AAOOOSC! Junior Powers!

The outside of Kale’s bedroom door creaks open, being followed by Kale poking his head into view. He peers across the corridor and down through the railings, getting a good view of the brightly-lit main room below.

The five members are huddled around the ice rink-themed table with red and green cards laid out in front of them. They are chuckling together as they pick cards out from the two decks.

A small smile forms on Kale’s face as he absorbs the amiable and pleasant scene of the members playing with each other. He then swiftly steps out of his room.

In the main room, it is Brett’s turn to be the judge in the game of Apples To Apples.

"What is something that is ‘ridiculous’?" Brett places on the table a green card with the word RIDICULOUS.

Matteo, Kailer, Jeremy, and Jake shuffle through each of their seven cards, letting out all sorts of chuckles and chortles. They each hand the judge one red card face down.

"Hey, guys," a familiar voice is heard calling out to them.

All five teenagers freeze in their movements. They either look up or peer behind their shoulders to the direction of the voice.

Standing at the end of the table is Kale in his Suit-Moto, gazing at each one with a warm expression and his hands in his pants’ pockets. "Can I join?"

Excited smiles begin to grow on each of the members’ faces.

"Yeah!" Jeremy exclaims. "Sure!"

With a nod, Kale strolls behind Kailer to get to his empty seat.

"Yay!" Jake shouts, clapping his hands as he follows Kale with his eyes. "You decided to join! I’m so happy!"

“Same here.” Kale shoots him a small smile before settling himself in his chair between the scientist and the Master.

Brett turns to him. "You can still pick a red apple card. I still hadn’t decided what’s ‘ridiculous.’"

"Okay." Kale receives seven red cards from Jeremy and begins flipping through them. A toothy grin appears on his face before he hands a card face down to the judge.

With a smirk, Brett takes the card and adds it to his collection of red cards. He then stacks them between his palms and begins shuffling them.

Everyone else watches him with anticipated expressions.

"How is everyone doing?" a familiar voice is heard calling out to the members.

All the teenagers turn their attention to the entrance of the room, where the voice came from.

Stepping up to them from that direction is Tommy in his holographic appearance with his usual joyful expression.

Matteo promptly stands up, facing the NHL founder. "Mr. Gorman!"

"Yes, that is my name!" He chuckles before halting behind Jake, Brett, and Jeremy. "Is the group running efficiently so far?"

The members turn to each other and exchange hesitant expressions. They then turn to Kale, staring worriedly at them.

Kale gives them firm nod with a reassuring smile. “I’m good.”

Matteo lifts his head back up at the founder. "Yeah! We’re getting to know each other more through playing Apples To Apples."

Jeremy coolly holds up his red cards in his hands. "Courtesy of me."

Jake excited spins around to face him. "And Yamma Mamma brought sushi!" he blurts out at him. "It was good! But don’t eat the green stuff!"

"He ate a ball of wasabi," Kailer states flatly.

“We also had green tea mochi, which were sooo yummy! But we finished all of them…” The goalie sadly dips his head. “Sorry.”

Tommy chuckles with a wave of his hand. “Aw, that’s alright. I can’t really eat anyway!”

Jake perks back up at him with a bright expression.

Brett twists his body to face the founder. "And we also got these sweet gadgets!" He holds up his Wrist-Moto to him. "I can even brush my hair with my super suit!" He presses a button on his Wrist-Moto.

Instantly, a brush springs into view in place of his hand.

Brett begins brushing his hair with a cocky smirk.

Tommy chortles heartedly with his hands clasped behind his back. "I’m great you guys are all getting along with each other! Yet it seems like we forgot one more member that is supposed to join you guys." He turns his head away from them, facing the entrance of the room. "Mr. Cramarossa!"

Right on cue, Michael steps from the shadows of the entrance and swaggers up to the founder’s side.

He gazes at each member with a smug smile. "‘Sup, guys." He nods coolly to them.

"Hey," most of the members greet in a friendly tone with short waves.

"Hello, buuuddy!!!" Jake exclaims excitedly to him, clutching onto the edge of the seat’s backrest.

Tommy places his translucent hand on Michael’s shoulder. "He came to the 'stick and puck' session late, so I had to track him and bring him here myself. But he is the power player of the Hamilton Bulldogs, the only OHL power player at the moment."

Jeremy peers up at Michael. "Wanna play Apples To Apples?" He holds up his cards.

"Sure thing!" Michael takes a spare chair from the nearest corner of the room and pulls it to the end of the table, between Jeremy and Matteo.

"Who’s the judge?" he asks while sitting down on it.

Jake extends his hands at his bestie as if he is a TV show host displaying a prize. "Brett is!"

“That’d be me!” Brett exclaims proudly, retracting his brush from sight.

Michael’s thick eyebrows shoot up at him. "Ah!" He acquires seven cards from Jeremy and thumbs through them. "Here ya go." He pulls out one card and hands it to him.

Brett takes the card and adds it to his deck. "Okay, what is ‘ridiculous’?" He shuffles them for a second before laying each one on the table face up while reading them out loud. “‘A bad haircut,’ ‘recycling,’ ‘llamas…’" A massive smile cracks on his face. “‘…garbage cans,’ ‘frozen peas,’ ‘carnival workers,’ ‘my bank account’!"

Immediately, everyone bursts into laughter.

"That’s pretty good!" Tommy exclaims, wiping his eyes.

"I’m going with ‘a bad haircut.’" Brett jabs at the bad haircut card. "THAT is very ridiculous!"

Jake feverishly throws his hands in the air. "Yay! That’s my card!" He takes it from Brett and puts it aside.

Tommy then points out: "If things go this smoothly, the founders say that will give power players to the rest of the teams!"


Matteo gazes up at the founder. "And those power players would join us?"

"If they want to." He slightly grimaces as he scratches his head, thinking the sixty teams in the CHL alone. "That’s a mighty big number of members in one society."

Jake slams his hands against the table’s surface with exhilaration. "That’d be so cool to have more power players for colleges!"

"And for the USHL!" Jeremy adds in, raising an index finger in the air.

Kailer peers at Brett and Kale with a proud smirk. "Us WHLers are well stocked, right men?"

"That’s right!" Kale agrees with a grin.


"Yeah!" Brett pumps his fists in the air.

Tommy gives them a satisfied smile. "Well, I’ll be on my way." he spins around his heels and begins making his way across the massive room. "Keep up the great work, boys! You have a promising future!"


The End.

Notes