AAOOOSC! Wheatie Bits!

Lightning flashes through the night sky, snappily radiating on a dilapidated two-story house. Its body made of wooden planks held by sparse nails and screws with, seeming to collapse any moment. A harsh wind stirs around the house, making it shudder as leaves swirl by. Thunder clashes through the chilly, eerie atmosphere as the wind howls persistently.

Standing in front of the broken pathway through the ghostly front yard are the three friends. They stare up at the eldritch scene with different expressions.

Nolan turns to Reid, who is to his left, with a flat look through his mask. “A haunted house? Really?”

“Yeah!” Reid gives him a closed smile. “What’s Halloween without a few scares?”

On Reid’s other side, Kale does not seem too pleased with hesitance being evident. “Um, but I wanted to socialize...and have candy…”

Reid whirls around to him. “We can socialize through screams!” He throws an index finger up. “And there’s candy at the end!”

Kale’s famous smile appears on his face. “Okay, I’m in!” With that, he follows Reid down the path and into the mansion.

With a huff, Nolan begrudgingly follows, disappearing into the house as well.

The three first find themselves in a dim tunnel, which has its light coming from torches hammered near the ceiling of the tunnel. The light casts an eerie shadow on the spiderweb-coated walls, dotted with black spiders.

Nolan is eyeing the monstrous walls with a grimace.

On the other hand, Reid appears fascinated. “Oooo, a spider!” He plucks the nearest spider from the wall and examines its plastic body. “This is a nice spider!”

Kale peers down at the spider being held at his friend with uncertainty. “I don’t think you’re supposed to take one.”

“Don’t worry I’ll put it back.” Reid then hangs it back up on the spiderwebbed wall just as they are exiting the tunnel.

They immediately stop in the next exhibit in front of a large mirror to their right.

The mirror appears to be floating in the pitch black atmosphere as a single light is cast upon it. There are eerie, mint-tinted ghosts drifting on its surface, giving the illusion that they are right next to them.

“Wah!” Kale hastily spins around with his tail following him springily to spot the fake ghosts behind them. He appears more confused as he whirls his head from the spot a tall ghost is occupying next to him to the actual empty stop that is behind him.

Nolan uses the opportunity of the mirror to make sure his mien is flawless. He leans forward toward the mirror, ignoring the ghosts, and adjusts his masquerade mask precisely. “Mm, I still look good.”

“Hey, I get to see my Uncle Freddy again!” Reid exclaims, pointing to the chubby ghost on the mirror that is floating right beside him. “Hi, Uncle Freddy!” He waves at the ghost.

“Uhhh...” Kale flicks his eyes from side-to-side in anxiety. “let’s keep going…”

With that, they follow down a soft-lighted pathway into the next exhibit.

They are now in an open-air room with white, thin candles floating around the air, casting an eerie light with their orange flames. Eldritch music fills the air smoothly in an attempt to send chills down the witnesses spines, yet it only succeeds with Kale.

Nolan gazes up at the hovering candles with delight. “This is actually pretty.”

Instantly, glowing skeletons under blacklight materialize into the air, drifting around the candles like spirits with scratchy cackles.

Nolan’s face falls into a disapproving look. “Okay, who’s idea was it to ruin the deco with dead people?”

Reid peers down at himself, spotting his sweatshirt and edges of his sign glowing green in the blacklight. “Hey, I’m glowing!”

Kale peers down at himself, spotting that he is nowhere near glowing. He then turns his gloved hands, spotting the pads of his paws faintly glowing due to their light colour. “I’m kinda glowing…”

They then amble down into the exhibit: A small room with dark cages stacked on top of each other, emitting screeches and howls belonging to strange creatures. Some of the cages are holding fire, reaching out as a threat to burn them.

Kale immediately shoots up in pure panic. “AH! FIRE! FIRE!” He zips behind Reid, clutching onto his shoulders from behind with big eyes on the licking flames. “I don’t wanna be burned alive! I don’t wanna be burned alive!”

