Mal opened her eyes and wondered where she was a moment before she remembered. She had her own room at Adam and Belle's castle. They were all staying right now, even those like Audrey and Lonnie who technically had places in Auradon with their parents. Because it was all about being close to each other right now as a team. She stretched as she sat up and slipped out of bed, got ready and headed out. Her first stop was the library.
It was of no surprise to her to see Belle and Amy talking on the couch about something or another. The truth was she wasn't nearly as literary like as her twin was. But that was part of what made them work so well. When Amy saw her older sister she smiled happily and got up to hug her.
"Good morning honey." Belle said to Mal.
"Good morning." Mal said as she hugged Belle. "How long have you two been in here talking?"
"Since eight thirty this morning." Amy said happily. Mal understood how her sister felt. Though perhaps not the most innocent of things, Mal could remember spending hours with her mother trying to learn all she could about evil, something she now tried to use as the leader of the Auradon Rangers. Amy had never gone for the evil thing and as a result never even felt the illusion of a mother/daughter bond with Maleficent. That was something both girls could feel with Belle, and it was no illusion. Still, Mal appreciated the fact Belle and her sister could share something unique to them.
"So do we know where anyone else is?" Mal asked.
"Aurora invited Audrey and Jay to her castle for breakfast." Belle said to Mal with a smile. "Aurora has been really impressed with how Audrey has opened up and become more accepting since becoming a ranger with all of you. And that is reflected in no better way than her relationship with your friend."
"None of us entirely saw that coming." Mal said with a laugh though she had told Ben she could see it brewing.
"Carlos and Evie went with Doug and Jane to the school to help with rebuilding the command center." Amy said to her older sister. "The sooner we have our powers back the better after all." Mal couldn't argue that one. "Aquiella and Melody are in the castle's pool. They invited me but I thought I'd let them spend some family time together."
"Which is where Alex and Ellie are." Belle added. "With Anna and Elsa. They went out for breakfast as well." She looked to Mal now. "And that reminds me that Ben wanted you to join him on the patio when you got up."
"Okay." Mal said, wondering why. She got up and ruffled Amy's hair, drawing a look of slight annoyance from her younger twin sister. It was so easy sometimes since despite being twins, the same age, Amy was none the less shorter than Mal. "Enjoy your book club." With that Mal left with a slightly wicked giggle that would only result in her little sister rolling her eyes.
She made her way downstairs. As she passed one room she saw Lonnie and Will making breakfast with Cinderella as Wendy and Mulan talked and watched Callie and Whitney. Belle had offered the two little girls to stay for a while too as Whitney had been petrified at the idea of losing her older brother, and the two had become inseparable. Also, they were students at the school and were waiting with every other student for Auradon Prep to be rebuilt. She waved at the two of them, and they waved back, but when Lonnie motioned an invitation for the purple haired girl she shook her head and made a crown shape. The Asian princess smiled and nodded in understanding.
She found Ben at the patio near the living room. The table was set with orange juice, strawberries, bacon, hash browns and omelets. Off to the side he was practicing some katas he had learned from Leo when the turtles had been in Auradon. In his hand he held the Praeleanthor sword, the mysterious blade from an ancient civilization that was still able to be summoned despite their powers being down right now.
Mal leaned against the door frame and watched as he finished his kata. She applauded and Ben looked to her slightly surprised. "How long have you been there?" He asked as he set the sword down by the table and started over toward her.
She met him halfway. "Not too long." She assured him as she wrapped her arms around his neck, he wrapped his arms around her waist. The two exchanged a soft but sweet kiss for a moment before pulling away. "And a good morning to you too." She added with a giggle.
Ben laughed softly and pulled one of the chairs back for Mal to sit in, then nudged the chair back in. He then walked across the table to the other chair and sat down himself.
Mal reached for a strawberry, one of her and Amy's favorites. "So what's on the agenda for today?" She asked the young king.
