Early the next day...

Long before the sun rose, my alarm was already chirping loudly. I groaned and turned it off. I laid there for a minute, then jumped up to get myself ready.

I put on some jeans and a lightning shirt with the older, faded, logo on the front. Once I finished, I walked out of my apartment, Strike at my side. He still had a few scratches from yesterday, but overall they were better.

It was 6:30 (AM) when I pulled into Amalie, my usual time. This time allowed me to get everything set up for the day.

I started with getting the practice jerseys out and hung up, and a little bit of organizing the stalls. These guys were quite messy. I then went down and did the things on my list of to do's.

Around 10-ish, Stammer and Heddy walked in.  They both said quick hellos and set their stuff down in the stalls.

They were soon followed by the others, and now we were all gathered in the locker room. (The time travelers at least).

"Ready to go back in time, and hopefully stop those persistent Habs?" Steven said with some seemingly fake enthusiasm.

Killer laughed and said,"I'd be ready to stop those guys any day."

"Definitely." Sustr added with another laugh.

Stammer motioned to me and said,"Speaking of the Habs, I think it's time to go where they're going, and to finally make the journey to 2004."

I pulled out the baseball-sized device and said,"All we need to do is say 'take us back to May 25, 2004.' and it will open up and take us back. Say it in unison on my word."

"One, two, three." I said, and said what was needed in unison with the others. The device lifted off the ground and the outer parts started spinning quickly.

"Is it suppose to do that?" Valtteri asked.

I nodded in response as the device opened up, and put a dome colored a deep blue around us. It then closed, and we were transferred to a galaxy looking area. It had events, good and bad, displayed in fuzzy images floating around the area. The places behind it were purple, blue, and a bunch of other colors. Stars were there too, looking like little dots among the show of colors. We were seemingly sliding along, and not very quickly. Soon the colors started to fade, and Amalie (which was the St. Pete Times Forum at the time) came into view.

We now stood in 2004, in front of the St. Pete Times Forum. The three distinctive bolts stood in front of us.

"It looks so different. It just looks so- old or outdated." Killer said.

"Well- this place did get a big renovation in 2011, so I'm sure it looks different. Inside and slightly outside." I replied.

"Ok- how are we not talking about the fact we just went back in time?" Steven asked, confused.

"I'd recommend not talking about the fact that we're from the future. In private we can, but in public, I wouldn't risk it. " Pally said while crossing his arms.

"He has a point you know." Killer replied.

Stammer just let out an annoyed huff in response and said," Well, one thing we need to talk about is where we're going to stay."

I heard Sus mutter 'shit' in Czech, most likely confused about that, and Pally glanced over at him.

"Language." I replied back in Czech.

Sustr just looked up, confused again, and said,"You speak Czech?"

I slowly nodded and said,"I was born in the Czech Republic, but I moved here when I was two."

"Ok can we please settle one issue before we move onto another?" Steven asked.

"If we stay somewhere- clothes and stuff like that will be there. We just have to figure out a spot to stay- that is." I added.

"There's a Hilton nearby- that seemed pretty nice, I had to stay there for a little bit until I found a place to live down here." Val replied.

"Well, I guess we'll try there. I also think we should split up into groups of two, and these groups will stay together no matter what. This would be in case we run into any Habs, we have some help." Stammer replied.

"I'll partner up with Killer!" Sus said quickly.

"I'll partner with Stammer." Hedman said.

"I'll go with Val." Boyle said, leaving me and Ondrej.

"So me and you Pally?" I asked, looking over a grim-faced Ondrej. He nodded, still looking at the ground, arms crossed.

"This is about TJ- and Kuch isn't it?" Stammer asked quietly.

Pally's face softened a bit, and with a laugh he said," So stubborn sometimes, would've been great for them to come."

"Hey, it's okay, we're all here." I murmured in Czech. He looked up, and smiled in response.

"Well look who decided to show up." A voice said with a laugh. We all knew that laugh better than anyone. Steven stiffened and turned around to face our visitor. "What do you want Gallagher?" Steven grumbled.

"Honestly I'd love to kill you all, but that wouldn't be fun would it? How about we start out by taking one of your Pokémon? That would make for a great start to the party." Brendan said with a laugh.

"I agree, after what they did to my Mightyena!" Carey shouted.

"And to get back at them for they've done to our team!" Emelin continued.