Nolan whirls to him and snaps, “You’re NOT gonna be burned alive! Relax!”

Suddenly, the horrifying sounds of squeaks are heard as the pitter-patter of small animals are felt fleeing over their shoes.

Nolan immediately turns white. “MICE! AAAHHH!!!” He closes his eyes behind his mask and flails his hands in the air, stomping his feet in circles in an attempt to get the rodents away from him. “GET OFF OF ME, GET OFF, GET OFF, GET OFF!!! EW, EW, EW, EW, EW, EWWW!!!!” He finds his sense of direction after opening his eyes and zooms out of the exhibit in pure repulsion. “AAAHHH!!”

Kale and Reid stare at the exit their friend took with thrilled looks at the rare reaction of their usual dour friend. They turn to each other and exchange chuckles.

Suddenly, a deranged clown with red, crazy hair, white face paint, and yellow eyes pop out from above them, holding an ax out at them.

They immediately clutch onto each other in absolute terror. “AAAHHH!!!”

They speed past the horrid scene and rush out of the room, zooming past the rest of the exhibits, blinded by captivating fear, before bursting into the cool, open night outside.

They halt on the grass, leaning over with hands on their thighs and panting to the hard slamming of their hearts.

“OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!” Kale straightens up and lets out a whoop into the night: “AH-HAAA!!!”

“That was AMAZING!!!” Reid exclaims, throwing his hands into the air.

Nolan storm up to the two from ahead of them. “That was INSANE!” He grabs the sides of Reid’s wearable sign to pull him closer to him. “WHY DID YOU TELL US TO GO THROUGH THAT?!”

“You guys chose to go in!” He flashes him an innocent smile.

“UGH!” Nolan shoves him away and shivers with a bitter expression. “I HATE mice!”

Reid adjusts his sign by their suspenders. “There weren’t even real mice, it was just all air and sound!” He then ambles to a large, black cauldron located by the house’s side filled with candies. “But hey, there’s candy!”

Kale follows him tentatively with his eyes, watching him halt by it. “Is it safe or is somethin’ freaky gonna pop out of it?”

Reid has his hands deep in it before pulling out a packet of Pop Rocks. “Nah, it’s safe.”

A gruesome hand then emerges from the cauldron through the candy. Reid effortlessly whacks the hand, making it retract back into the pile and out of sight.

“See, I got my pop rocks!” Reid whirls to his friends and shakes the packet into the air. “Blue Razz—my favourite flavour!”

Kale still holds his hesitant stare as he taps his paws together. “Can you get my Reese's Peanut Butter Cups?”

“Sure!” Reid fishes for a couple pieces of candy then steps back to his friends.

“Here ya go, Kale Chips.” He opens up a packet of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and places the two cups on his paw.

He then slides over to Nolan. “And I actually found something for you!” He holds out a small box toward him.

Nolan silently takes it and peers down at it to see what it is. Staring back at him is a small box of raisins.

He shifts his gaze down at him. “Thank you, shmooker. I appreciate that.”

Kale eyes him with surprise while with a cup already in his mouth. “Moo lie rayshins?” he muffles out.

Nolan turns to him with delight written all over his face. “They go well with oatmeal drizzled with maple syrup, chia seeds, and peaches!” He then slips it into his pants’ pockets.

Reid’s eyes instantly light up as he tears his candy packet open. “Ooo, what does a ghost eat for lunch?”

Kale swallows. “What?”

“A boo-logna sandwich!”

With that, Kale bursts into laughter: “HAHAHAHA!”

The other friend groans with the roll of his eyes.

Yet another unfamiliar chuckle joins Kale’s laughter: “Heheheheheheh…”

With suspicion, Nolan whirls to the direction of the chortling, which is coming by the cauldron.

Standing by the cauldron is a familiar teenage boy with his same age and height. He has brown hair and sea foam green-coloured eyes. He also has light freckles sprinkled across his nose and vivid, red lips. His attire is the costume of a glam rock star, minus the wig: a red cheetah-printed sleeveless shirt under a motorcycle vest with tight black jeans, a leather cuff on his right wrist, and a red bandana tied around his head, underneath his hair, and another one tied on his right thigh.