"We're going to go to the command center today." Ben said. "After breakfast. Doug wants to see how connected we are to the morphing grid after what happened." Mal nodded her understanding as she finished the strawberry. "Afterwards dad and I are going to talk to the council about getting an expedition for the Badlands. You can come along if you like."
"As fun as that sounds," Mal said deadpan, but Ben knew it would have been anything but fun for her. "I think I'll pass. Maybe some of us can find a way to help restore the school."
"Doug said that restoring communications was a high priority too." Ben said as he cut into his omelet. "We don't know how long we'll be lacking powers or zords and Fairy Godmother wants to make sure we can call for help if it comes to it." Their headmistress and mentor had quickly fallen back into the latter role despite being injured. Luckily she also got out of the wheel chair quickly too though she was using crutches to walk for the moment.
Mal bit into a piece of bacon and smiled a little. "I'd like to see them all again anyway." Mal admitted softly. "I felt them, their powers, their essences, their love, when we cast that spell that stopped Paradias. I feel like I owe them."
Ben cocked his head a little bit at her. "You feel you owe them?" He asked. "Do you mean for whatever help they gave for the spell or for the friendship they have all shown all of us?" It was something he thought about too.
Mal only thought a moment. "Both." She admitted. "I mean, when I left the Isle of the Lost I never imagined what was waiting for me. Extended family like Lonnie and even Audrey, friends like Amber and Karone." She felt a blush come to her cheeks at the next thought. "The man that I would fall in love with." Despite the blushes she found saying that was getting easier and easier. Probably because they had encountered scarier things since then.
"Audrey would say the same thing." Ben said with a laugh. "Of course I never imagined I'd fall in love with you either, but I'm glad I did." He reached over and took her hand, squeezing softly. Mal smiled, again feeling a blush in her cheeks. Ben had been getting pretty good at getting that reaction from her lately.
They made some small talk as breakfast progressed, including a very serious discussion wondering how much demonic influence was over Chad now and how that would affect the Praeleanthor swords reaction. Both were confident however that ultimately it would not control Ben the way Maledict's blade might control Chad. It was all about the weapon alignment.
They met everyone up front except for Audrey and Jay who would meet them there and those who were already at the slowly rebuilding Auradon Prep. Amy seemed very happy to see her mermaid friends and Alex. She even took his hand as they walked, nearly mirroring her older sister and the young king.
"I have to say I hope that our powers get restored soon." Miranda noted. "I feel kind of naked without them."
"Trust me, I know what you mean." Mal said. "Some of us have had them for so long that it's part of us. Others have just really embraced it." She knew Miranda was more the latter, and that was okay.
"I miss them too." Amy confessed softly. "I just felt...safer with them."
"I understand how you feel." Ellie said. "It's pretty much mental, but I feel like my ice powers aren't as controlled as much as they would be with my knight…er, dame powers."
"Me too." Alex agreed though he clearly didn't show it since he had no problem holding Amy's hand.
When they reached the school they found Carlos and Evie waiting for them, with Dude by the yellow ranger's side. Evie embraced Mal and then Amy happily. She faced all of her friends then. "Doug and Jane worked up a generator that will start supporting some of our powers." She revealed to them.
"Is the command center going in the same place it did before hand?" Grant asked.
Carlos shook his head. "No. The basement areas are being extended so we can place the command center down there. If someone tries to crash a ship on us, our base of operations should be safer from any harm." He replied.
"What about communications, how is that coming?" Mal asked now.
"That's Jane's next priority after the generator is up and running." Evie answered. "Just in case we want, I mean need to contact our allies." The truth was that all of them had gained a strong desire to talk with the other rangers, the turtles and their friends after the intense battle against Paradias.
Evie and Carlos lead the others into a small area that would later serve as an auxiliary entrance to the new underground command center. They found the area slowly being adapted for the new command center, with one already powered up generator. Doug was implementing something into it, presumably the schematics for their powers.
"What's going on Doug?" Mal asked as they all gathered around him.
