I'm sorry this took so long to post, but I needed to take a break and read stuff. Anyways, welcome to Chapter Fourteen! While last chapter focused on a social gathering Joshua went to and a sleepover at the Kirigayas, this one will bring the spotlight back to a character I haven't written about in a while: Nikki Becker. This chapter's gonna be pretty short, since I'm not sure what would have happened for Nikki, but she isn't getting forgotten, damn it. Also, the parents' names get revealed in this chapter.

Becker Residence, Florida

United States, Real World

June 29, 2022

Nikki Becker

Unlike her brother, waking up early was Nikki's strong suit. It was when she woke up as early as seven A.M., when the sun was rising, that she was at her peak. However, thanks to helping her father out with some important housework, she was more exhausted than usual, and when she tried to get up, she fell back onto her bed and passed out, her hair spread all over the bed.

It was quite an interesting sight for her parents to see when they decided to wake her up.

"Um, Nikki?"

"It's time to get up."

"Five more minutes..."

"Henry, what did you make her do?"

"I didn't make her do anything, Vanessa, and it wasn't something big."

"Ugh. She needs to get up, it's almost ten."

"Don't you think I know that?"

"You know what? I'll find a way."

A minute later, Nikki's mother, Vanessa, returned, a foghorn in her hands.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this, but you leave me no choice, young woman." she said, raising the horn and blowing it.

"Agh! I'm awake, I'm awake!" the girl practically jumped out of her bed, the blankets being thrown around the floor. "Was that really necessary?!"

"It was. You weren't getting up."

"You two could justify anything, couldn't you?"

"Not anything, but that foghorn was a necessity."

"You know, you could have found another way to get me up."

Nikki was now preparing breakfast for her parents, and while she did so, they talked about random topics, with one being the method behind Nikki's wake up.

"We were kind of scared to touch you." Henry admitted. "Although that foghorn was a bit overkill."

"Okay, since when did I ever mind being touched by my family?" the girl asked. "Seriously, when?"

"Um, I dunno."

"See? I'm fine with it."

With a subtle flick of the wrist, the girl flipped the pancake she was cooking with ease, landing it perfectly in the pan.

"Have you heard from your brother anytime recently?" Vanessa asked.

"Yeah. He was having a sleepover with friends yesterday. It rained like crazy over there."

"It did?"

"He said that it was like Florida in that storm."

"Wow. It must have been big." the older woman commented.

Nikki didn't say anything elseas she put the last pancake on a plate and added the usual syrup and butter, handing it out to her father.

"Thank you." he said.

"You're welcome."

After taking a bite, he commented on her cooking.

"Wow, Nikki, this isn't that bad."

"Not that bad?! How could you say that, it sounds like you thought my cooking sucked?!"

"You know he didn't think it was bad." her mother said.

"I'm sorry, but that's what it sounded like."

After doing her other chores, the girl was beat. Deciding to take nap in the game room, she ended up realizing that she was picking up a lot of her absent brother's habits. As if fate wanted to constrict her to the couch, Griffin the cat hopped onto the couch, laying on his owner's sister and passing out.

"Wow, it seems like everyone's a bit sleepy this time around." Nikki commented, yawning. "Hey, Grif?"

The orange cat meowed at her.

"Do you think I should call Ian?"

The cat rubbed his head on the girl's chest as if he was nodding.

"Oh, okay." Reaching into her pocket, she found her phone and dialed Ian's number. After a moment, the boy answered, fatigued, but awake.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ian."

"Nikki? It's two in the morning over here." the boy yawned.

"I'm sorry. I'm just not used to the whole time thing."

"It's okay. It's kinda hard to get used to it, but I think I managed it."

"Really? Anyways, how was your sleepover?" the girl asked.

"It went fine. Sophia may have gone over the edge with some of the activities, but it was fun."

"What about your gamer buddy?"

"Jaymes? He made it through his family stuff in one piece."

"Is it that bad for him?" Nikki asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"I dunno." Ian shifted around in his bed and continued. "How are you doing?"

"I got foghorned awake by Mom."

"Sorry to hear that."

"I'm a tough girl, so I'm fine."

"Yeah? Do you know how many times I've been foghorned?"

"Um, I don't know."

"A lot. Trust me."

"So, how's your new friend thing going?"

"Surprisingly well. I mean, we're not sharing close secrets or anything, but we're confiding in each other. Also, the boys call Sophia their drill sergeant."

Nikki burst out laughing, clutching her sides as the laughter rolled out.

"That's too funny!" the girl kept laughing.

"Wow, you took that way more humorously than it was." Ian dully commented. "Anyways, I've got to go. It's almost two thirty, you know."

"Okay, bye."

"Goodbye."

Hanging up, Nikki looked at Griffin and stretched out.

"Well, time to take that nap, now."

Setting the phone beside her, the girl relaxed and in a few moments, passed out.

An hour later, the girl woke up, somewhat refreshed, but still held down by a fat orange cat.

"Grif, you're keeping me prisoner here..." the girl said, trying to push the cat off of her.

The feline meowed, looking at his human pillow with a pleading look.

"I'm sorry, but I have to get up, so could you please get off of me?"

The cat finally stood up and hopped off of Nikki, who exhaled in relief and followed suit.

"Thank you."

Another meow.