Nolan continues scrutinizing the chortling teenager through his mask, rattling his mind as to where he last saw him. Then, flashbacks instantly flood his mind as he mentally finds the memory:


I strode down the damp, rocky asphalt on the pizza place’s alley. I was already done with the whole day because I was not able to have pizza and I was at a pizza place and I had to deal with an annoying teammate in particular. I rolled my eyes at that.

Being lost in my thoughts, I was not seeing where I was going and immediately smacked into something blocking my way.

“OOF!”

I stumbled back with annoyance, peering ahead to see who was in my path.

Staring back at me, was some teenage boy.

He reached out to me with surprise. “Oh, sorry, didn’t see you there.”

I rolled my eyes, not in the mood of taking any sort of pity. With a scoff, I began to silently breeze past him.

“I didn’t get your name!” I heard him call out to me.

Yet I did not bother to even glance at him.

“Hey!” I heard his rushed footsteps approaching me before he slipped right in front of me and grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to stop.

“Hey, I-I’m Carter Hart. I’m the new goalie for the Everett Silvertips,” he blurted out with lit-up eyes. “I just wanted to know what’s up with you. I asked you a question—”

I shoved “Carter” away, making him release his grip from my shoulders. “Get away from me, I don’t wanna talk to anybody.” I resumed my storming, passing by him once again.

“What if I told you that you look really nice?” he shouted to me from behind.

I rolled my eyes at the definitely fake compliment. “Go flatter yourself.”

“Fine,” I heard him spit out. “I wanted to do this the civilized way, but if you’re not cooperating, I’m just gonna have to go to the roots of my powers.”

I immediately halted as my heart skips a beat at the last word. I stood still with wide, surprised eyes. “‘Powers’?”


Then the flashback jumps ahead:


“AH!!!”

I spun my arms in the air as I leaned backward tensely, gazing downward. I was attempting to gain my balance since I was pushed back too far.

Dangling furiously on my glider’s edge is Carter, who had transformed into a brown grizzly bear. He struggled to climb up to my glider.

“GET OFF!!!” I whipped out another throwing star and launched it at the bear’s furry back.


The flashback skips once again:


“HIYYY-YA!”

Instantly, the bear was thrust out from the flying wheat’s path as I flew at him with the bottom of my glider striking him.

After spotting him roll onto the ground, I slowed down my glider and mentally commanded it to fold back into my shoes as I landed. My feet touched the ground; I heard groans from Carter.

I whirled around, spotting Carter back to his human form.

He was on his stomach, lying on the black ground with a contorted look of agony. “Uggghhh…”

I stepped up to him and loomed over him, causing him to peer up from the corners of his eyes. I held out two of my throwing stars at his head. “If you wanna be smart, take this advice: leave.”

With a grunt of frustration, Carter pulled himself to his knees and slowly rose to his feet.

Then with a growl, he turned around and stormed to the mouth of the alley.

Smart guy.


Nolan is now staring at older-appearing Carter in surprise. “Carter?”

Carter calms down his laughter before turning to his right, noticing him from across the grass.

“Hey, Nolan.” He cooly picks up a small candy from the cauldron and examines it. “Didn’t think I’d see you here.” He drops the sweet back into the pile and continues digging for his preferred candy.

Next to Nolan, Kale is gazing at him with knitted eyebrows and a small frown, already finished his candy. “What are you doing here?”

Carter has his eyes on his hand sifting through the numerous packets. “Oh, just counting cows.” He looks up to face him with a sarcastic look. “What does it look like I’m doing, Kale?”

Kale instantly swings his eyes to the side with subtle embarrassment. “Sorry, just wondering…” He rubs his paw against his velvety arm. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here…”

Carter lands his eyes on the newest member of the three friends. “Ah, and who do you have there?”

Reid has his eyes widen at the goalie as he has his mouth zipped due to being filled with exploding pop rocks.

