AAOOOSC! All-Stars!

Whizzing through the night skies of San Jose are Leon Draisaitl and Brianna Decker. Fire blazes behind Brianna; slick, black oil whips around Leon’s legs to propel him.

“Dumb power player matches!” he barks over the winds. “I had to stay to watch the whole thing! Now we’re late to protect the Cup!”

Brianna peeks at him. “No worries, we’re gonna make it to our post on time! Gorman said we had to be there at ten, right?”

Leon flicks his hand up, pulling out his phone from his pocket with droplets of oil. His phone lights up, showing the time. “One minute!”

Brianna peers down. Twinkling below is the large sleek roof of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center among the cities lights.

“We got it!” she shouts below.

With that, they dip down and dive toward the building, rounding the corner to the right.

“Nothing bad can happen to the Cup!” Leon proclaims as he follows Brianna through an opened window.

They land on the carpet floor, in the midst of moonlight shining through the glass ceiling. Brianna jogs down the walkway; Leon comes after her. The two make a turn to an opened pair of double doors and burst into the large convention room.

They turn right and halt with large eyes.

On the other side of the massive room, illuminated by a single spotlight is a large, black stage up against the room’s wall. Above the stage is a sign that reads STANLEY CUP. Below, the pedestal of the Stanley Cup stands; behind it is Jimmy Howard, who holds the Stanley Cup up with both hands.

“Behold!” he bellows. “After journeying through the strangely similar world of the alternate universe, I have finally found the source of powers—for all powers—once again!”

Someone clears their throat. Jimmy drops his mischievous grin and turns to the left. Standing next to him, away from the spotlight is Henrik Lundqvist and Claude Giroux.

“Oh, right, you guys, uh, helped me too.” Jimmy swings his head to the right.

Sitting at the foot of the stage, tied up with rope from head to toe, is Phil Pritchard, the keeper of the Stanley Cup. His eyes blink through the slits of the rope.

Jimmy turns back to the Stanley Cup and gazes at its glamourous surface. “And now...time to extract the powers—”

He takes a step forward, putting his foot in a puddle of black oil. Instantly, his foot slips out from underneath him, throwing him backward.

“Whoa!”

The Stanley Cup slips out of his hands and sails through the air. It is then caught in a cloak of fire and yanked into the hands of Brianna.

“No, it’s not the time to extract its powers.” She places the Stanley Cup behind her.

Leon tosses a ribbon of oil at the stage. It lands around its perimeter in a semi-circle. Brianna then conjures a roaring ball of fire and lobs it at the stage.

The fire catches the oil below it and explodes into a wall around the stage. It cracks and pops with its glowing flames waving.

Jimmy sits up from the stage’s floor and kicks out his feet in an attempt to stand up. He slams onto his back, then shoots his wagging pointer finger at the direction of the fire. “GET THE CUP!”

Henrik forms a force field around him with a wave of his arms. The purple-tinted bubble lifts him off into the air and guides him through the fire barrier.

Brianna gasps at the sight of Henrik nearing her and her fighting partner. She turns to Leon. “Save the keeper, Drizzles— I’ll guard the Cup!”

Leon nods and rushes deeper in the room.

Brianna faces the power player in the floating force field and emits streams of fire at him from both hands. The fire blazes around the forcefield and dissolves, leaving no harm to its surface. Henrik continues approaching her with a smirk.

With a groan, she reaches behind her with one glowing neon orange-colored hand to touch the bowl of the Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup begins pulsing the same orange glow.

She continues blasting flames at the forcefield. Her dishevelled hair hangs over her weary face.

With the fire brushing past his forcefield’s surface, Henrik then lands in front of her. She slips out of his way, revealing the Stanley Cup.

Chuckling, Henrik reaches out to the Stanley Cup and places his hand on it. He freezes and his eyes fly open at the scalding temperature of the metal; he pulls his hand away and shakes it. “AIY!!!”

Brianna then shoots a stream of fire at him.

Henrik is blasted through the doorway and disappears over the railings of the walkway. His screams fade.

Over the ring of fire on his glider, Giroux swings a lasso over his head. His narrowed eyes are aimed at Leon, who is rushing up toward him. He snaps his lasso back and throws it forward.

The loop lands on Leon and tightens at the pull of its owner, forcing the target in place.

Leon peers down at the rope around him. “Ugh.” He then slips his slick arms up and pushes the rope down to his feet.

Giroux drops his arm and gawks at the sight. “Whut duh—?”

A blast of oil hits him, knocking him backwards and onto the concrete ground between the stage and the fire barrier.

Giroux sits up and sticks his legs out in front of him in an attempt to fly again. His glider under his feet sputters out drops of oil before folding back under his feet.

Giroux flips onto his hands and knees and tries to push himself onto his feet. His feet slide out from underneath him, throwing him onto his back.

Leon propels himself over the roaring fire with a blast of oil and lands in front of Phil, the tied keeper, on his knees. With slick hands, he pushes the ropes down to his feet.

He then peers behind his shoulder and shouts, “Decker! Take out the fire!”

The fire whooshes and disappears like birthday candles being blown out. Brianna rushes up to his side.

She peers down at the uncovered keeper. “The keeper’s okay?”

Phil whimpers with large eyes aimed to aside; his hands are by his chattering teeth.

Leon looks up at her. “I think he is.”

Brianna then turns to face the rest of the room and whips out a rope of fire across it. She pulls it back, letting the Stanley Cup, coated in fire, soar up to her.

Then like leading a pet, she guides the Stanley Cup up the stairs and onto the stage. She approaches the pedestal and lowers the Stanley Cup onto it. She then drops her hands; the fire over the Stanley Cup dissolves into sparks.

“There,” Brianna huffs out, brushing her bangs away. “In perfect condition.”

“I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY!”

The two turns to face the room. Jonathan Toews rushes up to them with his robe flapping behind him.

“I-I was working on the higher levels of my powers and accidentally opened up the portal to the alternate universe and I think it might—”

Brianna holds a palm out to him. “No worries, we got it covered.”

Toews halts in front of the stage and lets out a sigh. “Thank goodness. I got them back into the alternate universe.”

Leon nods to him. “Danke.”

Toews turns to him to his right with a smile. “Yeah, de nada!”

He furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

Toews then steps up to Phil beside Leon and pulls him up to his feet.

He pats his head and tells him, “Good thing the Cup was the replica, right?”

Brianna’s and Leon’s eyes snap open in shock. They gaze at each other and blink.

Toews catches their look exchanging and scrunches his eyebrows. “What? You never knew that?”

The two then burst into laughter.

Toews gawks at the two, stifling a laugh. “Wh-what’s so funny?”

“They went after the replica!” Brianna blurts out at him from the stage. “It has no powers!”

Toews snorts. “Oh!”

The three then burst out into laughter. Phil chuckles nervously before stepping away.


The End of “Guard Duty.”

Notes

Episode 10/15