'That was all to easy,' Endgame thought to herself as her Crusher re-sealed itself into it's pod, and she took a seat on her mechanical throne, 'I expected more of a challenge from these Guardians,' she mused as her wire like hair re-connected to the hidden sockets in her throne, and she began to process of storing some of her negative energy, for she had to store at least half of the energy she absorbed, no point in absorbing it all if she wasn't going to use it all.
With a though a holographic display appeared in front of her, showing her the identities of all seven Guardians again, and she began looking for their home and school addressees, for it was time to attack them where they where most vulnerable, and it was in their so called 'Safe Zone.'
'I could easily send a Crusher to dismantle them,' she mused as she rubbed her chin in contemplation, 'but where it the fun in that, I think it's time to test my newest weapon...' she though as she activated another holographic display and it showed two young boys suspended in separate stasis pods, however a purple and black aura could be seen glowing around the pods, and with a mere though the pods opened with a hiss, and steam began pouring out, and the two boys dropped to the ground, and opened their eyes, but instead of their normal eye color, their eyes now glowed purple, similar to Wild Card.
'These test subjects will be most useful, although they cannot fully control the negative energy of a Negacore, I suspect their will be a lot of collateral damage, which is fine by me...' she mused as the boys stood up and like robots walked towards the door that lead to the throne room.
"It is time to present yourself to the Guardians, give the, a proper Endgame welcome," Endgame began as a small compartment on her throne opened with a mechanical hiss and she reached inside of it and pulled out two devices, similar to, but not exactly like an NFL-R that the Guardians use, as she stood up from her throne and put the devices on their wrists, and upon activating them, their civilian attire was replaced with nearly identical Guardian armor, expect the armor color was purple and black, and had Freddy Krueger like claws attached to every finger but the thumbs, "give them my love..." Endgame said as she sat back down on her throne, leaving her two minions to get into a pod that would take them to their target location, the Guardians school...
"Class dismissed." Ash's teacher said as Ash stood up from her desk and headed towards the school cafeteria, it was the schools lunch period, and everyone, her friends all but Ricky included would be at lunch, and there would be a lot to discuss, after what had happened the previous night, Ash, and as well as her friends, had a lot on their mind, for this new threat had cut through them like a hot knife through butter.
"Hey Ash," Marty greeted her as she took a seat at her usual spot at her usual table where she and her fellow Guardians usually sat, unbeknownst to everyone around them, "it will just be you and me for awhile, everyone but Joseph is still in gym, there is a basketball game going on, and Joseph had to go to the office, he forgot his math book, and his father is dropping it off." Marty said.
"I don't know 'bout you, but I'm happy today seems normal, after the butt kicking we suffered last night." Ash mumbled, which Marty heard perfectly.
"We weren't prepared for that," Marty said, not caring to keep his voice down due to the extremely loud cafeteria filled with kids without a care in the world, "we've never fought somebody with that much power, but next time, we will emerge victorious." Marty said with a confident smile, and that earned one from Ash.
"That's one thing I like about you Marty, you're always confident." Ash said as Ish, Troy and Tua entered the room, and took their seats.
"Am I the only one who's still sore from last night?" Troy asked as he rubbed a sore spot in the middle of his back.
"Your not the only one, I've still got a headache." Marty said as he rubbed his forehead.
"Last night was brutal, we rarely got our butts kicked, if anything, last night was a wake-up call, I'm suggesting we all hit the simulator when we go to the HOK later." Ish said, which earned a head nod from everyone.
"I'll be back guys, forgot my science book." Ash said as she realized she had left her science text book in her locker, and stood up from the table in order to retrieve it.
"There you are you little devil." Ash joked to herself as she pulled the book out of her locker and turned to head back to the lunchroom, only to be confronted by two very familiar kids, Keith and Jacob.
"Oh my gosh, where have you guys been, everyone has been worried sick about you guys!" Ash almost yelled into the empty hallway as she gave the two of them a hug with each arm, but her gesture of kindness was not returned as the two of them exchanged a look and then Keith kicked her in the guy and Jacob pinned her down and went for her NFL-R.
"What's the deal?!" Ash shouted angrily as she managed to punch Jacob in the face and knock him off of her and then swept Keith's legs out from under him, and Ash rolled into a standing position where she took up a fighting stance.
The two boys looked at each-other and pressed a hidden button on their wrist watches and their civilian attire was replaced with black and purple armor, almost identical to the Guardians armor.
