This new revelation couldn't help but make Amy flinch. Undine, daughter of Ursula. She was everything that Maleficent had hoped that Mal would be, and even that Maleficent had briefly hoped Amy would be. She had broken Amy's legs once just because she could. She had broken Mal's arm just because she had defended Amy. She had given Carlos a concussion when she had hit him in the head with her tentacles. She had hurt Evie with internal injuries when she had hit her in the stomach with the tentacles. Even Jay had suffered a broken wrist when he had tried to protect Evie.
She had also lead Gaston Jr. and Gaston the third to believe that Amy was interested in them and that she refused them simply because she was playing hard to get. That was why the two of them had grown so obsessed with her.
"You have something that belongs to us. I want it back." Mal said in a cold voice that she hadn't even used on Audrey before,
"I'll be more than happy to give it back to you Mal. Or whoever you would like me to give it to." Undine said in a slightly melodious voice before it turned ugly. "I'll give it to them right in the chest and laugh as I watch the life and their blood drain from their bodies."
"Morbid much?" Lonnie questioned with disgust.
"You don't know the half of it." Evie replied with a voice mixed with disgust and even a little bit of fear. She had once told Mal that her mother scared her sometimes. This woman scared her pretty much all of the time.
In the background they saw Daedalus shoot another beam at Mal's dragon zord. The maneuver pulled off by the lithe zord was certainly enough to qualify as an expert dodge. It then did a one eighty and slammed its tail down hard on the sea creature though the truth was its scales were thick enough to absorb the brunt of the attack.
"Your zord is as stubborn and abrasive as you always were Mal." Undine said with amusement.
"We have to get that sword away from your little playmate before something bad happens." Lonnie said to Mal. She truthfully didn't know if evil could corrupt the power of the sword or not but she didn't want to take any chances on finding out.
"Agreed." Mal said. She figured it useless to point out that Undine was not her playmate. She also figured in a twisted way that was exactly what she had thought of Mal, Amy and her friends. She moved in with her dragon's eye staff and swung it at her head. She blocked with the sword and then slammed a tentacle right into Mal's side hard enough that if she weren't transformed she would have shattered the entire left side of her rib cage.
Undine looked to Amy. "I've always wondered who was weaker, you or an Auradon brat." She glanced at Lonnie now. "It's time to satisfy my curiosity." With that she charged toward them. She tried to bring the sword down on Amy but the rose ranger caught her wrist to stop the attack but a tentacle wrapped around her leg and sent her sprawling backwards. "Oh, I didn't break your leg again?" She asked cruelly. "Remind me to remedy that soon."
"You really are a representation of what expect from the isle." Lonnie said with disgust. "Mal and the others were so right to get away from you." She swung her hurricane tessens at her and she blocked again with Praeleanthor's sword. She tried to jab Lonnie in the chest with one of her tentacles but she was able to dodge the attack. She didn't notice the other one that slithered around behind her and wrapped itself around Lonnie's neck before tossing her away hard. If she hadn't been transformed she might have broken the Asian princess's neck.
Jay moved in and slashed at her with his soul scimitar. She blocked it easily. "Oh, Jay." She said coyly. "What a couple we could have been if you had the sense." She tried to take off his head but he blocked it and rolled past the tentacles. "But I hear you have a thing for defenseless little pink princesses."
"You always did have a big mouth, but nothing you said ever came out like someone with a good intellect." He said back coldly. Then she brought her tentacles out and from what would be the normal suckers on an octopus came out a stream of goo that still managed to cause a good sized explosion when it came into contact with him.
"I'll show you defenseless." Audrey promised as she moved in toward her. She unleashed an arrow that the sea witch easily blocked with the sword. The red ranger moved in. She tried to slap Audrey with her tentacles but she jumped up and used them as leverage to leap right behind her and slash her hard with her elemental bow.
