The blizzard in front of Ellie made it impossible for her to see anyone, even her cousin Alex or Amy despite the fact she had been right next to them to check on them after the three generals of the ice barrier had blasted the team.
Something jumped out of the blizzard and grabbed at her and the blonde Arendelle princess jumped but recovered herself quickly as she realized it was just Amy having thrown herself against her, and the rose haired girl had let out a small gasp of shock too. "Sorry." Amy said. "I thought…well I don't know but…"
"It's fine." Ellie promised her as she pat her shoulder softly. "I don't know what's going on either but it seems so weird." She then realized something. "Weren't you transformed?"
Amy nodded. "I was." She confirmed. "I think the blizzard shorted that out. Hopefully I can transform again if I have too."
Ellie nodded in agreement. "It'd be nice if we didn't have to worry about it but I doubt we're that lucky." She commented.
"Mal, Ben, Alex!" Amy called out now though she still stuck close by Ellie. "Can you hear me?" After a beat she added, "Can anyone here me?"
Ellie tried now. "Aunt Anna! Jay! Evie!" She called out. She was of course unaware that Anna and Olaf had been left behind compared to wherever they were now.
An Ice Guard landed in front of them and on instinct Amy jumped just a bit and Ellie raised her hand to summon an icicle shard to protect her and the rose haired girl when a trident slammed into the back of his head and then fell to the ground, then got destroyed as he was stabbed.
"Nice to see a couple of familiar faces." Melody said to them as Amy ran forward and embraced her friend. Then Ellie and Melody shared a brief hug too. "I was starting to think I was alone in this…this fog covered blizzard world."
"It still might just be the three of us." Ellie said to her. She frowned a bit. "And it sucks that I don't really have a way to help keep us safe."
"Looks like you still wanted to try." Melody pointed out with some amusement at the half formed icicle in the blonde's hand.
"Yeah." Ellie admitted as she none the less dropped it. "Don't know how much that would be worth around here though."
Two more Ice Guards showed up and Melody used her trident to block one of the spear attacks. The other aimed for Ellie and she brought up an ice shield to protect her. Amy kicked him in the stomach, a rather painful blow despite the fact she was not transformed. She and Ellie then tried to drive an elbow into his head only to be grabbed by the wrists and tossed to the ground hard.
The one Melody had prevented from striking twisted and disarmed Melody before hitting her in the face with the blunt end of the spear. The daughter of Ariel landed hard beside her two friends as the guards began to converge on them again.
The two started to advance on the girls when their legs were brought out from under them. As they hit the icy looking ground hard they looked up to see Carlos. He brought his fists down on their heads hard and then looked up to the girls. "Hey, glad to see you three are okay" He said.
"Glad to see you're okay too." Melody said to him as she stood up and helped Amy up. The rose haired girl hugged Carlos as the mermaid girl helped up the Arendelle heiress. "I take it you haven't run into anyone else?" She asked.
Carlos shook his head. "Nope. You're the first three I've seen aside from those two clowns." He replied as he handed Melody the trident that the Ice Guard had knocked out of her hands.
"And you four will be the last ones that any of you will see." They heard Ryu say as he stepped out of the foggy mists, Icesha by his side. "We're going to end you once and for all."
"Think we can morph?" Carlos asked Melody and Amy.
"I think we're about to find out." Melody replied. She transformed into the aqua ranger as Carlos and Amy took out their iPhones, input their numbers and transformed into the yellow and rose ranger.
Ellie formed an ice blade into her hands. "There are only three of you; you can't tell me that you don't need whatever help I can provide now." She remarked.
"No we can't." Carlos agreed.
Icesha leapt up high and nearly came down on the four of them. Ellie took a step back as the two girls rolled to the side. Carlos had the misfortune of rolling closer to Ryu though, who tried to take advantage of the situation and bring the sword down on the yellow ranger. With a slight gasp he brought up his earthquake claw daggers to block the attack.
"Amy, help Ellie deal with Icesha." Melody said to her friend. "I'll help Carlos deal with Ryu."
The rose ranger nodded. "Okay." She agreed. She hoped this worked out well. She had never been around the team when it was this small. Even Mal had started out with four others for a total of five, and Lonnie had shown up not long after that. She didn't want to think about where her sister and their other friends were right now.
