The next day has arrived. After breakfast, provided by Jeremy, Brett can be found by the table in the main room, using his suit as a hand-less hair salon.

He is giving his handheld mirror a smirk as his brush is sweeping his wavy hair back to perfection. From behind his mirror, he spots a blurred splotch of dark grey moving.

His brush stops moving as his focus shifts to the strange blotch.

With curiosity, he mentally commands his mirror it lower itself down. The mirror slides downward against the cuff of his suit, revealing what is crossing the table.

Brett’s eyes immediately widened in surprise.

A good-sized animal with a thick, fluffy coat of fur in different shades of gray, black, white, and brown is vertically trotting down the table.

Brett follows it with his eyes as it passes by him. "It looks like a puffy honey badger…," he breathes out.

Instantly, Jake gleefully slides into view, halting next to Brett. "It’s Zeke, my raccoon dog!" He leans over and sweeps the raccoon dog into a gigantic hug.

Brett peers up at his partner with bewilderment. "What?"

"I finally found my raccoon dog!" The goalie holds Zeke out to Brett with excitement.

Zeke stares at his owner’s bestie with his beady eyes, making a high-pitched whimper.

Brett gawks at it with uncertainty. "Uhhh…" He lifts his eyes back up at the goalie. "Good to know, Jake Dog."

Jake then pulls his raccoon dog back into a tight hug. "Don’t go running away from me ever again—" He holds him out to make stern eye contact with him. "—okay?"

Zeke responds by making a shrill whine.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

"NoooOOO!" Kailer is heard bellowing from behind the two besties.

The two turn around to face the control booth.

Already in the booth is Kailer with his laboratory coat and bandana, furiously typing on the control panel. Once again hovering feet away is the holographic screen, which is displaying the shifting of multiple windows.

"There is a disturbance among us!!!" the scientist continues shouting madly, not halting his speedy typing.

Matteo steps down from the nearby staircase and halts next to the small teenager. He peers at the large hologram before turning to him. "What now?"


"Another rink has been targeted—" Kailer menacingly faces him, halting his typing. "—Sioux Falls."

"My rink?" Jeremy proclaims as he enters the room from the staircase on the right side of the control panel.


Kailer follows the goalie as he crosses in front of the screen to reach to them. "Yes."

Jeremy halts next to them and cranes his head back with a groan. "Aw, man."

---

Light, grey clouds coat the skies in Sioux Falls as the unusually chilly summer air contributes to the gloom of the atmosphere and the situation.

Surrounded by a parking lot is a flat, massive, oval-shaped, silver and brown-coloured construct. Its edges droop over the levels of concrete that descend to the parking lot, giving it the same physique as a pancake. This is suppose to be the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

A few feet away from its thin edge on the parking lot are Matteo, Brett, Jake, and the one familiarized with the arena, Jeremy.

"I swear, I did not do this," Jeremy states with wide eyes at his home arena.

Matteo turns to him, shaking his head. "No, no, we believe you."

"At least it’s not just my rink…," Jake points out with a hint of sadness.

"But is it the same Rink Destroyer doing this?" Brett turns to the others. "Because, yesterday—" He holds his hand out at his partner. "—Jake Dog’s rink floated off. Today—" He reverts his hand to Jeremy. "—Brick Wall’s rink is a pancake!"

"That’d mean the Rink Destroyer doing this has more than one power, that’s for sure," Matteo concludes.

Jeremy eyes him with bewilderment. "The power to flatten things and make things float?"

"Those are strange powers!" Jake has wide eyes filled with wonderment.

"I doubt it those are ANY team powers." The Master crosses his arms. "From ANY league."

Brett faces each member present. "So now what?"

Jake peers around the desolated surrounds, sniffing with knees eyes. He then turns his attention back to the others. "There’s no one here except us."

Matteo begins scanning the flattened area with his Wrist-Moto. "Ugh, this Rink Destroyer is so fast. I feel like we’ve got to get one step ahead of him." He then retracts the laser, automatically sending the scan to Kailer.

"But we don’t have a set pattern," Brett points out. He throws a thick index finger in the air. "First, it was a college arena." He adds another finger up. "Now, it’s a USHL arena." He then shrugs. "What’s tomorrow?"

"My arena?" Matteo eyes him with trepidation.

Jake turns to his bestie with a horrified expression. "It can be your arena," he squeaks out.

"Or it can be Kailer’s," Jeremy slips in. "Or Kale’s." He throws his hands into the air. "Or even Mikey’s! Because from the looks of it, they’re targeting our arenas." He swings his arms to his flattened arena.

Matteo rubs his chin with furrowed eyebrows. "So that means the Rink Destroyer knows us…"

"…and doesn’t like us," Jake finishes off in a whimper, his big eyes cast down.

"So the Rink Destroyer does not like us and has weird powers," Brett sums up.

Jeremy makes a perplexed expression. "Who on earth would that be?"

Silence sweeps over the conversation as an answer as the four teenagers stand in the vacant parking lot.

Matteo lets out a groan. "I don’t know. See, that’s the problem—" He throws his hands in the air. "—we’re the only junior power players here."

"It doesn’t have to be a junior power player though," Brett points out.

Jeremy turns to him with his hands tucked under his arms. "We’re the youngest power players here. Who would spend their time and energy terrorizing us if they’re older and more powerful than us? Because" —he nods toward his deflated arena— "they’re definitely more powerful than us."

Matteo lets out an exhausted breath. "It can’t be any of us. Let’s see what Doc has to say about this…"

Notes