Janessa's view

The second we land in the coronation hall, I see it's different. The room is draped with black-and-purple banners, the cages with our friends are held in mid-air, each person in their own. The bubbles are set up in a disgustingly similar way to the Museum of Cultural History, labels over everything. The adults who hadn't been in bubbles are gone. Only the four kids we left behind are in cages now.

Serene goes paler than her already pale skin is. "Oh, God."

I squeeze her hand. "Don't worry. We can fix this."

"Oh, dear me." Maleficent's bored voice says behind us. We turn, and she's there, sitting on the platform. Where the wand stand used to be, there's now a magnificent black throne. "I had hoped you'd keep your wits about you."

Serene raises her chin high. "I'm not your pawn anymore, Maleficent."

Maleficent rolls her eyes, tapping her long nails against her staff. "Oh, please. So we told a few white lies. Most of what we told you was based on truth, anyway."

"You tricked me into hurting my family." Serene says firmly. "So forgive me if I've learned my lesson about listening to you. And don't even think about trying it, Blake." She snaps. Without turning, she raises her wand, and we all jump as there's a loud firecracker sound, and Blake appears in front of us, trapped under a cage.

Hayder grins. "Finally!"

Maleficent cackles. "I told you you were powerful, Serene De Vil!"

"You're right. I am." Serene smiles, dropping her wand on the floor and instead revealing the ember.

"What are you---" Maleficent roars, standing quickly and raising her scepter.

"STOP!" Serene shouts, thrusting the stone into the air. Maleficent is thrown backward, and Pitch materializes out of thin air, knocking backward as well.

"Whoa." Danielle breathes.

"HEY! UP HERE!" We all look up to see Lucy waving, a maniac grin on her face. "GET US DOWN!"

Serene points the stone their way, zapping each with a blue bolt of lightning. With her other hand, she creates silver clouds underneath them, coasting safely to the ground.

Lucy sprints straight for Serene, hugging her tight. "I knew you'd come back."

"I'm so sorry, Lucy." Serene whispers, embracing her back.

"Don't worry about it." Lucy smiles. "I'm just glad you're you again. Now let's kick butt!"
"How about setting everyone else free?" Max offers, pointing to his father.

"I can't. Not right now." Serene says, a bead of sweat running down her face. "Maleficent and Pitch can just put them right back, and breaking those takes a lot out of you unless you were the only one to create them. And I wasn't."

"ENOUGH!" Maleficent clambers back to her feet, peppered with little burn marks. Her eyes flare with green magic.

"Split up!" Serene shrieks, grabbing my hand and running. We all scatter, just as a bolt of purple lightning creates a crater where we'd all just been standing.

"Don't stand still!" Serene calls to all of us, holding my hand tightly as we duck behind a column. "Lucy, Evan, Finn, Max---Maleficent doesn't have her full power yet, only bolts and shockwaves! Pitch can't do much yet either---he only has his tricks---Nightmares, bubbles or cages! Cages can be broken with your bracelets from Lucy...now!" she snaps her fingers. I assume their bracelets flash to their wrists like they did for us.

"You're wrong, child---I have plenty enough magic to defeat you." Pitch's voice reverberates around the room, shaking the floor.

Serene's eyes widen. "Don't trust your eyes!" Serene shouts. "His Nightmares are very convincing---Aim to the left of whatever he shows you!"

I hear a loud shout of victory from Brietta. "Nice advice!"

"Wow, you really know them." I tell my sister, impressed.

"I take lessons very seriously." Her smile drops a little. "Or... I did, anyway."

"Don't think about that." I tell her, then quickly pull her out of the way of another bolt of lightning.

"Duck and roll." Serene suddenly says. We both do it, and the ground cracks behind us. Serene holds the ember in the air, and a flash of blue light goes throughout the room.

"What did that do?" I ask eagerly.

"Stun them." Serene says, looking like she has a bad taste in her mouth. "They're getting stronger. I think they're feeding off of Blake and I."

"How---"

"Shadow vision." She reminds me. "Except.. It's different now. I can see DUCK! not just people's emotions and things, I can see magic and... it's hard to explain." She winces suddenly, rolling her neck. "Blake just broke out."

"We need a better strategy." I tell her. "Who fights who? How about you and I take on Maleficent?"