"I'm working everything into the generator, but until we can get more of the proper equipment hooked up we can only activate a few powers at a time." He said to her. "I figure I'll start with the six of you as the most experienced." He looked to Ben. "And you as well your majesty, but that's because I think all I have to is synch up the Praeleanthor sword and it'll find its way around, sort to speak."
"We're thinking once communications are established again that we'll call the others for some help anyway." Doug continued on as Ben handed him the sword made from an ancient civilization. "After all this may be out first time losing our base of operations but it's not their first time. Maybe they can help us to rebuild it."
"From what I heard from Donnie even they had to remodel their lair after the Kraang's second invasion forced them to leave New York." Evie remarked. It disturbed them all a little more to know that that had also resulted in Leo fighting the foot clan on his own and being put into a coma for three months and even now having some effects as a result of that. If Maleficent ever got a chance like that…
Then as Mal glanced at Audrey she realized her mother wasn't the only one who could make a huge impact on all of them with one brutal attack. And Chad had sure been proving he had that intention with Audrey. It made her shudder.
"The sooner we get everything up and running normally again the better." Audrey now remarked. "Maleficent is still out there and I doubt she's just been sitting around catching some sun."
The original six rangers handed their iPhones to Doug so that he could get them synched to the temporary generator. A few minutes later he gave them back their iPhones. Lonnie could feel the power flowing through it, her gem restored and she hugged it to her chest.
"We'll get the rest of you up as soon as we can." Doug promised as he saw the looks of melancholy pass over Amy, Ally, Melody and Aquiella's faces.
Then they felt the ground shake and for a moment they were all afraid something was going to happen to the area before they heard Ruby call from above, "It's that weird bug thing, it's attacking."
"Weird bug thing?" Amy asked.
Ally understood what she Ruby was talking about. "Jabberwock." She translated. "Maleficent must have sent him to kick us while she thinks we're down."
Mal wanted to ask Melody and Aquiella to watch over Amy but wasn't entirely sure her smaller but otherwise equal age twin sister would like that statement, plus she bet the two mermaids would do just that. "Then let's show mom and Jabberwock that we're not down." She said as she looked to Ben and her first team mates. "Let's get to work." It felt good to say that.
As Ben summoned his shield and combined it with the Praeleanthor sword the six rangers put their numbers into their iPhones and were all immensely gratified to transform into power rangers. Together the seven rangers headed up to the surface where they found Jabberwock unleashing fireballs at some of the people trying to help rebuild the school.
Ruby tried to use her hair as a lasso as she swung it around to tangle up his feet but he was just a bit faster than her and missed. He turned around to face her, and although he had no part in Paradias's final plans and hence no idea just how much trouble she had caused for a civilian he knew all too well what she had done when Maleficent tried to block out magic and powers. Eliminating her would make his new master very happy and he powered up a breath of fire to unleash upon her.
Ben jumped out and brought his sword down on Jabberwock, sending him crashing to the ground with a loud sound, almost like a plane crash landing. He was then surrounded by the purple, red, blue, pink, black and yellow rangers. "That's enough out of you Jabberwock." Mal said to him.
"Awesome, you guys have your powers back." Ruby said with a smile.
"Some of us do anyway." Ben corrected her a little sheepishly.
Jabberwock had thought the powers were gone, reducing the holders to mere children. "Apparently you shouldn't be underestimated." He remarked casually. "You're not nearly as useless as we thought you were. Too bad Ally isn't here though." Everyone knew he would have loved nothing more than to kill her for something relating to her mother that they weren't entirely sure about.
"Work with you got sparky." Jay said. "And that's us."
"And how well off are you I wonder?" Jabberwock mused and unleashed a stream of fire at the six rangers and the Auradon Knight. They all managed to dodge out of the way. He dived forward and struck Carlos and Lonnie with his wings right before landing in front of Evie with a roar.
For just a moment the blue ranger felt paralyzed as she remembered he had literally dropped a few houses on her. Then she shoved that to the back and raised her mirror force shield. Then from either side of her Audrey and Mal moved in and struck the general in the chest as hard as they could. He fell back a little.