Carter shakes his head. “Nevermind I asked. I recognize you.”

“What do you want from me?” Nolan snaps, crossing his arms with a skeptical expression.

Carter shoots him the same expression. “What makes you say that?” He turns back to the cauldron and pulls a bulky packet. “I just want my candy.” He then rips the packet open and slips a pair of wax lips over his own red lips.

Nolan gives him a dubious look behind is mask. “Well then, in that case, we’re leaving.” He peers at his two friends, softening his expression. “Let’s go, boys.”

With that, the three whirl around to begin departing from him. Yet the immediately halt with fright at what is blocking their path.

Rising above them is a translucent barrier made out of pure energy, pulsing with sheer, green power. They turn to see their surroundings, spotting that the barrier reaches all around them, creating a dome over them and the haunted house.

Kale stands still and tense, flicking his eyes at the peculiar energy hovering above him. “Uhhh, this is strange…,” he comments hesitantly.

“It is Halloween!” Reid finally speaks up from consuming his popping candy.

Nolan cautiously steps up to the wall of energy. He reaches his hand out gradually at it and lightly taps it.

The barrier ripples like water, emitting a forceful surge through his hand.

“Whoa.” He retracts his hand away at the rushing sensation and eyes it with fright. “They’re powers.”

“Ooo, you’re gonna do your magic?” Reid asks excitedly, darting his eyes at his two friends with a large, anticipating smile to witness their supernatural abilities.

Kale steps up to Nolan, leaving Reid behind. “Maybe we need to use our powers to cut it open.”

With that, another idea pops into Nolan’s mind. He snaps his head around to see behind his shoulders.

Lounging on the other side of the grass is Carter. He is contently chewing on the back of his wax lips while leaning on the wall of the house by the cauldron.

Nolan narrows his masked eyes, scrutinizing his position. He darts his eyes lower, noticing Carter’s hand performing a conjuring motion by rotating his wrist smoothly with a balanced speed.

Angry flashes across Nolan’s face as his mind makes the upsetting connection. “YOU’RE doing this!” He whirls around and storms up to him. “Release us—” He halts in front of him, inches away from him. “—now!”

Carter instantly creates a bewildered look at him while leaning his head away. He pulls his wax lips from his mouth with his free hand. “Wow, way to jump to conclusions, eh?” He straightens up, lifting himself from the side of the house. “I’m not doing it, dear.”

Nolan nods down at his rotating hand with a glare. “Tell that to your hand.”

“This?” The goalie lifts up his other hand, revealing it balancing a small, wavy ball of pure silver in its palm. “I’m just playing around with this ball. No harm.”

“Liar,” he spits out. “You’re a big liar!” He shoves him with both hands against the house.

“Pat!” Kale barks from behind him. “Help me open this up!”

With a heavy huff, Nolan whirls around and strides away from Carter.

Carter peels himself from the house and follows the forward approaching his friend with his eyes. A sly smirk forms on his face as he holds the silver ball by his shoulder.

Suddenly, the ball unfolds itself, transforming into a misty green energy which bears the same colour as the dome. The mist pours through his fingers like the steam from a witch’s cauldron as it emits soft, pale sparks.

Carter places his wax lips on the edge of the cauldron and opens his newly empty hand, guiding the dripping smoke to it. His open hands glow a magnificent green with mist curling around them as he eyes the dome’s barrier across from him.

Also across from him are the three teammates, who are examining the strange wall with their vision. Suddenly, the barrier trembles, emitting a wave of green energy through them.

“AHHH!!!”

The force of the magical pulse throws them off their feet and through the air.

Nolan crashes on his side against the grass; his face is in a grimace. He stays still for a few moments, anticipating for any arising pain. The only new sensation he felt is his mind buzzing with zapping energy for a moment.

He then flutters his eyes open and rushes to a sitting position with trepidation. “Claguer? Shmooker?” He turns his head from side-to-side, searching for his two friends with solely his vision. “Where are you guys—?”

“Meow.”

Nolan immediately freezes at the sound. He slowly lowers his head toward where the sound came from.

