Wow, took me long enough. Sorry for taking such a while. Just so you know, my term is almost up so I may be around more. No guarantee on that. I've been suffering from "I'm too damn lazy to type stuff out," syndrome. lol

This chapter just shows everyone at Spray Beach, and what Lars is up to. There's also some Trent/Reggie/Twister stuff. Hope you enjoy it.

That aside, thanks to Scott, we now know the official name of Reggie and Otto's mother. It's Danielle. Now why couldn't they have given that information, say, two years ago? Oh well, too late to change Olivia to Danielle now. I know, for this fic, let's say that her name was Danielle Olivia Rocket, but she went by Olivia more than Danielle. Whee, gotta love my attempt at trying to get things into continuity.

You know, that scenario is just as screwed as Takeshi (Brock) from Pokémon. All these years, we thought that his mother was dead (which is how I wrote my fics, which is why he had to take care of all of his sibs and take the role of parent since his father wasn't around either), but in the Takeshi special (has this ever been dubbed over into English? I've only seen a raw Japanese version of it), we see that his mom comes home and is really into Water-type Pokémon, flighty, and a bit air-headed. I guess we can blame the dub English version because I got the impression she was dead from the dub of the show.

Sorry for rambling. Anyway, if you guys have any questions about anything dealing with this fic so far, or of my planned sequels, just ask them in reviews, and I'll answer them in the last chapter of this story. It'll be totally awesome, and fun, especially with what I have planned. The characters will be answering the questions. lol

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Rocket Power. Klasky-Csupo has that honor.

Chapter 24: "Let the competition commence!" Lars' Selfless Ulterior Motive…

It was growing closer and closer to the competition's start! Everyone was waiting around anxiously.

During this time, Reggie was getting her notes together so that she could question some of the onlookers and the contestants, of course. Along with her was a jumpy, yet anxious, Twister. He was fiddling with his camera while Reggie seemed to be writing something down in her small notebook. It was still going to be a while before the teams were all gathered. The representatives from San Clemente hadn't even arrived yet.

Because of this, Clio, Sherry, and Sam went to where all of the spectators were to watch the event. They didn't have the permission to stay behind with Reggie and Twister. When the event officially begins, then Reggie would join them….Twister, maybe temporarily so he could get footage of the surfers.

"Are you ready, Twist?" Reggie asked dully as she stuck her pen behind her right ear.

He looked up startled. "Yeah, yeah, sure, right!" He gave an unconvincing grin.

"Is something wrong?" She looked over at Twister, but tried her best not to stare directly at him.

"Well, um, not really...could be. Sort of?"

A perplexed expression made its way to Reggie's face . "That didn't make sense."

Twister sighed heavily and stared up towards the sky before answering. "It's my brother."

"What about him?"

He looked back down towards the girl, but soon avoided staring at her since he did feel a bit awkward around her since he had such 'non-platonic' thoughts about her. "I have this feeling he's going to try something."

Reggie shook her head, her thick wavy hair swishing. "Your bro may be a lame-o at times, but even he wouldn't mess up his own competition."

"But he picked up a big box at school and some other things before he came here! Who knows what he's capable of or what he's planning!"

"I bet it's nothing."

"Yeah, right," he murmured as he went back to his camera.

The girl couldn't believe that Twister had such little faith in his brother. She had faith in him, and believed that Lars wouldn't do anything too stupid. Not for an event as important as this, anyway.

"Okay, let's get these interviews started. We'll talk to the onlookers later. For now, preliminary interviews with the contestants!"

"Okay, Reg." The boy put the camera to his eye and gave the girl a thumbs-up. "I'm ready, Rocket Girl!"

The two did just that...

While that was being done, more and more Ocean Shores inhabitants were arriving to view the competition. Most of them didn't seem very happy. The news about Otto not surfing had definitely gotten around.

Sam, Clio, and Sherry overheard lots of upset fans. The three were also curious how so many people had found out about it. Sure sone may have found out at the Shore Shack, but they couldn't have all been there.

"I hope a riot doesn't break out," Sam told Clio and Sherry, a bit worried. Even he didn't realize how popular Otto was or how much of a fan-favorite he was.

"I hope not either. That's the last thing Otto needs. I bet that principal of yours would pin that on him too."

"Healey can't be that heartless," Sherry protested. "I hope..."
x x x x
Over by the contestant stands, a bit farther down, under the pier, stood Lars along with his goons Pi, Sputz, and the always out of it Animal. With him, he had the big, cardboard box he had picked up from school along with the other things he'd picked up along the way.

