AAOOOSC! #10

Back in the GHP headquarters, Pekka and Carter are continuing their training from last night.

This time in the training room, there is a maze of dummies commonly used for martial arts all around the room. On the other side of the room are the targets like before.

Pekka and Carter are in front of the doorway of the room, staring out at the obstacle course.

“Okay,” Pekka starts, “so each of these dummies are equipped with a mechanism that if you touch one, a supernatural element like powers will emit from it, like water, fire, whatever the case.”

“So don’t touch the dummies?” Carter asks, eyeing him.

“Don’t touch the dummies.”

He shrugs. “Easy.”

“But they move,” Pekka adds on.

Carter groans and cranes his head back. “Ugh.” He straightens back up with a huff. “I got this.”

“I hope you do--” Pekka rapidly snatches Carter’s belt from his waist again; he raises it into the air. “--without this.”

Carter gapes at him. “Really? Aw, c’mon, Peks, it’s not like I’m gonna lose it! I need it to fight--!”

“But what if--?”

“Nooo, please give it back!” he yammers with a worried look. “I’ll do so much better with it!”

Pekka shakes his head with pursed lips. “Nope.” He then pulls his arm back to throw the belt over to the other side of the room.

But before he could throw the belt across the room, Pekka freezes to shouts and the whirring, air-like sound of supernatural energy that seem to be coming from the main room.

Carter makes a perplexed look. “What’s going on?”

Pekka lowers down his hand with a concerned expression. “Something’s going on in the main room.” He looks behind his shoulder to face the doorway. “I thought everyone was in their training rooms.”

“Eh, whatever.” Carter shrugs. “Can I have my belt back now and continue training?” He holds out his hand toward him to receive his belt.

“Wait.” With his eyes still glued to the doorway, Pekka places Carter’s belt onto his hand.
“Come with me.” He trudges over to the doorway.

Carter peers down at his hand and smiles at the sight of his belt back in his possession. He turns to see that Pekka is already leaving, so he quickly wraps his belt around his waist and follows Pekka out of the room.

Pekka is moving cautiously down the hallway, toward the main room; Carter is behind him, walking in a more relaxed fashion. The supernatural sound of energy is getting louder, but the shouts have quieted down.

“What are we--?”

“Shhh!!!” Pekka hisses from between his teeth at Carter.

Carter immediately closes his mouth.

Pekka then halts at the opening that shows the main room. He slides behind the wall that the opening is carved in and motions for Carter to stand behind him, out of sight from the main room’s view. Carter does so with stealth. Pekka then peeks his head out to see the main room.

In the main room, Sidney and Nathan are standing next to each other with their backs facing Pekka and Carter. But they are staring at swirls of different coloured energy that seem to be engulfing two people. It is obvious that the whirling sound is coming from the rapidly twisting energy.

Carter peeks his head from below Pekka’s head. “Oh my goodness...that-that--”

“Shhh!” Pekka snaps at him.

“No!” Carter whispers. “I know what that is: it’s--”

Suddenly, a flash of light fills the main room and hallway, blinding Pekka, Carter, Sidney, and Nathan for a moment. The light finally fades and the four hockey players turn back to see what has happened to the swirl of energy.

Standing in the energy’s place is Nikita, who has glowing white eyes and his hand brimming with navy blue energy.

Carter gasps. “That’s him! That’s Zadorov!” He turns to Pekka, who is now gaping at the sight, with haste. “I fought against him! Galchenyuk-in-Zadorov--! WHOA!”

A streak of light whizzes past the two from Nikita, causing them to stumble back into the corner between the wall of the opening and the wall of the hallway.

Pekka turns to Carter. “So that’s what you meant by ‘Galchenyuk-in-Zadorov’?”

“yeah!” Carter exclaims with wide eyes. “That energy was Galchenyuk going into Zadorov! They’re part of the EHP, we should fight them!”

“Let’s see if we can help out Sid and Nathan.” Pekka peels his back from the wall and slides back to the opening.

Now in the main room in midair, Sidney and Nathan are unleashing cold elements at Nikita from different angles; Nikita meanwhile is also in the air, easily melting the elements once they come in contact with him. Or a few inches close to him.

