AAOOOSC! Wheatie Bits!

The first session of development camp comes and goes. All the attendees have dressed out and left the locker room, leaving Nolan in a much-needed silence.

From his stall, Nolan contently stares out at the still, vacant locker room.

“Finally, I’m all alone.” He removes his compression shirt and folds it neatly. “I don’t have anyone to bother me with their annoying chit-chat or annoying music!” He exchanges his compression shirt for his T-shirt and pulls it over his torso. “It’s so nice to be in peace all by myself.”

He then places his hands on his jean-clad thighs and closes his eyes, taking in the tranquillity of the scene after nonstop cacophony.

“You’re not alone,” Carter is heard stating from next to him.

Nolan instantly flutters his eyes open with surprise. “Wha—?”

Suddenly, ribbons of smooth silver flies at his wrists, torso, and ankles, pushing and strapping against his stall.

Nolan’s eyes fly open at the sight of the foreign object clinging to his clothes and skin. “AH! What is THIS?!” He pushes against the restraints, yet they maintain their hard grasp on him. “Ugh!” He writhes against them. “Get! It! OFF!”

A shadow instantly sweeps over him, making him halt. “No use, you’re in silver,” he hears Carter telling him.

Nolan flicks his eyes up, spotting Carter himself looming above him. A scowl instantly takes over his face. “Halloween’s over!” He gives another push against the sturdy, silver bars. “Get me out!”

Carter lets out a hearty chuckle with crossed arms, taking pleasure in his struggle. “I didn’t do that costume-switcharoo thing just for Halloween.” He holds a hand out at him. “I mean, I did choose to do it on that date since it’d be perfect with the theme and all, but I didn’t reach my goal because you threw it off track, so it’s now take two.”

The forward shoots him an unamused expression. “Well, keep it for just Halloween.”

“Maybe you should keep your attitude for Halloween too.”

He gawks at him. “Excuse me?!”

Carter waves his hands out in front of him. “Look, this is gonna be quick and easy if you just cooperate with me for once.”

“What’s gonna be ‘quick and easy’?”

“This.” Carter opens his lifted hand, conjuring the familiar silver bottle into view through streaks of green energy. He holds it out at him. “Take it.”

Nolan eyes the bottle with suspiciousness, remembering its harmfulness and benefits. “Why?”

“Look, I’ll take it.” He takes a swig of it.

He gives him a look of annoyance. “I didn’t tell you to drink it, I asked you why.”

Carter lifts the bottle from his red lips. “I needed to drink it anyway. “

“Why do you want me to drink it, Carter?”

He holds the bottle out toward him. “Why did I want you to drink it last time?”

He shoves himself against the silver restraints once again. “I asked the question first.”

Carter sticks his face into his. “I’m giving you a hint.”

Nolan does the same, glaring inches from his face. “I asked for an answer, not a hint!” He then pulls away from him, maintaining his deadly look. “Do you see WHY I don’t want to cooperate with you?! You’re not even cooperating with me!”

Returning him the same expression, the goalie closes his hand on the bottle, compressing it into green, flickering mist. His hand instantly opens up again, revealing a brand new silver bottle. “Shut up and take it.” He holds it out to him.

“No!” Nolan whips his head away from him, like a child refusing to be fed vegetables from his parent.

Carter temptingly swirls the bottle around in his fingers while sing-songs, “It’s vanilla flavoured…”

Nolan’s eyes light up as he turns back to face the bottle. “Vanilla—?”

Instantly, Carter stuffs the opening of the bottle into his mouth.

Nolan’s eyes fly wide open at the swift action the goalie took on him. He tenses at the predicament he is in, his eyes staring up at the goalie as he mentally scrambles whether to spit out the bottle or consume the liquid.

Carter looms above him with a sick, mocking smirk.

Not risking his dignity from liquid spewing everywhere out if he spat out the bottle and drowning in the soft, sweet tones of vanilla, Nolan roughly gulps the contents down.

The goalie cracks a grin at him. “See?” He pulls the bottle out from his mouth and dematerializes it in pummel of green energy. “That wasn’t too bad, was it.”