"Nice." Undine hissed at her and then lashed out with her entire body and slammed right into Audrey. The red ranger fell hard and had the sea witch looking up at her cruelly. "I can see why Maleficent said that boy Chad was interested in beating you down." She reached out a tentacle and caressed her helmeted face almost lovingly. "To watch you suffer and break." She started huskily.
"People like you really get on my nerves." Miranda snapped as she moved in and tried to take that tentacle off of Audrey, and Undine. She slithered to the side easily and got ready to face off against the Highlands ranger. "I'm not one to bash self-confidence but to act like you're superior to others is just wrong."
"Now I have to say I have no idea who you are." Undine admitted. Technically Miranda was still too new to the ranger world. Only the friends and family of the team knew her identity at the moment. "But I only count two arms on you, where as I have six." She lashed each of her tentacles at Miranda and the girl blocked them with her own swords. She tried to bring the sword down on Miranda and she barely blocked that one. So focused was she on the sea witches aforementioned arms she wasn't prepared to be kneed in the chest by her opponent.
Carlos and Jane moved in and both tried to attack her but the tentacles struck out quickly and slapped them both back. "Now that was just so rude." She said condescendingly to them. "Maybe I did damage that puny brain of yours after all Carlos."
Jordan aimed her lamp cannon at Undine only to notice that technically there was someone else who needed help. The dragon zord unleashed another stream of energy from its mouth at Daedalus but the sea creature dove under the waves. For just a moment all was silent, and then it sprung from behind, slamming into the dragon zord. A quick twist stopped zord from meeting ocean but the sea creature lashed out and clamped its teeth hard into the zord. She instead redirected her lamp cannon and fired at the sea creature, causing enough of a distraction to at least release the dragon zord from its mouth.
Undine now found another target to pick on. "Who would have thought the little brat would become a hero?" She questioned Evie. "Only that pathetic runt is more of a surprise. So what do you have little queen wannabe?"
"I'll show you if you don't drop that sword." Evie warned as she raised her mirror force shield.
"Then bring it on, spoiled little girl." Undine dared her.
Evie unleashed her blazing mirror force on the sea witch but she merely laughed as she dove under the sands of the beach. The blue ranger tried to switch to her quaking mirror force only for her to jump out of the sand slam her lower body right into Evie's very hard.
Will moved in with his recursive blade and tried to bring it down on her shoulder but one of the tentacles blocked the attack. She tried to elbow him in the jaw but he raised his weapon to block and she cut herself. With a growl she slapped him away with two of her tentacles.
Jay and Carlos moved in and barely got a hold of her arms. "Someone grab the sword." Jay said as he struggled to keep her subdued and out of tentacle range.
Ally moved in to try to do just that but two of those tentacles lashed out and slammed right into her shoulders hard, hard enough that if she were not transformed it probably would have shattered both of her shoulder blades. As it was she let out a gasp and fell to the sand hard.
Undine twisted and tossed Carlos off hard. "Still a weak little pup." She sneered at the yellow ranger. She then whirled again and caught Jay in the throat. "Nice try darling." She said with a sneer and tossed him hard into Aziz.
Audrey, Lonnie, Mal and Amy moved in to try to surround her and take the sword. Lonnie was immediately slapped away hard with a tentacle where she crashed into Jane. She raised two tentacles and from the suckers two almost pine needle objects shot out and pierced both of them in the arm hard. That was followed by the ink blasts to send them reeling.
Audrey swung her elemental bow at her but this time Undine ducked the attack and then slammed all four of her tentacles hard into Audrey's stomach and chest. She flew back hard, having the wind knocked out of her.
"Give me my sword, now." Ben demanded.
"This is supposed to be yours?" Undine questioned and laughed. "Alright young prince, sorry I mean king." She started toward him. "I'll give it back to you point first."
Mal stood up now with her eyes glowing green. She held out her right hand as she wielded her dragons' eye staff in her left hand. It disturbed Amy just a bit to realize that made her seem quite a bit more like their mother Maleficent. "That Praeleanthor sword isn't yours to wield, it's meant for my beloved, so take it from your slimy grip and let the king receive his gift." She recited.
