AAOOOSC! #10

On the west coast of the country, it is the early evening with the sun beginning to set down. Our three misplaced heroes, Sidney, Jonathan, and Nathan, are following their new-found misplaced friends, Brandon, Nick, Joseph, Matt, and Ryan down a hallway.

The hallway is located outside on the second level of a massive recreational building. It is shady due to the roofs of the two buildings it is made out of meeting each other from above. To the right is a window and to the left is a bulletin board with flyers showing drama information as they enter.

“Where’re we going?” Jonathan asks with a confused look as they pass the bulletin board and go by another one.

“Well, if Crammer here didn’t teleport us back to 2015, we wouldn’t have to be here,” Brandon starts off coldly, glaring at his teammate. “We would’ve gone to our house where our own instruments would’ve been at.”

“I’ll get you guys outta here…,” Joseph grumbles, turning his eyes away from Brandon.

Nick turns to Jonathan with soft, sleepy eyes. “We’re going to the music room, where we first started practicing for our band.”

“Band?” Sidney and Nathan exclaim in unison.

“Oh yeah, band…” Nick turns to Matt and Ryan. “I said ‘band,’ right?”

“Yeah!” Matt tells him.

Sidney turns to the three with an inquiring look. “You guys have your own band?”

“Oh yeah, definitely!” Ryan exclaims excitedly with raised eyebrows.

The group finally stops in front of a glass door with a window to its right. The window is showing a dusky room on the other side.

Nathan asks them, “What’s the band called?”

“The ‘Red Wings,’” Brandon blurts out as he pulls out a set of keys.

“No, it’s ‘Cramarossa’!” Joseph snaps, snatching the keys from Brandon’s hands. He begins to work on unlocking the door.

“Wh-wh-what…?” Nick gazes around everyone with a hint of confusion underneath his sleepy look. “I thought it was the ‘Hamburgers.’”

“But it’s ‘Mr. Ernie’s Band,’” Matt pipes in, holding Mr. Ernie, the hamster, in his cupped hands.

“And I thought it was called ‘The Metalheads…,’” Ryan mumbles, rubbing his stubble-covered chin. With a sigh, he looks back at the NHLers. “Well, we never agreed on a band name.”

“It’s ‘Cramarossa’ whether you like it or not!” Joseph barks as he yanks the door open. He then storms inside; Brandon and Nick follow after him.

Ryan nods toward the open room. “Come on, let’s go in.”

The NHLers follow the AHLers into the room warily.

Inside the room, the lights are already turned on. It is a fairly empty, small room with amplifiers lining the walls, all the musical instruments on the other side, and the microphones on stands near the entrance. A grand piano and a keyboard is to the right, some guitars and basses are lined up in their stands to the left, a drum set is in the middle, blocking the whiteboard, and a box is stuffed in the left corner. Down the room to the right side is another door, which is showing the continued walkway.

Sidney gazes around the room with awe. “Oh wow! You guys can play all of these instruments?”

Ryan is already on the other side of the room, leaning over the rack of guitars and basses with Brandon. “Well, I can only play the bass.” He swipes a slap bass from a stand and slips the strap over him like a necklace. “Monty here knows how to play the guitar.”

Brandon strums a few notes on his warm electric guitar with a closed smile.

Ryan continues informing the three NHLers: “Matt here does the keyboard--”

Matt, who is already sitting behind the gray keyboard, softly presses the “C” key with a smile.

Ryan whirls around to Nick, who plops himself on the stool behind the drum set. “And Ritch is on the drums.”

Nick begins drumming his sticks around the drums, ending on the cymbal.

“And last, but not least--”

“--I sing,” Joseph cuts in, adjusting a microphone he moved over onto its stand. “The best.”

Brandon raises his eyebrows. “Hm!” He adjusts the strap of the guitar.

Matt jumps off from the keyboard’s bench and rushes over to the three. “You guys can sit here.”
He grabs three foldable chairs from the wall and unfolds them in a row in the middle of the room. “There.” Then he happily goes back to the keyboard.

