It was early the next morning as the team made their way down to the beach. "I still can't believe our parents are power rangers, even on a part time basis." Aziz said with a shake of his head, clearly impressed. He had one arm around Ally's shoulder. Though the out of town parents had gone back to Auradon that night after dinner with the teleportation system up and running it was that much easier for them to keep in touch and even more so if an emergency rose as they could take those powers on again.
"Believe it." Jane replied simply. "And really it's rare but not unheard of." She walked hand in hand with Carlos, which Mal suspected was an unconscious reflex on their part and would embarrass them if anyone pointed it out, so she chose not to. "Cam was saying that one of the Mystic Force Rangers Nick has his mother Udonna as the white ranger and his father Leanbow as an ally called the Wolf Knight." They didn't know that Tyler the red Dino Charge ranger's father James had become the aqua Dino Charge ranger.
"I think it's cool." Mal admitted with a laugh. "Who would have thought that they could all do that? It was so awesome."
"I still kind of think it's too bad Doug can't hold permanent powers." Evie said. "He's proven on more than one occasion that he can handle it." The son of Dopey would join them a little later, after he had finished working on the communication problems.
"Is he going to use those temporary powers again if the chance arises?" Lonnie asked as she had her arm wrapped around one of Wills.
"He said he might." Evie admitted. "But I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to find an alternative."
"Too bad." Evie again lamented.
"I know E." Mal said. "But you heard him. He wants to be where he is, to be able to help us out in his own way." She sighed a bit. "I really wish that we had something for Ruby. I can tell she's been chomping at the bit to help us out."
"Wishing is dangerous around a genie." Jordan teased Mal with a laugh. The purple haired girl gave the genie girl a mock glare before they both shrugged it off. "Not that I could create these kinds of powers. Maybe my dad could. Hey, any chance that Ruby could take that?'
"Probably." Mal said. "Again, it's just not permanent. Which is what she would prefer."
"I could give up my powers." Amy threw out. She didn't necessarily want to but Mal knew that was just the kind of selfless girl that her younger twin sister was.
Before Mal could say it though it was Audrey, who was leaning against Jay's arm, who cut that train off. "No way Amy. You've earned those powers plain and simple. If Ruby is meant to have powers, and I admit she's proven herself more than capable, a way will present itself."
"She's right on both counts." Alex agreed as he stroked her arm softly. "But I'm sure Ruby would appreciate the sentiment."
"And it would be such a pain to break in a brand new ranger if we didn't have too." Jay teased Amy, who was very much the little sister of the group, and certainly the little sister of the isle kids.
"Yeah, we still haven't broken in some of our longer term rangers." Lonnie added with a teasing smile at the black ranger. Jay stuck his tongue out at her and they all laughed a little.
"You really want to talk about wishes?" Jordan asked. "I know we all wish Doug would find a way to clear up the communication system so we could contact the others." She shivered just a bit. "Most of you weren't there, but some of us were." She glanced at Grant, Ally and Aziz, who had also been there when they had been contacted. "When Leo contacted Donnie it sounded urgent. I swore he said something about an invasion."
"An invasion?" Amy asked. "Those Kraang things that April was talking about?"
Jordan sighed. "I don't know Amy." She answered. "They didn't specify exactly."
"I thought I heard something about dinosaurs." Ally added.
"When Cam's father contacted him Ruby said she heard something about the wind academy being attacked." Aziz said now. "That hadn't happened since Lothor first attacked them."
"I think they've been lying to us." Amy revealed as she looked up into the sky. "I mean, not evil lying or anything. I think they've been trying to shield us from the things that happen in their world so that we don't feel bad about needing to get them to help us."
Mal frowned as she thought about. "Karai said to me she worried that Shredder would increase his pressure on the turtle's and everyone because of the fact she chose to go back to her birth father rather than remain in the Foot clan." She said now. "What if the Foot found a way to attack them?" That just made Amy remember the vision she had had of the man she assumed was Karai's adopted father Shredder stabbing Splinter in the back.
