I won't kill my girlfriend. A part of Ben declared as he tried to fight what the beast portion of him was trying to do. The Praeleanthor sword was held high above Mal as she struggled to regain her composure so she could stand and continue the fight.
"You don't get a choice boy." He growled to the boy whose body that he was currently inhabiting and trying to steal. Then the weapon itself started to glow and the beast lost the view he had of the purple haired purple ranger as she struggled to stand up.
He found himself back in a small rocky area. The rocks themselves were not like any rocks that had ever been seen in Auradon as they were a very dark black but split on all sides with red, almost like lava, flowing through the seams of the rocks and rocky walls. The sky overhead didn't seem to match any skies in Auradon either, it was black and cloudy but not at all like what one expect from a brewing thunderstorm. There was no one around; no Mal, no Auradon rangers, no Sermaya or any of the generals he always seemed to have around him. He wasn't even wielding the Praeleanthor sword in his hand anymore. What is this? He tried to question but it sounded very muted.
That would be a good question. He heard in response and saw Ben come out from behind one of the pillars. This certainly isn't my idea of paradise. Don't suppose this is yours? He shrugged in seeming indifference but it reality wasn't the truth. I mean I thought I had an idea on what my other half is like, you've been there forever, and with my knowledge for months now. Why is this happening now?
His counterpart let out a growl. You think you know me? You know what you want to be, but I've never had a chance until now. Even Sermaya's original attempt only touched on the barest hint of what I am. He responded somewhat angrily.
Ben didn't know what would happen if the beast gene were no longer be a part of who he was, if it would affect his powers or not. If you want to be out on your own, I can't blame you. Maybe we can even find some way to make it happen. He tried to reason with the beast. But this isn't the way to go. We have to stop Sermaya from his plans and if you're part of it that means we'd have to stop you too.
Like you could stop me if you tried. The beast part snapped hotly and laughed. And I already know how I will be on my own. Starting by eliminating you! With that he moved quickly to try to punch Ben, but the young prince dodged out of the way of the strike and was now in defensive stance.
I don't want to fight you. Ben reminded him though he suspected two things. The first was that he wouldn't have a choice. The second was that the Praeleanthor sword may have wanted them to fight. Perhaps it was a way of giving Ben the control he needed of his body so he could return to Mal, his family, and his friends. But I will if I have too.
You will have too. The beast version of himself growled and launched himself at his opponent again. This time Ben was prepared and caught him in the stomach, then jammed the palm of his hand into the face.
Mal stared in shock. One minute Beast Ben was ready to kill her, and the next moment he was just standing there, seemingly vacant. She wondered what had happened. "Ben?" She asked quietly but of course got no response from him. She stood up a little shakily and was about to reach for the sword but something stopped her, some instinct she wasn't sure she could identify.
Then she glanced over at her friends. The seven Auradon rangers were again struggling to recover even as they were approached by Sermaya and Simorgh. The bird monster licked the inner edges of his beak as he looked at Aquiella and Melody and her stomach lurched as she remembered that he called them his dinner.
She saw the defender baboon's approaching the space rangers, who were being psychically held down by the possessed Rockwell, one of the guests from Earth that had come to help them repair the command center. She felt uncertain of who to help before a voice in her head said, Help your team! She didn't recognize the voice but she felt she should take that advice.
She glanced at Ben worriedly. But whatever was going on was internal and Mal suspected she couldn't help him right now; she could however help her friends. She used her dragon's eye staff as a pole vault to slam her feet hard into Simorgh's back. As Sermaya turned to her she slammed one of the ends of her staff into his face.
"Mal, what happened to Ben?" Audrey asked their leader.
Mal shrugged. "I don't know." She revealed. "I think the Praeleanthor sword did something to him. Whatever is going on can wait until we're all a little safer." She was glad to see her friends getting up. "So let's finish this bird brain and Sermaya once and for all."
"You're going to regret that girl." Sermaya threatened as he and Simorgh again started toward the eight Auradon rangers.
Ben was sure that if this were a real place he'd be sweltering right now as he aimed a snap kick at the beast in the man suit. He raised his arms and caught the young king's foot in his hands and forced him back hard.
He landed hard and felt the breath knocked out of his lungs. This was followed by what seemed like his chest being crushed as Beast Ben landed on top of Ben and hit him in the face hard. Again he was sure if this weren't all mental he would have a broken nose right now.
