Author's Note: so...I've kind of neglected this story. I did have some time, but I spent most of it working on "Alons-y!" instead. Mostly because I had writers block. I hate battle scenes, and I struggle to write them. But since I had to do one in "Alons-y!" earlier today, I decided I might as well struggle through this one and get the story moving again. Enjoy!

"Are you ready?" Peri asked excitedly.

Eyes closed, Elsa nodded nervously. Peri flew above her and sprinkled some gold fairy dust over her friend. Nothing happened.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Peri said. "You have to think happy thoughts, like a memory or something!"

"I don't have any happy memories. I spent most of my life locked away."

"You must have SOMETHING!" Peri said, exasperated.

Elsa closed her eyes again and thought to before she hid her powers.

Anna danced in the snow. This is amazing! She yelled as they skated around the ballroom. Again, again!

You look beautiful.

You look beautifuller...I mean, not fuller, just more beautiful.

Thank you. So, this is what a party looks like.

It's warmer than I thought.

And what is that amazing smell?

Chocolate! Both girls said at once. Then they laughed in unison, the same shy, nervous giggle.

I wish it could be like this all the time.

Me too. And she had meant it.

Elsa felt her body rising in the air and she opened her eyes in panic, her arms flailing.

"Aaah! Peri, help me!"

Laughing, Peri shook her head. "You won't learn that way."

"How do you steer?!" she yelled, unintentionally rolling onto her back.

"Wave your arms like you're swimming," Jack said, joining them.

"I've never been swimming!"

"Really?"

"It was never a good climate..." Elsa gasped, somehow righting herself.

Suddenly, she leaned forward and waved her arms. She thought the motion might help, but instead, it propelled her forward and caused her to flip into a snowbank. If it hadn't been dark out, the North Pole would have looked pretty much the same: snow in all directions. But because of the time of year, it was already dark, and the northern lights flared across the dark sky. Earlier, North had explained it was a signal to the other Guardians and spirits, alerting them of the battle ahead.

Jack was trying to hide a laugh. Determined, Elsa flipped right-side up and jumped into the air, shooting to the lights like a rocket. It was quite beautiful among the stars, but she had gone higher than she had intended. Jack and Peri flew after her and grabbed her hands, bringing her closer to the ground.

"Stay calm, you'll get the hang of it," Peri promised.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Elsa gasped, wide eyed, as they turned her so that she was parallel to the ground.

"Helping you," Jack said. "Lean where you want to go, it's as simple as that."

"How do you stop?!" she cried as they raced forward.

"Lean back!" Jack yelled.

Grimacing, Elsa leaned back, and they jerked to a halt. Gradually, she opened her eyes and looked around.

"Ok...if they're chasing me, how will I go faster?"

"Just think," Peri advised. "Thinking and leaning are really all there is to it. Oh, and believing."

Gently, she and Jack let go of Elsa's arms.

"Don't leave!" she cried.

"We're right here," Peri promised, keeping her arms just below Elsa.

Tentatively, Elsa began testing her new power, and gradually grew more comfortable with it.

"Isn't this fun?!" Jack asked enthusiastically.

Elsa glanced sideways at him. "Yeah...once you get used to it," she added, managing a little smile.

"Are you used to it?" Peri asked.

"Mostly," Elsa admitted.

"Good," Jack said. "Then let's go."

"Now?!" Elsa cried in alarm, backpedaling. "But I only just started! And we don't have a plan!"

"Sure we do," Jack said casually. "Before I came out here, I sent North and some other Guardians to draw away the soldiers from Syndrome's laid. We should be clear to go in, now."

"But what's the plan?" she asked as he reached into his hoodie for a snow globe.

"Kill Pitch and Syndrome and rescue the kids. Do we need a step by step?"

"Wait!" Elsa yelled as he threw the portal in front of their flight path.

There was a slight twist then a pop, and she found herself in the tunnel they had entered to rescue Peri. Slightly dizzy, she jumped into the air and flew unsteadily after Jack.

"Who said we had to kill anybody?" she whispered.

"Ok, fine," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "We'll capture them and give them to someone ELSE to kill. Peri, where's that purple dust?"

"Here," she said, handing him a small leather pouch.

Elsa still wasn't satisfied. "But we have to do this NOW? It's a little sudden, don't you think?"

"That's the idea," Jack said.

"This isn't a good idea," she said, stopping. "What if I hurt one of the kids?"

