"You seem cold." Amy observed softly as Belle sat Anna down on the cot. At that comment Ellie moved off to get her aunt a blanket as Alex kneeled down in front of his mother and took her hands.
"She was even colder when she came to the castle." Belle said. "She hasn't been able to talk yet, that's why I brought her here."
Jordan was already getting a cloth and warm water so that she could tend to Anna's wounds but when she brought it over Alex stopped her and said, "I'll take care of my mom Jordan, thank you." The genie girl nodded in understanding.
Ellie wrapped the blanket around her Aunt Anna's shoulders and then shivered herself. "I feel the cold too. It's far more intense than anything my mother or I could produce." She then frowned a little. "Speaking of, I wonder where my mother and Uncle Kristoff are?"
"Ar…Arendelle." Anna managed to barely get out. She pulled the blanket tighter over her shoulders.
"One would think that you'd be used to the cold living in Arendelle." Carlos said.
Ellie gave him a small glare. "It's not normally cold in Arendelle Carlos." She replied a bit coldy. "It's usually a very temperate place. The only time I remember it being anywhere near cold was when mom would do something like make the outside of the palace ground into an ice rink."
Alex held his mother's hands and started to channel some of the warmth of his fire power into her. "Mom, what happened? Where are dad and Aunt Elsa?" He asked.
"Give your mother a little time." Belle interrupted them all gently but firmly. "She can barely speak and she couldn't walk here on her own. Whatever happened must have been horrible."
"We may not have time." Ellie reminded her simply. "My mom and Uncle Kristoff could be…"
"Hang on." April said now as she stepped forward. Belle hadn't even known they were there until just now, as focused as she had been. The others turned to look at her. "Maybe between Amy's empathic powers, my Kraang mental abilities and Aquiella's empathic powers we can figure out what's going on." She suggested.
Ben nodded. "It's worth a shot." He said.
"Let's get some water around here then." Melody said. "We're going to need it to enhance Aquiella's own abilities."
Ally and Aziz brought over a pitcher of water and Aquiella took out her iPhone and then placed her hand into the water to channel her abilities. Then she took Amy's hand, who in turn took April's hand. Together the three girls started to lightly probe Anna's mind for what had brought her here to Arendelle.
"I have a feeling this is not going to be good." Miranda remarked.
"Yeah, probably not." Jay agreed. "No one ever comes to us for a joyous occasion."
Now Miranda looked over to Ellie. "Are ye alright?" She asked the princess of Arendelle gently.
"I'd like to say yes." Elle replied with a shake of her head. "The problem is that I'm worried. If something weren't wrong I think mom would have come here herself. Even if something were wrong she still might have." She wrapped her hands around her chest. "If something happened and she's gone…"
Miranda rubbed her arm gently. "I don't think your mom is dead Ellie." She said consolingly.
"She's not dead." April assured her now. Her eyes were closed as the three girls were assimilating the information they were getting from Anna's mind. "But she might be in trouble."
Anna was starting to feel warmer now thanks to her son's special powers. "We were attacked…" She started.
"Maleficent." Mal surmised, feeling somewhat sad and very angry.
"No, not her Mal." Amy now said as she looked to her older twin sister. "I don't know who she is though." The three girls backed off a bit now that Anna seemed to be able to start talking. "But whoever it is seemed to have gotten some kind of, of influence over Queen Elsa."
"What? How?" Ellie asked now.
"Maybe the same way that Nerissa had control over me, through the beast trait genetically passed onto me from when she turned my father into the beast." Ben suggested now.
"I don't think it was anything that sophisticated." April said. "But maybe Princess Anna can explain it better." She started toward Karone to talk to her and see if she, as the former princess of evil, might have any idea who was responsible for the attack on Arendelle.
"She entered Arendelle on her own and asked for sanctuary." Anna said, though she was shivering a little still. "Elsa gave it to her. Our guards encountered these weird blue creatures and were attacked. They only barely got away and told us what happened."
"It wasn't a coincidence was it?" Lonnie now asked her.
Anna shook her head softly. "No. They were merely the army."
Kat interrupted, "That's impossible." They all turned to look at her and the Australian blonde blushed softly. She was with Tommy, Jason, Amber, Karone and April. "Sorry." She apologized.