"Enter the Rush Zone!" Ash shouted quickly into her NFL-R as her civilian attire was replaced with her Guardian armor.
"I don't know what happened to you two, but let me help you." Ash almost pleaded as she made a simple gesture, in response Keith held out a single finger and a black lightning bolt erupted from his finger and struck Ash in the gut, and send her flying backwards into a pair of lockers, where she fell on her butt.
"Guys, I'm under attack, need some backup!" Ash said into her communication app of her NFL-R, but she received no response from Ish and her friends in the lunch room.
"We are jamming your communications," Keith said with a low dark tone, that sent a shiver down Ash's spine, "Endgame want's us to send a message, she knows who you are, and she sends her love." Keith said as he prepared to shoot another lightning bolt into Ash, when their was a loud bang and Jacob was tackled back into a pair of lockers.
"You talk to much," Joseph taunted as he raised his NFL-R, "Enter the Rush Zone!" Joseph yelled as his clothing was replaced by his red and black Guardian armor.
"Who are these clowns?" Joseph asked as he threw a right hook at the armor wearing individual nearest to him.
"Keith and Jacob," Ash responded as she managed to spring to her feet and kick Keith in the face, and she took up a fighting stance, "remember the missing kids I told you about a few months ago, well here they are." Ash informed the rookie Guardian.
"Looks they are not missing anymore," Joseph said as he dodged a lightning blast from Jacob and fired back with an energy blast of his own, which bounced off the purple and black armor, not even making a dent, "that ain't good." Joseph said nervously as he began diving and weaving around a series of rapid fire lightning bolts, until one hit his knees mid jump, and his bad right knee buckled from the attack, ruining his jump and the attack he had been planning, as he crumpled tot he ground clutching his injured knee.
"CB7!" Ash cried out in concern as the noise of the battle had resulted in kids streaming out of the lunch room and the classrooms, and Ash had very wisely used Joseph's call sign, but Ash knew the crowd gathering would alert the other Guardians in the building, at least she hoped. Suddenly a lightning bolt caught her right below her ribs and she clutched her chest, as Keith ran forward and tackled her through a wall that led to a classroom, and she laid their on the floor next to a desk.
"Die, Guardian!" Keith snarled as he raised his fists in front of him and prepared a full power attack, but suddenly Joseph tackled him and pinned him through the wall.
"Copy Cat: Freight Train Force!" Joseph yelled as he copied Ish's ability and ran Keith through the wall and kept running until he had plowed through every wall in his way and soon they found themselves outside the school.
"Had enough?!" Joseph snarled as he stood over Keith, who raised his hands to shoot an energy blast at the rookie Guardian, but Joseph stomped hard on his wrist, earning a loud gasp of pain from Keith, as he pinned his wrist to the ground, and then went for his watch that controlled the armor.
However before he could, Ash was sent sailing through the wall and laid in a crippled heap, as Jacob ran outside and began firing streams of lightning into her armor, resulting in her flopping around like a fish out of water.
"Make your choice hero, either you can keep me pinned, or you can save her." Keith mocked, which resulted in Joseph kicking him in the head, and running over to try and block the lightning, only to result in him taking the brunt of the attack.
"Defense engage!" he yelled as his shield projected from his NFL-R and blocked the lightning, relieving Ash from the attack, as his shield slowly fought the constant stream of energy lightning as he began slowly walking towards Jacob, his shield pushing the lightning back at Jacob, and soon the shield met his finger tips and they both where thrown backwards, and both managed to back-flip into combat stances.
Suddenly Joseph heard screaming as he turned and saw Keith shooting Ash with a stream or pure black energy, which resulted in him turning his back on Jacob and run into and tackle Keith.
"I just poisoned her Guardian, she doesn't have long to live, so make your choice, fight us, or save her, actually, I'll make it easy for you since the message has been delivered." Keith said as he and Jacob turned invisible and vanished form sight, leaving Joseph to sprint over to Ash and pick her up and activate his flight app, and took flight, knowing the Hall of Knowledge had advanced healing tools, and surely they could heal whatever had poisoned her, if he could make it in time.
"Joseph... Joseph..." Ash said wearily as she barely held unto consciousness.
"Stay with me, your not doing to die!" Joseph yelled as he flew through the air and towards the Hall of Fame, and the hidden Hall of Knowledge.
"Joseph..." Ash called as her eye lids grew heavy and she closed her eyes.
"Ash, ASH!" Joseph yelled.
To Be Continued...