"Man that's ridiculous." Carlos said dismissively. "All of the rangers and the turtles could so take out the Foot without much more than blinking an eye. In fact not a single sect of bad guys could possibly take out their combined team forces."
"What if it's not just one?" Audrey asked now. They glanced over at her, some even ignoring the sun that threatened to blind them so they could keep their eyes on the brunette princess. "Karone talked about that Dark Specter thing forming the United Alliance of Evil. What if someone found a way to continue on with his vision?"
"It wouldn't be impossible." Jay conceded. "But pretty hard. I mean there are very few villains in any world that can have such influence as to form that kind of alliance. I mean here the only one still alive to do that might be Maleficent. No one on the isle could now amass that kind of support."
They arrived at the beach and set up blankets and umbrellas. Melody, Amy and Aquiella went to play around in the waves. Ben, Mal, Aziz and Ally started a volleyball game against Audrey, Jay, Will and Lonnie. The rest of the team sat around and started to talk.
Jordan looked over at Grant, who had stayed mostly quiet. "I guess beach days weren't exactly a common occurrence when you grew up." She commented, not entirely unkindly.
Grant shrugged. "Not really. The beaches on Schadel were common raider territory. And relaxing was not really something people have time for if they want to survive." He said.
"It's got be really though for you." Jordan noted. "I mean at least your mother grew up around normally for like half of her life, but all that you know you learned from that horrid place." She reached for the bottle of water she had at her side. "So much of what we do must seem so…foreign I guess."
"Some things." Grant admitted. "But that doesn't make it a bad thing." He looked to the genie girl. "Having friends like all of you. It's a nice thing to have."
Evie watched as Carlos and Jane took out a couple of programming books and opened them up, then started to discuss something on those pages. It amused her just a bit and she was tempted for a moment to tease them about working while on the beach but stopped herself. If Doug were here she suspected they'd be having some sort of scientific discussion.
"Are ye okay Evie?" Miranda asked her as she looked up from rubbing sun tan lotion on her arms. "Ye seem kind of…I guess concerned is the best word."
"I was just looking at Carlos and Jane." Evie answered quietly. "They seem so perfect for each other but most of the time I see them together it involves computer work of some kind. But then it makes me think of Doug and I and the fact that we usually have chemistry or something around us." She looked to Miranda. "Does that make us a bad couple?"
Miranda laughed lightly. "It means ye're thinking too much." She scolded lightly. "Look, every couple has something that draws them together in the first place, be it programming or chemistry." She set the bottle down. "What happens after that will just form as it's meant too."
"I guess you're right." Evie conceded with a sigh. She now gestured to the makeshift volleyball court. "It's just I look at Mal and Ben for instance and they act way more romantic than we do. Same thing with Ally and Aziz, or Jay and Audrey."
Miranda shook her head. "I think ye missed my point." She noted. "My point is that ye can't compare the relationship you have with Doug to anyone else's relationship, be it your chosen sister's, one of your chosen brother's, or any of your team mates."
Evie thought about it a moment. "Yeah, I guess it makes sense. It's kind of hard not to make that comparison though." She agreed.
Miranda laughed at that. "Imagine how hard it can be for those of us not in any relationship what so ever." She replied.
"I guess you have a point there." Evie granted. "Although I have to say I was starting to think…"
Whatever Evie was going to say was interrupted by Amy letting out a scream. It distracted everyone as they turned to the water in concern. The rose haired girl looked embarrassed as she had only let out a scream of shock from the large wave that crashed onto the beach though in fairness it had been just big enough to knock the three of them onto the sands.
"Are you okay?" Mal asked, trying to sound concerned but it was hard to really convey that in between her giggles.
"Did you attract any vicious star fish?" Jay now asked and then laughed.
"You guys are mean." Amy said as she started to laugh and stand up. She wiped some of the excess water off of her head. "That wave was a killer." She tried to add in between her giggles.