"But she's not wrong." Jason said as he looked to Tommy. "This shouldn't be man."
Tommy nodded. "I know bro. But somehow it is." He now looked to the Auradon Rangers. "Arendelle was invaded alright. Invaded by the Ice Queen."
"Do I need to mention the lame name?" Carlos asked with a smirk. It reminded Donnie of Mikey criticizing Falco for choosing the name Rat King.
"No you don't." Audrey said pointedly. "That's beside the point."
"It was another early escapade as power rangers." Amber now said. "Tommy as the green ranger, Jason, Kim, Trini, Zack, Billy and I were drawn to another realm to help unseat a god known as the Shadow King. One of his strongest allies was a sorceress named the Ice Queen."
"And those creatures your guards encountered where the Ice Witches." Jason added.
"The Ice Queen." Anna murmured. She kind of recalled some people referring to Elsa that way. As her little sister she knew that just wasn't true. But the demeanor of their guest had made Anna think the nickname would have been apt for her. "Her minions invaded Arendelle."
"Where are dad and Aunt Elsa?" Alex now asked his mother.
"Kristoff left Arendelle with Sven a couple of days before the Ice Queen showed up. Elsa sent him with ice to provide relief for nearby kingdom that's having severe droughts." Anna answered her son. Like Alex she was relieved he was not in direct danger.
"And my mother?" Ellie now asked again. She was getting tired of asking that question, the fact she had to repeat it made her think that they were trying to postpone the inevitable bad news she felt brewing in her chest. "And what about Olaf?"
"Elsa…tried to confront her, the Ice Queen, when we realized she had set us up to take over Arendelle." Anna said as she looked to the side. "I…I saw them fight. They were evenly matched until Elsa realized I was nearby. She told me to come here, to you two." She looked to Alex and Ellie. "And the Ice Queen struck Elsa in the back. I…I saw her fall, and she didn't get up even as I called out for her."
"Oh no. Mom." Ellie whispered softly as she struggled to grip a console lest she loose her balance. Miranda placed her right hand on her back and started to rub her back softly.
"Is she…" Alex started to ask.
Anna shook her head. "I don't know." She confessed.
"We have to stop the Ice Queen." Kat said as she looked to Tommy and Jason. "We need to get the others here."
"No." Mal said and the three of them looked to the purple haired girl. "Auradon is our responsibility. We have to go to Arendelle and stop the Ice Queen ourselves." She explained.
"You might be needed here." Andros reminded her. "Maleficent could strike at any time, and Sermaya has proven he's still a threat to contend with too."
"Arendelle is my home, and if there is any chance my mother is still alive I have to go to her." Ellie said. "I have to go and find out. And if I have too, I have to take my city back from the Ice Queen." Technically there was some question of whether or not it should be Anna or Ellie would take over as Queen of Arendelle if the worst had happened to Elsa, but the point was still well made.
"You're not going alone." Alex said. "Arendelle is my home too, and obviously the queen is my aunt too."
"I'm going back too." Anna declared. "I won't give up on Elsa this time, any more than I have in our lives."
Mal looked to the terran rangers. "This is why it's our responsibility. Two of my team mates are going to go into danger and they can't do it alone. They need this and we need to be there." She said.
"Andros." Ashley now said as she stepped up to her husband. "Let them go, they need to help their friends. We can protect Auradon in their absence." She took his hand softly.
Andros nodded. He knew they were both right. "Alright." He conceded. "Go to Arendelle and…"
The monster alarm sounded. They saw a creature that seemed vaguely fay in origin, though the wings were as hard and solid as ice. It had two upper wings like a butterfly though smaller and two lower wings that were shaped like the pointed edges of a scythe. Below the waist and below the wrists were sharp ends that also looked like icicles.
"Think Maleficent sent that?" Evie asked.
"I don't know." Mal answered.
Then they heard the figure call out. The voice was hard to pinpoint as either masculine or feminine, though it was perhaps a little more the latter. "Princess Anna, show yourself to me or this place will suffer for your cowardice."
"The Ice Queen sent someone to find me." Anna realized.
"I'll show that thing a thing or two." Ellie declared.
"No, you won't." Mal said to the future queen of Arendelle sternly. "You will stay here with your mother and your cousin while we find out what that freaky ice butterfly fairy thing knows about your mother before we destroy it."
