"Finally!" a very sweaty Rex said, dribbling the ball between his hands. "You're going down!"
Roxie stood by, shaking her head as she saw her crush and her brother playing basketball in the court, Rex dodging Noah's grabs as he kept the ball away from him.
Rex tossed the ball forwards, which bounced off the backboard before he instantly caught it again.
"You're serious?" Noah asked.
"Okay, whoever makes the next shot is the all-time champion."
"This can only go so well," Roxie chuckled, when suddenly, her and her brother's headsets started beeping. "Yuh-oh."
"We've got a Level Two Threat in the vicinity. To be continued," Rex said, tossing the ball back to Noah as he and Roxie left the park.
"You can lose now, you can lose later," Noah said as he followed the twins. "Doesn't matter to me."
The trio walked up to a Providence barricade around a house, Noah chuckled to Rex.
"Why can't you just accept that I'm better than you at something?" he asked. "And shouldn't you two be in a hurry?"
"Relax," Roxie said. "It's only a Level Two threat."
As soon as she said that, a giant pillar of flame emerged from the house as a giant magma-based EVO stepped out of the resulting smoke.
"Oh, that's right," Roxie winced. "The lower the number, the worse the threat."
"You know, they really should change that," Rex said as he activated his Punk Busters and leaped at the EVO as Roxie summoned her handblasters and charged after her brother.
Rex leaped down to try to stomp the EVO, only for him to blast him with a pillar of flame, sending him sprawling to the ground. He groaned as he stood up.
The EVO reached out for him, only to be met by a volley of bullets and energy blasts as Roxie and the Providence soldiers all opened fire on him, causing him to groan and double over.
Rex built up his Slam Cannon and fired a ball of rubble that nailed the EVO in the head, sending him sprawling to the ground in a heap. One of the agents fired an electrified net at the magma monster before it shocked it violently, knocking him out.
The creature tried to stand up, only for him to be knocked out with a smack of a frying pan as Roxie smirked, twirling the kitchen appliance in her hand before she dissolved it from existence.
"Thanks. We got it from here," an agent told her, his voice sounding familiar to the twins.
"Is that you, Beasly?" Rex asked. "Haven't seen you since the Bug Jar."
"I can't believe we have to save your ass from these guys again," Roxie chuckled as Beasly removed his helmet.
"Let's see you try fighting these things without some fancy sword coming out of your arm or the ability to generate almost anything into existence."
"You two could never do what we do," Agent Wade chuckled as she walked forwards.
"What? Tell people to stand back while we kick EVO butt?" Rex asked.
"Spend some time in our basic training and you'll see," Beasly said.
"They wouldn't last a week in basic," Wade chuckled.
"Actually, I don't think they'd last a day. See you next time, hot shot."
"Hey!" Roxie shouted. "Next time some EVO tries to eat your brains, don't come crying to us!"
"Can you believe those guys?" Rex asked as Noah walked up to him and his sister.
"Actually, I've seen the commercials. Providence Basic looks tough," Noah admitted. "I mean, I could handle it. You two? I don't know."
"Come on," Rex said. "You know we could kick your butt."
"Says the guy who's currently 0-42 with me in basketball."
"Oh, is that a challenge?"
"Gentlemen and lady!" a cyborg drill instructor with a cyebernetic prosthetic arm named Hutton said as we cut to a Providence training facility in the desert. "Welcome to Providence Basic Training."
The twins and Noah walked alongside the head of the facility.
"Captain Calan tells me you three want a taste of basic training," he said.
"Yeah," Roxie said. "Basic, but not easy. We don't want to be treated differently than any other cadet."
"Alright. All you need to know: that's where we eat and that's where we blow stuff up."
In the field, a basic explosion rang out that sent the three teenagers crashing to the ground.
The group then walked into a classroom where a class was going on, showing a clip of one of the twins' battles to his students as the group walked into the classroom.
