Peekaboo

Back with the rescue group, led by Patrick Kane, they all quickly settled down for a break, before launching off once more. They had to press on and couldn’t afford to have an setbacks or dilly-dally. They had to continue on and to get to Nemo’s castle.

They trudged through the tundra and snow, leaving the small bizarrely placed forest behind them. Val patted Jamie and scratched him behind his ears, which the Dallas captain seemed to enjoy; they also didn’t seem to mind the snow and the tundra. Jamie bucked Val in the side, gently with his head and Val laughed like a little kid.

“Come on, we need to get to Jonny! Let’s pick up the pace!” Patrick shouted.

“We are going as fast as we can! But this is snow, Kaner!” Andrew replied. “You try walking in this as a dog!”

Brad was huffing and puffing. “Yeah, do it as a honey badger. Whew! It’s exhausting! This is more intense than what Whitesides puts us through, eh?!”

Reilly rolled his eyes and then lightened up and sprang forward. He wasn’t slowed much by the snow either. Then again he was a bear. He dashed to the front of the group and passed the Blackhawk. He skidded to a halt though, but ended up sliding forward, until he finally stopped, lying sprawled out on a patch of ice.

“Reilly, get back here!” Torey ordered.

The bear tried to get up, but his weight cracked the ice and then that caused a train reaction to occur. “Uh-oh!” The ice began to break apart in the small lake and Reilly tried to claw his way to grip on and scramble back to safety, but he plunged into the water, which as you can imagine was pretty cold.

“REILLY!” Torey screamed. He darted up to the water edge, but saw the small brown bear swimming toward them. He eventually pulled himself up onto the dry land.

“Okay, okay, I’ll let Kaner lead!” the bear gasped and collapsed on the ground.

“What were you thinking, you could have gotten yourself killed!” Torey scolded him.

“What, are you his father? If that’s your way of trying to act bigger, that’s pathetic man,” Brad scoffed and shook his head.

“No one asked you, honey badger. Reilly is my friend and our teammate, why shouldn’t I care about him?”

Brad shrugged. Torey picked the cold wet animal up and wrapped him up in one of the towels that the group had brought in Adam’s pack on his back. Reilly was shivering, but he looked glad to be alive. (And also awkward.)

“Come on, let’s stick together and avoid the frozen lakes here. We can’t have any more unfortunate cases.” Patrick continued to lead the way.

Soon the wind began to pick up all around them. They had reached another small patch of forest and could see the end of the tundra land. Unfortunately, they could only see it for a split second before the clouds rolled in and things got dangerous once again.

“It’s Nemo--he’s trying to stall us!” Jamie exclaimed.

“We need to get out of the open! Head for the trees!” Patrick cried.


Meanwhile, Lauren and Nemo stood in the cottage, looking at the tundra scene. Nemo had conjured up the visual, while Lauren was waving her arms around in a summoning motion. She made gestures similar to Elsa in Frozen and like she was whipping up a tornado.

“That outta stall them and provide the perfect cover I need!” the evil princess exclaimed.

“Good, good, go. Capture the Russian, Val Nichushkin!” Nemo laughed and made the visual disappear.

Lauren didn’t even bother to think about the fact that she’d be away even longer and she was sure that the girls would question her, but she had to do this. And the outcome was much greater than returning to her silly friends.

The woman dissolved in smoke and left Nemo alone, who walked out of the cottage snickering evilly.


Back with Patrick and his gang, things were getting pretty hectic; the winds were beginning to grow stronger, the visibility was getting lower, and don't even mention how cold it was!

"How are we ever gonna get to the trees if the wind's pushin' us back?!" Brandon asked Patrick over the howling wind.

"--Just gotta be strong! --Can't stay out here!" Patrick answered with his sentences cut off by the wind.

"It's too late already! The wind's not letting us go to the trees!" Torey told him.

"I'm freezing!!!" Reilly sang-songed over the wind.

Torey looked down at the bear. "But I thought that your fur's keeping you warm..."

"I just got out from a freezing lake, y'know."

"Well, hang in there, you'll be fine." He scruffed the bear's furry head.

"I'm gonna be the first honey badger to fly!!!" Brad shouted as the wind took him off his paws and sent him behind the pack due to his light weight. He fortunately grabbed onto one of the bags that were on Adam's back. "Whatever you do, do not make any sharp movements!"

Adam craned his head and glared at Brad. "Fine..."

"Oh man, we can't stay here! How are we gonna escape this-this blzzard?" Andrew asked, looking at the whiteness around him in horror.

"Just try to fight the wind!" Patrick ducked his head and clutched on to his coat, trying to go against the wind.

"The wind's too strong, though!"

"No it's not you just gotta-- WHOA!" The wind thrusted Patrick onto the snow.

