Stu Bickel, Matt Hackett, and Ryan Faragher emerge back into the familiar alleyway with the large trash can next to them. They spot Brandon Montour and Joseph Cramarossa ahead of them, standing in place.

Brandon peers around the still surroundings in search of Dustin Tokarski. Yet all that moves is a bouncing wad of paper to the soft breeze.

“Where-where did he go?” Brandon calls out to into the empty alley.

Then, a familiar calm, yet sinister voice is heard saying from behind them, “I’m right here.”

The five Gulls quickly turn around to face the direction of the voice. Their eyes immediately widen.

Standing proudly in now a black room with the right amount of light on him is the man with a black cape and a tinted goalie mask: Icemare.

The teammates are also in the same black room under the right lighting with him. The colours have returned to their physique, revealing the true colours of their forties outfit of muted hues. They stare at him with surprise and even fight.

“Icemare!” Matt cries out with pure terror.

Joseph lowers his eyebrows with sharp eyes on the masked man. “What do you want now?”

Brandon gawks at Icemare. “Wait, you’re not Dustin. You-you—” He instantly stops his sentence as he witnesses Icemare making a move.

Icemare grabs the lower edge of his visor and lifts it up, pulling up the front part of his goalie helmet as well. Once the mask is settled on his head, the face behind the visor is fully revealed: a round face, mellow, brown eyes, brown hair that is brushed to the side, some stubble around his chin along with pale skin.

“Or am I?” Dustin asks slyly.

His teammates gasp at him with massive eyes and dropped jaws.

“I SHOULD’VE KNOWN IT WAS YOU THE WHOLE TIME!” Joseph roars at him, his eyes flashing. “YOU STOLE MAXI’S PLACE AND NOW YOU WRECK OUR LIVES—”

“Calm, calm, calm down, Cramberry,” Dustin tells him calmly, lowering his black-gloved hands as a signal.

Joseph breathes heavily with conjuring fury, his glacial eyes still locked on him and his hands in tight fists.

“Shhh…,” Dustin finishes off smoothly, holding his extended arms out at him with his palms facing him.

Joseph lets out a growl before stepping back toward Brandon. Brandon takes his arm as a way to comfort him.

“Good.” Dustin faces the rest of the remanding Gulls. “I thought you guys were smart enough to make the connection. But I guess not; more of an advantage to me. How did you guys like the forties?”

“It was pathetic,” Joseph spits out. “The hockey team was pathetic.”

Dustin raises his eyebrows at him. “Well that’s not really nice--”

“YOU’RE not nice!” he barks back at him.

“I liked the music,” Matt pipes in innocently. “And the dancing is nice.”

Joseph whirls to him with wide, mad eyes. “MATT—!”

“I’m glad you enjoyed the culture,” Dustin cuts in sophisticatedly; the others turn their attention to him. “But fun fact: The forties were called the Nightmare Decade due to the shadow of World War Two and the Cold War. And because of…” He removes the Icemare helmet from his head and holds it up toward them. “...me.”

“Where are you going with this?” Stu asks with a hint of annoyance.

Dustin lowers the helmet to his side. “Oh, don’t worry, I do know where I’m going.” He playfully gazes around the darkened surroundings. “But I need someone to come along with me. Someone in particular…” His eyes land on Brandon.

Brandon gives him a worried expression.

He gives him a sickening smirk. “Brandon Montour. Monty Muffins.” He then launches at Brandon and snatches his arm, pulling him away from his friends and toward the darkness.

“GAAAAHHHH!!!” Brandon cries out, holding out his free hand toward his teammates. “Help!”

“NO!” Joseph yells. He then rushes up to Dustin and lunges at him.

Right away, Dustin spins around to face the flying teammate and emits a blast of icy cold wind straight at him.

“GAH!” Joseph cries out as the ice strikes his eyes. He gets thrust backward due to the force, flinging back to his teammates.

“Joey!” Matt holds up his arms and catches him in a cradle position.

He then peers up with Ryan and Stu, watching Dustin disappear into the darkness with Brandon.

“COME BACK!!!” Stu roars. He charges toward the two as they vanish from view. He then instantly senses half of his foot catching air.

“WHOA!” He immediately halts and peers down.

Sure enough, he makes out with the perfect amount of lighting that he is on the edge of a massive cliff of darkness.

With wide eyes, he peers ahead, spotting the enormous hole expanding on and on into darkness. And no sign of Dustin or Brandon.

He lets out a huff and pads back over to the goalies and the skater.

“Where did they go?” Ryan asks Stu as he approaches them.

“I-I don’t know…” He shrugs. “They just disappeared and there’s a cliff by there.” He extends his hand out behind him towards the cliff’s direction.

“Guys…,” Matt calls out worryingly; the two turn to him. “Crammer’s not doing so well…”

Standing and leaning against Matt with one hand on his shoulder, Joseph has another hand over his eyes. “Ack, my eyes, they burn!” he grunts out. “I can’t see! AH-ACK…!”

“But we got to get Monty!” Stu cries out.

Ryan turns to him. “But how?”

“Oh my goodness, my eyes...!” Joseph blurts out.

Matt frowns at him with uneasiness. “I think we should help out Crammer. And then get Monty. Crammer’s in pain.”

“YA THINK?!” Joseph shouts at the ground due to his dipped head.

Stu nods his head. “Okay, let’s make this quick.” He lets out a sigh. “Hopefully Monty’s okay…and Bryan and Joe…”

Notes

E.18 "The Ones Behind It All"
Part 1/8
Episode 18/20