"Hey, they're studying us," Rex noticed.
"Another excellent combat example of how a Providence fire team can tactical deficiencies of these particular special agents," a teacher said.
"Very educational," Noah said as the twins slumped down in defeat.
"These will be your quarters," Hutton said, showing a room with two bunk beds with a secondary bed by a desk with a few Providence blasters.
"Wow. This must be just like college," Roxie said, sitting down on the chair by the desk.
"Yeah," Roxie said, picking up a blaster. "But with weapons."
"This is Cadet Kenwyn Jones," Hutton said, introducing the trio to a young African American girl in standard Providence armor. "If you have any questions, ask her. I'll check back in with you first thing tomorrow morning. Enjoy your stay."
With that he took his leave as Kenwyn looked to the trio with a nod.
"The drill instructor was really nice," Rex said.
"He always is," Kenwyn said. "On the first day."
"What's down there?" Noah asked, looking out the window.
"The Stone Steps. They don't waste a Jump Jet on us when we quit. You have to walk."
Rex, Roxie and Noah all gasped in awe at the sight of the massive amount of steps leading down the mountain the facility was located on.
"Better turn in. The day starts early around here."
"I have to say, this wasn't what I was expecting at all," Noah said, shucking off his jacket as the twins did the same.
"I know," Roxie said. "This is gonna be a piece of cake."
A few hours later, as the group was fast asleep, Roxie snoring like a foghorn, Hutton walked in and slammed a cowbell hard enough to startle everyone awake as the twins fell out of their top bunks and Noah smashed his head on the top of the bed.
"It can't be morning already," Noah groaned.
"12:01 A.M is morning to me! Let's go!"
Everyone turned to each other, now starting to see the gravity of the situation they voluntarily had put themselves into.
Later, every cadet, clad in standard white Providence armor stood in the field in the pouring rain as Roxie yawned as loud as she snored.
Suddenly, tons of support beams popped in front of all the cadets and the twins and Noah looked on either side to see the cadets doing tons of pull-ups on their bars.
"GRAB THAT BAR!" Hutton ordered as the trio leaped up and Roxie and Noah struggled to even do a single pull-up.
Rex tried to take the lazy way out and activated his Smack Hands... and then immediately destroyed the bars and sent all the cadets sprawling to the ground.
"That was Providence property you just abused, maggots! All three of you, drop and give me twenty!"
"'He's really nice,'" Noah mocked as he went into the push-up position.
Rex then activated his Smack Hands again and did the push-ups with ease, much to the ire of his sister... and then Hutton slammed his boot down in front of them.
"You think that was too easy? Make it a thousand, all of you!"
"Yes, sir," Rex said, going faster, before he got his head slammed into a puddle as the commander glared.
"No, a thousand sit-ups!"
The trio groaned in pain at the exercise... but Rex was in more pain than either of his companions.
"What's the matter? Don't have a machine for that?"
Rex groaned out in absolute misery as Roxie and Noah blazed past him.
"Try to keep up, bro," Roxie said.
Later, the cadets ran a mile with blasters in hand as Rex, Roxie and Noah panted from the effort... and then they got splashed by Hutton as he drove by them in his jeep.
In the morning, the cadets fired on the EVO targets, loading bullet holes right in the center while the trio's shots landed all over the board. Hutton then walked behind them and detonated a smoke grenade in their faces.
"223, 224," Hutton stated as the trio painfully continued their sit-ups.
"WHERE DID YOU MAGGOTS LEARN TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH!" Hutton shouted out as the trio immediately spat out the toothpaste in shock. "DID YOU THREE JUST MESS UP MY FLOOR?! PICK THAT UP AND PUT IT BACK IN YOUR MOUTH!"
"977, 978," Roxie grunted out as Rex suddenly ralphed all over the ground.
"DID YOU JUST MESS UP MY LAWN?!"
