As Mal looked up at the Great Serpent with Paradias imbedded into the skin of it, she found for one of the few times in her life she didn't know what to say, what to think, or what to feel. She felt Ben's free hand on her shoulder as if the young king were trying to console her, but beyond the physical feel she didn't feel it.
"What do we do now?" Jay asked, though he was afraid to acknowledge the truth was that there may be nothing they could at this point. Beside him Audrey clung to his arm, shaking slightly. It occurred to Jay that the brunette princess wasn't fated to die with the rest of the, she was fated to something much worse at the hands of her and Ben's former friend Chad Charming. It only made him more determined, perhaps hopelessly so.
"What can we do?" Ally whispered in her soft British voice. "Our zords are damaged beyond use at this moment, our powers seem to be gone." She slumped against Aziz softly.
The Great Serpent laughed, the voice of Paradias. "You can do nothing except accepting your fates." He stated and then powered up another massive blast of energy. He unleashed it upon the group of teens.
Melody bit her lip and raised her grandfather's trident. She shot a burst of magical energy to intercept the energy blast. It dissipated the other attack, causing some fire to reign down around the area. "We're not done yet. We still have magic." She said.
"What good will that do?" Carlos asked. "What kind of magic is big enough to counter that?" Sadly it was a good question.
A noise startled them and several soldiers were starting to cut through to them. Miranda just reacted, she grabbed the Praeleanthor sword, about the only weapon around them, and cleaved her way through. One, then two. She kicked a third one back and turned around to take out a fourth one that tried to approach from behind before taking out the third one. Then she took out a fifth one with a vicious uppercut with the sword. She jumped when she heard the voice only Ben was used to, Use Us!
Ben recognized the look, the same one he had. "Miranda, toss the sword at the snake!" He shouted at her. The red headed Scotts girl tossed it at what she considered the true head of the Great Serpent; Paradias.
It slashed him across the face and he let out a growl of anger and pain even as the Praeleanthor sword flew back to Miranda, the one who had tossed in this time. "Clever girl." The evil mastermind said. "But do you really think that's enough to stop me?"
Mal felt a bit of pleasure at this. It meant he could still be hurt. They just had to figure out how, and quickly.
Ellie unleashed one of her magical ice beams at the Great Serpent. But with a roar and blast of fangs the ice beam was cut off enough to be ineffective.
Amy and Aquiella took hands and between their magical focus they were able to unleash a wave of water at approaching soldiers, taking out the fire around them as well.
Jordan conjured up a magical burst of energy of her own and launched it at the Great Serpent but felt annoyed to see it strike against the scales of its belly with only small damage.
The soldiers were now being much more cautious of the girl wielding the Praeleanthor sword. Even when Ben took over to with it they were still being very cautious about it, like they knew it could hurt their master and the Great Serpent he had melded with.
Alex shot a burst of fire at the head of the snake and Paradias dodged it. "You all really think you have what it takes to defeat me, don't you?" He asked with amusement. "Despite the loss of your zords and your powers, far more dangerous than your pitiful excuse for magic, you all think you can defeat me."
"We can." Evie said, trying to sound defiant though it came out kind of small. "Don't underestimate magic."
Paradias laughed. "I know more of magic than anyone in this world will ever know." He gazed at each of them. "None of you are rule shattering white witches. None of you are magically Charmed or the Ultimate Power. None of you are exotic fairies. None of you control the dead or harness the dream." His gaze ended on Mal. "You are all small beings in a galaxy you don't understand, but soon that will no longer matter." With that he launched another powerful burst of energy from his mouth. Melody was not quick enough this time and the beam struck the entire team, sending them flying in all directions.
Ruby found got them out of the rubble and into the fresh air, relatively speaking. They could smell the fire in the breeze. And they saw the blast that struck the team. "Will!" Whitney screamed in absolute horror.
"Oh my gosh, Evie!" Doug exclaimed as he saw her hit the ground hard. He felt a bit better when he saw her breathing.
"Jane!" Fairy Godmother yelled as Jane hit the ground hard. She moaned in pain as her wrist snapped, and then didn't move short of her breathing.
The soldiers were starting to close in on the team and Ruby moved as fast as she could, lashing out her hair to force several of them on the ground. She jumped over them and grabbed the only other thing she could get a hold on; the Praeleanthor sword. Even as she swung at one of them with the sword she whipped her hair around to slap two other soldiers.
