AAOOOSC! Junior Powers!

Loud, muffled inaudible voices echo throughout the dark bedroom, pulling Kale from his slumber.

His eyes flick wide open, his focus sharply directed at the unfamiliar voices coming from beyond the room.

He stays still, attempting to decipher what the voices are proclaiming, yet their faintness due to the closed door made it nearly impossible. The only piece of information he could take from the voices is the anger packed in them due to their harshness and booming volume.

With a deep breath in, Kale slips out from the bed, having it creak under his weight as he rises to his feet. He quietly steps across the room, on the matted carpet, eyeing the slit of the light peeking from beneath the bedroom door.

He presses his side against the door’s rough, wooden surface, staying still with his attention on the rising voices:

"I don’t have…!"

"Let us in or else…!"

"No, I swear, I don’t…!"

Kale knits his eyebrows at the words he picked up. Who is talking? It sounds like Quinton. What are they talking about? Are they talking about us? Does he need help? I’ll go in really quietly…

Holding his breath, Kale reaches for the golden doorknob and turns it slowly, gradually pushing the squeaky door open.

He slips into the hallway, aiming his eyes at the entrance of the hallway, where the light from the living room is pouring on.

He steps down the hallway, heading toward the end of the wall to his left, while focusing on the clearer voices.

"It’s not fair, you guys can’t come in against my will…"

"We can, we have a warrant…"

"Where? Where is your warrant…?"

Kale halts at the end of the wall and pressing his back against it. He darts his eyes to the bottom left, where the railing lining the left side of the hallway is situated. Down below is the main room, showing the evident view of the voices' source.

At the front door is Quinton, who has his back facing the living room. He appears to be bickering with another person outside, who is out of Kale’s view due to the foyer’s wall.

Kale stays still, anticipating for any movement from the front door.

"The government issued a law saying that authorities do have the right to search anyone’s private property for superhumans," the same voice from the outside is heard proclaiming.

"What happened to the fourth amendment?" Quinton snaps back. "I’m not from here and I even know how this country runs!"

"Times have changed, we adjusted the laws to the current situations," the voice replies back coldly. "Now step aside or we will make you."

Sharp rage begins twisting inside of Kale. His eyebrows lower at Quinton and the front door, enraged at how forceful the authorities are.

He senses his power surge shift dynamically, swirling inside of him. He tenses up, turning his hands into fists. He mentally takes hold of his anger’s focus point and feels his grasp crush them.

Shifting is heard from the other side of the door.

Feeling satisfied, Kale retracts his power, calming down.

From below, Quinton peers behind his shoulder with shocked eyes. He then perks up, locking eyes with Kale.

Kale nods down at him with a smirk.

SLAM!

From the kitchen to Kale’s left, authorities dressed in black uniforms begin swarming in. They have guns with glowing designs in their clutches and keen eyes darting throughout the room.

Immediately, Kale hears rushing footsteps approaching him from behind. He peeks behind his shoulder, spotting the men in his group joining him.

They peer down at the sight, watching the authorities scour the living room by flipping over the tattered furniture, peeking through other doors, and wandering around. Quinton stays by the front door with a fearful expression at the sight, his back pressed against the front door.

"Oh no…they must’ve tracked us," Brett murmurs.

"Now what are we going to do?" Jeremy asks worriedly.

"I think we’re gonna have to use our powers on this one," Matteo points out quietly. "Unless there’s another way out."

Next to Kale, Kailer turns to him. "Clague?"

Kale turns to the small man, who is on his left, spotting his small smirk. "Um—" He pulls up the first tactic that pops into his mind. "—I’ll slow them down."

Kale looms down at the authorities and focusing his power flow toward them.

In an instant, the beaten, wooden floor begins softening, lowering down like molasses as each step is taken on it. The authorities stumble and flail their arms as they lose their balance on the uneven floor, turning their marching into wobbly trudging.

Jake snorts at the sight. He instantly shoots his hands over his nose and mouth after spotting Brett’s glare at him.

"Okay, good…" Matteo nods his head. "And…?"

Suddenly, Quinton zips away from the front door as it is being thrown open. Pouring from the doorway and into the living room are more armed authorities.

"Oh no…!" Brett hisses.

A group of authorities halts by the foot of the staircase. They all peer up, instantly spotting the six power players.

"Found them!" the one in the front shouts with a pointer finger at them.

"Yeah, we’re using our powers," Matteo states anxiously.

Showtime, Kale thinks to himself.

He closes his eyes and focuses on his powers coursing through him, gradually increasing them to be efficient in the upcoming battle.

In an instant, Kale falls through the hallway’s floor as if he has intangibility, descending through the ceiling that makes up the bottom of the staircase, and lands in a crouched position on two feet in the living room.

