Ben and Jay lagged behind Will, Aziz, Alex, and Carlos. "Do we tell them what Audrey told us?" The young king asked the ex-thief.
Jay ran his hands a bit nervously thought his hair. He was actually kind of surprised that Audrey hadn't gotten on him about that, his hair was longer than most of the girl's hair was. "I don't know man." He admitted. "I mean everyone should know, but the truth is what good will that do except make everyone as nervous as we are?"
"We've got time." Ben said. "She should be safe enough tonight, with the other girls and away from Auradon. We can figure out how to deal with this afterwards." Neither boy had thought to ask Audrey or Mal what they were supposed to say to their parents and assorted friends. Aurora had some clue something was wrong with her daughter as far as Chad went but she didn't know how far it had progressed. Though no one said anything about it, it was assumed that meant everyone else knew about it as well but only five of them had realized it had gotten worse.
Jay shook his head. "All I know is we've got to find a way to either protect her fully or put Chad down." He said with a trace of desperation. "There's not much more he can do to her short of actually fulfilling his threats to take her." He looked to Ben. "If only that new sword of yours could stop him."
"I know what you mean." Ben agreed. "But his weapon is just as powerful. With the two weapons we're evenly matched warriors who might as well be continuing an long struggle. Without the weapons we're just two teen boys, and it'd be anyone's guess on who would end up winning."
"You've got be stronger I'm sure." Jay pointed out to him.
Ben nodded. "You might be right, but Chad's already crossed lines I've never even considered as options."
They entered a room that had a large plasma TV screen and a few consoles hooked up. Carlos was already turning on one of them. "You have to see this one guys." He declared. "TJ and Carlos were talking about this one; it's called Mario Kart Double Dash."
As Mal sat braiding Amy's hair, Ally meanwhile had turned on their own console game. Aquiella had been a bit surprised to learn that girl's played video games too, but then again living in the ocean a lot of things were still new to her.
"Most of these titles though aren't from here." Lonnie told the mermaid girl. "We were able to get them from our ranger friends from Earth." She had picked up one of them. "Amber says she likes this one, it's called Smash Brothers Brawl."
"Ooh, what's that?" Amy asked as she pointed to a small yellow mouse looking one. "That one is cute."
Melody looked in the book that came with it. "The game calls it a Pikachu." She told her friend.
"Oh I wish that were real." Amy said as she tried to look at Mal. "That one looks so cuddly."
Mal had to roll her eyes in amusement. "They have video games like that and they're a thriving society." She said with amusement. "How is that possible?"
"Actually I wouldn't entirely discount these." Lonnie advised her purple haired friend. "Karone has told me some of the video games out there have a disturbing tendency to have truth to them. She even said the first hint of the demons that spawned the Maledict blade was from a video game."
"Also, I should just point out that as far as the majority of their world is concerned we're all just stories." Jordan added with a laugh. "Or more accurately our parents are. We probably don't even exist as far as that goes."
"You know Mal, I never really put too much stock into what mom said." Amy said to her sister. "But since this all started there is one thing I remember she said a few times that I'm starting to think she might have been right about."
"What's that?" Mal asked her, curious. She had once put stock in a lot of what her mother said but knew that Amy almost never did. Now after being in Auradon and being good she couldn't imagine what Amy would possibly take away from her life on the isle that would be something she believed in.
"I remember mom telling us that all the stories are true." Amy replied. She also looked at the other girls in the room. "Regardless of how far-fetched, or how gruesome, or how grim they were, they were all true."
"Grandfather says the same thing, or near enough to it." Aquiella said. "A story has to have some basis in reality or it would never have become a story."
"Mom said that to me too." Melody said. "She probably learned that from her dad."
"Your grandfather." Evie filled in. "So yeah, probably."
"Well enough of that." Miranda said. She too had been left with that impression from her mother and grandparents. "We're doing this to have some fun, so let's get focus on that tonight." She reached for the game pamphlet Melody held. "Let's see what character looks good to play."
The six guys paired into two teams. Jay and Ben were the first one, a natural idea since they had been hanging out a lot since learning about Audrey. Will teamed up with Carlos while Aziz teamed with Alex. For what seemed like hours they played Mario Kart Double Dash and quickly learned why it was called that as two players could work on one kart, one player driving while the other used items that were gotten along the way and they could switch places at any time in the race.
After the first few courses they took a break to get something to drink and snack on some chips. "So what's the big secret been tonight guys?" Carlos asked Jay and Ben.
