So... this happened. I was just feeling really inspired to write for this fandom. Just know that I won't have any OCs and that the story will mostly be from Ash's POV since she's my favorite character. Anyway, please enjoy! Also, my other story "The New Girl" is probably discontinued. Sorry to anyone who's disappointed.

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Ash would be lying if she said that she didn't expect this.

Things had been quiet for far too long. With Wild Card and the Anticorians still on the loose, she would have thought that the attack would have come much sooner. The timing was perfect; R.Z. and the Hall of Knowledge were down. Their NFL-Rs were all but obsolete. The Safe Zone was no longer up. Their enemies could attack and they would have been completely helpless to stop it.

So, it came as no surprise when she was cornered by Wild Card on her way home from football practice. It was no surprise, but the timing was particularly unfortunate for her, seeing as though she had no powers. She could have at least taken Ish and Ricky up on their offer to walk home with her, but she- being the stubborn fool that she was- denied it.

But Ashley Reynolds was never one to back down from a fight. So, she stood up straight with her feet planted, her emerald eyes narrowed at her old foe. "Wildcard," she almost spat. "What are you doing here?"

Even though Wild Card's face was covered, she could almost see his smirk. "What else?" he mocked her. "You brats have been a thorn in my side for far too long. I'm getting rid of you once and for all."

The redhead clenched her fist. "I'd like to see you try," she responded. Yet even as she said this, Ash knew that she was bluffing; she had no powers. She was defenseless, powerless even.

He laughed that wicked, maniacal laugh that always sent shivers up her spine. "I see you're as cocky as ever," he observed. He approached her slowly and she instinctively stepped back. "You know, you've always been my favorite guardian. That ferocity, that fire in your eyes. It's something that the other Guardians have never had. It intrigues me."

Ash glared at him. "That means nothing to me coming from you," she bit out. She would never admit it, but Wild Card had always made her feel uneasy. Sure, Sudden Death was pure evil and the Anticorians were outrageously strong, but Wild Card was insane. He had no limits, no boundaries. He had a dangerous edge to him that had always put her off.

She liked to think that she was a good judge of character.

Wild Card laughed at her again. "I guess that's why Sudden Death chose you," he mused. Without warning, he shot a dark violet energy beam at her.

Ash dove onto the ground, the beam barely missing her right shoulder. She immediately leaped to her feet again, her face concealing how worried she was. "Is that all you got?"

"Not even close." He shot at her again and this time she wasn't fast enough to dodge it. The beam ended up grazing her collarbone.

Ash hissed in pain, grasping it; that was going to hurt in the morning. "You don't scare me, Wild Card!" she shouted at him. Despite her injury, Ash didn't feel close to running away or trying to retreat. Her worry suddenly felt like it had disappeared. She felt... determined. She wanted to stand her ground; she wanted to win.

Wild Card cackled at her. "Maybe not now, but I know what does. Once I'm done with you, I'll go after your little friends. One by one, they will all fall to me." He paused, gauging her reaction. "Perhaps I'll keep you alive and make you watch. Heck, I might even stop by the Reynolds household. Your stepmother is pregnant is she not?"

Now, she was just angry. White hot fury coursed through her veins at the thought of Wild Card laying a finger on her parents or her friends. He would never touch them. Not as long as she was around. Not ever.

Unbeknownst to Ash, her eyes began to glow even greener than normal. Her hands shook slightly and the ground trembled beneath her. "You won't touch them!" she seethed, losing her cool completely. Her voice was strong, without waver. "If you lay a hand on them, I will end you, Wild Card!"

Wild Card snorted. "I'd like to see you-" The ground gave way from under him.

Ash gasped lightly, jumping backward as to not fall into the massive hole that had just been formed. "Whoa..." she whispered. She brought her hands up to her face to examine them. "Was... that me?"

That was impossible. Her NFL-R was inactive. She wasn't in her armor either. She didn't have any powers. So what had happened?

Wild Card flew out of the hole and she could tell that he was looking at her with interest. "It seems I've underestimated you," he observed. He didn't sound deterred in the slightest. "Guess we'll have to reschedule this. Farewell, Ashley."

Ash was barely paying him any mind as she continued to stare at her hands. What in the world just happened?

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"Wait, wait, wait," said Marty with his hands up as Ash was telling her story the next day at school. "You're telling me that the ground just opened up? And tried to swallow Wild Card whole?"

The redhead nodded. "Yeah," she answered, playing with a strand of her long, auburn hair. Sometime after their second defeat of Sudden Death, she had started wearing it down more, as she used to when she was younger. She found that she rather liked how it looked now, especially since it reached her waist now. "It was really weird."

"Maybe it wasn't you?" suggested Tua.

Ash shrugged. "Maybe," she admitted. "But I felt... funny right before it happened."

"Funny?" Ricky repeated curiously, regarding her. "Funny how?"

"Well, my hands started shaking," she recalled. She hadn't taken much notice of it at the time, but she remembered how violently her hands had been trembling. "And I felt a rush of energy like I could have run from here to Rhode Island."