Icesha formed her own ice blade and clashed with Ellie. It made the Arendelle princess wonder what exactly her opponent was and how she had learned to do this kind of thing. She herself had had a vague idea of how to do that and had received some vague training from her mother Elsa but hadn't truly learned how to do it until going to Auradon Prep.
Amy tried to come in behind Icesha only to have six Ice Guards appear in front of her. "Oh my pink, this is not a good time." Amy remarked as she twirled her rose lance around and prepared to clash with them.
Melody kicked Ryu and he stumbled back to find himself face to face with the two rangers. "This hardly seems fair." Ryu said to them and then snapped his fingers, summoning several Ice Guards to his side. "Much better." He pointed to them. "Get them."
"You call that fair?" Carlos balked in annoyance as the Ice Guards started toward them.
"They always did love the numbers advantage." Melody noted with annoyance as she dodged under one of the attacks and then slashed him with the trident. "Or the power advantage."
Carlos blocked one of the spear strikes and shot his knee into the monster's chest as hard as he could to make him fall back before turning to another one.
Icesha lashed at Ellie and she blocked it with her own icy blade. It almost shook her to her very core and she wished she had her powers to back her up. She didn't voice the frustration directly but she was sure she hadn't been able to hide it; the cold fire may have restored her cousin Alex's powers but it hadn't helped her. She had still been virtually helpless this entire journey and she didn't know why.
"You don't belong here." Icesha said to her. "You contribute nothing to this already pointless little endeavor your pathetic friends have made to save Arendelle." She pulled back and swung again, the young princess dodging the attack. "Why did you come here anyway?"
"Because Arendelle is my home." Ellie said. "Princess Anna is my aunt. And the Queen of this land, Elsa, is my mother." She glared at her opponent. "Where is my mother?" She demanded to know.
"I don't know anything about this Queen." Icesha said as she tried to stab Ellie. The lithe princess dodged to the side and gashed her arm hard. She hissed in pain and Ellie realized she had drawn blood, red blood. She couldn't remember a monster ever bleeding.
Amy saw the move to and let out a gasp. "Blood, I don't think I've ever actually seen a monster bleed before." She remarked.
Carlos saw Ryu glance over at them as he stood by and let the Ice Guards fight him and Melody. He had a feeling Ryu was trying to keep an eye out on them in case. But he didn't understand what that case might be.
Icesha turned toward Ellie though she seemed much more cautious. "You're better than I gave you credit for. In fact I didn't think you'd get a blow in on me." She said. She started to pace her now. Ellie matched her pace and as she did she noticed that it wasn't just blood she was seeing.
She was seeing blue as well; it was light and almost filmy. It didn't make sense to her, it didn't seem possible. "No." She whispered. "No way."
"What is it?" Amy tried to call out to her. She had almost taken out the Ice Guards. Just one more.
Icesha charged forward and slammed into Ellie hard. She hit the ground hard and the creature stood over her. Amy moved forward by the last guard and tackled her only to receive a shock. As they landed the rose ranger rolled off and went to Ellie.
"Ellie." Amy said softly. "We can't kill her."
"I don't think we could." Ellie moaned. "She's stronger than the four of us can handle."
"It's not just that." Amy corrected her. "That's Elsa, your mother."
"What?" Ellie gasped. She had already started to suspect it after the filmy blue material on the arm but she had tried to reject that. Amy reached down and touched the blonde princess's hand…
The last thing Elsa remembered was telling Anna to run. She had to protect her younger sister and someone had to make sure the world knew what was going on in Arendelle so that they could be prepared. She hoped Anna could make sure Kristoff didn't return to Arendelle and that she could keep her daughter and her nephew safe. She had then blacked out.
She found herself vaguely dreaming of being in Atlantica, the first time she had met her daughter's friends and several of their parents, including former king Adam and queen Belle of Auradon. They had met with the Neptune Kingdom to find out why Undine had had their support during an attack. It hadn't turned out to reveal anything helpful. They had all agreed they were either truly ignorant or had been really good at hiding something. Even Aquiella had confirmed that.
Then suddenly Belle had looked to her. "This is going to be bad, but don't lose yourself. Don't lose your faith. My children will bring you back." She had said.