The two exchanged looks. "Something Audrey told us." Jay answered. "We're still trying to figure out how to deal with it."
"Is there a problem?" Will asked them curiously. Out of the four remaining guys Will was arguably the most receptive. It didn't hurt that Lonnie had known something was up too and the two of them had speculated a bit over dinner that night. They had been sure Chad had something to do with it, but they weren't sure about the details.
Aziz stood up to grab another can of Pepsi and then he felt kind of dizzy. He placed his hands on the counter and then heard a large thumping sound behind him. It confused him at first because nothing should have made that loud of a noise alone in there…unless it wasn't one but a group. He turned to find that the other five boys had hit the ground unconscious. "What the hell?" He asked, though his voice came out kind of tinny.
"I didn't want them ruining the fun." Aziz turned to see Marcellus leaning against the doorway casually. "So I knocked them out with a little spell." He snapped his fingers and five Mamluk's appeared in front of him. He pointed to the five boys and laughed a little. "I see my little spell didn't exactly leave you untouched either."
"What do you want?" Aziz asked as he shook his head to force off the effect of whatever he had done. "What did you do to them?"
"Just a little knockout spell." Marcellus answered and the Mamluk's reached for the boys. Aziz started to spring into action but with a casual wave of his gloved hand Aziz fell to the floor. "Don't worry about your little friends. They won't be harmed; I'm just having them bound in case they wake up. I don't want them to ruin the fun."
"What are going on about?" Aziz snapped.
"You know, our father's had quite a few battles in their times." Marcellus explained casually. "But the truth is the biggest advantage your father had that mine could never overcome was his genie." He started into the room. "And I see you don't have your genie either."
Aziz let out a derisive laugh. "Jordan is no one's genie." He retorted. He and Ally had had a conversation about that recently and none of them could ever see her having a master as most genies tended to do. The thought kind of made both of them feel kind of sick. "And I don't need her to beat you anyway."
"Ironic actually." Marcellus said with a small laugh. "Because that is exactly why I'm here." He stood only feet across from Aziz. "You're going to prove that you don't need a genie's powers to beat me. If you fail, you and your friends will pay with their lives." He formed a dark scimitar in his hands.
"You know that the girls aren't that far away." Aziz warned as he reached for his iPhone. "This battle won't go on unnoticed."
"I know." Marcellus replied. "But the girls won't be able to do much themselves."
As their session progressed Mal was sure that Amy would have loved to have a Pikachu of her own if it was a real animal. The purple haired girl spent most of the time munching on strawberries as the others played. It wasn't that she wasn't interested, in a way she was. But she had another problem on her mind. She kept trying to figure out how they could get Chad off of Audrey's trail.
Audrey too couldn't get her mind off of ideas to get rid of Chad. Even Mal, Amy and Evie didn't know how much his actions were scaring her. She feared nothing they would do could keep her safe from Chad. He seemed to be that determined to get to her.
She looked out the window, surprised that night had fallen so quickly. She glanced down at her iPhone to confirm the time. It was amazing how quickly time was going tonight. She thought it might have something to do with the company she kept. Despite being rather popular she never felt that many people were with her when they were around her. The idea of soaking in the rays of the sun came to her mind. Before this Lonnie was the only one she really thought of as a true friend, aside from Ben and Chad back in the day. Now she was surrounded by people she knew were her friends.
She heard what sounded like scratching at the door. She turned as did the other girls. Then she noticed that each of them seemed to fall to the ground. She stumbled herself as she moved to the nearest one, which happened to be Jane, and found that she was breathing but unconscious. "What just happened?" She asked herself.
"I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to make sure we were alone." She heard Chad say and looked up with a gasp of shock and even a little fear. He wasn't transformed but he had the Maledict blade in his right hand. "I wanted to finally show you your place and I didn't want anyone getting in the way."
Audrey rose and was able to grab her iPhone. "You won't be showing me anything Chad." She replied grimly. She was almost sure he still had to have detected the fear in her voice.
If he did he didn't mention it. "I have a lot I look forward to showing you my love." He said and the affectation made her shudder in revulsion. "But please, feel free to try to resist me. It's futile, but welcome."
Audrey input her numbers 4342 into her iPhone and transformed into the red ranger. For a moment she wished she was like a lot of the other red rangers she had read about, one who had access to some kind of battlizer power up. However since she did not she let the thought go. There was nothing she could do about it now.
