Amy was very surprised to find this had uncovered a new energy gem. It was less of a thrill that it found by enemy hands, or at the very least less than friendly ones as Jade the cousin of Jay was now a power ranger. And looking at them with amusement.
"Jade, think about this." Jay advised her.
"Oh, I have." Jade replied. It was a bluff, she had not. But she was never going to let them know that. In her right hand a large thing mace appeared in her hand, a slight emerald sheen to the weapon. It fit easily in her hand and she flexed the weapon from right hand to left hand and back again.
Not too far from her Lala started stalking them as well, twirling the leopard head staff but otherwise said nothing. Mal had just felt how hard the jungle girl could kick and knew they'd have to be careful about engaging her.
"Mal why does your mother want a bear claw?" Evie asked her quietly.
The purple haired purple ranger shrugged. "Got me E." She answered simply. "But if she wants it I don't think we should let her have it." Unfortunately between Lala, their new emerald ranger, the demon blade wielding Chad, the dangerous even without powers sea witch Undine and the two magically inclined forms of Marcellus and Zevon that was going to be easier said than done.
And speaking of demons on the surface the fight was only going a little smoother now that the large demon had been destroyed. Merida had never heard of an army that didn't lose some moral at a heavy blow to their forces but these creature's didn't seem to care at all about that loss. They continued the attack unhindered. It was a good thing the rangers and her own forces were slowly turning the tide...as long as something else didn't show up.
"We have to somehow get rid of these things to check on Mal and everyone else." Aquiella said. "They might need our help."
"Easier said than done cuz." Melody reminded her as she zapped a few Imps with the trident. "These freaks aren't giving up anytime soon."
Jordan glanced around now, feeling some strong magic. But this one felt very familiar indeed, and very welcome. "Sweet." The gold ranger said. "Hey guys, I think we've got some backup coming in."
Miranda was about to ask what she meant by that when from out of nowhere a portal opened. "Ladies and gentlemen, reinforcements have arrived." Stated Jordan's Genie father, dressed almost as ring announcer. "Tell these demons what they've won."
"Well Genie," Replied a voice that made Aziz smile a bit. "They've won an all expenses paid trip back to their own realm." Aladdin stated as he emerged with dozens of Agrabah's own forces. Sometimes it was good to have magical friends in high places, they weren't relegated to normal travel. And if they had had the time they would have pulled from other kingdoms. "Courtesy of the Sultan of Agrabah and the former rulers of Auradon." Of course Ben and Belle had thought to arrange it.
"Dad." Jordan said happily as she went over to him, as Aziz went to greet his father, Allie trailing slightly behind. "You have no idea how great it is to see you. Especially right now."
"Nice to see you too kiddo." Genie said which did annoy Jordan just a bit, but then again Genie was probably one of the oldest beings in the world. To him shed' always be a kid even if she wasn't his daughter.
"Looks like you're missing some of your friends." Aladdin said to Aziz as they exchanged a quick hug. It wasn't often the father got to see his son recently. He released Aziz. "We've got this, go help the others."
Miranda hesitated but was joined by Merida. "The Sultan is right, ye all must find your friends. Something tells me that this," She gestured to the invasion, no matter how much damage it had caused, "Is just a distraction. And ye must find out what was worth this destruction."
It didn't erase the highland ranger's fear for her mother but she understood the point. "We'll make it quick. Just try to keep everyone alive." She said and then she lead her half of the ranger team into the woods after Mal and everyone.
"This isn't right." Chloe tried to intervene. She could feel they had gotten what they wanted; her powers and the Claw of Mor'du. "We should leave."
Jade hesitated, finding herself considering her words. It was true. They had won. The demons were a diversion, nothing more...except potentially a deadly one. But Marcellus snapped, "Silence." Followed by punching her in the face. Chloe barely kept her balance.
Audrey brought her silver bow up and fired at Maleficent. The evil fairy smirked, more than ready to deflect the attack...but it wasn't aimed at her but rather the bear claw. It flew from her hands and Jay rushed forward as if it were tourney game, slamming right past both Undine and Zevon, to recover the item. "Lonnie, go long." He called out and tossed it to her.