"Is Auradon only made of such fools?" Paradias asked with amusement. "Very well, little girl. Spend the last of your miserable life fighting to protect them. It will do you all no good." With that the soldiers advanced on her.
"Don't be counting yer chickens before they hatch Paradias." Miranda interrupted as she slammed her fists into the back of the head of one of the soldiers. "Ye haven't won just yet."
Some of the soldiers turned toward Doug, the injured Fairy Godmother and the two little girls, Callie holding Dude now. A burst of flame made them vanish and Alex stood there, though he had some blood running down his face from a cut on his forehead. He could see Amy getting up and crawling toward Mal, who was not moving either save for the rise and fall of her chest.
"You fools still haven't realized that resistance is futile." Paradias said with amusement. "Well I suppose one has to admire your guts. Which I will certainly do after they've been spread all over the ground."
"Mal." Amy said worriedly as she shook her twin sister as firmly as she could without hurting her. "Mal, wake up. Answer me. We need you."
The total silence was vaguely interrupted by the call of her twin sister, though Mal couldn't have said right now from where that was from. She wanted to tell her to stop, that it was over. She was out of ideas. She was out of powers. As much as she hated to say it, it was done. The proverbial votes were in; Paradias had won and it was time for their concession speech.
The she heard whispering and she opened her eyes, but what she saw was not what she expected. She was looking at a very dim image of Ben's coronation. She could see her and her friends staring down the dragon that Maleficent had become. She could just make out Ben, Jane, Audrey, Fairy Godmother, Belle and Adam on the dais in the back. "We did that." Mal whispered. "And now it's come to this."
"You were able to stop your mother then, without my powers." She heard a voice say. She looked to see the image of a head appearing in one of the mirrors on the side of the building. She knew who it was by word of mouth; Zordon. "You can do so again."
"What do you mean?" Mal asked him. "This is completely different."
"I promise you it is not." Zordon said. "In fact, the situation is very similar, only the numbers have changed."
Mal shook her head, not understanding it. The she heard herself, chanting as she looked at her mother as a dragon, backed by Evie, Jay and Carlos. The strength of evil is as good as none, when four hearts are as one. The strength of evil is as good as one, when four hearts are as one.
"Yes, I get it okay." Mal said. "But that was my mother, not some ancient evil that doesn't even belong here." She sighed irritably only to glance back at the scene. She didn't know why, maybe because it offered some comfort to see one of their victories. But she saw things had changed, and suddenly she knew what she had to do. "I get it now. Zordon, thank you."
"Mal please." Amy whispered again. She heard footsteps and saw two soldiers approaching her. She saw that Miranda and Ruby were fighting others and couldn't come to her. She tried to rise to fight and felt her ankle protest, and she fell to her knees.
Then Audrey and Ben barreled into the soldiers as hard as they could. The two soldiers stumbled backwards and as Ben delivered an impressive roundhouse kick to the two of them; something he had learned from Leonardo during their sparring session, Audrey came to Amy. "Are you okay? Is Mal okay?" The brunette princess asked her.
"My leg hurts a little." Amy told her. "And I can't wake Mal up. I hope she's okay."
"Mal, come on." Audrey said softly as she placed two fingers over the side of her throat. "You're alive, wake up please. We all need you."
One of the soldiers jumped over the length of hair that Ruby used to trip up a few others and charged right toward the girl before Lonnie and Jay tripped it up together and then brought their fists down hard on the soldier's chest, causing it to dissipate.
"You're okay." Ruby said with relief.
"For the moment anyway." Jay answered. "You...what are you doing out here?"
"Helping my friends, helping the power rangers." Ruby replied. The two of them looked shocked but then realized she must have known for a while and kept it a secret. They gave her smiles of thanks.
The others that had been knocked unconscious had gotten up and were helping again, despite injuries. Jane fought with one arm as she had a broken left wrist. Ally fought despite the fact half her forehead was cut open and she had blood in her right eye. Aquiella had clearly broken a rib as she fought despite the difficulty she was having breathing.
A soldier tried to attack Doug and Fairy Godmother but Evie intercepted and drove her elbow into its stomach as hard as she could. It wasn't quite hard enough but the ice beam from Ellie was more than enough to take it out.
"Evie." Doug gasped.
"Oh, Doug." Evie said softly and stepped up to him and kissed him on the lips softly. "I am so sorry we've failed you guys." She added gently as she felt tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry we've failed Auradon."
"You haven't failed us child." Fairy Godmother assured her softly even as Doug wiped away some of the tears. "You've done us all proud. I know that's what Ben's parents would say. I know that's what Snow White would say."
