Ben had no idea what Mal and the other rangers were going through but if he did he would have been even more surprised than he already was to find himself in a grand dining room. It was a bit of a shock since it wasn't the one in Auradon but he knew the look well enough. He figured they were in Arendelle. "What in the…" Ben started.
It was then he noticed that it was cold around him. But he didn't feel it through his armor because he wasn't in his armor. He didn't remember powering down or being forced too. Then he heard a door open and he turned to see Ice Queen standing there. "Where are we?" He asked.
"The banquet hall of my castle in Arendelle." Ice Queen said simply. "I did have the notion that we could talk this out before all of you paid the price."
"You're joking?" Ben questioned. "Not only would it be stupid to let you keep Arendelle, a kingdom you forcibly took from its rightful queen, but it would be really ignorant to think that you wouldn't go any further than that."
"Arendelle is mine now yes." Ice Queen acknowledged simply. It was on Ben's tongue to point out that was why any 'deal' wouldn't work. "But we can still negotiate the safety of the rest of your kingdoms. And let me give you some proof of my sincerity." She snapped her fingers. Ben turned to see Audrey, Lonnie, Aquiella and Will brought into the room by several of the Ice Guards. They didn't look worse for the wear at least. "You see, I could have killed them all and yet I didn't."
"That's because you know that you'll be in even more trouble when Jay, Mal and the others get here." Audrey said to her coldly.
"One can only assume they're still alive." Ice Queen said with a dismissive wave of her hand as if she didn't care if they were still alive or not. And she probably didn't, Ben would wager. "My generals are entertaining them right now." Now she gave a cruel grin. "Of course if you handle this negotiation with all do speed you might get them back alive. If not…" She again shrugged dismissively.
"You can't expect any of us to willingly sacrifice a kingdom." Will commented with a glare of his own.
"I'm sorry, the royals were talking." Ice Queen said with a derisive glance at Will. "You're simply the son of a peasant, lucky to be where you are." Will looked ready to retort and one of the Ice Guards hit him in the back of the knee with his staff and he fell to knees. Audrey and Lonnie looked ready to try to defend him but stopped themselves. The Asian princess contended herself with checking on Will.
"He's right you know." Aquiella now said. She figured it was 'safe' for her to talk since she was a princess of Atlantica. "You can't possibly expect that we would sacrifice a kingdom."
"Even at the expense of your friends," She looked to the Asian princess. "Family." She looked to Aquiella, referring of course to her cousin Melody who could be a princess of Atlantica and of course was still a princess and heiress to her father Eric's kingdom. "And loved ones." She looked at Ben and Audrey, referring to Mal and Jay.
Ben thought she was selling Mal and their friends short. To that end he decided to take a chance; enter into 'negotiations' with the Ice Queen in order to give their friends time to defeat the generals and find their way here. "Even if we were to release Arendelle to you, you would still have to release the people that live here."
"Of course." Ice Queen seemed to agree too easily. "I don't need them, take them. Place them wherever you desire. I have my own people waiting."
Audrey noticed Ben seemed taken aback and guessed that was not what he was expecting to hear. She knew her best friend and former flame well enough to know he was going for a stalling negotiation and that had just seemed to backfire on him. Then she had an idea. "That includes the former Queen of Arendelle Elsa." She said. They had no way of knowing she had been forced to become Icesha or that she had been freed from that state of being.
"I'm afraid that's not possible." The Ice Queen announced a little too easily. "She has other obligations."
"Excuse me?" Audrey questioned. "Her obligations would be to her kingdom, which you robbed her of. Her obligations would be to her people, who have lost their homes to you. Her obligations would be to her sister, daughter, and nephew." She thought to mention Kristoff but thought it better not to give the Ice Queen more to use against them if she didn't already know.
"She has no kingdom now, no people." Ice Queen replied hotly as she turned to face the brunette princess imperiously. "Her only obligation now is to me and the ice barrier." Ben knew she had to be talking about wherever she had been resurrected and came from.
"What do you care about this ice barrier thing anyway?" Audrey now questioned with as much force as their opponent. Ben noticed from the other doors came Grunard, the last standing general and more Ice Guards. "You didn't come from there. How did you even get there anyway, the power rangers destroyed you?"