Ben and Jay moved in and brought their bladed weapons down on Jabberwock. He raised his arms to deflect the blow to his chest and then knocked them back hard. "You lack a lot of your strength." He taunted. "Why don't you bring out your neon armor?"
The simple truth was they weren't sure they could. Audrey and Mal again moved in to help Jay and Ben, Audrey and the two men attacked him with their pointed ends while Mal struck as hard as she could with her dragon's eye staff, glad it didn't shatter.
"We need to figure out how to send him packing." Jay said to him as he slashed Jabberwock again though this time he blocked it.
"I'm not going anywhere." Jabberwock countered as he unleashed a burst of flames at them, sending the four of them flying backwards.
Lonnie and Carlos were now in front of them. Carlos tried to send a seismic shock at him but Jabberwock merely flew above it. Lonnie leapt out and brought her hurricane tessens on him but it didn't do nearly the damage she was hoping for.
"I wish he hadn't come alone." Ben admitted. "If he had some kind of minions with him I could charge up the sword and try one of those attacks on him."
"Ben, see if Doug can do anything about giving us more power." Mal instructed her boyfriend and then looked to the rest of her friends. "We have one more trick up our sleeve, the Auradon blaster." Her friends nodded as Ben took a step back.
"Doug, is there any way we can somehow get more power?" He asked as he touched his hand to the right side of his helmet to activate his helmet's intercom.
"I don't know." Doug admitted. "I'm trying to see what I can do but honestly I'm surprised that the generator is even holding up. This was a shot in the dark after all your majesty."
"So there's no chance for the neon armor?" Ben surmised.
"I'm afraid not." Doug replied.
Mal saw Ben now say something else but by that point she had changed her focus as she placed her dragon's eye staff. Audrey's elemental bow was placed on top of it, and then Evie's mirror force shield was placed behind it, the compacts opening to extend its size. Jay placed his soul scimitar in the middle with Lonnie's hurricane tessens and Carlos's earthquake claw daggers on either side.
Audrey and Mal stood side by side. On Mal's side was Evie and Carlos. On Audrey's side Jay and Lonnie stood. Together the six of them took hold of the Auradon blaster and fired it straight at Jabberwock, aiming for the fire in the middle, which had been the way they destroyed Jabberwock back in Wonderland.
Jabberwock turned to the side, receiving a good gash but it wasn't enough to destroy him. He then unleashed his own fire blast at the team and they fell back hard, their blaster separating into its individual weapons.
"Okay, that isn't good." Carlos said. "Mal, what do we do now?"
"I don't know." The purple haired girl admitted as Jabberwock jumped up and moved to descend onto the six rangers. They each rolled out of the way to avoid any broken bones or worse. They were now surrounding the general for what that was worth.
"Doug says there's a way to activate the battlizers." Ben told Mal and Audrey as he stepped in between them. Audrey knew that tone of his voice; it wasn't that simple.
Mal could hear it as well. "And what do we have to do for that to happen?" She asked dubiously.
"The only way to power up the battlizers is for you four," He looked to Evie, Jay, Carlos and Lonnie. "To temporarily transfer your powers to Mal and Audrey."
The four of them exchanged uneasy looks. "Um, what happens if for whatever reason the battlizers aren't enough to either drive Jabberwock away or destroy him?" Lonnie now asked.
"I don't know." Ben admitted. "But either way, if that doesn't work, what are we going to do anyway?"
Evie hated to admit that she had a point about that. "I don't think we have a choice." She said. Jay, Carlos and Lonnie had to agree with that. Jay and Lonnie stepped up to Audrey while Evie and Carlos stepped up to Mal. They then powered down as their powers were added to the two girls iPhones.
"Let's hope we can do this." Audrey said to Mal.
"Let's hope." She agreed. The two of them then activated the half sun gems on top of their iPhones and activated their battlizers. Mal took on an appearance half similar to her dragon zord while Audrey took on the equivalent of what Evie thought was like a gem princess.