The three slowly take their seats: Nathan, Sidney, and then Jonathan.

“Um, shouldn’t we be looking for ’Galchenyuk-in-Zadorov’ or--?”

“SHHH!!!” Joseph hushes harshly into his microphone, cutting into Jonathan’s sentence. “We didn’t come here for nothing; we’re gonna sing.” He turns to the others, who are already in their positions to play. “Hockey song: one, two three, go!”

Nick starts putting a rhyme on the drums and the guitar, bass, and keyboard join in feebly. But what is more feeble and off-key is their singing...and their song itself:

Hockey is amazing,

Hockey is awesome.

Hockey is amazing,

Hockey is awesome.

Hockey is amazing,

Hockey is awesome--

“Wait,” Sidney cuts in, “let me guess the next lyrics: ‘Hockey is amazing, hockey is awesome.’”

The song, or if that could even be considered a “song,” immediately drops.

“How did you know!?” Joseph growls into the microphone with lowered eyebrows.

“Because that’s all you guys are saying,” Jonathan points out, gawking at them. “Aren’t you gonna say other words other than ‘hockey,’ ‘is,’ ‘amazing,’ and ‘awesome?’”

“These lyrics are already hard to memorize,” Nick yammers lazily.

Suddenly, the door behind the three NHLers burst open and two men march into the room, both wearing black, white, and red matching sweat jackets. The first man has a cocky smirk etched on his face and the other guy has a clueless smile.

All of the professional hockey players stop what they are doing and turn to face the two new men.

“I came in here because I heard someone dying,” the cocky man informs them flatly.

Joseph stares at the two intruders with a silent glare. He then turns to Brandon and whispers to him: “See, I told you you sound like someone's dying, Monty Muffins.”

Brandon shoots Joseph a glare. “Shut up,” he grumbles.

The cocky man crosses his arms, putting his weight on one leg. “What are you guys doing here?”

“I heard they were making music!” the guy with the clueless smile exclaims.

“Psshhhh, what music?” The other man rolls his eyes with his smirk slightly fading. He turns to the others. “You guys aren’t suppose to be here--”

“Whoa!” The second man clutches onto the first man’s arm and uses his other hand to point to Sidney. “Is that Sidney Crosby?” He turns to him with wide eyes. “It’s Sidney--!”

The cocky man clasps his hand over his buddy’s mouth. He says sarcastically, “And I’m me, whoo, fun, okay--” He puts on a serious tone to the other professionals. “You guys aren’t suppose to be here.”

Matt then rushes up to the two with the box that was once tucked in the corner of the room. “You guys can play the triangle with us.”

The second man pulls away from his buddy with excited eyes on the box. “Triangles! I love triangles!” He digs into the box and pulls up a silver triangle with its striker. “Oh hoh, yeah!” He taps the triangle with the striker; it makes a light, vibrating ring. He then happily spins around to face his buddy. “Can we play the triangle, please?”

The other man sighs heavily with a frown. “Fine, I guess.” He reluctantly grabs another triangle and striker. “But just for one song and then you guys are all getting out of here. Okay?” He wags the striker at the others.

All of the professional hockey players agree.

Matt puts the box back in its place and settles behind the keyboard. “What song should we play next?”

“A legit song where you guys can actually sing good,” Jonathan tells them sternly.

The five band members stare at each other, like as if they are communicating with their eyes.

Meanwhile, the other two men are standing next to Jonathan with the exact opposite looks: excited and grumpy.

The band mates then turn back to their audience.

“Well,” Matt starts off gently, “we used to have another band member.”

A wave of still silence suddenly washes over the room.

“He was the singer,” Ryan picks up.

“A really, really, really, really good one,” Nick adds in.

“But then one day…,” Brandon says ominously. “...he was traded to the farthest place from San Diego:” He turns to Joseph as a way of support to continue on. He then turns back to the audience. “St. John’s.”

