Sometimes the bad thing about being an empath is that you can feel people's emotions rather you want to or not, and it ended up being a distraction. Amy thought in that regard Aquiella was lucky; since water wasn't so prevalent around the castle her senses were probably dimmed right now, especially if she kept her iPhone off of her at night. The rose haired girl was not so lucky as her powers were always on and constant. She had easily learned to handle the general feelings of others when she had discovered her abilities and trained herself to do so.
But that night was no general feeling as she felt the anxiety of her team mates, along with her own, Belle's, Adam's and Anna's. She was kind of glad that no one else had been there that night. As a result of the emotional turmoil she hadn't been able to get much sleep that night though she took some consolation in the fact that no one else slept that well either.
"Again I wish I could be going with all of ye." Miranda said to Mal and Ellie. The currently inactive Highlands ranger stood by the other currently inactive rangers; Jane the white ranger, Aziz the silver ranger, Ally the crystal ranger, Jordan the gold ranger and Grant the gray ranger.
"We'll be okay, I promise." Mal said. "You just worry about helping our other ranger friends." She looked to Jane. "And make sure to get your powers up and running again very soon. It'd be nice to have a complete team again."
Jane laughed a little. "It would be indeed." She agreed. "Restoring our powers are priority number two, after making sure you have the neon armor, Auradon launcher, and the battelizers at your disposal for this." She added.
Ellie smiled a bit. "Who knows? Maybe your powers will get restored sooner than you think and you guys can come back us up." She said with a small teasing smile as she winked at Miranda and Aziz.
"We might take you up on that challenge." Aziz noted with amusement.
Belle hugged Ben tightly. "Be careful honey." She said to him. She then stepped up to Mal and Amy and hugged them as well even as Adam now moved in to wish his son luck as well.. "And you two please be careful too." She added.
Mal and Amy both hugged her back. "I'll bring us all home safely, I promise." Mal said to the queen, who was very quickly becoming like a surrogate mother.
Belle stepped back, and then reached out to stroke Amy's hair lightly away from her eyes. Mal thought her twin sister appreciated the small but caring gesture, something only Mal herself had ever done.
"Be careful out there, all of you." Adam said to the rest of the Auradon rangers.
Doug was standing by Evie and the blue haired girl leaned up and kissed him gently on the cheek, though the kiss lingered a few moments longer than necessary. "Stay safe Doug." She said to him.
"You're the one going into battle against the Ice Queen and whatever else she has at her command." Doug berated her softly as he touched her cheek gently and then ran his hand down to rest on her shoulder. "I'm going to be spending most of my time at the command center."
Evie laughed a bit, though it lacked humor. "And we've learned how safe that always is." She remarked dryly. Not only had the original been destroyed in Paradias's last stand but way back when Ben was forced to work against the rangers he had attacked the command center and nearly wrecked it then as well.
"Don't forget though that we won't be alone." Doug now said. "Tommy, Jason, Kat, and the space rangers will be there as bodyguards of a sort. To say nothing of the other rangers and Donnie, who came here to help us reestablish our command center."
Evie frowned a bit but had to grant that one. "Yeah, I guess you guys are a bit more protected then normal." She allowed and then hugged him. "But for me, please try to be careful."
Doug hugged her back. "For you Evie, the world." He replied.
"You be careful out there." Jane said as she looked to Carlos. "If Icegerald was any indication this won't be an easy fight." She gave him a shy smile. "I'd very much like you, all of you I mean, to come back to us in one piece."
"We'll be back Jane, I promise." Carlos said and reached out to take her hand and squeeze it softly. Jane smiled before moving forward and kissing him on the cheek gently. "And if you really want to check up on us, we are just a call away." He reminded her as he placed his hand on his yellow hued iPhone.
"Alright you guys." Mal said in a gentle but authorative voice. "It's time to move out." Both would be couples exchanged another quick hand squeeze before Anna, Ellie, Alex and the active Auradon rangers started down the steps and toward Arendelle.
"Do you wish Snow and Rose had been here to say goodbye?" Mal asked Evie as they walked together, though the purple haired girl's hand was in Ben's hand. Sometimes Evie privately wished that Doug could be around more often but didn't want to begrudge her friends their stolen moments.
"Part of me says yes." Evie answered honestly. "But I think about Belle's face when she sees the three of you leaving and I hate to see Snow like that." She had yet to see Rose's expression in a situation like that but was already sure it couldn't be more heartbreaking.