"Dude, that's weak!" Pi told Lars. "When you mentioned this last night to us and those other kids, I just knew you weren't being serious!"

"Bleahamadsiadd that's lame," Sputz sputtered incoherently.

Animal nodded silently in agreement, trying his best not to topple over. Lars just shook his head in slight disgust. 'That bastard is either high, or drunk off his ass again.' He ignored it, and got back to defending himself.

"You think I want to do this?" Lars asked the three earnestly. "I could care less about what happened, but I don't want to be hated so we are going to do this whether you want to or not!"

Pi crossed his arms, and sneered at Lars, as if testing him. "Why should we listen to you?!"

Lars grit his teeth, and bawled up his right fist, waving it threateningly while stepping up to the husky, chunky Pi who was much bigger than he. "Because I'll whomp you beyond belief if you don't!" He picked up the cardboard box, and handed it to Animal. "Now you three do what I told you! The group I mentioned is the one right in the front, so everything in here, you give to them. You don't have to participate, just give them the stuff."

"Hey, we didn't agree t-"

"DO IT!" Lars yelled before Pi could finish. 'Man, I hope that dork actually shows up.'

The chubby boy sighed. There was just no way to not do as Lars said. It was like he had some kind of control over him, Sputz, and Animal. Whatever Lars said, went, regardless of what he and the other two thought...
x x x x
Reggie and Twister had finally come to the Ocean Shores contestants. San Clemente showed up a short while after they had first started conducting interviews, and had just finished with them, before coming to the Ocean Shores section. Lars wasn't around currently. Only Trent and Trish were there.

"Hey girlfriend!" Trish greeted, giving the taller girl a high-five.

"Hey guys," Reggie greeted back.

"Hello Reggie," Trent glared slightly at the tall redhead behind Reggie, "Twister."

Twister didn't even notice Trent's unintentional glare, and gave out a simple, "Yo," to the both of them.

"Where's Coach Fletcher?"

"I think he went to talk something over with Healey," Trish answered. "He's up in the stands with the other guests."

"Alright, I'll catch him later," she answered quickly, turning to her tall companion. "Okay Twist, we don't have much time left. Just get the tape rolling while I interview."

He nodded as he started filming. After all of the questions were asked, Twister asked one of his own, "Where's my brother?"

"Who knows, but he'll be here in time," Trish insisted. "He's pretty cool in that way."

"And a jerk in every other?"

"Twister!" Reggie shouted at the boy.

"What? He is."

She decided not to say anything more on that subject and turned her attention back to the two out of the three Ocean Shores representatives.

"I wouldn't worry about your brother, mate," Trent managed to say in a friendly manner, "although, he was a bit peculiar yesterday at our emergency meet. He left it so abruptly and kept saying he had something to do."

"See, Reg! He is up to something!"

"Whatever. I doubt Lars would sabotage his own competition, Twist! Your brother may be a jerk sometimes, but he isn't stupid!"

"I don't think he would either," Trent agreed whole-heartedly. He then smiled handsomely at Reggie as he placed a hand on her round shoulder and stared into her big, dark mystifying eyes. "You speak such wise words." He winked at her. "Now, just for you, I will win this competition, and then afterwards, we could maybe celebrate it. Just the two of us."

'Whoa, he's trying his luck out again!' Trish thought as she stared.

Reggie smiled wryly and gave off a flustered titter. "That would be really n-nice of you, Trent."

Twister stared as something started to well up inside him...that same feeling that seemed to pop up when his brother called Reggie over to talk, but he got over that pretty fast when finding out what the conversation was about. Either way, it was definitely jealousy. He didn't like Trent close to Reggie. As a matter of fact, he never really did because it caused Reg to go into "Regina" mode. He hated it when Reggie went into "Regina" mode. It didn't seem natural and obviously fake. He didn't mind if she did go into that mode, but because she casually chose to, not because some guy would grin at her. Before he realized what he was doing, he stepped up beside the two, grabbed Trent's hand, and pushed it off of Reggie's shoulder.

Before anyone could question the boy's sudden action, he spoke up first. "Dude, sorry about that." He turned to Reggie. "Hey, Rocket Girl, we have to get back to the VIP section so you can interview all the pro surfers, and we have to get back in time to watch the actual competition." Twister stared over at Trent, a satisfied smile planted onto the redhead's face. 'Top that Mr. New Zealand! Wait…why did I do that?'

"Oh yeah, he's right! We can't spend too much time here. We better get going. Good luck to both of you, and tell Lars good luck for me too and that we'll get an interview with him after the competition. I haven't seen him all morning."