Elsa looked at her in confusion. "What?" She asked. "What do you mean? Bring me back from what?" Thing started to fade out, the scenery, all of the others she had come with. She suddenly felt very scared and tried to reach out to Belle, "Please, don't leave me, tell me what's going on…"
"Help me." Elsa whispered softly only to find herself gaining consciousness. She was strapped down to a kind of table she didn't recall ever existing in Auradon. She saw Ice Queen and the three generals talking a little further in the room.
But then the Ice Queen turned to look at her. "Don't worry Elsa. You'll be getting help soon enough." She promised as she came forward and stroked the blonde queen's cheek. "You'll be better than ever very soon."
"Where is Anna?" Elsa demanded to know.
"I have forces looking for her right now." Ice Queen promised. "She'll be brought here very shortly. And she will be helped, just as you will be." One of the Ice Guards came over with a light blue orb, which was laid in Elsa's outstretched right hand. "A little power boost, you'll need it." She told the blonde queen.
Then another approached with a squirming blob in his hand. When it saw Elsa it leapt out of his hand and slammed into her hard. It started to grow around her and as some of the tendrils brushed her face and wrapped around her head she let out a scream of pain…
"Mom." Ellie whispered softly. "How could they do that to her?"
"Icesha, destroy the yellow and aqua rangers." Ryu ordered her. He then moved rapidly and slashed Amy across the chest hard before turning to Ellie. "I'll finish you myself."
"You tortured my mother and you turned her into a monster." Ellie said in anger. "You're going to pay for what you did to my mother and my kingdom." She started to rise only for the general to knee her in the face hard. She fell back with a vicious snap and her head hit the ground hard.
"Ellie!" Melody gasped. She was so shocked by the attack that she failed to realize that Icesha hadn't attacked them now.
Amy knew why that was. The brief contact that allowed the rose haired girl to see the truth of Icesha's origins also allowed her to plant some small thoughts of her own. The concern her daughter and nephew showed over them, the feeling of failure and sadness she got from Anna, and the determination of her sister Mal, Ben, and the other rangers to make things right. That things weren't hopeless and they were all ready to fight for the truth. She also liked to believe it was some of Elsa's own motherly instincts fighting to break free and protect her daughter.
"We're coming." Carlos tried to assure Ellie only to get attacked by several Ice Guards again. "Get out of my way you annoying creeps." He shouted out as he started to try to slash his way through them.
Ellie tried to stand up only to feel a hard object crash into her chest. She could feel it was Ryu's boot. He twirled his sword a moment in his hand. "You might be able to free your mother if you got the chance." He said. "But I won't give you that chance. The Ice Guards will keep the three rangers off of me long enough to finish you off once and for all."
He brought his sword down toward the Arendelle princess when it clashed between two blades, moving in like scissors to trap the general's own weapon. "I won't allow ye to do that." Ellie heard a very welcome and distinct Scottish lilted voice say. Then Ryu was kicked off of her and Miranda knelt down to her. "Are ye all right Ellie?"
"Yes, thank you." Ellie said and through her arms around Miranda for a moment. "I am so glad you're here." She confided and then pulled away.
"Fool." Ryu spat. "Getting in my way. And no powers to help you to boot."
Miranda shook her head. "Ellie, I heard what he said. Go and help yer mother." She told the princess. "I'll worry about him." She then looked to Ryu. "I won't let ye hurt my friends. And as for being powerless, I think you'll find ye have another thing coming." She let one blade drop as she pulled out her iPhone, input her numbers 8011 and to everyone's delighted surprise transformed into the Highlands ranger.
"Jane and Doug did it." Carlos said. "At least one more ranger is back in the picture."
"How did you get here anyway?" Ryu demanded to know. He knew the spell that Ice Queen cast to separate the rangers shouldn't have impacted anyone not there.
"I saw that nasty spider thing ye tried to use. It made a huge mess. Meaning though I was close enough to get caught up in whatever it is ye all did." Miranda said as she twirled her bear claw blades in her hands. "Was about ready to jump in myself, but I didn't need to that time."
Ryu struck at the Highlands ranger but was not prepared to deal with her as they had the others. She had not been present during the initial attack or anything prior that the ice barrier generals had been warned of.