"Sometimes I think it would be better if our parents didn't know we did this kind of thing." Audrey now voice from behind the four of them. "My mom worries every time we go into a fight and I don't know how to promise that everything will be okay, because we can't know that."
"How would we explain going out like this though?" Lonnie questioned softly. "We'd be gone for days at a time." She didn't want to add that if something went really wrong it could be possible some or none of them would come back. She looked to Will. "What do you think?" She asked her boyfriend now. "We're talking about our parents here, but you also have a little sister to worry about too."
Will frowned a bit as he thought about it. "Somehow it seems weird to imagine Whitney growing up without me around to be there for her." He admitted. "But to think about what she would grow up around if Maleficent or Sermaya or some other evil rules the world is more unthinkable." He took a deep breath. "It's small comfort I suppose, but if I were to die doing this, Whitney would know why and hopefully she could make her peace with that. Maybe it could even inspire her."
"I'd rather influence a younger sibling while being alive." Carlos noted. "At least if I had one."
"Look at it this way though." Ben said. "If the worse were to happen, our parents have someone to help them through it. Be it our other parent," He looked to both Auradon princesses. "Or a daughter." He looked to Will. "Or another sibling." He looked to Evie. "And they'd all help each other beyond that to accept the worst case scenario."
"You're right." Mal agreed with a small frown. "But it also won't matter." She pulled away from Ben to face her friends. "We're not going to end up with the worst case scenario. None of us would ever let anything happen to the other. And I'm not just talking about here." She raised her arms up a little. "We have others to help us, as we all should know over the last couple of days and even more waiting if it came down to it. That's the nature of the legacy we carry, we fight and we do our best to make sure we don't lose anyone in that process."
"And really that's the best attitude to have." Anna said to the teens. "It's the best way to make sure that your parents and siblings and those you care about don't have to worry live the worst case scenario, to think positive and work as hard as you can."
"Is that a hard attitude to have right now?" Jay asked curiously.
"A little." Anna admitted. "But I have to think that as long as my sister is alive, there is still hope to help her and return her to where she belongs, with her family."
As they continued on toward Arendelle they felt it getting colder. Even Ellie, who was somewhat used to the cold herself considering her powers, was finding it very chilly. The blonde princess looked to her friends. "Would it be warmer for you guys to transform now?" She asked.
"Our suits would probably provide us with a certain amount of insulation." Evie admitted. "But if it gets much colder, I don't know if it will really matter." She looked to Ben. "On top of that I can't say it will help you all that much."
"She's right." Carlos agreed. "It would be like putting you in a giant freezer or something."
Mal rolled her eyes at the statement but suspected it was probably true. "Turning back isn't an option but neither is freezing to death before we get to Arendelle." She replied. It made her wonder how the people of that city were doing and was sure Alex and Ellie were wondering the same thing. "We need a plan b here everyone."
"What we need is a magical solution." Audrey answered simply. It would be a lot harder without Jordan and Jane there, as they didn't have their power and had to stay behind. "Maybe we should take a small break so you and Amy can come up with something."
"Wouldn't stopping be a bad idea?" Jay questioned. "If we keep moving we keep circulation in our bodies, and that helps reduce the whole freezing thing."
"Ah, look who actually came through the with the knowledge." Carlos said jokingly and then dodged out of his friend's grasp. Mal and Evie snickered just a bit at the exchange.
"Jay is right though." Lonnie said. "We shouldn't stand still too long, but we can't expect Amy and Mal to come up with an idea on the go either."
"We can take a half hour or so off." Alex said. "We can build a fire and I can keep it going." The good thing about having fire power was that he could start fires regardless of how wet the wood around it was and he could keep the a small area warm for a while.
Mal nodded. "Alright, just long enough for Amy and I to come up with a solution." They found a relatively covered area that would work for that length of time, perhaps a little longer and then the two daughters of Maleficent started to talk.
"Do you want to try to help them?" Lonnie asked Evie.
The blue haired girl shook her head. "They're more magically adept that I am." She reminded Lonnie. The fact Evie didn't exactly try that hard didn't help that situation any. "Besides, there is a saying; too many chefs spoil the recipe."
"What does that mean?" Carlos asked.
"It means that too many people can make a job harder and more complicated." Will translated for him. "It's best to keep it simple, and let the two of them bounce ideas back and forth." He was sitting next to Lonnie, his arms around her waist as if to try to help keep her warm.
For the sake of concentration Mal had decided it was best not to have Ben do the same for her. He was instead keeping an eye out for any trouble, as was Jay and Audrey. Alex kept the area as warm as he could while the rest of the team waited around for the two sisters to come up with a solution.