Joseph slides his hands over his face. “Oh, Maxi!” he cries out.

“Maxi?” Sidney makes a confused look. “Who’s Maxi?”

“MAX FRIBERG!” Joseph roars into the microphone. “HE WAS THE BEST FRIEND ANY COULD EVER HAD AND OUT OF ALL OF THE PEOPLE THEY HAD TO TRADE HIM TO ALL OF THE CITIES--!” Joseph paws his hand over the microphone and presses his forehead against it in anguish.

All of the other bandmates sit and stand there in silence with sadden looks and tears.

“Awwww…,” Sidney starts with a horrified face. “I’m so sorry!”

“That must be so sad!” Nathan adds in.

The second man is dabbing his tears away from a tissue. “It’s so sad...this is so sad…”

The first man scoffs and looks away.

Joseph gains his composure and turns back to the others. “So for Maxi’s leaving, we wrote a song for him.”

Then Brandon strums the guitar as softly as possible.


And Joseph begins to sing gently:


Do you remember those days,

When you would wash the windows,

And we would spray you with the hose?


And Nick adds in:


And you wouldn’t get mad.


Brandon picks it up:


Do you remember those days,

When you would get us smiling,

Even though Joey has thrown everything on the ground.


Joseph adds in:


And Nick was sleeping for twenty hours.


Nick continues it on:


Oh, do you remember those days,

When you would cook us Swedish meatballs,

And you would actually speak Swedish?


Ryan sings further:


Do you remember,

Those days?


Ryan turns to the left with a small smile.


We do,


He then turns to the right with the same expression.


We do.


Then all of the five Gulls teammates begin to shout melodically:


Oh, Maxi,

We miss you,

We want you to come home!

Friberg,

Please come back,

We miss you, oh no!


Matt sings his solo part:


Joey has definitely lost his mind and--


Joseph cuts in harshly:


Matt is crying every day and night!


Then they all continue singing together:


Oh, Maxi,

Friberg,
We miss you so much,

Please come back,

Come back…


Their voices and music fade off as the worst happens: They forget the lyrics.

Ryan pipes in, “Please--”

Brandon jumps in: “Have us for--”

“No!” Joseph snaps.

Brandon then begins strumming back into the song as the lyrics come back to his mind:


Come back,


The others’ voices and music begins to join him as the lyrics come back to their minds:

Come back,

We’ll meet you for lunch.

Please come back to San Diego,

St. John's is a long way from here.


As the music slows down, Nick adds:


Yeah.


Brandon then begins singing with a different, slower tune:


We miss you,

Maxi,


Joseph continues on:


We want you,

Friberg.


Nick adds in:


You know,

You know,

That even Coach misses you, too.


Ryan jumps in:


You are our,

Peacemaker,


Brandon continues on:


Maxi,

Our rescuer,


Joseph dramatically wraps it up:


Without you,

We’re doomed!


The others join him in his crying:


So doomed!


Then all the Gulls together, including the “triangle-ists,” bring it back to the chorus:


Maxi,

Friberg,

We miss you so much.

Maxi,

Friberg,
Please come back for lunch.

Oh, Maxi,

Friberg,

We need you, ooo!


The music slows down as Brandon sings:


Oh, Maxi,


Joseph adds in:


Oh, Friberg,


Nick jumps in:


Oh, Maxi,


Ryan melodically says with perfection:


Oh, Fri...berg…


There is a pause before Joseph pulls out the word:


We…


The others join him:


Miss you so…

Much…!


They then begin to have a little crying session with small tears and sniffs. Yet they finish the song sweetly:


Friberg…


They sniff some more with frowns.

“Even Joey is crying!” Ryan points out, eyeing the singer as he wipes his nose with the back of his hand.

“Well, we have Kalle,” Nick tries to comfort them, rubbing his eyes.

Joseph roughly turns to Nick and yells: “He’s not Maxi!”

Matt plays two, sad keys on the piano: don, don.