Ellie seemed ready to object but saw the look on her cousin and aunt's face. Then she heard Miranda say, "Ye know that's the best idea. They have powers and ye don't. On top of that if that thing uses ice then whatever natural advantage ye have over that thing would be gone." Ellie sighed and looked to Mal with a small nod of agreement.
"I promise we'll find out what happened to your mom." Amy said to the young blonde queen.
"Count on it." Audrey agreed.
The rangers headed out of the command center and toward the area they thought the monster was at. It turned out it wasn't hard to find as what the screen did not capture was the fact that this monster drew a small flurry of snow with it wherever it went, similar to what Elsa had done for Olaf so he would not melt, only on a larger scale.
"Maybe if we remove the flurries we would destroy the monster." Lonnie suggested.
"Somehow I don't think we'll be that lucky." Mal said. She looked to Amy and Aquiella. "Think you two could conjure up a rainstorm though just in case?"
Both girls nodded at each other. "I think we can." Aquiella answered for the rest of them.
They entered the snow flurries and found the monster. Incredibly it turned around to face them as they approached. "Hello rangers of Auradon. I am Icegerald." The monster introduced. "I mean you no harm honestly. I have only come for the princess of Arendelle."
"You make it sound so reasonable." Audrey noted with annoyance. Never before had a diplomatic approach rubbed her the wrong way.
"You know there are actually two princesses of Arendelle right?" Mal asked scornfully. "Not that it matters because we won't turn over Ellie or Anna to you or your Ice Queen leader."
"Then that is your final mistake." Icegerald informed them and then unleashed a huge blizzard right at them. One moment it was just the flurries and the next a huge wind storm came up to generate that blizzard.
"Let's get to work." Mal announced. As Ben summoned the Praeleanthor sword and shield the rangers took out their iPhones and input their numbers to transform. The blizzard struck and the monster turned away from them unaware that it was too late. When Mal called out, "This isn't over yet." Icegerald turned to see them ready to fight.
"I see I'm going to have to turn up the pressure." Icegerald noted and then brought the icicle of the arms together and unleashed a flurry of sharp edged ice straight at the rangers, striking them all except for Ben who was able to ricochet those off with his shield.
Ben charged forward with the Praeleanthor sword and slashed at Icegerald, who dodged out of the way of the attack and then dove forward with the 'legs' and slammed into the Auradon Knight hard. He fell back and Icegerald laughed and came back to the ground. "Nice try, but that's not so easy to ignore is it?"
"Time for plan b?" Aquiella asked their leader.
"Give it a shot." Mal confirmed.
Aquiella gathered moisture around them and then Amy took her free hand to contribute her own elements, not only of water to try to build up the storm but wind to help propel that storm, and together the two girls released a hurricane right at Icegerald.
"Trying to take this out?" Icegerald asked and laughed. "It doesn't even matter. You know that water will simply freeze up and become snow again anyway." Icegerald started to float toward the rangers. "And even then it's not a life sustaining thing or anything."
"Then why have it all?" Carlos asked.
Icegerald gave them a wry grin. "You'll have to figure that out for yourselves if you can." Then with quick speed the hurricane rains turned into a bigger snow storm that was starting to blind them a little.
"Okay then." Amy decided. "Have it your way." Though she wished Alex were here to combine his naturally stronger fire power to her own, she never the less extended herself and started to melt the snow that was trying to pelt the ranger team.
Will summoned his recursive sword as Melody drew her trident and the two rangers moved in to attack Icegerald. They swung and the icicle monster blocked the two attacks. Lonnie moved in under them and struck the monster with her hurricane tessens.
"Hey Evie, looks like this monster doesn't like fire." Audrey said to the blue ranger. "I think maybe we can help take advantage of that."
Evie nodded. "I think we can too." She agreed.
Audrey drew her elemental bow and summoned a flame arrow. She then unleashed it at Icegerald. The monster saw it coming and slashed away Will and the two female rangers and then prepared to dodge the arrow before it split into multiple ones and struck the ice monster multiple times and stumbling backwards. Amy's field of heat that surrounded them worked well to enhance the strength of her arrows.