Nolan instantly feels his insides bubbling and churning. He stays motionless with wide eyes while focusing on the uncomfortable sensation, not verbally responding to Carter’s question.

Carter gazes at him with concern. He then knits his eyebrows as subtle shock grows on his face. “Wait...that’s not supposed to happen…”

Nolan breaks his glassy stare, snapping his eyes down at himself. On each of his two arms, a coat of thick, brown fur is sprouting on their surfaces. His eyes fly open at the horrifying scene as a gasp escapes from his mouth.

“Uhhh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait—” Carter turns around, facing his back on the suffering forward, and paces deeper into the room.

“Why is he turning into a bear,” he mutters briskly to himself, “he’s not supposed to be turning into a bear, I only turn into a bear, those aren’t the Flyers’ team powers—?” He flicks his hand in the air, instantly whisking an orange-tinted, metallic throwing star from thin air.

He stares at the familiar weapon glinting in his hand. “Ohhh nooo...”

“HURRRAAAHHH!!!”

Carter instantly turns around, his eyes growing large at the sight. Now sitting in Nolan’s stall is a large, brown, enraged grizzly bear.

The goalie’s face turns white. “We swapped powers.”

With another ground-shaking roar, Nolan the bear lunges at him.

“NO!” Carter is knocked onto the ground by the furry animal, crashing flat against his back on the ground.

The bear, which is now on top of him, roars once again before swiping his silver claws at him.

“Stay down! Stay down!” Carter uses his hands to redirect the swipes away from him. “I’ll tell you how to transform back, just stay down!”

Nolan continues striving to strike him in blind fury, swinging paw after paw at him.

A realization then comes into the goalie’s mind. “Don’t make me use this!” He conjures a throwing star from his hand, threateningly holding its sharp blades at him.

The bear immediately halts in its attack, staring at the glinting, menacing throwing star with fear.

Carter keeps his gaze on him intently. "Just take ahold of the power," he commands gently, yet steely. "Picture yourself as human."

The bear closes his small, black eyes and relaxes his massive, furry body. Instantly, a gust of green-tinted wind swirls around the animal, ripping away the bear physique and revealing his true human form. The wind quickly settles down, displaying Nolan in a kneeling position in front of Carter.

Carter sits himself up from lying down. "See?"

Briskly, Nolan throws himself at the goalie, grabbing the collar of his jacket in rage. "What did you DO TO ME?!"

Carter yanks his hands away from his jacket. "Sorry, something went wrong." He rises to his feet.

Nolan quickly follows his movements, becoming eye to eye with him. "I turned into a bear." He jabs his pointer finger at him. "YOU only turn into a bear!"

The goalie holds his hands out at him in defence. "We swapped powers."

He gawks at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"

Carter shakes his head. "Nope."

"Well, give me back my powers!"

"Ummm…" Carter holds up a throwing star in between his pointer finger and middle finger. "I can’t…"

"What?!" He gapes at him in shock.

"I did this through magic…but I can only do my magic through silver…" He rotates his wrist from side-to-side, making the star glimmering with orange glints in the fluorescent light. "This is not silver."

A scowl takes over Nolan’s face. "I am literally going to pin you against the wall with one these bear claws." He holds his hand out above his shoulder, revealing silver claws on the tips of his fingers.

Carter exposes his palms out at him, scrambling to deem himself as innocent in Nolan’s eyes. "Trust me, I didn’t mean for this to happen, but something went amiss—"

"Yeah, your stupid plan!" Nolan shoves his shoulders in ire. "I told you not to do it!"

The goalie holds his ground from the push, maintaining his understanding mien. "I’ll fix this soon, just bear with me here."

"That’s not funny!" Nolan bellows back at him.

Bewilderment pops on Carter’s face. "What?" He instantly realizes his unintentional pun. "No, no, I mean—"

"Tell me when you figured out a way," Nolan cuts in lowly. "I’m outta here." With that, he breezes past him, collects his belongings from his stall, and swiftly exits the room.

Notes

E.7 "Swapping Powers"
Part 3/6
Episode 7/10