May 1st, 2014

In another part of Tampa, FL,

Vladislav Namestnikov is sitting on the couch. Rain is pounding against the windows and ceiling of Steven Stamkos' beach house in Clearwater. Lightning streaks across the sky outside and the wind howls. Jonathan Drouin and Jonathan Marchessault are battling one another in NHL13.

Drouin kicks Marchessault in the hip and jams his finger repeatably on a button on his controller, playing and controlling the Tampa Bay Lightning. "Take this!" He pulls back the right analog stick and flicks it forward for an underhand shot.

"Jo, come on, you're too aggressive!" Marchessault complains. "And don't kick me!"

"Just wait until I get my hands on you Jo!" Vladdy teases from the couch. "I'm gonna go all Patrick Kane on your ass!"

"Ha-ha you can certainly try to, Vladdy Boo," Jo laughs. "But I'm practicing so I can kick JT's ass! He always wins! I wanna win!" Jo gasps in shock as Marchessault commands a Dallas Star player to score with his controller.

Vladdy snorts with laughter. "Well, for one JT doesn't get distracted by me and let someone score. Come on Jo-Jo!"

"HA! Suck on Tyler Seguin!" Marchessault boasts, mocking a celebration in his sitting position.

"Ewww, that's Jamie Benn's job!" Drouin snarls, as he quickly makes the game continue on, jamming his finger down on his controller's buttons. "Think before you speak, man! For example, eat my ice you dirty Stars!!"

As Drouin presses the square for a wrist shot and then immediately on the circle for a slap shot, a bright flash happens outside as a Lightning strikes the ground right outside and unleashes a terrifying crack of thunder.

"Looks like the Hockey Gods are on my side, Marchy," Drouin boasts, raising his head up proudly.

Vladdy suddenly pauses in place, curled up on the couch, as a voice enters his head. A foreign, yet familiar one, the voice of Wayne Gretzky. Vladislav Namestnikov, I have heard the request from your GM and his friend. I know about the cheating from the Canadiens and soon you and your team will too. I have made a magical lightning bolt that will help in combatting the Habs, however it is best to split up the powers. I am bestowing the powers of healing and electrokinesis that will forever link you to the Lightning offense and a magical Lightning Bolt soon to be named Yzerchuk.

Why me? Vladdy finds himself thinking.

The voice continues on, saying, Because we deem you worthy. The lightning bolt will be tied to you. It will be smarter to have the powers separated. The Lightning Bolt will be powerless without and you, powerless without it. But should one be separated from the other for any reason, Tampa will not completely suffer. Only when both are removed should the problem arise.

But what do you mean?

You will understand someday, for now that is all I can tell you. Now, it's time for you to receive your powers and become Tampa Bay's Hero! Another lightning bolt will strike and you will forget Wayne Gretzky, ruler of the Hockey Gods, protector of the balance of the NHL, ever spoke to you but you shall recieve your powers.

Vladdy blinks and then, sure enough, another blinding flash comes and the forward notices himself glowing royal blue. He screams and Drouin and Marchessault spin around to him, cocking their heads.

"What's wrong with you? Scared of a little thunder Vladdy?" Drouin teases.

Vladdy realizes that the glow has vanished before they can see it. He shakes his head and opens his mouth, suddenly very lost. "I don't-I don't know why I screamed...I'm not scared of lightning...or thunder, Jo! And from the looks of it, you're not doing too well against Marchy. Is that an 'L' I see in the score?"

Drouin whips around and throws his controller down, seeing the score read 8-4. He folds his arms and pouts like a child, while Marchessault laughs at him.

"What's going on here? There's a whole lot of yelling and screaming!" Steven remarks, walking into the room with a purple apron on. He points a beater at the three and exclaims, "I'm baking cookies for you all, since you'll - unfortunately - be here a while thanks to that storm outside!"

"You wanna tell Kuch? That's like his favorite English word and it was his first one too!" Marchessault states.

"Not to mention Kuch loves cookies!" Vladdy adds on with a nod, feeling a sudden rush of electricity flood through him.

"We should call him and tell him!" Drouin sneers, rubbing his hands. "How deliciously evil of us to taunt him?"

Steven shakes his head. "You three. I have to be stuck with Jo, Marchy and Vladdy of all the rookies!" He turns and begins to walk off, but stops and turns back at the sound of Drouin's voice.

"Hey, it could be worse, Stammer, you could be stuck with the Triplets!" Drouin teases. "A cookie-crazed Kuch will make me an angel!"

"Honestly, I'd prefer that right now and I'm saving some as motivation for Kuch, so keep your greedy fingers - Drouin - off of Kuch's cookies! A happy Kuch is something everyone enjoys, just like hopefully you three will be tolerable!" With that Steven spins on his heels on his vanishes back into his kitchen.

"NICE APRON STAMMER!" Drouin catcalls, before he gets his phone out. "Come on, let's call Kuch and tell him we're eating cookies without him!"

****

Present Day

Abdelkader takes the phone off speaker and hangs up and pockets his cell, before gesturing to Dekeyser, who steps forward, holding a coil of rope in his hands. Vladdy looks at his friends, who are all in total shock.