He swung again but this time Ben caught that fist in his own and pushed back hard enough so that his foot could connect with the back of his opponents head. He then pushed him off and rose. Doesn't this seem wrong to you? Ben couldn't help but ask. We're two sides of the same coin fighting each other.
Fighting for control, for the right to live. Beast Ben retorted with a mixture of impatience and glee. The way any life ought to be. He lunged again at the young king, aiming the palm of his hands toward Ben's chest. He barely managed to block it but was caught off guard by the knee to the gut and the elbow to the back.
Ben landed hard and just barely rolled out of the way of the foot that was aimed at his head. Beast Ben seemed to laugh though it was hard to discern. You can't beat me. I am stronger, faster, better than you could ever hope to be.
Even as Amber saw the two giant baboon monsters approaching them she still did her best to resist. "We have to come up with something." Carlos said. "Or we're going to have a huge problem."
"We already have two huge problems." Zhane pointed out as he continued to try to struggle as if it were rope and not a psychic hold. "They're coming right this way after all."
"They're not going to give us a problem." Cassie noted. "They're going to kill us."
Then they felt a breeze and saw someone jump over them. Will as the green Auradon ranger landed in front of the two baboon monsters with his recursive blade raised for combat. "You'll have to get by me before you can get by them." Will warned them.
"Fine with us green ranger." Defender Baboon said as he raised his axe and tried to bring it down on him. Will blocked with his sword, maneuvered his hands to slide it to the left then twisting it to force the axe to slam into the ground. That was followed by a kick to the green furred baboon.
"Stop him too." Archer Baboon ordered the mind controlled Rockwell as he raised his bow and aimed an arrow at the green ranger.
Rockwell started to direct his energies at Will but felt a block in his way. He looked up to see April there, focusing her energies as well. The part of him that was still Rockwell couldn't understand what she was doing there as she was unprotected and could be injured or killed easily. On top of that she didn't have the power to stand up to him alone.
Then Amy, also unmorphed, stepped up behind April and placed her hands on the red head's shoulders. She started to lend her energies to April as she would have, and in fact had done, for Alex, Melody and/or Aquiella. It wasn't much as her powers were different from April's but the red head had been confident it would be enough.
A long while ago, April had discovered that the Kraang had made clones of her to make something as unique as her. They finally succeeded and created a girl who had named herself May. But the Kraang had overestimated her and she had taken over that base. Weeks later she had lured April to her and wanted them to join their strengths together. The turtles and Raphael's girlfriend Jennifer had followed and when April refused she had used millions of Kraang droids to attack them. Only combining her powers with Jennifer's recently untapped powers had saved them. Since that point on their sensei Splinter had done what he could to mentally discipline them so that they could use that as a weapon if needed.
Doing so with Amy was more complex as her powers were different from even Jennifer's demonically originated powers, let alone her own Kraang originated powers. But it only had to work long enough for task; she used that focused power to knock the helmet off of Doctor Rockwell as her boyfriend Donatello had suggested.
Doing that freed Rockwell from the control Sermaya had forced on him. The sudden shock overwhelmed his mind and he collapsed to the ground. It also freed up the rangers.
"Karone, check on April and Amy." Andros said to his sister. He looked to Zhane. "Keep Rockwell safe." The two rangers nodded. He then looked to the rest of the team. "Let's help Will show those baboon freaks what it means to be power rangers."
"Right." The five terran rangers acknowledged.
Karone came over to the two girls. "Are you two alright?" She asked them.
"Just fine." April said with a small but strained smile. "The forest isn't spinning at all."
Amy helped lean April against Karone. "I'm fine." She said to the white space ranger. "But my job isn't over yet. Will and I still have a bird to pluck from the heavens." With that she took her out her iPhone and input her numbers 9976 and transformed into the rose ranger. With that she headed toward Will and the space rangers.
Amber and Andros slashed Green Baboon. Carlos and TJ struck Yellow Baboon. Then Cassie and Ashley used their weapons to blast the two monsters. Amy came up to Will. "Ready?" She asked him.
Will nodded. "Ready. Let's get help our friends and bring Ben home." He replied.
Sermaya swung at the rangers and Jay barely blocked the attack. Carlos and Lonnie kicked him back together. Simorgh tried to dive at Aquiella but Mal was there and she swung her staff like a baseball bat, cracking him in the face and sending him landing roughly.
