner." They nodded and lead the rangers off. As soon as they were gone she sighed softly.
"You must be very concerned for them." Cinderella noted.
"I am." Belle agreed. "They're so young and they have to shoulder such responsibility." She laughed a little. "I sure wasn't doing that at their age though I may have wanted to at that point in my life."
"I wasn't doing that sort of thing either." Wendy agreed as she brought them their teas from the table they had been at before all of that had started. "Perhaps stories a lot like it but certainly not living it in reality."
Neither wanted to say it but Cinderella beat them both to it. "It's a shame that Chad couldn't be doing the same thing." She said softly. "Even if he hadn't been a ranger I wish he hadn't gone down the path he's gone down." She shook her head. "He'll never be welcome in Auradon again."
Evie had just been escorted to her room and she had sat down on the bed. She looked at her iPhone and saw that she had a worried text from her step-sister. Undoubtfully she had found out about all of the battles she had been in today. She dialed Snow White's phone only for her to pick up after the second ring. "Hey Snow." She said.
She heard her exhale sigh of relief. "Oh, Evie. I'm so glad to hear your voice." She replied to her. "I was so worried you had been hurt. Five battles in one day, that's a lot for anyone."
"You won't hear me arguing that point." Evie told her as she curled her legs under her and leaned back against some pillows. "Still I got off really easy compared to Mal. She was all but gutted in one battle and got poisoned in another one."
"Where are you guys now?" Snow White asked her from the other end.
"We're at Ben's house." She answered. She knew it would have made just as much sense to say castle but somehow it just didn't seem right to say that.
"Did you want me to ask Belle if she minds if I come over?" Snow White asked now. "We could spend some time together."
"I was hoping to grab a nap right now after letting Doug know we're all okay." Evie answered. "But we're having dinner here too. If Belle is okay with it I'd love if you joined us for dinner though."
"I'll be sure to check with her." Snow White said with a small laugh. "Go call your boyfriend and hopefully I'll see you tonight."
"He's not my boyfriend." Evie tried to protest rather weakly even as she heard her step-sister laugh and hang up the phone as she said told Evie to sleep tight.
Mal was trying to sleep but her mind was whirling with thoughts. How lucky she was that she could even still stand after being nearly gutted and poisoned. How lucky they were that when the Healing Hands technique that had been used to heal her had also had the side effect of eliminating the factor that hindered the zord's repairs had been healed from her dragon zord. How lucky she was that Will and their new friend Miranda, combined with some magical assistance, had been able to utilize the technique.
Jane had promised Mal that she would have her mother do a bit of investigating on Miranda. She seemed trustworthy enough and the fact Belle had recognized her also helped but Gregory had seemed trustworthy too and look what happened with him.
She tossed restlessly. She didn't want to rush the Space Rangers on what they were trying to do since she wanted to mistakes about getting Ben his powers again but at the same time she knew Ben would feel so much better with his powers restored. She had mixed feelings on it herself as she hated the idea of him being in danger but knew that he wouldn't want to be sidelined permanently again. There was also the small matter of what would happen to Auradon if their king ever ended up killed in battle, it wasn't like Belle and Adam had another child after all.
It was just if she had to be perfectly selfish about it she would feel much better without him fighting. No more than Amy though, who she could still see falling in the volcano, if it weren't for her spirit animal she would have lost her little sister. But being selfish about it would cause nothing but trouble so she kept those thoughts to herself.
There was a knock on the door and Mal sat up as she called out, "Come on in."
It took just a moment for Mal to realize it was Amy; she seemed so small around the interior of the castle. It amazed her sometimes that her rose haired sister was actually her twin sister. Many people always assumed she was her younger sister because she was shorter than Mal and was less than one hundred pounds soaking wet. On the surface she looked like she was the same age as Callie and Whitney. "What's up little sister?" She asked.
"I was trying to sleep." Amy answered her. "But I can't get the images of you getting poisoned or gutted out of my head." Her voice seemed rather small at that point.
Mal reached out a hand to Amy. "Come here sweetie." She said to her. Amy went over and climbed onto Mal's bed. Both girls laid back on the bed, Mal letting her sister lay her head on her arm and her hand absently started to stroke Amy's hair. "It was kind of scary." She agreed. "But we're all okay, no worse for the wear."