"Don't forget about me." Eleanor comes running up behind us, ducking with us around a column. She flashes a grin our way. "I want to help beat her, fairy to fairy."

"Okay. Give me one second." Serene concentrates, and another flash of blue light makes all of our friends appear with us.

"Alright, quick rundown while they're stunned---Janessa, Eleanor and I against Maleficent." Serene instructs. "Hayder. You, Brietta, Danielle, and Finn against Pitch. Hayder, use the wand, everyone else, bracelets. Get them close to him, and he'll be weakened to the point where I can trap him. Lucy, Evan, Max---go against Blake. Again, bracelets. Blake isn't nearly as powerful as his dad is right now, since I set Pitch free. Pitch is pulling powers from Blake, but I don't think Blake knows. If you can get him to listen to you, try telling him that." I note she leaves out the part about her own powers being 'borrowed', but I don't say anything.

"Can't you just use your powers against them now, since you're all goth again?" Max asks.

Serene glares at him, shadows flickering in her eyes. "No, I can't. Since I set them free, they're ten times more powerful because they've been storing their powers for years in anticipation of this. If I do that now, they'll just break free. Same with setting our parents free. Anything I do, they can take away. The Ember might work against them, but only if we weaken them first. Get the bracelets close enough to shock them, as many times as you can. I'll be able to sense when it's time. But hurry."

"Gotcha." Brietta salutes, then bounds away with her group. I hear a loud clap like thunder, and Serene grins.

"Shock one. Go, guys!" Everyone else splits off, and my group comes around the corner to face off against Maleficent. Purple lightning blazes around her, green smoke forming around her feet.

Serene swears under her breath, which nearly makes me scold her, but she just shakes her head. "She's strengthened more than I thought. We need to move fast, or else she'll be able to take dragon form!"

"Can't we still beat her with dragon form?" Eleanor asks.

"No." Serene says without a doubt in her face.

"Good to know." Together, we run for Maleficent. 

________________________________

Okay, so my reasoning behind hating Mulan 2020: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, FYI!!!

1. The actress. GIRL, YOU HAVE MORE EXPRESSIONS THAN 'POKER FACE' AND 'TEAR RUNNING DOWN POKER FACE'!!!

2. The story. DISNEY. C'MON. WHY. Mulan original was SPECTACULAR. Mulan was strong, brave, and EARNED her way to the top through hard work and her determined heart. THIS Mulan is (and I just learned this phrase like a few weeks ago so if I'm using it wrong please tell me) a Mary Sue. A female character with little to no weaknesses, who we cannot relate to. THIS Mulan has some freaking chi power or whatever that allows her to be perfect in life. So she's practically cheating her way to the top. 

3. The love interest. Shang is ICONIC. But this one---I don't even remember his name--- was so RANDOM. It was just suddenly like, BOOM, okay this girl has been so mean and rude to me this entire time but WHATEVER, I'ma just stick up for her, HUH-HUR. *snorts and pushes up glasses* . ALSO! When they're saying goodbye, and Love Interest holds his hand out, I expected Mulan to shake it like a normal human being, not do whatever the heck that was. Is it some Chinese goodbye thing I'm unaware of?

4. The villain. Bori-Khan, or whatever his name was, was so WEIRD. The witch was cool, but she was just like Mulan! Had chi power or whatever, and so targeted Mulan and whatever else ya dee ya and then FRICKING TOOK AN ARROW FOR HER. WHAAAAAA????? Why'd you do that? You don't know this girl! You don't even care about what she's fighting for! What even IS Mulan fighting for????? Her country???? Her father???? herself???????? That's never made very clear, and then at the end of the movie, she just up and JOINS THE FRICKING ARMY????? WHAAAAA???? NO! She went home to her family, you wackos!

Now, I have no idea what the original Mulan MYTH says. Been trying to find it, but no luck. But according to Chinese videos I've watched, like reviews and things, this is BAD. 

The original story was all about love, strength, determination, and fighting for your honor. This one felt more like, FIGHT FOR CHINA, WHOO-HOO, AND WE'RE GONNA USE YOUR SPECIAL GIFT TO OUR ADVANTAGE HAHAHAHAHA

The ONLY good things about that movie---Ming Na-Wen's cameo, and the shot of the phoenix coming up behind Mulan. THAT was cool. EVERYTHING ELSE SUCKED.