"Mom." Ellie said as she started toward Icesha. "What did they do to you?" She wondered softly. "What did they force you to bond to?"
Icesha formed an icicle dagger and threw it at Ellie. For a moment the princess knew she could easily dodge it or block it. But then she realized that that wasn't going to cut it. This monster controlling Elsa didn't need to see her at her strongest. The woman, her mother, trapped within had to see her at her weakest.
"Hold on a sec." Amy started as she read the determination in Ellie's mind. But it was too late as Ellie instead raised her hand and blocked the dagger by taking it into her hand. She felt as well as saw Ellie flinch.
"Nice shot." Ellie grimaced. She had read somewhere that it was better to leave something like a dagger in if a person had been stabbed as one could cause more damage by removing it. "Care to try again?"
"Are you out of your mind?" Icesha demanded to know. Or was it? Amy suddenly thought that might have been more the reaction of a shocked mother than an angry monster.
Ellie shook her head. "No. If anything I know exactly what I'm doing. My path is clear right now." She replied. She continued to walk forward. A couple of Ice Guards tried to attack only for Melody and Carlos to take them down. They now had an idea of what Ellie was trying to do and didn't want to get in her way.
Icesha formed an ice dagger again. "Don't test who's in charge here girl." She warned Ellie. "Or you will lose."
Ellie shook her head. "You're right, you will lose Icesha." She replied. She now knew who the enemy here was and who had to defeat that enemy. And it couldn't be done by any power ranger. She took another step forward, the blood falling from her injured hand.
With a scream Icesha leapt out at Ellie and collided hard with the Arendelle princess. She hit the ground hard and found the monster controlling her mother looming over her with the ice dagger in her hand. She held up her injured hand as if to try to ward off the blow.
If anything though it seemed to cause hesitation. Amy could feel it, it wasn't the monster hesitating. It was the mother inside that was as she saw her daughter's injury, one that in a roundabout way she had helped to cause.
"Finish her off and attack the rangers." Ryu managed to bark out despite the fact he was barely holding his own against the vigorous attacks of the newly restored Highlands ranger.
"Whatever this thing is, you're strong enough to beat it mom." Ellie said to the figure above her, again not talking to Icesha but the person behind the get up. She didn't move an inch, waiting for the blow that could kill her or the proof that her mother had won.
Carlos, Melody and Amy were swarmed with Ice Guards now and they both fought as hard as they could to defeat them. A few Ice Guards finally got through and started in on Miranda. She had to turn her back on Ryu to avoid being literally speared in the back.
The ice barrier general took a step back and leapt to land in front of Ellie. "Finish her off, now." He commanded again. He was starting to assume that the Queen of Arendelle was getting control over the creature Ice Queen had used to possess her.
"I…I will…" She started to say but stopped as she grimaced in what seemed to be pain. Ellie reached up and clasped the hand that did not hold the dagger, leaving some of her own blood on her opponent's hands.
"No." Ryu snapped and kicked Ellie's right shoulder hard, which was the exact same limb that had taken the dagger into the hand. She grimaced in pain as it shot through her arm and even to an extent her entire body.
"You leave my daughter alone." The voice that spoke was definitely not Icesha but rather Elsa. It didn't stop the strike that lashed out from coming from the ice dagger held in hand though. But Ryu seemed to have seen that coming and blocked the strike with his blade.
"The idea was interesting." Ryu said mockingly. "But the execution was horrible, using a human to make it happen." He struck hard and the forming around Elsa dissolved, making the monster no more and leaving a very injured Elsa in that wake. He moved to strike her down for good.
"Mom." Ellie gasped and stood up, taking her injured mother by the shoulders and turning her around so that she would take the blow meant to kill Elsa. Miranda had just gotten the Ice Guards off of her and saw what was going to happen, trying to run over to stop the killing blow. The other three were in no position to stop it any more than Miranda was though.
Ellie wrapped her arms around Elsa, who still seemed to be somewhat confused about what was going on. She in fact was as everything that had happened after the invasion was kind of a half blur of panic, fear and adrenaline. But as Ryu's sword would have landed what could only have been a killing blow it there was a glow from the queen's chest, where her heart was. A moment later a second glow joined from Ellie's chest where her heart was. Then large wings like what Anna remembered saving her from the generals the night she ran to get help from Auradon, except these were like crystalline, seemed to appear around the two Arendelle women and protected them from the strike.