"So," Melody said trying to sound perfectly non chalant, like they hadn't just gotten creamed by a huge wave. "Who's winning?"
"I guess we know who won between the ocean and you three, including the two mermaids." Carlos said with a snicker.
"Okay okay, that's enough." Mal said as she herself tried to stop herself from laughing again. "Let's just move on." She leaned down to pick up the volleyball that she had failed to hit when she had heard her twin sister scream and thought something had really been wrong.
Alex picked up a couple of towels and tossed them to the three girls as they came over to the area the team had taken over for the day. Amy started to dry her hair as she sat down by Alex while the two mermaid girls took a longer time to dry themselves off, as they kind of missed the feeling of water on their bodies, something that they and Aquiella in particular, had grown up with.
"Alright, back to the game." Mal decided. She got ready to hit the ball up in the air again and then felt a dizzy spell rush over her. Ben was at her side in a moment, though he felt kind of dizzy himself.
"I think the heat's getting to us." Audrey now said as she placed her hand against one of the poles holding the volleyball net to stop herself from hitting the sand. "I feel kind of dizzy."
"I hear you." Lonnie said as she took a hold of Will's arm to steady herself. That seemed to work fine for him as it stopped him from worrying about falling himself.
"I think we should take a little break." Ben said to them. No one really argued that and they headed toward the group. "Everyone here doing okay?" The young king questioned them.
"It feels a little warm all of a sudden." Ellie admitted and then frowned. "Which is almost kind of weird for me." She never quite understood how it worked but because of her ice powers she found it almost impossible to end up too warm. Even the hottest summer days never seemed to have that kind of effect on her.
"Maybe we're all just still worn out from last night." Ally suggested as she laid her head against Aziz's shoulder after they had sat down. "I mean that last fight against Sermaya was rather intense, to say the least. And the celebration did follow right after, when we had all just had that intense fight."
"Yeah, could be." Ben agreed.
"If you're that exhausted from a fight then destroying you all should be really easy." They turned to see Reviveslime standing there with his sword drawn. "Don't you think?"
"What? No way." Carlos gasped. "He's gone, he can't be here."
"We saw him die." Evie agreed. "Or destabilize or whatever."
The slime creature, a former general in Paradias's now scattered army, moved forward to attack Amy but Ben was up and had summoned the Praeleanthor sword, blocking his attack.
Everyone was now getting up. "I don't know how you're back but it's time to get to work." Mal said as the team picked up their iPhones from their bags. Jane summoned the magic wand and Melody brought the trident up to its full height.
"Don't you want to try to fight us without powers?" Another voice asked. They turned to see Dark Mist forming in front of the ocean. "Not that it helped you guys out that much."
"Dark Mist?" Lonnie questioned. "He's back too?"
The mermaid girls and the Arendelle heirs exchange looks of uncertainty as they had never met the monster that had shown up just after Will and Gregory had transferred over to Auradon Prep. Unlike the former general this one didn't really require any sort of discussion.
"All the more reason." Mal said. "Let's get to work." With that the rangers input their numbers and transformed except for Ben, Jane and Melody who transformed with their items. With that Mal indicated that Amy and her starting team mates should go help Ben deal with Reviveslime while the others should deal with Dark Mist.
Audrey formed her elemental bow and beside her was Jay with his soul scimitar. They had only taken one step forward when several stingers stuck in front of them. They turned to see the first monster they had ever fought, the manticore that had been specially designed to paralyze the isle rangers, coming toward them.
"What is that thing?" Will asked.
"The first monster that I fought after becoming a ranger." Lonnie answered. "Jane recruited me because Paradias tried to isolate Audrey after discovering she was the only Auradon born ranger of the team at that time."
"Boy has that changed." Carlos couldn't help but note. If they wanted to be honest the Auradon teens far outnumbered the isle teens.
"I'm glad to see that you remember me." The manticore creature said. He looked to the pink ranger. "That means you'll fully understand why I'm looking forward to tearing you all apart."
