Peekaboo

Brad let them all into his tree-home. He told them that when he and Tyler carved the door into the tree and made it to suit their housing needs. Andrew had to question why a Boston Bruin was once again rooming with his ex-teammate. The pest was slightly rattled at this and a little bewildered.

When Andrew attempted to explain the big blockbuster trade, he received a stern glare from his Blackhawk buddies. Arguably they had to look at Adam Burish, who was technically not a Chicago Blackhawk anymore and yet here he was in this world as one. And speaking of the enforcer, he hadn’t come in with them, because he was a horse and he was too big to fit into the tree. Sharp reluctantly left his friend tethered to a branch once more outside.

Things were indeed strange here, but nobody minded it. It was rather refreshing to dip into the past and hang out with friends again.

“So are you the only Bruin player here?” Patrick asked finally as he gazed around the tree fort.

It looked rather homey and comfortable. There was a picture on the mantelpiece, over a fire pit. Charred firewood was stacked inside of the hole. But Patrick was curiously flummoxed over there being a fire pit inside of a tree...wouldn’t the tree just go up in flames and burn to ash. But this WAS a Disney land, so he supposed that if there was a fire-breathing dragon, talking animals and a silver hockey stick sword...then there had to be such thing as a flame-resistant tree.

In the picture frame, Tyler held Brad in his arms and they were both smiling and looked like best friends. Brad was still in honey badger form, but there was no mistaking him for any other honey badger that was for sure. He looked like a pesky critter. And Tyler, he looked like he was real young. He had a youthful boyishness to his appearance. Patrick knew him though. There was no mistaking the ladies man who had spent time with him in Europe during the lockout year.

“I’m not sure. I mean, I suppose if you count Tyler too!? It’s only us!”

Andrew raised his paw up and opened his mouth ready to comment on that. But Patrick sent him a scolding look and he dropped his head, keeping silent.

“You’d be wrong about that,” a voice spoke up behind them all.

Brad folded his arms and snorted with derision. “Hey, what’s going on there Midget?”

Patrick saw some slightly muscular handsomely slender guy dressed in baggy white pants with a yellow patch above his left knee and only a purple vest as a shirt. He wore a brown belt and a crimson fez. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. It was Torey Krug...but not Torey Krug at the same time. Torey looked like an Aladdin character...a street-rat. Standing beside him, at his heels was a small bear, who was grinning awkwardly.

“Smitty, I know that grin of awkwardness anywhere!” Brad stated, darting forward.

“For once, I couldn’t get him to shut up!”

“I’m just saying that according to my memories, I’m a good tree climber!”

“Yes, yes, so I heard!” Torey snapped, frowning and rolling his eyes. “You told me how “when you were little you were really into climbing trees…”

“Yeah! All kinds of trees! I climbed pine tree, oak trees, redwood trees, maple trees...and then one time I got curious and tried to lick a pinecone, but my tongue got stuck on it, like this,” he stuck his tongue out as a demonstration, “and from that moment on, I was more cautious about what I licked and where I put my tongue.”

“Are you done?”

“Yeah...I think so….oh wait, no! I also have this story about when I--”

“Reilly! Reilly, I’m glad that you are so talkative right now, but you are starting to annoy me!”

“How about I sing?”

“How about no?”

“Okay, I’ll sing!” Reilly exclaimed and began to open his mouth up, but Torey bent down and picked him up, clamping a hand over the bear’s mouth.

“You’re going to pipe down, is what you are going to do. We don’t even know what we are doing here in the first place.”

“So you were teleported here as well?” Sharp asked.

“Yeah. We were in the locker room with Brad one moment and then we got sucked into the symbol. Then the next thing I know, is that I wake up in a forest clearing with this annoying guy!” Torey gave Reilly a nuggie on the head and released his hand from the animal’s mouth.

“Alright, alright, I won’t sing. Just let me down, okay!”

Patrick faced them. “So, who else is here? Have you seen anyone else?” He was hoping that maybe one of them had seen Tyler or Jonathan. But both shook their heads.