Aquiella threw one of her tidal boomerangs and it struck the bird monster across the chest hard, knocking him back. Audrey then shot an electric arrow right at him. He tried to dodged to the left but wasn't quick enough as it struck his upper arm and gave him a slight shock. "That wasn't nice." He remarked.
"You're not going to like what happens next then." Audrey replied. As the monster shook the arrow loose it brushed down his body with enough charge in the arrow to shock him again, but this time with the wet feathers delivered an even stronger electrical shock.
"Water conducts electricity bird brain." Evie thought she should point out happily.
That statement helped give Karone an idea. She took April over to Zhane. "The two of you protect Rockwell in case the baboons or their boss get an idea. I've got to get Amber out of that fight so she can help the Auradon rangers." She said to her boyfriend and the red head.
Amy and Will started toward their friends. Will leapt up and landed hard on Sermaya's back. The lion ape monster tried to fling him off but the green ranger held tight. Jay and Carlos then moved in and slashed him hard.
"Good to see you back in green dude." Jay said to his friend.
"Glad to be back." Will said, the smile obvious in his voice.
"Mal!" Amy said happily as she rushed up and hugged her sister.
Mal laughed happily as she hugged her back. "Great to see you Amy, in prime condition too." She said. "But we have to get back to the fight."
Amy shook her head at her sister. "No." She replied. "That fight is for them to handle. You have your own fight in front of you." She motioned toward Ben and started to drag her sister over to the immobilized young king.
"But…" Mal started.
"I'll help you get in there Mal." Amy promised her firmly. "But Ben can't stop that thing on his own. He faces the same limitation in his mind that you faced out here. But together maybe you two can overcome all those limitations so that Ben can come home."
Mal nodded. It required no thought at all. "Let's do it." She agreed with her twin sister.
Karone moved in with her own sword and helped her brother and Amber strike against Green Baboon. Both monsters were technically big enough to take three rangers attacks with little difficulty. She looked to Amber. "I know how they can take down that bird, but with Amy helping Mal with Ben they'll need you to help them." She said to the purple space ranger.
Amber nodded. "I think I know what you have in mind." She said, having overheard Evie's remark. "I'm on my way."
The Beast Ben advanced on Ben, though the young king was more inclined to call it stalking. He braced himself for the attack though in reality he wasn't sure how he was going to stop the next attack. Though he wasn't sure it was possible to feel exhausted physically, he sure felt that way. The beast on the other hand didn't seem as phased and he suspected that it was because he was losing his hold on his physical body.
This is almost done; I am going to take your body and your life. Beast Ben said and got ready to jump him.
"What kind of place is this?" They heard. The two boys looked to see Mal appear behind her Ben. The fact she actually spoke out loud made them realize some outside force was helping her out. This was verified when she added, "So hot and humid. It seems like…" Then she cut herself off as if something occurred to her.
What are you doing here? Beast Ben demanded angrily. I left you on the ground; you have no right to be here.
"I have every right." Mal retorted. "I'm here to take my boyfriend home." She held out her hand but instead of her dragon's eye staff forming she instead received the Praeleanthor sword. She then looked to Ben. "I don't know if I have the strength to strike him down the way he looks now." She confessed to the young king, feeling kind of embarrassed. "But your mind is still in here, if you could…"
Say no more. Ben said to her with a soft, understanding smile. Let me make it easier for you; just don't let it be in vain. He closed his eyes and Mal looked to Beast Ben. After just a moment he started to waver, his form going from looking like Ben to looking like his father had as The Beast Belle had known except he lacked hair and had extremely pink skin. His white claws gleamed in the harsh light.
"You don't look like a beast." Mal said with some disgust. "You look like a demon." She shrugged. "But it makes it easier to get you out of my boyfriend's body. And I have just the sword to take out a demon."
The now Beast demon let out a roar and leapt at the purple ranger. She dodged under it and rolled to a battle stance. He rolled and then turned to face her down. He moved and slashed at her. Mal kicked is arm away from her and brought the Praeleanthor sword down on him hard. He let out a roar as he fell back.
Then for the first time the Praeleanthor sword glowed. It had happened in the past but only when the wielder, usually Ben, had taken out a few minions. Mal smiled a little through her helmet at the unexpected burst of power and then charged the Beast again.