"Except Ben can't access his powers." Amy pointed out as she snuggled up against Mal's side.
"Better than losing access to his life." Mal replied simply. "We'll find a solution for the powers thing."
"I just got you back." Amy mused. "To lose you now…I don't know if I could survive it."
"You would survive it." Mal assured her firmly. "You'd have Evie and Jay and Carlos to help you. You'd have the rest of our friends, even Audrey if you let her." She laughed a bit though. "Not that I plan on leaving you guys anytime soon."
"Just don't want to lose…" Amy started but stopped speaking as she drifted off to sleep next to her sister. Mal turned her head to kiss Amy on the cheek before staring up at the ceiling.
"I know what you mean." Mal promised her sleeping sibling quietly. "I wasn't the one who took a swan dive into a volcano." She didn't know how long it took afterwards but she drifted off as well.
Miranda had texted her mother to let her know she had finally told the other rangers her identity so that she didn't have to worry about her being alone anymore. She knew she should have come forward with her identity sooner but she wasn't quite sure what to make of them either since she had heard about what happened with both Gregory and Will. In fact she figured someone would still look into her background.
She still found it hard to believe she was even here. Her mother had not been happy when she found out she had gone to explore the caves where Mor'du once resided. In the rubble she found the gem that would later become her powers. She had taken that to her mother and after getting lectured about the dangers of doing something like that on her own she too marveled at the discovery. It coincided with the news they were hearing in Auradon and she knew she had to come here.
There was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" She called out.
"It's Jane." The white ranger replied.
"Come on in." Miranda replied.
Jane came in. "Do you have a minute?" She asked.
"I assume your mother did her homework and declared me trustworthy?" Miranda retorted with a laugh.
"Well yes." Jane admitted simply. She could remember when such a direct and potentially volatile question would have caused her to blush and stammer, uncertain of what to say. That girl was basically gone. "She did check and she said you're not likely going to be another Gregory." That was referring to the gray ranger, who wouldn't be holding those powers much longer if they had any say in it. "But technically I didn't have to tell you that one."
"True enough." Miranda agreed with a nod. "So what did ye come for then?"
"Can I see your gem please?" Jane asked.
Miranda nodded and took out the gem and handed it to her. "Is it alright?" She asked her and then a bit worriedly, "You're not taking the power from me are you?"
Jane smiled softly. "No. More like I want to make you an official ranger." She took out a fresh iPhone and placed the gem inside it. The iPhone glowed a light purple and she handed it back to the red head. "It's connected into our network and everything. Rather that's a good thing depends on the day."
"Thank you." Miranda said sincerely. "I appreciate that."
"Anytime, you're one of us." Jane said with another smile. "And I bet you're as tired as the rest of us, I'll see you at dinner."
"Count on it." Miranda said as she walked Jane to the door. "Sleep well." Jane left and Miranda closed the door, and then looked down at her iPhone with the gem inside of it. It felt good to be officially welcomed.
Audrey was dozing softly but jumped as she heard someone call her name, no as she heard Chad call her name. She sat up quickly only to realize that she was alone. She placed her head in her hands as she tried to calm herself down. When did I let Chad get into my head like this? She asked herself.
Being unable to stand still at that moment she got up and left her room. She saw Jay in the hall examining a painting. "Hey, are you planning on stealing that?" She asked teasingly as she walked over to join him.
"Are you kidding me?" Jay questioned as he turned to look at her. "I'd never fit that in my pocket." He pointed to a small oil lamp. "Now that is something I could probably slip out of the castle without a problem."
Audrey laughed a little but Jay could hear the sadness in her voice. "Are you okay?" He asked her.
"I just woke up after swearing I heard Chad calling to me." She answered him softly. "I just…when did I let Chad get in my head like that? I thought I was so much stronger than that." She leaned her back against the wall as she was talking and ended up slipping down to the floor.
Jay sat down next to her and took her hand, squeezing it softly. "After everything that Chad has done to you, it's only natural that he would be in your head, sort to speak." He said softly even though he knew it wasn't the best thing to say, it was the truth. "But despite all of that you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. On the Isle I've seen people who are put through much less than that who break."