Ben took out another soldier with the Praeleanthor sword as he looked to his girlfriend, his best friend, and Amy. For a moment it struck him as ironic that his girlfriend was unconscious and he was fighting with the Great Serpent/Paradias watching. It made him think of what Audrey's father Phillip had done to get to Audrey's mother Aurora while Maleficent opposed them. For an instant he considered trying to give Mal a true love's kiss before she gasped and woke up.
"Oh my pink!" Amy exclaimed as she hugged Mal tightly. "I was so scared something was wrong." She kissed her cheek softly. "If this is the end, I want to make sure you're with me, just as you've always been."
Mal stroked her hair softly. "Noble sentiment Amy." She said. "But flawed. This isn't the end." With help from Audrey, the purple haired girl stood up. She then helped Amy to her feet, who had to lean on the brunette princess. "At least not for us. We can win this."
"What are you talking about?" Carlos asked. "How are we supposed to win this?"
Mal looked around. She was not at all surprised to see Ruby fighting alongside them, between Lonnie and Jay. She was not surprised to see Alex, Ellie and Evie defending Fairy Godmother, Doug, and even Callie and Whitney. It was almost right. She only wished their parents could be here. But she thought it would be enough.
"It's over Paradias." Mal announced, surprising all of her friends; ranger and civilian alike. "We're going to win."
"You must have hit your head." Paradias said. "Gotten some sort of brain damage."
"Not at all." Mal replied. "My friends and I can win this fight." As she said that she waved them all toward her and they all hesitated only a moment before moving toward the purple haired girl. As they all got together Ellie used her ice powers to make a wall of ice to protect them from the soldiers.
"Just tell us what to do M." Evie said confidently.
Mal took the blue haired girl's hand. She reached over and took Amy's free hand, the one she wasn't using to hold onto Audrey's arms so she could keep her balance. "I'll stop you just as I stopped my mother." She said.
"I remember how well that worked out." Paradias taunted. He powered up an energy burst from the snake mouth and fired but Melody was ready for that trick and dissipated it.
She pictured what she had seen in her mind before she had woken up. In her mind, Maleficent in her dragon form had not stood there, it had been Paradias/Giant Serpent. She saw Ben, Jane and Audrey suddenly unfreeze and force their way to the four of them. From the crowd the rest of her friends had emerged, even those like Ellie and Miranda who had not been there for the original coronation. And from end the door opened and Amy had come in. Together they stood with Mal as she repeated the spell…that was how she knew it would work. Zordon had shown her.
"The strength of evil is as good as none, when all of our hearts are as one." Mal started to chant, her eyes glowing green. "The strength of evil is as good as none, when all of our hearts are as one. The strength of evil is as good as none, when all of our hearts are as one."
Even those without magical ability could feel the power build up. It glowed with each of their colors and like lightning it launched itself and struck Paradias/The Great Serpent in the body hard. He let out a scream of pain and they saw the damage had not rejuvenated. But it still didn't seem strong enough.
"We have to try it again." Lonnie said to the purple haired girl.
Jane shook her head. "It won't matter. It's not enough power." She looked around at her team. "We need to get more of it somehow."
"But how?" Aziz asked.
"Come on, we can't lose now. Not like this." Carlos said.
Mal grit her teeth as she thought back to what she heard, what she saw. She knew now the answers had all been given to her in her dream, or vision or whatever. She just had to find it. Then she got it. "The numbers have changed." She recited.
"What?" Audrey asked her. "What does that mean?"
"We're not just fighting ourselves." Mal answered her. "We're descended from a legacy of power. And it's that power we need to draw upon too."
"But we can't transform." Alex reminded her.
"I get it." Jordan said now. "Not the actual powers, but the line of powers."
"And beyond." Mal said. "Open your thoughts to our friends. To our families." She took a deep breath. She thought about the rangers they had met. Amber, Andros, Ashley, Cassie, Karone, Carlos, TJ, Zhane, Tommy, Jason, Kat, Kimberly, Aisha, Billy, Adam. The strong legacy of the purple rangers that Amber had told her about. She thought about Adam and especially Belle, who had all but taken her and her twin in as their own when even their own mother felt so alien to them. "The strength of evil is as good as none, when all hearts are as one."
Amy thought about Jennifer, April, Casey, Renet, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Venus, Karai, Aaliyah and Splinter. She too thought about Adam and especially Belle who accepted her in ways Maleficent never could. And she too was like Mal. "The strength of evil is as good as none, when all hearts are as one."
