As early morning sat in, Jordan was by the window looking out toward the sea. Everyone else had fallen asleep. The back of Mal's head was fit snugly up against Ben's outstretched arm even as she had her own arm around her twin sister. Sometime during the night she had seemed to start having a nightmare and Mal had instinctively moved to comfort her. Jordan kind of envied that bond. Amy's head however was against Alex's chest, as if his heartbeat had helped her to fall back asleep. Ellie slept not too far away from them.
Evie and Doug were lying next to each other asleep. They had gotten kind of bored with the movie and had been talking quietly about something involving chemistry.
Audrey had her hand on top of Jay's chest near his heart and her head on his upper arm as she slept. He had an around her waist as if holding her close and trying to protect her all at the same time.
Lonnie had her back to Will, her head on his arm. He was next to her, his free arm around her waist. Her hand was even over his.
Ally and Aziz were on one of the couches, he was holding the British blonde tightly against his body.
A couple of the castle cleaners entered and gasped at what they saw. Right behind them was Belle. Jordan looked at them, annoyed to see the looks on their two faces. Belle didn't seem upset though, but she was worried since this had not been the idea. She feared something had happened. "Nothing happened with anyone." Jordan snapped at the two and then looked to Belle, her voice going softer. "We had a couple of attacks. It did a number on Audrey, and it was kind of bizarre in general."
"Is everyone alright? Where is Aquiella?" Belle asked as she edged her way in. She was glad to see that Ben and the twins seemed to be okay.
"Aquiella went back to the sea." Jordan said, her voice somewhere between disappointment and bitterness. "I guess she couldn't handle being around us."
"I'm sure that's not true." Belle said to her. "There's no way I could believe that after what she did for us yesterday afternoon." She looked around. "What happened to Aziz?" She asked.
"Marcellus orchestrated an attack on him." Jordan answered. "Wanting to prove he was better than his father by beating his father's son." She didn't want to mention his reference to doing that without Aziz having his genie, i.e. herself. Somehow it just seemed to personal. "Chad knocked us out and attacked Audrey. Something about doing it with our gems. Aquiella defended her until the guys showed up and then Chad ran."
"Does that sound like someone who can't handle being around you guys?" Belle asked the genie girl wryly.
Jordan sighed. "No." She conceded. She would never admit how cynical she often came across. "I just don't understand why she left then."
Amy woke up and saw Belle. She smiled softly though she was barely cognizant. "Hi." She said softly.
"Good morning Amy." Belle said as she leaned down to her. "I heard some of you had an interesting adventure."
Amy nodded. "Yeah. It was a nightmare." She said. She shook her head. "I was able to read Aquiella before she left. Chad did something that spooked her, it was related to Maledict's blade."
One of the servants accidently dropped a tray and the team woke with a start. Even as Ben scrambled to protect Mal, the purple haired girl was getting ready to fight. So were Lonnie, Will, Aziz, Miranda and Jay. The others were more cautious but still ready, even Audrey.
The noise also drew in Jasmine, Ariel, Aurora and Snow White. No one seemed to disturbed to see the team in the same room, clearly having slept in the same place. Aurora however saw something in her daughter's eyes and she came over to Audrey.
"Sweetie, what happened?" Aurora asked her softly.
Audrey bit her lip but Jay answered for her. "It was Chad. He found a way to attack her again." He was clearly angry with himself over it, no doubt part of the reason they stayed together after all last night.
"Oh baby." Aurora said and hugged her daughter tightly. Audrey clung to her mother, doing everything she could not to cry again. She knew right now it wouldn't help.
"Is everyone else alright?" Ariel asked.
Aziz stretched a little. "I had a bit of a run in with Marcellus." He told his mom. "He's sure like his dad alright. But I'm okay, thanks to that Praeleanthor sword of Ben's. Came alive to help me get rid of him and come to the girls."
Ariel came over to Melody and touched her arm. She was glad though when her daughter looked at her and didn't seem any worse off. "They're making breakfast." Ariel said to them. "I figured we could eat out on the beach."
