Here it is, the much awaited 21st chapter of 'Rocket Power: Waking The Dragons'! Here's where this story and DannysGhostGirl's Rocket Power story somewhat connect. There's not gonna be any duel, but my fan-made Twister/Reggie kids do make their debut here. There will be a duel or two in the epilogue, though. The 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' crew does make an appearance and is mentioned here, but nothing major from them. Oh by the way...another Klasky-Csupo Nicktoon will be making a special guest appearance here. ROLL TAPE!
Our heroes had defeated Dartz and the Leviathan, saving Twister and the world in the process. However, just before Otto and co. were to jump on Kaiba's helicopter, a stunning development took place with the elder Rocket sibling. Sam 'The Squid' Dullard found out that Reggie was pregnant and in active labor. Otto had no clue this was going on, neither did Twister since he had been out of commission for so long. Lars and Clio were clueless. The only one who had a clue was Sam because he's a genius. Otto turned to Kaiba and the chopper...
"You guys go ahead. I'll call dad and tell him you're on your way to the Shore Shack. Oliver Van Rossum's already there with Trish and Sherry. They know what's going on because Sam texted them," Otto told Kaiba. "As for me...I've got a niece and nephew about to make their debut! We'll catch up as soon as we can!"
"Affirmative, Otto," Kaiba confirmed before turning to Roland and flying off with Yugi and his crew in the helicopter en route to the Shore Shack.
"Let's motor! I SUMMON SHOOTING QUASAR DRAGON!" Otto called out as he drew a card from his deck and placed it on his Duel Disk, releasing the dragon. As soon as everyone climbed aboard, Otto gave the signal - 'Yip, Yip!' - sending his dragon into the skies, just as Dartz's lair came crashing down. "You all know who we're getting, right?" He asked.
Everyone confirmed...Susie Carmichael's mom.
"You and I haven't seen Susie Carmichael in 4 years, Otto-man," Twister pointed out. "Last I heard, she was in med school."
"She graduated last year and she's following in her mom's footsteps," Clio informed the group as they flew to the hospital on Otto's dragon, garnering weird looks from Otto and Reggie. "What? I keep in contact with Tommy Pickles and his crew. You're not the only ones who're connected!"
Ordinarily, Otto would find Clio's snark sexy. But now he had more important things to worry about, like how to get his sister to Susie's mom in time! He had already texted Raymundo and Tito. They along with Noelani were en route, as well as Raoul and Sandy Rodriguez...who are in for a little surprise of their own. Of course, they're not the only ones to answer the call.
Back in Los Angeles...
On the campus of Otto, Twister and Reggie's alma mater, the University of Southern California, we see a group of 6 students. The first 2 both had purple hair, just like Reggie. The male was around 6 feet tall wearing a blue and white T-shirt, red Chuck Taylor sneakers and blue jeans. Next to him was his girlfriend, sporting a Lebron James Cleveland Cavaliers jersey, her hair done up in pig tails, like Marinette from 'Miraculous Ladybug', light blue jeans and purple boots. They are Tommy Pickles and Kimi Finster. Tommy's brother had curly red hair, was wearing a sherpa hat, a yellow shirt, khakis and red/black Jordan sneakers. That's Dylan 'Dil' Pickles. Next to him was Tommy's best friend with spiky red hair, wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers jersey, green shorts and the same red/black Jordans that Dil was wearing. It's Kimi's brother, Chuckie Finster. To round everything out, we have identical twins, both with brown hair, one wearing an orange vest with a gray shirt underneath, the other was wearing all red...including the streak in her hair. Meet identical twins Philip 'Phil' and Lilian 'Lil' Deville. To get you up to speed with this crew since they last met the Rocket gang - Tommy and Kimi as well as Chuckie and Lil had hooked up. Tommy and Kimi were engaged as were Chuckie and Lil. Phil Deville had started dating Susie Carmichael in his 10th grade year, her senior year of high school. Everyone thought they were crazy, but they made it work. Now Phil was on the verge of following in his friends' footsteps.
