AAOOOSC! Wheatie Bits!

The hallway of the hotel is ominous. Shadows drape the walls, ceiling, and carpet flooring, only being seen in the moonlight. Not a single thing is in motion; all is still, including the summer air.

Then a creaking sound is heard as a door to a room slowly opens.

A shadow slips out into the hallway and blends into the atmosphere. It steps down the hallway’s forbidding length, stepping into the strip of moonlight.

It halts and peers behind itself to glance at the soft light. It’s Carter.

The goalie briskly turns away and continues his stride down the hallway.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

A pulsing red dot steadily glides in between two fine white lines as it emits the beeps. Following the dot from the other side of the screen is Brett.

“He’s on the move,” Brett mutters under his breath quietly.

He rolls out from his bed and rises to his feet before strolling up to the front door. He slowly turns the doorknob and cracks the door open.

An eye appears in between the gap between the door jamb and door. Brett scans his eyes from side-to-side in his limited sight, spotting what his Wrist-Moto detected.

From the other side of the room, Kale slowly opens his eyes. He notices Brett standing behind the ajar door.

Confusion clouds his mind. “What are you doing—?”

He halts his questioning as he spots Brett flapping his hand above his shoulder without tearing his gaze away, motioning him to join him.

With a sigh, Kale rises to a sitting position before slipping out from his bed. He shuffles across the room and halts next to Brett.

Brett moves aside to let Kale take a peek at what he is witnessing. Kale cranes his head and peers in the crack of the door.

On the other side of the hallway, Carter is seen ambling into an elevator and having their doors close on him.

Kale knits his eyebrows at the sight. “Where is he going? It’s the middle of the night. Why does he need to go anywhere at this time?”

“There’s only one way to find out…,” Brett grumbles. He then pulls the door fully open and slips by Kale, into the hallway.

Kale steps into the hallway as well and closes the door behind him. He then turns left and follows Brett down to the end of the hallway, where the stairs are located.

Brett opens the door and strides down the stairs.

Kale quickly follows, letting the door close behind him. They scramble down the turning staircases, descending downward, before reaching ground level. They then burst through the exit door and into the warm night.

The two peer around their surroundings in front of the closing door: Surrounding them is the parking lot of the hotel in the blackness of the night. The only light is the now stronger moonlight and the dim parking lot lights.

The fleeting shadow of Carter is quickly spotted rounding the corner of the building and disappearing.

Brett quickly follows his tracks, rushing down the side of the building before halting at the corner. He clutches onto the protruding part of the wall and pokes his head out. He spots Carter jogging across the parking lot then turns left to continue his strive down the sidewalk.

Kale pokes his head over Brett’s shoulder due to his height. He keeps his still eyes on Carter’s vanishing figure.

“Where’s he heading?”

“East,” Brett huffs out, mentally calculating their position of facing south.

“He’s up to no good,” a familiar, well-rounded voice is heard from behind them.

Brett’s eyes light up at the sound of the voice and whirls around as bewilderment appears on Kale’s face.

Jake Oettinger is towering behind him with his focus on Carter’s direction; his eyes are sharp and his teeth are bared.

“Jake Dog!” the forward exclaims.

Jake instantly drops his menacing expression and peers down at his bestie with a warm expression. “Brett!” He scoops him into a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re okay!” Then as quickly as before, he returns his threatening expression at the goalie’s direction, still clutching onto Brett.

Brett slightly wiggles himself in the goalie’s grasp. “Um, Jake Dog…? You can let go of me…”

Kale chuckles at the sight.

Zeroed in on his mission, Jake frees his left arm and holds it up to his mouth, revealing that it is bearing his Wrist-Moto. “You see Hart?” he speaks into it.

On top of the hotel’s roof, Kailer Yamamoto is standing heroically, having a clear view of the small city. He is following the small Carter rushing down the sidewalk with his keen eyes.

Without tearing his eyes away from the target, he lifts his wrist with his Wrist-Moto to his mouth. “Yes, I do. He is heading east with no sign of stopping or turning. I’m going to follow him— Do the same.”

With that, Kailer disappears into a streak of bright, blue energy.

From behind the building’s corner, Jake lowers his Wrist-Moto and lets go of Brett. “Let’s follow him,” he tells the two skaters.

He then sprints across the parking lot before making a sharp turn down the sidewalk.

Instantly, Brett’s armour unfolds itself from his Wrist-Moto over his body, covering his sleeping attire to the black, red, white, and silver armour suit.

He turns to Kale. “I’ll fly— You go with Jake.”

The soles of Brett’s armoured feet then glow a brilliant orange before exploding into flames, propelling the forward up into the night sky.