He quickly scans the scene in front of him, being in the shadows of the hallway above him: Some of the authorities have noticed him and now have their guns aimed at him.

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!!!

Rows of red energy projectiles streak straight at Kale, aiming to strike him.

Swiftly, Kale crosses and uncrosses his arms in the air, sending out his own clear energy in a semicircle.

The authorities’ energy bullets blast into millions of red, harmless sparks, drifting aimlessly to the ground.

The authorities hold their fire for a moment with shocked eyes at their target, scrambling mentally as to how to attack him efficiently.

Using the opportunity to his advantage, Kale conjures a ball of deep blue water and releases it at his attackers in a thick blast.

The water sprays all over his targets, having them drenched.

Immediately, the soaked authorities throw their guns in the air and run off toward the kitchen in hysterical screaming, like as if they were on fire.

Kale mentally takes hold of the air in front of the kitchen’s archway and rips it open as though it is made out of fabric. On the other side is a desolated view of the tundra with a blanket of snow over the dirt ground and snow-capped mountains in the background under cloudy skies.

Blinded by their agony, the frantic authorities rush into the portal, disappearing across the snowy grounds.

Kale hastily lets go of the portal, having it close on them and disappear from sight. He then spins around, spotting the other men utilizing their own powers against their own set of authorities.

To assist them, Kale spins to his right, spotting framed pictures of various types of nature being displayed on the wall. He quickly swipes a picture of an ocean and turns back to the battling authorities.

He rushes up toward them, disappearing in a flash of golden energy before reappearing above the living room floor with the picture held by his side. He vanishes once again and finally materializes inches from the authorities’ backs in midair with the picture’s edge by his ear.

He immediately swoops the picture at the attackers, scooping a few of them in a row into the picture and out of sight.

He then spins around and thrusts the framed picture through the opened doorway, knocking an authority during its flight.

Kale lands on his feet with a thud! behind the battle. He straightens up from his crouching position, peering ahead. His eyes immediately become wide.

Approaching the front doorway are two authorities who have their hands grasped onto each of Quinton’s upper arms. Quinton is struggling his their grasp, his wrists in handcuffs, as he attempts to escape from their hold.

"Let me go! Let go of me!" he grunts.

From the foot of the staircase, Brett knocks an authority out with the side of his machine gun before turning to spot his grappling brother. "Quinton! No!"

The authorities then shove the older brother through the front door and out of sight.

With fury written all over his face, Brett rushes past the clash in the living room and through the doorway, after his brother.

Kale follows the man’s pursuit with his eyes. He immediately notices two authorities quickly following Brett’s path, heading toward the doorway.

With a gasp, he throws his hands out at them, focusing his powers on the deadly weapons in his grasp.

Instantly, the two authorities lurch downward as if their guns suddenly weigh tons. They plummet onto the ground, crashing onto their stomachs through the doorway.

Footsteps and barking voices are heard from behind Kale as the sensation of ominousness raises over his back. He spins around, facing his assumption.

A new set of authorities are entering, their new heavy duty guns directed at him.

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!!!

Kale stomps his foot and throws his hands across him.

Instantaneously, the energy bullets burst into white feathers, which safely drift to the ground.

He then redirects his attacks at the shooters, blasting them one-by-one into a plethora of feathers.

He swipes his hands vertically in the air at each authority, detonating them into fluffy feathers. Yet more authoritative members step into view with their bullets, causing him to use his other hand to sap the bullet’s harm away.

The more he turns each authority into feathers, the more actual authorities appear to take their places.

He continues crazily throwing his hand at each one, adding onto the pile of feathers that have now littered the living room’s floor like snow.

Suddenly, an arrow made out of blue energy whizzes by Kale’s left. It strikes an authority, thrusting him onto the ground in a wave of blue energy.

Kale glances to his left, spotting the owner of the arrow.

"This is getting overwhelming!" Kailer yells over the zapping of energy and yelling of the attackers and defenders. He creates another arrow from thin air and loads it onto the blue ergokinetic bow. He launches at it another authority with precise aim.

Kale turns back to his set of authorities and continues turning them into feathers.

"I don’t know if we can hold them any longer!" he hears Kailer bellowing with apprehension.

Haste begins building up in Kale as he attempts to get rid of all of the authorities. Yet it seems to be a never-ending stream of them. Panic rises in him as the truth from Kailer, affirmed by the scene, settles into him. This seems impossible to take out all of these people. I’m gonna get so exhausted and they’re gonna win if we continue doing this. I have to end this. I need to use my powers to get rid of this once and for all.

Then an idea comes into his mind.

With a deep breath, Kale holds both his hands out in front of him and grasps onto the air with his hands as fists. Then with his eyes closed to focus on his surge, he slowly pulls his fists toward each other, causing the scenery around him to scrunch and crumble as if it is made out of paper.