Audrey laid her head against his shoulder. "How do those who don't break deal with feeling so helpless, so vulnerable?" She asked him softly. "If I'm doing it then I don't know I'm making it."
"Because you're not alone." Jay said to her. "Because you have Ben, you have Lonnie, you have Mal and Evie. I bet you have all of our friends." He hugged her close to him. "You have me."
"And it really does mean a lot." Audrey promised him with a small smile. "There are just some days where it feels so overwhelming. Especially since somehow he always manages to take that abusive stalker thing and overcome it all just to get to me. It's so nerve wracking."
Jay again kissed her on the cheek. "And that is how you know you're strong. Everything he throws at you, you overcome it and you let it make you a better, stronger individual." He replied to her.
Audrey couldn't help but smile at him as she felt no small amount of pride at the fine compliment.
The sun had just set and everyone had come out for dinner, feeling more refreshed than they had in days really. Evie was very happy to see not only Snow White but Doug as well. She embraced both of them.
"You two look much better." Ben said to Mal and Amy.
"I for one feel better." Mal replied to him in what was a loud conspiratorial whisper.
"I think most of us do." Will replied. He had a very content Lonnie on his arm though no one could say for sure if it was because she had gotten a good nap or because she was happy where she currently was. He had to use his other arm though to give Whitney a hug.
Belle came in, this time with Adam. Ben greeted his father happily and then they were all escorted to the dining room and they took their seats. They started to bring in the entrees.
"This looks wonderful." Wendy said as the lid in front of her was revealed to hold a couple of pork chops, some mashed potatoes and a salad underneath it. "And it smells wonderful."
Amy had some strawberry pancakes and bacon along with a strawberry milkshake. "Think you can handle all of that?" Mal teased her sister gently, and received a look of annoyance in return. They also set down some strawberry syrup for her.
Mal had a bowl of strawberries herself to go with her chocolate chip waffles, hash browns, ham steak and strawberry soda.
"Ah, sweet." Jay said as he revealed his triple burger with cheese, bacon and sautéed mushrooms with fries and a chocolate shake.
"You're arteries are going to get clogged if you eat like that all the time." Audrey half-joked as she had her rotisserie chicken and baked potato revealed. "But at least you'll burn the calories off quickly in our line of work."
Lonnie gladly mixed in her sesame chicken and shrimp with the rice she had and then added some soy sauce. She then took a sip of her Sprite. "This smells so good." She commented.
Wil laughed. "It does." He agreed as he took a piece of his meat lover's pizza and added some parmesan cheese. Right beside him was a Pepsi.
Whitney laughed as she took a piece of her pepperoni, olive and mushroom pizza. She had a root beer float.
"Your mother told me that your powers are currently inactive." Adam said to his son. "How are you holding up?"
"Just fine." Ben answered honestly as he cut into his medium rare steak topped with sautéed mushrooms. "I don't expect to be out of powers too long, Amber had an idea and we're waiting to hear back from them on that."
"I think they're going to the underworld." Doug revealed as he cut up a piece of his spinach and three cheese ravioli."
"That's kind of mean." Ally pointed out as she scooped some of the taco meat she had on a burrito shell.
"No, I mean literally." Doug replied. "That Maledict blade came from the underworld, Chad even said so himself. They have to find something with the same kind of power."
"You don't really think that they would want to take something like that and give it to us." Lonnie said incredulously.
"Not at all." Doug replied. "According some of the things we've gotten from them one of the most powerful artifacts they used in that conflict was invented by an older civilization that had also combated the demons. I think they're looking for a weapon from that civilization to edge out the demonic power of the Maledict blade."
"It's quiet an interesting idea." Miranda allowed. It had been hard to figure out what she wanted to eat since they had just met her but Belle had contacted her mother Merida to find out her favorite meal and the chefs had been able to whip up the boneless ribs and French fries without a problem. "This job doesn't lack in creative problem solving opportunities, that's for sure."
"And are you alright Mal?" Adam asked the purple haired girl. "I heard you've had quite the morning too."
Mal laughed softly. "That's one way of putting it." She said. "Very nearly gutted, poisoned, a heart attack at the thought of losing my twin sister, yep it's been quite a morning, even quite a day."