We see the crew just chilling out in the quad, when all of a sudden, Tommy's phone buzzes.
"Hang on, you guys! Just got a text from Otto!" Tommy told his friends.
"Otto...as in Otto Rocket? The guy who babysat us when we were little?" Lil asked.
"Affirmative. We've kept in close contact with those guys over the years," Tommy began. "I know Kimi and Lil have been going on their girls' nights with Clio and Reggie!"
"Yeah...those two are awesome, Lil!" Kimi told her best friend.
"TOTALLY!"
"Don't keep us in suspense, T! What's Otto have to say?" Dil chimed in.
"I don't think you're gonna believe this, but...Otto's saying that they're taking his Shooting Quasar Dragon to the hospital, something's wrong with Reggie. He's describing it as severe chest pain and she feels like something is punching her. Says they're on their way to see Susie's mom right now," Tommy read, shocking his friends, brother and girlfriend. Kimi then turned to Lil.
"10 bucks says she's expecting and Twister's the father," Chuckie chimed.
"I knew Twister and Reggie were bound to hook up sooner or later!" Lil squealed.
"Well, let's motor!" Tommy beamed as they headed off.
Within the hour, Otto and co. arrived at King Kamehameha Memorial Hospital with Shooting Quasar Dragon landing safely and not in the Los Angeles River.
"Quasar Dragon, RETURN TO MY DECK!" Otto called out as his dragon vanished, retreating back to its card. Otto then pulled Reggie onto his back, channeled Usain Bolt and bolted - no pun intended - through the sliding doors, with the rest of the crew in tow. They were immediately greeted by Dr. Lucy Carmichael and her 21 year old daughter Susie.
"Hey, Otto! How are you?" Dr. Carmichael asked.
"We'll have time for formalities later, Mrs. Carmichael. Something's wrong with my sister!" Otto blurted. Reggie was immediately moved to the emergency department where Susie had an ultrasound machine ready and waiting. With the machine on, Susie applied the cream to Reggie's chest and moved the probe around only to confirm Sam's diagnosis.
"Reggie...you are indeed pregnant," Susie began. "And there's two in there, girl!"
"Two?" Reggie said, surprised. She was still so skinny, no possible way she was carrying twins! If she was, she must've been no more than 8 weeks along! However, the results show differently. Turns out, Reggie is full term - 38 weeks - fully effaced and 3 centimeters dilated. Reggie still thinks it's impossible that she could be pregnant, especially since the only one she's 'done the deed' with is...TWISTER!
Everyone was now in a standstill as Tommy and co. ran in.
"I knew it," Otto said, slapping Twister upside the head.
"Everyone owes me 10 bucks each!" Chuckie celebrated, much to the dismay of his friends and girlfriend...also to the shock of Reggie and Twister.
"You bet on me and Twister?" Reggie asked, shocked.
"We did," Chuckie remorsefully confirmed.
"Somehow we knew you two were bound to hook up eventually...especially to the ire of Otto," Kimi added. "Trust me, I went through the same thing when Tommy and I hooked up, but Chuckie got over it since who else would you trust with your sister than your own best friend?"
That's when it hit Otto. He and Twister have been best bros forever. He knew that Twister would never take advantage of his sister and would always be there for her. Instantly, he forgave Twister for keeping his relationship with Reggie a secret, but understood why they did it.
"Twist...all is forgiven. Next time, just don't go through all that trouble, okay?"
"You got it, Otto-man!"
"For real, you and Reg had me worried sick!"
Twister just laughed. "Hey, Otto-man. It's cool. I'm just glad to be back! I'm back and I'm here to stay!"
That's when Twister's mom and dad rushed in. They couldn't believe their eyes...their youngest son had returned!
"MIJO!" They both said, running to hug Twister.
"You're back!" Sandy gushed.
"But...but how? We all thought you were killed!" Raoul added.
