AAOOOSC! Wheatie Bits!

E. 10. "Beware of Green" (9/10)

The skies are blue streaked with white clouds as the afternoon sun shines down on the Keystone Centre's players' parking lot. Strolling down the asphalt is Kale, who has his head down with his hands in his hoodie's pockets.

His mind is swirling about in all the possible outcomes of his friend and the countless ways to save him, all with a minimal chance to succeed: We can fight him right now, merged, but we need to practice. And what if Carter has something more potent than us up his sleeve? He's unpredictable—the last thing I want is to be severely injured. But we gotta save Pat, especially before the regular season starts; he's our friend, he's counting on us...wherever he is—

Kale's heart instantly lurches as he feels the top half of his sole dip down through mere air.

"WHOA!" He stumbles back forcefully to avoid plummeting, flailing his hands in the air to gain his balance.

Kale comes to a halt and stands still with eyes as wide as pucks blankly ahead of him, completely terrified. He manages to force out between his heavy breathing, "What was that?"

He gazes ahead of him, spotting the beautiful view of the flat metropolitan lands of Brandon stretching miles and miles away toward the horizon.

He knits his eyebrows at the high view in confusion. "What?" He snaps his eyes down, noticing the edge on the ground he is standing on.

He slowly steps up to the edge with rising trepidation. Once standing near it, he peers down.

Staring down below is the players' parking lot from an alarming height.

Kale's mouth turns into an "o" as he mentally makes the connection of his location. "Oookay..." He straightens up and gazes of surroundings by moving only his head. "...how did I get up here—?"

"By me."

Kale's eyes immediately fly open at Nolan's voice. He whirls around, away from the edge, to face the direction of the voice.

Standing a couple feet away from him toward the middle of the arena's roof is Nolan. He has a heroic stance with confidence, which accompanies well with his business attire.

Kale gazes at the appearance of his friend in hope. His face then falls as the mental fact of the truth pops into his mind.

With resolve overcoming his face, Kale raises his Wrist-Moto-cladded wrist into view and holds it up to his mouth. "He's here at the arena—!"

PING!

Kale's raised arm immediately flies back due to a fizzing force throwing it away from his face.

His Wrist-Moto's band snaps and launches from his wrist before plunging over the edge, downward through the air, and out of view.

With a wild look, Kale whirls his head back to the skater.

He spots him in his same place, yet his hands are now glowing green with magical energy.

"I don't need you calling your friends to make things more difficult," Nolan brusquely tells him, "although I can batter them in a heartbeat—!"

BLAM!

Nolan's clear eyes instantly fly open as he stiffens.

Kale's jaw drops at the aftermath of the noise.

Borne on Nolan's chest is a clear-cut hole with smoking curling out from it.

Standing directly behind the skater is the gunman himself: Brett, in his armour suit, has his gun-cladded hand aimed at his shot target.