AAOOOSC!: Gulls' Adventures!

Back in Icemare’s Chamber, Joseph, Ryan, Matt, and Stu are standing in their own yellow-green luminous rings, being held transfixed by the force.

From the darkness beyond their huddle, Dustin strolls back into view.

“Do you know what time it is?” He swiftly halts in the middle of their own circle, gazing around at all four of them with sadistic happiness. “It's trading time! Now that your beloved Brandon is being traded at this moment, who would be next in line?”

Dustin pivots his feet to face Ryan. “How about you?” He waves his pointer finger at him. “The SPHL needs great goalies like you!”

“Don't trade him!” Matt cries out in ire from Dustin’s right side.

Dustin turns his head to him. “I'm sorry, but I didn't ask for your opinion. Shut it.” He faces his first trading victim of the four-man group again.

“Don't tell me to shut up!” Matt barks.

Dustin turns to him with a shocked gawk. “And who is the one here bound to restraints?” His eyes dart from shoulder to toe, making sure his hostage is motionless.

“Just because I have restraints doesn't mean I'll have 'em on forever,” Matt spits out matter-of-factly.

With a deep, angering breath, Dustin begins to march up to the other goalie. “As long as I am here, Mr. Hackett, I'll keep the restraints on you for as long as I'd like. YOU don't get to decide that.” He halts in front of him, inches from his face, with a grave expression. “Understand?”

Matt shoots him a scowl. “No.”

“Under...stand?”

“NO!”

Without saying another single word to the misbehaving goalie, Dustin spins back around and begins making his way back to Ryan. “Now what I was saying here before your pesky friend decided to display his nasty attitude--”

“Oh and I wonder who heavily contributed to it--”

Dustin spins around to face Matt and snarls, “STOP IT.”

“No!” Matt snaps.

Dustin forces out between his gritted teeth, “Say ‘yes.’”

“Make me.” Matt nods to him.

Dustin swiftly holds up his right hand, which is conjuring icy air with crystals of ice. “Smile.”

Matt takes in a deep breath and lets it out in the form of a scream: “AHHHHHHH!!!”

The glowing circle around his feet begins to flicker, intensifying as the scream prolongs, until it gives out, glitching into darkness.

Suddenly, clear, rippling sonokinetic rings emit from Matt’s mouth through his scream, sweeping its whirling, high-pitch noise into the air

Everyone grimaces at the sound: The three hostages cover their ears with their shoulders to the best of their ability; Dustin covers his both ears with each hand, falling to his knees in agony.

Matt snatches a ring from his oral emission and ceases his screaming. He wields the disc at Ryan, slamming it against his radiant circle.

The circle spits out sparks and smoke, malfunctioning to a power outage.

Matt quickly brings the vibrating disc back up in the air and reverts its target, holding it inches from the side of Dustin’s head.

Dustin gradually relaxes. He lifts his head up and removes his ears as he spots the humming, clear ring near him. He flicks his eyes up at the owner of the energy disc.

“And the restraints were gonna be on me forever?” Matt asks him tauntingly.

With fear and shock written all over his face, Dustin scrambles to his feet and rushes away from him, toward the darkness beyond their circle.

Before he could pass by Joseph and Stu, the ground beneath gives a violent lurch, causing him to launch off from the ground and crash back on it against his face and stomach.

With a groan, Dustin pushes himself to his knees and peers behind his shoulder with furious wide eyes, spotting the source of the shake.

Ryan is now standing next to his goalie buddy, his right foot planted on the ground in front of his left foot. “Can't use your powers?” he asks the captor.

Dustin spins back onto his feet and unleashes a taunt stream of icy air.

Matt quickly steps forward and whips out a sonokinetic disc, reflecting the ice stream with its rippling surface.

Dustin then throws his hands out from in front of him to his sides. His ice emission expands on both sides, settling in the air to create a wall of ice.

Ryan launches into the air, his fist covered by an ergokinetic glove equipped with energy claws aimed behind him. He swipes his glowing fist at the cold, rough surface of the wall, demolishing it in one strike.

Before Ryan could make another attacking motion on him, Dustin throws his hands out from his sides, emitting a soft stream of power blue ice. The frigid, misty energy completely swirls around him, glistening in the light from above. “Subzero ice,” he tells them with a wicked smirk.

Ryan holds his energy hand toward the hazy frigidness. He immediately retracts it back as he feels the sharp, shooting pain of potential frostbite fly up his hand. “I can't go any closer,” he tells his goalie buddy, stepping back for warmth.

Matt stares at the foggy predicament with a frown. He then whisks another sound ring and thrusts it at the drifting, freezing haze.