When his knuckles hit each other, he pulls his fists close to his chest, tugging the scenery into ultimate tightness like rubber bands. He then sharply throws his arms out from his sides, letting go of the taut setting.

Instantly, the scenery snaps with a great deal of force, causing it to rupture and explode.

Every single person is thrown off their feet as the mansion erupts into debris and splints, flying out into the open night and through the chilly air.

Kale crashes on his back against the ground, surprisingly feel no impact, as if he landed on a tumbling mat.

He stays still on his back, his wide eyes glued to the pitch black sky as his breathing is laborious. Rubbish and litter drift by him and land feet from him as the mansion finishes its demolishment.

He finally gains the courage and energy and rotates his head to the right. Shock immediately comes across his face.

Lying nearest to him is Brett, who has his eyes closed with a relaxed expression. He is completely motionless with scratches and brushes scattered across his face.

Kale stares worriedly at him. "Brett?"

Brett does not respond; he continues lying still.

His eyes widen with trepidation as his mind pulls up a memory from his hallucination:

"GUYS!!! BRETT’S HURT!!!!"

Matteo, Kailer, Jeremy, Michael, and I turn to the front of the main room, where we heard Jake yelling from. Our eyes immediately grow wide at the sight.

Standing nearby the at the front is Jake, who has tears streaming down his cheeks. In his arms is Brett, who is still lying loosely, appearing to be motionless.

"Oh no,…" Kale breathes out shakily.

"Clague…," he hears Kailer whispering to him from his other side.

Kale tears his eyes away from Brett and turns his head to the left.

He spots Kailer, who is lying on his back as well, next to him. Scrapes and wounds also accompany his face, contrasting from his delicate features.

"Go…," he finishes weakly.

Kale knits his eyebrows with bewilderment. "What?"

"Go," Kailer forces out louder. "Get out of here. This is the perfect opportunity to do so."

"But-but what about you guys?"

"Don’t worry about us. Just go." He holds a serious expression at him. "Run into the forest. Run as fast as you can."

"Are you sure?" Kale asks with a concerned tone.

Behind him, sirens can be heard whirring as flashing lights reflect from their heads.

"Yes," Kailer breathes out. "Go, Clague. Run like the wind."

Kale nods vehemently as he pushes himself up to his feet. "Okay, okay, I will." He glances around the dusky surroundings, spotting the edge of the forest to his left.

Without thinking twice, he dashes across the glade and rushes into it.

The moonlight shines above as Kale darts through a cleared path. The dark trees surround his view, their branches jutting out in all directions. He ducks and jumps over them with agility to avoid knocking into them.

He increases his speed, feeling the bitter, glacial wind of the forest skip across his face and bare legs, turning them cold. His heart his slamming into his chest once again as his mind is swirling through all of what he just witnessed: the fright of being chased, the trepidation of being in a hopeless predicament, the shock of witnessing wounded friends.

All the thoughts conjure adrenaline through Kale, causing him to run faster and faster, running away from all of the horrid situations he has created.

If only he did not think lowly of himself, if only he decided to work with what he had instead of reaching for the undoable, if only he did not run away and become unconscious, none of this would have been happening:

The world would be a better place, his friends would be in a better situation, he himself would be in a better situation. But because of his selfishness and bitterness, he brought not only himself but everyone else in a downward spiral of hopelessness.

If only he knew what would have happened before he ran away.

If only he could turn back time.

Sparks of golden energy begin emitting from the heels of his bare feet as his heels strike the dirt ground. With each swiping movement of his arms, flashes of the same energy spark into view.

The flickers become more constant as he increases his speed, building up in its intensity and size. The energy then morphs together, becoming one single luminous golden portal in front of its creator.

Kale automatically throws himself into the portal.

Swirls of gold and white energy take up his vision as a force sucks him through downwardly. Wind whips through his hair and hospital gown as he lets himself relax, letting the portal take him to its own destination.

He then feels the portal open up as the sight flashes into a dusky scenery and the gales vanishes.

Kale lands onto a soft surface on his back, bouncing up and down on it due to the impact.

His eyes are automatically staring upward, lost in the shadows of the ceiling. He then slowly pushes himself up to a sitting position, quickly noticing he is sitting on the edge of a bed. He also notices instead of his hospital gown, he is now wearing black pants and a black hockey jersey with red and white designs.

He flicks his eyes around his surroundings, spotting dimness and the only source of light coming from a door in front of him.

He then turns frozen as he hears cordial laughter echoing from the other side of the door.

With curiosity written all over his face, Kale holds his wrist up to his sight, spotting a black gadget clasped over it. He taps on it once.

Right on contact, the smartwatch’s screen lights up, showing the current year: 2016.

He immediately makes the connection of where he is.

He is back in the Good Junior Hockey Players’ headquarters.

Notes