It took a moment for Undine to realize Mal was casting a spell and by that point it was too late as the Praeleanthor sword disappeared from her hands and appeared in Ben's free hand. A surge of energy enveloped him and his shield formed in front of him. "No." She growled.
Ben combined his new sword with his shield and the area around him glowed for an instant before he stood newly transformed. The shiny silver was gone to be replaced by an almost black silver armor but the alloy went to looking very much like the sword, being an unknown alloy. Will was willing to bet that he could have walked through a radiation pool without any significant damage though he wasn't willing to test that out.
Undine seemed very annoyed but not so worried. "I was hoping to prevent that but I can still destroy you." She gloated and then a bunch of Paradias's soldiers appeared, confirming that she was working with Maleficent. Then she called out, "Daedalus, stop playing with the dragon zord and destroy these rangers."
The sea creature tried to move to do just that but was rammed into by the dragon zord.
"Let's show these guys what they just walked into." Mal said as her team got together. Then they charged Undine and the soldiers.
Will, Jay, and Aziz were glad to be fighting the soldiers because it was something they could use their weapons again. Jay looked to Mal. "We have Ben back; I think it's time you go to your zord and take out that Daedalus thing. We'll deal with Undine and these freaks." He said.
Mal nodded and ran past the soldiers, jumping into the cockpit and placing her iPhone in the slot. Her dragon zord shifted to its alternate form, resembling that of a Chinese dragon. "Okay, let's add a little sizzle to this steak." The purple haired purple ranger said.
Daedalus leapt up again and tried to slam into the dragon zord but with Mal in control she twisted the zord around and wrapped the sea monster up in its body. They stood practically face to face. Daedalus responded by leveling the beam from its mouth at the dragon zord, though it responded in kind.
Amy used her rose lance to take out a couple of soldiers. Undine came up from behind and slammed her tentacle down hard on Amy's already aching right shoulder again. She gasped in pain and fell to the ground.
In the dragon zord Mal felt a pain in her right shoulder and flinched at the unexpected feeling. Her concentration slipped and the dragon zord's hold on the Daedalus faltered. It slipped out and fell back into the ocean.
Undine slithered on top of Amy and grasped her helmet hard. "Let's get this thing out of the way; I want to see the fear in your eyes." She said to the girl cruelly.
Amy was about ready to try to slip through her but it wasn't necessary as Audrey leapt out and kicked the sea witch in the chest hard and forcing her off of the rose ranger. Undine raised her tentacles to strike gleefully at the red ranger but then Miranda leapt out and slammed into her hard.
"Ye underestimate us if ye think that we can't beat you sea witch." Miranda warned her. She lashed out with her blade, which Undine blocked with one of her tentacles but that was when Audrey jump kicked her in the chin hard.
"Are you okay?" Evie asked Amy as she came up to the rose haired girl and knelt next to her.
"I think so." Amy said to her. "My shoulder hurts, she still hits pretty hard." She glanced to the side and saw Daedalus shoot the dragon zord with the beam from its mouth which struck head on. She let out a gasp. "How did that thing get that past Mal?" She wondered.
Undine faced off again against the Highlands ranger and the red ranger, getting very annoyed with their double team strategy. "You good guys always think you're so clever." She spat angrily. "But if you were so clever I never would have gotten my hands on that sword." She raised her tentacles and shot out the inky goo again, sending them both flying backwards.
She gave Audrey a nasty glare and started to move in on her. Ben though had been slashing through the soldiers and felt something he'd never felt before. His energies seemed to be growing with each time he took out one of the soldiers. He remembered the rangers saying it was also something that happened with the original weapon. He turned toward Undine and unleashed a huge wave from the blade that lashed out against Undine and sent the sea witch away from his best friend.
"Man that was awesome." Jay said to Ben. "That has to be a new power from the Praeleanthor sword."
"It was an interesting feeling, not entirely unpleasant either." Ben replied.
