Ash and Troy where thrown backwards as their attacks forced them backwards into fighting stances once again.
"Ash, Troy, knock it off!" Jospeh yelled as he got in between the two of them and held his arms out, separating the two of them.
"I tried to apologize Ash!" Troy shouted as he kept his fighting stance.
"I don't care, I'm taking you down!" Ash growled as she knocked Jospeh to the side and lunged at Troy, only for Marty to lunged through the air and tackle her mid-jump, ruing her attack, and it impressed Joseph that Marty had intervened even though he had yet to activate his armor, but no armor turned out to be the fatal flaw in his attack as Ash easily rose and picked him up, and threw him to the side, where he crashed into the wall, and lay their in a crumbled heap.
"Marty!" Joseph yelled as he ran over to his friend and offered him a hand.
"I'm fine," Mary said with a moan as he eyed the still fighting Guardians, "stop Ash." he said as he began coughing heavily, as unknown to Jospeh was the fact that Marty was coughing up blood.
"Enter the Rush Zone!" Jospeh yelled as his red and black armor covered his body, and he eyed Ash from behind his black visor, as Ash could be now found on top of Troy, punching his armored face without mercy.
"Lay off him!" Jospeh yelled as he fired an energy blast at Ash, and his aim was true as the blast struck the red-headed Guardian in the back of her head, and it forced Ash off of Troy, but she quickly rose and turned to face her new enemy.
"Ash, this isn't the real you, the real you would never attack her friends." Joseph tried appealing to her as he dodged an energy blast.
"Maybe, or maybe this is finally the real me coming out, maybe I'm sick and tired of running form anger, maybe it's time to embrace it!" Ash yelled as her eyes still glowed purple, as she ran at Jospeh.
"Reaction Time!" Joseph yelled as he activated his special ability and slowed dime time from his point of view, momentarily freezing the female Guardian in her tracks, as he used his other ability and copied Ricky's freezing abilities as he froze the water vapor in the air to create a sword made of ice within three seconds, and slashed it across Ash's chest, and sent her flying backwards just as his Reaction Time wore off, and she laid in a bloody heap, as the ice sword had managed to cut through her armor.
"Stand down Ash, give me your hand and we can end this." Jospeh offered as he walked up to her and offered her his right hand, and needless to say she took it, and then crushed his fingers with one quick squeeze, and that made Joseph scream as he clutched his crushed fingers, even though he could tell they weren't broken, he wouldn't be doing any typing anytime soon.
"Sorry rookie, but I don't play nice with wanabee's!" Ash snarled as she took out Jospeh's knee with a well aimed kick and stood over him, preparing to fire an energy blast into his armored face, when suddenly...
"Ash, that's enough." a very familiar voice called out, and Ash turned around and saw Ish standing there, he had regained consciousness during the battle, and had very wisely pretended to still be out, since he was in no condition to fight.
"It's not enough, I can't stop now, not when I've come so far!" Ash snarled as she turned away from Jospeh and turned to face her leader.
"You can stop Ash, don't give into your hate." Ish said calmly.
"Hate is such a strong word, and it grants me strength," Ash hissed as she raised her right hand and prepared to fire a full power energy blast at Ish's unarmored face, "without your armor, this blast will take your head clean off, I can already see the blood going everywhere." Ash said in an almost blissful tone.
"Ash, would you really kill your best friend?" Ish asked in a surprisingly calm tone, and that made Ash lower her fist for a second, like the question had stumped her, but she quickly raised it again.
"Your not my friend or leader anymore, you betrayed me!" Ash hissed as she prepared the energy blast.
"Ash, Endgame is using you, don't you see that, she's trying to use to destroy us, she's not powerful at all." Ish argued.
"Oh she's very powerful, for most of my life I've felt powerless, and now that I have power, I'm not going to give it up!" she snarled as her eyes continued to glow purple.
"Ash, you are easily the strongest person I know, you always have been, you had the strength and the courage to betray Sudden Death, and you also saved me when Sudden Death tried to use me as a weapon, you believed in me, and did what nobody else could do." Ish said in a calm tone, and that made Ash's eye color flicker for a moment back to Green, but they quickly went back to purple.
"I was weak, if I had known better I would have finished you then and there, saving myself the trouble of having to do it now." Ash snarled.
"Ash, you are not weak, even know your good spirit is shining through, you don't want to hurt anyone Ash, I know that deep in my heart that you don't want to hurt anyone." Ish said as Ash's eyes flickered again, but once again settled back to purple.
"Ash, Endgame cannot control your destiny, only you can do that, you don't have to be her pawn, only you can control your actions, you have a choice Ash, kill me and fully succumb to Endgame's rage and hatred, or power down and come back to us Ash, please do in your heart what you know is right, Ash, make your choice, make your choice..." Ish said as he closed his eyes, and held his hands behind his back, waiting for Ash to make her choice.
"Ish..." Ash said as he eyes flickered, but this time returned to their natural green color, and Ash powered down her armor, removed her NFL-R, and threw it across the room, so she couldn't hurt anyone in the event she lost control again.
"Ish...I'm..." Ash began as she dropped to a sitting position on the floor and began to cry, as Ish opened his eyes and went over to her and wrapped her in a hug, as Troy and Joseph powered down and went over to her and also wrapped her in hug, and Marty followed suit, as they comforted their friend, and in that moment, they where truly family, and nothing could take away this moment.