Undine leapt for it but Mal slammed into her, taking more than the normal amount of pleasure at that considering all the sea witch had done to harass Amy over the years on the isle. Chad tried for it as well but Ben intercepted and the two clashed their ancient blades, the former forgetting what his original intention was in the first place as the demonic energy clashed with the energy of the ancient blade.
"Got it." Lonnie said as she caught it in her hands. Lala let out an almost animalistic growl and lunged at the pink ranger, tackling her hard enough that it flew out of her hands.
Audrey caught it and grimaced just a bit. "Ew." Marcellus glared at her and launched himself at the red ranger though her cheer leading talent came into play as she cartwheeled out of the way, holding the bear claw as if it were a pom pom. "You stay away from me." She warned as she drew her silver bow and aimed an arrow at him.
Marcellus only laughed. "Don't flatter yourself princess. You've already been claimed." He taunted, making the red ranger flinch just a bit as the fact Chad had grown deeply obsessed with her was never far from her minds. "And there is now another I have my eye on." He then blasted Audrey with his glove and sent her into the wall as she lost her grip on the bear claw.
Carlos rolled over and snatched it up. "Touchdown." He stated to himself as he stood up only to find the emerald ranger striding toward him. "Uh, can we talk?" He asked.
"Sure." Jade replied. "Give me the bear claw and I won't bash your head in." She shrugged. "Sounds reasonable to me, don't you think?"
"Yeah almost." The yellow ranger admitted. "I do rather like my head where it is. Still, I can't really just give you this. If Maleficent wants it, pretty sure we, not to mention the world, don't want her to have it."
"Standing by your promises." The emerald ranger nodded. "I can respect that. But I have to stand by my promises as well." She swung her mace at him and Carlos rolled out of the way. The follow up was blocked by one of his own weapons. She then lashed out and kicked Mor'du's claw out of his other hand.
Zevon grabbed it. "Oh yeah, this time the shoe is on the other horn." He gloated.
"That'd be shoe on the other foot." Evie corrected him. "Now hand that over before you get hurt." Zevon and Gregory were the only ones without any sort of powers to try to fight the rangers with, though the blue haired girl had to be careful since she had no idea what the son of Yzma could have whipped up.
"You're the only one who needs to worry about getting hurt blue hair." Zevon mocked her and tossed a potion at her with a "Ba-bam!"
Evie raised her mirror force shield as powder tried to blind her. She saw the short dark haired boy raising his arm with another potion but the blue ranger knew she couldn't let him get off another one and she shined the mirror portion of her weapon into his eyes, something that normally shouldn't have worked underground but with some channeling of morphing grid energy allowed her the move. He dropped the potion as he tried to cover his eyes only for it to give off an explosion small enough to knock him off of his feet and lose the bear claw.
Gregory caught it and hoped somehow it would give him powers like the old stories said about Mor'du. "Come on." He growled.
"I guess you're still not over Raphael kicking your butt and taking your powers." Jay mocked him as he moved up and kicked it out of his hands before the eldest son of Gaston could stop him. "Someone get it quick."
It went flying and this time Amy grabbed the bear claw. She could pretty much keep it safe just by staying intangible. She started to move to the back of the chamber to keep her teammates in front of her, as she was the best to protect the item from Maleficent's growing army. She looked over to the blonde genie girl, who seemed content to remain out of the way. She didn't think she belonged there, but what could she do about it right now? Then she noticed another problem; where was her less than loving mother?
Then despite her intangibility she was grabbed from behind. She found herself face to face with her mother. "I've had a long time to figure out how to get past your little tricks Amelia." Maleficent hissed at her as energy shot from her staff to take the Claw of Mor'du from her youngest daughter. "Now what to do with you?" She sneered.
"Let her go mother." Mal demanded as she turned from Undine to face her.
"But of course." The evil fairy mother smirked and tossed the rose haired rose ranger into her purple haired purple ranger sister. "Enough. Genie girl, I wish for you to destroy them." She ordered.
"I can't kill mistress." Chloe reminded her simply.
