"No no, please, you are winner, no more killing! Please go away!"

"Nice try girly man. You'd better think twice if you think begging'll work on ME. Now let me show you the REAL way to break someone's arms!"

"NOOOO!"

"Oohh... then what happened?" Ten and Pyro sat on the carpet in front of the sofa. Soldier was standing up on it, one leg up on the armrest, telling one of his "war stories."

"And then I proceeded to break his arms while both of mine were already broken. And then I killed him with a conveniently located paper clip. When he was finally dead, he suddenly burst into a great flame, the flames of defeat!" He dramatically enacted the words "break," "paper clip," and "flame." Of course, this had Pyro cheering and clapping his hands.

Ten raised her fists up high and cheered as well. "Soldier you are just so cool! I couldn't do half as many things with a paper clip that you can! Py, you think he'll tell another?" The two friends clasped their hands together in anticipation, staring at Soldier in hopes for more.

"I would proudly. But today is the fourth of July! And you both know what that means!"

The pair looked at each other. Pyro tilted his head at Ten and she looked up at Soldier, shrugging.

"It means we gather every American flag in this base and wave it until dawn! And we all tell about why we love the land of the free! Of course, I'm the only one who ever attends! It's always 'Sorry Soldier I'm too tired,' or 'I have a mission to go on,' or 'Who are you? Let go of my arms!' Bunch of ungrateful traitors and commies, all of 'em. I expect our newest recruit to be there. Diiiismissed!"

Pyro allowed Ten to climb onto his back as he carried her away. To him, she was only a bit heavier than the gas tank for his flamethrower. She more fun to carry around since she offered more conversation than his tank.

"No one, huh? Pyro, you neither?"

"Mm-mm."

"I wonder why. I've never been to America. What's it like?"

"Mmuhh duhm hudda hum."

"Oh... I see. Well who has?"

"M-hout nn Mummaneer uhumm mer."

"Really? Wow I didn't know that! Let's go see them!"

"Hudda hudda..."

"Aw come on, Heavy finally told me where the cookies are!"

"Hmm? Muhh!"

Ten grinned, gripping her friend's flame-proof suit tightly as he sped off through the base. He sped past Scout's room, and his talking backpack called for him to stop, but he instead took them outside.

"Py, Scout's door was back there!" She pointed behind them.

Pyro set her down and pointed forward. Just a few yards away was Scout, reaching into a crate and pulling out baseballs to bat into the wilderness.

"Wooooh! Home freakin' run!"

"Oh... well uh, thanks, Py. This shouldn't take too long, I hope." Ten approached Scout. "Hey Scout!"

"Yo what's up Numba Ten? Come to learn how to bat like a pro? Or has my devilish good looks and winning personality won you ova?" He threw his arm around her, flexing his other one.

"Haha, no silly. I want to know what America is like." She removed his hand and gripped it like the greeting he'd shown her.

"Ah crap, it is the fourth again isn't it? I bet that lunatic Soldier's got you eatin' up all his bunk stories. Alright, I'll tell you about America. That is, if you can beat this next homerun!"

Scout got another ball and tossed it up. A sharp crack sounded from his bat as the fresh ball went flying out of sight into the sea of trees. He handed the wooden bat to Ten and tossed her a ball. She sighed a "well, here goes something." Scout chuckled a monotone laugh to himself. No one in Teufort batted better than him. Ten tossed her ball up high to allow herself time to pull the bat back to swing. In the split second the ball returned to earth, her temples pulsated, and she swung the bat almost too quick for their eyes to follow. The once-new baseball flew high in the air, well past the spot Scout's ball had landed. Ten looked at the bat, which now had a slight crack in it with splinters protruding.