"Sounds neat." Mal said as she took Ben's offered hand and placed it on her own arm. "We'll get cleaned up and come right out."
About twenty minutes later they had come out, refreshed and ready. Audrey smiled a bit as the sun hit her face and arms and she took a deep breath of the fresh ocean air. Jay smiled and lifted her by the waist gently. "Try to catch the sun." He said teasingly.
"You are such a dork." Audrey said with a laugh as he set her down on the ground again. She turned around and kissed him on the lips softly.
"Race you to the tables?" Melody asked Amy and Alex.
"Sure." Alex said with a smile.
"You're on." Amy said. Together the three of them started to race to the table. Mal and Ellie couldn't help but laugh a bit at their younger relatives even as the purple haired girl laid her head on Ben's shoulder as they walked to the tables.
"It really is very nice out here." Miranda noted. "I kind of wish Auradon Prep was closer to the sea."
"You might not feel that way if we were here long enough for a storm." Carlos said with a laugh. "Then we might look like drowned rats. And you don't need the help." He added with a snicker as Miranda's hair was very much like her mother's.
"Better than looking like a drowned rat all the time." Jordan said and snickered. She and Miranda exchanged high fives and at Carlos's mock petulant pout they both patted his shoulders reassuringly. "Still, better not pull the drowned rat thing around my dad, my aunt and my uncle."
"Ye have…" Miranda started and then realized what she meant. "Ah, ye mean Sultan Aladdin and Queen Jasmine. Still, why is that? Is it because of how Aladdin grew up?" She asked.
Jordan shook her head. "Nope, it's not about that. But I never figured out what the reason is."
Turned out the Alex won the race. Melody got second and Amy was the last. Not that the rose haired girl expected to win, in fact she rather hated that kind of activity, but she had no problem having fun with her friends. When she reached the table Alex lifted her up by the waist and spun her a moment before sitting her down again. They both laughed.
"I'm glad to see Amy is enjoying herself and making friends." Ben said to Mal as they both sat down. He kissed her hand gently.
Mal felt a small blush on her cheeks. "Me too." She replied. "Evie, Jay and Carlos are her friends too of course, but she met them through me. I'm glad to see her forging her own separate friendships too."
They had just sat down to breakfast when Aquiella surfaced from the water. In the morning light, the water rushing around her, sparkling off her skin and hair, she looked truly beautiful. Melody smiled happily at her. "Come to have breakfast and say goodbye?" She asked, glad to see her cousin one last time.
"Something like that." Aquiella said as she adjust her tail to sit more comfortably. "I did come to see you and have a bite to eat." They were close enough that she could grab a half bagel and some cream cheese. "But actually, I want to ask if I can return with you guys and enroll in Auradon Prep?"
Jordan was able to hide her surprise but that was not what she expected to hear.
"Are Aunt Arista and granddad okay with that?" Melody asked her.
"They've given me permission." Aquiella said. "I don't know how happy mom is but she approves of it professionally."
"It's not easy to let your daughter go off like that." Ariel said matter of factly as she stroked Melody's hair. "But sometimes it's what must be, especially if that is what she wants."
"Why do you want to come with us?" Ally asked her curiously.
"I want to help." Aquiella said simply. She looked to Audrey. "I want to help stop Chad, not just what he's doing to you as cruel as that is on its own but…" She looked to the ocean. "You didn't see it, you didn't hear it, the forces that made that weapon of his has to be stopped and you're going to need everyone you can get."
"I did see it. I did hear it." Audrey said to her and then looked to them. "She's right, we need the help. Chad might not be the only one who can access that stuff." She looked to the mermaid girl. "And you did help me. I…I need all of that that I can get." She conceded softly. Jay kissed her cheek softly as Evie reached over and squeezed her hand softly.
"I want her to come along." Melody said. "Me too." Amy added.