Maleficent sighed. "Oh yes, I forgot about that part. Got lost in the moment." She relented. "Fine, I wish for you to destroy their morphers." There was nothing stopping her from having their tech destroyed, their powers stripped.
And Chloe did not want to grant that wish, but she had no choice there. "Yes...yes mistress." She said softly and unleashed a wave of energy that would disrupt the connection to the morphing grid upon contact, just as Thrax had done to cut off the Overdrive Rangers from their powers.
Except a counter shock wave dissipated it. "Sorry honey, I can't let you do that." Jordan said as they approached. The gold ranger did not know who she was but she could feel the girl's power. It rivaled her own. And yet something seemed different. And it was even more of a surprise for her to realize the girl seemed grateful that her wish was stopped...a mystery in itself because normally Jordan should not be able to stop another genie's wish.
"What are you doing here?" Audrey asked Miranda. "Mal said..." It was funny when she thought about it, it should seem ridiculous that she should care what Mal said, future queen or not. But she was also their leader and their friend.
"We managed to turn the tide enough that my mother told us to go. The fact that Sultan Aladdin showed up with Genie and his own army also gave my land a better chance. But stopping them is the real key to stopping the invasion." Miranda answered.
"Wow, when did we get another ranger?" Allie asked confused as she saw the emerald ranger.
"She's not ours." Audrey told the blonde crystal ranger. "One of the gems we used came with that genie and it went to her. She's working for Maleficent, and I think I heard Jay call her Jade." She hoped she didn't sound jealous that the black ranger would know another pretty girl from the isle, especially since she almost swore they looked alike enough they were likely related.
"Why would Maleficent want Mor'du's claw?" Miranda wondered as her entourage formed in front of the evil fairy to make sure they couldn't get to them.
"Enough." Maleficent declared. Chloe feared she would make another wish that she would be forced to grant but apparently the evil fairy wasn't so confident as far as her abilities went. Not when there was another option. "Chad, finish them off."
Chad grinned and with a flick of his wrist several orange pentagrams formed and small brain looking creatures with four mechanical legs appeared, vaguely reminding them all of spiders if they had six legs instead of eight and most were mechanical. Small tentacles seemed to grasp something and they started blasting at the rangers with green bolts of what Evie thought was plasma as Maleficent and her people vanished.
"They're gonna bring this place down around us." Jay noted with annoyance.
"They just left, something tells me they aren't too worried about what happens to us." Jordan replied. "We have to get out of here before they succeed. And let's hope these things get crushed in the process."
Evie used her mirror force shield to deflect some of the attacks back at the arachnid like monsters though of course it was a delaying tactical retreat since they were firing enough to bring the tunnels down.
She wasn't paying attention to the surroundings, working so hard to make sure the rest of her team got out that only the sound of a cracking sound made her look up to see a large stalagmite falling toward her. She couldn't block with her shield without getting struck by the Arachnotrons but just as she was about to get crushed Amy moved forward and placed her hand on Evie's back and made the two intangible. Then she pulled Evie away with her even as the area continued to collapse.
"We have to get back to my mother and our forces." Miranda said as they hit the surface and started toward the main field of battle.
"Hang on." Mal said. "We have to wait a minute. What if the cave in didn't kill the demons? We have to make sure they don't try to dig their way out and ambush anyone."
Miranda grit her teeth a moment but knew the purple haired purple ranger was right. "We can't wait too long." She sighed. "If one of those large demons show up again..."
Audrey's eyes widened but no one could see it. "What? You mean that thing we fought before Alex and Ellie's zord showed up?" She pressed.
"Nah, not quite that large." Aziz replied and told the rangers who weren't there about the large cybernetic like demon that had shown up while they had been chasing Maleficent and meeting her new group of troublemakers. "It probably wouldn't be so bad with all of us, but half of us made that thing a huge challenge."
"Jordan, did you know that other genie?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Yeah Ruby, all of us genies know each other, we're all part of a super secret genie club." She retorted annoyed and then sighed. "Sorry, shouldn't have sniped like that, I'm just a bit worn out is all." They could all relate to that. "No, I have no idea who she is. Yeah, there are genie's I know but based on her lamp's design I think her lamp has been there since before Miranda's grandparents were even alive. Although the design itself I don't even recognize. If I had to guess I'd actually say she isn't even from around here."
