AAOOOSC! #10

Chapter 32: "Secret Receepe."

That night is game night: Pittsburgh Penguins versus New York Islanders. John is strolling down the hallway of the back of the arena to get to his locker room. He seems calm and collected in his formal attire of a suit and tie. Yet his anxiety is exposed once he passes by the visitor's locker room.

Coach Johnston is by the door on the phone. "Our defence is lacking," he mutters in a gruff tone. "Määttä has been missing for three weeks now."

John breezes by the room, immersed in his mission of getting into the locker room. Once Coach Johnston's sentences cut into John's thoughts, he freezes in his tracks. His eyes fly open. He then backs up, peering into the locker room.

Sure enough, there is an empty Määttä stall in between two occupied stalls.

John pulls himself behind the wall, next to the doorway of the locker room. "So that's who the irreproachable bystander was," he murmurs to himself with knitted eyebrows. "I conjectured what betide him."

With a sigh, he resumes his trek to his locker room. Along the way, he crosses paths with teenager, who is wearing a suit and tie. In one of his hands is a hockey bag; in his other hand is a white, fluffy cat with brilliant, round blue eyes.

John stares skeptically at the teenager with the cat coming up to him. He then recognizes the cat and immediately makes the connection.

"Excuse me, kid." John steps up to the teenager's side, halting him in place. "What are you doing here and where did you get that cat?"

"I'm here to play against you and this is my cat." The "teenager," Beau, holds up this cat, Spikey.

Spikey's eyes narrow when they land on John's inquiring expression. Tavares...so we meet again... All that comes out is a low growling sound.

"Where did you find that cat?" John points to Spikey.

"I have a game to play because I'm a professional hockey player." Beau pulls up his player's badge from underneath his shirt and flashes it at John. He then swaggers past him with Spikey.

John turns around and follows Beau with his eyes until he disappears into the visitor's locker room.

"I must find a way to obtain that cat," he says to himself gravely.

The pregame is underway in the Barclays Center. The Penguins are on their side of the ice while the Islanders are on the other half of the ice practicing. On the Islanders' side of the ice, Kyle Okposo, the alternate captain of the team, is looking out at the ice from the bench warily. It is obvious that he is searching for someone among the crowd.

Jack Capuano, the head coach of the Islanders, halts next to Kyle in the bench.

He leans forward with his hands clasped behind his back. "Where's Tavares?" he asks him.

Kyle peers behind his shoulder to face his coach. "I don't know, coach," he replies. "That's whom I'm searching for."

"Hm..." Coach Capuano straightens up. "Well, he better be here before the game. We need our captain."

"Yes, we do." Kyle then heads out on the ice.

John is still in the arena, but he is not on the ice, exactly. He is sidling into the visitor's locker room with his full equipment on, minus the helmet and gloves. In his hands though is the power negating gun. Except its purpose is not to negate power players' powers-- It's to negate powers that turn people into cats! Like in Olli's case.

From the doorway, John scans the room carefully. He then spots the white fluffy cat perched in Olli's stall.

He smiles. Yes, there he is.