"Not bad, but let's try increasing the heat on this one." Evie said jokingly about Audrey's shots but at the same time teasing everyone in general. She raised her mirror force shield and then unleashed a blazing mirror force attack at Icegerald, who shrieked in shock at having such a huge burst of fire that close. Amy's field of heat that surrounded them worked pretty well for her attack as well.
Mal and Jay followed up with the dragon's eye staff and the soul scimitar, slashing the monster again. Carlos followed up by bringing up the claws to knock him down.
Icegerald looked up to find Mal's dragon's eye staff just above the throat, and on either side of the purple ranger was Jay and his soul scimitar and Will and his recursive sword also aimed downward. "Where is Queen Elsa?" Mal demanded of him.
Amy could almost hear the commanding feeling of their mother in her older sister then. She was also relieved to hear the concern in her voice too, in this case for the Queen of Arendelle and for the concern for their friend. "Is she dead?" Amy couldn't help but ask.
Icegerald laughed. "The former queen of Arendelle is alive, though she might wish she weren't."
The monster responded somewhat enigmatically. "Personally I don't know why I was sent to retrieve the princess. She's basically useless, no powers or abilities whatsoever."
Amy felt herself flush with annoyance and felt the need to defend Alex's mother. "She was smart enough to escape the Ice Queen and to escape your attempts to find her from Arendelle to here." She commented.
Mal smirked. "She's got you there." She agreed. She glanced at Audrey and Ben and despite the helmets there seemed to be a moment of unspoken communication between them. Then she beckoned Jay and Will off of the monster before stepping back herself. "Go back to Arendelle and tell the Ice Queen she has two days to leave Arendelle and all of its people, including the Queen, or else we will be coming and we will not be happy." She stated.
"Mal, are you crazy?" Carlos couldn't help but blurt out.
It was on Evie's lips to question that too but stopped herself, assuming her chosen sister knew what she was doing. "You heard her Carlos." She said softly. The team then backed up and turned away from the monster.
Icegerald looked at them for a moment as if not understanding what this was about before raising the icicle arms and shooting replicas of them, aiming for Mal's back.
But both Ben and Audrey had expected as much and turned around, Audrey taking one out with the sharp edge of her elemental bow while Ben took out the other one with the Praeleanthor sword. Then Mal turned around and unleashed a beam of energy straight at Icegerald. "I knew you wouldn't take that so easily." Mal said. "But can't say we didn't give fair warning."
Like Ben and Reviveslime had done a few times so long ago, Will and Ben combined their own weapons and unleashed a stream of energy at Icegerald. This was joined by a combination attack from the energies from the trident Melody used and Aquiella's tidal boomerangs.
That gave the other seven rangers the chance they needed. Mal combined her dragon's eye staff with Audrey's elemental bow. Behind it Evie placed her mirror force shield, the compact expanding around the weapon. Jay placed his soul scimitar in the center, then on either side Lonnie placed her hurricane tessens and Carlos placed his earthquake claw daggers, finally Amy took apart her rose lance and placed them on either side of the daggers to form the Auradon blaster.
From the command center Amber laughed a little. "I wonder where I've seen a weapon similar to that before." She remarked humorously.
"It stands to reason they'd have some similarities to us on some level." Billy pointed out. "After all chronologically speaking the Auradon powers were designed long before Trini, Kim, Zack, Jason and I became power rangers, even if they weren't activated until recently."
The seven rangers aimed the Auradon blaster at Icegerald and unleashed their firepower on the monster, destroying it with in a blaze that Jay considered ironic since it was an ice monster.
"That's the end of that one." Carlos said.
Lonnie nodded. "Yeah." She agreed. "But it's not the end of this chapter."
"No." Mal agreed. "If anything it's only beginning." They powered down and started back toward the command center.
A short time later at the command center they relayed what little they had learned from the battle despite the fact that they had all seen in on screen.
"At least ye know your mother is okay." Miranda said to Ellie consolingly.
But Ellie just shook her head. "No." She replied. "Icegerald said that my mother is alive. She didn't say that she was okay."
"If she's alive then that means we can still help her." Amy reminded the princess of Arendelle gently.