"How can you tell?" Allie asked now. She didn't know many genie's of course but the lamp didn't seem extremely special to her.
Jordan nodded. "I know you guys wouldn't get it, but each lamp design is unique in a way genie's would recognize. Kind of like houses or castles look the largely the same except if you're familiar with the area. But as I said, I only recognize the markings in general, not anything specific." She explained. Again it was logic they could understand.
"Hey." Carlos said. "I think they're coming up." Mal seemed to have been right, at least one of the smaller spider demons had survived.
"Auradon blaster and Auradon cannon time." Mal decided. The two teams combined their weapons, which kind of left a few of them out since Ruby, Ellie, Miranda and Alex weren't needed for either formation.
Several of the demons emerged, as far as Miranda could tell all but one of the pack, so either the last did get crushed or it hadn't emerged yet. With a glance at her girlfriend the two readied themselves just in case even as the rest of the Auradon rangers fired at the Arachnotrons and destroyed them.
"Are they done?" Audrey asked with a shudder. She hated spiders, or even spider like creatures.
A moment passed and nothing happened. "I think that's the last of them." Aziz said as he approached the newly made hole with Will beside him. A glance down at least revealed nothing, and the demons were not known for anything other than frontal assaults, seeing two of enemies should have triggered them. "Yep, I'd say we're done here."
"Then let's get a move on." Miranda implored. They all knew she just wanted to make sure her mother and uncles were okay, and that meant sending the demons packing so they let the red headed highland ranger's impatience slide as they followed her back to the battlefield.
By the time the Auradon rangers showed up most of the lesser Imps were gone, Aladdin and Merida had even managed to take out one of the Hell Knights. There was no sign of other demons popping up and there was no sign of anything larger which told Miranda that her mother was right; it was all a diversion. But the question was why?
"Let's wrap this up." Mal said with a glance at her second in command. Audrey nodded and the two girls activated their battlizers and used their own increased powers to finish off the the remaining demons.
After the smoke settled Miranda ran over to hug her mother. "I'm so glad all of ye are okay." She confessed. "I was so worried this entire trip over."
"I can vouch for that." Ellie added as she came over to take her new girlfriend's hand and squeezing it softly.
Merida couldn't help but laugh a little bit. "Yes well it seems as if ye might have gotten something out of the panicky trip my dear." She teased her daughter, causing both of the younger girls to blush.
"Too bad mom got something out of this as well." Mal reflected with a sigh, "More than one actually."
"What did Maleficent get?" Aladdin asked as he sheathed his scimitar. "What was the point of this entire invasion?" In addition to the destruction it was already clear there were casualties though those were currently being tallied up, and that ignored any injuries that could become fatal as well.
"Mal's half of the team found Maleficent and her forces, including Chad who summoned these demon monsters in the first place, at the cave where ye and Grandmother confronted Mor'du all those years ago." Miranda revealed to her mother and the Sultan. "She took a claw that belonged to his bear form and they also found a lamp that contained a genie."
"A genie?" Genie asked as he popped in between the two rulers of the respective kingdoms. "I didn't know there was another genie in these parts."
"I'm not sure she's from these parts dad." Jordan now chimed in and explained the markings on the lamp. "And on top of it something felt...different about her powers. I can't tell what that would be."
Genie frowned a little. "Yep doesn't sound like markings I've ever heard of either." He confessed. And not having met this genie girl he couldn't be sure about her power level.
"She did try to grant Maleficent's wish to cut us off the morphing grid." Evie added. "That only failed because Jordan stopped the wish from being granted."
"Hmm it's odd that my daughter was able to do that." Genie mused. "I mean she's learned from the best, what with both Eden and I teaching her, but still it's rare a genie can cancel out another wish so easily."
"She didn't seem to want to grant it." Amy recalled. But she didn't know if that really meant anything, she doubted Genie wanted to grant Jafar's wishes either and yet he had had no choice.