"Gosh, he even says 'you're welcome.'" she noted, facepalming.

Griffin meowed yet again.

"That cat has a response to everything, it seems."

Outside, Nikki was running laps around the expansive stretch of land, mentally counting the seconds in her head as she jogged along. This was pretty routine for the brunette, as she was a very active girl, so even in the heat of the summer, she ran her laps and did her exercises.

"Fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight..." she counted off, rounding off the corner of the house and returning to the starting point to mark that lap.

The laps around the house was the first part of her daily routine, with some other conventional exercises following it, including push ups, planks, arm-related exercises, and more. Like her brother, she also liked to practice swordfighting with sturdy sticks, but her swings had some more weight and power in them, thanks to the routine she had.

Circling around the house again, Nikki marked another lap, only for Vanessa to call her to the house.

"Damn it." Nikki panted, allowing herself to catch her breath before she went to her mother. "Coming!"

Nikki sat in the living room with her parents, talking to Ian through a laptop. It was a wonder that technology could allow people to contact their friends or family in real time like it could.

"So... it's still raining?" the girl asked.

"You betcha! It's like Florida here!"

"Wow. That's weird. Were you ever able to go back to Al's place?" Henry asked.

"That's where I am. The storm cleared up enough for me to return home, but it started raining again in the middle of it all."

"Why does the summer always have so much rain?" Vanessa asked.

"I dunno." Ian replied, shrugging. "How are y'all holding up without me?"

"We're not missing you too much." Henry told him. "You're not here to foghorn awake anymore."

"Dad! Those weren't pleasant experiences!"

"Yeah, we don't enjoy getting foghorned, Dad!"

"You left us no choice. We were not in the mood to wait until 2:00 P.M. for you to wake up."

"Who are you and what did you do with my sister?" Ian asked jokingly.

"I'm still here, dummy." Nikki simply said, brushing a few dark brown locks out of her face.

"But you had to be gotten up!"

"I've been picking up your habits and stuff since you've been gone."

"Oh. Anyways, are y'all still up for talking?"

One hour later...

The Becker family, save for Allan, ended up spending an hour talking about random things and how Ian's time in the land of the rising sun was going. However, with the time zone difference, it was very late for Ian and he had to get off so he could go to sleep.

Now alone again, Nikki and her parents found themselves in the living room, waiting for someone to say something, but nobody had anything to say. After a few minutes, the girl stood up and exhaled.

"I'll go check on the cat." she said, heading up the stairs to do just that. "Also, is it okay if I play on the Xbox?"

"Yes, you may play." Vanessa replied.

"Thank you!"

Heading up the stairs, Nikki found the cat in the game room, sleeping in the main chair.

"Of course." she facepalmed, watching the fat orange cat sleep away. "There are several places for you to lay your fat butt on, and you choose to sleep in the chair I'm about to use."

Nikki picked the cat up against his wishes, setting him on the couch as she sat down in the game chair and turned the Xbox and the 22" TV on.

"Alright, what to do, what to do, what to do..." the girl mumbled, trying to figure out what she should do on the console. After a minute of thought, she decided on playing Destiny. Logging in, Nikki could only wonder what was waiting for her in the game.

One and a half hours later...

Nikki was done with Destiny 2's crap. Facing obnoxious low-skill weapon abusers, idiots, and the occasional cheater for the last hour and a half, the normally cool-tempered girl was now "tilted" to hell and back, unable to play in the condition her mind was in.

"Why, after all those stupid hotfixes and patches, was that such a terrible experience?!" she yelled, snatching the headset off of her head and slamming it into her lap. "How is this a perfect game, Allan?!"

Fuming, the girl angrily logged off and was about to turn her console off when she stopped herself. Her brother never let himself get this angry, so why did she get so pissed?

Slowly letting herself calm down, Nikki logged onto Halo, the ultimate tilt-reversing game for the Becker twins. Why? Its simple, yet complex mechanics, fun weapons, and great A.I. make it a good game for casual, tilt-free fun.

"Alright, if this doesn't work, then I'm getting off early." she said, loading into a Firefight match.

Later in the day...

The remaining time that Nikki had went to Halo. Having calmed down completely, she had fun, and even with the overpowered Battle Rifle of Halo 3, the PvP she played was still fun. After eating dinner, the girl was now laying on her bed, tired as a dog and under her covers.

Yawning loudly, she looked at the family photo on her wooden bedside table, smiling. Standing in a hospital room on the sides of the photo were Henry and Vanessa Becker, newborn children in their arms. A much younger Allan stood in the middle, beaming at the camera while his parents did the same. If she remembered correctly, her father was holding her and her mother was holding Ian.

"Well, we've come a long way, guys." Nikki said, as though she was talking to her younger parents and brother through the photo. After a few minutes of reminiscing, the girl pryed her eyes off of the photo and laid on her side, pulling the blanket over her shoulders and passing out.

Okay, this chapter may have not worked to well, I admit, but I didn't want to forget about Nikki, since she's still going to be an important character after Origin Story ends. Anyways, I'll be posting this along with a new story set in the Red vs Blue/Halo universe called "Red vs Blue: Redemption." Like I said in the prologue for RvB: Redemption, if you like it, I'll continue it, and if you don't, I'll cancel it. Anyways, see you at Chapter Fifteen!