"She's right." Anna agreed as she placed one of her hands on Ellie's shoulder, and then reached down to take Alex's hand. "If something is wrong than we can still help her and that is exactly what we're going to do." She looked to the Auradon rangers. "I have to return to Arendelle. And I know my niece and son will want to come with."
"And you're not going alone." Ben promised the princess. "We'll be going with you."
"I feel kind of bad asking for this kind of favor." Ellie confessed.
"Don't." Aziz said. "We do this for our friends. We did this for Ally when we rescued her mother in Wonderland and we did this when we went to Agrabah. Even if we won't be able to help you in this instance."
"We will work on restoring our powers to help the space rangers if Maleficent or Sermaya does something here." Jane assured them all. "And maybe we can get them restored in enough time that we can come to back you up if you need it."
"And we'll keep Auradon safe for you while you go to Arendelle and put down the Ice Queen." Andros promised them. Though the initial encounter with the Ice Queen was before their time as ranger's bar Amber's, the fact was you messed with one team of ranger's you took the chance of messing with them all. And sometimes more so when one factored it allies like the Turtles and the Mutanimals.
Alex looked to Amy. "Are you sure you all want to do this?" He asked her. Ellie swore there was something more personal between the two in that comment.
Amy only nodded. "Yes, I am sure that I…we should come and help you." The rose haired girl answered as she stood up and stepped up to Alex. She took his hands in hers. "That's what we do for the people we love." She then felt herself blush a bit as she realized how that sounded and she wasn't entirely sure it was a wrong thing to say either.
"At least we have the element of surprise on this Ice Queen." Audrey said.
"Sorry to say you don't." Doug counteracted her.
"What do you mean?" Mal asked now.
"Like Icegerald said, that snow cloud that was around it wasn't some kind of internal air conditioner to keep it alive." Donnie now answered. "We were analyzing that thing and it was what one could call a modified weather transmitter."
"Of course. So obvious." Jay said with a nod that everyone suspected meant he didn't get it.
"What he means is that the snow storm was probably used as a tracking signal that the Ice Queen could use to keep an eye on Icegerald's progress." Carlos translated for those like Jay who didn't really get what was being implied.
"So she saw that battle." Evie said. "She saw some of what we can do and she knows we're on our way to Auradon."
"Great, no need to make this easy or anything." Audrey said with a small sigh. "Okay, so is there anything we can do that she isn't aware of."
"I'm going to make the neon armor and the Auradon launcher a priority for restoration." Jane said. "So you can use them if need be. Also, your and Mal's battelizers should be ready for use too." She looked to Miranda, "Then we'll focus on restoring our powers."
"I only wish we could be going with you all." Miranda said to them as she glanced at Ellie. "Especially you, I suspect ye might need all the support ye could get."
Ellie smiled softly. "Thanks. I know all of you have my back, even if you won't all be there." She replied.
Jordan handed Jay a backpack. "Take that on your journey." She said. "I enchanted it to be like an endless bag to hold food and water in since you don't know what will be available around you with Ice Queen in charge."
"I suggest dressing warmly." Anna added. "It's going to be colder than any of you have probably ever experienced."
Mal looked to Tommy and Jason. "Any advice on fighting the Ice Queen?" She asked.
"She's fast and she likes to keep her distance." Jason answered. "She tends to throw ice spears like what you saw from Icegerald. The other problem we ran into was when we fought her she couldn't be damaged until she an object called the cold fire was used against her."
"That might not be the case now." Tommy added. "But if you happen to see a blue flame around, it might be a good idea to grab it."
"She never had monsters like that working for her." Amber added. "Just the Ice Witches and green skinned creatures that were like goblins. I don't know what changed but it seems she might be more dangerous than ever. Definitely keep an eye out and watch your backs."
"Sound advice in our line of work at any time." Jordan noted wryly.
"It's going to be night time soon." Fairy Godmother said now. "And it's going to be more dangerous to travel at night. Not to mention cooler as you approach Auradon. I suggest you all stay in Auradon tonight and leave first thing in the morning."
"I agree with Fairy Godmother." Belle said. "Stay at the castle tonight and we'll see if we can do anything else to help you prepare for your journey."
"It's a good idea." Anna agreed. She looked to Ellie. "I'm just as eager to help your Elsa as you are but we need to be properly prepared to do it." No one could argue with that line of reasoning no matter how badly they might want too.