The next morning, the kitchen is occupied once again. This time, Kale is sitting at the dining table, helping himself to a bowl of cereal. On the table by his right arm is his kitten, who is nibbling on chunks of canned tuna with a bowl of water next to it.

Kale has his eyes glued on the screen of his propped phone in front of him as he takes in heaping spoonfuls of his breakfast. “Mmmm!” He forces a swallow to talk: “Wow! I didn’t know that! The matchups are now in all of professional hockey!” He peers down at his pet. “What do you think about that, King?”

The small animal gazes up at him with its large, green eyes. Mew. It then turns back to its food and continues munching on it.

“Well—” Kale whirls back to face his phone. “—Carts is gonna get a taste of it now!” He chuckles at the mere thought of Carter’s reaction from the news.

His eyes then light up with realization. “Oh yeah! I have practice today!” He narrows his eyes down at the kitten in deep thought. “What am I gonna do with you?” He taps his spoon against the edge of his bowl. “I trust that you’ll stay here.” He then drops his spoon into the bowl and pushes himself away from the table. “Okay, I gotta get going.”

The kitten stares at its owner with confused eyes as its eyes follow him rising to his full height. It then squeaks as Kale’s hand scratches its furry head.

Kale chuckles at the sight of his kitten enjoying the petting as its eyes begin to close in pleasure. “Bye, King!” Then with one last rub, Kale passes by the dining table and exits the dining room.

---

The Toyota Sports Center is more crowded than usual as fans teem in the tight NHL-sized rink room.

Once the team breaks up from their huddle to end the morning skate, Kale is standing by the opening of the benches, gazing at the array of fans in awe. “Man, it’s a full house here! It’s more packed than when it started!”

To the right, Anže brakes next to him and taps his stick on his leg. “It’s because of you, rookie!”

Kale takes in the sight of the fans filling every inch of the lower half of the glass along with their signs. Their signs are all for Kale, bearing quotes such as Super Kale: The Superhero!, Kale-ing It!, Rockin’ Kale-fornia, and Kale Never Fails!

“Yeah…,” Kale focus out, uncertain as to how to react to the sudden wave of fame and admiration set before his eyes. “I see… It’s really cool!” He turns back to the captain with a weak smile.

Jeff glides next to Anže with a disapproving look at the signs. “And to think a rookie can steal so much fame from us veterans.”

“Well, if it makes us Kings lovable,” Drew pipes in ebulliently, halting on the other side of Kale, “I accept it!”

Anže peers behind his shoulder, spotting his teammates filing off the ice and heading to the locker room.

He whirls back to face the rookie. “Follow us, rookie. We have another Kings Clique meeting.” He then steps into the benches.

Kale shoots him a repelling expression. “But I’m not even part of th—”

Drew shoves him from behind, forcing him to stumble off the ice and into the benches. Kale climbs out of the benches and onto the pathway to the locker room between the wall and rink’s boards.

Once he passes the boards, a swarm of reporters and fans approach his left side with microphones and signs respectively. They clamour for his attention and response over each other:

“Clague, can I have a moment with you?!”

“We want to do an in-depth news article about your supernatural matchup!”

Kale continues trudging past them, driving his focus on Anže’s white vinyl number and last name ironed on his jersey, staring straight at him, to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

“Kale!” fans scream.

“I love you!”

“Take a picture with me!”

“Here’s a picture!”

Kale turns his head to his left, spotting a young fan holding up a drawing of him. “Aw, thanks!” He scoops it into his possession with his free gloved hand and bolts through the open doorway, exiting the chaos.

Kale lets out a large exhale as he slows his walk down the serene hallway. “Whew! Jeez!” He quickens his pace to line up with Anže, who is still behind him. “They’re hysterical out there!!

Anže makes a left turn with him. “Welcome to the NHL, rookie.”

Jeff appears on Kale’s other side. “It’s gonna be like this for the rest of your life.”

Drew lines up next to Jeff, yet leans forward to look at the rookie. “It’s so much fun, isn’t it?!”

Kale lets out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll definitely get used to it…!”

He then halts as the other three stop next to a door with the plate bearing the word JANITOR on it. Anže opens it, revealing its dark inside, and whisks inside.

Jeff and Drew slip past Kale and enter the darkness. Kale stares at the pure blackness, its formability gazing deep inside him. Then with a huff, he places his drawing on the ground, along with his gloves, stick, and helmet, and enters the room.

The door behind him suddenly slams shut, causing him to jolt into a halt. A faint light then appears in front of him.

Kale gazes in that direction, spotting the familiar set-up like last time: a round table with a single, lit candle on it and the three members of the Kings Clique standing around half of the table with their black capes on.

Kale gradually steps up to them with caution to not trip of anything.

Once he reaches his spot at the table, Anže begins to speak:

“Since the rookie did fantastic in the matchup and possess extraordinary abilities, we shall welcome him to the Kings Clique as one of our very own!” The captain then holds up a spare black cape as if it is a revered trophy.

Drew and Jeff look at him as they applause with different ranges of emotion.

