AAOOOSC! Rivalry!

“Ack!”

Hilary is thrown onto a sleek, white-tiled flooring, rolling to the momentum of the thrust. She immediately jumps to her feet, spins around, and emits a thick surge of yellow energy with both hands ahead of her.

The blast slams into the glass wall a few feet away from her, disintegrating into harmless sparks on contact.

On the other side of the glass is Auston, who lifts his eyes from the attempted attack to the attacker. He has a wicked smile plastered on his face.

“Not even your pathetic powers can save you,” he tells her in a muffled voice from her point of view. “What a shame.”

Hilary bares her teeth and turns her hands into fists as she begins seeping and glowing with her yellow-coloured energy. “You are going to get it, Matthews…!”

“Yeah, sure.” Auston apathetically flicks his hand at her. “Now don’t mind me, I’m just gonna continue on grabbing the rest of your followers and have them join you.” He then swiftly turns around and ambles into the darkness of the gray hallways beyond the glass, disappearing into the shadows.

Hilary stares ahead at the ominous hallway her captor just walked through. With a huff, she flicks her eyes behind her to observe the cell she is standing in:

It is square-shaped with glass walls; their perimeters are lined with a smooth, white wall and a strip of blue light near the bottom; the ceiling is high and white with circular lights radiating brightly on her.

Hilary crosses her arms and dips her head as a scowl overcomes her face. How do I get out of here? The wall must be some type of power negotiating mechanism since my powers did nothing to it. If I can’t blast these walls down, how am I ever going to--?

“Why ya staring like that?” she hears Emily asking from behind her.

Hilary immediately whirls around, catching sight of her small sidekick. Her eyes fly open with glee. “EMILY!”

Emily holds her hands out from her sides. “Hilary!”

She rushes up to her and bends over, pulling her into a hug. “Wh-what are you doing here?” She pulls away from her, kneeling to her eye level. “How did you get in here?”

Emily throws an index finger in the air. “Like this!” She then whirls around and speeds through the wall, becoming invisible for a split second before reappearing on the other side of the glass. She darts through the glass again, disappearing then becoming visible by Hilary. “Don’t forget: I’m fast AND invisible!”

Hilary knits her eyebrows in confusion. “But-but the walls appear to negate powers.”

The defenceman scratches her head. “Hmmm, they work fine with my powers. Must be just for your powers.” She shrugs.

“Huh…” She narrows her eyes. “So how can I get out?”

“How can you get…?” Emily’s voice fades away as she peers behind her shoulder.

Standing on the other side of the glass are Jessica, Katie, Nicole, and Dru. The four spot Emily needing aid due to the stare she is giving them.

Dru reacts first, coolly whipping a sharp blade into the air. “I got it.” She steps toward the wall and kneels. She then runs the tip of her blade against the wall, leaving behind a fine line in the shape of a doorway. She steps away from her work.

Katie pulls her rifle into view, aiming it at the centre of the lined doorway. “I’ll remove it.” She then pulls the trigger.

BLAM!

The bullet flies through the drawn doorway, crumbling it into millions of shards as it makes contact with it. The fragments and the bullets spew across the cell’s tiling with clanks and shattering, halting at Hilary’s and Emily’s feet.

The two captains peer up at the now empty doorway with hopeful eyes.

“It’s open!” Hilary rushes out of the cell with Emily behind her; she stops by the others. “We’ve gotta get outta here!”

Jessica turns around and swings her arm over her shoulder as a signal. “Follow us.” She begins walking toward the mouth of the hallway right behind them.

The others begin following the goalie.

The hallway is wide and dim with black tiled flooring, dark gray walls lined with long, rectangular lights bright enough to light the way, and shady pipes running against the ceiling.

The ladies begin sprinting down the hallway, picking up the pace to get out of the headquarters as quickly as possible.

During the run, Hilary spots dingy security cameras in the shadows.

“Don’t worry about the security cameras,” she hears Nicole telling her through huffs. “I burnt them out!”