The self-imposed half hour limit was just about up when Mal stood up with Amy next to her. "Okay, we think we have a plan." She announced. "Naturally magic is involved here, but it's going to have to be more than a simple spell."
"What do you mean?" Ellie asked her.
"Does anyone else have any idea what rune magic is?" Amy now asked them.
"Their little marks that have magic imbued in them." Evie answered. She had at least heard of it from her mother though it wasn't normally the type of magic they practiced. She looked now to the others. "Rune magic is applied and as long as the rune is active on the skin the magic is active as well. When the rune fades, so does the magic." She explained to them.
"Um, not to sound vain or anything but will it leave a mark?" Audrey now asked. "And will it hurt?"
"No." Mal answered, knowing her second in command would have thought to ask those questions. In all fairness she couldn't entirely blame her either. "When the runes fade so will any indication they were ever there and it won't hurt at all. For that it's a simple spell and a touch to the arm."
"It should even keep you warm through the armor too Ben." Amy added helpfully.
"No being a frozen can for you." Carlos joked and then had to dodge an attempt by Mal to hit him in the back of the head for the same lame joke.
"Will it work on me?" Ellie asked and then added, "Without it effecting my powers?"
Mal bit her lip a bit. "I don't know." She admitted. "Under normal circumstances I'd say no, but if this were normal we wouldn't need the rune in the first place. Using your powers in conjunction with the rune might make it run out faster, or it might negate your powers."
"Likewise the rune won't work longer on you just because of your powers." Amy told Alex a bit shyly, who just shrugged as if to say what are you going to do?
Ellie frowned a bit. She hated the idea of the one advantage she had in any upcoming fights being taken away from her. On the other hand, hypothermia didn't appeal to her either. "I guess I have no choice but to test my luck." She decided.
"Don't forget that when we actually morph, if we don't need our blasters we can give them to you two." Will reminded the two Arendelle descendants. "In fact if Amy would be willing to give Alex her blaster, I can give you mine Ellie." He added.
"I'd be okay with that." Amy said a bit happily. Alex smiled back at her gently.
Ellie nodded. "Alright, fair enough." She conceded. "What do we have to do?"
"E, we need your help with this." Mal said. "The sooner we get everyone marked with the warmth rune the sooner we can get our journey back on the road." The blue haired girl nodded in agreement.
A few minutes later each of them had a small flame drawn in black ink on the back of their necks, where they figured it would be pretty hard to get to it in case Ice Queen or someone else had the presence of mind to try to remove the rune from them.
"How much further to Arendelle?" Carlos wondered. He remembered something that Mikey had told him when the turtles had been there, that they had infiltrated a backup headquarters of the Foot clan to rescue Raph and it had been too quite because it had been a trap. He was starting to wonder about that right now.
"Not too much further to the river bank." Anna answered him as she walked beside her son and Lonnie. She too had a warming rune drawn on the back of her neck. "Normally we'd need a boat to cross it but somehow I doubt that's going to be a problem right now." She thought of it frozen over just as it had when Elsa had lost control of her powers during her coronation.
They had just about approached the river bank Anna had spoken of when they saw several figures approaching them now from the borders of Arendelle. The team tensed up, with Alex and Ellie stepping in front of Anna. Of course the rest of the team stepped up to protect their friends. Three men in the center stepped forward now. They couldn't make out the rest of them yet.
"King Ben of Auradon." One of them, the one in the middle now spoke up. He wore ice blue armor and had a sword glistening in an ice colored scabbard on his right hip. "I am General Ryu. Have you come to welcome the new rulers of Arendelle?" He demanded to know.
"New rulers? You stole Arendelle from my mother!" Ellie started and was about to ask about Elsa when Ben held up his hand to stop her.
He was determined to try to settle this diplomatically if at all possible. But Ellie was still right about the true status of Arendelle. "Arendelle does not belong to you. It belongs to Queen Elsa and her family." He answered. "But if you wish to settle in an unclaimed land in Auradon we would gladly help you to do so. Supplies, assistance in building infrastructure. As little or as much help as you desire, we will gladly provide."
The man to the left of Ryu laughed. He too wore armor very similar to his general though at the moment there was no sign of any weapon on him. "He offers help in making something we have already taken for ourselves." He commented with a sneer. "This is a waste of time."
"We can take it back." Mal warned him seriously. "Don't think for a minute we can't."