"For what? Existing? You're always the ones to start stuff like this." Steven replied, motioning around us.

"You also wouldn't take out all of us- or get the 'full' revenge I'm sure you want." Val said.

I noticed that Galchenyuk seemed nervous around the team, almost scared even. The others just were smirking- and looking like a group of villains.

"Well, we weren't aiming for that, but we surely can take eight of you out easily. We outnumber you." Gallagher added, not caring about Steven or Val's remarks.

"Can't we just leave them alone for a while? Then maybe start our plan?" Galchenyuk asked, pleading in a way.

Gallagher sighed and said,"We aren't starting now, silly. We're just- kicking it off, in a sense, by doing this!" And he pulled out a small cube that expanded and encaged Sustr's Lucario.

"Sucario!" He shrieked, as his Pokémon slammed against the box.

Gallagher laughed and said,"Look at this, the mega-evolving Lucario. Would be great if we had a key stone to evolve it." He looked in Sustr's neck, where the stone hung.

"Find your own, you nasty Hab! C'mon Sucario! Let's show them the strength of Mega-Evolution!" Sus shouted angrily in response.

His Lucario nodded as his stone started to glow and white streaks reached out to his trainer's glowing one. The lines connected, and the Lucario glowed white and grew into its mega form. Most of its fur turned a blood-ish red, and he gained extra spikes, and extra tentacle-like limbs flowed from his back.

"Sucario! Use Sword Dance! And then use Metal Claw!"

Doing what he was told, the Pokémon preformed the Swords Dance, used to power up a little bit. He then slammed the cube with the spikes on his top paws, and it started to crack like basic glass. The cube shattered, and Sucario walked out and faced the Canadiens.

Beaulieu grunted in response and said," Mienshao! Use Force Palm!"

"Pyrber- join in and use Flamethrower!" Weber shouted.

"Counter it with Quick Guard, Sucario!" Andrej said in response to the two attacks. He crossed his arms and blocked the attacks, feeling some of their effects.

The bolts released their Pokémon, as Stammer said,"Stamachu! Use Thunderbolt!"

I joined in said,"Strike, use Thunder Fang!"

Both did as what they were told, as Strike hit Weber's female Pyroar, and Stamachu hit Beaulieu's Mienshao. I surprised to see that neither of the Pokémon were told to dodge the attacks, which is a thing I would have done. I then noticed Galchenyuk's Vulpix standing in front of the two.

"This is enough." Galchenyuk muttered, his body stiff with anger. "We haven't even 'started' so why mess with them now?"

Gallagher rolled his eyes (and head slightly) and said,"Oh lighten up. If you want to be a true Hab, you have to be able to put up with some of this!"

"When were you ever the boss of me, Gallagher? Pacioretty is the captain of this team. Not you." Alex shot back.

Laughing, Gallagher replied,"I'm sure he agrees with this, he's the one who came up with this plan anyways. But let's finish this battle."

"Fine." Galchenyuk spat back, walking to the side of the group.

"Alright Pyrber! Let's get it started with Fire Fang!" Weber shouted.

"Mienshao! Join in and use Double Slap!" said Beaulieu, joining in.

"Dodge it Strike!" I said in unison with Stammer, except for the Pokémon names. Both Pokémon dodged the attacks, but Strike got a few of Mienshao's hits. He shook himself and grunted in anger. Glancing somewhat behind the Habs, i thought I saw Val's Absol teleport to the spot I was looking.

While the two attackers were unaware, Val quietly said,"Valsol, use Night Slash."

Somehow, this got to his Pokémon, and he ran through the crowd of Habs and quickly slashed at both of the attacking Pokémon. All of the Canadiens looked at the Absol, very much confused.

Using their confusion, I said,"Strike, let's end this and use Discharge!"

"Man-ec-tric!" He barked, and then let out a shockwave of electricity that knocked down both Pokémon.

"Wh-what just happened?" Pacioretty stuttered.

"We just beat you. That happened." Steven replied proudly. "But we gotta take care of some business, so see you all later!"

He then motioned us to walk ahead, and we all past the still dumbstruck Habs. I turned around, waved, and blew a very much fake kiss their way. (Just to act like an ass and piss them off.)

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author's note: sorry I've been sorta in and out on updates, but I should start to catch up a bit with volleyball nearing an end. 😉👍
(I'll try my best at least)