Jay approached Reviveslime and slashed him as hard as he could only to see the slime monster pull off his old trick of reforming himself. "Nice try black ranger." He said even as Ben moved in now.
"I've got more where that came from." Jay said and started toward him only to get rammed into hard. He looked up to see another of their old adversaries, this time the Heartwrecker standing there. He remembered this monster as the one who been made after the potion that spelled Mal into falling in love with Chad long before he had turned to the dark side.
Mal remembered too. For an instant she felt the guilt of turning her back on Ben combined with slight guilt at the thought that if this monster hadn't used Chad in their war then maybe he wouldn't have turned out the way he had. She forced that thought down quickly though, as they had told Audrey many times no one was ultimately responsible for the former prince's actions but himself.
"Oh that is disgusting." Ellie noted as Restrict Eyes appeared beside Dark Mist.
"Careful." Jordan said to the Ice Dame. "That thing can absorb us and then unleash our powers against our friends."
"Where are they all coming from?" Grant wanted to know. "Why didn't we get any warning from our alarm system?"
"That's a good question." Jane admitted even as she saw Exxod and the Infernal Flame King appear now. "I don't understand how this is even possible."
Exxod released several large brick like objects that forced the team to scatter. Amy turned just in enough time to block a direct claw attack aimed at her from yet another monster, this one was from Chakram the clawed crab like monster that had forced Lonnie to reveal her identity to Will in the first place.
"How many more of these things can we possibly deal with here?" Aziz wondered as he blocked an attack from Infernal Flame King with his spear.
"How many more do we need to take you pathetic rangers down?" The fire monster questioned as he then lashed out and kicked the silver ranger in the chest hard.
"Mal is this some kind of spell?" Audrey questioned their leader as she narrowly dodged the manticore's scorpion tail that was aimed right at her chest.
"It can't be." Mal replied simply as she used her dragon's eye staff to block Reviveslime's sword from its downward spiral. "None of these guys were ever magically skilled and if my mother were responsible for this she would have stepped in to brag by now."
"Then where are they coming from?" Evie wondered as she unleashed a mirror force attack on a huge stone that Exxod had thrown at her.
"Oh snap." Melody gasped as the water now stirred and from the depths emerged Spider Spear Shark, Shark Drake and Nightmare Shark. "Looks like we're getting even more trouble coming our way."
"This is just impossible." Jane tried to reason. "All of these monsters can't possibly be coming back like this."
"Don't you believe what you see with your own eyes rangers?" Dark Mist said tauntingly.
"Or what you feel with your own bodies?" Restrict Eyes added as he slashed Ally and forced her to hit the sand hard.
"Or smell up close and personal, yuck." Audrey added with disgust as the manticore monster tried to pounce onto the red ranger.
The three sharks immediately got together and Spider Spear Shark leaned down on the appendages and extended its blades. Nightmare Shark lowered its cannons and Drake shark extended its blades. Then they fired at the rangers.
Though it wasn't quite as lethal as it was when Undine had been part of the formation, it was still strong enough to send the team sprawling and the monsters started to move in to encircle the team.
"What are they trying to do?" Evie wondered as she raised her mirror force shield to block a blade attack from Nightmare Shark. "Why are they trying to corral us like this?"
"I don't know." Mal replied. "But we have to try to break free of this." She kicked out at Reviveslime who merely took the attack and laughed.
Manticore dove his tail down at Lonnie as hard as he could, something the pink ranger could only barely dodge with a back flip that only placed her closer into the circle the monsters were trapping them in.
"Are we making this too hard for your power chumps?" Dark Mist asked as he shot out and struck Ally and Jordan hard, making them fall back.
"Maybe we should take it easier on them?" Restrict Eyes said mockingly as he unleashed a beam of energy on Ben and Miranda.
Spider Spear Shark slashed Amy across the chest and she let out a gasp of pain as she fell back hard. He moved in with a follow up attack but was blocked by Melody and Aquiella. They were able to knock him back but couldn't get him to move any further.