"Can't you even disassemble a simple neuro-detention grid?" Hutton asked as Rex winced at the gun in his hand. "I can do more with one hand than you can do with two extra giant fists!"
"Can't you just take a break for one minute!" Roxie shouted, standing up from her seat and her weapon.
"My job is to train soldiers. Every minute I spend with you and your brother, real Providence cadets are not getting the benefit of my EVO-killing expertise!"
Roxie stumbled back, knocking the gun to the ground, which shot a net forwards, sending an electrified net outwards that caught her, Rex and Noah slamming into the wall and all of the other cadets laughed their asses off at the trio's misfortune.
Roxie then looked up to see herself face to face with Noah and a furious blush rose to her cheeks. And unfortunately, she couldn't move because of the net.
"So... this is awkward," Noah said as Roxie gulped.
"Tell me about it."
"You know what? This is stupid," Rex said. "We don't have anything to prove to him."
Rex and Roxie then conjured their swords and cut themselves free of the net and then they hit the floor.
"We could be back at your place with a pizza in under an hour," Roxie said. "What do you say?"
"I'd say... thanks for saying what I've been thinking every second since 12:01 A.M."
The trio looked down the daunting climb down the Stone Steps on the mountain, now clad back in their regular attire.
"After you," Noah said to Roxie. "Ladies first, after all."
"Thank you, good sir," Roxie said as they started climbing down.
"I'm thinking we should make it two pizzas."
"Yeah," Rex said. "Oh, and hey. Not that this is a big deal or anything, but just for future reference, you're going down first, Noah. That means you quit basic before I did."
"...What?" Noah asked, rushing back up. "You were the one who quit first!"
"No, I just said I wanted to quit first. Big difference."
"Oh boy," Roxie groaned. "Here we go again."
"Uh-uh. No way I'm letting you beat me at this," Noah spat. "I'm not quitting."
"Well, I am definitely not quitting."
"Better rest up," Hutton said, stepping forth to meet them. "Tomorrow won't be as easy."
"That was easy?" Roxie asked.
"Compared to what's coming. Tomorrow's the start of toughest five days of basic. Oh, it's pain week, maggots."
That was when Hutton left, leaving three very worried kids.
"If you think you can handle what's coming, that means you have no idea what's coming!" Hutton said to the cadets, all lined up in a row. "This is Pain Week. Five solid days and nights of training with no breaks to sleep or eat. The goal: see who has what it takes to be Providence and make the rest of you maggots quit!"
He then got up into the twins' faces, who didn't even stir.
Later, the cadets were all flown off the base in a carrier jet with the commander still ranting and raving to them.
"Mechanical failure can happen anytime you're in the air. You have to be prepared."
"Uh, we're not gonna jump are we?" Noah asked.
"Nope. We are."
As soon as he said that, the pilot hit the eject button and was jettisoned out of the jet.
"Your objective: crash land this plane!"Hutton shouted as he opened the escape door before leaping out and opening his parachute. "See you on the ground... hopefully!"
"Did he just..." Rex began.
"Come on," Noah said as he and Roxie unbuckled their seatbelts and ran to the controls.
Kenwyn tried to follow them, but Rex grabbed her and leaped out of the open door, activating his Boogie Pack to fly down to the base.
"Put me back!" Kenwyn ordered.
"Into a cashing plane?!"
"I've worked too hard to become Providence to let you..."
HOwever, before she could finish, Rex flew right back to the ship.
Noah made it to the controls as Rex flew above him.
"Come on!"
"I can do this," Noah said as Rex took some of the other cadets back. "It's gotta be one of these... thingamajiggies."
Noah pulled a lever with a very concerned Roxie beside him as Rex flew overhead.
"It's time to go!" Roxie shouted to her crush.
"No, I got it. I got it!" Noah protested as he saw the ground coming up and coming up fast. "I don't got it!"