Audrey unleashed a moonblast that struck Jabberwock back. That was followed by Mal flying up and striking him with her own tentacle like extremities. Jabberwock tried to get a hold of them but the purple ranger was too quick for it to work.
"Mal, I think the only way we can stop this thing is how we stopped Infernal Flame." The red ranger said to her.
Mal readied her dragon's eye staff. "Let's make it so." She agreed.
Audrey raised her elemental bow as the dragon's eye staff shrunk down to make a very special arrow. It slid into the strings of Audrey's weapon and she poured a small amount of each element into it. She was nowhere near Amy's level as it wasn't true elemental mastery, it was just enough to let her vary out the kind of arrows she could use. With the dragon's eye arrow powered up with a trace of the elements she unleashed it at Jabberwock.
The arrow flew quickly and even though Jabberwock tried to dodge it wasn't successful enough as it struck him in the same side. He fell to the ground hard and was debating rather to retreat or not before opening up a huge burst of flame at the four unprotected rangers. Ben and the two girls moved in to take the assault but in doing so it forced the two girls to power down as well.
"So much for that." Audrey said. "What do we do now?"
Ben stood in front of them, ready to protect his six friends as much as he possibly could. The odds did not look good at all. Then there was a huge roar and from the clouds came Mal's dragon zord.
"I thought our zords were down." Carlos noted.
"It must be here of its own accord." Evie reasoned. Out of all the zords they had discovered so far Mal's dragon zord seemed to hold an intelligence and will all of its own. It made it a miracle sometimes that it worked with them as well as it did.
Now Jabberwock hesitated. The zord was much larger and there was no telling how much energy it had recovered. This was followed up with what Mal thought of as a dragon pulse from the Jabberwock that struck him hard. He rolled twice before recovering, growling angrily, and taking off.
It wasn't a moment too soon. Mal could already feel that her dragon zord was ready to try the draco meteor that it used, and that by extension she could use with her battlelizer. But that would have been it; it would have had no energy after that. It even landed on the ground and seemed to lay down as if recovering.
"You think it might be able to stay here?" Carlos wondered. "At least it would look intimidating and all."
Mal walked over to stroke her zord on the side of its face. "I don't think it can go anywhere right now anyway." She revealed softly. "It needs to recharge, and I guess this is as a good of a place as any." She looked to her friends. "We better hope that generator didn't get fried."
"You guys still did great." Ruby said to them. "And thank you your majesty, for saving my life."
"Anytime." Ben replied.
They started back to the school and then Mal looked to Ruby. "Why don't you come with us? You're in the know now, so maybe a new perspective wouldn't be a bad thing." She commented.
The eight of them walked back into the underground area that would someday soon be the new command center. "Please tell me we still have our powers." Audrey pleaded.
"The generator is still running." Jordan reported as they saw Doug working to attach it to another console with Ally's assistance even as Jane worked to attach the generator to it with help from Amy. "They're trying to reinforce it so that we can use the neon armor and the battlizers without a problem, and get our powers hooked up as well."
"Even better, we found a way to communicate." Jane said to them. "That was simple enough to route through the computers and through satellites."
"Well we better hope it works and that we can start getting this place up and running soon." Mal said as she shook her head. "Mom has just proven that she's not going to let us get that much recovery time." She looked at her friends. "This was just reconnaissance to see where we stand. Next time, she'll be in force."
"Well I have some good news on that front." Fairy Godmother said to them.
"Seven of them have their powers restored, including your eldest daughter." Jabberwock reported. "They cannot use their neon armor and their battlizers require the sacrifice of the other four rangers."
"It's only a matter of time before they get them all restored though no doubt." Chad reminded them.
"Yes, yes." Maleficent agreed with an unconcerned wave. "The power is limited or gone but that's not what we need to fight." She turned to look at what were now her three generals; Jabberwock, the Dark Knight Chad and Marcellus. "What we need to fight is the knowledge and experience behind those powers. And I know exactly what we're going to do…"