"We can explain that," A blonde female said. It was Andrea of Quadruple Image, with her siblings in tow. Twister was shocked at their presence, but he was glad they were here to clear things up. "You see, during filming of our documentary, there was a truck coming his way. We didn't see it, but Twister did. The truck was driven by Trent, who Reggie dueled after us. It was also out of control and possessed by some evil force, which is why Twister couldn't get out of the way in time. When the truck hit Twister, sure he was injured, but he wasn't killed. The news made it look that way. He just lost his soul to that evil force," Ashton explained as he looked to Otto, Clio, Sam, Reggie and Lars. "...and we have you to thank for saving him and defeating that Dartz character at his own game."
"And if it's not too much trouble, once all this is over...we'd like a fair rematch," Aiden said.
"4 on 4 sound good to you guys? Me, Rocket Girl, Twist and Clio vs. the 4 of you?" Otto asked.
"Sounds doable," Audra confirmed as she realized who she was talking to. "So you're Otto...we've heard a lot about you from Twister."
Otto thanked Audra and credited Twister. It was thanks in part to Twister that Otto's had so much success.
"What has Clio done to you Otto-man?"
"She's made me mature, Twist. Gotta live with it, dude!" Otto chuckled.
"So what's goin' on with Reggie, Otto?" Ashton asked.
"We thought it was just chest pain...turns out Reg is pregnant and she didn't even know it until now. Oh...and Twister's the father. We knew we were fighting to save Twister since day 1, but we weren't expecting this!" Otto explained.
Everyone congratulated Twister and Reggie on their new arrivals, with Audra telling Otto that sometimes there are things we don't expect and that one day he might be in this exact situation with Clio...minus battling a corrupt Atlantean king.
Reggie was admitted at 2 PM. It was now 9 PM. She has been in labor for 7 hours. She is stuck at 4 centimeters dilated and still fully effaced. Everyone was watching 'Star vs. The Forces of Evil', Otto, Reggie and Clio's new favorite cartoon. Yes, Otto's a college graduate and he's still a cartoon freak...he even lets Reggie sing the theme songs to 'Phineas and Ferb' and 'Star vs. The Forces of Evil'! Why he did this, we'll never know. Every now and then, Reggie would feel a slight pain in her chest as another contraction came and went. By 11 PM, when Sam flipped to Rocket Girl's childhood favorite show, 'Lingo', Chuckie would check in on her. He found that she had progressed to 6 centimeters dilated, but it would still be about 12 hours or so until full dilation at her current rate.
"I hate smart Chuckie," Tommy and Kimi said.
"Come on, Chuck! Lingo's on! This is Rocket Girl's favorite game show!" Twister called out as Chuckie sat with them.
"I'm sure you know the rules, Chuckie," Otto said.
Chuckie nodded as he recited the rules. "The team in control gets up to 5 chances to guess a mystery word. We start with the first letter of the word. Players take turns making guesses and the board will indicate whether a letter is correct and if it's in the right place. Correct answers are worth 25 points. But if at any time you give a word that doesn't fit, isn't a real word or you take too long, control passes to the next team and they have a chance to get those points. The team with the correct guess then gets to draw 2 Lingo balls with numbers corresponding to their own Lingo board. All they have to do is complete a row of numbers either 5 across, up and down or diagonally. Lingos are worth 50 points and a free letter during Bonus Lingo."
As per when they would watch 'Lingo' at home, it was Twister and Chuckie that would get every single word, prompting Kimi to use her catchphrase once again.
"I hate smart Chuckie."
Of course, this had to be the episode where the red team of Terrance and Tate kept pulling red ball after red ball after red ball after red ball. Usually, whenever a team pulled a red ball on 'Lingo', Rocket Girl would laugh up a storm, just because of the sound effect that was triggered whenever someone hit a red ball. Now, whenever she tried to laugh, a contraction would get in the way and ruin things for her.