“Stop melting my ice!” Sidney cries out as he sprays more ice at Nikita. He circles around him in midair on his ice path.

Nikita quickly flicks his hand at the row of ice; the ice immediately turns into slush and plops onto the ground.

“Don’t worry, I got you, Sid!” Nathan thrusts his hand down and a shower of snow follows, raining down on Nikita.

Nikita immediately moves his hand in a smooth fashion. The snowfall begins swirling away from Nikita then snappily changes direction and blasts straight at Nathan, following the direction of Nikita’s hands.

“GAH!” Nathan throws his hand out in front of him, stopping the snow of hitting him.

Nikita pushes forward, trying to break through Nathan’s hold. Nathan continues to be sturdy, not breaking under pressure.

With this opportunity, Sidney forms ice on the ground underneath Nikita and builds on top of it, allowing it to grow until it reaches its target’s feet. But once the ice begins to wrap around Nikita’s feet, it melts, drooping back down.

Sidney augments the twisting ice pillar again, but the same results occur. “Ugh! He has heat!” He spots the clear heat waves emitting from Nikita’s feet and legs. “Too much heat!”

Back in the hallway, Antti, Jonathan, and Jonas come up from behind Pekka and Carter.

“What is going on?” Antti asks with shock as he stares up at the battle scene.

“Galchenyuk-in-Zadorov has attacked,” Pekka tells Antti. “It’s what Carter told us before.”

“They’re part of the EHP!” Carter exclaims.

Antti shakes his head. “This is not good.” He turns to Carter. “And you said that he--they--had energy?”

“Well, looks like more than energy from what I’m seeing.” Carter nods up toward the gridlock
Nathan and Nikita are in. “And now I remember that when I encountered ‘em, they had like water and exploding coming out from them; crazy stuff.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Jonas concludes, staring up at the scene as he pulls out a bag of chips.

“I have a bad feeling that they have multiple powers; more powers than one power player has,” Antti says.

“You mean they’re at Toews’s level?” Pekka stares wide-eyed at the Master.

“I-I don’t know.” Antti shrugs. “They certainly do have more powers than each of us though, that’s for sure.”

Jonathan shakes his head. “They need help; I’ll help them.” He steps forward, entering the main room.

“Wait, Jonathan, we should first consult with Ari before you--”

Immediately, Jonathan throws his hands out from his side, his palms facing the battle. In an instant, a large clear force field with a tint of violet forms around the three fighters in midair.
Sidney, Nathan, and Nikita stop fighting and turn to see who is responsible for the energy around them.

“Darn it,” Jonathan grumbles. “I only wanted Galchenyuk-in-Zadorov…”

Nikita smoothly scans his surroundings from the inside of the force field. Then, he slightly extends his hands out from him; his hands are glowing navy blue.

The force field begins to flicker a little, causing Jonathan to hold his ground harder.

“No no no no,” Jonathan mutters as his hands begin to tense. He grits his teeth and lowers himself over as the force field’s flickering intensifies.

From the hallway, the other four stare out with horror.

“We should help him,” Pekka says, gazing at the faulty force field.

“There’s not much we can do,” Antti says calmly. “Wait…”

Jonathan presses on, holding on to the force field and supplying it more energy for it to hold up.
But Nikita on the other hand is attempting to destroy the force field with his own power. Sidney and Nathan hold their fire, knowing that too much movement inside the force field would give Jonathan the massive disadvantage.

Jonathan shakes his head. “I can’t hold much longer! I’m gonna throw it out!” He leans back, gathering energy to move the force field. Then with all of his supernatural strength, he thrusts his arms in front of him, boosting the force field out from the room...and including himself.

“No no no, Jonathan, no!” Antti cries out as he sees the force field and Jonathan fly out through the large window up above the main room.

Everyone else stares up at the now empty window, where Sidney, Jonathan, Nathan, and “Galchenyuk-in-Zadorov” flew right through.

“Well, that’s one way to get rid of ‘em,” Carter points out.

“Yeah...” Pekka turns to him and the others. “But where are they now?”

Notes