Ben looked at Mal and laughed a little. He had no intention of turning her away and doubted anyone else would either. Still, both Audrey and Amy wanted her along and to Ben that said something since they were still in the early stages of their friendship. "I don't see Fairy Godmother having a problem with it." He said.
Melody laughed and sat in the waves with her cousin. "I'm glad we'll be together." She said as she wrapped her arms around her cousin.
"Me too." Aquiella said as she hugged her back. "But, can I keep my tail until we get ready to leave?" She requested. "Something tells me I may not be like this for a long time."
"Sure." Melody said with a laugh. "No problem."
"So how can you help?" Aziz asked her curiously. "You find any powers we don't know about or are you going to be a command center player like Doug?" He poked his friend good naturedly, who ignored the friendly jibe as he handed Evie a couple pieces of toast.
"I'd like to get powers if I can. The next time they come up." Aquiella said.
"I think all that's left is the gray ranger powers." Audrey said to her. "And I don't see you in gray, no offense."
"Actually that's not true." Jane said now. "Remember a while ago when we were looking to make a new ranger power, we got the perfect gem from the dwarves," She looked to Snow White with a small smile of appreciation. "But after we weren't able to make the an aqua color for now obvious reasons we hadn't been able to get back to it." She looked to Aquiella. "Until now. We manufactured an orange ranger power, and I think we can give it to you when we get back to Auradon Prep."
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Belle said as she remembered what she had done when they had retrieved the ultrazord. She had used helped them fight off the Neptune team and she had saved Belle from taking a rather bad tumble off of a waterfall.
Eric went in and got one of his jackets for Aquiella to use as cover once breakfast was over and Melody returned her legs to her. Melody and Ariel took her into the castle and about ten minutes later they came out with Aquiella ready to go. With a last longing look at the ocean the mermaid girl followed her new friends into the limo that would take them back to Auradon.
"Are you sure you want to come with us?" Amy asked as she had seen the way Aquiella had looked to the ocean.
"I'm sure." Aquiella promised her. "I want to do this. It's just not usually easy to say goodbye to the things you love and grew up around." Amy nodded; on a practical level she understood that. On an emotional level except for her sister and their friends, she had never known that feeling.
"When we return to Auradon my mother should have your iPhone and powers waiting for you." Jane said to the mermaid girl as she leaned back against her seat, her shoulder brushing up against Carlos's. "And mom says she wants you to enroll in the magic class."
"Makes sense." Amy said. "And maybe you can help me with my water power, like I help Alex with his fire power."
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Aquiella said.
The drive home started out normally enough but they had all though that on the way home too and hence they weren't planning on letting their guard down. Sure enough about halfway to Auradon Amy and Aquiella exchanged glances and the mermaid girl called out, "Stop here." They did as they were asked and the team filed out of the limo.
"Oh come on, I was hoping for a more explosive interest than that." Said a large almost raven like creature in armor. The left wing was coated in the same kind of armor even as the right one appeared to lack the protection. He swirled around the sword. "Who decided to ruin my fun?"
"We would prefer not to have our ride smashed in, thank you very much." Mal said to the bird monster. "Why don't you fly back to your little nest before we put you out to pasture?"
"You put cows out to pasture, not birds." Lonnie pointed out.
"Oh, whatever." Mal replied.
"Yeah, not the point." The bird monster agreed and raised its armored wing and shot laser beams out at the rangers. "I'm not going anywhere anyway."
"Let's get to work." Mal said. Ben, Melody and Jane pulled out their items while the rest of the team pulled out their iPhones and input their numbers. They all transformed. Aquiella had to return to the limo though she still watched the battle. She'd be doing this soon enough after all.
The bird monster flew up and the dove straight at them, Ally in this case. They all dodged the attack only to find themselves surrounded by soldiers. They moved in to attack the team. "Oh, shoot." Carlos gasped as he barely dodged a blade descending toward his head.
Audrey kicked one of the soldiers back and then turned to the bird monster, which was now up in the trees somewhere. They could hear it laughing as it moved through the branches.