"I'm not sure Mal can defeat that thing." Jane said. It was still unclear rather the Daedalus creature was natural or created by Paradias. "The only way we can get rid of that thing is to get rid of Undine."
"That's not exactly going to be easy." Ally noted. "She's been doing a number on all of us."
Undine could see the soldiers were getting taken out by the rangers and their newly reformed Auradon Knight. She could see Mal was on the losing end of Daedalus. But she wasn't ready to give up the fight yet. "This isn't over yet." She told the rangers. "I have another little surprise for you."
"I'm really starting to hate your surprises." Lonnie stated.
"Don't worry about that." Undine said. "I'm sure my surprise will take a bite out of that prickly personality that you inferior Auradon brats seem to have. Meet my minions, the shark brothers." From the water burst three shark creatures that, like most monsters, still managed to stand on two fin like legs.
The first was coated in oily white scaly armor, the upper fins almost looking like cannons. The second one didn't seem as armored up but had blades in place of the upper fins and a sharp tail. The last looked the most fearsome as it had claws on its primary fins, and it stood on six appendages that looked like spider legs, each as sharp as the claws. That last made Amy think of a spider and made her shudder a bit. In her opinion the only thing worse than spiders were cockroaches.
"Power rangers, meet Spider Spear Shark, Nightmare Shark, and Drake Shark." Undine said with laughter. She gave a leer at Amy. "I knew you would appreciate my first shark monster."
"I take it you don't like bugs." Audrey said to Amy.
"No." She admitted. "I don't. I really hate spiders and especially hate cockroaches."
Audrey would have exchanged a smile with Amy if they weren't both helmeted. "Who would have guessed we had something in common." She said, and that did get Amy to giggle a little. "Grasshoppers are up there for me too, I'll tell that story later if you want."
Amy nodded a bit. "Okay."
"Technically spiders aren't bugs, they're arachnids." Jane said. "Not to interrupt your touching moment of connection."
Spider Spear Shark leaned down on the appendages and extended its blades. Nightmare Shark lowered its cannons and Drake shark extended its blades. Undine placed her hands on their scaly backs and channeled her energy into her shark monsters, the four of them unleashed a horrific blast of energy that sent them all flying and landing hard. Amy landed hard on her left leg and felt a muscle give a shock of protest.
Mal directed the dragon zord to unleash a stream of energy at Daedalus who slipped underneath the waters. Mal watched the waters, ready to bring the tail down on the sea creature when all of a sudden she felt a pain in her leg, and she had to grab the console to avoid losing her balance and falling. "What is going on here?" She wondered.
The three shark creatures and Undine now headed toward the recovering rangers with what remained of the soldiers. Drake Shark tried to stab Will but he brought his up his recursive sword and blocked the downward strike before lashing out with his foot and catching him in the face.
Amy let out a little scream as Spider Spear Shark approached her but Ben was up and slashed at him with the Praeleanthor blade. The two appendages came up to block him, and then the monster hooked the swords around the young king's blade and tossed him farther away from the fight.
"Ben." Lonnie called out and rose to her feet but was blocked now by the Nightmare Shark. He aimed his cannons and shot at the pink ranger, forcing her to back flip out of the way of the bombardment.
Undine all but slithered toward Jay and Audrey. "So tell me, if I kill off your little princess there, what will you do about it?" She asked Jay with amused mirth.
"I won't be so easy to kill off witch." Audrey snapped, tired of the way she belittled her and bashed her friends just because they didn't embrace evil the way she did.
"Even if you did you wouldn't be looking forward to would happen next." Jay added with venom in his words.
Undine slapped out at the two with her tentacles and both of them dodged to the side. She turned to Audrey who had already readied an electric arrow that she shot straight at the sea witch. She grabbed the arrow, intending to break it in half but received a bit of a shock for her efforts. Then Jay tackled her from behind.
The tentacles lashed out and hit him the face hard, making him fall back.