Chad didn't even bother to transform and for a moment that honestly pissed Audrey off. Here she was doing everything in her power to try to protect herself from him and try to defeat him and he was treating this like a game. Granted, it occurred to her the attitude he had been displaying to about her was little more than that of a toy, but it still angered her. She drew her elemental bow and swung at him. He blocked it with his blade and tried to bring it down on her. She blocked it with her bow but he pushed her away with the strike.
"Ah don't take this so personally Audrey." Chad said with a derisive laugh. "Worry about what I want you to take."
She shuddered. "That is just wrong Chad." The brunette princess stated. "I never knew you had such an ugly one track mind."
"You never knew anything Audrey." Chad said with a dismissive wave as he moved his blade in between his hands idly. "You've always been so self-centered and self-absorbed, never worrying about anything beyond what you wanted. I've always wanted you Audrey."
Audrey thought for just a moment. She knew he was right, she had spent most of her life not looking beyond herself. But she already knew one thing. "That doesn't matter Chad." She said to him softly. "Ben said he loved me, I said I loved him. We were doing what we thought had to be done. Jay says he loves me, and I can only hope that's true." She started to pace him away. "You didn't say that you've always loved me."
"I just did." Chad said angrily.
"No." Audrey shook her head. "You said you've always wanted me. Wanting is not the same thing as loving. Wanting says that you have this belief that I should belong to you, and that's not how a relationship should work."
Chad lashed out at her and she blocked it with her own elemental bow. "I don't know how things went so wrong. I look at your mother, who grew up a peasant, and she's one the kindest people I've ever met. Callie seems to take after her. But you…you've turned out to be even worse than her step-family." Audrey said. "Since there was no apple to fall from the tree in this case, I can't imagine how that happens."
Aziz input his numbers, 6752 and transformed. He raised his spiral spear and charged at Marcellus. He raised the black scimitar and caught the attack. The silver ranger lashed out and kicked the magician in the chest hard. He fell back but didn't stay down.
"You're trying to prove that you're better than me?" Aziz asked. "Or do you somehow have it in your head that if you manage to beat me that means your father is better than mine?" he shook his head. "Either way it seems to me to be like bordering on a losing proposition."
"You're entitled to your opinion there." Marcellus said to him. "I don't care about what my father could or couldn't get done. This is about me. And I already know I'm better than you." He shot a bolt of magic out at him and he dodged to the side.
"Validation." Aziz said with a small nod. "I approve."
"I suggest you don't mock me." Marcellus warned him.
"Hey, I'm not." Aziz assured him. Actually it was partly a lie because he was kind of mocking him but through it all there was one point he could get behind. "This is about you, which is better than the motives I've seen from your little group lately. I mean Chad's doing what he does because he hates the isle kids and he's obsessed with owning Audrey. Gregory seems to want to own Amy, or at least put his brother into a position to own her. Not sure what Undine wants, but she seems to have it out for Melody, I can only assume in a different way than Chad and Gregory would. But you just want to prove your self-worth. It's a bit more noble."
"I suppose your opinion would change if I said I was going to claim Ally when this is over." He saw the tension in the silver ranger's body and he laughed. "Not to worry. I would much prefer a stronger woman than one so weak and feeble like her. When I defeat you I can easily find someone who will appreciate this victory. But anything to get under your skin surely works in my favor."
"Well now that we've established your only a half jerk instead of a complete jerk, we can get move this battle right along." Aziz commented dryly. He moved in and tried to jab Marcellus but he blocked the attack and then shot a bolt of magic at him. He raised his spear to block the attack, which worked but it was shot out of his hand.
The good news was that the shot impaled the Mamluk holding onto Ben. The unconscious young king fell to the ground in a awkward lump but at least had the chance to be free if the chance arose. The bad news was that Aziz was now weaponless.
"Nice shot." Marcellus noted. "Too bad that I can always make more of these." He then shot Aziz hard point blank with a spring of magic. The silver ranger fell back and slammed into the wall hard. For a moment his sight went black on him and by the time he was shaking off the haze he found Marcellus in front of him. He placed the dark scimitar under his chin. "Looks like this game is over. I take your head, and then I take theirs."
"You call me a disappointment to my parents." Chad noted so casually Audrey almost suspected that he didn't even care. "But look at you. You had to become a power ranger before you really changed your tune. You don't think Aurora wished you were more like her, the loving and respectful young lady instead of some selfish, spoiled, self-absorbed little brat?" With the room darkened to almost pitch blackness.
"What's going on?" Audrey asked.