Hilary turns to the goalie, spotting her ponytail bouncing to the movement of her run. “Awesome! We got this!”

Suddenly, alarms being to blare: WHRRR WHRRR WHRRR WHRRR!!!

The ladies screech to a halt, covering their ears with hands.

“I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU BURNT OUT THE CAMERAS!!!” Dru bellows over the whirring of the alarm.

“I DID!” Nicole screeches at her. “These are the alarms! I didn’t know there were any here!”

Emily’s eyes immediately widen at the ground. “WATCH OUT!!!”

Instantly, a thick vine shoots up into view, crumbling the floor beneath the ladies’ feet.

The ladies stumble away from the animated plant and the disintegrating floor in terror, nearing the wall behind them.

WHRRR!!! WHRRR!!! WHRRR!!!

The vine snaps at them, ripping the ground in two right under their feet.

“GAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

The floor gives out and the ladies fall down into the large room on the lower floor with chunks of tile flying past them. Wind is blasting against their faces and pulling at their long hair as the metallic floor below rushes up to them.

Feet from the ground, the six girls come to a sudden halt, levitating on an invisible, yet noisy construct; low vibrations run against them as a muted rumbling is heard.

They flick their eyes ahead, spotting the owner of the construct.

“I got you guys!” Erica shouts from the other side of the room, her hands extended out toward them. “I got you guys!”

They then feel the quivering, indiscernible slate being lowered, causing themselves to descend with it. They are placed on the ground gently, meeting the metallic flooring with ease. The six ladies stand up with heavy breathing, observing the new room they crashed into.

It is a hanger with three levels of window panels wrapped around the extensive room. There are streaks of light between each side of each panel as the only source of light, hence not making the room luminous. The walls are also metallic, including the ceiling, which now bears a massive hole. The wall to the left of the group that just entered has a gap, displaying the starry outside of outer space.

Across the steel-covered middle of the hanger are two spacecrafts: Katie’s spaceship and an unfamiliar, sleek spaceship, which can be easily be concluded to belong to Auston.

From the other end of the hanger, through the gap between the two spacecrafts, the six can see the other four.

Natalie cups her mouth with her hands and hollers, “You guys got Hilary?”

Emily steps next to Hilary from standing in front of her, like as if Natalie could not see the captain with her in front. “Yes, we did!” she shouts back.

Nicole then sprints ahead of her group, beginning to reach to the other group when a sudden blast of leaves appear from thin air, shoving her back to her group.

The leaves with green and different shades of red swirl around the gap between the two groups and spacecrafts, morphing into a whirlwind of leaves to serve as a barricade.

Jessica instantly springs in front of her group, unleashing sprays of foam at the leaves. The leaves immediately get knocked down, splattering onto the ground, soaked.

On the other side, Claudia thrusts a large ball of fire out at the other side of the whirlwind, burning the leaves into drifting ash.

“GUYS!!!” Hilary is heard yelling from behind her group.

All the nine ladies face her; their eyes widen.

Hilary is wrapped in a massive vine, yards from the ground. She is writhing in its tight lock, the soles of her feet sputtering with yellow sparks as she attempts to fly out. Yet her efforts are fruitless.

Katie holds her hand out toward the captain. “Use my strength!” Her hand begins to tense as an unseen supernatural flow surges through it.

Immediately, Hilary finds her new strength from the goalie, utilizing it: She tears the vine into multiple pieces as she throws her hands out from her sides, breaking free.

She then naturally lands her eyes ahead at the window facing her from across the room. On the other side is the control centre of the hanger; Auston is standing behind the long panel.

Hilary throws her index finger at his direction. “Matthews!”

From below her, Nicole perks up along with the others, quickly catching sight of the man. “I see him!” She then takes in a deep breath and lets it out in the form of a deep whale sound:

OOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The window shakes and immediately shatters into millions of pieces, raining onto the hanger’s ground.

In haste and panic of being exposed, Auston unleashes sprays of maple syrup down at them.

