Rise of the Fire Spirit

Synopsis: A story taking place after Hypercharged, based on the plot of the 2019 sequel to Frozen. Mickey Mouse, the Power Rangers and the others embark on a quest to uncover the origins of the magical energy emanating from the Sorcerer Hat when not in use. Some time during the adventure, the newly-crowned Queen Anna of Arendelle discovers that she is the Fire Spirit; missing her sister Elsa and knowing that something is missing in her life, she and her husband King Kristoff join everyone on this quest.

Chapter 1—I Hear You

After her wedding to King Kristoff, Anna had been busy keeping Arandelle peaceful. They had recently negotiated amicable treaties with Ataholland. No one knew, but currently, Elsa had exclusively started dating Ryder. It wasn’t known if this was going to strengthen the kingdoms or render it asunder. Elsa wasn’t certain, but Anna, as usual, was an eternal optimist. She had known since the encounter in the Enchanted Forest that Ryder had set his eyes on Elsa. It just hadn’t been made ‘official’, yet.

Royal duties had kept Queen Anna busy and she was doing a splendid job as the newly coronated regent. However, there had been a familiar voice keeping her up at night. The song started out low and faint, but then grew. She knew the voice was that of her mother, Indun. She hadn’t seen her mother since revisiting her ‘essence’ in frozen memories in the Forest. It was as if she were a child again. She was pierced with a sense of unsettling anxiety. For the second time in her life, she didn’t know what to do. On and on the lullaby grew louder.

Where the North Wind meets the Sea

There’s a river full of memory

Sleep, my darling, safe and sound

For in this river, all is found…

Anna awakened with a start.

‘What do you want ? I don’t want to be bothered ! Everything is perfect the way it is ! We don’t need anymore changes !’, she said, through clenched teeth. The voice wouldn’t stop calling her. Reluctantly, she followed it, even though she had to put on extra coats simply to head back into the unknown. It wasn’t as frightening as before, though. This time, a warmth welcomed her. Little did she know, that the flame itself was beckoning her forward to become its mistress.

Chapter 2—The Sorcerer’s Hat Beckons

‘It’s the strangest thing. I can’t seem to put my finger on it. It’s going to be indubitably hard to get to Yen Sid’s hat but I can feel it pulling me in...’, Mickey said.

‘Micheal, remember what happened the last time you wore Yen Sid’s hat.’, Minny warned.

‘I know, Minny, I know ! This is different. This energy is keeping me awake every night.’, Mickey admitted.

‘So that’s why you haven’t been sleeping well the past few nights !’, Minny deduced.

‘Exactly. We have to gain passage, safely into Yen’s realm. Then we have to figure out exactly what this energy is and what it means. Why is it so focused on targeting me ? It doesn’t seem to affect any other toons around us.’, Mickey said.

‘I have no idea, honey. The whole thing is a conundrum. But, with our friends, we’ll figure it out, one way or another. Together.’, Minny said, hugging her husband close. She kissed him lovingly on the cheek, making him turn redder than an Abraham Lincoln rose. Michael knew exactly who he would recruit on his quest. He was also going to enlist the help of Ian and Barley Lightfoot. Those two had been on quite the epic quest themselves. The staff they had inherited from their dad would come in handy too.

Chapter 3—Don’t Wake Yen !

‘Do you remember where the workshop’s location ?’, Zordon began once prompted.

‘Sure, but Yen has the ability to shift space and time, it could be anywhere or any when. I don’t have that kind of access to his hat...Besides, this is dangerous ! Why could the hat be beckoning me anyway ? It doesn’t make sense.’, Michael stated, clearly addlepated about the whole scenario. All of them were confused. It seemed that he wasn’t the only one that had been lead by the ‘siren song’.

‘Look at this...Somehow Anna has gone beyond the Enchanted Forest and entered Yen’s lair.’, Somnibot pointed out. Alpha saw the holograph moving on the map just like everyone else, but it elicited the same response out of all of them.