"Jump!" Roxie shouted as she leaped out and summoned her hoverboard as she grabbed Noah's arm and yanked him onto it as the jet crashed into the ground and went up in a fiery explosion.
Later, Hutton and cadets looked on at the absolutely miserable failure that was the wreckage of the jet as the twins flew down and Roxie set Noah down as the twins dissipated their builds.
"So," Rex asked nervously. "What's a perfect score around here? Do you guys give out A's or is it a more of a 1-100 system?"
"Get back up there and do it again," Hutton ordered.
"Again?!' Noah asked. "But I-"
"Are you gonna be around every time a Providence jet blows an engine? The goal was to learn how to safely crash-land the plane. So you five are going to learn to do it again and again until you do it right!"
That was when Hutton gestured to his right to show an entire row of planes ready to be crashed.
"Hey, anytime you wanna quit," Rex said to Noah as he ran up and to a plane as Roxie groaned and rolled her eyes, stepping forward.
"It's gonna be a long week," she said with a defeated sigh.
"EVO anatomy is unpredictable," Hutton said to the class of students, who all had a live squid-like EVO laid out in front of them. "During a field dissection, you have to be alert."
Roxie winced as she picked up her scalpel and put the knife to the EVO and she looked to see Noah cutting into it, causing her to throw up in her mouth a bit. She looked to her side to see the commander frowning at her, but then all eyes went to another of the cadets, who shouted out as his EVO sprang up and ensnared him in its tentacles, falling to the ground.
Hutton simply walked up without a word, grasping one of the tentacles harshly, causing the evo to fall limply to the ground again.
The cadet got up and sobbed into his hands, running out the door. "I can't take it anymore!"
"Another one hits the steps. Who's next?"
Roxie and Rex looked to the side to see Noah dissecting his EVO with a satisfied smile on his face.
"Hey, anytime you want to quit."
"Cadet Rombauer, schedule says you're up," Hutton said to another cadet. "Time to face the cage."
Rombauer saluted and left the classroom, followed by the rest of the class.
"What's the cage?" Noah asked as the twins shrugged.
The cadets only watched as Rombauer was placed in a laser cage in a pit in the ground with a monstrous EVO in front of him.
The twins and Noah rushed forwards, only to be stopped by Kenwyn.
"Don't. You go down there and Rombauer hits the steps."
At the sight of the EVO in the pit with Rombauer, Rex and Roxie rose an eyebrow in confusion at the familiar monster below them.
"Weaver?" Roxie asked, confused at the sight of the EVO from their Antarctic adventure.
Weaver lashed out one of his tentacles and Rombauer avoided it with a grunt as he ran forwards... right in front of a laser cage as a faceless EVO stuck his hands past the bars, grasping Rombauer, who then smashed him back with his baton and ran off.
"He's not gonna die," Kenwyn said as they looked to the collar around the EVO's head. "See that collar? It restricts the EVO's strength to nonlethal levels."
"You don't understand," Rex said. "That's Weaver. We drained most of his nanites and left him down a thousand-foot hole in Antarctica.
"And it was Providence grunts that pulled him out. At least now he's useful."
Weaver roared out, smashing Rombauer into the wall before he slumped down in a heap.
The commander suddenly ran in and smashed a button on the machine, causing the collar to deliver a wicked shock to Weaver's system, sending him down to the ground, unconscious.
"This is the only way to really know if a cadet really has what it takes."
Two cadets ran up and helped Weaver to his feet, hoisting him to Hutton's level.
"Sorry, Rombauer. You know what this means."
Later on, the cadets looked on as Rombauer started his descent down the stone steps.
Soon after, Rex and Noah drove Jeeps down the mountain.
Noah smirked as he drove his group, including Roxie down as Kenwyn turned to Rex worriedly.
"They're ahead of us!"
Rex stepped on the gas, accidentally ramming Noah as he briefly lost control of the wheel... only to regain control as the Jeep hit the section of the road just below Rex's Jeep as he and Roxie cheered now that their advantage was increased.