Kale’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Oh! Uh…” He follows the cape with his eyes as it is lower toward him, above the fire. “...thanks…!” He takes the soft cloth in his two arms and holds it by his chest. He gives the three a reassuring smile, although his mind is filled with uncertainty.

Drew narrows his eyes at him with suspicion. “You wear it around your neck.” Not getting the correct response from Kale, he whirls to Jeff and hisses at him, “Does he know how to wear a cape?”

Jeff flicks his hand at him. “Let him be.”

“So…” Kale places his bundled cape on the table. “...what do we do now?”

Anže throws an index finger in the air. “We talk about your next matchup!” He slams his hands against the table’s surface and leans forward, prideful determination gathering in his expression. “One step closer to the Stanley Cup…!”

The other two skaters chuckle with excitement as they rub their hands together.

Kale knits his eyebrows at the three in confusion. “But what’s there to talk about with my matchups…?”

Drew spins on his heels to face him. “To make sure that you certainly win, you will now attack BEFORE” —he holds his pointer finger up— “the buzzer and the light!”

Kale’s eyes suddenly fly open at the proposal. “Wait, but that’s illegal! We’re supposed to go AT the sound of the buzzer and the light!”

Drew’s elated expression drops to a stumped expression, including his finger. “Huh, really?”

Kale nods his head slowly. “Yeah…”

Jeff rubs his stubble-covered chin with narrowed eyes. “That’s strange, we’ll have to disagree due to the evidence we picked up last night.”

Kale cocks an eyebrow at him. “Which is…?”

Anže holds out his lit-up smartphone horizontally to Kale. “This is a video of the matchup at the Tampa Bay and Philadelphia game.”

Kale gazes at the bright screen with subtle surprise. “Philadelphia…?” He takes the phone into his hands and holds his eyes on the screen.

The phone is displaying a video of the matchup between Nolan Patrick and Steven Stamkos.

He press his finger on the play button.

The video begins to move: It shows the red buzzer blinking to the spurting sounds of the buzzer. One...two...thr—

Then the video is cut to the wide view of the ice, where it catches Steven throwing his hands out in front of him. Pure, white lightning flies out of his hands and strikes the unsuspecting skater just as the final buzzer sounds with the solid green light.

Nolan is thrown off his blade, spinning through the air as he travels with the current’s force, and slams into the glass boards. He slumps against the ice with smoke rising from him, barely moving.

Kale gasps with his eyes as wide as pucks. “Pat! No!” He snaps his eyes up to the others.

The three have gleeful looks on their faces with excited hands by their faces.

He gawks at them in utter shock. “You guys are happy about this?!”

Drew’s eyebrows fly up. “Look, look, look—” He jabs his pointer finger toward the screen. “—look at how easily he got the stick!”

Kale peers back down at the phone.

Now Stamkos glides to the unguarded stick in Nolan’s zone and plucks it from its stand with ease. He holds it up in the air with a cocky smirk despite the fact the arena is filled with boos.

“They’re booing at him!” Kale cries out at them.

“That’s because it’s Philly.” Jeff lets out a scoff with hands on his hips. “Philly boos at anything that’s not orange, green, or red, white, and blue.”

Kale flicks his eyes back to the phone.

The video is now showing the back of Stamkos as he ambles back into the tunnel. It then switches back to the ice, where Nolan is finally guiding himself back on his blades by the boards. He slowly but surely reaches his full height, accompanied by cheers. He takes off his helmet, revealing his matted hair, and skates across the ice and off screen.

“So?” Kale hears Anže speaking up. “What do you say we secure that Cup?”

The video ends, causing Kale to lower the phone.

He lifts his sharp eyes at the captain. “No. I can’t.” He places the phone on the table.

Drew gawks at him with sadness. “Bu-bu-but why?!” He holds his hands out toward him. “Don’t you want the Cup?”

Kale turns to him. “I do, but not like this!” He jabs his finger at the phone as he turns to face the rest of the clique. “This dangerous, my friend got hurt by this! Just because other people do it doesn’t mean I’ll do it! There are better ways to get the Cup than this! I thought I was good enough with the victory last night!”

“There is always room for improvement,” Anže states gently.

Kale swipes the phone and holds it up in the air for the three to see. He shakes it to the beat of his argument: “This is NOT improving, it’s the opposite!” He holds the phone still. “I’m sorry, but I care about the well-being of others, and I won’t put them at an unfair risk just to our advantage.” He plunks the phone back on the table. “If you guys are promoting cheating, count me out.”

Drew gazes at the fuming rookie with a tilted head of curiosity. “But what about when Stamkos goes against you?”

Kale’s frustration slips away as the question seeps into his mind. Stamkos is cheating out there. If I go against him, I’ll most likely get fried. But I don’t wanna get fried when I know I will...

As his facial expression grows softer, Kale peers back down at the phone in contemplation. I have to defend myself. I can get seriously hurt if I don’t while knowing his style of combat. Even if it just costs my voice, I still have to protect myself...

Kale then raises his head to solemnly gaze at the three. “Stamkos deserves a special treatment then.”

Notes