"I'm glad you're here to help them out Miranda." Belle said. "It's hasn't been an easy journey for them and the more the help they can get the less stress it will be for them."
"Mom is right." Ben agreed. "It's one of the reasons I want to get back out on the battlefield."
"You don't want to rush it though." Cinderella warned him. "If you try to get on the field without being sure it won't backfire on you, it might cause more harm to you and your friends than good."
Ben paused as if he hadn't thought about that. And he hadn't. He had been so anxious to be able to fight again that he hadn't stopped to think they should make sure it wouldn't be a problem. Granted he had the utmost confidence in their fellow rangers but at the same time no one could be sure of everything.
"I designed an app this afternoon before I came here that will let us scan whatever it is that they find for Ben reduce any chances of it being harmful to him or anyone else before we implement it." Doug told them all. "It's a good safeguard, I'm afraid there's no such thing as a guarantee without Zordon himself showing up and presenting it."
"Zordon?" Miranda asked curiously as she picked up a couple of fries.
"He's the one who worked with my mother to make the technicalities of the powers and the arsenal that we're currently using." Jane explained to her.
"Did you two know this Zordon too?" Amy asked Belle and Adam as she reached for her strawberry milkshake.
"Most of us met him briefly of course." Belle answered as she cut into her triple cheese lasagna, also indicating that Cinderella and Snow White had met him. "After all we were part of the ruling body of Auradon. But Fairy Godmother was one of those who worked closely with him, along with your father and uncles, Doug." She added.
"Your family was invaluable in getting the resources that were needed to construct the command center and the zords." Snow White said. "Though we just provided the material for the zords, Zordon produced them on his own. A great deal of the effort made with us was the command center."
"What happens if we lose the command center somehow?" Jordan asked as she remembered how close Ben had been to destroying the command center when he had been forced to be Nerissa's dark champion, coming to the point where he had all but destroyed the consoles and might have even killed Jane and Doug had she not chosen to lend her full support to the cause.
"I doubt that's even possible." Carlos replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I mean it's in the school. We couldn't lose that place without losing Auradon Prep."
"That was the way we were trying to look at it." Adam allowed with a nod. "But anything is possible."
"In which case I'd be willing to bet that Zordon had some kind of backup plan for that." Cinderella said. "He seemed to have one for almost everything from all that we had been told."
"The fact that he even had all of this laid out speaks wonders." Wendy noted appreciatively. "All these different powers you've unlocked and zords that have been discovered, all to fight in the name of good."
"At least that was the intention." Will added grimly as he thought of the warzord and the gray ranger powers that were in Gregory, the eldest son of Gaston's, hands.
"If there is one thing even I learned about evil it's that that side is often the proactive one." Amy said as she reached for her napkin to dab at her lips. "While good anticipates and reacts. Because if all goes according to plan the anticipation should never have to be taken to the next step."
Mal laughed. "Amy and I would debate this all the time." She remarked as she speared some hash browns with her fork. Sometimes in private she would prefer to think of hash browns as finger foods but wasn't going to follow that one up here. "That without evil doing what it does there could never be any good since all good does is keep the balance, not set it."
"It was a popular debate topic in Dragon Hall too." Evie noted as she finished up her spaghetti, though she had some sauce set aside to dip the Italian sausage she had in. "Usually it was in the highlights of being evil courses we all had to take. The ones who got stuck arguing for good hated it, they knew they would always wind up on the losing side."
"Except one year." Carlos added with amusement. "When Amy and I were placed on that side." He laughed at the memory as he reached for his root beer float. "Amy was so good at arguing for good that our teachers had no choice but to call it a draw."
Miranda smiled at Amy. "I can't imagine that made ya that popular though, not on the Isle of the Lost." She said.
Amy shrugged. "I was never that popular to start with." She replied with a small frown. She had hated being on the isle but figured she'd spend her life there and so had wanted to at least find some way she could live there without giving up who she was. "Sometimes I think I would have died young if I didn't have Mal to protect me."
"You survived just fine after Mal was brought here." Audrey pointed out.