Dru immediately slides into the syrup’s way, collecting the sticky substance with a wide blade.

Auston quickly closes his hands into fists after realizing his attacks are not working. He then glances at the array of buttons and screens and levers the control panel is displaying before grasping onto a lever and yanking it toward him.

The open space to the six-membered group’s left begins to be blocked by a descending wall of metal: the hanger’s door.

All the ladies’ eyes widen at the sight of their only option to escape closing on them.

On the other side, Julie whirls to Erica. “Erica, override the system!”

Without missing a beat, Erica conjures an electric bolt and thrusts it at the closing hanger door. Sparks of electricity immediately fly over the area, halting the movement of the door and burning out all the lights.

The massive room plunges into heavy darkness.

“Uh oh,” Emily is heard croaking.

FOOSH!

A small, luminous flame appears far away from the group. The light from it bounces off from its owner, revealing that it is Claudia providing the light.

“¡Luz!” she exclaims with a small smile.

Then another white, still streak of electricity with smaller bolts zapping around it materializes next to the flame. Its light radiates on its owner, who is Erica.

“Same here!” Erica shouts, holding the bolt in the air.

Next to Nicole, Hilary can be seen dimly as she has her bright flow of energy surging in her hands. Beside her is Emily, who is flowing her blue-coloured energy around her.

Nicole darts her eyes around the inky room, attempting to find the villain. She then leans over to Hilary and murmurs, “I don’t think Matthews can glow, though.”

“Which is good,” Auston’s voice is heard booming from behind the goalie, “because you won’t know where I am--!”

Suddenly, she feels the smooth, rubbery, cold touch of vines twisting around her harshly, pulling at her clothes and skin.

“ACHK!” she yelps in fright before sending a supernatural surge throughout her body, having herself fall through the vine as her body bears the texture of water.

She then drops to the floor on her feet behind the vine and blasts a thick torrent of water at Auston’s voice’s direction.

“BLUCH!” Auston is heard sputtering from the same location.

“Let’s hear you say that with this!” Jessica’s voice rings out next to Nicole.

Foam flies through the air, hitting the target with splatters. Nicole then turns to her left, spotting Jessica’s face in the dim light from Hilary and Emily.

“Put him in a lock!” she tells her.

Nicole quickly morphs the torrent into a steady ribbon of water, wrapping it securely around him. “Got him!”

Jessica then halts her stream of foam and turns around, facing the flame and the bolt on the other side of the darkness. “Erica, turn back the power.” She whirls to Emily. “Emily, go up the control center and open the doors up.”

Immediately with thundering clicks, the lights flash back on, deluging the room in a blinding, yet much-needed light. At the end of the room with a shake, the hanger door continues dropping steadily.

“Guys!” Emily is heard hollering from high up.

Everyone reverts their attention to her, spotting her behind the control panel through the gap in the wall where the window was once situated.

Inside, Emily is gazing at the overwhelming rows of buttons, screens, and levers. “Which button do I press?”

As a response, Jessica’s group turn around to face the owner of the control panel as Julie’s group approaches him.

Auston is tied before them due to Nicole’s water restraint. He has lowered eyebrows and a large frown. His hair is matted on his forehead, not completely covering it, filled with water. More water is dripped down his face as his opulent clothes are pressed against him. Foam lines his head and shoulders and runs down his skin.

Natalie slides past the group and halts in front of him with a hard stare and crossed arms. “Tell us the button or I’ll blow you up.”

“Pfft,” Auston spits out along with water. “Yeah, sure.”

Natalie holds her stare at him. Immediately behind her, Auston’s spacecraft explodes into billows of flames and smoke, throwing debris and ashes in multiple directions. The eruption then settles down, reducing to harmless flames and rubble.

“The lever to the right,” Auston states.

With a sweet smile, Natalie steps back into the group.

Emily beams down at him. “Thanks!” She grabs the lever and pulls it up.

Right away, the door shakes and begins to roll up, expanding the gap and the starry scenery.