“We haven’t seen anyone. Well…”

“Actually we saw this Penguin and we were following it. Oh man that reminds me of another story!”

“Reilly, no more stories! Please, I can’t take it anymore! The whole way over here, this bear kept pestering me with his stories and talking non-stop. I was glad when the Penguin vanished into the trees here and we found this hideout. We saw the horse outside and figured there was someone in the tree...I mean there was obviously a door carved into the bark.”

“Yeah, it’s a cool place!” Reilly stated simply for once. He was back to grinning awkwardly.

Brad put his hands on his hips and stared up at them. “So I guess this place really isn’t that secretive...I’m blaming Tyler for this!”

“Whoa, so you got turned into a skunk?” Torey questioned, choking back the giggles.

“No, I got turned into a honey badger! HONEY BADGER!!”

Reilly sniffed his teammate, checking him out. “You have a weird scent, man.”

“Says the bear.” Brad looked at Torey. “And what about you Midget, you think you could find a shirt and cover up some more?”

“Midget? I don’t think so. I think we definitely can tell who is the taller player now!?”

Brad made his badger hissing noise, like he was being threatened. He unsheathed his claws to show how sharp they were. “I have these though…”

Torey shrugged and sighed. He mumbled something.

“Look, okay obviously some of us are a little different here, but we need to set aside our feelings and rash emotions and stick together. We need to find Lord Nemo and save Jonathan Toews, before the wicked man kills him!” Patrick stated, picking Brad up.

“Hey Blondie, do I have to keep repeating myself, I’m not someone’s pet! Put me down or I will rake my claws across your pretty boy white skin!”

“Marchy, you can chirp me whenever and however you want, but if you remember the last time you chirped me, I scored a goal and made you keep your mouth shut!”

Brad rolled his eyes. He was not exactly in the mood to be manhandled, but the Blackhawk was right. Patrick walked over to Andrew and put Brad beside him.

“Work together you two. This isn’t a hockey game or the Stanley Cup Final!”

Andrew and Brad shared a look. They didn’t look happy at first, but both could agree that the winger was right and had much wisdom.

“Now,” Patrick began once more, “Tell me about this penguin you saw? Was it a Pittsburgh Penguin, perhaps?”

“Shouldn’t we be back outside, continuing in our quest to find Jonny?” Brandon questioned. His blue eyes sparked in the dim light of the tree home.

“We will, Saader.”

“But Jonny doesn’t have that much time. How do we know that Nemo hasn’t killed him already?”

“I’m sure he’s find Brandon. I want to know about this penguin. After all, Brad told us we were being led into a trap, maybe this is the trap or maybe the penguin is!”

Andrew nodded. “That is true. You have a point.”

Patrick faced Torey and Reilly once more. “So, the penguin?”

“I don’t know. It vanished before we could see. And truthfully, Reilly wanted to catch it and eat it!”

“Hey, I was hungry. Sue me. I felt like I hadn’t eaten in days, man. A bear’s diet is much different than a humans and much more demanding. I can’t live off of some small human meal now. I have to eat a ton of food. I wonder what penguin actually tastes like?”

“No one is eating anything here, unless it is human food. We won’t have all of you animals eating another hockey player? How would that go over, huh? You really want to be known as “Reilly Smith, the guy who accidentally ate some well known hockey player?” I don’t think you do. Now let’s get back outside and resume our quest to find Jonathan. We’ve already wasted enough time in here.”

“Plus there aren’t any female horses here for Bur to hit on. I’m sure he’s bored out of his mind,” Sharp laughed at the thought.

Patrick smacked him on the head and shook his head.

They all walked back out of the tree fort and found Adam. But the horse’s eyes were glowing...red!

Notes

So, yeah. A Shruinger, here's the next chapter. Let me know if there is anything you don't like in it and feel free to edit it yourself, adding or changing some things. :)
Sorry, yeah, they don't know about Sidney Crosby! That was a typo on my part, but it is all changed now! :D (Stick tap to A Shruinger for the catch! Thanks!)

Next up: Bur is EVIL????!!!! And then Nichy singing in Russian to Jamie Benn!!!! :))))