It wasn't really meant to be a rude comment or anything but part of Amy wanted to register it like it was. She barely held that impulse in check. "After the four of them were taken to Auradon I went out in the forests and just kind of stayed there, where I found ways to make it work." She answered, perhaps still a little more heatedly than she had intended because she could see some surprise on the others faces. That had been when she had started to fully develop her abilities from the elemental control and her own emotions to the things she hadn't anticipated like the empathic skills and the ability to walk through objects. She felt a little embarrassed and even a bit ashamed though at how she reacted.
Lonnie quickly glossed over it. "Miranda, what about your ability, the time manipulation thing?" She asked their newest ranger.
"I'm not sure it's time manipulation exactly." Miranda said. "I mean it's nothing I can do whenever I want. It's more like the ability to speed up in battles." She reached for her own Pepsi. "And it only seems to work as a ranger, I haven't done it at all without being transformed."
Amy herself could use her abilities without being transformed though they seemed stronger when she was, except for the empathy which was more based on her mind than her powers.
Dinner had just ended and they were waiting on dessert when the iPhones went off. A few of them sighed in irritation until Jane said, "It's okay guys. It's not the monster alarm. Mom is routing a signal to us."
On their screens Amber appeared. They all smiled at seeing her, Mal a little more so than the rest. "I see we have a new face here." Amber noted. "I can only assume this is the ranger that you spoke of when you told us about Ben's sword."
"That's right." Mal said. "Amber, this is Miranda the Highlands ranger. Miranda, this is Amber the purple space ranger."
"It's nice to meet ya." Miranda said with a smile.
Amber gave a smile and a small nod. "Always a pleasure to meet another purple ranger." She replied.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Ben asked a bit anxiously.
"We did." She replied. They noticed that the shoulders of her uniform seemed to be singed and her hair was kind of messy, with soot on her forehead. "It wasn't easy. Right now Alpha is running a diagnostic on the sword we were hoping to find to try to limit any risk to you." That was indicated toward Ben. "But if all goes well we'll send it through to you tomorrow morning."
"That's great to hear." Mal said. "The sooner we have our team at full strength the better."
Belle was behind Ben now as she looked into the screen. "Amber, the kids will be staying here for tonight. When you're ready to talk to them tomorrow let them know and we'll link you in through the screen in the library." She said.
Amber nodded. "Sounds good." She replied. "Then we'll talk to you tomorrow. Sleep well guys." With that the line was cut.
After dessert, cheesecake with a different array of topping for it, was done Wendy and Cinderella bid everyone good night and left to drop their daughters back at Auradon Prep, along with Doug. For what it was worth Adam insisted on both women being escorted by some of their guards, the one that dropped Cinderella off would also do the same thing for Snow White. Will said goodbye to his sister and mother, just as Evie did for her step-sister and Doug, giving him a kiss on the cheek too.
The group sat around a small fire catching up Miranda and Amy on anything they thought was important to know about their past fights, including how Will and Gregory had gotten their powers, their adventures in Wonderland in case it ever became important to know outside of the Jabberwock, what they knew of the rangers from Earth and in the case of Jay, Lonnie and Carlos the dreams that seemed to precede their weapon upgrades.
After that Mal stood and stretched a little. "I think it's time we call it a night. We might have another early day tomorrow." She said.
Ben took Mal's hands in his own. "I'll walk you to your room." He said. He was going to volunteer to do the same for Amy but Belle had already beaten him to that and to take Miranda to her room. Meanwhile Jay did the same thing for Audrey and Evie, Will did it for Lonnie, Aziz did it for Ally and offered to walk Jordan but she gave a dismissive wave and just used magic to return to her room. Even Carlos offered to walk Jane back.
"I hope this works." Mal said to Ben as the two walked hand in hand, her head on his arm. "I know how much you hate being out of commission like this." She again didn't divulge her mixed feelings about it.
"I trust in our friends Mal, just as I trust in you." Ben said. "If they say it will work then I believe in them." They stopped by her door and he leaned down and kissed Mal gently on the lips. They stayed that way for a moment before he pulled away. "I love you Mal. Sleep tight."
"You sleep well too." Mal said and opened her door but turned to watch Ben as he went to his own room. She called out, "Ben, I love you too." With each of them smiling Mal slipped into her room as Ben walked away. Mal couldn't help the sort of in love sigh that some girls would emit, the very kind that she would have teased anyone else for if the situation were reversed, even Amy and Evie.