"Wonderful," Kenwyn said. "Now they're way ahead of us."
Later, the cadets looked on the wall showing the current Providence rankings and the twins looked up to see Kenwyn's name drop to the third position, much to her ire.
"Why are you three even here?" she asked, walking away.
"What was that about?" Rex asked.
"Kenwyn's top kick in our class," a cadet explained. "Or was. Until you crash and burned her rank."
"Okay, Rex," Noah said as Roxie stepped away from the inevitable testosterone fest. "I'm not gonna say I'm better than you... I'm just gonna let you read it for yourself on the board!"
Indeed, the rankings showed Noah in the thirty first position, Roxie in the thirty second and Rex in the thirty third.
Roxie and Noah looked off to see Rex had vanished.
"I'll give you one guess where he is," Roxie remarked.
Kenwyn looked out onto the horizon of the desert just as Rex walked up behind her.
"I didn't come here to ruin your life. I just want to beat Noah at something."
"What about your sister?" Kenwyn asked.
"We're twins. We compete with each other all the time. She wins sometimes, I win others. But I always seem to lose against Noah."
"Wow, that's deep. I'm only here because Providence saved my family's life and I want to repay my debt to them," Kenwyn said, exasperated. "I could really learn a lot from you."
"Okay, look, Kenwyn. I was just trying to-"
"I don't care. I'm not gonna let some tourist mess up something I've worked years for."
Kenwyn simply walked away, leaving behind a stunned Rex.
"Rex, you're up!" Hutton ordered, appearing behind him.
Everyone looked down into the Cage as Rex barced himself for the worst.
"Okay, so maybe, maybe you were a little better than me at some of the other stuff," he told Noah, adjusting his blaster. "But kicking EVOs in the teeth is what me and Roxie do for a living."
"It's not fair," a cadet said to Kenwyn as he manned the controls. "Him going down there with all his powers. How are we supposed to compete with that? Somebody should do something about it."
Kenwyn pressed a button on the controls that sent out an alarm on the collar of the magma EVO from the twins' previous mission.
"Yeah. Somebody should," she said, walking away from the controls.
"Hey. Don't you wanna see what's gonna happen?"
The cage's cell opened and the magma EVO walked out.
"Oh, it's this guy again," Rex said.
"What do you know about this EVO?" Hutton asked.
"I know that me and my sister already kicked its butt once this week," Rex said.
"Well, then I guess I'm gonna have to find you a more suitable challenge."
The trio looked at each other, concerned.
"Cadet Jones, hold up" Hutton ordered as Kenwyn walked to the shooting range to suddenly stop. "Change of plans. I sent Rex and Roxie to the Demo Rotation. You're up now."
Kenwyn glared, determinedly.
"You got a problem, cadet?"
"No, sir."
The door to the cage opened and Kenwyn stepped up, weapon ready. But she looked kind of uncertain of the situation she was put into.
"You can handle this. You're Providence."
Noah and Hutton looked up from the cage's rim. Noah also looked nervous for Kenwyn.
As the EVOs growled around her, she only grasped her blaster tightly and nodded determinedly to herself as she walked up to the magma EVO. She suddenly looked completely terrified at the smoke billowing from the EVO's face as she ran away.
Little did anyone know, the collar on the EVO's neck had its battery completely wasted between the time Kenwyn activated it and the actual cage fight. The collar completely broke off and the EVO sent a spew of magma outwards that deactivated the laser grid blocking him off from the rest of the cadets.
"Ice that EVO!" Hutton ordered the cadet at the controls.
"I can't! The collar's dead!"
To make matters even worse, the magma spewed onto the lock of Weaver's cage, which shut the grid off and set him free, terrifying Kenwyn to her core.
Weaver walked up behind the EVO and whacked him out of the arena as the others cages deactivated as the EVOs walked out, surrounding Kenwyn and leaving her trapped as Weaver slithered out of the arena.