It was clear from the smoldering look in her eyes that she remembered her defeat at the hands of the original seven power rangers. Lonnie wished that her own smoldering anger and hot temper would be enough defeat herself. "Enough of my essence collected in the ice barrier after those pesky teenage brats defeated me in the ice caverns." She told them. They of course had no idea what the ice caverns were. "The generals were able to solidify that essence and it was strong enough for me to reshape myself."
"Then what are you doing in Auradon, Arendelle in particular?" Aquiella asked now.
"I learned that after destroying me the ranger's went on to end the Shadow King's reign. I had nowhere to go to, to regroup. Arendelle presented that place." Ice Queen answered with an odd combination of amusement and scorn. "A launching place where I could get my revenge on the power rangers."
It occurred to Will to wonder if she realized how much time had passed on Earth. There were more than seven rangers now. He wasn't quite clear on the numbers but was pretty sure they were in triple digits.
"You can forget it." Ben said to her calmly yet with full conviction. "We won't let you have Arendelle and we won't let you have Queen Elsa. We won't let you make this your stronghold on your way to taking over Auradon and then leading a massive force to Earth."
"So be it young king." Ice Queen replied. Grunard drew his sword and started toward Ben. He formed his sword and shield but realized he didn't have time to transform.
Will moved, striking one of the Ice Guards in the stomach hard and knocking him back. Aquiella and Lonnie drove hard kicks into the Ice Guard around the three girls. They all stood back to back, ready to fight but with no chance to improve their odds by transforming.
"This doesn't look too good." Audrey noted. "What do we do now Ben?"
"We try to fight until we can't." Ben answered. He was already planning on attacking some of the Ice Guards until the Praeleanthor sword responded. Then he would strike at the Ice Queen or Grunard and hope for the best.
"It doesn't look at all for you heroes." Ice Queen said menacingly. "The five of you are surrounded and can't morph. You don't have the cold fire to defeat me either. You are done." They started to advance on the surrounded team.
"Thanks for answering so many questions there." They heard Mal say from above them. They all looked up, the five teens gasping with relief as they saw their remaining team members standing behind the balcony that overlooked the dining hall. They were fully transformed. "You better hope your essence holds together again or you won't be coming back from this fight."
"Will, look." Lonnie said as she pointed up to the two things they didn't know about. Ellie as the fully restored Ice Dame and the Highlands Ranger, who they could only assume was Miranda. "Looks like we have more surprises than we thought."
"Where did she come from?" The Ice Queen demanded to know as she looked up at the Highlands Ranger, who had not been there as far as she had known.
"A long way from here." Miranda said. "But I had to come down here in order to help my friends take ye down once and for all and free Arendelle."
They leapt down and landed in front of their friends. "And I have another surprise for you." Alex said as he took out the cold fire. The Ice Queen took a step back as Grunard and two Ice Guards took steps forward to protect her. Alex didn't want to point out he had no idea how to use it.
"Time to get to work guys." Mal said to Audrey, Lonnie, Will, Aquiella and Ben. The young king nodded and combined his sword and shield as the four teens took out their iPhones, input their numbers and transformed into power rangers.
"You're other two generals and that Trishula dragon are gone." Miranda said to Grunard as she approached him with her grizzly blades raised. "You and the Ice Queen are the last thing keeping us from rescuing Arendelle."
Grunard tried to lash out at Miranda and she dodged the attack. He then unleashed an energy blast from his sword at Mal, Alex and Evie. The two girls flinched and fell to the side as Alex was knocked backwards, and the cold fire went flying back to the back of the dining hall.
"We have to get that." Ellie called out to the other rangers. The Ice Guards seemed to have multiplied even further, making it even harder to get to the only weakness the Ice Queen had.
"Looks like you're all butterfingers." Ice Queen said as she was now in front of Alex. She struck him hard in the chest, making him tumble back into Ben and Will. She then raised her arms and summoned a huge blizzard that shattered the windows around them in order to get into the building. It was enough to blind them all for a moment.
"Mal?" Amy called out. "What do we do now?"
"We need that cold fire." Mal announced. "Ellie, Melody, Aquiella, Alex, Amy, try to get by the Ice Guards to get it." She noticed Grunard seemed to have the same idea. "Miranda, Ben. Stop Grunard from doing the same thing." She looked to Audrey, Evie, Carlos, Will, Lonnie and Jay. "We have to keep the Ice Queen at bay until we have the cold fire."