After an hour of 'Lingo', midnight came, kicking December 17th to the curb and bringing on December 18th. Reggie's still full term at 38 weeks and 1 day pregnant, but she's at 6 centimeters dilated and holding. Progress is worryingly slow. Reggie is still holding at 6 centimeters dilated by 7 AM - 16 hours after her contractions began. By now, everyone is just waking up.
"Hey, Reg. How you feelin', babe?"
"It still hurts, Twist," Reggie told her boyfriend. "I've been through the toughest surf, big skate ramps and the tallest slopes. This is much worse than that."
Reggie then looked to her right and parked next to her...was Otto's childhood teddy bear - Mr. Timothy Tidwell. "You still have this old thing, Otto?" she asked her brother.
"I do, Reg. I had mom fix it up and I'm intending to pass it on to my niece and nephew. I don't need it anymore," Otto told his sister. "I'm all grown up, Rocket Girl. I have someone who cuddles back now...I have Clio."
Otto giving up his childhood teddy bear? SHOCKER! Just imagine what's going on in Reggie's mind as she prepares to give birth! I bet she has plenty of someones to thank for reuniting her with Twister!
We are now inside Reggie's mindscape where we see Rocket Girl wandering around a thick cloud of smoke.
"Where the juice am I?" Reggie asked herself.
"You're in your mind, my queen bee," a sweet voice told her.
"Who said that?"
That voice belonged to none other than her birth mother - Danielle.
"Come on, Reggie...you really don't recognize your own mom?"
"MOM?!"
"There you go, my queen bee! Now come over here and give me a hug, Rocket Girl!"
Without hesitation, Reggie ran to her birth mother and gave her a hug. "Even though this is just in my mind...I'm so glad to see you, mom!"
"You too, Rocket Girl." Danielle told her daughter. "I was watching your duel, Reggie. You were very brave to stand up to Dartz."
"I had to be. Dartz had a monster with infinite attack points. We had to take that monster down in order to bring Twister back," Reggie told her mom.
Danielle smiled. "Well, you did your part. You saved Twister and the world from utter destruction. I'm not the only one in here, ya know. I have special guests with me."
Almost instantly, the Knights of Atlantis - Timaeus, Critias and Hermos appeared...and so did Dartz.
"Timaeus? Critias? Hermos?" Reggie gasped as the Knights appeared. Then Dartz just had to show up, prompting Reggie to activate her Duel Disk. "DARTZ!"
"At ease, Regina. I come in peace," Dartz assured Reggie. "Your mom called me and the Legendary Knights over so we could give our congratulations to you and Twister...and for me to apologize for my crass actions towards you and your friends," Dartz explained himself. "You and your brother were right. The Orichalcos had corrupted my mind and lied to me for 10 millennia. I played off your grief about losing Twister and used that to my advantage until your brother saved you. You should feel lucky to have a brother who'd risk his life for you...and a mom who's just as fearless."
Reggie was surprised. "Well...thank you, Dartz. And thank you, Knights of Atlantis. Without you, Twister would still be trapped in the Leviathan," she told the Knights.
"All in a day's work, madame," Critias said.
"'Twas the least we could do, milady," Hermos added.
"Will Otto and I ever see you guys again?" Reggie asked.
"If you ever need us again, we'll be right in your dueling decks," Timaeus finished, touching Reggie's Duel Disk.
"Thank you, Sir Timaeus."
"Now, your family and friends await...it's time for you to return home, milady."
"Fare thee well, dear Regina," Dartz said.
"Mom...I miss you every day and I'll always love you," Reggie cried as she hugged her mom one more time before returning from the mindscape.
"I love you too, my queen bee. Now go...everyone's waiting."
Reggie has returned from her mind, still at the hospital in the care of her friends, family and Dr. Carmichael. While she was in the mindscape, Reggie had dilated to 8 centimeters, still 2 away from being fully dilated and ready to give birth. She has been in labor for 22 hours now and had since been changed into her orange and green two-piece bikini and submerged into a pool with Twister by her side. Fatigue is now starting to set in. Much longer and an emergency c-section will be the only option.