Troy raised an eyebrow. "Why Rhode Island?" he asked, only to receive a quick jab to the ribs from Ish. "Ow!" He glared at the boy next to him. "What? I was just asking!"

Ish ignored him and laid a hand on his friend's uninjured shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked, concern shining in his eyes. He couldn't believe that he was the only one bothering to ask her that. She had been attacked by Wild Card for crying out loud!

Ash smiled at him. "I'm fine," she assured him, not bothering to mention her other shoulder. It hurt horribly, but from what she could tell, there was nothing seriously wrong with it. So, it wasn't worth mentioning to her friends.

"I hate to be that guy," Ricky spoke up. "but Wild Card attacked and we have no HOK, no Safe Zone, and our NFL-Rs are as useless as an empty taco shell. What are we going to do?"

"I'll ask my mom if she's any closer to fixing R.Z.," stated Ish. "She said that she was almost done, so we shouldn't have to worry about Wild Card for too long."

"Do you really think that ground thing was you?" Troy asked her.

"I have no idea," Ash confessed. She unconsciously flexed her hands. "It felt like it and Wild Card seemed to think so."

"Could it have been a side-effect of the piece of the Core inside you?" questioned Tua.

She thought about this. That sounded like a plausible theory. But if that were the case, why was she the only one it was happening to? She was about to voice this when Ricky gave a sudden yelp of surprise. Ash looked over to see Ricky's carton of chocolate milk engulfed in frost. The Mexican boy looked just as lost as the rest of them as they openly gawked at him.

"I... think it has something to do with the Core," theorized Marty sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

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Ash sat on the couch, her eyes trained on the TV. She checked the news constantly for any sign of the Anticorians or Wild Card since they didn't have R.Z. to do it for them. She had to stay alert in case they decided to attack Canton or... anywhere else. Of course, with the HOK out of commission they didn't really have transportation for anywhere other than maybe Cleveland.

She couldn't stop thinking about these apparent 'powers' she and Ricky had gotten. Was it the Core inside them? Or was there something else at play? After all, she and Ricky had both been under the control of a villain.

She heard the front door open and shut. "Ash, I'm home!" called Linda from the kitchen.

Ash stood up and walked into the kitchen. "Hi, Linda," she greeted her stepmother. "How was work?"

Linda shrugged. "Work is work, sweetie," she said tiredly. "But I'll be going on maternity leave soon, so that's something to look forward to."

Not for the first time, Ash's eyes traveled to her stepmother's swollen stomach. "Are you nervous?" she asked, fidgeting slightly. "To have the baby, I mean. Isn't it scary? There are so many complications with birth."

Linda gave her a smile. "Of course it's scary, sweetie," she admitted. "but I know it'll be worth it in the end." She sighed. "Even with the slight chance that something happens to me, I have no worries. Because my child will have a wonderful father and a great big sister to look after them."

The redhead blushed. "Well... when you put it like that," she said bashfully. "it doesn't seem so bad."

Linda laughed and kissed her stepdaughter on the forehead. "You're father's going to be home late tonight," she explained. "so why don't we order a pizza? It is a Friday, after all."

Ash scrunched up her nose. "As long as you don't throw it up." She remembered the catastrophe a few weeks ago when they ordered Chinese food. Her own stomach churned just thinking about it.

Her stepmother laughed again. "No promises."

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The next morning, Ash awoke to a string of unread text messages and missed calls from her friends. That was certainly out of the ordinary. She was sure to pick up the next call that answered, which happened to be Marty. "Talk to me," she said groggily. It was rare that the guys would be awake before her, so she figured it must have been an emergency.

"Ash, you might want to get over to Ish's house," said the blond nervously. "Like, right now."

She raised an eyebrow at him, even though she knew that he couldn't see it. "What?" she asked. "Why?"

"Ish... kind of set a fire in his house."

Ash blinked. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right."

"Well," said Marty sheepishly. "it wasn't a big fire. His mom put it out after, like, a second and no one was hurt and-"

"Marty," interrupted Ash. A sense of dread settled in her stomach as she thought about her best friend and what had probably happened. "how did he start the fire? Was he cooking or something?"

There was silence for a few seconds. "No," the blond answered slowly. "He wasn't cooking."

"Then what happened?" she asked in frustration.

"He doesn't know," Marty finally admitted to her. "His mom said that he was just arguing with his mom before it happened. Then, all of a sudden, the towel he was holding burst into flames. Mrs. T put it out and Ish ran to his room. He still hasn't come out. He won't talk to any of us."

Ash pondered this. First, she had made the ground open up. Then, Ricky had frozen his milk carton. And now Ish had set a fire. This couldn't have been a coincidence. They were getting powers outside of Guardian mode.

It was a while before Ash answered her friend. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes," she said firmly, hanging up the phone. She sighed, leaning back against her headboard. This was nothing short of a disaster. Ish's incident was proof that things could get out of control pretty fast.

What if they ended up putting more people in danger as opposed to saving them?

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Eh, not my best. But I hope you liked it. Please review!