AAOOOSC! United

The rubble of Toews’s dining room settles, creating shifting and clanking noises. The golden sparks from Reid’s energy continue drifting through the wind, slowly fading.

A hand flies into the air from planks of wood, reaching out into the night sky. It then slams down on the planks and pulls the rest of its body up into view.

“Oh my Bubbys!” Sidney exclaims, lying flat on his torso against the planks. “Whatta blow!”

Jonathan instantly sits upright from the other side of the destruction, rubble falling off from his matted dark hair. “I did NOT see that coming.”

Nearby Sidney, Katie lifts herself to a sitting position, her clothes stained with dirt. She runs her fingers through her tangled hair as she peers at her surroundings. “Is all and sundry safe and sound?”

Jake instantly pops into view from the other end of the wreckage with panic written all over his face. “BRETT! BRETT! BRETT!” He dives into the debris, swiftly coming back up with Brett in his arms. “OH BRETT, ARE YOU OKAY?!”

Brett furrows his eyebrows at him. “Yes, I’m fine, Jake Dog.” He brushes pebbles from his hair. “Thank you.”

The goalie lets out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness!” He pulls Brett into a massive hug with a full, closed smile against his bestie’s head.

Ryan has his legs sprinkled with stone as he gazes down at the rubble in a panic. “Wait, where’s my phone? Where’s my phone?”

Matt pops up next to him, his hair appearing the same. “We gotta make sure everyone else is okay!”

The goalie grabs onto his shoulders. “But I need my phone for my music!”

He immediately shrinks. “Okay, I’ll help you look for your phone,” he squeaks out.

Dru is sitting on chunks of concrete, redoing her ponytail. “I never knew that kid had it in him.”

Toews, who is now sitting by Sidney, dusts his shirt off. “Yup. That’s a super form for you.”

Kailer is perched across Toews with John next to him. He wipes soot from his sleeves. “I surmised exclusively Connor and his assistants possessed the capacity of super form.”

“That’s what I surmised too.” Toews gazes at him. “But then Connor realized that Reid really wanted to join him, so he right then and there gave him that ability.”

Emily has a slight frown at Toews from Katie’s side with her blonde hair disheveled. “I guess the Dukester is gone then.”

Toews nods his head with a sorrowful expression. “Yup. He had enough of all this.”

“Clague must’ve pulled his last straw,” Kailer suggests sophisticatedly, brushing his fingers through his hair.

“To blast him like that, yeah!” Emily exclaims with wide eyes filled with shock.

John furrows his eyebrows at Sidney. “What are the whereabouts of that juvenile?”

Instantly, Jake peers down, sniffing multiple times at the rubble. He cranes his head toward his left, causing Brett to climb off from his arms to give him the mobility to search.

Jake rolls over onto his hands and knees, smelling a large slab of rock below him. He then straightens up in alarm and quickly tosses the slab to aside.

“Whoa!” Jonathan swiftly creates a forcefield around him, deflecting the slab’s path to launch over him after colliding with its energized surface. “Watch it!”

Brett turns to his knees and peers down at what his bestie is staring at.

Poking out from the mass of rubble is unmistakably Kale’s voluminous hair.

“Kale!” Jake quickly drives his hands through the clutter of stone and brings them back up, pulling Kale into view by his arms.

Kale lets out wheezy coughs as he plops himself on his back against the rubble. There are smears of dirt on his face with his hair tousled. He clutches his hands against his chest, letting out a shaky groan. His face has agony written all over as a sharp sensation twists inside his chest.

Everyone else slowly gathers around the tattered defenceman with curiosity.

Jake begins touching his head, traveling his hands down his face, neck, and torso. “What’s wrong? Your temperature's good, your pulse is good—”

“My chest…,” Kale forces out between gritted teeth, squeezing his eyes closed. “It hurts…”

Jake promptly places his hand on his chest, above one of Kale’s hands. He stares hard, analyzing the powerful sensation rippling beneath his palms. “There’s a mighty big surge there.”

“That’s where Reid hit you at, right?” Sidney asks with large eyes.

Kale nods his head with his face tensed; he brings his other hand to his forehead.

“It looks like you’re going through a heartbreak,” Emily comments with a cocked eyebrow.