Chad spoke again, and yet this time there seemed to be something more. Something stronger. Something darker. "You speak of things you don't understand little girl. You speak of things that something that you yourself barely comprehend." It all but boomed. She felt herself shaking slightly in terror and had a feeling it had nothing to do with Chad or the words, but something more primal.
Audrey jumped as she heard wailing behind her. She turned to see nothing. Then she heard incoherent whispering all about her. "Feel as if you're losing your mind yet little girl?" The same voice asked her. "This is the true extent of awaits you when I finally claim you." There was booming laughter. "The physical pain I will put your body through will actually pale in comparison to the pain that will be placed on your mind and soul."
With that the lights returned to normal. Chad was in front of her and he swatted her elemental bow aside. Then his blade shot down and slashed her hard from her chest on down. She fell to the floor hard and found that she had been forced to power down. She glanced up to find Chad over her.
"What was that?" She asked, she couldn't stop her voice from trembling. "What did you do to my friends?"
"That was the beginnings of the demon's rise." Chad answered, though now he sounded completely normal. He placed the blade on Audrey's chest, he looked as if he were ready to cut her blouse in half. "Your friends are out, I released a certain mist that put all of them to sleep, the ironic thing is that you can thank the fact they all have gems on them for that. They will not wake until I am gone." His foot moved in between her legs to brush her. "Now then, I think it's time to get to the fun part of this." His blade cut into the very top of her blouse.
Marcellus had brought his dark scimitar halfway down to Aziz's head when there was a loud clanging sound. "What? That's not possible." The magician growled. The silver ranger looked to see that the Praeleanthor sword had blocked the strike…but no one was there to hold the blade.
"Wow, no way." Aziz said to himself. As grateful as he was even he knew that shouldn't have been possible."
The Evil is among us. Aziz was shocked to hear from the Praeleanthor weapon. Use us to smite these fiends down so that we may attend to our foes and relieve your friends. With great care he took up Ben's weapon, feeling the power that both Ben and Amy had spoken of. He stood up and tried to slash Marcellus. The man backed up but that was what he had wanted. He threw the sword and it twirled around, decapitating each of the Mamluk's. Their bodies fell to the ground and then dissolved as well. It reflected back, chopping the dark scimitar in half before he caught it.
"Still want to play?" Aziz asked him as he raised the blade, battle ready. The edge of the unique weapon shone in the light.
Marcellus glared at him angrily. "You won, without a genie. Kudos, but this test will only lead to something greater." With that he vanished in a swirl of black sand.
He ran over to the other five guys as they were waking up and he helped untie them. Then he looked to the young king. "I think this belongs to you." He said.
"What happened?" Ben asked as he took back his weapon.
Aziz gave them a very quick rundown of Marcellus's test and then got to the heart of the matter. "That sword said that the evil was here. And that we need to go help our friends."
The boys got up quickly and left the room they had borrowed for their party.
Chad had just stopped to run the blade over the lacy top of Audrey's bra when he felt something sharp slash his arm. He fell back hard to find himself face to face with a girl he didn't know.
Audrey looked up. Aquiella didn't look at her though as she glared at Chad, holding the trident that Melody normally used as a weapon. "Would you like to know where you're twisted little plan went wrong?" She asked the prince sharply.
"No, no it's impossible." Chad stated angrily. "All the rangers should have been down except her." He pointed the blade at Audrey, who was just starting to bring her legs closer against her body and trying to readjust her slightly ruined blouse.
"Ah, but that was your first mistake." Aquiella said to him as she paced him, swirling the trident in her elegant hands. "I am not a power ranger."
"There are so many of you little brats." Chad spat. He couldn't keep track of who was who around them. "But you were unconscious, I saw it."
"A blunder on my part, not yours." Aquiella said sharply. She was more angry at herself for that one. "I fell with my cousin, but sadly I'm not as adept to human legs as she is. I didn't brace myself and knocked myself out." She rubbed her head a bit with her free hand. "Going to leave a bruise tomorrow."
"But you were OUT!" He all but screamed at her.
"That was what roused me." Aquiella shot back. "The loud, booming voice that seems to think it's in command. The wailing like some underwater banshee and the incoherent whispers." She was overplaying that one and she knew it. Her empathic powers had never functioned without some kind of water access, until now. Whatever it was behind that display was strong enough to force her powers to work. She had woken and saw the position Chad had Audrey in and had borrowed the trident. Although the aqua stone on the end was Melody's and couldn't be used by anyone else, the trident itself was as much her birthright as it was Melody's or any of their relatives. And she needed the weapon if she was going to drive him off.