Spider Spear Shark again turned toward Amy. She was intent on not letting this arachnid shark freak her out and raised her rose lances. It lashed out with one of the blades and she knocked it off course with her rose lance and then kicked the thing in the jaw, at least for what that was worth. It didn't seem to feel the blow. Then it brought down both blades hard across Amy's body, sending her back reeling.
In the dragon zord Mal suddenly gasped in shock and fell to her knees. She wasn't sure what was going on but then was laid out on her back as Daedalus rammed itself into the dragon zord hard.
Nightmare Shark turned to the other rangers and began to let loose on them with its cannons. Evie stepped forward and collected some of the energy into her mirror force shield and sent it back against the monster. Then over her shoulders Miranda jumped up and down, bringing both her swords down on the cannons and then kicked the creature back.
"You have the Praeleanthor sword I see." Ben heard Chad from behind him. He turned to face his former friend and current adversary. He was transformed as well and holding Maledict's blade. "You know these two weapons are artifacts of sort that date back long before any of our families existed, and their creators were at war with each other."
"So I've heard." Ben said as he prepared to fight Chad.
"We're going to be fighting the final fight of that war." Chad declared and pointed the sword at his chest. "And I intend to win that fight."
"We'll see about that." Ben warned him before the two knights started to clash with each other.
Spider Spear Shark moved in to continue its attack on Amy but let out a screech as it was cut into with multiple small crystalline objects, Ally's cards. Before it could decide how to respond to the crystal ranger Aziz and Will leapt out with their weapons and brought their weapons down on the creature hard.
Shark Drake moved in to attack Jane but Carlos got in his way and blocked the sword attack with his claws and then kicked him back from the two of them hard. Jordan then leapt out and hit the monster in the snout, forcing it back even further. The gold ranger came to join them and while Jordan raised her lamp cannon and fired at the monster, Jane used the magic wand to unleash a magical explosion that struck Shark Drake at the same time.
Spider Spear Shark stood up on two of the appendages even as it raised the its other four appendages. Then with the two bladed appendages it released a barrage of razor sharp projectiles at Ally, Aziz, Will and Amy. A large explosion followed and the four rangers fell back hard.
Daedalus slammed into the dragon zord again, wrapping its thick scaled tail around the zord and unleashed a destructive stream of energy in face to face. That combined with something Mal was still unsure of sent her flying out of the cockpit of her zord hard. She hit the sand, feeling worse than when she had been poisoned by the scorpion demon monster.
"Mal!" Amy gasped as she tried to stand up. Ally helped her and together the rangers moved in to check on their leader.
"It's been an interesting game Mal." Undine said as she stood with her shark monsters. They were at the head of the beach while the rangers, minus Ben who was still clashing with Chad, stood by the water's edge. "But I hold all the cards, so I win."
"You don't hold all of the cards." Jay retorted. Then they heard a roar and looked up to see the dragon zord had finally lost the fight, turning into the small crystalline dragon and falling in front of Mal even as she was working to stand up.
How do I look as beaten up as everyone else when I was in the cockpit of my zord? Mal couldn't help but wonder as she glanced around at her friends, each looking in various stages of fatigue.
"As I said, I hold all of the cards." Undine emphasized. A large splashing sound made them turn to see that without the dragon zord Daedalus had now shifted its weight to look directly at the rangers. Will was certain the only reason one of them hadn't become a snack was because Undine had not ordered it yet. "This game is mine."
The team stood back to back, unsure of what to do now but were readying themselves for the next strike, the one that just might end them. Evie kept her gaze on Undine and the sharks even as Lonnie and Audrey prepared to unleash their weapons on Daedalus. It still did not look promising.
"I hope you're ready for a snack my pet." Undine said to Daedalus. "Because I'm about to give you some crispy rangers." Again Spider Spear Shark got onto its appendages and raised its blasters. Nightmare Shark followed though it wasn't clear how powerful its blast would be with the damaged cannons. On the other side was Shark Drake and finally Undine channeled her powers into her shark monsters. Then they took aim and began to unleash their attack…