Twister is still on edge. He thought for sure that Otto would lash out at him for getting Reggie pregnant.
"Really, Otto? No lash-out at Twister?" Noelani asked.
"What's gotten into you?" Chuckie added.
"Guys, saving the world with Yugi, Joey and Kaiba along with everything that's happened these past few months has taught me to never take anything for granted and never hold grudges, especially when it's your best friend...because you never know if the next time you see him might be the last time," Otto explained.
Everyone, including Reggie, commended Otto for being mature. Saving the world is a tough job to do and it takes maturity to do it...and Otto demonstrated that in the battle against Dartz and the Leviathan.
9:06 PM - Reggie has now been in labor for 29 hours and counting, when...everything changes! Her cervix is now fully dilated and she is ready to push! In Otto's mind...it just had to happen during 'Star vs. The Forces of Evil'! But who is he kidding? This is his sister we're talking about here!
(Twister's POV)
Looks like today's the day our twins enter the world. It's shaping up to be a very Merry Christmas after all. I hold Reggie's hand and kiss her hard on the lips to try and comfort her through this time of trial. Her contractions are becoming more frequent and more violent. It took only 3 pushes for the head of our baby boy to come out and 4 more for the rest of him to slip through. I reach into the pool and catch our baby boy as he comes out.
"Twist, he's so cute!" Reggie gushes.
I already know what Reggie wants to name our little boy...Jeremy Alexander Rodriguez (Note: Named for 'Rocket Power' guest star Jeremy Roenick and MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez). Now comes our girl. She had my red hair and Rocket Girl's blue eyes. She was beautiful, just like my Rocket Girl. Reggie gave me the honor of naming her. Her name...Danielle Kaitlyn Rodriguez. Our twins were here at last and they were perfect, just like my Reggie! Now there's but one thing left to do. I flashed a thumbs-up at Sam, who then tossed me the ring I was saving...just for Reggie. I then got down on one knee and popped the question.
"Regina Danielle Rocket, ever since we were 5 years old, I've thought of you as the sister I always wanted. You saved me from drowning in the channel, you fought off the forces of evil just to save me! Heck, you even dueled alongside Yugi Moto and Seto Kaiba! If that's not dedication, I don't know what is! All I'm trying to say is...Regina Danielle Rocket, will you make me the luckiest man on the face of the Earth and do me the honor of being my bride?"
(Reggie's POV)
I can't believe it! Twister proposed to me! Only one thing for me to do...
"YES! YES, TWISTER RODRIGUEZ! I WILL MARRY YOU!"
...I said yes! Afterwards, I immediately kissed him and promised to never let him go again! This is just like Cory and Topanga's proposal scene in 'Boy Meets World'...only without this whole setup, the evil king of Atlantis, the King of Games...now I'm just rambling on.
9 long, tumultuous months have led to not only Twister's homecoming, battling an evil force and dueling alongside the King of Games himself, but also this...welcoming our twins into the world. 9 months ago, I didn't think this would be possible. Now, here I am, breastfeeding 2 newborn babies with my hunky fiancee Twister by my side.
"You still think I'm hot?" I ask Twister.
"You'll always be hot, Rocket Girl," he tells me.
That's all I ever needed to hear. That's my Twister. This truly is...a Merry Christmas.
(Otto's POV)
My niece and nephew are here and they're as cool as my sister! Perhaps I can mold one of them to be my successor...strike that, I'll save that for when Clio and I have kids. I just texted Yugi and co. photos of the new arrivals and Tea texted back to tell Reggie that Jeremy and Danielle are adorable! Thanks, Tea! Two problems:
1. How am I gonna pop the question to Clio? I don't even have a ring to give her! Or do I?
2. How are we gonna get a wedding set up for Twister and Reggie?
Yeah, you have two big problems on your hands, Otto. How're you gonna solve them? We'll just have to find out in the epilogue! STAY TUNED!