"Yea, you gotta fall down, don't you?" the dog finished off.

"No, no, no..." The Blackhawk player and nominated group leader got back up with the help of Brandon and continued trying to go against the wind.

"Hey, Badger, wanna go on my back?" Jamie asked Brad.

"Uhhh...if I do, I might fly away! I'm so light like a feather! Ugh..." Brad frowned.

"I think we stay here...," Val stated.

"You think we should stay here?" Jamie confirmed.

"Yea... it's so hard walking..." The Russian put the side of his hand on his forehead while squinting. "...and I can't see... We should just stay, not go. It's too hard."

"Good luck telling that to Patrick; he's determined to get to those trees!" Jamie nodded towards Patrick's and the tree's direction.

"I can go try to persuade him that he's gonna get himself killed if he continues trying to go over to the trees!" Brad volunteered.

"Okay, you can go," Jamie told him.

Brad turned to Adam. "Lead me to Patrick!"

"I can't wait till this blizzard's over..." Adam grumbled as he strained himself against the wind while trudging through the snow.

"How long until blizzard's over?" Val asked, looking around the snow-covered surroundings with an anxious look.

"I dunno... It should be gone by the morning, though," Jamie told him.

"Morning! Oh no, that's gonna take forever!" The Russian Dallas Star put his gloved hands on his cold cheeks.

Jamie looked ahead, trying to see beyong the snow that was flying in front of him. "Eh, it'll be here before you know it! Just hold on, we'll be fine..." He didn't hear Val say anything back to him, so he continued talking. "I mean, you're already used to this coldness, right? You're from Russia, you get snow every single days, so you'll do good. I mean, a blizzard shouldn't really scare you or anything since you get 'em all the time in Russia, especially during the winter, right?" He didn't hear Val respond, so he got a bit suspicious. "Uh, Val, you aren't talking that much... The cold got to you?" He turned to his right where Val was last standing; there was no one next to him.

"Val?! Oh my, Valeri, where are you?" Jamie stopped trudging and looked around the area as far as he could see through the snow.

"Помогите!!!" he heard Val's now faint voice call out. (Help!)

"Val! Don't worry, buddy, I'm comin' for ya!" Jamie made a big U-turn and started racing in the direction of the wind, hearing Val's cries getting closer to him.

"На помощь! Помоги мне! Джейми, спаси меня!" (Help! Help me! Jamie, save me!)

The reindeer put on his full turbo speed and sped forward, narrowing his eyes on two shadowy figures that were getting closer to him. But while he was galloping towards Val, the Russian's shouts suddenly ceased.

Jamie skidded into a halt when the figures were a few feet away from him. He looked up and saw an evil-looking lady with black flowing hair and a cold stare. And next to the lady was Val himself, tied up in energy-like rope that was around his ankles, thighs, arms and mouth, hovering above the ground.

"Who are you and what are you doing with Val?" Jamie snapped, putting on his meanest look.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot answer that. But would you excuse me because I got some business to tend to."

"No! Not until you drop the Russian!"

Val was just looking from the evil lady to Jamie with huge blue eyes and an anxious look.

"Hahahaha, in your dreams reindeer. Now go off to the North Pole--Santa must be looking for you!" She shooed at Jamie with her hand.

"I'm not Santa's reindeer! I'm Jamie Benn, captain of the Dallas Stars and I command you to free Valeri Nichushkin, my teammate!" He dipped his head and began running towards the lady, trying to knock her off her feet with his huge antlers since he was very angry.

But Jamie felt nothing. He looked back up and turned around, seeing just a bunch of snow floating in the air behind him. "Val?" He shouted. "Val! Valeri‽ Hey, where are you?"

But he got no response.

"Darn it, the lady took him! Hmmm...!" Jamie began to trot back to the group as the blizzard was suddenly calming down.

When he arrived at the pack, the weather was calm and the group had all finally made it to the trees.

"We finally made it to the trees after the blizzard's over!" Andrew shouted. He looked down at Patrick, who was now laying face down on the snow.

He just moaned in the snow.

"Guy! You guys!" Jamie rushed up to them. "Guys, guys, guys, we got some big trouble here!"

Patrick lifted his head up from the snow. "What, what is it?" He looked behind his shoulder, looking at the reindeer.

"It's-it's about Val!"

"What about that Russian dude?" Brad asked.

"He's--he's--"

"He's what, Russian?" Reilly guessed sarcastically.

"No, he's--he's--he's..."

The group just stared at him, waiting for what Jamie had to say about the Russian.

"He's...gone."

Notes

Oh no, what's gonna happen to Val!! 8O And why did he get taken away??? That'll all be explained in the next chapter! ;) So stay tuned!
Byeeeee!!!! :DD