Emily then quickly reappears right beside Hilary with a thrilled expression.

Hilary steps up to Auston with her hands on her hips. “So?”

Auston shoots her a glower. “Let me go and I’ll not bother you guys anymore.”

Julie takes a pace forward. “Will you return women’s hockey back?”

Auston holds his displeased expression.

“We won’t let you go until you do.” Julie crosses her arms.

Dru immediately shoots up at him, holding a blade to his throat with a glare; Katie has her rifle aimed at him; Erica is holding a bolt at him; Claudia is conjuring a ball of roaring fire around the palms of her hands.

Auston then takes a deep breath and huffs out. “Fine! I’ll return your stupid leagues back.”

The ladies immediately drop their attack methods and pump their hands in the air. “Yes!!!”
Emily turns to Katie, who is now the closest to her. “Man, if he thinks that our leagues are stupid, I’d hate to know how he’d describe this plan of his to stop them!”

Nicole retracts the ribbon of water, letting the man go.

Auston straightens himself up and brushes the foam off of himself with a frown.

Jessica steps up to him a serious expression. “We’ll give you forty-eight hours to return the seasons of the NWHL and CWHL. If you fail to do so, we’ll come after you and serve justice. For now, we’re being lenient and letting you go. Do not take advantage of our generosity.” She holds her hand out at him. “Is that a deal?”

Auston gives her a scowl. “Yes.” He then takes her hand and gives it a firm shake.

“I’ll blow you up next time,” Natalie threatens him with a smirk.

“And shred you,” Dru adds in, holding her blade up.

“¡Y te quemaré de adentro hacia afuera!” Claudia hollers as ribbons of fire swirl around her.

Julie eyes her Mexican sidekick with fright, then at the others. “You do not want to know what she just said.”

“She wants to burn me up,” Auston translates flatly. “I know Spanish.”

The fire around Claudia immediately dissolves as its owner stares at the man with a shocked expression.

“Well, Auston--” Hilary places a hand on his soaked shoulder. “--I hope you do well in your first year of the NHL.”

Auston turns to her with a small smile. “Why, thanks.”

“You’ll do great!” Emily exclaims with a toothy grin.

“Be nice to the goalies!” Nicole advises, holding an index finger up.

Erica has a small smile. “Yeah, that’d be nice!”

“Don’t listen to them,” Dru snaps, waving her hand at the goalies. “Be merciless!”

“Alright, alright.” Auston waves his hands out at the ladies, signalling them to quiet down. “I’ll score a hat trick or more in my first game, then give the goalies a break. How about that?”

The ladies nod their heads in agreement.

“Sounds good to me!” Nicole remarks.

“I’ll like to see that first game!” Natalie flashes him a flawless smile.

“I’ll give credit to the defenders for that break,” Emily tells him with a smirk.

Julie then turns to them. “We should go now.”

Jessica nods her head. “I agree.”

“But,” Emily starts with a small frown, “it’s weird to be ending a fight so...nicely.”

“I have so much against me,” Auston states, holding his hand out at the ten ladies facing him. “Trust me, I’d hold you guys in my clutches right now” --a small vine forms in his outstretched hand-- “but I know it wouldn’t end well for me.” He sighs as he turns his hand into a fist, covering the vine.

Hilary gives him a satisfied smile. “Good to know you learned your lesson.”

Katie holds her fist at him. “Good fight.” She watches Auston warily bump his fist against hers. “Goodbye, Mr. Matthews.” She then turns around and strolls to her lonely spaceship.

All the other ladies begin following her with arrays of goodbyes at the man:

“Bye!” Natalie exclaims, blowing a kiss with a wave.

“Bye bye!” Erica yells with a small smile.

“¡Adiós!” Claudia exclaims with a grin.

Emily waves to him with two hands before boarding the spaceship. “Byeee!” She then disappears into it.

Watching the ladies enter their spacecraft, Auston shakes his head with subtle frustration. “What was I thinking?” he grumbles. “Still don’t like the sport.”

Notes