Welcome back everyone. It's me again with a brand new story. This particular story is going to be a sequel to What It Takes To Be The Best! The story is pretty much continuing where that one left off, only it's later in the summer, Twister and Reggie have been an official couple for a while, and Clio won't physically appear in this fic, only mentioned at times.

The four friends - Otto, Reggie, Twister, and Sam - are having problems, and it's up to Roderick and his new friend to get the group back on good terms, but will he and his friend be successful in their task, or will it be a waste of time? This story will also get into Twister and Reggie's relationship somewhat, because of all the conflict amongst the four, so please be patient if they aren't really shown all that much.

Like I say for all of these, anything shown in italics indicates that it is a flashback (only for short sequences, anyway). Any dialogue using single quotation marks indicates that the character is thinking, unless used in a grammatically correct fashion. Anything with an asterisk by it means that there is a note about it at the end of the chapter.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16
Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17
Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16
Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16
Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19
Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Chapter 01: "Sleeping is boring!" Roderick's Late Morning Challenge!

It had been a few weeks since the school year had ended for Otto, Reggie, Twister and Sam, and all had passed their respective grades. Twister and Otto worked very hard to get their marks up to "acceptable" levels. Otto was having the most trouble with Spanish – which Twister helped him with since their teacher had appointed him to – and Twister got help from Reggie with his Geometry and help from Sam with his Biology. He did manage to get his Geometry mark up to a C-, but his Biology grade, unfortunately, remained a D, just not an incredibly low one.

As for Clio, she was spending part of her summer vacation in Hawaii, much to Otto's despair, with Tito's wise nephew, Keoni, and his friend, Leilani. "Rowdy" Roderick was just as hyper and happy as ever, which was understandable since he was spending some of his vacation with the Rodriquez family, while his mother, father, and younger brother were visiting family in Mexico. The young boy didn't want to visit this particular time since he wanted to spend it with Twister and the others in Ocean Shores. Besides, his family visited frequently enough, given how close they wre. He knew that they would probably visit again in the fall – for his birthday or Día de los Muertos – or either in December for Christmas.

"Sleeping is boring, Twist; let's go, let's go!" Roderick called out while anxiously shaking the older boy. "We have stuff to do today!"

The boy started to stir, as he yawned out, "What?" He turned over to face a slim boy wearing a backwards blue Dodger's baseball cap, a white T-shirt with faint, thin vertical blue stripes, and a pair of dark-blue jeans. "I'm still sleepy," he told him groggily.

"You sleep all the time!"

"You don't sleep enough," Twister retorted while turning back over. He yawned deeply. "It's still summer vacation."

The soon to be 14-year-old boy thought for a moment, trying to come up with a way to awaken his life-long friend, who was snoring soundly once again. A crafty grin then spread across the young Mexican boy's face. "Wake up! C'mon Twist, wake up!"

Twister stuffed his head underneath his pillow. "I need more sleep," he groaned in fake agony.

"But we're going to hang out with Reggie today," he answered back in sing-song.

That had gotten his attention. Twister sat up abruptly, all signs of his being sleepy completely gone, and his long disheveled red hair falling loosely into his face. A goofy, dreamy grin appeared on his freckled face. "Reggie?"

'I knew that would work!' Roderick inwardly praised.

"Gotta get ready, gotta get ready," Twister muttered as he jumped out of his bed at record speed.

"It's about time!" Roderick laughed as Twister went through his dresser drawers to find something to wear. He finally decided on his white t-shirt, his blue muscle shirt to wear over it, and a pair of long khaki shorts.

Twister and Reggie had been officially a couple for a few weeks now, which was right before school let out for summer break, but the two didn't make it public knowledge until after their victory over the Lasers at the Shore Shack while celebrating their win. It was a very close match. The Lasers only lost by one point. Reggie made the goal right before the buzzer, which gave them the win. The two actually getting together was a difficult task, especially since both had been holding back what they truly felt.

For Twister, he had had feelings for Reggie for quite a while, and would try his best to suppress them by making excuses. As for Reggie, she had been subconsciously growing attracted to him, but after his sweet gesture by taking her to the Pier and the amusement park after the both of them had had that bad confrontation with Otto – he was pretty stressed out at the time and took it out on his friends – she started to see him in a whole new light and those feelings finally surfaced.

When Ray found out about it, he looked like he was about to have a heart attack. "No, no, no," he told the two when they'd finally revealed the news. He knew Twister was a good kid, but the idea of Reggie dating in general was still a bit too extreme for him to take in. He, eventually, came around and accepted the fact that his daughter was going to eventually gain an interest in stuff other than writing or sports, and thanks to Tito's lecturing and wisdom, explaining how "the baby bird will soon leave the nest, and that Reggie was almost ready to take flight", Ray came to terms with the idea, partially. It still was awkward for him and even had a "talk" with the teen girl, which heightened that awkwardness...for Rocket Girl.