Amy watched the direction that the monster seemed to be traveling and unleashed a small earthquake toward the tree that he was heading to. He let out a small squawk as he lost his balance but even as he fell he recovered quickly enough to bring his feet hard into Amy's chest. "Nice try little girl." He said.
Two flaming tonfa's almost struck him but he used his sword to block the attack. He then turned to the fire knight and slammed his beak hard into Alex's chest, sending him flying backwards.
"We have to get rid of these guys and regroup." Jay said. "That way we can take the bird monster down." He slashed his soul scimitar hard enough to knock out two of the soldiers.
"Too bad it's easier said than done." Carlos noted as she dodged under a soldier's attack, then got back onto his feet and then sent it flying with a hard roundhouse kick.
Lonnie jumped over a charging soldier and then planted her feet against a tree before launching herself at the bird monster. She slammed into his body hard and the two fell a bit roughly, the pink ranger taking a bit more of the impact.
Just as the bird monster looked down on the stunned pink ranger Will moved in and slashed him across the unarmored wing hard with his recursive sword. "Whatever you're thinking can just go back in the box." The green ranger stated.
"Whatever do you mean?" The monster asked with seemingly perfect innocence before raising the armored wing and unleashing a blast of energy at the green ranger. He then tried to bring the sword down on him but Miranda was now in front, blocking the strike with her own grizzly blades and then kicked him back.
"I think it's time we turned ye into chicken dinner for the wolves to eat." Miranda said to him. He swung his sword at her and she dodged out of the way and then kicked him in the chest hard. Then Melody was behind her and slashed the monster herself.
Aquiella watched the fight and wondered where the soldiers were coming from. They might be overwhelmed by sheer numbers alone, like a tidal wave…she gasped and looked to the coast, where they had been going along the whole way to Auradon. "Amy!" She called out to the rose ranger. "Please, come here."
She nodded, rolling out of the way of a soldier who was slashing at her already. She made her way to Aquiella. "Is everything okay over here?" She asked, concerned for the adults, especially Belle.
"Everyone is fine." Aquiella replied. "But we need to clear out these soldiers so that you can take out the bird brain."
"Sounds good." Amy said to her. "How do we do that?"
"We combine our powers." Aquiella said to her as she nodded toward the coast. "We bring a tidal wave strong enough to wipe out the soldiers." She looked to the ranger's and the monster. "Hopefully we can take out the monster too; if not you guys can take care of it."
Amy now caught onto the mermaid girl's plan. "You can use your powers to protect the limo and everyone inside it too, while I use my powers to protect the rangers." Aquiella nodded in agreement. "Okay, close the door. Wait for my signal and then we can unleash the wave." With that Amy started back toward the battle.
She touched her sister's arm. "Time for a round up." She said to Mal. She nodded and raised her hand, waving her pointer finger in a small circular motion. They couldn't really respond but they all knew what it meant and started to their location.
A group of them tried to cut off Audrey and she let out a small shriek, almost fearful they were trying to take her to Chad or at least isolate her so he could hurt her.
Ben slashed down two soldiers and then heard, Use us! From inside his head and he knew it was the Praeleanthor sword. He tossed it like a boomerang and smaller blades unfurled as it struck the soldiers trying to cut off his best friend. He then caught the sword on its return, followed by Audrey.
"We definitely have to thank Amber and the others again for that little treasure." Audrey noted.
Ben nodded. "No argument here." He replied.
Jay reached out to Audrey, who hugged the black ranger briefly in assurance, as much for herself as him. She then looked to Mal. "Okay, so what's the plan?" She asked.
"I don't know." Mal told her simply and looked to Amy. "We're all here; it's your show sis."
Amy projected We're together, let's bring the flood. She instantly heard Aquiella, Bubble up Amy. The rose ranger decided that was actually a good idea and she first summoned a rush of water to envelope them. "Ah, not again." Carlos groused as he thought of the last time they had been enveloped in a bubble, by Undine's Frog Borg.
"No, it's okay." Mal said. "This is all Amy."