Evie thought about Snow White, who had welcomed her into her life despite the fact she had no reason to do so. She thought about Rose Red, whose trust she was sure she had to earn but she could see her eldest step-sister was willing to take that chance too. She thought of Casey, Lily, Theo, RJ and Dominic, the Jungle Fury rangers who had helped them to stop Sermaya. "The strength of evil is as good as none, when all hearts are as one."
Jordan thought of the Samurai rangers, who had helped them as well; of Jayden, Lauren, Mia, Emily, Serena, Kevin, Mike and Antonio. She thought of her parents Genie and Eden. She thought about the dramatic change in relationship between her and Aziz as they became rangers. That lead to thoughts of her 'aunt' and 'uncle' Queen Jasmine and Sultan Aladdin. "The strength of evil is as good as none, when all hearts are as one."
Jane felt her mother's presence beside her, the only ranger here to have that bond. Though the sibling relationship between Mal and Amy and in this case Will and Whitney; the cousinly relationship between Ellie and Alex as well as Melody and Aquiella, they all came close. And of all of them she was really aware of the full history of the rangers; from the Galaxy Rangers they had not met sans Karone, to the Dino Rangers sans Tommy, the SPD rangers, the Mystic Force Rangers, the Megaforce Rangers, all the way to the current team the Dino Charge Rangers. All part of their legacy as power rangers. "The strength of evil is as good as none, when all hearts are as one."
Even the non-magic users and non-rangers followed Mal's words. They thought of their mothers, their fathers if they knew them. And somehow Aquiella felt there were other allies that they had no clue about besides the turtles and the power rangers that would none the less contribute on a mystical level. And even though they weren't sure what influence it would have each of them chanted as well, "The strength of evil is as good as none, when all hearts are as one."
Paradias felt the magical build up, far stronger than even he could have possibly anticipated. With a growl he let loose a barrage of fangs but the ice wall protected them. He changed tactics and unleashed another energy beam at the group. This time though it hit what seemed like a force field composed of little blue objects like orbs, and it dissipated the attack harmlessly. "This can't be." He growled, suddenly wondering where in this scheme he had gone wrong. "This is impossible."
Meanwhile energy started to build around the group, protected as they were by Ellie's ice wall and the mysterious orb shield. All of their voices seemed to merge and grow stronger as they thought of the love they had for each other, for the love of their friends and family. And with a rising crescendo he again heard, "THE STRENGTH OF EVIL IS AS GOOD AS NONE, WHEN ALL OF OUR HEARTS ARE AS ONE!"
Again the large beam of energy, coupled with all of the colors of the ranger rainbow formed. But this time it started to rapidly grow and change to become large and more dense. Then it launched again, but it continued to grow in size and mass until such a point that it struck, but it did not strike just one part of the monster but instead it struck every part of the giant snake that was visible and possibly more than what they could see.
There was a loud horrendous streak, perhaps more snake than man at that moment. Then Paradias's own scream came through as well. "Impossible!" He shouted in fury. Then piece by piece the giant serpent began to break down and disintegrate, the hole that was nearly indistinguishable from the clouds surrounding it seemed to blink in and out for a moment before closing. A large explosion followed and again everything went black again.
Ben heard whispers, one directed at him. He opened his eyes. The breeze was cool now and he could see the mess that was the school in the background, but he had a much more beautiful face in his sight; Belle looked down at him with tears in her eyes. As he sat up mother and son embraced.
"Ben, you're alright." Adam said, voice full of relief as he hugged his son and his wife against him.
"Mom, dad." Ben said softly. "You're alright."
"That's supposed to be my line." Belle teased softly.
He pulled back from his parents. "Mal, Amy, Audrey, my friends." He started.
"Mal and Amy are still being checked out by the doctors. They were still out too last I saw them." Adam said. He patted his son's shoulder gently. "I'll go check again."
Ben glanced around. He saw Audrey embracing her parents, crying just a little. To his slight shock but also relief Jay was there too and Aurora was stroking his arm gently. Lonnie hugged Mulan and Shen.
With some shock he realized some good magic must have been pulled off. For the first time he saw Miranda lying on a small cot, having her arm tended to. And holding her other hand was her own mother Merida, who should have been too far away to make it here to Auradon now.