“Oh, well they’re both Scandinavian.” Nick shrugs.

Brandon looks ahead with a frown and half-closed eyes. He shakes his head. “Can’t we ever finish a song without interruptions?”

Suddenly, a ground-shaking CRASH! is heard from behind the audience. Everyone snaps their eyes at that direction, landing on..."Galchenyuk-in-Zadorov."

Nikita slowly steps into the room, stepping on the shattered glass he spewed out as he made his grand entrance through the glass door. His eyes are glowing a brilliant white as his hands are overflowing with misty, navy blue energy.

The two men hug each other with eyes as wide as pucks and scream: “AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” They zip down the room and use the side door as a way to exit the room.

Sidney, Nathan, and Jonathan get up on their feet with their eyes locked on the merged man.
“Galchenyuk-in-Zadorov!” Sidney gasps.

Nick slowly gets up from his drum set and begins “screaming” in his regular lazily, deep voice while running in slow-motion: “Ahhhhhh…!”

Brandon and Joseph turn to Nick with puzzled looks. “What was that?” Brandon asks.

Nick stops his “screaming” and “running” and points to Nikita. “That’s strange.” He turns to the others. “Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“I don’t know what’s stranger: that or fixing Maxi up,” Joseph mutters, eyeing Nikita with a hint of horror. “Let’s get out of here.” He grabs onto Brandon’s and Nick’s wrists and rushes out of the room.

“You!” Nathan yells at Nikita while pointing at him. “Take us back to the HQs!”

Sidney looks at him and shakes his head. “That’s not how it works-- GAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

Sidney immediately gets thrown to the other side of the room, nearly crashing into the two goalies; he has his back slammed against the whiteboard. But instead of sliding back down, he is stuck due to ribbons of heatwaves locking his wrists and ankles in place.

Sidney begins to panic slightly as he attempts to use his glaciokinetic powers to go against the heat. But when his ice begins to form over his wrist, it would immediately melt due to the heat.

Nikita reverts his hand to Jonathan and flings him next to Sidney, this time holding him in place with titanium-alloy cuffs.

“No!” Nathan moves his hands in a smooth, wavy fashion. A mini blizzard begins to spin around Nikita with snow bits flying around him.

Nikita gazes around his predicament for a moment. He then builds up deep orange energy against his chest, and throws his hands up into the air, emitting deep orange energy with black spots.

The blizzard immediately explodes and dissolves as heat engulfs the room for moment.

Nathan ducks behind his foldable chair as a way to shield himself. But it does not help him when Nikita thrusts him next to Sidney, locking him in place with the same sort of energy.

With deep, ominous chuckles, Nikita slowly steps forward toward the locked up and struggling three. His right hand, which is behind his back, conjures a deep blue-coloured energy blade. He then halts in front of the three with narrowed eyes.

“You thought you could drop me off in the Sierra Nevadas and all would be good, eh?” Nikita tells them insidiously in Alex’s voice. He chuckles mirthlessly some more then says, “The answer is: no.”

He immediately slices his blade-occupied hand up in the air, ready to complete his mission. But before he could thrust the blade down against the three NHLers, clear, blurred energy rings with an ear-splitting, high frequency scream fill up the whole room: EEEEEEEEEE!!!

“GAH!” Nikita cries as he retracts the blade, drops to his knees, and covers his ears with his hands.

Immediately, the restraints on Sidney, Jonathan, and Nathan dissolve, letting them fall onto the ground and cover their own ears as well.

Finally, the last ring appears then disappears, having the room settle into a much-needed silence.

With deep breaths, Nikita slowly gets onto his feet and turns around to face the right side of the room, where the rings came from.

Standing there is Matt and Ryan, both with rare, determined looks. Matt is breathing heavily though with bared teeth and his hair slicked back.

“You are not getting any of them,” Matt growls, baring his teeth.

“So you’re the one with the sonokinetic powers, hm?” Nikita cocks an eyebrow at him as he steps closer to them.