Aquiella did the same thing around the limo and then both girls focused on the ocean along the coast. Amy knew she couldn't have done it on her own; she was again impressed by Aquiella's control over water. But she could feel her own magical energy reinforcing the mermaid girl's so that way she didn't overwhelm herself.
The ocean's roar was the first indication something was different. The soldiers and the bird monster turned. With another squawk he took to the skies even as the huge wave splashed over the area and swept the soldiers away and dousing anything in its path except for the bubble protected limo and ranger team.
"Great job little sister." Mal said as she hugged her gently.
Amy shook her head. "It was Aquiella's idea." She said with a smile at Melody. "She deserves most of the credit."
"Hey, that wasn't fair." The bird monster protested as he landed.
Amy let the bubble around them dissolve. "Hey, we just thought we should have a fresh start." Jordan said to him. "And what's better than an ocean fresh one?"
"Let's cook this bird M." Evie said.
Mal nodded. "Time for the Auradon Launcher." She said.
The purple ranger took a step back. The others took positions in front of her and formed the Auradon Launcher. They took hold of the large weapon and channeled their energies into it before unleashing a huge blast of energy at the monster, destroying it.
"Nice to have a simple one after all this time." Aziz said as the weapons vanished. "That demon thing with Chad and the others nearly crushed us if not for the ultrazord's discovery."
"To say nothing about what he and Marcellus almost did to us last night." Audrey added. No one needed to point out the obvious; that what Chad had had in store for Audrey was much worse than anything Marcellus could have planned for Aziz.
The team powered down and Aquiella came of the limo to be greeted by Melody with a happy hug. "You are definitely fit to be one of us." She declared happily.
Jordan laughed. "I was wrong about you." She admitted to the mermaid girl before she could stop herself. "I thought maybe finding out who we were last night might have overwhelmed you, not everyone can handle this." The genie girl placed her hand on her shoulder. "You've already done so much to help us out here. You remind me of what I saw that motivated me to start doing my best here."
"What was that?" Aquiella asked her.
"I saw Ally and Aziz trying to protect the innocent students of the school during an attack." Jordan said. "Before they had powers or knew what was going on. I had just learned what was going on and I had said I would help if need be but I didn't want to get involved…" She laughed a bit. "Seeing them do what they did selflessly and for no better reason than because it was right. I had to change my mind."
"We're all very glad that you changed your mind too." Mal said to Jordan with a smile.
"I know I am." Aziz said with a smile. "You know, our parents are best friends and we grew up together but we never got along. But this," he touched his iPhone. "This is what made us come to get to know and accept each other."
Melody smiled at Aquiella. "And we actually like each other. Imagine what it will do for us." She said with a giggle.
"I don't have to imagine it." Mal said as she hugged her sister. "I already know."
Together they headed toward the limo and got inside. They were relieved to see Belle, Snow White, and everyone else okay. "That wasn't too tough." Doug noted.
"We've had far worse." Evie agreed with a laugh
Ben looked to Belle. "So mom, want to be a power ranger?" He asked jokingly.
She laughed as she wrapped one arm around her son and the other around Amy. "I think I've had enough adventure for a while." She said to them all as she smiled at Mal now. "I think it's best if I just stick to my books for the time being."
"I think it works better that way too, no offense." Mal said to her.
"Man, I never thought I'd say this but I think I'm getting too old to be doing that kind of thing." Jasmine said as she patted her son's hand gently.
"Funny, I thought the same thing too when we went into the land of the black sands." Aladdin replied. "Genie will be so disappointed to hear us say this."
"Well don't think of retirement just yet." Mal said to them. "Seriously, it's probably better that we handle this kind of thing but you never know if there will be a time that you guys might have to step up to give us a hand after all."
"Mal may be right." Miranda agreed with a small laugh. "We may be writing our own stories after all, but it all starts with the legacy that all of our parents and family have left us with."
They could see Auradon Prep only minutes away from there. Jane couldn't wait to see her mother and neither of them could wait to add Aquiella to their team.