Otto was quite indifferent and never gave a real opinion on it. He avoided the subject as much as possible, seemingly. Sam, on the other hand, was glad for his two friends, because they seemed happy. It wasn't that big of a surprise for Sam, as far as Twister had been concerned, since he'd figured long ago that Twister had had a crush on Reggie. Twister didn't act as goofy when around her now, nor did he find reasons to randomly talk about her whenever she wasn't, which was a bit of a relief for Sam who seemed to always witness this side of Twister. Sam was a bit surprised, though, over Reggie's reciprocating the feelings, but that was because he'd never had an inkling of Reggie having any romantic feelings towards Twister.

Clio, Trent, Trish, and Sherry all reacted differently. Clio was happy for Reggie, yet surprised that she would want to date her cousin of all people when there were more, what she considered, suitable boys around, but she left it alone since Reggie obviously saw something that she just couldn't.

Trent was obviously a bit jealous over Twister when the news had reached him, and he pretty much thought in the same way as Clio in some ways. He wanted to know what Reggie saw "in Twister Rodriguez". Trent felt that he was a much better choice for the girl than Twister, but he could never come right out and say it, as it made him feel a bit selfish. It was worse enough that he'd lost his chance with the girl, whose attention he'd been trying to get for a long while, but he didn't want to jeopardize their already excellent friendship.

The handsome New Zealander wasn't the only guy who was slightly envious over Ocean Shores' latest couple. A certain Rodriguez brother was as well. His baby bro had managed to get together with his theoretical "potential girlfriend", but even he realized that thinking of Reggie as a potential girlfriend was pushing it, which was why he never tried anything and refused to let it. He knew that realistically it could never happen because of their history, but Twister was the last person he thought of as far as a boyfriend for Rocket Girl.

Trish was actually secretly glad that Twister and Reggie had managed to get together. She had started suspecting Twister's liking for Reggie, but what had confirmed it was when he and Reggie were interviewing them before the surf competition at Spray Beach. His mannerisms and somewhat snarky vibe he seemed to give off towards Trent whenever he would speak to Reggie, had tipped her off, but never mentioned her suspicions to either Reggie or Sherry.

With Sherry, she just squealed, ready to gossip off the news to anyone within earshot range. Of course, after the reality of the situation had sunk in, even she found it strange. She figured that if Reggie would've dated anyone, it definitely would've been Trent. She would constantly ask the wavy-haired girl "why Twister" and "why not Trent". Reggie could never give her a straight answer, though. She seemed unsure herself how the feelings even formed.

Raoul and Sandy were delighted that the two had gotten together, Sandy especially. She'd always liked Reggie and how she was a good influence. She saw her as a daughter anyway and welcomed her into the family. Also a plus in the twos' favor, was that "she and Mauricio" got along well enough.

"It's cool how you and Reg are a couple now."

"Yeah, I can't believe that I have a girlfriend!" He laughed a bit as he looked himself over in the mirror while combing his hair. "When I was a kid, girls sorta scared me." He slightly blushed in embarrassment.

"Why were you scared of girls?" asked Roderick in perplexity. "Haven't you been friends with Reggie for practically forever?"

"Well, yeah, but girls chasing you is scary."

"Girls used to chase you?"

"Duh!" He put down his comb, finally satisfied. "Remember Otto, Reg, the Squid, and me had a band called 'No Worries'?"

"Wait, you did?"

"Yeah. The fans of the group used to chase me because they thought I was cute – well, that's what Reggie told me – and girls like that are scary."

Roderick could only laugh hilariously at the situation as he imagined a younger Twister being bombarded by a bunch of rabid fan girls. "Dude, some guys would kill for that kind of attention!"

He shuddered. "Well, those guys can have it! I'm glad Reg isn't like that. I'm glad Trish and Sherry aren't either. Those two are pretty cool for girls too and some of the other girls of my class."

"Enough talking about girls, let's go! I don't want to spend the rest of my vacation sitting around the house! I have a little under a week before my family comes back."

"Alright, alright." The boy stifled back a yawn and stretched his long, lanky arms. "I'll get ready to go. Besides," he grinned, "I can't wait to see Reggie again."

"What about Otto? And Sam?"

"Yeah, yeah...them too," he added on with a nervous laugh.

The reply didn't seem very compelling to the younger boy. To him, Twister was definitely hung up over Reggie, and that was the main, and possibly only, person on his mind.

Twister hurried himself along, such as showering, dressing, and grabbing a bite to eat before leaving, all of the things Roderick had done earlier while Twister was snoozing. After they had finally gotten everything in order, the two headed out, bidding Sandy and Raoul a farewell, whom of which were also about to head out for the day themselves...