Jack finally turned and looked at her. "As long as you're not afraid, you don't give Pitch any power, and you have control over your own. Just keep calm and keep believing like you always do and you'll be fine."

But Elsa shook her head wildly. "I've never been calm, and I've never believed in myself."

"Well..." Peri said after a moment. "We believe in you."

Slowly, Elsa took a deep breath. If her best friends believed in her, then so could she.

"Okay. Let's go."

As soon as Jack sprinkled the pixie dust on himself, it was as if every nerve was on fire. He had never, in all his years as a spirit, been filled with this much energy. Every sense was heightened and he could not stand still and could barely control his flight.. It was probably this state that ruined the surprise attack. Not all the guards had followed North's diversion. Furthermore, those who had stayed had apparently anticipated the attack, because they were waiting for them when they emerged from the tunnel. A large blast shook the room and Jack only barely noticed; he began flying in circles and being his usually annoying, distracting self times 15.

"THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!" he yelled as he froze twenty guards in five seconds.

He shoved them all down the tunnel and closed the door before anyone else realized what was happening. The remaining guards backed down the hallway, firing their guns at them. But the bullets seemed to be going in slow motion and he dodged them easily, even carelessly. He flew right up to them and froze their guns one after another. They panicked and fled down the hall.

"WHOO HOO! IT WORKED!"

"JACK!" Elsa yelled, struggling to keep up with him. "Slow down!"

"I CAN'T!" Jack yelled cheerfully.

He flew back and grabbed her hand, pulling her along with him and nearly ripping her arm out of her socket in the process. Elsa screamed and unintentionally released a wave of ice that covered everything and everyone within a 50 yard radius.

"COOL!" Jack exclaimed, letting go of Elsa and doing a triple back flip in the air in 5 seconds. "LET'S GO FIND SOME MORE BAD GUYS!"

Elsa looked very alarmed, and he spun around trying to find the source. Roughly, she grabbed him and pulled him to the ground, slapping his face.

"Hey!" she snapped. "Get it together and calm down."

"Can't too hyper this stuff is amazing!" His brain was racing a thousand miles an hour. "Speaking of which, where's Peri I hope she's ok. Also where's Pitch? Can we kill him now? We have to find him and take him down, come on!"

He grabbed Elsa's hand and pulled her along the corridors. In under a minute they had come to a wide, open intersection of the subway system, where Pitch and Syndrome were waiting for them.

"I'll distract them, you go in and take 'em out!" he yelled encouragingly as he began to spin around the room at 200 miles an hour.

"WHAT?!" Elsa yelled, still processing exactly where they were and why black sand was racing to envelope her.

With the first blast, Peri had been thrown back down into the secret entrance. Before she could recover, nearly two dozen frozen bodies were shoved after her and the door iced shut.

Jack. I am never giving him pixie dust again. She moaned. But maybe this is a good thing…

She flew down and found the cavern where the children were being kept. Here, she paused and took stock of the situation.

We need to free them as soon as possible in case something goes wrong and something explodes or collapses or something…but if I free them now, they could alert Syndrome and then they would get hurt.

Sighing, she moved on to the adults. When they saw her the prisoners yelled and pleaded for her attention, but she did not have time. None of them were fighting material or superheroes. Frozone wasn't there either, and that's who they really needed right now. Peri cast one last apologetic glance at the desperate people, then flew out the small door. Yesterday, she had noticed out of the corner of her eye, but knew that it would only take her deeper into the lair, not out the way she wanted. If these were the dungeons, and they were grouped into different sections, then the containment units had to be around here somewhere. And that, she was sure, was where Pitch was now keeping Frozone.

On the other side of the door was a long corridor that matched the rest of the sleek business side of the lair. But she recognized it immediately, and congratulated herself on her instincts. She went and opened the first door, but that cell was empty. In the next there was a girl only a little bigger than herself, with long black hair and a red super suit on. Peri immediately ran to the desk.

"Press the red button!" the girl said.

Peri did so, and the girl fell to the ground with a sigh of relief.

"Thanks. I'm Violet."

"Peri."

"Thanks, Peri. I would have gotten out myself like I did last time, but he's upgraded them. Have you seen my brother?"

"No, you're the first one that I've freed. I'm looking for a man named Frozone…"

"Frozone's here? Great! That'll help until mom and dad arrive. Come on, I'll help you look."

The next cell held a tall skinny man with a bald head and a sharp, pointy nose. He looked up at them angrily, then realized they were just two young girls.