“He is going through one: a friendship heartbreak,” Brett elaborates, pointing at her with raised eyebrows.

Katie gazes down at Kale with a look of concern. “What does the surge betoken?” She lifts her head up at Toews. “Isn’t that customary with his potentialities?”

Toews solemnly shakes his head. “No, not when it’s able to be felt from outside.” He flicks his eyes to Jake’s hand, spotting a faint light peeking out from under his palm. “He has too much power.”

“How can one be in possession of ‘too much power’?” Kailer asks him, staring at him as if he is a madman.

Emily has her eyes on Kale’s building glow as she whispers to Dru, “He’s going to explode.”

Dru whirls her head to her with a scowl. “No, he’s not.”

Toews peers at the surrounding members gravely. “Reid’s energy is a ticking bomb fueled by his super form. Instead of striking from the outside and dissolving, giving an external injury—” He holds his hand out at Kale’s chest. “—it locked itself inside and will build up.”

“Ugf...” Kale runs his hands over his face as he takes in a shaky breath. He pulls his legs into a bent position. Now with his both hands removed from his chest, the intensifying radiance is visible from within his chest.

John’s eyes fly open at the shining sight. “Blinkin' knickers, we ought to rehabilitate him!” He snaps his head up at Toews, holding his shocked expression.

Toews rubs his hands together with his eyes on the flare. “I’ll do it.”

Jake gazes at him with hope. “You can?!”

“I never did it.” Toews rises to his feet. “But it has to be done.” He rounds Kale, halting by his side.

Kailer follows him with his eyes. “We were smitten by Duke as well. Why weren’t we impacted like so?”

Toews kneels next to Kale with scrutinizing eyes on the luminesce. “He selected another type of energy. It’s another attribute to his super form to select different types of destructive energies. “

Kale grits his teeth with a grunt, baring them. He slides his hands up to his squeezed-shut eyes, covering them.

Toews straightens up, alarmed at Kale’s agonizing movements. “Okay, I’m doing it.”

He opens his hands as a relaxed expression comes across his face. He then gingerly places his palms on Kale’s glowing chest.

He breathes in and out smoothly, focusing on the swirling, foreign energy beneath his hands. He loosens himself, feeling the surge of his energy flow around his hands.

Jake has wide eyes at the sight with his arms embraced around Brett, as if he is his teddy bear. “Please let him be okay,” he whimpers. “I can’t look.” He quickly stuffs his face in the nook of his neck.

Brett silently rubs his back as a source of comfort while looking on his suffering member, just like everyone else.

Wide eyes.

Held breaths.

Thumping hearts.

Rising anticipation.

Then Toews pulls his hands away from Kale’s chest.

His chest is now dark, back to normal.

Kale gradually relaxes, letting his body go limp with a deep exhale. He slowly opens up his eyes.

Everyone else lets out sighs of relief with growing smiles.

Jake leans over to Kale with worry. “Are you okay?” He darts his eyes all over his body in search of an injury.

Kale cracks a toothy grin at him. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” He slowly sits up and peers at the members surrounding him. He then gazes down at his chest, spotting that the light, along with the twisting pain, has vanished. “It’s gone.” He lifts his eyes up at Toews. “Thank you so much.”

Toews purses his lips at him. “I had to do it. I never healed anyone supernaturally before. I was afraid I would give you more power, speeding up the process instead of diminishing it.”

Sidney holds his hand out at him. “So that means you can manipulate reality, since you can do something correctly you’ve never done before.”

A small smile appears on Toews’ face as he processes Sidney’s true statement. “Yeah, actually I can.” He pauses, mentally applying the statement to the current situation. He then states confidently, “I can manipulate reality.”

Toews gazes at each anticipating, hopeful member. “I can bring reality back the way it’s meant to be.” He slams a fist to his chest. “I can do anything because I have the power to do so.”

“You gotta do it by tomorrow afternoon,” Ryan tells him solemnly with his phone in his hand. “Connor said he’ll take away our powers by then.”

Matt nods his head with a frightened expression.

Toews stares down at him with a stern nod. “I will have it down by the afternoon.” He then turns to everyone else. “Like what he said, ‘Mark my words.’”

Notes