He raised his hands and blocked the strike with his long sharp claws.
Ben figured out that there was only one way Mal could have come in here; Amy had to have combined her general magic from Maleficent rather she liked it or not, and her intangibility. If there is anything you can do help Mal win this battle I'm sure she would appreciate it. Ben implored.
It was as if Amy had heard her sister's boyfriend, and perhaps she had as Amy liked Ben very much and thought he was perfect for her. Or perhaps it was simply the way the twin's hearts and minds connected with each other. Whatever the reason fire lanced out from some of the small broken areas on either side and burned the Beast creature's arms.
He let out a roar of pain and pulled his arms away from the sword, moving as if to attack whatever had struck him before realizing that there was no way to fight fire.
Mal would have loved to take some kind of pleasure in that but if anything the presence of fire that Amy could manipulate, even from the confines of Ben's mind, proved to her where the Praeleanthor sword had placed this battle. She again forced that revelation down and unleashed the powerful sword down on the beast monster, which shattered into millions of pieces.
"Mal." Ben gasped as he stood up. Then he realized he had spoken out loud. The nightmarish surroundings they had fought in were slowly starting to dissolve around them. "You did it, you defeated the beast."
Mal stepped up to him as the sword vanished. She took his hands in hers. "We did it." She said to him. "You confronted it, reminded him that this is your body and your life. You showed the mental strength you needed to overcome him and gave me what I needed to free you the rest of the way."
Ben wasn't entirely sure the Beast was actually gone though. But he figured that was a problem for another day. He was sure there were other immediate problems. "Our friends?" He asked.
"Fighting Simorgh." Mal answered. "And they might still need us."
"I can take my body back now." Ben replied. "But not with you in here."
Mal nodded and laughed. "I know." She assured him. "It's time for Amy to take me back to my body." She squeezed his hands gently. "See you on the outside."
"We're going to need two part harmony here." Amber said as she approached the Auradon rangers. "Karone has a plan, and I need you two to help with it." She looked to the two mermaid girls. "But the rest of you are going to have to keep this thing busy." She now looked to Audrey, Jay, Evie, Carlos, Lonnie and Will.
"We'll do that." Carlos said to her. "Just get ready to do what you have to do."
A voice came over Evie's helmet intercom. "I have a surprise for you." Jane said to the blue haired blue ranger. "We've been able to add a new function to you mirror force shield, and I suspect that it will help out with Karone's plan."
"I thought we couldn't add any new powers to the grid." Evie inquired.
"And we didn't." Jane replied. "This is a simple boost that goes into the circuitry of your shield."
Evie took out her mirror shield and sure enough saw that another small component had just appeared there. Amber peered over her shoulder and laughed. "Oh yeah, looks perfect." She told Evie. "Let Jane know the timing is indeed perfect."
Evie nodded. "Amber says it's perfect timing." The blue haired blue ranger said to Jane over the helmet intercom. "So let's see if this new one is as impressive as some of my others." She personally loved the storming attack herself.
"You like to eat mermaids and other sea creatures so much." Amber said as she stepped up in between Aquiella and Melody and pointed at Simorgh. "Time for you to learn why it's so dangerous to be hunting by the tides."
"Like you scare me purple ranger." Simorgh mocked and started toward them.
Will, Jay and Carlos stood together and drew. Then Audrey and Lonnie jumped up onto their shoulders as they drew their own blasters. Evie stayed where she was in front of her five team mates and brought up her mirror force shield. "Time for you to take a bath." She declared and activated her newest attack. "Time for drowning mirror force." A tidal wave of water almost as powerful as what Aquiella could produce shot out and slammed into the bird monster hard, knocking him off of his feet with a painful crash. With that Evie switched out her mirror force shield for her own blaster and back flipped high in order to land on Audrey and Lonnie's shoulders.
Melody placed the trident over Aquiella's tidal boomerangs as Aquiella drew moisture from her own iPhone's water pocket and the air around her, including marvelously enough moisture left over from Evie's new attack, and then Melody pulled her trident back so that Aquiella could unleash her water built boomerangs.
Simrogh rose in just enough time to get struck by the force of those weapons, which then flew back toward Aquiella. "You think getting me soaked is going to do anything other than wet my appetite?" He asked as he got to his knees.