Rex and Roxie looked on at the sign to the explosives range as Roxie rolled her fist.
"Alright! So what are we supposed to blow up?" Rex asked.
However, as they walked in, they felt their blood run cold at seeing Weaver wreak havoc on the academy.
"Guess that answers that," Roxie muttered.
Rex built up his Slam Cannon as Roxie summoned her battleaxes and they ran outwards with a shout.
"Rex, Roxie!" Noah shouted as he had noticed them run in.
"He can handle himself! I need all of you!" Hutton shouted. "We still got a cadet down there!"
"But we're unarmed!"
"What you are is Providence and we never leave a man behind!"
Kenwyn used her shock batons to bat all the EVO's back as they gnashed their claws and teeth at her.
Fortunately for her, a rope flew down to her as Noah, Hutton and the other cadet slid down it into the arena, armed to the teeth with weaponry.
"Form a perimeter!" Hutton ordered. "Don't let them get behind you!"
"Here they come!" Noah shouted.
"Hey, Weaver!" Rex shouted as he and Roxie appeared as Roxie hefted her battleaxe over her shoulder. "I don't know if you remember us, but we've actually met before!"
Weaver roared out and gave a swipe of his tentacle as Roxie and Rex built up their hoverboard and Boogie Pack as they took to the air and groaned.
"Okay, so you remember us," Roxie said. "Big deal. We're still gonna kick your ass again."
"Here!" Kenwyn shouted as she tossed Noah a shock baton.
The cadets went to work as the began blasting and bashing the EVOs as Foul Mouth roared in the cadet from the controls backed away panickedly as Foul Mouth shuffled past him and started climbing the rope to get out of the arena.
"Don't let them get out!" Hutton shouted.
He then shot his cyborg arm out and blasted a laser out of the knuckle that severed the rope, sending Foul Mouth plummeting back into the arena. But then, the Rhinor EVO snuck up on him from behind and snatched his cyborg arm in his teeth, yanking it out.
Kenwyn shot her weapon outwards and shot out two shock paddles that stuck to the EVO's sides and violently shocked it, causing it to fall unconscious as Hutton was left lying on the ground, unconscious.
The other three cadets ran forwards and Noah placed his hand lightly on Hutton's chest.
"He's still breathing," Noah sighed in relief.
Kenwyn looked up to see the severed rope. "We need another way up."
The other cadet ran forwards to the control panel and pressed a few buttons, only for nothing to happen.
"The door was sealed when the control panel was smashed. We got no way out!"
The EVOs roared outwards and advanced towards the Providence cadets.
"Come on!" Noah shouted. "Form a perimeter. Don't let them get behind you!"
Kenwyn aimed her weapon outwards, only to hear a light clicking, signifying she was out of ammo.
"You should've left me down here," she said.
"We're Providence. We never leave a man behind."
"But this is my fault! I'm the one who-"
"Can we talk about it later? If there is a later!"
"We don't know how you got out, Weaver!" Rex said as he and Roxie circled around him. "But you're gonna go back!"
Rex then shifted his Boogie Pack's turbines and sent out a few bola-like devices that attacked to Weaver's hand before he flew around the giant EVO as Roxie built up a gauntlet and shouted out, giving a massive uppercut to his chin, sending him plummeting into the arena, much to the horror of the cadets as they made a break for it, falling into the machine.
Unfortunately, the other EVOs took this opportunity to climb up Weaver's body out of the arena as the twins landed and Rex built up his Smack Hands and he and Roxie attacked them, slamming them back with massive punches.
The other cadets carried Hutton out of the arena as they saw the twins fight off the EVOs, but were quickly getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of them.
"He needs help," Kenwyn said, getting over Hutton.
"So do the twins! Look!" Noah said as the twins shouted out as Roxie grabbed the Rhinor EVO and and leaped up, slamming him into the ground, only to be swatted back to the ground by another EVO. "They're too busy getting hit to hit back."