The ring immediately plummets to the ground, shattering into a million of clear pieces on contact.

With sad fright at the sight, Matt conjures another sonokinetic ring from his right hand, grabs it with his both hands, and begins to pull at it gradually. The ring’s sharp, high-frequency sound slips higher and sharper as it is being tugged.

Ryan stares wide-eyed at what his goalie buddy is doing. “Matt, what are you doing?”

“I'm gonna get to Dustin,” Matt grunts as he continues stretching the disc.

“Not by that, you're gonna blow this place us!” He throws his hands out from his sides. “We're gonna get seriously hurt!”

Matt gazes at him, the disc now the width of his shoulders. “How else can we get to him? Even merging won't help!”

“We need something hot--”

“GAHHHHH!!!” Dustin yells in pure agony.

The goalies, with Matt dropping his sound disc, and the two skaters in hostage revert their attention at the captor.

Dustin’s icy mist is no longer evident. Now, Dustin has his back arches with his chest expanded as fire bursts on his back. He immediately drops onto the floor, back facing up, as the flames decrease into innocent licks.

Everyone, minus Joseph, gawks at the unexpected situation their enemy experienced. They then slowly lifted their eyes, catching sight of the source of the fire.

Standing in triumph behind the fallen captor is Brandon. With his modern business suit still on, he has his hands by sides, gleaming with flares.

Mainly everyone gasps at their teammate. “Brandon!”

Brandon drops his grave expression when his eyes land on his teammates. “I knew you guys will still be here!” He extinguishes the fire from his hands and rushes by Dustin, engulfing the two goalies into a quick, massive hug.

He then pulls apart from them and darts to Stu. He sprays his warm-coloured fire at the cool-coloured circle by Stu’s feet, cutting its power. He retracts the fire back into his hands.

“Thanks, Monty!” Stu steps out of the dormant circle.

“Yeah!” Brandon then sprints over to Joseph, halting in front of him.

“Monty, you’re here?” Joseph asks lowly, his head dipped down with his eyes aimed at the ground.

Brandon emits fire at his circle. “Uh yeah...can’t you see?” The circle turns vacant, signalling him to extinguishes the flames with a flick of his hand.

“No,” he replies humbly.

Brandon shoots a bewildered expression at his roommate. He then whirls to the others. “He can't see?”

“I can hear!” Joseph snaps from his right.

“What happened?” Brandon gazes at him with concern.

“Dustin threw some ice at his eyes while he was trying to get you,” Stu tells him with a slight frown.

Brandon’s face drops. “Oh yeah, I kinda saw that.” He turns to the blind man. “I'm sorry, Joey.”

“Whatever,” Joseph mumbles.

From Joseph’s right, Dustin lets out grunts as he pushes himself back up to his knees “Ugh...ugh…”

Matt briskly sticks his foot out at him and presses it against his back, forcing him to stay against the ground. “Nope!”

Brandon strolls over to the fallen goalie with his hands clasped behind his back.

Dustin raises his narrowed eyes up at him. “Brandon…, what are you doing here? You're gonna miss your flight.”

Brandon knits his eyebrows. “What flight?”

“Where else?” A sly smirk creeps on his face.

“I don't know what you're talking about...” Brandon lowers himself by squatting, descending to his eyes level. “...but I think you know what I'm gonna ask you: Drop the plan.”

“Never.”

“Even though you're plastered to the ground?” Brandon shoots his eyebrows upward.

“I will not let anyone tell me what to do or what to accept,” Dustin grunts out. “I will make my own choices and decision.”

“So let us do the same.”

Dustin lowers his eyebrows at him. “Too bad one of my choices is to make yours.” Instantly, he shoots up to his feet and blasts into the darkness with a streak of ice mist as his propeller.

The four teammates stare up at where Dustin flew into; Joseph still has his eyes on the ground.

Stu faces his teammates. “At least he's gone now. And we're free!”

“Yeah…” Brandon scratches the back of his neck. “But what's he gonna do now?”

Matt guides Joseph back to the huddle with his hands on his shoulder. “And how are we gonna fix Crammer back up?”

“I would like to see, you know,” Joseph grumbles.

Ryan peers at the others with confusion. “So should we just go back home? Or do we chase after Dustin?”

“It’d be best to go back home,” Brandon replies. “I don't want anything to do with them and their plan.” He swiftly turns around and begins ambling toward the darkness.

Stu knits his eyebrows at him. “‘Them’?”

Brandon spins back around, facing the four. “Yeah: Dustin and Nick.”

Everyone gawks with shock in reply.

Notes

E.18 "The Ones Behind It All"
Part 5/8
Episode 18/20