I'm back my loyal fans. I'm sorry this chapter is not as long as I wanted, but I just has to put out a chapter. Special shout-out goes to my good friend Rushstar 32, who gave me the idea for this chapter, thank you my good friend for helping me break my writers block. Sad to say but Power Struggle is nearing it's end. But don't worry, there is a third story in the works.
"Where the heck am I?" Ash asked aloud as she found herself wandering through a desert landscape, a hot wind blowing in her face, and whipping all around her.
"You are in a void Ash." a very familiar voice called out to her, and she turned to the side and saw a non armored Joseph standing there with his arms folded.
"Joseph." Ash stuttered as she tried to find her words. "What are you doing here, and what do you mean by 'you are in a void?'" she asked her fellow original.
"We don't have much time so I'll cut to the chase." Joseph said as he took a seat on the hot sand all around him. "Have a seat Ash, and I'll do my best to explain the situation." he said as he made a gesture for her to sit down, which she did, be it reluctantly.
"Care to answer my questions?" Ash asked in a serious tone.
"I'll answer them in order." Joseph answered curtly. "I'm here due to our connection–"
"'Connection,' the heck does that mean?" she asked.
"I barely understand it myself to be honest." Joseph admitted as he made drawings in the sand with his left hand, which drew a smile from him as he remembered priceless memories. "We both have been affected by Negacore energy, only difference is that yours was concentrated, while mine was raw, but that us besides the point." He continued as he paused to take a breath.
"To the best of my knowledge, I've gathered that all Negacore energy operates on the same... frequency per say–"
"Relevance?" Ash asked in an annoyed tone, which made Joseph laugh.
"I really missed your sense of humor while I was gone, Ash." Joseph joked, which earned a brief smile from her.
"The relevance is, that since we both are infected, we can communicate here, in the void that is our dreams." Joseph informed the red-headed Guardian.
"Why can we just talk in the real world?" Ash asked in a serious tone. "I mean you have not spoken to us once since you returned." Ash said in that still serious tone.
"I'll be honest once again, due to me being exposed to almost all the Negacore energy that was stored in Endgame's satellite, I doubt I'd say anything sensible if I speak, but here... I can talk freely." he said in an almost giddy tone.
"Also you can scare the heck out of me." Ash muttered as she remembered the nightmare version of Joseph she had encountered.
"I'm sorry, but what?" Joseph asked in a confused tone.
"I had a dream with you in it, you said I'm the reason you died." Ash informed her fellow Guardian.
"Odd, I don't remember that." Joseph muttered.
"Was that not you?" Ash asked.
"I don't know who or what you encountered, but that was not me Ash. I'm serious this is the first time I've found the right frequency for us to be able to communicate." he said in a serious tone, and despite the desert heat, Ash felt a cold shiver go down her spine, when suddenly the dessert wind started to pick up in intensity, and the boiling sun above started to turn black.
"We don't have much time before the connection is severed." Joseph said in a panicked tone. "Listen carefully Ash, that rookie Guardian managed to drain my Negacore energy to a low level, but give it enough time and it will come back again. Regardless, you have a chance to save me, you must first–" he was unable to finish due to the and he was sitting on starting to pull him bellow the sand.
"Joseph!" Ash cried as she bolted up and ran over to him and grabbed his hand, trying to keep him above the sand. "What's the first step?!" she asked in a panicked tone.
"You must purify my shield–" he was unable to finish due to the sand suddenly pulling him beneath the sand, as everything started to melt into one big color, and then everything went black.
Ash awoke with a start, her heart racing a million miles a minute as she bolted upright in her bed. Immediately she reached unto her night-stand and slipped on her NFL-R.
"Ish, you there?" she asked after she opened a private line of communication with her boyfriend.
"I'm here." Ish answered after a few minutes of waiting. "What's up?" he asked his girlfriend.
"I think I know how to save Joseph..."
To be continued...