"He's right. We've got to draw their fire so Rex can go on offense!"
"But we don't have any weapons!" the generic cadet shouted.
"That's why we'll have to distract those things. So Rex and Roxie can use theirs."
"That's insane!"
"Maybe, but it's what Providence grunts are trained to do. We do our job so they can do theirs. I get it now."
Rex activated his Boogie Pack and grabbed his sister as they broke away from the swarm of EVOs surrounding them. Suddenly, a wolf-like EVO roared outwards as he bit off one of Rex's wings, sending the twins plummeting to the ground in the explosives range.
Roxie shouted out as she built up her battleaxe again and gave out several swipes and strikes to the EVO as it sliced at her.
Two other EVOs charged at them, but Noah ran in and tossed his baton at them, sending them crashing in the streets. They roared out and charged at him, but Noah screamed out as he ran away, vaulting over a car before hiding under it as the EVOs shouted out and ran at the car.
Kenwyn suddenly ran in and tossed her weapon at the EVOs, getting their attention as they charged at her, leading her to run away as well as she hid behind a staircase to a building and turned to the generic cadet. "Go!"
The cadet turned away scared, only for Kenwyn to glare at him... just as the EVOs found her and roared out in fury.
Then, Rex burst through the adjacent building with his Smack Hands and slid forwards through the street, smacking the spider-like EVO back with a strong punch. Rex then gave a few strong uppercuts to the Rhinor EVO, sending it stumbling back.
The other wolf-like EVO from before also tried to snap at him, but Roxie flew in and swatted it back with her warhammer.
"Everyone! We've got to regroup!" Kenwyn shouted as the cadets grouped around her. "We can do this!"
The cadets all gave a war cry, charging forwards as they opened fire on the wolf EVO, drawing their attention as they charged at them and Rex tossed the Rhinor EVO into a wall, from which he recovered.
The wolf EVO charged at the cadets, only for Roxie to slam it away with a battering ram as the Rhinor EVO charged towards Kenwyn, which Noah immediately took notice of.
"Kenwyn!"
Kenwyn was paralyzed with fear as the Rhinor EVO charged forwards and trampled right over her. Rex then leaped up and pounded it into the ground with a shout.
Everyone crowded around Kenwyn as Noah held her in his arms.
"This is all my fault. I... I messed with the collar. I-"
"Forget it," Rex said. "Sometimes when you want to be Number One bad enough, it can make your brain stop working."
"What do you say we call this a tie?" Noah chuckled.
At the basic training site, Hutton took five medals from a pillow and handed them out to Rex, Roxie, Noah, Kenwyn and the unnamed cadet.
"Sir, you should know I was the one who-"
"Yeah, yeah," Roxie said, interrupting Kenwyn. "We all know you were the one who saved the day by pulling all those EVOs off me and Rex."
"That doesn't mean you should get two medals," Rex said, shooting Kenwyn a wink, to which she smiled at him.
"And here I was thinking I had misjudged you," Hutton said.
"Really?" Roxie asked. "You think we could hack it here?"
"Not a chance. You maybe," the drill instructor said to Noah. "Now, all three of you. Hit the Steps!"
The trio then walked away from the stand as Hutton suddenly gave out a smile.
"And keep up the good work."
"You know, this has actually made me appreciate all the stuff the grunts do," Roxie said as she, Rex and Noah, now back in their normal clothing, descended the Stone Steps.
"Yeah," Noah said.
"And it also makes me appreciate how much I will never do anything like this again!" Rex said as Roxie and Noah giggled.
"Oh, you know it, bro."
"I don't know," Noah said. "My gut tells me that someday, I might... five bucks says I beat you to the bottom."
"Make it ten!"
Roxie witnessed the two boys rush down the steps.
"Oh, here we go again," Roxie said with a roll of her eyes as she followed behind.