TJ is able to shove Kronwall off him and he darts toward Vladdy, skidding to a halt. "Don't do this, we'll finish the game and then worry about him," the small forward says. "You can't do this alone, Vladdy. We'll help you!"

Vladdy glances to him. "Somehow, TJ, I think I can. I have to. Do this alone."

"You can't Vladdy! We need you!"

"I have to, TJ, now get back! Please."

"I won't let you do this Vladdy!" Kronwall grabs TJ and pulls him back as Vladdy drops his stick and gloves and procures his wrists out before him. TJ jerks at Kronwall's hold, screaming at the blond, who is bound at the wrists by Dekeyer and then forced toward the Red Wing bench. "NO! Vladdy! Don't!"

Dekeyser roughly shoves Vladdy into the bench, off the ice and then forces him down the tunnel and into the Red Wing visitor locker room.

TJ yanks himself free, but realizes it is too late. He stands in horror, looking at where Vladdy has vanished too and then he looks at the hushed, shocked crowd. The first time a crowd had been like that was in Montreal and now it is happening in Tampa again. "ANDREYCHUK! YZERMAN!" he calls out.

"TJ, come here," Cooper's voice demands. "Get off the ice and come here!"

TJ sighs and clenches his fist and skates over, passing by Nikita and Galchenyuk along the way. He enters the bench and sits down angrily. The rest of the Bolts all slowly begin to relax and settle down. Drouin takes Vladdy's spot on the ice with Nikita and Galchenyuk and they finish out the second period.

As the play gets under way once more and the final 30 seconds happen, Cooper leans down to TJ and whispers into his ear, "Don't worry, Tyler, I dispatched Stammer and Stralsy to handle things. They know what to do."

TJ spins around to him. "But they'll get Pally killed! That was no fake gun! Carle's gonna kill him!"

"Stammer and Stralsy can handle it. Relax. They know what to do. Let's just finish this game and then you all can fight with Red Wings back ice if you must. But we got one whole period left in this game! Let's just get the win and get on!" The whistle and horn sound and both teams take to their locker rooms.

TJ joins Galchenyuk in comforting the even more worked up Nikita now. Andreychuk darts down from the press box, where he's been sitting and skids into the locker room, finding TJ with Nikita and Galchenyuk. "You called for me out there, TJ?"

TJ looks up at him. "I did! I want you to tell me the truth!"

"The truth?" Andreychuk questions.

"The truth about Vladdy Namestnikov! I know you know! What's so special about him? He's got healing powers and electrokinesis...some kind of superpower that I had to look up on the web! What's going on with him? And tell everyone here, what's going on with Yzerchuk and Vladdy, Dave?"

Andreychuk shakes his head. "I don't know the full story, TJ. Only Vladdy knows. But I did begin to suspect that there was something more going on with the blond kid. Back on 'Vladdy Day', Yzerchuk paled in color when I took him after the Carle incident but when Vladdy touched him, Yzerchuk was back to being blue?? We don't/didn't need the potion really anymore, but it struck me odd. And then I suspected something again when I knew Yzerchuk was at the Montreal game on the 31st, while Vladdy was not...for some reason we couldn't 'spark' anything...until Vladdy and Yzerchuk were reunited."

"So, you're saying Vladdy and Yzerchuk are intertwined with one another somehow?" TJ questions.

"It makes sense," Galchenyuk pipes up. "Vladdy can heal people through Yzerchuk. I don't think that he can without the stick. And again with his powers. Somehow it seems Yzerchuk has half and Vladdy has the other half."

Drouin nods. "I hate to bring this up, but when I was a little brat and terrorized--"

"Oh yeah, you were a little shit Drouin, but it's good to have you have you back and on our side!" Callahan remarks with a sly smirk.

"Anyway, love you too Cally, but it seems to me Yzerchuk chose Vladdy and they are forever intertwined and connected to this team's offense. Without both, the Lightning offense just can not work fully or properly. With just one or the other, yeah we may have goals, but a dominating presence on the ice doesn't happen without him and the stick!"

"My thoughts exactly Jo," Andreychuk says with a nod of his head.

"Yeah, and I think when Vladdy "activates" Yzerchuk as his hockey stick and can zap Gallagher or me, that's really through Vladdy himself and not just the lightning bolt/hockey stick," Drouin adds on. "Vladdy's got some superpowers. He's the real Hero!"

"And that real hero is on his way to his doom," Galchenyuk remarks.

"Come to think about it, I saw him save Larkin from Pavel's abuse and he's lead this team like Stammer can and never will. Vladdy is special and we've got to do something! We need to go out there for the third period and at least try. For Vladdy!" Victor says with a growl, punching the air with a first.

"For Pally!" Nikita pipes up, clapping his hands together.

"For Strals!" Victor adds on.

"And for Stammer!" TJ remarks.

"And most importantly...for Yzerchuk!" Galchenyuk exclaims, thrusting his own stick into the air.

"FOR YZERCHUK!" The others lift their sticks up as well to the chant.

Andreychuk smiles. "I think you guys got this, I'll let you handle the Red Wings! Go get 'em!"

The entire room fills with cheering as Andreychuk nods to TJ and then dips his head to Cooper and exits the room. All the Bolts players exit the room, bouncing with excitement and ready to come out strong for a third period.