He saw Melody with her head on Ariel's lap as her leg was tended too, a huge gash having appeared sometime after the final explosion. Eric stroked her hair softly. Across from her sat Aquiella with a bandage over her forehead and something wrapped around her sides to help her heal her ribs.
"Mom, what will happen to Auradon Prep?" He asked Belle. He knew they all cared about the school. "How many people were hurt or killed?"
"It looks like Ruby and several of the other older students did well." Belle told him with a small smile. "They were able to get almost all of the students into the ceramics room of the school, in the basement. They were protected from the crash. We have multiple injuries, a few bad ones. But no deaths." Ben smiled, thankful for small favors. "And as for Auradon Prep, we're going to have it rebuilt as quickly as possible."
He saw Jane was with her mother, who right now was in a wheel chair. On her lap was Dude and beside the mother/daughter was Carlos.
"Your Majesty." Ben heard. He turned to see Ellie and Alex approach him, and behind them were their mothers Queen Elsa of Arendelle and Princess Anna of Arendelle. It was Ellie who had spoken. "I'm glad to see you're okay."
"Any further word on Amy and Mal?" Alex asked him.
Before Ben could speak they heard a small scream of delight and Amy ran toward them, though limping slightly. She threw herself into Alex's arms. As the young king stood up he found himself getting helped up by Mal. She kissed him passionately on the lips for a moment before pulling back. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried about you." She said.
Ben stroked her cheek softly. "I was so worried about you, my love." He said.
"I love you." Mal replied and kissed him on the lips again for a moment.
All of the team members and their families started to congregate on that spot. Jordan made sure to bring Ruby and her parents along, she had all but earned her place with them after the last couple of incidents even if she was not a ranger. Audrey hugged Ben, then moved to Mal to hug her, and then to Amy where she hugged the rose haired girl. To all of their surprise she kissed the brunette princess on the cheek.
Jay pet Dude on the head. "Glad you're okay bro." He said to Carlos as he punched his shoulder lightly. "You too." He said to Jay and Alex.
"Glad you made it to man." Carlos said with a smile.
Aziz was with Aladdin, Jasmine, Ally and Alice. Aziz and Jay looked at each other a moment and then gave each other a quick hug. When that was done Jasmine hugged Jay too. Mal laughed a little, but was glad to see that it was like Jay was part of the family despite his father's crimes.
Snow White walked beside Evie, and on the blue haired girl's other side was Rose Red. Beside her was her son Grant. Mal was delighted to see that both step-sisters seemed elated that Evie was okay. She only separated from her step-sisters to step up to Doug and kiss him lightly on the lips.
"Will Miranda be coming home with me?" Merida asked Belle. It was hard to tell if that was what she wanted or not.
"If she likes she can." Belle answered. "But we plan on rebuilding the school. We plan on it being ready to go in a couple weeks, it's our top priority. And in the meantime Adam and I are inviting all of the team to spend that time in our castle."
"Do ye want to stay Miranda?" Merida asked. She already figured she knew what her daughter's answer would be.
"I'd like to." She said as she hugged her mother. "If I'm still needed here."
"You are." Mal said as she smiled at her fellow purple ranger. "Paradias is gone, I'm sure of it. But we're not done yet. Mother is still out there and she has a few generals with her." She saw Audrey shiver just a little; Chad was one of them.
"How can we do that without our powers?" Carlos asked.
"Oh, you'll have powers again." Doug promised as he stroked Evie's hair gently. "We're going to rebuild the command center, bigger and better than before. We're not done by a long shot."
Mal laughed lightly as she laid her head on Ben's shoulder. "You see, we still have work to do. But I know we can handle it. We've got our friends, both far," They thought of the turtles and the rangers, "And near." She looked to Ruby, and then to Whitney and Callie, whose mother's Cinderella and Wendy were with them, as well as Will. "We'll get our powers back and we've got magic. And together, we can handle anything." She placed her hand out. "Who's with me?"
Each of the rangers set their hands on top of Mal's. This was followed by Ruby's, Will lifted Whitney up and she added her small hand, Lonnie lifted up Callie so she could do it as well. That was followed by each of their parents.
In the infinite oceans a storm brewed on an island known as Carnate lightning flashed illuminating a dark stone fortress. Then green light flared on the top of the large stone tower and Maleficent turned to Chad, Marcellus and Jabberwock with eyes glowing green. "The rangers, and all of Auradon, will pay for their victory today." The evil fairy vowed "They better not think the war is over, because it has just begun."
And beyond the windows on the island shadows stirred and writhed.