"Hello," Peri said as Violet released him. "We've come to rescue you."

"Good, thank you!" he said in a thick accent, shaking as he struggled to regain feeling in his spindly legs. "You haven't seen my girls, have you? Margo, Edith, and Agnes…also my wife Lucy?"

"You're Margo's dad?" Peri exclaimed. "She's here, too. I don't know what your other kids look like, but I saw Margo and hundreds of other children. We just haven't figured out how to rescue her yet."

"Where is she?" he asked her urgently.

"Turn left out of the hall and through the small door. The kids are in the second room. But don't touch the blue light, it will shock them."

"Don't touch the blue light, got it," Gru said, stumbling from the room. "Thank you!"

Frozone waited in the dark prison cell, surrounded by nothing but silence. He had lost all track of time and had slipped into unconsciousness several times. Hopelessly, he wondered how the others were doing. For all he knew, they had been captured, too, and were nearby. A part of him wanted to believe that they had managed to escape and were coming back with reinforcements, but it was highly unlikely.

Suddenly explosions rocked the building, shaking Frozone out of his stupor. The loud booms and sharp cracks continued, encouraging him to pull at his bonds, though to no avail. Nearby, he thought he could make out the sound of sliding doors and loud cries of joy and anger all at once.

Someone must be rescuing the other prisoners! he thought. "In here! Please, I'm in here! Somebody get me out of here!"

A moment later his door slid open, and Peri's slender frame appeared silhouetted against the sharp light. Frozone winced but grinned at her.

"Frozone!" she cried, flying down to the desk and pressing the release button.

"Peri! You came back!"

"Ohana!" she said enthusiastically, helping to his feet. "Nobody gets left behind."

"Where are the others? What's going on?" he asked.

"North was supposed to draw all the guards away, but some of them stayed. Jack and Elsa are fighting them while I went to free people. I found Margo's dad," she added, pointing as Gru ran by screaming war cries and swinging an axe. "He was in the containment center, too."

"Is that…Violet! Dash! What are you doing here?"

"We were kidnapped, too," Violet explained joining him in the room. "Only a few hours ago. It's a good thing we were wearing our suits, so Mom can track us."

"They should be here soon," Dash added. "Hey, Frozone, can we help fight?"

"Absolutely not," Frozone said. "You barely survived the last one. Peri, where is the bulk of the fighting?"

"The floor above us," Peri said as the ceiling shook.

"Tell you what," he said, addressing his young friends. "Somewhere around here Syndrome is keeping a lot of other kids. Maybe you can see if you can find them and…"

"It's a huge room on the other side of the lava wall," Peri interrupted. "But I looked at North's map and you can actually access it if you go down this hallway take the third left and then the second right."

"On it!" Dash yelled dashing off.

"By the way, we found the kids," Peri said casually.

"Oh…good. Which way to the battle?"

Peri waved her hand and took him a flight of steps. The room was filled with black nightmare sand, stray bits of pixie dust, actual dust from the collapsing building, and shards of ice. Pitch and Syndrome stood in the middle of the chaos, firing weapons seemingly randomly into the gloom. A blur of blue and purple sped by them, so close it nearly knocked Frozone back into the stairwell.

"That's Jack!" Peri yelled. "He's got purple pixie dust."

"The what now?"

But Peri had already sprinkled some on herself and had joined him. For a brief moment, he saw Elsa fly across the room and duck into a hallway. Hurriedly, Frozone joined her, creating an ice barricade so they could see their opponents but remain shielded.

"Frozone!" Elsa cried, relieved.

"It's good to be back!" Frozone yelled shooting an ice dagger at Syndrome, who blasted it with his gun. "How's it going so far?"

"I'm still alive!" Elsa said encouragingly. "But other than that not so good."

"Where did you learn to fly?" he asked as she began floating a few inches above the ground.

"Peri!" she yelled angrily as she forced herself back down. "She gave me some pixie dust but it's not really helping."

"Just focus on the moment and take those guys out," Frozone said.

"But I've never purposefully tried to kill or seriously maim or injure someone!"

"Think snowball fight!" he advised.

Elsa's eyes widened and she promptly threw herself back into the fight. With the battle now four to two, Pitch and Syndrome were backed into a corner, overwhelmed. Frozone was about to charge in when a powerful blast of air blew through the room, knocking everyone off guard and Jack and Peri from the sky. Wincing, he turned and saw Mirage with her hand held out in defiance, no emotion in her cold eyes.