Sitting innocently by his feet is a black Bombay cat with gorgeous golden eyes. “Meow.”

“AHCK!” Nolan instantly shoots up to his feet with complete horror. He eyes the small animal, holding his shaking hands out at it. “Okay, good kitty, good kitty…,” he starts off in a voice thick with terror. “...go, go” —he makes sweeping motions with the flick of his wrists— “shoo, shoo!”

The cat simply meows before trotting closer to him. “Meow.”

“No, no, no, no—” He shakes his head vehemently with his hands. “—leave, kitty, leave.”

“Meow.”

With frustration at the disobedient feline, Nolan cranes his head up and yells, “KALE!”

“Meow,” the cat replies sweetly.

Nolan peers back down at the animal with bewilderment.

The cat meows again: “Meow.”

His eyes grow wide behind his mask at an odd mental connection. “Kale?”

The cat replies by meowing and placing his two front paws up on his dress pants. “Meow.”

“Kale?!” Nolan instantly flies down to a squatting position, becoming eye-to-eye with the cat. “Oh goodness…” He gingerly grabs the cat by his torso with two hands and lifts it into the air as he rises to his feet. “You turned into a cat?”

“Meow,” Kale replies.

“But how—WHY—did you turn into a cat?” Then another possibility crosses his mind, causing him to cut his oral questioning and peer down.

By his feet is a tall, blue-coloured cup filled with a frosty milkshake and a red straw: the famous Blizzard from Dairy Queen.

He frowns at the dessert he can never consume. “And why is there a random Dairy Queen…?” Realization instantly washes over his face. “Oh my gosh, don’t tell me…” He places Kale the cat into the crook of his arm and leans over and picks up the milkshake with his free hand.

He examines the cup of milkshake in awe before turning to the cat in his other arm. “You guys turned into your costumes. But what about me? How are you guys gonna revert back to yourselves?”

“Only I know how to, darling,” he hears Carter remark smoothly from behind him.

Nolan sharply whirls around to face him, spotting him in the same position he last saw him in. “I KNEW it was you!” He storms up to him with the cat and milkshake in his possession. “Reverse them—” He halts inches in front of him. “—NOW!”

“Unfortunately to you, I can only choose if I want to reverse them or not,” he replies, bobbing the glinting, silver ball in his palm nonchalantly.

Nolan gazes at him like as if he’s a madman. “Why did you do this to them?!” He bends down to place Kale the cat and Reid the Blizzard on the grass.

“Not only to them—” He catches the silver ball he tossed up into the air and turns to him. “—to you, too.”

Nolan instantly straightens up with narrowed eyes on him. “You changed me too?”

A sick grin grows on his face. “Yes, Nolan, I did.”

Nolan instantly leans back, appearing utterly insulted. “Don’t call me by my real name. I’m not Nolan.” He adjusts his masquerade mask, making sure it remains on his face.

“See?” Carter juts his chin at him. “You’re hiding behind a disguise. You don’t want to reveal your true self. You don’t like who you are.”

He eyes him harshly. “How do you know?”

Carter is now watching his silver ball spin rapidly on his finger like a basketball. “Because I put that spell on you.” He catches the ball and reverts his gaze at him. “Duh.”

“Don’t ‘duh’ me!” Nolan snaps at him. “And since when were you able to make magic? Last time we fought, you could only turn into some bear!”

He rolls his eyes. “That was three years ago.” He lands his eyes back on him. “Lots changed in three years, including the capabilities of my powers. I unlocked my super form, uncovering new potentials to my powers such as argentokinesis and silver magic. And you’re under one of my very own spells.” He can’t help but let a smirk form on his face. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to do this, dear. I had to make it RIGHT.”

Nolan steps closer to him and sticks his face into his. “Get this spell off of us right now,” he growls menacingly.

“But you really want to be yourself?”

Nolan drops his threatening act as he processes the question. He steps back. “No…” He adjusts his mask once again.

“But if I lift this spell, then you’ll be yourself.” He gives Nolan an exaggerated sad expression with wide eyes and a massive frown.