Trent and Trish nodded and waved to her. Trent forced on a smile as well. 'Darn that Rodriguez brother! He did that on purpose!'

"Yo, Trent, what's wrong?"

"Nothing Trish." He stared after Twister and Reggie. "Nothing at all," he uttered softly.

'Hmm,' the girl speculated as she looked after Twister, 'I wonder...'

The teams were starting to be recognized. The teams consisted of those from Seal Beach, Santa Monica, San Clemente, Ocean Bluffs, Huntington Beach, Newport Harbor, and, of course, Ocean Shores.

Right now, the judges were calling all of the contestants down to the beach, but there seemed to be quite a bit of commotion from the onlookers.

"I wonder what's going on," Twister said as he and Reggie took their places by Sam and the others.

"I-I think some of the people here are a bit upset over Otto's not surfing today," Sam answered hesitantly.

"Yeah, Otto is, like, one of the best surfers here in Ocean Shores for a kid his age. It totally sucks that he won't be able to participate," Sherry added.

"Hey, what's Lars' friends doing over there with that big group?" Clio asked. She noticed Pi, Sputz, and Animal over with a small crowd.

"Hey, that looks like the box my brother had that Animal is carrying!" Twister aimed his camera towards them and zoomed the lens. He was very curious as to what was in the box.

"Maybe we should, like, go check it out?"

"No way, I'm more interested in the surf competition," Reggie nonchalantly answered the blonde gossip queen. "Twister, stop looking over there and keep it on the water!"

"Aww man," the boy groaned, pointing his lens towards the water, getting a good look at all of the anxious competitors.

About a minute later, a few more people were headed towards the beach. It was Mr. & Mrs. Rodriguez, along with Paula, Tito, and Ray. They all met up with one another. Sam was the first to notice them. "Mom!" The others turned to see the adults walking down the beach towards them.

"Hi," all of the kids greeted.

"Hello kids," Ray greeted while trying to remain optimistic. He wasn't going to let Otto's bad attitude ruin his enjoyment of a good surf contest, even though he was feeling rather rotten and depressed.

Twister told his parents "hi" quickly and went back to his filming. Right at that moment, the judges once again announced, "Last call for all contestants! Please join your groups." Lars was still no place to be found. He wasn't ready to join Trish and Trent just yet.

Mrs. Rodriguez was about to ask Twister something - mainly as to where Roderick was - when it happened. Sounds of protests were coming from the large group that the others had noticed earlier a while before the adults showed up.

The group consisted of devoted Otto fans, pretty much, and in the cardboard box, were signs and such, which read "Let Rocket Surf," and "Healey is a Bully," and other stuff such as that. The group continued to chant that Healey was a tyrant and how Otto deserved to surf and represent Ocean Shores.

Twister couldn't believe what he was seeing as he filmed everything. So this is why his brother came home so late the previous night. He was getting together protesters to speak up on Otto's behalf, and made the signs of protest and stored them someplace in their school, but this was Lars. Why would he do that?

The group marched down the beach, waving their signs. "Let Otto Surf! Let Otto Surf!" they kept chanting. The guests looked perplexed as they started to murmur amongst themselves.

Officer Shirley, and a few select officers chosen to watch over the even this day, went to the group to try and break them up.
x x x x
Meanwhile...

"C'mon man, don't just stand there, let's get going!"

"I-I'm not sure if I can," the person answered hastily. He was quite nervous.

His friend grabbed his arm. "If you don't go on your own, I'll have to pull you along!" A look of determination was etched to the young, tan boy's face.

"But-"

"You're not chicken, are you?"

The boy pulled his arm away and frowned. "I AM NOT A CHICKEN! I'M NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING!"

"Then let's go!"

"Okay, okay, let's go."

They made their way towards Spray Beach, but noticed that there was a lot of commotion going on. The two saw all of the signs and what was written on them. He just couldn't believe his eyes...
x x x

Author's Note

So, you all now know what was in the box Lars had. Protest signs. Lars wanted to surf in Otto's place, but not on those particular grounds. It's just like the episode, Bruised Man's Curve. Remember when Otto said he wasn't going to go down the mountain, and how Lars told him how he didn't want to win that way? This is pretty much done in the same fashion. Well, that's what I was aiming for, anyway.

Hope I did a semi decent job of executing that in a believable fashion. I'll get into more detail later, since I plan on having Reggie confront Lars over it.

*Notices the time*

Okay, I was so busy proofing this, I just missed Rocket Power. Oh well, there's always the evening showing of it.

See you later guys, and thanks for reading thus far.