Kale follows his ascending teammate with his eyes. He then nods his head and runs across the parking lot and into the street.

Down the sidewalk, Carter slows his rushing to a stroll, sensing a presence around his surroundings following him.

He cranes his head up, spotting a flash of blue light from above the roof. He then peers behind his shoulder, noticing another shadowy figure a few yards behind him. With narrowed eyes, he slowly reverts his gaze back at of him.

He then launches off into a dead sprint, streaking through the night.

From above, Kailer’s eyes widen at the sudden speed the goalie accumulated. “Fiddlesticks, he has great speed!” A streak of blue engulfs him in a snap, quickly appearing again above the next roof with its owner.

Kailer lands on his feet then is swept up by the energy, disappearing from view before reappearing on top of the following roof.

Jake increases his speed, rushing up behind the other goalie as the warm air rushes brushes against his face and through his hair.

Carter keeps his stern eyes ahead while maintaining his supernatural speed. He spots a shaded bridge in his path approaching him. He continues to press on.

A blast of blue energy rips through the air from above a building. Kailer appears from it and stands on the roof. He watches Carter rushing up toward the bridge.

He hastily raises his Wrist-Moto to his mouth and commands, “I’m going to slow him down— Howden, pull him away afterward!”

From above him, Brett is gliding through the inky sky with a streak of fire behind him. “Got it!” he shouts into his armoured wrist.

With the agreement, Kailer swiftly conjures a wispy ergokinetic bow and arrow and launches the arrow ahead of Carter.

The arrow whizzes past the goalie and strikes the ground in front of him, exploding into billows of blue-coloured smoke and sparks. Carter instantly stumbles back with surprise.

Brett aims his fist at the fading blue mist and releases a torpedo from his forearm.

The explosive erupts against the ground, unleashing a powerful force and debris.

Carter is thrown off his feet and flown into the air. He crashes onto his back harshly as the explosion settles down into sparks and embers.

The goalie lies still as he attempts to adjust to the sharp pain whizzing inside of him. He then hears footsteps rounding him, crunching the asphalt.

Carter flicks his eyes up, spotting Jake looming above him with menacing shadows of the light across his face.

With frustration, Carter slowly rises to his feet to nearly reach his height. He narrows his steely eyes at him.

Jake returns to him a growl through his gritted teeth.

Instantly, Carter unsheathes his silver bear claws and swipes them at the taller goalie.

Jake briskly leans backward, dodging the sharp swing. He then lunges at him and tackles him to the ground.

Back on the ground, Carter snaps his eyes up.

Jake is kneeling on top of him and throws a fist at him.

Carter swipes his claws at it, maneuvering it away from him.

Jake hurls his other fist at him, only to whizz through the air.

Carter takes a swipe at him, yet Jake swerves his arm away from the oscillating claws.

The Canadian attempts to hurl his fist at the American once again, yet he suddenly feels his sleeve pinned to the asphalt, preventing him from lifting his arm up. He tugs against his sleeve, making it taut, yet not being able to liberate his arm. He does the same with his other fist; it is also pressed against the ground.

Jake spots his struggle, causing him to halt his punching.

Carter hastily peers at one upper arm then at the other, spotting a metallic wheat stalk protruding from each of his sleeves, fastening them in place. In fury, he cranes his head back to look at the owner of the stalks.

Kale is marching up at to him with a wheat stalk in each of his hands.

In fury, Carter is about to throw himself out of Jake’s grasp when he feels a searing pain shoot up from his leg and up his body.

He instantly reverts his attention to ahead of him, spotting Brett standing by his feet with a gun as his hand aimed at him.

Carter bares his teeth at the formidable sight and the fizzing pain.

“You’re outnumbered, Hart,” he hears Kailer stating calmly from his right.

He turns to the voice’s direction, landing his eyes upon the small skater.

Kailer is staring down at him with his ergokinetic arrow loaded on his bow in a crossbow position.

With a deep inhale, Carter averts his gaze from him and takes in his surroundings: Jake is holding him down from on top, Kale is standing by his head, and Brett is standing by his feet. They all have their own unique weapons aimed at him: Jake with his fist, Brett with his arm-gun, Kale with his sharp metallic wheat stalks, and Kailer with his energy bow and arrow.

“Don’t worry,” he hears Brett speak up lowly.

He whirls his head to face him.

“We won’t hurt you,” Brett continues with a stern expression, “if you don’t hurt us.”

All Carter can do is narrow his eyes at the frustrating situation.

Notes

E.8 "The Game of Juniors"
Part 2/8
Episode 8/10