I don't own Rocket Power...

Ever since the recent visit of Ramon, Lars was totally out of it. It just seemed like he was always in a daze, thinking back to bad memories. Whenever his uncle would come by for dinner, Lars made up an excuse to leave the house and wouldn't even come back until late at night. He didn't have to tell his parents anything. He didn't have to tell Twister anything. What happened, no one was going to know about...because he promised his uncle not to tell anyone. Plus, he wanted to do forget, which he did until this man came back into his life randomly. While getting pizza with his friends, Pi, Sputz and Animal, Lars sat there, playing with his pizza crust, while thinking about another bad time.

Flashback

It was a beautiful day, and Lars and Twister got to play outside. The boys were 5 and 3-years-old at the time. They were playing near the kiddy pool that their aunt and uncle set up for them. Just then, Ramon called Lars to the garage.

"Go see what your uncle wants, mi amor." His aunt, Letti said.

Lars got out of the pool and ran inside the house to see what his uncle wanted.

"Tio? Tio?" he called from inside the house.

"In here, Lars. Ven aquí." Ramon called from the living room.

Lars walked inside, and his uncle patted the seat on the sofa next to him. Lars sat next to his uncle, obeying him. Ramon looked at the small boy and said, "Lars, what I am about to show you is what you need to know when you get older...you know...when the time comes, and you get a girlfriend."

The small child was confused. Ramon could see it.

"But you need to tell me you cannot tell anyone. Promise me you cannot tell." Ramon said.

Being a little kid and trusting of his uncle, Lars nodded his head. He didn't tell anyone.

Flashback Ends

"Lars...Lars...hey, Lars?!" Pi called out making Lars snap out of it.

"What...huh..." Lars shook his head.

"Did you catch on to that joke?" Pi asked.

"Oh...yeah...funny shit, man." Lars chuckled nervously.

Pi, Sputz, and Animal exchanged glances. Lars was acting off.

"You okay, bro?" Animal asked.

"Yeah...it's just my loser uncle came back into the picture, and my parents are mad that I'm mad but what can you do?" Lars answered.

Okay, so he lied. But he couldn't let his friends know what happened or else they'd rip on him.

"Bummer. Hey, you going to eat that?" Pi asked looking at Lars' unfinished Sicilian pizza.

"Take it. It's your's." Lars pushed his pizza towards Pi, who devoured it.

The kids hung out at the Shore Shack. Twister was gloating about his uncle to his friends while Reggie had her mind on her magazine.

"He is going to sponsor us for the charity hockey game and he wants to take me fishing to try and reconnect." Twister said.

"He sounds so cool. You said he owns a motorcycle?" Otto asked.

"Yeah. Lars and I always wanted to ride on it but our parents always said no." Twister chuckled.

"Well I can see why." Sam said. "It wouldn't be wise to take small children on a motorcycle. Maybe he can show you now?"

"Nah. My mom says she would kill me if I ever get on of that thing." Twister said. "Lars keeps leaving the house every time he comes by. I don't know what because when we were little, Lars was practically my uncle's favorite. Always asking him to go into the garage and help him. Sometimes they would be in there for about an hour. I never got to help him fix his bike because he said I was too little."

"Well...looks like your his favorite now." Otto stated. "As well as you should be."

"Ugh! This is annoying!" Reggie screamed as she crumpled up anther piece of paper from her notepad and threw it on the floor of the Shore Shack.

"You okay, Rocket Cuz?" Tito asked seeing all the crumpled up pieces of paper she threw on the floor.

"I'm fine. Just frustrated. The Zine is becoming popular; I need to come up with another story for next month's issue, and it's annoying." Reggie vented.

"Okay, but can you now throw your crumpled up pieces of paper on the floor? Customers are going to see that." Raymundo asked.

"Sorry, Raymundo," Reggie said.

Sam spoke up at that moment, "I got it! Why don't we do some real life issues?"

"Like what?" Reggie asked.

"I don't know...maybe interview an athlete who went through something real like divorce, trauma, eating disorder...something young people can relate to."

Reggie rubbed her temples in frustration.

"Oh my God." Otto cried as he looked down from his phone.

"What is it, Rocket Boy?" Raymundo asked.

"This thing I read on Facebook news. Some guy got arrested for assaulting his nephew and niece that he had custody over. The kids are now in custody in foster care, and he is in jail."

"That's horrible!" Tito cried.

"That guy is pure evil! I don't understand how someone can do that...to children." Raymundo shuddered.

"There are sick people in the world; I can tell you that," Sam interjected.

"I swear, if I were there, I would've beat that guy so hard, he would need to be taken to the hospital," Otto said clenching his fists.

"I would do much worse," Raymundo added.

"That's it!" Reggie exclaimed. "I can do a story on that topic!"

"On what? Beating people so hard, they end up in the hospital?" Twister asked.

"No, Twister!" Reggie rolled her eyes to him. "I was thinking of doing a story on athletes who went through childhood sexual abuse. I can interview some of what they went through and how they overcame it. What do you think?"

"Don't you think that would be a little dark for The Zine, Reg?" Otto asked.

"Yeah...but I want to get into issues that people our age can relate to. Plus, this will catch reader's attention." Reggie said. "Also, Seventeen magazine does a section that deals with real life issues people have gone through."

"If you feel strongly about the topic, Reggie," Raymundo said, "then go for it."

"Sammy, let's go. We have a lot of research to do!" Reggie said as she and Sam gathered their stuff and skated off.

Later that night, Twister got home and the first thing he did was talk to his mother.

"Did you have a nice time with your friends, mi hijo?" Sandy asked.

"Yeah. We did. Otto wants to meet Tio Ramon." Twister gushed.

"Well maybe you can take him fishing when you guys go." Sandy said with a smile.

"That should be fun. Have you seen Lars?" Twister asked.

"No but I assume he is out with his friends." Sandy rolled her eyes.

"Oh well. I'm off to bed. Buenas noches. Te amo." Twister said walking to his room.

"Yo también te quiero, hijo mío." Sandy called back.

Once Twister got to his room, he went on Facebook. While looking through his stories, he saw he got a message from Pi. Weird. Why is Pi messaging him? Twister opened up the message and it read:

Twister, this is Pi. Don't take it we're friends now but I have no one else to turn to regarding your brother. Lars has been acting weird for the last few days. None of us know what's up with him and we're actually getting worried about him. Whenever someone asks him if he's okay, he gives us attitude. Anyway, try and talk to him. He is your brother. Let me know what goes down.

After reading Pi's letter, Twister now wanted to know what was up with his brother.