Exxod moved to bring a huge chunk of what seemed to be concrete onto Jordan. She moved to grab her lamp cannon but realized she wouldn't get the weapon up fast enough. Then Grant moved in and shattered it with the axe, making him take a step back. "You okay?" Grant asked her.
"Yeah, thanks." Jordan said after taking a moment to realize what had happened.
"Maybe it's time I wreck your love lives, at least in the short time before while you two are still alive." Heartwrecker mocked as he slammed his fists hard into Alex and Ellie's chests.
"What love life?" Ellie couldn't help but wonder as she rolled a little unsteadily to her feet. "I mean Alex has a thing for someone but I'm fully single."
"Really?" Alex asked as he looked to his cousin. "Because honestly I was starting to think that…"
"Oh, shut it both of you." Heartwrecker snapped. "None of you will live long enough for it to matter."
But despite their best efforts the rangers were unable to break out of the circle they were being corralled into. When they were surrounded each of them unleashed their strongest blasts that sent the rangers flying around and landing in all the enclosed directions.
"You can't take us all on rangers." Reviveslime gloated. "Your time is up."
"Keep it together guys." Mal instructed. "There's a weakness around here somewhere. We just have to find it."
Ruby made her way down the ramp into the command center with her bag slung over her shoulder. "Hey, come on Doug!" She called out. "Let's get a move on if we want to join the others at the beach and have any time to actually relax." Despite her every attempt to keep her blonde hair from falling too far behind it was almost impossible to do. She figured it was some magical effect from her mother despite the fact that any magic seemed to have left Rapunzel a long time ago.
"I know, I know." Doug said. He had his own small bag set on one of the side chairs that were available if someone needed to sit down or if they had breakfast in the command center, something that hadn't happened yet since the new one was rebuilt but had occurred plenty of times in the original command center. "Give me just a minute while I finish up this last diagnostic."
Ruby set her bag down and came to stand across from him. "Any ideas yet on why we can't contact the other side?" She asked him.
Doug shook his head. "Not yet. Truth is I'm lost, everything seems to check out fine." He answered as he reached for another tool to make an adjustment on the test he was running.
Ruby strolled around the command center's consoles. She had learned a great deal about their operation since she had not been able to do anything more than work on the sidelines and the occasional fight without powers, but there were still functions she hadn't learned more than the very basics about. She however did notice an indicator on one of the consoles that she was familiar with and started toward it.
Doug hadn't noticed she had drifted off as his test concluded and his expression clouded up a little. "Wow. How could…" He started to say to himself but quickly changed his direction. "Hey Ruby, I figured out what's going on with the comms but…"
"Doug." Ruby interrupted him. He turned to look at the longest haired blonde. "This indicator says that Evie and the others have transformed. But why would they do that? Why isn't the monster alarm going off?"
Doug dropped the train of thought for something more important. "What? But they never went off?" He stated as he went over to another console and began a scan of Auradon. He glanced over at Ruby. "See if you can pinpoint their location and find out what they're fighting."
"We already know they're supposed to be at the beach, which is where we should have been going now." Ruby said with slight exasperation as she never the less went over to find the others. She easily found them and brought them up a screen. Her eyes widened. "Doug, what is going on?" She asked him now.
Doug came to stand beside her and immediately saw what was confusing her. "I don't know." He said, slightly in shock. He moved to one of the consoles and began running sensor scans of the area. It didn't take long though to find out what the problem was. "Ah ha! This is what's going on out there." He said as he showed Ruby.
Ruby quickly ran through her memories of what she had been told about what their battles. "Okay, so I guess I get that. But what do we do about it?" She asked him. She glanced at the screen and was already certain there was no way Mal and the others would be able to deal with the threat that they were seeing, not as it stood right now.
"We have to stop it." Doug answered simply as he went over to one of the wall panels and pressed a couple of buttons to bring the panel down. "There's only one way that I know of. And after that's done we can tell the others about the communication problems we have. But first we have to save the others."