"Hold your tongue Colonel Grunard." The general said to him, though it didn't hold much command in it. If anything he seemed just as amused. "Why not just offer that assistance to the former people of Arendelle?" He now asked.
"They're still alive?" Audrey now questioned.
The man on Ryu's left gave the Auradon princess a hard look. He wore what looked like the outfit of a Tibetan monk, though it too was ice. His left hand was covered in an icy gauntlet. "Of course they are. We don't wish to kill indiscriminately." He said and then gave her a mirthful smile, which belied his seemingly benign origins. "It would take away from the labor we will need."
"I am the future Queen of Arendelle." Ellie now said harshly. "That city, the people, they don't belong to you. Free them now or you'll have to face the consequences." Truth is no one could really blame her; it was clear this 'diplomatic' talk was quickly going downhill.
"If that is how it meant to be, then so be it." General Ryu announced. "As Master Gauntala has explained, the Queen has taken the city for her own purposes and has her uses for the population. If you wish to deter us then you will have to earn it, Power Rangers." He drew his sword as he made this last statement, proving the Ice Queen knew who they were.
"I don't remember anyone mentioning generals." Jay noted.
"I didn't know there were any generals." Anna told him. "When I left Arendelle to get all of you it was just Ice Queen and those Ice Witch ball things."
"I guess this Ice Queen has upped her game since stealing Arendelle." Mal noted. "Luckily things have changed for the good side too since that time. Let's get to work." As Ben formed the Praeleanthor sword and shield, the rest of the rangers took out their iPhones and input their numbers. Together the team transformed.
Only then did the figures in the background start to come forward. They were humanoid in appearance though devoid of any sort of emotion, it was also impossible to tell if they were male or female, or if either even applied. They held two long swords in their hands.
"She didn't have those either." Anna added, perhaps needlessly.
With his sword drawn Ryu approached Ben. "Let us see if you're worthy." He said.
"Worthy?" Ben questioned. He wasn't sure that someone who stole a kingdom should be question anyone's worth.
"Worthy of the knight title you clearly bare." It was true that Ben did look like a knight. "Worthy of the sword you wield." Some of the minions began to approach but the general held up his free hand. "Don't engage him Ice Guards." He commanded. "No need to give the Praeleanthor sword any more power than it already has."
"You know about the sword?" Ben questioned, a little surprised.
"I know about the sword, the civilization that made it, and the power that destroyed that civilization." Ryu responded with a smile. Before the young king could try to dig into the mind of someone who might have a good understanding of the power his former friend might one day soon wield against them the general slashed at him, forcing Ben to block.
The colonel formed his own sword as he approached Mal. "How ironic that a former villain would defend the people of a naïve land." He remarked as he moved to stab the purple ranger.
She blocked it with her staff and then swept the blade of that weapon away from her. "I was never a real villain." Mal said to Grunard. "You, your friends, and the Ice Queen taking over Arendelle are already an act more evil than anything that my friends and I ever did." She didn't even bother questioning how they knew about the Isle of the Lost.
He laughed a bit. "True enough. I guess that proves how weak you and yours have been all along." He remarked and slashed at Mal again. She raised her staff to block the attack only to receive a hard kick to the stomach for her efforts. She rolled along the snow for a moment before getting up.
"Good is not weak." Mal responded hotly. It was after all a lesson she had to learn of her own accords somewhat recently. "It's stronger than you can imagine. That's why all of the ranger teams are still standing when the dust settles while the bad guys that oppose them are left to the ashes of time."
"Poetic aren't we?" Grunard questioned and then added somewhat dismissively, "That really is more of a thing for Gauntula." He then started toward the purple ranger again. He tried to decapitate her but Mal rolled to the side to avoid the strike and then rose up, intending to slam her staff into his face. The colonel twirled his sword to knock her strike off guard. "Still, if you really believe that your side of good is all that powerful, perhaps it's time to have a serious talk with your other friends. You would learn victory is not nearly as cheap as you think it to be." He then moved out and slashed downward from chest to stomach hard, sending her reeling back.
Gauntula meanwhile was squared off against Audrey. "Tell me princess; are you a master at that bow?" He asked her somewhat haughtily. "Because you will have to be to have a chance of beating a master like me."
"I don't need to be a master of anything." Audrey said to him. "Like my weapon, I can be more than one thing." She readied her bow like she would the baton the cheerleaders of Auradon Prep would use, the sharp edges gleaming softly in what little sunlight escaped the cloud cover.