"And on top of that she had a gem like ours." Jay added. "And that went to Maleficent's other newest recruit, none other than my cousin Jade. She's the daughter of Nasira, Jafar's sister." He looked at Aladdin who nodded in understanding there. "I have no idea if we can reason with her or what we can do about her."
"I might be able to find her connection the morphing grid, with Doug's help, and cut her off." Jane said. "But without the anchor," She indicated Carlos's iPhone with her wand, both of which gave them anchors. "It'll be a challenge."
"We shouldn't rule out the idea." Mal said. "We know what kind of damage Gregory did when he had the gray ranger powers. We still don't know who designed that chip that allowed his morpher to function when mother released those two monsters that cut us off from our powers." That had been a hard lesson, one that had only been thwarted in large part because of the Ninja Turtles and their allies from New York.
Miranda and Ellie had stopped to thank one of her uncle's and a warrior for their help in the fight against the demons and Will looked over at them and then at Lonnie. "Think Miranda will stay here to help Dun Broch rebuild like Ellie and Alex did for Arendelle after the Ice Queen showed up?" He asked his girlfriend.
The Asian princess shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. We can't blame her if she does." She replied. They could probably do without her for a while though it would make things just a bit harder.
"Ye all should head back to Auradon." Merida said. "Fairy Godmother will need to know what's going on and no doubt Maleficent will be emboldened by this victory. She won't wait long to launch another attack."
"Merida is right." Genie agreed. "In fact send your boat on back, I'll zap all of you back myself."
"I'll see you soon then." Ellie said as she took Miranda's hands in hers. "Right?"
"Why would you see me soon?" Miranda asked her as she squeezed her hands softly.
"Don't you want to stay here and help your kingdom rebuild?" Mal asked. She didn't exactly have a kingdom of her own and yet would probably have done the same thing her Arendelle teammates had done.
"She has other things to worry about." Merida said as she hugged her daughter and to her slight embarrassment kissed her on the top of the head. "Ye will need her against Maleficent and we can handle things here."
"And the damage here isn't nearly as bad as what Ice Queen and her ice barrier minions did to Arendelle." Miranda pointed out. They had shown up super late, barely being aware of it at all if Alex's mother Anna hadn't made it to Auradon in the first place. The demon invasion had been very public and obviously had gotten more than one quick response. "I'll be coming back with you." She concluded but saved her last glance for her new blonde girlfriend.
"Alright, all aboard then." Genie said as mother and daughter exchanged one last hug. "The Genie express is set for departure."
Maleficent knew they needed to capitalize on their victory as soon as possible, the momentum could only help them. It would only require a bit of preparation first. "Don't get too comfortable kiddies, we're not done yet." She warned them as she held up Mor'du's claw. "This is only our first step, and our next step is going to require a direct attack on Auradon."
"The demons are ready." Chad assured, feeling their power and eagerness through Maledict's blade. "Just give the word." Beside him stood Lala though thanks to the spell on her mother's staff she said nothing, only waited for her next attack orders.
Undine reached a tentacle out to stroke Chloe's cheek. "We'll get more acquainted later." She promised the blonde genie girl as Zevon wandered off to get more potions.
"And I'll be right behind her." Marcellus promised with a snicker as he stroked her back, making Chloe shudder. "I've always wanted a genie as a pet."
Gregory smirked as well as he reached out to run a hand through her long hair. "You'll fit right in my dear, you'll be very popular." He promised with lust in his voice.
Jade tried not to look revolted as the two of them all but fondled Chloe. Yeah there was no question she was a babe but it was also clear she had no interest in either of them and yet they didn't care. Given the rumors she had heard about the elder daughter of Ursula and given what she knew about Gaston and three of his four sons she shouldn't have been so surprised but apparently the son of Mozenwrath was no better.
Jade was about to step forward, for reasons she couldn't even be sure about, and pull Chloe away. "Don't get too distracted." Maleficent warned, cutting all of their actions off at the pass. "We have more important things to deal with very soon." Again she looked at Mor'du's claw. "One down, eight to go."