Ryan whips out his fist and holds it out in front of him; his fist has tan-coloured energy shield around it in the shape of his fist, but on its knuckles are bear-like claws. “Come any closer and I will use this.”

With a smirk, Nikita wields out his energy blade, spins it in the air for gripping, and brings it down against Ryan. Ryan quickly pushes his fist up and crashes it against the blade. Sparks of tan and blue energy pop out from between the clashing weapons due to the grinding of the two same energies.

Nikita’s face tenses as he presses his blade against Ryan’s fist with all of his might. “Wow...it’s strong,” he spits out between grunts.

“Oh yeah, it is.” Then with one daring and snappy motion, Ryan slips his fist out from underneath the blade and jabs it straight at Nikita.

Nikita arches his back away from Ryan’s fist, but his long claws graze his black cloak-covered shoulder.

“Dah!” Nikita stumbles back and feels the burn marks left behind by Ryan’s energy.

Then Sidney uses this opportunity to attack: He sprays ice at Nikita’s back, turning it into a mini ice rink.

“GAH!!” Nikita puffs his chest up with closed hands as heat radiates from him, melting the ice. He then immediately spins around and traps Sidney again in heat cuffs, this time against the wall.

He then attempts to put the other two GHP members back up, but Jonathan slides in front of Nathan, creating a force field around them.

Nikita easily dissolves the force field, leaving Jonathan in confusion. With that chance, Nikita locks the two back in place next to Sidney in the same fashion. Then for extra coverage, he places his own force field in front of the three.

Nikita swiftly turns around to face the two AHLers. A villainous smile is on his face. “Well, now it’s just you two AHLers. What a pity, not even the NHLers could stand against me!” He lets out a burst of laugher. “With that, what chance do you have against me?” Navy blue energy begins to build up in his hands.

“Lesson for the day and possibly for the rest of your life,” Ryan starts off gravely: “Don’t underestimate others.” He then holds onto Matt’s wrists; Matt does the same.

Suddenly, streaks of gold, black, white, blue, orange, green, and tan energy begin swirling around the two, engulfing them from sight.

Nikita steps back in confusion as he sees this sight unfold in front of his eyes; the other three have the same expression on their faces.

Then once the streaks are blurred, the energy gets sucked in, revealing only Ryan in plain sight. Except this time, there is golden-coloured, electric-like energy zapping from both sides of his head, down by his arms, and manipulated around his hands. There is a hint of energy drifting from the edges of his fury-filled eyes.

Nikita’s eyes, including the other three’s, are massive with surprise. “Wait, what, but, I-I--”

Ryan raises an energy-swirling hand up in front of him. “I get that all the time,” he says in his regular voice. “Only those privileged know that Matt and I merge. And that doesn’t include you.”

Then with that, Ryan releases a blast of tangled electric ribbons with both hands straight at Nikita.

Nikita holds back the blast by producing his own blue-coloured electricity, emitting it and slamming it against Ryan’s golden-coloured energy. They then enter the competition of “tug-a-war,” or more like “push-a-war” as they press on against each other’s powers to find a weak spot and hit their opponent.

Ryan has his feet planted on the ground and his teeth bared as sweat begins to form on his forehead. Nikita has pressed lips and narrowed eyes along with lowered eyebrows.

From up against the wall, the three watch the stalemate battle when the force field flickers and disappears.

“The force field’s gone!” Sidney points out loudly. “We gotta do something!”

Jonathan turns to Sidney. “But what? We can’t do anything!”

“Wait, guys: look at this…!” Nathan gazes down at his left wrist; the others lean over to do the same. The deep orange, black dotted-energy cuff is flickering, like as if it is trying to stay alive, but having a difficult time doing so.

Sidney gasps. “Let it go out! Let it go out!”

“How are you doing that?” Jonathan asks with surprised eyes.

“I don’t know! It’s just doing it.” He looks back down at Nikita. “I think he’s using too much power that he can’t keep up with this…” His eyes trail back to the cuff just as it disappears.