‘We’re going to need magicians. Lots of them. Consider it a magicians only quest. Chaotic good, bad or neutral, all of them are necessary.’, Delta stated, astutely. Yes, of course that meant they would be enlisting the help of Loki, the Mask, the Green Lantern, Raven and others, but they particularly had to watch Loki like a hawk. Who knows what he would do if he got a hold of Yen Sid’s Sorcerer hat. Any number of horrible events could follow.

Stephen Strange easily granted the original team, bots and magicians into the literal unknown until they reached Yen Sid’s workshop. Barley and Ian had never seen anything like this before even though they had hailed from a fantastic realm.

‘Woah...this is even more epic than when we got to see dad again !’, he clamored.

‘Look at how quaint and rustic his cottage is. Talk about really living one with nature.’, Ian chimed in after his brother finished geeking out over how scenic the wooded, isolated cabin truly was.

Yen was, of course, sleeping soundly. Like any wizard worth his salt, he had a familiar guarding the door.

‘Stealth guys ! Stealth !’, Barley whispered. His girth didn’t allow him much leeway in being covert, but he managed to mask the sound of his footfalls with a mute incantation provided by the staff.

‘Ah, yes, dad’s staff definitely is coming in handily...’, he added, with a flair and gusto. Dundering as Barley could be, he was still the best big brother Ian ever could’ve wanted and the best protector genetics could’ve provided. Barley was particularly cautious and took his steps in a rubato fashion. Everyone followed suit. At least the ‘mute’ spell worked properly. Since the events of seeing their dad and having to say goodbye a second time, the duet had become quite experienced using the staff properly. Their dad would be incredibly proud.

The hat continued to emanate the frequency. Anna had come there as well, guided by a will-o-the-wisp that called himself William.

‘Ye nae be afear’d of me, lassie.’, he would often say.

‘It doesn’t make any sense why you’d be Scottish but, eh, I’ve seen stranger. My family has a penchant for the paranormal. I chalk this off as another normal occurrence.’, she said. William laughed. He had guided Merida, and now, since he had been assigned to Anna to help her achieve her true potential, he was pleased to assist her in her quest to be reunited with Indun, just as Elsa had done before her.

Chapter 4—Signet of the Phoenix

The hat called to Anna. She entered a dream state where her mother spoke. Indun had tears glinting in her eyes.

‘I had always known you had the signet of the Phoenix. Poppy had told me before I saved your dad after the misunderstanding between the Ataholland people and Northumbra.’, Indun said. It had been long forgotten what the misunderstanding had been over. Most likely it had been over trade or a jealousy of elemental magic (which by far was the most powerful of all magic). Her mother had revealed the true root of conflict. It wasn’t over jealousy but over prejudice. This had been overcome recently and the tribes were more connected than ever presently. It was a pity that Indun had to leave due to her heritage. She had been born with fire and ice magic running through her veins and had been supremely powerful. She had to conceal these so fear wouldn’t permeate people’s judgment. After all, horror had always been at the base of clouding people’s judgment.

Anna had seen in the vision that as a baby, she had a signet of a phoenix emblazoned upon the upper left side of her chest. It had been there and only her parents, Elsa and Kristoff had seen it. She had often left that in the background, thinking it wasn’t important, but now it glowed, and blazed brightly.

‘You need this power, now more than ever...You need to join the fight. You and Michael. I only call the worthiest candidates to use my elements wisely. Your hearts are pure.’, the hat said. It was then William made himself truly known. He was actually a wizard in Yen’s class named Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was younger than Yen, but he had died long ago. He could still travel in his spirit form so the rules of physics were always bending to his whims.

‘You have a good understanding of your emotions. Fire is nothing to play with, you understand. That is why I was sent to choose you. Use this wisely. Your part is crucial at this juncture...’, Gilgamesh said before he disappeared. Anna had so many questions and at this time Michael was given his own revelation. All the while, spells were manifesting left and right and the skirmish was getting chaotic. It was difficult to tell who was really winning since everything was so blurred. All the action was happening so fast, it was hard to make heads or tails of anything.