"Right." Her team mates acknowledged before going off on their assignments.
"How very ironic." Ice Queen said contemptuously as the seven rangers approached. It reminded her of her confrontation with the original rangers, at that time Tommy had been the green ranger, his powers verging of failing because of the pressure Lord Zedd would put on them. "It's time to avenge my loss."
"She does know that we're not actually the power rangers who defeated her before right?" Carlos questioned rhetorically.
"It doesn't matter." Evie answered him anyway. "We're here to defeat her now, and clearly the color combinations then and now haven't eluded her grasp. We just have to remember we're fighting someone who sees us as more than who we are and that makes her dangerous."
"She can see what she wants." Jay commented. "Just as long as she doesn't look past us."
"Without that cold fire, I don't know if it will even matter." Lonnie reminded them all simply.
"Then let's hope the rest of the team gets a hold of it." Mal said to them. "Let's get this started." They each formed their weapons and got ready to fight the Ice Queen. Jay and Carlos were the first ones to move in to strike her, and as they had been warned the Ice Queen seemed to teleport backwards and then unleashed a stream of icicles at the two boys, knocking them backwards.
"Okay, have it your way." Audrey declared and raised her elemental bow. She formed fire arrows and aimed them at the Ice Queen before unleashing them. Lightning quick their adversary dodged behind a pillar. Then she was out and unleashed a beam of frozen energy that slammed right into Audrey and made the red ranger collide with Will and Lonnie.
"M, I have an idea." Evie said to her chosen sister. "But I can't have her paying attention to me."
Mal nodded. "I'll keep her distracted E." She promised her. "But whatever you're going to do, make it fast. She's a hit and runner, and I emphasize the runner part." Mal approached her with the dragon's eye staff but refrained from a direct charge, having already seen what she would do based on how she handled Jay and Carlos.
Ice Queen watched the purple ranger approach with amusement. "The daughter of Maleficent. How interesting that you would be in the side of good." She said snidely.
Mal couldn't help but roll her eyes even if no one could see it. "Yeah, yeah. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that one." She drawled. "Can we just fight already or do you want to run and duck this one too?"
"Those who know when to strike and when to avoid are the ones who live to fight another day." Ice Queen said. "Unless of course you rely on luck, like all of you have done your entire careers."
"Let's see who has that strike and avoid thing down then." Mal said to her. She moved in toward the Ice Queen, who practically teleported away. She appeared behind Mal, but the purple ranger anticipated that one and rolled to the right as the Ice Queen tried to stab her in the back with a large icicle. She tried to follow up and Mal blocked with her staff.
It was actually not entirely what Evie was hoping for as she didn't want to risk hitting Mal. Still, she didn't think she'd get another opportunity and was determined to try and take it. She activated her mirror force shield. In any other circumstance she would have gone with what was the best attack, in this case her blazing mirror force attack. But for the potential safety of Mal, she had to go with another attack; in this case her radiant one.
Ice Queen saw it coming though and twirled herself and Mal around so that the purple ranger took the impact. She fell to the ground, coughing just a bit at the impact. "Nice shot blue ranger." She said and then was in front of Evie. She slammed her in the chest hard and sent her crashing to the ground hard.
As they were fighting the rangers tried to get to the cold fire but the Ice Guards were relentless, as if they knew that if they lost this fight their hold in Auradon was finished. One of them almost gutted Amy, and she let out a gasp of fright even as she made herself intangible. If she hadn't seen it coming she might have been on the ground right now.
"Be careful." Aquiella said to her as she used her tidal boomerangs to take out that Ice Guard. "We can't lose you now."
"I know." Amy replied. "Thanks for the help."
Grunard slashed by Melody and by Ben. Alex was right behind him and stopped in shock as Grunard stopped abruptly. "No." He growled. "It flew here when the Fire Knight lost his grip. I know it was." He then turned and tried to slash at him while asking, "What did you do with it?"
Alex blocked the sword attack with his tonfa's. "You're kidding me, right?" He questioned the general. "Even if I did know I sure wouldn't be telling you."
"We have to find it." Ben said to them. "Mal, Lonnie and our friends need it to defeat the Ice Queen."
