"BEN!" Daniel screamed as he saw his friend go down. He bolted to help, but was seized roughly by the shoulders and pushed up against a tree. His head throbbed as he smacked it against the hard surface. He shouted and cursed as he tried to break free.

"Alright, where the hell is he?" A voice with a french accent demanded.

"Huh?" Daniel sputtered in confusion.

"You heard me, where the hell is Curtis?" The man repeated, his brown eyes glowering with anger.

Daniel shook his head in confusion and caught a glimpse of Ben being pulled roughly to his feet by a man approximately 5'9, 5'10 with semi-long, unruly dark brown hair. Jesus Christ, these guys are huge! He thought as he noticed how broad-shouldered and built they were.

"Who's Curtis?" Daniel asked meekly.

"Don't give me that," the man hissed, his short brown hair stuck out every which-way.

"I'm serious, I don't know who you're talking about," Daniel repeated, his heart thumping in his chest.

"Yanic, I think he's telling the truth," another voice said softly. He had some sort of faint accent that Daniel thought maybe somewhere from the former U.S.S.R.

Oh God, there's three of them...Daniel thought to himself.

"How do you know?" Daniel's attacker demanded.

The third man with long, wavy brown hair gestured towards Ben and the man standing with him. Ben had broken into hysterical sobbing. He kept muttering "Chris" over and over again.

The man referred to as Yanic loosened his grip on Daniel, his face softening. He grabbed Daniel by the arm and led him to where Ben and the man where located.

"What the hell d'you do to him, Darcy?" Yanic demanded.

"Nothing...I just asked him where Cuj was and he said he didn't know...and then he broke down," the man with the unruly hair replied. He scratched at the brown fuzz on his chin nervously.

"He just cry." Daniel was startled to hear yet another voice. He looked behind Ben and saw a man about 6'0 with blue eyes and blond hair pulled into two ponytails that reminded him of owl tufts.

Daniel pulled free and hurried over to Ben. The four strange men stood awkwardly as Daniel talked to Ben in a low voice. They overheard bits and peices of their conversation..."We'll find him;" "He's okay..." Ben composed himself and rose to his feet.

"Uhhh...Jeez...ummm..." Ben's attacker stammered.

"My God, Darcy is at a loss for words!" The long haired man joked half-heartedly.

The blond one began to laugh hysterically. "He got a whole lot of shut-up!" He snickered.

"Shut up!" The man referred to as Darcy snapped. "We've just viciously assaulted two guys here...They can sue!" He flinched once he realized how selfish that sounded. "Jeez...sorry...Are you guys alright?" His face took on a sincere look of concern.

"I-I think so.." Daniel replied uneasily.

"Oh yeah, just peachy," Ben muttered. "Always good to get attacked..."

"Uhhh...Ben, you were going to jump them," Daniel reminded him.

Ben grinned sheepishly as the four men stared at him. "I was uhh...just wondering if you knew what happened to my buddy Chris..." Ben stammered nervously.

"And my dog Sweep," Daniel chimed in. The blond man's face lit up, and he scurried off into the bushes. He emerged moments later with a little black dog cardled in his arms. "Dog...woof...woof!" The man announced.

"SWEEP!" Daniel screamed joyously. He ran over and scooped up his precious pet. She wagged her tail furiously so that her whole body moved with it. Finally, Daniel set the wriggling dog down. "Thank you so much," he gushed, unable to control the wide smile of relief that spread across his face.

"We didn't find her, she found us," Yanic explained.

"Scared the hell out of us," Darcy added. "My name's Darcy Tucker, these are my teammates Yanic Perreault, and Sergei Berezin, as well as doofus over there, Danny Markov."

"Teammates?" Daniel asked.

"We play for the Toronto Maple Leafs? We're in search of Curtis Joseph, our teammate," Yanic explained.

"No way!" Daniel gasped. "Jeez...I guess you could call me a fan, as much of a fan as I can be, being from Australia. Im Daniel, and this is Ben, and my dog Sweep. We're looking for Chris Joannou the bassist in our band, silverchair."

"Hey, I think I heard of you...I think maybe Bryan Berard listens to you, it's one of the younger guys anyway," Darcy said.

"Can I ask a question?" Ben requested.

"Yeah," Yanic replied.

"Ummm...why is Danny wearing his hair in ponytails?" Ben asked. Darcy, Yanic and Sergei burst out laughing.

"It's a long story, well not really...He does these stupid impersonations of Britney Spears and Elvis Presley, right now he's in Britney mode," Sergei replied.

"Oh..." Ben replied, giving Danny a strange look.

"Danny, you forgot to take those damn things out of your hair...You look like a girl!" Darcy snapped.

"Oops...I did it again?" Danny asked, his face going bright red. Suddenly a wide smile spread across his face.

"OH GOD!" Yanic wailed.

"RUN!" Sergei hollered. Yanic, Darcy and Sergei bolted off into the bushes, leaving Daniel and Ben staring at Danny quizzically.

"Oops, I did it again...I played with your heart..." Danny sang, grinning like a chesire cat.

"I'm outa here...this guy scares me," Daniel announced, jogging off.

"Ditto," Ben agreed.

Danny stopped. "Guys? Wait up for Danny!" He shouted and bolted off after him, picking up Curtis Joseph's goalie mask as he went.

To Be Continued
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