Chapter 5—True Fire Power

The element of fire began to coalesce around Anna. With her hand supine, she focused the energy hotly enough to form a dancing flame. The flame obeyed her every whim and understood her even on a subatomic level.

‘Time to start a fire...’, Anna thought to herself. Nothing could withstand her elemental abilities. It wasn’t long that Elsa had joined the fight. Even other wizards that the gang hadn’t seen in a while, like Merlin, Gandalf, McGonnegal, the girls from Winx and WITCH had all been involved in subduing the adversary. A little extra help from Amethyst came in handy as well. She hadn’t been seen in ages but she was probably the most powerful among them other than Raven and Stephen Strange.

Michael at last had surrendered to the magnetism of the hat. Yen Sid wouldn’t be happy that the hat had chosen him as his successor, but alchemy worked in funny ways oftentimes. He had been treated to a vision of his past and how Walt had always been so hard on himself about his own mother’s death. The true successor of the sorcerer’s hat had been Michael all along. Yen would be receiving his own, since the hat replicated itself without much effort.

‘Mickey, Yen is never going to know. Besides, we’re meant for each other. I am not ready for battle at this time, but when the moment is right, I will call and you can use me for good.’, the hat reminded him. Out of the unusual alternate dimension, all of them returned and were quickly dissipated to their home realms. Oddly enough when they had come home, they found themselves in bed.

Chapter 6—It Wasn’t A Dream

Anna couldn’t believe what had happened. She was fairly sure she had been in another realm entirely. She could remember the sights and sounds as well as being blessed by the fire spirit itself. She even reunited with her mom. Having all that come back to her made her tear up. The tears were bittersweet, but she wiped them away, wondering how she could’ve been in bed that whole time. She awoke Kristoff, who had been in the dream and wondered if even her new firepower had been nothing but a reverie.

Kristoff waited for the miracle of flames to take place. A spark took root and her hand and came to life. It was wild, but calm and steady. It tangoed around her hand for a bit and closing her fist quickly, the flame was extinguished.

‘It wasn’t a dream, Kristoff ! The hat was real and so was the reunion with mama !’, Anna said. Although she wanted to fight happy tears, there was no denying them. They came like a flood and Kristoff embraced his darling wife. All these years he had loved a firebrand and he had always known it. He didn’t know what she would use these talents for but someday, they would certainly come in handy and maybe even be the deciding factor in winning a war of some sort.

Epilogue

It was Christmas Eve. Nothing much had changed back at Headquarters. The tree was aglow and the youngest children were awake, quietly seated underneath the glorious Tannenbaum.

Somnibot began singing Christmas carols and everyone began to join in joyously. Michael was still reeling from his Christmas gift. There were so many questions the vision with his creator had left him with and much of it didn’t make any sense, but he knew that like with many other mysteries of life, age would give him perspective.

The holiday had come with friends visiting and HQ could barely hold them all. The guests were more than welcome and there had been plenty of food and drink to go around. There was laughter, merrymaking and memories to last everyone a lifetime. By the time Christmas had come to an end, old friends had said farewell and everyone returned home.

The tree was still kept up, the lights and the tinsel continued to decorate the halls, shimmering for all to see and admire. They would be kept up until Epiphany and then taken down later. Yes, it would be sad to see the decorations be put away, but the new year ushered in new possibilities and little did they know that one overzealous sea sprite had espied Micheal’s new chapeau down in the depths of Bikini Bottom…

‘That sorcerer’s hat WILL BE MINE.’, Plankton vowed, his voice menacing. Sure, he was only a millimeter tall, but his villainy knew no measurement. If anyone had anything to say about that hat becoming his, Karen cheered him on all the more for it. His plans would have to wait, though, since the holidays were in full swing. For now, he just had to bide his time, figure out how to make an apparatus to make him amphibious, sneak into Angel Grove HQ and start Phase 1 of his nefarious plot. Soon, yes, soon enough, everyone would be unable to resist his ineffable charm once that hat was squarely upon his cylindrical head.