"We shall see, won't we?" The master questioned and then swung at the red ranger with his gauntled hand. She dodged under it only to receive his elbow to the back of her head. She was sure if she weren't morphed that would have given her a concussion. As it was she was seeing stars in her vision as she hit the ground and rolled onto her back.
It wasn't enough to stop her from blocking the next attack that he tried to drive the gauntlet into her chest. She kicked him in the chest hard to force him away so she could stand again. She still felt a little dizzy from the first impact though. "Something tells me that that thing isn't as fragile as an icy thing should appear to be." She murmured.
"Even the most fragile things can be deadly in the right hands girl." Gauntula reminded her as he moved in to hit her again. She blocked it with one of the sharp ends of her bow. She noted that it didn't do any damage to his gauntlet though it didn't hurt her weapon either.
Then he flexed his hand and grabbed that sharp end. It surprised Audrey just long enough that he pulled her forward and rammed his head hard into her own helmeted one, again causing her to see stars as he tossed her to the side.
The rest of the rangers were finding that the Ice Guards were formidable as well. Lonnie had to use every move her mother Mulan had taught her to even keep up with them, and only a few improvised hip hop moves that unknowingly would have made the original black ranger Zack rather proud.
Carlos was having a hard time because he had to get in really close to attack but the long blades of the guards kept him at bay.
Will was able to use his recursive sword to block one of the guard's attacks and knock the swords off balance long enough to take out one of them only to get overwhelmed by another two guards. Jay likewise found himself in a similar situation.
Evie used her mirror force shield to block a sword attack from one of the guard's but she was finding that it was difficult to keep up with all of them. She kept blocking the multiple strikes directed at her but found that she couldn't get the chance she needed to launch her own offensive. Finally sheer numbers managed to get by her best attempts and she was struck hard across both the back and chest.
Melody was able to block one sword strike with the trident but the other sword got her across the stomach. The guard tried to bring the swords down on the aqua ranger only for her to catch both blades in between the tridents and knock them away, and then she blasted the guard back. As she stood another struck her in the back hard.
Aquiella used her tidal boomerangs to counter another ice guard's swords but she already knew she couldn't charge it up with water as it was just freeze. She didn't know what effect that would have on her weapons and she didn't care to try her luck.
But it was like the guard knew what her weapon was made of. This time when he struck the swords suddenly solidified over the boomerangs. He then launched his foot hard into Aquiella's chest. The ice around the weapons shattered and he gave her an x slash across her chest hard again, forcing her to fall back.
Another seemed to have the idea to try that against Amy as he battled the rose ranger with her rose lance. But Amy had heat powers similar to her crush Alex and was able to channel that to cancel the freezing effect. What she was trying so hard to ignore was that the guards were stronger than she was and when he used another downward strike that she blocked with the rose lance she felt her body shake upon impact before he tripped her. She hit the ground hard and only activating her intangibility saved her from two swords in the chest.
The ice guards moved in and struck the rangers hard, forcing them to the ground hard. They rolled close to Alex, Ellie and Anna.
Audrey was starting to get up when Gauntula hit her in the chest hard with his gauntled hand and she was sent flying into Lonnie and Aquiella.
Mal swung her staff at Grunard only for him to dodge under it and then come up with his sword, hitting the purple ranger backwards where she flew into Evie and Carlos.
Ryu swung at Ben and he blocked it with his shield. He tried to bring the Praeleanthor sword on the general but he dodged the strike and brought his knee into Ben's chest hard. As the young king stumbled backwards the general moved in and struck him hard, sending him crashing into Jay and Audrey.
Anna quickly picked up Amy's blaster and shot at Gauntula but he raised his icy gauntlet and blocked the attack. Ellie tried to use her own ice powers but it seemed to dissipate just upon contact. She let out a frustrated sigh and reached for Lonnie's blaster.
The ice guards began to advance on them and with no other ideas Alex raised a wall of fire in front of his mother and his friends. It got the ice guards to halt their advances.
"That won't protect you or your friend's boy." Ryu warned Alex.
From the edges of the fire they could see Gauntula place his gauntled hand fist inward at them. Then both Ryu and Grunard placed their blades on top of the gauntlet. Then the master extended his fingers and the a huge beam of ice, far greater than anything Ellie had produced to date, struck all around them.
Most startlingly the ground around them started to crack, as if it were freezing and shattering the earth around them, and a moment later they felt the ground beneath them give way. As they tumbled into the darkness an avalanche of snow seemed to follow them, and Alex reached over and grasped Amy's hand…