"It's so pretty." Amy couldn't help but say in a small voice.
Miranda too noticed that but she had something more important on her mind. She had made it to Ryu and kicked him away from Ellie and her mother hard. He slashed at her and she ducked under the attack.
Amy had made her way over as the glow faded. Elsa started to fall backwards but Amy barely managed to catch her. Ellie stood straight and for a moment the rose haired girl feared the entity that had possessed the mother had somehow turned to the daughter.
Then she glowed again and the gem in her iPhone absorbed the glow as well. "I don't know what caused this." Ellie said. "But it also did me a huge favor. It's time for me to get to work." She input her numbers 9898 into the iPhone and finally transformed into the Ice Dame. She extended her ice chakrams and tossed one hard into Ryu's face.
Miranda turned to see what happened and smiled. "Well, it looks like I'm not the only one able to return to my former glory." She remarked.
"No." Ellie agreed. "But this never would have happened if you hadn't come here on your own to stand with me. To stand with us." She and Amy came over, followed moments later by Carlos and Melody. Ellie gently helped Amy lay her mother on a small slab. "Let's finish this and find our friends." Ellie said to them.
"We're with you." Melody agreed as she twirled the trident in her hands.
"You can't stop me." Ryu said as he stood up and rubbed his jaw. "You don't have the power. We divided you for conquer for a reason."
"Then ye divided wrong." Miranda said to Ryu. She looked to her friends. "I've got an idea on how to stop Ryu once and for all." She looked to Amy and pointed left, pointed right for Carlos and then at her motion the two drew their lasers. "Stay here and use your trident Melody. Ellie, prepare to give it all ye've got with yer weapons too."
Ryu launched energy at the rangers and Ellie raised a huge ice chunk to block the attack even as Amy and Carlos took their places. Together with Miranda the three rangers formed a very loose triangle spark blast that struck Ryu. It only seemed to stun him.
Melody turned around and blasted him with all the energy of the trident and it sent him flying back with an eventual hard landing. His sword went flying off into the ether and with the fog he lost track of it.
Elle channeled everything into her weapons; her fear and worry for mother and her people, her anger at their attack on her home land, the trouble they had put them all through from Mal's near fatal injuries at the hands of Freezadon to the gory mess of Icerachnid. She then unleashed the massively powered up chakrams even as Ryu tried to stand up and instead got struck with both weapons. With a final cry Ryu fell and exploded into nothing.
"Serves him right." Miranda said.
Ellie leaned down next to her mother, her friends coming up to her. "Mom, mom." Ellie called out. "Are you alright?" She took her mom in her arms.
"Ellie." Elsa whispered. She was clearly very tired. "Your hand…"
"It's fine." Ellie said to her. "Whatever protected us from that blow seemed to heal up my hand and restore my powers." She stroked her mother's hair softly. "That thing that had you…"
"I think Ryu destroyed it." Elsa revealed. "In an attempt to destroy me for refusing to kill you." She took a deep, though somewhat painful breath. "I couldn't fight that thing, not until I saw what you were willing to do to and then I knew I had to find the strength to fight it, to protect you." She stroke Ellie's cheek. "I had to be strong just like my ranger daughter."
"You've always been strong to me." Ellie replied. "I've always known what to fight for, what needs to be protected. Because of you." She looked to her friends. "And right now we have to fight with our friends and protect our world from the Ice Queen."
"How do we do that?" Carlos asked. "We don't know where we are, let alone anyone else."
"I think I know how." Amy said. "I'm going to use my magic to find Mal and take us to her. I just need a little power boost." She looked to Melody who laughed happily and offered her friend the trident.
"I'm glad you're all right and that ye found yer mother." Miranda said as she leaned down next to Ellie and Elsa.
"Again, in part thanks to you." Ellie said. "You came out all this way on your own just to help us and you stopped Ryu from killing me, giving me the chance I needed to break through to my mom." Elsa smiled at both girls softly. "I owe you much more than you could ever know." She figured however that was a problem for after they'd found and reunited their missing team members.
Carlos sat down with them moments later with Melody and Amy. "I think I can take us there now." Amy said to them. "So it's time to go."