"Weren't you listening to Evie?" Amber questioned him. "Water conducts electricity. But then, you don't realize that I'm the biggest conductor of electricity this side of the planet." With that Amber unleashed her own streams of lightning right at Simorgh, a gift she had been given by Zordon so long ago when she had become the original purple ranger, a necessity against the monster she debuted ag against known as Lightning Falcon.
The electrical bolts struck him hard and he let out a screech. All of them seriously hoped they weren't smelling his roasting flesh as that was still kind of disgusting even if he was a monster. "Still standing." He growled out.
"We'll put an end to that." Audrey said to him. The six rangers charged up their blasters and unleashed the Auradon Triangle Spark at Simorgh, and the final impact sent him reeling back before landing on the ground with a hard explosion.
Then Sermaya appeared and rammed hard into the six Auradon rangers. They fell to the ground hard. Carlos's landing was relatively soft until Evie came crashing down on him. It was a bit more of balance between Audrey and Jay and Will and Lonnie.
He swung at Amber but she dodged under his attack and brought up her solar sais, trying to slash him. He blocked with one massive arm. Then Mal and Ben were there, striking him with their own weapons, the dragon's eye staff and the Praeleanthor sword respectively, and he fell back.
Sermaya rose as his two baboon generals joined him. They were then met on the opposite side by the eight space rangers, the eight Auradon rangers and Ben, who was unmorphed but held the Praeleanthor sword and his shield as he readied himself to do so. Rockwell was now conscious as well and was being supported by April.
Sermaya growled. "You think you've won rangers, but you haven't. All is not what it seems to be." With that the three monsters vanished, presumably to wherever Chiron was waiting for them.
"Are you okay Ben?" Lonnie asked the young king.
Ben nodded. "Yeah. Thanks to Mal and Amy." He said as he wrapped both of his arms around each of the girls. Mal laughed and Amy giggled a little in embarrassment.
"And how are you doctor?" Carlos asked Rockwell.
"Feeling a little groggy, but I could be doing a lot worse after that." Rockwell answered and moaned a little. "This must be what Splinter felt like after my former colleague Falco tried to control his mind."
"Donnie has an idea on how to modify your helmet to prevent that from happening again." April promised the smartest member of the Mutanimals.
"To that end, let's get back to the command center." Will suggested. "I'm sure everyone will feel better once we put in a post battle appearance."
As they all turned and walked away they didn't notice the small collection of feathers, the same color of Simorgh's blowing in the small breeze and collecting together before glowing.
In a small forested area outside of the Badlands Sermaya and his two generals formed in front of Chiron. The mage raised his eyes. "I see we lost the king." He noted dryly.
"The purple ranger and that damned sword." Sermaya growled. He shook his head angrily. "Where did that weapon come from anyway? Even Auradon's strongest magic couldn't have made that sort of thing."
"I can't answer that either." Chiron replied. "But I can tell you that when the beast took control of the king, we got what we needed." He looked to a long hollowed out tree trunk full of emerging steam. "Soon he shall have what he most desired, and we shall have a brother in arms."
As they looked at the tree trunk they could make out a masculine figure that seemed to be forming within.
Donnie took Rockwell's helmet to begin working on the modifications to stop Sermaya from taking over Rockwell's mind again if he tried to do so.
"Does it feel good to be back in action?" Alex asked Amy as he came over, placing his hands lightly on her shoulders.
Amy smiled. "Yeah, it does." She answered with a smile. She didn't feel brave enough though to tell him that it was only second compared to the feeling of his reassuring hands on her shoulders. For the longest time only Mal could have ever gotten this close to her, though she was quickly learning that she could trust them all, even Audrey.
Will lightly picked up Lonnie by the waist and twirled her around a bit, making the Asian princess laugh a little. He set her down after a moment. "And yes, I too feel great to be back in action." He answered the unspoken question before planting a light but passionate kiss on her lips that Lonnie all but melted into.
"Grand." Aziz said with a laugh. "I hope soon we'll be following in your footsteps."
"Agreed." Jane said with a small wistful smile. She still had the magic wand and it still had the white gem in it but it was not connected to the morphing grid.
"So let's get back to work and see what we can do to get you all up and running again." Kendall said with a small smile. She looked to Cam. "If you can give me a hand over here, we have one more area we need to patch up too." The green samurai ranger nodded and joined Kendall over the console.
"I am so glad you're back." Mal whispered to Ben and leaned up to brush her lips against his lips softly.