Chad glared hatefully at her. He was tired of everything getting in the way of his taking Audrey. He lashed his blade at her and she deflected it with the trident. She lashed out a surprisingly strong kick considering she had never done anything like that before and it sent him sprawling backwards. She moved in to stab him with the trident but he dodged it, not wanting to take the trident in the gut.
Then the door burst open and the six guys entered. Ben moved in to slash at Chad even as Jay saw the condition Audrey was in. Faced with two opponents right now and more potential Chad vanished.
In this case Chad's word was right though. The instant he vanished the girl's stirred and moaned a little. Even as Mal was checking on her twin sister Ben was over by Mal, leaning down next to her and checking on her.
Aquiella knelt down next to Melody and started to tell her what had happened as she returned the trident and the aqua gem to her cousin.
Will briefly checked on Lonnie but the Asian princess quickly assured him she was alright so they could check on the other girls.
Carlos checked on Jane who did the same thing Lonnie had before the two of them checked on the others.
Aziz went over to check on Ally and Jordan. They both seemed to be okay and he started to tell the two girls what had happened. He had to make sure Ally knew what was going on and something about Marcellus's approach and unnerved him, he thought that Jordan should be aware of what had happened.
Jay approached Audrey. "Are you okay?" He asked her though it seemed to be a formality as he could see half of her blouse was cut up. He reached out to stroke her hair softly and she threw her arms around him and started to cry. He could hear the others starting to approach them.
"Someone want to tell us what happened?" Mal asked as she knelt beside Audrey. Amy reached over and wrapped her arms around Audrey's waist, the only part of the brunette princess that she could get around.
Aquiella explained what she could though Audrey was the one who had the most idea of what happened. She clearly was not ready to speak about it at the moment. Aziz told them what had happened with Marcellus as well.
"I kind of remember reading that Mozenwrath seemed pretty obsessed with power." Jane said. "Logically he might want that from Jordan."
"Over Chad's dead body." The genie girl said huffily.
"Melody, I need to go back to the sea." Aquiella announced. "I have to talk to my mother and grandfather."
Melody nodded. "Okay, let's get outside and I'll return your tail to you." She said.
"No one goes anywhere alone." Mal interrupted. She looked to Will and Lonnie. "Can you guys go with Melody and Aquiella?"
"Of course." Lonnie said and Will also nodded in agreement.
"What do we do now Mal?" Ben asked as he took her hand. "Even splitting up we've hit a huge wall thanks to Marcellus and Chad."
"I don't know what we do in the long run." Mal confessed to Ben. "But right now, I think we should all stay together. I think it's safe to say that any worries about interaction is basically nonexistent."
"I think you're right." Ben agreed as he hugged Mal against him gently. "Man, I can't believe they're still trying to do all of this. We have to find a way to stop them once and for all."
Aquiella lowered herself in the ocean and Melody used the trident to return her tail to her. "Will we see you tomorrow before we leave?" She asked her cousin.
"Count on it." The mermaid girl responded before waving to the three of them and diving into the water.
"When was the last time you saw her before today?" Will asked Melody quietly.
"A few years ago." Melody answered. "I'm hoping it won't be another three years before I see her again." With that the three of them started back into the castle. "I guess we should find something to watch then."
"How are you doing?" Mal asked Audrey as she looked up. She had a few tears still streaming down her face but she had managed to regain control over her emotions.
"We're not going to be able to stop him, are we?" Audrey asked in a resigned voice. In her mind she saw him towering over her, slicing her blouse and brushing her with his foot.
"Oh, we're going to stop him alright." Mal promised. She just wish she knew how.
Jane moved to the side and grabbed her iPhone. She texted her mother to tell her what had happened and ask what they could further do to mitigate the situation.
"We're all staying here tonight." Jay said to Audrey. "I want to say you'll be safe but I don't want to be wrong about that. But we're going to try."
Audrey leaned her head up and kissed Jay on the lips softly. She didn't think the kiss had lasted that long but when she had pulled back Melody, Will and Lonnie had come back into the room. She looked around at her team mates. "So, I guess we should find something to watch." She said.
"I thought we were watching the floor show." Carlos said and then ducked as Jay threw an empty strawberry soda can at him.
"We'll find something." Evie promised as she moved over to the DVD case. She hoped they could at least pass the night without any further problems.