His arm swings down to his side, but his other three cuffs stay intact, holding him in place. “My arm’s free!”

“Use it, use it!” Sidney calls out.

With relief from no longer having heat up against one of his wrists, Nathan holds his hand out toward Nikita. It begins to tense as he mentally commands his powers to start up again from the inside out.

Suddenly, snow begins to form beneath Nikita’s feet. Nikita doesn’t notice it at first, but it begins to abnormally pile on, growing, growing, and growing until he notices it that it is up to his elbows.

Then, Nathan mentally takes hold of that snow and thrusts it to his right.

Along with the snow, Nikita is also flung to the right, halting in his energy emission and tumbling against the foldable chairs and onto the snow-scattered ground.

Before Nikita could gain his composure, Ryan blasts his electric-like energy straight at him. The energy makes contact against Nikita’s head, causing him to lay back on his back and grasp his hand in pain: “AHHHHH!!”

In the background, the three NHLers are let loose due to their restraints disappearing once again.

Then Nikita ceases his screaming and lays on the ground like as if he is in a deep, deep sleep.

Ryan holds back his energy with his eyes glued on the Nikita, waiting to see if he is going to stir awake.

Sidney slowly approaches Ryan and Nikita along with Jonathan and Nathan. “What did you do?!” he exclaims with wide eyes on the fallen man.

Ryan turns to face the three. “Psionic Inundation,” Matt’s voice is heard from Ryan.

“Yeah, what he said,” Ryan comments with a shrug.

The three eye them oddly.

“What is that?” Nathan asks.

Ryan looks up, like as if he trying to look at his head. “Yeah, Hacker, what is that?”

“I just overloaded his mind,” Matt’s voice is heard saying calmly. “He’ll forget his memories and stay unconscious...for a while.”

“Would Nikita be Nikita again and Alex be Alex again?” Jonathan asks.

“Mmmmm...yeah,” Matt replies like a voiceover. “Their power to merge will wear off holding them together, so they’ll come apart pretty soon and effect of the power will be on both.”

“Power to ‘merge’?” Nathan gawks at them. “So that’s what it is?”

“Yeah,” Ryan replies with a smirk. “They can merge, like us! Merging is when two people can be combined into one to achieve a greater supernatural power.”

Sidney gasps as he claps excitedly. “Can Nathan and I merge?”

“Uhhh…” Ryan looks uncomfortable. “I don’t know, it depends on your powers. Talk to the one in charge of your powers for that. But only a few people can merge in the supernatural world of professional sports.”

“Awww…” Sidney frowns. He turns to Nathan. “We’ll just fight together.”

“Yeah…” Nathan is gritting his teeth. “That’s what I was hoping for…”

Jonathan peers down at Nikita. “So, what are we gonna do with him?”

Ryan makes an inquiring look at Nikita. “If I were you,” Matt is heard saying, “I would take him to the one in charge of the supernatural side of the NHL.”

“That would be Tommy Gorman!” Sidney exclaims happily. “Will you help us take him to Tommy’s place? It’s all the way up in Ottawa! You can fly, right?”

“Yeah, we can fly.” Ryan puts his hands on his hips.

“Great!” Sidney claps his hands. “You and I can go take ‘Galchenyuk-in-Zadorov’ to Tommy and--” He turns to Nathan and Jonathan. “--you guys can tell Ryan and Matt’s friends that everything is ooookay! Okay?”

“Sounds good,” Jonathan says, looking at Nathan, who nods in agreement.

“Alright, let’s go!” Ryan exclaims, smacking his hands together once. He makes a confused look. “What was that?”

“Um, I was clapping as a way of encouragement to get with the plan,” Matt’s voice answers softly.

Ryan shrugs. “Huh, alright. Just don’t do that again.”

“Okay.”

Ryan then helps out Sidney carry Nikita as Jonathan and Nathan exit the room to find the other three Gulls teammates.

Notes