Nolan casts his eyes to aside with a scowl. “Ugh, right…”

“I’ll tell you what.” Carter expands his lifted hand, conjuring a small, silver bottle into view through ribbons of green energy. He takes it in his grasp from the air and takes a swig of its contents. He then brings it down from his mouth.

He continues speaking: “I can take away yourself forever so that you don’t have to hide behind the mask. Then no one will never know who you are even if you don’t have your mask. All you gotta do is…”

He closes his hand on the bottle, crushing it into green, sparking smoke. His hand immediately opens up again, revealing a brand new silver bottle. He holds it out to Nolan. “...drink this.”

Nolan gazes down at the dainty bottle with a subtle convinced expression. “That sounds good.” He plucks it from his palm and holds it up to his lips.

Yet once he takes a whiff of it, he immediately crinkles his nose with disgust. “Ughhh…”

Carter eyes him with concern. “Uh, what?”

He flicks his eyes up at him though his mask. “I don’t like peanut butter.”

“I-I can change the flavour—”

“No, no—” He waves his free hand with lit-up eyes. “—I know who LOVES peanut butter!” He then lowers him to Kale the cat and holds out the bottle to him.

Carter’s eyes fly open at the action. “Wait, no” —he throws his hands out at him— “DON’T!!!”

Yet it is too late: the black cat is already lapping the peanut butter-flavoured liquid from the bottle. Instantly, waves of bright green ripple through the cat and the goalie, engulfing the two in blinding, white light for a split second.

Once the light fades away, Kale appears on the grass, lying on his back, with a shocked expression. Instead of his cat costume, he is now wearing Carter’s glam rock star costume.

“I’m back! I can talk!” Kale scrambles up to his feet, panting. “I can stand! Oh man, that was the most panic-filled five minutes of my life!” He instantly halts his exclamations when he spots Nolan peering down with surprise.

He furrows his eyebrows at him. “What?”

Nolan flicks his eyes at him. “Carter’s now a cat.”

“Really?” Kale follows his friend’s movements by looking down.

Sure enough, a European shorthair cat is standing on the grass. His slim physique is made up of white fur bearing patches of sand-coloured and dark brown stripes on his face, back, and above his paws. He is staring up at the two with wide, mad eyes.

Kale then peers down at himself. “Huh, must explain why I have his costume on.” He tugs on the edges of the leather vest.

Instantly, Carter the cat spins around and dashes away from them.

“HEY!” Nolan screeches at him. “NO! COME BACK!” He scoops up Reid the milkshake, shoves it into Kale’s arms, then takes off after the cat.

The cat slams into the barrier at high speed, sending a ripple throughout its perimeter. He jolts back at the surge of energy, instantly being reminded of his own work. He then strengthens his stance as he stares at the pulsing energy, mentally commanding to create a hole to escape.

Suddenly, he feels two hands latching onto his body and yanking him from his paws and into the air.

“Gotcha!” Nolan holds Carter the cat by his chest in his tight clutches.

The cat lets out rolling growls with his ears back and narrowed eyes. Behind Nolan’s arm, Carter the cat’s tail is seen flicking from side to side.

“Why did you give me this milker?” Nolan hears Kale ask from behind him.

“That’s because shmooker turned into a milker—” Nolan whirls around to face his friend, spotting the horrific act of him slurping the milkshake. “DON’T DRINK IT!” He automatically smacks his hand across his hand, freezing his movements. “That’s shmooker!”

Kale instantly stumbles back with shock. “Whoa, sorry, how was I supposed to know this was our friend?” He holds up the milkshake.

“Ugh.” With a weary groan, Nolan cranes his head back, staring up at the pitch black sky. “This has been a weird night. Let’s just go home and…” He straightens his posture and sighs heavily. “...try to sort things out.” He lowers his eyes to the cat caught between his arm and chest.

Carter the cat responds with a whiny growl.

Notes

E.4 "This Spells Real Danger"
Part 2/5
Episode 4/10