Amy kicked an Ice Guard aside as she and Aquiella came to Melody's side. "We don't even know what we need to do to make it work." She reminded them.
"One step at a time." Miranda said to her. "Let's find the thing before we worry about using it." She took out a couple of the seemingly endless Ice Guards.
"I'm so sorry M." Evie said as Mal came to her side. Behind them their chosen isle brothers, Will, Audrey and Lonnie weren't far behind them.
"Not your fault E." Mal promised her as she and Audrey helped their leader stand.
As Ice Queen started toward them from the shadows Elsa stepped out of them, surprising Lonnie and Audrey since they didn't know the Queen of Arendelle had been restored. "Thera." The blonde said simply. "Or that's what you called yourself when we first met. Who was she?"
The Ice Queen seemed shocked to see her there. "A goddess, the goddess of Earth to be precise." She finally said hatefully. "The same wretched goddess who brought those power rangers to stop us the first time."
"It must have been a source of amusement to you then, to gain my trust with the name of a goddess." Elsa commented with ice in her voice. "I know what you planned. To take my kingdom, and use it as a springboard to attack Auradon, to attack my world. Then attack Earth and get revenge on the rangers. I won't let that happen."
"And you were going to force Queen Elsa to help by making her Icesha." Carlos added. "Plan on using anyone else for your ridiculous revenge fantasy?"
"It doesn't matter." Elsa said to the yellow ranger simply. "It ends here. It ends now."
"You know better than anyone else that I can't be defeated." Ice Queen said to her. "They don't have what it takes."
"They will." Elsa promised her. "After I use this." She let the cold fire finally show up in the palm of her hands. "They might not know how to use this, but I do." She revealed. It was an instinct she didn't understand, but it was the same instinct that had told her Anna had managed to get to Auradon safely. "Consider this my revenge for what you did to me, to my people and to my family." With that she held the cold fire up in her left hand, with her right hand she unleashed her own ice power to shatter the cold fire, where the fragments were then blown up and directed right into the Ice Queen.
They seemed to hone in on her and slam right into her. She went flying back with a howl of pain and when she stood again she was smoking all over, it was clear she had been weakened.
Elsa looked to Mal. "Finish it up guys." She said to them. "Show her why the power rangers are still the best."
It was then that each of them felt an unusual sensation, like they weren't alone. It almost, but not quite, felt to Mal and Jay like the kindred enchantment spell that Lonnie had suggested when they were being held captive in the Black Sands of Agrabah that Evie had to direct. Except this time it wasn't their team mate's powers they were feeling. Instead Mal felt Amber's energy, Audrey felt Jason's energy, Evie felt Billy's energy, Carlos felt Aisha's energy, Lonnie felt Kimberly's energy, Jay felt Zack's energy and Will felt Tommy's energy.
With this seeming influx of extra energy an idea formed in Mal's mind. "Let's finish this off guys, not just for us, but from our friends, who I know she's glad couldn't be here, even if they are when it matters the most." She said. "Let's form the Auradon blaster."
"Um, only the six of us can do that Mal." Lonnie reminded her.
"Trust me." She said to the pink ranger and then looked to Audrey. "You and I are up first."
Audrey nodded. "Alright." She replied. As Mal placed her dragon's eye staff, Audrey placed her elemental bow underneath it.
Evie was about to place her mirror force shield when her chosen sister held up her hand. "Wait a minute E." She said to her and looked to Will. "Your turn." When the green ranger looked at her curiously she explained to him, "Trust me on this. Place your recursive sword underneath Audrey's bow, the sharp end pointing out." He nodded and then did just that. It surprised them all to see that the weapon stuck. "Alright E, guys. You know what to do."
Evie placed her mirror force shield in the back, where the compacts folded out. Then on top of Jay placed his soul scimitar, Lonnie placed her hurricane tessens and Carlos placed his earthquake claw daggers.
"Hey check it out." Carlos said as they took a hold of the Auradon blaster. "The Auradon Blaster 1.2 version." He laughed a bit. In his mind the 1.1 version was the one where Amy would place rose lance on top with the other three weapons.
"Think there's a 1.3?" Evie now wondered. She saw no reason why they couldn't have this formation with Amy's rose lance on top of it.
"That's something we'll have to try when another time." Mal said to them. "Right in the here and now, this is for us to do." Again they felt it; it was almost as if it wasn't just them doing this but the original seven who had stopped the Ice Queen so long ago.
