One week later…


The bleak training room in the GHP headquarters is occupied once again by its most frequenting visitors:

“You’re crazy,” Nolan states, standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed. He has his sparkles continuously floating around him.

Facing him is Kale, who has not failed to drop his resolved demeanour. “No, I’m just trying to help save the league and your powers.”

“Still doesn’t change the fact that you’re crazy.”

Kale raises his eyebrows at him. “Do you want your powers back or not?”

Nolan’s face drops flat with reluctance. “Fine.” He drops his defensive arm position. “What do you possibly want me to do?”

Kale explains gently with his palms toward him, “I’m gonna fight against Stamkos, so I need you pretend to be Stamkos.”

“Okay.” Nolan takes in a deep breath as he closes his eyes and lowers his head. His fists are out slightly from his sides as he stands with his legs shoulder-length apart. “I am a cheater, a dirty player, and don’t care about ruining others’ powers and voices.”

Suddenly, he snaps his head up and bursts into the air with an array of golden sparkles trailing him. He makes an arch halfway toward the domed ceiling, throws his hands together at Kale, and releases a thick beam of concentrated sparkles at him.

Down below, Kale instantly swings his arm above his head as an ergokinetic shield forms on his forearm. The beam clashes with the translucent purple-tinted surface, spewing golden and purple sparks in all directions.

“Ugh!”

Knowing that he cannot pierce the shield, Nolan cuts his beam and begins flinging his hands at him in quick intervals. Each fling launches a blast of sparkles toward different areas of his target.

Kale morphs his shield into his sword and brandishes it in front of him, precisely knocking each sparking projectile from its path.

“Come on, Pat!” Kale shouts over the whizzing and sparking sounds of the ergokinetic weapons.

Nolan gradually lowers himself toward Kale for a more accurate aim. He continues his relentless firing, one blast after another.

Kale steps backward, yet swings his sword smoothly without missing a beat or a projectile.

“Harder!” he shouts.

Right on command, Nolan raises his hands over his hands to press his palms against each other and flips forward in the air toward the ground. He sticks the landing on his two feet and instantly throws his arms out from his sides, unleashing a wave of twinkling sparkles across the entire room.

Kale stares ahead at the roaring billow of sparkles. “Uh oh.”

Right before the large sheet overtakes him, he falls on his knees and holds his arm out with his shield over his dipped head. His eyes are squeezed shut with a grimace, bearing for the worst.

The wave of white and golden sparkles wash over him, engulfing him in pure whiteness as sounds of crinkles fill his ears and sensations of fizzling sweep his skin.

Then the sparkles fade away as they near the wall, leaving the room in settling silence.

With a few sparkles floating in the air, Kale is holds his tense position with his shield glowing and pulsing strong. He gradually blinks his eyes open and peers ahead, spotting that his surroundings are clear. With a sigh, he climbs to his feet and gazes ahead.

Standing feet away from him is his training partner, who has his hands bubbling with sparkles.

With a rotation of his arm, Kale’s shield melts into his sword; he rushes straight at him with his weapon held behind him.

Nolan instantly snaps his hands out in front of him and emits a torrent of rushing sparkles straight at him.

Kale’s eyes go wide in alarm; he slips his feet out from underneath him and slides below the torrent, on his side, as it crosses his path. He peers ahead, spotting that he is approaching Nolan’s legs rapidly, and takes the opportunity: He swings his sword at them right before he passes him.

“GAH!” Nolan instantly cuts his emission and crashes onto his knees.

Still in motion, Kale springs to his feet and takes control of his momentum by rushing to the regular hockey stick leaning against the wall on the room. He snatches it from its place and jabs it up into the air.

“WOOOOO!!! I GOT IT!!!!” He spins around, waving the stick in the air. “SUPERNATURAL HOCKEY IS GONNA BE SAVED!!!”

Deeper in the room, Nolan is gradually getting back up to his feet with a series of groans. He turns to him with an annoyed look. “You’re good.”

A pang of concern sweeps over Kale’s face he takes in his friend’s state. He lowers his stick and ambles over to him.

“Are you okay?” He pats his back. “I’m sorry that I swung my sword at you like that.”

Nolan rolls his eyes. “I’ll be fine.” He takes one step before: “OW!” He leans over and rubs his shins with his face contorted in agony. “Gosh, Kale, you really had to do that—” He takes another step. “OW!”

Nolan then perks eyes up with a small frown. His eyebrows instantly drop into his usual flat look. “No, I’d rather be in pain than look weird.”

Kale eyes him with a cocked eyebrow. “You are acting weird…”

He swings his eyes up at him. “I’m talking to Carter.”

Kale makes a small “o” with his mouth with understanding. “Oh, yeah, right, right.”

Nolan instantaneously begins to rise in the air as more sparkles appear and concentrate around his feet. He pulls himself into a sitting position with his legs crossed. He holds his head with his fists, making his reddened cheeks bunch up against the bottom of his eyes. “I guess I’ll resort to flying then, goodness…”

The door to the room then swings open, grabbing the two friends’ attention. Ambling into the room are the two league rulers, Toews and Stuart.

Toews apprehensively clasps his hands together as he approaches them. “Wow! That was great!”

Stuart follows with Kale’s kitten in his arms. He halts next to him. “It seems like you got this.” He juts his stubble-covered chin at him with a cool smirk.

Kale shoots him his famous toothy grin. “Thanks! I just really wanna fix this all up.”

“You feel comfortable taking on Stamkos?” Toews asks with raised eyebrows.
“Yes.” Kale forces out a nod. “I definitely am!”

“You better,” Nolan snaps from above with sharp eyes on him. “I wanna stop sparkling.”

Stuart chuckles up at him. “Oh, Pat, you still sparkle even without those sparks.”

Nolan grumbles something incoherent with a scowl as he turns his head away from him.

Toews spins to Kale; he holds his hands out toward him. “Well, the game is tomorrow. Thank goodness, it’s hard to keep the GHP sane when most of the members’ powers are malfunctioning!”

Kale scans his palm out in front of him. “That will all end tomorrow!”

Mew, the kitten squeaks out.

Stuart’s eyes light up as he peers down at the small animal. “Oh, and here’s your cat.” He holds it out to its owner. “I think you should keep an eye out on ‘im: He tends to break stuff way easier than most kittens.”

King stares at him with its large, glimmering green eyes.

With a chuckle, Kale takes his kitten into his two arms and holds it against his chest. “Yeah, I’m aware of that. I really don’t know why he does that.”

Mew.

Stuart chortles at the small animal. “Cute cat though.” He scratches its neck with a finger.

King responds by purring with closing eyes.

“But don’t worry about the broken furniture or floors he broke,” Toews speaks up, “we fixed them right up!”

Kale perks up at him with relief. “Oh, thanks, guys! That must be the upside of being Rulers, eh?”

Stuart juts his thumb to the NHLer. “Well, it was all Tazer’s doing—” He reverts his hand to his chest. “I can’t really fix things.”

“Quick use of powers to fix physical things,” Toews adds on.

“Okay, enough talking about fixing furniture,” Nolan snaps in the air with crossed arms. “I wanna go home.”

Kale cranes his head up at him and nods. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll go!” He turns back to the Rulers. “Thanks, guys!” He begins to pass them to approach the door; Nolan follows. “Wish me luck for tomorrow!”

“Will do!” Stuart calls out to him.

“Bye, guys!” Toews shouts.

Kale peeks behind his shoulder and replies, “Bye!”

With that, the two exit the training room.

Notes