Two hours later, practice comes to an end. The Gulls file out of the ice and back to the locker room, leaving their coach to pick up the pucks.

From the bench, Brandon peers behind his shoulder to see Coach Dallas all alone on the ice with the white bucket and pucks by him. With a pang of sympathy, he hops back onto the ice and skates over to him.

“I’ll help.” Brandon tosses his stick and gloves to aside then kneels down. He picks up the pucks around him, creating more pucks with the touch of his hand. He tosses the pucks into the bucket and picks up the duplicated pucks, having more pucks pop into view.

“Okay, that should be all…,” Coach Dallas mutters, peering down at the half-filled bucket. He then gazes down at the ice near the bucket, quickly noticing more pucks around it.

He makes an odd look at them. “What? I thought—” He resumes picking up the extra pucks with Brandon. Yet it seems like no pucks have been picked up at all.

Coach Dallas then turns to Brandon. “It’s okay, Brandon, you can go dress out.”

Brandon halts with two pucks in his hands. “Uh, you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Okay.” He tosses the pucks into the bucket then skates toward the benches, leaving his stick and gloves behind on purpose.

Coach Dallas picks up the leftover pucks and dumps them into the bucket. The ice is finally cleared of pucks, but the bucket is clearly overflowing with pucks.

He gives the bucket a suspicious expression. “I thought we had half a bucket of pucks when we started…”

---

In the locker room, one Gull in particular is extremely happy:

“I GOT MORE STICK TAPE!!!” Bryan bellows, hugging his stock as best as possible. “I have over a hundred!” He shakes his legs in happiness.

From his stall that is nearby, Stu eyes his stock. “I thought you had less…”

Bryan lets go of his stock and peers at his best friend. “No, I recounted them and now I have a hundred and one!!!”

Stu knits his eyebrows. “How did you get more…?”

From the other side of the room, Joseph eyes Matt.

Matt quickly notices the look he is getting from his teammate. “I didn’t give him any!” he exclaims with his hands in the air. “I should’ve given him some…” He hugs himself with a guilty look on his face. “I’m starting to feel bad…!”

Joseph slightly frowns at him with genuine sympathy. “Don’t feel bad, Hacker.”

Matt stares ahead with glassy eyes and a quivering mouth, on the verge of crying.

From his stall, Nick leans over to Brandon and whispers, “Did you do it, Monty?”

Brandon flashes him a massive grin. “Heh heh…yeah…”

Now Joseph is eyeing Brandon with a darker expression.

Brandon turns to him. “I had to.”

From the front of the room in his stall, Shea Theodore points to the pile of stick tape. “Hey, Mooresy, can I have an extra roll of stick tape?”

Bryan whirls to face him; his eyes flash. “No!” He lunges to his stock and clutches onto it greedily. “This is mine! All mine! MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE!!!”

“Bryan!” Stu scolds at him.

Brandon reaches out behind him toward his stick tape, which is on the shelf in his stall. With a touch, Brandon pulls another stick tape roll out of his stick tape and holds it out to Shea. “Here ya go.”

“Thanks!” Shea gets up from his stall and takes the stick tape from his teammate. He then lumbers back to his stall.

Joseph slightly gapes at him. “Monty…!”

Matt gawks at what he just witnessed Brandon do. He slants forward to be closer to him. “Did you just make another roll like that?!” he whispers to him.

Brandon leans toward the goalie. “Icemare,” he murmurs.

Matt nods his head as he straightens himself up. “It makes sense…!”

Nick turns to him and tells him quietly, “Just don’t touch Bryan.”

The four Gulls turn to stare at Bryan with wide eyes.

Brandon holds up his index finger at his best friend. “I’ll keep that in mind. Really.”

Matt leans over toward the three skaters once again. “Can I come over to help you guys?” he asks them bashfully.

“Sure!” Brandon exclaims.

“Great! I’ll be there!” Matt inclines back with a sweet smile on his face.

Notes

E.9 "Activate Duplicate"
Part 3/4
Episode 9/20