And as the Auradon rangers took aim and it wasn't just them the Ice Queen saw. She saw in her mind's eye the seven power ranger's aiming their own power blaster, the dragon dagger uniquely fixed on top of the power sword, and in her mind's eye it was two teams of ranger's that fired the finishing shot that would again destroy the meddlesome queen witch once again.
"Looks like you've lost." The future queen of Arendelle said to Grunard as she approached the last standing ice barrier general backed by Melody, Alex and Ben. "Surrender."
"The day is indeed lost." Grunard said with anger in his voice. "But I will not surrender without making sure one of you pays." With that he double slashed his way past Alex and Ben. Alex crashed hard into Melody and furthermore into Aquiella. Ben lost his footing on a patch of ice and fell hard, the wind being knocked out of him as hit the floor. The Praeleanthor sword landed on the ground.
"Our Queen is lost, and now so to shall the princess of Arendelle." Grunard declared and slashed at Ellie. She moved to block with her ice chakrams only to have them knocked out of her possession. He slashed her hard and Ellie fell, her powers choosing that moment to go out on her. "Goodbye girl." He growled as he moved to bring his sword down on her.
"No!" Miranda yelled out as she slid in between the general and her fallen friend. She blocked with her grizzly blades. The force of the attack disarmed both the general and the Highlands ranger. She moved in to get her weapons back but Grunard moved and brought his elbow down hard on the small of her back.
"You'll regret getting in my way." Grunard promised as Miranda painfully moved to sit up.
Grunard moved to bring his fist down on her, while she brought her arms up to try to defend herself. Then there was a singing sound of sorts and then in her right hand she held the Praeleanthor sword, which had intercepted the attack that otherwise would have hit cleanly against her. "What?" Grunard questioned.
"Wasn't counting on that little trick." Miranda replied though in truth it was as much of a shock to her as it was to the general. Then she moved, kicking him back hard and then flipping to her feet. She powered up as much of her own energy as she could into Praeleanthor sword before bringing it down on him. As she turned to face Alex, Melody, Amy, and Aquiella checking on Ellie the last remaining general of the ice barrier was destroyed.
"Are you okay?" Amy asked Ellie as she and Melody helped her up.
"Yes, thanks." Ellie said with a smile. She then smiled at Miranda. "And thank you again. It seems this adventure has me doing that a lot lately."
"I'm sure ye'll get to return the favor at some point." Miranda promised her with a laugh of her own. Then she turned as Ben came over to them and offered him the Praeleanthor sword. "I believe this is yours, your majesty." She said. As Ben took it she added, "That weapon sure gets around."
"It does at that." Ben agreed with a small laugh of his own. "That's what happens when it's somewhat intelligent." With that he sheathed the sword as they all turned to see the seven rangers approaching. Jay and Audrey were hand in hand, as was Lonnie and Will. Mal rushed up and threw her arms around Ben. They embraced happily for a moment, Ben planting a few kisses on the top of Mal's head. Then he let her go so she could check up on her twin.
Ellie was able to get up and hug her mother again. "It's all over. We won and you're okay." She said as she and her mother embraced and the young princess placed her head on Elsa's shoulder, finally allowing her tears of worry and fear to flow a little.
"I'm okay. We won." Elsa agreed as she hugged her daughter. When Alex approached she held out her left hand for her nephew, who took it and squeezed it gratefully.
The doors burst open, startling them all. But it was only Anna rushing in. "You're all okay." She gasped happily and then ran over joining her sister and her niece in the family reunion, this time bringing Alex in as well. "You're all okay." Anna repeated quieter with tears falling down her cheeks.
Ben came over and placed his hands on Mal's shoulders, kissing her cheek gently. She meanwhile had her sister's hands as they watched the happy reunion. "I'm glad we were able to set things right." He said. "You did great Mal, all of you did."
"It wasn't just us." Audrey now revealed to him as she had Jay's arms around her waist. "I felt like we had help. From Jason, Kim, Tommy and the others."
"I felt it too." Mal said. "It almost felt like that kindred enchantment you told us about."
"This isn't over though." Elsa now said to her family. "We have people to set free and a kingdom to rebuild." The others agreed wholeheartedly as they left the ruined hall to start just that.